France names the main favorite of presidential election Garo Paylan concludes address in Turkey parliament in Armenian Russian Foreign Ministry believes there is no risk of large-scale war in Europe Dollar goes up in Armenia Sharmazanov: Armenia ex-President Sargsyan did not decide to hold press conference, he did not change his mind Blinken: Russia has plans to increase force on Ukraine borders Azerbaijani military participate in Turkish drills Taliban say all conditions for recognizing legitimacy of government are met Azerbaijan MFA statement distorts events of Armenian massacres in Baku 32 years ago Karabakh ombudsmans office: Azerbaijans anti-Armenian, genocidal policy has clear chronology US official, Barzani are photographed against backdrop of Greater Armenia and Kurdistan map Armenia ex-defense minister, army General Staff chief, some others criminal case court hearing kicks off FM: Most important direction continues to be international recognition of Artsakh US selects Los Angeles to host Summit of the Americas in summer 2022 Karabakh Foreign Minister: Return of refugees can only be like mirror Iranian president arrives on official visit to Moscow All CSTO peacekeepers leaves Kazakhstan Artsakh Foreign Minister: Unacceptable to bracket NKAO and NKR together Karabakh FM: Format of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs' visits needs to be restored Media: Air communication between Turkey and Armenia will start on February 2 Artsakh FM: Azerbaijan attack on Karabakh will mean attack on Russia Gold prices hardly change American professor angers Erdogan's son-in-law Hovhannes Khachatryan is elected Armenia Central Bank Deputy Governor 15 years pass since Hrant Dink assassination 563 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Guterres offers Merkel job at UN Armenian church revamped in Iran World oil prices going up Newspaper: ECHR rulings increase after Armenia revolution in 2018 Newspaper: Armenia ex-President Sargsyan to give interview instead of press conference Azerbaijan MFA falls into hysterical rage by France FM statement The Pope to donate 100,000 to help migrants on border of Belarus and Poland Fourth vaccine against COVID-19 is not enough for Omicron World is on verge of country defaults French Foreign Ministry considers unacceptable Azerbaijan statements about Pecresse US to return two valuable artifacts over 4,000 years old to Iraq Germany may consider halting Nord Stream 2 if Russia attacks Ukraine Israel successfully completes test of anti-ballistic missile system Plane landing in Sochi struck by lightning Putin and Aliyev discuss Ukraine situation Greek PM Mitsotakis threatens Turkey with sanctions Handelsblatt: US and EU abandon idea of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT international payment system Artsakh President meets representatives of non-governmental organizations Avalanche kills person in Iran Erdogan says he is pleased with decline in volatility of lira NEWS.am daily digest: 18.01.22 Turkey and Azerbaijan to start laying gas pipeline to supply Nakhichevan UK begins to supply Ukraine with anti-tank weapons Armenian PM holds meeting on Armenia's Transformation Strategy until 2050 Nagorno-Karabakh: Remains of another Armenian soldier found in Jrakan region Tehran to not accept any border change in South Caucasus Dollar holding relatively steady in Armenia Armenia special representative: Future process depends on Turkeys constructiveness degree Erdogan: Gas from Mediterranean to Europe can only be pumped through Turkey Iranian Consul General discusses customs cooperation in Nakhijevan Inecobank brings Apple Pay to customers Parliament vice-speaker says he is familiar with Armenia proposals on border demarcation commission work US Secretary of State to visit Kyiv Russia, Iran and China to hold joint naval drills OSCE Chairmanship on Aliyev statement: We reiterate our full support to Minsk Group Co-Chairs Artsakh NSS denies rumors about penetration of Azerbaijanis into Karabakh villages Indonesian parliament approves bill to relocate capital Armenia PM to Bulgaria colleague: Our interstate relations are marked by continuous development of cooperation Armenian President meets Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Azerbaijan to ban foreigners from visiting Nagorno-Karabakh occupied part European Parliament new speaker elected Armenian National Interests Fund participates in Abu Dhabi Sustainable Development Week summit North Korea fires missiles for fourth time this year ECHR recognizes violation of Armenian PM's rights after 2008 elections Turkey reveals plans to produce combat aircraft Karabakh official: Azerbaijan presidents impudent behavior is due to OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs silence Azerbaijan special services force Artsakh resident to intelligence work Copper price is stable Minister of State: OSCE MG Co-Chairs must accept exercise of Karabakh people's right to self-determination Armenia President, UAE Minister of State discuss possibilities of cooperation in science and technology Investigation into criminal case of several Armenia soldiers returned from Azerbaijan captivity is over Canada sends detachment of special forces to Ukraine Armenia ex-President Kocharyan, former deputy PM now MP Gevorgyan case trial resumes 2 more persons die of coronavirus in Artsakh Armenia family has 10th child Converse Bank brings Apple Pay to customers Gold is getting weaker Lacote: French institute to operate in Armenia (PHOTOS) Ardshinbank Brings Apple Pay to Customers Armenia President in UAE, meets with Emirati environment minister Armenia legislature approves changes to several laws Differences in data on coronavirus deaths in Armenia are corrected 360 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Norway to begin Breivik early release hearing Economy minister to head Armenia side of commission on economic cooperation with Kazakhstan Mexico crime photojournalist killed Newspaper: Criminal case against Armenia archbishop dropped Newspaper: Opposition Armenia Bloc in parliament to toughen its tactics Scientists discover large breeding colony of icefish in southern Antarctica China creates low-gravity artificial moon Tehran welcomes normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations Russian and Iranian Foreign Ministers discuss regional issues UN Secretary-General: Vaccinate whole world to end pandemic Giant asteroid to fly past our planet UN agencies warned on Monday that more than half a million people in sub-Saharan Africa could die from AIDS-related illnesses between 2020 and 2021 as a result of health services that are disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated the number of additional deaths in the region, based on the assumption that supplies of antiretroviral HIV medicine are interrupted for six months. In 2018, an estimated 470,000 people died of the immune deficiency syndrome in countries south of the Sahara 61 per cent of global AIDS deaths that year. While some countries have taken steps to provide HIV medication despite the novel coronavirus pandemic, problems are mounting in other countries, according to UNAIDS. Cameroon has experienced supply chain problems, Botswana ran out of stock until UNAIDS stepped in, while community health workers in Congo have been unable to do their work because of a lockdown. There are reports of people living with HIV not being able to or wanting to go to clinics because of the restrictions and fear of COVID-19, UNAIDS spokeswoman Sophie Barton-Knott said. In around 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, programmes to distribute condoms and to prevent HIV transmission from mothers to children are not operating as normal. There is a risk that the hard-earned gains of the AIDS response will be sacrificed to the fight against COVID-19, UNAIDS chief Winnie Byanyima said in a statement. No one disease should be fought at the expense of the other, she added. (dpa/NAN) Aside from bringing in the Ariel Ace motorcycle , Bikerbox, Inc. will also be bringing the infamous Atom. While it may look like something meant for the track, the Atom is actually road legal and Bikerbox, Inc. is now accepting indent orders for the Atom 4. Have you always wanted to have a road-legal go-kart? Is your idea of fun mean getting behind the wheel of an open-air (and open-wheel) vehicle that can go from 0 100 km/h in less than 3 seconds? Bikerbox has something special for you. Weighing in at just 595 kg and powered by a Honda Civic Type R-derived 2.0-liter K20C turbocharged engine, the Atom 4 is one serious four-wheeled beast. With 320 PS and 420 Nm of torque ready on tap, Ariel claims the Atom can catapult itself from 0 100 km/h in just 2.8 seconds, 2.1 seconds faster than the Civic Type R, and it has a top speed of 260 km/h. Power is then sent to a six-speed manual gearbox and it benefits from a limited-slip differential. Helping the Atom 4 carve corners are Bilstein dampers, though customers have the option of upgrading the suspension to Ohlins. Finally, it has a staggered wheel arrangement of 195/50/R16 at the front and 255/40/R17 at the back, both of which are made from lightweight carbon fiber. Prefer something that can go off-road? The Ariel Nomad is also available for indent order and it's powered by a tuned 2.4-liter K24 engine derived from Honda. It makes 235 PS along with 300 Nm and is connected to a six-speed manual gearbox. Allowing the Nomad to go anywhere it pleases is a double-wishbone suspension all around that come with Bilstein dampers and Eibach coil springs. In addition, the Nomad also comes with 235/75/R15 all-terrain tires. Want to customize your Atom or Nomad before it arrives here? Bikerbox, Inc. says that customers can specifically customize what their vehicles can have thanks to a myriad of options. As for the price, well since each one will be unique, they can't exactly say how much each unit will cost. Both the Atom and the Nomad will arrive in the Philippines shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic has passed and the situation in the country has improved. The only question now is where will you take the Ariel Atom (or the Nomad) first? New Delhi, May 11 : Bicycle major Hero Cycles has resumed production at 30 per cent of its capacity, a company statement said on Monday. The company has reopened its manufacturing facilities at Ludhiana in Punjab and Bihta in Bihar on May 4 as per the standard operating procedure laid down by the respective local administrations, it said. The organisation also opened its corporate office with a curtailed workforce as required by the guidelines. A total of 800 employees resumed work at Hero Cycles manufacturing unit and corporate office this past week. "Within a week of reopening the factories, the manufacturing units have resumed production up to 30 per cent capacity to ensure the supply remains adequate to meet the expected surge in demand. Hero Cycles is targeting a quick recovery as almost 500 cycles and e-cycle retailers have already reopened their outlets across the country," it said. With an aim to achieve a quick recovery in demand, Hero Cycles is seeking to quickly smoothen the logistics governing its supply chain network disrupted due to the prolonged lockdown. The company also used the first-week post lockdown to put in place a set of best practices as part of coronavirus infection control measures. These include maintaining effective distance between workers, minimizing the need for man-to-man contact, and regular sanitization of facilities. Pankaj M Munjal, Chairman and MD, HMC, Hero Motors Company, said: "While the lockdowns are being lifted gradually, the threat of the disease's spread is still high and this necessitates adherence to social distancing. In such circumstances, people across the world are preferring bicycles rather than use crowded public transport. The WHO has also advised people to cycle and walk as much as possible as a containment measure against the disease." He further said that the company is also expecting a rise in demand for cycles, including e-cycles and premium bikes, over the next few weeks. "In fact, the first trucks from both our factories have already left to address the pent-up demand both in urban centres and rural India," Munjal said. Ship despatched with medical teams, Covid drugs, says 'first responder' India Indian ship INS Kesari departs for the Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and the Comoros to provide food items, COVID-related medicines and medical assistance teams, as part of India's Mission Sagar on Sunday, May 10, 2020. (PTI) New Delhi: Following requests by several Indian Ocean maritime nations for assistance in dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic, India has launched Mission Sagar and despatched INS Kesari to the Maldives, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles, carrying on board two medical assistance teams, consignments of Covid-related essential medicines and essential food items. While the Maldives is in Indias immediate maritime neighbourhood, the other nations are far-away islands near the southern African mainland and count as part of the African continent. In a statement, MEA said, Responding to their requests for assistance in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, Government of India has sent INS Kesari to Maldives, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles, carrying on board two Medical Assistance Teams, consignments of Covid related essential medicines and essential food items. The Medical Assistance Teams will be deployed in Mauritius and Comoros, helping their Governments deal with Covid emergency and dengue fever (in case of Comoros). The MEA further said, The Ship will deliver consignments of Covid related essential medicines to Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles and about 600 tonnes of food items to Maldives. In addition, in case of Mauritius, a special consignment of Ayurvedic medicines is also being sent. The consignments meant for Madagascar and Comoros also includes Hydroxychloroquine tablets, which have already been sent earlier to Mauritius, Maldives and Seychelles. The MEA added, In line with its time-tested role as the first responder in the region, India has already supported the efforts of the governments of Maldives, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Seychelles by providing them consignments of Covid-19 related essential medicines. A team of select medical personnel was also dispatched to Maldives to augment the preparedness of the Maldivian Government to fight this crisis. Mission Sagar is inspired by Prime Ministers vision of SAGAR - Security and Growth for All in the Region. The National Assembly Standing Committee has agreed to stage a vote on adoption of two hallmark bilateral trade and investment agreements between Vietnam and the EU, taking both sides closer to enshrining the new basis for far tighter trade and investment ties. The EVFTA will provide Vietnam with sure-fire advantages in terms of exports and diversifying import markets. Photo: Le Toan The Standing Committee last week green-lit legislators to vote on passing the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), both a powerful source of trade and investment opportunities for both the EU and Vietnam, at the ninth session of the 14th National Assembly which will take place from May 20 to June 17. Proposals delivered at the committees meeting by Minister, Chairman of State President Office Dao Viet Trung, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, and the National Assemblys Committee for Foreign Affairs all urged the National Assembly to adopt the EVFTA and the EVIPA at this session. The adoption of the agreements will help Vietnam strongly expand trade and investment relations with EU member states, Minister Dung stated. An expert from the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam told VIR that all the work related to the adoption of the EVFTA has already been completed by the EU side. Specifically, the Council of the European Union in late March adopted a decision on the conclusion of the deal and in mid-February, the European Parliament officially adopted the EVFTA and the EVIPA. Translation of the deals text into different languages has also been completed. Currently the EU side is waiting for the Vietnamese side to pass the deals. If everything goes smoothly in May, it is expected that the EVFTA will begin to take effect in July, the expert said. Meanwhile, the EVIPA will need to be ratified by all EU member states according to their respective national procedures before it can enter into force. Once ratified, it will replace the bilateral investment agreements that the 21 EU members states currently have in place with Vietnam It is likely that the EUs Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan will in July pay a visit to Vietnam where he and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will jointly launch the EVFTA into force. Right after that, 65% of export items from the EU into Vietnam will see import tariffs removed immediately. The items include electric goods and machinery, textiles and garments, aquatic products, and 50% of pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, import tariffs on 71% of items from Vietnam will also be removed immediately, such as unprocessed shrimp and rice (subject to quotas depending on varieties). Import taxes for tra and basa fish Vietnams staple exports will be removed after three years. In five or seven years, the EU will erase taxes on all sensitive textile and garment items from Vietnam. Many businesses from the EU are eager to see tariff cuts in Vietnam, so that they can boost exports and investment in the Southeast Asian market, the expert said. Pham Thai Lai, president and CEO of Siemens ASEAN and Vietnam, told VIR the EVFTA is a great foundation to boost trade and more. In the coming years, I strongly believe that we can expect robust growth in investment from the EU to Vietnam and a substantial increase in exports from Vietnam to the EU, Lai said. According to him, FTAs offer Vietnam great advantages in terms of export, and at the same time help diversify its import markets. Not only can Vietnam benefit from significant tariff reduction but also from having ample opportunities to access and expand to new markets worldwide. Lai added that Vietnams demand for basic infrastructure is huge. I see enormous potentials in the areas of power generation, transmission and distribution, energy efficiency, and transportation, he said. Hogan also commented that the EVFTA has a huge economic potential. A win for consumers, workers, farmers and businesses. And it goes well beyond economic benefits. Once in force, these agreements will further enhance our potential to promote and monitor reforms in Vietnam, he said. According to the European Parliament, Vietnam is a booming, competitive and connected economy with almost 100 million citizens, a growing middle class and a young and dynamic workforce. The country is also one of the fastest growing countries in ASEAN with average GDP growth rate of around 6.51% from 2000 until 2018. Moreover, Vietnam is also one of the most open and pro free trade economy in the region. The EVFTA is expected to be a major driver of Vietnamese exports, and help Vietnam to diversify its markets and exports, especially its key staples such as agro-forestry-aquactic products, electronics, footwear, garments and textiles which are the countrys competitive advantages. Currently Vietnams exports rely on its traditional markets like China, the US, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. According to the General Statistics Office, in 2019, EU member states spent US$41.7 billion on importing Vietnamese goods, capturing 15.8% of Vietnams total export turnover of US$263.45 billion. These markets also exported US$14.8 billion worth of goods to Vietnam, holding 5.8% of the countrys total import turnover of US$253.51 billion. VIR Vietnam has high hopes for investments from Europe after EVFTA ratification Vietnam is looking forward to receiving high-quality investments from Europe once the EU-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) take effect. Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has asked the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele to order the arrest of... Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has asked the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele to order the arrest of the controversial Onitsha based maverick religious centre operator, the self-proclaimed Prophet Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere also known as Odumeje. HURIWA accuses the self-acclaimed prophet of serial abuses of the Nigerian Naira and other currencies during his public ceremonies at his location in Onitsha. HURIWA expressed consternation that despite the wanton and arbitrary disrespect and outright abuse of the Nigerian Naira and other currencies during religious rituals which are usually transmitted live globally and aired on all social media platforms and watched by millions of viewers, the CBN has failed to take concrete and verifiable steps to arrest and prosecute the prophet. The rights group said it has resolved to write officially to the Honourable Minister of Finance, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari to implore them to stand up and defend the Naira. Huriwa has asked the authorities to stop the global defacing of the Naira which is often telecast globally, showing the acclaimed prophet throwing the Naira and other currencies on the floor of his Worship centre. HURIWA noted that Odumeje, who also calls himself many other different names such as the liquid metal, and Indarbosky, has contributed significantly to bringing global opprobrium to our national currency and has seriously indicted the Federal Government as unwilling to defend the Naira even when the constitution recognises that the law is no respecter of person or authority. The group, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said We have watched with disappointments as this self-professed prophet Odumuje keeps abusing and defacing the national currency and both the police and the Central Bank of Nigeria have failed for many Months to stamp their authorities and prosecute these serial abusers of the national currency. We recall that in 2018 the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) organised a CBN FAIR in Calabar where it used the opportunity to create awareness and sensitise the public on the appropriate use of the Naira, Nigerias legal tender notes. CBN, also cautioned Nigerians against abusing the Naira notes, warning that anyone caught would risk six months imprisonment or pay a fine of N50,000., HURIWA agrees with an observer who wrote that the unwholesome practice of hawking, spraying of, dancing and matching on notes at social events significantly fuel the abuse and degradation of the notes. HURIWA similarly endorses the position that the effect of these is that within a short time of issuance of mint notes by the CBN, the notes become an eye-sore and if not quickly withdrawn and reprinted, a national disgrace and embarrassment ensues. HURIWA recalled that according to Section 21(3) of CBN Act 2007 spraying of, dancing or matching on the Naira or any note issued by the Bank (CBN) during social occasions or otherwise howsoever shall constitute abuse and defacing of the Naira or such note and shall be punishable under Sub-section 1 of this section. The same body of law, in Section 5 (i) went further to affirm as follows: Matching to include spreading, scattering or littering of any surface with any Naira notes or coins and stepping thereon, regardless of the value, volume, occasion or intent while in 5(ii) Spraying includes adorning, decorating or spraying anything or any person or any part of any person or the person of another with Naira notes or coins or sprinkling or sticking of Naira notes or coins in a similar manner regardless of the amount, occasion or the intent. Specifically, In Section 21(4), it is also a punishable offence for any person to hawk, sell or otherwise trade in the Naira notes, coins or any other note issued by the Bank. HURIWA recalled that the stated offences above are punishable under Sub-section 21(1) which provides, among other things that, a person shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not less than six months or to a fine not less than N50,000 or to both such fine and imprisonment. HURIWA added, We ask the CBN to ensure that the legal provisions that should have protected the Naira notes from abuse which are today being observed more in the breach than in compliance should be reversed. It is true as observed recently by a patriotic citizen that quite disappointingly, CBN and the security agencies have had their eyes glue-closed while the nation and its inhabitants suffer from preventable abuses of the national currency. Just as we reaffirm and reecho the fact as stated by an observer that as it were, the law against abuse of Naira has been in place for over a decade, yet the CBN is still at the stage of awareness creation and sensitisation of the citizens whereas religious houses are openly celebrating the abuses of the National currency which is a legal tender that ought to be respected by the citizens and everyone in Nigeria. This unfortunate trend of inertia and inaction by the CBN should be changed immediately. What other better way to do this than to use the Onitsha based religious comedian and self-acclaimed prophet Mr. ODUMEJE as an example for others to stop abusing the Naira? HURIWA said it has decided to approach President Muhammadu Buhari to charge him to compel all relevant agencies of government to begin the strict enforcement of the law. HURIWA recalls that the Central Bank of Nigeria had recently warned Nigerians against abusing the naira notes. The apex bank said that anyone caught abusing the naira would be prosecuted and if convicted the person risked six months in jail and a fine of N50, 000. An official of the Currency Operation Department of the CBN in Abuja, Mr. Samuel Shuaibu, disclosed this in Calabar, Cross River State, during the commencement of a CBN Fair to sensitise campaign for residents in the state on the appropriate use of the naira. HURIWA, has, therefore, asked the CBN to take action rather than continue in propaganda and the impression that the bank is working to protect the integrity of the national currency. May 11 : Bollywood celebs took to social media to celebrate Mothers Day on Sunday. Sonam Kapoor, who is self-quarantined with hubby Anand Ahuja in their Delhi house, also took to her social media to celebrate the special day. The Zoya Factor actress took to her Instagram handle and shared a bunch of throwback pictures with her mom Sunita Kapoor and wished her happy Mothers Day with a heartfelt note, where she expressed how much she loved her and missed her. The pictures feature Sonam Kapoor and Sunita Kapoor, both looking stunning in heavy jewelleries and traditional Indian attires. In some photos, her sister Rhea Kapoor is also seen. While dad Anil Kapoor posted love emojis in the comment section, Sunita Kapoor replied back saying Miss you lots too. Love you love you love you. Sonam shared another set of throwback pictures with her mother-in-law Priya Ahuja and wished her on Mothers Day as well. In some of the vacation pictures, we can see the mom-in-law and daughter-in-law duo hugging each other. The Neerja actress expressed her gratitude to Priya Ahuja and thanked her for loving her unconditionally. Mom Sunita shared love emojis in the comment section. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Advertisement The makeshift Central Park hospital set up by evangelist Billy Graham's preacher son Franklin is being dismantled after the site discharged its final coronavirus patients. Pictures show the 14 tents being taken down on Monday after they were set up to help the nearby emergency room at Mt Sinai Hospital by Fifth Avenue. The 68-bed respiratory care unit had opened on April 1. The East Meadow site had been set up with help from Samaritan's Purse, an evangelical Christian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham. He traveled to the site last week to thank those who worked there, telling them: 'This hospital has been a beacon of life and a beacon of hope. Youve been able to touch lives.' Hospitals in the city had struggled to keep up with the exploding number of critical patients, prompting many to expand to temporary facilities. Samaritan's Purse treated more than 300 coronavirus patients in New York, including 190 at the Central Park site. More than 240 relief specialists served there at various times. But the aid did not come without criticism; at one stage Graham said he was being harassed for insisting that his hospital workers are opposed to gay marriage. He makes all volunteers agree to a Statement of Faith which includes the line 'marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female'. Pictures show the 14 tents being taken down on Monday after the 68-bed respiratory care unit opened April 1 The Central Park Field Hospital operated by Samaritan's Purse and used to help treat coronavirus patients is dismantled Hospitals in the city had struggled to keep up with the exploding number of critical patients, prompting many to expand Rev. Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse, pictured at his group's field hospital in New York's Central Park. The Christian relief charity has concluded its coronavirus efforts in the city New York City remains the epicenter of the US coronavirus outbreak with more than 178,000 confirmed cases and a confirmed death toll of 14,753, with 5,178 probable deaths. But Gov Andrew Cuomo said Monday several regions of upstate New York that have shown progress in taming the outbreak are ready to gradually restart economic activity by the end of the week. Cuomo last week said regions of the state could phase in reopening if they met seven conditions. COVID-19-related deaths and hospitalizations need to trend down and there must be enough hospital beds to meet a surge. Samaritan's purse had trucked in four trailers of equipment and gear, including tents, beds, personal protective equipment and 10 ventilators to treat the sickest patients at the end of March. The team of healthcare workers from around the US were on hand under the leadership of Elliott Tenpenny, a physician who's previously tended to Ebola patients in West Africa, Syrian refugees in Iraq and earthquake victims in Ecuador. 'This is honestly the most improbable place we've ever been,' he had told The New York Post. The East Meadow site had been set up with help from Samaritan's Purse, an evangelical Christian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham. He traveled to the site last week to thank those who worked there Samaritan's Purse treated more than 300 coronavirus patients in New York, including 190 at the Central Park site Graham had said he was being harassed for insisting his hospital workers are opposed to gay marriage New York City remains the epicenter of the US coronavirus outbreak with more than 178,000 confirmed cases and a confirmed death toll of 14,753, with 5,178 probable deaths Rev. Billy Graham, right, and his son Franklin Graham pictured in 2006. Billy Graham died in February 2018 Mr Graham - who has a long history of anti-LGBTQ beliefs - posted in a lengthy Facebook message about how he has been harassed by 'elected officials and others' in the state. 'While so many have expressed their appreciation and support, sadly some New York officials and a special interest group have expressed concerns or outright opposition to the presence of Samaritan's Purse and our field hospital in Central Park. 'They include: Eight Democratic members of New York's Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., The New York City Commission on Human Rights, The Reclaim Pride Coalition,' Graham alleged. Gov Andrew Cuomo said Monday several regions of upstate New York that have shown progress in taming the outbreak are ready to gradually restart economic activity by the end of the week Cuomo last week said regions of the state could phase in reopening if they met seven conditions. COVID-19-related deaths and hospitalizations need to trend down and there must be enough hospital beds to meet a surge Samaritan's purse had trucked in four trailers of equipment and gear, including tents, beds, personal protective equipment and 10 ventilators to treat the sickest patients at the end of March Last month, while setting up the temporary structure, in an attempt to allay fears because of the charity's anti-gay stance, Samaritan's Purse told state lawmakers that they would require those working at the hospital to sign an additional second pledge vowing not to discriminate against patients, according to the New York Times. Nonetheless, Graham justified his position by saying the group had a right to 'lawfully hire staff who share our Christian beliefs' because it is a religious charity. A hospital spokesman said: 'Mount Sinai and Samaritan's Purse are unified in our mission to provide the same world-class care to anyone and everyone who needs it. No questions asked.' Activist William Talen - best known for his satirical character Reverend Billy - was arrested at the hospital and escorted away by six police officers, one clutching what is believed to be Talen's rainbow flag. As he was being escorted away, the 69-year-old shouted: 'They have no business being in New York City. They are the virus.' Talen allegedly jumped the perimeter of the hospital and planted a flag on the grounds before he was arrested. Members of the international Christian humanitarian organization Samaritans's Purse put the finishing touches on a field hospital in New York's Central Park on March 30 The hospital was built by the Rev. Franklin Graham's Christian group and took in patients from the Mount Sinai Health System People in Personal Protective Equipment (P.P.E.) work to break down an area of The Samaritan's Purse Emergency Field Hospital in Central Park during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease on May 9 The makeshift field hospital was constructed in Central Park in just 48 hours to take the pressure off overwhelmed hospitals in the city. Samaritan's Purse COVID Response team lead Dr Elliott Tenpenny had told MSNBC: 'We're taking more patients all the time to help the people in New York City. 'In partnership with Mount Sinai, we're accepting patients and each day a certain number come through and we receive them throughout the day. He added: 'The challenge is those two hospitals [Mount Sinai hospitals in Brooklyn and Queens], those two boroughs, are really the ones that have been hit the hardest early on in this pandemic in New York City. 'We've been able to serve a great function here by offloading them and allowing them to treat more people. 'This virus doesn't just attack older Americans. There is greater risk for severe cases. 'This virus doesn't care who you are. It doesn't care how old you are. It's attacking people of all ages.' A Border Security Force jawan was killed and another personnel injured in an alleged fratricide incident at a camp in Manipur's Churachandpur distritct on Monday, officials said. They said the incident took place around 10 AM when a BSF head constable posted at the subsidiary training centre (STC) of the border guarding force in the district, allegedly fired a gunshot from his service rifle at his junior, a constable rank jawan. The head constable later turned the gun on himself and died while the constable he fired at is admitted to a hospital, a senior official said. They added that the troops were part of the security setup of the director of the STC who is an Inspector General rank officer. The BSF is deployed in the state as part of its task to guard the India-Bangladesh international border. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Akufo-Addo has extended the ban on public gatherings including religious activities, festivals and funerals till the end of May. The extension comes into full force effective Monday, May 11. Delivering his ninth national address on the governments fight against COVID-19, he said the closure of schools and ban on public gatherings had created a lot of inconvenience for many Ghanaians but we have no option but to stay the course. Tonight, I have come into your homes, to announce that the ban on public gatherings, as set out in Executive Instrument 34, has been extended, also to the end of the month ie, 31st May, President Akufo-Addo said. So during this period, there will continue to be a ban on public gatherings such as holding of conferences, workshops, parties, night clubs, drinking spots, festivals, political rallies, religious activities, sporting events. Al educational facilities private and public, continue to remain closed. The is still a ban on funerals, other than private burials with not more than 25 persons. It is noteworthy that the police is arresting and prosecution persons irrespective of their status in society who flout these regulations, he added. First time ban was declared President Akufo-Addo on March 15, 2020, in a television broadcast, declared the ban on all public gatherings including conferences, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies, church activities and other related events as part of measures to stop the spread of coronavirus in the country. At the time, Ghana had recorded six cases of COVID-19. The President in that broadcast gave a caveat that private burials were permitted however mourners present must not exceed 25. Private burials are permitted, but with limited numbers, not exceeding twenty-five (25) in attendance, President Akufo-Addo said. He subsequently on extended the ban twice for two weeks; one on April 12, 2020 and the other on 26th April, 2020. Already, schools have been shut down across the country. Most market places are open however under strict social-distancing protocols and the presence of handwashing facilities. Some local assemblies have moved in to close markets where traders flout the social distancing directives. Ghanas total statistics As at Sunday, 9.30pm, Ghana had conducted 160,501 tests and with total infections of 4,700 and 494 recoveries. The number of people who have died are 22. ---citinewsroom Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Joshua Howat Berger (Agence France-Presse) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Mon, May 11, 2020 15:06 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd73c36c 2 Environment Amazon,deforestation,Brazil,forest,forest-conservation,environment,coronavirus,COVID-19,pandemic Free It has not gotten much attention with the world focused on coronavirus, but deforestation has surged in the Amazon rainforest this year, raising fears of a repeat of last year's record-breaking devastation -- or worse. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hit a new high in the first four months of the year, according to data released Friday by Brazil's National Space Research Institute (INPE), which uses satellite images to track the destruction. A total of 1,202 square kilometers of forest -- an area more than 20 times the size of Manhattan -- was wiped out in the Brazilian Amazon from January to April, it found. That was a 55 percent increase from the same period last year, and the highest figure for the first four months of the year since monthly records began in August 2015. The numbers raise new questions about how well Brazil is protecting its share of the world's biggest rainforest under President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right climate change skeptic who advocates opening protected lands to mining and farming. "Unfortunately, it looks like what we can expect for this year are more record-breaking fires and deforestation," Greenpeace campaigner Romulo Batista said in a statement. Read also: As global leaders meet, the Amazon rainforest burns 'Paracetamol for a toothache' Last year, in Bolsonaro's first year in office, deforestation soared 85 percent in the Brazilian Amazon, to 10,123 square kilometers of forest. That loss -- nearly the size of Lebanon -- fueled worldwide alarm over the future of the rainforest, seen as vital to curbing climate change. The destruction was driven by record wildfires that raged across the Amazon from May to October, in addition to illegal logging, mining and farming on protected lands. The trend so far in 2020 is all the more worrying given that the usual high season for deforestation only starts in late May. "The beginning of the year is not the time where deforestation normally happens, because it's raining, and it's raining a lot," said Erika Berenguer, an ecologist at Oxford and Lancaster Universities. "In the past, when we see deforestation increase in the beginning of the year, it's an indicator that when deforestation season starts... you're going to see an increase, as well." Bolsonaro this week authorized the army to deploy to the Amazon to fight fires and deforestation from May 11. He also deployed the army last year, after facing scathing international criticism for downplaying the fires. Environmentalists said a better plan would be to give more support to Brazil's environmental protection programs. Under Bolsonaro, environmental agency IBAMA has faced staffing and budget cuts. Last month, the government fired the agency's top environmental enforcement officer, after he authorized a raid on illegal miners that was broadcast on television. Another problem with the government's military strategy, said Berenguer, is that it has focused exclusively on fires. That ignores the fact that fires are often caused by illegal farmers and ranchers bulldozing trees and then burning them, she told AFP. Addressing only the fires "is like me taking paracetamol because I have a toothache: it's going to reduce the pain, but if it's a cavity, it's not going to cure it," she said. Read also: The young Brazilians fighting for the Amazon Twin tragedies The coronavirus pandemic is only making things more complicated in the Amazon region. Brazil, which holds more than 60 percent of the Amazon, is the epicenter of the pandemic in Latin America, with nearly 10,000 deaths so far. The state of Amazonas, largely covered in forest, has been one of the hardest hit. With only one intensive care unit, the state has been overwhelmed by the outbreak. There are also fears of the potentially devastating effects the virus could have among indigenous communities, which are historically vulnerable to outside diseases. With attention, resources and lives taken away by coronavirus, the fear is that officials, environmentalists and inhabitants could have less capacity to protect the forest. The mayor of the state capital, Manaus, Arthur Virgilio, drew a link between the two tragedies this week in an appeal for help from world leaders. "We need medical personnel, ventilators, protective equipment, anything that can save the lives of those who protect the forest," he said. It is unclear whether the pandemic will have an impact on deforestation, but the fact that they have surged in tandem in Brazil is cause for concern. "There is a web of connected factors (driving deforestation), and in the context of coronavirus, things are even more worrying," Greenpeace Brazil spokeswoman Carolina Marcal told AFP. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Author's Note: Though this pastoral letter was recently written for one individual who is graduating with a Doctor of Ministry degree from Erskine Theological Seminary, this deeply personal message has universal application. Here, then, is a modern pastoral epistle on the significant opportunities and spiritual challenges for all graduates from the heart of a Christian shepherd. My Dear Friend, To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord (2 Timothy 1:2 ESV). The purpose of my little epistle is to congratulate you and to encourage you in Christ on the occasion of receiving your doctoral degree. Your life reveals one whose ambitions and impulses are under the control of the Holy Spirit. Such a life is a beacon of light, albeit the reflected brilliance of a Greater Being who is the light of the world. So, I begin by thanking you, not for what you have done, or will do, but because of who you are in Jesus, our Lord. Congratulations again on your remarkable achievement. And just how extraordinary is this happy event? We must consider that while earned doctorates (professional or academic) are more frequent in the clergy, and higher education sectors, only 4.5% of Americans receive a doctoral degree (U.S. Census Bureau report, 2019).[1] Women make up considerably less than 4%. The achievement places those select few doctoral recipients in a rarified height, indeed. Now, think of the obstacles that you overcame by Gods help to come to this place. You are the pride of your Seminary. However, I think you are much more. I believe that your achievement justifies calling you the an American success story and this I say without the slightest hint of hyperbole. Earning a doctorate is a presenting event that has, of necessity, many unseen virtues beneath and beyond the degree: diligence, perseverance, and everyday old hard work. For these gifts and graces, we give thanks. Of course, as in everything, there is the entropy of sin in a fallen world. For some who are careless in their dependence upon Christ, proleptic and unseemly powers that are at work in the world will seize upon the weakened spiritual immunity, infecting the virtues that led to the degree. These foul earthly forces which can eat away at virtues, leaving only morsels of memory. But if they are allowed to remain, the infestation will produce a nest of potential virtue killers. From this dynamic of decay will grow mutations: self-centeredness, austerity, aloofness, ingratitude, and that most hideous and vile bacteria, pride. At length, the disease creates a brittle, doctrinaire disciple that no longer resembles the Lord of love who called them, and who is, almost universally, avoided for their contemptuous opinion of all but themselves. May I exercise my pastoral credentials for this auspicious occasion? Indeed, if I were permitted to speak a word of ministerial encouragement, a word that might enrich the virtues, and strengthen your spiritual resiliency, I would I say to you, My beloved friend, you will be wise and faithful to use your newly-earned credentials as a license to learn, and a certificate to serve God and Man. As a license to learn, you have honed research and writing skills that can be used to tackle the great questions that are forever concerning to the Body of Christ: ethical questions about, e.g., the extent and limits of technology in the service of the Great Commission; the possibility of relating the many variables about how Faith matures; organizational pathologies that plague the practice of ministry, and inhibit world evangelization; and spiritual cancers of the human soul. Therefore, 'Do theology' in the service of the Church, from the most humble act of theological reflection to mammoth scholarly projects that will require the span of lifes years to investigate. As a certificate in service to God and Man, I speak of the object of your study and teaching. Let your doctoral degree be the towel that you use to wash the feet of others whose journey has left them weak. In short, the words of our blessed Lord must be inscribed on the standard that is forever unfurled before us: 'For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more (Luke 12:48 K.J.V.).' Please know that our well-placed pride is not greater than our earnest and fervent prayers. In the hardest days, remember how God brought you thus far. In days of success and I ask God to grant you many remember that all good things come from Him and be grateful. For Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:17 ESV). I am deeply honored to be your colleague in the Gospel of Gods grace, and I pray that many souls will be saved, many lives transformed, and a multitude of souls safe in the arms of Jesus when He comes again, as a result of your lifes response to His unsearchable grace ( 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20). Commending you to Christ and the Word of His grace, I am Yours Faithfully, M.A.M. [1]US Census Bureau (2019). Number of People With Masters and Doctoral Degrees Doubles Since 2000. The United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 5, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/02/number-of-people-with-masters-and-phd-degrees-double-since-2000.html A site near the future South San Francisco Caltrain Station has been sold at a time when most commercial real estate transactions are paralyzed by the uncertainties of the coronavirus pandemic. IQHQ, a real estate developer that specializes in biotech, bought 580 Dubuque Ave., where a 213,000-square-foot life science complex is planned. The company, headquartered near San Diego, previously raised $770 million for projects. The previous owner, Republic Urban, had submitted an application for city approvals in February. It will likely take another year to win approvals, although IQHQ will start talking to prospective tenants later this year, according to President Tracy Murphy. Our business plan is to do iconic development dedicated to life sciences in neighborhoods that have a mix of opportunities to live, work and play, she said. This site squarely meets all of our objectives. Murphy said biotech remains as active as it was prior to the coronavirus shutdown. As long as the health crisis persists its likely that capital will continue to flow into the sector from philanthropic, government and private sources. We are feeling really good about the life science industry right now, Murphy said. We dont think there is a brighter spot around the industry right now. Murphy was previously head of biotech at Kilroy Realty, one of San Franciscos biggest office landlords. The price of the sale couldnt immediately be verified in public records. South San Francisco City Manager Mike Futrell agreed with Murphys assessment. We have talked with all our major biotech players in South San Francisco and they are incredibly busy right now, said Futrell. Many are engaged in research and development related to COVID-19 testing or potential vaccines or treatments. We have seen no slowdown at all in the biotech space. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes The building is part of downtown South San Franciscos redevelopment plan, which will bring 4,000 housing units to the neighborhood. Three housing complexes have already opened and three more are under construction all which will be within walking distance of the new Caltrain station as well as the IQHQ building. The new Caltrain station, which is under construction and is slated to open in 2021, is a few hundred yards from the current station. This creates a lot of opportunity for synergies, said Futrell. This is a prime location for a jobs center where people can also live and take transit. A recent survey by the brokerage Cushman & Wakefield found that one-third of all commercial real estate deals leases and property sales are indefinitely on hold and one-third are being renegotiated to reflect the weaker economic forecast. The last third, which are going forward as planned, are all biotech or health care deals. Biotech developments in South City include Kilroy Oyster Point, a 2.5 million-square-foot development, a portion of which will include Stripes new headquarters. J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen Jaipur, May 12 : The police had to apply mild force to disperse thousands of migrant workers from West Bengal who came out on the street in Shastri Nagar's Nahari Ka Naka here on Monday to protest against the food crisis faced by them even as their landlords continued demanding rent at a time when their funds were exhausted. While gathering on the street, they openly flouted social distancing norms and did not even cover their faces with masks. The police reached the spot when they were marching towards the district collectorate to raise demand to be sent back home, saying that they had already registered themselves as migrant workers with the state government and hence they should be sent back home as early as possible. The police first appealed them to go back to their homes, and when they refused to oblige, the police had to apply mild force which left a few people injured. Some of them complained that the ration they were getting was reduced in quantity. They also demanded that they should be given rice instead of wheat. The administration assured that sufficient ration would be given to them. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Rajeev Pachar, confirmed that the migrants were from West Bengal who worked as labourers. New Delhi: The Nepal government on Monday summoned the Indian envoy to protest against the construction of a road in Lipulekh area that is claimed by Kathmandu, signalling an escalation of the diplomatic row on the matter. India on Saturday rejected Nepals initial protest against the construction of the road to Lipulekh on the border with China, saying the region is completely within the territory of India and both sides could resolve such boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue. People familiar with developments said Indias envoy Vinay Mohan Kwatra was summoned to the foreign ministry in Kathmandu, where foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali handed over a diplomatic note of protest. The foreign ministry also tweeted: Foreign Minister Hon. @PradeepgyawaliK conveyed Government of Nepals position on boundary issues to Ambassador of India to Nepal H.E. Mr. Vinay Mohan Kwatra at a meeting held at MoFA today and handed over a diplomatic note in this regard. No further details were available. There was no immediate response to the development from Indian officials. The border row erupted months after Nepal was irked by the depiction of Kalapani, a region claimed by Kathmandu, as part of Uttarakhand in new Indian maps showing the Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Nepal sought talks to address the Kalapani issue, but New Delhi rejected Kathmandus protest, saying the new maps accurately depicted Indian territory. Earlier on Monday, Gyawali said Nepal could not wait for the end of the Covid-19 crisis for holding boundary talks with India. Gyawali, who was summoned by the Nepal parliaments international relations committee, also said Nepal will hold talks with China after sorting out the issue with India, The Kathmandu Post reported. The Nepal parliamentary panel had summoned Gyawali to discuss the opening of the road to Lipulekh by the Indian government last week. Nepal, India and China are yet to ascertain the tri-junction in Lipulekh. So after talks with India, we will hold talks with China as well, Gyawal told the committee. We are ready for talks at any level with India at the Prime Ministers level or the foreign secretary level, he added. On Saturday, Nepal expressed regret at the inauguration of the route from Dharchula in Uttarakhand to Lipulekh, with the foreign ministry contending the road passes through Nepali territory. Defence minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 80km road on Friday to curtail the time taken for the pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar. The road ends at Lipulekh Pass, and will help pilgrims avoid dangerous high-altitude routes through Sikkim and Nepal. The recently inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in the state of Uttarakhand lies completely within the territory of India. The road follows the pre-existing route used by the pilgrims of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said on May 9. India and Nepal have an established mechanism for boundary issues, and the delineation of the border with Nepal is ongoing, Srivastava said. India is also committed to resolving outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue, he added. Nepals foreign ministry had sought talks between the foreign secretaries and Srivastava had said the two side are in the process of scheduling these talks, which would be held after they have dealt with the Covid-19 crisis. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Boris Johnson last night warned that there was no guarantee the world would find a coronavirus vaccine. The Prime Minister said we may be living with the disease for a long time despite the UK being at the forefront of efforts to defeat it. However, the Governments chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance gave a more optimistic appraisal, saying he would be surprised if a vaccine wasnt found. In a foreword to his blueprint to relaxing the lockdown rules, published earlier, Mr Johnson said the Government needed to plan for a worst-case scenario where scientists did not find a vaccine Mr Johnson said at the daily press conference: I hope, hope, hope that we will achieve a vaccine that can defeat the virus. Im hearing some very encouraging things from whats going on at Oxford to achieve a vaccine. But he added: This is by no means guaranteed. I believe Im right in saying that even after 18 years we still dont have a vaccine for Sars. What I can tell you is that the UK is at the forefront of concerting international activity to try to deliver a vaccine. Scientists are pictured above working on a coronavirus vaccine prototype at a laboratory in Bangkok, Thailand He said the Government was putting huge sums into finding a vaccine, but added: If you ask me am I absolutely certain that we wont be living with this for a long time to come, I cant say that. It may be that we have to become ever more flexible, ever more agile, ever smarter in the way that we tackle, not just this infection, but potentially future infections as well. In a foreword to his blueprint to relaxing the lockdown rules, published earlier, Mr Johnson said the Government needed to plan for a worst-case scenario where scientists did not find a vaccine. It is clear that the only feasible long-term solution lies with a vaccine or drug-based treatment, he said. But while we hope for a breakthrough, hope is not a plan. A mass vaccine or treatment may be more than a year away. Indeed, in a worst-case scenario, we may never find a vaccine. So our plan must countenance a situation where we are in this, together, for the long haul, even while doing all we can to avoid that outcome. A busy London tube train is pictured above this morning. Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics published a study showing 136,000 people in England were currently infected, equivalent to 0.24 per cent of the population At last nights press conference, Sir Patrick said of the prospect of a vaccine: Its a tough thing to do. But he added: Id be surprised if we didnt end up with something. He also revealed that data shows that in London, around 10 per cent of people tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, showing they have had the virus. Across the country however, he said that amount was around 4 per cent. Oxford University is one of the leaders in the global race to find a vaccine for the disease and has paired up with pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca to manufacture it. Its drug reached the human trials stage at the end of last month and is one of the hopes for developing a workable vaccine. Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics published a study showing 136,000 people in England were currently infected, equivalent to 0.24 per cent of the population. If you're a human being, then it's safe to say that you have been part of gossip or a topic of one, don't worry because it's natural and everyone does it. Don't believe it? Here's the science to prove that. Read More: Having Trouble Choosing Between Apple TV Channels Or Amazon Prime Videos? Read This! Why Do People Gossip? Social scientists have done a study that everyone and they mean everyone is hardwired to pay attention to gossip and would join in on the conversation one way or another. This is because it's an evolutionary adaptation or human nature to do so. Frank McAndrew, who is a psychology professor at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, said: "We're the descendants of people who were good at this ... In prehistoric times, people who were fascinated by the lives of other people were more successful." McAndrew, who is an expert on human social behavior and gossip, said that to thrive during the time of cavemen, they had to know what was happening to the people around. So it was a trait that was necessary to evolve. He said, "Who is sleeping with whom? Who has power? Who has access to resources? And if you weren't good at that, you weren't very successful," How Much Gossip Do You Hear Per Day? In most cases, researchers define gossip as talking about someone or something which isn't present and sharing information that isn't widely known. Based on the analysis by researchers at the University of California Riverside, the average human being spends about 52 minutes per day with or without them knowing it. The majority of gossip is harmless, however, and only 15 percent of gossip is the negative kind. Neutral gossip, like for example, "he's late for work" or "she's stuck at traffic," helps build friendships, community, or even learn information that's vital for having a social life. Megan Robbins, a UC Riverside psychology professor, said it's the basis of human interaction. Read More: Fortnite: Party Royale Event Ft. Dillon Francis, Steve Aoki, And Deadmau5; Full Recap Right Here! "You can establish a relationship by talking about other people and finding out something about others in the group ... Even for those types of gossip that are evaluative, you're saying, 'I'm trusting you with this information.' Gossip Isn't As Bad As You Think The practice only becomes harmful when the conversation isn't going to help social learning, scientists have said. Rude or hurtful comments are examples of gossip that isn't socially helping. Robbins also mentioned that there is compelling research that gossip might also serve as a moral behavior check on people by deterring potential slackers or cheaters in a group setting. This is because people care about their reputations in general and avoid being the one being gossiped about. Also, it can be a way to figure out sociably acceptable rules in a setting like a workplace. Canteen or water cooler talks help find out what is socially acceptable behavior and who to approach when needed. McAndrew also said that "Sharing gossip with someone is a bonding mechanism ... It does kind of increase morale." So knowing all this, you might find that gossip is not as bad as you think since the time of the cavemen, this is already being done. As long as it is constructive gossip, then everything is fine. Read More: The Community Cast Reunites For COVID-19 Fund Raiser, Donald Glover Is Even Coming! 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. French Top 14 clubs could boycott next season's European Champions Cup if they are stopped from having eight sides in the competition, newspaper Midi Olympique reported on Monday. The league wants an increase from the usual six outfits in the top-tier continental competition so record 20-time French champions Toulouse, who were seventh in the table when the Top 14 was declared over in April, and Montpellier who were eighth, can feature in it. The EPCR, who run both the Champions Cup and second-tier Challenge Cup, are considering reform for next season due to issues regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Options include increasing the main tournament from 18 to 24 teams, which is the preferred solution for French sides, but the English Premiership and the Pro14 also have unresolved problems with both leagues postponed. "We have particularly attractive formats available to us to do it. We will adapt in the common interest," EPCR president Vincent Gaillard told the paper. This term's Champions Cup has been put on hold at the quarter-final stage due to COVID-19. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Yoruba movie star, Mercy Aigbe, has berated younger actors especially newbies in the industry who disrespect their senior colleagues on movie production sets. She expressed displeasure at their attitude during an Instagram live session with her colleague, Afeez Abiodun, monitored by PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday. The mother-of-two said many young actors in the Yoruba movie industry were not trained but just wandered into the industry. These people (younger actors) dont know the rules of the job. Thats why you tell them that call time is for 8 a.m. and they come on set at 11 a.m. or 12 p.m. Thats because they were not properly trained before joining the industry. Imagine costumiers providing them with the costume that goes with their character and they reject it insolently because they feel too big to be dressed in some of the outfits. How can you be cast to play the role of a poor person and refuse to wear clothes of a poor person? Then you try to talk to them and they talk rudely to anybody. We are Yoruba movie actors. I may not be a Yoruba girl but even as a Benin girl, I know there is something called respect. You have to respect your elders and the people that started before you. It is really sad that these young actors dont seem to care about these things, she lamented She said whatever the young actors do to their senior colleagues would be done to them by those coming behind them. My colleagues and I have suffered on the job so that we can enjoy it, just like we are going through some things now for the coming generations to have better experiences. So, the simple regard you will give to them will not cost you anything. The alleged lack of respect is commonplace in the Yoruba movie industry. The likes of Iyabo Ojo and Fathia Balogun have discussed the issue of respect and hierarchy especially amongst actresses in the Yoruba movie industry. In a recent interview, another popular Yoruba actress, Bimbo Oshin, however, said the trend is not peculiar to her industry alone. She noted, It is more prominent in our industry because the Yoruba culture is big on respect even if the other person is just a year older. I feel respect should be earned and not demanded. It shouldnt really be an issue among actors because I feel there should be a way around it all. Even though Igbos dont really attach much importance to respect, some of them still demand it within their film industry, she said. READ ALSO: The filmmaker added that while it is wrong to join the Yoruba movie industry and not respect the people that have been on the job prior, issues of age differences should not interfere with job delivery as actors should remain professional regardless. Talking about the peculiarity of these issues to women in the industry, the 48-year-old actress said Yoruba male actors also experience similar issues. The only difference, according to her, is the fact that they are able to handle it more carefully than women and do not fight dirty. Mrs Oshin recalled, When I started, I used to think Antar was Antar Laniyans nickname so I used to call him Antar until I was told that was his first name. I went to him and I apologised but I found out he wasnt even bothered at all. In recent times, some of the cat fights amongst some Yoruba actresses have been between experienced actors and newbies. From Mercy Aigbe to Toyin Abraham and the latest warring parties, Anjorin and Oshodi-Oke, a host of other Yoruba actresses have taken to Instagram to fight dirty. Here's the most recent top news you may have missed in Raleigh. Interaction with armed demonstrators leaves Raleigh family shaken The group of about a dozen people, carrying flags and firearms, were protesting Saturday in opposition to the stay-at-home orders of Gov. Roy Cooper. Read the full story on The News & Observer. Gunfire reported at Crabtree Valley Mall parking lot Raleigh police are investigating an apparent shooting at the Crabtree Valley Mall parking lot on Sunday afternoon. At the time this story was posted, police had not said whether they had found a suspect. Read the full story on ABC11 WTVD. Sheetz employee tests positive for COVID-19 An employee at the Sheetz on 9915 Fayetteville Road has tested positive for COVID-19, a company spokesperson said. Read the full story on WNCN. Fox attacks man walking dogs in Brier Creek neighborhood Dick Claxon was attempting to protect his two dogs in the Brier Creek neighborhood when a small fox ran up and bit his leg. Read the full story on ABC Raleigh, WTVD. Shoppers cheer as retailers reopen in Phase 1 Shoppers were cheering when the HomeGoods on Falls of Neuse reopened Saturday morning. There was a similar celebration at the nearby TJ Maxx. Read the full story on ABC11 WTVD. This story was created automatically using data about news stories on social media from CrowdTangle, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent. 1. Acupuncture may be safe and effective for easing indigestion symptoms Abstract: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M19-2880 Patient Summary: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/P20-0006 URL goes live when the embargo lifts A 4-week course of acupuncture increased self-reported relief and improvement of symptoms for patients with a subtype of indigestion known as postprandial distress syndrome (PDS). The effects of acupuncture persisted through the 12-week follow-up without symptom relapse or rebound. Findings from a randomized clinical trial are published in Annals of Internal Medicine. PDS, a condition characterized by bothersome early fullness after eating and upper abdominal bloating, places a substantial burden on the health care system because of its high prevalence in a relatively young patient population and the chronic relapsing nature of its symptoms. The condition is reported to have a great negative effect on health-related quality of life, which makes finding an effective treatment imperative. Previous studies on acupuncture have been limited by the small number of participants and poor study quality. Researchers from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine randomly assigned 278 Chinese patients with PDS to 12 sessions of acupuncture or sham acupuncture over 4 weeks and then compared the proportion of patients in each group who reported "extreme improvement" or "improvement" in their stomach symptoms as well as the proportion of patients who experienced complete resolution of their symptoms. They found that a significantly higher proportion of patients in the acupuncture group experienced overall improvement or elimination of their symptoms than in the sham acupuncture group. The improvement was sustained for at least 12 weeks after the final acupuncture treatment and there were no serious adverse events among the study patients. Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF please contact Lauren Evans at laevans@acponline.org. To speak with the lead author, Cun-Zhi Liu, MD, PhD, please contact Jing-Wen Yang, MD, PhD at yangjw0626@126.com. 2. Buprenorphine-naloxone effectively treats narcotic bowel syndrome in a long-suffering patient The drug combination may work together to address the underlying pathology of the syndrome Abstract: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/L19-0798 URL goes live when the embargo lifts The combination of buprenorphine and naloxone should be investigated as a potential treatment for narcotic bowel syndrome. The drugs seem to work together to address the underlying pathology of the syndrome. Findings from a brief research report are published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Narcotic bowel syndrome is a chronic pain syndrome that occurs with opioid use and persists as opioid treatment is continued or escalated. More than half of patients with this syndrome who undergo opioid detoxification return to opioid use within a few months because of continued pain. Researchers from the University of Rochester reported the case of a 41-year old woman who had been taking fast-acting opioids for pain for 8 years, with continued episodes of abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting, requiring hundreds of hospital visits. When other causes of pain had been ruled out and all other treatments failed, the clinicians treated her narcotic bowel syndrome with buprenorphine and naloxone. The patient reported greatly improved abdominal pain over the first few days, and her pain resolved entirely after 1 week. She had no further episodes of vomiting, and her nausea resolved almost entirely after 1 month. According to the researchers, this approach may work because the combination of a narcotic partial agonist with a low-dose antagonist could result in improved pain control because the antagonist would block Gs pathways. Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF please contact Lauren Evans at laevans@acponline.org. To speak with the lead author, Elizabeth Loomis, MD, please contact Edwina Smith-Gardner at Edwina_Smith-gardner@URMC.Rochester.edu. 3. Presence of residual shunt after PFO closure is associated with increased risk for recurrent stroke Abstract: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M19-3583 Editorial: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M20-1879 URL goes live when the embargo lifts Presence of residual shunt after patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure is associated with an increased risk for stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) recurrence. These patients may need to be followed long term with multidisciplinary care. Findings from a prospective cohort study are published in Annals of Internal Medicine. PFO, a congenital right-to-left interatrial shunt found in one in four normal adults, is increasingly recognized as a major cause stroke. Recent clinical trials and systematic reviews showed efficacy of shunt-eliminating PFO closure in preventing recurrent stroke, particularly in patients with a large shunt. However, in clinical practice, residual shunt may be observed in up to 25 percent of patients after PFO closure, and its long-term influence on stroke recurrence is unknown. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School followed 1,078 consecutive patients with PFO-attributable stroke for up to 11 years to investigate the association of residual shunt after PFO closure with the incidence of recurrent stroke and TIA. After transcatheter closure, each patient had a transthoracic echocardiogram with intravenous saline bubble injection to detect intracardiac right-to-left shunting at 24 hours, at 1 and 6 months, and then annually. The researchers found clinically significant (moderate to large) residual shunt in 13.9 percent of patients. Follow-up, which averaged about 3.5 years, revealed a significantly higher incidence of recurrent TIA or stroke in patients with moderate to large residual shunt. Based on their findings, for such patients, the authors recommend: long-term multidisciplinary follow-up with neurologists, cardiologists, and primary care providers; stepping up to anticoagulant or dual-antiplatelet therapy, especially during the first year, when recurrent strokes are most common; and maximizing the management of PFO-specific risk factors. Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF please contact Lauren Evans at laevans@acponline.org. To speak with the lead author, MingMing Ning, MD, MMSc, please contact mmning@mgh.harvard.edu. ### Also new in this issue: Harmonized Outcome Measures for Use in Depression Patient Registries and Clinical Practice Richard E. Gliklich, MD; Michelle B. Leavy, MPH; Lisa Cosgrove, PhD; Gregory E. Simon, MD, MPH; Bradley N. Gaynes, MD, MPH; Lars E. Peterson, MD, PhD; Bryan Olin, PhD; Collette Cole, RN, BSN; J. Raymond DePaulo Jr., MD; Philip Wang, MD, DrPH; Chris M. Crowe, PhD; Cristina Cusin, MD; Mary Nix, MS; Elise Berliner, PhD; Madhukar H. Trivedi, MD Research and Reporting Methods Abstract: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M19-3818 Editorial: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M20-1993 As France prepares to start letting public life resume after eight weeks under a coronavirus lockdown, many parents are deeply torn over a question without a clear or correct answer: Should I send my child back to school? The French government is easing some of the closure and home-confinement orders it imposed March 17 to curb infections, with businesses permitted to reopen, residents cleared to return to workplaces and schools welcoming some students again starting Monday. Only preschools and elementary schools are set to start up at first, and classes will be capped at 10 students at preschools and 15 elsewhere. Administrators were told to prioritize instruction for children ages 5, 6 and 10. Due to the slow startup, as well as ongoing fears about COVID-19 in hard-hit France, school attendance will not be compulsory right away. Parents and guardians may keep children at home and teachers will provide lessons like they have during the nationwide lockdown. Students with parents who want or need to send them to school are not guaranteed places in the smaller classes and only will be allowed to attend if their school can accommodate them. Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer estimated that 80% to 85% of Frances 50,500 preschools and elementary schools will open this week. Junior high schools in regions with fewer virus cases are expected to reopen on May 18. A target date hasnt been scheduled yet for for high schools. Given the ambiguous education guidance and uncertainties over spreading coronavirus, French parents are conflicted as they puzzle over making the most responsible decision. Cecile Bardin, whose two sons are 6 and 2, said she thinks it is too soon to put them back in their nursery and primary schools in Paris. I am not reassured at the moment, because it will be very difficult to keep safe distance at school, especially for the little ones, who will want to play together, Bardin said. Mathilde Manaud and her partner are raising their 3-year-old and 7-year-old in Le Pre Saint-Gervais, in the French capitals eastern suburbs. They agreed to send the children kids back to school if there are spaces. Truth is, we dont know whether we are right to do so or no, we dont know if its a mistake. We ask ourselves this question every day, and we change our mind every day, Manaud said. We are trying to convince ourselves that if they are reopening, they assume they can handle the situation. Returning students will find their classrooms running differently. Teachers will wear masks and remind children to social distance from each other and to wash their hands several times a day. French President Emmanuel Macron sought to reassure parents and teachers while visiting an elementary school in a town west of Paris last week. Macron said schools would reopen gradually because he wants things done well. School director Mathieu Morel warned the president that children remain children. There are spontaneous moves which are hard to prevent. The school expects about 50 children out of an enrolled 181 to come back this week. Some mayors in France have refused to reopen local schools just yet. Michele Berthy, mayor of the town of Montmorency north of Paris, sent parents a letter saying the governments health guidelines were unenforceable. Although Im for the relaunch of our economy, I am certain that public health must remain our priority, Berthy wrote. Mayors in other areas set local restrictions on enrollment, such as limiting school access to children of essential workers such as police officers and health care providers, and to families whose living conditions are precarious. Thats the situation in Paris, where Ingrid Rousseau hoped to send the youngest of her two children, who is 6, back to school. She doesnt know if her son will be allowed to go, even though both she and partner are working. Rousseau noted the fatigue of parents who have been overwhelmed with homeschooling, work and domestic duties for almost two months. I dont feel quite up to the job of teaching, she said. We are swamped. We dont have enough time. And we cannot do a big part of the activities they do in class. Paris officials estimate about 15% of the citys students will be able to go back to school. Other towns and cities think they can serve about half of the children normally in preschool and elementary school. Scientists are still split on the role that children play in transmitted the new coronavirus, which has infected over 176,000 people in France, killing at least 26,300 of them, according to government figures. Health officials have repeatedly said that children appear to be the demographic that is among the least-affected by COVID-19. The World Health Organisation has reported that children seem to mostly suffer only mild symptoms, although some severe cases and deaths have been recorded as the virus continues to spread globally. Several studies published earlier this year suggested that closing schools has a negligible impact on reducing the spread of the coronavirus and that children are less easily infected and not responsible for the cases within families. Other infectious disease experts say while children can acquire the virus and may be infectious, its clear they are not super-spreaders of COVID-19 as they are believed to be with influenza. The United Nations educational, scientific and cultural agency, UNESCO, estimated that up to 87% of pupils and students across the world have seen their schools being closed, affecting more than 1.5 billion young people in 195 countries. Abu Dhabi International Airport is the primary gateway to Abu Dhabi and a key global transit hub for passengers and airfreight, offering connections to the worlds key markets. Its specialist cargo facilities offer significant capacity for transhipments and the efficient handling of time and temperature-sensitive goods. Shareef Al Hashmi, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi Airports, said: This is a critical time for the aviation sector and our nation as we come together to combat the global COVID-19 pandemic. We are committed to ensuring the health and safety of our employees, stakeholders and passengers as we continue to operate our airports and facilities in order to provide our communities and healthcare centres with the goods and equipment they need. We do not take this responsibility lightly and have mobilised special teams to enhance our cargo operations and facilitate the necessary repatriation and humanitarian flights departing from Abu Dhabi International Airport. I am especially proud of our employees continued dedication and commitment during this challenging time, added Al Hashmi. Waleed Salem Al Hemeiri, Acting Deputy Chief Operations Officer of Abu Dhabi Airports, said: Abu Dhabi International Airport has implemented a range of special measures across its cargo and passenger operations, including workforce cluster management, thermal imaging cameras at key transit areas, free COVID-19 tests for passengers and employees and roster realignment to ensure the continued safe and efficient management of vital supplies and repatriation flights. We are coordinating with all relevant authorities, partners and suppliers at Abu Dhabi International Airport to bolster the UAEs efforts to protect public health and maintain the integrity of our operations, added Al Hemeiri. Cargo and airfreight Cargo operations at the airport are ongoing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, facilitating the supply of vital equipment and goods to communities and healthcare facilities across the UAE and the world. During the month of March, the airport processed 7,315 cargo flights and 51,885,686 million kilograms of cargo, handling on average more than 1,800 flights and 13 million kilograms of cargo per week. Over the past month, the UAE capitals cargo hub experienced heavy import cargo volumes, mainly made up of commodities like facemasks and medical supplies, in addition to traditional airfreight items and an increase in perishable traffic, especially meat. Logistics operators and cargo carriers such as Etihad Cargo have increased operations, making use of available capacity during the airports reduced passenger flight schedule. Its freighter network has introduced capacity to countries including India, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea and other destinations. Additionally, Etihad Cargos freighter network from Abu Dhabi offers flights to Riyadh, London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Repatriation and humanitarian flights Following the suspension of all commercial passenger flights to and from the UAE on 26 March 2020, Abu Dhabi International Airport has facilitated a number of repatriation and humanitarian flights for Emiratis returning to the UAE as well as expatriates and foreign nationals departing for their countries of origin. Etihad Airways has been operating special flights from Abu Dhabi to London, Zurich, Brussels, Tokyo, Dublin, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Seoul, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta. In addition to enabling passengers reach their desired destinations, the flights are utilising their belly-hold capacity to transport critical cargo. Prioritizing health and safety Abu Dhabi Airports is coordinating and collaborating with all relevant authorities including the Abu Dhabi Government, General Civil Aviation Authority, Department of Health, and Ministry of Health and Prevention to ensure every available precautionary measure is being taken to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of its employees, stakeholders and passengers. The robust set of precautionary measures include thermal screening at passenger and staff entrances, free COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing for passengers and employees, workforce cluster management and regular risk assessments in coordination with Etihad Airways medical teams, enforcement of social distancing guidelines and roster realignment to ensure ample staffing at all times, in addition to the frequent sterilisation of workspaces and common areas throughout Abu Dhabi International Airports facilities. BURLINGTON, Mass. and PLANO, Texas, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition of National Hospital Week, May 10 through 16, Keurig Dr Pepper (NYSE: KDP) is encouraging consumers to express their thanks and appreciation to healthcare workers on social media. For every post of gratitude that includes #FuelingtheFrontline, the Company will provide a cup of coffee to a hospital worker, up to one million cups. The campaign is part of the Company's Fueling the Frontline initiative that has donated Keurig brewers and coffee to thousands of breakrooms in more than 350 hospitals across the country, with more than two million cups of coffee and other beverages donated since the COVID-19 crisis began. A special program feature was a two-week Keurig mobile truck tour in April that visited hospitals in the Dallas Fort-Worth area near the Company's Plano, Texas co-headquarters location, providing hospital workers and local first responders a unique moment outside to enjoy a cup of coffee and other beverages provided by Keurig Dr Pepper. "We are proud to support the healthcare community tirelessly working on the frontline of this pandemic to care for those in need. This campaign provides an opportunity to share our gratitude for their courage and sacrifice. We are honored to donate coffee and beverages, giving these brave medical workers a moment to relax and recharge before heading back into the fight," said KDP Chairman and CEO Bob Gamgort. To launch the campaign, Keurig Dr Pepper today unveiled a video across its Keurig, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and Laughing Man social media channels, recognizing frontline healthcare workers for their resilience and compassion during these challenging times. The Company has also recognized its own frontline employees, who continue to manufacture, distribute and restock retail shelves, with financial incentives and enhanced benefits, as well as a free Keurig brewer and coffee as a gesture of appreciation for their dedication during this crisis. The Company also enabled its office employees to gift a Keurig brewer and coffee to an essential worker of their choosing. In other relief efforts, Keurig Dr Pepper donated $250,000 to the National Restaurant Associations' Employee Relief Fund to provide cash grants to U.S. restaurant workers financially impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and 5,000 meals to the Together Without Hunger campaign a Panera, Feeding America and DKMS initiative. To learn more about how Keurig Dr Pepper is supporting its communities, employees and customers during the COVID-19 crisis, please visit https://www.keurigdrpepper.com/en/covid. About Keurig Dr Pepper Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) is a leading beverage company in North America, with annual revenue in excess of $11 billion and nearly 26,000 employees. KDP holds leadership positions in soft drinks, specialty coffee and tea, water, juice and juice drinks and mixers, and markets the #1 single serve coffee brewing system in the U.S. and Canada. The Company's portfolio of more than 125 owned, licensed and partner brands is designed to satisfy virtually any consumer need, any time, and includes Keurig, Dr Pepper, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Canada Dry, Snapple, Bai, Mott's, CORE and The Original Donut Shop. Through its powerful sales and distribution network, KDP can deliver its portfolio of hot and cold beverages to nearly every point of purchase for consumers. The Company is committed to sourcing, producing and distributing its beverages responsibly through its Drink Well. Do Good. corporate responsibility platform, including efforts around circular packaging, efficient natural resource use and supply chain sustainability. For more information, visit, www.keurigdrpepper.com. Contacts: Media: Katie Gilroy 781-418-3345 [email protected] Investors: Tyson Seely 781-418-3352 [email protected] Steve Alexander 972-673-6769 [email protected] SOURCE Keurig Dr Pepper Related Links http://www.keurigdrpepper.com The Philippine government was under pressure Monday to partially lift a 2-month-old coronavirus lockdown, one of the worlds strictest community quarantines, as COVID-19 cases nationwide crossed the 11,000 mark. Duterte was meeting advisers and health authorities at the presidential palace late Monday after a majority of mayors that make up Metropolitan Manila composed of 16 cities and one town said they were seeking an extension of movement restrictions beyond May 15. Business leaders, however, have pressed for a partial reopening of establishments, citing the lockdowns ripple effects on the economy. Well as I said, the recommendation of the Metro Manila mayors will be taken into consideration, presidential spokesman Harry Roque told reporters, emphasizing that most of the COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila had been traced in central Manila as well as in nearby Quezon City and Paranaque. We can see that the other places in Metro Manila are reporting less cases. Duterte introduced travel curbs and restrictions on gatherings and business establishments on March 12, days after health authorities reported the first case of domestic transmission of the coronavirus. The president expanded curbs on immigration, movement and travel on March 16, with security forces manning checkpoints, and closing the country to all except repatriated Filipinos. The lockdown, which covers the main island of Luzon, which is home to about 60 million Filipinos, was earlier set to expire by end of April, but a rise in infections forced an inter-agency task force to recommend its extension until May 15. Health authorities reported seven coronavirus deaths on Monday, bringing the nations toll to 726. Infections also surged to 11,086 after officials confirmed 292 new cases during the past 24 hours. While Duterte wanted to protect the public, the president also realized the need for some industries and city businesses to partially re-open, according to Roque. Roque said that some areas might still be under continued lockdown, while other areas might see a relaxation in rules for economic considerations. However, Roque said, Life will not be back to normal until there is no vaccine, until there is no medicine. Cruise ships drop anchor in Manila Meanwhile, at least 17 international cruise ships manned mostly by Filipino seamen have been allowed to dock in Manila Bay, the Philippine Coast Guard said. Among the vessels is the MV Ruby Princess, which was under investigation by Australian authorities for coronavirus infections. It has more than 200 Filipino crew members, who were to join at least 5,000 of their compatriots on board for a series of tests before being allowed to disembark, officials said. The Ruby Princess has been linked to some 19 coronavirus deaths in Australia and the United States. An investigation in Australia is seeking to find out why 2,700 passengers and crew were allowed to disembark in Sydney in March before test results on sick passengers were known. Two passengers, who flew home to the United States from Australia, later died, health officials told reporters. The Philippine government has said that about 24,000 Filipino workers, a majority of them ship and crew personnel, have returned home by air and sea after they were displaced by the pandemic. About 10 percent of the countrys population of about 100 million work abroad, many of them sea-based, according to government statistics. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Churches sue Ill. Gov. Pritzker for restricting in-person worship to 10 people Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A federal judge has ruled that Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker's religious freedom add-on makes the state's stay-at-home order constitutional, but a new lawsuit has emerged. Pritzker announced this week that his "Restore Illinois" plan to reopen the state will be implemented in five phases. The plan divides the state into four regions and the degree of reopening allowed will be based on COVID-19 infection rates, hospitalizations, and intensive-care units. In phase three, only gatherings of 10 people or fewer will be allowed. In phase four, gatherings of up to 50 people will be allowed. And gatherings of more than 50 people won't be allowed until phase five, when there has been "a vaccine or highly effective treatment widely available or the elimination of any new cases over a sustained period," which is expected to take up to a year or longer. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said a vaccine is 12 to 18 months away from being available to the public. Banning church gatherings of more than 50 people for a year or longer is unacceptable for many churches and some are now taking legal action against the governor. Christian legal firm Liberty Counsel has filed a lawsuit against Pritzker on behalf of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church and Logos Baptist Ministries, two Illinois churches whose complaint points out that in other jurisdictions, such as Louisville, Kentucky, "the government threatened to use police to impose criminal sanctions on those individuals found in violation of similar COVID-19 orders and threatened to impose various sanctions on individuals found in violation of such orders." The judge's decision last Sunday that Pritzker's stay-at-home order is constitutional came the same day that an evangelical church, The Beloved Church of Lena, welcomed more than 100 worshipers for a Sunday service in defiance of the state order. Given the continuing threat posed by COVID-19, the [stay-at-home] Order preserves relatively robust avenues for praise, prayer and fellowship and passes constitutional muster, Judge John Z. Lee of the U.S. district court for the Northern District of Illinois, ruled in his 37-page decision. Pritzker's revised version of the state stay-at-home order deems some worship services as essential, provided that Religious organizations and houses of worship are encouraged to use online or drive-in services to protect the health and safety of their congregants. Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society represented The Beloved Church of Lena. "Today, when we started the day, we couldn't even drive on a church parking lot, Breen said in an April 30 interview with CBS affiliate WIFR. In fact, you couldn't even leave your house to go to a church service. Now you can do that. And in fact, the executive order now encourages people to have drive-in services; which is a great recommendation, I'm glad that they added it," he said. The federal judge cited in his ruling precedent in two cases Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905) and Prince v. Massachusetts (1944) which held that a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease and the right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community...to communicable disease, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. Since state-issued lockdown orders began in March in an attempt to reduce the number of coronavirus hospitalizations at any one time, a much-debated topic has been how much authority government officials have to restrict religious freedoms to safeguard public health. Commenting on its clients lawsuit against the governor of Illinois' order banning worship gathering of more than 50 people for up to a year or longer, Liberty Counsel said on its website Friday: "The Romanian pastors, and many who attend these churches, are all too familiar with the heavy hand of government against churches and Christians. Pastors living in the former Communist Romania were arrested and jailed for preaching off the approved script of the Communist regime, or for meeting in places forbidden by the government. Many pastors who fled to America endured arrests, and some even beatings and torture. The Communists banned missionary activity and confiscated smuggled Bibles as contraband." Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver added: Governor Pritzker has clearly discriminated against churches by limiting in-person services to only 10 people while allowing other commercial and secular businesses to operate with large gatherings of people. In addition, the governor states it may be more than a year until this limit on churches can be lifted. This is unconstitutional as churches have the First Amendment right to exist, but businesses do not. In the land of the free, these Romanian pastors and church members should never have to fear arrest or sanction for attending worship services in church. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Bono Regional Chairman, Abronye DC has chided former President, John Dramani Mahama for filing a criminal complaint against him. The former President in a petition to the Criminal Investigations Department signed by his lawyer, Tony Lithur said Abronye DC had accused him of plotting to assassinate some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Mr. Mahama dismissed Abronyes claim in his complaint. His Excellency, John Dramani Mahama, has firmly instructed me to say that the allegations are, of course, false; and for the avoidance of doubt would like to state that neither the NDC nor he has planned to hire, hired or cause to be hired, or instructed any person or persons to murder or assassinate anybody, portions of the complaint read. The former President also asked the CID to investigate Abronye DCs allegations in his complaint. Abronye DC in a rebuttal said the former President had no right to lodge a complaint since he had made similar comments in the past. It is important to note that John Mahama has no moral and equitable rights to lodge a complaint to the Police accusing me or any other person of peddling falsehood because he is the grand lord of peddling falsehoods in this country, excerpts of Abronyes response said. Abronye DC further said he had not received a letter from the former President in relation to his earlier comments. It is prudent for me to posit that I have not been officially invited or received any letter or whatsoever from your outfit or any of your subordinates, agents or representatives. ---citinewsroom The coronavirus pandemic is straining social safety nets across the globe and underlining sharp differences in approach between wealthy societies such as the United States and Europe. In Europe, the collapse in business activity is triggering wage support programs that are keeping millions on the job, for now. In contrast, in the United States more than 33.5 million people have applied for jobless benefits and the unemployment rate has soared to 14.7%. Congress has passed $2 trillion in emergency support, boosting jobless benefits and writing stimulus checks of up to $1,200 per taxpayer. That is a pattern seen in earlier economic downturns, particularly the global financial crisis and the Great Recession. Europe depends on existing programs kicking in that pump money into people's pockets. The U.S., on the other hand, relies on Congress taking action by passing emergency stimulus programs, as it did in 2009 under President Barack Obama, and the recent rescue package under President Donald Trump. Economist Andre Sapir, a senior fellow at the Bruegel research institute in Brussels, said budget policy in the U.S. plays partly the role that Europe's welfare system plays because the American welfare system is less generous and a recession can be much harsher on workers. In downturns, U.S. employees can lose their health insurance if they lose their job and theres also a greater risk of losing ones home through foreclosure. On the other hand, Europeans typically pay higher taxes, meaning they earn less in the good times. In the U.S. you need to keep pumping money into the economy so that people continue to be employed, because it is through being employed that they are protected," said Sapir. "Which is the better system? Im not going into that discussion because that is really a huge issue. The U.S. tends to rank below average on measures of social support among the 37 countries of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation, whose members are mostly developed democracies. The U.S. came last in people living in relative poverty, meaning living on half the median income or less, with 17.8%. Countries like Iceland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Finland have less than 6%. Here's a look at how the social safety nets of the U.S. and Europe compare: UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS Americans on unemployment were collecting an average of about $372 weekly before the coronavirus struck. But that average could range from $215 in Mississippi to $543 in Hawaii. The rescue package gave jobless workers an additional $600 a week through July. It also extended benefits to those who lost work as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, which could include parents who needed to leave their jobs because schools were closed. Most states offer six months of unemployment but the emergency legislation adds 13 weeks. By comparison, Germany's jobless benefit pays 60% of previous salary for a year. France provides up to 75% of the previous average daily wage for up to two years. Unemployment benefits in France are on average 1,200 euros ($1,320) per month. And there's Europe's short-hours programs, which pay most of worker salaries if companies put them on shorter hours through a temporary disruption. More than 10 million workers are being paid that way in Germany and about 12 million in France, helping hold eurozone unemployment to only a 0.1 percentage point increase in March over February, to 7.4%. The U.S. emergency package included money for cheap loans to businesses that can be forgiven if the money is used mostly for payroll. HEALTH INSURANCE Nearly half of Americans receive health insurance through their employers, while another 34% get benefits through the government programs Medicare and Medicaid. Separately, 6% are insured individually and 9% in 2018 had no insurance at all. In Europe, universal health coverage is the rule, generally funded by payroll or other taxes. One example is Britain's National Health Service, which is funded by taxes and offers free care that costs the government 7% of GDP per year. MATERNITY BENEFITS U.S. workers are entitled to unpaid family leave, but no federal law requires private employers to provide paid family leave. In the private sector, 16% of workers had access to paid family leave as of March 2018. Some states offer paid family leave insurance for 4 to 10 weeks. The United States is the only country in the OECD to not offer paid leave to new mothers. In France, by contrast, mothers are entitled to at least 16 weeks of leave for their first child and must take at least 8 weeks. From the third child onward, they are allowed 26 weeks. Workers get a daily maternity leave allowance of up to 89 euros ($94.50). But some professions have their own more favorable deals, up to the complete payment of salaries. Denmark gives 52 weeks of parental leave after a birth or adoption, to be shared by the parents; whether at full salary or not depends on workplace agreements. DISABILITY Roughly 8.3 million Americans collect disability benefits earned through Social Security contributions. The payments average $15,100 annually just above the poverty level for a one-person household of $12,760. Standards are strict and most applications are denied; people who don't qualify may wind up on food stamps, a basic subsistence program. The U.S. ranks 30th among 36 OECD countries in spending on all forms of disability related to work or illness. In France, the totally disabled are eligible for public health insurance payments of at least 292.80 euros ($311) a month and no more than 1,714 euros ($1,825). Those who are totally unable to work and also depend on help for daily tasks are eligible for 1,418 to 2,839 euros ($1,510 to $3,027) a month. The payments can be combined with other forms of income and be subjected to tax and social security contributions. THE COSTS Europe's more generous social safety nets come at a cost, largely paid through taxes levied on workers and employers. In the United States, Social Security contributions amounted to 6% of GDP in 2018, according to the OECD. In France it was almost three times higher, at 16% of annual GDP, while in Germany it was just over 14%. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Report: J.C. Penney to file for bankruptcy, close hundreds of stores Syracuse company develops coronavirus-killing drone for arenas and stadiums Coronavirus deaths at Onondaga County nursing homes now stand at 24 Onondaga Countys latest coronavirus numbers: 36 new cases, 12 critical, no new deaths We are excited about Julie joining our team. With her retail automotive and CRM marketing experience, she has an unparalleled knowledge of the industry gaps that Nextup bridges. We have ambitious goals that extend to all retail operations, and Im happy to have Julie on board to help us reach them. Nextup, based in Anaheim, California, announced that Julie Lozano has joined the company as Director of Marketing. Julie will develop and oversee marketing, communications, and public relations strategy for the organization in close collaboration with its executive team. Julie brings over 15 years of automotive experience to her new position. She began her career as a salesperson at a large dealer group in Houston, TX, eventually moving into BDC and Internet Department management, before transitioning to Director of Marketing for the group. Julie has been in the Automotive SaaS space since 2011, providing marketing expertise to several organizations, and has remained focused on helping to improve processes and customer experiences in the industry she loves. Im looking forward to being a part of Nextups continued growth. Not only is the platform among the most innovative and exciting Ive seen, but the opportunity to be a part of this amazing team is the ultimate career dream. Ive had respect and admiration for them for years, and now I get to experience their enthusiasm first-hand every day. CEO Clint Burns explains that Nextups focus on expanding its reach to new markets, coupled with the growth its experienced, makes the time right to bolster marketing efforts. "We are excited about Julie joining our team. With her retail automotive and CRM marketing experience, she has an unparalleled knowledge of the industry gaps that Nextup bridges. We have ambitious goals that extend to all retail operations, and Im happy to have Julie on board to help us reach them. About Nextup Celebrating its 13th anniversary in 2020, Nextups mission is to evolve the guest experience in retail environments by leveraging a proven process with technology to create a better customer experience in businesses around the world. Its award-winning platform has collected over 38 million data points that prove its processes and solutions help organizations grow their sales month after month. With Nextup, management can easily see where processes may be broken, hold staff accountable, and prevent profit leaks. What a difference a week makes. Seven days ago factory prices for bullocks and heifers were floating between 3.40-3.45/kg, with only tentative signs that a lift was in the offing. Today bullocks and heifers are both on 3.50-3.55/kg. While some plants yesterday continued to quote 3.45/kg for both, the game has moved on. And thats only half the story. After weeks of low kills, typically 25-26,000, factories are at last beginning to feel the pinch. Numbers now appear to be the governing factor when negotiating a price. Having managed the marketplace well and dampened farmer expectations for last week, those low kill numbers at last began to force prices across the whole spectrum upward. Prior to this, cull cow prices had for two weeks in a row been the only strong performer, moving up by around 20-25c/kg. Bullocks are now on a minimum base of 3.50/kg, with heifers on 3.55/kg. More is reported as being possible if both numbers and quality are satisfactory. Cull cow prices continue their upward trajectory, gaining another 10-20c/kg. This leaves R-grade cows on 3.00-3.10/kg, with another 5c/kg possible in certain circumstances. O-grades are headed for 2.90/kg and possibly above it if well-fleshed, while your humble hard-milking better P-grade is reported in the 270-2.80/kg ball-park. Young bulls are also more in demand, with prices for U-grades variously 3.50-3.60/kg, with R-grades 3.40-3.50 and better Os 3.30-3.40/kg. While factory bullock and heifer prices are not quite there yet, cull cows and young bulls are at levels not seen since before the lockdown. Live exports Emerald Isle Beef Producers, the purchasing group founded by eamon Corley of the Beef Plan Movement, are reported to be sourcing factory-fit bulls and steers for a second shipment of stock by Roundwood Livestock to Algeria. Their previous endeavour three weeks ago saw 1,080 heavy bulls and bullocks heading to North Africa. Reported delays in some payments at that time did cause concern among suppliers, but it is now understood that all outstanding accounts have been fully credited. As with any business transaction, it is always wise to establish payment and or credit terms in advance. This second shipment consisting of 1,100-1,200 heavy cattle will again be weighed at New Ross mart before being transferred to Belview, Waterfords deep-sea terminal, for loading. While all this is good news, the spectre of Covid-19 hangs over the entire trade and with 560 confirmed cases reported at 10 meat processing facilities across the country, there has to be a real concern that production will be affected if it hasnt already. The HSE is reported to have sent outbreak control teams to each site in the hope of containing the spread of the virus. This approach contrasts with the decision to suspend production on May 1 at a Dawn Meats boning hall in Kilbeggan when just four cases of Covid-19 were confirmed. In times of industrial crisis, workers rely on their union to voice their concerns. I am not sure if all killing-line and boning-hall workers are unionised, but I do know that Department staff are. Department staff appear to be working normally despite those 560 confirmed cases. Indonesia's foreign minister says the country faces a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections with the return of migrant workers and cruise ship employees. Foreign minister Retno Marsudi on Monday asked returning migrant workers to respect health protocols. Marsudi said about 90,000 Indonesian migrant workers had already returned to the country since the coronavirus outbreak from several countries, including nearly 73,000 from neighboring Malaysia alone. She said the government has stepped up measures to anticipate the influx of migrant workers returning home by ramping up testing and setting up quarantine locations across the archipelago nation, which is home to 270 million people. Indonesia has reported 14,265 COVID-19 infections and 991 deaths as of Monday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo Emergency department visits have been increasing steadily for more than 20 years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 144.9 million emergency department (also commonly referred to as emergency room) visits in 2017, roughly a 50 percent increase from 1995. But its not just population growth thats accounting for the spike. The rate of emergency room visits has grown too, reaching 445 visits per thousand residents in 2017 compared to 360 in 1995. Despite the label, most emergency department visits are for non-emergency care. Triage statistics from the CDC reveal that less than 1 percent of emergency room visits require immediate attention and only 9.9 percent are categorized as emergent. While approximately a third of emergency department visits are deemed urgent, nearly another third fall into less-than-urgent categories. With the steady rise in emergency department visits, many patients are experiencing longer wait times as well. In general, emergency rooms do reasonably well when it comes to getting people seen initially. Nationwide, over 40 percent of patients are seen by a physician, nurse, or physician assistant within 15 minutes of checking in. However, 14 percent of visits have an initial wait time exceeding one hour and approximately 2 percent of patients leave the hospital without being seen at all. While initial screening times in the emergency department can be relatively quick, the total time spent waiting for treatment, discharge, or to be admitted to the hospital for further treatment is significantly longer. Nationwide, patients who are ultimately admitted to the hospital spend a median of 103 minutes waiting in the emergency department for an inpatient room after the ER doctor decides to admit them. Similarly, people who are not ultimately admitted as inpatients spend a median of 141 minutes in the emergency department before leaving from the visit. To find which states have the longest emergency department wait times, researchers at AutoInsurance.org analyzed data from the CDC and the Kaiser Family Foundation. The researchers ranked the 15 states with the longest median wait times for patients that are ultimately admitted to the hospital as inpatients. The researchers also included data on discharged patients and patients who decide to leave before getting seen. The longest wait times are clustered in the Northeast, while the Midwest has shorter wait times. The 15 States with the Longest ER Wait Times Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 15. Pennsylvania Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 115 minutes 115 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 142 minutes 142 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 2% 2% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 514 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 14. Nevada Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 115 minutes 115 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 145 minutes 145 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 1% 1% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 323 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 13. New Hampshire Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 115 minutes 115 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 147 minutes 147 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 2% 2% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 498 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 12. Vermont Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 119 minutes 119 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 145 minutes 145 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 1% 1% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 514 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 11. Alaska Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 121 minutes 121 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 125 minutes 125 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 1% 1% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 551 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 10. Hawaii Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 131 minutes 131 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 122 minutes 122 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 1% 1% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 317 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 9. Massachusetts Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 131 minutes 131 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 173 minutes 173 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 2% 2% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 485 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 8. Rhode Island Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 147 minutes 147 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 185 minutes 185 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 3% 3% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 390 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 7. California Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 150 minutes 150 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 160 minutes 160 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 2% 2% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 341 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 6. New Jersey Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 150 minutes 150 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 166 minutes 166 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 2% 2% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 431 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 5. Connecticut Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 152 minutes 152 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 159 minutes 159 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 1% 1% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 480 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 4. Maryland Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 152 minutes 152 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 210 minutes 210 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 3% 3% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 392 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 3. New York Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 153 minutes 153 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 178 minutes 178 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 2% 2% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 433 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 2. Delaware Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 153 minutes 153 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 186 minutes 186 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 4% 4% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 467 Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 1. District of Columbia Median time waiting for inpatient room (admitted patients): 286 minutes 286 minutes Median time in the emergency dept. (discharged patients): 236 minutes 236 minutes Percentage of patients leaving before being seen: 3% 3% Emergency department visits per 1k residents: 698 Methodology & Detailed Findings To identify states with the longest ER wait times, researchers ordered states by the median time admitted patients spent waiting for an inpatient room after seeing a doctor. In the event of a tie, the median time discharged patients spent in the emergency department before leaving the visit was used. Emergency department wait times nationally, and for each state, were obtained from the Hospital Compare dataset from the CDC. Emergency department visit rates were obtained with permission from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Rates of emergency department utilization by income were obtained from the CDCs National Health Interview Survey. All other information on the utilization of emergency departments were obtained from the CDCs National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The top ten most frequently prescribed drug categories were obtained from records of emergency department drug mentions, which are medications given in emergency departments or prescribed at discharge. Emergency department visits are dominated by lower-income groups. According to the CDC, nearly 30 percent of visits are for patients below the poverty line, even though Census Bureau data shows that people below the poverty threshold account for just 13.1 percent of the population. A combination of factors, including reduced access to health insurance and preventive care, contribute to this trend. Furthermore, when it comes to the outcomes of an emergency room visit, many patients are prescribed medication to manage their ailment. Painkillers are the most frequently prescribed drug by a large margin, accounting for more than a quarter of the prescriptions. These medications, which the CDC classifies as analgesics, include narcotics and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. However, growing concerns about the opioid epidemic have brought the practice of prescribing painkillers in the emergency room under intense scrutiny. Overall, there is no single answer to reducing emergency department wait times, non-emergency visits, and the overall number of visits in a year. However, improving access to preventive care, especially among low-income communities, is a step in the right direction. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The stress and anxiety caused by COVID-19 has led to many of us behaving in ways we normally wouldnt. Stress caused from unemployment and uncertainty can bring down the strongest people. Alcoholism and drug addiction often result from this type of stress which leads to unusual behavior that leads to arrests. Mr. Barkemeyer understands the impact of how having a few too many can lead to a DWI arrest that could potentially ruin a clients career. Even worse, getting caught with a small amount of cocaine or pills will not look good on anyones criminal record. Just because someone has a hiccup during COVID-19 doesnt mean their criminal record and employment possibilities should be tarnished forever. Mr. Barkemeyer knows how to advise his clients to seek treatment and how to use that treatment to his clients benefit in their DWI or drug case. He is sympathetic to their need for treatment and is interested in fixing the whole person, including their criminal case. Our Baton Rouge DWI lawyers are looking forward to continuing to be proud members of the Baton Rouge area community and provide outstanding legal defense to people from throughout Louisiana and beyond. The complete address of our location is 7732 Goodwood Boulevard, Suite A, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70806. The firm can be reached at (225) 964-6720 or via its website at https://www.attorneycarl.com. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Apriza Pinandita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 11, 2020 20:27 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd756c6f 1 World COVID-19,repatriation,COVID-19-Indonesian-patients,citizen-protection Free While many countries are imposing strict lockdown policies, Indonesia has recorded an influx of citizens returning from abroad nearly 90,000 as of Monday. Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said 89,595 citizens had been repatriated as of Monday. Of the total, 72,966 citizens arrived from Malaysia. Most of the returnees were those who had been impacted by Malaysias movement control order (MCO), which is in place until June 9. Read also: COVID-19: Indonesians stranded abroad return home amid mudik ban Other citizens arrived from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria and Egypt, among others. There will be more from Egypt and Oman in the near future, Retno said in a press briefing from the COVID-19 task force headquarters in Jakarta on Monday. She added that dozens of citizens from Bangladesh were expected to arrive on Monday. According to the ministry, more than 14,200 Indonesian crew members have arrived in the country through four points of entry: Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta and Benoa Port in Bali. Retno said 567 other crew members would arrive on three more ships, without mentioning the exact date of arrival. There are still other Indonesian citizens who are unable to come home, such as those stranded in India. Most of them are the members of Tablighi Jamaat. The government is still finding a way to bring them home by coordinating with other countries whose citizens are experiencing similar obstacles, such as Bangladesh, Malaysia and others, Retno added. India is one of many countries that have imposed strict lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19, which has infected more than four million people globally and has caused more than 238,000 deaths. According to the Foreign Ministry, 734 Indonesians abroad had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Monday in at least 33 foreign territories and aboard 20 international cruise liners. About 300 are being treated, while more than 370 have recovered, and 41 have died. All Indonesian diplomatic missions abroad are consistently coordinating with the respective countries to ensure [citizens abroad] receive good treatment, Retno said. Read also: Nearly 100 foreigners currently hospitalized for COVID-19 in Indonesia: Foreign Minister The government with support from Indonesian civil society groups and local communities is helping citizens abroad in need of assistance because of the pandemic. As of Monday, more than 375,000 aid packages had been distributed to affected citizens abroad. We give our highest appreciation to the Indonesian communities abroad who have been tirelessly helping those in need, said Retno. The government has guaranteed that the returning citizens will follow the standardized health protocols to ensure they are not carrying the virus. Retno concluded the briefing by urging regional administrations to be actively involved in handling the returning citizens, as collaboration between central and local government was vital to ensure citizens' protection. President Nana Akufo-Addo has urged Ghanaians not to panic over the number of COVID-19 cases in the country. Ghana's COVID-19 cases have increased from 4,263 to 4,700 just in a matter of days and many Ghanaians are already worried because the country keeps recording higher numbers of the pandemic disease. Giving his ninth update on COVID-19 on Sunday, May 10, 2020, the President explained that doing a lot of tests to discover infected persons is the surest way to fight the pandemic and ensure the safety of the entire nation. "Indeed, had we not been proactive in undertaking enhanced contact tracing of infected persons, and had relied solely on testing persons who reported to hospital, which is the practice followed by some other countries, i.e. routine testing, our total case count who have stood at 1,413," Nana Akufo-Addo said in his televised address. Regardless of the recent case count, the President says there is no cause for alarm. "We must understand that the more people we test for the virus, the more persons we will discover as positive, and, thus, have the opportunity to isolate and treat them. If you do not test people for the virus, you will not find the persons who are positive, let alone isolate them from the population and treat them, and prevent them from spreading the virus," he said. Listen to the address below: Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The armed bouncer appeared friendly, welcoming a local reporter inside C & C Coffee and Kitchen in Castle Rock, Colorado, to take video footage of the remarkable scene unfolding inside. In the restaurant on Sunday morning, in defiance of Democratic Gov. Jared Polis's executive Safer at Home order, every table was nearly full, according to the footage from Colorado Community Media reporter Nick Puckett. Customers crowded around the counter waiting for their orders. The line to place them went out the door, wrapping around the side of the building. FULL FLIGHT: United flight takes off with full passenger load, no social distancing Almost no one was wearing a face mask. Only a single person among the dozens in Puckett's footage can be seen wearing one. For the owners of the breakfast cafe, it was a way to both celebrate Mother's Day and defy the governor. "We are standing for America, small businesses, the Constitution and against the overreach of our governor in Colorado!!" C & C Coffee & Kitchen wrote on its Twitter account, tagging President Donald Trump. The restaurant's reopening on Mother's Day, with apparently no social distancing precautions, is the latest example of small businesses bucking their states' executive orders while fearing for their survival. Under Polis' "Safer at Home" order, restaurants are still prohibited from offering dine-in service. Colorado has seen more than 19,700 cases of covid-19, along with 973 deaths. The move drew swift backlash, as state and local officials condemned the move and some Castle Rock residents feared the restaurant could have worsened covid-19 in the community. A spokeswoman for the governor's office said in a statement to The Washington Post that the restaurant's conduct is "endangering the lives of their staff, customers and community." The Tri-County Health Department told CBS Denver it would be following up with the restaurant to take whatever steps necessary to ensure it complies with Polis' order. "We are disappointed that Cookies and Creme has decided to ignore the Governor's Safer at Home order and open up today with no attention to social distancing," the agency said in its statement. "This decision runs the risk of undermining the impact that other Douglas County businesses and residents have achieved over the last seven weeks by taking various social distancing measures." The Korean-fusion breakfast cafe's owners, April and Jesse Arellano, did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment. But April Arellano told Puckett that she had never seen a Mother's Day crowd at the restaurant like the one on Sunday in their seven years of operation. She told KDVR the restaurant had about 500 customers. "I expected it to be busy. I never expected this," she told Colorado Community Media. "I'm so happy so many people came out to support the Constitution and stand up for what is right. We did our time. We did our two weeks. We did more than two weeks . . . and we were failing. We had to do something." Few customers inside the restaurant appeared concerned about the lack of social distancing. In a since-removed Facebook Live video archived by CBS Denver, a maskless Arellano scans the noisy, crowded space, thanking everyone who came and saying, "So much for some of those people who said nobody would show up. And our patio is full." A sign on the door reportedly read: "ATTENTION: Our freedom doesn't end where your fear begins. . . . If you are afraid to be within 6 feet of another person, do not enter this business!" Others within the restaurant industry said they understood the restaurant's frustrations but completely disagreed with the owners' decision. "Hey C & C Breakfast + Korean Kitchen Owner, what you allowed today completely harms the Colorado Restaurant Industry! You may have won the battle but you will lose the war," Chris Fuselier, owner of the Blake Street Tavern in Denver, warned on Twitter. "The rest of us Owners will be watching what the State, Douglas County and Castle Rock will do to you!" Another man who went to the restaurant to pick up takeout told the Denver Post he was so taken aback by the lack of social distancing and the fact that no one was wearing face masks that he decided he didn't want his food anymore. "It was unbelievable," the customer, Nick Whitehill, told the newspaper, adding he filed a complaint with the county health department. But the restaurant also had plenty of supporters. Among them was state Rep. Patrick Neville, a Republican who is also among a number of conservative lawmakers nationwide who have joined their constituents in acts of defiance. He said on Facebook later that he found it "shocking" that, after taking a photograph of himself with Arellano at the restaurant on Sunday, the "left mob is coming after me over this hardcore." PRODUCT LIMITS: Costco temporarily limits meat purchases to 3 items per member In a text message to The Washington Post, Neville said he went to the restaurant on Sunday to return the kindness the owners showed his family a couple of years ago, when his wife was hit by a car in a nonfatal accident outside the restaurant and they brought out hot cocoa to Neville's daughters. "They made a lasting impression on my family and we wanted to show our support as they are providing for their families," Neville said. Other business owners have been similarly defiant about reopening even after being threatened with the consequences, though some have chosen to keep social distancing restrictions in place. Dallas hair salon owner Shelley Luther, for example, was sentenced to seven days in jail for defying a court order to shut down, although salon employees were still wearing masks and taking customers' temperatures. She was freed by the Texas Supreme Court two days after sentencing. Elsewhere, a 77-year-old barber in Michigan, who has been in business since 1961, received two citations for reopening but has told reporters that he would keep operating "until Jesus comes." In Maine, a brewpub owner lost his liquor and restaurant licenses after more than 150 people showed up to the establishment earlier this month. The owner, Rick Savage, had announced the reopening on Fox News's "Tucker Carlson Tonight" - where he gave out Democratic Gov. Janet Mills's cellphone number live on air. But the business owners' decisions to reopen is also largely a gamble in the court of public opinion. A recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll showed sizable majorities of Americans opposing reopening dine-in restaurants, movie theaters and gyms. The Yelp review page for C & C Coffee and Kitchen highlighted some of that disapproval Sunday, as dozens of people - some of whom were clearly not from Castle Rock - flooded the restaurant with complaints. Arellano's supporters tried to defend her with compliments, including one woman who said "the coffee is to die for." "I stand behind April in these trying times for us all," she wrote. Over 4.1mn now infected with coronavirus globally, 280K+ dead Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 7:03 AM The new coronavirus has now infected 4,101,641 people and killed 280,435 others globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The United States remains the worst-hit nation, with more than 1,340,000 cases of infection and over 80,000 deaths. Some of the worst-affected countries after the US are Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The following is the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. South Korea warns of second wave of outbreak South Korea on Sunday warned about a second wave of the epidemic, after health officials in the country reported 34 additional cases of infection over the past 24 hours. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a tentative assessment showed 26 of the 34 new patients were locally-transmitted cases, while the rest had been imported. President Moon Jae-in called on people not to let their guards down, but said there was no reason to panic. "It's not over until it's over. While keeping enhanced alertness till the end, we must never lower our guard regarding epidemic prevention," the president said. China sees double-digit rise in cases China also reported a double-digit rise in new confirmed cases for the first time in 10 days. China's National Health Commission reported 14 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, 12 of which were domestically-transmitted infections. The figure was the highest since April 28 and up from only one case a day earlier. No new deaths were reported. Mainland China has reported a total of 82,901 cases, and 4,633 deaths, as of Sunday. Australia's biggest state to ease lockdown Australia's worst-hit state, New South Wales, is set to reopen on Friday, according to the state's premier. New South Wales will allow cafes, restaurants, playgrounds, and outdoor pools to reopen, as officials said the spread of the virus had slowed sharply in the state. The state, where Sydney is located, has had about 45 percent of the country's confirmed cases and deaths. It, however, registered only two new cases on Saturday out of the nearly 10,000 people tested. "Just because we're easing restrictions doesn't mean the virus is less deadly or less of a threat. All it means is we have done well to date," said Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Australia has so far reported 15,833 known cases and 615 deaths, nationwide. New Zealand reports two new cases Meanwhile, New Zealand's health authorities reported two new cases of infection, one of which was a traveler coming from overseas. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has decided to further ease physical distancing restrictions. New Zealand has reported a total number of 1,494 cases and 21 deaths. Japan considers lifting emergency state in some areas Japan is considering easing the state of emergency in "many of [the] 34 prefectures" that are on lockdown before the nationwide deadline of May 31. Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said a declining trend in the weekly numbers of new infections on a per capita basis will be among the evaluation criteria for the lifting. Out of Japan's 47 prefectures, 13 prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, are being "under specific cautions" due to the quick spread of the disease. Japan extended the nationwide state of emergency last week to the end of May. A total number of 15,777 known cases and 624 deaths have been registered in Japan as of Sunday. Singapore reports 876 new cases Singapore's Health Ministry recorded 876 new cases on Sunday, taking the city-state's total to 23,336 cases. It said the vast majority of the newly infected people were refugee workers living in dormitories. Singapore has reported 20 deaths to date. Malaysia extends virus curbs for 4 weeks In neighboring Malaysia, the government extended the timeframe for movement and business curbs by another four weeks to June 9. Earlier this week, it allowed some businesses to resume work under strict health guidelines. The country has so far reported 6,589 cases and 108 deaths. Indonesia cases top 14,000 Indonesia reported 387 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, taking the total number to 14,032, according to Health Ministry official Achmad Yurianto. He also reported 14 more deaths, bringing the nation's tally to 973. Philippines' cases hit 10,790 The Philippines' Health Ministry said 184 new cases of coronavirus had been detected on Sunday, taking the country's total to 10,794. Fifteen more deaths related to the disease were also recorded, bringing the toll to 719. Germany reports 667 new cases The number of known COVID-19 cases in Germany increased by 667 to 169,218 on Sunday, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed. The death toll also rose by 13 to 7,395, the tally showed. Spain's daily death toll falls again Spain's Health Ministry on Sunday reported the lowest daily death toll from the coronavirus since mid-March. It said 143 COVID-19 patients had died, down from 179 the previous day. Spain, the second worst-hit nation after the US, has recorded 26,621 deaths and 262,783 infections. Russia reports over 11,000 new cases Russia's health authorities said Sunday they had registered 11,012 new cases of COVID-19 in just the last 24 hours. The figure brings the nationwide tally to 209,688. Some 88 people also died in the past day, taking the national death toll to 1,915. Russia has now become the fifth-worst-hit nation in the world. Canada 'not in recovery phase' In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned provinces against the premature reopening of their economies, saying it could send the nation back to home confinement. "We are still in the emergency phase The vast majority of Canadians continue to need to be very careful," Trudeau said in a daily briefing on Saturday. He said any reopening should be gradual, warning that Canada was "not in the recovery phase yet." Health officials, however, said he virus curve was flattening in many provinces. Almost 60 percent of the country's fatalities have occurred in Quebec. Canada has reported 67,702 known cases of the viral infection and 4,693 deaths. More than 80 percent of the fatalities have been residents of nursing homes, according to Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Howard Njoo, who has described the matter as a "national tragedy." Mexico hospitals filling up quickly Hospitals in the Mexican capital are filling up with patients with COVID-19, as the number of new infections are on the rise. Authorities were turning away patients for whom there was no room in both private and public health facilities on Saturday. Of the 64 public hospitals designated to receive coronavirus patients, 26 are completely full, according to city government data. The government has said this weekend could mark the peak of infections in and around Mexico City. Citing modeling data from a few weeks ago, authorities predicted more than 104,000 cases of coronavirus. The densely-populated capital, home to more than 20 million people, has had the most cases of the virus. The country has confirmed at least 31,522 infections and 3,160 deaths to date. The true number, however, is expected to be much higher, as the government has conducted very limited testing. Brazil's death toll passes 10,000 mark Meanwhile, the death toll in Brazil has hit 10,627, with the number of infections surpassing 155,930, according to the country's Ministry of Health. Citing the government's inability to carry out widespread testing, scientist say the real toll could be 15 or even 20 times worse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Fake: Central Govt employees not to face pay cut of 30 per cent India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 11: A claim was made by a news channel that the government was planning on cutting salaries of Central Government employees by 30 per cent. The report said that 30 per cent salary cut proposal on the table as government mulls Central staff pay cut. Pay cut mulled in a graded manner. Grade-D and contractual staff to be exempted from this pay cut, the report also said. fake news buster The Ministry of Finance clarified that there is no proposal under consideration of government for any cut whatsoever in the existing salary of any category of central government employees. This reporting some sections of the media have no basis and are false the ministry also said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, May 11, 2020, 15:17 [IST] Representative image Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on May 11 asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show the state "specific and concrete directions" on the ongoing lockdown, PTI has reported. Thackeray also expressed reservations over the lifting of the lockdown, as he suggested any action regarding the matter should be taken "cautiously", news agency ANI has said. "Cases are expected to peak in May, it may peak in June or July also. I've read Wuhan is witnessing a 2nd wave of cases, even WHO has warned about this. So, I suggest that any action on lockdown must be taken cautiously," ANI quoted Thackeray. Track this blog for LIVE updates on the COVID-19 pandemic Citing the intense pressure the police force is already under as many of its personnel are also getting infected with COVID-19, the Maharashtra CM said that if the need arises, the state should be given central forces. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Thackeray also reportedly requested Modi to allow the resumption of local train services in Mumbai for those engaged in essential services. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with chief ministers earlier today, to discuss a lockdown exit strategy. This was the fifth such interaction between PM Modi and the chief ministers since the COVID-19 outbreak in India. Follow our full coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic here Turkey reported 47 daily deaths from COVID-19 and 1,542 new cases, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. The total number of active coronavirus cases in Turkey has dropped to 42,180, Koca said on Twitter. According to the minister, the number of recovered coronavirus patients in Turkey reached 92,691 on Sunday with 3,211 additions in the past 24 hours. He added that over the past 24 hours, 36,187 tests for COVID-19 were performed across the country, Daily Sabah reported. However, despite the continued decline in the number of cases, Koca warned, "Let's continue our struggle seriously, without loosening up." "Our number of recovered patients will soon reach 100,000 people. Our number of deaths, our number of cases will gradually decrease. Isn't it worth a little bit more devotion?" he wrote on Twitter. The total COVID-19 death toll in Turkey is now 3,786, while 138,657 cases have been confirmed. Turkey has not imposed a stringent nationwide lockdown since reporting its first positive case on March 11, resorting instead to weekend curfews in 31 provinces and cities. It also limited travel between those cities. Malaysian police take undocumented workers to the immigration offices in Kuala Lumpur for documentation after their arrests, May 11, 2020. Updated at 7 a.m. ET on 2020-05-12 Scores of NGOs and rights groups together urged Malaysias government on Monday to speak out in support of Rohingya Muslims and stem a surge in hate speech on social media platforms targeting the stateless refugee community from Myanmar. Meanwhile, Malaysian authorities detained about 1,000 foreign workers in a major raid in Kuala Lumpur amid fears over coronavirus infections. Recent online posts in Malaysia against the Rohingya included threats and dehumanizing language and images, the 84 organizations including Amnesty International Malaysia, Human Rights Watch and the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists said in an open letter to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. We urge you to act immediately to address the recent proliferation of hate speech and violent threats against the Rohingya community and to ensure that incendiary rhetoric does not trigger discriminatory acts or physical attacks, the groups said. They accused the government of sending mixed messages about the refugees. The groups cited defense chief Ismail Sabri Yaakob as expressing sympathy for the Rohingya in an April 27 message. But his message, they said, was undermined by a statement from Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin days later, in which he emphasized the refugees lack of legal status or rights in the country. We urge you and your government to speak out in support of the rights of the Rohingya, emphasizing their status as refugees fleeing persecution and human rights violations, said the groups, which also included the European Rohingya Council, the Malaysian rights group Suaram and the Islamic Renaissance Front, a moderate think-tank. Muhyiddin, as the nations leader, along with other officials should highlight the countrys commitment to upholding human rights, the open letter said, indicating that the surge in hate speech against the Rohingya could have been driven by online petitions calling for the expulsion of the minority community from Myanmar. In a separate statement, Human Rights Watch said the government has completely fallen down on the job when it comes to protecting the rights of Rohingya refugees. To date, the Malaysian government has done little to stop this cascade of violent threats against Rohingya leaders, resulting in the refugee community fearing even to go out to procure food and other basic supplies they need to survive in the COVID-19 lockdown, HRW said. At least 179,000 people, including more than 101,500 Rohingya, are registered as refugees in Malaysia, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. Many of those Rohingya entered the country after fleeing earlier bouts of violence in Myanmars Rakhine State, the home of the Rohingya, where they are not recognized as citizens. Malaysia is not a party to the U.N. Refugee Convention and does not have an asylum system regulating the status and rights of refugees, according to UNHCR. Migrants rounded up On Monday, in a surprise dawn raid, authorities rounded up about 1,000 migrants as officers moved in on rows of shophouses near the Kuala Lumpur wholesale market and screened thousands of foreign nationals for their travel documents, witnesses and immigration officials told BenarNews. Officials, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said refugees carrying identification cards issued by UNHCR were not detained. Those who were arrested were taken to Jalan Duta for further documentation, one of the officials told BenarNews. At the moment, 1,000 have been detained. Only those with UNHCR cards were freed. Immigration agents, health ministry officials, as well as members of the Royal Malaysia Police and the army, were involved in the raid. A trader at the market told BenarNews that Bangladeshis, Indonesians and Myanmar nationals were among those rounded up. Immigration chief Khairul Dzaimee Daud did not immediately return calls from BenarNews. The wholesale market area has been under a lockdown to control movement as a result of high cases of coronavirus infections. Malaysia reported 70 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, with 31 of those infections involving foreign workers, taking the nations cumulative tally to 6,726. Health authorities confirmed one fatality during the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide death toll to 109. Tenaganita: Why penalize those who have the least? Immigration authorities have registered about 2.2 million foreigners in the country, but rights groups and the International Organization for Migration estimate that 2.5 million to 4 million undocumented laborers also work across the nation, including many in rubber and palm plantations. Like its neighbor Singapore, a city-state that was recently struck with coronavirus outbreaks traced in cramped dormitories housing thousands of foreigners, Malaysias migrant workers are also packed into hostels or living quarters with limited number of bathrooms, according to labor rights advocates. Meanwhile, Malaysian migrant and refugee protection NGO Tenaganita urged the government to stop using arrests and detention to punish vulnerable communities, including undocumented migrant workers. Why do we continue to penalize and criminalize these communities who have the least in our society? Tenaganita said in a statement, saying that such strategies to control the movement of people during the pandemic would likely lead to greater harm than good. CORRECTION: An earlier version wrongly credited the photo to Tenaganita. Peter Hess sports editor. F. A. Z. I don't think so. Because the Concord and I don't know how the Situation over the summer. We thought the Situation would be clarified: you want to leave is because you want to have more operating times, and the Concord respects your desire. Or not? Actually, Yes. the Corona Virus and the resulting changes in the transfer market for uncertainty? Bundesliga live Ticker for this Yes. No one knows whether there is a second wave will be, no one knows how the pandemic in other European countries will develop, nobody knows, how this affects the transfer market. I must not necessarily, I have a contract until 2022. I like it in Frankfurt, and the club is really very good. But I came here two years ago to play. I really feel in good shape, I feel that I can play on Bundesliga-level. But I know that I have with Kevin Trapp has a very strong competitors and that it would be very, very difficult to get past him. If I could choose, I would prefer the number 1 in Frankfurt. But realistically, I must hope to be after the summer holidays elsewhere, it's the number 1. Because Trapp is not just a goalkeeper, but also one of the faces of the Eintracht is one of the absolute leaders? Yes, that is me in the two years is quite obvious. It is what the club and the coach want to, that Kevin is the clear number one. For me, this is a very difficult Situation, because it's more than purely Sporting. do you Accept that Trapp is the more talented and better goalkeeper, or you are feeling on a Level? It's not a duel Kevin against me. I only look at myself, on my development. I had a bad Start here, for the first half year was hard. But I shot the thing. I directed the negative emotions in a lot of hard Training, hard work, and now I have the feeling that I have very well-developed. And I think if I had played more, I could have an even higher Level. But that didn't happen. I don't want to compare my and Kevin's skills. He doesn't play and I. Finished. But Kevin is certainly a very, very good goalkeeper. He belongs to the circle of the German national team, that says it all. this season, they played at least 15 games in all competitions, Could you live with such a rate in the future, or would you still not enough? I've only been due to Kevin's bad luck with injuries so often played. I have used my opportunities to present to me on a good Level. And if that succeeds, then you want more and more. Updated Date: 27 June 2020, 07:19 Phuket health teams inspect businesses allowed to open PHUKET: Officers from the Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) are conducting inspections of stores and other businesses across Phuket that are allowed to open following the relaxation of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions to ensure health guidelines are being enforced. COVID-19Coronavirushealtheconomics By Khunanya Wanchanwet Monday 11 May 2020, 04:33PM Officers from the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) are inspecting businesses to ensure they comply with COVID-19 health guidelines. Photo: PPHO Officers from the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) are inspecting businesses to ensure they comply with COVID-19 health guidelines. Photo: PPHO Officers from the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) are inspecting businesses to ensure they comply with COVID-19 health guidelines. Photo: PPHO Officers from the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) are inspecting businesses to ensure they comply with COVID-19 health guidelines. Photo: PPHO Officers from the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) are inspecting businesses to ensure they comply with COVID-19 health guidelines. Photo: PPHO Officers from the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) are inspecting businesses to ensure they comply with COVID-19 health guidelines. Photo: PPHO Officers from the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) are inspecting businesses to ensure they comply with COVID-19 health guidelines. Photo: PPHO So far no business owners have been found flagrantly disregarding the health guidelines in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, explained PPHO Deputy Chief Padungkiat Uthakitsa. The officers also did not find any businesses open that are still prohibited from resuming normal operations, he added. Under the relaxation of the lockdown restrictions on May 3, markets, restaurants, cafes, convenience stores, local "mom-and-pop and other local stores, certain recreation areas, sporting and fitness facilities, salons and barber shops, and pet care centres are allowed to open, but only on the condition that they follow strict health guidelines. The ongoing campaign by the PPHO began on May 6, Mr Padungkiat said. Officers are checking that each shop and place have the required public health measures in place, and give suggestions to or answer questions from the owners, he said. Most stores and places we have inspected already complied with the public health regulations. We have only provided additional suggestions, such as how to better enforce social distancing or control the number of people in the shop, he added. However, Mr Padungkiat called on all people to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and not to rely on officials to make sure health guidelines are followed. If you want COVID-19 gone, we need cooperation from all people, he said. I would like to ask everyone for cooperation, wear a face mask, wash your hands frequently with soap or alcohol gel, and maintain a distance of one to two metres, Mr Padungkiat said. In addition, establishments need to show discipline when it comes to enforcing the public health regulations when serving customers, he added. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 22:47:43|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close COPENHAGEN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Higher unemployment and uncertainty brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic will cause Danish housing prices to fall, forecast Nykredit, one of Denmark's leading financial services groups, in an announcement on Monday. "Higher unemployment will influence house prices in the coming year and it will not be until 2021 before we see price increases again. By the end of 2022, we expect prices at the national level to be on a par with the starting point prior to the coronavirus crisis," said Nykredit. According to the financial services groups, the national average price of houses are expected to fall by an average of 4.1 percent and apartments dropping in value by 5.3 percent. Nykredit anticipated that the largest drop in prices will be around major cities like Copenhagen, Aarhus and Aalborg, where house prices are expected to drop by an estimated 5.7 to 7.0 percent. However, in South Jutland, the rural west of Denmark, house prices are expected to see the smallest decline. Enditem The benefits of good personal hygiene, like washing your hands, have been taught to all of us since we were in kindergarten.Over the past two decades, the cybersecurity industry has often proclaimed the benefits of good cyberhygiene. Borrowing ideas from doctors office posters and public health announcements, the information security community frequently offers helpful tips to protect ourselves online and tries to present security materials in ways that audiences will pay attention and take action From National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) led by my friend Kelvin Coleman, executive director at the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), at www.staysafe.org to public- and private-sector organization security awareness campaigns (like this one from Lear Corp. ) to new telework training for staff working from home , most small, medium and large businesses are taking action to protect their data and staff in cyberspace.In addition, global leaders talk about this ongoing pandemic as a war against the virus. As Queen Elizabeth II remembered Victory in Europe (VE) Day (from World War II) 75 years ago, she shared thoughts from that previous war: "Never give up, never despair that was the message of VE Day. " Acknowledging the impact on modern British life of the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced this year's public commemorations to be cancelled, she also drew parallels between the UK's wartime generation and their modern compatriots.So what can the worldwide cybersecurity industry learn from what been happening with COVID-19 global pandemic efforts? How can success stories and problems translate in the cyberattack battles we face in the everyday world?To answer these questions and several more, I turned to someone who has excelled in both of these worlds.Dr. Wendy Ng is Experians DevSecOps security managing advisor, where she is a subject matter expert (SME) for the companys global DevSecOps transformation initiative. Ng has honed her technical consulting skills through a number of industries, including aerospace, health care, financial services, telecommunications, transport logistics, and critical national infrastructure. Having started her career as a technical consultant at Cisco, she also worked at PwC and Deloitte.She completed her doctoral studies at the University of Oxford and has contributed to the scientific community through peer-reviewed publications. She has been sharing her experience and expertise, addressing key challenges, in her blogs and public presentations since 2016.I first met Ng several years ago, and we collaborate on several professional cybersecurity initiatives together. Her impressive background speaks for itself . I must admit that I was initially surprised that someone with a Ph.D. from Oxford in medical genetics decided to focus her career on cybersecurity; however, her perspectives are refreshing. As a cyber career advisor and mentor to Ng, I have benefited greatly from her perspectives and scientific insights. I am delighted to bring you this exclusive interview.Wendy Ng (WN): I was fortunate to have studied in a high school which embraced STEM related subjects, including computer science. I was particularly interested in how powerful computers are at analyzing huge volumes of data and generating insights a very useful analytics tool. I studied genetics at university, leading me to a doctorate in medical genetics. This sparked an interest in complex traits, which relies heavily on statistical analyses and machine learning techniques.Before my journey into IT and security, I had actually spent time working with viruses in a biosafety level 3 laboratory within the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. The extensive decontamination routine (which included hand-washing) induced a bout of severe eczema on my hands, which made laboratory-based aspects of research difficult. However, research which involves statistical and computational based analytics is highly transferable. In todays information-driven world, where we are flooded with an often overwhelming amount of information, the ability to critically review and interpret is a good life skill. This also includes the ability to understand large volumes of technical, often incomplete information; being comfortable with novelty; and using logic and evidence at hand to determine the best course of action.As luck will have it, I started my commercial career with Cisco, which provided a fantastic foundation for what lay ahead. In fact, it was at Cisco that I realized connectivity is a major path for security issues. Furthermore, given the number of connected devices, I expected big data analytics and machine learning methodologies will form a key part of organizations cybersecurity defense strategy in the future. These concepts, plus the analogies in behaviors of biological and electronic infections meant cybersecurity had a natural appeal.WN: There are many parallels between the current pandemic and cybersecurity. Twenty years ago, if an organization had Internet connectivity, antivirus software and firewalls would provide adequate service. You were unlikely to require a plethora of modern analytics tools, including Intrusion Detection Systems, Intrusion Prevention Systems, Web Application Firewalls, and machine learning algorithms to detect unauthorized activities. The tens of billions of connected devices (a number which is growing exponentially) has resulted in proportional increase in the attack surface, as well as greater opportunities for infection.Modern networked systems require significant cybersecurity investment electronic health care, if you will to protect assets from infections and attacks. In addition to active "real-time" protection, targeted training for individuals, and many organizations have ramped up their readiness for responses to cyberbreaches and attacks. These will include operational resilience and the use of backup facilities, as well as simulated cyberattacks or data breaches, so that responses can be refined and choreographed through playbooks. As the human population grows and connectivity increases, it could be time to take a page out of cybersecurity guidebooks in order to prepare for future pandemics.WN: To keep employees safe, many organizations are mandating working from home, which is absolutely the right thing to do. However, that means employees are accessing systems through home networks, which are often less secure than corporate networks.There have also been numerous reports of phishing attacks with COVID-19 themes. Phishing and spearphishing attempts are most effective when targets have an expectation of receiving information of interest. At the moment, there is nothing more topical than COVID-19, nor is there a more captive audience. In the biggest pandemic for 100 years, citizens are primed to receive (and conditioned to act on) information sent from multiple outlets, including central government, local councils, health-care providers, work and social communities. Scammers are constantly using our concerns, anxieties and desires against us.WN: The COVID-19 pandemic revealed large variations in the national strategies deployed to control and mitigate the effects. We are all learning about the new virus and its effects, including how contagious it is, and why certain regions and perhaps populations (even when located within the same country) experience such different outcomes. There is no perfect information, and we shouldnt expect it, especially for a new pathogen. Everyone is constantly consuming and reacting to new data, however, we have to act with the best intentions in mind. What the pandemic shows is that bold and fast reactions have yielded the best outcomes, which is consistent with past experiences of infectious disease control. No man or woman is an island. A collaborative approach in the past helped us to identify therapeutics and vaccines for disease outbreaks, and we should do the same for COVID-19.I have always been a huge proponent of collaboration. This is perhaps one of the traits Ive ported over from academia. Part of the reason that Ive been consistently blogging in the last few years is to share knowledge and experience with the industry. Years of cyberattacks and data breaches suggest attackers have been extremely successful. Could it be a coincidence that they are also highly collaborative?Attackers, or black hats, do have the advantage that they only need to be successful once, whereas large enterprises have to protect themselves constantly against sophisticated attacks. However, comparatively, black hats are more receptive to collaborative relationships with other attackers, from methodology to data share than white hats. Similarly, we achieved better outcomes through responsive interventions which leveraged local data, as well as the worlds collective knowledge and experience. Perhaps white hats need to take notes!WN: The pandemic is having profound, tragic consequences on peoples lives and the global economy. However, as Louis Pasteur said, Fortune favors the prepared mind. Past pandemics and health emergencies showed preparedness is critical. Whilst data will still need to be analyzed, the initial picture is that locations with better readiness had significantly better health outcomes.Weve seen a similar narrative for organizations, many of whom had to react quickly to the pandemic, often relying on technical solutions. Organizations that are experienced in and comfortable with technological solutions were able to realign their operations relatively easily. The speed at which this occurred (despite severe restrictions on our movements and physical interactions) demonstrated how embedded technology is already in our daily life. We are more prepared than at any time in history for the scenario we find ourselves in.Unprecedented and disruptive events often act as catalysts for change. Technology is playing a central role in mitigating some of the effects of the current pandemic. Organizations which already had good technical foundations had more favorable reactions. The majority of organizations exponentially increased their reliance on technology and invested more. With these investments and as the world adapt to the "new normal" the pandemic is likely to bring about long-term behavioral change and force a revaluation of traditionally accepted ways of working.WN: We are sociable creatures, and the desire to interact with others is natural. Humans are always in the company of microbes, so we are not alone in these interactions. Fortunately, our immune systems provide fantastic protection, however it will not be successful at every occasion. This is not the first pandemic in history, and it will not be the last. However, humans are resourceful and ingenious. We will always be stronger when we work together.There have been several others who have recently offered lessons learned for cybersecurity from the coronavirus. Some of these include:And yet, I want to reiterate Ngs final point that we must learn from history, because this will not be our last pandemic. And there may still be a second wave coming with COVID-19, and we will be stronger when we work together. The same is true for cybersecurity collaborative efforts. Police said Monday they have apprehended a new key suspect allegedly involved in the so-called Nth Room case, in which dozens of people were exploited to perform gruesome sex acts that were filmed and distributed through online chatrooms. The cyber safety department of Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency said they have apprehended a 24-year-old male who confessed to using the alias "God God" in the chatrooms, and have filed a request with the court for his arrest. The chatrooms, which ran on messaging service Telegram, were operated as a pay-to-view online club for sexually explicit videos. Known to have some 260,000 users, videos of at least 74 people, including 16 underage girls, were believed to have been distributed through several chat rooms. The man is believed to have first opened such a chatroom on Telegram. He was brought in for questioning on Saturday after police identified him as the person behind the "God God" ID. Police said they took him into custody after he confessed being the owner of the ID. Authorities have so far revealed the identities of three other key co-conspirators in the case: Cho Ju-bin, Kang Hun and Lee Won-ho. Cho, 24, was indicted for allegedly blackmailing women into providing sexual videos to the illegal Telegram chatroom. At least 25 people, including eight underage girls, have been confirmed to have been exploited by Cho. Kang, 18, was prosecuted for allegedly blackmailing 18 female victims, including seven minors, into producing sexual content. Lee, a 19-year-old Army private first class, has been indicted by the military. More than 120 others have also been apprehended in relation to the case. "As the investigation is ongoing, we will have further briefings when an arrest warrant is granted," police said. (Yonhap) Florida City Closes Beaches a Week After Reopening Over Social Distancing Violations A southwest Florida city closed its beaches Sunday, a week after they were reopened, because visitors were not following social distancing guidelines to curb the spread of COVID-19, according to city officials. The beaches of Naples, located in Collier County, were reportedly crowded on Saturday. As a result, the City of Naples announced that it would be shutting its beaches down. The City of Naples will be closing all public beaches within city limits effective 12:01 am on Sunday, May 10, 2020 until further notice, the city said in a statement. All beach accesses, beach restroom facilities, parking areas, the Pier, Lowdermilk Park, and walkways will be closed at 12:01 am on Sunday, May 10, 2020. The Naples City Council will now hold an emergency meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday over when to reopen the beaches. Boat launches, beach access, and the emergency order will be discussed. Naples residents blamed tourists for packing the beaches. They were coming by carloads from the East coast just like they knew they would and were ill prepared to handle it. Epic Fail on part of the council and new mayor, one person wrote on the citys Facebook page. Added another: When they reopen it needs to be for Residents only. I am confident that we can follow the rules. What happened today was not caused by Locals. Another option is no beach chairs. Just walking and swimming. Some locals also said that they didnt see anyone on the beach violating social distancing guidelines over the weekend. Others said local officials should just regulate the beaches, not close them entirely. Naples Councilman Gary Price said the crowded beach situation was brought to his attention before he went to the beaches to examine them. I went to the beach, Price told the Naples Daily News. It was packed. People were parking everywhere, blocks away. Price noted that the closures will cause inconvenience to Naples residents but stressed it was done to protect people. Its pretty sad, he said. Its such a popular place. Well figure it out. We are doing this to keep people safe. We are erring on the side of caution. Last week, Miami Beach officials closed a public park about five days after it reopened after park rangers issued numerous warnings to people not wearing face masks to ward off the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus. It came after beaches throughout Florida reopened after Gov. Ron DeSantis authorized them to do so. Barbershops, hair salons, and nail salons reopened on Monday, May 11. The CCP virus had killed 1,735 people and infected 40,982 people in Florida as of Monday, according to the states health department figures. LP Fault drill hole BR-085 (originally reported on April 9, 2020) was extended from 524 metres to a downhole depth of 1,509 metres to intersect the adjacent Dixie Limb zone at depth. It has approximately doubled the confirmed vertical depth of the Dixie Limb zone, intersecting the zone's deepest, widest, and highest-grade interval to date. The drill hole also intersected gold bearing quartz veins that may represent the lateral and vertical extension of the Hinge zone at depth. Results suggest the Dixie Limb and Hinge zones may coalesce at depth. Figures 1, 2 and 3 . Drill Results Highlights: BR-085 intersected deep extensions of the Dixie Limb zone 740 metres below the surface and new Hinge zone style veins down to 840 metres below surface, approximately doubling the known depth of gold mineralization . These intercepts were within a few metres of where they were predicted based on the Company's geological modelling, indicating strong continuity to depth of both gold zones. . These intercepts were within a few metres of where they were predicted based on the Company's geological modelling, indicating strong continuity to depth of both gold zones. BR-085 intersected the widest high-grade gold interval in the Dixie Limb zone to-date, assaying 10.19 g/t gold over 19.00 metres , which included 68.59 g/t gold over 2.65 metres , which in turn included 133.50 g/t gold over 1.00 metre . Table 1 and Figure 4 . , which included , which in turn included . Results clearly demonstrate the depth potential of gold mineralization at the Dixie Project, which will be tested at all zones through additional deep drilling during 2020. Chris Taylor, President and CEO of Great Bear said, "With our first deep drill hole, we have doubled the known vertical extent of the Dixie Limb and intersected new Hinge zone style veins that may represent extensions to the Hinge zone. Results also suggest the Dixie Limb and Hinge zone veins may merge at depth, an idea we are keen to test with further drilling. BR-085 intersected identical geology to the upper Dixie Limb zone, however for the first time we observed Dixie Limb style and Hinge zone style gold mineralization in close proximity to each other. The increased grades and widths of gold mineralization are also consistent with the trend of increasing strength of gold mineralization at depth seen frequently at Dixie. These results define a new, high-priority exploration target that has the potential to combine the predictable geometry of the Dixie Limb zone with the higher gold grades of the Hinge zone. Several of the existing LP fault drill holes are ideally located to be similarly extended to deeply target the Dixie Limb and Hinge zones at significantly lower costs than if we had to collar new holes from surface." Table 1: Assay results from BR-085, the first deep drill hole at the Dixie Project. Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Width* (m) Gold (g/t) Zone BR-085 1008.55 1027.55 19.00 10.19 Dixie Limb including 1019.60 1027.55 7.95 23.96 and including 1024.90 1027.55 2.65 68.59 and including 1025.40 1027.55 2.15 83.71 and including 1025.40 1026.40 1.00 133.50 and 1071.30 1073.80 2.50 1.21 New Quartz Veins including 1072.10 1073.10 1.00 2.72 and 1072.60 1073.10 0.50 3.60 and 1088.85 1089.85 1.00 1.18 and 1180.85 1181.35 0.50 25.50 *True widths are 90% of interval widths based on intersection points of the drill hole intercept with the geological model and oriented drill core data. About the Dixie Limb and Hinge zones: The Dixie Limb and Hinge zones are the largest gold zones adjacent to the LP Fault zone that have been identified to date. Both zones were drilled by Great Bear from 2017 2019, with summary highlights provided in Table 2 . Gold mineralization at both zones has been drilled from within a few metres of surface, and now to a depth of 748 840 metres, respectively. Both zones remain open to extension along strike and at depth. The Dixie Limb zone strikes approximately parallel to the LP Fault zone, 500 metres to the southwest. It consists of the steeply dipping, highly regular planar contact between calc-alkaline basalts and high-iron tholeiitic basalts, frequently with argillite present at the contact. Gold mineralization occurs within silica-sulphide replacement zones and quartz veins at this contact. The gold zone has been intersected along approximately 500 metres of strike length in more than 100 drill holes and is well defined both laterally and vertically. The Hinge zone is a gold-bearing quartz vein swarm that is situated subparallel to the Dixie Limb zone, 50 200 metres to the southwest. It is defined over a strike length of approximately 500 metres in more than 80 drill holes. Hinge zone veins occur in anastomosing subparallel sets of one to six veins across a width of up to 140 metres, and frequently have distinctive red-brown hydrothermal biotite alteration. The Hinge zone gold-bearing veins have similar characteristics to those hosting the other gold deposits in the Red Lake area, including the High Grade Zone at the Red Lake Gold Mine, now owned and operated by Evolution Mining. Drilling at the adjacent LP Fault zone has intersected gold mineralization to a vertical depth of approximately 500 metres, and along a strike length of approximately 11 kilometres. The LP Fault also remains open to extension along strike and at depth. The Company continues to undertake its fully-funded 2020 drill program. The majority of planned drilling consists of approximately 300 drill holes being completed at an average 75 metres vertical and lateral spacing along a 5 kilometre by 500 metre deep grid of drill holes along the LP Fault discovery. This grid drill program is on track to be completed by the end of 2020. Additional deep drilling, similar to BR-085, is also planned at all gold zones including the LP Fault, and will be completed periodically throughout 2020. Table 2: Highlighted drill results from Great Bear's 2017 2019 drilling of the Dixie Limb and Hinge zones. Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Width* (m) Gold (g/t) Zone DL-005 162.60 173.00 10.40 16.84 Dixie Limb including 171.40 172.45 1.05 130.10 DL-020 173.00 195.00 22.00 4.31 including 178.20 195.00 16.80 5.60 and including 180.85 182.05 1.20 22.86 DL-021 188.50 198.00 9.50 3.60 including 193.00 198.00 5.00 5.48 DL-024 225.00 244.00 19.00 3.08 DL-041 112.70 120.80 8.10 5.44 DL-042 136.45 141.75 5.30 9.15 DL-045 144.45 160.30 15.85 5.05 including 159.00 160.30 1.30 24.21 and including 159.60 160.00 0.40 74.91 DL-048 197.20 202.70 5.50 4.38 and 416.30 420.20 3.90 18.09 including 417.65 420.20 2.55 27.57 and including 417.65 418.65 1.00 69.97 DL-049 190.00 195.15 5.15 11.13 including 193.20 193.80 0.60 73.33 DL-050 205.90 218.00 12.10 5.87 including 215.50 216.50 1.00 54.51 DL-052 272.55 278.15 5.60 9.68 DHZ-003 124.80 141.15 16.35 26.91 Hinge including 124.80 137.10 12.30 34.00 and including 127.10 128.10 1.00 112.63 DHZ-004 124.50 131.50 7.00 68.76 including 124.50 128.30 3.80 125.84 DHZ-012 215.40 219.05 3.65 27.36 DHZ-014 180.70 186.60 5.90 190.78 including 184.40 185.10 0.70 1602.73 DHZ-023 185.10 188.50 3.40 31.60 including 185.10 186.85 1.75 61.05 and including 185.70 186.35 0.65 128.14 DHZ-026 67.00 76.20 9.20 5.43 DHZ-031 136.50 143.75 7.25 30.15 including 137.00 138.50 1.50 130.49 DHZ-033 126.20 129.30 3.10 13.58 and 160.70 165.90 5.20 6.56 including 164.85 165.40 0.55 46.57 DHZ-035 160.40 160.90 0.50 54.80 DHZ-039 272.70 276.40 3.70 28.37 including 274.90 275.40 0.50 200.25 DHZ-050 63.00 78.75 15.75 6.28 including 64.00 77.20 13.20 7.40 and including 72.80 77.20 4.40 19.97 and including 72.80 75.30 2.50 30.81 *True widths are 80% of interval widths based on intersection points of the drill hole intercept with the geological model and oriented drill core data, except for drill holes DHZ-003 and 004 which are 50% of interval widths. Drill collar location, azimuth and dip for BR-085 included in this release are provided in the table below: Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation Depth Dip Azimuth BR-085 456713 5634210 357 1,509 -55 210 About the Dixie Project The Dixie Project is 100% owned, comprised of 9,140 hectares of contiguous claims that extend over 22 kilometres, and is located approximately 25 kilometres southeast of the town of Red Lake, Ontario. The project is accessible year-round via a 15 minute drive on a paved highway which runs the length of the northern claim boundary and a network of well-maintained logging roads. The Dixie Project hosts two principle styles of gold mineralization: High-grade gold in quartz veins and silica-sulphide replacement zones (Dixie Limb and Hinge) . Hosted by mafic volcanic rocks, and localized near regional-scale D2 fold axes. These mineralization styles are also typical of the significant mined deposits of the Red Lake district. . Hosted by mafic volcanic rocks, and localized near regional-scale D2 fold axes. These mineralization styles are also typical of the significant mined deposits of the district. High-grade disseminated gold with broad moderate to lower grade envelopes (LP Fault). The LP Fault is a significant gold-hosting structure which has been seismically imaged to extend to 14 kilometres depth (Zeng and Calvert , 2006), and has been interpreted by Great Bear to have up to 18 kilometres of strike length on the Dixie property. High-grade gold mineralization is controlled by structural and geological contacts, and moderate to lower-grade disseminated gold surrounds and flanks the high-grade intervals. The dominant gold-hosting stratigraphy consists of felsic sediments and volcanic units. About Great Bear Great Bear Resources Ltd. is a well-financed gold exploration company managed by a team with a track record of success in mineral exploration. Great Bear is focused in the prolific Red Lake gold district in northwest Ontario, where the company controls over 300 km2 of highly prospective tenure across 4 projects: the flagship Dixie Project (100% owned), the Pakwash Property (earning a 100% interest), the Dedee Property (earning a 100% interest), and the Sobel Property (earning a 100% interest), all of which are accessible year-round through existing roads. QA/QC and Core Sampling Protocols Drill core is logged and sampled in a secure core storage facility located in Red Lake Ontario. Core samples from the program are cut in half, using a diamond cutting saw, and are sent to Activation Laboratories in Ontario, an accredited mineral analysis laboratory, for analysis. All samples are analysed for gold using standard Fire Assay-AA techniques. Samples returning over 10.0 g/t gold are analysed utilizing standard Fire Assay-Gravimetric methods. Pulps from approximately 5% of the gold mineralized samples are submitted for check analysis to a second lab. Selected samples are also chosen for duplicate assay from the coarse reject of the original sample. Selected samples with visible gold are also analyzed with a standard 1 kg metallic screen fire assay. Certified gold reference standards, blanks and field duplicates are routinely inserted into the sample stream, as part of Great Bear's quality control/quality assurance program (QAQC). No QAQC issues were noted with the results reported herein. Qualified Person and NI 43-101 Disclosure Mr. R. Bob Singh, P.Geo, Director and VP Exploration, and Ms. Andrea Diakow P.Geo, Exploration Manager for Great Bear are the Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the accuracy of technical information contained in this news release. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Chris Taylor" Chris Taylor, President and CEO Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements This release contains certain "forward looking statements" and certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. The forward-looking information contained herein is provided for the purpose of assisting readers in understanding management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking information are based on management of the parties' reasonable assumptions, estimates, expectations, analyses and opinions, which are based on such management's experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, and other factors that management believes are relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, but which may prove to be incorrect. Great Bear undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by applicable law. Such forward-looking information represents management's best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. SOURCE Great Bear Resources Ltd. A $500 first responder rebate is available at Roberts Toyota for the purchase of a new Toyota vehicle Roberts Toyota, a local dealership in Columbia, offers a rebate to eligible law enforcement agents and other first responders. This $500 rebate is available for those who purchase a new Toyota vehicle or lease a new Toyota vehicle through Roberts Toyota. More details can be found on the dealerships website, robertstoyota.com Careers that are eligible for the first responder rebate at Roberts Toyota are law enforcement such as police and sheriffs, highway patrol, coast guards, border patrol, dispatch agents, firefighters, EMTs, medical doctors and nurses. Customers who are interested in this rebate are encouraged to reach out to a sales representative at Roberts Toyota for more information. Eligible customers who wish to take advantage of the first responders' rebate must provide proof of their status as a first responder or law enforcement agent, along with proof of a salary sufficient to cover the costs of living expenses and the payment for a new Toyota vehicle. They must receive credit approval from Roberts Toyota with Toyota Financial Services. Customers who want to learn more can either contact the dealership directly or check out the dealerships website. On the dealerships website, they can use the Specials menu to locate the First Responder Rebate page which has information on eligible careers and the process of application. Customers can also view an online inventory on the dealerships website and take advantage of at-home delivery and consultation services. By Jung Min-ho Foreigners in Korea will face heavier fines for violating coronavirus quarantine rules. The Ministry of Justice said Monday that it will revise enforcement regulations to raise fines to 3 million won ($2,500) from 500,000 won this month for first-time violators of mandatory 14-day quarantine. Second- and third-time violators will face fines of 5 million and 10 million won, respectively. "It is critical for everyone coming from overseas to follow the self-isolation rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19," the ministry said in a statement. The rules apply also for Koreans, who could face up to one year in prison or a maximum fine of 10 million won. In serious cases, foreigners could be deported immediately. In April, 18 were forced to leave Korea for breaking the rules, according to the ministry. On Monday, Korea reported 35 more COVID-19 cases, the biggest single-day spike since April 9, bringing the country's total infections to 10,909. (EVENT CANCELED June 4, 2020) The TBM Reunion and Salute to Veterans is now scheduled to occur in Terra Haute, Indiana on July 24/25 according to the air shows founder, Brad Deckert. The annual event, dedicated to WWII veterans and the famed Grumman Avenger naval torpedo bomber, was originally scheduled to take place at its usual home in Peru, Illinois earlier this year, however, the global pandemic caused these plans to change, an all-too-common refrain this year sadly. Brad Deckert, owner of TBM-3E Bu.85632, started the event back in April, 2016 as an effort to bring TBM owner/operators together for training and to discuss mutual concerns. It wasnt an air show, per se, but proved to be so popular that the local community in Peru, Illinois embraced the idea and has helped to fund and promote the gathering ever since. The show involves much more than the TBM now, although the type is still a major component. About this years changes, Deckert stated: Hoosier Aviation has graciously offered to host this great event on July 24th and 25th. Some details are still being worked out, but it will be essentially the same event at a different location. Feel free to contact me with questions. The air shows present chairman, Cary Miller, made a formal press release which continues as follows Our friends at Hoosier Aviation in Terre Haute, Indiana (www.hoosieraviation.com) have graciously offered their venue to hold the City of Peru TBM Reunion and Salute to Veterans during their CAF AirPower air show at the Terre Haute Regional Airport on July 22 through 26. All of the exiting attractions youve come to expect from the Peru show, will be featured. With the cancellation of EAA/Warbirds convention in Oshkosh for 2020, we expect to have a large turnout of warbirds. It should make for a very exciting and spectacular show. We sincerely thank the group at Hoosier Aviation for continuing the TBM tradition and we certainly look forward for its RETURN TO PERU, ILLINOIS IN 2021! For more information regarding this years event, and to volunteer, please visit the Hoosier Aviation Website at www.hoosieraviation.com as well as their Facebook page. Once again thank you Hoosier Aviation, all of our TBM and warbird friends, our supporters, and of course all of our veterans. Stay healthy and safe. Cary Miller TBM Reunion and Salute to Veterans Chairman We look forwards to covering this air show for our readers! For more information visit www.tbmreunion.org President Donald Trump has demanded the presenter of NBC News' Meet The Press, Chuck Todd, be fired after the program admitted to 'inadvertently cutting short' a sound bite from Attorney General William Barr when responding to a question about the dismissal of charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Late on Sunday night, Trump tweeted: 'Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd should be FIRED by 'Concast' (NBC) for this fraud. He knew exactly what he was doing. Public Airwaves = Fake News!' The president's tweet came after the Department of Justice slammed the Sunday morning news program for deceptively editing the clip. NBC later apologized for the poor editing on Sunday evening admitting that the clip Todd had played was 'inadvertently and inaccurately cut short'. President Trump has demanded the presenter of NBC News' Meet The Press, Chuck Todd, be fired after the program admitted to 'inadvertently cutting short' a sound bite from AG Barr A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice accused NBC's Chuck Todd of deliberately editing a clip of Attorney General William Barr as he defended the dismissal of charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn Todd asked Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan about recent remarks Barr made regarding the dropped case against former national security adviser Today on Meet The Press, @chucktodd wildly took context out of an answer AG Bill Barr gave about his decision to drop the case into Gen. Michael Flynn. I cut Todd's segment along with Barr's full answer together. Look at how blatantly dishonest this is. pic.twitter.com/tODOEwL48V Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 10, 2020 The clip NBC played showed CBS reporter Catherine Herridge asking Barr how history might view his efforts to dismiss charges against Flynn. 'Well, history's written by the winners. So it largely depends on who's writing the history,' Barr replied. Todd then added he was struck by 'the cynicism of the answer. It's a correct answer. But he's the attorney general. He didn't make the case that he was upholding the rule of law,' Todd reacted. 'He was almost admitting that, yeah, this is a political job.' However in an extended clip, shown in full by CBS News, Barr is seen responding with further justification of his actions: 'Well, history is written by the winners. So it largely depends on who's writing the history. But I think a fair history would say that it was a good decision because it upheld the rule of law. It helped, it upheld the standards of the Department of Justice, and it undid what was an injustice.' A spokesperson for the Justice Department, Kerri Kupec ended up tweeting a side-by-side transcript of the CBS interview compared with the excerpt used by NBC's Meet The Press. A spokesperson for the Justice Department, Kerri Kupec ended up tweeting a side-by-side transcript of the CBS interview compared with the excerpt used by NBC's Meet The Press In the CBS clip Barr was seen to fully justify his actions but in the excerpt used by NBC the clip was cut short implying Barr did not make the case for his decision Kupec stated she was 'very disappointed by the deceptive editing/commentary'. 'He didn't make the case that he was upholding the rule of law,' said Todd during his segment on Sunday. 'He was almost admitting that, yeah, this is a political job.' However Kupec noted that Todd's clip specifically left out the rest of the attorney general's response, in which Barr referred to the rule of law. 'Not only did the AG make the case in the VERY answer Chuck says he didn't, he also did so multiple times throughout the interview,' she tweeted. Late Sunday night, NBC admitted to 'inadvertently and inaccurately cutting short a video clip' and have apologized for making the error Late on Sunday night, NBC admitted to 'inadvertently and inaccurately cutting short a video clip' and have apologized for making the error in a tweet. 'Earlier today, we inadvertently and inaccurately cut short a video clip of an interview with AG Barr before offering commentary and analysis. The remaining clip included important remarks from the attorney general that we missed, and we regret the error,' Meet The Press tweeted. Critics of Barr have suggested that the decision to drop charges against Flynn was politically-motivated protect or keep scrutiny away from President Trump. Barr was long critical of the counterintelligence investigation that led to Flynn's ouster and conviction for lying to FBI investigators. New Delhi, May 11 : At the Prime Minister's fifth video conference with Chief Ministers of different states and Union Territories, at least five states advocated an extension of the current lockdown. However they were outnumbered by many states and UTs who asked for more relaxation in terms of opening up the economy while keeping certain restrictions. Sources say, the states that demanded an extension included Telangana, Maharashtra, and West Bengal. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray vociferously made a pitch for the extension of the current lockdown, stating lifting it will grossly impact the state's efforts to contain the virus. Maharashtra has been the worst-hit with more than 22,000 cases of Covid-19. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was believed to be in a fiery mood, also pitched for the extension. Punjab too is inclined towards an extension given the spike in numbers after many migrants from Maharashtra reached back home. Earlier, in an exclusive interview to IANS, Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh blamed Maharashtra government's "negligence" for Punjab's "sufferings". Amarinder Singh also sought a well-crafted exit policy and economic empowerment. He urged PM Modi that zoning should be left to states. He also sought fiscal aid for states to meet at least 33 per cent of committed liabilities. There were at least two Chief Ministers - of Telanagana and Tamil Nadu - who raised their objections to the resumption of railway services. Both Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao and E. Palaniswami claimed it will undo all the gains of lockdown and the "time" for resumption of railway services hasn't come, yet. Last night, the Centre announced that from May 12, it will slowly restart train services. However, there were others who demanded more relaxations. One of them being Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. He not only wanted relaxation of rules but demanded resumption of inter-state transport service. However, he stated that Andhra Pradesh requires Rs 16,000 crore immediately to fight Covid-19. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is believed to have told the PM to ensure economic activities across the national capital save the containment zones. Interestingly, the entire Delhi comes under red zone. This was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fifth such interaction. Sources said the focus of the meeting was on further increasing economic activities and on tackling the pandemic in containment zones as the lockdown 3.0 is to end on May 17. The lockdown, enforced on March 25, was originally supposed to end on April 14. It was then extended to May 3, and then again to May 17. The oldest family-run restaurant in downtown Charleston is the latest local culinary institution to announce it wont reopen after suggested operating restrictions are lifted. I wanted to get to 50 years, said Athan Fokas, whose father, Spiro Fokas, in 1972 joined his brother-in-law to open Old Towne Restaurant at 229 King St. Over its near half-century run, the casual restaurant was hailed for its roast chicken and signature seasoning blend, created from 17 spices eight of them imported from Greece. You feel the conviviality amongst customers as well as management, The News and Courier reported in 1977, noting that Fokas and Steve Ferderigos encouraged diners to drop their shish kebabs, join arms with the others and kick up their heels in a Greek dance to the strains of live bouzouki music. In recent years, though, the warm family feeling which once pervaded the dining room cooled as Athan Fokas and co-owner Jacob Federigos, Steve Federigos son, tangled in court. Athan Fokas attributed the restaurants closure to their festering feud. We havent been getting along too well, me and my cousin, Fokas said. Its pretty sad: This is like the mother restaurant. According to Fokas, the cousins disagreed over whether to apply for a Paycheck Protection Program loan to keep the restaurant going in the wake of the novel coronavirus; Fokas claims Federigos was concerned about repaying it, despite Fokas assurances he would informally assume liability. Its free money, Fokas argued when Federigos allegedly suggested they instead rent out the building. Reached by phone on Monday morning, Federigos said he wasnt available to comment. Spiro Fokas came to the United States in 1963 to visit his sister and brother and ended up opening a grocery store. Two years later, he returned to his native Greece, keeping a promise to marry Steve Federigos sister. Federigos arrived in Charleston in 1968, partnering with Fokas on his America Street grocery store. The two switched to the restaurant business after chain supermarkets edged out independent shops. They bought an existing restaurant which was in such shabby shape that The News and Courier twice described it as rundown. Over the years, though, they repaired the roof and floors, and expanded the dining room to accommodate 300 people. While the restaurant got a boost in traffic when Charleston Place debuted across the street in 1986, Fokas said business has been tougher since dozens of new restaurants have opened downtown. It hasnt been crazy, but weve been hanging in there, he said. Theres no reason we couldnt have made it. Several employees contacted The Post and Courier after Old Towne closed in accordance with the states pandemic-related order, saying they hadnt received their final paychecks. Fokas said the checks were delayed because those employees didnt provide accurate mailing addresses; hes since met them at a drugstore and the post office to settle up. During the closure, Fokas changed the outgoing voicemail at the restaurant to promote Old Townes seasoning blend, which its sold for decades. I can show you our seasoning (sales) book, and youll see every state, he said. One fan of the blend who recently placed an order had just worked his way through a jar sized to last five years. He asked for a smaller portion this time, Fokas said, because he doesnt anticipate living another five years. Still, he wants to make sure he doesnt run out of Old Towne seasoning first. My father put the blend together, Fokas said, adding, My uncle would probably say he put the blend together. Fokas will be stationed at the restaurant this week from 9-11 a.m. selling seasoning, but hes promised his cousin that hell be cleared out by the end of the month. Because of the joint ownership agreement, he cant take with him any of the restaurants memorabilia, including paintings of his familys hometown in Greece. An online auction featuring the restaurants equipment, furniture, artwork and menus begins on Tuesday. US officials are reportedly planning to issue a warning that hackers in China are preparing to steal vaccine and treatment research from America. According to The New York Times, hackers are seeking an advantage in the pandemic, which includes 'valuable intellectual property and public health data through illicit means related to vaccines, treatments and testing'. A draft of the warning, which is expected to be released in the coming days, focuses on cybertheft and action by 'nontraditional actors'. The Times reports that these 'nontraditional actors' are researchers and students who the Trump administration says are being activated to steal data from inside academic and private laboratories. Scroll down for video US officials are reportedly planning to issue a warning that hackers in China are preparing to steal vaccine and treatment research from America. Chad Wolf, acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is pictured speaking alongside President Donald Trump Hackers are seeking an advantage in the pandemic, which includes 'valuable intellectual property and public health data through illicit means related to vaccines, treatments and testing'. Hackers could attempt to steal data from academic and private labs (file image) The Trump administration's decision to issue the accusation is part of a broader deterrent strategy that also involves United States Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, officials told the Times. News of the accusation against China comes just days after it was revealed that hackers linked to Iran targeted staff at US drugmaker Gilead Sciences in recent weeks, as the company races to deploy a treatment for the COVID-19 virus. In one case, a fake email login page designed to steal passwords was sent in April to a top Gilead executive involved in legal and corporate affairs, according to an archived version on a website used to scan for malicious web addresses. It's unclear if the attack was successful. Ohad Zaidenberg, lead intelligence researcher at Israeli cybersecurity firm ClearSky, who closely tracks Iranian hacking activity and has investigated the attacks, said the attempt was part of an effort by an Iranian group to compromise email accounts of staff at the company using messages that impersonated journalists. Two other cybersecurity researchers, who were not authorized to speak publicly about their analysis, confirmed that the web domains and hosting servers used in the hacking attempts were linked to Iran. Iran's mission to the United Nations denied any involvement in the attacks. 'The Iranian government does not engage in cyber warfare,' said spokesman Alireza Miryousefi. 'Cyber activities Iran engages in are purely defensive and to protect against further attacks on Iranian infrastructure.' A spokesman for Gilead declined to comment, citing a company policy not to discuss cybersecurity matters. The hacking attempts show how cyber spies around the world are focusing their intelligence-gathering efforts on information about COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. In recent weeks, Reuters has reported that hackers with links to Iran and other groups have also attempted to break into the World Health Organization, and that attackers linked to Vietnam targeted the Chinese government over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Britain and the US warned last week that state-backed hackers are attacking pharmaceutical companies and research institutions working on treatments for the new disease. The joint statement did not name any of the attacked organizations, but two people familiar with the matter said one of the targets was Gilead, whose antiviral drug remdesivir is the only treatment so far proven to help patients infected with COVID-19. News of the accusation against China comes just days after it was revealed that hackers linked to Iran targeted staff at US drugmaker Gilead Sciences (file image) in recent weeks, as the company races to deploy a treatment for the COVID-19 virus The hacking infrastructure used in the attempt to compromise the Gilead executive's email account has previously been used in cyberattacks by a group of suspected Iranian hackers known as 'Charming Kitten,' said Priscilla Moriuchi, director of strategic threat development at US cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, who reviewed the web archives identified by Reuters. 'Access to even just the email of staff at a cutting-edge Western pharmaceutical company could give ... the Iranian government an advantage in developing treatments and countering the disease,' said Moriuchi, a former analyst with the US National Security Agency. Iran has suffered acutely from the COVID-19, recording the highest death toll in the Middle East. The disease has so far killed more than 282,000 people worldwide, triggering a global race between governments, private pharmaceutical companies and researchers to develop a cure. Gilead is at the forefront of that race and has been lauded by President Donald Trump, who met the California company's CEO Daniel O'Day at the White House in March and May to discuss its work on COVID-19. The US Food and Drug Administration last week gave emergency use authorization to Gilead's remdesivir for patients with severe COVID-19, clearing the way for broader use in more hospitals around the United States. An official at one European biotech company said the industry was on 'red alert' and taking extra precautions to guard against attempts to steal COVID-19 research, such as conducting all work related to vaccine trials on 'air-gapped' computers that are disconnected from the internet. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Sunday, announced a package to resource the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to it to strengthen its education on COVID-19 to contain the spread of the disease. On Monday, May 11, the President said, 10,000 domestically-produced facemasks and additional funds would be delivered to the NCCE to enhance its capacity to undertake 'the important work it is already doing'. President Akufo-Addo announced this in his ninth broadcast to update citizens on measures being implemented to deal with the pandemic. The Government had extended this gesture to other frontline actors engaged in the fight, for instance, with the presentation of 5,000 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to members of the media. The President thanked healthcare workers, including all those responsible for the Tracing, Testing and Treating, for their heroic contribution to the fight against the pandemic. "They will be long remembered in our history. In advance, I say a hearty ayekoo to the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, which celebrates its 60th anniversary on Tuesday," he stated. The President urged citizens to change their attitude and adopt healthy lifestyles. "We have to improve our hygiene, our fitness and exercises, our eating, generally, our style of living, which will boost our immunity to disease and the virus". He called for the unity of purpose to overcome the pandemic. "We can defeat it if we continue to look out for one another, and remain each others keeper. "We are fighting a common enemy, and it is imperative that we do not allow religious, ethnic or political differences to get in the way of certain victory," he said. "So, we cannot allow a few persons, who wish to use these differences to scuttle our collective fight, to succeed". The President announced that the ban on public gathering remained in force till May 31. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Lockdown fines will rise to 100 in England from Wednesday as the Government warned it was considering tougher enforcement measures for anyone flouting the rules. People believed to be breaching restrictions on movement amid the coronavirus outbreak will have their first fine lowered to 50 if paid within 14 days, but fines will double for each repeat offence, up to a maximum of 3,200. Existing legislation known as the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 will be updated from Wednesday to reflect the changes. The news comes as a 50-page document published by the Government setting out its Covid-19 recovery strategy for England said it was examining more stringent enforcement measures for non-compliance. Setting out limited changes to some rules from Wednesday, the paper said the higher fines reflect the increased risk to others of breaking the rules as people are returning to work and school. But some MPs and police chiefs raised concerns and one lawyer warned the unclear directions to officers and the public could be a recipe for disaster. The new guidance says people will be able to: Exercise outside as many times a day as they want although a limit on the number of exercise sessions has never been enforced by law in England Spend time outdoors, other than for exercise, as long as they are not meeting more than one person from outside their household, while observing social distancing measures by keeping two metres apart, and continuing to wash their hands regularly Drive to outdoor open spaces irrespective of distance as long as they observe social distancing rules when there, and do not travel over borders to other parts of the UK where rules are different. Previously, the public were urged not to travel long distances to visit beaches, countryside and beauty spots Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) Little other detail was provided on how stricter enforcement other than higher fines would be imposed. No other specific examples of when members of the public would be considered to be flouting the rules, and therefore liable for fines, were provided in the document, but it added: The Government will seek to make clearer to the public what is and is not allowed. Andrew Slattery, Assistant Chief Constable of Cumbria Police, said he expected his force to have a very difficult weekend in light of the changes. Yvette Cooper, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said the lack of clarity will make the job for police much, much harder and she was particularly concerned at the increase in fines, adding: The Government should first ensure that enforcement can be accurately and effectively done. Expand Close Yvette Cooper (House of Commons/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Yvette Cooper (House of Commons/PA) John Apter, national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank-and-file police officers, told the PA news agency: There is a desperate need for crystal clear clarity on what is and isnt allowed. Raj Chada, head of the criminal defence department and a partner at firm Hodge Jones & Allen described the guidance as a mish mash which was completely unclear, telling PA the difference in rules in different areas of the country was a recipe for disaster. He also questioned whether the ambiguous directions complied with human rights laws. Boris Johnson told the House of Commons on Monday afternoon he had huge admiration for the police approach and urged the public to use common sense. Admitting that as its requests become more complex the harder it is for people to comply with the measures, the Government has pledged to invest in public health education to make sure everyone understands the rules. Lockdown fines remain unchanged in Scotland after the Holyrood government said it found no evidence to suggest an increase was required because the number of fixed penalty notices there was proportionately lower than in England. This means people found to be flouting lockdown rules for the first time in Scotland will still be fined 30 by police, rising to 60 if not paid within 28 days. Cumulative fines for repeat offenders will stay capped at 960. The governments in Wales and Northern Ireland have confirmed fines will stay the same for now 60 reduced to 30 if paid within 14 days, rising to 120 for a second and subsequent offences. As such, his philosophy and activities were far more closely aligned to the bastardised American form of Mafia than that of most of his colleagues who adhered to the tight-knit, family-based Calabrian N'Draghita. Trimbole's family came from Plati, in the Calabrian foothills of southern Italy. But he was born in Australia on March 19, 1931, and probably was more Australian than the most ardent ocker. He didn't look Italian, he didn't sound Italian and he happily socialised with almost anyone. Soon after his marriage to a non-Italian, Joan Eva Quested, in Sydney in April 1952, Trimbole took over his parents' small farm in the Griffith area where many of their friends and relatives from Plati had also settled. When the farm was sold, later that year, and his parents moved to the predominantly Italian Sydney suburb of Fairfield, the Trimboles rented a home in Olympia Street. Bob ran a garage-cum-panel-beating shop next door. "A cold, callous killer": Robert Trimbole Credit:Sunday Age In his book, Disorganised Crime, Richard Hall, who insists Trimbole was nothing more than a knockabout crim, portrayed him, during these years, as a dreamer and schemer who longed for the good life. Trimbole's tale is not so much that of rags to riches or Housing Commission to Grass Castles as the fulfilment of unconscionable greed. In November 1968, Trimbole was bankrupted, owing the Commissioner of Taxation about $10,000. Although a suspicious fire destroyed his garage -including the financial records of the business - about this time, it appears the Trimboles were by no means "in the money" during the very early 1970s. They lived in a Housing Commission home, sometimes could not pay their bills and, at one stage, had the power cut off. They had to borrow bread and milk to survive. But, as subsequent Royal Commission and court evidence has shown, he very soon became a wealthy man. And, according to evidence to the Woodward Royal Commission, the family was able to move to the affluent McNabb Crescent in about 1973. Little is known of his income in the four years following his bankcruptcy, although Hall suggested that it was Trimbole who encouraged La Famiglia's involvement in the marijuana trade. By 1972, he was able to open the Texas Tavern wine bar in Griffith and, later, the Texan Butchery. The family business was sold about one year later and Trimbole opened Casual Foodlands and the Casula Cellars in western Sydney From the mid-1970s, Trimbole began spending most of his time in Sydney, dabbling in property, various company ventures, punting and race-fixing. In particular, he also handled the sale and distribution of marijuana grown by La Famiglia in the Griffith area. By mid-1975, Trimbole was able to arrange for friends to lend him $21,000(which he gave them) to enable his discharge from bankruptcy. The marijuana trade was going very well and Trimbole was able to lavish his friends and family with gifts, as well as spending a fortune at the track. The Nagle Commission of Inquiry was later told that, after Trimbole became involved in shifting drugs from Griffith - in about 1974 - he and other Italians went from small farms to 100 square-metre grass castles, big cars, boats and wads of money. Although Trimbole would later claim his wealth was derived from track winnings, evidence to the Woodward Royal Commission from several bookmakers and taps on his phone indicate that Trimbole usually came out in the red. But the blatant wealth that the marijuana trade brought to many of Trimbole's cohorts in the Griffith area, which they often channeled into large houses, set tongues wagging and drew police attention, despite the efforts of Trimbole's police mates, such as Jack Ellis. The senior detective in Griffith in July 1977, James Bindon, later told the Nagle commission that he could not understand why more inquiries were not carried out by police into Trimbole's activities. Jack Ellis and his ilk were among the reasons. Unfortunately for La Famiglia, there were those in Griffith who were not content simply to wag tongues. People such as Donald Mackay sought police action. And, when police conducted several big raids on marijuana farms in the area in 1975, 1976 and 1977, it was Mackay that Trimbole and La Famiglia blamed. According to subsequent court evidence, Trimbole was among those who decided Mackay had to go. While Trimbole dined at the Glensynd Hotel, near Randwick racecourse on July 15, 1977, Donald Mackay was murdered. The Nagle commission later examined the NSW police mis-handling of the subsequent murder inquiry as well as attempts, which probably originated with Trimbole, to discredit Mackay and his family. Mourners at Pine Grove Cemetery in Eastern Creek. May 27, 1987 Credit:John Nobley It was through his love of the track that Trimbole came into contact with Terry Clark, the head of the Mr Asia drug syndicate. From the late 1970s, with so much heat on the marijuana trade, Trimbole began branching out. THIS included assisting the syndicate with matters such as false passports and bail arrangements when couriers and others were caught. More particularly, he was able to assist Clark when two couriers turned informers. On April 8, 1979, Douglas and Isabel Wilson left Sydney for Melbourne. Their car later was found abandoned at Tullamarine airport. Their dog was found about six kilometres away. (According to later court evidence, the killer, James Bazley, had not had the heart to kill the dog.) In mid-May, the Wilsons' bodies were found in a shallow grave at Rye. With the heat on Clark, and the syndicate falling apart, Trimbole allegedly offered to buy the remnants - the contacts and distribution networks - for about $30 million. However, by late 1980, Trimbole was feeling the heat himself. Late that year, he refused to answer questions at the inquest into the deaths of the Wilsons on the grounds that he might incriminate himself. In January of the following year, by which stage Clark had been arrested in the UK in connection with the murder of Martin Johnstone, Trimbole was referred to during Britain's Mr Asia trials as an associate of the syndicate. But, despite the increasing police intelligence interest in Trimbole, which included telephone taps and physical surveillance, little action appears to have been taken to gain sufficient evidence to charge him. With the announcement of the Stewart Royal Commission into the Mr Asia syndicate early in 1981, Trimbole was not game to continue the gamble. He had sufficient police contacts and counter-surveillance equipment to know his phone was tapped and that he was likely to be hauled before Stewart. He fled Australia with his de facto, Marie Anne Presland, and her daughter, on May 7 1981. If police had any doubts about Trimbole's involvement in drugs, La Famiglia and the Mr Asia syndicate, these were settled with the arrest of Gianfranco Tizzoni, who became a major police informant. When Tizzoni and others were tried in Melbourne in 1984 with conspiracy to murder Donald Mackay and the Wilsons, Trimbole was named as the fourth conspirator. Tizzoni told the court that he believed Trimbole probably was ranked number two in the Australia-wide organisation, La Famiglia: "I would not say(Trimbole was) the really top boss. No." He told the Victorian Supreme Court hearing of charges against hitman James Frederick Bazley that the murders, which Bazley carried out, had cost $10,000 each. When an inquest finally was held in March 1984 into the presumed death of Donald Mackay, the coroner was told Trimbole was "too busy" to attend. Trimbole was certainly busy, trying to live a new life under the alias of Hanbury in Ireland. IN OCTOBER that year, he was arrested to the joy of Federal Police who had been trying to track him for years. But a series of legal bungles, including the lack of an extradition treaty between Australia and Ireland, enabled Trimbole to be freed by the Irish Supreme Court early in 1985. Trimbole, who was suffering from cancer of the prostate, is believed to have hired a light aircraft and flown to Spain. During subsequent years, there have been several reported sightings of Trimbole in places as varied as the US, Europe and, even, Australia, as well as reports of his death or grave illness. Despite this, police believe Trimbole was well enough to have expressed interest in, at least, arranging drug importations to Australia. The scene at Pinegrove Cemetery, Eastern Creek. May 27, 1987. Credit:Robert Pearce In August 1985 came reports that the Taxation Commissioner was trying to recover $2 million from Trimbole. His son, Craig, recently lost a legal battle with the commissioner, over the title of a rice farm which he claimed his father had sold to him. The Federal Court rejected his claim, describing the transaction as "a sham". Whatever Trimbole's movements during the past two years, by late last week he was "holidaying" in the south-eastern Spanish resort of Benidorm, which is on a stretch of coastline described as being akin to the Gold Coast. He is believed to have become seriously ill by the weekend, when word was passed to his son, Craig, in Australia. Trimbole was taken to a nearby hospital and died, apparently of a heart attack, on Tuesday. THE TIMES OF ROBERT TRIMBOLE March 19, 1931: Born Australia. Parents migrated from Calabria. April 18, 1952: Marries Joan Quested (four children). From 1953 to 1959: Lives at Griffith, leases garage/panel-beating shop. 1959 to 1973: Family lives at Housing Commission property in Griffith. November 1968: Made bankrupt for $10,000 tax debt. Panel-beating shop burns down. 1972: Establishes Texas Tavern wine bar and later Texan Butchery, Griffith. 1973: Sells tavern, buys Casula Foodlands, and later Casula Cellars. July 1975: Discharged from bankruptcy. July 1977: Is among those who order drug campaigner, Donald Mackay's death. Late 1970s: Begins association with Mr Asia. April 1979: Arranges death of two Mr Asia couriers, Douglas and Isabel Wilson. 1979: Allegedly offers to buy Mr Asia syndicate for $30 million Late 1980: Excused from giving evidence at Wilson inquest on grounds of possible self-incrimination. May 1981: Flees Australia with de facto wife. March 1982: Arrest of Ginafranco Tizzone provides police with intelligence about Trimbole, l'Draghita and Mackay murder October 1984: Tracked down in Ireland but freed by Irish Supreme Court. 1984: Sightings reported overseas and in Australia. Death reported. Anti-government protesters take cover while security forces use tear gas during clashes in central Baghdad - AP A 20-year-old protester was shot dead on Monday as thousands of young Iraqis took to the streets and resumed anti-government demonstrations. On Monday protesters gathered in southern and central Iraq, though the government blocked access to a bridge connecting Baghdad's Tahrir square, the focal point of the demonstrations, with the Green Zone where foreign embassies and government offices are based. Within hours of the protests resuming, a 20-year-old protester was shot in the head and later died in hospital. Iraqi officials suggested the protester was killed by supporters of a local political party with close ties to the Iranian regime. The violence came shortly after Iraqs newly appointed prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, ordered the release of detained protesters and vowed to protect them from brutality at the hands of security forces and militia groups. The protesters have already rejected Mr Kadhimis leadership and are demanding a radical transformation of the Iraqi political system to eliminate corruption, reduce unemployment and improve public services. They are also vehemently opposed to Irans growing influence over the Iraqi parliament and its security forces, following incidents where supporters of pro-Iran militia groups have attacked protesters. Mourners carry the coffin of an Iraqi demonstrator, who was killed during ongoing anti-government protests in Basra - REUTERS Mr Kadhimi has also sought to placate the demonstrators by reinstating a popular general whose surprise demotion under a previous government had been a key factor in the protests erupting. Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi was instrumental in Iraqs military operations against the Islamic State terror group, including the battle to retake Mosul, and is said to have close ties with Washington. He will now serve as head of counter-terrorism operations in Mr Kadhimis new government. Human rights groups say up to 600 people were killed in Iraqs anti-government protests at the hands of the security forces. Story continues Many others have been injured by live ammunition and heavy tear gas cannisters, while there have also been allegations of torture against detained protesters. The protests were mostly put on hold after the global outbreak of coronavirus, with some youngsters turning their efforts towards making protective medical gear such as face masks. The demonstration moved from the ground to social media but it will return to the field after the crisis ends...blood has [been spilled] in these demonstrations and we will not forget them, one protester, Hussein, told the Telegraph in a Whatsapp message. The impact of Jack Mundey's green bans on the city of Sydney was so great that he came to act as almost like court of appeal for the heritage and the environment at a time when there was no legislation to protect historic buildings, says former premier Bob Carr. A veteran unionist and environmentalist, Mr Mundey died on the weekend, aged 90. Jack Mundey being carried from a protest at The Rocks in the early seventies. Credit:Robert Pearce "He served as a check on developers at a crucial time, a time when [then premier Bob] Askin gave developers, who he played poker with, anything they wanted," Mr Carr said. The green bans instigated by Mr Mundey as leader of the Builders Labourers Federation, prevented developers from razing key buildings and districts including Victoria Street, the entirety of the Woolloomooloo valley as well as parts of the Rocks, the Botanical Gardens, Centennial and Moore parks, Glebe and Chippendale for replacement by office and apartment towers. As the temperature cools down and Australians prepare to move into winter, a teacher has shared her meal prep tips to help you stay on top of your nutrition. Sydney-based Katie Lolas, 33, has been dubbed the 'meal prepping queen', thanks to her ability to whip up tasty and budget-friendly meals for each working week. Katie has amassed an online following of more than 165,000 people on Instagram, where she shares regular snaps of her meal prepping sessions and recipes to go with each post. According to the 33-year-old, if you want to get organised and prepped for winter, the most important thing to do is make sure you have a well-stocked pantry. Sydney-based Katie Lolas (pictured), 33, has been dubbed the 'meal prepping queen', thanks to her ability to whip up tasty and budget-friendly meals for each working week Katie shared her top meal prepping tips, as well as the Mexican feast meal prep recipe (pictured) that her followers are going crazy for 'I purchase the majority of my staples like brown rice, quinoa, black beans and chickpeas from Aldi or opt for a Homebrand Woolies or Coles version,' Katie told FEMAIL. 'The quality, taste and nutritional value is always on par with the more expensive brands, so why not grab the less expensive option? 'Keeping your pantry stocked at all times is great too because you can create quick and easy meals using ingredients that you already have.' One of the recipes Katie said she has been enjoying while in coronavirus isolation is her simple low carb Mexican meatballs. These are a 'perfect winter staple' when served with brown rice and avocado and tomatoes, because they will keep you full and can be served hot or cold. 'Since we can't jump on a plane to Cancun right now, let your tastebuds transport you there with these Low Carb Mexican Meatballs,' Katie posted recently. She added that the recipe is also useful if you know you're going to have a busy week, because you can store the meatballs in the fridge for as long as four days. When it comes to meal prepping for winter, Katie (pictured) said you need to try and get your hands on as many homebrand products as possible to have a well-stocked pantry 'The quality, taste and nutritional value is always on par with the more expensive brands, so why not grab the less expensive option?' she said (one of Katie's meal preps pictured) How to make Katie's low carb Mexican meatballs Serves four The teacher shared her recipe for her low carb Mexican meatballs (pictured) Time: 30 minutes INGREDIENTS For the meatballs 500g lean ground beef 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1/2 tsp salt 2 tbsp taco seasoning 1 egg For the salsa 1 cup cherry tomatoes (halved) 1 jalapeno, minced (optional) 1/2 lime (juiced) 1/8 tsp salt For the cauliflower rice 1 tsp olive oil 3 cups riced cauliflower 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1 lime (zested) For the sides 1/2 cup shredded light cheese 1 red or yellow capsicum, sliced 1/4 cup light sour cream Salsa (optional) Avocado (optional) METHOD 1. Heat oven to 190C. Stir together all of the meatball ingredients. Roll approx 1.5 tbsp of the stirred ingredients into balls and arrange on a baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until cooked through. 2. While meatballs are baking, heat oil in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. 3. Add all cauliflower ingredients to the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring continuously, until softened slightly (but not mushy!). Set aside to cool 4. Make the salsa by stirring together all ingredients. Divide all ingredients, including sides, evenly between storage containers. Source: Lady Lolas Advertisement Katie's (pictured) other meal prep tips include investing in long-life ingredients that don't cost much, as these can help you make budget dishes like stews, casseroles, hummus and soup What are Katie's top winter meal prep tips? * Get the majority of your staples with homebrand items to save money. These will be good for soups, stews and casseroles. * Opt for in-season fruits and vegetables to save cash. * Plan your meal prepping around in-store promotions and sales. * Stock up on frozen vegetables, which last longer and are great for bulking out smoothies and stir fries. * Prep ahead on a Sunday to ensure you have everything you need to eat for the week. * Try and prep meals that you know will last several days in good containers in the fridge. Advertisement The teacher's other meal prepping tips include investing in long-life ingredients which often don't cost much - and can help you make delicious budget dishes like stews, casseroles, hummus and soups. 'I always try to buy the vegetables that are fresh and in season to save money,' Katie said. If you can plan your meal prepping sessions around sales and promotions, you'll be winning even more - as this will save you valuable dollars off your grocery bill. 'Vegetables that are in season include Asian greens like boy choy and Chinese broccoli, eggplant, kale, leeks, mushrooms and potatoes,' Katie said. 'Seasonal fruit includes grapes, apples, plums, avocados, pears, oranges, guava. These are plentiful and available at most local groceries for a competitive price.' Katie is also not averse to buying frozen fruits and vegetables, which can work well thrown into smoothies, salads, stir fries and used on nights when you just can't be bothered. Katie is also not averse to buying frozen fruits and vegetables, which can work well thrown into smoothies, salads, stir fries and stews (pictured) For those looking to avoid gaining a winter waistline, Katie said the most important thing you need to think about is your portion sizes; she portions out in advance (pictured) Katie (pictured) also prepares food ahead on a Sunday, so it means she's never tempted to go for something less healthy on a Wednesday just because she can't be bothered cooking What are Katie's top 10 meal prep staples? 1. Mixed Nuts 2. Chia Seeds 3. Frozen Fruit 4. Whole-Wheat Pasta 5. Rolled Oats 6. Rice Malt Syrup 7. Quinoa 8. Canned Beans 9. Extra Virgin Oil 10. Canned Tuna Advertisement For those looking to avoid gaining a winter waistline, Katie said the most important thing you need to think about is your portion sizes. 'I try to reduce comfort eating by asking myself whether I'm actually hungry or just bored and or cold,' she said. She also prepares food ahead on a Sunday, so it means she's never tempted to go for something less healthy on a Wednesday just because she can't be bothered cooking something healthy. 'I cook up my weekly batch of fresh food on a Sunday morning, to ensure I have everything ready for work on Monday,' Katie said. 'It takes between 1.5 to two hours depending on what I make. I always have my groceries ready though, so I can start cooking on Sunday morning. Katie said she prepares five breakfasts and between four and five lunches each week for her working week (pictured) 'I prepare five breakfasts and between four and five lunches each week. To change things up, I usually have morning tea at work on Friday and I grab something different from the shops for lunch. 'I still like to make healthy choices even on my days off prepping. Sometimes I'll have brown rice sushi for lunch or a brown bread egg and salad sandwich. It really just depends on what I feel like on that particular day.' To read more from Katie Lolas, you can follow her on Instagram here. China's President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump attend a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Nov. 9, 2017. Nicolas Asfouri | AFP | Getty Images The coronavirus pandemic will cause China's purchases of U.S. goods this year to fall way short of what was agreed to in the "phase one" trade deal, according to a forecast by think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. The American think tank projected that exports of U.S. goods to China could come in at only $60 billion for all of 2020 much lower than the $186.6 billion needed to meet requirements in the agreement that both countries signed in January. That forecast was "admittedly" a "worst-case scenario" because Chinese purchases of U.S. goods could rise later in the year as the economy recovers, but any increases still "will not change the overall picture, just the details," Scott Kennedy, senior advisor and trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at CSIS, wrote in a Friday report. "The targets were never realistic; they were just gaudy numbers meant to impress. The pandemic made the unrealistic the impossible," he said. The coronavirus was first detected in China late last year, and Beijing responded by taking measures that many considered draconian such as locking down cities, suspending public transport and shutting businesses to contain the outbreak. Those measures led to a plunge in demand for goods and services in China, one of the world's largest consumer markets. Consequently, U.S. goods exports to China fell by 10% year over year in the first quarter of 2020, noted Kennedy, citing data from the U.S. Commerce Department. Official U.S. data for services is not yet published, but "it is likely to show a huge falloff due to the collapse of Chinese travel and tourism and the early closing of U.S. universities," he added. Several factors were behind the decline in U.S. goods exports to China in the first quarter: Energy exports were "perhaps the biggest disappointment" after falling by 33.3%; Sales of commercial aircraft were "essentially at zero" and that of automobiles were down by 46.9%; Soybean exports were lower by 39.4%; U.S. failing to take advantage of China's "sky-high" demand for pork following a swine fever outbreak that caused a shortage of the staple meat. But the coronavirus caused many American meat-processing plants to halt production. In the phase one trade deal, China agreed to buy an additional $200 billion in U.S. goods and services by 2021 on top of 2017 levels. That means that U.S. goods and services exports to China should climb to around $290 billion in 2020 and $330 billion in 2021, according to the agreement released by the U.S. Trade Representative. Options for Trump Pursuant to the Document No. 48/CV-VSMMMB dated 04 May 2020 of regarding the cancellation of the shareholder list for attending Annual General Meeting of year 2020 and term 2020-2025, Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD) would like to announce as follows: Canceling the shareholder list for holding Annual General Meeting of year 2020 and term 2020-2025 on the record date of 18 March 2020. Reason for cancellation: Due to the complicated development of the Covid 19 epidemic, the company decided to change the meeting date of 2020 Annual General Meeting. The Police in Techiman has apprehended one suspect who was allegedly part of a gang of eight who attacked a bullion van in the Bono East Region last Friday. The incident occurred when 8 unmasked men attacked the van on the TechimanSunyani highway making away with GHS600,000. The driver of the bullion van driver and his police escort sustained some gunshot wounds in the process. The arrest was made through a joint operation between the Bono East and Ashanti Regional Police Command. The Bono East Regional Police Command, DCOP Djan Kyere in a Citi News interview said his outfit is on a manhunt for the remaining seven suspects. We have asked the Ashanti Regional Command to continue the investigations from there for us to get the rest of the suspects, he said. ---citinewsroom STEPANAKERT, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received today the leader of the "Lousavor Hayastan" (Bright Armenia) party Edmon Marukyan and party member, chair of the standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Mane Tandilyan, the Presidents Office told Armenpress. A range of issues on the development of parliamentary relations between Artsakh and Armenia, the domestic and foreign policy of the two Armenian republics were discussed at the meeting. President Sahakyan highlighted the meetings and discussions with Armenia's parliamentary and non-parliamentary political forces, voicing his satisfaction over their regular nature. Artsakh Republic National Assembly deputy chairman Vahram Balayan was present at the meeting. The family of Vijay Yasam is both happy and sad that the 47-year-old is finally back in India from South Africa where he was working but has been rushed to a corporate hospital in Tamil Nadu for the treatment of advanced-stage cancer of his intestines. Yasam, a native of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, was brought to Chennai on Monday evening after he was evacuated from Johannesburg in South Africa in an air ambulance by International Critical Care Air Transfer Team (ICATT) that flew nearly 21,000 km over four days crossing seven countries, covering four time zones and 30 hours of flying (round trip). The air ambulance had a night stop at Mauritius, which initially refused permission, but came around later. After getting the required permission from five Union ministries, a Learjet Air Ambulance took off from Chennai on April 8 and landed in Johannesburg the next day. The return journey began from the South African city on May 10 and the air ambulance landed in Chennai on Monday evening, much to the relief of Yasams wife and their two children. The operation was challenging as it posed a huge logistical challenge of fly over the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean as there are only a few small islands to stop for fuel. The 47-year-old man, who is the chief manager in Johannesburg branch of Bank of Baroda, was desperate to be with his family after he was diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer of his intestines in the first week of April. He could not fly out of South Africa due to air restrictions owing to COVID-19, but his evacuation was warranted as his health was deteriorating and his family was eager to meet him. I cannot express my happiness in words. All that we did after hearing about his illness was only to cry and think about my husband being lonely in South Africa. Today he is back with us, though he is receiving treatment at a hospital. I can at least tend to him personally in the hospital. Thanks to Bank of Baroda which arranged his return, Yasams wife Kavitha told DH. Yasam and Kavitha had moved to South Africa in 2018, but the wife and children returned to India in February 2019 leaving the husband there. Since the patient needed critical care, ICATT directors Dr. Rahul Singh and Dr. Shalini Nalwad got in touch with their counterparts in Johannesburg, Dr. Ismail Moola, and his team and decided that Yasam needed critical care treatment even while flying. The three doctors pre-optimized the clinical condition of the patient so that he remains stable in the long journey to reach back home. They were also in touch with a doctor and para-medic who was accompanying the patient on board the air ambulance, the ICATT said. Yasam underwent an operation in South Africa and needed to be repatriated back home to India for further treatment with Chemotherapy but was unable to get back because of the lockdown and travel ban. Italys industrial production fell almost 30 per cent in March as the country locked down swathes of its economy to slow the spread of coronavirus. Production dropped 28.4 per cent in the month, Italys statistics agency Istat said on Monday. The fall was the steepest on record and worse than any of the 18 forecasts collected by Reuters. The eurozones third-largest economy has been among the hardest hit by the virus with more than 30,000 deaths. Provisional figures suggest Italys GDP contracted 4.7 per cent in the first quarter of the year. Italy was one of the first to be hit by Covid-19, with soaring death rates leading to a nationwide lockdown imposed from 10 March and all non-essential production being shut down since 22 March. Industrial production is likely to have fallen even further in April, with economists forecasting a 50 per cent decline on the same month last year. Industrial production plunged across the board in March, Istat said, with output of consumer goods, investment goods, intermediate goods and energy products all down. The Italian industry recorded a historically weak March, Oxford Economics said in a note. The decline hit all sectors, but the 50 percent drop in transport equipment was just astonishing, it said. The government forecasts GDP will contract by 8 per cent this year, with other economists predicting a steeper decline of closer to 13 per cent. Prime minister Giuseppe Conte said on Monday he may announce a further easing of Italys lockdown earlier than planned. Mr Conte told newspaper Corriere della Sera that ahead he sees a sharp fall in GDP and the economic consequences will be very painful. Italy partially eased its strict lockdown conditions last week, allowing manufacturing and construction companies to start back up. Shops are due to re-open on 18 May, with bars, restaurants and barbers to start operating on 1 June. Were gathering the data from the latest monitoring and with the experts were defining clear safety rules for workers and customers, Mr Conte said. If the situation remains under control on the epidemiological level, well be able to agree some earlier moves with the regions. Former Google CEO and technical advisor at Google parent company Alphabet, Eric Schmidt, has now reportedly left the company entirely. Thats according to a recent CNET report citing unnamed parties said to be familiar with the matter. Mr. Schmidt reportedly left the company back in February. Representatives for the ex-executive and Google are not commenting on the departure. The former executive had been serving in an advisory role on science and technology issues since 2018. Prior to taking on that position, Mr. Schmidt had spent approximately seven years as executive chairman of Google and Alphabet. The departure follows a decision in 2019 to hand Google over to Sunder Pichai, who took the role of CEO at Google and Alphabet. Advertisement Why is Eric Schmidt leaving Alphabet now? When Sundar Pichai took the reins at Google and Alphabet, that was marked by prior leaders and cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepping down from that role. In January, the companys legal chief of fourteen years, David Drummond, also retired. In each case, the decision appears to have been made amid a wide assortment of controversies. For instance, the company has faced increasing scrutiny over its handling of sexual assault accusations. In January of last year, Alphabet was sued over that same issue. Eric Schmidt, conversely, has been a key player in Googles rise to success in the market as a search giant. The executive announced that he was stepping down as executive chairman and stopped working in an operational capacity three years ago. But Mr. Schmidt, who acted as CEO until 2011, had been working at Google for 19 years and isnt leaving without any controversy either. Advertisement For Mr. Schmidt, the controversy centers more squarely around his role in other projects. Most prominently, thats his work with advisory groups and commissions related to military applications of technology. For example, Mr. Schmidt chairs the Defense Innovation Board and the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. The former is focused on bringing new tech to the Pentagon while the latter advises Congress on AI specifically for defense. More recently, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo revealed the ex-Google worker would act as the chair of a new commission. That would explicitly be responsible for updating the states technological infrastructure and practice. Specifically, thats during and after the coronavirus pandemic across technologies related to telehealth, broadband, and remote learning. But are those reasons for Mr. Schmidt to leave the company? The earlier projects involving Mr. Schmidt are directly related to military applications that Google has already faced controversy for involving itself in. The project on New Yorks technological needs is often cited as an area of concern too, however. Especially since Google has its own products and services in those segments of the market. So the concerns raised are chiefly centered on the possibility of conflicts of interest. Advertisement The decision to step down entirely has not been revealed publicly and Google doesnt appear to have any interest in discussing the matter. So it isnt entirely possible to ascertain the exact reasons why Eric Schmidt has left Google. But it does seem likely that this is part of a larger action being taken by Google and Alphabet to separate themselves from controversy. The New York-based law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has paid $11 million or more to avoid a lawsuit by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who blamed the firm for aiding in her political persecution, The New York Time reported on May 10. "Skadden's Ukraine work, which has already led to federal investigations and steep fines, centered around a report produced by the firm that [former Ukrainian President] Mr. [Viktor] Yanukovych's allies used to try to justify his government's treatment of Ms. Tymoshenko, a leading rival of Mr. Yanukovych. She was imprisoned starting in 2011 on abuse of office charges that the international community widely condemned as politically motivated," it said. The New York Times said referring to people familiar with the settlement that Skadden paid $11 million or more to settle the case before a lawsuit was filed. "Funds from the settlement appear to have been passed through [law firm] Reid Collins to Ms. Tymoshenko and [Tymoshenko's lawyer] Mr. [Serhiy] Vlasenko. That arrangement appears to be reflected in records filed by Ms. Tymoshenko and Mr. Vlasenko with the Ukrainian government, which show that they each received about $5.5 million from Reid Collins between July and last month," reads the article. According to The New York Times, the records do not mention Skadden. In his filings, Vlasenko characterized the money as "foreign income." Tymoshenko described it in a filing this month as "compensation for the damage caused by the political repression of 2011-2014, which was received in the United States at the stage of precourt settlement." Even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to savage the financial system, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said that the mortgage insurance space exhibits strong fundamentals, with the disease not likely to upend things as harshly. Much of this strength will benefit from the momentum imparted by robust market performance last year, according to Evan Siddall, CMHCs chief executive. [2019] has put us on solid ground so that today, amid the evolving COVID-19 crisis, we are not losing sight of our ultimate goal: that by 2030 everyone in Canada has a home they can afford and that meets their needs, Siddall said. Scientists have used 3D models to break down the DNA behavior of cancer cells, in a breakthrough new study which could revolutionize treatment for the disease. In what is a first for science, a research team led by Dr Manel Esteller, Director of the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC), demonstrated how 3D models (known as organoids) can now be used to develop a characterization of the DNA make-up - or the epigenetic fingerprint - of human cancer. Pubished in Epigenetics, the research validates the use of these 3D samples for cancer research that could deliver new oncology treatments. Dr Esteller, who is also Chaiman of Genetics at the University of Barcelona, explains: "Frequently, promising cancer therapies fail when applied to patients in the real clinical setting. This occurs despite many of these new treatments demonstrating promising results at the preclinical stage in the lab. One explanation is that many of the tumor models used in early research phases are established cell lines that have been growing for many decades and in two dimension (2D) culture flasks. These cancer cells might not completely resemble the features of real tumors from patients that expand into three dimensions (3D). Very recently, it has been possible to grow cancers in the laboratories but respecting the 3D structure: these models are called 'organoids'. We know very little about these cells and if they actually mimic the conformation of the tumor within the body, particularly the chemical behaviors (known as modifications) of DNA that are called epigenetics ("beyond the genetics"), such as DNA methylation. "What our article solves is this unmet biomedical need in the cancer research field: the characterization of the epigenetic fingerprint of human cancer organoids. The developed study shows that these tumor models can be very useful for the biomedical research community and the pharmaceutical companies developing anti-cancer drugs." Specifically looking at 25 human cancer organoids, made available from the American Type Culture Collection (ATTC), Dr Esteller, an ICREA Research Professor, states that during their research the team made some interesting findings around the properties of the cancer cells. "First, we found that every cancer organoid retains the properties of the tissue of origin, so this shows that if the samples were obtained from the surgery of a colon or pancreatic cancer, the organoid closely resembles the original primary tumor. "Second, we discovered that there is no contamination of normal cells, thus, the malignant pure transformed cells can be analyzed without interferences. And finally, the 3D organoid cancers are closer to the patient tumors than the commonly used 2D cell lines." The study will now be used to help form Big Data, as the team's samples will be shared in easily accessible public databases between researchers to promote more collaborative studies. "This will enable further data mining to produce new cancer discoveries using different biometric approaches or focusing on particular genes," explains Dr Esteller. "And most importantly, the characterized cancer organoids can be readily obtainable from a reliable provider (the ATCC) researchers around the world can use the epigenetic information of these sharable samples to develop their own investigations." ### POLICE are investigating 183 barangay officials across the country over alleged irregularities in the distribution of the cash grants under the social amelioration program (SAP), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Monday, May 11. DILG Secretary Eduardo Ano said complaints against barangay officials poured in after President Rodrigo Duterte offered a P30,000 reward to those who can provide information about corruption surrounding the SAP distribution. Sa dami ng ating reklamong natanggap, 183 na ang iniimbestigahan ng ating kapulisan dahil may posibleng probable cause dito. Hindi titigil ang ating kapulisan sa pagdakip sa mga mandarambong na mga barangay official na siyang talagang virus ng lipunan. These are the kinds of arrests na kating-kati gawin ng ating PNP dahil talagang gigil din sila sa mga corrupt local officials, he said. Duterte made the offer following the arrest of Barangay Councilor Danilo Flores of Hagonoy, Bulacan after he was caught on video asking the SAP recipients to give back half of what they received. Flores arrest was followed by the filing of charges against Barangay Captain Maria Luz Leal Ferrer of Barangay 8 in Isabela, Negros Occidental and Mae Fajardo, a municipal social worker, for allegedly manipulating the list of SAP beneficiaries. They were charged with violation of Republic Act 3019 or Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and violation of the Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act. Fajardo and Ferrer also face charges for falsification of public documents. Aside from the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation has also been tapped to investigate reports of graft and corruption in the distribution of SAP financial assistance. The DILG urged the public not to hesitate and immediately report to the police or DILG office any possible irregularities in SAP distribution in their areas. Meanwhile, DILG spokesperson and Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya noted the importance of a professionalized barangay especially during a crisis. Story continues He said they are studying the imposition of educational qualifications for barangay officials, including treasurers and secretaries. Now is the time to professionalize the barangay," Malaya said. "We expect a lot from them. Nakita mo naman sa Covid-19 (situation), lumabas yung tungkulin ng barangay, ngayon from quarantine to contact tracing," he added. (SunStar Philippines) Flash Gao Anming, Chair of the APTIF Joint Committee & Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of China International Publishing Group Respected FIT President Kevin Quirk, Vice President Alison Rodriguez, Dear colleagues of the Asia-Pacific translation and interpreting community, Good afternoon and good morning! It's so nice to see old and new friends here. I really wish we could actually meet in person but for the reason you are all aware of, it appears this is the best platform we have for the time being. As of yesterday, there are more than 3.9 million people worldwide and 257 thousand people in the Asia-pacific region who have been infected by the deadly COVID-19 virus, and sadly, more than 274 thousand and 9.8 thousand lives globally and in the region have been lost, according to the WHO. Never have a contagious disease inflicted calamity of this magnitude to so many people in such a short time during the last 100 years. At this critical moment, when people around the world are fighting a resolute war against the epidemic, it is of great significance for the Joint Committee of the Asia-Pacific Translation and Interpreting Forum (APTIF) and the Translators Association of China (TAC) to organize this webinar, and discuss the role of translation and interpreting in promoting mutual understanding and the sharing of experiences among countries and regions during this difficult time and facilitating political- and economic cooperation, as well as cultural exchanges in the post-epidemic era. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an immense threat to the health and lives of people throughout the world, as well as brought severe challenges to both the global public health system and the world economy. At a time of crisis, the Asia-Pacific T&I community came out boldly and offered timely help, supporting the battle against the virus with their expertise in an all-round manner, including translation, interpreting and language technologies. The TAC and the APTIF Joint Committee have always been in close contact and supported each other, thereby laying a solid foundation for the Asia-Pacific T&I community's participation in the fight against COVID-19. Valuable experiences and outcomes on the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 have been extensively communicated worldwide, after being translated into different languages. For instance, Keywords to Understand China: The Fight Against COVID-19 and A Handbook of 2019-nCov Pneumonia Control and Prevention, compiled by TAC, have provided guidance on global epidemic prevention and control, as well as public health governance. Regardless of the risk of infection, many interpreters are working on the frontline, most notably face-to-face with "close-contacts" in hospitals and airports, so as to facilitate doctor-patient communication. Translation service providers have also got actively involved in the battle through technological innovations. By using Internet tools, such as big data, remote translation management platforms, and machine translation systems, they have helped overcome language barriers in the fight against COVID-19 by offering free or affordable language services. I remember of Ms Ji Jin, a lecturer at the School of Foreign languages of Sichuan University, who flew into Italy on March 11 as a member of the Chinese medical team at the height of local epidemic. She worked as an interpreter and, not intimidated by direct exposure to high risks, assisted the team to fulfill its mission. She wrote in her diary that, let me quote, "I am from Mianzhu, Sichuan province. During the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, Italy built an emergency hospital in Mianzhu to provide assistance, so this time, I am grateful that I have the opportunity to repay the kindness, and contribute to the fight against the epidemic in Italy by making the most of my translation and interpreting skills." There are many other language professionals who have also joined the efforts to contain the epidemic in one way or another. The T&I community has been acting as the link in anti-epidemic information exchanges and has, thus, made remarkable contributions to the effective epidemic prevention and control in the Asia-Pacific region. Their unremitting efforts and hard work have been widely recognized and respected. On behalf of APTIF Joint Committee, I would like to pay highest tribute to all translators and interpreters, who have contributed to the anti-epidemic effort in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond! COVID-19 cannot change the fact that peace and development remain the underlying trend of our times, and nothing can stop our advancement of civilization and progress. The Asia-Pacific T&I community is a major force in supporting epidemic prevention and control in the region, avoiding misunderstanding, as well as promoting exchanges and mutual learning among nations. For these reasons, I would like to make the following proposals: 1. Maintain close coordination and build consensus on fighting COVID-19 in the Asia-Pacific region. In the face of this pandemic, no country can go it alone or stay out of it. Only by avoiding misunderstanding and working closely with each other can we safeguard our common home and build a community of shared future. 2. Seize the opportunity to improve the education and training of translators and interpreters. We should conduct relevant research on the translation and interpreting industry under the impact of COVID-19 and strengthen personnel training, especially for health care and emergency services, so as to prepare language professionals for sudden and unexpected public health crises. 3. Be innovative and promote the development of the industry. COVID-19 has brought both challenges and opportunities, and we can take this opportunity to adjust and consolidate the translation and interpreting industry, as well as accelerate its progress with modern technological means. 4. Strengthen the communication mechanism of the APTIF Joint Committee. We should further implement the Joint Committee mechanism and hold an Asia-Pacific translation and interpreting webinar each year, and issue newsletters to members of the joint committee on an irregular basis, so as to enhance mutual learning and experience sharing among the Asia-Pacific T&I community, and promote the prosperity of translation and interpreting in the Asia-Pacific region. Dear President Kevin Quirk, Vice President Alison Rodriguez, colleagues and friends, As a famous English saying goes, "every cloud has a silver lining". As we mourn for the tragic loss of lives, let us work concertedly to make our part of contribution by joining hands in the battle against COVID-19, turning the crisis into an opportunity, and, together, creating a brighter future for the Asia-Pacific translation and interpreting community! I wish all of you good health and best of luck. Thank you. While many companies buckled down to weather the financial uncertainty and upheaval of the Great Recession, Abrazo Homes saw an opportunity to grow. Started in a trailer in 2010, Abrazo Homes has built homes in 21 subdivisions across Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Los Lunas and the East Mountains. Beyond growing in size and impact, Abrazo has also built a track record for being an exceptional place to work. The companys 36 employees ranked it as New Mexicos top small workplace for 2020. Abrazo started as a dream to build homes the right way and to provide the best customer experience possible, company leaders wrote. As much as Abrazo Homes purpose is to build beautiful new homes, it is also just as driven to provide an incredible work environment for its employees who put their trust in a company that they can stand behind and for, Abrazo leaders wrote in a profile for Top Workplaces. Employees said they felt cared about as people as well as workers and that company leaders were invested in their futures and their families. Abrazo lets me do what I am good at and helps me keep evolving as a person both professionally and personally, one employee wrote in a survey. The owners and my coworkers care about me as a person. I feel important and part of the big picture and contribute to the companys overall growth and success. This makes me want to work hard as I know what I do makes a difference. Many employees talked about how much they enjoyed working with their colleagues, who felt more like friends and family than coworkers. I love working at Abrazo Homes because (of) the culture, another employee wrote. The ownership genuinely cares about their employees and you can feel the love. I feel comfortable being my authentic self and I feel challenged daily. Abrazo offers extensive benefits to employees, including medical, dental and vision insurance, matching retirement contributions and unlimited paid time off. Abrazo Homes has a company culture of we work to live, not live to work, so a work/life balance is very important in the company, leaders wrote. Hospice of New Mexico SDV Construction Inc. An ongoing dispute between neighbors in a Katy area subdivision led to gunfire late Sunday that injured a 5- year-old girl, authorities said. The girl and five adults were injured when neighbors in the 18900 block of Bonners Park Circle, near South Brenwood, northwest of Bear Creek Park, were arguing about 9:15 p.m. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Hong Kong Mon, May 11, 2020 09:09 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd71e3cf 2 World Hong-Kong,mothers-day,pro-democracy,protests,China,protester Free Riot police chased protesters through Hong Kong shopping malls on Sunday as democracy activists launched Mother's Day flash mob rallies calling for independence and the city's unpopular leader to resign. The semi-autonomous Chinese city was convulsed by seven straight months of often-violent pro-democracy protests last year with millions hitting the streets. Mass arrests and the coronavirus pandemic ushered in a period of enforced calm. But with the finance hub successfully tackling its outbreak small protests have bubbled up once more in the last fortnight. Small flashmob demonstrations broke out in at least eight malls throughout Sunday afternoon prompting riot police to rush in and disperse heckling crowds of activists and shoppers. At least three arrests were made while groups of officers conducted multiple stop and searches. Live broadcasts also showed police issuing $2,000 ($260) on the spot fines to those allegedly breaching emergency anti-virus measures banning more than eight people gathering in public. Hong Kong celebrates the American Mother's Day and protester chat groups had pushed the occasion to focus on chief executive Carrie Lam, a Beijing loyalist appointee. At the start of last year's protests, Lam likened herself to an exasperated mother -- and protesting Hong Kongers to demanding children -- in comments that only poured oil on the fire of public anger at the time. Authorities banned an application for a Mother's Day march so small groups of masked protesters instead played cat and mouse with police in different shopping centers, a tactic used frequently last year. "This is just a warm-up, our protest movement needs to start again," a university student who gave his name as "B" told AFP. "It's a sign that the movement is coming back to life, we all need to wake up now." Lam, who has been staunchly backed by Beijing, has record low approval ratings. She has resisted calls for universal suffrage or an independent inquiry into the police's handling of the protests. In the New Year she vowed to heal the divisions coursing through Hong Kong but her administration has offered little in the way of reconciliation or a political solution. Arrests and prosecutions have continued apace while Beijing's offices in the city sparked a constitutional row last month by announcing a greater say in how Hong Kong is run. Plans to pass a law banning insulting China's national anthem sparked scuffles in the city's legislature on Friday. Top Beijing officials have suggested opposition lawmakers who blocked the bill with filibustering could be prosecuted and have also called for a new anti-sedition law to be passed. By Yew Lun Tian BEIJING (Reuters) - China has issued a lengthy rebuttal of what it said were 24 "preposterous allegations" by some leading U.S. politicians over its handling of the new coronavirus outbreak. The Chinese foreign ministry has dedicated most of its press briefings over the past week to rejecting accusations by U.S. politicians, especially Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, that China had withheld information about the new coronavirus and that it had originated in a laboratory in the city of Wuhan. A 30-page, 11,000-word article posted on the ministry website on Saturday night repeated and expanded on the refutations made during the press briefings, and began by invoking Abraham Lincoln, the 19th century U.S. president. "As Lincoln said, you can fool some of the people all the time and fool all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time," it said in the prologue. The article also cited media reports that said Americans had been infected with the virus before the first case was confirmed in Wuhan. There is no evidence to suggest that is the case. Keen to quash U.S. suggestions that the virus was deliberately created or somehow leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the article said that all evidence shows the virus is not man-made and that the institute is not capable of synthesising a new coronavirus. "TIMELY" WARNINGS The article also provided a timeline of how China had provided information to the international community in a "timely", "open and transparent" manner to rebuke U.S. suggestions that it had been slow to sound the alarm. Despite China's repeated assurances, concerns about the timeliness of its information have persisted in some quarters. A report by Der Spiegel magazine last Friday cited Germany's BND spy agency as saying that China's initial attempt to hold back information had cost the world four to six weeks that could have been used to fight the virus. Story continues The article rejected Western criticism of Beijing's handling of the case of Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old doctor who had tried to raise the alarm over the outbreak of the new virus in Wuhan. His death from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, prompted an outpouring of rage and grief across China. The ministry article said Li was not a "whistle-blower" and he was never arrested, contrary to many Western reports. The article did mention that Li was reprimanded by the police for "spreading rumours". Though Li was later named among "martyrs" mourned by China, an investigation into his case also drew criticism online after it merely suggested the reprimand against him be withdrawn. Rejecting suggestions by U.S. President Donald Trump and Pompeo that the new coronavirus should be called the "Chinese virus" or "Wuhan virus", the article cited documents from the World Health Organization to say the name of a virus should not be country-specific. (Corrects to fix grammar in paragraph 11. Corrects to say article did mention Li's reprimand, not did not mention, in paragraph 12.) (Reporting by Yew Lun Tian; Editing by Gareth Jones) Health Minister Robin Swann is looking at the possibility of setting up Covid-free care homes across Northern Ireland, it has emerged. First Minister Arlene Foster has revealed that Mr Swann is working with the unions to drive forward the plans, which would see care home staff isolate together away from their families when they are not at work. The Executive is due to discuss the measures to slow the spread of Covid-19 in care homes across Northern Ireland when it meets today. According to latest figures from the Department of Health, there have been 76 confirmed Covid-19 outbreaks and 37 suspected outbreaks at care homes since the beginning of the pandemic. Of these, 19 have been designated as closed. An outbreak is two or more cases in a home within 14 days. It is considered closed once there have been no new cases for 14 days since the onset of the most recent case. Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster yesterday, Mrs Foster said the situation in care homes in Northern Ireland, which have been branded a crisis by former Health Minister Jim Wells, is the focus for the Executive. "We need to do as much as we can to protect our most precious and our most vulnerable residents in our care homes and at the Executive tomorrow I am quite sure the number one issue will be about how we can do even more to protect our care home residents," she said. Mrs Foster denied officials had been slow to put in place measures to protect care homes and she also refused to say whether she agrees with a call by deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill for universal testing in care homes, saying that testing provides "a spot check at a particular point of time". She said Mr Swann is looking at creating Covid-free homes, but she stressed that this will require support from care home staff who will have to stay away from their families for extended periods of time, before adding: "That's a big ask but we know he [Robin Swann] is working with unions to make that happen." Coronavirus cases continue to rise unabated in the country. Indias Covid-19 cases breached the 67,152 mark on Monday. Amid the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, which will come to an end on May 17, the government has decided to start some interstate passenger trains from May 12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with chief ministers later in the day over the prevailing coronavirus situation in the country. Here are the top developments: 1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold the fifth video-conference on tackling the Covid-19 outbreak with the chief ministers at 3 pm today, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) announced on Sunday. Officials have told HT that Mondays meet is likely to focus on increasing the economic activity in the country while tackling the Covid-19 infections in the containment zones. 2. The Union Home Ministry has asked all the states and union territories to cooperate with railways in running more Shramik special trains for the repatriation of migrant workers to their native places. Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, in a letter to states, said, I urge upon you all to allow receiving of all Shramik special trains without any hindrance and facilitate faster movement of stranded migrant workers to their native places. 3. The Ministry of Railways on Monday issued revised guidelines for Shramik special trains and decided to increase the capacity of these special trains from existing 1,200 to over 1,700. As per the guidelines, the capacity of these trains should equal the number of sleeper berths. 4. Some evidence of community transmission of Covid-19 in parts of Mumbai and Maharashtra is found, Maharashtra disease surveillance officer Dr Pradip Awate told HT. However, the overall picture in the state is that of cluster cases, the official said. 5. India witnessed the biggest Covid-19 spike till date reporting over 4,200 cases of the coronavirus and 97 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union health ministry said on Monday. The southern state of Tamil Nadu overtook Delhi as the third worst-affected state with 7,204 coronavirus cases. The national capital has recorded 6,923 Covid-19 cases. Tragedies occurred on Sunday when a policeman was allegedly killed by a hit and run motorist at Marwa area, along Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos. In a similar incident same day, a yet-to-be-identified commercial motorcycle operator, popularly called Okada rider, died in a lone accident after ramming into an electric pole at Ikota, along Lekki-Epe Expressway. The two incidents, it was gathered happened late evening within the hours of 8 pm to 6 am curfew, occasioned by rising cases of COVID-19 in the state. The dead Policeman, who was in mufti at the time of the incident was later identified as Mr. Paul Omaji. (Rank was not stated). Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Director-General, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu confirmed the unfortunate incidents. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Choon Paan, the most wanted man! View(s): In every nook and cranny of the country, the most wanted person is the Choon Paan man, for whose earlier much-maligned music everyone strains their ears to catch these days. The Sunday Times stopped S. Madialagan (28) in his tracks in Kelaniya for a brief chat as he rushed around distributing those much-longed for dara poranu paan, tea-buns and sugar-sprinkled kimbula-buns. Madialagan whose home town is far-away Hatton, now lives with his 20-year-old wife and two-year-old son in Pethiyagoda, Kelaniya. For more than a decade, he has been keeping his home fires burning with what he earns by his Choon Paan business. Like many others in the trade, he buys all his wares from a bakery in Kelaniya, his normal round being Wattala, which he has extended since the curfew was imposed as no bread vans made an appearance around Kelaniya. Not a single day has he taken off, waking up at the crack of dawn, cleaning his trishaw with its glass cases thoroughly, collecting the bakery items and doing his morning round till about 2 p.m. The evening round starts soon after, around 3 p.m., ending late at night, all the while wearing face-masks and gloves and resorting to social distance. The appreciation of these labours comes when the grateful people say: Ogollo kochchara honda sevayak-da apita karanne (What a great service you are rendering). This is what makes Madialagan keep doing what he does. We are always looking for opportunities to catalyze an already solid platform with compelling investment attributes. -- Richard Powell, APCH co-founder and incoming Chairman of Sequential Technology International APC Holdings (APCH), an investment firm formed to acquire and scale Fortune 500 suppliers while creating positive social and economic impact for multiple stakeholders, announces the acquisition of Sequential Technology International (STI), an innovative leader in the software, consulting and BPO sectors. The acquisition enables APCH to offer its Fortune 500 relationships a globally relevant business process outsourcing (BPO) platform, and also become one of the largest minority business enterprises (MBEs) in the United States. Consumers are increasingly shifting to online and mobile purchases. STI utilizes proprietary software to optimize multi-channel customer experiences. Its consulting and BPO capabilities enable Fortune 500 customers to align their go-to-market model with evolving consumer preferences, reduce process complexity for employees, and ultimately drive shareholder value. STI supports its software, consulting and BPO businesses through its global contact center footprint in the United States, El Salvador, India, and the Philippines. We are always looking for opportunities to catalyze an already solid platform with compelling investment attributes. Our diligence and conversations with STIs customers highlighted its unique global capabilities, high quality management team and talented employee base. STI simplifies the complex and does it with zest and entrepreneurial spirit, said Richard Powell, the co-founder of APCH and incoming Chairman of STI. Kent Mathy, STIs President and CEO stated, We are very excited to partner with the APCH team. APCH possesses a wide network of contacts with Fortune 500 companies that will serve as a growth catalyst for our business. The team has a proven track-record in the BPO sector and is exceptionally engaged and committed to the success of the management team, the employees and our customers. We look forward to creating an amazing next chapter in the STI story with our new partners. Raymond James acted as the exclusive financial advisor to STI and Jones Day served as the companys legal advisor. APCH received legal counsel from Greenberg Traurig. About APC Holdings APCH is a leading, minority-owned private investment firm with exceptional relationships and advocates across the Fortune 500. APCH invests in manufacturing and service businesses that are critical suppliers to global enterprises. APCH has created more than 15,000 jobs in over 25 countries and is committed to creating measurable social and economic impact for all stakeholders, while achieving superior investment returns. For more information, please visit http://www.apch.com. About Sequential Technology International STI focuses on simplifying complex internal processes for large enterprises. Through its Business Process Outsourcing, Software and IT Consulting capabilities, STI delivers innovation and savings to its customers which include some of the largest communication service providers globally. STI provides solutions for B2C, B2B, Retail, eCommerce and other business models, at global scale. For more information, visit http://www.sequentialtech.com. Contact Sequential Technology International Biff Jennings, Chief Financial Officer biff.jennings@sequentialtech.com (407) 349-3423 In December 2018, of handful of "yellow vest" protesters walked 482 miles from Lozere, a district in southern France, to the presidential palace in Paris. They collected grievances from people they met along the way: people who felt isolated, forgotten by the government, socially and economically disconnected from the French capital. Now, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, isolation has become a means of survival, and the people of Lozere have found themselves at something of an advantage. As of Friday, only 20 people in the district had been found to have had the coronavirus, with just two of them hospitalized. Lozere is the only district in metropolitan France to count just one coronavirus death. "Isolated like we are here, it's a little bit like we're permanently confined," said Elisabeth Piejoujac, from Villeret, a village with just a dozen inhabitants in the winter. Not much has changed in the village in light of the pandemic. People wash their hands more often. They stopped kissing their neighbors and the friends they meet on Saturdays at the market in Langogne, 10 miles away. In some ways, the pandemic has exposed the strengths of what is called "la France peripherique," or peripheral France, the same type of places that rose up during the "yellow vest" protests in 2018. People in Lozere and other peripheral areas of France say the pandemic has brought out a sense of communal solidarity - more so, perhaps, than one might feel in Paris. "People are supporting each other," said novelist Nicolas Mathieu, who wrote about the forgotten corners of France in his 2018 novel, "And Their Children After Them." He has spent the lockdown in a house in Nancy, a midsize city in eastern France. "Between neighbors, asking if they need anything, etc. I'm sure that exists in Paris, as well. But the other day, while doing errands, I found something on the ground in front of the cashier's station. It was a little note, and it read, 'Thank you for doing this for the building,' and clearly someone had indeed done all the shopping for an entire building. That says it all." That's not to say that the complaints about inequality have been resolved or forgotten. France this week has begun to reopen schools, as it relaxes it coronavirus lockdown. But the two months at home have been especially hard for some students in peripheral France. Salome Berlioux, author of "Invisibles of the Republic," said nearly 7 out of every 10 families she has interviewed reported difficulties in establishing an online connection for their children to follow school lessons remotely. Nationally, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told Le Parisien newspaper that only about 5 percent of families would have difficulty following courses online. "In peripheral France, we are very far from national statistics," Berlioux said. Still, she said, the coronavirus crisis "is mostly a crisis of metropolitan centers. The real violence is in the big cites and the sensitive neighborhoods there." Niels Planel, a poverty reduction consultant, is in confinement in Semur-en-Auxois, a town of about 4,000 people in Burgundy - one of the most vocal regions during the yellow vest uprising in 2018. "The good thing, for example, in my district - which has 345 villages and towns, and two or three bigger cities - is that people know each other," Planel said. "Even if you don't have the administrative information as to how someone may be living, you actually know who's doing well and who is not." "For instance, I knew a young kid who I knew would not be able to generate revenue anymore, and I knew where he lived, so I called him. He said he was fine, that he needed food soon, and I was able to connect him to the social center," he said. "This is stronger than you would see in a place like Paris." Photographer Emilienne Malfatto has felt that sense community during her confinement in Lozere. Her mother is from the region, and that's where the ultra-local means something, she said. "You are from the country or you're not." "Several times during this reportage, as I explained my local origins, faces lit up. 'I knew your grandmother.' And, suddenly, I wasn't a foreigner anymore and doors opened." As France slowly reopens this week and in coming months, little will change for the people in Lozere. Yet, the way it is perceived by outsiders might evolve, and that sense of isolation and community, dismissed before the pandemic, might suddenly be more attractive to some. Lee Lim already gets hold of Tae Eul's ID, and part of his plan is to meet Luna. Prime Minister Koo came face to face with Luna as she got released from prison. She tried to talk to her about their first meeting at KU building, but she failed to be recognized. During their exchange, Luna managed to steal Koo's bracelet. Luna went out to hit the man with a chair in a shop. The man owed her money and the reason for her imprisonment. She demanded her money back, and if not, it will cause trouble with his family. Lee Lim visited Koo's mother and got his umbrella he intended to leave from his last visit. Luna visited the young boy who watched and played the yoyo at the bookstore. She got her key and left the place. The Republic of Korea Tae Eul visited the hospital to get any information about the fake body of Lee Lim, who died in 1995. But the manager advised the records are all gone as they changed the system. Shin Jae bailed out her mother from jail and took her to a good restaurant for dinner. King Gon chose to eat the beef stew famous around Seoul. He met with the gang, who he fought with Tae Eul and Shin Jae. He brought along Eun-Sup, who was dressed up like Jo Yeong. He fought alone, but in a few minutes, Jeong arrived dressed and acted like Eun-Sup. King Gon met Tae Eul as she checked and visited him in his place. She wondered about her fate and choices in life as she meets King Gon. She wanted to embrace the moment with him and express her feelings. Tae-Eul said, "I love you" to King Gon, who was speechless of what he heard. Jo Yeong went out in the daylight and met Na Ri. She looked at him and came to believe that he was Eun-Sup. He came to meet people who have the same identity back in Corea. Shin Jae's mother has the same identity back in Corea. She is known as Park Sook Jin, one of the palace staff who is the spy and serves Lee Lim. Pictures of Shin Jae are placed by Lee Lim, in which a lady in Corea comes by to look at. King Gon and Jo Yeong return to the stew restaurant to eat. The owner saw King Gon and was about to bow his head, recognizing him as His Majesty. King Gon saw his actions and decided to leave the place. He advised Yeong to capture the man as he believed he's originally from Corea. Later at night, as the stew shop is closed, the man opened his car, but Yeong hit him first. He took him to one of the empty buildings. King Gon took his phone and concluded that he was one of the armed men who joined Lee Lim the night they killed his father. King Gon paid Na Ri to use his building to place the man they captured. Tae Eul arrived and informed him about the identical person of Lee Lim and his family. They planned to visit the house and the wife - Song Jung Hye - to ask questions of her late husband. Shin Jae visited the tomb of the child who looks like King Gon. Song Jung Hye came and was puzzled to see Shin Jae looking at her son's picture. Eun-Sup ended his shift at the station. He wore a Jo Yeong's jacket to work and found his phone in one of the pockets. Eun-Sup opened the phone and saw Yeong and King Gon's picture set as wallpaper. Shin Jae saw and took the phone from Eun-Sup. He asked where King Gon's whereabouts and Eun-Sup told him about the place King Gon stays. Shin Jae went to the hotel and entered King Gon's room. He found Lee Lim's death certificate and saw the emblem of the Kingdom. Jo Yeong fought him as an intruder, and as they duel, King Gon arrived and saw Shin Jae. He asked what his business was, and Shin Jae recognized him as Lee Gon. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said May 11 that the United States has not yet responded to calls for a prisoner swap. The day before, Hassan Rouhani administration spokesman Ali Rabiei made headlines when he said, We have announced that we are ready to exchange prisoners without any preconditions. He added that Iran is open to talks on the matter. The following day Rabiei was forced to clarify that he did not mean that Iran is ready to hold direct talks with the United States, saying, What was presented about exchanging prisoners is the same recommendation spoken about two years ago by our foreign minister, Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif, that we are ready to exchange all prisoners in the world, not just with America, and my comments were related to this. Rabiei reiterated that he had said Iran was ready for a swap without negotiations or a mediator. Zarif said Iran had called for a prisoner swap in October 2018, not just with the United States, but with other countries who have been holding Iranian prisoners on behalf of the United States. He added, When we said this then the Americans never responded and they still have not responded. One of the reasons Iran made the call for a prisoner swap public again is the outbreak of the coronavirus, which Rabiei said threatens the lives of Iranians in American prisons. One particular person in question is Sirous Asgari, who has tested positive for COVID-19 at a Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility and is awaiting return to Iran. Asgari, a materials science and engineering professor, was charged in 2017 with trade theft but was acquitted in 2019. However, since his visa expired during his court case, he was sent to ICE custody. Zarif said that once Asgari tests negative for coronavirus he could return to Iran on the next flight. The last prisoner exchage came in December, when Iran released Princeton graduate student Xiyue Wang and the United States freed Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani following Swiss mediation. Many of the Iranian prisoners in the United States or being held on behalf of the United States in European countries are held for sanctions violations, which Iran says are illegal. Iran holds and has held a number of dual nationals, including Siamak Namazi, on trumped-up charges of spying. Iran has continued to relax restrictions meant to stem the spread of the pandemic, as new cases have increased. In the previous 24 hours, Iran registered 1,683 new cases and 45 deaths. The daily number of new cases had briefly dropped below four digits recently, but after the country reopened, new cases jumped back up. Irans total figure stands at 109,286 cases as of May 11. Some cities in Iran, however, remain closed due to a high number of cases. Tehran and Qom are still under large lockdowns. The city of Abadan, in the southwest province of Khuzestan, was put under a full quarantine until May 11. All stores, offices, and banks have been ordered closed with exceptions only for essential stores. Traffic to the city from other cities have been closed and residents have been asked to eliminate all nonessential travel. The Supreme Court Monday extended the protection to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami against any coercive action and reserved its verdict on his plea seeking quashing of the FIR lodged against him by Mumbai Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by making some remarks during his news show New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday extended the protection to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami against any coercive action and reserved its verdict on his plea seeking quashing of the FIR lodged against him by Mumbai Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by making some remarks during his news show. Besides this FIR lodged against Goswami on 2 May, several complaints and multiple FIRs were earlier registered against him in various states over his alleged defamatory statements against Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi in a news show on Palghar mob-lynching. Goswami claimed in the top court that he was interrogated by Mumbai Police for over 12 hours with regard to FIR on alleged defamatory statements and one of the two investigating officers probing the case against him has tested COVID-19 positive. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah said it would pronounce the verdict later this week on Goswami's plea seeking quashing of fresh FIR as well as on the application of Maharashtra government alleging that the accused has been "browbeating" the police by "creating fear psychosis". During the hearing, senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Goswami, said that this case is all about a political party targeting a journalist as the complainants are members of one particular party. He said they (political party) have a problem with the government and they want to teach this journalist a lesson as the real purpose is to stifle an unpleasant voice. "This will have a chilling effect on freedom of press," he said, adding that press is not institutionalised but other institutions are protected and there are safeguards, wherein judges, MPs and bureaucrats are protected. "We must draw a balance between both," the bench said. Salve said that after the apex court's hearing on 24 April, a notice was served on Goswami on 25 April requiring his presence before police the next day in connection with the case. The bench told Salve that points raised by him could be argued before the Bombay High Court either in an anticipatory bail plea or petition for quashing of the case. It said the court can give liberty to Goswami to approach the High Court after the expiry of interim protection already given to him by the apex court earlier in the cases related to Palghar incident. It said if Goswami want quashing of the FIRs lodged in Mumbai, including the fresh one, he can move the high court. The bench said it had earlier intervened in the matter due to multiplicity of FIRs arising out of the same cause of action. "We must ensure somebody is not subject to harassment but we should not create an environment where anybody in particular is exempted from the normal course of proceedings," the bench observed. Salve argued that the probe in the Palghar incident remarks should be transferred to the CBI. He questioned the manner in which Goswami was asked questions during the investigation and said he was also asked details about the editorial team and content by the police. Goswami was repeatedly asked if he had defamed the Congress president and whose money was invested in the channel, Salve said. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Centre, told the bench that this is a peculiar case as the accused is saying that police is pressurising him and interrogating him for 12 hours whereas the police has also come to the court to insulate it from any pressure and threat. He said that since the accused has made allegations against the police, which too has made certain accusations, then the court must look at the possibility of having an independent investigation agency to probe it. Mehta said this is a case where the way in which the state police has acted in an undesirable manner and if an offence is prima facie made out then the case should be handled by an independent agency, which does not need any insulation and the accused cannot say that he is being harassed. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Maharashtra government, said this is a clear violation of Article 19 and he cannot stigmatise people by way of sensationalising things. The senior lawyer urged the court to ask the CBI for the report in the case and for giving him extension of interim protection. At the fag end of the hearing, the bench pointed out that the multiple FIRs are word-to-word same. Sibal said that if they are same, then court can quash them as it is quite possible that Congress workers may have placed copy of the first FIR, when they went ahead with lodging of complaints. On 24 April, the top court had granted a three-week protection to Goswami against any coercive steps in connection with some FIRs lodged against him in various states for alleged defamatory statements made during news shows on Palghar mob-lynching of three persons, including two saints in Maharashtra. The 2 May FIR was lodged in Mumbai against him and two others for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by making derogatory remark regarding a mosque located in suburban Bandra, a Mumbai Police officer had said. Hundreds of migrant workers had gathered in Bandra on 14 April demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced extension of the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 till 3 May. The FIR was lodged in Pydhonie police station in south Mumbai on 2 May by Irfan Abubakar Sheikh, secretary of Raza Education Welfare Society. Twin Pillars of Russiagate Crumble. For two and a half years the House Intelligence Committee knew CrowdStrike didnt have the goods on Russia. Now the public knows too. House Intelligence Committee documents released Thursday reveal that the committee was told two and half years ago that the FBI had no concrete evidence that Russia hacked Democratic National Committee computers to filch the DNC emails published by WikiLeaks in July 2016. The until-now-buried, closed-door testimony came on Dec. 5, 2017 from Shawn Henry, a protege of former FBI Director Robert Mueller (from 2001 to 2012), for whom Henry served as head of the Bureaus cyber crime investigations unit. Henry retired in 2012 and took a senior position at CrowdStrike, the cyber security firm hired by the DNC and the Clinton campaign to investigate the cyber intrusions that occurred before the 2016 presidential election. The following excerpts from Henrys testimony speak for themselves. The dialogue is not a paragon of clarity; but if read carefully, even cyber neophytes can understand: Ranking Member Mr. [Adam] Schiff: Do you know the date on which the Russians exfiltrated the data from the DNC? when would that have been? Mr. Henry: Counsel just reminded me that, as it relates to the DNC, we have indicators that data was exfiltrated from the DNC, but we have no indicators that it was exfiltrated (sic). There are times when we can see data exfiltrated, and we can say conclusively. But in this case, it appears it was set up to be exfiltrated, but we just dont have the evidence that says it actually left. Mr. [Chris] Stewart of Utah: Okay. What about the emails that everyone is so, you know, knowledgeable of? Were there also indicators that they were prepared but not evidence that they actually were exfiltrated? Mr. Henry: Theres not evidence that they were actually exfiltrated. Theres circumstantial evidence but no evidence that they were actually exfiltrated. Mr. Stewart: But you have a much lower degree of confidence that this data actually left than you do, for example, that the Russians were the ones who breached the security? Mr. Henry: There is circumstantial evidence that that data was exfiltrated off the network. Mr. Stewart: And circumstantial is less sure than the other evidence youve indicated. Mr. Henry: We didnt have a sensor in place that saw data leave. We said that the data left based on the circumstantial evidence. That was the conclusion that we made. In answer to a follow-up query on this line of questioning, Henry delivered this classic: Sir, I was just trying to be factually accurate, that we didnt see the data leave, but we believe it left, based on what we saw. Inadvertently highlighting the tenuous underpinning for CrowdStrikes belief that Russia hacked the DNC emails, Henry added: There are other nation-states that collect this type of intelligence for sure, but the what we would call the tactics and techniques were consistent with what wed seen associated with the Russian state. Interesting admission in Crowdstrike CEO Shaun Henry's testimony. Henry is asked when "the Russians" exfiltrated the data from DNC. Henry: "We did not have concrete evidence that the data was exfiltrated from the DNC, but we have indicators that it was exfiltrated." ? pic.twitter.com/TyePqd6b5P Aaron Mate (@aaronjmate) May 8, 2020 Not Transparent Try as one may, some of the testimony remains opaque. Part of the problem is ambiguity in the word exfiltration. The word can denote (1) transferring data from a computer via the Internet (hacking) or (2) copying data physically to an external storage device with intent to leak it. As the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity has been reporting for more than three years, metadata and other hard forensic evidence indicate that the DNC emails were not hacked by Russia or anyone else. Rather, they were copied onto an external storage device (probably a thumb drive) by someone with access to DNC computers. Besides, any hack over the Internet would almost certainly have been discovered by the dragnet coverage of the National Security Agency and its cooperating foreign intelligence services. Henry testifies that it appears it [the theft of DNC emails] was set up to be exfiltrated, but we just dont have the evidence that says it actually left. This, in VIPS view, suggests that someone with access to DNC computers set up selected emails for transfer to an external storage device a thumb drive, for example. The Internet is not needed for such a transfer. Use of the Internet would have been detected, enabling Henry to pinpoint any exfiltration over that network. Binney Bill Binney, a former NSA technical director and a VIPS member, filed a sworn affidavit in the Roger Stone case. Binney said: WikiLeaks did not receive stolen data from the Russian government. Intrinsic metadata in the publicly available files on WikiLeaks demonstrates that the files acquired by WikiLeaks were delivered in a medium such as a thumb drive. The So-Called Intelligence Community Assessment There is not much good to be said about the embarrassingly evidence-impoverished Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) of Jan. 6, 2017 accusing Russia of hacking the DNC. But the ICA did include two passages that are highly relevant and demonstrably true: (1) In introductory remarks on cyber incident attribution, the authors of the ICA made a highly germane point: The nature of cyberspace makes attribution of cyber operations difficult but not impossible. Every kind of cyber operation malicious or not leaves a trail. (2) When analysts use words such as we assess or we judge, [these] are not intended to imply that we have proof that shows something to be a fact. Assessments are based on collected information, which is often incomplete or fragmentary High confidence in a judgment does not imply that the assessment is a fact or a certainty; such judgments might be wrong. [And one might add that they commonly ARE wrong when analysts succumb to political pressure, as was the case with the ICA.] The intelligence-friendly corporate media, nonetheless, immediately awarded the status of Holy Writ to the misnomered Intelligence Community Assessment (it was a rump effort prepared by handpicked analysts from only CIA, FBI, and NSA), and chose to overlook the banal, full-disclosure-type caveats embedded in the assessment itself. Then National Intelligence Director James Clapper and the directors of the CIA, FBI, and NSA briefed President Obama on the ICA on Jan. 5, 2017, the day before they gave it personally to President-elect Donald Trump. On Jan. 18, 2017, at his final press conference, Obama saw fit to use lawyerly language on the key issue of how the DNC emails got to WikiLeaks, in an apparent effort to cover his own derriere. Obama: The conclusions of the intelligence community with respect to the Russian hacking were not conclusive as to whether WikiLeaks was witting or not in being the conduit through which we heard about the DNC e-mails that were leaked. So we ended up with inconclusive conclusions on that admittedly crucial point. What Obama was saying is that U.S. intelligence did not knowor professed not to knowexactly how the alleged Russian transfer to WikiLeaks was supposedly made, whether through a third party, or cutout, and he muddied the waters by first saying it was a hack, and then a leak. From the very outset, in the absence of any hard evidence, from NSA or from its foreign partners, of an Internet hack of the DNC emails, the claim that the Russians gave the DNC emails to WikiLeaks rested on thin gruel. In November 2018 at a public forum, I asked Clapper to explain why President Obama still had serious doubts in late Jan. 2017, less than two weeks after Clapper and the other intelligence chiefs had thoroughly briefed the outgoing president about their high-confidence findings. Clapper replied: I cannot explain what he [Obama] said or why. But I can tell you were, were pretty sure we know, or knew at the time, how WikiLeaks got those emails. Pretty sure? Preferring CrowdStrike; Splaining to Congress Comey briefs Obama, June 2016 (Flickr) CrowdStrike already had a tarnished reputation for credibility when the DNC and Clinton campaign chose it to do work the FBI should have been doing to investigate how the DNC emails got to WikiLeaks. It had asserted that Russians hacked into a Ukrainian artillery app, resulting in heavy losses of howitzers in Ukraines struggle with separatists supported by Russia. A Voice of America report explained why CrowdStrike was forced to retract that claim. Why did FBI Director James Comey not simply insist on access to the DNC computers? Surely he could have gotten the appropriate authorization. In early January 2017, reacting to media reports that the FBI never asked for access, Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee there were multiple requests at different levels for access to the DNC servers. Ultimately what was agreed to is the private company would share with us what they saw, he said. Comey described CrowdStrike as a highly respected cybersecurity company. Asked by committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) whether direct access to the servers and devices would have helped the FBI in their investigation, Comey said it would have. Our forensics folks would always prefer to get access to the original device or server thats involved, so its the best evidence, he said. Five months later, after Comey had been fired, Burr gave him a Mulligan in the form of a few kid-gloves, clearly well-rehearsed, questions: BURR: And the FBI, in this case, unlike other cases that you might investigate did you ever have access to the actual hardware that was hacked? Or did you have to rely on a third party to provide you the data that they had collected? COMEY: In the case of the DNC, we did not have access to the devices themselves. We got relevant forensic information from a private party, a high-class entity, that had done the work. But we didnt get direct access. BURR: But no content? COMEY: Correct. BURR: Isnt content an important part of the forensics from a counterintelligence standpoint? COMEY: It is, although what was briefed to me by my folks the people who were my folks at the time is that they had gotten the information from the private party that they needed to understand the intrusion by the spring of 2016. In June last year it was revealed that CrowdStrike never produced an un-redacted or final forensic report for the government because the FBI never required it to, according to the Justice Department. By any normal standard, former FBI Director Comey would now be in serious legal trouble, as should Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, et al. Additional evidence of FBI misconduct under Comey seems to surface every week whether the abuses of FISA, misconduct in the case against Gen. Michael Flynn, or misleading everyone about Russian hacking of the DNC. If I were attorney general, I would declare Comey a flight risk and take his passport. And I would do the same with Clapper and Brennan. Schiff: Every Confidence But No Evidence Both pillars of Russiagatecollusion and a Russian hackhave now fairly crumbled. Thursdays disclosure of testimony before the House Intelligence Committee shows Chairman Adam Schiff lied not only about Trump-Putin collusion, [which the Mueller report failed to prove and whose allegations were based on DNC and Clinton-financed opposition research] but also about the even more basic issue of Russian hacking of the DNC. [See: The Democratic Money Behind Russia-gate republished today.] Five days after Trump took office, I had an opportunity to confront Schiff personally about evidence that Russia hacked the DNC emails. He had repeatedly given that canard the patina of flat fact during an address at the old Hillary Clinton/John Podesta think tank, The Center for American Progress Action Fund. Fortunately, the cameras were still on when I approached Schiff during the Q&A: You have every confidence but no evidence, is that right? I asked him. His answer was a harbinger of things to come. This video clip may be worth the four minutes needed to watch it. Schiff and his partners in crime will be in for much tougher treatment if Trump allows Attorney General Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham to bring their investigation into the origins of Russia-gate to a timely conclusion. Barrs dismissal on Thursday of charges against Flynn, after released FBI documents revealed that a perjury trap was set for him to keep Russiagate going, may be a sign of things to come. Given the timid way Trump has typically bowed to intelligence and law enforcement officials, including those who supposedly report to him, however, one might rather expect that, after a lot of bluster, he will let the too-big-to-imprison ones off the hook. The issues are now drawn; the evidence is copious; will the Deep State, nevertheless, be able to prevail this time? Professor Jens Mueller Good Business After more than 30 years of living in Tauranga, I still see many of the same faces and firms, working hard, enjoying our great lifestyle and hoping that the next year will be better for business and careers than the past one. But growing a business, whether as a sole proprietorship (Yikes! Dont operate like that), a partnership (Oh no! This is even worse) or a corporation (Yup, this is the way to go), requires more than just our beautiful sunshine, an outlook from the Mount and catching fish off Papamoas beach. It needs a solid structure a good governance. Governance is the special air that blows differently through each organisation, the way we do things around here. Although we have some basic structures that are the same everywhere - who is allowed to what, who is responsible for what, who reports to whom, etc - governance is a tight glove that fits slightly differently in each firm. Ah, firm, he said, firm. That means governance doesnt apply in a charity, a hospital board or a council? Nah, governance applies everywhere, in any entity of any size. I can see the first question popping up in your heads now: Clearly, governance isnt needed in a small three-person firm; it is only for large businesses, right? Wrong, bigly wrong! If you have not much money but you want to make it big in car racing, youll take your 1974 Holden Kingswood station wagon to the V8 races in Pukekohe, and when you win, youll have enough money to buy a real racecar. Does that make sense? Clearly, you will never win, you will crash and lose your car, and you failed. Especially in small firms, we need great governance. The distance between success and failure in small firms is much narrower: In time, in money, in likelihood to occur, than in large firms, so we need to be extra good at governance. A huge business like Fonterra can make several big mistakes, and still remain in business, but how often can a small business get it wrong and still survive? So, the foundation of good governance is the correct structure. A set-up that allows for good governance to guide the business. The hands-down best set-up is to operate as a registered company in New Zealand. It automatically means you have a board with company directors (and no, those are not evil outsiders who will steal your business after wrestling you for control) and you have defined shareholders (only one required) and staff (employees). You only require one company director, who can also be the only shareholder and the only employee, but then you can look in the mirror to have a board meeting and that is quite boring So, lets assume that you do not want to be a sole proprietor (who goes to sleep every night feeling the burden of unlimited personal liability), a partnership (where each partner is burdened by any misdeeds of all other partners) but the owner and possibly operator, of a real business. Congratulations, smart thinking. Didnt take you long to get here Shareholders in a firm invest money to run it (and only lose that money in a failure, but not more than that). Company Directors oversee the CEO/Operator (and now you know why it is not smart to only have friends or family on a board; they must like or love you regardless how dumb some of your business ideas might be) and have personal liability only when they allow the business to operate into debt. Operators work in the business every day, and usually dont like anyone telling them what to do. In good governance, all these different wheels hum along nicely, are well aligned and propel a business forward. This is structure, and next time, well talk about how to make what everyone needs to accomplish at their level to produce great outcomes. Meanwhile, send your questions to j@mueller.nz, and the best ones will get a reply here and a free download link to a great business case book. Dr Jens Mueller, MNZM, MRSNZ is a Tauranga resident and a professor at Massey Universitys School of Management. President Putin has announced that restrictions will slowly begin to be eased in Russia - POOL New/Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared an end to a nationwide partial economic shutdown but noted that some restrictions will remain. Putin, speaking in a televised address to the nation Monday, said that it will be up to regional governors in the far-flung Russian Federation to determine what industrial plants could reopen starting Tuesday. He emphasised that it's essential to preserve jobs and keep the economy running provided that workers strictly observe sanitary norms. Putin ordered the economic shutdown in late March, although key industrial plants and some other sectors have been allowed to continue operating. Most Russians have been ordered to stay home, except for visits to nearby shops, pharmacies and visits to doctors. Moscow will allow all of its industrial plants and construction sites to resume work starting Tuesday, and Putin said other regions may follow the example. Non-food stores, hairdressers, car dealers and most other enterprises in the services sector remain shut. Putin emphasised that the restrictions must be lifted gradually to avoid triggering a new wave of contagion. People wait in line to receive testing during the global outbreak of coronavirus in Chicago. REUTERS/Joshua Lott New York City will begin testing children for coronavirus antibodies. The news comes after 38 developed a mysterious illness linked to the virus and three were killed by a rare multi-system "inflammatory syndrome," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday. Testing will be run through NYC Health + Hospitals. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. New York City will begin testing children for antibodies after at least 38 developed a mysterious illness associated with the novel coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter. The illness, which de Blasio described as a rare multi-system "inflammatory syndrome," has killed three children in the state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Saturday. One of them, a five-year-old, lived in the city, according to the mayor. Among the 38 cases so far, nearly half tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Among those who tested negative, however, the vast majority had antibodies, de Blasio said at a Sunday press briefing. While the accuracy of certain antibody tests has been called into question, they're the only measure we have to detect past infections. They look for antibodies that the body makes to fight off the coronavirus, which stick around in the blood for a while after symptoms pass. They work best after two weeks since symptom onset, whereas diagnostic or "molecular" tests that use swabs and take respiratory samples find the virus earlier on, experts told Business Insider. NYC Health + Hospitals will conduct the new testing for kids with Abbott's antibody test, according to de Blasio and the health system. Abbott's test is 100% sensitive, meaning it finds antibodies in coronavirus-positive people 100% of the time, according to the company. And it's 99.6% specific, which means it finds no antibodies in coronavirus-negative people 99.6% of the time, Abbott said. Prior to this week, only 4 deaths among children less than 10 years old had been reported in the city, according to data compiled by the health department. It's a phenomenon that's both relieved and confounded scientists who still aren't sure how vulnerable children are to the virus or whether they're able to pass it to others. Story continues The mayor encouraged residents with children experiencing fever, rash, abdominal pain, and vomiting to contact their doctors right away, but those without doctors can call 311 instead, he added. "To every parent out there: early detection is the key to fighting this," de Blasio wrote on Twitter. "It can be treated. If you see these symptoms, take them seriously and act immediately." This article was updated on May 11 with information about the testing equipment that New York is using. Read the original article on Business Insider [May 11, 2020] Stamats Positions Its Audience Management/Solutions Platform for Growth Through Rebrand to Audativ CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Stamats has enhanced the branding of its audience management database and solutions offering by renaming it Audativ. Previously named Stamats Data Management, the system has been in the market for more than a decade and enjoys a strong following with B2B publishers and other vertical markets. The new name positions Audativ to further distinguish itself in a competitive marketplace and sets the stage for expansion into new industries. A leader in customized research, marketing, fulfillment, intelligence, and audience management, Stamats has developed a strong culture of innovation?seeing and responding to market opportunities by enhancing its suite of services and creating new capabilities to support its clients' audience goals. Designed by audience experts, Audativ's integrated database platform allows organizations to stay engaged with their audiences acros all media channels. Seamless integrations with all data and product channels combined with Audativ's team of engagement professionals ensures further optimization of audience intelligence and a higher return on investment. "Our platform unifies siloed data into a single comprehensive database. This gives our clients the ability to target audiences, find trends, execute campaigns, expand demographic profiles, and analyze behaviors quickly and accurately," says Kim Leonard, Vice President and Chief Audience Officer of Stamats. "With the insights gained from this level of audience intelligence, data will perform with a stronger marketing ROI." "And importantly, this isn't technology that sits on a shelf. Audativ has the power of people behind it, helping every client enrich the customer experience, gain a competitive advantage, and drive profitability," Leonard added. "Though the name is new, the service behind Audativ is well-established. Over the past decade, it has proved itself an efficient, cost-effective system for publishers and marketers. Because of that success, we felt a new name was in order?one that encompasses the platform's full capabilities and introduces its value and power to a broader range of industries," says Stamats President and CEO Peter Stamats. "We're looking forward to the future, as Audativ strengthens and supports audience relationships for many more businesses." About Stamats: Stamats helps businesses and organizations connect and build stronger relationships with their audiences by supplying innovative research, strategy, branding, and digital solutions. The company's services span multiple industries, including higher education, healthcare, meeting and event planning, facilities management, and commercial interior design. Donna Heuberger Account Executive Stamats 319-861-5145 [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/stamats-positions-its-audience-managementsolutions-platform-for-growth-through-rebrand-to-audativ-301057045.html SOURCE Stamats [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Dharavi slum continues to be a major Covid-19 hotspot in Mumbai, recording 26 new cases on Sunday. With this, the total number of Covid-19 patients in Dharavi rose to 859. Twenty nine people have died of the disease till now, authorities said. Taking the rising number of cases in Dharavi into account, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to start a 100-bed hospital at the Urban Health Training Centre (UHTC), a branch of the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital or Sion hospital, to cater to Covid-19 patients in the area. Being the nearest municipal medical facility to Dharavi, Sion hospital receives a large number of patients from the area. Many Covid-19 patients are brought to the hospital at a later stage, when they are in critical condition. The new isolation facility in the area could help save more patients. Maharashtra on Sunday recorded 1,278 new cases of coronavirus disease on Sunday, its highest in a single day till date. This took the states one-day tally to close to 2,000 cases. The total number of Covid-19 cases in the state is 22,171. Maharashtra also registered its highest one-day toll of 53 Covid-19 deaths on Sunday, which took the toll to 832. Mumbai crossed the 500-mark for Covid-19 fatalities as it recorded 19 deaths, taking its toll to 508. Total cases in Mumbai now stand at 13,739. Pune recorded 402 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, taking its count to 2,377. Maharashtra has recorded over 50% of its toll in the past 12 days. According to the data of the Medical Education and Drug Department (MEDD), out of the 832 Covid-19 victims in the state, 432 or 51.92% of deaths were recorded between April 29 and May 10. Even as the mortality rate has reduced drastically from 7.12% on April 12 to 3.85% on May 9, the toll continued to rise. The Union health ministry, too, has expressed concern over the deaths in Maharashtra. Bernie Sanders told the Washington Post during a live conversation on Monday that there is only a "very, very slim" chance that he would run for president again, noting that there will likely be "another candidate carrying the progressive banner" in 2024. The big picture: The 78-year-old Vermont senator added that "the focus, not only of progressives, not only of Democrats, but independents, moderate Republicans, has got to be how we come together to defeat this very dangerous president." Go deeper ... 2024 lookahead poll: Democrats see diverse future Presented by Cloudflare Now more than ever, ensuring the security, performance, and reliability of game servers is important to the success of online gaming companies. When designing infrastructure for online multiplayer games, delivering reliable, low-latency, and real-time gaming experiences, in a cost-effective manner, to players around the world can be a massive challenge. Join Tim Obezuk, Principal Solutions Engineer at Cloudflare, in this free one hour webinar on Wednesday, May 27 at 11 AM ET to learn how to build game servers that are fast, secure, and reliable to gamers around the world. Key takeaways: Strategies you can employ to increase the speed and reliability of your game servers How to minimize overspend on infrastructure Techniques for offloading processing load from your servers Speakers Tim Obezuk Principal Solutions Engineer Cloudflare, Inc As a life-long gamer from Australia he is deeply familiar with the frustration of high pings and in-game disconnections. Now based in San Francisco Tim enjoys lower latency while he spending his days helping people deliver faster, more reliable online experiences using Cloudflare's global Performance, Security and Anti-DDoS network. Moderator: Alissa McAloon News Editor and Associate Publisher Gamasutra Doctors at Kim Son district's General Hospital in northern Ninh Binh province bid farewell to a recovered patient. (Photo: VNA) The countrys tally remains at 288, including 148 imported cases who had been quarantined upon arrival, and 140 infected within the community. Of the patients, 241 have recovered while the remainder are being treated or under health monitoring at six medical facilities. Among them, six patients have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 that cases the acute respiratory disease once and 14 negative twice or more. Only 27 patients still test positive for the novel coronavirus. The British pilot, known as Patient No. 91 who is being treated at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, is still in critical condition. Doctors from top hospitals in Vietnam held a telemedicine conference on May 10 to discuss a lung transplant for the patient. They proposed moving him to Cho Ray Hospital for intensive care and lung transplant consideration. As many as 25,361 people are under health monitoring or quarantine, of whom 373 stay at hospitals, 11,181 at other quarantine establishments and 13,807 at home and accommodations. Amid indications that the 'Mumbai dream' is turning sour for migrant workers amid the lockdown, many of them driving taxis and auto rickshaws in the city have left for their native places in their vehicles, union sources said. IMAGE: Police personnel stop migrants on their way back to reach native places on Eastern Express Highway, during a nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the coronavirus pandemic, at Mulund in Mumbai, on Sunday. Photograph: Kunal Patil/PTI Photo They pegged the number of 'kaali peeli' taxis and autos leaving the city to 1,000 and 5,000 respectively. A cyclist on the Mumbai-Agra highway told PTI that he saw migrants travelling in trucks, auto rickshaws and bikes on way to their native places in central and north India. Union officials said with increasing possibility of further extension of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, several auto and taxi drivers are going to their native places in their black and yellow coloured auto rickshaws and taxis. A L Quadros of the Mumbai Taximen's Union said over 1,000 black and yellow taxis and 5,000 auto rickshaws from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have left the region. There are around 45,000 black and yellow cabs and around 5 lakh auto rickshaws in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, he said. "Due to the lockdown for almost two months, the cabbies and auto drivers are left with no money and hence instead of dying without food here, they are preferring to go to their native place," said Quadros. According to union leaders, the cabbies and auto rickshaws drivers are leaving Mumbai in groups of 20 to 50 or more and are headed to UP, Bihar, Mandhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, while some cabbies are also going to Karnataka. "After another extension of the lockdown and the easing of restrictions on migrants, the auto drivers started to travel back to their native places in their auto rickshaws in groups since last week," said K K Tiwari, leader of the Swabhiman Taxi-Rickshaw Union. Shashank Rao, leader of Mumbai Auto Rickshawmen's Union said that as bus and truck drivers were asking for exorbitant fare, the drivers are preferring to take their own vehicles to travel back home as these are anyway going to remain parked in Mumbai if they travel by any other mode of transport. "Packing their luggage, a few drivers are travelling with families, while many drivers, who have their families at their native place, are going with other drivers and friends," said Rao. According to union leaders, taxi and auto drivers are going to native places sans any e-pass issued by the police, as they consider it a time and money consuming task. Regional Transport Office officials said auto and taxi permit holders are allowed to travel to native places by getting online temporary permits, which are valid for a few months. Quadros said Maharashtra government should issue a notification and waive the temporary permit condition for taxis and autos till things normalise. "The drivers don't have necessary facilities like internet connection and printers to get online permits, and the transport department cannot issue these offline due to staff shortage," said Quadros. Sujit Singh, an auto driver from Mumbai's Vakola area said he left for Uttar Pradesh in a group of about 50 auto rickshaws from their area on Saturday and on Monday morning reached Madhya Pradesh, travelling via Nashik. "There is no sign of lifting of lockdown and the condition due to coronavirus is worsening further. Hence I decided to return to my native place," said Singh, adding that they had applied for e-pass but they did not get it so they are carrying health certificates with them to show to police and other authorities if they ask. Singh said the group did not face any issues en route except police checkup at a couple of locations before Nashik. "We did not face any issue while entering MP as well. In fact, the police there offered us which was food arranged with the help of some organisations," he added. Online Retreats for Young Catholic Women Offered by Franciscan Sisters NEWS PROVIDED BY Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity May 11, 2020 GREEN BAY, Wisc., May 11, 2020 /Christian Newswire/ -- Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity will offer online Zoom Retreats in May and June for Catholic single women, 20-32. The retreats have been developed for the particular needs and desires for college students, recent graduates, and those discerning a call to consecrated life or professional career decision. Women from anywhere in the United States are welcome to register. These silent, guided Retreats will be led by Sr. Jackie Spaniola OSF Pastoral Associate Minister at St. Albert the Great Campus Ministry, Michigan Technological University, and previously Director of Religious Education of the Green Bay Diocese. Sr. Jackie reflected that " As we all know the situation with Coronavirus abruptly changed our daily routine. Decisions had to be made in every area of campus ministry and parish life. Everyone scrambled to learn video chat programs online to stay in touch with parishioners and to continue ministries. After discussion the issue with Fr. Ben Hasse, I was online learning about ZOOM chatrooms." The next Retreats will be May 23-25 and June 19-22. Retreats are open to a limited number of retreatants. For more information or to register, please visit https://fscc-calledtobe.org/2020/05/11/catholic-young-adults-franciscan-sister-on-line-spiritual-direction-for-you/ Or call or text Sister Jacqueline at 906-231-6862. Since 1869, Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity have served in Catholic Health Care, Education, Campus Ministry and Parish-Community Service throughout the United States. From Missions on Dioceses in Arizona, to the Dioceses of Lincoln and Omaha; from Columbus and Steubenville, to Mississippi, and Wisconsin and Michigan. Recently, Discerning women have been joining us from Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas. God Calls You. We Invite You https://fscc-calledtobe.org SOURCE Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity CONTACT: Sister Julie Ann Sheahan, OSF, 920-323-9632 sjulieann@fscc-calledtobe.org Related Links https://fscc-calledtobe.org/2020/05/11/catholic-young-adults-franciscan-sister-on-line-spiritual-direction-for-you/ https://fscc-calledtobe.org/ Send us your news Network Norwich is the Christian community website for greater Norwich. If you have any news or events of interest to the local Christian community, please send details to our local editor, Helen Baldry Sign up for our weekly e-news Find a church in Norwich SEARCH A minimum of 3 characters are required to be typed in the search bar in order to perform a search. A man has been shot dead after throwing rocks at police in the US. Yassin Mohamed died after a deputy sheriff fired at the 47-year-old in the state of Georgia. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said it was examining the incident which took place on Saturday. It revealed police had had several encounters with Mr Mohamed over the previous 12 hours. Claxton is a town in the south-west US state of Georgia / Google Maps Officers were called to reports of a man walking in the middle of the road in Claxton. An Evans County sheriff's deputy arrived at the scene shortly after midnight and tried to speak with Mr Mohamed. Investigators said he began throwing rocks and hit an officer once. This is the 38th officer-related shooting been investigated this year / Google Maps Mr Mohamed is then said to have thrown a larger stone and was shot by a deputy who was not seriously injured. He died at the scene before he could be taken to a hospital and his body was transported to a GBI crime lab for a post-mortem examination. The investigation will be turned over to the district attorney for review once completed, with a prosecutor to then decide whether to file charges. It is the 38th officer-involved shooting the GBI has been asked to investigate so far this year. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment When serving as president of the National Religious Broadcasters, my greatest concern for Christian broadcasters was not the emerging climate of censorship or even abusive hate-crimes laws. I worried about timid, self-censorship among Christian leaders. Seven years later, I now see that I was only half-right. What I did not foresee was the dramatic departure from Biblical truth by supposedly Evangelical leaders and institutions. We are now seeing a wide-scale rejection of Gods Word as the authority for faith and practice. I assure you, its no fun writing a column like this. I take no delight in calling out others for Biblical infidelity. Yet, when Christian leaders are clearly losing their way, love for them, faithfulness to the Gospel, and heartfelt concern for those they may mislead, compels truth telling, however painful. FRANK WRIGHT EXPLAINS WHY HE'S GOING AFTER 'HERESY' HE'S SEEING IN EVANGELICAL GROUPS CHICK-FIL-A Chick-Fil-A unjustifiably disparaged the Salvation Army, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Paul Anderson Youth Home, by making a public spectacle of cutting off their charitable support for being anti-LGBT. These groups are not anti anything. They simply subscribe to the historic Christian faith the same faith Chick-Fil-A claims to profess. The bitter irony here is that Bible-believing Christians stood by Chick-Fil-As when they were attacked for their stance on marriage. Chick-Fil-A rewards that kindness by impersonating the deeply-discredited Southern Poverty Law Center which falsely labels groups holding to Biblical views of marriage and family as haters. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF EVANGELICALS Less surprising is the once-orthodox, but now left-leaning, National Association of Evangelicals, who recently endorsed radical leftist legislation that would overturn religious free speech and free exercise by establishing sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories under federal nondiscrimination law. According to Dr. Ryan Anderson at the Heritage Foundation, these laws are not about protecting the freedom of people to live as LGBT but about coercing everyone else to support, facilitate, and endorse such actions. SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION Even the Southern Baptist Convention seems to be suffering a crisis of orthodoxy. According to the newly-launched Conservative Baptist Network, the Southern Baptists are drifting into political and theological liberalism and away from Biblical authority, with its emerging emphasis on social justice, Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and the redefining of biblical gender roles all of which are little more than leftist code words for their victim-based scheme of identity politics. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA (PCA) The generally conservative PCA denomination seems not far behind. There we see the Revoice movement forging a beachhead for LGBT inclusion within the framework of the historic Christian tradition. Revoice says whats wrong with same-sex attraction is not that it is sinful, but that others are sinfully opposed to it. CHRISTIANITY TODAY And we can only scratch our heads at Christianity Today, which decided that building the kingdom of God includes calling for the impeachment of President Trump. A false, virtue-signaling kind of kingdom-building to be sure. PASTOR ANDY STANLEY Without question, the most astonishing departure from Biblical authority comes from Pastor Andy Stanley, who called Christians to unhitch their faith from the Old Testament. Stanley argues that the Old Testament is not the Christians guide for any behavior in the church, and he calls church unity more important than Biblical fidelity. At base, he seems confused about the difference between the Levitical code (which applied to Israel alone) and the moral law (which applies to all mankind). Perhaps someone will remind Pastor Stanley where he can find the Ten Commandments or is lying, stealing, coveting, and adultery now acceptable behavior? Yet, Jesus was clear: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished (Matthew 5:17-18). So here we are, living in a culture desperately in need of truth. While some have joined the sad ranks of the Silent Shepherds, others have charted a new and dangerous course away from the safe harbor of Biblical orthodoxy. We would be far better off if these latter-day skeptics stayed silent also. The Gospel whether found in the Old Testament or New is the only power we have. Even if some leaders walk away from it, we dare not follow them. Standing for Truth requires standing on Truth. Business owners need to think with a new perspective and a novel approach towards customers to rebuild the economy, Pankaj Khimji, Director, Khimji Ramdas Group said at a webinar. Speaking on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19, Khimji, recently shared his views through a webinar hosted by Oman Economic Review (OER) in association with Business Live Middle East (BLME). Explaining the magnitude of the situation, Khimji outlined a strategy towards safeguarding business interests in Oman. He said: Cash flow will be one of the major business challenges moving forward, with ramifications felt across the job market and real estate sectors. He added, SMEs should be allowed to take timely loans to sustain their operations, with deferred payment options. This will improve liquidity in the market. The interactive session also discussed the impact on businesses of all sizes and the challenges within a market including the economic and geographical lockdowns. Hoping to generate a solution driven approach to the crisis, another vital dialogue was on how to re-boot the economy once open and how each business must responsibly operate to share and absorb the burden of the lockdown. On the subject of going forward to stay afloat, Khimji added: The aftermath of this pandemic requires business owners to think with a new perspective and a novel approach towards customers to rebuild the economy. Measures need to be taken to allay the fears of customers that will in turn allow certain washed-out sectors such as tourism to come alive again. He also highlighted the need to build up food security, so future imports can be balanced. Featuring a group of economy experts and renowned entrepreneurs, the session titled Tackling Economic Disruption and Business Risk focused on underlining the economic impact of Covid-19 on the public and private sectors within the Sultanate. The participants included Dr Adham Turki Al Said, Managing Partner, The Firm for Business and Economic Consulting; Majid bin Sultan Al Toky, Chairman, Dhofar Insurance Company and Stephen R. Thomas, CEO, Renaissance Services. Quoting IMFs world economic outlook data, Mayank Singh, moderator of the OER-BLME Webinar said The global growth will fall by -3.0%, and a 9 trillion dollar cumulative output loss to the global GDP over 2020-21. This is equal to the combined GDP of Japan and Germany, he added. The interactive session also discussed the impact on businesses of all sizes and the challenges within a market including the economic and geographical lockdowns. Hoping to generate a solution driven approach to the crisis, another vital dialogue was on how to re-boot the economy once open and how each business must responsibly operate to share and absorb the burden of the lockdown. The session deliberated on the current employment situation and business continuity and on how to build a synergy within the public and private sectors to ensure minimum loss of human capital. Another significant topic was the decline of prices within the Oil & Gas sector and how diversification from oil income is of extreme necessity. The webinar ended with a Q&A session along with a positive note by the panelists talking about cohesiveness and consolidation between the private sector business conglomerates to take the economy forward.TradeArabia News Service Lockdown is putting people at greater risk of coercive control, making it crucial for potential victims to be aware of the 'red flag' danger signs, a domestic abuse expert has claimed. Dr Emma Katz, a senior lecturer in Childhood and Youth studies at Liverpool Hope University, argued cases will escalate in the UK as perpetrators ramp up their abuse to counteract the loss of control caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Her warning comes after the government unveiled a 76million package for domestic violence victims as they admitted lockdown is making it harder for people to seek help. Dr Katz, author of upcoming book Coercive Control in Children's and Mothers' Lives, explained coercive control is an under-reported facet of domestic abuse. It sees a perpetrator take control of another person's life, resulting in a 'nightmarish' loss of liberty and freedom. Lockdown is putting people at greater risk of coercive control, making it crucial for potential victims to be aware of the 'red flag' danger signs, according to a domestic abuse expert. Pictured: stock image Because it doesn't have to involve violence, many victims and their friends and families might not recognise the early signs of coercive control until it's too late - even mistaking it for 'romance'. As well as calling for better awareness of the issue, Dr Katz also wants to see tougher sentencing for what is a creeping, insidious epidemic of abuse. She told FEMAIL: 'When it comes to coercive control, the Covid-19 lockdown means that dangerous behaviours might escalate more quickly. 'We know that perpetrators like to be in control. Now, however, a big part of their normal lives are restricted. 'So in order to get back to their normal levels of control, they may impose stricter control on their families, to up their sense of power and control once more. 'And that's a terrible problem for the victims. Under social distancing rules, there's no break from each other. Neither adult or child victims can leave the home for prolonged periods. 'Normal escape routes that help victims to cope with perpetrators' control are cut off.' It is a criminal offence in England and Wales for someone to subject another to coercive control - a law that came into force in 2015 and which recognises victims who experience a pattern of repeated control and domination from a perpetrator. Dr Emma Katz is a senior lecturer in Childhood and Youth studies at Liverpool Hope University And the repercussions of this form of abuse cannot be underestimated, according to Dr Katz, for both adult and child victims. She explained: 'This is a problem that can often fly under the radar, or be dismissed as "relationship problems". 'But coercive control is nightmarish. It's an attack on your liberty, your autonomy, your ability to make decisions. 'A metaphor I often use is that coercive control is like a car hijacking, except it's not the car that's stolen, it's the person's life. 'Ordinary, everyday decisions are taken out of your hands - who to be friends with, who not to be friends with, how we want to present ourselves, how we want to dress, whether we want to do a certain job or not. 'The perpetrator doesn't want a "partner", or "children", they want slave-like figures who are there to serve them. 'And they gain compliance through an awful system of reward and punishment. There might be intermittent rewards to keep you hooked in, giving you a sense of hope and making you think, "Okay, things are not so bad". 'But then you'll also get punishment when you disobey the perpetrator's rules and go against their regime of coercive control.' Coercive control 'red flags' Your partner bombards you with messages and gets angry when you don't reply From 'idolising' you in the beginning, your partner chips away at your self-esteem by withdrawing affection Your partner takes everyday decisions are taken out of your hands Suggests a joint bank account and demand to know what you've spent money on Your partner wants a say over who you are friends with, attempts to control how you look and dress and begins to exert control over what job you do Advertisement Dr Katz says this punishment might be physical - but it could equally involve calling you horrible names, attacking your self-esteem or withdrawing affection for days on end. She adds: 'And it's the constant cycle of reward and punishment which leaves the victim bewildered and constantly on edge about what the perpetrator will be like if they're not happy.' Key to combating coercive control is better awareness across Britain - and how you can recognise the dangers, particularly when social distancing measures are lifted and singletons can start dating again. Talking about the early signs that something isn't right in a relationship, she reveals: 'In the UK we need a much better awareness of what coercive control really is. 'There's these misconceptions that if someone isn't hit, it's not domestic abuse, or if you're married to someone or in a relationship with them, non-consensual sex isn't sexual assault or rape - it is. Ministers unveil new 76million package for domestic violence victims Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced the funding earlier this month, saying the government would not ignore the 'reality' of what many vulnerable individuals face during the crisis. He said victims of domestic abuse will get priority access to local housing, and money will be channelled to charities. Mr Jenrick said the Government's Domestic Abuse Bill, which had its second reading in Parliament last month, would create 'the first ever legal definition of domestic abuse'. He said that through the Bill, the Government would 'be ensuring that the victims of domestic violence get the priority need status that they need to access to local housing services much more easily'. He added: 'This is a fully-funded commitment which will mean that no victim of domestic violence has to make the unbearable choice between staying somewhere that they know is unsafe or becoming homeless.' He said the Government had already announced an extra 15million to strengthen its support, with an extra 16million going directly to refuge services. Mr Jenrick added that the funding will also help frontline charities to offer virtual ways to assist those in need, including phone-based services. 'We know that some refuges have had to reduce, or even to cancel the services that they would want to provide during the pandemic,' he said. 'This funding will help them to meet the challenges posed in this national emergency, and to continue to help those that desperately need support.' Advertisement 'You can't give sexual consent if somebody is making you worried about how they'll react if you say no - it's not a free choice, so the consent isn't valid. 'And it's easy for coercive control to escalate without the victim even realising what's happening. 'When we're talking about an adult perpetrator and an adult victim, the relationship might begin really quickly. The perpetrator seems to idolise you. "You're the one, I'm so excited I found you". 'Things move along really quickly because they're keen to get you committed to the relationship, fast. 'Importantly, the victim might not see this behaviour as a red flag. They might interpret it as, "He/she cares about me so much. It's romantic". 'But then the perpetrator might start sending too many texts in a day, getting annoyed if you don't reply or pick up the phone. 'They might suggest a joint bank account, making it harder for you to break away financially. 'They might also want to know precisely what you've spent your money on, demanding to see receipts. 'It ramps up and up. Until you're left with virtually no freedom or autonomy at all. And situations can quickly evolve into a nightmare.' The effects on children - who perpetrators often use as weapons in these situations - can be deeply damaging. Dr Katz says some youngsters are able to reject perpetrators' 'warped' sense of what life should be like, but others will become profoundly confused, and some even side with the perpetrator as a way to try to secure their own safety. In recent weeks an enhanced Domestic Abuse Bill has been introduced to Parliament - an element of which will stop perpetrators from cross-examining their victims in the family courts. But Dr Katz, who has won international awards for her work on domestic abuse, still fears it won't go far enough in tackling coercive control. She says: 'Current legislation needs to change. Sentences for coercive control are typically very low, with perpetrators handed a few months or a year or two on the back of horrific histories where they have psychologically tortured their victims for 15 years or more. 'The maximum you can get for coercive control is five years in prison - but many perpetrators don't get that maximum, they get a couple of years at most. 'In Scotland, however, a new domestic abuse bill came into force in 2018 which put coercive control right at the heart of the issue, and their maximum sentence is 15 years, which is so much better than five years when it comes to sending a serious message. 'Scotland has really prioritised tackling domestic abuse - it's ahead of England and Wales in the policies it has adopted. Its approach to domestic abuse has been described as the Gold Standard - and which should be emulated around the world.' Refuge offers a free 24-hour domestic abuse hotline; call them on 0808 2000 247 or visit https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/. SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Blockchain rewards platform MiL.k has completed its system linkage with Shinsegae Duty Free, a popular retail destination in downtown Seoul. The integration means that Shinsegae customers can now connect their existing accounts to the MiL.k app and use loyalty points within the expanding MiL.k ecosystem. As well as being able to earn and spend GOD loyalty points, which are native to Shinsegae Duty Free, customers can choose to trade them for MLK coins. These, in turn, can be exchanged for loyalty coins with other partnering vendors. Shinsegae customers will also be able to participate in MiL.k promotions, with each user who connects to the MiL.k app currently being rewarded with 5 MLK. Jayden Jo, CEO of MiL.k, said: "Shinsegae Duty Free is one of the top duty-free brands in Korea with millions of customers throughout Asia. By adding top-tier service companies like Shinsegae Duty Free and getting their rewards to be securely traded on blockchain, we will create a new paradigm for the rewards market and accelerate the mass adoption of blockchain." A blockchain-based network for loyalty programs spanning the travel, leisure and lifestyle sectors, MiL.k addresses the problem of rewards points going to waste because customers are unable or unwilling to spend them with the vendor who awarded them. Launched in 2019 by Jayden Joo and Rooney Jung, MiL.k effectively turns reward points into a currency of their own which can be traded for other reward points or even cash. In a short period of time, the MiL.k Alliance has partnered with several service providers active in the South Korean travel industry including Yanolja, the country's fastest-growing online travel agency, and the vehicle sharing platform Dilka. MiL.k's stated ambition is to promote the mass adoption of blockchain technology and eliminate the pain points associated with legacy systems. By building an integrated loyalty network that increases the utility of various rewards programs to the benefit of retailers and customers, they aim to achieve that ambition. MiL.K expects to announce more service functions and partners in the near future. Story continues About MiL.k Alliance: MiL.k Alliance is a blockchain platform that integrates reward points of service companies in the travel, leisure, and lifestyle sectors. Users can review the points from services under the MiL.k Alliance on a single platform and can transfer the existing points to the native MLK token as well as swap into other loyalty points that can be redeemed on third party services. About Shinsegae Duty Free: A retail destination within walking distance of both Namdaemun Market and N Seoul Tower, Shinsegae Duty Free is the first duty free store of Shinsegae Group, one of Korea's foremost large-scale distributors. Contact: Kim Bazak Kim@MarketAcross.com SOURCE: MiL.k View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/589310/Blockchain-Rewards-Platform-MiLk-Integrates-with-Leading-Retail-Outlet-Shinsegae-Duty-Free Space junk is littering the final frontier and Russia has contributed more to the collection than any other country. A new infographic reveals which countries owns the garbage floating in space and Russia is responsible for 14,403 pieces and the US comes in second with 8,734. The compiled data shows more than 30,000 particles from satellites, rockets and other man-made devices are orbiting Earth, which is more than double what was found in orbit two years ago. Scroll down for video A new infograph reveals which countries owns the garbage floating in space Russia is responsible for 14,403 pieces and the US comes in second with 8,734. An electronics distributor found that there are 30,000 particles from satellites, rockets and other man-made devices are orbiting Earth Space junk left behind after missions can be as big as spent rocket stages or as small as paint flakes. With fragments able to travel at speeds above 16,777 mph, even tiny pieces could seriously damage or destroy satellites. Data from Space-Track.org allowed Corby-based electronic company RS Components to analyze just how many bits of debris are currently orbiting Earth and which country they belong to. In 2018, the RC Components complied the same data and found the US had contributed the most space junk with 4,037 and Russia followed with 4,035. Space junk left behind after missions can be as big as spent rocket stages or as small as paint flakes. With fragments able to travel at speeds above 16,777 mph, even tiny pieces could seriously damage or destroy satellites However, in just two years, Russia moved to the top spot with 14,403 pieces. The US is in second with 8,734, followed by China 4,688 and France with just 994. India saw an increase with 124 more particles in the past two years, bringing its total to 517. There are more countries on the list, such as Italy, Germany and the UK, but most have just one piece floating around in orbit. There could be more than 128 million tiny fragments of debris in Earth orbit Rocket launches since 1957: 5450 5450 Number of satellites in orbit: 8950 8950 Number still in space: 5000 5000 Number still functioning: 1950 1950 Number of debris objects: 22300 22300 Break-ups, explosions etc: 500 500 Mass of objects in orbit: 8400 tonnes 8400 tonnes Prediction of the amount of debris in orbit using statistical models Over 10cm: 34 000 34 000 1cm to 10cm: 900 000 900 000 1mm to 1cm: 128 million Source: European Space Agency Advertisement Efforts to clean up space have been underway for a number of years, but theres still a long way to go - and, until then, it seems like Israel and Italy are the countries to follow, reads the report from RC Components. Although they have in the past, these two countries dont currently have any debris in orbit due to junk that has since decayed. The UKs efforts are significant too, with one piece of junk currently in orbit (although four that have been in orbit but since decayed), theyre one of the countries working towards an improved and cleaner space. As Russia has contributed the most in the past two years, the country has recently dumped 65 more pieces into orbit. A rocket used to launch a scientific satellite into space has broken apart after nine years in orbit broke apart earlier this month and left dozens of pieces of debris around Earth. The Fregat-SB is a type of space tug and its upper stage was left floating after it helped deliver the Spektr-R satellite in 2011, according to Roscosmos. Spektr-R was a radio telescope launched by the Russian space agency but it stopped responding to ground control last year and was declared dead in May 2019. Roscosmos confirmed the breakdown of the rocket happened on May 8 between 06:00 and 07:00 BST somewhere above the Indian Ocean. The Russian space agency is studying data to find out how many parts it broke up into and where they are currently orbiting the planet. The US18 Space Control Squadron that tracks all objects in Earth's orbit say there are at least 65 pieces from the rocket in orbit. US18 wrote on Twitter: 'Confirmed that the breakup of FREGAT DEB occurred on May 8, 2020, between 0402 and 0551 UTC. Tracking 65 associated pieces no indication caused by collision.' Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf suggested funding could be slashed for counties that move to the yellow phase of his color-coded reopening plan before they are given the approval to do so. Wolf made his first public comments on the topic Monday morning after a weekend that saw multiple county commissioners or politicians, including Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries, say that their area wouldnt wait for Wolfs go-ahead and would instead decide themselves when to reach the aggressive mitigation phase. We Pennsylvanians have sacrificed in ways we could never have imagined, weve separated ourselves from our families, weve isolated ourselves in our homes, we have shuttered our businesses, we have closed our schools, Wolf said. "These heroic acts deserve to be met, not by surrendering, but by staying the course, and thats what I intend to do. "To those politicians who decide to cave in to this coronavirus, they need to understand the consequences of their cowardly act. The funding we have put aside to help with fighting this crisis will go to the folks who are doing their part, and that includes our CARES Act funding, which will be used to support counties that are following the orders to prevent the spread in the medical communities who are treating patients. However, other discretionary funding wont go to counties that put us all at risk by operating illegally. To the politicians urging businesses to risk their lives, and risk of the lives of their customers or their employees by opening prematurely, they need to understand that they are engaging in behavior that is both selfish and unsafe. Wolf later said he could stop counties from reopening before his timeline says they can. He did not offer specifics about how funding would be cut or how he would stop any county or town that does, however, and said he wouldnt sue counties who dont follow his order. Twenty-four counties moved to the yellow phase last Friday, and 13 more will do so this Friday. You business owners, these politicians put you at risk of losing your health departments certificate, they put you business owners at risk of losing your liquor license, they put you business owners at risk of losing your certificate of occupancy, Wolf said. "All these depend upon youre doing everything you can to keep your patrons safe, and by opening before the evidence suggests you should, youre taking undue risks with the safety of your customers. Businesses that do follow the whims of local politicians and ignore the law and the welfare of their customers who probably find themselves uninsured, because insurance does not cover things that happen to businesses breaking the law. And, let me be clear: Employees that fear for their safety because a business has opened illegally, they dont have to go to work. Instead, they can stay at home, stay safe, and collect their unemployment benefits. Finally, the politicians who are encouraging the people they were elected to lead to quit the fight, are acting in a most cowardly way. This is not the time to give up. This is not the time to surrender. This is the time to rededicate ourselves to the task of beating this virus. More coronavirus coverage: As the coronavirus pandemic brings Japan's dependence on imported medical supplies to the fore, the government has started working with more than 400 domestic companies to bolster production at home. Generic drugs is among the most vulnerable fields. Japanese producers import around half of their active ingredients from China, South Korea and elsewhere. But the virus has snarled customs procedures around the world. "Deliveries that would normally take four to five days are taking three weeks," a trading house said. About 40% of 45 Japanese pharmaceutical companies surveyed by Nikkei said their supply chains could dry up in half a year. Towa Pharmaceutical is already adjusting shipments of hypertension medication and antibiotics. Japan also imports more than 90% of its ventilators, crucial to treating coronavirus patients. Much of them come from Europe and the U.S. "We are receiving more inquiries from domestic hospitals, but we don't know if shipments to Japan will increase, given how the outbreak is spreading in Europe and the U.S.," said Fukuda Denshi, which imports and distributes ventilators from Sweden. China is Japan's key source for protective equipment, such as masks and gowns. About 70% to 80% of Japan's surgical masks are imported, mostly from China. Japanese manufacturers are poorly positioned to boost output of N95 masks, which are in extremely high demand. Countries have been scrambling for masks as the pandemic spreads. While some companies like Sharp have entered the field in Japan, the country still faces a shortage. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. By PTI SINGAPORE: An Indian businessman, who owns a well-known biryani restaurant here, was on Monday sentenced to six years of jail and six strokes of cane for conspiring to have a man from a rival eatery slashed for selling the same delicacy next door in 2016, according to a media report. Zackeer Abbass Khan, 49, who owns the Zam Zam restaurant was found guilty after a long-running trial of conspiring with several others to have Victory restaurant supervisor Liakath Ali Mohamed Ibrahim slashed and scarred for selling the same delicacies next door, Channel News Asia reported. While Zackeer has been jailed, he intends to appeal, his lawyer said. Zackeer had instructed business associate and long-time friend Anwer Ambiya Kadir Maideen, 50, to attack on Liakath for selling the same delicacies next door, the report said. Anwer, also an Indian-origin, the middleman in the scheme, was given five-and-a-half years' jail. He had hired secret society (gang) member Joshua Navindran Surainthiran, an Indian-origin, to attack Liakath on the face with a knife on August 26, 2015, for 1,700 Singapore dollars. Joshua was jailed for six-and-a-half years and six strokes of the cane for the slashing and other offences in November 2016. Both Zackeer and Anwer were found guilty of a charge of conspiring to cause grievous hurt to Liakath, who was left with a permanent scar, the report said. Zackeer was convicted of another charge of criminal intimidation for threatening the victim, saying: "I see how you will work here and within one week I will either hit or kill you. " Anwer pleaded guilty on Monday to one additional charge of being a member of a secret society, with two other similar charges taken into consideration. The case was all about business rivalry, noted District Judge Mathew Joseph, dating back to 2005 when Zackeer and the victim were business partners. After the business failed, Zackeer blamed the victim for being "cheated" of 80,000 Singapore dollars and tensions increased after the Liakath joined the rival Victory restaurant. Allegations were tossed back and forth of customers being pulled away, and things came to a head on August 22, 2015, when the police went to both restaurants in North Bridge Road to advise them to stop touting. Four days later, Joshua slashed Liakath on the face. For his involvement, he was sentenced to six-and-a-half years' jail and six strokes of the cane in 2016, after pleading guilty to several charges. "This case is a salutary and sad reminder that one should not allow the red mist of bitterness and anger to cloud one's better judgment," said the Indian-origin Judge Joseph. He told Zackeer that he was a "successful businessman in Singapore", as evidenced in the success of Zam Zam, and "should have known better", the report said. "The resulting consequences can be severe for both the victim and the perpetrators involved. Certainly there can be no place in our society for gratuitous violence arising out of mere business rivalry," said the judge. He granted Anwer his request to defer the sentence as he needed to arrange for someone to take over his restaurant business, which has been "suffering" because of COVID-19 pandemic. Funerals have been held for victims of Ukraine's outbreak of COVID-19 as the country's troubled health care system is overwhelmed by the virus. Nadiya Muchka, daughter of Semen Muchka, a 71-year-old who died from COVID-19, said her father needed a venilator, "but it was broken." Medical workers have had to create their own homemade protective suits and autopsies are being undertaken outside behind hospitals due to a lack of filtration systems inside morgues. Dr. Oleh Stetsiuk, a pathologist in the western city of Ternopil, wears a yellow protective suit that his friend, a shoemaker, made for him. "We don't get any money to improve our sanitary or hygienic conditions in the morgue. To prevent the virus from leaking into the city drainage system. We will perform the autopsy in extreme conditions, outdoors in a plastic bag." Health care reforms launched under the previous president have slashed government subsidies, leaving medical workers underpaid and without essential equipment. A war with Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern region and its struggling economy are also widely blamed for the desperate condition of its hospitals. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. Forces behind a Vote Early Day 2020 initiative are launching a paid media campaign this week to get U.S. companies to encourage people to seek absentee ballots or vote early in person amid the coronavirus threat. Driving the news: Businesses, advocates and bipartisan election officials behind the effort will run a $100,000 ad on Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal addressed "Dear CEOs and Business Leaders," organizers tell Axios. Be smart: They're banking on the idea that consumers will activate on messages from brands they rely on and that businesses will see upsides to taking on this kind of leadership role. Axios' own polling with Ipsos reflects working Americans' trust in their employers to look out for their interests in the pandemic. Vote Early Day counts more than 100 partners, but it anticipates thousands of partners by the fall. Details: The nonpartisan group was announced in March and has a website with information to help voters in each state learn what their early-voting options are. It includes representatives from MTV and ViacomCBS, Twitter, BET, Univision, Snapchat, and other media and technology outlets; nonprofit groups such as the League of Women Voters; and companies including Levi Strauss & Co., Kenneth Cole, Patagonia, REI and Sweetgreen. Its ad asks business leaders to "help employees, customers, friends and family understand the many ways they can vote safely, securely and early" and says that "no one should have to choose between casting a ballot and preserving their health." California's Secretary of State Alex Padilla, a Democrat, and Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, are members of the group's steering committee. Organizers have designated Oct. 24 as Vote Early Day, and they say it should be a holiday. The general election is Nov. 3. What they're saying: "During the 2018 midterms, hundreds of companies participated in corporate civic engagement and the United States saw the highest midterm voter turnout in a century," Vote Early Day project director Joey Wozniak and MTV's Brianna Cayo Cotter tell Axios in an email. "Now, with changing rules and options like mail and in-person voting gaining significant attention due to public health concerns around COVID-19, we believe it is more important than ever for businesses to use their platforms to share current and accurate voting information with their audiences." They say businesses are uniquely suited to encourage civic participation during the COVID-19 crisis because they're credible, nonpartisan messengers. Don't forget: Many states have taken steps to expand early voting because of the virus, while some still have restrictive policies. The Texas Air National Guard's F-16 until performed a flyover above Laredo Medical Center on Monday afternoon. The group flew north to south over the Laredo hospital between Bustamante Street and Highway 59, and between Meadow Avenue and Foster Avenue. Following the Laredo flyover, the team headed to Corpus Christi to do the same at CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital. A different set of F-16 units will also fly over hospitals and medical support facilities in Lubbock area as part of their display in honor of Texas medical professionals on Monday. We wanted to show our appreciation to all the frontline responders who are out there every day combating this virus, Col. Raul Rosario, 149th Fighter Wing commander said in a statement last Friday. As Guardsmen, who live and work in many of these local areas, we value the dedication of those who tirelessly serve our communities to help make what we do to defend the nation possible." The flyover follows similar performances by air units such as the Blue Angels in Houston and Air Force Thunderbirds in San Antonio. While the performance is mainly a tribute to local medical workers, it also serves as a morale boosts for locals who have been confined in their homes amid the coronavirus pandemic. We know most people love to watch flyovers, and people could probably use a boost right now, Col. Matt Jensen, commander of the 149th Operations Group said. Fortunately for us, these flyovers also provide important proficiency training to our pilots, so it is a way to do something nice for the community through already-allotted flight hours at no extra cost to the taxpayer. The flyovers are part of Operation American Resolve, which was created as a way to lift morale in cities across America as the cities around the nation are adopting stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. While the Air National Guard certainly wants to lift the spirits around the state with the performance, it also wants to remind locals to keep in mind social distancing and personal protective members when watching the flyover. 11 May 2020 Type Media Article Excessive sediment can significantly impact the condition of freshwater habitats, resulting in a deterioration of water quality. It can have a greater impact than more standard pollutants such as phosphorus and nitrogen. Researcher Daire O hUallachain explains further Freshwater systems are under pressure from multiple-stressors. To-date, much research has focused on the impact of nutrients (e.g. phosphorus and nitrogen) or pesticides (e.g. MCPA) on water quality. However, recent reports by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) suggest that sediment is a much greater threat to water quality than previously thought. Sediment reduces the quality of freshwater habitats Sediment is a naturally occurring material, derived from the weathering and erosion of underlying bedrock and steam banks, which is then subsequently transported downstream. However, excessive sediment can significantly impact the condition of freshwater habitats, resulting in a deterioration of water quality. Sediment can have a greater impact on freshwater insects (key indicators of water quality) than more standard pollutants such as phosphorus and nitrogen. In some extensive catchments, particularly those that contain sensitive species (e.g. the Freshwater Pearl Mussel), excessive sediment is likely to be the dominant threat to water quality. Sources of sediment Sources of sediment are varied and widespread. Recent studies by Teagasc utilising sediment fingerprinting (i.e. matching instream sediment to potential sources) highlight that channel banks, roads, and agricultural sources were the dominant sources of sediment in agricultural catchments. Forestry, including established, unmanaged, forest plantations, can also contribute significant amounts of sediment to freshwater systems. From an agricultural point of view, sediment sources are influenced by soil drainage characteristics and land use type. Catchments with poor drainage are more likely to deliver larger amounts of sediment than those with good drainage. Where arable land (and associated periods of low ground cover) occur on poorly drained soils, the highest sediment loads are likely to occur. Agricultural activity can also influence channel bank sources of sediment. Artificial drainage (surface ditches and sub-surface drains) can result in high flow and associated channel bank erosion. Cattle access to watercourses (image 1) can also result in channel bank erosion and sediment delivery to watercourses. Reducing the impact of sediment Teagasc research indicates that, although still a threat, sediment lost from Irish catchments, is low compared to values for the UK and mainland Europe. This is largely attributed to greater density of landscape features such as hedgerows and drainage ditches on Irish farms. These natural mitigation features can intercept flow and sediment, preventing it from reaching watercourses. Such landscape features are valuable for water quality, but also for biodiversity and carbon storage, therefore landowners should be encouraged and advised on how best to manage them for multiple environmental functions. Targeted management practices can help to further reduce sediment inputs to freshwater ecosystems. Arable soils could benefit from temporary sediment control measures, (e.g. sediment fences) when rainfall intensity is high and groundcover is low. Poorly drained grassland catchments could benefit from appropriately managed buffer zone (image 2) or riparian wetlands. Ongoing Teagasc research (e.g. Smarter_BufferZ) is exploring the effectiveness of some of these approaches. Key messages to reduce and manage sediment Management practices are needed to reduce sediment delivery to freshwater. Such practices will prevent the loss of nutrient-rich topsoil from the land, resulting in environmental and agronomic benefits. These strategies typically aim to reduce the source of sediment, or break the pathway between source and river. Management practices to reduce sources of sediment include soil conservation practices. Arable land on poorly-drained soils is a high soil loss risk. In-field mitigation measures such as rapid establishment of crop cover after drilling are practical approaches to reduce the space and time soils are bare. Maintenance of existing landscape features is a priority to prevent soil losses from agricultural catchments to rivers and streams. Establishment of stabilising structures for riverbanks, or establishing riparian wetlands and buffer zones, will have benefits for water quality, but also for biodiversity and carbon storage Sediment: Flux, provenance and ecological impact - 6124 (PDF) Cattle access to watercourses: Environmental and socio-economic implications - 6758 (PDF) Image 1: Cattle access to water can result in bank erosion and sediment delivery to watercourses. Image 2: Appropriately targeted and managed riparian buffers can prevent sediment from entering watercourses A large international team of researchers has conducted the first in-depth, wide-scale study of the genomic history of pre-Columbian Andean civilizations such as the Moche, Wari, Tiwanaku, Nazca, and Inca. Published in the journal Cell, the findings reveal early genetic distinctions between groups in nearby regions, population mixing within and beyond the Andes, surprising genetic continuity amid cultural upheaval, and ancestral cosmopolitanism. There are many unanswered questions about the population history of the central Andes and in particular the large-scale societies that lived there, said co-author Dr. Bastien Llamas, a researcher in the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide. We know from archeological research that the central Andes region is extremely rich in cultural heritage, however up until now the genomic makeup of the region before arrival of Europeans has never been studied. While archaeological records play a role in connecting cultures, studying ancient DNA can provide a finer grain picture. For example, archaeological information may tell us about two or three cultures in the region, and eventually who was there first, but ancient DNA can inform about actual biological connections underlying expansion of cultural practices, languages or technologies. In the study, Dr. Llamas and colleagues sequenced and analyzed the genomes of 89 individuals who lived between 500 and 9,000 years ago and compared the data with the genetic diversity of present day occupants. Of these, 64 genomes, ranging from 500 to 4,500 years old, were newly sequenced more than doubling the number of ancient individuals with genome-wide data from South America. The scientists found that by 9,000 years ago, groups living in the Andean highlands became genetically distinct from those that eventually came to live along the Pacific coast. The effects of this early differentiation are still seen today. The genetic fingerprints distinguishing people living in the highlands from those in nearby regions are remarkably ancient, said first author Nathan Nakatsuka, an MD/PhD student in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. It is extraordinary, given the small geographic distance, added senior author Professor David Reich, a researcher in the Department of Genetics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Harvard Medical School, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. By 5,800 years ago, the population of the north also developed distinct genetic signatures from populations that became prevalent in the south. Again, these differences can be observed today. After that time, gene flow occurred among all regions in the Andes, although it dramatically slowed after 2,000 years ago. This was quite surprising given this period saw the rise and fall of many large-scale Andean cultures such as Moche, Wari and Nazca, and suggests that these empires implemented a cultural domination without moving armies, Dr. Llamas said. There were two exceptions to the slowing of migration, and these were within the Tiwanaku and Inca populations, whose administrative centers were largely cosmopolitan people of diverse ancestries living side-by-side. It was interesting to uncover signs of long-range mobility during the Inca period, Dr. Llamas said. Archaeology shows the Inca occupied thousands of miles from Ecuador through to northern Chile which is why when Europeans arrived they discovered a massive Inka empire, but we found close genetic relationships between individuals at the extreme edges of the empire. It is exciting that we were actually able to determine relatively fine-grained population structure in the Andes, allowing us to differentiate between coastal, northern, southern and highland groups as well as individuals living in the Titicaca Basin, said senior author Dr. Lars Fehren-Schmitz, a scientist in the Genomics Institute at the University of California, Santa Cruz. This is significant for the archaeology of the Andes and will now allow us to ask more specific questions with regards to local demographies and cultural networks, said co-author Dr. Jose Capriles, a researcher in the Department of Anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University. _____ Nathan Nakatsuka et al. A Paleogenomic Reconstruction of the Deep Population History of the Andes. Cell, published online May 7, 2020; doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.015 A senior Education Department executive has been stood aside days after former deputy premier Jackie Trad resigned from her frontbench roles following revelations of a probe into her alleged role in the appointment of a school principal. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Ms Trad's resignation from cabinet and a reshuffle of the frontbench on Sunday, just five months out from the October state election. Jackie Trad has stood aside from her ministerial duties. Credit:AAP/Dan Peled LNP opposition MP Jarrod Bleijie referred Ms Trad to the Crime and Corruption Commission in November last year over allegations she had interfered in the selection process for the principal of the Inner City South State Secondary College, now under construction in Brisbane's south. She has always maintained she had not acted inappropriately. - Barack Obama has slammed Donald Trump's response to Covid-19 - He called on the democratic party to set their differences aside to support Joe Biden - The White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany has hailed Trump's handling of the crisis a success - Our manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in Former US President Barack Obama has labeled Trump's attempt at containing Covid-19 as chaotic. This was leaked from a conference call he had with former members of his administration. Trump has blamed Obama for many of the issues surrounding the US's response to the coronavirus. Obama has largely remained silent on the issue. YEN.com.gh learned that during the conference call, Obama urged the democratic party to support Joe Biden who is aiming at dethroning Trump at the next election. READ ALSO: Mahama says government is failing Ghanaians on COVID-19 Obama said the election is so important because what were going to be battling is not just a particular individual or a political party. What were fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy that has become a stronger impulse in American life, he said. He said this is one reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty. It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset of whats in it for me and to heck with everybody else when that mindset is operationalized in our government, Obama said. Thats why, I, by the way, am going to be spending as much time as necessary and campaigning as hard as I can for Joe Biden, he said. READ ALSO: Scientists in Kenya discover microbe that could stop Malaria transmission READ ALSO: Lt. Charles Bailey Snr: The fighter pilot who was saved by a Bible in his flight suit (photo) White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany has hailed Trump's handling of the crisis as a success and that he has saved American lives. While Democrats were pursuing a sham witch hunt against President Trump, President Trump was shutting down travel from China. While Democrats encouraged mass gatherings, President Trump was deploying PPE, ventilators, and testing across the country, she said. Ghanaians share their thoughts on the mandatory wearing of face mask | #Yencomgh READ ALSO: COVID-19 updates: Major highlights from Akufo-Addo's 9th address Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page. Source: YEN.com.gh TELEMMGLPICT000171238812.jpeg Priti Patel has been urged to deport three members of the Rochdale child sex gang who are back in the town two years after losing the right to stay in Britain. The Home Office said five years ago that it intended to remove the mens British citizenship, paving the way for their deportation. Yet the three - including one known to victims by the sinister title The Master - are still in the UK nearly two years after losing their appeal on human rights grounds against their removal. Nazir Afzal, the Crown prosecutor who pursued the case, said: Individuals are allowed to exhaust their legal remedies. That I understand they have done. So it is a political or logistical reason as to why they have not been sent out of the country. Neither is sustainable. The men are a threat to local women and girls and the Government should comply with the direction of the court that these men should no longer be in this country because their presence conflicts with public safety. TELEMMGLPICT000225374325.jpeg A girl who blew the whistle on taxi driver Qari Abdul Rauf and his accomplices said: I thought Theresa May had organised his deportation, so how come hes still here? "I feel violated to know hes living near me in the same area where he hunted for girls like me. Its a total betrayal of grooming victims that hes allowed to stay. She spoke after pictures on social media showing Rauf, 51, in the Lancashire town. Father-of-three Abdul Aziz, 49 The Master and Adil Khan, 50, live nearby after also being freed from jail. They were locked up in 2012. A judge stated: The men treated girls as though they were worthless and beyond all respect. The Rochdale gang was portrayed in Bafta-winning BBC drama Three Girls. Rauf got six years for trafficking and sex with a girl, 15. Aziz got nine years for trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sex with a child. Khan got eight for conspiracy and trafficking a 13-year-old girl who fell pregnant. A Home Office spokesman said: We are committed to removing foreign national offenders wherever possible. Foreign national offenders should be in no doubt of our determination to remove them, and since 2010 we have removed more than 52,000 criminals. Ukraine's troubled health care system has been overwhelmed by the novel coronavirus, even though the country has reported a relatively low number of cases. Medical workers in homemade protective mask and suits, some wearing plastic bags on their feet, have been treating people in hospitals holding more virus patients than originally intended. And as more COVID-19 patients flood into the struggling hospitals, doctors and nurses must rely on their own resources, and many of them are getting sick as well. Medical workers now account for about a fifth of all coronavirus patients in Ukraine. At the department of infectious diseases in Pochaiv, general practitioner Ivan Venzhynovych said there was no infectious disease specialist at the hospital. "He went to take a training course and hasn't come back to work. Courses have stopped. He got sick. Now he is in our first room. Another infectious disease specialist resigned." Serhiy Vitvitskiy, a pediatric anesthesiologist working in the department of infectious diseases at a hopsital in Malyn, also expressed concerns over staffing issues. "There should be one doctor per three patients. We have one doctor per sixteen patients. One on the day shift, one on the night shift." Healthcare reforms launched under the previous president have slashed government subsidies, leaving medical workers underpaid and without essential equipment. A war with Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern region and its struggling economy are also widely blamed for the desperate condition of its hospitals. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death Nearly 200 pastors sign petition urging Va. Gov. Northam to allow weekly in-person church services Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Over 190 pastors in Virginia have signed onto a petition letter calling on the governor to modify two executive orders so churches can gather for in-person worship at least once a week as the coronavirus pandemic continues. As pastors of churches in Virginia, we thank you for your labors these last several months to care for the people of the Commonwealth, the letter sent to Gov. Ralph Northam on Monday reads. We have been praying for you. We write now to urge you to modify Executive Orders 53 and 55 to allow at minimum once-weekly gatherings of religious organizations, provided that reasonable public-health precautions are taken. Most Virginia churches have been unable to gather for in-person worship for the past several weeks since Executive Order 53 was enacted on March 23 banning in-person gatherings of 10 people or more. Additionally, Executive Order 55 enacted on March 30 explicitly bans outdoor and indoor religious gatherings of 10 people or more. The orders will remain in effect until June 10 unless amended or rescinded by further executive order. Mondays joint letter was spearheaded by Michael Law Jr., senior pastor of Arlington Baptist Church just outside of Washington, D.C. Pastors were invited to join the petition by signing online. An updated list of signatories was released Thursday. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a hospital for the spiritually sick, the pastors letter reads. Yet corporate worship services of more than 10 people have been banned in Virginia since March 23, regardless of the public-health protocols in place and notwithstanding that groups are permitted to gather in settings such as non-retail offices and essential retail businesses. The letter contends that prohibiting corporate worship services has exacerbated the sense of sorrow, isolation, and fear felt by so many citizens across the Commonwealth. Corporate worship is commanded by Scripture and has been a foundational element of Christian life for nearly 2,000 years. Alternatives such as live-streamed services and drive-through worship are not adequate substitutes to the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27) united together in corporate worship. The letter goes on to state that Scripture commands believers in the Lord Jesus to assemble. In Hebrews 10:24-25, the writer to the Hebrews exhorts Christians not to neglect meeting together, but instead to stir up one another to love and good deeds and to encourage one another, the letter explains. In 1 Timothy 4:13, the Apostle Paul exhorts Timothy, a pastor in the city of Ephesus, to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture. According to the pastors, people must be present for the reading to be public. Ephesians 5:19 tells Christians to address one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, the letter adds. Indeed, physical presence is vital for all aspects of corporate worship prayer (1 Timothy 2:1), teaching (Colossians 3:16), preaching (2 Timothy 4:2 and Galatians 1:23), baptism (Matthew 28:18-20), and the Lords Supper (1 Corinthians 11:27-34). The pastors added that in-person gatherings are one of the ways God heals and restores souls. The longer the government bars Christians from meeting, the more damage is done to the spiritual well-being of Virginians in need of spiritual care during this difficult time, the pastors stress. Because corporate worship is central to Christian life, it is extraordinary for churches to forego meeting for even a single Sunday. Thus, with each passing week that corporate worship is banned, as churches stand ready to implement reasonable public-health precautions, the government pushes Christians closer to the point where they must choose to sin against God and conscience or violate the law. The letter also quotes former President James Madison, a founding father of the United States from Virginia, who stated: It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to him. The Commonwealth has long recognized that it should not force citizens to choose between their conscience and obeying the law unless there is truly no possible alternative, the pastors explain, adding that the Virginia Constitution calls for citizens to be equally entitled to the free exercise of religion. We fully recognize that you have limited gatherings with the goal of reducing the spread of COVID-19. As pastors, we share that desire and are committed to protecting the physical well-being of all who attend church services. The pastors say that enacting safety protocols such as those recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would fulfill the Executive Orders goal of protecting public health while also permitting us to satisfy our religious obligations and serve the spiritual needs of our communities. Such measures include disinfecting hard surfaces, keeping congregants 6 feet apart, avoiding physical contact, closing Sunday school classes and nurseries as well as encouraging the sick and vulnerable to stay home. The Executive Orders are rightly intended to prevent avoidable deaths. Yet the sobering truth is that, unless the Lord Jesus returns, each of us that survives the pandemic will still die, the letter states bluntly. There is no escaping death, for death is the wages of sin (Romans 6:23), and we have all sinned (Romans 3:23). One pastor who signed the letter is David Schrock, the preaching pastor at Occoquan Bible Church. The Church is a witness for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Schrock told The Daily Signal in an interview. That is why we gather on Sunday. Because that was the day that He was raised from the dead. And it gives a public testimony to the fact that He is alive and present to help all who trust in Him. In April, Lighthouse Fellowship Church on Chincoteague Island led by Pastor Kevin Wilson filed a lawsuit against Northams executive order after Wilson was served with a summons and threatened with imprisonment or fine for holding a Palm Sunday service attended by 16 congregants who observed social distancing protocols. Vice President Mike Pence spoke out in defense of the church during an episode of the The Brian Kilmeade Show on Wednesday. The former Indiana governor and senator explained that even in the midst of a national emergency, every American enjoys our cherished liberties, including the freedom of religion. The very idea that the Commonwealth of Virginia would sanction a church for having 16 people come to a Psalm Sunday service when I think the church actually seats about 250 was just beyond the pale, Pence opined. We are going to stand by men and women of faith of every religion in this country and protect, even in this challenging time, protect their freedom of religion. [May 11, 2020] iA Financial Group teams up with Dialogue to offer virtual healthcare services to its clients QUEBEC CITY, May 11, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - In this particular time during which staying home remains the smartest option to limit the propagation of COVID-19, iA Financial Group is facilitating access to healthcare for its clients by teaming up with Dialogue, the Canadian telemedicine leader. Dialogue: virtual healthcare, available 24/7 The Dialogue platform enables the whole family to speak with healthcare professionals, anywhere in Canada, at any time. Dialogue is fully confidential, available online or on any mobile device and provides various services, including: Live chat with a multidisciplinary team Prescription renewal and free delivery of prescription drugs Secure video appointment with a physician or a mental healthcare professional Referral to a specialist when medically required Diagnostics coordination when medically required With Dialogue, more than 70% of medical problems which would normally require a visit to a clinic can be treated remotely, thus avoiding several hours of waiting. If the medical condition calls for an in-person consultation, Dialogue helps by schedling an appointment in a nearby clinic. Free until July 31, 2020 Clients whose group insurance plan includes supplemental health insurance with iA Financial Group and who wish to add the telemedicine service to their group benefits offering can take advantage of a preferred rate. In addition, should they commit to offering Dialogue for at least 12 months, they will get it free of charge until July 31, 2020. "Virtual healthcare services are in line with our commitment to the peace of mind and well-being of our clients," said Eric Jobin, Senior Vice President, Group Insurance and Retirement Solutions at iA Financial Group. "We are pleased to simplify the access to healthcare for hundreds of thousands of Canadians and members of their families, especially in these challenging times," added Mr. Jobin. "We are proud to partner with iA Financial Group to offer its clients innovative solutions that care about people", said Jean-Nicolas Guillemette, COO of Dialogue. "This strategic partnership is a key step toward achieving our ambition of helping Canadians be more healthy" concluded Mr Guillemette. About Dialogue Technologies Inc. Dialogue is Canada's premier telemedicine provider, pioneering virtual healthcare services exclusively offered to employers who wish to improve the health and well-being of their employees and their families. Dialogue brings concrete solutions in terms of people's health by delivering an outstanding healthcare service experience, guiding employees toward building an engagement strategy, and focusing on patient security. About iA Financial Group iA Financial Group is one of the largest insurance and wealth management groups in Canada, with operations in the United States. Founded in 1892, it is one of Canada's largest public companies and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols IAG (common shares) and IAF (preferred shares). iA Financial Group is a business name and trademark of iA Financial Corporation Inc. and Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. SOURCE iA Financial Group [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS), has asked chief ministers of all states to prepare a detailed road map for economic activities and employment generation following the Covid-19 crisis. The BMS also asked states to reverse decisions to allow labour law holidays and changes to such legislations. States such as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat announced a raft of changes to labour laws last week, from allowing longer working hours to a 1,000-day labour law holiday for new investors. In a statement issued on Monday, the labour wing of the RSS said state governments have been unable to convince the public as to how labour laws are hurdles to economic activities and about the emergent situation requiring the extreme step of suspending labour laws. On the contrary, for the labour, the Covid-19 situation has created an extraordinary situation of massive economic losses and job losses; losses of livelihood, besides financial, psychological and social issues. Urgent measures need to be taken to address this, said a statement issued by BMS general secretary Vrijesh Upadhyay. Referring to the recent gas leak at a chemical plant in Visakhapatnam and the death of migrant workers sleeping on a railway track in Aurangabad as examples of the grave situation in the labour sector, the BMS demanded the Union and state governments should make arrangements for free train travel by migrant workers. Those workers who want to resume work should be given free transport facilities to workplaces in the absence of public transport. In green and orange zones, where activities have started in a phased manner, Government should give work support and support of wages, the BMS demanded. The migrants tale:Yet to reach home, but ready to return again (IANS Special). Image Source: IANS News The migrants tale:Yet to reach home, but ready to return again (IANS Special). Image Source: IANS News Lucknow/Rae Bareli, May 11 : A truck, packed to capacity with food grains, stops at a tiny eatery, being run from behind a tin shed on the Lucknow-Rae Bareli road, about 35 kilometers from the state capital. About 43 people sitting atop the truck shout out to the tea-seller for water. The tea-seller asks them to come down from the truck but they refuse. "Neeche aaye to jagah chali jayegi (If we do that we lose our spot)," shouts a scruffy young man, standing atop the truck. He is Bhushan, 34, and is heading towards his home in Azamgarh. He was working as a motor mechanic in Satara in Maharashtra. When Lockdown2.0 began, he travelled to Mumbai on a bicycle with a friend. "I waited for the lockdown to end but when it was extended again, my friends and I decided to return home," he says from the top of the truck. Bhushan and his friends left Mumbai on foot on May 2. "We walked a long distance and hitched a ride on trucks. Some drivers were kind enough to give us a lift and some rudely turned us away. In between, we even rested wherever food and water were being distributed," he says. Bhushan and his friends are blissfully unaware of the sops being given to migrant workers by the state government. "Humko to kuchh nahin mila (we did not get anything)," he says nonchalantly and even brushes aside the Corona scare with, "Corona kya karega? Marna hoga to mar jayenge (What can corona wreak, if death is in our destiny now, it will strike)." The group is not even aware of the fact that they will be quarantined when they reach their villages. 'Yeh kya hota hai (What is that)?" asks Kamlesh Pathak, 30, who was working in a garment factory in Navi Mumbai before the lockdown. The truck driver, meanwhile, asks the group to come down and get refreshed. For the next half an hour, the boys take a bath at a nearby tube well. They refuse to be photographed- 'police pakad legi (we will be arrested)," says one of them. Among the lot, they say they have only Rs 310 left. The tea-seller takes only Rs 100 and gives them each a cup of tea and 'samosa'. He does not even ask for the remaining amount. The tea seller, Uday Kumar, says thoughtfully, "These are tough times. Mushkil waqt hai-insaan ki madad to insaan hi karega (Only a human can be sympathetic to the other)." As the group climbs back on the top of the truck which they boarded in Madhya Pradesh, the truck driver quietly says that the policemen created trouble at some check posts. "I ask these men to lie down flat so that they are not seen by the police. I am going to Jaunpur and will drop them there. From there, they will have to manage on their own," he says. The men have not informed their families about their journey. "Mobile mein paisa nahin hai, phone discharge bhi ho gaya hai (Our cell phone batteries are discharged and we did not have the money to recharge the accounts)," says Bhushan. Most of them, meanwhile, are ready to return to their work once the lockdown is lifted. "What will we do here? We have to go back and find some work there? We went to Maharashtra only because there was no work here," says Kamlesh and adds that his owner has said that he will be informed when the factory resumes work. The group, most of them in their thirties, have only one regret -- they are not taking back money to their families this time. "All our savings have finished in ensuring our survival in the lockdown. For the first time, I am returning home without even a packet of sweets for my three sisters," says one of the men, Surjit, who belongs to Ballia district. Hong Kong authorities have arrested over people during pro-democracy protests, media reported according to Reuters, after a sing-along demonstration at a shopping mall spilled out on to the streets. Hundreds of riot police were deployed to deal with them, with some mediapersons also caught in the scuffle which brought back memories of the unrest that rocked the city in 2019. Several media outlets, citing sources, said more than 200 people were arrested. Police said they could not confirm the number. The Hospital Authority said 18 people were taken to hospital. Reuters Images beamed live from the working class district of Mong Kok showed riot police pushing back some reporters and firing pepper spray amid chaotic scenes. Footage showed protesters being subdued on the ground, scuffles and people bleeding. Police fired pepper spray at journalists and activists, and conducted stop and search operations on members of the public and media. The Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) said some members of the press were prevented from filming. Reuters "Some journalists who were sprayed by pepper spray were not allowed to receive immediate treatment, and they were requested to stop filming," said Chris Yeung, chairman of the HKJA. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The outbreak of coronavirus and strict rules to curb its spread had brought a relative lull in anti-government protests this year, but the recent arrest of democracy activists and renewed concern about Beijing's tightening grip on the city have revived the movement. AP Police in riot gear told protesters they were staging an illegal assembly and violating anti-virus measures that bar gatherings of more than eight people. Democratic Party lawmaker Roy Kwong was arrested for "disorderly conduct in a public place", police said. Video footage showed Kwong apparently being pushed to the ground and then surrounded by officers. He was later taken to hospital after he said he was feeling unwell. The financial hub is gearing up for protests over the next few months, with activists calling for two million people to gather for an annual march on July 1 that marks the anniversary of its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997. I carabinieri hanno arrestato Rosario Palermo, 60 anni: e accusato di omicidio e occultamento di cadavere By Express News Service KOCHI: For the couple Sonia and Shijo, it is as good as it gets. While disembarking from INS Jalashwa in Kochi after the harrowing days of COVID-19 in the Maldives, the couple would have never thought their much-awaited baby would arrive on a Mothers Day. Sonia gave birth to a boy at a private hospital in Kochi. The Tiruvalla native, who works as a nurse in the Maldives, underwent a C-section. Im truly happy now. It is quite relieving to reach Kerala and deliver my baby in our native land, said Sonia. It is through operation Sethu Samudra that 698 stranded Indian citizens from the island country were rescued. Among the passengers, 19 were pregnant women. As soon as Sonia felt the pain, we rushed her to the hospital, said a health official. New Delhi, May 11 : A Pakistani human rights activist has called Islamabad's move to fortify its occupation of Gilgit-Baltistan by holding elections in the region illegal. He has urged people in Gilgit-Baltistan to boycott the polls sponsored by Pakistan. Gilgit-Baltistan, a part of former state of Jammu and Kashmir, has been under Pakistan's occupation since 1947. Right now, Pakistan is "conspiring to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan by hook or crook", Amjad Ayub Mirza, a rights activist from Mirpur in Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) and now based in UK, said in a video message which he posted on social media. The objective of the polls is to establish a government of its own choice and subsume in Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan, he said. "Under the current circumstances, free and fair elections in Gilgit are impossible because of the colonial Schedule IV and Anti-Terrorism Act which are used to crush civil dissent by arresting people and censoring them if they express their political views." "Until Pakistan releases our political prisoners and unless polls are held according to the Gilgit Baltistan legislative assembly rules, people in Gilgit Baltistan should boycott the elections," he said. Incidentally, just last week, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), in a searing report, slammed the federal government for nullifying Gilgit Baltistan's province-like status granted in 2009 as per the Empowerment and Self-Governance Order. The federal government in 2018 withdrew whatever "negligible powers" that had been delegated to the region, the commission said. The HRCP also lamented the disenfranchisement of people in Gilgit-Baltistan, saying that the 2018 order annulled the Gilgit-Baltistan Council which had local representation and gave excessive powers to Pakistan's Prime Minister. Reiterating its stand last week, India again asked Pakistan to immediately vacate all areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh under its illegal occupation. The Ministry of External Affairs had lodged a strong protest with Islamabad against the Supreme Court of Pakistan's order on Gilgit-Baltistan. In an order in January, Pakistan's apex court had said that Gilgit-Baltistan comes within its domain after the Imran Khan government took a series of steps to constitutionally tighten its grip on to the region last year. Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. : A moratorium on repayment of loan and also the interest thereof payable by Puducherry to the Centre should be announced, Health and tourism Minister Malladi Krishna Rao said on Monday. Speaking to reporters here, he said the Central government should announce the moratorium as the union territory's financial position was precarious and extremely poor in view of lockdown necessitated by COVID-19. He said, "Every year, the Puducherry governmentfaces necessity to repay Rs 1,300 crore to the Centre to settle loan and the interest thereof." "Now with the revenue from the excise sector and also other sources of revenue having dried up because of the closure of liquor shops, and the grounding of industrial activity and hotel business, the flow of revenue to the government has dried up," he said. The tourism sector has also borne the brunt of the lockdown and the hotel sector was also reeling under extreme fiscal setback, the Minister said. Hence, the Centre should announce moratorium for Puducherry to repay the loan and interest to the Centre, he said. "Normalcy in commercial activities will return only after a year or two," he feared and wanted the Centre to take these into consideration and sanction coronavirus grants to Puducherry and to pay the outstandings in GST and other payments. Rao also feared that if the guest workers from Puducherry in other States, students and tourists returned to the union territory, the workload on the hospitals for screening would increase. "At least 5,000 residents of Puducherry now spread over different states were expected to return. This would mean heavy workload on the hospitals which had only limited number of doctors and nurses," he said. "I will appeal to the residents of Puducherry to think about the practical difficulty of the government, and wait for sometime to return," he said. He said the Chief Minister V Narayanasamy was preparing the details to present them to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the video conference later during the day. Director of Health S Mohan Kumar said all the doctors in the primary health centres, community health and sub-centres have been directed to compulsorily ask all patients turning up for treatment to download Arogya Sedhu on their mobile phones. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) International flights have been allowed to resume flying into Manila with strict measures in light of the pandemic. International flights can land in the Philippine capital again after the government reopened its airport. Flights were stopped last week after the country could not cope with thousands of workers returning from overseas. There have been more than 10,000 confirmed cases and 700 deaths in the country. Al Jazeeras Jamela Alindogan reports from Manila, Philippines. Presumably due to the increased number of coronavirus cases among White House staff, Monday marked a new setup for Trumps daily grievance sessions packaged as coronavirus news briefings. Where previously all the speakers took turns speaking into the same microphone, on Monday, Trump stood center stage on his own podium as the people who actually know what theyre talking about shared a single mic off to the side. It provided an unobstructed view when our big, brilliant president stormed out of his own press event in a fit of rage. Advertisement Mondays frustrations seemed to begin when Trump was asked to be specific about which exact crime he was referring to when he tweeted on Sunday that President Barack Obama had committed the biggest political crime in American history, by far! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement .@PhilipRucker: You appeared to accuse Obama of a crime yesterday. What did he do? TRUMP: "Obamagate." RUCKER: What is the crime? TRUMP: "You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody." pic.twitter.com/EUueidNwGp Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 11, 2020 Advertisement Advertisement Philip Rucker did not, in fact, know what the crime was, as he attempted to ask again before being rebuffed. Next, CBS reporter Weijia Jiang asked Trump why he felt compelled to constantly declare that the U.S. is doing far better in testing than any other country when Americans continue to die on a daily basis. .@weijia: Why is this a global competition to you when Americans are losing their lives every day? TRUMP: Maybe that's a question you should ask China. WEIJA: Why are you saying that to me, specifically? TRUMP: I'm saying it to anybody who would ask a nasty question like that. pic.twitter.com/hokJOXASh8 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 11, 2020 Advertisement Advertisement Trump responded by telling Jiang, who was born in China and raised in West Virginia, that she should perhaps ask China that question instead. Jiang then asked why he told her, specifically, to ask China that question, to which Trump responded that he had not actually said the thing he had very clearly just said. Advertisement Advertisement What ultimately led to Trumps abrupt walk-off, though, was some apparent solidarity among the White House reporters in attendance. CNNs Kaitlan Collins, who had been called on next, paused to let Jiang ask her follow-up question. When Trump refused to explain why he thought the Chinese American reporter should direct her question to China, Collins finally tried to take her turn, only for Trump to tell her that No, its OK because she didnt respond. Despite Collins protestations, Trump then apparently attempted to call on PBSs Yamiche Alcindor, who tweeted that she motioned for Kaitlin to ask her Q. It was then that Trump, apparently livid at these female reporters for refusing to allow him to punish their colleagues for their insolence, walked off. All in all, another successful attempt at reassuring the American public that, in this time of unprecedented stress and tragedy, Trump has everything under control. The number of reported COVID-19 cases in India has crossed over 67,000 so far. Though Indias coronavirus trajectory continues to be steep, the curve is relatively flat. Take a closer look at Indias trajectory, the situation in worst-affected states, recovery rates, mortality figures and more. (Image: News18 Creative This week on Foreign Correspondent, Sally Sara is in West Papua for her story, The War Next Door. Just north of Australia a secret war is being fought. West Papuan independence fighters and Indonesian security forces are involved in a protracted and bloody battle over the issue of Papuan independence. The conflict escalated after young West Papuan fighters killed Indonesian road workers building a highway into Papuas central highlands. The Indonesia government hit back hard, deploying hundreds of police and military who attacked the region in an effort to root out the rebels. Last year mass protests broke out, with civil resistance leaders from in and outside West Papua calling for freedom from Indonesia. With foreign media largely shut out, the story of this unfolding humanitarian disaster remains untold. Hundreds have died and local officials estimate that over 40 000 people have been displaced. There are allegations of torture and human rights abuses. Foreign Correspondent has been able to report from inside the conflict zone, gaining access to exclusive pictures of the recent unrest and speaking to eyewitnesses of the violence. I have to yell out to the worldbecause if I dont, were going to be weaker and the indigenous people will be wiped out, says one West Papuan highlander whos looking after children orphaned in the recent fighting. We will not retreat. We will not run. We will fight until recognition dawns, says a member of West Papuas young guerrilla force whose ranks include teenagers orphaned in the ongoing conflict. Dialogue is needed but dialogue which is constructive, says Indonesias former Security Minister. We have closed the door for dialogue on a referendum. No dialogue for independence. Sally Sara reports on a war with no end in sight. Tuesday May 12th at 8pm on ABC. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Coronavirus continues to take its toll on Staten Island, according to the latest data available from the city. An additional 14 borough residents had died as a result of COVID-19, and another 51 had been infected the pandemic-causing virus. In total, 866 Staten Islanders have either been confirmed or probably succumbed to the disease, and a total of 12,586 have been infected. Citywide there have been a total of 178,766 cases, and 19,931 confirmed and probable deaths, according to the latest numbers available from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK*** While Staten Island accounts for a low percentage of the total number of deaths and cases in the five boroughs, it has the second highest rate of cases per 100,000 people with only the Bronx having more. Currently, Staten Island University Hospital has 129 COVID-19 positive patients at its Ocean Breeze site and 16 COVID-19 positive patients at its Princes Bay site. A total of 1691 patients treated and released from the hospital system, according to spokespersons Jillian OHara and Christian Preston. Richmond University Medical Center did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. Sure, it might be warm Wednesday, but what about the rest of the week? New Delhi, May 11 : In view of the coronavirus pandemic, BJP's relief operation campaigns are underway in the national capital with all the seven MPs now ramping up the relief and welfare activities by distributing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits along with masks and hand sanitisers to the people. Continuing his effort, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari has been taking care of all the party activists, supporters and security personnel who had been a part of the campaign since the first day of the lockdown imposed on March 24. Tiwari, who starts his daily routine with exercise, said: "After the workout, my online session starts with activists from all over Delhi. By afternoon, the list of needs and necessities are being prepared through calls or social media. The daily calls have now reduced to 40 or 50, but earlier we used to receive 200-300 calls a day." On the other hand, New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi said: "The campaign has become even more widespread. Earlier, the goal was to deliver only cooked and raw food items to the people, but now besides providing food to the needy, their health issues are been addressed. " She said that PPE kits are being provided to corona warriors and their family members are being taken care of. Lekhi also added that now a days, the party members are distributing PPE kits, hand sanitizers and gloves among police personnel in different police offices of her constituency. Meanwhile, West Delhi MP Pravesh Verma also has a very busy schedule. He said that the morning starts with yoga, and then he comes out to help the needy in his parliamentary constituency. He said, "Now that there is no more demand for food items in Delhi, the central government schemes are directly benefiting people. Now I am PPE kits and essential health equipment to sanitation workers and health workers. 'Modi Kit' is being distributed in Uttam Nagar, Dwarka, Najafgarh, Janakpuri, Chhawla village, Qutub Vihar." Ramesh Vidhuri, MP from South Delhi, said: "Still the whole day is spent among the people. The only difference now is that the distributions of masks and sanitizers have been increased. A large quantity of PPE kits were ordered which will be distributed to 7 hospitals in the constituency. " According to BJP sources, the party has set a target dedicated to public services during this period. For this, the party has deployed 916 organizational districts. As well as 3,741 mandals across the country are involved in this entire campaign. One crore party workers are feeding 5 crore needy people through the party's "Mahabhoj" programme. Apart from this, 9 crore food packets and food items have been distributed to 2 crore people from the party. Press Release May 11, 2020 Manifestation of Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan on Senate Resolution 395 urging the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) to reconsider its shutdown order against ABS-CBN "I just wanted to manifest that we support the resolution. There were instances in the past despite the fact that a case had been filed before the Supreme Court on matters of national concern, national interest, or public interest that the Senate of the Philippines took on a position and approved a resolution. If I recall correctly, 2006 for example, the Senate of the Philippines passed a resolution the sense of the Senate that EO 464 was illegal. If you would recall, EO 464 was President Arroyo's Executive Order that prohibited executive officials from appearing before Congress. The Senate of the Philippines expressed its sense, or the Senate in a resolution, saying that EO 464 was contrary to the Constitution, notwithstanding the fact that the matter was before the Supreme Court. In another incident or another situation, the declaration of a state of emergency by President Arroyo, also in 2006. It was a sense of the Senate resolution despite the fact that the case was brought before the Supreme Court, the arrest of columnist Randy David and the raid on the Daily Tribune undertaking 2006 the Senate, in a resolution adopted, declared or at least expressed its sense that the arrest of Randy David and the raid on the Daily Tribune was unconstitutional and unlawful. For that, Mr. President, I believe there has been past incidence or there has been precedence where despite the fact that a matter is pending before the Supreme Court, the Senate of the Philippines has expressed its sense by way of adopting a resolution. That's why in this sense, I believe this is a matter of public interest and therefore I support the resolution." * Senator Risa Hontiveros is the principal author and sponsor of Senate Resolution 395. Other co-authors of the resolution are Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, Franklin Drilon, Ralph Recto, Sonny Angara, Ma. Lourdes Nancy Binay, Win Gatchalian, Leila De Lima, Manuel Lapid, Emmanuel Pacquiao, and Joel Villanueva Sen Pangilinan is also a co-author of Senate Bill 1521 seeking to grant provisional franchise to ABS-CBN until June 30, 2022, as Congress deliberates on the renewal of its franchise, which expired on May 4, 2020. Despite our better knowledge, we often make choices that aren't good for us - and feel bad about it later. But it's possible to strengthen our self-control by making simple changes to our environment. Researchers from the University of Helsinki and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development describe how that can be achieved in a new article published in Behavioural Public Policy. Adapting to life in self-isolation during the coronavirus pandemic is a challenge, and we are all figuring out how to restructure our lives. We are spending more time at home, cooking for ourselves rather than eating in the canteen, meeting with friends and family online instead of in person, and we can't go to the gym. All that makes it difficult to resist certain temptations - even when we know they aren't good for us. We reach for sugary snacks rather than crunching on vegetable sticks, scroll through our social media feeds for hours on end, and lie around on the couch binge-watching one series after another instead of getting up and going out for a run. In short, we often decide on the option that's more comfortable, enjoyable, or attractive in the short term, rather than the one that's better for us in the long term. Companies often take advantage of precisely these biological, psychological, and social weak spots when shaping advertising campaigns or designing apps and products. Self-nudging is a behavioral science technique that we can all use to improve our self-control. Researchers Ralph Hertwig, Director of the Center for Adaptive Rationality at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, and Samuli Reijula, philosopher at the University of Helsinki, describe how it works in an article published in Behavioural Public Policy. The idea behind self-nudging is that people can design and structure their own environments in ways that make it easier for them to make the right choices - and ultimately to reach their long-term goals. The first step is to understand how the environment in which we make our choices - also known as the choice architecture - influences our decisions. The second step is to change that architecture - whether it be the constant notifications from our smartphone or the positioning of the foods in our fridge - in ways that enable us to make choices that are in our own interests. In other words, to nudge ourselves in the direction we want to go. Four tools for self-nudging The researchers describe four categories of self-nudging tools: (1) We can use reminders and prompts. For instance, a car driver can tape a note to their car door handle as a reminder to always use the 'Dutch reach' method when getting out - in other words, to use the hand furthest from the handle to open the door, as it forces them to check over their shoulder for approaching cyclists. (2) We can choose a different framing. We can frame the decision between jogging and not jogging as a decision between health and sickness in old age, for example, or we can welcome every flight of stairs as an opportunity to increase our life expectancy by a small amount. (3) We can reduce the accessibility of things that can harm us by making them less convenient or, conversely, we can make it easier to do the things we want to do - for example, by changing the default settings of our devices and disabling notifications from social media apps. (4) We can use social pressure and self-commitments to increase accountability. For example, someone might make a public commitment to a friend that they will donate a given sum to a political party they abhor if they don't meet a work deadline. "Various needs and desires are always competing for attention in our minds and bodies. Self-nudging can help us to negotiate these internal conflicts. It is a practical tool that can enhance self-understanding," says Samuli Reijula, philosopher at the University of Helsinki. Self-nudging applies insights from research on nudging, which has gained increasing popularity among psychologists, behavioral economists, and politicians in recent years. The idea is to help people make more rational and healthier decisions without the need for bans or financial incentives, by steering their behavior in a certain direction. But nudging has had a mixed reception among researchers. The government's task is to inform citizens and not to nudge them "Nudging always involves an information gap. For example, a government that uses nudging determines its citizens' behavior by deciding on what's good for them and introducing measures to nudge them in that direction. Citizens sometimes don't even know that they're being nudged, or how. This raises concerns about paternalism and manipulation," says Ralph Hertwig, Director of the Center for Adaptive Rationality at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. What's more, policy makers can only make changes in the public sphere - but many of our choices are made in the private sphere. Self-nudging avoids the problem of the information gap and extends the reach of nudging to the private domain. A typical example of a nudge in a cafeteria or school canteen would be to position fruit at eye level while hiding cakes and puddings away in a less accessible back corner. Policy makers who are aware of the harmful long-term health effects of people's inborn craving for sugar can influence their choices by changing the layout of the options available in public canteens. But once we get home, those nudges no longer apply. Self-nudgers, on the other hand, learn to understand the environmental factors that challenge their self-control and are able to apply the same evidence-based principles that nudging uses in the public sphere to their own immediate environments. For example, they could decide to keep the biscuit tin at the very back of the top shelf in their own kitchen. "In this way, it's no longer policy makers who are nudging us, we're nudging ourselves - if we choose to do so. A government that gives its citizens targeted and easily understandable information on ways of using self-nudging in formats such as fact boxes, apps, or brochures can pursue socially accepted goals such as promoting healthier eating habits by enabling its citizens to make more informed and self-determined decisions. Of course, self-nudges do not replace regulations and other measures but they extend the policy makers' toolkit," says Ralph Hertwig. ### Original Publication Reijula, S., & Hertwig, R. (2020). Self-nudging and the citizen choice architect. Behavioural Public Policy, 1-31. 'If I'm able to help even a few patients during this terrible time, I'll feel I've done my duty,' Ward boy Karan Solanki tells Geetanjali Krishna. Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com In these pandemic-crazed times, every day I give silent thanks to all the doctors, nurses and paramedics who are risking their lives at the frontline of our battle against the coronavirus. But a telephone call with a 30-year-old tenth-pass hospital employee last week made me realise that there is another category of frontline workers that tends to go unnoticed and perhaps, under-appreciated. This is the category that Karan Solanki falls in. He is part of the cleaning staff at the Narayana Health SRCC Children's Hospital in south Mumbai's Haji Ali and doubles up as a ward boy. When COVID-19-positive paediatric patients started being referred to his hospital, the administration asked the support staff to volunteer their services. Many were understandably nervous about being exposed to the virus. But to everyone's surprise, Solanki immediately raised his hand. "Like the others, I was also scared," he told me when we chatted just before his shift began. "But then I thought I'd received so much by way of training and support from the hospital, I should also do my bit." Solanki is an employee of the Security and Intelligence Services Limited which offers cash logistic, facility management and physical security solutions to companies and organisations. Through them, he has been attached to the SRCC hospital for over a year. After he volunteered to work in the hospital's COVID-19 wards, Solanki asked his company what would happen if he were to contract the virus. "My supervisor assured me that not only I, but the rest of my family too would be taken care of if any of us were to contract the infection," he said. "Plus, the hospital also said it would take full care of me if I got sick." Once he was satisfied that his family and he'd be well looked after, Solanki tackled the tougher job -- telling his family what he was going to do. Separated from his wife and childless, Solanki lives with his brother, sister-in-law and grandmother. He also takes care of a teenage orphaned niece. "My family was totally against my decision," he narrated. "In fact, they begged me to leave my job." However, Solanki remembered his father, who died last year, who always taught him to be brave and do his duty. So he quietly left his house with a bag of clothes. "The hospital has provided us with rooms so that we don't return to our homes and families and spread the disease," he told me. "I haven't seen them for eight days now." Initially, there were 10 patients in the ward. "Most of them had their parents with them," he said. "My job was to clean the ward, change their sheets and bedpans." Although Solanki said he wears full personal protective equipment including two layers of face masks while discharging his duty, he is often worried about getting infected. "Then I look at the innocent, agonised faces of the patients, grit my teeth and carry on," he said. "They are human beings who need our care; the fact that they are infected with a deadly virus isn't their fault." We had to hang up soon after as it was time for Solanki's shift. "I don't know what will happen to me," he said in parting, "but if I'm able to help even a few patients during this terrible time, I'll feel I've done my duty." Photo Chandigarh: On the occasion of International Mother's Day, Chandigarh University has dedicated the scholarship scheme to all women by announcing 'Women Empowerment Scholarships' for its distance education courses for July 2020 under which women would be provided 20 per cent scholarship for admission in various courses conducted under the distance education process of the varsity, including women working in government and non-government institutions, Anganwadi workers, Asha workers and housewives. PhotoThis information was given by the Chancellor of Chandigarh University. Satnam Singh Sandhu. He said that this scholarship scheme would prove to be very effective in empowering women at the educational and economic level. Advertisement On this occasion, Sandhu said, "In our country, the representation of women in senior positions in government or non-government organizations is only 6 per cent, mainly due to the fact that 42 per cent of girls in the country have post-twelfth and 53 per cent post-graduate education". Only 47% of girls continue to pursue postgraduate courses. "Despite the fact that 49.3 per cent of the population of our country is women, only 22 per cent women are working in offices and institutions," he said. This scholarship scheme will play an important role. File PhotoSandhu said that after getting higher education our deprived housewives, Anganwadi workers, Asha workers etc. can continue their education through distance education. Advertisement He said that there are about 14 lakh Anganwadi workers and about 13.66 lakh Asha workers in our country who can take advantage of this scholarship amount to raise their academic level and the country's economy by occupying high positions. He said that the illiteracy rate of women in our country is 67 per cent, under which it is our duty as an educational institution to provide education to women. Economic and social upliftment and improving women's access to higher education is a matter of time. Giving more information in this regard, the Registrar of the varsity Dr. Satveer Singh Sehgal said that distance education means 'anytime, anywhere and by any person' while it is an important option for women in charge of household and office work, allowing them to continue their studies with day to day work. He said that the Institute of Distance and Online Learning of Chandigarh University has started the process of July admissions for the academic session 2020-21. Advertisement Photo Dr. Sehgal said that the students enrolled in the above program would be provided international standard education at affordable fees, which would be recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Distance Education Bureau under which all the qualifications will be automatically qualified and recognized for employment in government and non-government institutions. He said that for detailed information, the varsity website www.cuidol.in can be accessed. Vice-president Mike Pence is fine and will be at work Monday, his spokesman has said squashing reports he is in self-quarantine after a close aide tested positive. But the White House, Americas safest workplace, has become a scary place to work after recent infections, a senior official has acknowledged. Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine, Devin OMalley said in a statement. But with two staffers testing positive for Covid-19 recently and three top members of President Donald Trumps coronavirus task force going into self-quarantine after contacts with one on them, the White House may not look as safe as it ought to be, with all the resources available to it. It is scary to go to work, Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to the president who works in the White House, said on the CBS Sunday. On CNN, Hassett described his workplace, the West Wing that houses the presidents office and all his senior aides, as something that with even all the testing in the world and the best medical team on Earth, is a relatively crammed place. A US navy personnel, who was a personal valet to the president, was the first to test positive of Covid-19 last week. The day after, Katie Miller, press secretary to the vice-president, followed bringing the virus right into the inner sanctum of the White House. She is married to Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the president on immigration., and regularly attended meetings of the coronavirus task force, which s headed by her boss, the vice-president. Though Miller was not identified as the source, three top members of the task force Anthony Fauci, head of the national institute of allergies and infection diseases; Stephen Kahn, head of the Drug and Food Administration; Robert Redfield, head of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention ent into self-quarantine on Saturday for low-risk exposure. Questions are being asked in the aftermath if the countrys safest workplace as described last week by the presidents chief of staff Mark Meadows what does it say for businesses, manufacturers and offices that are reopening and have far fewer resources to draw upon. Large parts of America are gearing up to reopen or have reopened as the rise in infections and fatalities continued to slow down. Deaths went up by 731 over the last 24 hours, in what is possibly the lowest single-day toll in weeks, to 79,531; and infections went up by 19,710 to 1.32 million. New York state, the epicenter of the American epidemic, accounted for more than a third of both the infections and fatalities with 1.8 million 26,641 respectively. Thirteen residents of Anson Place Care Centre in Hagersville have recovered from COVID-19 in what could be a turning point for the beleaguered long-term care home. This is very encouraging news, said executive director Lisa Roth, whose facility was hit with one of the deadliest outbreaks in the province. The health unit cleared the residents after they tested negative on two separate tests conducted at least 24 hours apart. The recovered residents all live on Anson Places retirement floor, where the active COVID-19 caseload has dropped from 17 to four. Roth said the majority of staff members on the retirement floor have also recovered and will be back to work in the coming days. This sign of progress at controlling the outbreak means that after weeks of self-isolation, residents on the retirement floor can finally leave their rooms. I think the conditions on the retirement home side are sufficient now that people will be able to walk in the hallways in such a way that they dont have an opportunity to cause any further transmission, said Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, Haldimand-Norfolks chief medical officer of health. There has been no change on the long-term care floor, where 28 residents remain COVID-positive. But with a second round of retesting now complete and patients showing what she called signs of improvement and recovery, Roth hopes there will be more good news to share this week as the test results come in. Staff members who previously only travelled between their homes and Anson Place can now make essential trips around the community, just like any other resident who is not in quarantine. The COVID-related death toll at Anson Place remains at 27, and 22 infected employees remain off work. Nesathurai confirmed on Monday that two residents who died in recent weeks had COVID-19 but the doctor on-site ruled that the disease was not their cause of death, and therefore those deaths are not counted by the health unit as COVID-related. May 11 : India is in the third phase of its lockdown and this lockdown has been successful owing to the hard work and determination of our police force. Our police personnel have been guarding the country even after facing the brunt of the people all across the country. Amidst this tough time, Riteish Deshmukh has shared a special song paying tribute to the Indian Police force applauding them for their undying spirits while serving the country. When the entire world is locked down, they are out there - standing tall with only one intent - protecting us. Our safety is their only priority. Over their own, over their families. The least we can do is give them the respect they deserve. #ApniPolice https://t.co/g1zZkChj5W Riteish Deshmukh (@Riteishd) May 11, 2020 He shared the video and write, "When the entire world is locked down, they are out there- standing tall with only one intent. protecting us. Our safety is their only priority. Over their own, over their families. The least we can do is given them the respect they deserve. #ApniPolice...Presenting this single by my friend & extremely talented poet, lyricist, actor @jitenderjoshi27 (he starts his YouTube Channel today): feat. the terrific @dubsharma #WeSaluteTheIndianPoliceForce #policerap #jitendrajoshi @samitkakkad, plsshare &give love" The song is a tribute to the Indian Police force showcases how they have been working 24/7 to protect us and our families while keeping their lives at risk. We should respect them and thus the words of the song goes, "Thodi ijjat dikha, ek salute toh maar". Song has been directed by Samit Kakkad and music has been given by Dub Sharma. Lyrics of the song have been penned by Jitendra Joshi and Reva Joshi and sung by Jitendra Joshi. Earlier, on 10th May to honour the police force, many bollywood celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, Katrina Kaif, Sidharth Malhotra changed their DP's to Maharashtra Police Logo and expressed solidarity with them. Canadian precious metals producer SSR Mining said it would to buy Alacer Gold in an all-stock deal valued at C$2.41 billion ($1.72 billion), adding heft as gold prices surge due to demand for the yellow metal in an uncertain economy. Gold miners have benefited from a 12 percent jump in prices this year as investors seek safer assets to shield themselves from the damaging impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the global economy. The move also comes on the back of a record year of mergers and acquisitions in the sector, including some of of the biggest deals in a decade in 2019. The new company, which will be headquartered in Denver, Colorado, will have operational mines in four countries and will be led by Alacer Chief Executive Officer Rodney Antal, the two companies said on Monday. "The combination ... vaults us into the upper echelon in the peer group in terms of free cash flow generation," Antal said in a conference call with analysts. Alacer has focused over the past several years on free cash flow generation, and this merger allows the miner to continue this strategy while diversifying its single operating asset exposure, Antal said. SSR Mining has operations in Nevada, United States, Saskatchewan, Canada and Jujuy, Argentina, while Alacer is a low-cost gold producer focused on its cornerstone AApler Gold Mine in Turkey. The "zero-premium" merger is expected to generate annual free cash flow of about $450 million and produce about 780,000 gold equivalent ounces over the next three years based on analysts' estimates, according to the companies. As part of the deal, Alacer shareholders will receive 0.3246 SSR Mining shares for each share held, implying a value of C$8.19 per Alacer share. Shareholders of SSR Mining and Alacer will own about 57 percent and 43 percent of the new company, respectively, with the new board consisting of five directors from each of the miners' existing boards. The deal includes a $70 million termination fee payable under certain circumstances, the companies said. National Bank Financial acted as financial adviser to SSR Mining, while McCarthy TAtrault LLP and Lawson Lundell LLP acted as legal counsel to the miner. Earlier in the day, Gran Colombia said it had proposed to merge with Guyana Goldfields and Gold X, while Shandong, one of China's biggest gold producers, said last week it would buy TMAC Resources. Shares of SSR Mining were trading down about 8 percent in morning trade, while Alacer climbed nearly 2.5 percent. By Kim Hyun-bin Lee Jae-yong, Samsung's de facto leader, has led the global electronics giant for the past six years in place of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who remains unconscious at a Samsung hospital in Seoul since 2014 following a heart attack. Last week, Lee Jae-yong made a formal apology to the public acknowledging that Samsung has not fully complied with the law and ethics, but during his speech he vowed to create a "new Samsung" which many experts believe hints at a crucial turning point for the global tech giant. "In 2014, after the chairman collapsed I had a futuristic vision for the company and was inspired to push through the challenges. A dream to elevate the status of the new Samsung," Lee said. The keywords behind the "new Samsung" embed Lee's plans to push forward bold new business initiatives, professionalism, insightful management and recruitment of leaders, according to the company. Under Lee's leadership Samsung has gone through a sea change. Samsung Electronics' semiconductor business went through a super-cycle in 2017 through 2018, taking over the top seat in the global market in terms of sales and surpassing Intel for two consecutive years. However, starting in the latter half of 2018, the company's key DRAM and NAND flash businesses have met difficulties, inevitably giving up the lead spot to Intel last year. Industry watchers believe Samsung Electronics will need to conduct large-scale mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to enhance corporate value. Currently, Samsung holds 97.5 trillion won in cash as of end of the first quarter, which is the largest amount of cash stock the company has held. Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong Singapore-based ZenRock Commodities Trading Pte Ltd, hit by tumbling oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic, owes more than $600 million to creditors, the company said in a court filing seen by Reuters on Monday. In the application for "moratorium relief", a form of bankruptcy protection, filed last Wednesday, the company said it owed at least six banks a total of $166.1 million and had outstanding balances of about $449 million in total with at least 10 unsecured creditors. ZenRock did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In its application, ZenRock said it ran into financial difficulties as the oil price collapse and coronavirus disrupted trading just after it had expanded its sales and back office operations last year. "ZenRock is now in financial difficulties for the following broad reasons," it said in the application, listing "severe disruption" to trade caused by the coronavirus, a "steep and sustained decline in crude oil prices" and a tightening credit market "exacerbated" by banks' increased caution. "Partly in consequence of the above, ZenRock is facing difficulties in collecting accounts receivable of approximately $120.5 million," it said in the application. ZenRock's application came after HSBC Holdings PLC sought to place the oil trading company under judicial management, where a court appoints an independent manager to run the affairs of a financially distressed company, four people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. On Friday, Singapore's High Court appointed such an interim manager after a virtual hearing, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Reuters was unable to review the documents related to the appointment. ZenRock's "moratorium relief" was also lifted during the hearing, one of the sources said. Such relief automatically takes effect with an application and lasts for 30 days or until a court hearing, whichever is earlier. Late last month, ZenRock issued a statement to reassure clients that it was not under financial duress after global oil and fuel prices slumped. CREDITORS HSBC has alleged that ZenRock engaged in a series of "highly dishonest transactions" that included using the same oil cargo to obtain loans from at least two different lenders, according to a separate affidavit seen by Reuters. Singapore police raided ZenRock's office on Friday after HSBC filed a report, a source with knowledge of the matter said. A police spokeswoman said in an email on Friday that it was "inappropriate" to comment. Besides HSBC, ZenRock has five other secured creditors including Natixis Bank, ING Bank, Credit Agricole and Bank of China, according to the court filing by ZenRock. Swiss bank Banque de Commerce et de Placements (BCP) is the sixth creditor, the document showed. Natixis and BCP declined to comment while there was no immediate response to Reuters requests for comment from the other banks. The document also included a list of ZenRock's top 10 unsecured creditors as of Feb. 29, 2020, for a total amount close to $449 million. These creditors are: French oil major Total's Totsa Total Oil Trading SA, Malaysian state energy firm Petronas' Petco Trading Labuan Co Ltd, Thai energy major PTT PCL's trading companies in Singapore and London, Angola's Sonangol Finance Ltd, oil majors BP's BP Singapore Pte Ltd and Royal Dutch Shell's Shell International Eastern Trading Company. PetroChina International Singapore Pte Ltd, a unit of PetroChina, South Korea's Daelim Corp, Singapore, and China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp are also on the list of unsecured creditors. "These trade creditors are unsecured but the obligations are mostly matched against incoming receivables," ZenRock said in the court filing. BP, Shell and Total declined to comment. The other companies did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, but four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said Sonangol, China Aviation Oil and PTT International no longer had any outstanding amounts with ZenRock. : As many as 118 people hailing from India stranded in the USA landed at GMR-led Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here on Monday as part of the biggest ever off-shore evacuation drive of Indian Citizens under the Vande Bharat Mission. The airport handled the second arrival evacuation flight from the USAby the national carrier - Air India flight AI 1617 - from San Franciscovia Mumbai at the Hyderabad airport, airport sources said. Another batch of Indians from Abu Dhabi (UAE) by Air India Flight AI 1920 is expected to arrive at around 9.30 pm on Monday, they said. To facilitate the arriving passengers and aircraft crew, the airport has kept the international arrivals and the entire stretch right from aerobridge to arrivals ramp fully sanitised and fumigated. The airport also enforced the social distancing among passengers right from the aerobridge to across the terminal, the sources added. All arriving passengers and aircraft crew were brought out from the aircraft in a batch of 20-25 persons each. Each passenger or crew member was screened by the thermal cameras positioned at the aerobridge exit under supervision of the Airport Health officials (APHO) as per the directives of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare prior to Immigration formalities. After the health screening of passengers, CISF personnel in their protective gears escorted the group of passengers to immigration clearance, they said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Why? In addition to health concerns, its advantageous politically for Democratic leaders to keep lawmakers home. Madigan can leverage the usual rush to pass a state budget with little interference: If the House and Senate squeak out a budget before the June 1 deadline, it will be under extraordinary time constraints more than the usual, extraordinary time constraints. How much vetting of the budget will actually take place? You know the answer. A non-governmental organisation in Udaipur city of Rajasthan has started an online medical-consultancy session for the differently-abled people to address their health concerns amid the coronavirus lockdown. During the five-day live sessions of the 'Paramash' campaign that started on Sunday, a team of senior doctors will provide health consultancy on the Facebook and YouTube platforms of the Narayan Seva Sansthan (NSS) for an hour from 10 am till Thursday. Non-COVID-19 patients will be provided free medical and necessary counselling regarding common ailments, doctor Manas Ranjan Sahu of the Narayana Seva Sansthan Hospital said. "Medical experts will provide information on naturopathy, artificial limbs and physiotherapy," Sahu said in a statement. Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, many patients are suffering from anxiety, depression, fever, cough, lifestyle-induced health problems, thalassemia, chronic periodontitis, cholera, typhoid and various other ailments, according to Sahu. These patients need proper diagnosis and treatment, he added. During the lockdown, free medical counselling can adequately address their health questions and concerns, as well as ensure that they follow the protective guidelines related to COVID-19, Sahu said. Meanwhile, NSS president Prashant Agarwal said nearly 2,000 food packets were being distributed to the needy during the lockdown. He said the organisation had given masks to police personnel and also distributed it in shelters in Udaipur. It has donated Rs 2 lakh to the chief minister's relief fund as part of the fight against the pandemic. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With the figures of confirmed cases released since the outbreak of COVID-19, it is evident Lagos is the epicenter of the pandemic. While Lagos State government, in its characteristic manner, is leading the fight against the plague, water for washing hands and sanitation, which plays a critical role in the control of the spread of the disease is scarce, rarely available to most residents, thus weakening the strength of the onslaught. Kunle Aderinokun writes that the state government should, as a matter of urgency address the water issue, and it may have to prioritise investment in the water, which is one of the basic needs of man, with a view to containing this scourge and forestalling future and unforeseeable pandemic Some describe the COVID-19 crisis as the worst pandemic to hit mankind in recent time, but some believe this is only a dress rehearsal and a wake-up call to prepare mankind for far worse pandemics to come. Bill Gates warned in a TED Talk in 2015 about a global catastrophe coming in the form of microbes (not nuclear missiles) and four years down the line, humanity is facing an extinction event of global proportions. "We're not ready for the next epidemic... The greatest risk of global catastrophe looks like this [like a virus]"(... ) not missiles, but microbes," he said. Gates claimed governments had invested "very little" in a system to contain the next pandemic and that a failure to prepare could make the next one "dramatically more devastating than Ebola. If only the world had listened! Today over 1.865million infections (as at 12th April 2020) have been recorded with over 115,132 dead. That's is a four per cent death rate, four per cent shy of the Spanish Flu that killed over 50million people out of half a billion infections between 1918 to 1920. The world is in reactive mode now, rather than proactive trying to catch up on testing and containment rather than treatment of a pandemic that has gone out of hand. Countries round the globe have learnt a bitter lesson and will, no doubt, review their priorities going forward and prepare for worse pandemics ahead. Don't forget Gates warns of microbes to come, not just one. So what areas need redress in the case of Nigeria and especially Lagos, which had 1,764 out of 4,151 cases of Covid-19 infections in Nigeria as at Saturday, 9th of May 2020. That is about 43 per cent of Nigerians infected. That shows how Lagos must lead the way in preparing for future pandemics. Lagos clearly is the frontline of the war against epidemics! Going by recent records, Lagos State received global applause for its success against Ebola in 2014 and right now is leading the way in the fight against COVID-19. Question is why is Lagos having the highest infection rate? Even though one should rather ask a more critical question: Why should Lagos (more than any place else) prepare itself? This is the million dollar question. Population Density Firstly, Lagos is the most densely populated city in Africa with over 20 million people living within 1,171 square kilometres, meaning there are over 14,000 people living per square kilometre making it the 6th most populous in the world, according to UN Habitat Data. Lagos the Gateway Secondly, by virtue of its position as the commercial capital of Nigeria and also berth for ocean going vessels and the nation's busiest Airport, Lagos is the gateway to the world and as such in the frontline of vulnerability to global pandemics. Sanitation Lagos has improved its waste management over the years with the LAWMA Private Sector Partnership (PPP) model working well to rid Lagos of its solid waste. However, its liquid waste still poses a major challenge with sewage being hauled by trucks from homes and dumped into the lagoon untreated. This waste in addition to salt water incursions have already contaminated the aquifer in the state reaching depths of 300meters based on recent surveys. A research article in the African Journal of Sciences written by Oladapo et al in 2013, shows the level of contamination of the water aquifer in Lagos as shown in table below: Salt water and contaminants have penetrated to aquifers as deep as 300meters in the Lagos area. The Lagoon is already contaminated with sewage being dumped on a regular basis which in itself poses a major health risk. Microbes from homes and hazardous wastes from Industries and hospitals are dumped into the lagoon water and could mutate to something dangerous in the near future. This practice has to stop. Water and Sanitation According to Water Aid, a UK-based organisation, 55million people in Nigeria don't have access to clean water, 116million people don't have access to a toilet and 60,000 children under five die each year due to due to poor water and sanitation. No real progress can be made in the fight against epidemics without a clear strategy on sanitation and water. The fight against COVID-19 is being contained by restriction of movements, however, in the event a future epidemic that is airborne or water borne breaks out, Lagos will be the epicenter and not Wuhan or Lombardy in Italy. It is time to look deeper into sanitation and water in Lagos. Time for action. Water and COVID-19 Today washing of hands is being touted as the most potent defense against COVID-19 in addition to using face masks and hand sanitisers. Notwithstanding, sanitisers and face masks have become scarce and prices have skyrocketed leaving the common man with the last resort, stay at home and wash your hands, wherein lies the biggest problem. There is no water to wash hand! Pure water today sells for N150-N200 per bag as against N100 per bag before the crisis. Water tankers and Mai Ruwa (water peddlers) have also upped their prices as Lagos residents have no other alternative. Existing water infrastructure covers only 40 per cent of the state, based on Lagos Water data leaving the balance 60 per cent to depend on water tankers and Mai Ruwa while those that can afford pure water pay exorbitant rates for it. A recent internet-based survey paints a dire picture of the water situation in Lagos as majority of homes have to rely on boreholes for source of water and over 97 per cent consider only bottled or sachet water as safe for drinking. Most of the respondents to this survey, therefore, use groundwater direct from a borehole as their main water source. However, many people used multiple sources of water, and differentiated between sources in terms of how appropriate they thought each was for various purposes, such as for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing laundry and dishes, flushing, cleaning toilets and bathrooms. Most of those surveyed, even those with private boreholes, use bottled or sachet water as their main drinking water source. Factors that were most important in their choice of which water source to use for drinking were quality, taste/appearance, reliability, and ease of access. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Governance Coronavirus By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. The proportion of users of each source using the water for drinking is shown in the table as extracted from the survey. According to UNICEF, "Poor access to improved water and sanitation in Nigeria remains a major contributing factor to high morbidity and mortality rates among children under five. The use of contaminated drinking water and poor sanitary conditions result in increased vulnerability to water-borne diseases, including Diarrhea, which leads to deaths of more than 70,000 children under five annually. "Seventy-three per cent of the Diarrhoeal and enteric disease burden is associated with poor access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and is disproportionately borne by poorer children." "Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 by 2030 requires extraordinary efforts. Based on World Bank estimates, Nigeria will be required to triple its budget or at least allocate 1.7 per cent of the current Gross Domestic Product to WASH. The ambition is highest for rural sanitation where the gap for improved services is 64.1 per cent. Funding for the sub-sector is weak, and significant household contribution is needed to eliminate open defecation despite low family incomes." UNICEF. By 2030, there will be over 29million people living in Lagos, perhaps, there is no better time to ramp up the Sustainable Development Goals in Water for Lagos than now to forestall disaster. Time to invest in water and sanitation! Donald Trump went on a 126-tweet and retweet Mothers Day storm on Sunday, 10 May, the second-most prolific day on the app during his presidency. Amid the chaos, the president coined the term OBAMAGATE, a repackaging of his belief that his predecessor, Barack Obama, was privy to or directed a grand conspiracy among US intelligence officials to kneecap the Trump presidency in its nascence by using the FBI to entrap certain incoming Trump advisers such as erstwhile national security adviser Micahel Flynn. By the following afternoon, the term was trending on Twitter and had been tweeted about more than 3.5m times. Here are three things to know about Mr Trumps Obamagate theory and the effect its having in Washington and on the 2020 campaign cycle. 1. The Obamagate theory has been around for a while just not by that name Even many of Mr Trumps harshest critics agree he is a marketing wiz, so its no wonder he grabbed onto the tidy phrase Obamagate as a catch-all for the web of beliefs in right-wing circles that Mr Obama was part of a vast network of conspirators who sought to undermine his 2016 campaign and intentionally beset the first two years of his presidency with a sham Russia investigation. Heres why that was fresh on Mr Trumps mind on Mothers Day weekend: On the previous Thursday, 7 May, at the direction of Mr Trumps attorney general William Barr, the Justice Department dropped felony charges it had been pursuing for years against Mr Flynn for lying to law enforcement about meeting in late 2016 with then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The lie Mr Flynn allegedly told the FBI in the first week of Mr Trumps presidency and to which he previously pleaded guilty twice before was not material to the bureaus contemporaneous investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the DOJ wrote on Thursday. Recently declassified documents from the Flynn case show Mr Obama knew about Mr Flynns phone calls with Mr Kislyak in December 2016 when Mr Obama met on 5 January 2017 with then-FBI Director James Comey, then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. There is no evidence, at this point, to suggest Mr Obama directed the FBI to entrap Mr Flynn when agents questioned him on 24 January 2017 about his correspondence with Mr Kislyak. There is also no public evidence to suggest Mr Obama had any interest in pursuing the Russia interference threads other than to protect US institutions from undue influence by one of its chief foreign adversaries. Mr Flynns saga is only one aspect of Mr Trumps wider Obamagate theory. That theory maintains that a corrupt cabal of Never-Trump top US intelligence officials such as Mr Comey and FBI agent Peter Strzok colluded with the international intelligence community, Ukraine, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and others to create a pretext to investigate the 2016 Trump campaigns ties to Russia by entrapping former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos in a sting operation by providing fake dirt purportedly from Russia on Hillary Clinton. The FBI later obtained multiple FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) warrants to wiretap former campaign adviser Carter Page in the belief he had ties to Russia. The theory also maintains that Mr Comey, the allegedly corrupt FBI director who was supposedly a leader of the conspiracy against Mr Trump, wrote a letter to Congress just weeks before the 2016 election announcing the bureaus continued probe into Ms Clintons email server as a false flag to throw people off the scent of his real intentions to harm Mr Trump. FiveThirtyEight elections guru Nate Silver and other election handicappers have laid out data that they say shows the Comey letter likely swung the election to Mr Trump. The grand theory also incorporates the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, and not Russia, that hacked the DNC and Clinton campaign emails that Wikileaks published over the crucial weeks and months leading up to the 2016 election that painted Democratic politics in negative tones and many believe contributed to Mr Trumps victory. Does this all sound a little confusing? Well, it is. And to that point... 2. Not even Trump appears to know what exactly Obamagate is When asked by a Washington Post reporter the day after his OBAMAGATE tweet to name and explain the crime Mr Obama committed and say whether the DOJ should prosecute the former president, Mr Trump deflected. Obamagate. Its been going on for a long time. Its been going on from before I even got elected. Its a disgrace that its happened, Mr Trump said, predicting that more information would become public over the coming weeks. Recommended Trump refuses to say what crime he is accusing Obama of The Washington Post reporter asked Mr Trump again to name the crime Mr Obama committed. You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers, except yours, the president said. After the DOJ moved to drop its charges against Mr Flynn on 7 May, Mr Trump accused the Obama-era DOJ and intelligence community of treason, a crime punishable by death, and said those who looked into Mr Flynns correspondence with Mr Kislyak were crooked and dishonest. He has since suggested he wants to see the people involved in the alleged Obamagate affair face legal consequences. Hope you had fun investigating me. Now its my turn, reads a meme the Trump campaign posted to its Snapchat account on Monday, with a picture of the president in the background. 3. Republicans in Congress are lining up in support of Mr Trumps theory Republicans in Congress have been saying for years that the FBI unfairly targeted Trump campaign and administration officials over the course of its Russia investigation even though special counsel Robert Mueller found that many of them had indeed met or corresponded with people affiliated with the Russian government during the campaign and transition. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who was his chambers Judiciary Committee chairman last Congress, applauded Mr Barrs decision to let Mr Flynn go and predicted other shoes to drop. He was entrapped, Mr Grassley said in an interview with Fox News last week. Entrapment is unconstitutional. Its a violation of your due process. Secondly, this thing would not be exposed if it hadnt been for Barr taking the bull by the horns and knowing something was wrong and going in and knowing where things were wrong, how to straighten it out. We havent heard the end of Bill Barrs good work because everything thats going on with the Durham investigation is another example of still other shoes to drop, Mr Grassley said. Mr Grassley also suggested that maybe there should be people prosecuted over the treatment of Mr Flynn and others. Republican lawmakers for years have accused the leaders of the FBIs Russia probe of letting political bias influence their investigation, a position that was not substantiated by a report last year from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Mr Horowitzs report does, however, highlight a rash of issues with how the agents conducted the probe, including problems with their FISA warrant applications. Mr Barr, the leader of the DOJ, has tasked US Attorney John Durham with probing the origins of the 2016 Russia probe and whether it was conducted legally. That probe began as an administrative review but has since become a criminal investigation. On 13 May, Republican Senate Chairmen Ron Johnson of the Homeland Security Committee and Chuck Grassley of the Finance Committee released a list from the National Security Agency (NSA) that showed Mr Biden, Mr Comey, Mr Brennan and more than a dozen other Obama administration officials had received intelligence reports with information that unmasked Mr Flynns identity as a person on the other end of wiretapped phone calls made by Mr Kislyak and others who were being surveilled by the NSA. The officials listed should confirm whether they reviewed this information, why they asked for it and what they did with it, and answer many other questions that have been raised by recent revelations, Mr Grassley and Mr Johnson said in a statement on 13 May. National security experts have said unmasking reports such as the ones Mr Flynn was a subject in are common, numbering in the thousands per year. US intelligence agencies frequently keep tabs on the phone conversations and whereabouts of diplomats from foreign adversaries such as Mr Kislyak, experts have said. A compilation of California State assembly member Lorena Gonzalez and Tesla CEO Elon Musk Reuters/Getty Images A California State assemblywoman tweeted "F--- Elon Musk" on Saturday night, hours after the Tesla CEO announced was considering moving his company out of the state amid ongoing lockdown restrictions. The comment comes after Musk said that he would file a lawsuit against Almeda County, which has ordered Tesla's main factory to remain closed. The Tesla CEO also said that he might move the company's headquarters to either Texas or Nevada. Musk has previously criticized the stay-at-home orders put in place during the coronavirus pandemic, describing this latest development as "the final straw." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. A California State assemblywoman tweeted: "F--- Elon Musk" in response to the Tesla CEO announcing that he would "immediately" move the company's main factory out of the state as stay-at-home orders are forcing it to remain closed. Democrat Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego, sent the tweet late on Saturday night after the Tesla CEO said he would file a lawsuit against Alameda County, part of the San Francisco Bay area, where Tesla's Fremont Gigafactory is located. Related Video: Elon Musk Unveil His Latest Plan for Conquering Mars The county's health department said on Friday that Tesla's only vehicle factory must stay closed. While California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that manufacturers in the state would be allowed to reopen on Friday, May 7, Alameda County extended its shelter-in-place order with only essential businesses permitted to reopen. Taking to Twitter on Saturday morning, Musk wrote: "Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected & ignorant 'Interim Health Officer' of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense!" Musk followed this up with another tweet that read: "Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependent on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA." Story continues It wasn't immediately clear if a lawsuit had been filed yet. Musk sent around an email to employees on Thursday, stating that limited production would restart at the Fremont factory as of Friday afternoon, according to Reuters. The CEO has repeatedly voiced his frustrations over the coronavirus lockdowns, praising other states, including Georgia, for reopening their non-essential businesses. Last week, following Tesla's first-quarter earnings announcement, Musk denounced the shutdowns as a substantial risk to the company's financials. "Frankly, I would call it forcible imprisoning of people in their homes against all of, their constitutional rights, in my opinion," he said on a conference call. "It's breaking people's freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong and not why they came to America or built this country. What the f---. Excuse me. Outrage. Outrage." At the time of writing, Gonzalez's tweet has attracted more than 11,000 likes. She did not follow it up with any additional comment about the Tesla CEO. Business Insider Moments before members of the graduating class of Oklahoma City University would hear their names announced during the virtual commencement, Devaunjue "Jay" Williams urged in his prayer to classmates to use love in the face of evil. "Where there is hate, may we be agents of love," said Williams in a Zoom video broadcast to about 650 viewers and graduates participating in the Saturday ceremony. The private university's virtual commencement was meant to give graduates a taste of the pomp and circumstance they were missing because of the coronavirus pandemic. But as the names were about to roll across the screen, the ceremony was upended by hate. After the screen went black, the n-word and a swastika suddenly appeared in front of the graduates and their loved ones watching from home. "My grandma, my mom saw it, and they were really heartbroken by it," OCU graduate Leondre Lattimore told KOCO. "All we saw was the n-word and a swastika." The moment was crushing for Williams, who recounted on Facebook what it meant for the university to give students a graduation experience during the pandemic only for the ceremony to be infiltrated by racist hackers in the latest instance of a school-related "Zoombombing." "It just hurts so bad to have all of these things taken from you, and the university has tried so hard to try to honor our hard work - and not even get to fully enjoy it?" Williams said. "I think that's the part that hurts the worst." In a statement tweeted by the school, Oklahoma City University President Martha Burger denounced the "horrendous act of racism, bigotry, and anti-Semitism" that cut short the graduation. Burger, who said the school took safety precautions, added that OCU has reached out to federal and state authorities and would "pursue every avenue available to ensure that those responsible are held accountable under the law." "We are heartbroken and outraged at the hate-filled attack that occurred at the end of our virtual graduation celebration today," Burger said Saturday. "During a time that should have been focused on recognizing our graduating students, an unknown source was able to bypass the system and display racist and offensive language." Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Okla., whose district includes nearly all of Oklahoma City, echoed Burger's sentiments, saying she was "heartbroken and angered" over the racist Zoombombing. "It is especially tragic that this hate-filled attack marred a day meant for celebration [on] a day already made harder by the inability to gather in person due to the COVID-19 crisis," Horn tweeted. "This type of hate crime serves as a potent reminder that we still have much work to do." Rod Jones, the university's assistant director of media relations, said to Time magazine that the ceremony was going "splendidly" until the school was hacked. "It's bad enough we couldn't have a live ceremony, and then this happened," Jones told the outlet. As the pandemic has forced students and teachers to turn to videoconferencing tools such as Zoom to finish out the school year, the platform has increasingly become a target for hackers looking to hijack online classrooms to post hateful and disgusting content. The FBI even went as far as to issue a warning in March about the "hijacking" of online classrooms and teleconferences. The Washington Post's Valerie Strauss reported that while the New York City school district reversed its ban on the use of Zoom for remote learning, incidents on the platform are continuing to happen nationwide, from New Jersey and Ohio to Utah and California. At the college level, online classes and gatherings at the University of Southern California, the University of Florida and the University of Texas at Austin have been targeted during the pandemic. A representative for Zoom did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement to ABC News, the company said was it was "committed to maintaining an equal, respectful and inclusive online environment." "We have been deeply upset to hear about these types of incidents," said the statement to ABC. "Zoom strongly condemns such behavior and recently updated several features to help our users more easily protect their meetings." The response from the Oklahoma City community on Sunday came in the form of a "Love, Not Hate" event that had students, alums and residents planting signs and supporting the new graduates after the trying commencement. Lattimore, a studio art major from Oklahoma City, told KOCO he refused to let what happened Saturday detract from what he had accomplished. "Despite the hate, you can't take away what we earned, and that's the degree," said Lattimore, former president of the university's Black Student Association. Williams, who is black and also identifies as queer, took some solace that one of the last things his classmates saw was the "Coexist" rainbow flag hanging up behind him during his prayer. He said on Facebook that coexisting with one another was a lesson he had learned while at Oklahoma City University. "We've overcome worse and it's not going to be the end of our story," said the religious studies major from Wewoka, Oklahoma. Williams added, "Love wins, love will always win . . . and there's no amount of hate, no amount of injustice, no amount of evil in the world can stop that." - A professor of law and accounting, Stephen Asare, has given an insight into the inability of Ghanaian universities to appear in a global ranking of law faculties - No Ghanaian university was listed in the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings - According to him, it is important for Ghana to dissolve the General Legal Council (GLC) Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in Stephen Asare, a Ghanaian professor of law and accounting, has shared his opinion on the release of the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. According to him, a number of factors could be identified as the reasons behind the inability of Ghanaian university to appear in the rankings. In his opinion, the General Legal Council (GLC) and the Ghana School of Law (GSL) have not lived up to their mandate. READ ALSO: Allotey Jacobs' suspension: Koku Anyidoho remembers Atta-Mills and mocks NDC For that reason, he explained, the framework to turnaround the fate of legal education in Ghana remains the same, leaving no room for transformation. Professor Asare, also known as Kweku Azar, explained that South Africa, which claimed all the slots for Africa in the ranking, has unique features which make legal education at the tertiary level appealing and practical. The University of Pretoria topped the African ranking with a score of 41.8 out of 100, and claimed the 90th position in the world. Ghana, he went on, is yet to such tactics, and for that reason, lags behind with respect to the benefits of legal education. He revealed that unlike South Africa, Ghana is yet to demonstrate the quality and use of the five key metrics adopted in the ranking. The metrics adopted were Teaching, Research, Citations, International Flavour and Industry Income. Professor Asare has been in the news for championing the reformation of legal education in the country. Out of the almost 2000 candidates for the 2019 Law Entrance Examination organised by the GLC, only 128 of them passed, a situation he has constantly described as a sham and a scam. The incident, as well as other related issues, brought to national attention, the challenges of legal education in Ghana. Calls for reformation of the system are yet to be heeded to and at present, the GLC remains the statutory body responsible for the legal education in the country. READ ALSO: Ghana to stop importing rice by 2023- Agric minister hints Read the best news on Ghana #1 news app. Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Ghana President Akufo-Addo has extended the ban on public gatherings till the end of May | #Yencomgh Use the comments section below to share your views on this story. Do you have a story to share or you have information for us? Get featured on YEN.com.gh. Message us on Facebook or Instagram Source: YEN.com.gh Parvez Sultan By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Facing flak over alleged 'under-reporting' of COVID-19 deaths, the Delhi government on Sunday sought to blame the hospitals for the mismatch in data and issued guidelines for hospitals to timely submit daily report on fatalities or else face action even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asserted that the number of serious patients and deaths is "less". An order issued by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev on Sunday directed all government and private hospitals in the capital to communicate each coronavirus related casualty every day to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) and also to the special committee set up to audit such fatalities with case summary, medical files and other relevant information. The hospitals have been asked to send the report daily, even if there is no death, or else they would be liable to face punitive action. "It has come to notice that both public and private hospitals (both COVID dedicated and non-COVID hospitals) are not reporting the deaths of positive cases occurring in their hospitals in timely and regular manner despite reminders, the death summaries of patients are not being provided to the Death Audit Committee (DAC), resulting in incorrect and delayed reporting being submitted," said the order. DAC is mandated to audit each death on daily basis before releasing the data. The order stated that all health facilities should strictly abide by the standard operating procedure (SOP) and that principal secretary of health and family welfare department would ensure all authorities and officers to comply with the directions. Hospitals were directed to send their report by 5 pm daily, which will duly be examined by the DAC. The health facilities will appoint a nodal officer to ensure timely communication about persons succumbing to the infection to the IDSP and DAC, said the order. Even if, after active intervention of Directorate General Of Health Services, death report or NIL report is not received by 6 pm daily from any Covid health facility, then the medical superintendent, managing director, directors, or nodal officer of the defaulter hospital will report the matter, with all relevant information, to the office of the secretary very next day in the morning at 11 am with written explanation for the delays, the order stated Fodder for BJP to attack Kejriwal On Saturday, health minister Satyendar Jain had asserted that there was no reason to hide Covid deaths and that not a single case would go unaccounted. However, BJP asked CM to come clear after reports which showed 92 deaths against 68 reported by govt Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing a $54.3-billion budget deficit. He'll offer a revised spending plan Thursday. (Associated Press) The job is about to get a lot tougher for Gov. Gavin Newsom. He faces the certainty of whacking government services while raising taxes. Newsom hasnt uttered the feared T word publicly that I know of. But jacking state taxes even higher in infamously tax-burdened California is inevitable. Every governor who has faced a significant budget deficit for the last 60 years has reluctantly hiked taxes. The COVID-19 pandemic and the collapsed economy it created when many businesses were ordered closed and people told to stay home will also force the governor and Legislature to cut services. Its at the very time that increasing numbers of afflicted or laid-off Californians need assistance most. Until now, Newsom has flourished politically in the crisis. His performances in daily online briefings have portrayed him as a leader in the publics eyes. In a recent poll of California voters, his job approval rating had climbed to an astonishing 70%. Now comes the hard part. Hes facing a budget deficit that his Finance Department estimates at $54.3 billion. Thats a colossal hole of red ink. In January he proposed a $222-billion budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. That initial budget is no longer operational, Newsom says. Like, no kidding. Hell offer a revised one on Thursday. Steep taxes and deep cuts are the two main tools available to repair a bleeding state budget. There also are other tools, none of which can do the job by themselves. Fortunately theres roughly $22 billion stashed as a reserve and surplus, but it wont last long. Newsom and other governors are pleading for more federal help. President Trump doesnt sound enthusiastic. But Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco has been pressing for $1 trillion to send states and local governments. The governor could cut the pay of top state administrators. That wouldnt save a ton, but it would show that the Newsom administration is willing to share in the financial sacrifice. Story continues Theres always a line of people standing up to be a department director, says David Doerr, chief tax consultant for the California Taxpayers Assn. For decades, he was chief consultant for the state Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee and is generally considered Sacramentos top tax guru. In a budget balancing brawl, Doerr says, the first thing you look for is accounting reform, which is a nice way to say gimmicks. [Gov.] Jerry Brown reversed most of them. So use them again. Money can be borrowed or pilfered from special funds such as truck weight fee and fishing license stashes to help bolster the general fund, the states main checking account. Its not a good policy move, Doerr concedes. But what are you going to do in this kind of situation? You cant let the state go under. Doerr says he would offer a tax amnesty program. Theres bound to be lots of people who owe the state back taxes with mounting stiff penalties they cant afford to pay. Forgive the penalties for a short period and entice them to pay merely the delinquent taxes. Use the slogan, Get to us before we get to you, the Cal Tax consultant says. There also are probably some programs around that were good once upon a time, but things have changed in the last 50 years, Doerr says. Bury them. Thats no doubt correct. But everybody who opposes tax hikes and thats practically anyone whod have to pay the levies themselves bellows about fabled waste, fraud and abuse. In 2004, new Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he would blow up the boxes of bureaucracy. But his fuse fizzled. He appointed a task force that recommended eliminating more than 100 boards and commissions and abolishing 12,000 state jobs. Little came of it. Doerrs formula for digging out of a deficit hole: One-third revenue, one-third cuts, one-third accounting reform/gimmicks. You have to have taxes. It takes leadership. Attorney Steve Merksamer, who runs a successful law and lobbying firm in Sacramento and was Gov. George Deukmejians chief of staff, says: Every governor who had a fiscal crisis has raised taxes. Thats what we did, but we got lucky. In 1983, Republican Deukmejian agreed to a trigger tax. If the economy continued to slump, that would trigger a sales tax hike. But it rebounded and the tax wasnt needed. Browns father, Democrat Pat Brown, also faced a deficit in 1959 and raised taxes a record amount his first year as governor. Pat Brown gimmicked the accounting system to escape raising taxes again before Republican Ronald Reagan ousted him in 1966. But Reagan then was drenched in red ink and had to raise taxes steeply. Freshman Republican Gov. Pete Wilson faced a monstrous black hole one-third the size of his general fund in 1991. He filled the gap half with spending cuts, half with tax hikes and lectured Republican lawmakers that they were bleeping irrelevant if they didnt vote for the taxes. Schwarzenegger finally agreed to a huge tax increase in 2009 as the Great Recession shredded the budget. But voters repealed half of it. Then Brown, facing a $27-billion deficit, went to the ballot with an initiative to tax mainly rich people. That sounded good to the middle class. Newsom and legislators must choose their poison by June 15, the constitutional deadline for budget passage. Get ready for howls of public protest, political demagoguery and falling Newsom job ratings. At Least 3 Dead, a Dozen Wounded in Libya By VOA News May 10, 2020 Heavy shelling in residential areas of Tripoli, Libya's capital, left at least three dead and a dozen wounded Saturday, according to official sources. Targets close to Mitiga International Airport, the only one functioning, included jet fuel tanks and passenger planes, and other sites sustained serious damage from the bombardment. Forces of the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord accused the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, affiliated with Field Marshal Khalifa Hiftar, of the shelling. GNA forces evacuated civilians from residential areas targeted to ensure the safety of the population, officials said. The U.N. raised alarm again last week that Libyans are suffering under a deadly siege by Hifter's forces. The GNA is the internationally recognized government of Libya but does not have the confidence of the country's parliament. The ongoing armed conflict in Libya has killed hundreds of civilians and caused the displacement of over 150,000. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Amid reports that Hizbul Mujahideen has appointed Gazi Haider as its new commander in Jammu and Kashmir, former 15 Corps commander and Defence Intelligence Agency head Lt Gen KJS Dhillon tweeted 'Kitne Ghazi Aaye, Kitne Ghazi Gaye' New Delhi: Amid reports that Hizbul Mujahideen has appointed Ghazi Haider as its new commander in Jammu and Kashmir, former 15 Corps commander and Defence Intelligence Agency head Lt Gen KJS Dhillon tweeted saying, "Kitne Ghazi Aaye, Kitne Ghazi Gaye". Dhillon, till two months ago, was the commander of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps which is responsible for all counter terrorist and counter infiltration operations in the entire Kashmir valley. Dhillon was the commander of 15 Corps in Srinagar when the Pulwama attacks took place and he was instrumental in the many successful operations by security forces in which several terrorist leaders were killed. Recently when Hizbul terrorist Riyaz Naikoo was killed, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat has told ANI that whenever terrorist leaders were killed, it impacts their recruitments in the valley and dissuades youth from joining their ranks. Haider's appointment is to replace Naikoo as the head of the terror group supported and funded completely by Pakistan. Britain's easyJet urged the government to only keep quarantine requirements for a short period, while Heathrow Airport called for a plan to re-open borders, as new travel rules sent shockwaves through an industry already on its knees. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that a quarantine would soon be needed for people coming into this country by air to prevent a second peak of the coronavirus pandemic. The new rules, which airlines have been told will be a 14-day quarantine period for most people arriving from abroad, are likely to deter people from travelling. That has created a new threat to airlines and airports, which are desperate for travel demand to recover. The novel coronavirus has grounded fleets since March, putting aviation company finances under huge strain. Heathrow, which during normal times is Europe's busiest airport, said that common international standards were needed so that passengers could travel freely between low risk counties, and borders re-opened. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show EasyJet said any quarantine restrictions should be short-lived and regularly reviewed. "Quarantine requirements for passengers should only be in place for a short period, while the UK remains in lockdown," a spokeswoman for easyJet said in an emailed statement. Passenger numbers at Heathrow plunged 97% in April, and the airport warned that the new quarantine rules would "effectively close borders temporarily", with very few people travelling. Airline bosses were disappointed at the lack of clarity from the government over the new rules, said a person familiar with the situation. They do not know when the rules will be brought in, how long they will last and whether they will be reviewed regularly. The new quarantine rules won't be applied to travellers coming from France at this stage, France and Britain said on Sunday, while airlines had said on Sunday that the new rules wouldn't be applied to arrivals from Ireland. CLEVELAND - As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, there is great interest in studying treatment and prevention approaches for the disease. Cleveland Clinic is participating in a number of research projects related to COVID-19. As an international leader in biomedical research, Cleveland Clinic has formed a multidisciplinary clinical trials committee to evaluate therapies for mild to severe disease, with the goal of supporting trials that are scientifically sound and prioritizing those with the potential for significant impact on clinical care. Among others, some of the clinical trials conducted at Cleveland Clinic include: Therapeutic Studies ORCHID The ORCHID Study is a blinded, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial of oral doses of hydroxychloroquine as compared to a matching placebo to treat patients hospitalized with COVID-19 illness. The multi-center study aims to determine if among adults hospitalized with COVID-19, administration of hydroxychloroquine will improve clinical outcomes at day 15. The study is being conducted by the PETAL network, which studies acute lung injury, of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). More info: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04332991 COVIDAtoZ This investigator-initiated trial looks at the effect of high dose vitamin C and zinc in outpatient COVID-19 patients on symptom severity and duration and hospitalization. This is a single-center, prospective, randomized study. Some patients will receive high dose vitamin C, some high dose zinc, some both, and some will receive neither. More info: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04342728 COVACTA The randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, multi-center study evaluates tocilizumab in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. This study will evaluate the efficacy, safety, pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of tocilizumab compared with a matching placebo in combination with standard of care in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. More info: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04320615 Canakinumab The prospective, Phase 2, single center, blinded randomized-controlled study is designed as a proof of concept to demonstrate that early treatment with canakinumab prevents progressive heart and respiratory failure in patients with COVID 19 infection, myocardial injury and hyperinflammation. These results will lead to a Phase III randomized placebo-controlled trial. More info: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04365153 Other research COVID-19 Research Registry A research registry of nearly 23, 000 patients is collecting data from patients tested for COVID-19 at Cleveland Clinic. This research registry, which includes patients with positive and negative results, will be able inform other studies, such as the development of tools to predict risk and outcomes in patients. Researchers from across the Cleveland Clinic enterprise are using the dynamic registry data in more than 140 COVID-19 related research projects in areas such as cancer, pediatrics, intensive care. Convalescent Plasma Cleveland Clinic and Cleveland Clinic Florida has an expanded access protocol for the use of convalescent plasma therapy for patients admitted with moderate to severe COVID-19. Convalescent plasma therapy, which collects antibody rich plasma from donors who have recovered from COVID-19, is used for patients currently struggling with the virus. In Florida, the convalescent plasma collection will be collected by OneBlood, an independent not-for-profit blood bank serving Florida. In Ohio, the American Red Cross and other blood centers are collecting and distributing convalescent plasma and are seeking potential donors. AI Drug Repurposing for COVID-19 Cleveland Clinic researchers published findings last month on a network-based prediction model using artificial intelligence to identify targets for drug repurposing in coronavirus and COVID-19. Their approach targets the interaction between human and virus proteins rather than the virus protein itself. Based on their findings, they prioritized 16 drugs and three drug combinations as potential treatments. American Heart Association COVID-19 Heart and Brain Research Initiative The American Heart Association has awarded $1.2 million in grants to teams at 12 institutions across the U.S. to begin fast-tracked studies of the effects of COVID-19 on the body's cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems. Cleveland Clinic will serve as the initiative's COVID-19 Coordinating Center and will collect results from the research projects and coordinate the dissemination of all study findings. Learn more about the initiative: https://newsroom.heart.org/news/12-scientific-teams-redefining-fast-tracked-heart-and-brain-health-research-related-to-covid-19 Please note: Investigators on one or more of these studies may have financial interests related to the research sponsor or products under evaluation. These conflicts of interest have been reviewed by Cleveland Clinic's Innovation Management and Conflict of Interest Program. ### Pence has led the White House coronavirus task force for more than two months. Top officials who have gone into quarantine because of exposure to a person at the White House who tested positive for the virus are Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC; and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn. BRUNSWICK, Ga. - Georgia's attorney general announced Monday that he has named a new district attorney to handle the investigation into the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, the black 25-year-old whose family says he was out jogging Feb. 23 when a pair of armed white men pursued him in a pickup truck. Joyette M. Holmes of the Cobb County Judicial Circuit is the fourth prosecutor to take the case. Two other prosecutors recused themselves because of previous work connections with one of the suspects, Gregory McMichael, a retired police detective in the southeastern Georgia community where the fatal shooting occurred. According to local news reports, Holmes was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, last year as the first black woman to serve as the district attorney for Cobb County, a suburban area north of Atlanta. Separately, a Justice Department spokeswoman announced Monday that the agency is "assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crime charges are appropriate" in the racially charged case. The assignment of a new prosecutor in Arbery's killing marks the beginning of yet another chapter in a winding case that has drawn tremendous national attention, prompting advocates to call for the resignations of some authorities involved in the original investigation. It took more than two months and the surfacing of a graphic video before authorities arrested McMichael and his son Travis McMichael on charges of murder and aggravated assault in connection with the case. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the involvement of a third man, William Bryan, who recorded the video, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. Holmes takes over the prosecution from District Attorney Tom Durden of the Atlantic Judicial Circuit, who in April was the third prosecutor on the case. Durden had requested that the case go to someone else, according to a statement from Attorney General Chris Carr. "This case has grown in size and magnitude since [Durden] accepted the appointment," Carr wrote. "And as an experienced District Attorney, Tom has recognized that another office is better suited from a resource perspective to now handle the case." In a statement confirming Holmes's appointment, her office wrote that "the call to serve will not be taken lightly." The Cobb district attorney's office said it had already received materials from the bureau and would move "as expeditiously as possible to move the case forward." Lee Merritt and Chris Stewart, attorneys for Arbery's mother, applauded the decision in a statement Monday. The attorneys said they had asked Carr to name a new district attorney in Arbery's killing "because the south Georgia prosecutorial community was tainted by the delay in action prior to the video being released." "The family is pleased that Mr. Durden will no longer be responsible for prosecuting two of the killers of Mr. Arbery," the attorneys wrote. "This case has been mishandled from the very beginning and we look forward to a comprehensive third-party investigation by the Dept. of Justice into the previous prosecutors." The case was first assigned to Jackie Johnson in the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, who recused herself from the case in February because Gregory McMichael had been an investigator in her office. Then it went to George E. Barnhill, district attorney for Georgia's Waycross Judicial Circuit, who recused himself under pressure from Arbery's mother after she complained that Barnhill's son used to work with Gregory McMichael in the Brunswick district attorney's office, according to documents obtained by The Post. Durden was next, and he said last week that he planned to present the investigation to a grand jury before the video was leaked and the bureau was assigned to the case. The McMichaels were arrested days later. Carr previously said that he wanted to look into how the investigation of Arbery's killing "was handled from the onset." In a tweet Monday afternoon, Kemp commended the decision to put Holmes on the case, writing, "I am confident that she will serve with integrity and transparency to ensure Justice is served." The announcement comes one day after Carr called on the Justice Department to investigate how authorities handled the killing. In a statement Monday, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the agency is considering the request. "We will continue to assess all information, and will take appropriate action that is warranted by the facts and the law," Kupec's statement read. Gregory McMichael told police after the shooting that there had been burglaries in the neighborhood, and when he saw Arbery jogging on Feb. 23, he thought Arbery was the burglar. Newly released video of the moments before Arbery's death shows a person thought to be Arbery walking into a house under construction in the neighborhood. Larry English, who owns the house, told The Post that nothing was taken. English's attorney, Atlanta lawyer J. Elizabeth Graddy, said the homeowner on several occasions received alerts from a motion-sensor-activated camera inside the house in the months before the shooting. The incidents usually happened at night, she said, sometimes with as many as four people inside the house. English notified police on two occasions, Graddy said, but never requested an investigation. Mostly, he wanted them to keep an eye on the property because he lives a 90-minute drive away. "Even if there had been a robbery, however, the English family would not have wanted a vigilante response," Graddy said in an email to The Post. "They would have entrusted the matter to law enforcement authorities." Graddy said English never asked the McMichaels or any other neighbors to protect or secure his property, and he never forwarded security footage to them. English was beekeeping at home when his phone buzzed with an alert from the camera on Feb. 23. The alert contained an image of a person thought to be Arbery at the under-construction house. Graddy provided that video to The Post on Monday, showing a black man in a white T-shirt and khaki-colored shorts - similar to the clothing Arbery was wearing in video of the shooting - walking into the house and looking at the wooden beams. English's "hands were covered with honey, and he had to wash the honey off," Graddy said. "He called a neighbor and said, 'Hey, is somebody in my house? Is somebody back in there?' The neighbor said, 'They've killed him.' " - - - The Washington Post's Hannah Knowles, Cleve Wootson and Colby Itkowitz contributed to this report. Bank of Ireland lost 241 million euros before tax in the first quarter after putting aside 266 million euros, mainly to cover 86,000 loan repayment breaks in Ireland and Britain, the lender said on Monday. Ireland introduced stay-home measures at the end of March to slow the spread of the coronavirus, shutting down all but essential services such as supermarkets and banks, and unleashing a six-fold increase in the unemployment rate to 28%. The bank is the largest Irish lender in Britain, where a similar lockdown is also set to be gradually eased. While the United Kingdom made up about a third of its loan book at the end of March, it accounted for 53,000 or almost two-thirds of all loan breaks, according to a presentation for analysts. The bank's shares, which have halved in value since Ireland reported its first coronavirus case at the end of February, were 11.1% lower at 1.45 euros by 1010 GMT, having opened slightly up. That dragged main competitor Allied Irish Banks, which reports first quarter figures on Tuesday, down 10.8%. Ireland's third domestically-owned retail bank, the smaller mortgage lender permanent tsb, was up 1.5%. "I guess I have the scars from the last crisis but when I think how we enter this crisis, we have a much stronger balance sheet, it's well diversified, the credit metrics are strong," Bank of Ireland Chief Financial Officer Myles O'Grady told Reuters in a telephone interview. "As challenging as this is, I think Bank of Ireland enters it as strong as it could be." The first-quarter charge was almost wholly made up of a 250 million euro management estimate to reflect the deteriorating economic conditions. The bank said it had not yet experienced losses on loans related to the coronavirus fallout, with its non-performing exposure ratio falling to 4.2% from 4.4% in 2019. The bank also took a 120 million euro charge in its wealth and insurance business due to falling equity markets and wider credit spreads, contributing to the loss, alongside a 35 million charge incurred from financial instrument valuation adjustments. Ireland's largest bank by assets, which made a profit of 123 million euros in the same period last year, said it expected more impairment charges and loan losses during 2020, with new lending potentially dropping to 50% to 70% of 2019 volumes. The bank said that in a range of scenarios its fully loaded core Tier 1 capital ratio would remain above its previous minimum regulatory capital requirement of 11.45%. Its CET1 ratio - a key measure of financial strength - fell to 13.5% at the end of March, from 13.8% at the end of 2019. Bank of Ireland, 14% owned by the state following the global financial crash a decade ago which hammered Irish banks, reduced costs by 3% year-on-year and said it was maintaining a target introduced in February for more aggressive cost cuts by 2021. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie The Karnataka government appears set to roll out red carpet welcome to foreign companies seeking to move out of China. The State's Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said the Government plans to constitute a task force, under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar, to spearhead the drive to attract such investment. A proposal to this effect has been sent to the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for approval, the Minister told P T I in an interview. This panel would take feedback and suggestions from a consultative committee to be formed with prominent industrialists from the State and representatives of various countries located here, Shettar said. In recent days, the Minister held consultations with industrialists such as co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys Ltd, Nandan M Nilekani, Executive Chairperson of Biocon Ltd, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Chairman of early-stage startup accelerator and venture fund Axilor Ventures Senapathy (Kris) Gopalakrishnan to fine-tune the States outreach push. Shettar also held interactions with industry bodies, including Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) and Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA). Industrialists who took part in the deliberations suggested to the government to focus on ease of doing business and improving the single window clearance system for approvals, as the Minister spelt out government's intent of further improving the investment climate to attract industries to Karnataka. To boost the industry sentiment in the State, they also stressed the need on easing land acquisition regulations, and leveraging the knowledge base of Bengaluru to promote technology-based manufacturing. "Given the interest shown by some companies in moving their manufacturing bases out of China, the industry leaders recommended that the State government identify a target list of 100 firms to reach out to for attracting to the State, and work out a strategy to bring them to Karnataka," an Industry department official said. The industry leaders assured cooperation from the private sector in reaching out to and facilitating interactions with CEOs of these companies. Shettar said restrictions on acquisition of agriculture land for starting industries have now been relaxed with the passage of an amendment to the land reforms act in the recent Legislature session. This would facilitate immediate land allotment to industries, he added. The Minister has also submitted a proposal to the Chief Minister on relaxing labour laws. Secretary General of industry body ASSOCHAM, Deepak Sood, told P T I recently that there is a broader consensus that the global manufacturing supply chain would be more spread than concentrated in major economies like China. "If India comes out of the present crisis with minimum of impact, we can be the destination of choice for the global manufacturing giants in different sectors like electronics, computer hardware, pharmaceuticals, including medical devices, automobile, including components and other engineering products," Sood had said. Gopalakrishnan, also co-founder of Infosys and former CII President, said India has to target companies which have operations in China, reach out to them, understand what their needs are and hold discussions with them. "We have to make sure that their requirements are addressed, be it with regard to land, office space, faster approvals, and some concessions on local taxes. It depends on the businesses that the companies are in, and if we are able to respond to those requests, I think we will be able to attract them", he told P T I. "All states will compete for this business (foreign investment)," Gopalakrishnan added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mili America Antelo, with twins Ayla and Ayma, who were born by cesarean section while she was in intensive care for Covid-19. When Mili America Antelo woke up, she couldnt remember a thing; nothing about her 11 days in an intensive care unit (ICU) due to Covid-19, and nothing about her pregnancy or the delivery of her twin daughters, Ayma and Ayla, who were put directly into incubators in the neonatal unit at Vall dHebron hospital in Barcelona. Four doctors came and asked, Do you know you have given birth? But I didnt know anything. I couldnt remember being pregnant or giving birth, explains Mili, 40. She was in a terrible way, with severe respiratory failure, and had to have a cesarean section at week 28 Felix Castillo, head of the neonatal unit at Vall dHebron Barcelona hospital When she opened her eyes and found herself alone in a room, she had no idea where she was. She tried to get up, but she was too weak to even sit on the bed. Nurses in personal protective equipment (PPE) came and went from time to time. Mili was confused and wondered where her husband was and why he wasnt with her. All I could think was that my husband didnt want to see me, says Mili. I asked him why he wasnt with me and he said he wasnt allowed because of Covid-19. But I didnt understand anything. The last thing she remembers was her husband coming back from a trip on March 13. They chatted while he unpacked, and then nothing her mind went blank. From what she has been told, she knows that a few days later she started to have contractions and went to the emergency ward, which turned out to be a false alarm. The next day, she experienced breathing problems and was back in the ward again. It was March 27 the height of the pandemic; she was diagnosed with Covid-19-related pneumonia and admitted to Vall dHebron hospital. The next day, she was transferred to the hospitals pediatric intensive care unit, which had been allocated to pregnant women with the virus. Milis condition was deteriorating by the day. She was in a terrible way, with severe respiratory failure, and had to have a cesarean section at week 28, explains Felix Castillo, the head of the hospitals neonatal unit. Ayma and Ayla were born on March 29 weighing just one kilogram each. Mili and her daughters were all intubated Mili to help her fight the virus that was attacking her lungs, and the premature babies to help them fight for their lives outside their mothers womb. Mili was taken off intubation a week after her daughters were born and moved, on April 8, to a room on the ward where she was told what had happened to her. They explained that I had had a stroke; that they had had to bring the birth forward, but that the girls were fine, she says, adding that her response was: What birth? What girls? Its the result of being sedated for 21 days, with very powerful drugs, says Castillo. She has become disoriented and has no short-term memory. According to Joan Balcells, head of the pediatric ICU where Mili was treated, a period of disorientation is common after the sedation wears off. Between 25% and 30% of patients suffer from it but it improves after a few days. What is more striking is the amnesia prior to admission. A small lesion was detected on the magnetic resonance which was classified as a possible stroke, but Im not sure that this could interfere with memory. All I could think was that my husband didnt want to see me Mother Mili America Antelo Mili hung a picture of her babies lying in their incubator in her room. It really affected me when I saw photos of them the girls being so small, intubated, with the oxygen, she says. It was a month before she could see them in person. She wasnt able to do kangaroo care [a method involving breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact for low birth weight babies] until she herself tested negative, says Castillo. She went in when the twins were one month old and the encounter was spectacular. The twins have tested negative for Covid-19 four times on the day of their birth, after 24 hours, after five days and after two weeks. Mili has since beaten the disease and her husband, after an obligatory spell in quarantine, has been able to return to the hospital to be with her and his daughters. Ayla and Ayma still have a few days left in the incubator and four or five weeks in the hospital before they can go home. Mili visits them every day for skin-to-skin contact, which was done by nurses and auxiliary staff in her absence. Its better if the mother does it, says Castillo. It is far more calming for the babies. The hospital has had to bring forward the deliveries of five pregnant women with Covid-19 while another 20 have reached full term. If the mothers condition is such that the baby may be suffering and there is danger, we have to get the child out sooner, says Castillo. Mili, meanwhile, is still recovering from her ordeal. She was discharged on April 21, almost a month after being admitted to the hospital, but she is still feeling the after-effects. Its like being in a haze, she says. I struggle, I forget things. English version by Heather Galloway. [May 11, 2020] Hexion Inc. Announces First Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call Hexion Inc. ("Hexion" or the "Company") will host a teleconference to discuss First Quarter 2020 results on Thursday, May 14, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The Company will issue a press release announcing its financial results for the First Quarter 2020 ended March 31, 2020 prior to the opening of the market on May 14, 2020. Interested parties are asked to dial-in approximately 10 minutes before the call begins at the following numbers: U.S. Participants: (844) 492-6045 International Participants: (574) 990-2716 Participant Passcode: 5384408 Live internet access to the call and presentation materials will be available through the Investor Relations section of the Company's website: www.hexion.com. A replay of the call will be available for one week following the call and can be accessed by dialing (855) 859-2056 (U.S.) and (404) 537-3406 (International). The passcode is 5384408. About the Company Based in Columbus, Ohio, Hexion Inc. is a global leader in thermoset resins. Hexion Inc. serves the global adhesive, coatings, composites and industrial markets through a broad range of thermoset technologies, specialty products and technical support for customers in a diverse range of applications and industries. Additional information about Hexion Inc. and its products is available at www.hexion.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005975/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread rampantly across the country, millions of young people and workers are coming to terms with the unmistakable realization that the crisis has shaken the very foundations of the capitalist system. Over four million people throughout the world have become infected with the illness, while businesses have shuttered and tens of millions have been laid off from their jobs. Such indices are only the most pronounced expressions of the crisis. As the World Socialist Web Site wrote previously, In addition to the death and destruction of human life taking place across the planet, the capitalist system must be particularly indicted for the detrimental impacts upon the youngest and most vulnerable. This perspective has been entirely borne out in the month since it was written. In the period since the COVID-19 pandemic swept the planet, the ruling class has sought to turn the crisis to its advantage in order to enact a top-to-bottom restructuring of social relations, make the working class pay for the massive corporate bailouts it has given out to itself, and force workers to return to work even as all practical measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus have been sidelined. It is within this context that a mounting corporate attack on children, those most unable to defend themselves, is taking place. While many childcare providersthe majority of which are small and independently operatedface bankruptcy, children from low-income families have seen their early education and social development come to a screeching halt. As part of the escalating drive to force workers to resume production, the question of reopening public schools and childcare facilities becomes essential. While sections of the political and media establishment falsely claim that COVID-19 does not affect the young, in reality there has been a growing number of deaths of children from the newly named Pediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, which is linked to COVID-19 infection. Last month, the Washington Post, a nominally liberal publication owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the worlds richest man, published a column entitled, Will a child-care shortage prevent Americas reopening? written by author Carrie Lukas. Lukas is the president of the Independent Womens Forum, a think tank which describes itself as a conservative alternative to feminist tenets. She is also a regular contributor to right-wing and pro-business journals such as National Review, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal, while having served as a former policy analyst for the House Republican Policy Committee and the Department of Homeland Security. Lukas begins by stating: Governments across the country are working on plans to reopen society after the novel coronavirus pandemic reaches its peak. While the timing and components of these plans vary, all must confront an important reality: Getting people back to work requires sufficient child care. Four in 10 working adults have children under 18. Before the coronavirus struck, approximately one-third all children under five attended a paid care facility, day-care center, preschool or prekindergarten, she writes. The columnist briefly dwells on the conditions suffered by low-paid child care workers, noting that many earn on average less than $11 per hour. Rather than offering any solution to this issue, Lukas throws a bone to the Posts billionaire owner Bezos, advising workers that the security and compensation offered at a place such as Amazon may be more to their liking. In reality, Amazon is presently one of the most dangerous workplaces in the world. Then, Lukas turns to the business at hand, declaring: As the already limited supply of child-care spaces contracts, demand is about to skyrocket. She insists that [s]tates and localities, which regulate providers, should ease requirements to allow existing centers to expand and make it easier for new providers to offer services. While the author acknowledges that some [p]arents initially may be concerned about removing regulations, she claims that loosening these regulations does not need to erode quality. She never explains how this trade-off in protections is to translate into better quality care. Instead, Lukas cites a 2015 study from the Charles Koch Foundation-linked Mercatus Center which states: regulations on childstaff ratios, group size restrictions, and education requirements are all associated with higher care prices. In fact, a key driver in cost is the profit system itself, which has subordinated human well-being to the bottom line to disastrous effect during the pandemic. Particularly disturbing is Lukas belief that regulations requiring that all chipped paint and tripping hazards be eliminated and that extreme sanitation thresholds be maintained are standards that most normal households with children couldnt meet. If this burdensome level of oversight was done away with, she maintains, communities could more easily find solutions for their needs. In other words, under conditions where a raging pandemic is claiming ever more lives, burdensome laws on childrens sanitary needs, classroom sizes and other forms of physical safety are to be eliminated. One physically dreads the outcome of these policies. Putting aside the exceedingly right-wing character of Lukas background, one is compelled to ask what business is it of hers to be offering legal guidelines for childcare? In addition to authoring numerous books, including Liberty Is No War on Women and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism, her qualifications include having held a senior position at the Goldwater Institute, which according to its website is a leading free-market public policy research and litigation organization. The institute was named after the late right-wing Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, a notorious opponent of civil rights legislation in his own time. In pursuit of its ruthless drive for profit, the capitalist class tolerates no obstacle, including childrens lives. Childcare workers must oppose this unsafe reopening of their workplaces, which puts their lives and those of the children they serve, as well as their families, at greater risk of contracting the virus. It is essential that the working class draws the farthest-reaching conclusions from the crisis caused by the pandemic and take up the building of a socialist opposition to the capitalist system. S ecurity guards, bus drivers and care workers are among those with the highest death rates from coronavirus. It is particularly hitting lower-paid workers, rather than white-collar staff more likely to work from home, figures show. The Office for National Statistics said that among men, those working in the lowest skilled occupations had the highest rate of death involving Covid-19, with 21.4 deaths per 100,000 males. Among the working age population, those aged 20 to 64 years, there was a total of 2,494 deaths involving Covid-19 in England and Wales registered up to, and including, April 20 of this year. Nearly two-thirds of these were men (1,612 deaths) with the remaining deaths being women (882 deaths). The rate of death involving #COVID19 is statistically higher in men (9.9 per 100,000) than in women (5.2 per 100,000). The major group with the highest rate of death involving COVID-19 was Elementary workers with 21.4 deaths per 100,000 males (225 deaths). The occupations in this group include those performing mostly routine tasks, such as construction workers and cleaners. The major group with the next highest rate was Caring, leisure and other service occupations (17.9 deaths per 100,000 males, or 72 deaths), which include occupations such as nursing assistants, care workers and ambulance drivers. Taxi drivers have suffered one of the highest death tolls of the pandemic. Figures last week showed that black people are four times more likely to die from coronavirus than white people, or around twice as likely once age and other socioeconomic factors are taken into account, while other ethnic minorities also have a high death rate. Loading.... The data was published as many companies are urgently trying to work out how, or if, they can reopen offices, factories and other workplaces in coming days and weeks. Unions are warning that safety measures must be in place before employees are asked to return. Jury trials in England and Wales are to resume from next week, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett, has announced. Our Theatres in Crisis series has shown that some of the nation's most popular and famous theatres have all had moments in their history when they faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Whether structural, financial or medical, like the one we find ourselves in now, the venues have all defied the very real threat of closure and fought to stay open. To face one of these crises would be bad enough but the Bristol Old Vic has surely one of the most fascinating histories of any venue in this country. Building changing hands, disease, fires since opening in 1766, the theatre has seen and survived the lot with the backing of its audiences and patrons. In these strange and unprecedented times, the people of Bristol have once again come together to support the theatre. Here's to hoping that the Old Vic's next 250 years are not quite as dramatic as the ones that have already past. Influenza outbreak in 1782 At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the Old Vic's heritage team uncovered a rather poignant notice from June 1782 that was placed on the doors of the theatre. It announced the temporary closure of the venue as one of the acting companies had been afflicted with influenza. Almost 250 years on, the theatre has had its upcoming productions axed by the coronavirus but it is humbling to know that the Old Vic has faced these trials before and survived. Bristol Riots of 1831 In 1831, riots raged in the streets around the Old Vic. Hundreds of people were protesting against the rejection of a reform bill that would have seen Bristol, and other provincial towns like Manchster and Birmingham, given more representation in the House of Commons. Fires blazed in Queen Square, only a stone's throw from the theatre, which could have had catastrophic consequences but thankfully the Old Vic was saved because it was set back and protected behind two terraced houses. Funnily enough, these properties also hid the theatre from authorities when it was first illegally opened in 1766 - surely these houses ought to have a plaque of some kind by now. Building sold in 1942 28 January 1942 is something of a Sliding Doors moment in the life of the Bristol Old Vic - it is the date the leaseholders sold the building at auction in just seven and a half minutes. In the aftermath Bristolians, including theatre historian Kathleen Barker, fought tooth and nail to save the venue. With generous donations from the public and support from the Council for the Encouragement of Music and Arts (CEMA, which also featured in our Birmingham Rep article), the theatre was purchased back and its future as a performance venue was secure. Somewhere in a parallel universe, the building is the UK's most beautiful warehouse. Theatre almost closed in 2007 With the Bristol Old Vic's long history, it is worth recognising that the theatre has faced crises in the very recent past and one moment in 2007 brought the company together like no other. The theatre had been forced to announce its closure to the public as a result of financial difficulties and a building in desperate need of refurbishment. The response from Bristolians was incredible allegedly 1000 people came to a public meeting called by Dick Penny, the theatre's newly-voted executive chairman. The people spilled out of the theatre and onto the street. The sensational new building was re-opened in 2012 and a new era for the Bristol Old Vic began. This article was made possible thanks to the knowledge and generosity of Amy Spreadbury, the Bristol Old Vic's Heritage Engagement Manager. For donations to the Bristol Old Vic, please visit their website. (TNS) City employees who hand out parking tickets are set to get an extra tool to identify those who leave their cars in a spot for too long.Automatic license plate readers, a technology that scans plates and signals a possible violation, will soon be attached to the vehicles that employees use as they travel around town and issue citations.The readers can quickly scan license plates as the city worker drives by, registering hundreds of plates per minute. The collected information includes a photo of each plate, GPS coordinates, and the date and time the image was captured.The idea is to make a parking technicians job easier so no more chalking tires or physically checking if a meter is expired, indicating someone has parked beyond the extended limit.Its a very cost-effective way of doing parking enforcement, said Andrew Thomas, the citys planning, building and transportation director, at Tuesdays City Council meeting.Berkeley and Emeryville already have equipped parking enforcement vehicles with automated license plate readers.Along with indicating if a vehicle has been parked in a spot beyond the allowed limit, the devices can show if a vehicle has been reported stolen, or whether the license plate has been flagged in a police investigation, Thomas said.On Tuesday, the council signed off on using the cameras. The city still needs to select a vendor and approve a contract.When the cameras would be installed, how many the city would buy or what they would cost has not been determined.Councilman Tony Daysog cast the lone no vote, saying it would result with the parking enforcement department issuing citations completely on steroids.I prefer the old way of identifying people who have not paid their parking tickets, said Daysog, who acknowledged the drawbacks of the current system, such as the time it takes for a technician to physically check a meter.Thomas said technicians will likely begin using the readers at Alameda Point, or the former Alameda Naval Air Station, where there is little metered parking, a new ferry terminal is getting built, but businesses are now operating.This technology would be perfect for that (area), he said.Five part-time employees enforce parking rules in the city, Alameda Police Chief Paul Rolleri said Friday. The city has also budgeted two more full-time parking enforcing jobs. So far, no one has been hired for those positions.Alameda expects an increased demand for parking at the former Navy base as it gets redeveloped, so it wants to be able to enforce the time limits.After its installed, the technology will scan a parked vehicles license plate, and when a parking technician returns to the area, scan it again and flag the vehicle if it has been parked there longer than the permitted time.This is literally just about reading the license plates, Thomas said.The council recommended that any data collected from vehicles that were not cited or part of a police investigation be erased immediately, and the rest kept for one year.Alameda equipped four patrol cars with license plate readers cameras in May 2014, despite the American Civil Liberties Union and other critics maintaining that the technology could invade peoples privacy. CLINTON Massachusetts-based grocery chain Big Y is expanding its presence on the Shoreline, opening a store on Route 81 near Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets sometime next year. The new 55,000-square-foot store will be part of Indian River Shops, a 180,000-square-foot. mixed-use development that will be built on the former site of the Morgan School. Ken Navarro, a partner in the Mystic-based Greylock Property Group, said Monday that demolition of the old high school building is expected to begin this summer. Were still waiting for a few approvals from the state Department of Transportation, Navarro said. Indian River Shops, which will be located at 11 Killingworth Turnpike, will include an 80- to 100-room hotel and two or three restaurants on 37 acres, he said. Navarro said he believes having the restaurants as part of the new development will be beneficial because Clinton Crossing has no full service restaurants. To bring a supermarket like Big Y to Clinton will have a profound impact on the local community and economy, Navarro said. The construction of the supermarket will create job opportunities for local contractors, according to Big Y officials. When the store opens, it will employ more than 150 people in both full- and part-time positions. Big Y has nearly three-dozen stores in Connecticut and 72 overall when the chains Massachsuetts stores are included. The new store will become the second in Middlesex County following the 2014 opening of a Big Y in Old Saybrook. We see this as an in-fill for us, both in terms of our presence on the Shoreline and the middle of the of the state, said Matt DAmour, Big Ys vice president of real estate and store development. Were still looking for something in Middletown. DAmour said he hoped construction of the new supermarket will begin by the end of this year. Big Y began its Shoreline expansion in earnest during 2010 when it acquired A&P supermarket locations in Branford, Mystic and Old Lyme as well as a store in West Hartford. And now it appears the chain may be eying a presence along the western portion of the Shoreline, having opened a store in Milford last November. The Morgan School had been located on the site for 65 years before it opened a new location farther north on Route 81 in Clinton in August 2016. Big Y is a family-owned chain founded by brothers Gerry and Paul DAmour in 1936, who opened their first supermarket in Chicopee, Mass., at an intersection where two roads converge to form a Y. It would become known as Big Y in 1952, according to company officials. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com [May 11, 2020] COVID-19 Impact and Recovery Analysis- EMV Cards Market 2020-2024 | Increasing Number Of Cashless Transactions To Boost Growth | Technavio Technavio has been monitoring the EMV cards market and it is poised to grow by USD 803.22 mn during 2020-2024. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005156/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global EMV Cards Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will decelerate during the forecast period. American Banknote Corp., CPI Card Group Inc., Fiserv Inc., Giesecke+Devrient GmbH, Goldpac Group Ltd., IDEMIA, IdentiSys Inc., Perfect Plastic Printing Corp., Thales (News - Alert) Group, and Valid Solucoes SA, are some of the major market participants. Although the increasing number of cashless transactions will offer immense growth opportunities, the popularity of mobile payments will challenge the growth of the market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Increasing number of cashless transactions has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. However, the popularity of mobile payments might hamper market growth. EMV Cards Market 2020-2024 : Segmentation EMV Cards Market is segmented as below: Technology Contactless Contact Geographic Landscape APAC Europe MEA North America South America To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-s?report=IRTNTR40052 EMV Cards Market 2020-2024 : Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our EMV cards market report covers the following areas: EMV Cards Market size EMV Cards Market trends EMV Cards Market industry analysis This study identifies advent of biometric EMV cards as one of the prime reasons driving the EMV cards market growth during the next few years. EMV Cards Market 2020-2024 : Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the EMV cards market, including some of the vendors such as American Banknote Corp., CPI Card Group Inc., Fiserv Inc., Giesecke+Devrient GmbH, Goldpac Group Ltd., IDEMIA, IdentiSys Inc., Perfect Plastic Printing Corp., Thales Group, and Valid Solucoes SA. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the EMV cards market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform EMV Cards Market 2020-2024 : Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist EMV cards market growth during the next five years Estimation of the EMV cards market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the EMV cards market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of EMV cards market vendors Table Of Contents : PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT 2.1 Preface 2.2 Preface 2.3 Currency conversion rates for US$ PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market ecosystem Value chain analysis Market characteristics Market segmentation analysis PART 04: MARKET SIZING Market definition Methodology for market sizing and vendor selection Market sizing 2019 Market outlook Market size and forecast 2019-2024 PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY TECHNOLOGY Market segmentation by technology Comparison by technology Contactless - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Contact - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by technology PART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE PART 08: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison APAC - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 North America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 South America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity PART 09: DECISION FRAMEWORK PART 10: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers Market challenges PART 11: MARKET TRENDS Advent of biometric EMV cards Preference for dual-interface EMV cards Adoption of inorganic growth strategies PART 12: VENDOR LANDSCAPE Overview Landscape disruption Competitive scenario PART 13: VENDOR ANALYSIS Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors American Banknote Corp. CPI Card Group Inc. Fiserv Inc. Giesecke+Devrient GmbH Goldpac Group Ltd. IDEMIA IdentiSys Inc. Perfect Plastic Printing Corp. Thales Group Valid Solucoes SA PART 14: APPENDIX Research methodology List of abbreviations Definition of market positioning of vendors PART 15: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005156/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A GoFundMe has been started for the Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour employee subjected to harassment by customers when the ice cream shop opened during the coronavirus pandemic. The shop close again after customers were angry over the ordering guidelines set by the shop. The 17-year-old employee also quit after the incident, the GoFundMe states. She was met with an unyielding verbal assault with some of the most vulgar and disgusting words hurled at her, these shouldnt be heard in a mens locker room, never mind directed to a teenager, the GoFundMe states. In spite of this, she continued to work until the last ice cream was served and then turned in her apron." The fund was started by the shops owner, Mark Lawrence, who said the teenager has worked for me for the past three years and has always been one of the most hardworking, kindhearted employees and a favorite of many of our regulars. The fund has raised more than $9,000 of its $15,000 goal as of Monday. The money will go toward 17-year-old employees college fund. This young lady was planning to work as much as possible to save money for college in the fall, Lawrence wrote on the GoFundMe. He said a number of people have been calling and asking to donate, with one man even offering to pay her salary until she came back or found a new job. Thats when Lawrence decided to start the fund. All donations, no matter how small, will make a difference, he said. No one deserves this kind of abuse, especially a 17-year-old young girl, in a time when we as a country should stand united. Related Content: Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) While its local government assured that it is handling the coronavirus crisis well, Cebu has reported another 104 infections and three fatalities on Monday. This brings the tally of COVID-19 cases in the entire island of Cebu to 1,784, as of May 10. Central Visayas Health Department (DOH-7) Regional Director Jaime Bernadas disclosed that two of the new deaths were from Cebu City, while the other was from Cebu province. One of the fatalities was a one-year old male infant, who was declared dead on arrival in a government hospital in Cebu City, he said. The DOH-7 noted that it is still gathering further information on the deceased patients from both the hospitals where they were admitted, and the cities or provinces where they died. A bulk of Cebu island's COVID-19 cases were recorded in Cebu City. On Sunday, it logged 97 more infections, bringing the city's tally to 1,566 infections. 21 have recovered, while 13 have succumbed to the dreaded virus. Lapu-Lapu City, on the other hand, has 43 infections; while Mandaue City's total cases remain at 109. In the province of Cebu, an additional five patients contracted COVID-19, as the infected toll rose to 44. Eight more people have died. The DOH-7 bared that there are now 18 confirmed cases of the villness among evacuated overseas Filipino workers. The entire island of Cebu is currently second to Metro Manila among areas with the most infections. On Monday, the Philippines broke the 11,000 mark, as it posted 11,086 coronavirus cases. These include 1,999 recoveries and 726 deaths. CNN Philippines' Stringer Dale Israel contributed to this report. TDT | Manama The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) has highlighted its efforts to educate citizens and residents during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. These efforts have included issuing statements, posting tweets and making visits to isolation and quarantine centres to assess the measures taken by the concerned authorities to provide medical services to patients and contacted individuals. The NIHR has also distributed questionnaires to learn about the opinions of the quarantined and isolated people, as well as that of the medical and service staff present there. These highlights were made during a virtual meeting between NIHR president Maria Khoury and Asia Pacific Forum (APF) director Kieren Fitzpatrick, expert consultant Chris Sidoti, and Capacity Development manager Pip Dargan, as part of their cooperation. Khoury also provided a summary of the Kingdoms efforts to combat the pandemic taking into account human rights, mainly the royal pardon of 901 people, and the activation of alternative punishment sanctions that benefited about 1,800 people. The efforts also included establishing several quarantine and isolation centres, granting the necessary permits to set up special centres for temporary isolation and quarantine centres, and allocating schools and temporary buildings to housing workers to prevent overcrowding in their current accommodations. Khoury stressed that the NIHR is working to ensure there is no overcrowding in the workers accommodations. Fitzpatrick indicated the forums readiness to provide all support and assistance to the NIHR in implementing its goals and carrying out its functions. Khoury praised the outstanding efforts made by APF to support national institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, which requires international cooperation and solidarity to combat it. The meeting also discussed the challenges facing national human rights institutions across the world in dealing with the precautionary measures applied by different countries to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, how they can carry out their duties, and cooperation with APF. Ana Arias breaks down in tears when she cooks chicken soup. It was her 15-year-old daughter's favorite dish. "They ripped her from my arms," said Arias as she remembers the last message her daughter Luisannys sent her before embarking on a fateful journey to Trinidad and Tobago. It's a journey that many Venezuelans have undertaken in a bid to flee poverty, but it's one that has resulted in dozens disappearing. "Mama, I love you, I miss you a lot," wrote Luisannys on April 23, 2019, hours before disappearing. Sitting in her living room in the town of Cumana, in the northeastern state of Sucre, with an old portrait of the curly-haired and olive-skinned Luisannys dressed in the blue uniform and cap she wore at primary school, Arias told AFP she suspected her daughter was "sold" by human traffickers. These "mafias," as opposition lawmaker Robert Alcala calls them, make money from illegal immigration, sending desperate people on the roughly 100-kilometer journey from Guiria in Sucre to Trinidad in barely seaworthy boats. "The women are exploited sexually and the men in rough jobs" on farms or in factories, said Alcala. Arias, currently in isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, has waited months for investigators to produce something. "No-one answers," she says. A week before that final text message, Luisannys left home with school friends, ostensibly to buy a shirt. Arias never saw her again. The last she heard of her youngest of two daughters is that she boarded a boat that sank. - 'Desperation' - Hundreds of would-be migrants have disappeared over the last two years making the clandestine journey from Venezuela to Trinidad, Curacao or Aruba. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said this "shows the desperation" of those fleeing Venezuela's economic collapse. The UN says almost five million Venezuelans have left the country since 2015, with 24,000 heading across the sea to Trinidad. Contacted by AFP, authorities on the island nation, which requires visas for Venezuelans, declined to comment. Neighbors saw Luisannys being forced into a car, according to Arias, who two days later received a phone call. It was Luisannys saying her captors were demanding the $200 they'd paid for her to release her. Arias, a 40-year-old seamstress, broke down in tears. Police traced the call to Guiria, where her alleged kidnappers took her for a manicure. The manicurist told Arias her daughter, whom she recognized by two deformed fingers damaged by an electric shock when she was a child, was "crying a lot." Arias said she'd never heard her daughter, who wanted to be a nurse, talk about migrating. "She lacked nothing," said Arias. "Maybe she was tricked, coerced or brainwashed." The day the tragedy happened, Arias received an anonymous phone call: "Your daughter drowned.... the boat she was in sank." Arias, who clings to the hope her daughter is still alive, travelled six hours from Cumana to Guiria where she showed pictures of her daughter to survivors of the wreck, which had 33 people aboard. A woman told her that her daughter was crying and begging to be allowed to stay. "You decide, get on board or die," she was told. Only one corpse was found, and it wasn't Luisannys's. The public prosecutor has charged six women and three men with trafficking people for "sexual exploitation." - 'Negligence' - The numbers may be down due to the coronavirus lockdown but still boats continue to leave Venezuela for nearby island nations, said Alcala. On May 16, 2019, the "Ana Maria" boat sank with Andy Villegas aboard. His 54-year-old father, Isidro Villegas, a sailor, spent three days at sea looking for him. He's accused the state of "negligence." Enrique -- not his real name -- plans to leave for Trinidad once the coronavirus emergency is over. The 31-year-old vegetable seller, who works in the Guiria market where the smell of fish is mixed with spices from Trinidad, sold an electric guitar, camera and computer to cobble together $300 for his passage. He feels let down by the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro. Although he admits it's "inevitable" to feel scared, he's putting his faith "in God." Arias is another leaning on her faith. She keeps a photo distributed by the public prosecutor showing 12 women following a raid. One has her face covered by her hair. Arias prays her daughter will come home one day. "It's her," she says. Ana Arias (R), 40, mother of Luisannys Betancourt, who disappeared in a shipwreck en route from Venezuela to Trinidad and Tobago on April 23, 2019, looks for pictures of her daughter in a computer at her house in Cumana, Sucre State, Venezuela Ana Arias, 40, mother of Luisannys Betancourt, has spent months searchin for answers since her 15-year-old daughter disappeared after the sinking of a boat en route from Venezuela to Trinidad General view of a port of the town of Guiria, Sucre State, Venezuela, a jumping off point for Venezuelan migrants making a sea crossing to Trinidad Relatives of people who disappeared in two shipwrecks en route from Venezuela to Trinidad and Tobago on April 23 and May 16, 2019, talk during a meeting in a square in Guiria, Sucre State, Venezuela MOSCOW Ever since the coronavirus took hold globally, researchers have been puzzled by Russias mortality rate of only about 13 deaths per million, far below the world average of 36 in a country with an underfunded health system. With the arrival of data for April, however, the mystery appears to be clearing up. Data released by Moscows city government on Friday shows that the number of overall registered deaths in the Russian capital in April exceeded the five-year average for the same period by more than 1,700. That total is far higher than the official Covid-19 death count of 642 an indication of significant underreporting by the authorities. A similar picture has been observed in many other countries. In neighboring Belarus, for example where the authoritarian leader Aleksandr G. Lukashenko has rejected calls for a lockdown as frenzy and psychosis the reported death rate is about 10 per million. In Mexico, officials have recorded more than three times as many deaths in the capital as the government has acknowledged. VIP Industries spurted 8.21% to Rs 230 after well-known investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala hiked stake in the company to 5.31%. As per the latest shareholding data available on exchanges, billionaire investor, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala bought an additional 2.85 lakh shares of the company during the quarter ended March 2020, taking his total stake to 5.307% from 5.106% earlier. On BSE, 1.16 lakh shares were traded in VIP Industries counter, compared to a 2-week average of 22,000 shares. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs 234.80 and an intraday low of Rs 220. On the technical front, the stock's RSI (relative strength index) stood at 45.798. The RSI oscillates between zero and 100. Traditionally, the RSI is considered overbought when above 70 and oversold when below 30. The stock was trading below its 50-day moving average (DMA) placed at 277.84 and its 200-day moving average (DMA) placed at 395.78. VIP Industries' consolidated net profit jumped 43.56% to Rs 34.21 crore on a 0.53% rise in net sales to Rs 432.35 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018. VIP Industries manufactures hard luggage and markets soft luggage imported from Bangladesh and China. VIP is the largest player in the luggage industry in India. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Apple is considering moving a fifth of its production from China to India, a new report claims. The tech giant is in talks with Indian officials about producing up to $40billion worth of smartphones over the next five years through manufacturers Wistron and Foxconn, according to the India's Economic Times. The move - which could make Apple India's largest exporter - comes as the coronavirus pandemic that began in Wuhan, China, caused major disruptions in tech supply chains. Apple is reportedly in talks with Indian officials about producing up to $40billion worth of smartphones over the next five years through manufacturers Wistron and Foxconn. Pictured: Employees work on the assembly line at a Foxconn factory in Tamil Nadu A government official told ET that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with top executives from Apple, Samsung and domestic phone producer Lava late last year to launch an ambitious production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to bring more tech manufacturing to the country. 'India isn't a big market for Apple as the company sells only a fraction of its total output in India,' the official said. 'It is actually looking at India as a base to manufacture and export, essentially diversifying its production out of China.' Under the PLI scheme companies are required to manufacture at least $10million worth of merchandise between 2020 and 2025. At present, Apple manufactures about $500million dollars worth of phones in the country, which accounts for about $1.5billion of its phone sales, per ET. By comparison, Apple produced about $220billion worth of merchandise in China in 2018-2019, with $185billion of that exported. The purported shift in production comes after the coronavirus pandemic that began in Wuhan, China, caused major disruptions in tech supply chains. Pictured: An Apple factory in China ET reported that government officials have faced some pushback from Apple over the terms of the PLI scheme, which provides an incentive of four to six percent on incremental sales. 'There are some problems with some of the clauses,' the source said. 'For instance, valuing the entire plant and machinery already in use in its plants across China and other places at 40 percent of that value and the extent of the business information sought under the scheme are some of the irritants.' However, the source said Indian officials are eager to resolve those issues so the plans can come to fruition. Apple has not spoken publicly about the purported shift in production and did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment. Meanwhile, market experts have expressed skepticism over the PLI plan. 'We don't have ecosystem ready which could support any large-scale deployment,' Faisal Kawoosa, founder at research agency TechArc, told ET. Shocking new figures have shown that more than half of all Australian school principals have been assaulted or threatened while doing their job. The statistics in the principals' health, safety and wellbeing report, which was released on Monday, showed 51 per cent of Australian principals have been threatened with violence while 42 per cent had been punched, kicked, bitten or scratched in the past year. The majority of the threats had come from students, however, some parents were also involved, the survey said. One ACT Principal said he had broken glass thrown at him while he was trying to de-escalate a situation involving a student (stock image) A female principal from Western Australia said there had been a big increase in violence and drug use among students, with some developing a gang mentality. 'Increasing amounts of time for me and my leadership team are spent dealing with extreme violent and abusive/aggressive behaviour from students, to the detriment of long-term planning and curriculum focus.' One ACT principal said he had broken glass thrown at him while he was trying to intervene in a situation involving a student. 'In the last fortnight I have been hit by students in meltdown,' he said in the survey. Phil Riley, who co-authored the report, said the rate of violence faced by principals had increased since the survey started nine years ago. 'We've gone from seven times to nearly 11 times the violence rate in nine years,' he said. The report also highlighted troubling figures around overall wellbeing due to increased workloads and higher levels of stress. Fears have been raised about out-of-control students after it was revealed more than half of all Australian principals have been assaulted or threatened (pictured: A principal trying to break up a fight in Australia) The report also showed fewer teachers were now willing to take on the arduous role, creating concerns for the near future, as about 70 per cent of school principals are approaching retirement. 'The low replacement rate for retiring school principals tells a truly dire story about our education system which should concern us all and needs further investigation,' Professor Riley told the ABC. 'If we, as a nation, are serious about the key role of education in the growth and development of Australia, we simply cannot ignore school leaders' cries for help.' Saudi Arabia government on Monday unveiled plans to triple its Value Added Tax (VAT) to shore up its economy hit by the crash of oil prices due to the coronavirus pandemic. The government also said it would halt the monthly cost of living allowance for its citizens, Saudis official press agency reports. The move is part of austerity measures to stake state finances as the income from the countrys mainstay, oil, continues to plummet. According to its Finance Minister, Mohammed Al Jadaan, the VAT would be increased from 5 percent to 15 percent from July 1 while the monthly living handouts would stop from June 1. It has been decided the cost of living allowance will be halted from June 2020 and VAT will be raised from 5 percent to 15 percent from July 1, Mr Al-Jadaan said in a statement posted on the Saudi Press Agencys website. The austerity measures, he said, would boost state coffers by 100 billion riyals (N10.3 trillion) as the government steps up emergency plans to slash spending to deal with the economic and social blows from the pandemic. When in 2018, Saudi Arabia first introduced VAT as part of efforts to cut its reliance on world oil markets; it also introduced the cost of living allowance to citizens to cushion the impact of rising costs. There could be public resentment towards the new austerity measures amid coronavirus lockdown on businesses. The Arab worlds biggest economy earlier shut down cinemas and restaurants, halted flights, and suspended the year-round umrah pilgrimage in a bid to contain the deadly virus. But the finance minister insisted the measures were necessary to shore up state finances in the age of coronavirus that has sapped the global economy and has resulted in sharp decline in oil revenue. The government was also cancelling, extending or postponing expenditure for some government agencies and cutting spending on projects introduced as part of the ambitious Vision 2030 reform programme to diversify the oil-reliant economy, the minister added. The minister had earlier warned of painful and drastic steps to deal with the double shock of the novel coronavirus and record low oil prices. For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME. Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire. Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever. Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation. View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union. Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history. Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words. PITTSBURGH, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Two inventors, from St. Petersburg, Fla. wanted to create an improved way to support the neck and upper shoulders while driving long distances, so they invented the patent pending DR. BOB'S NECK SAVER. The invention provides an effective way to relieve neck pain and tension while driving. In doing so, it increases support and comfort. As a result, it could make driving for extended periods of time more enjoyable. The invention features a user-friendly design that is easy to apply and use so it is ideal for vehicle owners and travelers. Additionally, it is producible in design variations and a prototype model is available upon request. The inventors described the invention design. "Our design could help to prevent neck discomfort while driving." The original design was submitted to the Tampa sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 18-TPA-2913, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com. SOURCE InventHelp Related Links http://www.inventhelp.com A Shramik Special train carrying 1,383 stranded labourers to Madhya Pradesh from Morbi in Gujarat reached Habibganj railway station here on Monday, a state government official said. After they were screened by authorities and provided food, the passengers, including women, children and elderly people, boarded 13 buses for their destinations across the state, he said. They hailed from districts like Raisen, Rewa-Sidhi, Chhindwara, Shahdol, Guna, Sehore to name a few. The official said the social distancing norms were followed during the entire process. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) by Biju Veticad Repatriation is forcing all levels of government to apply different mechanisms to deal with the COVID-19 threat. The federal government has set strict conditions, including a mandatory 14-day quarantine. The Catholic Church is doing great work helping returnees under quarantine. Delhi (AsiaNews) The last plane with civilian passengers landed in India on 22 March before the countrys lockdown came into force. Now the government is implementing a plan to repatriate Indians stranded abroad. Operation Vandhe Bharat is the largest repatriation of Indians since the 1990 invasion of Kuwait when the Indian government brought home 150.000 of its citizens over 59 days, between 13 August and 11 October 1990, in almost five hundred flights. Starting 7 May, Vandhe Bharat could repatriate up to a million people with military aircrafts and Navy ships, with 15,000 people repatriated from about a dozen countries in the first week. Given the huge number of people registering at Indian embassies around the world, the mission could take several weeks to complete. Increasingly, both professionals and workers are asking to be repatriate because they lost their job as a result of the economic impact of lockdowns. The Home Ministry has already made public the procedures to prioritise the repatriation of those who have "valid reasons to return. The people whose visas are about to expire, who risk expulsion, with family emergencies, medical problems including pregnancy and students who lost their accommodation will go first. The first flights with returnees arrived in the state of southern India in Kerala on 7 May. A special Air India flight from Saudi Arabia arrived in Kozhikode, Kerala, with 152 people from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. Border officials reported that 84 of the passengers who returned from Riyadh were pregnant women who required the assistance of gynaecologists and nurses. A Navy ship with 700 people arrived yesterday from Male (Maldives) also with many pregnant women and children. Repatriation is forcing every level of government to apply various mechanisms to deal with the COVID-19 threat. The federal government has laid down strict conditions, including a mandatory 14-day quarantine. In Kerala, the local Health Department has alerted 207 hospitals across the state to be on stand-by, and made arrangements with 125 private hospitals in case they are needed at a later stage. Up to 11,000 isolation beds and 1,700 intensive care beds are ready for returning Keralites. In addition, around 200,000 beds are ready for mandatory quarantine. The federal government organised the first 64 flights which began taking off on 7 May bringing back some 15,000 Indians from a dozen countries over the following week. The first phase includes the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, the United States, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Subsequently, the programme will be extended to other countries like Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla are overseeing the coordination process with foreign governments, Indian missions and state governments. The External Affairs Ministry will place all information about returnees on a digital platform that will be accessible to other ministries and state governments. Data on those who lost their jobs will help state governments reintegrate these workers by including them in nation-wide or state government employment programmes or private sector jobs. A large number of Indians working overseas perform humble jobs and have been left jobless by the pandemic. Oil-rich Gulf states rely on millions of cheap labourers, mainly from South Asia who tend to live in squalid conditions on the outskirts of cities. The Catholic Church has been doing a great job helping returnees under quarantine. Several spiritual retreat centres in southern India have been provided for free. By contrast, many states in northern India are struggling to organise mandatory quarantine for their returnees. Faced with major difficulties in organising free confinement, states like West Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha are blocking movements within the country. Travel on trains and private vehicles has started inside India. Due to tensions and protests by migrant workers across the country, Indias railways plan to resume passenger train travel tomorrow. In various parts of the country However, thousands of people are not on any passenger list and receive no support from the authorities. As a result, long queues of people on foot or bicycle can be seen on roads. Like Indian expats, they dream of going home, but far too often they are victims of road accidents. Oregon college sued for restricting free speech of pro-life student group Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Christian legal defense firm has filed a lawsuit against Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon, on behalf of a pro-life student group for restricting speech to less than 2% of the campus. The Alliance Defending Freedom filed the lawsuit this week over CCCs policy limiting free speech to two small areas on its 100-acre campus. The policy also requires students to obtain permission at least two weeks before speaking in those areas. The only permission slip students need in order to speak on public college campuses is the First Amendment, said ADF Legal Counsel Michael Ross, one of the attorneys representing students Marcos Sanchez and Emma Howell. Sanchez and Howell lead the CCC chapter of Students for Life of America, a pro-life student organization with over 1,200 chapters at high schools and colleges nationwide. The lawsuit argues that the school's policies particularly the requirement that student groups acquire two-week advance permission hamper the student's ability to mobilize promptly in response to any news developments relevant to Students for Life's advocacy work. ADF asserts that the school's policies prevent the students from engaging in spontaneous expression and from promoting their events. "For example, on Feb. 26, members of Students for Life hosted a debate on campus about the morality of physician-assisted suicide, ADF explained in a blog post. While the students applied for, and received, approval from the college to host the event indoors on campus, they wished to promote the event outdoors between classes by handing out flyers and describing the services of local pregnancy resource centers. The students refrained from doing so, however, to avoid violating the colleges policies restricting speech. The areas where students are permitted to speak freely on campus are called Free Speech Zones. ADF argues that all of the colleges grounds should be open for freedom of expression. Furthermore, ADF contends that CCCs restrictions do not pass constitutional muster. Students dont give up their constitutionally protected freedoms when they step on to campus or hold a specific viewpoint, Ross added. Our clients have the right to peacefully engage and persuade their peers. They also have the freedom to support pregnant and parenting students without censorship or harassment from their school. ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, the director of ADFs Center for Academic Freedom, stressed in a statement that its so important that public universities model the First Amendment values theyre supposed to be teaching students. Todays college students are our future legislators, judges, and voters, Langhofer noted in a statement. Pro-life students like their peers have the freedom to share messages of hope and healing without first asking college administrators for permission to speak. The Christian Post reached out to CCCs general counsel for comment on the lawsuit. A response is pending. Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins said in a statement that across the U.S., her organization is seeing incredible opposition to the pro-life speech of our student leaders and volunteers as they speak for the defenseless and educate their fellow students on abortion. But the law and the Constitution are clear on the matter: Public schools cannot silence pro-life groups or force them to self-censor, said Hawkins. If Chemeketa Community College wants to respect every member of its community, it will clarify that Students for Life can participate in the open exchange of ideas and ensure that the entire college community becomes a free speech zone for pro-life students and their peers. ADF was founded in 1994 to defend religious liberty and the sanctity of life. It has been at the forefront of notable legal cases related to the First Amendment. ADF has won nine Supreme Court cases related to First Amendment issues in less than a decade. A Border Security Force jawan killed himself after firing a shot at a colleague at a camp in Manipur's Churachandpur distritct on Monday, officials said. The injured colleague, a constable-rank jawan, has been admitted to a hospital, they said. The officials said the incident took place at around 10 AM when a BSF head constable posted at the subsidiary training centre (STC) of the border guarding force in the district, allegedly fired a gunshot from his service rifle at his junior, the constable-rank jawan. The head constable later turned the gun on himself and died while the constable he fired at is admitted to a hospital, a senior official said. They added that the troops were part of the security setup of the director of the STC who is an Inspector General rank officer. The BSF is deployed in the state as part of its task to guard the India-Bangladesh international border. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) VANCOUVER, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - NexGen Energy Ltd. ("NexGen" or the "Company") (TSX:NXE, NYSE MKT:NXE) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding agreement with Queen's Road Capital Investment Ltd. ("QRC") (TSXV: QRC) for a financing package totalling US$30 million, comprising: (a) US$15 million of common shares of NexGen (the "Placement Shares"); and (b) US$15 million aggregate principal amount of unsecured convertible debentures (the "Debentures"). The US$15 million private placement of Placement Shares will result in the issuance of approximately 11.6 million Placement Shares at a price of C$1.80 per Placement Share, (equal to a 5% premium to the 20-day VWAP of the Company's common shares (the "Common Shares")). The Debentures will be convertible at the holder's option into approximately 8.9 million Common Shares (at current exchange rates, with actual number of Common Shares to be issued dependent on exchange rate at time of conversion). Leigh Curyer, Chief Executive Officer of NexGen, commented, "We welcome QRC as a new shareholder of NexGen. QRC is becoming a leading financier to the global resources sector in portfolio companies incorporating elite standards of ESG. QRC complements NexGen's existing well respected shareholder base of long term committed supporters of the Company. NexGen's commitment to deliver highly positive impacts to as many people as possible covering economic, health, community and government through the optimal development of the Arrow Project, particularly in these times, is reflective of its leading organizational culture. " Warren Gilman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Queen's Road Capital, commented, "I am excited to announce QRC's investment into NexGen. QRC seeks to invest in world-class mineral resource assets in safe jurisdictions and the Arrow Project, as the world's largest to-be-developed high-grade uranium deposit located in Saskatchewan, Canada, meets that criteria. I have been a director of NexGen since 2017 and today's financing will ensure the Company continues to successfully advance the exciting Arrow Project towards production." The Terms of the Debentures The Debentures will carry a 7.5% coupon (the "Interest") over a 5-year term. The Debentures will be convertible at the holder's option into Common Shares at a conversion price (the "Conversion Price") of C$2.34, equal to a 30% premium to the issue price of the Common Shares. Two-thirds of the Interest (equal to 5% per annum) is payable in cash. One-third of the Interest (equal to 2.5% per annum) is payable in Common Shares issuable at a price equal to the 20-day VWAP on either the TSX or NYSE MKT (whichever has the greatest trading volume of Common Shares) ending on the day prior to the date such interest payment is due. The Company will be entitled, on or after the third anniversary of the date of the issuance of the Debentures, at any time that the 20-day VWAP on the TSX exceeds 130% of the Conversion Price, to redeem the Debentures at par plus accrued and unpaid Interest. Strategic Alignment Provisions In consideration for the investment in NexGen, the Company and QRC will enter into an investor rights agreement (the "Investor Rights Agreement") providing for similar rights and obligations as were agreed to by investors in connection with the Company's most recent private placement financing. Specifically, the Investor Rights Agreement will provide for voting alignment, standstill and transfer restriction covenants that would apply for such time as QRC holds at least 5% of the Common Shares (on a partially diluted basis) or until there is a change of control of the Company. Use of Proceeds Proceeds from the financing will be used to fund the continuing development of the Company's Rook 1 Project and for general corporate purposes. Conditions The financing is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including but not limited to stock exchange approvals, the completion of definitive documentation, there being no material adverse change in the business of the Company, or a major event of national or international consequence that disrupts the financial markets or the business, operations or affairs of the Company. Advisors BMO Capital Markets and Fort Capital Partners are acting as financial advisors and lead placement agents to NexGen. About Queen's Road Capital Investment Ltd. Queen's Road Capital Investment Ltd. is becoming a leading financier to the global resource sector. The company is a resource-focused investment company, making investments in privately held and publicly traded resource companies. The company acquires and holds securities for both long-term capital appreciation and short-term gains, with a focus on convertible debt securities and resource projects in advanced development or production located in safe jurisdictions. About NexGen NexGen is a British Columbia corporation with a focus on the acquisition, exploration and development of Canadian uranium projects. NexGen has a highly experienced team of uranium industry professionals with a successful track record in the discovery of uranium deposits and in developing projects through discovery to production. NexGen owns a portfolio of prospective uranium exploration assets in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada; including a 100% interest in Rook I, location of the Arrow Deposit discovered in February 2014, the Bow discovery in March 2015, the Harpoon discovery in August 2016 and the Arrow South discovery in July 2017. NexGen is the recipient of the PDAC's 2018 Bill Dennis Award and the 2019 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities referenced herein have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), and such securities may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements thereunder. Forward-Looking Information The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. "Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. Forward looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding use of proceeds and expected closing timing. Forward-looking information and statements are based on the then current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about NexGen's business and the industry and markets in which it operates. Forward-looking information and statements are made based upon numerous assumptions, including among others, that the proposed financing transaction will be completed, the results of planned exploration activities are as anticipated, the price of uranium, the cost of planned exploration activities, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, that third party contractors, equipment, supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct NexGen's planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward looking information or making forward looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performances and achievements of NexGen to differ materially from any projections of results, performances and achievements of NexGen expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others, negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of the availability of additional financing, impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including related to the length, severity and spread of the pandemic and measures taken by governmental authorities and public health officials in respect of the pandemic, the risk that pending assay results will not confirm previously announced preliminary results, imprecision of mineral resource estimates, the appeal of alternate sources of energy and sustained low uranium prices, aboriginal title and consultation issues, exploration risks, reliance upon key management and other personnel, deficiencies in the Company's title to its properties, uninsurable risks, failure to manage conflicts of interest, failure to obtain or maintain required permits and licenses, changes in laws, regulations and policy, competition for resources and financing, and other factors discussed or referred to in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 11, 2020 under "Risk Factors". Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE NexGen Energy Ltd. Related Links http://www.nexgenenergy.ca/ Ohio schools agree to keep yoga out of class instruction after over 100 pastors object Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Several Ohio public schools have agreed to keep yoga outside their classrooms after more than 100 local pastors argued to state officials that coercing children to practice a "form of Eastern religion" is a violation of the First Amendment. The pastors who lead congregations in north-central Ohio made their objections to practicing yoga in public schools known in a March letter to the Ohio State Board of Education, Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, Ohio Senate President Larry J. Obhof, as well as the public school superintendents in several counties. Yoga is not merely an external physical practice with a purely physiological effect, but rather an internal spiritual practice advertised as being able to provide the power to change an individual and transform the world, the pastors argued. Specifically, yogas stretching and breathing components called asanas and pranayama in Sanskrit are intended to be spiritually transformative. The courts have repeatedly ruled that yoga and meditation are religious practices. The pastors' letter stated that they had learned that "a form of Eastern Religion called yoga is being proselytized during compulsory class hours in the school districts: Clear Fork, Galion, Lexington, Lucas, Mansfield, and Shelby." In a recent response to the pastors published by Frontlines Ohio, Lexington Local School District Superintendent Mike Ziegelhofer explained that he will take steps to ensure that schools in the district are abiding by the law. The district includes three elementary schools, a junior high school, and a high school. Effective immediately, upon our return to school, all employees of the Lexington Local School District will be notified in writing via e-mail that the use or endorsement of and/or any inference of the use or endorsement of yoga, any forms of transcendental meditation and the promotion, endorsement or practice of any religious beliefs is not permitted within the Lexington Local School District during school hours, Ziegelhofer wrote. Lucas Local School District Superintendent Bradley Herman also submitted a response letter, saying that his school district also intends to uphold the law. As a public school district, we are mindful of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and the prohibition of religious instruction, Herman said in a letter sent to Rev. El Akuchie of the Richland Community Prayer Network and Godsfield House of Prayer. To that end, we must ensure that we are not doing anything that runs afoul of our obligations and appreciate your concerns. Herman stated that there is no official yoga class or yoga instruction at Lucas High School and no intent to change that. In their letter, arguing against the practice of yoga in schools, the pastors pointed to a 1988 Arkansas case commonly known as Powell v. Perry. In that case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit concluded that yoga is a method of practicing Hinduism. In 1995, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9 Circuit in the case of Self Realization Fellowship Church v. Ananda Church of Self Realization labeled the Hindu-Yoga spiritual tradition as a religious tradition. In 1979, the 3rd Circuit ruled in the case of Malnak v. Yogi that transcendental meditation can be considered religious and an unconstitutional establishment of religion. The practice of Eastern Religion in the classroom during school hours is a form of coercion due to its mandatory attendance, teacher authority, and peer pressure, the pastors argued. In fact, the endorsement of yoga is a violation of the First Amendments Establishment clause, which forbids government from picking religious winners and losers and enforcing its choice. Without question, Eastern Religion is a practice in conflict with the vast majority of those in our region whether from Judeo-Christian traditions or otherwise. The pastors also contend that even though proponents of yoga allege that yoga brings benefits to student practitioners, our Biblical faith tradition brings just as many if not more scientifically proven benefits. Yet ironically in a nation with [a] Judeo-Christian heritage it is school sanctioned prayer, Intelligent Design curriculum and the display of the Ten Commandments that are strictly prohibited from public schools, the pastors wrote in the letter. In recent years, the practice of yoga has emerged as a controversial subject as many Christians have endorsed it. In 2018, Serita Jakes, wife of popular televangelist Bishop T.D. Jakes, ignited a debate over the practice of yoga among Christians after she shared a series of photos showing members of a women's group at The Potter's House of Dallas enjoying a "taste of yoga" as a part of a healthy living endeavor. A group of Christians who support yoga called Christians Practicing Yoga has been meeting since 2001. The group argues that "the practice of yoga reminds us of the biblical basis for a Christian high theology of the body." "Where the body is concerned, Christianity has by and large not walked its talk, the group explains. It has resisted the radical nature of its own good news. On the one hand, it has the highest theological evaluation of the body amongst all the religions of the world, and on the other hand, it has given little attention to the body's role in the spiritual life in positive terms. High theology; low practice. In an earlier interview on Desiring God, well-known evangelical theologian John Piper expressed his opposition to yoga, calling it "antithetical" to Christianity. "I would want to say that both yoga and tai chi, the little I know and the little research I have done, have their roots in eastern worldviews and are profoundly in those roots antithetical to a Christian understanding of God and the way he works in the world, Piper wrote. As the global community marks Mothers Day, Professor Joseph Atsu Ayee, Senior Lecturer, Political Science Department, University of Ghana, on Sunday, saluted the hard work and the contributions of mothers to Ghanas socio-economic development. He noted that the resilient efforts of Ghanaian mothers to raise children had gone a long to bring the nation this far. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Prof Atsu Ayee said Mothers Day should be a time of reflection about motherhood. It should be a day of reflection about what mothers have done and continue to do. And we should also remember single parent mothers who are still toiling to make their children survive, Prof Atsu Ayee stated. He intimated that as the world celebrates Mothers Day, there was the need for them to also look at the onerous responsibility which mothers had done and continue to do. He stated that mothers play critical roles in the upbringing of their children; adding that even if their children are old, they still want to have that affection, that love (for them). We salute all mothers. And we should also pray that God should give them (mothers) robust health and the resources to discharge their onerous responsibilities. Prof Atsu Ayee, who called for special prayers for mothers; also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had actually affected more women than men. So, I think that we should spend time reflecting over what women have done and continue to do, especially within this era of the COVID-19 pandemic. And they (women) are the most vulnerable group, in terms of taking care of children, in terms of taking care of the house, he said. Prof Atsu Ayee further urged Ghanaian mothers to continue to discharge their responsibilities in spite of the numerous problems and the challenges that they were facing. We know that even though they may not get their rewards (on this earth), their rewards will be in heaven. Mothers Day is observed on the second Sunday of May each year. It is a day that marks the celebration of motherhood and acknowledges everything a mother does diligently in raising her children. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video PathologyWatch announced today a $5M series A funding led by SpringTide Investments and Rock Creek Capital with additional funding by individual investors. PathologyWatch is emerging as the groundbreaking leader of intuitive, easy-to-implement digital dermatopathology solutions that can speed the diagnostic process while reducing costs to clinics and enhancing patient care. PathologyWatch will utilize this series A funding to strengthen outreach to dermatology clinics nationwide. Over 12 months, it expects to triple its sales force while expanding marketing efforts and implementing a strong channel partner strategy. The funding also represents a continued investment in the development of technology and supervised artificial intelligence (AI) for various cancer lines. PathologyWatch differentiates itself from competitors by offering fully interfaced EMR (Electronic Medical Records) reporting and 24/7 access to digital slides. Clients also have access to top dermatopathologists and the option to interpret and bill for their cases. PathologyWatch is further distinct by its primary focus on outpatient clinics. Changing How Pathology Operates by Transforming Biopsy Diagnostics We believe PathologyWatch will change how pathology operates by transforming biopsy diagnostics, said Austin Waters, principal at SpringTide Investments. PathologyWatch has created a platform to digitize pathology workflows and is a leading developer of AI algorithms that detect and characterize cancers from biopsy samples. The quality and breadth of their solution, and their early success in dermatopathology, is why we're bullish on the future of this company; PathologyWatch is redefining biopsy diagnostics as we know it. First Live Clinical Implementation of Dermatopathology AI with Ability to Generate Complete Reports We have the first live clinical implementation of dermatopathology AI that can generate a full report and make physicians significantly more efficient in Australia, as were working alongside physicians to better diagnose skin cancer, said PathologyWatch co-founder and CEO Dan Lambert. We provide dermatologists with a digital interface that lets them read their own cases. Heretofore, most of pathology has been done with a microscope. Our service offering is the first of its kind that can aid a dermatologist through digital tools and expert consultation. Benefits the Patient by Merging Clinical Observations with Pathology PathologyWatch is a game changer, said Jeffrey Smith, Dermatologist, Prairie Lakes Healthcare System. Digital access to my cases, expert dermpath reads, and an EMR interface not to mention the time savings and increase in revenue for our hospital, all while keeping our patients in-network. Most importantly, this benefits the patient by merging clinical observations with pathology." The Future of Dermatopathology for Dermatologists I believe PathologyWatch is the future of dermatopathology for dermatologists. The group combines academic expertise with the efficiency of a private lab. It is a huge timesaver for me and my staff, said April Larson, Dermatologist. By reviewing my own cases, I am able to make better clinical decisions for my patients. Its a win-win for everybody. For more information on PathologyWatch, please visit pathologywatch.com. About PathologyWatch PathologyWatch is the groundbreaking leader of digital dermatopathology services. Through two programs, ValueWatch and BusinessWatch, dermatology clinics and hospitals can improve operational efficiency by speeding up workflow and improve patient outcomes by utilizing the PathologyWatch expert professional team and partner laboratory services. This can facilitate best-in-class reads and, in some cases, enable additional revenue to the practice by in-housing pathology. With an intuitive and easy-to-implement digital pathology solution that includes access to top-tier dermatopathologists and a streamlined clinical workflow that interfaces directly into the EMR, PathologyWatch brilliantly combines state-of-the-art technology and clinical decision making to deliver unprecedented patient care. About SpringTide Investments SpringTide is a network of experienced healthcare founders, operators, and investors in the healthcare space. With over $350M in collective exits across 4 startup companies, our Managing Partners are driven to provide access and support for fellow entrepreneurs who are expanding access to quality healthcare. About Rock Creek Capital A venture and equity investment firm, Rock Creek Capital is a Utah-based fund. Focused on growth equity, the fund helps entrepreneurs and founders of companies scale successfully. Saudi Arabia will triple its value added tax and suspend a cost of living allowance for state employees. The Kingdom's Finance Minister made the announcement Monday (May 11), as authorities tried to protect an economy battered by falling oil prices and a slowdown. Mohammed al-Jadaan said VAT would rise from 5 to 15% from July 1st, while the living allowance will be suspended from June 1st. The Minister called the measures 'painful' but 'necessary' to shore-up the economy in the medium to long-term. About 1.5 million Saudis work in the state sector. Since 2018 Riyadh has paid state employees $267 a month to compensate for the higher cost of living after VAT was first introduced. The austerity measures come as Saudi Arabia posted a $9 billion budget deficit in the first quarter. The world's largest oil exporter was hurt by a slump in prices. Oil revenues fell 24% from a year earlier in the first three months of the year to $34 billion. But with consumer spending expected to tumble, some economists say the VAT hike may not do much to plug the budget hole. IMANI Africa President, Franklin Cudjoe, has called on the Finance Ministry to address concerns that government shared different sets of macroeconomic data with Ghanaians and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Speaking on The Big Issue, he stressed that there was no need for partisanship in the matter because these are figures and facts. The Deputy Information Minister, Pius Hadzide has insisted that the government did not present different sets of data to Parliament and the IMF. But Mr. Cudjoe feels the Deputy Ministers explanation has not adequately addressed the brewing controversy. He held that Mr. Hadzide was quite incoherent in trying to explain away the contortion, confusion and contradiction. So I thought that there must be some real response from the Finance Ministry because this is a serious matter. The disparities, which were highlighted by fact-checking organisations, where in the GDP Deficit, Primary Balance, Current Account Balance and Gross International Reserves figures. They came to the conclusion that different sets of data were presented because of information coming from the IMF following the disbursement of a $1 billion credit facility upon a request for financial support to the government amid the coronavirus pandemic. Also commenting on the matter on The Big Issue, is the Tamale North MP, Alhassan Suhuyini, who said the concerns required clarity from government. This kind of revelation should elicit calls for our government to be forthright with us and to reconcile the figures that we have in the budget and the figures that we present to the IMF. The fact the Fiscal Responsibility Law may have been breached was also of concern to the legislator because in 2019 for example, fact-checkers indicated that the GDP deficit in the budget statement was 4.5 percent whilst the data from the IMF indicated that the deficit was 7.5 percent. Because of this, Mr. Suhuyini said: I see the Finance Minister, if the figures on the deficit are correct, as a candidate for prosecution [because of the Fiscal Responsibility Law]. ---citinewsroom An alarmed Bihar government is gearing up to face the rising number of cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the state, especially after trainloads of mostly asymptomatic migrant labourers came back and many of them tested positive. Bihar has seen the number of Covid-19 cases rise steadily and it has picked up in the last 10 days, coinciding with the return of migrants. There were just 66 cases of the coronavirus disease in the state on April 14 and now it has reached 646, with 119 cases adding from May 5-10, mostly from amongst migrant workers. Sanjay Kumar, principal secretary of the department of health, said out of the 49 people who tested positive on Saturday 44 are migrants and had come back from different parts of the country. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has already directed officials to do random testing in districts and strengthen isolation wards at the block level with more beds and facilities, as the number is set to grow. The focus has now shifted to the panchayat and block levels, as it is where the migrants will spend their mandatory 21 days at the isolation centres. The figures say that Bihar will need to move more cautiously now with migrants, including those from foreign countries, returning in large numbers, a minister, who did not want to be named, said. We got a hint of it long before special trains started running, as some people still managed to reach the state through makeshift arrangements or on foot and later tested positive despite being asymptomatic. Some of the districts reported their first case through migrants and later more cases were detected during contact tracing, the minister added. The spread has engulfed the entire statefrom just 12 districts in Bihar with Covid-19 cases at the end of the first phase of the lockdown to 30 at the end of the second and 37 of the 38 districts midway through the third phaseraising concerns for the government machinery. Bihar has an estimated 40-45-lakh migrant population working across several states, though there is no definite statistics on it. More than 29 lakh migrants had registered with the Bihar government app to avail Rs 1000 assistance to them, though the number is expected to be much higher. We knew the challenging phase for the state will begin with a large number of migrants returning to their native places and the government has made plans accordingly on the lines of what the state did during Kosi tragedy, said a senior official of the government. The chief minister has clearly directed that all facilities should be provided to the migrant labourers so that they also cooperate in respecting the mandatory quarantine for their own good and for the safety of others, the official cited above said. He has said that with Covid-19, there was no room for any complacency at any level and the people should also be made aware of the seriousness without creating any scare so that they come forward to cooperate with testing and screening, the official added. In rural Bihar, the number of households reporting out-migration per 1000 households reporting outmigration was 745 much higher than the all-India average of 365. In the urban area, it was 614 against the national average of 240, says a study by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Patna centre. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Advertisement A Non Governmental Orgainization, End COVID-19 Now (ECN) has berated Kano Elders led by former Presidential flag-bearer of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), Alhaji Bashir Tofa over their uncomplimentary statement against Governor Abdullahi Umar Gandujes converted efforts in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. In a Statement signed by the National Coordinator of the group, Comrade Ibrahim Sani and made available to journalists in Kano, ECN expressed shock that a group of Kano Elders can descend as low as playing politics with the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic in Kano. Sani stated that, the futile attempts by a group of people who described themselves as Kano Against COVID-19, to rubbish the efforts of Governor Abdullahi Umar Gandujes administration in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in Kano is not only condemnable, but inimical to integrity and sensibility of the Kano people. ECN while making reference to a story by by Saturday Sun entitled Kano Elders Blame Ganduje For Poor Handling Of COVID-19 Pandemic, urged the good people of Kano state to disregard in its totality, what they described as, conflicting, disjointed and unprofessional report designed to pitch Ganduje against the people. Sani noted that the statement creditted to the so-called Kano Elders was a grievous effort to abuse the minds of Kano residents over the reality and existence of the novel Corona Virus which has wreaked havoc across the globe. According to the Statement, the story was maliciously crafted by the reporter and his sponsors to not only attack the person of Dr. Ganduje, but also to mock the good people of Kano state in this trying times of pains and melancholy. More worrisome is the names of alleged signatories to the baseless story which involved Alhaji Bashir Tofa, Mr. A.B. Mahmiud, Prof. Auwalu Hamisu Yadudu, Prof. Jubrin Ibrahim and Mrs. Maryam Uwais. In as much as the afore mentioned prominent citizens of the state are entitled to their opinion on delicate issues such as the fight against the dreaded COVID-19 in Kano, it is, indeed, unbelievable that people of such calibre who are suppose to use their resources and professionalism to eradicate the deadly pandemic from our dear state, has become agents of blackmail who crusade that Corona Virus does not even exist! Sani maintained that, those who have been following the response of Kano state government to the outbreak of the pandemic will attest to the fact that Governor Ganduje has even put his life on the line to ensure that residents of Kano are protected and well informed on the whims and caprices of the deadly disease. Few days ago, Governor Ganduje personally donated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) not only to government owned hospitals, but to private clinics across the state. The state COVID-19 Task Force headed by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, has been working round the clock to ensure that suspected cases are tested and quarantined. According to him, more so, the state COVID-19 Fund Raising Committee headed by the Vice Chancellor of Bayero Umbiersiy Kano (BUK), Prof. Muhammad Yahuza Bello, which has reached out to hundreds of thousands of the poorest of poor with palliatives. The state government has remained transparent, resolute and efficient in the dogged fight angaint Corona Virus. Indeed, a thorough analysis of the entire story lives no one in doubt that the reporter and his patrons were on a futile journey to undermine and blackmail the fight against the disease for cheap political goals, which the good people of our dear state wondering why they have elected to destroy efforts and legacies of our Governor and leader. We are duty bound to appreciate the selfless efforts and contributions of good spirited individuals and corporate organizations who in one way or the other, contributed to success story we have so far achieved. We show our solidarity with Governor Ganduje as Kano state under his watch has remained committed in its determination to fight the COVID-19 from all fronts, judiciously using available human and material resources to save the lives of those who are confirmed positive and also ensure that the good people of Kano state strictly observe the protocols of COVID-19 pandemic, which include regular washing and sanitizing of their hands, observing social distancing and avoiding crowded areas The lockdown order by President Muhammadu Buhari has been strictly maintained by security agents and vigilantes who have been well mobilized to ensure that people safely stay at home. We have been opening more Isolation Centres. We have been consistently tracking contacts, we will continue to expand our programmes to ensure that all procedures are duly followed. Sani, however, added that he was not surprise that such ill-conceived statement was credited to Bashir Tofa and his co-travellers, describing them as chronic critics of Governor Gandujes administration. It is pertinent to more that Bashir Tofa and his group have become ardent attackers and haters of Governor Abdullahi Umar Gandujes administration. They have in the past severally attacked Governor Gandujes policies. This is evident in their failed attempts to stop the creation of four new Emirates in Kano. They have also done several hatchet jobs for the Kwankwassiyya movement making fruitless attempts to pull down Gandujes government since they did succeed in their plots to stop Governor Gandujes re-election bid. The so-called Kano Elders led by Bashir Tofa has no followership in Kano. They do not Command respect and cannot in any way influence decisions and opinions of the good people of Kano state. Quite unfortunate and appalling is the fact that non of these self-acclaimed Kano Elders contributed in any means to the determined fight against COVID-19 in Kano in terms of donations in cash or kind. ECN at this juncture reaffirm its position that COVID-19 is real, just as we to the so called Kano Elders, to show compassion and a deep sense of patriotism by supporting and donating to this common fight against Corona Virus. US-based technology giant Apple will allegedly produce millions of wireless earphones called AirPods in Vietnam from this quarter a clear move to diversify its manufacturing operations. Apple will produce millions of AirPods in Vietnam to diversify operations 30% of the AirPods, approximately three to four million units, would be manufactured in Vietnam, according to newswire Nikkei Asian Review. "The mass production of AirPods in Vietnam started as early as in March," a person familiar with the matter said. "The Vietnamese officials even granted special permits for a key Apple AirPods assembler to help the company bring in engineers to the country for smooth production during the lockdown." Previously, the giant had ordered its suppliers to produce up to 45 million units in the first half of the year to keep up with the surging demand for the wireless earphones. A couple of weeks ago, Apple posted job advertisements in Vietnam on LinkedIn, including the post of operations manager based in Hanoi and test engineers in Ho Chi Minh City. These recruitment notices add more credence to previous rumours that the firm would ramp up its outsourcing manufacturing to Vietnam, while Foxconn, the worlds biggest electronics contract manufacturer and a key supplier of Apple, also has a facility in Bac Ninh province. Nikkei cited the familiar source, "It's still an irreversible trend that big US tech companies will need to gradually seek production bases outside of China. Most of the US companies including Apple are looking for non-China production. (...) Some prefer Vietnam and some like Thailand or India, and some chose the Americas and others Southeast Asian nations." In fact, a variety of US corporations such as Google and Microsoft are allegedly making further inroads into the country. HP and Dell are also said to be moving up to 30% of their notebook production to Vietnam. Meanwhile, Inventec, an AirPod assembler, is currently building a plant in Vietnam at Apple's request. Merry Electronics, Apples acoustic component supplier, is reportedly collaborating with Luxshare to prepare a facility in Vietnam. The company said its operations will begin this summer. Other Apple suppliers such as Foxconn and Pegatron are also increasing their footprint in north Vietnam, even though they are not necessarily helping to make Apple products there at the moment. Previously, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast Vietnams GDP to grow at 2.7% this year, higher than that of its regional peers. However, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc demanded that the country must obtain a GDP growth rate higher than IMFs forecast, to be the highest in Southeast Asia. Vietnam stopped social distancing restrictions, even in several high-risk localities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City last month. VIR Signs indicate that Apple plans to set up factory in Vietnam Apple is running a large recruitment campaign in Vietnam, while many other foreign technology firms are considering pouring capital into projects in the country. Prophet T.B Joshua, the founder and General Overseer of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, has revealed what the people should expe... Prophet T.B Joshua, the founder and General Overseer of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, has revealed what the people should expect after the coronavirus lockdown. The cleric said God told him that hard times will follow immediately after the lockdown, advising everyone to cut their coat according to their cloth. Speaking during a live service on Emmanuel TV on Sunday, T.B Joshua said people around the world should get ready for life after the COVID-19 lockdown. Joshua said that those who adjust to the new condition of things will be able to overcome and those who are unable to adjust will go by the level of their challenges, with downfall and death being the endpoint. If you dont get your job back or you dont get a proper job or a full-time job or you run into loss or lose a loved one after this lockdown, dont despair; dont doubt your Guard. God is about to establish you. Ask any successful man or woman and they will tell you about how much disappointment and setback they had to endure to come to a new level in life. For many, it was a sack letter, an accusation, a petition against them and they lost their job but today they are established. I want to believe the similar signs I am seeing now will happen to many while others may lose loved ones or run into loss. I can see beyond many of our situations at hand. That is why I am telling you that behind that situation lies your future. After the lockdown, whatever disappointment you will receive or whatever happens think deeply and you will see the reason this is happening to you. Remember, many successful people today once had the same experience and they were moved to a higher level in life thereby. Ordinarily, you would not want to leave your position or status and say you want to establish yourself without a situation like this. Something must happen and that seems to be happening now. Sometimes God allows situations like this I mean disappointment or something more serious so that you can take your proper position and possessions. Sometimes it is to enable you to get to where you belong. I know where I belong! What is your dark moment? It may be to make you see clearly where you belong, I mean to prepare you for your future. I know where I belong! It is time to know where you belong; that is why all this is happening now. Dont forget everything big starts little. If something big starts big, it calls for concern. Starting little with a sincere heart is evidence that you will grow. Everything genuine likes to start little. You have to be ready to start little, cut your coat according to your cloth and endure temporary pain. You know what I mean the type of life you live must be in accordance with little. It may cause you to withdraw from the city to a rural life or to do away with some of your properties. You will have them back at the right time but let them go now for preparation to grow. Many things you have now may not be necessary for the journey, may not be relevant to the situation that is coming. Let them go and believe this word you are hearing. It is a word from God. Ask your family members to cut their coat according to their clothes. If any of them was living big before, they have to prepare to adjust now to the situation that is coming. Check your store and bring out the things you may need to sell. Right now, you need to be living modestly. Women that married men because of affluence or men that married women because of affluence divorce should not be the order of the day. We just need to adjust. You may likely need some new friends because not all of your friends will be able to cope and adjust. The future is still there but only calls for adjustment. Many things we are seeing now will go and many new things will come. If you know you got anything by injustice, such will not be able to stand. Whatever you might have received by injustice will go. It is only our genuine sweat that will see us through while nature is ready to take its course. God just started this judgment somewhere. It will soon get to me; it will soon get to you. Let us be ready. All that I am saying does not mean you are down but this is just what has come in our own time. Every age has its own challenges. People of yesterday had their own challenges in a different way. Others have gone through so-called challenges in their own way. Today, those who adjust will be able to overcome and those who are unable to adjust will go by the level of their challenges down, fall, death. Something must happen every 100 years to affect the whole world. This is what has happened in our own lifetime. It has been like that for generations. Those who respond to the demands of the age will end up as overcomers, victors, winners. However, those who fail to respond to the demands appropriately will eventually go down with the times, either by disappointment, failure, death. It is unchangeable; it must happen. The nature of the challenge may be different. Irrespective of how it happened, the nation that caused it, the person that caused it it had to happen; something just had to cause it. By the ending of June to the first week of July, this will begin to become a point of reference: This man said this; that man said it but it is God that said it. Northern Ireland politicians have been threatened by loyalist paramilitaries. Police contacted UUP leader Steve Aiken, his party colleague the Upper Bann MLA Doug Beattie, the SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone and Alliance MP Stephen Farry warning of a "credible threat" from loyalists. On Monday evening, Sinn Fein confirmed that MLA Linda Dillon has been informed by police of threats. It comes after she condemned the threats against her colleagues and the press. There was widespread disgust on Monday morning as news of the threats spread on social media. Amnesty international described them as an "attack on democracy". It comes after the politicians - along with many others - spoke out against threats made to Sunday Life and Sunday World journalists. Read More Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said: Police have made my party colleague Linda Dillon aware of a threat against her by loyalists tonight. This comes on the back of a number of threats to journalists and now despicable threats issued against an expanding list of elected representatives for defending the freedom of the press. Linda Dillon is committed to serving and representing all the people of Mid Ulster and will not be deterred by threats from anyone and neither will any Sinn Fein elected representative. Everyone should be free to carry out their business free from threats, fear or intimidation and that includes elected representatives and journalists. "The criminal gangs responsible for these threats should immediately withdraw them. Anyone with any information on the people involved should bring it forward to the PSNI, who must do all in their power to bring those responsible before the courts. Former soldier Doug Beattie said he had been threatened many times while serving in uniform. "I treated those threats with contempt, as I do with this present threat," he said. "What does concern me is that criminal gangs should feel confident enough to threaten journalists and politicians, and this is a testament to just how little they fear the criminal justice system in this country. This is simply not acceptable in a western European democracy in the 21st Century. The vast majority of people in Northern Ireland simply want to get on with their lives. They deserve the chance to do that free from gangsters and criminals. "Local communities, plagued by these gangs who attempt to drain them of their dignity and hard earned money, need the police to round up these bullies and put them away for as long as possible. "There should be no more talk of strategies and inducements; quite simply, these criminal gangs need to be closed down once and for all with sentences that act as a real deterrent. Twenty years on from the Belfast Agreement there is no such thing as a paramilitary group left in NI, there are only organised crime gangs who exist to make money for their mafia bosses, generally by selling drugs. Steve Aiken UUP leader Steve Aiken added: "Having served in the Royal Navy for 30 years and in many operational environments, it is somewhat ironic to return home to Northern Ireland and be threatened by so-called loyalists. Twenty years on from the Belfast Agreement there is no such thing as a paramilitary group left in Northern Ireland, there are only organised crime gangs who exist to make money for their mafia bosses, generally by selling drugs. The Secretary of State and the Chief Constable need to make it very clear by words and deeds that this type of threat will not be tolerated in any part of the United Kingdom, and that the people responsible will be on the receiving end of swift and decisive action. "These threats are not normal and they should not be treated as if they are. Threats against politicians and journalists by crime gangs are nothing less than fascism it wouldnt be tolerated in Glasgow, Manchester or London, and it shouldnt be tolerated here. Mr McGlone, Deputy Speaker at the Assembly, said he refused to be intimidated and neither he, nor those journalists to be threatened, will be silenced or censored. This is not the first time Ive been threatened by paramilitaries but I can assure those responsible, I will not be silenced, censored or intimidated by faceless thugs," he said. "In the week of VE commemorations, it is ironic and deeply sinister that they have chosen to mimic fascist attacks on journalists and elected representatives. This threat, and the threats made against journalists in the last week, are an attack on the democratic tradition on this island. It must be resisted and those responsible must understand that they will never win." It is ironic and deeply sinister that they have chosen to mimic fascist attacks on journalists and elected representatives. Patsy McGlone SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MP added: "Those responsible for this threat obviously dont know Patsy McGlone. He will not be broken or silenced by those intent on intimidating him and others. These thugs need to understand that every threat against an elected representative or a journalist or anyone else is an attack on our peace and an attack on the democratic will of the people of this island. It is a fight they will never win. The threats made against Patsy and a number of journalists in the last week should be lifted immediately. Everyone on this island should be able to live and work free from the threat of violence. The people behind these kinds of faceless threats have nothing to offer our society. Linda Dillon Ms Dillon, speaking before being informed of threats against her, said: "I condemn these despicable threats against a number of local elected representatives by loyalist paramilitaries and extend my solidarity. This is the latest in a number of threats issued against journalists and elected representatives by criminal gangs. Politicians, like everyone, should be free to do their work and represent their constituents free from threats, fear or intimidation. The people behind these kinds of faceless threats have nothing to offer our society. Anyone with any information on the people behind these threats should bring it forward to the PSNI who must take action to remove these gangs from our streets. Police said they did not discuss the security of individuals. "No inference should be drawn from this. However, if we receive information that a persons life may be at risk we will inform them accordingly. We never ignore anything which may put an individual at risk," the organisation said in a statement. At the end of last week human rights organisations and politicians right across Northern Ireland called for the warnings issued by the South East Antrim UDA to the Sunday Life and Sunday World newspapers to be lifted. The Sunday Life and Sunday World journalists were targeted because of exposes in both titles about UDA involvement in criminality, drug dealing and involvement in the January murder of terminally ill Glen Quinn in Carrickfergus. Police visited the journalists' homes during the early hours of Friday morning, with one being told of a potential under-car booby-trap attack. Peter Vandermeersch, publisher at Independent News and Media which owns the titles, said "threats against journalists should not be tolerated in any free society". "It is depressing that thugs still believe they can silence the press through intimidation. We will continue to publish stories that shed light in dark corners," he added. I can confirm that I have also received advice from PSNI regarding a loyalist threat. Solidarity with @patsymcglone @SteveAikenUUP @BeattieDoug None of us will be deterred in anyway from defending freedom of press and standing up to paramilitaries https://t.co/zLs3hqQawz Stephen Farry MP (@StephenFarryMP) May 11, 2020 The South East Antrim UDA controls turf stretching 20 miles from Larne to north Belfast, along with pockets of Newtownards. It is considered one of Northern Ireland's most dangerous organised crime gangs. Ulster Unionist leader Steve Aiken described the threats to journalists as "simply inexcusable". "Whatever your opinion of individuals are, a free and unfettered press is a mark of democracy. The PSNI must investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice," he added. His Upper Bann MLA party colleague Doug Beattie, a former Army captain who won the Military Cross medal for valour, condemned the threats as "fascism at its finest, with beer-bellied thugs directing spotty faced kids". Patsy McGlone added his voice to the condemnation, saying: "Solidarity with journalists at Sunday Life and Sunday World threatened by thuggish fascists. Threats to a free press are threats to democracy." Amnesty International described the threats against the journalists as "disgusting". Before the coronavirus outbreak, Saundra Andringa-Meuer was a healthy 61-year-old mother of six who never smoked or drank alcohol. Then she became seriously ill with the disease after traveling from her Wisconsin home to help her son move from college in Connecticut. She was hospitalized in March, ending up in a coma and on a ventilator for 14 days. Doctors told her family she had a slim chance to live. When she emerged, she was told she was the sickest COVID-19 patient they had seen survive. Now Andringa-Meuer has joined with dozens of other American virus patients and some U.S. businesses in taking a new legal step: They are attempting to sue China over the spread of the virus, which has killed at least 75,000 people in the United States. I do feel that they hid it from the world and from Americans, she said. I dont feel we had to have the loss of life. I dont think we had to have the economy shut down. It disrupted all of American lives. I do believe we need to right some of these wrongs. So far, at least nine lawsuits have been filed in the U.S. against China claiming authorities there did not do enough to corral the virus initially, tried to hide what was happening in the outbreak center of Wuhan and sought to conceal their actions and what they knew. Missouri Sues China Over Coronavirus Pandemic Its the first an only state thus far to sue China. U.S. Lawsuit Wants China to Pay for Business Income Losses from Coronavirus The lawsuit, filed on behalf of five Law Vegas businesses, claims that Chinas government should have shared more information about the virus. Pandemic Fears Grow as China Steps Up Efforts to Control New Flu-Like Coronavirus January 22, 2020: The virus has spread from Wuhan around China to major population centers including Beijing, Shanghai, Macau and Hong Kong. Abroad, Thailand has confirmed four cases, while the United States, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan have each reported one. President Donald Trump said the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had a good containment plan. We think it is going to be handled very well, he said at Davos in Switzerland. Eight of the lawsuits are potential class actions that would represent thousands of people and businesses. One was filed by the attorney general of Missouri, which is so far the only state to take legal action against China. The cases face several hurdles under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which states that foreign governments cannot be sued in the U.S. unless certain exceptions are met. And those are not easy to prove, experts say. We think its going to be an uphill battle for them to ultimately take advantage of those exceptions, said Robert Boone, an attorney in Los Angeles who specializes in class action cases. One exception involves commercial activity that directly affects the U.S. Another is misconduct inside the U.S. under certain circumstances that is traceable to a foreign government. A third exception is whether the foreign entity explicitly waived its immunity, such as through language in a contract. Attorneys who have filed the lawsuits say they can prove those claims, and, if they win, find some method of collecting damages, perhaps by seizing Chinese bank accounts or other assets in the U.S. if the Chinese refuse to pay. In one case filed in Miami federal court on behalf of Andringa-Meurer and many others, attorneys Matthew Moore and Jeremy Alters are suing the Chinese Communist Party as an entity separate from the Chinese government. They have their own assets. They are recognized as an independent organization. We are going to argue they are not a part of the government, Moore said. There has been personal injury that happened in the United States. Added Alters: Theyre going to have to pay We can say, `Were not going to do business with you anymore. When you hit them in the (gross domestic product), it hurts. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang defended his countrys record of fighting the virus. He said the lawsuit filed by the Missouri attorney general is very absurd and has no factual and legal basis. Since the outbreak began, China has proceeded in an open, transparent, and responsible manner, and the U.S. government should dismiss such vexatious litigation, he said. Efforts are underway in Congress and in some state legislatures to make it easier to sue China and other countries. One bill was introduced by Republican U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Martha McSally of Arizona, and GOP U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas in the House. The Chinese government must be held accountable for the pain its inflicted across the United States, McSally said in a statement. The proposed legislation will give the U.S. a piece of justice. In New Jersey, three Republican state lawmakers introduced a resolution urging President Donald Trump and Congress to pass a bill letting citizens sue China for mishandling the pandemic. State Sen. Jim Holzapfel and Assemblymen Greg McGuckin and John Catalano said in a statement that they believe Chinese leaders did little to stop the spread of the virus and that residents and local governments should be legally allowed to recover some of what they lost financially. Its not clear if any of the legislation will pass. If the bills were enacted, legal experts say they could open the floodgates for hundreds more lawsuits against China. If that immunity were stripped, its going to produce a gigantic burden on the court system, said Boone, the class action lawyer. Thats a factor that will need to be weighed in deciding whether to pass it. As for Andringa-Meurer, she said shes still somewhat frail but getting better all the time. Im weak, but Im fabulous. Im alive, she said. I want to give back, not only to the doctors and nurses who gave me the opportunity to live. They are the heroes. But also to all of the Americans who were affected by this. Associated Press Writer Michael Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed to this report. Photo: WUHAN, Feb. 15, 2020 (Xinhua) A traffic police officer stands guard outside the Wuhan Livingroom makeshift hospital in Wuhan, central Chinas Hubei Province, Feb. 15, 2020. (Photo by Dong Hongxiang/Xinhua) (Xinhua/Li He via Getty Images) Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits COVID-19 Legislation USA China Missouri Talking point: The last goodbye a socially distanced funeral Would you ever consider not going to the funeral? That question plays over in my mind as the defining moment of how the coronavirus pandemic has altered our world inconceivably. My partner shook his head in response and that was the one and only time I asked him. From that point on, our focus was on the logistics of getting from Scotland to Ireland for his fathers funeral. Before last week, the coronavirus pandemic was a nightmare, but one which my family was largely shielded from as we retreated from the world and lived inside our own little bubble. But all of a sudden, that nightmare became a reality when my father-in-law passed away after contracting COVID-19. As I type this, it still doesnt seem real, and I still think Im going to wake up from this coronavirus-induced dream. But there we were, after receiving that life-changing news, on hold to the Irish embassy seeking permission to travel to attend the funeral. Everything about that phone call and the question I asked my partner would, in normal circumstances, be abhorrent. But all of a sudden it became the norm, with every relative who called to pass on their condolences assuming we wouldnt be attending, and every bit of advice we read online telling us it was unlikely we would be able to go. Compassion, fortunately, was on our side and we made the eerily quiet journey across the Irish Sea. No funeral of a loved one is ever going to be easy, but the funeral of a loved one where numbers are restricted, the coffin is sterilised and family members cant hug each other is one which adds a new layer of pain on top of the loss. An added cruelty that goes against every aspect of human grief. Irish funerals usually involve relatives and friends travelling from all over to pay their respects, and in many cases, bringing the body of their loved one home one last time before being laid to rest. Of course, we had none of that. But what we did have, in place of a wake house with family and friends pouring in all day and night to spend time with their loved one after death; in place of a church service with hundreds of mourners; in place of all the Catholic rites and rituals that would usually give some comfort to those left behind, was that same respect for the dead. As we followed the hearse to the churchyard, where my dear father-in-law was laid to rest with his beloved wife and daughter, the streets were lined with the mourners who would normally have been sitting waiting in the packed-out church. Instead, friends, family, neighbours, old colleagues, came out of their homes and stood, two metres apart, to bow their heads in respect and clap in an overwhelming celebration of his life. Not being from an Irish family myself, and unaccustomed to such large gatherings at a burial, I used to joke with my partner how much his dad loved a funeral. Of course, the joke doesnt seem funny anymore it probably never was but the sentiment remains. I admired his commitment and dedication to paying his final respects to the dead. My father-in-law always went out of his way to ensure he did this, and I will forever regret that we were robbed of the chance to give him the send-off he so deserved. But when all of this is over, and the family can all come together again, we will make sure we do him proud. COVID-19 quickly spread around the world from late 2019, new study shows People's Daily Online (Chinadaily.com.cn) 09:31, May 10, 2020 A new genetic study suggests COVID-19 started spreading quickly around the world at the end of last year, according to CNN. Genetics researchers of the University College London Genetics Institute analyzed sequences of the virus that causes COVID-19 from more than 7,600 patients around the world. They said viral samples taken from all corners of the globe show similar mutations. "Our results are in line with previous estimates and point to all sequences sharing a common ancestor towards the end of 2019, supporting this as the period when SARS-Cov-2 jumped into its human host," the research team told CNN. The analysis shows the virus must have spread extremely quickly after the first infection was reported in Wuhan last December. Researchers found genetic evidence that supports suspicions the virus was infecting people in Europe, the US and elsewhere weeks or even months before the first official cases were reported in January and February. It will be impossible to find the "first" patient in any country, said researcher Francois Balloux. "All these ideas about trying to find a Patient Zero are pointless because there are so many patient zeros," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The family of a beef plant worker who died because of the coronavirus has brought a wrongful death lawsuit in a Philadelphia court against JBS SA, the worlds biggest meat company. Ferdinand Benjamin filed the suit on Thursday after his father, Enock Benjamin, died of respiratory failure caused by Covid-19, according to a copy of the timestamped complaint provided by Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky, the law firm representing the family. Enock Benjamin worked at the JBS USA plant in Souderton, Pennsylvania. JBS treated workers as expendable and placed them standing shoulder to shoulder without basic protective equipment such as masks, attorney Robert J. Mongeluzzi said in a statement. JBS, based in Sao Paulo, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit. In a statement earlier this week, the U.S. unit said it was doing everything possible to provide a safe working environment for our team members. The suit may be part of the beginning of a litigation wave against meat companies after thousands of U.S. workers contracted the virus. At least 27 meatpacking workers have died in the coronavirus pandemic, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. The family of a meatpacking worker who died brought a wrongful death lawsuit in a Texas state court against Dallas-based Quality Sausage Co. earlier this week. Smithfield Foods Inc. was sued last month by employees at a rural Missouri pork-processing facility. They argued that the company, owned by Hong Kong-based WH Group Ltd., hadnt done enough to protect workers from the virus. U.S. District Judge David Gregory Kays on Tuesday declined to hear the case, saying its up to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not the courts, to oversee safeguards for workers. The meat industry faces the most serious threat to U.S. supplies since World War II. The pandemic highlighted worker conditions at slaughterhouses, where cold, damp factories and crowded workstations make infectious diseases particularly hard to control. The jobs are also low-paying and provide few benefits, further underscoring how labor inequality is one of the most significant rifts brought to the fore by Covid-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that conditions at U.S. meat plants contributed to increased risk of infections, and ultimately more than 4,900 workers fell ill. The agency cited difficulty maintaining social distancing and adhering to the heightened cleaning and disinfection guidance among the factors that increased risks for workers. Workers at meat plants represent some of the U.S. populations facing a disproportionate hit from the health crisis and the economic fallout. About half are immigrants, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Employees also come from relatively low-income families, and about 44% of them are Hispanic and a quarter are African Americans, a demographic seeing a devastating toll both physically and financially. Benjamins suit alleges that JBS failed to provide sufficient personal protective equipment and forced workers into close proximity. Employees faced cramped and crowded work areas, break areas, restrooms and hallways, and workers were discouraged from taking sick leave in a manner suggesting jobs might be lost, according to the suit. The company was alleged in the suit to have failed to provide proper testing and monitoring for individuals who have may have been exposed to the virus. Saturday Kill The suit also notes that JBS increased production at its Souderton facility in March and added a weekend shift amid an increase in meat demand. While it could have devoted weekends to disinfecting the plant, the company instead added what it called a Saturday Kill to increase production and its bottom line, Steven Wigrizer, a partner at the law firm representing the family, said in the statement. JBS Chief Executive Officer Gilberto Tomazoni said in March that the company was increasing weekend shifts to ensure world food supplies. Operations slowed at the Souderton plant after several senior managers displayed flu-like symptoms, the company said in a March 30 statement. JBS suspended operations at the plant later that week. It was restarted last month. In an email earlier this week, JBS USA said that it is paying about 10% of the workforce people deemed vulnerable to stay home. By early March the virus was firmly established in the Souderton plant, Benjamins suit said. The culture at JBS Souderton resulted in workers coming to work sick for fear of losing their job if missing multiple days of work. The case is Ferdinand Benjamin v. JBS SA, 200500370, Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. (With assistance from Marvin G. Perez and Lydia Mulvany.) Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Lawsuits COVID-19 USA 350 Ghana Reducing our Carbon (G-ROC) wishes to congratulate Chibeze Ezekiel, a co-founder of 350 - GROC on his appointment to the governing body of 350.org. 350 G-ROC is the local chapter of 350.org and has been actively involved in the mobilisation of youth for advocacy on climate change and renewable energy development in Ghana. He successfully led the anti-coal campaign through G-ROC, which led to government abolishing plans to establish a coal plant in Ekumfi in the Central Region. And he's currently contributing to the achievement of Ghana's Renewable Energy Development agenda. He joins the Board with a wealth of knowledge and experience on grassroot movements and policy level advocacy through national and international engagements. Chibeze is an environmentalist working primarily in the areas of climate change, biological diversity, forestry and renewable energy. He is a certified Youth Master trainer on Climate Change and a National Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Champion. He is a strong advocate for youth inclusion in policy and decision- making processes, especially in the issues related to climate change and environmental governance. He also doubles up as the Executive Coordinator of the Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND), which convenes the Youth in Natural Resources and Environmental Governance (Youth-NREG) Platform. From the Executive Committee of 350 GROC and the entire members, we say ayekooo on your appointment and we are optimistic that your unique leadership will come to bear on the international stage and become a source of motivation to young people particularly African youth. 350.org is an international movement that advocate against the use of fossil fuel and promotes building a world of community-led renewable energy for all. It has presence in Africa, Asia, North America, Europe, Latin America and the Pacific. Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Monday, May 11, 2020 National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6, the day that Florence Nightingale, the founder of professional nursing, went to the Crimean War as a nurse in 1853, and ends on her birthday May 12. During this week we acknowledge the excellence and dedication of those who choose the nursing profession. I grew up surrounded by nurses in a nursing home in Old Mystic, CT that my family owned and operated in the 1950s. My mothers skills as a Registered Nurse also made her the go-to person for many emergencies around the village cuts, burns and even broken bones, head injuries and emotional problems. Injured people would show up at the nursing home, like they do today at emergency rooms, except that she received no compensation other than the occasional basket of eggs or leg of lamb that might arrive later. I can still see my mother rushing from the bedside of an elderly person and calmly cleaning and dressing someones bloody wound after an accident down the street. On another occasion, I remember her carefully positioning a childs possibly broken leg after a fall from a tree. Eventually, Dr. Ryley or Dr. Fowler would arrive from Mystic, but watching my mother and her nurse colleagues in action, day after day, offered me firsthand knowledge that nurses were the unsung heroines. They were the first responders in the old days. Nurses in war zones and military settings also did their job quietly and largely unnoticed, putting their lives in peril on the battlefield for centuries. Yet, little is known about their experiences in war or exactly how many participated. Even appropriate financial remuneration in the nursing profession has been meager and long in coming. Only at the end of the twentieth century did nurses pay, both in military and civilian life, begin to become commensurate with the risks and responsibilities of their jobs. Many women served as nurses during the Revolutionary War, but they are barely mentioned in history books. The Second Continental Congress, heeding George Washingtons advice to establish a means of caring for wounded and sick soldiers, authorized the formation of hospitals. In July of 1775, congress initiated a plan to provide one nurse for every ten patients and a supervising matron for every ten nurses. But nurses were not always easy to find and formal training was nonexistent. General Washington blamed the low compensation rateoriginally $2 a monthfor the shortage of nurses. Its more probable that a woman risked receiving a bad moral reputation in those days if she wanted to be a nurse. Congress did increase nurses pay a year later, in 1776, to $8 a month. Louisa May Alcott, long before writing Little Women, had a brief career as an army nurse during the Civil War. Her first publication, Hospital Sketches, was a detailed account of her experiences. Louisa was an unknown but zealous patriot from Massachusetts when she arrived in Washington, DC, in 1862, to work in the Union Hotel Army Hospital. She had read Florence Nightingales Notes on Nursing and Dr. Homes Report on Gunshot Wounds, but that was the extent of her training. She described in letters to her family that, on her first day, stretcher after stretcher arrived from the battle of Fredericksburgeach with a legless, armless or desperately wounded occupant. Louisa cared for hundreds of soldiers with devastating wounds and loss of limbs, working with little more than soap, water, and whiskey. (Hospital Sketches is available at the Mystic and Noank library) Her descriptions were so vivid and evoked so much emotion about caring for the wounded, that the Union Army published her book and provided it to the families of soldiers. This small volume established her reputation as an author but her experience devastated her health. She contracted Typhoid Pneumonia after six weeks and would suffer from the poisonous effects of treatment with mercury until her death in 1888. She reported in her journal that she was pleased to receive ten dollars for her short stint in Washington, revealing that nurses pay had barely improved in one hundred years since the Revolutionary War. Approximately 6000 women served as nurses during the Civil War and their reward was largely the legacy of gratitude described in the letters and journals of the wounded. Fifty years later, in 1901, the Army Nurse Corp was created during the Spanish-American War and nurses were appointed to work for three years but were not commissioned as army officers. The appointment could be renewed if their skills were satisfactory, but it would take two more wars and another fifty years for nurses to receive commissioned officer status in 1944. I am on this earth because of the compassion of nurses. During World War I, my grandfather, George Ashcroft, served in the British Army and ended up in a hospital in Malta after suffering the effects of mustard gas and severe wounds in France. The nurses suggested that he correspond with someone. He remembered a young woman, Jenny Whipple, he had met on a farm in Connecticut years before. The letters commenced and they married on his return, eventually creating my mother. Growing up around nurses in the 1950s I was privy to occasional stories and vivid memories. One former army nurse would sit with me and my brothers at a picnic table during her break-time and launch into stories. She once described being one of sixty nurses, climbing over the side of a ship off the coast of North Africa and down an iron ladder into small assault boats where they waded ashore and huddled behind a sand dune while enemy snipers took potshots at them. We had no idea that we were listening to a first-person account that was rarely preserved for posterity. Nurses were not spared capture and imprisonment during war. In 1945 U.S. troops liberated sixty-seven army nurses who had been imprisoned since 1942 in the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in the Philippines. They were evacuated to a convalescent hospital on Leyte where they recovered from malnutrition. Like other veterans who saw the worst of war, these women came home and slipped back into their communities and seldom shared their experiences. The exact number of nurses who served in World War II is unknown, but they received 1,619 medals, citations, and commendations. During the Korean War, Army nurses served in medical units close to the front lines, in field hospitals, on army transport ships, hospital trains and at MASH units (Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals). By chance, the general public has more knowledge of military nurses thanks to popular culture. The fictionalized depiction of a medical unit portrayed in the film, MASH, in 1970, and a subsequent TV series featuring Hot Lips Hoolihan, offered a romanticized version of women nurses in wartime but, at least it showed that they were there. During the Vietnam War, on November 8, 1967, all restrictions to female officer careers were removed. Finally, members of the Womens Army Corps and the Army Nurse Corps could receive the same promotions as those applied to men. Col. Anna Mae Hays achieved the rank of brigadier general on June 11, 1970. Again, the exact number is not known, but thousands of women served as nurses in Vietnam. The number killed in Vietnam is also unclear, ranging from seven to nine. Nurses have served in untold numbers in wartime, even before Florence Nightingale went to the Crimean War and became known as the lady with the lamp. Im comforted by the thought that nurses were near the battlefields of Vietnam in 1969 to care for my husband in the brief moments he survived after being mortally wounded in a booby-trapped bunker. I may never know who they are, but Im sure they eased his death with calm and compassion. Im deeply grateful for all those who choose to be nurses and medics. Thank you to nurses everywhere this week and every week for all you do. U.S. administration slammed for absence in int'l efforts against COVID-19 People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 10:09, May 10, 2020 NEW YORK, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Expert, senator and former official have criticized the U.S. administration for stepping back from the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic just as it is needed most, The New York Times reported on Saturday. "Whether that means halting funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), skipping a vaccine donor conference in Europe or barring foreign health workers in poor nations from buying masks and gloves with American aid, the Trump administration's retrenchment has alarmed allies," said the report. Ilona Kickbusch, the founding director and chairwoman of the global health program at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, said that "our experience in the past is that no matter what the geopolitical tensions were, it was possible to bring countries together around health - particularly when there was an outbreak and a real crisis." "At present, we see that health is used as a proxy for all kinds of conflicts that are there at the geopolitical level," she said. "And that is destructive." Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said that it was necessary to be part of global decisions to curb the coronavirus if there was any hope of stopping its spread in the United States. That is how the country has dealt with other worldwide threats over the last 100 years, he added. Gayle E. Smith, who ran the American aid agency during the Obama administration, said that sending U.S. funding abroad and supporting relief programs was only one element of leading the global response to the virus. It's also important, she said, to be visibly active in international organizations like the WHO to ensure the United States remains a guiding force. "There needs to be a place where all of this comes together in some international institution... If there is an issue or a concern, then we should work with the organization to solve it," she was quoted as saying by the newspaper. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Initial Hygiene, Irelands leading experts in hygiene, is warning the Waterford public and businesses of the risk of the spread of bacteria via door handles. In response, the company is offering an innovative solution for businesses to counteract this type of surface contamination. It is called the HygenicTouch Door Handle. HygienicTouch is an antibacterial door handle cover that uses silver ion technology to eliminate bacteria, by working immediately to destroy any microbes deposited onto the surface by users. Its purpose is to reduce cross-contamination from one user to the next, ensuring that the handle is clean for all users. Dr Colm Moore, Area Technical Manager for Initial Hygiene said: "Door handles are a hotspot for the spread of bacteria, as a result of the amount of contact that they have from so many different people every day. "We would encourage any organisations or business to ensure they have a solution such as this in place, as part of their efforts to ensure proper hygiene among employees and customers." The company believes that washroom door handles in particular are a risk area for the spread of bacteria. A survey carried out by the company in September 2019 revealed that 49% of Irish people prefer not using soap when hand-washing, and 90% admitted to spending less than the recommended 20 seconds washing their hands. Initials hygienic door handle solution can fit any type of door handle (lever, push plate or pull handles), and can be installed in 60 seconds. It requires no alterations to the structure of the door. The Delhi government decided on Monday to provide another financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to the construction workers in the wake of the extended coronavirus lockdown. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Construction Workers' Welfare Board, chaired by Labour Minister Gopal Rai. There are around 40,000 construction workers registered with the board. It has also decided to launch an online portal where construction workers can register themselves. The government had also given Rs 5,000 recently to the construction workers due to the lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) When addressing COVID-19's impact on society, Aerosmith guitarist made comparisons to a world war during a recent interview: "I would say this is as close to a world war as you could get, in a lot of ways. If you tick off the boxes, it is a world war. Basically, it has shut down the touring business for an indefinite period of time," Joe Perry said. The band originally scheduled to resume their Deuces Are Wild Las Vegas residency on May 20 before the COVID-19 pandemic halted live events worldwide. Perry is disappointed that the band had to cancel their shows, but is happy to be spending more time with his family. ... it was almost like I felt like I was on vacation for the first time in 30 years "As soon as I realized we weren't gonna be playing for at least months, if not a year, it was almost like I felt like I was on vacation for the first time in 30 years. I didn't have to think [when I got home], 'Well, I don't need to unpack my bags because I'm leaving in a week.'" While Perry is looking forward to being able to get back on stage, he's concerned for the health and safety of his fans: "If they somehow wanted to open the shows and I doubt they would do it we wouldn't push our luck. We also feel like we don't want to be the ones responsible, the ones to say to people, 'It's okay to come in. Take your chances. Wear masks. Come in and rock out!' "I don't see 5,000 people in an arena or theatre. It's too contagious. It doesn't take much to pass it from one place to another. It would take a lot to get me on a plane to Vegas at this point." Watch their recent November 2019 show below. Yu Wenwu, a resident in the Weixi Lisu Autonomous County, southwest China's Yunnan province, has made endeavors to protect the black snub-nosed monkey, referred to as the Yunnan golden hair monkey by locals, at the Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve. Yu Wenwu and a researcher conduct survey on the black snub-nosed monkey. (Photo/Lai Jiandong) Since 2011, Yu has fed the monkeys on complementary food mainly consisting of Chinese usnea and cabbage in the morning, pumpkin seeds and peanuts in the afternoon, so that they could become healthier and stronger under the care of the staff members at the nature reserve. "I need to feed them in various places to suit their habits of foraging and try to distribute the food in case the animals get into fights for it," Yu said. Along with feeding the monkeys, Yu also needs to collect and test the feces of the animals in order to keep track of their physical conditions and provide proper treatment if necessary. (Photo via Yunnan Forestry and Grassland Administration) Female monkeys usually conceive every two years, which is not an easy thing for the endangered species, but with the efforts of Yu and other workers there has been an increase in births. The number of Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys in the Weixi Lisu Autonomous County under the nature reserve has risen to over 1,300 from about 300 or 400 at the very beginning, Yu pointed out. While protecting the species, Yu has also received steady income from the work. According to Yu, with a monthly income of 1,700 yuan for taking care of the monkeys and an annual subsidy of 9,000 yuan for protecting the forest, he is able to lift his family out of poverty. The FCT Police Command has arrested a policeman who killed a 52-year-old man, Solomon Eze, following protest by residents of Karimo, a community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Eze was shot dead on Sunday evening at about 6:00pm, when policemen went to the community to arrest a yet to be identified male suspect, as part of an ongoing robbery investigation. According to The Nation, the arrest was successfully made, but the suspect started to draw attention of residents by shouting as he was being taken away. It was learnt that some persons, who had gathered, tried to resist the arrest and in the confusion that ensued Eze, a bystander, was fatally hit by a gunshot from one of the policemen. It was gathered that the suspect escaped in the commotion, and incident generated a lot of anger among members of the community who took to the streets to protest the killing of an innocent man. We are angry. Does life not mean anything anymore? How can someone who has done nothing wrong be brought down like that by someone who is supposed to protect him. I can tell you that the emotion is so high now that it took all we could to hold some of our people, especially the youths from doing something drastic in retaliation. We are law abiding citizens but justice must be done in this case. It would not be healthy for us if everyone decides to get justice their own way. We call on relevant authorities to ensure they get to the bottom of this matter and ensure justice for Ezes family, the community and Nigerians at large, a resident, who did not want to be named, said. The Commissioner of Police, Bala Ciroma, on Monday ordered an investigation into the incident. A statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, revealed that the policeman that shot the deceased has been identified and arrested. The Commissioner of Police FCT, CP Bala Ciroma, has ordered a discreet investigation into an unfortunate gunshot incident that led to the death of one Solomon Eze m 52 years old at Karimo on Sunday 10th May, 2020 at about 6:00pm. The Policeman identified to have shot the deceased has been arrested and he is currently in detention. While commiserating with the family and friends of the deceased, the Commissioner of Police wishes to assure members of the public that the Command will be transparent in its investigation and the findings will be made public. KanyiDaily had also reported that a young man was killed by a police officer during a protest by youths of the Nkpor area of Onitsha over the coronavirus lockdown order in Anambra State. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Mardika Parama (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 11, 2020 18:40 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd7520a4 1 Business health,COVID-19,Airport,Angkasa-Pura-II Free Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi has instructed state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II to conduct passenger health inspections at the countrys busiest airport as the number of repatriated Indonesian arrivals has surged. The number of returning Indonesians has increased in recent days, with a total of 1,300 people arriving on seven flights at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Monday, up from 1,000 people on Sunday, according to the minister. Read also: 11 Indonesian migrant workers test positive for COVID-19 upon return from Italy The large number of inbound travellers caused crowding at the airports international terminals as the arriving passengers queued for the health inspection to detect symptoms of COVID-19. Given the limited manpower at the Port Health Authority (KKP) tasked with the inspections, the minister has instructed the airport operator to take charge of the procedure. We understand that the Health Ministry has a lot on its hands, so we have asked Angkasa Pura II to take over the KKPs duty at Soekarno-Hatta airport, Budi told lawmakers during a hearing with House of Representatives Commission V on Monday. The KKP, operating under the Health Ministry, screens 600 to 1,000 passengers daily through temperature checks, rapid tests as well as interviews upon arrival as part of the measures to contain the virus. The minister added that there had been a manpower issue on May 7, when the inspectors found that 11 Indonesian nationals repatriated from Italy tested positive for COVID-19. There were only one or two health inspectors from the KKP that were available [at that time], he said. As many as 351 of the total passengers came from Italy on a chartered plane on May 7, according to Soekarno-Hatta Airport Health Office head Anas Maruf. Read also: Indonesian airlines resume domestic passenger flights with strict health protocols Soekarno-Hatta airport spokesperson Febri Toga predicted that around 7,500 to 10,000 more inbound travellers were set to land at the airport until May 31, as the government aims to repatriate Indonesians from foreign countries. The number of passengers has increased from the previous weeks, which was around 300 to 400 repatriates per day, he said as quoted by Tempo.co. Meanwhile, President Joko Jokowi Widodo on May 4 estimated that 89,000 migrant workers had returned to Indonesia, with a possibility of 16,000 more arriving in the coming days. Murshidabad district, one of the biggest contributors to the army of migrant workers from West Bengal, received news of unnatural deaths of three of these people since Saturday. While two died in Kerala, one was found dead in a rented house in Odisha. Residents of Baliaghati village in Murshidabads Suti police station area said Safikul Sheikh (31) was killed in a road accident in Kerala. Sheikhs associates called up his family on Sunday morning and said he had gone to a local market, violating lockdown orders, when the accident took place. Sheikh wanted to return home before Eid but got stranded. Mohammad Hafijul, one of Sheikhs relatives, said, A few days ago a special train from Kerala carried migrant workers to Murshidabad but Safikul did not have the money to buy a ticket. We do not know how his body will be brought back. In another incident, a 24-year-old resident of Domkal allegedly hanged himself in Kerala on Saturday. He used to work in a brick kiln. His mother said, My son was depressed as he could not buy a ticket to board the special train that came to Murshidabad. We have appealed to the local administration to bring back his body. In the third incident, Bakul Sheikh (24) died under mysterious circumstances at Sonepur in Odisha where he went five months ago to work as a mason. Sheikh hails from Kohetpur village in Shamserganj. His relatives told the local police that his associates called up and said he was found dead inside the toilet of the house where he was living with other migrant workers. Scene of the demolition According to a report by The PUNCH, the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Sunday supervised the demolition of two hotels in Eleme and Onne for violating the Executive Order 6 of the state government, which banned the operation of hotels in the state. The affected hotels, Prudent Hotel, Alode in Eleme, and Etemeteh Hotel in Onne, were said to have been operating despite the executive order barring all hotels in the 23 LGAs of the state from opening for business to check the spread of COVID-19. Wike, after monitoring the exercise, maintained that the law must be obeyed, hence the state governments decision to enforce it. The governor disclosed that those involved in the crime would be prosecuted, adding that the Managing Director of the hotel in Onne has been arrested. Government has no alternative but to apply the Executive order, which I signed before the lockdown of Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt. I called all the traditional rulers and council chairmen and told them to ensure that no hotel operates in the state. We are not saying it will be forever. This is for now, so that we know where we are. To reduce the cases and check the spread. Whether you are PDP or not, all we are saying is that nobody is above the law. If we can do this to a PDP person, then you know we are not discriminatory. Everyone must obey. Whether you are in PDP, SDP or no party, you must obey the law. If any other person does the same thing, the same rule will apply, he said. Wike restated his declaration that no hotel should operate anywhere in the state. We said no hotel should operate within this period. Unfortunately, the PDP Youth Leader in Eleme joined others to flout the Executive Order. Therefore, the executive order will be applied. We said if any hotel operates, government will bring down that hotel. We are doing what we have told people that we are going to do. Nobody wants to obey any rule. We are saying just for now, keep off, let us see how we can keep our people safe, he said. The governor added that the focus on hotels was due to the fact that one of the cases in the state spread the virus from a hotel. He said, Look at the rate of infections; most of these people are found in hotels. Look at the man that died, he was at Mingi Hotel in Rumumasi. Due to that contact, we have had other seven cases. People should help us and support government for Rivers people to be safe. Security Council will meet to review the strategies and achievements or setbacks, moving forward. All we are doing is to protect our people. Some people may not like our strategies, but our objective is to achieve results. Promising that the state government will always continue to protect the people, Wike insisted that the fight against the spread of coronavirus was serious. People talk about hunger. But it is only a living person that can discuss hunger. We will continue to work to protect our people. What we are doing is to tell the people that the state government is serious. This being led by me, people should know that the state government is determined to ensure that we defeat coronavirus, he said. Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here! (Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are trading modestly lower in early U.S. dealings Monday, as the key outside markets are prompting some selling pressurea higher U.S. dollar index and lower crude oil prices. Once again, gold prices are also appearing to follow the U.S. stock market, which is weaker Monday morning. June gold futures were last down $7.70 an ounce at $1,706.20. July Comex silver prices were last down $0.073 at $15.705 an ounce. Global stock markets were mixed in overnight trading, with Asian stock indexes mostly higher and European stocks mostly down. There are some new concerns about a second wave of Covid-19 sweeping countries already hit hard by the pandemic. South Korea and Singapore are seeing a resurgence in cases. This development comes as many major global economies are starting to reopen as their citizens become less patient regarding being quarantined. There is still some unease in the marketplace regarding still-tense U.S.-China relations. The worlds two largest economies have been exchanging barbs over the origins of Covid-19, with President Trump suggesting China may have manufactured the virus in a laboratory. While U.S. and China trade officials have communicated in recent days and reaffirmed Chinas commitment to purchase U.S. agricultural products, President Trump implied Friday he still may sanction China over its handling of the pandemic in its early stages. Im having a very hard time with China, Trump said Friday. China over the weekend said it would continue to stimulate its economy to support its recovery from the pandemic. Bitcoin prices are getting hammered Monday after hitting an 11-week high last Friday. The important outside markets today see Nymex futures lower early today and trading around $24.25 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index is higher today. The yield on the benchmark U.S. Treasury 10-year note is currently around 0.68%. U.S. economic reports out Monday are light and include the employment trends index. Technically, the gold bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage amid an uptrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls next upside price objective is to produce a close in June futures above solid resistance at the April high of $1,788.80. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,666.20. First resistance is seen at the overnight high of $1,715.80 and then at $1,725.00. First support is seen at the overnight low of $1,605.20 and then at last weeks low of $1,683.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 7.0 July silver futures bulls have the slight overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the April high of $16.505 an ounce. The next downside price breakout objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $14.00. First resistance is seen at $16.00 and then at $16.25. Next support is seen at the overnight low of $15.51 and then at $15.25. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.5. Australian Independent Schools Could Close After Funding Changes Independent school associations around Australia have warned the federal government that private schools may close if the government changes the allocation of federal funding. However, private Catholic schools have said the new system works better for them. In a submission to the senate inquiry into the Australian Education Amendment (Direct Measure of Income) Bill 2020 (pdf), the Independent Schools Council of Australia (ISCA) (pdf) noted that independent schools under the new funding calculation method would lose an estimated $212 million between 2020 and 2029 compared to the funding the sector would have received under the current methodology. This loss of funding, the Coalition for Regional Independent Schools Australia (CRISA) noted in the inquiry would cause fee rises that will cause families with more modest incomes to withdraw from the school, and result in further loss of funding, leading to more enrolment losses. Hence the school is placed in a downward spiral towards closure. According to ISCA, the federal government provided an estimated $11 billion in funding to independent and catholic schools around Australia in the 2017-2018 period. Changes to the distribution of the funding were announced by the Minister for Education Dan Tehan on March 2. Noting that the Commonwealth funding for non-government schools will be linked to parental income from 2020 Tehan said that this will ensure the funding is targeted at the students who need it most. According to the federal Department of Education, schools now receive a Capacity to Contribute score (CTC) that is based on the schools communitys ability to contribute to the recurrent costs of the school. Based on either data from the 2011 and 2016 census or the federal governments Direct Measure of Income (DMI) scorethe median income of parents or guardians of students at a non-government schoolthe school will then receive more or less funding from the government. Catholic Schools Do Better in the New System Not all private school bodies are unhappy with the changes. The peak body for Australias Catholic schools, the National Catholic Education Commission, has noted it was pleased with the new method of calculation. In a media release on February 26, Jacinta Collins, the Executive Director of the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC), said that under the old geographical based system of funding family wealth was assessed on the area in which a family lives, not by their actual income. The old system of calculations meant many low-fee schools would have to double or triple their fees, making them unaffordable to many Catholic school families. Speaking to The Epoch Times on May 11, Collins said, The new Direct Measure of Income is a fairer measure for assessing parents capacity to pay and the majority of Catholic schools (around 75%) will be assessed as the same or better off under the new model. Collins also noted that she believed that the NCEC would be able to mitigate any fee rises in the future from funding losses. The federal government continues to support the capacity of non-government school systems to redistribute funding to support local needs, which will allow Catholic schools to continue to offer affordable fees across the country. Catholic education is confident with this flexibility and the transition arrangements in place; we will be able to mitigate the impact on schools which will see a decrease in funding per student, she said. According to the federal education department, schools will have until 2029 to fully transition to the direct measure of income method, ensuring they are fully able to factor this change across their operations. (CNN) - A new study -- the largest of its kind -- shows that hydroxychloroquine, the drug touted by President Trump, does not work against Covid-19 and could cause heart problems. The study was published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It follows a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine that also showed the drug doesn't fight the virus. Even before these reports were published, the US Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health issued warnings about using the drugs for coronavirus patients. In the most recent study, researchers at the University at Albany looked at 1,438 patients with coronavirus who were admitted to 25 New York City area hospitals. After statistical adjustments, the death rate for patients taking hydroxychloroquine was similar to those who did not take the drug. The death rate for those taking hydroxychloroquine plus the antibiotic azithromycin, was also similar. However, the patients who took the drug combination were more than twice as likely to suffer cardiac arrest during the course of the study. Heart issues are a known side effect of hydroxychloroquine. "The big takeaway for me from this study is that it's very consistent with the FDA and NIH guidelines that came out in April," said one of the study's senior authors, David Holtgrave, dean of the School of Public Health at the University at Albany. "When deciding on public health interventions and treatments for Covid-19 or any other disease, it's really important to follow the data and follow the science and make sure decisions are being made on the highest quality data possible." This study likely won't be the last word on the drugs. Researchers at the University of Washington, New York University and other centers are still testing the drug in patients. In the clinical trials, coronavirus patients are randomly assigned to take the drugs or to take placebos, which have no effect, and then the death rates between the two groups will compared. These types of studies are considered the most reliable. Trump's enthusiasm for hydroxychloroquine Starting in mid-March, President Trump became a frequent cheerleader for hydroxychloroquine, used to treat malaria, lupus and other diseases and the antibiotic azithromycin, often sold under the brand name Zithromax, or as a"Z-pack." He promoted the drugs nearly 50 times, despite pleas from scientists to let studies decide if the treatment worked or not. "HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine," Trump tweeted on March 21. Fox News frequently echoed Trump, but both the network and the president quieted down about the drugs once studies started showing they didn't work and possibly could hurt. No difference in death rates Trump's enthusiasm for the drugs was based on a French study of 20 patients in March that showed the drugs might work against the virus. That study was criticized for poor methodology, with experts calling it "pathetic" and "a complete failure." The medical society that published that study later said the study "does not meet the Society's expected standard." But the study was enough to excite Trump, and enough to excite doctors, who were free to prescribe the drugs because they're both already on the market to treat patients with other illnesses. The latest study in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at the medical records of 18% of all coronavirus patients hospitalized in the New York City area from March 15 to March 28. In this group, doctors prescribed both drugs to 735 patients, just hydroxychloroquine to 271 patients, just azithromycin to 211 patients and neither drug to 221 patients. They found that those taking hydroxychloroquine, either alone or with the antibiotic, were sicker than other patients to begin with and as time went on had a higher death rate. However, once the researchers statistically adjusted for the fact that the patients who took the drugs were sicker to start with, there was no statistical significance between the two death rates. Overall, the patients had a 20% death rate. The patients in the study were in the hospital, and other research teams are studying whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent coronavirus infection or slow it down in the beginning stages of the disease. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Yet another study shows hydroxychloroquine doesn't work against COVID-19" PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-11 18:16:12 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 287 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Electrovaya Inc. (TSX:EFL) (OTCQB:EFLVF) today announced that it will release the financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 on Friday May 15th, 2020 after the markets close. CEO Dr. Sankar Das Gupta and EVP & CFO Richard Halka will host a conference call on Tuesday May 19th, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) to discuss the results and provide a business update.Conference Call Details:The Company will hold a conference call on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) to discuss the Q2 2020 quarterly financial results and to provide a business update.Conference ID: 13703757US and Canada toll free: (877) 407-8291International: + 1(201) 689-8345To help ensure that the conference begins in a timely manner, please dial in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call.For those unable to participate in the conference call, a replay will be available for two weeks beginning on May 19, 2020 through June 2, 2020. To access the replay, the U.S. dial-in number is (877) 660-6853 and the non-U.S. dial-in number is +1 (201) 612-7415. The replay conference ID is13703757.For more information, please contact:Investor Contact:Jason RoyDirector, Investor Relations & CommunicationsElectrovaya Inc.Telephone: 905-855-4618Email: jroy@ electrovaya.com MediaConact:Peter KovenBay Street CommunicationsTelephone: 1.647.496.7857Email: peterkoven@ baystreetcommunications.com About Electrovaya Inc.Electrovaya Inc. (TSX:EFL) (OTCQB:EFLVF) designs, develops and manufactures proprietary Lithium Ion Super Polymer batteries, battery systems, and battery-related products for energy storage, clean electric transportation and other specialized applications. Electrovaya is a technology focused company with extensive IP. Headquartered in Ontario, Canada, Electrovaya has production facilities in Canada with customers around the globe. To learn more about how Electrovaya is powering mobility and energy storage, please explore www.electrovaya.com SOURCE: Electrovaya Inc. Her family life is documented on ITVBe show The Mummy Diaries, where her children Nelly, five, and Arthur, three, steal the show. And Billie Faiers has discussed how her family are finding life in lockdown as the UK plunged into yet another week indoors on Monday. The former TOWIE star, 30, and her husband Greg Shepherd described the experience as 'testing' however, said they are enjoying more time spent as a family. Honest: Billie Faiers has discussed how her family are finding life in lockdown as the UK plunged into yet another week indoors on Monday The mum-of-two told OK: 'Naturally, weve had our moments. Theres definitely highs and lows being all together with no space but were actually handling it really well.' Billie shared that her younger son does not know what is going on however, Nelly was well prepared from teachers at school who explained the pandemic to her. She told the publication that she has new questions her parents every every day. Greg also shared: 'It is lovely. I am grateful for more time with them, but it has been testing. Its well out of routine for us. Were just constantly trying to find things for them to do.' 'Testing': The former TOWIE star, 30, and her husband Greg Shepherd described the experience as 'testing' however, said they are enjoying more time spent as a family The couple, who married last year in the Maldives, have spent their evenings watching Netflix and binging on hit show Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. In the day they split their childcare duties with Billie taking on the role of teacher to homeschool Nelly. She said: 'Its actually really nice teaching your child and really seeing what theyre like while theyre learning. Obviously we do homework together, but this is totally different. Its really rewarding, and Im so proud of Nelly.' She said: 'Naturally, weve had our moments. Theres definitely highs and lows being all together with no space but were actually handling it really well' The reality star also admitted she has become obsessed with TikTok and filming videos with her daughter. Last week, Billie shared a hilarious video of Nelly impersonating Gemma Collins on the video streaming platform. The Diva Forever star, 39, gave the video, which featured a row from her 2016 CBB stint, her seal of approval and branded the schoolgirl, five, a 'superstar'. In love: The couple, who married last year in the Maldives, have spent their evenings watching Netflix and binging on hit show Tiger King Home school: In the day they split their childcare duties with Billie taking on the role of teacher to homeschool Nelly On Celebrity Big Brother, Gemma was locked in a feud with EastEnders star John Partridge, during which she declared: You should really try and forget about me honey, to which he responded: 'and you, me...' The reality star, who shot to fame on TOWIE's second season, then hit back: I dont think about you at all. Youre obsessed with me and I love it. Adding a caption on the video of her daughter, Billie penned: 'This girl... @gemmacollins1 ... I think we may have a new diva in town'.' Gemma commented underneath the hilarious video: 'You are A SENSATION nelly what I would give to have you as my own child. shes a superstar'. Pamela Walker, former St. Louis city health director, said reopening Missouri without a more aggressive testing approach is extremely dangerous because containing the spread means reacting to outbreaks instead of detecting them with greater testing. She praised the response by health officials in Cook County, Illinois, for focusing on boosting testing capacity at community clinics. The only way to safely reopen is to know how prevalent the disease really is, she said. Not testing gives us a false sense of security, and were going to end up with unexplained deaths. Dr. Jason Newland, an infectious disease specialist at Washington Universitys medical school, said Missouri is not unique in difficulties in getting tests but he says the shortage has forced some providers to play a gatekeeper role in distributing them. He said he anticipates testing capacity to grow into the summer months as private companies race to produce more supplies, giving hospitals the ability to test non-COVID-19 patients who are admitted for elective treatment. I havent felt that our state has been behind in doing this, he said. I just know the challenges and when I talk to people across the country, we all struggle with how to manage this shortage issue in this pandemic. Tran Vu Quang, CEO of end-to-end e-commerce solutions provider OnPoint OnPoint has mobilised $8 million in its Series A funding round. What has helped the company in convincing investors to fork out such a significant amount? First of all, the investors clearly see the potential of e-commerce enablers in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. According to the e-Conomy 2019 report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, Vietnam will be the second-largest and fastest-growing e-commerce market in Southeast Asia from 2019-2025. E-commerce enabling is complimentary for the rapid growth of e-commerce, and is a sustainable business model which is attractive to investors given the changing appetite in the investment landscape in the past 6-12 months. Second, OnPoint has shown a strong growth track record since our foundation. After three years, our clients are some of the biggest names in each product category such as LOreal, Shiseido, P&G, Rohto, Beiersdorf, Unilever International, Watsons, Unicharm, Kimberly-Clark, CJ Group, Mango, Bosch, and many more. Third, we have a high-caliber team with a unique combination of experience in retail, e-commerce, brands, and management consulting. The founders are ex-McKinsey and former C-level of Lazada. Joining them on the board are industry veterans with decades of top-management experience at global firms involved in fast-moving consumer goods. And among the team members are people who previously held key positions at top e-commerce firms like Lazada, Shopee, Tiki, and Lotte. Fourth, our solutions and services are standardised, tech-enabled, and developed to be scalable. Finally, our governance set-up is transparent and trustworthy for investors. We hired top law firms like Allen Linklaters and Allen & Gledhill to be our legal advisors, and KPMG to be our financial advisor for the series A funding round. Given the recent stronger push from businesses to switch from offline to online, we are at the right position and right timing to build a fast-growing scalable business in the next few years. How do OnPoints services improve the effectiveness of retailers? We provide services to both brands and retailers. The core values that we bring to our clients are expertise, convenience, and efficiency. Our team has experience and expertise in growing brands in specific categories such as health and beauty, fashion, or baby care. We understand the directions, technologies, and policies of each e-commerce channel and translate that into scalable working processes. We experimented a lot, learned fast, and quickly developed that into core knowledge to serve our clients. E-commerce is a super fast-changing environment where marketplaces like Lazada, Shopee, and Tiki are frequently updating their features, technologies, and policies while new business models like GrabMart, VnShop, or influencer marketing constantly emerge. In this context, OnPoint expertise also means our clients are always up to date with the latest market trends and can capture growth opportunities at the right timing. E-commerce is also an operationally complex business where it is crucial to smoothly co-ordinate fragmented factors. Our one-stop solution conveniently helps brands simplify the working process with various stakeholders like marketplaces, and service providers such as business process outsourcing companies, marketing agencies, fulfillment third-party logistics (3PL) groups, and last-mile delivery 3PLs. As OnPoint serves the top brands and thoroughly understands their needs, we invest in the right team and right technologies that have economies of scale and drive down operating cost in the long run. Thus brands with their businesses run by OnPoint will attain more efficiency and lower risk than sustaining an in-house e-commerce team or investing in tech solutions at their own cost. On which online retail channels are OnPoints services available, and with the cutthroat competition in e-commerce, who will prevail? We help brands cover all e-commerce channels, from mainstream marketplaces Lazada, Shopee, Tiki, and Sendo to emerging players like GrabMart and Lozi as well as social media channels like Facebook, online influencers, and brands own websites. In the long run, consumers and businesses are winning. The competition among marketplaces is driving innovation, enables businesses to adopt digital commerce faster, and enables a more convenient online shopping experience for shoppers. The marketplaces that can predict, create, capture the trends, and create the most value to brands, sellers, and consumers will stand to gain their market share. The difficult first quarter has been herding customers towards e-commerce. How has business improved during this time and will this change last? We have seen a surge in client contacts from a variety of sectors like fashion, baby formula, food and beverages, and more focus even from existing clients online. Brand e-commerce is not a short-term craze but is already a remarkable trend over the last 2-3 years. The current situation only puts more pressure on businesses to hasten their progress from offline to online. It is also our responsibility with society and our partners to create value in the most challenging times. OnPoint will continue to serve even when others are neither technologically nor operationally enabled to do so. We shall play our part, no matter how big or small, to serve our community, society, and the country. We envision our new role of e-commerce enabler in the world post-pandemic, with a new business model, new supply chain model, new operation and partnership model, and will witness how categories may develop. OnPoint has revised its strategy, grasped client needs, revised our offerings, will invest heavily to stay ahead of the curve, and will be ready for growth and scalability in a highly uncertain future. A shopkeeper in Umred area of Nagpur district was arrested for allegedly raping two minor girls after luring them with chocolates, police said on Monday. The accused has been identified as Darshan Kale (31), a resident of Piraya village, an official said. "Kale is accused of raping a 7-year-old girl who went to the shop on Sunday to purchase a shampoo sachet, as well as an 8-year-old who witnessed the crime. He lured them with chocolates," a Kanhan police station official said. He has been charged under relevant sections of the IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) I have re-assessed the demands of commuting from my home base in Sydney to Brisbane and the impacts this will have on my family, and have reached the conclusion that this will not be sustainable, Hatton said in the statement. Suncorp is a wonderful company with many opportunities ahead of it. I am thankful to Steve and the leadership team for their support of my decision. Bruce Rush, Executive General Manager Deposits & Payments, will be Acting CEO of Banking and Wealth until a permanent appointment is made. Rush is said to be a long-standing Suncorp executive, with experience in various managerial roles since 2010. Rush has been responsible for delivering Suncorps transaction and savings account offerings, including related customer payment capabilities and has also overseen significant growth in the portfolio. Speaking of Hattons resignation, Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston said he is disappointed to see her depart the company. Lee is a highly capable executive and I am disappointed to see her depart after a short time with the Group. I respect her desire to spend more time closer to home and I wish her well. The bank has an experienced and capable executive team and Im very confident that Bruce will provide strong leadership and direction while we seek a permanent appointment. Jaipur: Rajasthan became the first state to allow free movement of people within the state between 7am and 7pm, except in containment zones, as states began relaxing norms a week before the third phase of the federal lockdown draws towards its scheduled end on May 17. No pass will be required for interdistrict and within district movement of people between 7am and 7pm except in areas under curfew, announced chief minister Ashok Gehlot after a meeting with legislators and members of Parliament. Gehlot authorised the district and subordinate officers to issue passes to people to travel by bus or train to other states and containment zones. Earlier, the state home department had this power. The new travel guideline also made a 14 day quarantine mandatory for any person entering the state. The guidelines also allowed district officers to give permission to run industries. While the Telangana government has extended the lockdown till May 29, it has given additional relaxations for private companies and industries located in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area, a red zone. They resumed operations on Monday. Cyberabad Commissioner of Police, VC Sajjannar, told industry owners have been allowed to use 33% of the manpower in a phased manner. And this 33% of strength is across all shifts, including critical operations, during night hours, contract staff, etc, he said. In Gujarat, the government decided to make the delivery of essential goods to home cashless from May 15, the first state to do so. As a part of preparation strategy post lockdown, all retails and home deliveries agencies have been asked to get 100% screening of the staff. Those who get their staff screened would be able to run their operations without any hassle, said an official order. The order also said that just to be abundantly cautious about the spread of the pandemic through currency notes, it has been made mandatory to accept digital mode of payment through unified payment interface and other platforms from May 15. So far, Gujarat has nearly 7,000 Covid-19 positive cases. In Uttarakhand, the government has allowed shops to function between 7am and 4pm, an extra three hours from this week. Government spokesperson and minister, Madan Kaushik, said, We have increased the time limit of the opening of shops from 7am to 4pm in the state and more industries have been allowed to start operations. However, Kerala, which has seen a new spurt of cases with expats returning, has decided against any relaxation for the time being. With train services also resuming, it expects more cases. Last Sunday it observed a complete shutdown, a symbolic move to strengthen its ongoing fight against the virus. In Rajasthan, a majority of MPs and MLAs welcomed the chief ministers decision to bring stranded workers to their homes. The lawmakers suggested that additional trains and buses be arranged for them. They asked to simplify the pass process, arrange institutional quarantine for the people coming from other places to the village school or panchayat building and adding the names of new labourers to the MGNREGA list. On the demand of MPs and MLAs to remove the farmers welfare fee on purchases in agricultural markets, Gehlot said that the fee has not been imposed on the farmers but on the traders. The meeting was attended by speaker, Dr CP Joshi, former CM, Vasundhara Raje, leader of the opposition, Gulabchand Kataria, deputy leader of the opposition, Rajendra Rathore, and former Union minister, PP Chaudhary. Swiss watch brand SevenFriday has always been one to distance itself from the crowd. Just one glance at its unique timepieces and its immediately clear the company doesnt conform to the regular look of analogue watches. The non-conformity continues with the companys latest release, the P3C/03 Beach Club. Sticking to its tried and tested formula of square-faced timepieces, the Beach Club not only distances itself from other brands in terms of design and the brand has always been about design first and foremost but the way in which it tells the time too. You might take a quick look at the dial and wonder what the hell is going on. Its actually rather simple. You have traditional hour and minute hands with a minutes counter at the outermost point of the dial. Then you have two sub-dials: at 4 oclock is a small seconds indicator and at 9 oclock is a 24-hour indicator. The company is fully aware its watches dont follow conventional rules the V3/01 is a further testament to that but telling the time will be like riding a bicycle once youve spent a little time getting to understand it. SevenFriday has deliberately targeted this watch to the frequent beach-goer with a colour-scheme to reflect, with aqua blue being a prominent colour to represent the sea and a hint of yellow to resemble the sun. Add to that a 10ATM water resistance thanks to a screw-down crown and a black canvas strap with calf leather lining and you have yourself the ideal beachside companion. Under the hood is an automatic Miyota 82S7 movement (the company always turns to Japan for its movements, using either Miyota or Seiko) and Asia also where the watch is assembled. The company is transparent with the way its watches are designed and manufactured, with design coming straight out of its head office in Zurich, so theyre Swiss-designed, not Swiss-made. This information is displayed via a globe on the caseback of the watch, which doubles up as an NFC chip which connects to a companion app. You can grab your very own P3C/03 Beach Club now for US$1,200/AU$1,995. Read Next I am so pleased to join Steve Arikian, Frank Corvino, and the wonderful Genesis Research family: thought leaders in Real World Evidence generation and true partners with their clients Dr. Pashos successful career has spanned academia, consulting and life sciences companies. Most recently, he served as Vice President, Global Evidence Strategy at AbbVie, strengthening the delivery of appropriate HEOR methods and enhancing collaboration among global, regional and affiliate organizations. Previously, he led Takedas Global Outcomes and Epidemiology Research, where he led a transformation to deliver HEOR strategically and tactically from early development through the life cycle, integrated across R&D, Medical and commercial units. Chris began his HEOR career at Harvard Medical School, where he managed the acute myocardial infarction Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT), one of the first PORTs funded by the United States government to improve healthcare quality. After leaving the Harvard faculty in 1995, he founded and led a consultancy at Abt Associates whose clients were most of the worlds leading pharmaceutical companies. He continued as vice president after his team was acquired. Having lived in North America and Europe and worked with organizations from around the world, his global research has appeared in more than 120 medical journal publications; nearly 300 presentations, book chapters, and reports; and input to UNICEF, NIH, the Surgeon General, and others. When thinking of who to appoint to the Genesis Research Board, Chris Pashos was the first person to come to mind not only for his invaluable industry knowledge and global impact, but also his character, integrity and values. We are delighted to welcome him to the Genesis Family, said Mark Hopkins, Co-Founder and Managing Partner with Rallyday. I am so pleased to join Steve Arikian, Frank Corvino, and the wonderful Genesis Research family: thought leaders in Real World Evidence generation and true partners with their clients, said Dr. Pashos. It is wonderful to see their commitment to providing significant value to their Life Sciences Company clients through scientific excellence, novel working relationships and innovative deliverables, he added. A Charter Member of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), Chris served as ISPOR President in 2008-2009. A recipient of the ISPOR Distinguished Service Award, he led the development of and served as a co-editor of Health Care Costs, Quality and Outcomes: ISPOR Book of Terms (which has been translated from English into many other languages). We are pleased to welcome Chris to our Board of Directors at this important next stage in Genesis Researchs evolution," stated Steve Arikian, MD, Co-Founder & Chairman of the Board of Genesis Research. "As a highly respected and seasoned HEOR executive with valuable biopharmaceutical industry experience, we look forward to Chris expert assistance in supporting our objective to be the worlds leading Value Demonstration Company. About Genesis Research: Genesis Research is a value demonstration company, powered by Real World Evidence development serving the Life Sciences industry. As a leader in evidence development and communication, Genesis Research supports clients with unique services such as rapid response analytics, outcomes simulation, payer data collaboration and Evidence Life Cycle Management. For more information about Genesis Research, please visit http://www.GenesisRG.com. About Rallyday Partners: Rallyday Partners, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is a private equity firm investing growth capital in founder led companies in the healthcare, education and IT services industries. Genesis Research is a portfolio company of Rallyday Partners. For more information about Rallyday, please visit http://www.rallydaypartners.com. New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (May 11) alleged that the Centre is discriminating against the state amid coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic during a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mamata said, "We are together in this crisis, however, somehow West Bengal has been targeted by the central government to get political mileage." West Bengal Chief Minister, however, appealed to the Prime Minister and all other political parties not to engage in any sort of politics during coronavirus crisis, while asking everyone to come forward and work together in the hour of crisis. She said, "When the government of India has opened almost everything including the opening of land borders, starting trains and opening airports, then what is the point in continuing with the further lockdown." Apart from the special economic package for the state, Mamata reportedly sought the central government's assistance to bring back all Bengal migrant labourers stranded in various parts of the country. The meeting today held between PM Modi and Chief Ministers of different states to review the ground situation across India in the third phase of the nationwide lockdown. Notably, the Prime Minister's meeting with chief ministers of states and union territories discussed the steps for reviving the battered economy and scaling up all efforts to bring more 'red' zones with high COVID-19 caseload into 'orange' or 'green' zones, as they push for stepping up economic activities in a calibrated manner. Meanwhile, the BJP had accused the West Bengal of "misleading" people on the extent of coronavirus cases in the state by "hiding" its real numbers. BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said, "When West Bengal has been hit by COVID-19, then where have you hidden Mamata ji? People of your state want to know where are you and what are you doing? The state's people and Bengali labourers outside have been pleading you for help." Vijayvargiya, who is in charge of his party's affairs in the eastern state, alleged that the Trinamool Congress president "hid" the real numbers of coronavirus patients and "misled" people, adding that there has been "corruption" in the ration received from the Centre while the needy people remained "hungry". Notably, the BJP has accused the Mamata government of mishandling the crisis, while the TMC, in turn, has said the saffron party has used the central government machinery for political purpose. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury today accused the state government of "deliberately not allowing" the migrant workers to return home. "They are trying to portray that if these migrant labourers return the corona cases in West Bengal will further rise. The state government has to clarify its stand on the migrant workers' issue," Chowdhury told PTI. The Center For Ethical Governance And Administration (CEGA) is asking President Akufo-Addo to reprimand the Deputy Minister for Information Hon. Pius Hadzide while they stress that he poses a threat to press freedom. This is coming on the back of the Ministers confrontation with Tv3s Morning Show Host Johnnie Hughes on Monday morning as he accused him of being a biased and unprofessional presenter. In a statement from CEGA, they have condemned the actions of Hon. Pius Hadzide while noting that if he is not checked he will further dent the image of the government so far as press freedom in the country is concerned. They say this is unbecoming of a Deputy Minister for Information in Ghana and he must understand that he is expected to serve the people of this country and he must do so with utmost patience, humility, and candour. We wish to register our utmost disgust about the conduct of the Deputy Minister's unwarranted attack on the Host of TV3 this morning. As the Deputy Minister of Information, he is supposed to protect journalists instead of attacking such professionals who are genuinely doing their job. In view of this, the CEGA calls on the President to immediately call Hon. Pius Hadzide to order and request him to apologize to Johnnie Hughes and the viewers of the Morning Show hosted by him, the statement from CEGA said. Read the full statement below: THE CENTER FOR ETHICAL GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION (CEGA) 11th May, 2020 PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PIUS ENYONAM HADZIDE IS A THREAT TO PRESS FREEDOM - CALL HIM TO ORDER, MR. PRESIDENT CEGA has observed with great worry a development if not unchecked will further dent the image of the government so far as press freedom in the country is concerned. During the normal discussions on TV3 this morning 11th May, 2020 hosted by one Mr. Johnny Hughes, the Deputy Minister for Information Pius Enyonam Hadzideh was on that programe with Hon. Kwame Governs Agbodza the MP for Adaklu Constituency in the Volta region. The Hon. Deputy Minister made claims to the effect that the government had made substantial investments into bringing up more Covid-19 Testing Centers in Ghana, and thereby making it possible for Ghana to undertake massive testing of suspected Covid-19 infected people. On his part, the Host of the program asked the Deputy Minister to give further and better particulars of the nature of the investment the government had specifically made in the sector. Not only did the Deputy Minister get infuriated about Host's line of question but he went on to accuse the Host of being biased and unprofessional. The CEGA wishes to place on record that, this is unbecoming of a Deputy Minister for Information in Ghana. As a Deputy Minister, Hon. Pius Hadzide must understand that he is expected to serve the people of this country and he must do so with utmost patience, humility and candour. He must understand that he communicates on behalf of the government and that the state pays him to give accurate and unbiased information. Furthermore the CEGA has noted with apprehension that this Deputy Minister appears on television and radio programmes almost unprepared and not very much on top of issues. He mostly engages in unbridled and unmitigated politicization of all issues. We wish to register our utmost disgust about the conduct of the Deputy Minister's unwarranted attack on the Host of TV3 this morning. As the Deputy Minister of Information he is supposed to protect journalist instead of attacking such professionals who are genuinely doing their job. In view of this, the CEGA calls on the President to immediately call Hon. Pius Hadzide to order and request him to apologise to Johnny Hughes and the viewers of the Morning Show hosted by him. In the midst of this pandemic, what Ghanaians need most among others are; 1. Better education of the public on current events concerning Covid-19 management 2. Timely and accurate information from Information Ministry. 3. Cool heads and reasonableness to prevail during discussions 4. Avoidance of obsession to political polarization, cacophony and nuisance especially from persons paid by the tax payer. Signed: Prof Ohene Adjei Executive Director 0544445566 Dr. Justice M.K Aheto Executive Secretary 0242527292 Mr. George Yankah Communications Director 0242161111 Thousands of Uber employees learned that they were being laid off in a three-minute Zoom call last week. The ride-sharing company informed 3,500 people who worked in customer service and recruitment around the country that it would be their last day working for Uber on the live call. Uber's Ruffin Chaveleau was tasked with breaking the news that the app was 'eliminating' thousands of jobs on the call, obtained by DailyMail.com. Chaveleau heads Uber's Phoenix Center of Excellence - the term the company uses to describe its customer service office. Chevaleau told staff: 'Our rides business is down by more than half. There is not enough work for many frontline customer support employees. [As a result] we are eliminating 3,500 frontline customer support roles. 'Your role is impacted and today will be your last working day with Uber. You will remain on payroll until the date noted in your severance package.' DailyMail.com obtained video of the call where Ruffin Chaveleau, head of Uber's customer service, broke the news that Uber employees were being laid off The ride-hailing app has been hit hard by the pandemic and a company filing on Wednesday revealed around 3,700 roles will be cut from its global workforce - around 14% of its 26,900 employees Chaveleau's voice cracked as she told the employees that 'no one wants to be on a call like this'. She said: 'I know that this is incredibly hard to hear. No one wants to be on a call like this. With everyone remote and a change of this magnitude, we had to do this in a way that allowed us to tell you as quickly as possible so that you did not hear it from the rumor mill. 'We are eliminating 3,500 frontline customer support roles,' Chaveleau said. 'Your role is impacted and today will be your last working day with Uber' 'I also wanted to deliver this news personally and just take a brief moment to thank you for your contributions to Uber.' This was not the first time Chaveleau had to tell Uber employees they were out of a job. In February the executive was tasked with informing 80 staff they were losing their jobs when Uber shut down its Los Angeles customer support office. The business has been devastated by the pandemic and a company filing on Wednesday revealed around 3,700 roles will be cut from its global workforce - roughly 14% of its 26,900 employees. The cuts will be made among customer support and recruiting teams, meaning driver number will be largely unaffected. The company expects to incur about $20 million in costs for severance and related charges, the filing revealed. A former Uber employee, who asked to remain anonymous, slammed the company for laying off so many people on a Zoom call and for the lack of notice. 'It was a 3,700-person live Zoom call,' she said. 'It was controlled. I would prefer to have had notice. The day before, we were told we would know in two weeks what departments would be let go. 'They gave us no notice. If I missed that Zoom call, I would have missed the news. We knew they didn't have the drivers' backs, but they don't have anyone's backs. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, above, will also forgo his$1million base salary for the rest of the year The employee continued: 'They sent us severance and stuff, but they're not telling us anything. It's worldwide, but there were like 50 people laid off in my office. 'They were going based on a lottery, like Russian roulette. The severance package is generous, but they're treating us like they treat the drivers,' she continued, referring to Uber's less than stellar reputation in fairly compensating their independent contractors. 'Uber is doing unemployment claims for people they've laid off,' she said. 'They taught us how to do that stuff and then the next day they fired us. 'Apparently someone at the CEO level leaked that this was gonna happen, so they expedited it.' The employee tells DailyMail.com that more layoffs at Uber are expected. 'They're still not done getting rid of people. The way they've gone about it is very negative,' she said. 'Uber has empathy training and they teach us to be sympathetic to other people's needs, but they're not practicing what they preach. 'Right now we're all getting a severance, but they can change their mind on that if they want to.' Uber has been decimated by the COVID-19 lockdown with far fewer people booking rides as they stay home. The company posted a net loss of $2.9billion on Thursday and announced it was implementing a hiring freeze as well as cutting thousands of jobs from its corporate workforce. Uber said it expects to incur about $20 million in costs for severance and related charges in light of the coronavirus pandemic CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will not be paid for the rest of the year. His salary was set for $1million in 2019 with a possible bonus of $2million. A memo sent to staff on Wednesday saw Khosrowshahi hint that more cuts may be on the way. He said: 'We are looking at many scenarios and at each and every cost, both variable and fixed, across the company. We want to be smart, to move fast, to retain as many of our great people as we can, and treat everyone with dignity, support and respect. 'And with our hiring freeze, ' Khosrowshahi added, 'there simply isn't enough work for recruiters.' A spokesperson for Uber said: 'It's never easy or uncomplicated to let employees go, and that's only been more true during this unprecedented period, where we are all working from home across dozens of cities and countries. We've focused on providing the clearest, most empathetic experience, possible and have put together a strong severance package and other benefits.' Help India! TCN News Prominent individuals, groups and organizations have come together to demand the withdrawal of sedition case filed against Dr Zafarul Islam Khan, Chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission. In a public joint statement, these signatories including Muslim clerics, leaders, journalists and scholars have condemned the FIR against Khan, sounding alarm against the targeting of Dr Zafarul Islam Khan by the Islamophobes over his posts on social media. Support TwoCircles The statement condemns the action of the government against him by booking cases under sections 124A (sedition) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth) and raiding his house on 7th May 2020. The signatories included women activists from Hyderabad Muslim Womens Forum, Arshad Madani of Jamiat Ulema e Hind, Syed Sadatullah Hussaini of Jamaat e Islami Hind, Tauqeer Raza Khan of Bareillys Milli Ittehad Council, O M A Salam of Popular Front, Labeed Shafi of Student Islamic Organization of India, Abdul Hafiz Lakhani, editor, Siyasat, Ahmedabad, Dr Manzoor Alam of All India Milli Council, Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas of Welfare Party of India, Navaid Hamid of Muslim Majlis e Mushawaat among several renowned social activists and professionals. The signatories have detailed that in recent times, the BJP is after the Muslim community, their leaders and intellectuals and religious scholars are defamed and the common Muslims being subjected to attacks and destruction of their houses and business establishments thereby making them economically weak, indicating that all this is being observed by the international community especially the Arab world. It has praised Canadas recent action against Islamophobic posts on social media, warning that they would not tolerate any kind of Islamophobia. Dr. Khan had thanked the Kuwaiti government for raising voice against the Islamophobes and standing with the oppressed Muslims in India through his posts on social media, in a similar context. The statement argued that his post does not violate any law nor does it intentionally or unintentionally cause any discord amongst the different communities of India. Therefore, the raid on his house is highly objectionable and condemnable. The statement accuses hate mongers and Islamophobes of going on propagating hatred and media trial, backed by Hindutva bigots. Condemning the raid at Khans house, the signatories have declared that the social media post has been blown out of proportion and deliberately misinterpreted by the anti- Muslim Hindutva brigade whose sole intention is to assassinate the character of Dr Zafarul Islam Khan. Reminding Khans endeavours of resolving issues of the Indian religious minorities under his chairmanship of the Delhi Minorities Commission, the statement refutes charges of sedition against him. The statement highlights how he has defended India many times in the Arab World on crucial issues. Questioning police action on the raid at Khans house, the statement has questioned police ineffectiveness in booking no case on the trolling of activists, writers and scholars on social media, calling out the BJP ministers deserving of spreading communal hatred through their hateful, instigating and vengeful speeches. The statement demanded that the hate propaganda against Dr. Khan be immediately stopped and those responsible for this malicious hate campaign against both Dr. Khan and the Indian Muslims are brought to book, urging the Government to take action against the hate mongers in form of news channels, Hindutva bigots, right-wing politicians and others who are spreading hate against Dr Zafarul Islam Khan and defaming him. India is fast becoming Islamophobic and the action taken against a harmless honest message on social media is another proof of this, it said in its endnote, outlining that the way the police has hastily charged Dr Islam with sedition and raid on his house shows the path towards which democracy and justice is headed in India. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said what he expects from work of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as head of the Executive Committee for Reforms under the president of Ukraine. "During the tears of Saakashvili's presidency in Georgia, he really created a modern customs service and overcome corruption. The second thing is that he has rather strong investment ties. We have discussed pension reform which it is time to launch in Ukraine," he said during a working visit to Zakarpattia region on May 9. China on Monday sought to downplay the latest round of aggressive confrontation between Indian and Chinese soldiers in north Sikkim over the weekend, saying both countries should jointly uphold peace and handle differences. The Chinese foreign ministry didnt share details about the clash that injured border troops from both sides but attempted to subtly shift the blame to the Indian side, saying Chinese soldiers were always upholding peace and tranquility along the border. The Chinese defence ministry is yet to comment on the incident, which took place at Naku La in north Sikkim at over 5000 metres altitude on Saturday. Reports of the clash brought back memories of the 73-day face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers in 2017 near the Sikkim border in Doklam, which plunged bilateral ties into a chill for months. Confirming an HT report on the clash, the Indian army on Sunday said a heated confrontation took place between Indian and Chinese soldiers in north Sikkim on Saturday, resulting in injuries to troops on both sides. Incident of face-off as referred to in the (HT) article did take place. Aggressive behaviour by the two sides resulted in minor injuries to troops, the Indian army statement said. The troops disengaged after talks held at the local army level. The Chinese foreign ministry, however, did not share specifics of the incident. Chinese Border troops have always been upholding peace and tranquility along our border areas. China and India stay in close communication and coordination concerning our border affairs within existing channels, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian said at the regular ministry briefing on Monday. This year marks the 70th anniversary of our establishment of diplomatic ties and the two countries are joining hands in the fight against Covid-19, he said. Under such circumstances the two sides should work together with each other, properly manage and handle the differences, earnestly uphold peace and stability in the border region so as to create enabling conditions for our bilateral relations as well as the joint fight against Covid-19, Zhao added. Zhao denied that China is adopting an aggressive approach in its diplomacy as it fights off the Covid-19 in the country. The relevant assumption is groundless, he said, answering a question on the subject. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19, China and India have been staying in close communication and cooperation on prevention and control, to jointly meet the challenges. Now, the most pressing concern for the international community is solidarity and cooperation against Covid-19. We shouldnt allow any politicisation or stigmatisation in a bid to create more differences or confrontation, Zhao said. India and China have held dozen rounds of talks to resolve the 3,488 km of disputed border stretching from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh. In 2017, China had accused India of trespassing and preventing its troops from building a road in the Himalayan plateau Doklam (Donglang in Chinese), which is under Chinese control but claimed by Bhutan. The standoff began in June and ended in August after troops from both armies withdrew. Speaking to state-controlled media, a Chinese scholar said the China-India border issue was left over from the past and both sides have a different perception. Despite this, the two countries leaderships and related authorities have established communication mechanisms. Their effectiveness was demonstrated by this incident as the problem was solved at the local level and did not escalate to a national level, Qian Feng, a senior fellow at the Taihe Institute and director of the research department of the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University in Beijing told state media. KYODO NEWS - May 11, 2020 - 13:57 | All, Japan, World A man who called himself a "director of the North Korean foreign ministry" proposed in spring last year a clam smuggling deal to a Japanese trading company employee in Bangkok, sources close to the matter told Kyodo News on Monday. The Japanese government is also aware of the incident, in which the man suggested smuggling clams from North Korea to Japan by falsifying them as from China, they said. A female employee of a North Korean restaurant in Thailand had introduced the self-claimed director to the Japanese who was a regular customer, the sources added. Seafood was exported by North Korea until 2017 when the country was banned from trading it as part of U.N. Security Council sanction resolutions against Pyongyang over its missile program. Those with the knowledge of North Korean affairs hinted that the reclusive country could have sought the illicit trade with Japan, despite the strained bilateral relationship, because it is struggling to obtain foreign currency. The Japanese trading company employee was told he could import clams at less than their market value and was also invited to visit a fishery facility in North Korea, according to the sources. The North Korean told him that "all civil servants (in his country) are doing a business similar to mine" and earnings from the restaurant operation only accounted for up to 30 percent of total income. The sources added that he claimed trilateral trade between Thailand, China and North Korea is his biggest source of income and that he also handles trips to North Korea. The clam smuggling deal was never realized as the Japanese employee stopped meeting the person. "He (the North Korean) might have thought of exporting (clams) to Japan as he can't secure his living expenses as well as foreign currency to contribute to the (North Korean) government without increasing his smuggling outlets," a former reporter of South Korean news agency Newsis said. Diplomatic sources said Thai immigration authorities busted the restaurant in November and detained a North Korean man for letting foreign workers live in the Southeast Asian country without permission. The sources added employees, including the female worker, were also detained before most of them were deported. "If you get involved in smuggling even once, (North Korea) could take advantage of it and blackmail you into becoming a spy" for the country, a Thai official warned. "I'm excited, but I'm hesitant," he said. The restaurant is taking plenty of precautions, including taking the temperatures of employees as they arrive. "I want people to feel safe," Buck said. Much of that preparation work has been overseen by the restaurant's head chef, Aaron Kujawa, who said employees have been busy sanitizing the entire interior of the building and adding hand sanitation stations, and arm and foot pulls on interior doors. Tables are spaced 6 feet apart, disposable menus will be used, employees will be wearing masks and gloves, and restrooms will be sanitized every hour, he said. "We are taking every precaution and then some," Kujawa said. "It's not the same world it was two months ago." Not every restaurant eligible to open is doing so. Third Coast Spice Cafe and Lemon Tree Mediterranean Grill, both in Chesterton, are continuing curbside food pickup service, but are not yet reopening their dining rooms, according to co-owner Lisa Wodrich. "I really feel it's the right decision for us," she said. In an effort to further the use of technology in Indias fight against COVID-19, National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) announced the successful delivery of an end to end COVID platform to the Government of Telangana. Developed by NASSCOMs Task Force, the platform brings together solutions from multiple technology leaders and delivers more than 100 dashboards, across 30+ government and public datasets, with hundreds of thousands of data points. Working closely with the Government of Telangana, the platform, with its various technology led models will assist the government in sustainable industry recovery and will help them in taking informed decision in managing lockdown and phased release across the state. The IT industry has time and again show its commitment to helping India and even more so through these exceptional times, by assembling the greatest tech minds in the country to collaborate and develop solutions. T. Rama Rao, Minister of IT of Telangana, said, Its wonderful to see how tech industry is joining hands with a common goal to innovate for the war on Covid-19. India has the capacity to quickly develop tech solutions for post-lockdown world andwe are glad that NASSCOM taskforce has collaborated with Government of Telangana and prepared an end to end COVID platform to manage the crisis. Sharing her thoughts Nivruti Rai, Country Head Intel India and VP Data Center Group, Intel and Lead NASSCOM Task Force, said, COVID-19 pandemic has given an opportunity to the world to re-imagine lives with technology. Digital transformation is demonstrating its value and its impact on the very ecology of businesses in these tough times. We are delighted to provide the first of its kind COVID tracking platform and Dashboard to the Government of Telangana and will continue our work led by tech, developing solutions to fight this global crisis. We thank the government for their continued support and trusting the NASSCOM Task Force for delivering this project. As a part of the platform, NASSCOM Taskforce has developed a COVID-19 India Vulnerability Map, which will provide real time streaming of data about the Pandemic, across regions and states in the country. The platform will source data from public sources that includes select social channels, websites, blogs, forums and public data sets to create actionable reporting dashboards and will allow the government to project insights sourced from the information with public datasets display on command centre screens. The external citizen facing dashboard will allow the government to project critical information to the public for transparency, awareness, and guidance. In addition to the above tech solutions, NASSCOM Task Force will continue its work on the T-COVID app and track align the same with the governments Aarogya Setu app. Sharing her thoughts, Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM, said, Extremely delighted that NASSCOM taskforce has worked with the Government of Telangana to get them ready with an end to end COVID platform to manage the crisis. Technology is definitely our greatest ally in these tough and tiring times. Im glad to witness true leadership in testing times, strong focus & resilience and dedication of team members who have worked relentlessly for this. To fight the global pandemic and provide innovative technology solution NASSCOM had earlier developed a special task force focused on creating a single directory of people and companies working on utilising data and technology for COVID19 management, which will be accessible to anyone who may need it. Spearheaded by Nivruti Rai, the Task Force consist of more than 30-35 members from companies including Intel, TCS, Accenture, Wipro, SAP, AWS, Tech Mahindra and others. Going forward, NASSCOM Task Force is committed to deliver a similar kind of platform to Government of Karnataka and many more states in the near future. India is observing the National Technology Day on Monday. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi saluted all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. On National Technology Day, our nation salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. We remember the exceptional achievement of our scientists on this day in 1998. It was a landmark moment in Indias history, PM Modi said on Twitter referring to Indias nuclear test in Rajasthans Pokhran. On National Technology Day, our nation salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. We remember the exceptional achievement of our scientists on this day in 1998. It was a landmark moment in Indias history. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 11, 2020 The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make, he said in another tweet. The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make. Here is what I had said about Pokhran, Indias scientists and Atal Jis remarkable leadership during one of the #MannKiBaat programmes. pic.twitter.com/UuJR1tLtrL Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 11, 2020 The day has a historical perspective as it was on May 11, 1998, that India achieved a major technological breakthrough by successfully carrying out nuclear tests at Pokhran when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. The underground tests marked the countrys arrival on the worlds nuclear stage and set the scene for some impressive developments in its strategic programme. The first three detonations took place simultaneously at 3.45pm on May 11. These included a 45 kT thermonuclear device, a 15kt fission device and a 0.2 kt sub-kiloton (which is less than a kiloton) device. The two nuclear devices detonated simultaneously on May 13 were also in the sub-kiloton range, 0.5 kT and 0.3 kT. The test happened months after then foreign secretary K Raghunath told his US counterpart that India did not have any intention of testing a nuclear device. The test opened floodgates of trouble for India: Sanctions, economic and military, and interactional isolation. What followed were discussions between Strobe Talbot, then US secretary of state, and then foreign minister Jaswant Singh - they were held in seven countries, 10 cities, and included 14 rounds of talks. For Americans and the west, India was gatecrashing the nuclear club. With Pakistan seeking nuclear parity, the Americans feared South Asia would become a nuclear flashpoint. A great deal of the Talbot-Singh conversation covered this ground. The immediate challenge was to mitigate international opposition and eventually bridge the trust gap with the US. But over the years, India successfully managed everything and its nuclear programme matured significantly. Air India has issued a circular refraining its cabin crew from sharing pictures or videos amid the repatriation process as a part of the 'Vande Bharat Mission'. In the circular, Air India has asked its cabin crew to not film any person in uniform during repatriation flights since it will be a violation of the laid norms. The circular read, "Please note that posting any pictures/videos in uniform on any media including social media is a violation of the laid down norms. Further, formal permission from Air India is required before sharing any details, pictures, or videos with any production house or individual," a circular read. It further read that any crew found involved in any such activity will be seriously reprimanded and will lead to serious disciplinary action. Read: Five Air India pilots test positive for COVID-19; all had flown cargo flights to China 'Vande Bharat' Mission In a major relief for Indians stranded abroad, the Centre had announced that their travel will be arranged via aircraft and naval ships in a phased manner. The Ministry of Home Affairs had also issued the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the movement of the returnees. The mission will go on for 7 days and will rescue stranded Indians from over 11 countries in 64 Air India flights carrying over 14,800 people. The flights will take off for 12 countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Maldives, Singapore, and the US. Read: Vande Bharat Mission: 1st evacuation flight from Bahrain lands in Cochin with 177 people Five Air India pilots tested COVID positive Meanwhile, five Air India pilots who had undertaken cargo flights to China have tested positive for the novel Coronavirus during the pre-flight COVID-19 test. Sources in the national carrier informed that all five pilots are currently asymptomatic and are based in Mumbai. The pre-flight COVID-19 test is usually carried out 72 hours before the pilots are rostered for flight duties. Read: First 'Vande Bharat Mission' Evacuation flight from US to takeoff; Day 4 schedule here Read: Vande Bharat Mission: Five Air India repatriation flights handled by Delhi airport on Sunday (With ANI Inputs) Rajasthan topped the country on Monday as far as labour engagement under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is concerned, as over 1.6 lakh new job cards under the scheme have been added in the past two months, state government officials said. On Monday morning, deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, who holds the rural development portfolio, announced the state governments unprecedented feat via a tweet amid the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak. Rajasthan regained its first position in terms of labour engagement. Its a matter of pride for us. Were focusing on the job guarantee scheme to provide financial security to our rural population, he tweeted. Reverse migration, trigged by the pandemic, has led to an uptick in new enrolment under the rural job scheme. Data showed that 105 lakh MGNREGA job cards were available in the desert state as on March 20, five days before the nationwide lockdown restrictions were imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19 outbreak and on Monday this figure has risen by another 1.6 lakh. Usually, the number of job cards remains static. An increase in 2 lakh cards per year is considered to be normal. But 1.6 lakh new job cards in two months is unprecedented, said PC Kishan, commissioner, MGNREGA, Rajasthan. Lakhs of migrant labourers have returned to their native villages and are registering for job cards and work under the MGNREGA, he added. He cited last years data, which showed that 102 and 103 lakh job cards were added between April 29 and May 30, respectively --- a normal annual trend. Usually, this kind of increase in MGNREGA job cards occurs in a year. For example, there were 103 lakh cards in 2019, and it rose to 104 lakh this year. Besides the migrants returning home, even local villagers are seeking job under the scheme because of lack of employment opportunities in the state, said Nikhil Dey, a social activist. Many people, who never thought about the scheme as a viable employment option, are making a beeline for it, as jobs are few and far between. Weve been demanding a disaster management employment guarantee scheme for a crisis situation like this, he added. The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government said that it would issue job cards to all migrant labourers and engage them under the MGNREGA. Our next milestone is 30 lakh job cards and the final target is 35 lakh, which can be achieved by developing around 100,000 green assets in the field with an increased focus on natural resource management (NRM) and activities allied to the farm sector, Kishan said. The state government had sanctioned a pasture, playground, crematorium or burial ground and model pond in each of the 10,000-odd gram panchayats last year under the MGNREGA, which was introduced by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre in 2005. This year, were focusing on implementing these four kinds of tasks in each of the 43,000 revenue villages, Kishan added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rakesh Goswami Rakesh Goswami leads Hindustan Times bureau in Rajasthan. He loves to write on social issues and has been a journalist for 20 years, including 8 years as a broadcast journalist. ...view detail A national teachers' union in Greece says a government decision to livestream school classes could violate children's privacy rights and should be revised. Classes for the final year of high school reopened Monday, with lower grades to follow next week. The livestreaming allows teachers to rotate student attendance and keep classrooms at 50% capacity or below. Stelios Petsas, a government spokesman, said the online class coverage would remain in effect, noting that the Greek independent Data Protection Authority "had been consulted and provided written consent". Greece's COVID-19 death toll remained at 151 Monday with no new fatalities being reported since Saturday. Ten new cases brought the confirmed total to 2,726, the Health Ministry said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BETHEL A finance board member has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice over the governors executive orders that prevent residents from voting on local budgets during the coronavirus pandemic. The complaint claims Gov. Ned Lamont and local officials are violating the Voting Rights Act with the executive orders that suspend in-person voting and allow towns budget-making authority to approve spending plans and set tax rates. The Governors Executive Orders denying our right to vote not only disenfranchises the voters of Bethel, but also any Board of Finance members, like myself, who are now struggling with an unconstitutional authority that we neither anticipated nor want, wrote Cynthia McCorkindale, a finance board member who is also part of the Bethel Action Committee, a watchdog group that pushes for transparency in government. The governors office declined to comment. A spokeswoman with the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed the department received and is reviewing the complaint. She did not return a request for information on the process or timeline for the review. The complaint comes the day before Bethel is set to hold a virtual public hearing on the proposed $79.8 million budget. The finance board is expected to approve the budget by Friday. Bethel First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker, who learned of the complaint when reached Monday morning, said he was shocked that it criticized him, his fellow selectmen and the local health director for following the governors orders. She has every right to file against the governor, said Knickerbocker, adding he had not received the complaint in town hall by Monday morning. Thats where the orders came from. But to name everyone in Bethel? For what? Because we didnt disobey the order? That is the most twisted logic Ive ever heard in my life. McCorkindale wrote in her complaint that the Bethel selectmen were complicit in their failure to challenge these executive orders. She said town officials should have fought the governors executive order and tried to find a way for residents to vote safely. Once you start chipping away at very basic things like voting, it should be a heads-up for problems in the future, McCorkindale said. I felt it was not explored (by the town) to the fullest. She was spurred to file the complaint by a memorandum from U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr that urged U.S. attorneys to look out for state or local directives that could violate constitutional rights and liberties. Knickerbocker said the town could not have safely held a referendum, especially if the state, with its resources, postponed the presidential primary. How could we possibly have a referendum that could potentially be a larger vote turnout than a presidential primary? he said. Its risky. Thats all there is to it. Bethel Health Director Laura Vasile said in a memo to town officials that a referendum should not be held at this time because it would increase the risk of exposure and transmission of COVID-19 and not protect the health of Bethel voters and residents. McCorkindale pointed to one of the Bethel registrars recommendations for how to hold a referendum safely, arguing they were similar to the state-issued guidelines for distributing school lunches. But Knickerbocker said there is a difference between handing out food and holding a referendum. People need to eat, he said. People are suffering from food insecurity, so there are different rules about passing out food. McCorkindale said food and voting are both important. People need to eat and they need to vote, she said. Its unclear how long it will take for the department to review the complaint. McCorkindale said. My intention was for it to be as expedient as possible, she said. Other towns respond Vernon residents approved their budget in a drive-thru town meeting last month with a thumbs-up or down, a method that McCorkindale lauded. But this arrangement would not work in towns like Bethel, where budgets are passed in referendums with multiple questions on the ballot, said Knickerbocker, who is also the president of the Connecticut Council of Small Towns. There would be no way to ensure privacy or verify the results, he said. Leaders in all other towns Knickerbocker has spoken with said they are following the executive orders, he said. Officials need to focus on allowing residents to vote by mail, said Kelly Moore, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut. She said the governors executive orders caused confusion over whether towns could allow voting by mail. People should not have to choose between protecting their health and exercising their right to vote, she said in a statement. The onus is on the government to ensure that people have a safe way to cast ballots in our democracy during this pandemic, including by allowing voting by mail to ensure people are safe. Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn said voting by mail or online should be implemented in the future, but that state law does not yet allow it. The right to vote is critical, he said. Does that right to vote trump the safety of everyone in the town? Dunn asked. At this point in time, I dont think it does. New Fairfield First Selectman Pat Del Monaco said she and town officials wish residents could vote on the budget. But the executive orders do not allow that, and shes unsure how the town could hold a referendum safely, she said. We focused all our efforts on making sure we were complying with that order and also trying to be as transparent as we possibly can, Del Monaco said. State agency, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and local residents have expressed concerns over fast track plans by developer, Joe OReilly, to construct a 29-storey landmark tower near Heuston Station in Dublin 8. Earlier this year, Mr OReillys Ruirside Development lodged plans to construct 481 build-to-rent apartments and 3,698 sq m in commercial office space along with retail and restaurant space at Parkgate Street. The Parkgate Street plan comprises of five separate blocks ranging from eight to 29 storeys in height that will accommodate 1,100 residents. Planning documents lodged with the application state that the development is a best in class residential mixed use scheme and will provide much-needed regeneration and complimentary modern residential accommodation in this under-utilised, brownfield city centre location. However, TII, which has its HQ nearby, has expressed concern to An Bord Pleanala over the plan that includes the 29-storey high tower. When operational, the proposed development will create around 550 jobs. Consultants for TII state that as occupiers of the neighbouring office building at Parkgate Business Centre, TII are concerned about the potential impacts that the proposed development may have on their offices, particularly during the construction phase of the proposed development. On behalf of TII, BMA Planning said that the relationship between the proposed development and the Parkgate Business Centre shows significant differences in scale and height between both buildings. The submission adds: We trust that An Bord Pleanala will consider the scheme against the relevant guidelines and best practice but also take due cognisance of the amenities of the adjoining occupiers. BMA Planning state that the focus in the submission relates to the construction impacts that may arise should planning be granted. Owners of apartments at the nearby Parkgate Place Apartment Complex have told the appeals board that they have concerns over the scale of the proposed development. The submission states that the plan affects 159 apartment owners, their families and tenants. They state that the proposal will dwarf the apartments claiming that the lowest point of the new development being over twice the height of our apartments. The owners say that they do not want a cliff face effect between the existing blocks and two of the proposed blocks. Geoff Power of The Island, Chapelizod, argues that the plan represents hubris and ego that is out of control. He claims that the proposal is a high-cost construction and high-rent accommodation. We applaud the proactive measures they have taken to protect their campus. Ozone removes pesticides and kills E. coli, listeria, salmonella, norovirus and hepatitis A. Earlier this year, Stanford Universitys Residential and Dining Services installed multiple units of the Quality Food Preparation Series from Quail Systems, LLC, a leader in ozone generators that protect the food chain from farm to fork. Were excited to be able to share the Quail teams decades of knowledge, research and experience to allow Stanford to effectively utilize ozone for health and sanitizing, Robert Smith, Quail Systems President and CEO, said. We applaud the proactive measures they have taken to protect their campus. Ozone removes pesticides and kills E. coli, listeria, salmonella, norovirus and hepatitis A, he added. Quails Quality Food Preparation Series offers both ozonated water and air. The system infuses ozone in the water supply for washing and rinsing meats, produce, kitchen tools and surfaces. Users also can inject ozonated air directly into packaging. Approved by the FDA and USDA, ozone is recognized as the most effective antimicrobial disinfectant on the market. Quails safe, advanced technology produces ozone onsite. Quail System products allow food providers to meet the Food Safety Modernization Acts requirements to transport food in a safe, clean environment and prevent cross-contamination. In addition to the Quality Food Preparation Series, Quail Systems focuses on protecting the food chain through the Refrigerated Transportation Series, the Mobile Sanitizing Series and the Universal System. Smith established Quail Systems, a Tennessee company, with a mission of providing the highest quality ozone systems, monitoring and service. Additional information about Quail Systems is available at https://quailsystems.com/. Timi Bauscher of Kempton sprang into action to keep afloat a local farmer who lost his contract to sell his eggs to a processor. Read more Hamburg egg farmer Josh Zimmerman faced disaster about a month ago when his bulk-egg processor ran out of storage for liquefied eggs for cruise ships, hospitals, hotels, and school cafeterias. The yellow goo from millions of eggs, stored in bladder bags, had filled all the available freezer space. So processors had to shut off the flow. With a veritable Ol Man River of eggs, 60,000 a day rolling out of his hen houses, Zimmerman, 37, faced a hard choice: either euthanize his 80,000-hen flock or find a new market for eggs. Into that void stepped go-getter Timi Bauscher, 38, who runs the Nesting Box Farm Market and Creamery in Kempton, about 20 minutes from Zimmermans cage-free spread, both in Berks County. She proposed to sell some of Zimmermans eggs at her roadside market, offering a minimum of five dozen on flats for a discounted $2 a dozen. Zimmerman, desperate but skeptical, thought "shed move a skid or two a week. Bauscher whose farmer husband, Keith, says his wife has Facebook down to a 'T' posted Zimmermans story on Facebook and Instagram, describing Zimmermans hens and their existential plight. Lets do this, Nesting Box peeps! she wrote. It went viral within 30 seconds and reached a half-million people, Bauscher said. Traffic backed up outside the roadside Nesting Box Market on the first day of the egg sale, on April 27, with consumers excited to save the chickens and help a local farmer in a pandemic-induced financial crisis. READ MORE: Deadly ride: How coronavirus struck down Bell & Evans poultry workers going to work in a crowded van Bauscher relocated the event to the 50-acre Kempton Community Center, staffing a bulk sale on May 3 with 30 volunteers, mostly women and a few teenage girls from a Scout troop. Keith Bauscher buzzed around on a forklift, unloading big boxes marked Eggs on skids from a refrigerated trailer. Volunteers unpacked the egg flats on long tables. Buyers drove by for a contactless transaction. She ended up selling 18,000 dozen eggs for about $36,000, which goes toward hauling, refrigerating, packaging, and keeping the chickens alive. As for the business arrangement, Bauscher said, its a partnership between the two farms and Ill leave it at that. Pegene Pitcairn drove more than hour from Bryn Athyn on May 3, loading her Subaru Outback with 360 dozen eggs in boxes for about 40 families and food pantries. She had read about Zimmerman on Facebook. It really is a wonderful story of how humans come together to help people in our food chain, she said. She reached home without any cracked cargo no big deal because there was no traffic, she said. Cindie Penzes, of Palmer, in the Easton area, bought 30 dozen. She had also connected on Facebook. Small farms need support, she said, adding that she had called around to family that morning taking orders for eggs. I called everybody. Even as political leaders begin reopening the economy, the nations food supply chain remains disrupted because of the huge shift in eating habits, with more people dining at home. Meat plants also have closed because of COVID-19 outbreaks among employees. Each commodity seems to be dealing with a major disruption. About 30% of the eggs produced in the United States are usually destined for the liquefied egg market for fast-food restaurants, hotels, school cafeterias, and food production for mayonnaise, salad dressings and other products, experts say. But the near-standstill of the economy has closed off that vast market. Egg farmers such as Zimmerman who were under contract to bulk processors had to find new markets, such as exports or euthanize flocks, which continued to produce eggs. Supermarkets could use the eggs. But those heading to the retail markets have to be washed, graded, packed in cartons, and shipped to stores which are now a bottleneck in the farm-to-supermarket supply chain. Brian Moscogiuri, director and egg industry analyst with Urner Barry in Toms River, estimated that 40 million to 50 million egg-laying hens have been idled by the pandemic. Some of those hens will have to be euthanized, he said. Urner Barry tracks protein commodity prices for eggs, fish, meat, poultry and pork. Moscogiuri said that egg farmers in the liquefied market have to hold on to their business in whatever way they can until restaurants reopen. As for when that could be, Moscogiuri said you tell me when [restaurants] will be back after the outbreak. I dont know. There is really no telling when demand will return to pre-pandemic levels. It turned off like a switch. It will not turn back as quickly. READ MORE: How a Malvern meat processor stays open during coronavirus: Daily health screens and a wedding tent In Kempton, theres a sense of pitching in to help a local farmer in dark days. Of course the price is very good at $2 [a dozen] but Im flabbergasted myself," Don Meyers, president of the Kempton Community Center, said of the line of vehicles waiting to buy Zimmermans eggs the previous weekend. He directed traffic into neat lines on the centers grass fields. "The word spread and here they came. Its amazing. Meyers said they had a good crowd again Sunday in Kempton. I am here and people are lining up already, he said on the phone at noon, an hour before the sale would begin. There are about a hundred cars so far. A few minutes later, Bauscher texted: About to roll here again!" as another huge sale began. Bauscher said they sold about three-quarters of a tractor-trailer on Sunday, with the rest likely going to food pantries. She expects to sell 22,000 to 25,000 dozen a week. For now, Zimmerman is holding on and grateful. Bauscher totally shocked him, he said. Shes got connections. Its her social-media platform and shes energetic. She saw a need and she kicked the wheels into motion. Bauscher, who tends with her husband to 1,700 hens and sells 80 to 100 dozen eggs a day, said that even in good times, before COVID-19, farming was a wing and prayer. She views herself as "providing the link to Mr. Zimmerman to push those eggs out to the public. As for the longer term, the frozen liquefied eggs in storage could last through November, she said. You have to remember," she said, "that if youre not doing things in your life that give you goose bumps, youre doing it wrong. Air India aircraft departed from London's Heathrow airport via Delhi for Bengaluru on Sunday with 323 Indian citizen has landed at Kempegowda International Airport. (DC Photo) Bengaluru: The Air India aircraft departed from London's Heathrow airport via Delhi for Bengaluru on Sunday with 323 Indian citizen has landed at Kempegowda International Airport. The Air India Boeing 777 reached Bengaluru at 4:30am with 1.5 hrs delay. All the passengers will be screened on arrival and shifted to quarantine for 14 days at hotels, hostels and other quarantine centres. About 800 people would be brought back to Karnataka by three Air India flights in the next few days. This is the first flight from London that has arrived at the KIA after the Union Government flagged the Vande Bharat Mission on May 7 to facilitate the repatriation of the citizens in foreign countries around the world. Meghna's one of the passengers elated on reaching her home town shared her travelling experiance. "In the flight no hot meals or service, packaged food and water provided (enough for 3-4 meals!). Washroom access is unrestricted, but queueing for washroom in aisles not allowed." However, she said that one major let-down was that one third of the flight was not provided any protective gear. "Rows 41-52 had to rely on their own supply of masks and gloves." she stated. On May 10, the High Commission of India to London posted on Twitter ,"Air India's evacuation flight for Bengaluru takes off with 323 stranded Indians on board." The High commission has addressed the queries of Indian citizens who are stranded in the lockdown and are yearning to come to back to India. The commission has asked KSRVS Chalam, one of the stranded Indians in London to mail his details after he posted that his wife is Diabetic and needs medical attention as his family could not get the chance to move in the first scheduled flight to Bangalore. "We are senior citizens and currently stranded in London and waiting to go back. Kindly help. Thank you." Meanwhile, the high commission also cautioned the passengers from sharing yemails with other people on social media. "Do not be part of Whatsapp or other groups floated by people unknown to you. This could lead to potential frauds. Stay with us. More flights are coming in soon, the mission has cautioned. Borsa Italiana non ha responsabilita per il contenuto del sito a cui sta per accedere e non ha responsabilita per le informazioni contenute. Accedendo a questo link, Borsa Italiana non intende sollecitare acquisti o offerte in alcun paese da parte di nessuno. Sarai automaticamente diretto al link in cinque secondi. Former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani has queried the plans of the federal government to continue its National Homegrown feeding program. Recall that the Federal Government disclosed that the school feeding programme for pupils in primary schools will commence this week in four states. Also Read: COVID-19 Patients In Nigeria Will Continue To Protest If Shehu Sani Says Reacting to this news, the former lawmaker expressed that when the thousands of children troop out to be fed, they will violate all known coronavirus preventive measures. Advertisement He urged the federal government to reconsider its plan and instead focus on feeding the parents. See his tweet below: Ana Arias breaks down in tears when she cooks chicken soup. It was her 15-year-old daughter's favorite dish. "They ripped her from my arms," said Arias as she remembers the last message her daughter Luisannys sent her before embarking on a fateful journey to Trinidad and Tobago. It's a journey that many Venezuelans have undertaken in a bid to flee poverty, but it's one that has resulted in dozens disappearing. "Mama, I love you, I miss you a lot," wrote Luisannys on April 23, 2019, hours before disappearing. Sitting in her living room in the town of Cumana, in the northeastern state of Sucre, with an old portrait of the curly-haired and olive-skinned Luisannys dressed in the blue uniform and cap she wore at primary school, Arias told AFP she suspected her daughter was "sold" by human traffickers. Ana Arias, 40, mother of Luisannys Betancourt, has spent months searchin for answers since her 15-year-old daughter disappeared after the sinking of a boat en route from Venezuela to Trinidad / AFP These "mafias," as opposition lawmaker Robert Alcala calls them, make money from illegal immigration, sending desperate people on the roughly 100-kilometer journey from Guiria in Sucre to Trinidad in barely seaworthy boats. "The women are exploited sexually and the men in rough jobs" on farms or in factories, said Alcala. Arias, currently in isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, has waited months for investigators to produce something. "No-one answers," she says. A week before that final text message, Luisannys left home with school friends, ostensibly to buy a shirt. Arias never saw her again. The last she heard of her youngest of two daughters is that she boarded a boat that sank. - 'Desperation' - General view of a port of the town of Guiria, Sucre State, Venezuela, a jumping off point for Venezuelan migrants making a sea crossing to Trinidad / AFP Hundreds of would-be migrants have disappeared over the last two years making the clandestine journey from Venezuela to Trinidad, Curacao or Aruba. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said this "shows the desperation" of those fleeing Venezuela's economic collapse. The UN says almost five million Venezuelans have left the country since 2015, with 24,000 heading across the sea to Trinidad. Contacted by AFP, authorities on the island nation, which requires visas for Venezuelans, declined to comment. Neighbors saw Luisannys being forced into a car, according to Arias, who two days later received a phone call. It was Luisannys saying her captors were demanding the $200 they'd paid for her to release her. Arias, a 40-year-old seamstress, broke down in tears. Relatives of people who disappeared in two shipwrecks en route from Venezuela to Trinidad and Tobago on April 23 and May 16, 2019, talk during a meeting in a square in Guiria, Sucre State, Venezuela / AFP Police traced the call to Guiria, where her alleged kidnappers took her for a manicure. The manicurist told Arias her daughter, whom she recognized by two deformed fingers damaged by an electric shock when she was a child, was "crying a lot." Arias said she'd never heard her daughter, who wanted to be a nurse, talk about migrating. "She lacked nothing," said Arias. "Maybe she was tricked, coerced or brainwashed." The day the tragedy happened, Arias received an anonymous phone call: "Your daughter drowned.... the boat she was in sank." Arias, who clings to the hope her daughter is still alive, travelled six hours from Cumana to Guiria where she showed pictures of her daughter to survivors of the wreck, which had 33 people aboard. A woman told her that her daughter was crying and begging to be allowed to stay. "You decide, get on board or die," she was told. Only one corpse was found, and it wasn't Luisannys's. The public prosecutor has charged six women and three men with trafficking people for "sexual exploitation." - 'Negligence' - The numbers may be down due to the coronavirus lockdown but still boats continue to leave Venezuela for nearby island nations, said Alcala. On May 16, 2019, the "Ana Maria" boat sank with Andy Villegas aboard. His 54-year-old father, Isidro Villegas, a sailor, spent three days at sea looking for him. He's accused the state of "negligence." Enrique -- not his real name -- plans to leave for Trinidad once the coronavirus emergency is over. The 31-year-old vegetable seller, who works in the Guiria market where the smell of fish is mixed with spices from Trinidad, sold an electric guitar, camera and computer to cobble together $300 for his passage. He feels let down by the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro. Although he admits it's "inevitable" to feel scared, he's putting his faith "in God." Arias is another leaning on her faith. She keeps a photo distributed by the public prosecutor showing 12 women following a raid. One has her face covered by her hair. Arias prays her daughter will come home one day. "It's her," she says. An ambulance paramedic who suffered Covid-19 with his wife and daughter has said the virus is still a serious threat to health and urged people to keep up with hand washing and social distancing as the country prepares to start emerging from lockdown. Pat Sheridan (62) is a paramedic with the National Ambulance Service (NAS), based in Dundalk, Co Louth, and was on the front line dealing with suspected Covid-19 cases in the days running up to Easter. "We were using PPE and followed all the protocols on infection control and ambulance hygiene. I was actually involved in training others in 'donning and doffing' PPE so they would know how to put it on and take it off properly," said Pat, who is still recovering weeks after infection. "We have no way of knowing how Covid-19 came into our family. It could have been from being in contact with someone while in a shop, or it could have been my wife or daughter got infected. The incubation period is quite long, so who knows?" he said. "Just because I'm a frontline worker doesn't mean I got it that way." Pat first began feeling unwell on the Saturday before Easter, April 11, and in the following days his wife Gerardine became ill too. They both tested positive. Pat had already informed NAS management of the situation and had begun isolating at home with Gerardine. "Our daughter Orla (30) works in the emergency department in Drogheda, so she was tested too during contact tracing, and she was diagnosed positive too and she moved out of our house to isolate elsewhere," said Pat. "It was a shock, and there were times it could scare you, especially the shortness of breath. "There was a fear factor. We had bad pains in our backs and shoulders, and I had bad diarrhoea, and the tiredness was unreal, you couldn't describe it," he added. "Family and friends were dropping groceries to the door, and we were taking paracetamol. "The shortness of breath can be frightening. "The HSE was great, the NAS was great, our family, friends and neighbours were great, and that support kept us going. "We drank a lot of water, and did walking laps around our small yard, and we would try to get a bowl of soup into us even though we couldn't taste it. "Gerardine would watch some TV programmes she likes, and I watched a few movies and we did some reading. We prayed too." Even now, a month later, Pat has not returned to work because his energy levels are still low and he suffers from tiredness. The lockdown restrictions will start to be eased next week, but Pat feels that everyone still needs to be cautious and keep up their regime of hand washing and social distancing. "I think it's good that there will be a bit more leeway, and things like building can get back on track, but we need to be cautious. Covid-19 is an awful sickness to get, and I really feel for all those poor families who have lost someone to it," he added. "I think we might have relaxed a bit on things like hand washing, but it's really important to stick with it." As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ The NCW has sought an inquiry and initiation of strict legal action against police officials involved in the alleged assault of a pregnant woman in Gujarat. The National Commission for Women on Monday said it has come across a Twitter post with a video alleging that a pregnant woman was assaulted by police officials who entered her home in Ahmedabad. "The Commission is seriously concerned about the incident and the reported police brutality though it is the role and duty of the police to preserve public order, prevent crimes and reduce the opportunities for the commission of crimes," the NCW said in a statement. The NCW said considering the gravity of the matter ithas written to Shivanand Jha, Director General of Police, Gujarat, to inquire into the issue and initiate strict legal action against the culprits and ensure that no such atrocities occur in the future. "The Commission may be apprised with a detailed action taken in the matter," it said. In another statement, the NCW said it wrote to H C Awasthy, Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, and asked to be appraised of the immediate action taken in the case of the alleged assault of a woman in Raebareli. The NCW also demanded explanation from police who reportedly did not take any action in the matter even after the victim filed a complaint. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Barring containment zones, economic activities should be allowed to resume in the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said during a video conference chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with CMs of different states on Monday. The fresh round of consultation was held on ways to strengthen the COVID-19 containment strategy and stepping up of economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day nationwide lockdown nears an end. "During the interaction, the chief minister said economic activities should be allowed to resume in Delhi, except in COVID-19 containment zones," a source told PTI. During the video conference PM Modi told chief ministers that India will have to devise and implement a "balanced strategy" to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, and the biggest challenge for the country will be to ensure that the infection does not spread to villages. Appreciating the role played by the states in the fight against the pandemic, Modi said the entire world is of the view that India has been able to successfully protect itself from the pandemic, according to official sources. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) SIOUX CITY -- The number of people hospitalized in Sioux City with COVID-19 declined somewhat on Sunday, though the total number of people infected crept upward again. As of Sunday, 74 people were hospitalized at either MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center or at UnityPoint Health -- St. Luke's with COVID-19 symptoms, a drop of eight over the tally reported by the hospitals Friday and Saturday. It's impossible to know whether this signifies the beginning of a broader decline in hospitalizations or if it's merely a lull. Overall the county has a far higher rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations than the national average. The total number of individuals who have tested positive in Woodbury County rose by 36 on Sunday, to a total of 1,626, according to Siouxland District Health Department data. No additional deaths were reported, and the number of recoveries is not currently being reported. Neighboring Dakota County will not update its COVID-19 numbers until Monday. As of Friday the county had 1,407 confirmed infections. Collectively, the two counties now have more than 3,000 confirmed cases. Outside the Sioux City metro, Crawford County had the highest concentration of infections in the region -- a total of 176 as of Sunday. Sioux County had 86 infections, while Plymouth County had 59, Union County had 53, Buena Vista County had 31 and Yankton County had 30. Other counties had fewer than 30 cases each, and a handful had fewer than 10. A total of 42 patients in Northwest Iowa were in the ICU with COVID-19, while 34 were on ventilators, according to data from Region 3 of Iowa's Regional Medical Coordination Centers, which represents Northwest Iowa. Iowa's Department of Public Health on Sunday recorded 11,959 confirmed COVID-19 infections in the state, of whom 5,154 had recovered and 265 had died. Of the deaths, 87 percent have been people 61 years old or older. In South Dakota, 3,517 individuals had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Sunday, but only 1,336 of them were still considered active infections, according to the state Department of Health. Thirty-four deaths have been recorded in the state. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday recorded 8,315 total infections, and 98 deaths. The state has not reported the number of recoveries. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. On Demand We have a new story every day on the front page of thephuketnews.com. Also like us on our Facebook page (facebook.com/thephuketnews) and be the first to watch all the new stories. Finally you can watch any segment, any time by going to thephuketnews.com/tv where all the stories are listed for you to enjoy. All our programs can be enjoyed in High Definition when watching on the internet. In-Room VDO Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 10:09:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TOKYO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks opened higher Monday as the market mood was brightened by hopes more businesses will reopen their doors after the government said it may lift some coronavirus-linked restrictions for a number of prefectures across Japan where the virus has been less prevalent. In the opening minutes after the morning bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 222.07 points, or 1.10 percent, from Friday to 20,401.16. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, added 16.69 points, or 1.14 percent, at 1,474.97. Air transportation, metal product and nonferrous metal-oriented issues comprised notable early gainers. Enditem Firefighters battle a gorse fire in the New Mossley area of Newtownabbey on May 11th 2020 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battle a gorse fire in the New Mossley area of Newtownabbey on May 11th 2020 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battle a gorse fire in the New Mossley area of Newtownabbey on May 11th 2020 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battle a gorse fire in the New Mossley area of Newtownabbey on May 11th 2020 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battle a gorse fire in the New Mossley area of Newtownabbey on May 11th 2020 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battled a large gorse fire in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, on Sunday night. The incident is being treated as deliberate. The Fire Service was called to the blaze on the Manse Road, New Mossley just after 9.30pm. Two Appliances from Glengormley Fire Station and one appliance from Westland Fire Station in north Belfast attended the incident. They used three extended hose reel jets and six beaters to extinguish the fire. The incident was dealt with just after midnight. RICHMOND, Va. - The expected release Monday of a man convicted in the 1979 killing of a Richmond police officer was put on hold amid an investigation by Virginias government watchdog agency into the parole boards handling of the inmates case, state officials said. The slain officers sister, Maureen Clements, told The Associated Press that the Virginia Parole Board notified her Monday morning that Vincent L. Martin would not be released as scheduled. Martin was sentenced to life in prison for killing patrolman Michael P. Connors, who was shot in the head during a traffic stop. State officials later explained that a temporary hold had been placed on Martins release due to an ongoing administrative investigation by the Office of the State Inspector General. The decision to grant Martin parole has sparked an uproar in the law enforcement community, and both Connors family and Richmonds top prosecutor have asked the board to rescind its decision. On Sunday, four Republican lawmakers wrote to Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, asking him to intervene, as did the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police. This will allow the removal of the cloud that has formed over this parole decision, Brian Moran, the states secretary of public safety and homeland security, said at a news conference Monday afternoon. Parole Board Chair Tonya Chapman, who took over that role after the decision had been made in the Martin case, said in a statement that the hold on Martins release would be for no more than 30 days. She said the inspector generals office would be investigating whether the board followed state law and other policies and procedures in its decision-making process, but not the boards ultimate decision. State officials have said the parole board has accelerated its work amid the coronavirus pandemic. It has recently granted the release of dozens of violent offenders, including killers, rapists and kidnappers, blindsiding many prosecutors and victims families who say they were not properly notified as required by law, according to an Associated Press review of recent cases. Howard Hall, who is chief of the Roanoke County Police Department and president of the police chiefs association, said the investigation by the inspector general office is desperately needed. The parole board appears not to be following the procedures that are in the code or even allowing victims to have their right to be heard, so how is this acceptable? he said. At some point, you have to say, well, whats going on over there? Clements said she filed a complaint with the inspector general, has had multiple conversations with the office and has been told it is investigating not only the boards handling of the Martin case but several others. The office does not comment on pending investigations, spokeswoman Kate Hourin said. Former parole board chair Adrianne Bennett, who recently left that role to become a judge, released a lengthy statement last month defending the boards decision to release Martin. In it, she wrote that Martin has demonstrated himself over the decades to be a trusted leader, peacemaker, mediator and mentor in the correctional community and has been infraction-free for more than 30 years. Martin has always maintained his innocence, wrote Bennett, who has not responded to interview requests. Martin declined an interview request sent through the Department of Corrections. Clements said the situation has been devastating for her close-knit family, including her elderly parents. She said they received a letter in March notifying them that Martin was up for review by the parole board. She said that was the first time her family had ever been contacted by the board, despite the fact that Martin had been considered numerous times. State code says the parole board must endeavour diligently to contact the victim before making any decision to release an inmate on discretionary parole, and the definition of a victim in a homicide includes relatives. Clements said Monday she was pleased that Martins release had been delayed. But she remained frustrated about what she described as a continuing lack of communication from the board. She said her family had not received even an acknowledgement of their request for reconsideration of the parole grant. What a travesty, she said. ____ An earlier version of this story was corrected to remove a mention of Martins case being handled by the board in March. His name does not appear among the boards March decisions. A former Governor of Abia State, Mr. Orji Uzor Kalu has remained in Kuje Prison because the judgement of the Supreme Court does not affect him. The Apex Court, it was learnt, did not issue any order for Kalus release because he did not file any application for such. The judgement only covers the Appellant, Mr. Ude Jones Udeogu, who challenged the propriety of a Court of Appeal Judge, Justice Mohammed Idris to try him. The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Correctional Service Mr. Jaafar Ahmed, has also refused to release Kalu because there was no any order from the Supreme Court. It was learnt Kalu may have to approach the Court of Appeal, where he has a pending matter, to ask for his release following the dismissal of the judgement of the Federal High Court, Lagos by the Supreme Court. According to a copy of the judgement exclusively obtained, the Supreme Court clearly stated that the judgement relates only to the Appellant. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates You are here: Business Huawei on Sunday pledged to support Africa's COVID-19 epidemic control efforts, an official said. Chen Lei, president of Huawei Southern Africa region said in commentary published in The Standard newspaper that its remote video conferencing systems have already helped medical institutions communicate more efficiently. "We have also implemented an AI-based diagnosis solution in several medical institutions. CT scan reviews can now be completed in two minutes, 80 percent faster, in a race with time, critical for saving lives," Chen said. He noted that the Chinese telecom firm will continue using its core information and communication capabilities to support Africa's efforts to combat the novel coronavirus. The official added that during the pandemic and once Huawei secured its people and operations, it looked at how to support its business partners in Africa. "We were fortunate to assist with social distancing by African organizations through our technologies," Chen observed. He added that as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19, a new business model is taking shape across sectors, one characterized by remote work, distance education, remote healthcare, online shopping and mobile money. "This new paradigm is driven by vastly greater data consumption, facilitated by the mass connectivity of 4G/5G technology," he said. Wil je dagelijks op de hoogte gehouden worden van het laatste ict-nieuws, trends en ontwikkelingen? Abonneer je dan op onze gratis nieuwsbrief. A prisoner in Queensland's Woodford Correctional Centre has been charged with murder, following the death of another inmate, whose body was found dead in the facility's laundry last Wednesday. The body of the 37-year-old male victim was found about 4pm and police launched an investigation into the suspicious death with the help of Queensland Corrective Services. Support was being provided to the correctional officers who responded to both incidents. (File image) Police laid the murder charge against the 25-year-old male inmate on Monday and he was due to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on July 20. Queensland Corrective Services have provided assistance to the Queensland Police Service throughout the investigation. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has disclosd that the demolished Abraka Market in Asaba constituted security risk as it was a hideout for criminals involved in heinous crimes. The governor in a media interaction on Saturday after inspecting the demolished market, said that the government had ordered the relocation of the traders in order to nip in the bud, the security challenges posed by the market and give Asaba a facelift. the governor assured that the large expanse of land on which the market was built would be put into proper use rather than the illicit activities hitherto going on there. Okowa warned that any unauthorized person found on the land, henceforth, would be arrested and made to face the law for trespassing. He told former traders at the market to relocate, adding that government is strategizing on how to put the hectares of land into good use. The governor noted that the demolition was not to witch hunt anyone but was a deliberate effort to avoid using the land as den of crime and criminality. He appealed for peace and unity among residents of the state; assuring that his administration would continue to take decisions that would be to the advantage of all citizens in the state The place was such that it was already creating a security problem for us and unfortunately we have found that a lot of people were developing brothels in that place and beyond that, it has become a criminal hide-out and we took that decision at the state security council that we needed to ensure that we are able to secure Asaba. And, in our plan to secure Asaba, we agreed that there was the need for the whole of that place to be bulldozed and people there relocated to another part of Asaba; that relocation has already been done and the place has been brought down. Now, we are going to think through and see what development we can bring to that place to put it into good use. But apparently, the aim for which it was done has already been achieved; we want to put processes in plan, working with various ministries and our Delta Investment Development Agency (DIDA), to see what we are going to put in that place because its a sizeable land in a prime location that can be used for something useful, Okowa highlighted. The governor, accompanied by the Secretary to the State Government, Chiedu Ebie, Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Inuwa and Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, was conducted round the demolished market by the Director-General, Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency, Mrs. Onyemaechi Mrakpor. He also inspected the remodeled Koka junction on Benin-Asaba highway, with park and monument, executed by his administration through the Ministry of Urban Renewal and was conducted round the project by the Commissioner in charge of the ministry, Chief Arthur Akpowowor. Amanda Holden wears affordable denim bodycon dress fromMichelle Keegan's Very range to co-host Heart Breakfast radio show. (Getty Images) Yahoo Lifestyle is committed to finding you the best products at the best prices. We may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change. Amanda Holden has had fans swooning over her impressive dressdrobe over recent months. The 49-year-old presenter slipped into her wedding dress to mow the grass, wore a couture gown to take the bins out during isolation, and has more recently donned a gown made entirely out of 50 notes. The Britains Got Talent judge has also attracted a lot of attention with her work ensembles, and Monday was no different. Holden wore a denim midi dress to co-host her morning segment on Heart Breakfast radio show. She paired the figure-hugging design, which is from Michelle Keegans Very collection, with a pair of black open toe heeled sandals. Holden shared a video of her strutting around the Heart offices in the ensemble on her Instagram account, and within minutes the post has racked up over 47,000 views. Social media users have flooded the star with praise - including Keegan. The Our Girl actor commented: Here she is, alongside a lovestruck emoji, while Ashley Roberts added fire icons. A separate follower wrote: ahhh! I love the outfit! It looks so good on you. Have an amazing day. While another gushed: You look fabulous today. Buy it: Michelle Keegan Long Sleeve Denim Bodycon Dress | 36 (Was 45) from Very Michelle Keegan Long Sleeve Denim Bodycon Dress The denim bodycon dress boasts button detail all down the front of the dress, long sleeves, as well as a collar, and four pockets. The garment is super flattering, as the stretch denim fabric contours to the body, but it also has a seam detail across the waist to accentuate your figure, and to avoid any excess material from gathering in that area. What we love most is the Very dress, which comes in dress sizes six to 16, and is now on sale. The item has been reduced from 45 to 36. For those who would prefer a shorter sleeve design - youre in luck. Keegans collection with Very also includes a Short Sleeve Denim Pencil Dress, which costs 45. Shards of glass. Thats how the fluid in Michael Powers lungs looked after an X-ray of his chest. Powers, president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, knew he had COVID-19. But this was a new development in his fight against the respiratory illness and it led to his hospitalization. Nearly a month later, Powers is recovering. As head of the union representing correction officers in state prisons across New York, hes back at work advocating for safety measures. In an interview with The Citizen, Powers detailed his COVID-19 bout. He wasnt hospitalized until April 7, but the symptoms began on March 18 while he was in Albany for work. Felt a little flush Powers said he started feeling symptoms during the evening on March 18. When he woke up the next morning, he had chills and was shaking. He said he felt a little flush. He left Albany to return to his home in Ogdensburg. He contacted his doctor and scheduled an appointment. During the examination, he was tested for the flu and other illnesses. Those tests were negative. At the time, Powers said he had a fever of 100 degrees. He was able to contain the fever with Tylenol. Since one of his sons lives with him, he quarantined in his bedroom and practiced social distancing. Six days after visiting his doctor, Powers tested positive for COVID-19. He had body aches, chills, fever and headaches. He didnt have shortness of breath, a common symptom of COVID-19. When I found out I was positive, I almost felt like I was rounding a corner at that point, Powers said. Daily schedule Powers shared a similar account of his experience with COVID-19 that other patients have discussed in interviews and news reports. He said he would wake up feeling groggy and congested. He had coughing fits. But as the day progressed, symptoms would ease. Once you get that cleared, you basically feel better and you go about your day, Powers said. While in isolation, he didnt lose his appetite. He continued to eat, but still lost more than 30 pounds while his body fought COVID-19. Later in the day, the symptoms would worsen again. The coughing would restart. His headaches returned. Nights, he said, were miserable. You are almost afraid to go to sleep because you know youre just going to build up congestion, Powers added. Powers described COVID-19 as a strange, strange virus because it seemed as if it had a daily schedule. The beginning and end of days were difficult. In between, the symptoms were tolerable. 105 For more than a week, Powers managed mild symptoms of COVID-19. Then, his condition worsened. Over a three-day period, March 27 to 29, he couldnt get out of bed. His fever spiked as high as 105 degrees. It would fluctuate between 103.5 and 105 degrees, according to Powers. When he took Tylenol, his fever would drop to 102 degrees. Once the medication wore off, the fever went up again. The fever produced new symptoms, including confusion and hallucinations. The hallucinations, Powers said, were wild. While he dealt with the fever, his other symptoms continued to follow the same pattern. Mornings and nights were difficult. During the midday period, he felt better. But Powers thinks that the virus started attacking his lungs in late March. He started to feel tightness in his chest. Health care providers advise that if someone has COVID-19 and experiences chest pressure or tightness, they should seek medical attention. Powers admitted he was stubborn. When the chest tightness eased, he didnt think he needed to go to the hospital. By April 1, his fever and other symptoms started to subside. The last time he had a fever was the morning of April 2. However, he wasnt done with COVID-19. Hospitalization The chest pressure Powers felt didnt leave for good. On April 5, it returned. He had difficulty breathing. I couldnt take a deep breath and hold it, he said. His doctor ordered a chest X-ray on April 7. What the X-ray found is what Powers described as shards of glass in his lungs. His lungs were filled with a white, milky substance. Following the X-ray, his doctor wanted a CT scan. Powers returned to the emergency room and was admitted to the hospital. He was discharged on April 11. Since leaving the hospital, Powers said hes been working hard during the recovery phase. He still has a cough, but hes resumed exercising at home. He has an appointment scheduled with a pulmonologist to determine if he has any long-term lung damage from the virus. He also plans to visit a urologist to check on his kidneys. There have been early findings that COVID-19 can cause damage to vital organs, including the heart and lungs. Powers considers himself a private person, so he was hesitant to tell his story. That changed after he was contacted by a Watertown Daily Times reporter who told him that he could help people better understand COVID-19 and the effects of the virus. Thats a no-brainer, he said. I think it is important to share. The experience has helped him communicate with NYSCOPBA members who have COVID-19. Powers said hes had conversations with a member in the mid-Hudson region who has similar symptoms. Advocacy After recovering from COVID-19, Powers wants to ensure his members concerns are addressed. The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision reports that 1,170 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. Powers said one concern about the presence of COVID-19 in correctional facilities is the need for contact tracing. DOCCS details many of its COVID-19 protocols on its website, but contact tracing isnt mentioned. DOCCS took measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in state prisons. The actions include a ban on visitation, which began in mid-March and has been extended until May 15. Employees must wear masks while on duty. One issue Powers is working on is assisting members who are dealing with the after-effects of COVID-19. Because of the reliance on telemedicine during the pandemic, he said its difficult for employees to have an in-person appointment with a physician. Nobody is putting a stethoscope up to your lungs, he said. You almost have to be your own personal advocate as far as health care. Its extremely difficult. Im not slighting health care. Were in new territory. Why that worries Powers is that some employees, he said, are slipping through the cracks. Those who recovered from COVID-19 no longer test positive, but there are residual aspects of the virus. Despite that, they are asked to return to work. From May 3-9, it was National Correctional Officers Week. Powers, who has been NYSCOPBAs president since 2014, said hes proud to represent the states correction officers. Its very important to give a shout-out to them for selflessly coming to work each and every day in this kind of pandemic and in an environment that is difficult to maintain social distancing, he said. Love 5 Funny 1 Wow 3 Sad 0 Angry 0 Error. Page cannot be displayed. Please contact your service provider for more details. (27) 11 May 2020 Type Media Article Iarlaith Collins farm manager on Newford Suckler demonstration farm in Athenry gives a brief update on the breeding season so far on this earlier maturing herd As the Newford Farm calving season came to an end, the 2020 breeding season began on the 27th of April. The breeding season will last 10 weeks and 100% AI will be used. There are 92 cows for breeding in the herd this year. All cows received their mineral bolus four weeks ago and had their tails clipped to make AI easier. Cows were showing heat at the beginning of April this has been encouraged by the excellent weather and ground conditions. The majority of Newford cows are in an ideal body condition score of 2.5 to 3 for breeding. In the first week alone there was 43 Cows AI - 47% of herd Newford Farm selects its Terminal bulls for breeding from the Active bull list on the ICBF web site. The criterion takes into account of the new calving difficulty rating Iarlaith the farm manager spends a few evenings looking over the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) list of terminal sires. There is a very simple filter function on the list of ICBF AI bulls that allows a farmer to identify bulls with traits that are desired. The Newford Farm 2020 breeding season criteria is as followed 5 Star Terminal Index bulls (within & across breed) < 7.4 % calving difficulty for strong mature beef cows < 5 % calving difficulty for young beef cows < 7 % for 1st calvers ( Beef heifer ) > 70 % reliability on the calving difficulty index > 2.00 score on Conformation> 35 Kg predicted carcase weight for mature cows > 25 Kg predicted carcase weight for young cows Based on these criteria the following bulls will be used on the Newford farm breeding season 2020 Australia is on guard for a second coronavirus surge as states and territories begin to ease restrictions while South Korea, Germany and China grapple with outbreaks shortly after reopening parts of their economy. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday that Australia would be tested despite protections being put in place, and warned against over-confidence as workplaces and schools start the long road back to normality. A woman leaves an office building in the central business district of Beijing. Credit:Getty South Korea reported a second daily surge of cases on Monday after reopening bars and nightclubs in the popular Itaewon neighbourhood. Germany, which has the sixth-highest number of cases in Europe, saw a jump after retail stores were allowed to start trading. China added more than a dozen new cases, including some from domestic transmission, and imposed a lockdown on a city on the North Korean border. The trains are running again even as some states worry about the effect of passengers travelling cross-country. Around the world, theres a sense of fear, acceptance and hope as countries ease strict lockdowns and people return to the streets. France loosened business restrictions on Monday as did Turkey and Switzerland. Russia has seen its biggest single-day spike, and infections crossed those recorded in Italy and UK, making it the country with the third highest cases. South Korea and Germany too, which began reopening last week, are working to contain a spike in numbers. Spain recorded its lowest daily death toll in almost two months. For the rest of the news you need to know before you start your day, heres Mint Lite. View Full Image International Nurses Day Shine A Light On International Nurses Day WHO designated 2020 as International Year of Nurse to mark the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingales birth, little knowing that nurses would be battling a deadly virus strain. Today, 12 May is International Nurses Day, and nursing leaders have asked people to shine a light" for them. In Lebanon, nurses hold up notes for their families from a covid-19 ward (left), while an intensive care nurse (right) offers a mask to a patient in Germany. Four States Oppose Resumption Of Train Services Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with chief ministers on Monday, his fifth since the lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus began on 25 March, and discussed opening up the country as well as the challenge of helping migrant workers return home. The third phase of the lockdown is set to end on 17 May. At least four states, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, opposed the resumption of train services from today, saying it would become harder to identify, isolate and test suspected cases. Thirty special passenger trains, apart from the shramik trains for migrant workers, will run from today. View Full Image Shanghai Disneyland Shanghai Disney land reopens Shanghai Disneyland opened on Monday for the first time since late Januarywith visitors required to stay 2 metres apart in lines, wear masks and climb aboard rides half-empty to provide the space needed to prevent possible spread of the coronavirus. The reopening is one of the largest test cases yet of whether mass gatherings can take place safely amid the virus pandemic. Worldwide, Disney is struggling to recoup earnings at its theme park and film businesses pummeled by the virus crisis, which took out $1.4 billion of its profits last quarter. Disney said it is limiting access to the Shanghai park to a fifth of normal capacity, below the government-mandated 30%, during the initial reopening phase. Mumbai may limit lockdowns to some hubs to restart economy Maharashtras main cities, its financial hubs that are grappling with a rising caseload, may implement a hyperlocal lockdown plan to allow economic activity to restart. This means a red or an orange zone need not be locked down completely. Instead, a particular street or locality with cases is sealed. Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Punes extended city limits Pimpri-Chinchwad are considering such a plan to save lives as well as livelihoods, a government official said. At 22,171, Maharahstra has the highest number of active cases in the country. Of these, Mumbai reported 13,739 cases and 508 deaths. View Full Image Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. Record CO2 concentrations despite covid-19 crisis Over the past few weeks there have been many reports of localized air quality improvements as the world has locked down to combat the coronavirus pandemic, but the climate crisis is far from over. The most recent data from UN Environment Programme and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association shows global carbon dioxide (CO2) levels rising sharply. In April 2020 the average concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was 416.21 parts per million (ppm), the highest since measurements began in Hawaii in 1958 (see chart). Furthermore, ice core records indicate that such levels have not been seen in the last 800,000 years. China burns more, UK goes coal-free for a month Chinas coal demand has surged almost one-third higher than last year even as the weather becomes warmer and factories reopen. Coal use by coastal power plants at five major utilities rose for an eighth straight day on Monday, 30% higher than the same period last year and the most since January 12, official data showed. And, UKs record-breaking run without coal power passed another milestone as the National Grid confirmed that it had completed a full month without any input from the countrys coal-fired power stations. In a tweet, it announced that as of 12am Sunday the country had completed 30 days, seven hours, and 36 minutes without coal power. Wuhan reports first coronavirus cluster since lifting of lockdown Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, on Monday reported its first cluster of infections since a lockdown on the city was lifted a month ago, stoking concerns of a wider resurgence of the disease. Wuhan reported five new confirmed cases, all of whom live in the same residential compound. One of them was the wife of an 89-year-old male patient reported a day earlier as the first confirmed case in the city in more than a month. All of the latest confirmed cases were previously classified as asymptomatic. View Full Image Switzerland re-opened all schools, shops, restaurants, markets, museums, libraries, and sports training centres on Monday. Switzerland reopens schools, food lines lengthen Switzerland re-opened all schools, shops, restaurants, markets, museums, libraries, and sports training centres on Monday with precautionary measures in place, even as parents said they were worried that the country has eased up restrictions too soon. A survey published on 7 May suggests only 36% of Swiss support the governments calendar for reopening. The country has had about 30,000 cases and 1,500 deaths. Meanwhile, thousands have been queuing to get free food parcels in Geneva, underlining the impact of the lockdown on the working poor even in wealthy Switzerland. Sun-shy Indonesians are soaking up rays to kill virus OVER THE past months, Indonesians, believing that the sun can kill the SARS-Cov-2 virus though there is no scientific evidence to back this, have been prostrating before the sun every morning. The Economist reports that so many people have suddenly started taking in the sun that the government has begun warning about the risks of skin cancer. Like India, Indonesia tends to regard pale skin as beautiful, and many women use skin-whitening products. But many Indonesians now believe that exposure to the sun kills the virus, though all it can do is boost immunity by helping one get vitamin D. Harry Potter entertains Muggles at home A HOST of stars are reading JK Rowlings Harry Potter books over the next few weeks on the Wizarding World website. Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who portrayed the boy wizard in all eight films, read the first chapter of Harry Potter And The Sorcerers Stone, and will be followed by David Beckham, Dakota Fanning, Claudia Kim and Eddie Redmayne, among others. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari on Sunday called the incident of abduction of a minor Christian girl from Lahore for alleged sex slavery "a shameful and horrific act." She informed that an FIR has been registered in the case and her ministry is following the case up. "Culprits will be caught," she added. "Culprits will be caught' A shameful and horrific act. Have taken it up. FIR registered. We have copy of it. MOHR following the case now - culprits will be caught. https://t.co/rJwszsnZtI Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) May 10, 2020 Deputy Inspector General of Police Lahore commenting on the Twitter post stated Robina Patras, mother of Komal Patras who is resident of Shibli Town, approached the Sanda Police Station on March 16 and reported that her daughter Kamal Patras is missing and some unknown persons have abducted her. "Case FIR No. 405/20 under section 365B was registered and investigation started," he wrote. According to the DIG, investigation teams have raided two places in Okara but so far she could not be recovered. He informed that both SP Operations and SP Investigation approached parents of Komal Patras and met them in person. "The family has suspected 3 persons to be involved in this incident. Police is making all our efforts to arrest accused and recover Komal on earliest. The family of Komal has shown complete faith in genuine efforts of police for recovery," the DIG added. However, Pakistani Journalist Naila Inayat highlighted that FIR was registered back in March when Komal Patras was abducted and alleged that none of the kidnappers was named in the FIR. FIR was registered back in March when Komal Patras was abducted. None of the kidnappers were named, instead FIR was registered against namaloom afrad. https://t.co/X7ASQyxwbb Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) May 11, 2020 Pakistans religious minorities continue to suffer Minorities in Imran Khan's 'Naya Pakistan' have faced discrimination and torture continuously with the abduction of Komal Patras being the latest incident. Religious minorities in Pakistan, including the Hindu and Christian communities, continued to suffer in 2019, facing forced conversions and persecution under blasphemy laws, according to the country's human rights commission. READ | Kalki Koechlin crooning Bengali lullaby to Sappho is cuteness overloaded, celebs awestruck READ | Maharashtra govt to pay for migrant labourers' 'Shramik' rail fair; Nirupam says 'bogus' The Human Right Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that religious minorities remained unable to enjoy the freedom of religion or belief guaranteed to them under the countrys Constitution. Highlighting the plight of women in Pakistan, the report says in December, Pakistan was ranked at 151 out of 153 by the World Economic Forum on the Global Gender Gap Index. READ | PM Modi to hold video conference with all CMs on Monday to discuss lockdown exit strategy READ | FM Nirmala Sitharaman to meet PSU bank chiefs on Monday; will review credit flow (With PTI inputs) The delay in the salaries of Nigerian military personnel was due to the unexpected lockdown in the country over the coronavirus pandemic, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has explained. The office on Sunday said the lockdown led to late submission of variations by the agencies concerned. In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Henshaw Ogubike, the office, however, said it has made the payment. It said its Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) Department, on Friday, May 8, confirmed the payment. Read the full statement below. APRIL 2020 ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL SALARIES PAID - OAGF The Federal Government has completed the payment of the April 2020 salaries of Armed Forces personnel in the country. The Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) Department in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation confirmed that as at Friday 8th May, 2020, the Armed Forces personnel had been paid. According to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) Office, the delay in the salary payment was due to the unexpected lockdown in the country which led to late submission of variations by the Agencies concerned and the need to accommodate their inputs in the April payroll accordingly. This explanation became necessary in view of a Newspaper report which alleged that the April 2020 salaries of military and paramilitary personnel was delayed as a result of incapability and inexperience of the operators of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). As mentioned in the newspaper report, officials of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) had given assurance that the salaries would be paid between 4th and 8th May, 2020. This was promptly carried out as noted earlier. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Coronavirus Arms and Armies By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. The Vanguard Newspaper published that news report without cross checking facts or contacting the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) at all for update on the issue, deliberately misinforming and misleading the public with a view to achieving an unholy objective. Such report has the potency to incite the Armed Forces and the general public against the operations of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). Suffice it to state that staff of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) are competent professionals who have demonstrated the will and capacity to get the job done in line with the presidential directives, despite distractions and opposition from some quarters whose objectives is to sabotage the government policy that has saved the nation over N361 billion. Henshaw Ogubike Director (Information, Press and Public Relations) The Member of Parliament for Manhyia North constituency in Kumasi Collins Owusu Amankwah brought a different meaning to this year's Mothers Day celebration by donating several items to his constituents and the Kumasi Health Directorate. Giving out several Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including nose masks, hand sanitizers, and washing soaps, the MP made his attribute Peoples brother even more indelible. The items which were worth GH 80,000 were presented to the Metropolitan Health Department of Kumasi to help them fight off COVID-19. He also presented several hampers to Muslim women, children and the vulnerable in the constituency to support them during their fast, an act he has been committed to since becoming MP. As if that was not enough, Hon Owusu Amankwah also presented 200 complete street lights and bulbs to elected assembly members in the constituency. Hon. Owusu Amankwah who is Parliaments Vice-chairman for Defense and Interior Committee and an appointed Member of the ECOWAS Parliament noted that while he appreciates women on this day, he also wanted to take the opportunity to extend the appreciation to all health workers and his able assembly members too. Addressing the media later he noted that the disease is real and cautioned the public to adhere to all the necessary precautions as has been announced by the government and the Ghana Health Service. The youthful legislator urged religious and civil society organisations to give the President the support he needs to attend to the pressing issue of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. He indicated that the measures put by the government since the outbreak of the viral disease have been spot on and commended the President for the leadership he has so far provided. "It is very important that as a people we provide the President with all the support we can offer so that he steers us through the tempestuous waters we are in due to the COVID-19 disease", Hon Amankwah appealed. Showing appreciation on behalf of his colleague assembly members, Hon Akwasi Kwarteng, Assemblymember for Dote-Quarry thanked the MP for the gesture. The World Health Organisation has dismissed as false allegations a media report that it withheld information about the new coronavirus following pressure from China. The UN agency said in a statement late Saturday that a German magazine's report about a telephone conversation between WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 21 was unfounded and untrue . Weekly Der Spiegel reported that Xi asked Tedros during the call to hold back information about human-to-human transmission of the virus and delay declaring a pandemic. The magazine quoted Germany's foreign intelligence agency, BND, which declined to comment on Sunday. Der Spiegel also claimed that the BND concluded up to six weeks of time to fight the outbreak had been lost due to China's information policy. The UN agency said Tedros and Xi have never spoken by phone and added that such inaccurate reports distract and detract from WHO's and the world's efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic. It said that China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus on January 20. WHO officials issued a statement two days later saying there was evidence of human-to-human transmission in Wuhan, but more investigation was necessary. The global body declared COVID-19 a pandemic on February 11. US President Donald Trump has been among the strongest critics of WHO's handling of the pandemic, accusing it of deference to China and ceasing payments to the agency. Also read: Coronavirus: WHO plans to launch app to check COVID symptoms, contact tracing Also read: Obama lashes out at Trump, calls his response to coronavirus an 'absolute chaotic disaster' A woman going for a run on a southern Sydney beach has stumbled upon a rare bright-purple jellyfish washed up on the sand. Stephanie Paterson snapped a picture of the strange creature on Friday morning while running along Cronulla beach. 'It was its incredibly bright colour that made me stop,' Ms Paterson said online. 'Got a picture and just wondering if anyone knows what type this is. I've never seen one like this before.' A woman has spotted an ultra-rare bright purple jellyfish washed up on shore while going for a run along the beach Stephanie Paterson snapped a picture of the strange creature on Friday morning while running along a southern Sydney beach. Murdoch University marine expert Mike Van Kuelen told Daily Mail Australia the mysterious creature appeared to be a Crown Jellyfish which are commonly found in tropical waters to the north. 'It's likely been pushed down to Sydney by the East Australian Current (EAC), which flows from the tropics to southern Australia.' Mr Van Kuelen said that as waters warm from climate change the current has been pushing south and it is likely tropical species would be seen outside their normal habitat. 'We appear to be having a particular strong EAC this year, with a marine heatwave causing bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef over the last few months. An increase in the current like this usually pushes tropical species further south than normal.' People commenting on the post were in awe of the stunning creature . 'Wow! How interesting and unusual. Thanks for sharing. Kids will love it.' one person said. 'So pretty!' another person said. Another Crown Jellyfish was discovered washed up on a Byron Bay beach a few months ago. Pictures of that find were also posted online showing the vibrant purple colour and the dense lumpy section on top of a thinner wavy tail. A rarely seen Crown Jellyfish has washed up on the shore in Byron Bay, startling the locals Another expert previously told Daily Mail Australia there have been increasing reports of finding the species along the southern New South Wales coast. Australian Museum Research Institute marine invertebrate expert Stephen Keable said the Crown Jellyfish are generally reported in Queensland from around Hervey Bay to Stradbroke Island. 'We have had records south to Bermagui and Narooma in NSW in the last five years,' Mr Keable said. The images of the jellyfish from last year were posted on the Byron Bay Community Board Facebook page. Plankton researcher Julian Uribe-Palomino from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) said although an examination would be needed to be completely sure what species it is, he thinks it is a Crown Jellyfish, known by the scientific name Cephea cephea. The jellyfish, from the cepheidae family, is typically found in the deep ocean and rarely sighted near the shore let alone on it. They are typically found in the Indian and Pacific oceans, the Red Sea, the East Atlantic and the Atlantic waters off West Africa, according to the Atlas of Living Australia. 'Animals that live in open waters are not observed that often unless they are washed on the beach because of strong winds or ocean currents,' Mr Uribe-Palomino said. The scientist encouraged anyone who finds such a creature to contact the Atlas of Living Australia with their photographs and information about their find. 'Encouraging people to submit information might help researchers to track species distribution and also to find the frequency of observation and seasonality of those animals,' he told Daily Mail Australia. The Crown Jellyfish can grow up to 60cm in diameter and is found in the open ocean. It is eaten as a delicacy in China and Japan Cephea cephea: The Crown Jellyfish * Has a colourful main body that is blue to purple * Is rarely seen onshore unless driven in by strong winds or currents * Grows up to 60cm in diameter, with multiple bobbles on top of its bell * Sometimes called the 'Cauliflower Jellyfish' for its corrugated surface * Lives in the open waters of the world's oceans * Catches prey with stinging cells that trail behind it on filaments as it swims * It swims by pulsing the thin frilled skirt around its crown * Found in the Indo-Pacific, Red Sea, East Atlantic, and off West Africa * Is caught and eaten as a delicacy in China and Japan Source: Atlas of Living Australia Advertisement Iran Ready for Unconditional Prisoner Swap With US, Reports Suggest Sputnik News 05:30 GMT 10.05.2020(updated 06:02 GMT 10.05.2020) The New York Times previously reported that Tehran and Washington were holding negotiations on exchanging a US Navy veteran, Michael R. White, for an unidentified doctor held by the US. Spokesperson for the government of Iran Ali Rabiei has stated that the Islamic Republic is ready for a prisoner swap with the US, and sets no preconditions, according to the KhabarOnline news agency. "We are ready to exchange Iranian and American prisoners and we are prepared to discuss this issue, but the Americans have not responded yet", Rabiei said, as cited by KhabarOnline. He also said that Tehran holds the United States responsible for the safety of Iranian prisoners, adding that "there is no need for a third country to mediate between Iran and America for the prisoner exchange". Last year, the two countries conducted an exchange, swapping US-held Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani and Chinese-American Princeton scholar Xiyue Wang detained in Iran. Switzerland, which is diplomatically representing the US in the Islamic Republic, assisted in the swap. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A group of 18 Republican state attorneys general on Monday called on congressional leaders to hold hearings on Chinas handling of the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to the Senate and House leadership, the attorneys general noted the widespread conclusion that China concealed the coronavirus outbreak during its initial stages. In what Secretary of State Pompeo has described as a classic communist disinformation effort, the Chinese government, aided by the World Health Organization, appears to have intentionally misled the world over the last 6 months, the letter states. During this same period, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on our states and the Nation. We must all hold China accountable for the devastation and destruction caused by COVID-19. One of the signatories to the letter, Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt, has sued the Chinese government for damages stemming from the pandemic. The letter states that many of the signatories are considering similar legal actions. In an interview with National Review in April, Schmitt argued that his suit could ultimately be successfulto the tune of tens of billions of dollars. The suit seeks recovery for the enormous loss of life, human suffering, and economic turmoil experienced by all Missourians during the pandemic. Congressional Republicans have already called to investigate aspects of Chinas influence over the World Health Organization, as well as Chinese funding and influence at American educational institutions. More from National Review Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) Makati City is providing qualified residents 5,000 each as part of its relief efforts in mitigating the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Abby Binay announced Monday that the Makati City government has allotted 2.7 billion for distribution to its more than half a million residents, under the Makatizen Economic Relief Program. This is for everyone, whether they are rich or poor, whether they received SAP (social amelioration program) or did not receive SAP, as long as they fall under the qualification that we require, Binay said in an interview with CNN Philippines. Residents must be at least 18 years old and have either the citys Makatizen Card or Yellow Card, or be a registered voter to qualify for the cash assistance program. Binay clarified that cash aid will be given per individual, meaning a household may have more than one beneficiary, and that the program covers qualified kasambahays. When you are solo, you are immediately disqualified [under] SAP, in our case if you dont have family, you will get 5,000, Binay said. Meanwhile, senior citizens may receive the 5,000 cash aid on top of the cash incentives they have already received from the city government. Binay added that city residents who have been relocated to other areas or are not currently residing in Makati City are still covered by the cash assistance program. We actually have two relocation sites that the city owns. So one is in Calauan and the other is in San Jose, Del Monte, so they will also form part of our program, Binay said. The nice thing about it (is its) being contactless. You can be in the province, because you are stuck there in lockdown, you will still get your 5,000. Binay said the city government's cash aid distribution will be quick because it is contactless and cashless. The cash aid will be given to qualified city residents through the GCash electronic money transfer. They will receive their money while they are at home, Binay said. Im very thankful that GCash is a very strong partner in this contactless, cashless approach in giving subsidy to our Makatizens. Please register or log in to keep reading. No credit card required! Stay logged in to skip the surveys. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- For Livingston resident Dr. Craig Campbell, the COVID-19 pandemic has shuttered not one but two businesses: His podiatry practice in West Brighton, established in 1992, and Doc Hennigans, an American comfort food bar and restaurant in Westerleigh, established in 2019. Doc Hennigans would have celebrated its one year anniversary last week, but the coronavirus outbreak had other plans. Per Gov. Andrew Cuomos orders, Campbell closed its doors on March 16 and his practice is only open once a week for emergency procedures. I love owning Doc Hennigans, but it is a tremendous financial challenge right now, said Campbell, who says his tavern has a Cheers atmosphere and everyone raves about the food because of Chef Miguel. Doc Hennigans in Westerleigh opened its doors in May, serving American comfort food with a twist. (Staten Island Advance/ Victoria Priola) Pre-COVID, family, friends, patients, and colleagues frequented the establishment on Forest Avenue, which displayed Campbells extensive rock and roll memorabilia is showcased. We had celebrity guest bartenders, a beautiful backyard area for the warm weather, and live music on weekends," Campbell said, "But there is a tremendous financial challenge right now. "I have been paying my chef and assistants, yet the bar is closed. have also been paying my medical staff, yet we are only open one day a week. Right before the COVID-19 pandemic, Campbell temporarily stopped practicing podiatric medicine. In 2008, I had a MRSA infection and received last rites twice during a 25-day stay in CCU, and missed six months of work," said Campbell. I felt I was given a second shot at life, so I decided to slow down. His associate, Dr. Allen Fung, has been working on Mondays, seeing only emergencies, per Gov. Cuomo edicts. Dr. Allen Fung and Dr. Craig Campbell. Dr. Fung has been seeing diabetic foot ulcers, ingrown toenails, heel spurs, and infections, but routine foot care is temporarily suspended, said Campbell. My patients arent thrilled that Im not working, but they seem to understand and accept it. Campbell has applied for both incentive money from Medicare and for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and is waiting for a judgment. Quarantining at the Jersey Shore Throughout the New York on Pause, Campbell and his wife Awalda, a retired DOE teacher, are spending their time in their 55+ condo in Manahawkin, N.J., per the mandate of their daughter, Catherine, 28, who is currently a doctoral student at Temple University for Occupational Therapy. Our daughter, Catherine, asked that we quarantine ourselves at the shore since Stafford Township is less dense, the bar is closed and Dr. Fung has the practice covered," said Campbell, who spends his days binge-watching Netflix, consulting with patients via telephone, and reading four newspapers cover to cover. The Campbells have also tackled home projects, prepared meals, and have rekindled friendships with childhood friends, like Michael Novelli and his wife, Debbie Walsh. It was a very strange St. Patricks Day, Lent, Holy Week, and Easter this year, said Campbell, adding that Monsignor John Pinterbone, former pastor at Assumption Church, lives in Forked River. We see him quite often. Doc Hennigans in Westerleigh opened its doors in May 2019, serving American comfort food with a twist. Pictured are Joyce DeForest, Awilda Campbell, Michael DeForest and Craig Campbell behind the bar. (Staten Island Advance/ Victoria Priola) So when does Campbell think his two businesses will reopen? Its hard to predict when we will be allowed to reopen the bar, and get the office back full time, he said, admittedly antsy to return to both jobs because he truly loves his patients and patrons." Since the beginning, I had a gut feeling of Memorial Day, or, around June 1st, but from the looks of things, it may be more like June 15th, and no one has a crystal ball." Love for Staten Island A fourth-generation Staten Islander, Campbell is a self-professed lover of his borough. I think Staten Island is the most amazing place, especially the North Shore, and remember the outpouring of love after Sept. 11, when people helped each other out, he said. I am seeing the same thing now, with people and businesses donating meals to hospitals and first responders. I see the good Lord in these kind deeds. The 7 p.m. nightly cheers for the RUMC employees was amazing to witness first hand when I was home last weekend." Awilda, Dr. Craig, and Catherine Campbell. (Courtesy Campbell family) Campbell believes there is a silver lining to the pandemic. The positive thing about the pandemic is that we are returning to traditional family values, he said. "As a child, it was rare to go out to dinner. Now, meals are prepared at home and families are playing board games and watching movies and television. Families are spending more time together, which is very important for family values. I know we are all eager to get back to normalcy, but I caution that if we rush back too soon and do not respect social distancing, we will be back at square one. 2019 Full Year Results Release Date and Conference Call Details TORTOLA / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Atlas Mara Limited (LSE:ATMA) ("Atlas Mara", or "the Company"), the sub-Saharan Africa financial services group, will be releasing its Full Year 2019 results on 12 May 2020. In connection with the publication of its results the Company will be holding a conference call for investors at 10am EDT / 3pm BST on 12 May 2020. Details for the conference are below. Conference Call Details: United States: +1 (631) 913 1422 United Kingdom: +44 3333000804 Participant PIN Code: 49717501# Date: Tuesday, 12 May 2020 Time: 10am EDT / 3pm BST Contacts Investors Kojo Dufu, +1 (212) 883 4330 Media Apella Advisors, +44(0) 7818 036 579 Anthony Silverman About Atlas Mara Atlas Mara Limited (LON: ATMA) is a financial services institution founded by Bob Diamond and listed on the London Stock Exchange. With a presence in seven sub-Saharan countries, Atlas Mara aims to be a positive disruptive force in the markets in which we operate by leveraging technology to provide innovative and differentiated product offerings, deliver excellent customer service and accelerate financial inclusion. For more information, visit www.atlasmara.com. This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com. SOURCE: Atlas Mara View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/589363/Atlas-Mara-Limited-Announces-Notice-of-Results In power since 2014, Mr. Mutharika, 79, was re-elected in May 2019 for a second term in the first round of voting. He was credited by the Local Election Commission (LEC) with 38.5% of the vote, compared with 35.4% for opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera. But in February 2020, the Constitutional Court, seized by the opposition, cancelled the incumbents victory on the grounds of blatant fraud, a historic decision in the small southern African countrys political arena. The judiciary has confirmed the holding of new presidential elections on 2 July. On 8 May, the Supreme Court dismissed the challenge by the outgoing president elected in 2014, Peter Mutharika, to the annulment of the May 2019 elections. According to the judges, the fraud committed during this first ballot does not allow the results to be validated. This ballot had been nicknamed in the country Tipp-Ex election following the use of this white corrector to change some results. The Supreme Court also confirmed that the president should be elected by absolute, not relative, majority. Peter Mutharika, 79, has already submitted his new application. But with 38% of the vote in the 2019 election, he was only three points ahead of his main rival. For this new election, he has therefore decided to ally himself with Atupele Muluzi, the son of Malawis former president, Bakili Muluzi. The opposition, on the other hand, has also decided to join forces. The two main candidates, Lazarus Chakwera and Vice President Saulos Chilima, had won 35% and 20% of the vote respectively. Their alliance thus creates a new dynamic. But there is another factor that could shake up the elections: the coronavirus pandemic. The country has banned large public gatherings, even though 43 positive cases of Covid 19 have been reported. Election campaigns and the voting process could therefore be severely disrupted by the pandemic, as has been seen in other countries on the continent. By PTI KATHMANDU: Nepal has reported 11 new coronavirus cases, including eight who returned from India, taking the total number of infections in the country to 121, authorities said on Monday. Nepal is among the nations that has the least number of cases of the deadly coronavirus with no deaths. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the new cases involve 10 men from Kapilvastu district in Western Nepal and one from Dakneshwari Municipality-3 of Saptari district who tested positive for the novel coronavirus, taking the total tally to 121. The 10 new cases are from Yashodhara Rural Municipality and Buddha Bhumi Municipality. READ| Nepal protests to India over road passing through disputed border area Lipulekh pass Eight of the 10 cases confirmed on Monday were those who returned to Nepal from India (Mumbai) last month, according to local authorities. "As we have reported new cases, we will expedite contact tracing now," Yogendra Bhagat, chief of the health office, told Republica Online. Kapilvastu district is on high alert after a number of COVID-19 patients were reported from there, according to Chief District Officer Dirgha Narayan Poudel. He also added that the newly-confirmed cases and all others who returned from India have been kept in quarantine centres, the report said. "Ten new patients from the district will be sent to the Butwal-based COVID-19 hospital," Poudel was quoted as saying by the report. The total number of active coronavirus patients in the Himalayan nation has reached 88 as 33 patients have been successfully treated. So far, Nepal has conducted PCR tests on 17,809 people for detecting the novel coronavirus. Earlier, confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported in Nepal from persons returning from the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in New Delhi's Nizamuddin area in March. On May 4, sixteen people, including 15 who were already on quarantine after they came in contact with a religious leader who returned after attending the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Delhi tested positive. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Ever since Donald Trump fired the first shot in the U.S. trade war with China, one technology company has been sitting in the middle, trying to avoid the crossfire. Its wonderful to be able to sell weapons to all sides, until one forces you to choose. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is in the enviable position of being a critical supplier to both countries. The company, headquartered in famed Hsinchu Science Park, makes the worlds most advanced chips for the likes of Apple Inc., Qualcomm Inc., Nvidia Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co. The U.S. fear, as portrayed by the White House, Pentagon and Commerce Department, is that allowing China to procure the worlds best semiconductors while America is unable to make them at home is an urgent and critical national security threat. Thats spurred a two-pronged strategy in recent years: Limit Chinese access to and development of chip technology, and bolster domestic prowess. TSMCs strategy has been to stay neutral. It has most of its capacity in Taiwan, one new and one not-so-new factory in China, and an old facility in Washington state. A year ago, I wrote that chairman Mark Liu had politely pushed back against pressure to expand in America, citing the steep costs. I concluded: TSMC wont be able to sit on the fence forever. While Liu may want to just make chips, hell eventually have to make a choice. That day has come. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted Washingtons need to protect supply chains from disruption, and heightened concerns about reliance on Taiwan, as the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend. To that end, the administration is pushing hard to get chipmakers, including Intel Corp., TSMC and Samsung Electronics Co., to expand in the U.S., and to use their best technology, the WSJ wrote. Unsurprisingly, Intel is making the case that the U.S. should strengthen its domestic production for geopolitical reasons. The company has most of its staff, and more than half its plants and equipment, in the U.S., including manufacturing in Arizona, New Mexico and Oregon. Story continues While best-known for supplying processors used in PCs and servers under its own name, Intel also operates a foundry business that does contract manufacturing using clients own designs. Once the world leader in chip production, the Santa Clara, California-based company has fallen behind and now trails TSMC and South Koreas Samsung. Intel clearly sees an opportunity. If it can convince defense and commerce officials that its in the interest of national security to mandate that at least some chips be made domestically, then it may have a shot at getting back into the foundry game. TSMC has been trying to push back, or at least to get a seat in the policy discussions. It recently hired former Intel lobbyist Peter Cleveland to coordinate its efforts in Washington. As the old saying goes, If youre not at the table, then youre on the menu. But the other aspect of American strategy may be harder for the Taiwanese company to negotiate. Beyond expanding domestic capacity, Washington wants to limit Chinese access. To do so, the Trump administration is considering new rules to curb the use of U.S. equipment and materials in making chips for the likes of Huawei, arguing that the Chinese company is a conduit for Beijings espionage. Thats put TSMC and numerous other companies in a difficult position. The American market accounted for 59% of its sales last year, against 19% for Chinese clients. Yet the growth momentum clearly favors the worlds largest country, which is focused on developing components used in artificial intelligence, 5G communications, surveillance and possibly weaponry. TSMC has attempted to play Switzerland. A year ago, the company was sticking with the line that We are everybodys foundry. Washington increasingly wants TSMC to be its foundry alone. Pressure has ramped up significantly over the past year, with the long list of U.S. clients and significant revenue contribution being used as a battering ram to make the point that America is the side to choose. Ten years ago, when Taipei-Beijing relations were friendlier, companies may have leaned toward China. Today, with China showing increasing belligerence and the U.S. supporting a greater global voice for Taiwan, the mood has shifted. Its true that China is an important and growing market Beijing has used that momentum to bring global companies to its shores yet it wont replace the U.S. in terms of size or technology leadership in the next 20 years. To assuage concerns, and win a reprieve on restrictions about supplying to China, TSMC has little choice but to offer something to the Americans. After years of delay and resistance, its time for TSMC to build a shiny new factory in America. Expect to hear the company announce concrete plans, and large dollar figures for U.S. investment, in the next year or so. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Tim Culpan is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering technology. He previously covered technology for Bloomberg News. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused the largest horizontal rig count collapse ever recorded in the US, a Rystad Energy analysis of Baker Hughes data shows. The total horizontal oil rig count fell below 270 rigs last week, a 57% decline from the peak of 624 rigs seen in the middle of March 2020. Horizontal gas drilling was down to 70 rigs last week, which is 54% below the previous peak seen in June 2019. The magnitude of the decline in horizontal oil drilling makes this downturn even more unique, compared to the previous downturn of 2015-2016, where declines all the way from the peak to the trough reached around 53% to 54%. While we have not reached the bottom yet, we have most likely passed the peak pace of decline, both in absolute and percentage terms. After several weeks of observing a decrease of 50-55 rigs per week, the oil rig count was down by only 32 rigs last week. On a two-week basis, a 23.4% fall was recorded last week certainly moderate in comparison to the peak two-week decline level of 25.6% seen the week before. The oil price crisis and the impact of Covid-19 has resulted in the most dramatic collapse of the US Land rig market in history. There are two key trends around basin mix; the share of Permian increased in terms of total horizontal oil drilling from around 62% to about 73%, while the share of gas in total horizontal drilling increased from 12% to 21%. We anticipate that both of these shares will continue to climb in the next few weeks., says Artem Abramov, Rystad Energys Head of Shale Research. The number of counties with active horizontal oil drilling across the whole country has kept declining. Last week, North Slope in Alaska, Walker Ridge in Louisiana, and Ellis County in Oklahoma saw the departure of their last active rigs. This brought the total number of active counties in the country from 49 to 46, a record-low level in modern history. Meanwhile, the number of active counties has stabilized in the state of Texas at 28 counties, and in the Permian Basin at 18 counties. Total horizontal rig count in the Permian fell below 200 rigs and now exhibits more than 50% decline from the peak in March 2020. The three largest sub-basins, Delaware New Mexico, Delaware Texas and Midland North, are now diverging rapidly from each other in terms of the magnitude of decline. Delaware Texas is rapidly losing its rigs having fallen from the peak of 118 rigs to 44 rigs, due to both structural declines and the reallocation of some rigs to sweet spots in New Mexico. Midland-focused operators with Delaware exposure have always prioritized activity outside Delaware acreage. Drilling in Delaware New Mexico stabilized last week, although additional declines might still be observed in the next few weeks. The relative resiliency of Delaware New Mexico can be largely explained by the lack of drilling activity declines realized by ExxonMobil and Devon Energy, which together account for around 50% of the active rigs now in the sub-basin. The Midland North Basin is seeing more significant declines than Delaware New Mexico, though these declines are really driven by the eastern portion of the basin, which hosts Howard and Glasscock counties. Midland County, for example, exhibits only 44% decline from the peak, which is comparable to Lea County in New Mexico. Outside of the Permian, declines persist in Eagle Ford, Bakken and SCOOP & STACK. The total horizontal rig count in these three basins combined is down to 59 rigs which is around a 66% decline from the peak activity level seen in early 2020. Horizontal drilling has been relatively flat in DJ and PRB basins in recent weeks, following a period of material downward adjustment. Gas-focused drilling has kept declining gradually, although Haynesville is now exhibiting some signs of stabilization. Total horizontal gas drilling in Appalachia, which includes Marcellus and Utica, is already down to 35 rigs. The rig count could fall below 30 by the end of 2Q20 before stabilizing in the second half of the year. By Rystad Energy More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Comedian Matt Lucas has revealed he knows seven people who have died from Covid-19 in a heartbreaking response to a fan who criticised him for mocking Boris Johnson's lockdown speech yesterday. The Little Britain star shared a video on Twitter on Sunday satirising the Prime Minister's address to the nation, commenting: 'Go to work, don't go to work.' While Twitter users were widely mocking the PM, one follower took exception to the 46-year-old's tweet, saying: 'Meanwhile Matt people are dying!!! Love ya to bits but... Not really the time for taking the p***. People are having to bury their families.' Boris Johnson spoke to the country on Sunday evening as Britain began to enter a new stage of the coronavirus lockdown, but some viewers were confused by the PM's message England's Covid-19 message has changed from 'Stay at Home' to 'Stay Alert' PM says the public can have unlimited exercise and sunbathe in public Scotland and Wales are keeping the Stay at Home message in place Wales has warned warning English motorists not to visit for exercise or leisure Heavy traffic on some roads and Tubes are busy as people return to work Matt responded: 'I know 7 people who have died, Andy. When the message from our PM is clear and effective, satirists like me will be out of a job. I'll be happy when that happens.' The follower later replied: 'I repeat I love you work but This is in very poor taste expected better of a compassionate man.' Matt Lucas shared his video with 1.1million followers on Sunday evening, doing his best impersonation of the PM he said: 'So we are saying don't go to work, go to work, don't take public transport, don't go to work. Stay indoors, if you can work from home go to work, don't go to work. 'Go outside, don't go outside. And then we will or won't something or other.' Last night the Prime Minister ditched the 'stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives' slogan, instead urging people to 'stay alert, control the virus, and save lives'. He also unveiled a three stage exit plan and a five stage alert system to describe the country's outbreak condition. But the new measures, and tweaks to the draconian lockdown rules - which include being able to leave the house for exercise as often as you want - left people feeling decidedly confused. The PM also revealed that sunbathing in parks will be permitted so long as strict social distancing rules are obeyed, and schools will start to reopen next month - but social media users savaged Mr Johnson's coronavirus exit blueprint. The public was left even more confused this morning when, as commuters travelled to work on public transport, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said people were not supposed to return to work until Wednesday. At 2pm today the government published a 50-page document outlining the latest lockdown rules and setting targets for when children will return to school and when people will be able to mix with their families again. Before the guidance could be published, many other people had taken to Twitter to share their confusion following last night's speech from the PM. Others came to the Matt Lucas' aid today, with one user writing: 'Brilliant work, Matt - don't let the bullies with an agenda silence you - satire is EXACTLY what this absurd situation needs.' Another wrote: 'This is a bad situation for everyone and its sad enough that so many people are dying around the world - but that doesnt mean that one isnt allowed to offer criticism or laugh or make jokes. In fact everybody is in need of some good jokes these days I think!' Since the coronavirus reached Britain, Matt Lucas released his song Thank You Baked Potato, which helped raise money to feed NHS workers on the frontline of the pandemic. The Feed the NHS fundraising page, set up by actor Damian Lewis, has raised more than 1million as the British public dug into its pockets to help nurses and other health workers. Ahmad Khan Nawid, host of Voice of Ghor Radio, was shot and killed in Firozkoh, Ghor province in police crossfire on May 9. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Afghan Independent Journalists' Association (AIJA) are deeply concerned over Nawids death and urge the government investigate the excessive use of force by police. Demonstrators outside the governor's office during a protest against the government in Firozkoh of Ghor Province on May 9, 2020. Credit: STR / AFP Volunteer radio presenter at Voice of Ghor Radio, Ahmad Khan Nawid, 19, was shot during a clash between police and protestors over the unfair distribution of food aid in the Ghor province. Nawid was only passing by on his way to work, approximately 5 km away from his office, when the bullet struck the back of his head killing him instantly. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has been overwhelmed by numerous complaints of unfair distribution of food aid. The Ghor province has been in dire need of assistance after Covid-19 restrictions have resulted in job losses and rising food prices, disproportionally impacting the province with an estimated 50 per cent of the population living below the poverty line. Police have denied allegations of unfair aid distribution. While executive editor of Ghor Radio, Bismillah Adel blames Afghan forces for Nawids death, police have attempted to shift the blame to the protestors. Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistans vice-president apologised for the incident and mismanagement of relief food. A spokesperson from the Ministry of Interior said on May 9, a delegation has been sent from Kabul to investigate the incident. At least six people were killed and at least nine injured in the clashes. AIJA said: We call on the Afghan government to conduct impartial investigation on the killing of all civilians including the journalist and punish the guilty. IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: Whether a journalist is killed in crossfire or in a targeted attack, Afghanistan continues to be one of the worlds most unsafe places for journalists. The IFJ express solidarity with Nawids family, friends and colleagues and hope that a transparent investigation will get to the bottom of this devastating incident. There are so many living things on our planet that we hear about in the news, documentaries, movies, and books that it would seem like we have discovered them all. Have we, though? According to a study done by Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Canada and referenced by National Geographic, we have not yet even come remotely close to doing so. Worm calculates that about 86% of the species now living on Earth and 91% living in our oceans have still not been identified, named and described. Where are these creatures hiding? Here is a look at where new species discoveries are being made on Earth. Deep Biosphere The deep biosphere lies beneath the Earths crust, and extends many miles below both the continental and sea surface. In 2018, scientists who study the deep biosphere presented findings at an annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. These indicated that there exist more carbon-based lifeforms in the deep biosphere than within all us humans on Earth. Amazing! In fact, the researchers at the conference went so far as to reveal that there could be someplace between in this region on Earth compared with what is in all of us. How many organisms are we looking at? It is estimated that millions of tiny microbes that have not yet been identified, classified and named on Earth now live in this region spread out over two billion cubic kilometers (1,242,742,384 cubic miles). Ocean A deep-sea sting ray. Image credit: Superjoseph/Shutterstock.com According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more than 80% of our oceans are unexplored. Since oceans cover upwards of 70% of the Earth, this leaves a lot to be discovered. To begin with, researchers have mapped less than 10% of the worlds ocean floor using sonar technology. This is just a map of the land-we have not even begun to come close looking at all the organisms in the sea that live above and below it. Countries are now said to be coming together to make discoveries. The Census of Marine Life was an international project that recorded life in the ocean for ten years, and involved over 2,700 scientists from 80 countries completing 540 marine expeditions. During this time of exploration countless organisms were discovered. Since researchers like Worm say that about 91% of the oceans life has yet to be identified, there still remains much to be uncovered in the ocean. Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest hosts the greatest biodiversity on Earth. Scientists believe many more species are left to be discovered in this vast and dense rainforest area. The Amazon rainforest also presents an area on Earth that is home to many undiscovered animals. According to National Geographic, there are so many species to be uncovered in the Brazilian rainforest that scientists in 2017 were discovering a new amazon species every other day. Scientists worry that developing the rainforest into farmland and other uses could cause some species living there to go extinct before they are even discovered. Because of discoveries yet to be made in the deep biosphere, the ocean, and Earths rainforests, there likely remain millions of undiscovered species now on our planet. South Africas official opposition has lashed out at the continued ban on alcohol and cigarettes during the countrys lockdown as petty, arbitrary and unworkable. Democratic Alliance leader John Steenkamp said the alcohol and cigarette ban is cheating the government of millions of dollars in taxes, and putting the money into the pockets of criminal bootleggers. Sales of alcohol have been banned since the start of South Africas lockdown six weeks ago, despite loud protestations from an embattled industry and a population accustomed to South Africas fine wines and craft beer. The idea behind the alcohol ban was simple stop drunk driving, stop drunken fights to free up vital hospital beds for people with coronavirus. But enforcing the prohibition has not been so straightforward. The security forces have been accused of beating, even killing people, as they patrol poorer neighbourhoods, hunting for any signs of alcohol. There have been several instances of liquor stores being looted by the public as well. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates [May 11, 2020] CorMedix Inc. Reports First Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Provides Business Update BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J., May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CorMedix Inc. (NYSE American: CRMD), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic products for the prevention and treatment of infectious and inflammatory disease, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 and provided an update on recent business events. Recent Business Highlights: CorMedix announced the appointment of Matt David, M.D. as the Companys Chief Financial Officer. FDA has conditionally accepted the proposed proprietary name, Defencath, for the Companys lead product candidate, a novel, non-antibiotic antimicrobial solution designed to prevent bloodstream infections associated with the use of central venous catheters in hemodialysis patients. A final decision and formal acceptance of the proprietary name will be completed during the review of the New Drug Application (NDA), which has been granted rolling submission and review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The name Defencath will be used in the U.S. and potentially other international markets, while the name Neutrolin will continue to be used in Europe and other territories where the product is CE-marked and commercially distributed as a medical device. The Company is continuing its focus on preparing the required information in the NDA modules to ensure a complete submission and facilitate an efficient review by the FDA. CorMedix remains optimistic for a potential approval of the NDA in the second half of 2020, subject to possible delays that would prevent approval of the NDA. CorMedix was granted a Small Business Waiver by the FDA, exempting the Company from the need to pay the $2.9 million NDA filing fee. The fee was deposited with the FDA during the first quarter 2020 and was returned to the Company in April. The Company will host a call with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) on the potential of Defencath/Neutrolin for addressing antimicrobial resistance and catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) on Tuesday, May 19 th at 12pm Eastern Time. The call will feature three presentations by noted KOLs, who will discuss antimicrobial resistance, the current CRBSI landscape in patients with hemodialysis catheters, and Defencaths/ Neutrolin's potential for preventing CRBSIs in these patients. at 12pm Eastern Time. The call will feature three presentations by noted KOLs, who will discuss antimicrobial resistance, the current CRBSI landscape in patients with hemodialysis catheters, and Defencaths/ Neutrolin's potential for preventing CRBSIs in these patients. Completed the previously announced sale of $5.5 million of NOL tax benefits to unrelated, profitable New Jersey corporation through the New Jersey Economic Development Authoritys New Jersey Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer program for State Fiscal Year 2019. As a result, the Company has received approximately $5.2 million in cash from the sale of these NOL tax benefits. Khoso Baluch, CorMedix CEO commented, We are pleased to have made significant progress during the first quarter despite the limitations placed on us by the nations response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have been working remotely since mid-March, a transition we have made with little disruption and as a result we are maintaining our guidance for an anticipated decision on approval of the NDA in the second half of 2020. I am also pleased to welcome Matt David as CorMedix Chief Financial Officer and look forward to working with him as we progress towards an anticipated marketing approval for Defencath. First Quarter 2020 Financial Highlights For the first quarter 2020, CorMedix recorded a net loss of $5.6 million, or $0.21 per share, compared with a net loss of $5.2 million, or $0.22 per share, in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of $0.4 million or 7.7%. Net loss in the first quarter of 2020 was driven by a $0.7 million increase in operating expenses, partially offset by a $0.1 million increase in gross profit on sales. Operating expenses in the first quarter 2020 were $5.6 million, compared with $4.9 million in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of approximately 14%. The increase was driven by higher SG&A, which rose by 59% to $3.2 million primarily due to preparations in anticipation of NDA approval, notably staffing and consulting expenses and legal fees, accounting and insurance expenses. R&D expense decreased approximately 14% to $2.5 million, due to a significant decline in clinical trial expense partially offset by higher CMC and other technical operations expenses. The Company reported cash and short term investments of $23.2 million at March 31, 2020. On a pro forma basis, the refund in April of the NDA filing fee of $2.9 million plus the net proceeds from the sale of the New Jersey NOLs increased the Companys total available cash to $31.3 million. The Company believes that, based on its current cash resources, it has sufficient resources to fund operations into the second quarter of 2021, including initial preparations for commercial launch. Conference Call Information The management team of CorMedix will host a conference call and webcast today, May 11, 2020, at 4:30 PM Eastern Time, to discuss recent corporate developments and financial results. Call details and dial-in information are as follows: Monday, May 11 th @ 4:30pm ET Domestic: 800-949-2175 International: 646-828-8144 Conference ID: 3381536 Webcast: http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=139349 Following the live webcast, an archived version will be available through May 26, 2020 on the Companys website www.cormedix.com. About CorMedix CorMedix Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic products for the prevention and treatment of infectious and inflammatory diseases. The Company is focused on developing its lead product Defencath/Neutrolin, a novel, non-antibiotic antimicrobial solution designed to prevent costly and dangerous bloodstream infections associated with the use of central venous catheters. The Company completed a Phase 3 clinical trial of Defencath/Neutrolin in patients undergoing hemodialysis for end-stage renal disease, which showed a 71% reduction in catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) relative to the heparin control arm (p=0.0006) with a good safety profile. CRBSIs cost the U.S. healthcare system approximately $6 billion annually and contribute significantly to increased morbidity and mortality. Defencath/Neutrolin has Fast Track designation from FDA, which provides the potential for priority review of a marketing application, and Qualified Infectious Disease Product designation, which allows for 5 additional years of marketing exclusivity when approved for commercial distribution by FDA. FDA has granted rolling submission and review of portions of the new drug application (NDA) and CorMedix has begun submission of the NDA. Neutrolin is CE Marked and commercially distributed as a medical device in Europe and other territories. In parallel, CorMedix is leveraging its taurolidine technology to develop a pipeline of antimicrobial medical devices, with active programs in surgical sutures and meshes, and topical hydrogels. The Company is also working with top-tier researchers to develop taurolidine-based therapies for rare pediatric cancers. For more information, visit: www.cormedix.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, regarding managements expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or CorMedixs prospects, future financial position, financing plans, future revenues and projected costs should be considered forward-looking. Readers are cautioned that actual results may differ materially from projections or estimates due to a variety of important factors, including: the information, costs and time needed to submit to the FDA a new drug application for Defencath/Neutrolin in adult hemodialysis; risks related to the timing of and our ability to obtain FDA approval of the new drug application for Defencath/Neutrolin; relying on preclinical results that may not be indicative of success in clinical trials and might not be replicated in any subsequent studies or trials; the risks and uncertainties associated with research for additional uses for taurolidine; the risks and uncertainties associated with CorMedixs ability to manage its limited cash resources and the impact on current, planned or future research, including the continued development of Defencath/Neutrolin and research for additional uses for taurolidine; obtaining additional financing to support CorMedixs research and development and clinical activities and operations; and the ability to retain and hire necessary personnel to staff our operations appropriately. At this time, we are unable to assess whether, and to what extent, the uncertainty surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic may impact our business and operations. These and other risks are described in greater detail in CorMedixs filings with the SEC, copies of which are available free of charge at the SECs website at www.sec.gov or upon request from CorMedix. CorMedix may not actually achieve the goals or plans described in its forward-looking statements, and investors should not place undue reliance on these statements. CorMedix assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Investor Contact: Dan Ferry Managing Director LifeSci Advisors 617-430-7576 CORMEDIX INC. AND SUBSIDIARY CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE LOSS (Unaudited) For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 2019 Revenue Net sales $ 74,054 $ 163,692 Cost of sales (48,517 ) (226,955 ) Gross loss 25,537 (63,263 ) Operating Expenses Research and development (2,472,117 ) (2,874,996 ) Selling, general and administrative (3,165,168 ) (1,984,922 ) Total operating expenses (5,637,285 ) (4,859,918 ) Loss from Operations (5,611,748 ) (4,923,181 ) Other Income (Expense) Interest income 63,678 58,822 Foreign exchange transaction loss (3,221 ) (1,477 ) Interest expense (6,276 ) (302,048 ) Total other income (expense) 54,181 (244,703 ) Net Loss (5,557,567 ) (5,167,884 ) Other Comprehensive Loss Unrealized loss from investment (5,633 ) (1,008 ) Foreign currency translation loss (888 ) (305 ) Total other comprehensive loss (6,521 ) (1,313 ) Comprehensive Loss $ (5,564,088 ) $ (5,169,197 ) Net Loss Per Common Share Basic and Diluted $ (0.21 ) $ (0.22 ) Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding Basic and Diluted 26,059,625 23,074,049 CORMEDIX INC. AND SUBSIDIARY CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET DATA (Unaudited) March 31, December 31, 2020 2019 ASSETS Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash $ 12,376,162 $ 16,525,187 Short-term investments $ 10,983,190 $ 11,984,157 Total Assets $ 27,399,689 $ 29,475,910 Total Liabilities $ 5,806,239 $ 5,829,650 Accumulated deficit $ (200,978,739 ) $ (195,421,172 ) Total Stockholders Equity $ 21,593,450 $ 23,646,260 CORMEDIX INC. AND SUBSIDIARY CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 2019 Cash Flows from Operating Activities: Net loss $ (5,557,567 ) $ (5,167,884 ) Net cash used in operating activities (7,966,926 ) (7,367,470 ) Cash Flows Used in Investing Activities: Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities (985,418 ) (7,964,777 ) Cash Flows from Financing Activities: Net cash provided by financing activities 2,834,664 15,967,575 Net (Decrease) Increase in Cash and Cash Equivalents (4,149,025 ) 633,229 Cash and Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash - Beginning of Period 16,525,187 17,795,323 Cash and Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash - End of Period $ 12,376,162 $ 18,428,552 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A worker carries on his head a sack of rice inside a government rice warehouse National Food Authority in Quezon city, Metro Manila By Enrico Dela Cruz MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines, the world's top rice buyer, is seeking to import another 300,000 tonnes of the staple food to boost state stockpiles while battling the coronavirus pandemic and ahead of its own lean season in the third quarter. The planned government-to-government deal would raise the Southeast Asian country's rice imports so far this year to a record 3 million tonnes, exceeding last year's purchases totalling 2.9 million tonnes. Agriculture Secretary William Dar said on Monday the government has sent inquiries to Asia's biggest producers Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, India and Cambodia, seeking delivery before the third quarter, when domestic harvesting is usually low. Fresh demand from the Philippines could boost export prices in Asia that are already at their highest in as much as two years. Last week, rice export prices from top supplier India held near a nine-month high on strong demand from buyers in both Asia and Africa. Prices in Vietnam for its 5% broken rice variety stood at the two-year peak of $450 a tonne on Monday, despite weak exports activity as the government's ongoing stockpiling programme kept supply low. "Supplies are expected to start building up from next month when a small harvest in the country begins," said a trader based in the Vietnamese province of An Giang. Vietnam, the third-largest rice supplier, fully resumed exports this month, after halting sales from late March and limiting supply in April at 500,000 tonnes to make sure it has sufficient food during the pandemic. The Philippines, which usually buys most of its rice imports from Vietnam, had a 3.6% year-on-year contraction in its rice harvest in the first quarter. Thailand, the No. 2 rice exporter, is not optimistic though about securing a deal with the Philippines, as its rice varieties are trading higher than those in Vietnam. "It depends on whether Vietnam will be willing to supply the full amount. If not, we might be able to make some contribution," said Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association. Story continues The association quoted 5% white rice at $539 a tonne, F.O.B. Bangkok, last week, while traders quoted a range between $515$546. Thailand expects to have a rice surplus of around 8 million tonnes for exports this year, despite an ongoing drought. Vietnam has committed to start delivering this month the 400,000 tonnes that Philippine traders contracted in April, Dar said in a statement. (Additional reporting by Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Patpicha Tanakasempipat in Bangkok; editing by Christian Schmollinger, Tom Hogue and Louise Heavens) The government issued on Monday a set of protocols for how data collected from people through the Aarogya Setu contact tracing mobile application will be used and shared, attempting to address privacy concerns raised by activists and experts about the way the tool functions, the information it stores and the lack of clarity around who has access to it. The Aarogya Setu Data Access and Knowledge Sharing Protocol, 2020, notified through a government order on Monday, restricts the use of data such as the information people provide during self-assessment of their health and a record of who they came in contact with strictly to purposes necessary and proportionate for the governments health responses. The data can be retained for 180 days, the document says, significantly longer than the 45 days (for uninfected people) and 60 days (for infected persons) that it retains at present, according to officials in Niti Aayog who gave this information previously. A user can, however, request for their demographic data defined as name, mobile number, age, gender, profession and travel history to be deleted. Demographic data of an individual that has been collected by NIC shall be retained for as long as this protocol remains in force or if the individual requests that it be deleted, for a maximum of 30 days from such request, whichever is earlier, the document said. Officials said the protocol was necessitated by the increased criticism. User data on the app is safe, and of the 98 million downloads, the data of only 12,000 people have been stored on the servers, said Abhishek Singh, CEO of MyGov, adding that the protocol will allay concerns of privacy violations. Entrusting the National Informatics Centre for the collection, processing and managing of the data collected by the Aarogya Setu, the Centre also specified that only the data of those who are infected, are at high risk of being infected or who have come in contact with infected people are most likely to be collected. The data can be shared between any government department or ministry, which can also pass it on to third parties as long as the sharing of such information is specifically for the purpose of governments health responses. NIC shall, to the extent reasonable, document the sharing of any data and maintain a list of the agencies with whom such data has been shared, the rules state, adding that any entity processing such data shall do so in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner. The protocol -- which will stay in force for six months -- also allows for data to be shared with different agencies and wings of the Central government as well as state governments in de-identified form to assist in the formulation or implementation of a critical health response. The app, which was launched to trace the contacts of individuals who have contracted the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), has now been expanded to issue e-passes, provide telemedicine and is mandatory for travel to work. The app has been criticised by digital rights activist for its tracing of location histories and, last week, a French computer programmer said that vulnerabilities in the tools design could allow attackers to access data of millions of Indians. Violations of the data security protocols by any entity will be punishable under section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, which invites jail term for up to two years. The protocols also allow research institutes to study the data collected by the app after it has undergone hard anonymisation a process to scrub it of personally identifiable information. Divij Joshi, a lawyer and tech policy expert, said that while the protocol specifies the security guidelines better than the apps privacy policy, it might not have enough legal teeth since it is not a legislative action. The protocol attempts to give a legal basis to Aarogya Setu, as required by the Supreme Court but it is not a clear legislative basis. It introduces some accountability by limiting data collection and sharing to that which is strictly necessary and by allowing individuals to complain to Disaster Management Authorities under the law as well. However, the protocol does not address issues of efficacy of contact tracing, and the issues of discrimination and exclusion by making it mandatory, Joshi said. Blade-like tools and animal tooth pendants previously discovered in Europe, and once thought to possibly be the work of Neanderthals, are in fact the creation of Homo sapiens, or modern humans, who emigrated from Africa, finds a new analysis by an international team of researchers. Its conclusions, reported in the journal Nature, add new clarity to the arrival of Homo sapiens into Europe and to their interactions with the continent's indigenous and declining Neanderthal population. The analysis centers on an earlier discovery of bones and other artifacts found in the Bacho Kiro cave in what is modern-day Bulgaria. "Our findings link the expansion of what were then advanced technologies, such as blade tools and pendants made from teeth and bone, with the spread of Homo sapiens more than 45,000 years ago," explains Shara Bailey, a professor in NYU's Department of Anthropology and one of the paper's co-authors. "This confirms that Homo sapiens were mostly responsible for these 'modern' creations and that similarities between these and other sites in which Neanderthals made similar things are due to interaction between the populations." The findings offer a new understanding of both the nature of these species and their interactions. "If Neanderthals had created these 'modern' tools and jewelry, it would have indicated they had more advanced cognitive abilities than previously recognized," explains Bailey. "Nonetheless, there are some similarities in manufacturing techniques used by Homo sapiens at Bacho Kiro and Neanderthals elsewhere, which makes clear that there was cultural transmission going on between the two groups." The analysis was led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. The team, which included scientists from Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom, focused on the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic period, between 50,000 and 30,000 years ago. During this time, the European continent experienced the replacement and partial absorption of local Neanderthals by Homo sapiens populations from Africa. However, this process, anthropologists say, likely varied across regions, and the details of this transition remain largely unknown. To better comprehend a piece of this transition, the team focused on one of several places--Bacho Kiro--where discoveries of the earliest modern technologies, such as pendants and blades, have been made. To ascertain which species occupied the area of these discoveries, the scientists deployed several methodologies. Bailey, an expert in tooth analysis, and her colleagues examined teeth and bones that had been found in Bacho Kiro. Using state-of-the-art technology called ZooMS (collagen peptide mass fingerprinting), they identified human bone fragments and concluded that they were at least 45,000 years old--a period coinciding with the arrival of multiple waves of Homo sapiens into Europe. Subsequent shape analyses of the tooth and DNA examination of the fragments determined that they belonged to Homo sapiens and not Neanderthals, whose presence was not evident among the discovered fossils. "ZooMS allows us to identify previously unidentifiable bone fragments as some form of human," explains Bailey. "From there, we can apply more sophisticated techniques to identify the species and more accurately date human bones." ### Images from Bacho Kiro and of the studied tools and pendants may be downloaded from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology's news page (content embargoed until May 11, 2020 at 11 a.m. EDT): https://www.eva.mpg.de/press/news/2020-04-24-091055-oldest-upper-palaeolithic-homo-sapiens.html. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2259-z The coronavirus crisis made for a scaled-down version of Victory Day celebrations in Moscow and the rest of the country. Meanwhile, there is growing evidence that the real death toll from COVID-19 in Russia could be much higher than the official numbers indicate. RFE/RL Moscow correspondent Matthew Luxmoore joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss. World News: Fishing industry to lose billions as Covid drops demand by Charlotte Pointing May 11,2020 | Source: Live Kindly According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), exports of fisheries products rose to $153 billion in 2017. In 2020, exports are predicted to drop by at least one third. Demand is down globally, as lockdown restrictions have forced restaurants and hotels to shut their doors. When theres a pandemic, people arent interested in high-quality seafood, David Dickens, chief executive of UK charity Fishermens Mission, told the Guardian. He explained that demand for shellfish, like crab and lobster, in China had vaporized. Salmon, trout, cod, and shrimp have witnessed significant price drops. The latter is now selling for 10 percent of its usual price. The Maldives has stopped selling tuna to Europe completely. India to China shrimp exports have fallen 10 to 15 percent. Seafood exports from Argentina to Spain, Italy, and China have fallen by 30 percent since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. The impact on fishers is significant. Its estimated there are around 9.4 million fishers working around the world; 90 percent of these people live in developing countries. A Silver Lining For The Ocean But UNCTAD notes that there may be a silver lining: the health of the oceans could improve. Catch in the Mediterranean has dropped by 80 percent. Some experts believe that 2020 could be the first year when overfishing does not happen in European waters. Dr. Rainer Froese from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany, told The Scotsman: fisheries will not fish out the too-high catches. And so actually, this could be the year where for the first time there is no overfishing in European waters. He added: what does it mean for the future? Well, if you fish less then more fish remain in the water, and these fish will grow, and they will reproduce. UNCTAD legal officer David Vivas, who works on both trade and environmental issues, believes the pandemic is offering governments an opportunity to rethink how they support the fishing industry. He said in a statement: [They could] shift from subsidies that enhance the capacity of industrial fleets in favor of more support for responsible small-scale fishers as well as measures that encourage stock management and improve fishing traceability. The strength of our states economy is measured by the success of our small-business owners. If Sandoval County can come out of this pandemic stronger with a more diverse economy and brighter future, it will take the strength of all of us and the ability to truly come together. As local governments foresee lower gross-receipt and property tax revenues, our Sandoval County Commission has no choice but to cut services. For Commission Chairman David Heil, the pressing reminder has been consistently to stress the need to broaden the tax base. Now more than ever, we must retain jobs and attract new jobs. The choice no one wants to make is to cut services or increase taxes. Tools that help a community in consideration as a new company location include an available workforce, available sites, tax incentives and a business-friendly environment. The professionals who work to ensure communities tell their site-ready story are economic development organizations. EDOs collect and analyze information about the region with other competitive markets. Selling whats ready for development or soon to be ready is equally important. The core function of any EDO is the ability to sell all its community attributes. Proactively marketing a community will require a regional approach. We must leverage every relationship and demand a seat at every trade show. Use of digital marketing expertise to promote every attribute will be key. EDOs work to build company trust and adhere to company confidentiality. The importance of which applies locally, as much as with nationally recruited prospects. Even small local businesses may not want to have government aware of expansion plans. Financial vetting, site identification and existing building challenges are examples of details that, once made public, can impact a project. Sandoval Economic Alliance is a three-partner organization: the city, county and private sector supporting job creation across the county. SEA is aligned and committed to supporting existing business growth and the recruitment of new jobs. The model works because our residential neighborhoods and employer-based zones are interrelated, regardless of which city, town or village in which they are located. Every dollar invested by partners, both public and private, is stretched and leveraged. Chairman Heil shared with SEA and the commission that, as a result of COVID-19, New Mexico is seeing a trend of inquires at the state and local level of companies looking for less dense areas to relocate. Its important to remember we are not the only ones who fit this definition, he said. Finally, Chairman Heil and I agree that if one major player opts out as a partner in what will require a regional effort, prospects and the local business community will question our cohesiveness and look to grow elsewhere. Without the three partners, the partnership forged six years ago will change to the detriment of our communities. Now is not the time to cut the sales team and shutter our communitys marketing department. Now is time for EDOs, including SEA, to remain on task. (Dora Dominguez is the Sandoval County director of economic and business development.) Photo: The Canadian Press Leader of the Opposition Andrew Scheer speaks during a news conference on Parliament Hill, Monday, May 11, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is backing the Liberal government's efforts to include Taiwan in the World Health Organization discussions on COVID-19, a position that China opposes. But Scheer is also pointing out that his party has long called for Taiwan's inclusion in organizations such as the WHO and the International Civil Aviation Organization. Scheer says the organizations provide guidance on health and safety, and their work should not be influenced by China's foreign policy. China views Taiwan as a breakaway province, and while Canada does not recognize its sovereignty, the two do have trade and cultural relations. Last week, Canada backed an international coalition that includes the United States, Japan, Australia and others, seeking to allow Taiwan to have observer status at a major WHO meeting next week. Taiwan had early success in controlling the outbreak of the COVID-19, and Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne has told The Canadian Press that Taiwan's presence as a non-state observer in the World Health Assembly meetings next week would help the pandemic fight. It was Jan. 22, a day after the first case of covid-19 was detected in the United States, and orders were pouring into Michael Bowen's company outside Fort Worth, some from as far away as Hong Kong. Bowen's medical supply company, Prestige Ameritech, could ramp up production to make an additional 1.7 million N95 masks a week. He viewed the shrinking domestic production of medical masks as a national security issue, though, and he wanted to give the federal government first dibs. "We still have four like-new N95 manufacturing lines," Bowen wrote that day in an email to top administrators in the Department of Health and Human Services. "Reactivating these machines would be very difficult and very expensive but could be achieved in a dire situation." But communications over several days with senior agency officials - including Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and emergency response - left Bowen with the clear impression that there was little immediate interest in his offer. "I don't believe we as an government are anywhere near answering those questions for you yet," Laura Wolf, director of the agency's Division of Critical Infrastructure Protection, responded that same day. Bowen persisted. "We are the last major domestic mask company," he wrote on Jan. 23. "My phones are ringing now, so I don't 'need' government business. I'm just letting you know that I can help you preserve our infrastructure if things ever get really bad. I'm a patriot first, businessman second." In the end, the government did not take Bowen up on his offer. Even today, production lines that could be making more than 7 million masks a month sit dormant. Bowen's overture was described briefly in an 89-page whistleblower complaint filed this week by Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Bright alleges he was retaliated against by Kadlec and other officials - including being reassigned to a lesser post - because he tried to "prioritize science and safety over political expediency." HHS has disputed his allegations. Emails show Bright pressed Kadlec and other agency leaders on the issue of mask shortages - and Bowen's proposal specifically - to no avail. On Jan. 26, Bright wrote to a deputy that Bowen's warnings "seem to be falling on deaf ears." That day, Bowen sent Bright a more direct warning. "U.S. mask supply is at imminent risk," he wrote. "Rick, I think we're in deep s---," he wrote a day later. The story of Bowen's offer illustrates a missed opportunity in the early days of the pandemic, one laid out in Bright's whistleblower complaint, interviews with Bowen and emails provided by both men. Within weeks, a shortage of masks was endangering health-care workers in hard-hit areas across the country, and the Trump administration was scrambling to buy more masks - sometimes placing bulk orders with third-party distributors for many times the standard price. President Donald Trump came under pressure to use extraordinary government powers to force private industry to ramp up production. In a statement, White House economic adviser and coronavirus task force member Peter Navarro said: "The company was just extremely difficult to work and communicate with. This was in sharp contrast to groups like the National Council of Textile Organizations and companies like Honeywell and Parkdale Mills, which have helped America very rapidly build up cost effective domestic mask capacity measuring in the hundreds of millions." Carol Danko, an HHS spokeswoman, declined to comment on the offer by Bowen and other allegations raised in the whistleblower complaint. Wolf also declined to comment on the whistleblower complaint. A senior U.S. government official with knowledge of the offer said Bowen, 62, has a "legitimate beef." "He was prescient, really," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations. "But the reality is [HHS] didn't have the money to do it at that time." Another HHS official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: "There is a process for putting out contracts. It wasn't as fast as anyone wanted it to be." - - - Two decades ago, the low-slung factory in Texas was part of a supply conglomerate that produced almost 9 in 10 medical and surgical masks used in the United States. Bowen was a new product specialist at the plant back then, and he watched as industry consolidations and outsourcing shifted control of the plant from Tecnol Medical Products to Kimberly-Clark and then shuttered it altogether. In less than a decade, almost 90 percent of all U.S. mask production had moved out of the country, according to government reports at the time. Bowen and Dan Reese, a former executive at Tecnol, went into business together in 2005 and eventually bought the plant, believing a market remained for a dedicated domestic manufacturer of protective gear. In wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress appropriated $6 billion to buy antidotes to bioweapons and the medical supplies the country would need in public health disasters. An obscure new government organization called the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, was among the agencies purchasing material for what would become the Strategic National Stockpile. Bowen began studying BARDA, attending its industry conferences and searching for a way in to press his case. In the parlance of BARDA, Bowen was seeking a "warm base" contract. The government would pay a premium to have masks manufactured domestically, but his company would keep its extra factory lines in working order, meaning production could be ramped up in an emergency. Bowen said he soon concluded that BARDA's focus was trained elsewhere, on billion-dollar deals to induce manufacturing of vaccines for the most exotic disasters, such as weaponized attacks with anthrax or smallpox. Still, as Bowen moved down the supply chain, appealing directly to hospitals to buy his domestic-made masks, his sales pitch often ended with a plea to call BARDA. Bowen often carried PowerPoint slides from a 2007 presentation by BARDA and its parent division at HHS, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. One had a table showing that, in the event of a pandemic, the country would need 5.3 billion N95 respirator masks, 50 times more than the number in the stockpile. The presentation concluded: "Industrial surge capacity of [respiratory protection devices] will not be able to meet need and supplies will be short during a pandemic." Bowen said he felt like a voice in the wilderness. "The world just looked at me as a mask salesman who was saying the sky was falling," he said, "and they would say, 'Your competitors aren't saying that in China.' " After Trump's election, Bowen hoped the new president's America-first mentality might trickle down to operations like his. He wrote a letter to Trump and addressed it to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: "90% of the United States protective mask supply is currently FOREIGN MADE!" it began. "I didn't think Trump would read it, but I thought someone would and take note," Bowen said. He also called Bright, who had been appointed to lead BARDA just before Trump took office. "In 14 years of doing this, there have been maybe four people in government who I felt like really understood this issue," Bowen said. "Rick was one of them." In Trump's first year, however, Bowen grew newly disillusioned. During a week that the White House touted its "Buy American, Hire American" initiative, Bowen lost a military contract worth up to $1 million, to a supplier that would make many of the masks in Mexico, he said. "Shame on the Department of Defense! One of these days the US military will need America's manufacturers to help win another war or fight another pandemic - and they will not exist," Bowen wrote on Aug. 17, 2017, to Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Clark, a senior official with the Pentagon's Defense Health Agency. Clark, who retired last year, did not respond to a message seeking comment. - - - For Bowen, the first signs of trouble came in mid-January. Online orders through his company's website, typically totaling maybe $2,000 a year and accounting for only a fraction of his business, suddenly skyrocketed to almost $700,000 in a few days. On Jan. 20, Bowen also fielded a call from the Department of Homeland Security, urgently seeking masks for airport screeners. Bowen said he did not have masks in stock to fill the order, but the call led him to contact Bright to tell him about the surge in demand for masks. "Is this virus going to be problematic?" Bowen wrote. Inside HHS, Bright quickly passed Bowen's on-the-ground observations to a group that included Wolf, the director of the agency's Division of Critical Infrastructure Protection. "Can you please reach out to Mike Bowen below? He is a great partner and a really good source for helpful information," Bright wrote on Jan. 21. "Thanks Rick," she replied. "We are tracking and have begun to coordinate with fda, niosh, and manufacturers today. More to follow tomorrow. Thinking about masks, gowns (inc those in shortage), gloves, and eye protection." Within a day, Bowen sent an email to Wolf laying out what Prestige could do. The company's four mothballed manufacturing lines could be restarted with large noncancelable orders, he wrote. "This is NOT something we would ever wish to do and have NO plans to do it on our own," he wrote. "I'm simply letting you know that in a dire situation, it could be done." Over the next three days, Bowen kept HHS officials informed as orders for a million masks came in from intermediaries for buyers in China and Hong Kong. On Jan. 26, he sent the email warning that the U.S. mask supply was at "imminent risk." Bright forwarded it that day to Kadlec and others, urging action: "We have been watching and receiving warnings on this for over a week," he wrote. The next day, Bright wrote to his deputy asking him to explore whether BARDA could divert money earmarked for vaccines and other biodefense measures to instead buy masks. From his end, Bowen said his proposal seemed to be going nowhere. "No one at HHS ever did get back to me in a substantive way," Bowen said. The senior U.S. official said Bowen's idea was considered, but funding could not easily be obtained without diverting it from other projects. Bowen started talking to reporters about the mask shortage in general terms. He was soon invited to appear on former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon's podcast: "War Room: Pandemic." On the Feb. 12 podcast, the two commiserated over the beleaguered state of U.S. manufacturing. "What I've been saying since 2007 is, 'Guys, I'm warning you, here's what is going to happen, let's prepare,' " Bowen said on the program. "Because if you call me after it starts, I can't help everybody." Bowen said Bannon put him in touch with Navarro, the White House economic adviser. Navarro was quick to see the problem, Bowen said. After talking with Navarro, Bowen wrote to Bright that he should soon expect a call from the White House, "I'm pretty sure that my mask supply message will be heard by President Trump this week," Bowen wrote. "Trump insider reading yesterday's Wired.com article, the ball is screaming toward your court." According to Bright's complaint, he soon began attending White House meetings and helping Navarro write memos describing the supply of masks as a top issue. Emails and memos attached to the complaint show Bright reporting back to Kadlec and others about his work with Navarro. None of it turned the tide for Bowen. Nearly a month after his emailed offer, Bowen received his first formal communication about possibly helping to bolster the U.S. supply. The five-page form letter from the Food and Drug Administration - one Bowen said he suspected was sent to many manufacturers - asked how his company could help with what was by then a "national emergency response" to the shortage of protective gear. Bowen responded on Feb. 16, by firing off a terse email to FDA and HHS officials. He directed the agencies to a U.S. government website listing approved foreign manufacturers of medical masks. "There you'll find a long list of . . . approved Chinese respirator companies," he wrote. "Please send your long list of questions to them." In March, Bowen submitted a bid to supply masks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which by then had taken over purchasing. The government soon spent over $600 million on contracts involving masks. Big companies like Honeywell and 3M were each awarded contracts totaling for over $170 million for protective gear. One distributor of tactical gear - a company with no history of procuring medical equipment - was awarded a $55 million deal to provide masks for as much as $5.50 a piece, eight times what the government was paying months earlier. On April 7, FEMA awarded Prestige a $9.5 million contract to provide a million N95 masks a month for one year, an order the company could fulfill without activating its dormant manufacturing lines. For the masks, Prestige charged the government 79 cents a piece. - - - The Washington Post's Jon Swaine, Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Rachel Siegel contributed to this report. Connecticut hospitals, stung by the widespread cancellation of elective procedures, a steep drop in emergency room visits and the need for additional staffing and protective gear to navigate the COVID-19 crisis, stand to lose $1.5 billion this fiscal year. The hospitals are weathering an unprecedented financial crisis. Along with the cessation of elective surgeries and most outpatient procedures, trips to physician offices have dipped and radiology services have ebbed. Many people are avoiding medical care - preventative or urgent - so they dont risk exposure to the virus. At the same time, hospitals have spent more money on protective equipment such as masks, gowns, gloves and face shields, and on certain types of staffing to deal with a surge in coronavirus patients. Across the board, theres been diminished utilization, said Mark Schaefer, vice president of system innovation and financing for the Connecticut Hospital Association. People spontaneously avoided congregate settings generally and health care settings in particular in an effort to social distance and avoid the possibility of contracting the virus. The states hospital industry so far has received about $260 million in federal stimulus money to help offset some of the losses, which vary widely by facility. Another $290 million is expected in the coming days. But for many hospitals, the funding isnt nearly enough to make up for revenue that has vanished since the pandemic began. Some have resorted to furloughing employees, cutting pay for executives or requiring staff to work reduced hours. Others have looked into options for deferring employee pension contributions and payroll taxes, or getting advanced Medicare payments - maneuvers that help them stay afloat during the immediate financial squeeze. Theres still a big gulf between what hospitals have received and the amount thats remaining, Schaefer said. That is potentially going to be a loss that weakens Connecticuts hospitals tremendously if we dont figure out a way to address it. Theres pain everywhere Even as the coronavirus pandemic attracts widespread attention and resources to hospitals, facilities across the country are suffering a major collapse in business. The American Hospital Association estimated that between March 1 and June 30, hospitals and health systems would lose a combined $202.6 billion, or an average of $50.7 billion per month. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that even with so many in health care working tirelessly to combat COVID-19, job losses in the industry are second only to the leisure and hospitality sector. With the exceptions of New York and San Francisco, almost every other U.S. hospital has experienced unforeseen declines in patient volume. From March 1 to April 15, health systems in the U S. saw an average drop in emergency visits and in-hospital stays of about 30 percent to 50 percent. Concerns about the financial health of hospitals go beyond patient care. The health systems are a main driver of the economy, and in Connecticut, the states hospital association puts their total economic impact - including jobs, health care spending and capital improvements - at $28.9 billion. Hospitals are some of the largest employers in their communities and spend hundreds of millions on buildings and equipment. Fears about their vitality are growing in Connecticut. Griffin Hospital, an independent facility in Derby, has lost $6 million a month since the coronavirus pandemic began. By the end of the fiscal year - Sept. 30 - officials there expect to have lost about $30 million. Griffin has furloughed 105 employees - about 10 percent of its workforce - in areas that are no longer operating or have seen reduced demand. That includes patient access and registration, radiology, physician office practices and the digestive disorder center. Management has also taken pay cuts. Hospital President and CEO Patrick Charmel took a 20 percent cut, vice presidents took 15 percent cuts and managers under them took 10 percent. While that has provided some savings, the hospital has added hours for direct care staff amid the crisis. To prepare for a surge in COVID-19 patients, Griffin also spent additional money on facility improvements, supplies and equipment. In March, emergency department visits plunged by 60 percent. Non-coronavirus admissions are down, as is demand for physical therapy and rehabilitation services. Even oncology visits have dwindled. So far, Griffin has only received about $3.5 million in federal stimulus funds and is unsure how much more it will get. Looking at our formula, if the revenue decline continued at this level, we would run out of cash this fiscal year, Charmel said in an interview. Were making expenditures and increasing operating costs at a time when revenue has decreased significantly. Bristol Hospital, another independent facility, saw revenue decline by $5.4 million in March. Leaders there also spent an additional $1.1 million to get the hospital ready for an influx of COVID-19 patients. By September, officials expect Bristol to have lost $15 million to $18 million. The hospital has furloughed 103 employees - about 6 percent of its workforce - and reduced the hours for about 200 more staff members. Its executive team went from six employees to four through a combination of retirements and departures. The contract for an interim finance chief was not renewed, and President and CEO Kurt Barwis said he is now doing that job and his own. Officials are also negotiating discounts with vendors and deferring capital expenditures. Bristol so far has received $3.8 million in federal stimulus money. Barwis is hoping for another $10 million this year. The hospital was also helped by a $13 million loan from Medicare, but that money must be paid back. Theres pain everywhere, said Barwis, who contracted COVID-19 while on the job and has since recovered. This pandemic really hit our hospitals and health care systems hard. When this thing shakes out there are definitely going to be some changes in the landscape. Some of Connecticuts smaller, independent hospitals had already been struggling financially, and observers say the pandemic could hobble those vulnerable institutions. Patients have increasingly sought routine care at large academic medical centers or teaching hospitals, drawn by perceptions of quality or referred by doctors who are now affiliated with the larger hospitals. With fewer patients, the community hospitals lose bargaining leverage with insurers when negotiating payment rates. And with fewer patients and lower payment rates, the hospitals struggle to invest in programs, staff, marketing or the infrastructure needed to adapt to the changing health care system. Thats something Charmel has been thinking about since the pandemic hit. Along with Griffin and Bristol, Day Kimball in Putnam, another independent hospital, said it was furloughing workers due to a drop in services. Larger systems, say Hartford Healthcare or the Yale New Haven Health system, they are seeing the same kind of revenue decline and probably the same kind of expense increase. But if you look at the financial strength of those organizations and their capacity to weather a storm like this, its greater, Charmel said. It takes a smaller number to do damage here than it does there. Everybody is going to be hurt by this, he said. But I think the viability of those independent hospitals is going to be more challenged, without a doubt. Frustrated by the issue, Rep. Rosa DeLauro sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar recently urging him to direct additional funding to small and mid-size hospitals in Connecticut. Many of those smaller institutions were excluded from the latest round of funding - $290 million - because they didnt meet the criteria. If our small- and medium-sized hospitals do not get additional support, we fear that these health providers will have no choice but to scale back their COVID-19 response, despite the critical need in our state, DeLauro wrote. To be very clear, that scaling back will likely include laying off health care staff. She has asked for a response by May 18. Larger hospital systems are also struggling to cope with the revenue decline. Trinity Health of New England, which operates Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, Saint Marys Hospital in Waterbury and Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital in Hartford, has furloughed some employees - primarily in non-clinical roles - and reduced hours for others. In Connecticut, the system has lost $30 million to $40 million per month since the start of the pandemic. By the end of June, it expects to be short as much as $125 million. Trinity Health has received $28 million in federal stimulus money and expects more in the coming days under a new round of funding that will provide aid to hospitals in coronavirus hot spots. Like other hospitals and health systems, Trinity expects patients to return slowly for elective surgeries, outpatient procedures and other services. Its going to take a long time, I think, to gain the confidence of the community and for folks to come back into the hospitals, said Jennifer Schneider, senior vice president and chief financial officer for Trinity Health of New England. We are doing everything we can to make it safe for our patients and our colleagues. But its just going to take time for those services to come back. Jeffrey Flaks, president and CEO of Hartford HealthCare, which operates seven hospitals in Connecticut, including Hartford Hospital, said his system expects to lose up to $200 million by September - about 4 percent of its budget. The $62 million it received so far in federal stimulus funds wont bridge that gap. Flaks said he is unsure how much more the system will get. As revenue has declined, he said, officials there have spent tens of millions of dollars more on protective equipment for employees. Hartford HealthCare has not yet furloughed any workers or cut pay. Being part of a larger system has its benefits - resources may be shared among the facilities and patients can be moved to different hospitals within the network so that none becomes overwhelmed. But the crisis has still taken a toll. We came into this in a relative position of strength, Flaks said. Clearly, its eroding our financials. Planning for recovery Hospitals are expecting to see some services resume before the end of their fiscal year, but its hard to say how robust any recovery might be. Complicating that is the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 patients this fall. Theyre looking at how best to stand up the services they had been providing before the pandemic in a way that reassures people its safe to seek care and important to seek care, said Schaefer, the Connecticut Hospital Association executive. While some people have avoided hospitals for fear of contracting the disease, others have stayed away because theyve lost a job - and in turn, their health insurance. Some are postponing screenings and routine appointments until the fall or winter. Those factors also make a recovery hard to predict. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, Connecticuts hospitals were weathering financial ups and downs. Hospitals were losing money for much of the past decade through a provider tax enacted under former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The tax, which prompted an industry lawsuit, drained $1.7 billion from the facilities between 2012 and 2019 more than $240 million per year on average. The tax had an impact. For years, investments in equipment, buildings and programs were delayed, and those deferrals are now likely to continue. To cope with the losses, many health systems have launched telehealth visits to bring in some revenue. Schaefer said hospital leaders are also in talks with the state about how to address the under-reimbursement of certain services, such as those provided through Medicaid. As businesses throughout Connecticut prepare to reopen, hospitals are pondering how to reassure the public that its safe to come back. Were working with our congressional delegation and the governors office to ensure they continue to take steps to keep the hospital industry strong, Schaefer said. Whatever shape COVID-19 takes down the road, or whatever other public health threat there is, its important not to leave the hospitals weakened. Airline boss Willie Walsh said he was 'not picking on British Airways' as he faced questions by MPs over plans for mass redundancies at BA while the group's Spanish division appears to have so far escaped the cull. Walsh, the boss of International Consolidated Airlines which also owns Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, said that restructuring will be carried out across the group and that it was only a result of the 'greatest crisis that the airline industry' has ever faced. 'We are embarking on a restructuring and I've made it clear that this is group-wide restructuring. It's not specific to British Airways,' he told the Transport Select Committee today. Grilling: IAG boss Willie Walsh insisted that restructuring will be carried out across the group MPs asked for a justification for 12,000 job cuts at BA when IAG revealed just days ago that the group is sitting on 10billion (8.7billion) cash reserves. To Labour MP Sam Tarry, who said it had been suggested the restructuring was a 'pre-determined decision' which could potentially give it advantage over rivals, Walsh replied: 'Our restructuring is solely driven by the fact that we are now in the deepest downturn that the aviation industry has ever seen. 'Our capacity is going to be significantly lower in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and beyond than we had planned to be. 'The amount of flying we're doing will be significantly lower than the flying that we were proposing to do. As a result of that, we need to restructure our business.' It comes as BA furloughed more than 30,000 staff before announcing the redundancies last month. But there has been no public statement from the company on job cuts at IAG's Spanish airlines Iberia and Vueling. Walsh also insisted the timing of the announcement about the reduction in staffing at British Airways was due to the UK's labour laws. 'The labour legislation in Ireland and Spain - the two other major countries in which we operate - it's different. We're required to do it in a different way,' he said. He added: 'We are not picking on British Airways. We're not doing anything that we don't think is absolutely necessary to secure the survival of British Airways and we're doing exactly the same with the other airlines in the group.' Meanwhile, Walsh said that, following the new 14-day quarantine measures announced by the Government yesterday for the majority of the people travelling to the UK from abroad, the airline may have to review its plans to resume flying in July. Walsh also said the airline may have to review its plans to resume flying in July if the Government goes ahead with plans to enforce a 14-day quarantine for most travellers to the UK Airlines are concerned that if people have to stay 14 days at home after arriving in the UK, many will just be discouraged from travelling. EasyJet has today voiced similar concerns. 'The announcements yesterday of a 14-day period for coming into the UK, it's definitely going to make it worse,' Walsh said. 'We had been planning to resume on a pretty significant basis of flying in July. I think we would have to review that based on what the prime minister said yesterday.' IAG announced last month that up to 12,000 British Airways workers will be made redundant, which is equivalent to more than a quarter of the workforce. Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Monday set May 17 and 18 as dates to hear the seven petitions filed by the opposition parties and civil society against the dissolution of Parliament by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa on March 2 dissolved Parliament, six months ahead of schedule, and called a snap election on April 25 to elect a new 225-member House. However, the election commission in mid-April postponed the parliamentary elections by nearly two months to June 20 due to the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected 863 people and claimed nine lives in the island nation. The new date clashed with the constitutional imperative that the new Parliament has to meet within three months since its dissolution. Most petitions filed by the opposition parties and civil society argue that according to the Constitution the elections must be held and a new Parliament must be summoned within three months of the dissolution order. The apex court set May 17 and 18 as dates to hear the seven petitions, court officials said. The petitioners say as per the prevailing situation, the country would be deprived of a parliament for a period beyond the maximum permissible limit of three months. As per the Constitution, the new Parliament must be summoned by June 2. The petitioners also claim that due to the restrictions imposed in response to COVID-19 pandemic, the conditions to hold a free and fair election will be hampered as parties would not be able to campaign freely. In the court this morning, the lawyers for the petitioners sought an interim relief by way of an order on the election commission to stop all preparatory work for the polls until the cases are heard. However, the court refused to grant an interim order until all parties represented their case. On April 27, seven opposition parties urged President Rajapaksa to summon the dissolved Parliament while pledging cooperation to tackle COVID-19 pandemic. Rajapaksa rejected the Opposition's call to reconvene the House, saying they were trying to make a political gain at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the country. The opposition parties also argued that Rajapaksa had no power to draw public finances after April 30, the date till which the dismissed parliament had approved expenditure by the president. Rajapaksa maintained that he still had the power to draw money from the consolidated fund. Over 16.2 million voters are eligible to vote to elect 196 members under proportional representation and a further 29 members on national cumulative votes of each party based on proportional representation. Rajapaksa, who was elected as President in November, was keen to hold fresh elections for a mandate to implement his policies. He was seeking 150 seats or the two thirds in the 225-member assembly. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) ABC/Gavin BondLuke Bryan is lending his support to Nashville songwriters by participating in BMI's A Salute to Songwriters, benefiting MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund. The "What Makes You Country" hitmaker is partnering with the music rights management company to co-host the event, alongside several radio DJs across the country, for the event, which will see many of Nashville's sought-after songwriters performing their biggest hits from their homes. Rhett Akins, Natalie Hemby, Dallas Davidson and Jessi Alexander are among the participating songwriters who've collectively penned hits for Blake Shelton, Miley Cyrus, Miranda Lambert and more. They'll share the stories behind the songs, as well as how the pandemic has affected them. Donations will be collected during the event for the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund to support songwriters and musicians in need, especially during the pandemic. The three-hour A Salute to Songwriters concert will be broadcast on country radio stations across the country Saturday, May 16 at 7 p.m. local time. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Patriotism is Russias national idea, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the program Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" a fragment of which was uploaded to the Instagram page of its presenter Pavel Zarubin. "Yes, its patriotism, I think there can be nothing else here," Putin said when asked about the Russian national idea. But patriotism should not be spurious, he stressed. According to the president, "patriotism means devoting oneself to the development of the country, its progress". "But this does not mean that we must keep clinging to our heroic past, we must look ahead, into our no less heroic and successful future, and this is the ticket to success," the Russian leader stressed. Putin noted that the Russian people have no need of propaganda to preserve historical memory. As an example, he cited the Immortal Regiment march, in which people have been taking part for already several years answering the call of their hearts. "This movement that has been taken up by millions of people across our country, the Immortal Regiment, means that the people need no propaganda whatsoever to keep the memory about their heroic forefathers, since this links us with them, and raises us in our own eyes if not to their level, then at least high enough for us to always remember the main thing," TASS cited the president as saying. "Our heroes are always with us, in our hearts," Putin said, pledging that the march that failed to take part amid the coronavirus epidemic would be held later so that the people could pay tribute to the heroes. In December 2019, President Putin addressed the topic of patriotism at his annual news conference, saying that he saw it as the only possible ideology of the modern democratic society. "In my opinion, patriotism is the only possible ideology in the modern democratic society. Patriotism in the broadest and best sense," the Russian leader said back then. "It must be depoliticized and aimed to strengthen the inner framework of the Russian state," he stressed. For the fourth year in a row, China Development Bank and the Import-Export Bank of China have reduced loans to Latin America. This was based on the new study, which the Boston University conducted. In 2019, both banks lent the region an amount of $1.1 billion, a figure significantly lower than the previous year's value of $2.1 billion. This is the lowest amount over the past 10 years. Instead of letting the Latin American governments directly borrow, the report said, the Chinese banks have decided to invest in infrastructure and energy projects instead. They will be using Chinese state-owned firms to bid for the projects as a form of funding. China Is No Longer Latin America's "Financial Lifeline" What's known as the "commodities super-cycle" concluded in 2015. More so, the "oil-for-loans" arrangements seem to be reaching expiration. These include 45 percent of $142 billion, which the Ecuador and Venezuela has received since 2007. This means that China will no longer function as the "financial lifeline", for more fragile economies of Latin America. The Dominican Republic, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tabago received a total of $904 million as loan in 2019, from a Chinese policy bank. Among the top borrowers--Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela--only Argentina, according to the report, featured in the four deals struck in 2019, a loan amounting to $236 million, for the purchase of railway cars. Even though the latest numbers suggest cooling China's state-supported lending to back progress in the region, they more precisely mirror one way in which it has started to change, even prior to the worldwide spread of COVID-19, which created an austere economic outlook for this year. Chinese Companies' Investments in Latin America in 2019 Last year, Chinese businesses invested around $12.8 billion in this region, up 16.5 percent from 2018. This was based on the new data which the China-Latin America Network or Red ALC-China released. Essentially, China used to be the source of 7.5 percent of the total foreign direct investment or FDI in Latin America last year. This is in spite of a year characterized by investor wariness worldwide, largely, as a result of unclear consequences of the China-US trade strains. Meanwhile, publicly owned enterprises of China accounted for more than 85 percent of the Latin American OFDI last year. Electrical companies, namely State Grid and Tree Gorges or CTG have ruled the sector in recent years. Most of the major agreements engaged acquisition of operations of the other foreign companies, or formation of new consortia together with partners from the region. Last year, CTG ate up the share Peruvian projects of the US-based Sempra Energy, including its 84-percent stake in Luz del Sur, an electricity distribution firm. This was the biggest transaction of the year. More on Business: Check these out! Labor wants superannuation funds and the private sector to drive fresh housing investment as the construction industry fears a two-year slowdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The opposition is calling for a National Housing Stimulus Plan to build and repair social housing and affordable properties in a bid to protect almost one million workers relying on the construction industry. Putting cranes on Australia's skyline in a housing building boom would help save jobs after the pandemic eases, under a Labor plan. Credit:Bloomberg Labor's plan adds to a growing chorus of industry groups, social services organisations and academics pushing the government to focus specifically on home building, including the Master Builders Association and the Urban Development Institute of Australia. "The pipeline of work in the housing construction industry is drying up and will result in a sharp decline in work for lots of tradespeople and small and family businesses unless action is taken," Labor housing spokesman Jason Clare said. SAN DIEGO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- GoSite has been named to Inc. magazine's annual list of the Best Workplaces for 2020. Hitting newsstands May 12 in the May/June 2020 issue, and as part of a prominent Inc.com feature, the list is the result of a wide-ranging and comprehensive measurement of private American companies that have created exceptional workplaces through vibrant cultures, deep employee engagement, and stellar benefits. Headquartered in San Diego and serving customers across the country, GoSite is a powerful SaaS and payment platform for small businesses, built to address the confusion and frustration that business owners face when presented with a multitude of disparate solutions to run their businesses in our digitally driven world. GoSite's tools provide what small businesses need, from a website and payments to communications and booking, rolled into one simple end-to-end platform and intuitive app. This comprehensive, mobile first solution uniquely positions GoSite as the go-to small business SaaS partner, empowering customers to build their businesses more efficiently and effectively. "At GoSite, our customers count on us to be their go-to partner for small business software solutions, and our team takes that responsibility very seriously," said Alex Goode, Founder and CEO of GoSite. "It has been so important during this critical time for our team to be nimble and at our best for our customers, and I'm so proud of who we are, what we've built, and the journey we're on together." GoSite is on a high growth trajectory, expanding from 50 to 250 employees and new jobs in the last year. GoSite's creative hiring practices, proprietary training programs and people first leadership have created an industry leading, world class team. Active hiring and expansion has remained on plan in 2020 and the year holds promising product developments and emphasis on scaling an ideal, delightful customer experience for all small business partners. GoSite is the only San Diego-based company in its category to make the Inc. list. About the Inc. List of Best Places to Work Collecting data from more than 3,000 submissions, Inc. singled out 395 finalists for this year's list. Each nominated company took part in an employee survey, conducted by Quantum Workplace, on topics including trust, management effectiveness, perks, and confidence in the future. Inc. gathered, analyzed, and audited the data. Then we ranked all the employers using a composite score of survey results. This year, 73.5 percent of surveyed employees were engaged by their work. The strongest engagement scores came from companies that prioritize the most human elements of work. These companies are leading the way in employee recognition, performance management, and diversity. It is a different playbook from a decade ago, when too many firms used the same template: free food, open work environments, and artifacts of "fun." "Building a great corporate culture comes only from strong leadership," says Inc. magazine editor-in-chief Scott Omelianuk. "The companies on Inc.'s Best Workplaces list are setting an example that the whole country can learn from, especially now, when company culture is more important to the workforce than ever." While researching the finalists, Inc. and Quantum saw distinct themes: 100 percent provide health insurance. 50 percent allow employees to bring pets to work. 62 percent take employees to offsite retreats to relax and recharge. 20 percent offer paid sabbaticals to reward length of service. About GoSite GoSite creates simplified technology for small businesses that drive America's economy. Our software empowers small business owners and employees to have everything in one place to connect with customers in the digital era. Our cloud-based suite of mobile first tools empower businesses with everything the need to be online, connect with customers and process payments. GoSite transforms the way our customers run their business, on the go and everywhere. To learn more, visit www.GoSite.com. About Inc. Media The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com. About Quantum Workplace Quantum Workplace, based in Omaha, Nebraska, is an HR technology company that serves organizations through employee-engagement surveys, action-planning tools, exit surveys, peer-to-peer recognition, performance evaluations, goal tracking, and leadership assessment. For more information, visit QuantumWorkplace.com. Contact: Katie McCormick Lelyveld [email protected] SOURCE GoSite Related Links www.GoSite.com Hundreds of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for parents to be allowed not to send their children to school if they reopen. More than 430,000 people have signed the petition, which was launched six days ago but has gained traction as Boris Johnson announced that schools might be ready to welcome back pupils by next month. The proposal was mapped out, among other ideas, in the prime ministers strategy to ease the coronavirus lockdown. Speaking on Sunday, he said the government believes we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools, in stages, beginning with reception, year 1 and year 6. Lucy Browne's petition. (Change.org) The petition, which was launched on Change.org by mother Lucy Browne, said parents and guardians should be given the option to refuse to send their child back to school if classes restart. It had reached 433,214 signatures by 5.40pm on Monday. As a mum I dont want to face serious repercussions for making a choice I feel affects the safety of my daughter during a global pandemic, Browne wrote. Boris Johnson has said some year groups could be back at school in June. (PA Images) The UK now has the highest death toll in Europe and second highest in the world. Many of us have lost confidence in the government's handling of this crisis and feel it is too early to return children to schools. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area 6 charts and maps that explain how coronavirus is spreading It seems it could pose risks not only to children but also teachers and those they live with grandparents, parents and those (with) underlying health conditions. Browne claimed there has been little assurance of how any risks coming from reopening schools will be managed, citing parents dropping off and collecting children as chances for the virus to spread between adults. She called on the government to be transparent and put things in place before we can consider placing our trust in this decision. Story continues Meanwhile, immediately after the speech, the National Education Union surveyed its members about Johnsons plan to restart lessons for some pupils. Of 49,000 members that responded to its survey, 85% disagreed with Johnsons plan, while 92% said they would feel unsafe with the proposed wider opening of schools. First secretary of state Dominic Raab told BBC Breakfast that evidence showed less of a risk of young children getting coronavirus but admitted it could move through them and between households. Were not taking any decisions now on schools, other than vulnerable children or children of key workers, he said. In a phased, conditioned way, and working with the schools, we will make sure we have clear guidance on how that can be done with social distancing and hygiene. The evidence suggests theres much lower risk of young children getting this virus, but the risk is you get transmission through children between households well have more evidence by the time we get to June 1. Well be providing that guidance and well able to monitor what happens to the virus between now and then. Coronavirus: what happened today The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. An animated video from Nigeria is teaching children about the coronavirus and having a global impact. VOAs Salem Solomon recently spoke to Nigerian filmmaker Niyi Akinmolayan and has this report (Bloomberg) -- The Saudi sovereign wealth fund and General Atlantic are among firms exploring investments in billionaire Mukesh Ambanis digital business, as Asias richest man seeks to expand his operations outside oil and petrochemicals, people with knowledge of the matter said. Saudi Arabias $320 billion Public Investment Fund is considering buying a minority stake in Reliance Industries Ltd.s Jio Platforms unit, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. General Atlantic, the U.S. investment firm that helped fund Airbnb Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc., is discussing a potential investment of about $850 million to $950 million in Jio Platforms, the people said. The deal could be completed as soon as this month, though no agreement has been finalized and plans may change, the people said. Any new investment into Jio Platforms will add to the $8 billion deal run that Ambani has sealed in recent weeks. Facebook Inc. in April agreed to pay $5.7 billion for a 10% stake in the digital unit, while Silver Lake Partners and Vista Equity Partners last week said they would invest about $2.25 billion in total. Raed more: Vista Stake Caps $8 Billion Deal Run for Asias Richest Man (1) Investors are betting on Jios access to Indias huge consumer market, and its potential to shake up traditional industries in the country -- from retail to education and payments -- with its technology. India is the only major open Internet market where foreign technology giants such as Amazon.com.Inc., Walmart Inc. and Googles parent Alphabet Inc. can compete for market share. The string of investments from technology giants and private equity firms will go toward slashing debt at Reliance Industries, which is controlled by Ambani. The outside money also helps set a valuation for Jio, which until recently has been largely owned by the billionaires conglomerate. Representatives for Reliance Industries and Saudis Public Investment Fund didnt respond to requests for comment, while General Atlantic declined to comment. Story continues Shares of Reliance Industries rose as much as 3.4% and touched their highest level since Dec. 20 on Monday in Mumbai. (Updates to add Reliance share price in the last paragraph.) For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Don Dirren is a licensed financial advisor at the Bergen Financial Group in Arizona. He has owned and operated two brokerage firms and has been advising individuals for more than three decades, but it is much more than just a job to him. Don Dirren truly loves working with his clients to help them achieve financial peace of mind and protect their wealth. This passion drives his daily life. As a very experienced financial advisor, Don Dirren puts a lot of emphasis on planning for retirement. He makes one very important point that everyone should heed: Life teaches us to expect the unexpected. The best thing you can do is prepare for it. If you do not, you can expect unstable golden years and a lack of enjoyment. You will likely also have nothing left to pass on. Instead, Don Dirren advises that you start your retirement planning as soon as possible. When working with his clients to plan for the future, Don Dirren suggests a multi-focus plan to retirement in order to prevent as many surprises as possible. Some of the most important steps he suggests are: Plan for social security and minimize social security taxes- The first step Don Dirren points out in minimizing social security taxes is to stay below the taxable threshold, which is currently $26,000 for an individual and $32,000 for a married couple. He also suggests saving in a Roth IRA and managing your retirement income well. And, of course, hire a financial advisor to help you through the process if there is anything you do not understand. Create and follow an income and a risk plan- A big step in any planning is actually creating and following the plan. You should create an income plan that helps you understand where your money is coming from, where it is going, and so on. Additionally, you need to consider any potential risks that you might face in retirement. You first want to try to avoid these risks completely, if at all possible. If not, Don Dirren says to make the necessary preparations to keep them from ruining your retirement. Story continues Face long term care costs with life insurance products- No one wants to face their own immortality. Not preparing for it does not change the inevitable. Instead of paying out-of-pocket for the care you might need in later years, Don Dirren says to consider life insurance products with long term care coverage. Planning for retirement is an important step to take as soon as you can, and having someone on your team that has your back can maximize your chances of success. Consider having a financial advisor on your side that will take the time to understand your goals, make an effective plan to get there, and walk with you along the way. For many, Don Dirren has been this partner. He goes farther than just advising his clients, though. He aims to educate them in the process. Don Dirren is well known for breaking down complex processes with real-world situations, making it easier for his clients to understand. He is the type of partner you want on your financial team. CONTACT: Caroline Hunter Web Presence, LLC +1 7865519491 SOURCE: Web Presence, LLC View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/589324/Don-Dirren-Talks-Retirement-Planning-Why-Its-So-Important-and-How-to-Create-an-Effective-Plan Schools in Beijing today have unveiled a trial of temperature-monitoring bracelets that alert an app if a student has a fever. The new devices have been introduced in the country's capital city amid fears that the reopening of schools could trigger a new wave of coronavirus infections. It comes as Beijing has welcomed back more than 80,000 pupils in their final year of middle school on Monday. Schools in Beijing today have unveiled a trial of temperature-monitoring bracelets that alert an app if a student has a fever. Pictured, a student in Beijing wearing the new device The new devices have been introduced in the country's capital city amid fears that the reopening of schools could trigger a new wave of coronavirus infections. The bands provide real-time temperature data that can be monitored by schools and parents via an app The bracelets were rolled out on Monday in five Beijing districts for students in year nine and year 12, as well as teaching staff who had returned to work. The bands provide real-time temperature data that can be monitored by schools and parents via an app. 'The bracelet is similar to a normal fitness tracker. We recommend that students wear them 24 hours a day,' one unnamed teacher told the Beijing Daily. If a student's temperature rises above 37.2 Celsius degrees, the bracelet will prompt their teacher to alert the police. The pupils' temperatures will be monitored by designated teaching staff so that the final year students can focus on preparing for their exams. Over the past few weeks, a wave of schools and university have gradually reopened across China with extra health and safety measures as the country begins the transition back into normal life. Students in their final year of junior high started classes on Monday in Beijing Over the past few weeks, a wave of schools and university have gradually reopened across China with extra health and safety measures as the country begins the transition back into normal life. Pictured, a student arrives at a middle school in Beijing today Over the past few weeks, a wave of schools and university have gradually reopened across China with extra health and safety measures as the country begins the transition back into normal life. Final-year high school students returned to class in China's capital at the end of April after closing for three months during the coronavirus outbreak. From April 30 to May 8, initial tests of the smart temperature-monitoring technology took place in 18 senior high schools in the city's Fengtai District. Pictures released by Beijng's Fengtai district officials today showed a student wearing the watch-like bracelet at a local school. The other schools designated for the trial have followed suit and given out the devices to their students today. Daily temperature monitoring, compulsory mask-wearing and social-distancing policies have become the new normal at schools across China, as officials try to contain the epidemic domestically. If a student's temperature rises above 37.2 Celsius degrees, the bracelet will prompt their teacher to alert the police. Students wearing protective face masks leave a middle school on their first day after resuming classes today Beijing has welcomed back more than 80,000 pupils in their final year of middle school on Monday. A group of students are seen today chatting outside a middle school in Beijing Some provinces have taken extra vigilant back-to-school measures. China's southern province of Guangdong required all 167,000 of the first batch of returning high school students and 30,000 teachers to undergo nucleic acid testing in late April. China has largely contained the outbreak as it declares most areas in the nation are now 'low-risk', but the country remains on edge for a second wave of infections. A new cluster outbreak reappeared over the weekend in Wuhan, while the northeastern city of Shulan was placed under lockdown Sunday after another local nest of infections emerged. China has largely contained the outbreak as it declares most areas in the nation are now 'low-risk', but the country remains on edge for a second wave of infections. A security guard directs a student near a sign which reads 'Waiting Zone for Students' on the first day of the reopening of school at a middle school in Beijing The country where the pandemic began has adopted a wide range of technology to trace its population's exposure to the deadly disease. A group of students are pictured on Monday leaving a middle school after their first day back to the campus The country where the pandemic began has adopted a wide range of technology to trace its population's exposure to the deadly disease. China has deployed thermal cameras in public areas and most places require people to show an app with green, yellow and red ratings that determine a person's infection risk based on travel history. Sriram Venkatavaradan and Ramya Subramaniam By To save companies from the insolvency process due to Covid-19, the Centre has proposed an Ordinance suspending Sections 7, 9 and 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) for a minimum period of six months. This was preceded by increasing the insolvency initiation threshold to Rs 1 crore. The primary objective is to protect stressed MSMEs for defaults likely to occur as a result of Covid-19. These measures clearly show that the Centre has accorded primacy to the existence of companies over the resolution of their stressed assets. This measure has been opposed as a move that defeats the object of IBC, especially Section 10, which permits a company to self-initiate the insolvency process that could help in immediate restructuring. Resolution process under the IBC: While these apprehensions may be justified, it may not hold good when the IBC process is viewed from a vantage point. The resolution process starts upon admission of an application under Section 7, 9 or 10 when the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of a corporate debtor is initiated. The Resolution Professional (RP) then takes control of the corporate debtor, including its assets. Subsequently, the RP invites claims from creditorsfinancial operational or otherwiseand constitutes the committee of creditors. Following this, the RP prepares an information memorandum and floats an expression of interest, which lays down the criteria for potential resolution applicants to take over the corporate debtor. The resolution plans formulated by the applicants are finalised by the Committee of Creditors (CoC). Upon approval by the CoC and the Adjudicating Authority, the successful resolution applicant takes over the corporate debtor. In the event the resolution plan is not approved or the resolution process is not concluded within the maximum period of 270 days, the corporate debtor goes into liquidation. However, even under liquidation, the Honble NCLAT in Y Shivaram Prasad v S Dhanapal & Ors, Company Appeal (AT) Insolvency No. 224 of 2018 remarked that efforts must be made to keep the company as a going concern. In the event of failure, the liquidator has to try and sell the business of the corporate debtor as a going concern. The above shows that the resolution process necessarily involves a third party who pumps in funds to keep the company afloat. This presupposes that there are able and financially healthy companies, with a lucrative business, willing to take over the corporate debtor.In light of the present pandemic, it is difficult for corporates who would come forth with a resolution plan. With every company facing a financial crunch, and the demand in the market at an all-time low, corporations are looking to downsize their operations. The acquisition may not be on the cards for these corporations at any time in the near future. Therefore, if these provisions are not suspended, it will be difficult to achieve any resolution process as there will be no resolution applicants, thus inevitably leading the company into liquidation.The numbers so far: According to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of Indias quarterly newsletter for the months October to December, 2019, the financial creditors claims under the resolution plans were significantly low when compared to their admitted claims. Financial creditors were realising sums that were closer to the liquidation value of the corporate debtors as opposed to their admitted claims. To quote an example, in the CIRP of Ambey Iron Private Limited, the admitted claims of the financial creditors were Rs 218.55 crore and the liquidation value of the company was Rs 5.63 crore. The amounts realised by the financial creditors under the resolution plan were Rs 11.3 crore. Therefore, statistics from the previous quarter shows that in light of the unprecedented Covid-19 situation, the realisable value would plummet further since no resolution applicant would be in a position to infuse funds to take over a stressed corporate debtor. Existence of company v. resolution of assets: CIRP processes that commenced prior to the pandemic and are currently at the stage of resolution are still hanging by a thread since the valuation of the companies would have dipped and bidders might reconsider before submitting their proposals. Hence, there is no guarantee that the corporate debtors would face a better resolution process if the provisions are allowed to be invoked. Suspension of the aforesaid provisions of IBC would not be detrimental to creditors. On the contrary, the suspension will provide sufficient time and opportunity for the companies to recoup the losses incurred during the pandemic, thereby increasing their realisable value. Consequently, creditors will have a better realisable value. The breather provided would further have a positive effect on the performance of companies across various sectors. The proposed suspension, although temporary, does provide the intended succour to ensure the existence of companies affected by the Covid instigated financial slump. The way forward, a proposal: It is necessary to ensure that no undue advantage of the proposed resolution is taken. Attempts to defeat the rights of creditors may be further protected by strengthening existing provisions under Sections 43, 44 and 66 by prescribing stricter penalties for any director/promoter indulging in preferential/fraudulent transactions. While the move to suspend invocation of IBC provisions is certainly a step in the right direction, it is also crucial to ensure that the Ordinance is coupled with other economic policies that boost the companies performance and provide greater liquidity to the firms. (Sriram Venkatavaradan and Ramya Subramaniam are advocates practising at the Madras High Court) (Email address:sriramv21@gmail.com) Toby Antony By Express News Service KOCHI: As security concerns are looming over the use of conferencing app Zoom while working from home, cyber experts suggest that its responsible use can negate data leak threat to a great extent. Experts point out that Zoom accounts are vulnerable when personal IDs and contents are shared through other social media platforms. Recently, the Government of India had also cautioned about security issues related to the use of Zoom. The matter was taken up after there were reports of accounts being hacked. Nandakishore Hari, CEO of Technisanct, a cybersecurity research agency, said some of the security breaches took place due to mismanagement of credentials by the users. CLICK HERE FOR COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES By cautiously handling such apps, data breach can be negated to a certain extent. Zoom is meant for private meetings but several people use it for webcasting as well. Similarly, when Zoom became popular during the lockdown, several users were found posting Zoom meeting IDs and passwords through Facebook and Twitter. Such acts make the account vulnerable to cyber attacks and hacks, he said. The users are advised not to use their personal meeting ID for conferencing. Instead, they should use new meeting IDs for each conference which can be generated randomly for a new meeting. Similarly, the meeting should be locked once it commences so that no other person can log in even if the meeting credentials are shared by any participant. Enabling the waiting room facility can help hosts and co-hosts to ensure their participation. Do not receive any files from participants during the call using the file-sharing facility. ALSO READ: 60 children 'horrified' as hacker streams sex abuse video during Zoom call Also, disable screen sharing and mute all the participants at the beginning. Similarly, update the app regularly to ensure new safety features prevent data breaches. An official with Kerala Polices Cyberdome in Thiruvananthapuram said that there are concerns regarding the encryption in Zoom. There were reports that primary security concern about Zoom is that it lacks end-to-end encryption. It used web-based encryption and did not have device-based encryption. Zoom authorities have agreed to address the issue after several agencies raised concern about the app. Zoom had admitted that during the surge of traffic, it routed some of the calls through Chinese servers. They admitted the mistake and promised to rectify it. Some cyber agencies have raised concerns about Zoom since 2017, he said. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Switzerland stock market ended modestly higher after a cautious session on Monday. Amid worries about a possible second-wave of coronavirus infections following reopening of businesses in several countries, investors appeared reluctant to make significant moves. The benchmark SMI ended up 24.36 points, or 0.25%, at 9,689.71. The index, which advanced to 9,726.24 in early trades, slipped to 9,590.74 around mid afternoon before recovering to close modesty higher. Credit Suisse and Swatch Group lost 2.4% and 2.3%, respectively. LafargeHolcim, UBS Group and Adecco ended lower by 1.3 to 1.4%. LafargeHolcim said that a deal to sell its Philippines business has failed after the country's competition authority did not give approval in time. The deal was valued at $2.15 billion. Swiss Life Holding, SGS, Swiss Re and Swisscom shed 0.5 to 0.9%. Novartis gained 1.3%. According to reports, the company is looking to sell its Austria-based antibiotics business - Der Standard. Meanwhile, Chinese drug regulators have reportedly approved the company's Mayzen to treat relapsing multiple sclerosis in adults. Roche Holding shares moved up by about 1%. Roche Holding announced that it has hired a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor as the new head of its U.S. research arm that played a major part in bringing out some of the company's best-selling medicines of the last few decades. Lonza Group ended up 0.67% and Nestle advanced 0.55%. In the midcap section, AMS, Dufry and PSP Swiss Property lost 3 to 4%. Flughafen Zurich ended lower by 2.5%, while Baloise Holding and Swiss Prime Site both lost 1.85%. Reports from China and South Korea about new cases of the virus infection, and data from Germany's public health agency that indicated coronavirus cases in the country are once again on the rise following recent steps to ease lockdown measures have added to concerns about the potential risks involved in hasty reopening of businesses. Wuhan has reported its first cluster of new Covid-19 cases since lifting its lockdown measures, sparking fears that easing restrictions could give way to a second wave of infections. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) on Monday announced top management changes with appointments of Muthu Maruthachalam C as Vice President of Supplier Management and Logistics Trucks Asia India and Karl-Alexander Seidel as Head of Daimler Buses India. While Maruthachalam C replaced Ralf Mungenast as VP of Supplier Management & Logistics Trucks Asia India as of April 1, 2020, Seidel comes in place of Thomas Fricke as Head of Daimler Buses India from May 1, DICV said in a statement. Both Mungenast and Fricke returned to Germany to take on new roles at Daimler, it added. Commenting on the appointments, DICV Managing Director & CEO Satyakam Arya said, "Muthu Maruthachalam C and Karl-Alexander Seidel are highly capable leaders with a wealth of experience in the automotive industry. Their competence will help DICV grow its business both here and abroad." Maruthachalam C joined DICV in the project phase in 2009, where he specialised in project management for Heavy Duty Trucks and helped bring the trucks to market launch in 2012. In 2015, he moved to another Daimler entity, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (Japan), where he oversaw Product Reliability and Warranty for FUSO trucks and buses globally. Seidel also worked as part of the team that established DICV in 2008 and 2009 before re-joining DICV in 2014, where he was initially responsible for powertrain supplier management. Since then he has headed various functions, including logistics, supplier and quality management and operations at Daimler Buses in India, the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WASHINGTON A majority of Americans disapprove of protests against restrictions aimed at preventing the spread the coronavirus, according to a new poll that also finds the still-expansive support for such limits including restaurant closures and stay-at-home orders has dipped in recent weeks. The new survey from the University of Chicago Divinity School and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 55% of Americans disapprove of the protests that have popped up in some states as some Americans begin chafing at public health measures that have decimated the global economy. Thirty-one percent approve of the demonstrations. Texas hair salon owner Shelley Luther was sentenced to seven days in jail last week after refusing to apologize to a judge for opening her salon in defiance of Republican Gov. Greg Abbotts emergency orders. She was released less than 48 hours later after Abbott removed jail as a punishment for defying virus safeguards. In Michigan, thousands of people rallied outside the state capitol last month to protest Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmers restrictions. Hundreds returned two weeks later, some of them armed, to demonstrate inside the statehouse. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to disapprove of such protests, 67% to 51%. Thirty-two percent of Republicans and 25% of Democrats say they approve. Only 8% said public protests, marches and rallies should be unrestricted during the outbreak, while 41% think they should be allowed only with restrictions and 50% think they should not be allowed at all. Dee Miner, 71, of Fremont, California, said she disapproves of the protests, but also feels people have the right to express themselves. We have to have the right to protest, but I have to tell you, seeing those people with those weapons at the statehouse in Michigan was pretty disturbing, said Miner, a Democrat and retired dental office manager. I felt sorry for the legislators having to work with that angry mob in the lobby. It seemed like it was just pure intimidation. Adam Blann, 37, of Carson City, Nevada, said he does not personally favor the protests, but does not believe they should be restricted. Its a tough situation, said Blann, a Republican-leaning voter who works in the natural gas industry. But I also think that one of the reasons we live in a great country is that we have freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom to protest. As some states have begun to slowly ease restrictions on businesses and individuals, the poll finds that 71% of Americans favor requiring people to stay in their homes except for essential errands. Support for such measures is down slightly from 80% two weeks earlier. Similarly, 67% of Americans now say they favor requiring bars and restaurants to close, down from 76% in the earlier poll. The poll also suggested dipping support for requiring Americans to limit gatherings to 10 people or fewer (from 82% to 75%) and requiring postponement of nonessential medical care (from 68% to 57%). Mark Roberts, a retired transportation worker in Abingdon, Virginia, said hes going about his business despite Democratic Gov. Ralph Northams stay-at-home order. Roberts said people in his southwestern Virginia community are driving the short distance into neighboring Bristol, Tennessee, to patronize restaurants open there. People from Virginia have been crossing over into Tennessee to eat and just get out, you know, and do things, and Virginia is losing out on it, said the 61-year-old Republican. Among Republicans like Roberts, the share supporting stay-at-home orders dipped from 70% in late April to 57% in the latest poll. The share supporting other measures also dropped, from 75% to 63% for limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people and from 70% to 53% for closing bars and restaurants. Among Democrats, 84% favor stay-at-home orders, down slightly from 91% in the earlier poll. Eighty-seven percent of Democrats favor barring gatherings of more than 10 people, and 79% support bar and restaurant closures, about the same as in the previous poll. Blann, the Nevada resident, said he didnt mind officials imposing certain restrictions for a short period of time, but fears the potential of authorities being unwilling to roll back some of their newly declared powers. I do think the government should respond to allowing people to make more of their own personal choices without legal repercussions, said Blann, who said he doesnt expect to find himself in a crowded bar anytime soon, but is looking forward to being able to go back to church. The poll found most Americans in favor of some kind of restriction on in-person worship, with 42% saying that should be allowed with restriction and 48% that it should not be allowed at all. Marilou Grainger, a retired nurse anesthetist and registered Republican in Washington, Missouri, said shes torn between the need to take precautions against the virus while also allowing people to make their own decisions. I think we should still be under a bit of quarantine, especially people who are 60 or older, said Grainger, 67, who believes the jury is still out on whether lockdowns and stay-at-home orders have been effective in stemming the spread of the virus. Did we make a mistake? Did we totally annihilate our economy, or did we actually save some people issuing this quarantine? she asked. ___ Chase reported from Dover, Delaware. ___ The AP-NORC poll of 1,002 adults was conducted April 30-May 4 using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points. ___ Online: AP-NORC Center: http://www.apnorc.org/ Supporting governments fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, a Parliamentary Hopeful of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has generously presented a large consignment of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to health facilities in the Afigya Sekyere South District of the Ashanti Region. Barima Sarpong presented Veronica buckets, hand sanitizers, nose masks and tissues to 10 health facilities including the Agona hospital, Jamasi, Asaaman, Boanim and Bedomase health centers. Public places such as lorry stations and the Zongo community in Agona Township also benefitted from the package. He pledged to procure additional PPE for distribution to other health facilities, saying, My contribution is to augment governments pragmatic manner of handling the pandemic. Mrs. Vida Nkansah, a Physician Assistant in charge of the Jamasi health center, commended Barima Sarpong for his generosity. She appealed to other philanthropists and organizations to support the Jamasi health center with enough PPE to inspire the staff. To adhere to the partys decision to protect incumbent female Members of Parliament in the Ashanti Region, Barima Sarpong rescinded his decision to contest the upcoming NPP Parliamentary primary in the Afigya Sekyere East constituency. He has since been working with NPP leadership to boost the partys electoral fortune at the 2020 general elections in the constituency. Source: peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video 1. Yes. Too many kids are staying home. They need a virtual learning option to keep up. 2. Yes. Teachers are out sick and subs cant handle the load. Online learning is needed. 3. No. Its too late in the school year to make a wholesale switch in teaching platforms. 4.No. Many parents arent in a position to stay home while their kids learn virtually. 5. Unsure. It may seem like a good idea from a health standpoint, but it has shortcomings. Vote View Results Packages should be left for 72 hours before opening them to reduce the risk of infection from coronavirus, the British public have been warned. The advice comes from a website that has proven successful in reducing infection transmission for seasonal and swine flu which has been adapted. Other suggestions include regularly disinfecting surfaces in the home, and instilling better hygiene measures between household measures. Researchers from Bath, Bristol and Southampton Universities hope the repurposed Germ Defence website will help change people's behaviours and cut infections. Packages should be left for 72 hours before opening them to reduce the risk of infection from coronavirus, the British public have been warned (pictured, Covid-era delivery) The site draws on behaviour change techniques to provide a plan for users to reduce their exposure of Covid-19 and viral load within the home. This is particularly important to reduce infection when one member of a household has left and returned again, the researchers say. Dr Ben Ainsworth, from the department of psychology at the University of Bath, said: 'We know that Covid-19 is caught in the same way as other viruses. 'Germ Defence provides advice on how you can protect yourself using the same methods that have worked for other viruses. 'It only takes around 10 minutes to go through the information - but it could help protect you from coronavirus, as well as offer you a lifetime of fewer colds and flu. Researchers from Bath, Bristol and Southampton Universities hope the repurposed Germ Defence website will help change people's behaviours and cut infections (file photo) The team behind Germ Defence are working closely with Public Health England, and the website is being translated into more than 20 languages (pictured, Covid-era delivery) 'It may take a bit of practice for you and your family to use the ideas on Germ Defence. But once you have learnt them, they will become habits that you'll do easily which will protect you from becoming ill.' A previous study of 20,000 people found users of Germ Defence were less likely to catch flu or other viruses, and otherwise suffered shorter illnesses. The team behind Germ Defence are working closely with Public Health England, and the website is being translated into more than 20 languages. Their study published in the BMJ last week argued that since most people with Covid-19 are cared for at home, it is important to limit the amount of virus they come into contact with by reducing viral load. Paul Little, professor of primary care research at the University of Southampton, said: 'We developed and trialled Germ Defence so that it could be widely disseminated both during normal winter months and also during a major pandemic. 'We showed clear reductions in both transmission of infections to other family members and also in transmission from other family members. 'It should help reduce both the number of family members who become ill with Covid-19, and also reduce the severity of illness if family members do become ill.' The website can be found at http://germdefence.org/. VANCOUVER - Provinces hit hardest by COVID-19 have ramped up testing capacity as they plan to reopen their economies, but infectious disease experts say there will be recurring outbreaks without more robust testing, contact tracing and quarantine services across the country. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (618 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A health-care worker swabs a man at a walk-in COVID-19 test clinic in Montreal North, Sunday, May 10, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Canada and around the world. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes VANCOUVER - Provinces hit hardest by COVID-19 have ramped up testing capacity as they plan to reopen their economies, but infectious disease experts say there will be recurring outbreaks without more robust testing, contact tracing and quarantine services across the country. A Canadian Press analysis of provincial data over a seven-week period starting in late March shows the provinces with the highest number of infections British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia each faced their own unique epidemics, with different positivity and mortality rates based on the number of confirmed cases. Those provinces also took different approaches to determining who to test and when, decisions that were at least partly influenced by their ability to scale up lab capacity as well as the resources some had available to do tests. "The rationing has become less prominent each week as availability of testing capacity has increased," said Dr. Peter Phillips, a clinical professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of British Columbia. "Testing is not easy access like buying chewing gum across the country, but it's a lot more accessible." Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, has said reopening schools and businesses relies on testing and the ability of public health departments to trace the contacts of positive cases. Physical distancing also remains critical since people who aren't experiencing symptoms can spread the disease. More than a million people in Canada have been tested for the novel coronavirus, with over 61,000 positive tests as of Friday. Alberta has been a testing front-runner with 3,950 tests completed per 100,000 people between Jan. 23, when testing began, and last Thursday. More than 174,300 tests in total were completed in the province to that point. That province's cumulative per capita testing is bested only by the Northwest Territories. The territory of just under 45,000 had completed the equivalent of 4,184 per 100,000 residents as of Thursday. Ontario had completed more than 397,000 tests at the same point, which amounts to just under 2,700 tests per 100,000 people. However, in the last week Ontario surpassed Alberta's number of daily tests per capita. Alberta has still completed nearly six times the number of tests for every person who has died due to COVID-19 compared with Ontario a measure Phillips said is useful to assess the extent of testing relative to the true size of the epidemic. Nova Scotia had completed 3,462 tests per 100,000 residents as of Thursday, Quebec had done 3,173, and B.C. had conducted 2,054 tests per 100,000 people. As of Friday, Quebec had 36,150 cases of COVID-19, Ontario 19,598, Alberta 6,098, B.C. 2,315 and Nova Scotia had 1,008. Phillips said Quebec's high proportion of positive tests is an indicator that significant transmission is still happening. As of Thursday, more than 13 per cent of the nearly 271,000 tests completed in Quebec yielded positive results. By comparison, as many as one in four tests come back positive in the United Kingdom and New York, a proportion Phillips called "very disturbing." Countries that are bringing the epidemic under control are seeing "very few of their tests coming back positive," he said. As public health restrictions are eased, Phillips said the provinces and territories must maintain a low threshold for testing in order to detect and isolate COVID-19 cases quickly and avoid large outbreaks and exponential growth in cases during a second wave. To stop transmission, provinces will need to test "very liberally" to identify cases, and not just the symptomatic ones, he said. Testing also goes hand in hand with contact tracing, which involves isolating and questioning each person who tests positive about any behaviour that might have caused the virus to spread. "The contacts should be tested because that may identify other people, which will then trigger more contact tracing on those people who are testing positive," said Phillips, adding that not all the provinces with a higher number of cases have taken that approach. The extent to which people who are directed to self-isolate or enter quarantine are being monitored across Canada is also unclear, he said. Other jurisdictions that are closer to the origin point of the virus in Wuhan, China, such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, have done better than Canada when it comes to keeping COVID-19 cases and fatalities at bay, said Phillips. He attributes that success in no small part to contact tracing enhanced by mobile apps, which have sparked a privacy debate in Canada. Phillips said COVID-19 moves too fast for conventional public health measures alone and privacy is not the only concern. "What about the liberties of uninfected Canadians who are at substantial risk of dying here?" he asked. Phillips also expressed concern that public health departments are underfunded and overloaded, especially in Ontario and Quebec, which are still reporting hundreds of new cases each day. "COVID-19 is the biggest thing this country has had since 1918," said Phillips, referring to the flu pandemic that killed at least 50 million people around the world. "And for strange reasons, the public health department, which is our main defence, doesn't seem to be getting a big funding rescue package." A spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada said it's slated to receive $230 million of the $1.1 billion Ottawa has committed to public health measures in the wake of COVID-19. The federal government also allocated $500 million to support the provinces and territories, but the Finance Department did not respond to questions about how much money is going to contact tracing and quarantine services. The chief of the microbiology division of the Nova Scotia Health Authority agreed with Phillips, saying public health is one of the first places provinces have looked to cut spending over time. "It takes a lot of human resources to do good old contact tracing," said Dr. Todd Hatchette. "So if you don't fund it appropriately, you're not going to get the biggest bang for your buck." Here is a look at the approach to testing in the five provinces with the most cases of COVID-19: British Columbia Although B.C.'s handling of the epidemic has garnered praise, the province has consistently been testing at a lower level than the other four hardest-hit provinces. The Ministry of Health said in an email that labs have the capacity to complete around 6,500 tests per day, and 82 collection sites across B.C. are well stocked with supplies. But last week, daily tests completed in B.C. ranged from around 1,800 to 2,800. B.C. initially began testing symptomatic people who had travelled to areas of China affected by the novel coronavirus. In mid-March, the province expanded testing to include health-care workers, residents of long-term care facilities and hospital patients with respiratory symptoms, as well as people connected to a cluster or outbreak. Starting April 8, clinicians could order COVID-19 tests, but daily testing didn't increase until later in the month, when provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced updated guidelines that emphasized testing anyone with new respiratory or COVID-19 compatible symptoms, however mild. There were more than 15,230 tests completed in B.C. between April 4 and 17, and just under 29,630 in the following two weeks between April 18 and May 1. The latest guidelines also prioritize testing for residents of remote or Indigenous communities, people living in congregate settings, such as work camps, correctional facilities and shelters, as well as people who are homeless and essential service providers. Henry said there's no specific number of tests that must be done each day, but it's important to test the right people. Phillips agreed there isn't a magic number, but he said there's increasing evidence that people who came into contact with a case should be tested even if they are not experiencing symptoms and regardless of whether they are connected to an outbreak. "I suspect there could be more testing in B.C., for sure, and I think as we move towards opening up commerce and getting back to something closer to normal, the testing threshold should be kept low, so that we're not missing any transmission in the community." The B.C. Centre for Disease Control says people who aren't experiencing symptoms don't require a test, even if they are a contact of a confirmed case or a returning traveller who is self-isolating at home. Phillips said declining admissions to intensive care due to COVID-19 indicate the size of the epidemic in B.C. is smaller than it was several weeks ago. Henry said B.C. plans to ramp up testing heading into the fall, when there will be more respiratory illness circulating, including influenza. Alberta Alberta has boasted of having one of the highest testing capacities globally and says further expansions are key to its economic relaunch strategy. "Our decisions about opening businesses and resuming activities require us to have the most accurate and detailed information possible," Health Minister Tyler Shandro said recently. Dr. Ameeta Singh, an infectious diseases specialist at Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital, said "if things continue as they are, we should be good to go." Singh, also a University of Alberta clinical professor, suggested the province's centralized health and laboratory systems versus patchwork regional authorities elsewhere could be one reason for its high testing rate. Alberta has the capacity to complete up to 7,000 tests a day but has recently been averaging under 4,000. The province aims to expand its daily capacity to 16,000 by June. Until mid-April, testing was limited to certain vulnerable groups or symptomatic people with recent travel history or contact with confirmed cases. Since then, anyone with a cough, shortness of breath, runny nose or fever could get a test. And last week, the list of symptoms was expanded to include less common ones, such as loss of taste and smell, and digestive problems. The number of tests surged from about 28,000 completed between April 4 and 17 to nearly 61,000 between April 18 and May 1. "The criteria that have been established in this province are very reasonable and based on good scientific principles," said Singh. Chief medical officer Deena Hinshaw said the province doesn't intend to constantly max out its testing capacity but aims to have slack in the system for potential surges. She said fewer tests are being done because transmission rates are lower with everyone in lockdown. But as the economy reopens, all types of viruses will start spreading again. "The actual number of people that we test, that is reflective of who is feeling ill, who are in outbreak settings, those who are close contacts. But it's not reflective of the success or failure of our testing program," Hinshaw said Thursday. "The success of our testing program is that we can respond to demand, we can respond to surges and that's what we're making sure we have put in place." Alberta Health says the province will look at whether it needs to further expand its testing criteria as the economy reopens in stages. Ontario Canada's most populous province initially lagged behind the rest of the country when it came to testing for COVID-19. It faced criticism for having a low per capita testing rate amid the country's second-most severe outbreak of the novel coronavirus, next to Quebec. At first, Ontario didn't have enough assessment centres, then it lacked the lab capacity to process the tests, then it ran low on key chemicals needed for testing. It managed to clear a backlog of tests that at one point reached 11,000. By early April, Ontario was conducting fewer than 4,000 tests per day, although it had the capacity to complete 13,000. Shortly afterwards, public health officials issued new guidelines, expanding testing for front-line health workers and long-term care residents. A spokesman for the Health Ministry said updated guidelines for testing have lowered the threshold to ensure more people can be tested, adding that clinicians are also instructed to use their discretion when referring people for testing. Recently, the province has been conducting the most tests per day among the hardest-hit provinces in terms of both volume and per capita. But in mid-April, Ontario changed how it compiles testing data. It switched from reporting the number of people tested to the number of tests performed, making it difficult to get a clear picture of the shift in the scope of testing. Dr. Camille Lemieux, chief of family medicine at the University Health Network in Toronto, said that change in reporting combined with co-ordination issues between labs and ongoing confusion in community assessment centres over who gets sent for testing means officials may not have the best information on the status of the epidemic at this pivotal time. Bottlenecks still occur at some labs while others could be processing the tests, and the turnaround time for test results varies between labs, which means "the way we're counting is not truly in real time the way it should be," she said. "It's really important to know what accurate numbers are as we're looking to reopen and scale back up," said Lemieux, who is also the medical lead for Toronto Western Hospital's assessment centre. As Ontario gradually loosens its COVID-19 restrictions, the province should take a two-pronged approach to limit the risks of a devastating second wave of infection, she said. The first prong consists of broader and more consistent testing of health-care workers, regardless of whether they show symptoms. The other is expanded community testing that includes "anybody who wants or needs to be tested," even if they show minimal or no symptoms, as well as randomized testing, said Lemieux. That will help identify so-called hotspots of the virus, she said, comparing them to the smoldering embers that remain after a house fire has been put out. If those hotspots aren't identified, they're "going to flare right back up again," she said. A spokesperson for the Health Ministry said Ontario has created a network of public, hospital and private labs that work together to ensure tests are processed efficiently. "This includes redirecting the overflow of specimens from one lab to another as well as monitoring and managing limited testing supplies such as reagents," Christian Hasse said in an email. "There has also been a significant investment made in new machines and new technologies in both the hospitals and public health laboratories. The labs have never worked together as a system before, so this is also an opportunity for us to build a better provincewide approach to COVID-19 testing." Quebec Quebec is the epicentre of the COVID-19 epidemic in Canada and trails Alberta, Nova Scotia and Ontario in terms per capita tests completed each day, though it has tested more people per capita cumulatively than Ontario and B.C. Nima Machouf, an epidemiologist and professor at the University of Montreal's school of public health, said much of Quebec's testing data reflects the shortages of testing materials and capacity the province experienced. "Quebec's testing strategy was guided by a lack of tests," she said in a phone interview. "The ideal would be to test massively since the beginning, but we didn't have the tests in hand to do it." As a result, she said the province kept its testing criteria narrow, focusing on segments of the population where there were likely to be more positive cases: symptomatic travellers at first, then their contacts who fell ill in the community, then health workers and people associated with long-term care homes. The actual rate of community infection in Quebec is likely much higher than the tests reflect, said Machouf, given that infected people can be asymptomatic. "Everywhere, not only in Quebec, but in Canada and around the world, it's only the tip of the iceberg we're seeing." On Friday, the number of deaths in Canada was highest in Quebec at 2,725, with the majority occurring in seniors' residences or long-term care homes. While hospitalizations and death rates are often cited as the most reliable way to assess and compare outbreaks across different jurisdictions, Machouf said they also reflect which segment of the population is getting ill. "Given that we have more and more elderly people infected, that will result in more hospitalizations and deaths." Machouf praised Quebec's method of diagnosing cases and deaths through "epidemiological link," meaning they are counted as COVID-19 cases in the absence of testing if the person showed symptoms after known exposure to the virus. She said the strategy, which saves tests for those who need them, means that Quebec's declared death rates are likely fairly accurate, since they include patients who never got a test but who died likely after contracting the virus. The Quebec government has said it will massively ramp up testing, promising 14,000 to 15,000 per day as the province gradually allows businesses and schools to reopen. Machouf said it will be "very important" that this strategy includes testing not only people with symptoms, but also their contacts and random members of the population to find out how many people might be spreading the virus without showing symptoms. She said the true extent of the outbreak will likely only be known much later, once testing to determine how many people have developed antibodies, which indicates they've recovered from COVID-19, becomes more widespread. Phillips said antibody testing is easier and less expensive to scale up than the methods used to test for active COVID-19 infections, and it will be valuable to assess which groups of people were most affected by the disease. But, he said, the vast majority of people are still susceptible to future waves of the virus because 50 to 70 per cent of the population must be infected to attain so-called herd immunity. "The idea of going to herd immunity without a vaccine, you know, it's a pipe dream." Nova Scotia Dr. Todd Hatchette of the Nova Scotia Health Authority said an "aggressive" approach to COVID-19 case management has been key to Nova Scotia's mitigation of the epidemic. All of the contacts of a person who is confirmed to have the disease are tested, whether they are symptomatic or not, said Hatchette, who also credited Nova Scotians for staying home to help stem the spread. The province just received equipment that would allow for between 2,500 and 3,000 tests to be completed each day, he said, though it's testing below capacity now that flu season is over and there are fewer people with symptoms compatible with COVID-19. There were 7,353 tests completed in Nova Scotia between March 21 and April 3, increasing to 10,912 between April 4 and April 17, and dropping back down to 9,730 in the last two weeks of April. The province continues to trail only the Northwest Territories and Alberta when it comes to the number of tests completed per capita so far, though its daily per capita test rate dropped below Ontario and Alberta last week. Like other provinces, Nova Scotia started out testing and contact tracing symptomatic people with recent travel histories, and then dropped the travel requirement and modified the list of symptoms that trigger testing, said Hatchette. "Other jurisdictions still (only) test symptomatic people. We did do more asymptomatic testing associated with known cases, whether that's known individual cases in the community or part of outbreak clusters. The testing has been aggressive." Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Hatchette said Nova Scotia's comparatively small population meant the vast majority of testing is concentrated in one lab, which is an advantage over more populous provinces. "This virus, nobody knew about it in December, so all of these tests had to be developed and validated and ... it's easier to do that in one location or a very small number of locations before sort of broadening out the testing." Hatchette said he has regular meetings with the Canadian Public Health Lab Network to discuss challenges and share ideas, and the group is "not afraid to share the lessons learned early on to make sure that we can help each other." How testing can support the relaxing of physical distancing in the coming months is a "hot topic of discussion" across Canada, he said, noting lab and swabbing capacity are still factors and it's impossible to test the entire population. "But if we have our surveillance programs in place so that we protect the most vulnerable and target the places where outbreaks occur more frequently, so hospitals, long-term care facilities (and) homeless populations, then hopefully that risk is lowered significantly so it doesn't translate to further community-based spread." With files form Paola Loriggio in Toronto, Morgan Lowrie in Montreal and Lauren Krugel in Calgary. Advertisement Millions of people took to the roads and rails around France on Monday as the country became the latest European nation to start easing its coronavirus lockdown. Traffic returned to the Champs Elysee in Paris as non-essential businesses including hairdressers were reopened and people were encouraged to return to work - provided they do not stray more than 60 miles from home. It did not take long for crowds to build up on the city's train and underground platforms, making social distancing all-but impossible and underlining the difficulties every country now faces in trying to find a 'new normal' while living alongside the virus. The Champs Elysee running through the centre of Paris was crowded with cars on Monday (left) after millions of people were allowed out of their homes as France begins to relax its coronavirus lockdown (pictured right, the street last week) Forte affluence dans le #RERB a Gare du Nord en direction du sud. Quais et rames bondes de voyageurs. Distanciation impossible. #COVID19 #deconfinementjour1 pic.twitter.com/EdD4E4l0Fc Yahoo Actualites (@YahooActuFR) May 11, 2020 Despite restrictions on who can travel on public transport, rush-hour crowds were spotted on Paris's metro on Monday morning, amid fears that infection rates will begin to rise again Spain also began easing lockdown for around half of its 47million people today, with cafes, restaurants and hotels allowed to open with reduced capacity after more than 12 weeks of enforced closures. It comes as the country reported just 123 new deaths from the virus - its lowest total since March 18. Meanwhile Spain's case total jumped by 3,046, though officials said this only consisted of 373 'new' cases with the rest were made up of a backlog of data that suddenly flushed into the system. Belgium, Greece and Norway also started lifting restrictions on Monday, while Germany and Denmark moved ahead with plans to lift even more measures despite fears of a second wave of infections in Europe. Here is how European countries are attempting to find their way to a 'new normal'... FRANCE France activated 'phase two' of its virus response on Monday, moving to a two-tier system where lockdown measures are relaxed in regions where infection rates are low and tightened in hotspots. With the exception of 32 'red' departments - all concentrated in the north east of the country - the government allowed people to travel outside of their homes without a permit for the first time since March 15. Provided people do not stray more than 60 miles from their front door there are no restrictions on movement, though those using public transport during rush hour must have a letter from their boss explaining why they need to be there. Those needing to travel more than 60 miles must have a 'compelling reason' for doing so. All those travelling on French trains were required to wear masks from today or face a fine equivalent to 120. Pictured: Saint-Lazare train station in Paris French hairdresser Marc Mauny tends to his first customer during the re-opening of Marc Creations hair salon at midnight in Mayenne, France Traffic builds up on the A6 highway leading to Paris' Port d'Orleans this morning as France began to ease its lockdown Sports that allow for social distancing such a golf were allowed to resume from Monday, though team sports are not included and the country's football season has already been written off (pictured, golfers in Saint Aubin, near Paris) Golfers wear facemasks as they stand on a driving range during a practice session at The 'Bluegreen' Golf Course in Saint Aubin, south-west of Paris People will also be allowed to visit friends in their homes provided gatherings do not exceed a maximum of 10 people and social distancing is maintained. Meanwhile non-essential shops including hairdressers, florists, booksellers and clothing stores were also allowed to reopen and start admitting customers - provided safety precautions are taken. Face masks will be compulsory for those on public transport and some workers including those working with children. Schools will begin to reopen from Tuesday, following an induction day for teachers on Monday. France had reported 139,063 cases of coronavirus by Sunday afternoon - an increase of 209 on the previous day - in addition to 26,380 deaths, an increase of 70 in 24 hours. SPAIN Spain also activated a two-tier system on Monday, allowing around half the population to begin relaxing lockdown measures in area that are less at risk from the virus. New rules brought into effect including gyms and museums allowed to open with reduced capacity, while restaurants and cafes can reopen their outdoor seating areas. People will be allowed to socialise in groups of up to 10 and will be allowed outside without a permit, though will not be allowed to travel outside their home regions. Around half of Spain's population were allowed to relax their lockdown on Monday, with cafe's and restaurants allowed to open outdoor seating areas (pictured, people enjoy a coffee in Palma, Mallorca, on Monday) Hotels were also allowed to reopen with reduced capacity, but with Spaniards not allowed to travel outside their home regions many were facing the prospect of few customers (pictured, two men in a cafe in Guadalajara on Monday) An employee of a handicraft shop waits for customers in Seville after retail businesses were allowed to reopen with social distancing enforced in Spain Hotels are also being allowed to reopen, but with no international flights and limited travel around the country, many are facing grim business prospects. 'Unfortunately this year's business is lost already, it's going to be catastrophic,' said Seville's Dona Maria Hotel owner Manuel Dominguez. However - the capital Madrid, economic powerhouse of Barcelona, and major cities of Grenada, Malaga and Valencia all did not make the cut and will have to remain in full lockdown until the situation eases. Underlining the confusion now reigning over much of Europe as some measures are eased while others remain in place, passengers were filmed arguing with staff aboard an Iberia Express flight on Sunday. People were allegedly furious at cabin staff for not maintaining proper social distancing, though the airline said that it had obeyed all government guidance. Passengers on an Iberia Express flight on Sunday between Madrid and Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands argued with a flight assistant as they claimed the government's advice of keeping two metres apart was not being adhered to on board. GERMANY Germany has relaxed more coronavirus lockdown measures despite the country's rate of infection rising to potentially dangerous levels. While the measures vary from state to state, from today most Germans will be allowed to mix with people outside their homes provided it is not in large groups while more students will also be allowed back to school. In the most-populous state of North-Rhine Westphalia, gyms were allowed to open overnight Sunday and will remain open each night for people to exercise. A German woman works out in a gym in Cologne after the state of North-Rhine Westphalia - the largest in the country - allowed fitness centres to reopen at night to try to reduce crowding As well as gyms, those living in North-Rhine Westphalia will also be allowed to go to bars, cafes, restaurants and pubs - provided they are seated and maintain proper social distance Germany is relaxing measures state-by-state, but the majority of the country will now be allowed to visit people outside their homes and visit large shopping centres from today (pictured, a gym that has reopened in Cologne) Pubs, cafes and restaurants will be allowed to open both their indoor and outdoor seating areas provided social distancing measures are enforced. Large shops, including shopping centres, will also be allowed to reopen with social distancing. The moves come despite the country's 'R' figure - or rate of infection - rising for the second day in a row to 1.13, the Robert Koch Institute said. Anything over 1 means the number of new daily infections will increase. Researchers said their calculations may be adjusted over the coming days, but that the figure must be watched very carefully. Chancellor Merkel has previously said that new measures will be reimposed if the rate rises too far. The increase was revealed as outbreaks of coronavirus were uncovered at three slaughterhouses across the country. Writing on the ground remind students to keep distance as they arrive at a reopen primary school in Cologne, which has reopened as measures have eased Germany is fearful of a second spike of coronavirus cases and has identified three outbreaks at meat processing plants after it started mass-testing workers (pictured) Tests on meat workers at the three plants uncovered at least 336 cases of the virus with hundreds more results still due, DW reported. Union representatives said most meat workers in Germany are migrants who are housed together in cheap accommodation, making social distancing impossible. Some 205 cases were found at a single plant in Coesfeld, North-Rhine Westphalia, prompting officials to delay easing lockdown restrictions in that area. BELGIUM Belgium is taking a major step in relaxing its coronavirus lockdown by opening shops under strict conditions. Even still, public transportation in the capital city of Brussels was hit by a strike because bus drivers did not feel safe under the current virus precautions. Shoppers browse stores on the main shopping street in Brussels, Belgium, after the country allowed non-essential businesses to reopen as it eases its lockdown A woman wears a protective face mask in a store as Belgium eases lockdown restrictions amid its coronavirus outbreak Authorities on Sunday permitted people to start meeting with four close relatives or friends, allowing many families to celebrate a restricted Mother's Day. The country has the highest per-capita coronavirus death rate of any country in the world, meaning it has suffered an unusually large number of fatalities for its population size - 8,707 deaths in a population of 11.5million. However, officials say this is because the way their death figure is calculated - including suspected cases and deaths outside hospitals - makes comparisons with other nations unfair. GREECE Police in Greece have intervened to ease crowding conditions outside offices of the country's main power utility which reopened Monday. Hundreds gathered outside the offices to pay their bills, worried that power would be cut off to their homes. The state-controlled Public Power Corporation is urging customers to use online payment methods or newly-expanded call center services, but many elderly customers still pay their bills directly in cash. People are seen at a store at Ermou Street, in Athens, after the country began relaxing its coronavirus lockdown Many businesses in Greece were allowed to reopen today as the country eases its lockdown, including this women's clothing store in Athens The utility is currently undergoing a major reorganization after being threatened with financial collapse last year, largely due to bills left unpaid during the 2010-2018 financial crisis. PPC offices closed on March 23 as part of broader lockdown measures, but allowed to reopen as Greece eased restrictions on shops and other retail businesses. Schools were also allowed to reopen on Monday, with pupils spaced apart and many pictured wearing facemasks during lessons. DENMARK As Denmark continues its reopening of society, shopping malls were allowed to open their doors on Monday. At the same time, nearly 200 children from the fourth and fifth grade of a Copenhagen school gathered in the fan section of a soccer stadium that belongs to one Denmark's top football clubs to sing the national anthem. The event to take the children out from the classes was organized by FC Copenhagen. A sign informing customers on measurements to prevent from being infected stands in a shop in Field's Shopping Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, as lockdown measures are eased further First customers return to Field's, shopping center, after the lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Copenhagen, Denmark Restaurants and cafes are scheduled to reopen as of May 18 at the same time as schoolchildren from fifth grade and up are to return to classes. Last month, lower classes and preschool returned. Museums, zoological gardens and amusement parks have been ordered to remain shut. However, Copenhagen's famed downtown Tivoli Gardens, the amusement park that inspired Walt Disney to create his theme parks, has been able to open its doors to children from the capital's kindergartens and preschools. Gatherings of more than ten people are still banned. NORWAY Having already allowed private gatherings of up to 20 people and reopened shops and workplaces, Norway atook its children back to school on Monday. Classes had already restarted for those aged between 6 and 10 in April, but from Monday all classes will now be allowed once more. The move is seen as key to restarting the economy since parents cannot travel to work if their children are at home. CZECH REPUBLIC The Czech Republic is taking a step to normality amid the coronavirus pandemic by easing more restrictions adopted by the government to contain it. Shopping centres, hairdressers and beauty parlours are allowed to return to business on Monday under strict conditions. Theatres, exhibition halls and cinemas can reopen as well for a maximum of 100 people. A woman laughs as people cheer with beers at an outdoor seating section of a pub, as the Czech government lifted more restrictions allowing restaurants with outdoor areas to re-open Interior bar areas must remain closed, but outdoor seating areas were allowed to reopen from Monday Outdoor seating of bars, restaurants and cafes can start to serve the first consumers since March 14 on Monday. Interiors still remain closed. The government rules on social distancing and mandatory face masks in public remain in place. NETHERLANDS Primary schools will partially reopen Monday. Driving schools, hair salons, physiotherapists and libraries also return, with social distancing measures. AUSTRIA Hairdressers, tennis courts and golf courses reopened in the first weekend in May. Travel restrictions have been lifted and gatherings of up to 10 people are allowed, with social distancing. Masks are compulsory in public transport and shops. Final-year school students returned to class on May 4 ahead of a gradual return for others. The first charted train transporting care workers from Romania has arrived in the Austrian capital of Vienna. Austria has eased travel restrictions as it relaxes its coronavirus lockdown on Monday, allowed a chartered train to bring Romanian care workers to Vienna, where they will quarantine for 14 days before going to work in care homes A Romanian care worker disembarks a train in Vienna before going to work in the country's elderly care homes. Another train taking workers out who have been stranded since lockdown started will leave later today The 80 Romanians arriving Monday are slated to help elderly people who need 24-hour care. They now have to stay in a hotel at the Vienna airport to be tested for COVID-19. Once cleared, they'll be allowed to travel to their final destinations in Austria. Austrian EU minister Karoline Edtstadler says it took several weeks of negotiations to organize the train corridor to bring in the care workers. Many care workers who have been stuck in Austria for weeks can now take this train to go back to Romania. Another train bringing more workers to Austria is expected for Thursday. SWITZERLAND Primary and middle schools will reopen Monday, with classes often reduced in size. Restaurants, museums and bookshops will also open, with conditions. Meetings of more than five people remain banned. UKRAINE Ukraine has started easing its coronavirus lockdown, allowing some shops, hairdressers, beauty parlors and other businesses to reopen. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the reopening effective Monday is conditional on observing social distancing and other precautions. Ukraine has lifted a ban on gathering in parks, recreation zones, outdoor children's playgrounds and sports grounds, and open-air summer terraces as it eases lockdown A hairdresser wearing a protective facemask cuts a customer's hair in Kiev, Ukraine, after small businesses were allowed to reopen as the lockdown is eased Ukraine's underfunded health care system has been quickly overwhelmed by COVID-19, even though it has reported a relatively low number of cases - about 15,000 infections and more than 400 deaths as of Monday. Aware of the desperate situation in the health care system, authorities ordered a strict coronavirus lockdown on March 12, complete with police patrols and tight restrictions on using public transportation. The government has faced a strong pressure to ease the quarantine that has badly bruised the nation's economy. Doctors fear that relaxing the restrictions could trigger a new wave of contagion. Former Vice President Joe Biden has once again blasted the Trump administration for failing to line-up adequate testing for the coronavirus and accused President Trump of telling 'bald-faced' lies about the nation's preparedness. 'It's been more than two months since Trump claimed that 'anybody that wants a test can get a test.' It was a baldfaced lie when he said it, and it still isn't remotely true,' Biden wrote in a new op-ed in the Washington Post. Without testing, he wrote, the nation cannot go ahead with the phased reopening taking place. Former Vice President Joe Biden continues to blast the Trump administration for inadequate coronavirus testing 'If we're going to have thriving workplaces, restaurants, stores and parks, we need widespread testing. Trump can't seem to provide it to say nothing of worker safety protocols, consistent health guidelines or clear federal leadership to coordinate a responsible reopening,' he wrote. Biden cited Friday unemployment figures, which give the nation the highest unemployment since the Great Depression, saying the task called for 'urgent, steady, empathetic, unifying leadership.' President Donald Trump has said U.S. testing is 'much better than any other country in the world' Yuma Regional Medical Center registered nurses Daena Zamora, left, and Rebecca Adame work with one of the participants during the YRMC COVID-19 "Testing Blitz" in the Yuma Civic Center parking lot, Saturday, May 9, 2020, in Yuma, Ariz. South Korea mounted a quick response to the coronavirus with widespread testing In this file photo taken on March 17, 2020, a man speaks to a nurse during a COVID-19 novel coronavirus test at a testing booth outside Yangji hospital in Seoul 'But instead of unifying the country to accelerate our public health response and get economic relief to those who need it, President Trump is reverting to a familiar strategy of deflecting blame and dividing Americans,' Biden said. 'His goal is as obvious as it is craven: He hopes to split the country into dueling camps, casting Democrats as doomsayers hoping to keep America grounded and Republicans as freedom fighters trying to liberate the economy.' He called it a 'childish tactic.' Biden wrote that 'everyone wants America to reopen as soon as possible,' but called out Republicans like Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for opening too soon. Trump has repeatedly hailed testing in the U.S., saying at the end of April it was 'much better than any other country in the world.' Trump also tweeted: 'The only reason the U.S. has reported one million cases of coronavirus is that our testing is sooo much better than any other country in the world. 'Other countries are way behind us in testing, and therefore show far fewer cases,' he claimed. The U.S. has more than 1.3 million coronavirus cases, more than any country in the world. Trump plans to provide information to the nation on testing later today after a Navy valet who tends to him tested positive for the coronavirus, as did a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence. Public health experts have said the nation needs to ramp up testing as it reopens to identify people who have the infection and isolate them to keep them from spreading it. The nation has been testing about 250,000 people per day, although experts at Harvard's Global Health Institute have proposed more than 900,000 per day, amid a nationwide call to ramp up contact tracing to track down those who came in contact with infected people. Kirloskar Ferrous Industries has resumed operations of the Foundry situated at Bevinahalli Village, District Koppal, Karnataka from 11 May 2020. Further, the company's office situated at Bevinahalli Village, District Koppal, Karnataka has been functioning partially by following the COVID-19 guidelines issued by the Government of India, State Government and the Local Authorities. Suspension of operations of second Mini Blast Furnace situated at Bevinahalli Village, District Koppal, Karnataka and of the Plant situated at Solapur, Maharashtra continue till further notice. Offices of the Company situated at Solapur and Pune continue to remain closed till further notice and employees of the Company are managing work from home. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi, May 11 : Adani Agri Logistics Limited (AALL), a part of the Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd, has facilitated the dispatch of 30,000 tonnes of foodgrains during the lockdown. This is equivalent to feeding over 60 lakh people across different states in India like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bengal, etc. The company used seven trains owned and operated by it for the transportation of foodgrains from production centres in northern India to consumption centres. Further, in close coordination with the government of Madhya Pradesh, the AALL has also started the wheat procurement process with adequate safety and precautionary measures in its MP units with effect from April 15, 2020. The government has introduced a welfare scheme named Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY), wherein it decided to distribute 5 kg foodgrains free of cost to all the National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries for the next 3 months besides other regular welfare schemes as part of a relief package for the most vulnerable segments during the Covid-19 outbreak. The AALL, which operates a network of foodgrain storage silos across 14 locations in India, has worked as a lifeline for lakhs of families depending on the supplies. With a collective storage capacity of 875,000 tonnes per annum, this storage infrastructure caters to nearly 1.5 cr people. "What AALL achieved during the difficult lockdown goes beyond business goals and benchmarks of efficiency. It touched me because it was driven with commitment and compassion to serve the nation. It not just ensured that critical food supplies is accessible to the needy but made it incredibly convenient for farmers who have stood by India during this grave humanitarian crisis," said Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer, APSEZ. More than 25,000 farmers connected to the AALL grain silo network save Rs 130 per tonne spent otherwise as handling and cleaning charges. Most importantly, the seamless process saves them 2 to 3 mandays which easily get consumed in selling their supplies at traditional mandis. The Food Corporation of India's strategic reserves of foodgrain stocks have helped in this testing time. the AALL's role has been equally critical during the lockdown wherein AALL depots continued rake movement to fulfil FCI's orders from silos in the producing states of Punjab and Haryana to the field depots silos situated in the consuming states. The company has suggested that the government should formulate a policy on creating a Strategic Reserve of FoodGrain in Silos to handle such unforeseen calamities in the future. Silos are the ideal mode of scientific storage with automated handling for a longer shelf life with sustained quality and nutrition. Xiaomi finally released its much-anticipated flagship Mi 10 in India last week. There has been so much heat around Mi 10 since India launch, in this post let us analyze if Xiaomi has been a little late in finally bringing Mi flagships to India and what are the other factors that may determine Mi 10 and Xiaomis fate in the premium segment in India. 2014: Mi 3, the inception! Lets start with Xiaomis entry in India in 2014, which by the way was nothing sort of phenomenal. The brand made a debut in India with its flagship phone Mi 3, priced at 13,999. Xiaomi managed to sell Mi 3 at such prices because it came to India towards the end of its life cycle. Just a couple of weeks after Mi 3 India launch, Mi 4 was announced in China. A flagship (Mi 3) at 13,999 is something Indian consumers had never heard before, resulting in great market response. With Mi 3, Xiaomi did set up unrealistic consumer expectations which were really hard to maintain. 2015: Welcome to (Mi)4G era! Xiaomi launched Mi 4 in India at a starting price of INR 19,999 in Jan 2015, the price hike was justified since it was a future-proof 4G phone and came with improved optics. By this time, OnePlus had entered the Indian market with the OnePlus One. These devices were priced very closely but Mi 4 managed to do well in the Indian market as it received a price cut across variants within few months after launch. 2016: Under(clocked)achiever, Mi 5! Xiaomi announced Mi 5 Globally in MWC 2016 and launched it in India in April 2016 at a price of INR 24,999. Xiaomi had announced multiple Mi 5 variants globally, but they decided to bring the variant with under clocked SoC and that too only in 3/32 memory configuration and white color only. Mi 5 was a really good smartphone that received a lot of appreciation for its camera performance, but it didnt perform in the market as per company expectations. The major problem with Mi 5 wasnt the price or the underclocked SoC, the bigger issue was offering a flagship only in 3/32 memory configuration, which company VP Hugo Barra later accepted during Mi MIX launch. 2017: Mi MIX 2, the beauty that everybody only appreciated! Discouraged with the Mi 5 sales in India, Xiaomi turned towards its core fans for feedback for an upcoming flagship in 2017. Based on the feedback, the company decided to go with Mi MIX 2 in India instead of Mi 6. Mi MIX 2 was a one of its kind at that time, but was priced at INR 35,999 in India. OnePlus by this time, had managed to create an image as a flagship killer brand in the market, and their latest OnePlus 5 series devices were available at a cheaper price compared to Mi MIX 2. Mi MIX 2 sales were rather disappointing for the company, though the company never released any sales figures. Later in a fan meetup, a top Xiaomi executive said that not launching Mi 6 in India was a big mistake. 2018: Lets not take another risk? Xiaomi launched Mi 8 series including Mi 8 Pro and Mi 8 SE in 2018, Mi 8 Pro was launched globally starting at 499 and the Mi 8 SE was introduced in China starting about $280 but none of these devices made it to India. With Mi 5 and Mi MIX 2 not meeting company expectations, Xiaomi decided to not launch any flagship in India in 2018. In was rather a shock for many as the company had some really good products in China and the Global market available at a very reasonable price. By this time, Xiaomi had claimed No 1 smartphone brand position in India, but they didnt launch any phone priced above 20,000 in India in 2018. As a result, Xiaomi had no smartphone in India which could go head to head with other phones like OnePlus 6 series or Asus Zenfone 5Z and help them grab some market in the flagship segment. 2019: Preparation to come back with a bang? In 2019, Xiaomi launched the Mi 9 at MWC starting 449. Mi 9 was a step towards creating a proper flagship as it offered 20W Wireless fast charging along with all top-notch specifications. Mi 9 didnt make it to India despite launching globally, around the same time, OnePlus introduced OnePlus 7 at a cheaper price compared to OnePlus 6T making it even more difficult for other OEMs. In late 2019, Xiaomi revealed its plans of bringing a new flagship with 108MP camera. In early 2020, the company announced that it will bring more Mi Series devices in India. Back in March, the company announced Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro in Europe starting 799 and 999 respectively, a jump of 350 compared to previous-gen Mi 9. With Mi 10, Xiaomi decided to jump into the premium flagship segment resulting in a significant hike. Last week, Xiaomi launched the Mi 10 in India starting INR 49,999 compared to 3999 RMB in China, the company says the price difference is due to the recent GST hike and the fact that the company has to import all the units since Xiaomi is incapable of manufacturing such sophisticated components in India. Mi 10 is Xiaomis latest attempt in India in the flagship segment after a long gap. Its been almost three years since the last Mi flagship, Mi MIX 2 was released in India. In this duration, Xiaomi had released worthy products such as Mi 6, Mi 8, and Mi 9 in other markets, and all these were priced significantly cheaper than the Mi 10 even in China and could potentially do well in India as well. There are various speculations going on around Mi 10 being overpriced and being a flop product, but we feel it is too early to arrive at a conclusion, stay tuned to FoneArena for all upcoming Mi 10 content. Xiaomi has created an impressive flagship (at least going by raw specifications) but the brand perception, jump into the premium flagship segment and long time absence in flagship segments are the factors that are making us wonder if Xiaomi has been a little too late in bringing Mi flagships to India. Xiaomi lost its battle in flagship segment for the last 4 years (2016-19) simply because it decided not to fight the battle, the story couldve been a lot different had Xiaomi brought Mi 8 or Mi 9 to India. Anyway, with the Mi 10 Indian users have a really good option, and we hope Xiaomi will continue bringing more Mi Flagship to India no matter how Mi 10 performs in the Indian market. What are your thoughts about Mi 10 and Mi flagship series in India, do let us know in the comments below? Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams lockdown of Gallup, which was set to expire at noon today, was an extreme measure. And in reality, it was actually a lockout of people from the Navajo Nation where the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the population. The emergency order under the states Riot Control Act closed all roads going into Gallup for most nonresidents and directed Gallup residents to stay home unless leaving is absolutely necessary. Roadblocks were set up at interstate off-ramps to stop most non-Gallup residents from coming in. And while this was extreme, it was absolutely the right thing to do. It was based on data and geographically targeted. Gallups elected officials and Navajo leaders supported the drastic measure. The Navajo Nation has implemented its own curfew and is limiting access. The spread of this virus in McKinley County is frightful, the governor said in announcing her order May 1, imposed under the states Riot Control Act. The virus is running amok there. It must be stopped. She modified her order Thursday to allow non-residents to enter the city after 8 p.m. on Friday. The order continues the business curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. and says Gallup residents should continue to stay home except for emergencies. It adds a requirement people wear masks or face coverings when entering business, government or nonprofit buildings. And while roadblocks have been removed, law enforcement continues to man checkpoints to make sure vehicles entering have no more than two people. There was no question tough medicine was called for. McKinley County has just 3.5% of the states population but 30% of the reported COVID-19 cases. Native Americans account for more than half the cases in the state, and thousands flock into Gallup to shop. As of Friday there were 1,460 coronavirus cases and 36 deaths in McKinley County. In neighboring San Juan County, which has not asked for further restrictions and Farmington is a center of commerce for Native Americans, has 989 cases and 64 deaths. But the same kind of data analysis and logic that make the governors order for Gallup the right move undercut her refusal to allow significant loosening of restrictions in other areas. While her reopening plan talks about geographic flexibility, it appears that only would hold some areas back longer rather than let others open sooner than the state as a whole. As of Friday, the Southeast corner of the state including Chaves, Curry , Eddy, Otero, Lea, Lincoln and Roosevelt counties had a COMBINED 111 cases and three deaths. These counties are home to some of N.M.s major cities including Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Clovis, Hobbs, Portales, Roswell and Ruidoso. Other counties have had even fewer cases: Catron, Colfax, De Baca, Harding, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, Otero, Quay, San Miguel, Sierra and Union counties each had reported cases in the single digits, and COMBINED had 51 cases and three deaths. The governor last week released a plan that could allow churches and businesses, including restaurants and bars, to open at partial or full capacity in mid-May, and other entities such as theaters and casinos to open later in the summer. The plan would not include McKinley or San Juan counties. An argument can be made for such a measured approach in counties with high case numbers and transmission rates. But not allowing any of the above counties to move beyond a very limited reopening is simply unjust and doing damage to local economies for no good reason. With each passing day, there are businesses that simply never will reopen, local hospitals struggling to stay afloat and more New Mexicans unemployed. Senate Republicans appealed to the governor in an April 22 letter in which they recognized more drastic measures were necessary in some parts of the state but correctly pointed out that COVID-19 had not uniformly affected each of our 33 counties. They also asked the governor to work with them in a bipartisan manner to develop and plan to reopen the economy which includes more than 154,000 small businesses that used to employ 340,000 people in a way that also protects public health. Instead, the governor appointed a group that meets secretly and gives her recommendations privately. The governor did the right thing with the Gallup lockdown. It was supported by data and geographically targeted. Now, she needs to expand that approach to the rest of the state, because the economic and human toll of refusing to do so is climbing by the day. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has criticised Labor's push to restore the amount of time workers have to consider changes to their pay and conditions, saying there are enough industrial safeguards to protect them. Labor needs One Nation's support in the Senate to overturn the government's temporary cut to the minimum notice period for proposed amendments to an enterprise agreement from a week to a day. One Nation senators Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts in February. Their votes are crucial to Labor's bid to wind back a reduction in the time workers have to consider pay and conditions changes. Credit:AAP Senator Hanson told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age last week she had misgivings about the policy. "Labor is just grabbing at straws here. I think Labor is trying to feel that they have got some relevance in all this when they have absolutely none, zilch," she said. Despite these comments, sources close to Senator Hanson said she was still finalising her position and planned to speak further with Labor and One Nation colleague Malcolm Roberts this week before any vote took place. Japan's approach to the coronavirus, which called on citizens to voluntarily stay at home and for business to enact their own shut down measures, led to predictions of disaster when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency last month. But with daily cases of infections dropping to zero in many regions of the country, some parts of Japan are getting ready to lift the already light measures adopted under the declaration. Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said he is considering lifting the state of emergency for most of the prefectures in the country before May 31, when the current declaration is set to expire. The move represents a rare piece of good news in Abe's stop-start battle with the virus. When he first declared an emergency on April 7, the prime minister was at pains to make clear that the country would not seal off roads or shut down public transport, steps that were taken in many western capitals. Instead, he called on citizens to voluntarily reduce their interactions by 70% to 80% to bring a halt to the spread of the virus. Although Abe initially declared an emergency only for the most heavily hit areas, the measure was expanded to the whole country, then extended until the end of May. Now, the measure may be lifted in 34 of the country's 47 prefectures, the Yomiuri newspaper reported Monday, citing multiple unidentified officials. Compared with what was going on in many developed nations, Japan's steps elicited confusion, with bars and hairdressers among the businesses deemed essential enough to be exempted from being asked to close. There were no restrictions on people's movement or interactions. However, the results have been surprising, with cases nationwide dropping to less than one-seventh of the peak in mid April. Many prefectures haven't reported a case in days, with the southern island of Okinawa not recording a new case in 11 days. The northern prefecture of Iwate has yet to see a single case. And on Monday in Tokyo, a city of 14 million people, just 15 new cases were reported, the sixth day in a row the capital recorded less than 40. The government will hear opinions from a panel of experts set to meet on May 14, according to the Yomiuri. The state of emergency is set to remain until the end of the month in Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido and other areas that are still seeing multiple cases every day. Speaking on public broadcaster NHK on Sunday, Nishimura said a gradual recovery of economic activity can take place in the remaining 13 prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, if the virus can be contained by the end of this month. The potential lifting of the emergency was warmly greeted by Japanese financial markets. Stocks that have taken a beating while the state of emergency was in effect, including restaurant chains, ticket agencies and travel companies, surged. Japan's main airlines ANA Holdings Inc. and Japan Airlines Co. both surged about 10%, West Japan Railway Co. jumped 7.2%, travel agency HIS Co. Ltd added 17% while gym operator Rizap Group jumped 27%. Japan's testing capacity remains limited compared with other nations, although the country has now conducted more than 214,000 tests. That's still less than half of neighboring South Korea, though the number of positive cases has trended down even as the capacity has expanded. South Korea also offers a lesson in the dangers Japan will face in the weeks ahead, after a spike in cases tied to nightclubs in Seoul. Speaking in parliament Monday, Nishimura warned of the dangers of such an event. "If we see the signs of cases beginning to 'overshoot,' we will need to re-consider re-imposing the state of emergency," he said. A UCSF doctor, coming home after several weeks in New York City helping coronavirus patients, shared his shocking experience of traveling on a packed flight back to SFO. Tweets from cardiologist Ethan Weiss went viral Saturday after the doctor posted a photo of a full United flight. TRAVEL TEMPTATIONS: Texas luxury hotels offering discounts upon reopening "I guess @united is relaxing their social distancing policy these days?" he wrote. "Every seat full on this 737." On April 22, United announced it was "limiting seat selections in all cabins, so customers wont be able to select seats next to each other or middle seats where available." However, the airline later clarified this does not mean all passengers will have an empty seat beside them; due to load factors or passenger requests, it's possible the flight could be full as it appeared to be on Weiss' Newark-to-SFO trip. "Though we cannot guarantee that all customers will be seated next to an unoccupied seat, based on historically low travel demand and the implementation of our various social distancing measures that is the likely outcome," United says on its website. But because of a bevy of flight cancelations, many once-common routes are down to one or two trips per day, leading some flights to fill up. Weiss and two dozen other health care workers were being flown for free by United, but Weiss expressed confusion as to why the other passengers were flying at all. AIRLINE ISSUES: Airlines continue to struggle as COVID-19 crushes business "We are about to land & I just wanted to say a few things. 1) people on this plane are scared/ shocked. 2) I have no idea why most of them are traveling. 3) I am with a group of 25 nurses and doctors who have been working in NYC hospitals for the past 2-4 weeks. We are coming home," Weiss tweeted Saturday. "This is the last time Ill be flying again for a very long time," he added. In a statement to ABC7, United did not directly address the reasons for the lack of physical distancing, but said: "We've overhauled our cleaning and safety procedures and implemented a new boarding and deplaning process to promote social distancing... and all passengers and employees were asked to wear face coverings, consistent with our new policy." Around 13,000 migrant workers have so far left for their respective states and within Maharashtra in special trains and buses from Pune amid the coronavirus- enforced lockdown, a senior district official said on Monday. Pune is the second worst coronavirus-affected city in Maharashtra after Mumbai. "So far six trains have left from Pune - four for Madhya Pradesh and each one for Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand," said Naval Kishore Ram, the district collector. He said so far around 13,000 migrant workers have left for their respective states and districts within Maharashtra by trains and buses from Pune. Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said besides six trains from Pune, one Tamil Nadu-bound train left from Solapur and another one for Jabalpur from Kolhapur. More than 2,000 migrant workers were accommodated in these trains, he said. Mhaisekar added that there are still around 77,000 people in the Pune division who want to go back to their native places. "However, since industrial activities are gradually commencing in western Maharashtra, many of them are opting to stay back," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nick Cordero's wife Amanda Kloots revealed she had a heartening FaceTime with him this Sunday, on her first Mother's Day with their baby son Elvis. The Broadway actor has been hospitalized for weeks after getting coronavirus and has suffered a series of medical crises during that time such as a leg amputation. Now in a new Insta Stories update Amanda, 38, shared that when she FaceTimed Nick in the hospital he was able to look up and down when asked. 'Great, positive little things': Nick Cordero's wife Amanda Kloots revealed she had a heartening FaceTime with him this Sunday, on her first Mother's Day with their baby son Elvis The way they were: Nick is pictured with Amanda in a throwback snap from their 2018 South African honeymoon that she posted to Instagram this week 'I just did a little FaceTime with Nick and some really kind of great, positive little things but - I asked him to look up and he did, and I asked him to look down and he did,' said the fitness trainer, who has been married to Nick since 2017. 'And so that was a fantastic Mother's Day gift to start my day off with, super positive and super, you know, just a great way to - I can't even talk because I am excited about it but don't wanna be too excited but I'm excited,' Amanda said. 'So you guys, what this could mean is that it's a start to possibly following commands, which would be huge! Huge, huge, huge, huge, huge.' She added: 'Again, super, super early and I may be jumping this gun but I got really excited about it because it did show - it seemed to show that he could hear me and follow a command.' 'I'm excited': Now in a new Insta Stories update Amanda, 38, shared that when she FaceTimed Nick in the hospital he was able to look up and down when asked Sign: Amanda explained that 'I got really excited about it because it did show - it seemed to show that he could hear me and follow a command' Amanda reminded viewers 'again' that it was 'very, very early,' but she was visibly happy about the 'really, really, really good news.' Throughout Nick's illness Amanda has kept fans apprised of his progress such as when he lost his right leg after suffering problems with blood flow there. He also wound up with holes in his lungs, as well as undergoing a pair of mini-strokes after which he 'needed resuscitation,' Amanda said. Baby mine: Nick and Amanda married in New York City in 2017 and welcomed their firstborn child Elvis Eduardo Cordero last June Nick and Amanda married in New York City in 2017 and welcomed their firstborn child Elvis Eduardo Cordero last June. Shortly after Nick's leg amputation Amanda shared an Instagram video of their first dance at their swank wedding at the Skylark. Alongside a video of them twirling around the floor to Harry Connick Jr.'s recording of It Had To Be You, Amanda wrote that 'we WILL dance again!' DUBLIN, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Virtual Healthcare Delivery: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2020 to 2026" report from Wintergreen Research, Inc has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Virtual Healthcare Delivery in different categories, illustrating the diversity of uses for Virtual Healthcare Delivery in the era of a pandemic. A complete analysis is done, looking at the growing need for video conferencing everywhere. The virtual healthcare delivery market size at $21 billion worldwide in 2019, is projected to reach $95 billion worldwide and $77.4 billion in the US by 2026 Extraordinary growth initially is solely because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Once the virtual healthcare delivery systems are in place, they will not be dismantled, they will morph and be adapted to current needs, but they are useful and are expected to stay in place. A second wave and the third wave of infection will mean that systems need to remain in place after they are initially deployed. The systems are more efficient for the patient and the physician. The use of them for a long time will prove this and ensure that they remain in place after the pandemic begins to abate. Growing acceptance of Virtual Healthcare Delivery is a new reality in the pandemic era. These products provide basic respiratory protections going forward. The unmistakable impact of the disease in increasing the death rates worldwide is driving people to take advantage of virtual healthcare delivery. The worldwide virtual healthcare delivery markets are expected to achieve significant growth as the pandemic emergency emerges as a worldwide issue The World Health Organization (WHO) recently recommended using virtual healthcare delivery to evaluate suspected cases of COVID-19 disease. Minimizing the need for individuals to go to health care facilities for evaluation decreases the risk of contracting COVID-19 disease. With the coronavirus pandemic upending everyday life, the Dept. of Health and Human Services has made the extraordinary announcement to allow video chat apps such as Apple's FaceTime and Zoom for medical consultations. for medical consultations. During the COVID-19 national emergency, which also constitutes a nationwide public health emergency, covered health care providers are subject to the HIPAA rules. As facilities communicate with patients, and provide Virtual Healthcare Delivery services, through remote communications technologies HIPAA rules are still expected to remain in effect. In the wake of the pandemic healthcare delivery systems have been turned on their head. Virtual Healthcare Delivery is playing a huge role in healthcare delivery. With over 300 viable companies just in the US, market consolidation is certain to be rapid. The larger players will need to expand their customer base, increase their level of expertise, and achieve access to better technology. Broadening access to specialty care across the country, easing home health monitoring, and simplifying chronic disease management are priorities Some Virtual Healthcare Delivery manufacturers have greater market power in specific markets, those with good online marketing reach have a strategic advantage. Philips Respironics has been able to build enormous credibility in the market because its systems work as promised, the hallmark of a successful technology company. Vendors have seen a significant increase in demand in these specific markets during the pandemic, helping in the sale of Virtual Healthcare Delivery. Tele-medicine morphs to virtual healthcare delivery - markets explode in wake of coronavirus infections and shelter in place. In one instance in NY, hard-hit early on by the coronavirus, an organization at NYU went from 200 video visits a year to 12,000 a week, 36,000 in the first month. CMS has now mandated the payment of virtual visits. Growth in these areas of virtual care delivery is remarkable and unprecedented - even more use of infrastructure that supports the delivery of care remotely is expected to be put in place over the ensuing weeks The challenge has been to allow clinicians to do virtual visits without coming in. Epic software engineers moved the clinical side to a mobile app. Sharon Wobeter, Epic's Virtual Healthcare Delivery lead for NYU Langone. We're now working to expand into the hospital. Doctors and nurses will be able to talk to each other remotely and check in on patients without going into the rooms, limiting exposure and saving protective equipment like masks. Virtual care is a new reality for vendors, doctors, nurses, and other clinicians. Millions of people had their first virtual appointments over the past few weeks. Software from Epic, the nation's largest electronic health records company supports virtual healthcare delivery. Epic's Virtual Healthcare Delivery infrastructure allows users to adopt new technology quickly. The Virtual Healthcare Delivery team at Epic has done amazing work to get systems running quickly and adopted everywhere as a way to lessen the risk to people. Key Topics Covered 1. Virtual Healthcare Delivery: Market Description and Market Dynamics 1.1 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Care Plan Automation Platform 1.1.1 CMS Reimbursement for Telehealth 1.1.2 CMS Puts an Expedited Process in Place to Approve Telehealth Services 1.1.3 CDC Virtual Visits 1.2 COVID-19 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Visits 1.2.1 CMS Reimbursement 1.3 COVID-19 High-Performance Computing Consortium 1.3.1 Healthcare System Rapidly Deploying Virtual Workflows 2. Virtual Healthcare Delivery Market Shares and Forecasts 2.1 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Market Driving Forces 2.2 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Market Shares 2.2.1 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Dominant Connectivity Providers 2.3 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Forecasts 2.4 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Market Sectors 2.5 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Prices 2.5.1 Impact of COVID-19 on Virtual Healthcare Delivery Billing 2.5.2 Major Private Payers All Cover Virtual Healthcare Delivery 2.6 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Regional Analysis 2.6.1 US 2.6.2 Australia 2.6.3 Japan 3 Major Participants and Consolidation of Virtual Healthcare Delivery: Market Opportunity 3.1 Virtual Healthcare Delivery 3.2 Epic 3.3 Zoom 3.4 Cisco WebEx 3.5 Google Skype 3.5.1 Encryption 3.5.2 Business Associate Agreement 3.5.3 Documented Security Breaches 3.6 Amazon 3.7 States Making Virtual Healthcare Delivery More Accessible 3.8 FCC Actions 4. Virtual Healthcare Delivery Technology and Healthcare Coverage 4.1 COVID-19 Virtual Video Conferencing 4.1.1 COVID-19 Virtual Visits 4.1.2 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Benefits 4.2 COVID-19 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Home Monitoring 4.2.1 Remote Patient Monitoring 4.3 Medicare Diagnosis Coding 4.3.1 Medicare Patient Cost-Sharing 4.4 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Policy Changes 4.5 Testing Methods/Platforms 4.5.1 Serology Tests 4.6 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Security and HIPAA 4.7 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Insurance Coverage 4.7.1 Arizona 4.7.2 Florida 4.8 COVID-19 Virtual Video Conferencing 4.8.1 COVID-19 Virtual Visits 4.8.2 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Benefits 4.8.3 COVID-19 Virtual Healthcare Delivery Home Monitoring 5. Virtual Healthcare Delivery Company Profiles 5.1 Advanced ICU Care 5.2 Allscripts Healthcare Solutions 5.2.1 Allscripts Revenue 5.3 AMC Health 5.4 A&D Medical 5.5 AMD Global Virtual Healthcare Delivery 5.5.1 AMD Revenue 5.6 American Well 5.6.1 Amwell Sees 1000% Increase in Virtual Visits 5.7 BioTelemetry 5.8 Canon USA 5.9 CareClix 5.10 Care Innovations 5.11 Avizia/Carena 5.12 Cerner 5.12.1 Cerner Data Centers 5.12.2 Cerner Millennium and Soarian Solutions 5.12.3 Cerner Virtual Healthcare 5.13 Cisco/WebEX 5.14 Doctor Anywhere COVID-19 Medical Advisory Clinic 5.14.1 Doctor Anywhere App Larger Trend 5.14.2 Doctor on Demand 5.15 EPIC 5.15.1 Epic Revenue 5.16 ID Solutions 5.17 InTouch Technologies 5.17.1 InTouch Health 5.18 McKesson 5.18.1 McKesson Revenue 5.18.2 McKesson My Care Plus 5.19 MDAligne 5.20 MDlive 5.21 Medtronic 5.21.1 Medtronic Care Management Services - COVID-19 Virtual Care 5.22 Medweb 5.23 Philips 5.23.1 Philips Virtual Care 5.23.2 Philips Steps Up Collaboration 5.23.3 COVID-19 Spurring The Move To Virtual Care 5.23.4 Philips Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer 5.24.5 PlushCare 5.24.6 Resideo Life Care Solutions 5.24.7 Specialist Telemed Medical Specialties 5.25 StatDoctors 5.26 Teladoc Health (TDOC) 5.26.1 Teledoc Revenue 5.26.2 Teladoc Virtual Health Response to COVID-19 5.26.3 Teladoc Virtual Health Delivery 5.27 Zoom 5.27.1 Zoom Revenue 5.28 Epic Customer Base 5.29 Canfield Scientific 5.30 Selected Virtual Healthcare Delivery Company List For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6gslr0 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com On Sunday, Neha Dhupia celebrated her second wedding anniversary with husband Angad Bedi. While sharing an adorable anniversary post for her hubby, Neha also mentioned her roadies controversy. Neha took to Twitter to post several cute pictures with Angad, but what grabbed everyone's attention was the caption. It read, "Happy anniversary my love ... to two years of togetherness ..." She then added that living with Anagd is like having five boyfriends, "Angad is like 1. The love of my life 2. a suport system 3. a great father,4. My best friend and 5. The most annoying roommate ever. It's like I have 5 bfs in one...it's my choice. #thosewhoknowknow @Imangadbedi." Take a look: Happy anniversary my love ... to two years of togetherness ... "Angad is like 1. The love of my life 2. a suport system 3. a great father,4. My best friend and 5. The most annoying roommate ever. It's like I have 5 bfs in one...it's my choice." #thosewhoknowknow @Imangadbedi pic.twitter.com/dmlZFW0IZ0 Neha Dhupia (@NehaDhupia) May 10, 2020 A few months ago, Neha was pulled into a controversy about pseudo feminism, after an episode of MTV Roadies Revolution saw Neha call out a male contestant for slapping his girlfriend for cheating on him with five other boys. Neha went on to defend the girl and said, 'as far as cheating goes, it's her choice.' The comment did not sit well with Roadies fans, and many schooled the actress on what feminism truly means. On the occasion of their anniversary, the couple also went live on social media and talked about their married life. In an interview, Neha had revealed the conversation would be candid and will surprise Angad. "We'll raise the toast to two years of our marriage with our fans, by going live on social media. I'll be interviewing Angad on marriage, and the questions are going to be a complete surprise to him. He'll be on the hot seat facing all the questions and we'll also be taking fans queries." Raftaar Reacts To Neha Dhupia Getting Trolled For Slamming Roadies Contestant Mother's Day 2020: From Mira Rajput To Kareena Kapoor, Meet B-Towns' Coolest Moms Sree Chandana M By Express News Service VISAKHAPATNAM: The GVMC officials said that water supply from Meghadri Gedda was blocked immediately after gas leak from LG Polymers plant on Thursday as a precautionary measure. They appealed to the public not to believe rumours on social media. Explaining that the citys water was not contaminated and it is safe for consumption, the officials said that Godavari was the major source of drinking water and water from Meghadri Gedda was mostly used for industrial purposes. Speaking to TNIE, an official of GVMC water supply management department stated that the water from Meghadri Gedda was being tested for the past three days as per the instructions of the officials concerned. After the incident, there are high chances that the water may be affected. To ensure that the water is safe for consumption, water samples are being sent for tests daily from the day of the incident. The test reports are awaited and further decisions will be taken by GVMC Commissioner G Srijana and other officials concerned, the official said. City environmentalists claim that LG Polymers in its representation for permission had stated that Meghadri Gedda, Narava Hills and other such places will be affected in case of an accident. The company clearly stated that the water may be affected and consuming it would lead to a lot of health issues. However, the GVMC has done a commendable job by blocking the water supply immediately, said environmentalist and member of Green Climate Team JV Ratnam. An activist, Lubna Sarawat, opined that water might have been affected by high levels of toxic air pollutants. Normally, water gets polluted with the air quality above its surface. In this incident too, water and living organisms in it might have been affected due to the gas leakage. We have to assess the level of contamination and take all steps to clean up polluted water, Sarawat added. On how they plan to restore water quality of Meghadri Gedda, the officials said, We can only say that once we know how it is affected. YEREVAN. The April inquiry committee does not rely only on what former Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said; I consider important the explanations of the commander of the [Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] Defense Army on the quality of diesel fuel during the April war. Andranik Kocharyan, Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Inquiry Committee for Examining the Circumstances of the Military Activities of April 2016, stated this in a conversation with journalists Monday in Armenias parliament. When asked why the committees meeting today with Karapetyan lasted short, Kocharyan said. "Because Karen Karapetyan was in office since October 2016, and the questions to be addressed to him were related to the armaments and rear service, the statements made by him at the time (...). We have received the answer to those questions as much as Karen Karapetyan answered." Kocharyan said that Karapetyan gave the answer to the question they were interested in at the closed session of the committee. "After all, the committee does not rely only on the answers given by Karen Karapetyan. When the committee asks the question, it also has studies related to it during that one year. All the details related to April [2016 war] are currently in this room of the NA building." To the question whether there was low-quality diesel fuel, which was the reason for the non-operation of the armament during the aforesaid war, Andranik Kocharyan said. "I can say for sure that the officers of the Defense Army tried to use the opportunities at their disposal to the maximum, as much as they could." Asked whether the Prosecutor General of Armenia also will be called to the NA inquiry committee because he had responded to Karapetyan's statement on fuel, Kocharyan said. "We would summon the Prosecutor General if he has anything to add to our information base." Andranik Kocharyan noted that ex-PM Hovik Abrahamyan was also on their list of invitees. "But I don't think the study will add further," he added. "We have no decision regarding Hovik Abrahamyan [yet]." The foreign ministers of Egypt, Greece and Cyprus denounced the illegal moves Turkey made in the territorial waters of Cyprus and its violation of Greek airspace. The three countries issued a joint statement on Monday following a meeting between the three foreign ministers, along with the foreign ministers of France and the UAE, to discuss the latest developments in the Eastern Mediterranean in addition to a number of regional crises. In the statement the foreign ministers expressed their deep concern towards the current escalation and the provocative movements perpetrated by Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean. The ministers condemned the illegal Turkish movements in the territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Cyprus, as they represent a violation of international law according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. According to the statement, this is Turkeys sixth attempt in less than a year to carry out illegal excavations within the maritime territory of Cyprus. The ministers also denounced Turkey's violations of Greek airspace, including overflights in Greek populated areas and territorial waters in violation of international law. They also called out Turkey for its systematic exploitation of civilians allegedly through prompting them to illegally cross the Greek land and sea borders. The ministers called upon Turkey to fully respect the sovereignty of all states and their sovereign rights in their maritime areas of the Eastern Mediterranean. The ministers reaffirmed that the two memoranda of understanding (MoU) on maritime borders and security signed by the Turkish and Libyan prime ministers in November 2019 are contrary to international law and the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations on Libya. They added that the MoU on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean undermine regional stability and violate the sovereign rights of third states and the law of sea, stressing that it has no legal effect or impact on the rights of the third countries. The ministers strongly condemned the Turkish military intervention in Libya, and urged Turkey to fully respect the UN weapon embargo and stop the flow of foreign fighters from Syria to Libya, as this threatens the stability of Libya's neighbouring countries in Africa and Europe. The ministers called on the Libyan conflicting parties to abide by the truce during the holy month of Ramadan, and affirmed their commitment towards reaching a comprehensive political solution for the Libyan crisis under the auspices of the United Nations. Search Keywords: Short link: Former public spending minister Brendan Howlin has called for State insurance cover against Covid-19-related claims, to help get Ireland back to work and save jobs. Mr Howlin said the State Claims Agency must be called in because insurance companies are refusing to provide cover for coronavirus-related claims. He said far too many businesses will not be able to reopen because they might be sued by a customer or employee who catches the disease. "Jobs are at risk - action is needed now," the former Labour leader said. Mr Howlin said workplaces and businesses are being told they cannot get insurance cover for Covid-19-related claims and insurance renewals will not cover it. "It will be impossible for businesses, and some public bodies to open without that insurance," the Wexford TD said. "I am being told this directly by childcare providers, hotels and restaurants. "They cannot take the risk of being liable for their employees or their customers becoming victims of Covid-19 if they are not insured against it." He urged the State to step in with some sort of indemnity or insurability. "A person can't sue if they get the flu when visiting the local supermarket. We need to address that issue or businesses will not reopen when this phase passes," said the former public spending minister. Mr Howlin raised this issue in the Dail with Business Minister Heather Humphreys two weeks ago. "We need urgent action now. I asked her then to look at the issue of insurance liability as a matter of urgency. "I am really worried that this issue will hold up thousands of jobs coming back," he told the Irish Independent. He said the Government providing a general indemnity for Covid-19, via the State Claims Agency, would remove the immediate risk from insurance renewal. There would still be the usual reasonable care provision meaning the State could pursue reckless employers. The UK's independent Office for Budget Responsibility has backed a similar plan there saying there is a "very good argument that the state should essentially be the insurer here". "The long-awaited childcare scheme for health workers fell apart within a day when insurers told providers they would not be insured for any claims related to Covid-19," said Mr Howlin. "Shops, hotels, pubs and restaurants are worried about the same thing. It is a major worry. "We also don't know if schools can reopen in September, and one of the main reasons will be insurance cover. "The Government now needs to step in and use the State Claims Agency to indemnify against the risk of people getting Covid-19. "The costs of any future claims can be recouped through a levy on insurance profits, but what's most important now is to get Ireland reopened once it is safe to do so. "Workers and customers also have to feel safe so there must be a very robust inspection regime from the Health and Safety Agency, and those found breaking the rules must be held to account. "That's why under our proposal, the Government must ensure that businesses that flout health and safety guidelines will pay the cost, not the State. "The sooner we get the country back up and running in a safe way, the quicker we can get people back to work, respecting social-distancing rules," he said. San Antonio gyms are preparing to reopen May 18 after temporarily closing because of the coronavirus pandemic. While some local gym-goers are anxious to ditch the home workouts and return to their routines, there are some new safety measures to be aware of. The Open Texas checklist issued by Gov. Greg Abbott includes minimum recommended health protocols for gyms and exercise facilities. These establishments have the green light to reopen, but at 25 percent capacity, and must keep locker rooms and shower facilities closed. Some of the protocols are specific to staff members, who are not counted in the 25 percent. Employees must be trained on hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfection. They should also all be screened for COVID-19 symptoms. As for customers, the governor's checklist includes guidelines on maintaining social distancing of 6 feet, self-screening, disinfecting equipment after uses, wearing gloves to fully cover hands and considering wearing face coverings. Local businesses, like Gold's Gyms locations and Joe's Gym, are publicizing more specific reopening plans. In an email sent to members, Gold's Gym said San Antonio locations will open at 5 a.m. next Monday. In addition to following the governor's guidelines, Gold's Gyms will be adding an hour "intermission" at 1 p.m. daily to clean and sanitize. Gold's is also asking members to bring their own masks. The email also said team members will be using personal protective equipment. The temporary hours of operation for Gold's are 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday to Sunday. Joe's Gym, a longtime independent facility, will use a reopening plan that mirrors Gold's Gym's. Joe's, at 3700 Fredericksburg Road, will operate under the same hours and will also include an hour to sanitize the establishment. Joe's is also asking customers to bring their own masks, wear gloves and maintain social distancing. Madalyn Mendoza covers news and puro pop culture for MySA.com | mmendoza@mysa.com | @maddyskye A Sabah woman says working a year in a U.S. weed lab taught her everything she needs to know about regulating the drug and she thinks Malaysia should take note. Hadhinah Fawwazah, 32, wrote in a now-viral post yesterday that Americas strict marijuana regulations, which include licensing and implementing unique staff IDs, offers approaches Malaysia could follow were it to ever legalize the drug. The reason I share this is to provide information and positive exposure, where marijuana can be well-regulated and not misused if controlled tightly and systematically, she wrote in Malay. Please read [the post] from start to finish to understand. If you cant give a positive comment, just shut up. Malaysia could take note because it is not impossible and [the country] can use the same marijuana regulation system! Her post has since been shared nearly 20,000 times. Hadhinah said she works for Premium Produce in Las Vegas, Nevada, which says it provides medical cannabis programs and produces cannabinoid medicines. The company said it also cultivates its own cannabis. Neither the company nor Hadhinah responded immediately to Coconuts Singapores online inquiries. According to Hadhinahs post, she first joined the company as an accountant before enrolling in a course that would then led her into the job in charge of quality control and compliance of marijuana. She said that there are strict requirements for the job, including having no criminal record. She said that she is also required to obtain a special ID that needs to be renewed periodically. Each employee who holds the pass can also be tracked under a system called Metrc, she said. Each time a cannabis product changes form, for example from seed to maturity, the ID of the agent responsible for the change will appear [in the system], she wrote. If theres a mistake, the state government will send someone to the facility to check on whats wrong. Its not easy working in this highly regulated industry. I can say I love my job, and my job is so unique and I know this opportunity wont come to me if I dont have an open heart or not believing in science. I hope it will be federally legal someday in the future, and that it will be legal in Malaysia, she added. Story continues A photo of Hadhinah Fawwazah state marijuana license. Photo: Hannah Fawwazah Nasaruddin/Facebook She also said that she once turned to smoking weed to treat her depression. She suggests it was successful as she has since stopped. Honestly I rarely use cannabis products. Earlier when I just moved here, the doctor diverted medication for my depression to the use of cannabis. A year later I dont have to depend on anything anymore, she said. Thailand is currently the only Southeast Asian nation where medical marijuana is legalized, though in very limited supply. Patients with critical needs can obtain permission from doctors at a few specialized, government-licensed clinics located at hospitals. Malaysia made headlines in 2018 for being involved in talks to make a similar move, but the effort appears stalled. Last November, then-Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad gave the green light to cultivate hemp in Malaysia for industrial purposes. But no implementation date has been announced. Other stories you should check out: Cops raid Heaven Herb weed delivery service, arrest 12 Foodpanda delivery dudes transporting weed, kratom busted in Krabi This article, Sabah womans year in U.S. weed biz sparks hope for Malaysian marijuana, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters! Zareen Khan says people still assume Salman Khan helps her find work: "I cannot be a monkey on his back" FILE PHOTO: A logo is pictured outside a building of the WHO in Geneva GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization's director general has "no mandate" to invite Taiwan to take part in its assembly next week, the body's lawyer said on Monday, adding member states had "divergent views" on the self-ruled island's participation. WHO principal legal officer Steven Solomon told and online news briefing that only member states could decide who attends the World Health Assembly (WHA). Taiwan, with the strong support of the United States, has stepped up its lobbying to be allowed to take part as an observer at next week's meeting of the WHO's decision-making body, to China's anger. China berated New Zealand on Monday for its support for Taiwan's participation at the WHO, saying the country should "stop making wrong statements" on the issue to avoid damaging bilateral ties. (Reporting by Michael Shields and Emma Farge; Editing by Alex Richardson) WASHINGTON Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the hawkish adviser who has popped up in various Trump administration departments over the past three years, is back in a government building, this time at the Pentagon. Mr. Cohen-Watnicks latest position in the Trump administration is deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics and global threats, Pentagon officials said on Monday. The job, which does not require Senate confirmation, will be Mr. Cohen-Watnicks third stint in the administration. His first was at the White House in 2017 and began during the short-lived tenure of President Trumps first national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. Mr. Cohen-Watnick did not get along with Mr. Flynns successor, H.R. McMaster, and was pushed out. On Thursday, the Justice Department moved to drop criminal charges against Mr. Flynn for lying to F.B.I. agents about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to Washington. South Korea is searching for thousands of people who may have been infected by coronavirus in a cluster of cases linked to a single neighbourhood in Seoul. Officials, who are scrambling to contain a new outbreak, reported 35 new infections across the country as of midnight on Sunday, the highest numbers in more than a month. All but six of those cases were linked to an outbreak at nightclubs and bars, many of them catering for the LGBT+ community, in the capital's Itaewon neighbourhood. That has raised complications for officials desperately trying to track those who might be infected in a nation where open homosexuality is often taboo and LGBT+ people still face discrimination, including job loss and hate speech. Authorities have tested more than 2,450 people who had patronised the night spots in Itaewon, but were still trying to track down around 3,000 more. Hundreds of other people who came in contact with clubbers have also been tested. Our top priority is to minimise the spread of the infections in the greater Seoul area, prime minister Chung Sye-kyun told a meeting with government officials on Monday, calling on local governments to work with police to track down patrons. We should quickly find and test them, and speed is key. The Asian country has been lauded for its quick action on the pandemic, significantly reducing the rate of new infections in recent weeks, but the resurgence in case numbers has raised concerns the country could be entering a second wave outbreak. The outbreak has also highlighted the potential unintended side effects of South Korea's invasive tracing methods and wide public disclosure of some patient information as part of its approach to tackling the coronavirus. Health ministry official Yoon Tae-ho acknowledged concerns that individuals within the LGBT+ community could be outed against their will or face discrimination if they came forward. We release the movement of confirmed patients to encourage anyone who might be exposed get tested voluntarily, he told a briefing. We urge you to refrain from distributing patients' personal information or groundless rumours, which not only hurts them but can also be subject to punishment. The Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said 86 people have tested positive in connection with the Itaewon outbreak, which was made public on Friday, including people who had travelled to the capital and subsequently returned home. Seoul mayor Park Won-soon pleaded with clubbers to be tested, promising that personal information would be protected and warning that people caught evading testing could be fined. If Seoul was penetrated, the nation is at risk, Mr Park said, noting the city currently has around 700 of the nation's 10,909 cases, which include 256 deaths. Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Show all 13 1 /13 Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Cheryll Mack, 46, a registered nurse in the emergency department, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift outside the hospital where she works. "The Covid-19 spread has affected a lot of livelihood, a lot of people's lives. It has created a crisis, death in general. So I would like to ask not one single person, but all people worldwide, to converge and join the platform that this is something that nobody can fight individually," said Mack. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Dr Laura Bontempo, 50, an emergency medicine doctor wears her personal protective equipment she uses when she sees patients, while posing for a photograph after a nine-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moments have actually been separating families from patients, there is a no-visitor policy now and taking people away from their loved ones is very challenging," Bontempo said. "I'm used to treating sick patients. I treat sick patients all the time. It's very different knowing that the patient you are treating, is actually a risk to you as well. That's the main difference here. No one who works in hospitals is afraid of treating sick people. Just want to keep staff safe and the patients safe at the same time." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Ernest Capadngan, 29, a registered nurse who works at a biocontainment unit poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moment during the shift was just seeing Covid patients die helpless and without their family members beside them," Capadngan said. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Martine Bell, 41, a nurse practitioner in an emergency department, poses for a photograph after a six-hour shift outside the hospital where she works. "The hardest thing in all of this, has been taking care of fellow healthcare providers. It really hits home and it's really scary when you see someone that could be you coming in and now you're taking care of them. It's also hitting home that once healthcare providers start getting sick, who is going to be taking care of the public," Bell said. "It's very stressful, everyone is on edge. We don't know who's coming in next, or how sick they're going to be, or if we are going to get a whole bunch of people or if we're not going to get no one. It's a really stressful and just a completely unusual time for all of us." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Kaitlyn Martiniano, 25, a registered nurse who works at a biocontainment poses for a photograph after a 12.5-hour shift, outside the hospital. "We have a lot of patients and they are pretty sick right now but we have not yet been hit as hard as New York or Seattle, so I feel like we are very lucky with that so far. Every day you have to just be optimistic." Said Martiniano. "I think the reason that we are not being hit as hard right now is because so many things are closed, and because so many people are staying at home." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Tracey Wilson, 53, a nurse practitioner in an intensive care unit (ICU), poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works. "I had a patient fall out of bed today and I had to call his wife and tell her and she couldn't come see him, even though she pleaded and begged to come see him," Wilson said. "There is a lot of unknowns and with that unknown is a lot of anxiety and stress that we're not used to dealing with." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Meghan Sheehan, 27, a nurse practitioner in an emergency department, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works. "I think the hardest moment has been the fear that lives within all of us. There is a lot of unknown right now. We fear what's going to happen tomorrow, how the emergency department will look next week when we come in. We have fears about our own colleagues, whether they will fall ill. We also fear that we could be asymptomatic carriers and bring this virus home to our families and our loved ones. There has been a lot of fear over our supplies and whether we'll run out. And then obviously there is the fear that we will see patients and not be able to do everything we normally can to help save patients' lives," Sheehan said. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Kimberly Bowers, 44, a nurse practitioner in an ICU, poses for a photograph after a 13-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moment was a young woman who died and her family wasn't able to be here with her," Bowers said. "I think right now, it's just frustrating and scary just not knowing what comes next." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Tiffany Fare, 25, a registered nurse who works at a biocontainment unit poses for a photograph after a 13-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works. "One of the hardest moments was having to see a family member of a Covid patient, say goodbye over an iPad, rooms away. That was a tough one, I can't imagine how hard it would be to be saying goodbye, you can't see your loved one and then they're gone," Fare said. "My team has been really great to me. We've worked really well together and we've really come together in this crisis. We don't really know each other, we all come from different units within the same hospital, so for us to come together and work so well as a team, it's been a journey but I think that's what is giving me hope." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Dr Kyle Fischer, 35, an emergency medicine doctor, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital where he works. "Since it's a new virus, we don't have any experience with it. For most diseases I am used to seeing it and taking care of it and this, I don't have any starting place. I know what I'm hearing from New York, I've read all of the papers it seems like, but no one knows what the correct answers are, so there's a huge amount of uncertainty and people are really, really sick. So it's hard to second guess whether or not you are doing the right thing when you think you are but you never quite know," said Fischer. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Julia Trainor, 23, a registered nurse at a surgical ICU, poses for a photograph after a 14-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moment was having to put a breathing tube in my patient who could no longer breathe for herself and after the breathing tube went in, we called her family and the husband, of course, couldn't visit her because of visitor restrictions at the hospital. So I had to put him on the phone and hold the phone to her ear, as he told her that he loved her so much and then I had to wipe away her tears as she was crying," said Trainor. "I'm used to seeing very sick patients and I'm used to patients dying but nothing quite like this. In the flip of a switch, without the support, they're completely isolated. They're very sick. Some of them recover and some of them don't. But the hardest part, I would think, is them having to go through this feeling like they are alone." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Lisa Mehring, 45, a registered nurse who works in a biocontainment unit with Covid-19 patients, poses for a photograph after a 12.5-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works in Maryland. "Seeing these new moms have babies has been the hardest moment along with having do their pumping for the new moms and them not being able to be with their newborn children, it's hard to think of the family that they are missing," Mehring said. Photos Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Jacqueline Hamil, 30, a registered nurse in an emergency department, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift outside the hospital. "The hardest moment of my shift today, I was in charge, and we had a really sick patient that was in a really, really small room and usually, when we have sick crashing patients, we can have a ton of resources and a ton of staff go in and help with the nurse and the doctors that are taking care of that patient. But due to the patient being ruled out for the coronavirus, we could only have five or six people in the room at a time and putting on all the gowns and gloves and masks and face shields to protect us in case the patient does have coronavirus, it takes a while, so the nurse that was in there, ended up being in the room for you know 6, 7 hours with minimal breaks and it was hard being in charge and knowing that she was stuck in the room and really nothing I could do to help her," Hamil said. Reuters The spike in cases comes just as the South Korean government was easing some social distancing restrictions and reopening schools and businesses. Official data released on Monday showed exports and imports suffered a precipitous decline in the first 10 days of May, underlining a bleak outlook for Asia's fourth largest economy. Seoul's education superintendent Cho Hee-yeon issued a statement proposing delaying the reopening of schools, which was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, by one week in light of the new outbreak. Technology firms Kakao Corp and Naver Corp suspended plans for employees to return to the office starting Monday, after two cases linked to the club outbreaks were reported at IT firm TmaxSoft, company spokespersons said. TmaxSoft said on Friday it had shut down its office near Seoul and would test all employees for Covid-19. The 69 cases reported by the KCDC over the past 48 hours were equivalent to the number of cases it recorded over the entire previous week. Still, KCDC director Jeong Eun-kyeong said while the outbreak was worrisome, it was not appropriate to call it a second wave just yet. The epidemic is ongoing, she said. Additional reporting by Reuters BELGRADE, Serbia - Serbias special police deployed on Monday to keep apart supporters of the populist government and the opposition, who were holding separate rallies in Belgrade amid heightened political tensions ahead of next months parliamentary election. Over a thousand pro-government demonstrators and few hundred opposition supporters attended the rallies outside parliament. Many participants were wearing face masks as a precaution against the new coronavirus, but nevertheless crowded quite close together despite social distancing rules. No incidents were reported between participants in the rival rallies. Some opposition groups in Serbia have announced a boycott of the forthcoming vote, saying it will not be free and fair because of President Aleksandar Vucics control over the mainstream media and lack of space for critical voices. Vucics supporters dispersed after he urged them in a televised address to do so. Vucic dismissed opposition calls for postponement of the election, saying the vote was already being held later than expected because of the pandemic. Tensions in Serbia have mounted after authorities imposed a state of emergency during the virus outbreak. Critics argue Vucic used the measures to tighten his grip on power, which he has denied. Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership, though Vucic has strengthened relations with Russia and China. Serbia has partially eased the coronavirus restrictions following a drop in reported cases. Barack Obama has a conflict of interest a personal stake in commenting on the ordeal of Michael Flynn and the Russia hoax in which it was embedded. One would never know it, however, from the ecstatic dissemination of the leak of his halting comments on the Department of Justices motion to dismiss the Flynn case. Jonathan Turley takes a headfirst dive into Obamas comments in President Obama Declares There Is No Precedent That Anybody Can Find For The Flynn Motion [He May Want To Call Eric Holder]. He also tweeted his column out with a dig at a prominent host of one of the Sunday morning gabfests (below). The larger scandal of the Russia hoax that Attorney General Barr is investigating is indeed unprecedented. It is by far far the biggest scandal in American political history. Stephanopoulos played Obama's statement without noting that he was wrong on charge and wrong on the lack of precedent. No one mentioned that Obama's DOJ dismissed a case in front of the same judge on the same basic groundshttps://t.co/UQ58aLDB6T Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 10, 2020 Professor Turley also comments on the case of Chuck Todd that I take up in a nearby post (below). Media company NZME has asked the New Zealand government to step in and approve its purchase of local online news publication Stuff despite the website's owner, Nine Entertainment Co, saying potential acquisition talks had ended. Nine and NZME both issued a number of market updates on Monday morning regarding recent talks, with NZME calling for "urgent" action from the New Zealand government to allow it to buy Stuff for the nominal sum of $1. Nine has been surprised by a last-ditch bid from fellow media company NZME for digital news outlet Stuff. Credit:Kate Geraghty Nine, which is also the publisher of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, first acquired Stuff through the company's 2018 merger with Fairfax Media, and the two parties had been in exclusive discussions since April 23 about NZME purchasing the local media company. In a note to investors, NZME said it had filed a clearance request with the New Zealand Commerce Commission over the transaction and was hoping for approval to be expedited. In this downturn, there is the looming collapse of many small businesses; potential losses in the commercial real estate sectors; a crisis in the funding of state and local governments that will most likely take years to play out; and a collapse of energy prices that could slow capital investment. These factors could hold back the economy even if theres a sharp rebound in employment as business life and public health return to normal. In any given quarter, that may net out to G.D.P. growth or contraction. But the end result may be less a sharp V-shaped recovery or gradual U-shaped cycle and more a very gradual return to health, like the Nike swoosh logo or something more like a tilde (~), the wavy punctuation mark. The potential for thousands, or even millions, of smaller businesses to close permanently stands out as a potential multiyear headwind to the economy. In a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, half of small business owners expected to be out of business within six months. If anything close to that failure rate were to materialize, it could take months or years for their workers to find new jobs. When businesses go under in normal times, or even in a typical recession, it can be part of a restorative process that keeps the economy dynamic shifting workers and other resources toward the highest-productivity purposes. Hong Kong: Unlawful assemblies condemned Police today condemned protesters for disregarding the Governments disease prevention and control measures and participating in or organising prohibited group gatherings on May 10. As of noon, Police issued fixed penalty tickets to 19 people for violating the Prevention & Control of Disease (Prohibition on Group Gathering) Regulation in various districts and arrested about 230 people. According to the regulation, group gatherings of more than eight people in any public place are prohibited. Starting yesterday afternoon, protesters gathered and chanted slogans at various shopping malls in Kowloon and on Hong Kong Island. At about 4pm, Police noticed that groups of people were gathering inside a shopping mall in Mong Kok. Police urged them to leave and conducted dispersal actions after giving numerous warnings in vain. At one point, officers deployed pepper rounds after they were surrounded by a group of people who ignored warnings. Later, Police intercepted protesters inside the shopping mall. A 22-year-old man was found to have materials purportedly for making petrol bombs, including gasoline, some towels and lighters. The man was arrested for possession of instrument fit for unlawful purpose and possession of dangerous drugs. At night, protesters continued to gather in Mong Kok, blocking roads and setting fires with miscellaneous objects. Given the severe epidemic situation, any group gathering may increase the risk of spreading COVID-19, Police stressed. Citizens are advised not to participate in any prohibited group gatherings. This story has been published on: 2020-05-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Rocket attacks against the Hemeimeem airbase, ground clashes in the northwest, Syrian planes denied landings in Europe and fuel subsidies ended. Catch up on everything that happened over the weekend. 1. On Saturday, opposition factions launched a Grad missile attack on the Hemeimeem military airbase in the coastal Lattakia region, sources told Zaman Al-Wasl. The attack on Russias main airbase in Syria was in retaliation to a new regime army attack in northern Idleb province, despite a ceasefire agreement. The Russian army has intercepted tens of missiles and has downed more than 60 drones deployed by rebels against its Hemeimeem airbase since 2019, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. 2. On Sunday, clashes in northwest Syria killed 22 regime fighters and jihadists, in the highest such death toll since the start of a two-month-old ceasefire there, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. But before dawn on Sunday, rebels attacked the positions of pro-regime fighters on the western flank of the jihadist-dominated region. The clashes in the al-Ghab Plain area killed 15 regime fighters as well as seven jihadists including from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Hurras al-Deen group, the Britain-based monitor said. Its the highest death toll for fighters since the truce came into force, said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman, who relies on sources inside Syria. 3. On Saturday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry announced that European Union countries did not grant Syrian aircraft permission to land at their airports to collect and return the Syrians to their homeland. Al-Watan quoted Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Ayman Sousan as saying that the ministry had taken measures to return Syrians from European Union countries, but that the latter had not been granted permits due to inhuman and illegal sanctions. He explained that the subject, is beset by many difficulties in light of the measures taken as a result of the outbreak of the coronavirus, from the closure of borders and restrictions of movement. 4. Syrias Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources announced Saturday a reduction in automobile fuel subsidies, the latest regime measure to tackle a deepening economic crisis Smart News reported. The ministry said it was revising down its fuel subsidies, excluding from its ration system users of cars with engines of 2,000cc or more, as well as owners of more than one car. Subsidized fuel is distributed through a smart card system, whereby smaller cars receive up to 100 litres (26 gallons) of fuel a month at 250 Syrian pounds a litre (36 cents per 0.25 gallons). 5. Jihadist rebels attempted to attack the largest Russian base in Syria on Saturday, prompting a fierce response from the Syrian Armed Forces in the Lattakia Governorate. According to Al-Masdar, the jihadists from the Rouse the Believers operations room fired a number of Grad rockets into the coastal governorate, with some of the projectiles targeting the vicinity of the Hemeimeem Airbase near Jableh. 6. Syrian opposition forces thwarted an incursion attempt by regime forces and allied militias in northern Idleb region, a military source told Zaman Al-Wasl Saturday. Bashar al-Assads forces pushed separately into the towns of Falaifel and Maarat Alia in the southern and eastern countryside. Turkish-backed fighters repulsed the attack, killing and wounding dozen, according to the source. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) and the Royal Navy Duke-class frigate HMS Kent (F78) conduct a replenishment-at-sea in the Barents Sea while training in the Arctic Circle on May 5, 2020. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Lauren Spaziano/Released) US Navy Ships Complete First Exercises in Barents Sea Since Cold War The first U.S. Navy ships since the Cold War to sail into the Barents Sea in Russias maritime backyard have completed seven days of exercises with a British frigate. The Barents Sea lies between the Norwegian and Russian coasts in the Arctic. The Arctic is an important region and our naval forces operate there, including the Barents Sea, to ensure the security of commerce and demonstrate freedom of navigation in that complex environment, Adm. James G. Foggo III, commander of the Naval Forces Europe and Africa, said in a May 8 statement. Our operations with the UK demonstrate the strength, flexibility, and commitment of the NATO Alliance to freedom of navigation throughout the Arctic and all European waters. Three U.S. destroyers entered the Barents Sea on May 4 together with the British Navy ship. The exercises reflect a growing U.S. strategic interest in the Arctic and also follow a two-year pivot in military strategy to counter Russia and China. The U.S. Navy said in an earlier statement that it had notified the Russian Ministry of Defense three days before the exercises. The notification was made in an effort to avoid misperceptions, reduce risk, and prevent inadvertent escalation, the statement said. According to the Navy, the ships are applying lessons learned from recent operations in the Arctic as they try to improve the ability to handle cold weather conditions. The Royal Navy Type-23 Duke-class frigate HMS Kent (F78), front, and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) conduct joint operations to ensure maritime security in the Arctic Ocean on May 5, 2020. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of the Royal Navy/Dan Rosenbaum/Released) The USS Harry Truman sailed to the Arctic Circle in 2018the first aircraft carrier to patrol there since the Cold War. That carrier visit also broke with the previous clockwork cycles of deploymentshowcasing a new strategy known as dynamic force employment. Dynamic employment follows the demands of the 2018 National Defense Strategy for the military to be strategically predictable, but operationally unpredictable, Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, previously told The Epoch Times. U.S. allies and adversaries know that U.S. forces will be deployed overseas and will respond quickly if theres a crisis. But day-to-day, they wont know whether U.S. force deployments are going to happen. Russia has been building its military presence in the Arctic alongside infrastructure investments to capitalize on the potential opening up of the frozen northeast passage between the Arctic circle and the mainland. Russia has gradually strengthened its presence by creating new Arctic units, refurbishing old airfields and infrastructure in the Arctic, and establishing new military bases along its Arctic coastline, a Pentagon report on the Arctic (pdf) stated last year. There is also a concerted effort to establish a network of air defense and coastal missile systems, early warning radars, rescue centers, and a variety of sensors. Russia has been investing in nine nuclear-powered ice-breakers, with Beijing pushing to partner up with Russia in opening up trade routes through the ice. Beijing has increasingly tried to thrust its way into the Arctic geopolitical stakes, despite having no territorial claim, according to the State Department. It claims that its interests in the Arctic are focused on access to natural resources and the opportunities offered by Arctic sea routes for shipping, a senior official told reporters during a briefing on U.S. Arctic strategy last month. And as you all probably know, it outlined plans in 2018 to develop a Polar Silk Road, claimed it was a near-Arctic state, and signaled its intention to play a more active role in Arctic governance. Ahead of a meeting of the Arctic Council last year, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was ramping up its Arctic presence to keep Beijing in check. Chinas pattern of aggressive behavior elsewhere will inform how it treats the Arctic, he said. Do we want the Arctic Ocean to transform into a new South China Sea, fraught with militarization and competing territorial claims? The first part of the Children and Family Relationships Act (parts two and three) was commenced a few days ago. It deals with IVF, among other things, but it did not include any law relating to surrogacy. This is an arrangement whereby a woman, known as the surrogate, agrees to carry a child for another. At birth, the other person becomes the parent. The intended parent may be a woman, man or a couple. It is strange that this troubling area of reproduction was avoided, since many other countries have tackled it, despite the controversy surrounding it. Two types of surrogacy exist. The traditional method uses the woman's own egg for conception, making her the biological mother of the baby. It is overwhelmingly achieved with donor sperm, usually from the father of the intended parents. The second, more recent, and also by far the more common, is gestational surrogacy. The refers to pregnancy using an embryo conceived in a petri dish and implanted by IVF. Most surrogacy is commercial and the fees vary according to the country in which it takes place. The clinics handle all the financial and medical arrangements. Costs range from 30,000 to 150,000. For this reason, many regard surrogacy as a rent-a-womb business, accessible only to the rich. Names like Kim Kardashian and Elton John spring to mind, with both of them having children born to surrogates. Occasionally, arrangements are made that do not involve any financial transaction with the surrogate apart from expenses. This is known as altruistic surrogacy. The surrogate is usually a close relative, who carries the baby to term. Traditional surrogacy has been practised for centuries and was mentioned in the 'Bible'. In the book of Genesis, Abraham and his wife Sarah were childless, and his wife gave her servant Hagar to Abraham, and said "sleep with my maid servant; perhaps I can build a family through her". Many countries have now banned all surrogacy. These include Sweden, Italy, Spain, Germany and France, to name but a few. Belgium, Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland allow altruistic surrogacy, where the surrogate is not paid or is only paid reasonable expenses. In this country, it is not underpinned by any law. India, once known as a rent-a-womb haven, banned commercial surrogacy in 2016 and only allows altruistic surrogacy under very strict conditions. The Netherlands have also established a strict law that severely limits altruistic surrogacy. Countries that allow commercial surrogacy include Russia, Ukraine, Mexico, Nepal and many states in the US. California is the most surrogacy-friendly place on the planet, with clinics now advertising "social surrogacy" for women without any fertility problems who want children but simply do not wish to be pregnant or to jeopardise their careers by taking time out. And for those wanting to dupe others into thinking they are pregnant, fake "baby bumps" are available for the different stages of gestation. The issues raised by surrogacy are profoundly ethically and legally complex. The knee-jerk reaction is to suggest that surrogacy presents a compassionate and progressive solution for those unable to have children; it's just another type of modern family, encompassing those with certain fertility problems or who cannot biologically carry a baby, such as gay men. But this view is questioned not only by the so-called "right" and religious, but also by feminists and human rights groups. The arguments against surrogacy are based on its exploitative nature, since it is invariably poor women who turn to this as a means of procuring money. Reproduction of this nature has been outsourced to poorer nations and Ukraine is now a favoured destination. Supporters argue that this is mutually beneficial and that it is engaged in by both parties for a good end. Yet many women are coerced into this by husbands and much of the money is gobbled up by the middle-man in the fertility clinic. The surrogate also runs the risk of health problems associated with any pregnancy. The most profound argument, however, is the commodification of human life inherent in surrogacy - choosing the egg of an attractive woman or the sperm of a man with film-star good looks from a brochure, not to mention selecting their sex and skin colour, is utterly utilitarian. A baby should never be regarded as a faulty product if it fails to meet the specifications of the parents, yet this is what surrogacy enables. A troubling legal case around this in 2014 resulted in the near-total ban on surrogacy in Thailand. But some will say, what about altruistic surrogacy? If a relative wishes to assist a family member, what's so wrong about that? As Kajsa Ekis Ekman wrote in the 'Guardian' in 2016 "(the woman) is still used as a vessel, even if told she is an angel. The only thing she gets is the halo of altruism which is a very low price for the effort and can only be attractive in a society where women are valued for how much they sacrifice, not what they achieve". This is still exploitation. Countries as diverse and India and Germany have banned all surrogacy. We should have the courage to join them. Ultimately, the means do not justify the end, where human lives are concerned. Patricia Casey is consultant psychiatrist in the Mater Hospital and Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at UCD The West Australian government has come under increasing pressure to alleviate more restrictions for struggling businesses, with zero new cases recorded overnight. The states total still stands at 552 cases, of which only seven remain active four in hospital, and only one of those in ICU. WA Health Minister Roger Cook says 97 per cent of the recorded COVID-19 cases have recovered but living with coronavirus was the 'new normal'. Premier Mark McGowan announced on Sunday a plan to allow cafes, bars, restaurants and pubs to reopen with a maximum of 20 people, with one every four-square-metres, on May 18. Even hairdressers are permitted to operate again. But many businesses, like beauty salons, are still waiting for the green light to reopen. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Despite some easing of the restrictions imposed to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak in Gaza and the West Bank, mosques will remain closed and public gatherings banned during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which lasts from April 24 to May 23. The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced the closure of all West Bank mosques on March 17, and Hamas followed suit in Gaza on March 24, and the two governments had previously announced the closure of all halls and public markets earlier in March. During an April 24 press conference in Ramallah, PA spokesman Ibrahim Melhem stressed the need for residents to perform their Ramadan religious and social rites at home. Although visits to relatives and iftars (breaking of the daily fast) are the norm during Ramadan, he noted that doing so this year threatened to broaden the spread of COVID-19. Melhem stressed that the government is counting on citizen awareness of the relevant restrictions and everyone abiding by them. On April 22 in an interview with Al-Aqsa TV, Iyad al-Bazm, spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Gaza, emphasized how COVID-19 has necessitated implementing certain measures that have changed the atmosphere surrounding Ramadan and its customs. He expressed the hope that people will understand and cooperate with the competent authorities, as both are much needed. Bazm added that the police will be monitoring places where people are expected to gather, such as shops and restaurants, to prevent overcrowding and to enforce health safety measures. Al-Monitor tried to contact Louay Zureikat, police spokesman on the West Bank, to inquire about police plans for Ramadan but got no response. On April 26, the Economy Ministry in Gaza announced the reopening of restaurants in cases where social distancing can be ensured and employees take the necessary measures to avoid the possible spread of the coronavirus. Bazm had said in his TV interview that with the start of Ramadan, which began April 24, all workers must observe the safety and preventative measures issued by the Interior Ministry and shops must provide masks and sanitizer for customers in malls and commercial centers. The Gaza and West Bank governing authorities face considerable challenges as they try to stem the spread of the coronavirus during Ramadan. As of May 10, the number of infected people in Palestine Stands 547, including 20 in Gaza. Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman for the Health Ministry in Gaza, told Al-Monitor that the first two coronavirus infections in the enclave had been confirmed on March 22. For Ramadan, the ministry launched a campaign under the banner Stay at Home. If residents want to go out for necessities, he said, they have to wear masks and respect social distancing as much as possible. Regular hand washing is also advised. Breaching these rules puts the entire society at risk, Qidra said. If the measures are violated, it could have severe consequences, as Gaza has [one of] the highest population densities in the world. He remarked that Ramadan will be better for everyone if everybody abides by the suggested preventive measures. He added that his ministry's Health Education Department is working around the clock in partnership with several media outlets to educate residents through public service announcements and broadcast interviews. Qidra called on Gazans to forgo big family banquets this Ramadan, adding, The epidemic could affect anyone. There may be people carrying the virus without them showing any symptoms. Ali Hawas, a Gaza City resident, remarked to Al-Monitor on how this Ramadan is completely different for him and his family, noting that the customary feasts will be limited to first-degree relatives, without friends, neighbors and colleagues as usual. There is nothing wrong with visiting our relatives so long as we take the necessary preventive measures, he said, since a full lockdown has not been imposed. Instead of praying in mosques, Hawas said, his family has allocated a room in their house for praying. The most difficult part of Ramadan this year is being deprived of the Tarawih prayers at the mosque. These prayers add a lot of charm to Ramadan. Tarawih are nightly group prayers held only during the month of Ramadan. Amal Saleh from Jenin, on the West Bank, told Al-Monitor that her family usually relies on ready-made food during Ramadan, but not this year. As a precautionary measure, we have decided to prepare our food at home and abstain from buying any ready-made food, she said. In addition, her family has decided to send iftar meals to their relatives instead of inviting them over. They too have designated a corner in the house for group prayers instead of going to the mosque. Alaa al-Barghouthi, who lives in Ramallah, explained that her five uncles live in the same building and have dedicated an outdoor area for praying together while observing the recommended safety measures. As for herself, Instead of going out to the market and breaking my fast in restaurants, I will be spending my time reading, watching TV and learning some culinary arts, she added. The Allahabad High Court on Monday sought details from the Uttar Pradesh authorities about the medical facilities being provided at eleven government hospitals in the district to meet the challenge posed by the coronavirus outbreak. The bench of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Siddhartha Verma told the state government to give reply by May 14, the next date of hearing. The HC issued directions four days after it took cognisance of a letter addressed to the chief justice, raising the issue of the death of a coronavirus patient, who allegedly succumbed to the infection due to laxity in treatment. The 11 hospitals about which the court has sought information are SRN Hospital; Prathamik Chikitsalaya Kendra; Duffrin Hospital; Colvin Hospital; Kamla Nehru Hospital; SN Children Hospital; Sardar Patel Memorial; TB Sapru Hospital; TB Hospital; Rajkiya Medical Care Unit and the Government Hospital. The HC bench asked the state government to tell if the hospitals have facilities like ICUs, dialysis units, ventilators and mobile X-ray machines. The court further asked the state government to inform it about the number of qualified doctors and nurses working in these hospital. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Movie theaters in the UK will not be able to reopen their doors before July 4, the UK government said in its plan to bring business back from COVID-19. Cinemas are classified as leisure facilities in the document published Monday and are included as part of Step Three of the reopening plan alongside pubs, hair salons, food service providers and places of worship. However, these higher risk businesses hoping to reopen need to meet the COVID-19 Secure Guidelines, which are expected to be unveiled this week. Also Read: Film, TV Production in Czech Republic Can Resume Under Safety Guidelines Some venues which are, by design, crowded and where it may prove difficult to enact distancing may still not be able to re-open safely at this point, or may be able to open safely only in part, the government says in its plan. Nevertheless the Government will wish to open as many businesses and public places as the data and information at the time allows. The document warns that some inherently crowded venues will not be allowed to safely reopen, and other venues might go through phased and pilot reopenings in order to gauge their ability to adopt new guidelines. The UK Cinema Association, which operates 90% of the countrys movie theaters, told Variety last week that it was targeting late June as a time when cinemas would be ready to reopen but added on Monday that they accepted the new timeline laid out by the government. A representative for the UK Cinema Association did not immediately respond to TheWrap for comment. Also Read: How Texas' Reopened Movie Theaters Suggest a Post-Pandemic Future (Video) The Government will also monitor carefully the effects of re-opening other similar establishments elsewhere in the world, as this happens, the document reads. The Government will establish a series of task forces to work closely with stakeholders in these sectors to develop ways in which they can make these businesses and public places COVID-19 Secure. The UK has seen over 223,000 coronavirus cases and just over 32,000 deaths from the disease. Read original story UK Cinemas to Remain Closed Until At Least July 4, Government Says At TheWrap white as snow, the subtle shades of brown: What is Arctic Fox and snow Bunny can is also a master of the moorland snow chicken (Lagopus lagopus). By adjusting the Outfit of the Season, it remains always well camouflaged. But recently, the climate change makes him a dash through the bill. What time is the Moor ptarmigan changes its plumage, depends on the length of the day. When the Winter is coming later and leaving earlier, faced the white birds are, therefore, often with a snow-free environment. Most striking, they are likely to be to prey more easily. It was confirmed this presumption now of Finnish researchers led by Markus Melin and Katja icons from the Natural Resources Institute Finland in Joensuu. In their research, the scientists focused on the southern Population of the bog schneehuhns. In contrast to the Northern Population, the romps in the treeless Tundra areas of the southern in the Finnish forest home. More precisely, populated you Moore, are surrounded by forest. To make these, by nature, largely tree-free areas of the forest used for agriculture, were drained between the fifties and eighties of the last century, more than eighty percent of the bog Woodland and planted. Under this change in black grouse and capercaillie had to suffer, but most of the moorland snow chicken. It's no wonder that this bird in the forests of Finland increasingly rar made. That, since the nineties, alongside economic and ecological points increasingly play a role, has stopped the destruction of the forest of Moore. In addition, were re-wetted by the year 2013 two hundred square kilometres of dry-laid Moor again. The associated hope that the moorland snow chicken breed in the newly created biotopes, again, is not fulfilled, however. Although the hunting of these chickens birds has been restricted or even banned completely, the decline in Population further. In search of the decisive cause, were able to draw the researchers working with Melin on the counts of a twenty year Monitoring program. The frequency of Fox and pine marten, to have it apart, sometimes the moorland snow chicken, was included in the analysis. Information about the local snow height of the Finnish meteorological Institute provided. ptarmigan in summer colors The number of days without Snow cover proved to be the only factor that influences the number of the moorland snow chicken in the following year significantly. As Melin and his colleagues in the "Scientific Reports", the reports showed that their model accounts, that the Population per snow shrinks the open day in April to about three percent. Since it is now only a single day, but sometimes more than ten, this connection is alarming. Although an early snow melt has the advantage that the moorland snow chicken berries easier access to moss and other tidbits to come. If you wear a completely white plumage, stands out clearly from the brown Moor, the but fatal. Already in the thirties, when the southern Population of the bog schneehuhns had decreased after a few unusually short winters rapidly, are gripping get birds like the Goshawk in suspicion. Because prey animals, which differ in color considerably from your environment, it is expected this fall, sharp-eyed hunters, particularly in the eye. Updated Date: 27 June 2020, 12:21 We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. This includes cookies from third party social media websites and ad networks. Such third party cookies may track your use on Sharedots sites for better rendering. Our partners use cookies to ensure we show you advertising that is relevant to you. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on Sharedots website. However, you can change your cookie settings at any time. Learn more How Loving are the two L at the friendship altar intertwined. As a sign of intimate ties of sand stone block, it should be understood that the crown Prince couple of Louis X., and Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt established in 1783, high above the Prince camp in Bensheim-Auerbach, dedicated to true friendship: "A la vraie amitie". It was this point of view, in the spirit of sensitivity to the deep gorge at the edge of the mountain road to revive, after hopeful plans, a 1739 discovered the source of the "Gesundbrunnen" to expand, absent-lack of healing power on top were. However, you should have, of all things, cast the ailing Ludwig true miracle which added that the proximity to the water responded to the Ideal, to live in the sense of Rousseau's in harmony with nature. According to the Landgrave used and later a large pair of Duke a comparatively modest effort, if it moved since the Regency acquisition 1790 summer to the Prince's camp. The servants lived in the same shaped mansard houses of the village, somewhat removed from the two-story mansion, which is today used as a restaurant. A bit strange to him was the General overhaul of the entire, today, by the administration of palaces and gardens, supervised facility, after decades in the yellowish-brown look, the grey white of all the buildings over strips. By storms and torn gaps As a stroke of luck for the authenticity of the architectural and horticultural architecture of the receipt of the original plans proved to himself and to the earlier drawings. Also in 1990, due to severe storms cracked gaps were used, to correspond with the planting of poplars and Linden is the Original. Only the exotic trees and shrubs mainly originating from the fashionable train of the sixties of the 19th century. Century, to ennoble Parks with Ginkgos, cypress, or Redwood trees. The oldest and, today, with 55 meters is probably the largest in Europe, came in 1852 as a gift from the English Royal house to the Prince's camp, a term that weiland of the people's mouth shaped. The population was allowed to enter the 42 acre site and the manorial family in the "Camps" to watch in the small permanent exhibition in the so-called Pise or Fremdenbau at the lower input is to be read. Even between the children, no contact position lock. directions not So, it follows from Bensheim train station in the Roden Steiner road (B 3 and B 47) is equal to the left leads straight to the station road in the traffic-calmed town centre, with its noble farms and half-timbered buildings. Is dominated by the neoclassical Church of St. George. Updated Date: 26 June 2020, 20:19 Better a Covidiot than a Covid Nazi By Thomas M. Sipos I saw this graffiti on a sidewalk in Los Angeles: "Covid-19 is real! Trust the experts, not the perverts!" Translation: If you refuse to panic, you're an enemy of science. You're on the side of "perverts" -- by which I assume the author means Trump and his supporters. I saw leaflets posted on palm trees: "Hey covidiots! This is what you look like without a mask!" Below the words, a caricature of a grotesque man sneezing vast amounts of phlegm. Translation: If you're too selfish to wear a mask to protect others, do it for selfish reasons -- so others won't know how ugly you look. Covidiot is a portmanteau of Covid and idiot. If you disregard the panic-mongers, and want to end this economic lockdown, then you're a covidiot. There's hatred in that word. Hatred behind that graffiti and those leaflets. The authors have lost their patience with you. Covidiots are monsters, spreading a deadly virus. This is not open to disagreement or debate. Free speech is dangerous. To the gulags with you! I've seen the hate in the faces of pro-lockdown protesters. Alleged health care workers, wearing masks and dark glasses, arms crossed, blocking cars in the streets. Grim faces and belligerent stances. An online commentator suggested they were not actual health care workers. Anyone can rent a green smock. Antifa, perhaps? I understand the masks, by why the ubiquitous dark glasses? Everything in modern America soon devolves into partisan politics, especially when touched by Trump. It's not his fault. It's a symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Even after Trump opposed sending troops into Syria, the Left called him a fascist. What sort of fascist wants to recall troops from foreign countries? Now Trump wants to reopen the economy. So anyone who agrees is a Trumpster, a Covidiot, an Enemy of the People. Mayor Bill DeBlasio urged New Yorkers to inform on people who violate social distancing. Those are Soviet tactics. And a recent Rasmussen poll showed that 36% of Americans are happy to oblige. They must love feeling like a Bolshevik cell block leader. Remember the scene in Dr. Zhivago, when a sour-faced block warden bullies the good doctor, daring him to disagree with her? That's how Covid Nazis must feel. Covid Nazi is the right term. While Nazi initially referred to National Socialists, popular usage has expanded its meaning to include any controlling bully or petty tyrant. Consider Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi," a chef who required customers to stand in designated spots, and use approved phrases, when buying his soup, or be banished from his eatery. In Britain, it's now customary for the entire nation to applaud the National Health Service every Thursday at 8 p.m. It's called "Clap for Carers." An act of revolutionary solidarity against the virus, I suppose. People once feared not applauding Stalin. Today, Covid Nazis are monitoring who's not clapping for carers. One woman was publicly shamed on Facebook for not joining in. As small businesses and the middle class suffer from this lockdown, many globalists, oligarchs, elite -- call them what you will -- are reaping huge profits. Governments don't spend trillions of bailout money without much of it going to those with well-connected lobbyists. Like the Patriot Act, the CARES Act passed so quickly, it's as if special interests had it all written out, years in advance, just waiting for the right crisis. But far below the crony capitalists are the useful idiots of the Deep State, who think they're fighting the very rulers who are pulling their strings. Move-On, Occupy Wall Street, Antifa, and Covid Nazis. Petty thugs who live to bully, preferably with a veneer of moral justification. And in secular society, such justification comes from political and social causes. Think of all the bullying regular folks endure from in-your-face activists, shrieking that they're only harassing you "to save the environment" or "to help the children." Now it's to save humanity from COVID-19 extinction. Even children enjoy being bullies. What brat doesn't want to be Greta Thurnberg? Sassing off to adults always feels good, and doing it to fight Big Tobacco or climate change gives brats license to be as rude and mouthy as they like. Brats not only have permission to call adults covidiots. Teachers, politicians, and media stars praise them for it. If you're not panicking, and ready to burn down the economy and surrender your Constitutional liberties to fight COVID-19, then you are robbing the children of their future. Yes, I know. Global cooling, nuclear war, nuclear power, Alar, Acid Rain, AIDS, global warming, and rising sea levels should have already killed us all by now. But this time for sure. Thomas M. Sipos is the author of Vampire Nation, a horror satire about Communists. His website is http://www.CommunistVampires.com/ Home Mary McCord was an acting assistant attorney general at the Justice Department ("DOJ"). In that capacity, she was on the Flynn case in January 2017 when the FBI was trying to "prosecute him or get him fired." On August 10, 2017, the FBI interviewed McCord about those events and prepared a Form 302 reflecting that interview. In its Motion to Dismiss Flynn, the DOJ relied heavily upon McCord's factual statements in the 302. On Sunday, the New York Times published McCord's lengthy opinion piece taking umbrage at the fact that the DOJ relied upon her facts to reach conclusions different than those she would have drawn. It's unnerving to think a career DOJ attorney would be incapable of distinguishing between facts and conclusions or unable to recognize that the same facts can lead to different conclusions. She seems not to understand that a person analyzing the facts who is not blinded by bias or groupthink (both of which affected McCord) might reach conclusions different from hers. McCord's Times piece is too long to deconstruct in full here. A few examples should be enough to show how muddled and prejudiced her thinking is. To understand the examples, there are a few pertinent facts you need to remember: Robert Mueller, despite his best efforts, was unable to find any hint that Trump or his team colluded with Russia. Indeed, the FBI knew in January 2017 that there was no Russian collusion. Regarding General Flynn, by January 4, 2017, the FBI knew that Flynn had not had any dirty dealings with Russia and was prepared to close his file. FBI management used the Kislyak call to justify keeping the file open. Flynn's call to Kislyak was an appropriate call for an incoming national security adviser to make. Moreover, Flynn knew that it was overheard, so he had no incentive to lie to anybody about it. Now to just a few of McCord's gripes... In her fourth paragraph, McCord complains that nothing she said in the 302 supported Barr's decision to dismiss the case. Carefully reading that 302 establishes that the DOJ accurately reported her factual statements. Thus, she's arguing only that her factual statements led her to a different conclusion from Barr's. Lawyering 101, however, teaches that "facts are stubborn things" but that the conclusions depend on the applicable law as the judge (or the new boss) interprets it. In her sixth paragraph, McCord complains that Barr did not argue that the FBI had committed constitutional violations when it interviewed Flynn on January 24. Instead, the DOJ made a very narrow argument that focuses solely on materiality. (McCord probably didn't mean to point out that the facts readily support myriad constitutional and statutory arguments, but that's nonetheless what she did.) What McCord misses is that choosing which argument to make is a matter of both strategy and tactics. As head of the DOJ, Barr might not have wanted to accuse an institution that reports to him of committing such flagrant constitutional violations. Or possibly, with John Durham engaging in a criminal investigation, it may have been necessary for Barr to hold his fire. No matter the reason for Barr's decision, the lack of materiality exists, making it an easy and eminently winnable argument. Where McCord really goes astray is her claim that Flynn's falsehoods were material. She contends that Flynn lied to Pence, leading the Russians to believe either that Pence was involved in or the dupe of a conspiracy. What McCord doesn't realize is that it's her argument that is immaterial, for two reasons. First, there was no Russian conspiracy! Her argument matters only if Flynn or anyone else had been conspiring with the Russians. No one was and the FBI knew by January 4 that Flynn was not. That means that any misstatements he made, whether to Pence or the FBI, were irrelevant, not criminal. The conspirators' hope to use the Logan Act to elevate the Kislyak call to a criminal act only confirms that the FBI knew that Flynn was not conspiring with the Russians. Second, there's a difference between lying to Pence and lying to the FBI. Recall that Flynn was prosecuted for lying to the FBI. However, any misstatements Flynn made to the agents interviewing him were immaterial because (a) the agents had the transcript and knew the truth, so nothing derailed their investigation, and (b) the agents agreed at the time that Flynn wasn't lying. If he said something inaccurate, it was done innocently and could not be a material lie to the FBI. McCord is a dullard, for only someone with no understanding of law or logic would argue as she does. Alternatively, McCord is not a dullard at all. Instead, she's simply another arrow in the quiver of a panicked Democrat establishment desperately working to destroy Barr to protect itself. Given her long career, for me to have some semblance of respect for the DOJ as an institution, I almost hope it's the latter. A 72-year-old woman was killed by her grandson in Kaiyani village in Kaiti, Makueni County,Kenya the area police boss Timothy Maina has confirmed. Following the murder, Muendo Kianga (52), Elizabeth Muendo (46) and their son Musembi Muendo (24) were arrested on Saturday evening and are assisting investigations in connection with the murder. However, Maina said after interrogation, the grandson, Musembi, confessed that on Monday, May 4, 2020 at 8pm, he bludgeoned his grandmother, Ndula Kianga, to death and concealed the body in a shallow grave within his parents home. The suspect used a thick stick to hit the woman on the head, killing her. He voluntarily led the police to the said grave where the body was retrieved together with the murder weapon, said Maina while speaking to Kenya News Agency on telephone on Sunday morning. He said the Iuani Location chief reported the incident to the police. The police boss said the suspects are being held at the Makueni Police Station and will be arraigned to face murder charges once investigations are completed. The body of the deceased was taken to the Makueni Level 5 Hospital mortuary for preservation awaiting postmortem. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates HORIZON CITY, Texas A 29-year-old Texas man has been arrested, accused of making online threats that included a photo of a weapon and a reference to Walmart, the FBI said Saturday. The FBI said it received a tip on Thursday evening about a social media post with a picture of a weapon and some of the text reading #watchoutwalmartimcoming #droplikeflys. Alex R. Barron, 29, of Horizon City was identified as the owner of the account, the FBI said. Barron was arrested Friday evening. Horizon City is located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of El Paso, where a shooter on Aug. 3, 2019, opened fire at a Walmart. Twenty-three people were killed in the attack targeting Latinos, including a man who died last month from his injuries. The suspect in that shooting is awaiting trial. Barron is expected to have an initial court appearance in El Paso before a U.S. magistrate judge on Monday. Anyone who makes a social media post threatening be a potential active shooter should expect to be identified and prosecuted, said Special Agent in Charge Luis M. Quesada. Barron was being held in El Paso County jail on Saturday. Jail records did not list an attorney for him. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor No flop here. Flip or Flop star Tarek El Moussa has successfully sold his Costa Mesa, CA, home for over asking price, the Los Angeles Times reported. Listed in February 2019 for $2,574,900, the modern farmhouse-style residence closed for $2,705,000, delivering the reality TV star a profit on his investment. Its also a bump from the $2,280,000 the well-known home flipper paid for the property in 2018. El Moussa paired with his girlfriend, listing agent Heather Rae Young of the Oppenheim Group, to represent the listing. Young stars in the Netflix real estate series Selling Sunset. Tarek El Moussa's home in Costa Mesa, CA realtor.com Living room with fireplace realtor.com Dining room realtor.com Kitchen realtor.com Master suite realtor.com Pool realtor.com Covered patio realtor.com Built in 2015, the home, which covers just over 3,000 square feet, features an open living and dining space with vaulted ceilings and bi-fold glass doors that open completely to the living space outside. The white kitchen features a huge island with seating, stainless-steel appliances, and a wine fridge. The grounds also include a pool and spa, a covered patio, fire pit, and bar. Inside, the four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms include an owners suite with exposed wood beam ceilings and an en suite bathroom, with a free-standing tub and walk-in steam shower. Glass sliding doors open out out to the pool. In addition, the automated smart home includes room controls and surround sound throughout the interior and exterior, as well as an electric car charging station in the oversized garage. El Moussa, 38, apparently added some of his trademark touches, sprucing up the fireplace in the living room and the marble counter in the kitchen. He's the star of the HGTV hit Flip or Flop, which follows his work buying and fixing up distressed properties in Orange County for a profit. He and his ex-wife, Christina Anstead, still host the show together. The ninth season will air in August. El Moussa and Anstead split publicly in 2016 and finalized their divorce in 2018, the year he bought this Costa Mesa home. Meanwhile, El Moussa announced earlier this year that he and Young have moved in together, after splitting their time between homes in Orange County and West Hollywood. Then last month, he announced that the couple had moved. We look forward to his next project. When different regions in the United States of America had implemented an order for the widespread postponement of the operations of nonessential businesses, either a business is classified as essential or nonessential, both have been struggling to survive amid the pandemic. Essential Businesses According to an article, the classification of businesses as either essential or nonessential is different in every state. Some of the typical businesses classified as essential businesses are grocery businesses and other businesses that offer medical and emergency services. As those businesses that were classified as an essential business were allowed to continue their operation amid the coronavirus pandemic, businesses that were classified as nonessential were ordered to temporarily discontinue their operations as the world continues to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Reopening As many states plan to reopen businesses to normal soon and others have already partly opened, businesses are now coming up ways to set up a new normal for everyone, including company staff safety requirements such as wearing personal protective equipment. These personal protective equipment include face masks and gloves. Customers will also be given rules to follow, such as the requirement for them to wear face masks or with other types of personal protective equipment, observance of social distancing, and other essential requirements deemed by the local government necessary to protect residents from the coronavirus. Tips for Businesses That Will Reopen Soon If you are the owner of a business which were deemed by your city or state as a nonessential business and will be reopening soon, according to an article here are some tips for you to reopen successfully: Rehiring Your Team As many people lost their jobs through the massive layoffs that occurred in the country caused by the closing or postponement of many business operations in the country amid the pandemic, it will be a challenge for businesses to get their employees back after the reopening of businesses. Those employees had already applied and received their unemployment benefits. Many of these employees will be hesitant to report back to work due to the health threats of the COVID-19. Aside from the protective equipment for employees, employers should employ benefits and other pay that supports staff against the coronavirus. Review Your Supplier List Even if you go back to business, some of those who supply you with your needed raw materials or products may have failed to go back to business. It is best to review and contact your supplier list and contact them. Ask them if they can still provide the resources you need for your business. This will help you find other suppliers who can fill the gaps that your former suppliers may have left open. Check these out: Manage Your Expenses Reopening means you have to spend a few dollars to bring back your business to operate normally before it was asked to close temporarily amid the coronavirus crisis. Since you have not been operating for weeks, you have no extra earnings to spare. You will be using what was left from the business's coffers before the orders to close were released. You have to be very careful at handling your funds because it can affect your business' revenue-earning capacity. British Airways' owner could slash thousands more jobs as the airline industry faces its 'greatest crisis'. IAG has already announced plans to axe 12,000 staff at BA after the Covid-19 outbreak forced it to ground most of its planes. Chief executive Willie Walsh yesterday said those job cuts were part of a 'group-wide restructuring' that is 'not specific to BA'. Warning: Willie Walsh said job cuts were part of a 'group-wide restructuring' that is 'not specific to BA' The comments to MPs on the transport committee raised the prospect of similar action at IAG's other airlines, Aer Lingus, Vueling and Spanish flag carrier Iberia. Walsh warned the MPs that some airlines will not survive because they were 'poorly run' and 'weren't viable' even before the pandemic. Walsh said: 'I wish every airline well in the current environment. 'I hope to see many of them come through this. I firmly believe that not all of them will, because many of them were poorly run and quite honestly weren't viable in good times. 'I can't see how they would be viable with the changing environment we're all facing.' Walsh denied IAG was 'picking on' BA. He said: 'It's not specific to British Airways. 'It's group-wide restructuring in the face of the greatest crisis that the airline industry and the airlines within IAG have faced. 'We're not doing anything that we don't think is absolutely necessary to secure the survival of British Airways, and we're doing exactly the same with the other airlines in the group, complying with the law as it is in the countries in which we operate.' IAG fell 2.9 per cent, or 5.5p, to 184.95p. Weather Alert .An arctic cold front will move across the region on Wednesday, causing rain to change to snow Wednesday afternoon and evening. ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 6 AM CST THURSDAY... * WHAT...Mixed precipitation expected. Total snow accumulations of one to two inches and ice accumulations of a light glaze. * WHERE...Portions of southwest Indiana, western Kentucky and southern Illinois. * WHEN...From 4 PM Wednesday to 6 AM CST Thursday. * IMPACTS...Plan on slippery road conditions. The hazardous conditions could impact the evening commute, especially along the Ohio River. The transition from rain to a wintry mix and snow may not occur closer to the Tennessee border areas until after 7 PM CST. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...The combination of gusty winds, falling temperatures and wind chills, and falling snow will cause hazardous travel. Freezing of residual moisture on roads from rain earlier Wednesday could also cause some icing of roadways. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Slow down and use caution while traveling. && Hours after state officials reported that the coronavirus death toll in New Jersey had increased by another 140 as of Sunday, Newark officials announced that one of the latest casualties was a veteran city police officer. Sgt. Michael Clegg, who served with the Newark Police Department for 27 years, died of coronavirus complications Sunday at Overlook Medical Center in Summit. The statewide death toll now stands at 9,255, with 138,532 confirmed cases around New Jersey. While Gov. Phil Murphy didnt hold an in-person briefing Sunday, he will hold a 1 p.m. update Monday and then preside over a virtual town hall to discuss police response to the pandemic today at 4 p.m. Around the nation, officials continue to debate reopening plans amid the global health crisis. With more states moving to lift lockdown measures and residents returning to public spaces, a university health metrics model is now forecasting more than 137,000 American deaths by early August. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage Dr. Anthony Fauci and two other members of the White Houses coronavirus task force will testify before the Senate via video conference about the governments response to the virus, officials announced Sunday. The precaution for the Tuesday hearing comes as all three decide to self-quarantine after coming into contact with a White House staffer who tested positive for COVID-19. A roundup of coronavirus news: School wave parades would violate N.J. coronavirus lockdown, State Police warns: A letter addressed to educators and school districts by State Police Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan warning against wave parades caused confusion on social media about the scope of his directive. He was specifically addressing in-person alternatives like parades for graduations, proms and other school ceremonies. Some on social media took it to mean that he was addressing smaller drive-by birthdays and memorials at private residences. 33 N.J. towns will vote by mail for Tuesdays elections: A batch of local elections slated for March and April were moved to May 12 under an executive order by the governor and will be conducted almost entirely via vote by mail ballots. These include races for school board, council, mayor or fire district in towns spread across 10 counties. Rite Aid now offering coronavirus tests at 14 N.J. stores even if you dont have symptoms: Rite Aid says it will start offering tests, regardless of symptoms, at 14 New Jersey stores. The self-administered tests are overseen by pharmacists and results are provided within seven days. Some Catholic cemeteries in N.J. allow visitors for the first time in nearly 2 months: The Archdiocese of Newark says visitors may return, while adhering to social distancing guidelines, to the eight cemeteries it closed on March 23 because of the pandemic. The cemeteries were opened for Sundays only this past weekend and next weekend, but will expand with limited Monday through Saturday hours beginning May 18. County fairs are feeling the effects of coronavirus outbreak: Around New Jersey, organizers of county fairs are closely watching developments in the pandemic and making tough decisions about whether to carry on with their events as planned. Several have already canceled the annual traditions, while others remain hopeful that life will return to normal by opening day. Airlines say massive job cuts are inevitable after bailout money dries up: While a federal bailout of the airline industry prohibited layouts and pay cuts for workers, company executives warn that layoffs are coming in the fall. Billions in grants and loans were intended to keep the companies afloat as they weathered a loss of business because of the pandemic, but once those funds dry up, the cuts will happen, officials said. The coronavirus has infected more than 4.1 million people globally and killed more than 283,000, according to Johns Hopkins University and Medicines tracker. In the United States, more than 1.3 million people have tested positive and more than 79,000 have died. NJ Advance Media staff reporters Matt Arco, Bill Duhart, Chris Franklin, Andrew Mills, Kevin Minnick and Rebecca Panico contributed to this report. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Editorial BE LOUD AND PROUD ABOUT COMMUNIST EFFORTS Last week was the 75th anniversary of the defeat of European fascism, otherwise known as Victory Day, which signalled the virtual end of World War 2. The surrender of Nazi Germany, thanks in large part to the Soviet Union (who saw the loss of 29 million lives both military and civilian), ushered in an era that saw Socialism challenge Western Imperialisms hegemonic dominance. Anniversaries of Victory Day should serve humankind as a reminder of the evils of Fascism and Imperialism. It should also serve as a reminder of the tremendous work the USSR did in not only liberating Eastern Europe but also in raising the standards of living in those nations forgotten by the West. However, in the last few years, it seems like these lessons have been lost not only in Eastern Europe but by a large portion of the world. Looking towards Eastern Europe, there have been a number of scary developments. Countries like Poland and Hungary have elected far-right leaders who have exhibited fascist tendencies. In Poland, the Law and Justice party has presided over a country where rampant ultranationalism is on the rise under the guise of a kind of Catholicism that promotes white supremacy and anti-immigration views. In 2018, according to NPR, the country passed a law that made it illegal to [accuse] the nation of complicity during the Holocaust, was punishable with a prison sentence of up to three years. Hungary is on a similar trajectory, with the reelection of Victor Orban, and its National Conservative party Fidesz, who have had a supermajority in parliamentary for a decade. Hungary is also experiencing similar revisionism that minimises Hungarys fascist activities during World War II. A study from Yale University found that Hungary has gained the dubious distinction of rewriting history to rehabilitate war criminals and diminish its own guilt, adding that Hungary suffers from grave deficiencies in its Holocaust education, memory, and commemoration. However, the problem isnt located solely within Eastern Europe. Countries like the Philippines, Itay, Brazil, and the US, among others, have seen the rise of fascism materialise in electoral politics that in turn shape their respective cultures. Anti-communist, racist, and rabid nationalism have been the weapons of choice for these fascists. How is it, particularly in countries liberated by the Red Army, that such a 180 turn in perspective has arisen? The reasons are numerous and multifaceted and cannot be adequately outlined in this editorial. However, the diminishing of communist efforts has been a decades-long project by reactionaries looking to rewrite their nations respective history since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In other countries, such as Australia, the focus on the Wests achievements and involvement during WW2 in modern history classes serve only to reinforce Western values and hegemony, diminishing communist efforts in an attempt squash any curiosity of an alternative ideology. The efforts and actions of those who want to minimise the contributions communists, not only in the Soviet Union but across the world, added to the war effort need to be stopped. It is up to us to uphold the legacy of our fallen comrades. On anniversaries such as these, we need to make concerted efforts to ensure that communist efforts arent minimised. Furthermore, we need to correct narratives about the Soviets position during the war; claims and narratives are materialising that at best describe the Soviet Union as holding a third position (in opposition to the Axis and Allies) and at worst Nazi collaborationists. We cannot let the efforts of those brave men and women who died to defeat fascism be in vain. We cannot let Victory Day be morphed into a distortion that serves to promote anti-communist sentiment and diminishes fascist atrocities. That is why every Victory Day we need to be loud and proud about communist efforts so that the world knows, and never forgets, who won the war. Brisbane, Australia, May 11, 2020 - (ABN Newswire) - Lithium explorer and developer Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE.AX - News) (HAM:LK1.F - News) (OTCMKTS:LLKKF - News) refers to the Notice of Meeting released to the Market on 14 April 2020 and provides an update regarding the Company's upcoming Extraordinary General Meeting to be conducted on Thursday 14 May 2020 at 11:00am (AEST) at Automic Group, Level 5, 126 Phillip Street, Sydney NSW 2000. Shareholders are not permitted to physically attend the meeting due to the Government restrictions on physical meetings and health risks associated with COVID-19 and social distancing measures still currently in place. Shareholders are able to attend the meeting via virtual means by joining the live weblink. Shareholders who wish to attend the Meeting via weblink must register their attendance with the Company by 11am (AEST) on Wednesday 13 May 2020, the day prior to the Meeting, by emailing the Company Secretary at cosec@lakeresources.com.au and including your Holder Name, Address and HIN or SRN. The Company will then provide you with the necessary details to participate in the Meeting via the weblink. Shareholders are encouraged to submit any questions they may have of the Company in writing to the Company Secretary at cosec@lakeresources.com.au by 5.00pm (AEST) on Wednesday 13 May 2020, the day prior to the meeting. The Company will also provide Shareholders with the opportunity to ask questions during the meeting. No new presentation will be provided. Shareholders are directed to the recent presentation on the company's website and the recent webinar. The Company reminds and encourages Shareholders to submit their proxy form to ensure their votes are cast. Proxy forms must be submitted by no later than 11am (AEST) on Tuesday 12 May 2020. About Lake Resources NL: Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE.AX - News) is a lithium exploration and development company focused on developing its three lithium brine projects and hard rock project in Argentina, all owned 100%. The leases are in a prime location among the lithium sector's largest players within the Lithium Triangle, where half of the world's lithium is produced. Lake holds one of the largest lithium tenement packages in Argentina (~200,000Ha) secured in 2016 prior to a significant 'rush' by major companies. The large holdings provide the potential to provide consistent security of supply demanded by battery makers and electric vehicle manufacturers. Story continues The Kachi project covers 69,000 ha over a salt lake south of FMC's lithium operation and near Albemarle's Antofalla project in Catamarca Province. Drilling at Kachi has confirmed a large lithium brine bearing basin over 20km long, 15km wide and 400m to 800m deep. Drilling over Kachi (currently 16 drill holes, 3100m) has produced a maiden indicated and inferred resource of 4.4 Mt LCE (Indicated 1.0Mt and Inferred 3.4Mt) within a 8-17 Mt LCE exploration target (refer ASX announcement 27 November 2018). A direct extraction technique is being tested in partnership with Lilac Solutions, which has shown 80-90% recoveries and lithium brine concentrations in excess of 3000 mg/L lithium and is planned to be trialled on site in tandem with conventional methods as part of a PFS to follow the resource statement. Scope exists to unlock considerable value through partnerships and corporate deals in the near term. Contact: Steve Promnitz Managing Director Lake Resources N.L. T: +61-2-9188-7864 E: steve@lakeresources.com.au Source: Lake Resources NL Copyright (C) 2020 ABN Newswire. All rights reserved. She is known for being one of the more private Hollywood movie stars, especially when it comes to sharing moments from her family life. But on Monday, Natalie Portman couldn't resist posting an adorable throwback snap with her two children in an intimate portrait that was taken by her husband of eight years, Benjamin Millepied, 42. The 38-year-old is seen cradling her children Aleph, eight, and, Amalia, three, in a picture posted to her Instagram account simply captioned by three heart emojis, and noting that the moment had been caught by Millepied, a dancer and choreographer. Rare insight: Natalie Portman, 38, is seen cradling her children Aleph, eight, and, Amalia, three, in a picture posted to her Instagram account simply captioned by three heart emojis The snap seems to be a flashback from a few years prior, as Amalia appears to be a baby in the shot. Portman and Millepied reportedly had a nighttime Jewish wedding ceremony at a private residence in the picturesque Big Sur area of the central California coast in 2012. Friends and family attended the event, as well as controversial guest Ivanka Trump, who tweeted pictures from the location on the night. Power couple: Natalie Portman and her choreographer husband Benjamin Millepied were the picture of wedding bliss at his LA Dance Project Galain October last year On the town: The 38-year-old Oscar winner is rarely seen on red carpets with Benjamin, but last October was their second public appearance together in a week Portman went to Harvard with Jared Kushner and even attended his wedding to Trump, but has more recently distanced herself from the pair. Portman met Millepied in 2009 while rehearsing for the 2010 film Black Swan, which bagged her a Best Actress Oscar and grossed more than $329 million worldwide. In another rare personal Instagram post last year, Portman shared her reflections on the 'beautiful' decade. Natalie Portman talked of 'marrying my partner in crime and giving birth to two miraculous children' as she shared her highlights of the decade last year Sharing pictures from the last ten years - from pregnancy to career highlights - she wrote: 'I'm so grateful for this most beautiful decade yet I married my partner in crime Benjamin Millepied, gave birth to two miraculous children.' And she continued by thinking of her career: 'directed my first film (A Tale of Love and Darkness), produced a documentary about something I care passionately about (Eating Animals)...' 'Got to play incredible characters working with artists I love and admire (Black Swan, Jackie, Vox Lux, Annihilation, among others), and found my voice and sisterhood with some truly incredible humans through Times Up.' 'Hoping the next decade only brings further adventures, beauty and fulfillment and a deepening appreciation of our planet and its wonders. 'Wishing you all a beautiful and fulfilling new year and new decade. Happy 2020!' Oscar winner: She took home the gong for her role in Black Swan, where she met her husband Watertown, NY (13601) Today Snow this morning will taper to showers of rain and wet snow this afternoon. Some sleet may mix in. Temps nearly steady in the mid 30s. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precip 100%.. Tonight Cloudy. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Low 4F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Union home minister Amit Shahs statement on Saturday in which he tried to dismiss social media speculation about his health, by declaring he was absolutely well and not suffering from any disease, appears somewhat puzzling, and not least because of its timing. The rumours he referred to had started doing the rounds almost immediately after the nationwide lockdown started a month and a half ago, but since then Mr Shah had often been seen in video images with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers, and had even participated in video calls with chief ministers. Then too, after work resumed in Central ministries some weeks ago, Mr Shah regularly spent long days at his North Block office, sometimes even working close to midnight, so it seems surprising to this newspaper why he felt the need to respond to these unverified social media rumours at this point. Mr Shah and his ministry have been engaged over the past few weeks in a series of confrontations with the West Bengal government led by Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak (the MHA claims the numbers of Covid-19 cases in the state were being manipulated) and implementation of lockdown restrictions, which flared up again on Saturday as the Centre claimed the state was impeding the movement of migrants by special trains to and from West Bengal, which the state government immediately denied. A senior Trinamul MP said it is part of the home ministers DNA to play politics during a national pandemic, while the Centre, and the BJP, has received steadfast support from West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in its endeavours. The explanation is simple: the state will hold Assembly polls next year, and the BJP hopes a weakened Mamata Banerjee will enable it to reap electoral gains. In scotching rumours about his so-called ill-health (with four people detained in Gujarat on Saturday over a fake tweet), the home minister also managed to bring in religion, saying as per Hindu beliefs, malicious lies about someones health actually work to the victims benefit. One can only hope Mr Shah will now vigorously work to contain the pandemic. Shocking footage has emerged showing a Colorado restaurant packed with diners for Mother's Day, in defiance of the state's lockdown rules. Video taken inside Castle Rock's C&C Coffee and Kitchen and shared online shows crowds of people waiting for their food, enjoying drinks at tables and sitting close by to one another, many without masks. In a Facebook live video owner April Arellano thanked everyone for their support, showing off her packed restaurant. She added: 'So much for some of those people saying nobody would show up.' But Colorado Gov. Jared Polis' office slammed the footage, saying: 'These restaurants are not only breaking the law, they are endangering the lives of their staff, customers and community.' Restaurants and bars in the state are still limited to takeout only with social distancing restrictions. In the footage people appear to be drinking coffees and drinks at tables inside the restaurant. Sharing the footage online, Nick Puckett wrote: 'Happy Mother's Day from C& C in Castle Rock, where the owner said this is almost double a normal Mother's Day.' Scroll down for video Video taken inside Castle Rock's C&C Coffee and Kitchen was shared online. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis' office slammed the business for breaking the law It shows as crowds of people wait for their food, many without masks, on Sunday. Restaurants are still limited to takeout only with social distancing restrictions Owner April Arellano said: 'So much for...people saying nobody would show up' The health department said: 'We are disappointed that Cookies and Creme has decided to ignore the Governor's Safer at Home order and open up today with no attention to social distancing.' Businesses that violate the governor's safer-at-home directive are subject to a fine up to $1,000 or a jail term, according to the Denver Post. A spokesman for the governor told the newspaper that 'Coloradans can contact their local public health department if they believe someone is violating Safer at Home'. One customer intends to do just that. He said he will file a complaint against the Castle Rock restaurant after witnessing the packed environment. I wasnt even going to eat the food even if I had gotten it. I walked in, took the picture and turned right around, he told the Denver Post. Additionally, the Health Department said in a statement it plans to 'follow up with this restaurant to ensure that they, like other restaurants in the county, take appropriate steps to protect the public health, by limiting service to curbside and take-out service. As of Monday morning, Colorado has reached 972 deaths from the coronavirus, and more than 19,700 people have tested positive for the illness. State data show more than 3,600 people have been hospitalized since the outbreak. Fewer than 600 people were in Colorado hospitals with symptoms of the illness as of Friday. Castle Rock's C&C Coffee customer Holly Burrell told 9News: 'I'm here to support this because I love the fact that we all have choices. That's what being an American is about. 'I think we need to focus on the healthy people being out and the people that aren't healthy to stay in.' In Shasta County, California the Cottonwood Rodeo drew huge crowds Pictures show large groups congregating, close by to one another without face coverings The Cottonwood Rodeo, pictured, said it provided hand sanitation stations And there were similar scenes around the country. In Shasta County, California the Cottonwood Rodeo drew huge crowds despite restrictions. Pictures show large groups congregating, close by to one another without face coverings. Don Johnson told KRCR: 'We have constitutional rights. We have inalienable rights given to us by God.' Daniel Warner added: 'This event has been going on for 50 years, it is a tradition for probably most of us, the rest of them that are here have been tired of being cooped up for months.' The Cottonwood Rodeo said it provided hand sanitation stations and the Shasta County Sheriff's office confirmed it would not be enforcing the stay-at-home order. In Ross Township, Pennsylvania, there were long lines outside a local Red Lobster Gov. Tom Wolf is ordering most Pennsylvania residents to stay at home until June 4, extending a statewide order he first imposed April 1 to slow the spread of the new virus In Ross Township, Pennsylvania, there were long lines outside a local Red Lobster for take out. Gov. Tom Wolf ordered most Pennsylvania residents to stay at home until June 4, extending a statewide order he first imposed April 1 to slow the spread of the new virus. In Las Vegas restaurants are back pouring drinks as the city begins to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic. On Saturday, Phase One of Nevada's 'Roadmap to Recovery' officially commenced, with dine-in restaurants, retail stores, hair dressers and nail salons all allowed to open for the first time seven weeks. Despite the rush on restaurants and barbershops Saturday, the world-famous Las Vegas strip still remains remarkably quiet, given that casinos are still closed. New Yorkers flocked to Manhattan's Central Park on Sunday. Most families and groups appeared to practice social distancing while at the park, but there were several people who weren't wearing masks. Meanwhile in Domino Park in Brooklyn, police patrolled the area to make sure people were social distancing. Photos of the park showed people walking and running with family and friends as officers stood nearby. In Las Vegas restaurants are back pouring drinks as the city begins to reopen, pictured New Yorkers flocked to Manhattan's Central Park on Sunday. Most families and groups appeared to practice social distancing while at the park, but there were several people who weren't wearing masks People out on a sunny Mother's Day amid COVID-19 pandemic in Washington Square Park One local, who saw the crowds at C&C Coffee and Kitchen and left, told The Denver Post: 'It was unbelievable. I wasn't even going to eat the food even if I had gotten it. I walked in, took the picture, and turned right around.' On Saturday, a host of Denver businesses from clothing stores to hair salons opened their doors for the first time in nearly two months as Mayor Michael Hancock's stay-at-home order expired, The Denver Post reported. Business owners who have been hard hit financially say it's the only way to stay afloat as they try to recoup lost sales while giving their employees a much-needed paycheck. Retail stores won't be able to just resume normal activity. Shops can only have a limited number of customers browsing, and shoppers must wear masks and stay 6 feet away from others. Lemons are a kitchen mainstay and a cooks favorite parlor trick, pulled out for surprise and delight like the rainbow of scarves up a magicians sleeve. Cook without lemons? Alice Waters wrote in Chez Panisse Fruit (2002). Unthinkable! For those of us in the Northeast, acquiring lemons requires a trip to the grocer. But fresh lemons last up to a week at room temperature, and two in the crisper depending on your kitchens temperature and humidity. But lemons floral fragrance and tart flavor are easy to preserve in pickles, sauces and pantry shelf-stable seasonings. North African-style preserved lemons are a popular option, requiring only lemons, salt and time for a pickle-like condiment that adds nudges of pucker to savory dishes of all sorts. The process is simple: Cut lemons into quarters, and coat cut surfaces with salt at a ratio of 1 teaspoon of salt to 1 lemon. Pack into jars, and let the salt pull the juice out of the lemons until they pickle in their own brine. Spike preserved lemons with bay, peppercorns or saffron, which will add another layer of verve. (A quicker preserving method is a lemon confit, made with thinly sliced fruit.) Similarly simple are roasted lemons, wherein the fruit's bitter edge softens while the sugars in the fruit caramelize and intensify as it cooks slowly in the oven. Try roasted lemons next to roasted poultry or diced and added to salads or soups. Embrace the astringent tang of lemons in a relish. The whole fruit, save its seeds, is chopped into bits and mixed with shallots, coriander, mustard seeds and red chile flakes. It's a spicy, spoonable condiment that's great with grilled or smoked fish, chicken, sausages or all manner of lightly charred vegetables. On the sweet side, theres lemon marmalade. Many marmalades can be cloying, but this one, with a touch of salt and freshly chopped rosemary, is great on biscuits with butter or quickly blended into a puree as a glaze for roasted chicken, turkey or pork. Roast the meat 90% of the way, then spread on the pureed marmalade, letting it set into a glaze for the last few minutes in the oven. Lean into the sweet side of lemons by making lemon sugar: Blitz 1 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of freshly grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon) in a food processor for 30 seconds. Spread it on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and allow it to dry in your (turned off) oven overnight. The next morning, store it in an airtight container, where it will keep for six months (it won't spoil, but the lemon flavor will fade). Pull it out to sweeten tea, sprinkle on French toast or make butter or sugar cookies with a lemon accent. While you're at it, make lemon salt with coarse or kosher salt using the same process, but 1 cup of salt to 1 tablespoon of zest. Use it anywhere you would use plain salt: roasted chicken, sauteed shellfish, a pot of beans or a bowl of popcorn. All these dishes work well with the standard Eureka or Lisbon varieties of lemons that are found across the United States. But if you see piles of Meyer lemons a variety imported from China in 1908 thats thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange snatch them up. Their floral scent is more pronounced, their skin thinner and less bitter, and their bellies full of juice. Speaking of juice, Meyer lemons make a fine lemonade. And though lemonade can be made simply by whisking lemon juice, sugar and water together in a pitcher, consider a slightly more elegant version: Start by making a lemon syrup from lemon zest, sugar and water. Mix this with freshly squeezed lemon juice and store it in a bottle in the fridge. Whenever you want lemonade, quickly mix it in a glass with chilled still or sparkling water. The tart flavor of the juice is tempered by the sugar and enhanced by lemon oils infused in the syrup. It lasts a month in the refrigerator, so a glass of sunshine can be only a moment away. Actor Taapsee Pannu has said that her family is aware of and likes her boyfriend, and that she believed that if theyd rejected him, the relationship couldnt work. Taapsee is said to be dating badminton player Mathias Boe, according to Pinkvilla. The actor and her mother agreed in an interview to the portal that theyre both on the same page when it comes to Taapsees relationship. I dont want to hide anything from anyone. Im very proud to accept the presence of someone in my life. But yes, at the same time, I wouldnt only talk about it for the headlines because then it takes away from my credibility as an actor and what I have achieved in all these years by working hard. That I cant afford to do, Taapsee said. She continued, Theres someone in my life and my family knows about it. Its very important for me that my family - including my sister and my parents - they like the person who Im with. Else it wont work for me. I remember joking about it and telling someone, Agar mummy papa nahi maane, toh mujhe nahi lagta kuch ho sakta hai (If my parents dont agree, I dont think this relationship has a future). Taapsees mother, Nirmaljeet Pannu said, Yes, I completely trust her and whoever she chooses for herself, we are okay with her decision. We will support her. Also read: Taapsee Pannu confirms she is in a relationship, says I will get married only when I want to have babies In a September, 2019, interview to Pinkvilla, Taapsees sister Shagun had taken the credit for introducing her to her boyfriend. Shed said, Now, she may have got lucky. Taapsee must thank me because it was because of me that she met him... Taapsee most recently appeared in Anubhav Sinhas Thappad, for which she received acclaim. Previously, shed appeared opposite Bhumi Pednekar in Saand Ki Aankh. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON WASHINGTON Two former law enforcement officials involved in the cases of the onetime Trump advisers Michael T. Flynn and Roger J. Stone Jr. attacked Attorney General William P. Barrs extraordinary intervention in the inquiries, condemning his moves as detrimental to the rule of law and to public confidence in the Justice Department. In op-ed articles in The New York Times and The Washington Post, the former officials, Mary B. McCord and Jonathan Kravis, denounced Mr. Barrs move last week to drop a criminal case against Mr. Flynn and his earlier intervention to recommend a more lenient sentence for crimes that Mr. Stone committed in a bid to protect the president. Mr. Flynn, a former national security adviser, had pleaded guilty twice to lying to F.B.I. agents about his conversations with a Russian diplomat during the presidential transition. But Justice Department officials took issue with the F.B.I.s early 2017 interview of Mr. Flynn, according to the motion to dismiss the charges signed by Timothy J. Shea, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and a longtime adviser to Mr. Barr. Ms. McCord accused the government of distorting her account of that period to help justify dropping the lying charge. Mr. Sheas motion relied heavily on an interview that she had given to the special counsels office after it took over the case as part of its inquiry into Russian election interference. Deepak Sathish By Express News Service COIMBATORE: For 250 Tamilians, mostly pilgrims, stranded in Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh, help came from an unexpected quarter. When A Manikandan, a 2017-batch IAS officer from Neyveli in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu and Sub-Collector of Varanasi, got to know about them, he obtained permission from the nodal officers of the State governments and arranged seven buses in the past 45 days to ensure their safe return. Speaking to TNIE, Manikandan said that a group of 22 people was sent to Puducherry on May 5. "Currently, 80 Tamilians are stranded in Varanasi. They have all registered their names in the State government's portal (www.nonresidenttamil.org) expressing their interest in returning home. Besides, the Varanasi district administration is closely working with the Railway Department to book seats for these people. If people could pool money to return Tamil Nadu, they shall be arranged buses. Otherwise, they have to wait until train service is arranged," he said. Recently, a few persons, who returned Tamil Nadu from Varanasi, reportedly showed COVID-19 symptoms. About this, Manikandan said that all of them were allowed to travel only after they tested negative for COVID-19. "In buses too, seating arrangements were made as per the social distancing norms," he assured. In the initial phase of the lockdown, pilgrims from Tamil Nadu had issues in finding south Indian meals in Varanasi, Manikandan said, adding,"As instructed by Varanasi Collector Kaushal Raj Sharma, they were all accommodated in mutts." Registration made easier By circulating a message in WhatsApp, two Tamilians -- P Thirunarayanan and S Mahalaxmi Tiwari -- in Varanasi volunteered to help stranded people with the registration process. Speaking to TNIE, Thirunarayanan (26), a PhD scholar in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) said, "When we got to know about the plight of stranded Tamilians, we circulated a WhatsApp message asking them to reach out to us for any help with registration in the online portal." Mahalaxmi Tiwari, who is working as an assistant professor with a law school in Chennai, had gone to Varanasi before the lockdown to deliver a guest lecture at BHU. "After knowing about Thirunarayanan's kind gesture, I also volunteered to help the people complete the registration. We informed Sub-Collector Manikandan after completing the registration process." Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 17:21:51|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A staff member checks the information of a domestic flight passenger at Soekarno-Hatta International airport in Tangerang, Indonesia, May 11, 2020. The Indonesian government on Monday announced 233 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the archipelagic country to 14,265. (Photo by Agustinus/Xinhua) JAKARTA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government on Monday announced 233 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the archipelagic country to 14,265. There were also 18 new deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 991, the government's spokesperson for the COVID-19-related matters Achmad Yurianto said at a press conference. Health Ministry official Yurianto said 183 more people have been discharged from hospitals after their recoveries, taking the total number of recovered patients to 2,881. According to him, the latest total number of COVID-19 suspects across the country is 31,994. Enditem Grass Valley, California--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2020) - Rise Gold Corp. (CSE: RISE) (OTCQX: RYES) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market. The company's U.S. ticker "RYES" will not change. The OTCQX Best Market is for established, investor-focused U.S. and international companies. To qualify for the OTCQX market, companies must meet high financial standards, follow best practice corporate governance, demonstrate compliance with U.S. securities laws, be current in their disclosure, and have a professional third-party sponsor introduction. The companies found on OTCQX are distinguished by the integrity of their operations and diligence with which they convey their qualifications. About Rise Gold Corp. Rise Gold is an exploration-stage mining company. The Company's principal asset is the historic past-producing Idaho-Maryland Gold Mine located in Nevada County, California, USA. The Idaho-Maryland Gold Mine produced 2,414,000 oz of gold at an average mill head grade of 17 gpt gold from 1866-1955. Historic production at the Idaho-Maryland Mine is disclosed in the Technical Report on the Idaho-Maryland Project dated June 1st, 2017 and available on www.sedar.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors: Benjamin Mossman President, CEO and Director Rise Gold Corp. For further information, please contact: RISE GOLD CORP. 333 Crown Point Circle, Suite 215 Grass Valley, CA, USA 95945 T: 530.433.0188 info@risegoldcorp.com www.risegoldcorp.com The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this news release. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Story continues Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to certain factors including, without limitation, obtaining all necessary approvals, meeting expenditure and financing requirements, compliance with environmental regulations, title matters, operating hazards, metal prices, political and economic factors, competitive factors, general economic conditions, relationships with vendors and strategic partners, governmental regulation and supervision, seasonality, technological change, industry practices, and one-time events that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information contained in this release. Rise undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements or information except as required by law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/55611 One of the country's top industrial arbiters approved a pay deal covering some BHP workers just hours after his chambers sent the mining giant modelling showing they would be no better off than under the fallback industry award. Fair Work Commission deputy president Gerard Boyce's chambers sent the internal analysis of the pay deal covering mine production staff on the afternoon of December 19. Fair Work Commission deputy president Gerard Boyce's decision was overturned on appeal last week. BHP responded less than an hour later, arguing the commission's modelling was "inaccurate" and within 20 minutes Mr Boyce approved the agreement. Mr Boyce's decision was overturned on appeal last week, with commission vice-president Adam Hatcher and deputy president Anna Booth noting the email exchange, "which showed that this agreement did not pass the [better off overall test]" compared to the fallback award. BRANFORD Grandmother Madelyn Kavanaugh, 92, was settled on the couch in her living room on a recent afternoon and in the background, the television broadcast news about people confined to their homes, people struggling economically, people worried about their health and the health of their families and friends. I felt frustrated, said Kavanaugh, a longtime volunteer for St. Marys Guild and the Canoe Brook Senior Center. I wanted to do something. Her eye then spotted several cartons under a desk. They contained copies of her most recent childrens book, Mermaids Winter, a sequel to Mermaid Tears, a whimsical, vibrantly illustrated story about children, sea glass, a mermaid and the power of believing. Shed read her book aloud at libraries and at local schools. Shed seen, she said, how enthusiastic the kids got about the story. But now the libraries and schools were closed. Now there was no way to share Mermaids Winter, about the friendship forged between the mermaid and a fish that relieves their winter blues. She imagined these same kids with all that energy, stuck in their homes, with not much to do, she said. I looked at those boxes of books, and I said to myself, What good were they doing sitting in my house? she said. It struck me that my book might help to distract these kids, or entertain them, or maybe even bring them a little joy. When Diane Pappacoda, director of the Branford Early Learning Center, got the call, she remembered Kavanaugh instantly. Kavanaughs grandson, Shaun, had been a student at the Birch Street preschool nearly 30 years before, but she and Kavanaugh had hit it off and had seen each other on and off throughout the years. Then Kavanaugh told her that she wanted to donate 300 childrens books to the center, as well as other preschools in town. She would start with 80 copies. She had to inscribe each one, and that would take time. It means the world, said Pappacoda, who plans to distribute copies to directors of area preschools as well as home day care providers. For my kids to see that somebody whos part of our family would remember us and give us books is amazing, she said. For them to see that this same person wrote a book, is even better. The benefits of reading aloud to children go beyond the development of language skills and reading comprehension. When you read a book to kids, they can go wherever they want to go and become whoever they want to be, she said. For Pappacoda, books, not least Kavanaughs, are such a gift, a gift of time, a gift of love, a gift of imagination. Branford Early Learning Center is at 16 Birch Road . For more information, visit branfordearlylearningcenter.com or call 203-488-4512. Emini S&P Futures premarket summary TradeGuidance - 15 minutes ago We analyze the overnight price action in the overall context of the liquidation which commenced last Thursday ESH22 : 4,589.75 (+0.40%) SPY : 458.14 (+0.36%) Cotton Futures Hit Highest Price Level Since 2011 Barchart - 49 minutes ago Overnight cotton trading has the board at the highest prices since 2011, up 59 to 212 points. Spot futures took out the November high. Cotton futures continued posting fresh contract highs on Tuesday,... CTH22 : 123.07 (+1.64%) CTK22 : 119.69 (+1.68%) CTZ21 : 111.55s (+0.25%) Emerging talents in spotlight at hybrid Paris Fashion Week AP - 1 hour ago PARIS (AP) A spattering of Paris Fashion Week menswear shows began in earnest this week for the fall-winter season, as French government restrictions have seen many relegated to an online-only presence.... $SPX : 4,577.11 (-1.84%) $DOWI : 35,368.47 (-1.51%) $IUXX : 15,210.76 (-2.57%) Crude OIL Seems Stronger: Elliott Wave Analysis EW-Forecast.com - Wed Jan 19, 6:18AM CST Safe-haven assets continue to rise as stocks are moving down, while US yields are higher. Crude oil is also higher due to escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions, which is one of the main reasons for stable... CLG22 : 86.01 (+0.68%) Downside Bias = Downside Day Market Tea Leaves - Wed Jan 19, 6:16AM CST Yesterday we gave the markets a Downside bias and the markets didn't disappoint. What will happen today? An engineer shows a plastic model of the Covid-19 coronavirus at the Quality Control Laboratory at the Sinovac Biotech facilities in Beijing. Nicolas Asfouri | AFP | Getty Images For one little-known biotech company in New Jersey BioAegis Therapeutics Covid-19 may just be the catalyst that will push its breakthrough discovery, plasma gelsolin, to the forefront as a lifesaving treatment for infectious, inflammatory and degenerative diseases. Discovered nearly two decades ago in a Harvard lab by the late Dr. Thomas Stossel, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and head of translational medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, plasma gelsolin is an abundant, naturally occurring circulating protein found in the human body's immune system. According to Stossel, it is "a master regulator of the immune system." In a wide range of diseases, it balances the inflammatory process without suppressing the immune system, thus preventing severe consequences and greatly improving survival. To focus on developing therapies for infectious, inflammatory and degenerative diseases through a portfolio built around plasma gelsolin (pGSN) therapeutics, Stossel co-founded BioAegis in 2011 and became chief scientific advisor to his clinical stage biotech company. For nine years the scientists at BioAegis have been studying this unique anti-inflammatory and its effect on treating a wide range of conditions, including influenza, pneumonia, arthritis, Alzheimer's, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis and more. What they discovered was that plasma gelsolin is depleted in severe inflammatory conditions and that restoring a recombinant human form of plasma gelsolin in the body has enormous potential to prevent the lethal ravages of inflammation, such as those caused by Covid-19. "We've been studying this exact same condition not with this particular virus, but with severe flu, severe pneumonia for years, so we feel like we are in the perfect position to treat this disease," said BioAegis CEO Dr. Susan Levinson. BioAegis said plasma gelsolin, its lead product, addresses the underserved severe community-acquired pneumonia market, with projected peak sales of $5 billion. Additional products for multiple acute and degenerative target diseases represent $50 billion in pipeline opportunities. To date the private clinical stage company has raised more than $20 million through a network of family offices and wealthy individuals, as well as non-dilutive funding, and currently holds 50 patents issued for coverage of infection, inflammatory disease, renal failure, multiple sclerosis and other neurologic diseases. They have collaborated with over 20 institutions worldwide, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard-Brigham & Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General, Weill Cornell Medical Center, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Vanderbilt School of Medicine and University of Pennsylvania. 'Suddenly we needed to pull out all the stops' BioAegis had just conducted its Phase 1b/2a clinical trial last year in hospitalized pneumonia patients and was gearing up to raise the $30 million needed to conduct Phase 2 testing of its plasma gelsolin therapy on patients with severe pneumonia when Covid-19 hit. "Suddenly we needed to pull out all the stops," said Levinson. From individual backers and family offices, the company raised several million dollars in a special bridge financing, said Levinson. "No venture firm or big institution is in the race yet. That's going to be our next round. Covid-19 happened, so we decided to do this bridge and just get the money as fast as we could." Now the company is awaiting FDA and multicountry regulatory approval to start Phase 2 trials of its plasma gelsolin therapy on Covid-19 patients. We've been studying this exact same condition not with this particular virus, but with severe flu, severe pneumonia for years, so we feel like we are in the perfect position to treat this disease. Dr. Susan Levinson BioAegis CEO Although the FDA responded to BioAegis' inquiry after just one week and other regulators have been very responsive, Levinson admits she is concerned that being a small company means she needs to push harder. "We are this little company, and nobody really knows about us," she says. "The companies that you hear about GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Novartis all the big players have lots of visibility. They are selling drugs already, they have lots of funding, and they are able to do a lot more than a little company like us, with 11 people. How can we compete with companies with 50,000 people and billions of dollars in sales?" Gilead Sciences spent $50 million on the research and development of its antiviral drug remdesivir during the first quarter, it disclosed in its earnings report Thursday. The company said it will spend as much as $1 billion for the year. Other big players are partnering up to study treatments Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi are working on a drug called Kevzara; Roche and Chugai Pharmaceutical are studying Actemra and each have healthy financial backing. Yet Levinson is still hopeful: "There's something like 200 applications that have been filed to the FDA for products for Covid-19. "These run the gamut from vaccines to repurposed drugs that might be antiviral, to brand-new concepts just starting down the path. We have a product that has already been tested in pneumonia patients." Scientists Edward Kowalik and Dr. Abla Tannous in BioAegis lab BioAegis Therapeutics Since 2015, BioAegis has generated data in several models of pneumonia and most recently published a paper on severe influenza entitled "Delayed administration of recombinant plasma gelsolin improves survival in a murine model of severe influenza." "We looked at the gene transmission that occurs when you give gelsolin to the animals that have flu, and it shows how it down-regulates genes for the kinds of mediators that cause a cytokine storm, which is exactly what happens in Covid -19, and it up-regulates genes that lead to healing," Levinson says. Additionally, it's been shown to protect the lungs from damage. Because BioAegis' recombinant human plasma gelsolin has been manufactured to be identical to the natural human protein, it is not expected to result in serious side effects when supplementing the depleted protein. BioAegis confirmed that no safety signals were seen when it conducted its Phase 1b/2a clinical trial last year in hospitalized pneumonia patients, animal toxicology studies or prior human studies when dosed either intravenously or by inhalation. "We looked at three different doses of the drug, thinking that with the highest one there might be side effects and we would have to back off. But it turns out that at that highest dose, there were no side effects. It actually raised the levels of gelsolin way above normal, and still there were no side effects," said Levinson. She added that the trial also revealed how long the gelsolin lasts in the bloodstream: "We could dose once a day and there was still plenty of drug around," she said. Plasma gelsolin vs. remdesivir On Saturday the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it would allow state health departments to start distributing Gilead Sciences' remdesivir globally to hospitals. The United States will receive about 40% of the drug maker's donation approximately 607,000 vials. The pharmaceutical company received emergency use authorization from the FDA on May 1 after preliminary data from a clinical trial showed remdesivir moderately reduced the recovery time of patients hospitalized with severe Covid-19. Remdesivir, which is an antiviral drug, has shown efficacy by shortening the duration of illness in a Phase 3 human trial. There is still significant need for agents which modulate the host immune response, such as recombinant human plasma gelsolin. Dr. Steven M. Opal infectious disease specialist at Alpert Medical School of Brown University But on April 29 former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told Becky Quick on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that remdesivir "is not a home-run cure by any means, but I think that this can be very effective in the context of better treatment for patients, a better understanding of how to treat these patients, and hopefully other drugs are going to come on to the market. This is part of the better toolbox we've been talking about." As far as comparing plasma gelsolin to remdesivir, Levinson says they each play a completely different role in treating Covid-19 and that perhaps the BioAegis therapy could be looked at as something that could be used in conjunction with the Gilead drug. "Remdesivir is an antiviral, so it's trying to remove the virus before things get out of control. What is missing from that is addressing the overexuberant inflammatory response that the body often uses to get rid of the virus. So I think if you treat people early enough before that overexuberant inflammation has started, then the remdesivir will be helpful. But once that inflammatory response has gotten out of control, I don't think the remdesivir is going to work. You're going to need something else," she says. MIAMI, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As our communities begin to reopen, a new reality emerges, and we begin to heal from the collective physical and mental trauma caused by the coronavirus, the need for reliable health information is even more clear and essential. This is the focus of South Florida PBS Health Channel's one-hour long Facebook LIVE Special Event, SMARTLIFE: Managing and Surviving Coronavirus on May 16 at 11:00 AM in partnership with Baptist Health of South Florida (https://www.facebook.com/allhealthtv/posts/1544725925705587). Special guests include but are not limited to : Dr. Scarlet Constant (pediatrician) will speak about how to help children adjust to the drastic changes in their school and life schedules. She will also discuss children's mental health issues and the importance of catching up on vaccines. (pediatrician) will speak about how to help children adjust to the drastic changes in their school and life schedules. She will also discuss children's mental health issues and the importance of catching up on vaccines. Dr. Kamaljit Kaur (primary care physician) will discuss what doctors have learned about COVID-19 symptoms and who is truly at risk. She will also highlight telemedicine and explain why it's here to stay. Dr. Kaur will also discuss the treatments that are being tested now and safety measures we can all take to stay safe as our communities begin to reopen. (primary care physician) will discuss what doctors have learned about COVID-19 symptoms and who is truly at risk. She will also highlight telemedicine and explain why it's here to stay. Dr. Kaur will also discuss the treatments that are being tested now and safety measures we can all take to stay safe as our communities begin to reopen. Amy Exum (psychotherapist) will discuss the mental health consequences related to the unexpected unemployment and forced furloughs that many people are currently experiencing. She'll also talk about the warning signs of anxiety and depression, and how to recover from the trauma caused by this global pandemic and worldwide economic crisis. (psychotherapist) will discuss the mental health consequences related to the unexpected unemployment and forced furloughs that many people are currently experiencing. She'll also talk about the warning signs of anxiety and depression, and how to recover from the trauma caused by this global pandemic and worldwide economic crisis. Anna Taylor (elementary school teacher) will talk about the impact COVID-19 has had on children's education and what parents can do over the summer to prepare kids for the new academic year. "As a new reality emerges with communities reopening or planning to reopen, we all have questions about our health and safety and our family's well-being. South Florida PBS' Health Channel believes it is the right time to do a follow-up to the March 14th SMARTLIFE FB special in which we addressed the initial questions and concerns regarding coronavirus. We once again want to reach and help as many families as we can and to the end, we have invited medical experts who will be addressing questions about the virus and its aftermath," stated South Florida PBS president and CEO, Dolores Sukhdeo. SmartLife: Managing and Surviving Coronavirus, was inspired by the very successful SmartLife2020 Facebook Live event in March, where Baptist Health medical experts discussed different aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic; including its impact on mental health, and helping children and families understand how to cope with our new normal. This previous SmartLife2020 Facebook Live event has been viewed approximately 90,000 times on Facebook. The first step South Florida PBS' Health Channel took to fulfill its mission of providing our communities with reliable health information from the experts, was the implementation of a 24/7 continuous news crawl in February, keeping viewers informed with timely COVID-19 updates. Additionally, the Health Channel has and continues to produce over 300 coronavirus news briefs and evergreen interstitials (videos) in both English and Spanish which have been downloaded by almost 60 public television affiliates around the nation, (27 stations using them consistently) with a reach of 44.3 million households. These Health Channel Coronavirus videos have proven to be popular; and the content being shared on the HC's social media platforms has generated record-breaking metrics: Impressions: 12 Million Video views: 2.2 Million Engagements: 600,000 Below are examples of the Health Channel's most watched interstitials: Coronavirus Update | Coronavirus and Your Pet https://youtu.be/y9m0HC7EfTo Coronavirus Update | Keeping Stress Under Control https://youtu.be/jtEQhYTO0cU Included in some of the most comprehensive and reliable COVID-19 coverage available, the Health Channel's website, https://allhealthtv.com/coronavirus-in-real-time/, has a webpage dedicated to the coronavirus, tracking the spread of the disease, as well as offering useful information about its treatment and prevention. This information is available in both English and Spanish. About South Florida PBS South Florida PBS is Florida's largest public media company, including Public Broadcasting stations WPBT and WXEL-TV. Leading the way in this global society, South Florida PBS serves diverse communities from Key West to the Sebastian Inlet and from the Atlantic Ocean west to Lake Okeechobee. South Florida PBS connects organizations and institutions across the region and is committed to creating and presenting unique arts, education and cultural heritage programming, and serves as a model for telling unique local stories across a variety of digital media platforms. Local productions presented by South Florida PBS include the Health Channel, Kidvision Pre-K, Check Please South Florida and Between the Covers. National productions presented to public television stations by South Florida PBS include James Patterson's Kid Stew, Battleground Everglades, and Changing Seas. For more information, visit http://www.southfloridapbs.org or follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WPBT2/. Contact: Jeneissy Azcuy Vice President of Marketing & Communications South Florida PBS [email protected]; 305-424-4013 SOURCE South Florida PBS Related Links https://www.southfloridapbs.org The Winnipeg Foundation is bringing $6 million to the table to aid city charities, non-profits and arts groups, many of which have been ravaged by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Winnipeg Foundation is bringing $6 million to the table to aid city charities, non-profits and arts groups, many of which have been ravaged by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The foundation's new stabilization grant will offer up to $50,000 to help charities continue to operate over the short and medium term, says Megan Tate, director of community grants. "We know groups are stretched and stressed," Tate said Monday. "Related to the arts, groups like the MTC, PTE, Theatre Projects, Winnipeg Jewish Theatre they all had to cancel productions, so that's a pretty big loss." Another city arts group, Manitoba Opera, is interested in the grant, with applications due June 1. "I think its terrific and forward-thinking of the foundation," said chief executive officer Larry Desrochers. "We have a board meeting (Tuesday) night, and I'll be bringing the application to the board." Manitoba Opera was one of several arts groups that decided to cancel the remainder of its 2019-20 season, owing to the COVID-19 threat. It its case, a three-night run of Carmen, scheduled to start March 28 at the Centennial Concert Hall, met its demise without a note being sung. Desrochers said the company expected about $330,000 in revenue from the three shows, but says about half of the ticketholders chose to donate their tickets back to the company for a charitable receipt, lessening the financial blow. The stabilization grant is the second of a three-phase pandemic plan the foundation and its donors are undertaking. The first phase, the COVID-19 Response Fund, was launched March 12 and has given $2.1 million to more than 115 front-line agencies, including charities, personal care homes and homelessness initiatives. The largest gift was a $100,000 grant to Winnipeg Harvest on April 21. Like businesses around the world, Winnipeg's charitable organizations, non-profits and arts groups have seen revenues plummet since March, when the novel coronavirus officially reached Manitoba and people began following social-distancing guidelines. In a story published in Monday's Free Press, Imagine Canada, an umbrella group of Canadian charity groups and non-profits, revealed almost 70 per cent of charities have averaged a 31 per cent drop in revenue since March, with arts and recreational organizations among the hardest hit. Bruce MacDonald, Imagine Canada CEO, said only one-quarter of charities have sufficient reserves to keep operating the next three to six months. Those are the groups the stabilization fund aims to support, Tate said. "We do anticipate that it will be a popular grant. All (Winnipeg-based) charities are allowed to apply." In a video released Monday, executive director Rick Frost says the foundation has been in close discussions with 18 bellwether organizations, as well as others it communicates with usually. "The reality is that COVID-19 has impacted any kind of gathering of people together, which is fundamental to most fundraising activities," Frost says in the video. "If you're selling tickets for events, like arts organizations, of course, that has all pretty much dried up." The Winnipeg Foundation is in its 99th year. It became Canada's first community foundation with a $100,000 donation given by William Forbes Alloway, a city banker and philanthropist. In 2019, its total grants were $57.5 million. alan.small@freepress.mb.ca Twitter:@AlanDSmall In reviewing the history of the legal profession occasionally the name of one individual will stand out amongst the thousands of lawyers who have practiced in Hamilton County. Lewis Shepherd would have to be included in that select group. Shepherd was born on March 7, 1846, and died on May 14, 1917, while arguing a legal issue in court. The local newspaper reported that his last wish was satisfied: to go to his reward straight from the courtroom! He attended Burritt College in Van Buren County and enlisted in the Confederate Army at the young age of 15 and served in several campaigns in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Battle of Chickamauga in Georgia. While serving in central Tennessee with General Joe Wheeler he was captured and served a term at Camp Morton in Indiana before being exchanged and sent to Richmond, Virginia. After finishing his military service, Lewis Shepherd returned to Ringgold, Georgia, to begin the practice of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1867. He moved to Chattanooga and became the youngest lawyer in the area. Because of his legal ability and popularity, he was elected attorney general for criminal court and served in that capacity until 1875. He switched to politics and served in the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1876 and later in 1890. He also served as a chancellor for two years because of the illness of Chancellor Summerfield A. Key from 1880-1882. He had a successful civil practice and was general counsel for two regional railroads. A Republican, Baptist, and Shriner, he was also a member of the Ku Klux Klan who fought for the supremacy of the white race against carpetbaggers. Highly involved in civic matters, he was active in the Chamber of Commerce and was one of the organizers and a charter member of the Mountain City Club. Shepherd was also somewhat of a publicity seeker and after the arrest of Ed Johnson for the rape of a white girl he solicited the case from Judge Samuel Reynolds along with two other attorneys, Robert Cameron and W.G. Thomas, who did not want to be appointed. Shepherd believed strongly in protecting the rights of accused persons particularly when he thought the defendant had been a victim of racial discrimination. He represented a large number of African-American clients and had a good working relationship with the newspapers. Shepherd wholeheartedly jumped into the case and fought vigorously to save Ed Johnsons life. He objected strongly to the way Judge McReynolds tried the case on several points: 1.) setting a trial within 10 days of Johnson being arrested; 2.) refusal to move the trial out of Chattanooga; and 3.) the judges pro prosecution bias in his questioning of witnesses and relatives of the defendant on legal matters. In his closing argument Shepherd attacked the judges denial of justice and right to a fair trial. After Johnson was convicted, he was outvoted by co-counsel who were concerned that if the case was appealed it would lead to a lynching. However, two African-American lawyers, Noah Parden and Styles Hutchins, took over the case and asked Shepherd to be a part of the appeal team. Ignoring any potential consequences on his distinguished career and his personal safety, Shepherd agreed to continue his representation. The case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court and as explained in Contempt of Court by Authors Mark Curriden and Leroy Phillips, Jr., the High Court ordered a stay of execution as outlined in their non-fictional account of the entire case and trial. On the day the United States Supreme Court granted the stay Shepherd invited Parden and Hutchins to his retreat on Lookout Mountain to celebrate their great victory. Unfortunately, that very night an angry crowd stormed the Hamilton County Jail and took Ed Johnson to the Walnut Street Bridge and hung him. The crowd then mutilated his body by shooting him several times. Subsequently the Supreme Court cited Sheriff Shipp and several others for contempt for not protecting Ed Johnson from the mob. In an unusual move that would not be allowed today, Lewis Shepherd represented nine of the defendants in the first and only criminal case in the history of that High Court. The permanent stigma that might have been attached to Lewis Shepherd for representing Ed Johnson was probably lessened because of the lawyers good reputation and high standing in the community plus his representation of the nine defendants in the Sheriff Shipp contempt cases. While his law practice survived, Parden and Hutchins did not fare well as they were forced by intimidation to leave Chattanooga and relocate to other cities. Although lost in relative obscurity until the release of the 1999 Contempt of Court book by Curriden and Philips, the trial of Ed Johnson if reviewed on its proper context would have to be one of the Trials of the Century. * * * Jerry Summers (If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com A meeting of the lower house of the parliament has begun in Pakistan despite some parliamentarians being unwilling to participate in special legislative sessions on the coronavirus pandemic. Qasim Suri, deputy speaker of the national assembly, or popularly elected lower house, said the meeting began on May 11. He told journalists MPs are being tested for the coronavirus while the temperature of anyone entering the parliament building is being taken. Suri said lawmakers are being provided with masks and hand sanitizer as additional precautionary measures. Ahead of the meeting, parliamentarians were reluctant to return to the parliament after some lawmakers, including the speaker of the national assembly, had tested positive for COVID-19. Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in new cases after the authorities relaxed the lockdown on May 9. Reports from around the country indicated that people were thronging to markets even before the restrictions were lifted. I have decided not to attend todays session after coronavirus tests of several MPs and secretariat staffers have come out positive, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaduhry wrote on Twitter on May 11. I have been pushing for an online session from day one. The parliamentary committee has taken a wrong decision and endangered the countrys political leadership. Both opposition and government members were not satisfied with the COVID-19 tests for lawmakers ahead of the national assembly and Senate sessions. Parliaments sessions should be postponed to avoid dangerous consequences, Saleem Mandviwala, deputy chairman of the senate, said in a statement. The Speaker [Asad Qaisar] was admitted to a private hospital to get better healthcare, the National Assembly staff tweeted on May 10. Speaker is feeling much better now and would be discharged from hospital soon. The Speaker is undergoing treatment and is stable, said Mehboob Gurmani, a spokesman for the National Assemby secretariat confirmed. The authorities say the meetings will take place separately and were originally requisitioned by the opposition. While no visitors will be allowed to witness the parliament meetings, concerns about the rise in COVID-19 cases in Pakistan are increasing. The countrys teeming cities are returning to normal. Markets are already crowded with few people wearing masks. In most places, government directives for observing physical distancing were also ignored. We have only conducted more than 200,000 tests, of which more than 30,000 were positive, Khwaja Asif, an opposition lawmaker, told the parliament. There is no such thing as smart lockdown, he added while criticizing government claims that it is moving quickly to shutting down case clusters. Only the word confusion explains the government policy [to stop the spread of the coronavirus]. In Pakistan, a country of more than 210 million people, more than 670 people have died from COVID-19 after the first confirmed case was reported in late February. They include scores of medical staff who have repeatedly protested the lack of protective equipment. With reporting by DPA Credit: CC0 Public Domain France on Monday reported 263 more deaths from the coronavirus, a sharp increase on previous days as the country marked the first easing of an almost two-month lockdown. The new deaths brought the total toll in hospitals and nursing homes from the pandemic in France to 26,643, the health ministry said. The ministry had on Sunday reported 70 more deaths, the lowest daily toll announced since March 17, the day the lockdown in France began. However weekend tolls are frequently lower than during the week, possibly due to reporting lags, particularly in nursing homes. France was on Monday beginning to emerge from its lockdown, although many restrictions remain in place nationwide. There has been a steady downward trend in France's key coronavirus figures in recent days, although officials warn that caution is still needed and the risk of a second wave remains. Continuing recent trends, there were 64 fewer coronavirus patients in total in intensive care on Monday. The government has divided France into green and red areas, with Paris and three other regions classified as red seeing a more limited relaxation of the lockdown. The senior French civil servant put in charge of the easing measures, Jean Castex, has warned that the lockdown could be reimposed if the number of cases surges again. "In the absence in the short term of a vaccination or a treatment, the French population remains vulnerable to a resumption of the epidemic," he wrote in his report for the easing of the lockdown. "The possibility that the (easing) measures can be reversed.... must be anticipated by the authorities," he added. The health ministry in its statement urged people to wear masks in some situations in public and observe social distancing, saying: "The epidemic is still active and evolving." Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak 2020 AFP Maltese diplomat resigned after comparing German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler who proliferated anti-semitism and ordered the killings of hundreds of thousands of Jews during his regime. Michael Zammit Tabona, Malta's ambassador to Finland, reportedly wrote on his Facebook page that Merkel has fulfilled Hitlers dream. Seventy-five years ago we stopped Hitler. Who will stop Angela Merkel? She has fulfilled Hitler's dream! To control Europe, wrote the diplomat in a Facebook post which was later deleted. Maltas Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo told a local daily that Germany would receive an apology and that he had instructed the diplomat to remove the comment immediately after receiving the information. The ambassador, who is reported to be a political appointee and not a career diplomat, has not made any comments on the controversial post. Read: Amid Covid Crisis, Russia Holds Mega Fireworks Display To Celebrate Nazi Germany's Defeat 75th anniversary The reason behind the remark is still not clear but it came when Germany commemorated 75th anniversary of the end of Nazi regime during World War II. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had said during the commemorations speech that Germans feel gratitude for the Nazi defeat in World War II that liberated the country, preserving freedom and democracy. Read: Trump Discusses World Economy With Saudi King Salman, Germany's Merkel Amid Coronavirus Read: Germany To Reopen All Shops, Schools After Recording 'no New Wave Of Infection' Lockdown should be in full in containment, red zones: MP CM After marathon session with CMs, PM Modi says working to open economy 'Discussed the way ahead in post-Covid era': PM Modi after CMs meeting ANI Photo Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held a meeting via video conferencing with chief ministers and asked them to spell out how they want to deal with the lockdown regime after May 17 when the third spell of the lockdown expires. The number of coronavirus cases in India has reached 67,152. So far, 2,206 have lost their lives due to the infection. Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh are among the worst affected states that together account for almost half the number of cases and around 72% deaths in the country. Click here for complete coverage on coronavirus pandemic On the global spectrum, nations like France and Spain are gradually easing lockdown restrictions despite the risk of a second wave of the pandemic. He joined a brief in the Vance case put together by the Protect Democracy Project. It is filed on behalf of former Republican members of Congress and the executive branch concerned that President Trumps assertions of absolute immunity from process while in office and more generally, his arguments against accountability in any forum could impose lasting damage on our constitutional system of checks and balances as well as on the rule of law. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 19:04:56|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SUVA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Fiji launched a nationwide workplace survey on the effects of COVID-19 on Monday, according to a government statement. Speaking at the launching ceremony here on Monday, Fiji's Employment Minister Parveen Kumar Bala said getting an idea of the actual effects of COVID-19 in workplaces will help employers make informed decisions if a similar crisis arises again. He said this data and information collection will enable the country to plan for means to overcome some of the short-term effects of the economic downturn. About 140 enumerators have been trained to conduct the survey that is to begin from Wednesday until June 19 this year. The minister said the survey will be implemented to ensure a maximum number of participation from the 24, 000 registered employers. Currently, Fiji has reported a total of 18 confirmed COVID-19 patients, of which, 14 have fully recovered and the four active patients are still in isolation and in stable condition. The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF), the island nation's central bank, said recently that the Fijian economy is expected to contract more sharply than the -4.3 percent earlier estimated in 2020. The labor market conditions in Fiji have deteriorated amid COVID-19, and this resulted in the layoffs and reduced hours in line with the halt in tourism activity, lockdowns and the deterioration in economic activity. Enditem Eswatini currently has the second highest infection rate per million people in Southern Africa after South Africa. We also have the slowest rate of recovery and were the only country below 10 per cent recovery, despite most of the local cases being mild infections. A recovery jump was recorded yesterday but it does little to change our profile. Of note is that SA has rolled out mass testing while we havent, which means we could easily be perched at the summit of the infection rate stats on the continent. A grave concern, no doubt. Digging the grave deeper is the short supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) which is exposing our health personnel to infection. We ought to be wary of the international shortage of PPE and how 20 per cent of the COVID-19 deaths in Italy were those of health workers. This is a statistic we cannot afford to add to our overburdened frontline staff shortages. It calls for determined efforts to reduce traffic to our health facilities by enforcing World Health Organisation (WHO) and COVID-19 regulations to the letter. However, we seem to be doing the opposite. Like sheep to the slaughter, people are being fully loaded in kombis, crowded without zero distancing at food distribution registration centres and shopping malls. Now the government wants to add to the numbers by encouraging large church gatherings. It will regret this. People must move from point A to B but it must be done safely. Risks must be reduced to a bare minimum. If not, it is the Prime Minister, Ambrose Dlamini and his team that will, unfortunately, have to account for peoples lives at the end of the day, so they cannot afford to sit back and watch, or even encourage, uncontrolled mass gatherings for whatever reason while keeping the economy going and ensuring people dont go hungry. Mobilising a nation to cooperate should dominate Cabinets time and effort, but it should do so without confusing the public with conflicting messages. Confusion will only lead us towards flattening of lives than the intended infection curve. Iran Says Ready For Prisoner Swap With U.S. Without Preconditions By RFE/RL May 10, 2020 Iran is ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei says, adding that Washington has yet to respond to Iran's call for a prisoner swap. "We have announced that we are ready without any preconditions to exchange all prisoners and we are prepared to discuss this issue but the Americans have not responded yet," Rabiei told the news site Khabaronline on May 10. "We are worried about the safety and health of Iranians in jail.... We hold America responsible for Iranians' safety amid the new coronavirus outbreak," Rabiei added. "Washington is aware of our readiness and we think there is no need for a third country to mediate between Tehran and Washington for the prisoner exchange," Rabiei was quoted as saying. The United States is set to deport Iranian professor Sirous Asgari, who was acquitted of stealing trade secrets, U.S. and Iranian officials told Reuters last week. Asgari was reported to have tested positive for the coronavirus while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Iran is believed to be holding at least four Americans, including Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, his father, Baqer Namazi, and environmentalist and businessman Morad Tahbaz. Western media reported last week that Tehran and Washington were negotiating a deal that would release U.S. Navy veteran Michael White for an Iranian held in the United States. White, detained in Iran for allegedly insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and posting private information online, was released on medical furlough in March amid the coronavirus pandemic. Iran says the U.S. authorities are holding some 20 Iranian nationals in jail. In a rare act of cooperation, the United States and Iran swapped prisoners in 2019: American graduate student Xiyue Wang, detained on alleged spying charges, and imprisoned Iranian stem-cell researcher Massud Soleimani, accused of sanctions violations. Tensions between Tehran and Washington have heightened since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, especially after he pulled the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed crippling sanctions on the Islamic republic. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Iran in March to release on humanitarian grounds all wrongfully detained Americans held in the country. With reporting by Reuters and AP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-says- ready-for-prisoner-swap-with-us-without -preconditions/30603847.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Let's share our love of Iran: Painter Iran Darrudi 05/11/20 Source: Tehran Times Iranian surrealist painter Iran Darrudi has asked her countrymen to share their love of their homeland. Speaking to the Iran-France Friendship Association in an online interview on last Wednesday, the 83-year-old Darrudi said, "Unfortunately, Iran and its history has been consigned to oblivion. However, we cannot deny our identity; we are Iranian and the history shows that this land has been the founder of the world's culture." Iran Darrudi attends the opening of Tara Behbahani's exhibition at Golestan Gallery in Tehran on October 5, 2018 (photo by Ramona Mirian, Honaronline) She addressed Iranians and said, "Be respectful of the Persian language and write and speak properly; we should share our common love for Iran." The Tehran Municipality has allocated a large area to establish a museum to embrace works by the renowned Iranian surrealist painter Iran Darrudi. Born in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, Darrudi has studied at Ecole Superier des Beaux-Arts and the cole du Louvre in Paris and the Royal Academy of Brussels. She also received education on television direction and production at the RCA Institute in New York City. Few years ago, she returned to her homeland and the Tehran Municipality promised her to establish a museum in the Yusefabad district to embrace the works she had brought with herself from Paris. In addition, Iran's Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) honored her with the first Eternal Tile, which was embedded on the wall of her house in Tehran in May 2017. The idea to install the tiles on the houses of contemporary artists, literati and religious figures was initiated by the CHTHO Office for Inscription of Properties and Revitalization of Intangible and Natural Heritage. The tile bearing the name and title of the celebrity is installed on the facade of his/her house. It also carries the year the artist began to live in the house. "Over my life, I have regularly proved that how much I love Iran, its great history and my countrymen; I was born a lover and I have honestly expressed my love of Iran and its great history," Darrudi said. "I'm thankful for my people's affection to me and I want to know that I deserve your love; I've been offering service fairly over all these years to acquaint my people with the contemporary art," she added. She talked about her faith in her Iranian identity and said, "My name is Iran and by selecting this name for me, they have assigned me a great duty." Darrudi also spoke about how she is dealing with the home quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Fortunately, I always take my pleasure from every moment of life. I can manage myself by myself and I can create something in solitude. I've been spending all my time in the home quarantine drawing paintings and I feel that I am among the luckiest people of the world," she concluded. Sunday, May 10, 2020 The coronavirus has fundamentally changed every 2020 election. And even before that, the world was already changing at an increasingly fast pace. In his newly released TEDx talk, Dr. Louis Perron, an internationally renowned political consultant, offers a formula to win elections campaigns everywhere where there are competitive elections. "Many people think that all it takes to win an election is a catchy slogan and a million bucks" he says. "Think again!" Perron argues that it takes the four "M"s to win high-profile election campaigns: message, media, money and make no mistakes. Message: No party can count any longer on loyal, regular voters. As a result, a party has to constantly innovate and reinvent itself. Ideally, campaigns should tie their message to the current circumstances. Media: The key for a candidate is to be authentic. Money: Moving from backroom fundraising with big donors to message-driven fundraising. Make No Mistake: One of the biggest mistakes in campaigns is that candidates assume voters would care about their politicians. All material a campaign produces should tell voters what's in it for them. The talk was given last November at TEDx Zurich in Switzerland and was recently released on YouTube and the TED website. With the U.S. elections fast approaching, this is a timely piece. Dr. Louis Perron is an internationally renowned political consultant based in Switzerland. He has won two dozen competitive election and referenda campaigns in various countries. His clients include everything from mayors up to senators, members of cabinet, presidents and a former miss universe. He is the author of the book "How to Overcome the Power of Incumbency in Election Campaigns." The President of DkIT has welcomed the "greater clarity" around the Leaving Certificate this year. In a statement to the Democrat, Dr Michael Mulvey said the Government's decision brings "certainty to the process". I welcome the announcement regarding the completion of the 2020 senior cycle assessment process, and specifically the replacement of the planned Leaving Certificate examinations with an alternative grading system. A great deal of consideration and expertise was brought to bear on creating a solution to providing state certification of the completion of the senior cycle in the context of containing and suppressing the Covid-19 pandemic." He added: "This has been a particularly worrying and uncertain time for Leaving Certificate students, their families, friends, and teachers. The decision announced recently brings certainty to the process and also allows DkIT to plan toward welcoming new students into the next academic year. Our current focus is on completing this years assessment for our existing students whilst commencing planning for resumption in September. "We recognise that this solution has been informed by experts who have been working closely with Government and relevant agencies since the onset of the public health emergency. We will continue to work closely with our partners and stakeholders to clarify the resulting CAO schedule and we expect that dates and time-frames will closely resemble the norm. "As we work through the recovery phases outlined in the Government's Roadmap for Reopening Society & Business, we look forward to welcoming a new cohort of students to our institutes this autumn. Your ambition and skills will be central to rebuilding societal confidence and rebooting our economy. Our institutions are particularly experienced in small group teaching and are linked closely with enterprise which is key to fuelling that recovery. Our institutes of technology have been key agents for change both locally and nationally and support a student cohort that closely reflects the socio-economic profile of the Irish population. They are key to supporting equitable access to higher education and have strong student services in place that will be central to supporting learners through the recovery. "We will continue to work closely with the public health authorities to ensure that next year's provision will protect the health and wellbeing of both staff and students and we continue to ensure that every support possible is put in place to nurture both the physical and mental health of our communities. Residents can fill out a form on the villages website, www.villageofmidlothian.net, to request two free masks per household. Once they submit the form, they will be notified via email when they can pick up their masks. Residents who are elderly, homebound or cannot get out can request that the villages emergency personnel bring the masks to their homes, LHeureux said. Officers arrested a 23-year-old man who they said fled from them on a motorcycle, weaving into the designated Albuquerque Rapid Transit bus lane and then onto the a bike path near Tingley beach nearly striking someone on a bicycle Sunday night. Mohammed Abdulwahhab has been charged with aggravated fleeing of law enforcement, negligent use of a deadly weapon (intoxication), and delivery or manufacture of drug paraphernalia to a minor. He was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center Sunday night. (The Albuquerque Police Departments) new helicopter, AIR-2, monitored the dangerous get-away and directed patrol officers to a parking lot at 2525 Tingley Dr. where they captured Abdulwahhab and arrested him, APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos wrote in a news release. Abdulwahhab was taken into custody after he ditched the motorcycle and fled on foot, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. According to the complaint, Abdulwahhab had a handgun in his pocket and a marijuana vaporizer and 40 grams of a marijuana derived wax in his backpack when he was arrested. He told officers he was going between 40-50 miles per hour and he fled because he did not have a valid drivers license. Gallegos said officers made the arrest during a tactical operation by APDs DWI Unit, the Downtown Problem Response Teams, Gun Violence Reduction Unit, Street Crimes Unit, New Mexico State Police and the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office in the valley area command and northwest area command. The goal was to identify and stop street racing, careless driving, reckless driving, speeding and other traffic violations committed by groups of vehicles and clubs that participate in these dangerous activities, Gallegos wrote in an email He said officers made three felony arrests, three DWI arrests, issued one misdemeanor summons for possession of a controlled substance, 115 traffic citations, towed seven vehicles and recovered one firearm. Cliff Bentz is the best choice to represent Eastern and Southern Oregons 2nd Congressional District. In my experience advocating at the Legislature for county government for over 25 years, I have found Cliff Bentz to be an excellent legislator. One of the best. He was always thoughtful, diligent in his preparation, open, honest and extremely sensitive to the views of those he represented. Serving in the minority in both the House and Senate, Bentz demonstrated an ability to work with leaders of the majority party to achieve results for his district. His work led to the creation of the Eastern Oregon Border Region to successfully address the unique issues facing people who live near Idaho. Bentz was able to persuade legislators to loosen the rules on self-service gas to increase availability in rural Oregon. He was the lead negotiator for his party on big issues such as the enacted transportation package and the failed cap and invest carbon reduction proposal. In representing the largest geographic districts in the House and Senate, Bentz is accustomed to traveling great distances to meet with constituents. His lifetime of experience with ranching, water laws and natural resource issues make Bentz the most qualified candidate for Oregons 2nd Congressional District. Mike McArthur, Wasco McArthur is a former Sherman County judge and former executive director of the Association of Oregon Counties It is a well-known fact that physicians and surgeons are often paid very well. Taking into consideration how hard it is to get into medical school along with at least eight years of expensive education, their high salaries seem fitting. Here is something to think about, though: Once the degree is earned, where will the doctor wish to practice? There are opportunities across the globe, and it is not always necessary to work in ones native region. America is not the only place where doctors can earn good livings. Here are how some countries pay their physicians and surgeons, from well - to well, not so much. Making Comparisons Medscapes 2019 U.S. Physician Compensation Report compared doctor salaries in different countries, after surveying their physician members. All the figures are shown in U.S. dollars, with conversions made from euros, pesos, and other local currencies. The yearly salaries include bonuses and profit-sharing if the doctors work for other entities. United States $313,000 Germany $163,000 United Kingdom $138,000 France $108,000 Spain $63,000 Mexico $22,000 CareerAddict.com showed some different numbers: Luxembourg $357,336 Switzerland $258,000 United States $208,560 Germany $163,000 Israel $74,920 A third list is shown on medicfootprints.org: United States: $161,000 United Kingdom: $118,000 Netherlands: $117,000 Canada: $107,000 Australia: $91,000 Overall Trends Although some of the numbers conflicts, it looks like the United States and some European countries have the highest compensation. All the data showed that specialists earn even more. One reason why U.S. doctors get paid well is because medical schools here are so costly. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, in 2018 the average cost for attending one year at public medical school was $34,592 for in-state students and $58,668 out-of-state. This included tuition, plus fees, and health insurance. Private schools were about $50,000 yearly, and prices have gone up since 2018. In other countries, medical tuition can be free or at a low cost. Some of these include France, Germany, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. There are also public universities in Brazil and Mexico with virtually free tuition, but their doctor salaries are much lower. In addition, many of these countries have lower costs of living so the salaries also reflect that. Understanding the Differences To understand what it is like to be a physician in a high-paying country compared to a low-paying country, we can look at the United States and Mexico, which are at opposite ends of the salary range. In the United States, medical students complete eight years of medical education, followed by three to seven years as an intern/resident, and specialty training. The Mexico programs take four to five years. Graduates then spend a year interning, following by a year in social service. This usually entails being a general practitioner in a rural area. Those who reach this point take an exam; if passed, they are admitted to postgraduate training and move onto a medical postgraduate residency. It is also important to note that U.S. general practitioners spend an average of 40 hours per week seeing patients, while in Mexico they average 36. France ranked highest, with an average of 45 hours a week. Interestingly, Medscape also looked at how satisfied physicians were with their job performance. For the U.S. it was 91 percent, while Mexico reported 89 percent satisfaction. Working Abroad Medical professionals who choose to step out of their comfort zones and study or work abroad may find it to be very rewarding. While some countries are highly competitive and real pressure-cookers for physicians, some can provide opportunities for further professional development and renewing ones passion for medicine. It is essential to look at every aspect of practicing medicine in another country, though. Costs of medical school, working conditions, and daily living should all factor into the decision. | By Charles Schelle As an institution where seven schools operate relatively autonomously under the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) umbrella, how can UMBs seven core values be applied consistently? The 2019-2020 Presidents Fellows (clockwise, from top left): Jamaad Abdi, Anicca Harriot, Meghna Bhatt, Marina Gettas, Nina Marks, and Adrienne Kambouris. The 2019-2020 Presidents Symposium and White Paper Project presented a variety of recommendations to encourage UMB and its seven schools to do just that. I like the idea of focusing on core values because in the end, if we make core values work right, we will make the University work right, UMB Interim President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, said during the May 7 presentation on Webex. Its not that its not working right now its working great but it could be much better than its working now, particularly around the core values. The Presidents Symposium and White Paper Project is a joint initiative between the Presidents Office and the Office of Interprofessional Student Learning and Service Initiatives to create a yearlong conversation on a topic important to the University community, driven by the Presidents Fellows. (Watch video below.) This years topic examined actionable strategies for institutionalizing the Universitys core values: accountability, civility, collaboration, diversity, excellence, knowledge, and leadership. The findings are through the lens of the student population, while there may be overlap in some areas for faculty and staff. In the students eyes, values and how they are applied are chiefly learned through their schools and not directly from central administration. They see a potential for sharing more information about Universitywide resources and initiatives to make the UMB experience more worthwhile. Recommendations ranged from creating new positions and groups to make sure core values are consistently implemented to updating the UMB mobile app and the SMC Campus Center. We feel the University has made a great effort to be very clear and explicit, but we also felt students werent necessarily informed, said fellow Anicca Harriot, a biochemistry and molecular biology PhD candidate at the School of Medicine. Something that we struggled with a lot at the beginning of this project, and even now, is What is the Universitys responsibility to inform us? What is our responsibility to be informed? A lot of the information that we found was readily available to us, and we didnt necessarily have to go through a lot of hurdles. But if you dont know it until you go to look for it, how well are those values really being incorporated into the culture? In addition to Harriot, the 2019-2020 fellows are: Jamaad Abdi of the School of Dentistry; Meghna Bhatt of the School of Pharmacy; Marina Gettas, DPH, MPH, of the School of Nursing; Adrienne Kambouris of the Graduate School and School of Medicine; and Nina Marks of the Francis King Carey School of Law. The fellows interviewed faculty, staff, and students while gathering data during the year, culminating in a 23-page white paper chock full of analysis of how core values are applied at each of the seven schools and UMB, coupled with recommendations for improvements. Their work was commissioned under former UMB president and current University System of Maryland Chancellor Jay A. Perman, MD, and continued with Jarrell, who is receptive to many of the recommendations while acknowledging the collaborative environment prevents him from making certain changes unilaterally. One such change would pivot the core value of accountability to integrity. The fellows believe that the value of accountability focuses on the impacts of an action after the fact, and instead, the campus community should act with integrity by contemplating actions beforehand. Kambouris said that belief was instilled in her while serving in the Army for 10 years. I knew ahead of time that you had to think about your actions before you take them. When I was reading about the core values and how they were implemented across the schools, it seemed like it was act first then ask questions and think how it will impact others, she said. If you think through your decisions prior to your actions, you already know what the potential consequences will be, and you will plan and evaluate for that. The fellows also recognized many of the existing positive initiatives and honors that exemplify core values, including offering a medical Spanish course (civility), Carey Law's Diversity Scholars Program (diversity), and the UMB Health Alliance initiative (knowledge), among others. During the school year, the fellows attended a Speaker Series that included a kickoff session featuring the inaugural Presidents Distinguished Scholar, Norman Augustine, MSE, retired chair and CEO of Lockheed Martin. Other speakers included Kristy Novak, MS, assistant director of graduate clinical placements for the School of Nursing, student and academic services, and president of UMBs Staff Senate, and Oksana Mishler, RDH, MS, clinical assistant professor at the School of Dentistry and vice president of the Faculty Senate; Sharon Glazer, PhD, professor and chair, Division of Applied Behavioral Sciences at the University of Baltimore; Ashley Finley, PhD, senior advisor to the president and vice president of strategic planning and partnerships at the Association of American Colleges & Universities; and Angel Nix, president and CEO of the National Institute of Leadership & Organizational Development. Gregory Brightbill, MBA, MEd, leadership education and involvement program specialist, applauded the students for their work. The students here really prepared an amazing white paper, which can act as a road map for each of us in looking at what our core values are and how we can implement them as a campus community, Brightbill said. Brightbill also announced during the presentation that the 2020-2021 topic will be Health Literacy as a Social Determinant of Health, and completed via the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State (MPower). This is actually going to be a partnership through MPower between UMB and College Park, where eight of the students will be UMB and one will be a College Park student studying public health, he said. This years white paper and those from prior years are available to be read on UMBs website and on Issuu. The fellows' main recommendations under each core value included: Accountability Conduct a student/faculty/staff climate assessment through the lens of diversity and inclusiveness. Each school should annually assess core values in its programming and practices. Change Accountability to Integrity to focus on behavior before an action is taken. Standardize student orientation to ensure students in each school are aware of UMB-wide resources and core values by having Division of Student Affairs/Campus Life address each orientation. Civility Send accepted students a video highlighting UMBs campus, student life, and core values. Convert Campus Center to Student Center with several programming and amenity improvements for both studying and recreation. Improve the UMB mobile app to become more student-friendly with push notifications, emergency alerts, and direct registration for various programming, student account information, and courses. Use the University Student Government Association to form UMB chapters of interest groups for collaboration to bring students from the seven schools together for common causes. Collaboration Expand interprofessional course offerings. All schools should investigate pay and promotion equity. Diversity Recruit and hire an associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion at each school. Create a symposium to display student and faculty research and other initiatives to the public. Excellence Honor a UMB student of the month, quarter, and year at the institution level. Make School of Social Work diversity training available to all faculty. Knowledge Require all incoming students to take the Structural Oppression online course offered by the School of Social Work. Create a Presidents Student Advisory Council to analyze proposed and existing policies to ensure they align with UMB core values. Leadership You might have been under the impression that the European Union has quite enough problems to manage. For one thing, there's a pandemic going on, causing a recession and a debt crisis that might blow up the currency union. For another, two member states, Poland and Hungary, are going rogue, undermining democracy and the rule of law and increasingly seeking conflict with Brussels. I'm not the only one who's been wondering whether the EU has a future at all. And now some red-robed judges in Karlsruhe, a city that most people have to google-map, have inadvertently made all these problems much more intractable by questioning the European Central Bank's power to buy bonds for quantitative easing. One effect of the shock verdict by Germany's constitutional court last week is to hugely complicate the Bank's efforts to keep the euro area's economy alive. But the more fundamental consequence is to throw the EU's entire legal framework into chaos. Yes, the EU now has a full-bore constitutional crisis. That's because the court in Karlsruhe, in a historic first, rather glibly overruled a higher instance, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which had previously given the ECB its green light. Can a national court do that? And if so, what would stop other national courts from doing the same whenever they don't like what the EU says or does? These questions strike at the EU's core dilemma: Where, ultimately, does sovereignty reside? Hence two opposing reactions to the verdict: The continent's Europhiles are somewhere between aghast and dejected. Among them is Wolfgang Schaeuble, the eminence grise of German politics. Currently president of parliament and thus Germany's second-highest ranking official, he was formerly finance minister and helped steer the euro region through its previous debt crisis. Now he worries that the Karlsruhe verdict could threaten the euro area's survival as a currency bloc and rob the whole EU of its legal authority. The continent's Euroskeptics, meanwhile, are celebrating. Among them are the governments of Poland and Hungary. For years, they've been whittling away at the institutions of free and open societies as defined in the EU's charters. This month, Freedom House, an American think tank, said they no longer even classify as full democracies because Poland "has been waging a war against the judiciary" and Hungary has "dropped any pretense of respecting democratic institutions." What's been slowing this Polish and Hungarian descent, however, is the European Court of Justice, which has been berating Poland in particular. So it's hardly surprising that Poland's prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, wrote an enthusiastic letter to a German newspaper, praising the Karlsruhe verdict as "one of the most important judgments in the history" of the EU because it was a reminder that it's member states which decide what the EU's institutions may do, not the other way around. Obviously, he feels that Poland now has carte blanche to ignore Luxembourg's rulings too. This is the height of cynicism, of course. The judges in Karlsruhe opined on whether or not an EU institution (the ECB) strayed beyond functions given to it in the EU's treaties, and in the process disagreed with the interpretation of judges in Luxembourg. That's awkward, but legitimate. By contrast, the people in power in Warsaw are undermining the rule of law in their own country, in defiance of Luxembourg's censure. These are completely different situations. And yet, the cynics will be able to conflate the ECB case with the Polish and Hungarian tangles enough to gum up the EU's entire legal framework, in effect freezing reform plans while the uncertainty lasts. That's why the European Commission, the EU's executive, cannot stand by idly. Its president, Ursula von der Leyen, who happens to be German, has now threatened to sue Germany over the verdict of its court. "The final word on EU laws is always spoken in Luxembourg. Nowhere else," she said this weekend, trying to sound tough and strict. And yet, she must know that an "infringement proceeding" by the EU against its largest and most powerful member state would drag on forever and stand little chance of success anyway. The verdict of the German constitutional court thus spells terrible news for the EU. That's not because it was legally unreasonable. Instead, it's because it shines a harsh spotlight on all the EU's institutional and political shortcomings at the worst possible time, a global medical and economic emergency. The EU's long-term outlook was already bad before the German judges began reading out their verdict. It's even worse now. - - - This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Kluth is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion Three hundred migrant labourers with permission to board a Shramik Special train from Pune to Madhya Pradesh did not report at departure on Sunday, and 80 for a train to Uttarakhand on Monday, with local officials claiming these were "positive" signs due to the reopening of several industries in the region. An official said 1,172 people had got permission to travel on the train to MP but 300, mostly working in the MIDC area here, did not turn up when it left from Daund station. "These people have claimed they chose not to move as they were getting work in MIDC areas here. The firms there also know they will suffer if workers move so may have offered incentives," said Daund Tehsildar Sanjay Patil. He said a train which left for Uttarakhand on Monday also had 80 absentees, with all of them claiming there was no need to go back to their native villages as work had started here. Pune District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said, "This is actually a positive sign. Opening industries in MIDC areas and giving permission for construction work in non-containment areas have created a positive atmosphere among labourers. That is why they are preferring to stay back." Patil said officials had to call up those on the "waitlist" to ensure the trains did not leave below sanctioned capacity. Jwala Prasad, one of the 300 who gave the MP train a miss, said he did not move as the plant in Kurmukh MIDC where he worked as an operator had resumed operations. "I have been living here with my wife and two children for 10 years. We even filed forms to board the Shramik Special but then dropped the plan as work at my company resumed," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Americans must understand the consequences of restoring our economy By Mark Alexander President Donald Trump and Republican governors are making a serious political mistake by not disclosing some critical facts about their important effort to jump-start our economy. As I wrote six weeks ago, Americans nationwide were in dire need of an exit strategy for the economic slowdown. The administration finally announced that strategy two weeks ago, when the White House COVID-19 Task Force issued its guidance for restarting our economy. And not a minute too soon, given that the current state and local policies have created job losses at near Great Depression levels. Fortunately, President Trump recently discontinued his disastrous daily press briefings that, while initially helpful, had devolved into sniping contests between the president and the Leftmedia. That had the predictable consequence (from our perspective outside the Beltway) of making him the poster child for COVID-19 misery. That unfortunate outcome plays right into the Pelosi/Schumer Demo tag team's congressional pandemic inquisition, the "hearings" for which will provide a constant flow of layups for the Democrat Party's effort to hang Trump with the human and economic costs between now and the November election. That is inevitable, even though the president rightly, in accordance with federalist principles, left to the nation's governors the decision as to what measures to take beyond CDC guidelines. Regrettably, several times in April, while the economy was sinking as fast as death tolls were rising, Trump erroneously asserted during his briefings that he holds the power to override the actions of governors in their respective states if they weren't abiding by his directives. Those absurd proclamations would've made it difficult for him to argue that any blame for the resulting economic consequences and, moreover, the violations of civil liberties should be affixed to individual governors and not to him. Fortunately, Trump's attorney general, William Barr, put state and local officials on notice for undue usurpations of individual Liberty and helped pull the president out of the hole he'd dug for himself. According to the AG: "Many policies that would be unthinkable in regular times have become commonplace in recent weeks, and we do not want to unduly interfere with the important efforts of state and local officials to protect the public. But the Constitution is not suspended in times of crisis." Trump followed up those remarks about excessive measures on 19 April Patriots' Day noting: "I just think that some of the governors have gotten carried away. ... Some governors have gone too far." Regarding the sporadic protests over state closures, Trump added, "Their life was taken away from them. These people love our country. They want to get back to work." So, as governors particularly Republican governors in the South and West begin to cautiously restore their economies using the administration's reopening guidance, what is it they should be making clear to their respective constituents, but haven't? Republican governors' biggest mistake when launching their respective state economic restoration protocols is failing to tell their constituents that reopening will result in additional infections and deaths. The fact is, unless "global warming" helps reduce viral spread in those states now reopening, which are the earliest in the nation to warm up for summer, there will be an increase in fatalities. It is important that Americans understand that nothing about the SARS-CoV-2 virus has changed it is still out there claiming casualties, and it will continue to do so until an effective vaccine, combined with herd immunity, can slow it. And ... it will reemerge again next fall. While the economic slowdown did buy our nation time at a colossal cost to produce tests, develop treatment protocols and capacity, build more ventilators, and acquire personal protective equipment (PPE), the viral infections will increase as the lockdowns are lifted. To that end, there are important lessons to be learned from the five Republican governors who did not constrict their state economies. And a note about healthcare: By instituting a ban on "elective" surgeries in order to "flatten the curve" and keep hospitals from being overwhelmed, a ban necessitated largely because hospitals did not have reserves of PPE needed for critical care, that ban nearly destroyed the very healthcare providers it had meant to protect. However, in the coming months those hospitals may fill to capacity with COVID-19 cases in certain densely populated areas as governors reopen their states. President Trump and Republican governors, who get high marks for how they have handled the pandemic thus far, need to make clear that the consequences of having a functional society and economy will include more disease and death. If we are fortunate and the surge is not significant, all the better. Notably and wisely, at a town hall on May 3, President Trump began to manage the nation's expectations by saying that he believes the deaths will exceed the current estimates and could be as high as 135,000 or more. Last week he acknowledged: "It's possible there will be some [deaths] because you won't be locked into an apartment or house ... but at the same time, we're going to practice social distancing, we're going to be washing hands, we're going to be doing a lot of the things that we've learned to do over the last period of time." But he needs to acknowledge that those who don't follow those guidelines will be responsible for the inevitable increase in illness and death. I should note here that the unspoken reason for the disastrous partial economic shutdown over the last two months was to protect the nation's most vulnerable citizens from the "idiot factor" those of all ages who would not otherwise abide by the basic CDC guidelines for not spreading the contagion to others. Had governors been confident that nearly all Americans would follow those guidelines especially people in densely populated urban areas the guidelines alone would likely have allowed for a much less restrictive economic slowdown. Trump added: "Will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country opened and we have to get it open soon. ... This terrible plague has inflicted great hardships on our people. We mourn for every life lost. We pray for every victim. And we shoulder this burden together, as one people, one family, and one great American nation." As of this writing, the CDC reports over 70,000 deaths associated with COVID-19 disease. We have serious concerns about how these deaths have been reported, which is to say the actual number may be less. Governors must follow Trump's lead and prepare the nation for the worst. Anything short of that won't be good for all of us. Democrats and the Leftmedia talkingheads, in their craven cowardice and unmitigated arrogance, have taken the easy way out, arguing that the nation should remain closed until our economy flatlines and not a single additional COVID-19 death occurs, while endlessly obsessing about the "mortality models." Thus, Demos and their media bootlickers are positioning themselves to blame Trump and Republicans for every single death after the reopening, claiming that they put the economy and Trump's reelection ahead of the lives of the people. We can hear their campaign cry now: "Trump and the Republicans have blood on their hands!" Hopefully, most of our fellow Americans will realize that a vibrant economy is in fact the lifeblood of a free people. However, it ain't over lockdown or not, the China Virus is not done with its destruction. The latest obsession of the anti-Liberty lockdown extremists is a leaked government model projecting that deaths have not peaked and that by June there will be 3,000 Americans dying every day. But what most media outlets failed to mention is the fact that the creator of this dire model, Justin Lessler, an associate professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins, has already downplayed its usefulness: "I had no role in the process by which that was presented and shown. It was not in any way intended to be a forecast." President Trump's administration issued notice immediately that the speculative model was "not a White House document, nor has it been presented to the Coronavirus Task Force or gone through interagency vetting," and noted further, "This data is not reflective of any of the modeling done by the Task Force, or data that the Task Force has analyzed." Moving forward, affirming the administration's position that the increase in case load will be manageable, Task Force chairman Mike Pence announced there are discussions "about what the proper time is for the task force to complete its work," suggesting it may close down by Memorial Day. He added, "I think we're starting to look at the Memorial Day window, early June window, as a time when we could begin to transition back to having our agencies begin to manage our national response in a more traditional manner." Trump added, "Because of this success, the Task Force will continue on indefinitely with its focus on SAFETY & OPENING UP OUR COUNTRY AGAIN. We may add or subtract people to it, as appropriate." Task Force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx would stay on for the rest of the year, in her words, to "keep a close eye on the data." She added, "Because we have very good data now, it took us a while to build that capacity and we'll make sure that we're watching that at a federal level." Somebody forgot to tell Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been a wild card, often arrogantly contradicting the Task Force in his newfound CNN infamy. When he was asked about the phase down, he responded, "That's not true, I've been in every Task Force meeting, and that's not what they are doing." (I still believe President Trump should start up a "Back to Work Task Force" instead of the "commission" he set up a couple weeks ago.) For the record, let me state again that balancing the COVID-19 mitigation efforts with the economic and social consequences has been extremely challenging, and formulating and implementing a mitigation plan and an exit strategy is the most difficult and complex policy decision faced by any president in decades. Let me also restate that, to the Trump administration's great credit, our nation was in a better position to take this enormous economic hit than it would've been under the statist suppression of Hillary Clinton. Until two months ago, we had the strongest economy in U.S. history. And we will Make American Great Again. I believe that President Trump is also well equipped as a result of his considerable business experience to evaluate an effective path forward for our economy. But that path will be chock-full of pitfalls and political snares set by Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer. Trump, of course, is by now conditioned to this sort of sabotage. Before he even took office, the Obama administration tried to take him down with the fake Russia-collusion charade. The Democrats also failed to take Trump down with their second attempt, the fake Ukraine-collusion charade. That effort had been sucking up all the Beltway oxygen just as the SARS-CoV-2 virus was beginning its deadly spread. Going forward, the Democrats will be pulling out all the stops to retake the White House by supporting their party's non-compos-mentis presumed nominee, Joe Biden assuming he survives the prospect of a brokered Demo convention. Of course, getting beyond these credible and corroborated sexual-assault allegations should be no problem if the DNC follows the advice of Biden's enablers at The New York Times, which has called for the Democrat Party to lead the investigation. And on that note, let me also restate, as I did in February, that Democrats are hanging their 2020 election hopes on pandemic death and destruction. They have an evil, sordid, and disgraceful history of politicizing such things. If ever there were a justification for the reinstitution of public stockades, if not public gallows, the traitorous Pelosi/Schumer tag team is just that. Mark Alexander is the executive editor of the Patriot Post. Hacker group ShinyHunters has claimed to have stolen over 73 million user records that it is selling on the dark web, according to a report from ZDNet. The hackers said they breached 10 companies and are now selling their respective user databases on a dark web marketplace. The largest number of stolen records are from online dating app Zoosk, for which the group claimed it was selling 30 million records. Other databases on sale include those of printing service Chatbooks and US newspaper StarTribune. ZDNet listed the databases which were supposedly on sale: Online dating app Zoosk 30 million user records Printing service Chatbooks 15 million user records South Korean fashion platform SocialShare 6 million user records Food delivery service Home Chef 8 million user records Online marketplace Minted 5 million user records Online newspaper Chronicle of Higher Education 3 million user records South Korean furniture magazine GGuMim 2 million user records Health magazine Mindful 2 million user records Indonesia online store Bhinneka 1.2 million user records US newspaper StarTribune 1 million user records The hackers are reportedly selling each database separately, with a total price of around $18,000 for all the user records. Tokopedia breach ZDNet said that it could not verify the authenticity of the databases, but threat intelligence community sources Cyble, Nightlion Security, Under the Breach, and ZeroFOX regard the group has a legitimate threat actor. ShinyHunters was also responsible for a breach of Indonesias largest online store Tokopedia which occurred two weeks ago. It first leaked 15 million user records which included details such as full names, emails, phone numbers, hashed passwords, birth date, and information related to their Tokopedia profile. Later, the companys entire database of 91 million users was put up for sale for $5,000. GoDaddy breach The worlds largest domain registrar last week disclosed a data breach which exposed the credentials of 28,000 web hosting accounts. The company hosts millions of websites, managing 77 million domains from more than 19 million customers. A GoDaddy representative said on 17 April the company discovered and initiated an investigation into suspicious activity which started in October 2019. GoDaddy later identified the affected customers and began remediation, immediately resetting the affected usernames and passwords. These accounts were only used by customers for accessing remotely hosted servers and not primary GoDaddy accounts, the company stated. GoDaddy claimed there was no indication the threat actor had used its customers credentials or modified any customer hosting accounts. Now read: Why Zoom will be safer to use from this week One banking source tells Reuters Mubadala was looking to raise $3bn to $4bn. Abu Dhabis state fund Mubadala has hired banks for a potential three-tranche bond issue consisting of six-year and 10-year conventional bonds and 30-year dual-listed Formosa bonds, sources told Reuters news agency on Monday. Mubadala has hired Banca IMI, BNP Paribas, BofA Securities, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, Natixis, and Societe Generale to arrange investor calls on Monday, to be followed by the issuance, subject to market conditions, the sources said. One banking source said Mubadala was looking to raise $3bn to $4bn and that it made sense for the state fund to raise extra liquidity now in the face of a potential worsening of conditions in international markets later this year. A second banking source said Mubadala would launch the deal on Tuesday and would probably increase the size to $5bn to $6bn as order books grow during the deals execution. The extra cash could give Mubadala more firepower to buy stakes in companies later this year when many are expected to seek liquidity due to the economic crisis, the first source said. Were continually looking for ways to optimise our capital structure, as part of how we manage the overall portfolio, a Mubadala spokesman said. Our amount of debt is currently relatively conservative, and with a strong credit rating and solid balance sheet, we want to build upon the good liquidity position we have to take advantage of future investment opportunities across the portfolio as they arise, he said. Sources told Reuters last week that Mubadala could issue bonds as soon as this week. Bahrain sold $2bn in dual-tranche bonds last week, the first sub-investment grade issue in the Gulf since a massive sell-off of debt in the wake of a crash in oil prices and the spread of the new coronavirus. It was a further sign of revival in the regions battered debt market following large deals by Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia last month that ended the public issuance drought that lasted from late February to early April. Dollar bonds issued by Gulf states rallied on Monday. One fund manager said this was because of higher oil prices and the United States Federal Reserve buying high-yield bonds, which has led to spreads compressing. A fixed-income strategist said: Investors seem to have gotten their confidence back following Bahrains successful bond issuance last week. Debt investors also appear to have taken Saudi Arabias VAT decision as a positive step towards bolstering the kingdoms finances. Saudi Arabia said on Monday it would triple its value-added tax rate. COLUMBUS, OhioThe Ohio Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition to delay what would have been the nations first coronavirus-era trial, as the judge hearing the case already postponed it after the defendant was hospitalized with symptoms of the disease. The states high court previously allowed the trial of Seth Whited to go forward, siding with Ashland County Common Pleas Judge Ronald Forsthoefels initial arguments that Whiteds trial had already been rescheduled three times and could safely proceed so long as social-distancing precautions were taken inside the courtroom. But late last month, Forsthoefel agreed to delay the proceedings after Whited was rushed from the courthouse to the hospital with a low-grade fever, breathing problems, and other issues. Forsthoefel initially wanted to resume the trial after Whited tested negative for coronavirus, but doctors recommended that both Whited and his attorney, Adam Stone, self-quarantine. Stone ultimately convinced the judge to pause the trial. In his written opinion dismissing Stones petition to the Supreme Court, Justice Michael Donnelly noted that a new trial date has not yet been set. Because Whiteds trial is not taking place imminently and because our understanding of the nature of COVID-19as well as the precautions that are necessaryis still evolving, Stones claims are not ripe for review, Donnelly wrote. Whited faces felony charges of child endangerment, as well as unauthorized use of computer or telecommunications for hacking into his ex-girlfriends computer and email, according to court records. Read more Ohio coronavirus coverage: Coronavirus claims 1,357 Ohioans: Gov. Mike DeWines Monday briefing Corrupt former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo released from federal prison amid coronavirus pandemic Ninth inmate dies of coronavirus at Elkton federal prison in Ohio Ohio looking to hire contact tracers for coronavirus investigations Coronavirus economic fallout terrifies school leaders, experts, stirring fears of deep budget cuts, merged districts Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 20:22:34|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People walk on the main shopping street, the Avenue Nouvelle, in Brussels, Belgium, May 11, 2020. Belgium entered phase 1B of the COVID-19 deconfinement on Monday, with businesses throughout the country allowed to reopen under strict conditions. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong) BRUSSELS, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Belgium entered phase 1B of the COVID-19 deconfinement on Monday, with businesses throughout the country allowed to reopen under strict conditions. The reopening came one day after the expansion of social contacts, which allows people to receive up to four guests, family members or close friends, in each home visit. The reopening of shops takes place in strict compliance with the rules of deconfinement, in particular a 1.5 metres social distance, a maximum of 30 minutes stay and wearing a mask. To avoid crowds, everyone has to do shopping alone. An exception will be tolerated for children under 18 years old, who could be accompanied by a parent, and persons requiring assistance. Excursions and tourist activities remain prohibited. Gatherings are also prohibited. Contact occupations other than medical and paramedical care will remain closed for the time being. Cafes, bars, restaurants, and places for festivities, recreation, culture and tourism will remain closed at this stage as well. Over the last 24 hours, 368 new cases of COVID-19 infection had been reported in Belgium, bringing the country's total confirmed cases since the beginning of the epidemic to 53,449, said the public health institute Sciensano on Monday. Meanwhile, 60 new hospitalizations had been recorded, and 55 people had left hospitals. Within the past 24 hours, 62 new deaths had been reported, pushing the country's death toll from the coronavirus-cased disease to 8,707. The general downward trend of the COVID-19 crisis can be observed both in terms of hospitalizations, which remain below 100, and in terms of deaths, according to Yves Van Laethem, inter-federal spokesman for COVID-19. This downward trend persists at the intensive care level, where the number of patients has fallen to 478. This is a decrease of 5 percent per day over the last week's calculation, according to Yves Laethem. The health crisis is showing signs of abating, but the social crisis is looming. The Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported on Monday that the requests for additional aid are expected to increase by 30 percent for the months of April, May and June. Enditem (HealthDay)Children treated in America's emergency rooms for mental health disorders jumped 60% over a recent decade, a new study finds. Between 2007 and 2016, visits for self-harm like suicidal thoughts and cutting soared 329% and treatment for drug abuse rose 159%, according to the study led by Charmaine Lo, from Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. "This is happening in all emergency departments all across the country and in kids of all ages," said Lo. "And regardless of whether it's a children's hospital or a general hospital, and whether or not they're in an urban location or in a rural location." Lo thinks that social media has put a lot more pressure on children. "Children, particularly teenagers, are feeling that. Also, there's a lot more awareness of mental health, and children know that there are resources in place for them to seek help and get help," she said. The coronavirus pandemic is only going to make things worse, experts say. "Although this study was conducted prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in social isolation and household stressors caused by the pandemic are likely to further worsen children's mental health," said Dr. Jennifer Hoffmann from the emergency medicine division at the Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. A study from China showed that children affected by the COVID-19 pandemic had more symptoms of anxiety and depression, Hoffmann said. The study researchers worry that emergency departments aren't equipped to handle mental health problems in children, especially small hospitals in rural areas. "Preparation could be as simple as a screening training program for the nurses and doctors, because you don't have to be a psychologist to take care of these kids, you just need to recognize whether they're dangerous to themselves or others," said study co-author Dr. Rachel Stanley, division chief of emergency medicine at Nationwide. "Those tools are currently available through various agencies, although they aren't being used by most of the places that are taking care of these kids," Stanley said. For the study, Lo and her colleagues analyzed data for children aged 5 to 17 from Nationwide's emergency department databases. The researchers found that, while the number of children seen in the emergency rooms remained stable between 2007 and 2016, visits for mental health problems increased dramatically. Visits for alcohol problems actually fell 39%, while overall drug use visits grew substantially. This bears more investigation, the researchers said, given the opioid epidemic still raging in the United States. The types of mental health problems reviewed included adjustment and anxiety disorders; attention-deficit, conduct, and disruptive behavior disorders; impulse control and mood disorders; and psychotic disorders like schizophrenia. One in five U.S. children has a mental health disorder, according to background notes. Children with mental health disorders make up about 2% to 5% of all pediatric ER visits nationally, and this number is increasing. Until now, few studies have looked at where these kids go in an emergency, Lo and colleagues said. Lo's research showed that most kids went to emergency departments in regular hospitals that are less prepared to handle the special needs of children. Hoffman said, "Youth may be seeking mental health care in emergency departments due to rising rates of mental illness coupled with limited access to adequate outpatient mental health care." The reasons for rising rates of depression and suicide among U.S. youth are likely complex, but could include bullying, the impact of social media or inadequate sleep, she said. Whatever the reasons, "all emergency departments, even those that mainly treat adults, must be prepared to treat children for mental health conditions by having appropriate policies and procedures in place," added Hoffmann, who co-wrote an accompanying journal editorial. Also, some rural areas face a shortage of mental health providers, so it may be difficult to arrange adequate follow-up care after discharge from the emergency department, she noted. The bottom line is clear, Hoffmann said: "Sweeping changes to our nation's mental health system are needed to better prevent, diagnose, and treat mental illness among youth before conditions progress to crisis levels that require emergency care," she said. The report was published online May 11 in the journal Pediatrics. Explore further Study finds rising rate of mental health visits among youth to emergency departments More information: For more on children's mental health, visit the Journal information: Pediatrics For more on children's mental health, visit the American Psychological Association Copyright 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Crowds flock to California rodeo: KRCR News Thousands attended a rodeo in California despite state orders against public gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic, it has been reported. Crowds could be seen packed tightly in the stands at Sundays annual Cottonwood Rodeo in rural Shasta County, after local police said they would not enforce the states lockdown orders. Video also showed people queueing outside toilets and food trucks, even though organisers promised food would not be sold at the event. Despite the crisis California has seen more than 66,000 cases of Covid-19 a number of spectators told local media they felt safe enough to attend due to Shasta Countys low rates of confirmed infections. This events been going on for 50 years, its a tradition for probably most of us, the rest of them that are here have been tired of being cooped up for months, one festival-goer told KRCR News, an ABC affiliate station. We have constitutional rights, we have inalienable rights given to us by God, another said. But other Californians complained about the nightmare event in a state which is still imposing social distancing measures. Please review how Cottonwood held a Rodeo today; very crowded, NO masks anywhere! one Twitter user asked of California governor Gavin Newsom. She added: There were people everywhere, crowded all together this is a nightmare! Another wrote: Cottonwood held a rodeo today with over 2,000 people showing up ... People are so damn selfish. Coronavirus has killed more than 80,000 people in the US, with the death toll still rising. WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand businesses including malls, cinemas, cafes and gyms will reopen on Thursday after some of the tightest restrictions in the world to stop the spread of the coronavirus were further loosened on Monday. The Pacific nation was locked down for more than month under level 4 restrictions that were eased by a notch in late April. It has continued to enforce strict social measures on many of its citizens and businesses, helping prevent widespread community spread of the virus. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the staggered move to level 2 restrictions will mean retail, restaurants and other public spaces including playgrounds can reopen from Thursday. Schools can open from next Monday while bars can only reopen from May 21, Ardern said. Gatherings would be limited to 10 people. The upshot is that in 10 days time we will have reopened most businesses in New Zealand, and sooner than many other countries around the world, Ardern told a news conference. But that fits with our plan go hard, go early so we can get our economy moving again sooner, and so we get the economic benefit of getting our health response right. Businesses will be required to have physical distancing and strict hygiene measures in place. Air New Zealand announced it would resume seven more domestic routes when the country enters alert level 2. International travel, however, would not be possible as borders will remain closed except for returning New Zealanders. The measures would be reviewed again in two weeks, Ardern said. The government plans to introduce a new law that would allow authorities to enforce physical distancing and control gatherings of people after questions were raised about the legality of lockdown rules. Three new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, were confirmed on Monday, the health ministry said in a statement. The cases - two hospital nurses and one related to overseas travel - bring New Zealands total confirmed COVID-19 infections to 1,147, the ministry said, adding that 93% of all confirmed and probable cases have recovered. The government will unveil its annual budget on Thursday, and has warned the country would run fiscal deficits for years while debt will increase to levels well beyond previous targets due to its economic support measures. Ardern has been under pressure to ease the lockdown measures with the main opposition National Party saying they were kept on for too long, crippling several small businesses and hurting the economy. People who could not make it to weddings, funerals or even visit loved ones had also called on the government to ease curbs sooner. The National Institute of Virology in Pune has successfully developed the first indigenous antibody detection kit for COVID-19 that will play a critical role in surveillance for coronavirus infection, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday. The test kit has the advantage of testing 90 samples together in a single run of 2.5 hours so that healthcare professionals can proceed quickly with necessary next steps, Vardhan said. "National Institute of Virology, Pune, has successfully developed the 1st indigenous anti-SARS-CoV-2 human IgG ELISA test kit for antibody detection of COVID-19," the minister said in one of a series of tweets. "This robust test will play a critical role in surveillance of proportion of the population exposed to SARSCoV2 infection," he said. This kit was validated at two sites in Mumbai and has high sensitivity and accuracy, Vardhan said. The ELISA-based testing is easily possible even at district level, he said. Developed in a month's time, the testing kit would help to study the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in the Indian population. It is cost-effective, sensitive, rapid, and a large number of samples can be tested at any level of clinical setting, public health centers and hospitals. The Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology, Pune, technology has been transferred to Zydus Cadila for mass-scale production. The Drug Controller General has granted commercial production and marketing permission to Zydus, Vardhan said. The ICMR recently has cancelled orders for about half a million COVID-19 rapid antibody test kits from China after they were found to be giving out inaccurate results. The testing technique is used to detect antibodies in the blood of people who may have had coronavirus infection. Also read: Coronavirus vaccine: NIV develops first indigenous antibody detection test kit Also read: Coronavirus India Live Updates: PM Modi likely to discuss exit plan with CMs today; COVID-19 cases 62,939 PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-11 15:57:14 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 980 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / AurCrest Gold Inc. (the "Company" or "AurCrest") (TSXV:AGO) is pleased to announce that, on May 8, 2020, an Adoption Agreement (the "Adoption Agreement") was signed by the Company, the Lac Seul First Nation ("Lac Seul") and Blue Source Canada ULC ("Bluesource") to develop a forest carbon project on the forested lands on the Lac Seul reserve northwest of Sioux Lookout, Ontario.On August 19, 2019, the Company announced that it had signed a Carbon Development & Marketing Agreement ("CDMA") with Bluesource. The CDMA set forth the terms and conditions by which the Company and Bluesource will collaborate to develop carbon sequestration opportunities and market the resulting carbon offsets alongside First Nations pursuing their inherent stewardship role both on reserve and within their traditional territories. The CDMA provides that specific forestry projects with First Nations will be incorporated into the CDMA through the execution of an Adoption Agreement allowing Bluesource to provide its services to develop and market Emission Reduction Benefits ("ERBs"), being environmental and financial benefits associated with the carbon sequestration from enhanced management of the forest resource.Bluesource is the leading carbon offset developer in North America and is recognized as such by clients and industry peers in the Environmental Finance rankings. It has a particularly strong track record in developing forest carbon projects for landowners and indigenous communities across North America. Bluesource leverages both its technical capacity and transactional capability in carbon markets to help forest owners evaluate opportunities and generate value in diverse carbon markets by developing and monetizing offsets on their behalf.On December 13, 2019, the Company announced that it had signed an Emissions Reduction Benefits Management Agreement ("ERBMA") with Lac Seul to develop forest carbon sequestration opportunities in the First Nation's traditional territory in Northwestern Ontario.Lac Seul plays a central role in the management of the forests in its traditional lands, both as customary stewards of the land and as a party to certain legal agreements with the province of Ontario.Under the terms of the ERBMA, AurCrest has been appointed by LSFN as the sole and exclusive agent for LSFN to act as manager to develop projects within the traditional territory of the LSFN to harvest ERBs. AurCrest entered into the CDMA with Bluesource to provide the expertise associated with development and monetizing the carbon offsets.The signing of the Adoption Agreement between the three parties marks a significant milestone in the ERB project development, enabling AurCrest to now move forward with Lac Seul and Bluesource to develop and implement an emission reduction and sequestration project initially focussing on Lac Seul's reserve lands. AurCrest, together with Lac Seul, will continue to extend invitations to participate to other regional First Nations for subsequent projects and target areas within Northwestern Ontario's Boreal Forest.The benefits derived from the monetization of ERBs, net of expenses, will be split with the significant majority going to Lac Seul and the remainder to AurCrest and Bluesource. The management agreement has an initial term of five years commencing from the date the first ERBs available for sale are generated by the project. At the end of the initial five year term, Lac Seul can purchase the interest of AurCrest and Bluesource for fair market value. If the interest is not purchased at the end of the initial five years, the management agreement continues for a further five years after which time AurCrest and Bluesource's interest will be relinquished to LSFN.Christopher Angeconeb, AurCrest President and CEO stated, "As a member of the Lac Seul First Nation, I am very pleased that the Lac Seul Chief and Council have continued to move forward with AurCrest and Bluesource, through this Company's model of participation and inclusion with our First Nations neighbour communities, to turn the historical role of indigenous people as stewards of the land into a modern model of indigenous-led environmental and community sustainability. I am very pleased that AurCrest is the first publicly traded company in Canada to be able to pursue this carbon sequestration opportunity. I am also proud that the Company's model represents a holistic approach to economic and resource development, as a partnership between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples of Canada, for the mutual benefit of all for generations to come." About AurCrest Gold Inc.AurCrest is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of gold properties. AurCrest has a portfolio of properties in Ontario, which include the Richardson Lake and Bridget Lake gold properties.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:AurCrest Gold Inc.Christopher AngeconebPresident and C.E.O(807) 737-5353christopherangeconeb@ gmail.com Ian Brodie-BrownDirector of Business Development(416) 844-9969ianbrodiebrown@ gmail.com Forward Looking Statement:Some of the statements contained herein may be forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and resources, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of the Company are forward looking statements that involve various risks. The following are important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements: changes in the world wide price of mineral commodities, general market conditions, risks inherent in mineral exploration, risks associated with development, construction and mining operations, the uncertainty of future profitability and the uncertainty of access to additional capital. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events may differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. AurCrest undertakes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibi Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 00:35:14|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's ministry of foreign affairs said Sunday it has facilitated the evacuations of 744 nationals who have been stranded across the world due to COVID-19 pandemic. The ministry said Kenyans who have been flown home are from South Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, India, among others. "The ministry of foreign affairs has responded to distress calls of Kenyans in several parts of the world and in collaboration with various foreign governments and airlines has facilitated the return of hundreds of Kenyans stranded in several countries," it said in a statement issued in Nairobi. The ministry said it was only facilitating those stranded because of the suspension of international travel by many countries and can pay for their tickets. "This is the practice in many countries. However, where resources allowed, the Ministry chipped in. In the case of India, the ministry chartered local flights to airlift the patients from different cities to Mumbai to catch the KQ flight," it said. The ministry said Kenya has so far lost 23 Kenyans to COVID-19 related cases at abroad-- ten in the U.S., six in Britain, two in Italy, one each in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, France and Sweden. Enditem I had to have somebody walk me through it. What would happen would be Anthropologie would send you a link to their website, and youd have to choose something. But it could only be from the clothes that were on sale for this 10-day period. And then theyd send you the outfit and youd have to style it, and in such a way that it looked really great, but that people would only want to buy the thing that you were selling, and not the necklace or the boots, or the hair clip, or whatever. The high number of returnees are straining us in terms of resources. However, it is our responsibility as the government to look after our people who are coming from outside the country. We are trying our best to look after our people. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Sunday, explained that more than 500 workers at a Tema fishing factory, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week, got the infection from one source. "It is important to stress that 533 out of the 921 new cases recorded between last Wednesday and Thursday are factory workers from a fishing precessing factory located in Tema. " All 533 persons were infected by one person," he said. He, however, reiterated that the 921 cases were from backlogs dating as far back as April 26, 2020, and not necessarily over a 24- hour window. President Akufo-Addo, who was giving an update on the measures taken by the Government against the spread of the COVID-19 , therefore said it was the reason why people must continue to maintain the measures of enhanced hygiene and social distancing distancing protocols. These include the regular handwashing with soap under running water or use of alcohol-based sanitizers, as well as the cough and sneezing into disposable tissue. . Combined with other measures, such as the aggressive tracing, testing, isolating and treating of infected persons and their contacts, he said, were the means of containing the spread of the virus among the population, and were the surest way to a quick return to a life of normalcy. As at Sunday May 10, 2020, Ghana had conducted a total of 160,501 tests, with the total number of infections being 4,700, with 494 recoveries. Five persons are critically ill, but 4,179 are responding to treatment, while 22 deaths have been recorded. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video GREENWICH As Greenwich takes slow steps toward reopening parts of the community, officials are pleased with the positive trends in the coronavirus numbers for the town. We are finally starting to see a significant decline, Greenwich Hospital Chief Operating Officer Diane Kelly said Monday. The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients there has dropped to 43, down from the 56 who were reported on Friday. Not only is Greenwich Hospital seeing this decline, but the state of Connecticut is, Kelly said. That is one of the indicators that we have been using to see when we can very slowly and very cautiously begin to open some of our outpatient services that we have closed at Greenwich Hospital. Those hospitalization numbers are the lowest since late March, she said. It represents a steep decline from the peak of 114 coronavirus patients four weeks ago. The partial reopening of parks is going so far, so good, First Selectman Fred Camillo said. And now he is looking to partially reopen Town Hall on June 1. Following the reopenings at Greenwich Point, Byram Park and Cos Cob Park for limited use, Camillo said he expects to make more announcements about access to town properties on Wednesday. Camillo also said that arrows will be placed at Greenwich Point and Byram Park to encourage walkers, runners and bicyclists to travel in the same directions and promote social distancing. Parts of the parks, including the water, playgrounds and restrooms, remain off limits. The town is working out the details to make Town Hall safe for visitors to go in and conduct business safely, he said. The state is on track do some reopenings on May 20, including outdoor dining at restaurants, salons and barber shops, and some nonessential businesses. Were going to reopen in a smart way that will be very measured so we make sure we dont take any steps backward, Camillo said. Were already meeting with Planning and Zoning and health and police and fire and emergency operations to go over how were going to do this, how we can help businesses and what are our options available to help them in a way that will be safe. Camillo said they are also looking ahead to permanent steps to help the business district. This is a tragic time, but we are working hard to get us through this as safely possible and come out the other side more effective and more efficient and in some cases a more enhanced community, he said. Any steps would be taken with a lot of thought and an ability to monitor how things are going, he said, And as far as the towns beaches, Camillo said he would hate to see them closed all summer. In the meantime, Greenwich Hospital is still hoping to see a further decline in the numbers of patients, Kelly said. She said that as of Monday, 451 coronavirus patients from across the region have been discharged from the hospital. Overall, Greenwich Hospital has done 5,752 tests at its outpatient testing site, with 1,786 cases of coronavirus diagnosed. Those tests include people from all over the region. In town, 729 Greenwich residents have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, an increase of only 10 from Friday. The state has said that 42 Greenwich residents have died after being diagnosed with the virus as of Sunday. That number has held steady since last Thursday. Greenwich Hospital canceled elective procedures in March. They will return only after there is a very solid plan in place to promote social distancing there, Kelly said. Check-in and waiting areas will be changed, and masks will be required for everyone, she said. Kelly said she could not stress enough the importance of continuing to wear masks and practice social distancing. This is hopeful news, but it will be a changed environment, she said. I say that because I am worried that people think we can just go back to the way it was. That is not in our near future. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com By Trend Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations Majid Takhte-Ravanchi said that unilateral US sanctions hurt Iran's fight against the coronavirus, and Switzerland's humanitarian channel is insufficient to meet Iran's needs, Trend reports via IRNA. Noting that Iran has had one of the largest outbreaks of the coronavirus, Majid Takhte-Ravanchi said during a video conference that US unilateral sanctions have weakened Iran`s efforts to fight the disease, Trend reports citing IRNA. Rejecting claims by US officials that human and medical exchanges were exempt from sanctions, he said such transactions are "practically impossible". The video conference was attended by the ambassadors of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, Zimbabwe and Nicaragua to the United Nations. Referring to the so-called Swiss Humanitarian Trade Agreement (SHTA), Takhte-Ravanchi said the channel was insufficient to meet Iran's needs. The US Treasury Department's conditions for licensing applicant companies to use the channel is so strict that it is impossible to trade via this way, he said. Takhte-Ravanchi also referred to the widespread economic and human losses due to coronavirus outbreak in Iran and other countries. He asked immediate lifting of all banking, insurance, transportation, medical, industrial, export, import and other sanctions to help the affected countries. Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease. The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19. Council, other groups will look at downtown parking concerns There have been several downtown businesses requesting reserved parking spots prompting the council to make some changes to the parking ordinances. The German Koch Institute announced an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases after the mitigation of isolation measures. Currently, the country's COVID-19 index is 1.1, while a value greater than one means an increase in the number of infections, RG reported. A few days ago, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the relaxation of quarantine, the index was 0.7. The authorities in most federal states of Germany allowed to open small shops, children began to gradually return to schools. On Saturday, May 9, mass demonstrations took place in Germany demanding that the restrictions be completely lifted. According to the Koch Institute, the number of cases on May 10 increased by 667 up to 169,218 people. The death toll has reached 7,395 people increasing by 26 people per day. So far, doctors cannot say whether the number of infected will continue to grow as a few days needed to analyze the situation. Announcing the lifting of restrictions a few days ago, Merkel noted that they could again be tightened if number of COVID-19 cases increases. Vice President Mike Pence has been self-isolating away from the White House following his press secretary's diagnosis of Covid-19 on Friday, said three people familiar with the situation. The vice president didn't attend a meeting on Saturday with President Donald Trump and top military officials. But a spokesman for Pence, Devin O'Malley, said he would return to the White House on Monday. "Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine," O'Malley said in a statement. "Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow." Pence tested negative for coronavirus infection again on Sunday, one of the people said. He and Trump said last week that they're being tested daily, after a military service member who works at the White House as a valet was infected. Pence has been staying at his home at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington out of an abundance of caution, said the people, who asked not to be identified because his isolation hasn't been publicly announced. Pence's press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Friday. Miller is the primary spokeswoman for the White House coronavirus task force, which Pence leads and which last met Thursday. Pence traveled to Iowa on Friday after Miller's positive test, a trip that was delayed for more than hour so six members of the vice president's staff who'd been in contact with Miller could disembark from Air Force Two. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who visited the White House on Wednesday and spent time near Miller, is considering self-isolating, according to two people familiar with the matter. The state's health director, Caitlin Pedati, accompanied Reynolds on the trip and is planning to self-isolate, one of the people said. Reynolds and Pence were in each other's company for extended periods during his Iowa trip, practicing social distancing. Neither official, though, wore a mask at meetings with state faith leaders and food industry executives. Miller is married to one of Trump's closest aides, Stephen Miller. This weekend, three top U.S. health officials who are task force members announced that they would take isolation measures. The heads of the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they would self-quarantine, while Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he would practice what he called a "modified" quarantine. KALAMAZOO, MI -- When the wind stopped, the people of Kalamazoo emerged to find trees blown down, buildings destroyed and lives lost. It was the afternoon of May 13, 1980, when a tornado touched down in Kalamazoo and began its 11-mile path of destruction. Now, 40 years later, the community is battling a new disaster in the COVID-19 pandemic. Though very different sets of circumstances, one local historian sees a common theme the resilience and cooperation seen among Kalamazoos residents when faced with a crisis. If you cannot view the gallery of historic photos above, click here to open the gallery in a new window. The twister of 1980 left five dead and injured more than 70. More than 1,200 people were displaced from their homes. Officials estimated the tornado caused $50 million in damage and destroyed over 30 homes and businesses. Kalamazoo City Manager Robert Bobb is shown shortly after a tornado hit Kalamazoo on May 13, 1980, helping a woman, Mattie Bee of 420 Water Street, away from live electric wires downed in the storm. Bobb said one of the most important decisions he made in the first minutes of the disaster was to be on the streets as a visible symbol of active city leadership. The tornado ripped through parts of downtown Kalamazoo and the West Side. The tornado did thousands of dollars in damage and killed 5 people locally. Hundreds of homes and buildings across the city were damaged or destroyed in the storm. (Kalamazoo Gazette archive photo)Joel Bissell Many Kalamazoo residents still remember where they were and what they were doing when the tornado hit. I certainly do," said Lynn Houghton, regional history collections curator at the Western Michigan University Zhang Legacy Collection Center. Houghton, then a student at WMU traveling back to Kalamazoo with her fiance, remembers driving west on I-94 toward Kalamazoo and noting the sky had turned a strange, gray color. Once back in the city after the tornado had passed, Houghton remembers looking toward downtown from the top of Westnedge Hill. Her clocks had stopped at 4:13 p.m. when the electricity went out at her apartment, she said. The twister rolling into downtown Kalamazoo on May 13, 1980. This photo was taken by Gazette photographer Duane Scheel on Kalamazoo Avenue. (Kalamazoo Gazette archive photo)Joel Bissell Others in the community may have different memories, and some have closer connections to the historic storm, Houghton said, like those who worshiped in a church that was destroyed or who live in a home that was damaged by the storm. The tornado struck on a Tuesday afternoon in 1980. The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch at 2:30 p.m. At 4 p.m., a tornado touched down eight miles west of Kalamazoos city limits in relatively open terrain in Van Buren County. After first touching down, the tornado injured 11 people and damaged or destroyed about 100 buildings. An aerial view showing tornado damage from May 13, 1980.(Kalamazoo Gazette archive photo)Joel Bissell Less than 10 minutes later, the twister touched down north of West Main Street and Drake Road, and cut a 3-mile-long path through a residential area in Kalamazoo. The twister damaged more than 200 homes and three churches before continuing into the heart of the downtown business district. Pinehurst Boulevard was one of the hardest-hit residential streets. At 4:17 p.m., the tornado destroyed monuments at Mountain Home Cemetery and collapsed a nearby laundromat wall, killing a young woman. A man was killed by a falling tree while driving his motorcycle near Bronson Park. Two more people died on Farmers Alley when the east wall of what was the Gilmore Brothers Department Store collapsed. Today, that building is now known as the Kalamazoo City Center. The partially destroyed Gilmore Brothers Department Store is shown here on May 14, 1980, the day after a tornado ripped through parts of downtown Kalamazoo and the West Side. The tornado did thousands of dollars in damage and killed 5 people locally. Hundreds of homes and buildings across the city were damaged or destroyed in the storm. (Kalamazoo Gazette archive photo) Next, the tornado crossed Pitcher Street and severely damaged seven industrial plants. After the tornado traveled about 2 more miles, one man was killed while pumping gas at a station in Comstock Township near Amvet Memorial Highway, which is a portion of the I-94 business loop or King Highway. At 4:25 p.m., only 16 minutes after it first touched down within city limits, the tornado dissipated east of the city. Kalamazoo was like a bombed-out city, then-Gov. William Milliken said after touring the damage with local officials. Milliken declared a state of emergency, which prompted a temporary curfew for residents and dispatched a team of 231 state police troopers to assist local law enforcement. Michigan Gov. William Milliken, second from right, points to damaged buildings as he is accompanied by, from left, Kalamazoo Mayor Edward Annen Jr., Congressman Howard Wolpe and City Manager Robert Bobb as they tour damage from the May 13, 1980 tornado that struck Kalamazoo, Michigan. (Kalamazoo Gazette archive photo) The tornado was bad, but it could have been so much worse, Houghton said. More than 320 students at St. Augustine Elementary School were sent home about an hour before the tornado destroyed the school. The tornado leveled two city blocks east of the school and took out 108 windows from the building at 151 S. Rose St. that is now known as the Comerica building. On the Sunday after the tornado struck, the downtown area was reopened to the public for the first time, said Houghton, who worked at the time at what was the Kalamazoo Public Museum. There was bumper-to-bumper traffic, she said, as motorists rushed into downtown to see the damage with their own eyes. People line up to purchase the May 14, 1980 edition of the Kalamazoo Gazette on the day after the tornado. (Kalamazoo Gazette archive photo)Joel Bissell Though it took a horrible toll, the natural disaster bolstered a sense of community in Kalamazoo, Houghton said. People helped those around them. Others raised money to plant new trees in Bronson Park. Although there are significant differences between a tornado that cut through a city in less than 20 minutes and the current public health crisis keeping residents locked in their homes for weeks, Houghton sees a common thread between the 1980 tornado and the 2020 coronavirus outbreak. In both cases, she said, the Kalamazoo community banded together to help one another. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the people, businesses and institutions of Kalamazoo are doing what they can to weather the metaphoric storm -- like through supporting emergency personnel or buying from local restaurants. That spirit is still there, Houghton said. READ MORE PAST GAZETTE COVERAGE OF THE 1980 TORNADO : Former mayor recalls fury of deadly tornado WMU students saw tornado from airport control tower Tornado brought destruction and Amazing Grace Links to more past stories Pence denounces Va. officials beyond the pale punishment of church that held in-person service Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday denounced Virginia officials for punishing a congregation whose pastor was threatened with jail or a fine for holding an in-person worship service of 16 people on Palm Sunday. Pastor Kevin Wilson of Lighthouse Fellowship Church on Chincoteague Island was cited by officials for holding a worship service on April 5 that had 16 people in attendance. On an episode of The Brian Kilmeade Show on Wednesday, Pence said that even in the midst of a national emergency, every American enjoys our cherished liberties, including the freedom of religion. The very idea that the Commonwealth of Virginia would sanction a church for having 16 people come to a Psalm Sunday service when I think the church actually seats about 250 was just beyond the pale, the vice president said. We are going to stand by men and women of faith of every religion in this country and protect, even in this challenging time, protect their freedom of religion. Pence also commended Attorney General William Barr and the Department of Justice for siding with the church as it sues Virginia over the threat of being punished for holding the service. I'm truly grateful for Attorney General Barr standing by religious liberty, he continued. I wanted to speak out in favor of the DOJ's action. On Palm Sunday, Wilson was served a summons for holding a church service that violated a state order prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people and carried a possible punishment of jail time and/or a fine of $2,500. In response, Wilson filed a lawsuit against Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, arguing that the order unfairly targeted his congregation, even when they followed social distancing guidelines. Absent emergency relief from this Court, Lighthouse, its pastor, and all members and/or attendees will suffer immediate and irreparable injury from the threat of criminal prosecution for the mere act of engaging in the free exercise of religion and going to church, read the suit. Indeed, if Lighthouse, its pastor, or its members do not subscribe to what Governor Northam has prescribed as orthodox in a worship service, they risk becoming criminals in the Commonwealth. Lighthouse and its pastor are being represented by the Liberty Counsel, a conservative law firm that often handles religious liberty cases on behalf of churches. Northam has clearly discriminated against Lighthouse Fellowship Church which provides essential physical, emotional and spiritual services to the community, said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. We must balance the First Amendment with protecting the health and welfare of people but picking an arbitrary number of 10 people for every church is not the answer. The DOJ announced on May 3 that it had filed a Statement of Interest in the suit, supporting the churchs motion for an injunction pending an appeal in the case. Plaintiff has demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of its claim under the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution that the Commonwealths executive orders have prohibited religious gatherings at places of worship, even with social distancing and personal hygiene protocols, while allowing comparable secular gatherings to proceed with social distancing, read the statement of interest, in part. It thus becomes the Commonwealths burden to demonstrate that it has compelling reasons to treat Plaintiff differently than similar non-religious businesses, and that it has pursued its objectives through the least restrictive means. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) will self-quarantine at his home in Tennessee after one of his staff members tested positive for the coronavirus. David Cleary, Alexander's chief of staff, said the staffer tested positive on Sunday, and the Senate's attending physician has recommended "out of an abundance of caution" that Alexander self-quarantine for 14 days. Alexander was tested for coronavirus on Thursday, and the results were negative. Most of Alexander's staff members are working from home, and no others are expected to self-quarantine. Alexander is chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Cleary said he will continue working remotely and will chair Tuesday's meeting. While in Washington, D.C., last week, Alexander wore a mask while attending party meetings. More stories from theweek.com The dark decade ahead New Biden ad claims 'Trump doesn't understand' that his coronavirus missteps 'destroyed' the economy The making of a coronavirus conspiracy theory Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Abd. Rohim Ghazali (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 11 2020 Humanity, or al-insaniyyah in Arabic, can be interpreted simply as all things related to human beings; our existence, activities and needs from the cradle to the grave. The needs of human life have been enshrined as basic rights or human rights, a legal concept that every individual has inherent rights because he or she is a human being. During Indonesias coronavirus epidemic, humanity can be seen from three perspectives: religion, humanity itself and nationality, or Indonesian-ness. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login I magine the speech the Prime Minister would like to have broadcast to Britain last night. Hed have talked about bringing some schools back this month, about some restart of holidays at home soon, about seeing family and friends again in groups of more than two, about being through the worst. In fact you dont have to imagine it, since it is the sort of speech leaders in many other European countries are able to give, as death rates drop further than they have here and there is hope but no certainty that infection rates will stay low, too. The Prime Minister gave a different sort of speech last night because the situation in this country is still precarious. But ask a simple question. What else should he have said? People who usually complain that this Government is always campaigning and not governing are now the ones saying that the communication is the biggest problem, not the policy. The way No 10 has gone about communicating the plan hasnt been ideal. Briefing that the speech would loosen lockdown, then that it wouldnt, then telling us that the detail wont come until a document later today, confused us when we needed clarity. It speaks of a Government under strain, which is inevitable. It might have been a mistake to make the speech at all when the information to support it wasnt ready. It was a mistake, too, not to make it clear that advice on wearing face masks on public transport is set to change, before encouraging people in London to go to work if they have to. People and businesses need to know what it is they are supposed to be doing, and this morning they didnt. But even so, the slogan isnt the central point. Communication is one thing, content is another. Family groups A lot is changing about the lockdown, despite appearances. The public has been leading where the Government is now following. There is a shift in emphasis to get people to work in businesses that can open but whose staff cant work from home, but many are already doing that. For all the legitimate worry about construction workers flooding public transport this week, and pictures from busy Tube lines this morning, many construction sites have never closed. Advice on daily exercise and going out of the house has changed dramatically, especially on a point that the Prime Minister did not make clear last night, which is that family members will be able to meet others in their families who live outside their household, socially distanced, in the open air. That is a shift many of us will welcome. Whether that is one or two people seems to depend on who is talking: unfortunately Dominic Raab, interviewed this morning, did not seem to know. But the Governments legal powers have never specified the number of journeys outside that people can take. Much else will have to wait until next month or later, which means that for many aspects of life the lockdown is only halfway through, or not even that. What other plan could there be? Some want a much greater lifting of restrictions soon. They talk about Sweden. But imagine the outcry if Boris Johnson was seen to take his lead from Donald Trumps tone in America. Letting rip could have proved a hideous experiment. There is zero evidence it would do anything other than push infection and death rates up very fast, and the strong advice of most scientists is that doing this would be a mistake. Others, including Scotlands leader Nicola Sturgeon, say the change in tone has come too fast, that we should still be told to stay at home, and that restarting work is not safe. But whats her plan to get the economy functioning again and slowly lift lockdown? Nor does she have to pay the bills. The Government is trying to get people back to work, while keeping the rate of infection below dangerous levels. Thats hard but necessary. Listen to The Leader: Coronavirus Daily podcast Walking the line between those who want no restrictions at all and those who want us to stay in our homes forever isnt easy. Its much more complex to explain plans to ease a lockdown than to impose one. But the public are ready to listen and can handle it. By Express News Service VISAKHAPATNAM: The restoration work which began at LG Polymers plant under the guidance of nine-member expert team from Pune yielded good results as the temperature of the styrene tank from which the vapour leaked on Thursday leaving 12 dead and affecting several hundreds was brought down to 92.6 degree Celsius. An official of the factories department told TNIE on Sunday that the temperature which was hovering around 120 degree Celsius on Friday was brought down to below 97.8 degree Celsius on Saturday. Now it was further brought down to 92.6 degree Celsius, and as a result formation of vapour was stopped. He explained that the insulation around the tank will be removed so that the tank will be directly exposed to weather and as the outside temperature is less than what is inside the tank, it will further help in cooling the tank. Besides, following removal of insulation, spraying of water directly on the tank will help cool it further. The official said the pollution control board officials were testing PPM (parts per million) levels to measure the presence of vapour in atmosphere for every hour in and around the plant. He stated the PPM levels are being tested at styrene tank, plant gate, five villages, and also five km around the epicentre as a precautionary measure. The PPM levels which were 17.5 PPM on Friday came down to 1.9 PPM on Saturday. The readings of PPM levels on Saturday are 0.5 at plant gate, 0.1 to 0.3 in five villages abutting the plant and 0.1 at Pendurthy, Vepagunta and Gopalapatnam. Experts will observe air quality for 24 hours after bringing down PPM levels to 0.0. Only then the government will take a decision to allow people in villages abutting LG Polymers plant to return to their home, the official added. 36-year-old, Albert Martinez, was officially charged by the Nueces County grand jury for being in direct contact with a car crash that led to the death of 29-year-old Alejandro Garcia. About the 2019 Second-Degree Felony Case According to the Caller Times, his arrest occurred April 16, 2020 and he faced double charges of a second-degree felony for murder and third-degree felony for driving intoxicated. The actual crash happened last year in March 1st, where Martinez was then accused of striking Garcia with his car on Laredo and 17th streets. At the time of crash, Corpus Christi officers revealed Martinez fled from the scene instead of calling help for Garcia. His bond was originally $125,000. Corpus Christi Police Department stated the incident occurred at the intersection of Laredo Street and 17th Street on the Westside around 10:38 p.m. This incident was Martinez's third drinking while intoxicated offense Texas Drunk Driving Accident Statistics The following information was provided by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT): 3,773 people were killed in Texas traffic accidents in 2016, marking a 5.45% increase from the 3,578 deaths reported in 2015. 638 of the deaths reported in 2016 were attributed to head-on collision. Alcohol was determined to be a factor in 987 traffic deaths, accounting for roughly 26% of all Texas traffic fatalities. An additional 264,076 people were injured in auto accidents in Texas in 2016. Based on reportable data for 2016, TxDOT estimates: One person was killed in a traffic accident every 2 hours and 20 minutes. One person was injured every 1 minute and 59 seconds. A reportable crash occurred every 57 seconds. Contact an Experienced Texas Auto Accident Attorney If you or a loved one have been injured in a car crash, contact Thomas J. Henry. Our experienced car accident attorneys have experience handling a multitude of injury accidents, no matter how severe the crash or injury. You may be entitled to compensation for your damages if another driver acted negligently. Our firm has the experienced lawyers and financial resources that you need to achieve the real results you deserve. Our firm has offices in Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and Austin, serving clients across Texas and nationwide. Call us today for a free case review attorneys are available 24/7, nights and weekends. If you cannot make it to our office, we can visit you at your home, in the hospital, or at work. Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com. Rumble Flossey is living a wonderful life on a beautiful farm in Millbrook, Ontario. It's what is knows an "ethical farm" where cows have space to roam and graze instead of being kept indoors for most of their lives. Flossey's farm has vast expanses of lush, green grass, rolling hills, ponds full of fresh water, and forested areas for shade. This is life as it should be for these gentle creatures. Dave is a farm hand who often helps out with some of the chores and animal care. He decided to take a break on this warm, summer day and he took a seat on the hill overlooking the pasture. Advertisement A Florida city has shut its beaches due to large crowds just one week after reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic while people elsewhere in the state have protested gym closures by doing push up outside a courthouse. Officials in Naples ordered beaches in Collier County to close on Sunday after the large crowds visiting on Saturday meant people couldn't maintain a six-feet distance from each other. Councilman Gary Price led the push to close the beaches after his friend alerted him to the large crowds and lack of social distancing. 'I went to the beach,' Price told the Naples News. 'It was packed. People were parking everywhere, blocks away.' He said while he regretted the closures, it was being done to protect the health of locals. 'It's pretty sad,' he said. 'It's such a popular place. We'll figure it out. We are doing this to keep people safe. We are erring on the side of caution.' Officials in Naples ordered beaches in Collier County to close on Sunday after the large crowds visiting on Saturday (above) meant people couldn't maintain a six-feet distance from each other In the nearby city of Clearwater, Floridians angry about gym closures as part of the COVID-19 lockdown protested on Monday on the sidewalk outside the courthouse by doing squats and push ups. Photo courtesy of WFLA The beaches will remain closed until an emergency council meeting is held later on Monday to determine a solution for enforcing social distancing. Meanwhile in the nearby city of Clearwater, Floridians angry about gym closures as part of the COVID-19 lockdown protested on the sidewalk outside the courthouse by doing squats and push ups. The protesters, who weren't wearing masks or social distancing, shouted for officials to allow gyms to reopen. Florida's Governor Rick DeSantis allowed some businesses to reopen from May 4 in the first part of a phased plan but bars, gyms and movie theaters are to remain closed. At least 40,596 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the state as of Sunday and at least 1,721 people have died. Since the state began to reopen on May 4, Florida has seen 336 deaths over the six days - an average of 56 new deaths every day. It comes after thousands of Floridians flocked to beaches across the state over the weekend - the first since restrictions were lifted. Dozens of boats were spotted on a sandbar near John's Pass in Pinellas County as the majority of beachgoers observed social distancing under the watchful eye of sheriff deputies who were patrolling Madeira Beach. On Sunday, people were seen dancing, drinking and sharing a hookah on the deck of one yacht in Biscayne Bay in Miami. Dozens more were seen waiting in a massive line near a marina in Miami, which is one of three epicenters of the virus in the state. Large crowds packs the Florida beach just one week after reopening amid coronavirus enforched shutdown. Photo courtesy of NBC-2 The large crowds meant people were unable to keep a six feet distance from anyone else Beaches across most of the state reopened last week except in South Florida but some beaches reopened back in April. Meanwhile, barbershops, hair salons and nail salons prepared to reopen in much of the state Monday with workers being required to wear masks. Gov DeSantis announced last Friday that they could reopen in every county except hard-hit Miami-Dade and Broward, which remain under tight restrictions. The governor said he hopes Miami-Dade and Broward counties can start reopening businesses during the week of Memorial Day. The shops will have to operate by appointment only and will have to spend 15 minutes after each customer disinfecting the station. They are being discouraged from allowing customers to wait inside. Palm Beach County the home of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort will also start reopening its businesses next week. Restaurants and shops in Palm Beach County can reopen provided they keep indoor capacity at 25 per cent starting May 18. 'In order for Florida to come back, we need Palm Beach County in a leadership role,' DeSantis said at a news conference in West Palm Beach. 'It won't happen overnight but this community is eager to move forward,' said Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner. With some of the nation's most expensive houses, Palm Beach County is home to Mar-a-Lago, which serves as Trump's refuge from Washington. The president often spends his time there mixing work, business and pleasure in the company of dues-paying members. It has laid off 153 workers during the pandemic. While Broward and Miami-Dade counties remain under restrictions, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced Friday that some business in the county would be opening on May 18. He didn't specify which businesses but suggested the reopening could include restaurants. Broward Mayor Dale V.C. Holness is hosting a teleconference with city officials on Monday to discuss reopening. On Sunday, Florida reported that about 40,596 coronavirus cases have been confirmed since the beginning of March and at least 1,721 people have died. Families are seen walking along Madeira Beach on Saturday Thousands of people soaked up the sun during family visits to Madeira Beach on Saturday Most beach goers observed social distancing under the watchful eye of Pinellas County Sheriff deputies who were patrolling the beach educating citizens of the social distancing rules Dozens of boats were spotted on a sandbar near John's Pass as thousands of people flocked to area beaches during the first weekend public beaches reopened after they were closed a few weeks ago in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19 In a survey completed by city leaders, most supported the opening of restaurants and retail businesses under the state's guidelines, as well as allowing elective surgeries. DeSantis also gave the green light to reopen hair salons, barbershops and nail salons Monday under new safety guidelines for most of Florida. The order does not include Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The governor made the announcement on Twitter late Friday via a video message from J. Henry, who owns a barber shop in Orlando. 'We are ready to get back to work and make some money,' Henry said in the video, adding that salon employees would be wearings gloves and masks. 'Safety is always first.' No other details about the additional safety protocol were immediately released. Last week, most of Florida's Democratic congressional delegation urged DeSantis, a Republican, not to loosen restrictions meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus until he can put in place adequate testing, contact tracing and the ability to isolate sick residents. The US lawmakers said in a letter to the governor that Floridians would be at risk without those measures in place as businesses that have been closed because of the pandemic start to reopen. 'While we fully recognize the tremendous burden placed on the economy by stay-at-home orders and closed businesses, we urge you to prioritize the health and safety of Floridians above all else,' the letter said. Fearless sun seekers didn't waste any time adjusting to the 'new normal' just a week after Florida initiated phase one of its reopening process The group also appeared to be drinking as they enjoyed their boat ride on Saturday 'A rushed reopening may very well serve only to increase the human loss caused by an already historic public health crisis, as states moving forward with reopening are seeing increases in new COVID-19 cases.' DeSantis defended his approach on Friday as 'safe, smart'. 'We are being deliberate,' DeSantis said. 'We are being methodical about this because we want to do this the right way.' At a news conference in northeast Florida, DeSantis also announced that infected patients from long-term facilities who do not require hospitalization could be cared for at a skilled nursing facility in Jacksonville. He said that will help prevent infected elders from spreading the disease to others in their facility. The governor also defended the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying state officials acted to stay ahead of infections by aggressively seeking to stem the spread of the virus across the state's elder care facilities. According to records released by state officials, there have been more than 1,400 infected long-term care residents across 424 long-term care facilities as of May 1. More than 400 have died, according to those records. 'We acted decisively early on to protect long-term care facilities,' the governor said. DeSantis said that included sending nearly 10 million masks, 1 million gloves and 500,000 face shields to long-term care facilities, as well as establishing what he called 'strike teams' to do surveillance testing at the facilities. But the data released by state officials have come under scrutiny because some of the data do not square with other available information. Sorry! This content is not available in your region An FIR was registered on Monday against BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra here in Chhattisgarh under the charges of promoting enmity between different groups and hurting religious feelings, police said. "The case was registered this evening against Patra at Civil Lines police station based on a complaint lodged by Poornachand Padhi. Probe is underway," Raipur Superintendent of Police Arif Sheikh told PTI. Padhi, who heads Chhattisgarh Youth Congress, referred to a tweet of Patra posted on May 10. The complainant claimed that Patra levelled false allegations against former Prime Ministers Jawahar Lal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi in connection with the Kashmir issue, 1984 anti-Sikh riots and Bofors scam, as per the FIR. The two former PMs were never convicted in any case of corruption or riots, Padhi stated in his complaint. While the country is battling COVID-19, the act of tweeting such content on social platforms is not only prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious groups, communities but is likely to disturb the public tranquillity, Padhi stated. The case was registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 505(2)(statements conducing to public mischief) and 298 (uttering, words, etc. with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the IPC, police said. Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh BJP spokesperson Sanjay Shrivastav accused the ruling Congress of misusing the state machinery to lodge FIR against leaders of the saffron party. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An elite triathlete who ran down a police officer at a breath-testing station and then sped from the scene said he panicked because he was driving when his licence was suspended. Shocking footage tabled with the Adelaide District Court showed him driving past the testing station, forcing the police officer onto the bonnet of the car and then onto the road, before Quensier drove away with officers pursuing on foot and in a vehicle. Aman Ace Quensier, 24, pleaded guilty to causing serious harm by dangerous driving after running over Senior Constable Samuel Petts on New Year's Day 2019 at a testing station in Adelaide's inner west. Senior Constable Petts suffered serious knee injuries and abrasions. Highly ranked Australian triathlete Aman Ace Quensier, 24, pleaded guilty in the Adelaide District Court to causing serious harm by dangerous driving after running over Senior Constable Samuel Petts on New Year's Day 2019 (pictured) The officer said he still has a recurring nightmare where he is 'hooked up to the car' as it speeds away and being 'torn to shreds'. He wrote in a victim impact statement the incident made him contemplate leaving the police force, The Advertiser reported. The injured officer said these kinds of incidents are 'increasing' and police were not getting the support they needed. Quensier's lawyer Craig Caldicott described his client as a 'gifted triathlete', currently ranked 20th in the country, and a 'hard worker' who made a terrible decision in a split second and out of fear. 'As he pulled into the RBT station it immediately flashed before his eyes that he didn't have a licence,' he said. 'He panicked because he realised he was still on a suspended sentence bond. 'Mr Petts motioned him to stop and he kept driving. Mr Petts went over the front of the bonnet and tried to get the keys out of the ignition and struck Quensier in the process. He then accelerated away.' The court was told Quensier did not know he had hit the officer until his father mentioned the news to him the following day. Quensier is set to be sentenced by Judge Liesl Chapman on Friday. Acting Minister of Communications Jackson Mthembu has announced significant changes to regulations made under the Disaster Management Act. These changes include the removal of directives related to smartphone tracking, mobile data price freezes, and number porting. Significant changes include the directive to track and trace individuals using smartphone location data and the lifting of the ban on mobile data price increases. Previously, the regulations stated that mobile networks must provide location-based services in collaboration with the relevant authorities identified to support designated departments to assist and combat the spread of COVID-19. The rules also required the location data of individuals who came into contact with those who had the coronavirus to be monitored. This directive has now been deleted by an amendment made on 8 May 2020 to the Disaster Management Act. The other amendments included the deletion of paragraph 12 of the directions, which prohibited the increase of mobile data prices and the porting of mobile numbers. These changes were effected immediately from publication on 8 May, which means that mobile networks will be able to increase data prices and offer number porting services again. Additionally, South African mobile operators are no longer required to provide user location data to the government for its track-and-trace initiative. These changes also apply to other licensed entities such as internet service providers (ISPs). Spectrum allocation This follows after ICASA licensed additional spectrum to Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Rain and Liquid Telecom to help them cope with increased traffic due to the national lockdown. This spectrum was released for the duration of the national state of disaster with the aim of easing network congestion, and it has enabled operators to maintain the quality of broadband services. Vodacom has taken advantage of this additional spectrum and its roaming agreement with Liquid Telecom to launch its 5G mobile network in South Africa. This network supports both mobile and fixed-wireless services, and is currently available on 20 live 5G sites 18 of which are in Gauteng, and 2 in Cape Town. Vodacom has stated that it will continue to offer 5G connectivity through its roaming agreement with Liquid Telecom after it loses access to the temporary spectrum allocated by ICASA for the duration of the lockdown. On the National Technology Day on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed all those at the forefront of research and innovation to defeat coronavirus and remembered the "exceptional achievement" of the country's scientists in carrying out the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests. The National Technology Day marks the anniversary of the underground nuclear tests conducted in Rajasthan's Pokhran. On this day in 1998, India successfully conducted first of its five nuclear tests under the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. "On National Technology Day, our nation salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. We remember the exceptional achievement of our scientists on this day in 1998. It was a landmark moment in India's history," Modi said in a series of tweets. The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make, he said. The prime minister said, "Today, technology is helping many in the efforts to make the world free from COVID-19. I salute all those at the forefront of research and innovation on ways to defeat coronavirus." Modi said he hoped that the humankind will keep harnessing technology to create a healthier and better planet. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As some states in the U.S. begin to reopen parts of their economies, scientists are anticipating a growth in coronavirus cases in those areas over the next few weeks. The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Director Christopher Murray told CBS' Margaret Brennan on Sunday that his model, which the White House has favored during the pandemic, anticipates a jump in cases in states where his team noticed a large increase in mobility among the population in recent days. NEWS: @IHME_UW's Director Christopher Murray thinks there will be a big increase in #coronavirus cases over the next ten days in places like Georgia where restrictions have been loosened and residents have become more mobile. pic.twitter.com/r0H0MER1Dz Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 10, 2020 Dr. Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University who has also created a pandemic model, similarly expects loosening restrictions to lead to an increase in transmission, though he thinks the data won't really show up until later in the month. WATCH: Dr. Jeffrey Shaman says "we are going to see a growth in cases" over the next couple of weeks due to loosening restrictions. #MTP @JeffreyShaman: "Any changes we do to social distancing ... we are not going to realize until we are already in some period of growth." pic.twitter.com/6NcfTnwjYg Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 10, 2020 Shaman did include some caveats, however, noting that models aren't really making predictions themselves. Instead, they're testing out a range of outcomes. There's really no telling, he said, how exactly rolling back lockdown measures will affect people's actual behavior, so there's a chance the worst case scenario won't come to fruition. More stories from theweek.com The dark decade ahead The making of a coronavirus conspiracy theory Number of COVID-19 cases rising in California's Orange County, but health official says no apparent link to beach crowds Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) Quezon City is among 369 local government units that failed to meet the deadline to finish distribution of the first tranche of the national government's cash aid program. Quezon City Assistant Administrator for Operations Alberto Kimpo told CNN Philippines that city officials experienced time pressure in distributing cash aid to the 377,000 beneficiaries under the governments social amelioration program. Ang binigay sa atin na panahon upang maka-distribute ay maiksing maiksi lamang at yung bilang na dapat mapagbigyan ng ayuda galing sa DSWD ay napakalaki, Kimpo said. [Translation: The time given to us to distribute (cash aid) is very short and the number of beneficiaries that must be given aid from the DSWD is huge.] At yung deadline yan ay kahapon kaya pinilit talaga natin na ma-meet yung deadline na ito, isa na rito sa Barangay Bagong Pag-asa, he added. [Translation: And the deadline was yesterday so we really forced ourselves to meet this deadline, and this includes Barangay Bagong Pag-asa.] On Sunday, photos circulated online showing beneficiaries lining up at the gate of Barangay Pag-asa Elementary School to receive cash aid under the social amelioration program. While physical distancing protocols were observed inside the school, they were not implemented in the queue. Kimpo said the local government has been implementing strict physical distancing protocols when distributing cash assistance. "Kung mayroong mga sandali na hindi nasusunod yung ating social distancing na minimum requirements agad din namang pinaalalahanan lahat na sumunod dito at ginagawa natin ang lahat ng ating makakaya," Kimpo said. [Translation: If there are times when social distancing minimum requirements are not observed, we remind them right away to follow and we are doing everything we can.] As of Monday, Quezon City reported 89.3 percent distribution rate for cash aid beneficiaries, citing challenges on the ground. Kimpo said barangays have been instructed to strictly follow the list validated by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). However, he said some beneficiaries on the list fail to appear, while those not on the list show up trying to collect. Kaya meron pong ilang percentage ng bawat payout target rate sa mga barangay na hindi nare-release ang mga amounts na ito at ito yung pinipilit natin mahabol ngayon na binabalikan natin ang mga barangay kung saan hindi 100 percent yung rate, Kimpo said. [Translation: So there are a few barangays that have not reached the target payout rate because these amounts are not being released, and these are the barangays we come back to where the distribution rate is not 100 percent.] DILG Undersecretary and Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya earlier said local government units who were not able to beat the deadline can continue to distribute, unless the DSWD demands for the return of the funds. Quezon City has the biggest population among cities in Metro Manila, and currently has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the region at 1,578. But Kimpo disclosed that not all of the COVID-19 patients there are residents of Quezon City. He said some are patients who have been admitted to the city's hospitals but actually reside elsewhere. "As of May 9, nasa 1,168 yung na-validate talaga ng ating city epidemiology and surveillance unit," Kimpo clarified. A map showing the locations of Turkey (in orange) and Libya (in green). The Turkish government said it would consider forces loyal to general Khalifa Haftar "legitimate targets" if they didn't stop attacks on diplomatic missions. The UN has warned that Haftar's may have committed war crimes. The Turkish government on Sunday warned Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar against attacking diplomatic missions after positions near Turkish and Italian missions were hit earlier this week. "If our missions and our interests in Libya are targeted, we will deem Hafar's forces legitimate targets," said a statement from Turkey's foreign ministry. "It is unacceptable for the United Nations to remain silent against this carnage any longer." Turkey has thrown its weight behind the UN-backed Government of National Accord, which is based in Tripoli. Russia, the UAE and Egypt have supported Haftar, who enjoys the support of a rival government based in Tobruk. "Countries providing military, financial and political aid to Haftar are responsible for the suffering that the people of Libya are enduring and the chaos and instability the country is being dragged into," said the Turkish ministry. 'Indiscriminate attacks' The Turkish ministry also said rocket fire on Tripoli's civilian Mitiga airport amounted to war crimes. Earlier on Sunday, the barrage of rockets killed four civilians, including a five-year-old girl. The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) called on Haftar's so-called Libyan National Army to end "indiscriminate attacks." It said that the attack on the airport occurred while a civilian plane was prepare to depart. "UNSMIL renews its strong condemnation of attacks impacting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and reiterates its call for those responsible for crimes under international law to be brought to justice," the UN mission said. In 2011, Libya plunged into chaos after dictator Muammar Gaddafi launched a brutal crackdown against anti-government protesters. NATO-backed rebels eventually defeated the regime and killed Gaddafi. Since then, warring factions have fought a bitter war for power of the North African country. Earlier this year, the German government spearheaded efforts to establish a peace process to end the conflict. (Reuters, AP) They returned home on May 7 after two weeks of coronavirus quarantine. They had been arrested for joining students and workers who wanted to create a free union in a Shenzhen company. The connivance of the official union with the regime. Shenzhen (AsiaNews) - Five union activists have been released after 16 months in captivity. Zhang Zhiru, Wu Guijun, Jian Hui, Song Jiahui and He Yuancheng returned home on May 7, reports the China Labor Bulletin (Clb). They had been released on April 24, but had to spend two weeks quarantined for coronavirus before reaching their families. The five were arrested by the police in January 2018 for "disturbing public order". At the time, riot police officers had arrested 50 people. These were students and activist workers who wanted to found a free union within Shenzhens Jasic Technology, a listed company, which according to local workers treated its employees "like slaves". The liberated unionists had been sentenced in a closed-door trial. In the past they had suffered further convictions for attempting to create independent unions. Free trade unions have been banned in China since the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations, when an alliance between students and workers began to form union associations. Their petitions ended with military intervention and massacre. For Han Dongfang, director of the CLB, if the official union had supported these five activists in their struggles, instead of conniving with the regime, the workers' movement would have benefited greatly. H eathrows passenger numbers fell by 97 per cent in April compared with the same month in 2019. The airport announced that it was used by just 206,000 travellers last month, which is the same number it would typically serve in just one day. The coronavirus pandemic has led to a collapse in demand for flights. Many of the passengers who did travel through Heathrow last month were on board the 218 chartered repatriation flights that landed at the west London airport. Heathrow is expecting demand to remain weak until countries lift their coronavirus lockdowns. PA It comes after the Prime Minister said it will soon be the time to bring in a period of quarantine in order to stave off Covid-19 infection from abroad. Addressing the nation on Sunday night, Boris Johnson said: To prevent reinfection from abroad, I am serving notice that it will soon be the time, with transmission significantly lower, to impose quarantine on people coming into this country by air." The measures will not apply between the UK and France 'at this stage' / Getty Images Mr Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed quarantine measures would not apply between France and the UK at this stage, according to a joint statement. It has also been reported that Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man will be exempt from the quarantine period as well. The exact length of the quarantine has not been confirmed. Less than a week after a customer in a grocery store in a San Diego supermarket in the Unites States wore a Ku Klux Klan mask, there's another symbol of white supremacy - Nazi Symbols. The customer, who had donned a face-mask with a swastika on it, was confronted by police at the grocery shop, which happens to be in the same city as the KKK hood. The shopper, who was asked to remove his swastika-mask by the police, refused to do so, claiming it was part of his 'First Amendment.' The shopper who identified himself to the Times of San Diego (and to police) as Santee resident Dustin Hart, uploaded a video of his confrontation with a store clerk and a pair of deputies where an officer can be heard saying, They dont want people seeing that. Its offensive. The man also uploaded a video of wearing the mask on BitChute, a far-right wing platform of the incident. The San Diego Sheriffs Department issued a statement saying that when deputies asked for the symbol to be removed, the man complied. Investigators will continue to look into the matter, the statement added. This comes just days after a person in the Vons supermarket company in Santee, was spotted having worn the white KKK hood and he refused to remove it until very shortly before he left the grocery store, sending everyone in a state of shock. According to reports, the white supremacist, who was middle-aged and has long-hair, hasn't been identified yet. She recently vowed it's time to 'get healthy' several weeks after welcoming her son Ezekiel to the world. And Nadia Essex is keeping to her word as she shared a snap of herself about to go for a work out in a grey crop top and matching tracksuit bottoms. The new mum, 38, tied her brunette locks into an updo while she also went makeup free for the snap while posing in her room. Exercise: Nadia Essex, 38, is keeping to her word to get healthy as she shared a snap of herself about to go go for a work out in a grey crop top and matching tracksuit bottoms The reality star captioned the photo: 'Leaky boobs = my new Breastfeeding mum uniform'. Some of Nadia's followers praised the star for her honest caption, with one writing: 'Good on you for continuing to show the reality of motherhood'. Nadia responded with: 'Gotta keep it real '. It comes after Nadia took to Instagram to post snaps of her in her underwear, displaying her post-pregnancy frame, declaring that she loves her body but wants to get back on track with fitness and health. Back to it! Nadia vowed it's time to 'get healthy' several weeks after welcoming her son Ezekiel to the world Speaking to MailOnline on Wednesday, single parent Nadia said: 'I craved sugar during my pregnancy and nearly ended up with gestational diabetes but managed to get my eating under control and avoided it. 'But since giving birth I have been living off ready meals, junk food and sugar to get me through the lockdown. 'I've no help with the baby or night feeds, its all me 24 hours a day for weeks on end so I've been grabbing what I can when I can!' Honest: Some of Nadia's followers praised the star for her 'leaky boobs' caption, with one writing: 'Good on you for continuing to show the reality of motherhood' The presenter welcomed baby Zeek in March, just as the UK went into lockdown due to the global pandemic. 'I love my body and want to do it for myself - its time to get healthy,' Nadia added. She is working with brand Do The Unthinkable - a weight loss programme that delivers food daily to its clients' doors. 'Do The Unthinkable is the perfect plan for me because its not meal replacement. I will be eating real amazing food. And I am going to start with a PT and get my BMI down to a healthy number,' she said. Journey: Nadia had kept her followers updated on her pregnancy and showed off her blossoming bump as she posed in her underwear to mark turning 37 weeks pregnant in February Nadia revealed her terror after an ultrasound in January, when she was convinced she had harmed her unborn child due to careless nutrition. She told MailOnline that a routine midwife appointment struck fear in her when she was told her baby bump was 'way off the scale'. She said: 'I hadnt seen [a doctor] in eight weeks and didnt have a clue if everything was okay. You hope for the best but as a first time single mum, two whole months of no check ups seemed a long time. Worried: Nadia revealed her terror after an ultrasound in January, when she was convinced she had harmed her unborn child due to careless nutrition [pictured in November 2019] 'I went for the midwife appointment and we listened to the heartbeat. That was all good. Then she measured my bump and I was way off the scale. 'She was worried this meant I had gestational diabetes which could result in stillbirth. I have never been so scared. 'I thought It was my fault and that, because I had eaten s**t, that I had given myself diabetes and potentially put my baby at harm before he is even born. I felt like the worst mum in the world. The worst human being in the world and cried solidly.' Nadia's concern was placated when she went for a follow up scan and the baby was measured. Seven months pregnant: She told MailOnline that a routine midwife appointment struck fear in her when she was told her baby bump was 'way off the scale' [pictured in December 2019] 'It was all okay. He weighed well and there was no extra fluid which usually indicates gestational diabetes. I have to have the glucose test to double check. 'Also, the baby is breech so I have to go back to the hospital in the new year to be monitored. Its a lot but the relief that my baby is okay was the happiest day of my life.' Nadia said that the worrying ordeal has only helped her take better care of herself for the remainder of her pregnancy. 'It has given me the kick up the butt to get my nutrition on track. I have been craving nothing but sweet things and its time to get myself sorted as its crossed a line into gluttony I think,' she said afterwards. Relief: Nadia's concern was placated when she went for a follow up scan and the baby was measured [pictured in December 2019] Nadia has also detailed her 'extremely difficult' breastfeeding journey after giving birth to her 'miracle baby' son. The former Celebs Go Dating star shared a candid Instagram snap as she looked every inch the doting mother while nursing her newborn in the fresh air on Friday morning. The TV personality shared the powerful image alongside a heart-felt message as she smiled delicately toward the camera from behind a pair of oversized sunglasses. Doting mother: Nadia has detailed her 'extremely difficult' breastfeeding journey after giving birth to 'miracle baby' son Ezekiel in March Candid: The former Celebs Go Dating star shared a candid Instagram snap as she looked every inch the doting mother while nursing her newborn in the fresh air on Friday morning Nadia wrote: 'Going to lose a lot of followers for posting this but, for me, normalising breastfeeding is more important than likes and followers. 'It's nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to be anxious about and should be as normal as watching a child drink from a sippy cup. 'My BF journey has been extremely difficult so I'm proud of this picture. Did you breastfeed or if not, what formula did you use? '#fridayvibes #breastfeeding #breastfeedingmama #newmum #ezekiel.' Cute: The TV personality shared the first picture of baby son Ezekiel last month as she clutched him in her arms 'He is perfect': Nadia revealed she has given birth to her first child with this beautiful picture Nadia shared the first picture of baby Ezekiel last month as she clutched him in her arms. She wrote in the caption: 'Darlings I want to introduce you to my whole world..... 'Ezekiel Michael Essex grab a copy of @closeronline (out today) for my most honest interview to date. Nadia, who had been given only a one per cent chance of conceiving, announced the birth of her baby on Instagram in March, sharing a picture of herself kissing his little hand. ISIS attacks return in Iraq; Andrew White warns jihadis 'seem more empowered' than before Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment As Muslims celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and as governments try to combat the spread of COVID-19, there has been a resurgence of deadly attacks by the Islamic State in Iraq over two years after the groups territorial defeat. According to reports, militants aligned with the jihadi group have launched a series of attacks in the last week as they are trying to take advantage of gaps in security protection in Iraq. Attacks in Iraqs Diyala and Salahuddin provinces have resulted in the killings of security personnel and have also damaged sources of electricity. "Amongst all the Corona Virus news there has been no mention of the massive crisis in Iraq," Andrew White, an Anglican vicar who spent years serving in Baghdad, warned followers on Facebook. "Many people have been killed by gun fire and morters. The sad fact is ISIS has returned in force." "Some politician friends say it is like ISIS returning on steroids," White added. "They seem more empowerd now than ever before. We need serious prayer that order will be restoredi. Things are truly desperate." The attacks are creating fear that the militant group is resurging as governments are devoting their resources to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to The Military Times. Since its territorial defeat in late 2017, the Islamic State had lost the ability to carry out large-scale military operations. The group has also gone into hiding with reports that militants are quartered now in caves located in northern Iraq. Its a real threat, Qubad Talabani, deputy prime minister of the northern Kurdish region of Iraq, told the news outlet. They are mobilizing and killing us in the north and they will start hitting Baghdad soon. According to Talabani, the Islamic State is taking advantage of a gap between Kurdish forces and the Iraqi military in Iraq. Salahuddin council member Subhan Jiyad told Al-Monitor that the first of several Islamic State attacks in a 24-hour period began just before devout Muslim security personnel was set to enjoy a pre-dawn meal last Saturday, May 2. Another source who was not named told the Arab media site that Sunni locals from the Albu Issa tribe were among those killed. According to Al-Monitor, the first attack occurred in the town of Mukashifa, a Sunni-majority town that lies on a road that links Baghdad with Tikrit. The city is northwest of the town of Samarra, which not only contains a pilgrimage site for Muslims but is also the hometown of deceased Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Six members of the local Popular Mobilization Units were killed in the attack on a checkpoint, Jiyad explained. Then, when reinforcements were sent in, three more were killed by an improvised explosive device set by IS. Middle East Eye reports that the attack near Samarra began in the early hours of the morning when six youth security fighters, who were preparing their pre-dawn meal, were burned and killed by Islamic State militants. After setting explosive devices that killed three more, Islamic State fighters attacked a police station around 9 p.m. that night in the Zaghaniya village of Diyala, about 35 miles north of Baghdad. Iraqs Security Media Cell disclosed that at least four police officers were killed in the attack and 10 others were injured. The media cell on Sunday said that the Islamic State attacked PMU forces located just south of the city of Tikirt, about 96 miles from Baghdad. Although some fear that the attacks could be an indication that the group is trying to regain a foothold in Iraq, one military officer who spoke with Middle East Eye said that the two operations were not high profile and did not mean that IS has regained its ability to carry out major operations. The officer blamed neglect and relaxation by security forces for allowing such attacks to occur. The same mistake always recurs, the senior military officer was quoted as saying. Calm breeds relaxation, speed creates confusion and the two lead to disaster. Clashes between the PMF, an Iraq-sponsored coalition of about 40 militias, and Islamic State fighters continued through Monday in Salahuddin as well as other parts of Iraq, according to Newsweek. The series of Islamic State attacks come after the U.S. has drawn down its troop presence in both Syria and Iraq. It also comes as Turkeys military activities against Kurdish rebels in Syria are hampering the U.S.-led international coalitions counter-Islamic State efforts, according to Military Times. In Syria, the Islamic State is also said to be responsible for the killing of six soldiers who were killed when their vehicle struck a landmine in the Homs province, as reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights last Thursday. On April 9, Islamic State fighters reportedly attacked government-held positions near the town of Sukhna in the Homs province. According to Military Times, 32 troops and 26 Islamic State fighters were killed during two days of fighting in the town. United Kingdom military intelligence had reported that a group of Islamic State extremists was hiding out in a series of caves northeast of the Bayji, an Iraqi city about 130 miles north of Baghdad. In a press release Wednesday, the Royal Air Force announced that two of its Typhoon FGR4 planes joined U.S. aircraft in attacking the caves in northeast Iraq on April 28. The Typhoons dropped precision-guided Paveway IV bombs and about [10 Islamic State] militants were killed in the joint UK-US strike, the Royal Air Force said. The raid was carried out following intelligence that had identified the location of the Daesh cell, which was operating in the Hamrin mountains, northeast of the Iraqi town of Bayji. The RAF jets targeted six caves, while US strikes were carried out on four other caves. Vidor Independent School District is again on the verge of demolishing Vidor Middle School the second of two schools rendered unfit for renovation after Tropical Storm Harvey nearly eight months after plans to tear it down were halted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The district was preparing demolition of the campus when FEMA ordered additional documentation and reviews. This process has remained a priority and we have stressed the 3 year anniversary is upcoming, superintendent Jay Killgo told The Enterprise. We were pleased to learn ... that the rebuild of Vidor Middle School is in the final review with the Office of Legislative Affairs. Related: Harvey + 2: Storm-damaged Vidor Middle School to be razed In a written statement, FEMA Region 6 told The Enterprise that the project was validated on March 25. The United States Army Corps of Engineers has independently validated our findings and our field staff will be working proactively with the ISD to move the project forward, A FEMA official said. U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, R-Woodville, who excoriated the agency in January for the series of delays, said he was pleased to relay that the VISD Middle School is finally eligible for replacement. However, the funds have not been distributed to the school district, as it is still awaiting the final approval, Babin said. Killgo said the district, which has been navigating distance learning amid social distancing guidelines to slow the spread of the coronavirus, plans to begin demolition as soon as the review is complete. FEMA has shared that we must show completed architectural plans before that can happen, he said, We have started working on those plans and will continue to push for the demolition. The good news is that the new campus seems to be virtually approved. The district also is moving forward on rebuilding Oak Forest Elementary School, which has been torn down since it was damaged by flood waters. We also bid out the construction of Oak Forest Elementary School and that was approved last week in a board meeting, Killgo said. The winning bid was $17.5 million by G&G Construction. We have some details to work out with mitigation and then we expect to break ground. Additional reviews, changing requirements and pushed deadlines have worn on the patience of administrators and lawmakers who originally planned on moving forward with demolition in September 2019. Related: Patience wears thin as FEMA again delays school demo This has certainly been a frustrating process, Babin said. The VISD has followed through on everything required of them, yet FEMA has continued to ask for more, change requirements and request the same information and actions again and again. In January, Joseph Vermette, external affairs director for FEMA Region 6, told The Enterprise that delays in larger projects are common to ensure everything is in compliance. Its understandable that some applicants will be frustrated with the process, Vermette said. However, larger and more complex projects may take more time to adjudicate. Accuracy and attention to detail take time, and we want to ensure the best possible outcome for the applicant. FEMA has continued to review projects related to Harvey, and other permanent work projects, even as they are tasked with leading the Federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But chronic staffing issues within the agency unrelated to the pandemic were a key cause for delays, Babin said in a written statement. Due to a high volume of staff turnover at FEMA, including four different program delivery managers assigned in Region 6, substantial delays have occurred preventing the VISD from receiving the federal disaster relief funding necessary to replace the middle school, he said. SinceHarvey devastated our region in 2017, the VISD has been working diligently with FEMA to gain the funds needed to replace their middle school which was underwater and severely damaged. Vermette told The Enterprise the delays were not a result of turnover, but to safeguard the applicant from future audits while ensuring full compliance with FEMAs standards. FEMA doesnt like delays in the processing of our public assistance projects either, and staff turnover is normal, Vermette said. However, turnover was not a factor in this case. VISD is one of several districts across Southeast Texas waiting for funds to rebuild or renovate schools. Students at Vidor ISD, Hardin-Jefferson ISD, and Hamshire-Fannett ISD all have been attending schools in portable buildings while their original facilities await repair or replacement. Hardin-Jefferson recently asked voters for $25 million in bond monies to supplement funding from FEMA. Related: Hardin-Jefferson ISD to ask voters for $25M H-JISD is in a unique situation that may never occur again with the amount of FEMA funding that we are receiving, Hardin-Jefferson ISD Communications Director Mandy Fortenberry told The Enterprise in February. In combination with the $25 million from our community and the FEMA funding, we will be able to build just under $70 million in projects. The bond issue has been postponed until November due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Killgo said VISD appreciates FEMA working with us and also the support of Congressman Babin throughout this process. Babin said he would continue to work with VISD and FEMA officials, and do all he can to ensure this middle school is rebuilt expediently. isaac.windes@hearstnp.com twitter.com/isaacdwindes Seven people, including a two-month-old girl, tested positive for coronavirus in Chandigarh on Monday, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 180 in the Union Territory. Among the fresh cases, five were residents of Bapu Dham colony which is the worst affected area of the city.Of the total cases in Chandigarh, Bapu Dham colony alone has reported 115 coronavirus cases so far. A two-month old baby girl, a resident of sector 25 and a 35-year-old man, a resident of sector 25 also tested positive, as per the medical bulletin. Four coronavirus patients were discharged from the hospital after they were fully cured of the virus, taking the total count of those cured to 28, as per bulletin. A total of 2,177 samples have been tested so far and of them, 1,978 samples are negative while the reports of 25 samples are awaited, as per bulletin. A total of 142 cases are active in the city, as per bulletin. So far, three persons have died of coronavirus in the city. Meanwhile, the Chandigarh administration on Monday decided that the public dealing in the government offices will start from May 18.Earlier, it was to commence from May 11. "The offices will continue to function by maintaining proper hygiene, social distancing and sanitisation. The stipulation of 33 per cent staff in group C and D categories will continue," as per order issued by Chandigarh Adviser Manoj Parida. The 'Sampark' centres will open from May 18, it said. Meanwhile, Chandigarh Administrator V P Singh Badnore expressed concern about increasing number of positive cases in the city and sought the advice of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) and other experts to tackle the problem, a government statement said. He directed the Director General of Police to ensure that the containment areas are strictly sealed and no entry/exit is allowed except for authorized persons. Parida said as soon as the Central government decided to allow movement of stranded persons, the administration immediately arranged trains for their movement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Pound Sterling Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate remained flat on Monday morning, leaving the pairing trading at around 1.1432. The pairing remained flat as hopes for a quicker than expected global recovery boosted Sterling, offering some support at the start of this weeks session. Countries including the United States moved to re-open their economies, which boosted risk sentiment. Meanwhile, on Sunday Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined plans to slowly ease the UKs coronavirus lockdown measures. In the televised address to the nation, the Prime Minister announced a limited easing of restrictions. This included encouraging some people to return to work if they could not work from home. Boris Johnson wants the rest of the UK to adopt this same approach. However, this has been met with push-back from the leaders of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland who announced they would stick to the existing stay-at-home message. Sterling remained under pressure today as the Prime Minister has faced criticism of his handling of the pandemic, as the UK has now seen almost 32,000 deaths. This is the second-highest death toll in the world, just behind the United States. Meanwhile, today saw Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab state that non-essential workers would not go back to work until June at the earliest. He also added that some other sectors would not be returning to work until July at the earliest. Speaking on Monday, he stated: Theres the other changes for things like non-essential retail and people going back to school, particularly primary school, which wont start until the earliest on the first of June, subject to conditions. Starting from the 4th of July at the very earliest, those other sectors where they are inherently more difficult because people are mixing together and its difficult to maintain the social distancing, we wouldnt be able to say [...] that we would start them at least until the 4th of July. Meanwhile, the UK and European Union are scheduled to start their penultimate round of trade talks today. Little progress has been made on major sticking points ahead of the June deadline to agree on an extension of post-Brexit trade talks. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to prolong the current transition period despite pushing from the EU. This weeks round of talks is aiming to cover trade in goods, services, fisheries, transport, and aviation amongst other topics. The end of these talks marks a deadline for both sides to agree to whether or not there will be an extension of talks. The bloc fears the UK will refuse to extend talks which will increase the risk of huge disruption if the UK were to crash out of the EU without new rules in place. This left both the Pound and single currency under pressure on Monday. Pound Euro Outlook: Easing of Coronavirus Lockdowns in Focus Looking ahead, the main driver for both the Pound (GBP) and Euro (EUR) is likely to be the coronavirus crisis. The riskier Pound could edge higher against the single currency later today after British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson presents his plans for easing the lockdown to parliament. If optimism remains as Johnson presents his plan, it will offer GBP some support. Meanwhile, on Wednesday Sterling (GBP) is likely to suffer losses following the release of the countrys GDP rate. If UK GDP plummets further than expected in the first quarter of 2020, the Pound Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate will slump and reverse any gains made earlier in the week. The NFU has launched a new online tool for farmers to urge their MPs to take part in the next crucial stage of the Agriculture Bill. The bill is seen as the most important piece of legislation to come before parliament for UK farming, particularly in England, for many decades. It is now scheduled to have its Report Stage in the House of Commons on Wednesday 13 May. This is the final stage in the Commons and therefore the last opportunity for MPs to amend the bill before it passes over to the House of Lords for consideration. Ahead of that debate, which will be a virtual one due to remote working in parliament, the NFU has launched a new Write to your MP tool for farmers to encourage their MPs to participate in the Report Stage. "We are urging members to use this opportunity to contact their MPs because of course, since the bill was last in the Commons the country has been gripped by coronavirus," the union said. Farm groups have called for the Agriculture Bill to be amended to better protect UK food security following the Covid-19 crisis and it's affect on food production. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed 'stresses and strains' in British food and farming not seen 'since the second world war', the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) has said. The NFU has also said that Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated the importance of having a strong and resilient food supply chain and domestic source of food. "It is therefore more important than ever that we galvanise the support of MPs to ensure that we have a strong agricultural sector for generations to come," The NFU added. When will international flight operations to India be fully normal? Heres what govt says Domestic flights may resume by May 18: Aarogya Setu app mandatory for passengers India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, May 11: Reports have now claimed that the Narendra Modi-led government is planning to resume flight operations in a phased manner from May 17. The government is likely to allow airline companies to resume operation of local passenger flights by 18 May, according to Mint. The development comes a day after Indian Railways announced that it would gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, initially with 15 pairs of trains. Coronavirus crisis: Indian Railways resume services gradually; Train ticket reservation begins Travellers will be asked to download the Aarogya Setu app mandatorily and the app will act as an e-pass for their travel. Apart from that it will be compulsory for the passengers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the flights. It is expected that when the airlines restart their services, they will have to abide by social distancing norms by keeping every alternate seat vacant in passenger flights. Sources close to the aviation sector informed CNN-News 18 that a proposal has been made to not provide flight catering where the distance is not more than two hours. The airlines are likely to begins operations from major routes like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, which are commercially more viable as compared to only shorter distance flights that would be restricted to green zones, which are mostly tier II and tier III cities. According to Business Standard report quotes a draft: People whose Aarogya Setu app is not 'green' are not to be allowed inside the terminal building. Persons above 80 years will also be restricted in the first phase of resumption. COVID-19 crisis: As PM Modi hold talks with CMs, Delhi govt claims zero fatalities in 24 hours Earlier, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri had said that domestic flight operations in India might resume within a week. In a sensational case, a middle-aged German man, who is a wanted criminal in his home country, has been living in the transit area of Indira Gandhi International airport in Delhi for the past 54 days owing to an untoward crisis. Forty-year-old Edgard Ziebat landed in New Delhi from Vietnam in a VietJet Air flight as a transit passenger to Istanbul on March 18, the day India cancelled all flights to and from Turkey. He was on his way to Hanoi. India suspended all international flights four days later that was followed by the imposition of a stringent lockdown on March 25 in view of the coronavirus pandemic. With the suspension of international flights, several passengers were left stranded at the Delhi airport, but Ziebats case was unique. When airport authorities contacted the German embassy, they refused to take his custody because of his criminal records in Germany. As a result, India, too, did not give him a visa, the Hindustan Times reported. After a week in the transit area, with four other stranded passengers who arrived in Delhi on different dates two from Sri Lanka and one each from the Maldives and the Philippines airport authorities alerted their respective embassies. While others were facilitated by their respective embassies and were quarantined, the German embassy informed the Indian bureau of immigration that Ziebat has several cases of assault and other crimes registered against him and that they wont take his custody given that he is in a foreign land," an officer said on condition of anonymity. The officer added that the Delhi Police and airport operator DIAL (Delhi International Airport Limited) were also apprised of the situation. The German embassy did not respond to calls and text messages regarding the development. When apprised by the Embassy about his criminal record, India did not authorise Ziegat with a visa to leave the airport as his offenses were taken into consideration. But, Ziebat has also not formally applied for an Indian visa, the officer said. In India, an international passenger requires an Indian visa to step out of the transit area and can normally stay there for just one day. Thus, Ziebat has been languishing in the terminal with his luggage since March 18. He has spending days reading magazines and newspapers, talking to his friends and family over the phone, eating at some of the fast-food outlets still in operation within the terminal, interacting with housekeeping and security staff, taking walks within the transit area, and using the airports washrooms and toilets, said another official to HT, adding that they have been providing him with basic essentials such as a recliner, mosquito net, toothpaste, food. The man informed the Delhi airport authority officials that he can manage his expenses and has been living alone in the transit area. He sleeps on the beds, benches, on the floors, wherever he feels like, said the second officer. Meanwhile, the report quoted a DIAL spokesperson confirming his the foreign nationals stay in the transit area at the international terminal of IGI airport. Appropriate authorities were informed about this in good time. They are in dialogue with the foreign national, he said. We were worried for his health towards May. Some of the officials were sent to meet Ziebat and they found that he was fine, physically and mentally. He interacted clearly, and was in all his senses. CCTV footage was also checked, and nothing suspicious was found. Since then, some officers visit the German man regularly to interact with him just to get an idea of his well-being, he added. It was found that he has visas of multiple countries. The officials concerned have told him that it will only be possible for them to send him away once international flights resume, the officer said, adding that he asked to leave and go wherever he wants, but since no flights are operational, he has been stranded. About a week ago, attempts were also made to accommodate him on a relief flight to Ankara (Turkey) but Turkish authorities turned down the proposal stating that the flight was only for Turkish nationals or for their permanent residents, the officer said. Apart from the special repatriation flights under Vande Bharat Mission, in India, only cargo flights are operating amid a nationwide lockdown. Meanwhile, sources in the government have told CNN-News18 that flight operations are also likely to resume in a phased manner from May 17. According to sources, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday visited airports to oversee final preparations of commercial flights. The Carlyle Group and GIC aren't proceeding with their $900 million deal for a 20% stake in American Express Global Business Travel, claiming that the sellers didn't meet closing conditions. The two sides are now suing each other, with a Delaware court to hear the case on Thursday. Why it matters: This could lead to the first judicial ruling over whether or not the coronavirus pandemic has tripped a material adverse effect (MAE) clause in a merger agreement. Every deal is unique, but this could establish some broad legal guardrails. At issue: Carlyle and GIC not only argue for the existence of an MAE, due to the global travel slowdown, but also that the sellers violated financing terms by planning to use proceeds to bolster the company's balance sheet (i.e., a de facto bailout) rather than to fund a potential acquisition and provide shareholder dividends. Amex GBT argues that Carlyle and GIC are wrong on both counts. The bottom line: This is a broader test case than was L Brands vs. Sycamore Partners over Victoria's Secret, which ended after L Brands inexplicably gave up, where the MAE had an explicit carve-out for pandemics. In an exclusive interview, USAIDs Mission Director in Egypt Sherry Carlin told Ahram Online that the US government is committed to continuing to support the government and people of Egypt during the crisis The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is one of the international institutions that has announced it will stand with Egypt in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. USAID is an independent agency of the United States federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. In an exclusive interview, USAIDs Mission Director in Egypt Sherry Carlin told Ahram Online that the US government is committed to continuing to support the government and people of Egypt during the crisis. She stressed that partnership between the two countries is important to US foreign policy and to the American people, thus, USAID will continue the forward movement of impactful programs that are fully in line with Egyptian government priorities. Ahram Online: How is USAID helping Egypt contain and combat COVID-19? Sherry Carlin: The United States government has invested hundreds of millions of dollars over four decades through USAID to help Egypt prepare for and respond to health crises like the one we all are facing today. Our 40-year partnership with the government and people of Egypt created the foundations for Egypts ability to contain and combat infectious and emerging diseases, including COVID-19. In this regard, USAID supported the Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) to establish programs that analyze and monitor cases of infectious disease, develop response strategies, and raise public awareness of related threats. These are proving to be crucial in the fight against COVID-19. Together with the MOHP we trained Community Health Workers who provide information in rural communities on healthy behaviors such as effective hand washing that will help to stop the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases. Our scholarships have supported the undergraduate education of nurses at public and private universities. Many scholarship recipients are now in their first year of residency, working under supervision to treat patients. Several of our USAID partners have created and distributed public awareness materials to emphasize the importance of hand washing and personal hygiene as a mitigation for coronavirus. The United States is also supporting youth volunteers in North Sinai with the Al Gora Community Development Association to raise awareness of COVID-19 and reach out to families in Al Arish and neighboring communities. The volunteers are providing a health protection kit that includes such as sanitizers in addition to information about good hygiene practices. Eitesal Business Nurturing Initiative (EBNI), a U.S. government-supported incubator, is using 3D printers and laser cutters to produce face shields for area hospitals. So far, EBNI has produced and delivered 1,700 face masks to seven local hospitals. We also support incubators at the Arab Academy for Maritime and the British University in Egypt, which are also working on prototypes for medical masks. We are also supporting the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development to provide economic analyses of COVID-19s impacts and draft recommendations for possible economic stimulus packages to manage a potential financial crisis. AO: Regarding the recent meetings held by the Ministry of International Cooperation, how is USAID supporting the People-Projects with Purpose initiative to contain COVID-19s impacts? And what kind of assistance will USAID offer to the government of Egypt? SC: We coordinate closely with the Ministry of International Cooperation and other donors to provide assistance in areas needed most. Through USAID we have partnered with Egypt for more than 40 years and are committed to continuing our programs in the health sector as well as empowering women, educating youth, and ensuring inclusive economic growth. Our work supports Egypt to build self-reliance through effective, inclusive, and accountable solutions. Our projects will continue to align with Egypts priorities, including financial inclusion, social protection, mitigating the economic impact of the crisis, and strengthening health and education systems. AO: What is your impression of Egypt's preventative procedures and precautionary measures adopted to deal with COVID-19? What should Egypt do more to cope with the current situation? SC: Our legacy activities in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Population have contributed to Egypts early detection of COVID-19 cases and contact tracing. In the 1990s, USAID and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established and supported Egypts Field Epidemiology Training Program, which is still active today under the MOHPs leadership. Egyptian epidemiologists who trained through this program now lead the MOHPs efforts in case detection and contact tracing in every governorate. Their work allows the MOHP to quickly identify outbreak hotspots and identify who may have come into contact with individuals who test positive for the virus. Both of our governments past collaboration to eliminate polio, reduce hepatitis C infection rates, and stop the spread of avian influenza is a testament to our joint commitment and capability to support the health of every Egyptian in the fight against deadly infectious diseases. AO: How will Egypt's efforts to attain the sustainable development goals be impacted by the current crisis? How can Egypt alleviate the negative impacts caused by COVID-19 in this regard? SC: Several initiatives, including the Egyptian Governments efforts to fast-track digitalization, improve citizen access to services, and coordinate across ministries and sectors to support vulnerable groups, should continue to advance Egypts ratings in the sustainable development goals and alleviate negative impacts caused by COVID-19. AO: USAID has worked in Egypt for 40 years. Based on this history, how do you think Egypt will overcome this crisis and its harsh impacts on the economy? SC: Since 1978, the U.S. government and people through the U.S. Agency for International Development have provided over $30 billion for programs in education, health, economic development, and democracy and governance. These sustained programs have helped strengthen the Egyptian economy and social fabric and enabled it to be more resilient. Many of the systems now in place will help Egypt overcome this crisis, such as a strong monitoring and evaluation system that allows the Ministry of Planning to monitor the public investment needs at the central and local levels. Another example is the governments program-based budgeting approach that provides a more flexible and responsive method to budget for programs that meet the fiscal requirements of the different sectors and stakeholders in the Egyptian economy. We will continue to support the government and private sector as they adapt to economic shifts related to COVID-19. AO: What impact do you think the progress made in Egypt's economic reform program (adopted in November 2016) will have in backing Egypt in its fight against COVID-19s impacts? SC: We understand the Ministry of Finance is analyzing the impacts of COVID-19. We look forward to the analysis and stand ready to continue our coordination with the Government of Egypts response to this global pandemic. AO: Does the threat of COVID-19 affect USAID's plans and projects in Egypt over the coming period? Could this crisis force USAID to increase or decrease activities or funding for Egypt? SC: The United States government is committed to continuing to support the government and people of Egypt during this crisis. This partnership is important to U.S. foreign policy and to the American people and we will continue the forward movement of impactful programs that are fully in line with Egyptian government priorities. AO: What is the importance of global integrated cooperation in overcoming the crisis and its aftermath? SC: The United States Embassy in Egypt through USAID coordinates with the Egyptian Government, other donors and development partners, and the private sector to maximize impact of investments and ensure sustainability. All of our programming is fully in line with Egypts Vision 2030, Egypts Constitution, and the Sustainable Development Goals. We also partner extensively with the private sector to leverage their networks, expertise, and economic investments to spur inclusive growth. Search Keywords: Short link: Netflix's Too Hot to Handle Francesca Farago and Harry Jowsey Get Engaged During Zoom Reunion UPDATE: The wedding bells might not be ringing after all. Speaking to Variety on Monday, Too Hot to Handle's Francesca Farago is clearing the air. "Everyone's been, are you engaged... Like I asked him, 'Are we engaged?' And he's like, 'I asked you to marry me.' So I don't know, like, I think it definitely needs to be done in person. In like a proper proposal. So as of right now, no, we're not engaged," Farago told Variety during a video interview. This comes only days after the two appeared on the Netflix show's reunion on Friday in which Jowsey proposed to Farago over Zoom. "I mean, we kind of are but how do you really decide that via Zoom call, you know?" Farago went on. "It's hard to say." _______ Nothing is stopping these two lovebirds. The infamous Too Hot to Handle couple Harry Jowsey and Francesca Farago are officially engaged. During a recent Zoom reunion of the Netflix show that streamed on the platform, the pair talked about how their relationship has been since the show wrapped and what they're looking forward to in the future. Host Desiree Burch asked the two, "has the question been popped yet?" While Farago seemed to prefer a proposal to happen in person, nothing was stopped Jowsey from going all in. "Can do you do it over Zoom? Well, we may as well," Jowsey said while getting down on one knee and pulling out a Ring Pop candy. "I just want to say you've absolutely changed my life, I love you so much and I can't wait to spend forever with you. Do you want to do this thing? Do you want to get married?" Francesca Farago and Harry Jowsey on Life After Netflix's Too Hot to Handle Of course, Farago said yes. "Harry knows I want to marry him, so yes," she said. "Well I couldn't imagine being with anyone else," he replied. Story continues She replied, "You're so cute." On Instagram, Jowsey shared a picture of the two lovebirds and wrote, "Where should we have the wedding." Late April, the two Netflix stars told Pop of the Morning's Scott Tweedie that they're currently in quarantine in their own home countries, making their recent engagement that much more bittersweet. "It's been really difficult," Jowsey, who lives in Australia, said in an Instagram Live. "We FaceTime two to three times a day. We are really well connected and our communication is amazing. Obviously it sucks but we literally have no choice." Jowsey also revealed that after the Netflix show, their relationship was "a bit of a roller coast." He went on, "After the show, we had a bit of a break. I flew to Vancouver, she flew to Australia and then we broke up for a bit. I sent her a whole bunch of cute videos of us, and the next thing you know, it was all back on. I think we are in the best position we've ever been [in]." However, now it's nothing but big plans for their future. According to Jowsey, Farago is planning on moving from Vancouver to Australia. While the two have previously talked about a wedding, it hasn't been until now that Jowsey officially popped the question. According to the couple, they've looked at photos of rings and they revealed they were totally up for it if Netflix wanted to film the big event. Jowsey said, "If Netflix wants to pick it up, it could be real big." Too Hot to Handle is currently streaming on Netflix. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Music fans have a wide variety of streaming options. Depending on which you choose and how much you want to pay, the best music streaming services offer appealing features such as expansive libraries, curated recommendations based on your taste, and high-quality uncompressed files. But you have free options as well. Even if youre already paying for another music streaming service, there are some free services with niche features that could be great additions to your music listening arsenal. Most music streaming services let you sample their paid options with a free trial, but the platforms on this list let you use them indefinitely without ever putting in a credit card number. (Amazon Prime Music is an exception; the tunes are just one part of what your $119-a-year membership buys.) Before you invest your time building playlists, you want to be sure you pick the right service. Here's a rundown of what some free ones offer. There are a number of options to choose from, presented here in reverse alphabetical order, because Amazon's "free" music streaming service technically isn't free. We've also got recommendations on headphones and speakers to help the music come alive. YouTube Music Spotify Pandora Idagio Google Play Music Amazon Prime Music YouTube Music The free version of YouTube Music works a bit differently from the other services on this list. Whether youre listening in a web browser or on the app, you can stream any song you want. Most other services restrict you to playlists or radio-style stations, at least when you're using their apps as opposed to the website. Users can also upload up to 100,000 of their own audio files to stream from the cloud, a great option if you have a collection of music that you can't find on streaming services. YouTube musicas the name might suggestalso integrates a ton of videos from the regular YouTube platform. You can go straight from listening to your favorite Radiohead album to watching a video of the group performing at a music festival. As with almost every other free service, youll have to put up with ads. Story continues Google Play Music (see below) is shutting down later this year. If you have an account with that service, you'll be able to easily transfer all your music and preferences to YouTube Music before that happens. Drawbacks: The free tier of YouTube Music has a major flaw that most other services dont. You cant lock your phone screen or switch over to another app or the music stops. That means the service isnt great if you want to do anything else with your phone while you listenand no matter what, keeping the screen on will drain your battery faster. But this isnt a problem if youre listening to files you've uploaded yourself, and it doesn't affect the service if you're listening in a desktop web browser. Who its best for: People who want access to a large library or songs and videos on demand and dont need to do anything else with their phones while theyre listening with the app. It also a great option for listening to your own music files on the go. Spotify Spotify is a dominant player in the music streaming industry, rivaled only by Apple Music. One thing that sets it ahead: a free tier, which Apple Music lacks. Like most of the services on this list, Spotify makes you put up with ads, but it has an appealing option where you can play a longer ad to get 30 minutes of uninterrupted listening. The company is famous for its music recommendation engine, and free users can take full advantage of it. The app learns what kind of music you like as you listen and recommends daily and weekly playlists based on your tastes. Spotify invested heavily in podcasts over the past few years as well, so it can work as a hub for both kinds of audio, and youll get access to some exclusive content. If you listen on a computer, you can play individual songs on demand, but the phone app limits you to playlists and stations. Drawbacks: The biggest difference between the free and paid tiers (aside from the ads) is the fact that you can't pick individual tracks on the phone app. If you just want to listen to Queen on the go, Spotifys free service has you covered. But if it has to be Bohemian Rhapsody, youll need to wait for it to come up on a playlist, and you can skip only six tracks per hour. Free users are also limited to a lower audio quality level and cant download tracks to listen to offline. Who its best for: People who want recommendations for new music and want to listen to songs on demand on their computers. Pandora Pandora was a pioneer in music streaming. When it first launched, it was one of the only services with an algorithmically tailored recommendation engine that would learn what kind of music you enjoy and recommend new tracks and artists in a radio-style stream. Today, Pandora has a paid tier that lets users listen to songs on demand, but it still operates the same free service that made it famous in the early 2000s. You can create stations based on genres, artists, and songs, and train it to your tastes with thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons. Youll need to listen to ads after playing a few songs. Drawbacks: On the free version of Pandora, you need to sit through an ad if you want to listen to a specific song, skip backward on a radio station, or repeat a track you just listened to. The service also limits how many times you can skip tracks, and free users cant make or share playlists. Who its best for: People who want a radio-station-style listening experience and want to discover new songs and artists. Idagio Idagio is unlike all the other services on this list: Its geared purely toward classical music. Other platforms can struggle to organize classical because they ignore factors such as conductors, soloists, and individual movements within a larger piece. Idagio handles all of that with an interface built for classical music from the ground up. You dont have to be a Brahms superfan to enjoy the service, especially when you can use it free. You can listen to Idagios entirely library without paying a dime, and access playlists and recommendations curated for different moods and situations. Idagio will even recommend music based on your taste as you use it. Classical is a diverse genre that spans centuries of content, and the service makes it easy to find something youll like. Drawbacks: First, its classical music only. Also, the app will only let free users listen to playlists and radio stations, though you can play individual tracks with a free account if you're using a web browser. Like most services, Idagio users cant stream high-fidelity audio files on the free tier. And you cant listen to Idagio on some speakers that stream over WiFi, such as Sonos, unless you sign up for a paid account. There are no restrictions on Bluetooth-connected devices. Who its best for: Classical music fans or anyone who wants to dive deeper into the genre. Google Play Music Google Play Music has a feature that sets it apart from most free music streaming services. The free version lets you upload your own files and listen to them from any device. If you want access to your own collection of music on the go, the app is a must-have. Some other services have similar features, but Play Music does a particularly good job. (Google has now brought this function to its YouTube Music service, and you can upload even more songs.) Google Play Music is a decent option even if you didnt build up a mountain of MP3s during the Bush era. You can make your own radio stations based on your favorite songs and artists, or choose from a long list of curated playlists. The app also works as a hub for podcasts. Drawbacks: You can still use it for now, but Google Play Music is shutting down sometime this year. Users can transfer Google Play Music files and data to YouTube Music (described above). Unless you upload your own music, you also cant stream songs on demand with Google Play Music. The free version only gives you access to the app's library of 40 million songs through radio stations and playlists. Who its best for: People with a collection of their own files that they want to listen to on the go. Amazon Prime Music Technically, Amazon Prime Music isnt free. But for millions of Americans with an Amazon Prime account, it comes with the service youre already paying for. Amazon Prime Music is a full-fledged music service with few of the built-in shortcomings you find in the free versions of other streaming platforms. There are no ads, you can skip as many tracks as you want, and you can download songs to listen to offline. Prime Music has playlists and curated recommendations based on what you listen to. Unlike the free tiers on some other services, such as Spotify, theres also no meaningful difference between listening in the mobile app and the desktop browser. Drawbacks: Amazon Prime Music only gives you access to 2 millions songs. That might sound like a lot, but its limited in comparison to the libraries of most other streaming services, including Amazons own paid streaming service, Amazon Music Unlimited, which has 60 million. Prime Music probably wont have all of your favorite tracks, but you should be able to find something you like. Who its best for: Amazon Prime users who cant stand ads and dont mind a more limited music selection. How to Listen Whichever service you choose, youll have a better time with your music if you play it on equipment that sounds great. Here are a few of the best-rated headphones and speakers from CRs ratings. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright 2020, Consumer Reports, Inc. The chairman of the board at MTN has resigned, amid a dispute between Rami Makhlouf and Bashar al-Assad reports Alsouria Net. The MTN company announced on Sunday that its board chairman and other members had resigned, for reasons it described as private, as it demands payments owed to it by the Assad government. The resignations come amid appearances by Rami Makhlouf in video clips, where he said that security forces had arrested managers of his subsidiary companies, and called on Bashar al-Assad to intervene and reign in those forces. The company disclosed to the Damascus Securities Exchange that its board chairman Muhammad Baashir al-Munajjad had submitted his resignation from membership and presidency of the board. Two other board members, Naseer Sabah and George Fakiani, also submitted their resignations, citing private conditions and reasons. Munajjad took on leadership of the companys board of directors last March, and holds a doctorate from a French university. He previously served as Syrias Minister of Transportation from 2001-2004, before taking on his role as Minister of Communications and Technology from 2004-2006. The resignations coincided with a request from the Ministry of Communications Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority within the Assad government for Syriatel and MTN to pay amounts owed to the state treasury. The value of the funds amounts to 233.8 billion Syrian pounds, and the Authority threatened, that in the event of non-compliance with payment, it would take all necessary legal measures to ensure the rights of the public treasury. MTN agreed last week to pay the amounts due, while the Authority said that, the TeleInvest, one of MTNs main partner companies, expressed willingness to pay its due, in accordance with its legal share in the company and with the contents of the Authoritys decision. The Authority confirmed that the company, confirmed the eligibility of the demands and the amounts due that were referred to in the decision, which will be paid according to a timeline that will be agreed upon later. MTN and Syriatel are considered the two main and dominant companies in the Syrian cellular communications market, amid repeated demands from Syrians that a third company be introduced in order to prevent monopoly and create competition. MTN was founded in 2001, with a capital of 1.5 billion Syrian pounds. The Syrian economic sphere is witnessing a clash over the money of telecommunications companies, particularly Syriatel, which is owned by Bashar al-Assads cousin, Rami Makhlouf. Makhlouf has been waging a battle in recent days within the circles of the family that seized control of Syria more than half a century ago. These disputes were embodied in rare appearances by Makhlouf in video clips, in which he talks about the states lack of rights over the money it is demanding, and that he has documentation proving that his companies carry out their duties to the state. He has also demanded that President Assad halt the pressures, which Makhlouf described as disgusting from the palaces inner circle. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Champaign, IL (61820) Today Generally cloudy. Morning high of 33F with temps falling to near 20. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 8F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph. An Australian woman who had struggled with painful cystic acne her whole life has completely cleared her skin in just days after using a $14.99 facial cleansing bar. Teagan Beckett tried everything to treat her severe breakouts, including expensive products, over-the-counter medication and even seeing a dermal therapist weekly - but nothing seemed to work. Despite her life-long battle, she managed to banish the blemishes for good within five to six days after she used Carbon Theory Cleansing Bar. She shared 'before' and 'after' photographs of her stark skin transformation showing her complexion noticeably clearer. Australian woman Teagan (pictured) who struggled with painful cystic acne her whole life has completely cleared her skin in just days after using a $14.99 facial cleansing bar Despite her life-long battle, she managed to banish the blemishes for good within five to six days after she used Carbon Theory Cleansing Bar 'The tea tree and charcoal cleansing bar has literally changed my life,' Teagan said in her glowing review. 'My whole life I've had painful cystic acne. Nothing has worked from seeing a dermal therapist weekly using extremely expensive products to Roaccutane - nothing helped.' Teagan said she decided to give the product a go after a friend recommended the cleansing bar. 'I shrugged it off as people send me recommendations all the time and nothing works,' she said. 'But after a few weeks I saw it in store and decided to get it and I am so astonished at the results. I'm honestly amazed.' She shared 'before' and 'after' photographs of her stark skin transformation showing her complexion noticeably clearer Made with organic tea tree oil and charcoal to reduce inflammation, the 'miracle' product sold out in Australia after launching in Priceline just three weeks ago. 'The incredible, new range by UK cult skincare brand Carbon Theory has sold out in record time twice in the few last weeks on the Priceline website,' Priceline Pharmacy's skincare buyer Liz Green said. 'The range has been so popular we've sold thousands of units in the first few days of stock hitting shelves, with the cult cleansing bar selling 3500 units alone.' The retailer has since restocked more cleaning bars online and the entire range is also available in 350 stores around Australia. 'We are regularly to keep up with demand,' she said. Acne sufferers who tried the cleansing bar have praised its ability to transform their skin where other products had previously failed. Fans of the soap claim it's better than medicated products they've previously tried on prescription, describing it as a 'miracle worker'. Rob Lowe has been sober for 30 years (Ian West/PA) Rob Lowe has marked his 30th anniversary of sobriety. The US star, 56, told people struggling with addiction that there is hope. Former West Wing actor Lowe wrote on Instagram: 30 years ago today, I found a sober life of true happiness and fulfillment. I am filled with gratitude on this anniversary. From a treatment centre in Arizona to a bomb shelter in Israel, I have come to know many extraordinary people, and the fellowship of recovery has changed my life and given me gifts beyond my selfish imaginings. If you, or someone you love is struggling with any kind of addiction, there is hope! Love to you all. Lowe previously said he could not have got sober without rehab and told The Kelly Clarkson Show: It changed my life, its the best thing I ever did. BEIJING (Reuters) - Wuhan reported its first cluster of coronavirus infections since a lockdown on the city, the epicentre of the outbreak in China, was lifted a month ago, stoking concerns of a wider resurgence. The five new confirmed cases, all from the same residential compound, come amid efforts to ease restrictions across China as businesses restart and individuals get back to work. "We must resolutely contain the risk of a rebound," the health authority in Wuhan, a city with a population of about 11 million, said in a statement on Monday. New confirmed cases reported in China since April have been low compared with the thousands every day in February, thanks to a nationwide regime of screening, testing and quarantine. And Beijing said on Friday that cinemas, museums and other venues would gradually be reopened, though restrictions including mandatory reservations and a limit on numbers of visitors would be in place. Meanwhile, some Shanghai night spots are open again and Walt Disney Co reopened its Shanghai Disneyland park to a reduced number of visitors. All of the latest cases in Wuhan were previously classified as asymptomatic, people who test positive for the virus and are capable of infecting others but do not show clinical signs. Hundreds of asymptomatic cases in Wuhan, which was released on April 8 from a months-long lockdown, are being monitored. On average, the city has conducted about 47,000 nucleic acid tests each day since the lockdown was lifted, Reuters calculations based on reports by Wuhan's health authority show. China does not include asymptomatic cases in its overall tally of confirmed cases, now at 82,918, until they exhibit signs of infection. Mainland China has reported 4,633 deaths. Wuhan plans to conduct nucleic acid testing over a period of 10 days, an internal document seen by Reuters showed and two sources familiar with the situation said, with every district told to submit a detailed testing plan by Tuesday. Story continues Older and densely populated residential compounds and those with a concentration of migrant populations should be the focus of the testing, the document also showed. New outbreaks in China in the past two months have mainly developed in residential compounds or hospitals, while the number of asymptomatic cases is not known, as these only appear on the radar when they show up positive during tests. Wuhan's health authority could not be immediately reached for comment outside of business hours. (GRAPHIC: World-focused tracker with country-by-country interactive - https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/COUNTRIES/oakveqlyvrd/index.html?id=united-kingdom) 'WAR TIME' MODE As Wuhan reported new cases, Mi Feng, spokesman for China's National Health Commission, said new infections over the past 14 days in seven provinces were being traced while cases involving clusters "were continuing to increase". The health authority called for stronger protocols at laboratories handling samples of coronavirus strains and human nucleic acid tests as well as in transporting them. "We need to investigate and determine the origin of the infections and transmission routes," Mi told a media briefing. China's northeastern province of Jilin, which on Saturday reported a cluster of infections in Shulan, reported three additional cases. Shulan has been marked a high-risk area, the only place in China now with that designation. "We're now in a 'war-time' mode," said Jin Hua, the mayor of Shulan, which until the weekend had reported no local cases for more than 70 days. Shulan has imposed a lockdown on its 600,000 residents since the weekend, with just one member of a household being allowed out each day to buy necessities. One of the three cases confirmed in Jilin province on May 10 was from Shulan. The other two were uncovered through contact tracing of people who were in contact with earlier Shulan cases. Nearby Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces each reported one case, fuelling worries of a regional resurgence. A 70-year-old in Heilongjiang's capital Harbin had tested negative seven times before results showed as positive. Of the new cases, seven were in the northern region of Inner Mongolia and involved travellers from abroad. Across China, the number of new asymptomatic coronavirus cases fell to 12 on May 10, compared with 20 a day earlier. (GRAPHIC: Coronavirus: knowns and unknowns - https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-UNKNOWNS/0100B5M447T/index.html) (Reporting by Se Young Lee, Lusha Zhang, Liangping Gao, Roxanne Liu and Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Gerry Doyle, Stephen Coates, Lincoln Feast and Alexander Smith) HOUSTON, and COLUMBIA, Md., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Several recent observations of Mars have hinted that it might presently harbor liquid water, a requirement for life as we know it. However, in a new paper in Nature Astronomy, a team of researchers have shown that stable liquids on present-day Mars are not suitable environments for known terrestrial organisms. "Life on Earth, even extreme life, has certain environmental limits that it can withstand," noted Dr. Edgard G. Rivera-Valentin, a Universities Space Research Association (USRA) scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) and lead author of the investigation. "We investigated the distribution and chemistry of stable liquids on Mars to understand whether these environments would be suitable to at least extreme life on Earth." Due to Mars' low temperatures and extremely dry conditions, if a liquid water droplet is placed on Mars, it would nearly instantaneously either freeze, boil, or evaporate away. That is unless that droplet had dissolved salts in it. Such salt water, or brine, would have a lower freezing temperature and would evaporate at a slower rate than pure liquid water. Because salts are found across Mars, brines could form there. "We saw evidence of brine droplets forming on the strut of the Phoenix lander, where they would have formed under the warmed spacecraft environment," noted Dr. German Martinez, a USRA scientist at the LPI, co-investigator of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, and co-author of the study. Further, some Martian salts can undergo a process called "deliquescence". When a salt is at the right temperature and relative humidity, it will take in water from the atmosphere to become a salty liquid. "We've been conducting experiments under Martian simulated conditions at the University of Arkansas for many years now to study these types of reactions. Using what we've learned in the lab, we can predict what will likely happen on Mars," says Dr. Vincent Chevrier, co-author of the investigation at the University of Arkansas. The team of researchers used laboratory measurements of Mars-relevant salts along with Martian climate information from both planetary models and spacecraft measurements. They developed a model to predict where, when, and for how long brines are stable on the surface and shallow subsurface of Mars. They found that brine formation from some salts can lead to liquid water over 40% of the Martian surface but only seasonally, during 2% of the Martian year. "In our work, we show that the highest temperature a stable brine will experience on Mars is -48C (-55 F). This is well below the lowest temperature we know life can tolerate," says Dr. Rivera-Valentin. "For many years we have worried about contaminating Mars with terrestrial life as we have sent spacecraft to explore its surface. These new results reduce some of the risk of exploring Mars," noted Dr. Alejandro Soto at the Southwest Research Institute and co-author of the study. "We have shown that on a planetary scale the Martian surface and shallow subsurface would not be suitable for terrestrial organisms because liquids can only form at rare times, and even then, they form under harsh conditions. However, there might be unexplored life on Earth that would be happy under these conditions," added Dr. Rivera-Valentin. More environmental data from Mars, such as through the upcoming Mars 2020 mission to Jezero crater, along with further exploration of Earth's biome may shed some light on the potential to finding life on Mars today. About USRA Founded in 1969, under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences at the request of the U.S. Government, the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) is a nonprofit corporation chartered to advance space-related science, technology and engineering. USRA operates scientific institutes and facilities, and conducts other major research and educational programs, under Federal funding. USRA engages the university community and employs in-house scientific leadership, innovative research and development, and project management expertise. More information about USRA is available at www.usra.edu. About LPI The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), operated by Universities Space Research Association, was established during the Apollo program to foster international collaboration and to serve as a repository for information gathered during the early years of the space program. Today, the LPI is an intellectual leader in lunar and planetary science. The Institute serves as a scientific forum attracting world-class visiting scientists, postdoctoral fellows, students, and resident experts; supports and serves the research community through newsletters, meetings, and other activities; collects and disseminates planetary data while facilitating the community's access to NASA science; and engages and excites, and educates the public about space science and invests in the development of future generations of explorers. The research carried out at the LPI supports NASA's efforts to explore the solar system. More information about LPI is available at www.lpi.usra.edu. PR Contact: Suraiya Farukhi, Ph.D. [email protected] 410-740-6224; 443-812-6945 Julie Tygielski, [email protected] Technical Contact: Dr. Edgard Rivera-Valentin, [email protected] SOURCE Universities Space Research Association Related Links http://www.usra.edu An unnamed 25-year-old male German citizen of Turkish descent was arrested in Bavaria under suspicion of involvement in a series of attacks on Turkish establishments in the town of Waldkraiburg between 16 April and 6 May. The police report said that the arrested citizen was motivated by his "hate" toward Turkish comrades as a supporter of the ISIS terrorist group (banned in Russia). The 25-year-old threw rocks at a barbershop, a pizzeria, and a kebab house, but his most serious attack was the arson of a grocery shop on 27 April that left several people injured and resulted in major damage to the building, Sputnik reported. The suspect was arrested at a railway station for fare dodging, but police officers chose to inspect his backpack and found several makeshift bombs, forcing authorities to evacuate the station. His house and buildings were also evacuated due as the man had claimed that he had more explosives as well as weapons hidden in that location. PUNE, India, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global dyes and pigments market size is projected to reach USD 54.64 billion by 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period. Increasing demand for ink for diverse applications will be a central growth driver for this market, shares Fortune Business Insights in its report, titled "Dyes and Pigments Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Dyes, {Reactive, Disperse, Vat, Acid, and Others}, and Pigment {Inorganic, and Organic}), By End-use Industry (Textiles, Leather, Paper, Paints & Coatings, Plastics, Printing Inks, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026". Inks are essentially liquids that are made from dyes and pigments and serve a variety of purposes such as writing, printing, and tattooing. They are also used to prevent anti-counterfeiting activities. For instance, special inks are manufactured for printing currency notes, which react with the cellulose in the paper and produce inimitable colors and textures, making it almost impossible to replicate. Dyes & Pigments Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2015-2026 Furthermore, advanced ink-based liquids are being extensively employed in 3D printing operations. Many companies are using these liquids on small- and medium-scale to manufacture customized spare parts for machines, gourmet food products, and prosthetics. Thus, widening the applicability of inks and ink-based liquids and pastes will lead the Dyes and Pigments market trends in the forthcoming years. Worldwide COVID-19 Impact Analysis: The emergence of COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill. We understand that this health crisis has brought an unprecedented impact on businesses across industries. However, this too shall pass. Rising support from governments and several companies can help in the fight against this highly contagious disease. Some industries are struggling and some are thriving. Overall, almost every sector is anticipated to be impacted by the pandemic. We are making continuous efforts to help your business sustain and grow during COVID-19 pandemics. Based on our experience and expertise, we will offer you an impact analysis of coronavirus outbreak across industries to help you prepare for the future. To Get Sample PDF with "Short-Term and Long-Term Impact Of COVID-19" On Dyes and Pigments Market, Please Visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/covid19-impact/dyes-pigments-market-102333 As per the report, the market value stood at USD 37.76 billion in 2018. Additionally, the report contains the following information: A thorough study of the various market drivers and restraints; Precise projections of the upcoming market trends; Panoramic overview of the industry outlook; Careful segmentation of the market; and In-depth analysis of the regional dynamics and competitive landscape of the market. Market Driver Rapid Urbanization Worldwide to Fuel the Market The Dyes and Pigments market growth is premised on the fact that there is a rising demand for these ingredients in the paints and coatings industry. The growth of this industry is based on the escalating demand for these materials from the residential and commercial spaces across the globe. One of the major factors causing the proliferation of such spaces is rapid urbanization around the world. According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), roughly two-third of the global population will be living in urban areas by 2050, jumping by 13% from the current levels. More importantly, around 90% of this jump will be witnessed in the developing nations of Africa and Asia, where the process of urbanization is getting further intensified by steady economic growth. As a result, expansion of residential and commercial areas in these countries will stoke the demand for Dyes and Pigments during the forecast period. Regional Analysis Asia-Pacific to Offer Promising Growth Prospects for the Market With a market size of USD 15.05 billion in 2018, Asia-Pacific is set to dominate the Dyes and Pigments market share in the coming years. The main factor propelling the market in this region is the expanding middle-class in India and China, which is increasingly demanding higher value textiles, plastics, and other products, thereby augmenting the uptake of dyes and pigments. Furthermore, countries in Asia-Pacific, mainly China, India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam, lead the world production of textiles and with greater investments in the textile industry, their production capacity has risen substantially in the past few years. With the majority of these products being exported to Europe and North America, the demand for dyes and pigments is surging in the developed countries. Get Detailed Summary of this Research with TOC: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/dyes-pigments-market-102333 Competitive Landscape Major Players to Employ Position Strengthening Mechanisms According to the Dyes and Pigments market analysis, key players are singularly focusing on solidifying their position in this market through the widening of product portfolio and investment in R&D activities. Another strategy that is being favored by companies is mergers and acquisitions in an attempt to broaden their business horizons. Industry Developments: September 2019 : DIC Corporation, the Japanese chemical company, completed its successful takeover of the Germany -based BASF's pigments business division, BASF Colors & Effects (BCE). DIC's aim behind this acquisition to widen its pigment portfolio for cosmetics, plastics, inks, and electronic displays, among others, and lead the global pigment industry. DIC Corporation, the Japanese chemical company, completed its successful takeover of the -based BASF's pigments business division, BASF Colors & Effects (BCE). DIC's aim behind this acquisition to widen its pigment portfolio for cosmetics, plastics, inks, and electronic displays, among others, and lead the global pigment industry. May 2018 : The Swiss specialty chemicals major Clariant unveiled Ink Jet Orange GR VP6102 and Ink Jet Magenta E-S VP6057, its two innovative inkjet ink pigments, at the FESPA 2018 in Berlin . These products can be used in solvent-, UV-, and water-based inks and can be applied in outdoor and indoor settings with equal efficacy. List of Key Companies Operating in the Dyes and Pigments Market are: KRONOS Worldwide, Inc. DuPont Atul Ltd Sudarshan Chemical Industries Limited DIC CORPORATION Kiri Industries Ltd. Cabot Corporation Huntsman International LLC. Clariant BASF SE Quick Buy - Dyes & Pigments Market Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/102333 Detailed Table of Content: Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions Executive Summary Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities Key Insights Key Emerging Trends For Major Countries Key Developments: Mergers, Acquisition, Partnership, etc. Latest Technological Advancement Insights on Regulatory Scenario Porters Five Forces Analysis Global Dyes & Pigments Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2015-2026 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Type Dyes Reactive Disperse Vat Acid Others Pigments Inorganic Organic Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By End-Use Dyes Textiles Leather Paper Paints & Coatings Plastics Others Pigments Printing Inks Paints & Coatings Plastics Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Region North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East & Africa TOC Continued!!! Get your Customized Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/customization/dyes-pigments-market-102333 Have a Look are Related Research Insights: Paints and Coatings Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Resin (Epoxy, Acrylic, Polyester, Alkyd, PU, and Others), By Technology (Waterborne, Solvent Borne, Powder Coating, and Others) By Application (Architectural, Automotive OEM, Marine, Coil, General Industries, Protective Coatings, Automotive Refinish, Industrial Wood, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2019 2026 Paints and Coatings Additives Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Dispersing Agent, Rheology Agent, Leveling Agent, Anti-foaming Agent, Adhesion Promoting Agent, and Others), By Application (Automotive, Architectural, Wood, Industrial, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 Adhesives and Sealants Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Adhesive Technology (Water-Based, Solvent-Based, Hot-Melt), By Adhesive Application (Paper & Packaging, Building & Construction, Woodworking, Consumer/DIY, Automotive & Transportation), By Resin (Silicone, Polyurethane, Plastisol, Emulsion, Polysulfide), By Sealant Application (Building & Construction, Automotive & Transportation), and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 Powder Coatings Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Resin (Thermoset (Epoxy Polyester, Polyester, Epoxy, Polyurethane, Acrylic, and Others), and Thermoplastic (Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), Nylon, Polyolefin, and Polyvinyl Fluoride (PVF))), By Coating Method (Electrostatic Spray, Fluidized Bed, and Others), By Application, and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 3D Printing Materials Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Plastics, Metals, Ceramics, and Others), By End-Users (Automotive, Aerospace & Defense, Industrial, Medical, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 Plastics Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Polyethylene Terephthalate, Polyvinyl Chloride, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, Polyamide, Polycarbonate, Polyurethane, Polystyrene), By End-Use Industry (Packaging, Automotive & Transportation, Infrastructure & Construction, Consumer Goods/Lifestyle, Healthcare & Pharmaceutical, Electrical & Electronics, Textile), and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 Construction Chemicals Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Admixtures, Flooring, Waterproofing, Repair & Rehabilitation, and Others), By Application (Residential, and Non-Residential), and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 Caps & Closures Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Material (Plastic, Metal, and Others), and By Application (Food & Beverage, Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Goods, Cosmetics & Personal Care Products and Others) and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 Plastic Compounding Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Poly Vinyl Chloride, Polystyrene, Polyethylene, Polybutylene Terephthalate, Polyamide, Polycarbonate, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, and Others), By Application, and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 About Us: Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in. Our reports contain a unique mix of tangible insights and qualitative analysis to help companies achieve sustainable growth. Our team of experienced analysts and consultants use industry-leading research tools and techniques to compile comprehensive market studies, interspersed with relevant data. At Fortune Business Insights, we aim at highlighting the most lucrative growth opportunities for our clients. We therefore offer recommendations, making it easier for them to navigate through technological and market-related changes. Our consulting services are designed to help organizations identify hidden opportunities and understand prevailing competitive challenges. Contact Us: Fortune Business Insights Pvt. Ltd. 308, Supreme Headquarters, Survey No. 36, Baner, Pune-Bangalore Highway, Pune - 411045, Maharashtra, India. Phone: US :+1-424-253-0390 UK : +44-2071-939123 APAC : +91-744-740-1245 Email: [email protected] Fortune Business Insights Linkedin | Twitter | BLogs Read Press Release: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/press-release/dyes-and-pigments-market-9865 SOURCE Fortune Business Insights One in eight science, technology and maths lessons in Australian classrooms are taught by a teacher who isn't qualified in the subject matter. Inadequate funding, low levels of school autonomy and staff shortages are partially to blame for Australia's problem with out-of-field teaching in STEM subjects, new research has revealed. Victoria had one of the highest rates of out-of-field STEM teaching at 14.9 per cent, while NSW students had a 10.5 per cent chance of being taught STEM by a teacher who did not specialise in the subject. A Monash University and University of Sydney publication, Teaching out-of-field in STEM subjects in Australia, analysed data from a questionnaire of 11,715 year 10 teachers during the 2015 PISA student assessments. Da gbon Forum (DF), a Non-profit Youth Development Association has donated some essential to the Tamale Central and West Hospitals, two Municipal and nine District Hospitals in the Northern Region. The DF has also donated to the Gbewaa Palace, the Mion-Lana and Yoo-Naa Palaces. The items includes 50 (100ltr) and 50 (80ltr) Veronica buckets, 50 Galons of Liquid soap, 100 (200ml) pieces of Hand Sanitizers and 120 (medium) pieces of Tissue Rolls. The essentials were bought from individual contributions by members of the DF. Presenting the items, Alhaji Sintaro Mahama, the National Vice-President of DF said the donation was DF response to compliment the governments efforts to contain and prevent the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the area and the nation at large. He said the donation was also a deep concern felt by DF members about the good health of the people of Dagbang in this very trying times. Alhaji Mahama called on all sections of society to work diligently towards preventing the spread of the virus as it posed a threat to all aspects of life. He urged natives of Dagbon to continue to observe the social distancing protocols, adhere to the safety measures of hand washing under running water, wearing of nose mask, and the regular use of hand sanitizers to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Mr Mahama also called on government, transnational rulers, bilateral and other organisations, civil society groups, and local communities to work towards addressing the severe negative economic and social of COVID-19 across the region and the nation at large. Mr Abdulai Fatawu, the Administrator of the Tamale Central Hospital on behalf of the two hospitals said, the items has a come at the right time as the hospital still needs more such. He said the hospital major challenge has been PPE and that the items will be used for its intended purpose. Mr Fatawu noted that attendance at the Tamale Central Hospital has reduced due to the COVID-19. Dagbang Forum was registered as a non-profit organization to promote development and sustained peace in Dagban and Ghana at large. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video (Newser) A man who'd been kicked out of a McDonald's restaurant for having no face mask threw a rock through the window, stole some underwear from a Walmart, and surrendered when police threatened to set a dog on him, authorities said. The AP reports that Jason Daddario, 37, was charged with criminal mischief and breach of peace, according to a police report. Daddario was asked to leave the McDonalds in Brooklyn, Conn., last week for failing to comply with a statewide order to wear masks in businesses to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the Hartford Courant reported Thursday. story continues below Daddario threw the rock and then stole several pairs of "ladies underwear" from a nearby Walmart, according to the police report. He tried to flee but thought better of it when a police dog met him as he left the store, authorities said. He's set to appear in court on June 15. (Read more weird crimes stories.) The deportation policy was issued by the C.D.C. based on an unprecedented interpretation of the public health laws. The policy bears the unmistakable markings of a White House strategy imposed on the C.D.C. and designed to circumvent prior court rulings to achieve the administrations political goals. The Border Patrol is carrying out the C.D.C. directive by expulsion of anyone who arrives at U.S. land borders without valid documents or crosses the border illegally, not because they are contagious or sick but because they come from Mexico or Canada, regardless of their country of origin. The deportations violate the legal right to apply for asylum and ignore the special procedures for unaccompanied children. Our immigration laws guarantee that any noncitizen irrespective of status, no matter how they arrive, is entitled to an asylum process. U.S. law has adopted the international obligation that refugees cannot be returned in any manner whatsoever to a place where they risk persecution. The courts have protected these rights again and again. When the administration tried to impose an asylum ban more than a year ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit blocked it, calling it an end-run around Congress, a decision the Supreme Court refused to overturn. Now, with the C.D.C. directive, the administration is imposing an even more sweeping prohibition on asylum by exploiting pandemic fears, and U.S. Border and Customs Protection is labeling the policy a public health expulsion instead of an immigration deportation. Despite what the administration says, the order is not part of any coherent plan to stop border travel or prevent introduction or spread of contagious people or the virus, which is already widespread in the United States. Nothing limits travel from Mexico or Canada by truck drivers, those traveling for commercial or educational purposes, and many others, including green card holders and U.S. citizens. And the restrictions that exist do not apply at all to travel if its by airplane. By Stephanie Kelly NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday as investors worried about a second wave of coronavirus infections, but new output cuts from Saudi Arabia tempered worries about oversupply and limited price losses. Brent crude futures lost $1.34, or 4.3%, to settle at $29.63 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 60 cents, or 2.4%, to settle at $24.14 a barrel. Global oil demand has slumped by about 30% as the coronavirus pandemic has curtailed movement across the world, leading to growing inventories globally. While crude futures have fallen more than 55% this year because of the virus, prices have gained the past two weeks, supported by a modest rebound in demand as some travel restrictions are eased. However, fears about a second wave of the virus weighed on futures. Germany reported on Monday that new coronavirus infections were accelerating exponentially after early steps to ease its lockdown. Elsewhere, Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak in China, reported its first cluster of infections since the city's lockdown was lifted a month ago. South Korea also warned of a second wave of the virus on Sunday. Prices received a boost earlier in the session after a Saudi energy ministry official said the ministry has directed national oil company Saudi Aramco to reduce its crude production for June by an extra 1 million barrels per day. "The major positive outcome of these additional cuts is that, according to our calculations, we will now probably avoid global storage tank tops if demand ramps up as expected and new lock-down measures are not imposed," said Rystad Energys senior oil markets analyst Paola Rodriguez Masiu. The reduction is on top of a pact by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied producers - a group known as OPEC+ - to cut production from May 1 by about 10 million bpd in an effort to support prices. "It's a balance between OPEC production cuts versus concerns about the possibility of a second wave of coronavirus," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group. Story continues The Kazakh government signed a decree to cut oil output from May onwards in line with a deal agreed last month by the OPEC+ producer group, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In the United States, fears that the country is running out of oil storage space sent WTI prices into negative territory last month, prompting some U.S. producers to rein in output. The number of operating oil and gas rigs in the world's largest oil producer last week fell to 374, a record low according to data going back to 1940 from energy services company Baker Hughes Co . Graphic: Turning off the taps, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/ce/xegvbkjmxpq/oil%20production%20cuts.PNG (This story corrects Brent settlement price in second paragraph) (Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London, Florence Tan in Singapore and Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Nick Zieminski) COVID-19 PEOPLE VS PROFITS As long as these restrictions are in place they are costing the economy $4 billion a week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said last week. Cabinet had just met and decided it was time to begin easing some of the COVID-19 restrictions. Several states and the Northern Territory followed with similar announcements. Measures such as social isolation, social distancing, closure of non-essential businesses, etc., and testing have proved very effective in containing COVID-19. Health sector workers continue to put their lives on the line doing an amazing job saving lives. The governments priority is now getting people back to work as quickly as possible while bearing in mind that any surge in cases might backfire on the Prime Ministers newfound popularity. There is little or no pretence that the health and safety of people are a priority. The COVIDsafe App is supposed to make us feel safe, but uptake is slow. This is not surprising considering the government gave the contract to Amazon. Amazon is one of the largest data collection monopolies in the world, along with Google and Apple. It is in constant battles with governments around the world, but more powerful than most of them. CONFLICT OF INTERESTS There is a contradiction between the ongoing and strong measures needed to address the virus in the interests of peoples health and safety, and those needed for a rapid economic recovery. This contradiction can be summed up as people versus profits. The question is: Will the path to recovery be in the interests of big business or working people? In the United States, President Trump took the let it rip approach that ultimately serves the interests of the finance sector and big business. It became a survival of the wealthiest those who could afford quality health services. Latinos, people of colour, the poor, the aged, disabled, and undocumented residents are amongst those hardest hit. The Telegraphs (UK) associate editor and financial columnist Jeremy Warner, didnt mince words. He wrote in his column that, Not to put too fine a point on it, from an entirely disinterested economic perspective, the COVID-19 might even prove mildly beneficial in the long term by disproportionately culling elderly dependents. The implication is that it is economically beneficial to cull the elderly. It might please profit-gouging private health insurance companies! BALANCING ACT At the opposite end of the spectrum to the let-it-rip approach is one of putting peoples interests first. The Australian government would have us believe it is doing a balancing act between health and the economy. We face a health crisis and economic crisis simultaneously, was typically the line the government trotted out. But mention of the health crisis has now receded. The health of people, of workers is important, not just to the workers and their families but to the economy. Without workers, there is no economy. As one of the CPAs Selfie May Day placards reads: Workers are Essential, Bosses are NOT! A number of the measures in the three COVID-19 packages rolled out in March and April were clearly directed to assisting business and encouraging new investments. These included the provision of liquidity for banks, accelerated depreciation of assets, tax credits for small and medium-sized businesses, and tax-free cash payments to businesses. NOT WHAT IT SEEMS There were other provisions that directly benefit workers such as the doubling of JobSeeker (Newstart), JobKeeper payments, free early childhood education, and a six-month moratorium on mortgage repayments. And they are welcome and popular. On closer examination, however, while many workers, including the unemployed stand to gain from these packages, the main focus is still on the economy getting and keeping the private sector on its feet. The six-month moratorium on housing loan repayments saves the banks from a potentially destabilising flood of defaults. However, interest will accrue during that time adding to future repayments. The JobSeeker and JobKeeper payments are not out of any concern for the unemployed or for workers stood down or facing the threat of unemployment. The aim is to keep businesses afloat; for workers stood down to maintain links with an employer until the hoped-for speedy return to business; and as a stimulus to boost consumption. Apart from the supermarkets, most sectors of the economy have taken a massive hit with millions of workers laid off, stood down or under-employed. We might never know the true number of unemployed because recipients of JobKeeper may or may not be working. They will not be included in the official unemployment statistics. The aim of the free early childhood education is to encourage and facilitate a return to work by parents also as a measure to get the economy going again. As with a number of other worthwhile measures, such as the doubling of JobSeeker payment, they are only temporary. They should become policy and permanent. The Coalition has suddenly shown concern for disadvantaged children suffering by not being at school, insisting schools return. At the same time it cynically dangles a $3 billion carrot for private schools to go back, but not a cent more is offered to the under-funded public schools that educate the disadvantaged children. An estimated million workers have already sought to draw on their superannuation savings under COVID-19 provisions that allow them to draw $10,000 during this financial year and another $10,000 next year. The government is desperately attempting to increase household spending through these packages. This is integral to achieving its economic agenda for a rapid recovery next year the so-called V curve. For the several million unemployed and under-employed workers who do not qualify for JobKeeper mostly those who were on the lowest incomes withdrawal of their meagre super savings may be the only option for survival. Some can apply for JobSeeker and battle, for who knows how long, with the understaffed Centre Link bureaucracy. It is time to bring back the Commonwealth Employment Services (CES), boost apprenticeships, refund and expand TAFE, abolish the fees and set about a permanent public sector job creation program. A genuine people-first recovery is possible and necessary. See Fight for a People-First Recovery, Guardian #1913, 4th May, 2020 for what that might look like. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show "specific and concrete direction" on the ongoing lockdown. A CMO official quoted Thackeray saying this during Modi's virtual interaction with chief ministers on Monday. "Show us specific and concrete direction on lockdown, the states will implement the same," an official statement quoted Thackeray as telling the prime minister. The statement said Thackeray also requested Modi to start local trains in Mumbai for essential services staff working in the city. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is stable and under observation at the Cardiothoracic centre of AIIMS. He was admitted to AIIMS on late Sunday evening after he developed febrile reaction to a new medication. Former Prime Minister and Senior Congress leader Dr Manmohan Singh is stable and under observation at AIIMS. On Monday, May 11, sources said that Dr Manmohan Singh was admitted to AIIMS last night for investigation and observation after he developed feverish reaction to a new medication. Doctors are currently investigating him to rule out other causes of fever. He is stable now and under medical observation at the Cardiothoracic centre of AIIMS. Dr Manmohan Singh was admitted in AIIMS on late Sunday evening due to chest pain. Soon after the news broke out, senior Congress leaders and leaders across party lines along with several of his admirers sent well wishes on social media. Former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter that he is sorry to hear about Dr Manmohan Singh. Prays for his speedy recovery, Omar Abdullah added that Dr Manmohan Singhs wide counsel and guidance are much needed during this time. DMK leader M K Stalin also wished for Dr Manmohan Singhs good health and speedy recovery. He also emphasised that the services of Dr Manmohan Singh are needed for our country at a time like this. Former Chief Minister of Bihar and RJD Leader Lalu Prasad also wished for Dr Manmohan Singhs speedy recovery and called him humble, intelligent, scholar, the gentleman and one of the best PM. Also Read: National Technology Day: PM Modi remembers Pokhran-II, terms it exceptional achievement and landmark moment in Indias history Former PM&Congress leader Dr Manmohan Singh was admitted to AIIMS for observation&investigation after he developed febrile reaction to new medication.He's being investigated to rule out other causes of fever. He's stable & under care at the Cardiothoracic Centre of AIIMS: Sources pic.twitter.com/0zJD86VZBb ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 Also Read: Railways to partially resume passenger trains from tomorrow, online booking to start today I wish former Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh speedy recovery and wish him good health. At a time like this, Dr. Manmohan Singh's services are needed for our country and I hope he will be back in full health at the earliest. M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) May 11, 2020 Sorry to hear about Dr Manmohan Singh being admitted to hospital. I hope he recovers & is back home with his family soon. His wise counsel & guidance are much needed during this time of crisis. https://t.co/kv5Kr9rGd1 Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 10, 2020 Lets all pray for a speedy recovery of Dr #ManmohanSingh Perhaps, at this critical juncture, our country needs him the most. Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) May 10, 2020 Saw the news of Dr. #ManmohanSingh ji being admitted to hospital. My sincere prayers for the speedy recovery of #ManmohanSingh ji, the humble, intelligent, scholar, true gentleman and one of the best PM. Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) May 10, 2020 I pray for the speedy recovery and good health of former Prime Minister Dr. #ManmohanSingh ji. Tej Pratap Yadav (@TejYadav14) May 10, 2020 Just got to know that Hon'ble Former Prime Minister Dr #ManmohanSingh Ji hospitalized at AIIMS in Delhi following chest pain. Praying for his speedy recovery. Get well Soon Sir! Avinash Pande (@avinashpandeinc) May 10, 2020 Deeply concerned about the health of Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. I along with more than a billion Indians wish him a speedy recovery and pray for his good health and long life. DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) May 10, 2020 We pray for a speedy recovery of Dr#ManmohanSingh, a true scholar and the finest economist of our country. He has been one of India's most committed PMs. Now is the time when we need your guidance to help us steer clear of this catastrophe. Our prayers are with you. pic.twitter.com/5iRq67NCCk Youth Congress (@IYC) May 10, 2020 Also Read: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted to AIIMS Delhi Dr Manmohan Singh served India as the Chief Economic Advisor during 1972- 76, Governor of Reserve Bank Of India during 1982-85, Head of Planning Commission during 1985-87, Finance Minister during 1991 leading the liberalisation of Indian economy and as the 13th Prime Minister of the country from 2004 to 2014. He is currently representing the state of Rajasthan in Rajya Sabha. For all the latest National News, download NewsX App Late Bollywood actor Irrfan was quite an animal lover and his son Babil has shared adorable, personal moments in where the maverick artist is seen playing with his cat. A monochrome picture shows Irrfan holding the cat with his hand as it sits on his lap and a video shows the cat licking Irrfans hand. The post was flooded with messages for the actor and his family. You will be in our hearts forever, wrote one. Another one wrote, Thankyou very much for sharing his pictures. Also read: Tere Bina teaser: Salman Khan romances Jacqueline Fernandez in his cheapest production. Watch After Irrfans death on April 29 after a two-year battle with neuroendocrine tumour, Babil has been sharing unseen pictures and videos of his actor father on Instagram. Recently, Babil had posted a video where Irrfan could be seen enjoying ice-cold water, swimming in it. Actors Annup Sonii and Ishaan Khatter dropped heart emojis on the post. Actor Vipin Sharma had written, Irrfan loved swimming. We were together in Filmcity long ago during the shooting of Discovery of India. There was a small pond. Irrfan jumped right in and swam while i sat outside and chatted with him. Upon the actors death, Irrfans wife Sutapa Sikdar and sons Babil and Ayaan issued a family statement which said, How can I write this as a family statement when the whole world is taking it as a personal loss? How can I begin to feel alone when millions are grieving with us at the moment? I want to assure everyone that this is not a loss, it is a gain. Its a gain of the things he taught us, and now we shall finally begin to truly implement it and evolve. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Sex workers have slammed the government over its three stage plan to reopen the economy by July, claiming the profession has been completely forgotten about. Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed details of National Cabinet's plan to ease coronavirus restrictions on Friday. Each stage will last four weeks, with the first set of laxer rules allowing shops to open, limited customers to dine-in at restaurants and open houses and auctions to go ahead. But brothels have been provided with no timeline for when they are allowed to reopen, leaving industry insiders fearing what the future may hold for the profession in a post-lockdown economy. Jules Kim, from sex work organisation Scarlet Alliance, told news.com.au on Monday that it was disappointing that brothels will be forced to remain shut even when Australia reaches stage three of the restrictions. Sex workers have slammed the government over its three stage plan to reopen the economy by July, claiming the profession has been completely forgotten about Jules Kim, from sex work organisation Scarlet Alliance, said it was disappointing that brothels will be forced to remain shut even when Australia reaches stage three of the restrictions 'It's a further slap in the face for sex workers who are already struggling with no end in sight. 'Sex workers have a great track record in relation to public health in Australia, demonstrated through many years of low rates of blood borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections and high rates of testing.' Eva, a sex worker from Brisbane, said it was 'ludicrous' that massage was allowed when sexual massage was not. 'It's pretty hard to stay 1.5m away if you're doing contact sex work.' However, she said the sex industry, like many other industries, could adapt their practices to ensure the risk of contracting the virus was low. She said kissing could be banned as it would be considered a high-risk activity. Oral sex could also be axed as it would be too risky, she said. Brothels were among the long list of venues that have been banned from operating during the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed details of National Cabinet's plan to ease coronavirus restrictions on Friday Police cracked down on companies operating illegally during this time. A Sydney brothel was fined $5000 for continuing to operate and three staff were each fined $1000 on March 29. Prostitutes have struggled since the changes were introduced with many having to take a massive paycut as they move their services online, offering sexting and the 'virtual girlfriend' experience instead. The Scarlet Alliance launched a fundraiser to help support for sex workers during this time. Under the first stage of the new rules, restaurants and cafes will be allowed to seat up to 10 customers at a time, after months of takeaway only. Each patron will be required to have four square metres of personal space, meaning some small venues won't be able to seat too many customers. That means those seeking to celebrate the coming end of lockdown with a weekend brunch will probably have to set aside some time to line up. The government has instructed workplaces to get cracking on designing social distancing measures and to allow employees to work from home, if possible. Mind the gap: Commuters may be delayed by social distancing queues with possible limits on the number of passengers on board train carriages and bus services Social distancing lines for warehouses such as Bunnings and other larger retailers have become commonplace Any rush back to work could see queues for 'peak hour' office lifts, plastic shields between cubicles, the end of hotdesking and staggered start times for staff. Commuters are likely to face lines to board their train, tram or bus home. Workers have been advised to avoid peak hour travel through each stage of the plan. Long queues for supermarkets such Coles and Woolworths, discount variety stores such as Kmart and Big-W and warehouses like Bunnings will are set to continue. Likewise, while smaller retail stores are encouraged to open, all will have to abide by 'COVID Safe' guidelines - that is, only allowing a safe number of people inside. When gyms finally open back up under stage two of the measures, only 20 people will be allowed inside to work out at any one time. Gyms will be forced to introduce booking systems or set up queues for those keen to pump some iron. Only ten people will be allowed in open homes and auctions at a time under the first stage of the new restrictions - meaning more scenes like this The path to freedom: These are the national COVID-19 guidelines for how the states will ease lockdown measures in the weeks to come. Prime Minister Scott Morrison hopes the country will reach stage three by July Public pools will open with specific restrictions likely to allow only a small number of swimmers per lane. Renters and home-buyers will have to patiently wait their turn to inspect property or attend an auction, with limits of 10, then 20, then 100 people allowed inside. And when pubs are finally allowed to open, customer restrictions are likely to come hand-in-hand with a cold beer. Only 100 pubgoers will be allowed inside at the one time. All of these rules are likely to differ between the states and territories and will rely on individual businesses following the rules. The Northern Territory is already at stage one, while South Australia will move to stage one on Monday and Queensland next Friday. Western Australia will announce its position on Sunday and New South Wales and VIctoria will reveal their plans on Monday. The ACT will allow gatherings of 10 from Saturday and Tasmania has not announced any changes. Venezuela issues arrest warrant for 3 in US for role in failed plot Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 1:54 AM Venezuela's chief prosecutor has issued arrest warrants for a former US Green Beret and two insurgents living in the United States for their role in a bungled operation intended to topple country's President Nicolas Maduro from power. Tarek William Saab announced on Friday that Venezuela will pursue the capture of Jordan Goudreau, a US Special Forces veteran who has claimed responsibility for the subversive action, as well as Juan Jose Rendon and Sergio Vergara, two US-based advisers to country's Washington-sponsored opposition leader Juan Guaido, AP reported Saturday. "They are living in impunity, in tranquility over there," Saab said, adding that Venezuela has issued 22 arrest orders linked to attack, but he did not mention Guaido himself. Moreover, Venezuelan authorities have been insisting that Washington was behind the armed operation, with Saab reminding reporters on Friday that the Trump administration had previously offered a $15 million bounty for Maduro's arrest, which he underlined opened the door for such attacks. "That gives a green light for an incursion into our territory," he emphasized. According to the report, American law enforcement authorities are investigating Goudreau, though it is not yet clear whether he will be charged since US President Donald Trump does not recognize the elected government in Venezuela, making it highly unlikely that his administration would accept any extradition request by Caracas. The development came just days after an American soldier of fortune captured during the botched attempt to seize President Maduro admitted that his group had plotted to raid the presidential palace in Caracas before abducting him "however necessary." Airan Berry, 41, was one of two US mercenaries captured by Venezuelan security forces this week after what appears to have been a catastrophically executed attempt to oust Maduro by sneaking into the Central American nation in a pair of weather-beaten fishing boats. This is while the Trump administration has denied responsibility in the attempted armed plot, which resulted in the arrests of two Americans, Luke Denman and Airan Berry, who were allededly hired by Goudreau's private firm to participate in the failed assault. Denman and Berry are both former US Special Forces troops that were deployed to Iraq during American military occupation of the Arab nation that begun in 2003. In video statements aired on Venezuela's state television, both confessed that they had been hired by Goudreau to train rebel troops in Colombia and target Maduro. Goiudreau has also admitted that they were part of his operation. Rendon, meanwhile, has acknowledged giving Goudreau $50,000 to cover some expenses and said that he and Vergara signed an agreement with the three-time Bronze Star recipient. According to the report, Goudreau has further presented what he said is an audio recording made on a hidden cellphone in which Guaido can be heard greeting the US veteran soldier via video conference. Trump, however, claimed during an interview with Fox News Channel on Friday that he "didn't know too much" about the subversive attack and again denied any US government involvement. "It wasn't led by Gen. George Washington, obviously," he asserted. "This was not a good attack." This is while Venezuelan President Maduro insisted days ago that there is evidence Trump "personally ordered" the military raid against him, arguing that Washington swiftly cut remaining ties with Caracas thereafter. Maduro made the comments in an interview with a Uruguayan news outlet on Thursday evening, saying the evidence would soon reveal Trump himself was behind the "covert operation" last weekend, during which two US security contractors were detained and eight armed locals were killed. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A Food Foundation (FF) report has found that 5.1 million people in the UK are living in households with children who have experienced food insecurity since the lockdown began. Up to 1.8 million of these experienced food insecurity due solely to a lack of food in shops. This means that 3.2 million peopleor 11 percent of householdsare suffering from food insecurity due to other issues such as loss of income or isolation. These figures register a doubling of the level of food insecurity among households with children reported by the Food Standards Agency in 2018. Footprints in the Community food bank in northern England receives recent donation (Image credit: Twitter/Footprints_UK) The FF is a research body, and this latest is its third report based on surveys into how the population is struggling to secure enough food during the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, as the lockdown began, the FF found that more than 3 million people in Britain (6 percent of surveyed adults) were going hungry because of the coronavirus crisis. Sixteen percent of respondents (equivalent to a total of 8.1 million people) had faced food insecurity of some kind as a result of the pandemic. The FFs recent study was informed by a survey conducted during April 24 to April 29exactly one month after the March 23 national lockdown was put into effectand focused exclusively on households with children. The report found that children are at higher risk in families with members who are self-isolating, medically vulnerable, single parents, where a child has a disability, and in large households. Significantlyin light of the hypocritical and nauseating praise routinely heaped onto workers in the National Health Service (NHS) by a government that has done everything possible to undermine the NHS for decadesthe report found that households which included NHS workers and their children also had an elevated risk. Before the lockdown, schoolsespecially in the most deprived areas of the countryprovided the threads of a safety net for struggling families through free school meals and breakfast clubs. This provision has been shredded. The FF found that almost a third of children entitled to free school meals (half a million children) are still not getting any substitute. Of the 621,000 children who were accessing free breakfast clubs before the crisis, only 136,000 are getting a substitute. On March 19, as it closed schools and imposed lockdown restrictions, the government announced a free school meals voucher scheme. School headteachers using the scheme were told to order supermarket vouchersworth 15 a week until schools reopenedfor the 1.3 million eligible families using a portal created by the French corporate services group Edenred. The site was designed to generate a code that parents or teachers could redeem online for a supermarket gift card. From the outset the scheme was beset with IT glitches and delays sometimes lasting weeks. There have been many instances of school staff having had to stay up late into the night to access the online system, while many parents have been unable to download the vouchers at all. Some schools unable to access the scheme have had to turn to charity instead. In Bodmin, Cornwall, school catering manager Jo Wotton told BBC News that she had to pay for a familys shopping after the mothers voucher code failed at a supermarket till and she was left with only 3 in her purse. The checkout worker told her the supermarket had seen several vouchers fail the same day. Michael Tidd, headteacher of East Preston Academy junior school in West Sussex, told the Financial Times how he had input his first voucher requests on April 6 and the first redemptions only started arriving on April 20. Tidd said: One parent logged on last week and the website told her she was number 200 in the queue. She tried an hour later and was told she was number 137,000. The Edenred site has since stopped disclosing an applicants queue position. On April 30, the Department for Education admitted it did not know how many vouchers for free school meals had been delivered to parents over the past month. A snap survey conducted by Channel 4 News and the National Association of Head Teachers sheds more light on the additional levels of frustration and anxiety experienced by schools and parents of school children. The survey found that of the 932 school leaders who responded, 96 percent said they had experienced problems with the government scheme; 86 percent said that parents had struggled to access the vouchers; 83 percent said they were concerned about the welfare of pupils who were yet to receive the vouchers; 58 percent said they had had to make other provisions for families due to problems with the system. To give a sense of the difficulties faced by those administering the scheme and the indifference of the government, Channel 4 News interviewed a number of head teachers across the country. Each told a story of unrelenting frustration and anguish in the face of the real possibility that families of school children will go without food. In a now familiar story replicated throughout much of the country, the programme heard how Stephen Donegan, the headteacher at Malmesbury Primary School in Morden, south London, and his staff input each of their allocated 170 vouchers, each with a 16-digit code to access the payment. All the codes failed. The website was frozen. There was no number to phone. And there was no response to repeated e-mails. Eventually, Donegan and the deputy head at the school had to use their own credit cards to buy food for the increasingly desperate families. Emily Smith, a learning mentor who works with children with medical needs in South Yorkshire told the World Socialist Web Site: This has been particularly distressing for parents whose children have life-threatening illnesses. Due to the circumstances, whole families are in isolation for 12 weeks as advised by the NHS. If they have children at different schools, this means sorting out with a number of schools where many dont even have an answer machine. Many of the vouchers have been sent electronically but are no use to someone who is in isolation, as they cant transfer them or get out of the house. Its taken schools weeks to get the vouchers so they can send them out in paper form, and many have had to use school funds or drop food parcels. I know a number of schools business managers have been trying to gain access to the Edenred system at 2 a.m. in the morning to get in the queue for the vouchers. The FF report noted that almost half of the food-insecure households in the survey sample had lost income as a result of the crisisaffecting 5.3 million children. The study featured the voiced recordings of several children affected by food insecurity talking briefly about their experiences. One is Felix, 15, who lives in rural Norfolk. He is the second eldest of a family of nine children. Felix often has to make a four-mile round trip on foot to get bread and milk. His father is working overtime to help make ends meet. Felix explains how he and the other older children also have to worry about trying to complete their school course work. The Food Foundation findings appeared as the Trussell Trust charity reported an increase of 81 percent in the number of people needing support from food banks in the last two weeks of March compared with the same time last year. Demand for food bank services for children has increased by around 121 percent. Indicating how already dire social conditions for many families have simply been compounded by the present crisis, the Trussell Trusts food bank network provided 823,145 emergency food parcels (over 300,000 of these parcels were for children) to people deemed in crisis between April and September 2019, a 23 percent increase on the same period in 2018. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called for economic activities to be allowed in the national capital, except in containment zones, during a video interaction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers of different states on Monday. The latest round of consultation between the Prime Minister and chief ministers focussed on a stronger COVID-19 containment strategy and measures to step up economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day lockdown nears its end. This is the fifth interaction between the PM and CMs on the coronavirus crisis in India. "During the interaction, the Chief Minister said economic activities should be allowed to resume in Delhi, except in COVID-19 containment zones," PTI reported citing a source. ALSO READ: Herd immunity, homeopathy - not lockdown - best to fight coronavirus: Rajiv Bajaj Chattisgarh CM Bhupesh Singh Baghel said that state governments should be given the right to take a decision about economic activities in their respective states. He also said that train, aviation, and inter-state bus services should be resumed only after consulting state governments. Meanwhile, several states, including Punjab, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Telangana, favoured an extension of lockdown during today's interaction. Punjab CM Amarinder Singh called for a lockdown extension along with a well-crafted exit strategy to save lives and livelihoods. Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee also demanded lockdown extension. On the other hand, Telangana CM K Chandrasekar Rao and Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami asked the PM to hold passenger train services to check the spread of coronavirus in the country. Ministry of Railways has released a list of 15 pairs of special trains that will run from New Delhi starting May 12. ALSO READ: Coronavirus: Google announces May 22 as company holiday to tackle WFH burnout During the video conference, PM Modi told chief ministers that India will have to devise and implement a "balanced strategy" to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, and the biggest challenge for the country will be to ensure that the infection does not spread to villages. Appreciating the role played by the states in the fight against the pandemic, Modi said the entire world is of the view that India has been able to successfully protect itself from the pandemic, according to official sources. (With PTI inputs) ALSO READ: Delhi coronavirus cases: Number of containment zones reduces to 83: Check out full list of hotspots To the Editor: Re Hes Now Post-Show-Business (Arts pages, May 5): In your interview, Jerry Seinfeld talked about his new Netflix special, and comedy in general, during the pandemic. I wasnt surprised to read that Seinfeld doesnt like home show business, or homey shows, the kind most of us are getting used to seeing on Instagram Live, Facebook Live and YouTube. Even Saturday Night Live has patched together remote episodes, with the cast and team recording, editing and producing from home. I agree with Seinfeld that it is sort of depressingly normal to see my favorite comedians in their houses wearing bad costumes and blurry camera angles. But I wouldnt have it any other way. These days I dont feel like laughing until my stomach hurts, but there is something powerful about seeing comedians filming from their living rooms. On S.N.L.s Weekend Update recently, Michael Che looked as if he needed a big hug, and you know what? So do I. The jokes dont punch as hard right now, but the chuckle of recognition from seeing a glimmer of ourselves in another is what we need. For the media and the public eye, Meghan Markle can do nothing right. The former "Suits" actress was reading an adorable board book to Archie, her son, on his 1st birthday aimed to accumulate funds for a children's charity. Little did she know that this would be an opportunity to criticize her behavior. The rant comes with the situation that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have already retired from royal engagements and relocated to Los Angeles in the US to live a relatively "normal" life. An adorable video (which was filmed by Prince Harry) was shared by the Duchess of Sussex of her reading the "Duck! Rabbit!" book to her toddler to celebrate the day of his birthday. Forty-eight-year-old author Emily Griffin of the "Something Borrowed" series fame and a self-proclaimed Anglophile and mother of runners (as she dubbed herself in her Instagram biography) have been called out upon posting interesting content on her Instagram stories. Giffin, who regularly posts about the British royal family on her Instagram grid and stories wrote on the social media platform to malign Markle for being "unmaternal" and that she was acting the part of being a mother poorly. The writer was among the numerous netizens who gave their 2 cents on the video. However, she received criticism and sparked fury because of her ill comments towards Prince Harry's wife. The majority of the responses on the footage remarked how perfect the video was and pointed out the resemblance between Archie and Prince Harry, but a smaller number were negative comments. Also Read: Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton Rift: Royal Wives' Differences in Staff Treatment Sparks Disagreement The "All We Ever Want" author posted, "Happy birthday, Archie. Go away, Meghan." She went on her tirade remarking, "Adorable child and book. But .... Holy 'me first." "Archie is adorable but that video screamed look at me!" wrote Griffin's friend in the text message conversation the writer posted. "It was also sad how she seemed just slightly annoyed Archie wasn't fully cooperating to her standards." The mother and son bonding footage was shared by Save With Stories, an initiative in cooperation with Save the Children and No Kid Hungry to help out kids whose capacity to learn, as well as to eat, has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Griffin also commented on the Instagram photo with more malignant words towards the Duchess of Sussex and then took a screenshot of the photograph, posting that on her Instagram story. "This is the Meghan show. Why didn't she film and let Harry read...? ... Also, you want privacy for your child so you put out a video (by your authorized biographer) of him ... wearing no pants?! Oooookay..." Eventually, Griffin made an apology for her posts, explaining on Instagram that she was initially a fan of Prince Harry and Markle and sharing various snaps of her positive reactions towards Markle in the past to support her statement. She added that she finds it favorable that a biracial, American woman married a royal. You can find out more about the initiative of the video and donate here. Related Article: Meghan Markle Diva Behavior: Prince Harry's Wife Has Difficult, Demanding Attitude? @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. We all know that the COVID-19 pandemic is going to severely impact our economy and the fiscal health of all levels of government throughout the country. But this week, we saw the first actual numbers. This discussion has been speculative until now. We are now dealing with real dollars and cents. Bob Lang, the director of the non-partisan Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau, released a memo May 6 to share preliminary April tax collection information and to provide some background on why it appears as it does and what we might expect in the future. According to Lang, First, the coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted the states economy and tax collections. Second, the extension of income and franchise tax filing deadlines from April to July 15 in 2020 has affected collections. Tax collections for April 2020, were $1.145 billion. This is $870 million below collections of April, 2019. For the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, collections are down $313 million as compared to the same 10-month period in the 2018-19 fiscal year. What does this mean? It means that a day of fiscal reckoning is coming for Wisconsin. I cannot predict exactly what we will have to do and who will be impacted, but it is important for all citizens to know that there will be a fiscal impact to state finances from the COVID-19 pandemic response. And the longer a restrictive response lasts, the worse it gets. An impact to state finances will touch every taxpayer-funded entity in Wisconsin. It will impact local governments, public schools, universities, roads, hospitals and more. Already, UW-Platteville has decided to furlough 70 employees for three months starting May 18. According to Chancellor Dennis Shields, the university is managing a $16.1 million shortfall. The University of Wisconsin System has projected a $170 million impact in the spring semester alone. We know that Gov. Tony Evers told Vice President Mike Pence that he expects Wisconsin to lose $2 billion in revenue this year. The state of Minnesota is already projecting a $4 billion swing in state finances. Prior to the pandemic, they projected a $1.9 billion surplus. Now, they are projecting a $2 billion deficit. The state of Illinois recently asked the federal government for $700 million to shore up their transportation fund because of lost gas tax revenues. Wisconsins transportation fund is also suffering. I recently asked Department of Transportation secretary-designee Craig Thompson when the DOT will have to make changes for road projects due to funding impacts. He told me that projects for the 2019-20 fiscal year are proceeding as planned. However, projects for the 2020-21 fiscal year will likely be impacted. They will begin these discussions in mid-May. Fortunately, through a lot of very strong fiscal responsibility, Wisconsin has a rainy-day fund, also known as the Budget Stabilization Fund. As you may remember, we were planning to transfer $189 million from General Purpose Revenue tax collections to the budget stabilization fund from a surplus before the pandemic. The fund already has a projected balance of $655 million at the close of the 2019-20 fiscal year. We will probably not transfer these dollars, and they will remain in the general fund. The legislature will need to act if we need to tap into the $655 million rainy-day fund in the future. The bottom line is that the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting every fiscal and financial facet of our lives. Our private-sector economy is damaged, which directly impacts our public-sector tax collections. In turn, tax collections will significantly impact the services and programming provided by our government at all levels. Our schools, universities, local governments and other institutions will be impacted. It is in the best interest of the private AND the public sector to re-open our economy. Our future depends on it. For more information and to connect with me, visit my website http://legis.wisconsin.gov/senate/17/marklein and subscribe to my weekly E-Update by sending an email to Sen.Marklein@legis.wisconsin.gov. Do not hesitate to call 800-978-8008 if you have input, ideas or need assistance with any state-related matters. Republican Howard Marklein, Spring Green, represents the 17th state Senate District. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SPRINGFIELD Jim Vallides, owner of 90 Meat Outlet in Springfield and Armatas Market in Longmeadow, cannot raise the prices he charges customers fast enough to keep up with the prices hes getting charged by his suppliers. What cost me $2 last week cost me $4 this week and $5 next week, Vallides said. A bottom round flat we use for stew beef and cube steak? Before it cost me $2.25 a pound. Now on Monday, its $5.49 a pound and itll be $6.05 on the 18th. Vallides said it could take a few weeks for supply chains to get back to normal. The problem is that the processing plants where beef, pork and chicken are prepared for Americas butcher cases and tables are severely understaffed because workers either cannot come to work or are too afraid to come to work because of the coronavirus. Vallides said workers in the plants usually work shoulder-to-shoulder with each other. Spread out to prevent the spread of disease, they are less efficient, and the plants only operate at a fraction of their normal capacity. Its another example of how the coronavirus has disrupted the food supply. Dairy farms have seen bottlenecks in getting milk to consumers. And vegetable farmers have sought out new distribution channels with farmers markets closed for the time being. Wendys locations started telling customers this week that the chain is out of certain patty seizes. Wendys promotes its fresh, not frozen, beef. The shortages are driving prices up. Arnolds Meats in Chicopee and East Longmeadow charges $4.99 a pound for 85% lean ground beef that used to cost $2.89 a pound. What we are having problems with is getting the amounts that we want, said Larry Katz, president and owner of Arnolds. Katz said hes careful not to order inferior meat just to fill the shelves and keep prices down, because then customers wont be happy with the quality. Thats why if you go to your markets, they dont even have any meat on the shelves, Katz said. You want to keep the same quality. Vallides said sometimes its not the packing house but a disruption elsewhere in the supply chain. One of his egg suppliers stopped shipping recently after it ran out of cartons. "They had plenty of eggs," he said. "They didnt have cartons to put them in." Vallides said hes able to get more product than some stores because his meat cutters prepare consumers cuts themselves, working off larger pieces. The processors are using the limited staff they can muster to produce only these larger and less prepared pieces instead of shelf-ready or specialized cuts of meat. Katz said hes able to get whole chicken wings, but not the party wings with tips removed. The processor doesnt have people to do it. Arnold's has lost business from restaurants that are open only for takeout and from schools and colleges where the kitchens are closed. Both Katz and Vallides said their retail operations are busy with customers stocking up, but they worry about shortages and trying to beat rising prices. "People must be storing it on the roof," Vallides joked. In fact, appliance retailers experienced a run on chest freezers in the early days of the pandemic. Terry Ragasa, owner of Sutters Meats in Northampton, said hes been busy since the coronavirus hit. "Every day is Christmas Eve without having the staff or the prep time to get ready for it," he said. Sutters is not affected by trouble in meat processing plants across the country. All its meat comes from animals grown with in 20 miles, shipped to the Adams Farm slaughterhouse in Athol and then to Sutters as whole carcasses. If anything, weve been able to ramp up our source of supply because more farmers are selling us their animals, Ragasa said. They would normally sell to the restaurants which are closed. And they dont want to lose money by overfeeding an animal thats ready for market. Ragasa has noticed that consumers are seeking out comfort food, like ground beef and sausages. Our ground beef sales have gone through the roof in the last month and a half, he said. Related Content: An elderly woman has endured a terrifying attack during a home invasion in Perth's north on Sunday evening, waking to find a man on top of her. Police will allege the man forced entry into the 81-year-old woman's Balga home and indecently assaulted her. When the woman screamed, police said the man then grabbed her by the throat and punched her a number of times. He then fled, leaving the woman "extremely traumatised", according to police. On Monday morning Mirrabooka detectives arrested a 21-year-old Balga man over the incident and charged him with aggravated indecent assault, deprivation of liberty, aggravated burglary and possession of drug paraphernalia. There will be two House special elections on May 12, one for former Representative Katie Hill's seat in California and one in northwest Wisconsin for former Congressman Sean Duffy's seat. Both are seen as tests of how the coronavirus pandemic could influence elections going forward. In Hill's county, California's 25th District, the race could give an early snapshot into the impact the coronavirus can have on a competitive race. Republicans, who long held the seat, are hoping to gain back one of their losses from the 2018 midterms and flip a seat in the state for the first time since 1998. In northwest Wisconsin, the short gap between the presidential primary and this election could show how poll workers are having to adjust to the new normal of increased absentee ballots ahead of a crucial swing state election in November. CALIFORNIA'S 25TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT In 2018, Hill flipped the northern Los Angeles county seat by 8 points after Hillary Clinton's 7-point win in 2016. Democrats were just starting to cement their hold on a district that from 1992 until Hill's win, was held by a Republican. Democratic Assemblywoman Christy Smith, who has been endorsed by Hill, won the most votes in the March 3 jungle primary with an 8% gap between her and Republican candidate, veteran Mike Garcia. But overall ballots cast for Democrats outnumbered those for Republicans by just over 2,000 votes, despite a nearly 30,000 Democrat registration advantage. Election 2020 House California Primary Special Election In this June 17, 2019, file photo, Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, speaks in a session of the California Assembly in Sacramento, California. Rich Pedroncelli / AP As a result, both sides considered this race competitive, even before the pandemic fundamentally changed both campaigns. Smith became a state assemblywoman in 2018, and her district overlaps with over half of this Congressional district. A moderate Democrat who previously served on a local school board, she racked up support from unions and California Democrats early on in the primary race. In the March primary, Garcia beat out Steve Knight, who previously held this seat. A former Navy fighter pilot billed as a fresh "political outsider," Garcia had already filed and raised nearly $500,000 to challenge Hill before she resigned in late 2019 due to an affair with a campaign staffer. "You've got somebody who's got a Latino last name, has served the military and who Trump is promoting. I think when you're going up against that, in terms of demographics, I could see how that would give our candidate a little bit of, 'Okay, well she's got to prove otherwise," said L.A. county Democrats chair Mark Gonzalez. The height of President Trump's involvement came in April, when Republicans jumped on a town hall clip of Smith making a joke about Garcia's military record. "Did you guys know he's a pilot?" she joked. Smith has apologized, but Mr. Trump brought up the issue in a tweet promoting Garcia: "Now she's mocking our Great Vets! We need Navy Fighter Pilot Mike Garcia in #CA25!" Story continues US Election 2020 House California Primary Special Election In this Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, photo, 25th District congressional candidate and former Navy combat pilot Mike Garcia addresses supporters in Simi Valley, Calif. Michael Blood / AP "It is a matter of fact that Donald Trump has failed to meet this moment," Smith told CBS News. She linked Garcia to Mr. Trump, saying he'll serve as a "rubber stamp" for the president. "When voters look at what is happening in Congress right now, it is clear to them who is and who isn't looking out for them and their families." Within the same week of Mr. Trump highlighting the race, Smith received last-minute endorsements from Clinton and former President Obama. Mail ballots have been sent out since April 13, though there have been in-person voting centers open. Garcia's campaign said it is hoping the endorsement by Mr. Trump motivates the Republicans to vote, but has mainly kept the focus on Smith's vote for Assembly Bill 5, a gig-work bill that Garcia has called "unsustainable" and has connected to jobs leaving the state. "I don't want my nation to become what this state has become, which is a victim of poor policy and poor execution," Garcia said in an April Zoom debate. While the election has switched to an all-mail format, the specific topic of ballot collection or "harvesting" has also been a point of political contention. The state's Republican Party sued Governor Gavin Newsom over the practice, saying it's in direct conflict with his social distancing and "stay at home" order. Early absentee ballot returns show a much higher turnout than expected for a special election, according to Paul Mitchell, vice president of the bipartisan Political Data Inc. company. It also shows a 10,000 vote lead for Garcia, a gap Mitchell attributes to older, conservative voters tending to vote first. "Our voter intensity is always higher," said Ventura County Republican Chair Mike Osborn. "Considering all the stuff that's going on right now, I don't see the Democrats getting real excited about this." After a request from the L.A. Democratic Party, the county registrar opened an additional voting center in the most diverse part of the district late Friday night. The move was immediately criticized by the National Republican Congressional Committee and Mr. Trump, who tweeted on Saturday that Smith and the Democrats are trying to "steal" the election by abruptly announcing the new centers in a Democratic-heavy area. Smith pointed to the agreement from Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris, a Republican, in opening a center. While every registered voter was mailed a ballot, features at these locations allow voters to change their party registration or request a new ballot. If the coronavirus pandemic stretches on until the fall and California is under a modified stay-at-home order, Mitchell says this will be the race to look at for a baseline in pandemic-era elections, and if the electorate expands in any way. "In an environment where people are ostensibly without work filling their days, they're at home as opposed to always being out and about, are less likely voters turning out voting? Potentially, simply because they're stuck at home with their ballot staring at them all day?" Mitchell said. The money race reflects the toss-up nature of this election. Both have raised more than $2.2 million according to their latest FEC filings, and the Republican and Democratic House campaign arms have spent more than a million a piece on this race. Any recent momentum from Garcia was supported by $600,000 in mailers and attack ads from the House GOP-backed Congressional Leadership Fund. Their Democrat counterparts, the House Majority PAC, have lain low since the March 3 primaries. They've instead kept their powder dry for November, where they say Smith is expected to have the advantage in a more Democrat-friendly electorate. But Smith said it is urgent to fill this seat now. "There are trillions of dollars being spent on public health safety and economic recovery and my district currently lacks a voice in Congress fighting for it's priorities," she told CBS. "The urgency of this moment cannot be overstated." WISCONSIN'S 7TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Rhineland City Clerk Valerie Foley said she hasn't had a break since the April 7th presidential primary. For her and other clerks in the massive northwest congressional district, they've had to immediately shift focus to the May 12th special election. "We're not even done with this other one, we had to wait a whole week before we could finish up elections and get results," she said. "So it's hard on the officials, the clerks, it's hard on everybody." Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers held firm on going ahead with the May 12th primary date, anticipating that the nature of a special election and the rural spread of the district won't result in the same long polling lines the state saw in April. Republican state Senator Tom Tiffany and Democrat Tricia Zunker are running to fill this seat, left vacant by Congressman Sean Duffy, who resigned for family reasons. Zunker, a local school board president and justice on the Ho-Chunk Supreme Court, previously considered running for this seat in 2018. After Duffy's resignation, Zunker said she saw an opportunity to bring back the work of Democratic Congressman Dave Obey, who held the seat for 40 years. "The amazing constituency services that Congressman Dave Obey had here that pretty much were eliminated with his successor... I felt a duty and an obligation to give back," she told CBS News. Duffy took the Congressional seat in 2010, the same year Tiffany began serving as a state senator. Tiffany's experience has been crucial in his pitch to voters, emphasizing that the district needs someone to hit the ground running. "I came in during a very difficult time in 2010, our state unemployment was almost 10%, $3 billion deficit, I came in and made the hard decisions to turn our state around. And that's the commitment I make to the voters now," he told CBS. While other local issues like gun control, rural healthcare and redistricting have come up during their debates, their splits on how the government should respond to the coronavirus mirrors the larger debate nationwide. On how to reopen the state, Tiffany proposed a regional approach while Zunker warned, "Unfortunately, coronavirus does not stop at the county line." On what Congress should prioritize next, Zunker talked about making sure there are enough tests and PPE for medical workers, while Tiffany kept his focus on helping struggling agriculture businesses and dairy farmers. Politically, this is a red district. Mr. Trump won by over 20 points here, leaving Tiffany confident about his chances to win or hold the seat in November. However, Zunker has received local and national support from Senators Tammy Baldwin, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, and if elected, would be the first Native-American to represent the state. More than 69,000 ballots, or about 58%, of requested absentee ballots, have already been returned and the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) is expecting a higher overall turnout in the district than in April. More than 93,000 Democratic votes were cast in this district during the presidential primary, over 104,000 have been requested for this special election. Election clerks in the 7th District have been finding workarounds for those unable to request and send in mail ballots, such as curbside voting or scheduling early vote times to cast your ballot in person. While a drop of poll workers is expected, the WEC said 240 National Guard members will be available to help. President of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks' Association Diane Coenen said she preferred an all-mail ballot election, pointing to the health risk for poll workers and voters. Health officials in Milwaukee County released a report on Wednesday that found 54 people who either voted in-person or worked the April 7 election and were diagnosed with COVID-19. Twenty-six voters were potentially infected while voting, based on when they showed symptoms, but overall the study was "inconclusive in determining a relationship between election participation and COVID-19 spread." However, Coenen said clerks feel prepared for the May 12 election, leftover sanitation and protective equipment being provided. Still, both her and Foley described the task of balancing the absentee ballot requests and regular clerk work, such as handling liquor licenses and records requests, "exhausting." "This whole year is going to be exhausting and it has not started out very well," she told CBS News. "It is truly an overwhelming year, but they're up for the challenge." Musadiq Bidar and Adam Brewster contributed reporting. Correction: A prior version of this article said Congressman Duffy was elected in 2010 "following some newly-drawn district lines." Redistricting occurred after Duffy was initially elected in 2010, not before. Trump tells CBS News reporter to "ask China" about deaths and abruptly end briefing Mom and newborn baby leave hospital after battling coronavirus Farm animals and therapy pets are livening up Zoom video calls We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. Indeed, Ping An Healthcare and Technology (HKG:1833) stock is up 180% in the last year, providing strong gains for shareholders. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly. So notwithstanding the buoyant share price, we think it's well worth asking whether Ping An Healthcare and Technology's cash burn is too risky In this article, we define cash burn as its annual (negative) free cash flow, which is the amount of money a company spends each year to fund its growth. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves. View our latest analysis for Ping An Healthcare and Technology Does Ping An Healthcare and Technology Have A Long Cash Runway? A company's cash runway is the amount of time it would take to burn through its cash reserves at its current cash burn rate. In December 2019, Ping An Healthcare and Technology had CN7.4b in cash, and was debt-free. Importantly, its cash burn was CN637m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a very long cash runway of many years from December 2019. Notably, however, analysts think that Ping An Healthcare and Technology will break even (at a free cash flow level) before then. If that happens, then the length of its cash runway, today, would become a moot point. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time. SEHK:1833 Historical Debt May 11th 2020 How Well Is Ping An Healthcare and Technology Growing? We reckon the fact that Ping An Healthcare and Technology managed to shrink its cash burn by 50% over the last year is rather encouraging. Having said that, the revenue growth of 52% was considerably more inspiring. It seems to be growing nicely. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. For that reason, it makes a lot of sense to take a look at our analyst forecasts for the company. Story continues Can Ping An Healthcare and Technology Raise More Cash Easily? We are certainly impressed with the progress Ping An Healthcare and Technology has made over the last year, but it is also worth considering how costly it would be if it wanted to raise more cash to fund faster growth. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future growth. By looking at a company's cash burn relative to its market capitalisation, we gain insight on how much shareholders would be diluted if the company needed to raise enough cash to cover another year's cash burn. Ping An Healthcare and Technology has a market capitalisation of CN106b and burnt through CN637m last year, which is 0.6% of the company's market value. So it could almost certainly just borrow a little to fund another year's growth, or else easily raise the cash by issuing a few shares. Is Ping An Healthcare and Technology's Cash Burn A Worry? As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about Ping An Healthcare and Technology's cash burn. In particular, we think its revenue growth stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. And even its cash burn reduction was very encouraging. It's clearly very positive to see that analysts are forecasting the company will break even fairly soon. After considering a range of factors in this article, we're pretty relaxed about its cash burn, since the company seems to be in a good position to continue to fund its growth. Its important for readers to be cognizant of the risks that can affect the company's operations, and we've picked out 1 warning sign for Ping An Healthcare and Technology that investors should know when investing in the stock. If you would prefer to check out another company with better fundamentals, then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt or this list of stocks which are all forecast to grow. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Four roadside bombs detonated in less than 90 minutes Monday in a northern district of Afghanistan's capital, wounding four civilians including a child, police said. Militants have carried out several roadside bombings and rocket attacks in Kabul and other parts of the country in recent weeks, but Monday morning's blasts appeared to be the first coordinated effort for some months. Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said a clearance team was at the site of the blasts, which had not yet been claimed by any group. The bombings were in an area where Afghanistan's intelligence agency recently busted a joint Islamic State-Haqqani network cell accused of carrying out several attacks. The Taliban has not carried out large attacks in Afghan cities since February, they signed a landmark withdrawal deal with the US meant to pave the way for peace. Under the agreement, the Taliban promised not to target forces from the US-led coalition, but made no such pledge toward Afghan troops. The insurgents have stepped up attacks in the provinces, however, as they seek to press their advantage amid stalled talks with the Afghan government. Washington has repeatedly called for a reduction in violence in Afghanistan in a bid to preserve the accord and has already started a drawdown of troops as President Donald Trump vows to end America's longest war. Monday's blasts come as authorities are trying to impose a lockdown on the capital to curb the spread of coronavirus. Map of Afghanistan locating Kabul where four roadside bombs exploded on Monday You are here: Business Gree Electric Chairperson Dong Mingzhu sold 100 million yuan (US$14.1 million) in products via livestream on Sunday, Sina Finance reported on Monday. Dong attended the livestream via Kuaishou, a leading Chinese online short video platform, on May 10, Mother's Day and China Brand Day. At a studio promoting products made in China, Dong, together with livestreaming celebrity Li Jiaqi, showcased a Gree Electric air conditioner at a discount price of 3,699 yuan, 700 yuan lower than its original price. About 1,844 such air conditioners, worth about 6.8 million yuan in total, were sold within 5 minutes. Dong has changed her original attitude toward online sales, and said the livestream was not an end but a new start. She will continue to use the platform to bring high-quality Chinese products online. Gree electric appliances lost or undersold 30 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, with net profit falling to 1.56 billion yuan down 72.53 percent year-on-year due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. As the coronavirus crisis escalated in early March, couples who had their weddings planned faced a dilemma postpone or hurriedly bring their ceremony forward. Linda Stewart talks to two brides who managed to get hitched just before the ban on public gatherings. Our guests sat rows apart in church... it was the most incredible day Bronte Cromie (22), a third year Theology student at Queen's University Belfast, married her fiance Matthew Fitch (26), a software engineer from Belfast, on March 21, just before full lockdown, after rescheduling twice. The couple first met a year ago - Bronte works for the Bangor branch of a youth organisation called Young Life, while Matthew volunteers for the Belfast branch, and they met at a training conference in Birmingham. "We met in Birmingham airport, started chatting that weekend, and when we flew back home and got back into Belfast International Airport, he asked me for my number and that was it," Bronte says." Bronte says it was love at first sight: "We both knew from that weekend that that was it. "I'd never had a boyfriend before, but I knew exactly what I wanted and Matthew was that. He's so gentle and patient, and also ambitious and driven - but quietly so. I'm loud and bubbly and I need somebody who's going to stabilise me and Matthew is that. It was pretty instant. "Our first date was brunch at General Merchants restaurant in Belfast and we were meant to go for a walk up at Stomont, but the weather was terrible and we just went for a drive and chatted for a very long time. "We got engaged four months later. He took me up to the north coast which is my favourite place in the world. He's a musician and he actually wrote a song for me - he took me into the sand dunes, took out his ukulele, sang the song and got down on one knee." Expand Close Happy day: Matthew and Bronte following their wedding ceremony / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Happy day: Matthew and Bronte following their wedding ceremony The pair had planned to marry at West Church, Bangor, on June 26 this year. While Bronte had wanted the wedding to be sooner, she had third year finals and her dissertation to write and the couple decided to wait until those were over. "We were going to get married in my church and we were going to Orange Tree House in Greyabbey for our reception - and that didn't happen," Bronte says. "As everything started to unfold in Italy, I started to get a little nervous. Weddings were getting cancelled and funerals were close family members only and I was really panicky. "So I talked to Matthew about it and he said 'we'll just see what happens'. But one night, I was talking to one of my friends who works at A&E in the Ulster Hospital and she said 'this is going to be really bad'. I went home and said we need to move the wedding forward." The couple moved their wedding date forward to April, and now had only three weeks to prepare - yet they soon found themselves overtaken by events for a second time. "A few days later it started - the Republic closed the schools and I thought 'we are not going to make it to April 9'," Bronte explains. On St Patrick's Day, with lockdown looming, they decided to move their wedding date once again to Saturday, March 21 - three days away. "I knew the Orange Tree was out, and we were not going to have a reception. I phoned my minister and he was amazing - he was so chilled. He said 'we'll get your wedding done, don't worry about it'," Bronte says. "I told him it was going to be small. We met with him and went through the rehearsal with just me and Matthew and the minister. "My dad owns a graphic design business and he got a photographer and videographer roped in. He did our orders of service and printed them within 12 hours. "My dress was falling off me, but the dressmaker fitted me and got my dress altered in 24 hours. And the suit company pulled out all the stops, so we had all our groomsmen suited up." As for the reception, Bronte's mum stepped in, phoning everyone she could think of to arrange a small meal afterwards. The Guillemot Deli in Bangor agreed to host a three-course meal on the Saturday following the wedding ceremony. But even at that point the plans went awry, as Bronte explains. "The day before we were about to get married, Boris Johnson announced that coffee shops and restaurants had to close that night, so we couldn't go anywhere. But the lady from the Guillemot came to my parents' house and she catered there." Expand Close Matthew and Bronte with their bridesmaids and groomsmen / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Matthew and Bronte with their bridesmaids and groomsmen The service itself was attended by 50 guests and broadcast to the rest of the guests by live stream. "It's a massive church so everyone was able to socially distance from each other and they were sitting rows apart. It made it feel like there were a lot more people in the church than there actually was," she says. Unfortunately, Matthew's best friend, a groomsman, couldn't come because he is a doctor and was working. Meanwhile, Bronte's maid of honour was having to self-isolate for 14 days because her dad was infected with coronavirus and couldn't make it to the ceremony either. "Apart from that, it was the most incredible day. I'd built up a Pinterest board of dreams and we had all our colours picked out. I was so excited and none of it happened," Bronte says. "But because none of that happened, it made it so much more special. It wasn't about a wedding day - it was about Matthew and me getting married. It was so special." The couple are due to honeymoon in a chalet in the French Alps in August, but are waiting to see what happens. "We had put down a deposit on the Orange Tree and we're hoping to have a big party with all our friends and family who couldn't make it to the ceremony and that will be lovely," Bronte says. "I've had three wedding dates, so I can't bring myself to plan another one right now. But it will happen." 'We had to organise our wedding in just 48 hours but everyone pulled together and it was lovely' Expand Close Idyllic scene: Laura and Phil Sturgeon on their wedding day / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Idyllic scene: Laura and Phil Sturgeon on their wedding day Laura Sturgeon (37), an accountant from Belfast, married her fiance Phil (42), from Waringstown and an HR manager with the Salvation Army, at short notice after their plans to wed on Easter Monday were upended. The couple met via online dating service Bumble in 2017 and hit it off immediately. "For our first date, we went for cocktails at Muriel's in Belfast and out to Coppi restaurant for dinner and then we went for some fizz in the Bullitt Hotel. I thought I'd kind of got a good one - he was handsome, intelligent, kind of funny. I think we just kind of clicked," Laura says. "We both liked travelling, we both liked cooking and good food and Nineties music - we had a shared passion for dodgy Nineties tunes." The couple moved in together after their first holiday to Marrakech, and then got engaged on a trip to Venice. "We went for a lovely walk round all the canals and bridges and he proposed. He had the ring for six months and had it in the house somewhere - I was worried I hadn't been cleaning enough because I hadn't found it!" Laura laughs.The couple were planning to get married at Lusty Beg island in Co Fermanagh on Easter Monday in a two-day event, with a 130-guest wedding conducted by the registrar, followed by a barbecue the next day and a honeymoon in Japan. But they realised their plans to wed with their parents present might be in jeopardy if the rumoured orders for over-70s to self-isolate were brought in. "The weekend before St Patrick's Day, we did wonder if there was any way to bring the legal ceremony forward so that Phil's mum would be in attendance," Laura says. The couple had booked a de-stressing trip to Roscommon for March 16, but called the registrar's office as soon as it opened that morning to see if there was any chance of bringing the wedding date forward. "We were on the way to Roscommon in the car, when they rang to say they were having a meeting on Wednesday to see about cancelling all registry services going forward and the only available slot was 3.30pm on Wednesday. We were in the car on the way down to our de-stressing trip and we frantically had to organise a wedding in 48 hours - so it was quite stressful," Laura says. "But I am quite OCD, quite a planner, so we had a lot of stuff already made or done - we'd already picked up the rings and the dress was getting altered. I was able to ring Angel Star bridalwear on the Lisburn Road and they rushed it through. "I was just thinking it's going to be jeans and a T-shirt for both of us, but we managed to get a suit for Phil. "In Roscommon on Tuesday, we were ringing around trying to pick things up. I rang my mum and she got flowers, and she got a recording of the music we were using." The couple ended up wedding in an intimate ceremony at The Grange, the council office in Omagh, with their close family, three bridesmaids and the two best men and their wives - a total of 14. "We didn't have a photographer - it was all on iPhones. I got beautified that morning in Belfast and the bridesmaids put on breakfast," Laura says. Expand Close Idyllic scene: Laura and Phil Sturgeon on their wedding day / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Idyllic scene: Laura and Phil Sturgeon on their wedding day The bridesmaids phoned ahead to ask if they could get changed into their wedding attire in the toilets of the hotel next door to the registry office, but when they arrived the manager wouldn't hear of it and provided a room where they prepared for the wedding. After the service the wedding party went to Lusty Beg for a meal. "It was all so frantic and both of us went to work the next day because we had only booked the one day off," Laura says. "We got back here about midnight on our wedding night, and found my aunt had come and decorated the front of our house with lanterns, and everybody had contributed things in a basket for a lovely breakfast for the next day." Laura admits that Easter Monday, when they had originally been due to get married, was an emotional day for her, but her bridesmaids sent a food hamper as a surprise. "We had a Zoom call with our friends and they were all dressed up in what they were going to wear to the wedding, and we had a wee toast," she says. The couple have been able to move their reception at Lusty Beg to New Year's Eve instead and a friend will give a blessing at the party. "We're hoping that when all this clears a wee bit, we'll have a bit of a honeymoon before the party," Laura says. "I was laughing with Phil, saying 'you love me so much, you had to marry me twice'. "But without my mum getting the flowers and people rushing and getting all our bits and bobs for us, we couldn't have done it. The main thing was that we just wanted to get married - we wanted to just get it done. "And it was nice to kind of have time to speak to everyone who was there. "There was less pressure and you actually got to spend time with people. It was really nice - everyone pulled together and it was lovely." Subscriber content preview Homebound pundits, reporters, analysts and sports figures give us a glimpse we never got when they were in the studio. By DON BABWIN Associated Press Those who saw conservative commentator Bill Kristol on television one recent night may not remember what he said. But they'll never forget the magnificent mess of a bookcase behind him. And there's a growing army of viewers with just one question after tuning into any number of interviews that political commentator John Heilemann has given in recent weeks: What fruit is in those bowls over his shoulder? . . . Google Cloud on Monday said it has appointed former Microsoft executive Anil Bhansali as Vice President of Engineering in India. He will coordinate all software development support efforts for Google Cloud in the country, according to a company statement. He is joining Google Cloud from Microsoft where he was Corporate Vice President of their Azure cloud division and site leader for their research and development team in India, it added. During his 28-year career in Microsoft, he led engineering efforts across the company's Office, Search, and Windows divisions. "...Anil Bhansali has joined Google Cloud to help grow and scale our software development support efforts in India so we can continue expanding and advancing Google Cloud services," Amit Zavery, Vice President of Engineering at Google LLC, said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A new Ga Mantse has been inducted under tight police protection as the President of the Ga Traditional Council. King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, known in private life as Dr Kelvin Nii Tackie, was inducted last Saturday at the Ga Mantse Palace in the presence of some major chiefs under the paramountcy. It was graced by the Otublohun Mantse, Nii Dodoo Nsaki, who until the event was the Acting President of the GTC; the Dzaasetse of the Ga Stool and Principal Kingmaker, Nii Dr Tettei Kwei and the Sempe Mantse, Nii Adote Otintor. At the ultimate moment of the ceremony, the Dzaasetse stepped out to King Teiko Tsuru, lifted his hands three times and pronounced him as the legitimate occupant of the presidency of the Ga Traditional Council, drawing spontaneous cheers from the gathering. The occasion put Ga chieftaincy culture on display, with drumming, dance and traditional regalia fully on show. While it lacked the presence of the youth and womens groups, it did not lack the electrifying atmosphere, as traditional music and dance gripped the impressive crowd in attendance. Unity call In his induction speech, King Teiko Tsuru II promised to lead the Ga State to the path of restoration, with truth and trust as his guiding principles, to bring unity to the state and among the people. He emphasised that what was required for the Ga State to occupy its rightful place in the country and contribute significantly to national development was for all of its people to be united and discard selfishness and other destructive tendencies. "Let us learn from the proverbial broom; a broom stick can be broken easily and it cannot even sweep; but if you have a bunch of them, it is hard to break them and they sweep better," he said. He assured the people of Ga origin that his ultimate goal would be to offer leadership that would bring hope to the youth and rekindle the lost glory of the state. I did not come to rule over you; I came to serve you. I have to bring unity among us so that glory will return to the Ga State. We want prosperity and peace. The Ga State will never be the same," he said. King Teiko Tsuru II said the promotion of education and the development of the Ga language would be a top priority for him during his reign as the Ga Mantse. Fighting COVID-19 Touching on the COVID-19 that has infected over 4,000 people in Ghana and more than four million across the world, he urged all persons to adhere strictly to the safety protocols put out by the health authorities to contain the pandemic. In particular, he asked members of the public to observe physical distancing protocols and also religiously wear their nose masks to prevent the spread of the virus. "Because I dont want the coronavirus to affect us, let us all adhere to the safety precautions given by the government. Let us always wear nose masks and wash our hands often, he said. Relief For his part, Nii Dr Tetteh Kwei described the induction of King Teiko Tsuru to the presidency of the Ga Traditional Council as a major boost to the agenda to build peace and unity in the Ga State. Touching on nation building issues, the Dzaasetse said it was worrying that greed, selfishness and corruption had eroded the moral fibre of the country and affected national development. He said the time had come for all ethnic groupings to rally round the national flag to weed out such tendencies. Cooperation Speaking on behalf of Nii Dodoo Nsaki, the Sempe Mantse, Nii Adote Otintor, thanked all the other chiefs for the support extended to him when he held the fort as the Acting President of the Ga Traditional Council. He said the common enemy the Ga State should be fighting was underdevelopment. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. 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of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Over breakfast the other day, my wife who happens to be a physician asked, Whatever happened to compromise? She was wondering why Americans cant seem to put their political and ideological biases aside during the current pandemic and understand that we can do our best to protect ourselves from the virus and still keep our economy from collapsing. The answer came to me about 30 minutes later, in an angry email from a reader. In a past column, I pointed out that Americas patience was wearing thin. Over 30 million people have filed for unemployment in the last six weeks. Our neighbors cant pay their bills. We need to get the economy going while protecting our vulnerable citizens. In other words, I was calling for a balanced approach. Presumably, given your job title, you are an educated man, the email began. From your picture, you look old enough that you should have saved some money to be prepared for a period of time when you might have unemployment. My first thought was that I need a new headshot. As I read on, it was clear the writer was making the argument that if you havent saved enough money to make it through an unforeseen pandemic or the government-ordered shutdown of your small business, tough darts. Later, she told me to stop whining and grow up. I cant remember the last time I was told to grow up. It might have been when I didnt get a part in a Hollywood film and my godfather grabbed me by the collar, slapped me around and said, You can act like a man! Actually, I think that was a scene from The Godfather. Nevertheless, the point is the writers position leaves no room for compromise. You are either in favor of an indefinite shutdown of the economy or you dont care if people die. This sort of zero-sum discourse has become a template for debate. If you oppose abortion, you hate women. If you believe in enforcing immigration laws, youre xenophobic. If youre a Bible-believing Christian and dare to say so publicly, youre a fanatic. (I can show you the letters.) There is no daylight for compromise within such wooden positions. At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Republicans and Democrats were able to put aside their differences for the good of the country for about two weeks. In 1914, during World War I, there was a series of Christmas cease fires along the western front. German and British soldiers left their trenches and exchanged gifts. On Dec. 27, they resumed slaughtering each other wholesale. Even the fiercest adversaries can put aside their differences for a little while, merely delaying the inevitable. Our political cease fire is now over. The were-all-in-this-together spirit, if it ever actually existed, has evaporated. Were back to politics as usual and, as usual, truth is the casualty. Meanwhile, another news story has infiltrated the front pages sexual assault allegations made against former vice president and current presidential candidate Joe Biden by former staffer Tara Reade. The same Democrats who wanted then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh burned at the stake based on the testimony of his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, are now lining up to support Biden. The same Republicans who ran to Kavanaughs defense now want Bidens head. For its part, until recently, most of the media have been conspicuously disinterested in the Biden story. I dont know whether Bidens accuser is telling the truth, just like I didnt know whether Blasey Ford was on the level. I am a big fan of due process but, as the editors of the National Review pointed out, due process must be habitually applied to nobody or to everyone. We must now serve as our own factcheckers. The burden of discernment rests squarely on our shoulders, assuming were interested in getting remotely close to the truth. We can either seek affirmation of our righteous indignation or we can search earnestly for information, weighing disparate perspectives on an issue and drawing our own conclusions. Or we can get angry at those with whom we disagree and make sure we tell them so. The latter might make us feel good for a while but it gets us nowhere. Rich Manieri is a professor of journalism at Asbury University in Kentucky. He can be reached at manieri2@gmail.com. Distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. A commune-leveled party chief in Vietnams Central Highlands has allegedly murdered a man and use the victims body to fake his own death in an attempt for his family to claim VND18 billion (US$769,300) in an insurance payout. The Department of Police in Dak Nong Province on Monday organized a press meeting to announce the result of their investigation into the case, in which the prime suspect is Do Van Minh, 49, who is secretary of the Party Committee in Lien Ha Commune of Lam Ha District in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. Minh claimed he had previously incurred VND10 billion ($427,500) in debt. In early April, the man bought a life insurance plan worth over VND200 million ($8,500) a year. As part of the insurance terms, his family would receive a VND18 billion ($769,300) payout if he passes away. Minh then came up with a plan to fake his own death so that his family would benefit from the insurance plan. On April 20, he arrived at a local cemetery with the intention of digging up a corpse for the stunt, but eventually gave up due to exhaustion. Minh then planned to murder Tran Nho Vuong, 25, who was a nephew of his wife. Vuong worked at one of Minhs two farms in Dal Glong District in Dak Nong. Minh often visited his farms and had meals with Vuong on the weekend. The two had dinner as usual on May 3. At around 5:00 am on May 4, Minh killed Vuong by hitting his head with an axe before driving the victims body on his pickup truck to National Highway 18. Police in Dak Nong Province, Vietnam hold a press meeting on an alleged murder case involving a man faking his own death to claim insurance benefits on May 11, 2020. Photo: Trung Tan / Tuoi Tre Minh intentionally crashed the vehicle into the side of the road before wearing his watch on the victims wrist. He left the corpse and the car key inside and set the vehicle on fire with nearly ten liters of gasoline. Minh then walked to a nearby house, where he had parked his motorbike in advance, and escaped on the bike to the southern province of Binh Phuoc, where he stayed at a rental house. As the body was severely burned, Minhs family members and authorities initially thought it was Minh who had been killed in the crash. His funeral was later organized. Meanwhile, Vuongs mother started to worry as her son was nowhere to be found. Police officers eventually suspected that it was a staged accident given the evidence they had collected. Minh was arrested in Binh Phuoc on May 10. At the police station, Minh claimed he did not have any conflict with the victim. The suspect also admitted to having bought a new SIM card and pretended to be another person to text his son, in what he said was an attempt to comfort the child over his death. Minh added he had watched his own funeral as he had the password to access the CCTV system installed at his home. Police have launched legal proceedings against Minh for murder and are carrying further investigation to verify whether or not other members of Minhs family are involved in the case. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2020) - In response to the continued uncertainty and unprecedented impact that the COVID-19 global pandemic is having on both the financial markets and economies around the world, Mount Logan Capital Inc. (NEO: MLC) ("Mount Logan" or the "Company") is providing an update to all of our stakeholders. As always, but especially in times like these, we hope all our stakeholders, including shareholders, lenders, portfolio companies, and advisors, are healthy and safe. Please note that we continue to vigilantly monitor this continually evolving situation and have implemented steps to keep our team safe while ensuring full business continuity. All amounts in this letter are stated in United States dollars, unless otherwise indicated. While we anticipate a challenging economic climate in the coming quarters, we believe stakeholders should take comfort in the ability of Mount Logan's management team to navigate a period of dislocation and stress such as this. Additionally, while the current market conditions are not something that could have been predicted or anticipated, economic cycles and capital markets dislocations have always existed and will continue to exist even after the economy has recovered from the effects of COVID-19. Our credit investment organization was built, and its investment professionals hired, to invest across all economic and credit market cycles. Senior members of Mount Logan's management team have experience managing assets through multiple credit cycles at best-in-class institutions. In addition to our management team, we believe Mount Logan is well-positioned to face the current period of uncertainty for the following three key reasons: Diversified Portfolio Defensive Sectors Liquidity, Funding Profile, and Capital Diversified Portfolio1 As of March 31, 2020, our investment portfolio consisted of 16 unique investments and an average exposure per borrower of $3.1 million (based on March 31, 2020 fair market value, excluding our investment in the BCP Great Lakes Unitranche Joint Venture). All of our borrowers have paid their interest and principal that was due as of March 31, 2020. Our portfolio remains heavily concentrated in first lien senior secured debt. As of March 31, 2020, approximately 80% of our portfolio (based on March 31, 2020 fair market value) consisted of first lien senior secured debt. We have purposely constructed our portfolio to focus on first dollar risk precisely to be positioned well when times of economic stress do arise. With respect to our exposure to the BCP Great Lakes Unitranche Joint Venture, this represents approximately 14% of our portfolio (based on March 31, 2020 fair market value). This exposure is underpinned by a portfolio of first lien senior secured unitranche loans, diversified across 11 middle market borrowers in a variety of stable industries. Taken together, as at March 31, 2020, approximately 94% of our portfolio (based on fair market value) is in first lien senior secured debt and in our joint venture underpinned by first lien debt. Defensive Sectors While the long-term impacts remain uncertain, it is important to note that Mount Logan has no direct exposure to most of the sectors that will or are expected to face immediate impacts. Excluding Cline, which we had previously structured as a contingent value right and hence involves no net balance sheet exposure, we do not have direct exposure to sectors such as automotive, energy, metals and mining, hotel, casinos and leisure, advertising, restaurants, airlines, and cruise lines. Based on fair market value as of March 31, 2020, our largest sectors of exposure are industrials, representing approximately 27% of our investment portfolio, and consumer, representing approximately 20% of our investment portfolio. Amongst the investments in these respective sectors, each investment has diversified exposure to a variety of end-markets and was underwritten with the aim of enduring severe economic stress. Liquidity, Funding Profile, and Capital With the renewal of Mount Logan's Revolving Senior Loan Facility (the "Leverage Facility") in January 2020, our $50 million Leverage Facility now matures in February 2021. While certain peers have faced issues with their leverage facility providers, we are pleased with the terms and flexibility of our existing Leverage Facility. As of March 31, 2020, Mount Logan has drawn $34.4 million on the Leverage Facility and the remaining $15.6 million of potential borrowing capacity could be accessed upon the Company meeting certain borrowing base requirements. As of March 31, 2020, we had approximately $8.9 million of cash, a majority of which is committed to supporting the borrowing base for our Leverage Facility. As previously reported, we declared a CAD$0.02 dividend per share that was paid on April 28, 2020, and on May 11, 2020, we declared another dividend of CAD$0.02 per share to be paid in June 2020. We remain focused on balancing adequate liquidity for our ongoing company operations while also deploying capital in attractive investment opportunities that have been created as a result of the market dislocation. With respect to unfunded commitments in our portfolio, as of March 31, 2020, we had limited exposure with approximately $2.9 million of unfunded commitments, none of which are revolving credit facilities. Approximately $1.0 million of that exposure consists of delayed draw first lien term loans to three separate portfolio companies and approximately $2.0 million is an unfunded commitment to the BCP Great Lakes Unitranche Joint Venture. Across all of the unfunded commitments to which we have exposure, there are restrictions on the underlying companies' ability to fund driven by leverage levels at the underlying borrowers and the use of proceeds. Overall, we believe that the various restrictions in our unfunded commitments will result in very limited demands of unilateral funding by our portfolio companies and if they do fund, we believe that we have adequate liquidity and assets in order to meet any such requirements. Overall, we are proud that Mount Logan's existing structure and permanent capital enabled us to continue to hold our investments and did not force us to sell any investments at a material discount to par when the dislocation began in March 2020. Conclusion We will continue to remain vigilant around monitoring our existing investments, and we will continue to actively evaluate additional new investments that present an immense opportunity amid the recent market volatility. While we understand and appreciate that the long-term impacts of COVID-19 are uncertain, we believe that Mount Logan's investment portfolio and balance sheet are positioned defensively and that our management team will continue to take steps to protect stakeholder value and continue to drive value through opportunistically deploying capital in the current environment. We will continue to work hard for all our stakeholders and look forward to maintaining our dialogue with you during this period. On behalf of our entire team, thank you for your support and please stay safe and healthy. Sincerely, Ted Goldthorpe Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board About Mount Logan Capital Inc. Mount Logan Capital Inc. is a Canada-based asset manager created to source and execute on credit investment opportunities in North America. The Company holds and actively manages and monitors a portfolio of loans and other investments with credit-oriented characteristics. The Company intends to actively source, evaluate, underwrite, monitor, and primarily invest in additional loans, debt securities, and other credit-oriented instruments that present attractive risk-adjusted returns and present low risk of principal impairment through the credit cycle. Cautionary Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the expressions "seeks", "expects", "believes", "estimates", "will", "target" and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but reflect the current expectations of the Company regarding future results or events and are based on information currently available to them. Certain material factors and assumptions were applied in providing these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements discussed in this release include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the Company's business strategy, model, approach and future activities; its future investment portfolio construction and concentration; future funding demands and ability to meet such demands; any future dividends on the Company's shares; and the Company's ability to deliver returns to shareholders. All forward-looking statements in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions; however, the Company can give no assurance that the actual results or developments will be realized by certain specified dates or at all. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including the matters discussed under "Risks Factors" in the most recently filed annual information form and management discussion and analysis for the Company. Readers, therefore, should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, a forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any such statement or to reflect new information or the occurrence of future events or circumstances except as required by securities laws. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release. This press release is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, a prospectus or an advertisement and the communication of this release is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, an offer to sell or an offer to purchase any securities in the Company or in any fund or other investment vehicle. For additional information, contact: Ted Gilpin Chief Financial Officer Ted.Gilpin@mountlogancapital.ca (212) 891-5007 Mount Logan Capital Inc. 365 Bay Street, Suite 800 Toronto, ON M5H 2V1 1 All figures exclude the Company's legacy investment in Cline Mining Corporation ("Cline"), which is subject to the contingent value rights issued by the Company to the holders of the common shares of the Company prior to its plan of arrangement completed in October 2018. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/55702 This year, the main category of the Ta Quang Buu Award, named after the famous scientist Professor Ta Quang Buu (1910-1986), was presented to Associate Prof. Dr. Vuong Thi Ngoc Lan from Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy; Associate Prof. Dr. Pham Tien Son from Da Lat University; and Dr. Nguyen Truong Thanh Hieu from Ton Duc Thang University. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the annual award aims to acknowledge the efforts and successes of scientists who have made significant contributions to national socio-economic development. Since its launch in 2014, the prize has received positive recognition from the scientific community as a prestigious and quality award. It has encouraged and motivated scientists and scientific and technological organisations towards high quality research in Vietnam, fostering the development of an academic, creative and innovative environment in which promote the development of strong teams to undertake research at an international level. Fernando Alonso is hoping his countryman and friend Carlos Sainz has a "good future" in Formula 1. Spaniard Sainz, who currently drives for Alonso's former team McLaren, is being linked with a move to Ferrari for 2021. "If an agreement is not reached with Sebastian Vettel, I quietly doubt that Ricciardo would be interested," said Ferrari insider Leo Turrini. "Maybe I'm wrong, and I like the Australian very much, but I don't see him next to Leclerc. So for a variety of reasons I think the most credible candidate is Sainz," he wrote on his Quotidiano blog. Two-time champion Alonso thinks Sainz is able to keep up with F1's best drivers. "Carlos is doing great, and not only last year," he is quoted by AS newspaper. "Since Toro Rosso, he has done a great job. He had Verstappen as a partner from the beginning, after that he had Hulkenberg. He has always had tough competitors at his side and he has always done well. "That is good for Spain and for the sport. I hope he has a good future," Alonso added. Alonso also ruled out signing up for F1's official 'virtual' online races. "No, no," the 38-year-old said. "I don't have a simulator here, but those guys must be playing all day. I won't be there." (GMM) Scientists are concerned if the COVID-19 will be evolving into a more virulent form, improving and adapting in killing hosts without the antibodies to eject the virus. One other concern is the global impact of the coronavirus that has affected millions of people. And now that words about coronavirus mutation is becoming rampant, many people are asking: just how informed are scientists to know when another strain is coming? The good news is that most studies to the presence of an improved coronavirus should not be a matter of concern. From here on getting a vaccine will be the best insurance for everyone. Is coronavirus evolving into a higher or lesser form? The virus will evolve and mutate and the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus that causes Covid-19 is doing it naturally. Mutations are random changes in the copying of the genetic code inside the cells, but many of these mutants are random and some do not last long with the virus reverting to its default form if the change is a failure. One main difference of viruses is they have single strands of RNA, unlike humans with a double helix of DNA. Are the COVID-19 strains changing fast? The coronavirus stable in its current form, from an analyzed 13,000 samples of the COVID-19 gathered in Britain from the middle of March. Examination of the viral samples shows that there are two mutations a month. One indicator to watch out for is faster mutations that will change how the next generation of viruses will vary characteristics. The fast-evolving virus may render vaccines useless because the virus has found a way to defeat the vaccine. Seasonal influenza does mutate fast and a different vaccine is made annually. Also read: Scientist Say Coronavirus Was Not Turbocharged by Any Mutation What are the different types of coronavirus all over the world One of the indicators of the different strain of the coronavirus is the genetic code of each type as it deviates. This is normal for viruses to do. German researchers have identified three main strains of the virus in April. These identified types are A, B, C that were found in several groups. Groups A and C are mostly found in Europeans and Americans, while group B is most common in East Asia. Some minor strains exist, that can be traced to its sources and Wuhan or northern Italy. Mutation is important to scientists As said earlier, they matter depending on the effect of mutation, and worse is a mutation that can give the coronavirus the best chances to infect and bypass the immune system with ease. If that happens, all the prior work done on vaccines are doomed to fail, leaving all the work on natural immunity. What changes are recognized by studies? A few of them have been identified by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine which examined 5,000 genomes of the virus, the virus has adapted and here they are. One of these mutations is the spike proteins that inject into the host cell that initiates infection. This is yet to be examined so it can be used to redesign vaccines. Prof Nick Loman at the University of Birmingham said," "We look to see if any of the mutations change behaviour and we don't have any evidence for that." Virus do evolve and it is random,making it much harder for scientists to create a vaccine. As of now, we need more data to find out. Related article: Coronavirus Weak Spot Discovered: Researchers Find Out That Virus is 'Low Shielding' @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Best Life Brands, LLC ("Best Life Brands"), a family of companies focused on the well-being of clients along the continuum of senior care, set a new company record by awarding new franchise agreements in six states across all brands in April. The franchise development milestone marked a 200 percent increase in growth over April of 2019 and the strongest month in company history. "We at Best Life Brands have recognized the needs of an aging population long before coronavirus infiltrated our daily lives. And we are watching the demand for our services only continue to grow," says J.J. Sorrenti, CEO of Best Life Brands. "Even in the midst of a pandemic, we are experiencing a surge in interest from franchisee candidates who recognize this as an immensely high-growth space and that our services will forever be essential." With shelter-in-place and travel restrictions, the Best Life Brands teams shifted to virtual discovery days and new franchise owner online training sessions. The first remote franchisee training class will allow seven new franchise locations to open their doors this month with many more signed in April expected to open this summer. The organization is welcoming new locations for CarePatrol in Grand Prairie, Texas; Buffalo, New York, and Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, Michigan; two new ComForCare owners sign for two territories each in Chicago and Naperville, Illinois and Ann Arbor and Downriver, Michigan; and Blue Moon Estate Sales in Needham, Massachusetts and Duluth, Georgia. "Our brands offer a low-cost franchise opportunity with a growing customer base that continues to fit the career objectives of qualified candidates looking to make a difference in their communities with the benefits that come with owning your own business," said Terry McGee, Vice President of Franchise Development. Best Life Brands includes ComForCare and At Your Side , premier franchised providers of home care; CarePatrol , the nation's largest franchised senior placement organization; and Blue Moon Estate Sales , the leading estate sale franchise in the U.S. Together, they include nearly 400 franchise locations across the U.S. and Canada. The company plans to add more franchise locations to each brand's roster, along with future franchise-based acquisitions to round out the corporate portfolio. To learn more about ComForCare franchising, visit www.comforcare.com/franchising . To learn more about CarePatrol franchising, visit www.carepatrolfranchise.com . To learn more about Blue Moon Estate Sales franchising, visit www.bluemoonestatesalesfranchising.com . About Best Life Brands, LLC Based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Best Life Brands, LLC is a holding company that includes ComForCare and At Your Side , premier franchised providers of home care; CarePatrol , the nation's largest franchised senior placement organization; and Blue Moon Estate Sales , the leading estate sale franchise in the U.S., which together include 375 franchise locations across the U.S. and Canada. With a private equity investment from The Riverside Company, Best Life Brands is a platform of award-winning complementary businesses that serve people along the continuum of care. SOURCE Best Life Brands President Nana Akufo-Addo has touted his policies as the best in addressing the pandemic Coronavirus disease in the country. According to him, the rapid implementation of his policies ''has resulted in our low infection, hospitalisation and death rates, some of the lowest in Africa and the world'' and that his government is on the right track. Although Ghana's COVID-19 cases have shot up to 4700, the President believes his decisions have saved more lives. Responding to criticisms by political opponents that his government is failing Ghanaians, President Akufo-Addo said in his ninth nation address on Sunday, May 10, 2020 that ''on the contrary, we must be emboldened in the knowledge that the 4,700 persons infected, so far, with the virus, have been identified, taken out of the population, isolated and are being treated.'' ''We, certainly, must be doing something right in Ghana. Our country has administered more tests per million people than any other country in Africa, and, in fact, the World Health Organisation has reached out to us to share our sample pooling experience with other African countries, so they can adopt this strategy and also ramp up their testing capabilities'', he stressed. Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Kenya Moore is a shady queen on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. The former beauty queen sometimes shades unknowingly as its been interpreted by fans throughout season 12. Moore is known as the shade assassin and during an interview, fellow housewife Cynthia Bailey asked her about her shadiness. Cynthia Bailey and Kenya Moore | Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images Has Kenya Moore always been shady? Moore was a guest on Out Loud with Claudia Jordan that also featured Mike Hill, Baileys fiance. During a recent airing, Bailey dropped in and asked her friend if shes always been shady. I will have to say [that] anyone who knew me from L.A. they knew that Im a sweetheart, right Claudia? Moore answered. Jordan intervened and said, Kenya has always been shady, even shady to me in the beginning of our friendship. Moore laughed it off while Jordan added, Dont let her lie to you. Kenya is shady as hell. She does it with a smile. Shes my girl, shes my friend, Bailey added. Half of the sh** I have to deal with at the reunion is with her a**. Moore explained herself saying that she is not trying to be shady all the time. Sometimes I definitely mean it as shade on this show and sometimes I think Im a naturally shady person but not in a bad way, Moore explained. Was Kenya Moore lying? Moore had many shady moments on RHOA with many involving her friend Bailey. The former almost ruined a marriage proposal for the latter and she also try to expose she didnt know much about wine. However, another questionable act came during an event Porsha Williams organized. The event was to take on issues that mothers have experienced in their road to motherhood. When Williams friend Shamea Morton began to talk about her experience, Moore interjected to add to the story. I remember you texted me, Moore said at the table about Morton. You were like, I think my water broke. And I said, you need me to come to the hospital? I dont know where Porsha was I think Porsha was doing something else, working that day. Mentioning Williams and suggesting she was not there for her during a dire moment, didnt sit well with fans. Many interpreted as Moore throwing shade at Williams. The former Miss USA took to Twitter to clarify the misunderstanding. She called me, so thats a question for Shamea, Moore tweeted back at a fan. I have nothing to do with their relationship, clearly, they love each other. To infer that means, I dont care for her, thats such a reach sweetie. Thanks for your input. She called me so thats a question for Shamea. I have nothing to do with their relationship clearly they love each other. To infer that means I dont care for herthats a reach sweetie. Thanks for your input. https://t.co/5cxuNNTqav KENYA MOORE (@KenyaMoore) April 13, 2020 Shamea Morton denies calling Kenya Moore Morton and Williams talked off-camera and the former denied calling Moore when her water broke. I was like, damn, why would Shamea call her? So Im really feelin a little way, but I kept my [straight] face, Williams told Leakes during an episode of RHOA. Later on, Shamea walked up to me, pissed. She said, I did not call that girl when my water broke. Moore then shared her text conversation with Morton which only exposed the former. The texts reveal that Moore initiated a conversation with Morton first. During that moment, Morton is seemingly already with her doctor getting checked out on what ended up only being discharge, not her water breaking. The conversation occurred in September and Morton would not give birth until the end of November. Police Clash with Garment Makers and Store Owners Asking for Rent Reduction in Guangzhou Market Location: Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province The Zhongda Cloth Market in Guangzhou is mainly a distribution center for various fabrics, yarn, and garments. Thousands of large and small factories gather nearby. For more than a decade, almost the entire 150,000 non-native population in this region have made a living by making clothes and processing accessories. When the business is good, their monthly income can exceed $10,000 yuan ($1,400 USD). Last year, however, orders were greatly reduced in the aftermath of the Sino-U.S. trade war. At the beginning of the year, due to the CCP virus outbreak, the manufacturers lost all their business. On April 21 and 22, thousands of garment factory owners and merchants joined the march at the exit of the subway station near the market, shouting reduce rent, reduce rent along the way. They demanded government intervention to reduce their rents after they had no income for three months since February. Police cars arrived at the scene and policemen came to block the road. Conflicts continue to break out. Video content: Scenario 1: (The parading owners hold small signs that read Reduce Rent) Reduce rent. Reduce rent. Scene 2: (Police besieged the crowd) Many people: The police are beating people. Scenario 3: The police put up barricades hand in hand, and demanded for owners to stand against a wall before the police car arrived at the scene. A spiritualist, Prophetess Evelyn Owoleke of Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Bayo Ajao Street Aboru is currently cooling off in one of the police cells at the state criminal investigation and intelligence department, (SCIID), Yaba after a 39-year old pregnant woman died during childbirth, in her custody. Prophetess Evelyn Owoleke was arrested on May 4th by Policemen attached to Oke Odo Police Station after one Olaloye Jolayemi of Ologundudu Street Aboru reported that on the same day at about 10am, the pregnant woman Seun Olorunto died after she was delivered of a baby boy by the Prophetess at Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Bayo Ajao Street Aboru. It was gathered that when homicide detectives visited the scene, they found Seun Olorunto laying in the pool of her blood, suggesting that she might have bled to death due to complications. Confirming the arrest, the spokesperson Lagos state police command, DSP Bala Elkana, said "that the corpse was removed from the Church to General Hospital Yaba for autopsy. While the infant was also taken to hospital for medical examination and care. The traditional/spiritual midwife was arrested and taken to State CID Yaba. An investigation is ongoing". An eight-year-old boy had his heart restarted by a teacher after a fall at a Sydney public school. The CareFlight rapid response helicopter was called to Mona Vale Public School on Sydney's Northern Beaches around 11.30 on Monday morning. The boy went into cardiac arrest after tripping over a tree root and hitting his head, with teachers able to restart the boy's heart using a defibrillator. An eight-year-old boy is in a critical condition after falling and hitting his head at Mona Vale Public School (pictured) The CareFlight rapid response helicopter was called to the school around 11.30 on Monday morning along with NSW ambulance crews, police and paramedics A CareFlight spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the year three student has been airlifted to Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick in a critical condition. The boy is suffering serious head injuries and was put in an induced coma before being airlifted. Four NSW ambulance crews, paramedics and police were also at the scene. Mona Vale Public School have notified the parents of the child and requested parents do not come to the school. Police and bystanders gathered at the scene after the incident. The boy is believed to have tripped on a tree root and hit his head Teachers were able to restart the boy's heart using a defibrillator before he was treated by paramedics at the scene Local woman Virgina Piper told The Daily Telegraph she heard the emergency response teams and knew something was wrong. 'I heard the ambulances and the police cars come by. You could hear the chopper, it sounded very close before landing at the school,' she said. 'People were driving slowly by the school and you could definitely tell something serious had happened.' More to come. By William Schwartz | Published on 2020/05/10 On May 10th a report and video originating from a surfing school confirmed that Kim Hee-ae suffered a dangerous accident during an ocean scene in the fourteenth episode of "The World of the Married". In the scene, Kim Hee-ae's character can be seen as perilously close to the ocean, her being in a very poor state of mind. The scene was also confirmed to have been filmed at an aquatic training center on the coast near Gangneung city. Advertisement According to the source "The World of the Married" was doing filming for the fourteenth episode of the drama on April 14th in the same area that the surfing school was practicing rescue operations. During the scene, Kim Hee-ae drifted off into the deep ocean to the great panic of the staff. However, the staff had a safety manual on hand to consult in the event of such contingencies, and were able to resolve the situation by following its instructions. The source praised Lee Moo-saeng's actions in particular as being heroic. In a video accompanying the report, Lee Moo-saeng can be seen staying calm in an unexpected situation as he and Kim Hee-ae await rescue. In the relevant scene Lee Moo-saeng's character saves Kim Hee-ae's character from her own apparently suicidal impulses. The video appears to have been released with permission from "The World of the Married", as it is only surfacing now so as to avoid spoilers. No one appears to have suffered serious injury from the incident. The news also appears to have confirmed, however inadvertently, that filming for "The World of the Married" is already complete. If the final two episodes were filmed on a similar schedule to the fourteenth one, they were most likely shot around two to three weeks ago. Written by William Schwartz ___________ "The World of the Married" is directed by Mo Wan-il, written by Joo Hyeon-I, and features Kim Hee-ae, Park Hae-joon, Han So-hee, Park Sun-young, Kim Young-min, Chae Gook-hee. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2020/03/27~Now airing, Fri, Sat 23:00 on jTBC. HeartStation Releases AED Remote Monitoring System On April 27, HeartStation introduced its automated remote monitoring for Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs). Manufacturer HeartStation just released a monitoring system, capable of monitoring AEDs anywhere in the world. AEDs are incredibly important in the workplace in particularas too many lives are lost each year to cases of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). See the HeartStation press release below: HeartStation Announces Release of AED Remote Monitoring System Chicago, IL 4/27/20: HeartStation introduces automated remote monitoring for AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) capable of monitoring AEDs anywhere in the world. HeartStations Remote Monitoring System (RMS) determines if the AED is present and functional, and reports the status by cellular transmission. RMS provides automated monitoring of AED's which reduces labor costs and greatly improves safety by eliminating human error. The challenges faced in automated inspection of AEDs goes much deeper than placing a camera in a cabinet or integrating Wi-Fi, states Keith Hochhalter, CEO of HeartStation. First, AED monitoring must be maintenance-free and outlive the AED battery. Next, data must be reliably transmitted from nearly any location without complex setup and passwords. Finally, setup must be robust and not dependent on precise positioning. RMS solves all of these challenges. RMS functions universally with AEDs in any metal cabinet. More AED locations are accessible by utilizing an innovative approach regarding carrier selection in cellular communication. A patent pending interface to AEDs provides a reliable status of the AED for a maintenance-free life greater than 7 years. Sydney, May 11 : Australian researchers have urged that more lives could be saved in intensive care units (ICU) around the world if new antibiotic guidelines designed by the University of Queensland are adopted. Researchers have launched a universal Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) guidelines to optimise the concentrations of antibiotic and antifungal medications given to severely ill patients in the hospital. The findings, published in the journal Intensive Care Medicine, showed that these guidelines could speed up recovery times or even save a critically ill patient from dying. "There's significant variation around the world on how to treat serious infections, and sometimes it's a bit of a guessing game," said study researcher Jason Roberts from the University of Queensland in Australia. According to the researchers, all patients in ICU are currently treated with similar antibiotics and doses, but the lack of personalisation can make a patient sicker and may even cause death. "Overuse or underuse of antibiotics can enable resistance of bacteria in the patient which limits the drug's effectiveness," Roberts said. The research team analysed data from 400 ICU patients and found one-third experienced adverse outcomes because their antibiotic therapy wasn't optimised to their needs. "We found a patient's response to the antibiotic improved significantly if the dosage was monitored and altered accordingly," said study researcher Dr Hafiz Abdul-Aziz. The innovative guidelines were developed by 16 antibiotic experts from 11 different countries and recommended the use of advanced software to predict accurate drug dosages and generate personalised treatment regimens. Dr Abdul-Aziz said more than 160,000 Australians required specialised care in ICU and 13 per cent of these patients died each year. According to the study, ICU patients requiring antibiotics commonly suffer vital organ failure from sepsis, pneumonia or infections from burns. The researchers have said that monitoring equipment and training needed to be rolled-out before routine therapeutic drug monitoring can be adopted as the worldwide standard-of-care. Dave Grohl confirmed Foo Fighters' upcoming album was complete back in February, but just recently he's revealed some more details about what fans can expect from it. Grohl and his mum Virginia appeared on LA radio station ALT 98.7 in the weekend, for a Mother's Day questions and answers session. When asked about the upcoming album, Grohl said he can't wait for people to hear it. Its filled with anthemic, huge, sing-along rock songs. Its kind of like a dance record, but not an EDM, disco, modern dance record. Its got groove. To me, its our David Bowies Lets Dance record. Thats what we wanted to make, we wanted to make this really up, fun record. We're interested to see what the album will sound like, but there's no set release date yet and may not be any time soon due to the craziness of the current pandemic. Foo Fighter's upcoming album isn't the only topic they covered during the Q&A session. Virginia revealed that a documentary of her book "Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars" is also in the pipeline. In the 26 minute video they also chat about Grohl growing up, Post Malone's Nirvana tribute concert, and more. It's a good watch if you're a fan of Grohl and you have some time to kill. Watch it above. COLUMBIA Salons, gyms and communal swimming pools can reopen in a week, Gov. Henry McMaster announced Monday in the latest rollback of restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The businesses requiring close contact can open their doors to customers May 18, nearly seven weeks after McMaster ordered them to shutter. Beyond being able to get their hair cut professionally and work out at a gym again, people will also be able to get a manicure, a waxing, a tattoo, a massage, and tan indoors. Fitness centers allowed to reopen include yoga and barre studios. They'll be allowed to reopen one week after dine-in eating could resume at a recommended 50 percent occupancy. McMaster already has reopened stores and public accesses to beach and boat ramps. He also lifted the state's stay-at-home order. By next week, only tourist attractions and places that attract large gatherings such as arenas, nightclubs, and movie theaters will remain closed in South Carolina. It is time to responsibly and gradually get these small businesses back up and running, McMaster said. We have an opportunity to set an example for the rest of the world by reinvigorating our economy while staying safe, but we can only do that if South Carolinians continue to follow the advice and recommendations of our public health experts. State workers also will start coming back to work in the next few weeks. Who and how many will depend on the agency and when they can secure adequate protection for workers, including masks, but the first wave of employees must return by June 1, McMaster said. They include managers, call center employees and others who can't easily do their jobs at home, who may be asked to come in on staggered shifts, said Department of Administration Director Marcia Adams. More than 55,000 state employees have been working from home since early April, McMaster said. "Its time to turn that around now," he said. "We went into it gradually. Were also coming out very methodically. The first group will begin returning once there is ample personal protective equipment on site." All businesses are asked to maintain social distancing as much as possible. Voluntary guidelines for salons include rearranging waiting areas to maintain 6 feet between clients or eliminating them altogether, keeping a station empty between clients, and instructing stylists to change their smock after each appointment. Employees should "strongly consider" wearing a face mask while within 6 feet of a client, the guidelines recommend. Joanna Katz Chronister, owner of The Oaks salon in West Ashley, said she is eager to see her customers again. "I'm in go mode. Whether were told to open in two weeks or Friday, we all want to be ready," she said earlier Monday while shopping for supplies that could meet all guidelines, and even precautions not on the list. In her salon, each of the seven stylists has a private suite, so social distancing is no problem. She's even putting in an automatic door so customers don't have to touch the handle and buying sandwich bags for customers to put their phones in as they arrive. Like many stylists, Katz Chronister has been making appointments on the hopes customers could return. Each week her salon couldn't open, she had to push back bookings another week. Many stylists are already booked for the next two months, she said. When McMaster ordered salons to close April 1, Katz Chronister was actually relieved, because fears about the coronavirus and lack of guidance over how to continue operating safely were overwhelming, she said. "Then the weeks passed by," she said. "I cannot wait. We have missed (customers) horribly. Im so, so looking forward to being back to where my life is." She was frustrated that guidelines haven't been released sooner to help employers prepare. While the guidelines are voluntary, McMaster said businesses should want to follow them, both so customers feel comfortable coming in and because they leave themselves open to lawsuits if they don't and someone gets sick, he said. "There are certain expectations that people are seeking," he said. "In order to be competitive, you'll have to follow these guidelines or lose your customers." As for legal enforcement, he said, officers can arrest people in gatherings of three or more people who are risking public safety. Gyms are asked to limit people inside to five people per 1,000 square feet including members and employees or 20 percent of capacity, whichever is less. Exercise classes should designate a 10-by-10-foot area for each participant and allow no more than 10 per class. Members should not be allowed to use saunas, steam rooms or showers. No more drinking from water fountains. And members need to bring and take home their own towels no leaving them in lockers, according to the recommendations. The guidelines for swimming pools apply to any that are not privately owned, whether at a fitness center, country club, apartment complex or condo building. They include limiting swimming to 20 percent of normal occupancy, or five people per 1,000 square feet of pool and deck area. People not in the same household shouldn't come within 6 feet of each other. And any items that can be shared such as floats should be removed. The state is ramping up testing for COVID-19, focusing on nursing homes; poor, rural areas where access to health care is limited; and urban areas where people live in close proximity. Under the plan announced last week, the state hopes to test 2 percent of the population this month and another 2 percent in June or 110,000 tests monthly, doubling all testing done since the first cases were reported in early March. The state's on target to meet that goal this month, said Dr. Linda Bell, the state's chief epidemiologist. Meeting that goal requires testing about 3,550 people a day over a month. The state has so far tested about 3,040 people daily in May. South Carolina ranked last in the nation in testing per capita, according to a Post and Courier analysis of data from over the weekend compiled in The COVID Tracking Project, a project of The Atlantic. The lack of testing access in poor, rural areas as well as a shortage of supplies helps explain why the state has lagged in testing so far, Bell said. Making tests available for free to anyone coming to the mobile clinics rather than limiting them to the very sick and to first responders, as has been the case will help "begin a safe transition back to a less restrictive quality of life and vibrant economy," she said. "Widespread testing is important in every community, because each of us continue to be at risk of exposure to someone infected with COVID-19, but enhanced testing is especially critical in rural and underserved communities where residents may have limited access to health care, limited transportation and limited access to the internet as an information resource," Bell said. The state's public health agency is partnering with health and community groups around the state to meet the goal. A list of testing events held around the state is available online and updated as more are scheduled. Andy Shain contributed to this report. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. When Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh faced sex assault accusations from Christine Blasey Ford during his confirmation hearings, Democrats and their media amplifiers were quick to tell us that all women needed to be believed when they accused a powerful man of sexual misconduct. No matter how old the accusation. No matter the evidence, or lack thereof, presented to support the accusation. But when woman accuses a top Democrat of a sex crime? Her we dont need to listen to. When it comes to Tara Reades accusations against Joe Biden, the former vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee for president, weve gone from #MeToo to #NotHer. You remember the white-hot controversy that surrounded Kavanaugh, and how Blasey Fords public testimony captivated the nation. How Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was tarred as a gender traitor for supporting Kavanaugh. How protestors shamed GOP Sen. Jeff Flake as he stood in an open elevator. Wheres the outcry over the allegations made by Reade, a former Biden staffer who said that the then-U.S. senator sexually assaulted her in the 1990s? Well, it was a long time ago, we hear. And Reade has given conflicting accounts of what exactly might have happened. Memories can be pretty hazy. Some of the records arent available for us to look at. So dont expect those same Democratic officials, media pundits and late-night comics to call Biden to account the same way they did Kavanaugh. Or the way they did when they said that the infamous Hollywood Access tape was practically disqualifying for Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign. Theyve got too much riding on Biden, their last, best hope to dislodge Trump from the White House. The Beltway establishment, media and pols alike, want to get back to business as usual. They cant do that with Trump in office. So it turns out that some women (those who accuse Republicans) need to be believed more than others. Its been true all along, from the Kennedys right through Bill Clinton. Its just more obvious now. Biden has pledged to pick a woman as his vice presidential running mate. But how can any Democratic woman defend Biden with a straight face, particularly those who took part in the Kavanaugh circus, like Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris? Whats their rallying cry? Believe all women, except that woman? Interesting. The whole episode underlines one of Bidens biggest weaknesses as a candidate against Trump. If people want to say that Trump is a sex abuser, the accusation is going to get pushed right back at Biden, who for years has had a reputation for being handsy with the ladies. But it doesnt stop there. You want to talk about how Trump often sounds like he doesnt know what hes talking about, how he mangles the English language? Biden is a gaffe machine all unto himself, and his videos and TV appearances during the coronavirus pandemic have been downright painful to watch. He sometimes struggles to string two coherent sentences together. Tangled foreign dealings? The Russia collusion case against Trump has utterly collapsed, especially after federal charges were dropped against former Trump aide Michael Flynn last week. Meanwhile, theres plenty of fodder to sift through when it comes to Biden and his son, Hunter, and various dealings in Ukraine and China. Its going to be a tall order for Dems to draw true distinctions between Trump and Biden. None of this may matter in the end, of course. Coronavirus has turned the political world upside-down. Trump will have to answer for how hes handled the crisis. Itll be easy for Biden to throw darts from the sidelines, having had no official role to play. But Bidens got his own problems too. And if the media wont hold him accountable, you can be sure that Trump will. SAN FRANCISCO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Race and Coronavirus, a new media platform featuring a weekly newsletter and podcast by veteran Bay Area journalists Levi Sumagaysay and Pati Navalta, has partnered with Bay City News Foundation. Race and Coronavirus will cover issues such as healthcare, education, housing, transportation, misinformation, and more, all through the lens of race and the pandemic. Sumagaysay spent most of her career at the San Jose Mercury News and has specialized in technology and business news. Navalta is editor in chief at San Francisco magazine and has been a demographics editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, among other Bay Area daily newspapers. "As longtime storytellers, we know we are in the middle of one of the biggest stories of our lives," said Sumagaysay. "Race and Coronavirus is going to address something close to our hearts: tracking the effects of this pandemic on minorities and immigrants. Even though we keep hearing that COVID-19 doesn't discriminate, we know that in the United States, black and brown people are disproportionately affected on many different levels." Sumagaysay and Navalta both began their journalism careers at the Vallejo Times-Herald, where they worked together in the late 1990s, then moved to the Alameda Newspaper Group (now Bay Area News Group) before going on to different newspapers. "While there have been numerous stories on how minorities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, there is no media outlet focusing solely on the volatile intersection of race and the global pandemic," said Navalta. "Race and Coronavirus will fill this void at a time when consistent and in-depth coverage on this issue is not only timely, but crucial." Katherine Ann Rowlands bought Bay City News Service, a regional newswire, and established the affiliated nonprofit in 2018 after a year as a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University and a long journalism career overseas and in the Bay Area, including at the Mercury News and East Bay Times. "Our mission is to cover the people, places and issues that deserve more attention and this project will help do that," said Rowlands, founder and executive director of Bay City News Foundation, which publishes free local news at LocalNewsMatters.org. "This is a critical moment for the nation, and for journalism. We want to be sure that more stories get told." Race and Coronavirus's first podcast will be with California Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) on the anti-Asian backlash in the United States. Other guests lined up for future episodes include: U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (CA 17th District); Alida Garcia, vice president of advocacy for FWD.org; and ABC7 anchor, Dion Lim. Photos: https://www.prlog.org/12821962 Press release distributed by PRLog SOURCE Race and Coronavirus Related Links https://raceandcoronavirus.substack.com/ Saunders said the conversation lasted less than 10 minutes and was outside, so my risk was very low. She took a coronavirus test, which turned out to be negative. Nevertheless, Saunders said she is working from home for the next two weeks, following the example set by Trump science advisers Anthony S. Fauci, Stephen Hahn and Robert Redfield, who took the same precaution after Millers positive test. Excited children greeted their friends and weary parents got used to early starts again as schools in several European countries reopened after a nearly two-month coronavirus break. Pupils toted their backpacks for the first time since March in France and the Netherlands as primary schools partially reopened, with strict measures in place to prevent a second wave of the pandemic. As wider lockdown measures eased across the continent, schools also reopened their doors in Switzerland and the Balkans, while secondary schools in Greece were coming back to life. "The children were really looking forward to coming back to school. They were jumping with joy when they saw their friends again, they were very happy," 43-year-old Manon told AFP as she dropped off her three children at Willemspark primary school in The Hague. "It's good for them. We've been through a unique period... they liked the free time but of course they missed their friends a lot, and the structure that schools give them," added the Dutch healthcare worker, who asked that her surname not be used. She added that the family "had to get up early, like we did before." To prevent any resurgence of the virus, Dutch schools were allowing only half the normal number of children in at one time, with children either attending morning or afternoon sessions, or coming in on alternate days. Measures to disinfect schools were also being taken but Manon said "luckily the children can go near each other without having to respect the 1.5-metre (social distancing) rule. They really appreciate that, they can touch and play games without worrying." - 'I won't go' - Scandinavian countries and Austria led the way with school reopenings earlier this month, partly on the grounds that children appear less susceptible to the disease. But there are still worries that Monday's wave of reopenings has come too soon. French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to reopen schools has sparked criticism, even in regions where the number of cases is especially low, over fears it will cause a new spike in infections. Italy and Spain, hit hard by the coronavirus, are among at least half a dozen countries that have cancelled class until September. Britain has said some primary school students may be able to return from June. In Greece, where only students in the final year of secondary school are returning on Monday, there were similar worries. "I won't go. Most of the pupils I know won't go," Anastasia Kyriazis, a 17-year-old pupil from Nea Manolada in western Greece, told AFP. "If we were to return we would attend classes for about a month. I prefer to stay home and study ahead of the exams." At the Ninth Athens high school in the heart of the Greek capital few students were wearing masks. Small groups of students appeared happy to see each other again after the break. In Switzerland, the atmosphere was similar to after the long summer holidays -- albeit with schools reopening with half groups, and with extra hygiene measures and social distancing. At one Geneva school some small children were in tears as they had to leave their parents' arms, an AFP reporter saw. Parents weren't allowed to go into the playground with their children, and police standing nearby enforced the rules. - 'We're ready' - Many schools were also returning across the Balkans. In Croatia, nurseries and schools for children aged six to 10 were allowed back on an optional basis, for example if both parents work outside home and have no other means to take care of their child. Class sizes are also halved. However the move sparked a heated debate as the responsibility was put on parents, while many warned that it would be impossible for children and teachers to follow social distancing regulations. Serbian primary schools and nurseries were also reopening on Monday but on a similarly optional basis and with restrictions. Children also required a medical certificate to return. Olivera Zubic, 37, who runs a small private primary school in Belgrade, said around a third of her pupils were expected to return. "We've made all the preparations and the parents will come at fixed times, one couple by one. They will be met by a nurse who will measure their temperature and their childrens'," she said. "We're ready but it remains to be seen how it will work in practice." burs-dk/jhe/erc/pma Some students in Athens wore masks in class. Greece reopened high schools for final-year pupils, with a reduced number of students per classroom Netherlands Primary and Secondary Education and Media Minister Arie Slob greets students through a window at a school in Zwolle Teachers at a school on France's Groix island attended a meeting on Monday to organise its reopening Maybe youve decided to learn a foreign language during lockdown and have downloaded a language app like Duolingo, which saw its numbers double in March to around 30 million monthly users. You may now be able say useful phrases, like My horse eats eggs and My sister is not in the park, in French, German, Italian or Spanish. But perhaps youre looking for something a little more, er, conversational? Heres where another great lockdown pastime streaming comes in. Services such as Netflix play host to hundreds of foreign-language films and television shows, including cartoons, cheesy rom-coms and award-winning movies. For absolute beginners, watching with English subtitles should help you pick up the sounds and rhythms of the new language, an important part of learning. If youre a more advanced learner, switching the subtitles to the original language will offer new vocabulary, colloquialisms and the differences between formal and informal modes of address. (For foreign films and shows that play dubbed in English, you can usually switch back to the original language.) Searching streaming services for foreign-language offerings can be frustrating. Netflix, for example, often yields only a part of its library and a glut of mediocre movies. Heres a selection of excellent television series and a few movie gems in French, German, Italian and Spanish the most popular languages on Duolingo to get you through the next weeks. All links are for American Netflix libraries. High alert in J&K as JeM plots revenge strikes, while LeT looks to recruit India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 11: There is a high alert in Jammu and Kashmir, after the Jaish-e-Mohammad issued a call to carry out a major strike. The JeM directed its cadres to carry out a strike on the Indian Army and para-military forces. An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia the attack was ordered to avenge the killing of top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, Riyaz Naikoo. The officer explained that the killing of Naikoo has demoralised the terrorists in the Valley and hence this attack is also aimed at boosting their morale. Riyaz Naikoos killing a shock: Syed Salahuddin With several terrorists being gunned down, the JeM would also be looking to recruit more persons into the outfit. It is similar in the case of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba too which has launched a new group called The Resistance Force in the Valley. The TRF is a propaganda wing of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and is aimed at roping in the youth in the Valley, the officer cited above said. The first time that the agencies got to know about this group was in March 2020, when the police busted a module of The Resistance Front." The module was busted on May 23, 2020, at Sopore and it was found back then, it was linked to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. While the module was busted, its activities on the social media and Telegram channel continues unabated. A senior security official tells OneIndia that this group is the Lashkar-e-Tayiba which is operating under a new name. It is an age old trick of these groups to change names so that there is an element of surprise for the security agencies. Eliminating Naikoo: How the math went wrong for this dreaded terrorist The group, however, indulges more in propaganda activity. On the groups, the members speak about the need to increase the resistance in Jammu and Kashmir, especially after the Centre on August 5, 2019, withdrew the special status. The group also known as the JK Fighters is very active on social media. During the raid in Sopore, the police arrested Ahtisham Farooq Malik, Shafqat Ali Tagoo, Musaib Hassan Bhat and Nisar Ahmad Ganai. A police official who questioned the four said that they were reporting to their handler in Pakistan. He goes by the name Andrew Jones and on the group, he operates under the ID of Khan Bilal. The group is called as TRF/JK Fighters-The Resistance Front. Officials say that the group is used to recruit local youth for terror-related activities, especially in north Kashmir. There are messages on the group, which clearly instigate the locals into taking up arms and fighting the Indian forces. The busting of the module in Sopore came in the nick of time. The persons who were arrested had received a consignment of arms from one Kabeer Ahmed Lone. They had collected it and handed it over to Farooq Malik in Kupwara. They were also in the process of receiving a consignment of six AK-47 rifles. During the interrogation, the arrested terrorists said that the plan was on accumulating the arms. They had also drawn up a hit list of prominent personalities, including politicians and were planning targeted hits, investigations also revealed. The importance of eliminating Kashmirs dreaded terrorist Riyaz Naikoo Intelligence Bureau officials say that this group has cropped up for a variety of reasons. The Hizbul Mujahideen, the local outfit in J&K is on the verge of a shut down. With most of its top leaders killed by the security forces, the group has not been able to draw inspiration among the youth. New Delhi, May 11 : Over 330 Indians stranded in London, reached Delhi late on Monday evening on board a special Air India flight under the 'Vande Bharat' evacuation mission. The flight landed at the national capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport around 10.45 p.m. During the fourth day of the Vande Bharat Mission, both Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express brought back passengers from the UK, US and the Gulf states to several cities in the country. These flights are a part of the massive evacuation mission amid the coronavirus pandemic to bring back Indians stranded abroad. Under the Vande Bharat Mission, Air India and Air India Express have been undertaking evacuation flights starting May 7. The Air India group would operate a total of 64 flights and bring back over 14,000 stranded Indians from 12 countries under the mission. Tamekah Bost, owner of the Better Box, which makes egg rolls, operated a food truck, a pick-up location, and was opening a sit down location all before the pandemic. She's now doing only pick-up food orders, and is still waiting on a PPP loan. Read more Tamekah Bost, owner of the Philly cult-following food truck BetterBox, which makes artisanal egg rolls, applied for every loan and grant I could think of, she said. She and her employees are still waiting. But Im going to prove to everyone that we can make it without a loan, without any financial help. Because we started from nothing, said the 25-year-old Philadelphia native. She applied for a $54,000 loan through the federal Paycheck Protection Program online and her application is still under review, according to the latest email she received from Bank of America. BetterBoxs story is playing out elsewhere in Pennsylvania and other large metro areas in states hardest-hit by the coronavirus. Some of the severely affected states such as New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are getting fewer PPP loans than some Mountain and Midwest states on a per-small-business basis, according to a new report. In a May 6 research report issued by the New York Federal Reserve Bank, an analysis of the Paycheck Protection Programs first early round of $350 billion found that some states are receiving more help financially than others. And its the banking relationships that made the difference. The researchers used the number of coronavirus cases as a proxy for the economic impact from COVID-19 in a specific state. But the report found no statistically significant relationship between the severity of the economic impact of COVID-19 measured both in terms of cases and unemployment claims and the share of small businesses getting PPP loans. In New York state, site of the nations largest coronavirus outbreak, less than 20% of small businesses were approved for PPP loans while in Pennsylvania, between 25% and 33% of small firms were approved. By contrast, over 55% of small businesses in Nebraska are getting PPP funding. In the first round of PPP loans, documented reports showed that banks prioritized businesses with existing lending relationships to save money and avoid fraudulent applications. In the second round of PPP loans, which the SBA started approving on April 27, the SBA has distributed $175 billion in loans to more than 2.2 million small businesses. The agencys regional administrator, Steve Bulger, told The Inquirer on Thursday that theres $100 billion more left. Food services and restaurants need the loan money most and the New York Fed found that theyre receiving it: The more affected industries, such as retail trade and accommodation and food services, are receiving more PPP funding than industries that likely lost less revenues, such as information, finance and insurance, and educational services. There are, however, exceptions. One sector that received disproportionately more PPP funding is construction, classified as essential business in many states, making it more immune to the social-distancing measures enacted to contain COVID-19, the New York Fed wrote. U.S. Chamber/MetLife Study Nearly half (47%) of small businesses report that (PPP) funding is critical in keeping their business open, according to a new U.S. Chamber of Commerce/MetLife joint survey. Bost is among the 23% of business owners who have either applied and not received funding or have unsuccessfully tried to apply. "Small business owners are the foundation of our communities and they employ nearly half the American workforce. So many are struggling right now to keep their workers employed, said Tom Sullivan, vice president of small business policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. With the latest round of PPP funds nearly exhausted, it is essential that we identify ways to step up for Main Street and find a solution for additional funding measures. Applying through small community banks and other non-bank lenders appears to be the better route. States with larger shares of community banks such as North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Iowa, as measured by the percentage of deposits in those banks, had a larger share of PPP loans. The percentage of deposits in community banks in those four states ranged between 35% and 50%. By contrast, that percentage of deposits in community banks was under 10% for New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, among many other states. Shasnettay Warner, owner of Tiny Tech Learning Lab day-care center in West Oak Lane, applied for a PPP loan as soon as it was available. I stalked the website until Pennsylvania was added and reached out to the governors office. But I never heard anything back. The SBA, of course, had a high volume. I was stuck. I wasnt sure what would happen. She then called the Womens Opportunities Resource Center (WORC) and applied through the nonprofit for the PPP. I had a relationship with them in the past I had gotten a line of credit with them so this was a blessing. If it hadnt been for WORC, Id have been out of luck. ASK US: Do you have a question about the coronavirus and how it affects your health, work and life? Ask our reporters. Shes expecting $47,500. I have about 13 employees who are still on staff. There were a couple who found jobs in the interim. Its a very small business. We have a max of about 15 staff members, not including myself. I dont take a paycheck on the business. I still work a 9-to-5 job at GlaxoSmith Kline where Im an associate scientist in R&D in King of Prussia, she said. Bost of the Better Box is still working hard at 8601 Frankford Ave. for take-out orders. Her signature salmon egg rolls and cheesesteak egg rolls sell out in a few hours. Currently she has four full-time employees and five part-time, and wants to hire for a second take-out location which she expects to open May 23. And without a PPP loan. As a small business, we did not receive any funding, federal or city grants or even loans to offer assistance during these troubling times, she said. What we did receive was an overwhelming show of support from our amazing customers and that in itself has been our saving grace. Covid-19 and the road to catostrophe View(s): The Presidents Secretary has asked all public sector employees to donate their May salary, or a part of it, to reduce the Budget deficit. The Government, he beseeched, needed at least Rs.100 billion to pay State workers their salaries and allowances. This looks like an administration in crisis. The poor are clamouring for a trifling Rs 5,000 promised to them to soften the blow of lost incomes. They are all lined up in queues falling at the feet of their local political types to receive this handout. Private donors are shovelling money into the COVID-19 Fund. The economy has come to a grinding halt and nobody, not even the most erudite experts in the world, can say what will come next. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called this a crisis like no other. But at the Highways Ministry and the Road Development Authority (RDA), furtive negotiations have been taking place under cover of an endless, debilitating curfew. The same administration that is now pleading with their employees to give up their salaries is forging deals for billions and billions of rupees (all borrowed) worth of expressway contracts. In the annals of power, even in the midst of a raging pandemic when everyones attention is otherwise diverted, its business as usualfor a select few. Handpicked officials are in various stages of negotiations with handpicked companies in relation to three sections of the Central Expressway (CEP I, III and IV), the Ruwanpura Expressway and the Eastern Expressway from Mattala to Pottuvil. In March, immediately after the dissolution of Parliament, the caretaker Cabinet approved the borrowing of Rs. 31.7 billion to kick start CEP I. These are counterpart funds which the last administration failed to raise. As a result, the first stage was stuck after the signing of agreements with M/s Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. Since then, MCC has agreed to meet 7.5 percent of that instalment but this still leaves the Government with significant borrowingswhich the caretaker Cabinet has cheerily approved. Talks are ongoing with another Chinese company and its local agents for CEP III, which is the most complicated and expensive section of the expressway. Earlier talks with a Japanese bank and insurer failed because Sri Lanka, among other things, objected to the anti-corruption clauses they proposed. Favoured parties have also submitted their proposals for the Ruwanpura Expressway while a feasibility study is to be commissioned for the Eastern Expressway. Despite Cabinet decisions having been taken at least twice on the matter, the public were not informed. It was only this week, after the Sunday Times exposed the story, did the caretaker Cabinet reveal it has allowed the borrowing of Rs. 15 billion to develop 105 kms of roads. The secrecy is galling, but not unfamiliar. The question is: Why now? What is the rush? There is no oversight by Parliament; the media and the public are preoccupied with the COVID-19 pandemic, the perilous state of their livelihoods and, in many areas, hunger; and there is a serious constitutional deadlock brewing. If there are feasibility reports for these roadsincidentally, the study for CEP III was never completedthey are no longer valid. And now is not the time for new ones. The local and global economy have changed and a new order is in the offing. And should any Government contemplate further borrowings when Sri Lankas debt repayment obligations are already substantialestimated at US$ 17 billion from 2020 to 2023? The next Euro bond maturity of US$ 1 billion is scheduled for September this year, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) points out. Moreover, the countrys refinancing risk and borrowing cost are likely increased due to downgrading of its outlook to negative by two international rating agencies and investors retreat to safe havens in times of crisis. The World Bank has predicted that COVID-19 will lead to a contraction in Sri Lankas economy. Periods of economic inactivity and disruptions will trigger jobs and earnings losses in 2020, it says. Poverty is expected to increase, especially if the outbreak is protracted. With social infrastructure priorities stacking up and the wellbeing of citizens in serious jeopardy, how responsible is the Government taking such a course? Road connectivity is essential for economic development, but how prudent are Governments in approving some of these fancy projects? At least some of them are gleaming, wide, beautiful, with overpasses and underpassesbut still have more cows (and cow dung) than vehicles. The paramount issue is that the Government does not have money. It says so itself. Now it is critical to prioritise projects. Transport experts say that the post-COVID-19 normal should be less vehicles, less traffic, more space for people. The expressways will require significant resettlement. And moving people into densely packed housing like flats is no longer viable. And is a transitional Cabinet allowed to make costly decisions binding a future Parliament? Without even a Budget approved by Parliament? Are these okay? There is no question that bids or negotiations at this time will result in uncompetitive pricing, because bidders will add risk premiums owing to the prevailing situation. Which brings us to another question: Is this really about developing roads? Or the fat commissions that come when agreements are signed and advances are paid while nobody is looking? The importance of free media Last Sunday, May 3, marked World Press Freedom Day. The event passed by without the usual commemoration of one of the worlds most dangerous professions. The statistics over the last few years are sobering. Scores of journalists have made the supreme sacrifice, especially covering war zones. Sri Lanka was no exception. This year, however, COVID-19 has taken the lives of at least 64 media personnel around the world, so far. As much as the health and care workers, and security personnel are in the frontline of the battle, so too are journalists. Newsrooms around the world have had to make quick adjustments and adapt to the situation. They have had to ensure there were no lockdowns on the dissemination of credible information to an anxious, confused, and concerned public. The challenge facing the media is bad news for societies. Independent news outlets are key to helping the citizenry understand the crisis and protect themselves and their communities. The Chinese authorities came down with a heavy hand on early whistleblowers and are facing the consequences of their actions. Chinas statistics on COVID-19 are being questioned because the countrys lack of credibility on press freedom is acute. Let that not be the case in Sri Lanka. [May 11, 2020] COVID-19 Impact and Recovery Analysis | Business Continuity Management Solutions Market 2020-2024 | Rising Incidence of Cyberattacks to Boost Growth | Technavio Technavio has been monitoring the business continuity management solutions market and it is poised to grow by USD 387.00 million during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost 15% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005592/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Business Continuity Management Solutions Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Dell (News - Alert) Technologies Inc., International Business Machines Corp., LogicManager Inc., MetricStream Inc., Microsoft Corp., NAVEX Global Inc., Quantivate LLC, SAI Global Pty. Ltd., SAP (News - Alert) SE, and X2nSat Inc. are some of the major market participants. The rising incidence of cyberattacks will offer immense growth opportunities. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Rising incidence of cyberattacks has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. Business Continuity Management Solutions Market 2020-2024: Segmentation Business Continuity Management Solutions Market is segmented as below: End-user Large Enterprise SME Geography North America Europe APAC South America MEA To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR43583 Business Continuity Management Solutions Market 2020-2024: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our business continuity management solutions market report covers the following areas: Business Continuity Management Solutions Market Size Business Continuity Management Solutions Market Trends Business Continuity Management Solutions Market Industry Analysis This study identifies growing demand for business continuity management solutions from various industries as one of the prime reasons driving the business continuity management solutions market growth during the next few years. Business Continuity Management Solutions Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of vendors operating in the business continuity management solutions market, including some of the vendors such as Dell Technologies Inc., International Business Machines Corp., LogicManager Inc., MetricStream Inc., Microsoft Corp., NAVEX Global Inc., Quantivate LLC, SAI (News - Alert) Global Pty. Ltd., SAP SE, and X2nSat Inc. 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Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Business Continuity Management Solutions Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist business continuity management solutions market growth during the next five years Estimation of the business continuity management solutions market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the business continuity management solutions market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of business continuity management solutions market vendors Table Of Contents: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2019 Market outlook: Forecast for 2019 - 2024 Five Forces Analysis Five forces summary Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by End-user Market segments Comparison by end-user Large enterprise - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 SME - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by End-user Customer Landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison North America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 APAC - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 South America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Market Drivers Market Challenges Market Trends Vendor Landscape Overview Vendor landscape Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors Dell Technologies Inc. International Business Machines Corp. LogicManager Inc. MetricStream Inc. Microsoft (News - Alert) Corp. NAVEX Global Inc. Quantivate LLC SAI Global Pty. Ltd. SAP SE X2nSat Inc. Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005592/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] By Lee Min-hyung Vehicles were among the export sectors hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic for the first 10 days in May, data from the Korea Customs Service showed Monday. According to the customs authority, the nation's vehicle exports dropped 80.4 percent from May 1 to 10, compared with the same period last year, as economic shocks from the global spread of COVID-19 continue to remain serious. Petroleum products and wireless telecommunication devices followed, with their exports plunging 75.6 percent and 35.9 percent, respectively, during the same period. Semiconductor exports also dropped 17.8 percent. The shipbuilding industry was the only sector whose exports rose due to orders for large cargo ships during the period. The sharp decline in major export items drove down total exports, which came in at $6.9 billion, a drop of 46.3 percent from the same period last year. Data indicated the pandemic is worsening the nation's export activities. In April, exports plunged 24.3 percent from the previous year. By regions, Korea's exports to major economic powerhouses such as China, the United States and Japan reported a two-digit decline in early May. Exports to China, the biggest trading partner of Korea, declined 29.4 percent, while exports to the U.S. reported a bigger drop of 54.8 percent for the first 10 days in May. Exports to the European Union also fell 50.6 percent, and those to Vietnam also reported a similar level of decline at 52.2 percent. The export shock was due to virus-induced disruptions in global supply chains. With the coronavirus shock bringing a longer-than-expected panic to the global economy, concerns are rising that the situation may get worse in the next few months. "The economy will suffer huge setbacks in the second quarter due to the virus shock, as exports in May are likely to remain weak following the drop in April," Yonsei University economist Sung Tae-yoon said. In Korea, new confirmed cases of the virus have been on a steep decline, but this is not the case in most Western countries such as the U.S. and Europe which is casting a murky outlook for a near-term rebound in Korea's exports. Sung went on to share his dim outlook regarding a rebound. "The government cannot play any part in revitalizing falling exports at a time when most countries that import Korean products are reeling from the virus pandemic," he said. "For now, the best thing the government can do is to provide financial support and tax benefits to virus-hit local companies." The weakening overseas shipments are also expected to deal a severe blow to the nation's GDP growth in 2020 due to its export-driven industrial structure. Global ratings firms have also revised down their GDP growth forecast for Korea this year. Fitch Ratings estimated Korea's GDP will decrease by 1.2 percent in 2020, as the global spread of the coronavirus will continue to disrupt economic activities and financial markets here and abroad. Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also shared the same outlook that the local economy would contract 1.2 percent this year in the aftermath of the virus-driven economic challenges facing the world. Hilal Computers, a leader in business consulting and digital transformation in the GCC, is introducing Elixir MSP managed services to Bahrain and around the GCC. Elixir MSP by Hilal Computers is provided as a monthly flat-rate subscription service, designed to alleviate the stresses of enterprise infrastructure management, improve business agility and provide access to field experts for support, a statement says. The service is created as a solution to the new dilemma clients experiencing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of our clients are facing the twin challenges of needing to cut costs while adapting to the fluctuations and uncertainties required of businesses in todays market. This is where our managed service Elixir MSP comes in, says Roshan George, Hilal Computers Commercial Director. Enterprise environments are the backbone for facilitating an organisations infrastructure, what we provide with Elixir MSP is an opportunity for our clients to maximise their productivity through highly cost-effective services that include, life cycle management, helpdesk management, infrastructure, data backup, provisioned services and security. George continues: By choosing our Elixir MSP service, clients will be able to focus on improving operations and services and accelerating business agility. Elixir MSP is the key to providing the opportunity to increase and optimize user productivity with cost-effective scalability, predictable monthly expense model, and provided expert support. Part of our focus in launching Elixir MSP is ensuring our clients are armed with new tools and solutions in order to be recovery-ready and equipped to adapt to changes in the business landscape," he says. Elixir comes in four different tier packages (Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze) with the package of services, storage capacity and number of users included varying in each tier, concludes George. A 10-4 routine provides at least part-time employment for millions who have been fired or sent on leave without pay. These jobs prevent the devastating, and often long-lasting, mental and physical impacts of unemployment. For those living on cash, there would be four days to make a living, reducing the economic necessity to disregard lockdown altogether. Business bankruptcies would also be reduced, speeding up eventual economic recovery. The cyclic strategy is easy to explain and to enforce. It is equitable in terms of who gets to go back to work. It applies at any scale: a school, a firm, a town, a state. A region that uses the cyclic strategy is protected: Infections coming from the outside cannot spread widely if the reproduction number is less than one. It is also compatible with all other countermeasures being developed. Workers can, and should still, use masks and distancing while at work. This proposal is not predicated, however, on large-scale testing, which is not yet available everywhere in the United States and may never be available in large parts of the world. It can be started as soon as a steady decline of cases indicates that lockdown has been effective. The cyclic strategy should be part of a comprehensive exit strategy, including self-quarantine by those with symptoms, contact tracing and isolation, and protection of risk groups. The cyclic strategy can be tested in limited regions for specific trial periods, even a month. If infections rates grow, it can be adjusted to fewer work days. Conversely, if things are going well, additional work days can be added. In certain scenarios, only four or five lockdown days in each two-week cycle could still prevent resurgence. The coronavirus epidemic is a formidable foe, but it is not unbeatable. By scheduling our activities intelligently, in a way that accounts for the viruss intrinsic dynamics, we can defeat it more rapidly, and accelerate a full return to work, school and other activities. Uri Alon and Ron Milo are professors of computational and systems biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Eran Yashiv is a professor of economics at Tel Aviv University and at the London School of Economics Center for Macroeconomics. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. Houstons dogged efforts to build a technology and innovation community made little progress in 2019, with the tech sector adding fewer than 1,000 jobs and making only a minor impact on the citys economy, according to a study by a national tech industry advocacy group. In its Cyberstates 2020 study, CompTIA found the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area added just 826 tech jobs in 2019. The region came in 12th in U.S. metropolitan markets in terms of overall employment rankings, but only 38th in terms of tech jobs added. Tech accounts for just 5.4 percent of the goods and services produced in Houstons economy, low compared to other cities, according to the study, which was release in late April. PLAYING IT SAFE: Tech accelerators stick with virtual services, for now The report, however, may not account for some tech jobs that are embedded in the areas more traditional business sectors, including energy and healthcare. Tim Herbert, executive vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA, conceded that including those jobs in the report can be one of the challenges in painting a picture of tech in a market such as Houston. CompTIA There is a lot of blurring of the lines across many industry sectors, Herbert said. A lot of these non-technology companies are developing their own technologies. The latest study shows Houston with 235,802 technology jobs in 2019, compared to 234,976 in 2018. But Houston did better when viewed through a longer lens: From 2010 to 2019, the area added 25,904 tech jobs, a 12.3 percent increase. The 2019 data is preliminary, CompTIA spokesperson Steven Ostrowski said, and will be updated with government statistics in the fall. The revision to 2018 numbers showed the region gained tech jobs from 2017-2018 rather than posting a loss, as suggested by preliminary data. We expected to see a large gain in the 227,000 jobs that were published in last years report, and we did see that growth, Susan Davenport, senior vice president of economic development at the Greater Houston Partnership, said in a statement. In fact, Houston saw the 13th-highest gain in jobs when you compare the two reports year-to-year more than 8,000 jobs. We expect that increase to continue, even if it takes those numbers a little while to surface in official statistics. CompTIA, which offers certification programs for tech workers and conducts research into the sector nationally, found that Texas as a whole fared better. The state ranked second behind California in overall tech employment and in the number of sector jobs added last year, with an additional 27,466 new positions. Dallas was the Texas city that did best in the study, adding 9,932 new tech jobs for a 2.8 percent increase in 2019, ranking seventh in net technology employment and sixth in new jobs added. In Dallas, a hub for telecommunications companies such as AT&T and technology manufacturing, tech accounts for 12.4 percent of the regional economy, giving it a rank of 14th among U.S. metro areas. Austin, which is often thought of as Texas tech capital, lagged Dallas with 7,131 jobs added for a 4.5 percent increase last year, but ranked 10th in terms of net tech jobs added. Tech in Austin makes for a bigger chunk of that citys economy at 23.8 percent, coming in fourth for economic impact rank. Release Notes: Get Dwight Silvermans weekly tech newsletter in your inbox Marc Nathan, who counsels startups in Austin but worked for three years with startups at the old Houston Technology Center, echoed CompTIAs Herbert that Houstons tech landscape may mask whats going on. Oil and gas is an old industry, and its still involved in getting something out of the ground and making it useful, Nathan said, even though those businesses may be hiring tech workers to improve their efficiencies. What a lot of people dont realize is that technology actually means fewer jobs, he said. The whole point of tech is to automate things. Technology as a whole is designed to take away jobs. Although its not included in the report, Herbert shared some background data on technology-related job postings in Houston in 2019, supplied by Burning Glass Labor Insight. The 25 companies with the most tech job listings included nine in the energy industry, among them Baker Hughes, Halliburton, KBR, Shell and ExxonMobil. In total, the top 25 posted 8,575 tech-related job listings in 2019. Houston has been aggressively seeking to nurture and build a technology community over the past few years. A collaboration between the city and Rice University is behind a drive to build an innovation district south of Midtown, centered around the old Sears building located there. Construction continues even during the coronavirus lockdown to convert it into a hub for tech activities called the Ion. dwight.silverman @chron.com twitter.com/dsilverman houstonchronicle.com /techburger UC President Janet Napolitano recommends suspending the SAT and ACT as admissions requirements, proposing instead a plan to make them optional for two years. (Astrid Riecken / Getty Images) In a decision that could lead to a shake-up of the nations standardized testing landscape, University of California President Janet Napolitano is recommending the suspension of the SAT and ACT tests as an admissions requirement until 2024 and possible elimination after that. In a proposal posted Monday, Napolitano is recommending a complex and unusual five-year plan that would make the tests optional for two years and eliminate testing requirements for California students in Years 3 and 4. Then, in Year 5, UC would move toward a standardized assessment developed specifically for the 10-campus system. The plan would produce rich data on which students get admitted under each strategy and how they perform in college. It could also widen access to a UC education for more disadvantaged students. But the recommendation raises concerns about how campuses would implement different entry standards for different classes. Napolitanos decision could tip the scales against the tests among Board of Regents members, who are scheduled to vote on the controversial issue next week. Her plan is not completely in line with the Academic Senate, which recently voted unanimously to keep the tests for five years while alternatives are researched. But Senate Chair Kum-Kum Bhavnani expressed appreciation that Napolitano adopted many key recommendations in a faculty task force report on testing, including development of a new assessment for the UC system. "The Senate is pleased that the president's recommendations are in line with the spirit of our recommendations," Bhavnani said. "We look forward to working with the university to develop a new content-based test." Most campus admission officers, however, regard SAT and ACT scores as useful tools to help assess applicants and will be left with the task of figuring out how to evaluate tens of thousands of applications without them. The UC system has temporarily suspended the testing requirement for fall 2021 applicants due to test cancellations triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. But campuses were expected to reinstate the requirement for subsequent admission cycles after ACT and the College Board, which owns the SAT, announced plans to restart testing later this year. Story continues A UC decision to permanently drop the testing requirements would have an enormous impact on the future of standardized testing because of the size and prestige of the public research university. Four-fifths of UC applicants take the SAT, making the system the largest single university source of customers for the College Board. The six universities that receive the most applications in the nation are UC campuses in Los Angeles, San Diego, Irvine, Berkeley, Santa Barbara and Davis. Last year, the UC system received 215,000 undergraduate applications. Napolitano has identified standardized testing as a top issue facing the UC system and said regents needed to get it right because of the national implications of their action. UCs decision a half-century ago to require the SAT propelled the test to a place of national prominence, and a move to eliminate the requirement in the early 1990s prompted the College Board to revise the exam to satisfy UC objections about its bias and relevance for admission reviews. Now, however, the momentum against the tests seems inexorable, with Napolitano joining other prominent UC critics, including board Chair John A. Perez, Vice Chair Cecilia Estolano, Regent Eloy Ortiz Oakley, Provost Michael Brown and UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ. Critics argue that the SAT and ACT are heavily influenced by race, income and education levels of parents; question their value in predicting college success and express concern about inequitable access to test prep. Those concerns have prompted more than 1,000 colleges and universities to drop the testing requirement. A lawsuit against the UC system also calls for the requirement to be dropped. But the College Board and ACT have strongly pushed back, saying the tests are not biased and reflect existing inequities in access to quality education. They also say that standardized tests offer a uniform and useful yardstick for use, in tandem with grades, in assessing students in high schools across the country. Napolitano sought to craft a compromise between test supporters and opponents by eliminating the SAT and ACT requirements immediately but returning the UC system to a standardized assessment in five years. A key constituency is the Academic Senate, which sets admissions requirements. Earlier this year, a Senate task force recommended that the university system keep the SAT and ACT for now while researching alternatives, including going test-optional and ultimately developing UC's own assessment. That report was unanimously backed by the Senate assembly, made up of faculty leaders and campus representatives, 51-0 with one abstention. Faculty were concerned that UC leaders would reject their report and usurp their authority in the fierce politics of the testing debate. But Napolitano appears to have successfully allayed many of their concerns. Napolitano is proposing that UC experts launch a feasibility study this summer to identify a new test that assesses what the university expects students to master to demonstrate readiness for college. She said UC would consult with K-12 educators, test experts, UC faculty and California State University, which might also use the new assessment. If no test can be created in time for fall 2025 applicants, use of the SAT and ACT would be eliminated completely for California students. That's the one recommendation that gives Senate members pause, Bhavnani said. Under Napolitano's recommendation, students may choose to take the SAT and ACT until 2025 in order to qualify for scholarships, determine UC course placement or secure eligibility for admissions in one distinct category. Applicants from other states and countries could continue to use those tests, or possibly a new UC assessment. In its own recommendation for a UC assessment, the faculty task force estimated it could take nine years to develop and some experts have put the potential cost at $100 million. However, Li Cai, a UCLA statistician, psychologist and testing expert, has said that UC could move more quickly and share the cost by marshaling a national coalition to develop a state-of-the art assessment within five years. A new assessment could potentially begin with ninth-graders, he said, analyzing their growth throughout high school, and use newer testing technologies to measure not only academic knowledge, but other valued qualities such as curiosity, resilience and collaborative problem-solving skills. Others, however, favor a single exam to minimize testing. Napolitano's recommendation to go test-optional for two years also is likely to gain faculty endorsement. Although the task force explicitly rejected a test-optional policy for now, Bhavnani said the COVID-19 crisis had since forced UC to adopt one for fall 2021 applicants. The Senate was probably going to recommend extending that policy for fall 2022 applicants as well, Bhavnani said, which would dovetail with Napolitano's recommendation. And while the Senate did not endorse test-blind admissions meaning that UC would not use standardized test scores at all in admissions decisions even if submitted faculty members seemed open to Napolitano's recommendation to try that strategy for two years. Bhavani said it was an "intriguing" idea that she expected the Senate would want to discuss further. Several campus admissions officers, for their part, have said they would prefer no test to an optional testing policy because they were concerned about administering different standards for different applicants and fairly evaluating students who don't submit scores compared to those who do. Napolitano also asked faculty leaders for additional analysis about the reasons why UC students do not fully reflect the state's diversity. In its February review, the task force found that the biggest reasons for the mismatch was not the SAT, but that smaller proportions of disadvantaged students took the full suite of required college preparatory courses and applied to UC. In what it called surprising findings, the Academic Senate's review found that the SAT test actually helps disadvantaged students gain entry to the selective UC system. That's because the way UC uses standardized test scores substantially corrects for bias by weighting them less heavily than grades and considering them as only one of 14 factors in a comprehensive review process, the report found. Campuses adjust for socioeconomic differences and admit disadvantaged students with lower test scores compared to more advantaged peers. Other researchers, however, have criticized the task force's findings as erroneous. Some faculty members are pushing to replace the SAT and ACT with the state test used to assess K-12 students, known as Smarter Balanced, because they say research shows it predicts college performance equally well, with less bias against disadvantaged students. The task force rejected proposals to use Smarter Balanced, citing concerns over the exam's suitability for UC, test security and viability for applicants from other states and countries. In addition, Cai said, state data show wide racial disparities on Smarter Balanced test performance. Napolitano, however, left the door open for Smarter Balanced to be retooled for UC admissions, calling for experts to consider that test in efforts to "modify or create" a new assessment. The UC president also asked the Senate to work with administrators to determine appropriate admissions requirements for out-of-state and international students beginning in 2025, when the SAT and ACT could be eliminated for Californians. To win admission to UC, nonresidents must "compare favorably" to California students, which typically has been evaluated in part with standardized test scores. Everybody notices that there's a little bit of Princess Diana in Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. Despite the two have similarities, the late princess's former butler, Paul Burrell, believes that the two women in Prince Harry's life would clash, if Princess Diana was still alive. "I think, possibly, they would have clashed," Burrell told Closer Magazine, "I imagine it would have been two strong, independent women with different views on things - it would have been a battle between Meghan's way and Diana's way." Burrell worked for Lady Diana Spencer for over ten years, up until she died in 1997. Though Meghan is no carbon copy of Princess Diana, the former butler believed that the Duchess of Sussex is savvier coming into the marriage, as compared to Prince Harry's mom. He believes that the former "Suits" star is always looking for attention and a career-boost. "I think the main difference between them is that Meghan has a game plan." For Meghan, the former employer of the late princess said that Meghan might also be courting the press, but it's more for her career. "In years to come, we'll see her on red carpets with A-list friends, in films perhaps." But Princess Diana wasn't like that. "She wasn't interested in self-promotion." Princess Diana was giving herself a voice, and at that time, was "young and naive." "Diana did the book with Andrew Morton and courted the press over the years because she didn't have a voice. And her strong-mindedness meant she cared, and she felt the people of the country had a right to know what had gone on behind closed doors." Paul Burrell also believes that the Duke of Sussex was attracted to the former actress because of her similarities to her mom. "Harry went for and married Meghan because she's like Diana." He concluded, "Both women who would always stand up for what they believe in and wouldn't be pushovers." In another interview with Paul Burrell in January, he believed that Meghan Markle still had no clue what she was in forwhen she married Prince Harry and became a member of the royal family. Speaking to "Good Morning Britain," he told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid that nobody can understand the world of the royal family because "it's a very strange world, and a very strange family to marry into." "It's very difficult for the outside world to understand what it's like to live in a palace. You don't just marry one person. You marry the whole family." He explained that since Prince Harry is sixth in line to the throne, he will not be able to make a massive difference to the monarchy. Burrell shared that maybe it was something that Meghan Markle was looking forward to in the future. However, he defended the decision of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex when Piers Morgan said they didn't want to do boring stuff. "She had no idea what she was getting herself into. Nobody can." READ MORE: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry Downfall: Hollywood Does Not Want These 'Newbies' AT All A man was struck and killed on May 7 by a commercial jet landing on a runaway at an airport in Austin, Texas, authorities said. The pilot of Southwest Airlines Flight 1392, a Boeing 737 arriving from Dallas, reported seeing a person on Runway 17R at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, shortly after the jet touched down at 8:12 p.m., according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA said the driver of an airport operations vehicle later found the body on the runway. Airport spokesman Bryce Dubee said officials are working to confirm that and determine the events leading up to his death. The Austin American Statesman has reported that the man did not have a security badge and was not authorized to be on the landing strip. It has not been confirmed whether the man was employed in some other role at the airport, the Statesman reported. The airport said in posts on Twitter that it is working with the Austin Police Department on the investigation and that maintenance crews worked early on May 8 preparing to reopen the runway. No further information, including the identity of the man who died, was immediately available. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Aviation As the Iraqi parliament approved the majority of former intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimis ministerial picks on Thursday, it effectively paved the way for a new phase in Iraqi politics with him as prime minister. The appointment of al-Kadhimi ended a political deadlock that left the country without a fully functioning government for more than five months. Two previous leaders had failed to form a new cabinet because of rival wrangling after Adel Abdul Mahdi stepped down in November amid mass anti-government protests. But al-Kadhimis ascent to the premiership has not been a smooth ride. By the time he finally addressed parliament on Thursday, it was only after a long and complicated process of backdoor negotiations with Iraqs various political blocs and party leaders. The rival factions had refused to agree on al-Kadhimis proposed names, forcing him to change his candidate lists at least three times ahead of the vote. Still, some blocs boycotted the May 7 session that ran more than three hours behind schedule because of last-minute consultations in parliaments cafeteria. But al-Kadhimi, 53, began his term, albeit without a full government. Five of his 20 candidates were rejected and two key posts ministers of oil and foreign relations remained empty. Filling these ministerial posts, however, is far from al-Kadhimis only challenge. The former journalist came to power amid three major crises: plunging oil prices that have caused a steep budget deficit and potential economic catastrophe; the coronavirus pandemic that Iraqs fragile healthcare system has struggled to cope with; and strong popular protests that returned to the streets after a short lull because of COVID-19-related curfews. Mass protests The most immediate challenge facing al-Kadhimi appears to be the resumption of mass anti-government demonstrations in the capital, Baghdad, and several other cities especially in Iraqs south, including Nasiriya, Basra, Al-Kut and Diwaniya. Since Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators marched back to the streets and tried to occupy bridges and public squares as they called for better living conditions and a complete overhaul of the political system. In Basra, protesters went further, demanding the removal of the oil-rich provinces governor, Assad al-Eidani. Kadhimi represents the system we want gone. We demand a complete overhaul of the political system and an end to the corrupt political elite who put him in power, said Ali Hussein, a 22-year-old student who joined the protests in Baghdads Tahrir Square. The developments came as al-Kadhimi attempted great strides to appease the protesters. He ordered the release of detained anti-government demonstrators and compensation for the families of hundreds of victims who died since protests began in October last year. He also reinstated Lieutenant-General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi, a well-respected military figure in the fight against the armed group ISIL (ISIS), as head of the counter-terrorism service. The removal of al-Saadi by former Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi had angered many Iraqis and sparked the popular protests. Al-Kadhimi further promised to dispense pensions, overturning a decision by the previous administration to freeze state spending, including civil servants salaries and pensions income that one-fifth of Iraqis heavily rely on. But observers said these moves were unlikely to calm down the demonstrations. The protesters are not fooled by Kadhimis cosmetic gestures. They know all the tricks of this political regime and Kadhimi is just the most updated version, Iraqi novelist Sinan Antoon told Al Jazeera. The protesters want genuine change. Hundreds of demonstrators returned to the streets of Baghdad and southern cities to call for better living conditions and a complete overhaul of the political system [Anadolu] Economic collapse? All three crises facing Iraq are tightly intertwined. As Iraqs crude-oil-dependent economy struggles to cope with the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and large budget deficits, protesters grievances are likely to increase. A historic crash in oil prices last month saw Baghdad earn only about one-sixth of its average oil revenues in April, according to official figures. This forced the government to consider cost-saving methods including austerity measures and cuts to social benefits to civil servants. The deterioration of living conditions, a lack of basic services, and high levels of unemployment have been key issues driving Iraqs protests. With budget cuts putting a deep dent on many household incomes, and thousands of people unable to work amid coronavirus-related restrictions, more Iraqis will likely join the anti-government demonstrations. The plunging oil prices and its drastic effect on the loss of many jobs in Iraq will encourage a lot of the employees whod [previously] feared losing jobs to join the protests now, said independent Iraq analyst Zeidon Alkinani. This could gradually eliminate the business as usual factor that had negatively affected the protest movement. According to World Bank estimates, Iraqs economy is expected to contract 9.7 percent this year the lowest dip since the US-led invasion in 2003. The muhasasa Along with the approval of a new cabinet, Iraqs parliament also accepted al-Kadhimis programme. From holding early elections after finalising the new electoral law, to addressing other key protester demands ending corruption, starting a national dialogue, and bringing perpetrators to justice and protecting Iraqs sovereignty, the comprehensive agenda left no stone unturned. But according to Iraq expert Toby Dodge, al-Kadhimis objectives are overly ambitious and resemble those of previous prime ministers, whose plans were unachievable because of the countrys deeply entrenched quota-based political system, the muhasasa. The barriers stacked against Kadhimi are huge. They start and finish with the muhasasa, said Dodge, a professor at the London School of Economics Middle East Centre. Ending it would require removing the dominance and corruption of the big party blocs. There no chance of that. 191202201939755 The system which was introduced after the 2003 United States-led invasion of Iraq to provide proportional representation among the countrys ethnic and sectarian groups created an impasse that has allowed corruption to flourish and patronage networks among political factions to maintain control over business and politics. The complicated process of replacing Abdul Mahdi since November underscores profound divisions within Iraqs political groups, and has been indicative of their deeply rooted and vested interests in the face of crucial reforms. The blocs ensured since Kadhimis designation that he knew that they have the power and he didnt, said Dodge. He went in with high ideals for an independent cabinet, but ended up with another muhasasa government. How then is he going to get the power to get through his programme? Dodge asked. According to Dodge, Kadhimi can try to circumvent these groups through only two ways, both of which are dangerous. Kadhimi can either mobilise the people behind him or build up power in his office and in a parallel power structure to the state institution, like [former leader] Maliki did. That would give Kadhimi short-term power but on the long term, it would weaken the state, Dodge told Al Jazeera. Accused of running a parallel government during his time in office, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki built a structure of loyal civil servants underneath the cabinet to achieve his goals. He was blamed for sectarian, corrupt, and divisive policies that led to widespread Sunni-Shia killings and the collapse of the Iraqi army. But according to independent Iraq analyst Sajad Jiyad, while the nomination of Kadhimi showed that the muhasasa was still the way Iraqi politics worked, the new premier will be able to make important reforms. Kadhimi is pragmatic. On some issues, he will have to deal with muhasasa by engaging the political blocs. On others, he will put his foot down, especially on key matters around security and foreign relations, he told Al Jazeera. Still, Jiyad said he believes that given al-Kadhimis promise to hold early elections within 12 to 18 months, the temporary nature of his government can only allow for little of his programme to be executed. Not much can be achieved during that time beyond achieving stability, said Jiyad. Despite the limited time, Iraqi political analyst Hisham al-Hashimi, said Kadhimi will strive to fulfill as many of the Iraqi peoples aspirations as he prepares for free and fair elections, a new electoral law and an independent electoral commission three key protester demands. Iraqs quota-based muhasasa has created a system that allowed corruption to flourish [File: Anadolu] US-Iran tensions Al-Kadhimi will also have to balance competing interests and demands from Iraqs two main allies, the US and Iran, while maintaining Iraqs sovereignty and security as well. Tensions between the two foes Washington and Tehran continued to spill over into Iraq in recent months. As Iran-backed armed groups targeted US bases and members staged violent anti-American protests at the US embassy in Baghdad since last year, Washington assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani of the elite Quds Force in an air strike near Baghdads airport on January 3. Although al-Kadhimis approval reflected a level of consensus among political blocs, he continues to face opposition from the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful armed group that the US has blamed for several attacks on US forces. The group, which sees al-Kadhimi as a US ally, accuses him of complicity in the killing of Soleimani and former deputy leader of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Kataib Hezbollah is also one of the main voices calling for the expulsion of US forces in Iraq as part of a parliamentary demand since January 5 for all foreign troops to withdraw. Most non-US forces have since left Iraq, and the US has restructured its presence, withdrawing its troops from five bases while consolidating them into fewer larger hubs. But after ISIL launched a deadly attack that killed several PMF members in Salahuddin province last week, Baghdad and Washington are both worried about the resurgence of the armed group. Their shared concern may see a continued presence for the US-led coalition, which has been present in Iraq since 2014 to help the country fight the armed group. The US may offer continued training and support for the Iraqi army, said Dodge about strategic US-Iraq talks scheduled for next month. The Iraqis need it, but that runs up against the issue from more rejectionist forces in Iraq who want all Americans gone. There is a contradiction. Balancing foreign relations Still, analysts were more positive about al-Kadhimis ability to balance relations between Iran and the US, saying as a former intelligence chief he has good relations with both powers. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo congratulated al-Kadhimi shortly after his appointment and announced a four-month electricity waiver for Iraq, allowing Baghdad to import energy from Tehran despite US sanctions. The gesture appeared to be a show of support for the new government. Likewise, Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif congratulated the new premier in a post on Twitter, saying Tehran stands with the Iraqi people and their choice. Kadhimi has good relations with the US. But he would not have become prime minister if the Iranians didnt want him, too, said Dodge. Theyll be happy if he can balance relations with Washington and Tehran equally, if not more strongly. According to Jiyad, al-Kadhimi might even manage to relieve some of the tensions between Iran and the US. There is potential for Kadhimi to diffuse the situation between the two countries on Iraqi soil at least for a few months, he said. They [US and Iran] realise that a period of stability in Iraq is necessary. President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday praised scientists and technologists working on the frontlines in the global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, saying they are making the nation proud and self-reliant. The president also greeted fellow citizens on National Technology Day, marking the anniversary of the nuclear tests of 1998 in Rajasthan's Pokhran, on Monday. "We recognise science and technology as the key instruments for inclusive progress. Our scientists and technologists are also on the frontlines of the global battle against COVID-19, making the nation proud," Kovind tweeted. "On this occasion, we celebrate the incomparable contribution of the scientific community in making the nation self-reliant," he said. WASHINGTON A Houston company that makes ships and other heavy equipment for offshore oil and gas drilling has been asked by House Democrats to return federal funding designated for small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Gulf Island Fabrication, a publicly traded company with a market value of $44 million, received a $10 million loan through Congress's Paycheck Protection Program, which is designed to offer forgivable loans to small businesses on the agreement they do not lay off their employees. "We did not intend for these funds to be used by large corporations that have a substantial investor base and access to capital markets," read a letter to Gulf Island from members of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Friday. "Unfortunately, many large companies were able to utilize this program and obtained PPP loans that were intended for small businesses. Some of the companies returned these funds amid widespread public outrage. However, other companies including yours still have not returned these funds." GOVERNMENT TAKE: Public companies in Texas taking public money from Washington Gulf Island, which has more than 900 employees, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Monday. A number of large, publicly traded companies have received funding through the program, resulting in the Small Business Administration last month cautioning it was unlikely to provide funding to companies, "with substantial market value and access to capital markets. Since then more than 48 loans worth more than $350 million have been returned, according to the Washington nonprofit Fact Squared. Gulf Island received its loan April 16 through Hancock Whitney Bank, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, seven days before the SBA issued its revised guidance. The House Select Committee gave Gulf and four other publicly traded companies until today to return the money, or else turn over all documents and communications concerning the federal loan. The other companies were Evo Transportation & Energy Services in Phoenix, MiMedx Group in Marietta, Ga., Quantum Corp. in San Jose, Calif., and Universal Stainless & Alloy Products in Bridgeville, Pa. Published on 2020/05/10 | Source Heo Joon-ho is a likely candidate for the new drama "Undercover". Advertisement Story J Company stated on the 8th of May that "Undercover" is one of the many offers made to Heo Joon-ho. "Undercover" is a remake of the British BBC drama of the same name about a female prosecutor general who begins to doubt her husband, whom she has been married to for 20 years. Ji Jin-hee and Kim Hyun-joo have been mentioned as the leading cast. The Supreme Court Monday quashed the blanket ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal on organising social functions like marriages in a monument near Jaipur in Rajasthan and said it would monitor its beautification. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and S Ravindra Bhat allowed the monument --Sisodia Rani Ka Bagh -- built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh in 1728, to be used for multipurpose activities from 8 am to 8 pm. The apex court, however, said it would not be appropriate to permit the use of the monument to holdvarious functions during the night. "The use of laser lights, loud music, and fireworks is ordered to be completely restrained. Musical and other fountains to be maintained and to be kept in working order," the bench said. It directed the that a consultant be appointed for further beautification of the area and requisite horticultural development and an additional project plan be prepared and placed on record. The apex court said that it would monitor beautification and further developmental work and sought the report of the Consultant and additional plan and development undertaken so far within one month from today. The top court was hearing an appeal filed by the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Jaipur against the 2014 order of National Green Tribunal, Central Zone, Bhopal which held that the monument is part of the forest area and directed that no permission should be granted to organise social functions like marriages. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Comedienne-actress Jamie Lever has sung a song on staying home during COVID-19 lockdown that has gone viral across social media platforms. Her song on quarantine is sung on the tunes of 1973 film Anhonees Maine Hotho Se Lagayi To by Asha Bhosle. In the video, Jamie can be seen dressed in a pink saree and blouse. She is wearing pearl jewellery and has tied her hair in a bun with a flower pinned. Asha Ji has something to say! ON POPULAR DEMAND GAUR SE SUNO!#GoCorona #happymothersday #ashabhosle #Leverfam #Jamielever #GharbaithoIndia #stayhomestayhealthy #stayhome, Jamie captioned the clip. Jamie is the daughter of the veteran comic actor Johnny Lever. In March, Johnny made his debut on TikTok app with Jamie. In the clip that went viral, the father-daughter duo was seen enacting a comedy scene between Johnny and Paresh Rawal from the 2002 film Awara Paagal Deewana. On World Laughter Day, Jamie spoke to Hindustan Times about foraying into comedy and her father. She said, In those days, there was a lot hamming, it was all slapstick and over the top. Peoples tastes have changed now; they dont want brainless comedy. I had to repeatedly mimic certain artists because it was working. Times have changed. People are offering me shows on Zoom. Web is a booming market and we will see more shows on the web(sic.) Jamie Lever was last seen in Housefull 4. Follow @News18Movies for more Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan has announced that the city will permanently close 20 miles of streets to vehicles, to allow more space for residents to walk and cycle. Ms Durkan announced the policy on Thursday, which followed the temporary closure of the affected areas that started in April. The temporary closure was part of the Stay Healthy Streets initiative introduced amid the coronavirus pandemic. Streets were pedestrianised in places where there was not much space to exercise outside, and Ms Durkan said the initiative would ensure that the city is able to stay safe after the pandemic. Safe and healthy streets are an important tool for families in our neighbourhoods to get outside, get some exercise and enjoy the nice weather, she said in a press release. Over the long term, these streets will become treasured assets in our neighbourhoods, the mayor added. The initiative also includes plans to have traffic signals automatically show a walk sign, so that residents do not need to touch a button in order to cross the road. Sam Zimbabwe, the Seattle Department of Transportation director, echoed the mayors comments in a statement, and said the initiative would make the city safer. Just like we must each adapt to a new normal going forward, so, too, must our city and the ways in which we get around. That is why were announcing a nimble, creative approach towards rapidly investing in a network of places for people walking and people biking of all ages and abilities, he said. Recommended Slowdown in Seattle coronavirus spread suggests restrictions work 2020 will remain a year of thoughtful, forward progress as we build a safer, more liveable Seattle for all. Seattle has seen a 57-per-cent fall in vehicle traffic since the pandemic began, according to the Seattle Department of Transportation. The body said in a statement that the initiative was intended to help reduce the fall in traffic permanently. The Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board praised the scheme, and said that it would allow the city to become more environmentally friendly. It is the kind of bold actions we need to encourage healthy options for recreating and travelling in our city as we deal with our current crisis, and discourage a return to high levels of traffic and associated pollution and injuries as we move into recovery, the statement read. All these actions together will help Seattle come back as a safer, healthier, and more climate friendly city. Washington state has more than 16,231 confirmed coronavirus cases and at least 891 deaths. According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, there are now more than 1.2 million people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the US. The death toll has reached at least 79,531. Abu Dhabi Airports is supporting global efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic by ensuring the safe, secure and efficient transport of essential supplies and equipment through Abu Dhabi International Airport, in addition to facilitating a number of repatriation and humanitarian flights. Abu Dhabi International Airport is the primary gateway to Abu Dhabi and a key global transit hub for passengers and airfreight, offering connections to the worlds key markets. Its specialist cargo facilities offer significant capacity for transhipments and the efficient handling of time and temperature-sensitive goods. Shareef Al Hashmi, Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Airports, said: This is a critical time for the aviation sector and our nation as we come together to combat the global Covid-19 pandemic. We are committed to ensuring the health and safety of our employees, stakeholders and passengers as we continue to operate our airports and facilities in order to provide our communities and healthcare centres with the goods and equipment they need. We do not take this responsibility lightly and have mobilised special teams to enhance our cargo operations and facilitate the necessary repatriation and humanitarian flights departing from Abu Dhabi International Airport. I am especially proud of our employees continued dedication and commitment during this challenging time, added Al Hashmi. Waleed Salem Al Hemeiri, Acting Deputy Chief Operations Officer of Abu Dhabi Airports, said: Abu Dhabi International Airport has implemented a range of special measures across its cargo and passenger operations, including workforce cluster management, thermal imaging cameras at key transit areas, free Covid-19 tests for passengers and employees and roster realignment to ensure the continued safe and efficient management of vital supplies and repatriation flights. We are coordinating with all relevant authorities, partners and suppliers at Abu Dhabi International Airport to bolster the UAEs efforts to protect public health and maintain the integrity of our operations, added Al Hemeiri. Cargo and airfreight Cargo operations at the airport are ongoing 24 hours a day, seven days a week, facilitating the supply of vital equipment and goods to communities and healthcare facilities across the UAE and the world. During the month of March, the airport processed 7,315 cargo flights and 51,885,686 million kilograms of cargo, handling on average more than 1,800 flights and 13 million kilograms of cargo per week. Over the past month, the UAE capitals cargo hub experienced heavy import cargo volumes, mainly made up of commodities like facemasks and medical supplies, in addition to traditional airfreight items and an increase in perishable traffic, especially meat. Logistics operators and cargo carriers such as Etihad Cargo have increased operations, making use of available capacity during the airports reduced passenger flight schedule. Its freighter network has introduced capacity to countries including India, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea and other destinations. Additionally, Etihad Cargos freighter network from Abu Dhabi offers flights to Riyadh, London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Repatriation and humanitarian flights Following the suspension of all commercial passenger flights to and from the UAE on March 26, Abu Dhabi International Airport has facilitated a number of repatriation and humanitarian flights for Emiratis returning to the UAE as well as expatriates and foreign nationals departing for their countries of origin. Etihad Airways has been operating special flights from Abu Dhabi to London, Zurich, Brussels, Tokyo, Dublin, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Seoul, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta. In addition to enabling passengers reach their desired destinations, the flights are utilising their belly-hold capacity to transport critical cargo. Prioritising health and safety Abu Dhabi Airports is coordinating and collaborating with all relevant authorities including the Abu Dhabi Government, General Civil Aviation Authority, Department of Health, and Ministry of Health and Prevention to ensure every available precautionary measure is being taken to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of its employees, stakeholders and passengers. The robust set of precautionary measures include thermal screening at passenger and staff entrances, free Covid-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing for passengers and employees, workforce cluster management and regular risk assessments in coordination with Etihad Airways medical teams, enforcement of social distancing guidelines and roster realignment to ensure ample staffing at all times, in addition to the frequent sterilisation of workspaces and common areas throughout Abu Dhabi International Airports facilities. - TradeArabia News Service Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Suherdjoko (The Jakarta Post) Semarang Mon, May 11, 2020 15:49 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd741ca8 1 National coronavirus,COVID-19,Greater-Jakarta,Central-Java,Ganjar-Pranowo,staple-food,aid,social-aid Free The Central Java administration is set to distribute sembako (staple food packages) to its residents living in Greater Jakarta, as the COVID-19 crisis has seen a large number of people lose their jobs. Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo said the aid would be delivered to around 26,000 recipients. Initially, the number of recipients was estimated at 60,000, but it turned out that many of them had left the capital and gone back home because of the crisis. "Hopefully, [the sembako] can be distributed sometime next week," Ganjar said in Semarang, Central Java's capital, on Sunday. He added that several institutions and communities had also sent out aid to the migrants, including the Batang regency administration and alumni from state high school SMA 1 Tegal. The governor called on the prospective donors to coordinate with the Central Java administration prior to distributing aid, "so that we know which individual has received support and which has not. Ganjar planned to prioritize those who had yet to receive any aid. While both the government and regional administrations have started to give out aid to those hardest hit by the economic downturn in Greater Jakarta, inconsistent data and layers of red tape have hindered distribution. (vny) The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] Air India evacuation flight carrying Indians, who were stranded in the Philippines due to coronavirus lockdown, has arrived in Mumbai, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday. Air India flight 1387 carrying Indians from Manila, Philippines has arrived in Mumbai. Thank @airindiain, @MoCA_GoI, Bureau of Immigration& Maharashtra Govt fr support& cooperation. Commend Amb @JaideepMazumda2 & his Team @indembmanila fr the sterling effort, Jaishankar tweeted. The first Air India flights between India and Philippines was operated under the governments Vande Bharat mission. The government started operation Vande Bharat Mission to bring back around 14,800 stranded Indians from 12 countries on 64 AI flights. India began phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad during the coronavirus crisis from May 7. WASHINGTON - The White House press room turned out to be a more dangerous place than anyone realized. And the reporters who work there started getting nervous about it. The news Friday about an outbreak of coronavirus infections among White House employees - including Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary - has raised further concerns among journalists about working in the cramped confines of the West Wing's press briefing room. It also raised frustrations: Almost every reporter in the building began wearing masks last week as a precaution against spreading or catching the virus, even while President Donald Trump's press staffers went without. On Monday, after some reporters made their agitation clear, the White House ordered staffers to wear masks in semi-public parts of the complex, such as the briefing room. The edict does not apply to individual offices or to Trump or Pence. The White House did not respond to a request for comment Monday. Even before Friday's developments, some correspondents had stopped accepting offers to join pool assignments, which provide reporting for the entire press corps in areas with limited access, such as the Oval Office or Air Force One. And some news organizations had started sending younger staff members to cover the briefings, apparently a strategy to protect those with unavoidable exposure to spouses and children. A veteran White House reporter said the press corps was "rattled" by the news that Katie Miller, Pence's press secretary, tested positive for the virus, as did an unidentified White House valet. Miller has worked closely with reporters, though she did not accompany Pence and a pool of reporters on a tour last week of a General Motors factory in Indiana. "The press corps isn't looking to the White House to take precautions," said the reporter, who, like several others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because his employer does not permit him to speak publicly without authorization. "We are doing more than they are out of an abundance of caution." Trump, he said, "is definitely setting the tone" in declining to wear a mask. Miller's diagnosis got the attention of Debra Saunders, the Las Vegas Review-Journal's White House correspondent. Saunders spoke face-to-face with Miller just before Miller's positive test. Saunders said the conversation lasted less than 10 minutes and was outside, so "my risk was very low." She took a test for covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and it turned out to be negative. Nevertheless, Saunders said she is working from home for the next two weeks, following the example set by Trump's science advisers Anthony Fauci, Stephen Hahn and Robert Redfield, who took the same precaution after Miller's test. No one on the vice president's staff wore a mask on Air Force Two during the Indiana trip, including Pence, who held an off-the-record session with reporters on the flight back. A reporter who covered the visit said there was "absolutely no social distancing" during the Q and A. The outbound portion of the trip was delayed for about an hour, and six Pence staffers who had been in contact with Miller got off the plane to avoid potentially infecting others. Some news organizations have left it up to reporters to decide whether to cover events at the White House. "My nervous bosses have . . . [made] it clear we should feel under no pressure to travel or work out of the White House," said another reporter. The White House Correspondents Association, which represents reporters in discussions with the president's press staff, is "strongly recommending" its members wear masks when inside the White House, said Jonathan Karl, the group's president and an ABC News reporter. "We have a responsibility to protect ourselves and to protect the White House's staff," Karl said. The news about Miller and the White House employee "certainly drove home the need to take precautions." At Friday's press briefing, all of the journalists wore masks, he said. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany did not. During a presidential pool "spray" - a brief photo op - in the Cabinet Room on Saturday, journalists also wore masks, but Trump and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff did not. Since mid-March, the WHCA has twice reduced the number of reporters permitted in the briefing room to maintain social distancing. Karl said he has asked press officials whether they should be wearing masks, too, without resolution. "I have had that conversation every day," he said, with some frustration. He called Monday's announcement about mask-wearing by White House staff "a welcome development." The WHCA has asked for the White House to set up remote-conferencing facilities to enable reporters outside the building to ask questions during briefings, but so far "they have not responded," said Karl. Despite the increasingly risky conditions, Karl and other journalists say in-person reporting is important, and they'll keep showing up. "I look forward to returning" when it's his turn in the rotation, said Zeke Miller, a White House reporter for The Associated Press. The pool exists to inform the public with an "up-to-the-minute independent account of what their government is doing on their behalf," he said. "That is more critical than ever in times of crisis and confusion, both in terms of accurately filling the public's need for information and - sometimes equally important - its ability to debunk disinformation." DUBLIN, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ResearchAndMarkets.com published a new article on the plastics industry, "Plastics Industry Vital in Fight Against COVID-19" The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the conversation around single use plastics. Due to the highly infectious nature of COVID-19, there has been a huge increase in demand for plastic raw materials needed to produce essential personal protective equipment such as single use gowns, gloves, masks and face shields. There has also been increased demand for plastic ventilator components and single-use packaging for medical equipment. Consumer habits have also changed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. While there had been a trend towards purchasing loose produce to cut down on plastic packaging, many consumers are now opting to purchase pre-packaged fruit and vegetables out of fear of contamination. Some in the plastics industry have lobbied for plastic bag bans to be suspended or removed entirely during the pandemic. Although the COVID-19 virus can survive on plastic for 2-3 days, many have argued that plastic bags are a safer option than reusable bags as they can be discarded after use. To see the full article and a list of related reports on the market, visit "Plastics Industry Vital in Fight Against COVID-19" About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Militants attack Syrian troops on edge of rebel stronghold: Al-Qaeda-linked fighters attacked government positions on the edge of Syria's last rebel stronghold, triggering clashes that killed nearly three dozen combatants across both sides, opposition activists said. The fighting was among the worst since early March, when an agreement between Turkey and Russia halted the Syrian government's three-month campaign into rebel-held northwestern Idlib province. Sunday's clashes occurred in neighboring Hama province, parts of which are still under rebel control. Mike Pence will continue working at the White House despite a close aide testing positive for coronavirus last week. The US vice-president, who is leading the government's Covid-19 taskforce, was self-isolating on Sunday but would return to the White House on Monday, officials said. It came after US president Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that Mr Pence's press secretary, Katie Miller, had tested positive for the virus. An administration official said Mr Pence was voluntarily keeping his distance from other people in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He has repeatedly tested negative for Covid-19 since his exposure but was following the advice of medical officials. His action came after three of the nation's top scientists took their own protective steps following possible exposure to the virus. Vice-President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine, spokesman Devin O'Malley said Sunday. Additionally, Vice-President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow. Mr Pence has been at home since returning to Washington from a work-related day trip to Iowa on Friday and did not appear at Mr Trump's meeting with military leaders on Saturday at the White House. During the Iowa trip, food industry chiefs were asked to remove their masks shortly before Mr Pence, who was informed of the aide's positive test shortly beforehand, arrived for a roundtable discussion about supply chain issues, video footage showed. An official initially said Mr Pence planned to continue working from home, before Mr Pence's office clarified that he planned to work from the White House on Monday. It was not immediately clear how Mr Pence's steps to self-isolate would impact his professional or public engagements. Ms Miller tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus over the last week. A military service member who acts as a valet to the president tested positive on Thursday, the first known instance where a person in close proximity to the president at the White House had tested positive. Top officials who have gone into quarantine because of exposure to a person at the White House who tested positive for the virus are Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Dr Robert Redfield, director of the CDC; and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr Stephen Hahn. Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Show all 19 1 /19 Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Two elderly people chat on a street in Valencia, Spain on 4 May EPA Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent People look at the city from Villa Borghese park in Rome during the first day of Italy's next phase in its coronavirus lockdown Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent An elderly couple who has not been outside for nearly two months enjoys the weather as they sit on a bench in a park in Athens on 4 May AFP via Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Henri de Chassey, wearing a protective face mask, kisses his partner Margaux Rebois, who is returning to Paris after spending two months in Brussels on 4 May REUTERS Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A commuter in protective mask wears gloves at an underground station in Brussels as some companies are allowed to bring workers back to the office EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Paralympic swimmer Inigo Llopis prepares to swim in San Sebastian, Spain, for the first time since the lockdown began Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A worker wearing personal protective equipment disinfects a school in Athens as Greece relaxes its nationwide lockdown REUTERS Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A Spanish National Police officer distributes protective masks in Melilla, Spain, on 4 May EPA Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent An employee poses in front of halfway-cured hams in a factory in Guijuelo, Salamanca, Spain, on 4 May EPA Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Workers in protective suits disinfect a high school in Athens as Greece moves to reopen schools for final-year students on 11 May EPA Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A worker disinfects a bus as transport vehicles are disinfected several times a day as part of Belgium's lockdown exit strategy Belga/AFP via Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A worker from Textilia haberdashery in Brussels holds a fabric that can be used to make customised protective face masks as Belgium relaxes its lockdown measures REUTERS/Yves Herman Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A bride tries on a wedding dress at a bridal shop in Madrid on the first day that some small businesses are allowed to open during Spain's lockdown REUTERS Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent People walk across the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall in central Milan as Italy eases its lockdown AFP/Getty Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A couple kiss in the Duomo Square in Catania as Italy starts moving out of its lockdown Reuters Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Mirel Chetan organises the books of the Antonio Machado bookstore in Madrid after 51 days of closure Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A couple kiss in front of the sea in Catania as Italy begins a staged end to a nationwide lockdown due to the spread of the coronavirus disease ANTONIO PARRINELLO/ REUTERS Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A waiter at Caffe Cracco handles takeaway coffee in Milan on 4 May as Italy starts to ease its lockdown Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A woman holds a yoga posture as she exercises by the Colosseum monument in Rome on the first day of Italy relaxing its lockdown measures VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images After Ms Miller was identified as having tested positive, Mr Trump said he was not worried about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex. The three other task force members have indicated varying plans for dealing with their exposure. None have announced testing positive for the virus and, taking into account what has been described as limited exposure to the infected person, are considered at relatively low risk for infection. Dr Fauci's institute said he was taking appropriate precautions to mitigate the risk to others while still carrying out his duties, teleworking from home but willing to go to the White House if called. Officials said both Mr Redfield and Mr Hahn will be self-quarantining for two weeks. The three officials were expected to testify by videoconference before a Senate health committee on Tuesday. On Sunday night, the office of the chairman of the committee, Republican senator Lamar Alexander, announced he would be self-quarantining in Tennessee for two weeks after a staff member tested positive for Covid-19. Mr Alexander too will participate in the hearing by videoconference. Additional reporting by AP For nearly six weeks, Carolyn Barbara turned her two-bedroom apartment in her senior living community into an indoor walking track. She circled from her kitchen, to her living room, to the first bedroom, then over to the second bedroom, through the walk-in closet and back around again and again. If I get bored, I turn around and go the other way to get a different view, said the grandmother of five, who lives alone. Getting in her steps every day was partly how Barbara, 73, kept her sanity after Cedar Crest senior-living community in Pompton Plains asked its more than 1,800 residents to stay inside their apartments 24 hours a day during the coronavirus pandemic. With the dining rooms closed, their daily meals, medicines and other supplies have been dropped at their doors since March. On Tuesday, the Cedar Crest management finally loosened the guidelines slightly and gave residents face masks so they could leave their apartments to take socially-distant walks in the sprawling mountain-top gated community in Morris County. It felt great just go out and walk outside for a bit, Barbara said after returning from her first trip outdoors in weeks. While New Jersey has been under a stay-at-home order, residents of many of New Jerseys senior apartment buildings and gated retirement communities have been under real stay-at-home orders. Citing the vulnerable age of their residents, many communities, including Cedar Crest, have asked independent living seniors not to leave their apartments or visit with other residents at all. They were also asked not to leave their gated communities except in emergencies to avoid bringing in the coronavirus. The stay-at-home mandates are strong recommendations from management and although they cannot be legally enforced, most seniors say they appreciate the fact that the guidelines are in place for their benefit. Still, some seniors have chafed against the strict rules, which include strictly limiting or banning all visitors to their neighborhoods. But others, including Barbara, praised the management of her senior-living community for keeping her safely locked in her apartment for weeks with everything she asks for left at her door by the hard-working staff. The thought process and concern for this population and the way they are handling everything here just reinforces my gratitude that I chose to move here, Barbara said of the Cedar Crest staff. Friends and neighbors Carolyn Barbara, left, and Carolyn Hunt, right, in the pool at Cedar Crest, the senior living community in Pompton Plains. The photo was taken before the coronavirus pandemic forced all residents to stay inside their apartments. (Cedar Crest) Nationwide, there are thousands of over-55 neighborhoods, senior-living communities, senior apartment buildings and independent living facilities. While nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been the focus of state officials in New Jersey because of high numbers of COVID-19 deaths, other types of senior communities have also had to grapple with how to protect residents while not having them feel like prisoners in their own homes. New Jerseys senior communities include both large neighborhoods -- including Rossmoor in Monroe, Holiday City in Berkeley and the Leisure Village communities in Manchester and Lakewood -- and smaller gated retirement communities with condos, townhouses and apartments for seniors. Most have crafted their own rules and recommendations for independent-living residents. Some communities also have on-site assisted living facilities and nursing homes within their complexes, forcing administrators to make even stricter rules about who comes and goes from the neighborhoods. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised all retirement communities and independent living facilities to limit visitors to essential people and advise residents to stay home and avoid public places. At Harrogate in Lakewood, which has both independent living units and skilled nursing care facilities, residents are being asked to stay in their apartments. Family members and other guests are asked not to visit, leaving some residents isolated for weeks with only the staff to check in on them. We appreciate this is a frustrating time. Were all getting tired of putting our lives on hold, missing our families and friends, and being stuck at home as the weather gets nicer. Just remember it will not be forever, and that physical distancing is our best defense, executive director Charles Benjamin said in a message to Harrogate residents earlier this week. Strict rules havent kept COVID-19 disease out of all neighborhoods or facilities. Cranes Mill, a retirement community and assisted living facility in West Caldwell, had at least 24 residents who tested positive for coronavirus as of last week and six deaths, officials said. Nearly all were in the 48-acre communitys skilled nursing care and assisted living sections. This is a highly contagious virus, and we are doing everything we can to contain and control the spread to keep our residents and staff safe, Chad Murin, the executive director of Cranes Mill, wrote in a message to residents families. A note on an independent living resident's door <3 Posted by Crane's Mill on Monday, April 13, 2020 Cedar Crest, one of the states largest retirement communities with 1,800 residents, currently has 17 residents with active cases of coronavirus and another 12 have died, said Dan Dunne, a spokesman for Erickson Living, which oversees the community. Barbara, the resident who had been walking around her Cedar Crest apartment for exercise, said the management has been updating the numbers regularly on the communitys internal television stations. The numbers can be scary, said Barbara, a semi-retired nurse who was still picking up fill-in shifts at a local hospital earlier this year until the virus made it too risky. But she said many of the residents are appreciative that they are being taken care of at a time when other seniors need to worry about how to get groceries and whether to go to the pharmacy. She regularly gets handwritten notes on her meals saying Stay safe and Cant wait to see you again from the staff. A few weeks ago, staff members gathered outside her apartment to wish her a happy birthday and slowly unspooled a long ribbon attached to a helium balloon to her fourth-floor balcony. She was touched by their kindness as she celebrated her birthday alone. She has decorated her apartment door with paper hearts and messages of thanks to the staff. For Barbara, the coronavirus threat is real. Her ex-husband died of COVID-19 a few weeks ago, along with the husband of a close friend and the husband of one of her neighbors. The virus may be close, but she says she feels little anxiety in the hilltop sanctuary Cedar Crest has created. Ive got it made up here to be honest with you, Barbara said. Carolyn Hunt, 77, exercises along with "Movin' and Groovin'" on the internal television channel at Cedar Crest, one of the largest senior living communities in New Jersey. (Photo courtesy of Carolyn Hunt) One of her neighbors and friends, Carolyn Hunt, said she fills her days doing exercise classes on Channel 591, the communitys video channel, starting with the 7 a.m. stretching class. Then, she cooks, sews face masks for friends and family, does a few more exercise classes and phones her family and neighbors. Hunt said the irony is she moved to Cedar Crest 1 1/2 years ago because she didnt want to stay inside. She wanted to take classes, join clubs, swim in the pool and take advantage of the retirement communitys amenities. She even chose an apartment without a balcony because she knew shed rarely be indoors. I was very, very active -- never in my apartment, said Hunt, 77. Thats why I came here. I was looking to get out of my house. With this weeks newly-loosened restrictions, she can start taking walks outside as recess, said the former elementary school teacher. But she hasnt left the Cedar Crest communitys gates at the bottom of the hill since she last visited her family on March 8 -- nearly two months. Hunt said she is looking forward to breaking out and seeing her grandchildren. But, until then, she plans on staying put inside the senior community, eating the meals delivered to her door and waiting for the pandemic to pass. Were so protected here. I am not nervous about anything, Hunt said. Were in our own little fort. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Beware of scammers who offer to clean your HVAC or sanitize your driveway to provide protection from the virus. There is no evidence this is useful. Be careful when you receive call regarding student loans, work for home opportunities, or help getting qualified for the COVID financial assistance or for unemployment. This is just another way to steal your personal information. And this isnt just happening to individual, small business are also getting scam calls about virus-related funding. Be cautious when donating to COVID-19 charities. The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning consumers to be wary of calls purported to be for WHO or other charities that ask for account information either banking or credit card or for money. Some of the first charity calls we tend to get are really scammers because they are set up before the crisis and can change their pitch to reflect the newest disaster well before the real charity organization can mobilize. Before you give out any information, if you have any questions if a letter or phone call is legitimate you can check with your local SHIP office at 1-800-551-3191. If you think you have gotten a COVID-19-related fraudulent call, email or in-person visit, complaints should be reported to the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 1-866-720-5721. Do you have a question about Medicare or Medicaid that you would like answered? Please send your question to SHIP Program c/o Adult Resource Alliance of Yellowstone County, PO Box 20895, Billings, MT 59104 or email rc@allianceyc.org. In response to the Wuhan coronavirus, Breea Clark, the Democrat mayor of Norman Oklahoma, locked the city down. When she decided gradually to reopen Norman, the ban on churches and other houses of worship from holding religious services as well as a general ban on large gatherings remained in place. Restaurants, retail stores, and salons were allowed to reopen if they adhered to social distancing policies, but regular religious services, even with social distancing, were barred. The Department of Justice advised Clark that, by subjecting religious institutions to restrictions not applicable to secular operations, she risked running afoul of the First Amendment. Churches and other religious facilities must be granted the same right to operate as restaurants, retail stores, and salons, said Timothy Downing, the U.S. Attorney for the western district of Oklahoma. As a result of the DOJs intervention, Clark reopened the citys churches in time for Mothers Day. However, Clark continued to maintain that her original ban on church services was lawful. She said she was backing down only because she didnt want to fight the feds. Defending her original stance, Clark explained: Many people have been referring to the Constitution as of late. I have as well specifically the preamble and the part about promoting the general welfare. Clark, a law school graduate, should understand that the Constitutions preamble cannot be read to override the specific protections of the First Amendment. However, according to her bio, she began her career as a college administrator. That fact may help explain her cavalier attitude toward religious rights. The Trump/Barr DOJ scored a similar victory for religious freedom in Greenville, Mississippi. It is attempting to do so in a Virginia case. UPDATE: In another victory for religious freedom, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has enjoined Kentuckys governor from prohibiting in-person services at the Maryville Baptist Church if the Church, its ministers, and its congregants adhere to the public health requirements mandated for life-sustaining entities. The court said: The [Kentucky] orders allow life-sustaining operations and dont include worship services in the definition. And many of the serial exemptions for secular activities pose comparable public health risks to worship services. For example: The exception for life- sustaining businesses allows law firms, laundromats, liquor stores, gun shops, airlines, mining operations, funeral homes, and landscaping businesses to continue to operate so long as they follow social-distancing and other health-related precautions. But the orders do not permit soul-sustaining group services of faith organizations, even if the groups adhere to all the public health guidelines required of the other services. . . . The Governor has offered no good reason for refusing to trust the congregants who promise to use care in worship in just the same way it trusts accountants, lawyers, and laundromat workers to do the same. Via Ed Whelan at Bench Memos. YOU can expect to see tractors, with the driver bearing gifts, arriving at health care facilities thanks to a Limerick farmer. Peter Hynes, originally from Crecora but now living in Cork, said unfortunately he and wife, Paula, had to postpone a charity event they had planned this year to support Embrace Farm and Teac Tom due to coronavirus. We are launching a Go Fund Me page to raise vital funds for both charities as all their fundraising events have been cancelled. As a thank you to all those who donate we have been working hard to organise gifts to surprise health care workers. Every health care worker we surprise will also receive a wonderful bouquet of flowers, said Peter. Some of the gifts they have organised so far for those on the frontline are: a signed jersey from John Hayes; 300 one4all gift card; a Wexford GAA jersey signed by the full team; a weekend for two in Kinnity Castle; afternoon tea for two in the River Lee Hotel and two tickets to a Six Nations 2021 match. We are planning to surprise as many health care heroes as possible and will undertake a trip around Ireland in July or as soon as it is deemed safe for us to visit health care workers. We will select health care facilities in as many counties as possible. We will be sharing the journey on social media and introduce you to those we surprise, said Peter. Search #RearingToGo Go Fund Me to donate. Embrace FARM is a support network for farm families who have lost a loved one or suffered serious injury in a farming accident. Teac Tom supports individuals and their families affected by suicide, or contemplating suicide. The new arrivals have been sensitized on the new coronavirus disease and the measures in place to tackle it GENEVA, Switzerland The UN Refugee Agency in South Sudan commends the Transitional Government of National Unity for continuing to welcome people seeking refuge from the Democratic Republic of Congo and stands in solidarity with the South Sudanese government. Nearly 250 people from DRC have crossed into rural areas of the Western Equatoria State over the last week many among them are vulnerable women and children UNHCR commends the Transitional Government of National Unity for its continued generosity to allow people fleeing recent violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to seek refuge in South Sudan, despite the current movement restrictions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first reported official cross-border movement from a neighboring country since South Sudans borders were closed in late March 2020 in order to curb the spread of the new virus. South Sudans actions are an example of how COVID-19 preventative measures can be managed while still allowing people fleeing in fear of their lives to seek asylum, observing international protection. Nearly 250 people from DRC have crossed into rural areas of the Western Equatoria State over the last week many among them are vulnerable women and children. UNHCR, in close collaboration with South Sudans Ministry of Interior through its Commission for Refugee Affairs (CRA), continues to monitor their situation and address their needs in coordination with partners. UNHCR and its partners, along with the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization, and the CRA are on the ground to support the new arrivals with life-saving assistance; food, water, sanitation and healthcare services are provided and COVID19 preventive measures are implemented. The new arrivals have been sensitized on the new coronavirus disease and the measures in place to tackle it, in compliance with South Sudans National COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan. As a precautionary measure and abiding by the South Sudan Ministry of Health and World Health Organization guidelines which applies to all nationals and internationals coming into the country- the group has agreed to undergo and complete the 14-day mandatory quarantine in a safe location, a facility that has been identified by the authorities, with the support of UNHCR and its partners. UNHCR has continuous access to the population and will continue to monitor and respond to their needs. UNHCR praises the Transitional Government of National Unity for the inclusion of refugees, asylum seekers and other persons of concern in the National COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan. We support the government and stand together in solidarity during these difficult times, says Adan Ilmi, UNHCR Representative in South Sudan. Related Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday took to social media to pay tribute to researchers and innovators on National Technology Day. He also hailed the Pokhran nuclear tests that were conducted on this day in 1998 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister. PM Modi paid tribute to the "exceptional achievement of our scientists" on this day in 1998. The Prime Minister called it a landmark moment in India's history. "On National Technology Day, our nation salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. We remember the exceptional achievement of our scientists on this day in 1998. It was a landmark moment in India's history," he said. On National Technology Day, our nation salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. We remember the exceptional achievement of our scientists on this day in 1998. It was a landmark moment in India's history. - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 11, 2020 PM Modi said that the Pokhran nuclear tests -- that were conducted 22 years ago -- showed the difference strong political leadership can make. The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make. Here is what I had said about Pokhran, India's scientists and Atal Ji's remarkable leadership during one of the #MannKiBaat programmes. pic.twitter.com/UuJR1tLtrL - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 11, 2020 The Prime Minister also paid tribute to the researchers and innovators who are attempting to find a cure for coronavirus. "Today, technology is helping many in the efforts to make the world free from COVID-19. I salute all those at the forefront of research and innovation on ways to defeat Coronavirus. May we keep harnessing technology in order to create a healthier and better planet," said PM Modi. Today, technology is helping many in the efforts to make the world free from COVID-19. I salute all those at the forefront of research and innovation on ways to defeat Coronavirus. May we keep harnessing technology in order to create a healthier and better planet. - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 11, 2020 WHAT IS NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY DAY? National Technology Day is observed to mark the anniversary of the Pokhran Nuclear Tests of 1998. The underground tests marked India's entry into the global nuclear stage. There were a series of detonations that took place over two days, the first of which was conducted at 3:45pm on May 11, 1998. The tests opened a series of troubles for India including sanctions -- both economic and militay -- as well as interactional isolation. Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh and US Secretary of State Strobe Talbot held discussions that were held in seven countries over 14 rounds of talks. The US and the West feared that India along with Pakistan that was also seeking to be on the same level, South Asia could become a seat of nuclear power. Also read: Coronavirus Live Updates: India sees biggest spike of 4,213 cases in last 24 hours; nationwide tally 67,152 Also read: PM Modi to meet CMs today at 3 PM; revival of economy, ease of restrictions on agenda Nigeria is expected to receive samples of COVID-Organics, a herbal medicine used by Madagascar to treat COVID-19 patients. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, made this known at the daily Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing on Monday. Mr Mustapha said the medicine has been sent to Guinea Bissau from where it will be sent to different countries. The herbal medicine has been freighted to Guinea Bissau by the president of Madagascar and certain allocations have been made to different countries. We have an indication of the quantity that has been allocated to Nigeria and we are supposed to make an arrangement to freight it out of Guinea Bissau to Nigeria, he said. Wonder mixture Since its launch by the President of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, in April, the use of the herbal remedy to treat COVID-19 patients has been trailed by a lot of debates. In response to the launch of COVID-Organics, WHO told the BBC in a statement that it did not recommend self-medication with any medicines as prevention or cure for COVID-19. The health organisation said only products shown to be effective through scientific study would be endorsed by them. Mr Rajoelina, however, insisted that the medicine, which contains Artemisia- a plant on the Island used in the fight against malaria, could prevent and cure patients infected with the virus. Countries like Tanzania, Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, and the Republic of Congo have indicated interest in the herbal remedy. The herbal medicine was developed by Malagasy Institute of Applied Research. Validation? Mr Mustapha, who doubles as the chairman of the Task Force, noted that the herbal medicine will go through standard validation process before it can be considered for use in Nigeria. I have received instructions from Mr President to make arrangements to freight it home, with a clear instruction that I should subject it to the validation process similar to what will happen to any other medicine or syrup or vaccine that is discovered or created internally. So it will be subjected to the same process before it is put into any form of use. Therell be no exception for that, he said. Plant extract Meanwhile, at the briefing, the minister of health, Osagie Ehanire, said the plant used for the herbal medicine grows in the country. He said the expected samples will be compared with the strain in Nigeria to ascertain its similarities. We understand that it is something called Artemisia Annua, which also grows here. But we would like to get that sample and compare it with the strain here to know if they are exactly identical or similar and then see what properties it has. It will be subjected to analysis to find out what works in there and how it works and is used in getting a cure. All countries around the world are interested in finding a cure and we are not different; So we will look at all options, possibilities and promises that were made, he said. The India Air Force on Monday airlifted 8.3 tonnes of chemicals from Gujarat that could reduce the toxicity of the gas leaked from a storage tank at the LG Polymers plant in Vizag last week, the Defence Ministry said. The vapour leak from the plastic-manufacturing unit in the early hours of May 7 caused the death of 12 people besides leaving over 400 hospitalised. "Two An-32 transport aircraft of IAF were deployed to airlift approximately 1.1 tonnes of Tertiary Butylcatechol and 7.2 tonnes of Polymerization Inhibitors and Green Retarders from Mundra, Gujarat to Vizag in Andhra Pradesh," the ministry said in a statement. The IAF also facilitated the movement of the two individuals -- Director of Indian Institute of Petroleum from Delhi and a Styrene specialist from Mumbai -- to Vizag as they were required to oversee the operations being undertaken to control the gas leak. Meanwhile, Vizag District Collector V Vinay Chand said that about 13,000 tonnes of Styrene from the LG Polymers plant is being sent back through a ship to the company's headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. India has been under a lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected more than 67,100 people and killed around 2,200 people till now in the country till now. "Based on the request from the Industries and Commerce department of the Andhra Pradesh government, the IAF airlifted 8.3 T of essential chemicals required to effectively control the gas leak that occurred at Styrene Monomer Storage tank in LG Polymers at Vizag, Andhra Pradesh," the ministry added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Technical Forecast for the Japanese Yen: Neutral The Japanese Yen has been one of the better performing currencies since the start of 2020, largely due to the safe haven demand offered by the highly liquid currency during the coronavirus pandemic. Resiliency by the Japanese Yen in pairs like EUR/JPY GBP/JPY , and USD/JPY bode well for the future despite near-term reversals. The IG Client Sentiment Index s uggests that retail traders moderating their Yen positioning. Yens Safe Haven Appeal Remains Stable The Japanese Yen has been one of the better performing currencies since the start of 2020, largely due to the safe haven demand offered by the highly liquid currency during the coronavirus pandemic. But gains the past few weeks have been difficult to come by, insofar as the rallies by global equity markets has pushed traders back into the historically higher yielding currencies. Yet it remains the case that, regardless of near-term reversals by several of the JPY-crosses, resiliency by the Japanese Yen in pairs like EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY, and USD/JPY bode well for the future. The fact of the matter is that of the Japanese Yen has been able to maintain its gains in the current market environment, setting itself up neatly should risk appetite contract once more. USD/JPY RATE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: DAILY CHART (May2019 to May 2020) (CHART 1) USD/JPY rates closed out last week on a high note, but not before setting fresh May lows and the lowest level since the second week of March. A lack of movement in gold prices and US Treasury yields has left the Japanese Yen on a slow, bearish burn versus the US Dollar, but hardly in a convincing fashion. The momentum profile for USD/JPY rates is conflicted. USD/JPY rates are intertwined among the daily 5-, 8-, 13-, and 21-EMA envelope, which is aligned in neither bearish nor bullish sequential order. Daily MACD continues to glide below its signal line, while Slow Stochastics are holding in oversold territory (although edging higher). More losses may still be in the cards. IG Client Sentiment Index: USD/JPY RATE Forecast (May 8, 2020) (Chart 2) USD/JPY: Retail trader data shows 55.56% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 1.25 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 0.79% higher than yesterday and 13.10% higher from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 10.00% lower than yesterday and 11.44% higher from last week. We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests USD/JPY prices may continue to fall. Traders are further net-long than yesterday and last week, and the combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a stronger USD/JPY-bearish contrarian trading bias. EUR/JPY RATE TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: DAILY CHART (May 2019 to May 2020) (CHART 3) The most recent forecast update remains valid: After failing at the rising trendline going back to the 2012, 2016, and 2019 swing lows at the start of 2020. EUR/JPY rates have traded below their 2019 lows, breaking out of the symmetrical triangle along the way. The longer-term context of losses dating back to the 2018 suggests that more downside may be imminent in EUR/JPY rates. EUR/JPY rates set new yearly lows this past week, and their lowest levels since 2017. Daily MACD is trending lower in bearish territory, while Slow Stochastics are nestled in oversold condition. It would seem that all the pieces are in place for a longer-term erosion in EUR/JPY rates. IG Client Sentiment Index: EUR/JPY Rate Forecast (May 8, 2020) (Chart 4) EUR/JPY: Retail trader data shows 69.62% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 2.29 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 19.53% lower than yesterday and 72.64% higher from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 13.57% lower than yesterday and 11.51% lower from last week. We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests EUR/JPY prices may continue to fall. Positioning is less net-long than yesterday but more net-long from last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed EUR/JPY trading bias. GBP/JPY Technical Analysis: Daily Rate Chart (May 2019 to May 2020) (Chart 5) GBP/JPY rates have struggled to regain their bullish momentum off the March lows, dipping to fresh monthly lows in the process. Momentum remains weak even as GBP/JPY rates are enmeshed in their daily5, 8-, 13-, and 21-EMA envelope, which was previously in bearish sequential order. Daily MACD is trending lower just below its signal line, while Slow Stochastics are holding in oversold territory for now. A break above the April highs and through 136.00 is necessary before bulls can have any reasonable confidence. IG Client Sentiment Index: GBP/JPY Rate Forecast (May 8, 2020) (Chart 6) GBP/JPY: Retail trader data shows 56.56% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 1.30 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 2.45% lower than yesterday and 20.83% higher from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 15.81% lower than yesterday and 23.74% higher from last week. We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests GBP/JPY prices may continue to fall. Positioning is more net-long than yesterday but less net-long from last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed GBP/JPY trading bias. --- Written by Christopher Vecchio, CFA, Senior Currency Strategist It is no exaggeration to say that there is now no guaranteed safe place in Trinidad and Tobago. We have moved from the stage of being prisoners in our homes behind metal bars to being afraid to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and even to sleep, for fear that if crime comes knocking we may have no recourse but to cower and beg for our lives. The society is being overpowered by the force of the criminal will with insufficient resources to resist and break that power. Technavio has been monitoring the EMV cards market and it is poised to grow by USD 803.22 mn during 2020-2024. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005156/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global EMV Cards Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will decelerate during the forecast period. American Banknote Corp., CPI Card Group Inc., Fiserv Inc., Giesecke+Devrient GmbH, Goldpac Group Ltd., IDEMIA, IdentiSys Inc., Perfect Plastic Printing Corp., Thales Group, and Valid Solucoes SA, are some of the major market participants. Although the increasing number of cashless transactions will offer immense growth opportunities, the popularity of mobile payments will challenge the growth of the market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Increasing number of cashless transactions has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. However, the popularity of mobile payments might hamper market growth. EMV Cards Market 2020-2024: Segmentation EMV Cards Market is segmented as below: Technology Contactless Contact Geographic Landscape APAC Europe MEA North America South America To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40052 EMV Cards Market 2020-2024: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our EMV cards market report covers the following areas: EMV Cards Market size EMV Cards Market trends EMV Cards Market industry analysis This study identifies advent of biometric EMV cards as one of the prime reasons driving the EMV cards market growth during the next few years. EMV Cards Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the EMV cards market, including some of the vendors such as American Banknote Corp., CPI Card Group Inc., Fiserv Inc., Giesecke+Devrient GmbH, Goldpac Group Ltd., IDEMIA, IdentiSys Inc., Perfect Plastic Printing Corp., Thales Group, and Valid Solucoes SA. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the EMV cards market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform EMV Cards Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist EMV cards market growth during the next five years Estimation of the EMV cards market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the EMV cards market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of EMV cards market vendors Table Of Contents : PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT 2.1 Preface 2.2 Preface 2.3 Currency conversion rates for US$ PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market ecosystem Value chain analysis Market characteristics Market segmentation analysis PART 04: MARKET SIZING Market definition Methodology for market sizing and vendor selection Market sizing 2019 Market outlook Market size and forecast 2019-2024 PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY TECHNOLOGY Market segmentation by technology Comparison by technology Contactless Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Contact Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by technology PART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE PART 08: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison APAC Market size and forecast 2019-2024 North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024 South America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity PART 09: DECISION FRAMEWORK PART 10: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers Market challenges PART 11: MARKET TRENDS Advent of biometric EMV cards Preference for dual-interface EMV cards Adoption of inorganic growth strategies PART 12: VENDOR LANDSCAPE Overview Landscape disruption Competitive scenario PART 13: VENDOR ANALYSIS Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors American Banknote Corp. CPI Card Group Inc. Fiserv Inc. Giesecke+Devrient GmbH Goldpac Group Ltd. IDEMIA IdentiSys Inc. Perfect Plastic Printing Corp. Thales Group Valid Solucoes SA PART 14: APPENDIX Research methodology List of abbreviations Definition of market positioning of vendors PART 15: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005156/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ Retired Farmer Donates N-95 Mask to New York Governor, Gets Rewarded With a College Degree The content is not available due to expiration. Arun M By Express News Service KOCHI: Vineeth U, a native of Kanakkari in Kottayam, heaved a sigh of relief as he finally approached the Kochi Port around 9.00 am on Sunday. He had just completed a two-night long journey in the Indian Navy ship INS Jalashwa, and before that, spent well over a month at Maldives without an income amid the panic of a pandemic. Formerly an employee with a resort firm in the island country, Vineeth lost his job after the resort shut down in March, owing to the COVID-19 outbreak. Vineeth U By a stroke of luck, his name appeared in the list of expatriates for repatriation under the Operation Samudra Setu, after his visa expired last month. We boarded the ship on May 8 from the Maldives Sea Port, after a medical checkup. I was slightly tensed during the journey as the Navy authorities did not allow us to use our phones on the ship, Vineeth recounted. He could communicate with his family only while on board the KSRTC bus, after completing the disembarking process. The bus was plying to Kottayam with 33 others who had also come from Maldives. Of the 33, as many as 15 hail from Pala, while the others are from various parts of Kottayam. Maiden ship journey The repatriation process was a strange experience for him, Vineeth said. This was my first time on a ship. I usually fly to Maldives from Kochi airport. But I am hoping that learning about my experience may help others feel slightly less anxious, he said. By 6.00 pm on Sunday, Vineeth and the others were admitted to an institutional quarantine centre set up at the Pala Assisi Retreat Centre. We have been directed to undergo a medical check-up and remain in quarantine for seven days. After this, we should continue our quarantine at home for another seven days, he said. Though they were generally satisfied with the facilities at the quarantine centre, concerns were raised after they had to spend over three hours without power supply in the night. It was about two years ago, after his wedding, that Vineeth first headed to Maldives. Vineeths brother, who is employed at Salalah in Oman, is also looking for ways to return home. EDWARDSVILLE If there is one thing the coronavirus pandemic has taught Illinois and other states, it is the importance of E-learning and what districts should look into if they have not done so. District 7 has begun to do so. Edwardsville School District 7 Superintendent Jason Henderson said that students at Edwardsville High School may soon be getting their own device to use in and outside of class. We are definitely looking into it for next year and how to ramp up our technology use a little bit all around, he said. This comes after Gov. J.B. Pritzker used his time during a daily COVID-19 briefing on April 26 urging schools to dive deeper into technology because he is not sure if in-person learning will take place this fall. I would prepare for both (in-person and E-learning) because it is still unclear what things will look like over the summer and the fall, he said. But without knowing the answer, E-learning is an important thing for us to develop either way and I think weve seen in this short period of time that weve been in this COVID crisis, really about two months. What weve learned in that short period of time is that many, many schools arent ready for E-learning, but should be. Henderson explained that the school board has budgeted for equipping all of the high school students and all District 7 teachers with their own personal devices. Since it is already budgeted for, as long as prices do not soar, Henderson does not expect any extra cost to students, faculty or taxpayers in order to become more technologically efficient. Currently, in Madison County, of the 13 districts, five are not at a one-to-one ratio for student-to-device. Edwardsville School District 7 joins Madison, Highland, Granite City and Wood River-Hartford school districts for not supplying devices to any of their students for in and out of class uses. Both Edwardsville area private high schools, Metro-East Lutheran High School and Father McGivney Catholic High School, do provide students and teachers with their own devices. Henderson expects to have a more solidified plan in mid-summer but said he is hoping that by the fall, EHS students will have a device. However, some problems are apparent given the time. Right now, devices are hard to come by but we hope to get a handle on that soon, he said. Since districts across the country have been scrambling to supply devices to their students that need them most, there has been some shortage in the market. While he did not talk specifics of what money has been budgeted, Regional Superintendent Robert Werden explained what other school districts have paid. The cost for Chromebooks, when purchased in larger numbers, is between $180 and $200 [each], he explained. Henderson did confirm that the district is looking to supply students with devices like Chromebooks and not iPads, or a tablet. While no public talks have taken place at the board level since the start of the pandemic regarding this transition, there are many routes that can be taken. Werden explained that some districts did not hire any additional staffing but had a high school technology class fix any devices and problems. He also said that a couple districts are planning on using remote learning in place of snow days. Apart from looking to supply devices, Henderson also said the district is looking to bolster the use of E-learning resources. We already have a learning management system at the high school, Schoology, where parents and students can access various items, he said. We want to put some type of that resource in at all levels. However, he explained that remote learning is hard to finalize plans for at all levels. For high school students, they work on their own with it [online programs] but younger kindergarten students need a parent with them, Henderson added. Henderson is hoping for District 7 to make the transition and to be ready to launch at the beginning of the fall semester but said if that doesnt happen, to expect the transition at some point this upcoming school year. Werden agrees with Pritzkers comments and Hendersons decision. I do agree that we need to start exploring the shift to E-learning, he said. This may not be the only time that we experience closure in the future as we do not have a cure for COVID-19. I think anything we can do to make sure our students are safe, we should. Werden also said the future of learning is likely to have a strong E-learning presence. He explained that face-to-face learning is important but that E-learning can play a large role in the ability to continue learning at a better pace and level. Britain's roads saw an increase in weekly traffic on Monday as amended coronavirus lockdown rules meant some workers could return to their jobs. Commuters took to roads and public transport networks after Boris Johnson advised those who need to return to working away from home to do so, in a public address on Sunday night. Congestion on major roads such as the M25 was reported for the first time since the UK entered lockdown on 23 March. Data published by location technology firm TomTom showed that the level of road congestion in London at 8am was 20%, up from 16% a week earlier. Commuters reported packed Tube trains in London on Monday morning as people returned to work amid confusion over government instructions. (Tolga Akmen/AFP) Pictures of rush-hour trains packed with workers and crammed buses flooded social media, despite Johnson urging people to avoid public transport and instead walk or cycle to work. In his address on Sunday night, the prime minister said: You should avoid public transport if at all possible because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited. NEW: Very busy on the early tube - this was Jubilee line first thing. Then commuters tell me it eased but noticeably busier than last week with more construction / office workers. Complaints many not wearing masks. (DMs open & confidential) pic.twitter.com/p8O1tDGhbH Tom Edwards (@BBCTomEdwards) May 11, 2020 His directions came under fire immediately. Labour's shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said: The prime minister said he wanted workers to avoid public transport and use cars, bicycles or walk to work but did not explain how. What if none of those are viable options? Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Johnsons announcement lacked clarity and consensus and that he was effectively telling millions of people to go back to work tomorrow without clear guidelines. Rush-hour commuters 'nervous' about return to work Story continues Despite the increased footfall, passenger numbers remained comparatively low at Waterloo station normally one of Londons busiest during Monday mornings rush hour, with only a few dozen walking through the main concourse at any one time. Commuter Gerry Tiernan, 54, was travelling to Canning Town from Brentford. She said: I am surprised at the amount of people who arent wearing masks at the moment. It has been great travelling when no-one is around, but it is going to get busier now. Its going to be pure luck as to whether you get it [COVID-19] or not. There are signs on the Tube saying Keep two metres apart but no one is doing it. When there are more people, it is going to be terrible. Commuters at Canning Town underground station after Boris Johnson said people who cannot work from home should be 'actively encouraged' to return to their jobs from Monday. (Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images) Doctor James Wilson, 29, works at West Middlesex Hospital in Isleworth. He said he was very nervous about how his commute will change over the coming weeks. Based on what we have been seeing in London over the past few weeks about some people not following the rules, I am not sure they will follow the two-metre distancing rule when travelling, he said. We have only just got past the peak [of the virus] and I think we need to see a longer period of things being sustained at this level. If we stop social distancing, we are going to see it back in three weeks. Peter Osu, 45, said he was returning to work at a construction site for the first time since the lockdown started. Speaking at Waterloo station, where every other bench is taped off to prevent people sitting next to each other, he said: I am nervous about going back because I have a family and they have been isolating since the start. I feel like I am now putting them at risk. People were sitting close together on the Jubilee line [on the Tube] and others were having to stand. There was no two-metre spacing. This is the first day, can you imagine what its going to look like by the end of the week? It is not right at all. I listened to the prime minister yesterday and I thought it does not make sense. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area 6 charts and maps that explain how coronavirus is spreading Mayor of London Sadiq Khan warned today that the effects of coronavirus on public transport would be long-term. In a statement sent to Yahoo News UK, he said: Coronavirus has had a profound impact on public transport in London and will continue to do so long into the future. All public transport providers face huge challenges around social distancing with the number of passengers TfL can safely accommodate on Tubes and buses reduced by over 85%. We will all have to continue playing our part in reducing demand on services by working from home if we possibly can. Please avoid public transport wherever possible. The mayor urged Londoners to rethink the way they commute and avoid travelling during peak times, and to wear non-medical masks and carry hand sanitisers. The mayor of London has urged all passengers to wear protective face masks while travelling on public transport. (Reuters/Henry Nicholls) He added: By rapidly rolling out more space for walking and cycling through our London Streetspace plan we are enabling many more journeys to be made through these sustainable means which is crucial to our citys recovery. I am pleased that all TfL frontline staff will be offered basic face masks from today. Along with the introduction of hand sanitiser points in the coming weeks, these additional measures will further protect our heroic staff and passengers at this critical period. Londons transport commissioner Mike Brown said the future of transport in London would be very different to what travellers had become used to. He said: Our intention is to progressively build up service levels to as close to pre-pandemic levels as possible, but it is clear life simply wont be swiftly returning to what it was before. The travel demand challenge facing us outstrips that faced during the 2012 games due to the national requirement to maintain two metres distance between passengers wherever possible. That may not always be possible of course, given the design of Londons transport network. Brown reiterated Khans appeal for protective masks to be worn in public. Please use facial coverings for any travel on public transport or if using taxi and private hire services, he said. A spokesman for TfL said Tube travel in London had dropped by 95% and bus travel by 85% during lockdown meaning low levels of travel on the Tube not seen in over 100 years. With 80% of TfLs income coming from fares and commercial revenue, this has had a devastating impact on the organisations finances. TfL remains in discussion with the government about support to ensure the transport network can play its full part in restarting London and the UKs economy. Coronavirus: what happened today Aunty of Ghanaian actress Ella Mensah, Joyce Dankwa has been brutally assaulted by her co-tenants at Lapaz in Accra. Mrs. Joyce Dankwa sustained serious injuries all over her body following an attack by her co-tenants named Kofi Ntim and his wife Akua Dufie with the wife allegedly pouncing on her and beating her to pulp. Mrs. Dankwa has lived with Kofi Ntim and Akua Dufie in the same house for years but they have not had a good relationship. She disclosed that the co-tenants have been accusing her of being a witch. "Our issues began when I came to live in the house. Kofi Ntim and Akua Dufie have not been comfortable staying with me and has on countless times made petty complaints and arguments about how I want to let the landlord eject them from the house. They also accuse me of bewitching them. I have not done anything bad to them but they incessantly keep accusing me of things I know nothing about. I remember a time came that Akua Dufie and her husband said if anybody dares to get them out of the house, they will kill that person. So, we have our issues but this assault happened on Monday when I was going to the bath house," she said in an interview with Peacefmonline.com. Narrating the incident which occurred on Monday, May, 4, 2020, the victim revealed she returned from town and was in her room when Akua Dufie came out from her apartment shouting at her because she (Dufie) had seen an animal dung in the house. She continued that the co-tenants have been verbally abusing her but she has done her best to avoid any altercations with them until last Monday when she was going to take her bath that Akua Dufie suddenly swooped down on her and swore to 'kill' her. "She said there was something on the floor in the house that she believes is juju and that I have planted it there against them. I didn't pick a quarrel with her but went to sweep the dung away and went back to my room. This was last Saturday. On Monday morning, I was going to take my bath but realized Dufie was in the bath house and as result I decided to go some place else where I could bathe. I was fetching water from a barrel when all of sudden, she pounced on me and sank my head deep in the water, and started casting aspersions that she will kill me before they (Dufie and her husband) go to their grave. I was suffocating and in attempt to defend myself, I struggled with her till I slipped and fell on the ground. She didn't stop but beat me up aggressively." Ella Mensah's aunty further told Peacefmonline that her assailant used a metal rod to repeatedly strike her and it had to take the intervention of some rescuers to stop the bloody assault on her. The assault victim also disclosed she will have to undergo plastic surgery due to the degree of injuries inflicted on her. She has filed a complaint with the Tesano Police Station and Kofi Ntim and her wife Akua Dufie will be arraigned before court on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 for justice to take its course. Peacefmonline.com also spoke with actress Ella Mensah who is currently in America because of the closure of Ghanas borders due to CODID-19, and she expressed her anger and how inhumane some people can be. Ella has vowed to do everything in her power to make sure those who assaulted her aunty are punished. Ella however added that she has been communicating with officers in charge of the case at the Tesano Police station and they seem to be dragging their feet and being reluctant in handling her auntys case but she would make sure her aunty gets justice. Graphic Photos Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video (UPDATE: Judge denies attorney generals demand to shut down Owosso barber shop) OWOSSO, MI The attorney for an Owosso barber who remains open for customers in defiance of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers executive orders vows to continue the fight. Karl Manke opened back up Monday, May 11 to a line of customers crowded inside his barber shop along West Main Street in Owosso, with a crowd of roughly 20 supporters outside waving American flags, blaring patriotic tunes and sipping on coffee to stay warm. The business in the city of around 14,000 has become a battleground in the state over the legality of Whitmers executive orders that have included shuttering barber shops and salons to stem the spread of COVID-19. Manke, 77, reopened his doors May 4 and has since been issued two citations, with a scheduled June 6 court appearance. Owosso barber says shop will stay open 'until Jesus walks in or until they arrest me Heavens yes, Im staying open unless they take me out in handcuffs or Taser me, Manke previously said. Those who violate the order are subject to a 90-day misdemeanor and/or a $500 fine. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issued a Health Protection Order on Friday, May 8 against the barber shop. In a statement, the MDHHS said Director Robert Gordon acted under the authority granted to him by state law to issue an order that is necessary to correct conditions that pose an imminent threat to the health or lives of people in Michigan. The order requires the barber shop to immediately close. State orders Owosso barber to shut shop or face court if he continues to defy governors coronavirus order David A. Kallman, Mankes attorney, said in a statement Monday morning the order was improperly issued and violates the public health code. We will vigorously defend Mr. Manke and his constitutional right to earn a living, said Kallman. Governor Whitmers EOs and Director Gordons order violate various constitutional and statutory requirements and protections. He also argued the executive orders issued by Whitmer after April 30 were illegal and unlawful, as they had been made without the approval of state legislators who declined to extend the state of emergency beyond that date. Whitmers orders terminated the existing state of emergency and disaster declarations, with another asserting Michigan remain under a state of emergency under the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945. Whitmer issues orders extending state of emergency without support of legislature A third order declared a new state of emergency and disaster under the Emergency Management Act of 1976. The new orders are set to expire 11:59 p.m. May 28. House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clark Lake, announced a lawsuit May 6 against the governor over the new orders. Michigan House, Senate sue Gov. Whitmer after she extends state of emergency without their approval Among those in the barber shop Monday for a trim were Maple Grove Township resident Bryan Jacob. Its ridiculous, he said of the orders, calling them unconstitutional. I need a haircut to put my dad in the ground on Friday. He wants to open his doors, so Im here. Jacobs father Norman died May 7 at 76 years old. I have a small farm. We cant have farmers market because everybody is so scared, he said. "I have a sign company. Cant do that, either. Owosso barber confirms he was ticketed by police for opening shop While not directly referencing the barber shop situation, Shiawassee County Sheriff Brian BeGole issued a letter stating Our office cannot and will not divert our primary resources and efforts towards enforcement ofGovernor Whitmers executive orders. Kallman pointed out the comparatively few confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Shiawassee County and few reported deaths, many of which have occurred in nursing homes in the county. The latest figures from the Shiawassee County Health Department show 204 cases -- the youngest case involving a 6-year-old and oldest at 99 -- with 16 reported deaths. Our client will fight this case to the Supreme Court if necessary, in order to vindicate his right to work and open his barber shop in a safe and responsible manner, said Kallman. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Parliament Majority Leader (My Step bloc) Lilit Makunts has revealed the condition when three of their lawmakers will resign over the May 8 brawl during a parliament session. Bright Armenia faction is not a victim, it is a party to the conflict, moreover a party inciting the conflict. Sasun Mikayelyan is ready to resign in case of Edmon Marukyan also resigning. My Step lawmakers Artak Manukyan and Vahe Ghalumyan are also ready to resign, with the condition of Bright Armenia lawmakers Hrant Ayvazyan and Sargis Alexanyan also resigning. This is our stance, fairness and political consequence which must take place, Makunts said. On May 8, a bitter argument during a parliament session between opposition leader of the Bright Armenia party Edmon Marukyan and My Step lawmaker Sasun Mikayelyan escalated into a fistfight. Bright Armenia boycotted the session afterwards and called for political assessments and consequences. Afterwards, PM Nikol Pashinyan spoke in parliament, and said that the incident was a result of a provocation by Bright Armenia, but at the same he condemned his My Step bloc for their actions. The Bright Armenia party once again condemned the governments reaction on the incident on May 11 through a statement. Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan About 500 new COVID-19 cases are confirmed in the country every day. Ukraine has lifted some quarantine-related curbs from May 11. In particular, parks and squares will reopen; Ukrainians will be allowed to visit nail and hair salons, and dental clinics, outdoor facilities of restaurants and cafes. "This day has come because most of us have adhered to the rules. However, this does not mean that we can neglect biosecurity measures. About 500 new cases of coronavirus infection are confirmed in Ukraine every day," Ukraine's Health Ministry said on Telegram on May 11. Read alsoLockdown easing in Ukraine: What will be allowed from May 11 As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers issued a resolution on easing quarantine restrictions starting from May 11. In particular, hair, nail, beauty salons, dentists, lawyers, offices of notaries, auditors, psychologists are allowed to reopen. Ukraine's government in March introduced a nationwide quarantine to counter the spread of coronavirus infection, after which the lockdown regime was extended until May 11. On May 4, the quarantine was further extended until May 22, yet, a number of restrictions were lifted from May 11. I am not a financial analyst, economist or a Malcolm Gladwell and I do not have a crystal ball to definitively predict what will happen to the corporate world when we eventually emerge from this Covid-19 emergency. It's easy to foresee the bloodbath - on Grafton Street and in certain sectors- which has already begun in terms of liquidations and receiverships. What is more intangible is the effect this long drawn-out crisis will have on corporate behaviour and corporate reputation. For many years I have witnessed and represented excellent companies delivering on what they see as their mandate for their various stakeholders - quality products and services for their customers, jobs for their employees, revenue for their suppliers - all under the old Friedman Doctrine that the overarching purpose of their business is to make a profit and pay dividends to their shareholders. In doing so, many also acted responsibly in their communities, giving back where they saw local needs and where it benefited their reputations. They sponsored large scale sporting, cultural and other public events to achieve visibility and goodwill, while devising corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes to fulfil their role as good corporate citizens. Reputation management became a central part of their ethos and self-interest, and surveys tracked in league tables how well they were doing. Following the financial crisis, good corporate ethics, culture and governance became an industry in its own right. A plethora of educational initiatives emerged to teach business executives and even directors how to make right choices and protect themselves from weak stewardship. Companies and brands began clawing back their reputations, aiming to rebuild badly damaged trust with their customers, staff and the entire body politic. Whole divisions in large companies were devoted to risk management, including reputation risk, to embed prudence into corporate culture, prevent hubris and guide decision making. Regulation increased and central banks the world over stretched their tentacles deep into the financial services sector. The banking industry itself set about addressing its own behaviours in establishing the Irish Banking Culture Board. The EU levied huge fines on companies for breaches of their contracts with consumers. As climate change moved up the public agenda, fund managers developed new environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment products and companies began publishing Sustainability Reports. Philanthropy went big time. So, over the past number of years, the corporate sector has increasingly had to become more socially conscious, valuing and measuring its societal impact while still being true to its now revised fundamental purpose - to drive stakeholder value, not just shareholder value. Then this emergency comes along, putting a whole new speed and power behind what was a gentle trend. A gale-force wind is blowing on corporate reputations and I do not see how companies can believe it will not impact their whole raison d'etre and behaviour in the months and years ahead. Look at the seeds of it right now - small companies are responding to a national need on a pro bono basis, pivoting production to supply PPE at cost while employee morale in so doing has never been higher. Companies and wages are being kept afloat by the State while shareholders sit quietly. Airplanes fly half-way across the world to bring supplies in and natives home whose flights have been crowd funded. Some companies have declared a pause in dividends, some have not. The letter of the law has had to be put aside - some landlords are giving rent breaks on leases, knowing that it is counterproductive to drive the commercial tenant out of business. The insurance industry was elbowed by the minister for finance. Some companies have pledged to pay their small suppliers early to keep their cash flow flowing. Corporate relationships have never been more important -Bono goes lobbying the South Korean president, Apple's Tim Cook and Chinese companies to source supplies for our health service. Companies which try to take advantage of state support are outed quickly as greedy opportunists. Commentators are predicting a shift away from capitalism and globalisation that will continue. Growing your food locally, manufacturing locally, suddenly looks like a way to manage your own future risk. No one knows how this will pan out, for companies or for consumers who keep them in business. Will there be a kind of "post-war" mood, this time of self-imposed austerity and purchasing prudence and a reversion to old-time values? There is also, of course, the possibility of seeing a 'Roaring 20s' euphoric mentality whereby the survivors decide life is too short and unpredictable, so will spend, spend, spend. In effect we could see two divergent trends for consumer behaviour depending on values and savings. Whatever happens, the shock has been so great and so prolonged the only certainty is that life will be different, and different also for the private sector, including all commercial entities. Will companies, as true citizens, focus on building up their social instead of their share capital? Employee health and protection became the top priority in recent weeks and will mean a total reconfiguration of workspaces and working hours mandated as we return to the office or the factory. Will employee welfare continue as a priority beyond the vaccine? I think there will be more social polarisation between security in employment and insecure, gig economy, zero-hours type jobs. This could be the biggest societal expectation of business. I believe there will be a continuing priority on workers' economic health - possibly even a universal wage - in the new world. While capital will naturally only go where it has a reasonable expectation of a return, will investors be forced to rethink what is proper for successful companies in an era of depression? Will we tolerate Big Pharma profiteering on a vaccine? Who will pay the State's bill for the new 'socialism'? How will directors and boards justify extreme levels of executive remuneration and still manage to retain the permission to operate under a social contract, retaining trust and enjoying a corporate reputation which underpins value? Will companies have to become almost philanthropic in some of their behaviours and expectations of return? I believe corporate activism will grow as companies need to be seen to solve, not just sell. Expectations of responsible behaviour by companies will multiply. Is there the possibility of a new corporate altruism as companies adapt? Will companies build and wield their "soft power" in attracting and motivating staff and customers? How will the brands which held our hands in the crisis, hold and build on that emotional connection with their customers as we recover? Are there new businesses that will address new shifts, funded not by the traditional markets but by "the crowd" if their service is seen to "do good" and have "purpose"? We have witnessed and admired genuine public service and public servants in recent weeks. Will the era of State-owned commercial entities come back into vogue by necessity? Will the State be forced to step in and own hotels (remember Great Southern?), to own airlines, food companies (remember Irish Sugar and Erin Foods?), or shops and insurance companies? We might well be facing an era of "de-privatisation". Certainly, as costs increase and recession bites, the need to communicate, to explain, to justify and most of all, like doctors, firstly to "do no harm", will be right up there among the top commandments. Notwithstanding how we all relied on Big Tech in the last few weeks (I have even mastered Zoom), I believe there has been a huge acceleration in humanising and socialising corporate life. Companies will build great reputations not just because they have great products and services but also because they are known to truly care and show it through action. It will, literally, pay to be kind. Ita Gibney is executive chairman of Gibney Communications, one of Ireland's leading public relations companies. Church of Uganda Archbishop Stephen Samuel Kaziimba has rallied Ugandans against gender-based violence (GBV) during the Covid-19 lockdown. Addressing journalists on Wednesday at Uganda Media Centre, Dr Kaziimba said the Church is concerned by the increasing GBV cases. "We have witnessed an increase of cases of GBV during the lockdown. As religious leaders, we appeal and encourage people to work together to prevent it in our homes and communities. We should also provide psycho-social support to the victims during this pandemic," Dr Kaziimba said. Uganda police registered 328 cases of GBV between March and April. Archbishop Kaziimba attributed the cases of GBV across the country to lack of money and food. "When there is no food in the house, men tend to get mad and resort to beating their wives. But there are also women who are busy abusing their husbands because their husbands do not have money and this has further intensified anger among the couples. I ask all men to desist from beating their wives, but women should also respect their husbands," he said. The Archbishop also asked the national Covid-19 task force to prioritise food distribution to HIV/Aids patients, many of whom have not been able to access their anti-retroviral treatment due to the lockdown. Dr Kaziimba had accompanied the Minister of Presidency, Ms Esther Mbayo, to address the nation about the forthcoming International Candle Light Day. Ms Mbayo said the 2020 International Aids candlelight memorial day, which is commemorated every May 17 to remember all the people who have died of HIV/Aids, would be marked scientifically. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Uganda By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. She said unlike the previous years where a number of government officials and church leaders would converge to pray for the souls of those who had departed, only a few selected people will be allowed to conduct this year's activity. The chairperson of National Forum for People Living with HIV/Aids Network in Uganda, Dr Stephen Waititi, said the major challenge faced by HIV patients has been failure to access their medication and lack of food. "Some patients have missed taking their medication because they had nothing to eat. You know HIV/Aids medicine is strong and cannot be taken on an empty stomach," Mr Waititi said. We are asking the national task force to distribute food for them through their organisations. Ms Wamala Namboozo, the Woman MP of Sironko District, said the national task force should reach out to all HIV/Aids patients through their local council chairpersons since some members of the public fear to approach them because of stigma. Click here to read the full article. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has put the state on a path to reopen nonessential businesses on a rolling schedule. It began May 1, when restaurants and retail stores were allowed to open again to 25 percent capacity. Soon after he announced that hair salons could open with a limited capacity on May 8 and that 10 days after that, gyms would be allowed to operate at quarter capacity. Businesses that choose to reopen have mandatory guidelines they must follow to help stop the spread of Covid-19. For instance, restaurants need to sit groups six feet from each other, tables should be actively disinfected, employees should wear masks and more. But how many shops and restaurants were following those rules? Billionaire entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wanted to find out, so he hired secret shoppers to spread out across Dallas and evaluate. Unfortunately, only 4 percent of all businesses they evaluated were fully compliant, according to a study Cuban released on his blog. Bigger picture, I wanted to know if these are places that I would feel safe taking my family to, Cuban wrote. More from Robb Report Hes not alone in his reluctance. Despite the vocal push in the Lone Star State to get back to business as usual, including by Abbotts Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, Texans arent champing at the bit to reopen. According to a poll by the University of Texas and Texas Tribune, 83 percent of registered voters agreed with closing public schools, 77 percent endorsed stay-at-home orders and 66 percent thought nonessential businesses should remain closed. Cuban hired the firm ShiftSmart to do the secret shopping. First, they called 1,000 businesses to assess how many were actually reopening, finding that only 36 percent were allowing customers in. And when they visited 300 shops and restaurants in Dallas, they looked at every mandatory safety regulation and checked off whether the business passed or failed for each line item. Many places fell short, with nearly a third of them not even adhering to 50 percent of the new rules. Across the board, the most commonly ignored regulations were setting aside hours for at-risk groups, allowing for contactless payments, providing single-use condiments and sanitizing people on entry and exit. Though political leaders in the state want the economy to reopen, it looks like businesses still have a long way to go to do it safely. Story continues Best of Robb Report Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. A worker at a fish-processing factory in Ghanas Atlantic seafront city of Tema is said to have infected about 533 other workers with the deadly coronavirus in the country. The President of Ghana who disclosed this broadcast late on Sunday, did not provide details of how the disease spread in the facility or if safety measures had been in place. Ghanas health authorities reported the outbreak at the industrial facility late on Friday, but did not provide details. He said that the 533 positive cases, which represents around 11.3% of Ghanas total infections, were part of a backlog of about 921 cases going back as far as April 26 that are only recently being reported. The new cases pushed Ghanas total since the pandemic was first reported in the West African nation in mid-March to 4,700 as of Sunday night, the highest number of infections in West Africa. The president said 22 people have died of coronavirus-related causes, while 494 have recovered. With 160,501 tests since the outbreak, Akufo-Addo said Ghana had carried out more tests per million people than any other country in Africa. The implementation of our strategy of aggressively tracing, testing and treating is our surest way of rooting out the virus, Akufo-Addo said. He announced an extension of a ban on public gatherings until the end of May, and schools and universities will remain closed. Akufo-Addo eased a three-week lockdown on Ghanas two main cities, Accra and Kumasi, on April 19 amid concerns over a prolonged lockdown on the economy. Captain America and the Avengers face off with the Eternals ahead of Marvel's Judgment Day Eternals #10 teases first shot in war between Avengers and the Eternals Iran on Monday warned of a setback in its efforts to contain the novel coronavirus unless health protocols are observed more closely, as it reported 45 new COVID-19 deaths. The southwestern province of Khuzestan has become the new focal point of Iran's COVID-19 outbreak with authorities reimposing strict measures to halt its spread. "We have regressed in Khuzestan due to the increase in hospitalisations and not observing health protocols," Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi said in televised remarks. "This can happen to any other province if we are not careful," he added, noting that tighter measures would be reimposed in other places too if needed. Authorities have shut down state bodies, banks and non-essential businesses again in nine of Khuzestan's counties. Iran's government spokesman Ali Rabiei said "less than 50 percent" of Khuzestan residents have observed health protocols. "We've seen a rising trend of infection and death (in Khuzestan) which shows protocols and social distancing are not being observed," he said in a televised news conference. The health ministry stopped publishing provincial figures for the coronavirus last month. State television aired images on Monday showing many maskless residents of the capital out and about. Some of those interviewed explained that they now felt the weather was too hot to wear masks, while others thought the heat could kill the virus. The new fatalities brought to 6,685 the overall confirmed death toll in Iran, according to health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour. He also said that 1,683 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, raising the total to 109,286. Out of those hospitalised, 87,422 have recovered so far while 2,703 were in critical condition. Iranian police have shut 1,300 websites and arrested 320 people accused of spreading rumours about the virus, state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday. They were accused of "disturbing public opinion", the news agency said. A husband is upset that his spouse is closer to their grown sons than he is, but he also won't make as much of an effort. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You should upgrade or use an You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser People drinking on the street close to the Westlands Road in north Belfast More than half of men aged 19 to 24 have broken the UK's lockdown rules by meeting up with their friends, a study co-written by psychologists from Ulster University has found. Working with University of Sheffield researchers, they said this group was more likely to think they were not at risk of catching Covid-19 or spreading it to others, and that following the government's guidelines was not worthwhile. The psychologists - who questioned a representative group of 2,000 13 to 24-year-olds - say one in five adolescent men aged between 19-21 said they had been sent on their way, arrested, fined or taken home by police for breaking the rules, compared to just one in 10 women of the same age. It comes as First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill expressed concern at the flaunting of coronavirus regulations in Belfast. The politicians, who come from small rural communities in counties Fermanagh and Tyrone respectively where social distancing is more strictly adhered to, have regularly observed blatant breaches of social distancing restrictions when travelling to and from Stormont. Executive sources have warned that this could lead to a slowing of the pace in lifting the lockdown throughout Northern Ireland. "Both ministers were shocked by what they witnessed in Belfast in the past week, where people were out and about, mixing together, like it was a normal day. "There was little social distancing taking place, and this hit home to Arlene and Michelle as they are from small rural communities where folk have been following the rules rigidly," a source told the Sunday Life. Numerous street parties took place across Belfast on Friday to celebrate VE Day at which the current guidelines were openly ignored. Adults from different households were observed eating and drinking together, while their children were playing on bouncy castles. Photographs taken on Saturday also showed large groups together in the city enjoying the sunshine. Meanwhile, dozens of cars were seen lining the hard shoulder for half a mile along the entrance to Gosford Forest Park in Co Armagh. Eyewitnesses said people were deliberately ignoring the rules with several cars arriving at the same time and groups of walkers going in together. The PSNI has repeatedly said that people should not drive to parks for exercise. The Stormont Executive is due to publish its roadmap this week outlining how Northern Ireland will emerge from the current Covid-19 enforced restrictions. Sacred Buddhist day gives way to deadly sickness on doorstep By Jayani Madawala View(s): View(s): Buddhists and other Sri Lankans marked the most scared day in the Buddhist religious calendar this year mostly indoors, forced into the situation by the coronavirus that is threatening their lives. And the lives of many poor who depend on Vesak to make a living were also darkened. Large-scale Buddhist religious observances were shelved and instead people were advised to mark the Birth, the Death, and the Enlightenment of the Gautama Buddha from their homes. Some Buddhist temples made arrangements to broadcast Dhamma sermons through loudspeakers into villages. The usual pandals and street dansal (stalls handing out alms) were not allowed by health authorities, but undaunted, Sri Lankans crafted their own decorations and shared them on social media. Some submitted them to television stations which had organised competitions. There were also digital Vesak lantern contests online. Last year, due to the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks the government restricted the five-day national Vesak festival celebrations to just two days. Despite the absence of large crowds, some residents as well as commercial establishments decorated their premises. The state Vesak festival was held at Gonapola, Piliyandala. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa urged in his Vesak message: We have to perform the religious practices of Vesak in the backdrop of a virus pandemic threatening the entire human race. Such calamities are not very rare in human history. During the lifetime of the Buddha, the Vishala Mahanuwara of Dambadiva was threatened by three fears. It ended when a recitation of Buddhist stanzas was conducted as discoursed by the Buddha. I am confident that we too could attain physical and spiritual health by practising the teachings of the Buddha during this season of Vesak, the President noted. The Venerable Narampanawe Ananda Thero, deputy registrar of the Asgiriya Nikaya, said people are carrying out religious activities at home in a simple manner. Many have even observed the Eight Precepts or the Ten Precepts by listening to radio or TV broadcasts. Its sad that as all of us are facing this pandemic globally, but compared to the other years, this time, the people truly followed the teachings of the Lord Buddha, the Thero said. The true meaning of the Vesak can be seen this time as families are marking the occasion together. The Thero said Buddhist temples including the Sri Dalada Maligawa were deserted. This year, Vesak was not an orchestrated strategy; it eradicated the incoherent traditions followed by society. The pandemic helped to regain lost religious values and morals among the youth, the Thero said. Vesak pandals are missing from Colombo. In some areas around Colombo, traders were seen selling Vesak lanterns. But now, there are only a few takers. H. Sarath, 40, a resident of Piliyandala who is a taxi driver, said: I started to make lanterns thinking some people would buy them. Eventually, I got an order for 200 lanterns. Meanwhile, traders lament a missed opportunity. We made almost 3,000 Vesak lanterns. We are wholesale traders. And due to the [Easter Sunday] attack we didnt make money, one vendor said. Meanwhile, flower sellers at prominent Buddhist temples during Vesak are in a dilemma due to the curfew. Those at Kalutara Bodhiya, said they had been selling flowers for several years to make a living and now they are devastated. Vesak decorations are also being sold online and delivered by a taxi service. Lanterns have been made by needy individuals and the money goes to them. BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - China has reported 17 new coronavirus cases on Monday, its second consecutive double-digit increase after a 10-day lull in the pandemic. No new deaths were reported for nearly a month, Xinhua quoted a Chinese health official as saying. The global coronavirus cases have crossed 4 million mark with the number of infections increased to 4,132,365 on Monday. A total of 283,387 people have died of the deadly virus. Lockdowns are slowly being eased across some parts of Europe,including the hardest-hit countries of France and Spain, where death rates are falling. Spain registered its lowest coronavirus death toll since mid-March, 143, on Sunday. The United States remains the worst-hit with death toll nearing 80,000. It is followed by Britain, with more than 32,000 deaths, and Italy, where more than 30,000 casualties were reported so far. After record rise in coronavirus cases, Russia has overtaken Italy and the UK in the number of infections in the world. In a statement he made in the UK parliament, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the reopening of society and the UK economy should go ahead with 'utmost caution'. With 34 new cases, South Korea reported its biggest single-day jump in a month. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. A 3.8 magnitude earthquake was detected late Monday in an eastern North Korean province, South Korea's weather authority said, adding that the quake appeared to be natural. The tremor was detected at 7:45 p.m., some 37 kilometers northwest of Pyonggang County in Kangwon Province, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. The administration earlier said the magnitude of the quake was 4.0 but later revised it down to 3.8. South Korea closely monitors seismic activities in the communist state, partly because what the administration calls "artificial" tremors may indicate nuclear tests. Pyonggang, however, has frequently seen natural seismic activities, with a 3.5 magnitude quake detected there in September. (Yonhap) NASA photo of the eruption of Klyuchevsky volcano on 30 September, 1994, the volcano's largest explosion in 40 years. The large Background: Kliuchevskoi is Kamchatka's highest and most active volcano. Since its origin about 6000 years ago, the beautifully symmetrical, 4835-m-high basaltic stratovolcano has produced frequent moderate-volume explosive and effusive eruptions without major periods of inactivity. Kliuchevskoi rises above a saddle NE of sharp-peaked Kamen volcano and lies SE of the broad Ushkovsky massif. More than 100 flank eruptions have occurred at Kliuchevskoi during the past roughly 3000 years, with most lateral craters and cones occurring along radial fissures between the unconfined NE-to-SE flanks of the conical volcano between 500 m and 3600 m elevation. The morphology of its 700-m-wide summit crater has been frequently modified by historical eruptions, which have been recorded since the late-17th century. Historical eruptions have originated primarily from the summit crater, but have also included numerous major explosive and effusive eruptions from flank craters. --- Source: Klyuchevsky information by the GVP (Smithsonian Institution) Mr Barker was married to their daughter Rachael before they later divorced Cedric Harper Jordan, 68, and Noelene June Jordan, 65, are now behind bars His former parents-in-law were charged with his murder on Monday morning His body was found with several gunshot wounds inside his Tasmanian house Shane Geoffrey Barker, 36, was last seen alive on the night of August 2, 2009 Shane Geoffrey Barker, 36, was last seen alive on the night of August 2, 2009. His body was found with several gunshot wounds inside his town house in Tasmania the next morning The in-laws of a Tasmanian man shot dead more than a decade ago have been charged with his murder. Shane Geoffrey Barker, 36, was last seen alive on the night of August 2, 2009. His body was found with several gunshot wounds inside his Campbell Town house in the state's north the next morning. Mr Barker's former parents-in-law Cedric Harper Jordan, 68, and Noelene June Jordan, 65, are now behind bars after being charged with his murder early Monday morning. They're accused of shooting Mr Barker - who married and later divorced their daughter Rachael - four times with a 0.22-calibre rifle at his home. Mr Barker was also father to the Jordans' granddaughter Sophie - who was just five years old when he was allegedly murdered, The Mercury reported. In the Hobart Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon, Mr Jordan pleaded not guilty to one charge of murder. He will appear in the Launceston Supreme Court on July 20. Mrs Jordan has yet to enter a plea to the same charge, with her matter adjourned until June 4. Acting Assistant Commissioner Ian Whish-Wilson didn't offer any further details in the shocking twist to one of Tasmania's longest-running murder investigations. 'This arrest is the culmination of a lengthy investigation by the Serious Organised Crime division of Tasmania Police,' he said. Mr Barker's former parents-in-law Cedric Harper Jordan, 68, and Noelene June Jordan, 65, are behind bars after being charged with his murder early Monday morning 'The investigation has been complex. A team of dedicated investigators has worked tirelessly to bring those allegedly responsible for Mr Barker's murder to justice.' Paul Barker said it was a relief that charges had finally been laid over his younger brother's death. 'Losing your brother is bad enough but it's worse when it's murder and you're still asking questions 10 years down the track,' he said. Mr Barker's family never gave up hope of finding those responsible for his death. In 2016, a nine-month review by a new serious organised crime squad led to fresh leads in the case, along with a 250,000 reward offer. Paul paid tribute to the work of the serious crime unit which resulted in yesterday's charges. 'I just thank Tasmania Police. They didn't give up But it's still not over yet. There's been an arrest that we've been waiting on, but there's a lot of water to go under the bridge,' he said. Paul said he was sad his father Rob died before anyone was charged over his brother's death. 'Dad would be doing cartwheels in the sky at the moment. It's all he concentrated on. Day in, day out he would seek me out because Mum would get a bit emotional about it,' he said. The extradition trial of fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi in connection with the Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case has begun at a London court on Monday. The case will be heard by the Westminster Magistrates' Court on charges by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for next five days. The hearing will start after 2 pm IST (Indian Standard Time). The 49-year-old diamond trader is likely to appear through video conferencing before the court from Wandsworth Prison in London amid ongoing lockdown due to coronavirus. The five-day hearing starting today relates to the Indian government's extradition request certified by the UK government last year. The CBI and the ED officials are in constant touch with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which is representing India before the London court. Indian officials were unable to fly to the UK on account of lockdown in both countries. Beyond fraud, Indian agencies have pressed additional charges, including intimidating witnesses and destruction of evidence to make the case stronger. Since his arrest in March last year, the 49-year-old diamond trader has been lodged in Wandsworth Prison in south-west London. The jeweller was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard on charges of fraud and money laundering brought by the Indian government. The Indian agencies had earlier alleged that on the instructions of Nirav Modi, mobile phones of his associates were destroyed. They also claimed he had threatened to kill a witness if he went against him. Nirav Modi's bail application has been rejected five times by the London court. The Indian agencies are hopeful that based on the strong evidence against Nirav Modi, he will be extradited to India. Also read: Coronavirus Live Blog: Shramik trains to now have up to 3 stoppages; to run with full capacity, says Railways Also read: Vizag gas tragedy: LG Polymers told to empty all storage tanks; probe panel begins work A civic group, Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project (SERAP), has condemned the demolition of hotels in Rivers by the state government. The two hotels - Prodest Hotel, Eleme, and Edemete Hotel, Onne - were pulled down on Sunday on the orders of Governor Nyesom Wike for allegedly flouting COVID-19 order in the state. The governor personally monitored the demolition. The Rivers government in its effort to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus had barred hotels in the state from opening their doors for business. Mr Wike said some of the confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the state were traceable to a hotel. SERAP in its reaction said the demolition and forced evictions is "a violation of article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other human rights treaties to which Nigeria is a state party". SERAP in a message posted on Twitter said Mr Wike is using COVID-19 to perpetuate human rights violations. The group, which said the demolition was illegal, condemned it and vowed to take legal action against the governor and his administration. Mr Wike has threatened to demolish any other hotel caught operating in the state in violation of the lockdown order. It appears one of the destroyed hotels is owned by a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is the ruling party in Rivers state. "If we can do this to a PDP person, then you know we are not discriminatory," Mr Wike told reporters. "Whether you are in PDP, SDP or no party, you must obey the law. If any other person does the same thing, the same rule will apply." Mr Wike's administration has taken some other controversial decisions in the past in its fight against the coronavirus, including the arrest of oil workers who were accused of entering Rivers State in violation of the lockdown. The governor has repeatedly said that the lives of the people in Rivers must be put above business and has vowed to take on businesses, including oil and gas companies, if they do not cooperate with his government as far as the coronavirus is concerned. There are 21 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Rivers State as of April 9. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Samudra Mahal in Mumbais Worli is no ordinary building. Some of Indias most powerful and rich and businessmen who have fallen from grace own apartments or live in this tony residential complex. Fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi was once a resident. So is Yes Bank co-founder and former CEO Rana Kapoor who is in jail on charges of money laundering. Kapoor is the tenant of a palatial duplex owned by BJP leader Jyodiraditya Scindia. Until Kapoors exit from Yes Bank, this house often served as the unofficial headquarters for Yes Bank. Kapoor was a generous host, throwing lavish parties to a long line of special guests, often discussing, and deciding, high-value corporate loan proposals over lunch. One of the former board members of Yes Bank first met Kapoor in the apartment. Samudra Mahal was Yes Banks unofficial head office at one point. Even some of the key appointments happened here, he said on the condition of anonymity. These decisions have come under the gaze of Indias investigating agencies. Authorities are questioning Kapoor about his role in the collapse of Yes Bank under a pile of debt. One of Indias top private lenders, Yes needed a government-orchestrated rescue to stay aloft. While Yes Bank was sinking, Kapoor and his family were fuelling the unbridled growth of a business empire, according to the Enforcement Directorate, the agency that investigates financial crime in India. Kapoor and family ran a byzantine collection of 101 companies from Samudra Mahal through three holding firms Morgan Credits (MCPL), Yes Capital India (YCPL) and RAB Enterprises, according to ED. The holding companies ran businesses as diverse as real estate and renewable energy. No business was anathema to the Kapoors. Ecotourism? Check. Milk Products? Check. Art? Yes. The family even owned dry cleaning and laundry businesses. Kapoor, wife Bindu and their daughters Roshni Kapoor, Radha Kapoor and Rakhee Kapoor held a total of 168 bank accounts in different banks. Why did the Kapoors create such a huge collection of companies? What was the need for so many bank accounts? How and why the Kapoors created and ran these businesses, how they flouted rules, the questionable investments they made and the irregular alliances forged form the burden of the ED investigation against the family and an order to attach their properties. Kapoor has denied any wrongdoing. The family holding companies invested across 15 mutual funds and owned a collection of 59 paintings worth Rs 4 crore. There was a devoted room at Samudra Mahal to keep these paintings. Among others, the paintings include a portrait of the late Rajiv Gandhi by MF Hussain and paintings by Aslam Shaikh. How did it all begin? According to ED investigations, the Kapoor family began to build the web of companies from 1991. That was the year MCPL was formed. This holding company, however, remained inactive for about 12 years since inception. YCPL, previously named DoIT Capital, was incorporated in May 2003. Later that year Yes Bank was formed in 2004 both these companies were approved by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as investment companies. The main source of investment in Yes Bank was the funds Kapoor received from the sale of shares to Rabo Bank Holland in the joint venture company, Rabo India Finance. Rabo India was Kapoors first project in India and, in a way, the founding stone of Yes Bank. Rabo Bank held a majority 75 percent stake in this company while the remaining 25 percent was split among the three partners. In 2002-03, Rana Kapoor and partners Ashok Kapur and Harkirat Singh exited selling the stake to Rabo Bank. In 2004, Kapur and Kapoor (minus Harkirat, who was sidelined) launched Yes Bank. Yes Bank thrived until 2008 when Ashok Kapur was killed in the 26/11 terror attack. Kapoor ran Yes Bank with full control until 2018 when RBI finally forced his exit. The nexus between the Wadhawans and the Kapoors At 11 pm on March 6, 2020, the ED raided the duplex apartment at Samudra Mahal. The raid was a corollary of the investigations into a series of transactions between Rana Kapoor and the Wadhawans of DHFL Housing Finance (DHFL). DHFL, once one of Indias top shadow lenders, itself collapsed. It faces bankruptcy proceedings and owes creditors around Rs 36,000 crore. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said initial investigations by its economic offence wing into alleged deals worth Rs 5,050 crore found the Kapoor family received kickbacks in exchange for giving Yes Bank loans to the Wadhawans of DHFL through various channels and in gross violation of rules. Kapoor used his many companies to get undue benefits from the Wadhawans after influencing Yes Bank to extend large loans to DHFL and other Wadhawan companies by flouting rules, according to the CBI. If charges against Kapoor are proved, the alleged nexus and loan- against-kickbacks in Kapoor-Wadhawan case will have strong parallels with the Chanda Kochhar-Videocon quid-pro-quo case. Kochhar, as ICICI Banks managing director and CEO, allegedly misused her official position and sanctioned Rs3,250 crore loans to Videocons Venugopal Dhoot in exchange of which Dhoot invested in a company floated by Deepak, Chanda Kochhars husband, according to investigating agencies. Kochhar has denied doing any wrong. The ED investigation also reveals how the loan-against-kickback deal between Kapoor and Wadhawan unfolded. Transaction 1loans from Yes Bank to Wadhawan companies In April 2018, Yes Bank gave a loan of Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures to Wadhawans DHFL. This money has not come back to Yes Bank yet, according to the ED officials. Yes Bank also sanctioned a loan of Rs 750 crore to one of the companies, Belief Realty (BRPL), owned by DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan and their family members. This was taken for the Bandra Reclamation Project for SRA Re-development. But the whole amount was siphoned off by Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan through their shell companies and it was never used for the declared purpose. The entire amount was transferred to DHFL without making any investment in Bandra Reclamation Project for which the loan had been originally sanctioned, according to ED. In fact, the loan risk team of Yes Bank had pointed out multiple and serious issues in the proposal. This included the fact that a majority of the project approvals were not in place. Also, the Letter of Intent (Lol) issued by SRA was for a carpet area of 1.3 lakh square feet whereas the proposal from BRPL had considered an area of 6.3 lakh square feet. Despite these red flags, formal approval was given on June 18, 2o18 and carpet area considered was 5.5 lakh sq. ft. Adding to the opaqueness of the transaction, no external rating was called for on the BRPL. Immediately after disbursement of loan, the internal rating of the transaction was downgraded. In other words, the standard process stipulated by the Yes Banks risk management division for valuation was waived and no end-use certificate was called for from BRPL. The loan was sanctioned at the insistence of Kapoor. All along, Rana Kapoor knew that the Rs 750 crore sanctioned to Belief Realtors for its Bandra reclamation project was not going to be used for the declared purpose, the ED has alleged. Investigators say they have found that this transaction was triggered to siphon off the money from Yes Bank. The Rs 750 crore was sanctioned to the Wadhawan company without a penny being spent for the stated use. Transaction 2: Kickbacks to the Kapoor family The Wadhawans paid a kickback of Rs 600 crore to Kapoor and his family members under the garb of loan of the same loan from DHFL, according to the ED. This was given by DHFL to DoIT Urban Ventures, one of the companies owned by the family of Rana Kapoor. Kapoors daughters are 100 percent shareholders in DoIT through MCPL. The Rs 600-crore loan was sanctioned by DHFL to DoIT on the basis of mortgage of sub-standard properties including 7.79 acres of land at Alibaug and 91.63 acres at Raigad. These land pieces had meagre value and loan was given considering its future conversion from agriculture land to residential land. Besides, Radha gave a personal guarantee showing a net worth of Rs 1,386 crore, according to ED documents. Of the Rs 600 crore, DoIT used Rs 300 crore for repayment of an earlier loan. The remaining, the company said, is for general corporate purpose. Against this loan, five properties were given as collateral to DHFL. At the Wadhawans instruction, DHFL valued these properties at their future development potential with the assumption that these agricultural lands will be converted to residential with permission of local authorities and will be used for construction and eco-tourism activity. At the time of giving loan, the purchase value of this land was only Rs 39.66 crore while the valuation done by DHFL was Rs 735 crore. This plot remains an agricultural land, according to ED. The ED investigation said at no point, Rajendra Mirashie, president (project finance) of DHFL interacted with the three daughters of Kapoor, the owners of DUVPL. Marishie used to coordinate with Lata Dave, senior executive secretary of Rana Kapoor. Kapoor often talked to the Wadhawans directly and sometimes, with S Govindan, their executive assistant. The loan was structured in a way that the principal payment would happen only in 2023, 60 months after the date of disbursal as a bullet payment. Additional reporting by Tarun Sharma. This photo taken on May 6, 2020 shows volunteers spraying disinfectant at a market as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus as it prepares to reopen in the border city of Suifenhe in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) 18 State Attorneys General Urge Congress to Investigate Beijings Pandemic Coverup Attorneys general for 18 U.S. states have urged congressional leaders to investigate the Chinese regimes role in the global spread of the CCP virusthe latest bid in a mounting campaign to hold Beijing accountable for the pandemic. The letter, which is dated May 9 and addressed to bipartisan leaders of the House and Senate as well as leaders of the House and Senate Foreign Affairs committees, urged the lawmakers to open hearings into the matter. The state officials also accused the Chinese regime of layers of deceit in its coverup of the outbreak, resulting in a pandemic that has wreaked havoc on the United States. Congressional hearings are critical to our nations understanding of the origins of COVID-19 and efforts by the communist Chinese government to deceive the international community, states the letter, which was organized by South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson. The letter comes as the Trump administration is probing how the outbreak started in China. Meanwhile, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has opened its own investigation into the origins and Chinas response to the pandemic. In the letter, Wilson and his counterparts condemned the Chinese regimes efforts to conceal the severity of the outbreak in its early stages. Recent reports suggest that the communist Chinese government willfully and knowingly concealed information about the severity of the virus while simultaneously stockpiling personal protective equipment, it said. In what Secretary of State Pompeo has described as a classic communist disinformation effort, the Chinese government, aided by the World Health Organization, appears to have intentionally misled the world over the last six months. The officials also criticized the regimes continuing propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to divert global attention from its responsibility for the pandemic. These layers of deceit began last year with the censoring of Chinese health officials and the muzzling of Taiwanese complaints, the letter continues. The cover-up continued with the expulsion of media outlets and the proliferation of Chinese propaganda targeting the Western world. This propaganda campaign has spread disinformation about the United States. Besides South Carolina, the letter was signed by the attorneys generalall of whom are Republicanof Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. We need answers and we need them soon. Americans are dying and millions are losing their jobs, said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who believes a congressional investigation is crucial. What did the Communist Party of China know, when did they know it and why did its members participate in a massive conspiracy to cover up and mislead the international community about the severity and highly contagious nature of the novel coronavirus? Moody said in a statement. Some states have chosen to take legal action. In April, Missouri became the first U.S. state to file a lawsuit against the Chinese Communist Party over Chinese authorities actions to suppress information during the early stages of the outbreak. Shortly after, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced her decision to also file a lawsuit to hold Beijing accountable. The letter said that many of the attorneys general were considering similar legal action. In addition to the Missouri lawsuit, there are at least eight private lawsuits against the Chinese regimepotential class actionsfiled in federal courts. In late April, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis sent a demand letter to the Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai, asking China to pay for the harm suffered by the states residents. Patronis said hes considering freezing Chinese assets held by Florida to recover those funds. We're a family of seven living in Georgia where Andrew's working as a professor at GSU. You can read more about us here The claim: "Although intuitively I think it probably seemed like social distancing would be necessary, there was no real scientific basis for believing that, since it had never been studied." Fox News host Laura Ingraham, in a May 4 broadcast. PolitiFact rating: False. Experts cite a number of studies, including two influential analyses of the 1918 influenza, that show social distancing can help slow the spread of new infectious diseases. Discussion: Americans have widely followed social distancing directives to "flatten the curve" of new coronavirus cases and prevent hospitals from being stretched beyond capacity. In the absence of widespread testing, most Americans have supported such mitigation efforts. But scattered protests have also captured attention and led pundits like Ingraham and fellow Fox News host Tucker Carlson to call for an end to more statewide shutdowns as U.S. deaths due to the coronavirus top 70,000. TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox More Information About PolitiFact PolitiFact is a fact-checking project to help you sort out fact from fiction in politics. Truth-O-Meter ratings are determined by a panel of three editors. The burden of proof is on the speaker, and PolitiFact rates statements based on the information known at the time the statement is made. See More Collapse Members of the White House coronavirus task force have encouraged social distancing. President Donald Trump credited nationwide closures with saving "millions of lives" as recently as May 3 in a town hall. While its difficult to assess the exact impact of social distancing policies so far, experts say Ingrahams claim is wrong. Theres plenty of science behind social distancing. "Its one of the few tools that we know works in the case of an unknown, novel virus such as this," said Thomas Novotny, an epidemiologist at San Diego State University. Fox News did not respond to requests for comment. With the coronavirus still running its course, studies on the impact of mitigation efforts are only just emerging. But past respiratory disease outbreaks have been informative, experts said. On her show, Ingraham cited a recent study on the effects of lockdowns in western Europe and a clip of Stanford University biologist Michael Levitt calling European lockdowns a "mistake." She also highlighted a recent CBS News interview in which Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said mitigation "didnt work as well as we expected." Gottlieb has himself encouraged social distancing, however. And the study of European countries, which hasnt yet been peer reviewed, doesnt say social distancing is futile, but rather that social distancing measures "have approximately the same effects" as full lockdowns. "My work does not question the efficiency of social distancing," said Thomas Meunier, the researcher behind the study. Charles Branas, chair of the epidemiology department at Columbia University, said social distancing "is a fundamental way to interrupt the transmission of disease in populations." "To say that there was no scientific basis for believing that is like saying there is no scientific basis for epidemiology," he said. Researchers have looked back at government responses to the 1918 influenza, which killed about 675,000 Americans. Elaine Nsoesie, assistant professor of global health at Boston University, said that pandemic saw many social distancing measures put in place, including bans on gatherings and school closures. One study in the Journal of the American Medical Association examined social distancing in 43 cities for about 24 weeks in 1918 and 1919. It found cities suffered less when they implemented social distancing swiftly, comprehensively and for a sustained period of time. A second study, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focused on 17 U.S. cities. It found those with early, layered interventions had flatter epidemic curves and peak death rates about 50 percent lower than cities that didnt take similar steps. Those findings became the basis for the policies. Other evaluations of social distancing, handwashing, mask-wearing and related interventions have been compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, especially as they relate to influenza pandemics. (See page 23 of this 2017 CDC document, for example.) The coronavirus spreads mainly among people in close contact, through respiratory droplets launched into the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks, according to the CDC. "Those droplets, as theyre falling out of the air, someone else may inhale them or get them into their mouth or their eyes," said Johns Hopkins Universitys Lauren Sauer on a university podcast. "And thats why you have to be less than 6 feet away to really be at risk." Nirav Modi, the 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, is expected to be produced physically at Westminster Magistrates Court in London. London: Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India on charges over the nearly $2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case, is set to be produced before a UK court for his trial on Monday, to take place in a part-remote setting due to the coronavirus lockdown. The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, is expected to be produced physically at Westminster Magistrates Court in London. However, given the social distancing measures being followed by prisons and courts, District Judge Samuel Goozee had conceded that an alternative would be for him to be produced via videolink. "Some prisons are producing prisoners in person, so I will direct Wandsworth Prison to produce Modi in person for the trial from May 11. If that is not practicable, his participation by live link remains a backstop, Judge Goozee said at the last remand hearing in the case on 28 April. It has been agreed that a limited number of legal representatives will be present physically in court for the trial, while witnesses give their evidence via videolink. Modi will be able to observe the proceedings either from the dock, if the prison authorities agree to a physical transfer, or via the judiciarys common viewing system (CVP) from Wandsworth Prison. The five-day hearing starting on Monday relates to the Indian governments extradition request certified by the UK government last year. The case has been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and relates to a large-scale fraud upon an Indian PSU through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of understanding (LoUs) and the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. Two additional charges of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death were added on by the CBI and certified earlier this year. The May 11 extradition hearing is going ahead and the new request (two additional offences part of the CBI case) has not been joined but will be dealt with at a separate later hearing, probably in July, said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), appearing on behalf of the Indian authorities. CPS barrister Nick Hearn told the court at the last hearing in April, held via tele-conference, that the government of Indias representatives would be following the proceedings and giving instructions via the court''s online common viewing platform, given the COVID-19 related travel restrictions. We have received comprehensive responses in writing from the government of India, which would reduce the likely length of cross-examinations, said Hearn. It was also confirmed that the diamond merchant would not be giving evidence in the case, but his legal team plans to produce around six witnesses, including a jewellery expert as well as judicial and prisons experts. Most of the legal cases in the UK have incorporated videolink and telephonic options where possible amid the social distancing rules in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Modi, whose Wandsworth Prison is considered one of the most over-crowded in England, had made a fifth attempt at bail in the High Court last month, which was rejected as the judge ruled that he continued to pose a flight risk. The jeweller was arrested on 19 March, 2019, on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard on charges of fraud and money laundering brought by the Indian government. The Lehigh Valleys literary circles were dealt a blow due to coronavirus this past week, as the inaugural Lehigh Valley Book Festival postponed its first edition to March 26-28 in 2021, Emmaus Lets Play Books Bookstore announced in a news release. The brand new literary festival was announced initially for late March of this year, but was postponed to June after initial coronavirus shock, and has now been canceled for the year. Kirsten Hess, owner of the bookshop as well as the festivals director, said in the release that, while shes disappointed the festival was unable to happen this year, the delays silver lining is another year to develop programming and events. With its name out there, Hess said itll be easier to cast a wider net in hopes of bringing in more well-known touring authors. While the festival is canceled, life still goes on at Lets Play Books. Every day has been different, Hess said. There has been no normalcy at all. With the lack of in-person shopping, the bookstores inventory has, for the most part, just been sitting in the store. But Lets Play Books faithful members have been taking advantage of the stores phone hours, which are carried out by a particular employee. We call them Maddies Call-In Hours, Hess said, referring to her 15-year-old daughter. The only other person in the store (not including the two shop cats, Garfield and Bernie), Maddie will peruse the shelves while on the phone with a reader, walking them through titles they might like. Its so old-school, Hess said. But its also lovely. Its human interaction, its relationships. Lets Play Books isnt the only independent book store thats trying to stay afloat while also keeping things personal with customers. Book & Puppet Co. owner Andy Laties has been taking purchases directly to the purchasers, as hes added a delivery element to the beloved Downtown Easton store. Im going into all sorts of neighborhoods Ive never been in before, he said. Its very sweet. People greet me from a distance at the door. The community has been very supportive. Book & Puppet, in a normal world, hosts regular childrens puppet shows put on by the stores co-owner and Laties wife, Rebecca Migdal, as well as story hours. With coronavirus, theyve had to adjust to a socially distanced world, and now stream readings and shows on Facebook Live and Crowdcast through their subscription platform, Patreon. They have a regular schedule posted on their website, and in many ways, theyve been able to reach a lot more people than through an in-store show. Theyve also partnered with the Brooklyn Public Library for an upcoming virtual event. The virtual attendance numbers vary, greatly, but theyve had story hours and puppet shows with audiences of up to 1,800. Nearly 2,000 children and parents arent fitting into the storefront at 22 Centre Square. Its also allowed non-locals to engage with Book & Puppets streams. Laties received a message from a former Bethlehem resident who had recently moved to New York. The sender, named Colleen, said that her 3-year-old son is a regular virtual story hour attendee, and she also wondered if he was able to ship products to New York so that she could still support the store while socially distanced. Laties does regularly ship items that he cant deliver himself, and he often sees other small business owners at the post office doing the same thing. Thereve been a lot of good vibrations as Laties and Hess manage to find some humanity in their work despite everything going on, but that doesnt mean things are going fine for these and other small businesses. Both bookshops have seen a pretty big jump in online traffic and sales compared to the typical numbers, but it might not be enough to outlast the economic effects of coronavirus. Lets Play Books current online sales are accounting for just under 20% of its normal business numbers. Book & Puppet Co.'s sales went down 50% in March, and are now down about 75%. Hess said that, while there is a light at the end of the tunnel, its a moving target. Were in the position of saying, 'well, maybe we have to close temporarily for a significant amount of time, and then re-open, and what does that look like? she said. We dont want the virus to beat us, but it might mean shutting down operations for six months or 12 months. I am now in a position of saying that has to happen, whereas 30 days ago, I wasnt there yet. Hess recognizes how lucky she is that her business is in a place, financially, where shes able to do that. Other local small businesses arent in that same position. Laties, whos written a book, Rebel Bookseller: Why Indie Businesses Represent Everything You Want to Fight For -- From Free Speech to Buying Local to Building Community, has been in this bookselling business for a few decades, and if hes learned anything, Its about the bookseller, not the bookstore. Hes sold books in big cities like Chicago and small towns like here in Easton while his audience size may have fluctuated, his mission never has. So he knows hes not necessarily connected to the physical space at 22 Centre Square, especially at a time like now. Book & Puppet Co. has received a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan and can fortunately pay employees, while Lets Play Books hasnt received any federal funding yet and had to furlough employees who had just been hired in January, according to the festival news release. Both store owners have credited the American Booksellers Association with providing inter-personal support, best practices and guidelines aiding with keeping their stores afloat, but the scenario these two and plenty of other Lehigh Valley businesses find themselves in is going to be left in the hands of time as well as the consumer. If you like the local businesses that you have been patronizing already, you can ensure the continuity of community by making the decision to support them," Laties said. In addition to running his business throughout all this, he self-published a follow-up to his first book, this one titled Son of Rebel Bookseller: A Very Large Homework Assignment, about his son who passed away 10 years ago. Hes again taking advantage of the live-streaming possibilities with a Facebook Live reading at 5 p.m. on May 17. The other day during Maddies Call-In Hours, Hess overheard her daughter hang up the phone saying, Well, I love you too! She asked who was on the other line, and was informed it was a customers young daughter who missed coming into the bookstore for storytime. Hess felt herself begin to tear up as it hit her what the loss of bookstores could mean to people. Were offering something here, she said, something special for people. And as important as it is to sustain her business for the sake of business, its just as important to be there for customers when they need somewhere to go. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to Lehighvalleylive.com. Connor Lagore may be reached at clagore@njadvancemedia.com. ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey said on Sunday it would deem the forces of Libyan General Khalifa Haftar "legitimate targets" if what it termed their attacks on its interests and diplomatic missions in Libya persisted. Turkey backs Libya's internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). It has signed a military cooperation deal with the GNA, which has been trying to fend off an offensive by Haftar's forces. Ankara views Haftar's forces, which are backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia, as "putschists". "If our missions and our interests in Libya are targeted, we will deem Haftar's forces legitimate targets," the foreign ministry said in a statement in which it also slammed the United Nations for not taking action over Haftar's attacks. "It is unacceptable for the United Nations to remain silent against this carnage any longer," it said. "Countries providing military, financial and political aid to Haftar are responsible for the suffering that the people of Libya are enduring and the chaos and instability the country is being dragged into." It also said attacks on Tripoli's Mitiga airport early on Saturday, part of an intensified barrage of artillery fire on the capital, were war crimes. On Thursday, Turkey and Italy said the area around their embassies in Tripoli had been shelled. A spokesman for Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) denied that the force was responsible for that bombardment. The LNA has been fighting for more than a year to capture Tripoli from the GNA, with frequent shelling of the capital. The United Nations said four-fifths of the 130 civilian casualties recorded in the Libyan conflict in the first quarter of 2020 were caused by LNA ground fighting. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday the LNA was in a "period of regression" after NATO member Turkey threw its support behind the GNA. "Even the efforts of countries that provide him (Haftar) with unlimited financial support and weapons will not be able to save him," Erdogan said. Story continues Pro-GNA forces have retaken some territory from the LNA around Tripoli during an escalation of fighting in recent weeks with the help of Turkish-supplied drones. The LNA says Turkey has established a military drone base at Mitiga, but the GNA denies this. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Gareth Jones) Roma Downey launches new devotional channel on YouTube Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Filmmaker and actress Roma Downey has launched a new YouTube channel ahead of Mothers Day. A Moment of Light with Roma Downey is the name of her new YouTube channel that offers free devotional videos featuring scenic shots of nature and voice-overs spoken by The Bible Series co-producer. Really, it came about as an extension of my personal Instagram. I am so fortunate to live near the ocean, and I have always felt so connected to God in nature. As I was posting sunrises and sunsets with daily reflections and scripture, I quickly saw that people responded well to these posts, Downey told LightWorkers, which she partnered with to create videos for the channel. On Touched By An Angel Della Reese and I always prayed before the angel revelation scene, we prayed that God would use us to touch peoples hearts and remind them that God loves them. I do the same here before writing these devotionals. I pray that His spirit will use them to touch hearts and bring comfort and encouragement to those who may need it. she said. Downey said she hopes her videos will serve as a reminder to stop, take a moment to breathe into nature, and to give thanks, making us aware of Gods presence. She revealed that the process of creating the devotional videos always begins with prayer but the inspiration varies. I pray, and then a theme arises that I want to expand upon; whether its speaking to loneliness or feelings of worthlessness, I imagine one person who is feeling these emotions and I write for them. Other times I am inspired by my team. Sometimes they share with me the beautiful nature footage they filmed, and the visual imagery inspires the theme! she said. Along with the devotionals, Downey also recently announced that she is producing a film adaptation of the bestselling allegorical novel Redeeming Love. Four hikers have been cited for ignoring 'No Trespassing' signs to follow a trail where eight people were killed on Mothers Day 21 years ago. Adventurers Daylan Weber, 28, and Joshua Jenkins 29, both from Honolulu, Hawaii, Julieta Garnil, 29, from Argentina, and David Grossman, 37, from Brazil, were caught by DLNR enforcement officers at Sacred Falls on Saturday. Three others were warned to leave the illegal trail, which was closed off to the public in 1999 because of the danger of falling rocks, Hawaii News Now reported. The group who left without citations were in the early part of the trail but did admit to seeing the 'No Trespassing' signs. Adventurers Daylan Weber, 28, and Joshua Jenkins 29, both from Honolulu, Hawaii, Julieta Garnil, 29, from Argentina, and David Grossman, 37, from Brazil, were caught by DLNR enforcement officers at Sacred Falls on Saturday Three others were warned to leave the illegal trail, which was closed off to the public in 1999 because of the danger of falling rocks, Hawaii News Now reported Eight people were killed at the closed national park, on the north shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, on May 9, 1999. During the island's deadliest natural disaster boulders and rocks became dislodged and hurtled down the gorge before landing on top of hikers as they enjoyed picnics and sunbathed at around 2.30pm. 'Little by little, people need to realize that there's a reason why they call it sacred falls and the rocks are still falling and we encourage people to take heed of those,' DOCARE Officer Fagota Tataipu Jr. said. 'There's a reason why we closed the area, because of that tragedy that we had in 1999.' During the island's deadliest natural disaster in 1999 boulders and rocks became dislodged and hurtled down the gorge before landing on top of hikers as they enjoyed picnics and sunbathed at around 2.30pm on Mothers' Day. Pictured, one of the injured The park is in the forested Koolau Range about 30 miles north of Honolulu. The falls (pictured) spill into a pool, which is reached by a 2.2-mile trail at the base of a cliff Despite the park's closed status many risk-takers still walk the trail, with some even offering a review on alltrails.com. Four months ago one hiker wrote: 'The fear of getting caught had my heart pounding more than the trail itself. The group who left without citations were in the early part of the trail but did admit to seeing the 'No Trespassing' signs 'It's a dangerous trail and I would encourage anyone considering to use extreme caution. We walked in light rain in the middle of winter. 'Definitely not ideal conditions as it's very slippery and prone to mudslides. There were several fallen trees and tire sized rocks as recent as a week ago. 'That being said, the end was absolutely breathtaking and there's something mystical about being isolated in the middle of a foggy gorge.' Three months ago another person penned: 'Did this for the first time in February. It rained twice on us, once while we were at the waterfall and rocks started to fall. 'Would not recommend going while it is raining. Beautiful waterfall at the end. Make sure to be respectful and bring an offering.' Others warned the trail was too dangerous and not worth the risk. One said: 'Do not hike this trail it is closed for a reason. I hiked this in 1997 and it was awesome. It is too dangerous now.' Two women consoled each other near the site of the avalanche as groups gathered to help rescue efforts Friends and family members hold hands and pray for the victims of the deadly natural disaster Despite the park's closed status many risk-takers still walk the trail, with some even offering a review on alltrails.com Eight people were killed at the closed national park on May 9, 1999 After the 1999 disaster volunteers had to pull bodies from a pile of rubble after a cliff face gave way over tourists as they took in the views at the base of the 90ft waterfall. The dead included Aaron Bann, 31, of Placentia, Jennifer Johnson, 24, of Canoga Park, Scott Huling, 36, of Hickam Air Force Base on Oahu and Danielle Williams, seven, of Honolulu, according to the Honolulu medical examiner's office. 'There were bodies everywhere,' David Pahk, a volunteer with the Sacred Falls Assistance Program, told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin at the time. 'I carried bodies live and dead, with head injuries, arms and legs broken, open skulls. Everyone was helping out.' The park is in the forested Koolau Range about 30 miles north of Honolulu. The falls spill into a pool, which is reached by a 2.2-mile trail at the base of a cliff. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is reviewing additional video footage of Ahmaud Arbery recorded several minutes before he was killed, the Atlanta Journal-Contstitution reported on Saturday. The footage from a home security camera about a block from where Arbery was shot to death shows a man who appears to be Arbery entering the garage of a house that is under construction before walking around the back of the house. The man was on the site for less than five minutes, and exited through the front door of the house without appearing to take anything. Another man is seen in the footage observing the construction site after Arbery entered. At the same time, police recorded a 911 caller informing the dispatcher of Arberys entry and exit of the house, with the dispatcher saying police would be sent to the scene. When Arbery leaves the home, he is seen running in the direction of the home of Travis McMichael, who along with his father Gregory killed Arbery minutes later. A Fulton County prosecutor told the Journal-Constitution that the footage does not appear to challenge any of the underlying facts of the case. Video of the killing itself sparked national outrage. In the video, Arbery is seen jogging around the McMichaels pickup truck before one of the armed men gets out and attempts to block his path. Arbery lunges for the mans shotgun and is shot thrice, once by the man with the shotgun and twice time by one of the men standing in the bed of the truck. After being shot, Arbery attempts to stumble away but quickly falls to the ground and dies. Arbery, who is black, did not take part in any felony, had no illegal substances in his system, was not armed yet was shot three times with a shotgun at close range, according to a statement by his familys lawyers on Saturday. Gregory McMichael initially told investigators that he and his son had attempted a citizens arrest of Arbery because they suspected him to be a burglar. Story continues However, Georgia law forbids the use of deadly force when conducting a citizens arrest unless in self-defense, and the McMichaels appear to have initiated the exchange with the unarmed Arbery. More from National Review A call was sent out to volunteers and they get a spray of coronavirus up the nostrils, and 14,000 signed up, but why did they accepted such task? It's called the 'human challenge trial,' and the purpose of getting shot up full of coronavirus is for developing a vaccine. It's also ethically controversial way to test vaccines, by infecting volunteers to see what works best? The virus has already infected 4,207,399 cases and killed 284,335 people all over the globe as of writing, and there is no effective vaccine yet. One of the wildest consequences of having a healthy volunteer is that no cure exists that can be given to the participants. Human challenge trial Dr Nir Eyal, director of the Center for Population-Level Bioethics at Rutgers University, said, "It's not every day we give a healthy individual an exposure to a pathogen - the very same thing doctors are trying to protect people from." He added that the need for a vaccine is more urgent than ever, which is why conducting this ethical trial has been considered. Creating a vaccine is the only way to get things back to normal. It's also the only way for people to go back to their daily routines without the threat of the fatal COVID-19. With the vaccine, many can reclaim their lost employment during the COVID crisis. The bad news is developing a vaccine may take 18 months or more, keeping social distancing as a measure up to 2022, or an impending second wave this coming winter. Developing a vaccine will be long and arduous, and can take years while everyone hides in their homes. In the final testing of vaccines, scientists will also test its reaction to many people to see its efficiency. Also read: Scientists Say Anti-Viral Nasal Spray Could be Key in Curing Coronavirus 14,000 volunteers may be the key to developing vaccine Most of the top epidemiologists, philosophers, and vaccinologists have suggested and advocated human challenge studies to hasten the process of finding a vaccine. Eyal and his group say that with 'careful design and informed consent', that could get a vaccine earlier and save lives too. In the US, there is no such precedent in the coronavirus crisis, though politicians and volunteers are clamoring for one. A group of more than 14,000 volunteers have advocacy for such a move, with 35 congress members as those in charge to sanction human challenge trials as a quicker and ethical alternative. In Europe, the London-based hVIVO and Switzerland-based SGS are working do similar studies, with the World Health Organization doing their part in creating everything to go about in an ethically acceptable design. Given the circumstances, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will never consider such a drastic option without a cure, for now, nothing will happen but things can change. Dr Matthew Memoli, director of clinical studies at the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health said it will be considered, but anything can happen to alter some things, still not discounting it as an option in the foreseeable future, Three companies like Pfizer, Inovio and Moderna are getting there, and tests will be needed to know if their cures work. Dr David Magnus remarked you will not know how far they want to go. One reason why the 14,000 volunteers are willing is to find a cure for the coronavirus. A vaccine is the key to life before the deaths and lockdowns. Related article: Llama Antibodies May Be Needed to Create Coronavirus Treatment @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Maharashtra government has launched free of cost bus services up to the borders of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat for migrant labourers amidst the coronavirus-induced lockdown, a senior state transport official said on Monday. The decision was taken in view of the migrant labourers risking their lives by setting out on journey on foot on highways and even along railway tracks. The official said the accident in Aurangabad district on Friday in which 16 migrant labourers from Madhya Pradesh were run over by a goods train was one of the main triggers behind the state government's decision. He said the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses will conduct more than 300 trips to the borders of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in the next two days, as they will run half of their normal capacity to maintain social distancing among passengers. "The state government has observed that migrant labourers are in no mood to stay back despite several appeals made by the state government. After the death of 16 migrant labourers in Aurangabad, the government state decided to run special buses for migrant labourers," he said. The buses originating from suburban Borivali in Mumbai will run up to Gujarat border and from Nashik and Dhule in north Maharashtra up to the border of Madhya Pradesh, the official said. He said the state government would bear the bus travel fare of migrant labourers. He said the government's priority is to ensure that migrants do not risk their lives by walking on roads and highways by undertaking an arduous journey for home. Notably, the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government on Sunday decided to bear the train travel expenses of those migrant labourers without money but wished to return to their home states. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Space News space history and artifacts articles Messages space history discussion forums Sightings worldwide astronaut appearances Resources selected space history documents advertisements 10-story-tall NASA logo being repainted for new astronaut launches May 11, 2020 NASA is refreshing its logo for a new era a human spaceflight. The 10-story-tall insignia that adorns the side of the space agency's iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is receiving a fresh coat of paint. The emblem's bright red vector and royal-azure blue background have faded since the Kennedy Space Center facility was last reapplied 13 years ago. As astronaut launches are now set to resume from the Florida spaceport and with plans underway to return crews to the moon, it was time to restore the logo and its adjacent American flag to their original bold colors. "Guess who's getting painted?!" NASA's Exploration Ground Systems division posted to its social media accounts on Friday afternoon (May 8). "The massive NASA logo on the 525-foot-tall [160-meter] Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center is getting a fresh coat for the new era of Artemis!" Under the Artemis program, NASA is focusing its human space exploration efforts on landing the next man and the first woman on the moon by 2024, while U.S. commercial companies pick up where the space shuttle left off in 2011, delivering crews and cargo to and from low Earth orbit. SpaceX is scheduled to launch its first astronaut mission to the International Space Station on May 27 from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A. NASA contracted with HM2 and H.I.S. Painting of Titusville, Florida to bring the logo and flag back to their former glory. The companies are experienced in painting large space program facilities, having previously applied the large U.S. flag to the side of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas and Vulcan Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 and coated the mobile launcher that will be used support NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket as it is transported from the VAB and on the launchpad for Artemis missions. The VAB paint work now underway marks the fourth time that the flag and NASA logo have been revived. The American flag was first added to the side of voluminous VAB in 1976, in celebration of the United States' first 200 years as a country. Twenty-two years later in 1998, the flag received its first new coat of paint and the NASA insignia, known as the "meatball," was added to the VAB to commemorate the space agency's 40th anniversary. The enormous NASA emblem replaced the U.S. bicentennial logo, which had emblazoned the side of the assembly building since 1976 and, by coincidence, had been created by the same New York design firm that had developed the "worm," the NASA logotype used in place of the meatball from 1975 to 1992. The 110-by-132-foot (34-by-40-meter) NASA logo and 209-by-110-foot (64-by-34-meter) flag both suffered damaged from Hurricane Frances in 2004, which tore 820 panels from the south wall of the VAB. In 2007, both were repainted, requiring 700 and 6,000 gallons of red, white and blue paint, respectively. The NASA logo and U.S. flag are the largest of their type. Each of the red and white stripes on the American flag measures 9 feet wide (2.7 meters) wide enough to fit one of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex buses that are used to tour the public around the center. Each of the 50 stars spans 6 feet (1.8 meters) in diameter. Painting of the NASA logo, also called the meatball, is underway on the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agencyas Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 8, 2020. (NASA) The enormous NASA logo on the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center is getting a fresh coat of paint. (NASA) HM2 and H.I.S. Painting of Titusville, Florida, are repainting the NASA logo and American Flag on the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building. (NASA) 2022 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved. The mish-mash of completely unclear new guidance and confusing messages from the British Government is a recipe for disaster for police officers there tasked with enforcing the lockdown, according to a lawyer. Raj Chada, head of the criminal defence department and a partner at firm Hodge Jones & Allen, made the comments as he warned of the problems which having different rules for separate parts of the UK could cause as the Government unveiled changes to restrictions in England. Previously some concerns have been raised about British police misinterpreting lockdown rules or being overzealous in their approach, incorrectly issuing fines and prosecutions being carried out under the wrong legislation. Mr Chada told the PA news agency: We may find even more the problems which we have seen with Covid legislation to date and that cases could fall apart at court if challenged by a member of the public who feels they have been wrongly reprimanded. It is really hard to see how police officers can pursue effective enforcement for the next few days while there is so little clarity He also questioned whether the legislation complied with human rights laws, because there was no certainty and the British public should know what constitutes an offence, adding: There has to be some certainty to it. The College of Policing said fresh guidance for officers on changes to the rules would be issued later this week, although it is unclear if this will be before the new legislation comes into force. Mr Chada said all of the information should have been finalised to be provided at the same time, adding: Again it means confusion and again it will mean challenges. Its nonsense, its just a load of nonsense and they have messed it up. Yvette Cooper, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said the lack of clarity will make the job for police much, much harder, adding: It is really hard to see how police officers can pursue effective enforcement for the next few days while there is so little clarity. She said she was particularly concerned at the increase in fines, adding: Mistakes will be made on both sides as regulations change. The Government should first ensure that enforcement can be accurately and effectively done. Meanwhile, John Apter, the national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank-and-file police officers, told PA: We need unambiguous clarification of what this means for us and the public. There is a desperate need for crystal clear clarity on what is and isnt allowed. Police Federation national chairman John Apter said there is a desperate need for crystal clear clarity on what is and isnt allowed (Steve Parsons/PA) There was increasing frustration from officers that their hands are tied and they were now being expected to pick the bones of what is unlawful and what is not, he added. Earlier his counterpart Brian Booth, the chairman of the West Yorkshire Police Federation, said the relaxation of restrictions had set officers an impossible task and the new rules were effectively unenforceable. Andrew Slattery, assistant chief constable of Cumbria Police, told PA: Police officers are already in a very difficult position. The job for police officers has been very difficult from the outset. We do expect to have a very difficult weekend. Addressing the House of Commons on Monday afternoon, Boris Johnson said he had huge admiration for the way that the police have enforced the rules so far and urged the public to apply their common sense in the application of those rules. His spokesman said police would be advised to use continued discretion when enforcing the new measures, adding: I would say, give the public credit for the fact they have followed the advice so far and there is no reason to think they wont do the same as we move into this next phase. But Kirsty Brimelow QC, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, told PA: There is plenty of evidence that the police have not understood their powers to date and we have seen many unlawful convictions over weeks. The vast disparity in the number of fines issued, according to police force, must in itself raise concern. The Government should be recommending a review of all fines so far issued rather than continuing deeper into this enforcement mess. The police have even less chance of getting it right with wider and vaguer laws subject to multiple interpretations. Jenkintown Road closed from Monday through May Prime Minister Scott Morrison does not believe Chinese plans for tariffs on Australian grain are connected to his push for a coronavirus inquiry. China's Ministry of Commerce has threatened to slap an 80 per cent import tariff on barley after an 18-month anti-dumping investigation. The plan would seriously harm Australian barley farmers who send half their produce to China in a trade worth $150billion. Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured today) does not believe Chinese plans for tariffs on Australian grain are connected to his push for a coronavirus inquiry China has threatened to impose a 80 per cent export tax on Australian barley. Pictured are barley crops at a farm in Parkes in central west NSW The proposal comes just two weeks after the Chinese ambassador in Canberra threatened economic sanctions in response to the Morrison government's call for an investigation into the origins of coronavirus. Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce told the Seven Network on Monday: 'This is a case of payback.' But Mr Morrison said China had not linked barley tariffs to a COVID-19 inquiry or anything else. He said it would be 'extremely disappointing' if tariffs were used as an act of retribution. 'It's an anti-dumping issue from their perspective. They certainly haven't raised it as connected to other issues. I would be extremely disappointed if it was,' he told reporters in Canberra on Monday. Australia was once China's biggest barley supplier before Beijing launched an anti-dumping investigation. Pictured is a worker sweeping barley at the Riordan Group grain depot near Geelong in Victoria 'There's no reason for me to think based on the way that they're approaching it that I could draw that conclusion.' Dumping is when a country exports a product unfairly cheaply to permeate a foreign market, with producers often subsidised by the government. China is due to conclude its anti-dumping investigation into Australian barley by May 19 when producers and the federal government will have 10 days to reply. 'We contest quite clearly that we do not subsidise and we have not dumped barley into China,' Agriculture Minister David Littleproud told ABC radio. 'We expect to be able to demonstrate that to Chinese officials and have been trying to do that for some 18 months and will continue to work with them.' Australia is prepared to take China to the World Trade Organisation to fight against the tariffs. 'That's what the umpire is there for and that's what we would test if we feel aggrieved that our position hasn't been properly accepted or understood,' Mr Littleproud said. Grain Producers Australia described the proposed tariffs as an 'absolutely a massive kick in the guts'. Pictured is a barley farmer in central west NSW Labor's agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said the government needed to get the matter under control. 'We are getting a taste now of what it is like when we mismanage our relationship with our largest trading partner. This issue of barley goes back 18 months, it predates COVID-19,' Mr Fitzgibbon said. 'This is what happens when you put populist policies in place, making big statements, beating your chest without thinking about potential economic consequences for Australia, and also our farmers.' The federal government's calls for a ban on wet markets and an inquiry into the virus origins - as well as repeated suggestions that China covered up the spread - have infuriated Beijing. Last month the Chinese Embassy called Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton 'pitiful,' 'ignorant' and a US 'parrot' after he told China to 'answer questions' about how coronavirus started. On April 26 Chinese Ambassador to Australia Jingye Cheng warned that Chinese consumers may stop buying Australian products in revenge. The dispute comes after a torrid year for Australia-China relations saw clashes over political interference, human rights abuses in western China and Huawei 5G equipment. Former Australian ambassador to China Geoff Raby told Daily Mail Australia that diplomatic relations are 'at their lowest point since they began 46 years ago'. Giraffe Calf Named Zahara at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park Escondido, California - On Mothers Day (today), a 1-month-old giraffe calf at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park received her name after more than 18,000 fans cast their ballots in a week-long online voting campaign. Voters were asked to choose between two names - Zeena and Zahara, and by popular vote, the female youngster will now be called Zahara, which is derived from Arabic origins. The calf was born April 4 to first-time mom Zawadi , and was introduced to the other members of the herd 2 weeks later. Visitors to the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park websites will now have the opportunity to watch Zahara on Giraffe Cam presented by Fiesta, as she explores her new home and interacts with the diverse wildlife that shares the habitat. Zahara is a healthy calf with terrific vitality and a highly relaxed demeanor, wildlife care specialists said. This calf is normally so very calm and collected, said Matt Galvin, lead wildlife care specialist at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Not much bothers her. She is usually content to nap in the shade while the adults browse nearby, but weve noticed on occasion, she does get overly excited and zooms through the savanna. As part of San Diego Zoo Globals Were Here Together campaign, website visitors have the opportunity to enjoy a wealth of online offerings from the comfort of home, including engaging wildlife cams, fun games and activities for kids, and immersive educational materials. Online guests can also join the organizations citizen science project to help researchers gather more information on giraffes by visiting wildwatchkenya.org on their home computer or smartphone. Online volunteers are asked to identify what is pictured in trail photosnormally seen only by conservationistsby choosing from an animal list or indicating that no animal is pictured. The data collected through Wildwatch Kenya is integral to helping scientists update giraffe migration range maps and learn more about this iconic species. America Newscape is a simple resource for all things America through this portal. These productions are not created or meant for children. For more information please visit https://americanewscape.com Former President Obama, who has largely kept out of the fray even as President Trump has blamed his Democratic administration for a variety of problems related to the pandemic, described Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as "chaotic" on a call, a source said. Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Platforms may soon see investment from a Saudi sovereign wealth fund and General Atlantic as parent Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) seeks to diversify its operations beyond oil and petrochemicals, global news agency Bloomberg reported. US private equity firm General Atlantic is considering a minority stake, while Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is discussing a potential investment of $850 million to $950 million in Jio, the report said citing unidentified sources. In April, social media giant Facebook signed a deal worth $5.7 billion for a 10 per cent stake, while Silver Lake Partners and Vista Equity Partners earlier in May announced an investment of about $2.25 billion in Reliance Jio. The deals could help RIL in a long way as it plans to cut its net debt to zero by March 2021, said experts. On April 30, RIL had announced its first rights issue in three decades at a share ratio 1:15. The issue amount is Rs 53,125 crore. It has fixed May 14 as the record date for determining equity shareholders eligible to apply for the forthcoming rights issue. The company has obtained in-principle approvals from the BSE and the NSE for the proposed rights issue of 42,26,26,894 equity shares. The rights issue is also expected to help it raise funds to cut its net debt. Meanwhile, Jio last month posted 177.5 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit to Rs 2,331 crore for the three months ended March 31, fuelled by rising subscriber base and recent tariff hike. The net profit of Jio stood at Rs 840 crore in the year-ago period. Seen sequentially, the net profit grew 72.7 per cent when compared to Rs 1,350 crore in December quarter. Also read: Coronavirus Live Blog: Shramik trains to now have up to 3 stoppages; to run with full capacity, says Railways Also read: Vizag gas tragedy: LG Polymers told to empty all storage tanks; probe panel begins work Axial (A) and coronal (B) CT of the abdomen and pelvis with IV contrast in a 57-year-old man with a high clinical suspicion for bowel ischemia. There was generalized small bowel distension and segmental thickening (arrows), with adjacent mesenteric congestion (thin arrow in B), and a small volume of ascites (* in B). Findings are nonspecific but suggestive of early ischemia or infection. Credit: Radiological Society of North America Patients with COVID-19 can have bowel abnormalities, including ischemia, according to a new study published today in the journal Radiology. Several studies have evaluated the chest imaging findings in COVID-19, which helped improve understanding of how the disease affects the lungs. More recently, reports have documented that gastrointestinal symptoms, liver injury, and vascular findings are common in these patients. However, abdominal imaging findings have not yet been widely reported. Imaging findings may help physicians understand abdominal manifestations in patients with the infection. Therefore, the authors of this study set out to explore abdominal imaging findings in patients with COVID-19. The retrospective study included 412 patients consecutively admitted to a single quaternary care center from March 27 to April 10, 2020, who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The cohort included 241 men (58.5%) and 171 women (41.5%), with an average age of 57 years. Records showed that 17% of patients had cross-sectional abdominal imaging, including 44 ultrasounds, 42 CT scans, and 1 MRI. Bowel abnormalities were seen on 31% of CT scans (3.2% of all patients) and were more frequent in intensive care unit (ICU) patients than other inpatients. Bowel findings included thickening and findings of ischemia such as pneumatosis (gas in the bowel wall) and portal venous gas. Surgical correlation in four patients revealed unusual yellow discoloration of bowel in three of the patients, and bowel infarction (dead bowel) in two patients. Coronal CT of the abdomen and pelvis with IV contrast in a 47-year-old man with abdominal tenderness demonstrates typical findings of mesenteric ischemia and infarction, including pneumatosis intestinalis (arrow) and non-enhancing bowel (*). Frank discontinuity of a thickened loop of small bowel in the pelvis (thin arrow) is in keeping with perforation. Credit: Radiological Society of North America "We found bowel abnormalities on imaging in patients with COVID-19, more commonly in sicker patients who went to the ICU," said Rajesh Bhayana, M.D., FRCPC, abdominal imaging fellow in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In two patients who had bowel resection, pathology demonstrated ischemia with patchy necrosis (injury due to reduced arterial flow with patchy areas of cell death). Both had fibrin thrombi (blood clots) in submucosal arterioles (small arteries in the bowel wall), suggesting bowel ischemia in these patients might be caused by these small blood clots. Lung base findings led to a diagnosis of COVID-19 in one patient who presented with abdominal symptoms only. Of right upper quadrant ultrasounds, 87% were performed for liver laboratory findings, and 54% demonstrated a dilated sludge-filled gallbladder suggestive of cholestasis, or a decrease in bile flow. "Some findings were typical of bowel ischemia, or dying bowel, and in those who had surgery we saw small vessel clots beside areas of dead bowel," Dr. Bhayana said. "Patients in the ICU can have bowel ischemia for other reasons, but we know COVID-19 can lead to clotting and small vessel injury, so bowel might also be affected by this." Non-contrast axial (A) and coronal (B) CT performed in a 54-year-old man demonstrates pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis (arrows) in a long segment of ileum. Adjacent mesenteric congestion is also noted (thin arrow). Laparotomy demonstrated no frank bowel necrosis. Low power photomicrograph (H and E, 40x) of the ileum (C) shows ischemic degenerative changes of the mucosa with villous blunting (left) and withered crypts. There is marked submucosal edema with large empty spaces consistent with pneumatosis (*). High power view (H and E, 400x) (D) of the superficial submucosa shows arterioles with fibrin thrombi (arrowheads) beneath the damaged mucosa. Credit: Radiological Society of North America According to the researchers, possible explanations for the spectrum of bowel findings in patients with COVID-19 include direct viral infection, small vessel thrombosis, or nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia. "ACE2 expression is most abundant in lung alveolar epithelial cells, enterocytes of the small intestine, and vascular endothelium suggesting that small bowel and vasculature may be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection," they wrote. The authors added that further studies are required to clarify the cause of bowel findings in patients with COVID-19 and to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 plays a direct role in bowel or vascular injury. "Our study is preliminary, and more work is needed to understand the cause of bowel findings in these patients," Dr. Bhayana said. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak More information: "Abdominal Imaging Findings in COVID-19: Preliminary Observations," Radiology 2020. Journal information: Radiology "Abdominal Imaging Findings in COVID-19: Preliminary Observations,"2020. Nepal reported 24 new coronavirus cases, including eight who returned from India, taking the total number of infections in the country to 134, authorities said on Monday. Nepal is among the nations that has the least number of cases of the deadly coronavirus with no deaths. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, of the 24 new cases, 22 are from Kapilvastu district in Western Nepal and one each from Saptari and Bardiya districts. The total number of coronavirus cases in Nepal now stands at 134, it said, adding that 33 patients have recovered so far. Eight of the 22 cases reported from Kapilvastu district were those who returned to Nepal from India (Mumbai) last month, according to local authorities. "As we have reported new cases, we will expedite contact tracing now," Yogendra Bhagat, chief of the health office, told Republica Online. Kapilvastu district is on high alert after a number of COVID-19 patients were reported from there, according to Chief District Officer Dirgha Narayan Poudel. He also added that the newly-confirmed cases and all others who returned from India have been kept in quarantine centres. The total number of active coronavirus patients in the Himalayan nation has reached 88 as 33 patients have been successfully treated. So far, Nepal has conducted PCR tests on 17,809 people for detecting the novel coronavirus. Earlier, confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported in Nepal from persons returning from the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in New Delhi's Nizamuddin area in March. On May 4, sixteen people, including 15 who were already on quarantine after they came in contact with a religious leader who returned after attending the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Delhi in March, were tested coronavirus positive. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fasten your seatbelts, travelers. We are in for a bumpy ride. Travel as we know it is going to be a lot different over the next year or so as the world awaits a vaccine or some other breakthrough to rid us of the coronavirus and reopen our travel horizons. Overall, the travel industry, which has ballooned in recent years as the world economy expanded, is going to become much, much smaller in the near term. Airline ticket prices will likely soar. Weekend jaunts to faraway places will fly away. Getting through the airport is going to take longer, and require much more patience than before. Hotel stays will become dull, utilitarian and depressing with guests and staff hiding smiles behind masks. Hotels will also become more expensive. Joyful meals in popular, crowded restaurants? Nope. International travel? As residents of the country with the largest COVID-19 outbreak in the world, Americans are going to have a tough time finding a warm welcome in other countries for a while. Big company events and boondoggles where you can schmooze with clients and colleagues? Off the table for at least a year. While it's nice to dream of breaking free of stay-at-home orders with big, glossy trips far and wide, the reality is going to be more prosaic. I don't foresee anything close to what we experienced in 2019 for at least three years or longer. As a matter of fact, for the next couple years I think the travel experience is going to be more like what we saw in the 1970s. First off, travel is going to become much more expensive. Airlines, hotels and rental car companies are not going to be able to discount their way out of this crisis. In order to comply with social-distancing rules, which are here to stay as long as there is no vaccine to prevent COVID-19, airlines are reducing capacity on each flight by not booking middle seats. What happens when a third of a company's inventory is no longer available? Basic economics says that when you reduce supply, prices will increase. Demand for airline seats will come back slightly, but it's not going to pop back to pre-COVID-19 levels until there's a proven vaccine and fliers don't have to worry about sharing arm rests or cabin air any longer. In order to survive until then, airlines are going to have to raise prices significantly on the few flights left operating. Their mothballed fleets will stay mothballed until demand comes back. We are already starting to see this play out... tried booking a holiday 2020 trip yet? A quick scan shows that it's not cheap. Significantly fewer travelers means that getting through the airport screening process should be faster, but it won't until there's a vaccine. In addition to screening for bombs or knives, we will soon face a whole new layer of health screening. Like we've already seen in Dubai, passengers could have to submit to rapid coronavirus tests at the airport. Or passengers will have to get screened beforehand and arrive at the airport with a "health passport." Temperature checks will become mandatory. Some airports are already talking about disinfecting passengers with chemical sprays or beams of UV light. Who wants to put up with all that? These airport hassles mean that only travelers with serious business on the other end are going to put up with flying this will be people going to visit sick or dying relatives, technicians needed to keep machinery humming, medical or scientific professionals and the like. Planeloads of kids headed to Europe for singing tours, or seniors jetting off to catch a cruise lined up at airport security? Frequent flyers taking "mileage runs?" We won't see any of that until there's a vaccine. Moxy Hotels Hotels have spent billions over the last decade turning lobbies into social spaces where travelers can eat, drink, work and interact with each other. Now they are going to have to spend millions to modify those spaces to protect guests. They will also have to discourage use of public spaces until there's a vaccine, which means guests sheltering in their "sanitized for your protection" -style rooms. And who wants to do that? Big hotels will also have to reduce capacity by booking only certain floors or every other room down a corridor. And imagine the problems high-rise hotels will have around social distancing on elevators? Ugh. Hotel pools are going to be another tough area for social distancing with fewer chairs spaced further apart, and rules such as allowing only one person in the pool at a time. As we all measure our personal risk tolerance for travel, I think vacations are going to look a lot like they did in the 1970s when I was a kid. Airline ticket prices were prohibitive for families eager for a summer vacation. And planes flew about 60 percent full. Instead of flying, back then we loaded up the station wagon and headed to the beach, the mountains or the lake for two weeks every summer. That usually meant a day-long drive to somewhere in our state or a neighboring state. That's what I think we will seen this summer and next summer, too. Vacations by car close to home. And instead of heading off to big resorts or amusement parks or national parks, we will book Airbnbs or VRBOs with big yards and backyard pools or private beach or lake access. Family trips by RV, relatively sealed off from other vacationers, will be popular. And like the 1970s, cheap gasoline is going to fuel the resurgence of the road trip. There is a bright side to this murky outlook, however. Most major tourist destinations have suffered massively from over-tourism in recent years, which has frustrated locals, degraded the experience for travelers, and ruined many cherished destinations. Think of the coral reefs ruined by suntan lotion, hillsides strewn with trash, plastic and sewage seeping into waterways from overtaxed systems or wildlife bothered into near extinction. For about two more years, the worldwide tourist economy, which has been pushed to its limits, will get a much-needed rest. Chris McGinnis is SFGATE's senior travel correspondent. You can reach him via email or follow him on Twitter or Facebook. Don't miss a shred of important travel news by signing up for his FREE weekly email updates! Kabul says 1,000 Taliban prisoners free to date, urges reciprocation Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 9:55 AM The Afghan government says it has so far released 1,000 Taliban members under a deal between the militant group and the Unites States, and that the militants should now reciprocate by freeing their captives and expediting intra-Afghan dialog. The Office of National Security Council (NSC) in Afghanistan made the announcement in a tweet on Saturday, saying that the aim of releasing Taliban militants on the order of President Ashraf Ghani was to pave the ground for a peace process and to enable a focus on the fight against the coronavirus outbreak. The NSC stressed that the government in Kabul expected the militant group to speed up the release of the National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) captives in return and prepare for intra-Afghan negotiations and that no delay was "justifiable." The Afghan government has also announced that 500 more Taliban prisoners will be released in the upcoming days. Under the deal signed on February 28, the Taliban agreed to halt their attacks on international forces in return for the US military's phased withdrawal from Afghanistan and a prisoner exchange with the government in Kabul. The Afghan government, which was excluded from the talks and was thus not a signatory to the accord, is required to release up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners. But it has reduced the number to 1,500 before the talks start. The militants are obliged to free 1,000 government captives in return, but have reportedly freed only 148. The agreement was supposed to lay the groundwork for a peace process in the war-ravaged Asian country, but the Taliban militant group has already rejected a government offer of a ceasefire for the duration of Ramadan. Washington is compelled under the deal to pull out American forces and foreign troops from Afghanistan by July next year, provided that the militants start talks with Kabul and adhere to other security guarantees. About 14,000 US troops and approximately 17,000 troops from NATO allies and partner countries remain stationed in Afghanistan years after the invasion of the country that toppled a Taliban regime in 2001. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Britain could ditch its coronavirus contact-tracing app before it has even been rolled out nationwide, a senior government minister has admitted. Communities secretary Robert Jenrick revealed the app - being piloted on the Isle of Wight - may need to 'adapt' or 'move to a different model'. Fewer than 50,000 people living on the island, or 35 per cent of its population, have downloaded the app since the trial began last week. But experts say around two-thirds of Britain - the equivalent of 40million people - will eventually need to install the app for it to work. The app, which works using Bluetooth, alerts users if they have been in close contact with someone who has reported symptoms of COVID-19. But its design has sparked privacy concerns, with officials admitting the 'centralised' NHS approach sees personal data stored in one database. Other nations have adopted an app model which stores data in a 'decentralised' way, meaning the app does not harvest location data. Google and Apple's own decentralised tech has been adopted by European nations including Germany, Ireland and Switzerland. Health chiefs - keen to roll the app out nationwide in the next week - are understood to be looking at switching to the system used by the two tech giants. It comes after Boris Johnson last night turned the screw on Matt Hancock by vowing the government would increase daily testing to the hundreds of thousands. The embattled Health Secretary will be tasked with delivering the Prime Minister's ambitious goal - despite failing to hit his own 100,000 target for eight days in a row. Only 52 per cent of Britons said they would download the NHS contract tracing app (pictured) - but experts say it needs 60 per cent of the population for it to work How is the NHS tracing app different to one made by Apple and Google? The app technologies developed by Google/Apple and the NHS are based on the same principle - they keep a log of who someone has come into close contact with - but the way they store data is the main difference. The NHS's keeps information in a centralised database, while the Google/Apple app is de-centralised. NHS app: Lists on NHS servers The NHSX app will create an alert every time two app users come within Bluetooth range of one another and log this in the user's phone. Each person will essentially build up a list of everyone they have been in 'contact' with. This will be anonymised so the lists will actually just be numbers or codes, not lists of names or addresses. If someone is diagnosed with the coronavirus or reports that they have symptoms, all the app users they got close to during the time that they were considered infectious - this will vary from person to person - will receive an alert telling them they have been put at risk of COVID-19 - but it won't name the person who was diagnosed. NHSX insists it will delete people's data when they get rid of the app. Apple/Google: Contained on phones In Apple and Google's de-centralised approach, meanwhile, the server and list element of this process is removed and the entire log is contained in someone's phone. That app works by exchanging a digital 'token' with every phone someone comes within Bluetooth range of over a fixed period. If one person develops symptoms of the coronavirus or tests positive, they will be able to enter this information into the app. The phone will then send out a notification to all the devices they have exchanged tokens with during the infection window, to make people aware they may have been exposed to COVID-19. The server database will not be necessary because each phone will keep an individual log of the bluetooth profiles someone has come close to. These will then be linked anonymously to people's NHS apps and alerts can be pushed through that even after the person is out of bluetooth range. It is understood that if someone later deletes the Google/Apple app and closes their account their data would be erased. Will NHS benefit from central data? If the NHS collects the data it may be able to use it as part of wider contact tracing efforts as well as being able to detect local outbreaks using location data. In future, if someone is diagnosed with COVID-19, members of an army of 18,000 'contact tracers' will be tasked with working out who else that patient has come into contact with and put at risk. It is not clear how much access the human contact tracers will have to data collected through the app. Advertisement Health Secretary Matt Hancock has previously said the app will be ready to be rolled out nationwide in mid-May. On the BBC's Andrew Marr Show yesterday morning, Mr Jenrick said that as far as he was aware, the government was not developing a rumoured second app. However, he said: 'We have an app that is being rolled out on the Isle of Wight but we are also paying attention to what is happening elsewhere in the world.' Mr Jenrick was asked specifically three times by Mr Marr on whether the government is developing a second app. He added: 'As far as Im aware, were not developing a second app but we are paying attention to other apps that exist elsewhere in the world.' And Mr Jenrick said 'obviously' the government will change tack if it needs to 'adapt our app, or move to a different model'. The app - designed by NHSX - forms a key part of Downing Street's three-step test, track and trace coronavirus battle-plan. Leading scientists have repeatedly said a widespread testing and tracing regime is essential in squashing any infectious disease outbreak. South Korea offered the world proof that the system works, bucking the global trend and opting against a lockdown in favour of the rigorous regime. Fewer than 300 people have died from the virus in the Asian nation - despite it being one of the first places to suffer a large outbreak outside of China. The NHS COVID-19 App requires smartphone users to download it and share data the moment they test positive or display signs of COVID-19. It then sends a notification advising every mobile user who was in close proximity to them to self-isolate, in case the virus was passed on. Concerns have been raised about its reliance on self-reporting and the risk it could be used to 'prank' people. Users who download the app voluntarily opt-in to record details of their symptoms - a cough or fever - when they start to feel unwell. Leading experts have said the UK is effectively the only country to use self-reporting, rather than verified tests, in its app. Dr Michael Veale, a digital rights and regulation expert at University College London, said this was because Britain can't get a test 'turned around in a few hours'. He told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday: 'This is really a worry. In other countries we're working with, they are very clear that self-reporting will not be allowed on their app. 'It can be misused or used to prank or used to target people deliberately and put them into quarantine without them knowing.' If the NHS collects the data it may be able to use it as part of wider contact tracing efforts as well as being able to detect local outbreaks using location data. The NHSX app is a key piece in the UK Government's plan to get the country out of lockdown, integrated in their test, track and trace strategy. But it's been fraught with complications since trialling of it began on Isle of Wight this week - such as that older phone models are not compatible NHS CONTACT-TRACING APP DOES NOT WORK ON NEW HUAWEI DEVICES, OFFICIALS ADMIT The NHS contact-tracing app being trialled on the Isle of Wight does not work on the latest Huawei devices or some older mobile phones, the NHSX has admitted. COVID-19 app development leader Geraint Lewis said that the new tool will only work with newer operating systems on Apple and Android phones. Huawei was recently forced to abandon the Android operating system and replace it with its own HarmonyOS software, due to the US government's trade war with China. Speaking to BBC Radio Solent, Lewis said that devices need to support Bluetooth Low Energy and run either Apple iOS 11 upwards or Android 8 or higher. Several listeners contacted the radio station to say that the app which is being piloted on the island before a wider release was not working on older devices. Advertisement It comes after it was revealed last week health chiefs have paid an IT firm 3.8million to see if it can use Apple and Google software in the new contract tracing app. NHSX asked the London office of Switzerland-based firm Zuhlke Engineering to help develop and support the app which is on trial on the Isle of Wight. The contract includes a requirement to 'investigate the complexity, performance and feasibility' of using Apple and Google software in the new 'NHS COVID-19' app. It comes after a survey revealed only 52 per cent of Britons would actually download the NHS contract-tracing app. The same poll, carried out by Opinium for the Observer newspaper, found that fewer than half of Brits approved the government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis. But experts have said that around 60 per cent of the population - 40million people - will need to download the app to make the software effective. And researchers at the University of Oxford believe that the app will only be effective when used by 80 per cent of the population. Insiders on the app development team reportedly say it starts to become effective at reducing infections with take-up above 50 per cent. With lower levels of usage, some scientists admit it may help to reduce the strain on the NHS by reducing the number of new cases each day. But it would not necessarily crush the coronavirus crisis, which has officially killed at least 31,800 infected people in the UK. Some 140,000 Isle of Wight residents were urged to download the app as part of a pilot study before it is rolled out across Britain. A source close to Isle of Wight Radio says that it is estimated around 90,000 adult Islanders have mobile phones. Fifty-thousand Islanders have downloaded the app, according to officials - giving an uptake of around 55 per cent. Residents have complained the app is fraught with complications, such as that older phone models are not compatible. WHAT CONCERNS WILL STOP PEOPLE DOWNLOADING THE APP? The success of the app for reducing infections is not known yet, but a number of difficulties have been thrown up by users in the Isle of Wight. Data protection Fears over privacy have also been raised by MPs on the Commons' human rights committee, who said they had 'significant concerns'. NHSX's app stores data about infected cases and their contacts in a 'centralised system', meaning when a person chooses to share their data it is sent to a computer server anonymously. But Google and Apple's own version, which has been adopted by several European countries including Germany, the Republic of Ireland and Switzerland, is decentralised. It means phones directly communicate with each other and the app does not harvest location data. Because no movement or tracking information is stored on a central server, it would be invisible to Google, Apple and the NHS and there would be nothing to hack. Experts believe this approach is less likely to face a legal challenge. Isle of Wight resident Omar Lakhssassi told LBC News: 'It's caused a bit of a split opinion across social media here on the Isle of Wight. 'Many people including myself are very happy to download this app and to try and make a difference to the data recording so the Government can track and trace people that have Covid-19 symptoms. 'Some people though are quite dubious - they are worried about their privacy being breached, and very vocal on social media, saying they won't download this app.' NHSX insists it will delete people's data when they get rid of the app. Ian Levy, technical director at GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre, has reassured users that the app is safe to use. The Government has insisted that all data will be completely anonymised, with Mr Hancock rejecting claims the app could open the door to 'pervasive state surveillance'. He said that was 'completely wrong'. Incompatibility Islanders have said the app will not install on Huawei, iPhones and Samsungs released before mid-2017. And complaints have been pouring into local Facebook groups, many of which moan the app saps battery - however others have said this is not a problem. This may be because people have different versions of iOS software. Phil Clarke, from Cowes, who has a new iPhone, said he found it 'easy to download' but told MailOnline: 'My mum tried to download it and it said her device wasn't compatible even though it's a Samsung smart phone'. Bluetooth issues There is concern the apps will yield false positive alerts because the Bluetooth tracking system is over sensitive. The app keeps a trace of others who have been in close contact through Bluetooth signals that transmit an anonymous ID. These low energy Bluetooth signals perform a digital 'handshake' when two users come into close contact, but keep that data anonymous. An expert told MailOnline the Bluetooth technology only 'listens' for other phones when the handset is locked. It means that when two locked iPhones with the app are together, they will not record contact - a problem highlighted by TraceTogether users in Singapore. Advertisement What happened Shares of PagSeguro Digital (NYSE:PAGS) climbed 31% in April, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence . The Brazilian payment-processing stock bounced back after sliding 38.4% in March's trading. ^SPX data by YCharts PagSeguro stock tracked closely in line with the movement for the broader market for much of April's trading. The company's share price then jumped at the end of the month after the company announced a new government partnership and rolled out a new service. So what PagSeguro published a press release on April 28, announcing that it had entered into a partnership with the state of Minas Gerais (a territory in Brazil) to provide its banking services as a means to receive government payments. The service is being offered to 270,000 families in Minas Gerais, and PagSeguro is offering 20 Brazilian reais to people in the state who open a free digital account in the first month of the program. PagSeguro then published a press release on April 30 that announced PagPerto -- a virtual shopping service that allows sellers to list goods and connect with buyers in their area. The company's CEO, Ricardo Dutra da Silva, commented in the press release that PagPerto would help shoppers who are not able to be in stores as a result of the novel coronavirus and that PagSeguro sees growth for digital payments accelerating as a result of the crisis. Now what PagSeguro stock has continued to climb in May. The company's share price is up roughly 10% in the month as of this writing. ^SPX data by YCharts PagSeguro stock trades at roughly 34.5 times the average analyst target for this year's earnings and 8.4 times expected sales. Colombia-based Avianca filed for bankruptcy after failing to secure government aid to pay off its debts. Avianca Holdings, Latin Americas second-largest airline, has filed for bankruptcy, after failing to meet a bond payment deadline, while its pleas for coronavirus aid from Colombias government have so far been unsuccessful. If it fails to come out of bankruptcy, Bogota-based Avianca would be one of the first large carriers worldwide to go under as a result of the pandemic, which has crippled world travel. Avianca has not flown a regularly scheduled passenger flight since late March and most of its 20,000 employees have gone without pay through the crisis. Avianca is facing the most challenging crisis in our 100-year history, Avianca Chief Executive Anko van der Werff said in a news release on Sunday. While Avianca was already weak before the coronavirus outbreak, its bankruptcy filing highlights the challenges for airlines that cannot count on state rescues or on such rescues coming fast enough. Avianca is still hoping for a government bailout. This isnt a surprise at all, said Juan David Ballen, chief economist at Casa de Bolsa brokerage in Bogota. The company was heavily indebted despite the fact it tried to restructure its debt last year. Avianca, the second-oldest continually operating airline in the world after KLM, had $7.3bn in debts in 2019. The airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York and said it would continue operations while it restructured its debts. The Colombian Association of Civil Aviators (ACDAC), a union representing many Avianca employees, said it supported the move. Avianca already went through bankruptcy in the early 2000s, from which it was rescued by a Bolivian-born oil businessman, German Efromovich. Efromovich grew Avianca aggressively but also saddled the carrier with significant debt until he was removed from the airline last year in a boardroom coup led by United Airlines Holdings Inc. He still owns a majority stake in the carrier. United stands to lose up to $700m in loans related to Avianca. Efromovich told Reuters news agency on Sunday that he disagreed with the decision to file for bankruptcy and that he was not involved in making it. Cost-cutting The management that took over after Efromovichs removal was already focused on a cost-cutting reorganisation dubbed Avianca 2021 before this years crisis. Warnings about its fragile finances abounded. Roberto Kriete, president of Aviancas board, said last year in a meeting with employees that the airline was broke. Last month, Aviancas accounting firm, KPMG, said it had substantial doubts about the carriers ability to exist a year from now. Aviancas shares closed at 88 cents on Friday in New York, from a high of more than $18 in 2014. Most pressingly, Avianca was facing a $65m bond payment due on Sunday that analysts did not think the airline was in a position to meet. S&P downgraded the airline to CCC- status in the days leading up to that payment. Airline executives confirmed in a press call on Sunday night that they had not made the payment. Van der Werff had mounted a public relations campaign in recent weeks to secure emergency aid from Colombias government, but none had materialised as of Sunday. Avianca has no certain date to resume operations, as its main hubs Colombia, El Salvador and Peru have all shut down air traffic to fight the coronavirus. The carrier faced backlash after it sold plane tickets for late May only to have to cancel them when Colombia extended its coronavirus lockdown. Avianca will also shut down its operations in Peru, which represents 5 percent of the airlines revenue, and will lay off hundreds of employees within the next 10 days. In this time, we do not have liquidity to sustain a loss-making operation, Silvia Mosquera, Aviancas chief commercial officer, told reporters regarding Avianca Peru. Colombias Avianca is the third of Efromovichs airlines to go through bankruptcy or out of business in recent years. Airlines Avianca Brasil and Avianca Argentina ceased to exist last year because of economic troubles in their markets. The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened to make outcomes worse and without aggressive policy, the virus outbreak across the globe will have immediate costs on both learning and health of children and youth, according to the World Bank's team. Experts from the World Bank have pointed out that even before the pandemic, the world was facing a "learning crisis" and already off track to meet Sustainable Development Goal 4, which commits all nations to ensure that, among other ambitious targets, all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary The World Bank has been working with different UN agencies in forming guidelines as well as policy suggestions for minimising impact of the pandemic on education sector. "Before the pandemic, 258 million children and youth of primary- and secondary-school age were out of school and low schooling quality meant many who were in school learned too little. Even worse, the crisis was not equally distributed. The most disadvantaged children and youth had the worst access to schooling, highest dropout rates, and the largest learning deficits," the team has pointed out in a report titled "The COVID-19 Pandemic: Shocks to Education and Policy Responses". According to Jaime Saavedra, Global Director for Education at the World Bank, the pandemic now threatens to make education outcomes even worse. "The pandemic has already had profound impacts on education by closing schools almost everywhere in the planet, in the largest simultaneous shock to all education systems in our lifetimes. The damage will become even more severe as the health emergency translates into a deep global recession," he said. The World Bank's education team asserted that it is possible to counter the "shocks" and turn crisis into opportunity. "The first step is to cope successfully with school closures, by protecting health and safety and doing what they can to prevent students' learning loss using remote learning. At the same time, countries need to start planning for school reopening. That means preventing dropout, ensuring healthy school conditions, and using new techniques to promote rapid learning recovery in key areas once students are back in school," the report said. "As the school system stabilizes, countries can use the focus and innovativeness of the recovery period to 'build back better'. The key is to not replicate the failures of the pre-COVID systems, but instead build toward improved systems and accelerated learning for all students," it added. Pointing out that there are long term costs involved, the team has called for aggressive policy action. "The policies to turn this around can be grouped in three overlapping phases--coping, managing continuity, improving and accelerating. As rules around social distancing are gradually relaxed, systems need to ensure that schools reopen safely, student dropout is minimized, and learning recovery starts," it said. According to UNESCO estimates, over 154 crore students are severely impacted by closure of educational institutions across the world amid the COVID-19 outbreak. UN agencies--UNESCO and UNICEF along with World Bank and the World Food Programme, had recently come up with guidelines on how to safely reopen schools in view of COVID-19 and also warned that widespread closures of educational facilities present an unprecedented risk to children's education and wellbeing. Globally, over 41 lakh people have been infected with COVID-19, and the total number of deaths from the deadly virus now stands at 2.83 lakh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Rajasthan Police has impounded 1.28 lakh vehicles under the Motor Vehicle (MV) Act and imposed a fine of over Rs 5 crore for flouting rules during the coronavirus-driven lockdown, a top official said on Monday. Additional Director General of Police (Crime) BL Soni also said around 14,400 people in the state were arrested for breach of peace. More than 5,600 people have been booked under provisions of the Disaster Management Act, Pandemic Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code for defying lockdown norms. He said 409 people were arrested and sent to jail in connection with attack on 'corona warriors', who are doctors, paramedics and other frontline workers battling the coronavirus pandemic. The police have so far filed 199 cases for misuse of social media and booked 280 "anti-social" elements. Soni said police are also keeping a close watch on the black marketers. As many as 121 cases were filed under the Essential Commodities Act against shopkeepers indulged in black marketing during the lockdown, the senior official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The financial effects of the COVD-19 pandemic are devastating for the entire planet. Many Americans are trying their best to save money and car insurance is one of the monthly expenses that will be reduced or even sacrificed, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. The harsh effects of the coronavirus pandemic are now visible to anyone. Unemployment is skyrocketing in the United States and many people are struggling to pay for what they need and their monthly bills. Saving money is becoming more crucial, and one area where people can reduce their expenses is car insurance coverage. Depending on their situation, drivers can tweak their policies to save some money. However, drivers are advised to make changes only after theyve carefully analyzed the possible consequences of their decisions. In most cases, drivers can choose from the following options that are available for them: Negotiating with their car insurance companies. There are many ways to go about asking for a lower monthly premium. First, drivers can call their insurance providers directly and speak with an agent, or they can contact them via email or through online chat. In all cases, drivers should explain their difficult financial situation and raise the prospect of switching to a different provider. In these tough times, providers are likely to accept a lower rate than to lose a customer. Secondly, drivers who have different policies at different insurers can get a bundling discount if they decide to bundle their policies with one insurer. Finally, drivers should ask their providers if they are eligible for discounts such as military, good student, good driver, installed antitheft devices, good credit score, automatic pay. Also, many drivers are driving fewer miles in this period and they can be eligible for a low-mileage discount. Changing insurance coverage or benefits. Raising the deductible to a higher amount is one of the methods drivers can use to lower their monthly bills. Eliminating certain types of coverage can also help drivers make some savings. Popular additional coverages such as comprehensive, collision, and uninsured/underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage can be quite expensive for some in this period. However, drivers are recommended to keep their UM coverage as more and more drivers are driving without insurance Go without car insurance. Canceling car insurance should be done only by drivers who decided to stop driving altogether. Drivers who cancel their insurance should surrender their license plates. Some states will assume that a vehicle that has valid tags is still being driven by its owner. Drivers who cancel their insurance, but continue to drive their vehicles can face civil and criminal penalties. For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/ Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. We must therefore be prepared to continue to live with the coronavirus among us for a year or even more. We must be prepared for a new reality in which the fight against Covid-19 becomes part o Health experts have been studying the behaviour of the virus has affected the whole world and has wreaked havoc in countries whose majority of population live hand to mouth. Last week, it was reported she's set to star in a big screen adaptation of the Borderlands video game. And on Monday, it was revealed that Cate Blanchett is also lining up two more movie roles for when production resumes in Hollywood. The Australian Oscar winner is attached to join the cast of Adam McKay's comedy Don't Look Up and James Gray's Armageddon Times. Work: Cate Blanchett is busy lining up new projects and is attached to join the cast of Adam McKay's comedy Don't Look Up and James Gray's Armageddon Times, it was reported Monday McKay, who made The Big Short and Vice is writing, producing and directing Don't Look Up for Netflix. Jennifer Lawrence is also on board for the comedy about two astronomers who discover an asteroid will hit the earth in six months and embark on a press tour to warn the world about it. McKay has previously described the film as 'a dark satire in the school of Wag the Dog, Doctor Strangelove and Network,' according to Collider.com. Signed up: Jennifer Lawrence is also on board the satire about two astronomers who discover an asteroid will hit the earth in six months and embark on a press tour to warn the world Calling the shots: McKay, who made The Big Short and Vice is writing, producing and directing Don't Look Up for Netflix Gray's film Armageddon Times is based on the filmmaker's experiences as a student at the Kew-Forest School in Queens, Variety reported. The private school is the alma mater of Donald Trump and his father Fred Trump was a member of the school board. Gray's credits include The Lost City of Z and Ad Astra. Blanchett, 50, can currently be seen in the FX on Hulu series Mrs. America in which she plays leading anti-feminist activist Phyllis Schlafly. She also wrapped production earlier this year on Guillermo del Toros thriller Nightmare Alley with Bradley Cooper. In demand: Blanchett has wrapped production on Guillermo del Toros thriller Nightmare Alley with Bradley Cooper and is in talks for the big screen adaptation of video game Borderlands WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's effort to keep his personal and corporate financial records away from congressional and law enforcement investigators comes before the Supreme Court Tuesday amid indications some justices may be reluctant to weigh in. The dramatic oral arguments, to be conducted by telephone amid the coronavirus pandemic and broadcast live, could result in historic rulings on a president's immunity from investigation while in office and Congress' oversight powers, right in the middle of the 2020 presidential campaign. Or not. Perhaps with an eye on the potential political repercussions, the court last month asked both sides fighting over congressional subpoenas to address whether the battle may be a "political question" beyond the reach of federal courts. If the justices so decide, they could avoid putting a thumb on the scale favoring the president or Congress. LISTEN LIVE: Supreme Court hears argument in disputes about access to Trump's financial records "It's an uncomfortable position for the court," says Peter Shane, who teaches constitutional law at Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. "Theres nothing in it for the court to antagonize one of them if they dont have to." Among the justices who might find that attractive are Chief Justice John Roberts, who seeks to keep the court out of politics when possible, and Trump's two high court nominees, Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, who otherwise face the choice of protecting or opposing the president who nominated them. Chief Justice John Roberts presided over President Donald Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate. Roberts wrote the court's 5-4 decision last summer that said disputes over partisan gerrymandering by state legislatures were "political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts." "In a novel political fight like this, the court might well look for ways both to extricate itself and to keep future fights like this out of the court system," says Lawrence Joseph, an attorney who suggested that approach to the court on behalf of the conservative Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund. Story continues But both sides in the current dispute urged the justices Friday to weigh in on the merits rather than invoke the "political question" doctrine. "Judicial abstention here would not fence off the court from 'a political tug-of-war,'" Trump's lawyer William Consovoy wrote. "It would be writing every congressional committee a blank check to subpoena any personal records it wants from any president any time it wishes simply by seeking those records from a custodian with no incentive to draw the ire of Congress. That is constitutionally intolerable." "It is in the committees interest for this court to reach the merits now, rather than to let doubts as to the subpoenas validity linger," House general counsel Douglas Letter agreed. "It is also in the interest of the executive branch for this court to reach the merits here. The courts should be available to provide the executive branch safeguards, should it ever need them." Risks for all three branches It's not clear whether punting the battle with Congress back to the executive and legislative branches would help or hurt Trump in the end. House Democrats are seeking banking and accounting records held by Mazars USA, Deutsche Bank and Capital One. In a stalemate between the White House and Congress, they could refuse to release them or hand them over. The legal battles pit Trump against three House committees, controlled by Democrats, that have issued subpoenas for eight years of financial documents. A separate fight involves Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance's subpoena for similar documents as well as the tax returns that Trump, unlike recent predecessors, has not released voluntarily. Lawmakers claim the records will help determine the need for future legislation in areas such as campaign finance law, bank loan practices, and efforts to prevent foreign influence in elections. Trump's lawyers say it's a fishing expedition to see if the president is guilty of tax fraud or money laundering. President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting with military leaders and his national security team in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 9, 2020. All three branches of government have much at stake: The political earthquake that some justices may be seeking to sidestep would be most acutely felt if the president loses and the documents are made public during his reelection campaign. For nearly five years since declaring his candidacy in 2015, Trump has managed to keep his tax returns and much of his financial data from prying eyes. "Publicly releasing information about individuals is a form of punishment," Trump's lawyers argue in court papers. "Yet that has been the goal here from the start." Congress has much at stake as well. Its oversight authority could be constrained by a ruling in Trump's favor, setting a precedent for future investigations particularly those viewed as partisan. "In more than 20 cases concerning the scope of Congresss power to investigate, this court has only once held that a congressional inquiry exceeded its constitutional limits," House lawyers contend in defending the subpoenas. There also are high stakes facing the high court. If it sides with Trump along ideological lines with five justices named by Republican presidents in the majority and four named by Democrats in dissent it could emerge as damaged goods in the eyes of the public. "If the president wins and its 5-4 there will be people claiming that the president's appointees have come to his defense," says Saikrishna Prakash, a University of Virginia law professor whose recent book, The Living Presidency, warns of its ever-expanding powers. 'Private lives of presidents' The congressional subpoenas emanate from three House committees, rather than one or both houses of Congress a potential shortcoming Trump's lawyers have sought to impress upon the Supreme Court. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform issued a subpoena to Mazars USA, Trump's accounting firm, more than a year ago seeking financial records from the president, his family business, a trust and the company that runs Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. Thus far, two federal courts have upheld the subpoena. Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, testified before Congress that as a private citizen, Trump routinely overstated or understated his holdings for financial gain. The panel wants to compare eight years of financial documents to Cohen's testimony and government disclosures. The House Financial Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Capital One more than a year ago seeking records from Trump, his three oldest children and the Trump Organization. The panels are probing risky lending practices by major financial institutions and efforts by Russia to influence U.S. elections. They have been upheld twice in lower courts. Letter said the records are needed to help determine "whether senior government officials, including the president, are acting in the country's best interest and not in their own financial interest." But Consovoy warned the justices that "given the obvious temptation to investigate the personal affairs of political rivals, subpoenas concerning the private lives of presidents will become routine in times of divided government." The Manhattan DA's subpoenas came later as part of a criminal probe of hush-money payments that Cohen said were made to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed they had affairs with Trump that he has denied. Once again, two lower courts upheld the subpoenas. Trump's lawyers have argued that the president has absolute immunity while in office from grand jury investigations of criminal conduct. During oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, they contended Trump could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and escape prosecution until he leaves office. "Local officials ... cannot exercise their power to hinder the chief executive in the performance of the duties that he owes to the undivided nation," they argue in court papers. "The risk that politics will lead state and local prosecutors to relentlessly harass the president is simply too great to tolerate." Nixon, Clinton, Trump The legal battles are nothing new for Trump. As a New York-based real estate developer and reality TV star, he made it a practice to bring his personal and professional beefs to court. Since winning the White House, he has done the same thing on political and policy matters. A USA TODAY analysis in 2016 of legal filings across the United States found that Trump and his businesses had been involved in at least 4,000 legal actions in federal and state courts over three decades, ranging from million-dollar real estate battles to personal defamation lawsuits. Since his election, Trump has had better luck at the Supreme Court than the lower courts that have blocked many of his policies, particularly on immigration. The administration has asked the justices for emergency stays of lower court actions 26 times in three-plus years, compared to eight times in the previous 16 years, according to University of Texas School of Law professor Stephen Vladeck. The court has complied in 15 of those cases, at least in part. But in previous high-profile battles over documents or testimony, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against Presidents Richard Nixon in 1974 and Bill Clinton in 1997, with their nominees in agreement. The decisions led eventually to Nixon's resignation and Clinton's impeachment. That history raises the pressure on today's high court, which Roberts has said should seek unanimity wherever possible. "At a time we are so politicized and Trump is such a polarizing president, I hope that the court doesnt come down 5-4 along partisan lines," says Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California-Berkeley School of Law. "I do think the court's credibility is on the line." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump's financial records: Congress, Supreme Court face risks (Photo : Pixabay) Hepatitis A is a virus that attacks the liver and can cause acute liver failure. The world is still trying to win its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, especially Italy, which was among the countries with the worst cases of the virus. While they haven't yet flattened the curve, new and disturbing news has been reported concerning one employee of a Rome eatery that may have exposed their patrons to hepatitis A, a viral liver disease. ALSO READ: COVID-19 UPDATE: CT Scans Reveal Half of Hospitalized Children with Coronavirus Have Inflamed and Fluid-Filled Lungs Pizzeria Employee Tested Positive for Hepatitis A Based on a report by radio station WIBX 950, the Oneida County Health Department confirmed the case where one employee of a local Rome eatery tested positive for hepatitis A. According to the news outlet, the employee worked at the LaRoma's Pizzeria on Floyd Avenue, Rome, while infected and may have exposed their patrons to the disease when they ordered take out from the restaurant. Patrons are Advised to Monitor Themselves for Possible Infection Anyone who ordered and consumed the food from the eatery from April 27 to May 4 is advised to receive any potential treatment for the disease within 14 days of potential exposure. They can visit their local hospital or contact the Oneida County Health Department and seek medical attention or get an appointment as soon as possible to prevent contracting hepatitis A. They will be given the vaccine, which is effective in fighting the virus if administered within two weeks of possible exposure. Patrons who have also visited and eaten at LaRoma's between Apr. 20 to 26 are also advised to monitor themselves for symptoms of Hepatitis A and to seek medical attention if they feel unwell immediately. Read Also: Rats are Starting to Infect Humans With Hepatitis and Nobody Knows How It's Done Among the symptoms of this disease include yellow eyes or skin, stomach pain, loss of appetite, fever, vomiting, gastrointestinal problems, joint pain, feeling of tiredness, light-colored stools, or dark urine. Symptoms could appear 15 to 50 days after being exposed to the virus. Nevertheless, the transmission of the virus is through consuming any food or drinks or using the utensils that have been handled by the infected patient. LaRoma's Pizzeria has already been notified by authorities and is currently cooperating with the health department to conduct further inspections over the coming weeks, as per CNYCentral. What is Hepatitis A? Simply sitting beside the patient or any other casual interaction with them will not transmit the virus, unlike the highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 or novel coronavirus that brings the deadly COID-19 disease. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hepatitis A virus attacks the liver and could cause mild to severe illnesses. However, most of the patients who contract the viral infection fully recover from the disease and acquire lifelong immunity from it, but there are a number of people who have died from the infection, with around 7,000 deaths in 2016 due to fulminant hepatitis or acute liver failure. This viral infection is usually associated with unsafe food and water sources, poor hygiene, and inadequate sanitation. It may also be transmitted through sexual activity, especially between two males. A vaccine is already available for Hepatitis A. It is given to young children between the ages of one and two to ensure long-lasting protection from the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Read Also: COVID-19 Vaccine Might be Released Unapproved; Chinese Drugmaker Will be Testing Top Vaccine Candidate Globally 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Recently, Indian cinema lost a gem and it felt like a personal loss to many of his fans. Irrfan Khan was successful in making his place in Bollywood and many of his fans were shaken by the news. Many villages surrounding the foothills of the Tringalwadi Fort in Igatpuri Maharashtra have no movie theatres around them. But, still, each and every person living in these villages know the late actor Irrfan. Also, the children and families havent missed a single film of the actor. The villagers met him in the open field of their villages and for the past decade, they have travelled around 30 kilometres by state transport buses, just to watch his films. The reel life hero was a real hero for these people in a true sense as he funded the village schools and also transformed many tribal villages. From sponsoring an ambulance to giving students books they needed, the actor made an effort to transform many lives. The actor also bought a plot for a weekend home in Igatpuri. He was a guardian angel to so many families. He never said no whenever anyone asked for help, says Gorakh Bodke, a member of Zila Parishad in Igatpuri. He also said that the actor started taking interest in the development of the area ever since he requested the actor to make a donation for an ambulance. Now, as a tribute, the people of the village have decided to rename the locality where Irrfan had his farmhouse and they call it Hero-chi-wadi. The name means the neighbourhood of a hero. Every year Irrfan donated books, sweaters, raincoats, and much more to 1000 students studying in the village. He also donated many computers to encourage young kids to know about the digital world. The people there mourned the actors' death and decided to rename the village. This is a testimony to how many lives he changed and how people loved him. BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks edged up slightly on Monday even as the latest data indicated the coronavirus infection rate was rising again after loosening restrictions. Germany has seen regional spikes in cases linked to slaughterhouses and nursing homes, official data showed Sunday, just days after Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country could gradually return to normal. The benchmark DAX was up 8 points at 10,912 after climbing 1.4 percent on Friday. Wirecard shares soared 8 percent after the payments system provider announced a reshuffle of its management board amid multiple regulatory probes into financial disclosure. Wind turbine manufacturer Nordex tumbled 2.7 percent. With supply chain issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic affecting its business, the company said it was unclear when it could issue a new outlook for the current year. Consumer goods maker Henkel AG & Co. KGaA declined 1.8 percent after its sales declined nominally by 0.8 percent to 4.9 billion euros during the first quarter. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. On April 23, garment workers at the American Apparel plant in Selma, Alabama walked out after learning that several workers at their factory had tested positive for COVID-19. The courageous strike by the low-paid workers, who are mostly African American women, generated widespread interest, with a video posted by one of the striking workers viewed thousands of times. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, there have been several strikes and job actions in the southern US states, including walkouts by bus drivers in Birmingham, Alabama, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Greensboro, North Carolina; sanitation workers in New Orleans and Shreveport, Louisiana and poultry and other meatpacking workers in Georgia and South Carolina. Many of these struggles have involved the most oppressed sections of the working class in rural and semi-rural areas. American Apparel Inc. (not affiliated with the international brand) has 1,400 workers at four plants in Alabama who have been deemed essential because they produce uniforms and other materiel for the US military. The 234 workers at the Selma factory are currently producing 187,000 protective face masks for US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. They have not been allowed to use those masks to protect themselves, workers at the Selma plant told the World Socialist Web Site . American Apparel workers walk out on April 23 (Source: WAKA Channel 8 Selma) It was dusty enough because of all the sewing, and they fired the cleaning crew before all this hit, a worker said. The company also pays miserable wages to keep costs down for the government, which also contracts military uniforms to Federal Prison Industries, a government-run company that uses prison labor in Alabama and other states. Workers say the company uses a piece-work system with hourly wages, varying from $9 to $15 an hour, based on meeting production targets. The quotas are so hard to meet, she said, the $58 a day were getting from the company while were off is bigger than my take home pay. Describing what led up to the April 23 walkout, another worker told the WSWS, They shut everything around us, but kept American Apparel operating. One of our workers ended up in critical condition, fighting for her life. Shes recovering, but its day-to-day. The night before we walked out, management passed out a letter saying one worker had tested positive but had not been in the plant for 12 days. The next morning, we found out there were at least four workers who got sick. Letter distributed the day before walkout (Source: Facebook) I have a child with bad asthma and a compromised immune system. If I brought this home, it could kill my baby. All we were doing was trying to keep our families safe. American Apparel doesnt care about us. All they care about is the product, she said. Referring to company CEO Chuck Lambert, she added, The CEO said it himself: We got to make money. If you dont like the rules, theres the door, he told us. Its like they are sacrificing us. They tell us: Either work to provide for your family, and risk your lives, or stay home and starve. The workers decided to take action because the local union officials refused to do anything to oppose management. The union works more for them than they do for us, one worker said. Theyre like, if management says its clean, you got to believe them, another worker added. The union doesnt stand up for us. Workers know little about the American Apparel Employees Union, which appears to be affiliated either with the UNITE HERE union or the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). After initially saying the plant should remain closed for at least two weeks until thoroughly sanitized, union leaders have urged workers to return. The local president is saying he has to go back because he has a family to feed. But how do we get respect from the company if the union doesnt even respect us? Selma worker (Promotional photo American Apparel Inc) While the company claims that it sanitized the plant and resumed full production, many workers have not returned because they consider the facility unsafe. We talk amongst ourselves. We know that you can have no symptoms and still spread it. The masks they gave us are not the ones we are sewing for the military. They gave us some that were so thick you couldnt breathe. Its like they were trying to kill us. How do you expect us to sew when we cant breathe? The concerns over safety are well founded. There have been 86 confirmed cases in Dallas County, which includes Selma. Early last week, management at the Riverdale Mill, owned by International Paper, just 16 miles to the west of the American Apparel plant, acknowledged that several workers had tested positive. They have refused to release the total number of cases or any other details, cynically claiming that they are protecting the privacy rights of the infected workers. On Friday, Republican Governor Kay Ivey increased the number of businesses allowed to reopen, even though Alabama saw its highest daily increase in cases, 355, last Thursday. There are now more than 9,000 cases and 369 deaths, including one at the Hyundai auto assembly plant in Montgomery, whose 3,000 workers began returning to work last week after a shutdown that began March 18. Ivey signed two state of emergency measures, aimed at exempting employers from legal action if they infect or kill their workers. I want to do everything within my authority to protect businesses as Alabamas economy gets up and running again, she wrote. As we resume operations, the very last thing a business owner needs to worry about is a frivolous lawsuit from responding to COVID-19. Like Iowa, Nebraska and other states where meatpacking workers have refused to work in slaughterhouses and packing plants where 12,000 were infected and 48 have died, the state of Alabama is threatening to cut off unemployment benefits to any worker who refuses to return to work. On the same day as the Selma walkout the Alabama Department of Labor warned workers that they must accept work if they are called back or this would be considered a refusal of work, which would disqualify them from jobless benefits. Attempts to collect unemployment benefits after quitting without a good work-related cause can be considered fraud, Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said, encouraging employers to use a state website to report employees who fail to return to work over fears of infection. More than 450,000 have filed for unemployment benefits in Alabama, with another 29,000 applicants last week. Theyre blocking me from getting my unemployment benefits, an American Apparel worker who has not gone back to work told the WSWS. They said they would keep [the plant] closed for a week and clean it. But all they did was spray some mist. And most of us have not gotten tested. I went to the public health clinic to get my test last week, but the results havent come back yet. Another worker reported that management is offering a $50 bonus for perfect attendance in an effort to use economic hardship to get workers back in the plant. The company, she added, claims all the workers returned, but theyre lying to save their sales. We didnt go back, and were not going back until May 14. Because work was sent to another plant, those workers who have returned to the Selma plant have to stay even though theres no work to do. Normally, after you meet your production quota you can go home. Now theyre saying, You aint going anywhere. Selma, a city of just 20,000, has gone down in history for the famous civil rights struggles in 1965 against the apartheid system of Jim Crow segregation overseen by Alabama Governor George Wallace and enforced by local authorities and the Ku Klux Klan. Despite the passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Dallas County sheriff violently opposed black voter registration drives in Selma, where only 2 percent of the citys eligible black voters (about 300 out of 15,000) had managed to register. In response to the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a young African American demonstrator, who was shot to death by an Alabama state trooper, Martin Luther King, Jr. and others planned a protest march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery, 54 miles away. In what was known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers used whips, nightsticks and tear gas to attack marchers as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The scene was captured on television, galvanizing the civil rights movement and bringing thousands to Selma to complete the march to Montgomery where they were greeted by a crowd of 50,000 black and white supporters at the capitol. My grandma raised me and during my childhood she would talk to me about black people being killed and marchers being beaten up on the bridge. It was the things I saw in the movies and on video. But it wasnt a movie, it was her life. She taught me all about this. I think I got my courage from my grandmother. When we walked out, we wanted to show that we cared more about ourselves, than management and the union, the worker continued. To them, were just numbers. Trump and the government are giving out all this money. They could pay us to stay home and be safe. But they say our plant is essential because we make military uniforms. These wars are for nothing. There are young men around here being sent to Afghanistan for another 13-month tour of duty, but they only joined because there are no good jobs around here. After our walkout, I was contacted by workers at other American Apparel plants and a pharmacy worker at a nearby Walmart who said management told the workers if they said anything to the media about workers getting sick with COVID they would be terminated. We have to come together and stand for something. We cant say were just going back. We have to make sure the factories are clean, and weve all been tested. A Well-Known Surfer Was Attacked and Killed by an Unknown Species of Shark Santa Cruz County Coroner identified the victim of the shark attack as Ben Kelly, a resident of Santa Cruz County. According to the report, Kelly was surfing near the Maresa State Beach on the northern end of Monterey Bay. Authorities added that the incident happened on Saturday afternoon. It is still unknown as to what species of sharks attacked Kelly. Meanwhile, this is the first shark attack after almost a month of stay-at-home policy. The victim was pronounced dead, and relatives of Kelly were already informed about the tragic incident. California State Parks said: "State Parks expresses its deepest sympathy to the family of the victim." Meanwhile, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office warned everyone to avoid area and water within 100 yards of any water activities as it poses a threat. Days before the incident happened, Monterey Bay drone photographer Eric Mailander said that he had seen more than a dozen of white sharks swimming the s. He said that he counted 15 white sharks while he was on his boat on Saturday morning, but none of them was showing signs of aggressive predatory behavior. Santa Cruz Surfing Community Mourns for Kelly's Tragic Death Many of Kelly's friends paid tribute to him through Instagram posts. One wrote: "A true legend and sweetest man I knew. He showed love to everyone and was loved by many. Was honored to know him for the little I did." Another person wrote that he was very sad after hearing that Kelly was attacked by sharks. Meanwhile, one woman who lives near the state beach where the incident happened said that shark activity was common in the area, but the fatal attack was terrifying. The woman said: "It makes me horribly sad. I love the ocean, and I hate for people to be scared of it." Moreover, 1 mile north and south where the shark attack happened was immediately closed. Posters or signs about the shark attack were posted on access points and beach entrances. The beach will be close for five days and will not be opened until Thursday. The State Parks said: "With the exception of water sports, Manresa State Beach is fully closed from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, meaning there is no public access during this time." As you may recall, some beaches in California were opened recently and were even extended for visitors who live 10 miles within the radius of the beaches. However, there were new restrictions that visitors must strictly follow that includes not to assemble, not to crouch, not to stay in one place, and more. The beaches will be closed from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. to discourage those who are coming miles away to visit the beaches. Moreover, outside those hours, residents living in the area ca jog on the seashore or have their daily exercise. Former BSP MP Dhananjay Singh was arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur district in the early hours of Monday on a complaint of criminal intimidation and kidnapping, police said. A police team, led by Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjay Kumar, arrested Singh from his residence at Kalikutti area here, Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar said. An FIR was lodged after a Jal Nigam project manager, Abhinav Singhal, had lodged a complaint against Singh at the Line Bazar police station on Sunday night, alleging criminal intimidation and kidnapping, Kumar said. Singh has been produced in court, which sent him to 14 days in judicial custody, the SP said. The former parliamentarian, however, has alleged that he had been framed to malign his image. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 2,000 stuck on cruise ship in Goa after crew members test positive for COVID-19 Cruise ship sails back to Mumbai with all passengers as Covid-19 infected patients refuse to get down at Goa No night curfew in Goa, but gatherings with over 100 people in open spaces banned Howrah Amaravati Express derailed near Goa's Dudhsagar, all passengers and staff on board safe Goans trying to smuggle people in from other states: CM India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Panaji, May 11: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said some locals were trying to "smuggle in" people from neighbouring states, in violation of directives for the prevention of COVID-19 spread, and warned of strict action against them. People arriving in the state need to be tested for COVID-19 and they have to remain quarantined as per the guidelines, Sawant said in a video message. "We have noticed that some Goans are trying to smuggle in people from the neighbouring states using alternate routes. 350 Shramik Special trains run so far, around 3.6 lakh migrants ferried: Railways This is a punishable offence under the National Disaster Management Act," the Chief Minister said. The state government will take strict action against those caught in such illegal activities, he said. Goa has been declared a 'green zone' as it has no active coronavirus case. Sawant said nearly 2,000 Goans who were stranded abroad have returned to the coastal state after completing the due formalities. Coronavirus positive case tally rises to 67,152; biggest one-day jump "On the other hand around, 7,000 to 8,000 people have left Goa, after taking individual permissions, in their own vehicles", he said, adding that most of the people have gone to neighbouring Karnataka. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is likely to suggest an extension of ongoing lockdown 3:0 restrictions, which were further extended from May 4 for 14 days in 130 districts across the country that have emerged as coronavirus disease (Covid-19) hotspots, till end-May during the CMs video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi slated to be held on Monday afternoon. The CM will push for enforcement of stricter norms for red zones and implementation of a few more relaxations in orange and green zones. Thackeray is expected to draw the PMs attention to the plight of stranded migrant workers and demand for their evacuation at the earliest by special trains. Maharashtra has recorded over 10,000 Covid-19 positive cases in the last 10 days, as the overall tally rose to 22,171 and 832 deaths till Sunday evening. The state authorities are facing a massive challenge to ensure restrictions in the containment zones such as Mumbais congested Dharavi slums and parts of Pune. The visiting central teams have also raised a similar concern. Earlier, CM Thackeray had hinted at extending the lockdown till end-May in both Mumbai and Pune Metropolitan Regions, which have emerged as the epicentre of Covid-19 pandemic in Maharashtra. The CM has been urging the Centre to arrange special trains to repatriate stranded migrant labourers at the earliest. However, a few states are reluctant to take back the migrants, said a state government official. Maharashtra government is also expected to request for the deployment of central forces in the containment zones in a bid to relieve the stressed state police force. Thackeray, in his address via Facebook Live on Saturday, had said that he might ask for the deployment of additional force from the Centre as many state police personnel have taken ill due to Covid-19-related stress. Well ask for deployment of an additional security force from the Centre, if required, the CM had said. PM Modi is expected to discuss the extension of lockdown and also an alternative exit plan by opening up economic activities across the country, which have been suspended since March 25 to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. Jae Hyun brought Ji Soo to the beach where they used to visit back in the old days. He expressed his happiness in finding her and seeing his dream for a long time. Ji Soo felt happy and kissed Jae Hyun. They left the place, thinking back of their happy memories together. Seo Kyung realized that her husband did not go home and went out with Ji Soo. She got drunk and stayed in the hotel room. A flashback of their memories appeared wherein Ji Soo felt terrible the way her father discouraged her fondness for music. She didn't want to go home, so Jae Hyun brought her to the beach, and they spent the whole day together. Jae Hyun accompanied Ji Soo as they headed back home. Ji Soo's father despised Jae Hyun and told him not to hurt Ji Soo anymore. Ji Soo kept on thinking about Jae Hyun and cleaned her house to make herself busy. Ji Soo received a call from the hotel where she works as a pianist. They advised her that they won't take her service anymore. She felt sad about it. Ji Soo stood outside the lobby and saw Jae Hyun with his wife together on their way home. Ji Soo needed to pay a large amount for the dress, which got ruined. She works as a tutor teacher in a piano center. She doubles her hard work by getting another job as a washer in one of the food shops. Joo Young looked for her and asked her to work in his bar rather than washing dishes. She declined because she doesn't want to cause him any trouble. Seo Kyung asked to see Ji Soo at the hotel lobby. When they met, Seo Kyung demanded her to stay away from Jae Hyun. She stopped seeing other men, and this means that Ji Soo should stop as well. Seo Kyung threatened Ji Soo that she wouldn't take it lightly if she lingers around her husband. Jae Hyun attended the case hearing for illegal termination of their employees and misleading facts of the company's stock. A criminal case is about to be decided by the court for Jae Hyun. Seo Kyung hired a private investigator to tail and watch Jae Hyun's activities every day. Jae Hyun, however, is aware of his wife's doing to him. Jae Hyun and Secretary Woo went to watch a movie that is one of Ji Soo's favorite actors. At the end of the film, Jae Hyun saw Ji Soo outside the cinema. They remembered about their thoughts of the past. "People who are destined to cross paths again no matter what they do." Jae Hyun bought a guitar in one of the old shops in Seoul. He reminisced where he practiced the guitar and played a song to Ji Soo. Young Min stayed with his father's house together with his grandmother. Se Hoon found a note in Young Min's bag. Young Min wrote about his frustrations and wished to end his life. Se Hoon talked to Young Min the next day about the letter. He shared about the offense he did in school. Se Hoon was surprised to know about the disciplinary committee that got canceled. Jae Hyun visited Ji Soo's house and brought the new guitar. He sneaked out using his friend's car to avoid being tail. He presented it as a long time gift that he promised to her. From a distance, Se Hoon in his car saw Ji Soo and Jae Hyun talking looking warm with each other's presence. He took pictures of his ex-wife and with a man he remembered from the hospital who helped Young Min. Australian house prices in capital cities big and small are expected to suffer double-digit falls in coming months as coronavirus lockdowns cause unemployment to reach Great Depression levels. A survey of 25 economists by financial comparison website Finder predicted sharp drops in every state and territory, with a majority of the experts declaring now was not the time to buy property. Sydney was expected to suffer a 10.2 per cent slide - slicing $104,695 off the median house price back to $921,723, based on CoreLogic's April data. Australian house prices in capital cities big and small are expected to suffer double-digit falls. Hobart was expected to be the worst-hit city with the experts forecasting a 10.5 per cent drop, which would see prices plunge by $53,832 to $458,855, hitting levels last seen in 2018. Pictured is a Berriedale house in the city's north However it was Hobart that was expected to take the biggest hit in percentage terms, with a forecast 10.5 per cent drop reducing values by $53,832 to $458,855, wiping out gains made since 2018. The Tasmanian capital was, until early 2019, Australia's best performing property market with Victorians in particular seeking a cheaper alternative to Melbourne. International students had buoyed demand for rental accommodation and thereby investment properties, but border closures and fears of a student exodus are expected to hurt demand. House price carnage Sydney: DOWN 10.2 per cent to $921,723 Melbourne: DOWN 9.2 per cent to $743,476 Brisbane: DOWN 8.4 per cent to $511,469 Perth: DOWN 8.3 per cent to $426,883 Adelaide: DOWN 8.1 per cent to $437,673 Hobart: DOWN 10.5 per cent to $458,855 Darwin: DOWN 9.5 per cent to $428,956 Canberra: DOWN 6.4 per cent to $657,878 Source: The average prediction of 25 economists surveyed by Finder. Final numbers are based on subtractions to CoreLogic's median house prices for April Advertisement Melbourne was forecast to suffer a 9.2 per cent decline, which would see mid-point house prices fall $75,330 to $743,476. Brisbane was also predicted to be hit, with median property prices dropping 8.4 per cent, or $46,903, to $511,469. Perth was forecast to suffer a 8.3 per cent slump, in a city already hit by several years of decline since the end of the mining boom, which would see house values drop $38,638 to $426,883. Adelaide was expected to cop a 8.1 per cent drop, causing prices to slip by $38,576 to $437,673. Darwin was in particular danger, with median values tipped to fall 9.5 per cent or $45,028 to $428,956 in a city where the Northern Territory government is the major employer. Canberra, Australia's capital and the home of federal bureaucrats who have been largely insulated from job and wage cuts, was expected to suffer the least severe decline of 6.4 per cent. Even so, that would still see median house prices fall by $44,983 to $657,878. The Finder survey found 58 per cent of economists declared now was not the time to buy a house, and those seeking a home should wait for the market to reach its bottom next year. Sydney was expected to suffer a 10.2 per cent slide, which would see median house prices fall $104,695, back below $1million, to $921,723, based on CoreLogic's April data. Pictured are units at Cronulla in the city's south The group's online consumer sentiment tracker survey of 8,146 people also showed just 42 per cent of respondents in April believed now was the time to buy a home, a sharp drop from 60 per cent in July 2019, which followed the end of a two-year property market downturn. How COVID-19 has affected house prices Melbourne: DOWN 0.4 per cent to $818,806 Sydney: UP 0.3 per cent to $1,026,418 Brisbane: UP 0.3 per cent to $558,372 Adelaide: UP 0.4 per cent to $476,249 Perth: UP 0.3 per cent to $465,521 Hobart: DOWN 0.2 per cent to $512,688 Darwin: UP 1.1 per cent to $473,984 Canberra: UP 0.1 per cent to $702,861 Source: CoreLogic Home Value Index for April based on median house price changes Advertisement The economic downturn has discouraged Australians from putting their home on the market. While vendors will get lower prices, they have greater chance of selling in the current market due to the lack of options for buyers. CoreLogic reported auction clearance rates in capital cities, in the week to May 10, averaged above 60 per cent for the first time since late March. In Sydney, it was 70.8 per cent, following the lifting of bans on open home inspections and public auctions. Finder's insights manager Graham Cooke said prospective home buyers and sellers were rightly worried about how rising unemployment affect property. 'Both house hunter and seller demand has weakened in the last month as Australians hunker down to help stop the spread of coronavirus,' he said. A fall in real estate values also creates a situation known as negative equity where borrowers owes more than their home is worth, with many taking out mortgages for almost the entire value of the residence. 'While falling house prices is great news for potential buyers, it poses no relief for current owners who will not see their outstanding loan amounts drop,' Mr Cooke said. Melbourne was expected to suffer a 9.2 per cent decline, which would see mid-point house prices fall $75,330 to $743,476. Pictured are people on the banks of the Yarra River Almost half, or 45 per cent, of the economists surveyed by Finder expected Australia's jobless rate to double from 5.2 per cent in March, before the COVID-19 shutdowns, to 10 per cent in 2020. Apartments weather coronavirus crisis so far Sydney: UP 0.6 per cent to $777,940 Melbourne: UP 0.1 per cent to $588,204 Brisbane: UP 0.5 per cent to $388,729 Adelaide: UP 0.7 per cent to $334,240 Perth: DOWN 0.2 per cent to $359,306 Hobart: UP 0.5 per cent to $404,021 Darwin: UP 3.1 per cent to $286,248 Canberra: DOWN 0.4 per cent to $445,169 Source: CoreLogic Home Value Index showing movements in median apartment prices in April Advertisement This forecast was in line with the Reserve Bank of Australia and Treasury, which both saw unemployment hitting double-digit figures for the first time since early 1994. A small proportion, or three per cent, of the economists surveyed by Finder forecast an 18 per cent jobless rate, a level of unemployment unseen since the 1930s Great Depression. A sizable minority, or 15 per cent, of the economists saw Australia having a jobless rate of at least 12 per cent - levels not experienced for more than 80 years. The Finder survey on real estate was even more pessimistic than a National Australia Bank forecast last week of Sydney house prices falling by 6.5 per cent by 2021 as apartment values fell by 12.8 per cent. NAB also forecast an 8.4 per cent decline in Melbourne house prices as apartment values crashed by 14 per cent. Canberra, Australia's capital and the home of federal public servants, was expected to suffer the least severe decline of 6.4 per cent. Even so, that would still see median house prices fall by $44,983 to $657,878. Pictured are apartments on Constitution Avenue Westpac chief executive Peter King last week feared a house price recovery that began less than a year ago would be unwound - leading to falls of close to 20 per cent in Australia's biggest cities. Since bottoming out in July 2019, Sydney's median house price has surged by 19 per cent from $864,993 to $1,026,418 last month, CoreLogic data showed. This followed a record 17.6 per cent fall, after the market had peaked in mid-2017, in response to an Australian Prudential Regulation Authority crackdown on investor and interest-only loans. By comparison, Melbourne's median house price has grown by 16 per cent since bottoming out at $708,523 in May 2019. Mid-point values for a detached home reached $819,611 in March 2020. NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet wants to temporarily cease mandatory monthly updates of the state's finances, in a move Labor says is designed to conceal the full impact of the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed change, which would mean the Treasurer is not obligated to provide a monthly update until October next year, forms part of the Berejiklian government's emergency legislative package that will be debated at a special one-day sitting of the NSW Parliament on Tuesday. NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet. Credit:Kate Geraghty NSW shadow treasurer Walt Secord confirmed Labor would attempt to block or amend the provision in the upper house, where the government needs five votes from the crossbench to pass legislation. "If a publicly listed company or a major corporation tried to hide its state of its finances from their shareholders or board, there would be a thorough and proper investigation," Mr Secord said. Mamata Banerjee upset after not being allowed to speak during PMs meet 'Centre should not play politics, all states should be given equal importance': Mamata Banerjee India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, May 11: Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that the Centre should not play politics at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has killed over 2,206 people in India. At the Chief Ministers' meeting with PM Modi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, "We as a state are doing our best to combat the virus; Centre should not play politics in this crucial time. We are surrounded by international borders and other bigger states and have challenges to deal with." ''All states should be given equal importance and we should work together as Team India,'' Banerjee said. The government had earlier announced that they will provide financial aid and relief to migrant workers and families from the state stranded outside due to the nationwide lockdown. West Bengal has 1,939 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with the death toll stands at 185, according to the state health ministry. LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Compare-autoinsurance.org (https://compare-autoinsurance.org/) announces a new blog post, "What Is Good Driver Discount and Who Can Get It" Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that presents all the information drivers need to know about the good driver discount. For more info and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/what-is-good-driver-discount-and-who-can-get-it/ The good driver discount is a discount given by car insurance providers to safe, low-risk drivers. Every insurer has its own rules for determining who is and who is not a good driver. Some insurance providers require drivers to have a clean driving record for just one year, while other insurers will offer this discount for drivers who have at least five years of clean driving. The best way for drivers to get this discount is to shop around with insurers from their areas. Even if they don't qualify at one insurer, drivers might be eligible for a good driver discount at another provider. Some companies will ignore a speeding ticket, or even one at-fault accident, while others will not ignore any of these. Drivers should contact their car insurance companies and check if they are eligible for a good driver discount. Regarding good driver discount, drivers should know more about the following: How to qualify for a good driver discount . Depending on the insurer, obtaining this discount can be easy or hard. To have better chances of getting the discount, drivers can take a defensive driving course to show their insurers they've learned how to be better, safer drivers. Drivers can also purchase forgiveness coverage from their insurers and have one-at fault accident forgiven from their records. Shopping around at different insurers is also a good idea. Drivers should avoid reckless driving and follow the speed limits and signs and avoid getting a ticket. In fact, drivers should drive defensively and leave plenty of room between themselves and other drivers. . Depending on the insurer, obtaining this discount can be easy or hard. To have better chances of getting the discount, drivers can take a defensive driving course to show their insurers they've learned how to be better, safer drivers. Drivers can also purchase forgiveness coverage from their insurers and have one-at fault accident forgiven from their records. Shopping around at different insurers is also a good idea. Drivers should avoid reckless driving and follow the speed limits and signs and avoid getting a ticket. In fact, drivers should drive defensively and leave plenty of room between themselves and other drivers. How drivers can lose their good driver discount. Good driver discounts aren't permanent. With one mistake, drivers can lose their good driver discount. Insurance providers have different rules regarding the loss of good driver discounts. Usually, drivers can lose this discount for reasons such as getting traffic or moving violation tickets, being at-fault in an accident, making a claim under the collision coverage or even getting just one point on their license. Good driver discounts aren't permanent. With one mistake, drivers can lose their good driver discount. Insurance providers have different rules regarding the loss of good driver discounts. Usually, drivers can lose this discount for reasons such as getting traffic or moving violation tickets, being at-fault in an accident, making a claim under the collision coverage or even getting just one point on their license. Some states require insurance providers to offer good driver discounts. In California, for example, insurers are required to offer a 20% discount to good drivers who had a license for the past three years, had not lost more than one point on their driving record due to a violation, had not taken traffic school or a defensive driving course more than once because of a violation, had not been at-fault in an accident that resulted in injury or death within the last five years, and had no convictions within the last ten years for DUI-related offenses. In California, for example, insurers are required to offer a 20% discount to good drivers who had a license for the past three years, had not lost more than one point on their driving record due to a violation, had not taken traffic school or a defensive driving course more than once because of a violation, had not been at-fault in an accident that resulted in injury or death within the last five years, and had no convictions within the last ten years for DUI-related offenses. How long do drivers need to wait to qualify for the good driver discount. Although speeding tickets and at-fault accidents remain permanently on the driving record, most states only allow providers to view incidents dating back three to five years. However, some states have exceptions for DUI-related offenses. Drivers who were convicted of a DUI offense in the past ten years in California are not allowed to get this discount. Although speeding tickets and at-fault accidents remain permanently on the driving record, most states only allow providers to view incidents dating back three to five years. However, some states have exceptions for DUI-related offenses. Drivers who were convicted of a DUI offense in the past ten years in California are not allowed to get this discount. Compare insurance quotes to find good driver discounts. Drivers who do not qualify for a safe driving discount with their current insurer should compare quotes from other insurance companies. Some car insurance companies have looser rules regarding safe driving discounts. For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/ Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Saving money on car insurance is more important now than ever. One good method to do that is by getting a good driver discount that is offered for safe, low-risk drivers.", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing Company Person for contact: Gurgu C Phone Number: (818) 359-3898 Email: cgurgu@internetmarketingcompany.biz Website: https://compare-autoinsurance.org/ SOURCE: Internet Marketing Company View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/589337/How-To-Get-A-Good-Driver-Discount-And-Save-Money-On-Car-Insurance New Delhi, May 11 : Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) scholar Sharjeel Imam has approached the Delhi High Court seeking default bail in connection with a matter pertaining to giving an inflammatory speech. The plea filed through a legal team headed by advocate Bhavook Chauhan sought court's direction to release Imam on default bail under section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The plea also challenged the trial court order by which the court had granted more time to the Delhi Police Crime Branch for filing the chargesheet in the case. Last week, Delhi's Patiala House Court dismissed the bail application filed by Sharjeel Imam in the matter pertaining to giving inflammatory speech, asserting that it is bereft of merit. In his bail application, Sharjeel had claimed that the police did not complete the investigation within the statutory 90-day period following his arrest. "The applicant was arrested on 28.01.2020 and the statutory period of 90 days would have concluded on 27.04.2020. Till 27.04.2020, the investigation was not concluded, and the accused has an indefeasible right to be released on bail," the bail application stated. Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana, however, noted that extension of time period to conclude the investigation was already given before the expiry of the statutory period, on April 25. In his plea before the Delhi High Court, Imam has challenged the said order too. Earlier on May 1, the Delhi Police had told the city court that Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was invoked against Jawaharlal Nehru University student Sharjeel Imam for inciting a particular religious community to disrupt the sovereignty of the country. The police said that his speeches were communal in nature, which caused serious communal strife and promoted enmity between various religious groups. By the way of his speech, he spread falsehood of genocide in Assam. The police said that after his speech on January 16, many protest sites started emerging in the city, roads were blocked, and tents were erected to sit in to protest. These sites were later on to become the initiation of riots in Delhi in February 2020. Sharjeel Imam came in the eye of the storm for his "inflammatory" speech in Delhi's Jamia over Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) on December 13 and subsequently on January 16 at the Aligarh Muslim University, where he allegedly threatened to "cut off" Assam and the rest of the Northeast from the country. The Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed for heavy traffic on Monday due to intermittent shooting of stones from a hillock overlooking the arterial road in Ramban district, officials said. The 270-km highway is the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country. The sliding of rocks from a hilltop started at Cafeteria Morh near Ramban town around 9 am, forcing the authorities to halt trucks carrying essential commodities to the valley, the officials said. They said more than 300 trucks and fuel tankers were left stranded between Ramban and Nashri tunnel due to the closure of the road. However, light motor vehicles were allowed to move through a diversion, they said. The officials said there was no let up in the shooting of stones and once the area is cleared, the stranded traffic would be restored. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Phase 1/2 study of BNT162 vaccine program is designed to determine the safety, immunogenicity and optimal dose level of four mRNA vaccine candidates evaluated in a single, continuous study Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced on 5 May 2020 that the first participants have been dosed in the U.S. in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the BNT162 vaccine program to prevent COVID-19. The trial is part of a global development program, and the dosing of the first cohort in Germany was completed last week. The Phase 1/2 study is designed to determine the safety, immunogenicity and optimal dose level of four mRNA vaccine candidates evaluated in a single, continuous study. The dose level escalation portion (Stage 1) of the Phase 1/2 trial in the U.S. will enroll up to 360 healthy subjects into two age cohorts (18-55 and 65-85 years of age). The first subjects immunized in Stage 1 of the study will be healthy adults 18-55 years of age. Older adults will only be immunized with a given dose level of a vaccine candidate once testing of that candidate and dose level in younger adults has provided initial evidence of safety and immunogenicity. Sites currently dosing participants include NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the University of Maryland School of Medicine, with the University of Rochester Medical Center/Rochester Regional Health and Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center to begin enrollment shortly. With our unique and robust clinical study program underway, starting in Europe and now the U.S., we look forward to advancing quickly and collaboratively with our partners at BioNTech and regulatory authorities to bring a safe and efficacious vaccine to the patients who need it most. The short, less than four-month timeframe in which weve been able to move from pre-clinical studies to human testing is extraordinary and further demonstrates our commitment to dedicating our best-in-class resources, from the lab to manufacturing and beyond, in the battle against COVID-19, said Albert Bourla, Chairman and CEO, Pfizer. Pfizer and BioNTechs development program includes four vaccine candidates, each representing a different combination of mRNA format and target antigen. The novel design of the trial allows for the evaluation of the various mRNA candidates simultaneously in order to identify the safest and potentially most efficacious candidate in a greater number of volunteers, in a manner that will facilitate the sharing of data with regulatory authorities in real time. It is encouraging that we have been able to leverage more than a decade of experience in developing our mRNA platforms to initiate a global clinical trial in multiple regions for our vaccine program in such a short period. We are optimistic that advancing multiple vaccine candidates into human trials will allow us to identify the safest, most effective vaccination options against COVID-19, said CEO and Co-founder of BioNTech, Ugur Sahin. During the clinical development stage, BioNTech will provide clinical supply of the vaccine from its GMP-certified mRNA manufacturing facilities in Europe. In anticipation of a successful clinical development program, Pfizer and BioNTech are working to scale up production for global supply. Pfizer plans to activate its extensive manufacturing network and invest at risk in an effort to produce an approved COVID-19 vaccine as quickly as possible for those most in need around the world. The breadth of this program should allow production of millions of vaccine doses in 2020, increasing to hundreds of millions in 2021. Pfizer-owned sites in three U.S. states (Massachusetts, Michigan and Missouri) and Puurs, Belgium have been identified as manufacturing centers for COVID-19 vaccine production, with more sites to be selected. Through its existing mRNA production sites in Mainz and Idar-Oberstein, Germany, BioNTech plans to ramp up its production capacity to provide further capacities for a global supply of the potential vaccine. BioNTech and Pfizer will work jointly to commercialize the vaccine worldwide upon regulatory approval (excluding China, where BioNTech has a collaboration with Fosun Pharma for BNT162 for both clinical development and commercialization). When 36-year-old Dang Van Be, Vietnams 137th COVID-19 patient who returned from Germany, finally went home on April 22 after testing negative for SARS-CoV-2 for the sixth time, he had no idea he'd be hospitalised again less than 24 hours later after testing positive again. Dang Van Be meets with the press on May 5 at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases. On his sixth day at a quarantine camp, Bes roommate who returned from the UK was confirmed infected with the virus. Three days later, on March 25, he started showing similar symptoms and was transferred to Hanoi-based National Hospital for Tropical Diseases after testing positive. I have contracted the disease anyway, staying calm is the only thing I can do, Be said he thought when he got the news. Though he tried to mentally prepare for the worst, Be did not expect his time in the hospital would be such a tough fight with the virus. He was sent to a room of 15sq.m which at its peak occupancy hosted three patients. A week after being infected was the most terrible time in my life, Be told the Vietnam News Agency on May 5 at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases after being given the all-clear for the second time. I first developed a fever then suffered a violent cough. My body felt numb while my lower back hurt so badly, he added. Overcoming those seven dreadful days, I gradually recovered and started exercising three hours a day by running around the room and doing push-ups. To escape from boredom, he tried to fill his time watching movies, reading news and talking to friends. On April 7, he was given the all-clear and discharged from the hospital on April 22 after 14 days of monitoring and six negative tests, I broke free from it, he thought as he arranged his belongings for the trip home to Nghe An Province. The first thing I did was call my family and told them to get enough food for me to eat for the next 15 days. My wife and three children moved to my brothers house 200 metres from mine. Anyone who wanted to see me had to stay away, he said. At 9pm, he got home. Taking a deep breath, Be entered the house. He planned to give himself two days off before planting some trees, but those plans were upended when he received a call from the hospital, saying the final test he took right before being discharged had returned positive. I was surprised as my health was stable without any symptoms, he said. So even when I had to go back to the hospital, I still felt optimistic. That night, at 11.30pm, a platoon of hazmat-suited medical workers accompanied Be on his way back to Hanoi. He had a blood sample taken and tested on the following day. The result was negative. The five following tests gave the same result. On May 5, doctors of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases announced Be had fully recovered. I am grateful for being taken care of in my one and a half month staying here, he said. There is nothing more I can say except 'thank you' to all of the hospital medical staff. Be will continue to receive health care and monitoring at the hospital for 14 days and home quarantine for another 14. His total time for both treatment and isolation will be 78 days. Be said he desperately wanted to hold his three children in his arms. As of Friday, Vietnam reported 288 cases of COVID-19 with 241 recoveries and 18 relapses. According to Professor Nguyen Van Kinh, former director, now senior expert of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, none of the relapse cases in Vietnam show clinical symptoms. Patients, after being re-hospitalised, were healthy and did not need any treatment. All their following tests for SARS-CoV-2 had returned negative. Kinh said all re-positive patients admitted to the hospital were given a viral culture but the virus did not grow. Patients got positive results possibly because the test detected the gene of the virus, not the active virus which is contagious. The tests are taken using Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machines. With RT-PCR, we use reagents to detect the specific gene segment of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, so it is basically the detection of the genetic code of the virus rather than the whole virus itself. To detect the presence of the virus, we have to do a genetic sequence, said Kinh. He said to know whether relapse cases could be contagious, their samples would have to be isolated and cultured. For all re-positive cases reported in Vietnam, after cultured samples did not develop the virus, meaning previous RT-PCR test actually detected viral RNA fragments, not the actual virus, according to Kinh SARS-CoV-2 is a new virus that takes time to research on its pathogenesis and immune response. For relapses, we need further research on patients antibodies. However, in terms of public health, we do not have to worry about these cases, he said. VNS Silent trips in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic Since the coronavirus outbreak began in HCM City, every day has been a busy one for health workers at Emergency Centre 115. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 23:25:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ABUJA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A total of 17 gunmen were killed in a recent anti-terror operation in Nigeria's northwestern state of Kaduna, the military confirmed on Monday. Several other gunmen fled with gunshot wounds in the military operation at the Gwagwada district of Chikun local government area of the state on May 7, an official statement said. The anti-terror operation was part of efforts by the military to rout out terrorists and criminals in northern Nigeria. At least three major hideouts of the gunmen were also destroyed in the villages of Mashigi Galbi, Damba, and Kabarasha, also in Kaduna, the statement said. Enditem remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. LOS ANGELES About a month ago, in the middle of the night, someone repeatedly rang my doorbell and banged on my security gate. I grabbed a robe and rushed to find out what was going on. Police car lights were bleeding in through the window and pops of color circled the darkened dining room. I opened the inner door and saw an officer illuminated by porch light. Maam, did you hear any shots earlier? he asked. Yes, I did, I told him. Id been awake and feeling rattled ever since. We have a running joke on my neighborhoods Facebook page: Gunshots or fireworks? Most of the time its the latter, kids goofing around down by the Los Angeles River. But not that night. Seoul, May 11 : The number of new coronavirus infections linked to bars and clubs in Seoul's popular nightlife district of Itaewon surged to 86 on Monday, South Korean health authorities said. The number comprised 63 club-goers and 23 family members and friends who came in contact with the former, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said during a press briefing. The new cluster infections underline the challenge of controlling infections after the country started easing social distancing rules and introducing a new daily life with COVID-19, reports Yonhap News Agency. The government warned against a possible rapid growth of cluster infections since the first confirmed case on May 6, and urged visitors to the affected establishments to get tested. "We request active cooperation from visitors to the Itaewon clubs from April 24-May 6. Please refrain from contacting others and receive a test at near testing centers, regardless of symptoms," Yoon Tae-ho, a senior health ministry official said in a separate briefing on Monday. The Seoul city government said it would provide free testing to club visitors, as it couldn't get hold of a vast majority of them. "Among 5,517 people on the visitor's logs obtained by the city, we reached 2,405 but couldn't do so with 3,112," Yonhap News Agency quoted Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon as saying to the media on Monday. "This means they intentionally avoided our calls or wrote a wrong number in the first place." In order to encourage those who don't want to reveal their identities to come forward, the city will offer free, anonymous testing, he said. The nation's total COVID-19 infections increased to 10,909, while the death toll stood at 256. Clashes erupted in Telinipara area of West Bengal's Hooghly district after members of one community were allegedly addressed as "corona" by a handful of locals belonging to another group, a senior police officer said on Monday. Bombs were hurled and shops ransacked on Sunday evening during the clashes, following which police lathicharged the trouble-mongers and fired 26 rounds of tear gas and ten rounds of rubber bullets to bring the situation under control, he said. At least 37 people have been detained for their alleged involvement in the incident. According to sources in the district administration, a person in the locality had recently tested positive for COVID-19. His family members were placed under quarantine. A large number of police personnel have been deployed in the area following the clashes, Chandannagar Police Commissioner Humayun Kabir told PTI. "Some people were addressed as 'corona'. And it all started from there... After a verbal spat, one group blocked another from entering a community bathroom in the Victoria Jute Mills area of Telinipara, which led to a fight," Kabir said. "Bombs were hurled and shops ransacked, following which a huge team of police was sent there. We continued raids throughout the night and detained 37 people. Our raids are still on," Kabir added. One person, who sustained injuries in the clashes, was taken to a local hospital. Doctors there discharged him after tending to his wounds, Kabir said. The state home department said peace has been restored in Telinipara. "Last evening swift and strong action was taken in Telinipara against those who were trying to disturb peace. The situation was immediately brought under control. Telinipara is peaceful now," the department tweeted on Monday evening. "Police will not allow any provocation and strict action will be taken against anyone who tries to create disturbance including those who are posting and circulating false information," it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The human rights lawyer is appealing against his four-year conviction for state subversion. For Wang, the court violated the criminal procedure law. He finished serving his sentence on 5 April. According to his lawyer, Wang was tortured in prison. He has little chance of getting justice. Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) Human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang plans to appeal his sentence of more than four years in prison for state subversion. On 5 April, he finished serving his sentence in a Shandong prison, but was only able to join his family in Beijing on 27 April, after two weeks of quarantine for the coronavirus and a further seven-day detention. Wang was arrested in 2015 in a crackdown dubbed 709 (because it began on 9 July 2015), against 300 lawyers, some of whom are Protestant and Catholic. Many of those of arrested were tried and convicted. Several made a videotaped confession; others came out of prison physically and psychologically broken after being tortured. Wang has always claimed his innocence, and never talked about the treatment he received in prison. His lawyer, Cheng Hai, said that his client was subjected to torture in the first five months of detention. This included round the clock interrogations in rooms without sunlight, beatings, forced to stay in the same position without moving, starvation, cold water poured down his neck. Wang's challenge is to the regime since Chinas courts are not independent of the Communist Party. He contends that authorities violated the criminal procedure law, jailing him for more than three years without trial and denying him legal counsel during the court hearings. Wang was convicted on two counts, for his legal work on behalf of practitioners of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement. However, he had already held in administrative detention for these offences in 2013 and 2014. According to Cheng, Wang had not committed any crime and in any case could not be punished twice for the same crime. For years, we strived to reduce the likelihood of our clients being wrongfully convicted. What set me apart from other lawyers is how I could effectively deter unjust cases from moving ahead, Wang told the South China Morning Post. In addition to Falun Gong, Wang rose to prominence for defending political activists (including members of the New Citizens' Movement), underground Christian communities, and farmers victims of illegal seizure. Despite his recognised abilities, most observers are convinced that he will not get any review of his trial. His appeal will be an act of political resistance, with a highly symbolic value. At best, he might raise public awareness of what he went through in recent years. Lone children trapped in Greek camps are among vulnerable migrants arriving in Britain on a special flight to be reunited with family within days. The 52-strong group could land in the UK from Athens as early as today after intense lobbying from Labour peer Lord Dubs and charity Safe Passage International. It comes after the Mail highlighted the plight of children in squalid conditions on the Greek island of Lesbos, where some of the group are coming from. Young children trapped in Greek camps are part of vulnerable migrants on a plane to Britain to be reunited with family over the coming days The Home Officer confirmed the 52-strong group would be arriving soon after being tested for the disease and gaining approval to travel - and it could arrive as early as today Most family reunification efforts have been suspended amid border closures due to the coronavirus pandemic. But efforts between the Home Office and the Greek government were stepped up to give the flight special permission. Last night the Home Office confirmed the group would soon be arriving after being tested for the disease and given the green light. Lord Dubs, himself a former child refugee who arrived in the UK in 1939 after fleeing the Nazis, told the Mail: At least this way they have a chance of having a decent life and thanks to this country they will have a future and what better people to do that than members of their own family already here? In an expose, the Mail highlighted the struggle of children living in the camp in the Greek island of Lesbos, where some of the group are coming from Alongside charity group Safe Passage International, Labour peer Lord Dubs (pictured), himself a former child refugee in the 1930s lobbied for the migrant group to be allowed entry into the UK Some of them are minors, some of them are unaccompanied minors with family here, so its good news and were excited. I thank the Mail for highlighting this issue. Obviously wed like more to come, but this is a great start and we think all countries should respond and share the burden. The majority of the vulnerable group, who are not all minors, are said to mostly be Syrians and Afghans and have been living for months in horrific conditions in camps on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Samos. Beth Gardiner-Smith, of charity Safe Passage International, said: Its great the Mail have also called for unaccompanied minors to be taken in and vulnerable individuals who have family here. Drones can be useful in the battle against Covid-19 if it is used correctly. China's healthcare industry is an example of the successful implementation of drones against the virus. Source: Jo Theophile from Pexels Aerial spray and disinfection; Transport of samples; and Drone delivery for essential goods. Drones in South Africa and our regulatory framework it has been issued with a letter of approval by the Director of Civil Aviation; it has been issued with a certificate of registration by the Director of Civil Aviation; an RPAS Operating Certificate ("ROC") has been issued; and an air services licence has been issued in terms of the Air Services Licensing Act, 1990. develop an operations manual containing all the information required to demonstrate how such operator will ensure compliance with the regulations and how safety standards will be applied and achieved during such operations; establish a record-keeping that allows adequate storage and reliable traceability of all activities developed; establish a safety management system commensurate with the size of the organisation or entity; conduct security checks on personnel employed in deployment, ensure the RPA is protected from personal interference, ensure that security awareness training is conducted. Is South Africa ready? The Department of Transport (Dot) has put regulations in place against the flying of drones in terms of the Disaster Management Act. The regulations form part of the governments national lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus that has infected thousands of South Africans.Governments and industries around the globe have found themselves in a position where they have to adapt to the new realities and implement innovative strategies of operating whilst keeping their workers at a safe distance to prevent transmission. The use of drones by the Chinese government is one such innovative strategy.The Chinese government has been piloting ways to incorporate drones into their response to Covid-19, namely for:The co-founder of agricultural drone company XAG stated that using drones which were originally designed to spray pesticides in the agricultural industry have been adapted for aerial spray of disinfectant for use in China. He confirmed that aerial spray of disinfectant can be 50 times more efficient than people spraying.The benefit of using drones to transport medical samples is that it can reduce unnecessary human contact and therefore, the transmission of the virus significantly. The samples are also delivered much faster via air compared to road travel, which accelerates the feedback process for critical tests needed by medical workers and patients.Lastly, the utilisation of drones for the delivery of consumer goods such as food and basic necessities, makes it easier for citizens to comply with the regulations regarding social distancing and limiting human contact.In order to circumvent the obvious safety risks that are associated with the use of drones, such as injuring people or damaging property, the Municipal Governments in China, its health department, major drone company Antwork and the Civil Aviation Administration of China worked in collaboration to approve routes and ensure proper safety measures were implemented.The question is whether South Africa could successfully utilise drones for similar functions in our war against Covid-19 and whether our regulatory framework allows for it.The Eighth Amendment to the Civil Aviation Regulations ("the Regulations") was introduced in 2015 and governs, in Part 101, the operation of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems ("RPAS"), described in the Regulations as an unmanned aircraft which is piloted from a remote pilot station, which includes drones.There is a distinction in the Regulations between private use versus commercial use of RPAS. If drones are to be used for the three functions detailed above, this falls under the commercial use category.An RPA will only be allowed to operate for commercial reasons if:In terms of the regulations, a ROC holder is required, inter alia, to:Furthermore, the operator is required to obtain an RPA pilot's licence. In order to acquire the licence, it requires the pilot to undergo medical certification, certification of radiotelephony, English proficiency, flight training, and passing both a theoretical examination and skills test. The licence is valid for 24 months and applicants must be over 18 years old. The licence holder will have to undergo a revalidation check 90 days prior to the expiry of the licence in order to renew it.In terms of regulation 101.05.4 of Part 101 of the Regulations, it provides that "No object or substance shall be released, dispensed, dropped, delivered or deployed from an RPA except by the holder of an ROC and as approved by the Director in the operators' operations manual".In order for a company to use drones for aerial spray of disinfectant, sample transport or consumer delivery in the time of Covid-19, it would be required that the holder of an ROC includes this plan in the operators' operations manual, which has to be approved by the Director of Civil Aviation.As is apparent from the above, the regulations for commercial use of a drone are extremely stringent with many approvals and oversight required by the Civil Aviation Authority. However, the regulations are strict in order to ensure safety, top-notch security and adequate training, in order to protect against the potential infringement of people's human rights, such as privacy, dignity and safety. Furthermore, if the regulations were relaxed, it would create an opportunity for abuse and for criminals to use drones for illegal activity.The question remains whether South Africa is equipped and capable to implement drone technologies for delivery services in the health industry.In May 2019, the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) launched a new drone-based blood delivery system with a purpose to help deliver blood to people in rural areas. Its purpose is to reduce the cost and time it takes to deliver blood when its needed quickly. The programme is in the process of being piloted in Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and KwaZulu Natal. The long-term prospects of the programme are to see it expanded on a national scale and make drone technology the standard in the healthcare system in South Africa.In relation to obtaining Civil Aviation Authority approval, SANBS has stated that:The CAA is very strict about whom they give the licence to, and everyone has to go through the process. Its not just about being granted a licence, its also about going through the right regulatory procedures and certifications of compliance. Once this has been achieved, we will see the real impact of our return on investment by the number of lives saved.Some nine months later after the launch of the project, it appears as though the SANBS has not been granted the licence to operate, as yet.As is apparent from SANBS's drone-based blood delivery program, South Africa's healthcare industry is fully capable of using drones for aerial sprays of disinfectant, to transport medical samples and to deliver essential goods in the time of the Covid-19 crisis. The real issue seems to lie in the time in which it takes for the Civil Aviation Authority to grant the requisite licence.In a national disaster situation where time is of the essence, additional formalities and authorisations to comply with the Regulations, together with the hefty cost restraints, may act as hindrances to the swift and successful utilisation of this technology. But if it had the appetite, the Civil Aviation Authority could jump on the "publishing special time-barred regulations for the duration of the state of national disaster" bandwagon and expedite this process by either lobbying the Minister of Transport to issue a directive under the Disaster Management Act; or by publishing its own set of regulations under the Civil Aviation Act.The rapidity at which the state has otherwise acted under the powers granted to it by the Disaster Management Act has led to South Africa emerging as a leader in the war against Covid-19. Depending on how the situation unfolds, having an arsenal of cutting edge, custom built disinfectant drones could prove useful at maintaining South Africa's number 1 position or it could be the beginning of Skynet's master plan/ By Loan-Anh Pham San Jose Spotlight Door-knocking, shaking hands and kissing babies is off the table for Silicon Valley political candidates during the coronavirus crisis. And with stay-at-home orders extending through May, candidates are now devising new strategies to reach voters in a digital campaigning landscape as the November election draws near. A side effect of shelter-in-place, according to San Jose City Council candidate David Cohen, is the cancellation of events where politicians would normally go to mingle and interact with the community. "To have events cancelled, like our Berryessa Art and Wine festival that was supposed to happen the first weekend of May, and to not have that opportunity to interact with the community and see everybody ... is hard," said Cohen, who is running for the city's District 4 council seat. With the California primaries in March, there's a "natural low" in campaigning, Cohen said. "We don't know what the landscape's going to look like in September and October, which is really where the bulk of the campaign happens, so we have to be prepared for everything," Cohen continued. "At this point, it is hard to know how to continue to widen your circle and meet more people." District 4 Councilmember Lan Diep could not be reached for comment. Councilmember Dev Davis who is fending off challenger Jake Tonkel in November said her campaign is in the process of planning for the "new digital age." But being a councilmember, Davis said, comes before being a candidate. "I'm much more focused on making sure my residents are safe and healthy and understanding orders that the county has put in place," Davis said. "The whole world turned upside down and we're figuring it out." Like several of her colleagues on the San Jose City Council, Davis has hosted online office hours, including a discussion with SJPD Chief Eddie Garcia about public safety last month. Tonkel is doubling down on social media, such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Nextdoor, to reach voters - a cornerstone of his campaign strategy even before the contagious virus shut down Silicon Valley. Tonkel's campaign has been hosting digital town hall meetings to reach the community. "One of the fortunate pieces about being in the digital generation is we're able to connect," Tonkel said. "We understand you have to build trust and relationships and build community over all types of avenues, and this is no different." Non-digital strategies Not everyone is campaigning to fit the era of Zoom meetings. California Senate Candidate Ann Ravel instead is keeping in touch with voters and supporters via handwritten thank-you cards. So far, Ravel said, she's penned 300 personalized cards. "I felt like I had to write to people who were my volunteers, who were my supporters," Ravel said. "I know that when you get a personal 'thank you' note from someone that you don't expect, it's very meaningful. I think it's much more personal, rather than having your campaign send out some card statement that is exactly the same thing for everybody." For Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese, who is running against Ravel for the District 15 Senate seat, his current job involves plenty of personal interaction - as does his campaign. "What would ordinarily be a 65-hour week on the Board of Supervisors is now... around the clock, seven days a week," he said. And while his campaign efforts are still moving along with mailers, emails and endorsement announcements, Cortese said his priority is the job he was elected to do. "What's the point of being in office, if you're not going to help people during a crisis, during a pandemic, during the health emergency?" Cortese said. "I've been in office representing people during some pretty significant times, but this is by far, by order of magnitude, the most significant." Fundraising The sudden economic downturn in the past two months also begs the question of whether fundraising in election campaigns will be as robust as before. Fundraising numbers from the latter half of 2019 reached staggering totals among San Jose City Council candidates. Bob Brunton, California Assembly candidate, makes sure to ask potential supporters whether they're healthy and doing well financially. "It seems there's huge differences in how this pandemic is affecting people," Brunton, who's running for District 25's State Assembly seat, said. Alex Lee, Brunton's opponent, predicted that fundraising numbers would decrease for his campaign, which does not take money from corporate donors. "We relied very heavily on individual small-dollar donors," Lee told San Jose Spotlight. "As the impact of the recession might be hurting a lot of families, it might be something that impacts our fundraising efforts a lot - but we're still going to try." What the future holds Despite uncertainty surrounding the November elections, lawmakers expressed relief that Santa Clara County voters don't need to head to the polls physically. Santa Clara County this year rolled out all-mail elections to comply with California's Voter's Choice Act. "I'm glad we went to mail-in ballots prior to any of this happening," Davis told San Jose Spotlight. "I feel like our county has been, at least elections-wise, prepared." Contact Loan-Anh Pham at the.loananh.lede@gmail.com or follow @theLoanAnhLede on Twitter. This story was originally published by San Jose Spotlight. Please use the following link when sharing: https://sanjosespotlight.com/coronavirus-how-candidates-are-wooing-voters-to-the-polls-during-shelter-in-place/ Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Carlos Escobedo Mejia, a detainee at the Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, died last Wednesday after testing positive for COVID-19. Despite having significant preexisting medical issues which rendered him especially vulnerable to the virusMejia was a 57-year-old wheelchair-bound amputee with diabetes and chronically high blood pressurehe was denied bond by an immigration judge on April 15 after being declared a flight risk. He tested positive for the virus on April 24 and passed away on May 6. In a transparent attempt to downplay the significance of his death, ICE officials said that his preliminary cause of death was undetermined, despite having tested positive for and exhibiting all the common symptoms of the virus. ICE detention centers, including both those run directly by ICE and those run by contractors such as CoreCivic and the GEO Group, are notorious for their abysmal conditions. Captured immigrants are confined to an unsanitary squalor in which their medical wellbeing would still be in question were a global pandemic not currently ravaging the Earth. Detention facility in McAllen, Texas, Sunday, June 17, 2018 (Photo US Customs and Border Protection). A Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) report released last December which investigated conditions at ICE prisons in Florida gave a picture of this. The report found that preventive medical care was all but nonexistent, and broken bones and cavities were treated with nothing but over-the-counter painkillers like Tylenol. According to the report: A primary complaint at Krome [An immigrant detention center in Florida] is severe overcrowding. While individual pod capacity is supposed to be about 65, some detained individuals estimate there are 100 or more people in their pods, a level that, we were told by a detained person, feels dangerously overcrowded. Overcrowding also creates sanitation and health issues. Germs spread more easily and the pod is harder to keep clean. There are so many people and you can smell them. Several people told us that their health has been affected by the unsanitary environment in detention, which they cite as the source of their coughs, flu, and other respiratory conditions. In her three months since arriving at Glades, Marisol F. said she has endured a persistent cough. One does not need to be a medical expert to understand just how quickly an infectious illness like the coronavirus could proliferate in such unhygienic conditions. At the time of Mejias death, over 140 prisoners at the Otay Mesa complex alone tested positive for the virus. As of Tuesday, that facility had tested a total of 181 detainees, indicating that the virus has infected a significant number of the prisons inmates, if not a majority. Across the US, there are over 700 ICE detainees who have tested positive for the virus, out of only 1,500 tested. As not everyone has been tested, it is likely that the real number of infections is higher. Some 400,000 immigrants passed through ICE custody in 2018. Given the virus high mortality rate and ICEs criminal negligence for the well-being of its prisoners, further deaths are all but inevitable. One ICE detainee interviewed by the Miami Herald spoke about his concerns over COVID-19, saying There are too many people here, you cant follow social distance. They wont give us face masks, they wont give us gloves, anything. We havent done anything bad, we arent criminals We need them to do something. Were not asking them to release us, were asking them to test us for the coronavirus, just like theyre offering anyone else outside. We deserve to get tested too. [Emphasis added] Access to news must be limited. These immigrants could be forgiven for thinking that COVID-19 tests are readily available to everyone outside of prison. While immigrants are left to suffer the effects of the coronavirus along with all the attendant miseries of ICE detention, the American ruling class is no less contemptuous of its native-born working class. Its response to the pandemic has been characterized by the same malign neglect that its shown towards immigrants. After the danger of the virus was made abundantly clear to the international community soon after it claimed its initial victims in China, the US did essentially nothing to limit the spread of the virus, even musing that the effect it had on Chinese industry could be to the benefit of American capitalism. When it became clear that the virus would hit the US, it bungled its response to the virus so badly that even its capacity to test patients was several orders of magnitude behind what was necessary, and there continues to be an acute shortage of respiratory equipment. Today there are mass graves for victims of the virus in New York City and the ruling class and its political representativesboth Democratic and Republicanare pushing for a quick return to work. In other words, workers are to put their lives on the line to ensure the profits of the capitalism. While the Trump administration bears the chief responsibility for promoting the fascistic elements in and around ICE, the Democrats did everything to pave the way for it. It was Obama who earned the moniker of Deporter in Chief for his record-breaking deportations, and the Democratic Party promoted, or at the most put up only token opposition to some of the most reactionary anti-immigrant legislation, including the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, supported building a border fence and called for the jailing of anyone who knowingly hired illegals. Moreover, the Democrats and Republicans have a record stretching back decades of supporting the machinations of American imperialism in Central and South America and in the Caribbean. In this regard, Mejias story has an additional tragic component to it: Mejia first came to the US in 1980 from his native El Salvador in order to escape that countrys brutal civil war. He would have only been 17 when he left. Stoked by American imperialism, that war decimated the country and forced many to flee. Mejia survived for some 40 years after he escaped. While he escaped the deaths squads of El Salvador, it was the American gestapo that finished him off. Workers, both native-born and immigrant, share a common enemy in the profit system. SCOTIA The New York Air National Guards 109th Airlift Wing will be flying over Glens Falls Hospital on Tuesday as part of its salute to health care and essential workers and first-responders. The flyover is part of a tour that kicks off at 11 a.m. Skier 95 will fly over Amsterdam, Fonda, Johnstown, Gloversville, Utica, Rome, Lake George, Glens Falls, Saratoga, Troy, Albany and Schenectady. The plane, which is equipped with skis to land on ice and snow, will dip down to 500 feet as it passes over area hospitals, according to a news release. It is expected to pass over Lake George at around 11:49 a.m. and Glens Falls Hospital at 11:51 a.m. The plane will then head over to Saratoga Hospital at about 11:55 a.m. and continue down south. It will finish up its tour with flying over Ellis Hospital in Schenectady at 12:13 p.m. The wings airmen support the National Science Foundations United States Antarctic Program by flying supplies and people around the continent. The research done by those scientists provides critical insights into a number of fields, ranging from astronomy to climate science, according to a news release. The wing also supports research conducted on the Greenland ice cap and flies missions in support of the Canadian Forces in the high Arctic. Members of the 109th Airlift Wing also respond to New York State emergencies as well. Wing members are currently part of the New York National Guards COVID-19 response mission and Stratton Air National Guard Base serves as the headquarters of a joint task force that is conducting response missions. Love 34 Funny 4 Wow 4 Sad 2 Angry 11 Visakhapatnam, May 11 : The Indian Navy has developed a solution for remote monitoring of vital parameters of patients in intensive care unit to reduce the risk of doctors and other healthcare professionals contracting Covid-19. The Eastern Naval Command, headquartered in Visakhapatnam, has deployed the remote monitoring facility at Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), which caters to Covid-19 patients from adjoining districts. VIMS Director had made the request for developing the remote facility recently at a ceremony where the Indian Navy handed over Portable Multifeed Oxygen Manifold to the hospital. He had asked the Navy to explore the feasibility of providing a solution for remote monitoring of vital parameters of patients in ICU to reduce the risk of transmission of Covid to its healthcare staff. The Navy said a core team comprising two officers and four workers of Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam under Eastern Naval Command, expeditiously designed and implemented the solution. The audio visual output of the bedside Patient Monitoring System was converted to HDMI output and multiplexed for all 48 beds in ICU through a Digital Video Recorder and provided on a big display outside the ICUs where the staff sits. The facility includes monitoring all patients simultaneously or selecting as required including zooming to one patient and an audio alarm if any vitals are beyond. The same parameters through HDMI Ethernet converter have also been provided to the doctors on their mobile phones. The doctor can, at any time from any place with internet connectivity, monitor his 48 patients in ICU. The conceptualisation to final implementation at VIMS and handing over to its Director VIMS was completed in six days, the Navy said. Hyderabad: Telangana industries minister K.T. Rama Rao on Sunday wrote to Union textile minister Smriti Irani putting forward several suggestions to rescue the textile industry from the crisis caused by the lockdown. He said he had been interacting with members of the textile industry both in Telangana and outside. The common refrain is that recovery will be very slow and contingent upon the western world commencing regular operations. Several companies have seen their orders cancelled and shipments put on hold and are facing zero revenues and cash flows for the next 4-6 months in the best-case scenario. Rama Rao expressed worry about the coronavirus impact on the livelihoods of millions of workers, and asked the Union minister to provide textile industries wage support of up to 50 per cent for up to six months in the form of a long-term loan that the industry would need to repay in installments over a stipulated period. The Telangana minister noted that India ranked sixth in the world in textile and apparel exports, which were worth about $36 billion. Handlooms contribute about $350 million to this every year. He suggested allowing the textile industry a one-time extension of three months for depositing statutory dues of PF and ESI which would release some cash for operations. Stressing the need for banking support to the textile industry, he suggested facilitating higher temporary credit facilities to meet the cash losses during the lockdown to enable the industry to meet its obligations towards its vendors and statutory payments. Credit: CC0 Public Domain In front of enormous windows overlooking Lake Michigan, Gordon Quinn sat at a small white table at a rehabilitation hospital facing speech language pathologist Kate Webler. Only Webler's eyes were visible from behind a mask, face shield and goggles. She asked Quinn to place a white plastic straw in his mouth, then suggested he sing "Happy Birthday" through itan exercise meant to help him stretch and relax his vocal cords. Instead, Quinn began singing the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Webler laughed and urged him on. It was a moment of levity in an otherwise difficult six-week-long journey for Quinn, a renowned Chicago documentary filmmakerknown for movies such as "Hoop Dreams"who came down with COVID-19 in March. Quinn, 77, spent about a month at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, including nearly two weeks on a ventilator. He was so sick, at one point, that he told his doctors he'd rather obtain a do-not-resuscitate order than be placed on a ventilator again. By mid-April, he was well enough to leave the hospital, but he still couldn't walk very far on his own. He couldn't control his fingers well enough to type the pass code into his cellphone. He had trouble swallowing and speaking. So, instead of going home, he went to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, a rehabilitation hospital in Chicago. "When you're that sick, the question is are you going to live or die," Quinn said. "Once you start rehab, the whole mindset changes because rehab is about getting your strength back, getting back into the world." Quinn, like many severely ill COVID-19 patients, found that surviving the disease was merely the first leg of the journey to overcoming it. Each day in Illinois, more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients are fighting for their lives in intensive care units in hospitals across the state. But when they get past the worst of the illness, many are finding that they need help to return to normal life and must spend hours a day in therapy at special rehabilitation hospitals, rehab units within traditional hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient facilities or at home. And that's to say nothing of the longer-term health problems that some physicians say may follow COVID-19 patients. "It's one thing to survive the infection, but what's next?" said Dr. Leslie Rydberg, an attending physician at the AbilityLab. Patients recovering from COVID-19 face some of the same obstacles as others who have been on ventilators, such as trouble swallowing and talking. They also often must work on their strength, as do many types of patients who are laid up in hospital beds for weeks on end. But COVID-19 survivors also face some unique challenges. Therapists say patients recovering from severe cases of COVID-19 often tire very easily, after only a couple moments of activity. They may have significant fluctuations in blood pressure, such as very high when in bed and very low when doing therapy. Some have developed kidney problems, some have had trouble with blood clots, and others are having cognitive issues, such as being unable to solve simple problems. "It's unlike anything I've seen, and I've been doing rehabilitation for a long time, almost 29 years," said Dr. Michelle Gittler, medical director at Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital and chief medical officer of post-acute care for the Sinai Health System. "What we see are people who appear to have pretty good strength on initial testing, but if you test them again, they can't even talk, they're so short of breath, or people who may be able to stand up once and if you ask them to do it again, they cannot. They get exhausted." Cristobal Delgado, 22, of Portage Park, knows that feeling. When Delgado left Rush University Medical Center for Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital in April, he could walk and talk, but he felt run down after small tasks, such as folding a shirt. He had to take frequent breaks to sit down and catch his breath while walking down a hallway. Delgado, who also has asthma, was on a ventilator at Rush before arriving at Schwab. After about 10 days of therapy at Schwab, his strength, endurance and balance improved, so he went home. At home, he can now walk a block or two. "I take it day by day," Delgado said. He's still receiving outpatient therapy at Schwab, on the city's West Side, twice a week. Ed Paitl, of La Grange Park, also experienced many of those problems as he battled a severe case of the illness. He spent 2u00bd weeks on a ventilator at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Paitl had to go on dialysis, despite never having had kidney problems before COVID-19. Patil, 70, believes he was near death. "It was just a miracle that occurred because the doctors I don't think gave me too much of a chance," Paitl said. When Paitl emerged from the depths of the illness, he was still a long way from his usual self. He couldn't get out of bed without help. He kept forgetting where he was. And despite a lifelong love of numbers, he couldn't figure out simple math problems. A problem such as "10 + 5 + 5" was "beyond what I could comprehend at the time." He left Loyola for Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton in mid-April and will likely stay there through mid-May. He's made a lot of progress, thanks to hours a day of therapy. He can now take a few steps and get out of bed on his own. His voice is stronger. And he can do math again. He's looking forward to going home and seeing his wife soon, for the first time in about two months. "They told me there are going to be setbacks, but I've got to tell you, every day I had progress," Paitl said. "There hasn't been a day that I haven't seen some kind of progress." Marianjoy had about 20 patients recovering from the illness this week and capacity for about 30 to 35. The AbilityLab started accepting COVID-19 patients in April, beginning with a 12-bed COVID-19 unit. The hospital has since expanded that unit to 24 beds to meet demand. Schwab had about a dozen COVID-19 patients this week, and expected to have at least 21 beds available, if needed. Some skilled nursing facilities in Illinois are also accepting COVID-19 patients for rehab, but others are not. Local industry leaders say it depends on whether they're already dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks and whether they have enough personal protective equipment and staff. Traditional hospitals sometimes have in-house rehab units that can take patients recovering from COVID-19. Rush University Medical Center created a COVID-19 unit in its inpatient rehab program in April and had admitted 32 such patients as of this week. "There's a huge need," said Dr. Larissa Pavone, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician and residency program director at Marianjoy, which is part of Northwestern. "Those patients that end up in the ICU for one to three to four weeks, a majority of those patients could use some rehabilitation when it's time to leave the hospital." Quinn, the filmmaker who survived COVID-19, stayed about two weeks at the AbilityLab before he was able to go home. On a recent day, he spent about two hours in his final physical, occupational and speech therapy sessions before being discharged. Occupational therapist Emily Sanders led him around a large therapeutic space on the AbilityLab's 20th floor, sometimes placing her hand behind his back in case he needed steadying. Sanders directed him to pick up a small container that was on the floor, pick up another container from a stool, and place them inside the bag. The tasks were meant to imitate skills needed in everyday life, such as when grocery shopping. She intermittently checked his blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen level to make sure he wasn't overexerting himself. Quinn also practiced walking up and down four steps with physical therapist Kathryn Palano. She placed a white belt around his waist, in case she needed to reach out and steady him. And he wore an oxygen monitor and heart rate sensor on his forehead. Quinn knew he would need to climb six steps to get into his home, once he returned. When Quinn first arrived at the AbilityLab, he needed help to walk up stairs. But on this last day of inpatient therapy, he was able to make the short journey unassisted. Toward the end of his time that day with the physical therapist, as they walked a final lap, Quinn, who had been cracking jokes, turned serious for a moment. He asked Palano how close she thought he was to being back to normal. She said it might take some more time before he could bustle around the city like he used to. But he was moving in the right direction. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak 2020 Chicago Tribune Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Flash The Chinese government has decided to send medical teams to Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Algeria to support African countries in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian announced on Monday. The teams, organized by the National Health Commission, consist of experts selected by the health committees of Hunan Province, Hebei Province and Chongqing Municipality respectively. The medical team for Zimbabwe departed Monday morning, and the medical teams heading to the DRC and Algeria will set out in the near future, according to Zhao. African countries have provided valuable support to China when the country is at a difficult time in its fight against the epidemic, Zhao said. At present, the epidemic situation in Africa is still severe and China has provided and will continue to provide various forms of support and assistance to African countries within its capabilities. The Chinese government has offered multiple batches of medical supplies to African countries urgently needed in the fight against the pandemic, and Chinese localities, enterprises and civil organizations have also offered their assistance, Zhao noted. In addition to sending medical experts to African countries, Chinese medical experts have held nearly 30 video meetings with their African counterparts, and Chinese medical teams conducted nearly 400 training activities in Africa, with more than 20,000 people trained, Zhao added. "China will continue to provide more anti-epidemic materials to African countries in accordance with the development of the epidemic and the wishes of African countries, strengthen cooperation in public health and disease prevention and control, and jointly achieve the ultimate victory in the fight against the epidemic," he said. A spokesman for Afghanistan's Interior Ministry called the news "regretful" in a statement Sunday, accusing retired General Abdul Jalil Bakhtawar of choosing "violence over a life of dignity." Islamabad: A retired Afghan general has defected to the Taliban in western Farah province, according to Afghan and Taliban officials, as concerns rise over members of the Afghan security forces switching sides at a critical moment in the war. "The honorable general was in contact with our Mujahideen, and we are happy to have him in our ranks," said a senior Taliban official in the video who was not identified by name. "He is an influential personality, and it is great that he is back at his home." A troubled peace: A Taliban fighter poses for a picture in the Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. Credit:AP In the video, Bakhtawar is seen saying, "Let there be peace. I am happy to return to my home. I hope that there should be total peace, and all the elders should join hands. There shouldn't be any bloodshed on the land." At no time in the video does he pledge loyalty to the Taliban or denounce the Afghan government. Following the signing of a peace deal between the United States and the Taliban, Afghan security forces have been racked by waves of violence. On the ground, Afghan government commanders have said they fear mounting casualties among their men are undercutting morale. Budapest (Hungary) 11/05/2020 (SPS)- A new book on the conflict in Western Sahara was published this May 2020 under the title Hungary and the Crisis in Western Sahara, written by Hungarian expert in the issue and ex-member of the UN Mission in the territory, Dr. Janos Besenyo. The 460 page book is the result of 10 years of scientific research, and is unique in several respects, mainly because the author is the first peacekeeper to serve in Western Sahara and use his experience to get a PhD degree publishing several books and studies on MINURSO's activities and other aspects of the Western Sahara conflict. In this book, the writer deals with Western Sahara but from a special aspect, he explored the connection points between Hungary and Western Sahara. In fact, few people would know that back in 1898 Spain had tried to hand over its Saharan colony Rio de Oro to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Eventually, negotiations that had lasted for nearly two years were unsuccessful and the area remained under the colonisation of Spain. But few also would know that there were several Hungarian legionnaires serving in the Spanish Foreign Legion, many of them in the mid-1970s, when the Spaniards withdrew from Western Sahara and Polisario Front established the Saharawi Republic. In addition to using various scientific sources, the book also present recollections and interviews with those former soldiers. In another chapter, the author explored the diplomatic and political cooperation and relations between Hungary and the SADR, using the encrypted documents of former governments in the Hungarian National Archives. He explores in this chapter the reasons why the Soviet Union and European socialist countries - except Yugoslavia - did not recognize the Saharawi Republic an independent state, and how they followed and occasionally supported Sahrawi independence aspirations. Of particular interest is the political-diplomatic war that has taken place in Western Sahara and the way in which the participating states and international organizations have acted. The author devoted separate chapters to the UN operation of MINURSO and the activities of the Hungarian police and soldiers who served in it, with whom he conducted interviews, filled in questionnaires and incorporated their personal experiences in the book. Dr. Janos Besenyo works as university professor in the Doctoral School for Safety and Security Sciences of University of Obudai and is leading the Africa Research Center. He completed his military career as a colonel, then conducted this unique research to use not only materials from the Hungarian archives, the SADR archives, the Vienna Archives, and the UN archives, but also the oral history told by actors who participated in the events. The value of the book is increased by the maps and pictures included in it, which have not been published elsewhere, and which show the activities of Hungarian peacekeepers and Western Sahara. The writers research interests include contemporary and recent history of Africa, migration and the Middle East, peacekeeping, military logistics, Hungarian peacekeeping operations in Africa, with particular reference to Western Sahara, and in addition, comparing political cultures, political communication and intercultural communication, DDR programs in Africa, terrorism, and Christian-Muslim relationship on the continent. Having served several times in Africa (Western Sahara, Darfur) and Afghanistan, he received his PhD in Military Science from Miklos Zrinyi National Defense University in 2011. In 2017, he received a habilitated doctorate at Eotvos Lorant University. In 2014, he established the Scientific Research Center of the Hungarian Defence Forces General Staff, and was the leader of it from 2014-2018. (SPS) 090/500/60 (SPS) Chinese military medical experts demonstrate how to disinfect before taking off protective suit at a hospital in Yangon, Myanmar, on Thursday. Medical experts from the Chinese People's Liberation Army provided training to Myanmar's military medical staff, who will be assigned to work at a COVID-19 treatment center soon. U AUNG/XINHUA China has been at the forefront of the global fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, sharing its experiences, expertise and donating supplies and equipment to countries around the world. On May 5, Singapore received a total of 620,000 face masks donated by the Chinese government and the Red Cross Society of China to help the city-state manage the outbreak. COVID-19 infections had risen to 23,336 in Singapore as of May 10, the highest in Southeast Asia. "As the pandemic continues to threaten lives and livelihoods around the world, international cooperation is crucial in surmounting this common foe," said Lam Pin Min, Singapore's senior minister of state of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport, in a statement. "I am heartened that Singapore and China have been working closely together at all levels to stem the spread of the virus," said Lam, adding such robust collaboration during this difficult time is testament to the strong friendship between the two countries. On May 4, China donated about 270,000 Fijian dollars ($119,780) in medical supplies to Fiji. The donation came after an earlier donation of $300,000 to Fiji from China. Fijian Minister for Health and Medical Services Ifereimi Waqainabete said the donation will further strengthen Fiji's fight against the virus and also enhance the strong development partnership with China. "Going forward, this pandemic will only make us stronger and also grant us the ability to share expertise between Fiji and China," said Waqainabete, as quoted on a government website, expressing his gratitude to China's assistance in the South Pacific island nation's fight against COVID-19. The Chinese government has pledged $1.9 million in cash and medical supplies to Fiji and other Pacific Island countries to fight COVID-19, according to the Chinese embassy in Fiji. In Japan, the nationwide state of emergency has been extended until the end of May due to the continuous rise in new COVID-19 infections. As of April 28, the Chinese government, friendship organizations and enterprises have donated tens of millions of pieces of medical supplies, including masks and protective gear, as well as testing equipment and kits, according to the Chinese embassy in Japan. Japanese State Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Gaku Hashimoto said in early April that China has provided important support to Japan for prevention and control of COVID-19, noting China's timely sharing of anti-pandemic experience and large provisions of medical supplies. Infectious disease, Hashimoto said, is a common challenge faced by the international community that needs to be jointly dealt with by all countries in solidarity and through cooperation. On May 4, a new consignment of donations, including medical equipment, reagents and consumables, was donated to a newly built military hospital laboratory in Myanmar. The lab was also set up with the help of a Chinese medical team, according to Xinhua News Agency. Khin Ma Ma Myo, professor of international relations at the University of Yangon, said the medical supplies and the medical experts' team sent by China to Myanmar are vital for the country during the COVID-19 outbreak. Cooperation between Myanmar and China against COVID-19"brought about positive implications" that will surely strengthen closer bilateral relations, Khin Ma Ma Myo said, adding that both countries can also cooperate in the post-pandemic era by promoting border trade, human resource development in public healthcare, traditional medicine and medical research. She says she hopes to see the return of investments from Chinese small and medium-sized companies and the restarting of Chinese-backed factories in Myanmar. Chinese enterprises and nonprofit organizations are also playing active roles in supporting other nations in containing the outbreak. In a signed article published on April 29, Chinese Ambassador to Brunei Yu Hong said that donations from Chinese companies to Brunei amounted to more than $1.3 million. BGI, a Chinese genome sequencing company, provided technical support to Brunei in setting up a virology laboratory, in addition to testing kits sent in January. Yu Wanying, senior researcher at Sungkyun Institute of China Studies at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, said the "assistance from China to the international community showcased the virtue to repay goodwill with greater kindness and the country's responsibility", noting the nation cannot stand alone with the virus still not fully under control in the world. "When lives are facing threats (from COVID-19), the only choice for countries is to stand in solidarity and jointly fight against it," she said. China has provided medical supplies to more than 150 countries and international organizations by mid-April, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said earlier. The big picture: Researchers from Microsofts Threat Protection Intelligence Team are working with Intel Labs to further explore the use of deep learning to help fight malware. Through static analysis, most threats can be caught before they can even run. Building on an earlier joint effort, the two are now attempting to tackle malware classification as a computer vision task through an approach known as static malware-as-image network analysis (STAMINA). By plotting malware binaries as grayscale images, textural and structural patterns can be analyzed and identified as either benign or malicious. To do this, malware binaries were converted into two-dimensional images which involved pixel conversion, reshaping and resizing. Each byte was given a value between 0 and 255, corresponding to pixel intensity. The file size was then used to determine the width and height of an image, transforming it into a two-dimensional picture. Across 2.2 million portable executable (PE) binaries (temporally split 60:20:20 for training, validation and testing), the approach achieved a recall of 87.05 percent at 0.1 percent false positive rate and 99.66 percent recall and 99.07 percent accuracy at 2.58 false positive rate overall. For more complex threats, static analysis can be used in conjunction with dynamic and behavior analysis to build even more comprehensive threat detection systems. Masthead credit: Yuttanas China on Monday warned that it will take countermeasures in response to the US decision to tighten visa rules for Chinese journalists, urging Washington to immediately correct its mistakes. The US last week announced it was limiting the visa-period for Chinese journalists to 90 days with the option to extend it. The Chinese foreign ministry said Washington to correct its mistakes against Chinese journalists immediately or it will face countermeasures. Opposing the US move, spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Monday said the US was escalating political suppression of Chinese media. It will affect their normal reporting in the US and affect bilateral people-to-people exchanges. We are resolutely opposed and strongly dissatisfied with this, Zhao said. We require the U.S. to immediately correct its mistake, or China will have no choice but to take countermeasures. Beijing and Washington have been involved in a series of tit-for-tat actions against journalists in recent months amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. In March, China expelled American journalists from three US newspapers, soon after the US said it would begin to treat five Chinese state-run media entities as foreign embassies. Weeks earlier, China expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters - two Americans and an Australian - after the paper published an opinion column calling China the real sick man of Asia. The two countries have been engaged in a series of critical diplomatic exchanges in recent weeks with Washington accusing Beijing of mishandling the pandemic, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. The coronavirus has infected more than 4.1 million people and killed over 282,000, according to the USs Johns Hopkins University. China has retaliated by accusing the US of falsehood and having failed to tackle the outbreak in the country. On Sunday, China released an essay titled Truth in Chinas pandemic battle smashes absurd US allegations, accusing American politicians of distorting facts to serve political and propaganda purposes. Ethiopia admits that it shot down the Kenyan plane carrying humanitarian aid in south-west Somalia. The crash took place early last week and all six passengers, Kenyans and Somalis, died. The Ethiopian authorities speak of an error in a communique to the African Union. It was a private plane from African Express Airways. On board were humanitarian and medical supplies to help Somalia in its fight against the coronavirus. The Kenyan and Somali authorities have been investigating the suspicious incident, which has rekindled tensions between the two neighbors. Ethiopia finally admits responsibility for the incident, in its own words, resulting from a miscommunication by its ground troops. The Ethiopian army is in fact deployed in the region to secure the Bardale military camp against attacks by the Shebab terrorist group. Ethiopia defends its men. The plane was behaving unusually, flying at low altitude, as if it was looking for a target to carry out a suicide attack, the authorities said. Ethiopia says it is ready to work with Kenya and Somalia to get to the bottom of this case. Washington As requests for ventilators from the national stockpile reached a crescendo in late March, President Donald Trump made what seemed like a bold claim: His administration would have 100,000 within 100 days. At the time, the Department of Health and Human Services had not ordered any new ventilators since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in January. But records show that over the following three weeks, the agency scrambled to turn Trumps pledge into a reality, spending nearly $3 billion to spur U.S. manufacturers to crank out the breathing machines at an unprecedented pace. An analysis of federal contracting data by The Associated Press shows the agency is now on track to exceed 100,000 new ventilators by around July 13, about a week later than the 100-day deadline Trump first gave on March 27. By the end of 2020, the administration is expected to take delivery of nearly 200,000 new ventilators, based on the APs review of current federal purchasing contracts. That would more than double the estimated 160,000 ventilators hospitals across the U.S. had before the pandemic. We became the king of ventilators, thousands and thousands of ventilators, Trump boasted in an April 29 speech. But over the past month, demand for ventilators has decreased even as the U.S. death toll from the novel coronavirus has surged past 80,000. After observing unusually high death rates for coronavirus victims who were put on ventilators, many doctors are using them only as a last resort. Thats raising the unexpected prospect that the United States could soon be awash in surplus ventilators, so much so the White House is now planning to ship thousands overseas to help boost the virus response of other nations. In a speech to Republican members of Congress on Friday, the president credited his son-in-law, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, with heading up the effort to purchase the ventilators. We built, and we built, and we built, Trump said. Now we have nine factories that are throwing out ventilators at numbers that nobody can believe. It was really theres not been anything like that, since the Second World War, where we did the same thing with other types of product. Daniel Adelman, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business who teaches health care analytics, said the U.S. government is now buying more than twice the number of ventilators it needs, even under a worst-case scenario forecasting the spread of COVID-19. But Adelman said mathematical models cannot predict with certainty how many ventilators will be needed if there is a resurgence of the coronavirus later in the year or if there is another pandemic in the future. It seems incongruent with the forecasts that youre seeing, Adelman said of the government purchases. Id probably rather they order too many rather than ordering too few. ___ In patients with severe cases of COVID-19, the virus attacks the lungs, causing fluid to collect in tiny air sacs called alveoli. That makes it difficult for the lungs to transfer oxygen from the air to the blood, which can be deadly. To treat these low oxygen levels, doctors have historically relied on ventilators. The Strategic National Stockpile, the federal governments emergency reserve of medical supplies, had about 16,660 ventilators ready to deploy at the start of March, with an additional 2,400 out for maintenance. By the middle of the month, health officials and governors in states with the worst virus outbreaks began expressing concerns that the supply of breathing machines could run out, potentially leaving thousands of critically ill patients gasping for air. Among those calling for additional ventilators was Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), who predicted on March 24 that all of the ventilators in his state would be in use, and patients in need would be left without proper treatment. Cuomo said projections showed New York would need at least 30,000 additional ventilators to get through the mid-April peak of the outbreak. At that point, FEMA had sent New York 400. Trump expressed skepticism at Cuomos figures even as his administration rushed to send New York 4,000 additional ventilators about one-quarter of the nations entire emergency stockpile. Still, Cuomo pleaded for more. You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die," Cuomo said at a news conference, It wasn't just New York, however. Similarly dire projections of a ventilator shortfall were also then circulating within the White House. The scariest day of my life was about a month ago when, after a long day of meetings, my team told me that we were going to be needing 130,000 ventilators; that we were short hundreds of thousands of ventilators, Trump recounted in an April 14 briefing. I had governors requesting unreasonable sums that the federal government just didnt have. By late March, a bipartisan chorus of state governors and members of Congress were calling on the president to exercise his emergency authority under the Defense Production Act to force U.S. companies to produce ventilators. Trump had resisted invoking the Korean War-era law, which grants the president sole authority to direct U.S. industrial production of critical supplies in times of national emergency, saying the private sector was stepping up production of ventilators and other medical supplies on its own. But on March 27, Trump changed course, announcing that he would invoke the Defense Production Act to produce ventilators, which meant companies would have to give priority to federal orders over other customers. In the next 100 days well, first of all, weve already delivered thousands of them but within the next 100 days, we will either make or get, in some form, over 100,000 additional units, Trump said. ___ By the start of April, FEMA officials confirmed to the House Oversight and Reform Committee that demand for ventilators would soon outpace the available supply. To ration what was left, FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor directed that the remaining ventilators in the national stockpile be designated as a strategic national asset to be provided to states only on a case-by-case basis where hospitals could demonstrate an exigent need to sustain life within 72 hours. Federal purchasing records show that three months into the pandemic, HHS, which includes the Strategic National Stockpile, had not yet placed any orders for new ventilators in 2020. That changed within three days of Trumps March 27 edict, with HSS signing a $350 million deal with Zoll Medical Corp. Records show a flurry of about a dozen big orders with other ventilator makers over the next two weeks, most of them no-bid contracts exempted from the typical federal purchasing rules due to the national emergency. In a typical year, U.S. companies produce about 29,000 ventilators, according to data cited by the White House. Though several domestic manufacturers had already announced they were adding extra shifts and hiring additional workers to ramp up production, APs analysis of HHS contracts show that even with the emergency no-bid orders the traditional medical device makers would deliver about 73,990 new ventilators by July 6 the 100-day mark since Trumps March 27 pledge. It was clear additional industrial capacity would be needed to get 100,000 units by the presidents deadline. General Motors, which had shut down auto production, had already entered into a partnership on March 20 with Ventec Life Systems, a small ventilator company, to simplify an off-the-shelf design for rapid production at GMs Kokomo, Indiana, plant. Though GM had announced it was working night and day to launch production, Trump accused CEO Mary Barra via Twitter of dragging her feet, and revived his long-running feud with the company over its 2019 closure of an Ohio factory that Trump had pledged to save. As usual with this General Motors, things just never seem to work out, Trump tweeted on March 27. General Motors MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!! GM had sold the Lordstown factory in 2019. The president also took aim at Ford Motor Co., tweeting that the rival automaker should also GET GOING ON VENTILATORS, FAST!!!!!! On April 8, HHS announced it had reached a $489.4 million deal with GM to produce 30,000 ventilators by the end of August, with the first 6,132 delivered by June 1. The following week, HHS announced a $336 million contract with Ford and General Electric, which teamed up to make 50,000 of GE Healthcares ventilators by July 13. Assuming all the companies meet their deadlines, APs analysis shows the national stockpile should surpass 100,000 new ventilators by mid-July. ___ HHS declined to release to AP its contracts with ventilator producers without a Freedom of Information Act request, a legal process that can often take months or even years. But APs analysis of the limited contract data available online and figures taken from HHS media releases shows the agency will spend more than $2.9 billion for 198,890 ventilators by the end of 2020, an average per-unit cost of $14,618. Whether thats a good deal for U.S. taxpayers is difficult to determine because medical device makers generally don't publish their prices. HHS is buying at least 13 different models of ventilators from 10 different companies, all with different capabilities, features and accessories. When AP sought details from HHS about the per-unit cost of four models from manufacturer Hamilton Medical, the agencys press office provided figures that did not add up to the totals announced in earlier media releases. An HHS spokesperson said the previously provided figures were wrong and would be corrected on the agency's website. AP found several instances where the U.S. government had purchased the same models of ventilators before the pandemic. For example, contracting data does show that in December the Department of Defense bought a single, portable ventilator from Zoll Medical for $12,260. Under its current contract with Zoll, HHS is purchasing 18,900 of the same model for slightly more than $350 million. That works out to about $18,500 each, which would be a more than 50% increase from what the Pentagon paid less than five months ago. A HHS spokeswoman said Friday the government was paying about $12,100 for each ventilator, and that the additional money was for hoses, face masks and other related supplies needed to treat COVID-19 patients. The ventilators also came with a wheeled plastic case with power port, which cost an additional $722 each, according to HHS. The Defense Department did not respond to questions Friday about whether its 2019 ventilator deliveries also included accessories. Zoll's top executive said his company's pricing had remained consistent. Zoll is supplying the U.S. government with its requested products at our usual and customary government pricing, absorbing the additional costs associated with Zolls rapid increase in production capacity, Zoll CEO Jonathan Rennert said Friday. We are focused on fulfilling the governments order on time and meeting this urgent public need. Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan who studies the medical device industry, said ventilator companies are probably incurring increased costs as they ramp up production to meet high demand. Manufacturers havent had time to bulk buy additional parts and probably had to add workers to make more of the machines, he said. U.S. ventilator makers have raised production from a rate of about 700 per week in February to about 5,000 per week by early April, according to the Advanced Medical Technology Association, an industry trade group. If you dont have time to change your manufacturing processes to get those economies of scale, you get there by brute force, extra labor, said Gordon, who teaches a course in monetizing medical device ideas. Your costs actually go up, not down. With the federal government buying most of the new ventilators being made in the U.S., state governments and hospital systems urgently seeking the machines have often been forced to go through middlemen or foreign suppliers. Cuomo has compared the free-for-all bidding to going on eBay, and said during a March 31 briefing that New York had ordered 17,000 ventilators from China for $25,000 each. We are paying $25,000 per ventilator, and we are broke, Cuomo said. The last thing I want to do is buy a single ventilator I don't need. More than a month later, only 2,500 of the Chinese machines have been delivered, according to Cuomos office. In a separate case, New York officials are trying to recover another $69.1 million paid to a Silicon Valley electrical engineer who promised 1,450 ventilators that never materialized. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Another way coronavirus kills: blood clots. Central NY dad, 57, dies at home Cuomo says parts of NY are ready to reopen as May 15 coronavirus shutdown end nears Syracuse company develops coronavirus-killing drone for arenas and stadiums Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com By Kang Seung-woo President Moon Jae-in's third-anniversary press conference is fueling speculation that South Korea is set to act independently of the United States to promote inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation that could take place in the areas of healthcare, railways and tourism. Such a move has come from the idea that Seoul cannot just wait until progress is made in denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington, with this being unlikely for a while. President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un walk on a bridge in the truce village of Panmunjeom during their summit, April 27, 2018. / Korea Times [May 11, 2020] Fearful but Informed - An Implicit Study on the Perception of Coronavirus in India by eye square TRIVANDRUM, India and BERLIN, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- eye square, a global leader in human experience research, wanted to better understand the emotional landscape in India with regards to the Coronavirus pandemic. They conducted an online panel study with 300 participants across India from March 20-April 2, 2020. The data were collected through a combination of implicit measurement (reaction time measurement with 38 attributes) and explicit questions. India was one of the countries that set up a nationwide lockdown at the end of March. In the second most populated country in the world, which also contains some of the most densely populated cities, the movement was rapid and expansive. This was put into practice with the intention of preventing the catastrophic case estimates released in the run-up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's lockdown declaration when the national case count was still below 600. Overall, participants in India have shown a strong emotional reaction to the Coronavirus pandemic, with particularly high responses to 'danger' (79%), 'India' (78%), and 'problem' (78%). On the other hand, values for 'indifferent' (58%) and 'exaggerated' (50%) are also high compared to other countries tested (USA and Germany); 'trust' (59%), 'knowledge' (69%), and 'clarity' (65%) are also comparatively high, indicating that while the seriousness of the pandemic has been registered in India, there is also an understanding that a clear solution and path forward exists. Perhaps the most telling comparison is between the results in India and those of the second wave research in Germany. The results were recorded at roughly the same time (India: March 31-April 2; Germany 2: March 30-31). With participants reacting roughly one week after nationwide lockdowns in both countries, the higher Indian ratings for more positive attributes suggest a greater sense of security, clarity, and general indifference in India compared to Germany. Heightened EXPLICIT concerns about economy and health despite feeling well informed Overall, explicitly stated concerns about the pandemic were understandably high; though less than half of participants claimed to know someone personally who had been treated for, or quarantined due to the Coronavirus. Concerns about the economic impact of the pandemic was about equally as high as health-related concerns, further confirming the extent to which the virus has pervaded every aspect of daily life. Despite extremely high concerns, however, nearly all participants stated that they felt well informed about the situation, and over half believe that the government is well in control. Stronger IMPLICIT reaction: Elderly, those with increased media consumption The older population (ages 40-69) in India generally had a stronger emotional reaction to the Coronavirus than the younger (ages 16-39). They associate the disease more strongly with 'knowledge', 'information','problem', 'hygiene', 'responsibility' and 'community', whereas the younger population felt more 'indifferent'. People with a self-proclaimed rise in their media intake in the recent past more strongly associate the pandemic with 'indifferent', 'exaggerated', 'fate', 'contact', and 'unclear'. This indicates that media coverage of the topic may seem overblown and confusing to some, though the message of social distancing and the importance of reducing contact to slow the spread of the disease does seem to be getting through. Enhanced IMPLICIT association with 'community'; Communicators feel obligation and 'responsibility' The attribute association ratings are made up of two parts: first, the explicit answer ("Does this attribute fit 'Coronavirus', yes or no"); second, the time it took to decide on that answer. Taking the reaction time into account allows to understand how much 'cognitive distortion' is at play in peoples' responses-how much they have to think about the answer they are giving. Looking at the explicit responses as compared to the implicit ones, which have been adjusted based on reaction time, shows if there are differences between how people think they should feel (explicit) and how they actually feel (implicit). In India, there were few discrepancies between Explicit and Implicit responses. 'Community' ranked higher implicitly than explicitly for women, higher income participants (>60,000 Rs/month) and participants who had increased communication with friends, family, and neighbors over the past several months. Heightened communicators also showed a higher explicit rating of 'responsibility' than implicit, indicating that there may be an obligatory or socially performative element to this increased sense of responsibility in response to the Coronavirus. Among younger participants, 'panic' ranked explicitly higher than implicitly, and 'Information' ranked higher implicitly, suggesting that internally, the younger population feels more informed and less out of control than their older counterparts. How does the emotional reaction in India compare to that in other countries? Perhaps the most striking difference between the emotional responses in India as compared to the other countries studied is that despite similarly high values for 'fear' and 'anxiety', Indian participants show relatively low associations with 'threat', and 'unclear', and much greater feelings of 'trust', 'information', and 'clarity'. These results would indicate that Modi's decision to go into lockdown at an earlier stage in the pandemic's development in his country have had a positive impact on the way Indians are internalizing the situation, and has increased their sense of security in these uncertain times. Download the study : https://www.eye-square.com/en/study-coronavirus-india/ https://www.eye-square.com/en/india-corona-study-download/ Download our various Studies from : https://www.eye-square.com/en/cec/ About eye square: eye square is a leading global provider of experience research. We specialize in the fields of brand and media experience, user experience and shopper experience, and develop unique market research technologies in-house. A group of user experience researchers and experts in the field of implicit research founded eye square in 1999. Right from the start, eye square pioneered the use of eye tracking for user and market research. Besides eye tracking, we enrich the classic methods of market research by live in context research, reaction time measurement, emotion recognition, behavioral analysis and neurosemiotics. Based on our experience, we have built up one of the largest databases of commercial eye-tracking and emotional measurement data worldwide. These data allow us to benchmark how users experience new websites, mobile applications, products, advertisements and marketing material against established biomarkers. eye square's extensive client portfolio includes major companies such as Google, Facebook, eBay, P&G, Daimler, Unilever and more. Our dedicated teams are based in Berlin, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Kerala. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1166274/eye_square_emotional_representation.jpg Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1166275/eye_square_graph_representation.jpg Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1166272/eye_square_four_part_crisis.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1166273/eye_square_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Spanish restaurants, cafes and stores were preparing to reopen or expand business on Monday as parts of the country moved into Phase 1 of the coronavirus deescalation plan. The move comes with a series of conditions to prevent a spike in transmission after Covid-19 deaths and infections declined from their peak in early April. Spain introduced a strict lockdown on March 14, allowing people out only on essential business such as shopping for groceries or medicines. Children were first allowed out for supervised walks in late April, and this was followed by a partial relaxation of confinement measures for the general population. Specific time slots for walks and exercise will for now remain in place, regardless of whether an area is in Phase 0 or Phase 1 of the deescalation plan, which is expected to be completed in late June if there are no spikes in coronavirus cases. But no time restrictions have been announced for going shopping or sitting at a sidewalk cafe or restaurant. Despite the looser lockdown, many business owners are worried that their numbers may not add up, while many hotels remain closed and some museums are waiting to reopen later in the month. Canary Islands In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, restaurant terraces are expected to reopen gradually. On Monday, only a dozen or so business owners had plans to open their doors, out of fear that the trickle of customers would not cover their operating expenses. Carmen Hermoso, 53, and her husband had plans to reopen today. We have to get going, or well never get ahead, said Hermoso, who feels moderately optimistic about the future. Ever since she informed her customers that her establishment would reopen, she has received numerous calls for reservations. The 10 chairs in her outdoor terrace 50% of capacity are all booked, and the plexiglass shields are in place. Hermoso does not fear contagion from exposure to customers, but she is afraid that any potential new spike would force us to step back. Over in Gran Canaria, the owner of a restaurant named Geiser admitted that he is nervous about reopening. In 25 years I had never once closed, not even for Christmas, said Fran Acosta, whose nine employees have been at home on a temporary layoff scheme known as an ERTE during the lockdown. On Monday, three of them will go back to work, and two more will join them on Wednesday. After that, it will depend on demand, said Acosta. On the sidewalk, 30 empty chairs are awaiting customers, while laminated menus sit on the tables. Basque Country Disinfecting a display window at a fashion boutique in San Sebastian. Javier Hernandez On April 27, barely 15% of small businesses reopened in the Basque Country, but over 70% were expected to do so on Monday as the northern region entered Phase 1 of the deescalation plan. There are fewer restrictions, yes, but many doubts, said Sara Camuinas, manager of Generacion X, a fashion boutique in downtown Vitoria. Theres no need to make appointments now, but we are considering making some days fully open, and keeping others open only by appointment; well have to take it one day at a time. Retail business associations warned that the changing criteria with regard to opening conditions are creating a lot of uncertainty among customers. They also noted that business owners have yet to receive the state aid they applied for. Two workers out of a staff of five are back, the others are still home on an ERTE, explained Maider Munoz, who is a third-generation owner of Almacenes Garibay, a clothing store in downtown San Sebastian. Were afraid that the cost of being open will be higher than our revenue. There is so much uncertainty. Andalusia Sevilles cultural sector is preparing to go back to normal, although libraries and museums were not planning on opening this Monday. Sevilles Museum of Fine Arts Spains most important painting gallery after El Prado in Madrid is gearing up to reopen its doors, although no specific date has been offered yet. My impression is that museums will open on May 25, although if we could be ready by the 18th... in theory, they will all open on the same day, said Mar Sanchez, secretary general of the Cultural Innovation and Museums department at the regional government of Andalusia, which runs 16 cultural centers. Last year, the Museum of Fine Arts had 430,000 visitors. Catalonia The tourist-heavy towns along the coast of Tarragona were preparing to open bars, restaurants and terraces on Monday. Not so hotels, however, due to mobility restrictions on travel between provinces. It would be suicidal and inconsistent to open up in these conditions, said Xavier Roig, who is in charge of seven hotels in Salou, Calafell, Hospitalet de lInfant and Comarruga. Who is going to stay at a hotel that is just 100 kilometers from their own home? Roig said that his establishments, just like most others on the coast, are planning to stay closed until the area enters Phase 4 of the deescalation plan, probably in late June. Why open before that if there will be no demand? Galicia A rider with her horse at a riding stable in A Coruna, in Galicia. OSCAR CORRAL For some businesses, it is unclear whether moving into Phase 1 means that they can go back to normal activity. After two months without getting any exercise, the horses stabled at Centro Ecuestre Rebeca Roman in Teo (A Coruna) have lost weight and muscle mass. Since the middle of last week, their owners were able to come and ride them via appointment. Now that Phase 1 is underway, Roman says it is not certain what can and cannot be done because the regulations are vague. We will wait for politicians to figure it out, so we can go back to our lessons, she said. Although two people are now allowed inside the riding ring the rider and the instructor Roman notes that it is impossible to maintain social distancing rules with children, because they need constant help. Another problem, she said, is that horses get scared when they see face masks. With reporting by Noor Mahtani, Pedro Gorospe, Javier Martin-Arroyo, Marc Rovira and Silvia R. Pontevedra English version by Susana Urra. After a former Charleston County church was used as a filming location for the Netflix series "Outer Banks," it's seen more vandalism and forced entry, its pastor told deputies. The old Bethel AME Church is no longer used for services. After it was featured on "Outer Banks," which filmed many scenes in the Charleston area, more visitors have come to see the church, according to an incident report. Some of those visitors forced their way into the church and vandalized it, a pastor said. The pastor told deputies he boarded up one of the church's doors on Wednesday to deter visitors, then came back two days later to board up the front door because people had been kicking it to get inside. By the time Charleston County deputies arrived on Sunday to inspect the damage, two windows had also been broken, the pastor said. He was unsure if anything inside the church had been damaged and declined a deputy's offer to check. There are no security cameras on the property, and latent fingerprints could not be collected due to the texture of the building and glass, according to an incident report. Deputies said that individuals on the scene said the names written on the church's door were part of an episode of "Outer Banks." The pastor told deputies he didn't mind people visiting the church, but didn't want anyone entering it. Charleston County deputies have increased patrols of the church and will investigate and arrest anyone who unlawfully enters it or damages it, spokesman Capt. Roger Antonio said. Three trains from Karnataka, 2 each from Punjab and Tamil Nadu, 1 from Telangana will ferry stranded people to West Bengal over next few days Total number of positive cases in Mumbai is 12,864 Air India flight with over 180 Indians from Sharjah in UAE arrived in Lucknow on Saturday evening Number of Covid-19 containment zones increases to 2,646 in Mumbai 129 fresh cases of Covid-19 and three deaths have been reported in Rajasthan today Number of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh rises to 3,457 Flight from Muscat arrives in Cochin airport with 181 passengers An Air India Express flight brought back 177 passengers and 4 infants to Kochi from Kuwait, May 9, 2020 (ANI) Coronavirus cases in India is set to cross 60,000-mark. The Health Ministrys figures on Saturday morning showed the total number of infected in India are 59,662. In total, 1,981 people have died so far due to Covid-19 infection. According to worldometer.com, India is currently the 14th worst affected country in the world. Click here for the complete coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic The original kitchen cabinetry, appliances, stainless steel tables, cookware, and set lighting equipment from the famous Martha show will be on offer. In 2011, for the seventh and final season, a replica of her home kitchen at Turkey Hill was recreated for the show set. It was a design in Martha's newly launched line of kitchen cabinetry for Home Depot. The design was based on the architectural style of her kitchen at Turkey Hill, Martha's former Westport, Connecticut home, where she lived for 36 years. Originally, the cabinetry was painted Fortune Cookie, a pale yellow-ish tan. It was used for events, television shows, and Facebook Live presentations. Martha Bakes and Martha Cooking School were also filmed on the set. For Season 11 of Martha Bakes, the cabinetry was painted its existing color, "Black Bean Soup", "a lovely dramatic change". In 2012, the set was moved into Studio A on the 9th floor of the landmark Starrett-Lehigh Building on West 26th St in Manhattan. Martha moved her corporate headquarters there in 2009. The kitchens on offer are from her Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia offices, where she still works today. Martha Stewart fans will have the opportunity to bid and buy pieces from her iconic kitchen, which graced numerous covers of her best-selling Martha Stewart Living magazine. As one of the most influential women in the world, the name Martha Stewart is synonomous with gracious living, delicious home cooked food, decorating and entertaining. This high-quality professional grade equipment and appliances will appeal to professional chefs, restaurant owners, and home cooks alike. It is an opportunity for her legions of fans to own a part of the Martha Stewart legend. The Martha Stewart Turkey Hill kitchen and other lots will be on display at the Kaminski Auctions gallery, at 117 Elliott Street, Beverly, Massachusetts. Preview is by appointment only Monday, May 11th Saturday, May 16th from 10:00 AM-5:00 PM and day of sale starting at 8:00 AM. All of the items can be viewed online at www.kaminskiauctions.com and you may sign up to bid online through KaminskiLIVE, our online bidding platform. All items are to be sold as is, with no reserve prices. There will be no in person preview of the Emeril Lagasse, and other test kitchens. They will be sold as is, in place, viewable from the photos only. These items must be picked up within ten days after the auction, from the New York City offices where they are located. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Martha Stewart Center for Living (MSCL) at Mount Sinai Hospital which serves to promote and facilitate access health care resources for older adults and to enhance the public perception of aging. SOURCE Kaminski Auctions Related Links https://www.kaminskiauctions.com The traders' strike in 247 mandis across Rajasthan against the 2 per cent Krishak Kalyan charge levied by the state government on the purchase and sale of agricultural goods will continue till May 15, a traders' body said on Monday. On May 5, the Rajasthan government had imposed Krishak Kalyan charge of 2 per cent on all agricultural purchase and sale in mandis for financing the Rs 1,000 crore Farmers' Welfare Fund. Mandi traders have been on strike since May 6 to demand withdrawal of this fee. President of Rajasthan Food Trade Association Babu Lal Gupta said the strike has been extended till May 15 as the government did not take any positive step. He said further decision in this movement will also depend on future course of action taken by the government. About 247 agricultural produce mandis of the state are closed due to this strike. Gupta said that levying such a fee in this time of crisis is fatal for the food merchants of the state. Officials said the burden of the fee will not be passed on to farmers and traders. Principal Secretary (Agriculture) Naresh Pal Gangwar said farmers and traders will not bear the burden of farmers' welfare fees imposed on the purchase and sale of produce in the agricultural produce market. He said that market and development fees in neighbouring states is still higher than Rajasthan. The amount received from this fee will be used solely for farmer welfare. This fee will not be collected from the farmers, he had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Erich Allen is a US Army veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, in a peacekeeping mission in the Balkans, and in operations throughout Central and Eastern Europe. He now resides in Wilmington, Delaware, where he continues to serve as an aviator in the Army National Guard, works as corporate safety director for a private company, and is CEO of his own online business venture. He has published his new book Im No Longer Afraid: Leo Learns Jiu Jitsu: an inspiring story for young readers and the authors third book. Like many children, Leo deals daily with his fears of things, like the dark and school bullies. When those fears continue to disrupt his life, Mom and Dad decide to introduce him to his first experience in Brazilian jiu jitsu, which is where he meets Mr. Stephen, the school instructor. As Leo advances through this martial art, his fears begin to dissipate as he gains confidence in himself and his own inner strengths. Rolling, tumbling, and struggling his way through his training, he learns from his peers and Mr. Stephen that he can overcome any difficulty through effort and belief in himself. Published by Page Publishing, Erich Allens reassuring book is a wonderful addition to any childrens library. Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase Im No Longer Afraid: Leo Learns Jiu Jitsu at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708. About Page Publishing: Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com. WESTMINSTER, Colo., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Coalfire, a trusted provider of cybersecurity advisory and assessment services, announced today that the company was named one of The Denver Post's Top Workplaces for 2020. This is the third year in a row that Coalfire has placed in The Denver Post's Top Workplaces list. "We are thrilled to be recognized as a Top Workplace in Colorado for the third year in a row," said Leslie Jones, Chief Human Resources Officer at Coalfire. "We're proud of the collaborative and engaged culture we've built, and we're excited to see it evolve as our business grows." The annual Top Workplaces list recognizes the best companies to work for in the Denver area and is based solely on employee feedback compiled by Energage, LLC., a leading provider of technology-based employee engagement tools. The survey focuses on various aspects of workplace culture, including engagement, alignment, and connection. "We are incredibly proud of this accomplishment", added Jones. "We stay connected with our teams, ask for input often, and use that feedback to guide decisions that make a real difference." About Coalfire Coalfire is the trusted cybersecurity advisor that helps private and public sector organizations avert threats, close gaps and effectively manage risk. By providing independent and tailored advice, assessments, technical testing and cyber engineering services, we help clients develop scalable programs that improve their security posture, achieve their business objectives and fuel their continued success. Coalfire has been a cybersecurity thought leader for nearly 20 years and has offices throughout the United States and Europe. For more information, visit www.coalfire.com. For media inquiries: Mike Gallo (212) 239-8594 [email protected] SOURCE Coalfire Related Links http://www.coalfire.com The coronavirus pandemic has shown the need for all of us to adapt to changes in many aspects of our lives. Education is one the sectors that has experienced drastic changes. For most schools, the COVID-19 crisis has required a shift from classroom teaching to online instruction. Now is the time for parents, educators and state officials to work together to ensure that our children have the opportunities to learn during this difficult period. I applaud Pennsylvania Education Secretary Pedro Rivera and his staff for their efforts to continue education services. It is clear they are acting in the best interest of Pennsylvanias children by asking all schools to assist students with learning opportunities during the mandatory closure. Pennsylvania public charter schools, both cyber and brick-and-mortar schools, are doing their part to ensure children receive the instruction they need. Public cyber charter schools sent a letter to the Department of Education, offering guidance and assistance to any brick-and-mortar school, public or private, as it adapted its traditional curriculum to virtual learning for its students. Public cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania have been instructing students online for the last 20 years. They have the experience and tools to teach a large number of students from all backgrounds and economic statuses. Their knowledge is invaluable for a school struggling with online instruction. Recently, school counselors from PA Distance Learning Charter School held a teleconference with their colleagues from across Pennsylvania to discuss distance school counseling. They shared the best practices, strategies and tools with their colleagues. For many brick-and-mortar school counselors, meeting students online rather than face to face is a new experience. Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center, a nonprofit arts and education association that is home to the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, has offered digital courses, content and support to schools struggling to provide online instruction during the statewide school closure. The courses available include core high school academics, including algebra and advanced mathematics, biology and other sciences, literature and languages. The Philadelphia School Partnership announced the purchase of 15,000 Chromebooks for public charter students and private school students to assist in their move to online learning. The Propel Charter Schools system in Pittsburgh mailed 1,600 Chromebooks to students who did not have a computer or access to the internet. These education leaders immediately went to work and identified solutions to give students the learning opportunities they deserve. It is imperative that schools and educational groups work together to do everything they can to ensure students are not being left behind. Public charter schools hope this spirit of cooperation among school officials continues as lawmakers begin to debate the state budget. Before the pandemic, Gov. Tom Wolf proposed $280 million in funding cuts to public charter schools, including cuts to our most vulnerable students in special education. Some state lawmakers supported legislation that would effectively close public cyber charter schools, which would force more than 37,000 cyber students to return to their local school districts. This pandemic clearly has shown there is a big difference between offering a comprehensive, online education program for thousands of students and offering a limited, blended learning program for a select few. Public charter schools already receive approximately 25 percent less funding per student than school districts. More funding cuts would be devastating to charter school children and their families. Public charter schools will continue to do their part to identify solutions and take action to help students learn as we endure this pandemic together. And the 143,000 students in Pennsylvania's public charter schools will continue to be educated by the schools they have chosen to attend. This pandemic has underscored the value and importance of Pennsylvania's public charter schools. As state lawmakers discuss public education funding, we ask that they consider the value offered by charter school leaders and why thousands of families in Pennsylvania chose a public charter school as the best educational opportunity for their children. Ana Meyers is the executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools. Emergency Preparedness U Arizona Announces In-Person Classes for Fall as Campus Plans for More COVID-19 Testing The University of Arizona plans to resume in-person classes this fall, after the state began statewide antibody testing with help of the university. President Robert Robbins made the announcement in late April, after having his blood drawn for antibody testing on the first day of the testing effort. University of Arizona President Robert Robbins has blood drawn for COVID-19 antibody testing. The first phase of the program began on April 30 in U Arizona's home county, Pima, where 3,000 health care workers and first responders were expected to be tested. Concurrently, 1,500 members of the general public in the county, including university students residing on campus and elsewhere, were also going to be tested as a baseline level for comparison. Statewide testing for healthcare workers and first responders was expected to start on May 7. Plans were still to be finalized by the university to provide antibody blood testing for its 45,000 students and 15,000 employees. That testing would be free and voluntary and would consist of COVID-19 swab tests for current infections, a saliva test being developed at U Arizona for current infections and an antibody blood test to measure potential immunity. The COVID-19 antibody tests, which can identify who has developed antibodies to the virus, build on the work done by two U Arizona researchers, Deepta Bhattacharya, associate professor in the College of Medicine Tucson's Department of Immunobiology, and Janko Nikolich-Zugich, chair of the same department. According to the researchers, antibodies are produced by the immune system about a week after infection. The "good" antibodies "attach to the virus and whisk it away, preventing it from binding to our cells and getting inside," Nikolich-Zugich explained. Current estimates have suggested that as many as half of people exposed to the virus have experienced few to no symptoms and could have been unwittingly transmitting the virus throughout their communities. The presence of COVID-19 antibodies means the immune system has mounted a response against the virus. However, much is still unknown. For example, experts haven't yet established what number of antibodies is sufficient to prevent subsequent infections. Yet, university leaders are confident they'll be able to manage around the unknown factors. "I am pleased to publicly announce today our intention and plan to return to in-person classes at the University of Arizona in the fall semester of 2020," Robbins said during a press briefing. While there are "many factors that remain beyond our control ... we are working with local and national experts to create a best-in-class strategy to reopen our campus," he added. "We will test, we will trace and we will treat. Test-trace-treat a 3T approach to providing our campus a flexible, adaptive teaching and learning environment." Robbins noted that the institution would provide "multiple accommodations of multiple forms for those who cannot immediately return to campus in person because of health risk. It will not be easy and it will not be without 100 percent commitment on all the 'Wild Cat' family. But it will be well worth the effort." The "test" phase involves the entire campus community. The "trace" stage uses a combination of solutions: traditional contact tracing provided by the U Arizona College of Public Health; self-reporting; and digital app-based contact tracing using technology jointly developed by Apple and Google. For those who have tested positive for COVID-19 and others at risk, the "treat" portion of the plan would involve minimal personal contact, alternative housing, a modified class environment and enhanced care from campus health. A majority of Americans do not approve of recent protests sparked by coronavirus-related stay-at-home orders several states have implemented over the course of the public health crisis, with many of the divisions falling along political lines, according to a new poll. More than 1,000 adults were interviewed across the United States as part of the survey, which was conducted from April 30 to May 4 by the University of Chicago Divinity School and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll, which was posted online Monday, found that 55% of respondents disapprove of the demonstrations against social distancing requirements, while 31% approve and 14% neither approve nor disapprove. Though there are no differences by political party or religiosity, the survey said, the poll found that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to disapprove of such protests by 67% to 51%, according to The Associated Press. Thirty-two percent of Republicans and 25% of Democrats said they approve. Roughly 8% of those surveyed said public protests, marches and rallies should remain unrestricted during the outbreak, while 41% think they should be allowed only with restrictions and 50% think they should not be allowed at all. The survey also noted that more than half of Americans, around 51% of the respondents, think in-person religious services should be allowed. Only 9% think services should be allowed without any restrictions. More say drive-thru services should be allowed in some form. By comparison, 76% say people should be allowed to visit outdoor spaces like parks or beaches at least in some form, the survey said. Protests against social distancing requirements have popped up in states across the country, as the pandemic has led to millions of job losses and the biggest downturn in the U.S. economy since the Great Depression. In Massachusetts, a parade of protesters, some who waved flags in support of President Donald Trump, drove by Gov. Charlie Bakers house in Swampscott in late April, demonstrating against the governors COVID-19-related closures. Supporters of the president also gathered in Northampton earlier this month to express their worries about the restrictions issued amid the outbreak. Two days later, hundreds of demonstrators protested outside the Massachusetts State House in Boston, calling on Baker to reopen the commonwealth. Related Content: Rome museum puts rare collections of the Romantic poets online. The Keats-Shelley House Museum and Library in Rome has launched its new digital collections of manuscripts and art celebrating the lives and works of the Romantic poets John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley. The launch of the museum's new website and online collection coincides with the start of Keats-Shelley 200, a three-year programme of events, exhibitions and activities in the UK and Italy in celebration of the poets' extraordinary works. For the first time the museum's significant collection of some 400 autograph manuscripts, as well as art works and relics pertaining to the world's greatest romantic poets, can be enjoyed online. Highlights of the digital collections include letters written by Keats in which the poet references defining moments of his career, including his most famous poem, Endymion, and his admiration for Wordsworth. Poignantly, the manuscripts also include a letter written on 27 February 1821 by the artist Joseph Severn, who nursed Keats through his final months alive in Rome, in which Severn records the poet's last spoken words. Read also: Other highlights include portraits of Keats, Shelley and Byron, Mary Shelley's travel writing desk, and a small number of physical remains of Keats and Shelley that have been preserved over the last two centuries. The digital collection and online experience has been curated by Dr Giuseppe Albano MBE, curator of the Keats-Shelley House and Alessandra Giovenco, archivist at the British School at Rome. Albano described the digital collection as an "exciting new resource" and said that the museum hopes to be able to reopen to the public on 18 May, in line with a further easing of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions in Italy. For full details of the digital archive, as well as other new initiatives, see the KSH website. Cover image courtesy of KSH: autograph letter sent from Rome by Joseph Severn, the artist who had travelled to Rome with Keats and cared for him until the end of his life, to a Mr Kirkup in England dated August 20 1833. Protest continues outside Serbian Parliament Hunger strike for 4 MPs from majority and opposition (ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, MAY 11 - A hunger strike that began on Sunday afternoon outside the Serbian parliament continued on Monday. The reasons why the four MPs - two from the government majority and two from the opposition - are engaging in this protest differ. The behaviour of Bosko Obradovic, one of the leaders of the radical opposition against President Aleksandar Vucic, has attracted criticism. The MP spent the night outside of parliament where some claim he had eaten dinner beforehand. Representatives of his party Dveri, according to media reports, gave him a sleeping bag, a pillow and a blanket to keep him warm during the night. Miladin Sevarlic, an independent MP who is protesting alongside Obradovic, reportedly entered the building but spent much of the time outside of it. Spending the entire night outside the building were instead Aleksandar Martinovic and Sandra Bozic, the two MPs from the government majority party SNS under President Vucic, who on Monday morning accused Obradovic of hypocrisy. Martinovic and Bozic are protesting against the lack of reaction from the prosector's office and judges on the violent act of protest committed by Obradovic on Friday, when along with a group of his supporters he had blocked the entrance to the parliament and brutally beat an MP. The behaviour, they said, is intolerable and 'fascist' and must be punished. Obradovic spoke about his protest on Sunday evening, saying that it was for an additional six-month postponement for elections (which had been scheduled for April 26 but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are expected to be held on June 21) and for the formation of a technocrat government in the meanwhile. MP Sevarlic is instead protesting against the position taken by the government and the president on the issue of Kosovo. (ANSAmed). Despite Egypts diplomatic efforts to reach comprehensive agreement over the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Ethiopia announced on Monday it is to start filling its mega dam in July 2020. Egypt has been abiding by the rules of international law since the onset of negotiations over the GERD despite Ethiopia's intransigence and sudden withdrawal from the last round of talks in Washington earlier this year to sign the final agreement over the rules of filling and operating the GERD. The Ethiopian announcement was made despite not reaching agreement with downstream countries Egypt and Sudan, Ethiopian media cited the Ethiopian irrigation minister Sileshi Bekele as saying. Negotiations between Egypt and Ethiopia have completely stalled, and Addis Ababa spread fallacies in the media, said Egypt's foreign minister. He noted that these actions do not show intention for peaceful negotiations or cooperation. The Arab League adopted, during a meeting of Arab foreign ministers, a resolution submitted by Egypt to protect its rights to the Nile water and to castigate Ethiopia for failing to reach an agreement with Egypt and Sudan on the filling and operation of the GERD. Bekele said the civil engineering part of the GERD has reached 87 percent completion while the general construction progress has reached 73 percent. In November 2019, the US stepped in to host negotiations after Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia announced that talks on the operation and filling of the dam had reached a dead end. The three sides were expected to sign a final deal in late February, when the last meeting was scheduled to be held in Washington, but Ethiopia skipped the meeting, citing domestic reasons. On 1 May Egypt sent a letter to the president of the UN Security Council about the GERD crisis after the failure of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to reach an agreement on its filling and operation, Shoukry said. Egypt and Sudan have refused an Ethiopian agreement released on 10 April proposing a partial agreement that would only cover the first stage of the filling. The letter Egypt sent to the Security Council details the stages of GERD talks and the moves Egypt adopted in accordance with international law. According to a progress report Bekele presented during a meeting between senior government officials led by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the country will begin the first phase filling as of July 2020, Addis Standard reported. Bekele asserted that Ethiopia has prepared a comprehensive document that provides sufficient response to the complaint Egypt filed to the UN Security Council over the filling of the GERD, the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported. Bekele said filling the GERD will be managed without causing harm to the downstream countries. The Ethiopian minister contended that the failure of the negotiations with downstream countries shows that Ethiopia cannot be pressured into surrendering its interest. Egypt and Ethiopia are in disagreement over technical details regarding the operation and filling of the dam, which is under construction near Ethiopia's border with Sudan. Ethiopia hopes that the massive $4.8 billion project on the Blue Nile will allow it to become Africas largest power exporter. Egypt, which is downstream from the dam, fears that the project will diminish its share of Nile water, on which it is almost entirely reliant for fresh water. Search Keywords: Short link: Even as countries like South Korea, China, Taiwan and Germany are being lauded for their efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak while attempting to re-start their nations, one country that has failed to gain much attention is Bhutan. Bhutan has only nine cases of COVID-19 and it has a story of effective management to tell behind its success. Moreover, the country of over 750,000 people is landlocked between India and China the former is where cases have been rising, albeit gradually; and the latter is where the outbreak began. Moreover, Bhutan shares an open border with India, and there were a number of students who were returning to the country from infected countries. This was before the nation was put under a lockdown, though the lockdown itself was never very stringent while everything else was closed, businesses were allowed to function. Also Read | Quick action, masks and digital tracking: How Taiwan dodged the global trend and blocked coronavirus The country reported its first case on March 6. A US tourist tested positive for the virus, and was immediately quarantined, and, according to reports, he received considerable attention from both the country's highest officials and the public. The King of Bhutan, in fact, also paid a personal visit. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show The government then initiated intensive contact tracing and quarantine for anyone who has come in contact with tourists. Bhutan had already put in place a National Preparedness and Response Plan and an emergency committee in February. Over 120 quarantine facilities were set up for anyone entering the country. "At such a time, we must exhibit the strength that comes out of our smallness, remain united and support one another. During such exceptional circumstances, the government will take the responsibility of alleviating any suffering to the people due to the virus," Bhutan's king said, and the population of the country took it to heart. Follow our LIVE Updates here. For instance, private hotel owners in the country offered their premises and resources for free to the government. Restaurants provided food free of charge, while locals, according to reports, helped in setting up quarantine facilities in their villages. Meanwhile, the government also decided to seal its borders and ban public gatherings. It announced relief measures for those who will suffer due to the lockdown. Bhutan's king also hit the streets, visiting several districts in the country, particularly those that share their border with India. All this was particularly laudable, and necessary, for Bhutan has limited resources when it comes to healthcare, reports suggest. Writing in The Diplomat, Sonam Ongmo and Tej Parikh the former a journalist based in Bhutan and the latter a policy analyst and journalist say the landlocked country has just over 300 doctors, one ICU expert and only a couple of chest specialists. A surge of cases, and community transmission within the country, could have resulted in a catastrophe which seems to have been averted, for now, by Bhutan's quick response. Those facing heart disease may benefit from going out and getting bendy, study suggests Hot yoga is more than a sweaty fitness trend: It can help people with high blood pressure shift in a calm, healing direction. A preliminary study confirms the benefits of hot yoga on symptoms of high blood pressure. In a presentation at the American Heart Associations Hypertension 2019 Scientific Sessions, findings were presented from the novel study exploring a drug-free method of treating elevated blood pressure and hypertension using heated yoga classes. The lead researcher, Stacy Hunter, wrote an article about the study, titled Temps up, blood pressures down in hot yoga study, published in the American Heart Association Meeting Report (Presentation #P196; Session APS.1). Hunter is an assistant professor and lab director of the cardiovascular physiology lab at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. For the study, Hunters research team recruited 10 adult men and women who had been diagnosed with either elevated blood pressure (EVP) or stage 1 hypertension (S1H). According to the Mayo Clinic, EVP is a systolic pressure ranging from 120 to 129 mm Hg and a diastolic pressure below 80 mm Hg. Systolic pressure is measured when blood is pumped into arteries by the heart. Diastolic pressure is the measure of resting blood pressure between heartbeats. Stage 1 hypertension is a systolic pressure ranging from 130 to 139 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure ranging from 80 to 89 mm Hg. S1H elevates to stage 2 hypertension (S2H) when systolic pressure reaches 140 mm Hg or higher, or diastolic pressure rises to 90 mm Hg or higher. EVP tends to increase in severity over time unless steps are taken to bring blood pressure under control. Participants in the study werent taking any blood pressure medications and had not engaged in any regular physical exercise for at least six months before the study. Researchers randomly assigned five participants to an experimental group for 12 weeks of hot yoga classes, while the control group did not take yoga classes. Hot yoga is considered a vigorous workout, conducted in super-heated rooms that can reach 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) with 40 percent humidity. Sweating is induced as a form of general detoxification while high heat warms the muscles, enhancing flexibility. Weekly Hot Yoga Lowers Blood Pressure in Three Months The yoga group engaged in hour-long hot yoga classes three times each week for the three-month study period. Average blood pressures for the two groups were found before and after the study periods and compared. The researchers looked at average 24-hour blood pressure readings, as well as perceived stress and vascular function of participants in both groups. After 12 weeks, the results of the study showed that members of the yoga group had lower blood pressure measurements than non-yoga group members. While researchers acknowledge that more studies on hot yoga are needed, these promising results add to the body of research on regular, room-temperature yogas benefits for lowering blood pressure. Yoga Balances Your Body and Mind (Without Drugs) Yoga has been practiced for many thousands of years as a way to integrate the body with the mind. A first-of-its-kind meta-analysis on the effects of yoga on blood pressure was published in 2013 in the peer-reviewed journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. A U.S.-based, cross-functional research team led by Marshall Hagins from Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York, examined results from 17 independent studies on the effects of yoga on male and female adults with prehypertension or high blood pressure, with or without cardiovascular disease. The featured studies assessed gentle yoga programs of relatively short duration, without focus on a particular style of yoga or individual fitness levels. This criterion, researchers hypothesized, would lead to findings within their research that would be applicable to the majority of individuals with elevated blood pressure. Results of this meta-analysis showed that yoga practice was associated with an overall modest but significant reduction in blood pressure. Larger, more clinically significant reductions in blood pressure were observed when the yoga practice incorporated three key elementspostures, meditation, and breathingas compared with more limited yoga interventions, which demonstrated less impact on blood pressure. Yoga compared to no treatment yielded significant blood pressure benefits, but not when compared to other forms of exercise. Researchers said these findings are of clear clinical significance and suggest that yoga may offer an effective intervention for reducing blood pressure among people with prehypertension or hypertension. They are not alone in their assertion that these study results indicate yoga is a viable antihypertensive lifestyle therapy. They called for additional controlled trials to determine the optimal yoga program and treatment protocol. Hot Yoga Goes Mainstream; Should You Go, Too? For individuals interested in exploring hot yoga, Hunter recommends using extra precaution. Especially if you have a health condition that may be impacted, talk to your doctor before beginning any new exercise regimen. If youre cleared for practice, make sure youre well-hydrated when you arrive to class; its not enough to merely sip water throughout the class. Dress in layers that can be removed during class and allow you to cool down gradually once you leave. Start slowly; dont over-exert during class, and be aware of signs of heat exhaustion. You dont need to endure an hour of super-heated asanas to benefit from yoga. For some, its simply the art of bending over. Try a class at your local studio, YMCA, or YWCA, or check the class schedule wherever you work out. There are many levels of yoga, including classes suitable for beginners. To learn more, explore GreenMedInfo.com with nearly 300 scientific abstracts on yoga and its therapeutic benefits. John Stuart Reid is an English acoustic-physics researcher and inventor of the CymaScope, an instrument that makes sound visible. He has studied the world of sound for over 40 years and is one of only two men to conduct an acoustics study of the Great Pyramid. He lectures at conferences in Europe and the USA. This article was republished from GreenMedinfo. Sign up for the newsletter. Senior BJP leader and Ladakh MP Tsering Namgyal on Monday sought early reopening of the Leh-Manali Highway to speed up the ongoing evacuation process of stranded Ladakhi passengers and stocking of essential commodities. The 490-km Leh-Manali Highway is an alternative road linking the Union Territory with Himachal Pradesh. The Ladakh MP made the request in a letter to Chief Engineering (Project Deepak), Border Roads Organisation (BRO), Brigadier Manpreet Baghi. The copies of the letter were also sent to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Director General, BRO, Delhi for their intervention. The current COVID-19 pandemic situation has created new challenges to humanity as well as the administration and states in evacuation of their stranded people across the country. Ladakh, being the northern most region of India with wide-ranging geographical and topographic challenges, is managing its evacuation process only via the 434-km Srinagar-Leh Road which is the only transportation means for the region at present, Namgyal said. He said due to a constraint of accommodation, time and screening facilities at Jammu, Srinagar, Sonamarg and en route up to Leh, the Ladakh administration and both the Hill Councils of Ladakh (Kargil and Leh) are facing difficulties in mobilising more stranded passengers via the Jammu-Srinagar-Leh Road. To double the volume of the evacuation process, the MP requested Brigadier Baghi to speed up the ongoing snow clearance operation at the Manali-Leh Road on a war footing. He said such a move would not only help the administrations of both Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh in the evacuation of stranded passengers from both sides, but will also help in stocking and supplying essential supplies for civilians and Army. He also requested for early snow clearance work from Darcha to Lungnak of Zanskar via Penstsela pass so that the local residents who are stranded across the country can commute via this short and alternative road to reach their home at the earliest. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Employees in Britain's manufacturing and construction industries returned to different-looking workplaces today as coronavirus lockdown measures start to ease. Some companies have put up signs asking workers to maintain social distancing by staying two metres apart, with extra hand-washing facilities for their staff in place. Other firms have shut canteens and limited bathroom use to one person at a time, while employees are wearing face masks and other personal protective equipment. Electronics firm Nidec Control Techniques, based in Newtown, Mid Wales, has a new system in place using cones outside the door of its toilets to ensure only one person uses them at a time Further measures in place at some companies include a glass screen in front of certain staff - and extra shifts meaning fewer staff are on site at any one time. In one example, electronics firm Nidec Control Techniques based in Newtown, Mid Wales, has reopened its factories with a variety of safety measures in place. The firm, which employs 250 people at the site, now has 53 washing stations in place and moveable plastic shields to help staff safely work closely together. There is also a new one-way system around the factory that is meant to keep staff two metres apart to ensure social distancing measures can be followed. Nidec Control Techniques operations director Huw Mills shows how the electronics firm in Wales has developed moveable plastic shields to help staff safely work closely together Nidec Control Techniques in Wales also has a new one-way system around the factory that is meant to keep staff two metres apart to ensure social distancing measures can be followed The site, which suspended all production for three weeks in the lockdown, has implemented a queuing system if someone on this one-way system stops walking. Operations director Huw Mills told BBC News: 'There is no people passing each other which would breach the two-meter rule. You will not bump into anybody.' The firm has also developed moveable screens, with Mr Mills saying: 'This is something that our engineers have innovated, something that we're using. 'In a manufacturing space you do need to get up and close and personal with people. Our engineering team knocked up a mobile screen on wheels.' Workers carry a pane of glass on a construction site near Guildford, Surrey, this morning Construction workers are seen at a site entrance in London as the industry starts to return The canteen is shut and no more than one person can be in the bathroom at any one time, with a sign saying: 'Toilets to be used one at a time please'. Anyone going into the bathroom uses their foot to shift a cone across the floor to indicate they are inside, and can then use their foot to open and close the door. The company manufactures variable speed drives, which are used in pumps and fans and can be found in some of the pop-up hospitals seen in New York. One worker said: 'Sometimes you do have to think about it, because you see someone, and you... get into a conversation, and then you think, oh wait, step back. Construction workers at a building site in Central London are pictured at work today Workers in hard hats work on a building construction site in Central London this morning Construction workers gather in the City of London today as the industry gets back to work 'We're doing the best we can. Usually there's four people on a line, but it's just two of us so we're just trying to keep the pace and carry on. Another said: 'You're here, you're here for eight hours and you're working, so it takes your mind off it. It's only when you get home you see the news again. 'Sitting at home for weeks on end is boring, you get lethargic, here you're active again, and it's nice to meet your friends again.' The company's facility in Shenzhen was one of the first ones to go into the Chinese lockdown, but now that is back at full production again. Construction workers look up at a building site in the City of London this morning Construction workers work on a site in Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey this morning Company president Anthony Pickering told BBC News: 'Our facilities are as safe as we could possibly get it. If we find other ways we will obviously look at them. 'But this is the unknown, there's no textbook telling you what to do. We've had to figure this out as we go along. 'We're dealing with people's lives, people's income, trying to keep the business viable and to continue for the future.' Boris Johnson unveiled a 'conditional plan' yesterday evening for easing restrictions in England, saying people could take unlimited exercise outdoors, travel to other places by car and should start going back to work if they cannot work from home. MIDDLETOWN The month of May is moving right along in Middlesex County, and the chamber team continues to be on the move. While we all continue to navigate the unprecedented challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis, I continue to be very optimistic about the future of our city, our county, our state and our nation. Make no mistake, however, the business community and the community at large are still hurting. The public health crisis, while trending in the right direction, is still a very serious issue, and we must take seriously the threat it continues to pose. Recently released economic data and unemployment figures are staggering and scary. However, we are a resilient people, and I know we will reverse those numbers through hard work, teamwork, ingenuity and perseverance. The date of May 20 has been part of the public conversation in our state for some time now. Gov. Ned Lamont and his team continue to target that important date as the start of a gradual reopening of Connecticuts economy. This chamber stands ready to work with our partners at the federal, state, and local levels, and we look forward to supporting the business community in Middlesex County in every conceivable way as we move forward. Let us come together once again to face down a common threat, and let the sun continue to shine on Middlesex County. While planning for a reopening in Middlesex County is very much underway, the chamber team continues to operate in virtual mode, and it continues to do a great job for our membership and for the business community at large. Last week featured well run, and productive meetings of the chambers Executive Committee, LEAD CT Steering Committee, Portland and East Hampton Division, Environment and Infrastructure Committee, Central Business Bureau, and Real Estate Council. The Portland and East Hampton Division and the CBB meetings were both very productive, as they featured great reports from local leaders on COVID response and an update on the Arrigoni Bridge and Saint John Square construction projects.monthly chamber meetings. Last Monday evening featured the second virtual meeting of the Middletown Common Council. I applaud the mayor and the council for another productive meeting under challenging circumstances, and I especially appreciate their support of economic relief measures including the responsible deployment of CDBG money in the city, and an innovative Middletown Bridge Loan Program which will be executed in partnership with the Middlesex County Revitalization Commission. This week is another busy one for the chamber team as we continue to work every day to support our regional business community. Tuesday is a packed chamber day from the morning into the evening. The latest installment of our KeyBank Workshop Series takes place on Tuesday morning via an online portal. Connecticut Small Business Development Center Counselor Jim Jackson will lead a session, Strategic Planning Demystified. This presentation will break down strategic planning into clear steps that lead to focused progress and predictable outcomes that any size organization can achieve. At 11 a.m., our webinar tour with members of the Connecticut Congressional delegation continues with a session featuring U.S. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, who has a very important role on the House Appropriations Committee. Tuesday afternoon includes the next installment of our very successful Tuesday Tips campaign, which features weekly presentations from our colleagues in the legal profession. This session, presented by Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, P.C., is titled Positioning Your Business for Success When Connecticut Re-Opens. This webinar will focus on practical considerations for getting back to business, including: Employment Law, Government Relief, Taxes, and Obtaining Forgiveness Under the Paycheck Protection Program. I thank the following UKS attorneys for their support of this session: Christopher L. Brigham, Valerie F. Ferdon, Richard M. Dighello, Donald R. Seifel and our friend, and Past Chamber Chairman, Richard D. Carella. We are also looking forward to Tuesday evening, when the chambers Side Street to Main Street Business Know-How returns with Program Class 9, Session 1. This is an intensive four-session entrepreneurial program which provides practical knowledge for starting and building a small business. This is the first time that this important chamber initiative will take place through an online portal. I thank Eversource for its sponsorship of this important economic community development program. Tuesday evening also features the May meeting of the chambers Automotive Council, which will also be meeting through an online portal for the first time. The rest of the week features meetings of the chambers Durham and Middlefield Division on Wednesday, Cromwell Division and Health Care Steering Committee on Thursday, and Legislative and Affordable Housing Committees on Friday. The division meetings will once again feature COVID related reports from our municipal leadership, along with reports from public health officials in each town. MEWS+, the chambers effort to develop an innovation ecosystem, will host a session on Thursday afternoon which will focus on The Six Core Approaches for Marketing Your Small Business in this New COVID-19 World. In this virtual workshop, Rebecca Mead of INQ Creative will share six core approaches to marketing your business in this modern era, and will discuss the challenges of navigating the COVID-19 new normal. Please connect with the chambers Shout It Out! campaign, and let us know what you are up to. This campaign has seen hundreds of posts about economic and community support activity that is taking place in our region, and has close to 1300 members as of the end of last week. On the restaurant front, the chamber website has a section dedicated to promoting Middlesex County restaurants that are open for pickup orders. This information is also available through our social media platforms. It is also a good time to support the local business community through the purchase of gift cards. All businesses, large and small, are part of the fabric of this community. Finally, it is with a heavy heart, and a deep sense of sadness, that I close this weeks chamber column by acknowledging the recent passing of Louis Petruzzello, who died as a result of a tragic accident May 1. Louie was many things to many people. He was a great athlete, a fixture at the YMCA and throughout the community, a supporter of countless community based initiatives, a friend to many, and someone who truly loved the city of Middletown. Louie was a kind and gentle man, and someone who exuded strength, humility, and grace throughout his life. Most importantly, however, Louie was a devoted husband and father, and a true family man. His wife Deb, and his son Tony, are adored throughout this community and beyond. Tony lifts the spirits of everyone he meets, and I want him to know that we will all be there to support him, his mother, and all of Lous family and friends at this difficult time. Deb and Tony are in our thoughts and prayers. It goes without saying that this entire community is mourning Louies death right along with them. I hope they can take comfort in the fact that he led a life well lived, and I know that they are immensely proud. Louis Petruzzello will be missed by many. Larry McHugh is president of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce in Middletown. STEM Major League Hacking, GitHub Seek 100 Coding Interns While many students have lost their internships for the summer over COVID-19 closures, a group of companies has come together to put coding students to work. Major League Hacking (MLH) and GitHub have announced a remote internship program to support young developers by getting them involved with coding projects. MLH operates student hackathons; GitHub, a division of Microsoft, provides version control for software development. Program organizers are working with GitHub sponsors Facebook, the Royal Bank of Canada and DEV and hope to enlist other companies to increase the number of internships that can be made available. Current plans for the "MLH Fellowship" envision putting 100 students to work on open source projects under the mentorship of experienced engineers in an inaugural 12-week program for summer 2020. Interns will be teamed up into virtual "pods" of eight to 10 students and paired with a mentor while learning the tools and skills required to participate in a global workforce. Students will receive a stipend for their participation through GitHub sponsors, allowing the organizers to serve 32 regions at launch. The open source projects include work on React, Homebrew, Jest and DEV. Applications are open until May 22, 2020, and applicants will hear back by May 24. Orientation will take place between June 1 and 7; work runs from June 8 to Aug. 23 and graduation takes place Aug. 24. Interns will participate in a "hack week" beginning July 13. "Enabling students to spend their summer contributing to the software that runs the world is a unique opportunity for them," said MLH CEO Mike Swift, in an article about the program. "They'll work on meaningful projects with their peers under the guidance of some of the world's most talented engineers. The remote nature of this program will democratize access to internships for countless students worldwide." An FAQ is available on the MLH website as is the application. Lee Na-young, third from left, head of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, speaks during a press conference in Mapo, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap By Bahk Eun-ji Leaders of a civic group which supports women who were coerced into wartime sexual slavery by Japan denied allegations that they all misappropriated donated funds and exploited the victims. But they apologized for causing the controversy about the transparency of donations, and causing pain for Lee Yong-soo, a 92-year-old victim of Japanese military sexual slavery during Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. "We humbly accept the sorrow, anxiety, and anger of Lee, who has been like a family member for the past 30 years. We sincerely apologize for causing her pain by making inappropriate remarks," said Lee Na-young, head of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Korean Council), during the press conference. On Thursday, Lee Yong-soo said that she will no longer participate in the weekly rallies which have become a symbol of the victims' fight for justice against Japan's wartime atrocities. The Korean Council has organized the rallies since 1992 in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, and "supported" the comfort women for the past 28 years. Lee has been at the center of the rallies since then. A 37-year-old daily wager committed suicide in Punjab's Ludhiana as the authorities allegedly denied him free ration, a charge refuted by police. Ajit Kumar, a migrant worker, hanged himself at his residence in Ludhiana's Rajiv Gandhi Colony on Saturday, said police. While Kumar's wife alleged that he took the extreme step after the authorities denied free ration, police refuted the charge and said the man was depressed as he was rendered unemployed due the coronavirus lockdown. Ration is being distributed through police stations to migrant labourers. "My husband took this extreme step because the administration did not give him free ration, Kumar's wife claimed. There was no ration at home and the family was starving, she said, adding that her husband was rendered unemployed due to the lockdown. His neighbours too said that the deceased has not been getting any ration for the past two weeks due to which he was depressed. They claimed that Kumar was insulted when he went to the police station to seek help on Saturday. However, Focal Point Station House Officer Mohd Jamal termed the allegations baseless and said they never denied him free ration. The deceased was depressed due to unemployment, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Married At First Sight star Stacey Hampton has been involved in a feud with her ex Michael Goonan and his new girlfriend, KC Osborne. But the 26-year-old appeared tired of it all on Monday, as she sent a cryptic message about 'energy drainers' and 'enemies'. Sharing lyrics from the Drake song Energy, Stacey appeared bored of drama in general. All about the energy: Married At First Sight star Stacey Hampton, 26, (pictured) has shared a cryptic message about people 'draining her energy' on Instagram on Monday In the post, Stacey shared a pensive-looking selfie displaying her side profile, with her blonde hair tucked behind her ear. She wore a low-cut, pale blue dress in the photograph. It is not known if she was referring to Michael and KC, after their feud over a Nerf gun, which appeared to get settled last week. Settled? It is not known if Stacey was referring to Michael and KC, after their feud over her son's Nerf gun, which appeared to get settled last week. Stacey was furious after the pair uploaded a TikTok of them using one of her son's toys as a prop during one of their videos. It comes after a positive note last week, which saw Stacey celebrate Mother's Day alongside her two young sons: Kosta, four, and Kruz, two. The law graduate was gifted a pink Louis Vuitton Logomania scarf worth $680 for the special day as a surprise from Kruz. Expensive taste! Stacey was gifted a pink Louis Vuitton scarf worth $680 for Mother's Day by her two-year-old son, Kruz 'I got a beautiful scarf for Mother's Day but no smiles here. Thanks Kruz,' she wrote in the caption, as her son pulled a face. In the picture, Kruz was wearing a Fendi T-shirt worth $300. It can be assumed the scarf was bought by either Stacey's family, who she is close to, or Kruz's father, Rebels bikie boss Shane Michael Smith. Lucky lady! 'I got a beautiful scarf for Mother's Day,' Stacey wrote on Instagram Single parent! Stacey has two sons, Kosta, four, and two-year-old Kruz Shane, who split from Stacey in 2017, lives close to his ex-partner and children. In a recent YouTube video, she explained that while the exes were on good terms, they 'just weren't right for each other'. 'We're co-parenting at the moment, he's good, a good dad, he loves his boys. Very supportive.' 'Nothing happened to him, we just didn't work, I was very young when I met him.' The coronavirus pandemic is expected to hit the revenue of fashion retailer Benetton India by up to 45 per cent in 2020, and its brand journey in the country has gone back by a year due to the health crisis, a top company official said. The company, which has restarted opening its stores in India, expects online sales to gain traction by around 10-15 per cent in the post-COVID-19 era, but believes that offline sales will remain dominant. "From the point of impact, yes it is a big one and from our business perspective we feel that we are a year behind now in our brand journey," Benetton India Managing Director and CEO Sundeep Chugh told PTI. Elaborating further, he said,"What we are supposed to deliver in this year's budget (January-December), if everything goes well and there is no COVID-19 phase II, we anticipate that it can only be delivered next year. To sum it up, almost a year behind in our brand journey in India." In terms of revenue impact, he said various top consultants have projected 35-45 per cent decline in revenue and Benetton India also "expects a similar 35-45 per cent impact". Commenting on the company's store reopening, he said out of the 350 stores that Benetton India has across the country, till last week it has opened about 15 stores which are located in Goa, North East, Bengaluru and at a couple of other places where the company has received permission from local authorities. When asked if the lockdown could have an impact on employment and lead to retrenchments in the company, Chugh replied in the negative. "Our first priority was protecting and investing in our people. Our brand is all about team, which is behind the brand...We realise that we are in a very difficult situation...(but) we keep investing in our people. Whatever brand we are today, we are all because of our team," he said. He further said,"Even if we lost two months of turnover, the team when they are back, with an incremental contribution everyday over the next 12-15 months, when they look back this (difficulties) should be a thing of the past..." During the period of lockdown, Chugh said Benetton India has been focussing on "upskilling them across the value chain" and charting training road map covering all key functions, while also getting people acquainted with new technology such as using digital technology for meetings with regional offices. Stating that COVID-19 is also setting a new phenomena wherein people are going to adopt newer ways of communication and presentation, he said "this will also help people settle when the 'new normal' is back." When asked about the changes expected in consumer behaviour and how the company is looking towards the "new normal", Chugh said definitely there is a new buying pattern emerging after COVID-19. "But I feel that change in behaviour will not be very significant," he said adding in China which is now settling down, there is a 10-15 per cent better throughput in online as compared to offline, similar to what Hong Kong witnessed during SARS. "So the better traction or throughput of online will continue for 4-6 months and certain people would also try to adapt to that habit...it would see an initial advantage for the next four to six months. There would be a balance tilting towards online," he said. Yet, Chugh said, in a country which is so big, diverse and dynamic, offline is going to remain dominant. "Yes online would emerge but eventually over a period of time because of the multi-channel environment which prevails across the country , all the channels will have to be given due respect and all the channels will fare very good. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A southeast Georgia sheriff's deputy shot and killed a man who threw rocks at him during a chase early Saturday morning, state officials have announced. Yassin Mohamed, 47, was fatally shot by an Evans County deputy during the incident near Claxton, just before 1am on Saturday. Police had been summoned to the intersection of GA-169 and Archie Mitchell Road to calls of a man standing in the middle of the roadway. An Evans County sheriff's deputy arrived to find Mohamed there, who had reportedly shared 'several' unspecified encounters with law enforcement in the 12 hours prior, The Georgia Bureau of Investigations said. Yassin Mohamed, 47, was fatally shot by an Evans County deputy during the incident near Claxton, just before 1am on Saturday Police had been summoned to the intersection of GA-169 and Archie Mitchell Road (above) to calls of a man standing in the middle of the roadway When the deputy tried to speak to Mohamed, he attempted to flee and an on-foot chase ensued. During the pursuit, Mohamed picked up several rocks and began throwing them at the deputy, striking him once. Mohamed then allegedly ran towards the deputy with a larger rock in his hand, at which point, the deputy discharged his firearm, striking the suspect. Mohamed died at the scene before he could be taken to a hospital. His body was taken to the GBI Crime Lab in Pooler for autopsy. The deputy involved in the incident, who has not been named, was not seriously injured. Investigators have not yet released any further information about the victim. Tributes to Mohamed on social media suggest he was an African immigrant and had been working at a poultry plant before his death. One co-worker described him as skinny, with a lazy-eye and said Mohamed spoke limited English. 'I think he was having a mental breakdown and they should have just tased him,' Tyoka Hoskins wrote on Facebook. 'He worked at the poultry was a very nice guy.' An Evans County sheriff's deputy arrived to find Mohamed there, who reportedly had several encounters with law enforcement in the 12 hours prior, The Georgia Bureau of Investigations said (file photo) The investigation will be turned over to the district attorney for review once the GBI has completed its own probe. The prosecutor will then decide whether to file charges. Mohameds death became the 38th officer-involved shooting that GBI has been asked to investigate so far this year. The Evans County Sheriff's Office has not yet responded to a DailyMail.com request for comment. 'When a person is capable of infecting 50 others, will you think about the privacy of the person or about protecting the lives of people?' IMAGE: Jammu-Kashmir police personnel display the Aarogya Setu aap on their mobile phones. Photograph: ANI Photo "We believe a law (to manage Aarogya Setu) is not necessary. Our priority is to deal with the epidemic," Ajay Prakash Sawhney, secretary, ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY), tells Bibhu Ranjan Mishra. How useful has the Aarogya Setu app been in dealing with the epidemic? We have used the lockdown to increase our understanding of the virus and improve preparedness. As the epidemic spreads, you need as many advanced alerts as you can get on how it is casting its net -- both at the individual and area levels. At the individual level, Bluetooth contact tracing is helpful. Through this, one knows whether one is at a low risk of infection or not. Also, if you have visited someone a few days ago and the person turns out to be infected, you know the risk. Most contract tracing apps globally do not use GPS data which, they say, infringe on a person's privacy. Why is it so critical for Aarogya Setu? If you are talking about a country like Singapore, it's like (the size of) a city. Here (in India), you are dealing with a nation that is as vast as a continent. It is more like the size of Europe, but unlike the countries in that continent, you don't have as many smartphones. So you have to rely on GPS. Also, there's nothing exceptional about GPS because it is used in almost everything one does today. When a person is capable of infecting 50 others, will you think about the privacy of the person or about protecting the lives of the people? So, we have to strike a balance. Using GPS is a strength because it helps to know the spread by tracing the contacts at the pin code level. Is there any plan to give Aarogya Setu legal backing? The National Disaster Management Authority laws are in place and we have set up empowered groups under this. I am chairing one of them. We will bring out some guidelines. We have already brought out an exceptionally good privacy policy, which is there in the app itself as well as on the MyGov and Surakshya portals. Some of the best-known legal experts who work on data privacy have helped us to draft the guidelines. We are planning to bring out some guidelines through MeitY to define what can be done with the data. We believe a law (to manage Aarogya Setu) is not necessary. Our priority is to deal with the epidemic. What data do you store in the server at the backend? When you register with the app, you give your name, gender, age, travel history, past symptoms, etc. With the user's concurrence, the data is kept on our server securely. However, any Bluetooth contact data or GPS data captured over this entire period is kept only in the respective user's phone in an encrypted and secure manner. Then, the data from only those phones where the user tests positive is pulled to the server and de-encrypted because this gives us a fair idea of the persons she or he has come into contact with. There are allegations that the extent of app permission required by Aarogya Setu is very high and this has triggered suspicion. That is not correct. It asks for little permission. The extent of permission you give to platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, TrueCaller, InstaGram, Facebook, Google or Google Maps or many other similar social apps is far higher. Why are you not making the source code of the app public as demanded by some including French cybersecurity researcher Elliot Alderson? We have a team comprising people of the private sector, government bodies like the National Informatics Centre, the Defence Research and Development Organisation, and top academic institutions working on the app. We are bringing in a lot of improvement to the app in terms of content and feature. Each one of these has to be done with care and security testing. If I open my source code, and, say, some 50,000 people start criticising it, raising issues every day, we have to spend too much time in reacting to those. We might do that for all in due course, but now we are planning to open it up to some of the top cybersecurity experts in the country. The app has around 96 million users now. What's the number you are looking at to get the best results? In the next couple of days, we can easily reach 100 million users, which is a good number. However, we would feel far more confident if we reach 150 million though we would like to reach 200 million. But that would take time. Only when people feel confident and know it is giving good results will they be motivated to use this app. So far, the app is available on the Android and iOS phones while we are soon looking at launching it on Jio smart feature phones, which will enhance the installed base. With so much effort going into the app, is there any possibility to expand the scope of Aarogya Setu to position it as a broader healthcare platform? As of now, there is no plan to make it permanent. But if the app proves its effectiveness during the pandemic and after that, we can either close it down or do something different. We can use some of what we have done here to make it a larger healthcare system. One thing is clear and that is we will not retain the data of this (COVID-19) phase, which has been stated in our privacy policy. Any data more than 30 days old is automatically erased. Yahoo UK News Video Rishi Sunak brought an abrupt end to an interview after he was asked if he fully supported Boris Johnson. (Watch the interview above). The Chancellor was giving an interview to Sky News over the future of the prime minister, who has been accused by his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings of lying to Parliament over allegations of lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street. Johnson rejected the claim in an interview on Tuesday afternoon, insisting he did not know in advance about the event in May 2020, adding that "no one told him" it was against the rules. Asked whether he backed his boss, Sunak replied: Of course I do. The prime minister set out his understanding of this matter in parliament last week and Id refer you to his words. Sue Gray is conducting an inquiry into this matter and I fully support the prime ministers request for patience while that inquiry concludes. Sunak then refused to comment on whether Johnson should quit following Cummings bombshell allegations. Im not going to get into hypotheticals. The Ministerial Code is clear on these matters. Pressed on whether he supported the PM unequivocally, Sunak promptly stood up, took off his microphone abruptly and walked off while his adviser stood in front of the journalist. Sunak is the bookies favourite to replace Johnson and has tried to distance himself from the scandal in recent days. He told Yahoo News UK last week that he had not attended the garden party. And he was noticeably absent from the House of Commons last Wednesday during the prime minister's apology for the anger sparked by the revelations. The Ministerial Code states that ministers who lie to Parliament and do not correct the record should resign. If Johnson is found to have lied, his position would become untenable. The Delhi government on Monday informed the high court that a showcause notice has been issued to chairman of the states minorities commission for his alleged remarks on social media. Delhi governments counsel Anupam Srivastava informed the court that Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on April 30, directing him to initiate action against Zafar-ul-Islam Khan for his Facebook post. The letter by Baijal said that the content of the social media post prima facie appears to be disturbing communal harmony in the city. The matter is particularly serious considering that one of the functions of the DMC (Delhi Minorities Commission) is to make recommendations for ensuring, maintaining and promoting communal harmony in Delhi, the letter read. It also asked the chief minister to direct the administrative department to initiate action against Islam. The counsel also told the court that a showcause notice has already been issued to Islam on May 8 based on the Lieutenant Governors letter. The court was hearing a plea by an advocate named Alok Alakh Shrivastava who had sought directions to the Delhi government to remove Islam from the chairmans post. Following submissions, the court said that since the Delhi government is taking action, there is no need to pass any order. A bench of justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal disposed of the plea directing the government to expeditiously decide the matter because Islam is retiring on July 30. In his plea, Shrivastava had said that the social media post made by Islam was provocative, deliberate and seditious, intended to cause disharmony and create a rift in the society. By making such hateful statement, the Respondent No 4 (Islam) who is holding such a responsible post, has endangered the unity and integrity of the country, tried to tarnish the secular image of India and spread hatred among two communities, the plea had said. A detailed order in the matter would be later uploaded on the high courts website. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Former Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan is participating in the closed-format session of the Committee investigating the circumstances of the 2016 April Four-Day War. The Committee earlier sent an invitation to the former PM to attend the session. Before the session Karen Karapetyan told reporters that he will answer to their questions after the session. Recently the session of the Committee was also attended by 3rd President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, then by Police Chief of Artsakh Levon Mnatsakanyan who was serving as Defense Army Commander during the April War. Karen Karapetyan was appointed Prime Minister of Armenia in September 2016 and remained in office until 2018. Reporting by Anna Grigoryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan A commuter advocate who was nominated to NJ Transits board of directors has been denied a seat just as a Senate committee was poised to vote on it. Gov. Phil Murphy inexplicably pulled his nominations late Friday of Janna Chernetz, Tri-State Transportation Campaign deputy director and Michael Beson, a Monmouth County businessman who was his first pick for the transit board in March 2019. Murphy gave no reason for the withdrawals in a terse, one sentence letter sent Friday afternoon to Senate President Steve Sweeney. Both Beson and Chernetz had been interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was poised to act on their nominations Monday. The state Senate could have voted as early as Thursday if that happened. State Senate Majority leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen publicly expressed her disappointment with the action and a process that she said has deprived commuters of board members to represent them. There is no reason why her (Chernetz) nomination shouldnt move ahead today, Weinberg said in an interview with NJ Advance Media Monday. She knows more than some of the (NJ Transit) senior management. She has been immersed in these issues for a long time. Chernetz has been with Tri-State since 2011 as New Jersey Policy director, working on issues about renewing the state transportation trust fund, NJ Transit funding and over-reliance of using funds for major projects to pay operating expenses, how to reform local bus service and bike and pedestrian safety and other issues. The problem was with Besons nomination, because he wasnt a regular bus rider, Weinberg said. In April 2019, a governors spokesman identified Beson as a North Jersey Coast Line rail rider to NJ Advance Media. Then nominee and current board member James D. Adams was identified as a bus and train rider for almost three years on the 21, 71 and 73 bus routes to Newark Penn and on the NEC to Trenton, a governors spokesman said in April 2019. Adams was confirmed this year. Adams could be construed as being the bus rider. Weinberg said. They should have checked it out much earlier. Officials from the governors office told Weinberg the two nominations have to move together but did not give a reason for that, she said. Murphy said he had no insights into the specifics of why the nominations were pulled, during his Monday press briefing. This stuff happens all the time. We put people up, we pull back. There is no juicy back story, Murphy said. We want a full boardwe want it properly represented whether its advocates, bus or train riders. Id hope we get some folks nominated sooner rather than later. Advocates from other commuter groups complained last year that they were shut out of the process after applying to join the board. A larger 13-member board, that required members who ride NJ Transit, came from reform legislation signed by Murphy in Dec. 2018, that was the result of work done by a Joint Legislative Oversight Committee. The committee investigated the agency after the Sept. 29, 2016 crash of a commuter train into Hoboken Terminal that killed a woman walking in the concourse and injured 100 others. Weinberg was a member of that committee. In addition to having rider representatives on the board, the committee also wanted members who would ask more pointed questions, especially during public meetings, that would require answers and provide more transparency. The Governor made a commitment to straighten the agency out if kills him. Theyve dragged their feet, Weinberg said. This board was created by the legislature and done so wed have an appropriate, experienced, accountable, transparent group running NJ Transit. At the end of the judiciary committees meeting, Weinberg expressed her frustration. I want to express my disappointment in the governors office. Weve been waiting too many months to get these nominees through to run NJ Transit, she said. This puts a big roadblock in moving that board forward. Committee chairman and Senator Nicolas Scutari, D-Union, said he was impressed after video interviews with Chernetz and Beson. I felt they were very good nominations. I felt both were dedicated to it. Ms. Chernetz has made a career of transportation, he told the committee. The next move is up to the governor and Weinberg said she would like to see Chernetz re-nominated and a woman nominated to represent bus riders. But that isnt the only roadblock to a fully functioning board. Board member and former state senator Robert Gordon is in legislative limbo, unable to vote until a 1911 state law is amended. That law bars Board of Public Utilities members from serving on other state boards. A bill that would exempt unpaid BPU commissioners such as Gordon from that requirement is scheduled for a state senate vote on Thursday. Gordon has been participating in NJ Transit board meetings and discussions but is unable to vote until that change is made. Its taken six months if not longer to get two of the most talented and experienced members on to the board, Weinberg said. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. A third of 500 random coronavirus tests in Afghanistans capital came back positive, health officials have said, raising fears of widespread undetected infections. The results of the random tests in the Afghan capital of Kabul are concerning, Public Health Ministry spokesman Wahid Mayar said. Afghanistan has performed only limited testing so far close to 12,000, with more than 2,700 confirmed infections in a nation of 36.6 million. As more testing becomes available, the countrys confirmed infection numbers will likely rise sharply, Mr Mayar said, who urged residents to stay at home. Kabul and most other cities are in lockdown, but compliance has not been widespread. The death toll officially at 85 could also be much higher. More than 250,000 Afghans returned home from Iran since the beginning of the year, fanning out across their country without being tested or quarantined. Anecdotal reports have emerged of dozens of returnees dying of Covid-19. Testing in Afghanistan has been sporadic and some of those infected have been hiding their symptoms, in part because of local stigma. The Government has faced criticism for responding too slowly to the crisis. Only recently, the Government started testing in western Herat province, where the hundreds of thousands of people have returned from Iran. This is the terrifying moment revelers ran for their lives after a gunman opened fire shooting five during a 600-strong party in a Texas park. Two people were critically wounded and three injured in the shooting at Village Creek Park in Fort Worth at 6.30pm on Sunday. Officer Buddy Calzada revealed around 600 people had gathered to set off fireworks when around 30 gunshots were heard. Adrian Gallardo, who lived across the street, told the Star-Telegram he had heard shots and saw 'people running everywhere'. Video footage posted to Twitter showed youngsters running across a road away from Village Creek Park in Fort Worth, Texas as 6.30pm on Sunday Video footage posted to Twitter showed youngsters running across a road away from the park. Others hid behind cars as gunshots mixed with screams pierced the air. At the Fort Worth Police Department the gang unit is taking the lead on the investigation. One man who has lived on Edgewood near the park for 24 years, Raymond Brown, said the people at the party looked between 18 and 20 years old. 'This is one of the few parks in Fort Worth where African-Americans feel they can go and enjoy themselves,' Brown said. Police were called to the scene at 6.59pm but there have so far been no arrests. Calzada said: 'Our job as the police is to investigate exactly what all took place here from beginning to end.' Texas is among the few states that appear to have stopped the spread. Its secondary infection rate is 0.77 A second shooting was reported at a convenience store less than a mile away from the park at 7pm. An employee at the store was shot in the hand, according to a police incident report, and officers are investigating whether the two incidents are linked. On March 19, state Governor Greg Abbott ordered people not to participate in social gatherings of more than ten people. State parks reopened on April 20 but people have been told to wear face coverings and masks and adhere to social distancing. People are also not allowed to visit in groups of five or more. There have been 35,390 confirmed coronavirus cases and 973 deaths in Texas. Easing of social distancing guidelines - whether by government edict or individual decision - has led to new coronavirus flare-ups in the United States and abroad, even as pressure builds to loosen restrictions that have kept millions isolated and decimated economies. Officials in Pasadena, California, warned Saturday against Mother's Day gatherings after a cluster of new covid-19 cases was identified there among a large group of extended family and friends attending a recent birthday party, despite a stay-at-home order in effect. Through contact tracing, investigators discovered more than five confirmed cases and "many more ill individuals" linked to the party, the local public health department said. The controversy over when, and how much, to open up has taken on sharp political overtones, with protests and occasional violence against those trying to keep the rules in place. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Robert Redfield said in a statement that a report by the Associated Press alleging the White House had held back restrictive recommendations from experts on how to safely reopen hinged on a premature "draft" that "had not been vetted through the interagency process." Trump administration officials previously said that the recommendations were overly specific and did not take into account regional differences in the threat level. In a series of Saturday tweets, President Donald Trump accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, of opening a public polling place to favor Democrats in a special congressional election to be conducted largely by mail-in ballots next week, while Newsom has refused to open "restaurants, beaches and stores." Voters were encouraged to vote by mail because of the novel coronavirus, with a few in-person polling places. Democrats in the district had raised concerns that a city with a large African-American population didn't have an in-person voting place, leading the new voting center to be added. The race, in the 25th District north of Los Angeles, is between Democratic state Assemblywoman Christy Smith and Republican businessman and ex-Navy pilot Mike Garcia, who are seeking to fill a vacant seat. Whoever wins on Tuesday will hold the California seat through the end of the year. Regardless of the outcome, the two will face each other again in November for a full two-year term. Because of the coronavirus, voters were encouraged to mail-in ballots, with every voter receiving a pre-stamped ballot to fill out and return. But a limited number of in-person polling places were long planned to be open, and one was added recently in Lancaster. Tesla on Saturday filed a lawsuit against the California county that has prohibited the electric car company from producing vehicles during the outbreak. The company alleged in its suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, that Alameda County had violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and sought an injunction that would allow the company to operate. Its Fremont manufacturing plant is located in that county. The suit followed chief executive Elon Musk threatening in a series of tweets earlier Saturday that the company would sue and move Tesla's headquarters and future programs to Texas and Nevada. He appeared to leave open the possibility of maintaining some operations in Fremont depending "on how Tesla is treated in the future." South Korean officials, who recently began to loosen social distancing requirements, ordered more than 2,100 nightclubs, discos and bars in Seoul to close Saturday after the country recorded dozens of new cases linked to partygoers in the city last weekend. In Germany, where the government has outlined a cautious but steady opening, hundreds of workers in at least three meat-processing plants have tested positive for the coronavirus, medical and local officials said. Word of the new infections came as Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking in her weekly video message to the nation, said that "we are excited to take the first steps toward normal, everyday life." As governments try to balance health and economic priorities, medical experts have said that new flare-ups are inevitable, but that widespread testing and contact tracing are key to preventing breakouts. Both South Korea and Germany have been among the countries adopting the strictest shutdown measures and providing the most testing and contact tracing. Trump, who has pressed to reopen schools and businesses sooner rather than later, said Friday that "testing isn't necessary." On Saturday, two senior members of the administration's coronavirus task force said they would self-quarantine after being exposed at the White House. Redfield and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn will isolate for two weeks, the CDC and FDA said, after coming into contact with White House staffers who have tested positive for the virus. Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary, Katie Miller, and one of President Trump's personal valets tested positive last week, although neither they, nor Redfield or Hahn, have been reported ill. France and Spain, among the hardest-hit countries, but with declining death rates, have scheduled partial reopenings this week. Italy recorded a decline in new infections, but remains the country with the third-highest confirmed death toll, at more than 30,000, behind Britain, with nearly 32,000, and the United States, the highest at more than 78,000. In a telephone call with his former aides Friday night, former president Barack Obama characterized the administration's response to the pandemic as "absolute chaotic disaster," according to a recording of the call obtained by Yahoo News and confirmed to The Washington Post by Obama spokesperson Katie Hill. Obama, who has said he will campaign for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, said that "what we're fighting against" in the upcoming election "is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided and seeing others as an enemy - that has become a stronger impulse in American life." The response "would have been bad even with the best of governments," Obama said. "It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mind-set - of 'what's in it for me' and 'to heck with everybody else' - when that mind-set is operationalized in our government." Amid the worst U.S. unemployment figures since the Great Depression and ongoing partisan finger-pointing, a stalemate continued between the White House and congressional Democrats on a new relief package. Separately, Trump announced $3 billion worth of dairy, meat and produce will be purchased from American farmers, as part of a larger aid package intended to help the farming industry. In a tweet, Trump said that products from farmers, ranchers and specialty crop growers will be redistributed, in a program he called "FARMERS TO FAMILY FOOD BOX," to food kitchens. Last month, Trump committed $19 million to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, "to provide critical support to our farmers and ranchers, maintain the integrity of our food supply chain, and ensure every American continues to receive and have access to the food they need," according to a statement on the USDA's website. The remaining $16 million will go to direct payments to farmers and ranchers. According to an April report from the Food & Agriculture Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri, the pandemic will have "broad implications across the agriculture sector." The report projected a net farm income decline of approximately $20 billion. On the medical front, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said that three New York children have died of a mysterious inflammatory syndrome believed to be related to the virus. The state's health department is investigating 73 reported cases among New York children of the syndrome, which has symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease or toxic shock syndrome, Cuomo said during a news conference. The children tested positive for the coronavirus or had antibodies triggered by the virus, but they had not been hospitalized for respiratory symptoms, he said. "We were laboring under the impression that young people were not affected by covid-19," Cuomo said. "We're not so sure that is the fact anymore." He said the CDC has asked New York to develop national criteria for other states and hospitals. The FDA announced that it has issued an emergency authorization for a new coronavirus screening, called an antigen test, that is conducted by a nasal swab and can quickly detect proteins found on or within the virus. The antigen test, manufactured by Quidel Corp., can produce diagnostic results within minutes. The FDA said in a news release that the test is "important in the overall response" against the virus because it can be produced at a lower cost than other tests and can "potentially scale to test millions of Americans per day" once other manufacturers enter the market. The federal government has already authorized two other coronavirus tests. The first, called a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, detects genetic material from the virus. The second is a serological, or blood, screening, which is not meant to diagnose an active case but to detect antibodies that signal a person was previously infected and has developed an immune response to the virus. The serological test is cheaper and faster than the PCR test, but is also less reliable, with positive results being "highly accurate," but negative results not necessarily ruling out the presence of the virus. To backstop a potential false negative, the FDA said that negative tests should be confirmed with a PCR test. In terms of drugs to affect the course of the disease itself, a study published Saturday in the British medical journal Lancet, said that a triple combination of antiviral drugs has shown initial promise in the treatment of patients with mild to moderate cases. Scientists conducting a small trial based in Hong Kong found that patients who were given a cocktail of three drugs - the HIV drug lopinavir-ritonavir; ribavirin, a treatment for hepatitis C; and interferon beta, which is used to treat multiple sclerosis, tested negative after seven days, compared to 12 days for a control group receiving only the HIV drug. Researchers not involved with the trial said that the early results of the study, which involved 127 patients in six hospitals in Hong Kong, were promising but that larger studies were needed. - - - The Washington Post's Tony Romm, Laurie McGinley, Candace Buckner, Samantha Pell and Karla Adam in London contributed to this report. Here are the latest developments from Asia related to the novel coronavirus pandemic: - Maldives reports first death - The Maldives reported its first coronavirus fatality Thursday with the death of an 83-year-old woman, as the Indian Ocean holiday hotspot extended a nationwide lockdown. Health minister Abdulla Ameen said the woman died on Wednesday in hospital. She had been under home quarantine since coming into contact with another Maldivian patient. There have now been 280 confirmed cases since the virus was first detected on March 7. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Thursday extended the country's two-week lockdown by two weeks after the number of infections rose sharply in the densely populated capital, Male. The shutting of the lucrative tourism industry in the nation of 340,000 people has taken a heavy toll on the economy. - Chinese workers barred from entering Indonesia - About 500 Chinese workers have been blocked from entering Indonesia over fears they could be carrying the coronavirus even though they had permits to enter the country. They were due to work at a nickel smelter in Marosi, southeast Sulawesi, but the governor rejected their arrival. Authorities also refused permission to dock to a Chinese vessel carrying 1,500 cement pipes destined for the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Aceh. The 18 crew members from China and Vietnam have been stranded onboard for a month and are reportedly running out of food and clean water. - Social distancing on wheels in India - An Indian school drop-out has built a motorbike with a one-metre gap between the rider and the passenger to drive home the importance of social distancing. Partha Saha, 39, bought an old bike from a scrap dealer, removed the engine and cut the machine in two, before modifying the frame to create the extra length "Now I can ride with my eight-year-old daughter while maintaining a safe distance," he told AFP from Agartala in the northeastern state of Tripura. Saha's new bike runs on battery power and has a top speed of 40 kilometres per hour (25 mph). - Australia's capital 'virus-free' - Health officials declared Australia's capital free of the virus while the country's Northern Territory announced the most comprehensive easing of restrictions in the nation. Canberra and its surrounding areas were said to be rid of the disease after two patients recovered overnight. The city, home to about 427,000 people, had recorded 106 cases and three deaths from COVID-19 before eliminating all known active infections by Thursday. Restaurants, bars, cafes, libraries, gyms and beauty salons in the Northern Territory, meanwhile, will be allowed to reopen from Saturday, though physical distancing rules will still apply. The huge rural territory closed its borders to interstate and overseas travellers on March 23, and has remained largely free of the virus with just 28 cases and no deaths recorded. - ANZ profits dive - Australia's ANZ Bank announced a 50-percent dive in after-tax profits as the lender set aside Aus$1 billion ($655 million) to cover expected losses resulting from the coronavirus fallout. It also deferred a decision on its interim dividend amid ongoing uncertainty about the economic outlook. burs-axn/fox Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 8, ahead of the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. According to the communique issued by the Kremlin, the two leaders discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and agreed on regular interaction and cooperation between the relevant Israeli and Russian agencies, including in research and development of a vaccine. They also discussed various aspects of recent developments in Syria. The exchanges between Netanyahu and Putin on the occasion of WWII commemoration ceremonies have become routine in recent years. In 2018, Netanyahu was invited to watch the military parade in Moscow on that occasion, with his photo next to Putin making headlines in both countries. In January this year, the Russian president was invited to Israel for the ceremony commemorating 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz despite protests by Polish President Andrzej Duda over Israel preferring the Russian narrative on WWII events. The Kremlin's May 8 communique came back to that issue, stating, "The two leaders emphasized the fundamental importance of preserving the truth about the events of the Second World War and counteracting attempts to revise its results and falsify history. Throughout the last decade, Netanyahu has invested a great deal of effort in his relationship with Putin. Recognizing the central role played by Russia in the region, and especially in Syria, Netanyahu has stepped up phone calls and visits to Moscow in latest years. These efforts were not always successful, but they did enable Israels air force to carry out activities in the Lebanese and Syrian airspaces. Putin, for his part, offered Netanyahu a boost for his election campaign at the end of January by liberating Israeli national Naama Issachar, who was convicted in Moscow of drug offenses. But this year's exchange between the two leaders carries another significance. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected in Israel May 13 to discuss with the new government's annexation plans as well as the Iranian threat and Iranian entrenchment in Syria. And though President Donald Trump is certainly Netanyahus most important diplomatic and strategic ally, the Israeli prime minister is careful to also keep Putin in the loop. On May 5, The Syrian state press accused Israel of yet another attack on Iranian-affiliated targets. With the Americans diminishing their presence in the region (in Syria, in the Sinai Peninsula and in Saudi Arabia), Netanyahu knows only too well that he also needs the goodwill of his Eastern ally. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Officials in Bangladesh have reportedly said on May 10 that carcass of a freshwater dolphin have been found in a river sanctuary. They added that the rare sight caused fears as the fishermen are taking advantage of the coronavirus lockdown to poach the endangered species. Fishery department official Abdullah al Mamun reportedly told media that locals in the southeastern town of Raojan discovered the 62-inch (157-centimetre) long Ganges river dolphin on the banks of the Halda River. READ: Video Of Dolphins In Meerut Breaks Internet Amid COVID-19 Lockdown | Watch Ganges dolphins under IUCN's Red List He added that the creature had suffered a sharp and deep injury from its neck to tail and layers of its body fat were missing. Manzoorul Kibria, coordinator of the Halda River Research Laboratory (HRRL) reportedly said that this dolphin is the second to be found dead in the same sanctuary since Bangladesh has imposed lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. According to the reports, Bangladesh restricts the killing of Ganges dolphins which are categorised as endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "Red List" of threatened species. A local official on the condition of the anonymity reportedly said that the locals have started trawling the river as police who usually guard the region were busy enforcing the lockdown in Raojan. Local forestry department head Yasin Nawaz added that they are trying to make a living by catching fish illegally. READ: Dolphins 'glowing' Blue From High Amount Of Bioluminescence In Water; Watch Ganges river dolphin Meanwhile, WWF claims that the Ganges river dolphin was officially discovered in 1801. Ganges river dolphins once lived in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. But the species is extinct from most of its early distribution ranges. Its website read, "the Ganges river dolphin can only live in freshwater and is essentially blind. They hunt by emitting ultrasonic sounds, which bounces off of fish and other prey, enabling them to see an image in their mind. They are frequently found alone or in small groups, and generally a mother and calf travel together. Calves are chocolate brown at birth and then have grey-brown smooth, hairless skin as adults. Females are larger than males and give birth once every two to three years to only one calf." READ: Video: Dolphins Swim Closer To Shores Amid COVID-19 Lockdown In Turkey READ: 'Ocean Olympics': Video Of Dolphins Performing Acrobatics Breaks Internet Matrix Partners-backed Meditrina Hospitals, run by globally acclaimed interventional cardiologist Prathap Kumar, is looking for new investors to upgrade and expand cath labs that are operated through public private partnerships. Kumar pioneered setting up cath labs through PPP (public private partnership) model. Kollam-based Meditrina Hospitals is the third largest in terms of angioplasties done annually in the country. It has cath labs in Kerala, Haryana, Jharkhand, Telangana and Maldives. These facilities have a total of 600 beds. "Global PE major Matrix Partners owns 34 per cent since the past five years. I am not averse to selling some of my personal holding to a financial investor. The funds will be used to expand the PPP model cath labs across the country," Kumar, CMD of the group, told PTI from Kollam. Kumar and his family own 64 per cent in Meditrina Hospitals set up in 2009 and 2 per cent shareholding is with celebrated Italian cardiologist Imad Sheiban who was his professor and mentor. Amid coronavirus pandemic, it expects to close FY21 with a marginal growth in turnover at Rs 170 crore, up from Rs 150 crore in FY20. With more than 1 lakh angioplasty procedures conducted annually, Meditrina is the third largest after Apollo and Fortis, Kumar said. He also claimed that his facility charges only Rs 56,000 for a surgery, which is cheaper than the rate of Rs 75,000 under the central government's Ayushman Bharat scheme. Kumar, who is a votary of PPP model, said that as against an annual demand for 1 crore cardiac surgeries, hospitals can undertake only around 7 lakh angioplasties now. Each cath lab costs around Rs 8 crore and to set up one on a standalone basis, the cost would be at least Rs 100 crore, Kumar said. According to him, the biggest saving is that he does not invest in the building and the infrastructure, except the medical equipment. Also, overall salaries are lower with a doctor getting around Rs 3 lakh a month, he added. He has a DM degree in cardiology from the Turin University Hospital, Italy. With COVID-19 pandemic realigning hospital cost structure, experts feel healthcare chains, which bet on low-cost and with potential to scale up, will attract money. "PPP models in cardiology are gaining popularity because of their lower cost. While PPP model has the potential to attract PE funds, their scalability and sustainability will be the key for investment-driver," Mahesh Singhi, founder of Mumbai-based investment bank Singhi Advisors, said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 19:24:59|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, will convene its 18th session on May 18 in Beijing, according to a statement issued after a chairpersons' meeting on Monday. Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, presided over the chairpersons' meeting of the 13th NPC Standing Committee. A key task of the session on May 18 is to make preparations for the upcoming annual session of the NPC, the statement read. As many as 326 people stuck in London due to the COVID-19 lockdown arrived at the Kempegowda International Airport here in the early hours of Monday. After their arrival by an Air India evacuation flight at 4.45 am, a team of corona warriors checked the passengers' health condition before letting them go to the designated quarantine centres. All the 326 passengers were found to be asymptomatic and put up in hotels as chosen by them, a senior Karnataka government official said. The state administration has designated certain resorts and hotels as quarantine centres, especially for those stranded in foreign countries. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had instructed the officials that those returning from foreign countries and other states should not be allowed to mingle with others without undergoing 14 days quarantine and mandatory COVID-19 swab tests. Soon after the passengers completed the initial tests, a BMTC bus took them to the designated quarantine centres. Those willing to quarantine in five-star hotels will have to bear the expenses. The health workers took extra precautionary measures while screening the patients. They were asked to download Quarantine Watch, a mobile application developed by the Karnataka government to monitor those in quarantine so that they do not flout the norms. The application switches on the geo-positioning system of the phone and makes it mandatory for the quarantined person to take a selfie every hour till night at the designated place and send it to the government. Those violating quarantine norms face punishment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia state, is still in Kuje prison in the federal capital territory (FCT). A source confirmed this... Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia state, is still in Kuje prison in the federal capital territory (FCT). A source confirmed this on Monday, saying the supreme court has not sent the warrant of release to the prison authorities. A federal high court in Abuja had sentenced Kalu, chief whip of the senate, to 12 years in prison after he was found guilty of fraud to the tune of N7.56 billion. The assets of Slok Nigeria Limited, his company, were also forfeited to the federal government. Ude Udeogu, a former director of finance and account at the Abia government house, was convicted alongside Kalu. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed the charges against them. But displeased with the judgement, Udeogu filed an appeal to challenge the conviction. His lawyers argued that Mohammed Idris, the judge who handed down the ruling, lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case because he had been elevated to the appeal court at the time he sentenced them to prison. The apex court, in a unanimous verdict on the appeal delivered by Ejembi Eko, declared that the conviction of the appellant was null and void. Eko explained that the declaration was on the ground that Idris was already a judge of the court of appeal, as at the time he delivered the judgment sentencing the appellants. He held that a justice of the court of appeal could not operate as a judge of the federal high court. The apex court, therefore, ordered the chief judge of the federal high court to reassign the case for trial. It is now being feared that Kalu may not benefit from the judgment because he was a respondent, rather than the appellant, in the case before the apex court. The court had pronounce that the case No. FHC/ABJ/CR/56/2007, as it pertains or relates to the Appellant (Udeogu) as the 2nd Defendant at the trial Court, is hereby remitted to the Chief Judge of Federal High Court for re-assignment to another judge of the Federal High Court for trial de novo. Appeal allowed. But Awa Kalu, counsel to the former governor, told TheCable that the decision of the apex court is binding on all parties in the trial. It was a jurisdictional appeal and whatever was decided affected the three parties because it was a joint trial, he said. On why his client has not been released, he said: Nobody has been released. It is better to wait and see if one person gets out and the other person doesnt. All I can say for now is that nobody has been released. In Nigeria now we are getting ahead of ourselves. Femi Akande, spokesman of the supreme court, could not be reached for comments on why the warrant of release has not been sent to the prison as he neither answered calls nor replied a text message sent to him. Error. Page cannot be displayed. Please contact your service provider for more details. (26) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Robert Blake (The Jakarta Post) Washington, DC Mon, May 11 2020 The coronavirus crisis already has had far-reaching and devastating impacts on the global economy and international business. Corporate profits have nosedived, and most experts predict it will be at least a year before the situation stabilizes sufficiently to resume normal business activity. Even then, company investments will take longer to recover, and CEOs will be looking to capitalize on only the very best opportunities. Indonesias digital economy, which was already on an upward trajectory before the crisis, is likely to play a pivotal role in Indonesias own recovery from the virus. As Southeast Asias fastest growing and largest digital economy with the potential to reach US$133 billion in value by 2025, the Indonesian digital economy will be a key driver of jobs and economic growth. In charting a path toward economic recovery, Indonesia has sought to improve its investment climate by benchmarking its tax and other policies with those of its competitors. Like many countries in the Asia Pacific, Indonesia is involved in negotiations at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to achieve international consensus on tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy, so that corporate income taxes are rebalanced toward countries where products and services are consumed. The OECD hopes to reach a consensus by the end of 2020. By harmonizing its national approach with the global consensus, Indonesia can ensure that its tax regime follows international best practices, while collecting additional tax revenues. This will strengthen Indonesias attractiveness as a destination for foreign investment across industries, given that almost all multinational companies use data, computers and internet connectivity to power their products and services. Together with improvements on ease of doing business and cutting bureaucratic red tape, a harmonized tax regime will amply serve President Joko Jokowi Widodo in achieving his vision to boost job creation and attract new foreign investment. Such reform efforts are even more urgent in the post-coronavirus climate, where countries will be locked in fierce competition for a more limited pool of foreign direct investments. Ensuring that its tax regime is aligned with international best practices will be critical to helping Indonesia attract these investment dollars. Since many of the multinational companies in this space are based in the United States, an international tax regime that adheres to international standards will also boost US-Indonesian ties. Before the COVID-19 crisis, we saw welcome momentum in our relations. President Donald Trump had been ready to welcome President Jokowi for a bilateral visit to Washington, and the CEO of the new US Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Adam Boehler, had signaled the DFCs commitment to invest up to $5 billion to support new US projects in Indonesia. Indonesias energy and infrastructure sectors appear poised to be early beneficiaries of this cooperation. Americas technology companies likewise are optimistic about long-term prospects in Indonesia. Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft are expanding their investment in Indonesia, both through infrastructure and digital skilling initiatives, a strong signal of their confidence in future market opportunities in Indonesia. A new tax targeted only toward the digital sector could undermine such investment plans and potentially risk US retaliation. Many would recall the US move to impose tariffs on French products in response to Frances discriminatory digital services tax which was targeted at US tech firms. Moving ahead of the OECD international consensus by imposing unilateral tax rules which would disproportionately impact US tech firms would likely invite similar retaliatory action. This would be counterproductive to Indonesias economic recovery efforts and would hurt Indonesian businesses and SMEs seeking to access the US market. The way forward, then, is to keep Indonesias tax reforms in line with the emerging OECD consensus so Indonesia will be able to sustain its position as the fastest growing digital economy in Asia, maintain good momentum in its relations with the US, compete successfully with its ASEAN and other competitors to attract new investment once the COVID-19 crisis subsides, and leverage that investment to create new digital economy and other jobs to sustain Indonesias recovery. ______ United States ambassador to Indonesia from 2013 to 2016, now senior director at McLarty Associates, a global consultancy to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Vandals damage historic AME church featured on hit Netflix show Outer Banks This is not a haunted house, this is the Lords house Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A historic South Carolina church where scenes from the new hit Netflix show Outer Banks were shot has suffered from a spree of vandalism as fans from the show are beginning to travel to the site. Rev. Francis McPherson is raising his voice against the ongoing destruction of the Old Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in McClellanville that he says began after the Outer Banks premiered on April 15. In the last couple weeks, theres more traffic and we have much more problems than we had in the past, McPherson told WCSC. We dont have a problem for them to stop by and look at the church. But when you start breaking the windows and breaking the doors, then its a problem for us. People have broken windows, busted doorways and written the name of one of the series characters on the front door of the historic church, he explained. The pastor added that some have trespassed inside the church to take pictures for social media. The historic structure, owned by Bethel AME Church, was built in the early 19th century and was last used for service in the late 1970s. [Built] in the 1800s, it is still standing, McPherson said. We treasure this building. Though set in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the show was shot in South Carolina from May 1, 2019, to Oct. 9, 2019, according to IMDB. In the show, a lead character named John B (played by Chase Stokes) takes another lead character named Sarah Cameron (played by Madelyn Cline) to his secret place. The secret place is the church's property. This abandoned Civil War-era church is a must-see for the avid fans of Outer Banks, suggests walktourscharleston.com in a post titled 10 Film Locations from Outer Banks You Need to Visit. McPherson wants people to know that the church is "not a haunted house." "[T]his is the Lords house," he said. They have no respect at all for the Lords house nor this holy ground." The Charleston County Sheriffs Office said in a statement that deputies will investigate and arrest violators that unlawfully enter or damage the church. The sheriffs office also said there will be increased patrols in the area of the church. According to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, the church building is a one-story, rectangular frame vernacular Gothic Revival church with a pedimented gable-front roof that supports a square-based steeple. The compound includes a church cemetery with tombstones dating from the 1880s to the late 20th century. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Outer Banks fan Reece Hewit told WCSC that most people come to take pictures of the property and to see where it all happened. Another fan, Luke Berg, said that it is sad to see the vandalism. Thats a beautiful church for people just to destroy it, Berg said. The Outer Banks series is about a group of teenagers in the Outer Banks of North Carolina who are called Pogues. They are on a mission to investigate the disappearance of the father of the groups ringleader, John B. Their quest leads them to discover a legendary treasure that is tied to John Bs father. I know some political actors would want you to believe that our current numbers represent a failure on the part of the government but do not begrudge them, adding: They need to make such comments for their political survival. President Akufo-Addo has said whiles addressing Ghanaians on the COVID-19 situation on Sunday, 10 May 2020. The President reported that the numbers of confirmed cases that have been announced since Friday, 8 May, are current daily figures since all the backlog of samples have been cleared. So, as of today, Sunday, 10 May 2020, the country has conducted a total of 160,501 tests with our total number of infections standing at 4,700; 494 recoveries, five persons being critically ill and 4, 179 persons responding to treatment. Twenty-two person, virtually all of them with underlying illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes and chronic liver disease, have unhappily died. But he said contrary to what the political actors may say, on the contrary, we must be emboldened by the knowledge that the 4,700 persons infected so far with the virus, have been identified, isolated, and are being treated. Reporting of cases since Friday, 8 May 2020 is now current. On Friday, a total of 5,253 tests were conducted with 251 positives; on Saturday, 2, 255 tests were conducted with 256 found to be positive. For today, Sunday, 10 May 2020, a total of 3,045 tests have been done with 160 testing positive. These relatively lower daily numbers of infection are welcome and reinforce the fact that the measures taken to help reduce person to person contact and help defeat the pandemic, are working, the President said. The President noted: We must understand that the more people we test for the virus, the more persons we will discover as positive and thus, have the opportunity to isolate and treat them. If you do not test people for the virus, you will not find the persons who are positive, let alone isolate them from the population and treat them and prevent them from spreading the virus. Indeed, he pointed out, had we not been proactive in undertaking enhanced contact-tracing of infected persons and had relied solely on testing people who reported to the hospital, which is the practice followed by some other countries, routine testing, our total case count would have stood at 1,413. The other 3,232, two-thirds of the population of positives, would have been undetected and still be within the population, unknowingly infecting others. ---classfmonline Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Even before Dustin Quinn, 33, became one of the 30 million Americans to lose their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, she was just getting by. Working 24 hours a week for $12.25 per hour at the front desk of a hotel in Fargo, N.D., she made enough, barely, to cover expenses. So being laid off quickly triggered her own financial crisis. First, Quinns car was repossessed when she could no longer make car loan payments. Next, she was threatened with eviction from her apartment. Another worry: How would she pay for her two anti-anxiety prescriptions? At $60 for a three-month supply, it was sometimes a challenge to cover them even before she lost her part-time job. And now, with no income, no car, and possibly no place to live, she had no idea how she would be able to pay for her needed medication. And the prospect of being without them seemed frightening. Not having that secure paycheck every two weeks was tough, Quinn says. I was worried. Thankfully, for people in Quinns situation help is available. For example, some small independent pharmacies are stepping up to help people in their communities get medication during the ongoing emergency. Our first and only responsibility is to take care of our customers and our community, says Tom DePietro, Pharm.D., owner of DiPietros Pharmacy in Dunmore, Pa., who started offering free prescriptions to the unemployed in March. Its worth it. Other pharmacies, including some large ones, such as certain CVS and Walgreens stores, are highlighting long-standing but not well-known programs that allow them to register with federal or state health clinics to provide prescriptions free or at sharply reduced prices. Several hundred nonprofit pharmacies located across the country, often run by charities such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, say they have seen a spike in the people seeking their help, which can include providing free prescriptions to people in need. Story continues There are other ways to get help with your drugs, too, including registering for programs offered by drugmakers and signing up for Medicaid. That's what ultimately helped Quinn. Her state, North Dakota, was one of 36 that, since the last recession in 2007 to 2009, has made it easier for people to sign up for Medicaid. Her application was quickly processed and approved, she says. And her next prescriptions will cost her only $2 each. Heres more about the ways you can get free or low-cost drugs during the ongoing crisis. Talk With Your Local Pharmacist DiPietro remembers the exact moment he decided to offer unemployed people in his community free prescriptions. He was standing outside his house, watching his daughter drawing with chalk on the sidewalk, thinking how lucky he wasand how worried he was about people who had lost their jobs. Soon after, he announced a new program: Show proof of unemployment and he will give local patients a 90-day supply of any generic drug they need. Im taking a loss on every prescription, DePietro says. No one is paying me for this. He estimates it will cost him upward of $10,000. But, he says, Its worth it. News of his response to the crisis spread to Pittsburgh, prompting another store, Astis Pharmacy, to offer a similar program for its local customers. Provide proof you lost your job, and co-owner Chris Antypas, Pharm.D., will give you a 90-day supply of most generic drugs free of charge. Even though the pharmacy has promoted its new program, most patients still may not be aware we offer it, Antypas says. So if youre struggling financially to get the drugs you need, he recommends asking your local independent pharmacist if they can help out. Ask if they have any specific savings programs that could help you, he says, otherwise they might not be aware youre facing a hardship. Even if you havent lost your job, "pharmacists are experts at finding low-cost, affordable options for patients, Antypas says. Look for Pharmacies That Partner With Community Health Centers Nearly a quarter of pharmacies across the country participate in a federal programcalled "340B" in industry lingothat allows them to partner with publicly supported community health centers that offer free or reduced-cost drugs to people in need. Wolker Drugs, in Baxter Springs, Kan., is a 340B pharmacy. Patients treated at nearby Baxter Springs Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas who come to the pharmacy with a prescription can get medication at a very low cost, says Brian Caswell, president of the pharmacy and president of the National Community Pharmacists Association. Some pharmacies that belong to large national chains are also designated as 340B pharmacies. Walgreens has the most, according to the Drug Channels Institute, an industry research group, while some Albertsons, CVS, Rite Aid, and Walmart pharmacies also participate. To find a community health center in your area, use the Find a Health Center tool run by the federal Health Resources & Services Administration. Or Caswell recommends simply calling drugstores in your area until you find one that says it is a 340B pharmacy. Then ask for the name of the health center in the community that they partner with to make an appointment to see whether you qualify for reduced-cost care and prescriptions. Consider a Charitable Pharmacy Some pharmacies are registered nonprofits, often staffed by volunteer pharmacists and technicians, and typically rely on private donations and small grants to provide free prescriptions to those in need. These charitable pharmacies number several hundred throughout the U.S., usually in large metro areas or rural locations, according to the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. Faith Community Pharmacy in Florence, Ky., is one. During the coronavirus crisis, it has offered a two-month supply to anyone in the local community who says they need it, says Aaron Broomall, executive director of Faith Community Pharmacy. He says it has seen a 20 percent increase in patients since the outbreak began. Once things return to normal, Bromall says, patients whose needs go beyond the initial prescription can enroll to stay in their program if they meet certain income limits. Patients can have insurance, Broomall says, and most do. In nearby Cincinnati, Mike Espel, R.Ph., director of pharmacy at the St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy, says he has also seen a greater need in recent weeks. No qualifying patient has to pay anything for their medication, he says. To get free prescriptions, you need to show that your monthly expenses equal or exceed your monthly income, he says. He says about half of clients are woefully underinsured, meaning they have some form of coverage but because of high deductibles or large copays, the person simply cant afford the price of the drug. St. Vincent de Paul charities run roughly a dozen other pharmacies across the U.S. Each can set its own rules. For example, Carlos Irula, Pharm.D., says that at the St. Vincent pharmacy in Dallas, to qualify for free drugs patients must have no insurance and have income no higher than 200 percent of the federal poverty limitabout $25,000 for an individual and about $52,000 for a family of four. Staff on site can help people negotiate the needed paperwork, Irula says. Were here to help, Irula says. We know that a lot of people are going through some tough times, and we know well get through this. Go to the St. Vincent de Paul charities website to see if the organization has a location near you. Many of the services go beyond free medication and may include things like food delivery or medical transportation. To find other charitable pharmacies, use the Find a Clinic tool run by the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. Note that not every clinic listed there will have a pharmacy. Or simply try a Google search for charitable pharmacy and your location to see whether one is near you Enroll in Drug Company Programs Almost all pharmaceutical manufacturers have programs to help people without insurance obtain medication at no charge, says Rich Sagall, M.D., president of NeedyMeds, a nonprofit that tracks drug discount programs and connects people with the programs free of charge. Sagall and his team track all manufacturer discount programs, including whats known as Patient Assistance Programs, where if you can prove you earn less than a given amount, companies will send you medication free. He says several companies, including Eli Lilly, Merck, and Novo Nordisk, have increased the maximum annual income levels for people applying to some of their programs, so you can earn more and still qualify. Another nonprofit service, RxAssist, has a lookup tool and links to drug company assistance programs. Consider Low-Cost Generics at Big Retailers If you cant qualify for free meds, consider that chain and big-box pharmacies still offer hundreds of generics for just a few dollars a month, no insurance needed. If you go this route, you may want to shop around. Walmart has long featured a $4-per-month or $10-per-three-month program for hundreds of generic drugs. Just last week, Walgreens expanded the drugs included in its discount membership program (annual fee of $20 per individual or $35 per family), which now offers hundreds of generics for just $5, $10, or $15 per month. According to Alexandra Brown, spokesperson for Walgreens, the chain pharmacy lowered prices on certain medications, including generic Lipitor for high cholesterol (now $15, down from $70); generic Lexapro for depression ($15, down from $95); and generic Viagra ($15, down from $99). Walmart offers the same $15 price for generic Lipitor and Lexapro, no annual membership needed, and offers low-cost versions of other generics. Costco has previously come in with the lowest cash prices for any big box chain store on the drugs our CR shoppers have checked. Bonus: You dont have to be a Costco member to use its pharmacy, says Vic Curtis, vice president of pharmacy at Costco. If you dont need a low-cost drug immediately, online pharmacies such as Healthwarehouse can be an option. Generic Lipitor, for example, can be ordered for $11, generic Lexapro for $10.20, and generic Viagra, $9.50. Shipping is free, though it could take up to five days for delivery. Newcomer Honeybee, which, like Healthwarehouse, doesnt accept insurance, is worth checking out. But note that it doesnt ship to 11 states, including Oregon, Michigan, and Indiana. (See the full list.) Shipping is free, but it could take between seven and 10 days for medications to reach your doorstep. In most pharmacies, you can get even bigger discounts if you purchase a 90-day supply. If you dont get a good price from any of the above, check out a new program by Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefits manager that usually handles drug coverage plans for large organizations. But in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting unemployment, it now offers thousands of generic drugs directly to consumers at no more than $25 for a months supply for the newly uninsured. Express Scripts will deliver to your home, or you can get prescriptions filled at a participating pharmacy near you by first entering your drug name, strength, and quantity, and your ZIP code. Read more about ordering drugs online, including the risk of getting drugs from an oversease pharmacy. Sign Up for Medicaid If you live in the District of Columbia or one of 36 states that expanded Medicaid since the last recession in 2007 to 2009, you may qualify if your monthly income falls below $1,467 for an individual or $3,013 for a family of four. In other states, Medicaid is available only to people with children who make, on average, about $8,700 or less for a family of three. Healthcare.gov has a series of screener questions about where you live and how much you earn that can direct you to the appropriate sign-up in your state if you qualify. You can apply for Medicaid any time after youve lost health insurance through your job, and if approved, coverage can begin on the date you apply or the first day of the month that you applied, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright 2020, Consumer Reports, Inc. Solutionselling.learn.com scored 40 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team This CoolSocial report was updated on 21 Jan 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. The total number of people who shared the solutionselling.learn homepage on Delicious. The total number of people who shared the solutionselling.learn homepage on StumbleUpon. The total number of people who shared the solutionselling.learn homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the solutionselling.learn homepage on Twitter + the total number of solutionselling.learn followers (if solutionselling.learn has a Twitter account). This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the solutionselling.learn homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if solutionselling.learn has a Facebook fan page). Basic Information PAGE TITLE DESCRIPTION KEYWORDS OTHER KEYWORDS The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The title found in the head section of the homepage. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site. 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The type of Facebook page. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. The URL of the found Facebook page. The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. Twitter account link TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND Phuket dispersal raises fear BANGKOK: The mass exodus of people exiting Phuket has renewed fears of a resurgence of COVID-19 infections after four new infections were found on the island on Sunday (May 10), prompting the government to ramp up disease control measures to screen returnees heading to their homes from the island province. COVID-19Coronavirushealth By Bangkok Post Monday 11 May 2020, 09:13AM Motorists wait their turn to cross the bridge at Tha Chatchai and leave Phuket island for the southern mainland early on May 1. Photo: Achadtaya Chuenniran / Bangkok Post The coronavirus outbreak has forced the closure of all tourism-related businesses in Phuket, putting numerous workers out of work. Those who wanted to return to their home provinces were until recently unable to do so due to restrictions imposed on inter-provincial travel during the lockdown. However, Phuket remains under close watch because between 10,000-20,000 people have left since the nationwide lockdown was eased on May 3, Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), said on Sunday. Phuket has the second-highest number of confirmed cases in the country, after Bangkok. On Saturday, a 28-year-old woman who worked at a shopping mall in Phuket tested positive for the virus after she returned to her home province of Prachin Buri. Four new COVID-19 cases were also reported in this southern province on Sunday. The four new COVID-19 cases reported in Phuket take the islands tally to 224, the provincial communicable disease committee announced on Sunday. Of the 224 confirmed cases there, 191 patients have been discharged from hospital, three people died while 29 others are still receiving treatment. One patient died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. Chatchai Promlert, permanent secretary for the Interior Ministry, said that he has instructed all provincial governors and Bangkok governor to place returnees from Phuket under quarantine as a precaution. In a similar move, Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, director-general of the Department of Disease Control of the Public Health Ministry, sent urgent letters to all provincial governors in their capacities as chairmen of provincial communicable disease committees to keep an eye out for Phuket returnees and take proper disease control measures to prevent COVID-19 transmission. Dr Suwannachai said that more than 30,000 people registered for fit-to-travel certificates, which they needed to make the inter-provincial journey to their homes. Dr Taweesilp also referred to fears of a possible new wave of infections in South Korea, where about 1,500 people are believed to have come into contact with infected patients who went to a pub in Itaewon district in Seoul. Efforts are being made to identify and locate them, Dr Taweesilp said. Excluding the four cases reported in Phuket which will be included in todays tally (May 11) the CCSA on Sunday reported five new coronavirus cases, bringing the total in Thailand to 3,009. No additional deaths were reported, leaving the accumulated toll at 56. Two of the new cases reported on Sunday a 44-year-old Thai woman in Bangkok and an 80-year-old Thai man in Narathiwat are linked to previous cases, Dr Taweesilp said. The other three cases are Thai nationals who tested positive after showing symptoms while in state quarantine. They recently returned from overseas one from the United Arab Emirates, and two from Pakistan. Opinion God can cope with our problems At a time when many people are fearful for the future, Ron Skivington reminds us that God is able to cope with all the situations which trouble us, from environmental concerns to the coronavirus pandemic. Fear is something that can affect all of us, at any time and about anything. Fear is a natural, internal warning system that produces our fight or flight reactions. It can stop us doing so much in life as it is a thief and a robber stealing hopes and dreams, holding us back from doing so many things. It can take joy and happiness out of life and can prevent people from making close friendships or stop us being able to accept compliments and kind deeds of others without thinking What is the catch? We have all felt, and no doubt will, at times, experience fears. So how will we respond - give in or find ways of facing them? Did you know that courage isn't the absence of feeling fearful or anxious, it is recognising what we are feeling, but still going on anyway? Something else we do not often like admitting to is the fact we are designed to be dependent beings, and therefore not independent and totally in control of our own destinies. By that, I mean dependent upon God. We sometimes hear the expression, "God won't give us more than we can cope with." Is that true? What would those swamped in last years floods, or diagnosed with an incurable illness, or struggling with heavy depression and can't see any way out think about that? So perhaps it is truer to say that God doesn't allow what He can't cope with into our lives, so as things stretch us to beyond breaking point, He is the one from whom we can draw help, strength, comfort etc. One the most common commands in the Bible is "Fear not" [around 366 times] usually spoken to people about to find themselves in circumstances that would challenge and take them beyond their comfort zones. We can think of Joshua about to lead Israel into their new land, Mary when told she would give birth to God's son, Paul on his way to trial in Rome over his faith in Jesus, and countless others throughout history. What have all such people discovered? Gods hands are bigger, His arms stronger, His mind clearer than ours and His love for us knows no limits. His grace [love, mercy, power] is enough and that His strength comes into its own in our weakness [2 Cor 12:9]. Whatever situation you may be facing today, trust Him and see if what others have found is not true for you as well. This article first appeared in Stalhams Community Scene magazine, and is used with permission. The image is courtesy of Kanenori from Pixabay.com Rev Ron Skivington is Pastor of Stalham Baptist Church. The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Norwich and Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users. Chinese mainland reports 2 new imported COVID-19 cases People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 10:34, May 10, 2020 BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland reported two new imported cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Saturday, bringing the total number of imported cases to 1,683, the National Health Commission said Sunday. The new cases were reported in Shanghai, the commission said. Of the total imported cases, 1,568 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, and 115 remained hospitalized with three in severe conditions, the commission said. No deaths had been reported from the imported cases. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued TCA Fund Management Group, a Florida investment company cited in a January NBC News report, for allegedly improperly inflating its portfolios' values in recent years. TCA was a direct lending fund, a type of investment company that made loans to small and mid-size businesses that could not secure funding elsewhere. Based in Aventura, Fla., TCA began operations in 2011 and was overseen by Robert Press. Press was not named as a defendant in the SEC suit. The SEC's civil suit, filed Monday, contends that TCA fraudulently accounted for revenues it was unlikely to receive and overstated its funds' values by over $150 million as of last fall. The SEC said TCA, which reported $500 million in assets, falsely told investors that the funds' holdings rose in value every month. TCA also filed false reports about its funds' performance with the SEC, the suit said. If TCA had accounted accurately in its operations, its funds would have reported numerous months of negative returns, the SEC said. TCA improperly reported consistent annual gains of 7 percent to 8 percent in recent years, NBC News reported. TCA Chairman and founder Bob Press. (TCA) Carl Schoeppel, a lawyer representing TCA, did not immediately return an email seeking comment. NBC News reported in January that three employees had filed a whistleblower complaint with the SEC contending that TCA's accounting practices were phony and inflating the funds' asset values. At the time, a TCA employee told NBC News, "There's a bloated portfolio and assets under management that don't really exist. ... And investors are subscribing and redeeming based on those net asset values." Domiciled in the Cayman Islands, the TCA fund is aimed at wealthy investors who can afford its $100,000 minimum, regulatory documents show. Many loans in TCA's main fund are in default, according to the SEC. At the time of the NBC News report, TCA had begun to wind down its funds' operations. On April 30, a lawsuit was filed in federal court in Miami against TCA and its management on behalf of investors in its funds. In filing its suit, the SEC seeks a return of alleged ill-gotten gains received by the funds and payment of penalties for the alleged violations. It also asked the court to appoint a receiver for the funds' operation. She has three new films that have yet to be released amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But Famke Janssen, 55, looked worry-free as she took to the streets of Manhattan wearing a protective polka-dot mask on Sunday. The Netherlands native was styled-up for her time away from home quarantine in a turquoise and black mini-dress that was partially covered with a black blazer. On the go: Famke Janssen, 55, took a reprieve from quarantine in New York City on Sunday The fashionable number had a sheer, see-through upper portion that revealed her black undergarment. For an added touch of style, the X-Men star also donned black stockings with a pair of blue-patterned sneakers and dark sunglasses. She wore her dark brown tresses long with some natural waves and a part on the slight left. Stylish: The Dutch star stunned in a turquoise and black mini-dress that was paired with a black blazer, black stockings and sneakers Janssen currently has three films in post production: The Postcard Killings, Endless and Redeeming Love. But, at this point, with the COVID-19 crisis still waging, the release dates have been put on hold. Janssen most recently starred in the BBC crime-drama series The Capture, which premiered in September 2019. The series featured Holliday Grainger, Callum Turner, Laura Haddock, Ben Miles, Paul Ritter and Ron Perlman. On hold: Janssen has three new films yet to be released amid the coronavirus pandemic Janssen first made waves in front of the camera as a fashion model when at 19 she move from her home country in the Netherlands to the US in 1984. Eventually she transitioned to acting and got a huge break when she starred in the James Bond flick GoldenEye in 1995. The actress has since gone on to stardom in such films as the X-Men film series (2000-2014), and the Taken film franchise (2008-2014), and TV hits Nip/Tuck (2004-2010) and How To Get Away With Murder (2015-2019). The president of the Royal Institute of British Architects stepped down from the role after claims that he abused his position to help his lover find a job. Married father-of-two Alan Jones, 55, has also been accused of using the institute's grace-and-favour flat in London for his encounters with architectural assistant Sanoara Begom, 40. Details of their affair were revealed in the industry last month and the Queen's University Belfast professor announced he would be temporarily vacating his position at Riba. The institute is investigating and a report has been made to the Charity Commission, which regulates it, over potential reputational damage. Alan Jones, a professor at Queen's University Belfast, is married to dentist Laura (pictured together) The pair were introduced by former Riba president Ben Derbyshire after Miss Begom wrote to him in March 2018 to complain about alleged racist and Islamophobic remarks from colleagues at her Birmingham employer. She left the firm after taking legal action over a pay row but Riba declined to help because the practice was not a member. It appears Mr Jones, who was then the institute's head of education, 'offered to take her under his wing personally', a Riba source said. 'That must have been when it all started.' In an email to senior institute figures later that year Miss Begom wrote: 'Alan Jones has supported me through the year and helped me with my CV. 'What I need now is proactive action in gaining employment, and as a result Alan Jones will be contacting mid-range practices in London to arrange interviews.' It is unclear whether she found a job as a result but Miss Begom is understood not to be in architectural work at present. Architectural assistant Sanoara Begom had an affair with married Alan Jones A Riba source said: 'I understand the allegations involve the free flat Riba provides for presidents in central London. 'I'm told it's being claimed he used it inappropriately by entertaining Miss Begom there it's not clear that's a reasonable use of the property under Charity Commission rules.' Mr Jones, who lives in a house he designed in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with his dentist wife Laura, 54, declined to discuss the allegations last night. He said: 'I'm doing what I've been asked, which is to refer everything to the Riba press office.' Miss Begom, who lives in a one-bedroom flat in Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham, said: 'I don't want to discuss anything.' Jones (pictured) allegedly began an affair with Begom, from Solihull, West Midlands, in 2018 Members of the 180-year-old institute (pictured) have called for greater transparency as an investigation into whether Mr Jones used any of Riba's funds to conduct his affair continues On a Twitter account which she has since deleted, she tweeted shortly before Mr Jones announced that he was stepping back in March: 'Time for a new career!' Riba's honorary president Kerr Robertson said Mr Jones 'has taken leave of absence' and the institute had contacted the Charity Commission 'setting out how we would review the matter'. He added: 'We have an obligation to treat such matters fairly and confidentially, and it wouldn't be appropriate for Riba to comment further at this stage.' A Charity Commission spokesman said Riba had submitted a serious incident report. While announcing the first extension of the national lockdown on April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had exhorted industry leaders in the country to be compassionate to their workers and not fire them though they, too, were facing tough times. His target audience operating in a recession-bound economy would have been in double mind on ways to put the Prime Ministers advice to practice. They dont have to worry anymore. Mr Modis colleagues in the political class in many a state have come up with measures which offer a labour law holiday to them, something that they would not even have dreamt of in these pandemic times. It all started with the Uttar Pradesh government clearing the Uttar Pradesh Temporary Exemption from Certain Labour Laws Ordinance, 2020, which suspends 35 of the 38 laws relating to industrial disputes, occupational safety, health and working conditions of workers, trade unions, contract workers, and migrant labourers. It was followed by the governments in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan keeping the labour laws in abeyance for varying periods on the plea that the industry needed freedom from strict labour laws to tide over the crisis. In Madhya Pradesh, the state government will exempt new manufacturing units from all, but some provisions, in the Factories Act, 1948 for the next 1,000 days. The new units will now be able to operate without following safety and health norms; they can hire and fire at will. Among the laws put in cold storage are the acts governing minimum wages. The obnoxious suggestion of extended working hours for Indian labour came first from N.R. Narayana Murthy, once czar of the Indian information technology industry, which has largely remained a body shopping enterprise for the last three decades of its existence. His demand has now found many takers as states would now vie with one another for a share in the investment pie, which, they hope, would fly off China and land in India. Its welcome that states want to attract investment and create jobs. But it should not be made possible by stripping the working class of all its rights. An investment-friendly atmosphere can be created by easing governmental processes, cutting the red tape and offering fiscal and tax incentives. The government of Kerala has announced certain steps towards this end. The government must realise that it is illogical, undemocratic, immoral and inhuman to put the workers at the receiving end at a time when a virus threatens the future not only of the industry but also of the economy and even the human race. It is time the Prime Minister stepped in and advised his political colleagues to observe economic dharma, which he himself had suggested to the industry captains. And he has the power to make them fall in line, as most these legal changes need the concurrence of the Union government before their implementation. All the central trade unions, including the Sangh Parivar-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, have decried the anti-labour move. The Prime Minister must walk the talk. English French Regulated information Preliminary documents for the Annual Ordinary General Meeting have been made available on companys website Gosselies, Belgium, 11 May 2020, 7am CEST BONE THERAPEUTICS (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BOTHE), the bone cell therapy company addressing high unmet medical needs in orthopaedics and bone diseases, invites its shareholders and warrant holders to the Annual Ordinary General Meeting to be held on Wednesday 10 June 2020 at 4pm CEST, at the Companys registered offices, 37 Rue Auguste Piccard, 6041 Gosselies, Belgium. The notice for the meeting, including the agenda of the day as well as the motions to vote, have been published in the Belgian Official Gazette and La Libre on 11 May 2020. Due to the security measures imposed by the Belgian government in the context of the fight against Covid-19, which prohibit the physical presence of shareholders at a general meeting, Bone Therapeutics has decided to impose voting exclusively by means of written proxies, in accordance with Article 6 of Royal Decree No. 4 of 9 April 2020. Bone Therapeutics will also offer its shareholders and rights holders the opportunity to participate in the Ordinary General Meeting by conference call. Information about the telephone access will be communicated on the company's website (www.bonetherapeutics.com) at a later date. The documents and preliminary information concerning this meeting are being made available to the shareholders and can be consulted on Bone Therapeutics website, under the section Investors / Shareholders meeting, in compliance with the applicable law and regulations. It is also possible to receive the documents without charge upon simple request by email to generalassembly@bonetherapeutics.com or by telephone on +32 (0)71 12 10 01. Finally, the documents are available at the Companys headquarters: 37 Rue Auguste Piccard, 6041 Gosselies, Belgium. About Bone Therapeutics Bone Therapeutics is a leading biotech company focused on the development of innovative products to address high unmet needs in orthopedics and bone diseases. The Company has a broad, diversified portfolio of bone cell therapies and an innovative biological product in later-stage clinical development, which target markets with large unmet medical needs and limited innovation. Bone Therapeutics is developing an off-the-shelf protein solution, JTA-004, which is entering Phase III development for the treatment of pain in knee osteoarthritis. Positive Phase IIb efficacy results in patients with knee osteoarthritis showed a statistically significant improvement in pain relief compared to a leading viscosupplement. The clinical trial application (CTA) for the pivotal Phase III program has been approved by the relevant authorities allowing the start of the study. Bone Therapeutics other core technology is based on its cutting-edge allogeneic cell therapy platform (ALLOB) which can be stored at the point of use in the hospital, and uses a unique, proprietary approach to bone regeneration, which turns undifferentiated stem cells from healthy donors into bone-forming cells. These cells can be administered via a minimally invasive procedure, avoiding the need for invasive surgery, and are produced via a proprietary, scalable cutting-edge manufacturing process. Following the CTA approval by the Belgian regulatory authority, the Company is ready to start the Phase IIb clinical trial with ALLOB in patients with difficult tibial fractures, using its optimized production process. The ALLOB platform technology has multiple applications and will continue to be evaluated in other indications including spinal fusion, osteotomy and maxillofacial and dental applications. Bone Therapeutics cell therapy products are manufactured to the highest GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) standards and are protected by a broad IP (Intellectual Property) portfolio covering ten patent families as well as knowhow. The Company is based in the BioPark in Gosselies, Belgium. Further information is available at www.bonetherapeutics.com. Contacts Bone Therapeutics SA Miguel Forte, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Luc Vandebroek, Chief Financial Officer Tel: +32 (0) 71 12 10 00 investorrelations@bonetherapeutics.com International Media Enquiries: Image Box Communications Neil Hunter / Michelle Boxall Tel: 44 (0)20 8943 4685 neil@ibcomms.agency / michelle@ibcomms.agency For French Media and Investor Enquiries: NewCap Investor Relations & Financial Communications Pierre Laurent, Louis-Victor Delouvrier and Arthur Rouille Tel: + 33 (0)1 44 71 94 94 bone@newcap.eu Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company or, as appropriate, the Company directors` current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such person`s officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Nobel Peace Prize laureate says she was smeared after being named a member of Facebooks new oversight committee. A prominent Yemeni human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate said she has been subjected to widespread bullying and a smear campaign by Saudi Arabian media after she was selected to be part of a new Facebook oversight board. Tawakkol Karman, 41, was among 20 people chosen to oversee sensitive content posted on the social media network and where necessary, flag the material for it to be removed from the platform. I am subjected to widespread bullying and a smear campaign by Saudis media & its allies, wrote Karman in a Twitter post on Monday. What is more important now is to be safe from the saw used to cut #jamalkhashoggis body into pieces, she continued, referring to the slain Saudi journalist killed by what Riyadh described as rogue elements of the state security apparatus. I am subjected to widespread bullying&a smear campaign by #Saudis media&its allies.What is more important now is to be safe from the saw used to cut #jamalkhashoggis body into pieces.I am in my way to #Turkey&I consider this as a report to the international public opinion. Tawakkol Karman (@TawakkolKarman) May 11, 2020 Karman rose to prominence during the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that saw authoritarian leaders across the region, including her native Yemen, toppled. That same year, Karmans activism for womens rights and their full participation in peace-building work saw her declared co-recipient of the coveted peace prize. In an op-ed published in The New York Times, the committees co-chairs said the aim of the body was to deliver verdicts on the most challenging content issues for Facebook, including in areas such as hate speech, harassment, and protecting peoples safety and privacy. It will make final and binding decisions on whether specific content should be allowed or removed from Facebook and Instagram, the opinion piece said. The Saudi Gazette said choosing Karman is both surprising and shocking for many in the Middle East and elsewhere. Karman was previously a member of Yemens Islah party, the Muslim Brotherhoods arm in Yemen. The Brotherhood has been banned and targeted by security forces in several Middle East countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Some activists and celebrities took to social media to criticise Facebooks move to make her an oversight board member. Karman is only qualified to support terrorism around the world her hands are stained with blood, said Ahmed Moussa, an Egyptian TV host, on his show. Democracy defender Like many Yemenis, Karman was forced to leave her country after the capitals takeover by Houthi rebels amid the deteriorating security situation. From her new home in Istanbul, Karman continued to speak out against injustices committed in Yemen, including the war waged by the Saudi-UAE-led coalition and US drone attacks in her homeland. A friend of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, Karman has regularly spoken out in defence of democracy and freedom of speech in the region. Failing to act will mean opinion holders, politicians, activist journalists are in great danger and that wherever they may be they are not safe from dictators, who will see their impunity as a green light to avenge their opponents, kill their people, and crush those who said no without facing any consequences, she said at a youth summit just weeks after the journalists death. A freak storm in the Mediterranean at the start of April may have led to a drop in the number of sightings of swallows, swifts and other migrating birds in the UK. Last month, thousands of birds migrating from Africa to Europe were blown off course due to high winds battering Greece, and were found dead in the streets. The British Trust for Ornithology, which tracks migrating birds as they arrive in the UK, say they've had reports from the across the UK of a decrease in numbers. They say that sightings of swallows, swifts and house martin numbers were all down and that the 'disastrous storm' in Greece is the most obvious cause. However, they warn that this is purely anecdotal evidence as they haven't been able to conduct proper surveys due to coronavirus lockdown measures. A freak storm in the Mediterranean at the start of April has led to the number of sightings of swallows (pictured), swifts and other migrating birds falling in the UK A spokesman for the BTO told DevonLive that they were getting calls from across the UK from people asking, 'Where are our swallows?' It was thought at the time that birds arriving in the UK from Africa wouldn't be affected by the storm - but it now looks like that prediction was wrong. Initially bird experts assumed birds flying to the UK from Africa took a different route to those flying to the Mediterranean, but the BTO says 'it's time for a rethink'. 'We always think the birds probably come up through Spain and France but we don't really know,' a BTO spokesman told DevonLive. 'If ever we get the technology we might find that more come through East Africa than West,' he said. Over a period of three days in early April over the Aegean Sea, thousands of small birds were found dead or severely injured. Southerly winds pushed flocks of birds from North Africa into air currents that left them exhausted and starving. The RSPB says these migrating birds usually arrive in the UK in March and April but the lower than usual number of sightings could just be down to a late arrival. 'Swallow numbers have fluctuated over the years, with the 80s famously seeing a decline in both swallows and house martins,' an RSPB spokesman said. 'They did seem to bounce back from this, so the fluctuations could be quite natural.' 'However, since 2010 there has been a downward trend this isn't enough to indicate any long term trend in terms of conservation in comparison to other bird species that have suffered as a result of the climate and ecological crisis,' he said. This has been backed up by the BTO who say birds including Nightingale, Cuckoo and Swift are in particular decline, according to their monitoring. The British Trust for Ornithology, which tracks migrating birds as they arrive in the UK, say they've had reports from the across the UK of a drop in bird numbers including the swift (pictured) This year's decline in numbers is believed is linked to the storm in Greece, but there is a wider problem. 'Many of these species occupy complex habitats such as woodland whilst they are breeding and they may be impacted by processes occurring anywhere in their annual cycle,' the BTO wrote in a study. 'They might use several sites separated by thousands of kilometers through the year and the processes driving declines may occur at several of these, and there may be interactions between events occurring at different stages.' Other bird experts say the current decline in the number of swallows could be due to a mixture of long term decline and the storm in Greece. 'There have been so many anecdotal reports of fewer swallows that it suggests something has gone wrong,' said a spokesman for the Devon Wildlife Trust. The COVID-19 pandemic has surely shaken the entire world. It has even affected the profit-hungry businesses to look for alternative places for conducting their manufacturing business. Reuters Many are even considering India as their next big option. And the company next in line to do so is none other than iPhone maker Apple. According to a report by ET, Apple executives have been in discussions with top-ranking government officials over the last few months to look at a possibility of shifting around a fifth of its production capacity from China, all the way to India, with the help of contract manufacturers. This is according to a senior government official in a conversation with ET. He said in a statement, We expect Apple to produce up to $40 billion worth of smartphones, mostly for exports through its contract manufacturers Wistron and Foxconn, availing the benefits under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. If this actually were to happen, Apple could become Indias largest exporter, according to experts. Reuters While it might seem perfect for India, the report states that there are several obstacles in the way -- primarily with the governments PLI scheme that essentially incentivises local handset manufacturing and exports. The fine details of the scheme are yet to be finalised. The official stated, There are some problems with some of the clauses. For instance, valuing the entire plant and machinery already in use in its plants across China and other places at 40% of that value and the extent of the business information sought under the scheme are some of the irritants. As per market research by IDC, Apple in the year 2018-2019 has held a 38 percent market share of smartphone exports in India, followed by Samsung at second spot with 22 percent market share. Whats in it for India? As of now, Apple sells around $1.5 billion worth of phones in India, from which only $0.5 billion are manufactured locally while retaining a market share of just 2 to 3 percent. On the other hand, Apple is the biggest investor in China where it has produced goods over $220 billion and exported $185 billion of it. It also employs (directly or indirectly) close to 4.8 million people in China alone. If Apple or other smartphone brands start making devices in India, not only will it provide us with employment opportunities, but the government too will get revenue. Also, since the devices will be made in India, we can expect them to be cheaper than the imported units. Strategy Analytics Tweaking the PLI scheme to make a tempting proposition According to another senior official in conversation with ET, India wants a bigger slice and has tweaked the PLI scheme in a way to address the problems that brands face while manufacturing in India, compared to China or even Vietnam. The PLI scheme which was notified on April 1st offers production-linked incentive to boost domestic manufacturing while also attracting large investments in making smartphones, along with specified components like Assembly Testing, Marking and Packaging Units. Reuters The official explained, We realised companies werent relocating manufacturing to India because there were disabilities of almost 10%, so PLI addresses about 6% disabilities, the RoDTeP scheme another 0.27%, and the corporate rate tax cuts address the balance. The scheme states that the company must make at least $10 billion worth of phones in a phased manner from 2020 to 2025 to be eligible for benefits of the PLI scheme. The manufacturers will have to meet targets on a yearly basis. Attracting not just Apple but also other players Government official states that theyre expecting companies to start applying next week after the guidelines are out. Not just Apple, but Samsung, as well as Chinese phone makers like Vivo and Oppo, are expected to apply for the same. The scheme goes into effect starting August 1st this year. They also state that it has been the fastest ever planning to execution undertaken by the Indian government. With such incentives, we expect mobile phone exports out of India to cross $100 billion by 2025, it could be earlier than that. Amid pressure from the opposition to seek a special COVID-19 economic package from the Centre, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday said he will discuss all issues with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and put forth the state's stand. "As Chief Minister of the state, I would clearly state our stand and suggest what needs to be done to the Prime Minister during the meeting," Yediyurappa told reporters here. Asked whether he will seek any package, he merely said, "I will discuss about everything." With the focus on boosting economic activities amid a graded exit from the coronavirus-induced lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with chief ministers of various states via video conference later on Monday. This will be his fifth interaction with the chief ministers after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the country. Demanding that COVID-19 be declared a national disaster, a delegation of opposition parties led by leader of opposition Siddaramaiah that met Yediyurappa on Friday had asked the state government to pressurise the Centre to provide it a Rs 50,000 crore special economic package to help those in distress due to the lockdown induced by the pandemic. Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy too on Monday asked Yediyurappa to urge Modi to announce 'COVID package' for the state. He said people, industrialists and parliamentarians have generously contributed towards PM Cares fund for the fight against the coronavirus and Yediyurappa should remind Modi about lack of financial assistance from the centre to face COVID-19. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi will discuss with Chief Ministers of various states regarding coronavirus control and lockdown. In this meeting state CM B S Yediyurappa will also be present...he should urge Modi to give special COVID package for the state," Kumaraswamy tweeted. Sating that the numbers reflect that COVID-19 is increasing in the state, Kumaraswamy said along with tightening medical measures, financial compensation need to be given to those who have faced losses. "A big state like Karnataka that contributes hugely to the centre by collecting taxes, should get package," he said. During the meeting along with COVID package, Yediyurappa should also ask about GST amount,drought and flood relief amount that are pending, he said. Due to lockdown the state is facing financial distress and if there is no adequate assistance from the centre, controlling COVID-19 will be difficult,the JDS leader added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A state senator from Franklin County has called for the immediate resignation of Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, saying her actions were a major factor in the large number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the states nursing homes. Sen. Doug Mastriano, a first-term Republican representing Franklin, Adams and a part of York counties, said Levine has committed the equivalent of policy malpractice in her handling of the coronavirus pandemic, specifically in her handling of the viruss spread through nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Mastriano specifically targeted Levine for a policy which called for nursing home and long-term care patients who had been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 to be returned to their homes when they were ready for release from hospitals. Mastriano said that contributed to major outbreaks in numerous nursing homes around the state. Our secretary of health, Dr. Levine, decided that it would be good to allow COVID-positive patients to be returned to elder-care facitlies. And as a result of that, it broke out like fire, Mastriano said during a rally with constituents at the base of the Capitol steps Monday. "The very same people our secretary of health said were going to be vulnerable... It unleashed heck upon our dearly beloved fathers, mothers, grandparents, aunts and uncles. I think thats unconscionable, unacceptable, and that secretary needs to be held accountable for that awful decision, Mastriano said. The senator also blasted Levine for what he called the departments poor response to the outbreaks in homes once it had become apparent they were one of the epicenters of the problem in Pennsylvania. To date, state figures show that nursing homes residents have accounted for 2,529 of the states 3,707 reported COVID-19 deaths. That is a pattern that has been echoed in most states across the country, however. In a policy guidance issued in March, the Health Department stated, in part: "Nursing care facilities must continue to accept new admissions and receive readmissions for current residents who have been discharged from the hospital who are stable to alleviate the increasing burden in the acute care settings. This may include stable patients who have had the COVID-19 virus." Health Department Press Sectretary Nate Wardle said there were valid reasons for that policy, and challenged Mastrianos interpretation of the data. In most cases, Wardle said, individuals being readmitted to a long-term care facility from the hospital with COVID-19 would be those who would have had COVID-19 before they were sent to the hospital,. In these cases, the readmitted resident would not be introducing it to the facility, if they already had COVID-19 and needed more acute care at the hospital. There were other cases, Wardle noted, in which persons with COVID-19 needed continuing care, but no longer hospital care, and was placed in a a long-term care facility that had bed space to ease capacity in the hospitals. It was not immediately clear how often that happened, or if it was a direct cause of some of the worst outbreaks at long-term care facilities in the state. A MAN tried to set a bottle of vodka alight to use it as a home-made "bomb" while threatening to burn down a hostel full of people, it is alleged. Seamus Donoghue (44) is accused of making threats while holding a bottle with paper stuffed in the top and repeatedly trying to ignite it with a lighter. Judge Paula Murphy refused to grant him bail and remanded him in custody when he appeared in Dublin District Court. Mr Donoghue is charged with threatening to cause criminal damage and possession of an implement with intent to cause damage. The offences are alleged to have happened at the Salvation Army Hostel at York House, Longford Street Little in south Dublin city centre on May 9. Mr Donoghue, who is homeless, had been a resident at the hostel. Garda Jordan Kennedy told Judge Murphy when the accused was charged at Pearse Street Station, he replied to each charge after caution: I understand that. Objecting to bail, he said it was alleged the accused went to the hostel at 1.25pm holding a bottle containing liquid and with paper stuffed in the top. It was alleged he threatened to set it alight and burn down the building and there were staff there at the time. The bottle was a clear glass vodka bottle and the accused held a lighter to the paper, making several attempts to set it alight before smashing it to the ground, Gda Kennedy said. Staff had believed he would carry out the threat and could cause serious injury or death. The court heard the accused made admissions to buying a bottle of vodka for the purpose of making a home made petrol bomb. He admitted throwing it on the ground and it could have caused catastrophic injuries if it had been successful, Gda Kennedy said. It was alleged the accused was caught red-handed outside the hostel attempting to ignite the paper in the bottle. The court heard Mr Donoghue, who was on disability allowance and had an alcohol dependency, had been homeless for 20 years, had lived at the hostel for eight years and was no longer welcome at any Salvation Army hostel. He threatened multiple times to set a building full of people alight, Gda Kennedy said, adding that he believed it was in the public interest for the accused to be refused bail. Applying for bail, defence solicitor Brian Keenan said it would not have been possible for the accused to succeed in igniting the bottle because vodka was not an accelerant. Gda Kennedy said the allegation was the accused was of the belief that it would ignite. The court heard the accused was three-quarters deaf and had mobility issues. The garda agreed with Mr Keenan that Mr Donoghue was co-operative in custody and pleasant to deal with at all times. However, no bail conditions would satisfy him, he said. Judge Murphy remanded the accused in custody, to appear in Cloverhill District Court on May 15. EGU2020 - Sharing Geoscience Online - Live-streamed and Recorded Sessions Posted on 11 May 2020 by BaerbelW By far the most sessions throughout Sharing Geoscience Online 2020 were held as live chats, like the one on Monday featuring many citizens science projects I already wrote about. But, the organizers also added some live-streamed and pre-recorded sessions to the schedule and this post features the ones I watched and liked. Welcome to Sharing Geoscience Online Monday The Great Debate GDB3 titled Cutting carbon in the geosciences: conference participation versus online streaming and fieldwork versus remote observations had been planned well in advance of the Corona pandemic but now couldn't have been more topical! The Short Course SC3.1 "Open and FAIR Your Science" featured a pre-recorded podcast-like discussion among Niels Drost, Tim van Emmerik, Rolf Hut, Liek Melsen (from The Netherlands) and Caitlyn Hall (from Tempe, Arizona) about practising open and FAIR - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable research to allow scientists, decision-makers, and the broader public to better access science and engineering research and understand its broader impacts. Tuesday The Union Symposia US5 highlighted international space agency plans on current and future planetary exploration including Earth as seen by ESA, NASA, JAXA and other space agencies. Some flagship missions observing the Earth and other planetary bodies were highlighted and challenges of organising future missions in an international framework as well as a forward look at potential future candidate missions were discussed: Tuesday's Short Course SC3.16 "Science blogging for beginners" contained helpful hints and suggestions for anybody interested in blogging. With 36 minutes in length - not including the time for the exercise! - it's well-worth watching or checking out the accompanying slides (and not just for scientists or newbie bloggers)! Wednesday Wednesday's Union Symposia US3 tackled The role and impact of fire in the Earth system across spatial and temporal scales. Recent record-breaking wildfires in the Arctic, boreal forests, the Mediterranean and, at the same time, human-driven decreases in burned area in savanna ecosystems show the need of an increased understanding of the drivers and impacts of fire regime changes under ongoing and future land management and climate changes. The pre-recorded Short Course SC4.5 "Mind your head" had five panellists giving short presentations about various topics within the theme of managing your mental health from their own perspective and based on their own experience. They focused on coping mechanisms and provided some tips on how to deal with certain issues. Thursday In Thursday's Union Symposia US2 "Geosciences and UN Sustainable Development Goals: pathways for the future" were presented and discussed. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. SDGs build on the successes of the Millennium Development Goals, and among other priorities include several new areas such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice. The goals are interconnected often the key to success on one will involve tackling issues more commonly associated with another. The Great Debate GDB5 discussed "Values versus facts: should geoscience get personal?" with Stephan Lewandowsky (Chair in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Bristol with research focusing on misinformation, post-truth deception and climate change) as one and Laura Smillie (Policy Analyst, Joint Research Centre, EU Commission and Project Leader of the Enlightenment 2.0 initiative) as the other panelist. The session focused on what makes people believe fake news and misinformation and the impact that this has. After two short presentations the panelists discussed how researchers can communicate their research with people who reject traditional science narratives or when scientists should tap into their audiences' emotions. Several questions from the audience were also discussed. Friday Friday's Union Symposia US4 asked the pointed question "Communicating A Global Climate Crisis: If our house is on fire, why havent we called the fire brigade?" which the panelists tried to find answers for from three very different perspectives. Leo Hickman (Director and editor of CarbonBrief) kicked things off with his journalist's points of view. Jutta Thielen-del Pozo (Head of the Scientific Development Unit at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission) followed with advice about communicating with policy makers and society. Michael Mann (Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State and Director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center) came last and tackled the wide field of denial. The last short course of the week was SC3.6 titled "What is science for policy and how can you get involved?". The first half of the session focused on basic science for policy and communication techniques that can be used to engage policymakers. It explained how scientists can get involved with specific science for policy processes and initiatives. The second half of the session featured three speakers who are working at the science-policy interface. They outlined how their role bridges the gap between science and policy and some of the institutionalised routes that scientists can take to connect with policymakers. Looking for more? Then head to EGU's Youtube channel where there's a playlist for the sessions which were live-streamed and for the pre-recorded short courses respectively. Casual clothing chain Uniqlo has reopened its flagship store in Tokyo's Ginza district after a month-long shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. The chain operator, Fast Retailing, reopened the store on Monday, saying that it is able to use anti-infection know-how at its shops at home and abroad. At the Ginza store, customers are required to wear masks and use hand sanitizers at the entrance. They will also have their body temperatures checked and will be refused entry if they are found to have a fever of 37.5 degrees Celsius or higher. Transparent plastic sheets were installed at the cashier counters to prevent possible transmission of the virus. All floors will be disinfected every two hours, and the staff will limit the number of customers when it's too crowded. Fast Retailing closed 311, or nearly 40 percent, of the Uniqlo outlets in Japan since a state of emergency was declared in early April. The company plans to resume operations at other domestic stores where preventive measures are in place. Many Uniqlo stores overseas are also reopening. Rueil Malmaison, 11 May 2020 Stephanie Malek appointed media relations manager at VINCI Stephanie Malek is appointed as Group media relations manager, reporting to Pierre Duprat, Vice-President, Corporate Communications. Stephanie, 39, joined the Group in Qatar in 2009, before being appointed Communications Director at VINCI Construction Grands Projets in 2013. Prior to that, she had been a journalist at various radio stations and audio visual attache at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Doha. Stephanie Malek has a diploma in journalism from the Centre de Formation des Journalistes and is certified in financial communication and investor relations by Universite de Paris-Dauphine and Cliff. About VINCI VINCI is a global player in concessions and contracting, employing 222,000 people in some 100 countries. We design, finance, build and operate infrastructure and facilities that help improve daily life and mobility for all. Because we believe in all-round performance, above and beyond economic and financial results, we are committed to operating in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. And because our projects are in the public interest, we consider that reaching out to all our stakeholders and engaging in dialogue with them is essential in the conduct of our business activities. VINCIs goal is to create long-term value for its customers, shareholders, employees, and partners and for society at large. www.vinci.com Attachment Vodacom acquired a 51% equity interest in IoT.nxt for a maximum consideration of R1.028 billion, of which R469 million was settled in cash, on 23 August 2019. The remainder of the money, outside of the R469 million in cash, is contingent on the future performance of the business. The deal includes R590 million of goodwill and a trademark of R13 million recognised with the acquisition of IoT.nxt. IoT.nxt was founded by Nico Steyn in 2015 and quickly grew to become a leading provider of IoT solutions in South Africa. Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said the acquisition will help the mobile operator to enhance its IoT offering. He explained that IoT.nxt offers unique edge technology and a tech-agnostic platform which can play a significant role in solving the challenges of legacy systems that have integration limitations. This acquisition, Joosub said, will position Vodacom well in being the digitalisation partner of choice for customers. Steyn previously told MyBroadband that the acquisition of the company will not change the way it operates, and they will maintain their agility in the market. IoT.nxt currently has numerous clients in the South African IT and telecoms market, including Telkom, Cell C, Fastnet, and T-Systems. Besides a capital injection, the deal with Vodacom will give the company strategic leverage which include access to Vodacom and Vodafones global operations. This also gives IoT.nxt the ability to grow its international footprint. It launched services in the US at the end of October 2018, and had secured a contract to provide IoT solutions to schools in Hillsborough County, Florida. The county includes the city of Tampa, and the project sees IoT.nxt installing LED lighting in schools and IoT solutions which monitor and control heating, air conditioning, and ventilation (HVAC) systems. Surprising valuation Africa Analysis said the R1.028 billion paid by Vodacom for 51% equity in IoT.nxt is surprising. The surprise element is based on the fact that the value of projects undertaken by IoT.nxt to date does not support this valuation, Africa Analysis said. The purchase price must have been based to a degree on anticipated future revenue flow, given IoT market expectations. Africa Analysis added that it is difficult to unpack this deals valuation drivers, but it does seem that Vodacom may have paid a premium for the equity. There is still some hype around IoT which may have influenced the price tag, Africa Analysis said. Now read: The South African IoT company making it big in the USA Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a target for colorectal cancer immunotherapy. Immunotherapy uses the body's immune system to target and destroy cancer cells. Considered the future of cancer treatment, immunotherapy is less toxic than chemotherapy. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer among men and women, yet chemotherapy remains the standard of care as limited numbers of patients respond to current immunotherapy treatment options. The findings published May 7 in JCI Insight could provide additional treatments for a larger number of colorectal cancer patients via a new immunotherapy pathway. Researchers identified ST2 as a novel checkpoint molecule that could help T cells become more effective. The research is a collaboration between IU School of Medicine cancer researchers Xiongbin Lu, PhD, Vera Bradley Foundation Professor of Breast Cancer Innovation and of Medical and Molecular Genetics, and Sophie Paczesny, MD, PhD, Nora Letzter Professor of Pediatrics and of Microbiology and Immunology. Immune checkpoints are an essential part of the immune system with the role of preventing immune cells from destroying healthy cells. T cells are immune system cells that attack foreign invaders such as infections and can help fight cancer. But cancer is tricky, and often the tumor microenvironment creates ways to prevent T cells from attacking cancer cells by misusing several factors including the activation of checkpoint molecules. Within the tumor microenvironment, the body's immune system knows something is wrong and sends a stress signal such as the alarmin IL-33, which brings in immune cells called macrophages that express ST2 (the receptor for IL-33) to help. What is at first a "good" response is quickly overwhelmed and the macrophages become the enemy in fighting colon cancer. The authors investigated using patient tumor genetic data and found that T-cell functionality, one of the key factors in fighting the cancer using the adaptive immune responses, is reduced in patients displaying high ST2 levels. Using tumor tissue samples from IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center tissue bank, researchers found abundant expression of ST2 in macrophages in tumor tissue samples from early to late-stage colorectal cancer. "In all of the patient samples, we were able to identify ST2 expressing macrophages, which would potentially mean that targeting these ST2 macrophages would be relevant to the patients," Kevin Van der Jeught, PhD, said. Van der Jeught is a post-doctoral researcher in Lu's lab and first author of this study. In preclinical mouse models, researchers found that by targeting the ST2-expressing macrophages, they were able to slow tumor growth. By depleting these inhibitory cells, the T cells became more active in fighting cancer. Research collaborator and scientist at the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research, Paczesny's previous research led to the discovery of ST2 and is the subject of her National Cancer Institute "Cancer Moonshot" grant focusing on immunotherapy for pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML). While leukemia and colorectal cancer are very different diseases, researchers have found commonality and collaboration in the ST2 protein. "This research is bringing together the pathway in two different diseases," Paczesny said. Lu's research focuses on cancer cell biology in diseases such as triple negative breast cancer and colorectal cancer. "We have to develop new tools and new approaches for solid tumors, and this is the kind of collaboration we need for advancing future treatments," Lu said. Researchers from two other institutions, the University of Maryland's Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center and the VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research in Belgium, have contributed to this publication. Researchers also are exploring combination therapy with existing immunotherapy, such as PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, which work to boost T cells directly, while attacking ST2 on macrophage cells increased T cells by stopping the inhibitors. "Potentially through a combination of two checkpoints at work on different immune cells, we could enhance the current response rates," Van der Jeught said. The researchers plan to explore these findings further and pursue the development of ST2 for cancer immunotherapy. ### Additional authors with Van der Jeught, Paczesny and Lu are IU School of Medicine researchers Yifan Sun; Yuanzhang Fang, PhD; Zhuolong Zhou, PhD; Hua Jiang, PhD; Tao Yu, PhD; Jinfeng Yang, PhD; Malgorzata M Kamocka, PhD; Ka Man So; Yujing Li, PhD; Haniyeh Eyvani; George E Sandusky, DVM, PhD; and Michael Frieden; Xinna Zhang, PhD, and Chi Zhang, PhD, IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center; Harald Braun, PhD, and Rudi Beyaert, PhD, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; and Xiaoming He, PhD, Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Maryland. This research was supported by IU School of Medicine Strategic Research Initiative fund; NIH R01CA203737 (Lu); and NIH U01CA232491 (Paczesny). A supplemental grant application has been submitted to NCI for funding further studies in hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer also called Lynch syndrome. Monrovia, Liberia - May 9, 2020: The Liberia Services Corporation Incorporated (LSCI) has donated 50kg bags of rice, 10 cartons of clora/bleach and 10 cartons of powder/tie soap to the Executive Committee on Coronavirus of Liberia (ECOC) and the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) as their initial contribution towards the containment and prevention of the coronavirus pandemic in Liberia. Mr. H. Kwaku Addy President/CEO of LSCI lauded the selfless efforts of the Executive Committee on Coronavirus of Liberia led by the workaholic Mary T. Broh in tackling COVID 19. "We are cognizant of the reality that resources are scarce and the entire World is down due to this pandemic -hence, we are placing our little resources at your disposal through food and non-food items to help curb this invisible enemy from our Country", CEO Addy expressed during the donation. According to Kwaku Addy, a consolidated effort by all is what is required now to help defeat COVID -19 and as such, there is absolutely no help that would be considered little or nothing. The Liberia Services Corporation Incorporated is a service institution that provides spaces for vehicles parking horizontally on the streets of Liberia. In addition to maintaining City ordinance, LSCI has provided job opportunities for dozens of Liberians. Receiving the donation, Madam Mary T. Broh, Director General of the General Service Agency (GSA) and National Coordinator of the COVID -19 Response Team extended thanks and appreciations on behalf of His Excellency President George Manneh Weah, the Liberian people and the COVID-19 Response Team. "I have seen the work your institution is doing in lifting Liberians out of poverty through job creation as well as maintaining city ordinance, this is extraordinary and worth commendations by all Liberians", Madam averred. "Rest assured that every grain of rice and drop of bleach will be used for its intended purpose and accounted for by the ECOC and MCC", Mary Broh assured. Madam Broh presented a donor certificate of appreciation to LSCI for identifying with the ECOC during this global health crisis. The coordinator of the Executive Committee on Coronavirus of Liberia is calling on Liberians, in general, to take seriously all approved preventive measures recommended by health practitioners to stay safe. Press Release 11 May 2020 HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee, and MILWAUKEE - The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index rose 15.6% in April to a level of 3,177. Year to date through the first four months of 2020, the stock index was down 39.7%. Advertisements "Hotel stocks rebounded in April following one of their worst months on record, but the stocks remain well below levels seen earlier this year," said Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and director at Baird. "Worst-case zero-occupancy scenarios have not unfolded as investors had feared, and the hotel companies have significantly bolstered their balance sheets with credit facility draws, bond offerings, and points pre-sales, which afford plenty of breathing room on the liquidity front until hotel demand begins to materially rebound." Photo: STR "U.S. weekly data for the latter portion of April has provided hope that levels seen earlier in the month were the performance bottom," said Amanda Hite, STR president. "While there have been modest demand gains over the last three weeks, the level of hotel business remains at incredible lows. Certainly, there is good news in slight demand increases versus further steep declines, but uncertainty will persist for the industry even as businesses begin to reopen and distancing limitations are eased. Hotel companies have released new cleaning protocols which should give guests a sense of safety as travel demand resumes." April performance of the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index outperformed both the S&P 500 (+12.7%) and the MSCI US REIT Index (+8.0%). The Hotel Brand sub-index jumped 17.0% from March to 5,511, while the Hotel REIT sub-index increased 11.7% to 784. About the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index and Sub-Indices The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index was set to equal 1,000 on 1 January 2000. Last cycle, the Index peaked at 3,178 on 5 July 2007. The Index's low point occurred on 6 March 2009 when it dropped to 573. The Hotel Brand sub-index was set to equal 1,000 on 1 January 2000. Last cycle, the sub-index peaked at 3,407 on 5 July 2007. The sub-index's low point occurred on 6 March 2009 when it dropped to 722. The Hotel REIT sub-index was set to equal 1,000 on 1 January 2000. Last cycle, the sub-index peaked at 2,555 on 2 February 2007. The sub-index's low point occurred on 5 March 2009 when it dropped to 298. The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index and sub-indices are available exclusively on www.HotelNewsNow.com. The indices are cobranded and were created by Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird) and STR. The market-cap-weighted, price-only indices comprise 20 of the largest market-capitalization hotel companies publicly traded on a U.S. exchange and attempt to characterize the performance of hotel stocks. The Index and sub-indices are maintained by Baird and hosted on Hotel News Now, are not actively managed, and no direct investment can be made in them. As of 30 April 2020, the companies that comprised the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index included: Apple Hospitality REIT, Chatham Lodging Trust, Choice Hotels International, DiamondRock Hospitality Company, Extended Stay America, Hersha Hospitality Trust, Hilton Inc., Host Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International, Park Hotels & Resorts, Inc., Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, RLJ Lodging Trust, Ryman Hospitality Properties, Service Properties Trust, Summit Hotel Properties, Sunstone Hotel Investors, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, and Xenia Hotels & Resorts. This communication is not a call to action to engage in a securities transaction and has not been individually tailored to a specific client or targeted group of clients. Research reports on the companies identified in this communication are provided by Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, and are available to clients through their Baird Financial Advisor. This communication does not provide recipients with information or advice that is sufficient on which to base an investment decision. This communication does not take into account the specific investment objectives, financial situation or need of any particular client and may not be suitable for all types of investors. Recipients should consider the contents of this communication as a single factor in making an investment decision. Additional fundamental and other analyses would be required to make an investment decision about any individual security identified in this release. About Baird Putting clients first since 1919, Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, asset management, investment banking/capital markets, and private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Baird has approximately 4,600 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients and more than $305 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2019. Committed to being a great workplace, Baird ranked No. 13 on the 2020 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Baird is the marketing name of Baird Financial Group. Baird's principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird's investment banking and private equity operations. For more information, please visit Baird's website at www.rwbaird.com. A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in May 2020 reports the use of a dynamic SEIR model to identify variations in the reproductive number of SARS-CoV-2 over time, using machine learning techniques. This could help to model and predict the outcomes of various public health solutions. Study: The reproduction number of COVID-19 and its correlation with public health interventions . Image Credit: Fikretow / Shutterstock The reproductive number The reproductive number has become the most discussed term in the current COVID-19 pandemic. This number, represented as R0, refers to the number of new infections that one infected individual can cause in a susceptible population. It has been used to justify and explain why lockdowns, social distancing, and other mitigation strategies are needed to keep the case count and death toll low in this pandemic. If the R0 is above 1, each infection breeds more, and the outbreak will continue to grow. When it falls below 1, the outbreak will continue but at a lower death rate, since less than 1 infected case follows the resolution of an earlier case by death or recovery. Due to changes in the country, culture, type of calculation, and outbreak stage, the R0 has been reported with highly differing magnitudes. Even though it is important, it seems complicated to arrive at a precise, calculated value due to data limitations and reporting inaccuracies. Moreover, direct observation of R0 seems impossible. The first reported R0 was from Wuhan, at 2.2, as a result of direct contact tracing. This became suspect due to the volume of cases, leading to the breakdown of healthcare systems and inadequate testing facilities at that stage, as well as evolving case definitions. Even today, model choice, starting conditions, and other assumptions shape the final calculation, which has led to a wide range of R0 values from 2.23.6 to 4.16.5. The SEIR model The current study uses the SEIR model. This is a compartment model, common in epidemiological studies. It shows how the disease progresses through interactions between 4 compartments, namely, susceptible, exposed, infectious, and recovered. It is based on three parameters, the rates at which susceptible people become exposed (), the exposed become infectious (), and the infectious become recovered (). The last two are inversely associated with the latent period and the infectious period, respectively. The latent period is the time in which an exposed individual is not yet infectious, and the infectious period is the duration when an infected person can infect others. These may differ from 2-6 days and 3-18 days. This model captures the most crucial aspect of an epidemiological model, that is, the transition from susceptible to exposed state. This will change with the size of the susceptible and infectious populations and the rate of contact between them, as well as being inversely proportional to the contact period. The lockdown debate Within 45 days from the first reported COVID-19 case in Europe, on January 24, 2020, the pandemic had affected all the 27 countries of the European Union, resulting in an EU-wide lockdown of all external borders. Within the next two weeks, many local travel restrictions and lockdowns followed, with a 95% decline in air travel between EU countries. This sparked immense disagreement based primarily on a lack of consensus as to how this would succeed in reducing the number of new cases. Finding the dynamic reproduction number The current study aimed at finding correlations between lockdowns and changing outbreak conditions. It uses a dynamic SEIR model to reflect changing contact rates under lockdown parameters. The model allows calculation of the precise R0 in different conditions and the time delay between any public health measure and its effect on the outbreak spread. This latter is an essential parameter in deciding how to relax lockdowns in a phased manner, as well as to provide risk estimates with each course of action. R(t), the effective reproductive number, is an important parameter in this model as it reflects the change in R0 (the basic reproduction number) with time and mitigation strategies. The R0 across Europe is 4.5, being highest in Spain, France, and Germany at nearly 6.0, and the lowest in Estonia, Slovenia, and Malta at around 1.4. The current effective reproductive number Rt is much lower, with a mean EU value of 0.72, being highest in Slovakia, Sweden, and Bulgaria at around 1.1 and lowest in Austria, Cyprus, and France at about 0.3. The relative reduction in reproduction number is most substantial in Sweden, Hungary, and Denmark, ranging from 0.58 to 0.44. The time delay from air travel restrictions to the reduction in effective reproductive number ranges from 1 day in France and Luxembourg to 30 days in Malta, with an EU mean of 13 days. The SEIR model shows that herd immunity is reached at about 78% infection if the reproductive number is 4.5. Advantages of the dynamic SEIR model The dynamic model used here allows for a changing contact rate, thus helping to predict temporary stable states which are away from the final herd immunity equilibrium. These can show massive and rapid changes once travel restrictions and social distancing regulations are relaxed, but can be studied with this model. The changing effective reproductive number can also measure the strength of public health measures to help shape policies to contain the pandemic. It also throws much light on the effect of public health interventions, especially travel restrictions, where France reacted the fastest and Sweden the least. The time delay to any observable effect on the transmission curve is also least in France, at one day, and slowest in Sweden, at 21 days. Machine learning is also exploited by the researchers to evaluate the enormous volume of data from the pandemic and examine trends and correlations. This has yielded the effective reproduction number in the EU, for instance. This is higher than the number quoted by the World Health Organization (WHO) based on an early contact tracing study in Wuhan, at 2.2 but comparable to the currently cited figure of 5.7 for the Wuhan epidemic. Exiting the lockdown The researchers postulated three sets of conditions; one in which the current reproductive number Rt is constant at the effective reproductive number R(t); and the other two reflecting the effect of a change from Rt to the basic reproduction number R0 for that country, either over one month or over 3 months. Sweden has not enforced mandatory lockdown, and its reproductive number is still above 1, among the few countries in Europe which are in a similar situation. However, the Swedish situation will probably not change if the current moderate recommendations are removed, unlike the projected steep spike in some other countries like Austria after the removal of lockdown. The difference lies in the individuals willingness to take responsibility for ones health. The researchers conclude, Our dynamic model provides the flexibility to simulate the effects and timelines of various outbreak control and exit strategies to inform political decision making and identify solutions that minimize the impact of COVID-19 on global health. *Important Notice medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. Bhopal: Narendra Modi has become the first Prime Minister visiting birth place of revolutionary leader Chandrashekhar Azad at Bhabhra in Madhya Pradeshs Alirajpur district. He will be launch a programme to commemorate the sacrifices of freedom fighters on the Quit India day on Tuesday. PM Modi's speech from Bhabhra: 03:06pm: # Our flag inspires the people to change the future of India. It inspires desh-bhakti in us: PM Modi 03:03pm: # Whether it is the J&K Govt under Mehbooba Mufti's or the Central Govt, we are finding a solution to all problems through development: PM 03:01pm: # Boys who should be holding laptops, bats, balls in their hands & dreams in their hearts are ones carrying stones: PM Modi on Kashmir 03:00pm: # The freedom that every Indian has also belongs to every Kashmiri. We want the same bright future for every youth in Kashmir: PM Modi 02:58pm: # We are the people who walk the path that Atal Bihari Vajpayee took when it comes to Kashmir: PM Modi 02:56pm: # Kashmir, which we give so much love to, some people there are causing it a lot of harm: PM Modi 02:51pm: # Many of us were born in a free India. But the freedom fighters got the honour to sacrifice their lives for the nation: PM 02:45pm: # It is my good fortune to be here, and bow my head at the birthplace of Chandrashekhar Azad: PM Modi 02:40pm: # On 8th Aug, 75 years back, Mahatma Gandhi asked the Britishers to "QUIT INDIA": PM Modi 02:30pm: # PM Modi to kick off 'Azadi 70 Saal-Yaad Karo Qurbani', programme from Bhabhra,Alirajpur 02:00pm: # PM Narendra Modi visits memorial in Alirajpur after paying tribute to Chandrashekhar Azad 01:50pm: # PM Narendra Modi pays floral tribute to Chandrashekhar Azad in Alirajpur 01:40pm: # Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Alirajpur district, Madhya Pradesh The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has changed the name of Bhabhra as Chandrashekhar Azad Nagar in memory of the revolutionary leader. The house where he was born on July 23, 1906 was developed into a memorial and named as Azaad Smriti Mandir. A small museum is also exists at the place which showcases his life. Azad, who plunged into freedom struggle at a very young age by joining the non-cooperation movement, later chose the revolutionary path to fight the British rule. August 9 is a historic day in Indias freedom struggle as it reminds us of the sacrifices made by the revolutionary leaders, BJP state general secretary Arvind Bhadoria told PTI. It is a matter of happiness that the Prime Minister is launching the campaign Azadi-70, Yaad Karo Kurbani from the birth place of Azad, Bhabhra, in Alirajpur district on the occasion, he said. Under the campaign from August 9 to 14, Union ministers will visit places associated with freedom struggle, especially the birth places of martyred leaders. Nearly two lakh people, mostly tribals are expected to take part in the meeting to be addressed by the Prime Minister, Bhadoria said. Besides, from August 16-22 various programmes in the memory of freedom struggle, like Tiranga Yatra, candle march and Rakshabandhan festival, would be organised. Meanwhile, Congress MP from Ratlam-Jhabua, Kantilal Bhuria alleged that the BJP has given it a saffron colour to the programme by overlooking Congress contribution to the freedom struggle. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. PerkinElmer, Inc., a global leader committed to innovating for a healthier world, today announced its Solus One Salmonella assay and methods have been granted First Action Official Methods of Analysis (OMA) status, number 2020.03, from AOAC INTERNATIONAL (Association of Official Analytical Collaboration). The Solus One Salmonella assay, which previously received ISO 16140 and AOAC Performance Tested Methods (PTM) certification, detects Salmonella in select foods, with negative/presumptive positive results available in approximately 2 hours, post enrichment. Positive confirmation is then possible with an additional 24 hours. The assay can be run manually or with automation by adding Dynex Technologies DS-2 system. Achieving OMA, the highest level of AOAC certification, involved a rigorous certification process that included simultaneous testing at over a dozen labs across the US, UK and South Africa. Data was then closely reviewed by an expert panel confirming result accuracy and repeatability of the Solus One Salmonella assay for a range of samples including raw salmon, romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, instant non-fat dry milk, pasteurized liquid eggs, raw beef trim, cocoa, and herbs and spices. Tested food sample sizes ranged from 25g to 375g and swabs and sponges for production environment testing were also included. The World Health Organization estimates that Salmonella causes over 17 million people to become ill each year globally, said Greg Sears, vice president and general manager, Food, PerkinElmer. Members of the food industry, regulatory and research ecosystem around the world need to be able to depend on pathogen testing options that are reliable, consistent and efficient. We are pleased that our Solus One Salmonella assay and methods -- which have already been helping with food safety and quality globally -- have now achieved the highest level of AOAC certification. PerkinElmers pathogen assay offerings also include Solus One for Listeria and E. coli O157 and are part of the companys broad food safety and quality solutions portfolio spanning across instruments, software, testing kits, reagents and services for grain, dairy, meats, produce, edible oils, seafood, herbs and spices and more. For more information please visit www.perkinelmer.com/category/food-safety-quality. About PerkinElmer PerkinElmer enables scientists, researchers and clinicians to address their most critical challenges across science and healthcare. With a mission focused on innovating for a healthier world, we deliver unique solutions to serve the diagnostics, life sciences, food and applied markets. We strategically partner with customers to enable earlier and more accurate insights supported by deep market knowledge and technical expertise. Our dedicated team of about 13,000 employees worldwide is passionate about helping customers work to create healthier families, improve the quality of life, and sustain the wellbeing and longevity of people globally. The Company reported revenue of approximately $2.9 billion in 2019, serves customers in 190 countries, and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Additional information is available through 1-877-PKI-NYSE, or at www.perkinelmer.com. A recall has been issued for Imager II 5F catheters due to potential adverse reactions including death. About the Class 1 Catheter Recalls Boston Scientific is a corporation that manufactures medical aids and technology. Recently, they were forced to voluntarily recall their Imager II 5f angiographic catheters due to critical defects. According to Medscape, a portion of the catheters had the potential to break off within a patient's blood stream or vessels. These occurrences were most likely to happen during important procedures such as surgery. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quickly issued the catheters as a Class 1 recall with a total report of 9 injuries so far. A Class 1 recall is acknowledged for its high probability of causing adverse medical problems including death and should be taken seriously. A summary of the recall notice from the FDA warned that the catheters could possibly attribute to prolonged time periods within a hospital due to emergency surgeries needed to remove the catheter. They also noted that more serious problems could occur such as strokes or even death from usage. Boston Scientific has been desperately working to notify all affected medical facilities using their catheters to send them back to their company. Description of the Recalled Boston Scientific Catheters 6130 single units (1226 five-packs) were recalled The Imager II 5F angiographic catheters were distributed throughout the United States from July 16, 2018- November 26, 2019 Contact information: BSCFieldActionCenter@bsci.com Contact an Experienced Defective Medical Device Attorney If you or a loved one has been the victim of a dangerous pharmaceutical drug or medical device, you may be entitled to compensation. You deserve dynamic representation from a law firm with the resources necessary to take on the pharmaceutical companies. Thomas J. Henry has a track record of helping clients receive record-breaking verdicts, settlements, and judgments. Our firm has offices in Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and Austin, serving clients across Texas and nationwide. Call us today for a free case review attorneys are available 24/7, nights and weekends. Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com. Patients at a private clinic in Buda are now greeted by a humanoid robot named Pepper, tasked with asking people whether they have coronavirus symptoms, according to a press release by Netlife Robotics. The nearly 1.5 m tall robot greets the patients, introduces itself, and says it wants to ask some questions because of the coronavirus situation. If the patient accepts the questioning, a conversation starts with the robot. Pepper follows the usual protocol asking with questions like: "Do you have fever?", "Do you cough?", and "Were you in contact with infected people?". If the robot receives negative answers to all the questions, Pepper reports that there is no suspicion of coronavirus infection and asks the patient to walk over to the reception. If at least one answer is yes, Pepper advises the patient to consult their own GP, who will decide on the further steps. "As we see, patients like the first, non-traditional greeting and are happy to work with the robot," said Dr. Alexandra Pacz, director of Budai Maganorvosi Centrum. "And its easier for our colleagues that the robot takes this simple, exhausting and repetitive workflow from them." According to her, the use of humanoid robots is still unique in Hungary, but there are many examples of their use worldwide. Peppers peers work as receptionists in Belgian, Australian, and Canadian hospitals, where they help with routine tasks. Robots are also involved in the fight against the coronavirus. For instance, at a smart hospital in China, they have taken a number of tasks off the shoulders of the nursing staff. Pacz notes that the institution will consider employing Pepper after the coronavirus pandemic ends if clients continue to leave positive feedback. Demand for robots on the rise The robot, which utilizes AI technology, was trained by a Hungarian development team to communicate in Hungarian, in just two weeks. In the video below you can see how Pepper can converse in Hungarian: The robots AI does not only recognize and give answers to predetermined questions, but also tries to react and create answers based on previous patterns, adapting to a new situation. According to Netlife Robotics CEO Levente Bartha, robots like Pepper are expected to appear at more places such as information points, customer services, and shops in the near future, as they will be able to take over lower value-added tasks that do not require physical contact, according to Levente Bartha, CEO of Netlife Robotics, the company that develops the robot. The press release argues that market analysts also expect growing turnover rates in the robot market. According to a projection, global demand for robots will grow by 25% a year, which is expected to reach USD 100 billion this year. In addition to the need for automation, the phenomenon of social distancing associated with the coronavirus pandemic may also increase demand, because robots can work without contact, even at the most dangerous places, constantly, even by remote control if necessary. MTI Photo: Balazs Mohai MILTON, Fla. (AP) _ For two sleepless nights, Kelly Kniss had wondered what had become of her home in the Florida Panhandle and the two dozen hens she and her husband Ryan had left behind after authorities ordered them to grab what they could and flee to safety. A wildfire was approaching, and they knew it was time to leave. They gathered what was important their kids, two cats, two dogs and a few documents. They grabbed a couple days worth of clothes and drove out before the fire could stop them. From a hotel room, Kniss watched real-time footage of the raging fire from a security camera installed at her home. The camera caught a worrisome scene: Firefighters at her home battling the blaze. She saw an outbuilding was on fire. Then the camera went dark, and the worry set in. On Friday morning images reappeared from the camera, and Kniss surmised that her home must still be standing. By the afternoon, when a stranger informed them that evacuation orders had been lifted, she and her husband Ryan hurried to return to their neighborhood to survey the damage. This is such a tragic thing going on. We did lose an outbuilding, for sure. But there are other people who have lost their homes. Its a terrible terrible tragedy, thats what it is, Kniss said. On Friday, authorities invited residents back to the most devastated areas overrun by a fire that had enveloped 2,200 acres of woods and homes. But they told returning residents to be ready to pull back out, should the fire again shift direction. Fire crews were working to hold containment lines around the fire dubbed the Five Mile Swamp Fire, the largest of several blazes burning through the Florida Panhandle. The fire destroyed 14 homes, but authorities said there had been no deaths or injuries. Despite continued concerns about the blaze, authorities reopened a stretch of Interstate 10 that had been blocked near Pensacola. Winds were now gusting northward away from the previously threatened neighborhoods but toward another inhabited area in Santa Rosa County. So far today, were able to keep fire within containment lines, said Ludie Bond, a spokeswoman for the Florida Forest Service. The firebreak was about a half-mile from a neighborhood, officials said. While no new evacuations have been issued, Bond urged residents to be ready to leave their homes should they be given the word to do so. People should be prepared and be ready, she said. Thats a lesson Daniel Felder no knows all too well, after escaping flames Wednesday when the fire invaded his neighborhood near Milton, Florida. Felder recounted how the sky was glowing with sunlight, then grow dark as winds began to whip. He stepped out into the road to watch the acrid smoke billow toward him. Ash started raining from the sky like light snow drifting in twilight. Then came the crackle of fire, and he knew it was time to run. Next thing you know, the fire was right there, said Felder, 45, recounting the minutes Wednesday afternoon when a raging fire swept through his bucolic wooded neighborhood. Unable to flee, Felder and his landlord waded into a nearby pond until the fire passed. The house was spared, but the fire took down a barn and turned the surrounding trees into a charred forest of blackened trunks. On Friday, helicopter and tractor units continued to battle fires in the Panhandle that have forced hundreds of residents to flee, scorched thousands of acres and razed dozens of structures. In Nearby Walton County, a 575-acre (233-hectare) fire in prompted about 500 people to evacuate, but that fire was now nearly contained. The Santa Rosa County fire began Monday when a prescribed burn by a private contractor got out of control, Fried said. The conditions created a perfect storm for fire _ low humidity and high winds. In Florida, when were seeing the gusty winds, its hurricane season, not necessarily fire season. So the recipe was just right for this fire to make a huge run, Bond had said. About the photo: In this Thursday, May 7, 2020 photo, smoke wafts from the smoldering ruins of a home in the aftermath of the Five Mile Swamp Fire that is still burning near Milton, Fla. A 2,000 acre fire, now burning since Monday, destroyed 13 homes and prompted residents from 1,100 homes to evacuate earlier this week. Fire crews, some coming from across the state, are hoping that containment lines will keep the fire from threatening more homes. (AP Photo/Bobby Caina Calvan) Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Lee Merritt, a lawyer representing the family of Ahmaud Arbery, poses for a photo by a mural in the likeness of Arbery painted by artist Theo Ponchaveli in Dallas on May 9, 2020. (Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo) Man Who Recorded Ahmaud Arbery Shooting Says Hes Received Threats The man who captured footage of Ahmaud Arbery being shot dead in February says hes been receiving threats since the footage began widely circulating online recently, leading to the arrest of the men who killed the 25-year-old. Roddie Bryan and his family are receiving threats, his lawyer, Kevin Gough, said in a statement released after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said it was still investigating people linked to the killing, including Bryan. We investigate everybody involved in the case, including the individual who shot the video, Vic Reynolds, the director of the agency, said last week. Gough said his client cooperated with law enforcement, including showing the video he filmed to a police officer who responded to the scene. Gough later went to the Glynn County Police Department with no lawyer accompanying him and answered every question asked of him. He also let officers search his cell phone. Until Reynoldss statement, Bryan wasnt told that he was a target of the investigation into Arberys death. Such comments, which are unsupported by the evidence already in the possession of the GBI, have needlessly placed the lives of Mr. Bryan, his family, friends and neighbors in jeopardy, and in a matter of moments effectively destroyed his life, Gough said. This image from video posted on Twitter Tuesday, May 5, 2020, purports to show Ahmaud Arbery stumbling and falling to the ground after being shot as Travis McMichael stands by holding a shotgun in a neighborhood outside Brunswick, Ga., on Feb. 23, 2020. The AP has not been able to verify the source of the video. (Twitter via AP) Gregory McMichael (L) and Travis McMichael. (Glynn County Sheriffs Office) Mr. Bryan respectfully asks that the GBI promptly review the file again and clear his good name, he added. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman declined to comment. The footage sparked widespread outrage and prompted a number of lawmakers, including Gov. Brian Kemp and President Donald Trump, to call for a new investigation. The agency said last week it was conducting an independent investigation into the killing of Arbery. The original probe was conducted by the Glynn County Police Department, which requested the agency look into the public release of video footage related to the incident. In an update over the weekend, the bureau said it was reviewing additional video footage and photographs as part of the active case. It is important to note that this footage was reviewed at the beginning of the GBI investigation and before the arrests of Gregory and Travis McMichael, it stated. Arbery was killed while jogging near Brunswick on Feb. 23, according to reports. Investigators announced the arrest of the McMichaels, a father and son, late May 7. Theyre facing murder and aggravated assault charges. Jack Phillips contributed to this report. In what has been the most unusual college admissions season of our lifetimes, the 51 members of the St. Andrews-Sewanee School Class of 2020 received 203 offers of admission and have deliberated long and hard to come to decisions about where they will matriculate in the fall. Students are heading to 35 colleges as close as the University of the South and Motlow State Community College and as far away as UC San Diego and Gonzaga University. A perennial favorite among SAS students, the University of the South will welcome a record 10 members of the class in the fall. Members of the SAS Class of 2020 have accepted admission offers from: Arizona State University Birmingham Southern College Carson-Newman University Chattanooga State Community College Colorado College Emory University Florida Atlantic University Franklin & Marshall College George Washington University Georgia State University Gonzaga University Illinois Institute of Technology Lee University Macalaster College Maryville College (2) Middle Tennessee State University Millsaps College Mississippi State University Motlow State Community College (2) New York University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Roanoke College The University of Tennessee The University of the South (9) Trinity University University of Alabama - Birmingham UC San Diego University of Chicago University of Connecticut University of Mississippi University of New Mexico Valencia College Vanderbilt University Western Carolina University Wooster College The class of 2020 has impressed me from the start, said Director of College Counseling Dan Monahan. When we started working together in their junior year, these students knew what they wanted. Having to choose a college in the midst of an unprecedented international pandemic still didnt shake them. In many ways, it strengthened their choices. These students picked the institutions that they know will be the best fit for them. They paid close attention to how the colleges corresponded with them through this and made their decisions to enroll. Their determination to stay positive and move forward will be remembered for years to come. Victorians will be allowed to have five visitors in their homes, under an easing of the state's lockdown restrictions, Premier Daniel Andrews has announced. The new rule will come into effect from 11.59pm on Tuesday. Students will also return to the classroom before the end of term two, but the government is not expected to announce further details on that until later this week. Victoria recorded seven new cases of COVID-19 in the last day. One of those is connected to the Cedar Meats outbreak, four are travellers who have returned from overseas and two are still being investigated. The total number of cases in the state is now 1494. Sudhir Gupta, a lawyer from Palghar, and Dhawal Patel, a social worker, came to the rescue of 1,200 migrants who wanted to leave for their hometowns in Madhya Pradesh after the governments online booking system for transit pass went down due to overload. This was the first MP-bound train to leave from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), which left Palghar on Sunday night and reached Meghnagar in Madhya Pradesh on Monday. As the online booking system couldnt be accessed for two consecutive days, Gupta and Patel appealed to people on social media to contact them to manually make a list of migrants and then passed it over to the government authorities. The state government then got in touch with the MP government. We got information that the online system of the government was not working, so we decided to help. We appealed to the people on social media to contact us and got a huge response, said Gupta. Though only 1,200 passengers could board the train, we are preparing a second list for Madhya Pradesh, said Patel. The Madhya Pradesh government bore the fare expenses and did not charge the migrants, said Gupta. After the train reached Meghnagar on Monday, the MP government arranged buses to take the passengers to various districts, said Gupta. An officer from Palghar collectors office confirmed that the online system was overloaded with around 1.90 lakh applications from migrants from various states and hence needed to be shut for two days. Meanwhile, on Monday afternoon, another train left for Jaunpur from Palghar carrying 1,200 migrants. However, the passengers had to pay 740 as fare, said Milind Kirtikar, station superintendent, Western Railway, Palghar. Technavio has been monitoring the automotive films market and it is poised to grow by USD 1045.92 million during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost 4% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005597/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Automotive Films Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. 3M Co., Arlon Graphics LLC, Avery Dennison Corp., Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA, Eastman Chemical Co., HEXIS SA, Johnson Window Films Inc., LINTEC Corp., NEXFIL Co. Ltd., and Rayno Window Film are some of the major market participants. The popularity of interactive automotive film simulators will offer immense growth opportunities. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Popularity of interactive automotive film simulators has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. Automotive Films Market 2020-2024: Segmentation Automotive Films Market is segmented as below: Type Window Films Wrap Films Paint Protection Films Geographic APAC North America Europe South America MEA To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR43607 Automotive Films Market 2020-2024: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our automotive films market report covers the following areas: Automotive Films Market Size Automotive Films Market Trends Automotive Films Market Industry Analysis This study identifies the popularity of long-distance road travel as one of the prime reasons driving the automotive films market growth during the next few years. Automotive Films Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of vendors operating in the automotive films market, including some of the vendors such as 3M Co., Arlon Graphics LLC, Avery Dennison Corp., Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA, Eastman Chemical Co., HEXIS SA, Johnson Window Films Inc., LINTEC Corp., NEXFIL Co. Ltd., and Rayno Window Film. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the automotive films market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Automotive Films Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist automotive films market growth during the next five years Estimation of the automotive films market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the automotive films market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of automotive films market vendors Table Of Contents: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Market characteristics Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2019 Market outlook: Forecast for 2019 2024 Five Forces Analysis Five forces summary Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by Type Market segments Comparison by Type Window films Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Wrap films Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Paint protection films Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by Type Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison APAC Market size and forecast 2019-2024 North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024 South America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Market Drivers Market Challenges Market Trends Vendor Landscape Vendor landscape Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors 3M Co. Arlon Graphics LLC Avery Dennison Corp. Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA Eastman Chemical Co. HEXIS SA Johnson Window Films Inc. LINTEC Corp. NEXFIL Co. Ltd. Rayno Window Film Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005597/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Reform AllianceJay-Zs Roc Nation has penned an open letter calling on Georgia officials to ensure a fair trial in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Signed by Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Meek Mill and Yo Gotti, the letter -- which was addressed to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Attorney General Christopher Carr and District Attorney Tom Durden -- also calls on prosecutors to charge William Bryan, who reportedly video recorded the incident, as an accomplice. The letter appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was also shared via Roc Nation's Twitter. Arbery was killed by a white former police officer and his son on February 23 while jogging in Brunswick, Georgia. Recent viral video footage of the shooting led to the arrest of the shooters, Gregory McMichael, 64, and his 34-year-old son, Travis, who confronted Arbery during a jog in his neighborhood. Arbery was fatally shot after a tussle over a gun. The McMichaels were charged with murder and aggravated assault, which the letter describes as, "a positive first step on the long road toward justice." Roc Nation is also concerned with what they say is a "clear conflict of interest," demanding that Durden recuse himself from the case, because Gregory McMichael is a former police officer. They're also demanding that a special prosecutor be appointed. "As a society, we can no longer pretend that the racial inequities, which exist in every facet of our lives, dont invariably lead down the path to poverty, violence, and death," the statement reads. "And if you take those necessary actions, you will send a message to the people that want to drag Georgia back to a time when African-Americans were killed merely for voting: hate and fear will lose." Regarding the case, Meek Mill stated, "Jogging is not a crime. We cannot and we will not give up the fight until his murderers are brought to justice." Alicia Keys thought of her children as she watched the video, calling it "unbelievably unacceptable and inhumane." She adds, "I have black sons and they should be able to go on a jog or anywhere they want without the risk of being killed." Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. The COVID-19-led price correction in stocks presents a unique opportunity for Indian investors to invest in the Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) listed in India, Standard Chartered Securities India Limited said in a report. The strong parentage backing and strategic shift of their production base to India presents a unique opportunity for long-term growth. The international brokerage house is of the view that MNC companies tend to outperform the broader market over a long period as evidenced by the comparative study between the Nifty MNC index and prominent benchmarks. We have filtered our MNC universe of 43 stocks basis profitability ratios (ROE & ROCE) higher than 15 percent for the past three fiscal years. There are 18 stocks which fit the criteria and that include names like Blue Dart, Akzo Nobel, Abbott India, Cummins India, HUL, Castrol India, and OFSS, etc. among others, said the note. Why MNC? MNCs are professionally driven by strong corporate governance. They are known for their technological proficiency and asset-light business models. Standard Chartered Securities India is of the view that in the post-COVID world, business models of MNCs are likely to lead the growth backed by innovation and faster adoption to changing consumer behaviour. MNCs are usually well-capitalized with low debt exposure and good dividend policies. Most of the MNCs have market leadership in their category of operations and strong brand equity. The report highlighted that MNCs are also likely to be key beneficiaries of structural changes such as formalisation of the Indian economy, the abolition of the Dividend Distribution Tax for corporates (as proposed in the recent budget), and Indias quest for Make-in-India to be successful. MNC Outperformance: Historical evidence suggests MNCs companies have delivered superior returns over a long-term period, said the note. The MNC companies have also outperformed the broader market benchmarks over a longer period. Over a five-year period, the Nifty MNC has outperformed the Nifty50 index by 1.5 percent CAGR and the BSE 500 by 1.8 percent CAGR. : The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Traffic in London the morning after Boris Johnson said people who cannot work from home should be 'actively encouraged' to return to their jobs. (PA) Millions of people who cannot work from home should only return to workplaces on Wednesday, according to a government minister. The comments by foreign secretary Dominic Raab on Monday sparked disbelief as Boris Johnson had not included a date in his speech on Sunday night. Johnson had said only that he hoped people would act on the eased lockdown restrictions this week. The prime ministers message was widely assumed to apply from Monday, as reportedly briefed to UK political journalists by Downing Street officials. Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband dubbed the governments messaging shambolic, with anger it has left many workers uncertain over whether they must leave their homes. Miliband tweeted: Wednesday was only mentioned in relation to other changes. Words matter. Clarity is essential. READ MORE: Call for swift return to work recipe for chaos without new safety guidance Construction and manufacturing workers are among those the government is encouraging to return to work, though they had not previously been blocked from doing so. There were reports on Monday that some trains and roads were busier than usual. The BBCs transport correspondent Tom Edwards tweeted that commuters on the Jubilee line on the London Underground network said it was noticeably busier than last week, with more construction and office workers. The UK governments call for a swift return to work at short notice had already been dubbed a recipe for chaos before Raabs clarification. Union, business and opposition leaders all demanded more guidance on safety in workplaces, while critics also warned over safety and severely limited capacity on public transport for commuters. READ MORE: Boris Johnsons lockdown easing speech explained A leading London business trade body had already issued a strong and unequivocal appeal to firms not to change their plans on Monday. We have not been given sufficient information on how to get your employees safely to work, not how to keep them safe while they are there. Story continues He said he hoped Johnsons planned statement in parliament and guidance documents on Monday afternoon would help firms to adequately prepare. Frances OGrady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said the government should be introducing tough new rules on safety alongside a return to work. She said the current messaging would cause many workers confusion and anxiety, adding: The government still hasnt published guidance on how workers will be kept safe. It comes as expectations grow that the UK governments furlough scheme could be extended, but with wage subsidies slashed from 80% to 60% of ordinary pay. The Telegraph reports UK chancellor Rishi Sunak could extend the scheme, currently paying the wages of more than six million workers, to September. Firms are concerned the support could be slashed before recovery is strong enough for firms to start paying full wages themselves, risking lay-offs. READ MORE: Stocks on firm footing as lockdown exit roadmap set out 10:57 According to the United Nations specialized agency, the global health crisis could lead to an annual tourism decline between 60 per cent and 80 per cent when compared with the 2019 figures. "This places millions of livelihoods at risk and threatens to roll back progress made in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals," it said. "The world is facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis. Tourism has been hit hard, with millions of jobs at risk in one of the most labour-intensive sectors of the economy," UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said. Arrivals in March dropped sharply by 57 per cent following the start of a lockdown in many countries, as well as the widespread introduction of travel restrictions and the closure of airports and national borders. This translates into a loss of 67 million international arrivals and about USD 80 billion in receipts (exports from tourism). Although Asia and the Pacific shows the highest impact in relative and absolute terms (a decline of 33 million arrivals), the impact in Europe, though lower in percentage, is quite high in volume (-22 million), the agency said. Prospects for the year have been downgraded several times since the outbreak and uncertainty continues to dominate. Current scenarios point to possible declines in arrivals of 58 per cent to 78 per cent for the year. These depend on the speed of containment and the duration of travel restrictions and shutdown of borders. The agency has given three scenarios for 2020 based on possible dates for the gradual opening up of international borders. According to scenario 1, there could be a decline of 58 per cent in arrivals based on the gradual opening of international borders and easing of travel restrictions in early July. Scenario 2 could see a 70 per cent decline if international borders are gradually opened and travel restrictions are eased in early September. Scenario 3 states that there could be a 78 per cent decline in arrivals based on the gradual opening of international borders and easing of travel restrictions only in early December. Under these scenarios, the impact of the loss of demand in international travel could translate into loss of 850 million to 1.1 billion international tourists, loss of USD 910 billion to USD 1.2 trillion in export revenues from tourism and 100 to 120 million direct tourism jobs at risk. "This is by far the worst crisis that international tourism has faced since records began (1950). The impact will be felt to varying degrees in the different global regions and at overlapping times, with Asia and the Pacific expected to rebound first," the agency said. -- PTI International tourism could decline by 60-80 per cent in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the revenue loss of USD 910 billion to USD 1.2 trillion and placing millions of livelihoods at risk, the World Tourism Organization has said. The global international agency said that the pandemic has caused a 22 per cent fall in international tourist arrivals during the first quarter of 2020. Even as the frenzied stocking of pantries with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic began to ease in April, grocery store sales remained elevated, while consumer shopping behaviours continued to evolve to reflect our new physical-distancing reality, Statistics Canada said in a report Monday. Sales of beer and wine in provinces where these products are available in grocery stores, for example, moved sharply higher in the latter half of March as Canadians adjusted to the closure of bars and restaurants, the report says. At the same time, households turned to home coffee brewing as access to coffee shops was limited, with year-over-year sales of coffee filters increasing 68 per cent in the week ending April 11. The report also points to rising sales of hair dye as an example of consumer preferences that are evolving during the pandemic, as Canadians, faced with the closure of hair salons and barber shops, took personal grooming into their own hands. But while sales of hair dye jumped 75 per cent that week, cosmetic products fell 33 per cent as housebound consumers let their true complexions show. Households continued to buy more hand sanitizer, toilet paper, canned goods and baking supplies in April than before the COVID-19 pandemic, helping fuel a 40 per cent jump in grocery store sales for the week ending March 21 compared to the same week last year, the agency said. The week prior, retail grocery sales soared 46 per cent. That week included Easter, as well as the introduction of a government advisory against non-essential travel. The StatCan report, the second since the onset of the pandemic, covers the period from the week ending March 21 to the week ending April 11, Statistics Canada said. The March surge came as Canadians stockpiled essential goods and prepared to shop less frequently, among other reasons. The sales increase slowed the last week of March and first week of April, with 12 per cent jumps compared to the same weeks in 2019, while the week ending April 11 saw a 19 per cent rise. That trajectory roughly mirrors the performance of grocery retailers, including Metro Inc., which says food same-store sales were up 25 per cent versus last year in the first four weeks of the third quarter ending April 11. Purchases at grocery stores spiked during the first three weeks of March, but stabilized by the end of the month as no shortages were anticipated, the report said. Our teams are actively replenishing Walmart.ca and store shelves to meet increased demand for customers, though demand is changing, said a spokesperson for Walmart Canada. Weve seen fewer large-scale purchases as Canadians stocked up early on. Customers are continuing to focus on the basic needs for their families with their weekly shop for produce, groceries, consumables and baby items, he said in an email. There continues to be very strong demand for baking, snacks, ready to fix goods, with fresh (sic) experiencing similar trends. As our customers continue to stay home, we are seeing sales in categories like office supplies and electronics, stationery and crafts (home schooling) and fitness equipment. Sales of health and personal care items slowed after the March surge, Statistics Canada said in a special report on how shopping patterns have changed since Canada stepped up its COVID-19 public health campaigns. In the first week of March, for example, hand sanitizer sales increased by 792 per cent compared to the same week of 2019. By the week of April 11, hand sanitizer sales were up 345 per cent. Soap, mask and glove sales remained high in the week ending April 11 with 68 per cent and 114 per cent jumps respectively. Bathroom tissue sales moderated, but were still 81 per cent higher that week. Purchases of shelf-stable products moved closer to pre-pandemic levels, according to the agency. For the week ending April 11, rice sales rose 12 per cent while canned goods rose 47 per cent and pasta jumped 49 per cent. In contrast, infant formula sales fell 15 per cent. People continued to buy baking supplies amid ongoing efforts to stay home. In the second and third week of March, flour sales increased 208 and 207 per cent respectively. By the week ending April 11, that had slowed to an 81 per cent increase. Butter and margarine sales rose 18 per cent, milk was up 21 per cent and eggs jumped 44 per cent. Mike von Massow, associate professor in the food agriculture and resource economics department at the University of Guelph, said some changes in shopping patterns may remain, including increased demand for baking goods. He added that the virus has accelerated existing trends, particularly toward online grocery shopping, for a wide variety of products including fruits and vegetables. This sustained increase in demand suggests not just a transfer from food service but a real change in behaviour. People are baking more, and would like to bake even more than that. Milk and eggs are also components of baking but are up a smaller percentage because they start from a bigger base. We would also have expected milk and egg demand to be higher given we are spending more time at home. We drink more milk at home than we do in restaurants so overall fluid milk consumption is likely higher. Statistics Canada, meanwhile, said sales for Easter-related products remained similar to trends seen in 2019, with the exception of flowers. At grocery stores, flower sales fell 47 per cent in the week leading up to Easter compared with the same week the previous year. With files from The Canadian Press Read more about: Labour and the unions have today been accused of 'creating obstacles' and 'standing in the way' of the private sector to prevent the lockdown easing as they claimed Boris Johnson has 'declared a class war'. The Prime Minister has been accused of putting Britain's working classes 'in danger' by 'recklessly' urging them to go back to work if they can't work from home. Unite chief Len McCluskey has suggested that people should ignore the Prime Minister's advice and stay at home or walk out of their workplace until the Government publishes full guidance for employers. The Tube unions have threatened to shut down the network if it gets too busy. It sets the scene for a looming clash between the private sector - with just 20 per cent union membership - as it tries to get back to work and the public sector which has 60 per cent union membership and which has not seen its employees furloughed, take pay-cuts or face looming unemployment if their employers dont get back to business. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen told MailOnline: 'The unions are trying to stand in the way. Through the lockdown we have relied on the NHS and other public services but it will be the private sector who will be relied on to rebuild the economy. In order to achieve that we need schools to reopen so parents can go back to work and they need a fully functioning public transport system to get there. Every day we are in lockdown the economic hole we are in gets bigger. Another critic said: 'Were starting to get the Unions and Labour playing into this trying to be as awkward and obtuse as possible. National crisis as an opportunity to bring down the Govt by spreading confusion. Its contemptible'. 17 Labour MPs, including former leader Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell, have today signed a letter backing the unions and claiming: 'Last nights statement by the Prime Minister was a thinly veiled declaration of class war'. Rhondda MP Chris Bryant said: 'It's difficult not to conclude that working class workers are expected to go to work whilst middle class workers work from home. But the 'new normal' can't just be a repeat of the old divide. Surely?'. Builders were back on site today and trying to maintain social distancing as the PM told them to go back to work But at the heart of the City of London, there wasn't a person to be seen next to the Bank of England as white collar workers were able to stay at home The Tube was packed with workers today with Labour claiming that the Government is acting recklessly A man wearing a protective face mask walks along London Bridge this morning - as confusion reigns over the PM's statement Labour MP Chris Bryant has suggested that working class workers are being sent to work when the middle classes can stay safely at home Trains and Tube services were busier today after Mr Johnson said those who can't work at home should now go into work - most appeared to be in the construction industry heading to building sites in central London. But office and banking districts such as the City of London and Canary Wharf were largely deserted. The Government is already facing bitter rows with transport unions about increasing the number of buses and trains towards normal levels and teaching unions about plans to reopen primary schools from June 1. Lockdown confusion reigned today as Dominic Raab insisted the government is not urging workers to return until Wednesday - despite Boris Johnson suggesting otherwise last night and millions of people taking to roads and rail. The PM sparked a furious backlash in his crucial TV address to the nation by insisting that he was urging everyone who cannot work from home to go back to their jobs this week. Labour and unions raged that millions of people were being told to resume their duties with just 12 hours' notice and no health and safety in place to protect from coronavirus. In a letter to Business Secretary Alok Sharma, shadow business secretary Ed Miliband and shadow employment rights minister Andy McDonald said they were 'deeply concerned' about the recommendation that staff unable to work from home should go back to work. Unions dismiss Boris's plan to get primary schools to reopen from June 1 Boris Johnson has revealed schools will start to reopen from June 1 'at the earliest' as he outlined his plan to lift the coronavirus lockdown last night - though teaching unions immediately slammed the proposal as 'reckless'. The PM said pupils in reception, Year 1 and Year 6 will be the first to go back from the start of next month as part of a staged process. Nurseries would also be covered in the initial phase and the hope is that all primary school children would return to class by the summer. Secondary school students who have exams next year will be given time with teachers before the summer holidays but most will not be back until September. The Prime Minister's plan also caused alarm in the country's largest teaching union, with its leader branding it 'reckless'. Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, also called on children to be disinfected at the school gates. She said: 'In China, children stand outside the school gates and are sprayed front and back with disinfectant, their shoes are sprayed, they wash their hands with sanitiser, they must take off their mask and replace it with a new one, and their temperature is taken remotely.' She told The Times similar measures should be introduced in Britain, adding: 'They're doing that in South Korea and they have a minuscule number of new cases.' Wales has flatly dismissed the PM's proposals and Nicola Sturgeon has suggested there is little prospect of them returning in Scotland until August. Advertisement They said: 'Every worker deserves to work without fear. Without clear rules in place for workplaces, this cannot happen. Ordering a return to work in manufacturing and construction with 12 hours' notice and no official guidance on how workers can keep safe is irresponsible and wrong.' They added: 'The Prime Minister said tonight he wanted workers to avoid public transport and use cars, bicycles or walk to work but did not explain how. What if none of those are viable options?' Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Government's latest strategy is not based on political consensus. Speaking to Sky News, Sir Keir said: 'What I really wanted, I pushed them on this last week, I said 'build a consensus around the plan before you deliver the plan' that's been delivered this evening. 'Because I think the public are very scared and anxious about what comes next. They want reassurance. 'And if they can see political parties, employers, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland all broadly on the same page - that helps with reassurance and confidence. 'But I'm afraid we've arrived tonight without that. 'Now, you know, that's a duty them, on all of us, to see whether we can provide that going forward. But that basic consensus that I was arguing for, I don't think is there tonight.' Sir Keir Starmer also told Sky News that the Labour Party had pushed the Government to 'speed up' its response to the pandemic. He added: 'We pushed the Government on lockdown, we pushed them on testing, we pushed them on PPE. 'Now we pushed and challenged with the purpose, which was to try to get them to speed up. 'And I said that under my leadership we're not out to score party political points. So it was to get them to speed up and to ramp up.' Boris Johnson's lockdown plans have descended into chaos after major gaps appeared ahead of his Commons address Labour, led by Keir Starmer, has suggested that workers should ignore the Prime Minister's advice until the Government to publish guidance for employers to make workplaces safe for staff to return The M25 in Kent was far busier than usual this morning after the Prime Minister said those who can't work from home should go to work today Passengers at Canning Town on the busy platform in east London as Mr Johnson was accused of being vague The Jubilee Line into Central London was busy again this morning as more people started going to work The general secretary of the teachers' union said the profession has 'very serious concerns' about children returning to school on June 1. Patrick Roach, of NASUWT, told BBC Breakfast: 'The fact of the matter is the Government has announced a date but hasn't come forward with a plan about how schools will ensure that they're safe for pupils and safe for staff to be in from June 1. 'And the Prime Minister said that it would be madness to risk a second spike in relation to transmission of the virus. Well the profession has got very serious concerns about that announcement of June 1, whether indeed it is possible to achieve it, but also how to achieve that in a way which is safe for pupils and staff.' He said there is strong evidence schools are lacking personal protective equipment (PPE), adding: 'If you're dealing with five and six-year-olds and 11-year-olds, how to ensure stringent social distancing in that context is a big challenge and Government simply haven't answered that challenge. 'And finally, just in terms of risk assessments, parents will want to know that schools are going to be hygienic, they're going to be safe for their children to be in. And we still don't have any clear standards about what safe cleaning routines would be like within a school context and we need to have that.' Attorney General William Barr defended the Justice Departments controversial decision to drop the case against former national-security adviser Michael Flynn, who earlier this year withdrew his guilty plea that he lied to the FBI about his Russian contacts. Barr was asked in a CBS interview released Thursday how he thinks history will judge his decision to drop the case. When history looks back on this decision, how do you think it will be written? CBS correspondent Catherine Herridge asked the attorney general. Well, history is written by the winners, Barr responded. So it largely depends on whos writing the history. I think a fair history would say it was a good decision because it upheld the rule of law, Barr said. It upheld the standards of the Department of Justice, and it undid what was an injustice. Our duty, we think, is to dismiss the case, Barr said. A crime cannot be established here. They did not have a basis for a counterintelligence investigation against Flynn at that stage. People sometimes plead to things that turn out not to be crimes, the attorney general added. Barr said he is prepared for criticism of the departments decision to drop the case, but lamented that nowadays these partisan feelings are so strong that people have lost any sense of justice. Flynn, a retired three-star general, was fired by President Trump after the revelation that he made contradictory statements to Vice President Mike Pence about whether he had discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. He pled guilty later in 2017 to making false statements to the FBI regarding his contacts with the Russian ambassador. The case against the former national-security adviser arose from special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into the Trump campaigns contacts with Russia. In January, however, Flynn requested to withdraw his guilty plea, and his February sentencing hearing was canceled. I did not lie to them. I believed I was honest with them to the best of my recollection at the time, Flynn said in a January legal filing. I still dont remember if I discussed sanctions on a phone call with Ambassador Kislyak nor do I remember if we discussed the details of a UN vote on Israel. Story continues I tried to accept responsibility by admitting to offenses I understood the government I love and trusted said I committed, Flynn added. More from National Review Despite the decrease in the number of visitors as compared to the same period last year, it has still brought about an encouraging signal to revitalise domestic tourism after experiencing months in hibernation mode. Kien Giang Province greeted 37,700 holiday makers during the four-day holiday with none of them being international travellers. The figure was much lower than in previous years, but it was a positive sign compared to the weeks pior when popular tourist sites in the province were deserted due to fear of COVID-19. A decrease in the number of holiday-makers was also seen in Ninh Thuan Province, which was visited by a total of 30,000 tourists during the holiday, only half the figure of 2019; as well as in Da Lat City (Lam Dong Province), Binh Thuan Province and Quang Binh Province, which welcomed 58,000, 35,000 and 35,000 visitors, respectively, on the occasion. As the holiday fell as the beginning of the summer vacation period, many tourists flocked to beaches to cool down in the summer heat. Sam Son Beach in Thanh Hoa Province was crowded with thousands of vacationers. Up to 55,000 of the 110,000 tourists to Nghe An Province decided to spend their holiday at Cua Lo Beach, while the remainder went to other popular places of interest in the locality. A range of quick-witted promotional programmes and services to lure visitors have been launched in many localities. Recently, the Quang Binh Provincial Peoples Committee greenlighted Oxalis Adventure Tours, the leading jungle and cave adventure tour operator in Vietnam, to lower the price of the tour Conquering Son Doong the worlds largest cave from US$3,000 to US$2,500 per tourist from May 15 to December 31, 2020. Thanh Hoa provincial authorities have also called on businesses, accommodations and tourist service providers to offer discount pricing to visitors to the province. Hotels, homestays, tour operators and tourism destinations in Sa Pa Township in northern Lao Cai Province will reduce service prices by between 30% and 60%. The Sun World Fansipan Legend tourist resort has also offered a discount of up to 60% on Fansipan cable car tickets for travellers from the six north western provinces of Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Son La, Dien Bien, Yen Bai and Hoa Binh. Meanwhile, Thua Thien Hue provincial authorities have decided to offer a 50% discount on entrance fees to local monuments in Hue City for three months, from May 8 to July 31, in a bid to attract visitors. At a time when the world continues to struggle in the fight against COVID-19 with many complicated and unpredictable developments, stimulating domestic tourism is now a feasible solution to revive the hospitality sector during the post-pandemic period and help it to regain its pace of growth. Killing Eve star Jodie Comer gave an 'Emmy winning' performance as Villanelle in an episode that saw the assassin return home and murder her mother. Fans watched in awe as Villanelle silently battled with her emotions after she killed her mother (Evgenia Dodina) in the kitchen and set fire to the family's Russian farmhouse before fleeing the scene. Dozens of viewers took to Twitter to call for Comer, 27, to be given her second Emmy off the back of the stunning performance. The British actress won the 2019 award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in the series last year. Fans watched in awe as Villanelle (Jodie Comer) silently battled with her emotions after she killed her mother (Evgenia Dodina) in the kitchen and set fire to the family's Russian farmhouse to cover her tracks. They claimed the scene (pictured) was enough to win Comer an Emmy Villanelle set fire to her family's farmhouse in Russia, pictured, after killing her mother Dozens of viewers took to Twitter to call for Comer, 27, to be given her second Emmy off the back of the stunning performance (pictured). The British actress won the 2019 award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in the series last year One posted: 'Give Jodie Comer that Emmy right now (!!!!!!!) for the last scene in that episode!! #KillingEve.' Another tweeted: 'That last scene on the train was just incredible. i think we've all had that moment when you are breaking apart but still have to keep it in together. even w/o words you have done it justice, message conveyed. well done Jodie, you deserve another Emmy #KillingEve.' A third added: 'The last scene of today episode... Jodie will get that Best Actress again on next Emmys. #KillingEve.' The fifth episode, which aired in the US on Sunday night and was released on BBC iPlayer this morning for UK viewers, focused solely on Villanelle as she returned to Russia and reconnected with her mother and brother Pyotr (Rob Feldman). Fans were quick to praise Comer for her ability to portray her character's emotional turmoil She also discovered she now had an extended family including stepfather and stepbrothers and grew close to the youngest, Bor'ka (Temi Blaev). The drama came to a head when Villanelle confronted her mother over how she was abandoned in an orphanage as a girl, saying 'don't pretend you were a mother'. Hitting back, her mother insisted Villanelle was marked as evil from birth because she 'did not cry as a baby'. She added Villanelle had 'ruined' her life and had taken her husband from her because he was afraid of Villanelle's 'darkness'. 'He thought you would do something to us,' the mother revealed, 'to me'. Villanelle explained she wasn't angry at her mother for abandoning her, or for not coming back, but because she was unable to admit that she had darkness inside her. 'Get out of my house,' her mother replied. To which Villanelle responded: 'I think I will have to kill you.' The fifth episode, which aired in the US on Sunday night and was released on BBC iPlayer this morning for UK viewers, focused solely on Villanelle as she returned to Russia and reconnected with her mother (pictured) and brother Pyotr (Rob Feldman) After confronting her mother over how she was raised, Villanelle told her simply: 'I think I have to kill you'. Pictured, Comer in one of the final scenes from the episode However unlike other deaths on the show, the murder itself was not shown. Instead the episode cut straight to Villanelle preparing to set the house on fire and a shot of the mother lying dead on the kitchen floor. Pictured, Villanelle walking away from the blaze However unlike other deaths on the show, the murder itself was not shown. Instead the episode cut straight to Villanelle preparing to set the house on fire and a shot of the mother lying dead on the kitchen floor. The final moments of the episode showed Villanelle silently coming to terms with what she had done. Speaking to Variety about the episode, Comer said: 'You can see the regret that she is already feeling but feels she has to go through with it because I think she feels its the only way she feels she can fully kill her past and the woman that she was.' Writer Suzanne Heathcote added that she wanted an episode that revealed an emotional depth to Villanelle that had not yet been seen. She said: 'Villanelle reveals a version of herself she shows a version of herself to the world and thats all the audience has seen up to this point. 'But this particular area of vulnerability for her is one that is so specific and so unique, it needed its own moment.' A body, believed to be an adult woman, has been found in a swampy area in the Stony Brook Reservation in the West Roxbury section of Boston at around 8:30 p.m., on Saturday. Massachusetts State Police and Boston Police detectives and crime scene specialists, responded to a wooded area adjacent to the Enneking Parkway after a womans human remains were discovered by a passersby. Detectives are currently working to identify the body and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has begun a post-mortem examination to determine cause of death. Police said that in order to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation, no further information is being released at this time. Got a news tip or want to contact MassLive about this story? Email newstips@masslive.com or message us on Facebook or Twitter. You can also call our news tips line at 413-776-1364. For more Boston news, visit masslive.com/boston. OTTAWA COUNTY, MI A motorist was killed Monday, May 11, when he pulled out of a driveway and was struck by a pickup. The victim is a 76-year-old Leroy man. His name was not released pending notification of family. The crash happened around 12:55 p.m. on Butternut Drive near Shadybrook Drive in Ottawa Countys Holland Township. The victim, in a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan, was pulling onto Butternut from a private drive on the east side of the road when his vehicle was hit by a northbound 2015 Ford pickup truck. A passenger in the minivan was taken by ambulance to Holland Hospital. Her injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. The 47-year-old Hudsonville man driving the pickup truck suffered minor injuries and declined to go to the hospital, Ottawa County sheriffs deputies said. The victim failed to yield for the other driver who had the right of way, police said. Read more: Area doctors cautiously optimistic about plasma treatment for coronavirus patients Substantial layoffs still coming at Western Michigan University as budgets cut by 20% Artist accused of sexually assaulting girl at school, another girl at a home HAMMOND Six former employees of Hobart Township Assessor Randall J. Guernsey are suing him for firing them for refusing to support his 2018 reelection bid. Allen Price, Brenda Swallow, Alex Leonard, Lorrie Leonard, Denise Kendall and Candace Burton say Lake County, Hobart Township and Guernsey owe them unspecified monetary damages over loss of their employment and the emotional distress of losing their jobs, which provided them more than $177,000 in combined annual income, according to county records. Lloyd Mullen, a Crown Point attorney representing six of Guernsey's former employees, alleges Guernsey practiced an outlawed tradition of patronage politics where officeholders rewarded and punished employees for the degree of loyalty. Guernsey has been a longtime fixture in local politics. He served 11 years as a Merrillville Town Council member and 12 years as Ross Township assessor. He ran unsuccessfully for county assessor in 2010. He was first elected Hobart Township assessor six years ago and was running for reelection in 2018 when Price challenged Guernsey in the Democratic primary. UW College of Business to Launch Hospitality, Leadership Minors Wyomings second-largest industry and future University of Wyoming graduates will benefit from a new minor in hospitality business management offered in UWs College of Business. Additionally, the college has created a new leadership minor aimed at preparing students to be leaders in every facet of their lives. Scheduled to launch this fall, the minors represent the colleges commitment to give its graduates practical skills that can be put to use in the business world, while contributing to the economic vitality of Wyoming and beyond. Were excited about these new minors and the opportunities they will provide for our students, College of Business Dean Dave Sprott says. They also promise to help us produce graduates who will be even more prepared to contribute to the states economy, their employers and their communities. The hospitality business management minor -- which will serve as the foundation for eventual creation of a bachelors degree in the field -- is being developed in collaboration with Wyoming community colleges, Wyomings Office of Tourism and industry partners. Other collaborators are UWs Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Family and Consumer Sciences. The minor will include new hospitality courses delivered through the College of Business, in addition to interdisciplinary electives currently offered at UW and through the states community colleges. Student accessibility is a priority and, to this end, some electives will be available online. The new minor will complement the outdoor recreation and tourism management degree launched in 2018 by the Haub School and the College of Business. Wyomings hospitality and tourism industry was responsible for generating $3.9 billion in visitor spending and $203 million in state and local tax revenues in 2019. Additionally, the industry generated over 32,480 jobs. We are thrilled to see this important degree program continue to grow and evolve, says Chris Brown, executive director of the Wyoming Lodging and Restaurant Association and the Wyoming Travel Industry Coalition. The addition of the hospitality business management minor will strengthen our states second-largest industry by educating the next generation of hospitality industry leaders. We are thrilled to see UWs College of Business provide such an innovative program to educate Wyomings next generation of hospitality and tourism professionals, says Diane Shober, executive director of the Wyoming Office of Tourism. The addition of hospitality education has been something our industry has long awaited. Bolstering this industry will be vital in strengthening and diversifying our local and state economies going forward. Industry and community college partners have been at the table during program design as the College of Business not only considered course content, but also opportunities for statewide industry engagement such as on-site projects -- and internships that lead to addressing the current shortfall in filling hospitality positions requiring a bachelors degree. Steve Farkas, assistant dean for the College of Business, says market research revealed that students are leaving Wyoming to complete their hospitality management education beyond an associate degree, and they often do not return. Of the over 350 prospective students surveyed, 80 percent expressed interest in staying in the state to work if they were to pursue a degree at UW in either hospitality management or outdoor recreation and tourism. We also learned through our market analysis that, of the almost 400 hospitality management positions advertised last year in Wyoming, a significant percentage required a bachelors degree, Farkas says. Meanwhile, the leadership minor will be a unique curricular and co-curricular experience that helps students acquire the knowledge and experience necessary to develop leadership competencies. Required courses will include Foundations in Leadership and Business Ethics, and students will select two electives from a list of 21 other courses. A capstone project, in which each student will lead a large-scale project involving others, also is part of the curriculum. Students in the leadership minor also will be expected to complete the Cowboy Leadership Badge by participating in campus and community activities outside the classroom, such as attending designated campus events and taking part in service projects. The point of the leadership minor is to help UW students become leaders -- first as students on the UW campus and, subsequently, in their professional organizations and communities, says Chase Thiel, an associate professor of management in the College of Business and sponsor of the leadership minor. For this to happen, their leadership education must involve more than just learning leadership theory. They must have opportunities to put those theoretical principles into practice. The chief priest of the Badrinath temple has reached Joshimath in Uttarakhands Chamoli district, days ahead of the opening of the portals of the shrine, after testing negative for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and completing two weeks of institutional quarantine. The portals of Badrinath shrine is scheduled to open at 4:30am on May 15. Ravindra Singh Negi, Chamolis district information officer, said the chief priest of the Badrinath shrine reached Joshimath on Saturday. He, along with other priests, will go to Pandukeshwar on May 11 and from there, they will reach Badrinath by May 13 before the portals of the shrine open on May 15, said Negi. Negi said the priest has completed his quarantine at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh and was discharged only after testing negative for Covid-19 twice. Manujendra Shah, the king of the Tehri royal family who is considered the Bolanda Badri or talking Lord Badri, had on April 20 changed the date of opening of the portals of Badrinath shrine as the chief priest was under the quarantine after returning from Kerala. This is the first time in history that the dates for the opening of portals of the shrines have been changed. Only the chief priest or I have the authority of touching the idols and performing the prayers and the prayers of Badrinath shrine are performed following South Indian rituals as the chief priest comes from Kerala, Shah had said while announcing the change of date. We did not want someone else from northern India to perform the prayers as the rituals are not the same, which was another reason for changing the dates. With the new dates, the chief priest would have completed the quarantine period, he said. One of the most visited pilgrimage centres of India, Badrinath is one of the Char Dhams or the four main pilgrimage centres of the Hindus located in Garhwal hills. The Badrinath Temple is along the banks of the Alaknanda River in Chamoli district at a height of over 10,000 feet. Police in Las Vegas are have started an investigation after a bag of deceased dogs was found at a city park. A mother dog and a few puppies were found tied up in a large plastic bag and appear to have been suffocated. The dogs were found Friday at Desert Breeze Park and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police were called to the scene. Police have launched an investigation after a bag of puppies and their mother were found at a city park in Las Vegas, Nevada 'There was a mother dog and a few puppies in there that someone had tied up, and looks like they may have suffocated them,' said the man who found them, Joe, pictured It looks as though the dogs had been in the park for several days judging by how much they had decomposed Police said the bag had been at the park for at least a few days because of the condition of the decomposing animals. The man who found them only wanted to be identified as 'Joe' for fear of retaliation from whomever might be responsible for the cruel act. 'There was a mother dog and a few puppies in there that someone had tied up, and looks like they may have suffocated them,' Joe said to KNTV. The bag was discovered by Joe's own dog who ran over to the plastic bag after being let off her leash. Las Vegas Police were called to the scene at Desert Breeze Park and are now investigating the cruel crime 'To hear that anybody would hurt an animal, or even dump an animal in this way, it's just heartbreaking,' says Gina Greisen, Nevada Voters for Animals, pictured The bag was surrounded by blood and there was a strong odor emanating. 'Police were saying that the bag had been there for probably a few days because of the decomposing of the animals,' Joe explained. 'Drop the dogs off at a shelter, or even the fire department, police department, instead of wrapping them in a plastic bag and dumping them in the desert,' he urged. Las Vegas Police were called to the scene and are now investigating the cruel crime. 'To hear that anybody would hurt an animal, or even dump an animal in this way, it's just heartbreaking,' says Gina Greisen, Nevada Voters for Animals. 'I hope they get to the bottom of it, I hope tips come in as to who did this,' she said. Queensland's new cabinet was sworn in at Government House on Monday afternoon following the resignation of deputy premier and treasurer Jackie Trad at the weekend. Health Minister Steven Miles has become Deputy Premier while Cameron Dick has stepped up as Treasurer. So who are they and why were they chosen? New Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick and Deputy Premier Steven Miles. Credit:AAP/supplied Queensland's Labor Party has three factions: the right, headed by the Premier; the left, headed by the Deputy Premier; and the centralist faction, the Old Guard. The government has published a 50-page plan outlining how England and parts of the UK will gradually ease coronavirus lockdown over the next three months. On Sunday, Boris Johnson revealed his road map for easing lockdown restrictions and unveiled a new five-point COVID-19 Alert system on Sunday evening. It was followed by the publication of a COVID-19 Recovery Strategy document, detailing three key dates in easing lockdown restrictions - but they will only come into effect if data shows it is safe to do so. The plans come with a warning that they are provisional and are subject to change. A full lockdown could be implemented if social distancing measures are not working. Boris Johnson delivered an address on lifting the country's coronavirus lockdown on Sunday evening (Downing Street/AP) Currently, the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not lifted any measures and have instead extended current lockdown measures. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area 6 charts and maps that explain how coronavirus is spreading The government has unveiled a new slogan - "Stay Alert, Control the Virus, Save Lives" - as it unveiled a three step COVID-19 recovery plan. (Getty Images) Below is a timeline outlining the key dates in the governments COVID-19 recovery strategy in England: Phase one: 13 May Workers unable to work from home to return to workplace People who are able to work from home are told to continue to do so, while those who are not have been advised to go back to their workplace as long as social distancing can still be observed. People will be advised to wear face masks on public transport and when in enclosed spaces with people outside their households. (Sipa) Use of face masks in enclosed spaces, workplaces and on public transport Face coverings should be worn in enclosed spaces such as public transport and some shops. They should not be worn by the under-twos, young children who will find them hard to manage and those with respiratory conditions. Unlimited exercise and meeting one family member of friend outdoors permitted Britons will be allowed outside for unlimited exercise while people will be allowed to meet one member of family or a friend from another household outdoors, providing they are two metres apart. People are not allowed to visit the homes of family members or friends. Story continues Britons will be allowed out for unlimited amounts of exercise and are able to meet one family member or friend outside of their household. (PA) Driving to outdoor locations for exercise permitted People are also allowed to drive to outdoor open spaces, irrespective of distance from their homes. However, people in England should not travel across the border of Scotland or Wales, as different lockdown rules apply. Vulnerable people to continue shielding The government says anyone who has been told to shield because they are "extremely vulnerable" will have to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Compulsory quarantine period for all passengers travelling to UK Passengers arriving into the UK will be required to supply their contact and accommodation information, and those not on a short list of exemptions will be made to self-isolate for 14 days. Phase two: 1 June Schools in England to reopen in phases Providing infection rates are on the decline, the Government said it would be in a position to start a phased reopening of schools by 1 June. The first phase would see primary pupils back into schools, beginning with reception, Year 1 and Year 6. Non-essential shops may reopen Non-essential retail stores, such as clothing and shoe shops, could be able to open no earlier than 1 June. This will only take place if businesses can prove they can keep people safe. Cultural and sporting events in England to take place behind closed doors Cultural and sporting events will be able to take place behind closed doors for broadcast from next month, avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact. A closed sign is displayed in the door of a restaurant as the lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak continues, in London, Thursday, April 30, 2020.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali) Smaller weddings and gatherings could be permitted in England The Government is consider how and if people may be able gather in slightly larger groups to better facilitate small weddings. Social bubbles and expansion of socialising in groups The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) is examining if it is safe to change the rules to allow one household to expand and include one other household in the same group or bubble. Pubs, bars, restaurants, accommodation and gyms will need to stay closed until at least July. (Matt Crossick/Empics) Phase three: 4 July Pubs and hospitality may open Pubs, bars, restaurants, accommodation and gyms will need to stay closed until at least July. Busy venues such as clubs or concert venues, may not be able to open again at this point or could have to open safely only in part. Hairdressers, salons and leisure facilities such as cinemas could reopen Leisure facilities such as beauty salons and hairdressers, may be permitted to reopen, providing they are able to comply with social distancing and safety standards. A near-deserted Warwick town centre as the UK continues in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. Places of worship to reopen Place of worship - such as churches, mosques and synagogues - will also be permitted to open, providing they follow the same social distancing and safety measures adopted by other public facilities and venues. Venues crowded by design will not reopen - but can open in part if safe The Government says that venues which are crowded by design, and where it may prove difficult to enact distancing will not be able to reopen. However, some businesses can open in part if safe to do so, while the Government said it will carefully phase and pilot re-openings to test their ability to adopt the new Covid-19 secure guidelines. Coronavirus: what happened today OTTAWA May 11, 2020 Canada Canada $30 million Sandy Buchman /CNW/ - At the CMA, we applaud today's announcement by the CMA Foundation (CMAF) to contribute funds to address the urgent needs of vulnerable populations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in communities acrossEquitable access to care and healthy outcomes shouldn't be out of reach for anyone who callshome; but regrettably we see too many fault lines in our system and the pandemic is only making it more evident and more acute. I'm so proud of the CMA Foundation for recognizing this need and making this important donation. We know that this period has been challenging for everyone, but it has been particularly hard on those who face food insecurity, homelessness, mental health and substance use challenges.This announcement by the CMAF now brings their overall COVID-related contributions to a historic supporting health care, the medical profession and our vulnerable communities. We know the need is great and the impact of these donations will ensure a strong legacy.Dr.President, Canadian Medical Association Since 1867, the Canadian Medical Association has been the national voice of Canada's medical profession. We work with physicians, residents and medical students on issues that matter to the profession and the health of Canadians. We advocate for policy and programs that drive meaningful change for physicians and their patients. SOURCE Canadian Medical Association China VS US The failed handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in the US has fueled Washington's hostility toward China and escalated concern that worsening bilateral ties might lead to a China-US war, prompting Chinese experts to assert that Beijing has sufficient nuclear capacity to assure mutually assured destruction (MAD) and create deterrence to reduce the risks of any direct conflict. Intention and capability are two elements for judging whether or not the US wants a war with China, Chinese observers noted on Sunday. A series of "anti-China" expressions by some senior US politicians that assign blame for the pandemic have provoked discussion about the potential for a nuclear war with China. Chinese experts say it remains unclear what is the real intention behind the hostile narratives of US policymakers about China. To strengthen China's nuclear arsenal was an essential way to deter hawkish and warlike US policymakers from making dangerous moves, the experts believed. But in order to effectively prevent a war between China and the US, they urged Washington to abandon its war of words that poisons bilateral ties and risks a miscalculation of US intent by China. US hawks should understand China is capable of bringing destructive consequences to them after China detects a nuclear attack from the US, warned Chinese military experts. No one wants to see that kind of doomsday tragedy, they added. CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria expressed a similar kind of concern. "Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump are trying to pressure the intelligence community to say we have some kind of smoking gun with regard to China. And this is the kind of politicized intelligence that led to the mistakes of the Iraq war," he said on Tuesday at CNN Tonight. "Again, Pompeo or Trump is trying to plat washing powder," responded one tweet about the show. The tweet was referring to the former US secretary of state Collin Powell showing "evidence" of Iraqi weapons of massive destruction (WMD) at the UN in an attempt to legitimize a war against Sadam Hussein's regime. Some joked the "evidence" could be a small pot of washing powder as the WMD accusation later proved a catastrophic intelligence failure. The Pentagon is seen from an airplane over Washington D.C., the United States, on July 11, 2018. The United States will fully develop ground-launched conventional missiles after withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Friday. Photo:Xinhua Nuclear deterrence In response, Hua Chunying, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted on Twitter on Saturday that "China won't be Iraq." Some Chinese Net users noted that the most important reason China wouldn't be another Iraq was China has real WMDs. Hu Xijin, editor in chief of the Global Times, reinforced his call for China to strengthen its nuclear arsenal to deter the US on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo platform on Saturday after his post Friday called on China to build more nuclear warheads and DF-41 inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Hu said in the past, China might have had enough nuclear power to deter the US, but now, as the US is treating China as its major or even top strategic competitor and strengthening the US arsenal, so China's nuclear strength should not stay indifferent. Hu said he was a "peace lover" but peace has never come from "nice words and begging." His two posts on Friday and Saturday received about 300,000 likes on Sina Weibo. Lu Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday nuclear concerns were entirely reasonable as the US intention to treat China as an enemy was increasing in its statements and in the behavior of senior politicians like Pompeo and White House adviser Pete Navaro, even President Donald Trump. "The key for us to judge the decision-making from the US is to analyze the real intention behind extreme and hostile words from the White House," he said. "The performance of the Trump administration forced Chinese elites and the public to think more about the worst scenario." The two countries were still far from a direct military conflict, said Diao Daming, a US studies expert at the Renmin University of China in Beijing. On the one hand, China should prepare for all possibilities but on the other, there was no need to overemphasize preparation for war, Diao said. That might speed up the arms race with the US, he warned. "The US is unilaterally executing major power competition, and due to US-launched stigmatization against China on the COVID-19 pandemic, China-US relationship is experiencing a profound change," Diao said. "Although the cooperation part of the bilateral ties still exists, the competition part is increasing sharply." Jin Canrong, the associate dean of Renmin University of China's School of International Studies in Beijing, expressed his concern over China-US decoupling. "The decoupling unilaterally pushed by the US side risks increasing strategic conflicts between the two major powers, and Taiwan, the South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula could become potential conflict zones." China reveals its most advanced nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile, the DF-41, at the National Day parade in Beijing on October 1, 2019. Photo: Fan Lingzhi/GT Mutually assured destruction or development Chinese experts on nuclear weapons and arms control said there was no need to doubt China's nuclear strength and strategic deterrence. They called on the Chinese public to remain calm as the US noticed clearly that China has enough to ensure mutually assured destruction. Yang Chengjun, a Chinese expert on missile technology and nuclear strategy and chief scientist of quantum defense, told the Global Times that a core principle of China's nuclear policy was not to seek a warheads arms race. China's nuclear warheads were fewer than 1,000, Yang said but Beijing was totally capable of building more warheads if necessary. "Although we have fewer warheads than the US, but once we detect any nuclear attack from the US, our warheads are enough to destroy the US in the counterattack. This is the effective nuclear deterrence," Yang said. An anonymous military expert at a Beijing-based military academy said "increasing the number of warheads is a measure to increase the effectiveness of nuclear deterrence, as the US has missile defense system." China needed to make the US believe it could effectively destroy its cities despite the US missile defense system, the anonymous expert said. "To improve the technology of defense penetration ability of our ICBMs is also a way." Xu Guangyu, a senior adviser to the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, told the Global Times on Sunday that there was a common sense understanding among the five permanent member states of the UN Security Council, also the five major nuclear powers, that a nuclear war between any would "bring a doomsday tragedy to humanity." War normally occurred when one side has an overwhelming advantage, Xu noted. "The US doesn't have that against China or Russia. What China needs to do, from the perspectives of military and technology, is to keep the US away from the overwhelming advantage." "There is another 'MAD' - mutually assured 'development,' instead of 'destruction.' If the two countries can realize this, the danger of war would be largely controlled," Lu said. From who and what we know, there was no other place to go than Premier. Premier Pools & Spas, the nations #1 swimming pool builder, is proud to announce our expansion into the Central Illinois, IL and Maryland, MD metropolitan areas. After careful deliberation, the President of Premier Franchise Management, Aaron Gurley, has selected Nathan Whiteman (Central Illinois) and Andrew & Garrett Sancomb (Maryland) to lead these new locations to success. Premier Pools & Spas would like to welcome both Nathan Whiteman and Andrew & Garrett Sancomb to the Premier Pools family. Central Illinois, IL | Owner: Nathan Whiteman Nathan is proud to follow in his familys footsteps, as his mother and father (Rick & Sue Whiteman) have been in the pool industry since the early 80s. From an early age Nathan had the entrepreneur itch, as he was selling Beanie Babies, Pokemon cards and even temporary tattoos as a child. Nathan got the chance to help with his parents business by starting in the pool industry, in the early 2000s. Nathan also brings plenty of sales experience with him as well, after having worked in sales for some Fortune 500 organizations before joining Premier. Nathans entrepreneurial spirit, as well as his stellar sales acumen, makes him an amazing addition to the Premier Pools & Spas family and we are truly blessed to welcome him aboard. Maryland, MD | Owner: Andrew & Garrett Sancomb Andrew & Garrett Sancomb have been working in the pool industry for a long time now. Andrew has over 18 years of experience, while Garrett adds an additional 6 years of experience. They found Premier Pools & Spas through their manufacturing representative, which supplied construction and swimming pool products. Having worked with Premier Pools through their manufacturing rep firm, they realized From who and what we know, there was no other place to go than Premier. To be a part of the biggest and best pool builder in the world. Premier Pools & Spas encourages all new potential franchisees to meet with our current franchise owners, so they can gain a better understanding of the opportunity they have, coming from someone who is living proof. Andrew & Garrett, however, already knew that they wanted to join the Premier Pools & Spas family as they wanted to join the biggest and best Pool Builder in the world. About Premier Pools & Spas Since redefining the pool building industry in 1988, Premier Pools & Spas has received numerous awards. This includes several Association of Pool & Spa Professional (PHTA) International Awards of Excellence for Design. Premier Pools & Spas was also named the National Pool Builder of the Year (2006) and were ranked #1 Pool Builder (2012) in the US, by Pool & Spa News. As of 2017, Premier has also begun franchising service companies under the name Premier Pool Service. Today, Premier Pools & Spas is one of the top pool builders in the industry; with more than 70,000 pools built, and serving more than 60 markets worldwide, Premier Pools & Spas is looking to expand even further. To become a Premier Pools & Spas franchisee you will need to pass a comprehensive background check, multiple inquiries to local vendors and distributors, as well as previous customer and personal references. If you are interested in joining the Premier Franchise Family, please visit: http://joinpremierpools.com/join-our-team/ or call (855) 212-2210. Funeral planner Dignity said its first-quarter profits declined as social distancing restrictions forced mourners to opt for cheaper ceremonies and the firm to strip back services such as limousines and church services. Underlying operating profit in the 13 weeks to March 27 dropped 2.3million to 19.4million even though the number of deaths in the UK rose by 2,000, as memorial sales activity in March experienced a fall due to the closure of crematoria. The following month, the company started to earn considerably less money for each funeral as fewer customers held full service funerals and the proportion having simple services trebled to 60 per cent. Government guidelines stipulate that no more than ten people are allowed to attend a funeral service at this time and that attendants should be limited to immediate family members Its average income per funeral before ancillary revenues was almost 2,650 in the first quarter, but 2,200 in April, while the comparative figures for full service funerals were 3,521 and 3,150 respectively. Dignity's executive chairman Clive Whiley said the Covid-19 outbreak 'presented a unique set of challenges for the UK as a whole and for Dignity.' Government guidelines stipulate that no more than ten people are allowed to attend a funeral service at this time and that attendants should be limited to immediate family members who are not at high risk of contracting the illness or self-isolating. The Sutton Coldfield-based business has stopped providing some services in response to the virus, such as limousines and church services, which it says are 'in the interests of the welfare of our staff and clients.' It expects memorial sales activity to 'be lower than normal whilst broader lockdown measures are in place. 'Whilst this will be temporary, it is unclear what proportion of memorial activity that would have otherwise been sold will be able to be recovered later in the year once operations resume.' Dignity, which is based in Sutton Coldfield, has stopped providing some services in response to the virus, such as limousines and church services But though the coronavirus outbreak has financially harmed the firm, it has not furloughed any employees and, aside from the 100 per cent business rates relief holiday, has no plans to access government support schemes. Dignity said it would not speculate on future numbers of deaths, but said they had increased by about 1 per cent to 161,000 compared to last year. 'Should 2020 witness a large number of incremental deaths, beyond the 600,000 originally anticipated by the Office for National Statistics, then it is possible that 2021 and 2022 could experience a lower number of deaths than in 2019,' it said. Aside from the monetary damage this could cause, the funeral industry at large could be further impaired by a current Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation over concerns of high prices and a lack of competition. Among the issues raised by the CMA include the six per cent annual rise in the costs of organising a funeral in the last 14 years and the lack of transparency over prices. Just before the UK imposed lockdown measures, the CMA announced it was extending its investigation into the sector by a further six months. Shares in Dignity plc were up 2.4 per cent by midday to 239p. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. Every name on the BrandBucket marketplace is exclusively listed with BrandBucket. That means that all of our sellers are very responsive, making for quick domain transfers. A dedicated BrandBucket agent will manage your domain transfer from beginning to end, ensuring a secure and easy transaction. They will manage the receipt of the domain into one of BrandBuckets secure registrar accounts and then complete the transfer to you. 1. Verification and registrar choice After we receive the payment and verify it, we will reach out via email to confirm which registrar you want the domain transferred to. We also provide a link to our tracking system, where you can communicate with us, check on the status of your transfer, view your invoice, and download your logo files. In most cases, if a domain is moved between accounts at a single registrar, the transfer is quick and usually completes within 48 hours. If a domain changes registrars (in other words, you would like to move it away from where it is currently registered), the transfer is slower. The total transfer time can then be anywhere from 48 hours to 7 days. BrandBucket has vetted and supports the following registrars: GoDaddy Namesilo Uniregistry NameCheap Google Domains Network Solutions Name.com Dynadot Amazon Route 53 123 Reg Gandi 2. We request the name from the seller. Once we know where you would like the domain transferred, BrandBucket will request the domain from the seller. All of our sellers are very responsive, making for a quick process. 3. Transfer the name into your account As soon as we receive the name from the seller, we start the transfer into your account and guide you through the whole process. 4. Verify with the buyer that the transfer is complete Once we confirm that you have received the name, we consider the escrow process to be complete. Only then do we release payment to the domain seller. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page Samajwadi Party MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq on Monday flayed Bollywood lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar's for his azaan' remarks, terming it anti-Islam. In a tweet on Saturday, Akhtar had said the Islamic call for prayer on loudspeakers should be stopped as it causes 'discomfort' to others. "Being a responsible person, he should not have said such a thing. Today, he is talking about banning loudspeakers but he did not say anything about banning liquor due to which people fell in drains, abused and met with accidents," the Sambhal MP told reporters. "You (Javed) see fault in azaan, which is an announcement of namaaz, and you become Muslim also. I want to say that his tweet is anti-Islam and will not be tolerated," he said. The MP said the practice of azaan was continuing for past over a thousand of years, even when loudspeakers were not there. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) ROME (Reuters) - Silvia Romano, an Italian aid worker kidnapped 18 months ago in East Africa, landed in Rome on Sunday a day after being freed. Gunmen seized Romano, who was working for an Italian charity called Africa Milele, in southeastern Kenya in November 2018. She was found in Somalia, some 30 km (19 miles) outside the capital of Mogadishu, and was released thanks to efforts by the external intelligence agency, Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said. ROME (Reuters) - Silvia Romano, an Italian aid worker kidnapped 18 months ago in East Africa, landed in Rome on Sunday a day after being freed. Gunmen seized Romano, who was working for an Italian charity called Africa Milele, in southeastern Kenya in November 2018. She was found in Somalia, some 30 km (19 miles) outside the capital of Mogadishu, and was released thanks to efforts by the external intelligence agency, Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said. Romano touched down at Rome's Ciampino airport aboard a special flight at about 2 p.m. (1200 GMT). "I am well, luckily, both physically and mentally. I now want to spend time with my family. I am so happy to be back after all this time," Romano was shown saying on arrival in a video posted on daily Corriere della Sera's website. Escorted by masked men from the intelligence service, Romano wore a green tunic pulled up to cover her head but not her face. Italian news agency ANSA, citing investigative sources, reported that she had converted to Islam during her time in captivity. Romano temporarily removed her protective mask to wave as she descended the steps from the Italian air force jet before hugging relatives waiting for her at the airport. She was greeted by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Di Maio. In her home neighbourhood in Milan, church bells saluted her arrival, with many people on their balconies, SKY TG24 showed. Romano was expected to meet prosecutors in Rome later on Sunday. Conte said that the task force working to free Romano had been in the final stages "for the last months", after having proof that she was still alive. He added that details were not revealed so as to not compromise the operation. "We are so glad to welcome Silvia back in such a delicate moment for the country. The State is always there, and will always be there," Conte said. He thanked efforts from the intelligence services, the judiciary and the defence and foreign ministries, all involved in the release the young woman. Italian newspapers reported that Italy's intelligence services had worked with their Somali and Turkish counterparts to free Romano. "I am literally bursting with joy at this moment. But it is hard even only to think, please let me breathe. I need to withstand the shock, happiness is so big that it is exploding," Silvia's father Enzo was quoted as saying by several Italian newspapers on Sunday. (In second paragraph, corrects location where Romano was seized to southeastern Kenya, not northern Kenya) (Reporting by Giulia Segreti; Editing by Alex Richardson) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Civic leaders in San Jose want to allow restaurants to use sidewalks, streets, parking lots and other outside spaces to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. The Al Fresco San Jose proposal will go before the Rules and Open Government Committee meeting on Wednesday. If approved, it will be scheduled for a full City Council vote in about two weeks. The list of challenges that restaurants are facing is monumental, said Scott Knies, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association. Its kind of any port in the storm right now. If we can expand out and keep the tables and spaces clean and establish this trust with our customers again, its going to be very helpful. The ideas under consideration include closing roads to cars, setting up outside tables and service, and taking advantage of relaxed rules set out by Californias Department of Alcohol Beverage Control that could allow restaurants to sell booze outside and patrons to walk around with the drinks. Among its 1,609 downtown retailers, Knies says only about 9% remain open for to-go or delivery service. San Jose is far from alone. In San Francisco, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association is looking to allow dining rooms to spill outside. San Mateo is considering closing B Street and 25th Avenue to vehicles in an effort to create enough social distancing for dining outdoors, according to the San Mateo Daily Journal. Most restaurants across the state remain closed to sit-down diners. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to issue guidelines for the industry Tuesday, which might lay out how restaurants can reopen. The guidelines could include temperature checks for employees, handwashing schedules and face mask requirements. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Its an economic calamity, Knies said adding, Its so fluid, and everybody is moving fast. Our small businesses are hurting, and we just need some good information and hope. At a news conference Friday, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said: We just want to be ready. We want to have the rules in place, very clearly. We want to ensure theres a clear pathway for small businesses. We know they dont have a lot of money to be spending on fees. They dont have time to be spending with lobbyists and consultants. They just want to know what are the clear rules and how can they do it. So, we need to ensure were working hard to make it as easy as possible when the light turns green. Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron Bengaluru-based Smallcase Technologies is paving the way for modern investors allowing them to choose from professionally-tailored baskets of stocks that reflect an investing idea or strategy. Currently, nine are offering this platform. They include Kotak Securities, HDFC Securities, 5paisa, Edelweiss, IIFL Securities, Zerodha, Axis Securities, Alice Blue and Trustline. Moneycontrol has also collaborated with smallcase Technologies. Take a look at some of the best performing smallcases of the last one month: Insurance Tracker The insurance sector is highly underpenetrated in India. According to an India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) report, the sector contributed to less than 4 percent of the gross domestic product in 2017 compared to the 2015 global average of 6.2 percent. However, with India's burgeoning middle class, progressively young population and increasing awareness about financial well-being, experts estimate the market share could grow four-fold in the next 10 years from the current market size of $60 billion. The sector has also attracted major interest from foreign institutional investors. Foreign investors have been net buyers in the insurance sectors in every month of the last financial year and have poured in Rs 833 crore till March 31 this year. This smallcase comprises listed insurance companies to allow investors to efficiently track and invest in the insurance sector. On a one month basis (April 9-May 8), the smallcase has returned 8.13 percent compared to Nifty50's 1.53 percent. Some of the major stocks in the smallcase are ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, SBI Life Insurance Company among others. As on May 10, the minimum amount required to invest in this smallcase is Rs 7,051. Sustainable Earnings Often, investors tend to ignore consistent performers in favour of multi-baggers. While these stocks may show supernormal growth in the short-term, more often than not, these multi-baggers fail the litmus test of time. On the other hand, companies with strong fundamentals and sound businesses generally beat the market ruse to emerge as wealth creators in the long run. Also Read: Explainer | What is smallcase and how to invest using the platform? This smallcase consists of companies that have been recording higher sales and earnings. Additionally, only the companies experiencing increasing cash flows and available at low valuations compared to their peers are included in this smallcase. On a one-month basis (April 9-May 8), the smallcase has returned 7.9 percent. Some of the major stocks in the smallcase are Bharat Electronics, Gujarat Alkalies And Chemicals, JB Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals among others. As on May 10, the minimum amount required to invest in this smallcase is Rs 3,248. IT IT Tracker In 2016-17, the global IT & ITeS market was estimated to be around $1.2 trillion. Meanwhile, the global sourcing market reached $173-178 billion. India is the leading sourcing destination across the world with a market share of approximately 55 percent. Indian IT & ITeS companies have set up over 1,000 global delivery centres in over 200 cities around the world. The internet industry in India is likely to double to reach $250 billion by 2020, growing to 7.5 percent of the GDP. This smallcase comprises IT & ITeS and online services companies to allow investors to efficiently track and invest in the information technology sector. On a one-month basis (April 9-May 8), the smallcase has returned 7.16 percent compared to Nifty100's 1.36 percent. Some of the major stocks in the smallcase are HCL Technologies, Hexaware Technologies, Infosys, among others. As on May 10, the minimum amount required to invest in this smallcase is Rs 32,980. Growth & Income - Mid-Cap Version This smallcap is based on the investment criterion set out by Kevin Matras, a US-based investment expert, in his book 'Finding #1 Stocks: Screening, Backtesting and Time-Proven Strategies'. This smallcase selects companies having better ROE and earnings growth compared to their respective sector averages. For better suitability, all the criteria have been adapted for the Indian markets. Also Read: We want to make investing as easy as booking a cab, says founder of smallcase To filter poor corporate governance, this smallcase uses the P/OCF (price to operating cash flow) ratio instead of PE (price to earnings) ratio. Additionally, it only selects companies experiencing positive dividend growth. This is a Midcap version of smallcase. Check the standard version here. On a one month basis (April 9-May 8), the smallcase has returned 5.89 percent compared to Nifty Midcap's 2.42 percent. Some of the major stocks in the smallcase are Alembic Pharmaceuticals, CESC, Tata Power among others. As on May 10, the minimum amount required to invest in this smallcase is Rs 6,658. The Naked Trader This smallcase is based on investment criteria set out by UK-based trader Robbie Burns in his book The Naked Trader: How Anyone Can Make Money Trading Shares. These criteria have been adapted to Indian stock market conditions to build this smallcase. In a series of filters, the smallcase first checks the financial vigour of stocks by selecting ones whose revenues, earnings and dividend payouts have increased in the most recent financial year. Next, the companies whose debt burdens are lower than their operating profits are selected. Low-debt companies pay low interest, which automatically boosts profitability. Such companies are relatively better off even during downturns such as the ones we are witnessing in the name of COVID-19. In addition to this, the model also checks for ratios like PE, so that reasonably-priced stocks are selected. On a one month basis (April 9-May 8), the smallcase has returned 5.07 percent compared to Nifty Smallcap 100's 2.31 percent. Some of the major stocks in the smallcase are Gujarat State Petronet, Mahanagar Gas, J Kumar Infraprojects among others. As on May 10, the minimum amount required to invest in this smallcase is Rs 11,335. The PE List Private Equity (PE) is a source of funding with a long-term investment horizon, usually for private companies in the growth phase. PE firms conduct extensive due diligence regarding the companys business model, management team, industry dynamics, growth prospects, etc. before investing. These firms usually become a part of the board and offer advice, support, introductions, etc. related to operations, strategy, and financial management of the company. This combination of funding and expertise usually results in good growth prospects for the company receiving the funding. This smallcase consists of stocks in which PE firms hold high stakes. On a one month basis (April 9-May 8), the smallcase has returned 4.87 percent compared to Nifty Midcap's 2.42 percent. Some of the major stocks in the smallcase are Capacite Infraprojects, Parag Milk Foods, IDFC First Bank among others. As on May 10, the minimum amount required to invest in this smallcase is Rs 12,041. Metal Tracker The metals and mining sector has benefitted greatly from the infra push in India. The automotive industry, power and cement industry has also aided the growth. India currently produces around 88 minerals which mainly include 50 non-metallic, 24 minor, 10 metallic, 4 fuel and 3 atomic minerals. India is the third-largest producer of coal and steel, fourth in terms of iron ore production and has the seventh-largest bauxite reserves. This smallcase comprises aluminium, copper, manganese, iron & steel and diversified companies to allow investors to efficiently track and invest in the metals and mining sector. On a one month basis (April 9-May 8), the smallcase has returned 4.61 percent compared to Nifty Multicap's 1.48 percent. Some of the major stocks in the smallcase are Hindustan Zinc, Hindalco Industries, National Aluminium Company among others. As on May 10, the minimum amount required to invest in this smallcase is Rs 3,202. Auto Tracker Despite its recent troubles, the auto industry continues to be a stronghold for the India Inc, contributing to about 7.1 percent of the country's GDP. The sector is estimated to grow at around 10-15 percent to reach $16.5 billion by 2021 from around $7 billion in 2016. This smallcase comprises automobiles, auto parts, batteries and tyre companies to allow investors to efficiently track and invest in the automobile sector. On a one month basis (April 9-May 8), the smallcase has returned 4.12 percent compared to Nifty Midcap's 2.42 percent. Some of the major stocks in the smallcase are Apollo Tyres, Hero MotoCorp, Sundram Fasteners among others. As on May 10, the minimum amount required to invest in this smallcase is Rs 16,216. Pharma Tracker Indian pharmaceutical sector is estimated to grow to $55 billion by 2020, thereby emerging as the sixth-largest pharmaceutical market globally by absolute size. Branded generics dominate the pharmaceuticals market, constituting nearly 80 percent of the market share in terms of revenues. The sectors revenues are expected to grow by 8 percent YoY through fiscal 2020. Pharma sector is also expected to generate 58,000 additional job opportunities by 2025. This smallcase comprises pharmaceutical and life sciences companies to allow investors to efficiently track and invest in the pharma sector. On a one month basis (April 9-May 8), the smallcase has returned 4.02 percent compared to Nifty100's 1.36 percent. Some of the major stocks in the smallcase are Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Alkem Laboratories, Divi's Laboratories among others. As on May 10, the minimum amount required to invest in this smallcase is Rs 19,046. CANSLIM-esque CANSLIM is an investment model from American stockbroker and investor William ONeil. The model revolves around seven criteria - current earnings, annual earnings, the new factor, supply and demand, leader vs laggard, institutional ownership and market direction. These criteria have been modified for the Indian stock markets. This smallcase consists of companies that have recorded greater than 10 percent earnings per share growth over the previous 2 years and also have high return on equity. High EPS growth in tandem with high ROE indicates that the company is making money at a fast pace while managing capital efficiently. Future expectations regarding earnings growth have also been taken into account. Additionally, only stocks that have been showing strong upward price movement and have performed better than 75 percent of all stocks over the previous 1 year are included. On a one month basis (April 9-May 8), the smallcase has returned 3.52 percent compared to Nifty50's 1.53 percent. Some of the major stocks in the smallcase are Astral Poly Technik, Varun Beverages, Hindustan Unilever among others. As on May 10, the minimum amount required to invest in this smallcase is Rs 53,835. (Note: Constituents of the aforementioned smallcases were last reviewed on March 13, 2020, and will be next reviewed on Jun 13, 2020.) This is a partnered post. IT is now over two months weeks since the reality of Covid-19 really started to impact us. Bemused children suddenly being told to clear out their lockers, airports practically shutting down, people rushing to the supermarket to buy provisions. Within another two weeks the pubs had shut and people were advised not to travel beyond 2km unless for essential work and medical appointments (and food shopping!). For many of us adults the big change has meant working from home. For ourselves in clinical practice working from home prior to March 2020 usually meant paperwork, admin, reports and accounts. In recent weeks, many psychologists, some GPs, and many of the allied health professionals such as physiotherapists are conducting sessions remotely with their patients. Modern technology has facilitated this in a way that 15 years ago would not have seemed possible. Day to day this means that we are spending considerable periods of time on our phones, using online platforms such as WhatsApp, Zoom and Skype. So what does this mean for our mental health? In the past decade researchers have examined the impact of screens and technology. Surprisingly research is not as clearcut as one might assume. One large scale study in the US conducted with 2 to 17-year-olds found that screen time was associated with adverse impact such as more distractibility, less self control, less emotional regulation. The same study found that the older subjects who spent the most time in front of screens were significantly more likely to experience a negative impact on their mental health, such as depression. More moderate users also experienced an adverse effect. However there were no differences between non-users and children who reported low use of screens. Another large-scale American study has not found such conclusive negative effects and that any adverse effects were transient and negligible. It is no doubt a complex issue and one which is further complicated by the considerable amount of change and development in young people as they grow and mature. From the adult perspective this change to screen time and away from face-to-face contact has its own pros and cons. Many people find working from home relaxing and enjoy not having to commute or even to dress for work. Others find that they are having to work harder to connect with people remotely. When the technology works it is wonderful, but how many of us have grappled with downloading software and apps and relying on sometimes patchy internet? Joining a meeting online can cause a different kind of stress that you would not have to deal with if you were sitting across from someone in an office meeting room. We are sensory beings; in our communication with others we often rely on touch and even smell when we are connecting. As psychologists we know that probably the most important factor in therapy is the human connection you make in the room with the client. In our experience, while this is still possible it is probably harder to achieve virtually or remotely. Another issue with remote access is the sense of always being available. If you work outside the home, you are hopefully lucky enough to leave your workload behind you for the day when you leave. However, the boundaries can get blurred when you work and live in the same location. It can be more tempting to check emails or to work on something later on in the evening. Even socially this can be an issue. In the absence of pubs, clubs, restaurants and similar venues people have found very creative ways of keeping in touch with friends and family over the past two months online quizzes at the weekends with friends and a few drinks and nibbles from the comfort of your own home is certainly not something we would have heard about a few months ago. But, when you feel overwhelmed and tired it may be harder to turn down this kind of online connection than it would have been to say no to actually going out to meet someone. We would recommend boundaries and routine for remote working and screen usage. That means keeping to the daily workday schedule. Taking your morning coffee and lunch breaks. Being disciplined enough to clock on and off as usual. Working with screens can cause physical tension muscular tightness if posture is off, eye strain and so on. We would suggest regular screen breaks at least on the hour. Just get up and move around your home office (aka kitchen, bedroom etc). Shrug the shoulders up to the ears, hold for a count of seven and drop them down. And repeat. We carry a lot of tension in this part of the body and it can lead to neck ache and headaches. Take regular deep belly breaths inhale for a count of four, hold for a count of two and exhale for a count of six to help you relax. The longer exhale and the deeper inbreath help trigger our parasympathetic nervous systems, that is our ability to rest and digest. And as always prioritising your self-care. If any of you are juggling your work life with home-schooling or looking after elderly family you really need to carve out a little slice of time for yourselves. Take that walk, look out the window, listen to the birds, meditate. We do not know how long it will be until life returns to pre-Covid-19. So whatever else changes, the importance of looking after our mental wellbeing remains the same. Imelda Ferguson and Julie OFlaherty are chartered clinical psychologists, both based in private practice in Tullamore. They write a fortnightly column for the Tullamore and Midland Tribune. Through Mind Your Self Midlands, they run courses on Positive Psychology and Mindfulness through the year when there isn't a lockdown. They can be contacted through the Psychological Society of Ireland www.psychologicalsociety.ie (Find A Psychologist section) or on their Facebook page, Mind Your Self Midlands. We're definitely into long term investing, but some companies are simply bad investments over any time frame. We don't wish catastrophic capital loss on anyone. For example, we sympathize with anyone who was caught holding National Bank of Greece S.A. (ATH:ETE) during the five years that saw its share price drop a whopping 99%. We also note that the stock has performed poorly over the last year, with the share price down 44%. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 61% in the last three months. However, one could argue that the price has been influenced by the general market, which is down 30% in the same timeframe. We really hope anyone holding through that price crash has a diversified portfolio. Even when you lose money, you don't have to lose the lesson. See our latest analysis for National Bank of Greece While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time. National Bank of Greece became profitable within the last five years. Most would consider that to be a good thing, so it's counter-intuitive to see the share price declining. Other metrics may better explain the share price move. Revenue is actually up 60% over the time period. So it seems one might have to take closer look at the fundamentals to understand why the share price languishes. After all, there may be an opportunity. You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values). ATSE:ETE Income Statement May 11th 2020 It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts Story continues A Different Perspective While the broader market lost about 11% in the twelve months, National Bank of Greece shareholders did even worse, losing 44%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. However, the loss over the last year isn't as bad as the 64% per annum loss investors have suffered over the last half decade. We'd need to see some sustained improvements in the key metrics before we could muster much enthusiasm. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand National Bank of Greece better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with National Bank of Greece (including 1 which is can't be ignored) . If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on GR exchanges. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Party leader outlines key tasks for 12th plenum of Party Central Committee VNA/VNP Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong has required members of the Party Central Committee (PCC) to uphold their sense of responsibility and objectivity in addressing issues tabled for discussion at the 12th PCC plenum, especially personnel work.In his opening remarks at the 12th plenum, which opened in Hanoi on May 11 morning, the Party leader said from now to the 13th National Party Congress, besides congress documents, the PCC must devote time and efforts to prepare personnel for the upcoming tenure. He stressed that it is an extremely important task that involves the fate of the Party and the nation, as well as the future of the country.At the on-going plenum, the PCC will discuss and decide the directions for personnel work relating to the 13th -tenure PCC. The directions will be the basis for preparing personnel for the PCC, the Politburo, the PCC Secretariat, and the PCCs Inspection Commission in the 13th tenure as well as key positions in State agencies in the 2021-2026 term, which will be done in the following PCC plenums.General Secretary Trong said the criteria for candidates for the PCC, Politburo and PCC Secretariat include firm political position; perseverance with the goal of national independence and socialism; and absolute loyalty to Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, the Partys Platform and directions, the Constitution and national interests. Candidates must have good ethics and lifestyle, be real examples for others, and have high prestige among the public. They must neither be involved in corruption nor be opportunistic, and have no ambition for power. Candidates must also be well aware of the responsibility to preserve and protect unity and solidarity among the Party.At the plenum, Politburo member and Chairwoman of the National Assembly submitted to the PCC a scheme on directions for the general election of deputies to the 15th legislature and Peoples Councils at all levels in the 2021-2026 tenure.Party leader Trong said in considering the scheme, the PCC should analyse, clarify and reach consensus on key issues that decide the success of the elections, such as the objective, requirements and guiding principles of the elections; criteria for deputies of the NA and Peoples Councils at all levels, including full-time deputies; the number, structure and age of deputies; the rights to voting and running for election; the process of nominating and self-nominating candidates; the settlement of election-related complaints and petitions; and other organisational work to implement the scheme.Regarding the allocation of number of delegates to attend the 13th National Party Congress, General Secretary Trong said the PCC should focus attention on principles and criteria for allocating the number of delegates to 67 Party organisations under the management of the PCC. After the PCC approve the principles and criteria, the Politburo will consider and decide the number of delegates allocated to each Party organisation.The PCCs 12th plenum will last until May 14./. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, May 12 2020 Indonesia and Australia have agreed to implement the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) on July 5, according to the Indonesian Trade Ministry. Indonesia ratified the partnership agreement in late February. In a virtual meeting with my counterpart, [Australian Trade, Tourism and Investment] Minister Simon Birmingham, we agreed to implement the IA-CEPA as soon as possible because it is important for the two countries to help with post-COVID-19 recovery, Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto said as quoted in a statement on Friday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login The 'Boys Locker Room' Instagram case exploded after a fight between the victim students and the perpetrators. But the police did not receive any complaint about this nor did they have any information about this abusive game of blackmail. These facts have emerged in the investigation by the Delhi Police Cyber Cell since the past five days. More than 15 people in this case have been questioned by the Cyber Cell so far. Police has also seized 10 mobile phones. As the probe goes deeper into the case, those involved are said to be concealing themselves. IANS has come to know all these facts through a top officer associated with Delhi Police Cyber Cell. On the condition of anonymity, the officer said, "Actually the chain is not limited to Delhi only. It is now reaching Gurugram and Noida as well. During the investigation so far, a prominent English school in Noida where one student is studying has come up. Some more evidence is also being collected against this student. However, the mobile phone of this main accused student has been blocked since the exposure." When the main conspirator's mobile is not reachable, then will the investigation be stuck for a long time? In response to a question from IANS, the cyber cell officer said, "No, it is not so. The last location of the accused has been found out. The mobile CDR (call detail report) had found out the numbers on which the accused are mostly talking. There is no role of those mobile number holders in this case at the moment. It has been learnt that though the case has now unfolded, the main accused student was already mischievous and his school record is also not good." Has the school even taken any drastic action against such students? When asked, a member of the cyber cell team said, "No, our investigation does not concern the school. We are looking for this student and witnesses and evidence for the entire case. Right now this student and his family has not been found at their address. So till this student is not found, we (Delhi Police Cyber Cell) cannot reach any concrete conclusion." Have all the other accused too disappeared by switching off their mobiles? A member of the Delhi Police Cyber Cell team said, "No, it is not so. Most of the accused and victims are with us. Some have switched off their phones. But their CDR is with us." So where are the police teams raiding in search of those who are wanted? On being asked, the same officer said, "The lockdown is going on. It is not right to go on raids everywhere for no reason. And then most of the juveniles are also involved in this case. When the police team raids neighbours can also be disturbed. Because of social distancing we have to take care to avoid corona infection. We are only going where we expect 99 per cent of the accused or victims to be." How helpful have the information received by the Delhi Police Cyber Cell from Instagram been so far? When asked, a member of the team said, "There is no significant benefit. We have got much more material from our own investigation than what Instagram provided. However, we also got information from Instagram and included it in the investigation. Because legally it is important." The matter was not exposed by the police, but because of the mutual conflict in the group. It came to light when a member of the group started making obscene comments on his classmate's photographs. When the screenshots of this fight went viral it was only then that this hideous spectacle was revealed. The main administrator of this Instagram group is a 12th class student of a prominent English medium school in Noida, who together with three or four friends, created the now infamous group called 'Boys Locker Room'. So far, 27 adults and minors have been linked to the case. Delhi Police Cyber Cell had asked for some evidence/information in writing from Instagram about these 27 persons so that the real conspirators can be found and the victims rescued. The Cyber Cell has asked for detailed information from Instagram about some people whom even the group's administrator has no information about. One of the admins is in custody. Mostly students of class 10, 11 and 12 have been confirmed to be involved in this group or are victims. One of the reasons for the case being exposed is that three or four girls had spoken out against vulgar comments and photographs about themselves in the group. Commentary All Signs Point to a Worsening of Myanmars Rakhine Conflict AA troops in Kachin State in 2019 / The Irrawaddy Far from being contained, the violence in northern Rakhine State continues to spread. With the Arakan Army (AA) having established a foothold in the area, the fighting in Rakhine is escalating and many fear it will only intensify. To those field commanders who were hoping for a break from the daily fighting, all of the recent news has been bad. On Sunday, the military (or Tatmadaw) announced a ceasefire in parts of the country effective until Aug. 31, but the measure does not cover Rakhine State. The militarys designation of the AA as terrorist group in March seems certain to lock the two sides into a bitter war. The thinking at the high command in Naypyitaw is that the military needs to be able to concentrate its fighting forces in northern Rakhine, as the conflicts with other ethnic armed groups are deemed less serious, and there has been no fighting at all in some areas, particularly those controlled by the Kachin Independence Army and the Kokang rebel group, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army. Officially, the military says the objective of the ceasefire is to allow it to focus on the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. Since last month, the military has been conducting lab tests for COVID-19 using a machine with capacity to process 200 samples per day at a 300-bed military hospital in eastern Shan States Kengtung, under the Triangle Command. Coinciding with the announcement of the ceasefire, Myanmar military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing traveled to the Tatmadaws Triangle Command, where he met leaders from the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA, also known as the Mong La group). In separate meetings with leaders of the groups, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing offered to provide assistance to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. However, observers noted that the commander-in-chief also raised the issue of the AA with leaders of the powerful UWSA. The Wa recently purchased civilian helicopters and now control a sizable army of over 30,000 troops equipped with missiles, drones and several other types of sophisticated weaponry. The Wa also allegedly sell weapons and ammunition to smaller ethnic forces in Myanmar on credit, and the AA is thought to be among their clients. Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaings meeting with leaders of the NDAA went smoothly and they acknowledged the stability of the relationship between the two sides. Concerns were raised recently, however, when more than 200 Rakhine men returned from China into NDAA territory, where they went quarantine. The NDAA leaders have promised to find jobs for them. Many ethnic Rakhine who travel to the Chinese border to find work end up joining the AA. The military wants to ensure it can coordinate with NDAA leaders on quarantine procedures for Rakhine men while gathering information on the individuals involved. Military reshuffle The senior generals visit to the Golden Triangle followed a reshuffle of the armed forces top brass that saw several younger-generation officers promoted to inject new blood into senior command positions. Among those promoted was Major General Kyaw Swar Lin, who previously served as head of the Tatmadaws Central Command. He has been promoted to lieutenant general and appointed quartermaster general, replacing Lieutenant General Nyo Saw, who is retiring but will remain head of the military-owned Myanmar Economic Cooperation. Kyaw Swar Lin, 49, becomes the youngest lieutenant general ever to serve in the Myanmar military. More importantly, Colonel Wai Lin, who previously served in the Coastal Region Command, has been appointed a General Staff officer at the military headquarters in Naypyitaw. He replaces Brigadier General Ko Ko Oo, who is known as a moderate among mid-ranking officers and has been promoted to head the Central Command. In the past, Ko Ko Oo served as the personal security officer for General Maung Aye when the latter was deputy chairman of the formerly ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and No. 2 in the armed forces. In his new position, Wai Lin will hold the rank of brigadier general and will coordinate between commander-in-chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and his deputy, Vice Senior General Soe Win. He will shuttle between the two offices. Military observers say his position is crucial to the Rakhine conflict, as he will work directly with field commanders. In his previous position, then Col. Wai Lin was known for his tough stance toward illegal fishing trawlers, smugglers, pirates and fishing boats entering Myanmar waters illegally. It is not known whether Wai Lin was previously based in Rakhine State. Army officers who have served in Rakhine during the armed conflict there over the past eight years are generally looked on favorably within the army and have a high degree of credibility. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Rakhine was relatively peaceful except for occasional military operations to drive out illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and periodic crackdowns on pockets of Muslim insurgents there. In any case, Wai Lin was one of a group of colonels from the frontline area shortlisted to deal with the unfolding situation in Rakhine. Some insiders believe Ko Ko Oo is competent but not tough enough for the task. To be fair, military officers who know him add that he has done his best to coordinate with field commanders in Rakhine. Col. Wai Lin will have to work with both Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and Vice Snr-Gen Soe Win, but it is likely he will spend more time with the latter, who is now focused on the Rakhine conflict, and on persuading the government and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to take a tougher stance on the AA. It is no secret that Vice Snr-Gen Soe Win has better chemistry with the State Counselor than Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing does. When news of the ceasefire was announced this weekend, field commanders who were hoping that it would also cover Rakhine State saw their hopes dashed. However, it seems Vice Snr-Gen Soe Win, who previously served in Rakhine, Chin and Kachin states, does not intend to give his commanders any rest from the fighting. It can only mean that more bloodshed and an expansion of the conflict lie ahead. You may also like these stories: Younger Myanmar Military Officers Promoted to Key Roles in Reshuffle Myanmar Military Re-Arrests Rakhine Civilians After Court Release Building New IDP Camps Requires Security Considerations: Rakhine State Govt Victorians have a new normal. A new set of rules to follow. A new way to order our lives. It is nothing like what we once had, but nobody would have expected that. There is a very long way to go. It was only two months ago that closely packed crowds were lining up at Albert Park to watch the grand prix. That all came to an abrupt end when Prime Minister Scott Morrison banned gatherings of more than 500 people. From that moment the dominoes fell quickly as all Australians had to eventually adjust to living in stage-three lockdowns with no gatherings of more than two people and stay-at-home orders set in stone. It has been a tough few weeks. After Tuesday night's easing of restrictions, let's hope the state never has to live under those conditions again. Premier Daniel Andrews announces the easing of restrictions. Credit:Eddie Jim Victoria should be proud of its progress so far. The Age tips its hat to the more than 160,000 people who got tested, to the vast majority who played by the rules, to the medical teams caring for those worst affected, to the contact tracers chasing down outbreaks and to the state and federal governments for providing a steady hand during this time. It has been a collective effort on an immense scale. But for all the success in suppressing the virus, the way forward is still uncertain. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews repeated it often, and then some more: he wants to ease restrictions in a manner that is safe, cautious and appropriate. Mr Andrews has been more wary than most in relaxing the rules. And he's had his critics. On Sunday, Liberal MP Tim Smith described the Premier's reluctance to ease restrictions for Mother's Day as "loony" and "incredibly cruel". MERIDEN Tom Biros, owner of Olympos Diner on East Main Street, is ready for May 20 when he can rope off his front parking lot and set out tables and chairs so his customers can eat outside. This is all new to us as it is everybody else, Biros said Monday. You can sit and eat, rather than taking it home and eating it out of a box. Biros tried to set his tables out in early May but after he posted photos on social media, he was told by the city he had to remove them until May 20. At that time, Biros will continue to offer dial-in ordering and curbside pickup, but customers will have the option to also eat outdoors. Gov. Ned Lamont is allowing restaurants and eateries to offer outdoor dining on May 20 under social distancing and other guidelines. He asked cities and towns to be flexible with their zoning to allow al fresco dining so eateries without patios can compete. Meriden Economic Development Director Joseph Feest last month asked the citys Department of Development and Enforcement to help small business owners when it came to a limited reopening. Department Director Renata Bertotti and Assistant Planner Paul Dickson helped draft some changes to outside dining requirements that could help small eateries. The citys Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss the proposed changes when it meets Wednesday. With Renatas and Pauls help we are trying to revamp our regulation to help restaurants during this tough economic time, Feest said. This is in response to the pandemic but we needed to update this section. As we go through future phases of opening our economy I think we are going to have to be sensitive to the needs of the business along with our regulations The city currently allows outdoor dining, however, there are restrictions as to the area, location, parking etc., Bertotti said. City officials are proposing changing those aspects of the existing regulation to be more flexible and accommodating for restaurants, and at the same time requiring noise and visual buffering when they are located next to residential zones. The amendment is more about the general COVID-19 situation and us, as a community, trying to be as adaptable to change as we possibly can, Bertotti said We anticipated that more provisions for outdoor uses will be needed and this one was the most immediate one to take on. Feest is also discussing plans to close down a street or possibly using a park to give an establishment a venue they can use to conduct businesses safely while following social distance requirements. Biros estimates business has dropped from about $1,300 in daily sales to about $200. He considers himself fortunate he was able to secure a small Paycheck Protection Program loan that allowed him to keep five employees on the payroll, bring one furloughed worker back, and pay one months rent on the restaurant. If the payroll criteria is met, the loan is forgivable. Once it became available we filed, Biros said. Its a small loan not a big loan. It gave us a cushion, as long as we follow their rules. The success of the PPP loan program is mixed, business advocates said. Small business owners have complained that companies with fewer than 10 employees were forced to compete with publicly traded corporations that received millions. The first round of funding closed in six days. I know a lot of people have applied for the PPP and received it, along with a lot of single operators that dont have any employees to qualify for the program, Feest said. The city is also seeking to establish a fund aimed at helping small businesses who were unable to secure funding through state and federal stimulus programs. It has also offered incentives to customers who order take-out cuisine from local eateries. City Councilor Miguel Castro is working with several business owners citywide providing stimulus information in Spanish and helping them recognize some opportunities during the reopening. Many of the citys small eateries are owned and operated by members of the Latino community. Small business owners drive the local economy, and Castro checks on them daily. Three weeks ago, he arranged an informational webinar in Spanish with representatives from the Small Business Administration and the Spanish American Merchants Association. It was sponsored by the Midstate Chamber of Commerce, the city's economic development department, the Meriden Economic Development Corp. and CT en Vivo to help businesses navigate through the system for financial relief. Over 2,030 Latino small business owners connected and approximately 300 questions were asked. We've assisted with SBA Paycheck Protection Program PPP application loans, SBA Bridge Loans and local bank institution representatives in both English and Spanish, literally racing to hit deadlines before funding was exhausted, Castro said. Allowing restaurants to operate outside and...at appropriate distances is a great idea to allow our small businesses to generate revenue which will help the city transition into feeling like its coming back to life. mgodin@record-journal.com203-317-2255Twitter: @Cconnbiz Q: My brother died last week, probably from Covid-19. The management company of his Manhattan rental building told me that the family usually has 14 days to empty the apartment, but they would check if anything has changed because of the pandemic. I cant possibly meet that deadline because I am 79, live in Connecticut and have a medical condition. There is no way that I can risk going to New York City to clear out the apartment and I am reluctant to put anyone else at risk right now. What rights do I have? A: Your brothers landlord cannot arbitrarily take possession of his apartment or his belongings, whether or not were in the middle of a health emergency. They dont have a legal right to go into the apartment, said Jonathan Fox, the director of the Tenants Rights Unit at the New York Legal Assistance Group. A tenant, and their estate after they die, has lawful possession of the apartment until there is a judgment in housing court and a warrant executed by a marshal. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has arrested a 20-year-old man, Rashawn Smith, and charged him with making threats against protests at the killing of Ahmaud Arbery from a false Facebook account set up in the name of a white Trump supporter. On Sunday, May 10, 2020, the GBI arrested Rashawn Smith, age 20, and charged him with Dissemination of Information Relating to Terroristic Acts, read a GBI statement. He was taken into custody in Midway, GA and will be booked into the Liberty County Sheriffs Office. This investigation was conducted with the assistance of the FBI & Liberty County Sheriffs Office. The GBI inquiry that led to Mr Smith began less than 24 hours earlier in response to a Facebook post that contained a threat to future protests related to Ahmaud Arbery. The GBI has since tweeted that Mr Smith created a Facebook User ID of an unwitting individual to post a hoax threat. Early reports suggest that Mr Smith used a profile with a picture of a white Trump supporter to leave a post on a community Facebook group page in which he threatened to stage a mass shooting at the Brunswick County courthouse if protesters ranting [their] negro spiritual did not call a quits on this. The investigation into Arberys death, meanwhile, has taken several turns in the last few days. The two men who chased after him with guns, Gregory McMichael and his son Travis, were last week arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault. It has since transpired that when the elder Mr McMichael was involved in a previous prosecution of Arbery when he worked as an investigator in the local district attorneys office. Also emerging is additional video from the moments before the shooting, specifically CCTV footage in which a man thought to be Arbery enters a vacant house then continues jogging along the street before two men enter a white truck and drive in the same direction. The police are investigating the video. And on the same day Mr Smiths arrest was announced, a local TV station reported that the man who shot the video of Arberys final moments that went viral last week is receiving death threats. Georgias attorney general, Chris Carr, has now asked the US Department of Justice to examine how Arberys death was investigated from the outset. The Taliban attacked an Afghan army checkpoint in eastern Laghman province, killing six soldiers and wounding five, the government said Monday. The insurgents claimed responsibility for the assault, which took place on Sunday night, just days after US special envoy in new talks with the Taliban in Qatar reemphasized the need for a reduction in violence. The statement from the Afghan Defense Ministry said the troops pushed back the attackers, adding that the Taliban also suffered casualties but without providing specific figures. Last week, US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with Taliban representatives in Doha, the capital of the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, where the insurgents maintain a political office. He stressed the need for a cease-fire, and after Doha, Khalilzad also visited Islamabad and New Delhi to discuss the Afghan peace process with Pakistani and Indian officials. On Monday, four bombs, one placed under a garbage bin and the other three by the roadside, went off in northern Kabul, wounding four civilians, including a child, Afghan officials said. The roadside bombs were spaced within 10-20 meters (yards) of one another, said Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz. The wounded child is a 12-year-old girl, he said and added that the police are searching the area where the bombs struck. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings and their targets remained unknown. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in Kabul and its surroundings and both frequently target the military and civilians. Kabul has witnessed several low-scale attacks over the past seven days, including explosions from two hand grenades on Sunday night in the western part of Kabul. There were no casualties in that attack, according to Tariq Arian, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Last Thursday, a rocket targeted a power station and two roadside bombs went off in different areas of Kabul, also causing no casualties. No one has claimed responsibility for those attacks. On Saturday, a gunman opened fire on civilians in eastern Paktia province, killing three worshipers who were returning home after evening prayers, said provincial governor spokesman Abdullah Hasrat. There was no claim of responsibility and Hasrat said an investigation was underway. Meanwhile, an exchange of prisoners between the Afghan government and the Taliban has continued under a deal signed in February between the US and the Taliban in Qatar. The deal stipulates that the government free 5,000 Taliban prisoners while the insurgents are to release 1,000 captives, an exchange that is expected to lead to intra-Afghan negotiations. The exchange has come in stages and so far, and the government in Kabul says it has freed 1,000 Taliban prisoners. The insurgents have confirmed the release of 300 Taliban members. For their part, the Taliban say they have freed 225 of their captives, including Afghan defense and security personnel members a release not confirmed by the government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An additional 10,000 people would have died from Covid-19 had the reproduction of the virus remained at the same rate as the beginning of March, the countrys Chief Clinical Officer has said. Speaking at a HSE briefing on the outbreak of the coronavirus, Dr Colm Henry said that the current reproductive, or R number, was between 0.3 and 0.8. That means that each person infected with the virus has in turn infected less than one other person on average. At the beginning of March, that figure was between 2.0 and 2.5. Dr Henry said that had that continued and physical distancing measures not been taken, Ireland would likely have seen 12,000 deaths by the end of last week. Overall, the figure is 1,195 as of yesterday morning. "Its worth considering that if that R value had remained at 2.4 - which is not even the highest it would have been at the peak of its infectivity - we would have seen 12,000 deaths by May 7." Dr Henry said that the number of people in ICU facilities around Ireland had halved since the beginning of April, as well as the positivity rate for those tested falling to from 20% around 3%. He said that there were "positive trends" which "give us hope", including that over 70% of people had now recovered from the illness. In total, 72 people remained in ICUs as of Saturday night, down 55% on the peak of 160, with a further 543 people in hospitals with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 and another 196 suspected cases. However, despite those encouraging signs, the CEO of the HSE Paul Reid said that now was not the time to for the public to relax. He said that it was vital that Irelands hospital capacity needed to remain high for non-Covid patients so that normal services within the health system could resume. We need to keep capacity under 80% and protect the public and staff from Covid-19. Mr Reids words echoed those of Health Minister Simon Harris, who tweeted that restrictions are to be eased from May 18, not sooner. Its dangerous. Every day counts. The reason these restrictions are in place until then: to save your life and keep your loved ones well. Mr Harris urged people to remember the 72 patients in ICUs who are suffering from the illness. On the subject of personal protective equipment (PPE), Mr Reid said it was likely that over a 1 billion would be spent on masks, gowns, gloves and other materials this year. Mr Reid said that the cost of PPE was projected to be 250 million per quarter due to a number of factors including high demand, rising costs and the added distribution of the items. "However, the cost of not investing in these items is a lot less than the cost to society of not unlocking that funding." Mr Reid said that 60 flights carrying over 12 million items of PPE had landed on Irish soil last week and said further deliveries would continue, with N-95 masks and gowns the most difficult items to procure. He said that Ireland was not yet in a position to build a stockpile of PPE, with the weekly demand for masks - nine million - being the equivalent of 11 Liberty Halls when stacked up. Jammu, May 11 : Western Army commander, Lt Gen R.P. Singh visited forward areas in Samba and Kathua districts of J&K on Monday to review the operational preparedness of the deployed troops. A Defence Ministry statement said that accompanied by Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, GOC of Rising Star Corps, Lt Gen Singh interacted with commanders of field formations. The army commander was briefed about the operational and logistics preparedness and upgradation of the security infrastructure, the statement said. "The army commander lauded the troops for their high moral and motivation. "He appreciated the high state of preparedness of the Rising Star Corps to thwart any threat manifested by inimical and anti-national forces. "He also commended the efforts of the formation in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic," the statement added. While the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kashmir Valley and in Rajouri, Poonch and Jammu districts is guarded by the troops under the command of the Udhampur-headquartered Northern Command, the International Border with Pakistan in Samba and Kathua districts is guarded by the troops under the command of the Chandimandir-headquartered Western Command. The Delhi High Court was informed by the AAP government on Monday that the Sentence Review Board (SRB) meeting for considering eligibility of convicts for premature release is scheduled during the day. The Delhi government's submission came during the hearing on a petition seeking direction to the authorities to convene the SRB meetings frequently so that the eligible convicts are released early for decongesting jails to contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic. A bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, conducting the hearing through video conferencing, declined to intervene in the matter at this stage noting that the High Powered Committee of the high court has already taken up the issue pursuant to the Supreme Court's direction. Advocate and activist Amit Sahni, who has filed the petition, said the court has granted him liberty to approach the committee for redressal of the issue raised in the plea. The court, which disposed of the plea, also asked the Delhi government to place the copy of its order before the committee for its consideration. The court was informed by the counsel for the Delhi government that the SRB meeting is scheduled to be convened during the day. To this, the petitioner said since after filing of this petition, the state government has convened the SRB meeting today itself, therefore, the authorities should be directed to deal with the issue raised here. The plea said the SRB had convened its first quarter meeting of this year on February 28 and its meeting for the second quarter is not convened till date. It has sought direction to the authorities to convene the second quarter meetings of the board immediately as it is expedient in the interest of justice in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The petition also sought direction to the authorities to convene meetings of SRB more frequently as provided in the rules of Delhi Prison Rules, 2018 to ensure that cases of convicts, who qualify the parameters as determined by the government are considered more frequently in the pandemic of Covid-19, to de-congest Jails under the respondents and to fructify the directions of the Supreme Court and the high court. Delhi government's SRB reviews jail terms awarded and makes recommendations for premature release in appropriate cases. The panel, chaired by Delhi Home minister, comprises principal secretary (Home), principal secretary (law), director general (prisons), joint commissioner of police (crime), chief probation officer and a district judge. As per the rules, SRB should meet atleast once in three months. Sahni had earlier filed a plea seeking direction to convene SRB meetings in a timely manner and the high court had directed the authorities to do it in accordance with the provisions of the law. Thereafter, a contempt petition was filed and after the court issued notice seeking the stand of the authorities, SRB convened its first quarter meeting in February, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tests that can determine whether someone has developed antibodies against COVID-19 are becoming more common, but health experts said its still unclear whether having antibodies protects against reinfection. We dont want to give people the wrong impression, because we dont know what this means yet, if you have antibodies, said Dr. Zane Saul, chief of infectious disease at Bridgeport Hospital. Antibodies are the proteins the body uses to neutralize an infection. The presence of antibodies against a certain illness typically means a person was sick and recovered from the infection. Sometimes, the presence of antibodies means a person has protection against reinfection. Thats the case with illnesses such as chicken pox, where being infected once usually means a person wont get it again, Saul said. But, he said, with other illnesses such as the flu the immunity is only temporary. Its unknown where along the spectrum the COVID-19 antibodies sit. Its unlikely that anyone will know how much protection COVID-19 antibodies offer for at least six to nine months, said Dr. Tom Balcezak, chief clinical officer for Yale New Haven Health System. Tests for COVID-19 antibodies, also called serology tests, involve taking a blood sample, and examining it for the antibodies. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibody tests should not be used to diagnose someone as being currently sick with COVID-19. To see if you have a current infection, you need a viral test, which checks respiratory samples, such as a swab from inside your nose. Saul said Bridgeport Hospital has antibody tests available, but testing isnt widespread there yet partly because of the uncertainty surrounding it, and because the hospital is focusing on those with active infections. Were still working on patients and getting them through infection, Saul said. Some health organizations have begun wider antibody testing, including Hartford HealthCares GoHealth Urgent Care clinics. The chain has 18 clinics in the state, though five are temporarily closed due to the pandemic. The group started offering antibody testing and, as of Thursday night, at least 400 to 500 such tests had been done, said Dr. Eric Walsh, medical director of Hartfords GoHealth Urgent Care. He said patients can go on the website, make an appointment and see a provider, who will ask questions and determine whether theyre eligible for an antibody test, a COVID-19 test or both. Like Saul, Walsh said its still unknown how much protection is offered even if a patient tests positive for COVID-19 antibodies. But he said the tests are useful for helping to determine who has had the illness particularly since so many patients are asymptomatic. They also can provide some degree of comfort to the general public, Walsh said. For a lot of people, theres a peace of mind in knowing theyve had it before and survived it, he said. Antibody tests have become a hot topic locally and nationally. On May 4, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a statement, tightening oversight of antibody tests and requiring companies to send data to the FDA proving the accuracy of their product. The updated guidelines were in response to concerns about inaccurate tests. Late last month, researchers from the University of California at San Francisco and Berkeley found that many test kits delivered false positives. Officials from Hartford HealthCare and Yale New Haven Health said the tests theyve used didnt appear to have any issues. Even so, the experts agreed that theres still a lot thats unknown about antibody testing, and what it means to have COVID-19 antibodies. Having a test thats positive now might mean a lot more as we learn more about the virus, Walsh said. The media spat between China and the US amid fiery exchanges over the origin of COVID-19 heated up on Monday, with Beijing threatening "countermeasures" for a new "discriminatory" American rule tightening visa restrictions for Chinese-origin journalists. The US Homeland Security Department issued new regulations on Friday limiting visas for Chinese journalists to a maximum 90-day stay, with the possibility to request an extension. Reacting to Washington's move, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that this will severely affect Chinese media's normal coverage in the US. We urge the US to immediately correct its mistake. Otherwise, China will have to take countermeasures." China deplores and rejects the erroneous move by the US side, which is an escalation of its political suppression of the Chinese media, Zhao said. For a while, the US, entrenched in the Cold War mentality and ideological bias, launched one round of suppression after another against the Chinese media," he said. He said the US has expelled 60 Chinese since 2018. "Now it is resorting to discriminatory restrictive visa measures, severely disrupting Chinese media's normal reporting in the US and affecting bilateral people-to-people and cultural exchange, he said. The latest move by the US comes months after China expelled three journalists of The Wall Street Journal in February in retaliation to the newspaper's article on coronavirus titled China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia. Weeks later, Washington curbed the number of Chinese nationals from state-run outlets in the United States. The US State Department designated all the five Chinese official media outlets as "foreign government functionaries". After that China expelled more than a dozen American journalists from the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal in retaliation to the US restricting the number of Chinese media personnel. The war of words over the media adds to the growing public spat between the world's two largest economies over the origin of the coronavirus, which first surfaced in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December last. In recent weeks, the US has intensified its attack on China, blaming it for the spread of the virus and accusing it of withholding important information. US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have also claimed that the virus originated from a lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 3-year-old boy from Michigan was found stabbed to death on May 6, and his mother has been charged with the child's murder, according to the report posted by Detroit News. Mother in custody The mother of the boy, Atiya Nina Muhammed, has been charged with first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder, child abuse, and torture, according to court records. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said that the 26-year-old suspect was arraigned on May 10. The police from Inkster, a small town about 20 miles west of Detroit in Wayne County, said that relatives found 3-year-old Zion Reid on May 6 when they had not heard from the mother in several days and went to the home to check on her. The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office said that Reid suffered from multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma injuries. The child's body was found in a back bedroom. When the police arrived at around 4 p.m, Muhammed was not in the home, but she was located and immediately taken into custody less than two hours later. Also Read: Serial Killer Only Murders Women Who 'Won't be Missed' Similar incident In May 2013, an 8-year-old boy named Gabriel Fernandez was rushed to the hospital after his mother, Pearl Fernandez called 911. Paramedics found the boy not breathing and badly hurt, which Pearl claimed was the result of a fall that he'd suffered while playing with his older brother. However, in the days that followed, the true extent of Gabriel's injuries would become clear. The boy's throat was burned, his face was covered in bruises and cuts, his eyes were blackened, he had abrasions on the top of his feet, his teeth were knocked out, he had a weird incision above his penis and ligature marks on his ankles, and cigarette burns all over his body, and a fractured skull.There were also BB gun pellets lodged in his lung and his groin. The horrific condition of the boy inspired director Brian Knappenberger to create a docuseries "The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez" that focused on the urgent plight to save the boy's life and on prosecutors Jonathan Hatami and Scott Yang's efforts to build a case against the parents, Isauro and Pearl Fernandez, who would be tried separately for first-degree murder with extreme circumstances. Domestic abuse in the United States According to the Resource Center on Domestic Violence, around 4 million referrals for alleged maltreatment were made to child protective agencies in 2015. From these reports, an estimated 683,000 children in the United States were officially documented as having been maltreated. Children from birth to age three had the highest rate of victimization which is around 27.7% and slightly more than half of all victims were girls, which is around 50.9%. In overall prevalence, physical abuse was second to neglect. The figures represent just a fraction of all abuse and neglect in that year, with numerous acts of child maltreatment going unreported to protective service agencies. Researchers have also estimated that between 3 million and 10 million children are exposed to adult domestic violence every year and one researcher has estimated that at least 10% to 20% of children are exposed to intimate partner violence every year, with as many as one-third exposed at some point during childhood or adolescence. Related Article: Father Tosses 1-year-old Daughter from Cliff, Stabs Bystander Who Tried to Help @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-11 06:10:18 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 397 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 DUBAI, UAE / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Hollywood Stars, the successful Beauty Tourism Company in Dubai, announced the full shifting to online business In May 2020. Hollywood Stars was established 2014 in Dubai in the outbound medical tourism sector, with major focus on Beauty tourism, fitness adventure. In early 2020, the company won the 'Best Celebrity Management Agency 2019' from MEA MARKETS LONDON.Nadim Zidan, CEO of the company addressed, "Since the founding of Hollywood Stars, we have paid close attention to market risks. The tourism market may be disturbed by many factors, which will have a great impact on the company's revenue. So we have been working on the risk control and business diversification strategy very early." "We must develop flexible plans and be prepared for various risks. If our main business revenue declines, we can quickly launch alternative solutions. Sometimes, stopping losses in time is more important than making profits", said Zidan.Zidan is now implementing the company's plan for 2020. This plan fully takes into account the impact of the current global virus pandemic. Zidan said: "We have to put more energy into online activities, which has always been part of our vision of the Hollywood Star. The company is currently developing very well and successfully eliminated the impact of the epidemic." After winning 'Best Medical Tourism Agency' for the past two years, and 'Best Celebrity Management Agency 2019' from MEA MARKETS LONDON, Zidan still believes this success would have never happened without the trust of his clients, and the support of his family and close friends. "I will never forget the people who helped us when we started. So no matter what step the company has developed, we will remain grateful and maintain the highest service standards", Zidan explained.About Nadim ZidanNadim Zidan has been in Dubai for 16 years. He was not yet graduated from the faculty of economics in Syria where he was doing his BBA, then decided to see his chances in Dubai. In 2014, shortly after winning 'Banker of the Year 2013" and earning his MBA of investment from Robert Kennedy (Swiss), Zidan established his own company Hollywood Stars and now the company is very successful.Media contactCompany Name: Hollywood StarsContact Person: Nadim ZidanCity, State: Dubai, UAETelephone: +971553777001E-mail: media@ hollywoodstars-me.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nadim_zidan/ Website: www.hollywoodstars-me.com SOURCE: Hollywood Stars Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 11, 2020 15:30 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd73f9a0 1 City South-Jakarta,starvation,poor-residents Free A man fell to the ground in front of Gandaria City shopping mall in South Jakarta on Monday as a result of starvation. Bystanders were initially reluctant to help the 23-year-old man, who was later identified as Mulyadi, out of fear he might be suffering from COVID-19. When local police officers asked him what was wrong, he said his gastric acid levels had risen because he had not eaten. Our officers took him to a nearby food stall to eat, South Jakarta police chief Sr. Comr. Budi Sartono said on Monday, as quoted by kompas.com. After eating, he regained his strength and was told to return to his home in Depok, West Java. Nashik: Three trucks carrying migrant workers and a car collided at Chandwad Ghat in Nashik district, Maharashtra on Monday (May 11, 2020). More than 20 people got injured in the incident that happened at around 8 am. The accident happened after a car in Chandwad Ghat suddenly reduced its speed because of which the trucks behind lost control and collided with the vehicle. After the incident took place there was a long traffic jam on Chandwad Ghat road and the ambulance took about 45 minutes to reach the accident spot. Meanwhile, the local police rushed to the spot after hearing of the incident and the injured were admitted to the primary health center of Umana. There were more than 30 people who were travelling in these trucks which were going towards UP and MP. (Further details awaited) Error. Page cannot be displayed. Please contact your service provider for more details. (17) Starting Monday, anyone who donates blood to a South Carolina-based collection group will get an extra perk: Test results that show whether the donor has been infected with the novel coronavirus. The Blood Connection in Greenville will look for antibodies in the blood of anyone who donates for free. The results, which will be positive or negative and available about a week after giving, give information about the body's immune response to COVID-19. The results are not diagnostic and won't show whether someone is currently infected. The Blood Connection has donation centers across the state, including in Charleston, Greenville and Spartanburg. The presence of antibodies means the body has recovered from an infection, regardless of whether they felt sick. Those antibodies may help prevent a future infection, though the strength of the link has not yet been proven. State leadership wants to roll out as much antibody testing as possible in order to better understand how many residents of the state have been exposed to the virus. The Medical University of South Carolina says it is testing its staff and first responders, with hopes to expand to broader community access in the coming weeks. Early results released last week showed only 2 percent of the 920 health care workers tested had the antibodies. The organization already checks donors' blood for other common ailments. The Blood Connection is also accepting plasma donations from people who have recovered from COVID-19. That plasma has received emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to treat patients critically ill with the disease. Across the country, blood donations are down due to the effects of the pandemic, according to the FDA. Blood drives have been canceled and social distancing has kept some people away from donation centers. Donating blood is safe during the pandemic, according to the American Red Cross. Any blood donors who don't want the antibody test can opt out within 24 hours after giving. Anyone who wants to donate should make an appointment with The Blood Connection at thebloodconnection.org. LOS ANGELES, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On International Nurses Day, M.T.O. Tamarkoz Association invites you to join special Instagram Live meditation & relaxation sessions designed to provide frontline heroes access to stress relieving techniques they can utilize in any given situation. These nine live sessions, which are also available on Facebook, will be conducted in English, Hebrew, French, German, Italian, Arabic and Farsi. As a response to the current COVID-19 crisis, this online initiative also offers FREE daily Tamarkoz meditation & relaxation programs for anyone to access during these uncertain times. The Tamarkoz method is rooted in the 1400-year-old practice of Sufi Meditation. It includes deep breathing techniques, guided visualization, deep relaxation, heart concentration and Movazaneh - slow meditative movements. Currently, Tamarkoz classes are offered for units of academic credit to students at various universities including University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Davis. A pilot study on the effects of the Tamarkoz method at Kaiser Permanente Hospital demonstrated statistically significant decline in depression amongst participants. Further, scientific research shows that this method significantly decreases perceived stress, heart rate, and anxiousness, while it significantly increases positive emotions of love, joy, compassion, contentment, amusement, awe, and pride. "As a registered nurse who is working on the frontlines during this chaotic time, I have really relied on the Tamarkoz live sessions to provide opportunities for me to de-stress, re-energize, and manage my anxiety, which has ultimately allowed me to provide better care for my patients," says Ghoncheh Doroudi, RN in Vancouver, B.C. Tamarkoz Instructor, Dr. Lynn Wilcox goes on to add, "As healthcare workers are working tirelessly to protect us, M.T.O. wants to make sure they have the tools to take care of themselves as well, and aren't left drained and with a slew of other issues post-COVID." M.T.O. Tamarkoz Association, is affiliated with M.T.O. Shahmaghsoudi School of Islamic Sufism. During the past two months, M.T.O. COVID-19 volunteers have made and delivered thousands of personal protective equipment, food, and care packages to hospitals, nursing homes, and low-income communities worldwide. On May 12th, M.T.O. will conduct its largest single-day donation of personal protective equipment in various cities including London and Los Angeles. For more information, visit: www.tamarkozapp.com https://www.instagram.com/tamarkozapp/ https://www.facebook.com/TamarkozApp/ http://mtoshahmaghsoudi.org/covid-19/ SOURCE MTO Tamarkoz Association Related Links https://www.tamarkozapp.com New York) Comedy veteran and Syracuse University alumnus Jerry Stiller, who launched his career opposite wife Anne Meara in the 1950s and reemerged four decades later as the hysterically high-strung Frank Costanza on the smash television show Seinfeld, died at 92, his son Ben Stiller announced Monday. He died of natural causes, his son a comedy star himself said in a tweet. Jerry Stiller was a multi-talented performer who appeared in an assortment of movies, playing Walter Matthaus police sidekick in the thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and Divines husband Wilbur Turnblad in John Waters twisted comedy Hairspray. He also wrote an autobiography, Married to Laughter, about his 50-plus year marriage to soul mate and comedic cohort Meara, who died in 2015. And his myriad television spots included everything from Murder She Wrote to Law and Order along with 36 appearances alongside Meara on The Ed Sullivan Show. Stiller, although a supporting player on Seinfeld, created some of the Emmy-winning shows most enduring moments: co-creator and model for the bro, a brassiere for men; a Korean War cook who inflicted food poisoning on his entire unit; an ever-simmering salesman controlling his explosive temper with the shouted mantra, Serenity now! Stiller earned a 1997 Emmy nomination for his indelible Seinfeld performance. In a 2005 Esquire interview, Stiller recalled that he was out of work and not the first choice for the role of Frank Costanza, father to Jason Alexanders neurotic George. My manager had retired, he said. I was close to 70 years old, and had nowhere to go. He was initially told to play the role as a milquetoast husband with an overbearing wife, Estelle, played by Estelle Harris. But the character wasnt working until Stiller suggested his reincarnation as an over-the-top crank who matched his wife scream for scream. It jump-started the septuagenarians career, landing him a spot playing Vince Lombardi in a Nike commercial and the role of another over-the-top dad on the long-running sitcom King of Queens. While he was known as a nut-job father on the small screen, Stiller and wife Meara raised two children in their longtime home on Manhattans Upper West Side: daughter Amy, who became an actress, and son Ben, who became a writer, director and actor in such films as Dodgeball, Theres Something About Mary and Meet the Parents. He and Ben performed together in Shoeshine, which was nominated for a 1988 Academy Award in the short subject category. Im sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes. He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed. Love you Dad. pic.twitter.com/KyoNsJIBz5 Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) May 11, 2020 Stiller was considerably quieter and reflective in person than in character although just as funny. The son of a bus driver and a housewife, Stiller grew up in Depression-era Brooklyn. His inspiration to enter show business came at age 8, when his father took him to see the Marx Brothers in the comedy classic A Night at the Opera. Years later, Stiller met Groucho Marx and thanked him. Stiller earned a drama degree at Syracuse University in 1950 after serving in World War II, and then headed to New York City to launch his career. There was a brief involvement in Shakespearean theater, including a $55 a week job with Jack Klugman in Coriolanus. But his life and career took off after he met Meara in spring 1953. They were married that fall. The seemingly mismatched pair he a short, stocky Jewish guy from Brooklyn, she a tall, Irish Catholic from the Long Island suburbs shared an immediate onstage chemistry, too. They were soon appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show and working nightclubs nationwide. The pair also wrote and performed radio commercials, most memorably a series of bits for a little-known wine called Blue Nun. The duos ads boosted sales by 500%. Ben Stiller recalled trips with his sister to California when his parents would head west to do television appearances. The couple went on to appear as a team in dozens of film, stage and television productions. One of them was After-Play, a 1995 off-Broadway show written by Meara. Stiller joined Seinfeld in 1993, and moved on to King of Queens when the other Jerry & co. went off the air in 1998. The following year, he appeared in Ben Stillers spoof on modeling, Zoolander. Jerry Stiller returned to SU several times throughout his career and was honored with a star on the Syracuse Walk of Stars. He and 16 other celebrities with ties to Central New York were honored on the sidewalk outside the Landmark Theatre between 1991 and 1996. CEPI increases investment up to $388 million for NVXCoV2373 vaccine development & manufacturing NVXCoV2373 Phase I trial initiating in May with preliminary results in July NanoFlu recently achieved all primary endpoints in pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial Company to host conference call today at 4:30 p.m. ET GAITHERSBURG, Md., May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novavax, Inc. (NVAX), a late-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases, today announced its financial results and operational highlights for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020. Our accomplishments to-date in 2020, including significant progress in our influenza and COVID19 vaccine programs, are the most impressive in the companys history, said Stanley C. Erck, President and Chief Executive Officer of Novavax. We shared successful pivotal Phase 3 results for NanoFlu that demonstrated both efficacy and safety in a pivotal trial, a significant milestone towards bringing this innovative product to an influenza market in need of new options. We also reacted quickly to the coronavirus pandemic by developing and quickly advancing NVXCoV2373, our COVID19 vaccine candidate, which shows strong potential to have a positive impact on this global health crisis. Looking ahead, with a strengthened balance sheet and CEPIs substantial funding, we will focus on scaling up manufacturing and delivering clinical data for NVXCoV2373, while simultaneously completing the necessary actions needed to prepare our BLA filing for NanoFlu. First Quarter 2020 and Subsequent Operational Highlights NanoFlu Program Novavax announced in March that NanoFlu, its recombinant quadrivalent seasonal influenza vaccine candidate with MatrixM adjuvant, achieved all primary objectives in its pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in older adults. As required by the FDAs accelerated approval pathway, the trials primary objectives were to demonstrate non-inferior immunogenicity of NanoFlu compared to a licensed vaccine (Fluzone Quadrivalent), using the day 28 ratio of geometric mean titers (GMT) and the difference in seroconversion rates (SCR), as well as the overall safety of NanoFlu. These endpoints were met for all four strains included in NanoFlu. Immunogenicity was measured by hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) assays using egg-derived reagents. NanoFlu was well-tolerated, with a safety profile comparable to Fluzone Quadrivalent with a modest increase in local adverse events (AEs). NanoFlu also achieved statistical significance for key secondary endpoints. These key endpoints assessed GMT and SCR, but with an HAI assay based on wild-type reagents. NanoFlu demonstrated significantly higher GMT and SCR than Fluzone Quadrivalent across all four strains included in the vaccine and, importantly, for four tested drifted H3N2 strains not included in the vaccine but circulating this year. Results from this Phase 3 clinical trial will support a U.S. biologics license application (BLA) and licensure of NanoFlu using the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) accelerated approval pathway. Story continues COVID-19 Program As announced today, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) will invest up to an additional $384 million to advance clinical development of NVXCoV2373. Novavax will use the CEPI funds to advance NVXCoV2373 into clinical testing. With its earlier $4 million commitment in March, the extended collaboration brings CEPIs total investment in NVXCoV2373 to $388 million. In January, Novavax identified its coronavirus vaccine candidate, NVXCoV2373, a stable, prefusion protein made using its proprietary nanoparticle technology. Novavax proprietary MatrixM adjuvant is included in NVXCoV2373, to enhance immune responses and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies. NVXCoV2373 was highly immunogenic in animal models measuring spike protein-specific antibodies, with ACE2 human receptor binding domain blocking activity and SARSCoV2 wild-type virus neutralizing antibodies observed. Blocking of the binding of the spike protein to the receptor as well as wild-type virus neutralizing antibodies was also observed, with high levels of spike protein-specific antibodies after a single immunization. The already high microneutralization titers seen after one dose increased eight fold with a second dose. High titer microneutralizing antibodies are generally accepted evidence that a vaccine is likely to be protective in humans. The NVXCoV2373 clinical development plan combines a Phase 1/Phase 2 approach to allow rapid advancement during the current coronavirus pandemic. The Phase 1 portion of this trial will be placebo-controlled and observer blinded in ~130 healthy adults and will include assessment of dosage and vaccination. Recruiting for the trial began this month with preliminary immunogenicity and safety results expected in July. Novavax entered into an agreement with Emergent BioSolutions to provide contract development and manufacturing services, supplying Novavax with GMP vaccine product for use in its clinical trials. This agreement offers the potential to leverage Emergents rapid deployment capabilities and expertise that provide Novavax scalability and capacity to produce vaccine product. ResVax Program Novavax is currently discussing the opportunity to bring ResVax to market globally with multiple potential commercial partners. In addition, Novavax continues to define regulatory licensure requirements and pathways in the U.S., the European Union and other geographies. Matrix-M Partnership In March, Novavax announced a commercial license agreement related to its MatrixM vaccine adjuvant. MatrixM is a key component of Serum Institute of Indias malaria vaccine candidate, which it licensed from Jenner Institute at Oxford University. The vaccine candidate is currently in a Phase 2b clinical trial being conducted in Burkina Faso with top-line data expected in the second quarter of 2020. Corporate Through utilization of At-the-market (ATM) offerings during the first quarter of 2020, Novavax raised net proceeds of $186 million. Subsequent to quarter-end, through May 8, 2020, Novavax raised additional net proceeds of $74 million, for a total of $260 million since the beginning of the year. Financial Results for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 Novavax reported a net loss of $25.9 million, or $0.58 per share, for the first quarter of 2020, compared to a net loss of $43.2 million, or $2.11 per share, for the first quarter of 2019. Novavax revenue in the first quarter of 2020 was $3.4 million, compared to $4.0 million in the same period in 2019. This 15% decrease was primarly due to the conclusion of the Prepare trial in 2019, partially offset by revenue from CEPIs funding. Research and development expenses decreased 52% to $16.9 million in the first quarter of 2020, compared to $35.5 million in the same period in 2019. This decrease was primarily due to decreased development activities of ResVax, lower employee-related costs and other cost savings due to the Catalent transaction in 2019. General and administrative expenses increased to $9.4 million in the first quarter of 2020, compared to $8.7 million for the same period in 2019. Interest income (expense), net for the first quarter of 2020 and 2019 was ($3.0) million. As of March 31, 2020, Novavax had $244.7 million in cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities and restricted cash, compared to $82.2 million as of December 31, 2019. Net cash used in operating activities for the first quarter of 2020 was $23.1 million, compared to $50.6 million for same period in 2019. Share and per share data have been restated to reflect the reverse stock split that was completed in May 2019. Conference Call Novavax will host its quarterly conference call today at 4:30 p.m. ET. The dial-in numbers for the conference call are (877) 212-6076 (Domestic) or (707) 287-9331 (International), passcode 1274143. A replay of the conference call will be available starting at 7:30 p.m. ET on May 11, 2020 until 7:30 p.m. ET on May 18, 2020. To access the replay by telephone, dial (855) 859-2056 (Domestic) or (404) 537-3406 (International) and use passcode 1274143. A webcast of the conference call can also be accessed via a link on the home page of the Novavax website (novavax.com) or through the Investor Info/Events tab on the Novavax website. A replay of the webcast will be available on the Novavax website until August 11, 2020. About NanoFlu NanoFlu is a recombinant hemagglutinin (HA) protein nanoparticle influenza vaccine produced by Novavax in its SF9 insect cell baculovirus system. NanoFlu uses HA amino acid protein sequences that are the same as the recommended wild-type circulating virus HA sequences. NanoFlu contains Novavax patented saponin-based MatrixM adjuvant. Top-line data from Novavax ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of NanoFlu is expected late in the first quarter of 2020. About NVX-CoV2373 NVXCoV2373 is a vaccine candidate engineered from the genetic sequence of SARSCoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. NVXCoV2373 was created using Novavax recombinant nanoparticle technology to generate antigen derived from the coronavirus spike (S) protein and contains Novavax patented saponin-based Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies. In preclinical trials, NVXCoV2373 demonstrated efficient binding with receptors targeted by the virus, a critical aspect for effective vaccine protection. A Phase 1 clinical trial of NVXCoV2373 will initiate in May 2020 with preliminary immunogenicity and safety results expected in July 2020. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is investing up to $388 million of funding to advance clinical development of NVXCoV2373. About Matrix-M Novavax patented saponin-based Matrix-M adjuvant has demonstrated a potent and well-tolerated effect by stimulating the entry of antigen-presenting cells into the injection site and enhancing antigen presentation in local lymph nodes, boosting immune response. About Novavax Novavax, Inc. (NVAX) is a late-stage biotechnology company that promotes improved health globally through the discovery, development, and commercialization of innovative vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases and address urgent, global health needs. Novavax recently initiated development of NVX-CoV2373, its vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, with Phase 1 clinical trial results expected in July of 2020. NanoFlu, its quadrivalent influenza nanoparticle vaccine, met all primary objectives in its pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in older adults. Both vaccine candidates incorporate Novavax proprietary saponin-based Matrix-M adjuvant in order to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies. Novavax is a leading innovator of recombinant vaccines; its proprietary recombinant technology platform combines the power and speed of genetic engineering to efficiently produce highly immunogenic nanoparticles in order to address urgent global health needs. For more information, visit www.novavax.com and connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn . Forward-Looking Statements Statements herein relating to the future of Novavax and the ongoing development of its vaccine and adjuvant products are forward-looking statements. Novavax cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include those identified under the heading Risk Factors in the Novavax Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. You are encouraged to read our filings with the SEC, available at sec.gov, for a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this document, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of the statements. Our business is subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, including those referenced above. Investors, potential investors, and others should give careful consideration to these risks and uncertainties. NOVAVAX, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (in thousands, except per share information) (unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31 2020 2019 Revenue $ 3,377 $ 3,982 Expenses: Research and development 16,895 35,473 General and administrative 9,379 8,732 Total expenses 26,274 44,205 Loss from operations (22,897 ) (40,223 ) Interest income (expense), net (2,967 ) (2,983 ) Other income (expense) -- (12 ) Net loss $ (25,864 ) $ (43,218 ) Basic and diluted net loss per share $ (0.58 ) $ (2.11 ) Basic and diluted weighted average number of common shares outstanding 44,421 20,442 SELECTED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET DATA (in thousands) March 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 (unaudited) Cash and cash equivalents $ 179,881 $ 78,823 Marketable securities 57,474 -- Total restricted cash 7,311 3,357 Total current assets 255,232 97,247 Working capital 236,250 71,452 Total assets 328,068 172,957 Notes payable 320,967 320,611 Total stockholders deficit (23,971 ) (186,017 ) Contacts: Investors Novavax, Inc. Erika Trahan ir@novavax.com 240-268-2022 Westwicke John Woolford john.woolford@westwicke.com 443-213-0506 IRVINE, Calif., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Orgain, creator of the first ready-to-drink organic protein shake and innovator of high-quality and convenient clean nutrition products, announced today the six finalists that are in the running to receive a total of $150,000 provided by Orgain's Grants for Greater Good program. The following small businesses and startup brands stood out because they embody Orgain's mission to inspire healthy, vibrant lives through their products or services: Aduri Connected Meditation System, Bissy Natural Energy Drinks, Charity Miles Health Tracker & Fundraiser App, Hakuna Brands Plant-Based Ice Creams, IncludeHealth Inclusive Training Equipment, and Pulp Pantry Upcycled Wholesome Snacks. Orgain's Grants for Greater Good program launched in February with the objective to uplift and support well-intentioned start-up companies dedicated to driving positive change in our world through the power of preventative health & wellness. Hundreds of entrepreneurs from across the country applied for a chance at a total of $150,000 to accelerate their business missions. "We set out with a mission to champion startups who embody true leadership and innovation in the pursuit of the greater good by encouraging people to be proactive about living clean, healthy, vibrant lives," said Orgain founder and CEO, Dr. Andrew Abraham. "With each and every applicant, we have been overwhelmed and encouraged by the amount of good we see on the horizon." Starting today through May 25th, the public is invited to go online and vote for the startups they feel will uphold the mission of encouraging healthy and vibrant lives within the brand's culture and throughout the growing health and wellness industry. On June 1st, three winners will be announced and granted $50k each to help their businesses and those they serve grow and thrive. The finalists include: Aduri is a connected meditation system (cushion + content + community) that guides the meditation experience, helping aspiring meditators tap into the long-term benefits of a consistent practice. The Aduri Cushion gently vibrates, guiding breathing and focus, and enables group-based sessions that build accountability and community. The Aduri Cushion is designed to make well-being a foundational part of the modern human experience by helping users achieve a long-term practice and bringing mindfulness home. Bissy is accelerating economic development for farmers in Nigeria through the sale of natural energy drinks made with raw kolanut fruit. The caffeine in kolanut gives a sustained boost to the brain, while the theobromine opens the lungs making it possible to breathe easy and focus hard. Made from 100% plant-based ingredients, Bissy contains 160mg of caffeine, only 25 calories and just 6 grams of carbs from natural dark brown sugar. Charity Miles is an app that turns a neighborhood jog, weekend hike or even walking the dog into a fundraiser for good! Users simply select the charity to support and get moving. The app tracks movement and turns miles into money for the selected charity. With Charity Miles, users are not only supporting a worthy cause, but building their own personal health and vibrancy with each additional mile. Hakuna Brands helps people live healthy, vibrant lives through their tasty plant-based ice creams made with real ingredients, and no refined sugar. Not only delicious, but also nutritionally dense and good-for-you treats. Hakuna's mission is to celebrate life with no worries. Indulgent flavors and textures come from real ingredients like dates for sweetness, and avoid oils, cheap fillers, artificial ingredients, refined sugars, or sugar substitutes. IncludeHealth lowers the barriers of health and wellness, ensuring equal access for all ages & abilities. They provide an inclusive functional trainer, IncludeStrength, that enables people with functional limitations and impairments the means to perform hundreds of exercises while standing, seated, or in a wheelchair. Equipment pairs with HIPAA compliant cloud software, IncludeCloud, to provide real-time guidance, practitioner oversight, and reporting to help all users achieve their health & wellness goals. Pulp Pantry transforms upcycled ingredients -- the overlooked, nutritional byproducts of fruit and vegetable processing -- into a wholesome, better for people and better for the planet pantry staple. Pulp Chips provide nearly a full day's serving of gut-healthy fiber from upcycled ingredients like organic kale, celery and okara. Their motto? Waste Less, Thrive More -- because Pulp Pantry believes that a thriving humanity depends on a thriving, healthy planet. Public voting will take place at Orgain.com/grants-for-greater-good now through May 25th. For more information on Orgain and brand initiatives, please visit Orgain.com. About Orgain From the very beginning, Orgain set out to craft superior, clean nutrition that's accessible for all. Orgain was created by Dr. Andrew Abraham to save his own life during his battle with cancer, and now it's made to fuel yours. Orgain's primary purpose is to make delicious organic nutritional products to help people lead healthy, vibrant lives. Products include meal replacement shakes, protein powders and snack bars for adults and kids. Orgain uses only the highest quality ingredients, never at the cost of taste and texture. Most Orgain products are Certified Organic and all are soy free, gluten free, non-GMO and free of artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. To learn more about Orgain, and Dr. Abraham's fascinating story and purpose, or to shop products and browse recipes, visit Orgain.com. SOURCE Orgain Related Links www.Orgain.com A Pennsylvania man who fell 25 feet when he was ejected from a Ferris wheel gondola at the York Fair last September and a woman who was left dangling from the damaged car have filed a federal lawsuit over their injuries. The U.S. Middle District Court suit by Scott Speicher of Reading and Colleen Steffan of Fleetwood comes six months after state investigators concluded a mechanical malfunction caused the car in which they pair were riding to flip. The mishap, which left Speicher with multiple fractures and Steffan with back injuries occurred as the pair were riding the Giant Gondola Wheel at 8 p.m. on Sept 13. Speicher, 48, and Steffan, 45, are suing Kansas-based Chance Rides Manufacturing, Deggeller Attractions Inc. of Florida, which provided the wheel at the fair and the inspector who cleared it for operation. In their suit, the pair claim the ride was place beside a loud generator that kept its operator from hearing warnings shouted by riders. Speicher and Steffan claim that as they rode the wheel a metal bar became detached from their gondola and prevented the car from remaining upright as it when around on the ride. As they shouted in vain for help, the gondola flipped, the suit states. Speicher says he was thrown from the car and plummeted to the pavement below and suffered fractures to his head, ribs and hands. Steffan grabbed a metal bar and was thrown around inside the gondola as if she was being rattled inside a cage, according to the suit. It states that both riders had to undergo surgeries for their multiple injuries. Speicher and Steffan claim the accident was caused by hairpins that were defective and/or were improperly installed. They seek more than $75,000 in damages on each of 14 counts of their suit. The state Department of Agriculture did not impose any penalties after determining the accident was caused when a pin broke free from a tie rod. It did, however, require Deggeller to inspect the wheel for proper placement of the retaining pins and ensure there was no other damage before allowing the ride to resume operation. Regulatory News: In May 2019 LafargeHolcim (Paris:LHN) signed an agreement with San Miguel Corporation for the sale of its entire 85.7 percent shareholding in Holcim Philippines Inc. subject to customary and regulatory approvals, including those required by the Philippines Competition Authority (PCC). The PCC did not issue an approval of the transaction within the required time period and consequently the agreement lapsed. With today's unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, Holcim Philippines' number one priority is to protect the health of its people while supporting its partners and communities, in full alignment with local authorities. The Group is very proud of its people's swift response to this new reality, for example their extraordinary participation in providing food, water and other essential products for their communities as well as medical protective equipment for government frontline staff. With construction playing an essential role to keep society running, Holcim Philippines has resumed operations in three out of its four integrated cement plants and is well-positioned for a quick and efficient recovery. Working closely with its customers, the Group looks forward to supporting the country's strong and sustainable growth coming out of the crisis. As the number one building materials company in the country, Holcim Philippines operates a unique network of production and distribution assets from Luzon to Mindanao, close to the urban centers where building materials are most needed. LafargeHolcim will continue to focus on strengthening its leadership in the Philippines, one of the most high-growth countries in the Asia-Pacific region, building on its brand, its valued customer base and loyal employees. About LafargeHolcim LafargeHolcim is the global leader in building materials and solutions and active in four business segments: Cement, Aggregates, Ready-Mix Concrete and Solutions Products. Its ambition is to lead the industry in reducing carbon emissions and shifting towards low-carbon construction. With the strongest R&D organization in the industry, the company seeks to constantly introduce and promote high-quality and sustainable building materials and solutions to its customers worldwide whether individual homebuilders or developers of major infrastructure projects. LafargeHolcim employs over 70,000 employees in over 70 countries and has a portfolio that is equally balanced between developing and mature markets. More information is available on www.lafargeholcim.com Important disclaimer forward-looking statements: This document contains forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements do not constitute forecasts regarding results or any other performance indicator, but rather trends or targets, as the case may be, including with respect to plans, initiatives, events, products, solutions and services, their development and potential. Although LafargeHolcim believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions as at the time of publishing this document, investors are cautioned that these statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of LafargeHolcim, including but not limited to the risks described in the LafargeHolcim's annual report available on its website (www.lafargeholcim.com) and uncertainties related to the market conditions and the implementation of our plans. Accordingly, we caution you against relying on forward-looking statements. LafargeHolcim does not undertake to provide updates of these forward-looking statements. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200510005020/en/ Contacts: Media Relations: media@lafargeholcim.com +41 (0) 58 858 87 10 Investor Relations: investor.relations@lafargeholcim.com +41 (0) 58 858 87 87 South Africa: Social relief distress grant applications open The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) will today open the process for applications of the R350 Special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant for unemployed people. The amount will be paid to qualifying applications from May October 2020. With regards to the Special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant, we have gone back, re-looked at our systems and have strengthened the modus operandi. We believe we are ready to open the process today, SASSA Chief Executive Officer Busisiwe Memela-Khambula said. Speaking at a virtual media briefing on Monday, Memela-Khambula said technology will be used to deliver services. Over time, we will be able to extend support to those people who will not have access to technology. It is very important to note that for us to deliver a service that is efficient; we are going have to use technology even in areas that are far flung. We are going to get people to offer support in those areas, she said. She emphasised that SASSA would remain vigilant to avoid a situation where people try to defraud the system. The requirement of proof of address for the grant appliction has fallen away, but applicants must still provide their residential address. The grant forms part of the R500 billion economic and social relief measures announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa last month. Applicants must be: Above the age of 18; Unemployed; Not receiving any income; Not receiving any social grant; Not receiving any unemployment insurance benefit and does not qualify to receive unemployment insurance benefits; Not be receiving a stipend from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme; and Not resident in a government funded or subsidised institution. Prospective applicants will need to provide the following compulsory information for processing of their applications: Identity Number; Name and surname as captured in the ID (and initials); Gender and disability; Banking details - bank name and account number; Contact details - cell phone number; Residential address; An applicant can send a WhatsApp message to 082 0468 553 or USSD line (sms) *134*7737# or e-mail to SRD@sassa.gov.za SASSA officials return to work Meanwhile, Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has gazetted that 30% of SASSA officials return to work on a rotational basis to continue to render social services. We know that our offices were closed and this has impacted a number of people not being able to receive our services. The services will exist from this week, limited services will be provide at our local offices, our district and regional offices did not close on Level 5, said Memela-Khambula. She said that SASSA offices will progressively open from Monday 11 May. We will progressively open from today in order to protect the most vulnerable of members of society. Monday and Tuesday will be used to receive applications from older persons with priority being given to those who have just turned 60. On Wednesday and Thursday, applications for child support grant and foster care grants will be accepted. Priority will be given to caregivers with babies and in instances where a caregiver income circumstances have changed. I wish to appeal to caregivers not to bring children to our offices. Please leave children home but make sure that you bring all the required documents. Home Affairs will be able to provide support in terms of birth certificates, said Memela-Khambula. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-05-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. HOUSTON (AP) As families marked Mothers Day in a time of social distancing and isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaders balanced optimism they could loosen lockdowns that have left millions unemployed against the threat of a second wave of infections. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin predicted the American economy would rebound in the second half of this year from unemployment rates that rival the Great Depression. Another 3.2 million U.S. workers applied for jobless benefits last week, bringing the total over the last seven weeks to 33.5 million. I think youre going to see a bounce-back from a low standpoint, said Mnuchin, speaking on Fox News Sunday. But the director of the University of Washington institute that created a White House-endorsed coronavirus model said the moves by states to re-open businesses will translate into more cases and deaths in 10 days from now. Dr. Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said states where cases and deaths are going up more than expected include Illinois, Arizona, Florida and California. Many families faced their first Mothers Day without loved ones lost in the pandemic. Others sent good wishes from a safe distance or through phone and video calls. In this Saturday, May 9, 2020 photo, a daughter holds a sign for her mom as she visits during a Mother's Day drive-by caravan at The Palace Renaissance & Royale's Kendall Campus in Miami, Fla. (Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald via AP) AP The virus has caused particular suffering for the elderly, with more than 26,000 deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, according to an Associated Press tally. At a senior center in Smyrna, Georgia, 73-year-old Mary Washington spoke to her daughter Courtney Crosby and grandchild Sydney Crosby through a window. In Grafton, West Virginia, where the tradition of Mothers Day began 112 years ago, the brick building now known as the International Mothers Day Shrine held its first online-only audience. Anna Jarvis first held a memorial service for her mother and all mothers on the second Sunday of May in 1908. Sheltered safely at home with the family together would be viewed by Anna Jarvis as exactly the way she wanted Mothers Day to be observed, said Marvin Gelhausen, chairman of the shrines board of trustees, in an address on YouTube. In this Saturday, May 9, 2020 photo, Millicent Habert and her nurses wave at the families below during a Mother's Day drive-by caravan at The Palace Renaissance & Royale's Kendall Campus in Miami, Fla. (Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald via AP) AP Matilda Cuomo, the mother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, called into her sons daily briefing so he and his three daughters could wish her a happy Mothers Day. I am so blessed as many mothers today are, she said. Andrew Cuomo, whose state is the deadliest hot spot for the virus in the U.S., said he looked forward to getting back to normal. Were going to have fun, and then you can spend more time with me. I know I am your favorite, he said in a playful dig at his siblings. He also announced two policy reversals a day after an Associated Press report in which residents relatives, watchdog groups and politicians from both parties alleged he was not doing enough to counter the surge of deaths in nursing homes, where about 5,300 residents have died. Nursing home staff in New York will now have to undergo COVID-19 tests twice a week and facilities will no longer be required to take in hospital patients who were infected. The U.S. has seen 1.3 million infections and nearly 80,000 deaths, the most in the world by far, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, 4 million people have been reported infected and more than 280,000 have died, over half of them in Europe, according to Johns Hopkins. Leo Carbajal wears a mask after buying a floral arrangement for his mother Cynthia on Mother's Day at the Los Angeles Flower Market Sunday, May 10, 2020, in Los Angeles. Families in the U.S. and elsewhere marked Mother's Day in a time of social distancing and isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)AP In the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a modest easing of the countrys coronavirus lockdown but urged citizens not to surrender the progress already made. The country has recorded the most virus deaths in Europe at over 31,900. Those in the construction or manufacturing industries or other jobs that cant be done at home should be actively encouraged to go to work this week, he said. Johnson, who has taken a tougher line after falling ill himself with what he called this devilish illness, set a goal of June 1 to begin re-opening schools and shops if the U.K. can control new infections and the transmission rate of each infected person. We will be driven not by mere hope or economic necessity, he said. Were going to be driven by the science, the data, and public health. Walter Budz touches his mother Jozefa's portrait while visiting his parents' gravesite at Calvary Cemetery on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 10, 2020, in New York. The cemetery has been closed to the public due to concerns over the current coronavirus outbreak, but opened its gates for several hours Sunday to allow families to visit the graves of loved ones. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) AP Germany, which managed to push new infections below 1,000 daily before deciding to loosen restrictions, has seen regional spikes in cases linked to slaughterhouses and nursing homes. Health officials say the number of people each confirmed virus patient infects rose above 1 again, reflecting a renewed increase in cases. The number must be below 1 for outbreaks to decline. France is letting some younger students go back to school Monday after almost two months out. Attendance wont be compulsory right away. Residents of some Spanish regions will be able to enjoy limited seating at bars, restaurants and other public places Monday, but Madrid and Barcelona, the countrys largest cities, will remain shut down. China, where the virus was first detected, reported 14 new cases Sunday, its first double-digit rise in 10 days. Eleven of 12 domestic infections were in the northeastern province of Jilin, prompting authorities to raise the threat level in one of its counties, Shulan, to high risk, just days after downgrading all regions to low risk. Authorities said the Shulan outbreak originated with a 45-year-old woman who had no recent travel or exposure history but spread it to her husband, three sisters and other relatives. Train services in the county were suspended. Epidemic control and prevention is a serious and complicated matter, and local authorities should never be overly optimistic, war-weary or off-guard, said Jilin Communist Party secretary Bayin Chaolu. South Korea reported 34 more cases as new infections linked to nightclubs threaten its hard-won gains against the virus. It was the first time that South Koreas daily infections were above 30 in about a month. ------------------- SEWISTS across Ireland have joined together to make over 12,000 masks. One of those using their skills is quilter, Geraldine O' Keeffe. Originally from Castleconnell but now living in Murroe, she says they are a group of 300 sewists, getting bigger by the day. We are volunteering our time and materials to make masks for frontline staff in care homes, pharmacies and in community service i.e meals on wheels and home help. Our masks are not medical grade, but are 100% cotton and have a pocket for a filter which can be a simple piece of kitchen paper, said Geraldine, who has a stash of her own fabric but is finding it difficult to get elastic. They have set up a Go Fund Me page to purchase elastic, fabric and materials so they can continue to make masks. See their Facebook page Masks 4 All Ireland - Sewists Against Covid-19 for more information. Geraldine is also making scrubs for the Mid-West Hospital Campaign Group which is giving PPE to nursing homes. Donations of material to make scrubs and masks, and money on their Go Fund Me page here is very welcome. With the financial donations they will purchase material suitable for scrubs and masks, goggles, gloves, hand sanitiser, wall sanitiser gels, head caps, face shields / visors and any other equipment identified by nursing homes. KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A professor of food science at University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Tong (Toni) Wang has been named as the recipient of the 2020 Alton E. Bailey Award presented by the American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS). The award commemorates Bailey's contributions to fats and oils research by recognizing outstanding research and exceptional service in the field of lipids and associated products. This is not Wang's first award from the society. In 2016 she was named an AOCS Fellow and has also been recognized with the AOCS' Timothy L. Mounts Award in 2013. Wang says she found her academic home while in graduate school and has passionately served the AOCSfamily in various capacities throughout her career. Prior to joining the UT Department of Food Science in 2019, Wang was a member of the faculty at Iowa State University (ISU) for 19 years. She studied food science and technology, receiving her master's degree at the University of Arkansas and her Ph.D. at ISU. She is the 2014 recipient of the ISU Mid-Career Achievement in Research Award. Her work at ISU focused on chemistry and value-added utilization of agriculture products such as soybeans, corn, egg, dairy and other oleaginous biomass, primarily for their lipid components. She continues those studies at UT, where she specifically endeavors to create functional lipid materials to improve nutrition and widen their applications, including with water and grease-resistant and antimicrobial coatings for food and paper. She also studies ways to enhance egg and dairy product quality and value, such as fractionation of yolk and dairy phospholipids and the bioactive yolk antibody IgY as well as milk fat globular membrane proteins. Throughout her career Wang has received numerous industry and federal research grants that support her creative work and has trained 36 graduate students and 20 post-doctoral appointees and visiting scientists. "My accomplishment in research reflects teamwork from diligent students and collaborative faculty," Wang says. The AOCS' Alton E. Bailey Award is sponsored by Archer Daniels Midland Company. It also usually includes an invited lecture at the AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which was cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through its land-grant mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. utia.tennessee.edu. ### A 100-year-old Massachusetts man who fought in World War II, at one point landing in Normandy, France, has recovered after a battle with the coronavirus, news outlets reported. Arthur Mac McIntosh, who lives in the Squantum neighborhood of Quincy, as well as two of his children contracted COVID-19 in late March, The Patriot Ledger reported. McIntoshs age and preexisting lung condition due to his decades of work as a plumber made him especially vulnerable to the viral respiratory infection, which has infected 77,793 people in Massachusetts and killed 4,979 patients, according to the Ledgers report. The virus poses a high risk to elderly individuals and those with preexisting medical issues. The average age of death due the disease in the commonwealth is 82, state Department of Public Health data shows. Initially, we thought this would be his demise, Marifrances McIntosh, Arthur McIntoshs 72-year-old daughter, told the Ledger. But he has a strong constitution. He got through it, God bless him. Arthur McIntosh is the oldest living member of the Plumbers & Gasfitters Local 12 union in Boston, the Ledger reported. The U.S. Army veteran, who served as a truck driver in World War II, landed in Normandy after the Allies invaded in 1944, according to the newspapers article. Chip McIntosh, Arthur McIntoshs 52-year-old son who works at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, was the first in his family to be diagnosed with the coronavirus and suffered the worst symptom, the Ledger reported. After both Arthur and Marifrances McIntosh later contracted the disease, the World War II veteran decided to battle COVID-19 at home with his family, according to the Ledgers report. The 100-year-old man, who suffered chills over the course of his infection, recovered after roughly 10 days, the newspaper reported. Chip and Marifrances McIntosh told the newspaper their family and neighbors were a big help. The neighborhood was terrific. People brought gloves, food, paper towels, Marifrances McIntosh told the Ledger. Related Content: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) shares jumped more than 3% in morning trade on Monday, looking to extend its winning streak into the fifth consecutive session, after billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led oil-to-telecom major fixed May 14 as the record date for the countrys biggest rights issue. The stock has gained 5.6% this year, as Reliance struck three deals in the past few weeks for some $8 billion in investments into Jio Platforms, its digital arm. The shares touched an intraday high of Rs 1,614 and a low of Rs 1,580, having opened at Rs 1,582 apiece on the bourse. Reliance Industries said, in a regulatory filing to the exchanges late on Saturday, the company will notify the opening and closing dates for the rights issue separately. We inform you that the Rights Issue Committee constituted by the Board of Directors of the company has, at its meeting fixed Thursday, May 14, 2020, as the Record Date for the purpose of determining the equity shareholders entitled to receive the rights entitlement in the rights issue, RIL said. The decision to fix the rights issue was taken by the companys board at a meeting held on May 9. Reliance Industries had set a price of Rs 1,257 per share for the rights issue with a ratio of 1:15 on April 30. This means one RIL share will be offered for every 15 shares held at Rs 1,257 or a 14% discount to the closing price on April 30. Shareholders willing to subscribe to the issue will have to pay 25% on application and the rest in one or more tranches. Mukesh Ambani, at 50% shareholding, will have to pump in at least Rs 26,600 crore to subscribe to his portion of the rights issue. Reliance had said earlier that Ambani and other controlling shareholders have pledged to buy to the full extent of their entitlement and also subscribe to all unsold shares in the rights issue. The rights issue is the first of its kind for Reliance Industries in almost 30 years. The company had issued convertible debentures to raise funds from the public in 1991. The Sensex had gained 613 points or 1.9% at 32,245 and the Nifty had added 170 points or 1.7% at 9,423 at the time. The three investments in Jio Platforms are expected to fast-track RILs target of emerging net debt-free on a net cash basis by March 2021. Facebook had announced on April 22 that it will invest Rs 43,574 crore in Jio Platforms for a 9.99% stake. Silver Lake said on May 4 it would invest Rs 5,655.75 crore for a 1.15% stake at an equity value of Rs 4.90 lakh crore. Vista Equity Partners picked a 2.32% stake for Rs 11,367 crore four days later. (With agency inputs) Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2020 | WESTERN KENTUCKY By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2020 | 03:36 PM | WESTERN KENTUCKY Governor Andy Beshear is urging Kentuckians to take advantage of free coronavirus testing. "To open Kentucky safely, we need testing and more Kentuckians to sign up to get tested," Beshear said. "Right now, we have the capacity to do 30,000 tests weekly. A big part of being healthy at work is being able to be tested. Do your part and sign up today." There are several drive-through sites available in western Kentucky, including Hopkinsville, Owensboro, Bowling Green, and Murray. The drive-through testing is in partnership with the Christian County Health Department, the Zip Clinic, and the Murray-Calloway County Hospital. The Christian County Health Department testing location is open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 11 am and Saturday from 8:30 am to 11 am. The Green River District Health Department in Owensboro is open Wednesday from 8 am to 4:30 pm. The Zip Clinic locations are open from 10 am to 5 pm on various days. The Murray-Calloway County Regional Hospital is open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. The locations in Hopkinsville, Owensboro, and Bowling Green are available to everyone requesting a test and do not require a doctor's recommendation; the location at Murray is testing those experiencing symptoms. You can register for a test onsite in Hopkinsville and Bowling Green, by calling ahead in Murray, and online in Owensboro. In addition to free drive-through testing, Gov. Beshear announced a new partnership with First Care Clinics last week to expand testing as businesses, government, and houses of worship reopen. First Care Clinics can now provide COVID-19 tests seven days a week at 13 locations across the state, at no cost to employees or their employers. Kentuckians can schedule a test online. First Care accepts Medicaid, Medicare, and most insurance plans. Most plans have waived copays, so First Care will not collect anything from insured or uninsured patients being tested for COVID-19 at the time of the visit. Gov. Beshear said there are now more than 70 testing locations, offered through a variety of partners across the state. Each location outside of the drive-through testing offered by the state may have different testing eligibility requirements and costs. For more information about testing locations throughout Kentucky, please visit kycovid19.ky.gov. JERSEY, Channel Islands, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Quotient Limited (QTNT), a commercial-stage diagnostics company, headquartered in Eysins, Switzerland, and hVIVO, part of Open Orphan plc (ORPH.L), today announced that the MosaiQ by Quotient system and MosaiQ COVID-19 Antibody Microarray will be used by hVIVO to screen for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (COVID-19). Quotient has entered into an exclusive contract with hVIVO, whereby Quotient is hVIVO's exclusive supplier of COVID-19 antibody testing equipment, to support COVID-19 antibody testing in the UK. hVIVO, based in London, UK, is a world leader in the testing of vaccines and antivirals using human challenge study models. We are delighted to exclusively partner with Quotient to bring fast and accurate COVID-19 antibody testing to the UK. Open Orphan plc, via our subsidiary hVIVO, has industry leading scientific and laboratory capability and the MosaiQ systems best in class COVID-19 antibody testing performance makes the system a natural addition to our state-of-the-art virology laboratory in London. There is a clear demand for COVID-19 antibody testing and we will be making testing available both as a standalone offering and will also utilize the testing capability to screen volunteers for our industry leading range of human challenge studies to ensure no disruption to our clients, said Cathal Friel, Executive Chairman, hVIVO, part of Open Orphan plc. This collaboration marks a major milestone for our company, and we are proud to collaborate with an industry leader like hVIVO. Quotient has developed what we believe is a gold standard antibody microarray to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This collaboration is uniquely positioned to leverage our combined expertise and help address the large need for antibody testing in the U.K. and beyond, said Franz Walt, Chief Executive Officer of Quotient. The MosaiQ COVID-19 Antibody Microarray was CE marked (certified to meet EU requirements) as of May 1, 2020 based on testing that demonstrated 100% sensitivity (ability to detect COVID-19 antibodies) and 99.8% specificity (ability to rule out the presence of COVID-19 antibodies). The test is designed as a serological disease screen specific to COVID-19. It detects the IgG and IgM antibodies that humans develop when infected by SARS-CoV-2. Story continues About Quotient Limited Building on 30 years of experience in transfusion diagnostics, Quotient is a commercial-stage diagnostics company committed to delivering solutions that reshape the way diagnostics is practiced. MosaiQ, Quotients proprietary multiplex microarray technology, offers the worlds first fully automated, consolidated testing platform, allowing for multiple tests across different modalities. MosaiQ is designed to be a game-changing solution, which Quotient believes will increase efficiencies, improve clinical practice, deliver significant workflow improvements, and operational cost savings to laboratories around the world. Quotient's operations are based in Eysins, Switzerland, Edinburgh, Scotland and Newtown, Pennsylvania. The Quotient logo and MosaiQ are registered trademarks or trademarks of Quotient Limited and its subsidiaries in various jurisdictions. About hVIVO, part of Open Orphan plc Open Orphan is a rapidly growing specialist CRO pharmaceutical services company which has a focus on orphan drugs and is a world leader in the provision of virology and vaccine challenge study services and viral laboratory services. It has Europe's only 24-bedroom quarantine clinic with onsite virology lab in Queen Mary's Hospital London. hVIVO supports product development for customers developing antivirals, vaccines and respiratory therapeutics, all particularly relevant and topical in the environment of heightened awareness of Covid-19 in 2020. The Company also has a leading portfolio of 8 viral challenge study models which are: 2 FLU, 2 RSV, 1 HRV, 1 Asthma, 1 cough and 1 COPD viral challenge models. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding our expectations of continued growth, the development, regulatory approval, commercialization and impact of MosaiQ and other new products (including the potential for using our MosaiQ technology to test for COVID-19 antibodies). The MosaiQ system has not yet been cleared by the FDA for sale in the United States. Such statements are based on current assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, include delays or denials of regulatory approvals or clearances for products or applications; market acceptance of our products; the impact of competition; the impact of facility expansions and expanded product development, clinical, sales and marketing activities on operating expenses; delays or other unforeseen problems with respect to manufacturing, product development or field trial studies; adverse results in connection with any ongoing or future legal proceeding; continued or worsening adverse conditions in the general domestic and global economic markets, including the recent novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak; as well as the other risks set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Quotient disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. The Quotient logo and MosaiQ are registered trademarks or trademarks of Quotient Limited and its subsidiaries in various jurisdictions. Contacts: Peter Buhler, Chief Financial Officer, peter.buhler@quotientbd.com; +41 22 545 52 26 Cathal Friel, Executive Chairman, +353 (0)1 644 0007 or Tom Huddart, Camarco, +44 (0)20 3757 4980 President of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina has hit back at critics speaking against the countrys herbal drug 'COVID Organics (COV)', which he claims cures and prevents Coronavirus. Speaking in an interview with French broadcasters, France24 and RFI on Monday, Rajoelina, who spoke in French, said his country will continue to administer the herbal drugs which according to him accounts for majority of its virus recoveries. We have 171 cases, including 105 cured. The patients who were cured took only the COVID-Organics medication, he confirmed. When asked about warnings issued by WHO, ECOWAS, and Africa CDC, President Rajoelina dismissed the warnings, saying they are only trying to discourage the progress of the drug. If it werent Madagascar, but a European country that had discovered the remedy COVID-Organics, would there be so many doubts? I do not think so We say bad things about the Tambavy CVO product, when it only does good. They want to slow us down, discourage us, forbid us to move forward he further stressed. The Madagascar's herbal drug 'COVID Organics (COV)', is being airlifted to Nigeria, but some health officials are already suggesting a clinical trial of COVID Organics before being used in the country. #EXCLUSIF - #Coronavirus : "On a eu 171 cas, dont 105 gueris. Les patients qui ont ete gueris ont pris uniquement le produit #COVID_Organics." Le president de #Madagascar Andry #Rajoelina parle du remede developpe sur l'ile et repond a @MPerelman et @ChBoisbouvier de @RFI pic.twitter.com/GfKaAvTeXv FRANCE 24 Francais (@France24_fr) May 11, 2020 Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Bloomberg) Mon, May 11, 2020 11:33 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd72d226 2 World North-Korea,China,border-areas,coronavirus,COVID-19,outbreak,pandemic,health,infection Free China put a city near the North Korea border under lockdown due to an increase in coronavirus infections, raising more questions about an outbreak in the isolated country. Chinese authorities banned all non-essential transportation in the city of Shulan in the northeastern province of Jilin, while residential compounds and villages were closed, official China Central Television reported Sunday. Students who had already returned to schools were required to study from home. The city raised its virus threat alert level to high risk from medium, Jilin province said. North Korea shut its borders in January when cases surged in China, and has yet to confirm any COVID-19 infections. Yet the US military said it suspects North Korea has cases, and Kim Jong Uns regime has accepted help from other nations to fight the virus. President Xi Jinping over the weekend expressed his willingness to provide support to North Korea in fighting the pandemic in reply to a verbal message from North Koreas leader, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday, without offering details. China has sent an unspecified number of COVID-19 test kits to its neighbor, according to NK News, which specializes in reporting on North Korea. Russia has also offered help, in addition to aid organizations who have brought in medical supplies. Last week Kim sent his first formal message to China since reemerging from an almost three-week public absence that raised questions about his health, with some reports saying that he was social distancing to avoid catching COVID-19. In his visit to a fertilizer plant on May 1, a few of his guards could be seen wearing protective masks. Kim praised Xi Jinping for his success in managing the coronavirus, saying the Chinese leader was seizing a chance of victory in the war against the unprecedented epidemic. North Koreas state media reported Sunday that its leader Kim received a message from Xi, pledging cooperation in combating the pandemic. While little is known about North Koreas efforts to combat COVID-19, some signs have emerged over the months. North Korea has reported more than 5,400 people were released from quarantine as of March. In late April consumers in Pyongyang were panic buying food staples, causing some store shelves to empty, according to NK News, which said the purchases may be due to stricter coronavirus measures. A crumbling medical system, trade sanctions and decades of economic mismanagement have left more than 40% of North Koreas population chronically undernourished and vulnerable to disease. That risks any wider coronavirus outbreak turning into a humanitarian disaster that could lead to mass deaths: In the 1990s, a famine killed an estimated 240,000 to 3.5 million people. Porous border Unlike North Koreas heavily militarized border with South Korea, the countrys 880-mile (1,420-kilometer) border with China is porous -- and the black-market traders who have crossed for years from both sides could be a source bringing the virus into North Korea. The confirmed case count in the two biggest Chinese provinces bordering North Korea -- Liaoning and Jilin -- have been relatively low so far to total less than 300. On Sunday, China reported an increase in both new and asymptomatic cases. There were 14 new coronavirus cases on May 9, including those in Shulan, the largest daily increase this month for the nation, according to Bloomberg calculations based on official data. As of Saturday, Jilin province has reported a total of 105 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 19 imported ones. There were 11 new coronavirus cases in Shulan on Saturday, local health authorities said. The city is investigating the source of the infection after a police employee came down with COVID-19, the South China Morning Post said in a separate report Saturday. The 12 locally transmitted cases reported on May 9 were the highest since March 11, Mi Feng, a spokesman for National Health Commission, said at a briefing on Sunday. The commission said the country should keep stay on high alert and avoid gatherings. The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has said that God has a reason for the current CO... The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has said that God has a reason for the current COVID-19 outbreak. Adeboye stated this on Sunday during a live broadcast to his members on Dove TV. The cleric who preached on Calvary and curses, however, admonished that whatever God does, He does it perfectly well. He said: Well, it has pleased God that we will still be ministering to you this Sunday. We know whatever God does, He does it perfectly well. So definitely He has a reason for whatever is happening right now. Religious and social gatherings have been banned in Nigeria for over six weeks. Meanwhile, as the COVID-19 outbreak continues to rage, Nigeria has so far recorded over 4,000 cases and 745 recoveries. The Covid-19 pandemic will give extra poignancy to International Nurses Day today, which is celebrated to mark the contributions that nurses make to society. It also has an additional local connection this year. Thirteen-year-old Tyler Williams, a former Matakana Primary student who now attends school in Auckland, wrote the lyrics for a Healthvision video produced to mark the day. The music is by Jo Taylor, who also sings the song. Tyler is the grandson of Pt Wells resident, Charleyne Garner who drives the school bus for Matakana Primary. There are just over 58,000 enrolled nurses, registered nurses and nurse practitioners working across New Zealand and May 12 marks the anniversary of Florence Nightingales birth. You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKhiw2V0rgY The HealthVision Covid 19 song Lyrics by Tyler Williams Our circumstance has changed since COVID-19 Apart and yet together in quarantine We laugh, we cry, we worry that lifes become a meme Make light of this pandemic from quarantine Nexflix Social Media, youre my new best friend Tik Tok the time goes slowly when will this ever end Wash your hand and stay at home, with surfaces so clean, Remain within your bubble, a life of quarantine One day the world will heal and this all will be a dream Well break the chain together from quarantine Nexflix Social Media, youre my new best friend Tik Tok the time goes slowly when will this ever end Our team in blue, are hard at work since COVID 19 Theyre out there helping folks in their homes in quarantine No doubt that theyre essential theyre working at full steam They stay the distance while were in quarantine Nexflix Social Media, youre my new best friend Tik Tok the time goes slowly when will this ever end Our story ends, the tale is told of COVID-19 For those who work and those who stayed home in quarantine Keep safe, keep well , wear PPE as you deem Were here to cheer you on until were all out of quarantine. BEIJING -- Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday said Vietnam has no right to comment on China's summer fishing moratorium in the South China Sea waters since the measure belongs to China's administrative rights. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's remarks came as his Vietnamese counterpart voiced the country's objection to the fishing ban and demanded that China not "further complicate the situation in the South China Sea." The annual fishing ban this year started on May 1 and is expected to end on Aug. 16 in the waters north to 12 degrees north latitude of the South China Sea, with the coast guard and fishery authorities launching law enforcement work. More than 50,000 fishing boats will suspend operations during the three-and-a-half-month moratorium. It is indisputable that the Xisha Islands are part of China's territory, Zhao told a press briefing, stressing that China enjoys sovereign rights and jurisdiction in relevant waters of the South China Sea according to international laws and China's domestic laws. Implementing the summer fishing moratorium in relevant waters of the South China Sea is a legitimate measure of China to exercise its administrative rights and fulfill relevant international obligations in accordance with the law, Zhao said. He added that the measure is beneficial for the protection of fishery resources and sustainable development in the South China Sea. Vietnam should not encourage its fishermen to infringe upon China's rights and interests and undermine the sustainable development of fishery resources in the South China Sea, Zhao said. I know at my sentencing you felt I was not given a death sentence with my projected age of release of 77, but now with my deteriorating health condition, and the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic, I feel I have been given a death sentence, she wrote in a handwritten request to Judge Philip Reinhard filed late last month in federal court in Rockford, according to Sauk Valley Media. The online visuals are stunning, and they are meant to be. At a high altitude, Russian paratroopers tumble from the belly of a giant transport plane into a sky of cotton clouds and then proceed to fight a three-day mock battle in a winter wasteland. The recent exercise on Franz Josef Land, a Russian archipelago of largely uninhabited islands in the High Arctic, has set the defence and diplomatic communities abuzz, particularly in Canada, which has its own Far North island chain. The paratroopers jumped from an Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft from a height of 10,000 metres (30,000 feet) and were, according to the Russian Defence Ministry and media reports, testing new equipment developed for extreme cold weather operations. They used specialized oxygen masks, navigation and parachute systems. Russia's deputy defence minister, Lt.-Gen. Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, boasted the April 25 exercise was a first of its kind from such a height. It was an incredible display and an extraordinary test of endurance for the troops, said a Canadian defence expert. Once they landed, they completed a three-day combat training exercise, and that is just an incredible feat of human endurance whether you look at it from a military perspective or any perspective. - Andrea Charron, of University of Manitoba's Centre for Defence and Security Studies "It's the highest altitude drop we've seen," said Andrea Charron, director of the University of Manitoba's Centre for Defence and Security Studies. "Once they landed, they completed a three-day combat training exercise, and that is just an incredible feat of human endurance whether you look at it from a military perspective, or any perspective. That is just an incredible display of logistics, courage and ingenuity." With COVID-19 and the related economic collapse dominating the headlines, the event received little attention in the western media, but was given prominent play in Russia and throughout eastern Europe. The reports were accompanied by a slick video with spectacular footage shot by the helmet-cam wearing paratroopers and videographers on the ground. Story continues It was billed by the Russian Defence Ministry as a commemoration ahead of the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Russian Defence Ministry A message to NATO? Defence experts in this country are divided on what message was being conveyed by the demonstration and whether it should serve as a warning to NATO, particularly Canada, Norway and the United States. "I'm not sure NATO should imply any sort of intent by this exercise," said Charron, who is an expert in Arctic warfare. "Russia is known for pushing its military to do the impossible, and this is a great way to get some great photo opportunities to detract from the fact that Russia now has over 200,000 confirmed COVID cases and by all accounts Russia is not managing it very well." The Russians are very serious when they say they want to be the military power in the Arctic region. - Rob Huebert, defence expert at University of Calgary But Rob Huebert, a defence expert at the University of Calgary, said demonstrating they can seize an Arctic island in messy weather in late spring is an unmistakable message from Russia to NATO. "The Russians are very serious when they say they want to be the military power in the Arctic region," Huebert said. Russian Defence Ministry Russia's Arctic ambitions Norway and Canada, in particular, should both be paying close attention, he said. The exercise, Huebert said, needs to be put in the larger context of Russia's other Far North activities, including the reactivation of long-abandoned Cold War Arctic bases and the installation of sophisticated air defence systems. A sizable portion of Russia's nuclear deterrent is found in its ballistic submarine fleet, which sails from northern bases. Huebert said Russia's Arctic ambitions are partly about northern resources being laid bare by climate change, but also a reflection of its desire to demonstrate that no one is going to mess with its nuclear fleet bases. I think this is a wake-up call because I don't think we really understand Russian military strategy as well as we think. - Charron And it is for those reasons that Charron said western leaders must think carefully about Russia's possible motivations, particularly at this uncertain time. "I think this is a wake-up call because I don't think we really understand Russian military strategy as well as we think," she said. "My big concern is that we misinterpret, misread what the Russians are doing, or vice versa, in these especially tense times given COVID-19, given the concerns about the world economy. This is where you get misunderstandings, incidents and accidents." Western militaries 'have to step up' Canadian and U.S. troops have, for years, conducted their own cold weather Arctic exercises, including parachute drops. The Russians, however, conducted their drill while the weather was still pretty miserable, not in the summer when Canada's main Arctic training Operation Nanook takes place, Huebert said. There have been Far North exercises in winter, said Charron, but the Russians have figured out how to do it on a sustained basis, which likely troubles western militaries that "will have to step up and see whether these are skills we need to work on." Commenting on previous Russian exercises, some senior Canadian military officials have said the chances of fighting in the North are pretty slim because of the climate and that an offensive operation would quickly turn into a search-and-rescue mission. "We have laughed at Russians," Huebert said. "I don't think we're laughing any more." Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-10 20:24:46|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People wearing face masks walk on a street in Beirut, Lebanon, on May 10, 2020. Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections rose on Sunday by 36 cases to 845 while death toll remained unchanged at 26, the National News Agency reported. (Photo by Bilal Jawich/Xinhua) BEIRUT, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections rose on Sunday by 36 cases to 845 while death toll remained unchanged at 26, the National News Agency reported. Health Minister Hamad Hassan said he will impose a complete curfew in the country for two days if the number of infections keeps on rising. Prime Minister Hassan Dian had previously warned against a second wave of COVID-19. At its high-speed cruise of Mach 0.90, the G600 can carry passengers 5,500 nautical miles/10,186 kilometers nonstop enough range to travel from London to Los Angeles or from Paris to Hong Kong. At its long-range cruise speed of Mach 0.85, it can fly 6,500 nm/12,038 km. Its maximum operating speed is Mach 0.925. The aircraft, which entered service Aug. 8, 2019, has already earned 23 city-pair speed records. Among those records was a flight of 4,057 nm/7,514 km from Savannah to Geneva that took just 7 hours and 21 minutes at Mach 0.90. The G600 is equipped with the revolutionary Symmetry Flight Deck, which includes active control sidesticks, a first for business aviation, and 10 touchscreens. The advanced technology has earned Gulfstream several awards, including Aviation Week's 2020 Business Aviation Platform Laureate Award and 2017 Business Aviation Technology Laureate Award, Business Intelligence Group's 2019 Innovation Award and Avionics Magazine's 2015 Technology Company of the Year. The aircraft's interior won top honors in Private Jet Design at the 2018 International Yacht & Aviation Awards. The cabin can be configured for up to three living areas and a crew compartment or four living areas, and has industry-leading sound levels, a low cabin altitude and 100 percent fresh air, which reduce fatigue and increase mental awareness. The G600's 14 panoramic oval windows let in an abundance of natural light. NOTE TO EDITORS Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports the world's most technologically advanced business-jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,900 aircraft for customers around the world since 1958. To meet the diverse transportation needs of the future, Gulfstream offers a comprehensive fleet of aircraft, comprising the Gulfstream G280, the Gulfstream G550, the Gulfstream G500, the Gulfstream G600, the Gulfstream G650, the Gulfstream G650ER and the Gulfstream G700. More information and photos are available at www.gulfstreamnews.com. More information about General Dynamics is available at www.generaldynamics.com . SOURCE Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. Related Links http://www.gulfstreamnews.com California should do whatever is necessary to help electric carmaker Tesla reopen its only U.S. vehicle factory, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday. Health officials in Alameda County, where the factory is based in Fremont, said on Friday it must remain closed as long as local lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus remain in effect. Tesla on Saturday sued the county, and Chief Executive Elon Musk threatened in a tweet to immediately leave the state, where the company is among the largest employers and manufacturers, for Texas or Nevada. "California should prioritize doing whatever they need to do to solve those health issues so that he can open quickly and safely," Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview (above). Tesla's lawsuit accused Alameda County of violating California's constitution by defying state Governor Gavin Newsom's orders on Thursday allowing manufacturers to reopen. Yes, this is insane Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2020 Alameda County and the governor's office did not return requests for comment on Monday. Tesla shares dropped 1.3% to $808 shortly after midday. They had fallen more than 3% premarket after China's Passenger Car Association reported that the company's Model 3 sales in April were down 64% on the month. (Reporting by Tina Bellon in New York; Editing by Richard Chang) Related Video: Click here to See Video >> By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2020 | 04:28 PM | PADUCAH On Saturday, officers with the Paducah Police Department reportedly noticed a vehicle with a brake light out and performed a traffic stop. Officers say the driver, 38-year-old April C. Hunter, admitted that her drivers license had been suspended, and that she had no insurance on the vehicle. As the officer returned to his cruiser, he reportedly noticed Hunter remove something from her shirt and put it down the front of her pants. After being arrested, Hunter reportedly removed a small bag of methamphetamine from her pants. After searching her vehicle, officers reportedly found an open container of alcohol as well. Hunter was lodged in the McCracken County Jail. She is being charged with first-degree possession of a controlled substance, tampering with physical evidence, driving with a suspended or revoked license, having no brake lights, possession of an open alcoholic beverage, failure to produce insurance, and a warrant charging her with a parole violation. A Salem woman is facing numerous charges after a traffic stop in Paducah. India's third Covid wave likely to peak on Jan 23, daily cases to stay below 4 lakh: IIT Kanpur scientist States should decide on red, green, orange zones: Amarinder urges PM Modi India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, May 11: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has urged that states need to be given greater flexibility in micro-planning as part of a carefully planned exit strategy, encompassing both COVID-19 containment and a defined path of economic revival. During video conference with PM Modi, the Chief Minister pitched for extension of the lockdown but with a carefully crafted strategy, backed by fiscal and economic empowerment of the states, to save lives and secure livelihood. The Chief Minister said that states need to be given greater flexibility in micro-planning as part of a carefully planned exit strategy, encompassing both COVID-19 containment and a defined path of economic revival. The Chief Minister said micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) should be allowed to function in red zones with proper safeguards. Amarinder also demanded urgent financial assistance to states to meet at least 33 per cent of their committed liabilities, along with revenue grants for three months to meet the shortfall in revenue and fund expenditure on tackling coronavirus. The Chief Minister told the Prime Minister that Punjab was losing Rs 3,000 crore per month in revenue with the state power corporation's losses pegged at Rs 30 crore daily. He reiterated the demand for an immediate release of Punjab's GST arrears of Rs 4,365.37 crore. The Chief Minister said in view of a complete change in the economic situation due to the pandemic, the 15th Finance Commission should review its report for the current year and recommend devolution of funds for five years beginning from April 1 next year, instead of the current year. Amarinder urged the PM Modi to increase the borrowing limit under the Financial Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2005 from 3 per cent to 4 per cent of state GDP to enable states to meet their fiscal liabilities. Coronavirus crisis: Indian Railways resume services gradually; Train ticket reservation begins The Chief Minister also called for a national strategy on testing, saying he has already written to the Prime Minister to direct central institutions in Chandigarh and Punjab to increase their testing capacity. Punjab has so far done 40,962 tests with the current rate of 2,500 tests per day, which the state government has planned to scale up to 6,000 tests by the month-end, he said. The Punjab government has been fighting the coronavirus battle from the front and had successfully brought down the mortality rate in the state to 1.8 per cent, the CM said. The rate of increase in cases is falling after having risen sharply in the past 10 days due to a large number of people returning from other states testing positive for the infection, he said. He expressed confidence that the situation will improve in the coming week. With four containment zones, Punjab currently has 1,823 cases (2.75 per cent of all-India cases), with 31 deaths, translating into the mortality rate of 1.70 per cent, he told the PM. The CM requested for an early announcement of MSP on paddy and a bonus on non-burning of stubble. Amarinder Singh said Punjab has procured 115 lakh MT of wheat with proper social distancing and hygiene protocols in place. In terms of inbound movement of stranded people, the Chief Minister said around 56,000 persons from Punjab stuck in other states have registered with his government while around 20,000 Indian nationals returning from other countries. The state government has made elaborate arrangements for their quarantine and testing, he said. Despite issuing an order closing its beaches from 7 a.m. Saturday through 7 p.m. Tuesday, the city of Cannon Beach still saw plenty of out-of-towners ignoring Gov. Kate Browns stay-home orders. But the numbers werent as bad as they might have been, according to Cannon Beach City Manager Bruce St. Denis. In his May 7 order closing beaches adjacent to the city of Cannon Beach, St. Denis cited local concerns about non-residents flocking to the Oregon Coast, even as Oregonians are directed to stay home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. The City of Cannon Beach has experienced an increasing influx of visitors defying the state and local restrictions and not practicing safe social distancing," St. Denis wrote, especially on the beaches adjacent to the city. St. Denis noted that the warm weather in the weekend forecast, along with the closure of beaches in Seaside, would likely draw visitors from the Portland metro area to Cannon Beach. On Sunday, St. Denis wrote in an email that, on Saturday, Cannon Beach police asked about 700 people on the beach to leave, and did the same with about 60 people on Sunday. Most were from out of town, St. Denis wrote, adding that some "had some questions/comments but all were eventually cooperative. No arrests were made, and St. Denis said, those numbers were significantly less than we expected had the beach not been closed. The beachgoers were also a smaller contingent than the invasion that occurred over the Spring Break weekend of March 21-22, when huge crowds flocked to the Oregon Coast, despite Browns encouraging them to stay home. The tourists and their heedless behavior alarmed local officials along the Coast, who responded by giving visitors 24 hours to leave, closing campgrounds and parks, and banning many short-term rentals and hotel stays. This weekend, The crowds were much less than the beginning of spring break, St. Denis wrote. On March 21st the city was so full it seemed like July even though Stay Home/Stay Safe was already in place. -- Kristi Turnquist kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. English French OTTAWA, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the goal of helping more Canadian businesses face the financial challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada announced the creation of the Mid-Market Guarantee and Financing Program available under Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP) with support from Export Development Canada (EDC). The expanded program brings liquidity to companies who tend to have revenues of between $50 million to $300 million, to sustain operations during this emergency moment. Medium-sized companies represent 16 per cent of employment in Canada and span all sectors. They are essential to the economic well-being of our country, said Mairead Lavery, President and CEO, EDC. Not only do they employ millions of dedicated Canadian workers, but they are essential to the livelihood of our industries, supply chains and our communities coast, to coast, to coast, said Lavery. With this expanded support, EDC will continue to work with Canadian financial institutions to guarantee 75 per cent of new operating credit and cash-flow loans ranging in size from $16.75 million to a maximum of $80 million. These expanded guarantees are available to exporters, international investors and businesses that sell their products or services within Canada. This support is in addition to measures already included in the Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP) as well as other measures previously announced by EDC to help bridge more Canadian companies to a more stable time. Additional details regarding this expanded BCAP Program are being finalized and will be made available in early June. EDC has also launched a new tool to help businesses explore the resources developed by the government and Crown corporations to help Canadian businesses navigate COVID-19. About EDC Export Development Canada (EDC) is a financial Crown corporation dedicated to helping Canadian companies of all sizes succeed on the world stage. As international risk experts, we equip Canadian companies with the tools they need the trade knowledge, financing solutions, equity, insurance, and connections to grow their business with confidence. Underlying all our support is a commitment to sustainable and responsible business. To help Canadian businesses facing extreme financial challenges brought on by the global response to COVID-19, the Government of Canada has expanded EDCs domestic capabilities until December 31, 2021. This broader mandate will enable EDC to expand its support to companies focused domestically. For more information and to learn how we can help your company, call us at 1-800-229-0575 or visit www.edc.ca . Media Contacts New Delhi, May 11 : After labour Laws were suspended by the BJP Governments in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, the Congress said it is shocking and heart-breaking that at a time when the entire nation is dealing with an unprecedented pandemic which has disproportionately ravaged and devastated the lives of the poor, the Modi Government has taken this as an opportunity to deprive the labourers of their rights. The Congress spokesperson Shakti Singh Gohil alleged, "These laws are in the Concurrent List, no such suspension can take place without the explicit approval of the Central Government." The party has demanded that the Modi Government should deny any permissions that strip workers of their basic rights and have the potential of diminishing their livelihoods. The Congress asked that the trade unions be consulted before such an adverse step is taken. The labourers and migrants are already getting inhuman treatment in the wake of the hastily announced lockdown which gave a barely four-hour notice to migrants. We have all seen the visuals of lakhs of our brothers and sisters attempting to make the arduous journey home without any state support, any food or medicines, left to fend for themselves by an uncaring and apathetic Government, added Gohil The party said that the labour laws such as the Industrial Disputes Act and the Minimum Wages Act exist to ensure basic protection to those who are most vulnerable to exploitation. They flow from the Constitutionally guaranteed Right to Life and put in place basic protection to the poor from being overworked and underpaid. They are the surest guarantee that workers have against being turned into bonded labour. The Congress alleged that while labourers are subjected to exploitation, a red carpet has now been rolled out by the BJP-ruled state governments of UP, Gujarat and MP to lure foreign investors but this cannot be done by proudly sacrificing the rights of the working class. "This is shameful and once again highlights the true nature and priorities of this 'Suit-Boot ki Sarkar'. Factories and Industrial Premises will end up becoming 'sweat shops' and forced labour camps," Gohil added. I added that part about him looking nervously into the sky, but if he didnt, he should have. As the interim senior entomology correspondent for this award-winning publication, I aim to answer some common questions and clear up a few misconceptions about the appearance of the murder hornet on U.S. soil (or air). What are my qualifications, you may ask if you are still reading at this point? I survived the 1970s killer bees scare and watched all the movies that resulted from it The Swarm, The Savage Bees, Deadly Invasion: The Killer Bee Nightmare, etc. Lets start the Q&A. Q: Scott, are these things really called murder hornets? Answer: They are commonly known as Asian Giant Hornets, but that sounds vaguely racist and a tad boring so we in the media would rather refer to them as murder hornets because its attention-getting. Who doesnt want to read a story about murder hornets? US Govt Rejected Offer For Millions of N-95 Masks at Start of COVID-19 Pandemic - Report Sputnik News 04:00 GMT 10.05.2020(updated 04:01 GMT 10.05.2020) The first coronavirus case in the United States was registered on 21 January, after the patient returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan. One day later the Trump administration reportedly received an offer from private medical supply company Prestige Ameritech. The US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) ignored the possibility to get millions of N-95 protective face masks into the US in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Washington Post. As early as 22 January, Michael Bowen, an owner of private medical supply company Prestige Ameritech, suggested that he could help the nation amid shrinking domestic production of medical masks, writing an email to the DHHS. "We still have four like-new N95 manufacturing lines. Reactivating these machines would be very difficult and very expensive but could be achieved in a dire situation", his letter said. He received an answer on the same day, from Laura Wolf, the director of the agency's Division of Critical Infrastructure Protection, and she did not show much enthusiasm for the offer. "I don't believe we as an government are anywhere near answering those questions for you yet", she responded. Bowen persisted, citing his company's capability to produce additional 1.7 million N-95 masks per week and stressing that he had received a lot of demand from other foreign customers. The talks were reportedly fruitless and his offer was not accepted. The exchange is mentioned in a whistleblower complaint filed by former director of the US federal vaccine agency, Dr. Rick Bright, who was removed from his position and given a "less impactful job" for reasons Bright and his team of lawyers believe to be political. Bowen's offer came months before the US shortage of necessary personal protective equipment became obvious. Reports emerged that to obtain medical supplies, the Trump administration seized humanitarian aid meant for other countries, a claim that was denied by the White House. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address [May 11, 2020] COVID-19 Impact and Recovery Analysis- Semiconductor Laser Market 2020-2024 | Growth in Demand for Consumer Devices to Boost Growth | Technavio Technavio has been monitoring the semiconductor laser market and it is poised to grow by USD 1845.19 million during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost 5% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200510005015/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Semiconductor Laser Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. ASML Holding NV, Coherent Inc., Hans Laser Technology Industry Group Co. Ltd., IPG Photonics Corp., OSRAM Licht AG, Panasonic Corp., ROHM Co. Ltd., Sharp (News - Alert) Corp., Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., and TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG. are some of the major market participants. The growth in demand for consumer devices will offer immense growth opportunities. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Growth in demand for consumer devices has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. Semiconductor Laser Market 2020-2024: Segmentation Semiconductor Laser Market is segmented as below: Application Communication Industrial Military and Defense Medical Others Geography APAC Europe North America South America MEA To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR43374 Semiconductor Laser Market 2020-2024: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our semiconductor laser market report covers the following areas: Semiconductor Laser Market Size Semiconductor Laser Market Trends Semiconductor Laser Market Industry Analysis This study identifies increase in demand for laser-based headlamps in automobiles as one of the prime reasons driving the semiconductor laser market growth during the next few years. Semiconductor Laser Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of vendors operating in the semiconductor laser market, including some of the vendors such as ASML Holding NV, Coherent Inc., Hans Laser Technology Industry Group Co. Ltd., IPG Photonics (News - Alert) Corp., OSRAM Licht AG, Panasonic Corp., ROHM Co. Ltd., Sharp Corp., Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., and TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the semiconductor laser market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Semiconductor Laser Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist semiconductor laser market growth during the next five years Estimation of the semiconductor laser market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the semiconductor laser market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of semiconductor laser market vendors Table Of Contents: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Market characteristics Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2019 Market outlook: Forecast for 2019 - 2024 Five Forces Analysis Five forces summary Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by Application Market segments Comparison by Application Communication - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Industrial - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Military and defense - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Medical - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Others - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by Application Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison APAC - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 North America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 South America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Market Driver, Challenges and Trends Vendor Landscape Overview Vendor landscape Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors ASML Holding NV Coherent Inc. Hans Laser Technology Industry Group Co. Ltd. IPG Photonics Corp. OSRAM Licht AG Panasonic Corp. ROHM Co. Ltd. Sharp Corp. Sumitomo Electric (News - Alert) Industries Ltd. TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200510005015/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The African Centre for Health Policy Research and Analysis (ACH-PRA) is calling on government to immediately put in place a national strategy to tackle the Coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis in the country. Having analyzed the data and measures by the government to curb the spread of the disease, ACH-PRA has expressed worry while calling for an immediate national strategy to combat the crisis. Immediately put in place a National Strategy in tackling the pandemic in Ghana. It is not too late as the pandemic keeping raging on in Ghana. A National Strategy is needed urgently to help the country refocus and prioritize the fight of this pandemic, ACH-PRA said in a statement signed Executive Director Thomas W Anabah. Among many other things, the African Centre for Health Policy Research and Analysis wants the government to heed to calls and advice not to lift the ban on social gathering by professional bodies like the Ghana Medical Association as they believe that will worsen the plight of the country. Read the full statement from the policy think-tank below: Overnight reports from Jacksonville police: Three men were cited after being accused of showing up at an East Water Street residence to start a fight. Samuel G. Brinkley, 26, of 1007 W. Monroe St. in Auburn, William H. Pierce, 21, of 15850 Downing Road in Waverly and Steve E. Tieman, 20, of 26271 Hunter Road in Hettick were cited on disorderly conduct-fighting charges at 8:26 p.m. Sunday in the 400 block of East Water Street, police said. Tieman was arrested on a charge of criminal damage to property after police said he drove a vehicle into a fence at the property, according to a police report. An Indian businessman, who owns a well-known biryani restaurant here, was on Monday sentenced to six years of jail and six strokes of the cane, nearly five years after conspiring to have the face of a friend-turned-foe slashed after he started selling the same delicacies next door, according to media reports. Zackeer Abbass Khan, 49, who owns the Zam Zam restaurant was found guilty after a long-running trial of conspiring with several others to have Victory restaurant supervisor Liakath Ali Mohamed Ibrahim slashed and scarred in 2015 for selling the same delicacies next door, Channel Asia reported. Before sentencing Zackeer, District Judge Mathew Joseph said the case was a reminder that one should not allow one's anger to cloud one's judgment as the "resulting consequences can be severe." The judge also said there was no place in our society for gratuitous violence, The Straits Times reported. While Zackeer has been jailed, he intends to appeal, his lawyer said. Zackeer had instructed business associate and long-time friend Anwer Ambiya Kadir Maideen, 50, to attack on Liakath for selling the same delicacies next door. Anwer, also an Indian-origin, the middleman in the scheme, was given five-and-a-half years' jail, Channel Asia reported. He had hired secret society (gang) member Joshua Navindran Surainthiran, an Indian-origin, to attack Liakath on the face with a knife on August 26, 2015, for 1,700 Singapore dollars, the report said. Joshua was jailed for six-and-a-half years and six strokes of the cane for the slashing and other offences in November 2016. Both Zackeer and Anwer were found guilty of a charge of conspiring to cause grievous hurt to Liakath, who was left with a permanent scar, the report said. Zackeer was convicted of another charge of criminal intimidation for threatening the victim, saying: "I see how you will work here and within one week I will either hit or kill you." Anwer pleaded guilty on Monday to one additional charge of being a member of a secret society, with two other similar charges taken into consideration. He had joined the gang in 1990 and was a "fighter" there. Judge Joseph then sentenced him to a total of 5 years' jail, The Straits Times reported. The court heard that after the business failed, Mr Liakath joined Victory Restaurant in 2014 and created problems for Zam Zam by pulling customers away and reporting its staff to the authorities. After the business failed, Zackeer blamed the victim for being "cheated" of 80,000 Singapore dollars and tensions increased after the Liakath joined the rival Victory restaurant. Allegations were tossed back and forth of customers being pulled away, and things came to a head on August 22, 2015, when the police went to both restaurants in North Bridge Road to advise them to stop touting. Four days later, Joshua slashed Liakath on the face. For his involvement, he was sentenced to six-and-a-half years' jail and six strokes of the cane in 2016, after pleading guilty to several charges. On Monday, the court granted Anwer his request to defer the sentence as he needed to arrange for someone to take over his restaurant business, which has been "suffering" because of COVID-19 pandemic. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has fixed May 14 as the record date for determining shareholders eligible to apply for Indias biggest rights issue of Rs 53,125 crore. Billionaire Mukesh Ambanis firm had on April 30 announced fund raising of Rs 53,125 crore by way of a 1:15 rights issue, the first such issue by RIL in nearly three decades. One share will be offered for every 15 shares held at Rs 1,257, a 14 per cent discount to the closing price for April 30. RILs share price has since risen to Rs 1,561.80 (Fridays closing price), but rights issue price remains the same. We inform you that the Rights Issue Committee constituted by the Board of Directors of the company has, at its meeting fixed Thursday, May 14, 2020 as the Record Date for the purpose of determining the equity shareholders entitled to receive the rights entitlement in the rights issue, the firm said in a regulatory filing. The rights issue opening and closing dates will be informed separately, it added. Typically, cash-strapped companies use rights issues to raise money when they really need it. In rights offerings, companies grant shareholders the right, but not the obligation, to buy new shares at a discount to the current trading price. The last time RIL tapped the public for funds was in 1991 when it had issued convertible debentures. The debentures were subsequently converted into equity shares at Rs 55 apiece. US Navy warns China against 'bullying' others in S China Sea amid rising tensions Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 2:18 AM The US Navy has warned China to stop "bullying" foreign ships in the South China Sea as two American warships sailed into the midst of a dispute in the contested waterway near Chinese territorial waters. Commander of the US Pacific Fleet Adm. John Aquilino claimed in a statement that the United States is "committed to a rules-based order in the South China Sea and we will continue to champion freedom of the seas and the rule of law," US-based Business Insider news outlet reported Saturday. "The Chinese Communist Party must end its pattern of bullying Southeast Asians out of offshore oil, gas, and fisheries," the US commander further proclaimed in his statement on Thursday. "Millions of people in the region depend on those resources for their livelihood." According to the report, the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Montgomery and the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Cesar Chavez conducted "presence operations" near Malaysia-contracted drillship, the West Capella, in a bid to support the vessel allegedly "hassled" by Chinese ships in recent months. The West Capella, a ship contracted by Malaysia's state oil company Petronas, has been conducting exploratory drilling in the South China Sea. Malaysia, however, has expressed hopes that the US-alleged standoff will be resolved peacefully, as Beijing has denied the existence of any dispute. The development came a week after the US military deployed four B-1B heavy bombers and hundreds of troops to its western pacific territory of Guam to carry out "deterrence missions" aimed at Beijing after days of provocative maneuvers near contested territory in the South China Sea. The warplanes and airmen arrived at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam Island on May 2, according to a statement by the US Strategic Command that further noted that three of the B-1B Lancers flew directly to the base, while another diverted to waters near Japan to train with the US Navy. The growing American military presence in the region follows escalating rhetoric from US President Donald Trump against Beijing, increasingly blaming the country for the ongoing coronavirus pandemic without pointing to any evidence to back his claims. According to a Reuters report, the US State Department criticized China's behavior in April claiming that Beijing "should cease its bullying behavior and refrain from engaging in this type of provocative and destabilizing activity." This is while US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said last week that "we continue to see aggressive behavior by the PLA in the South China Sea." He further alleged that Chinese actions include "threatening a Philippine navy ship," "sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat," and "intimidating other nations from engaging in offshore oil development." Meanwhile, the Chinese military warned a US warship last month to leave after it illegally entered the disputed waters in the South China Sea. Colonel Li Huamin, a spokesman for the Southern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army, said then that the warship "entered the territorial waters off the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea without China's permission." "The US move has severely violated the relevant international law and was a serious infringement of China's sovereignty," Li said, calling on US to stop military operations that are not conducive to regional security and peace and stability. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address (Newser) Georgia's attorney general on Sunday asked the US Department of Justice to investigate the handling of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who authorities say died at the hands of two white men as he ran through a neighborhood on Feb. 23. No arrests were made until this month after national outrage over the case swelled when video of the shooting surfaced. We are committed to a complete and transparent review of how the Ahmaud Arbery case was handled from the outset, Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement, per the AP. The family, the community, and the state of Georgia deserve answers, and we will work with others in law enforcement at the state and federal level to find those answers. Also Sunday, Georgia authorities said they had arrested a 20-year-old man after investigating an online threat against people protesting Arbery's killing. story continues below Attorneys for Arbery's mother and father applauded Carr for reaching out to federal officials. We have requested the involvement of the DOJ since we first took this case," attorneys S. Lee Merritt, Benjamin Crump, and L. Chris Stewart said in a statement. There are far too many questions about how this case was handled and why it took 74 days for two of the killers to be arrested and charged in Mr. Arberys death. Last week, a Justice Department spokesman said the FBI is assisting in the investigation and the DOJ would assist if a federal crime is uncovered. Shortly after the videos leak, Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault. The arrests came hours after officials asked the GBI to start investigating. The inquiry was previously in the hands of local officials. (Read more Ahmaud Arbery stories.) San Francisco, May 11 : Facebook-owned Instagram on Monday announced new features to help businesses which are facing immense challenges during the Covid-19 crisis. Instagram launched a 'Support Small Business' sticker that users can incorporate into their Stories to talk about their favourite small businesses. Other Instagram users will be able to see who is using the sticker via a shared Story, raising awareness and visibility for those businesses. "As many stores remain closed and social media serves as an online Main Street, the shift to doing business online is more urgent than ever," Instagram said in a statement. "We're announcing new ways for people to support and discover small businesses, along with more tools for keeping businesses informed and connected with their customers," the photo-sharing app added. The company is also making it easier for businesses to communicate with customers by adding a dedicated Business Inbox in the Messenger app, reports TechCrunch. Instagram also said that Facebook's Businesses Nearby feature can be used to find information on which local businesses are still providing goods and services, message those businesses and buy from them via third-party apps, giving those businesses more virtual foot traffic. "We want to do everything we can to support small businesses right now, whether that's building new tools to help them stay in touch with customers or giving people the power to easily show their love to businesses they care about," said Instagram COO Justin Osofsky. Businesses on Facebook can also tag posts related to COVID-19 on their pages in order to keep people updated. CARDIAC HOME MONITORING SUCCESS Arrhythmia and Alert Detection On Day One. Octagos Health, a Houston-based company, recently launched a next generation remote monitoring software platform for patients with implanted cardiac devices. The Octagos software allows healthcare professionals access to cardiac patients pacemaker, defibrillator or loop recorder data using one portal. The software greatly simplifies the management of remote transmissions and at the same time provides real-time patient insights and analytics in a secure, cloud-based platform. The Octagos software is also able to further improve efficiency with capabilities such as integrating data from over 70 electronic health record (EHR) companies. By streamlining this information, Octagos makes it easy for providers to monitor all of their patients device data and reduce the possible liability of missing critical transmissions. While Octagos boosts efficiency and saves time on administrative tasks, the software is especially helpful in the age of COVID-19. Cardiac patients are more vulnerable to the coronavirus than the general population, and healthcare providers are facing overwhelming demand while coping with limited resources. Remote software gives providers the ability to provide high quality care for patients without physical contact. This helps to keep at-risk patients safe while also allowing doctors to manage their time and resources more efficiently. "When the COVID crisis hit I was worried about how I was going to take care of my patients, said Dr. Shanti Bansal, a Houston physician who also serves as the Director of Medical Affairs for Octagos. Through the use of the service and software of Octagos, I was able to quickly and easily see all my patients' device information without the worry of missing anything. I was able not only to talk to them about how they were doing, but also to make decisions for their care with relevant data. While home monitoring is effective, many of these remote tools are still under-used. For Eric Olsen, SVP of Commercial Operations at Octagos, there was a clear opportunity to create new software supported by strong service to address these issues. It is apparent that remote monitoring continues to be underutilized despite the abundance of data supporting its effectiveness, to include a Class IA recommendation by the Heart Rhythm Society. Our software and service model remove the barriers patients and physicians face on a daily basis that lead to this under utilization, says Olsen. We provide the necessary support, such as live representatives and a robust software platform, to ensure patients are consistently transmitting their device data from home. We also reduce the cost of care by providing physician practices with the necessary infrastructure that would be cost prohibitive to implement at the practice level. Our software and service model also greatly improve the consistency and predictability of appropriate billing, which is often very hard for practices to manage. About Octagos Health: Octagos Health creates cutting-edge software for remote cardiac monitoring backed by a team of very experienced cardiac device experts. The Octagos platform allows healthcare professionals to monitor all of their implanted cardiac device patients using a single platform, streamlining the monitoring process. The Octagos team combines powerful digital monitoring with the personal touch that patients expect from their medical professionals. The result is a revolutionized monitoring process that patients and providers can trust. Providers can learn more about Octagos Health and schedule a software demo by visiting octagoshealth.com. For additional information, please contact Octagos directly by emailing info@octagoshealth.com or by calling 281-769-8733. Connect with us https://www.linkedin.com/company/octagoshealth. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 21:38:07|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close THIMPHU, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Two Bhutanese who returned from the Middle East have tested positive for COVID-19, the Health Ministry of Bhutan announced on May 11. This makes the total positive case in Bhutan to nine, of which five were reported to have recovered. The ministry stated that the two are a 28-year old female and a 27-year old male, and both were moved to isolation room from the quarantine facility in Paro district. Two were tested along with 16 other people by Polymerase chain reaction, the ministry said. According to the ministry, their Technical Advisory Group members for COVID-19 has completed implementation of strategy for engaging high-risk communities for COVID-19 prevention and control in five districts of Southern Bhutan. These districts has a long-porous border, which makes it likely to import disease through movement of people across the border, the ministry stated. The government has cautioned people to maintain physical distancing and to refrain from visiting hospital and other crowded places. It has also launched a tracking application to help people track their movements. The government has also signaled about their initiatives to slowly open schools if the situation improves. Enditem WILTON Cuts to town grants to Wilton Library and Trackside Teen Center are just two of a number of budget items on the chopping block at tonights Board of Selectmens meeting at 7:30 p.m. through a live stream video. The Board of Finance has asked the selectmen to present several scenarios for the town budget: Flat to the FY2020 budget, 2-percent less, 5-percent less and 10-percent less. The finance board is meeting tomorrow, May 12, at 7 p.m. to review the town and school budget proposals and set preliminary budget and mill rate figures. The public can view those numbers and submit comments to boardoffinance@wiltonct.org. The finance board will then meet on June 1, 2, and 3, for final deliberations and approval of a budget and mill rate. The requirement for an Annual Town Meeting and adjourned vote on the FY2021 budget was suspended by Gov. Lamont, and the finance board on its own initiative will set the budget and the mill rate. Before the pandemic hit Connecticut, the selectmen had proposed a $33.9 million town budget request for FY2021, an increase of 1.22 percent, $410,000 over this years budget of $32.5 million. My proposal to the Board of Selectmen for adjustments to our submitted budget, to achieve flat, or a reduction of $410,000 and to achieve 2% below or a reduction of $1,080,000, are available on the town website, said First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice. As part of their reduction proposals, the selectmen are considering cuts to the $2,854,156 grant to Wilton Library and $65,334 grant to Trackside Teen Center. The Board of Selectmen received a number of emails about possible reductions to the library and Trackside grants. I understand resident concerns, as I am and have been a donor to both organizations. Unfortunately, we are at a time, which may require shared sacrifices, Vanderslice said. She posted the following explanation for the cuts in a message on the towns website: The Board of Finance has expressed concerns about residents ability to pay property taxes, town liquidity issues if residents dont pay their taxes and the ongoing economic impact of the pandemic. In preparing the new proposed budgets, town departments and I needed to prioritize spending, with an emphasis on necessary spending to allow the town to continue to adequately address the emergency and to ensure continuation of necessary services that serve the entire community. The first recommended and voluntary reduction was a $30,000 or 21.6-percent cut to my salary, both as an act of leadership, but also as a reflection of the 15 to 20 percent estimated current unemployment rate in Wilton and the loss of income happening in many Wilton households. To achieve a flat budget, $757,000 of proposed cuts were made to previously submitted town department budgets, which translates into reductions in services and the elimination of all new initiatives including Schencks Island and the clearing of the Norwalk River along River Road. A $56,000 proposed cut was made to the librarys previously approved grant and a proposed $10,000 cut to Tracksides previously approved grant. To achieve a 2-percent budget reduction, $1,271,000 of proposed cuts were made to the previously submitted town department budgets, which translates into reductions in employees, widespread reduction in employee hours and further reductions in services, $157,000 in cuts to the library grant and $65,000 in cuts to the Trackside grant. The library was prioritized over Trackside as it services the entire community, while Trackside services a small segment of the community. The town department heads and I did not take this task lightly. No one wants to cut services and no one wants a reduction in pay, but we are in unprecedented times with much uncertainty. In formulating their budget scenarios, the selectmen are also factoring in the towns unemployment, whch Vanderslice estimates at 15 and 20 percent. Links to Wilton town budget information: Budget Adjustments Budget Scenarios Trackside Budget Numbers Comments on the budget scenarios can be emailed to the selectmen at boardofselectmen@wiltonct.org. pgay@wiltonbulletin.com A man died of COVID-19 while 106 people tested positive for the disease in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, taking the number of fatalities due to the pandemic to 80 and cases of infection to 3,573 in the state till date, said an official. The fresh death due to COVID-19 was reported from Lallitpur in the state, he added. As per the state's bulletin on COVID-19 situation till date, "A total of 3,573 cases have been reported so far from 72 districts. Of the 3,573 cases, 1,758 people have been treated and discharged. With 80 deaths and 1,758 people cured, the total number of active cases in the state on Monday stood at 1,735, the bulletin revealed. Of the total fatalities, the maximum number of 24 deaths occurred in Agra, followed by 13 in Meerut, seven Moradabad, six in Kanpur Nagar, four each in Firozabad and Mathura, three in Aligarh, two each in Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar and one each in Lalitpur, Prayagraj, Etah, Mainpuri, Bijnore, Kanpur Dehat, Amroha, Bareilly, Basti, Bulandshahr, Lucknow, Varanasi and Shrawasti. Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad earlier told reporters that the state has readied altogether 53,459 isolation and 21,569 quarantine beds, besides 1,260 beds with ventilator facility. Those who have tested positive in the state include 8.1 per cent from 60 plus age group, 25.5 per cent between 40-60 years of age, 48.7 per cent between 20 and 40 years and 17.7 per cent are below the age of 20, he said. Among the total patients 21.5 per cent are women, he said, adding the state government was effectively using Aarogya Setu app and also making calls to alert people. "Of the total 2,058 calls made to Aarogya Setu users, nine have been found positive till now and are being treated," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Flash . U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lives up to his reputation as King of Disinformation during the global combat of the COVID-19 pandemic. On whether COVID-19 was manmade: Mike Pompeo said to ABC News, "The best experts so far seem to think it was manmade and I have no reason to disbelieve that at this point." He was then confronted by Mark Milley, U.S. Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said, "The weight of evidence is that it was natural and not manmade." On whether the COVID-19 virus came from a Wuhan lab: Pompeo said, "I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan." According to the German Der Spiegel magazine, Germany's BND spy agency had asked members of the U.S.-led "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance for evidence to support the accusation. None of the alliance's members, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. included, wanted to support Pompeo's claim. Spiegel went on saying that an intelligence report prepared for German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer concluded that the U.S. accusations were a deliberate attempt to divert public attention away from President Donald Trump's "own failures." On U.S. generosity: Pompeo said on April 7 at a State Department news briefing that "I want everyone to be reminded that America remains the world's leading light of humanitarian goodness amidst this global pandemic." And he praised the U.S. to be the most generous nation on the planet. But he got a slap in the face by the U.S. allies including France and Germany. German DW News reported on April 7 that Berlin's city government had accused the U.S. of an act of modern-day piracy after a shipment of 200,000 protective face masks was hijacked on its way from China to Germany. Al Jazeera on April 4 reported that the heads of three regions worst hit by the coronavirus in France had accused the U.S. of effectively hijacking millions of masks at a Shanghai Airport. They were made in China and destined for France. France 24 on April 3 reported that the leader of the Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris, had accused unidentified Americans of swooping in with cash to secure face mask shipments already promised to French buyers. Barbados condemned the U.S. too. Barbados Health Minister Lt. Col. Jeffrey Bostic said the ventilators they ordered had not arrived in the North American island nation because "they were seized in the U.S." On sharing virus samples and genome sequencing: Pompeo has repeatedly accused China of "not sharing the virus sample with the outside world" and said China hindered the world's effort to develop a vaccine. Fact is that China shared the genome sequencing of the novel coronavirus with the world scientists on January 10 and was recognized and appreciated by U.S. pharmaceuticals like Moderna Theraputics and Inovio Pharmaceuticals for doing so. Stephen Hoge, President of Moderna, said in an interview with Time magazine on February 25 that "the first thing that [developing a vaccine] has to happen is somebody has to get their hands on the virus, sequence it and share that with the world, and the Chinese Government did that." "The fact that there isn't an actual replicating vial of virus is not a problem, as long as you have this sequence of what was in that tube," said Dr. Andy Pekosz of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in an interview with CBS News on April 25. Medical experts tell CBS News they are skeptical of the need at this point for early virus samples to develop a vaccine and treatments. On Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA): On May 7, Pompeo urged World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to invite Taiwan to observe this month's WHA, "as he has the power to do and as his predecessors have done on multiple occasions." Again, Mr. Secretary of State was spreading lies in an attempt to confuse his audience. On the same day at a WHO daily press briefing, WHO legal counsel Derek Walton responded, saying "The involvement, if any, of observers from Taiwan, China, in that assembly is a question for the 194 members of WHO, the member governments; it's their decision." He continued to explain that "it's for the member states, rather than the Secretariat to decide that question." In a word, WHO director general has no power to do so. It must be pointed out that China's Taiwan had indeed attended the WHA as an observer in the previous years in 2009-2016. But it was under an arrangement of China, not the WHO Secretariat, that Taiwan participated under the name of "Chinese Taipei." At that time, then Taiwan authorities promoted a sound relationship with the mainland which made such arrangements possible. Pompeo alleged that China "behaved like authoritarian regimes do" and "attempted to conceal and hide and confuse." But laughably, he personally admitted at an event hosted by Texas A&M University in 2019, "I was the CIA director, we lied, we cheated we stole, we had entire training courses." These tricks might prove useful in covert operations. But when you become the secretary of state, you need to side with facts, not fictions; stick to truths, not lies; resort to multilateralism rather than unilateralism. Secretary Pompeo told an amusing story about how Sergeant Petry reminded him when he was a West Point cadet, "Young man, you'll do well if you just shut up for a while." A billionaire diamond dealer whose luxury pieces have been worn by famous actresses and models has today begun his fight against extradition from the UK over claims he swindled 1.5billion from a national bank. Navi Modi, 49, is wanted by authorities in India for allegedly taking part in the country's biggest ever fraud on the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB). The high-class jeweller, who owns Firestar Diamond, and whose pieces have been worn by famous model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and actresses Kate Winslet and Naomi Watts, is fighting extradition to India, where he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if found guilty. Modi who was arrested in London in March last year, denies the allegations of conspiracy to defraud and the conspiracy to conceal criminal property, Navi Modi (pictured right with actress Naomi Watts), 49, is wanted by authorities in India for allegedly taking part in the country's biggest ever fraud on the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB). Modi, a high-class jeweller who owns Firestar Diamond, denies the allegations of conspiracy to defraud and the conspiracy to conceal criminal property Some of jewellery has been worn by stars including model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and actresses Kate Winslet (pictured) and Naomi Watt Modi, who according to Forbes is worth 1.4billion, is alleged to have used insiders and threats to kill witnesses in an international 'Ponzi scheme', Westminster Magistrates' Court heard on day one of the five day extradition hearing. The Indian government allege that Modi persuaded corrupt workers within PNB to sign off a special kind of loan used by businesses to import foreign goods at a cheaper rate. The Indian government allege that Modi persuaded corrupt workers within PNB to sign off a special kind of loan used by businesses to import foreign goods at a cheaper rate It is alleged Modi asked for the loans - known as Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) - on the basis that they were being used to pay off exporters for pearls from Hong Kong. But Helen Malcolm QC, for the Indian government, told the court that the 'eye-watering' sums of money, given between 2011 and 2017, were instead distributed across other businesses in the Modi empire. They allege the money was then used to pay off a backlog of earlier debt, creating a 'Ponzi scheme' - where investors are paid with funds from more recent investors. Modi allegedly fiddled the ownership holdings for three key companies used in the fraud - Diamonds R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamond - so that the Modi name appeared to hold less than one percent of the companies. The magnate, who appeared in court via video-link wearing a black suit, also used several 'dummy' directors as figureheads to distance himself on paperwork from the companies while maintaining control, Ms Malcolm said. Ms Malcolm said: 'With very minor exceptions in relation to three documents, he signed every balance sheet of these three companies, every partnership with the PNB, every tax return on behalf of those three partnerships. 'Those three partnerships have paid over billion dollars of credit without going through any of the procedures designed to protect the bank from the kind of losses that have happened here.' The Indian government allege that Modi persuaded corrupt workers within PNB to sign off a special kind of loan used by businesses to import foreign goods at a cheaper rate. Pictured: Karlie Kloss on the read carpet at the Oscars in 2017, while wearing jewellery from Modi Ms Malcolm said the PND caught wind of the scheme in 2018. She told the court that once Modi learnt of the allegations he worked with his brother to 'cajole' key witnesses and threaten them with death. When the billionaire left India in February last year investigators seized more than half a dozen luxury cars, including a Rolls Royce Ghost and a Porsche Panamera. Modi was arrested in London a month later,when he was tracked down by the Daily Telegraph while living in Centre Point tower block (pictured) Modi was arrested in London a month later, when he was tracked down by the Daily Telegraph while living in Centre Point tower block where rent is estimated to cost 17,000 a month. He was remanded into custody at HMP Wandsworth where he has remained for the past 14 months as he fights extradition to India. Modi faces the charges of conspiracy to defraud and the conspiracy to conceal criminal property, which carry respective maximum sentences of seven years and life in India. Ms Malcolm said Modi 'blames it all on others suggesting this facade was agreed and organised by the PNB'. She said: 'In effect the defence accept the rotation and melting down of jewellery, they accept obtaining the MOUs without going through the full and proper procedures, but the defence is that this was honest.' At an earlier hearing in March, George Hepburn-Scott, defending, said Modi had arrived in the UK in June 2018, before any allegation was made in India, that his son had spend five years in an English school, and that Modi had lived here lawfully and paid tax. 'Unsurprisingly, he will strongly contest the allegations,' his barrister said at the earlier hearing. Modi's extradition hearing continues. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) The Philippines now has over 11,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease, the Department of Health confirmed on Monday. The DOH recorded 292 new infections, bringing the countrys total number to 11,086. Over half of the new cases have been logged in the National Capital Region, with 162 more people contracting the virus. This is followed by Central Visayas which registered 74, while 56 more have been recorded in other regions nationwide. The Health department also recorded 75 new recoveries, bringing the number of those who have survived the viral disease to 1,999. Seven more died, with the death toll at 726, the agency added. Meanwhile, the number of infected healthcare workers has reached 1,991 as of Sunday. This constitutes nearly 20 percent of the country's tally of infections. Of this number, 544 medical frontliners have already recovered, while 34 have succumbed to the disease. According to DOH, the top five medical professions with COVID-19 cases are nurses, physicians, nursing assistants, medical technologists, and radiologic technologists. Based on the department's data, the majority of COVID-19 patients in the country exhibit mild symptoms, and the average hospital length of stay for recovered patients is at 15 days. Around 55 percent of deaths also had known comorbidities, with the top two being hypertension and diabetes. Health spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire has earlier explained that the reports, including the number of new cases, are not the real-time data since all information has to be validated before reporting. Testing capacity Health officials have also attributed the rise in cases to expanded coronavirus testing. There are now a total of 26 licensed laboratories across the country that can conduct COVID-19 tests, after the DOH recently certified Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital and Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center. In its latest report, the DOH noted that on Sunday, a total of 8,637 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in all of the accredited laboratories nationwide. This is the first time the country performed at least 8,000 tests in a daya testing capacity which the department earlier targeted to have achieved by the end of April. However, despite this being the highest number of tests conducted in a day so far, COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon clarified on Friday that the Philippines daily testing capacity for coronavirus is now already up to 12,000. Meanwhile, the DOH continues to remind the public not to be complacent in adhering to health protocols and exercising preventive measures such as proper hygiene, physical distancing, and cough etiquette, as the world transitions into a new normal setting. Globally, over 4.1 million people have so far been infected with the viral illness. Over 280,000 of these cases resulted in death, while more than 1.4 million patients have already recovered. Jennifer Prosek When people ask what Im most proud of about the agency I started, I never mention our growth, our client base or the work we do. My answer is always our culture. Its not that those other things arent important. Its just that none of them would even be possible without the strong, supportive work environment weve built. The COVID-19 crisis has tested our cultureand the culture at all businesseslike never before. Every move a CEO makes today is being watched. The best talent will judge companies on how they communicated and came together during these difficult times, and the organizations with strong cultures will ultimately benefit. What can leaders do to strengthen their cultures as they manage through the crisis? Here are a few tips: Overcommunicate on multiple levels In normal times, most employees want to hear about two things: how the business is doing and the impact on their salary and benefits. Today, business leaders need to communicate about so much morehealth, safety, empathy, government response, customer needsand they have to do it despite high levels of uncertainty. Giving honest answers is critical, including being honest about what you dont know. Anything less can lead to reputational damage from which you may never recover. Show your human side Leaders need to realize that everything is on display now. Five years ago, we started an employee benefit program at Prosek called Up the Humanity. It was all about helping people form connections with one another. This is the most Up the Humanity moment Ive ever experienced. Were seeing peoples bedrooms on video calls and meeting their kids as they wander into the picture. While it can sometimes be difficult in the moment, embrace the opportunity it provides to get to know colleagues on a different level. Create meeting equality Ive also noticed that large scale video calls make it easier for people at all levels to speak up. Instead of executives being at the head of the table, everyone is in the same little box on a computer screen. That creates what I call meeting equality. Leaders should be thinking now about how to make sure that equality doesnt disappear once we all return to the office. Be the chief hope officer While its important to be transparent and honest with employees, you also need to give them a sense of optimism. We have weekly staff meetings, and during those meetings I talk candidly about both wins and losses. I also give people tools and strategies they can use to make their own luck. When I first started doing this, some managers wondered if we were panicking junior staff. I asked a group of young people and it turned out that they wanted to hear the good, the bad and the ugly. Some had roommates whose leaders told them nothinguntil one day they got laid off. People deserve the truth, along with a sense of hope and a course of action. I believe our culture has made it possible for our firm to quickly adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, which will ultimately make us stronger in the future. But keeping that culture intact requires vigilance every day, now more than ever. *** Jennifer Prosek is Founder and CEO of Prosek Partners. Famous Disney characters and staff welcome visitors at the Disneyland theme park as it reopened after the coronavirus closure. China, where the pandemic began in December, was the first country to reopen factories and other businesses with some restrictions after declaring the disease under control in March even as infections rise and controls are tightened in some other countries. One-quarter of Torontonians who have stopped taking public transit during the COVID-19 crisis say they wont ride again until theyre vaccinated against the disease, according to new findings from University of Toronto researchers. The researchers say the preliminary results of their ongoing study, which are derived from 2,753 survey responses from people who regularly used transit prior to the pandemic, arent necessarily predictive, and riders attitudes could change as more information about the virus becomes known. But a COVID-19 vaccine wont likely be available for 12 to 18 months, according to most experts, and the possibility that a significant number of people wont feel safe until one arrives is yet another sign TTC ridership wont return to normal in the near or medium future. I think its an indication of the extent of the former ridership thats really scared of transit right now, said Matthew Palm, a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of human geography at the University of Toronto Scarborough and member of the research team. Many riders now view transit as a vector for the disease, he said. The survey found that among riders who have stopped using transit, a 63 per cent majority would come back by stage 3 of the provinces reopening plans, by which time the risk of the virus would be low enough that businesses would be allowed to reopen but large public gatherings would still be restricted. The Ontario government has yet to put a date on when the province will reach that stage, which involves the opening of all workplaces and relaxed restrictions on public gatherings. Just one per cent of respondents said they would never take transit again. The survey also found 82 per cent of respondents who have stopped taking transit would back strict passenger limits on vehicles, with 72 per cent in favour of making masks mandatory for passengers. Agencies that might be fearing the imposition or the unpopularity of safety measures need to turn around and say, actually, hey look, theres actually broad public support for having some safety measures in place, and should consider instituting them, said Steven Farber, a professor of human geography at U of T Scarborough and a member of the research team. The TTC has not enacted strict passenger limits on vehicles during the COVID-19 crisis, although the agency has said its goal is to have no more than 15 people on a bus at any one time. Demand on the subway and streetcar networks remains low enough that crowding is not an issue, agency spokesperson Stuart Green told the Star last week. TTC ridership has fallen by 85 per cent since the start of the crisis. Last week the union representing most TTC workers called for transit riders to be required to wear face masks. Green said any such rule would have to come from the government or public health officials, not the transit agency. The preliminary results of the survey seem to support the TTCs previously reported conclusions that many people who continue to take transit during the pandemic are low-wage workers and lower-income residents who have little alternative. The U of T researchers found that compared to transit users in general, the people who continued to ride during the pandemic are more likely to be male, have a disability, earn incomes of less than $80,000, be over 50 years old, and identify as Filipino, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian, West Asian, South Asian or Black. Those who are poorer, those who have a highest cost burden of housing, people of colour, elderly people. Those were all the groups that were more likely to need to stay using transit (during the COVID-19 crisis), despite the risks associated with crowds on transit vehicles, Farber said. Its clearly a privilege to stop using transit, Palm said. Of 836 respondents who are still riding, 55 per cent said not riding would require them to put off or reschedule medical appointments, and just under half said they would be forced to get groceries less often. Farber said those numbers are an indication of how much people really do depend on transit, and the far-reaching societal impacts this could have on peoples well-being if transit remains an unattractive option due to safety concerns or due to service reductions in response to dropped revenues. On Sunday, the TTC formally cut service city-wide by 15 per cent, a historic reduction that the agency said was in response to plunging demand. The TTC has estimated its losing $90 million per month during the crisis, and is laying off 1,200 workers. Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation for the Star. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr The fragmented US hospital system, made up of private and community hospitals, has made it harder to fight coronavirus. The coronavirus pandemic arrived at a pivotal moment in the US healthcare, just as scrutiny over hospital pricing and practices was gaining traction, including at the Democratic presidential debates. The crisis has provided a closer look at US hospitals, and has done so in multiple ways. We have seen the often dangerous work performed by committed healthcare professionals, but also the precarious conditions those professionals have been forced to work in. Though a number of different proposals for overhauling the US healthcare have been put forward by liberals and progressives, it is curious that they fail to question our dependency on a fragmented collection of private hospitals that can hardly be said to be a system. As Elizabeth Rosenthal has argued, Americans often criticise pharmaceutical and insurance companies without noticing that hospitals are in many ways a far bigger and more expensive problem. Among COVID-19s lessons is that we need a national strategy for hospitals. While Senator Bernie Sanders based his vision of Medicare for All on the Canadian system, where private hospitals contract with a government single payer, the UK approach, where the government owns most of the hospitals and employs the healthcare professionals working in them, may be what the US needs. The high-profile hospitalisation for COVID-19 of Prime Minister Boris Johnson put UK hospitals in the international spotlight. Americans may be confused when they hear Johnson a conservative politician praise the National Health Service (NHS) as unbeatable. After all, Americans have been falsely told by their own conservative politicians that they should fear an NHS-like system. We have not reached the point where a UK-style nationalisation of hospitals is being widely discussed but there are a number of reasons why it should be. Consider just three reasons among many. First, COVID-19 illustrates the difficulties of coordinating US hospitals. As the virus spread, and realising the dangers that a fragmented system posed, New York state moved to coordinate its hospitals in such a way that Governor Andrew Cuomo could declare that: We are one healthcare system. Specifically, Cuomo established a process by which hospitals in parts of the state that had an excess supply of ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE), but did not face a wave of coronavirus patients, would shift those resources to high-need areas. But it was difficult to make this happen. Those who might say that such coordination is a logical response to a pandemic but not a preferable way to organise hospitals during normal times, are missing one of COVID-19s lessons: namely, that we could vastly improve the general quality of care by better organising our hospitals. Second, the need for politicians to assure Americans that patients medical bills for COVID-19 treatment will be taken care of illustrates not only the poor positioning of our system to handle health crises, but deep flaws in the approach itself. One-off, disease-specific appropriations to cover patients expenses during a pandemic while cancer and heart disease patients still risk bankruptcy is poor health policy. This, of course, is a result of the larger, more protracted design flaws in US healthcare. With millions of Americans lacking health insurance access at all, and millions more underinsured because of the out-of-pocket costs required by the plans they do have, Americans often go to hospital emergency rooms without knowing whether the bills they receive will be paid by insurance companies, or whether their treatment will end up costing them thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. As physician Adam Gaffney has eloquently argued, changes in how we finance hospitals might even remove the need for hospital payments altogether by re-envisioning them as truly public goods modelled on parks, public schools or libraries. The American dependency on private hospitals limits the role the federal government can play in setting prices and putting in place a system of care that can be understood by patients. While a federal law, known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, requires that most hospitals must care for patients to a point of stabilisation, what hospitals charge those patients for that care, the collection practices hospitals employ, and whether any follow-up care or even referrals are provided is as variable as the number of hospitals themselves. This is unsustainable and dangerous, especially when one considers that the chaotic current landscape of US community includes 5,198 community hospitals, 2,937 (or 56.5 percent) of which are privately owned and not-for-profit, and 1,296 (25 percent) of which are investor owned, for-profit facilities. An additional 965 community hospitals (18.5 percent) are owned and administered by state and local governments. And these community hospitals are to be distinguished from the current federal system of 209 non-speciality hospitals, which include facilities run by the US Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service. Third, on the whole, market competition has made US hospitals worse, not better. Ranking systems that distinguish best hospitals from others only serve to devalue other hospitals, especially those located in rural and other under-served areas. These hospitals cannot compete with their better-funded competitors, which creates a vicious cycle of negative perceptions and disinvestment that only further hurts rural and other hospitals serving as safety nets, especially in poorer US communities. COVID-19, which has decimated many already-hurting US hospitals, is likely to leave struggling hospitals ripe for the picking by growing hospital systems, which continue to buy up smaller hospitals as part of an ever-growing plan of increased market domination. While consolidation might at first glance appear to offer benefits for coordination during times of national crisis, the motives that drive these institutions are still not those of the national interest. One post-COVID-19 project should be understanding the effects of consolidation, and the role of large systems, within the pandemic response. As progressives are quick to note, Democrats have gone out of their way to save the current system from itself. For political reasons, ranging from inadequate congressional support for larger reform to a desire to minimise disruption for patients, the architects of the Affordable Care Act were not able to address the structural flaws in US healthcare. The best they could do, working under political constraints in place in 2009, was to extend the existing system from Medicaid to private insurance to populations that typically fell through the cracks. While the Affordable Care Act brought healthcare access to millions of Americans, and is believed to have saved thousands of lives, it only postponed the need to restructure the system itself. To be sure, there is political wisdom in leaving US hospitals as they are. Justified or not, many Americans hold generally positive views of their local hospitals. Even more politically problematic is the fact that organisations such as the American Hospital Association have formidable lobbying operations that keep legislators from acting. The motivations of these organisations in resisting the nationalisation and even increased oversight of hospitals are rooted in maintaining the financial incentives that drive that system, not in the best interests of patients or populations. Considering how unpopular for-profit health insurance companies are, consigning them to the dustbin of history is clearly less politically charged than a major rethinking of hospitals. But this does not mean that we should accept the status quo. A national commission should be tasked with understanding why US hospitals were so poorly equipped to handle the pandemic. A key piece of this story is likely to be equity. While certain hospitals have fared well, many have not, but the reasons for the differences are not always clear. We are only beginning to make sense of the failures that led to equipment shortages and capacity problems. An inquiry should also assess differences in how the USs for-profit and non-profit hospitals have fared, with an eye towards whether the non-profit hospitals served their local communities in a way that warrants the generous tax exemptions they receive. If Democrats and Republicans and the pressure groups that inform them wish to keep the nationalisation of US hospitals off the bargaining table, Congress will need to address these issues, and more. COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of American hospitals. Rethinking them must be one of the pandemics enduring legacies. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Beyond Physical: a compelling read-along story of encouragement that will help one to see the inner beauty that God has blessed them with. Beyond Physical is the creation of published author Emma Rivera Glover, a writer who was born in the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. She has a love for music, which includes singing, writing, dancing salsa and merengue, listening to jazz, and playing clarinet. Glover shares, I pray that this book will touch men and women of all ages and help individuals to focus on their inner beauty, and not their outer beauty. If we live our lives based on what we see, the light bulb would have never been invented. The inventors believed beyond what the physical eyes could see. This is a book about inner beauty, the Holy Spirit God has placed in each one of us as his creation. Man sees the physical physique as attractive and beautiful, while God defines beauty as what is in your heart. My goal is to help deliver someone from depression, despair, and discouragement. My prayer for you is to strive to be more like Christs character, walking in love. I promise the road will not be easy. There will be roadblocks and challenges along your journey. But God is there with you. He is waiting for you to dedicate and surrender your life to him. Are you up for the challenge? Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Emma Rivera Glovers new book is a wonderful inspiration to veer away from the pits of depression, grief, and the loss of will. The author wishes for everyone to mirror the image of Jesus and walk in love and light. View a synopsis of Beyond Physical on YouTube. Consumers can purchase Beyond Physical at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about Beyond Physical, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Findit, Inc. a Nevada Corporation (OTC PINK:FDIT) owner of Findit.com, a full service social networking management platform, provides online marketing services, offers customized marketing campaigns to pool builders and pool building companies to help improve overall indexing in search engines and on social media. Findit offers customized marketing campaigns to pool builders and pool building companies across the US. Many pool builders and general contractors spend their days out on-site building pools and performing services for their clients and don't have time to handle their online marketing. We specialize in pool building online marketing campaigns for pool builders and pool building companies so you can focus on building pools for your clients. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMRLxuUg8ns Findit offers a wide variety of services to pool builders to help improve overall indexing online. What we offer each pool builder is specific to their needs and budget and can include but is not limited to: social media management, content creation, website design and SEO, blog creation for your website, landing page development, video production and more. Some pool builders may already have a perfectly functioning website that is already SEOed, others will already have customer review-based videos. We work with what you have and fill in the gaps where needed to ensure we are maximizing the reach your content has to your target audiences. All content on Findit can be crawled and indexed in search engines so every piece of content created on Findit provides pool builders with the opportunity to experience additional indexing in search engines, with the hope of taking over top positions in those search engines. Additionally, the content created on Findit as well as content posted to your website is written in such a way that each piece of content is the answer to what a potential customer might search in search engines. Findit will work with you to identify these keywords and service areas to help you improve indexing in search engines under these search terms. Story continues Findit focuses on targeting the search terms that describe the types of pool installation services that you offer in the areas that you offer them. By covering the target areas that you offer pool building services in we can help you begin to take over search results so that when a homeowner is doing a search in search engines for a pool builder where they live, your company is what shows up. Homeowners with referrals for pool builders will likely search the pool builder by name or simply call them. Homeowners without referrals who are turning to the web will generally search by the type of pool that they want along with the city, town, or area that they live in. This is where Findit can help you get unsolicited business from the web with the content that we produce for you. Clark St. Amant of Findit stated, "Everyday Findit creates customized content for our existing clients to help improve their overall exposure online. In the same way pool builders head out to build custom pools, we create posts on Findit, we write blogs on your site, we add landing pages where needed, and we share to social media to make sure we are reaching your target audience across as many platforms and as in many places as we can." Set up your pool builder online marketing campaign with Findit today by calling 404-443-3224. We are experts at what we do and will work with you one on one to identify your marketing objectives so we can accomplish those goals. We work with pool builders nationwide and only take on one pool builder for a specific pool type in a specific area (Findit will not work with two concrete pool builders in Gainesville Florida to handle both of their online marketing campaigns.) To get started, simply give us a call at 404-443-3224 and discuss your needs with us. About Findit, Inc. Findit.com which is a Social Media Content Management Platform that provides an interactive search engine for all content posted in Findit to appear in Findit search. The site is an open platform that provides access to Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines access to its content posted to Findit so it can be indexed in these search engines as well. Findit provides Members the ability to post, share and manage their content. Once they have posted in Findit, we ensure the content gets indexed in Findit Search results. Findit provides an option for anyone to submit URLs that they want indexed in Findit search result, along with posting status updates through Findit Right Now. Status Updates posted in Findit can be crawled by outside search engines which can result in additional organic indexing. All posts on Findit can be shared to other social and bookmarking sites by members and non-members. Findit provides Real Estate Agents the ability to create their own Findit Site where they can pull in their listing and others through their IDX account. Findit, Inc., is focused on the development of monetized Internet-based web products that can provide an increase in brand awareness of our members. Findit, Inc., trades under the stock symbol FDIT on the OTCPinksheets. Safe Harbor: This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), including statements regarding potential sales, the success of the company's business, as well as statements that include the word believe or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Findit, Inc. to differ materially from those implied or expressed. CONTACT: Clark St. Amant 404-443-3224 SOURCE: Findit, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/589355/Findit-Helps-Pool-Builders-and-Pool-Building-Companies-Improve-Their-Online-Presence-with-Online-Marketing-Campaigns - E-commerce giant Jumia has inked a deal with KEPSA to train vendors and give them tools to sell their products online - The businesses will be able to market their products to at least four million digital shoppers who visit Jumia every month - According to the online firm, the arrangement will help save jobs that risk being lost as a result of the pandemic and also digitised Kenya's economy - Businesses will be able to register and open their shops on Jumia at zero startup costs and no hidden costs The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) in partnership with Jumia are set to help digitise businesses across the country to assist them grow their digital sales and save jobs amidst the economic freeze caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Through the Digital Commerce Program, thousands of businesses will be registered and trained to sell online with access to over four million Kenyans that visit e-commerce platform Jumia every month. READ ALSO: Moses Kuria sensationally claims Jubilee stole 2013, 2017 presidential elections Jumia Kenya CEO Sam Chappatte. Photo: Jumia. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Marafiki wa DP Ruto wakaa ngumu, wakataa uamuzi wa Uhuru uliofanyika Ikulu Jumia Kenya CEO Sam Chappette said on Monday, May 11, the new arrangement will help save jobs in the medium term and also digitise the country's economy. Now more than ever, we need to be all-hands-on-deck to help cushion businesses from the impact of COVID-19. We will commit resources to support KEPSAs Digital Commerce initiative, to train vendors and give them the tools to sell online effectively. We hope this will save jobs in the short term and help digitise the economy over the longer term, said Chappatte. READ ALSO: Mixed reactions as netizens jeer, encourage Murkomen after ouster as Senate majority leader Businesses will be able to register and open their shops on Jumia at zero startup costs and no hidden costs. In order to help local businesses, the online firm said it will cut its commissions on vendors by 50% for locally manufactured goods and to one percent for all businesses enrolling via the Digital Commerce Program for their first month on the platform. We are pleased to partner with Jumia through the Digital Commerce Program to support Kenyan businesses by giving them the tools and training on how to sell online. We believe, Jumia is the best-positioned e-commerce company to do this - with its current scale and countrywide operations - and is prepared to invest upfront in this initiative. It is widely expected that these businesses will list on other online platforms to grow their sales further, said KEPSA boss Carole Karuga. Jumia will provide free online training ranging from the basics of e-commerce to operations, marketing, finance and sales. A series of online self-study modules will also be available at their Vendor Hub page. The initial phase of the KEPSA Digital Commerce Program will be limited to Nairobi but it will gradually be expanded to other counties. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Eastleigh residents' plea to Uhuru | Tuko TV. Source: TUKO.co.ke Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 22:43:38|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close GABORONE, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Botswana capital city Gaborone was put on lockdown on Monday after registering a new positive case of COVID-19 on Sunday. Barely two days after easing of restrictions of movement within the country to open up the economy, the Coordinator of the Presidential COVID-19 Task Force Kereng Masupu told the media on Monday that they have taken a decision to suspend travel in and out of the capital city with immediate effect. He said only those with essential permits will be allowed to travel. Masupu said this comes after a truck driver who came into Gaborone from neighbouring South Africa on Saturday tested positive for the virus. The results for the driver only came out on Sunday when he had already made contact with several other people. Masupu said health officials are currently tracing those who came into contact with the driver for testing while the driver is admitted at a local hospital for COVID-19. He also said that all businesses where the driver had been to were closed immediately and will remain closed until health officials deem it safe to open them. Despite having been on full lockdown, Botswana borders had remained open to allow transport of essential goods, especially food from South Africa. The case is the first positive case of the virus in the Southern African country in over two weeks and brings the total number of positive cases to 24. Amongst these there was one death recorded and 11 recoveries and 12 active cases. At least 50, 000 public officers were expected to return to work on Monday after the country went into lockdown on April 2. Meanwhile, Masupu assured that an effective screening system to contain the spread of the pandemic is in place. Enditem One of the world's best known intellectuals says President Donald Trump is culpable in the deaths of thousands of Americans for propping his electoral aspirations up above the needs of the people. Professor Noam Chomsky, speaking with The Guardian, pointed to Mr Trump's cuts to healthcare funding - which included research into infectious diseases - all to benefit large corporations. "That's something that Trump has been doing every year of his term, cutting back more. So [his plan is] let's continue to cut it back, let's continue to make sure that the population is as vulnerable as we can make it, that it can suffer as much as possible, but will of course increase profits for his primary constituents in wealth and corporate power," Mr Chomsky said. Mr Chomsky said that by shirking leadership during the pandemic and expecting governors to spearhead public response to the virus on a state-by-state basis, he has created a scenario where many will die. "It's a great strategy for killing a lot of people and improving his electoral politics," Mr Chomsky said. He went on to say that not only is Mr Trump culpable in the deaths of Americans, he's also contributing directly to deaths in developing nations that rely on funding from international organisations, like the World Health Organisation. Mr Chomsky said the president's decision to withhold aid from the group would likely lead to deaths in Yemen and throughout Africa. Mr Chomsky also condemned the US's response to the pandemic in April while speaking to Democracy Now! "The bottom of the barrel - that's [the United States.] The United States is the only major country that cannot even provide data to the World Health Organisations because it's so dysfunctional," Mr Chomsky said. During that interview, Mr Chomsky again pointed to the failure of the US private healthcare system and argued that lawmakers had been consistently making the situation worse. "Part of the background is the scandalous healthcare system, which simply is not ready for anything out of the normal. It simply doesn't work," Mr Chomsky said. "This is exacerbated by the strange collection of gangsters in Washington ... it's almost as if they've systematically taken every possible step to make it as bad as possible." Mr Chomsky also had criticism for European leadership, which he called a "very sad dereliction of duty." "I don't think the eurozone can survive it. But it can survive long enough to deplete huge amounts of wealth and social capital. Europe is rich enough, it can pretend and extend," he said. As a growing number of arguments make the case that the coronavirus - and the 2008 economic collapse before it - have laid bare the cracks in society and the need for reform, Mr Chomsky and other progressive intellectuals have launched Progressive International, an initiative to help unite progressive forces across the globe. Senator Bernie Sanders, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, Canadian author Naomi Klein and Labour party shadow chancellor John McDonnell - among others - are involved in the organisation. The initiative is intended to help counter the rise of right-wing populist and fascist movements throughout the world. Pay-cut donation: PBs personal plea View(s): Punchi Banda Jayasundera, when he was Secretary to the Treasury, was once regarded as the financial brains behind President Mahinda Rajapaksas government from 2000 to 2015. PB as he is fondly called, was most sought-after during times when a budget is presented in Parliament. For five months now, he has been Secretary to the President. This week, he appears to have opened a Pandoras box. This is by addressing a private appeal to state sector employees to forego to the state their monthly salary for May. This was sent on May 5 through the Prime Ministers Secretary, Cabinet Secretary, Secretaries of Ministries, Provincial Council and Local Government Secretaries, the University Grants Commission Chairman, all Vice Chancellors, heads of departments, corporations, and other state officials. Here is a translated and edited text of the letter in English. The four page letter was written in Sinhala and widely circulated. It is commendable that the Health Secretary, DG Health and his staff, IGP, the Chief of Defence Staff, armed forces, PHIs and other officials have played a major role in educating the public, carrying out quarantine work, treating patients and controlling the COVID-19 situation. The district and divisional secretaries and other state officials and those in the economic centres have been playing a major role in distributing agriculture produce from farmers to the people during the curfew period. It is also praiseworthy how Grama Sevakas, Samurdhi officials, and others have taken measures to distribute the Rs 5,000 allowance by the government to the poor families. The COVID-19 has shown us the economic lesson that the private sector cannot perform the duties of the state sector and that the state sector has given the leadership. The state sector which faced adverse situations during floods, landslides and the tsunami has been able to overcome the setbacks from COVID-19 and keep the numbers affected low. I am writing to you not in the position that I am holding but with the experienced gained and with the need to develop the service and production sector and a strong economy overcoming poverty and natural disasters. The state revenue as well as foreign income has been dropping over the years with the international trade, exports and tourism sector dropping. Though the current crisis is for few months we should continue to honour our debts though local debt could be managed. The other sectors should be managed while absorbing this pressure. The basic requirements of food, electricity, water and fuel need to be supplied and I believe that the state sector will be able to manage this situation. The government requires Rs 100 billion per month to pay state sector salaries and allowances. We can reduce the budget deficit by reducing the expenses for May if the salary for a month is donated to the Widows and Orphans Pension Scheme by those in the state sector, corporations, statutory bodies, the Central Bank, insurance companies who do not pay taxes to the government. It will help to reduce the pressure on debt management. This could be considered a social responsibility project from the state sector. I believe this could be done. Like the loans and donations from overseas we also need to display our local strength. For this, I have informed my officers to donate my salary for May to the Widows and Orphans scheme. I will encourage others in the Presidential Secretariat to do so. I believe you could also encourage your staff to do so. Some may not be able to donate a months salary. Part of the months salary, a weeks salary or days salary may be donated. Currently no expenses are being incurred for transport, shopping, and other expenses. In the ancient days, our temples were built with similar donations. You may be able to strengthen the state sector which has gained honour and given leadership. Therefore, I am appealing to donate your salary for May or part of the salary. There were protests including employees from the state sector. One uncharitable name handed down to him in Sinhala, playing on his initials P referred to as Padi or pay and Bagey or half Jayasundera. The letter also drew an angry response from Sunil Handunetti, former MP who was Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE). He said in a recorded interview on television: Presidential Secretary P.B Jayasundara had issued a letter by using a letter head of the Presidential secretariat to make a personal request. He is making a personal request to government employees calling them to donate their salaries for May for the programme on eradicating corona. Can the Presidential Secretary make personal requests to state sector? Apart from that, copies of the letter have been sent to the Attorney General and the Auditor General. If we make any personal request, we will not send copies of that to the Attorney General and the Auditor General. Mangala explains instances where President is authorised to draw from Consolidated Fund Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera is continuing his verbal duel with Presidential Secretary P.B. Jayasundera. This time, in a letter, he has challenged the President and the Government to explain and prove the constitutional authority they possess to authorise and incur public expenditure from April 30, 2020, until the date on which a new Parliament is summoned to meet consequent to the Parliamentary General Election. He has said, However, under Article 150 (4) of the Constitution, the President is authorised to issue and spend from the Consolidated Fund for expenditure incurred in holding a General Election. Except for the above and the provisions of Article 150 (3), there is no other provision in the Constitution that allows the President to exercise his authority to withdraw and spend funds from the Consolidated Fund for public services. Deshapriya holds Ratnapura conference to discuss elections Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya was on a visit to Ratnapura this week. He held a conference at the White House resort with Deputy Commissioner (Kandy) Namal Thalangama, Acting Deputy Commissioner (Kurunegala) Dilip Nilantha de Silva, Acting Deputy Commissioner (Ratnapura) Suranga Ambagahatenne, Assistant Commissioner (Moneragala) Indika Pathirana, and Assistant Commissioner (Kegalle) Sajith Welgama. One participant said a wide range of subjects including the impending parliamentary elections were discussed. Govt.s e-learning move in a muddle As the government finds ways of addressing issues caused by the outbreak of the COVId-19 pandemic, the Education Ministry has come out with a solution to provide lessons via social media forums or by accessing designated websites. The directive has caused a range of problems with some of the children finding it difficult to gain access to lessons in the absence of a laptop or due to the non-availability of smartphones. In one such case, a principal in the estate sector had received instructions that not only the students should complete their work, but also the teachers were expected to send a feedback to the zonal education office. Most students or their parents do not have smart phones in the estate sector or access to computers. Besides that, some of my teachers too have basic phones used just to call up some person or receive a message, the Principal said. Even not so far away from Colombo parents were complaining. One child had received 65 pages as a WhatsApp message. It is not possible to go through all these pages on a phone for a small child, a parent said. All solutions provided may not be feasible it seems. High demand for liquor: Lockdown black-market prices soar With the order to close liquor shops even in areas where curfew is lifted there has been a high demand not only for illicit liquor but also for the registered brands that are sold illegally. But in some instances, people have fallen prey to duplicates. In one such incident in Jaffna this week, a person working for an insurance firm was offered a bottle of locally well-known arrack brand at the exorbitant price of Rs 3,500. The seller who approached the buyer near Jaffna town persuaded him to buy three bottles at Rs 10,500 claiming that the deal should be completed soon before the police could arrive. Plain tea in Arrack bottle An insurance agent in Jaffna thought that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic notwithstanding, it was a time to throw a party to his clients. One night, they were invited and the bottles of what was believed to be good Arrack were opened. It is only then that the insurance man discovered that it was pure plain tea with a good appearance that was in the bottle. This was one instance where he did not have any cover. He could not go to the Police to complain since it was purchased in the black market. Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India on charges over the nearly USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case, is set to be produced before a UK court for his trial on Monday, to take place in a part-remote setting due to the coronavirus lockdown. The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, is expected to be produced physically at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. However, given the social distancing measures being followed by prisons and courts, District Judge Samuel Goozee had conceded that an alternative would be for him to be produced via videolink. "Some prisons are producing prisoners in person, so I will direct Wandsworth Prison to produce Modi in person for the trial from May 11. If that is not practicable, his participation by live link remains a backstop," Judge Goozee said at the last remand hearing in the case on April 28. It has been agreed that a limited number of legal representatives will be present physically in court for the trial, while witnesses give their evidence via videolink. Modi will be able to observe the proceedings either from the dock, if the prison authorities agree to a physical transfer, or via the judiciary's common viewing system (CVP) from Wandsworth Prison. The five-day hearing starting on Monday relates to the Indian government's extradition request certified by the UK government last year. The case has been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and relates to a large-scale fraud upon an Indian PSU through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of understanding (LoUs) and the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. Two additional charges of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or "criminal intimidation to cause death" were added on by the CBI and certified earlier this year. "The May 11 extradition hearing is going ahead and the new request (two additional offences part of the CBI case) has not been joined but will be dealt with at a separate later hearing, probably in July," said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), appearing on behalf of the Indian authorities. CPS barrister Nick Hearn told the court at the last hearing in April, held via tele-conference, that the government of India's representatives would be following the proceedings and giving instructions via the court's online common viewing platform, given the COVID-19 related travel restrictions. "We have received comprehensive responses in writing from the government of India, which would reduce the likely length of cross-examinations," said Hearn. It was also confirmed that the diamond merchant would not be giving evidence in the case, but his legal team plans to produce around six witnesses, including a jewellery expert as well as judicial and prisons experts. Most of the legal cases in the UK have incorporated videolink and telephonic options where possible amid the social distancing rules in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Modi, whose Wandsworth Prison is considered one of the most over-crowded in England, had made a fifth attempt at bail in the High Court last month, which was rejected as the judge ruled that he continued to pose a flight risk. The jeweller was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard on charges of fraud and money laundering brought by the Indian government. Majd al-Jadaan has said that President Assads days in power are numbered and that he can no longer maintain his hold on power in Syria reports Aram Media. The sister-in-law of Maher al-Assad, who is himself the brother of Bashar al-Assad, revealed provocative secrets to Al-Jazeera about the dispute between Bashar and his cousin Rami Makhlouf. Majd al-Jadaan, the sister-in-law, said on Sunday, The current dispute between Bashar al-Assad and his business partner Rami Makhlouf is one in a series of episodes in the siege of the Assad regime, and this dispute is tied to an international political decision to end this lethal regime. Jadaan added, The regime will not be able to contain these disputes, because as much as this family is isolated from the Syrian reality, it is also isolated in its familial relationships, which it governs with force, corruption and power, and it has no interests other than in stealing Syrian wealth. She continued, Rami Makhlouf was previously known as the 5 percent man. That was the percentage to which he ran the Assad familys projects. This was for family reasons and familial connections to them, but I dont know why this percentage, which was the reason for Asmaa al-Assad interfering. Jadaan, who is known for her anti-regime stances, added that Asmaa al-Assad came to recover the looted funds, because the Assad family knows that their role has ended, and international forces have informed them of this. The Saudi newspaper Okaz reported recently, citing exclusive sources, that Muhammad Makhlouf, Ramis father, returned to Damascus from Moscow last Sunday on a private plane, one day after the second video clip was published, to break the dispute between his son and Assad. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. California Protesters Talk Mental Strain, Importance of Freedom HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.Kiki OBourke was among the approximately 1,500 protesters in Huntington Beach on May 9 who urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to expedite his plan for reopening the state. Emotionally, its killed me, he told The Epoch Times. Hes physically healthyaside from a hernia that was supposed to be fixed in February by an operation thats now been postponed indefinitely. OBourke is worried about friends and family with mental health issues. Some of them have had domestic problems rising during lockdown, he said. A friend of his committed suicide recently. Tears filled his eyes as he talked about it. He fears losing his freedom, and thats why he decided to protest. He said the states regulations are an overreach of power, similar to what his father fled in Cuba. My dad left Cuba to get me out of there, he said. Its liberty or death. Kiki OBourke at a protest calling for the rapid reopening of California, in Huntington Beach, on May 9, 2020. (Jamie Joseph/The Epoch Times) The protests in California and across the nation have come under fire for ignoring social distancing precautions. Some media reports have also criticized the organizers for hiding funding sources and allegedly acting with a political motive, with the protests said to have the flavor of 2009s Tea Party protests. A majority of the protesters on May 9 didnt wear masks or practice social distancing. Many held Trump 2020 banners. Many waved American flags or dressed in stars and stripes. Music and chants of U.S.A.! drifted for blocks. Protesters call for the rapid reopening of California, in Huntington Beach, on May 9, 2020. (Jamie Joseph/The Epoch Times) A protester attends a demonstration calling for the rapid reopening of California, in Huntington Beach, on May 9, 2020. (Jamie Joseph/The Epoch Times) Protesters call for the rapid reopening of California, in Huntington Beach, on May 9, 2020. (Jamie Joseph/The Epoch Times) Mental health, civil rights, and the need to make a living were the reasons most protesters cited for attending. Ive felt very depressed some days, said Orange County nurse Marianne Smith. Getting out to protest and call for freedom has given her a boost. It has impacted me to be very aware of my civil rights. For the first time in my life, Im awake, she said. Another protester, Dan Shabati, said the stay-at-home order bankrupted his retail business, which had thrived for 25 years. Phase two of Newsoms reopening plan includes retail businesses reopening for curbside service only, he said. But his business doesnt work that way; customers want to test his products in the store. He also doesnt operate online for that reason. I think its very controlling, he said of the restrictions. In the afternoon, the protesters moved from the Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street, where they caused gridlock, to the shoreline. The beach was officially open for recreational use, such as jogging or surfing. But a May 8 press release from the city had warned locals, Beachgoers must keep it moving at all times and settling in place is not permitted. Protesters call for the rapid reopening of California, in Huntington Beach, on May 9, 2020. (Jamie Joseph/The Epoch Times) Police keep watch over protests in Huntington Beach, Calif., on May 9, 2020. (Jamie Joseph/The Epoch Times) Police keep watch over protests in Huntington Beach, Calif., on May 9, 2020. (Jamie Joseph/The Epoch Times) The Huntington Beach Police Department reported that crowds were peaceful, and they made no arrests, similar to the larger protests on May 1, which had about twice as many attendees. Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner told The Epoch Times he understands the desire to reopen, and supports doing it safely. He expects some jobs to return, but some to be lost because of bankruptcies like that of Shabatis business. Were seeing the state borrowing from the federal government to cover employment benefitsthats going to be a long-term fiscal bomb for us, he said. As of May 10, the Orange County Health Agency reported 3,502 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 76 deaths. Of the cases, 337 patients are residents in nursing homes and 259 are in Orange County jails. Trade theory supports the logic of the bilateral trade relationship. Australia produces the iron ore, coal, gas, wheat and other raw materials that China relies on to remain the worlds factory and feed its 1.3 billion people. But at the same time, it would be difficult for China to source alternatives for many of these commodities. New iron or coal mines are not opened quickly, and Chinese investors have an enormous financial stake in Australian production facilities. Since 32.6 per cent of Australian exports go to China, Beijing has the ability to act on these threats. But Australia is not as vulnerable to this coercion as it appears. China claims that Australian farmers receive government subsidies, thereby unfairly competing against Chinese barley producers and running afoul of WTO agreements. This is notwithstanding the fact that Chinese agriculture is among the most subsidised in the world, and Australian the least. It is questionable timing, given the recent threats of economic retaliation from the Chinese embassy in Canberra. If Australian-Chinese relations werent already rocky enough, Beijing just gave Canberra 10 days to explain why China shouldnt impose tariffs of up to 80 per cent on Australian barley exports . Furthermore, many of these commodities are traded in open markets and are purchased under long-term contracts by customers who appreciate Australias reliability. Recall that in November 2018, China made identical threats against Australian barley in the wake of Australia's Pacific Step-Up Policy before backing off. In his comments last month, the Chinese ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, notably did not mention commodities in his threat about Chinese consumers potentially boycotting Australian goods. Nor did he threaten a government-led boycott of Australian goods and services as this would have violated the trade agreements between the two countries. Instead, he simply stated that the "Chinese public is frustrated, dismayed and disappointed with what Australia is doing now," and suggested that Chinese tourists and Chinese students "may have second thoughts" about travelling to "such a country that is not so friendly to China." These threats, of course, were in response to Australias call for an independent investigation into the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cheng Jingye has warned of a Chinese consumer backlash in response to the Morrison government's demand for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19. Credit:Alex Elinghausen Australia is not alone in having its exports threatened by the Chinese government. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Norway and others have all had their trade with China disrupted after making political decisions that angered Beijing. Late last year, Chinas ambassador to Denmark threatened a free trade agreement with the Faroe Islands if the Danish outpost refused to sign a 5G contract with Huawei. In Germany, Chinas ambassador stated that if Germany decided "to exclude Huawei, this will have consequences. You sell a million cars per year in China. We may also declare them unsafe". And earlier this year, the Chinese embassy in Prague warned the Czech Presidents office of retaliation against Czech companies if a senior lawmaker visited Taiwan, writing that "Czech companies who have economic interests in China will have to pay". These threats veiled or otherwise are not usually acted upon by China. But Philippine bananas and tourism, Norwegian salmon, Australian wine, and a host of Korean and Japanese products have all been targeted. New Delhi, May 12 : The Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind has moved an intervention application in the Supreme Court seeking impleadment in the case where the court has taken suo motu cognizance of overcrowding in prisons across the country during the coronavirus pandemic. The Muslim body, in its plea, said "the Applicant Organisation is primarily raising the issue of the fundamental right to life and liberty of all such Muslims convicted prisoners and undertrials who are being provided legal aid on account of their poverty and disadvantaged financial position". The organisation argued that even though the apex court had passed directions for effecting the release of prisoners on March 23, there was no compulsion on such release. The plea contended that the High-Powered Committees (HPC) of most states/UTs have already specified the criteria for release of prisoners, yet the prisoners are not being released immediately. "In Andhra Pradesh though 1,350 prisoners have been identified by the HPC but only 259 prisoners have been released. In Gujarat, though 1,200 prisoners have been identified by HPC but no prisoners have been released," said the plea, seeking that the top court consider making release compulsory especially in those states, where the prisons are admittedly overcrowded. The plea cited in Kerala, 1,000 prisoners have been identified but only 450 prisoners have been released. "In Madhya Pradesh, 12,000 prisoners have been identified but only 6,033 have been released; in Maharashtra, 11,000 prisoners have been identified but only 2,520 have been released. It is therefore necessary to avoid any delay in releasing of the prisoners as a delayed response may not have the desired effect," said the plea. The petitioner submitted that in deciding the categories of prisoners for release, priority should be given to those convicts who have been released on parole at least once and have reported back to prison without flouting any condition. "Furthermore, preference should be given to those convicts who are above 50 years of age, given their higher vulnerability to the coronavirus," added the plea. Suggesting the category of convicts for temporary release by the HPC, the plea said "(i) convicts who have completed their sentence but are still in prison due to non-payment of fine (ii) Convicts who are serving a sentence of not more than seven years and have served at least one third of their sentence (iii) convicts who do not fall in the above categories but their sentence would get over within next two months may be considered for unconditional final release." The petitioner argued that the state may release the convicts on atemporary release' by exercising the powers conferred under Section 432 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC). The plea said Iran, Turkey, and Indonesia reportedly released 80,000, 45,000, and 30,000 prisoners respectively. "Countries with overcrowded prisons like the United States, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Brazil, Afghanistan have all been reported to have released a significant number of prisoners last month itself," said the plea. Bid Deadline Extended For North American Lithium Brisbane, May 11, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Emerging lithium miner Sayona Mining Limited ( ASX:SYA ) ( FRA:DML ) ( OTCMKTS:DMNXF ) announced today the bid deadline for North American Lithium (NAL) has been extended by the court-appointed monitor (administrator), Raymond Chabot Inc. to 15 June 2020.Based on court-approved procedures, the monitor has requested confirmation that Sayona's bid remains open for acceptance until this date. The Company has confirmed its acceptance.Sayona has assembled a world-class team to support its bid for NAL, with Sayona's team encompassing the necessary operational and technical expertise together with environmental, engineering and financial know-how to ensure a successful turnaround.Importantly, Sayona's bid has the unique advantage of being able to combine lithium produced from the Company's nearby Authier Lithium Project with the lithium at the NAL site, facilitating a significant improvement in plant performance and economics.Sayona's Managing Director, Brett Lynch commented: "The delay to the sale process is not unexpected given current conditions in Quebec and globally due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shutdown."We look forward to engaging further with the monitor and other key stakeholders to advance our bid, which offers the best prospects for a successful turnaround at NAL that would support jobs, investment and Quebec's lithium strategy."About Sayona Mining Ltd Sayona Mining Limited (ASX:SYA) (OTCMKTS:SYAXF) is an Australian, ASX-listed (SYA) company focused on sourcing and developing the raw materials required to construct lithium-ion batteries for use in the rapidly growing new and green technology sectors. The Company has lithium projects in Quebec, Canada and in Western Australia. Please visit us as at www.sayonamining.com.au A Russian rocket used to launch a scientific satellite into space has broken apart after nine years in orbit - leaving a dozens of pieces of debris around the Earth. The Fregat-SB is a type of space tug and its upper stage was left floating after it helped deliver the Spektr-R satellite in 2011, according to Roscosmos. Spektr-R was a radio telescope launched by the Russian space agency but it stopped responding to ground control last year and was declared dead in May 2019. Roscosmos confirmed the breakdown of the rocket happened on May 8 between 06:00 and 07:00 BST somewhere above the Indian ocean. Scroll down for video About two-thirds of the satellites orbiting the Earth are dead - about 3,000 of about 4,500 objects - and pose a 'very big danger' to the planet - this also includes parts of the Russian rocket that disintegrated (artist's impression) The Russian space agency is studying data to find out how many parts it broke up into and where they are currently orbiting the planet. The US18 Space Control Squadron that tracks all objects in Earth's orbit say there are at least 65 pieces from the rocket in orbit. US18 wrote on Twitter: 'Confirmed that the breakup of FREGAT DEB occurred on May 8, 2020, between 0402 and 0551 UTC. Tracking 65 associated pieces no indication caused by collision.' Space debris is becoming a big problem for agencies and gets worse every time something new is launched into orbit as there is always something left behind. In this case it was the upper stage of the rocket used to launch a space telescope. Parts of launch vehicles are a major contributor to the space clutter problem, with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics say they contribute to space debris when they don't have enough power to de-orbit themselves. There could be more than 128 million tiny fragments of debris in Earth orbit Rocket launches since 1957: 5450 5450 Number of satellites in orbit: 8950 8950 Number still in space: 5000 5000 Number still functioning: 1950 1950 Number of debris objects: 22300 22300 Break-ups, explosions etc: 500 500 Mass of objects in orbit: 8400 tonnes 8400 tonnes Prediction of the amount of debris in orbit using statistical models Over 10cm: 34 000 34 000 1cm to 10cm: 900 000 900 000 1mm to 1cm: 128 million Source: European Space Agency Advertisement De-orbiting would allow the rocket parts to fall back through Earth's atmosphere where they would burn up and be destroyed before reaching the ground. The break-up of space objects like the rocket upper stage are often caused by a collision with another object in orbit. For example, when two large satellites collide it produces hundreds of small fragments rather than a couple of large objects. At the speeds these fragments spin around the Earth they pose a serious risk to satellites, spacecraft and even humans on board the International Space Station. NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and others are all putting money into finding new technologies to clear up space debris. ESA will spend nearly 350 million on safety programmes including clearing up space over the next five years. One of the ESA missions would involve using tentacle-like mechanical arms to embrace a dead satellite and drag it out of orbit. The European Space Agency is considering several different options for space debris removal technologies including one that would capture the debris and take it on board as seen in this artist impression of an Active Debris Removal satellite The agency are considering several different technologies to achieve their goal including using a net, a harpoon and a satellite with a robotic arm attached. As well as the risk of a cascading problem of satellites crashing into other satellites and their debris going on to destroy yet more space objects - debris also takes up increasingly valuable orbital real estate. This 'space' is becoming more in demand by the day, thanks in part to companies like SpaceX launching mega-constellations of satellites. 'Important space applications could be lost, such as weather forecasting, climate monitoring, earth sciences and space-based communications, said ESA on the subject of risk from space debris. Future space missions could be required to include systems that allow for debris to be de-orbited but this doesn't solve the problem for the decades of space objects already in orbit - like the upper stage Russian rocket that broke apart. Darlene Supnick, owner of Forgotten Angels Equine Rescue, stands beside Sues Destroyer, 13, a Standardbreed Trotter horse, who was saved just before being sent to slaughter. Read more Darlene Supnick wishes she could help all the people whove called her South Jersey horse rescue and asked for help since the coronavirus shutdown. Some have lost their jobs, she said, and cant afford to care for their animals. But Supnick, who has saved 300 horses from slaughter in recent years, can no longer provide immediate refuge. Her Forgotten Angels Equine Rescue is one of many horse rescues that have found themselves overwhelmed and struggling to stay afloat due to increasing need and declining donations. Now we have so many horses," she said. "We cant take any more in. Between her three rescue properties and two foster homes, Supnick has 30 horses, eight of which have been saved since the pandemic began. Many more are on a wait list, she said, and a couple of horses are due to have babies this month. The struggles of her rescue in Medford, Burlington County, are mirrored at other farms nationwide, including in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. While residents under stay-at-home orders have rushed to foster and adopt cats, dogs, and other pets, horse adoptions are a bigger financial commitment. Aside from upfront adoption fees, which can be $1,000 or more, it can cost a couple of hundred dollars a month to feed and care for a single horse, and several hundred dollars more if an owner needs to board the animal. READ MORE: Coronavirus is a new challenge for the recession-proof pet industry For horse owners who have fallen into economic hardship, those costs can become too much. Some have turned to rescues, but rescues and other nonprofit programs are struggling, too. Donations have steeply declined, and theyve been forced to halt in-person fund-raisers. They say emergency funding and support is lacking. Its virtually shut us down, said Kelly Smith, director of Omega Horse Rescue in York County. Omega, which cares for 30 horses at two properties, has stopped adoptions because of the stay-at-home order, Smith said. Donations are down by about 50%, she said, while veterinarian bills are piling up. Smith said she has received payroll protection for the rescues three employees. On the other side of York County near Harrisburg, Connie Greenawalt self-funds her Central Pennsylvania Horse Rescue, which currently cares for 28 horses on an 108-acre farm. On one hand, she said, shes thankful not to rely on donations. READ MORE: Visits from Pegasus horses brighten locked-down days But she is also concerned about her own finances, as a small-business owner who is ineligible for unemployment. She said it costs more than $100,000 a year to care for the horses on her farm. People who have recently lost jobs ask whether she can take back their horses, but she cant afford to. So she gives them the names of other rescues. Unlike many rescue directors, Greenawalt has actually seen an uptick in adoptions six since the beginning of March (usually, she facilitates one or two a month). In Egg Harbor City, Ellen Strack of South Jersey Horse Rescue said shes caring for 12 horses, eight that are blind or disabled and unable to be adopted. In recent weeks, one healthy horse has been adopted, she said. The rescue has had to stop its fund-raising trips to local Tractor Supply and Home Depot stores, and cancel group programs. Strack said they got a $1,000 grant from the Humane Society of the United States, but that covers only a small fraction of costs. She wishes there were more programs to support horse rescues. Someone who needs to surrender a pet can usually find a no-kill shelter in their area, she said, but it is not so easy for struggling horse owners. Horse rescues are essential, Strack said. Theres a lot of horses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and we need these rescues. While the rescues have been hardest hit, they arent the only programs on unsteady footing. On a family farm in West Chester, Nina and Charles Lyman rehabilitate retired thoroughbred racehorses through their nonprofit, TRRAC. Were not doing terrible, Nina Lyman said, but things have certainly slowed down. Weve been getting an influx of horses." Adoptions have become less frequent, she said. In lieu of visits, they have been offering video appointments for potential adopters, she said, but many people want to see a horse in person before making the commitment. With horse racing halted, TRRAC has not received as much funding for their horses medical and surgical care from partner race tracks, which include Parx in Bensalem, Lyman said. Donations are also down by 50%, she added. At Chamounix Equestrian Center in Fairmount Park, the nonprofit Work to Ride" hopes to keep providing opportunities for low-income, at-risk youth to learn about horsemanship and play equine sports. Were not starving," said executive director Lezlie Hiner, who is continuing to feed 35 horses without any income from lessons and other programs. She is waiting for word from city officials about whether they can hold their summer camp, which draws 200 campers and accounts for about 25% of their income. FAQ: Your coronavirus questions, answered. For the next few months, she said, grants should tide them over. Well be OK, for now, she said. But she is worried about the pandemic dragging on. Ask me in July, Hiner said. I could have a totally different answer. New Delhi : Congress rebel Kalikho Pul, who briefly served as Arunachal Pradesh chief minister, allegedly committed suicide at his residence in Itanagar. His dead body is now taken to Tomo Riba Hospital in Naharlagun for post mortem. Pul, 47, allegedly hanged himself from the ceiling fan in his bedroom, a top police officer said. He was found dead at the chief minister's official residence which he was yet to vacate. One of his three wives found him hanging this morning. He is survived by three wives and four children. As Pul's death news spread all the MLAs from ruling and opposition parties, ministers, friends and members of public rushed to the bungalow. The circumstances behind the death were still not clear. Also Read: Who was Kalikho Pul Pul, who took over the reigns of the state on February 19 this year, served as Chief Minister for a brief time with the Supreme Court in July reinstating Nabam Tuki, who then made way for Pema Khandu as the 10th Chief Minister. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. e In the 1950s, the state of Florida supported and even sponsored, a state committee that stalked, intimidated, and terrorizing LGBTQ people. They attacked students, employees at state universities, and schools. The terror group was commonly called the "Johns Committee" and was named after the founder, Senator Charley Eugene Johns. The Beginning After the failed attempt to eradicate civil rights groups, the committee made a list of organizations they did not favor. One of these groups was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). They changed their mission from hunting down communists to preserving racial segregation. The committee claimed communists backed the civil rights groups. However, their lawsuits weren't winning in court. So they changed tactics-attacking the gay community. Finding Targets In the 1950s, hundreds of students and teachers were forced out of their universities and their jobs due to the intimidation and terrorizing received from the state-funded legislative committee. For a decade, the House and the Senate went around ruining the lives of Americans based on their skin color and their sexual orientation. The committee, which existed from 1956 to 1965, was designed to investigate all organizations and activities that "violated the laws of the state and constituted violence." The Johns Committee was formed amid the U.S.-Soviet Union Cold War and Red Scare. The members of the legislative team targeted "homosexual professors who were recruiting other people to join their homosexual practices." Victims were subjected to mental torture as they were interrogated in a room where there was only one table and a hanging lightbulb. The committee decided that communists could easily blackmail gays and lesbians with threats of exposing their sexual orientation-a view that was not as widely accepted at the time. They investigated and arrested LGBTQ employees in institutions and the federal government. They claimed people who were part of the gay community were unsuitable for the jobs and constituted security risks. The witchhunt was known as the Lavender Scare. The Purge The committee terrorized hundreds of LGBTQ members under the guise that they were preventing the "suspects" from "endangering the state of Florida." According to the state archives, the Johns Committee collaborated with school administrators and the local police department to conduct numerous interrogations on targets. The interrogations were often done in motels with no legal representation. The committee would ask the victims if they've ever engaged in "homosexual activities" or whether they "enjoyed normal sexual relationship" with their wife. Some interrogations happened after victims were entrapped in the men's bathroom of courthouses. An investigator would place themselves beside their targets and ask if they wanted to engage in homosexual activities. If they replied yes, they concluded the man was gay. They then force the target to give them the names of the friends who were possibly gay. They also asked whether there were any gay professors on campus. The committee would also recruit and pay students to entice suspected LGBTQ individuals to engage in sexual activities. At the University of Florida, school administrators dismissed at least 70 students and professors. The Florida Education Association had also requested a list of teachers who were "guilty of moral deviation." The Johns Committee destroyed most of the evidence, but one memo revealed they still had over 300 "pending investigations." They planned to spread their investigation to grade schools. Facing Trouble Their aggressive tactics eventually gained attention. In 1964, a decade into their crusade, they published "Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida," which was called a "state-sponsored pornography" for how it depicted LGBTQ activities. The government reportedly spent $720 to print more than 2,000 copies. The book, known as the Purple Pamphlet, featured graphic images meant to depict gay men. They also used sexual pictures of young boys to connect homosexuality to pedophilia. The pamphlet was supposed to be for the benefit of individuals who were "concerned with the moral climate of the state." The pamphlet was stamped with the seal of the state of Florida-a sight that was very unwelcome to taxpayers. The following year, the lawmakers cut funding to the committee, leading to the collapse of the organization. Five decades later, the state has yet to acknowledge the terror and the wrongdoing caused by the legislative team. Florida still upholds the law where members of the LGBTQ community can be fired just because of their sexual orientation. Watch the full story below: Want to read more? Check these out: Need counseling about the care of bone or joint issues? During the coronavirus pandemic, it may be available on the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' (AAOS) website. Its OrthoInfo.org blog includes tips for treating bone and joint pain while sheltering in place, as well as a look the pandemic's implications for postponed surgery. "To say that the COVID-19 pandemic has been an unparalleled challenge for all of us is an understatement," AAOS spokesman Dr. Stuart Fischer said in an academy news release. "The AAOS recognizes that patients, families and caregivers are facing a host of unique and unexpected worries about their current, and even future, orthopedic care." The blog provides answers to common patient questions, including: How can I continue my orthopedic care while sheltering in place during the pandemic? Telehealth phone and video calls can be used if it's not possible to see your doctor in person. What should I do if my orthopedic surgery is postponed? Talk to your doctors. They can help patients better understand what is an "elective procedure" and why many hospitals are postponing these procedures during the pandemic, the AAOS says. Can my orthopedic surgeon still provide treatment? AAOS says: "Although the COVID-19 pandemic presents many hurdles to delivering patient care, orthopedic surgeons continue to provide safe and effective treatment in the midst of what has become the 'new normal.'" Can doing too much or too little exercise while sheltering in place be harmful? Most gyms, health clubs and pools are now closed. The AAOS website has advice about what activities can be done at home safely and how to protect your bones and joints. "Even though we may be isolated from each other because of the coronavirus, we still have ways to communicate through telehealth and should keep bone and joint health a top priority," Fischer said. Explore further Guidance issued for breast cancer care during COVID-19 More information: Here's where you can find Here's where you can find OrthoInfo Copyright 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved. A security expert has spoken of the 'vile' drug linked to the alleged murder of a champion Irish dancer in the UK. On May 18, a 25-year-old man and his teenage girlfriend were due to stand trial accused of murdering Kilkenny man Adrian Murphy (43) and poisoning another man. Joel Osei and Diana Cristea (18) were charged with murder after Mr Murphy was found dead in his apartment in Battersea, south-west London, on June 4 last year. The pair have also been accused of poisoning Mr Murphy and a 40-year-old man with the drug scopolamine, colloquially known as "devil's breath". The 40-year-old man was rushed to hospital and narrowly survived after he was allegedly drugged. Mr Osei and Ms Cristea both deny the allegations. The Covid-19 outbreak has meant most jury trials have been postponed and it is unlikely the trial will now go ahead at the Old Bailey this month. Ahead of the trial, the Irish Independent spoke to a security expert in the UK about the drug 'devil's breath', which can render people unconscious. Professor Anthony Glees, a security and intelligence expert from the University of Buckingham, described the drug as "vile" and "terrifying". "It has struck me for some time that a drug which allows people to become disabled and unconscious at the same time could become a very dangerous and unpleasant tool if it were widely used," he said. "It is widely used in South America and there are reports of it being used in Paris as well. "The immediate effect is to make people unconscious but it can possibly lead to a fit and a coma, and it affects people's breathing, particularly if they have a history of respiratory problems," he added. "What is worrying to me is it could well become the weapon of choice in the future. "It is said to turn people into zombies, who not only become totally unaware of what is happening to them, but have no memory of it being used. It seems to lose its toxicity fairly rapidly so by the time they realise, a blood test may indicate its use but may not, and it appears to be incredibly simple to deploy, a powder blown into a face, or wiped on the skin." Prof Glees said the use of the drug in Ireland and the UK has been limited, but said it's worrying that it seems to be becoming increasingly popular in European countries and available to buy online. Last year, the Irish Independent revealed how a Wicklow man holidaying in Tenerife was sprayed with the drug and forced to empty his bank accounts. David Nelson described how the drug "turned me into a zombie". He claimed a woman tried to seduce him and when he pushed her away, he was "sprayed in the face with a substance". "I was later informed it was 'devil's breath'," he said. "I remember very few things after being sprayed. My phone was taken, a gold watch, bracelet, 600 from my wallet and I was then taken to an ATM and the girl proceeded to take what money she could from my bank accounts until the cards were declined." The substance has been blamed for thousands of crimes in South America and has now become a problem in European countries. The Department of Foreign Affairs acknowledged that the Spanish authorities have warned of the drug being used on tourists. 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), which is produced by oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), is the crucial precursor for the production of polyethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate to replace petroleum-derived polyethylene terephthalate. Electrochemical oxidation of HMF to FDCA is regarded as a clean and environment-friendly process since electrons drive the reaction at the cathode without extra chemical oxidants. Since abundant 3d electrons and unique eg orbitals enhance the covalency of transition metal-oxygen bonds, Ni-based catalysts have been considered as a great candidate for HMF electrocatalysis. For instance, a porous Ni-based electrocatalyst was prepared by the electrodeposition method for alcohol and hydrogen evolution reactions. Ni2P nanoparticles and porous Ni3S2 were reported as efficient electrocatalysts for HMF oxidation. Very recently, Dr. Yuqin Zou and colleagues in Hunan University elaborately prepared a hierarchically nanostructured NiO-Co3O4 electrode with plentiful interface defects through a simple hydrothermal-annealing method. The interface effect could create rich cation vacancies, modulate the electronic properties of Co and Ni atoms, and raise the oxidation state of Ni species. As a result, the as-synthesized hierarchical NiO-Co3O4 nanosheets exhibited the excellent HMF oxidation activity and stability. Furthermore, in-situ SFG results and ex-situ HPLC were used to better understand the reactive intermediates and pathways during the HMF oxidation. The current study offers an efficient way to create cation vacancies at the interfacial sites and proves the positive role of cation vacancies on catalyzing the HMF electro-oxidation. The current study offers an efficient way to create cation vacancies and proves the positive role of cation vacancies on catalyzing the HMF electro-oxidation. Recently, this research group also demonstrated the catalytic activity of Ni3N for HMF oxidation. Besides, NiO electrocatalysts are impressive in biomass conversion due to their low cost and simple synthetic methods. On the other hand, the interface engineering is a promising approach to modulate the electronic properties, tune the intermediate adsorption, and expose more active sites. For example, the core/shell NiO@Co3O4 nanocomposites with abundant edge sites because the interface effect shows enhanced catalytic activities for oxygen evolution reactions (OER). ### See the article: Lu YX, Dong CL, Huang YC, Liu YB, Li YY, Zhang NN, Chen W, Zhou L, Zou YQ, Lin HZ, Wang SY. Hierarchically Nanostructured NiO-Co3O4 with Rich Interface Defects for the Electro-oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. Sci China Chem, 2020, 63, doi: 10.1007/s11426-020-9749-8 http://engine.scichina.com/doi/10.1007/s11426-020-9749-8 (Newser) A rookie cop in Louisiana has been charged with malfeasance and third-degree rape over his alleged actions during a March 20 traffic stop. A woman accused Port Barre officer Darwin Fontenot, 21, of forcing her to have sex after stopping her for speeding, the Lafayette Daily Advertiser reports. The Port Barre Police Department says the woman had other violations and Fontenot allegedly coerced her into having sex in exchange for leniency. Third-degree rape includes "sexual activity between an authority figure with someone in their custody," per KATC. story continues below Fontenot, a former corrections officer, graduated from the police academy in Nov 2019. Port Barre Police Chief Deon R. Boudreaux says Fontenot, who was booked into the parish jail and released on bond Saturday, has been placed on administrative leave prior to termination. The chief says that when he spoke to Fontenot, the officer admitted engaging in "sexual activity" with the woman, but said they met up when he was off duty. "Even if he was off duty, it doesn't make it right," the chief says. "An officer nor any public servant should engage in that type of activity of exchanging sexual favors for leniency." (Read more Louisiana stories.) China will severely punish fraud in its capital markets. On May 4, the Financial Stability and Development Committee said it would take a zero tolerance approach and resolutely smash financial fraud, insider trading, market manipulation and other illegal behaviors, and thoroughly investigate listed companies, intermediary organizations, and individuals that commit fraud. The committee expressed similar sentiments at meetings on April 7 and April 15. An unprecedented third meeting in the space of a month demonstrates financial regulators resolve and determination to clamp down on an area where chaos can no longer be tolerated. Financial fraud is a longstanding issue in China, one that has always blighted the countrys financial markets and seeped into the lifeblood of the real economy. Because a number of underlying problems remain unresolved and a succession of new issues has emerged, there are severe and urgent difficulties in tackling and guarding against financial fraud and deception. Currently, the Chinese government is rolling out a series of reforms and policies targeting capital markets. This will help improve the efficiency of resource allocation and finally strengthen the role of the invisible hand in regulating the behavior of market actors. However, the decisive role of the market must dovetail with the governments own role. A strong regulatory system is the basic infrastructure of capital markets; without it, financial liberalization becomes akin to building castles out of sand. It could be said that Chinas current problem is not whether it should clamp down on fraud, but how far it should go in doing so. Only with the most decisive and thorough action can we truly claim to take a zero tolerance approach. Efforts to combat fraud and deception should go hand in hand with reform to Chinas capital markets, something that requires an all-round upgrade to antifraud controls in the markets themselves. Its easy enough to dig up one or two fraud culprits, but much harder to normalize and systematize action on fraud and ensure it complies with the rule of law. In the anticorruption campaign of the last few years, the Communist Partys disciplinary organs have taken a similarly zero-tolerance approach. Theyve struggled to control the outbreak of corruption while curing the root of the problem. That experience gives us valuable lessons in cracking down on fraud in capital markets. Over the last 30 years, Chinas regulatory bodies have tried to smash financial fraud several times. According to an April 24 statement from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), a total of 22 listed companies were investigated for financial fraud in 2019. A separate research report shows that between 1994 and 2018, some 165 Shanghai- or Shenzhen-listed companies were punished for falsifying information in their financial disclosures. However, fraudulent activity has not only continued during that time, but become even more egregious. Much of todays illicit behavior is characterized by long-term fraud involving large sums of money and complex and systemic underhanded methods. Systemic fraud needs to be met with systemic action. Our current passivity toward financial fraud has complicated roots. Investors frequently complain that punishments for fraud are too light. Of the 165 companies mentioned above, only 19 were delisted due to fraud, 21 were acquired for backdoor listings, and 125 remain on Chinas capital markets. Those who work for our securities regulators often complain that their powers of inspection are far weaker than their international counterparts. But a deeper reason is that Chinas governance over its companies is too weak. Local governments engage in elaborate games of cat and mouse with regulators in a bid to safeguard economic growth and employment, which results in different punishments being meted out for the same crime. In addition, were yet to see any major breakthroughs in transitioning from institutional to functional forms of regulation. And finally, regulation isnt backed up by strong, systemic legal frameworks. Any all-round upgrade to Chinas antifraud controls must seek to cleanse the soil that foments these conditions. Improved fraud-busting is a key part of advancing Chinas company registration system and other much-needed reforms to capital markets. Following the STAR Market, the ChiNext board will also pilot such a system. The registration systems center on information disclosure and will be subject to regulation both during and after the listing process, rather than mainly beforehand now. That requires a shift in regulatory philosophy in order to strengthen both the institutional responsibilities of businesses and intermediaries as well as public supervision. Information disclosure cant move forward on its own, but needs help from improved registration systems. If regulation cant keep up and the supporting infrastructure isnt up to snuff, then the registration system can actually empower fraudsters instead of hindering their activity. In the end, regulators must carry out the severe punishments written into law. On March 1, Chinas new securities law came into effect, markedly expanding the states power to crack down on fraud. It raised the maximum fine payable by listed companies guilty of illegal information disclosures from 600,000 yuan ($84,800) to 10 million yuan. In addition, the law states that controlling shareholders or controllers behind the curtain who incite others to falsify information can be fined up to 10 million yuan. The legal limitations are therefore clear; the key now is to enforce them. People have high hopes for the new laws ability to effectively check illicit behavior. Financial fraud in China is plagued by old problems and beset with new challenges. Emerging industries and new forms of doing business touch on the entire Chinese economys sustainable development. They are both an important part of government policy and targets for capital. But many new concepts can also easily become fodder for fraud. Luckin Coffee is a typical example. It perpetrated fraud under the guise of overturning established business models, doctoring its revenue disclosures while making life difficult for an already weakened regulatory system. It doesnt matter whether the format a company follows is new or old; they are all equal before the law. Regulators must not treat such businesses more leniently than the old guard. The financial requirements for securing a listing may adapt to changing economic characteristics, but honesty remains the bottom line. Indeed, the best way to protect emerging businesses is to provide them with a fair and predictable environment in which to compete. The harm wrought by financial fraud has already spilled across Chinas borders. The Luckin scandal has triggered suspicion toward China stocks in international capital markets, proving that a no-nonsense attitude toward fraud is not just bound up with the internal affairs of a single country. Global capital flows mean that financial regulation is also tightly interwoven with international cooperation. At present, China is making efforts to build internationalized capital markets. This has noticeably quickened the countrys opening of its financial sector. However, to keep existing investors happy and attract more from abroad, Chinas capital markets need to run on reliable rules and standards. Capital markets do not exist in a vacuum. Their standards hinge on the progress of their host countrys rule of law and the honesty of their people. This is not to say that we should sympathize with those who commit fraud. Finance is the core of modern economics, and capital markets might be called the highest form of market economy. To this end, they should reflect a contractual spirit, recognition of responsibilities and the principle of honesty. We hope that the implementation of the new securities law and the serious tone struck at the three recent meetings of the Financial Stability and Development Committee indicate an all-round upgrade of Chinas ability to crack down on fraud and further the healthy development of the countrys capital markets so that our economy can gallop forward unfettered once again. Contact translator Matthew Walsh (matthewwalsh@caixin.com) When the Union health ministry recently advised people to learn to live with the coronavirus, it was seen as a clear statement of acceptance of the new normal going forward. The virus is expected to linger around for a long time, unspooling in bursts in some areas while remaining fairly subdued elsewhere. Locking the country down for long cannot be the answer, though taking protective measures like observing physical distancing are reasonable and must be strictly followed. Learning to live with it is what the education department is already attempting to do, as it has outlined the schedule for the leftover CBSE board exams for Classes X and XII, spelt out the process of valuation of answer sheets, fixed competitive exam dates and announced the college admission calendar in August. Among the interesting out-of-the-box ideas is an odd-even scheme for schools when they reopen for the new academic year. It envisages students coming to school on alternate days so that the classroom is only 50% fullin line with the need for physical distancing. The National Council of Educational Research and Training is expected to pitch the scheme before the human resource development ministry for it to take the call. Another idea to stagger the population of students in school is to let 50% of them come on alternate weeks. The scheme factors in the challenge of keeping children gainfully occupied on days when they cannot go to school by offering digital tools and live interactive classes through 12 TV channels, one channel for each class. Since every aspect of life will be impacted in some way by the time the virus is contained, its good the mandarins are looking at new ways of engaging students. India has a high young population but their quality of education is poor. For instance, an ASER study in 2018 found that a little over half of all children in Class V alone had the ability to read a Class II level text. With the pandemic dislocating families, the challenge is to use innovation to keep the children interested in learning and help them achieve their dreams. If successful, it would usher in the Naya Bharat politicians often pay lip service to. Columbus, Ohio-based Encova Insurance is moving forward with its summer internship program in Columbus, Ohio, and Charleston, West Virginia, with virtual training and onboarding of 22 interns. Currently, about 90% of Encovas associates are working from home. At least to begin their internship, the interns will also work from home. The company continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and will incorporate the interns into the return-to-work plan for their offices. According to Natalie Payne, a talent acquisition specialist at Encova, several interns were hired after their internship at another company was canceled. The interns represent 10 different departments, including Information Technology, Accounting, Safety and Loss, Underwriting and Analytics. They are primarily college juniors and seniors, with 13 different universities represented. Encova still plans to offer the interns a volunteer opportunity to serve their local community. Different options are being considered to ensure safety, but in past years, interns have volunteered with organizations such as Ronald McDonald House and LifeCare Alliance. A super-regional mutual insurance carrier, Encova has more than 1,200 associates writing in 28 states and the District of Columbia, premiums in excess of $1 billion, a surplus in excess of $1.65 billion and assets in excess of $4.3 billion. The group markets insurance products and services through more than 2,000 independent agencies in the Midwest, Northeast and South. Source: Encova Insurance Topics Ohio Police pursued pro-democracy protesters in shopping malls in Hong Kong Sunday, after permission for a Mother's Day march was denied. As the coronavirus outbreak subsides in Hong Kong, more protesters, demonstrating against Beijing's power in the semi-autonomous city, are answering online calls to action. Sunday's protests were comprised of smaller groups in multiple shopping malls in Hong Kong, singing, chanting, and holding signs while evading police officers. At least one person was arrested, according to local media. Smaller protests have been noted around Hong Kong in recent weeks, indicating the potential for renewed calls for autonomy seen in massive protests last year. Goff served Gallagher for over three years. However, when he left, he emailed himself a copy of his entire contact list. For this, Gallagher sought injunctive relief to which Goff responded by moving for summary judgment contending that the noncompetition covenant should be invalidated. According to Judge Robert T. Dawson of the US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, while non-compete provisions are typically disfavored in employment contracts, they receive more acceptance where the sale of business is involved. The court determined that the non-compete provision was valid. The clause aims to prevent unfair competition in the business areas where Gallagher operates, and is designed to prevent competition with the clients it purchased, the court added. The federal court also said that both the geographic restriction and the five-year duration were reasonable. Five years may seem like a lot of time, but the court reasoned that it is designed to protect Gallagher from unfair competition by Goff particularly when Goff has expertise of the local market and had previously worked with the clients, the court said. Bloomberg reported that Goff was represented by Brad Hendricks Law Firm; Gallagher was represented by Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) Despite a significant reduction in passengers, there will be no changes in the fare rates of Metro Manila's public utility vehicles should the enhanced community quarantine be modified after May 15. During the hearing of the Senate public services committee on Monday, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chair Martin Delgra said all kinds of public transport will not increase their rates to reduce the plight of the commuting public. "In consultation with the DOTr (Department of Transportation), the LTFRB decided not to increase the fare for all types of public transport that would be allowed to run," Delgra said. He said the department will assist drivers through subsidies in fuel cost and other expenses as they will have to ply their routes with a smaller income due to limited capacity of passengers. "That's really the challenge. In terms of viability, I would say there is obviously a decrease in terms of the expected income that they would have but at the same time, humihingi rin sila ng tulong sa gobyerno (they are also seeking aid from the government)," Delgra added, citing the concerns of some bus operators and transport groups that the agency met with last week. Earlier in the day, the DOTr already noted that the railway system will not impose any fare hike in its railway systems. "We do not have any fare adjustment as of the moment but we are looking into it. We are trying to see if there is a need for one," Transportation Undersecretary Artemio Tuazon Jr. told CNN Philippines' New Day on Monday. "From the time that we went to the community quarantine, there has been a reduction of fuel prices already about 9 reduction in fuel prices. So, there might be no need for us to adjust the fare. But were looking into it right now," Tuazon said. The DOTr earlier announced that Light Rail Transits 1 and 2 (LRT-1 and LRT-2), the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3) and the Philippine National Railways (PNR) will operate at a reduced capacity by May 16, or after the ECQ is lifted in the region. The ECQ in Metro Manila is scheduled to end on May 15, but there are various proposals to extend it, shift to a less strict general community quarantine, or put in place some modifications to the ECQ. President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to decide soon on the matter. He is scheduled to submit on Monday his 7th weekly report to Congress on his use of additional powers in dealing with the COVID-19 health crisis. When they do run again, the major train lines are expected to operate at a 10 to 13 percent capacity equivalent to an average of 150 passengers per train set, based on the Transportation Department's simulation of passengers maintaining one-meter social distancing. Train marshals will also man the trains to enforce the safety protocol. The DOTr is also looking into shortening the headway time or the time interval between two successive trains to accommodate more trips and to get more passengers to their destination. Ride-hailing services: No Angkas, JoyRide, less passengers for Grab Meanwhile, Tuazon said drivers of taxis and transportation network vehicle services like Grab can only accommodate a maximum of three passengers once they resume operations. "For Grab, the maximum passengers will be three passengers and a driver so that will be a total of four persons inside the car. One [passenger] in front and two at the back. Tuazon said the same protocol will be applied to private vehicles. However, operation of motorcycle ride-hailing services like Angkas and JoyRide will still not be allowed as social distancing cannot be enforced in these vehicles. For other modes of public transportation, the Transportation Department said that it will follow a hierarchy of public utility vehicles based on mode and capacity. "We have the buses which are high capacity. Next we have the modernized jeeps, the forward facing jeeps. It has better capacity and also its easier to implement the social distancing in the forward facing seating of the modernized jeep," Tuazon said. "The third one is the only time that the regular jeeps come in the old jeeps that we have." Meanwhile, the LTFRB advised PUVs to secure special permits from the agency before they hit the road. Routes will also likely be calibrated depending on the directive of the agency and other local government units. The implementation of an automatic fare collection system will also be imposed to limit the contact between the conductor, passengers, and the driver. Cashless transactions may be done via GCash or PayMaya for taxis and TNVS units whether they pick up passengers online or on the road. The President has placed the entire Luzon under the enhanced community quarantine on March 17, which banned all modes of public transport. He extended its implementation until May 15 in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and all other high-risk areas. Once upon a time if you wanted to get ahead you got a hat. Now if you want step outside your front door you need a mask. In a matter of weeks, the coronavirus has upended the Western wardrobe and challenged its deepest codes about freedom, comfort and self-expression. From being a curious oddity seen only on Asian tourists, masks have suddenly become as essential as socks -- a signal of civic virtue and a passport to many public spaces denied to the bare faced. "When you wear one you are saying, 'I'm not a threat'," said French designer Stephanie Coudert, who made her name with Paris haute couture. "It's a civic gesture." Yet when she sat down to design a mask, one thought kept coming back to her. "It's a muzzle. It is hard to get away from that," Coudert told AFP. Fashion's Mr Zeitgeist, Louis Vuitton's Virgil Abloh had no such reservations, rushing out a simple black mask emblazoned with the arrow logo of his own Off-White label for $92 (87 euros) a pop. It immediately sold out and has since become the most coveted style accessory in the world, according to trends monitor the Lyst Index, with some now selling secondhand for four and five times that. By contrast, Coudert is selling her couture masks for eight euros. "It a social choice for me," she said. "I think we are all asking ourselves how we can be useful." Not surprisingly, she is working flat out to keep up with demand. Indeed Lyst said internet searches for masks have gone up five times since the beginning of the year. - Early adopters - Even before the virus raised its ugly head, masks were coming in from the fashion cold. American designer Rick Owens was ahead of the curve, masking many of the models in his Paris spring summer collection two years ago and giving out masks to everyone at the show. Back then Owens had pollution and climate change in mind. Yet he was reluctant to revive the idea even as the virus casts its shadow on the last Paris fashion week in March. "I would hate to capitalise on it," he said. "I'm sure people will and it will be sensational on Instagram." Owens was not alone in seeing a fashion future for masks. Rising French designer Marine Serre was an early adopter and they have also featured in recent Gucci, Vetements and Japanese designer Takahiro Niyashita's The Soloist shows. But many of the big houses remain cautious and deeply ambivalent about whether masks will be part of our fashion future. Style historian Olivier Saillard warned masks were "an accessory we all want to be quickly rid of". - 'Rather vulgar' - It could be seen as "rather vulgar to make money from putting a logo on a mask," he told AFP. While Dior, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga have been making free masks for French medical staff and care workers, there is a reticence about going any further. Chloe, a bag and accessory designer for a fabled French house, told AFP from the window of her Paris apartment that she had been asked to toy with some ideas around masks. "It's tricky," she said. "But we could be wearing them for many months or even years, so why not make them into a fetish object. It is what we humans do." Coudert said that it we had to live with them, it was best to make masks that were clever, comfortable and calming. - AIDS analogy - "I dropped the idea of making ones with a seam down the middle because you can look like a warrior in them. We don't need to make people any more nervous now," said the couturier. For the anthropologist Frederic Keck, masks have long been regarded in the West as "archaic and oppressive", a prejudice that will be hard to shake. Indeed, covering the face is technically illegal in France under a controversial "burqa ban" aimed at Islamic face coverings. In a think piece in the French daily Le Monde, Keck compared masks and the constraints COVID-19 has imposed on social interaction to the "loss of innocence that AIDS brought to love making" in the 1980s. Despite all the downsides, historian Saillard sees one positive to be drawn from having to wear masks. "In a era which is all about ego... a little bit of self-effacement is maybe not all bad," he said. People are reflected in a closed store window, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, on Main Street near the Breckenridge Ski Resort in Breckenridge, Colorado, U.S., April 13, 2020. Shannon Stapleton | Reuters Lia Hakim was excited to get her $292,000 loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program to cover payroll at her four Hott Salons locations in Armonk and Rye Brook, New York, but it came long before her state is open for business. When the crisis forced her to shut Hott Salons' doors on March 21, she encouraged her 47 employees to apply for unemployment; she also submitted her application for the loan through Chase, her service lender, the first day the bank was taking applications. After five weeks Hakim's loan was accepted, and she received the funds on April 20. There was one problem: The state wasn't allowing salons to open yet. The New York State on PAUSE order is in place until May 15, when a phased reopening is planned. Under the rules covering the loan, Hakim can only use the money for payroll from April 20 through June 15. "It came entirely too early," she says. Meanwhile, her entry-level employees are reluctant to return. "They don't want to come back," she says. "They're making more money sitting at home." She is referring to the $600 bump up in unemployment checks under the CARES Act added to traditional unemployment checks, which in New York State max out at $504 a week. Hakim's workaround has been to get advice from the Mastermind group for salon owners to find creative solutions, such as bringing back higher-paid stylists, who earn a six-figure income, as soon as she's allowed, and paying their holiday bonuses early so she can use the PPP money to pay her lease. "I doubt we'll be back open by the time the PPP runs out," she says. "It's very upsetting. We desperately need it." Lia Hakim, owner, Totally Hott Salon Lia Hakim Many small business owners are in a similar predicament. Some had high hopes for the Paycheck Protection Program, a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which offers businesses forgivable loans to cover payroll for eight weeks after the loan is signed, as well as rent, interest on mortgages and utilities. At least 75% of the money must go to payroll in order; the rest must be used for other business-related purposes in order to get loan forgiveness. Although some of the money was disbursed to small businesses, the PPP ran out of the $349 billion in funds allocated by April 16. It then resumed lending on April 27, after Congress authorized another $310 billion round of funding. With demand very high, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said on May 3 that a third tranche of funding may be needed. An SBA report on the PPP dated April 16 found that 1,661,367 loans worth $342,277,999,103 processed through 4,975 lenders had been approved by that point. Another SBA report, from April 24, found that 1,192,519 advances under the EIDL program, totaling $4,805,897,000, had been processed as of that date; another SBA report found the 38,984 loans, worth $7,967,174,888, had been approved as of the same date. More from Invest in You: Online lending platform SoLo Funds opens spigot on interest-free peer-to-peer microloans She got a forgivable loan. Her employees hate her for it How this company totally transformed its business model to survive the coronavirus In the meantime, many owners didn't get the funds quickly, and millions have fallen through the cracks and are still waiting for aid. With the law and subsequent guidances not taking into account the reality that many businesses can't open brick-and-mortar stores yet, many owners, like Hakim, are struggling to figure out what to do about employees who've been laid off or furloughed. "You don't want to hire them back and have them sit," says Marc Lion, a CPA and partner in Mazars USA and a practice leader for the Entrepreneurial Services Group at the firm. Millions didn't get PPP funding Yet, Hakam is one of the lucky ones. Millions of small business owners have not been successful in receiving government aid. Those who didn't get CARES Act funding are scrambling to use whatever resources they can find to stay in business. Many didn't apply for funds under the CARES Act because they thought they wouldn't qualify. Only 45% of small businesses who polled in the CNBC|Survey Monkey Small Business Survey conducted from April 21-27 said they applied. Of those, only 13% were approved for funding, 7% have received financing and 18% are still waiting for a response from a lender. Advances from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, another component of the CARES Act, were also slow to arrive. Under the EIDL program, businesses that are experiencing a temporary loss of revenue have been able to apply for a loan advance that does not have to be repaid for as much as $10,000. That program, also pounded by applications, also got an additional $60 billion in funding during the second tranche of funding for CARES Act programs. "We're hearing the intensity in everyone's voice, and the sense of urgency is very, very real," says Christina Camacho, founder and CEO of Ivy Lender, a fintech firm that created a COVID-19 SBA Loan Marketplace, which delivers applications to SBA-approved lenders. "What I see is fear and desperation." Although Ivy Lender has seen 90% of the loans it has processed get funded, some banks Camacho has approached with prepackaged applications don't want them, leaving many businesses unfunded. Some want deals within a certain distance of their branches, she notes, and certain types of businesses, such as those involved in real estate rental and leasing and residential facilities that do not provide healthcare or medical services, are not allowed to get funding under the PPP. Bootstrapping 101 But even businesses that finally got funding have been forced to cut their spending to the bone after weeks of economic disruption. "I see tremendous cost-cutting," says Amanda Elam, Diana Institute Research Fellow at Babson College and President/CEO of Galaxy Diagnostics, Inc., a 12-person medical diagnostics company in Durham, North Carolina. Her company suspended executive pay, including Elam's salary, in order to make payroll prior to getting the PPP on April 28 and an EIDL advance soon after. "We're hoping this will get us through," she says. Vanessa Roer has also had to get creative in how she keeps her business afloat, due to slow-arriving funds. When Roer had to close Roer's Zoofari, her family's zoo in Reston, Virginia, due to the coronavirus shutdown in the state, she got very worried. The family business is a seasonal one that depends on its revenue from the warmer months. To keep the zoo in business, Roer laid off six of her year-round stafferswho usually number 11 to 13; raised $30,000 in a GoFundMe campaign and put out a donation box to collect meat and vegetables from the community to feed the animals. She applied for a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), part of the aid package for small businesses under the CARES Act, on April 3 but the funding did not arrive until April 20, forcing her into a position where she had to defer her mortgage for three months. "It's due at the end of those three months," says Roer. "If we can't pay it, we'll lose the zoo." The mother of three is now contemplating an act of civil disobedience: opening the zoo in the middle of May, before the state's stay at home order lifts on June 10. She believes the outdoor environment at the zoo will allow for plenty of social distancing. "We just came off the winter and were low on funds when this hit," Roer says. "We're getting to the place of do or die. We don't get federal funding and are strictly reliant on admission sales." Time is running out A group of nearly 2,000 former Department of Justice officials signed a petition Monday demanding Attorney General Bill Barr resign in light of the DOJ decision to drop its case against Michael Flynn saying he's guilty of 'repeated assaults on the rule of law.' If he won't resign, the officials encouraged Congress to go after Barr. Last week, the DOJ announced that it would no longer pursue Flynn, President Donald Trump's first national security adviser who pleaded guilty of lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. 'If any of us, or anyone reading this statement who is not a friend of the president, were to lie to federal investigators in the course of a properly predicated counterintelligence investigation, and admit we did so under oath, we would be prosecuted for it,' wrote the officials, who said they had served for both Democratic and Republican administrations. Ex-prosecutor Jonathan Kravis lashed out at Attorney General Bill Barr (pictured) for allowing Roger Stone and Michael Flynn to receive lighter punishments than what prosecutors recommended - and throwing prosecutors under the bus for speaking publicly Last week the Department of Justice announced it would be dropping charges against Michael Flynn, President Trump's original national security adviser. In the op-ed, Jonathan Kravis noted that Flynn twice swore under oath that he lied about his contact with the Russian ambassador The petition comes the same day a federal prosecutor who worked on Roger Stone's (pictured) case wrote an editorial in the Washington Post accusing Attorney General Bill Barr of doing political favors for President Trump's friends The officials said they were concerned with the Barr-led DOJ's decision to decrease the sentencing for Trump's longtime political adviser Roger Stone and also the recent Flynn decision. 'Make no mistake: The Departments action is extraordinarily rare, if not unprecedented,' they wrote. They said that they continued to believe it would be 'best for the integrity of the Justice Department' for Barr to step aside. But since there's 'little change' he'd do so, the officials called on Congress to hold the attorney general accountable. 'In the midst of the greatest public health crisis our nation has faced in over a century, we would all prefer it if Congress could focus on the health and prosperity of Americans, not threats to the health of our democracy,' they wrote. 'Yet Attorney General Barr has left Congress with no choice.' The officials asked members of the House Judiciary Committee to reschedule a planned March 31 hearing in which Barr was supposed to testify. The Democrats control the House of Representatives and the Judiciary Committee is where the impeachment hearings originated. 'We also call upon Congress to formally censure Attorney General Barr for his repeated assaults on the rule of law in doing the Presidents personal bidding rather than acting in the public interest,' they wrote. 'Our democracy depends on a Department of Justice that acts as an independent arbiter of equal justice, not as an arm of the presidents political apparatus.' The petition comes the same day as a federal prosecutor worked on Stone's case unloaded on Bill Barr in an op-ed in the Washington Post. The prosecutor, Jonathan Kravis, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post Monday that accused Barr's DOJ of 'put[ting] political patronage ahead of its commitment to the rule of law.' 'I feel compelled to write because I believe the the department's handling of these matters is profoundly misguided, because my colleagues who still serve the department are duty-bound to remain silent and because I am convinced that the department's conduct in the Stone and Flynn cases will do lasting damage to the institution,' Kravis wrote. Kravis said that he resigned from the Department of Justice after a decade-long stint over the Stone case. 'At the time, I thought that the handling of the Stone case, with senior officials intervening to recommend a lower sentence for a longtime ally of President Trump, was a disastrous mistake that the department would not make again,' Kravis wrote. 'I was wrong,' he added. Kravis then detailed his own experience with the Stone case, reminding readers that four prosecutors on the case recommended the former Trump political adviser receive seven to nine years in prison for obstruction of Congress, false statements and witness tampering. But the president tweeted, the next morning, that the sentencing recommendation was a 'miscarriage of justice.' The Justice Department then revoked the original sentencing recommendation and swapped it out for one giving Stone a lighter sentence. 'All four career prosecutors who had tried Stone withdrew from the case. I resigned because I was not willing to serve a department that would so easily abdicate its responsibility to dispence impartial justice,' Kravis said. Kravis accused the department of engaging in an 'equally appalling chapter' with its back-pedaling on Flynn, the president's original national security adviser. The former prosecutor noted how Flynn pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, twice admitting under oath that he had committed a crime. 'Nevertheless, after public criticism of the prosecution by the president, the department moved to dismiss Flynns case, claiming that new evidence showed that the plea had no basis,' Kravis said. 'None of the career prosecutors who handled Flynns case signed that motion,' Kravis noted. Kravis pointed out that the department's move ran counter to the idea of having a special counsel to begin with, as former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to take over the Russia-related cases in order to 'avoid the appearance of political influence.' 'For the attorney general now to directly intervene to benefit the president's associates makes this betrayal of the rule of law even more egregious,' Kravis wrote. Barr has spoken publicly several times about these decisions, often disparaging the work of the DOJ prosecutors. Kravis noted that this wasn't fair because those prosecutors are banned from talking about them in the media. 'Barrs decision to excuse himself from these obligations and attack his own silenced employees is alarming,' Kravis wrote. Kravis ended the editorial by encouraging those prosecutors that they would endure beyond Barr's tenure. 'Your work of investigating and prosecuting criminal cases is hard, and it becomes even harder when witnesses and jurors start to believe that the Justice Departments handling of these cases is infected by politics,' he said. 'Your service during these times is a credit to the department. And you will be at your posts, serving justice, long after this attorney general is gone.' Midwife Luo Man (R) is pictured with words of blessing for mothers and infants written on the protective suit at the Hubei maternity and child healthcare hospital in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, April 22, 2020. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses and midwives have been playing a vital role in providing health services to patients in need. The World Health Assembly has designated 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. [UN Population Fund & China Maternal and Child Health Association/Handout via Xinhua] 202010 I took part in one of the interdiction lectures of HANFUSHE in New York, which was holding in a meeting office in a skyscraper in Manhattan in Oct.2019. The lecture and the meeting gave me a clear map about how the Hanfu culture developed in the countries outside China Mainland. The meeting include three partsthe introduction speech, the question answer period, and the dynamitic period. Ms.Mingliang ,the president of Hanfushe and a Master in Folklore study, a lady in her early 30s, made a well organized speech with a clear PPD. She began with a question about what was the name of her dark blue Hanfu, which turned out to be Yunfu. She was concerned about every audience. She invited everyone giving a short introduction for himself/herself about their interest on Hanfu. Then she set up her presentation, a whole guild line of HANFU development and detail-oriented introduction. During the question period, Ms.Mingliang was quick-responded, she always got the key point of the question and gave a straight answer. She was a young scholar who was totally addicted in her field. There were totally about ten young people who loved Hanfu and were fascinated in Chinese culture. They were young professional or graduate students who studied in N.Y. They showed their concern about the activities of HANFUSHE ,and expressed a lot of interesting story about their love for HANFU. The host of the meeting made some dynamic period by asking questions and a gift for a good answer. The young people they were amazing. Some of them had already done some HANFU dance in Times square on New Year Eve before. The young people were amazing and lovely. I was proud to be with so many elegant and self-concerned young ones. They were Chinese hope. l liked the moment of sharing the understanding of Hanfu clothing knowledge with some young and active Chinese girls and boys. During the two hours, I was like being in China with some fascinating friends. While I still was clear that HANFUSHE was not a club for me. I figured out the young people chose HANFU more as a way of playing or cosplay, while I preferred to know better about the Han dynasty and all Chinese culture. I did not have so many free money and time to focus on HANFU clothes. I preferred to take part in the ceremony with Hanfu and daily life it could be involved in. I would like to take part in the ceremony of Qingming Festival, Hanshi Festival, Chongyang Festival to memorize our Chinese tradition. Furthermore I felt a little embraced that I did not own a Chinese citizenship now. I had complicated feeling about the Chinese-America trading conflict, about the Hongkongeses fight with the local government. There is a lot of thing which are needed to be talked about Hanfu, about our Chinese identity and life. Its not a political stuff, it is our identity and status.It was an interesting day for me. DENVER Catholics across much of Colorado are allowed to celebrate Mass in-person again as the coronavirus eases in the state, church officials said. While the details vary church to church, congregants must wear masks and practice social distancing, Colorado Public Radio reported Sunday. Schedules also have changed, and some churches are celebrating Mass more frequently and are asking people to sign up ahead of time to attend. Mary Pettifor of Littleton said she has enjoyed watching services from all over the world online over the last few weeks, but its not the same as attending in person. This is the real thing. This is our Mass. This is our Lord. Body, blood, soul and divinity, she said. And if you compare that to something online, thats nothing. She used a scarf to cover her nose and mouth at the Holy Ghost Church in downtown Denver on Saturday and said she isnt worried about getting sick. What will be will be, she said. If youre a Catholic and if youre in the state of grace, then you have to be ready to die anyway. Not all Catholic churches in Colorado are offering services. Veronica Ambuul, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Colorado Springs, said churches havent reopened there, and the rollout will vary across the region. A church that can seat 1,000 people, its going to look different than at a church that can seat 200, she said, adding that the bishop is working with pastors to determine the best practices for each parish. A larger church, for example, could rotate in congregants for services on different days or different times, or cut traditions such as taking the wafer, passing wine or welcoming neighbors. Nancy Crovelli of Lakewood, who celebrated Mass at Holy Ghost Church on Saturday, said shes happy to be back even with the changes. Oh my gosh, I couldnt go through my life without it, she said. Congregants 65 and older are encouraged to stay home. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. In other developments: Gov. Jared Polis is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to seek federal support for Colorados response to the coronavirus, The Denver Post reported. The governor is trying to secure additional testing supplies and personal protective equipment. The Denver Post also reported Colorado lawmakers will not return to the Capitol until after Memorial Day. Democratic leaders said in a statement the one-week extension of the temporary suspension of the legislature will give lawmakers more time to make safety preparations, consider legislation and research how to deal with the looming budget shortfall caused by the coronavirus. The legislature is set to reconvene May 26. Campus News Defending a PhD thesis on Zoom Luisa Angeles (left) in the lab in 2019 with her PhD adviser, UB chemistry professor Diana Aga. Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki By CHARLOTTE HSU In UB chemistry professor Diana Agas lab, students sign a laboratory freezer after a successful PhD defense. Luisa Angeles wasnt able to take part in this tradition on the day of her defense on April 21, but she was able to add her name in early May when she returned her keys to the lab. Photo: RJ Mendoza Its just happier, more fun, when youre all together. Usually after the defense, we would share food and celebrate together. Just being together after a happy event, I think. Thats what I missed. Luisa Angeles, UB PhD graduate Department of Chemistry Like so much else in life, a rite of passage for doctoral students has gone virtual during COVID-19: the PhD defense, in which students present their research and field questions from faculty before receiving a degree. You enter this event as a student. You leave as a newly minted PhD. For Luisa Angeles in the Department of Chemistry, this milestone took place on the afternoon of April 21. It happened on Zoom. On the bright side, her parents and siblings in Asia got to attend, logging in at 1 a.m. in the Philippines. On a less cheerful note, the celebration afterward just wasnt the same as it would have been in person, despite a virtual toast. As far as everything in between the actual defense the experience was a little strange, but it went pretty smoothly, Angeles says. Im really happy, she says. Its one thing that makes me feel really good, that I was able to finish everything. I had to defend my thesis before I can start a job even with the pandemic going on. Tips to conquer a Zoom defense Angeles was the first student in the UB chemistry department to defend a PhD online during the pandemic. When she learned in March that she would need to defend virtually, I really wanted to push through with it, she says. I thought it would be agony, waiting to see if the social distancing rules would change. For her dissertation research, she developed lab techniques for detecting chemicals such as antibiotics, pesticides and industrial compounds in the environment. She also put those analytical methods to work identifying pollutants found in waterways such as rivers and lakes, and in water released from wastewater treatment plants. Some tips from Angeles on prepping for a virtual defense: Practice virtually! Angeles defense included a 45-minute presentation, followed by a Q&A. She practiced in person with her husband, but she also did a virtual run-through. I did a practice with other lab members via Zoom, Angeles says. I did the actual presentation, and afterward, they were asking questions. It made me comfortable doing the actual Zoom defense. Angeles defense included a 45-minute presentation, followed by a Q&A. She practiced in person with her husband, but she also did a virtual run-through. I did a practice with other lab members via Zoom, Angeles says. I did the actual presentation, and afterward, they were asking questions. It made me comfortable doing the actual Zoom defense. Get familiar with the technology. Angeles says her department laid out some helpful recommendations for online defenses, such as assigning a member of the PhD candidates thesis committee to serve as meeting host a role that Angeles adviser filled. Before the defense, Angeles and her adviser worked together to test functions like screen-sharing and breakout rooms for private conversations. Angeles says her department laid out some helpful recommendations for online defenses, such as assigning a member of the PhD candidates thesis committee to serve as meeting host a role that Angeles adviser filled. Before the defense, Angeles and her adviser worked together to test functions like screen-sharing and breakout rooms for private conversations. Dress up and find a quiet spot. Try to dress up the same way you would dress up in a normal defense, and find a nice area in the house where its well-lit and quiet, where you would be able to focus, Angeles says. Doing so gave her confidence and underscored the importance of the event. Before the defense, I was still nervous in the same way I was nervous if it was going to be in-person, Angeles says. I really appreciate the support of everyone that helped me because its really a difficult time to do a defense because theres a lot of stress and anxiety. With her time at UB complete, Angeles will soon head to North Carolina, where she has landed a job as a chemist with a company that specializes in analytical chemistry. The job interview took place on Zoom, and a tour of the firms labs on FaceTime. A screenshot shows Luisa Angeles (second user from left) conducting her PhD defense via Zoom as UB faculty members and her parents (sitting together in the far right screen) watch. Image: Diana Aga A screenshot shows friends, family, mentors and colleagues toasting Luisa Angeles on Zoom after her successful PhD defense. Image: Diana Aga The many emotions of a virtual defense Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday alleged that the 16 migrant workers, who were crushed to death by a train in Maharashtra on Friday, had applied to the Shivraj Singh Chouhan govenment for passes to travel back home about a fortnight ago, but the administration failed to act on it. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted a video in which a survivor of the train tragedy claimed that they had applied for their return to their respective districts in Madhya Pradesh. Alleging that the MP government's "negligence and inaction" led to the death of the workers, Singh also called for a probe to know what arrangements the BJP-led government had done to bring back these workers after they applied for return. Read: Unable to forget scene of accident, says survivor of Aurangabad train tragedy "The workers killed in the train accident had asked for passes from the Shivraj government about fifteen days back. These 16 lives could have been saved, if passes were issued. Shivraj ji, these deaths are the result of jungle raj," Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee said in a tweet. In a tweet, Digvijaya Singh said, "16 labourers of Umaria, Shahdol and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh were crushed to death in a train accident. I had asked Shivraj Singh Chauhan yesterday. Whether these workers were registered (for their return)? "If this (they applied) had happened, what arrangements did the MP government make? Listen from the surviving workers," he said. Singh shared a video of a labourer, whose co-workers were killed in the train accident in Aurangabad. In the video the worker claimed that they had applied to the government for return to the state. "Now the statement of the labourer Dhirendra Singh who survived proved that the workers lost their lives due to the negligence and inaction of MP government," Singh said in another tweet. Also read: Migrants accident: Maharashtra tragedy just a tip of an iceberg Talking to PTI in response to the Congress's charges, state BJP vice-president and MLA Rameshwar Sharma alleged, "This is happening due to the top Congress leaders, who had announced to pay the train expenses of migrants. The people are leaving their homes to reach the railway stations after this announcement." "Congress should act responsibly when the state government has announced to make arrangements to bring back the migrants. After getting registration from the migrants, the state government is sending SMS to them with information about the boarding time and place after making arrangement of transportation," he said. Sharma said that the state government was committed to bringing back every migrant. Sixteen migrant workers sleeping on rail tracks while returning to Madhya Pradesh were crushed to death by a goods train in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra in the early hours of Friday. The labourers, working in a steel factory in Jalna, left for their home state on foot. They came till Karmad and slept off on the tracks as they were tired, a police official had said. Three of the four survivors were sleeping some distance away from the rail tracks, police said. The migrant workers, rendered jobless due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown and desperate to go to their native places, were walking along the rail tracks apparently to escape police attention. Iraqi security forces arrested at least five men from a local political party's headquarters in the southern city of Basra Monday after a protester was shot dead outside the building. It was the first death since modest anti-government protests resumed on Sunday, ending months of relative calm just as new Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhemi was sworn in. Kadhemi has extended a hand to demonstrators and promised accountability for the more than 550 people killed in violence at anti-government rallies that first erupted in October. Late Sunday, protesters had massed around the office of a local party in Basra, once more demanding the ouster of the Iraqi ruling class they see as corrupt and beholden to Iran. A 20-year-old protester was shot in the head and later died in hospital, a medical source told AFP. Hours later, security forces stormed the party office located around one kilometre (less than a mile) from Basra's main protest camp. "We arrested five men who shot at protesters from the headquarters," Bassem al-Maliky, the press officer for Basra's security forces, told AFP. They also seized rifles and ammunition from the base. The arrests marked a rare incident of a swift official response to protest-related deaths, for which only a handful of security forces have been held to account. Demonstrations meanwhile continued in Baghdad and different parts of Iraq. In the town of Kut on Monday morning, protesters surrounded the home of the local governor, AFP's correspondents there said. There were also rallies overnight in Diwaniyah, with hundreds gathering despite advice from authorities to maintain social distancing to curb the spread of COVID-19. Hassan al-Mayahi, a protester there, said that "despite the dangers of the coronavirus, the political deals of the parties and their neglect of our past demands have forced us to return to the street again to pressure them to give us our rights". Search Keywords: Short link: Unabated violence, particularly in and around the Libyan capital Tripoli, have now continued for over a year, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the Security Council in a virtual briefing on Tuesday, warning that war crimes may have been committed. "Of particular concern to my Office are the high numbers of civilian casualties, largely reported to be resulting from airstrikes and shelling operations", said Fatou Bensouda. The offensive on Tripoli is being carried out by the Libyan National Army, an eastern-based militia headed by General Khalifa Haftar. As Ms. Bensouda's team gathers and analyses information on the recent armed violence, she reiterated that under the Rome Statute, intentionally attacking non-combatant civilians is a war crimes that could be tried by the ICC. Detainees The top prosecutor also highlighted "grave and persistent" arbitrary detentions and serious mistreatments of migrants and refugees who attempt to transit through Libya along with thousands of others in prisons and detention centres across the country. Noting "widespread" detentions without due process, she reminded that those detained unlawfully or denied their fundamental procedural rights are at greater risk of murder, torture and various forms of sexual violence. Such crimes are all too common", she said. "Former detainees report brutal methods of torture" and other have died from their injuries or lack of medical care. Urging "serious and urgent" prison reforms, she said that her offices "continues to closely follow-up on these allegations". Enforced disappearance Indicating that an increasing number of enforced disappearances are occurring with close to total impunity, the ICC Prosecutor reminded that these are crimes against humanity that inflict "severe suffering" on families and can spread terror within a society. Moreover, when targeted against prominent members of the community, such as political activists, human rights defenders and journalists, "it sends a strong message that voices of dissent will not be tolerated", and causes "grave consequences" for both individuals and communities. Ms. Bensouda drew attention to Siham Sergewa, a member of the Libyan House of Representatives, who has been missing since last July when armed men allegedly kidnapped her in Benghazi. "Her fate and whereabouts remain unknown", she asserted. Hate speech Meanwhile, "derogatory and dehumanizing language" targeted at certain individuals or groups has become "pervasive" in both traditional and social media. She argued that "this is cause for concern", because it generates hatred and fear in the community; deepens divisions within society; and "foments conditions in which mass atrocity crimes can occur". Under the Rome Statute, a person who "instigates the commission of crimes by others" is also responsible for those crimes, the ICC Prosecutor spelled out, giving the example of "making public statements inciting attacks on specific ethnic or social groups". "Leaders and prominent members of the community have a special responsibility to lead by example and to refrain from hate speech", she pressed. Suspects at large Amidst continuous violations in the Mediterranean country, a second round of ICC litigations unanimously ruled in March that Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi's case is admissible to the top court. Noting that Mr. Gaddafi was convicted in Libya in absentia, Ms. Bensouda flagged that since April 2016 he has made no effort to surrender himself and called him "a willful fugitive" who is "actively evading justice" in both Libya and before the ICC. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines International Organisations Conflict Libya By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. She also reported that arrest warrants for Al-Tuhamy Khaled in Cairo and Mahmoud Al-Werfalli, who is reported to be under the command of General Haftar, have yet to be executed. "The course of justice cannot make further progress without the arrest and surrender of ICC suspects", she stressed. "This is a responsibility that neither rests on my Office nor the Court, but other actors in the Rome Statute system, namely States. In closing, she underscored the importance of international criminal justice to ensure the pillars of "stability, progress and prosperity".. "I call on this Council, the Court's States Parties and the international community more broadly, to stand firmly by the ICC and its crucial mandate to end impunity for the world's gravest crimes", concluded the ICC Prosecutor. A view from Wrexhams Member of the Senedd This article is old - Published: Monday, May 11th, 2020 Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in Parliament and the Senedd, and closer to home. Wrexham MS Lesley Griffiths writes The coronavirus pandemic has been an extremely demanding and tough period for everyone and it has undoubtedly been the biggest challenge I have faced since being elected. First and foremost, we must remember all those who are sadly no longer with us. Tragically, the number of deaths in Wales recently exceeded 1,000 and I offer my sincerest condolences to the family and friends of those who have lost their lives. The pandemic and subsequent lockdown has drastically affected our everyday lives and transformed the way we work. Although my constituency office is closed for face-to-face meetings, my staff and I have continued to work, advise and support constituents throughout the outbreak. I have been inundated with emails and phone calls from concerned constituents and we have done our absolute best to provide reassurance and guidance to each and every person during this difficult time. Virtual meetings have become the norm. Wales was one of the first Parliaments in the world to meet virtually and bilingually. After a break of only two weeks, Welsh Government ministers resumed their plenary scrutiny on a virtual basis, have held daily press conferences and appeared before scrutiny committees. In my role as the Welsh Government Minister for Environment, Energy & Rural Affairs, I am continuing to participate in meetings every single day, with my fellow Welsh Government ministers, as well as my ministerial counterparts from across the UK. As preparations and discussions take place focused on how we come out on the other side of the pandemic, I believe the upcoming weeks and months will be equally as busy. An incredible amount of work has taken place and its important to reflect on some of the key points. In just a matter of weeks, more than 2 billion has been outlined by Welsh Government to support the economy, a figure that far supersedes any previous spend. A system has been implemented to ensure businesses receive the funding as quickly and efficiently as possible. The 500m Economic Resilience Fund, which is unique to Wales, is offering additional support to micro-businesses, SMEs and social enterprises, which might not have been eligible for other support schemes. Weve awarded over 500 million to 41,000 small businesses in the last month. Weve worked with councils to get this money out quickly to help businesses deal with the impact of coronavirus. https://t.co/qtZnjHWgYJ pic.twitter.com/E6q8bTFKA8 Welsh Government (@WelshGovernment) May 1, 2020 Up to the end of April, the Welsh Government provided more than 60 million items of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the NHS and to local authorities for onward distribution to all social care settings. There were concerns Wales could run out of supplies but we didnt. Two significant deliveries of PPE arrived in Wales via Cardiff Airport last week one from Cambodia and one from China. This was procured by the Welsh Government and enabled it to not only replenish health boards and care homes in Wales, it also supplied the Scottish Government with PPE as they had done for Wales previously. https://twitter.com/WelshGovernment/status/1256268396221562885 In recognition of their ongoing dedication and hard work during the pandemic, the Welsh Labour Government announced all social care workers in Wales will receive an extra 500. The Welsh Government has called on the UK Government not to tax the 500 payment and we await to hear their views. https://twitter.com/lesley4wrexham/status/1256212160432267265 Wales became the first country in the UK to guarantee ongoing funding for children to continue to receive free school meals through the summer holidays during the coronavirus pandemic. It also provided key workers provided with free childcare. Those deemed to be at high-risk from coronavirus were identified, contacted and asked to shield. The advantage of the system in Wales is that no one was required to undertake a separate registration process as the data was shared with GPs, local authorities and supermarkets. In my ministerial capacity, I have worked hard to ensure nobody in Wales goes hungry. All those who received a shielding letter and could not rely on family or friends to purchase food had free food parcels delivered to their door. https://twitter.com/WGEnviroAgri/status/1255379382664863745 Latest figures suggest we are past the peak of the virus and that is largely thanks to the enormous efforts of the people of Wrexham and Wales. The crisis, however, is not over and we must remain vigilant. The next stage is critical and implementing a plan of action to take us safely out of lockdown is one of the largest public health challenges Wales has ever faced. To save lives and beat this virus, we must continue to strictly follow the latest guidance. The Prime Ministers announcement last night means regulations in England are different to the rest of the UK. This will create challenges as we live so close to the border. I would urge Wrexham residents to keep watching for and listening to the latest Welsh Government updates. The advice has not changed. Coronavirus has not gone away and people should stay at home wherever possible to protect the NHS and save lives. Ive decided to keep the stay-at-home rules in place in Wales. Some minor adjustments will be made from Monday, but maximum caution is maintained. My duty is to the people of Wales. My decision is based on evidence and our specific circumstances. https://t.co/NM5sMqxofL Mark Drakeford (@fmwales) May 8, 2020 Finally, it may have gone unnoticed but last week the National Assembly for Wales officially became the Welsh Parliament, or Senedd Cymru. The change means I am now Wrexhams Member of the Senedd (MS) rather than Assembly Member (AM). In the last 20 years, the role of the Assembly has altered. Law-making and taxation powers have been devolved to Wales from Westminster and the name change to Parliament reflects its increased powers and responsibilities. The timing may seem odd being in the midst of a pandemic but the name change was set out in law by the National Assembly several months ago which is why it happened last Wednesday (6 May). It is clear, however, Covid-19 will remain the priority for Members of the Senedd in the weeks and months ahead. From today, we are known as the Welsh Parliament or Senedd Cymru, commonly known as Senedd. Its happening today because it has been set out in law. However, as we officially adopt our new name, COVID19 remains the priority for the #Senedd.https://t.co/pouBpcETFv pic.twitter.com/bxWhwqe3tG Welsh Parliament (@SeneddWales) May 6, 2020 If any constituents have any concerns or if there is anything they think I could help them with, you can email me directly at lesley.griffiths@senedd.wales Please stay safe and take care of each other. Nepalese students shout slogans as they are detained by policemen during a protest in Kathmandu, Nepal on Saturday, May 9, 2020. The protest was held against the Indian government for building a link road to Lipulekh, a disputed territory between India and Nepal. The road has been built to reach Kailash Mansarovar, a pilgrimage site in the Himalayas. (AP) New Delhi: Escalating its territorial row with India over the Lipulekh area in Uttarakhand, Nepal's foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali on Monday summoned the Indian ambassador in Kathmandu and issued a diplomatic note conveying Nepals protests over the recent construction of a road by India in the Lipulekh area which Nepal claims as its own. India however made it clear last Saturday that the road falls very much within Indian territory in Uttarakhand. The latest row was triggered last Friday after defence minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80 km-long high-altitude road from Dharchula to the Lipulekh Pass (both in Uttarakhand) which reduces the Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage time. Nepal however claims that as per the Treaty of Sagauli signed more than two centuries ago between British India and Nepal in 1816 after the Anglo-Nepal War, all territories east of the Kali (Mahakali) River, including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu Lekh, belong to Nepal. On Monday, the Nepal Foreign Ministry tweeted, Foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali conveyed Government of Nepal's position on boundary issues to Ambassador of India to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra at a meeting held at the Foreign Ministry today (in Kathmandu) and handed over a diplomatic note in this regard. This comes after the Himalayan country on Saturday claimed it had learnt with regret about the inauguration by India of the Link Road ... which passes through Nepali territory. But New Delhi swiftly made its stand clear last Saturday, with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) saying, The recently inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in the State of Uttarakhand lies completely within the territory of India. The road follows the pre-existing route used by the pilgrims of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. ... The boundary delineation exercise with Nepal is ongoing. India is committed to resolving outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue and in the spirit of our close and friendly bilateral relations with Nepal. The MEA had added, Both sides are also in the process of scheduling Foreign Secretary level talks which will be held once the dates are finalised between the two sides after the two societies and governments have successfully dealt with the challenge of Covid 19 emergency. But conveying its concerns last Saturday, the Nepalese Government had said it had proposed twice the dates for holding the meeting of the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries, as mandated by their leaders, for which the response from the Indian side is still awaited. (Photo : CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS on Reuters ) COVID-19 Update: China Finds New Wave of Coronavirus Cases After Easing Lockdown (Photo : CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS on Reuters ) COVID-19 Update: China Finds New Wave of Coronavirus Cases After Easing Lockdown After China re-opened the country due to a lower number of positive Coronavirus cases, the country is now slowly repeating the same routine again. Health experts reported new clusters of COVID-19 cases in China's first virus epicenter, Wuhan. Another Chinese city named Shulan, in Jilin province, which is both near Russia and North Korea, also recorded new cases. Aside from China, South Korea, and Germany, that also ease restrictions now had positive cases again. What does this mean? Wuhan, China reports first virus cases again! ALSO READ: COVID-19 UPDATE: CT Scans Reveal Half of Hospitalized Children with Coronavirus Have Inflamed and Fluid-Filled Lungs On Sunday, May 10, Chinese authorities had reported new cases found in the former epicenter of the virus and where it originated, Wuhan province. Since Mar. 11, five cases were included in the report becoming the highest number of new cases after a lockdown in China so far. All cases said to be living in the same compound. One of the victims was identified as the wife of the 89-year-old man that acquired the first disease. All of the cases were said to be local transmissions, but all asymptomatic-- meaning no symptoms were shown in their bodies. Unfortunately, ever since China ease lockdown on Apr. 8, authorities still monitor hundreds of asymptomatic cases in the province. Shulan, China reported new cases Not only Wuhan became re-infected with the virus, a Chinese city called Shulan nearby the borders of Russia and North Korea also recorded new clusters. On the same day, Shulan was reclassified by the government as 'high-risk' after recording an additional 12 new cases. This includes a 28-year-old woman, a 45-year-old man, and a 56-year-old man. All the cases were locally transmitted, but authorities still investigate how it happened. One of the under-investigation is a 45-year-old woman who has no residential or travel history outside the province, and no known contact history with people returning from overseas or key provinces. A WeChat account also showed that in the last weeks of April, a lot of residents from Shulan came back to China from the Russian border. New Chinese cases sparks concern Obviously, no one is happy with this re-infection. On the country's social media account, citizens said that the additional cases were terrible. "Before [now] there were almost no transfers from asymptomatic to confirmed diagnosis in Hubei province," wrote a resident. "Government should respond to social concerns in a timely manner." "It's not easy to slow down," wrote by another. "I felt a little relaxed, and now it starts again, and I'm starting to panic again. Come on, Wuhan." South Korea and Germany also re-infected after lockdown China is not the only worried about re-infection. Other countries that also ease lockdown like South Korea and Germany also detected new cases-- saying the 2nd wave of the virus is now coming. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that "we must never lower our guard regarding epidemic prevention" after finding the news. "It's not over until it's over." Germany's Center for Disease Control, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), said that they aren't yet sure about the re-infections, but the increase in reproduction rate "makes it necessary to observe the development very closely over the coming days." Does this mean we can't escape the disease? ALSO READ: COVID-19 UPDATE: Concerns Raised as Experts Discover that the Coronavirus is Adapting to Humans 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. / -- Dukes India has launched hand sanitizers named "Hand Safe," to help combat the COVID-19 virus. The product is fairly economical and is being distributed across cities and small towns to fill the gap due to a shortage of supply. The launch of Hand sanitizer was done officially by Mr Ravinder Kumar Agarwal, Managing Director and Mr Arvind Kumar Sharma, CEO Dukes India in the presence of Channel Partners, Employees and the entire Dukes Parivar over a digital launch meeting. Global Hand Hygiene day being May 5th the launch attains significant importance as the whole human race is facing a threat from a Virus and all experts vouch for keeping the hands clean by using hand sanitizers will keep the virus in check. As a responsible company, Dukes India is known for being customer-centric and they are "all-in" when it comes to doing good for the people, especially now, as the world is in a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 Virus. Apart from ensuring that the Dukes range of Biscuits, Wafers, Confectioneries and chocolates reach the retail outlets, despite the distribution and logistics challenges in these times, Dukes India has decided to step into the hand sanitizer space as well to serve the country and its people. By stepping up, Dukes India is not just helping the needy via contributing to the government relief funds but also ramped up their operations to include hand sanitizers in the portfolio within the shortest possible time. With the launch of this hand sanitizer, that is fast-tracked tested to be 99.99% effective to fight all types of viruses and germs, Dukes India has shown to the world that doing what is necessary for a better world always tops their priority list. "Hand Safe" sanitizer from House of Dukes contains 72.34% Ethyl Alcohol and is enriched with Vitamin E which is a good component for healthy skin. It has added perfume to ensure a refreshing feeling on the hands. The product will be available in three variants 100ml, 200ml, 500ml, and 5 litres. Dukes strongly believes that the health and safety of Nation is a top priority and they are taking all the possible measures and precautions to serve the country in its fight against the deadly disease. About Dukes Dukes is one of the flagship brands of Ravi Foods Pvt. Ltd. (RFPL) and is known as a dominant player in the baked items and confectionary industry. Dukes India manufactures and markets a wide range of Biscuits, Wafers, chocolates and confectioneries and is known for its flagship brand of wafers, Dukes Waffy. A strong R&D base enables the company to tailor-make their consumables as per the unique ethnic tastes that are enjoyed by consumers worldwide. House of Dukes forays into the personal care market with the launch of "Hand-Safe sanitizers" For 30+ years, House of Dukes has been a key player in the baked items and confectionary industry. Dedicated to producing appetizing snacks and confections, Dukes has enticed the Indian market with a variety of treats for decades. The company is globally renowned with its range of delicious products and has acquired 250+ international trade partners in over 120 countries like the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Korea, and many more. Customer satisfaction is the primary driving force that lies behind every idea, innovation and endeavour at Dukes. The quality of Dukes products has kept the customers satisfied consistently for years. Their new venture into the personal care segment is another step towards making sure that their customers remain safe and healthy amidst the global pandemic. In such times, personal hygiene and sanitation are some of the chief defences that need to be adapted to protect oneself against the disease. From Government advisories, to major brands and even celebrities have been highlighting the importance of frequent hand washing. But the truth is that a lot of us do not always have access to clean water, especially those engaged in essential services. Hand sanitizers, therefore, are an imperative and effective alternative for people in such situations. However, hand sanitizers have low availability due to high demand and low supply as well as low penetration into the deeper pockets of the country. Hand Sanitizers remain to be perceived as a luxury for those in the cities when it actually is the need of the hour across the country. Dukes has stepped up in this hour of need and extended its business into the manufacturing of personal care products with the launch of "Hand-Safe" sanitizers. The sanitizers will be manufactured at the Dukes factory in Hyderabad and will be made available at various retail outlets, chemists, modern trade outlets pan India. Hand Safe sanitizer is highly potent with more than 70% Ethyl Alcohol to effectively protect against all types of viruses and germs. With added vitamin E, this hand sanitizer is gentle on the skin and keeps it supple and soft. Thus making Dukes Hand Safe Sanitizers a Skin-friendly Hand Sanitizer as well. Dukes Hand-Safe sanitizers have the following features: 72.34% of Ethyl Alcohol, kills 99.99% of germs. Enriched with Vitamin E and is therefore gentle on the skin. It leaves skin feeling happy and healthy. It comes with the soft fragrance to leave hands smell good. The company aims to produce enough units to meet the rising demand for sanitizers across the country. Wishing Dukes good luck in their endeavour to fulfil their vision of a disease-free nation. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1166078/Dukes_India_Hand_Safe. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At Mondays video conference of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with chief ministers, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee complained that some union ministers were playing politics, alleged discrimination against people of Bengal and that the state was being targeted by the Centre. She also asked the Centre not to charge migrants train fare to return home, sought 6% of national GDP for health and an immediate moratorium on repayment of loans and interest by the state and demanded that the states be allowed to borrow from the Reserve Bank at the repo rate. However, the focus of her speech, as revealed to journalists by her party Trinamool Congress (TMC), was politics in times of a pandemic. She said that the Centre was always welcome to send letters but objected to the way the communications had been leaked to the media. I respect Mr. Amit Shah. Last time also he spoke about West Bengal and I could not counter him because I was not given a chance. But, why did Mr. Amit Shah need to write a letter and send that to the press? After it was out in the news, people were asking me. What am I supposed to do? Why dont you speak to us directly? I request this must not happen to other states, Banerjee said. I dont feel good saying this but why this discrimination against people of Bengal? Why letters are being sent to the media with rampant accusations? she asked. When something happens in Gujarat or an ordinance is declared to snatch away the rights of the labourers in Uttar Pradesh, why dont you question them? Why are you targeting Bengal and its people by sending notices? she added. Her outburst came following a string of criticism by the Centre on a wide range of issues about the handling of Covid-19 situation in Bengal. Over the past few weeks, the state faced criticism from the ministry of health, the union home ministry, the ministry of railways and the inter-ministerial central teams that visited the state. I appeal to you to trust the state. This is not the time for ideological battle, Banerjee told PM Modi during the videoconferencing. My only humble request is dont bulldoze the federal structure. She also alleged that the Centre had no fixed planning about the post-lockdown phase and that meetings were being held after the Centre had already taken decisions. We are together in this crisis; there should be no finger-pointing at states who are reporting higher numbers because its neither their fault nor their peoples fault. Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continued to attack Banerjees government. On Monday, all senior leaders of Bengal BJP, including Kailash Vijayvargiya, union ministers Babul Supriyo and Debasree Chaudhuri, used social media to attack the Bengal government for alleged minority appeasement even in times of a pandemic, mismanagement over brining migrant workers back, implementing a lax lockdown and failure in managing the public distribution system. Centre is not playing politics. Centre had to intervene because the state was failing its people. The state played hide and seek with data and the real Covid-19 scenario, let the lockdown be easily violated, corrupted the public distribution system and also wanted to leave the migrant workers at lurch. In every case, the state acted after the Centre intervened. The home and health departments proved to be utmost failure and both portfolios are held by the chief minister, BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said. After saying last year further staff cuts would jeopardize worker safety and customer service, Manitoba Hydro announced Monday it will issue four-month layoff notices to up to 700 employees, starting as early as the end of this week. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. After saying last year further staff cuts would jeopardize worker safety and customer service, Manitoba Hydro announced Monday it will issue four-month layoff notices to up to 700 employees, starting as early as the end of this week. The utility had "no other choice" in order to find the savings the Manitoba government asked for in mid-April to support its pandemic response, Hydro president and CEO Jay Grewal said in an email to employees. How layoffs may impact Manitobans Job cuts at Manitoba Hydro won't happen overnight because of layoff notice provisions in collective agreements. In two labour contracts, 90 days notice is required, which could delay layoffs until August. With the layoffs lasting four months, workers could be out until December. Members of four unions are affected by the cuts and have yet to be given specifics on the impact to their members. click to read more Job cuts at Manitoba Hydro won't happen overnight because of layoff notice provisions in collective agreements. In two labour contracts, 90 days notice is required, which could delay layoffs until August. With the layoffs lasting four months, workers could be out until December. Members of four unions are affected by the cuts and have yet to be given specifics on the impact to their members. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 2034 Number of members at Hydro: 2,283 (compared with 2,343 at the end of 1994) What the workers do: They get the lights back on when the power goes out. They work in power generation, transmission and distribution. Required notice period for layoffs: 90 days Potential impact: Longer waits for power to be restored. Less capacity to deal with a major outage crisis, such as last October's ice storm. Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 998 Number of members at Hydro: 900 What the workers do: Clerical and administration, including bill payment and accounting. They take the call when you phone in a power outage. Required notice period for layoffs: 90 days Potential impact: Slower responses to customer inquiries and requests for help Association of Manitoba Hydro Staff and Supervisory Employees Number of members at Hydro: 774 What the workers do: They work in middle management, technical support and project management. They are safety officers, technical experts. They supervise such field operations as construction and response to power outages. Required notice period for layoffs: 60 days Potential impact: The association says a reduction of its members will lead to longer waits for new service connections and other permit-required activities, longer customer power outages and restoration times during major events such as summer storms, and less oversight for the safety and well-being of field crews. Unifor Local 681 Number of members at Hydro: 228 work in the gas unit and 100 are meter readers with the Manitoba Hydro Utility Service What the workers do: They repair and maintain natural gas lines and read meters. Required notice period for layoffs: A minimum of 48 hours, but the employer must first divest itself of any contract workers. Potential impact: Cuts could affect safe, reliable natural gas service throughout the province, the union says. Larry Kusch Close The temporary layoffs will be implemented following the provisions of existing collective bargaining agreements, Grewal said in her update to employees about the effort to find $86 million in cost reductions and labour savings. "Since mid-April, weve gone through every part of this organization looking for opportunities to reduce or eliminate discretionary and non-essential spending," she wrote. The utility has been able to find more than $63 million of the needed cost reductions and another $12 million by not filling vacant or seasonal positions. That left the Hydro about $11 million, or 13 per cent, short of what the province required, she said. Hydro worked with unions to find ways to meet the target but couldn't reach "common ground" on how to do that, she said. The Crown corporation's executive leadership team will be working with directors and managers to identify employees critical to short-term business needs and service delivery to decide on the layoffs, she said. "This is a direction I sincerely hoped to avoid," Grewal's message to employees said. As many as 700 Manitoba Hydro employees are being laid off to save the utility money. (Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press files) Last September, she sent a message reassuring them that Hydro had already achieved the staffing-reduction targets set out earlier by the provincial government, and layoffs weren't imminent. A year ago, when the province asked Hydro and other Crown corporations to cut management staff by 15 per cent and their overall workforce by eight per cent, company spokesman Bruce Owen said any further staff cuts would be risky. "We believe that further staff reductions would significantly increase the risk of public and employee safety, of system reliability... as well as our ability to provide reasonable levels of service to our customers," Owen told the Free Press last May. In the preceding two years, Hydro had cut staff by 872 positions, or 14 per cent. When asked about more layoffs Monday, Owen said that all aspects of the electricity and natural gas system will "continue to operate as before" and public and employee safety will not be compromised due to reduced staff levels. "However, its expected there will be some impact on service levels during the layoff period," he said in a statement. "Its difficult to speculate, but it could include longer wait times for service requests such as line locates and service extensions, reduced customer communications and, potentially, more frequent outages of longer duration due to reduced staff." "Pallisters cuts are not to support the fight against COVID19, they are purely political. This will be devastating." Michelle Bergen Unions representing staff lashed out after learning of the layoff notices. With Hydro operating at full capacity during the pandemic, the layoffs are "reckless" and Premier Brian Pallister is to blame, said the president of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 998. "Pallister has had his eyes on our public Hydro since he was elected in 2016," said Michelle Bergen. "Pallisters cuts are not to support the fight against COVID-19, they are purely political. This will be devastating." The affected unions said in a joint release that Hydro found temporary savings in other areas and would have been able to deliver nearly all the demanded savings over four months, but Pallister insisted on job cuts. Cuts will put Hydro in a "dangerous position," said Mike Espenell, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2034 business manager. "We are working full-tilt and using safe practices during the pandemic. We are doing our part, coming to work every day. This pandemic could be a lot worse to handle if Manitobans in care, at home, at work and in industry have to wait longer for service because of Pallisters reckless cuts." In an email to employees, Crown corporation president and CEO Jay Grewal said the utility had no other choice in order to find the savings the Manitoba government requested. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files) The unions argue there's no room left for more job cuts after downsizing and a two-year wage freeze. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "We have already been cut to the bone Hydros annual payroll cost has been going down for four years," said Victor Diduch, acting president of Unifor Local 681. "It makes no sense to hammer workers all that does is compromise our public hydro and gas service, and take money away from families who are trying to get through this crisis," said Diduch. Crown Services Minister Jeff Wharton was not made available for an interview but spokeswoman Caitlin MacGregor said fighting COVID-19 and protecting "our most valuable service our health-care system" is the government's No. 1 priority not cutting jobs or privatizing Hydro. NDP Leader Wab Kinew accused the province of using the pandemic to justify layoffs, and "setting the stage" for privatizing the utility. Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont accused the Pallister government of plundering Hydros revenues to make up for its mismanagement of government finances, "just as the NDP did." carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Boris Johnson's TV address on his 'road map' out of coronavirus lockdown has largely been panned as 'vague' and even 'laughable' by commentators who also made unkind comparisons to the PM's hero Winston Churchill. The Prime Minister has also been accused of being 'paralysed by indecision' as his speech designed to instruct the nation on what they can and can't do over the coming months posed more questions than answers. He also faced an immediate backlash after revealing the Government's Stay at Home mantra, which has characterised the seven-week lockdown, is being ditched in favour of a new slogan reading: Stay Alert, Control the Virus, Save Lives. The critical front pages included Metro's, which declared: 'It's all Greek to us, Boris' while the Daily Mirror said: 'Lockdown Britain: It's chaos' and the London Evening Standard, edited by former Chancellor George Osborne, called today: 'Muddle Monday'. And in a rare on-screen rant today, This Morning host Phillip Schofield said the Government had 'ars** it up' and the advice was 'utterly astonishing', bordering on 'farce'. Here is a round up of what the papers have said: Boris Johnson's TV address to the nation from Downing Street last night has been panned by large parts of the press Metro declared: 'It's all Greek to us, Boris after his speech to the nation was blasted as vague Boris Johnson's TV address on his 'road map' out of coronavirus lockdown has largely been panned as 'vague' and even 'laughable' by commentators while the Evening Standard called today: 'Muddle Monday' The Guardian's parliamentary sketchwriter John Crace said after watching the 7pm broadcast along with approaching 30million others: 'Forget Churchill: all that Boris could manage was to waffle on with contradictory advice. His roadmap to the future looked like one of the M25: circular, with the real possibility of finding ourselves back at the start'. He added: 'Remember when you thought we had scraped the barrel with David Cameron and Theresa May? An editorial in The Times says the Prime Minister was hoping to signal 'a shift of emphasis, more than a radical change in the lockdown rules'. It said: 'Though public support for lockdown has held up extremely well, adherence has frayed, with some police officers reporting that they were 'fighting a losing battle' over the bank holiday weekend as parkgoers took advantage of the fine weather. 'That is a battle they can now leave behind them. The path back to normality still looks long and treacherous. Mr Johnson tried to offer hope that, with public co-operation, an exit is within sight. But he was also clear: there is no Plan B'. The Times' sketchwriter Quentin Letts also lampooned the Prime Minister's heavy use of graphs and charts in his 15-minute address. He wrote: 'There was an R speedometer, the needle dancing just below 1, while the alert-level gauge shimmered between 4 and 3. In some ways it felt like an Open University biology module. In others it was the headmaster giving us a stern warning about the dangers of the clap'. The Daily Telegraph, which paid Mr Johnson 275,000 a year for his weekly column until he became PM, printed an opinion piece suggesting this road map had 'vague directions'. Camilla Tominey, the paper's associate editor, writes: 'For nearly two months, we stayed indoors, did what we were told and hoped the end would soon be in sight. 'Yet, in a statement that left more questions than it answered - Boris Johnson last night offered the British public a slither of light at the end of the tunnel but no ETA.' The Sun's Trevor Kavanagh says Mr Johnson has been 'paralysed by indecision, kicking himself for unforced errors, terrified of being blamed for every new death'. However, he suggests the 'public sector 'blob'' has led Mr Johnson's thinking, citing its warnings of 'mass fatalities if the Government makes one false step'. He adds: 'Downing Street is now hostage to the health-and-safety mafia, whipped into line by opportunist public sector unions who have, to coin a phrase, taken back control.' The Mirror called the TV address 'muddled' and Kevin Maguire declared: 'Now proof there is no crisis that Tory charlatan Boris Johnson can't make worse' The Daily Telegraph, which paid Mr Johnson 275,000 a year for his weekly column until he became PM, printed an opinion piece by Camilla Tominey suggesting this road map had 'vague directions' Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail writes that Mr Johnson is walking a 'tightrope' between business, members of the public who are urging reopening, and 'trade unions, perhaps a majority of the public, the devolved administrations (notably the scheming Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland)'. In a piece headlined 'It's hard to see what else he could have done', Mr Glover writes: 'Those who want Britain to get back to work almost immediately will have been disappointed, while the cautious and nervy will be worried he is going too far too quickly, and jeopardising the progress that had been made. 'The question we should ponder is whether, if any of us were in Boris Johnson's shoes, we would act very differently. I don't think most of us would. Let's face it: he's walking a tightrope, and if he leans too far in one or other direction, he is liable to fall off.' Meanwhile, Kevin Maguire in the Daily Mirror, says there is now 'proof there is no crisis that Tory charlatan Boris Johnson can't make worse'. 'Botching an easing of the lockdown was, I suppose, expected from an incompetent PM bungling the fight against the plague and lumbering Britain with Europe's highest official death count,' he adds. The paper's head of politics, Jason Beattie, declared: 'Such a vague message would be laughable were the consequences not so serious'. An organization of Muslims of Nagaland on Monday advised community members stranded outside the state because of the ongoing lockdown to stay put where they are for at least two months. In a statement here, the Muslim Council Dimapur (MCD) said the advisory was issued after consulting community elders and masjid committees of Dimapur and Kohima. Majority of the Muslims of Nagaland live in these two districts. The state government has started the process of registration of its citizens stranded in other parts of the country through a web portal, and it has received over 15,500 applications, said Principal Secretary (Home) Abhijit Sinha. After considering the situation that might arise after the arrival of stranded Muslims into Dimapur and Kohima, the "MCD has decided to advice all stranded Muslims not to return to Nagaland for at least next two months or till such time the Government declare that the situation as normal [sic]," MCD working president Ahidur Rahman said. This decision is taken for the greater interest of the community and the safety and wellbeing of all citizens of Nagaland, Rahman said in the statement. He also informed the stranded people of the community, particularly students, that the MCD would try to help them "in any other way" or request the state government to extend assistance to those in need. One person of Nagaland had tested positive for COVID- 19 in Assam. He recovered and was discharged from a hospital there. Nagaland currently has no active case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (Photo : Screenshot from: Chochilino Radio Facebook Page) Paleontologists have identified the world's oldest squid-like animal with its prey still stuck in its mouth. It's a rare find which was first unearthed on Southern England's Jurassic coast in the 19th century. The fossil has been kept in the collections of the British Geological Survey in the United Kingdom. It dates back to at least 200 million years at the beginning of the Jurassic period. Read Also: [WATCH] COVID-19: Video Shows Particles From Cough Can Reach 12 Feet, Social Distancing Of 6 Feet Not Enough, Experts Say Another creature called 'Clarkeiteuthis Montefiore' is stuck in its jaw Upon observing the 23-inch ancient fossil, scientists reported that it does appear to reveal another creature with a herring-type fish still lodged in its jaws. This creature has been identified to be a Clarkeiteuthis Montefiore. This discovery dates back to the Sinemuriam age which was 190-199 million years ago. A close up image of this shows the damaged head of the Dorsetichthys with the arms of the Clarkeiteuthis Montefiorei still locked around it. According to Syfy, "The research project was headed up by the University of Plymouth, in partnership with the University of Kansas and Dorset-based company, The Forge Fossils. Its extraordinary findings have been accepted for publication in Proceedings of the Geologists' Association and will also be shared a scheduled component of Sharing Geoscience Online, a virtual version of the traditional General Assembly held each year by the European Geosciences Union (EGU)." Emeritus Professor in Plymouth, Malcolm Hart explained that "Since the 19th century, the Blue Lias and Charmouth Mudstone formations of the Dorset coast have provided large numbers of important body fossils that inform our knowledge of coleoid paleontology. In many of these mudstones, specimens of palaeobiological significance have been found, especially those with the arms and hooks with which the living animals caught their prey." He continued saying, "This, however, is a most unusual if not extraordinary fossil as predation events are only very occasionally found in the geological record. It points to a particularly violent attack which ultimately appears to have caused the death, and subsequent preservation, of both animals." Read Also: NASA's X-37B Space Mission Will Be Joined By Space Force's Solar Power Transmission Test; Microwave Energy Will Be Converted Into Electricity Both creatures eventually died and were preserved A handful of researchers believe that the fish was far too large for its attacker or possibly entangled itself in its jaws so they both slowly settled on the seafloor, died, and were preserved eventually. Another theory explains that the Clarkeiteuthis Montefiorei took its prey to the ocean in a tactic called "distraction sinking" to try and reduce the chances of being attacked by other predators. However, it resulted in its suffocation. Hart told Gizmodo that "The predation is off-the-scale in terms of rare occurrence. There are only a very few specimens-between five to 10-known from the Jurassic, and this is the only one from this stratigraphical level in Dorset. It is also the oldest known in any part of the world." Read Also: 'Do Female Astronauts Have a Greater Risk for Blood Clots Than Male Astronauts During Spaceflight? Study Examines the Evidence 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Anticipating attack on security forces, high level security arrangements were put in place across Kashmir on 17th Ramadan, the day of Badr, when a few hundred Muslims led by Prophet Muhammad took on their powerful opponents in Arabia and won. The attack was speculated as militants have also targeted security forces in the valley on this day on several occasions in the past. Last year also, there were similar reports about the possibility of attack on 17th Ramadhan. Keeping in view, the past experiences when militants chose this day to target security forces on this day, the security was beefed up in Kashmir, a senior security officer said. Meanwhile, mobile internet that was suspended last week after Hizbul operational commander Riyaz Naikoo was gunned down by security forces at his village Beghpora in Pulwama was yet to be restored. Keeping in view the two attacks on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in north Kashmirs Sopore and Handwara areas which left six CRPF personnel dead and more than five injured, the officials were apprehending similar attacks on CRPF. During a high level meeting in Baramulla last week, IG Kashmir Vijay Kumar had asked forces personnel, especially CRPF, to maintain vigil on ROP and Naka duties to foil militants bid to attack them. Meanwhile, additional checking points were set up on national highways and other sensitive places and messages were passed to security installations asking them to be on alert. Even the armys RR units have enhanced the mobile patrolling in towns and villages. Meanwhile, the day passed off peacefully without any attack on forces in the Valley. 2G INTERNET TO BE RESTORED AFTER RAMADAN 17 Top officials told HT that only once Ramadan 17 passes of peacefully that the 2G services could be restored in the Valley. Sources said that the government had decided to restore prepaid mobile phones on Friday night, however, during a high level meeting attended by top officials of security agencies in Srinagar, it was decided that mobile internet would remain suspended till Monday. It was decided to restore internet only after Ramadhan 17, as there were inputs that security forces might come under attack on this day , the security officer said. Kashmir divisional commissioner Pandurang K Pole termed the suspension of internet as temporary. The mobile internet will be restored soon, he said. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver an address to the nation on Monday afternoon, the Kremlin press service said, reports TASS. The president will focus on the social and epidemiological situation in the country and new measures of supporting citizens and national economy, the press service said. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would deliver his address at the beginning of a meeting devoted to the situation with the coronavirus spread. Since the start of the pandemic, Putin has addressed the nation several times. In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global pandemic and named the virus COVID-19. According to the data of the World Health Organization, coronavirus cases have been confirmed in more than 212 countries and territories. Fire engulfed Al-Amin filling station located at Elebu area of Ibadan on Monday, and completely razed the station. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that two shops inside the petrol station and a section of a building behind it were also destroyed by the fire. NAN also reports that money from sales made for the day, which was said to be kept inside one of the stores in the filling station was also destroyed by the fire. One of the workers in the station, Shina Siba, said the fire started suddenly when a tanker loaded with 33,000 litres of petrol was off-loading into the underground tank. Mr Siba said the fire started around 4.20 p.m. and it took the fire service about 40 minutes to arrive at the scene of the fire outbreak. He said that everything inside the filing station got burnt, adding that he was still in shock and could not even recollect other things affected by the fire at that moment. Omole Ayodeji, Station Officer, Federal Fire Service, said that the service responded promptly when they got the call. We got a call about an hour ago and we did not get exactly what was going on but on getting here we met the filling station on fire and it had already spread out to the building behind it. So, we went to the building behind and put off the fire first to stop further spread to other buildings, before coming back to put off the fire at the filling station. We are not sure of what caused the fire but l think what happened was that the tanker was off- loading and maybe there was a spark which caused the fire, he said. Sakirat Ogunayo, Principal Fire Service Superintendent, Oyo State Fire Service, said no casualty was recorded during the inferno. Ms Ogunayo said the filling station was located around residential buildings, adding that the fire could have escalated if not for the prompt arrival of officers of the fire service. She called on filling station owners to always leave gap between the station and residential buildings. (NAN) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 01:54:09|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People shop at a flower market in downtown Los Angeles, the United States, May 8, 2020. (Xinhua) Officials, health institutions and charities in Los Angeles are helping feed the frontline workers in the COVID-19 fight. LOS ANGELES, May 10 (Xinhua) -- To express gratitude for frontline workers fighting the novel coronavirus, local officials, health institutions and charities have partnered in providing hot meals to hospital workers and firefighters. The LAC+USC Medical Center, a 600-bed public and academic teaching hospital in Los Angeles and BAPS Charities served up to 8,000 hot meals to doctors, nurses and hospital support staff workers. LAC+USC Medical Center, a level-one trauma center run by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS), is one of the largest public hospitals in the United States and a leading hospital for training health professionals in the state of California. The nutritious, vegetarian meals were prepared by BAPS Shayona, the catering affiliate of the non-religious BAPS Charities, and served by volunteers. "These kind of heartwarming gestures mean the world to healthcare workers like us," Sarah Hamil, a nurse trainee at Huntington, told Xinhua. "It's really tough right now and it's so important to know people care." In Los Angeles, among such support to healthcare workers is also the weeks-long "Help Feed the Frontlines Fighting COVID-19 - LA" campaign, which is jointly organized by local residents. The grouping currently serves 14,000 hot meals per week to 16 hospitals and fire station locations, including sites like UCLA, Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, Cedars-Sinai medical center, and Kaiser Permanente, at a daily cost of 12,500 U.S. dollars for lunch and dinner for 1,000 healthcare staff. Its efforts are funded through donations and partnered with the non-profit World Central Kitchen organization. It is also reported that currently, many local restaurants from high-end eateries to fast food chains are working as part of meal donations online to Los Angeles' frontline workers. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 10 By Ilkin Seyfaddini Trend: Since 1993, UNIDO has completed around 15 stand-alone projects in Uzbekistan and provided technical assistance and policy advice for national investment promotion, sustainable employment and entrepreneurship development, export-oriented trade, cleaner production, business incubators and enterprise development, Jacek Cukrowski, Chief of the Europe and Central Asia Division of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) told Trend. Cukrowski added that UNIDO has been actively expanding its activities in Central Asia through various country and regional projects, as well as global forum events. "One of the examples is a recently completed project on regional quality policy (RQP) formulation in the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) countries. It resulted in the preparation of a needs assessment of the national quality infrastructure and a document on RQP in the ECO countries. The project also supported capacity building of experts to implement those policies," he said. "Another one of UNIDOs big activities - project "Fostering inclusive and sustainable industrial development in the New Silk Road Economic Belt (NSREB): Leveraging potentials of industrial parks, zones and cities in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan" was implemented in 2016-2018 in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The objective of the project was to enhance inclusive and sustainable industrial development in the New Silk Road Economic Belt. The project facilitated the establishment of the NSREB industrial park knowledge sharing platform and the creation of a strategic and operational framework and action plan for business infrastructure development," said Cukrowski. He also stressed that Uzbekistan is one of the worlds leading cotton exporters and ranks third after China and India in global silk production. "While the government places great emphasis on attracting foreign investment, modernization and increasing exports of the silk and textile industries, UNIDO is ready to support this effort," Cukrowski said. He said that currently, there are five pipeline project proposals with a total tentative/planned budget of $13,3 million under the joint consideration by UNIDO and Uzbekistan." Among the projects are: Silk processing industry upgrading in Uzbekistan with tentative budget $2 million; Innovative Industrial Park for Human Resources Development in Natural Fibres Industry of Uzbekistan (Textile Industry Skills upgrading in Fergana region of Uzbekistan) with tentative budget $6,5 million; Sustainable upgrading, industrial design and branding for textile and garment industry in Uzbekistan with tentative budget $2,1 million; Establishment of a Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange Program (SPX) in Uzbekistan with tentative budget $700,000; Industrial Policy for Enhanced Productivity and Competitiveness, developed in response to the official request from the Ministry of Innovative Development of Uzbekistan, with a budget of $1.99 million. "To realize these projects, it is important that the Government of Uzbekistan remains committed to drive a funds mobilization effort in cooperation with UNIDO," Cukrowski said. He pointed out that UNIDO will support Uzbekistans efforts to join the WTO, as well as its efforts to push industrial development. "UNIDOs activities to promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development will help Uzbekistan in building productive and export capabilities which are essential to reap full benefits of future WTO membership. This will stimulate economic growth and job creation, as well as the transition towards resource efficient and clean industrial production", said Cukrowski. UNIDO is the specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. Its mandate is to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial development in Member States. UNIDO provides a variety of technical cooperation services to promote increased access to energy for productive uses while at the same time supporting patterns of energy use by industry that mitigate climate change and are otherwise environmentally sustainable. --- Follow author on Twitter: @seyfaddini The beach community in Santa Cruz, California, is mourning the death of local surfer Ben Kelly after the 26-year-old died in a shark attack on Saturday. Kelly was attacked about 100 yards off Manresa State Beach south of Santa Cruz at about 1:30 p.m., according to state officials. Ben Kelly, 26, a surfer and local business owner in Santa Cruz, California, was killed in a shark attack over the weekend. (Ben Kelly/ Facebook) The lifeguard on duty was flagged down by a citizen on the beach who said there had been a shark attack. Two surfers who were with Kelly were able to get him to shore, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a statement by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Kelly is the first person to be killed in a shark attack in Northern California since an abalone diver in 2004 in Mendocino County. The nearby beach is now closed for a mile in each direction according to protocol following a shark attack. Surfing was an integral part of Kelly's life and also his livelihood, as he owned a local business as a surfboard shaper. He also frequently went surfing with Katie Kelly, his wife of two years. "He passed away doing something he really loved,'' legendary Santa Cruz big wave surfer and local surf shop owner Peter Mel told Schwartz. "He's one of those guys, you know, he knew the risks. You hope it doesn't happen, but it wasn't anything where he was making a mistake." People have been leaving tributes to Kelly on old posts on his surf shop's Instagram. "Shreddin in sky above, forever,'' one person wrote. "May God bless your family during this heartbreaking time." "Rest In Peace catch some perfect waves in heaven," another wrote. Authorities are still not sure what kind of shark attacked Kelly. "It's an inherent risk with surfing and being in the water," Gabe McKenna, public safety superintendent for California State Parks, said at a news conference. "But it's completely tragic." Covid-19 will go away without vaccine: Donald Trump on health crisis Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, asserted that the Covid-19 pandemic might 'go away' without a vaccine. He made the comment while being asked about the importance of a vaccine in the fight against the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus. Trump said that after the virus 'goes away', there might still be some flare-ups, but the authorities would be able to 'put them out'. He added that having a vaccine would be 'very helpful'. There is a global race to develop a vaccine against the virus which has killed over 2.7 lakh people so far. ...read more The President of the Commercial Union of Luxembourg City (UCVL) was RTL Radio's daily guest on Monday morning. No businesses have filed for bankruptcy in Luxembourg City to date, UCVL President Guill Kaempff said. He did explain, however, that numerous businesses (mainly chains) have cancelled their rental agreements. Kaempff regrets the fact that the government was not consistent enough with its rental support for these businesses. Lastly, trade in the city will not look or function the way it did before. Kaempff has appealed to the government to extend its partial unemployment measures until the end of 2020. Under the system, the employees of businesses that have had to close down due to the pandemic continue to receive their monthly salary, up to 2,5 times the minimum wage. Despite businesses opening again, the level of trade and activities is far from normal, and it would seem unfair for business owners to have to pay the full wage to their employees without a return to regular sales. On air, Guill Kaempff questioned Minister of Labour Dan Kersch on whether he'd rather have people on partial unemployment or permanent unemployment. Customers will not suddenly go out to shops again just because they are open from 11 May, Kaempff believes. He nevertheless is assured that shopping is safe. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 10 Trend: Heydar Aliyev International Airport was once again awarded the prestigious Skytrax World Airport Awards, Trend reports citing the airport's press service. Based on the results of the conducted audit, the airport of Azerbaijans capital was named the best among all world airports with an annual passenger traffic of up to 5 million people. This was ahead of airports from many different global regions, including Europe, South America, the Middle East, and the Americas. Moreover, Heydar Aliyev International Airport was recognized as the best among the air harbours of all CIS countries for the fourth year in a row. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the suspension of international passenger traffic around the world, this year the Skytrax World Airport Awards ceremony was published online from London. We have a sense of immense pride for our airport being once again granted the highest Skytrax award. Thanks to the direct attention and constant care of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, the civil aviation of our country is developing rapidly achieving further significant success in the international arena. And today's high recognition is a great honour for all of us. Despite the suspension of most flights, Im sure that with the resumption of airlines operations the Baku airport will continue to provide the full range of services at the highest level,- said the President of AZAL, Mr. Jahangir Askerov. Baku Heydar Aliyev Airport has established itself amongst the world's favourite regional airports, and clearly continues to delight passengers on each journey. Certainly, within the region, the airport is a leader for terminal design, passenger comfort, and facilities which is a big factor in the support it receives, - said Mr Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax. The World Airport Awards are the most prestigious accolades for the airport industry, voted by customers in the largest, annual global airport customer satisfaction survey. They are regarded as the quality benchmark for the world airport industry, assessing customer service and facilities across over 550 airports. The survey and awards are independent of any airport control or input. The Awards are based on the World Airport Survey questionnaires completed by over 100 nationalities of airport customers during the 6-month survey period. The survey evaluated the customer experience across airport service and product key performance indicators - from check- in, arrivals, transfers, shopping, security and immigration through to departure at the gate. Human Rights Lawyer Wang Quanzhang Finally Reunites With Family Its been nearly five years since Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang was separated from his family. Wangs return to Beijing on Monday evening marked the long-awaited family reunion. Wang, his wife Li Wenzu, and their son were finally together. Wang had been kept under house arrest in Jinan, Shandong, and the Chinese authorities released him this month. His wife, Li Wenzu, was hospitalized in Beijing on April 26 for acute appendicitis. According to Wangs friend, a family members signature would be required to operate on Li for her acute appendicitis. The friend told Wang, If you dont make it back, then no one would be able to sign for her operation. Her dad and her sister are both from Hubei, they wouldnt even be able to enter Beijing even if they tried to come back. Wang left Jinan on Sunday, hoping to see his wife and child on the same day. However, he was stopped by local police on the highway immediately upon departure. Local police escorted Wang to the station, and they waited for further instructions from government officials. During Wangs interview on Sunday with Voice of America, he said that although he had been deprived of his political rights, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) continued to infringe on his personal liberty by stopping him en route to Beijing for a family reunion. Wang said, I havent been able to even leave this area. I was stopped at the highway entrance. I was annoyed, worried, and tired at the same time. On April 27, Wang Xiaoling, a relative of another 709 human rights lawyer, tweeted that Wang Quanzhang was escorted by car by the Jinan police during his entire journey to Beijing. After learning of the suffering endured by Wangs family, Zhu Shengwu, a former human rights lawyer from Shandong who currently resides in Canada, said that this tactic is used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on dissidents and political prisoners to spread fear around the world and among its own citizens. Zhu said, The reason for their treatment may be to spread fear, to allow more people to learn about the ruthless nature of the CCP. The CCPs rule within China is to intentionally mistreat well-known political prisoners, to intentionally abuse them, and to intentionally spread fear for the world to see. Its especially done to let the Chinese people see that the CCP would resort to, no matter how extreme, to maintain the control. With demand for disinfectants higher than ever amid the coronavirus pandemic the president of Clorox said consumers should expect to see an improvement of inventory in stores this summer. PHOTO: Linda Rendle, President of Clorox, speaks to 'Good Morning America,' on May 11, 2020. (ABC News) President Linda Rendle joined "Good Morning America" Monday to discuss the heightened need for the company's products, saying, "We will expect improvement come this summer." "It will all depend on the demand, but we are doing everything in our power to ensure that we get products to store and that includes running our cleaning plants 24-hours a day, 7 days a week," she explained. "We're contracting with third party suppliers who are helping make product for us, as well as ensuring that we are prioritizing making products that disinfect in our cleaning lineup and that's going to help us get into a better position in the summer." In the meantime, Rendle explained that while the wipes are in short supply and "being snagged just about as soon as they hit shelves ... the good news is we're delivering wipes to stores every single day." "We've seen unprecedented spike in demand for wipes, up 500% versus a year ago, but we're working with everything feasible in our power to get as many disinfecting products to people as quickly as we can," Rendle said. Help spread protection with Clorox disinfecting products that kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses* on your surfaces. pic.twitter.com/AeexGcxX2w Clorox (@Clorox) April 8, 2020 She also noted that "most of this is new users and everybody wants products on hand so they can disinfect and keep themselves safe during this time." PHOTO: A container of Clorox disinfecting wipes in a kitchen in Culver City, Calif., on April 24, 2020. (Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images, FILE) Rendle did, however, take the opportunity to remind consumers that stockpiling isn't the answer. "We have seen some people stockpile and we would encourage all of those people who have a little too much at home to help share with everyone else so we all have the disinfecting products that we need," she said. Story continues @RedStateMojoWhile Our goal is to provide as many people as possible with the disinfecting products they're seeking. We're working around the clock to restock as many different retailers and geographic locations as possible at this time. Thanks for your patience. -Monique Clorox (@Clorox) April 20, 2020 Additionally, she said Clorox has "absolutely zero tolerance for price gouging," adding that "everyone should be able to get the disinfecting products they need at standard prices." The company has partnered with both state and federal authorities "to ensure that we're stopping the third parties from price gouging online," she said. "The good news is we have seen improvement, but we're continuing to monitor daily to ensure that we do not see that continued activity." As for Clorox employees, Rendle said there are enhanced safety protocols in manufacturing facilities, including temperature scanning, face coverings and social distancing. "We've also enhanced benefits and pay for those workers who ensure that they're able to deliver as many products as possible so we're ready for whatever the future holds," she added. ^Thank you @CloroxCo for helping us help our frontline health workers at #Partner4Health clinics and health centers! : @Clorox disinfecting wipes have been donated to 177 health centers in 38 states! pic.twitter.com/151gAueAoE Americares: Our #Partner4Health LIVE on Tweet! (@Americares) April 15, 2020 Clorox has donated $14 million "in cash and product to help through organizations like the CDC Foundation, the American Red Cross and direct relief," she said. "In direct relief we were able to get essential products like masks -- over 2 million masks -- to hospitals in need over the last couple of months," Rendle said. Clorox also created a 55 gallon drum of Clorox bleach that Rendle said has been donated to some of the largest health care facilities in the country. "That allows each one of those hospitals to clean up to 14,000 rooms so that they can keep their employees and their patients safe," she explained. Rendle also took a moment to "thank everybody, all the caregivers and essential workers that are working so hard to keep our community safe and our hearts go out to everybody who's been affected by COVID-19." When to expect more Clorox wipes at the store originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com RICHMOND, Va. During a push to accelerate the review of parole-eligible inmates because of the coronavirus pandemic, Virginia released dozens of violent offenders, including killers, rapists and kidnappers, blindsiding prosecutors and victims families who say they were not properly notified as required by law, a review by The Associated Press has found. I mean, good grief. What, they were never going to tell us and here we are thinking this killer is still in jail? said Juanita Gillis, who was informed by an AP reporter that the man who fatally shot her brother in 1993 was paroled by the board in March. Thomas Runyons killer, Dwayne Markee Reid, was among at least 35 people convicted in killings who were granted parole in March, according to an Associated Press review of parole board records, court records and interviews with prosecutors. Ninety-five inmates were paroled in March, the most recent month for which decisions are public, just over half the number approved in all of 2019. Many of those released had served decades in prison. The Parole Board, already inclined to grant parole prior to the pandemic, felt that expediting certain cases was appropriate due to age of the offender, underlying health conditions, and the Board was confident that the release was compatible with public safety, board chair Tonya Chapman, who took over that role in April, wrote in an email. She said that in normal circumstances theres usually time for prosecutor notification, however, these are unprecedented times. Brian Moran, Virginias secretary of public safety and homeland security, said Gov. Ralph Northams administration has full confidence in the board and its ability to decide which offenders have been reformed. Moran has repeatedly emphasized that only a small number of the approximately 30,000 inmates held in state prisons about 2,300 are eligible for parole and that under Virginias parole system, the majority of those have been locked up for a long time after committing violent crimes. Virginia lawmakers abolished discretionary parole in 1995, so most inmates who are eligible either committed their crimes before then or are older than 60 and meet certain conditions making them eligible for geriatric release. These are tough cases, Moran said. Some prosecutors are outraged about releases in their jurisdictions and have criticized the board for what they say is a lack of transparency and communication. The board is largely exempt from Virginias public records law and does not explain its reasoning for granting releases. These are the most violent criminals you can get, said Phil Ferguson, the longtime commonwealths attorney in Suffolk, where Reid was charged. Reid was 16 when he shot Runyon during an attempted drug buy, according to Runyons sister and news accounts of his trial, where a prosecutor called the shooting a killing for fun. He had already served time in a juvenile correctional facility in connection with a previous killing, according to Ferguson. Attempts to reach him and the attorney who represented him at trial were not successful. Chapman said the board attempted to notify the Runyon family using a national, online victim notification system called VINE. Unfortunately, there was only one anonymous phone number registered in VINE and it was no longer in service, she wrote in an email. The board has one part-time employee assigned as the victim services coordinator, and Chapman said that since she took the role of chair April 16, she has used an investigator to help with locating potential victims. In Halifax County, along the North Carolina border, Commonwealths Attorney Tracy Quackenbush Martin has objected to the geriatric release of Debra Scribner, a 66-year-old convicted in 2011 of first-degree murder, conspiracy and a firearms charge in the death of her son-in-law, Eric Wynn. Martin said she was not notified of Scribners impending release as required by state law and questioned why the board would release someone convicted of such a serious crime who has spent less than 10 years in prison. Will people start to think, no matter what a jury says, that they can kill their enemies and be out in five so long as they wait until they are 60? Martin wrote in an email. Kevin Wynn, Eric Wynns brother, said he also was not notified of the boards decision. I think we were passed over like we were nothing, he said. After he learned of Scribners release, Wynn found out that the board had sent him a letter with the wrong address. Wynn said hes lived in the same home for more than 20 years, well before Scribners arrest. State code says the parole board must endeavor diligently to contact the victim before making any decision to release an inmate on discretionary parole, and the definition of a victim in a homicide includes relatives. Neither Scribner nor her attorney at trial could be reached. Criminal justice reform advocates have long said the state is too stingy with parole. Shannon Ellis, an attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center, said it isnt fair to criticize the release of a prisoner only because of their offense. I think you have to ask a lot more questions including how long that person had served, whether that person under any credible assessment would be considered a danger to the public, to what degree does keeping a person incarcerated during a crisis like this could that be giving them a death sentence? Ellis said. But Gillis, Runyons sister, said she doesnt think the now-43-year-old Reid deserves the freedom hes been granted. He killed a human being. Doesnt that mean anything anymore? she said. ___ Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak. On this weeks episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick spoke with national security analyst and executive editor of Lawfare Susan Hennessey about the Department of Justices sudden and shocking decision to drop charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Read their conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity, below. Dahlia Lithwick: Will you just walk us through the zigs and zags of Michael Flynns actions in the transition and what he pleaded guilty to in 2017? Advertisement Susan Hennessey: This is a little bit of a strange and winding tale of the worlds briefest stint as national security adviser. The core of the issue here is that during the transition period, Michael Flynn had a phone call with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, immediately following the Obama administrations announcement that it was imposing sanctions and retaliation for Russian interference in the 2016 election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And in this phone conversation, Flynn essentially says, Dont respond. The implication of this is that there will be more favorable treatment when the new administration comes in. Kislyak, in fact, doesnt respond. The Russians decide not to retaliate in response to the sanctions. The current United States government at the time is kind of scratching their heads. They were prepared for the Russians to retaliate. They want to know what happened. And so they start investigating, and they find this phone call between Flynn and Kislyak. Advertisement Advertisement The FBI interviews Michael Flynn to ask about this call. They already have the transcripts, so they know whats on it. And in the course of that interview, Michael Flynn lies. He says that he didnt mention sanctions during this call at all. And its a crime to lie to federal investigators. Fast forward to December 2017. Michael Flynn pleads guilty, admits that he lied, that he knew his statements were false at the time. And then theres been this prolonged period of cooperation. Over the past six or eight months, Michael Flynn has changed his mind. Hes attempted to withdraw his guilty plea. He suggested that theres been misconduct by the federal government. In the past couple of weeks, the president of the United States has suggested he might pardon Michael Flynn. And then Thursday evening, in a surprise turn of events, the Justice Department actually decided to drop charges against Michael Flynn entirely and essentially abandon the plea agreement. Advertisement Advertisement It is an understatement to call it unusual for the Department of Justice to drop charges after somebody has already pleaded guilty to them. And so that leads us to where we are now with serious questions about why this course of action was undertaken at the Department of Justice and what it means about apolitical law enforcement moving forward. Advertisement Advertisement A lot of folks think: Whats the difference between if Trump had pardoned him or if the DOJ just decides to drop charges? But institutionally, its a great big deal for the DOJ to step in here. It is significant. Theres been a question about whether Trump might pardon people like Flynn or Paul Manafort or Roger Stone. And I would argue that were he to do so, that would be an abuse of his presidential office, an abuse of the pardon power. But it would trigger a separate set of questions and potential checks and balances. Advertisement Advertisement What weve seen Bill Barr do a number of times is short-circuit that process. When the president was suggesting he might pardon Roger Stone, Bill Barr directed a last-minute about-face for the Department of Justice, where they suddenly recommended a much lower sentence in his case after hed been convicted of charges. Here again, right as it seemed as though the president was prepared to pardon Michael Flynn, Bill Barr intervenes to have those charges dropped. Advertisement Advertisement It might seem sort of insignificant because the outcome probably would have been the same either way, but it is significant because what Bill Barr is doing is politicizing and departing from long-standing positions in ways that will actually have significance on future cases and raise really alarming questions about the perception that the Department of Justice now functions as an organization that protects and defends the presidents friends, family, and political cronies and targets his enemies. And that of course is an incredibly alarming place for our country to find itself in. Advertisement In a weird way, this feels like Michael Flynn is sort of a vestige of an earlier time, even in the Trump era, where if you lied, and you endangered national security in so doing by putting yourself in a potentially compromised situation, everyone agreed that was bad. And now were in this brave new world where as long as you lie for Trump, youre OK. And in a strange way, it makes me almost nostalgic for the good old days of 2017, where at least there was some agreement across the ideological spectrum that the Justice Department wasnt going to bend over backward to protect Trumps friends for lying for him. Am I too cynical? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I dont think its too cynical. Look, you can have lots of good-faith criticisms about the sort of investigative and prosecutorial processes that occur at the DOJ and FBI every day. The bottom line, though, is that theres no question that Michael Flynn is getting special and different treatments because he is a political ally of the president. And as soon as we start accepting and tolerating this notion that the law is different, depending on your status of favor with the individuals in power, that not just begins, but in some cases completes, a process of constitutional rot whereby our institutions are formally still standingthe rule of law still exists on paper, theres still an FBI, theres still a DOJbut they arent being used for the legitimate purposes of evenhanded justice, and instead are being used as tools of favor and protection or punishment and persecution based on political standing. And that is antithetical to core American values and core values of democracy. Listen to this episode, in which Dahlia also discusses the Little Sisters case and the telephonic Supreme Court arguments, below, or subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts. Actor Shilpa Shetty, who welcomed daughter Samisha through surrogacy earlier this year, has spoken about why she chose the route for having a baby. The actor and husband Raj Kundra have a son, Viaan Raj, together. Talking about how she always wanted a sibling for her son, Shilpa told Pinkvilla in an interview, After Viaan, I did want to have another child for the longest time. But I suffered from an auto immune disease called APLA and that came into play every time I get pregnant. So I had a couple of miscarriages so it was a genuine issue. Shilpa explained that she also tried adoption. I didnt want Viaan to grow up as a single child, because Im also one of two and I know how important it is to have a sibling. Coming from that thought, I did explore other ideas as well but that didnt pan out well. At a time when I wanted to adopt, I had put in my name and everything was underway. But then, the Christian missionary shut down because they had a tiff with Kara. I waited for nearly four years and then, I was so irritated and we decided to try the surrogacy route, Shilpa revealed. She went on to say that Samisha was born after three attempts. We had been trying for second child for five years. I had signed Nikamma and had committed my dates to Hungama when I got the news that in February, we were going to be parents again. We cleared our work schedules for the whole month, Shilpa had earlier told Hindustan Times. Also Watch | Malaika Arora, Kangana Ranaut, Shilpa Shetty sizzle on ramp She also explained the meaning of Samisha: Sa in Sanskrit is to have, and Misha in Russian stands for someone like God. You personify this name - our Goddess Laxmi, and complete our family, Shilpa had said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Ministry of Finance on May 11 dismissed reports of a proposal for introducing a salary cut for central government employees. The clarification from the ministry came after reports in the media that the government was planning a pay cut for its employees. There is no proposal under consideration of Govt for any cut whatsoever in the existing salary of any category of central government employees. The reports in some section of media are false and have no basis whatsoever.@nsitharamanoffc @PIB_India @DDNewslive @airnewsalerts Ministry of Finance #StayHome #StaySafe (@FinMinIndia) May 11, 2020 The finance ministry tweeted: Earlier in the day, Union Minister Jitendra Singh also rubbished all such reports. He tweeted: Scientists have long been puzzled by how Chinook salmon navigate from the Pacific Ocean around Alaska and Canada to freshwater rivers and streams to lay eggs during mating season. A new study suggests the fish are guided not by instinct but magnetic pulses from the Earth, which help the salmon keep track of their bearings throughout the year. The salmon are able to sense these magnetic signals thanks to small magnetoreceptors made up of magnetite crystals, which work as a kind of biological GPS receiver. A new study has revealed that Chinook salmon have small magnetite crystals in their bodies, which help them sense magnetic pulses from the Earth, using it as a kind of GPS to keep track of where they are Magnetite crystals are natural magnetic minerals that have been observed in other animals that use pulses in the Earth's magnetic field to track where they are, including rats, birds, sea turtles, and lobsters. 'To our knowledge, these results are the first to demonstrate that a magnetic pulse affects orientation behavior in fish,' claims the report, from a team at Oregon State University, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and LGL Ecological Research Associates. To test the salmon's sensitivity to magnetic radiation, the team used an electrified coil system that can reverse the polarity of magnetic particles in water to test the reaction of three different groups of fish. One group was exposed to a conventional magnetic pulse that matched what would be found in the open ocean, while another group was exposed to a manipulated pulse meant to misdirect the fish into swimming in a different direction than they normally would. A third group was used as a control and subjected to no magnetic pulses as at all. The team found that the control group seemed to swim around at random, while the fish exposed to the altered magnetic pulse swam largely in the direction of the altered pulse. The group exposed to the conventional magnetic pulses swam in ways that were essentially identical to how other Chinook salmon have been observed to move in the ocean. The salmon lose track of the magnetic pulse in freshwater, and the researchers believe they instead use a complex system of chemical sensing organs to navigate upstream to lay and fertilize eggs One lingering mystery is how the salmon continue to navigate once they leave the ocean and enter freshwater rivers and streams during mating season. The salmon lose contact with the Earth's magnetic pulses in freshwater and the researchers believe the salmon shift to a still mysterious chemical sensing system to guide them. According to Oregon State's David Noakes, these two systems work in tandem with one another. '(A salmon) goes through a special kind of learning when its incubating and just before it leaves the river,' Noakes told The Sacramento Bee. 'It pays very close attention to the chemical nature of the water its exposed to. The same way you remember your grandmothers kitchen from the smell of baking bread and chocolate cookies and that kind of stuff.' When young salmon reach the mouth of the river where they were born they begin to sense magnetic pulses from the Earth, Noakes says, creating the equivalent of a GPS pin for that specific location. As they move through the ocean, they're able to consistently orient themselves in relation to the position where they first started receiving magnetic pulses, which allows them to return again to reproduce. 'In the big picture, these salmon know where they are, where they're supposed to be, how to get there and how to make corrections if needed,' Noakes said. 'While they're in freshwater, they're imprinting upon the chemical nature of the water. When they hit salt water, they switch over to geomagnetic cues and lock in that latitude and longitude, knowing they need to come back to those coordinates.' Millions of Americans have received their federal stimulus checks in the past four weeks. The IRS has updated its data on just how much emergency relief has been sent. And it shows which states received the most money. Congress gave the green light through the Cares Act for the government to send stimulus payments of up to $1,200 per individual or $2,400 per married couple, plus $500 for children under 17. Those payments are targeted at low- to middle-income workers. That includes individuals making up to $75,000 or married couples who file jointly earning up to $150,000. More from Invest in You: Here's how to invest like Warren Buffett Tips from people who didn't save till their 40s or 50s You'll probably regret that timeshare, car payment For income above those income levels, the amount of the checks is reduced and ultimately phases out completely at $99,000 for individuals and $198,000 for couples filing jointly. More than $200 billion has been sent to roughly 130 million American so far, the IRS said on Friday. And the government is not finished. More than 150 million checks are expected to be distributed. "The vast majority of payments have been delivered in record time, and millions more are on the way every week," IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a statement. The chart below shows how the economic impact payments have been distributed by state, according to the latest IRS data. The turtle is known as one of the avatars of the Hindu god, Vishnu. Sometimes, turtles are placed as a votive object in a temples foundations or at its centre. As for the turtle we found, we dont know its purpose yet. However, according to our preliminary assessment, the turtle was probably prepared to be placed at the temples foundation, said Mr Socheat. It could also be a valuable stone, which was placed for the celebration of any religious ceremony during that time, he added. He said such sculptures and crystal stones had also been found at other temples, such as the Lor Ley and Neak Pean temples. However, Mr Socheat noted the turtle sculptures found in the past were smaller than the present relic discovered at Kandal Srah Srang Temple. Although previous studies were conducted about the temple, there has been no in-depth research about it, where various objects have been buried. Our recent discovery can help explain the history of the temple, including the religious ceremonies that were once performed here, he said. ( Source Cambodias Apsara National Authority discovered a large turtle (Vishnu Kurma Murti )sculpted from sandstone at the Kandal Srah Srang temple of Siem Reap provinces Angkor Archaeological Park. The statue, which measures approximately 22 by 37 inches, is estimated to be about 1,000 years old, and may have been used in the preparation of offerings to the Hindu god Vishnu associated with the Sea of Milk churning ceremony. You have to make your voice do everything, James Monroe Iglehart said. If you have seen Iglehart onstage as the genie in Aladdin, say, or as Jefferson in Hamilton you will have admired his nifty footwork and kinetic facial expressions. Those dont matter now. In his apartment, in front of his really expensive microphone, he creates characters with vocals alone. Since theaters shut down in March, some Broadway actors have found a new stage. Over the last month, a host of audio dramas and musicals have appeared: Little Did I Know, about recent college grads who take over a summer theater; Bleeding Love, about a post-apocalyptic city in which people are afraid to go outside; Dracula, a Comedy of Terrors, about well, Dracula; Closing the Distance, an anthology series about quarantine; and The Pack Podcast, another anthology series. These shows have been assembled, wholly or in part, by stage actors in isolation. Some, like Iglehart, who has done voices for Disney series, and Annaleigh Ashford, who played a troll in Frozen (Im very proud of that) have considerable voice-over experience. Others have little or none. Among them, they have recoded only a handful of audiobooks, a reliable source of income for actors between live jobs. All are trying to master the forms technical specifics the spit or the plosive ps, those things get in the way, Kelli OHara said and pull off decent sound quality while stuck at home. Its been really challenging with a 3-three-year-old, Ashford said. But in offices, bathrooms and beneath duvets, they are making themselves heard. Researchers at King's College London, Massachusetts General Hospital and health science company ZOE have developed an artificial intelligence diagnostic that can predict whether someone is likely to have COVID-19 based on their symptoms. Their findings are published today in Nature Medicine. The AI model uses data from the COVID Symptom Study app to predict COVID-19 infection, by comparing people's symptoms and the results of traditional COVID tests. Researchers say this may provide help for populations where access to testing is limited. Two clinical trials in the UK and the US are due to start shortly. More than 3.3 million people globally have downloaded the app and are using it to report daily on their health status, whether they feel well or have any new symptoms such as persistent cough, fever, fatigue and loss of taste or smell (anosmia). In this study, the researchers analysed data gathered from just under 2.5 million people in the UK and US who had been regularly logging their health status in the app, around a third of whom had logged symptoms associated with COVID-19. Of these, 18,374 reported having had a test for coronavirus, with 7,178 people testing positive. The research team investigated which symptoms known to be associated with COVID-19 were most likely to be associated with a positive test. They found a wide range of symptoms compared to cold and flu, and warn against focusing only on fever and cough. Indeed, they found loss of taste and smell (anosmia) was particularly striking, with two thirds of users testing positive for coronavirus infection reporting this symptom compared with just over a fifth of the participants who tested negative. The findings suggest that anosmia is a stronger predictor of COVID-19 than fever, supporting anecdotal reports of loss of smell and taste as a common symptom of the disease. The researchers then created a mathematical model that predicted with nearly 80% accuracy whether an individual is likely to have COVID-19 based on their age, sex and a combination of four key symptoms: loss of smell or taste, severe or persistent cough, fatigue and skipping meals. Applying this model to the entire group of over 800,000 app users experiencing symptoms predicted that just under a fifth of those who were unwell (17.42%) were likely to have COVID-19 at that time. Researchers suggest that combining this AI prediction with widespread adoption of the app could help to identify those who are likely to be infectious as soon as the earliest symptoms start to appear, focusing tracking and testing efforts where they are most needed. Professor Tim Spector from King's College London said: "Our results suggest that loss of taste or smell is a key early warning sign of COVID-19 infection and should be included in routine screening for the disease. We strongly urge governments and health authorities everywhere to make this information more widely known, and advise anyone experiencing sudden loss of smell or taste to assume that they are infected and follow local self-isolation guidelines." ### Teaching unions have raised serious concerns about the governments plan to start reopening schools from 1 June, describing it as reckless and unsafe. This comes as more than 390,000 people signed a petition calling for parents to be given the choice to send their children back to school next month. In his Sunday night address to the country, Boris Johnson said the start of June was the earliest possible date to consider the phased reopening of schools, beginning with pupils in reception classes, year 1 and year 6. Nurseries are also set to be covered in the initial phase, with the aim that all primary school children would return to class by the summer. The government is also hoping to allow secondary school pupils with exams next year to get at least some time with their teachers before the holidays, Mr Johnson added. Nonetheless, the majority are not expected to attend class until September at the earliest. However, the plans have been met with confusion and condemnation by many of the UKs teacher unions. Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: We think that the announcement by the government that schools may reopen from 1 June with reception and years 1 and 6 is nothing short of reckless. Coronavirus continues to ravage communities in the UK and the rate of Covid-19 infection is still far too great for the wider opening of our schools. The general secretary of NASUWT, The Teachers Union has also questioned the feasibility of the plan. The fact of the matter is the government has announced a date but hasnt come forward with a plan about how schools will ensure that theyre safe for pupils and safe for staff to be in from 1 June, Patrick Roach said on Monday. And the prime minister said that it would be madness to risk a second spike in relation to transmission of the virus. Well the profession has got very serious concerns about that announcement of 1 June, whether indeed it is possible to achieve it, but also how to achieve that in a way which is safe for pupils and staff. He said there is strong evidence schools are lacking personal protective equipment (PPE), adding: If youre dealing with five and six-year-olds and 11-year-olds, how to ensure stringent social distancing in that context is a big challenge and government simply havent answered that challenge. And finally, just in terms of risk assessments, parents will want to know that schools are going to be hygienic, theyre going to be safe for their children to be in. And we still dont have any clear standards about what safe cleaning routines would be like within a school context and we need to have that. Eighty-five per cent of 49,000 NEU members who responded to a survey following Mr Johnsons speech said they disagreed with the suggestion to restart lessons for some year groups from 1 June, while 92 per cent said they would not feel safe with the proposed wider opening of schools. Ms Bousted urged the government to provide schools with extra money for deep cleaning and PPE, and said local authorities must be allowed to close schools if clusters of Covid-19 infections break out in a particular area. If schools are reopened to blatant breaches of health and safety, we will strongly support our members taking steps to protect their pupils, their colleagues and their families, she added. The worst outcome of any wider reopening of schools is a second spike of Covid-19 infection. The governments latest plans have also been met with resistance from the public. A Change.org petition which calls for parents to keep their children at home, should they wish, had reached nearly 400,000 signatures by Monday morning. Lucy Browne, a parent who started the petition, said: Many of us have lost confidence in the governments handling of this crisis and feel it is too early to return children to schools. As a mum I dont want to face serious repercussions for making a choice I feel affects the safety of my daughter during a global pandemic. We need the government to be transparent with us and put things in place before we can consider placing our trust in this decision. Last week, a survey suggested that most parents do not want to see their children return to school as soon as the government ends the lockdown. Coronavirus: London on lockdown Show all 29 1 /29 Coronavirus: London on lockdown Coronavirus: London on lockdown A man walks down a deserted Camden High Street Photos Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Goodge Street Station is one of the many stations closed to help reduce the spread Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown An empty street in the heart of Chinatown Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown People in masks in Chinatown a day after the lockdown Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown A near-empty Piccadilly Circus during the first week of lockdown Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Sonja, my neighbour, who I photographed while taking a short walk. It was nice to briefly chat even from a distance Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown A couple sit on the empty steps of the statue Eros in Piccadilly Circus Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Making sure I stay two-meters apart DArblay Street, Soho Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown A mannequin behind a shop window. UK stores have closed until further notice Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown A notice displayed on a shop window in Camden Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown As part of the lockdown, all non-essential shops have been ordered to close.Image from Camden High Street Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown A skateboarder wearing a mask utilises his exercise allowance in the Camden area Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Communities have been coming together in a time of need Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown A woman stands alone in a deserted Oxford Street. Up until a few weeks ago, on average, half a million people visited the street per day Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown A couple walk hand in hand down a street in Soho, a day before the stricter lockdown was announced Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown During the first week of March, shoppers focused on stockpiling necessities ahead of a countrywide lockdown Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Many supermarkers are operating a queuing system to make sure only a limited amount of customers are allowed in at anyone time Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Stay Safe Curzon cinemas are temporarily closed under the new measures Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Pubs, restaurants and bars were ordered to shut as part of the lockdown Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Camden High Street There are fears that coronavirus could lead to permanent closure of struggling shops Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Camden Town is eerily silent on a normal working day Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Shops and supermarkets ran out of hand sanitisers in the first week of the lockdown. As we approach the end of the second week most shops now have started to stock up Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Empty streets around Soho Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown A noticeboard on Camden High Street urges the public to stay at home Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Camden High Street, one of Londons busiest tourist streets turns quiet Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Thriller Live confirmed its West End run ended in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown Empty and eerie Soho streets after stricter rules on social distancing announced Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown A woman pauses for a cigarette on Hanway Street, behind Tottenham Court Road Angela Christofilou Coronavirus: London on lockdown A man steps outside onto Hanway Street, that sits behind what is usually a bustling retail hub Angela Christofilou Only 7 per cent of parents who took part in the Parentkind survey said they would feel comfortable with a July return date. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the unions were not trying to impede the reopening of schools but remained unsatisfied with the outlined plans. Throughout the crisis we have highlighted the importance of bringing in more pupils when the time is right to do so and there is a clear plan in place to manage it safely, he said. Unfortunately, we are not persuaded that either of these two simple tests has yet been met. Schools across the UK have been closed for most students since 23 March, though vulnerable pupils and children of key workers have continued to attend classes. Additional reporting by PA Former president Barack Obama claimed in a private phone call last week that the rule of law is at risk following the Justice Departments decision to drop the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Yahoo News reported on Friday. The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed about the Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn, Obama told members of the Obama Alumni Association during the call, a tape of which was obtained by Yahoo. And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free, Obama continued. Thats the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic not just institutional norms but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI, not perjury. However, on Thursday the Justice Department moved to end the case against Flynn, who had in January rescinded his earlier guilty plea. Attorney General William Barr on Friday said he had concluded that the FBI set a perjury trap for Flynn while investigating him for suspected ties to Russia. They didnt warn him, the way that would usually be required by the Department, they bypassed the Justice Department, they bypassed the protocols at the White House, and so forth, Barr told CBS. These were things that persuaded me that there was not a legitimate counterintelligence investigation. More from National Review In Sandelerbil village alone in the Hingalgunj block in the Sundarbans, around 36 families from the Scheduled Caste community migrated from Tamil Nadu in March, where they had been working in a gas oven factory. A majority awaits dues promised but not paid. The story is no different in the villages of Manipur, Atapur, and Amtoli under the Sandeshkhali block in the Sundarbans. For Samaresh Mondal, who used to work as a welder at an automotive spare parts factory in Tamil Nadu, a months wage delay was not unusual. But this time around, the normally reticent man is vocalising his anger. His wages are long overdue. He feels short-changed. He knows the nose-to-grindstone approach to work will yield no rewards. Just days before the nationwide lockdown kicked into gear on March 25, Mondal had returned to Hingalgunj, a block in the Sundarbans region in West Bengal. Before packing his bags, Mondal had left his bank details with the contractor, with the expressed assurance his wages for January, February, and 15 days of March would be made out to him. Close to two months have elapsed. The promise made to Mondal remains unfulfilled. He checks his bank account daily. His pending wages now total Rs 20,000. Worse, his contractor no longer takes his calls. Mndal is not alone. Like him, several migrant workers in West Bengal who took the long road home have not been paid their dues for over two months. According to the data compiled by Asha, a non-governmental organisation, in Sandelerbil village alone in the Hingalgunj block in the Sundarbans, around 36 families (with nearly 108 family members) from the Scheduled Caste community migrated from Tamil Nadu in March, where they had been working in a gas oven factory. A majority awaits dues promised but not paid. The story is no different in the villages of Manipur, Atapur, and Amtoli under the Sandeshkhali block in the Sundarbans. Nearly 41 families (with 123 family members), mostly engaged in construction work, returned from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Gujarat in March. One member in every family awaits two-month wages promised, says Sanjeev Kumar Singh, founder, Asha. "For most workers, the pending salary ranges between Rs 18,000 and Rs 20,000. "Their employers had assured them that their wages would be transferred to their bank accounts. "These workers are understandably depressed. "They have been denied their hard-earned money, says Singh. After her husbands death, Lalita Mondal migrated to Tamil Nadu with her two sons. Lalita used to work in gas oven factory, earning Rs 7,500 a month, while her sons worked in garment and car factories, where they earned Rs 10,000 and Rs 13,000 per month, respectively. Lalita still waits for Rs 20,000; her sons are yet to be paid Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively, by their contractors. None of the contractors is taking phone calls and remains incommunicado. Our contractor had been saying the factory is not doing well, and the dues would be paid lump sum, rues Lalita. But the question arises, why were workers not paid their salaries for the months of January and February, when the lockdown started only end-March? The answer lies in the informal, often unfair norms of work, dictated by their contractors. For example, every time a worker goes home, more than 50 per cent salary is withheld, forcing the worker to return, says Singh. Again, at any given point in time, a part of the salary is withheld, so that the workers dont leave. K R Shyam Sundar, labour economist and professor at Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, agrees that the delay in salary payout is quite common for migrant workers. The delay ranges between 10 days and a month. In that period, the workers are paid just enough to subsist. There is always a circulating fund with the contractor, which comprises his commission from the owner of the factory as well as a part of the unpaid dues of labourers. "These payments are mostly done in cash, says Sundar. As reports of Covid-19 started trickling in around the first week of February, the employers began to tighten their purse strings and withhold salaries. Migrant workers are protected by the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979. Under this Act, it is the primary responsibility of contractors to pay the dues of workers, although the eventual responsibility lies with the primary employer, says Sundar. The contractors are also required to pay for the return journey of workers. However, states do not update the database of contractors, which makes the implementation of the law itself untenable. The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979, is the most neglected and poorly implemented labour law in the country. "No state has the requisite database of contractors. "If this data was available, contractors would have been obligated to pay the dues of workers and fund their return home. "Now states must pay the price for their negligence in governance. "The price should in no way be passed on to the hapless workers, says Sundar. Lalita says she is not planning on going back to work for at least three months, even as her family adjusts to life in a village. She has taken up a part-time job of making puffed rice for a local rice trader, earning Rs 90-100 a day. Her sons are not so lucky. With Tamil Nadu not on her mind just yet, she knows West Bengal is home for the next three months at least. If her contractor offers her job back, she says shell drive a hard bargain. Photograph: PTI Photo Over the next two weeks, millions of teenagers across the country will take Advanced Placement exams to determine whether they should earn college credit for high school coursework. This year, those students will take those high-stakes tests at kitchen tables or in bedrooms, perhaps in pajamas, and with full access to textbooks or the entire internet. In the Bay Area, with some of the most prestigious public and private high schools in the country, students often take multiple exams during their four years of high school, giving many of them a years worth of college credit. But this year, the coronavirus closures upended the administration of the exams, given in 38 different subjects. It turned a strictly proctored, in-person three-hour ordeal to a do-it-yourself online test that takes 45 minutes. Nothing is normal right now. Students havent been in a classroom for two months, and learning has been limited to online assignments and maybe weekly video calls with teachers. Now, they have to take nerve-racking AP exams at home and hope their computer doesnt crash in the middle of it. California students will take nearly 500,000 tests this spring. The whole situation is just weird, students and teachers said. The switch to the online, abbreviated format has students especially worried. What if the Wi-Fi dies mid-test? Can they prove what they know in less than an hour? Will colleges really give course credit for a short exam? What if the neighbor starts mowing the lawn or hammering nails? Wont it be easy for students to cheat? Hayes Delezene, 17, was concerned about all that. The high school junior lives on a farm in a remote area of Castroville (Monterey County) and attends Kirby School in Santa Cruz. Im worried about the distractions at home, he said as sheep bleated in the background. That, combined with the fact I live rurally and my internet is not the best. Students can write the answers on a computer or phone and upload them, or write them by hand and then submit a photo of their paper. The College Board, which administers the test, will let students make up the exams in June if they have technical difficulties, but it would be crushing, Hayes and other students said, to take a test and then not be able to submit it because of computer failure. Hayes is taking two exams this year, AP government and AP literature and composition. Like most of the other exams, there will be no multiple-choice items this year, just essays or free-response questions. For me, it means a little less studying, which is nice, he said, but he questioned whether colleges will give credit based on two essays written in 45 minutes. I think the vast majority of universities have put out they will be accepting these, Hayes said. Im a little skeptical. The University of California and California State University systems have confirmed they will continue to give college credit for passing the AP exams, which is a score of at least a 3 on a 5-point scale. Yet, can a 45-minute exam taken at home really be a valid measure of achievement? Its unclear, said Alexandra Toledo, AP chemistry teacher at Oaklands Fremont High School. I understand why the College Board shortened the time on the exam, but its also really hard, she said. Theres so much content thats covered in a year of college chemistry. Other teachers and students feared that the online format would disadvantage those with disabilities. Normally the exams are in a paper format, which means blind students, for example, can get copies in Braille, including tactile graphics and pictures. Instead, they can use Braille writing software or screen reader software. There will be text descriptions of graphs or other illustrations. Many students, like myself, specifically requested hard-copy Braille earlier in the year when we registered for and paid to take the exams, and College Board agreed to fulfill that accommodation, said Kaleigh Brendle, 17, of New Jersey, who has taken her complaints to social media. Part of the reason why Braille is required for so many students is because it permits us to actually explore and derive information from images and graphs. Kaleigh is scheduled to take the AP exams in biology, United States history, psychology, and English language and composition. College Board officials say they believe that all students with disabilities will be able to access the exams and noted that all students will take them online. Its going to be different for a lot of students who are not used to taking a test in that manner, said Jill Green, senior director of services for students with disabilities, adding the switch to online happened under a very tight timeline. We were not able to provide any paper tests including Braille or Braille graphics. In addition to access issues, students also said they worried that the online version could lead to cheating and therefore a steeper curve in scoring, making it harder to pass the exams. COVID Resources Coronavirus Map Tracking COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and California. If theres going to be people cheating, youre going to have higher scores, said Lily Loftis, 17, a senior at Menlo School in Atherton taking the AP tests in Japanese, calculus and government. Youre not supposed to be cheating or plagiarizing or anything like that, but I assume there are going to be a lot of Google searches surging. Normally, security for the in-person tests is strict, with identification or teachers confirming student identities. It would be relatively easy to have help on the online exam or have someone else take it, students said. The College Board, which administers the test, said it will have security measures in place to prevent cheating and plagiarism although details were not provided and the student responses would be sent to their teachers to review for authenticity. It used to be really high security, said Ligaya Chinn, a Berkeley High senior taking the AP literature and biology exams this year. Now its just be online 30 minutes before the test starts and have a Wi-Fi connection. For the most part, students like Chinn said they were happy to see the multiple-choice questions dumped from the online version and that they wouldnt have to sit in a classroom for three hours to take each test. But for students who are good at memorization and less proficient in long-form tests, this version of AP exams will likely not fall in their favor. Redwood City junior Jay Tipirneni cant decide if he feels hes going to do well or not on the AP calculus exam. Typically, March and April are the months students and teachers spend reviewing and practicing for the exam. Doing all that remotely isnt the same, said the 17-year-old. I feel like the in-class setting and having peers around you to support your learning really has a profound impact on the way students learn, said the Sequoia High School student. Being isolated like this can cause procrastination. Teacher Kathy Melvin has been reviewing content with her AP environmental science students at San Franciscos Lowell High and trying to calm their nerves about the upcoming exam. But she worries that the stress of sheltering in place and the impact of closures on their families has made studying for the exams difficult. This is a very, very traumatic time, she said. When I talk to my students, many have not left the house since the closure. That is a scary thing. Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear telephonic oral argument in two blockbuster cases concerning President Donald Trumps financial records. In one consolidated case, Trump v. Mazars and Trump v. Deutsche Bank, the court will consider whether Mazars, Deutsche Bank, and Capital One must turn over a variety of Trumps financial records to three congressional committees, which subpoenaed the records to aid their consideration of a variety of possible pieces of legislation. In the other case, Trump v. Vance, the court will consider whether Mazars must comply with a New York state grand jury subpoena for Trumps tax returns, which the grand jury is seeking as part of a criminal investigation into state campaign finance violations. The two cases raise different legal issues: The former concerns the breadth of Congress investigative powers, while the latter concerns the extent of the presidents immunity from criminal process. Yet they both concern legitimate fact-finding bodies attempts to investigate this president, and they raise the fundamental question of whether the president is above the law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The first case the court will hear is Trump v. Mazars and Trump v. Deutsche Bank, which concerns a number of congressional subpoenas for Trumps financial records. As Ive previously written, the case implicates Congress power to investigate. The Supreme Court has previously held that, at minimum, Congress can investigate in any area on which it can pass legislation. Congress power to investigate encompasses inquiries concerning the administration of existing laws, as well as proposed or possibly needed statutes and includes surveys of defects in our social, economic or political system for the purpose of enabling the Congress to remedy them. Here, the House committees that issued the relevant subpoenas have plainly shown valid legislative purposes. First, the Oversight and Reform Committee subpoenaed Mazars, Trumps accounting firm, for financial records and other documents relating to Trump and his businesses to help Congress decide whether to pass legislation related to presidential conflicts of interest or financial disclosures, including whether federal disclosure laws should be strengthened. Second, the Financial Services Committee subpoenaed financial records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One, two of Trumps creditors, to investigate whether and how to strengthen federal banking laws, particularly with respect to lending practices and the prevention of money laundering and loan fraud. Third, the Intelligence Committee subpoenaed financial records from Deutsche Bank to further the committees investigation of Trumps entanglements with foreign entities and whether and how to legislate to prevent future foreign interference. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a surprising and last-minute order, the Supreme Court recently requested additional briefing from the parties concerning whether the court is prohibited from hearing the dispute because of the so-called political question doctrine, which says that the courts cannot resolve certain disputes between the political branches when it would be impossible for a court to fashion a judicially manageable standard to resolve the issue in the case. Advertisement Advertisement The order was surprising in part because neither the parties nor any of the lower courts that have previously considered these cases so much as suggested that the political question doctrine barred judicial resolution of these disputes. And with good reason: The political question doctrine plainly does not apply here. As the court explained in an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts in the 2012 case Zivotofsky v. Clinton, the Judiciary has a responsibility to decide cases properly before it, even those it would gladly avoid. Thus, in that case, the court said that it had the power to decide if a citizens interpretation of [a] statute is correct, and whether the statute is constitutional, because doing so was a familiar judicial exercise. That was so even though the case dealt with the politically sensitive issue of whether Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That decision applies squarely here. Mazars and Deutsche Bank simply require the court to determine whether congressional subpoenas are lawful under Congress long-standing constitutional power to investigate subjects on which legislation could be had. That is a familiar judicial exercise with manageable standards that the Supreme Court has applied to congressional subpoenas repeatedly in the past. Moreover, just because the cases require the court to resolve an interbranch dispute does not mean that it should avoid its responsibility to decide cases properly before it. Unsurprisingly, in response to the courts order, both Trumps lawyers and the House committees agreed that the cases are justiciable. As Trumps lawyers argued, holding that there is no judicially manageable standard for resolving this subpoena dispute could mean that nobodynot even ordinary individuals, associations, and businessesmay judicially contest a congressional subpoena. That holding would overturn centuries of precedent of the Supreme Court judging the propriety of congressional subpoenas. And as the House noted in its briefing, these cases are justiciable, which explains why no party or amicus has questioned that the federal courts have an appropriate role in resolving them before the Supreme Court or in the lower courts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If the court were to disagree with both sides and shirk its responsibility to decide these cases, the result would be deeply troubling. While a holding that the political question doctrine applies would be a win for the House committees in these casesthe financial institutions have said they would have complied with the subpoenas but for the presidents lawsuit to stop themit could significantly hamper Congress ability to investigate the executive branch. As Ive written, there are a number of other cases currently pending in the lower courts regarding House efforts to enforce its subpoenas in federal courtfrom the case regarding former White House counsel Don McGahns testimony, to the case regarding secret portions of the Mueller report, to another case regarding Trumps tax returns. A decision that the political question doctrine prevents the president from challenging the Mazars and Deutsche Bank subpoenas could mean that the courts could not review and enforce the subpoenas in these other cases as well, dealing a potentially serious blow to Congress ability to hold the executive branch accountable and make informed decisions about crafting laws. Thankfully, particularly given the parties agreement that the doctrine does not apply here, there is every reason to think the court will agree and will decide these cases on the merits. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Importantly, even if the court ends up holding that the political question doctrine prevents its consideration of the issues in Mazars, that doctrine has no impact on the second case the court will hearTrump v. Vancebecause that case is not between two branches of the federal government. To avoid that state grand jury subpoena, the president has argued that he enjoys an absolute immunity from all criminal process so sweeping that it prevents a third party like Mazars from complying with a pre-indictment grand jury subpoena simply because the matters under investigation pertain to the president. Advertisement Advertisement The Supreme Courts precedents do not support so broad a theory of immunity. Indeed, the court has held that any claim of immunity is subject to a balancing test that weighs the importance of judicial process against the presidents ability to fulfill his constitutional function. Applying that standard, the court held that President Richard Nixon had to comply with a judicial subpoena for the Watergate tapes despite the importance of the confidentiality of presidential communications. Similarly, the court required President Bill Clinton to comply with a civil subpoena, and even permitted a civil trial to go forward against him while he was in office. If those judicial processes could go forward against sitting presidents without impermissibly interfering with their duties, this pre-indictment subpoena against Mazarsnot the presidentsurely can go forward too. Indeed, the disruption associated with complying with a grand jury subpoena is far less than that of criminal indictment, and less even than being named as an unindicted co-conspiratorsomething that happened to Nixon in the Watergate tapes case. Advertisement Advertisement At bottom, although these two cases raise a variety of different legal questionsfrom justiciability to Congress powers to the presidents immunitythey ask the Supreme Court to decide whether to allow investigative bodies to do their jobs and complete legitimate investigations related to the president. If the court concludes that they cannot, it will be tantamount to saying that the president is above the law. Precedents in both cases fall squarely on the sides of the congressional committees and the grand jury seeking these documents. It remains to be seen whether the court will follow its past precedents or give this president the protections of a king. For more of Slates news coverage, listen to What Next. Advertisement Britain is facing a sharp drop in temperatures with rain and 40mph gusts set to batter the country as a prolonged spell of hot weather comes to an end. The coming week will see a return to cooler, 'more springlike' conditions as some Britons return to work following the sunniest April on record and a scorching bank holiday weekend. On Saturday - the hottest day of the year so far in parts of the UK - police admitted they were 'fighting a losing battle' in the lockdown fight as sun-seekers packed out parks and beaches amid 79F heat on the south coast. Hundreds flocked to open spaces in London over the weekend where Hackney police said they were powerless to stop those out enjoying the sun from drinking and eating pizza. But an Arctic blast brought colder temperatures in the north on Sunday, with snow even falling in parts of Scotland. And gloomier weather today and tomorrow with temperatures around 52-55F could mean Britons are less tempted to flout lockdown rules - as the country comes to grips with mixed messages from the government over what is now permissible in the battle against coronavirus. Meteorologist Bonnie Diamond told MailOnline the main theme this week would be 'much colder' weather than we saw over the weekend, with temperatures today 'a good 10 degrees (C)' lower than those on Saturday. Waves crash over Seaham Lighthouse in Seaham, County Durham this morning as Britain is set to face harsh winds and cooler temperatures this week The coming week will see a return to cooler, 'more springlike' weather following the warm and sunny spells seen during the first half of the bank holiday weekend, the Met Office has said People exercising on the seafront in Mumbles, Swansea this morning during the cold easterly gales. The devolved Welsh government continue to ask people in Wales to stay at home due to the Coronavirus pandemic People exercising on the seafront in Mumbles, Swansea this morning. Today and tomorrow will see maximum temperatures of around 11-13C, and similar again on Tuesday Commuters wrapped up warm in winter coats and hoods this morning as they packed onto the Tube amid mixed messages from the government about returning to work The Met Office said: 'It will be a windy and cold start to Monday, still with some showers feeding in to northern and eastern Scotland, along with eastern England' The UK will see showers mainly across northern parts of Britain and it will be largely dry across the south - where crowds wrapped up in puffer coats and hoods packed onto the Tube this morning amid chaotic instructions from the government on going back to work. Thursday and Friday will likely see temperatures into the mid-teens again, rising to around 18C or 19C by the end of the work week. For many, an increase of wind and rain may soften the blow of the UK coronavirus lockdown - which looks set to continue despite confusion over the Government's instructions on what steps to take this week. It will be a largely dry week for most, while showers across Scotland 'could have a wintry element', with the possibility of snow in some areas today and tomorrow. Ms Diamond said: 'Today is quite windy across southern England, with gusts of 35-40mph inland and gales in the English Channel. Strong winds in the south will ease this evening. 'Tomorrow will be less windy and the rest of the week winds will generally be light to moderate for most, however strong at times across the far north and north-western parts of the UK.' She added: 'Overnight temperatures will drop quickly, it will be cold overnight with frost in a few places by Wednesday still could see some showers across northern and eastern parts of the UK. 'It's going to feel warmer towards latter part of the working week. Temperatures on Saturday peaked at 24.9C degrees in London, and remained widely into the 20s for many parts of the UK - causing many people to flock to parks. Police in the South East reported having had to move hundreds of people on from beaches. Sunday has seen maximum temperatures drop by around 10 degrees across the country, with a cloud front moving southwards - though some southern parts remained warm. Hackney police said it was 'fighting a losing battle' on Saturday as hundreds of Britons flocked to London parks to eat pizza, drink wine and eat ice cream Today and tomorrow will see maxiumum temperatures of around 11-13C, and similar again on Tuesday (pictured: Waves crash at Tynemouth pier on the North East coast) The path by Regent's Canal in London was teaming with walkers, cyclists and runners as people made the most of the sunny weather to head out for their daily exercise on Saturday The Met Office added that the UK would continue to see more cloud and wind in the coming week, with some parts of the country expecting to see frostier mornings. While few people are expected to take up the chance to sunbathe from this Wednesday as lockdown restrictions ease, temperatures should start to rise as the summer approaches. 'Part of spring's charm is you can get both types of weather,' a spokesman for the Met Office said. 'May can be quite a topsy-turvy month, getting closer to the start of summer. It's not unusual for spring to have a hot part and a colder part.' The return to duller weather comes following record-breaking April sunshine - with all four UK countries recording it among the top five sunniest since records in a series from 1929. In the final week of the month, rainfall totals increased in many places - but the UK overall still only received 40% of average April rainfall, according to official Met Office figures. At least eight others taken to hospitals following the blast in the economic capital, Bujumbura. At least two people were killed in a grenade blast in Burundis economic capital Bujumbura, just days ahead of a general election, witnesses said on Monday. The attack was blamed on unidentified criminals who targeted a bar in a working-class district of the main city in the small Central African country on Sunday. Witnesses told AFP news agency the bar belongs to a member of the Imbonerakure youth wing of the governing party, the National Council for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), which grew powerful after Burundi plunged into civil war between 1993 and 2005. The United Nations has listed the Imbonerakure as a militia force. Local residents said the bar was a meeting place for members of the youth league from the neighbourhood. The CNDD-FDD is being challenged at the May 20 poll by former rebel leader Agathon Rwasa and his National Freedom Council (CNL), the main opposition party. The grenade was thrown by unidentified criminals Two people were killed on the spot and eight more were evacuated to nearby hospitals, said a local official who asked not to be named. The presidential election on May 20 will mainly pit Evariste Ndayishimiye, the protege of outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza, against Rwasa, the veteran CNL leader. In power since 2005, Nkurunziza defied expectations in June 2018 when he announced he would not stand for office again, despite a new constitution, modified after a referendum that allowed him to do so. When the coronavirus erupted in the United States, it triggered quarantines, travel curbs and business shutdowns. Many economists predicted a V-shaped journey for the economy: A sharp drop, then a quick bounce-back as the virus faded and the economy regained health. Others envisioned a slower, U-shaped course. Now, as President Donald Trump and many Republicans press to reopen the economy, some experts see an ominous risk: That a too-hasty relaxation of social distancing could ignite a resurgence of COVID-19 cases by fall, sending the economy back into lockdown. The result: a W-shaped disaster in which a tentative recovery would sink back into a double-dip recession before rebounding eventually. The push to reopen the economy is making a W-shaped recovery very much more likely, said Jeffrey Frankel, professor of capital formation and growth at the Harvard Kennedy School. In Frankel's view, any widespread reopening should wait for a sustained drop in death rates and the broad availability of tests. No one is completely safe until an effective treatment or vaccine can be produced and widely distributed a scenario that's likely many months away. Frankel said he also worries that the government might prematurely withdraw financial aid to the economy, thereby weakening the pillars of any tentative recovery. A W-shaped recovery is a distinct possibility, said Yongseok Shin, an economist at Washington University in St Louis and a research fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. Unless the reopening is carefully managed with extensive testing and voluntary social distancing, infections will rapidly rise in many localities. People will then hunker down for fear of infection, and local governments will re-impose lockdowns, quashing any economic recovery we will have had to that point.'' A double-dip recession would significantly heighten the risks for an already debilitated US economy. Congress has provided roughly $3 trillion in aid by far its largest rescue ever to help households and companies survive the next few months. If a second downturn were to flare up, it's far from clear that Congress would be ready to offer trillions more to enable businesses to survive yet another round of months-long shutdowns. Nor do many companies have the cash reserves to cushion against a second recession. And just as threatening, a double-tip downturn would sap the confidence of individuals and businesses that is essential to an economic bounce-back. If consumers don't trust that a recovery will last, many won't resume spending, and the economy would struggle to rebound. On Monday, plastic spacing barriers and millions of masks appeared on the streets of Europe's newly reopened cities as France and Belgium emerged from lockdowns, the Netherlands sent children back to school and Spain allowed people to eat outdoors. All faced the delicate balance of restarting battered economies without causing a second wave of coronavirus infections. In the US, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has urged caution in reopening the economy. Powell has warned against taking too much risk of second and third waves'' of the virus. For now, the economy is essentially in free-fall. It shed a record 20.5 million jobs in April. The unemployment rate surged to 14.7%, the highest since the Great Depression. The gross domestic product the broadest measure of output shrank at a 4.8% annual rate from January through March and is expected to post an astounding 40% annual collapse in the current quarter. That would be, by far, the worst on record dating to 1947. Facing a catastrophe in an election year, Trump and many Republican allies are eager to ease restrictions and restart the economy. They say the use of masks and other protections should allow many businesses to safely reopen under certain guidelines. Trump has openly backed protests that are intended to compel governors to liberate'' their states from lockdowns. But The Associated Press reported last week that many US governors are disregarding White House guidelines. Seventeen states didn't meet a key benchmark set by the White House for beginning to reopen businesses: A 14-day downward trajectory in new cases or positive test rates. Texas' Republican lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, has gone so far as to suggest that restarting the economy might be worth the risk of some additional deaths. Most Americans say they're wary of trying to return to business as normal now. A Pew Research Center survey found that 68% said they feared that state governments would lift restrictions too soon. Just 31% wanted restrictions lifted sooner. The idea that you just turn the spigot back on is just ridiculous, said Diane Swonk, chief economist at the consulting firm Grant Thornton. It's still a COVID-tainted spigot. No one wants water from a poisoned well.'' Another threat is the prospect of bankruptcies and cash shortfalls for companies and households. Some have been able to defer rent and other payments but will eventually have to repay their landlords and other creditors in full. Likewise, US authorities declared premature victory over the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak, only to see it return, deadlier than before. In the current pandemic, South Korea eased restrictions as cases dropped. But on Saturday, Seoul had to shut down nightclubs, bars and discos after dozens of infections were linked to club goers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Meghan Markle has been in the middle of controversy even before she got married to the royal family. And while criticism has become part of her life, it seems Meghan has founda a new ally in a royal expert. Mommy-Shamed Meghan Meghan Markle will forever be under the scrutinizing eyes of the media, whether in the U.K. or in the U.S. TAlthough she has been trying to juggle all her responsibilities, people will always have something to say about her and her aptitude as a mother. The Duchess of Sussex was recently skewered by "Something Borrowed" author Emily Giffin. While her Instagram Story post was already deleted, Giffin called Meghan out for her "unmaternal" and "phony" actions as a mother. The post of Giffin was her response to the video Markle made in celebration of her son's first birthday. The short clip the royal couple shared with their followers showed Meghan propping the royal birthday boy on her lap while reading "Duck! Rabbit!" However, Leslie Carroll -- the author who chronicled the royal couple's romance in her 2018 book, "American Princess: The Love Story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry" -- told FOX News that the critics of Meghan might want to temper their unrealistic expectations of Meghan. Although Carroll believes that the Duchess will continue to be the subject of criticisms for many years to come, she suggested that her critics should take a break from lambasting her, regardless of how they feel about Harry and Meghan taking a step back as senior members of the royal family. Carroll emphasized that Meghan's choices as a mother may not be similar to that of Princess Diana and Kate Middleton, but it does not make her a bad mother at all. "Meghan was flogged in the press for choosing to keep her baby's birth a private affair, for not appearing in public right after she gave birth -- as Kate and Diana before she had done, although they were mothers to more direct heirs to the throne; and Meghan was not -- and for not showing the public a continuous stream of photos of Archie," Carroll said to FOX News. Meghan has been in constant scrutiny because of the choices she has been making for Prince Archie. Her decisions have been compared to that of Princess Diana and Kate, but the author pointed that Meghan has all the right to make her own choices as a mother. "Meghan was also condemned somewhat for choosing not to give Archie a title -- and even for giving him an unusual name -- although Anne, Princess Royal did not give her children titles," Carroll continued. Meghan has continuously been "mommy-shamed" for her choices. While other royals like Princess Anne have done the same, the British media did not dare criticize them. While Meghan might be used to the criticism, the royal expert said that the Duchess of Sussex could not always defend herself. At times when the media is painting a picture of her as a bad mother, her husband and son think otherwise. Carroll described Meghan as a natural "nurturer." She has the heart of a good mother and puts all of it in practice. "What I have observed is that she is a loving mother and adores their son," Carroll said. "Motherhood is a learning curve for everyone; I'm not sure anyone is a 'natural' at it. But she is a very loving woman and a nurturer: we see this in her interactions with those she meets and mentors, and even in her brief encounters on rope lines during royal walkabouts." A Product of Upbringing The royal expert also highlighted that Markle is a product of her upbringing. How she is raising Prince Archie is how she was raised by her own mother. Carroll believes that it was Meghan's upbringing that tremendously prepared her for the transition of being a wife to motherhood. "Like Harry and Diana, she's a hugger," Carroll said, describing Meghan. "A naturally affectionate woman, she loves to give love. And she has been criticized for that, too." The author also noted that the only significant change in Meghan's life since she took a step back as a royal is the fact that she would be able to spend more time with Archie. Meghan will be there to enjoy his development day by day. "It's also likely that we will see Meghan able to carve out a work-life balance that includes a lot of quality time with little Archie, and her fans and those at her patronages will be delighted because they support her and love her and wish her well," she added. A former MasterChef Australia contestant has lifted the lid on what really happens behind the scenes of Channel 10's popular cooking program. Season nine winner Diana Chan told New Idea that contestants often face difficulties when the cameras stop rolling. Diana, 32, said it's not uncommon for the chefs to feel isolated after leaving the show because they aren't allowed to discuss their experiences with friends and family. 'I had a bit of Stockholm syndrome': MasterChef season nine winner Diana Chan has lifted the lid on what really happens behind the scenes of Channel 10's popular cooking show 'I had a bit of Stockholm syndrome, I think, when I left, because you pretty much leave the competition and you're left to go and fend for yourself,' she said. 'You can't talk about the competition because you've signed NDAs [non disclosure agreements], so it's tough. Mentally, it's hard; it's an emotional roller-coaster.' She also confirmed that producers film multiple endings so that none of the contestants knows the winner until the finale airs on TV months later. 'Emotional roller-coaster': Diana said it's not uncommon for chefs to feel isolated after leaving the show because they aren't allowed to discuss their experiences with friends and family Diana struggled to cope with not knowing whether she had won the competition for three months after filming wrapped. 'Unless you're a strong person or like you can handle that, it really does affect people,' she said. She also revealed the tricks used by producers to create drama on screen. 'It really does affect people': She also confirmed that producers film multiple endings so that none of the contestants knows the winner until the finale airs on TV. Pictured: Poh Ling Yeow Shedding tears: Diana explained that producers would ask her whether she missed her family in order to make her cry, a technique that often worked She explained that producers would ask her whether she missed her family in order to make her cry, a technique that often worked. It comes after Daily Mail Australia revealed the very unglamorous side of MasterChef. During filming breaks at Melbourne's Centenary Hall and while out on location, the exhausted cast often relaxed by laying on the floor outside. Contestant Simon Toohey recently shared a picture of stars such as Khan Ong sitting on the grass on location one day. Hayden Quinn even chose to go barefoot. There was a small patch of grass between the hall and car park where the chefs took their breaks during 12-hour filming days. Timeout: It comes after Daily Mail Australia revealed the very unglamorous side of MasterChef. During filming breaks at Melbourne's Centenary Hall and while out on location, the exhausted cast often relaxed by laying on the floor outside Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) San Miguel Corporation called off its plan to acquire a majority stake in cement maker Holcim Philippines after failing to secure regulatory clearance. The listed conglomerate said in a Monday disclosure that the one-year window to complete the merger prescribed by the Philippine Competition Commission has lapsed. On May 10, 2019, SMC announced the deal to acquire 85.73 percent of Holcim for $2.15 billion (about 108 billion) through its subsidiary First Stronghold Cement Industries Inc., which would give control over the company. Existing rules require big-ticket merger deals like this to be approved by the regulator within a year from its execution, which ended this week. Holcim Philippines, a unit of global giant LafargeHolcim Ltd., manufactures and distributes grey cement and its aggregates in eight facilities. The antitrust body flagged the SMC-Holcim merger deal in January, saying the buyout could lead to "monopoly, increased market power, and potential collusion" in cement production. San Miguel said the deal will "no longer proceed" and the tender offer made to minority shareholders last September has also been withdrawn. Apart from First Stronghold, PCC also said Ang's position as chairman of Eagle Cement Corporation makes it a sister company, which would effectively eliminate competition in areas like Northwest Luzon. This arrangement would also make it very hard for new players to challenge the Ang-owned cement producers in Greater Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Northeast Luzon, the regulator added. Eagle Cement has denied operating under SMC's wing, saying it is not involved in the merger deal. With the collapsed deal, Holcim Philippines will remain under the control of Union Cement Holdings Corporation with a 60.55 percent stake, as well as global firm Holderfin B.V. (18.11 percent), and Cemco Holdings, Inc. (7.08 percent), the company told the local bourse. During this very difficult time, so many regions are struggling with countless community services that are in need of support, Bailey said. I am honored to be able to be in a position to help two vital groups in our South Jersey area, The (Community) FoodBank of New Jersey and JFS, with financial assistance. My family and I, along with our team at Resorts Casino Hotel, are incredibly thankful of the dedicated hard work that organizations, like these two, provide, especially now. Prince Charles has revealed one of his favourite royal recipes as he encouraged fans support the British cheese industry amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Prince of Wales, 71, posted a step-by-step guide to creating Cheesy Baked Eggs on the @ClarenceHouse Instagram page yesterday to mark the British Cheese Weekender. Alongside snaps and the recipe for the delicious meal, Prince Charles opened up about the importance of 'good food' during the crisis, saying: 'One thing that undoubtedly brings many of us great comfort is good food.' He went on to urge amateur chefs to seek out organic ingredients for the bake 'where possible' and 'support British cheesemakers' and other small businesses who might be struggling during the coronavirus crisis. Prince Charles, 71, who is currently isolating with wife Camilla at Birkhall in Aberdeenshire, has shared one of his favourite recipes for Baked Cheesy Eggs online The royal, who is currently isolating in his Aberdeenshire home of Birkhall with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, 72, has been Patron of the Speciality Cheesemakers Association since 1993. The Instagram post read: 'On the final day of the #BritishCheeseWeekender, The Prince of Wales has released a message to encourage us all to support British cheesemakers.' Prince Charles added: 'It is deeply troubling to learn that this crisis risks destroying one of the most wonderful joys in life British cheese.' The royal was quoted as saying: 'British cheesemakers need our support during this time of great uncertainty, and we can all help in the simplest way. The recipe, which was described as one of the royal's favourite, was shared on the @ClarenceHouse Instagram page alongside a step-by-step photo guide (right, the ingredients, and left, pouring the double cream onto the vegetables and egg) 'By sourcing British cheese from local shops and cheesemongers, and directly from producers online, you can make a vital contribution to keeping these small businesses afloat during the prevailing crisis.' The caption went on to reveal how recipe, which was described as 'one of Prince Charles' favourite', can be 'made using any number of our great British cheeses.' A snap of the ingredients laid out on a brown wooden chopping board was shared on the Clarence House Instagram stories, alongside a note to encourage royal fanws to buy organic ingredients 'where possible.' Meanwhile further photographs were shared with the step-by-step guide to making the bake. Recipe for Prince Charles' favourite Cheesy Baked Eggs Ingredients 100g Wilted Spinach 1 Egg 35g strong soft cheese 1x cherry tomato 15g grated hard cheese 80ml double cream Charcuterie (optional) 1. Butter a small overnproof dish and line with wilted spinach, making a well in the centre. 2. Place the cheery tomato (quartered) on top of the spinach 3. Dot the soft cheese around the dish amongst the tomatoes. Add the torn basil leaves. Optional: add any charcuterie at this point. 4. Season with salt and pepper. 5. Crack the egg into the centre of the spinach. 6. Pour the double cream over the egg - avoid breaking the yolk! 7. Sprinkle with grated hard cheese. 8. Place in a hot oven (180 degrees) for 8-10 minutes. 9. Let it stand for a few minutes before eating. Advertisement A final photograph revealed the delicious final bake decorated with a sprig of basil, alongside a whole host of different soft and hard cheeses. The revelation of Prince Charles' favourite meal comes after a former chef to the royal family shared details of his eating habits in an interview online. In a video for online food platform Delish, British-born cook Darren McGrady, who now lives in Texas, revealed the Prince of Wales has a healthy breakfast, sometimes skips lunch and enjoys a substantial evening meal. He added that Charles was a fan of organic farming before it was popular. McGrady, who worked for Princess Diana in the mid-1990s, said: 'When it comes to eating no two days are the same for the Prince of Wales. Sharing the recipe online, Prince Charles urged his followers to support British cheesemakers amid the coronavirus pandemic 'He often starts the day with fruit, sometimes skips lunch and has afternoon tea of boiled eggs and something more substantial in the evening.' His favourite meal is lamb with mushroom risotto, Darren revealed. 'I cooked lamb a lot at Buckingham Palace' he explained. 'I really Prince Charles, he was a foodie, into organic farming before it was even invented. 'He loves wild mushrooms and would take his chefs to Balmoral to show them where best mushrooms are. We brought back to Buckingham Palace and they were the most amazing porcini mushrooms.' WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Hoosiers and residents of neighboring states looking for something to do while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic could consider becoming citizen scientists. Purdue University entomologist Cate Hill is looking for volunteers willing to find ticks and send them to the university where theyll be stored and then analyzed once regular research operations resume. Hill runs the Tick INsiders project, which aims to advance detection, diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne diseases in Indiana. To do that, they need to know which bacteria and viruses are present in the states tick population. One reason diagnosing and treating tick-borne diseases is difficult is because every tick bite is different. When you add human biology into that picture, you get another layer of complexity, said Hill, who is a professor in the Department of Entomology. Developing new therapeutics or vaccines requires knowledge about how patients bodies are affected by and react to the different pathogens that can be transmitted in a tick bite. Gathering ticks and understanding what they carry is a critical first step toward those goals. Tick INsiders started in 2017 with Hills laboratory tracking down ticks and later included teams of high school students. Last year, they opened the project to anyone who wanted to send in ticks, and theyre putting out the call again this year. During the stay-at-home orders, people are looking for things to do. Its the perfect time to get involved, Hill said. If youve got a tick crawling on you from your backyard, you can send that in. Or if you want, you can create a tick drag and look for them in your neighborhood or nearby wooded areas so long as youre following distancing and safety guidelines and government restrictions related to the pandemic. In particular, the team is looking for Ixodes scapularis (lyme disease tick), Dermacentor variabilis (American dog tick), and Amblyomma americanum (lone star tick). They are known to carry the pathogens that lead to Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, alpha gal and other illnesses. The data is used to determine geographic range of each type of tick and the pathogens they carry. Hills team then develops detailed, region-specific disease-risk maps. The Tick INsiders website has detailed instructions and videos for building a tick drag cloth, safely collecting ticks and sending in specimens. Ticks that have bitten a human or animals cannot be used. Anyone wanting to send in a tick should place it alive in a zip-top plastic bag, and place that into an envelope with the following information: Your name; email address and/or phone number; location where the tick was collected (city/county or zip code); collection date; and temperature when the tick was collected. The envelope should be sent to Tick INsiders, 901 W. State St., West Lafayette, IN 47907. For more information, visit the Tick INsiders website at tickinsiders.org. Writer: Brian Wallheimer; 765-532-0233; bwallhei@purdue.edu Source: Cate Hill, 765-496-6157, hillca@purdue.edu A photo of researchers collecting ticks is available to use on Google Drive Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415; Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu Agriculture News Page WASHINGTON - Two of President Donald Trump's top economic advisers projected Sunday that unemployment will climb as the coronavirus pandemic continues its sweep across the United States, with one official predicting that the unemployment rate will jump to 20% by next month. The statements from White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin came three days after the Labor Department reported its highest unemployment figures since the Great Depression, and as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 79,000. They also came as a Senate panel announced that four administration officials who had been set to testify in person on the pandemic this week will instead do so via videoconference because of their proximity to two White House staff members who recently tested positive. One of those staffers is an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, but a spokesman said Sunday that Pence plans to be at the White House on Monday. At a time when governors are grappling with how and when to safely reopen their states, the comments by Hassett and Mnuchin underscore that the country is far from snapping back to normal and that further economic pain is probably still to come. In an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation," Hassett said the unemployment rate probably will rise to "north of 20%" in the next month, up from 14.7% reported Thursday. "To get unemployment rates like the ones that we're about to see . . . which I think will climb up towards 20% by next month, you have to really go back to the Great Depression to see that," Hassett told host Margaret Brennan. He added that "nobody knows" when those who have lost their jobs will be able to go back to work, clarifying a statement he made upon the release of Friday's jobs report that "almost everybody" who has accounted for the recent rise in unemployment "said they expect to go back to work in six months." Hassett's acknowledgment of the country's dire economic straits was echoed by Mnuchin, who said on "Fox News Sunday" that he expects the second quarter of this year to be worse than the first. "The reported numbers are probably going to get worse before they get better," Mnuchin told host Chris Wallace, later adding: "I think you're going to have a very, very bad second quarter." When asked by Wallace whether the country's unemployment number was "close to 25% at this point, which is Great Depression neighborhood," Mnuchin said, "Chris, we could be." According to report released Friday, the U.S. economy shed 20.5 million jobs in April, wiping out a decade of employment gains in a single month as businesses across the country shut down or curtailed operations in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The job market's historic plunge was far deeper than what the nation experienced during the 2008 financial crisis. No industry has been spared, even white-collar jobs in government and business services thought to be relatively safe. Still, Mnuchin on Sunday expressed confidence in the fundamentals of the economy. He argued that the job market should begin to right itself by September as he echoed Trump's calls for a phased reopening of the economy. This economic crisis "is no fault of American business, it is no fault of American workers, it is the fault of a virus," Mnuchin said. Meanwhile, all four Trump administration officials who had been scheduled to testify Tuesday at a Senate committee hearing on the coronavirus pandemic will now be appearing via videoconference, the panel's chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said Sunday. The officials include Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; and Brett Giroir, the Health and Human Services assistant secretary for health who is in charge of coronavirus testing. "After consulting with Dr. Fauci, and in an abundance of caution for our witnesses, senators, and the staff, all four Administration witnesses will appear by videoconference due to these unusual circumstances," Alexander, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said in a statement. Alexander will videoconference in, his office said Sunday, after one of his staff members tested positive for the coronavirus. Alexander tested negative Thursday and does not have symptoms, David Cleary, his chief of staff, said in a statement. But he will still self-quarantine in Tennessee for 14 days, the virus's approximate incubation period, rather than return to Washington. The announcement came after two confirmed coronavirus cases in the president's orbit were revealed in recent days. On Thursday, the White House acknowledged a positive test result for one of Trump's valets, the military staff members who sometimes serve meals and look after personal needs of the president. The next day, several people familiar with the situation confirmed that Katie Miller, press secretary for Pence, had tested positive. Devin O'Malley, a spokesman for Pence, said the vice president plans to be at the White House on Monday, shooting down reports Sunday that he planned to self-isolate. "Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine," O'Malley said in a statement. "Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow." But some senior members of the pandemic task force are self-quarantining while others plan to go to work, and several administration officials have said the White House is delivering mixed messages on what measures they should take. In an interview Sunday, Fauci said he was on the other side of the Situation Room from one of the confirmed cases for about an hour Friday, describing the distance as "well beyond six feet." After a review of the exposures of people in the room, the CDC determined that he had "a low-risk degree of contact" with the person, Fauci said. He declined to identify the person. Fauci said he plans to wear a mask at all times in public but will not completely isolate himself, because he needs to attend meetings at the White House and work at the National Institutes of Health. He will be tested whenever he goes to the White House, he said. At home, where he lives with his wife, or at the NIH, where he is alone, Fauci said he will not wear a mask. He declined to comment on the potential exposures of Pence, Redfield or Hahn. Hassett on Sunday acknowledged that it's "scary" to go to work during the pandemic. "The fact is that I practice aggressive social distancing," he said on CBS. "I'll wear a mask when I feel it's necessary. It is scary to go to work. . . . But, you know, it's the time when people have to step up and serve their country." People directly exposed to someone with the coronavirus have been generally advised to isolate themselves for 14 days, the approximate incubation period of the pathogen. If symptoms do not develop within that period, they are unlikely to do so, though the precaution is not completely foolproof. Even daily testing is not a guarantee that infection has not occurred, because no medical test - of any kind - is 100% accurate. False negative results can occur, depending on the amount of virus in a patient's blood and the method used, among other factors. The coronavirus is particularly difficult because people can spread it to others when they are asymptomatic - when they are not showing outward symptoms - as well as when they are pre-symptomatic - before they develop symptoms. Except for N95 masks, which filter out 95% of airborne particles, masks are worn to protect other people from the mask-wearer, by limiting the spread of respiratory droplets produced by the nose and mouth. Cloth masks and surgical masks do not protect the wearer from droplets produced by others. In China, officials on Sunday raised the coronavirus risk level to high in the northeastern province of Jilin after 11 new cases were confirmed in the city of Shulan, Reuters reported. All of the new cases were linked to a woman who tested positive for the virus on Thursday. Three other cases were confirmed in mainland China in the past day, including one in Wuhan, the first new case confirmed in several weeks in the original epicenter of the outbreak. Trump, meanwhile, was out of public view on Sunday, though he had one of the busiest days on Twitter of his entire presidency. According to Factba.se, a data analytics company that tracks Trump's public remarks, the president had sent 90 tweets or retweets as of 3 p.m. Most of them were aimed at his political opponents, though he did take time shortly after 8 a.m. to tweet, "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!" - - - The Washington Post's Philip Rucker, Anne Gearan, Seung Min Kim, Siobhan O'Grady and Heather Long contributed to this report. It is possible to move at your own pace. Since there will be access to all virtual Symposium workshops and keynote sessions and an interactive Exhibit Hall, there is no need to choose or stop viewing when CEs are complete, says Bonnie Harken, Managing Director at iaedp. With less than 5 days away, the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (iaedp) Foundations 2020 Virtual Symposium will go live, offering healthcare professionals the opportunity to earn a maximum 28 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) as well as see and experience all of the Symposium sessions. Since it is a virtual offering, the schedule of the in-person iaedp Symposium does not apply. From keynote speakers to interactive Exhibit Hall -- all this and more will be available to those who participate in the iaedp 2020 Virtual Symposium from May 15 July 31, 2020. Registration for the iaedp 2020 Virtual Symposium, the online education and training conference offered by iaedp to replace the groups annual in-person Symposium, is currently open until May 15 and available at iaedp.com. For those who had registered to attend the original 2020 iaedp Symposium, previously scheduled for the end of March in Orlando, there is automatic registration for the 2020 Virtual Symposium. It is possible to move at your own pace. Since there will be access to all virtual Symposium workshops and keynote sessions and an interactive Exhibit Hall, there is no need to choose or stop viewing when CEs are complete, says Bonnie Harken, Managing Director at iaedp. The 2020 Virtual Symposium presented by iaedp provides healthcare professionals the same CEUs opportunity that the original in-person Symposium offered, but safely and conveniently online. About the iaedp Foundation: Since 1985, the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals has provided education and training standards to an international and multidisciplinary group of various healthcare treatment providers and helping professions. MemberSHARE.iaedp.com is an iaedp business journal and online member resource to learn about noteworthy member achievements, continuing education webinars and U.S. and international chapter activity and events; for more information, visit MemberSHARE. The Presidents Council provides iaedp support and includes: Center for Change; Center for Hope of the Sierras; Center for Discovery; Eating Recovery Center; Willow Place; Laureate Eating Disorders Program; The Meadows Ranch; Rogers Behavioral Health; Rosewood Centers for Eating Disorders; Selah House; The Renfrew Center; Timberline Knolls; Veritas Collaborative; Alsana Eating Disorder Treatment & Recovery Centers; Silver Hill Hospital, Walden Behavioral Care and KIPU. The 2020 iaedp Symposium is proud to announce Bronze Sponsors: Eating Disorder Recovery Specialists and Transcend ED. Thua Thien-Hue province has approved a post-Covid-19 tourism stimulation program, offering up to 50% discounts on entrance tickets to visit world heritage sites from now to July 31, 2020, among other tourist incentives. Foreign tourists are seen at a tourist site in Hue City PHOTO: NHAN TAM The new pricing was announced by Nguyen Van Phuc, Deputy Director of the Thua Thien-Hue Department of Tourism, following a recent meeting of the provincial Peoples Council. During the meeting, tourism figures were discussed. In January, the provinces tourism industry reported the number of arrivals and revenue had year-on-year growth of 22.07% and 14.89%, respectively. However, the coronavirus outbreak has had a heavy impact on the industry. Many of travel companies, hotels, restaurants and shops have had to temporarily suspend their businesses, and thousands of industry workers have lost their jobs. In the first four months of this year, the province attracted 940,069 tourists, down 50% year-on-year. The direct tourism revenue was VND859 billion, a decrease of 21%, while the combined revenue was VND2,079 billion, down 45%, as Thua Thien-Hue lost some VND2,250 billion in tourism revenue. Thus, apart from solutions to support enterprises suffering from the downturn caused by the epidemic, it is necessary to put in place the tourism stimulation program. On Vietnams Reunification Day (April 30) and May Day, thanks to free-of-charge offers for visiting world heritage sites, the province attracted 22,000 tourists following the social-distancing period. Due to the promising results, the province decided to discount entrance fees by 50% from May 8 to July 31 this year. The promotion might continue into the remainder of 2020, depending upon the worlds tourism recovery. The provincial tourism industry also encourages tourism companies to provide their own stimulation packages to attract more tourists. At the meeting, leaders also discussed the national travel summit, to be held in Thua Thien-Hue later this month to seek collaboration among hotels, travel companies and restaurants, as well as cooperation by three central localities, including Quang Nam Province and Danang City. Officials noted that tourist promotions will be held this year and next year, including Festival Hue 2020, Hue Ao dai Festival and Hue Hiphop Festival. SGT Pagoda in Hue offers serenity The central city of Hue is famed for its ancient palaces, mausoleums, pagodas and temples, and one of the most impressive destinations in the former imperial capital is Huyen Khong Son Thuong Pagoda. FIS Chief Risk Officer Greg Montana FIS We asked experts in various fields for their best predictions on what the world will look like when the coronavirus pandemic finally recedes. In this segment of our series, "The Next Normal," we examine what happens when office life reopens and what becomes of remote work. *** While President Donald Trump pushes states to allow businesses to reopen, companies in technology, financial services, insurance and other industries that can successfully function over internet lines are choosing to keep their people home. Long commutes have been replaced with heavy Zoom use, and workers in big cities are in no hurry to sit on crowded subways and buses during rush hour. Corporate leaders are waiting for some reliable combination of mass testing, therapeutics, contact tracing and possibly even a vaccine, before they'll consider it a worthwhile risk to send employees back into the traditional workplace. Another consideration is child care, and with schools closed across much of the country and summer camps unlikely to proceed as planned, kids are likely to be at home during the day at least for the next few months. Facebook said last week that most of its employees will be allowed to work from home through the end of 2020. Google parent-company Alphabet plans to open offices for up to 15% of workers as early as June, but the majority of people who can work from home will continue to do so, perhaps through the end of the year. "We're going to see this come back more slowly than you might have expected," said Liz Fealy, who runs the global workforce advisory group at consulting firm EY. "Especially in organizations where people believe employees can be equally productive at home." A staggered return Fealy said that she's hearing companies talk about a variety of different ways to start sending employees back when they believe it's safe. One general theme is a staggered return, with people coming to the office in waves based on individual risk levels, and increasing in numbers as contact tracing improves. Another approach could be "clustering employees on teams" so if there's an infection it's easier to identify who is most exposed and needs to be quarantined. Corporations are already looking to employ phone-based contact tracing to help track employees who have been in close proximity at the office, then use that information to inform workers who may have been exposed and ask them to self-quarantine. Across the 198 global offices of Fidelity National Information Services, a financial technology company, roughly 95% of employees are working from home. Chief Risk Officer Greg Montana doesn't see that lasting forever, but he says there's no returning to the pre-coronavirus days of packed buildings. From his home setup in Jacksonville, Florida, Montana told CNBC that the first phase of a return to the office will be for those employees who are itching to get back, either because they feel isolated in their current confines and yearn for human contact or because they're struggling to be productive. Even that small initial wave is unlikely to begin until late in the third quarter or early in the fourth, Montana said. "We are really focused on the health and well-being of our employees," said Montana, who's part of a 40-person crisis management team that's meeting twice a week to work on the company's reentry plan. Montana said that FIS wants to make sure employees are getting temperature checks, masks are readily available and deep-cleaning processes are in place for meeting rooms. The company is also putting together procedures for travel, so employees can go to a website, type in the desired destination and determine if it's advisable to make the trip. In the meantime, the company has been issuing virtual private network licenses to employees so they can access the network remotely and offering wireless hotspots to those who lack reliable home Wi-Fi. "If you're able to be productive at home, we want to get you what you need to be productive," Montana said. Rubbermaid factory workers. The photo was taken pre-coronavirus. Ty Wright | Bloomberg | Getty Images At consumer products giant Newell Brands, parent company of Sharpie, Coleman, Rubbermaid and Crock-Pot, Samantha Charleston is leading the return-to-office task force. Charleston, a vice president in human resources, told CNBC by email that she's working with local leaders across each of Newell's regions to determine how and when to begin the return process, taking into account government recommendations, office readiness and input from employees gathered through weekly surveys. Like FIS, Newell is content to take its time, as Covid-19 breakouts continue to emerge in various parts of the U.S. "For the time being, Newell Brands is continuing our remote work structure for the majority of the office population," Charleston wrote. "The repatriation process back to the office will be slow to make sure we take every safety consideration on behalf of our employees." Remote tools are exploding Experts say that even when the coronavirus is in the rearview mirror, many of us will still be working from home. Now that so many companies have been forced to function with a remote staff and to adopt technologies that enable collaboration from a distance, they've already made the necessary investments, and they know they can save money on office and real estate costs. According to Global Workplace Analytics, employers can save $11,000 a year for every employee who works remotely half the time. In addition to Zoom, Slack and Microsoft Teams, products like design software Figma and knowledge-sharing tool Guru have seen growth accelerate as companies cobble together a suite of work-from-home products. Alex Konanykhin said his company, TransparentBusiness, which helps customers securely manage remote workforces, has seen an 800% increase in subscriptions since March 1. Some companies are also paying for remote mental health services and online learning sites for employees. And they've seen positive results. "In some cases, productivity has accelerated," Charleston said. "A benefit of the new situation is it has given employees an outlet to try new things, think differently, share ideas and find solutions." Chris Bedi, chief information officer of IT automation software provider ServiceNow, says the terms remote work and work from home are going to disappear. "There's just work, and it's work from anywhere," said Bedi, in an interview last week. He said that the talent war will also fundamentally change, because employers will quickly realize that they can start hiring anywhere and attract a whole new set of prospects. And even though there's a level of Zoom fatigue that's setting in from nonstop video calls, the travel market is forever changed, he predicts. "The concept of getting on a plane for six hours for a two-hour meeting and being jet lagged, people are going to go why?" Bedi said. China has approached Japan about reviving business travel between the two countries, Nikkei has learned. China has suggested that it will allow certain individuals to enter the country if these travelers first test negative for the coronavirus and meet other conditions. China has agreed to a similar arrangement with South Korea and, according the Chinese foreign ministry, is negotiating with Singapore in the same regard. Earlier this month, China and South Korea agreed to ease border controls, with cities like Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing accepting business travelers from South Korea who first pass a mandatory health screening, including a PCR test. The countries have set up a fast-track channel. To use it, South Korean business travelers must go through an exam at a designated medical institution no more than 72 hours before departure. They also must obtain a certificate that confirms they have tested negative for COVID-19. After entering China, these travelers must once again submit to a PCR test and be found negative. Now Chinese government officials have reached out to their counterparts in Japan, suggesting China will ease its travel ban on the country if the number of new cases in Japan declines. China appears to be encouraging Japan to agree to the same procedures that South Korea has approved for its business travelers. Without such an agreement, Japanese businesspeople must be quarantined for 14 days once they arrive in China. The Wall Street Journal, citing diplomats familiar with the matter, has reported that China has held informal talks with more than a dozen Asia-Pacific nations on clearing the way for essential business travel. But there are a number of roadblocks in Japan, where it remains difficult to be approved for a PCR test, especially if a patient has no symptoms. In addition, Japan's state of emergency remains in place until the end of the month, though it could be relaxed before then if conditions improve. Shimla, May 11 : Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Monday said 68,000 people wanted to return to the state. Also about 300 students would be arriving from Ukraine soon, he said, adding that all of them would be kept under institutional quarantine. Holding a high-level virtual meeting here, the Chief Minister said institutional quarantine facilities in every district should be strengthened as a large number of Himachalis are stranded in various parts of the country and are wanting to come back to their native places. Noting a large number of people would be coming from red zones, he directed the Deputy Commissioners to identify adequate number of institutional quarantine facilities in their respective districts. He said that it should be ensured that these institutions were away from busy areas and have independent facility like washrooms, etc. Thakur said that proper sanitisation and hygiene of these institutions must be ensured. He said each and every person entering the state should be thoroughly medically examined and only then decided whether he/she has to be kept under institutional quarantine or home quarantine. Thakur said a special train from Bengaluru would reach Una on May 13 at 6 a.m. and another special train from Goa would be reaching Una on May 15. Also the Uttarakhand government has agreed to bring all the stranded Himachalis at various places in Dehradun and from there, adequate arrangements would be made to bring them to their native place, he said. The Chief Minister said intra-district movement must now be allowed without pass whereas inter-district movement should also be allowed with permits, except from the Baddi police district comprising of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh area. He also stressed the need for starting economic activities in the state. He said steps should also be taken to develop a mechanism to make home quarantine more stringent. He said the Deputy Commissioners must involve representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions and health workers to keep an eye on such houses, so that persons do not escape home quarantine. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 08:55:47|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland reported seven new imported cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Sunday, bringing the total number of imported cases to 1,690, the National Health Commission said Monday. The new cases were reported in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the commission said. Of the total imported cases, 1,591 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, and 99 remained hospitalized with three in severe conditions, the commission said. No deaths had been reported from the imported cases. Enditem Hoang Van Hai, Trang A Vu and Thao A Su and they drugs they were seized with at a police station in Nghe An Province, May 9, 2020. Photo courtesy of Nghe An Police. Nghe An Police have arrested three people as they were transporting 40 kg of drugs including heroin and methamphetamine from central to northern Vietnam. Hoang Van Hai, 30, Trang A Vu, 28, and Thao A Su, 28, were carrying a bag of drugs and waiting for a bus in Ky Son District Saturday when a police team intercepted them. The cops seized 20 kg of meth, 6.6 kg of heroin and 4 kg of ketamine. The three told the police they had been hired by an unidentified Lao man to deliver the drugs from the central province of Nghe An to the northern province of Bac Kan, about 161 km to the north of Hanoi. A few days earlier, they had taken a bus from Bac Kan to the rural district of Ky Son, a taxi to the district's Chieu Luu Commune, and walked a few more kilometers to receive the drugs. Ky Son Police said they had been investigating the trafficking case for the last two months. Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws, including death for smuggling and trading, but drug busts continue to be a frequent occurrence. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine face capital punishment. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death. The Israeli press reported May 11 that Bahrain and another unnamed Gulf state recently reached out to Israel for assistance in fighting the novel coronavirus pandemic. The countries reportedly contacted Sheba Hospital, requesting information on its response to the pandemic. Specifically, it seems that both countries are interested in installing an advanced telemedicine system. Earlier on May 5, Barak Ravid of Channel 13 reported that the United Arab Emirates' ambassador to the UN, Lana Nusseibeh, said during a Zoom webinar that her country wont oppose cooperating with Israel in countering the coronavirus crisis. "Im sure there is a lot of scope for cooperation. I dont think we would be opposed to it, because I really think the public health space should be an unpoliticized space where we all try and pool our knowledge of this virus, said Nusseibeh, speaking at the online conference hosted by the American Jewish Committee. These reports are especially significant on the backdrop of Arab condemnation of Israel over the intention of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex West Bank lands this coming summer. UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said May 10, This unilateral step is illegal, undermines chances for peace and contradicts all efforts made by the international community to reach a lasting political solution in accordance with relevant international resolutions." Already on April 30, the Arab League convened an emergency videoconference of Arab foreign ministers, condemning Israels plan to annex West Bank lands. Still, there are other signs of willingness by Gulf countries to expand relations with Israel, especially in regard to management of the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, and on the backdrop of the coronavirus crisis, there were reports that the UAE agreed to evacuate from Morocco both its citizens and Israeli nationals stuck in the country on one flight to be operated by the Gulf state. The proposal was eventually blocked by Rabat, angry not to have been consulted ahead on the issue. In fact, even in Saudi Arabia, there are small signs of a change, though not really coronavirus-related or induced. Last January, Israels Interior Ministry announced that both Jews and Arab citizens would be allowed to visit the kingdom, though Saudi Arabia did not confirm any change in its policy. Also, a television series aired in Saudi Arabia during Ramadan offered a positive depiction of a Jewish community in the Gulf at the time of the foundation of the State of Israel. Some viewers protested, but others continued to watch. Technavio has been monitoring the ethyl alcohol market and it is poised to grow by USD 21.23 bn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of over 6% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005155/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Ethyl Alcohol Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Advanced BioEnergy LLC, Archer Daniels Midland Co., BP Plc, Cargill Inc., Green Plains Inc., INEOS Group Holdings SA, LyondellBasell Industries NV, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp., Pacific Ethanol Inc., and Solvay SA, are some of the major market participants. Although the increasing demand for ethanol in the food processing industry will offer immense growth opportunities, increasing demand for electric vehicles will challenge the growth of the market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. The increasing demand for ethanol in the food processing industry has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. However, increasing demand for electric vehicles might hamper market growth. Ethyl Alcohol Market 2020-2024: Segmentation Ethyl Alcohol Market is segmented as below: End-user Automotive Food and Beverages Personal Care Pharmaceutical Others Geographic Landscape APAC Europe MEA North America South America To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40046 Ethyl Alcohol Market 2020-2024: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our ethyl alcohol market report covers the following areas: Ethyl Alcohol Market Size Ethyl Alcohol Market Trends Ethyl Alcohol Market Industry Analysis This study identifies growing demand for ethyl alcohol in the automotive industry as one of the prime reasons driving the ethyl alcohol market growth during the next few years. Ethyl Alcohol Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the ethyl alcohol market, including some of the vendors such as Advanced BioEnergy LLC, Archer Daniels Midland Co., BP Plc, Cargill Inc., Green Plains Inc., INEOS Group Holdings SA, LyondellBasell Industries NV, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp., Pacific Ethanol Inc., and Solvay SA. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the ethyl alcohol market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Ethyl Alcohol Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist ethyl alcohol market growth during the next five years Estimation of the ethyl alcohol market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the ethyl alcohol market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of ethyl alcohol market vendors Table Of Contents : PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT 2.1 Preface 2.2 Preface 2.3 Currency conversion rates for US$ PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market ecosystem Market characteristics Value Chain Analysis Market segmentation analysis PART 04: MARKET SIZING Market definition Market sizing 2019 Market Outlook Market size and forecast 2019-2024 PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY END-USER Market segmentation by end-user Comparison by end-user Automotive Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Food and beverages Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Personal care Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Pharmaceutical Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Others Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by end-user PART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE PART 08: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 South America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024 APAC Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity PART 09: DECISION FRAMEWORK PART 10: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers Market challenges PART 11: MARKET TRENDS Reduction in arable land Growing demand for ethyl alcohol in automotive industry Increase in government initiatives supporting the use of ethyl alcohol PART 12: VENDOR LANDSCAPE Overview Landscape disruption Competitive scenario PART 13: VENDOR ANALYSIS Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors Advanced BioEnergy LLC Archer Daniels Midland Co. BP Plc Cargill Inc. Green Plains Inc. INEOS Group Holdings SA LyondellBasell Industries NV Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. Pacific Ethanol Inc. Solvay SA PART 14: APPENDIX Research methodology List of abbreviations Definition of market positioning of vendors PART 15: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005155/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ This past week, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a study that ranked Virginia 49th out of 50 states for its coronavirus testing rates per 1,000 residents. The current mark is around 6 tests per 1,000 individuals across the Southwest Virginia region, which isnt far off the testing rates in Virginias more urban areas on a per capita basis. As resources continue to be marshalled across the state and by the federal government, you can expect that testing in our region will increase in the coming months as more test-swabs become available and as additional clinical laboratories become active. The data will improve. However, from a public health standpoint, this lack of data makes the decision-making process to reopen Virginia a very difficult one for the governor. Without a solid baseline and without actionable information, it is easier for me to understand why there has been hesitancy in Richmond and more deliberation that most of us would prefer when it comes to easing the stay-at-home order, as well as the restrictions on businesses, religious organizations, and our trails and parks. At this point, more than 40 days since the governors Executive Order No. 53, it is safe to say that the final economic impact of this virus is even less clear. In a world of uncertainty, let me offer the following perspective. This virus hasnt destroyed our economy. Rather, our business leaders are planning new initiatives, adapting, implementing change and finding a path forward. Consider the story of The 1901 Group a growing tech company that established an Abingdon location in the Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator in early March. The coronavirus hits, and the economy starts dragging. Instead of scrapping the companys expansion into Southwest Virginia, the 1901 Group team is digging in, making hires, and preparing for the future demand in IT services and remote working. 1901 Group is an example of how we are pivoting to focus on high-demand, high paying jobs in our region. Consider two innovative restaurateurs from different parts of SWVA: Jack Barrow at 128 Pecan in Abingdon and Torrece Gregoire (Chef T) at Ina+Forbes in St. Paul. Both restaurants could have made the decision to shut down after dine-in service was prohibited and business slowed. Instead, Mr. Barrow and Ms. Gregoire shifted their customer service models Mr. Barrow renovated and built a take-out window at his Abingdon restaurant; Ms. Gregoire is now delivering Ina+Forbes food beyond Russell and Wise counties, even as far as Blacksburg. These folks stand out, not only because they are resilient and innovative, but because they are working to provide for others even during tough times. Finally, consider Lebanon Apparel Corp. (LACorp) led by the Bodenhorst family in Lebanon, Virginia. LACorp is a cut-and-sew manufacturer, one of the few left in the United States. Like so many others, the coronavirus affected their existing contracts and supply chains. But, by working with their industry association and tapping their own entrepreneurial instinct, LACorp pivoted to become a contributing force in the national effort to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE). This is what regional economic leadership looks like, American made, right here in Southwest Virginia. These stories are real, and they represent something taking place in our communities across the Appalachian region. They represent the beginnings of the Appalachian- American Pivot. This is an attitude-adjusting moment in our history. Will we slow even further and throw our hands up in frustration? Or will we seize this time as a reset and focus on re-writing our future? As we emerge and adapt to this new normal, Appalachias economic success depends not only on the innovative business leaders like the ones mentioned above, but it also depends on our attitudes as consumers. As soon as our local businesses are able to reopen, they will need your support. Most of these businesses have had to lay off 70%-90% of their employees and are not sure what post-virus consumer behavior will look like. So, when you are able, go back to your local shops, restaurants, theaters, community events, and farmers markets, and enjoy them. Lets put a renewed focus on creating an economy that can perform no matter what else is going on in the world a truly sustainable economy because this wont be the last pandemic, challenge, or struggle that we face together. I am confident that we can do this, and Im hopeful that we will look back at the moment in time as a major economic resurgence of our region on a national scale. Id like to hear your ideas about how to move toward this type of economy in our region. And, if you or your businesses need assistance during this time, please reach out to our office at delwwampler@house.virginia.gov. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has filed a case against the county of its headquarters Alameda, California after local health authorities prevented him from restarting operations at the electric car makers manufacturing plant in Fremont last Friday, May 8. The lawsuit states that Alameda County, where Tesla is based, unconstitutionally forced businesses to shut down by threatening them with fines and other penalties, even after these businesses have been deemed essential by the federal government. The lawsuit also argues that Teslas facilities in San Joaquin a county that lies just to the east of Alameda hasnt implemented such restrictions, despite the two counties having markedly similar COVID-19 statistics. Im not messing around. Absurd & medically irrational behavior in violation of constitutional civil liberties, moreover by *unelected* county officials with no accountability, needs to stop, Musk said in a Twitter post, with an accompanying copy of the lawsuit. twitter.com/elonmusk Prior to Alameda Countys actions, Musk had already announced the reopening of the Fremont plant to his employees via email. Unfortunately for him, Dr. Erica Pan, the interim public health office for Alameda County, announced that the factory where they made the infamous Cybertruck prototype did not have the go signal to resume business in a public meeting that Friday. The following morning, Musk announced his plans to move the company in a tweet using his personal Twitter account. Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected & ignorant Interim Health Officer of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense! the Tesla CEO added, most likely referring to Dr. Pan. twitter.com/elonmusk Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen (sic) on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA. went Musks rant on Twitter. Story continues Despite Alameda Countys decisions, Lily Mei, the mayor of Fremont, expressed her support of Tesla restarting operations as long as they implemented certain precautions against COVID-19 infection. Also after Musks tweets, Neetu Balrum, a public information manager for Alameda County, said in a news segment that theyve been in contact with the Tesla CEO and are now working on a strategy to reopen the automotive manufacturing plant. Photos from Elon Musk's Twitter account Also read: Tesla Easter Eggs: The Missing Link Between Flatulence and Romance Tesla Cyberquad ATV to Go on Sale Alongside Cybertruck Flash The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) confirmed Sunday evening that three of its peacekeepers were killed during a routine patrol by improvised explosive devices (IED) near Aguelhok in northern Mali. Four other peacekeepers were severely injured and are receiving medical treatment, the MINUSMA said in a press release. Mahamat Saleh Annadif, special representative of the UN secretary-general for Mali and head of the MINUSMA, strongly condemned these "cowardly acts" aiming to paralyze the MINUSMA's operations on the ground, according to the press release. "We will have to combine all efforts to identify and apprehend those responsible for these terrorist acts, so that they can answer for their crimes in front of justice," Annadif said. The MINUSMA was deployed in 2013 to support political processes in Mali. During a failed coup in 2012, extremist militias took control of Mali's north. A UN-backed peace deal in 2015 between the government and various armed groups failed to stabilize the situation in the country's central and northern regions, with attacks multiplying in the past years. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 20:21:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday said Vietnam has no right to comment on China's summer fishing moratorium in the South China Sea waters since the measure belongs to China's administrative rights. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's remarks came as his Vietnamese counterpart voiced the country's objection to the fishing ban and demanded that China not "further complicate the situation in the South China Sea." The annual fishing ban this year started on May 1 and is expected to end on Aug. 16 in the waters north to 12 degrees north latitude of the South China Sea, with the coast guard and fishery authorities launching law enforcement work. More than 50,000 fishing boats will suspend operations during the three-and-a-half-month moratorium. It is indisputable that the Xisha Islands are part of China's territory, Zhao told a press briefing, stressing that China enjoys sovereign rights and jurisdiction in relevant waters of the South China Sea according to international laws and China's domestic laws. Implementing the summer fishing moratorium in relevant waters of the South China Sea is a legitimate measure of China to exercise its administrative rights and fulfill relevant international obligations in accordance with the law, Zhao said. He added that the measure is beneficial for the protection of fishery resources and sustainable development in the South China Sea. Vietnam should not encourage its fishermen to infringe upon China's rights and interests and undermine the sustainable development of fishery resources in the South China Sea, Zhao said. Enditem Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Riska Rahman and Riza Roidila Mufti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, May 12, 2020 08:17 617 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd71abed 2 Business mudik-ban,travel-restriction,covid-19-task-force,coronavirus,economic-recovery,Kadin,INACA,CORE-Center-Reform-Economics Free Businesspeople and economists have expressed concerns about the governments decision to ease travel restrictions, saying the policy could backfire and prolong the economic recovery from the coronavirus downturn. Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) deputy chairwoman Shinta Kamdani, told The Jakarta Post that easing restrictions might not have the desired effect on the countrys economy because the virus could continue to spread. Transportation operators told the Post they did not expect any immediate uptick in economic activities from the governments new travel policy as people still considered it risky to travel during a pandemic. Allowing people to move freely could heighten the risk of further contagion and even increase fatality rates. This will prevent market confidence in Indonesia from recovering as easily and will make it more difficult to allow the economy to run as usual, Shinta said. The national COVID-19 task force issued a circular letter on May 6 exempting state officials, private sector workers and state-owned enterprise (SOE) employees from the governments ban on travel to and from virus red zones. Read also: Easing restrictions? Not so fast, experts say The move came as Indonesia saw its highest daily increases in COVID-19 cases on May 5 and May 9, despite the task forces claim that new cases have rapidly slowed and flattened on April 27. President Joko Jokowi Widodo has targeted a flattening of COVID-19 cases in May, expecting transmission to be moderate in June and to be low in July. We understand that loosening mobility restrictions could bode well for the economy in general, but we think the positive impact of this policy is limited as demand remains low, Shinta said. Bus operator Lorena Transport managing director Dwi Ryanta Soerbakti said the change in policy would have little effect on his business because people were still hesitant to travel. This policy will not have any significant impact on [transportation] operators. I do not think this policy is right, because it will only prolong the pandemic, Dwi said. Demand for travel will not increase [because of eased travel restrictions]. This will only lead to a bigger risk of the pandemic being prolonged. Lorena Transport and Karina Transport will not yet resume the operation of their inter-city and inter-province services. The bus operator is currently operating 10 percent of its normal Greater Jakarta services, with health protocols that include disinfection before and after trips, compulsory mask wearing, and filling only half of the buses seating capacity. Read also: Jakarta's curve flattened? Experts question government's claim The government issued Transportation Ministerial Regulation No. 25/2020 on April 23 to ban the Idul Fitri exodus (mudik) to and from COVID-19 red zones, areas under large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) and agglomeration areas from April 24 to May 31. Travel for essential needs was exempted. Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) economist Mohammad Faisal urged the government to be consistent and firm with its own regulations instead of backtracking by allowing for exemptions. For the time being, he said, the government needed to focus on containing the spread of COVID-19 rather than reopening the economy. Faisal said people, who were key to the resumption of the economy, were still concerned about COVID-19 as the number of confirmed cases was still on the rise domestically and globally. They had therefore restricted their spending and movement, he added. The government is rushing to restart the economy when they know very well that it will take some time to recover it, just like what they had planned in the government regulation in lieu of law [Perppu], he said. The Perppu allows the government to enact economic recovery measures until 2021. The recovery process will be much faster if the government remains consistent about its own regulations, added Faisal. Read also: Explainer: Whats allowed and whats not in Indonesia's mudik ban Fitch Solutions wrote in a research note that the Indonesian governments response to COVID-19 had been slow, unclear and fractured thereby prolonging both public health and economic difficulties. Fitch Solutions researchers expect Indonesias economy to contract 1.3 percent this year, lower than the governments worst-case scenario of 0.4 percent contraction. Indonesias annual GDP growth slowed more than expected to 2.97 percent in the first quarter of this year, the weakest in 19 years and lower than the governments projection of over 4 percent growth. We have factored in a slow recovery in Indonesia as the country is still in the early stages of combating the virus and may need to remain under lockdown for a prolonged period, Fitch Solutions said in a research note. The Indonesia National Air Carrier Association (INACA) said the travel exemptions had prompted several flights to reopen. The association announced, however, that airlines were still complying to the mudik ban stipulated in the Transportation Minsiterial Regulation. After the COVID-19 task force issued a detailed letter on exemptions for travel, there were only a few routes that were opened and not all flights are back for operations, said INACA chairman Denon Prawiraatmadja. Read also: Indonesian airlines carry out layoffs to cope with COVID-19 pressures Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and its subsidiary, low-cost carrier Citilink Indonesia, have reopened flights previously prohibited in the transportation regulation to serve exempted travelers. We require passengers to provide information regarding their COVID-19 status, said Garuda Indonesia president director Irfan Setiaputra. Passengers are required to provide supporting documents such as a letter of duty or hospital referral letter, and flights will only fill 50 percent of their seating capacity in compliance with the regulation, he added. By Charles Wowkanech When Rutgers University researchers unveiled their federally approved saliva test for COVID-19, the test was hailed as a game-changer, even a world-changer. But all the praise from the governor, from the federal and state governments, from media outlets globally went to the wrong place. The praise belonged with the brothers and sisters of the American Association of University Professors-Biomedical and Health Sciences of New Jersey-NJAFL-CIO, the frontline heroes who the New Jersey State AFL-CIO recognizes for their achievement and for performing their critically needed jobs as dedicated professionals while working without a contract despite nearly 60 bargaining sessions since July 1, 2018, when their current contract expired. Sitting on the dais for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphys daily coronavirus press briefing on April 23, 2020, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences Chancellor Brian L. Strom accepted congratulations for the new test and for the work Rutgers frontline medical professionals are doing, without a word of thanks or praise for our sisters and brothers on Brians team, as the governor called them. A true leader always gives credit where credit is due. Rutgers University President Robert L. Barchi sent a letter of gratitude and appreciation to Rutgerss frontline heroes on March 25, 2020. Instead of a letter, Chancellor Strom should show gratitude and appreciation to our brothers and sisters by finally agreeing to a contract. Strom enjoys the benefits of a five-year contract that paid him $1,031,578 in total compensation in 2019 much more, even, than Barchi. If Strom believes he deserves a contract, our sisters and brothers deserve one, too. Development of the Rutgers saliva test which went into limited use in mid-April and soon will be checking hundreds of thousands of people worldwide is a highly valuable and highly visible piece of our State Universitys response to COVID-19. It eliminates the use of invasive nasal swabs and delivers results more quickly than other tests. It also allows people to be tested without potentially exposing health care workers to the deadly virus, and saves precious personal protective equipment that otherwise would have to be thrown away after every patient is tested. A game-changer in so many ways. But enhanced testing is only a piece of the Rutgers effort. Throughout the pandemic, the unionized faculty at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences has assisted the New Jersey Department of Health as epidemiologists, built personal protective equipment with 3D printers and cared for patients in intensive-care units. Our brothers and sisters have risked themselves and their families because of their dedication to their patients and to their belief that science, their science, will beat the invisible enemy. Our brothers and sisters, in their role as teachers, also are shaping the next generations of healers and pandemic-fighters. Yet throughout the COVID-19 crisis in fact, for nearly two years the 1,400 Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences faculty and staff represented by the AAUP-BHSNJ-NJAFL-CIO have worked without a contract. The New Jersey State AFL-CIO stands with our brothers and sisters in AAUP-BHSNJ-NJAFL-CIO and says its time for Chancellor Strom to support the faculty and staff that his job title says he leads by returning to the table for serious negotiations. After two years, in the middle of a world-changing pandemic, a contract with AAUP-BHSNJ-NJAFL-CIO is the clearest way for Strom and Barchi to say, Heroes Work Here. Thank You. Charles Wowkanech is president of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. The Star-Ledger/NJ.com encourages submissions of opinion. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. From India to Argentina, millions of people who were already struggling have had their lives made harder during the new coronavirus pandemic. The International Labor Organization, or ILO, says more than four out of five people in the worlds labor force of 3.3 billion have been affected by workplace restrictions. The organization added 1.6 billion temporary workers stand in immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed. Their families now face hunger and poverty. However, they cannot stay at home and have to find a way to work for their next meal. The Associated Press followed six people from different parts of the world to show how the pandemic has affected them. Nairobi, Kenya Judith Andeka is a 33-year-old mother of five. She lost her husband two years ago. She makes between $2.50 to $4 a day from washing clothes in Nairobis Kibera, one of the worlds poorest area. People are not going to work during the pandemic, so they cannot pay for her services. Even if they could pay, they do not want her to touch their clothes because they are worried about the virus. I havent had a good day for the last two weeks, Andeka said. She sent her five children to live with relatives. I had no choice, because how do you tell a 2-year-old you have no food to give them, she said. At a food distribution place in Kibera, Andeka often faces men with sticks who beat back the large crowd and police who fire tear gas. Each time she goes out looking for food and work, she risks being robbed of her few belongings, including plastic chairs, a thin table, buckets for collecting water, a small gas burner and an old black-and-white TV. Its better for corona(virus) to end and we continue living in hunger, Andeka said. Hunger is normal. Buenos Aires, Argentina Rosemary Paez Carabajal sold coffee on the streets of Argentinas capital, Buenos Aires, until the restrictions forced her to stop. Her husband is also out of work. They and their two children pay about $119 a month to live in a single room. The room is now filled with textbooks as they try to teach their seven-year-old son. They are using up their savings, having received a one-time government aid payment worth about $150. For now, the supervisor of their building is not collecting rent. Paez Carabajal worries her coffee business may not survive after restrictions are eased. People are going to have doubts about buying because the disease is transmitted by grabbing things, she said. The coronavirus came during a recession in Argentina. More than one third of its 44 million people live in poverty. About 3 million people have requested food aid in recent weeks. That is in addition to the 8 million getting such assistance before the pandemic. Jakarta, Indonesia When Budi Santosa, a cook in a Chinese fast food restaurant, was told he would lose his job, he was not sure how to tell his wife. I am the breadwinner of the family. My children are toddlers. So they are the first things I thought about that day, he said. The 32-year-old is one of nearly 2 million people who have lost their jobs in Indonesia as a result of the pandemic. It is a country of 270 million people. Close to 10 percent live in poverty. Not only has Santosa lost his job, the restrictions on movement mean he can no longer earn extra money as a taxi driver. The government told us to stay at home, but if I stay home my wife and children will have no food to eat, he said. He now makes a little over $4 a day on average, down from $19 before the pandemic. That is just enough to buy food for himself, his wife and two young children. Santosa borrowed money from friends to pay Aprils rent. He is not sure what he will do for the month of May. Cairo, Egypt The ahwa, or coffee shop, was among the first businesses ordered to close during the pandemic in Egypt. People were no longer permitted to smoke the sheesha, the water pipe so popular in the Middle East. That cost Hany Hassan his job. He had been making $5 a day, just enough to feed his family. We are financially ruined, said the 40-year-old father of four. Before the pandemic, one in three Egyptians or roughly 33 million people were living on about $1.45 per day. Some, about 6 percent, live on even less than a dollar a day. The government has since offered around $32 a month for those without work. Hassan is one of 2 million people who have applied. Its not only me, he said. there are many people now who have nothing to feed their children. Amman, Jordan Brothers Mohammed and Khalil Yousef used to work as truck drivers. Mohammed delivered building supplies. Khalil moved produce. Each earned between $14 and $28 a day. Between them they have nine children. All of the children are under the age of 16. Mohammed said people living in Al-Wehdat, Jordans second-largest camp for Palestinian refugees, usually help each other out in hard times. But everyone is without work now. He opened his wallet showing identification cards, but no money. He said: In the beginning I still had a little bit of money, but now theres nothing. Some of the restrictions have been eased. The brothers are now partially getting back to work. There are fears, however, that loosening the restrictions could cause a rise of virus infections in overcrowded Al-Wehdat. But not having work worries people more. People are afraidof not being able to put food on the table, Mohammed said. Lucknow, India Mahesh and Gita Verma sold flowers in a small store outside of a Hindu temple honoring the monkey god Hanuman. When officials ordered most businesses to close, they sold all their flowers for just a few cents. India has the worlds largest population of extremely poor people. The World Bank estimates there are 176 million people living on less than $1.90 a day. The Vermas have already struggled to feed their five children, ages eight through 20. Now they eat mostly potato-based dishes. They also have canceled their cable TV a small pleasure that, to them, represented success. We cannot have food like we used to have, Gita said. The couple feared they would run out of money and food before the end of the restrictions on May 18. So they took a small loan from friends to start selling bread and milk in their store. It is the kind of business that the government permits to operate during the shutdown. Im John Russell. And I'm Ashley Thompson. Hai Do adapted this Associated Press story for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story pandemic n. the fast spread of a disease across a wide geographical area relative(s) n. people who share the same ancestors distribution adj. related to giving out or spreading around rent n. a regular payment to be able to live in a place you do not own grabbing v. to take something quickly toddler n. a young child just learning to walk temple n. a building for worship Express News Service CHENNAI: Ranjit Matu, a migrant worker said it has been three days since he had anything to eat. After the construction work inside airport premises was stalled in March, Ranjit said the company he was working for promised him and 500 others that they would look after their basic needs like food and shelter, and also pay salary. However, nothing was paid post-March, say the migrant workers from Bihar, now residing at a camp maintained by the company, Eversendai Construction Private Limited, at Mugalivakkam. What is worse is that they have been provided ration only once and that too 2 kg of rice and 200 gm of dal per person. These 500 workers employed on contract basis at an IT Park in Porur and airport premises staged a protest outside the IT Park on Sunday, demanding to be sent back home. But, when contacted, Eversendai Construction Limited official said, they have been providing food and medical care. However, they did not wish to disclose the quantity of food given. The ration lasted hardly a week. Since we were paid the March salary, we could manage last month by eating once a day. Now, we literally have nothing to eat and the company officials are not responding at all, said Matu. All the workers are paid between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 per month. We are not asking for money for the work we have not done. At least they must give us food to survive. Also, 15 people are stuffed in a 10x10 room. Social distancing has already gone for a toss. We dont know if we are all infected, said M Ramesh, a worker. The workers said sanitation facilities are also very poor. There are 20 washrooms for 500 people and the workers complained that they are seldom cleaned. People will either die due to hunger or poor hygiene. The government must take imperative action soon, said Ananth M, another worker. The Israeli military on Monday said its forces demolished the home of a Palestinian accused of being behind a deadly blast in the West Bank last year. Israel says 22-year-old Qassem Barghouti carried out the attack in August, which killed 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb and wounded her father and brother as they were hiking down to a spring in the West Bank near the settlement of Dolev. The military said that as it was carrying out the demolition in the village of Kobar, near Ramallah, dozens of Palestinians burned tires and hurled rocks and firebombs toward Israeli troops. It said the crowd was dispersed. Witnesses said several Palestinians were injured, including one that the Red Crescent said was hit in the head with a gas canister. Israel says demolishing the family homes of alleged militants deters violence. Critics say the tactic amounts to collective punishment. The demolition was only carried out after Israel's high court rejected the family's petitions against the order. Tonight, we settled a score with the despicable terrorist who took part in the murder of our dear Rina Shnerb. Destroying homes is an important tool in deterrence against terrorists, said Defense Minister Naftali Bennett. He who hurts us, we will harm him back. Jewish blood will not be spilled in vain. Israel's Shin Bet security service launched a massive manhunt after the August 23 bombing that killed 17-year-old Rina Shnerb and seriously wounded her father and older brother. Such bombings, a hallmark of the 2000-2005 Palestinian uprising, have been rare in recent years. Authorities blamed the attack on the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP, a leftist political party that has an armed wing. Israel, the US and the European Union consider it a terrorist group because of high-profile attacks going back decades, including plane hijackings and the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister in 2001. The Shin Bet was accused of torturing some of those it arrested in connection with the attack. Barshouti's lawyer says his client was bitten in his genitals by a security dog when authorities raided his home to arrest him. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Tri Indah Oktavianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 11, 2020 18:55 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd752612 1 National COVID-19,human-rights,human-rights-abuse,coronavirus,Amnesty-International,AJI,economy,National-Police Free Rights groups have raised concerns over the governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on residents. They say the response may pose risks to Indonesians human rights. Amnesty International Indonesia highlighted certain issues that could harm human rights, including medical workers rights, information transparency and free expression, workers rights and social security. It is of high importance that the government acknowledges human rights during the COVID-19 [pandemic]. Amnestys records show that there are many rights violations taking place in countries like Egypt and Venezuela. We dont want it to happen here, and we must minimize any potential for violations, Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said in a virtual discussion on Sunday. He cited the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) imposed by several provinces and regions across the archipelago to stem the spread of the virus. He said the policy, although deemed necessary, affected the livelihoods of all residents, especially those working in informal sectors. He urged the government to pay attention to fulfilling the basic rights of all residents whether they were under PSBB or not during the pandemic. Usman noted that the pandemic revealed Indonesias lack of health care readiness, as illustrated by frontline medical workers limited access to personal protective equipment (PPE) while they were risking their lives to fight the disease. Read also: COVID-19: Online fund-raiser seeks to provide protective gear supplies Rochsismandoko, an internist at a private hospital in Tangerang, Banten, concurred. He said he had to purchase N95 medical masks with his own money because the masks provided by the hospital were limited. We appreciate the PPE donations given by individuals. Unfortunately, most of the PPE cannot be used as it doesnt meet the certified health standards, he added. Rochsismandoko pointed out that despite the governments claims, not all medical workers had access to free COVID-19 tests. Medical workers, he said, also expressed their fear of being furloughed if they were found positive for the virus. It is not only about income; medical workers are still experiencing a bad stigma and rejection by society, he added. Threats to freedom of expression Usman said the current outbreak could jeopardize peoples right to express their opinions, citing a circular issued by the National Police chief that instructed officers to charge those who were thought to be insulting the government or spreading misinformation. Amnesty has recorded 52 cases of alleged violations of free expression during the pandemic. We certainly oppose the dissemination of misinformation by anyone. But we believe a legal approach is not suitable during these times, especially while the government is aiming to control the spread of the virus in prisons, he said. Brian Sriprahastuti, a member of the Executive Office of the President, said that during the early days of the outbreak, the government faced challenges compiling nationwide data, which he said could only be provided by a limited number of laboratories at the time. He brushed off criticism of the governments lack of transparency, claiming it had become more transparent in providing COVID-19 data. According to National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Hengky Widjaja, the Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) has investigated 102 cases of fake news or provocation related to the COVID-19 pandemic under the authority of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law and the Criminal Code (KUHP). Individuals are allowed to express their opinions while adhering to social restrictions rules, but the expression must not contain hate speech that provokes others, he said in the discussion. Read also: Activist arrested as he was about to get into Dutch Embassy car: Police The chairman of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Abdul Manan, condemned what he called the polices excessive actions against questionable offenses. Abdul asked the police to remain impartial regarding government issues. During this pandemic, disinformation is the enemy we should fight against, but unfortunately, disinformation is also being used as a tool to oppress those who criticize government policy, he said. Threats to workers rights The outbreak has caused the economy to seize up, with workers suffering the brunt of the effects. Data from the Manpower Ministry released on May 1 showed that approximately 3 million workers had been impacted by the pandemic. More than 1 million formal workers have been furloughed and more than 300,000 workers have been laid off since the outbreak started. As many as 315,000 informal sector workers, whose incomes are based on contingent daily work, have lost their incomes because of the pandemic. Read also: Businesses must have adequate support to prevent layoffs: Experts Andriko Otang, executive director of the Trade Union Rights Center (TURC), said the governments inconsistent policies had worsened the situation for workers. The PSBB policy provides exceptions for manufacturing industries or export-oriented industries to stay fully operational during this pandemic, forcing millions of workers to continue working and facing risk, he said. A survey conducted by TURC found that only 35 percent of companies adhered to COVID-19 health protocols for workers. President Donald Trump accused Democrats of trying to harm his own reelection campaign by slowing down the opening of their states. Trump made the charge, without providing evidence, as U.S. deaths due to the coronavirus topped 80,000, with a key model that the White House has used saying the figure could creep up to 137,000 dead. 'The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now, and they are fully aware of what that entails,' Trump tweeted Monday, just days after a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence tested positive for the coronavirus. 'The Democrats are moving slowly, all over the USA, for political purposes. They would wait until November 3rd if it were up to them. Dont play politics. Be safe, move quickly!' he wrote. 'The Democrats are moving slowly, all over the USA, for political purposes' on reopening states, the president claimed Pennsylvania's governor Tom Wolf on Thursday signed a new order keeping his state's lockdown in place through June, although there are carve-outs fo 24 counties working their way through reopening phases. Coronavirus cases were up 17 per cent over three days when Wolf announced the decision. Wolf, a Democrat who was reelected in 2018, responded Monday: 'I don't know how you stay safe and move quickly.' He added: 'The irresponsible thing to do ... is to just willy nilly go off and pretend that we can wave a magic wand and go back into business and suspend the reality of this virus that's surrounding us.' Governors have cited ongoing infections in their states and the need to meet White House and CDC guidelines that show cases going down for 14 consecutive days before reopening should occur. Trump throughout the coronavirus has tangled with Democratic governors and at one point called to 'liberate' Democratic-run states where anti-lockdown protests were being held. A partisan divide has opened up over coronavirus countermeasures, with many Democratic governors urging to maintain closures until deaths and infection rates drop in accordance with CDC and White House guidelines. 'We're all anxious to get back to work. We want to do it smartly, we want to do it intelligently, but we want to do it,' said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at his Monday press briefing. Trump accused Democrats of playing politics with lockdowns. On Friday a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence tested positive for the coronavirus Pennsylvania's governor Tom Wolf on Thursday signed a new order keeping his state's lockdown in place through June, although there are carve-outs fo 24 counties working their way through reopening phases Realtor Jennifer Funk, left, shows clients a home Friday, May 8, 2020, in Washington Township, Pa. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, new rules require all clients and realtors to wear gloves, masks and shoe booties when viewing homes People shop for flowers ahead of Mother's Day in the Flower Market neighborhood amid the coronavirus pandemic in Los Angeles, California, USA, 08 May 2020. Today, California begins its Phase 2 reopening with curbside pick up and sales for retail shops, book stores, clothing stores, toy stores and florists People wearing masks amid the coronavirus pandemic exercise around a track at the Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Recreation Center, in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles, Saturday, May 9, 2020. Trump accuses Democrats who themselves must stand for reelection of keeping governments closed to harm his own reelection Eden Walton, center, cuts the hair of M. Sibert, right, at Makeshift Union Cutting & Grooming, Saturday, May 9, 2020, in Las Vegas. Saturday was the first day restaurants, salons and other nonessential businesses were allowed to start reopening after restrictions were imposed seven weeks earlier to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus Trump trailed Democrat Joe Biden in all three Pennsylvania public polls published in April, and polling in recent weeks, combined with a massive increase in unemployment, has revealed how the coronavirus has placed challenges to his reelection. Wolf has taken a quieter approach than some other Democratic governors, giving fewer cable TV news interviews and and avoiding harsh attacks on Trump that some of his fellow governors have leveled. Trump fired off a series of attacks Monday and over the weekend even as the deaths approached 80,000 and infections topped 1.3 million, as the country kept its place as the global hot-spot for the disease. His own White House is undergoing new security, with a top economic advisor saying it is 'scary' to work there, and both a Navy valet and a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence testing positive for the virus last week. Trump fired off 120 tweets Sunday accusing former President Barack Obama of being part of a conspiracy to bring Trump down. 'He got caught, OBAMAGATE!' Trump wrote. Trump trails Scranton-born former Vice President Joe Biden by 4.4 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average. A once record-breaking job market has now become a potential liability, with 20.5 million people filing unemployment claims in April. Pennsylvania is approaching 4,000 deaths with about 55,000 cases, and its active cases continue to increase. Audrey Lustre, Owner of Silver Spoon Caterers said, Were hearing that a lot of workers arent eating due to busy schedules and safety concerns. Our Boxed Meals ensure workers get a nutritional meal that they can eat on the go, while minimizing their contact with others". Silver Spoon Caterers, a leading catering company headquartered in Northern Virginia, announced this week they are offering single boxed meals for delivery to businesses throughout the Washington DC area. The boxed meals provide a safe and sanitary breakfast and lunch options for essential workers and other employees as they return to the office. Companies and residents can order Silver Spoon Caterers single boxed meals for direct delivery to corporate locations, police stations, fire stations, medical facilities, and other essential businesses in the Washington DC area. In addition to providing a safe option for employees and essential workers, the single boxed lunch boxes provide an excellent way for employers and residents to thank the people that continue providing essential services to the community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Silver Spoon Caterers is taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safe preparation of their single boxed meals. The Company is following all CDC and FDA recommendations regarding cleaning procedures and the safe handling of food. Silver Spoon Caterers ensures all meals are prepared and delivered in a safe and sanitary manner. Boxed meals provide a satisfying and convenient option for businesses any time of the year. Employees can easily grab and go a boxed breakfast or lunch, allowing them to eat during meetings and between shifts. During the COVID-19 outbreak, boxed meals provide essential workers and employees with access to delicious and satisfying food, without putting employee health and safety at risk. Corporate catering services like Silver Spoon Caterers box meal service eliminates the need for employees to use communal cooking and eating spaces. Silver Spoon Caterers offers a wide range of boxed meals including allergy friendly, gluten free, and vegetarian meals. Residents and employers can choose between a assortment of breakfast options, Deluxe Box Lunch, Simple Box Lunch, and a variety of Entree Salad Box Meals. Each boxed meal provides just the right amount of food to keep employees energized and focused throughout their shift. We are excited to offer boxed meals to our essential workers, said Audrey Lustre, Owner of Silver Spoon Caterers. Were hearing that a lot of workers arent eating due to busy schedules and safety concerns. Our Boxed Meals ensure workers get a nutritional meal that they can eat on the go, while minimizing their contact with others. We think this will provide an excellent solution for businesses as employees return to work. As essential employees around the world struggle to provide essential services with limited resources, mealtimes often go forgotten. Reduced staff and long hours can cause employees to skip breakfast or lunch. This is especially true for workers concerned about the safety of food left in communal office spaces where other employees can touch it. Unfortunately, skipping meals can negatively affect employee health and productivity. Silver Spoon Caterers Boxed meals provide a safe and sanitary way to ensure employees get a nutritious meal. Please visit Silver Spoon Caterers website for more information about their single boxed meals: https://www.silverspooncaterers.com/order-boxed-meals-for-essential-employees/ About Silver Spoon Caterers Located in Herndon, Virginia, Silver Spoon Caterers provides corporate catering and event catering to businesses and individuals throughout the DC area. An experienced catering company, Silver Spoon Caterers assists with every step of the process from menu creation to set-up and serving. The Company offers a wide range of reasonably priced, high quality menu options including several allergy-friendly and vegetarian choices. COVID-19 India Live Update s : Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently chairing a fresh round of consultation with chief ministers on ways to strengthen the COVID-19 containment strategy and stepping up of economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day nationwide lockdown nears an end. Besides, a day before the Railways will resume operations after 54-days of lockdown for general public, the government has issued certain guidelines for ensuring all social distancing norms are followed by people. The railways has said only passengers with confirmed e-tickets will be allowed to enter the station. All passengers need to be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the trains. All passengers will be provided with hand sanitisers at entry and exit points, and all passengers will require wearing face masks. Railways will start with 15 trains initially and bookings will start at 4 pm today. Check out all the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic from across India and the world on BusinessToday.In live blog 11.36 PM: Five Air India pilots, who tested positive for coronavirus in an earlier test on Saturday, have been found COVID negative in a second test. These pilots can now be rostered for repatriation flights under the Vande Bharat Mission. 10.04 PM: PM-CM meet: PM Modi professes 'jan se jag tak' Interacting with CMs from across the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a "balanced strategy" to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. The Prime Minister also mentioned efforts needed to address 'jan se jag tak' - from people to world, adding that the world will change after the coronavirus crisis, as it did after the two World Wars. He also emphasised on the need to prepare for upcoming monsoon as this season is known for increase in diseases. 8.41 PM: Delhi hotspots latest updates One more containment zone in Delhi - House No. A-30, Mansarover Garden - has been de-contained today. This takes the total number of hotspots in Delhi to 81. No new containment zone happened today. 7.52 PM: Lockdown Extension in Maharashtra Latest Updates During interaction with PM Narendra Modi via video link, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray suggested that a decision about lockdown should be taken after careful consideration, as COVID-19 cases are expected to peak in June or July. Thackeray also called for resumption of industrial activities in Green zones, while reopening local train services for workers in essential services. He also sought GST refunds for Maharashtra to be disbursed at the earliest. 7.05 PM: Lockdown extension: Don't resume train services, says Telangana CM Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to resume passenger train services. Earlier Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami presented similar demands in view of rising cases in Chennai. 6.53 PM: Punjab coronavirus updates Punjab reported 54 new coronavirus cases in the state today, taking the total infection cases to 1,877. The state has 1,678 active cases and 31 deaths, informed Punjab Health Department. 6.43 PM: ICMR coronavirus survey ICMR-NCDC combine is going to conduct a population-based sero survey in selected districts of country to monitor trend in prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection at district level, informed Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Under this initiative, throat and nasal swabs will be collected for RT-PCR tests. This will also help to detect the antibodies in the samples, the blood test would be done through anti-body testing ELISA kits, the Ministry added. 6.41 PM: Odisha coronavirus cases Odisha reported 3 more coronavirus cases today, taking the total number of cases in the state to 394. This includes 306 active cases, 85 recoveries and 3 deaths, informed State Health and Family Welfare Department. 6.28 PM: Lockdown news: Punjab CM pitches for continued lockdown Punjab CM Amarinder Singh suggetsed continued lockdown with well-crafted exit strategy that will save lives and livelihoods. During the video conferencing with PM Narendra Modi, Singh suggested that categorisation of Red, orange and green zones to the states. The Punjab CM also called for national testing strategy and sought urgent fiscal aid for states to meet at least 33 per cent committed liabilities and revenue grants for 3 months. 6.26 PM: PM Modi meeting: Tamil Nadu coronavirus latest updates As positive cases in Chennai are showing an increasing trend, don't permit train service up to May 31 in Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami said during at PM Narendra Modi's interaction with CMs. I request you not to begin regular Air services till May 31, he added. 6.17 PM: PM Modi talks to CMs "Slowly but surely, economic activities have begun to pick up in several parts of the country. In coming days, this process will further gather steam. We must realise that fight against COVID-19 has to be more focused now," PM Modi said during his video conference with CMs today. 6.14 PM: PM meeting with CMs World has recognised India's success in handling the coroanvirus pandemic and Government of India appreciates the efforts made by all state governments in this regard, PM Modi said during his interaction with CMs today. Let us stay the course as we move forward together, he added. 6.09 PM: IRCTC ticket booking: India Railways releases timings of 30 trains that will run from May 12 Indian Railways issues the timings of 30 special trains to be run with effect from 12th May. pic.twitter.com/fvwxMrL3P3 ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 5.43 PM: Gautam Buddha Nagar corona latest updates Gautam Buddha Nagar has rreported 4 more coronavirus cases reported today, taking the total number of cases in the district to 222. This includes 85 active cases, 135 recoveries and 2 deaths. 4 more #COVID19 cases reported in Gautam Buddha Nagar district today. Total number of cases in the district is now at 222, including 85 active patients, 135 discharged, 2 deaths. pic.twitter.com/5dLolsIC8j ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 11, 2020 5.36 PM: Karnataka COVID-19 updates Karnataka Government has formed a Special Investment Task Force to "woo disenchanted multinational companies looking to shift their manufacturing bases away from China in the backdrop of coronavirus outbreak". Chief Secretary of the state will lead this task force. Karnataka Government constitutes a Special Investment Task Force to "woo disenchanted multinational companies looking to shift their manufacturing bases away from China in the backdrop of #coronavirus outbreak". pic.twitter.com/L7GileKdRX ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 5.33 PM: Karnataka coronavirus cases latest updates Karantaka has reported 14 more coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in the state to 862. This includes 426 recoveries and 31 deaths, said State Health Department. 14 more #COVID19 cases reported in Karnataka in the last 24 hours. Total number of cases in the state is now at 862, including 426 discharged & 31 deaths: State Health Department pic.twitter.com/PrSPjfnDah ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 5.21 PM: Gujarat coronavirius latest updates Home delivery has been made mandatorily cashless in Ahmedabad to prevent spread of coronavirus through currency notes. It is now compulsory to accept digital mode of payments through Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and other platforms, said Gujarat Additional Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar Gupta. Home delivery has been made mandatorily cashless in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. To prevent spread of #COVID19 through currency notes, it is mandatory to accept digital mode of payments through Unified Payment Interface (UPI)&other platforms:Gujarat Additional Chief Secy Rajiv Kumar Gupta pic.twitter.com/qtN5v2Ac9W ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 5.00 PM: Train ticket bookings on IRCTC IRCTC has said that train ticket bookings that were scheduled to start at 4 pm today will start at 6 pm. Booking for train tickets to begin at 6:00 PM: Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) pic.twitter.com/jXKWcsA8Nw ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 4.50 PM: No data leak in Aarogya Empowered Group-9 has said that the contact tracing app Aarogya Setu has been downloaded 9.8 crore times so far. The app will be available on Jio smartphones from tomorrow. The group has also said that they are ensuring security and added that no data will be leaked. 4.40 PM: IRCTC website crashes People are rushing to the IRCTC website that has led to its crash. Railways Ministry has apologised for the crash and stated that the details of the trains that will run are being fed into the system and the booking will be up and running in a while. 4.31 PM: Recovery rate is now at 31.15% The total number of recoveries is 20917, 44029 people are under active medical supervision. In last 24 hours, there were 4213 new cases & 1559 recoveries. Recovery rate is now at 31.15%. Total number of cases is at 67,152: Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary of Health Ministry. 4.15 PM: PM's virtual meeting with CMs Unlike earlier meeting, all CMs will speak during today's video conference. Meeting likely to continue till 9.30 PM A 30 min break will take place at 6 PM All states may seek graded exit Centre and states may not ease out night curfew restrictions Centre and states to work on different strategies for red and other zones Post lockdown 3.0, the country may see more easing of restrictions Centre and states to work to ensure infection doesn't reach rural zones 4.13 PM: Railways' additional guidelines on resuming operations Special trains to have only AC classes; fare structure shall be as applicable for regular time-tabled Rajdhani trains Passengers will have to reach station at least 90 minutes in advance to facilitate thermal screening All passengers advised to download and use Aarogya Setu application Passengers encouraged to carry own linen, food, drinking water; dry, ready-to-eat food, bottled water to be provided on payment Advance reservation period will be max 7 days; no RAC, waiting list ticket; on board booking by ticket checking staff not permitted Online cancellation permitted up to 24 hours before scheduled departure; cancellation charge to be 50 per cent of fare 4.10 PM: Home Ministry's coronavirus update: Around 4,000 Indians have been brought back by 23 flights under Vande Bharath Mission. "Over 5 lakh migrant workers have been sent to their home states by 468 special trains. A total of 101 special trains were run yesterday," says Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava. 4.08 PM: Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel taking part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video conference meeting with Chief Ministers over COVID-19: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's Office CM Bhupesh Baghel took part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video conference meeting with Chief Ministers over #COVID19: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's Office pic.twitter.com/vF9YFZAyv9 ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 4.00 PM: The health ministry's daily briefing on the COVID19 situation in the country has also started. 3.59 PM: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also present during PM Modi's video conference with CMs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 5th video conference meeting with Chief Ministers underway. Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also present. #COVID19pic.twitter.com/BAAaudPe75 ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 3.50 PM: PM-CMs meet has started During their fifth video conference in 51 days, PM and CMs will discuss issues related to the large-scale movement of migrant workers from urban to rural India and the problems their return to home states may cause in restarting the economy. 3.40 PM: PM-CMs meet begins Honble PM @narendramodi ji is set to meet chief ministers of all states for the 5th time in 51 days! The virtual meeting is happening in the context of #Covid19 . I, too, shall participate in this today.@PMOIndia@AmitShah@nsitharaman@BJP4India@mygovindiapic.twitter.com/r9wHhN3Rdp Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) May 11, 2020 3:30 PM: Many of incoming migrant workers testing positive for COVID-19: Principal Health Secretary AM Prasad Principal Health Secretary AM Prasad on Monday said that many of incoming migrant workers are testing positive for COVID-19. We have village monitoring committees in rural areas and mohalla monitoring committees in urban areas. It's necessary that we implement our community surveillance model effectively. "Asymptomatic workers are sent to 21-day home quarantine & the symptomatic ones are sent to institutional quarantine. If a worker doesn't test positive, we keep them in quarantine for 7 days & then sent them to 14-day home quarantine," he added. 3:25 PM: Coronavirus in Rajasthan: 126 new cases, 2 deaths reported today As many as 126 new cases of COVID-19 and 2 deaths have been reported in Rajasthan today till 1 pm, taking the total number of cases & deaths to 3940 & 110, respectively. Number of active cases stands at 1566: Rajasthan Health Department. 3:20 PM: WHO issued guidelines for workplace re-opening The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday issued guidelines for public health and social measures in the workplaces, as many countries are beginning to gradually re-open workplaces to maintain economic activity. 3:15 PM: Delhi govt to to give another Rs 5,000 to construction workers; start renewal and registration from May 15 Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai on Monday said that online registration for renewal and registration of new workers will begin from May 15. Website link will be made available on May 15 and registration shall continue till May 25. After May 25 verification process will take place, he said. Delhi government had taken a decision to deposit Rs 5,000 into the bank accounts of the registered construction workers last month. This month also as the lockdown has been extended government has decided to again deposit Rs 5,000 to provide them help, said the minister. 3:10 PM: GCC Biotech develops Rs 500 COVID-19 testing kit Kolkata-based GCC Biotech India claimed it has developed indigenous 'real-time' COVID19 test kit costing only Rs 500 for a single test. "After 2 months of R&D we made this kit. It is cost effective as it contains all reagents produced by us. We've made 1 crore test kits&have 40 lakh in store. If India can do 3 lakh tests per day, we'll be able to support the govt without any problems," ANI quoted R Majumdar, MD, GCC Biotech India, as saying. We received approval from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on May 1, 2020, he added. 3:00 PM:No increase in lease rent for SEZ for FY21; payment for Q1 deferred till July 31 There will be no increase in lease rent for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) units for the financial year 2020-21. Payment of lease rent of 1st quarter is to be deferred up to 31st July 2020 for all SEZ units, says Ministry of Commerce and Industry. 2:50 PM: 15 police personnel tested positive for coronavirus in Bihar Till now, 15 police personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 in Bihar, says Jitendra Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (headquarters). 2.40 PM: GCC Biotech India devises testing kit "After 2 months of R&D we made this kit. It is cost effective as it contains all reagents produced by us," says R Majumdar, MD, GCC Biotech India. - ANI West Bengal: A South 24 Parganas based private firm GCC Biotech India claims it has developed indigenous 'real-time' #COVID19 test kit costing only Rs 500 for a single test pic.twitter.com/X3hR01vxUy ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 2.30 PM: Bihar coronavirus cases live tracker Till now, 15 police personnel have tested positive for coronavirus in Bihar, Additional Director General of Police (headquarters), Jitendra Kumar, has confirmed. The total cases in the state stand at 696, including six deaths. 2.21 PM: No proposal to deduct salaries of govt employees: Jitendra Singh "Please ignore the FAKE NEWS being circulated in a section of media. There is no proposal by the Government to carry out deduction in the salary of its employees," Union minister Jitendra Singh. West Bengal: A South 24 Parganas based private firm GCC Biotech India claims it has developed indigenous 'real-time' #COVID19 test kit costing only Rs 500 for a single test pic.twitter.com/X3hR01vxUy ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 2.15 PM: Delhi govt to deposit Rs 5000 in construction workers' accounts Delhi govt has decided deposit Rs 5,000 in bank accounts of construction workers. "Online registration from May 15 will also begin for renewal and registration of new workers. Website link will be made available on May 15 and registration shall continue till May 25," says Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai. Please ignore the FAKE NEWS being circulated in a section of media. There is no proposal by the Government to carry out deduction in the salary of its employees.@DoPTGoI Dr Jitendra Singh (@DrJitendraSingh) May 11, 2020 2.05 PM: Human rights can't be exploited, says Rahul Gandhi "Labor laws are being amended by many states. We are fighting against corona together but this cannot be an excuse to exploit human rights," says Rahul Gandhi. Online registration from May 15 will also begin for renewal and registration of new workers. Website link will be made available on May 15 and registration shall continue till May 25. After May 25 verification process will take place: Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai https://t.co/pPlARl2uHhpic.twitter.com/iJGQkMJghl ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 2.00 PM: New MHA guidelines on Railways passenger movement Only those passengers with confirmed E-tickets shall be allowed to enter the station The movement of the passengers as well as the drivers of the vehicle transporting the passenger (s) to & from the railway station shall be allowed on the basis of confirmed E-ticket All passengers shall be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed All passengers shall be provided with hand sanitizers at entry & exit points at states and in coaches All passengers shall be wearing face covers/masks at entry and during travel On arrival at their destination, the travelling passengers will have to adhere to health protocols 1.50 PM: Civil Aviation Minister shares some enduring images of Mission Vande Bharat , , , Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 11, 2020 1.45 PM: Badrinath Temple to open on May 15 Total 27 people including the Chief Priest will be allowed at the Badrinath Temple when the portals of the temple will be opened on May 15. No devotee will be allowed at that time: Anil Chanyal, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Joshimath. Youngsters proudly holding the tricolour. Citizens embracing their motherland on arrival. Social distancing. Sanitization. Face masks & shields. These are some enduring images of Mission Vande Bharat & people's love for Mother India. @PMOIndia@MoCA_GoI@indiannavy@PIB_Indiapic.twitter.com/8JKmsFp2yw Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 11, 2020 1.40 PM: Tata Steel Europe to unbundle business Tata Steel Europe, which is in discussion with the UK government for a relief package, plans to unbundle its business as separate entities for the UK and the Netherlands. The British government wants to ensure that the financial relief offered to the company's operations in their country should not be supporting its operations in Netherlands. The debt-ridden company is facing severe crisis in the region after coronavirus pandemic forced it to shut operations. Also read: Tata Steel Europe to unbundle business to avail support from UK government 1.25 PM: Frequently asked questions on discharge policy for COVID-19 patients, as per the health ministry What was earlier criteria for discharging COVID-19 patients? The earlier criteria for discharging rt-PCR positive were (a) chest radiograph has cleared and (b) two consecutive negative test results on rt-PCR. What is the new discharge policy for COVID-19 patients? Mild cases: Patient can be discharged after 10 days of symptom on set and no fever for 3 days Patient can be discharged after 10 days of symptom on set and no fever for 3 days No need for testing prior to discharge Patient will be advised to follow home isolation for a further 7 days after discharge Moderate cases: Patient can be discharged (a) if asymptomatic for 3 days and (b) after 10 days of symptom onset Patient can be discharged (a) if asymptomatic for 3 days and (b) after 10 days of symptom onset No need for testing prior to discharge Patient will be advised to follow home isolation for a further 7 days after discharge Severe cases: Clinical recovery Clinical recovery Patient tested negative once by RT-PCR (after resolution of symptoms) 1.20 PM: Rajasthan relaxes travel guidelines The government has allowed inter-district and intra-district travel for certain activities from 7 am to 7 pm. However, these relaxations will be given in red zones. 1.15 PM: Govt issues guideline on restarting manufacturing industries after the lockdown period In the wake of Vizag tragedy, Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued detailed guidelines under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, on restarting manufacturing industries after the lockdown period. State governments shall also ensure the off-site disaster management plan of the respective Major Accidental Hazard (MAH) units are up to date and preparedness to implement them is high. It is also advised that all the responsible officers of the district shall ensure the Industrial On-Site Disaster Management Plans are also in place and cover Standard Operating Procedures for safe re-starting of the industries during & after COVID 19 lock down. 1.10 PM: Unsanitary conditions at Mumbai hospital In a video tweeted by BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, body bags seen lying next to patients in a ward in Mumbai's KEM hospital. No comment yet from KEM hospital on the body bags or unsanitary conditions of the ward. Total 27 people including the Chief Priest will be allowed at the Badrinath Temple when the portals of the temple will be opened on May 15. No devotee will be allowed at that time: Anil Chanyal, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Joshimath. #Uttarakhandpic.twitter.com/DI0d3IRpSe ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 12.55 PM:Odisha corona cases live tracker The COVID-19 cases in Odisha rise to 391 after 14 more people, including 12 in Ganjam district, test positive; 320 active cases. 12.50 PM: Containment zones in Kolkata: 338 There are at least 338 containment zones in the city, the Kolkata Police said on Monday. The city police has put up on its Twitter account the list of all the 338 containment zones as received from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). The list has names of all the 338 containment zones in the city starting from KMC Ward No 1 to KMC Ward No 140. 12.45 PM: 10 new cases reported in Karnataka Ten new positive cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of infections in the state to 858, the Health department said on Monday. "Ten new positive cases have been reported from last evening to this noon... Till date 858 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 31 deaths and 422 discharges," the department said in its mid-day situation update. The ten new cases include- three from Davangere, two each from Bidar and Bagalkote, one each from Kalaburagi, Shiggavi in Haveri and Vijayapura. - PTI 12.38 PM: Advisory for online conference via audio calls Advisory for public to exercise due care while joining online conference platforms through audio calls, after few consumers experienced bill shocks when they joined online conferencing platforms inadvertently dialing international numbers: TRAI In a video tweeted by BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, body bags seen lying next to patients in a ward in Mumbais KEM hospital. No comment yet from KEM hospital on the body bags or unsanitary conditions of the ward.#Maharashtrapic.twitter.com/ueqtmW0kuD ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 12.30 PM: Safe passage ensured for over 900 trucks carrying essential supplies, from Zoji La to Kargil in the past 21 days: Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). Advisory for public to exercise due care while joining online conference platforms through audio calls, after few consumers experienced bill shocks when they joined online conferencing platforms inadvertently dialing international numbers: TRAI pic.twitter.com/Wl4x9YXMlf ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 12.15 PM: The big climbdown of Yogi Adityanath's govt has rubbed trade unions the wrong way Within weeks of asking factory-owners and private firms to pay workers full wages and not retrench them during Coronavirus-afflicted lockdown, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government decided to suspend all key labour laws suggesting major climb down in the face of protests from industries. Also read: UP labour law reforms: The big climbdown 12.10 PM: Latest coronavirus update With an addition of 4,213 new cases, the total stands at 67,152. Here is the corona virus update as of 8 am today. Safe passage ensured for over 900 trucks carrying essential supplies, from Zoji La to Kargil in the past 21 days: Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). #CoronavirusLockdownpic.twitter.com/AgGlQSUOB0 ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 12.00 PM: Migrant exodus continues "I am welding worker in Delhi. It was becoming difficult for us to sustain here and we were facing food and other santisation issues, due to which we decided to walk on foot to our village in Purniya, Bihar. We don't have any information regarding train services run by the government," a migrant tells ANI. #CoronaWatch With an addition of 4,213 new cases, the total stands at 67,152. Here is the corona virus update as of 8 am today. #StayHomeSaveLives#IndiaFightsCoronapic.twitter.com/DYl6hWwMzY PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 11, 2020 11.50 AM: 26,660 new cases, 1,737 deaths in the US The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported 1,300,696 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 26,660 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 1,737 to 78,771. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on May 9, compared with its count a day earlier. The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states. - Reuters 11.47 AM: 468 Shramik Special trains operationalised so far: MHA Subsequent to the Ministry of Home Affairs order regarding movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places by special trains,Indian Railways had decided to operate "Shramik Special" trains. As on May 11, a total of 468 "Shramik Special" trains have been operationalised from various states across the country, in which 363 trains had reached its destination and 105 trains are in transit. 11.46 AM: New Zealand to reopen malls New Zealand businesses including malls, cinemas, cafes and gyms will be allowed to reopen from Thursday as tight restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus were further eased on Monday. The Pacific nation was locked down for more than month under "level 4" restrictions that were eased by a notch late last month. - Reuters 11.45 AM: COVID-19 vaccine in the works Since coronavirus broke out four months ago, researchers and scientists from across the globe have been working to concoct the perfect cure. While developing a vaccine might take a few years, researchers from across the globe are optimistic that a coronavirus vaccine may be available by next year. Also read: Coronavirus vaccine: List of 5 COVID-19 treatment frontrunners 11.35 AM: Man jumps home quarantine to buy liquor in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur district, sent to institutional quarantine after wife complains to police: Official 11.25 AM:South Eastern Railway reduces speed of all goods, special trains to 40 kmph in its Kharagpur-Bhadrak section till Monday morning owing to the movement of migrant workers along railway tracks: Official 11.15 AM: Passenger train bookings start at 4 pm Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4 pm on 11th May and will be available only on the IRCTC website www.irctc.co.in. Ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) shall be issued. Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations. It will be mandatory for the passengers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train. 11.00 AM: Total cases in Jharkhand: 160 Total 160 positive COVID-19 cases have been reported in Jharkhand till date, of which 79 are active cases and 78 are recovered/discharged cases. To ensure that social distancing and other norms are strictly followed, all seats will not be available for booking in the passenger trains, says Union Minister of State for Railways, Suresh Angadi, on the Indian Railways' decision to restart passenger trains from May 12. - ANI 10.44 AM: Coronavirus cases in Delhi: 7,233 As many as 310 new COVID-19 cases reported in Delhi till May 10 midnight. The total number of positive cases is now 7,233. "We have ordered all hospitals to submit death report with death summary each day," says Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain. To ensure that social distancing&other norms are strictly followedall seats will not be available for booking in the passenger trains:Union Min of State for Railways Suresh Angadi on Indian Railways' decision to restart passenger trains from 12 May.#CoronavirusLockdown(File pic) pic.twitter.com/UCejLnyRtq ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 10.33 AM: Cities that'll be connected via train services from tomorrow Indian Railways to restart passenger train operations with special trains from New Delhi connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad & Jammu Tawi from tomorrow. 310 new COVID19 cases reported in Delhi till midnight of 10th May. The total number of positive cases is now 7233. We have ordered all hospitals to submit death report with death summary each day: Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain pic.twitter.com/HDMXL209oi ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 10.25 AM: MHA to States: Ensure smooth movement, including inter-state, of all medical professionals, paramedic staff, sanitation personnel and ambulances etc Private clinics and nursing homes be allowed to open without hindrances to facilitate fighting COVID-19 and non-COVID emergencies Indian Railways to restart passenger train operations with special trains from New Delhi connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad,Bengaluru,Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad&Jammu Tawi from tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/KSHGGdPBk8 ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 10.20 AM: After trains, start road, air transport gradually: Chidambaram Former finance minister P Chidambaram on lockdown exit: "The only way economic and commercial activity can effectively begin, is to open road, rail and air services for passengersand goods. We welcome the decision of the government to cautiously start operations of inter state passenger trains. The same modest opening should be started with road transport and air transport." MHA to States: Ensure smooth movement, including inter-state, of all medical professionals, paramedic staff, sanitation personnel & ambulances etc. Private clinics & nursing homes be allowed to open without hindrances to facilitate fighting #COVID19 & non-COVID emergencies pic.twitter.com/nZJ9J6FDKD Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) May 11, 2020 10.17 AM: 70 COVID-19 proposals recommended for funding To urgently develop safe and effective Biomedical solutions against SARS CoV-2, Department of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) had invited applications for COVID-19 Research Consortium. In addition, BIRAC has also created a provision to fund COVID-19 solutions that are ready for immediate deployment under a 'Fast Track Review Process'. Through a rolling multitiered review mechanism, 70 proposals of devices, diagnostics, vaccine candidates, therapeutics and other interventions have been recommended for receiving financial support. The shortlisted proposals includes 10 Vaccines candidates, 34 Diagnostics products or scale-up facilities, 10 Therapeutics options, 02 proposals on Drug Repurposing and 14 projects which are categorised as preventive interventions. 10.15 AM: The Ministry of Health and Family Affairs has revised conditions for ending home isolation of very mild/pre-symptomatic COVID-19 patients. 10.10 AM: Vasundhara Raje on National Technology Day Vasundhara Raje: "On the National Technology Day, we acknowledge the tremendous contributions of our scientific community in the nation's progress. From the 1998 nuclear tests to leading innovation and research during the COVID-19 pandemic -- today India has cemented its place as a global leader." The only way economic and commercial activity can effectively begin, is to open road, rail and air services for passengersand goods. P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 11, 2020 10.03 AM: Passenger train services to resume from tomorrow Tickets should be booked only via IRCTC website or Mobile App. Booking of tickets through 'agents' (both IRCTC and Railways) will not be allowed. No provision of tatkal and premium tatkal accommodation. No current booking will be allowed. Few of these trains may not run daily. Schedule will be out tomorrow. 10.00 AM: Cooperate in receiving Shramik special trains: MHA to states Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla writes to Chief Secretaries of all the states to cooperate in receiving Shramik special trains and to facilitate the movement of stranded migrant workers. "...all state/UT governments should ensure migrant workers do not resort to walking on road and on railway tracks. In case they are found in such conditions, they should appropriatelt be counseled, take to nearby shelters and provided with food, water, etc, till they are facilitated to board 'Shramik' special trains or buses to their native places," says the letter. 9.50 AM: Power ministry closed for two days as staff member's relative tests positive The Ministry of Power office to remain closed for two days as a stenographer working at the ministry has informed that his brother-in-law tested positive for coronavirus on May 1. He visited the patient on April 29 and later attended the office. He also attended the office on May 8. In view of this, the office will remain closed on May 11 and 12. All officers and staff members have been requested to take preventive measures. 9.41 AM: PM on National Technology Day The Prime Minister pays tribute to the researchers and innovators who are attempting to find a cure for coronavirus. "Today, technology is helping many in the efforts to make the world free from COVID-19. I salute all those at the forefront of research and innovation on ways to defeat Coronavirus," says the PM. Also read: National Technology Day: PM Modi pays tribute to coronavirus researchers, hails 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests 9.38 AM: 300 Indians land in Bengaluru from the UK Over 300 Indians arrive in Bengaluru from London, the UK, on an Air India special flight early morning today. - ANI Health Ministry revises conditions for ending home isolation of very mild / pre-symptomatic #COVID19 patients Isolation to be ended after 17 days of symptom onset & 10 days of no fever No need for testing after isolation https://t.co/nOaTSH7bM4https://t.co/VyvJnpVvjUpic.twitter.com/gScUO7OvrQ PIB in Maharashtra #MaskYourself (@PIBMumbai) May 10, 2020 9.36 AM: Today's evacuation schedule Total seven special evacuation flights will be operated on the fifth day of the Vande Bharat Mission today. The routes are London to Delhi to Bengaluru; San Francisco to Mumbai to Hyderabad; Dhaka to Mumbai; Dubai to Kochi; Abu Dhabi to Hyderabad; Kaula Lampur to Chennai; and Bahrain to Kozhikode. 9.20 AM: India sees biggest ever spike in COVID-19 cases The total cases in the country now stand at 67,152, including 44,029 active cases, 20,917 cured/discharged/migrated cases and 2,206 deaths. 9.13 AM: What's on agenda for PM-CMs meet? Today's discussion is expected to revolve on steps for reviving the battered economy and scaling up efforts to bring more 'red' zones- areas with a high number of COVID-19 cases- into 'orange' or 'green' zones'. Yesterday, the Indian Railways announced that it will gradually resume passenger train services from May 12. In the second phase of the lockdown, the Centre had allowed manufacturing and industrial activities across all the zones. Also read: PM Modi to meet CMs today at 3 PM: revival of economy, ease of restrictions on agenda 9.11 AM: Passenger train ops to start from tomorrow The Ministry of Railways, on Sunday, announced that it will start operations of 15 passenger trains (30 return journeys) from May 12. All these trains will run from New Delhi railway station. The fares will be equivalent to the ticket fare that is charged for Rajdhani trains. Also read: Indian Railways to start passenger services from May 12; check schedule, routes, ticket fare 9.09 AM: Total Operational (initiated independent testing) laboratories reporting to Indian Council of Medical Research Government laboratories: 345 Private laboratories: 131 Real-Time RT PCR for COVID-19:391 (Govt: 277+ Private: 114) TrueNat Test for COVID-19:55 (Govt: 53+ Private: 02) CBNAAT Test for COVID-19:30 (Govt: 15+ Private: 15) Total No. of labs: 476 9.05 AM: Pune institute develops 1st indigenous antibody detection kit The National Institute of Virology in Pune has successfully developed the first indigenous antibody detection kit for COVID-19 that will play a critical role in surveillance for coronavirus infection, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday. The test kit has the advantage of testing 90 samples together in a single run of 2.5 hours so that healthcare professionals can proceed quickly with necessary next steps, Vardhan said. - PTI Also read: Coronavirus: NIV Pune develops first indigenous antibody detection kit, says Harsh Vardhan 8.50 AM: Newark flight carrying Indians to land in Ahmedabad Indian passengers arrive at Newark Liberty International Airport to board the Air India flight to Mumbai. The flight will later fly to Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Thermal screening and security checks of passengers have begun. Under Vande Bharat Mission, the government intends to bring back over 2 lakh Indians this month alone. On #NationalTechnologyDay we acknowledge the tremendous contributions of our scientific community in the nations progress. From the 1998 nuclear tests to leading innovation & research during the #COVID19 pandemic - today India has cemented its place as a global leader. Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) May 11, 2020 8.40 AM: 1,200 migrants off to Uttarakhand in special train A special train carrying 1,200 passengers departed from Surat, Gujarat, for Kathgodam in Uttarakhand at 4 am, says Uttarakhand Chief Minister's Office. A total of 366 trains have transported nearly four lakh migrant workers since the first special train was rolled out on May 1. Karnataka: More than 300 Indians returned to Bengaluru from London, UK, on an Air India special flight early morning today. #VandeBharatMissionpic.twitter.com/S3wffvL1ul ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 8.20 AM: 225 Indians from San Francisco land in India Union Foreign Minister S Jaishankar says the first Air India special flight from the US has brought in 225 Indians from San Francisco to Mumbai. United States: Indian passengers arrive at Newark Liberty International Airport to board the Air India flight to Mumbai. The flight will later fly to Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Thermal screening and security checks of passengers have begun. #VandeBharatMissionpic.twitter.com/ANKWmWokrH ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 8.00 AM: Salute all at forefront of research, innovation to defeat coronavirus: PM On National Technology Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. "Today, technology is helping many in the efforts to make the world free from COVID-19. I salute all those at the forefront of research and innovation on ways to defeat Coronavirus. May we keep harnessing technology in order to create a healthier and better planet." Amprion selects 525 kV HVDC extruded cable system, providing reliability and sustainability Energy transition confirmed as a major driver of growth MILAN, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, has been awarded a contract by Amprion GmbH, the German grid operator, for the A-Nord underground cable connection, part of the 2GW German Corridor "A" electricity transmission project. Worth over EUR500 million, Prysmian are to design, manufacture, supply, lay, joint, test and commission a 1GW underground cable system along the entire Northern route of this German Corridor. "This award, almost coinciding with the recent SuedOstLink project award, also in Germany, recognises yet again our commitment in the development and upgrading of power grids to support the energy transition. It is a source of great satisfaction to see that our undeniable know-how, project execution and innovation capabilities are gaining full acknowledgment," said Valerio Battista, CEO of Prysmian Group. Prysmian will deliver a fully qualified 525 kV high voltage DC (Direct Current) cable system consisting of copper cables, insulated with their own proprietary P-Laser technology, complete with a separate insulated metallic return cable. The Group will provide all related accessories and integrated PRY-CAM monitoring system, carrying out the design and installation works with a dedicated local project engineering and management team. The route, with a total length of around 300 km, runs from Emden in Lower Saxony to Osterath in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Construction of the HVDC system is scheduled to commence within 2023. "We are delighted to be working with Amprion on this project: the A-Nord project will be one of the main arteries of the German transmission grid, connecting the key generation sites in Northern regions, characterised by many onshore and offshore wind energy sources, to southern regions, especially in west Germany, where more conventional power plant capacities are located," stated Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects BU, Prysmian Group. -P-Laser, Prysmian's fully recyclable, eco-friendly high-performance cable technology based on HPTE (High Performance Thermoplastic Elastomer), is suited for the highest voltage levels, being able to deliver enhanced thermal performance, high intrinsic reliability and higher environmental credentials compared to more conventional technologies. Prysmian Group Prysmian Group is a world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry. With almost 140 years of experience, sales exceeding EUR11 billion, about 29,000 employees in over 50 countries and 106 plants, the Group is strongly positioned in high-tech markets and offers the widest possible range of products, services, technologies and know-how. It operates in the businesses of underground and submarine cables and systems for power transmission and distribution, of special cables for applications in many different industries and of medium and low voltage cables for the construction and infrastructure sectors. For the telecommunications industry, the Group manufactures cables and accessories for voice, video and data transmission, offering a comprehensive range of optical fibres, optical and copper cables and connectivity systems. Prysmian is a public company, listed on the Italian Stock Exchange in the FTSE MIB index. Logo -- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/888331/Prysmian_Group_Logo.... [https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/888331/Prysmian_Group_Logo....] Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1166378/Prysmian_Group.jpg [https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1166378/Prysmian_Group.jpg] Media RelationsLorenzo CarusoCorporate and Business Communications Director lorenzo.caruso@prysmiangroup.com[mailto:lorenzo.caruso@prysmiangroup.com] +39 02 6449.1 Investor RelationsCristina Bifulco Investor Relations Directormariacristina.bifulco@prysmiangroup.com[mailto:mariacristina.bifulco@prysmiangroup.com]+39 02 6449.1 Web site: http://prysmiangroup.com/ Many of us have experienced the challenge of dealing with numerous messaging and collaboration platforms such as Zoom, Slack, Skype, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, iOS Messages, SMS, email, etc. Certainly, it would be nice to have a single interface to deal with it all. Especially if you are a company where you have to deal with many of the above as well as Facebook, Twitter, Web chat and more. To solve this challenge, Infobip has launched Conversations, a new omnichannel contact center solution that connects the worlds most popular messaging channels and provides businesses with the necessary data to seamlessly communicate with customers on multiple channels, using one simple interface. Conversations also provides a 360 view of the customer, allowing agents to identify cross-selling and up-selling opportunities while improving customer satisfaction. Support agents can use Conversations to communicate with customers across several channels (SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or a number of other channels), while receiving background information and an order history simultaneously. Conversations also uses automation and chatbots in order to optimize the customer experience and find the right solutions with as little friction as possible. In a recent conversation with Yuri Fiaschi, VP of Global Sales he told us the company is 16 years old, they had 100 billion interactions on their platform last year and they are looking to grow 50% year over year. In some markets, the company competes with Twilio but unlike the venture-backed Silicon Valley company, they started by connecting villagers in Croatia. Its a pretty amazing story. The company recently opened a 5,000 square foot U.S. headquarters located in Jersey City, New Jersey. The company has recently hired 16 employees to work out of their U.S. headquarters. They plan to double their employee base in Jersey City by the end of the year and are currently hiring for roles in sales and marketing. Jersey City has become a rising tech hub and its proximity to multiple carriers based in New Jersey is key for us, said Yuri. Infobip has recently become Tier 1 in the American market, which means it is fully connected with the major wireless carriers. We are now looking forward to becoming an active member in the local community once we can physically be in our office. With that said, we are still impacting the community in a positive manner by generating new jobs and providing support for government and healthcare institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversations is designed to enable companies to: Empower agents with automation : Slow response rates or having to repeat yourself as youre passed from agent to agent leads to frustrated customers, low levels of loyalty and high drop off rates. By being able to set up rules and automate workflows, customers are routed to the right or same agent if it is a return visit, faster leading to more productive agents and happier customers. : Slow response rates or having to repeat yourself as youre passed from agent to agent leads to frustrated customers, low levels of loyalty and high drop off rates. By being able to set up rules and automate workflows, customers are routed to the right or same agent if it is a return visit, faster leading to more productive agents and happier customers. Give agents the context they need : Agents will be able to access customer data from CRM systems, web shop, ticketing, and loyalty programs systems with the added context of customer sentiment all in one place. This enables them to deliver personalized and contextualized support. : Agents will be able to access customer data from CRM systems, web shop, ticketing, and loyalty programs systems with the added context of customer sentiment all in one place. This enables them to deliver personalized and contextualized support. Manage cross-channel conversations : Seamlessly transition customer conversations between channels, while retaining a full conversation history, so agents can respond to questions with ease whether its a text or a WhatsApp message straight from a single workspace. : Seamlessly transition customer conversations between channels, while retaining a full conversation history, so agents can respond to questions with ease whether its a text or a WhatsApp message straight from a single workspace. Improving remote agent performance through analytics: Analytics enables managers to track customer activity, monitor agent performance with real-time dashboards and reporting to identify obstacles impacting agent productivity. Using this data, managers can identify any challenges and make the necessary adjustments to optimize working practices or workloads for improved overall performance and CX. Conversations can also be used in conjunction with Answers, Infobips chatbot building platform that enables companies to build, test, and deploy artificial intelligence and keyword-based chatbots. These chatbots can then be managed via Conversations, leaving agents with more time to focus on resolving complex queries. Contact center managers will be able to monitor all interactions exchanged between bots and customers in real-time, ensuring that any difficult conversations are transferred to human agents. The Conversations platform has been refined and optimized during an early access period, where Infobip worked with select businesses across the world to ensure Conversations will help them improve the contact center. A global consumer goods company owning leading brands in tea, ice cream and soaps has already launched a new product line with the help of Conversations running a conversational campaign in Brazil over WhatsApp Business. Adrian Benic, VP Product at Infobip, said: Todays customers expect to be able to contact a business at any time, from anywhere, and on the channel of their choice. Conversationshelps brands provide this while ensuring they improve the customer experience through contextual conversations. He continued, Many businesses are striving to deliver an unmatched customer experience but struggle to transition between the variety of channels and technologies on the market. Conversations brings these elements into one accessible platform allowing companies to deliver the very best customer experience while reducing costly inefficiencies. The launch of Conversations forms part of our goal at Infobip to help businesses simplify the complexity of global messaging and enable them to interact with customers in a personalized way without friction. Certainly messaging overload is a major problem facing growing organizations and Infobips approach will help many of them get a better handle on communications with customers as well as new prospects. If you found this article interesting, we invite you to join us at the worlds only Future of Work Expo collocated with the ITEXPO #TechSuperShow, June 22-25, 2021 in Miami, Florida. See the video below. Join others with $25B+ in IT buying power who plan 2021 budgets! Including 3,500+ resellers! A unique experience with a collocated SD-WAN Expo, AIOps Expo and MSP Expo Register now and you could win a Tesla on Feb 12th. Failed Invasion Appeal from Germany: Family's Worries Mount over American Detained in Venezuela A family photo from better days: Airan Berry with his wife Melanie and their daughter and son. Airans family has been deeply worried since the former Green Beret was arrested in Venezuela for his suspected involvement in a coup attempt. (Quelle: private family photo) An American recently arrested in Venezuela could be facing years in prison for his involvement in a botched military operation against President Maduro. The wife of former soldier Airan Berry has issued an appeal from Germany for everything possible to be done to secure his release. Melanie Berry learned the news from the internet: There had been a failed coup attempt in Venezuela and two former elite soldiers had been arrested. The story was accompanied by photos of the two men and one of them, bearded with dark hair, was her husband. He is now facing charges of terrorism and could wind up spending years in prison in Venezuela. We were in shock when we saw it, wrote Melanie Berry in an email. Like the couple's children, she also has dual German and American citizenship (the German version of the article can be found here). How did a 41-year-old from Schweinfurt become a central figure in a failed and amateurish coup attempt for which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is also trying to blame U.S. President Donald Trump? The authoritarian Venezuelan leader has been engaged in a bitter power struggle for over year with self-appointed interim president Juan Guaido, who is backed by the U.S. A security firm has confirmed that the former soldier from Schweinfurt was to help bring Maduro to the United States. But how did all of this take shape? Even if you ask his wife, it still remains a mystery. For Melanie Berry and her two teenage children, the background and geopolitical considerations arent the most pressing issues. Our children, especially, are very upset and very sad they want their dad back. They would like to see him either allowed to come back home or rescued as long as he returns healthy. My husband Airan and I have been married for 19 years, Berry wrote. He means everything to me and our whole family, and he is my best friend. Arrested and paraded: Airan Berry (circled on the right) and Kuke Denman (circled on the left) int the port of La Guaira after the botched mission. (Quelle: Screenshot/TeleSur) The 41-year-olds mission ended prematurely on May 4 in a small boat in the port of La Guajira, a city of 30,000 inhabitants that is considered the Gateway to Venezuela because of its location just 20 kilometers from the capital city of Caracas. Armed forces were waiting for his arrival and a helicopter was already in the air. Just minutes later, Airan Berry was lying face down in the dusty street, his hands tied behind his back. Just a few hours earlier, a photo had been taken showing him in a boat next to a man giving a thumbs up. The man's name is Luke Denman, and he also was tied up on the street on May 4, a triumph for the socialist president of crisis-ridden Venezuela. His military reported the arrests of two former members of the Green Berets, American elite soldiers. Thumbs up: By the time this photo of the boat was published on the Twitter account set up for the risky operation, Airan Berry and Luke Denman had already been arrested. (Quelle: Twitter) Melanie Berry is currently in contact with Luke Denmans family. "Were hoping that the U.S. government will use all its resources to bring my husband Airan and Luke Denman home," she wrote to t-online.de. Theyre good men, she wrote, who are worthy of being protected, supported and provided with the kind the help they have so often given to others. In an apparent effort to publicize this appeal, Berry agreed to answer questions from t-online.de. Public attention, after all, could prove helpful to her husband. The fact that she didnt answer every question could be the product of fear of potentially endangering her husband in the Venezuelan prison where he is being held. Or perhaps she really does not know the answers and was unaware of what her husband was getting himself into. He had worked as a craftsman in Germany in recent years, after leaving the Army in 2013 following 17 years of service. The couple settled in Schweinfurt, where they had also established themselves professionally. Berry was also fond of tattooing friends in the city. Tattooing is his hobby, hes very talented artistically, Melanie Berry wrote. There are also photos of a local language school on Facebook showing him taking courses there and receiving his completion certificate last summer. He wanted to improve his German, she said. After ending his career in the U.S. Army, Airan Berry and his family stayed in the Wurzburg area of Germany. He is pictured here on the banks of the Main River. (Quelle: private family photo) And then, at some point, this job offer came up. It was his first assignment for a private security firm, Melanie Berry said. The company, Silvercorp USA, is run by Jordan Goudreau, a former soldier. My husband knew him from the time they spent together in Iraq and he trusted him. On its homepage, the company even claims that is has provided training to Germanys KSK elite military force. On December 18, Goudreau posted a photo from Stuttgart on Instagram. Indeed, he has some familiarity with Germany: Goudreau, Denman and Berry had all been stationed in Germany with the 10th Special Forces Group 1st Battalion. The soldiers in that battalion are trained to provide training and support to covert national resistance groups or militias and to carry out guerrilla operations deep in enemy territory. Berry was awarded two Bronze Star Medals for heroic service. After all the years that Airan worked to ensure the safety of Americans, he deserves every possible resource to get him home safely to his family, his wife insists. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has promised exactly that, saying the U.S. will use every tool at its disposal to try and get the men back if the Maduro regime decides to hold them. Currently, there isnt even a U.S. Embassy in the country, and all consular services were discontinued in March 2019. As such, the Berry family has obtained painfully little information. Since we learned of the arrest, we have been in constant contact with various agencies and organizations, but we dont have any details right now, Melanie Berry said. The news that her husband has been accused of terrorism hit the headlines on Sunday. The charges brought by Venezuelas attorney general also include conspiracy and trade in illegal arms. These charges can carry sentences of 25 to 30 years. Both Berry and Denman have made what appear to be confessions, statements that the Venezuelans have released publicly. The authorities are doing their best to keep the prisoners in the public eye, even releasing an image of Berry's German health insurance card. A residence permit and drivers license issued by Schweinfurt: The authorities in Venezuela released images of Berrys IDs to the public. (Quelle: t-online.de) The confession videos are each several minutes long, with many statements having been edited together. In one part of the video, Airan Berry is wearing a button-down shirt, while in another he is wearing a T-shirt printed with the word Moscow." He looks to be either completely exhausted or under the influence of strong medication. His wife declined to comment on his appearance. Seeing him in that video was a relief, said wrote, adding that both she and the family of Luke Denman were extremely happy to see a sign of life. Our hope is that Airan and Luke are treated in accordance with international human rights law, she said. When asked in his confession video whether his treatment was adequate, Denman replied in the affirmative, but an expert cited by the Washington Post believes that his eye movements reflected a coded denial. In the videos, the men say that they trained three groups of 15 to 20 men each in Colombia. Their job was to secure the Caracas airport so that President Nicolas Maduro could be taken abroad. But the authorities had already been gift-wrapped a broader confession from Jordan Goudreau himself. Even before the arrest of his two colleagues, a video appeared on May 3 showing him together with a former Venezuelan military official living in exile. In it, he states that Operation Gedeon has begun, deep into the heart of Caracas. Goudreau goes on to say: Our units have been activated in the south, west and east of Venezuela. Berry and Denman were arrested a few hours later. If Goudreau's announcement on Twitter had been intended to spur other units in Venezuela to rise up against Maduro, then that attempt also failed spectacularly. Silvercorp itself then exacerbated the situation by telling journalists about a $213-million deal it had cut with the Venezuelan opposition. The Washington Post has posted the long version of the annex to the service agreement on its website. The companys contract stipulates it will advise and assist in planning and executing an operation to capture/detain/remove Nicolas Maduro and install the recognized Venezuelan President Juan Guaido. The general service agreement was signed by Guaido himself, but not the detailed annex. These 41 pages were signed by a close advisor to the opposition leader. Both sides claim that no payment has been made. The adviser to Guaido said that doubts had been raised about the seriousness of the plan and they considered it to have been scrapped. Guaido himself had not been briefed on the details, the adviser said. But for Silvercorp, there was another way of obtaining remuneration for a successful mission: The U.S. is offering $55 million in bounties for Maduro and other leading politicians from a program combating drug trafficking. Madura has claimed U.S. government involvement. Donald Trump is the direct chief of this invasion, he has said. Secretary of State Pompeo, however, has denied that claim. If we had been involved, it would have gone differently, he said, grinning. It appears that Venezuelas intelligence service had also been informed in advance. Arrests in the port city had already been made the day before Berrys fateful deployment. With the two Americans, a total of 31 suspects have now been arrested in what has become a success story for the government of the downtrodden country, which millions of people have left in response to the tumult. It remains unclear how much money the two Americans were to receive. Denman speaks in his interrogation video of $50,000 to $100,000. He says in the video that he doesnt know exactly. He also says that his mission was supposed to last two weeks. "I definitely knew nothing about any set period of time," said Melanie Berry. When asked if that means that her husband left without telling her when he would be back or where he was going, she responded: He couldnt give me any information. He took the job offer, and thats all I know. With the ongoing health crisis, Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British royal family have been pushed to adjust to the new normal and work remotely. The working members have been seen attending engagements virtually amid the pandemic, such as Prince William and kate Middleton who recently carried out a video conference with children and staff from Casterton Primary Academy in Lancashire. Prince Charles, meanwhile, has remotely opened the NHS Nightingale Hospital from his Birkhall residence in Scotland -- a first of such in the royal family. Moreover, the royals have taken advantage of technology during these devastating times and have used their official social media accounts to update the public with their latest activities and engagements. @KensingtonRoyal is Prince William and Kate Middleton's official Instagram account, while the heir to the throne and the Duchess of Cornwall use @ClarenceHouse. The Queen Not Your Average Grandma As for Queen Elizabeth II, multiple reports claim that aside from her official IG @TheRoyalFamily and The British Monarchy page, she has a top-secret social media account. Royal author Brian Hoey told a U.K news outlet that the 94-year-old monarch has a personal account on Facebook with the highest privacy settings and a secret friends list. Daily Chats With Princess Anne, Racing Manager John Warren It was said that Her Majesty uses her secret FB account to chat with her daughter, Princess Anne, and racing manager John Warren -- the only person who can get through to the Queen any time of the day. Warren is widely recognized as one of the world's leading bloodstock advisors. He is the son-in-law of the Queen's great friend, the late Earl of Caernarvon. Moreover, Hoey also detailed that the Queen is tech-savvy and owns an iPad and a smartphone, which is reportedly encrypted so it is impossible to be hacked into. "The royal mobile is kept fully charged at all times by Angela Kelly, the Queen's personal assistant, and senior dresser. It's an ultra-slim model with a camera, small and light enough to fit in a pocket or handbag," he revealed. Happiest Phone Call Interestingly, it was also reported that the happiest phone call the Queen has ever received was when Prince William called on her private line to tell her she had a great-grandson, Prince George. The eldest son of Prince William and Duchess Kate was born on July 22, 2013, at St. Mary's Hospital in London. The 6-year-old royal is currently third in the line of succession to the British throne behind his grandfather and his father. The Queen is not the only royal who is updated with social media and has a secret account. Prince Harry was believed to have a private and untraceable Instagram account and used Spike Wells as his name. It was also reported that in 2012, the young royal was forced to shut down his social media when a series of naked pictures of him were leaked during his trip to Las Vegas. (TNS) Even if courts across Southeast Tennessee resume criminal trials in July as planned, the docket backup created by the novel coronavirus pandemic could hamper operations for months.It's not just criminal trials that were planned this spring that must be rescheduled. Most criminal cases investigated since the Tennessee Supreme Court started limiting operations in mid-March are also now part of a growing backlog.So far, the backup in the rural Chattanooga region now includes criminal cases that haven't yet gone before grand juries, motions hearings that require several people to be present in courtrooms and all the misdemeanor citations issued instead of a trip to jail that get dates in general sessions courts, prosecutors say.Court officials across the region also say, however, that early efforts to avoid making all but the most necessary arrests and to work to resolve existing cases without trial have helped the situation. Tenth Judicial District Attorney General Stephen Crump said justice system and law enforcement officials who discussed the issue in a Zoom meeting on April 29 agree "it's going to be a significant problem."The 10th Judicial District consists of Bradley, McMinn, Monroe and Polk counties. Crump said Bradley's caseload was already heavy before COVID-19 measures were put in place.On April 24, the Tennessee Supreme Court extended the judicial state of emergency to May 31 , from its previous sunset date of April 30, and modified its March 13 order that suspended in-person proceedings and encouraged use of video or audio conferences. The extension seeks to create a path for in-person court proceedings to resume, according to recent state court news releases."Assuming we go through the July 3 date that the Supreme Court set out for the closing of jury trials, you're going to have four months of jury trials at a minimum that will have to be rescheduled," Crump said. "That docket's going to be monstrous."Another "huge influx" of cases will hit all at once "because we've had no grand juries," he said. The district's first grand jury sessions will probably begin in June."We're going to have to make some accommodations to make those dockets normal again. It's just going to be some long hours and a lot of lawyers doing a lot of work," he said.Crump said the backup for his district would be noticeable for "maybe six months.""To use a term that's maybe been overused in the last few months, we'll have our own 'curve to flatten' in terms of docket numbers," he said.The April 24 order that keeps jury trials suspended until July 3 applies to all state and local courts. It also allows leeway to conduct some court action where safety can be maintained."What works for a juvenile court in Henry County may not work for a criminal circuit court in Shelby County or chancery court in Mountain City," state Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins said in the release. Also, "the Court strongly encourages all courts to continue to operate through remote proceedings such as video or audio conferencing whenever possible, even if the matter can be handled in person in compliance with the judicial district's approved plan. We have a long way to go in defeating this virus, and the more social distancing that can be done, the better it will be for everyone."To help justice system officials stay on the same page, the Administrative Office of the Courts secured dozens of Zoom and WebEx accounts for judges.In the 12th Judicial District , west of Chattanooga, dockets will be backed up but possibly not as bad as the 10th when it comes to circuit court, District Attorney General Mike Taylor said recently.Taylor said that's partly because of a small population in the 12th district's six counties of around 150,000 people the largest being Franklin County with a little more than 42,000 compared with the population in the 10th district of more than 225,000 in four counties. The 12th Judicial District consists of Bledsoe, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Rhea and Sequatchie counties."We've had to continue several jury trials," Taylor said. He said seven grand jury sessions across the district have been delayed already."We haven't had a lot of cases building up but we will by the time the grand juries get back in operation, which will probably be in July and August," Taylor said.Taylor joins Crump in dreading summertime when the general sessions caseload swells with citations and new charges, but he said the smaller district has been able to take some steps to mitigate COVID-19's impact in some areas."What we're trying to do is go through the dockets as the clerks can compile them to see which cases we can try to take care of using the Zoom technology in some of the sessions courts," Taylor said. "That's been successful in Grundy County and also in Marion County."Taylor noted that Marion County General Sessions Judge Marshal A. Raines installed plastic shielding in his courtroom "for limited personal appearances for people that are in jail."Marion's jail and courtrooms are housed in the same building. Officials made efforts to limit personal appearances for orders of protection, too. Circuit court officials and judges across the district have worked out scheduling for multiple plea hearings at a time to make the best use of space and officials' available time, he said."All in all we've done pretty well to keep it moving as best we can," he said.Ninth Judicial District Attorney General Russell Johnson described a situation that was similar to other districts in terms of efforts to reduce jail populations and arrests by issuing citations across the district to help with exposure issues.The Ninth Judicial District's Chattanooga area county of Meigs the district also includes Loudon, Morgan and Roane counties missed its March grand jury meeting."Since we only meet there for grand jury for one day three times a year, this will increase the cases brought at the July meeting, if we can have it," Johnson said."As far as General Sessions Court is concerned, [Meigs County] Judge Kasey Stokes and Clerk Darrell Davis have decided not to have any General Sessions Court until June, with the exception of incarcerated defendant hearings and emergency situations. This will inevitably lead to a backup in that court," Johnson said.He said Meigs' situation won't be so bad in criminal court, which doesn't have as many cases.Johnson said he was concerned about another impact on criminal justice."The downside to this is that districtwide, at least, we have seen an increase in overdose deaths [and] an increase in burglaries and thefts, especially with batteries being stolen from vehicles, mowers and farm equipment. These are often people who would otherwise have been incarcerated," Johnson said."Since folks involved in illegal drug use are deemed 'non-violent', they are in the category to not be arrested or they were released under the directive if they were already in jail," he said.Once released, the same people can access cash even their government stimulus checks to buy "heroin and meth to inject, and if it is laced with fentanyl, often overdose and die," he said. "They can also be back on the streets where they are burglarizing homes and businesses and committing thefts to once again fuel their drug addiction or selling drugs to others that may end up dying."Public defenders on the other side of criminal cases are eyeing the backup with trepidation, as well. 10th Judicial District Public Defender Richard Hughes and 12th Judicial District Public Defender Jeff Harmon say the backup is inevitable but judicial system officials will work together to protect defendants' and victims' rights.Hughes said ongoing work to keep in-custody cases caught up will help with the coming backlog of cases involving defendants who have been released from custody."There is a legitimate concern about all the out-of-custody cases that have been delayed because of this," he said.Hughes said the plan submitted to the state, if approved, will allow some of those hearings to begin taking place, possibly through videoconferencing or other technology, or limited in-person hearings so defendants, lawyers and judges can work together on sentencing hearings, pleas or uncomplicated litigation.He said he believes that because Bradley County's businesses and industries have largely stayed in operation, the economic impact of the pandemic on residents won't create as much of a surge in demand for the public office's services there.Harmon said public defenders' offices will see an impact from defendants who have lost their jobs during the pandemic, despite Hughes' more optimistic view."I told my staff there is a reckoning coming," he said, "not only in a bigger share of the docket but in bigger dockets." Oil tanks at an oil processing facility of Saudi Aramco, a Saudi Arabian state-owned oil and gas company, at the Abqaiq oil field. Oil moved lower on Monday as coronavirus-induced demand fears outweighed Saudi Arabia announcing additional production cuts in an effort to support prices. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, shed 60 cents, or 2.43%, to settle at $24.14 per barrel. In a volatile session WTI traded as high as $25.58, and as low as $23.67. International benchmark Brent crude fell $1.37, or 4.4%, to settle at $29.60 per barrel. Beginning on June 1 Saudi Arabia will cut output by an additional 1 million bpd, which combined with the cuts agreed to by OPEC and its oil-producing allies, brings Saudi Arabia's total cut to roughly 4.8 million bpd below its April record production level. Production for June will now be 7.492 million bpd. Saudi Arabia also said that it would scale back May production "in consent with its customers." "The Kingdom aims through this additional cut to encourage OPEC+ participants, as well as other producing countries, to comply with the production cuts they have committed to, and to provide additional voluntary cuts, in an effort to support the stability of global oil markets," a statement from the Saudi press agency said. Following Saudi Arabia's announcement, Kuwait and UAE said they would also implement additional cuts. Rystad Energy said that with these new cuts, global storage will most likely not reach capacity, which had been a fear in the market. "An extra 1.2 million bpd cut will not re-balance the market, but will surely remove strain from the storage infrastructure and buy time to wait for the demand rebound," said senior oil markets analyst Paola Rodriguez Masiu. Oil is coming off its second straight positive week as investors have cheered signs that demand recovery is underway amid ongoing production cuts. WTI jumped 25% last week in one of its best weeks in history, while Brent rose 17%. Still, prices are well below their highs and the path to recovery is far from certain. On Monday oil moved lower on fears of a possible second wave of coronavirus cases after countries thought to be beyond the worst of the virus, including South Korea, reported a jump in infections. Over 2000 residents of Sunyani last Sunday benefitted from the free distribution of nose-masks by the Sunyani Municipal Assembly as part of measures to control the spread of the novel coronavirus disease in the Bono regional capital. The exercise, which will be carried out from time to time, is to ensure that the wearing of nose-masks becomes part and parcel of residents everyday lives. The Municipal Chief Executive, Justina Owusu Banahene, in the company of some health and media personnel designated as Nose-Mask Ambassadors positioned themselves at vantage points in the municipality and distributed the nose-masks to residents as they passed by. Some of the residents who spoke to our correspondent commended the municipal assembly for prioritizing the need for people to possess and use nose-masks in the wake of the escalating figures about COVID-19 cases in the country. Proactive move Even though we are yet to record any positive case of the disease in Sunyani, the Assembly is being proactive in its handling of the situation and I think they deserve some commendation, Anna Ohemaa Boahemaa, one of the residents said in an interview after receiving her nose-mask. The Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive, Justina Owusu Banahene, used the occasion to educate the residents about the proper use of nose-mask and the need to religiously observe the various safety protocols. The only challenge is that some people still touch their mouth and chin while wearing the nose-mask but I think with time, and as we deepen education on the proper wearing of it, the thing would change for the better, she told journalists after the distribution. She said Health workers are being engaged to hold series of sensitization programmes at the four satellite markets created by the Assembly to ensure that market women and buyers adhere to the various precautionary measures against the spread of Covid-19. The vulnerable not left out A Nose-Mask Ambassador, Seth Opoku Agyeman told our correspondent that most of the recipients of the masks were the vulnerable, taxi drivers, market women, head-potters and many others. He expressed his satisfaction about the level of compliance regarding the wearing of the mask in Sunyani but was quick to add that there is room for improvement. Deputy Lead advocate of the Mask Ambassadors, Francis Owusu-Ansah, encouraged the people not to think about the comfort but about safeguarding their health. We are not in normal times and we do not expect anyone to feel comfortable with the things were are doing but for the sake of our health, lets try as much as possible to adhere to all the Covid-19 protocols, he said. Meanwhile, the Municipal Assembly has taken delivery of 2,000 pieces of nose-mask and bale of fabric from the central government. The fabric is currently being sewn as nose-mask by locally contracted dress-makers to increase the quantity of the PPE for subsequent distribution exercises. London: Interpol has issued a wanted notice for Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat, who is wanted in Britain over a fatal car crash in a case that has caused friction between London and Washington, ITV reported on Monday. "An Interpol Red Notice has been issued for 42-year-old Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official charged with causing the death of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn by dangerous driving," ITV reporter Adam Clark said on Twitter. Interpol's website says a Red Notice is "a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action." Interpol issues such requests at the request of a member country, and they are not an international arrest warrant. Interpol did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. In yet another major embarrassment to Pakistan, Radio Pakistan made a major faux-pas while trying to repay India in its own coin after the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) included cities illegally occupied by Pakistan in PoK in its weather reports. While reporting the weather of Ladakh, the temperature which should have been reported as minimum was reported as maximum and vice versa. ANI's Editor Smita Prakash shared a snip, after Radio Pakistan deleted its tweet: READ | Pakistan Reports Record 1,991 New COVID-19 Cases, Tally Crosses 29,000 READ | Punjab CM Amarinder Singh Warns Pakistan Against Attempts To Spread 'narco Terrorism' This move by Pakistan comes after the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) started referring to its meteorological sub-division of Jammu and Kashmir as Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad. IMD started giving weather forecasts of areas that are a part of PoK as the territories rightfully belong to the Union of India and have been in illegal possession of Pakistan. #Pakistan rejects Indian move for inclusion of Azad Jammu and Kashmir & Gilgit-Baltistan in Indian TV weather bulletin. This is another mischievous Indian action in support of a spurious claim and further evidence of Indias irresponsible behaviour. https://t.co/0AeTzHT3zf pic.twitter.com/Ai6HlTWp82 Spokesperson MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) May 8, 2020 The IMD move to include PoK territories comes days after the Pakistan Supreme Court allowed Islamabad to amend a 2018 administrative order to conduct general elections in the region. The Gilgit-Baltistan Order of 2018 provided for administrative changes, including authorizing the Prime Minister of Pakistan to legislate on an array of subjects. READ | Pakistan Eases Nationwide Lockdown Even As Coronavirus Cases Rise READ | Fact Check: Did Facebook Remove The 'blue Tick' From Pakistan PM Imran Khan's Page? Following the decision, India conveyed its strong protest to Pakistan over its efforts to bring "material change" to territories under its "illegal and forcible" occupation. The Ministry of External Affairs said a demarche was issued to a senior Pakistani diplomat lodging a strong protest over the court ruling and clearly conveying that the entire union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of India. India further conveyed that such actions by Pakistan can neither hide the illegal occupation of parts of Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh by Pakistan nor the grave human rights violations, exploitation and denial of freedom to the people residing in Pakistan occupied territories for the past seven decades. WATERLOO REGION When making that transition from hospital to home, sometimes people need a little help to get back on their feet. Over the last two months, some physiotherapists in Waterloo Region have been providing this help through phone calls, video chats and even face-to-face home visits. Rebecca Jo Elliott RJ for short works as a home care physiotherapist and has been visiting patients where they live several times a week, even through this pandemic. With most of her patients, shes able to connect with them virtually, but for those identified as high fall risks, she needs to see them in person. In home care, because our main role is to try and help keep people out of hospitals and to keep them safe, we are essential services, she said. The people shes visiting arent tending to a sprained ankle or nursing a shoulder injury her patients are mostly seniors who may have just left the hospital and are at a high risk of reinjuring themselves if they dont receive immediate care. Elliott works for CBI Health Group and supervises a team of physiotherapists in Waterloo Region. Once the group receives a patient referral from a hospital, a therapist will connect with a patient to make assessments of both the individual and their environment. Its very much about empowering the patient with the information and equipment that they need to help themselves get independent. Before the new coronavirus spread to Canada, home visits were the norm, but now theyre only done when absolutely necessary. Depending on the situation, an assessment may be able to be completed over video. A huge part of our role is making connections with these people and even though you can still do that virtually, its harder. Connecting through the screen, its difficult to build that trusting relationship, she said. They may not understand the recommendations offered, or in some cases, may not be able to hear and understand everything being said. At the same time, in-person visits during this pandemic bring their own challenges. Patients have to be screened before physiotherapists can enter a home inside. If the questionnaire raises any flags, Elliott will suit up in full personal protective equipment (PPE): mask, googles, gloves and gown. If the patient passes the screening without any issues, shell sanitize their hands, put on a mask and go inside. While shes in there, shell avoid touching anything and instead of sitting down to talk to the patient, shell crouch. Weeks ago Elliott received a referral to see a woman who was just returning to her retirement home after being in hospital. On the same day, an outbreak was announced at the home and Elliott wasnt allowed in. She ended up spending a long time on the phone with the nursing staff to gauge the situation and make recommendations for her patient over the phone. When the outbreak lifted two weeks later, she was allowed in to see her. In order to protect patients from any potential cross contamination, she avoids doing multiple home visits in the same day. She also remains vigilant at home, making sure she keeps up on hand hygiene and laundry days. Living with her sister and a friend, each who are also essential workers, she has to remain hyper aware of any potential exposure. Vice President Mike Pence walks up to the stage to deliver a commencement address at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., on April 18, 2020. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images) Pence Not in Quarantine, to Be at White House Monday, After Aide Tests Positive for CCP Virus Vice President Mike Pence is not in quarantine and plans to be at the White House on Monday, a spokesman said on Sunday, despite media reports that Pence was self-isolating after a staffer tested positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine, spokesman Devin OMalley said in a statement. Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow, the statement added. Vice President Mike Pence thanks faith leaders at the conclusion of the National Day of Prayer event at the White House in Washington, on May 7, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that Pences spokeswoman, Katie Miller, had tested positive for the virus, a day after news that Trumps personal valet also had tested positive. Trump said he himself had not been in contact with the spokeswoman, who is married to White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, but that she had spent time with the vice president. President Donald Trumps White House senior adviser Stephen Miller (L) and Katie Waldman, press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence, arrive for a state dinner with Australian Prime Minister and Trump at the White House in Washington on Sept. 20, 2019. (Patrick Semansky/AP Photo) Pence has led the White House CCP virus task force for more than two months. Top officials who have gone into quarantine because of exposure to a person at the White House who tested positive for the CCP virus are Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC; and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn. (L-R) Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, attend a briefing on the administrations CCP virus response in the press briefing room of the White House in Washington on March 2, 2020. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, speaks about the new CCP virus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, as Vice President Mike Pence listens, in Washington, on April 24, 2020. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo) After Miller was identified as having tested positive, Trump said he was not worried about the CCP virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex. The three other task force members have indicated varying plans for dealing with their exposure. None has announced testing positive for the CCP virus and, taking into account what has been described as limited exposure to the infected person, are considered at relatively low risk of infection. Faucis institute said he was taking appropriate precautions to mitigate the risk to others while still carrying out his duties, teleworking from home but willing to go to the White House if called. Officials said both Redfield and Hahn will be self-quarantining for two weeks. The three officials were expected to testify by videoconference before a Senate health committee on Tuesday. On Sunday night, the office of the chairman of the committee, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), announced that the senator would be self-quarantining in Tennessee for two weeks after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. Alexander too will participate in the hearing by videoconference. Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report The Zacks Manufacturing-Tools & Related Products industry comprises companies that develop and distribute hand and mechanics tools, hydraulic tools, engineered fastening systems and motion control systems. Arc welding products, oxy-fuel cutting equipment, plasma cutters, storage system and other related products are also produced by some tool makers. The highly-advanced tools are used in industrial, commercial, oil & gas, mining, automotive, and other industries. Providers of electronic security solutions cater to commercial, retailers, government, financial and healthcare markets. Two important players in the industry are Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (LECO) and Sandvik AB (SDVKY). Here are the three major industry themes: The restrictions imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus have severely impacted product demand, supply-chain activities, manufacturing actions and marketing techniques of many industry players. Industrial tool maker, Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (SWK) suspended its projections for 2020 due to the uncertainties related to the duration and severity of the pandemic. Also, it temporarily halted share buyback and buyout activities. For the second quarter, it expects sales to be the lowest in 2020. In addition to the pandemic-woes, the companies are dealing with the impacts of strained trade relations and unfavorable movements in foreign currencies. Weakness in industrial production and Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) of the United States indicates difficult operating conditions faced by the industrial players. For instance, industrial production in March fell 5.4% (month over month) in March mainly due to pandemic-related woes. The countrys PMI fell from 49.1% in March to 41.5% in April. The indexs value below 50% indicates a contraction in manufacturing activities. Also, reduced global prospects are concerning. Per the IMF, global economy will decrease 3% in 2020 but grow 5.8% in 2021. For the United States, the financial institution predicts 5.9% decline in 2020 and growth of 4.7% in 2021. Increased focus on infrastructural development in the country, increasing use of sophisticated technologies in manufacturing process and demand for remodeling activities will aid the industry going forward. Also, the growing popularity of e-retailing is a boon for industry players. The industrys revenues increased 1.7% year over year in 2019 and 3% in the first quarter of 2020. Added to these, favorable actions taken in the past including corporate tax overhaul will continue to aid players. Further, a healthy liquidity position enabling the companies to meet their financial obligations as well as cost-reduction measures will help the companies mitigate some financial pressure caused by the pandemic. Story continues Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Gloomy Prospects The Manufacturing-Tools & Related Products industry is a five-stock group within the broader Zacks Industrial Products sector. The industry currently carries a Zacks Industry Rank #236, which places it in the bottom 7% of more than 250 Zacks industries. The groups Zacks Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates bleak prospects in the near term. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. The industrys positioning in the bottom 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries is a result of dull earnings prospects for the constituent companies in aggregate. Looking at the aggregate earnings estimate revisions, it appears that analysts are gradually losing confidence in this groups earnings growth potential. In the past year, the industrys earnings estimates have declined 49.6%. Before we discuss a few stocks in the industry, lets take a look at the industrys shareholder returns and current valuation. Industry Underperforms S&P 500 & Sector The Zacks Manufacturing-Tools & Related Products industry has underperformed both the S&P 500 and the sector over the past year. While the industry players have collectively lost 13.5%, the sector has declined 13.1%. The S&P 500 has rallied 4% in the said time frame. One-Year Price Performance Manufacturing-Tools & Related Products Industrys Valuation EV/EBITDA ratio is one of the commonly used methods for valuing manufacturing tools and related products stocks. The industrys forward 12-month EV/EBITDA ratio is 10.24. This clearly shows that the industry is trading below the S&P 500s forward 12-month EV/EBITDA ratio of 12.89 and the sectors 13.52. Over the past five years, the industry has traded at the highest level of 11.02X forward 12-month EV/EBITDA and lowest level of 5.77X. The median level, over the same period, was 8.91X. Industrys EV/EBITDA Ratio (Forward 12-Month) Versus S&P 500 Industrys EV/EBITDA Ratio (Forward 12-Month) Versus Sector Bottom Line Prevalent headwinds including end-market uncertainties caused by the pandemic, restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the virus, tariffs and forex woes pose serious threats to corporate revenues, margins and profitability. Considering the magnitude of the adverse impacts, we believe that tough roads are ahead for the industry players. However, solid liquidity and cost-reduction measures might benefit, to some extent, in the near term. Nonetheless, we present one stock that investors might prefer to retain in their portfolio at present. Enerpac Tool Group Corp. (EPAC): The stock of this Menomonee Falls, WI-based company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Its shares have decreased 33.8% in the past year while its earnings estimates have been lowered by 10% for fiscal 2020 (ending August 2020) and 1.3% for fiscal 2021 (ending August 2021) in the past 30 days. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. The company delivered positive earnings surprise in three of the last four quarters, while lagging estimate in one. Its average earnings surprise for the last four quarters is positive 9.38%. Going forward, focus on growth initiatives, solid product portfolio, cost-saving actions and effective commercial actions might be positives. Price and EPS: EPAC There are three stocks in the industry that can be avoided by investors presently. Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.: This stock of this New Britain, CT-based company has decreased 13.5% in the past year. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). The company recorded better-than-expected results in the last four quarters, with average positive earnings surprise of 4.22%. However due to the pandemic-woes, the companys earnings estimates have been lowered by 35.4% for 2020 and 26.2% for 2021 in the past 30 days. Price and EPS: SWK Kennametal Inc. (KMT): The stock of this Pennsylvania-based tool maker has decreased 28.1% in the past year. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). The company delivered weaker-than-expected results in two of the last four quarters, met estimates in one and surpassed estimates in another. Average earnings surprise for the last four quarters was positive 7.72%. In the past 30 days, the companys earnings estimates remained stable for fiscal 2020 (ending June 2020) but decreased 14.6% for fiscal 2021 (ending June 2021). Price and EPS: KMT Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.: The stock of this Cleveland, OH-based company has decreased 2.7% in the past year. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #4. The company delivered weaker-than-expected results in two of the last four quarters, met estimates in one and surpassed estimates in another. Average earnings surprise for the last four quarters was negative 3.14%. In the past 30 days, the companys earnings estimates decreased 20.1% for 2020 and 4.8% for 2021. Price and EPS: LECO More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone! It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market. Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020. Click here for the 6 trades >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Stanley Black Decker Inc (SWK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Sandvik AB (SDVKY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc (LECO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Kennametal Inc (KMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Enerpac Tool Group Corp (EPAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Kathmandu: Nepal government has objected to the road construction being done by India in Lipulekh region. Nepal government has called the Indian ambassador on Monday and registered a protest in this regard. Please tell that there is a difference of opinion between India and Nepal regarding this region. Nepal says that this area comes under its share, whereas India has always rejected Nepal's claim. Earlier on Saturday, Nepal had protested against the road construction being done by India in Lipulekh region. Nepal had said that the Lipulekh area along the border of China is its area, while India says that this entire area comes under our border. Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali on Sunday said that efforts are being made to resolve the border dispute with India through diplomatic initiatives. Gyawali said this a day after Nepal objected to a road connecting Dharchula to Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand. MPs of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal have submitted a special resolution in Parliament demanding the withdrawal of Nepal's areas in Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh. After this, Gyawali, while replying in Parliament, spoke of a conversation with India. Also Read: Fugitive Nirav Modi can be brought to India soon, hearing started for extradition in London court China preparing for nuclear war? Police help labours by feeding them and providing essential goods Boris Johnson gives statement on lockdown extends in UK till 1 June At least 161 out of 343 Vietnamese citizens repatriated from the United States on Friday last week have tested negative in the first round of testing for novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). A Vietnam Airlines flight from California, the U.S. landed at Van Don International Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh late Friday, carrying 343 Vietnamese citizens home. Upon their arrival, the passengers most of whom were children under-18 years old, senior citizens, people with pre-existing medical conditions, and overseas students struggling with school dormitory closure and cabin crew members were quarantined in line with regulations. Of the 343 passengers, 161, including 72 males and 89 females, were quarantined at a military facility in Bim Son Town, located in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa. They were sampled for COVID-19 testing, with their results all returning negative for the virus in the first round of testing, Luong Ngoc Truong, director of Thanh Hoa Provinces Center for Disease Control, said on Sunday afternoon. During their quarantine period, each of the citizens is provided with necessities and daily meals. Twice a day, camp staff visit and check on each persons body temperature. Two children and a pregnant woman staying at the facility will receive additional regular health check-ups as per the health ministrys regulations. All of the 161 citizens will be tested for COVID-19 for a second time before they finish their mandatory 14-day quarantine. On Sunday, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Vietnam in Malaysia coordinated with other Vietnamese agencies, Vietnam Airlines, and relevant agencies of Malaysia to organize a flight bringing home 273 Vietnamese citizens stranded in Malaysia. Upon arriving at Da Nang International Airport in the namesake central city on the same day, the passengers were transported to centralized health camps to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Vietnam has logged only 20 imported cases who are returnees from abroad and no community transmission of COVID-19 over the past 25 days. The country's COVID-19 tally is at 288, with 241 recoveries and no deaths. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! In the run-up to the 23rd Prism Awards to be announced virtually on Friday, 15 May, we chatted to this year's cohort of 'young voices' about their fresh approach to the judging process. Siyabonga Thwala What does this recognition and opportunity mean to you? Briefly tell us about your experience in the industry. Comment on the judging process. What has the response been to this years entries? Prisa also introduced the Student Campaign of the Year in 2016. Why do you think its important that PR students are included in such initiatives? What do you think young minds bring to the table? What have you learnt working alongside the cluster judges? What would the title of Prisms Young Judge for the 2020 awards mean to you? Comment on the current state of PR. In this series of interviews, we find out what they've learnt working alongside the cluster judges (albeit remotely) and what their young minds bring to the virtual table.The cancelation of the ceremony was quite a hard pill to swallow, but lives matter. I was looking forward to meeting the great minds that have put together the work we have been adjudicating and building relationships with them. However, the judging experience was very rewarding and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity. I think the Covid-19 outbreak is challenging communicators to advance. The near future requires that there be improved ways of working limiting physical contact. Industry 4.0 has been preparing us for such a time as this, UberEats is one example of a technologically advanced way of selling to people at the comfort of their own beds. The outbreak has everyone on all forms of digital platforms and this is a great opportunity for communicators to plug in their brands. Siyabonga Thwala, public relations student at the University of Johannesburg and chairperson of its Students Public Relations Association (SPRA), commenting on the cancellation of the physical Awards and the general impact of the pandemic on the industry.Here, our interview with Thwala...This has been the greatest achievement thus far. To me it means exposure. It also comes as a platform to learn from the industrys best professionals. I feel privileged to have been granted the opportunity to meet and work with great integrated marketers, whom I look up to. The most amazing thing is having to do this whilst I am a still a student. I stated in a tweet after the announcement that this is the genesis of greatness for me as an upcoming PR professional.I cannot say I have much experience as I am still a student, however, I have managed to stretch myself outside the prescribed content required to complete my academic qualification. One of the ways I did that was joining the Students Public Relations Association of which I am currently presiding over as executive chairperson. The association has enabled me to work with a variety of communication agencies doing volunteer PR work.The University of Johannesburg has helped me improve my skills by allowing me to work as a student PR assistant on different projects, one of which is the TEDx University of Johannesburg. I am yet to spread my wings into the industry and am looking forward to great learnings.I must say this one was fascinating and also very challenging. It was very interesting to go through different campaigns and look at the amazing work that communicators are doing. I came across great campaigns, which were facilitated by students like myself and that to me posed a need to go and challenge my peers to go beyond the books and spread their wings so they can fast-track their growth as young communicators.Judging campaigns from big agencies was challenging. Had it not been for the judging briefing session which was instructing as to what to look for in a campaign and everything that makes a killer campaign, I would have probably given all the agencies 100% on my scoresheet. The work was just amazing, but one also needed to look beyond the results (ROI) of the campaign and take into account everything that came together in the planning and execution of the campaign.The entries in my cluster were really amazing. One thing I can tell, from conversations I had with some judges, is that the quality of the entries was astonishing and this means the industry is advancing. It is great that the judges leave comments on every scoresheet to be communicated to the entrant. I think that is very helpful in improving the quality of work, not just for competition purposes but even in the daily functioning and facilitation of PR campaigns.I think that was a great move. This gives the students an opportunity to be contributors into the work of the industry and in the process it helps them to develop their skills as their campaigns are assessed and reviewed. Winning is great, but should it happen that you do not win, there is still gain as the judges gives feedback on every campaign in writing to ensure that the entrant knows which areas to improve.This becomes also beneficial to the industry as the students bring a young perspective on board. Communication is an evolving phenomena and as times are moving the industry needs to ensure that messages are always relevant to the time and targeted parties.Generally, we are all most likely to say young minds bring a fresh perspective. I had an interesting conversation with one of the senior judges and I was going on telling him about how the world is moving to the digital space and how we need to do away with traditional ways of advertising. He burst my little bubble by one question, Who drives the economy?. I dont think it is wise to do away with something that works, rather improve it to maximise its effect.I want to believe that the generation of young people we have today is a group of great thinkers. That is evident, even with toddlers of our time when you buy a little boy a toy car, for example, they wont just take it and play, but will break it down to see what makes it move the way it does. This is the kind of curiosity that young minds carry. We are a group of people who always wants to challenge the status quo and I believe that public relations is more effective from a post-modern as opposed to functional approaches to communication. This is to say traditional ways of doing things should constantly be improved and new different perspectives be considered in order to maximise the impact of our communication.The judging debate really blew some air into my short hair. It was great to also be a contributor to decision-making by raising my opinions as to why a certain campaign deserves a certain rating. Over and above that, I learnt a lot from the comments, which came from my senior judges. One of the learnings was looking at a communication problem vs a business problem and how these two problems cannot be approached the same way. Some campaigns successfully catered for a communication problem, but with no return in investment in terms of sales. As much as PR might be a communication function, in a business context it should serve a business function (make or increase sales) through creative communication.It would mean that I am a great communicator in the making. The Prism Young Voices initiative has changed my perceptions of public relations as a student, though I volunteered in some PR functions, my view of PR wasnt broad enough. Being a judge for this years Prism Awards allowed me to look at everything that comes into play in order to design and execute a great PR campaign. The title would mean I have a role to play among my peers, to be an example and influencer of change. The whole experience encouraged me to go back and encourage more students to be go-getters and also to inform them of the true essence of public relations and the role it plays in society and in the business world.Personally, I think public relations has been playing it safe for a long time. I came across an article that said something about focusing on selling lest you risk being cut out. Well, I am a strong believer that sales matter but increasing them should matter more than just selling. Safe PR limits creativity which limits the progress in which PR can bring about. If public relations focuses on maintaining existing relations so business can run as usual and just make sales, it will fail at some point. Communicators need to always be proactive and not just maintain but improve existing relationships and build more for the benefit of both the organisation and their stakeholders. Among those who arrived, they found people with fever or other symptoms of a disease Terminal B of Ukraine's biggest airport Open source More than 300 passengers arrived at Boryspil Airport near Kyiv on May 10; they were evacuated from the UAE and Armenia. The website of the State Border Service reports this. It is noted that during the registration of flights from Sharjah and Yerevan, the border guards of the separate checkpoint Kyiv carried out temperature screening procedures, checking the passengers' health. Among those who arrived, they found people with fever and other symptoms of illness. For quarantine, the passengers of these flights chose self-isolation using the application "Act At Home". During passport control, border guards also checked the accuracy of the data entered in the mobile application. In total, over the past day, May 10, Ukrainian border guards let less than 15,400 citizens in and out. As reported, all people who returned from abroad must go to self-isolation for 14 days. People who returned from countries with local transmission of coronavirus should undergo mandatory observation. As we reported before, Boryspil Airport has accepted five flights with passengers - from Hamburg, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Sharjah and London. About 700 people returned to Ukraine. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jason Gale, Robert Langreth and John Lauerman (Bloomberg) Mon, May 11, 2020 17:15 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd74c4f8 2 World coronavirus,Origins,COVID-19,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus,SARS-CoV-2,pandemic,global-crisis Free The best minds in virology are trying to unravel a mystery: How did a lethal coronavirus jump from the wilds of rural China to major human population centers? And what chain of genetic mutations produced a pathogen so perfectly adapted for stealth and mass transmission? Deciphering the creation story of SARS-CoV-2, as the virus now rampaging around the globe is known, is a crucial step toward arresting a pandemic thats killed 270,000-plus and triggered what could be the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. While crash vaccine programs are underway in the US, Europe and China, an inoculation to ward off the virus may not be ready for months, and the jurys out on potential treatments. In the meantime, to reduce the risk of deadly secondary outbreaks or the emergence of an entirely new strain, disease chasers need to retrace the pathogens journey around the globe. That means heading back to China, where it all started sometime in 2019. Last week, the World Health Organization sought permission from Beijing to send a new scientific mission for more epidemiological detective work. China, which let a WHO team into the country in early February as its epidemic raged, hasnt yet signed off. President Xi Jinping, whos personally overseeing Chinas virus response and investigation into how the outbreak started, is keeping tight control over Chinese scientific research, which must be approved prior to publication by authorities, according to two people familiar with the situation. However, as death tolls and joblessness rise worldwide, pressure on Beijing is intensifying to allow international researchers back in to interview survivors, do field work, and examine virus samples that the country has been stingy about sharing, according to the US Nearly half a year into a historic global health crisis, there are still enormous gaps in our knowledge. Those unanswered questions are hampering our ability to contain the outbreak and to prevent future pandemics, while fueling a war of words between the US and China over the origins of the virus. Roughly 70% of emerging infectious diseases in humans are zoonotic, or transmitted from animals to people. Genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 shows its related to two other deadly coronaviruses that originated in bats. Severe acute respiratory syndrome, which started in China in 2002, and Middle East respiratory syndrome a decade later spread to humans via a secondary animal source. In the case of SARS, experts pointed to civet catssmall, sleek nocturnal mammals used in wildlife dishes in Chinaas the probable conduit. With MERS, camels are believed to be the carrier. Its presumed that SARS-CoV-2 has made a similar journey, yet investigators have yet to identify an intermediate animal host, according to Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO food safety and animal diseases expert. We have some kind of a missing link in that story between the origin of the virus and when it started to circulate in humans, he said. Household pets That raises the disturbing possibility that an unknown animal source is still spreading the disease, known as Covid-19. WHO researchers reported Friday that household cats can transmit the virus to other felines, though theres no evidence yet that pets can pass it along to humans. Standing in the way of a new scientific mission to learn more about the origins of the virus in China are practical issues of conducting impartial investigations in an authoritarian political systemand a US-China geopolitical rivalry thats turned especially acrimonious of late. The Trump administration has accused Beijing of a massive cover-up about the severity of its epidemic. It has claimed, without providing evidence, that an accidental leak of the virus might have occurred at a bio-research lab in Wuhan, the city in central China where the outbreak was first identified. A Chinese official, in a tweet, accused the US military of introducing the pathogen to the country. Scientists who have studied the genetics of the virus are convinced its of natural origin rather than designed in a lab. An accidental release from the research center in Wuhan is possible in theory, but just so implausible, according to Stanley Perlman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, who has visited the facility and rates it highly. One reason is the reputation of Shi Zhengli, a 56-year-old deputy director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. In 2004, Shi found a natural reservoir of coronaviruses in bat caves near Kunming, a city in Chinas southern Yunnan province. In February she published a paper in the journal Nature saying that the genomic sequence of the new pathogen was 96% identical to that of a coronavirus identified in Yunnan. Shi told Scientific American that a review of genetic characteristics of viruses shes worked with in the lab didnt match those of the coronavirus spreading in humans. In a social media post the virologist said she would swear on my life the pathogen causing havoc had nothing to do with her lab. US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has backed off earlier claims of enormous evidence that the virus escaped from a Wuhan laboratory. That still leaves scientists asking where and how the virus did jump into humans. So-called wet markets that sell live animals, like one in Wuhan to which many of the first cases of the illness were traced, have previously been implicated in the spread of disease. In this case, however, experts arent sure whether the outbreak actually started at the market, or was just discovered there. Peter Daszak, a disease ecologist at nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, said its likely that Covid-19 began before the December starting point currently assumed, perhaps even outside of Wuhan. He estimates that 1 million to 7 million people every year in Southern China and Southeast Asia may get infected with bat viruses. Most dont spread readily between people and many fizzle out before reaching major population centers, he said. This particular outbreak probably was in people circulating in South or Central China back in November or even earlier, he said. Another scenario envisions someone closely tied to the wildlife trade bringing infected animals to the Wuhan market. Once the virus reached the flourishing megacity of 11 million, it grew exponentially. Another crucial question is whether the virus moved to humans directly from bats or through a secondary source. If its the latter, the farmed or wild animal may still be spreading the infection. Pangolinsscale-covered mammals that look a bit like anteatershave been suggested as one possibility, though the evidence is preliminary. If Covid-19 came directly from bats, its crucial to nail down where this happened, so that the authorities can institute preventive measures, such as keeping people out of the caves in which the flying mammals dwell. Figuring out all of this will take plenty of scientific detective work. Viruses constantly incur small mutations in their genetic material. By following a trail of genetically similar versions, disease trackers can identify the progression of the pandemic through time. Counting the mutations, you can kind of backtrack your virus to where it all started, said WHO animal virus expert Embarek. Tracing back the virus to its ultimate origin will also take cooperation from the Chinese governmentand a bit of luck. Investigators will need unfettered access to the Wuhan market, its wildlife vendors, patient data and animal population. Yet the price of keeping SARS-CoV-2s origins shrouded in secrecy would be steep. If the current crisis has taught us anything, its this: As human populations expand and encroach on wildlife habitats, the risk from dangerous animal viruses continues to grow. And in an interconnected world, epidemics that were previously localized can race around the globe with blinding speed. Without better research and surveillance systems of emerging animal viruses and regulation of traditional markets and wildlife trade worldwide, the risks of future pandemics runs high. If we dont do anything, if we continue what we have been doing for the past 50 years, said Daszak, there will be another one. Two Cape Town doctors have independently said that Covid-19 results from the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) are taking at least a week to reach patients. Private sector tests are now taking up to 72 hours. Machines like this (Gene Xpert) can be used to test for Covid-19, but they require cartridges to be imported into the country and demand currently appears to far exceed supply. Photo: Wikimedia user Wizi09 (CC BY-SA 4.0) Testing targets missed by a long way Delayed test results means delayed statistics NHLS response One of the doctors, who works in a public sector hospital, said that there is a backlog of about 10,000 Covid-19 tests at the Green Point NHLS facility in Cape Town.The doctors said that the delay in test results makes the contact tracing process a lot more difficult.The utility of the community screening and testing is close to zero now but continues to be pushed by the Department of Health. Its causing huge delays in test results for hospitalised patients. So this strategy is actually impairing service delivery, said one of the doctors.Completely insane, he said.Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has also written to President Cyril Ramaphosa expressing concern over the delayed tests. Policy decisions, such as the decision by the Department of Labour that a person must test negative before being allowed to return to work and other government departments requesting testing for their staff members, place additional strain on the system and further compound the problem, he wrote on Twitter.Western Cape Health Department spokesperson Mark Van der Heever said that the backlog is national.As the Western Cape, and other provinces, ramp up testing, they are finding it challenging to keep up and process these tests, resulting in a nationwide backlog in the results, said Van der Heever.Once a person tests positive, the Health Department immediately identifies their contacts and screens and tests them, after which they have to be quarantined or self-isolated.The delay in results delays this process and puts pressure on these systems when results are released in larger batches as they process the backlogs, Van der Heever explained.Van der Heever said that there has been an average of about 1,600 people tested per day over the past 14 days in the Western Cape.Nationally there have been about 10,000 Covid-19 tests per day over the past week, according to updates by the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS). The number of tests conducted has also been steadily rising. But a test is presumably only counted once the final result is processed, which could have been a week or more ago.On 25 March, the NHLS said it had the capacity to process 5,000 tests a day. This number will increase to 15,000 in 24 hours in April. At the end of April, the NHLS will be able to process approximately 36,000 tests in 24 hours.The 15,000 target, let alone the 36,000 target, was close to being met by 8 May. One of the likely reasons is that worldwide demand for cartridges for Gene Xperts small machines that give results in 45 minutes and can be transported on the vehicles driving around communities to test people far exceeds the supply by Cepheid, the American manufacturer of the machine and cartridges (see this New York Times report ).Despite this, South Africa is testing proportionately more people than countries at comparable levels of development. Wikipedia is maintaining a table of tests per country. South Africa as of 7 May had tested 4,753 people for every million citizens. By comparison, its 1,594 and 3,499 per million for Argentina and Brazil respectively. No other African country even comes close (Egypt is at 899 per million). On the other hand Uruguay at 6,322 and Chile at 10,456 per million are well ahead of South Africa.It takes about five days to show symptoms of Covid-19 after being infected. If its taking a week for test results to be processed, it likely means that the daily Covid-19 statistics released by the Minister of Health estimate the epidemiological situation nearly two weeks ago.In the meanwhile Covid-19 cases in the Western Cape are accumulating from Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, to relatively remote areas like the Witzenberg municipality.The NHLS said on the afternoon of 8 May: The past week has been a challenging one in that the test kits ordered could not be delivered due to logistical challenges that were outside of the suppliers control. There were further delays in transporting the supplies due to thelockdown, flight cancellations and the long weekends.The statement continued: Due to global shortages, suppliers did not have enough stock to supply the NHLS with the numbers it has ordered. Coupled with a massive surge in testing from certain provinces, this has meant that the demand exceeds the supply. The NHLS has put in steps in place to meet the demand, and these will impact on the turnaround.The NHLS has been working together with its academic partners and private laboratories to conduct tests as quickly as possible. Over the last two days, some supplies have arrived and been distributed to our laboratories. We are working together with our suppliers towards increasing the numbers of supplies into the country and ensure a steady flow of regular supplies. Farmers have been alerted to a key deadline change which could help their financial planning during the Covid-19 crisis. It was announced by the government last month that the deadline to submit claims for direct payments has been extended from 15 May to 15 June. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) said it would continue to monitor the situation and consider further measures as the coronavirus pandemic continues. But farmers and land managers are still being encouraged to submit claims and applications through the Rural Payments Service as soon as they are able to. Helen Gough, who advises farmers at law firm mfg Solicitors, said that many farming businesses may have overlooked the new announcement. The Covid-19 crisis may have made it difficult for farmers to meet with their agents and in turn miss key deadline announcements, she said. With the 15 May deadline to submit claims for this payment only a matter of days away, farmers need to be aware that due to Covid-19 the government has extended the deadline to midnight on 15 June. "If they need to amend an application they have until the 30 June to do so without incurring a penalty," Ms Gough added. Overall, many farmers are at risk of missing or misunderstanding deadlines so the rule of thumb is to engage as quickly as possible with their agents and advisors. Applications for the Countryside Stewardship Higher-Tier Scheme ended on 1 May. However, farmers can still apply for a Mid-Tier agreement with applications accepted up until 31 July. Farmers have been urged to contact Natural England through their off-farm advice programme to book a clinic session. CALGARY, May 11, 2020 /CNW/ - Pembina Pipeline Corporation ("Pembina" or the "Company") (TSX: PPL; NYSE: PBA) reported the voting results from its annual meeting of common shareholders held virtually on May 8, 2020 (the "Meeting"). Each of the matters voted upon at the Meeting is discussed in detail in the Company's Management Information Circular dated March 19, 2020 (the "Information Circular") and is available on the Company's website under "Investor Centre - Shareholder Information" at www.pembina.com. A total of 340,164,302 common shares representing 61.87 percent of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares were voted in person and by proxy in connection with the Meeting. The voting results for each matter presented at the Meeting are provided below: 1.Election of Directors The following 10 nominees were appointed as directors of Pembina to serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders of the Company, or until their successors are elected or appointed: Nominee Votes in Favour Votes Withheld Percentage Number Percentage Number Anne-Marie N. Ainsworth 97.00% 310,852,084 3.00% 9,624,270 Michael H. Dilger 99.75% 319,682,256 0.25% 794,098 Randall J. Findlay 97.65% 312,956,484 2.35% 7,519,870 Robert G. Gwin 99.81% 319,862,115 0.19% 614,239 Maureen E. Howe 99.22% 317,970,884 0.78% 2,505,470 Gordon J. Kerr 96.47% 309,179,220 3.53% 11,297,134 David M.B. LeGresley 97.18% 311,433,612 2.82% 9,042,742 Leslie A. O'Donoghue 96.06% 307,854,584 3.94% 12,621,770 Bruce D. Rubin 99.81% 319,852,966 0.19% 623,388 Henry W. Sykes 97.28% 311,768,046 2.72% 8,708,308 2.Appointment of Auditors KPMG LLP, Chartered Accountants, were appointed to serve as the auditors of the Company until the close of the next annual meeting, at remuneration to be fixed by the directors on the recommendation of the Audit Committee. 3.Approval of Amendment to By-Law Number One A resolution to amend and restate By-Law Number One was approved with an approximate 99.64 percent of votes cast in favour. 4.Approval of By-Law Number Two (Advance Notice By-Law) An ordinary resolution to approve Pembina's advance notice by-law (By-Law Number 2) was approved with an approximate 99.60 percent of votes cast in favour. 5.Acceptance of Company's Approach to Executive Compensation On an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibility of the board of directors, the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the Information Circular was approved with an approximate 92.08 percent of votes cast in favour. Additional details in respect the Meeting's voting results can be found on Pembina's profile at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov. Retirement of Board Members and Appointment of New Board Members Pembina announced today that Mr. Bob Michaleski and Mr. Jeff Smith did not stand for re-election and will retire from the board. "On behalf of Pembina's Board and management, I would like to thank both Mr. Michaleski and Mr. Smith for their dedication and significant contributions to the Company and the Board," said Randall Findlay, Chair of the Board of Directors. "Pembina has benefited greatly from the experience, wisdom and counsel from these two gentlemen and we wish them all the best in the future." Pembina also announced the appointment of two new board members. Mr. Robert Gwin was appointed to the Board at the annual meeting of common shareholders on May 8, 2020 and subsequent to the Meeting, Ms. Cynthia Carroll was selected by the Directors to join to the Board. Mr. Findlay added: "I am also pleased to welcome Mr. Gwin and Ms. Carroll to the Board of Directors. Mr. Gwin will bring with him over 30 years of directly relevant leadership experience in the energy and financial sectors while Ms. Carroll brings leadership of global businesses, particularly in the industrial sector. We believe these two additional directors will further support our strategy to deliver long-term, sustainable value to our shareholders through operational excellence, strong governance and continued growth and we look forward to working with them." Mr. Gwin was the President of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, one of the world's largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, prior to its acquisition by Occidental Petroleum Corporation in late 2019. Prior thereto, he was the Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Anadarko from 2009 to 2018. Mr. Gwin joined Anadarko in 2006 and was a member of the executive committee since 2008. He also served as the Chairman of the Board of Western Gas Partners, LP, a large U.S. oil and natural gas midstream company, from 2010 to 2018, and previously as their President and CEO from 2007 to 2010. Ms. Carroll has spent most of her career leading global businesses in the industrial sector. She began her career as an exploration geologist at Amoco Production Company in Denver, Colorado before joining Alcan Aluminum Corporation. From 2007 to 2013, she served as the Chief Executive Officer of Anglo American PLC, at the time one of the largest and most diversified mining companies in the world. Ms. Carroll serves on the boards of directors of several public companies. Mr. Gwin's appointment includes serving on the Board's Human Resources, Health and Compensation and Governance, Nominating & CSR Committees. Ms. Carroll's appointment includes serving on the Board's Human Resources, Health and Compensation and Safety & Environment Committees. Committee charters and full biographies for both Mr. Gwin and Ms. Carroll can be found at www.pembina.com. About Pembina Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation is a leading transportation and midstream service provider that has been serving North America's energy industry for 65 years. Pembina owns an integrated system of pipelines that transport various hydrocarbon liquids and natural gas products produced primarily in western Canada. The Company also owns gas gathering and processing facilities; an oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure and logistics business; is growing an export terminals business; and is currently developing a petrochemical facility to convert propane into polypropylene. Pembina's integrated assets and commercial operations along the majority of the hydrocarbon value chain allow it to offer a full spectrum of midstream and marketing services to the energy sector. Pembina is committed to identifying additional opportunities to connect hydrocarbon production to new demand locations through the development of infrastructure that would extend Pembina's service offering even further along the hydrocarbon value chain. These new developments will contribute to ensuring that hydrocarbons produced in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and the other basins where Pembina operates can reach the highest value markets throughout the world. Purpose of Pembina: To be the leader in delivering integrated infrastructure solutions connecting global markets; Customers choose us first for reliable and value-added services; choose us first for reliable and value-added services; Investors receive sustainable industry-leading total returns; receive sustainable industry-leading total returns; Employees say we are the 'employer of choice' and value our safe, respectful, collaborative and fair work culture; and say we are the 'employer of choice' and value our safe, respectful, collaborative and fair work culture; and Communities welcome us and recognize the net positive impact of our social and environmental commitment. Pembina is structured into three Divisions: Pipelines Division, Facilities Division and Marketing & New Ventures Division. Pembina's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under PPL and PBA, respectively. For more information, visit www.pembina.com. Investor Relations: Scott Arnold, (403) 231-3156, 1-855-880-7404, e-mail: investor-relations@pembina.com, www.pembina.com On Friday, the Queen was praised for a televised VE Day speech to honour those who died during World War Two. However, Her Majesty, 94, is likely to withdraw from public life for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Sunday Times. Her Majesty is likely to stay at Windsor Castle for the foreseeable future. Photo: Getty Images The paper has reported that the break in official royal duties is almost certain to be the longest absence of her 68-year reign, as grandson Prince William and Kate Middleton step up. She is also expected to remain at Windsor Castle - where she is currently in lockdown with Prince Philip who turns 99 next month - for the foreseeable future. The Queens schedule of autumn engagements, including a state visit from South Africa in October, are on hold. They have also reported that Buckingham Palace will be closed this summer to the public for the first time in 27 years, with events like Trooping the Colour next month already called off. A royal source told them: The Queen wont do anything which goes against the advice of people in her [age] category and shes going to take all the appropriate advice. There are discussions about what we could and couldnt do come October. We havent cancelled a load of engagements, but nothing is going into Her Majestys diary at the moment. If there is advice in the coming months that its fine for her to come back to London, she may do that, but until that time, shed want to be seen to be being responsible in her actions for the nation. Royal biographer Andrew Morton, told The Sun he fears the monarch may never return to royal public life. Its terribly sad but I cant see how the Queen can resume her usual job, he said. The COVID-19 virus isnt going away soon and will be with us for months, if not years. It would be far too risky for the Queen to start meeting people on a regular basis. The break in official royal duties is almost certain to be the longest absence of her 68-year reign, as grandson Prince William and Kate Middleton step up. Photo: Getty Images The Queens last public engagement was the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on March 9th, and her speech to the nation after lockdown garnered 24 million viewers. Story continues Normally, the monarch would return from Windsor Castle - where she spends Easter - to Buckingham Palace in May, before travelling on to Balmoral Castle in July for the summer. In her VE Day anniversary speech earlier this week, she told the nation: Today it may seem hard that we cannot mark this special anniversary as we would wish. Instead we remember from our homes and our doorsteps. But our streets are not empty. They are filled with the love and the care that we have for each other. "When I look at our country today and see what we are willing to do to protect and support one another, I say with pride, that we are still a nation those brave soldiers, sailors and airmen would recognise and admire." It comes as her grandson Prince Harry acknowledged in a new speech that life has changed dramatically for all of us. The Duke of Sussex, 35, made the comment in a video shared on Twitter to mark what would have been the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games at The Hague in the Netherlands, which has been postponed until 2021 due to the pandemic. Words by Lauren Clark Got a story tip or just want to get in touch? Email us at lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com. A great white shark was seen lurking near a lone Kayaker in Northern California on the same day a 26-year-old surfer was killed in a shark attack just five miles away. Footage was taken on Saturday in Monterey Bay - the same day Ben Kelly of Santa Cruz, was killed by a shark at Manresa State Beach. Giancarlo Thomae, a marine biologist, captured the footage and told Storyful that it was a 12-foot great white shark swimming beneath the kayaker. A lone kayaker was approached by a 12-foot great white shark on Saturday The woman can be seen tentatively kayaking in Monterey Bay while a shark swims a few paces ahead of her. Just seconds later, she suddenly becomes aware of the shark circling her boat and quickly stops paddling. The shark 'peacefully investigates' the kayak as the woman waits patiently for the great white to leave. After a few moments, the shark becomes disinterested and swims away. Giancarlo Thomae, a marine biologist, insisted that the shark found in Monterey Bay (pictured) is not the same one who killed surfer Ben Kelly Thomae insisted that the shark in his footage is not the same one who attacked Kelly. Kelly died surfing off Manresa State Beach on the northern end of Monterey Bay about 100 yards from the shore just before 1.30pm. He is said to have been well known Santa Cruz surfing community. He ran a local business hand crafting boards and has been described by friends as 'one of a kind'. Pictures on social media show Ben with his wife Katie in the water. They also show him making boards for others. Paying tribute, Instagram user chejordan28 wrote: 'Ben you are one of a kind, one of the good ones, and you will be sorely missed. Aloha bro and much love on your journey to surfing the stars. At least I know you will have a good board under your feet.' Posting a picture of Ben with his surf board, friend Johnny Brewer said: 'BK had one of the biggest hearts and youll be missed brother. Till our next surf up on the clouds. RIP BK.' The surfer killed in a shark attack off a Northern California beach on Saturday afternoon has been named by the coroners office as Ben Kelly, pictured with his wife Katie Ben Kelly died surfing off Manresa State Beach on the northern end of Monterey Bay about 100 yards from the shore just before 1.30pm. The 26-year-old is said to have been well known in the Santa Cruz surfing community Kelly was killed in a shark attack off Manresa State Beach in Northern California on Saturday Police and ambulance vehicles were seen in the beach's parking lot following the attack Pictured: A broken surfboard and fresh flowers are photographed at a staircase leading to Manresa State Beach Photos captured by KTVU showed rescue crews on the shoreline shortly after the incident. Police and ambulance vehicles were seen in the beach's parking lot. According to the California State Parks website, Manresa State Beach is fully closed from 11am to 5pm daily amid the coronavirus pandemic. During the other times, the beach is open to local residents, and they must abide by guidelines and keep moving - surfing, jogging and swimming is permitted but sitting and sunbathing is not. The water one mile north and south of the attack will be closed for five days. Signs were posted warning beachgoers about the attack. 'State Parks expresses its deepest sympathy to the family of the victim,' the statement said. While it is unclear what species attacked the surfer, great white sharks are commonly seen swimming in the area in the lead up to summer. Local drone photographer Eric Mailander told KRON4 that he counted 15 great white sharks while out on his boat on Saturday morning. One friend wrote: 'Gonna miss you bro. Thank you for always having that aloha spirit' Pictures on social media show Ben with his wife Katie and out in the water Police created a sign which was put up to alert residents in the area Saturday's incident was the third fatal shark attack off Northern California since 1984 Another drone photographer, Brian Stocks, also captured great whites swimming off the Manresa Beach on Friday. According to local news sites, the number of sharks in the area are increasing. One outlet described the waters as a 'shark park'. Saturday's incident was the third fatal shark attack off Northern California since 1984. In 2004, a diver was killed by a 17-foot great white shark near Kibeseliah Rock in Mendocino County. In 1984, a 28-year-old man was attacked by a shark at Pigeon Point by a 16-foot great white shark. A Black Swan In Oil Unprecedented is a word that only begins to describe whats transpired in the oil markets this year. Not only were long-standing records for oil broken in 2020, they were absolutely shattered, just like prices for the energy commodity. Perhaps no other asset has been as affected by the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus as oilnot stocks, not bonds, not currencies. Sure, all those other asset classes have felt the pain of the once-in-a-lifetime sudden stop in the economy. But theyve been backstopped by seemingly infinite firepower from fiscal and monetary authorities, and have been ableto some extentto look past the economic valley created by the virus. Not so for oil. Because of physical constraints, oil prices have been at the mercy of the immediate economic realities in the real world. Thats stymied oil tradersmany of which use ETFsfrom capitalizing on the commoditys decline. In some cases, unsuspecting traders have been completely wiped out by whats essentially the blackest of black swans in the oil market. The Beginning While stocks rallied for a good month and a half before topping out, oil prices peaked right at the start of 2020. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, the most popular U.S. benchmark for oil, hit $63.27 on Jan. 6. Shortly after that, things turned sour. Reports of a novel coronavirus in China began to circulate early in January; by the end of the month, the country was in lockdown. Despite this, other countries were hopeful that the virus could be contained to the worlds most populous country, and U.S. stocks hit record highs in February. The oil market didnt have the luxury of ignoring the virus. The worlds second-largest economy, China, was also the worlds second-largest consumer of oil. In its February Oil Market Report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that oil demand would fall by 435,000 barrels per day year over year in the first quarter, largely due to the lockdown in China. Oil prices fell to $51.56 by the end of January, and $44.76 by the end of February. Spot Oil vs S&P 500 Story continues Alliance Breaks Down By late February, the severity of the coronavirus crisis was becoming increasingly clear. Even U.S. stocks, which were oblivious to the growing number of virus cases around the world, began to crash later in the month. By early March, it was apparent that the virus had spread well beyond Chinas borders. Lockdowns in Italy, Spain and France were followed by shelter-in-place orders in California and New York later in the month. On March 6, a Friday, oil prices settled the week at $41.28, down 10% on the session, and the lowest closing level since 2016. Talks between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia had broken down, ending with no agreement to cut production. Saudi Arabia had hoped to convince its allies to trim production by 1.5 million barrels per day on top of existing curbs, but Russia balked at the idea. The alliance known as OPEC+, which consisted of OPEC, Russia and a number of smaller producers, had already trimmed output by 2.1 million barrels per day over the last several months, with little to show for it. Russia figured there was no point throwing good oil after bad. Saudi Arabia was furious. The country threatened that if Russia didnt join in the new cuts, the whole OPEC+ alliance would effectively be dissolved, and countries would be free to produce as much oil as they wished. With no sign of a deal, the Kingdom followed through on its threat that weekend, dramatically cutting prices for its crude. The country would boost its oil exports to a record high, flooding the market with oil just as demand was collapsing. Demand Collapse That following Monday, March 9, oil prices plunged to $31.13, a loss of 24.6%, and at the time, the second-largest daily decline ever. But while the supply surge was forefront on traders minds, little did they know the extent of the demand collapse that was coming. As the coronavirus spread, governments around the world began shutting their economies one by one. Borders were shut, travel ceased and people hunkered down at home. An onslaught of negative headlines piled up day after day. By the third week of March, it became apparent just how far oil demand would fall. In its latest Oil Market Report, the IEA threw its previous estimates out the window. Demand would collapse by 29 million barrels per day in April, falling to levels last seen in 1995, the agency said. For the year as a whole, demand would be down by 9.3 million barrels per day year over year. On March 18, oil prices fell 24.4% to $20.37, the first time at that level since 2002. Full Storage Fears By late March, it was becoming apparent that no amount of artificial supply cuts from OPEC or Russia was going to offset a nearly 30% drop in global oil demand. The market would have to hold all of the excess supplies in storage until demand recovered enough to close the gap. The only problem? Storage tanks were filling up so fast that space to put fresh oil was becoming scarce. The industry was not set up for such an enormous decline in demand. As the devastation within the energy industry spread, anxiety began to grow. Even President Trump, concerned about the impact low prices were having on the U.S. shale industry, was rooting for higher prices. Out of nowhere, the president claimed to have gotten OPEC+ to slash output by millions of barrels per day. Days later, the deal was miraculously clinched when Saudi Arabia, Russia and their allies announced a massive 9.7 million barrel per day output cut, the largest ever. But oil prices hardly flinched. The day after the cut was announced, WTI sagged 1.5% and then plunged 10.3% the next day. After a brief countertrend rally, prices were back to $20. Prices continued to drift lower throughout that week. That Friday, they closed at $18.27, two days ahead of the expiration of the May WTI futures contract. No one could have imagined it then, but the oil market was about to be turned on its head on Monday. Twilight Zone April 20, 2020 is a day that will forever go down in history as the day oil prices entered the twilight zone. From $18.27 the previous Friday, WTI collapsed by 306% to settle at -$37.63 by the end of day Monday. Thats rightnegative 37.63. How that happened is still being debated today, but one thing thats certain is that the oil market had entered that day in an extremely fragile state. Storage levels were rising fast and there was no telling whether there would be any space left to store excess crude in the coming weeks. With few able to secure storage space, the front-month futures contract for May delivery turned into a hot potato. Some traders, who even ordinarily wouldnt take delivery of physical oil, were eager to get out of their positions, but had limited buyers to take the contracts off their hands. U.S. oil-tracking funds like the United States Oil Fund LP (USO) had already rolled their positions into subsequent June contracts well ahead of the May contracts expiration, but other financial players remained. They had to get outat any priceand that desperation may be what fueled oils descent below zero. The Aftermath Oils foray into negative territory was brief. The next day, the May contract expired at $10.01. The June contractwhich is the front month as of this writingnever got below that level, and has since rebounded to $24.03, suggesting that full storage isnt yet a reality. In addition to the nearly 10 million barrels per day worth of OPEC+ cuts that have gone into effect, U.S. oil producers have announced production curbs of their own totaling more than 1 million barrels per day, with more to come. The IEA expects that output from non-OPEC countries could tumble more than 5 million barrels per day by the end of the year. These are massive numbers that have spooked oil prices back up to where they were in mid-April. Whether they can rally further from here in the short term remains to be seen. After all, the prospect of inventories filling up remains a possibility with demand still in the dumps. The question is, can economies reopen fast enough, and can demand rebound fast enough, to get supply and demand back into balance before that happens? That will determine whether the unprecedented negative oil prices seen in April will remain unprecedented. Longer term, it looks as if oil prices will be on much firmer footing. The damage that 2020s downturn so far is doing to energy sector investment is immense. Supply in the coming months and years will pay a price for that. Contact Sumit Roy at sroy@etf.com Recommended Stories Permalink | Copyright 2020 ETF.com. All rights reserved The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir EL-Rufai has said that the two coronavirus patients, who fled their homes in Kaduna State shortly after the... The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir EL-Rufai has said that the two coronavirus patients, who fled their homes in Kaduna State shortly after they were notified of their test results, have been apprehended by security operatives. Recall that Kaduna State Government appealed to persons who tested positive for coronavirus to report at its isolation centre for treatment. The States Commissioner for Health, Dr Amina Mohammed-Baloni who made the appeal on Sunday said the call was necessary as two people had absconded prior to receiving their test result which came back positive. Confirming the development, El-Rufai in a tweet via his Twitter account said they have been tracked and were now at an isolation centre in the State. He said Security agencies have successfully tracked the two COVID-19 positive persons who fled their homes shortly after they were notified of their test results. Commissioner of Health Dr Amina Mohammed-Baloni has confirmed that both of them are now at the isolation centre. Households will have to depend on deliveries for longer By Kasun Warakapitiya View(s): View(s): A lengthy curfew due to the coronavirus means, households in the Western Province will have to get used to home deliveries of essential groceries, health officials caution. The Colombo Municipal Council, Chief Medical Officer, Ruwan Wijayamuni, said people will need to rely on mobile vendors for vegetables and daily necessities, even if the curfew is lifted. Social distancing needs to be maintained and food must be delivered by employees of producers. Health Ministry has advised us to only provide approval for food delivery services under the approval of public health officials and Medical Officer of Health in the area. We have strict guidelines, he said. Public Health Inspectors will check the hygienic conditions under which food is delivered to homes. He also said guidelines have also been issued on hair salon operations. So far, people depend on vegetables, fruits, fish, and meat being delivered to their houses because shops and fresh food markets are closed. For traders, the Dambulla Dedicated Economic Center is operating despite the curfew. The manager said it will remain open from Friday, May 8 from 5:00 am to 6:00 pm. We are allowing the farmers to sell their goods, but regulate the number of people coming into the premises, he said. Farmers are asked to wear masks. Every night the centre is disinfected, and PHIs and the police ensure people keep their distance to help reduce the possible spread of the virus during operating hours. Meanwhile, small-scale rice millers have decided to begin a 10-day strike from tomorrow saying they are not able to produce rice at controlled prices. During the curfew they were willing to mill the paddy stocks at the Paddy Marketing Board storages, but did not receive any stocks, the millers say. If the government provides electricity and wages for workers, their costs would drop, they say. The chairman of the Sri Lanka Rice Producers Cooperative Association, K.A.D Abeykeerthi said millers can not produce rice for Rs 90 because there is no way to buy paddy for less than Rs 50. He said that small and medium scale millers cannot purchase paddy for Rs 50 and are unable to produce rice for Rs 98 because of high costs. There had not been any response although they wrote to the presidential task force. Meeting were also held with senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Trade and food committee, the millers said. Tesla will move its headquarters to Texas or Nevada, chief executive Elon Musk said in a tweet on Saturday after the Alameda County Health Department told the carmaker that it could not reopen yet as the lockdown measures continue longer than expected. Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected & ignorant Interim Health Officer of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense! Musk tweeted on Saturday. This was the same day that Tesla said in a blog post that it would reopen the Fremont factory in accordance with strict rules for safety. Frankly, this is the final straw, Musk continued on Twitter. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependent on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA. Reuters reports that Alameda County is under lockdown until the end of May, allowing only essential businesses to reopen. According to the county authorities, Tesla was not an essential business, which may well have riled the companys CEO further, after vocal criticism of the lockdown measures in general. Tesla, according to its website, is the last major car manufacturer in California and the largest manufacturing employer in the state, with 10,000 workers at the Fremont factory and another 10,000 across the state. The company had scheduled shifts for its Fremont workers for this week, CNBC reported, citing internal documents, and later argued that its activity did fall in the category of essential businesses. The mayor of Fremont seems to share the sentiment expressed by Tesla after she urged county authorities to work with local companies to agree on acceptable guidelines for reopening. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Uncubed announced the acquisition of Finalist, a candidate experience platform and pre-vetted candidate marketplace. The Finalist software allows companies to seamlessly refer top candidates to the private Finalist network. This delivers a better candidate experience to those highly qualified applicants that all but receive an offer from the referring company. By entering Finalist, candidates access opportunities at other participating companies. On the back-end, candidates are automatically matched, using AI-driven matching technology. The Finalist technology brings a network effect to our placement services that accelerates our ability to match pre-vetted talent to hiring companies, Chief Creative Officer Tarek Pertew said. Uncubed intends to extend the technology to both its outplacement and digital campus recruiting solutions, two areas where demand is surging amidst the widespread layoffs and the disruption of on-campus recruiting. We think Finalist can play a pivotal role in our digital campus recruiting efforts, where weve successfully placed hundreds of top candidates, and now can expand that network and deliver an enhanced candidate experience, Pertew mentioned. Similarly, Uncubed began investing in outplacement services in 2019 for companies laying off talent, and sees Finalist as a powerful addition to that service. We saw an immediate fit with Uncubed, and combination of tech-enabled service and unique content, to be able to broaden and accelerate our vision of Finalist, said Finalist CEO, Richard Fay. Finalist (https://finalist.io) is based in New York and was founded in 2017, and has served a range of high-growth technology companies across industries. For more information, please write to contact@uncubed.com. ABOUT UNCUBED Uncubed is a digital talent attraction and engagement platform based in New York. A community of diverse, tech-driven professionals trusts Uncubed as a one-stop resource for career advancement, through its innovative job board, matching technology, editorial content, and online events. For employers, the Uncubed platform delivers access to the Uncubed talent network solutions, and related technology and services. Additionally, the company operates Uncubed Studios, an in-house employer brand and engagement studio. Uncubed also owns and operates Mediabistro (https://mediabistro.com), the leading careers site for media and content professionals. The company works with high-growth tech clients in addition to established industry leaders including IBM, NBC Universal, Peloton, AB InBev, Bloomberg, and more. To learn more about Uncubed, please visit http://www.uncubed.com. Caddo Lake. Photo: Maciej Kraus/Flickr Natural pearls are a rarity today, but a hundred years ago, before British biologist William Saville-Kent first developed the technique of pearl culturing, natural pearls were found in many parts of the world and it was the only kind of pearl people wore. For thousand of years, divers retrieved natural pearls from wild oysters in the Indian Ocean in areas such as the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Mannar. The pearl fisheries of the Persian Gulf, in particular, were the most famous and valuable in the world. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC220 AD), the Chinese hunted extensively for seawater pearls in the South China Sea. When Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Western Hemisphere, they discovered that around the islands of Cubagua and Margarita, some 200 km north of the Venezuelan coast, was an extensive pearl bed. Pearls harvested from these beds were gifted by Philip II of Spain to his wife Mary I of England. In the Americas, Native Americans harvested freshwater pearls from lakes and rivers in Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Marine pearls were found in the Caribbean and waters along the coasts of Central and South America. During colonial times, slaves were employed as pearl divers off the northern coasts of modern Colombia and Venezuela. The waters being searched were known to be shark-infested, and many unlucky slaves lost their lives to shark attacks. But those fortunate to discover a great pearl could sometimes purchase his freedom. In 1905, Sachihiko Ono Murata, a Japanese immigrant, who once served as chef aboard a U.S. Navy ship in the Pacific fleet, settled on the north shore of Caddo Lakea large dragon-shaped lake on the border between Texas and Louisiana. Caddo Lake is famous for its cypress forest, which is one of the largest in the United States. It is also the largest freshwater lake in the state of Texas, and has been a favorite fishing and vacation spot among citizens from that section of the country for many years. Murata loved the lakes cypress trees and found a job cooking for workers on the oil rigs that dotted the lake. One day, while preparing a mussel to use as catfish bait, Murata discovered a small pearl. This was nothing new. Occasionally, young men would find pearls inside mussels which they would gift to their heartthrobs. Later that same day, or perhaps, a few days later, Murata discovered a second pearl. Not much interest were attached to these casual finds, until Murata found a way to sell them. Rumors flew that he sold the pearls to Tiffany & Co. in New York for $1,500 each. To give you an idea of the amount of money that was, a typical Texas farmer made between $300 to $600 a year. The promise of a pearl or two drove thousands of people from nearby settlements, who set up tents on the shores of Caddo Lake. Some brought their families with them. Others came alone, and went back and forth to their homes. A group of pearl hunters on Caddo Lake. The water in the lake was waist deep or chest deep, and most pearl hunters found it convenient to wade barefoot in the water, picking up mussels from the mud with their toes. Others used fishing tongs, which allowed them to look for mussels during the colder winter months and in the deeper regions of the lake. Most of the pearls fetched only $20 or $25, but one Mrs. Jeff Stroud of the Lewis community sold a whopper for $900. It was the most expensive pearl sold at the lake. Another lucky fisherman, George Allen, received $500 for one pearl. For three summers, pearl hunting was so lucrative that commercial fishermen on Caddo gave up fishing entirely, and devoted their entire time to mussel hunting. However, not everyone was lucky. Some toiled for weeks without finding a single pearl, and left in disappointment. Still there was enough pearls in Caddo Lake to encourage hunting, and at one time there was as many as 500 tents around the lake and up to 1,000 men would be on the lake each day. It is difficult to estimate how much pearl the lake yielded, because many did not publicize their find to avoid jealousy. Others, exaggerated their fortunes. Some think as many as one million dollars worth of pearls were marketed. Caddo Lake. Photo: Louis Vest/Flickr Unlike many boom towns that grew around the Gold Rush of California or the oil wells in Pennsylvania, the community in Caddo Lake never organized into anything more than a few hundred vacation camps. The lake was free to all and no body lay claim to any special spots on the lake or on the beach. The community got along surprisingly well with no fights or bickering or quarrelling. This was because time was precious, and few pearl hunters wasted time in idle. With no church to go to, they worked even during Sundays. This was a time when working on Sunday was considered a sin, but luckily there was no preacher in the camp. Pearl harvesting in Caddo Lake continued till 1913, when a dam was constructed downriver at Mooringsport, causing the lake levels to rise, making the lake too deep for wading fishermen. The pearl craze ended and the Caddo fishermen went back to fishing, while others returned to their homes. Freshwater mussels still thrive in Caddo Lake, now a protected State Park, but no collecting is allowed. References: # Katherine Williams, https://www.jstor.org/stable/30235720 # Texas Co-op Power, https://www.texascooppower.com/texas-stories/history/caddos-gems # Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_hunting Listed information, including addresses, has been gathered from arrest and incident reports publicly available at area law-enforcement agencies. If your name appears here and your case was dismissed or you were cleared of the crime, let us know by calling Editor Lisa Wall at 828-432-8939 or by emailing editor@morganton.com. The following charges were served on Sunday, April 19: Daris Leon Weaver, 26, of 811 Vine Arden Road, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor possession of schedule VI controlled substances. He was cited and released. His trial date was set for Sept. 14. Charles Lee Reed, 40, of 811 Vine Arden Road, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply and resist, delay or obstructing a public officer. He was transported to the Burke County Jail and placed under a $1,500 secured bond. Carrisa Lynn Lochbaum, 28, of 107 Forrest Hill Drive, Apt. B, in Lenoir, was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. She was cited and released. Her trial date was set for Aug. 3. Hundreds of thousands of teachers and principals are disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19presenting a challenge for school districts as they begin to consider how to reopen school buildings. Federal data show that about 18 percent of all teachers and 27 percent of all principals are older than age 55. That age group accounts for about 92 percent of deaths in the United States due to COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although adults who are 65 and older are most at risk. New evidence also suggests that children can transmit the coronavirus , which has prompted many peopleincluding President Donald Trump to say that vulnerable educators should stay home when schools reopen. See also: Teachers at Higher Risk for COVID-19 Wonder: Should I Even Go Back? A new report by the American Enterprise Institute examines the wide-ranging implications for schools, state by state, given that it might not be safe for many educators to return to school buildings until a vaccine is developed. This could lead to districts having to come up with alternative staffing plans, as well as figuring out how to address potential teacher shortages. The severity of the problem will vary by state, according to an AEI analysis of federal data. In Hawaii, for instance, 45 percent of principals are 55 and older, compared with only 9 percent in Illinois. More than a quarter of public school teachers in Maine and New Mexico are in this age group, compared with just 10 percent in Colorado and 8 percent in Kentucky. There is no federal data on age for many other school workers, including paraprofessionals, bus drivers, custodians, administrative staff, and counselors. But many of those staffers are likely at risk as well. And in addition to age, the CDC lists asthma, chronic lung disease, diabetes, serious heart conditions, chronic kidney disease, severe obesity, immunocompromised conditions, and liver disease as among the risk factors for COVID-19 . In the AEI report, authors John P. Bailey and Jessica Schurz proposed several possible solutions to keeping vulnerable educators safe: State and local leaders could prioritize teachers for COVID-19 and antibody testing. Educators should have personal protective equipment, including gloves, face masks, hand soap and sanitizer, and disinfectant. School buildings should be deep-cleaned regularly. High-risk teachers could provide online instruction or remote tutoring and mentoring, even if their students are in the school building. If theres more widespread availability of COVID-19 testing, students who test negative could be assigned to vulnerable teachers for instruction or small-group activities. States and school districts could offer early retirement to at-risk educators. School districts could partner with teacher-preparation programs so that teacher-candidates can help fill staffing gaps. For example, a candidate could be paired with a vulnerable teacher whos staying home. States could adjust teacher certification requirements and reciprocity agreements, so a teacher whos staying home can teach online in a different state. For more on how vulnerable educators are feeling about the possibility of returning to school in the fall, see this Education Week article . Image: Custodial workers from Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Fla., use electrostatic disinfectant sprayers to deep clean at Wetherbee Elementary School on March 18. Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP Jerry Stiller and his wife, Anne Meara, arrive for the premiere of The Heartbreak Kid in Los Angeles in 2007. (Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images) Jerry Stiller, the Brooklyn-born entertainer who formed a popular comedy act in the 1960s with his wife, Anne Meara, before playing crotchety, kvetching fathers on network sitcoms most notably the hypertensive Frank Costanza on Seinfeld died May 11 at his home in Manhattan. He was 92. His son, comic actor Ben Stiller, announced the death on Twitter but did not give a precise cause. Mr. Stiller rose to national prominence on a barrage of one-line jokes and sly ethnic humor, with his Jewish background and Mearas Irish Catholic heritage forming a comic motif. With age, he transformed into a master of righteous indignation and raucous anger, drawing on memories of fights between his parents to create some of the funniest moments of the 1990s most celebrated and popular sitcom. As Costanza, Mr. Stiller was perpetually struggling to control his temper, blood pressure and contempt for his son, George, a balding schlemiel played by Jason Alexander. Among the few tools he used to regain his composure was a mantra he learned from a relaxation tape serenity now which he screamed while raising his hands to the heavens. Serenity never seemed to come. Mr. Stiller effectively reprised the role of a cantankerous father in The King of Queens, which premiered on CBS in 1998, months after the finale of Seinfeld, and ran for nine seasons. On screen, he appeared in movies such as The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), as a wisecracking New York police lieutenant, and Zoolander (2001), in which he was the excitable talent agent of a model played by his real-life son, Ben. For an older generation of viewers, Mr. Stiller was best remembered as the shorter, more intense half of Stiller and Meara, a husband-and-wife duo in the mold of George Burns and Gracie Allen, or friends Mike Nichols and Elaine May whom Mr. Stiller and Meara succeeded as performers in the Compass Players, a Chicago improv group that spawned Second City. While Meara initially sought to work as a dramatic actor, not a comedian, Mr. Stiller convinced her they would make a good comic team. In 1961, they began performing in Greenwich Village nightclubs, where Ed Sullivan caught them live and invited them to his weekly TV variety show. They returned more than 30 times, often playing the characters Hershey Horowitz and Mary Elizabeth Doyle, who meet through an early computer-dating program. [Remembering Anne Meara, one half of a legendary comedy duo] The couple largely stopped performing together in 1970, saying they wanted to focus on their own careers and preserve their marriage. I love Anne, but if I had depended on her in my professional life, I would have lost her as a wife, Mr. Stiller told People in 1977. Meara, who went on to work as an Emmy- and Tony-nominated actress before her death in 2015, told the magazine, I didnt know where the act ended and our marriage began. Off the stage, they continued to write and record lucrative, lighthearted radio ads for Amalgamated Bank, United Van Lines, Harrahs Atlantic City and a little-known German import called Blue Nun Wine. More than 1 million cases of the wine were eventually sold each year, in large part because of Mr. Stiller and Mearas nationally broadcast radio spots. 1 of 22 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Jerry Stiller, comedian who played Frank Costanza on 'Seinfeld,' dies at 92 View Photos Stiller formed a popular comedy act in the 1960s with his wife, Anne Meara, before playing crotchety, kvetching fathers on network sitcoms. Caption Stiller formed a popular comedy act in the 1960s with his wife, Anne Meara, before playing crotchety, kvetching fathers on network sitcoms. Michael Buckner/Getty Images Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. May I suggest you have a little Blue Nun at your smorgasbord? Mr. Stiller said in one segment. Oh, I dont think shed have a very good time, Meara replied. Besides, its going to be all couples. Mr. Stiller also appeared on celebrity game shows and in episodes of The Love Boat, and he starred in the Broadway production and 1976 movie adaptation of The Ritz, by playwright Terrence McNally. Yet he said his career had slipped and he felt my life disappearing when he was offered a guest role in Seinfeld, which premiered on NBC in 1989. The part of Frank Costanza was initially filled by actor John Randolph, until show creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David approached Mr. Stiller, seeking to shake things up. Written as a milquetoast foil to actress Estelle Harris, who played Frank Costanzas wife, the character was reinvented on the fly by Mr. Stiller, who was seeking to avoid the fate of his predecessor. I read my line gently, as I had been told, and it was as if a pall fell over the room, he told USA Today in 1996. So I did the scene again, and this time I really screamed. Everybody broke up laughing. Then Jason asked me to hit him. I didnt want to, but he encouraged me to really let him have it. I did, and it got another huge laugh. And now screaming and hitting are my trademarks. Somewhat out of practice as an actor, Mr. Stiller struggled to remember his lines, Alexander once told the Archive of American Television a difficulty that only worked in his favor. The lines would come back to him in little stutter steps, Alexander said. So they would come out in little stutter steps, and what you were seeing was his growing anxiety and frustration with his own memory, that got translated into the disdain for the world that Frank Costanza had. Mr. Stiller received an Emmy nomination in 1997 and later that year starred in one of the seriess most famous episodes, in which he celebrated the secular yuletide holiday Festivus a Costanza family tradition that features a tall aluminum pole, tableside airing of grievances and obligatory feats of strength. Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son, Mr. Stiller explained in the episode, offering an origin story for the holiday. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way. The doll was destroyed, he continued, but out of that a new holiday was born: a Festivus for the rest of us! The oldest of four children, Gerald Isaac Stiller was born on June 8, 1927. His mother was a Polish-born homemaker; his father, a bus and taxi driver, was the son of immigrants from the Eastern European region of Galicia. When the elder Stiller won $5,000 in the Irish sweepstakes lottery during the Depression, the family moved to the Lower East Side and, Mr. Stiller said, finally had groceries. His parents fought frequently, typically over money, but their squabbles provided inspiration for Mr. Stillers career. As a boy, he received free tickets to a Rockefeller Center performance by stage, radio and film star Eddie Cantor and took his parents with him. As the show hit its stride, he wrote in a memoir, Married to Laughter (2000), his parents began to smile. I had brought them together, he said. I had done something that seemed impossible. Eddie Cantor could bring peace to my family. From that moment I really wanted to become a comedian. After Army service, he received a bachelors degree in speech and drama from Syracuse University in 1950. He met Meara in New York three years later. Both were looking for work, meeting with an agent who made a pass at Meara while she sat alone in his office. When she ran out in tears, Mr. Stiller followed, invited her for a cup of coffee and offered to pay. Instead, she insisted he steal the silverware; she needed another set for her apartment. Flatware pilfered, the couple soon married and started a family in New York, raising their two children, Ben and fellow performer Amy Stiller. When Mr. Stiller and his wife guest-hosted the daytime talk program The Mike Douglas Show, Ben and his sister were brought on to perform a squawking violin rendition of Chopsticks. In addition to his children, Mr. Stiller is survived by a sister and two grandchildren. Mr. Stiller performed in the New York Shakespeare Festival under producer Joseph Papp and appeared in more than a dozen plays on Broadway, including David Rabes dark comedy Hurlyburly, which opened in 1984. Beginning in 2010, he and Meara appeared in online videos produced by Ben Stiller, sitting on a couch and chatting about WikiLeaks, the homeless, the television series Jersey Shore and whatever else came to mind. Mr. Stiller also appeared alongside his son in the comedies Hot Pursuit (1987), Heavy Weights (1995) and The Heartbreak Kid (2007) featured, naturally, as Bens father. Comedy, he said, was simply not something he could live without. Laughter is the answer to all the pain I experienced as a kid, he told the Sydney Morning Herald in 1999. When Im not doing it, it all gets eerie and weird. I am only left with the memories that inhabit me that can only be knocked out by hearing laughter. Foodborne illness investigations have slowed and food recalls have plummeted to their lowest levels in years because of disruptions in America's multilayered food safety system caused by the novel coronavirus, a USA TODAY investigation found. The pandemic struck the system at every level from the federal agencies tasked with stopping contaminated food before it leaves farms and factories to the state health departments that test sick residents for foodborne illnesses like E. coli. Experts say there is no evidence yet of resulting widespread health issues, but food safety advocates say Americans are now more at risk. We have so many different safeguards built into our system, and one by one COVID is knocking pieces out, Sarah Sorscher, deputy director of regulatory affairs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Tyson chairman warns of 'meat shortages' as industry faces scrutiny for worker safety during coronavirus The Food and Drug Administration in March announced it would postpone in-person inspections of the nations food factories, canneries, and poultry farms. As a result, the number of FDA inspections dropped from an average of more than 900 a month to just eight in April. Along with that, FDA citations issued for unsafe conditions tumbled from hundreds a month to nearly zero in April. The number of product recalls followed suit. Companies primarily issue recalls themselves and report them to the FDA. Weekly reports from the FDA shows the number of recalls dropping from 173 in February to 105 in March to 70 in April. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also oversees food recalls. Their numbers, too, dropped from an average of more than 10 a month to an unprecedented zero in March and just two in April. Between January and April, the USDA listed just seven food recalls the lowest number for that period in at least a decade. A USDA spokesperson said by email the agency is continuing to meet all inspection obligations and that it has further pushed the food industry for more accountability in providing safe products. Story continues The agency is proactively engaging with industry to improve production practices and reduce the number of recalls and we are seeing the results of these efforts, the spokesperson wrote. Meanwhile, some state health departments are so busy with COVID-19 that theyre struggling to keep up with the typical foodborne illness workload, which could be decreasing anyway as fewer Americans seek treatment for stomach ailments, choosing instead to stay home instead of seeing their doctor. State health agencies typically interact with local doctors and hospitals to gather information thats then loaded into a nationwide PulseNet database administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Poultry plants: USDA let poultry plants put workers close together even as they got sick from coronavirus. PulseNet activity started plummeting in April, said Dr. Robert Tauxe, director of the CDCs foodborne illness division. It saw a 50% decline in E. coli samples being entered into the system and a 25% drop in Salmonella cases compared to five-year averages. Despite this, Tauxe said, the changes have not interrupted our ability to detect and investigate foodborne outbreaks. We are still detecting new clusters that are being investigated every week, he added. The number of clusters identified is about the same as that seen in previous years. Yet the number of completed federal investigations of foodborne outbreaks also fell both at the CDC and the FDA. Through May 7, the CDC has solved two outbreaks: a mushroom outbreak that sickened three dozen people and killed four across the country, and a clover sprouts outbreak that sickened 51, primarily in Utah. Thats behind the pace of the agencys recent history. By the same time last year, there had been recalls of products across five different outbreaks, which sickened more than 300. The pace was in line with the CDCs annual average of 13 completed investigations dating to 2011. The CDCs Tauxe cautioned that not every investigation leads to a recall, and says the agency Continues to work with our public health partners to detect outbreaks. Information from the FDAs website also indicates a drop in completed investigations resulting in food recalls this year. While the agency has had two investigations so far also the mushrooms and clover sprouts thats less than half the pace of 2018 and 2019, which both saw 16 investigations completed over the course of a year. However, it is not unprecedented, and exceeds the pace of investigations in 2011 and 2015. The number of open, internal FDA investigations has dropped even more dramatically on a monthly level, according to statistics provided to USA TODAY. Last December, the agency had been tracking 15 investigations, a record high. But by the middle of February, that number dropped to nine, and by the middle of April, just two. In an email, Frank Yiannas, FDAs deputy commissioner for food policy and response, said the agencys foodborne illness section is still fully staffed and on the job working to identify outbreaks. He noted the mushroom investigation remains ongoing, leading to recalls of products on April 7 and 15. FDA inspections plummet Ordinarily, the FDA visits thousands of food production facilities each year to conduct safety inspections. Examples from recent inspections show troubling findings reported with straightforward language. "You did not exclude pests from your food plant to protect against contamination of food, read one. You did not take an adequate measure to protect against inclusion of metal or extraneous material in food, read another. But on March 18, the agency announced it would postpone almost all such inspections as employees began teleworking. The number of inspections and citations swiftly plummeted. In 2018 and 2019, the FDA averaged about 900 inspections a month, leading to 600 citations. In March, the numbers fell to 307 inspections and 167 citations. In April, just eight inspections took place, leading to two citations. This Aug. 2, 2018, file photo shows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration building behind FDA logos at a bus stop on the agency's campus in Silver Spring, Md. The FDA was already limited in how often they were inspecting facilities, with federal regulations requiring a visit just once every three to five years, said Tony Corbo, senior government affairs representative from the nonprofit Food & Water Watch. You already have a weak inspection system, thats been made weaker, Corbo said. But Martin Wiedmann, a professor of food safety at Cornell University, said the impact should be limited. He said the food companies themselves were and still are the primary testers of food safety, and that whatever amount of layered protection came from federal oversight was worth suspending to cut down on the risk of inspectors becoming infected. The FDA is the final safeguard of the system, he said. The FDA has modified other guardrails, too. Over the past two months, the agency has eased rules ensuring the safety of consumer-grade eggs, requiring supplement manufacturers to report adverse events, and compelling food companies to audit food safety practices at ingredient suppliers. Sorscher said she understands the need for temporary changes to protect workers from COVID-19 but that the loss of on-the-ground auditors is a red flag. The chaos causes food manufacturers to connect with new suppliers. Normally, theyd first evaluate the safety of those suppliers, but that line of defense is now hindered. A lot of supply chains are being disrupted right now, so its really important that if a company is working with a new supplier, theyre able to ensure food safety, Sorscher said. The FDAs Yiannas defended the agency, saying it is using layers of protection that include modifying an algorithm to scrutinize food imports and enhancing remote inspections. The agency also continues to conduct mission critical in-person inspections. "FDA believes these alternative activities strike the right balance, Yiannas said, "between the realities of the unprecedented present situation in which certain travel is not possible yet still provide regulatory oversight, while protecting the health and well-being of our workforce and those working in regulated industry." Some companies also are continuing private audits of their factories, and Sorscher noted that companies are still legally responsible for addressing food safety risks internally. But she said she worries about what happens if private inspectors and staff also become impacted by COVID-19. FDA isnt inspecting, and what if the (companys) food safety person is out sick? Sorscher said. When that last support falls, and that person in industry whose job it is to handle food safety isnt there, then we could have an outbreak and we may not even know it. Meat plants packed with risk While the FDA has curtailed its in-person inspections of food factories, the USDA has remained on the job in the nations meat processing plants, where federal regulations require inspectors to be present at least once a day, if not around the clock. But issues with the system are now widely known. As previously reported by USA TODAY, last month more than 1,000 inspectors were off the job after falling ill with COVID-19 or because they are considered high risk for medical complications from the disease. Coronavirus at meatpacking plantsworse than first thought, USA TODAY investigation finds The USDA says it has enough inspectors to cover all sites. But the agency has also issued an unprecedented number of line speed waivers that allow poultry plants to run at higher speeds with fewer inspectors. In April, the department granted 15 poultry plants the waivers, which according to the Federal Register, means they have to keep at least one line averaging above the standard production speed. The waivers mean fewer USDA inspectors are physically inspecting carcasses. Workers stand close together on a poultry processing line as shown in this photo from a U.S. Government Accountability Office report. Proponents argue the companies still have to implement other safety checks, like taking microbial swabs of carcasses to look for contaminants like salmonella. But to critics like Corbo, the strain on meatpacking inspections could undercut safety. Youve got these inspectors going into these plants. They may be sick or their attention may be diverted because of the pandemic, Corbo said. There may be issues that surface there where theyre not fully concentrating on their food safety task. Feedback loop broken Another weak link in the food safety chain involves doctors, patients and health departments. Typically, outbreak investigations start at the local level, when a sick patient visits a doctor and a stool sample is taken. Those samples are then collected through a series of commercial and public health laboratories before being uploaded into the PulseNet database. But hospitals and health departments are understandably focused on COVID-19, said William Marler, an attorney with Marler Clark in Seattle who specializes in food safety. If a kid gets acute kidney failure caused by E. coli, normally there would be a health worker there interviewing them to find out the common denominator for their illness, Marler said. Are they able to do that? I think the answer is probably not. There are additional signs such shortfalls may be occurring. On a national call with consumer groups last week, CDC officials said several state health departments reported trouble keeping up with stool sample testing and asked for federal support. One state, which was not identified by the CDC, requested further help with interviewing patients to determine what they ate. Janet Hamilton, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists says her organization has also been holding weekly COVID-19 calls with health officials from across the country. Shocking and disheartening: OSHA faces criticism for failing to protect workers amid the coronavirus Asked about whether state health departments were struggling to keep up with foodborne illness responsibilities, Hamilton did not offer specifics but said such agencies were being crunched by years of budget cuts even before coronavirus. Of course, protecting the nations food supply is critical, Hamilton said, but what we need is consistent, dedicated funding to support our public health infrastructure, to ensure were ready to respond to foodborne illnesses, as well as any other kind of outbreak. Many experts said they believe the drop-off in sampling may be caused by Americans choosing to stay home rather than seek treatment and testing for stomach problems. Theres no question that people who have called us over the last couple of months, have gone, I dont really want to go to the doctor because of COVID, Marler said. Clearly some of the mild cases of foodborne illness are not going to get caught. Marler added that there may also be changes to risk factors for foodborne illness, with less eating out at restaurants and more people eating out at home. But he said we probably wont not have all the answers until after the pandemic has subsided. Its going to be an interesting time after all this is over, he said, to sort of do an analysis of the whole food safety system and what impact COVID did or did not have. Contributing: Sky Chadde, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: Food inspections, citations and recalls cut amid pandemic The Big Move In Silver May Be Right Now For many years now, metals traders and enthusiasts have been patiently waiting for the move in Silver that we feel its eventually going to happen. There is almost a ritual process in the metals market that takes place when a crisis happens. Weve written about this in a past article and weve highlighted how we believe Silver is one of the absolute best opportunities if/once it breaks out. It goes something like this A. Silver is often an overlooked little cousin to other precious metals like Gold and Platinum. Many traders would rather trade/acquire Gold vs. Silver. B. When a crisis begins to happen, both Gold and Silver tend to collapse an initially as the shock to the markets translates into sales of precious metals to improve cash/margin requirements. C. As the crisis continues to unfold, Gold will typically begin a sustained upside price move over many months where Silver may move very little to the upside. This creates a massive peak in the Gold to Silver ratio. D. Then, suddenly Silver starts to rally upward faster than Gold and the Gold to Silver ratio begins to collapse. Gold continues to move higher throughout this process, but Silver is already rallying much stronger than Gold. This is the breakout move in Silver that we believe may be happening right now and may continue for many months or years into the future. Allow us to explain this setup in more detail. Before you continue, be sure to opt-in to our free-market trend signals before leaving this page, so you dont miss our next special report & signal! SILVER DAILY CHART First, we believe an extended FLAG formation in Silver has recently completed and we believe this price wedge type of pattern will prompt a renewed upside price trend in Silver prices over the longer-term given a number of factors that many skilled traders have failed to appreciate. Technically, a price advance from current levels to levels above $21 will prompt a big shift in thinking for Silver traders. These new highs will suggest Silver has finally broken above the previous $20 price highs and could be skyrocketing higher as it did in 2010~12. SILVER WEEKLY CHART This Weekly Silver chart shows exactly why we believe this Flag Breakout could prompt a major upside price rally in both Gold and Silver. The downside price rotation that took place after the February 2020 global COVID-19 virus event prompted a vast rethinking of value and risk. While Gold found support fairly early, suggesting skilled traders were moving away from risk and into safe-havens, Silver has stalled below $16.50 recently. We believe this second-class status for Silver is about to end in a very big way. Follow along. GOLD TO SILVER RATIO WEEKLY CHART The Flag formation setup on the Daily and Weekly Silver charts is almost like the Starting Line of an incredible upward price event. The COVID-19 price collapse did what it was supposed to do, deflate expectations related to future market valuations and shift investor consideration of Metals for a short period of time. As risks accelerated and equity trades were put at risk, metals sold off as traders liquidated metals positions to cover risk exposure in Equities or another market. Now that the risk event has taken place and metals are transitioning back towards a safe-haven solution again, a new process begins the upside advance in Gold and Silver which takes the Gold To Silver Ratio back down below 65~75. Looking back at the 2008~09 Credit Crisis and the current COVID-19 crisis event, we can see Gold is already trading at levels which are very high compared to the peak levels in 2011 (almost 4 years after the 2008 Credit Crisis). We can also see that the Gold: Silver Ratio has reached the 120 level on this chart which is incredibly nearly 41% higher than the peak levels in 2008. Comparatively, the Gold:Silver Ratio collapsed 60% from 2008 to 2011 while Gold skyrocketed from $720 to $1870 (259%). A similar move from current Gold price levels would suggest Gold could rally well above $4,500 over the next 2+ years. Now, how does this relate to Silver? In 2008, Silver was trading near $9.75 just before the peak in the Gold:Silver Ratio was reached. By 2011, Silver had reached levels above $48.25 an incredible 495% price increase. This suggests Silver could rally from current levels, near $15.75 to levels above $78 (or higher) if our analysis is correct. What are we expecting to happen next? If our research is correct, we will see an upside price move in Silver to levels above $21 to $23 over the next three to five+ weeks. At the same time, Gold will likely rally to levels near $1999~$2100. This simultaneous price rally in both Gold and Silver should prompt the Gold:Silver ratio to stay rather elevated. But the next move in Silver, above $25~$30, should push the Gold:Silver Ratio below 100 from current high levels which would collapse the RSI level showing us the longer-term price rally in Gold and Silver has confirmed. Every time the Gold:Silver Ratio collapses substantially, more than 35 to 40 RSI points after the Gold:Silver Ratio reached new high levels, this indicates a price rally in Gold and Silver is beginning. You can see how often this setup qualifies and confirms over the past 30+ years on the chart below. Weve highlighted the uptrends in Silver in GREEN. LONG-TERM HISTORICAL GOLD TO SILVER RATIO WEEKLY CHART Concluding Thoughts: We believe the current FLAG formation breakout in Silver is the beginning of a much larger upside price trend that is just beginning. Over the next few weeks and months, we believe Silver will begin an upside price advance that could last 12 to 24+ months and present an incredible opportunity for technical traders who follow price action. If you are using our free public research for your own trading decision-making and/or using it as an opportunity to find and execute successful trades, please remember you are the one ultimately making the decisions to trade based on our interpretation and free research posts. We, as technical traders, will continue to post new research articles and content that we believe is relevant to the current market setups. If you want to improve your accuracy and opportunities for success, then we urge you to visit www.TheTechnicalTraders.com to learn how you can enjoy our research and our members-only trading triggers (see the first chart in this article). If you are managing your retirement account or 401k, then we urge you to visit www.TheTechnicalInvestor.com to learn how to protect your assets and grow your wealth using our proprietary longer-term modeling systems. Our goal is to help you find and create success not to confuse you. Our researchers will generate free research on just about any topic that interests them. As technical traders, we follow price, predict future price moves, tops, bottoms, and trends, and attempt to highlight incredible setups that exist on the charts. What you do with it is up to you. Visit www.TheTechnicalTraders.com/FreeResearch/ to review all of our detailed free research posts. In closing, we would like to suggest that the next 5+ years are going to be incredible opportunities for skilled traders. Remember, weve already mapped out price trends 10+ years into the future that we expect based on our advanced predictive modeling tools. If our analysis is correct, skilled traders will be able to make a small fortune trading these trends and Metals will skyrocket. The only way youll know which trades to take or not is to become a member. Chris Vermeulen www.TheTechnicalTraders.com Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better. His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility. He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect. Chris Vermeulen Archive 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. COVID -19 patients who are on the run and fail to submit themselves for isolation are capable of truncating Nigerias efforts to curtail the spread of the deadly virus, medical experts have said. As of May 10, there are 4,399 coronavirus cases in the country, with 778 discharged and 143 dead. Several reports from across the country reveal how positive COVID-19 patients avoid being treated at the designated isolation centres and how some patients break out from the centres after being admitted. In Lagos, for instance, many of the patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 are not at the isolation centres because they are on the run, according to Akin Abayomi, the Commissioner for Health. Laz Ude Eze, a public health physician, said such an act poses a lot of health implications to the patients themselves and the larger society. The implication of the escape of persons with confirmed Covid-19 is that they will transmit the virus to others if they mix with the general public. It may further increase the spread of the virus and sabotage the efforts to control it, Mr Eze said. Patients On The Run Last Friday, Mr Abayomi said that many individuals who had tested positive for COVID-19 in the state are fleeing their residence and not submitting themselves for treatment. Despite that the state had 1,037 active cases as of Friday, only 262 beds were occupied out of the 569 bed-capacity in the state. That meant almost 800 COVID-19 positive patients were not at the isolation facilities, possibly mixing with other residents of the state where safety measures are being violated routinely. While some patients are yet to be admitted into the facilities, the commissioner said most patients are on the run and desert their homes to avoid being admitted. There is also a situation that we experience, when we test people, sometimes they find it difficult to find them. The ambulances will go into community, people will flee their homes, and they make it difficult for us to find them, Mr Abayomi said. Lagos state commissioner of health, Prof Akin Abayomi The percentage of the admitted patients as of Friday is about 26 per cent of the total active cases. The state also recorded 176 new cases on Friday, an increase to the number of active cases. On Sunday, 81 new cases were recorded to bring the states total to 1,845. The commissioner said there is no time for health officials to hunt the people who are on the run as positive patients are expected to make themselves available in their own interest. Giving the possible reason why patients flee their homes, shut their doors and refuse to be admitted, Mr Abayomi said it could be the fear of the state of the isolation centres. Our isolation facilities really comfortable, it is not like the Ebola days, we have made a lot of improvements, Mr Abayomi said. If you look at the testimonies of people that were discharged, you will see that the food is good, the attention is good, the wards are clean. The commissioner added that the clinic staff are very professional and he has a lot of confidence in the expertise of the medical experts. He said people have nothing to worry about and if they test positive, they should not run away from the facilities so that fatalities from COVID-19 will reduce. Fear of stigmatisation John Oghenehero, a medical officer and general practitioner, told PREMIUM TIMES that the fear of stigmatisation and the fear of the unknown are part of the reasons people do not want be admitted into the isolation centres. A lot of people still do not understand how the virus is managed hence they dont want to be stigmatised. Advertisements It is common knowledge that there is currently no cure or vaccine. So people tend to be afraid or have the feeling that nothing can be done for them in these isolation centers realistically. So they may feel there is no need to go to the hospital, Mr Oghenehero said. The medical practitioner said the general belief that COVID-19 corpses are disposed by the government is another factor, because many want to be buried according to their cultural rites should they succumb to the illness. There are so many false news going round including how people are cared for in the isolation centers, the fatality of the disease and even how COVID-19 does not exist. So many misinformation out there and there are a few people who are gullible enough to believe some of these misinformation, Mr Oghenehero said. He added that there are people who believe only in alternative and traditional medicine and such people will never go to a hospital, even when they test positive. Adeolu Olusodo, a medical expert and Founder of Atayese Health Network, said patients are defaulting from the treatment because they do not believe COVID-19 is real. A lot of have the feeling that it is malaria and typhoid they are treating and calling it COVID-19. A lot of people feel the virus is not real, hence, they are not willing to submit themselves for 14 days or more for treatment. Government needs to do something, they can show videos of people in critical conditions, seeing is believing, when they see pictorial evidence, they will believe, he said. Mr Olusodo said another cause for this act is the failure of the government in having a solid database for Nigerians which makes tracking people extremely difficult. Commuters in Lagos State [Photo: France24] Even at the point of submitting samples for test, a lot of people will put wrong details, and since there is no centralised database it is easy for people to put fake addresses. If there is a centralised database for citizens, there is no need among people for their phone numbers or where they live, you can only take extra step to confirm. We are suffering from the lack of things the government should have done years back, he said. Mr Olusodo said if people believe that the virus is real and killing, they will have a different attitude. Implications of Fleeing Mr Eze, the physician, said Nigeria would record more transmission of the COVID-19 infection if more people continue to flee from being admitted. It is absolutely unacceptable for people to be escaping and endangering the lives of their families and others. Stopping Covid-19 spread involves all of us, he said. For Mr Olusudo, the major implication of people defaulting from treatment is that they will keep spreading the virus. Basically, if they are running away, they are leaving where they are to possibly where the virus has not yet reached. That way, they keep spreading the virus. He said the act is an endangerment to their own lives because they stand the risk of fatality, and also endangers the larger society. By not being managed or taking treatment for the virus, you are endangering your life because by the time the complications of the infection comes up, it may be too Late to seek for medical attention and it will lead to increase in fatality. A lot of deaths going on are as a result of COVID-19 but they are not being captured under COVID-19. Most people assume their relatives died from underlying medical conditions, not knowing that it might be the virus that has activated that medical condition that led to the death of the person, he said. A Call To Action Mr Olusudo said the situation is a call to action as the government and all stakeholders must make concerted efforts to curbing the menace. He said sensitisation on COVID-19 should be heightened across all spheres, down to the grassroots. The government should also show pictures videos of people in critical conditions, they say it is human right violations but they can blur peoples faces. Many Nigerians need this level of evidence for them to believe what we are fighting. Buttressing the importance of sensitisation, Mr Eze said many people are on the run simply because of lack of adequate knowledge about the infection. Sometimes, they may not have symptoms and dont understand why they should be taken to isolation or treatment centre. They should be educated and their fears allayed, he said. As a result of the shelling, none of the civilians was injured If you find an error, highlight the desired text and press Ctrl + Enter, to tell about it Obviously, 64-year-old McMichael still considered himself to be an authority figure. That could be why he summoned his son to join him in making a citizens arrest of a black man he thought to be a burglary suspect. It also could explain why they armed themselves with a rifle and a handgun and set out to track Arbery down as he jogged through the neighborhood. Heartbreaking photos have been released of a six-month old infant in the Bay Area, who is believed to be the first recorded case of a US child with coronavirus and a rare inflammatory condition. Baby Zara was getting ready to be discharged from Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, where she'd been getting treated for Kawasaki disease, which inflames blood vessels and causes heart failure. Images snapped by doctors show the youngster with a rash covering her arms and legs, redness in the whites of her eyes, and swollen hands and feet - all classic signs. Then, on March 16, she tested positive for COVID-19, shortly before California's shelter-in-place order went into effect. At the time, there was no reason to believe the two diseases were connected. But with nearly 100 children in New York reported to be suffering from a mysterious inflammatory syndrome in children linked to coronavirus exposure, may reveal about the effect the virus can have in children. Baby Zara, 6 months (left and right), from California, was diagnosed in early March with Kawasaki disease, a condition that causes blood vessel inflammation and can lead to heart failure. On her last day in the hospital, a test for coronavirus came back positive Doctors at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto say Zara is the first recorded case of a child with both COVID-19 and Kawasaki. Pictured: Zara with redness in the white of the eyes, a classic Kawasaki symptom According to a case report, Zara was brought into pediatric urgent care with symptoms including fever, fussiness, and a refusal to eat. She was diagnosed with a viral infection, given medication for the fever, and her mother was told to keep an eye on her symptoms. Zara came back with a full-body rash, redness in the whites of the eyes and swollen hands and feet, which are classic symptoms of Kawasaki disease. Kawasaki disease (KD) is a condition that causes inflammation in the walls of the blood vessels and affects mostly children under five years old. The inflammation can weaken or damage the coronary arteries, which supply the heart with blood. This can lead to aneurysms, heart attacks or heart failure, which is why Kawasaki disease is known as one of the leading causes of heart disease in children, according to the American Heart Association. Treatment usually comes in the form of aspirin for the fever and rash and intravenous immunoglobulin therapy - a treatment made from donated blood - to reduce the risk of coronary artery abnormalities from developing. Zara was given a test for COVID-10 just as a precaution, despite having no cough or shortness of breath. Two days later, a positive result came back. 'There was an element of surprise and we had to put our heads together with a safe plan to send her home,' Dr Veena Jones, a pediatric hospitalist at Lucille Packard, told the San Francisco Chronicle. 'We had not been expecting this.' She and her mother went into quarantine for 14 days, which they both successfully passed. After not finding any other similar cases in medical journals, they realized this was the first recorded case of a child with both COVID-19 and KD. The official case report is set to be published next month in the Journal of Hospital Pediatrics, but it has been pre-published with reports of children all around the world developing a rare inflammatory condition linked to the virus. It comes as New York heath officials investigate 93 cases and five deaths of children with a mysterious inflammatory condition linked to COVID-19. The disorder, dubbed 'Pediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome Potentially Associated with COVID-19,' can attack multiple organs, impair heart function and weaken heart arteries. According to New York's health department, the majority of kids with the syndrome had either COVID-19 or COVID-19 antibodies. 'We don't know exactly what these patients are presenting. All we know is that they look like Kawasaki disease because they have cardiac involvement,' Dr Roshni Mathew, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Lucille Packard, told The Chronicle. 'I don't think anyone knows for sure if there is a clear cut link to the virus but there is a suspicion of it.' Andhra Pradesh government has made all the arrangements to screen foreign returnees and provide medical facilities to the needy. On Monday first batch of people, returnees including from the US would be reaching back to Andhra Pradesh. Special arrangements have been made at Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, and Tirupati airport to take care of the travelers and as they will land at the airport. Administration keeping a close eye on the arrangements will send them to the dedicated quarantine centers. On Sunday Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy held a meeting with the top officials and strictly directed to make special arrangements including returnees special transport facility for the quarantine center. AP government special representative in North America Pandugayala Rathnakar said I thank Our leader of the people and chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Jagan Mohan Reddy for his efforts to bring back stranded people in the US. The condition has been alarming in the US due to which people are scared and looking towards their leader Jagan Mohan Reddy who coordinated with the central government and with his continuous efforts now successfully bringing Telugu people from the US and other countries. Also Read: Coronavirus India: Health Ministry issues revised guidelines for home isolation of patients with mild symptoms Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has taken all the measures to take care of the returnees. The administration will screen all the foreign returnees at Vishakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati airport. We have so far helped more than 700 Telugu people in the US and Canada by facilitating groceries and financial aid. On behalf of the Andhra Pradesh government representative in the US said, I urge people not to panic and stay at home as we will leave no stone unturned to bring back our people who are concerned about their safety in the US and other countries too. Today the first batch of people from the US is coming. People will reach Vishakhapatnam, Vijaywada, and Tirupathi airport. Importantly administration is ready to receive them. A strict screening will be done as chances of coronavirus infected could be more with the people returning from foreign countries. For all the latest National News, download NewsX App From China and Spain to the United States, people are gradually returning to driving their cars as countries and U.S. states re-open for business. People feel safer commuting in their own vehicles than they do using public transportation as social distancing is still on their minds despite the re-opening of economies. The uptick in commuter driving and expectations of increased road trips at the expense of flying for vacations this summer is set to support a gradual recovery of oil demand as gasoline demand has started to rise in all markets compared to the lows in late March and early April. The increased car usage may be a short-lived phenomenon until fears of using public transportation subside. Nevertheless, higher gasoline demandincluding in the United Statesis set to help oil demand regain some ground in the coming months. On the other hand, jet fuel demand is still expected to suffer the most from the pandemic, with the thousands of grounded flights and the quarantine measures that many countries have for arrivals of passengers via airplanes. Major oil firms with extensive fuel retail operations say that the use of cars is now the preferred way to travel. [P]eople are using more of their cars because they are afraid to use public transportation than before, Patrick Pouyanne, chairman and chief executive officer at Frances oil and gas supermajor Total said on the earnings call last week. At least, at the beginning of our way back to normality, we expect a decrease in the use of public transportation, an increase in personal one, Josu Jon Imaz San Miguel, CEO and Executive Director at Repsol said on the Spanish majors earnings call. In China, which has been viewed as a litmus test for analysts about what to expect when the rest of the world re-opens, rush hours and traffic jams are back in major cities, including in Wuhan, TomTom data shows. At the same time, the use of the subway in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou has plunged by 53 percent, 29 percent, and 39 percent compared to the usage before the pandemic, data compiled by BloombergNEF showed. It is likely that people will use public transport less, given subways, buses and trains have been a major if not the primary transmission vector for the virus, Cuneyt Kazokoglu, head of oil demand analysis at energy consultancy FGE, wrote in Financial Times earlier this month. Related: Trumps Corn Crisis Is Back Road transport could even benefit potentially for years to come from the crisis as higher usage of passenger cars may support gasoline demand after lockdowns are eased, Kazokoglu said. In the United States, the latest available EIA data shows gasoline demand in the week ending May 1 was 6.664 million barrels per day (bpd), up from 5.86 million bpd in the prior week, although it was still well below the 9.482 million bpd demand for the same week last year. Gas demand is expected to continue to grow, leading pump prices to continue their increase through the weekend, AAA said on Thursday, a day after the EIAs weekly report on crude and gasoline inventories. Demand has been rising for four consecutive weeks, although it was still down 32% from the equivalent week of 2019, Ed Crooks, Vice-Chair, Americas at Wood Mackenzie, said in a note on Friday. Despite signs that gasoline demand has already started to recover from the worst destruction in early April, the road to gasoline recovery will be very gradual, while jet fuel demand will likely take years to return to around pre-virus levels. The implications for energy demand are that the recovery will be gradual, and faces downside risks. Jet fuel looks like a particular weak spot. As road transport has rebounded in China, the recovery in air travel has been much more tentative, WoodMacs Crooks wrote. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Two central Pennsylvania district attorneys sent out emails Monday afternoon amending previous statements they had made regarding businesses in each of their counties reopening in defiance of Gov. Wolfs orders. Pier Hess Graf, the Lebanon County DA, and John T. Adams, the Berks County DA, sent out their press releases a couple of hours after Gov. Tom Wolf warned he could cut funding to counties and that those individuals who own businesses could be at risk of losing their health department certificate, their liquor license and their certificate of occupancy. By opening before the evidence suggests you should, youre taking undue risks with the safety of your customers, Wolf said. Graf said Monday in her letter that she believes in an individuals liberty and freedom and that individuals possess the right to decide whether to open your business or if you feel safe enough to patronize a business. Still, she noted in her letter, inherent limitations on my actions unfortunately exist," adding that our blanket refusal to criminalize a business decision leaves the individuals choice to open or not to open solely up to the individual," who could face civil consequences. Adams struck a similar tone in his release, saying that his office will not prosecute any criminal citations for alleged violations of the above-referenced orders or regulations and that his office is hereby directing law enforcement to not issue any such citations. Still, he added, we are expressly remaining silent on any issues concerning potential civil or administrative penalties that may be imposed. You can read these letters of guidance below. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo holds his daily briefing at New York Medical College during the CCP virus outbreak in Valhalla, N.Y., on May 7, 2020. (Mike Segar/Reuters) Cuomo: Parts of Upstate New York Ready to Reopen by May 15 Citing progress taming COVID-19, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that some upstate regions should be ready to restart economic activity by the end of the week. Its an exciting new phase, Cuomo said at a daily briefing in Rochester, adding, were all anxious to get back to work. We want to do it smartly, we want to do it intelligently, but we want to do it. Noting encouraging data, Cuomo said there were 161 new daily deaths due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus, which is the lowest daily death toll since March 27. He also noted a reduction in the number of both hospitalizations and intubations. So, we see all the arrows are pointing in the right direction, he said, adding that its been a crisisand a painful one. In many ways, from my point of view, were on the other side of a mountain, Cuomo added, referring to the shape of the pandemic curve, which rises as the number of daily cases grows, hits a peak, and then falls as those numbers taper off. Cuomo attributed the falling case counts to the response, which involved imposing restrictions throughout the entire state on March 22 as the New York City area emerged as a major virus hotspot. He flagged May 15 as the target date for reopening, with the caveat that the state would open when ready, which means COVID-19 numbers showing a decline in line with federal guidelines, along with a program of testing and tracing. Sounds simplelogistical nightmare, never been done before, he said, describing the process of tracing infections back to sick individuals and isolating them to prevent further spread of the deadly bug. He said three regions in upstate New York have met all criteria for opening some business activity after May 15: the Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, and the Southern Tier. Other regions could follow soon after, but Cuomo said officials will be able to pull the plug or slow down the increase of activity in the virus resurges. Cuomo outlined seven metrics regions must meet in order to reopen, including beefing up testing and ensuring minimum levels of hospital capacity: 14-day drop in hospitalizations, or fewer than 15 hospitalizations, as measured by a 3-day average, 14-day reduction in hospitalized deaths, or fewer than 5 new daily deaths, as measured by a 3-day average, fewer than 2 new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, as measured by a 3-day moving average, a threshold of 30 percent of total hospital beds available, a threshold of 30 percent of intensive care unit beds available, testing frequency of at least 30 per 1,000 residents, as measured by a 7-day average of new tests per day, 30 contact tracers per 100,000 residents Weve been doing more tests than any state in the United States of America, Cuomo said, adding that as a nation, the United States is now doing more tests per capita than any other country. But you need it in every region, he said, adding, it doesnt help the Finger Lakes if the Capital District has enough testing, you have to have enough testing and enough tracing in the Finger Lakes. Reopening would take place in four phases, Cuomo said last week, with the first businesses to restart being construction, manufacturing, parts of the supply chain that deal in wholesale, and select retail with curbside pickup. They are the most essential, with the lowest risk, he said. Last week, Cuomo signed an executive order that gives him the authority to set a new expiration date on the states lockdown, known as NY on Pause, currently set to expire on May 15. Yesterdays Executive Order extended the underlying legal authority for the Emergency Order, but did not change the text of any of the directives in NY ON PAUSE and so the expiration date of May 15 still stands until further notice, said Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, in a statement. At that time, new guidance will be issued for regions based on the metrics outlined by Governor Cuomo earlier this week, she added. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Patpicha Tanakasempipat (Reuters) Bangkok, Thailand Mon, May 11, 2020 16:30 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd745f37 2 SE Asia Thailand,Bangkok,plastic-waste,PlasticUse,plastic-bag,waste,environmental-issues,environment Free Thailand began the year with a ban on single-use plastic bags that Bangkok office worker Nicha Singhanoi hoped would cut back the waste that puts her country among the world's top five choking the oceans with plastic. Then the coronavirus pandemic forced school closures and authorities told people to stay home, and far from falling, Bangkok's plastic waste has soared 62% in volume in April, as more people opt for food and goods to be delivered to homes. "There is so much bubble wrap and product packaging, or bags and containers from food deliveries," said Nicha, 27, an avid online shopper, who said that working from home deprived her of the time to cook. Even if the pandemic eases, environmentalists fear Thailand is simply a pointer for the situation elsewhere in Southeast Asia, home to four of the world's top five plastic polluters of the ocean. The biggest is China. As much as 3,432 tons of plastic was thrown away in the Thai capital each day in April, up from last year's average of 2,115 tons, city data shows. Contaminated items, from takeaway bags to containers, bottles and cups, made up more than 80%. Thailand's experience serves as a warning for the region, said Wijarn Simachaya, president of the Thailand Environment Institute, a think tank. "The large increase is very concerning," Wijarn told Reuters. "What progress we've made on the campaign against single-use plastic has gone back to square one." Despite a smaller pile of general waste as the lockdown halted businesses, Thailand, which usually generates about 2 million tons of plastic waste annually, is likely to see a surge of 30% nationwide this year, Wijarn added. "There's a lot of plastics in one order, whether hot food bags, sauce bags, or plastic utensils that also come individually wrapped in plastic." Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa acknowledged a setback in the fight on plastic waste, but said he remained hopeful Thailand could still regain lost ground. "Don't fight many battles at a time," Varawut told Reuters. "Now it's COVID first," he added, referring to the respiratory disease caused by the virus, which brought 3,015 infections and 56 deaths in Thailand. Food delivery growth The food delivery sector is estimated to have grown 33% in just over a month to about 4.5 billion baht ($139 million), said Siwat Luangsomboon, deputy managing director of Kasikorn Research Center, a unit of the Thai bank. "Thailand was on track to slash single-use plastics by 30% this year with the bag ban, but with consumer behavior shifting towards food delivery, we may not be able to get back on that track," Siwat told Reuters. Food delivery service Line Man, owned by Japanese chat app Line Corp, has seen order numbers grow 300% from the beginning of Bangkok's lockdown in March through the end of April, a company representative told Reuters. Singapore-based Grab, another app, reported 400% growth in its food delivery business in the week after the lockdown, but said numbers later dropped to slightly above normal. Foodpanda Thailand said it saw orders grow 50% in March from February, with a rise of 10% in April on the month, while weekly transactions hit a high in the first week of May. Ocean pollution Southeast Asia has long been a major contributor to land-based plastic waste leaking into the world's oceans, say environmentalists. A region already grappling with poor waste management stands to be hit hard by the "sudden onslaught" of plastic waste from the pandemic, said the U.S.-based group Ocean Conservancy. "We expect the damage will be significant in places already vulnerable to ocean plastic pollution, like Southeast Asia," said Doug Cress, its vice president for conservation. No pandemic-related plastic waste data has yet been made available in other countries besides Thailand. Top polluter China and the Southeast Asian nations of Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, account for more than half of plastic pollution in the ocean, Ocean Conservancy said in 2015. China has not released detailed data on plastic waste caused by more home deliveries, which were up by a quarter in March and April. Its environment ministry has focused on boosting capacity to tackle soaring volumes of medical waste. Guoan International Limited (HKG:143) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 16% in the last month. Meanwhile over the last three years the stock has dropped hard. Regrettably, the share price slid 70% in that period. So it's good to see it climbing back up. While many would remain nervous, there could be further gains if the business can put its best foot forward. See our latest analysis for Guoan International Because Guoan International made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth. In the last three years, Guoan International saw its revenue grow by 25% per year, compound. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. In contrast, the share price is down 33% compound, over three years - disappointing by most standards. This could mean hype has come out of the stock because the losses are concerning investors. When we see revenue growth, paired with a falling share price, we can't help wonder if there is an opportunity for those who are willing to dig deeper. You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image). SEHK:143 Income Statement May 11th 2020 You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic. What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)? Investors should note that there's a difference between Guoan International's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price change, which we've covered above. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. We note that Guoan International's TSR, at -70% is higher than its share price return of -70%. When you consider it hasn't been paying a dividend, this data suggests shareholders have benefitted from a spin-off, or had the opportunity to acquire attractively priced shares in a discounted capital raising. Story continues A Different Perspective While the broader market lost about 8.8% in the twelve months, Guoan International shareholders did even worse, losing 27%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 9.9% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for Guoan International (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable) that you should be aware of. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on HK exchanges. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. South Australians could be enjoying a beer at their local pub as early as the start of June as coronavirus restrictions within the state are lifted ahead of other states. Premier Steven Marshall said the government was working with the Australian Hotels Association to re-open pubs by June 8, potentially having up to 50 customers at a time. On Monday, South Australia introduced a string of changes including allowing ten people to dine outdoors at restaurants and cafes. Sports training will also resume, funerals will be increased to 20 people inside and 30 outside, face to face tutorials at university and TAFE are allowed and camping and caravan parks have opened up. 'We are now working with the industry to make sure that we can return to table service at pubs, cafes and restaurants in early June,' Mr Marshall said, The Advertiser reported. South Australians could finally be allowed to have a drink at the pub by early June (pictured: people having drinks on Rundle Street in central Adelaide before coronavirus restrictions) 'There will be a slow start because, essentially, lifting the restrictions to 10 diners outdoors only will give some relief to very small businesses.' Public gatherings of up to 20 people will be allowed by June 8, but hotels and pubs are concerned that number still won't be enough. Australian Hotels Association state chief executive Ian Horne said the government should instead look to allow up to 50 people in venues - as long as they socially distance. 'If you are going to be serious about starting, to get the maximum number of people, viability has got to come at somewhere around 40 or 50-plus,' Mr Horne said. Speaking to ABC Radio, Premier Marshall said a lot of venues would remain closed if only ten customers were permitted. 'Ten outdoor seats is not going to shift the dime in terms of the economics, the restaurants, cafes and pubs have been very clear that ten, nobody would open for ten,' he said. 'That's why we're sitting down with the sector and saying 'look what is the minimum viable model to open'.' Premier Steven Marshall (pictured) said the government was working with the Australian Hotels Association to re-open pubs by June 8 As announced on Monday up to ten people can now dine outside restaurants and cafes in South Australia (pictured: cafes in Adelaide) Mr Marshall said inner-city pubs would also need a lot more diners than country pubs to ensure they could survive. 'For country pubs if we could get them to 40 people in their dining room that would be enough to get them back to being viable, whereas big inner city pubs will need more and sometimes they've got a lot more space so we'll just work through all of those issues in a logical way.' On Friday in the Northern Territory, residents will be able to enjoy a beer at the pub for the first time since COVID-19 measures were in place. From Saturday in Queensland, people can dine in at restaurants, pubs and cafes in groups no greater than ten. Western Australia will allow up to 20 people to dine inside restaurants and cafes from May 18. Up to ten people can also dine at venues in NSW on Friday. A 12-year-old boy has been found safe and well after his sister launched a desperate plea to find him. Riley Maltas, from West Yorkshire, was last seen in Morley on Saturday at around 8pm. Since then his sister launched an appeal on social media to try and get help. Riley Maltas, 12, went missing from his foster home in West Yorkshire on Saturday night Riley's family were 'extremely worried,' his sister Georgia Gudgeon-Spark wrote on Sunday On Sunday his sister Georgia Gudgeon-Spark wrote: 'He is 12-years-old and has been through a lot, we lost our mum a few months ago. 'This is not like Riley and is totally out of character, it has now been 24 hours since he was last seen. 'Someone must have seen something or know where is, our family is extremely worried sick.' In a separate post, Georgia added that she and Riley's dad were worried for him. On Monday afternoon she thanked everyone who helped find her little brother. A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: 'Riley Maltas, from Leeds, who was the subject of a missing persons appeal, has now been found safe and well. 'Our thanks, as ever, to all those who assisted in sharing the appeal and contacting us with information.' Tesla CEO Elon Musk has emerged as a champion of defying stay-home orders intended to stop the coronavirus from spreading, picking up support as well as critics on social media. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FILE -This June 22, 2012, file photo, shows an exterior view of the Tesla factory in Fremont, Calif. The parking lot was full at Tesla's California electric car factory Monday, May 11, 2020, an indication that the company was resuming production in defiance of an order from county health authorities. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File) Tesla CEO Elon Musk has emerged as a champion of defying stay-home orders intended to stop the coronavirus from spreading, picking up support as well as critics on social media. Among the supporters was President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday morning tweeted that Tesla's San Francisco Bay Area factory should be allowed to open despite local health department orders that it stay closed except for minimum basic operations. It can be done fast & safely, the president tweeted, joining many of Musk's 34 million Twitter followers who back the defiance. Among Musks biggest critics is California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who used an expletive to describe the CEO after his threats to relocate his operations to Texas or Nevada. She said the company is disregarding worker safety and bullying public officials. FILE - In this May 14, 2015, file photo, Tesla employees work on a Model S cars in the Tesla factory in Fremont, Calif. The parking lot was full at Tesla's California electric car factory Monday, May 11, 2020, an indication that the company was resuming production in defiance of an order from county health authorities. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) Tesla's factory reopened Monday with Musk practically daring local authorities to arrest him. The plant apparently continued operations on Tuesday. The company met a Monday deadline to submit a site-specific plan to protect worker safety, which the Alameda County Public Health Department is reviewing, said county spokeswoman Neetu Balram. The restart defied orders from the county health department, which has deemed the factory a nonessential business that cant fully open under virus restrictions. The department said Monday it warned the company was operating in violation of the county health order, and hoped Tesla will comply without further enforcement measures until the county approves a site-specific plan required by the state. We look forward to reviewing Teslas plan and coming to agreement on protocol and a timeline to reopen safely, the statement read. State law allows a fine of up to $1,000 a day or up to 90 days in jail for operating in violation of health orders. The plant in Fremont, a city of more than 230,000 people south of San Francisco, had been closed since March 23. It employs about 10,000 workers. Vehicles are seen parked at the Tesla car plant Monday, May 11, 2020, in Fremont, Calif. The parking lot was nearly full at Tesla's California electric car factory Monday, an indication that the company could be resuming production in defiance of an order from county health authorities. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) Public health experts have credited the stay-home orders with slowing the spread of novel coronavirus, helping hospitals handle an influx of cases. The coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. But it has killed more than 80,000 people in the U.S., with the death toll rising. Alameda County was among six San Francisco Bay Area counties that were the first in the nation to impose stay-at-home orders in mid-March. Gov. Gavin Newsom has repeatedly said that counties can impose restrictions that are more stringent than state orders. The order in the Bay Area has been extended until the end of the month, but the counties plan to allow some limited business and manufacturing starting May 18, the same day Detroit automakers plan to reopen auto assembly plants. Some auto parts plants were to restart production this week. The Detroit automakers' 150,000 U.S. workers are represented by the United Auto Workers union, which has negotiated for added safety precautions. Tesla's workers do not have a union. Musk, whose company has sued Alameda County seeking to overturn its order, threatened to move Teslas manufacturing operations and headquarters from the state. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Tesla contends in the lawsuit that Alameda County cant be more restrictive than orders from Newsom. The lawsuit says the governors coronavirus restrictions refer to federal guidelines classifying vehicle manufacturing as essential businesses that are allowed to continue operating. No agency appeared ready to enforce the order against Tesla. County sheriff;s Sgt. Ray Kelly said any enforcement would come from Fremont police. Geneva Bosques, Fremont police spokeswoman, said officers would take action at the direction of the county health officer. County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, who represents Fremont, said hes been working on the issue for weeks trying to find a way for Tesla to reopen in a way that satisfies the health officer. He said officials were moving toward allowing Tesla to restart May 18, but he suspects Musk wanted to restart stamping operations to make body parts needed to resume assembling electric vehicles. Tesla has a plan to maintain worker safety, including the wearing of gloves and masks, installing barriers between workers and maintaining social distancing. Haggerty said the company initially pushed back on checking employee temperatures before boarding a company bus to get to work. But Tesla relented, he said, and agreed to check workers. ___ Krisher reported from Detroit. AP Reporters Janie Har and Juliet Williams in San Francisco and Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report. There have been at least seven Covid-19 cases at a Co Tyrone meat processing company, it has been claimed. Trade union Unite said workers at Linden Foods outside Dungannon were "hugely concerned for their safety". Concerns around social distancing at the Granville factory were first raised six weeks ago when a number of workers refused to start their shifts. There were also walkouts at a number of meat processing plants in Co Armagh by workers worried over the same issue. In a statement yesterday Unite said it was aware of a "growing number" of clusters of Covid-19 in the meatpacking industry, and called on the Executive to urgently introduce measures to tackle the problem. Davy Kettyles, senior organiser for Unite, said that in the case of Linden Foods "we have repeatedly sought effective infection control measures to secure the health and safety of our members and called on the Health and Safety Executive on many occasions to conduct a physical inspection". He added: "As yet, they have totally failed to conduct any such inspection. "Now we understand from workers that at least seven Covid-19 cases have been confirmed at the Linden Foods site. The workers are hugely concerned for their safety. "We are also hearing of similar reports at a number of other sites. "This is hugely concerning. The absence of speedy action has led to a Covid-19 crisis in our care homes, now we are facing a similar outcome in the meatpacking sector. "In the USA more than 10,000 meat workers have tested positive for Covid-19 with at least 45 fatalities. "The situation in Brazil is reportedly even worse, but due to the absence of testing is unquantified. In the Republic we have seen outbreak control teams sent to deal with clusters, but the Northern Ireland Executive has done nothing. "Linden Foods management tell us that they are complying with the Public Health Agency guidelines but the current guidelines are clearly not adequate to protect workers. "We urgently need to see the Northern Ireland Executive establish a taskforce to tackle clusters and the enforcement of adequate infection control procedures for the entire food processing sector, in particular the meat sector." Mr Kettyles said this must include the immediate roll-out of testing for all workers and their families, with a fast turnaround on results. He added there should also be measures to stop the spread of the virus "up to and including the temporary closure of plants while testing is conducted with workers receiving full pay for the duration". The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) said that since the start of the pandemic it had been engaging with all sectors of the meat processing industry. "HSENI can confirm that inspections have been conducted in food processing facilities over the past week and the organisation will continue its programme of unannounced inspections over the coming weeks and month," a statement said. It added that HSENI continues to take the complaints raised by Unite, other unions and employees "very seriously" and "will consider the matters raised in the statement from Unite and work alongside our partners in government to provide a coordinated response". The Belfast Telegraph contacted Linden Foods, the HSENI and the Department for the Economy for a response, but none had been received by the time of going to press. However, in a statement issued at the end of March Linden Foods said it had implemented a range of measures across all its sites to provide a safe working environment. These included doubling the size of canteens, erecting new handwashing units and changing facilities, staggering breaks, carrying out temperature checks, installing screens, re-spacing work areas and increasing personal protective equipment (PPE). Mylan MYL reported adjusted earnings of 90 cents per share in the first quarter of 2020, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 88 cents. Also, the reported figure improved from the year-ago quarters 82 cents. However, quarterly revenues of $2.62 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.67 billion. Nevertheless, revenues increased 5% reportedly and 8% at constant exchange rate (CER) from the prior-year quarter. Overall volume growth in the reported quarter was favorably impacted by increased customer buying patterns and patient prescription trends resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily in the Europe segment. Mylans stock has lost 12.6% in the year so far compared with the industrys decline of 3.4%. Quarter in Detail The company posts results in three segments on a geographic basis North America, Europe and the Rest of the World. The North America segments net sales came in at $955.5 million, up 4% year over year. This increase was primarily driven by higher volumes on existing products and partially due to new product sales. The higher volumes were primarily driven by the expected growth of Yupelri and Wixela. Net sales in the Europe segment came in at $1.02 billion, up 14% year on year. This upswing primarily resulted from higher net sales of existing products, as a result of increased volumes, and partly from new product sales. In addition to the estimated impact of COVID-19, volumes increased approximately $40.0 million due to the resolution of supply disruptions encountered in the prior-year quarter. The Rest of the World segments net sales of $610.8 million were down 5% due to the unfavorable impact of foreign currency translation and the negative impact from COVID-19 in China and Japan. In addition, net sales of existing products were affected by lower pricing, primarily driven by government price cuts in Australia and Japan. Story continues Adjusted gross margin of 53% declined from the year-ago quarters 54%. 2020 Guidance Reiterated Mylan reiterated its previously-provided guidance after absorbing approximately $200 million of foreign exchange headwinds. Revenues are projected between $11.5 billion and $12.5 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate of $12.12 billion lies within this guidance. Our Take Mylans first-quarter earnings beat estimates, while sales missed the same. As with many other companies, forward buying due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent lockdown have positively impacted customer buying patterns. Wixela, the generic of GlaxoSmithKlines GSK Advair Diskus, and Yupelri, developed in collaboration with Theravance Biopharma, Inc TBPH, boosted growth. However, the impact of the outbreak is most likely to negatively impact the second-quarter results. Mylan is donating 10 million tablets of hydroxychloroquine sulfate (200mg) to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for possible use under an investigational new drug application authorized by the FDA or an Emergency Use Authorization granted by the agency. Meanwhile, the companys decision to merge with Upjohn, Pfizer's PFE off-patent branded and generic established medicines business, is also encouraging. In November 2019, Mylan and Pfizer announced the name of the new entity to be Viatris. The merger will be completed in the second half of 2020. Mylan currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone! It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market. Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020. Click here for the 6 trades >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Pfizer Inc (PFE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Mylan NV (MYL) : Free Stock Analysis Report GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Theravance Biopharma Inc (TBPH) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Pharma companies gear up for the 'new normal' as they train and align their sales forces for a paradigm shift. GSK leads the charge with staggered return-to-work, others plans yoga sessions and health care webinars for salesperson's family. Soon a medical representative (MR) wearing full protective gear would knock on a clinician's door, trying to explain the efficacies of his drug brand. Pharma companies gear up for the 'new normal' as they train and align their sales forces for a paradigm shift. British multinational firm GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK) is one of the first companies to launch its sales force in field since the coronavirus crisis broke out. Starting Friday, May 8, the company has initiated a staggered return-to-work for its field force in the 'green-zones'. This would be about 15-20 per cent of GSK's 3,500-strong field force. A company spokesperson said, "Field-based colleagues in the remaining zones and all office staff continue to work from home. "With most of our workforce being field-staff, GSK is equipping them with necessary safety and hygiene gears including personal protection equipment." Others are gearing up too. Most pharma companies have come out with their own set of protocols for the field staff, largely on similar lines. "Dr Reddy's has come out with a pretty comprehensive set of guidelines for the staff - both at field and at home. "We have circulated that among all our member companies and everyone is drafting their individual plans," said Sudarshan Jain, secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance which represents India's large pharma firms. Some of the basic guidelines include wearing masks, gloves, face-shields when interacting with external stakeholders (doctors, stockists, chemists), supplying the employee with the safety kit (at least two to three months supplies), webinars for the entire family of the employee explaining them about the safety measures, self fever check regularly. Physical visits to doctors to reduce - only one initial visit that would be followed up by virtual and tele-calls. MRs have been asked to avoid their regular laptop bags, and carry tablet phones in pouches. Companies are putting a lot of emphasis on employee well-being. In fact, DRL's guidelines insisted on 'work-life balance', no work beyond stipulated hours and also sticking to proper lunch habits. Regular counselling and yoga sessions for families of the field employees on the cards. There would be some certifications (Red Cross etc) for employees to ensure that they have clearly understood the safety guidelines. Branded mask and face shields are definitely on the cards, claim multiple companies. The human resources head of a Mumbai based firm that has significant presence in acute therapy drugs said that a sick employee is not productive. "All employees are stressed now. For more than a month now the field staff has not got their daily allowances. "Now they are raring to go and we want to make sure that they do not overdo things in enthusiasm," the person explained. The India business head of a large firm said that he did not expect the field force to be fully deployed before a few months as restrictions around meeting doctors is likely to remain. "There can be no hospital visits at all. Even the private practitioners would not be comfortable meeting MRs now. "So, things would be normal only when the patient flow to the clinics become normal," he said. The official also added that with the focus on digital tools, a certain skill-set would be necessary in the field force. This could eventually lead to some rationalisation of the field force. "As of now, not many companies are thinking of lay offs just yet. "This is because they have saved considerable budget that they would have otherwise spent in conferences and travel of staff. At first, these funds would be redeployed to create digital tools," said a senior officer. Photograph: PTI Photo An Iranian missile fired during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman struck a support vessel near its target, killing at least one sailor and wounding others amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the US. The friendly fire incident happened Sunday near the port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman, state TV reported Monday. The missile struck the Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, taking part in the exercise. State television described the missile strike as an accident, saying the Konarak had remained too close to the target. The Konarak had been putting targets out in the water for other ships to fire upon, it said. Iranian media said the Konarak had been overhauled in 2018 and was able to launch sea missiles. The Dutch-made, 47-meter (155-foot) vessel was in service since 1988 and had capacity of 40 tons. It usually carries a crew of 20 sailors. Iran regularly holds exercises in the region, which is closed to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 per cent of the world's oil passes. The US Navy's 5th Fleet, which monitors the region, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iranian media rarely report on mishaps during its exercises, signaling the severity of the incident. This incident also comes amid months of heightened tensions between Iran and the US since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 and imposed crushing sanctions on the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A quarantine official disinfects a classroom at Yeongdongil High School in Songpa-gu, Seoul, Monday. The country will reopen schools in stages, starting with high school seniors, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk By Bahk Eun-ji The Ministry of Education (MOE) ordered all kindergartens, and elementary, middle and high schools Monday to delay reopening by a week as an infection cluster stemming from a superspreader visitor to a number of nightclubs in the Itaewon area has been spreading rapidly across the country. Under the plan, high school seniors will return to school on May 20, while other grades will return to school gradually over the following weeks. "After thorough consultation with health authorities, the education ministry decided to postpone school reopening for high school seniors to ensure their safety from possible spreading in classrooms" said Vice Education Minister Park Baeg-beom during a press briefing The ministry's decision came just two days before high school seniors, who are currently taking online classes, were supposed to return to classrooms this Wednesday. Metropolitan and provincial school superintendents suggested, Monday, postponing the reopening of schools further. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11 By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend: Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov and Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin have given a start to building of a new microdistrict in Kazakhstans Turkistan region, Trend reports citing the Uzbek media. The microdistrict would make up for the consequences of a recent flood that occurred after a dam break. On May 1, after a long rainy week a section of the earthen wall forming the Uzbek Sardoba Reservoir gave way. The reservoir was completed in 2017, after seven years of construction. The reservoir, 29 meters deep, was designed to hold 922 million cubic meters of water for irrigation of the surrounding agricultural lands in Sirdaryo and Jizzakh regions. The dam break and the following flood also impacted neighboring areas in Kazakhstans Turkistan region. The Kazakh and Uzbek prime ministers inspected the flooded territories of the Kazakh Maktaaral district and visited the villages of Nurlyzhol, Orgebas and Firdausi of the Zhanazhol rural district, where they got acquainted with the ongoing work to eliminate the consequences of the flood. More than 1,300 people and 220 vehicles are involved in emergency and rescue work, the official website of the Kazakh prime minister said. At the same time, the Uzbek side has provided more than 200 specialists and about 100 fire engines, excavators, tractors, water pumps and other technical equipment. The PMs of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan met with residents of Myrzakent village, where a new micro-district will be built, sides familiarized with the plan for the construction. In total, in Myrzakent village, it is planned to build individual residential houses, a school, a kindergarten, and a first-aid point for 500 families of the villages of Zhenis, Zhanaturmys and Dostyk affected by the flood. Construction will be carried out jointly by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. "Residents of Maktaaral district of Turkestan region affected by the flood will be fully provided with new or repaired housing. Each of them will receive 100,000 tenge ($235.9) from the budget of Kazakhstan, as well as sponsorship from Kazakh entrepreneurs," the message said. Preliminary damage to agricultural producers as a result of the flood caused by the break of the Sardoba Reservoir dam was estimated by Kazakhstan, at 4.1 billion tenge ($9.5 million). In general, agricultural lands in Maktaaral region were damaged by the total area of 7,639 hectares, the message said. --- Follow author on Twitter: @seyfaddini The long-term effects of the coronavirus outbreak on our society and business landscape are yet to be determined. But one thing we know is that a big swath of American businesses is conducting a large-scale experiment with remote work (aka work from home). Many of them have also made large investments in infrastructure to support it; one company bought 20,000 laptops for their employees, for example. The coronavirus shutdown will create new capabilities for remote work within firms large and small, and produce a treasure trove of findings about what works well and what doesnt.It seems very likely that the result of this current period will be an increased shift to remote work. For those who were already working remotely, its hard to see how coronavirus would push them back to office-based work. Companies have been looking to reduce the cost associated with their office footprint for years, with work from home solutions as part of that. The new capabilities and experiences gained through the coronavirus shutdown will allow companies to feel confident in expanding remote work. At the same time, many workers may have discovered that they prefer working from home.The nature of this new world is not yet clear, but based on what weve already seen in existing remote work, there are some things that we can anticipate. The first is that work will be less tied to particular geographies. On one hand, this would allow local firms to hire workers without them needing to move to Indianapolis. Not everyone wants to live here, and this will allow firms to tap into that particular labor pool. On the other, it allows people in Indianapolis who otherwise might have been forced to move in order to advance their career. Both of these allow the worker more choice in where to live, which reinforces the need for us to continue increasing the attractiveness of the Indianapolis region as a place top talent wants to live.Remote work itself presents a new set of challenges for talent development and individual career path management. At the dawn of the internet, people predicted it would lead to a mass decentralization of jobs as people could move to the country and continue to commute virtually. That didnt happen. Instead, the value of location, particularly in the heart of major American cities, became more important than before. Thats because knowledge doesnt just diffuse online, but through face-to-face contacts. This is how people hear the latest news, trends, and gossip. This is how they hear about new jobs opening up, and meet the connections that ensure someone actually gives their resume a look.While remote work can initially be exhilarating, those workers who find themselves cut off from these networks can suffer in their career long term. Its also the case that without real social interaction with colleagues, it will be harder to keep employees engaged over the longer term. This will especially come into play as ordinary turnover changes over the employees peer and supervisors group. Its one thing to start working remotely when your colleagues are people you formerly worked with in-person everyday. Its quite another when its a group of people you dont have pre-existing personal relationships with. For work-from-home arrangements that are still local to the physical office, in-person events and office days can help, but this is much harder when working remote over long distances.Indianapolis is a city that is ideally placed to be in the vanguard of urban regions that create the environment in which remote workers can thrive. Thats because our city has very strong social infrastructure. Its place where a newcomer can move and make an impact fast. Its a place where those newcomers can make friends, unlike other cities where if you didnt go to high school you are basically out of luck. Its a city where people are very ready to help someone else out.We see this in programs like the Indy Chambers Two Degrees program, that is helping mid-career workers, including remote workers, make personal connections that can help them continue to advance. Indyfluence, the regions marquee summer intern event, is being reconfigured to a virtual program this year, and that will also create new capabilities to engage young workers remotely both with each other and with our region. Groups like IndyHub are also making sure theres good connectivity among young professionals.More and more, there will need to be structured events and programs like these that remote workers (and employers) can tap into to ensure that they are continuing to build their face-to-face networks. This is important both for social belonging and long-term professional success. Indianapolis, with its strong mix of openness yet with strong social connectivity, is poised to be a leader in the new post-coronavirus world.Governing Indonesia's government on Sunday condemned what it called the ''inhuman'' treatment of its nationals by a Chinese fishing company that allegedly kept Indonesian fishermen as virtual slaves, leading to the deaths of at least three of them. Courtesy of Korean Federation for Environmental Movements. Yonhap Indonesia's government on Sunday condemned what it called the ''inhuman'' treatment of its nationals by a Chinese fishing company that allegedly kept Indonesian fishermen as virtual slaves, leading to the deaths of at least three of them. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a video conference from the capital, Jakarta, that 49 Indonesian fishermen, ranging from 19 to 24 years old, were forced to work an average of over 18 hours a day on at least four Chinese fishing boats. Marsudi said some of the fishermen were either not paid at all or did not receive the amount they had agreed to. The tireless work and poor conditions on the ship caused illnesses among the crew members, killing at least three Indonesians, whose bodies were cast overboard into the Pacific Ocean, she said. ''We condemn the inhuman treatment against our crew members working at the Chinese fishing company,'' Marsudi said. ''Based on the information from the crews, the company has violated human rights.'' Marsudi said almost all of the fishermen were repatriated to Indonesia from four Chinese fishing vessels after undergoing a mandatory coronavirus quarantine at a hotel in the South Korean city of Busan, where their boats were docked after 13 months at sea. The move came after videos released by local media in South Korea drew a public outcry. On May 5, an unidentified Indonesian fisherman told the South Korean television station MBC about the unfair treatment the crew members received while working on the Chinese boats. The station also aired a video that showed the dead body of another Indonesian fisherman being thrown overboard one of the vessels. Two other Indonesian fishermen who had previously died were also cast overboard, the fisherman said, adding that some crew members were sick for over a month but received no medical care. The crew members received less than $300 for a full year's work as opposed to the $300 per month that their contract had called for, according to a group of Indonesian lawyers who represented 14 of the 49 fishermen. Marsudi said the Chinese government has paid special attention to the case and authorities from the two countries will set up a joint investigation into the allegations against the Chinese fishing company. ''We will ensure that the company has to fulfill our crews' rights,'' she said. As the result of an Associated Press investigation in 2015, about 4,000 foreign fishermen, mostly from Myanmar, were rescued and freed after being stranded on several remote eastern Indonesian islands, including some found to have been enslaved for years. The treatment of both the Myanmar and Indonesian fishermen falls under the U.S. government's definition of slavery, which includes forcing people to keep working even if they had signed up for the jobs, or trafficking them into situations where they are exploited. (AP) New Delhi, May 11 : Hospitality is one of the worst hit industries due to the Coronavirus crisis. With no relief package offered by the government to ease the burden out, big chains might withstand the onslaught, boutique properties have an uphill task. IANSlife spoke to Ms Shoba Mohan, founder of RARE India for her opinion on the current situation and an expert outlook on the times to come. RARE India is an advocate of small, private, concept hotels which continues to celebrate a community of small, private and intimate non-hotels. Do you agree that hospitality is one of the hardest hit sectors of the COVID-19 crisis? Mohan: There is no denying the fact that tourism is one of the first and the major casualties following the Covid-19 pandemic. The lockdown has limited access and has held people within their homes and their own countries. Image Source: IANS News The following months might be tough for the industry with no definite vision of a recovery. We are all in the wait and watch mode. The amazing surge in knowledge sessions on zoom and chats has ensured an engagement like never before. While on the reset it is time to rethink our businesses and bring Sustainability and responsible tourism into focus to run travel as a business that places the planet and the community before profits. What is the negative impact to hospitality, starting around March 15, 2020 through June, and even longer if the situation prevails? Mohan: In terms of financial value, if the next full fledges season revives by Oct of 2020, we could be looking at losses on the current books for the inbound to be close to 20-25 percent. The Domestic and the outbound, the summers which are their key months are completely wiped out so you the loses can be upwards of 40 percent. Since the impact to the traveller is yet to be gauged and how they will behave post the lockdown is not an easy answer. There will be real fear for health and hygiene, confidence levels are very low and we may see this last till over January. Image Source: IANS News How will the tourism sector get impacted this year if countries worldwide continue to seal borders and air travel remains suspended? Mohan: The tourism sector might experience a huge shift post Covid-19 in terms of both policy as well as operational practices. We can expect to witness a reinvented version of travel, not to imply that the morning after the lockdown people would wake up transformed but one can assume that changes might be inculcated steadily into practice. Domestic travel might be the first to begin that should eventually be followed by international travel so building an awareness around domestic travel and popularizing it especially through social media could be a widely adopted practice. We can also expect health and hygiene practices to scale up across the sector. With a focus on the environment, will green properties which focus on sustainability have an edge in the 'new normal' world of travel? Mohan: Most certainly, as one of the key factors for the RARE hotels which work towards being a sustainable hotel and destination is to retain the integrity of the destination by maintaining its green covers, many times you will see that trees are not cut during construction, and the architecture and design always keeps preservation in perspective. To be energy efficient hotels, retreats and lodges keep the ratio of land to keys generous and usually stick to 10-15 rooms or cottages is vast acreage. Any 'green' hotel worth its name will have best practises for safe and hygienic garbage disposal, water conservation, train the community and optimise hygiene protocol. Also being non-tourist destination hotels they tend to be pristine and in and around green zones. -- Syndicated from IANS The 12th plenum of Vietnams 12th-tenure Party Central Committee opened in Hanoi on Monday morning under the chair of Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong. The opening session was presided over by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, according to the Vietnam News Agency. During the three-day plenum, the delegates will discuss and make decisions on such issues as the 13th Party Central Committee personnel, orientations for the election of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and provincial Peoples Councils at all levels for 2021-2026, and assignment of delegates to the 13th National Party Congress, among others. Vietnamese Party Chief and State President Nguyen Phu Trong greets delegates before the opening session of the 12th plenum of the 12th-tenure Party Central Committee in Hanoi, May 11, 2020. Photo: Vietnam News Agency In his opening remarks, Party Chief and State President Trong said the meeting takes place on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Vietnams Reunification Day (April 30), and late President Ho Chi Minhs 130th birthday (May 19), and in the context of positive results in the countrys fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. He urged each member of the Party Central Committee to carry forward the revolutionary traditions of the Party and the nation as well as the sense of responsibility to complete assigned tasks. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Chris Flaherty, a career Naval officer currently assigned to the Pentagon, graduated from Paul V. Moore High School in Central Square and still calls Central New York home. He is a 2019 Presidential Leadership Scholar, and serves as board chair at Clear Path for Veterans, a nonprofit organization serving veterans in New York state and across New England. By Chris Flaherty | Special to Syracuse.com For those of us who wear or have worn the uniform, the news of today sounds all too familiar. We are again fighting an enemy we might not understand but who threatens our way of life. We again send loved ones off to battle, hopeful they will return but certain they will be forever changed. We endure daily briefings that detail the progress made while also paying tribute to those we have lost along the way. Strangers again stop anyone they see in uniform to say thank you for your service. Only today, the uniforms have changed. Today, our heroes wear scrubs, not cammies. Today, the military is not the focus of attention our medical professionals are, and rightfully so. While they continue to fight coronavirus on the front lines of our homes and neighborhoods, healthcare workers deserve our gratitude and so much more. We must prepare to serve them when this battle finally ends. It will end and we will prevail, but not after it has taken its toll. I recently read about the tragic suicide of Dr. Lorna Breen and was moved to tears but also called to action. I did not know Breen but I have friends fighting on the front lines all across the country from Baltimore to Boston, New York to Seattle, Chicago to San Antonio, as well as at home in Syracuse. I am concerned for all of them, concerns I know all too well. In my 26-year military career, I have experienced the perils of war in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. As board chair of a veteran service organization, I also have seen firsthand the invisible wounds our veterans endure long after they leave the battlefield. I have mourned the loss of dear friends who take their own lives when those scars become too much to handle. That is why the news of Breens passing affected me so much. I fear this will be what awaits more healthcare workers once their long fight finally ends if we do not act now. We must heed the warnings of our experiences so we do not relearn the lessons of our history. Medical professionals, like military personnel, typically are Type A personalities, here to serve rather than be served. In fact, too often, an unfortunate stigma exists when they do ask for help. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the medical profession had more than its share of mental health challenges. According to the most recent National Physician Burnout and Depression Report published by Medscape in January, almost two thirds of physicians confessed they would not seek professional help for mental health, while 7% preferred not to answer at all. No doubt related, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention reports the suicide rate for male physicians is 1.41 times higher than the general population, while female doctors experience a rate 2.27 times higher than their civilian counterparts. These numbers are eerily similar to those of our veterans. While healthcare workers continue to fight for us on the front lines, we, as a nation, must prepare now to welcome them home. I urge the Department of Health and Human Services to partner with the Department of Veteran Affairs to share best practices on the transition from the battlefield and put support services in place today. I call upon veteran service organizations across the country to reach out to medical professionals in their communities. Here in Syracuse, Clear Path for Veterans is ready to do just that because no one knows their struggles better than we do. If not already in place, I encourage hospitals and clinics to adopt battle buddy programs that pair healthcare workers so they can proactively share responsibility for each others physical and mental well-being. The invisible wounds of war are real, and they do not discriminate. Our veterans and their families know this all too well. They remind us that we might not be able to prevent battle fatigue, burnout or depression, but we certainly can prepare to cope with them. That work must begin today for healthcare workers so we, as communities and as a nation, are ready to support them when they return from the pandemic frontlines. That is how we can honor Dr. Breens sacrifice and the only way we can truly thank todays heroes for their service. For healthcare professionals serving on the front lines here in Central New York, visit www.clearpathforvets.com to determine how we might support your journey home. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources NY clears the way for shutdown to extend into June; Pause order remains at May 15 for now In CNY village largely untouched by coronavirus, business owners share thoughts about reopening Coronavirus in NY: 3 children have died from mysterious complication Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com A member of the Navajo Nation receives a water delivery in the town of in Thoreau, New Mexico, on June 06, 2019. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Doctors Without Borders Stand With New Mexico Tribes Against COVID-19 A team from Doctors Without Borders, an international organization that provides medical aid to communities in need, is working with Native American tribes in New Mexico to help curb the spread of COVID-19. The team of nine people is working with communities in the Navajo Nationand New Mexico after arriving in mid-April, Nico D-Auterive, a spokesperson, told The Epoch Times. The team will stay until at least June. As in several other parts of the US, we are working closely with local officials, health care providers and organizations that are directly addressing the needs of groups particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, DAuterive said in an emailed statement. Doctors Without Borders is focused on providing technical guidance to health care facilities and organizations to assist with infection prevention and control. Navajo Nation is the largest Native American tribe in the United States. She told the outlet that the organization is currently focusing on providing technical guidance to health care facilities and communities with infection prevention and control. Tribal communities across the state have been hard hit by COVID-19, the illness caused by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, which emerged from China last year. According to the New Mexico Department of Health, around 56 percent of COVID-19 cases are Native American, while they make up only around 11 percent of the states total population. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez told KOAT Action News that he is grateful to participating organizations for sending their warriors to the frontlines to this war against coronavirus. We will need additional health care professionals here on the Navajo Nation, Nez said. We dont know if this is going to be a virus that is going to stay for a while. DAuterive told the Albuquerque Journal that the nine-person team consists of physicians, nurse-midwives, logisticians, and a health promoter. Our team has been focusing on how infection prevention and control can be improved in various facilities and attempting to better understand the nuances of community and household transmission, DAuterive said. Doctors Without Borders is also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). Jean Stowell, head of MSFs COVID-19 team in the United States, said in a statement that the group has received hundreds of queries from local governments and civil society organizations across the United States asking for engagement. Based on our own experience responding to infectious disease outbreaks around the world, MSF is helping organizations and health care providers in the US adapt and apply public health guidance according to the needs and resources available in their particular communities, Stowell said. Authorities in most states are telling people to protect themselves from COVID-19 by staying home, avoiding crowds, and washing their hands often, Dr. Carrie Teicher, director of programs for MSF in the United States, said in a separate statement. This isnt possible for the millions of people in the US who are housing insecure. Where are they supposed to shower or wash their hands when public restrooms and facilities have closed? For people living in shelters or in communal housing, how are they supposed to self-isolate? she said. The organization has also worked to address pandemic needs in New York City, an outbreak hot spot. There, they partnered with local organizations seeking to reduce infections among the homeless. Measures include donating over 80 handwashing stations to places like soup kitchens, and opening a temporary shower trailer in Manhattan, offering free showers for people who lack access to such facilities, with a particular focus on the needs of societys most vulnerable. Zachary Stieber contributed to this report. Nirav Modi's extradition hearing is under way at Westminster Magistrates' Court - Eddie Mulholland India's most wanted man, who was tracked down by the Telegraph to a London flat, stole "eye watering" sums of money by claiming they were needed to buy a consignment of pearls, a court heard. Nirav Modi, 49, fled the country while suspected of perpetrating a 1.5 billion bank fraud, the largest in Indian history, on the state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB). The billionaire diamond dealer was arrested in March last year after the Telegraph traced him to an address occupying half a floor in Centre Point tower, where rent is estimated to cost 17,000-a-month, and to an office around the corner in Soho Square. An extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court heard Modi was able to swindle 1.5 billion from the bank by using insiders and threatening to kill witnesses in an international "Ponzi scheme". Modi also allegedly glued low-grade diamonds onto jewellery so they could be repackaged and sold at a higher price to con lenders, the court heard. Modi has previously protested his innocence through lawyers in court hearings in India. Currently residing at HMP Wandsworth, the 49-year-old appeared via video-link wearing a white shirt and black suit at the first of five scheduled hearings which will decide whether he is to be extradited to India. Helen Malcolm QC, for the Indian government, said the fraud had been orchestrated by fiddling MOUs (memorandums of understanding) - a loan used by businesses to import foreign goods at a cheaper rate. Modi allegedly persuaded corrupt workers within the PNB to sign off MOUs under the pretence that they were being used to pay off exporters on a consignment of pearls from Hong Kong, the court heard. But the "eye-watering" sums of money were instead distributed across other businesses in the Modi empire to pay off a backlog of earlier debt in a "Ponzi scheme of borrowing," it was said. The magnate then used several "dummy" directors as figureheads to distance himself on paperwork from the companies involved while maintaining control. Story continues Ms Malcolm said the PNB caught wind of the scheme in 2018. The court heard Modi and his brother "set out on a campaign to frighten witnesses" when the fraud was discovered. One witness was said to be "threatened with death and implication in a theft", while mobile phones belonging to a number of people were allegedly destroyed in order to get rid of evidence. The extradition hearing continues. Bay City native and once long-time Midland resident Jamison Gould has a stomach for fast starts. After six years in the Army National Guard and a long stint working in the emergency room at MidMichigan Medical Center - Midland, Gould got the itch to return to service once again. It was August 2001 and it finally felt like the right time. "Before that, the kids were little and there was so much going on, so it was just hard to make it work as a family." Gould enlisted while working full time as a registered nurse at MidMichigan Medical Center, this time serving in the Army Reserve. Two weeks after he took his oath of office, Gould watched in awe as planes hit the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and another crashed into a field on September 11. "I remember going to work that day. Everyone had questions for me and I was both horrified at what had happened, yet filled with angry anticipation about when and where I would go to help right this wrong," said Gould. With the swift response given to troops, Gould assumed he would be deployed immediately as an ICU or ER registered nurse, but that was not the case. Without the call for deployment, Gould took a sabbatical from the ER in Midland and went to anesthesia school, taking a position at another facility as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) once he had completed his schooling, as MidMichigan did not have a need at the time. It wasn't until 2008 that he was finally able to answer the call for service. Four deployments as a CRNA later, Gould can say he helped bring healing to those who were wounded in the years to come. Working January through April or May every two years from 2008 to 2014, he worked in large trauma centers for troops that had been wounded on the battlefield, patched up enough to make it through a quick flight back to the United States or somewhere stable. "I actually did more trauma anesthesia stateside at these massive trauma facilities, than any of my colleagues did overseas," said Gould. "I saw everything with these young men and women. These were people that were wounded by IEDs often just days before and missing a limb or two and sometimes all four, and we'd see them through surgery, to rehabilitation and recovery." Gould retired as a major in 2017 and also handed the torch off to his son a few years prior, who had enlisted in the Army and spent six years working as a cryptologic linguist deployed in Syria. Over the last several months, Gould says he has received quite a few requests from both the Army and anesthesia recruiters. It was the request from the State of Michigan's Chief Medical Executive that struck a chord this time, specifying that if those with any ICU, nursing management or respiratory therapy experience were available to help, hospitals in Detroit were in need. "As Chief of Anesthesia, not only do I maintain my ICU skill set, but I also help with the respiratory therapy component with ventilators and I had just completed a 16-hour training with all of the nurses in the hospital on how to hook up ventilators and get them running," Gould said. Working with his team in the Upper Peninsula, where he now resides, Gould was able to plan for coverage at the hospital he works at while he was away. With that, Gould answered the call again, this time for COVID-19 support at Henry Ford Hospital in Macomb County. Given his years of service helping severely wounded soldiers recover and rehabilitate after battle, he was ready for the magnitude he would face. "I knew I was going to see many critically ill people. What I wasn't prepared for was the intensity and severity of the patients I came across," said Gould. "And it was across the board. There were so many people in their mid-50s that should not have been as near death as they were." "It's an intriguing virus. Of course, there is the spectrum of people with pre-existing conditions like obesity, diabetes, hypertension and other conditions that were having problems. But there were also so many people that had no legitimate reason to be in as grave of condition as they were, intubated, with a pretty scary prognosis of whether or not they were going to make it." Gould served as support staff at Henry Ford Hospital in Macomb for nine days. He didn't encounter very many temporary staff helping fill in during that time. "Most everyone working at Henry Ford were existing employees," he said. "And they were absolutely exhausted, you could tell just by looking at them. So, while I was there helping care for patients, I was also helping to provide some much-needed respite for staff." He learned quite a bit in a relatively short amount of time. "The shifts were long, but they were very intense, so the time actually went by rather quickly," he said. "I learned so much being in the thick of it that I couldn't have learned as quickly from training or reading protocols." "We learned how to best quarantine and isolate patients, yet still be able to provide treatment. Just a few weeks ago we started putting patients' IV pumps in the hallway and using several IV tubing extensions to reach them," Gould explained. "That keeps you from having to constantly go in the room and adjust all the different IV medications over and over again." Gould is now back at home in the UP and has completed his quarantine period. He said he is grateful for all that he learned and can apply his knowledge if needed, should there be a surge in the UP. "Those that don't know history are destined to repeat it," Gould said. "I learned so much during my time there that I can apply here if it's ever needed. We don't have to start from zero looking at what the protocols say to do." He also left with a hefty amount of respect for all of the staff working in Detroit and other population dense areas hit hard by COVID-19. Should there be another surge next winter, he said he will absolutely go and help if needed. "That's their home. That's their immunity on the line," said Gould. "I just have so much respect for these people, they are living it day after day and they don't have a place to go back to when this is all over - that is their home. That's really something and they are the true heroes." Gould said his mindset for helping in this time of need is something that drives him each day. "It's a passage from Isiah 6:8 that stands true for me and something I take very dear to heart that says, 'Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!" "That is something I not only try to live by, but it reminds me of this time in history. It was a really moving experience," said Gould. "I consider it my fifth deployment." From a not-so-subtle display of its maritime might, while repatriating its citizens stranded in the Maldives to sending a navy ship with food and medicines to help Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles and Mauritius to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, India is responding to Chinas bid to spread its tentacles in Indian Ocean region. The Indian Navy ship, INS Jalaswa, reached Kochi on the south-west coast of India on Sunday, bringing home 698 citizens, who got stranded in the Maldives due to the travel and transport curbs enforced to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. It was escorted by the other warships of the western fleet of the Indian Navy during its voyage from Male to Kochi sending out a message to Chinas Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), which of late deployed research vessels, underwater drones as well as its 35th Task Force in the Indian Ocean. For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click here The Indian Navy warships are likely to repeat the show-of-strength during the INS Magars voyage from Male to Kochi, repatriating 200 more citizens, who were stranded in the Maldives. The INS Jalaswa and INS Magar are likely to continue what New Delhi named as Operation Samudra Setu bringing back home in the coming days more citizens from the Indian Ocean archipelago to Thoothukudi on the south-east coast of India. New Delhi also sent another Indian Navy vessel, INS Kesari, to the Maldives and four other Indian Ocean nations Mauritius, Comoros, Seychelles and Madagascar with teams of healthcare professionals, medicines and food onboard to help them respond to the COVID-19 crisis. The rendezvous between INS Jalaswa and other warships on Saturday was intended to reassert Indias naval prowess in the Indian Ocean in response to the Chinese PLA Navys move late last month to deploy its 35th Task Force in the region with the stated objective of patrolling the sea lanes to protect vessels from pirates. The task force will have altogether 690 naval personnel, with the missile destroyer Taiyan and frigate Jingzhou joining counter-piracy patrol in the Indian Ocean for the first time. New Delhi has of late been also worried over reports of China deploying a fleet of underwater drones (Unmanned Underwater Vehicles) in the Indian Ocean. The drones were launched by Chinas survey vessel Xiangyanghong-06 in December and recovered in February. The stated objective of deploying the drones was conducting scientific research, but they can also be used for military purposes like detecting and neutralizing underwater mines and helping submarines sail through. Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 10 The Chinese PLANs moves in the region prompted the Indian Navy to issue a statement on April 14, asserting its preparedness to respond to any security threat and stating that it had not lowered its guard in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis and its maritime surveillance aircraft continued scanning the Indian Ocean region for any potential threat. The Indian Navy in September 2019 spotted and chased away Chinas research vessel Shiyan 1 in the Exclusive Economic Zone of India near the Andaman and Nicobar islands. New Delhi is however aware that four or five research vessels of China can be spotted in the Indian Ocean, of course beyond the EEZ of India, at any given time. Besides, the Chinese PLAN also deployed submarines in the Indian Ocean, including Shang class Type 093 nuclear-powered ones. India has also reached out to other nations in the Indian Ocean region to help them deal with the COVID-19 crisis, in order to reassert its role as the first responder and to counter Chinas bid to push what the Chinese President Xi Jinping recently referred to as Health Silk Road initiative. Sonam Kapoor has shared a glimpse inside her chic Delhi home, where she is currently social distancing with her husband Anand Ahuja after their return from London in March. She posted photographs of them sharing candid moments on their four-poster bed and captioned it, Snapshots during quarantine for @hypebeast. While Sonam is seen wearing black-and-white striped pyjamas, Anand is dressed in a simple white kurta-pyjama. In the first picture, Sonam gazes lovingly at Anand, as he looks at something on his iPad. The second photo has her lying down and reading a book, while he sits in a chair next to the bed, busy with his iPad. Also Watch | Sonam Kapoor with husband Anand Ahuja at GQ 100 Best Dressed 2019 Sonam also shared pictures of their living room, study, kitchen and the sprawling lawn where Anand was seen exercising. Snapshots of Quarantine; @vegnonveg for @hypebeast .. #StayHomeSnaps #ShotOniPhone, her caption read. Last week, Sonam and Anand celebrated their second wedding anniversary, and she wished him with a romantic Instagram post. Sharing the first-ever picture they took together, in which she kisses him on the cheek as he sticks his tongue out, she showered praise on the vegan who could do complicated yoga positions and speak about retail and business with the same ease. I found him unbelievably cool and sexy, he still makes my heart race and grounds me at the same time. Nothing compares to you @anandahuja, your compassion, kindness, generosity and smarts are incredibly attractive but so is your moodiness and your annoying perfectionism, she wrote, adding that she was overjoyed because I get to keep you for the rest of my life. Also see: Neha Dhupia asks Angad Bedi scariest part about marrying her, he admits to checking her phone many times Anand gave Sonam the perfect anniversary present - a Nintendo Switch with her favourite games on it, including Legend of Zelda and Mario Kart. She shared a video of her gift on her Instagram stories and wrote, @anandahuja knows me too well Love you so much. Meanwhile, Sonam is helping the government in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic and has contributed to the Maharashtra chief ministers relief fund. She also lauded the governments efforts towards controlling the spread of the deadly virus. Follow @htshowbiz for more Darrin Patrick Update: The cause of Patricks death is currently under investigation, with initial reports suggesting his death appeared to be a suicide. No foul play is suspected. (The Mighty follows guidelines for responsible reporting on suicide which is why we are not sharing the method of his death.) Megachurch pastor Darrin Patrick died at age 49 on Friday, according to a statement released by Seacoast Church. Patrick was a teaching pastor at Seacoast Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, as well as the founding pastor of Journey Church in St. Louis, Missouri, where he lived. We are saddened to announce the sudden passing of Pastor Darrin Patrick, the churchs statement said. Darrin was a loved member of the Seacoast family, the teaching team, and pastoral staff and we are mourning his loss. Darrin had a gift for teaching the Word and a heart for encouraging other pastors. The statement explains that while no official cause of death has been released, his death appears to have been self-inflicted. You can read the churchs full statement here. Related: Download The Mighty app to connect in real time with people who can relate to what you're going through. In 2016, Patrick was removed from church leadership at Journey and from his role as vice-president of the Acts 29 church planting network for a historical pattern of sin and an emotional affair. After stepping back from his leadership roles, Patrick began a 26-month long restoration period before returning to ministry. In an interview with Christianity Today, he described the experience: The process was 26 months long and involved over 200 hours of professional counseling, he said in the interview. Perhaps most importantly, I met leaders whom I had hurt or wounded during my ministry. I listened to them and apologized to them specifically for things I had done to cause them pain. There was also tons of reading, reflection, and journaling as a part of the process. Story continues Though Patricks death has not yet been confirmed as suicide, he is not the only pastor to have died by suicide. In September of last year, megachurch pastor and mental health advocate Jarrid Wilson ended his life. Its common to think pastors and other authority figures dont struggle, but its important to remember pastors are real people with real struggles too. Related: '13 Reasons Why' Season 4 Available for Streaming on June 5, 2020 Since news broke, Patricks fans and loved ones have expressed their condolences and offered prayers and support for his family on social media. I hate this! God help us!weeping yet againwant to wrap my arms around my pastor brothers, hold them close, keep them safe, but I cantI cling to four words in my griefJesus is still Lord. https://t.co/TJyejy0VEV Paul David Tripp (@PaulTripp) May 8, 2020 Related: 'Chucky' Filmmaker John Lafia Dies by Suicide at 63 Lord be with the family of @darrinpatrick Lecrae (@lecrae) May 8, 2020 Im devasted. Heartbroken. We text on Monday and both our last words were Love you brother. Please pray for his wife and kids. Jesus come quickly. https://t.co/RVoeoEaSo8 Matt Carter (@_Matt_Carter) May 8, 2020 Im struggling to find words. They are frozen in my throat. Sorrow upon sorrow upon sorrow. For him. For his family. For his friends. For all who knew and loved him. Jesus, have mercy. https://t.co/ASlZzPBj6N Kay Warren (@KayWarren1) May 8, 2020 It doesnt matter who you are anyone can struggle with their mental health. If you are a pastor or Christian struggling with suicidal thoughts, youre not alone, and your struggles dont make you less of a Christian. If you are struggling, please reach out to a trusted loved one, and check out our list of suicide prevention resources. Recovery is possible, and help is available. If this news is hard for you, know you are not alone. If you need support or want to connect with people who have been there, post a Thought or Question on The Mighty with the hashtag, #CheckInWithMe. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text START to 741-741. Head here for a list of crisis centers around the world. Read more stories like this on The Mighty: New York ER Doctor Who Treated COVID-19 Patients Dies by Suicide Former Playboy Model Ashley Mattingly Dies by Suicide at 33 Talking Kitty Cat YouTuber Steve Cash Dies by Suicide at 40 Growing Up With My Mom Before She Died by Suicide The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service. Follow this story and more by signing up for national breaking news email alerts. What lies beyond the pandemic? MassForward is MassLives series examining the journey of Massachusetts small businesses through and beyond the coronavirus pandemic. ________________ Co-owner of The Canteen restaurant, Rob Anderson, took to social media to express his frustration at the 15% of people that havent been observing the social distancing guidelines at his restaurant in Provincetown. Many people who travel here are not following and will not follow the rules of social distancing unless we do something differently, Anderson said. In a post on Facebook, he outlines some of the issues he has come up against during the crisis. He does highlight that the majority of customers are being responsible and thanks those that follow the rules. We have placed two tables across our front door to act as a barrier, so no one comes into our restaurant. The tables also act as a place for us to drop off food at a distance from people so that they can then pick it up after we have stepped away, wrote Anderson. Someone attempted to climb past the table, thinking that thats how we expect people to get into our restaurant now. When we stopped her, she looked dumbfounded and asked, Then how am I supposed to get in? Anderson wrote in the post that on the same day another customer asked staff where she could sit to eat the food she ordered. After The Canteen staff told her that she couldnt eat on the premises because of the pandemic, she stood and ate her order at the take-out/barrier tables. This was after we told her not to. There were people waiting to pick up their food, said Anderson. We had to ask her repeatedly to stop. Housed in a 200-year-old building, The Canteen was started by Anderson and Loic Rossignon, who met in Provincetown in 2010. The restaurant uses fresh ingredients to create Cape Cod favorites from scratch. There was another restaurant on the cape, an ice cream shop. He documented his trouble. He had a real tough time, Anderson told MassLive. He had folks who are really not following the rules and his staff was so upset that I guess someone quit that day. The Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour in Mashpee opened Friday after the owner felt he could safely serve the public during the coronavirus outbreak. Mark Lawrence, the owner of the shop, told Boston25 News that people didnt listen to the ordering guidelines and began taking it out on his employees. So he closed. Regardless of peoples frustrations, to take it out on a teenage girl is simply wrong, Lawrence posted on the shops Facebook page. Anderson has attempted to make the 6-foot social distancing rule easy for his customers. Hes painted marks for people to stand on while they wait for their order outside the restaurant and hes asked people verbally to keep their distance from each other. 13 The Canteen Many, many, many people are not respecting a 6-foot social-distancing buffer. Weve put up signs. We say it verbally. Weve painted Xs 6 feet apart on the ground. Still, people stand close to each other. Massachusetts residents must now wear face coverings in public. Gov. Charlie Baker announced the executive order amid the coronavirus pandemic earlier this month and the order went into effect last Wednesday. In West Dennis, Kream N Kone owner Scott Eurenius found that the majority of his customers have been responsible when it comes to the new rules. People have been really good. Once in a while you get someone who doesn't care but if you ask them nicely, you need a mask on to come in here, everybody's pretty understanding, Eurenius said. Businesses on the Cape are wondering what the area will look like once it starts to open up. The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce has started a podcast to discuss these issues. Because tone matters, we have taken to the airwaves to share our thoughts and our members ideas, mixing interesting conversation with issues Cape Codders care about, said Wendy Northcross, Chamber CEO. Due to the rapidly changing business conditions caused by COVID-19, we felt compelled to launch with discussion on how we reopen Cape Cods economic and social life. Named the Policy Pod, the series is produced by the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce with the goal of highlighting policies that support Cape Cods spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship, and resiliency. In terms of the significant change in social and business life, we realize we are all in this together, and the support of the Davenport Companies is critical to the Capes future, Northcross said. Eurenius told MassLive that the only information he has had on what the reopening will look like for businesses was the executive order on face masks from Gov. Baker. We don't know whether we're going to be able to use outside seating or not, said Eurenius. We're kind of waiting for the answers. Anderson said that his business has been down 40% from previous years due to the pandemic and, as a business owner, he has to balance the need to make money to pay his staff and keep the restaurant open against the risks. He also said, however, that on May 2 the sun was out, and the Canteen actually had 10% more business than the same time in 2019. I am thrilled to be making money to keep my business open. It is my livelihood and the livelihood of my staff, who have rent or mortgages or car payments to make, who have kids and families to support, who have medicines to buy and health procedures to save up for, said Anderson. One part of me is happy we were busy today. But at the very same moment, another part of me is anxious and worried and wondering: At what cost? Where is the line between helping and hurting? How will I know when weve crossed it? MassForward is MassLive's series examining the journey of Massachusetts' small businesses through and beyond the coronavirus pandemic. Related Content: The Allahabad University's executive council has decided against changing the name of the Centre-run varsity following the renaming of the district to Prayagraj, officials said on Monday. A varsity spokesperson said the executive council could not meet because of the coronavirus lockdown. So the opinion of its 15 members was sought through email. Three members did not respond, while the remaining 12 responded in the negative and a resolution has been passed against changing the name, Shailendra Mishra told PTI. The members wanted the name retained, Mishra added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Korea is slowly easing social distancing requirements - YONHAP/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock South Korea and China have reported fresh surges in coronavirus cases in the wake of both countries easing their lockdown measures. "The nation is at risk," Park Won-soon, the mayor of the South Korean capital, Seoul, said on Monday, warning that the next few days will be critical in preventing the spread of a virus from a cluster of cases linked to several of the citys nightclubs and bars. A total of 86 new infections have been reported so far in the new outbreak as officials race to track down thousands of others who may have come into contact with a 29-year-old man who visited the venues before testing positive for Covid-19. The scare will ring alarm bells for other governments eager to loosen lockdown restrictions. South Korea has won global praise for successfully controlling the virus with its efficient test, track, treat strategy, reducing new infections to a daily trickle of single digit figures. The sudden spike in cases has raised fears of a second coronavirus wave. The authorities have tested more than 2,450 people who went to the night spots in the Itaewon neighbourhood, but officials are still trying to track about 3,000 more with the help of phone records and credit card data. Entertainment venues require customers to provide their contact details at the entrance for tracing purposes in the event of an outbreak. However, Mr Park said he believed some who were not accounted for may have given false details. The contact tracing operation has been complicated by the fact that many of the new cases have been linked to venues catering to members of the LGBT community. Homosexuality is often treated as a taboo subject in South Koreas conservative society, where LGBT people face discrimination. The new cluster has highlighted difficulties with the countrys invasive tracing methods and its disclosure of some patient information, including their recent locations, and the authorities have sought to reassure those who come forward that their privacy will be protected. Story continues The latest outbreak has been a cruel blow for Asias fourth largest economy, which was just starting to loosen work-from-home precautions and is set to reopen schools in phases from this week. This is still set to go ahead, although the government has cautioned it could be reversed if the disease spreads. On Sunday, Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, asked citizens to neither panic nor let down their guard, but he warned that the country was in a prolonged war against the virus. "It's not over until it's over," he said in a televised address. A cluster of new cases reported on in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began, is another worrying twist. After a severe 76-day lockdown, Wuhan, a city of 11 million, had only begun to return to relative normality late last month, but on Monday it announced a new cluster of five cases, all people who had been infected locally. The ability of the disease to spread undetected in such a heavily surveilled city raises concerns about the prospects for quickly returning to normality. At present, the task of epidemic prevention and control in the city is still very heavy, said the Wuhan health authority in a statement. We must resolutely contain the risk of a rebound. Over the weekend, China was also forced to impose a new lockdown on Shulan, a city of 700,000 bordering North Korea in the north-eastern province of Jilin. The new restrictions have raised suspicions about a coronavirus outbreak in the isolated hermit kingdom, which has so far denied any infections. Its claim to have zero cases was met with scepticism, and concerns that the impoverished nation would not be able to cope with a national epidemic. Xi Jinping, the Chinese President, at the weekend offered to provide support to Kim Jong-un to fight the virus. China has already sent an unspecified number of Covid-19 testing kits to its neighbour. When Michael T. Osterholm, a prominent epidemiologist, heard the White House coronavirus task force was ramping up its work this month, he was elated. Maybe now the United States would tackle the virus with the seriousness needed. Then he realized he had misheard. The task force wasnt ramping up but wrapping up. I was in shock, said Osterholm, a professor at the University of Minnesota. Were just in the second inning. The White House plan to disband the task force is in characteristic disarray, with President Donald Trump reversing course Wednesday and saying the task force would continue but change its focus. The confusion perfectly reflects the incoherence of the U.S. strategy toward COVID-19. Vice President Mike Pence had earlier said the disbanding of the task force was possible because of the tremendous progress weve made against the virus. Hmm. Its actually the virus that has made tremendous progress, eclipsing heart disease as the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. In less than two months, we have lost more Americans to the coronavirus than in the Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq wars combined. While Spain and Italy have emerged from their COVID-19 outbreaks and enjoyed significant falls in new infections, that has not happened in the United States. For five weeks, new daily infections in the United States have been stuck roughly in the 25,000 to 30,000 range, declining only a bit. Even the small decline in new cases in the United States is misleading, for its simply a result of great progress in the New York City metropolitan area. Exclude New York, and new cases in the United States are still increasing. About half of states are easing some restrictions this week. But to manage the reopening safely, we need massive levels of testing and contact tracing and one more sign of how we have bungled our COVID-19 response is that while testing has, belatedly, increased significantly, on most days the United States is testing fewer people per capita than Britain, Iceland and Portugal. Trump announced back on March 6 that anybody that wants a test can get a test. This is still not true. Nor have we compensated for testing kit shortages by embracing widespread testing of sewage to look for the virus in wastewater, as the Netherlands has done. Even in impoverished Pakistan, sewage testing has been widely used to monitor polio virus outbreaks, so the United States should be able to use sewage testing for surveillance of the coronavirus and early identification of hot spots. While the United States has poured $3 trillion into relief from the effects of COVID-19 money that will run out soon and hasnt prevented young children in 1 in 6 households from not having enough to eat the nation hasnt invested nearly enough in science and in the scientific tools, like testing, vaccines, therapies and research, to combat it. Were significantly hampered by lack of funding, said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at UCLA who studies transmission of the coronavirus by people who are asymptomatic. Bravo to those local leaders who acted early and saved many lives Im thinking of Govs. Jay Inslee of Washington, Gavin Newsom of California and Mike DeWine of Ohio but governors are now in an impossible situation. It makes sense to experiment with reopening in areas with fewer infections (perhaps using randomized controlled trials to gain a better understanding of what is safe), and epidemiologists note theres a particularly good case to be made for reopening parks and beaches if social distancing is practiced. But we still dont have the testing and contact tracing to be confident we can get the easing right or to clamp down quickly when we get it wrong. And Trump and Pence still seem oblivious. By Memorial Day weekend we will largely have this coronavirus epidemic behind us, Pence told Fox News only two weeks ago. That magical thinking seems to be shared by many politicians and investors. Lets be very clear: Theres huge uncertainty, so we need great humility in looking ahead, but most epidemiologists anticipate a long, wrenching struggle against the virus. If we have a big wave in the fall, itll make everything weve had so far seem not all that serious, said Osterholm, whose infectious disease institute recently issued an excellent and sobering report about the road ahead. But thats the reality of this. I tell people my job isnt to scare you out of your wits; its to scare you into your wits. A new Columbia University study suggests we may face a rebound in deaths by late this month because of the easing of restrictions, just as a model used by the Trump administration shows deaths increasing to 3,000 daily by June 1. This is here to stay, in all likelihood, until we have a vaccine, and a vaccine could be a year or two away, said Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Or it could be never. Lockdown is riling black and white South Africans: could this be a reset moment? It is rare for a post-authoritarian society to get two chances to reconcile. This may be just that, for white South Africans in particular. The South African government seems to have gone from an absence of data coupled to a firm but sensible strategy of lockdown to delay the pain of COVID-19, to a multitude of inputs and a seemingly cavalier attitude to the restrictions. Statistics South Africa has submitted data on how the pandemic has devastated the countrys economy. Data from the Human Sciences Research Council points to overwhelming compliance with the restrictions by citizens, while regular updates by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases show the rates of infection continue to grow unabated. Academics and NGOs have done the same, focusing primarily on the economy and poor people in particular. Many others have followed, with data or models or both. In response, government developed a five-stage, evidence-informed strategy. This approach is meant to ease the lockdown, in place since 27 March, by assessing levels and sites of risk and adjusting accordingly. Government, and President Cyril Ramaphosa in particular, initially won global praise for their response to COVID-19 and apparent reliance on science to guide them. That was then. Something has changed the government or citizens? Capriciousness It is remarkable how quickly South Africans have lost the sense of camaraderie and support for a strong leader, and begun to complain rather about crypto-fascist authoritarianism. This was exacerbated by government as it introduced a Stage 4 that was meant to be lighter than Stage 5. It came with 73,000 more soldiers to help the police manage the new 8pm-5am curfew. So far, they have beaten up, threatened and intimidated innocent people, even killing a man. Citizens were permitted a bonus of three hours of exercise between 6am and 9am, making social distancing rather challenging. On 1 May, when the relaxed restrictions kicked in, the roads were full of runners, walkers, shufflers, cyclists in their spandex, and dogs of every type. As he faced a sea of (mainly) white faces jogging on Cape Towns Promenade, Police Minister Bheki Cele threatened: I saw this thing of running, I think we will be making some form of recommendation to the National Command Council about it. He added: I saw people running in clubs, walking with their dogs and they were even swimming something that is [criminalised] in the regulations And in case anyone was in doubt about who had power, he added: we can forget about Level 3 because such terrible behaviour meant citizens did not deserve it. It is that final throw-away line that grates. This is not for citizens to earn or deserve because they behave well, it is meant to be a science-driven risk-based analysis that determines stages 1-5. But now it smacks of capriciousness, with more than a hint of pay-back. South Africans regardless of race or class picked this up as they watched Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announce the reversal of a promise of tobacco sales being allowed under Stage 4, made earlier by President Ramaphosa. Similar to Cele telling them whether they deserve stage 3 or not. Virtually all research into racial attitudes in South Africa has shown racial differentiation growing. This was most easily shown in the 2019 elections. These differences seem increasingly to be replaced by a shared hostility towards an ANC government that appears to be making rules up as they feel like it, and whose own ministers clearly feel above COVID-19 and above citizens. Throwback to an inglorious past Are citizens protected by evidence-based interventions, or are they being jerked around by mean-spirited politicians? If the country steps back, is there not something worth learning now, particularly for white South Africans? Think about it. You cant go to work or school or to the park unless government says you can. Your freedom of movement is severely limited. Youre told when youre allowed out, and you are supposed to have a permit akin to a dompas (dumb pass), to prove youre legally out. (The dompas was the demeaning identity document all black people were required to carry during apartheid rule, which controlled their movements.) And the troops and police are there to ensure you obey, or beat the hell out of you. Your behaviours are deemed foreign, not normal. You can only enter certain shops, and only after you are sanitised (because you may be dirty or a vector of disease) and you cant buy alcohol or cigarettes. And other than a small handful, your work is not essential and government will decide for you if you can work or not. White South Africans right now have a rather comfortable, tiny insight into what life under apartheid was like. It can be a powerful moment to empathise with what it was like to be black under apartheid and this time, blacks and whites are all being treated the same. They are all irritated by a government that seems bent on exercising power in small, nasty ways. Thats why this can be a great moment, because black and white South Africans really are all in this together, and they all increasingly dislike their government together. If white people can stop acting as if they are individually and personally being attacked, and understand the shared nature of both unhappiness and anger, there is real potential for some (much delayed) healing. As the global economy tanks, whites with retirement policies and shares and businesses are being hit in the pocket. Society and the economy, they are told, are never going back to normal they have to reset in different, as yet unknown ways. Can they? Never waste a good crisis If South Africa has to reset, can its people consciously and together treat this as the real miracle moment? A lot of good work has been done since apartheid, which advantaged the white minority to the detriment of the black majority, ended in 1994. Millions of people now have clean water, water-borne sewerage, electricity, tarred roads, street lights and the like. Quite a few more have tertiary education, and some have wealth. According to most studies, reconciliation has not fared well. Racism, racial redress and patronage have made short work of the noble goals of the early 1990s. We should see the last 26 years as South Africans infrastructural investment for the real new South Africa to be able to emerge. If we assume that the society matters more than simply repeating its the economy, stupid!, now is the chance to be different, and to reset to a new social reality. Wealth has been destroyed by COVID-19, and it has laid bare the lines of inequality for all to see. So, talk of a wealth tax sounds rational, not punitive, in the post-COVID-19 context. South Africans can come out of lockdown as a more empathetic and united people even if united in irritation or anger at a capricious government that seems to regard evidence-based decision-making as meaning regulations chop and change according to ministerial whim. Can they use this moment to look beyond race and see a shared humanity? It is rare that any post-authoritarian society gets two chances to reconcile. This may be just that, for white South Africans in particular. David Everatt, Professor, University of the Witwatersrand. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. KABUL -- Afghan security forces say they have captured three senior members of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group's South Asia branch -- including the group's regional leader for South Asia, Abu Omar Khorasani. Afghanistan's Interior Ministry announced on May 11 that Khorasani was arrested during a recent operation in Kabul. In a joint statement, Afghanistan's General Directorate of National Security (NDS) and the Interior Ministry said security forces also arrested the extremist group's spy chief and its public relations chief. The statement did not specify the date of their arrests. But a private Afghan television channel, ToloNews, quoted an unnamed NDS official as saying all three were captured after information about their whereabouts was provided by four previously detained IS militants. The South Asia wing of IS is mainly focused on Afghanistan and has carried out a series of high-profile terrorist attacks. Several leaders of the branch also have been captured in recent months. Afghan security forces on May 6 killed five IS militants and arrested eight others during a raid in the Shakar Dara district on the north side of Kabul. Afghan authorities say those detained on May 6 included members of a Kabul cell grouping together IS militants and fighters from the Haqqani network, an offshoot of the Taliban. The NDS attributes several recent terrorist attacks in Kabul to the group, including a March 25 assault on a Sikh temple that killed at least 25 worshippers. On April 4, Afghan security forces in Kandahar captured the leader of the Khorasan branch of IS in Afghanistan, Abdullah Orakzai, along with several other militants. With additional reporting by Reuters and ToloNews By IANS NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry on Monday denied any religion-based mapping of Covid-19 patients and termed any news in this regard "baseless, incorrect and irresponsible". Responding to a query on several media reports indicating religion-based mapping of Covid-19 patients, Joint Secretary, Health, Lav Agarwal said: "Any news which says this (religion-based mapping) is incorrect. It is very irresponsible news; the Supreme Court has already said that no fake news should be published, and news should be published after checking facts. We (through the news) should not spread fear. We should fight this disease with unity. I request that nobody should encourage non-factual news." Agarwal insisted that the spread of Covid-19 has nothing to do with race, religion and area, and instead the viral infection spreads when people do not follow dos and don'ts and also do not take requisite precautions to protect them against the disease. "It is important for us through the media to talk to everybody and explain to them what dos and don'ts they have to follow," he added. He insisted on fighting the stigma associated with coronavirus. "People having Covid-19 symptoms should come forward to report so that they don't spread infection to their family members and others," added Agarwal. According to the Health Ministry, 4,213 new coronavirus cases and 97 deaths were reported in the last 24 hrs till Monday 8 a.m., which takes total cases in the country to 67,152 and death toll to 2,206. The Health Ministry said that as per ICMR review from lab surveillance data, in initial cases for RT-PCR positive results, patients turned negative after 10 days. "Recent studies have also shown that viral load peaks in the pre-symptomatic period (2 days before symptoms) and goes down over the next 7 days," said the Health Ministry on the Centre's revised discharge policy. Saudi Arabias energy ministry has reportedly directed Aramco, the national oil company, to further cut its crude oil production for June by an extra 1 million barrels per day voluntarily. The latest directive for output cut will be on top of the recently committed reduction by the Saudi Kingdom under the OPEC+ deal. On April 12, OPEC and allies agreed to a historic 9.7 million barrel per day production cut to contribute to the efforts aimed at stabilizing the market. The deal was agreed by all participants after there was a deadlock because of Mexico not giving consent to an earlier deal which proposed a 10 million barrel per day. As per the agreement, 9.7 million barrel per day production cut will come into effect from May 1 and will continue for an initial period of two months ending June 30. For the next six months, the total adjustment agreed will be 7.7 million barrel per day output cut which will be followed by a 5.8 million barrel per day production cut for a period of 16 months. Oil production of October 2018 will be the baseline for the calculation of the adjustments except for Russia and Saudi Arabia which will follow the same baseline level of 11 million barrel per day. The agreements validity will remain until April 30, 2022, but the possible extension will be reviewed in December 2021. Read: Iran's OPEC Governor In Coma After Suffering 'severe Brain Haemorrhage' Demand shock OPEC, in its monthly market report, had said that the ramifications of COVID-19 response resulted in unprecedented worldwide oil demand shock. According to the report, the world oil demand growth forecast for 2020 has been revised lower by 6.9 million barrel per day to a historical drop of around 6.8 million barrel per day A ministry official has reportedly said that the additional cut is aimed at encouraging OPEC+ participants to comply with the production cuts and provide additional voluntary cuts. The official added that the additional cut will take the overall reduction by around 4.8 million barrels per day, from the April production level. Read: Putin-Trump Call Focuses On Coronavirus, Arms Control, Oil (With agency inputs | Image : AP) At the corner of South 6th Street and West Lincoln Avenue in South Milwaukee, artist Mauricio Ramirez answered a call: make something positive from the pandemic. "It was overwhelming with all the crazy stuff I was hearing on the news; and how the nurses and health care workers were just battling it out," Ramirez said. "I kind of just wanted to do something to uplift everyone's spirit." The 31-year-old said he spent two days and used 150 colors of paint to fill a space 15 feet high and 30 feet wide to spray paint a salute to a special group. "It's championing our nurses and our health care workers that are battling on the front lines where normally you would see a famous musician or a famous celebrity. I kind of substituted the celebrity to the people that are really important in today's lives," he said. The piece is titled "Frontline Heroes." Ramirez said he got permission from the building's owner to paint the praying health care worker on the wall which sits across the street from the Basilica of St. Josaphat. "It's almost like we're praying for all of this to be over and praying for everyone suffering at this moment," he said. Not only is it a nod to the health care industry, Ramirez who has roots in Milwaukee and Mexico, added images of flags to salute Hispanic heritage. "Location has a lot to do with it," he said of choosing the city's south side for the piece. "The community kind of dictates what, essentially, will go up on the wall and I will translate that into my artistic vision and go ahead and have a go at it." On Ramirez's Instagram account, users are asked to tag health care workers they know. The spotlight on the piece grew so much, The New York Times featured Ramirez's piece in the May 1 article, Street Art Confronts the Pandemic. "It's unbelievable," he said, "It shows that I don't want them to go unappreciated." Initial Hygiene, Irelands leading experts in hygiene, is warning the Leitrim public and businesses of the risk of the spread of bacteria via door handles. In response, the company is offering an innovative solution for businesses to counteract this type of surface contamination. It is called the HygenicTouch Door Handle. HygienicTouch is an antibacterial door handle cover that uses silver ion technology to eliminate bacteria, by working immediately to destroy any microbes deposited onto the surface by users. Its purpose is to reduce cross-contamination from one user to the next, ensuring that the handle is clean for all users. Dr Colm Moore, Area Technical Manager for Initial Hygiene said: "Door handles are a hotspot for the spread of bacteria, as a result of the amount of contact that they have from so many different people every day. "We would encourage any organisations or business to ensure they have a solution such as this in place, as part of their efforts to ensure proper hygiene among employees and customers." The company believes that washroom door handles in particular are a risk area for the spread of bacteria. A survey carried out by the company in September 2019 revealed that 49% of Irish people prefer not using soap when hand-washing, and 90% admitted to spending less than the recommended 20 seconds washing their hands. Initials hygienic door handle solution can fit any type of door handle (lever, push plate or pull handles), and can be installed in 60 seconds. It requires no alterations to the structure of the door. A teacher checks body temperature of a student at Nguyen Du Secondary School in Hanoi's Nam Tu Liem District, May 4, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh. The Health Ministry confirmed no new Covid-19 case Monday morning, marking day 25 without any infection caused by community transmission. The nations Covid-19 tally has stood at 288 since last Thursday. Of these, 241 have recovered and 47 are active patients. Among those still under treatment, 14 have tested negative at least twice and six once. Doctors are considering a lung transplant for one critical case, a 43-year-old British man who has been under treatment for more than 50 days now. He had other underlying conditions and his lungs have been badly affected. The nation has eased its social distancing restrictions and allowed a series of non-essential businesses and services to resume operations, excluding karaoke parlors and discos. All students are back in schools. More than 25,000 people returning or coming from abroad, or those who came into contact with the arrivals, are currently in quarantine, either at hospitals, centralized facilities, at home or accommodation facilities. The Covid-19 pandemic has spread to 212 countries and territories, and reported deaths have crossed 283,600. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his counterparts in four Western states on Monday asked Congress for $1 trillion in COVID-19 pandemic relief for all states and local governments. Newsom joined with the governors of Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Colorado, as well as legislative leaders from the five states, in asking the House and Senate for the aid. The governors said the funds would be critical for public health programs, law enforcement and schools. "Without federal support, states and cities will be forced to make impossible decisions like whether to fund critical public healthcare that will help us recover, or prevent layoffs of teachers, police officers, firefighters and other first responders," the letter stated. "And, without additional assistance, the very programs that will help people get back to work like job training and help for small business owners will be forced up on the chopping block." This request would be on top of the $2-trillion economic relief package approved by Congress and President Trump in March. That package provided money to many Americans, as well as hospitals, businesses, and state and local governments struggling with the pandemic. Last week, the Newsom administration announced that Californias government faces a $54.3-billion budget deficit through next summer due to a drop in tax revenue related to the coronavirus and the statewide stay-at-home order that shut down all but essential businesses. Newsoms budget team forecasts a $41.2-billion drop in tax revenue compared with their estimates from just four months ago, with state revenue from personal income taxes, sales taxes and corporate taxes the states main sources of revenue plummeting by roughly 25%. Newsom on Monday said that the state has processed approximately 4.5 million unemployment claims since mid-March, when businesses began closing their doors and laying off employees. Newsom said the state unemployment rate eventually could approach 25%. Story continues In April, Newsom and the governors of Washington and Oregon announced a regional pact to recovery from the coronavirus crisis and agreed to work together to develop a plan to lift restrictions on daily life and reopen economies along the West Coast. Nevada and Colorado later joined the pact. The governors said they planned to collectively identify clear indicators for communities to restart public life and business. Under the regional pact, the states laid out shared goals to control the virus, including protecting vulnerable populations, ensuring the states have enough equipment and hospital workers to provide adequate care, and developing a strategy to test, track and isolate cases. Newsom last week announced California's updated plans for easing the stay-at-home order and reopening businesses and workplaces in the state. Under the plan, in-restaurant dining, car washes, shopping malls and some office buildings could also be allowed to reopen in coming weeks if public health officials in a county are able to demonstrate that the spread of the coronavirus has stabilized there. County officials must prove to the state that they have adequate testing and hospital capacity and the ability to isolate people with the virus, and trace who they have contacted. Bookstores, music stores, toy stores, florists, sporting goods retailers and clothing stores were allowed to reopen for curbside service on Friday, as were the manufacturers, suppliers and logistics services that help provide goods for those businesses. Before reopening, all retail business are required to create a plan to protect employees and customers, train employees on how to limit the spread of COVID-19, have measures in place to screen for employees who may be ill and implement disinfecting and social distancing policies. Coronavirus consumed six more lives in Tamil Nadu on Monday as the state saw the biggest daily increase in infections yet at 798, taking the cumulative number of infections to 8,002. Monday was the fifth day in a row when Tamil Nadu registered positive cases in excess of 500 as it reels from a second surge in Coronavirus spread, placing pressure on the states healthcare response and ability to keep pace with the Centres plan of lockdown exit. The rise in infections was largely pushed by the jump in cases in Chennai, which recorded 538 cases in the last 24 hours, the biggest daily spike for the second in a row. The city had registered 509 cases on Sunday. Considering the rise in cases, chief minister EK Palaniswami told Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the virtual meet with all CMs that rail and air transport were best kept suspended in the state till May-end. Palaniswami also placed a request for more RT-PCR kits, the confirmatory tests used to establish a coronavirus infection. The state is continuing its strategy of aggressive, targeted testing and I request GoI to supply more number of PCR testing kits, Palaniswami wrote in a letter to Modi. Tamil Nadu had till now aligned its governance with that of the Centre on almost all issues related to Covid-19. But because of the fresh surge, the state was forced to inform the Centre of its inability to accommodate trains and air transport, a departure from the Centres method of lockdown relaxation. For many weeks, the state had managed to keep the virus in control even as Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra began witnessing periodic spikes. Tamil Nadu developed the clusters post the lockdown: the returnees from the Tablighi Jamaat conference numbering over 1,500 had to be tracked and isolated. The second cluster, the Koyambedu wholesale market, appeared on the radar on April 24. The Koyambedu cluster was originally estimated to have required tracing of over 7,000 people. The surge in cases over the last ten days is understood to be linked to the outbreak. The state government has indicated that the spike caused by the second cluster will continue through the week. Going forward, Tamil Nadu is expected to report a flattening by mid-May, when the second cluster is expected to peter out. The AIADMK governments response to the crisis has been criticised as reactionary. While the state initially focussed on correct, judicious testing and aggressive containment, it has now had to ramp up testing. At its last count, Tamil Nadu tested 11,862 samples in a day and 2,54,899 samples in total. Among highly infected states, Tamil Nadu tests a much higher number of people every day. A recently formed Fort Worth oil company is choosing to drill its first wells during a historic oil crash. Wheat Energy Partners is seeking permission from the Railroad Commission of Texas to drill four horizontal wells on four leases in Reeves County. Located in area of the Permian Basin known as the Delaware Basin, the wells target the Wolfcamp formation down to a total depth of 14,000 feet. Founded in June 2018 and financially backed by the Dallas private equity firm Stronghold Resource Partners, Wheat Energy Partners spent the last two years participating in joint ventures across the state but in October, the company registered with the Railroad Commission as an operator, giving it the authority to drill for and produce oil and natural gas anywhere in Texas. The drilling permits mark the first projects for Wheat Energy Partners under the companys own name and come as crude oil prices are trading around $20 per barrel, well below the $55 needed by most shale drillers. Founder and CEO Travis Wheat said Wheat Energy does not plan to drill immediately and under its leases, has a year or more to negotiate prices with service companies or take on partners to develop the wells. With one-mile laterals planned for the wells, Wheat said landing a good service deal means that the wells would be profitable at $25 per barrel. More Information Top 10 Drillers (April 29 through May 5) SM Energy 8 Diamondback Energy 7 ConocoPhillips 5 Pioneer Natural Resources 4 Wheat Energy Partners 4 Matador Resources 4 EOG Resources 4 WPX Energy 3 Kinder Morgan 3 Tall City Exploration 2 Source: Railroad Commission of Texas See More Collapse A lot of people are sitting on the sidelines but thats the last thing you need to do at a time like this, Wheat said. Drilling Down: British petrochemical giant Ineos plans to begin fracking in Texas Permian Basin Denver oil company SM Energy plans to drill five horizontal wells in Upton County and another three in Martin County. All eight oil wells target the Spraberry field down to a total depth of 10,500 feet. Eagle Ford Shale Houston oil giant ConocoPhillips announced last month that it is winding down hydraulic fracturing activity in the United States drilling permit filings show the company will continue to drill new wells. The company plans to drill five horizontal wells in Karnes County targeting the Eagleville field of the Eagle Ford geological formation down to a total depth of 17,500 feet. Fuel Fix: Get energy news sent directly to your inbox Haynesville Shale Houston oil company Rockcliff Energy plans to go drilling for natural gas in East Texas. The company plans to drill two horizontal gas wells in Panola County targeting the Carthage field of the Haynesville shale down to a total depth of 13,000 feet. Barnett Shale French oil major Total plans to boost the productivity of an old horizontal well with a lateral that goes under a shopping center and an industrial park inside Arlington city limits. The company is seeking permission to recomplete a horizontal well on its Flight Path lease next to the Arlington Municipal Airport. Originally drilled in 2010 by Chesapeake Energy, the well targets the Newark East field of the Barnett Shale down to a total depth of 9,000 feet. More: Read the latest oil and gas news from HoustonChronicle.com Conventionals Midland-based Three Span Oil & Gas plans to drill a vertical well on its Henderson, K.J. lease in Scurry County. The well targets the Garden City South field of the Wolfcamp formation down to a total depth of 10,000 feet. Two men are facing felony battery charges after police said they assaulted a Target employee who confronted them about refusing to wear masks inside a Van Nuys store. The fight took place at the store in the 5700 block of Sepulveda Boulevard about 10:20 a.m. May 1, said Officer Drake Madison, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. The men, who were not wearing face coverings, entered the store and were confronted by employees, he said. When the customers refused to put masks on, an employee moved to escort them out, he said. "As they approached the exit, one of the suspects suddenly and without provocation turned and punched the store employee, causing him and the suspect to fall to the floor," Madison said. While they were on the ground, a scuffle took place, and the employee's left arm was broken, Madison said. The second customer also joined in the brawl, struggling with two other Target employees as they tried to restrain him, surveillance video shows. The worker was taken to a hospital and treated for his injuries. The two suspects were arrested later that day on suspicion of felony battery, Madison said. Police identified them as Phillip Hamilton, 31, and Paul Hamilton, 29. Both were initially held in lieu of $50,000 bail but were released from custody May 5, jail records show. A spokesman for Target called the incident "unfortunate" and said in a statement that the company's top priority was the safety of its customers and employees. "Were grateful for the support of local police and well provide any information that can be helpful to their investigation," the statement said. Customers patronizing essential businesses in the city of Los Angeles have been required to wear face coverings while inside stores since April 10, when Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an order requiring their use in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Los Angeles County officials issued a similar order that took effect April 15. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2020) - Steppe Gold Limited (TSX: STGO) ("Steppe Gold" or "the Company") is extremely pleased to provide an update on ore processing at its 100% owned ATO Gold Mine in Mongolia. Further to the March 25 announcement of the commencement of ore processing, the Company announces that it has now commenced gold and silver sales. To date the Company has sold a total of 5,233 oz of gold and 1,372 oz of silver in two separate deliveries to the Central Bank of Mongolia. This has generated cash flow before stream obligations of US$8.5 million . To date the Company has mined, crushed and stacked approximately 640,000t of ore at a grade of 2.0g/t gold onto Cell 1 where leaching is currently underway. A further 100,000t of ore has been delivered to the ROM pad and is being crushed and stacked. Daily mining of ore continues from the ATO1 open cut and is currently being scaled up. The Company remains on track to produce approximately 60,000 ounces of gold in 2020 at cash costs of circa $500 per ounce from the ATO Mine. Positive cash flows from the ATO Mine will go towards studies to expand the open pit and processing facilities for the Company to increase gold production to a targeted 150,000 ounces of gold per annum. Exploration drilling results for approximately 11,000 metres of diamond core drilling targeting extensions at depth on the ATO1, ATO4 and Mungu deposits will be available in the coming months. The COVID-19 pandemic has not resulted in any material impact on Steppe Gold's operations and the Company currently does not expect it will impact its 2020 production. Preventative measures are in place to ensure the well-being of employees and contractors and no risks were noted at the end of the quarter. Management continues to monitor the situation at the site and corporate offices to prevent or minimize any effects that the pandemic may have on operational or financial reporting activities. Story continues The Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry of Mongolia noted, We would like to applaud Steppe Gold for successfully commencing gold production at the ATO Gold Mine, which will positively impact the economy during this difficult period. The Central Bank of Mongolia stated, We are happy to welcome Mongolias most recent gold producer. Steppe Gold is playing a vital role in growing our gold production and contributing to the foreign exchange reserves in Mongolia. Matthew Wood, Executive Chairman, commented, "We are delighted to commence gold sales at the ATO Gold Mine. In a very difficult business environment we have been able to reach this key milestone. We thank our team for their dedication and professionalism and all our stakeholders for their support. We are well placed to pursue our vision to be Mongolia's premier precious metals company" Bataa Tumur-Ochir, President and Chief Executive Officer of Steppe Gold, stated, "We are very pleased to have made a successful start to gold production at our ATO gold mine. We have worked very hard to prepare for a safe and productive start to our production phase and we are delighted to commence gold and silver deliveries to the Central Bank of Mongolia. We are very grateful to all our stakeholders in Mongolia for their support as we celebrate this milestone. We have now increased our mining rate and we plan to increase our gold and silver deliveries as we move out of the ramp up phase" Steppe Gold Limited Steppe Gold is Mongolia's premier precious metals company. For Further information, please contact: Matthew Wood, Executive Chairman Bataa Tumur-Ochir, CEO and President Shangri-La office, Suite 1201, Olympic street 19A, Sukhbaatar District 1, Ulaanbaatar 14241, Mongolia Tel: +976 7732 1914 Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: The above contains forward-looking statements that are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences include: changes in world commodity markets, equity markets, costs and supply of materials relevant to the mining industry, change in government and changes to regulations affecting the mining industry. Forward-looking statements in this release include, among other things, statements regarding the trading of the Common Shares and business, economic, and political conditions in Mongolia. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, results may vary, and we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/55653 Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. The railways will now run 100 'Shramik Special' trains daily to facilitate faster movement of workers, the Centre said on Monday, adding that 513 such trains have been operated since May 1 ferrying home over six lakh migrants stranded in various parts of the country amid the coronavirus lockdown. Till Monday afternoon, 363 trains have already reached their destinations, 105 trains are in transit. These 363 trains were terminated in various states such as Andhra Pradesh (1 train), Bihar (100), Himachal Pradesh (1), Jharkhand (22), Madhya Pradesh (30), Maharashtra (3), Odisha (25), Rajasthan (4), Telangana (2), Uttar Pradesh (172), West Bengal (2) and Tamil Nadu (1). These trains have ferried migrants to cities such as Tiruchchirappalli, Titlagarh, Barauni, Khandwa, Jagannathpur, Khurda Road, Prayagraj, Chhapra, Balia, Gaya, Purnia, Varanasi, Darbhanga, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Jaunpur, Hatia, Basti, Katihar, Danapur,Muzzaffarpur, Saharsa among others. From Monday, these Shramik Special trains started carrying around 1,700 passengers each instead of the earlier 1,200 to ferry as many workers home as possible. "The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Railways held a video conference on the movement of migrant labourers by Shramik Special trains today morning. "Nodal officers of the states and UTs participated...Several issues were discussed and redressed during the VC and it was emphasised that migrant labourers should be reassured that sufficient number of trains would be run for travel of all those wishing to go home," an MHA statement said. More than a hundred trains are expected to run daily for next few weeks to facilitate faster movement of stranded workers to their native places, it added. While initially, these trains had no stoppages, the railways announced on Monday that up to three stoppages in destination states will be allowed.This change was made after several state governments made the request, officials said. While the railways has not yet announced the cost incurred on the special services, officials indicate that the national transporter has spent around Rs 80 lakh per service. The government had earlier stated that the cost of the services has been shared on a 85:15 ratio with states. Since the Shramik Special train service started, Gujarat has remained one of the top originating stations followed by Kerala. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh top the list of receiving states. Earlier, the railways drew flak from opposition parties for charging for these services. In its guidelines, the railways has said the trains will ply only if they have 90 per cent occupancy and the "states should collect the ticket fare". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tension mounts in two communities in Anambra State following the alleged burning of six houses in renewed hostilities. The houses were razed on Saturday night in Allah-Onugwa in Olumbanasa, Anambra West Local Government Area of State. Allah-Onugwa and Odekpe have been at daggers drawn over land. The latest skirmish came less than three weeks after a bloody clash between both villages which reportedly left seven persons dead and about 153 houses burnt. A source told The Nation on Sunday that the attackers came from Odekpe. He said, They came near our primary school in the morning and started shouting. Read Also: Many kidnapped in Anambra communal clash Our people kept quiet, nobody confronted them. They later went back. In the evening around 5pm, they came back again. Our people went to our primary school and withstood them not knowing that they had divided themselves in groups. Some moved in from the front, some went to the back and invaded our community through the bush. They started burning the remaining houses; so our people ran away. They pursued us to the village that we ran to for safety. That was what happened. Nobody was killed. He said that throughout the period the battle lasted, policemen did not come to their village to quell the situation. Efforts to get the Odekpe perspective from a youth leader in the village, Mr Ernest Udoba, proved abortive as his cell phone was switched off. Police spokesman Mohammed Haruna said that the police command had no information about any fresh crisis between the two villages. Haruna said, All I know is that joint security forces are there and they are monitoring the situation. And we have not received any information. CEDAR FALLS Around this time last year, Iowa Rep. Dave Williams was rounding up volunteers, getting ready to make calls and knock on doors all things he should be doing right now as he faces a re-election battle in House District 60. But with the coronavirus pandemic shutting down the Iowa Legislature and restricting everything in hard-hit Black Hawk County, almost none of that is possible. And the singular issue his constituents care about is the pandemic and its effects. Its absolutely on everyones minds, Williams, a Democrat, said. If you think about urgency vs. priority, obviously right now its high in both. His Republican opponents, Colleen Tierney and Ryan Howard, are both first-time candidates dealing with the unprecedented pandemic and what it means for their campaigns as well as District 60, which covers Hudson as well as parts of Cedar Falls, Waterloo and rural Black Hawk County. In lieu of door knocking, Tierney said shes been focusing more on videos for social media and expensive campaign fliers. But she noted more people answer the phone these days and are willing to talk to her for longer, something Tierney attributed to loneliness of those stuck in their houses. Its definitely a strange year with this all going on, and this is my first campaign I know this is not the norm, Tierney said. Id rather meet people face to face, but right now that fear is there. Like Tierney, Williams said he misses door knocking, noting hes very comfortable with small groups. For the most part, hes adjusted to telephone calls and emails. It really is like night and day, he said. Were not gonna get to (door-knock), I dont think; if we do, there wont be much time. Howard said hes been doing online town hall meetings via Facebook Live and other platforms, and said hes found some success. People pay more attention to these races now, he said. Some are saying, Oh, we definitely need to have the right people in leadership. Like the other candidates, Howard said hed prefer to focus on his big issues for him, thats helping to fix the states child care shortages and enshrining stronger protections for gun owners into law. But thats not on voters minds at the moment. It almost sounds silly to ask, What is important to you now? Because coronavirus is coming out of that, Howard said. But Howard and Tierney dont have time to wait for the crisis to ease. Theyre staring down a primary less than a month away that will decide who gets to try to unseat Williams in November. Tierney said one of her fears is disenfranchisement of older residents used to voting in person, which they can still do, though additional barriers and a fear of the virus as cases continue to climb could affect turnout June 2. The mail-in ballot, it doesnt seem like its the norm for people, she said. A lot of them Ive spoken to would prefer to go in person to vote; it feels more secure. ... Itll really be interesting to see what kind of turnout were going to get. Whoever wins in November will be headed into an unprecedented legislative session on the heels of massive unemployment, possible revenue shortages and perhaps even a state continuing to deal with coronavirus. Its going to be so painful this coming year; Im not looking forward to it, Williams said. But I am looking forward to continuing to be in on the discussions. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Protests assembled in Georgia following developments in the case of Ahmaud Arbery last week: EPA A sheriffs deputy in the US state of Georgia shot and killed a man who threw stones at him, officials have said. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said in a statement that it was examining the shooting on Saturday of 47-year-old Yassin Mohamed near the town of Claxton. Deputies were called to the scene at about 1am on Saturday to reports of a man walking in the middle of a road, and an Evans County sheriffs deputy arrived to find Mr Mohamed. The GBI said that deputies had had several encounters with Mohamed over the previous 12 hours leading up to his death. When the deputy tried to make contact with Mr Mohamed, investigators say he began throwing several stones, hitting the deputy once. He then charged the deputy with a larger rock and the unnamed deputy shot him, said the GBI statement. The 47-year old was pronounced dead at the scene, and an autopsy will be conducted at the GBI crime laboratory in Pooler, Georgia. The deputy was not seriously injured during the incident. The investigation will be turned over to the district attorney for review once completed before a prosecutor decides whether to file charges against the unnamed deputy. It is the 38th officer-involved shooting that GBI has been asked to investigate so far this year. According to the GBI, another officer was referred on Sunday following a shooting in Cobb County. It came as Georgias attorney general requested a US Department of Justice investigation into the handling of the Ahmaud Arbery case, which has caused anger after the emergence of new video showing the fatal incident in February. The slaying of the 25-year-old, who was shot while out jogging, has become the focus of nationwide protests over shooting deaths of young black men. Police charged two men with murder on Saturday. On Sunday, the states attorney general said: The family, the community and the state of Georgia deserve answers, and we will work with others in law enforcement at the state and federal level to find those answers. Story continues Additional reporting by Associated Press Read more Jay-Z and Alicia Keys join calls for action over Ahmaud Arbery killing Mexico is famous for its colorful and culturally-rich celebrations of festivals and holidays, with some of it also being celebrated in different parts of the world such as the celebration of Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo is mostly celebrated in the Mexican state of Puebla to commemorate the victory of Mexican soldiers in the Battle of Puebla. The Mexican's way of celebrating their festivals and holidays are arranged in a way to capture an international crowd. When everything gets back to normal, and the coronavirus gets under control by the world, you can try to visit these festivals and celebrations of holidays in Mexico. Experience the rich and family-centered culture of Mexican by having an understanding of the following holidays and festivals celebrated by Mexicans: Mexico's Independence Day The independence day of Mexico is Diez y Seis, and it is celebrated every September 16. The date marks the day Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla inspired Mexicans to go against the Spanish rulers in 1810. According to an article, Mexicans celebrate the country's Independence Day with food, fiestas, music, ad dance. Also, most of the government offices, schools, and companies postpone work on that day to celebrate. During this time, the colors and decorations of the flag of Mexico can be observed in every corner of Mexican cities. Three Kings Day Celebration Three King's Day is also called Dia de Los Reyes Magos. This event is a family-centered event where family members give gifts to each other and eat a large meal. During this time, families will also be serving a cake called the king's loaf as the centerpiece of the table. Mexico's Christmas Season According to an article, the Christmas season in Mexico is observed from December 12 to January 6 every year. From December 16 to December 24, Mexican children can be seen portraying the event where Joseph and Mary seek for shelter. In Mexican tradition, children typically receive their gifts on Three Kings Day. However, some of the European and U.S. traditions had affected the country's celebration and influencing the date when children receive their gifts, says an article. Check these out: Day of the Dead The Day of the Dead is also known as Dia de Todos Los Santos or Dia de Muertos. This is one of the country's largest celebrations. It is the time where families come to visit the graves of their deceased loved ones to honor and respect them. This occasion is celebrated on November 2, a day after All Saints' Day is celebrated where patron saints and deceased children are honored and remembered. That means that on November 1, the deceased children in the family are honored. On the next day, November 2, the death of the older members of the family are observed. During both periods, families would bring out the photos of their deceased loved ones together with other memorabilia. Also, the entire family offers the deceased loved oned with food and prayers. A Japanese health ministry survey says the country's 47 prefectures have only secured less than half the number of hospital beds they will need for coronavirus patients when the outbreak reaches its peak. The survey says more than 31,000 beds will be needed for coronavirus patients at the peak of the outbreak, but fewer than 14,500 had been secured as of May 1. It says only 12 prefectures, including Hyogo and Tottori, have enough beds. The survey also says 91 percent of the beds for coronavirus patients in Tokyo are already occupied. The ratio in Ishikawa is 88 percent. The ministry has asked the prefectural governments to continue coordinating with medical institutions so they can secure more beds to treat the infected. The Guardian The Steelers quarterback is headed to the Hall of Fame. But he was unloved outside Pittsburgh for understandable reasons Ben Roethlisberger almost certainly played his final game in the NFL on Sunday. Photograph: Ed Zurga/AP Ben Roethlisberger is lucky that football legacies are not decided by finales. If Sunday night was indeed Big Bens last ever NFL game, as he has strongly hinted, it wasnt exactly a mic drop. In the 42-21 beatdown by the Chiefs, Roethlisberger struggled with rollouts, and l [May 11, 2020] dynaCERT Invests in the USA and Receives a Purchase Order for 3,000 HydraGEN Units TORONTO, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- dynaCERT Inc. (TSX VENTURE: DYA) (OTCQB: DYFSF) (FRA: DMJ) ("dynaCERT" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has granted to KarbonKleen Inc. (KK), dynaCERTs Preferred Service Provider, the exclusive Dealership rights in the trucking industry in the United States of America until December 31, 2024. The exclusivity granted to KK is subject to certain quotas of a minimum of 150,000 HydraGEN Technology Units over a little more than three years. On May 9, 2020, KK has provided the Company with a purchase order for 3,000 HydraGEN Technology Units as described below. Concurrent with this transaction, KK has entered into a strategic partnership with Velociti Inc. (Velociti), whereby Velociti will provide installation services for KK throughout the USA and elsewhere where Velociti operates and also to provide HydraGEN Technology Units to Velocitis existing clients. The pre-existing rights and Dealer relationships that dynaCERT has in the USA continue unrestricted and dynaCERT can continue discussions to add some qualified Dealers in the USA until the latter of November 1, 2020 or the end of USA restrictions due to COVID-19. Such dealers will continue to operate unfettered by the transactions described herein and KarbonKleens exclusivity. Pricing of dynaCERTs HydraGEN Technology in the USA is subject to dynaCERTs proprietary USA pricing list published exclusively for its Dealers from time to time and remains applicable to KK. dynaCERT is also pleased to report that it has established a 100%-owned subsidiary called dynaCERT International Strategic Holdings Inc. (DISH) to be used to support sales efforts worldwide with investments in strategically unique and exceptional CleanTech innovators directly related to dynaCERTs business, including a subscription programme of dynaCERTs HydraGEN Technology to enhance end-user adoption. In a series of related transactions with KK, DISH has agreed to provide KK with HydraGEN Technology Units until December 31, 2021 in return for subscription revenue whereby KK continues to offer on a back-to-back basis a subscription programme to outfit large Canadian and USA trucking fleets with HydraGEN Technology. DISH will be delivering dynaCERTs new 3,000 Unit purchase order from KK under the terms of this arrangement. As its first investment, DISH has agreed to invest a total of US $1,092,000 in KK in a transaction whereby the Company will own, indirectly through DISH, twenty percent (20%) of KK and a Promissory Note from KK due December 31, 2021, bearing interest of 10% per annum. The purpose of this investment by DISH is to accelerate its market penetration and sales in the USA market which both dynaCERT and KK have determined is a growing priority in North America. DISH shall have representation on the board of directors of KK for as long as DISH retains its shares of KK and DISH retains pre-emptive rights on any future financings of KK. The shareholders of KK will also enter into a shareholders agreement which provides for the manner in which shares of the Company may be voted. The Company believes that the aggregate number of shares held, or controlled or directed, by such parties represents less than 10% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company. Brian Semkiw, KarbonKleens Chairman & CEO, stated, In the past few months, some of the largest fleets in North America have been piloting HydraGEN Technology. These fleets have been experiencing the benefits of the reduced emissions, increased performance and fuel savings across all users and we expect a vibrant expansion of the pilot programmes to full fleet deployment with the subsiding of the Coronavirus pandemic. This investment by DISH and our partnership with Velociti will enable us to meet the anticipated demand with the delivery and maintenance professionalism that large fleets demand. Jean-Pierre Colin, Executive Vice President of dyaCERT, stated, Establishing a long term, razor-blade stream of recurring monthly cash flows from large fleets using dynaCERTs HydraGEN Technology provides better certainty of share value. The Strategy of setting up dynaCERT International Strategic Holdings Inc. or DISH as a finance arm of dynaCERT is beneficial to potential logistics companies and truck owners who can now finance, on a monthly basis, the roll-out of their HydraGEN Units on their entire fleets. DISH will be able to greatly reduce the up-front capital costs to end users of our products. As a subsidiary to dynaCERT, as dynaCERT experiences future growth, DISH intends to finance sales growth in such a way that is non-dilutive to dynaCERT. Jim Payne, dynaCERTs President & CEO, stated, KarbonKleen has proved their capability of connecting and selling to the largest fleets in North America. At our recent international sales meetings in February 2020, dynaCERT invited Velociti to present their unique skills and penetrating reach in the trucking industry in the USA and we were very proud to introduce them to partner with KarbonKleen. Our three-party collaboration results in an unprecedented strategic growth business engine with favourable potential in our own backyard. I feel confident that dynaCERT has found the right solution to deliver both financing and service to our dealers clients with such a professional team of high calibre people. In addition to our on-going work to verify future Carbon Credits, residual monthly cash flows from subscriptions benefits our shareholders. The transactions described herein are subject to regulatory approval, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Closing is expected to be completed upon receipt of such approval. About Velociti Inc. Based in Kansas City, MO, Velociti Inc. is a global provider of technology deployment services, offering specialized installation and services of a broad range of transportation and networking technology products in 46 countries and all 50 states. Velocitis experience allows enterprise level technology consumers to maximize ROI as a result of leveraging expert, rapid deployment. Velociti clients include many Fortune 500 companies from a wide variety of market segments including transportation, retail, distribution, manufacturing, healthcare, government, education, food service and public venues. For more information visit www.velociti.com About KarbonKleen Inc. KarbonKleen provides an end-to-end FreighTech solution to improve diesel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. Through strong partnerships and innovative technology development, coupled with proprietary service, support, and training methodologies, KarbonKleen helps its clients achieve their primary business goals through the application of technology. KarbonKleen is a Preferred Systems Provider for dynaCERT and is dedicated to the proliferation of dynaCERT technology for the benefit of its customers and the planet. Website: www.karbonkleen.com About dynaCERT Inc. dynaCERT Inc. manufactures and distributes Carbon Emission Reduction Technology for use with internal combustion engines. As part of the growing global hydrogen economy, our patented technology creates hydrogen and oxygen on-demand through a unique electrolysis system and supplies these gases through the air intake to enhance combustion, resulting in lower carbon emissions and greater fuel efficiency. Our technology is designed for use with many types and sizes of diesel engines used in on-road vehicles, reefer trailers, off-road construction, power generation, mining and forestry equipment, marine vessels and railroad locomotives. Website: www. dynaCERT .com . READER ADVISORY Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to potential investment by DISH in cleantech innovators, potential revenue from KK subscription programme, accelerating market penetration in the USA, KK intentions to roll-out 3,000 HydraGEN Technology Units, exclusivity granted on the basis of future quotas and potential expansion of pilots fleets to full fleet deployment. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance of achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: uncertainty as to whether our strategies and business plans will yield the expected benefits; availability and cost of capital; the ability to identify and develop and achieve commercial success for new products and technologies; the level of expenditures necessary to maintain and improve the quality of products and services; changes in technology and changes in laws and regulations; the uncertainty of the emerging hydrogen economy; including the hydrogen economy moving at a pace not anticipated; our ability to secure and maintain strategic relationships and distribution agreements; and the other risk factors disclosed under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking information to conform such information to actual results or to changes in our expectations except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the release. On Behalf of the Board Murray James Payne, CEO For more information, please contact: Jim Payne, CEO & President dynaCERT Inc. #101 501 Alliance Avenue Toronto, Ontario M6N 2J1 +1 (416) 766-9691 x 2 [email protected]dynaCERT.com Investor Relations dynaCERT Inc. Nancy Massicotte +1 (416) 766-9691 x 1 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] (Alliance News) - Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd is seeking to raise new funds from private investors in a bid to avoid collapse, the Times newspaper reported on Monday. The airline is set to discuss potential financing options with several private sector investors, including Cerberus Capital Management, Centerbridge Partners, Apollo Global Management and Greybull Capital. According to the newspaper, the company's financing talks include equity stake sale against potential commercial loans or other forms of credit. The airline, which is majority-owned by British businessman Richard Branson's Virgin Group, at the same time is also seeking a GBP500 million rescue package from the UK government, the Times reported. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/virgin-atlantic-seeks-investors-in-bid-to-stave-off-collapse-st5qnnzn7 Airlines around the globe have furloughed or shed thousands of staff in a bid to stay afloat, as the majority of the world's air travel remains restricted. Virgin Atlantic, on Tuesday last week, said it would shed over 3,000 jobs and move its operations from London's Gatwick airport to Heathrow, as part of measures to "reshape and resize" the business. International Consolidated Airlines SA-owned British Airways has also begun a consultation on up to 12,000 redundancies, while Irish carrier Ryanair Holdings PLC has decided to cut 3,000 jobs. By Tapan Panchal; tapanpanchal@alliancenews.com Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo has applauded mothers and all women for their significant role and influence in the family and society. Delivering a Mother's Day message on Sunday, May 10, 2020, the First Lady highlighted "the inestimable support and love mothers have always given not only to their biological children but to the human race in general". She also called on Ghanaians to reflect on the plight of mothers as the nation confronts the COVID-19 pandemic. "Whilst celebrating the contributions of mothers to the development of our society and nations, I also wish to use this opportunity to call on all stakeholders in the country and beyond to use this day as a day of reflection on the plight of mothers particularly in this period of global health crisis occasioned by the outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic," she said in a Facebook post. Read the full statement below: As the world commemorates Mothers Day today, I am pleased to join all well-wishers to wish mothers in Ghana and across the globe a Happy Mothers Day. Today is indeed a day to celebrate motherhood and the invaluable contribution of mothers in maintaining the family and in making the world a better place for us to live in. Today is also a day for recognizing the inestimable support and love mothers have always given not only to their biological children but to the human race in general. Robert Browning was spot on when he posited that, all love begins and ends with motherhood. Whilst celebrating the contributions of mothers to the development of our society and nations, I also wish to use this opportunity to call on all stakeholders in the country and beyond to use this day as a day of reflection on the plight of mothers particularly in this period of global health crisis occasioned by the outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. Even as I recognize that the government of President Akufo-Addo has, and continues to roll out several mitigating measures to ameliorate the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 protocols and in addressing the plight of mothers in general, I still believe that there is the need for more pragmatic interventions to further the cause of mothers in this part of our world. Once again, I wish all mothers, all prospective mothers and indeed all women playing motherly roles in diverse ways, a joyous Mothers Day. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, state media reported Saturday. On May 7, Kim also sent a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the coronavirus epidemic, suggesting that North Korea is trying to cement ties with its traditional allies amid the catastrophic impact of the epidemic on its economy. Chinese media reported that Xi replied, "China wants to enhance anti-epidemic cooperation with" the North. "China is willing to provide as much support as its capacity allows for the [North] in line with the latter's needs." IDPs first-ever virtual education fair to keep students study abroad dreams alive! View(s): Great chance to e-meet university representatives and discuss career paths virtually and free counselling with IDP Education, which has over 50 years of experience in international education services. Committed to providing the best international education services, IDP Education Sri Lanka has yet again come up with a great initiative to help students who aspire to study in Australia a virtual education fair. To be held on May 13, 2020 (10.00am-3.00pm), this virtual fair is aimed at providing the students with all the guidance and assistance they need to work on their Australia education plans. Held via an easily accessible app, this fair will connect the students with their desired Australian institutions. Entry to this fair is free of cost but the students need to register themselves to get a dedicated slot with their shortlisted institutions. Once a student registers for the virtual fair, they will be pre-counselled by an experienced IDP international education specialist to understand their concerns and hence guide them accordingly. The students will then be provided with a dedicated slot to interact one-on-one with their desired institution. They get to speak with the institution representatives directly and can thus ask all their queries related to intakes, programs, courses, application procedure, scholarships, post-work study opportunities, etc. This personal interaction is a great way to also understand what the institution is looking for in a student in their application. If the student is eligible, they can also apply on-the-spot, and avail application fee waivers in most cases. Keeping all the precautions in mind in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, IDP Sri Lanka has ensured that the students get the best guidance despite not being able to step out. So the students can avail all the assistance from the comfort of their homes, and attend the virtual fair from their mobile phones, desktops or laptops without any elaborate set-up. All that a student needs is a stable Wi-Fi connection to be able to reap the benefits of this great opportunity. Apart from the education fairs, IDP Sri Lanka has also taken the initiative to introduce e-counselling for students to help them realise their study abroad dreams. Now the students dont have to worry about their applications for the next intake or the guidance they need to make a well-informed decision. These are uncertain times, and this step is to ensure all the students that IDP supports their dreams and will work with then tirelessly to help them achieve their study abroad goals. Having over 50 years of experience IDP understands the challenges a student may face when applying for education abroad. A world leader in international student placement services and proud co-owner of IELTS, IDP has a network of over 120 international student placement centres, with a global presence in more than 30 countries. IDP Education Limited is an ASX listed company that is 50% owned by Australian universities. Despite these testing times, IDP is a pioneer in introducing e-counselling and virtual education fairs for students to provide them with the best guidance for making the right choice of universities and colleges, course selection, visa application assistance, pre-departure support, etc. You can check the schedule of the upcoming events and various services provided by IDP on their website and social channels. List of 30 top-ranked institutions from Australia participating at the virtual fair is given below: Australian Catholic University, Navitas, Box Hill Institute, Queensland University of Technology, Charles Darwin University, RMIT University, Curtin University, The Australian National University, Deakin University, The University of Adelaide, Edith Cowan University, The University of Newcastle, Excelsia College, The University of South Australia, Federation University Australia, The University of Western Australia, Flinders University, Trinity College Foundation Studies, Holmesglen Institute, University of Canberra, James Cook University Townsville & Cairns, University of Melbourne, Kaplan Business School, University of New England, La Trobe College Australia, University of New South Wales, Sydney La Trobe university, University of Technology Sydney, Monash University, Victoria University Register here: http://srilanka.idp.com/d/znqts6/4W IDP Education Sri Lanka https://www.idp.com/srilanka/ 4th Floor, 324, Galle road, Colombo 3. Hotline: +94 11-771 1888; E mail: hr.lanka@idp.com 144 Main Street, Battaramulla. Hotline: +94 11-755 0800; E-mail: info.battaramulla@idp.com Tempus Pro touchscreen interface records injury locations. The RDT team has observed that it takes less than an hour for an experienced medical professional to learn the basic functions of the Tempus Pro. Some 10 million is now available for proposals to use space to improve healthcare and distance learning in response to the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to the Italian national delegation to ESA. The funding has quadrupled because of the large quantity of high-quality ideas received. ESA first launched its call for proposals "Space in response to COVID-19 outbreak" on 31 March, in collaboration with the Italian Minister for Technological Innovation and Digitalisation and with the support of the Italian Space Agency. More than 120 proposals were made within three weeks, almost 100 of which involved an Italian company. In total, companies from 16 countries responded to the call. Paola Pisano, Minister for Innovation and Digitalisation in the Italian government, said: "Space technologies are drivers of economic development and innovation in a number of sectors, ranging from agri-food to healthcare, from environment to telecommunications. New connectivity means new structures and infrastructures, new ways of augmenting navigation signals and innovations in the molecular domain. "The space sector is a growth sector, which Italy supports with investments, thanks to the collaborations with the Italian Space Agency and ESA." Magali Vaissiere, Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications at ESA, said: "We are delighted to support European industry to demonstrate the benefits that space can bring to respond to the current emergency. "The selected projects, to be started in June, will show the value that space-based applications can bring to operators in healthcare and education, as well as to European citizens. The relevance of the current initiative is testified by the involvement of renowned Italian hospitals and healthcare institutions in the pilot activities." Giorgio Saccoccia, president of the Italian Space Agency, said: "I find great satisfaction with the outcome of this first phase of the call and the extraordinary response from national space and health companies. "Thanks to Italy's increased ESA subscription, we were able to promptly request an increase in funding, thus helping to provide concrete help to many small and medium-sized enterprises in this time of difficulty." The funds will be used to support projects in education and distance learning, social care, support for medical operations, monitoring and security, telemedicine, and epidemiology and resource planning. In parallel, ESA is undertaking other initiatives to support companies demonstrating the benefits of using space assets during the coronavirus pandemic. A Europe-wide call for proposals focussed on healthcare is due to be issued shortly. This will complement an existing call for proposals in the UK that is based on the requirements made by its National Health Service. The work is co-funded with the ESA contribution dependent on the size of the partner - 50% for large companies and up to 80% for small and medium-sized enterprises, universities and research centres. Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. Karen Warren, Staff / Houston Chronicle Gasoline prices nationally climbed for the second-straight week as the lifting of stay-at-home orders across the country boosted demand, according to the fuel-tracking website GasBuddy. In Houston, average gasoline prices were unchanged at $1.51 a gallon over the week. Prices here are 12 cents a gallon lower than a month ago and $1.07 a gallon lower than a year ago. Northwestern university and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago have jointly developed a wireless sensor to monitor COVID-19 symptoms. The sensor, a flexible band-aid-like sticker made of soft silicone material, is stuck on the neck at the lower throat, and works by constantly measuring vibrations from coughing, chest wall movements, respiratory sounds and heart rate as well as body temperature. It produces insights using machine learning. (Photo | Northwestern University) Chennai: Just yesterday, a report quoting University of Minnesota scientists said the coronavirus is likely to remain a menace for another two years! Day before yesterday, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agrawal said we have to learn to live with the virus. If that is so, monitoring people for early symptoms becomes crucial in our attempt to get life back to some semblance of normality. Researchers at Northwestern University and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago, United States, have developed a wearable wireless sensor that monitors cough, fever and respiratory activity to produce insights, using machine learning, that can help manage the COVID-19 better. The sensor, a flexible band-aid-like sticker made of soft silicone material, is stuck on the neck at the lower throat, and works by constantly measuring vibrations from coughing, chest wall movements, respiratory sounds and heart rate as well as body temperature. How it works Arun Jayaraman, a research scientist at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, was quoted as saying on the Northwestern University website that his team is developing custom signal processing and machine-learning algorithms to train the device on recognising coughs. The vibration data of infected and non-infected persons is fed into a cloud. Machine learning software picks up on the variations, which enables it to create signatures of vibrations both pertaining to COVID-19 symptoms, as well as those indicative of normal breathing or chest sounds. From these signatures, it is able to match COVID-19 symptoms when it presents itself in newer patients. As the algorithm becomes smarter, our hope is that it will begin to discriminate among which coughs are COVID-like and which are from something more benign, Jayaraman says. What could be better Currently, the sensor does not measure blood oxygenation levels, which is particularly important as many COVID-19 patients do not show any respiratory distress but have low blood oxygenation, which could result in death. Northwestern Universitys John A Rogers says the team has earlier incorporated such a capability into clinical grade monitoring devices for intensive care units, and it can be replicated in the COVID-19 sensor. Early intervention, no-contact diagnosis About 25 affected individuals began using the devices two weeks ago. Dr Mark Huang, a physician at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, who has worn the sensor himself says, The sensor also will offer clinicians and patients peace of mind as it monitors COVID-like symptoms, potentially prompting earlier intervention and treatment. This opens up new telemedicine strategies as we wont have to bring in patients for monitoring, Jayaraman says. Initially conceived for stroke patients The device came about as a result of earlier research by Rogers and Jayaramans labs that monitored swallowing and speech disorders in patients recovering from stroke. It was tweaked to measure vibratory signatures of COVID-like symptoms. The team is already producing dozens of devices per week. Alan Lieberman is a former federal prosecutor who investigated major cases of public corruption and mob-related crimes. He is now working as a trial lawyer specializing in white-collar defense. In his spare time, Alan is a pilot who flies abused dogs rescued from quick-kill facilities to loving homes up and down the I-95 corridor. This Atlantic City native has published his new book AC: a spellbinding and masterfully crafted murder mystery that keeps readers turning the pages until the dramatic conclusion. Atlantic Citys golden age has ended. Once known as the Queen of Resorts frequented by genteel and wealthy members of Philadelphias leading families, AC had become a summer-long hustle of gypsy fortune-tellers, auction clip joints, and seedy arcades. The town is in the grip of corrupt public officials and organized crime. The passage of casino gambling has ignited a frenzy of greed. Politicians, the mob, and real estate speculators gather like a flock of vultures picking clean the bones of a carcass. One-by-one the grand hotels along the boardwalk are demolished. The discovery of three skeletons buried in the mud walls beneath the rubble of the Marlborough Blenheim Hotel catapults Jake Harris, an A.C.P.D. detective, back in time to a long-ago summer. It is the summer Jake falls in love with Michelle Nardo, a dark-haired beauty from Ducktown whose life circumstances are alien to his own. Together they imagine their life together in a different, happier place. Their dream is shattered when Joey Nardo, Michelles troubled older brother, commits a gruesome murder that sends him to a prison for the criminally insane, and drives Jake and Michelle apart. Seventeen years later, Jakes pursuit of the killer, or killers, of the victims found buried in the tunnel reunites him with Michelle. His connections to Michelle, and to the Ducktown boys he ran with as a teenager mean he must choose between a cover-up and justice. Risking his career and his freedom, Jake follows the trail of evidence as it twists and turns through a labyrinth of mob killings and corruption. As he attempts to salvage the life he once dreamed they would share, he must confront the horrific events of that summer, and in the process learns the terrible secret Michelle kept from him. AC is a heartfelt homage to a hometown under siege, a coming-of-age story fraught with violence and insurmountable obstacles to first loveand, a tale of murder, corruption, and greed. Lieberman brings to his readers the profound importance of rootsboth of place and familyto who we are and who we become. Perfect for those with memories of pre-casino Atlantic City, AC will be enjoyed by everyone whose hometown lives in their hearts. Published by Page Publishing, Alan Liebermans engrossing book weaves a compelling murder mystery, a heartbreaking romance, and a suspenseful tightrope walk between corruption and justice in a gripping and potent work to enthrall any avid fiction reader. Alan Liebermans novel brings the same sort of literary excitement and mystery to Atlantic City that Dennis Lehane brings to Boston. -Dan Pope, author of Housebreaking and In the Cherry Tree. Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase AC at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708. About Page Publishing: Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com. President Donald Trump speaks with former President Barack Obama during the Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 2017. (Saul Loeb - Pool/Getty Images) Trump: Obamagate Was the Biggest Political Crime in American History President Donald Trump claimed on May 10 that Obamagate was the biggest political crime in American history, by far! Trump took to Twitter, his favored social media platform, to make the statement. He added on May 11: OBAMAGATE makes Watergate look small time! The Office of Barack and Michelle Obama didnt respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment on Trumps remarks. The term Trump used first started to trend in March 2017 after the newly elected president claimed on Twitter that former President Obama had had Trumps wires tapped. According to recently released documents, Obama was aware of details from wiretapped phone calls between Trumps then-national security adviser Lt. Gen. (ret.) Michael Flynn and Russias ambassador to the United States in late 2016 or early 2017. Flynn was later accused of lying to the FBI about details of the calls during a Jan. 24, 2017, interview. Flynn resigned from his position shortly after. High-level officials differ on who informed Obama, with several claiming it was James Clapper, the director of national intelligence. Clapper denied the allegations under oath. President Donald Trumps former national security adviser Michael Flynn leaves the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in Washington on June 24, 2019. (Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images) Trump spent portions of May 10 sharing tweets from a wide range of accounts, buttressing the retweets with the two brief statements. One tweet shared by the president showed a meme of Trump looking at the camera with the words emblazoned on the photo: Hope you had fun investigating me. Now its my turn. Another post said: Unless people are indited [sic] and put in prison the corruption will continue. Another account retweeted by Trump alleged treason, wondering who would be the first person besides Trump to call for Treason Charges and demand Prosecution of the Frame Up Conspirators in this Attempted Overthrow of our Presidency? Trump also shared a number of posts from Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor who argued that Obama administration officials collaborated with the FBI on the investigation of Flynn. President-elect Donald Trump listens as President Barack Obama speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office in Washington on Nov. 10, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool/Getty Images) The Department of Justice dropped the case against Flynn last week after a review found the Jan. 24, 2017, interview of Trumps first national security adviser was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBIs counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn. That investigation was a no longer justifiably predicated investigation, stated Timothy Shea, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, referring to the FBIs move to close the probe until special agent Peter Strzok intervened to keep it open. Strzok was later fired after a slew of anti-Trump messages to FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who worked for FBI official Andrew McCabe, came to light. Attorney General William Barr said the move to dismiss the case against Flynn upheld the rule of law, an assertion that Obama has disagreed with. Obama told former administration officials that he was concerned the motion to dismiss meant that our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly, as weve seen in other places, he said. I am Lilit Chibukhchyan. I am 42 years old. Two days after I arrived in Armenia from abroad, I felt weak, had a sore throat and a fever. I couldnt even breathe. The ambulance came and took me to Nork Infection Clinical Hospital. This is what Chibukhchyan said in the video Were Going to Overcome Together posted on the Facebook page of Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia, Commandant for the state of emergency declared in the country. Chibukhchyan went on to say the following: It turned out I had two-sided pneumonia and had been infected with coronavirus. I thought I would never get betterI stayed at the hospital for 25 days. The doctors were very caring, treated me like a relative and brought me out of this situation. I had a personal psychologist who would visit me every day. The doctors would tell me Im strong and can overcome the virus, and I did. We can overcome it together. Follow the rules of hygiene and dont interact a lot so you dont get infected. Now I look at everything differently. The doctors save me, and I was reborn. It had been over three hours, and Raynique Cartwright still hadn't received her money. Cartwright, 21, had arrived at the Western Union location in the Bahamas a little before 10 a.m. to pick up funds, but the branch was allowing only two or three people inside per hour, leaving a large crowd outside clamoring to get in. "Social distancing was almost a non-factor because people started getting rowdy and would gather around the door to see why the line was literally not even moving," said Cartwright, who eventually made it inside at 1 p.m. "A lot of people left who were ahead of me." Cartwright's plight is playing out at thousands of storefronts around the world that act as agents for Western Union and its rival, MoneyGram. Consumers have flooded social media with tales and images of lengthy lines and boisterous crowds seeking to pick up funds sent by friends and family abroad. One person in the Queens borough of New York photographed a line that stretched the length of the city block. At a location inside a gas station in Jamaica, dozens clustered around the pumps as they waited to access their funds. Migrant workers are major customers of the money-transfer companies because they often have family abroad and are excluded from traditional banking services, where those who are better off financially have flocked to computers and phones for their transactions. Roughly a billion people worldwide either send or receive remittances. For the recipients, the money is a lifeline that can account for more than half their income, even though senders often wire them just 15% of what they earn, according to data compiled by the United Nations. Because it often caters to under-banked consumers, the business has remained stubbornly in the physical world, with MoneyGram and Western Union operating almost a million locations through their agent networks. Customers typically like picking up cash in person because it's currency they can spend immediately. That's meant the companies have struggled amid the global lockdown instituted to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus. It's left some outlets understaffed and some branches, such as those located inside retail stores, either closed entirely or forced to contend with shorter hours. About 40% of MoneyGram's locations are shut, and many "have some sort of disruption to operating hours or normal flows," Chief Executive Officer Alex Holmes said in an interview. Brad Windbigler, Western Union's head of treasury and investor relations, said the company is "doing everything we can" to stay open. "It's a privileged space for us to be in to serve that market," Windbigler said in an interview. Remittances to low- and middle-income countries have steadily grown in importance in recent years, reaching a record $554 billion in 2019, according to data compiled by the World Bank. Last year was also the first time remittances surpassed foreign direct investment in those countries. Then the coronavirus hit, leaving many customers out of work or stuck at home, unable to continue sending money abroad. The World Bank expects remittances globally to drop 20% this year, the sharpest decline in recent history. "It will take some time for us to get through the unemployment," said Michael Brown, CEO of Euronet Worldwide Inc., which operates the Ria money-transfer business. "As people regain employment, their first thought will be to continue to be with their families and their family's well-being." One bright spot for money-transfer companies in recent weeks has been their digital businesses. In the first 27 days of April, 28% of all of MoneyGram's money-transfer transactions were digital, compared with 18% at the end of the first quarter. Western Union said 30% of its consumer-to-consumer transactions were generated by digital channels. PayPal Holdings Inc.'s Xoom remittances business has seen net new active users quintuple since January and February, CEO Dan Schulman told analysts on a call last week. "People aren't going into physical locations anymore to give money and to have somebody on the receiving end going to a specific location to get money," Schulman said. Biggest Impact The World Bank anticipates countries in Europe and Central Asia, where the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan rely on remittances for almost 30% of gross domestic product, will see a 28% decline in remittances, the steepest drop globally. Countries in East Asia and the Pacific -- the region that receives the largest amount of remittances on a dollar basis -- could see such flows slide 13%. The roughly $35 billion the Philippines receives in remittances each year accounts for 10% of gross domestic product, according to the World Bank. The question executives face now is whether demand for their services will rebound as shelter-in-place orders are lifted, or if lingering unemployment will leave consumers unable to send money back home. "A great example is the cruise industry," MoneyGram's Holmes told analysts earlier this month. "Indonesians and Filipinos, they're on cruise ships all over the world. If they don't go back to work, that unemployment level will sustain itself for a very long period of time," hindering those consumers' ability to send money home, he said. Still, many executives said they've seen their customers get a boost from government stimulus programs, which has been a buoy for volume in recent weeks. Western Union's customers "are nurses, grocery store workers, or ambulance drivers -- they put their lives at risk and support millions of people that shelter in place around the globe," CEO Hikmet Ersek told investors on a conference call last week. "At the same time, they are supporting their loved ones, often far away from them by sending money home." A recent survey that included exactly 511 American Christians to compose what the participants believed to be how God looks like yielded interesting results. The findings were first published on Gizmodo that pointed out that the "face of a God" looked very similar to Elon Musk himself! The psychologists that conducted this study are from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The study pursued as the psychologists would ask participants to look at hundreds of random face pairs and pick one from each segment to show how they believed God looked like. The segments with the most votes were then put together in hopes of composing the face of what Christians believed created the heavens and earth or God himself! The results had an uncanny resemblance with Elon Musk the creator and showed a very modern man that was clean-shaved and even youthful-looking instead of the popular man with long hair, a beard, and clouds. The results of the study Interestingly enough, the study resulted to a lot of people finding themselves in the image of God. the younger participants believed in a younger-looking God while the African Americans' choices resulted to a more African American-looking God. People who also believed themselves to be more physically attractive then ended up with a depiction of God who is also more physically attractive. According to Forbes, this could be the reason that the results show an uncanny resemblance to Elon Musk meaning that the results "undeniably looks like a white average person." The article also begs the question that if there was a creation of a composite image of the faces of the 511 participants that were involved, would the result be similar or roughly the same? The explanation for these results According to a certain Professor Kurt Gray in a certain release noted that people's own tendencies to believe in the existence of a God that looks just like them is actually "consistent with an egocentric bias." Professor Kurt Gray is a senior author of the renowned study published in Plos One. In addition, the professor added that the beliefs and traits of certain individuals are usually projected to others and the study of finding out what God's face looks like is no exception at all. People genuinely believe that God is there not just to look like them, but also to think like them. The result that is supposed to come up with the "face of God" is a result of humanity's own reflection compared to the evidence that Elon Musk, the successful marketer and entrepreneur, is the actual face of the all-powerful creator responsible for making the heavens and the earth. The article by Forbes also states that if Musk were really believed to be God, he would have been able to hit his very own timelines and even produce all of those back-ordered Tesla Model 3 units with just a snap of his finger. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Reuters) Hong Kong Mon, May 11, 2020 14:03 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd734945 2 World Hong-Kong,pro-democracy,protester,protests Free Hong Kong authorities arrested more than 200 people during pro-democracy protests, media reported on Monday, after a sing-along demonstration at a shopping mall spilled out on to the streets of the Chinese-ruled city. Hundreds of riot police were deployed to disperse the protesters on Sunday, with some members of the media caught up in the chaos that evoked memories of the sometimes violent unrest that rocked the global financial hub last year. Several media outlets, citing sources, said more than 200 people were arrested. Police said they could not confirm the number. The Hospital Authority said 18 people were taken to hospital. Images beamed live from the working class district of Mong Kok showed riot police pushing back some reporters and firing pepper spray amid chaotic scenes. Footage showed protesters being subdued on the ground, scuffles and people bleeding. Police fired pepper spray at journalists and activists, and conducted stop and search operations on members of the public and media. The Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) said some members of the press were prevented from filming. "Some journalists who were sprayed by pepper spray were not allowed to receive immediate treatment, and they were requested to stop filming," said Chris Yeung, chairman of the HKJA. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The outbreak of coronavirus and strict rules to curb its spread had brought a relative lull in anti-government protests this year, but the recent arrest of democracy activists and renewed concern about Beijing's tightening grip on the city have revived the movement. Police in riot gear told protesters they were staging an illegal assembly and violating anti-virus measures that bar gatherings of more than eight people. Democratic Party lawmaker Roy Kwong was arrested for "disorderly conduct in a public place", police said. Video footage showed Kwong apparently being pushed to the ground and then surrounded by officers. He was later taken to hospital after he said he was feeling unwell. The financial hub is gearing up for protests over the next few months, with activists calling for two million people to gather for an annual march on July 1 that marks the anniversary of its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Wizz Air, Lufthansa and Czech Airlines carriers will resume flights from Ukraine from late May and early June. The corresponding announcements are published on the airlines' websites, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. In particular, Czech Airlines plans to resume flights from and to Prague on May 24. The carrier informs that seven flights a week will be operated from Kyiv starting from May 24, and three flights a week will be performed from Odesa from May 25. Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air allows booking tickets for flights from Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Odesa and Kharkiv from May 23. German airline Lufthansa will resume flights from Ukraine on June 1. As reported, on March 12, the Government introduced the quarantine in Ukraine to counteract the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus infection. In particular, trading establishments were closed except groceries, pharmacies, gas stations, and banks. The operation of subway in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro, municipal, intercity, and interregional road, rail, and air transport services were suspended. The quarantine was extended until May 22 but restriction measures are eased from May 11. ol MONROE No one was injured Friday afternoon in a fire that severely damaged an attached garage at a Pastors Walk home. Fire crews were alerted to the blaze at 12:52 p.m. by a passerby who saw flames and smoke bursting from the rear of the two-car garage and storage area attached to the home, said Fire Marshal William B. Davin. The fire was contained to the garage with light to moderate smoke damage to the main structure, said Davin, adding that damage was estimated at $65,000. Davin said the fire remains an open investigation. Kevin Catalano of the Monroe Fire Department said the cause appears to have originated in a storage area or enclosed porch attached to the rear of the house. The home suffered little damage as the fire was contained to the storage area and garages, and once the electrical can be restored and inspected, the family can resume living in the house, said Catalano. More than 20 firefighters from Monroe Volunteer Fire Department, Stepney Fire Department and Stevenson Volunteer Fire Company responded to the blaze, which was doused in some two hours. The fire was in an attached garage, and officials say that firefighters successfully prevented the flames from spreading to the main living area of the home. Catalano said crews quickly deployed attack hoses to the rear of the garage which was heavily involved in the fire, through the garage doors to cut off the fire, and then one inside the home to make sure the fire did not extend into the living area of the house. Fortunately, it was caught just in time, and I understand neighbors and a contractor working in the area notified the residents who were able to safely evacuate before our arrival, said Catalano. Trumbull and Shelton departments provided station coverage, and Monroe Volunteer Emergency Medical Service and police assisted on scene. brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com Fresh doubts have arisen over Ireland's Covid-19 testing and contact tracing system. Those who test positive for Covid-19 are supposed to be contacted by someone from Public Health to inform them of their result, and to begin contact tracing. However, concerns have been raised previously over the speed of Public Health's tracing, with some GPs saying they received test results before their patients. Now reports are emerging that GPs and patients alike are waiting days to be informed of their results, even in priority cases. A concerned daughter has told the Irish Examiner how her mother, a cancer patient, waited 12 days for a result and was never contacted by Public Health. Aoife O'Donoghue says her mother, who lives in Monaghan, was referred by her GP for a test on April 24. Her mother was tested later on that day at Cloghan testing centre. "She was told she'd have her results in three to seven days and her GP would be in contact," says Aoife. However, Aoife says her mother only received a positive result after family members made contact with the National Virus Reference Laboratory themselves. "Mam rang her GP on April 29, and (the GP) hadn't heard anything back from the lab at that stage. "Dad and my sister rang the National Virus Reference Laboratory (NVRL) a couple of times over the weekend but couldn't get through. Dad eventually got through to the NVRL on Monday afternoon (May 4). "So Dad obviously explained the situation to them, that they had received no results after 12 days. They located her test results for him and they told him that she had tested positive for the virus. "They said that her number must have been taken down incorrectly at the testing centre, as they had tried to contact her a few days earlier." Aoife says she is not sure when her mother's results were processed, but it seemed like someone should have gotten in touch sooner. "(The GP) didn't know about the results until my mother rang her, after she got the diagnosis. She's a good GP who knows Mam really well, and she would have contacted her straight away if it was her responsibility." Aoife says she was shocked that it took so long for her mother's results to be obtained. "I was thinking that if it was taking so long to get results back they must be negative. I thought as a high risk person, she would have gotten results quickly. "It's also hard when she's going through chemotherapy to know what are side effects and what aren't, so we weren't sure what to think." However, Aoife is currently living in Galway, and she wasn't seeing the day to day reality. "My Dad, my sister and her husband and their two kids, who are two years old and four weeks old, live in the house. "They could see that she was really sick, which is why they started putting the pressure on to hunt down the results. It's very scary for them at home because it's difficult to self-isolate while caring for children and a sick parent. We're angry about the situation too, and feel let down by the system. As for her mother, Aoife says she was relieved to have finally gotten an answer. "I think she has so much to think about at the minute that she's trying to keep the frustration at bay, but it has definitely annoyed her. It's also left her in a very uncertain place with regards to her upcoming treatment. "She's going to ask to postpone the treatment until she builds her strength up a bit again." After the result turned out to be positive, the rest of the family members living in the house were tested. "My sister rang the HSE helpline [on Wednesday May 6] and they were horrified at the situation and are trying to help them now as much as they can. My sister says she's helping them do the contact tracing. Dr Nick Flynn of MyCorkGP A Cork-city based GP has raised similar concerns about contact tracing. Dr Nick Flynn of MyCorkGP says he referred a nurse for testing and after five days, he tracked down the results himself as he was concerned the process was taking too long. "I referred a patient for testing on Tuesday April 28. I flagged it as urgent as she was a nurse. She was tested after lunch time that Thursday in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, so that was a 48 hour delay already." After hearing nothing over the weekend, Dr Flynn logged into his computer system on Monday May 4 to see if the results had been made available to him. "I could see other results coming in, from people who had been tested on the same day." On Tuesday May 5, Dr Flynn tried to ring the National Virus Reference Laboratory's results line, but was left on hold as too many people were trying to get through. "It was very frustrating. There is no queuing system, you just have to keep ringing." Dr Flynn kept ringing the NVRL number and got through to a Covid-19 call centre. "The person on the other end of the phone was very pleasant, but totally unable to help me. I asked if they knew where the test was, but they could not see where it was taken to be [analysed]. They said they could see it was received on April 28, but that was when I referred my patient for testing, not when the testing had been done." Dr Flynn asked could he augment the situation to a critical incident as the patient was a nurse. "I asked if I could speak to a supervisor, but they didn't know who their supervisor was. They told me I'd get a call back." Dr Flynn assumed the results were in a lab close to where the test occurred, and he eventually tracked them down in Cork University Hospital's microbiology unit. "They told me they had passed the result onto Public Health on Friday May 1. This was now Tuesday afternoon, May 5." Dr Flynn rang his patient immediately to inform her of her result. Public Health had not yet been in contact when he rang. Dr Flynn says he got a call back from the National Virus Reference Laboratory on Tuesday afternoon, after he had found his patient's results. They told him the number he rang that morning connected to a Covid-19 volunteer call centre, and the NVRL did not have governance over it. "But they had access to [some] of their data." He was also told that there are now many labs processing coronavirus tests and it was not possible to see which lab each swab is sent to. Dr Flynn says for the easing of restrictions to work, the testing and contact tracing system needs to be efficient, robust and deliver next day results. "[Situations like these] are not common, but it is worrying it is happening at all. We receive up to ten results a day. We are sometimes the first person to contact the patient when their results come in." Mr Flynn believes that GPs receive the test results electronically, while Public Health contact tracers have to print off a list and work their way through it daily, leading to potential delays. "We are not there yet in terms of contact tracing. There is no agency or department which has oversight over all of the tests. No one I spoke to was able to say 'ring this number and they will get you the test results'. "I don't even know who to go to, to make sure this doesn't happen again." In a statement, the HSE said they were now using 43 laboratories to process Covid-19 tests. 38 are hospital labs and five are community diagnostic testing laboratories. The HSE said they were awaiting a response on whether contact tracers can see which lab each swab is sent to. "All contact tracing would normally be carried out by Public Health (PH) departments, but given the scale of the challenge presented by Covid-19, the HSE has established a number of contact tracing centres, to support the PH departments. "Contact tracing can be routine or complex. The complex cases, such as residential care settings, healthcare workers and outbreaks are managed by PH departments. The routine cases are managed by the contact tracing centres. "The length of time to notify a person of a positive result varies, but for routine cases it will usually occur within 24 to 36 hours of receipt of the lab result. Each person will receive five phone calls each, one hour apart, with the fifth call being the next day in the attempt to contact the person. "There are a number of cases where the lab result does not have a valid contact number. The HSE uses a number of different techniques to try and source the number, and is successful most of the time, but this does slow the process of notification. "Where a valid number does not exist, but there is a valid address a letter is sent to the person asking them to contact their PH department. "GPs will usually be notified of the test result before the HSE can notify the person tested. The notification to the GP happens at the same time the HSE is notified of the lab result. "The HSE then has to manually review the file and clean the data before it can be uploaded onto the Covid Care Tracker, for contact tracing to commence." Members on all sides of the U.S. Congress have sent a letter to the Australian ambassador outlining their support for Scott Morrison's push for an independent international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus. Bipartisanship in American politics is rare on any issue, but when it comes to the relationship with Australia, both Republicans and Democrats say the U.S. 'will always have Australia's back'. 'As Australia, along with the rest of the world, deals with the terrible human and economic consequences of COVID-19, we write to reaffirm our strong support for the U.S.-Australia alliance,' the letter to Arthur Sinodinos read. 'For more than a century, our nations have stood side by side during moments of great peril. The current crisis is no different.' American President Donald Trump (left) is pictured with Australia's U.S. Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos (right) in the Oval Office of the White House The letter of support comes as tensions between Australian and China have reached boiling point. About two weeks ago Prime Minister Scott Morrison ruffled the Chinese Communist Party by suggesting an independent inquiry should be held into the origins of the coronavirus. With the pandemic now infecting over 4million people across the globe and killing over 280,000, Mr Morrison said now is the time to 'have an independent assessment of how this all occurred so we can learn the lessons and prevent it from happening again'. But the suggestion that independent investigators should be given access to the city of Wuhan where the pandemic began was not received well by China's authoritarian regime, which is accused of trying to cover-up the outbreak. Immediately after these comments, China's Ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye told the Australian Financial Review Australian producers would face a backlash if such an inquiry were to take place and threatened that Australian beef and wine would be off the menu for Chinese consumers. China's Ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye recently threatened Australia producers after Scott Morrison stated there should be an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus in Wuhan Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (left) is pictured with U.S. President Donald Trump (right) in the American State of Ohio on September 22, 2019 The members of the U.S. Congress adressed the threats in their letter to Mr Sinodinos. 'This incident is part of a broader and concerning pattern from the Chinese government,' the letter said. 'As we continue to confront this deadly disease and its consequences, we will be faced with many tough decisions, including those that may arise from the Chinese government's continued lack of cooperation and transparency. 'One decision that is not difficult is to always stand with our Australian mates. 'No matter the external pressure or coercion, we will always have Australia's back, just as Australia has always had ours.' But not everyone agrees with Mr Morrison's handling of the push for an independent inquiry. 'It was an announcement made without locking in support from other nations,' Australian Labor Party Senator Penny Wong told ABC News. 'I don't think the Government has explained its position very well. I think since the Foreign Minister announced it, she's only done one interview. That's not exactly explaining this issue to Australians. 'We need to think about the China relationship in 30-year terms, not in three-year terms. Unfortunately, there's been a little too much, from the Morrison Government, of reflex to short-term domestic politics on this relationship.' Bipartisanship in American politics is rare on any issue, but when it comes to the relationship with Australia, both Republicans and Democrats say the U.S. 'will always have Australia's back' Our take would be to do anything possible to protect your business, but also protect the people who built the business in the first place, Hannah said. We dont separate the two. Matt Whiat, Chapmans other founding partner, said the firms practice can be as simple as reminding managers of the golden rule. Its really not different from getting kindergarten kids to all play nice, he said. Clients also need specific advice, though. Shared-sacrifice measures such as salary cuts, job sharing and short furloughs for all employees instead of layoffs for some become important in times like these. Bob Chapman, Barry-Wehmillers CEO, recounted in a 2015 book how the company survived the 2008-2009 recession by asking employees to volunteer for time off without pay. He launched the consulting firm to spread his leadership principles throughout corporate America. Jeff Winters, CEO of Sapper Consulting in Kirkwood, drew up plans for pay cuts when the coronavirus outbreak began. He knew from working with Chapman & Co. that hed better tell workers exactly what sacrifices he might ask for and why. 11.05.2020 LISTEN Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said all backlogs of COVID-19 samples have been cleared from the various testing labs in the country. According to him, the staggering numbers that were recorded from an outbreak of the virus in a factory at Tema was part of the backlogs that shot the countrys case count to over 4000. The significant jump of 900 cases on Friday sparked concerns over the credibility of the data being provided by the Ghana Health Service especially after they said the country had already reached its peak of infections. Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Monday, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said: the backlog of samples in the labs have all been cleared and now we are working towards the point where everything that comes in will be cleared immediately. He also noted the employment ministry is following up with the affected factory in Tema to ensure that further spread of the virus is not continued. Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has extended the ban on public gathering in the country as confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Ghana rise to 4,700. The President in a Sunday night address warned people who violate the directive will be dealt with in accordance with the law. Tonight I have come to your homes to announce that the ban on public gathering has been extended to the end of the month ie 31st of May, he said. The extension comes in the wake of reports that religious leaders were persuading the President to lift the ban on public gathering. The President also reiterated the order for the closure of all borders to the country as means of containing the spread of the virus in the country. Meanwhile, confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Ashanti region have jumped from 252 to 453 as of Sunday, May 10, 2020, sources at the Ashanti regional health directorate have told Starr News. Starr News understands majority of the cases were recorded at Obuasi which has a total of 261 positive cases. Similarly, the Western region has recorded 14 new cases of COVID-19 raising the regional figure from 38 to 52 as of Sunday. ---starrfmonline Humans typically get most of their vitamin D from sunlight (Charlotte Ball/PA) Researchers are calling on the Irish Government to change recommendations for vitamin D supplements after a study revealed it is likely to reduce serious coronavirus complications. A new publication from Trinity College Dublin highlights the association between vitamin D levels and mortality from Covid-19. Dr Eamon Laird and Professor Rose Anne Kenny from the universitys School of Medicine carried out the work with the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), in collaboration with Professor Jon Rhodes at the University of Liverpool. The authors analysed all European adult population studies, completed since 1999, which measured vitamin D and compared vitamin D and death rates from Covid-19. Vitamin D is produced in the skin from UVB sunlight exposure and is transported to the liver and then the kidney where it is changed into an active hormone that increases calcium transport from food in the gut and ensures calcium is adequate to keep the skeleton strong and free of osteoporosis. The study found that vitamin D can also support the immune system through a number of immune pathways involved in fighting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The study shows that countries at lower latitude and typically sunny countries, such as Spain and northern Italy, had low concentrations of vitamin D and high rates of vitamin D deficiency. These countries also experienced the highest infection and death rates in Europe. The northern latitude countries of Norway, Finland and Sweden, have higher vitamin D levels despite less UVB sunlight exposure, because supplementation and fortification of foods is more common. These Nordic countries have lower Covid-19 infection and death rates. There is strong circumstantial evidence of associations between vitamin D and the severity of Covid-19 responses, including death Professor Rose Anne Kenny The authors of the report said that the correlation between low vitamin D levels and death from Covid-19 is statistically significant. The authors said the data suggests it is likely to reduce serious Covid-19 complications. Professor Kenny said: In England, Scotland and Wales, public health bodies have revised recommendations since the Covid-19 outbreak. Recommendations now state that all adults should take at least 400 IU (international units) vitamin D daily. Whereas there are currently no results from randomised controlled trials to conclusively prove that vitamin D beneficially affects Covid-19 outcomes, there is strong circumstantial evidence of associations between vitamin D and the severity of Covid-19 responses, including death. We call on the Irish Government to update guidelines as a matter of urgency and encourage all adults to take supplements during the Covid-19 crisis. Deficiency is frequent in Ireland. Deficiency is most prevalent with age, obesity, in men, in ethnic minorities, in people with diabetes, hypertension and in nursing homes. Dr Laird added: Here we see observational evidence of a link of vitamin D with mortality. Optimising vitamin D intake to public health guidelines will certainly have benefits for overall health and support immune function. Research like this is still exploratory and we need further trials to have concrete evidence on the level of vitamin D that is needed for optimal immune function. In a statement, the Department of Health said: The National Public Health Emergency Team keeps all national and international evidence and advice under continuous review as the basis for any recommendations. A Melbourne man has been charged over a string of sexual assaults after offering three women a lift home in separate early morning incidents. The women were all walking home from inner-city pubs in 2017 and 2018 when they were stopped by an unknown man between 3am and 5am. After the alleged attacks, the women all received text messages from an unknown number asking: "Are you out and about?" A 56-year-old man from Bulleen in Melbourne's north-east was arrested and charged on Monday. He was due to face Melbourne Magistrates Court on several charges including rape, sexual assault, and administrating drugs for sexual purposes. The questions were largely about social distancing measures. The New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland premiers answered duly. But it was clear on Monday night's Q+A that the premiers were already looking months and years ahead, to the economic challenge that will shape Australia's next generation, with hopes they could not only maintain economic growth and employment - but restore the country's faith in politics, too. Not once did NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Victoria's Daniel Andrews or Queensland's Annastacia Palaszczuk criticise each other in the hour-long program that covered schools, protests, nursing homes, cruise ships, borders and the all-important economic recovery period Australia has just begun. Instead, the premiers urged for unprecedented times to be met with unprecedented politics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called for a "balanced strategy" to tackle the COVID-19 crisis as he sought inputs from states on the way forward in fighting the pandemic, while many more tested positive for the deadly virus and pushed the nationwide tally above the 70,000 mark. The death toll also crossed 2,200 with more people succumbing to COVID-19 at various places including in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Interacting with chief ministers in a video conference, Modi flagged that problems have increased wherever social distancing norms were not followed or there has been laxity in implementation of the lockdown guidelines. He also said the biggest challenge will be to ensure that the infection does not spread to villages, sources said. The new cases detected in the past few days include migrant workers who have returned to their native places from big urban clusters, many after being rendered jobless and homeless, as also some airlifted from abroad under a massive evacuation plan undertaken by the government for Indians and expatriates stranded in various countries. In its daily update, the Union Health Ministry said the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 67,152, after a record number of 4,213 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours till Monday 8 AM, while the death toll rose by 97 to 2,206. More than 20,000 people have recovered also so far. However, a PTI tally of figures reported by different states and union territories, as of 9.10 PM, put the nationwide tally of confirmed cases much higher at 70,480, showing an increase of more than 6,000 cases since Sunday morning. It showed 2,217 deaths and more than 22,000 recoveries so far. Maharashtra reported 1,230 new cases, taking the state tally to 23,401, while its death toll rose to 868 after 36 more fatalities. Tamil Nadu reported 798 new cases and six more deaths on Monday. Gujarat saw 347 fresh cases and 20 more fatalities, including 268 cases and 19 deaths in Ahmedabad itself. In the national capital also, more than 300 new cases were detected. Fresh cases were reported from various other states as well including Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Bihar and Odisha. During a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation, Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said some relatively large outbreaks have been noticed in particular locations and it is important to focus on containment efforts to ensure that the country does not reach the community transmission stage. He also said that people who develop coronavirus symptoms should not go into hiding and come forward to report so that they get timely treatment and also do not spread the infection to their family members and others. Asserting that the virus outbreak has nothing to do with race, religion and area and the government's focus is on identifying pockets which have been reporting a larger number of cases for implementing strong containment measures. During their interaction with the prime minister, some chief ministers also sought measures to expand the testing infrastructure, while many of them also demanded fiscal support for the states due to the pandemic having hit hard various revenue-generating economic activities. Sources said Modi told the chief ministers that a "balanced strategy will have to be adopted for the road ahead", as he sought their suggestions on the way forward. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is said to have favoured allowing all economic activities, barring in the identified containment zones. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Centre wanted a strict lockdown enforcement on one hand, but was resuming train services on the other. Chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Telangana opposed resumption of passenger train services, which are scheduled to begin on Tuesday with select special trains for taking the stranded migrant workers to their native places. The Home Ministry said only asymptomatic people with confirmed tickets will be allowed to travel in 15 trains to be operational from Tuesday. Online bookings began for these trains on Monday evening, after some delay due to a technical glitch, and some routes got fully booked within ten minutes. The Railways have been running 'migrant special' trains for ferrying migrant workers since May 1, but this will be the first time in nearly 50 days that the general public can also undertake train journeys even though flight and inter-state bus services remain suspended as of now till May 17, when the third phase of the lockdown is scheduled to end. The first phase of the nationwide lockdown began on March 25, which was supposed to be of 21 days, but it got extended later till May 3 and then further till May 17 with some relaxations. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray asked Modi to show "specific and concrete direction" on the ongoing lockdown and said the states would implement the same. He also requested the prime minister to start local trains in Mumbai for essential services staff working in the city. Mumbai's coronavirus tally has reached 14,355 with 791 new cases detected on Monday, while its death toll is 528 now with 20 more fatalities. At least 57 new cases were reported from the city's Dharavi slums. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh favoured extending the lockdown in view of the rising number of cases, but with a carefully crafted exit strategy backed by economic empowerment of states to save lives and secure livelihood. Some chief ministers also suggested that the states should be allowed to decide declaring red, orange or green zones after taking into account the ground realities. There are already concerns about re-emergence of the virus in some other countries, including in China, Germany and South Korea, after easing of lockdown restrictions and greater movement of people being allowed. Since its emergence in China last December, the deadly virus has infected more than 41 lakh people worldwide and over 2.8 lakh have lost their lives. More than 14 lakh people have recovered so far. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Today we'll take a closer look at Jiangxi Copper Company Limited (HKG:358) from a dividend investor's perspective. Owning a strong business and reinvesting the dividends is widely seen as an attractive way of growing your wealth. If you are hoping to live on your dividends, it's important to be more stringent with your investments than the average punter. Regular readers know we like to apply the same approach to each dividend stock, and we hope you'll find our analysis useful. While Jiangxi Copper's 1.5% dividend yield is not the highest, we think its lengthy payment history is quite interesting. When buying stocks for their dividends, you should always run through the checks below, to see if the dividend looks sustainable. Explore this interactive chart for our latest analysis on Jiangxi Copper! SEHK:358 Historical Dividend Yield May 11th 2020 Payout ratios Companies (usually) pay dividends out of their earnings. If a company is paying more than it earns, the dividend might have to be cut. Comparing dividend payments to a company's net profit after tax is a simple way of reality-checking whether a dividend is sustainable. In the last year, Jiangxi Copper paid out 18% of its profit as dividends. With a low payout ratio, it looks like the dividend is comprehensively covered by earnings. Another important check we do is to see if the free cash flow generated is sufficient to pay the dividend. Jiangxi Copper paid out 70% of its free cash flow last year, which is acceptable, but is starting to limit the amount of earnings that can be reinvested into the business. It's positive to see that Jiangxi Copper's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut. Consider getting our latest analysis on Jiangxi Copper's financial position here. Dividend Volatility From the perspective of an income investor who wants to earn dividends for many years, there is not much point buying a stock if its dividend is regularly cut or is not reliable. Jiangxi Copper has been paying dividends for a long time, but for the purpose of this analysis, we only examine the past 10 years of payments. This dividend has been unstable, which we define as having been cut one or more times over this time. Its most recent annual dividend was CN0.10 per share, effectively flat on its first payment ten years ago. Story continues It's good to see some dividend growth, but the dividend has been cut at least once, and the size of the cut would eliminate most of the growth, anyway. We're not that enthused by this. Dividend Growth Potential Given that the dividend has been cut in the past, we need to check if earnings are growing and if that might lead to stronger dividends in the future. In the last five years, Jiangxi Copper's earnings per share have shrunk at approximately 7.4% per annum. If earnings continue to decline, the dividend may come under pressure. Every investor should make an assessment of whether the company is taking steps to stabilise the situation. Conclusion Dividend investors should always want to know if a) a company's dividends are affordable, b) if there is a track record of consistent payments, and c) if the dividend is capable of growing. Above all, we're glad to see that Jiangxi Copper pays out a low fraction of its earnings and, while it paid a higher percentage of cashflow, this also was within a normal range. Earnings per share have been falling, and the company has cut its dividend at least once in the past. From a dividend perspective, this is a cause for concern. While we're not hugely bearish on it, overall we think there are potentially better dividend stocks than Jiangxi Copper out there. Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for Jiangxi Copper (of which 1 is significant!) you should know about. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of dividend stocks yielding above 3%. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. In this commentary, I will examine Christian Dior SE's (ENXTPA:CDI) latest earnings update (31 December 2019) and compare these figures against its performance over the past couple of years, as well as how the rest of the luxury industry performed. As an investor, I find it beneficial to assess CDIs trend over the short-to-medium term in order to gauge whether or not the company is able to meet its goals, and ultimately sustainably grow over time. View our latest analysis for Christian Dior How Well Did CDI Perform? CDI's trailing twelve-month earnings (from 31 December 2019) of 2.9b has jumped 14% compared to the previous year. Furthermore, this one-year growth rate has exceeded its 5-year annual growth average of 7.5%, indicating the rate at which CDI is growing has accelerated. How has it been able to do this? Let's take a look at if it is only attributable to industry tailwinds, or if Christian Dior has experienced some company-specific growth. ENXTPA:CDI Income Statement May 11th 2020 In terms of returns from investment, Christian Dior has invested its equity funds well leading to a 22% return on equity (ROE), above the sensible minimum of 20%. However, its return on assets (ROA) of 3.6% is below the FR Luxury industry of 4.5%, indicating Christian Dior's are utilized less efficiently. Furthermore, its return on capital (ROC), which also accounts for Christian Diors debt level, has declined over the past 3 years from 16% to 16%. What does this mean? While past data is useful, it doesnt tell the whole story. While Christian Dior has a good historical track record with positive growth and profitability, there's no certainty that this will extrapolate into the future. You should continue to research Christian Dior to get a better picture of the stock by looking at: Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for CDIs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for CDIs outlook. Financial Health: Are CDIs operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why weve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the trailing twelve months from 31 December 2019. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Air purifiers for hospitals: Alls not clean By Kumudini Hettiarachchi, Ruqyyaha Deane & Meleeza Rathnayake View(s): View(s): Passing the buck and cutting phone calls were the response of many high-level Health Ministry officials to the Sunday Times as soon as air-purifiers were mentioned yesterday, while the Project Director was insistent that nothing has been finalised yet. A list of questions emailed to Health Secretary Bhadrani Jayawardena, on her request on Tuesday both about the COVID-19 outbreak in the country and the alleged deal to purchase 300 air-purification systems for state hospitals elicited no response up to the time of going to print last night. The Sunday Times in a news story headlined Queries over Health Ministry purchase of 300 air-purification systems published on May 3, disclosed that sources were alleging that due processes including seeking of specs and technical expertise were not followed before bids were invited. Yesterday, the Sunday Times phoned numerous officials including those in the Medical Services Division, Medical Services and Planning. All of them said they were not handling the matter and kept giving the names of other officials. Attempts to contact the Biomedical Engineering Services drew a blank as one official is said to have left the position and a landline number given for his successor was cut off on the grounds that there was no such person there. These 300 air-purification systems/air sterilizers said to cost in total more than Rs. 300 million are part of a list of items due to be bought through World Bank funding of US$ 128 million. They are to be procured by UNICEF for the Health Ministry under Sri Lankas COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project. There are allegations by many sources that the tender for these air-purification systems has already been floated and it was only after that, that the ministry was trying to drum up requests from state hospitals to gather the numbers. A response from the procurement agency, UNICEF, states that the Project Director on April 3, made a formal request for this procurement, followed by UNICEF inviting bids on April 14. UNCEF has shared the submitted technical responses with the ministry on April 24. However, the Sunday Times understands that some of the hospitals requested the air-purification systems only in the last week of April. On May 4, after the Sunday Times published the news item, UNICEF sent to us the following statement titled Statement from UNICEF regarding procurement of COVID-19 medical equipment for the Ministry of Health funded by the World Bank. It stated that on April 3, UNICEF received a formal request from the ministry seeking support to procure a list of surgical consumables, medical consumables and medical equipment including 300 air-purifiers/sterilizers. In response and following UNICEF global procurement guidelines, UNICEF undertook a competitive bidding process. In this respect, on the 14th of April 2020, UNICEF invited bids from local suppliers, while also checking the availability and pricing of these items with UNICEFs Global Supply Division based in Copenhagen, Denmark, stated UNICEF. UNICEF added that all suppliers were requested to submit technical and financial bids by April 17 and on April 24, UNICEF shared the submitted technical responses. with the ministry for it formal technical evaluation, enabling it to check that all items complied to ministry specifications as identified by its in-house technical experts. Only after the technical evaluation is completed by the Ministry of Health will the financial costs be determined, states UNICEF, adding: In all its procurements UNICEF follows global procurement guidelines and best practice to ensure effectiveness, fairness, transparency and integrity. The Sunday Times then followed up, seeking certain clarifications from UNICEF, emailing the agencys Communication Specialist Jeremy Sprigge, to which he responded that this procurement is currently still in process and no contract has been awarded yet. One hundred and twenty-four employees have been temporarily laid off by Enterprise Holdings due to COVID-19. Enterprise Holdings doing business as Penrac LLC filed a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notice with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry last month. Enterprise Holdings is the parent company of three car rental brands - Enterprise, Alamo and National. The layoffs took place on March 23 at 1301 W. Harrisburg Pike in Lower Swatara Township and included 116 drivers, one fleet logistics supervisor, 1 lot attendant, two remarketing account managers, two remarketing inventory coordinators, one service agent and one vehicle delivery technician. READ MORE: As a result of a series of unforeseen local governmental shutdown orders and federal and CDC guidance recommending social distancing surrounding the coronavirus natural disaster, Enterprise Holdings (Enterprise or the Company) experienced a dramatic downturn in business resulting in the decision to place many employees at PENRAC, LLC, located at 1301 W Harrisburg Pike in Middletown, PA on temporary layoff effective March 23, 2020, the company said in an April 20 letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry. This layoff was and still is expected to be temporary. The tourism and its related industries including car rental, hospitality and the airline industries have all taken a big hit due to the coronavirus pandemic. A spokesperson for Harrisburg International Airport said in mid-April that the month of April was expected to be the slowest month in the airports history. The WARN Act is federal legislation that offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of a covered-business closing and covered-business mass layoff. However, due to the immediate temporary closure of many businesses in Pennsylvania, companies were not able to provide 60 days notice. The company filed the notice with the state around April 20. At the time these temporary layoffs were announced, the Company did not believe there was a reasonable probability that the layoffs would last more than six months; indeed, it was the Companys belief that the layoffs would be for a relatively short duration," the letter said. "However, the Company has determined that while it is still unlikely, it is now reasonably foreseeable that these temporary layoffs could, at least in part, last for more than six months and may result in employment loss under applicable law. --Sign up for PennLives newsletters Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. You can follow Daniel Urie on twitter @DanielUrie2018 and you can like PennLives business page on Facebook at @PennLiveBusiness "If a family can safely live together, go for a drive in the car together or go for a walk in the neighborhood together; then surely they can get some much-needed fresh air on a boat together, Weber said in a statement. This is very frustrating to me and to residents of our district. This is a great way for people to be able to escape, enjoy nature and get some fresh air. A roadside bomb in northern Mali has killed three UN troops. Four other peacekeepers from Chad were wounded. Some 13,000 troops are deployed across the arid nation to deter jihadists. Three United Nations peacekeepers were killed and four others seriously wounded on Sunday, when they were struck by a roadside bomb in Northern Mali. The head of the UN's MINUSMA mission, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, vowed that the perpetrators would be identified and "brought to justice." The improvised devise exploded while Chadian peacekeepers had been on routine patrol in the Aguelhok district, according to the mission. Roadside bombs are a common tactic used by jihadists in violence that began in 2012 and has since claimed thousands of lives and displaced populations -- despite the present of UN and French troops. Post-election unrest Disputed elections held in March and April culminated on Thursday in two protesters being shot in Sikasso in southern Mali. Local sources said troops sent from the capital Bamako had used tear gas and bullets to disperse protesters upset over the outcome of the election held on April 30 after being delayed repeatedly. It went to the ruling Rally for Mali (RPM) of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita which took 53 of the 147 seats in the national assembly -- and still facing calls to promote decentralization via constitutional changes. MINUSMA comprises some 13,000 troops drawn from several countries, including Germany. (AFP, Reuters) Twitter said Monday it would begin adding labels to some tweets that include misinformation, beginning with tweets about the coronavirus pandemic but eventually about other topics, too, as conspiracy theories have continued to spread on social media. The warnings will give people a link to "get the facts about COVID-19," for example, or will say that some of the content in a tweet "conflicts with guidance from public health experts," according to screenshots of the labels provided by the company. Twitter won't necessarily be taking down more tweets than it has been, but in some cases users might need an extra click to see a tweet. Users may also be presented with context from the World Health Organization or other medical experts, the company said. Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak The new feature is the latest in a series of moves by social media and other tech companies to try to curb the spread of bad medical advice, hoaxes and misinformation as the coronavirus tests their long-held commitment to try to remain neutral in online debates. Twitter Facebook has for years put fact-checking material in its news feed to warn users about false information, although how effective those measures have been is in dispute. But the move represents something new for Twitter. "These labels are a way for us to provide further context," Yoel Roth, head of site integrity at Twitter, said on a conference call with reporters. He said the labels would allow users to come to their own judgments with more information without being heavy-handed. "We are not fact-checking every piece of content on Twitter and have heard clearly that's not what people want us to do," he said. Nick Pickles, Twitter's director of public policy strategy, said the company hoped to increase media literacy skills with the change. Last week, a video from a discredited scientist promoting a hodgepodge of conspiracy theories about the coronavirus spread rapidly online, including through promotion on Twitter. Twitter issued an "unsafe" warning on at least one tweet about the video before announcing the new feature Monday, and it blocked a handful of hashtags from trending. Story continues Roth said tweets with conspiracy theories on the origin of the coronavirus would be the sort that might be labeled with context. Twitter has already been removing information that directly contradicts medical advice about the pandemic, going so far as to order the president of Brazil to remove a video from his account. Download the NBC News app for full coverage and alerts about the coronavirus outbreak Twitter said it would look for misleading tweets on its own, as well as work without outside experts to watch for misinformation that may be spreading quickly. The company said its response would depend on two factors: the extent to which the information has been confirmed as false and the potential for harm offline. Only statements that are confirmed as false and have a propensity for severe harm will be removed, Twitter said. GCC signs wind power agreement with Black Hills Energy ICR Newsroom By 11 May 2020 Grupo Cementos Chihuahua (GCC) has signed a power purchasing agreement (PPA) with Black Hills Energy to supply GCCs Rapid City cement plant with half of its power requirements in the next 15 years. By choosing low-cost renewable energy resources to power our business, were able to advance our business goals and sustainability objectives while also supporting the expansion of affordable, renewable energy development in the region, said Ron Henley, GCCs US division president. Clean energy is good for the planet and good for our company. Black Hills Energy will build a wind power facility in 2020 to supply the energy. The Corriedale Wind Energy Project near Cheyenne, Wyoming, is expected to generate electricity by the 1Q21. The use of wind energy will enable GCC to reduce CO 2 emissions at its Rapid City plant by around 50,000tpa. Published under HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (hereafter "Ping An" or the "Group", HKEx:2318; SSE:601318) announced that Ping An is the world's most valuable insurance brand in the Insurance 100 2020 report by leading brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance. Ping An is also the 9th most valuable brand in the world, according to the Brand Finance Global 500 2020 report released earlier this year. The Insurance 100 2020 report ranking shows Ping An's brand value increased 20% year on year to USD60.6 billion. This has consolidated Ping An's leadership position as it has retained the top spot as the world's most valuable insurance brand for the fourth year in a row. Brand Finance is the world's leading independent brand valuation consultancy. It evaluates thousands of the world's biggest brands every year. This year, Brand Finance assessed the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on enterprise value, estimating the likely impact on brand value for each sector. The Brand Finance Insurance 100 evaluates the brand value of a company in three aspects: the Brand Strength Index, Brand Royalty Rate and Brand Revenues. Brand Finance said, "Ping An's commitment in expanding its business portfolio to non-insurance sectors and digital development have made it stand out from its peers. Among all, Ping An's exploration in healthtech through its subsidiary Ping An Good Doctor has made it truly unique as an insurance brand, given the impressive 315 million registered users and nearly 70 million monthly active users Ping An Good Doctor had by the end of 2019." During the first quarter of 2020, Ping An continued to enhance its technological capabilities, in order to provide high quality products and services to customers amidst the COVID-19 epidemic. Ping An delivered solid results in the first quarter of 2020: operating profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company rose 5.3% year on year to RMB35,914 million (USD5,073 million), and operating profit after tax of the life and health insurance business rose 23.0% year on year to RMB24,556 million (USD3,467 million) due to its efforts in developing innovative online operating models. Ping An acquired 8.71 million new retail customers during the period. Ping An said, "Going forward, Ping An will continue to adhere to its customer-centric philosophy and apply technological innovations to the development of retail financial products and the improvement of customer services. Under our 'finance + technology' and 'finance + ecosystem' strategies, Ping An aims to empower financial services with technologies. Ping An will seize development opportunities for fintech and healthtech, to make significant contributions in constructing smart city, fulfilling its social responsibility and safeguarding people's livelihoods." In addition to Ping An's achievements, Chinese insurance brands in general have a significant presence in the Brand Finance Insurance 100 2020 ranking, with a total of 12 Chinese insurers featured. The total brand value of these Chinese insurance brands reached USD151.5 billion, and the five Chinese insurance brands featured in the top 10 are Ping An, China Life, AIA, CPIC and PICC. - End - About Ping An Group Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An") is a world-leading technology-powered retail financial services group. With over 204 million retail customers and 534 million Internet users, Ping An is one of the largest financial services companies in the world. Ping An has two over-arching strategies, "pan financial assets" and "pan health care", which focus on the provision of financial and healthcare services through our integrated financial services platform and our five ecosystems of financial services, health care, auto services, real estate services and smart city services. Our "finance + technology" and "finance + ecosystem" strategies aim to provide customers and internet users with innovative and simple products and services using technology. As China's first joint stock insurance company, Ping An Group is committed to upholding the highest standards of corporate reporting and corporate governance. The Company is listed on the stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In 2019, Ping An ranked 7th in the Forbes Global 2000 list and 29th on the Fortune Global 500 list. Ping An also ranked 40th in the 2019 WPP Millward Brown BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands list. For more information, please visit www.pingan.cn . SOURCE Ping An Insurance Group Ltd. Related Links http://www.pingan.cn Last straw For bureaucrats working for the Delhi government, the repatriation of Indians stranded in other countries might appear like the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. The sub-divisional magistrates, or SDMs, in the city have been put in charge of containment zones falling within these districts (all seven districts in Delhi are red zones) and now with the movement of international passengers, each of them has been assigned additional duties on the management of the returnees. Now these officials, already under stress, find themselves loaded with more work like ... Mumbai, May 11 : Actor-model-fitness enthusiast Milind Soman is encouraging people to try out a "new movement" to stay fit. He took to social media to post a short workout video. In the video, he starts off with push-ups but there comes a moment when he literally goes up in the air. "Trying a new movement. If you try it too, be careful and dont blame me if you break your teeth," he captioned the video. One of his fans called him a "Superman, indeed", another wrote: " That's awesome Milind... you surely give so many of us mortals a new meaning to life... your a God of Fitness and positive attitude." Last month, Milind had suggested meditation for peace of mind in these times of COVID-19 stress, often triggered off by all the rumours, speculations and fake news emanating about the disease. "So much conflicting information online. So much uncertainty. What will the world be like in a few months. What about the virus. What about the economy. Let's not overthink this. Go with the flow. Whatever shape the world takes, we must be prepared. Our minds must be prepared. Strong. And centered," Milind had written on Instagram. "Meditation, if practiced for as few as 10 minutes each day, can help you control stress, decrease anxiety, improve cardiovascular health, and achieve a greater capacity for relaxation," the 54-year-old had added. -- Syndicated from IANS At least 19 Navy personnel were killed and 15 others were injured in the accident involving the 'Konarak' support warship, the Iranian Navy said on Monday (local time). Image only for representation. The Iranian vessel met with an accident during a military drill in the waters of Jask Port in southern Iran, reported IRNA. As per reports, the vessel was mistakenly hit by a missile during the drills, since it was located too close to the intended target. The Navy said that rescue and relief operations began soon after the mishap and the injured persons were evacuated and sent to medical centres. Those injured are in 'satisfactory' conditions, added the Navy. The incident comes in the wake of heightened tensions as the United States-Iran relations continue to deteriorate. The tensions worsened sharply after Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was assassinated by the US in January earlier this year. Iran responded to his assassination by firing missiles at bases in Iraq. Oishani Mojumder By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Telangana is likely to witness a spike in Covid-19 cases in the coming days as 10 migrant workers tested positive for the virus in just four days. Of these 10 cases, majority of the patients came from Maharashtra. On Sunday alone, seven migrant workers who returned from Mumbai to their native places in Mancherial, Yadadri and Jangaon have tested positive. Though there is an increase in such cases, people in cars, cabs and personal vehicles coming from other states are not being tested for Covid-19 at the interstate borders. As per ICMR guidelines, the testing is being done only on those people who have any symptoms, and who are coming from a red or containment zones of other states. Speaking to Express, a Hyderabad resident who returned from Bengaluru by car, said, At the Karnataka-AP border, we were only checked for the transit pass. "At the Telangana border, they checked our pass, took a couple of health details, stamped us with the home quarantine before allowing us enter the State. They did not even specify how many days we are supposed to be under home quarantine. They also did not counsel us on whom to contact if and when we develop any symptoms. The check points at all State borders at present have police and medical personnel. Wanaparthy SP Apoorva Rao informed Express, The police are only checking transit records. Rest of the details are being collected by medical personnel and they would be sent to the health officials of the destination city/town of the migrants. As per ICMR guidelines, we are still following the testing rule that say only symptomatic people with travel history from Covid-affected areas are supposed to be tested. Along with that we are also testing people who have previous history of SARI, or are pregnant during their last term of gestation, said Dr Kumar Swamy, nodal officer, Mancherial district. We are also advising people with co-morbidities and pregnant women who are close to their due dates to stay back in the district hospitals where they are being checked for symptoms before heading to their destinations, the nodal officer added. [May 11, 2020] Ceridian Transforms the Traditional Payday with Launch of Dayforce Wallet TORONTO and MINNEAPOLIS, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ceridian (NYSE: CDAY; TSX: CDAY), a global human capital management (HCM) company, announced today the availability of Dayforce Wallet an on-demand pay solution. Dayforce Wallet leverages the Dayforce platforms unique continuous calculation capabilities for an accurate, on-demand payment, instead of an approximation of earnings. It disrupts the antiquated concept of a fixed pay period allowing people to be paid in real-time, at any time. The launch comes at a time when making ends meet is of heightened concern, with many individuals across income levels and employment types living paycheck to paycheck. Using the Dayforce Wallet app, employees can request a payout of their earnings whenever they need it. They can also manage their finances, check their balance, and track their transaction history. Now more than ever, organizations need to embrace modern technologies to create experiences that drive engagement and provide quantifiable value to employees, said David Ossip, Chairman and CEO, Ceridian. Dayforce Wallet fundamentally changes the concept of the traditional payday as employees can request access to their pay as they earn it and need it, with no direct fees for the employer or employee. Ossip added, Dayforce Wallet is a game-changer and it can play an important role in immediately delivering emergency funds or other forms of financial support to employees whose circumstances may be adversely impacted. With a large base of front-line manufacturing employees, we were looking for an intuitive app-based solution that would resonate with our employees needs, and drive value for our people and our business, said Gavin Flynn, Director, HR Information Systems, HR Technology, Danone North America. Dayforce Wallet was a perfect match with easy adminisration, and at no cost to our organization or our employees. Using Dayforce Wallet, our employees can make any day a payday and are empowered to take control of their own financial wellbeing. Dayforce Wallet is now available to Dayforce customers in the U.S. as a downloadable app on the Apple App Store and on Google Play. About Dayforce Wallet Dayforce Wallet combines a digital wallet with a Dayforce Prepaid Mastercard for an experience that gives workers access to their earned wages on-demand. Net pay is continuously calculated as an extension of the Dayforce platform. On-demand pay requests are processed as a regular payroll with the appropriate tax remittances for an accurate payment. There are no direct fees to either the employer or employee to participate. Dayforce Wallet is compliant with federal, state, and local remittances. Existing payroll process and funding schedule is maintained, including the funding, timing, and close-out of pay. This means administrators do not have to spend time reconciling at the end of the pay period. To learn more about Dayforce Wallet, visit: www.dayforcewallet.com . About Ceridian Ceridian. Makes Work Life Better. Ceridian HCM Holding Inc. (Ceridian or the Company) (NYSE:CDAY) (TSX:CDAY) is a global human capital management software company. Dayforce, our flagship cloud HCM platform, provides human resources, payroll, benefits, workforce management, and talent management functionality. Our platform is used to optimize management of the entire employee lifecycle, including attracting, engaging, paying, deploying, and developing people. Ceridian has solutions for organizations of all sizes. Visit Ceridian.com or follow us @Ceridian . Media Contact: Matthew Duffin [email protected] +1 647.248.0752 The Dayforce Prepaid Mastercard is issued by Central Bank of Kansas City, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard International Incorporated. Mastercard is a registered trademark, and the circles design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated. Certain fees, terms, and conditions are associated with the approval, maintenance and use of the Card. You should consult your Cardholder Agreement and Fee Schedule. If you have any questions regarding the Card or such fees, terms, and conditions, you can contact us toll-free at 1-877-723-7434, 24 hours a day. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Tennessee Honey Festival - 2020 Honey Dinner Chef, Julia Sullivan, has been nominated as a finalist for being Best Chef of the Southeast region, according to the James Beard Foundation. On the 30th anniversary of what should have been the annual James Beard Awards ceremony, the James Beard Foundation announced the finalists of the 2020 James Beard Awards. In the category, Best Chef (Southeast), Chef Julia Sullivan was declared Tennessee's nominee out of six states, including: Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, & West Virginia. In 2018, Henrietta Red was nominated as a semi-finalist for Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation. In 2019, Chef Julia Sullivan was nominated as a semi-finalist for the same category that she is a finalist for now! Julia Sullivan is a Nashville native, renowned chef, and restaurateur. Sullivan is head chef and co-owner of Nashville restaurant; Henrietta Red. Chef Sullivan, along with her business partner & sommelier, Allie Poindexter, named the restaurant in honor of Sullivan's grandparents who embodied the Carolina low-country hospitality. With them in mind, they created a unique atmosphere and environment for the restaurant's culture. The menu at Henrietta Red focuses on simple, fresh ingredients, such as vegetable-forward dishes that drive the restaurant's reputation. Henrietta Red offers a variety of bar specialties including natural wines, craft cocktails and their other unique bar the full raw bar selection which offers a fresh variety of crudo - oysters & shellfish; a rarity in landlocked Nashville. The inaugural Tennessee Honey Dinner, an exclusive private honey-themed dinner put on by the Tennessee Honey Festival, will be held at the infamous Henrietta Red restaurant featuring specialty honey-themed dishes. Attend the 2020 Tennessee Honey Festival on Saturday, September 26th at OneC1ty in Nashville, Tennessee and experience a one-of-a-kind festival focusing on raising awareness the importance of our pollinators and Tennessee honeybees. Celebrate afterwards at the Tennessee Honey Festival's premier of the Tennessee Honey Dinner. This is a private honey-themed dinner event, including honey-infused cocktails. Limited tickets are available. Reserve your tickets to this exclusive honey-themed dinner today! This private dinner event will be held on Saturday evening, September 26th, at world-renowned chef, Julia Sullivan's Henrietta Red restaurant, nestled in Nashville's Germantown community. Get tickets here: https://tennesseehoneyfestival.com/product/honey-dinner/ Erica Brister & U.S. Pest Protection Phone: 615-590-1260 Email: [email protected] SOURCE U.S. Pest Protection Sudhir Suryawanshi By Express News Service MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to restart the Mumbai suburban train service for the essential services. In a video conference meeting, CM Uddhav Thackeray said that the people who are working in the essential services should be allowed to travel in this suburban train services. Thackeray said that they were able to control the outbreak of coronavirus in April but reported that it will increase in May, June and July 2020 so the government should take all precautions. "We are following all guidelines prescribed by the central government. The migrant workers want to go back their home state. By following the social distancing, the migrants should be allowed to travel from one state to another," Thackeray said. Thackeray also demanded that the GST compensation to the state government. "The state government has lost around Rs 35,000 revenue in the last 40 days. The central government should extend financial help during crisis situations. Then, it will be given to the needy and the poor people," told Thackeray to Prime Minister Modi. FOLLOW CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES HERE Thackeray also apprised to Prime Minister that they are ensuring strict lockdown in the containment zone. "The state government has also created several isolation centers at BKC, Racecourse, Nehru centre, Worli, Goregaon exhibition etc. We have enough numbers of beds in emergency situations. Besides, we have also formed the task force of expert doctors who are helping to control the outbreak of coronavirus," the chief minister added. The Shiv Sena leader also said that when required the central government should provide the security personnel so that the police can take the breathing break. "The Reserve Bank of India should ask the bank to disburse the crop loan to farmers. Farmers need money to buy seeds and fertilizer for the sowing purpose and other agriculture activities. We had waived the farm loan but many farmers from Vidarbha could not get the benefit due to the lockdown. The central should extend all possible help in time of crisis," the chief minister added. THE Senate on Monday, May 11, voted to adopt a resolution asking the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to reconsider its cease and desist order against television network ABS-CBN Corporation. Twelve senators voted in favor of the resolution while nine abstained. Senate Resolution No. 395 noted that the NTC had allowed the PT&T, Globe Innove and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to continue operations even after their franchises expired. The resolution stated that "now more than ever, in the middle of the biggest public health crisis of our generation, the Filipino people deserve access to up-to-date news provided by a free and unfettered media, and multiple sources of information provide the best pathways for truth to emerge. "Equally important, the cease and desist order against ABS-CBN will impact on 13,000 of its workers, creating joblessness that could not be more ill-timed given the looming economic recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic," the resolution added. The senators who abstained from voting explained that the network has already filed a petition before the Supreme Court. Besides, renewal of the networks legislative franchise should emanate from the House of Representatives. Those who abstained were Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senators Panfilo Lacson, Francis Tolentino, Cynthia Villar, Imee Marcos, Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go, Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. and Pia Cayetano. Cayetano, who signed the resolution earlier, said the case is already with the Supreme Court. ABS-CBN has been off-air since May 5, shortly after the NTC served the closure order, which was issued after the networks 25-year legislative franchise expired. ABS-CBN sought relief from the Supreme Court on May 7, saying the NTC "gravely abused" its discretion when it issued the order instead of deferring to Congress. (MVI/SunStar Philippines) Dethroned Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has welcomed a baby girl with his 4th wife Saadatu. Ashraf, Sanusis son confirmed the birth of his step-sister on Instagram and he said the deposed Emirs second wifes plea made Sanusi name the baby girl after his first wife, who took care of Saadatu while she was pregnant. Read Ashraf Sanusis full post below; Whenever people asked me about my mothers, Id say I have 3 (now 4) because all of my fathers wives are my mothers. In that spirit I want to share something that warmed my heart with you. My first mum, Yaya (Giwa) has basically taken care of the 4th especially through this trying period. My second mum, (Goggo) Mamie, seeing this pleaded with my father to name the new baby after her (Yaya). And masha Allah the new baby is named Halimatu Saadiyya (Rafeeqah). This is the spirit of family and peace that makes me happy. May that peace continue to reign. Here she is with her elder siblings that In Shaa Allah wont bully her , MashaAllah. Please say allahumma barik, or MashaAllah Tabarakallah for my little sister A lingerie brand has featured the disabled Australian model Cherie Barry in the world's biggest online runway show, with over 200 models worldwide taking part on Zoom. The 28-year-old from Melbourne was joined by models from the UK, USA, France, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Argentina, Canada, Hawaii, Australia, Mexico, Ireland and Hong Kong for the Bluebella show. The Bluebella virtual show was conceived so the British label could show off their latest wares to shoppers stuck at home during the coronavirus lockdown. Scroll down for video Disabled Australian model Cherie Barry (pictured) led the world's biggest online runway show for the lingerie brand Bluebella, with over 200 models worldwide taking part on Zoom Cherie, 28, from Melbourne, was joined by models from the UK, USA, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Argentina, Canada, Hawaii, Australia, Mexico, Ireland and Hong Kong All of the models around the world complied by current social distancing rules, filming themselves flaunting the brand's Spring/Summer 2020 collection from the safety and comfort of their own homes. Cherie Barry was chosen from over 1,000 women who applied to take part, and participants represented a range of diverse body types, aged 18 to 50. She appeared from her bedroom at home in Melbourne, where she said she was originally scared but thrilled to take part. All of the models around the world complied by current social distancing rules, filming themselves flaunting the brand's Spring/Summer 2020 collection from their homes (pictured) Cherie Barry was chosen from over 1,000 women who applied to take part, and participants represented a range of diverse body types, being aged 18 to 50 (one of the models pictured) 'I was scared at first because I have never shown my amputation from the back and have always been self-conscious of that part of me,' Cherie told FEMAIL. 'Bluebella was amazing and super accommodating with what kinds of pieces I was comfortable in wearing. 'But when I filmed the video and saw how I looked, I was like, wow my left side doesn't look anywhere near as bad as I had imagined.' She continued: 'I felt like I've avoided really looking at myself since I was a kid and had decided I hated that part of my body, but now I see it's no big deal and I should wear things like this more often!' To take part, the candidates had to submit a catwalk video filmed at home by themselves or their lockdown partner (one of the models pictured) The footage was then edited down to a two-minute catwalk show on a Zoom video multi-screen format (pictured) Elsewhere in the show, Bluebella included a selection of LGBTQ, plus-size and older models, as well as a selection of women who came from other walks of life, including a vet, student and top executives. To take part, the candidates had to submit a catwalk video filmed at home by themselves or their lockdown partner. The footage was then edited down to a two-minute catwalk show on a Zoom video multi-screen format. The Bluebell founder and CEO Emily Bendell said: 'The COVID pandemic has restricted the fashion industry so much and a regular runway show now and in the near term is unthinkable' Speaking to FEMAIL, the Bluebell founder and CEO Emily Bendell said: 'The COVID pandemic has restricted the fashion industry so much and a regular runway show now and in the near term is unthinkable. 'But the show must go on! So rather than be constrained we saw this as an opportunity to celebrate our extraordinary Instagram family. 'We were keen to incorporate our influencers and create a street-style feel to the video, and the response and spirit and sense of community between the girls that this project has created has been simply amazing. 'The whole industry will have to adapt to these changing times, I suspect Fashion Weeks in New York, London, Paris and Milan which are scheduled for September this year will be affected so brands may all have to adapt to online versions.' Since the video has been shared online, it has had thousands of hits and comments on YouTube, with many describing it as an 'excellent initiative' Thousands streamed the show and said it was 'fantastic' and that they 'absolutely love it' Since the video has been shared online, it has had thousands of hits and comments on YouTube. 'Excellent initiative! All models are gorgeous,' one commenter wrote. 'Fantastic. I absolutely love it,' another added. For more information about Bluebella, please click here. (HealthDay)Efforts to create a COVID-19 vaccine are proceeding at an unprecedented pace, with eight different candidates now being tested in humans around the world. But to have a vaccine available for widespread use by early next year could entail bending some rules regarding safety and testingactions that might put the health, and possibly the lives, of test volunteers at risk. "It is possible to have a vaccine by the fall or winter," said Dr. Greg Poland, director of the Vaccine Research Group at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "It is not possible to have a vaccine by fall or winter that has gone through the usual safety testing. Speed is a tradeoff with safety." The government's leading vaccine expertDr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseasesraised eyebrows in late April when he declared it "doable" to have millions of doses of coronavirus vaccine ready for distribution by January. "We have to remember that the fastest we've ever seen this really being done is four years," said Dr. David Shulkin, former secretary of Veterans Affairs and former president and CEO of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. "The traditional methods and processes for developing vaccines take a great deal of time." However, Shulkin and other experts agree that a COVID-19 vaccine could be ready for public distribution earlier than the 12- to 18-month development timetable that has been suggested. The holdup isn't in creating a vaccine. The World Health Organization lists eight candidate vaccines currently in human clinical trials, and 100 more candidates are undergoing preclinical evaluation in laboratories worldwide. Rather, testing each vaccine to make sure it's safe and effective is what eats up months and years, Shulkin said during a HealthDay Live Stream interview. "It's likely we will see vaccine approvals outside the United Stateswhere the regulatory approvals may not necessarily be as stringentin a quicker time period than even the 18-month period we've discussed," Shulkin said. "Now, whether that will be safe to commercialize and to make available to masses in the population of the United States, that will be a separate issue," Shulkin continued. "But I think the basic vaccine technology and readiness to be used for healthy humans, I believe we will see this before the 18-month period." Poland said that there are a couple of ways the United States could speed up its own vaccine testing process, but these strategies raise important ethical questions. The tried-and-true way of vaccine testing involves giving people a vaccine and then letting them live their lives as usual. The study volunteers are tracked over a period of months or years, to see how many become infected anyway and what side effects they develop. One shortcut would involve human challenge clinical trials, in which people are given the experimental vaccine and then infected with the coronavirus in a lab. "You'd start with young people," Poland said. "You'd give them an experimental vaccine. You would remove them to another facility and you would deliberately expose them to the virus, recognizing we don't have any secure treatment, recognizing that severe complications occur unpredictably. But you would learn very, very quickly, does this virus protect and does it cause side effects." For his part, Poland doesn't think COVID-19 poses a dire enough threat to humans at this time to warrant challenge trials. "Let's say, for example, the virus mutates and now it's not killing a few percent of those it infects, it's killing 30%," Poland postulated. "We don't have enough antiviral drug to treat everyone, and we still don't have a vaccine. Maybe I'd take an incompletely tested vaccine under that scenario. But would you take it under the current scenario?" Another way to speed up testing would be to grant emergency use authorization to strong vaccine candidates, Poland said. That's currently being done with antiviral drugs and virus test kits. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing their use in clinical settings, with the understanding that the drugs and tests aren't fully tested and must be closely tracked to gather data on their effectiveness. "We will give you the experimental vaccine, but you have to agree to allow us to take your temperature, draw blood, test you," Poland said. "We could very rapidly immunize a lot of people, and basically see what happens," he added. "I think there are some people who are willing to make that tradeoff," Poland said. "I think there are a whole lot more unwilling to take that tradeoff." The problem comes in the potential for dangerous side effects like antibody-dependent enhanced disease, a condition in which antibodies formed in response to a vaccine actually make future infections with the virus more severe. "What happens if you take the vaccine, the virus mutates, comes back this fall, and those that got the vaccine actually now have a worse case?" Poland said, noting that this effect occurred before in a vaccine for dengue and an inactivated measles vaccine. After testing, the remaining holdup involves ramping up the manufacturing process so that millions of doses of a vaccine are available to the publicand steps are being taken to eliminate that roadblock. Backed by federal funding, companies like Johnson & Johnson and Moderna are ramping up production of untested vaccine candidates on what's called an "at-risk" basis. Dr. Walter Orenstein is associate director of the Emory Vaccine Center at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. He said, "We need to encourage at-risk development at least of some doses so, should the vaccine work, we're ready to use it immediately as opposed to waiting for a period of production before we have that vaccine available." The federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has invested $483 million to scale up production of a Moderna vaccine candidate now in human trials, and another $456 million for a Johnson & Johnson vaccine that is still being tested in the lab, according to the news site Quartz. Poland said, "They're going to make vaccines that they don't know if the vaccines work or if they're safe, but they're going to go ahead and make them. If they're wrong, they'll throw them away." Even if risky strategies like challenge trials or emergency vaccine use aren't undertaken, the speed at which current COVID-19 trials are proceeding will require a lot of follow-up study to validate the safety of whatever vaccines wind up reaching the public, Orenstein said. "Most of the trials will be at best in the thousands" of participants, Orenstein said. "There will be a need for a system to monitor safety after a vaccine is used in much larger populations to look for rare adverse events." Follow-up studies also will reveal how well the protection provided by a vaccine holds up over time, he added. "We need to look and see over time whether immunity wanes and, if so, whether we need to give booster doses or not," Orenstein said. "Everything has to go well if we're going to get something in January," Orenstein concluded. "That may not be the case, and we need to prepare for it to be longer if we don't get the data we need on safety and effectiveness." Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak More information: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about COVID-19 Copyright 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Currently in developed countries, life expectancy is far higher than 80 years of age. However, with a longer life expectancy comes increased chances of developing a neurodegenerative disease, like Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease and dementia. The progression of these disorders result in an increasingly debilitating situation until full-time care is needed. Unfortunately, the etiology of these diseases is still not completely understood, and the majority of medication only treats symptoms. With life expectancy increasing, it is essential to enhance our understanding of these diseases and develop novel therapies. Biological assays, including aggregation, cytotoxicity and signaling assays, are vital in aiding researchers with their understanding of the underlying mechanisms of these conditions, in addition to discovering promising treatments in the primary stages of drug development. This article explains the importance of these assays and the requirement for sensitive and rapid instruments that are able to analyze assays with a variety of detection techniques. What are neurodegenerative diseases? Neurodegenerative is a term that refers to diseases that are usually recognized by symptoms like decreased motor control, mood disorders and cognitive deficits. As indicated by the name, the conditions are characterized by degeneration of the neurons. Neurons are nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that do not replicate. If neurons become damaged they are unable to recover, resulting in brain dysfunction and incurable diseases. Despite there being similarities between neurodegeneration in the related conditions, the origin of the causes may differ. For example, Huntingtons disease is triggered by a gene mutation, Creutzfeldt Jakob prion disease is caused by inaccurately folded protein (prion), and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's are suggested to be caused by a genetic and environmental factor combination and usually occur in individuals over the age of 60. A similar feature among these neurodegenerative conditions is how damage is induced in the neurons and thus, the brain. Incorrectly folded proteins occur in the progression of all the mentioned conditions. Amyloid fibrils are formed and protein aggregates resulting in a build-up of plaques, potentially harming neuronal cells and brain tissue. Understanding and disturbing this alteration is an essential approach for treating neurodegeneration as it may be an advantage to patients with any of the conditions. Figure 1: Nerve cells (neurons) are the target of neurodegeneration. Loss of neurons and neuronal function is due to abnormal protein aggregation or reduced signaling. In Parkinson's Disease, protein accumulations of alpha-synuclein occur inside the cell (Lewy Bodies, red in the picture) and disrupt neuron function. Image Credit: BMG Labtech Why is neurodegenerative disease research so important? Neurodegenerative diseases mimic cardiovascular diseases and cancer as main causes of death. Unlike cardiovascular diseases and cancer, neurodegenerative diseases are unable to be cured or their progression slowed significantly. Nerve disorders symptoms are impaired movement, memory loss, mood variations, impaired speaking and several more. To begin with, these dysfunctions do not impair patients to a significant level and they can continue to live an independent life. However, as the progression of the diseases continue, the quality of life of the patients is reduced dramatically until they are in need of full-time care. As a consequence, there is a social and financial burden during disease progression too. Currently in Europe, roughly 130 billion is spent per year to care for individuals with dementia, a consequence of neurodegenerative conditions. With increases seen in the aging population, the amount of affected people also increases. In 2015, Alzheimers Disease impacted 40 million people globally, and this is estimated to rise to 130 million by 2030, with one-third to one-half of people over the age of 85 years developing this disease. The average duration of Alzheimers Disease is 2 to 10 years, which undoubtedly has an effect on the predicted economic toll in the USA, of $1 trillion per annum, of this disease by 2050. To date, there are a limited amount of treatments that are used for neurodegenerative diseases, and the majority of these just treat symptoms. Actually, there has been no approval of novel drugs for Alzheimers Disease in Europe in the last five years. With this in mind, successful therapies to delay or lessen the symptoms of these debilitating conditions is vital in order to limit the detrimental influence it has on individuals, families, societies and economies. A delay in the onset of Alzheimers Disease by only five years would lessen the financial burden in the USA by 50% and shows that even a small delay would be an advantage, allowing improved independence of the patient and relief to the family and their commitments and the public health bill. Drug target identification for neurodegenerative diseases For the identification of possible new drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, it is practical to gain an understanding of the disease itself. Broad and differing symptoms and characteristic slow onset, means that diagnosis is frequently only made when the disease is already progressing. With this in mind, it is still evident that there remain gaps in the understanding of these disorders, specifically the triggers and initial stages of the conditions. Consequently, fundamental research is ongoing to give a more detailed understanding of these diseases and aid in the identification of novel drugs. In the last 10 years, the development of new assays has given potential to the study of neurodegeneration processes in vitro and in high throughput. This provides the potential to test numerous experimental conditions or numerous potential drugs in extremely short times. Many key assays are valuable tools for the analysis of the disease pathway and assessing the effects of possibly drugs. Following this, assays testing aggregation, cytotoxicity, signaling and protein quantity is explained and demonstrates how they aid in the understanding of neurodegenerative diseases. Neurodegenerative disease studies: Aggregation assays A main feature of neurodegenerative diseases is the creation of soluble, functional proteins into insoluble, highly ordered protein aggregates called amyloid fibrils or plaques. This transition starts with prefibrillar species (dimers, tetramers, hexamers etc.) forming before progressing into large protein aggregate complexes. With regards to prions, traditionally, whole animal models have been utilized to monitor these protein aggregates via long bioassays that may take up to 6 months. In 2012, at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana, a quicker, higher throughput aggregation assay for prion seeding monitoring was developed by investigators. It was called real-time quaking induced conversion assay (RT-QuIC). RT-QuIC uses fluorescence intensity for the measurement of the aggregation of prion proteins. The fluorescent dye, thioflavin T (ThT), is added to recombinant proteins and the molecule binds to beta-sheets created during fibril formation, which induces a fluorescence increase. The technique is completed in microplates and uses recombinant prion protein, tau protein or alpha-synuclein. The plate is sporadically shaken to allow the breaking up of fibrils during shaking and new fibril formation during quiescence. The time it takes to complete the method is 168 hours, but fibrils formation is increased at higher temperatures. Due to this, the protein aggregation assay is often completed at 37 C or higher. Combining high temperature, intermittent shaking and extended run times puts high demands on the measuring equipment. The Omega microplate reader series has shown evidence to be robust and reliable to complete the tedious work as summarized in the application note; Real-time quaking induced conversion assay for prion seeding. The Omegas have been selected as the readers of choice for aggregation assays due to their high temperature incubation (up to 65 C), enhanced plate carrier and an increasingly robust transport system. The webinar demonstrates tips and tricks for full optimization of the RT-QuiC measurements. Optimizing sensitivity and specifity in the RT- QUIC assay Play Video Credit: BMG Labtech Research published in 2016 found the RT-QuiC performed with cerebrospinal fluid to be a reliable test for sporadic Creutzfeldt Jakob disease. Eleven centers based in Europe, Asia and Australia analyzed the human CSF samples with RT-QuiC and BMG LABTECH plate readers (with one exception). A diagnosis of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease from the centers occurred with 100 % accordance (McGuire et al. 2016). A technique appropriate for monitoring the onset of aggregation uses a novel fluorophore: bis(triphenyl phosphonium) tetraphenylethene (TPE-TPP). The dye has superior properties to the ThT dye as it is more efficient at binding. Additionally, the monitoring of its fluorescence polarization (FP) shows on early stages (dimers, tetramers) of aggregation. FP measures the rotation of molecules in solution. Small molecules move rapidly and depolarize emission whereas large molecules move slower and keep emission polarization. The binding of TPE-TPP to (pre-)amyloid structures reduces the speed of its rotation resulting in measurable changes in FP. The assay was developed by researchers located in Australia which utilized a CLARIOstar microplate reader to complete the FP measurement. An in depth assay explanation can be found in the Application Note: Novel aggregation-specific fluorogen monitors prefibrillar protein aggregation by fluorescence polarisation (FP). Viability and toxicity assays: Better understanding and the modification of neuronal death Apart from protein aggregation, neuronal cell death is a hallmark of neurodegeneration. While in healthy adults neurons are restricted in cell death, during neurodegenerative diseases they die resulting in loss of brain function. The neurons die through mechanisms of programmed cell death which can be caused by oxidative damage of mitochondria or DNA, damage to the membrane by protein aggregates or others. Programmed cell death mechanisms seen in neuronal cells are apoptosis, necrosis and autophagy. Enhancing understanding of the causes of neuronal cell death, its mechanisms and how to inhibit it is a method for discovering medication for neurodegenerative diseases. Several assays study cell death and aid in deciphering and modulating neuronal cell death. An overview of basic cytotoxicity assays is demonstrated in the blog post: Cytotoxicity These assays tell you what your cells dont like. The most frequently utilized cytotoxicity assays are formed on the basis of tetrazolium salts. Their decrease in viable cells results in an absorbance shift that is recorded by microplate readers and indicates metabolic activity. Investigators at the National Medical Research Center, Moscow, Russia used the assay to give evidence that insulin limits excitotoxicity in cortical neurons, an effect causing cell death in neurons that is associated with neurodegenerative diseases (Krasilnikova et al. 2019). Due to their sensitivity and simplicity, ATP-dependent luciferase viability assays are popular. They measure the ATP content of lysed cells by an ATP-dependent luciferase. The light output measured by a microplate reader is directly linked to cell number. The assay aided researchers in Singapore to uncover a cytotoxic effect of mononamine oxidase (MAO) activity in a huntingtin cell model (Ooi et al. 2015). Newly developed cell death assays report on toxicity at one timepoint and also monitor cytotoxic effects over time. The RealTime-Glo viability assay generates light when viable cells are present. If cells are maintained in a culturing environment (37 C, 5 % CO 2 ) by an atmospheric control unit regulating gases within the reader, it is possible to use it for real-time viability monitoring over days. The novel Atmospheric Control Unit (ACU) for the CLARIOstar offers adaptability in long-term cell-based assays. Utilizing the assay on a CLARIOstar microplate reader, the study of a protective effect of a specific fusion protein against neurotoxins was completed (Paliga et al. 2019). Signaling assays and neuron function An early feature of neurodegeneration is weakened neuron signaling. Altered signaling processes include Ca2+ signaling regulating synaptic transmission, energy metabolism and cell survival or signal transmission via receptors. Figure 2: Signal transmission between neurons includes signaling via neurotransmitters and receptors, ions and ion channels and induces intracellular calcium responses. Impaired signaling occurs in neurodegenerative diseases and reversing functional signaling is a therapeutic approach. Image Credit: BMG Labtech Ca2+ signaling in neurons is essential for their cellular function as transmitters of information. Intracellular Ca2+ variations can be monitored using fluorescent dyes like Fura-2, Fluo-8 or Cal- 520. The application note: Monitoring intracellular calcium using fluorescent dyes in a mid-throughput assay is a comparison of the different assays monitoring Ca2+. One instance of Ca2+ assays aiding in neurodegenerative diseases studies is the use of Fura-2 to develop a model of differentiated neurons that are superior in reflecting neurons compared to the human neuroblastoma cells they are derived from (Ferguson et al. 2016). Fura-2 intracellular Ca2+ measurements demonstrated the stimulation of differentiated cells with KCl, while non-differentiated cells did not increase intracellular Ca2+ levels upon KCl. Neurodegeneration biomarker quantification A number of proteins have been discovered to demonstrate changed expression during the different neurodegenerative diseases. In Alzheimers disease, Tau protein is implicated, the TREM2 receptor levels correlate with the risk to develop Alzheimers, and the BDNF growth factor is reduced in Alzheimers. For Parkinsons disease, higher levels of neuroinflammation like IL6, IL 1 and TNF are observed. A popular technique for the quantification of certain proteins in solution is ELISA assays. The application note: Fast and accurate detection of Alzheimers Disease targets with SimpleStep ELISA kits and SPECTROstar Nano describes the ELISA principle and demonstrates how it was utilized to quantify proteins linked to neurodegeneration. Researchers based in Sydney, Australia utilized a TNF-alpha ELISA to examine the effect of chronic microglial activation on the inflammatory marker. They discovered pro-inflammatory TNF-alpha to be raised at all ages of a mouse model with chronic microglial activation, a characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases (Gyengesi et al. 2019). Neurodegeneration research instrumentation This research shows high throughput techniques utilized in studies with neurodegenerative diseases as a key focus. As numerous detection modes are required, the use of multimode plate readers is suggested for neurodegenerative disease research. For the performance of aggregation assays, it is vital that the analysis instrumentation can shake and incubate microplates over extended periods of time, up to 7 days. BMG Labtech are technology leaders in the microplate field. The multimodal plate readers include the CLARIOstar Plus and Omega series, which include a dedicated plate carrier and offer strength in long-term shaking aggregation measurements. Acknowledgments Produced from materials originally authored by Dr Andrea Krumm at BMG LABTECH HQs. References Lassonade M. et al. (2017). The Challenge of Neurodegenerative Diseases in an Aging Population. https://royalsociety.org/-/media/about-us/international/g-science-statements/2017-may-aging-population.pdf?la=en-GB&hash=C665B04DAB77DE2C053D8F51E61E4379 EU Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Disease Research. (2019). Why Choose Neurodegenerative Diseases? https://www.neurodegenerationresearch.eu/about/why/ Sullivan T. (2019). A Tough Road: Cost to Develop One New Drug is $2.6 Billion; Approval Rate for Drugs Entering Clinical Development is less than 12%. https://www.policymed.com/2014/12/a-tough-road-cost-to-develop-one-new-drug-is-26-billion-approval-rate-for-drugs-entering-clinical-de.html Nakamura M. (2012). Real-Time Quaking Induced Conversion Assay for Prion Seeding. BMG Labtech. https://www.bmglabtech.com/real-time-quaking-induced-conversion-assay-for-prion-seeding/ McGuire et al. (2016) Cerebrospinal fluid real-time quaking-induced conversion is a robust and reliable test for sporadic creutzfeldt-jakob disease: An international study. Ann Neurol. 2016 Jul;80(1):160-5. doi: 10.1002/ana.24679. Epub 2016 Jun 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4982084/ Kumar M et al. (2017) Monitoring Early-Stage Protein Aggregation by an Aggregation-Induced Emission Fluorogen. Anal. Chem. 2017, 89, 17, 9322-9329. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.analchem.7b02090 Krasilnikova et al. 2019. Insulin Protects Cortical Neurons Against Glutamate Excitotoxicity Front. Neurosci., 24 September 2019. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.01027 Ooi J et al. 2015. Inhibition of Excessive Monoamine Oxidase A/B Activity Protects Against Stress-induced Neuronal Death in Huntington Disease. Mol Neurobiol. 2015; 52(3): 18501861. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586002/ Paliga D et al. (2019). Lethal Factor Domain-Mediated Delivery of Nurr1 Transcription Factor Enhances Tyrosine Hydroxylase Activity and Protects from Neurotoxin-Induced Degeneration of Dopaminergic Cells Mol Neurobiol. 2019; 56(5): 33933403. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6476859/ Ferguson R et al. (2016) PA6 Stromal Cell Co-Culture Enhances SH-SY5Y and VSC4.1 Neuroblastoma Differentiation to Mature Phenotypes. PLoS One. 2016; 11(7): e0159051. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4938384/ Gyengesi et al. (2019) Chronic Microglial Activation in the GFAP-IL6 Mouse Contributes to Age-Dependent Cerebellar Volume Loss and Impairment in Motor Function. Front. Neurosci., 03 April 2019. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2019.00303/full About BMG Labtech BMG LABTECH has been committed to producing microplate readers for more than twenty years. By focusing on the needs of the scientific community, the companys innovative microplate readers have earned the company the reputation of being a technology leader in the field. BMG LABTECH has developed a wide range of dedicated and multi-mode microplate readers for life sciences applications and high-throughput screening. All BMG LABTECH microplate readers are "Made in Germany" and are conceived, developed, assembled, and tested entirely at our headquarters in Germany. Since our establishment in Offenburg, Germany in 1989, BMG LABTECH has expanded to offer a worldwide sales and support network with offices in the USA, UK, Australia, Japan and France. Our subsidiaries, regional offices and distributors are committed to bringing you innovative microplate reader technology with the quality and reliability you expect from a German company. Our staff includes engineers and scientists from the fields of biology, biochemistry, analytical chemistry, and physics. Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments. As many as 827 Indians who landed at the Mumbai international airport from abroad so far since Sunday have been kept under institutional quarantine as per the guidelines for COVID-19, a civic official said. However, none of them has been shifted to any isolation facility, he said. Isolation separates sick people with a contagious disease from those who are not sick, while quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick. So far, four flights have landed in the city - one each from London, Singapore and Manila on Sunday and one from San Francisco on Monday, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said. Excluding the crew members, the flight from San Francisco had 105 passengers onboard, and the flights from London, Singapore and Manila carried 329,243 and 150 passengers, respectively, he said. "None of them has been shifted to an isolation facility," the official said. Out of the total passengers who landed here, those belonging to Mumbai were kept under mandatory institutional quarantine in hotels near the airport, while those hailing from other cities were taken to their respective places by state transport buses and tourist cabs, sources said. The civic body has reserved over 3,340 rooms in 88 hotels for keeping these passengers brought back to India under 'Mission Vande Bharat', under institutional quarantine. Only passengers with coronavirus symptoms like fever, cough, cold and breathlessness will be shifted to isolation facilities, whereas those without any such symptoms will be kept under mandatory institutional quarantine, as per the BMC. After landing at the airport here, all passengers were screened and also sensitised about coronavirus, the BMC official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chuck Todd speaks during an event in New York City in a 2015 file photograph. (D Dipasupil/Getty Images for AWXII) NBC Admits It Spread Disinformation About Attorney General NBC admitted spreading an edited video clip of Attorney General William Barr that was abruptly cut off, dramatically altering the meaning of what he had said. Earlier today, we inadvertently and inaccurately cut short a video clip of an interview with AG Barr before offering commentary and analysis. The remaining clip included important remarks from the attorney general that we missed, and we regret the error, NBCs Meet the Press said in a statement on social media after criticism from the Trump administration. The admission came after Chuck Todd, the shows moderator, aired on May 10 a brief portion of Barrs recent lengthy interview with CBS. Barr said in the interview, Well, historys written by the winners. So it largely depends on whos writing the history. Todd ended the clip there. Barr went on to say: But I think a fair history would say that it was a good decision because it upheld the rule of law. It helped, it upheld the standards of the Department of Justice, and it undid what was an injustice. Barr was speaking about the Department of Justice submitting a motion to dismiss the case against former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn. The question he was answering was, When history looks back on this decision, how do you think it will be written? Todd said on his show that Barrs answer was cynical, if correct. I was struck, Peggy, by the cynicism of the answer. Its a correct answer. But hes the attorney general. He didnt make the case that he was upholding the rule of law. He was almost admitting that, yeah, this is a political job, Todd said. Barr explicitly said during the interview that he believes moving to drop the Flynn case upheld the rule of law. NBC didnt respond to inquiries about how the clip was altered, whether the network will take punitive action against those involved, or whether Todd had watched the Barr interview in full before making his erroneous remarks. Attorney General William Barr at the Justice Department in Washington on Jan. 13, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) A transcript of Meet the Press posted on NBCs website now includes an editors note stating that the news outlet inadvertently and inaccurately cut short a video clip of an interview with AG Barr [that] included important remarks. Todd hasnt addressed the issue. The same alteration was made on May 8 by MSNBCs Morning Joe, which abruptly cut Barr off after he said, It largely depends on whos writing the history. And there you go, Willie, Joe Scarborough, one of the shows hosts, said after the edited clip ended. Its written by the winners, that tells you all you need to know. Might makes right. The rule of law doesnt matter. MSNBC didnt respond to an inquiry on whether Morning Joe would offer a statement similar to that of Meet the Press. The decision to air the disinformation drew harsh criticism from the White House. Kerri Kupec, a Department of Justice spokeswoman, shared side-by-side transcripts of Meet the Press and Barrs full answer to CBS. Kupec said she was very disappointed by the deceptive editing/commentary by Todd, adding, Compare the two transcripts below. Not only did the AG make the case in the VERY answer Chuck says he didnt, he also did so multiple times throughout the interview. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also took aim at Todd, writing in a statement that the clip was an example of completely dishonest editing. Attorney General Bill Barr DID make the case that he was upholding the rule of law, but Todd uses deceptive editing to leave that part out, she said. President Donald Trump called for Todd to be fired, saying what happened was an example of fraud. He knew exactly what he was doing, he said in a statement. Public Airwaves = Fake News! The alleged killer of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn is "wanted internationally" after an Interpol Red Notice was issued for her arrest. Anne Sacoolas, 42, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving in December but an extradition request submitted by the Home Office was rejected by US secretary of state Mike Pompeo in January. In an email to the 19-year-old's parents from Northamptonshire Police, seen by the PA news agency, the force said "the wanted circulations should be enacted" should Sacoolas leave the US. Expand Close Charlotte Charles, mother of road crash victim Harry Dunn. Photo: AP / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Charlotte Charles, mother of road crash victim Harry Dunn. Photo: AP The teenager was killed when his motorbike crashed into a car outside a US military base in Northamptonshire in August last year. Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official based at RAF Croughton, claimed diplomatic immunity following the crash and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy. On April 30, a spokeswoman for the US State Department reiterated its position that at the time of the accident, and for the duration of her time in the UK, the driver had immunity from criminal jurisdiction. Bay Area political events that are happening online and at socially safe distances during the coronavirus pandemic: WEDNESDAY How to beat Trump: Democratic strategist and former Barack Obama adviser Dan Plouffe in conversation with East Bay Democratic Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks. Hosted by the Commonwealth Club. $15-$20. 6:30 p.m. More information is here. THURSDAY Asian American/Pacific Islanders and coronavirus: A Facebook Live town hall focusing on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the fight against coronavirus. Hosted by Health Care Voter. Noon. More information is here. Fifty years of Pride: Former San Francisco Pride board members share their experiences volunteering for the Pride organization as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. Hosted by the Commonwealth Club. Noon. More information and RSVP for link here. Madeleine Albright: Former secretary of state talks about her new memoir, Hell and Other Destinations: A 21st Century Memoir. Hosted by the Commonwealth Club. $15-$20. 3 p.m. More information is here. MONDAY Sen. Kamala Harris: California Democrat in conversation about working to combat gun violence. Hosted by Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gunsafety. Noon. More information and links are here. TUESDAY Mayors and coronavirus: A digital town hall focusing on Americas mayors and the fight against coronavirus. Hosted by Health Care Voter. Noon. Join meeting here. Rep. Ro Khanna: Fremont Democrat holds a town hall meeting. 1 p.m. Submit a question in advance here; join meeting here. Dan Pfeiffer and Cecilia Munoz: Colleagues from the Obama administration in conversation about working for a sane administration, and the better days to come. Hosted by Swing Left San Francisco. 6 p.m. RSVP for Zoom link here. MAY 21 Women and climate change: Musimbi Kanyoro, former president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, on the role gender equity can play in reducing humans global carbon footprint. Hosted by Climate One. 9:30 a.m. More information is here. Tom Nichols: Political commentator and author of The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters, in conversation with journalist Angie Coiro. Hosted by Keplers Literary Foundation. 7 p.m. More information is here. To list an event, please email Chronicle politics editor Trapper Byrne at tbyrne@sfchronicle.com Tesla sued local authorities in California on Saturday as the electric carmaker pushed to re-open its factory there and Chief Executive Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla's headquarters and future programs from the state to Texas or Nevada. Musk has been pushing to re-open Tesla's Fremont, California, factory after Alameda County's health department said the carmaker must not reopen because local lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus remain in effect. In a blog post on Saturday, Tesla said the county's position left it no choice but to take legal action to ensure Tesla and its employees can go back to work. The company said it had worked out a thorough return-to-work playbook that includes online video training for personnel, work zone partition areas, temperature screening, requirements to wear protective equipment and rigorous cleaning and disinfecting protocols. The company said it had informed health authorities in Alameda County, where the Fremont factory is located, about its restart plans, but claimed the acting official did not return calls or emails. Alameda County's Public Health Department, which earlier on Saturday said it had been "communicating directly and working closely with the Tesla team," did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tesla filed a lawsuit against the county in San Francisco federal court on Saturday, calling the continued restrictions a "power-grab" by the county since California's governor had said on Thursday that manufacturers in the state would be allowed to reopen. The company said Alameda was going against the federal and California constitutions, as well as defying the governor's order, the lawsuit said. Alameda County is scheduled to remain shut until the end of May, with only essential businesses allowed to reopen. The county said it does not consider Tesla an essential business. County officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. Story continues The outspoken Musk also took to Twitter on Saturday to complain and threatened to leave the state. "If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen (sp) on how Tesla is treated in the future," he tweeted, referring to the San Francisco Bay area facility that is Tesla's only U.S. vehicle factory. Alameda County said on Saturday that it has been working with Tesla to develop a safety plan that "allows for reopening while protecting the health and well-being of the thousands of employees" that work at the factory and that it looks forward to coming to an agreement on a safety plan very soon. Fremont Mayor Lily Mei expressed concern about the potential economic implications of continuing the shelter-in-place order without provisions for manufacturers such as Tesla to resume. Mei on Saturday urged the county to work with businesses on "acceptable guidelines for re-opening." Musk had told employees on Thursday that limited production would restart at Fremont on Friday afternoon. Tesla last year built nearly half a million vehicles at the Fremont plant and moving the entire production facility would be a massive undertaking. Dan Ives, a Wedbush analyst, on Saturday estimated it could take the company 12 to 18 months to relocate production. The threat to relocate the facility comes as Tesla aims to ramp up production at Fremont of its Model Y sport utility vehicle, which it expects to generate record demand and profit margins. Musk, who sparred with California officials in March over whether Tesla had to halt production at Fremont, had criticized the lockdown and stay-at-home orders, calling them a "serious risk" to U.S. business and "unconstitutional." Tesla shares have risen 127% since March 18, their recent closing low, including a 16.8% gain in the last trading week to close at $819.42 on Friday. Moscow is now in its second month of quarantine as the confirmed number of coronavirus infections in the capital - and across Russia continues to rise. The government faces criticism over the effectiveness of the health system. There is also uncertainty over how the Russian economy will recover Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Rizki Fachriansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 11, 2020 17:06 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd74abf3 1 Business ikea,alam-sutera,Tangerang,Banten,PSBB,COVID-19,coronavirus,pandemic Free Sweden-based furniture retailer IKEA has temporarily shut its store in Tangerang, Banten, over concern that the outlet could be a place of COVID-19 transmission while public authorities are enforcing large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) in the region. IKEA Indonesia spokeswoman Ririn Basuki confirmed to The Jakarta Post that the company had agreed to close down its first brick-and-mortar store in the country following a request from local authorities to comply with the regions PSBB. IKEA prioritizes the health and safety of our visitors and workers by complying with government regulations, including the PSBB, Ririn told the Post. The furniture giant would ensure the best possible outcome following the closure of its flagship store in Alam Sutera, she added. IKEA Indonesia, which is a subsidiary of publicly-listed retail company PT Hero Supermarket, had previously been allowed to maintain its operations, as it was considered a business providing essential products. However, concerns were raised over what appeared to be a large number of visitors in video footage depicting a packed parking lot at the Alam Sutera store, which went viral on social media on Sunday. Another video shows visitors lining up for temperature checks at the entrance of the store on Saturday. Suasana antrean masuk IKEA Alam Sutera, Pinang, Kota Tangerang, yang ramai untuk pemeriksaan suhu tubuh pengunjung sebelum masuk gedung. Selama PSBB, IKEA Alam Sutera beroperasi dari pukul 11.00 hingga 20.00 WIB. pic.twitter.com/CWazIvbfL6 About Tangerang (@AboutTNG) May 9, 2020 The number of visitors is relatively low compared to what weve recorded under normal circumstances. The queue took place at the stores entrance where visitors lined up for temperature checks yesterday, Ririn said. The number of its online customers had increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, she added. Ririn went on to say that IKEA had implemented various measures to minimize the risk of coronavirus infection among visitors and employees, such as providing access to hand sanitizer and ensuring a safe physical distance. The Banten provincial administration imposed PSBB on Tangerang regency and municipality from April 18 to May 3. As of Sunday, Tangerang confirmed 209 COVID-19 cases and 24 deaths linked to the disease. Overall, 14,265 people have been recorded as infected in Indonesia, with 991 dead. The second IKEA store in Sentul City, Bogor, West Java, remains open, according to Ririn. It is still open for the time being. Were still considering our steps, she said. Illinois Governor Enters Quarantine After Staffer Tests Positive for COVID-19 Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is in isolation at home after one of his senior staff members tested positive for COVID-19. Pritzker was tested twice, once last week and again on May 10, and tested negative both times, his office said on May 11. However, he and all other staff members who interacted with the staffer who tested positive will follow Illinois Department of Public Health guidance and work from home for a period of time. The governors office will undergo deep cleaning. When the department deems it appropriate, Pritzker and staffers will return to the office. The staffer who tested positive didnt show any symptoms of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, Pritzkers office said. Staff members are having their temperatures screened before entering the office and are maintaining social distance and wearing face coverings. Pritzker will hold daily press briefings from his house. Demonstrators gather outside of the Thompson Center to protest restrictions instituted by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, in Chicago, Ill., on May 1, 2020. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) Pritzker appeared May 10 on CNNs State of the Union, defending his slow reopening. Were being very careful. We have a 28-day period that were in now during the month of May in which were watching all these numbers, monitoring them, Pritzker said. We have done a lot to make sure that were keeping these numbers moving in the right direction. And we will not reopen unless we meet all of the standards that I have set for doing so. Pritzkers stay-at-home order is in place through the end of May and some businesses such as restaurants are under harsh restrictions until at least late June. Phase two of Pritzkers reopening plan started on May 1. Some so-called nonessential businesses were allowed to reopen with curbside pickup and delivery. Pritzker previously allowed elective surgeries to resume. The third phase is slated for May 29. ST. LOUIS A woman is hoping to find the person responsible for the hit-and-run death of her twin brother, who was discovered on a sidewalk early Friday morning. Police identified the St. Louis man on Monday. St. Louis police said Clint McKeithen, 48, of the 3000 block of Washington Avenue, was found dead just after 1:45 a.m. Friday. His body was found on the sidewalk, where tire tracks through a grassy lot ended. Police said the vehicle that hit McKeithen left the scene, in the citys Hamilton Heights neighborhood. They did not release a description of the vehicle. McKeithens twin sister, Dr. Leona Andrea Roberts, said that McKeithen is survived by his wife of five years and an adult daughter. McKeithen served in the U.S. Marines, volunteered for a Catholic charity and never met a stranger, she said. Roberts talked to her twin every day on the phone or via text, she said. Thats how I knew something was wrong, Roberts said of when she didnt hear from her brother. I want whoever did this held accountable. How could you just leave someone, just hit a human being and leave? I cant fathom that. He was treated like a dog in the street. This man was loved. Thane: Anti-Corruption Bureau today filed a charge sheet against 10 people in connection with the Balganga irrigation scam, before a district court here. The alleged multi-crore scam is related to construction of a dam on Balganga river in Raigad district of Konkan region. Those named in the chargesheet are: Fateh Mohammed Khatri, Nisar Khatri, Abid Khatri and Jahid Khatri of FA Enterprises who have been charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery, among other charges. The chargesheet also names KIDC (Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation) former officials Girish Babar, Balasaheb Patil, Ramchandra Shinde, Anand Kalukhe, Rajesh Rite and Vijay Kasat. They are charged with corruption, criminal misconduct, cheating etc. The ACB slapped various sections of IPC for cheating and fraud, besides the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 against the accused. On August 25 last year, the ACB had registered an FIR against 11 accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 92 crore to the government through misconduct in connection with the construction of the dam. It is alleged that the original cost of the project escalated from Rs 353 crore to Rs 1,220 crore during the rule of Congress-led UPA government. After assuming power in 2014, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had ordered ACB to conduct an open enquiry in this regard. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hunt Companies Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE: HCFT) ("we", "HCFT" or "the Company") today reported its first quarter 2020 results. GAAP Net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders for the quarter was $1.55 million, or $0.06 per share. Core earnings for the quarter was $2.21 million, or $0.09 per share. The Company has also issued a detailed presentation of its results, which can be viewed at www.huntcompaniesfinancetrust.com. Conference Call and Webcast Information The Company will also host a conference call on Tuesday, May 12, 2020, at 8:30 AM ET to provide a business update and discuss the financial results for the first quarter of 2020. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 1-877-870-4263 (US) or 1-412-317-0790 (International). Note: there is no passcode; please ask the operator to be joined into the Hunt Companies Finance Trust call. A live webcast, on a listen-only basis, is also available and can be accessed through the URL: https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2022/34717 For those unable to listen to the live broadcast, a recorded replay will be available for on-demand viewing approximately one hour after the end of the event through the Company's website https://huntcompaniesfinancetrust.com/ and by telephone dial-in. The replay call-in number is 1-877-344-7529 (US) or 1-412-317-0088 (International) with passcode 10143885. Non-GAAP Financial Measures In this release, the Company presents certain financial measures that are not calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"). Specifically, the Company is presenting core earnings, which constitutes a non-GAAP financial measure within the meaning of Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K and is net income under GAAP. While we believe the non-GAAP information included in this press release provides supplemental information to assist investors in analyzing our results, and to assist investors in comparing our results with other peer issuers, these measures are not in accordance with GAAP, and they should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, our financial information calculated in accordance with GAAP. The methods of calculating non-GAAP financial measures may differ substantially from similarly titled measures used by other companies. Our GAAP financial results and the reconciliations from these results should be carefully evaluated. GAAP to Core Earnings Reconciliation Three months Ended March 31, 2020 Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP Information Net Income (loss) attributable to common shareholders $ 1,547,921 Adjustments for non-core earnings Unrealized (Gain) Loss on mortgage servicing rights 877,749 Subtotal 877,749 Other Adjustments Recognized compensation expense related to restricted common stock 7,882 Adjustment for (provision for) income taxes (226,521) Subtotal (218,639) Core Earnings $ 2,207,031 Weighted average shares outstanding - Basic and Diluted 24,911,483 Core Earnings per weighted share outstanding - Basic and Diluted $ 0.09 About HCFT Hunt Companies Finance Trust, Inc. is a Maryland corporation focused on investing in, financing and managing a portfolio of commercial real estate debt investments. The Company primarily invests in transitional floating rate commercial mortgage loans with an emphasis on middle-market multi-family assets. Hunt Companies Finance Trust is externally managed and advised by OREC Investment Management, LLC. For additional information about OREC Investment Management, LLC, please see its form ADV and brochure (Part 2A of Form ADV) available at https://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. About ORIX Corporation USA (ORIX USA) Since 1981, ORIX USA has provided innovative capital solutions that clients need to propel their business to the next level. ORIX USA and its subsidiaries Boston Financial Investment Management, ORIX Real Estate Capital (the combined company of RED Capital Group and Lancaster Pollard), NXT Capital, Mariner Investment Group, RB Capital and ORIX Capital Partners include a team of more than 1,000 employees spanning more than 30 offices across the U.S. and Brazil. ORIX USA and its family of companies have $64 billion of assets under management, administration and servicing (including more than $9 billion held by the company and its subsidiaries).* Its parent company, Orix Corporation, is a publicly owned international financial services company with operations in 37 countries and regions worldwide. ORIX Corporation is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (8591) and New York Stock Exchange (IX). For more information on ORIX USA, visit www.orix.com. *All figures are as of March 2019. Additional Information and Where to Find It Investors, security holders and other interested persons may find additional information regarding the Company at the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov/ or the Company website www.huntcompaniesfinancetrust.com or by directing requests to: Hunt Companies Finance Trust, 230 Park Avenue, 23rd Floor, New York, NY 10169, Attention: Investor Relations. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements included in this press release, any related webcast / conference call, and other oral statements made by our representatives from time to time may constitute forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the safe harbor contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act, as amended. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future results of our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, plans and objectives. You can identify forward-looking statements by use of words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "plan," "continue," "intend," "should," "may," "will," "seek," "would," "could," or similar expressions or other comparable terms, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Statements regarding the following subjects, among others, may be forward-looking: the return on equity; the yield on investments; the ability to borrow to finance assets; and risks associated with investing in real estate assets, including changes in business conditions and the general economy. Forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of our future performance, taking into account all information currently available to us on the date of this press release or the date on which such statements are first made. Actual results may differ from expectations, estimates and projections. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements in this press release and/or any related webcast / conference call and should consider carefully the factors described in Part I, Item IA "Risk Factors" in our annual reports on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other current or periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), when evaluating these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond our control. Additionally, many of these risks and uncertainties are currently amplified by and will continue to be amplified by, or in the future may be amplified by, the COVID-19 outbreak. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors are contained in our 2019 10-K which is available on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov . Except as required by applicable law, we disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE Hunt Companies Finance Trust, Inc. There is disquiet in some sections in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), among other Islamic countries, that parts of Indian society and polity are exhibiting signs of Islamophobia, especially manifest after the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to counter this sentiment. In a tweet on April 19, Modi emphasised the need for unity and brotherhood in combating the virus for it targets all. He was conveying that it was wrong to hold all Muslims responsible for the actions of the Tablighi Jamaat. The same view was expressed more directly by a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office-bearer in these pages. As in the past, this year too, Modi extended Ramzan greetings. He tweeted, May this Holy Month bring with it abundance of kindness, harmony and compassion. Two years ago, Modi recalled Prophet Mohammads message of equality, brotherhood and the value of charity. And in an address to the World Sufi Forum in 2016, Modi spoke of the rich diversity of the Islamic civilisation that stands on the solid bedrock of a great religion. In the same speech, he said, It is this spirit of Sufism, the love for their country and the pride in their nation that define the Muslims in India. They reflect the timeless culture of peace, diversity and equality of faith of our land These stirring words reflect neither Islamophobia nor a bias against Muslims. Why is it then that sections of the Islamic ummah are troubled by Indias emerging orientations? This was not witnessed during Modis first term when, building on past policies, he strengthened relations with mutually-antagonistic West Asian nations. Hence, the Modi 2.0 governments policies and actions that impact or are perceived to impact on Indias Muslims have to be examined. It must also be examined how Pakistan has sought to exploit these issues. Four developments stand out: The constitutional changes in Jammu and Kashmir, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA and fear of Muslims that it would be the precursor to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Delhi riots, and the reaction to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation. The constitutional changes in Jammu and Kashmir were looked upon in the peninsular Arab countries as political and within Indias domestic jurisdiction. Pakistans accusations of India violating international law, United Nations resolutions, seeking to change the demographic structure of the Valley and disregarding human rights found no traction. Its diatribe against the Modi government and its ideological Hindutva roots was also ignored. The exclusion of Muslims from CAA was premised on the consideration that the Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Afghan polities being theocratic are inherently discriminatory and sometimes persecutorial. The Modi government correctly asserted that the CAA did not impact Indian Muslims. However, large numbers of Muslims were alarmed because they felt that it was the precursor of NRC, which could make many of them stateless. The long agitations which followed were noticed in the Muslim world, including the Gulf countries. While international liberal opinion was further alienated because of religion becoming a factor in granting nationality, despite Pakistans best efforts, the Gulf countries did not become hostile. However, Malaysia and Turkey did. The Delhi riots and, in some cases, the inflammatory reactions to the Tablighi Jamaats actions which contributed to the spread of Covid-19 soured sections of Gulf opinion. This was on account of reports in the international media that Muslims were particularly and violently targeted. Some reprehensible comments made against Muslims in general in the wake of the Tablighi Jamaats conduct, and some irresponsible demands that Muslims be boycotted, caused dismay and anger among some in the Gulf. This was heightened by the objectionable social media comments of a few Indian expatriates living in Gulf countries. This somewhat fertile setting has given Pakistan the opportunity to fan anti-Indian flames through bogus social media accounts and also by dredging up its entire litany of charges against the Modi government. Its current specific endeavour is to make the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) pass strictures, at a high level, against India for officially encouraging Islamophobia. A few days ago, in a four-page note to OIC countries, it stressed that the BJP rose to power on the central plank of hatred for Muslims and has fostered it thereafter. Clearly, these charges of Islamophobia have to be challenged and combatted. It is true that Islamic countries as theological polities are basically discriminatory. They are also not condemning Chinas oppression of its Uighur Muslims. Making these points may work in a school debate but not in the world of diplomacy, which, in any event, is not about scoring points but securing national interest. What is necessary, without being on the defensive, is to assure Islamic nations that India is not moving away from its constitutional moorings by ensuring harmony and effective action against those who disturb it irrespective of their party affiliations. It is also necessary not to show disdain for global liberal opinion, but to engage with it. Vivek Katju is a former diplomat The views expressed are personal Around 1,100 workers at P&O Ferries are to be made redundant as part of a plan to make the business 'viable and sustainable', the company said. The ferry business makes most of its money from its cross-channel services, which have seen a collapse in passenger numbers since the unprecedented lockdown in Britain and Europe. In a statement released today, the firm said it had been 'working with stakeholders to address the impact of the loss of passenger business' since the start of the coronavirus crisis. It added it has now become clear that 'right-sizing the business' is necessary to create a 'viable and sustainable P&O Ferries to get through Covid-19.' The proposal involves more than a quarter of the workforce losing their jobs. Around 1,100 workers at P&O Ferries are to be made redundant as part of a plan to make the business 'viable and sustainable', the company said A spokesman for P&O Ferries, which is owned by Dubai-based DP World, said: 'Since the beginning of the crisis, P&O Ferries has been working with its stakeholders to address the impact of the loss of the passenger business. 'It is now clear that right-sizing the business is necessary to create a viable and sustainable P&O Ferries to get through Covid-19. 'Regrettably, therefore, due to the reduced number of vessels we are operating and the ongoing downturn in business, we are beginning consultation proceedings with a proposal to make around 1,100 of our colleagues redundant.' P&O transports 15 per cent of all goods in and out of the UK, but a number of ships have been taken out of service as the company fights for survival. The ferry business had furloughed 1,100 staff on the popular Dover-Calais route at the end of March, as it suspended its passenger business to focus on freight to and from the UK. Janette Bell, Chief Executive Officer of P&O Ferries, said at the time: 'Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, we are all grappling with an issue of enormous scale and human impact. 'P&O Ferries is having to respond with new measures to keep the business operational and to keep freight moving, which is vital to the economies of the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and the wider EU. In a statement released today, the firm said it had been 'working with stakeholders to address the impact of the loss of passenger business' since the start of the coronavirus crisis 'With respect to the United Kingdom, we bring in about 15 per cent of all the goods that the country currently urgently needs. The biggest part of which [33 per cent] is food, including fresh fruit and vegetables from southern Europe and North Africa, as well as vital medicines and medical equipment. 'P&O Ferries is also handling important but hazardous goods such as detergents and cleaning products. Ordinarily, for P&O Ferries to provide the service required for the transport of freight, there needs to be a mix of passengers and cargo on the ships. 'However, due to the outbreak of Covid-19, there are now very few passengers travelling and we cannot sustain these normal operations. Consequently, P&O Ferries will be suspending its passenger business and we will be focusing all of our efforts on maintaining the flow of freight to Britain. 'This means that 1100 of our hard-working and dedicated staff in the passenger services part of our business will be furloughed onto the Government's pay scheme.' In April, it was reported the business' Dubai-based owners, DP World, were trying to agree a 250million bailout package including cuts to pay and pensions for thousands of staff totalling 100million. They had also pursued a 150million bailout from the British Government, according to the Telegraph, but ministers were said to not be convinced, leaving the business in danger of collapse. Mick Cash, General Secretary of the RMT union, said the news was 'a kick in the teeth' Mick Cash, General Secretary of the RMT trade union, said: 'This is devastating news and an appalling betrayal of the P&O work force. This is a kick in the teeth for P&O seafarers who have maintained key supply lines to the UK during the Covid -19 pandemic. 'What is utterly shameful is P&O have been kept afloat by our members and the taxpayer whilst their owners have been paying out hundreds of millions in dividends in Dubai and cooking up plans to permanently replace UK seafarers with low cost seafarers from thousands of miles away. 'This is an attack on British seafarers, crew and the biggest fear is that these jobs will never return to Dover or Hull. But you can guarantee that P&O ferries will still be running passenger ferry services from those ports to protect their owner's profits at the country's expense. We are seeking urgent talks with the company and will fight tooth and nail against these job losses and we are calling on the government to step in now and nationalise these services to protect jobs and the UK's maritime interests.' America Ferrera has a lot to celebrate! On Mother's Day, the Superstore actress shared the exciting and special news that she welcomed her second baby with husband, Ryan Piers Williams. The couple welcomed a baby girl earlier this week, and it marks their first daughter. The two are already parents to their one-year-old son, Sebastian "Baz" Piers Williams. "LUCIA MARISOL WILLIAMS arrived on May 4th to give me my Mother's Day hugs and kisses herself," America shared on Instagram. "Mama, Dada & Big Brother are over the moon to welcome her bright light to our family." Ryan also took to social media to share his excitement over his little one. "The most exquisite little creature graced us with her presence on May 4, 2020," he expressed. "Please meet the newest member of our family, Lucia Marisol Williams. She came just in time for Mother's Day. Everyone is healthy and happy!" 2020 Celebrity Babies The proud parents also revealed they held a baby shower, which was put on by Eva Longoria and Elsa Collins. However, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it wasn't your typical party. In fact, the baby shower was done as a way to help migrant families suffering from the COVID-19 outbreak. "Our epic baby shower hosted by @evalongoria and @elsamariecollins might have been covid-cancelled but it didn't stop us from collecting supplies for migrant families in Lucia's name," Ryan shared. "In lieu of baby gifts we partnered with @yeswecanwf and @thisisabouthumanity to send essential supplies to mothers and children waiting for asylum in Mexico." He added, "Thank you to all our family and friends who donated. Please enjoy this short video of the supplies reaching the families. If you'd like to make a donation to migrant families in Lucia's name." Just last month, America shared a powerful message to "pregnant mamas" struggling during these uncertain times. Story continues "As this baby grows inside and I attempt to breathe through the fears and unknowns of this time, I am thinking of all you other mamas bringing new life into this world right now," she wrote on Instagram. "And also all of the women across generations and centuries and borders who have and are currently birthing new life in the midst of so many extraordinary and daunting circumstances," she continued. "Life is a miracle, and mamas make it possible through their strength and power." The actress announced she was pregnant with her second baby on New Years' Eve. And now, her new addition to the family has arrived! Workers are building cars again at Teslas Fremont factory in defiance of Alameda Countys shelter-in-place orders during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Tesla employee. Some production lines for the Model 3 car began operating this weekend, according to the worker, who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation. More production lines will be churning out other types of electric vehicles as soon as Tuesday, the source said. A factory parking lot was nearly full on Monday. The person was granted anonymity in accordance with The Chronicles anonymous source policy. Tesla said on its website on Saturday that it has started the process of resuming operations. The company did not respond to an emailed request for comment and has not responded to emails sent from The Chronicle since March. The massive factory has over 10,000 workers during normal operations. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter on Monday that Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me. Some workers returned to the factory on Wednesday, The Chronicle previously reported, to prepare for a return to work ahead of Gov. Gavin Newsoms announcement Friday that some businesses, including manufacturing, could return to limited operations. Newsom said that local jurisdictions could impose greater restrictions. Newsom said on Mondays news conference that he wasnt aware of the factorys reopening, but reiterated that counties can be more restrictive than the states order. He said Alameda County officials are working with Tesla. My understanding is they have had some very constructive conversations with the folks at that facility the county health director and theyre working to focus on the health and safety of the employees at that facility, Newsom said. My belief and hope and expectation is as early as next week they will be able to resume. Alameda County spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly referred questions about the plant to the Alameda County Public Health Department, which issued the shelter-in-place order. The county said in a press release Monday that it is aware Tesla is moving beyond basic operations allowed during the shelter-in-place period, but did not appear poised to stop the production lines Monday. We are addressing this matter using the same phased approach we use for other businesses which have violated the order in the past, and we hope that Tesla will likewise comply without further enforcement measures, The county has been working with Tesla on a reopening plan according to the statement, which said county officials expect to receive a plan for reopening the factory in compliance with state rules later Monday. Tesla said on its website that it will increase cleaning on the production lines and check employees for fevers, a telltale sign of the virus, with a plan to send anyone home who has an elevated temperature. More Information Anonymous sources: The Chronicle strives to attribute all information we report to credible, reliable, identifiable sources. Presenting information from an anonymous source occurs extremely rarely, and only when that information is considered crucially important and all other on-the-record options have been exhausted. In such cases, The Chronicle has complete knowledge of the unnamed person's identity and of how that person is in position to know the information. The Chronicle's detailed policy governing the use of such sources, including the use of pseudonyms, is available on SFChronicle.com. See More Collapse The company plans to distribute more protective equipment like masks and make hand sanitizer more readily available throughout the facility while enforcing social distancing, among other measures. The plan did not make mention of how Tesla would handle testing and contact tracing if a case of the coronavirus did emerge at the plant. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes The Tesla worker said production would be slowed on some lines to allow fewer workers to perform tasks more slowly that multiple workers previously did more quickly in order to allow for social distancing. In emails previously obtained by The Chronicle, top human resources executive Valerie Workman and Musk have said workers who do not feel safe returning to work do not have to. The worker also said employees would be allowed to take unpaid time off commensurate with the amount of vacation time they had accrued before workers were furloughed in March, a policy that couldnt immediately be verified. Alameda Countys refusal to allow the reopening prompted Tesla to file a federal lawsuit on Saturday saying the states orders supersede those of the county. Musk also posted on Twitter that he would move the companys headquarters out of California to Nevada or Texas. Newsom said that he was confident that California would continue to support Tesla and he looked forward to many more decades of working with the company. Newsom said he spoke to Musk a few days ago. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said he agrees with Musk and that the state should do whatever is necessary to solve health concerns at the plant. Musk previously railed against business closures to guard against transmission of the coronavirus as fascist during a call with investors. Chase DiFeliciantonio is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChaseDiFelice Seventy-five years since V-E Day in 1945 a precis of the role of Poland and the Poles in World War II (Part Two) By Mark Wegierski Poland Under German And Soviet Occupations On September 17, 1939, Stalin's armies crossed the eastern frontiers of Poland, preparing to seize that part of Poland guaranteed to them by secret clauses of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Hitler annexed Polish Pomerania (the Corridor), the area around Poznan (Posen), and the part of Silesia belonging to pre-war Poland, directly into the Reich. These areas were to be 100% Germanized. Most of the Poles in those areas who refused to officially renounce their nationality were deported eastward. The rest of German-occupied Poland was designated the General-Gouvernement, where the Poles were slated to become mindless slave labour for the German settlers. Stalin at this time planned to deport all Poles from the areas he had annexed, deep into the Soviet Union both regimes committing themselves to perpetually maintain the extinction of Poland. The Polish state, nation, people, and culture were basically ground to near-destruction between the two great totalitarian terror regimes of the 20th century -- Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union. -- Nazi and Soviet murders of Polish intelligentsia and Poles of all classes began in the first days of the war; -- there were extensive property confiscations by both Nazis and Soviets; -- November 1939, the professors and researchers of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow were treacherously seized and sent to German concentration camps, where most of them died from ill-treatment; -- the first transports to the German concentration camp of Auschwitz in 1940 consisted of Christian Polish intellectuals and national leaders; -- in the Winter of 1939-1940, close to one million Poles were deported for slave labour from eastern Poland to Siberia, and other ghastly remote regions of the Soviet Union; -- in April 1940, Stalin ordered the execution of 15,000 Polish military officers and 11,000 other Polish state officials, the cream of Poland's national elite, at the forest of Katyn, and other sites; -- Nazi Germany imposed slave labour on millions of Poles; -- there were thousands of Lidices in Poland -- Polish villages whose population was systematically liquidated; -- the Poles had one of the largest and best organized underground resistance movements in Nazi-occupied Europe, and no local Quisling government or military formations aiding the Germans; -- the very mention of Poland or display of its state and national symbols was strictly forbidden by the Germans -- Nazi Germany aimed at the extirpation of Polish national culture -- the Polish intelligentsia and clergy were hunted down and sent to the concentration camps -- entire libraries, archives, and art-collections were burned or plundered -- Polish national monuments in cities and towns were systematically destroyed even thousands of roadside religious shrines in the countryside were demolished; -- over five million Poles (one-fifth of the pre-war Polish population of about 25 million) perished as a result of the Second World War -- close to nine million citizens of the pre-war Polish state (from a total population of about 35 million citizens) perished, including five million Poles, and nearly three million Jews who were citizens of pre-war Poland -- there were also the horrific, severe and/or permanent injuries, extending to further millions of Poles, as a result of wounds of varying severity, injuries inflicted by heavy beatings and torture, permanent undermining of health after chronic starvation, the contracting of diseases related to privation such as tuberculosis, various kinds of severe psychological trauma, and so forth. Stalins Change Of Policy When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June, 1941, a significant change in Stalin's policy toward the Poles perforce occurred. He allowed tens of thousands of surviving Poles, from the close to one million he had ordered deported to Siberia, and other ghastly remote regions of the Soviet Union, to slowly make their way southward to join the Polish Second Corps forming in the Near East. He also eventually allowed Poles to volunteer for military units to be formed in the Soviet Union, the so-called Kosciuszko Division (named after the American Revolutionary War and Polish Insurrectionary hero, Tadeusz Kosciuszko). Their most notable action was probably their breakthrough at the Pommernstellung (Pomeranian Wall) fortifications in early 1945, quickly opening the path to the Baltic Coast. The Holocaust Of European Jewry The German occupation in Poland, as in most of the conquered lands to the east of the Reich, was thoroughly savage and brutal far different from the occupations of Western and Northern European countries, where the Germans acted in a comparatively restrained fashion. It must be remembered that all efforts to save Jews occurred in a context where the Christian Poles themselves were being subjected to a thoroughgoing and systematic genocide. Most Christian Poles were living on the edge of extermination or starvation, and the German occupation forces would enforce the death-penalty (often on entire families, and often by burning alive), for the slightest aid given to fleeing Jews. One could be killed for as little as giving a glass of water to a Jewish person. Of the six million Jews who perished, nearly three million had been citizens of pre-war Poland. In pre-war Poland, although there certainly were frictions, actual violence was very rare. The notion put forward in the widely known book by William Styron, Sophies Choice (which was also turned into a highly prominent film), that a professor of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow would be calling for the extermination of the Jews, is totally false. Even the most fringe Right parties in Poland never approached the degree of hatred and revilement against Jews seen across a very broad stratum of society in Germany already in the early 1930s. The pre-war Polish government, which could be seen as a centrist authoritarianism, actually jailed prominent Polish Far Right leaders, trying to dampen down ethnic tensions as far as possible. As the war reached its apogee on the Eastern Front, the Nazi leadership accelerated its program of extermination against the Jews. More Jews were shipped from other parts of the Nazi empire to German-occupied Poland (especially the so-called General-Gouvernement), where the largest death camp, Auschwitz, was located. The reports of the Polish underground about the slaughter, being carried to Western Allies at this time, for example, by Jan Karski, were largely ignored and disbelieved. To be continued. (Partially based on an article co-authored with Apolonja Kojder that appeared in Polish American Journal, August 2004.) Mark Wegierski is a Toronto-based writer and historical researcher. Home In this column last week, focus was on the controversial invitation extended by the Federal Government of Nigeria to some Chinese medics to come to Nigeria and assist in the struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Today's discussion is a continuation of the issue, but with a focus on the mistreatment of Nigerians in China and the question of China's international responsibility. In this regard, let us put the understanding of the nexus between mistreatment and international responsibility in context to begin with. There is no ambiguity in the notion of mistreatment. It is simply bad treatment or maltreatment, indecency, and an expression of unacceptable mania of behaviour in both inter-personal relations and political governance. On the contrary, the notion of international responsibility is complex. The concept of 'International Responsibility to Protect,' otherwise referred to as IR2P, is quite different from the concept of 'International Responsibility' of States under private international law. When IR2P is referred to in academic discussions, it is the international responsibility as initiated by the Government of Canada and ultimately endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005. In this regard, when situations of genocide, crimes of war, crimes against humanity, violations of international humanitarian law, etc exist in a given Member State of the international community, and the Government of that Member State is unable to put prompt end to the situation, the international community has the responsibility, that is, the international responsibility, to protect the affected citizens of such a country, without having to be officially invited by the legitimate government of the country. Such international intervention will not be in conflict with the provision of Article 2 (7) of the UN Charter which prohibits foreign interventions in the domestic affairs of other sovereign States. On the contrary, the concept of international responsibility under private international law has it that when a foreigner legally residing in a country is accused or alleged to have violated the law of the land, or that he is assaulted or victimised, and in the process of his quest for justice, he is unable to have access to fairness, justice, it is then that the country of which the foreigner has an effective nationality can claim the application of the principle of international responsibility to protect within the framework of consular protection or diplomatic protection, depending on the status of the affected foreigner. When we espy the conception of the two concepts, it can still be observed that the protection of a national abroad under the pretext of denial of justice in the host country of the national, is still different, but it can be rightly considered as an extension of the duty of a legitimate government to protect all citizens, foreigners and whoever is legally residing in its country at the domestic level. A government should and be able to protect its citizens wherever they may be found. If every government is committed to good governance, fairness and justice for all, there will not be need for the application of the rule of international responsibility. Consequently, the discussion of China's international responsibility to protect foreigners, and particularly Nigerians, cannot be called to question with the many posted videos in the social media, showing how foreigners have been treated. The Recent Chinese Mistreatment Grosso modo, Nigerians have been maltreated in various countries of the world. The Government of Nigeria has also and always reacted to such acts of maltreatment, but again, always to no avail. The international responsibility of such countries has never been called to question. Besides, the Government of Nigeria is not on record to have any known foreign policy of protection beyond always announcing efforts at investigation and promising commitment to protect Nigerians wherever they may find themselves. As a result, Nigerians are from time to time mistreated. The common rationale always given for such 'alleged mistreatment' is that Nigerians have violated the law of their host countries. We talk about 'alleged mistreatment' because the affected countries never accept any allegation of mistreatment. Their explanation is, more often than not, that their law does not allow anyone, foreigners and citizens alike, to flout the law of the land. This is the argument also advanced by the Chinese government in the case of the reported maltreatment of Nigerians in China. There have been different incidents of mistreatment of Africans in China but the genesis of the recent one can be traced to the cases of two Nigerians, who reportedly tested positive to COVID-19, but who also reportedly escaped from being quarantined. The escape is said to have prompted the decision to lockdown some parts of the city where Africans live and trade. More important, the Health Commission engaged in an extensive testing of African people. The outcome of the testing revealed that 111 of the 4,500 Africans in Guangzhou tested positive. This situation can be considered as the immediate causal dynamic of the mistreatment, but surely not tenable as justification for whatever may be called mistreatment. There are more fundamental dynamics that can to understand the issue. Put differently, the mistreatment can be explained by three other main factors: first is the status of Guangzhou as capital of Guangdong Province and preferential choice of establishment for Africans; the second is the gap in communication between policy directive in Beijing and policy implementation in Guangzhou; and lastly is the conflict in the attitudinal disposition of the Chinese as a people and Chinese as a government. As regards Guangzhou as a preferential choice by Nigerians for settlement, it is the epicentre of China's economic reform, and particularly the heart of China's export-driven manufacturing sector. This means that the Beijing authorities cannot but have a more monitoring eagle eyes on what transpires in the city and in the whole province. In fact, Guangzhou is geo-politically located near Hong Kong, another hub for international business, and Macau, both of which have been exposed to westernisation in many ramifications. Guangzhou has the largest concentration of Africans in the whole of Asia and majority of them are essentially from Nigeria, Ghana, and Mali. On the gap in communication between policy directive in Beijing and policy implementation in Guangzhou, the Central Government is directly responsible for foreign policy but it is the local agencies that are directly responsible for immigration, a critical aspect of foreign policy in international relations. As noted by one academic, 'when Local Governments like those in Guangzhou make decisions in a crisis, they won't prioritise national and diplomatic interests until they receive pressure and guidance from Beijing' (vide "Mistreatment of Africans in Guangzhou threatens China's coronavirus diplomacy," https://theconversation.com, 17-04-2020). As further explained by the scholar, amid the 'fear of imported coronavirus cases and a second wave of the pandemic in China, the Local Government implemented surveillance and mandatory testing and an additional 14-day quarantine for all African nationals in the city, regardless of whether they tested positive for COVID-19. These measures paid no regard to whether people had recently travelled out of China, or how they would be mistreated by landlords, hotel managers and shop keepers.' Concerning the conflict in the attitudinal disposition of the Chinese as a people and Chinese as a government, the Government of China preaches the gospel of a win-win cooperation, particularly with Africa. It hardly talks about racism, superiority of race. It talks more often about 'all-weather' relationship. It talks about equity and fairness and is always coming into the open to defend Africa during debates on Africa. The main reason for this official position cannot also be far-fetched: China sees the African continent majorly as a source of raw materials, mineral resources needed for China's economic growth and development. And true enough, since the miraculous economic transformation of China, begun over thirty years ago, Africa has been the main source of its needed material resources. In the words of Minxin Pei, Professor of Government at the Claremont Mckenna College and a non-resident Senior Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, 'Chinese leaders see Africa mainly as a source of natural resources. China's fast-paced growth since the early 1990s has generated a voracious demands for oil and subsoil minerals, and Africa appeared a perfect fit since dominant multinationals had a weak hold on the continent and Beijing could easily outbid them to gain equity stakes in mines and oil fields' (vide his article, "China's expensive bet on Africa has failed," Asian Review, May 01, 2020). This observation is simply to underscore the importance of Africa in the economico-political and strategico-industrial calculations of the Chinese government. Perhaps more interestingly, the Beijing authorities are also underscoring the need to respond to the prediction of population explosion in China by 2050, and therefore the need to encourage Chinese people to travel out and seek establishment wherever they are accepted. In this particular case, Africa has always been on record to be the terra cognita for humanity, Good Samaritanism, altruism of all kinds, and unrestricted generosity to foreigners. China, for reasons of force majeure, cannot afford the luxury of being hostile to Africa and its people in light of its own enlightened self-interest. Even if the Chinese government has any belief in racist policies vis-a-vis Africa, the manifestation cannot be consciously done, and for that matter in the public. However, this position is completely different from that of the people of China. The attitude of the people of China can be discussed and understood in the context of China's international responsibility. Nigeria and China's International Responsibility Several Chinese people, rightly or wrongly, hold the belief that foreigners are being given unnecessary advantage over them, and from this perspective, relate to them with much animosity. Various videos of such animosity abound in the social media. The people of China do not know that the peace and security at home, in China, is also a derivation from the contributions coming from foreign countries. In other words, many Chinese not only believe that foreigners are being given extra benefits to their detriment. They also see the extra benefits as unfairness to them. In fact, when the Beijing authorities published the draft regulations aimed at easing the conditions for foreigners to get permanent residency in China, the draft was met with very 'strong opposition.' From the foregoing, therefore, the first issue in the international responsibility of China towards foreigners is the failure of the Beijing authorities to educate the people of China on their sensitivity to racism, and particularly to Africans, with whom the Government of China wants to develop special understanding. China cannot seek to court a lady and refuse to respect her parents. That is surely not possible in the African setting. Secondly, there is the declaration of the policy of belief in the principle of international responsibility in all its ramifications, on the one hand, and failure to make the application of the principle universal. Without doubt, the Government of China is on record to strongly believe in the principle of international responsibility and the Chinese leader regularly talked about it in the context of an international community with a shared future. For instance, in his telephone conversation with the French President, Emmanuel Macron, on 22 January, 2020, President Xi Jinpin has it that, 'guided by the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, the Chinese government has acted in an open, transparent and responsible manner. We have shared control and treatment experience with the WHO and the rest of the world without reservation, and actively engaged in international cooperation to jointly meet this common threat and challenge. We are resolved to protect the lives and health of the Chinese and other peoples across the world.' The emphasis is on the resolution to protect, not only the Chinese, but also the other peoples of the world. President Xi Jinping repeated his view of the need for global cooperation and need to protect other peoples of the world during his meeting with the Cambodian Prime Minister, Samdech Techno Hun Sen, on 5 February, 2020. He said: 'The CPC and the Chinese government have a strong sense of responsibility toward its own people and the international community... As a nation that has gone through a lot of hard time, China has full confidence, capability and determination to win the battle against the disease... China will take good care of all Cambodian nationals, including students in China like its own, and protect their life and health.' Thirdly, while the position of the Government of China may be clear on its responsibility to protect everyone, the implementing agencies of government are on record to be acting contrarily. In this regard, for instance, testing positive to COVID-19 cannot be a punishable offence. What actually is punishable should be COVID-19. Again, if some Nigerians committed an offence by escaping lawful testing for fear of being actually injected with the terrible virus, or assaulting a Chinese nurse, the offence of one or few individuals cannot be rightly visited on a whole group of people. Those who specifically committed offences, or those who might have assaulted the nurses should have been simply brought to book, rather than evicting a whole group of people and neglecting them on the streets homeless, only to suffer. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Coronavirus Asia, Australia, and Africa By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. It is precisely this aspect of the politics and management of COVID-19 that raises the dimension and failure of China's claim of international responsibility. If the main focus and concern of the Beijing authorities remains non-spreading of the virus in the country, there cannot but be little sense in throwing people believed to be carriers of COVID-19 into public streets. They will only spread the virus the more. In this type of situation, the ideal thing to do would have been to keep them in isolation centres, if the Chinese believed that they were still COVID-19 carriers. If the central government wants to protect, and the Local Government probably wants to impress Beijing of being very proactive, acting more than necessary, there is no way such an action would not be detrimental to China's international image. In Kenya and other countries, China is increasingly being accused of racism and discrimination. This cannot be in the long term interest of Africa and China. However, and good enough too, the Government of China has recognised the faux pas of the Guangzhou authorities by quickly taking some diplomatic steps to redeem the already badly tainted image of its country. For instance, on April 13, 2020 the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made it clear that it would adjust its coronavirus restrictions on African nationals. It promised to provide them with health services without discrimination, as well as adjust accommodation prices for those in financial difficulties. Apart from this, the McDonald's management has apologised after its branch in Guangzhou prevented some black people from entering it. More importantly, as noted in conversation.com, the Chinese Weibo also closed 180 accounts for 'inciting discrimination.' It discouraged its users 'from sharing news involving foreigners and foreign countries.' And more interestingly, 'officials and community leaders in Guangzhou have also begun to realise the importance of treating Africans decently' and have also started to send flowers and gifts to Africans in their areas. Civil society groups are also making good efforts, with their volunteers coming out to offer supplies and psychological support to people in need (https://theconversation.com; 17-04-2020). This is a good and welcomed development because the world of today is that of unequal interdependence, conflicting national interests, globalisation- or technology-driven colonialism, in which Nigerians, and particularly the more courageous and business-oriented Igbo people, would want to quickly return to China after the COVID-19 saga. Igbo business people account for more than 70% of Nigerians in Guangzhou, importing knocked down parts to Nigeria, filling the vacuum of Nigeria's technical needs. Without them, most members of the middle class in Nigeria will suffer devastatingly. Consequently, the international responsibility of Nigeria is to have an MOU on the protection of Nigerians in China in particular. In general, Nigeria must evolve a foreign policy on protection of Nigerians in every country of the world. That is one clear message from the mistreatment of Nigerians the world over. More important, Nigeria must reckon with the politics of COVID-19. Muammar Gaddafi was quoted as saying that 'they will create the viruses themselves and sell you the antidotes. Thereafter, they will pretend to take time to find the solution when they already have it.' This statement is self-explanatory and is not limited to any given major power. Dr. Adrienne Hatchett gives a checkup to Samuel Camon at the East Arkansas Family Health Center in West Memphis, Ark. (William DeShazer / For The Times) Dr. Susan Ward-Jones observed something remarkable not long after the East Arkansas Family Health Center opened a new clinic in this small city by the Mississippi River. People used to come in unkempt, sloppily dressed. They look better now," said Ward-Jones, the clinic's director. "I think people have a new pride in themselves. Maybe they see we're doing better and they say, 'I'll try to do better, too.'" With a two-story glass atrium and soaring brushed metal portico, the clinic whose patients are mostly poor and African American has nearly twice as many exam rooms as the health center's old location in a cramped storefront down the road. Nine dental suites, a pharmacy and a state-of-the-art demonstration kitchen branch off the sun-dappled atrium. A shaded exercise track winds through a stand of tall oaks out back. It opened in 2014, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which also helped thousands of the clinic's patients get health insurance. The entrance of the East Arkansas Family Health Center. (William DeShazer / For The Times) A decade after President Obama signed what became known as Obamacare, health centers such as this one and the coverage that millions of Americans now have testify to the law's sweeping impact on the nation's healthcare system. But the law has left a quieter legacy, as well, one rooted in the country's long, tangled history of power, healthcare and race. The Affordable Care Act empowered people who didnt have power. Its given people a measure of self-respect. Thats been very profound, said Dr. David Satcher, the former U.S. surgeon general who grew up in the South when many hospitals didnt allow black physicians like him to admit patients. More darkly, the reaction to the law whose passage in March 2010 was shadowed by racist outbursts from some opponents also has revealed troubling fault lines that remain. The 14 states that continue to oppose expansion of Medicaid insurance made possible by the law are concentrated in the South, effectively maintaining large racial disparities in access to care. Most of those same states are suing in federal court to have the law invalidated. Story continues It may be too simplistic to say that opposition to the Affordable Care Act in the South is just about race, said Thomas J. Ward Jr., a historian who has written about healthcare and civil rights. But you cant look at opposition to expanding health services, and not see that some of that opposition is rooted in race in a significant way not necessarily straight racial animosity, but fear of racial empowerment. Anita Earvin gets her teeth cleaned at East Arkansas Family Health Center. (William DeShazer / For The Times) Today, a new chapter in this complicated story is being written as the coronavirus outbreak disproportionately affects African American communities across the country, once again spotlighting the racial disparities that shadow American healthcare. The connection between healthcare and race has been particularly resonant along the Mississippi River, where access to medical care was long a dividing line as rigid as separate schools and drinking fountains, and where federal healthcare initiatives half a century ago helped end segregation. Clifton Collier, who ran a health center in Marianna, Ark., 50 miles south of West Memphis, lived a good part of this history. Collier, 66, grew up in the heart of the Arkansas Delta, an expanse of dark, fertile earth stretching over bayous and through thick stands of cedar and live oak along the west bank of the Mississippi. This was one of the last bastions of the Jim Crow South, a ferociously segregated place where former plantation homes still dot the landscape and a commanding statue of Robert E. Lee on the town square bears testimony to the persistence of the old system. Collier's was better off than most black families. His father ran a juke joint that did a brisk business, particularly on Sundays. And just outside town, in a place called Black Swamp, the family owned land it had bought after the Civil War. Some in the family say part of the money came from a white man who fathered one of Collier's ancestors. As children in the 1960s, Collier and his siblings worked the cotton fields around Black Swamp, lugging burlap sacks up and down long rows and pulling white bolls from between the plants needle-like stems. If anyone got sick, theyd see a local black woman who practiced folk medicine. We didnt have money for a doctor, Collier recalled. Nobody did. None of the towns four white doctors would see a black patient who didnt have cash. "We just had to take care of ourselves, Collier said. Dr. Judy Ali, a pharmacist at East Arkansas Family Health Center, answers patient calls. (William DeShazer / For The Times) That didnt seem to trouble the physicians, who told a CBS News crew that visited Marianna in 1969 that black patients got what they needed. They get adequate medical care if they come seeking it, one doctor said. So many times, theyre sick, and they dont seek it because of ignorance or laziness. Cracks in this system began to emerge following passage of the 1965 law that created Medicare, the government insurance plan for the elderly and disabled. The law barred federal money for segregated institutions, forcing hundreds of hospitals across the South to desegregate waiting rooms, patient floors and nurseries almost overnight. A second federal initiative helped bring community health centers such as Collier's clinic to many of the poorest quarters of America, offering reliable medical care to black patients in places like the Arkansas Delta for the first time. These clinics werent universally welcomed. When volunteers tried to open the Lee County Cooperative Clinic in Marianna in 1968, white landlords refused to rent space. The local medical society blocked the clinics first doctor, a young physician from St. Louis, from admitting patients to the hospital in Marianna, forcing them to travel to Memphis or Little Rock, more than an hour away. Several workers at the clinic were beaten up outside a local restaurant. But the clinic endured. Such health centers were designed to empower the low-income patients they served, with federal money funneled directly to the clinics, bypassing white-controlled state governments. In Lee County, clinic volunteers helped develop a slate of black candidates for local office. The clinic turned out to be the opening chapter of the civil rights movement in Lee County, recalled Dr. Dan Blumenthal, the clinic's first doctor, who taught at Atlantas Morehouse School of Medicine until he died last year. Pharmacy technician Precious Parker fills patient prescriptions. (William DeShazer / For The Times) The health centers and federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid had a profound impact on the lives of black Americans. Across the Mississippi River from Marianna, a federally funded health center in Mound Bayou, Miss., helped cut the infant mortality rate among African Americans in the surrounding county by more than a third in just four years, researchers found. Nationwide, access to care also improved dramatically. In 1964, white Americans were nearly 50% more likely than their black counterparts to have seen a doctor in the previous two years. Three decades later, that reversed, with African Americans more likely than whites to have been to a doctor recently. Nevertheless, by the time President Obama and congressional Democrats began pushing for the Affordable Care Act, substantial racial inequalities in healthcare remained. Black Americans were more likely to be uninsured, more likely to report financial barriers to getting care and more likely to die from treatable diseases. Obama didnt cite these disparities, focusing instead on the promise of guaranteed health coverage for all Americans. Race wasnt the focus, a former senior Obama aide recalled. We didnt go there. But race was never far in the background of the debate. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and other conservative commentators who vigorously opposed the health law repeatedly claimed it was part of Obamas strategy to make the federal government compensate African Americans for slavery. This is a civil rights bill, this is reparations, whatever you want to call it, Limbaugh told his listeners in 2009. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, deliberately linked their healthcare fight to past struggles for racial equity. Before the critical March 2010 vote on the law, Georgia Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon who had participated in the famous 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., when marchers were beaten by police, walked arm-in-arm with other lawmakers to the Capitol to pass the bill. Adding to the historical echoes that day, several black lawmakers reported hearing racial epithets as they walked through the crowd of protesters outside the Capitol, many from the then nascent tea party movement. One lawmaker was spit on. It was like going into a time machine with John Lewis, Rep. Andre Carson, a black Democrat from Indiana, observed at the time. A decade later, some of that vitriol has faded. And the health gains made possible by the law have been striking. "I think people have a new pride in themselves," says Dr. Susan Ward-Jones, director of the East Arkansas Family Health Center. (William DeShazer / For The Times) Between 2013 and 2015, the share of African Americans without health insurance dropped by nearly half, falling from almost 25% to less than 14%, according to data assembled by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund. At the same time, African Americans reported skipping care less frequently because of concerns about cost, almost cutting the gap between blacks and whites in half. And new research shows that inequalities in how quickly white and black patients start treatment for advanced cancers almost disappeared in states that fully expanded coverage through the health law. The law dramatically lessened disparities by race, said Dr. Otis Brawley, an oncologist at Johns Hopkins University and former chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society. In Arkansas, which was the first Southern state to expand Medicaid coverage through the law Louisiana and Virginia have since followed the impact has been particularly large. The share of poor residents without health insurance tumbled from nearly 42% to just 19% between 2013 and 2014, researchers found. The coverage gains allowed clinics like the ones in West Memphis and Marianna to expand services such as dentistry and behavioral health. They added more nurses, more case managers, more health educators and others to help the neediest patients. Patients, in turn, are more frequently getting checkups and filling their prescriptions more regularly. Mary Clarksenior gets an eye exam from Dr. Norman Denton. (William DeShazer / For The Times) What weve experienced in the last few years has been nothing short of amazing, said Terrence Aikens, who led efforts at the West Memphis clinic to enroll patients in health insurance through the 2010 health law. And yet, even now, as the Affordable Care Act enters its second decade, the gains feel tenuous to many here. The law's opponents including Arkansas' governor and the Trump administration are working to get the Supreme Court to overturn it. "It is such a difficult history, and we have come so far," said Ward-Jones, the director of the West Memphis clinic. "Sometimes, though, it feels like we take two steps forward and one step back." UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres has warned that jihadist groups in the Sahel area of North Africa are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to step up attacks, according to documents seen by AFP. The United Nations chief called for better coordination among the various anti-jihadist forces fighting an array of armed groups. "Terrorist groups are taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to intensify their attacks and to challenge state authority throughout the sub-region," said Guterres. He noted the problem was particularly acute in the area known as the Liptako-Gourma triangle, a border zone between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. "Evidence also suggests that there is increased coordination and cooperation between some of the terrorist groups operating throughout the Sahel, from Mauritania to the Lake Chad basin," he said. "The dire situation in the Sahel region is further compounded by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, with terrorist groups exploiting it for both propaganda and action purposes, with potential grave impact on the region," the secretary general added. Because of the pandemic, which led to the border between Mali and Mauritania being shut, operations of the so-called G5-Sahel anti-jihadist force have been put off. The G5 is a 5,000-strong force with troops from Chad, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and Mauritania cooperating with French troops to combat a growing Islamist insurgency. "The impact of the pandemic on the ability of the Joint Force and international forces to conduct operations in the coming months is difficult to ascertain at this point and will need to be carefully and continuously assessed," said Guterres. The secretary general's report on recent security developments in the Sahel region stressed that "the number of people who died from terrorist attacks has increased five-fold since 2016, with more than 4,000 deaths reported in 2019 alone as compared with an estimated 770 deaths in 2016." Since November the reality on the ground "was marked by a deterioration of the security situation in Mali and the Sahel region, characterized by a rise in increasingly complex terrorist attacks, primarily targeting armed and security forces," the report warned. Guterres called for "stronger coordination between the different forces and clarity with regard to command and control." Besides the various national armies and the G5 force deployed in the Sahel area, the region also has a 5,100-strong French force and a 15,000-member UN peacekeeping group operating there. There is also a new international force being launched after a French initiative and dubbed Takuba, which groups special forces from different countries. By PTI AHMEDABAD: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Monday banned the cash-on-delivery option for grocery and food items to homes after May 15, saying the deadly coronavirus also spreads through currency notes, and made digital payment mandatory. As per the AMC, the payment for such services in the city, the worst-hit by coronavirus in Gujarat, will now have to be made only digitally and all delivery staff will have to download the Arogya Setu app on their mobile phones, an official said. On May 7, the AMC had ordered closure of all shops except those providing milk and medicines till May 15 as part of measures to stem the spread of COVID-19. Even shops selling essential items like vegetables and grocery items were asked to remain shut for a week. In a review meeting held on Monday, the AMC decided that after May 15, when the stringent restrictions will be eased, home delivery vendors like Big Basket and Swiggy can accept payment only through digital modes such as Unified Payment Interface (UPI), said IAS officer Rajiv Kumar Gupta. "Around 30,000 home deliveries are made by different vendors every day in the city. To stop the spread of coronavirus through currency notes, we are putting a ban on cash-on-delivery option after May 15." "We are making cashless digital payment compulsory for home deliveries," said Gupta, the officer on special duty to oversee the AMC's COVID-19 response. Moreover, all delivery staff will have to download Arogya Setu on their mobile phones, said Gupta, adding the use of the central government-launched app is necessary for their own safety. The mobile application helps users identify whether they are at risk of COVID-19 infection. It also provides people with important information, including ways to avoid coronavirus infection and its symptoms. To popularise cashless payments among 17,000-odd retail shops of grocery items, vegetables and milk, AMC teams would visit each outlet and make them understand the digital payment process and to get online payment apps installed on their mobile phones, said Gupta. He added that such measures are necessary to prevent transmission of the infection through currency notes as it was found that the novel coronavirus can survive on paper for many days. Gujarat on Monday reported 347 new COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths, taking the total case count so far to 8,542 and the number of fatalities to 513, a state health official said. With 235 patients getting discharged from hospitals, the tally of those recovered mounted to 2,780. The state now has 5,249 active cases while 31 of them are on ventilators. "A total 1,16,471 samples have been tested for COVID- 19 so far in the state," said Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi. Ahmedabad reported 268 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the total in the district to 6,086 on Monday, while the death toll reached 400 after 19 more patients succumbed here, a health department official said. Also, a total of 109 patients were discharged from hospitals here, taking the number of recovered people to 1,482, the official said. With the rising number of coronavirus cases in the city, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on Monday banned cash-on-delivery option for grocery and food items at homes after May 15, stating the novel coronavirus also spreads through currency notes. The Decision 13/2020 on the development of solar power in Vietnam was released by the government on April 6, 2020. The new decision, to take effect on May 22, 2020 and be valid until the end of 2020, includes the new feed-in-tariff (FIT 2), or the electricity price at which solar power developers sell to EVN (the Electricity of Vietnam), the only wholesale buyer. The price will fall to 8.38 cents, or VND1,943 per kwh of rooftop solar power projects, 7.09 cents, or VND1,644 per kwh for ground-mounted solar power, and 7.69 cents, or VND1,783, for floating projects. Tran Huong Thao from Bach Khoa Solar Energy commented that FIT 2 is helpful but a long-term sustainable solar power encouragement policy, with clear orientation, is needed. Meanwhile, Dao Du Duong from the Vietnam Clean Energy Association said FIT 2 aims to rescue 36 solar power farm projects which could not enjoy FIT 1 (the projects could not become operational prior to June 30, 2019 to enjoy FIT 1). The projects investors only have seven more months (they must become operational by the end of this year to be able to enjoy FIT 2 mechanism) to implement the projects, which seems to be an impossible mission. The projects investors only have seven more months (they must become operational by the end of this year to be able to enjoy FIT 2 mechanism) to implement the projects, which seems to be an impossible mission. As for rooftop solar power projects, seven months is too short to execute projects, especially when the southern region is entering the rainy season. It is necessary to extend the FIT 2 deadline for one more year. He proposed setting up long-term policies for rooftop solar power, six months before the FIT 2 mechanism expires. Nguyen Duc Toan, chair of EHCMC Solar, made four proposals related to policies for solar power development. First, rooftop solar power should not be included in Decision 13 which sets the FIT 2. Second, it is necessary to extend FIT 2, or set up FIT 3, soon after December 31, 2020. Third, when FIT 2 expires, farm-scale solar power farm projects need to have a bidding policy to be able to continue implementation. Fourth, it is necessary to upgrade electricity transmission lines to allow power plants to run at full capacity. Pham Nam Phong, CEO of Vu Phong Solar Power, wants the government to extend FIT 2 to the end of 2021 so that people and businesses have more opportunities to develop rooftop solar power. Mai Lan Rooftop solar power offers saving solution during COVID-19 Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and many countries limiting customs clearance, solar power enterprises with manufacturing plants in Vietnam are still taking advantage of the domestic market to serve customers and sustain growth. With personal protective equipment that hides her smile and muffles what used to be effortless communication, one nurse came up with a unique solution to help her coworkers and patients feel more comfortable in the hospital during the coronavirus pandemic. Danielle Fenn, a registered nurse at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, told ABC News' "Pandemic: What You Need to Know" about her experience working in a non-intensive care COVID-19 unit. PHOTO: Danielle Fenn in her PPE gear at Darmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. (Danielle Fenn) "Being a nurse is very important to me because I just love taking care of patients," Fenn said. Fenn, who is originally from Brazil, was living in Germany before she came to the United States in 2004 to be with her late husband and train to become a nurse. Now, her international roots are playing an instrumental role in caring for her patients. Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis. "I received a message from one of my coworkers and we were getting a COVID patient that was from Brazil that didn't speak very much English," Fenn said of a recent patient. "They had trouble communicating with him and he was scared. I walked him through simple questions and gave him my cell number. I told him if he needed anything to call me." PHOTO: Danielle Fenn and fellow nurses in PPE gear with a patient at Darmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. (Danielle Fenn) Early the next day, Fenn found the patient's room and wrote "Good Morning" in Portuguese on a dry erase board so that he'd see it when he woke up. Meet mom and daughter working together as nurses: I have someone that really gets it "I developed a relationship with them and decided to create signs around the hospital to help other patients and health care workers," she said. "Signs are very important for patients who can't speak English very well... For the little simple things, it's nice to be able to use these signs." Story continues PHOTO: A sign created by Danielle Fenn for non-English speaking patients at Darmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. (Danielle Fenn) The signs have proved especially useful during the pandemic since protective gear like masks, which cover the entire face, make it that much more difficult to communicate. Fenn said she's also treated Spanish-speaking patients and that they've also shown appreciation for her effort. The widowed mother of two said that her love for her patients stems from a long-standing commitment to wanting to help the people she loves -- her late husband in particular. "I made a promise to myself that if anyone that ever needed my care or any loved one would need something, I would be there. Little did I know that's going to be my husband," she said. "My husband was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. It was very hard. Our children were aged 5 and 3. After the first round of chemotherapy, he did well for a little while and then the cancer started to grow again and was more aggressive." PHOTO: Danielle Fenn and her nurse co-workers at at Darmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. (Danielle Fenn) "That was definitely the hardest. But still, being a nurse is just my favorite," Fenn said. "I love to come in and be able to bring a smile to their faces." Now, even on Fenn's off days, she has continued to help others by setting aside time to sew masks for her fellow hospital workers. "My heroes are all of my coworkers, from executives to housekeeping," she said. "Everyone really has gone above and beyond to come together as a team to provide the best care possible." One nurse's clever solution to help nervous, non-English speaking COVID-19 patients originally appeared on abcnews.go.com The Centre has said it has noted with great concern that migrant workers continue to walk on roads and railway tracks to return to their native places and asked states to ensure that they travel home on the special trains being run for them from various parts of the country. IMAGE: Migrant people walk in the heat as they leave for their native places during the ongoing COVID-19 nationwide lockdown, in Surat. Photograph: ANI Photo In a letter to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also sought their cooperation in running more Shramik Special trains for the migrant workers. Referring to a meeting held by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Sunday, Bhalla said, in the meeting, the situation of migrant workers walking on roads and railway tracks was noted with great concern. "Since their movement by buses and 'Shramik' special trains has already been allowed to enable their travel to native places, all State/UT governments should ensure that migrant workers do not resort to walking on road and on railway tracks," he said. In case they are found in such condition, the home secretary said, they should be appropriately counselled, taken to nearby shelters and provided with food, water etc till such time they are facilitated to board the Shramik Special trains or buses to their native places. Further, Bhalla said, as requested by the cabinet secretary, all state/UT governments should cooperate with the railways in running more Shramik Special trains so that travel of stranded migrant workers is facilitated at a faster rate. "I urge upon you all to allow receiving of all Shramik special trains without any hindrance and facilitate faster movement of stranded migrant workers to their native places," he said. Sixteen migrant workers, who were walking back home to Madhya Pradesh were mowed down by a goods train in Maharashtra's Aurangabad last week after they fell asleep on railway tracks. Ben Stiller, left, and his father Jerry Stiller arrive at the Help Haiti benefit honoring Sean Penn hosted by the Stiller Foundation and The J/P Haitian Relief Organization, in New York, on Feb. 11, 2011. (Charles Sykes/AP Photo) Jerry Stiller, Comedian and Seinfeld Actor, Dies at 92 NEW YORKComedy veteran Jerry Stiller, who launched his career opposite wife Anne Meara in the 1950s and reemerged four decades later as the hysterically high-strung Frank Costanza on the smash television show Seinfeld, died at 92, his son Ben Stiller announced Monday. He died of natural causes, his sona comedy star himselfsaid in a tweet. Im sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes, Ben wrote. He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed. Jerry Stiller was a multi-talented performer who appeared in an assortment of movies, playing Walter Matthaus police sidekick in the thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and Divines husband Wilbur Turnblad in John Waters twisted comedy Hairspray. He also wrote an autobiography, Married to Laughter, about his 50-plus year marriage to soul mate and comedic cohort Meara, who died in 2015. And his myriad television spots included everything from Murder She Wrote to Law & Orderalong with 36 appearances alongside Meara on The Ed Sullivan Show. Stiller, although a supporting player on Seinfeld, created some of the Emmy-winning shows most enduring moments: co-creator and model for the bro, a brassiere for men; a Korean War cook who inflicted food poisoning on his entire unit; an ever-simmering salesman controlling his explosive temper with the shouted mantra, Serenity now! Stiller earned an 1997 Emmy nomination for his indelible Seinfeld performance. In a 2005 Esquire interview, Stiller recalled that he was out of work and not the first choice for the role of Frank Costanza, father to Jason Alexanders neurotic George. My manager had retired, he said. I was close to 70 years old, and had nowhere to go. Actors Jerry Stiller, far left, and Anne Meara, second from right, pose with their children, Ben Stiller and Amy Stiller as they are honored with a star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 9, 2007. (Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo) He was initially told to play the role as a milquetoast husband with an overbearing wife, Estelle, played by Estelle Harris. But the character wasnt workinguntil Stiller suggested his reincarnation as an over-the-top crank who matched his wife scream for scream. It jump-started the septuagenarians career, landing him a spot playing Vince Lombardi in a Nike commercial and the role of another over-the-top dad on the long-running sitcom King of Queens. While he was known as a nut-job father on the small screen, Stiller and wife Meara raised two children in their longtime home on Manhattans Upper West Side: daughter Amy, who became an actress, and son Ben, who became a writer, director and actor in such films as Dodgeball, Theres Something About Mary and Meet the Parents. He and Ben performed together in Shoeshine, which was nominated for a 1988 Academy Award in the short subject category. Stiller was considerably quieter and reflective in person than in characteralthough just as funny. The son of a bus driver and a housewife, Stiller grew up in Depression-era Brooklyn. His inspiration to enter show business came at age 8, when his father took him to see the Marx Brothers in the comedy classic A Night at the Opera. Years later, Stiller met Groucho Marx and thanked him. Actor Jerry Stiller arrives at the special screening of HBOs Documentary Whoopi Goldberg presents Moms Mabley at The Apollo Theater on in New York on Nov. 7, 2013. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP) Stiller earned a drama degree at Syracuse University after serving in World War II, and then headed to New York City to launch his career. There was a brief involvement in Shakespearean theater, including a $55 a week job with Jack Klugman in Coriolanus. But his life and career took off after he met Meara in spring 1953. They were married that fall. The seemingly mismatched pairhe a short, stocky Jewish guy from Brooklyn, she a tall, Irish Catholic from the Long Island suburbsshared immediate onstage chemistry, too. They were soon appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show and working nightclubs nationwide. The pair also wrote and performed radio commercials, most memorably a series of bits for a little-known wine called Blue Nun. The duos ads boosted sales by 500%. Ben Stiller recalled trips with his sister to California when his parents would head west to do television appearances. The couple went on to appear as a team in dozens of film, stage and television productions. One of them was After-Play, a 1995 off-Broadway show written by Meara. Stiller joined Seinfeld in 1993, and moved on to King of Queens when the other Jerry & company went off the air in 1998. He also appeared in Ben Stillers spoof on modeling, Zoolander, released in 2001. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said in a radio interview Monday that about 3,000 out of more than 5,500 people who visited the Itaewon nightspots during the holiday week either provided false phone numbers or did not answer calls from the officials. For those who could not be reached, Seoul authorities will look into location data from credit card records and security camera footage and will even visit their homes to track them down, Park said. A question hangs in the air in the Netherlands about its governments attitude toward Chinas rulers. The ambiguity started as early as last year. In March The Netherlands joined other countries in rejecting medical supplies made in China. The Dutch health ministry was forced to recall 600,000 face masks from the hospitals. Their statement said the masks shipped from China had a KN95 certificate, but they did not meet quality standards. (Alliance News) - International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, the parent company of British Airways, insisted Monday it is not "picking on" the airline after announcing it will shed up to 12,000 jobs. IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh told MPs that restructuring will be carried out across the group, which also owns carriers such as Aer Lingus in Ireland and Iberia and Vueling in Spain. It announced last month that up to 12,000 British Airways workers will be made redundant, which is equivalent to more than a quarter of the workforce. Giving evidence to the Commons' Transport Select Committee, Walsh insisted the timing of the announcement about the reduction in staffing at British Airways was due to the UK's labour laws. He said: "The labour legislation in Ireland and Spain a the two other major countries in which we operate a it's different. We're required to do it in a different way. "We are embarking on a restructuring and I've made it clear that this is group-wide restructuring. It's not specific to British Airways. "It's group-wide restructuring in the face of the greatest crisis that the airline industry and the airlines within IAG have faced." He added: "We are not picking on British Airways. "We're not doing anything that we don't think is absolutely necessary to secure the survival of British Airways and we're doing exactly the same with the other airlines in the group." Labour MP Sam Tarry put it to Walsh that cabin crew cannot understand why they are being "thrown on the scrap heap" given IAG has billions of pounds in liquidity, and it has been suggested the restructuring is a "pre-determined decision" which will be "potentially quite market advantageous versus your rivals". Walsh replied: "Our restructuring is solely driven by the fact that we are now in the deepest downturn that the aviation industry has ever seen. "Our capacity is going to be significantly lower in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and beyond than we had planned to be. "The amount of flying we're doing will be significantly lower than the flying that we were proposing to do. "As a result of that, we need to restructure our business." He went on: "This has been driven solely by the downturn. "I don't think I need to hide the scale of it, because it's obvious to everybody. We're not flying our aircraft to transport passengers." By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent source: PA Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. OSAKA, Japan, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Naotsune Alliance, a financial advisor for the world of business that provides discretionary investment advisory services for individual clients, wealthy families, institutional investors and investment trusts, with extensive fund management experience and product development capabilities, announced today that the Board of Directors have decided to green-light a new initiative proposed by the market-traders' branch of the company, in which junior and senior level investment managers meet and learn about their latest developments in the arena of investment strategies and trends. The forum-like event is called the Asia Investment Managers Seminar (AIMS) and will be held in the firm's Head Office in Osaka, Japan. Naotsune Alliance, one of Japan's leading asset management companies, is constantly keeping an accelerated pace in order to correlate its strategies with the technological and geo-political revolutions that are changing and reshaping the Asian and global financial services' landscape. The topics proposed for debate at AIMS will vary in accordance with existing market scenarios, from emerging markets taking the lead in the alternative investments and high-end profit opportunities, to the currency readjustment climate dictated by a multipolar economic world, the firm is initiating a brainstorming event that will produce innovative perspectives and constructive exchanges of ideas among financial and banking professionals. AIMS will bring together over 40 investment experts from seven different countries in Asia and this years' principal topic is Currency Trends on the International Markets. The meeting will take place in two consecutive days, totalling 16 to 20 hours of brainstorming and will also include a ceremonial dinner at the end of the second day scheduled session. Mr. Keiichiro Ren, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Naotsune Alliance Institutional Client Business, declares: "We have been communicating to many of our collaborators from different banking and investment organizations across Asia the desire to create a meeting where we can come together and analyse various scenarios that are currently developing on the international stage." "We have received positive feedback from all 43 invitations that we have sent out so there is only a matter of coordinating the schedule and accommodations left until we can make an official announcement." Naotsune Alliance AIMS's official date and hours will be made public very soon, after all participants will confirm also the proposed schedule for the event. About Naotsune Alliance Naotsune Alliance is a financial advisor for the world of business, a world in which community is key. The company's memberships, partnerships and associations are chosen with care, and its selectiveness ensures it is connected to the right people and have access to the best and most up-to-date knowledge. Our main products are Japanese equity funds, thus utilizing Naotsune Alliance's local expertise for Japanese firms with a focus on mid-small cap companies, start-ups and IPOs. Naotsune Alliance also manages funds with external asset managers and funds managed by prominent asset managers located all over the world. Contact: Wilhelm Wagner Osaka +81 9045012521 [email protected] https://naotsune-alliance.com/ SOURCE Naotsune Alliance The sector expects, among other things, a relaxation of labour laws, Rs 5,000 payment to around 500,000 migrant labours so that they can be retained, and exemptions in fixed power charges to tide through the current crisis these units are facing. Theirs demands also include inreasing the working hours to 12 a day, or 72 hours a week, similar to what the Uttar Pradesh government has announced, and lesser documentation or simplifications, as in the case of ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor 993 Shares Share Its been said that history doesnt repeat, but it does often rhyme. And as were learning during COVID-19, lessons from the past can be a guide to help us navigate a modern pandemic if we listen to the rhythm of history. For a little more than two years in the middle of the 19th century, Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia fought the Russian Empire for control of territory around the Black Sea. In the course of that conflict, the four allied armies lost a combined 16,237 troops to disease four times the number that died from combat wounds. Over half the disease-related deaths were from cholera or dysentery, partly because the armies werent prepared to battle an invisible enemy that was more lethal than Russian bullets. Enter Florence Nightingale, who acted as the catalyst for the overhaul of army medical facilities by writing a detailed letter to the head of a London hospital. Nightingales personal account of widespread disease, infection, and death convinced what had been an apathetic British government to pay for the construction of an entire prefabricated hospital facility, then ship it from England to Turkey. This eased overcrowding and improved sanitation. Nightingale also implemented handwashing protocols. Death rates dropped thanks to her work. Every May, during National Nurses Week, we honor Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Due to COVID-19, and the fact that this year is Nightingales 200th birthday, the American Nurses Association extended the observance to last an entire month. At a time when nurses are regularly risking their lives to treat patients, a month of recognition is more than appropriate. And believe it or not, we actually need to take some time to single out nurses for their contributions: For all the talk today that nurses are heroes, far too many of them arent being treated that way. In fact, health systems are reportedly disciplining nurses who raise concerns about safety in hospitals during COVID-19. This decision could have disastrous consequences because nurses are one of the most important links in the patient safety chain. Nightingale became a hero in her own time for sounding the alarm about hospital conditions, and many today are following her lead. Thousands of complaints have already been filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)stories of nurses being denied proper protective equipment, like N95 masks, and having their own health and safety compromised because of grossly inadequate protection protocols. Some nurses have also filed lawsuits, and many have participated in protests to express outrage over unsafe working conditions. But while Florence Nightingales public pleas for sanitation improvements were met with swift action from governments and leaders, todays nurses are facing punishment and even losing their jobs for speaking out. That response is not only short-sighted, removing critical frontline workers during a crisis, but is also disrespectful to the people working hardest to combat this disease. Health systems ignore nurses at their own risk. After all, nurses spend much more time with patients than doctors do, listen to patient needs, and administer a significant percentage of care. Their interactions with patients and their reporting of problems are essential to improving safety throughout a health system. As a former emergency department and intensive care unit nurse, Im worried about the message being sent when health systems discipline nurses who made safety concerns public. What if the next Nightingale is afraid to speak up, or worse was already fired? If we really want to honor Nightingale and all the nurses who follow in her footsteps, lets not just call them heroes. Lets treat them like it, too. Lets listen to nurses and take their concerns seriously. Without their feedback, we cant flatten the curve. Inge Garrison is a former emergency and critical care nurse. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Florida beachgoers left some 13,000 pounds of litter over the weekend of May 1 after lockdown was lifted along the coast near Orlando. Cocoa Beach, which reopened on April 21 after the lockdown that was imposed by Brevard County due to the coronavirus pandemic, was the site of a massive cleanup, prompting local officials to vow a crackdown on litterbugs. Those who are caught littering on Cocoa Beach will now be subject to a $250 fine, the city told Spectrum News over the weekend. 'As restrictions are becoming more relaxed during this pandemic, the City of Cocoa Beach is beginning to see an influx of day-trippers to our beaches, along with piles of unlawfully discarded trash in their wake,' Cocoa Beach Police Department wrote in a notice that was posted on Friday. Beachgoers are seen on Cocoa Beach in central Florida on Saturday In the first weekend of the month, there were some 13,000 pounds of litter that was cleaned up from Cocoa Beach The local police department put out a statement over the weekend vowing to crack down on litterbugs by making offenders pay a $250 fine 'This will not be tolerated.' The department says that its officers must first witness a littering offense before issuing a citation. The public is encouraged to report littering by calling the police department at (321)868-3251. 'Our community works very hard to be stewards of environmental sustainability,' said Police Chief Scott Rosenfeld. 'If I need to reallocate critical resources during our peak season to combat litterers, we are no longer asking our visitors to comply with our litter laws, we expect it, and there will be consequences for offenders.' Keep Brevard Beautiful, a volunteer organization that arranges trash pickups around the county, said that the recent littering has far surpassed that which was seen before the lockdown went into effect. Over the first weekend of May, KBB volunteers picked up a total of nearly 300 bags filled with trash. Volunteers said they picked up more than five times as much trash over the course of the first weekend of the month than they have in other weekends from previous years Cocoa Beach was reopened by Brevard County on April 21 after it was partially restricted due to the coronavirus lockdown This April 23 file photo shows beachgoers keeping their distance on Cocoa Beach When access to the beach was restricted during the coronavirus lockdown, volunteers were picking up an average of fewer than 10 bags per day, according to USA TODAY. 'Normally there is an uptick but what we've seen this past weekend is way above normal,' KBB Deputy Director Bryan Bobbitt said. 'It's equivalent to Fourth of July and Memorial Day weekend.' 'People need to understand if they leave trash on the ground a bird, fish or sea turtle could be killed by it. 'It's not just a blight issue it's an environmental issue all around.' He added: 'We encourage everyone to come and enjoy the beaches but pick up after yourself.' Thousands flock to Florida beaches and party on boats while businesses prepare to reopen after the state recorded its deadliest week since the start of the pandemic Floridians kicked off a weekend of partying at sea as the Sunshine State records its deadliest week on record after Gov Ron DeSantis gave the order to start phase one of the reopening process. Dozens of boats were spotted on a sandbar near John's Pass as thousands of people flocked to area beaches during the first weekend public beaches reopened after they were closed a few weeks ago in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19. Most beach goers observed social distancing under the watchful eye of Pinellas County Sheriff deputies who were patrolling Madeira Beach educating citizens of the rules. On Sunday, people were seen dancing, drinking and sharing a hookah on the deck of one yacht in Biscayne Bay in Miami. Dozens more were seen waiting in a massive line near a marina in Miami, which is one of three epicenters of the virus in the state. At least 40,596 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the state as of Sunday and at least 1,735 people have died. Since the state began to reopen on May 4, Florida has seen 336 deaths over the six days - an average of 56 new deaths every day. Dozens of boats were spotted on a sandbar near John's Pass as thousands of people flocked to area beaches during the first weekend public beaches reopened after they were closed a few weeks ago in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19 People were seen swimming and kayaking at the sandbar near John's Pass on Saturday Most beach goers observed social distancing under the watchful eye of Pinellas County Sheriff deputies who were patrolling the beach educating citizens of the social distancing rules Thousands of people soaked up the sun during family visits to Madeira Beach on Saturday On Sunday, Florida reported that about 40,596 coronavirus cases have been confirmed since the beginning of March and at least 1,721 people have died. Families are seen walking along Madeira Beach on Saturday Families are seen hanging out at the beach on Saturday. In other parts of Florida, one beach was forced to close because officials said visitors were not practicing social distancing and could have contributed to the spread of the virus Since the state began to reopen on May 4, Florida has seen an average of 56 new deaths every day. Two couples are seen hanging out at Madeira Beach on Saturday Florida has recorded at least 1,721 deaths (depicted above) as of Sunday night In other parts of Florida, one beach was forced to close because officials said visitors were not practicing social distancing and could have contributed to the spread of the virus. Officials in Naples on Florida's southwest coast said that the crowds on Saturday were packed too tightly together, so they decided to close beaches until a city council meeting can be held Monday to discuss solutions. Councilman Gary Price went to the beach Saturday after learning about the crowds and took photos of people not obeying rules that require groups to remain apart. 'It's pretty sad,' he told the Naples Daily News. 'It's such a popular place. We'll figure it out. We are doing this to keep people safe. We are erring on the side of caution.' Several residents told the newspaper that the beach should remain open, but limited to local residents. 'Not fair that Collier County residents cannot enjoy their beaches,' Lauren Cibelli told the paper on Facebook. 'I was at the beach during the week, and everyone practiced social distancing. This is not right that residents suffer.' Beaches in most of the state reopened last week except in South Florida, but some beaches reopened back in April. Hair and nail salons along with barber shops began reopening in much of Florida on Monday as the state took another baby step out of the economic abyss caused by the new coronavirus shutdown while it works toward clearing a backlog of unemployment claims that haven't been paid. Governor Ron DeSantis allowed such businesses to reopen with tight regulations except in hard-hit Miami-Dade and Broward counties, the state's two most-populous. That comes almost six weeks after they were ordered closed statewide - some counties closed them earlier - and one week after sit-down dining was allowed in most of the state's restaurants, also with heavy restrictions such as limiting capacity to 25 per cent of normal. DeSantis himself has expressed eagerness to get a haircut, saying last week he hasn't had one since February. The state has ordered that barbers, cosmetologists and manicurists wear masks when seeing customers, that they require appointments so that few people will be waiting inside and that they spend 15 minutes between each customer sanitizing the work station. Customers were already waiting when J. Henry opened his barber shop early Monday in downtown Orlando. Folding chairs lined the outside front window for waiting customers so they wouldn't be inside and there was a sign-in notebook on a stand next to the door to fulfill the appointment requirement. Last week, Henry made the announcement on behalf of DeSantis on social media that hair salons and barber shops in Florida could reopen. 'It feels great to be back,' said Henry, wearing rubber gloves and a blue surgical mask that kept slipping down his nose. In the shop, three barbers were spaced out among the seven barber chairs. Each barber had Lysol spray, hand sanitizer and a bottle of Clorox bleach at their stations. They wore rubber gloves and masks as they trimmed beards and hairlines. Customers wore white disposable 'drapes' as they sat in the barber chairs. Buying the extra safety items is going to make his costs go up, but Henry said it was worth it to make customers feel comfortable. 'Things are going to change, not because we want them to, but because that's just where we are in the process,' Henry said. 'We'll be OK. Everyone has a part to play.' On Sunday, Florida reported that at least 40,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed since the beginning of March Fearless sun seekers didn't waste any time adjusting to the 'new normal' just a week after Florida initiated phase one of its reopening process People were seen dancing, drinking and sharing a hookah on the deck of one yacht in Biscayne Bay in Miami amid the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday The group also appeared to be drinking as they enjoyed their boat ride on Saturday Miami-Dade County, where Biscayne Bay is located, will start reopening businesses during the week of Memorial Day Regular customers at the Fringe Salon in downtown Naples may have a hard time getting in. The salon is already booked for the week. With the new social distancing guidelines, the salon had to reduce the number of stations from seven to two. 'It's just pure chaos. Everybody's excited about getting their haircut,' said owner Trish Boettcher. 'People are just randomly calling who are not our regular clients.' 'Everybody's sitting outside wearing masks,' she said. Meanwhile, DeSantis told a press conference Monday in Fort Myers that the state made large strides over the weekend in lessening the backlog of unemployment claims that haven't been processed and paid, a major problem that has plagued his administration over the last two months. He said more than 166,000 new claimants were approved over the weekend and paid more than $400million. Overall, the state says it has paid more than 650,000 unemployed workers $1.5billion. 'Compared to where we were six weeks ago when the system was basically dead, I think that is the type of progress I want to see,' DeSantis said. Two drivers who reportedly stopped by the side of a highway to fight were killed when a passing truck ploughed into them both. The two men died at the scene on the Pacific Highway, about 5km south of Woodburn in northern New South Wales, at about 8.10pm on Monday. Daily Mail Australia understands the two men - driving an SUV and a semi-trailer carrying logs - had pulled over on the side of the highway to confront each other. The men then got into a physical altercation before a B-double truck heading down the freeway collided with them. Two drivers - one of whom was driving this log truck - who reportedly stopped by the side of a highway to fight were killed when a passing truck ploughed into them both One man was driving a semi-trailer carrying logs when he pulled over on the side of the highway. The driver of this semi-trailer carrying a load of logs is from Smiths Lake, aged in his 40s NSW Police have yet to formally identify the men but said the SUV driver is from and Grafton aged in his 30s. The driver of the semi-trailer is from Smiths Lake, aged in his 40s. A driver who arrived on the scene moments after the crash said he initially thought someone was having a heart attack. 'A car was parked in the middle of the road with the hazard lights on and a woman was inside crying hysterically,' he told the Daily Telegraph. The witness, who asked not to be named, said a truck was parked behind the car with its hazard lights flashing. NSW Police have yet to formally identify the men but said the SUV driver is from and Grafton aged in his 30s. Pictured: emergency workers at the scene He said one of the victims was driving a B-double log truck while the other was in a car with his partner. Pictured: Emergency workers blocking off the road at the accident site 'I got out thinking she was upset because she may have got into a minor crash. Then I found out her partner was killed metres away, and he was still under the truck,' he said. He said one of the victims was driving a B-double log truck while the other was in a car with his partner. The 35-year-old truck driver who hit the men wasn't injured but was 'hysterical'. He was taken to Ballina Hospital for mandatory blood and urine testing. Police said it was too early to comment on whether or not the men were brawling prior to being hit and killed. A police spokeswoman said the incident is 'serious' and said motorists should expect the Pacific Highway to remain closed for most of the night A crime scene has been established and an investigation is underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident. A police spokeswoman said the incident is 'serious' and said motorists should expect the Pacific Highway to remain closed until Tuesday. Multiple emergency crews remain on the scene. 'The salvage operation is expected to take until early Tuesday morning,' Live Traffic reported. The Pacific Highway is closed to traffic between Woodburn and New Italy. 'Motorists can use an alternative route via the Bruxner Highway and Summerland Way through Casino and Grafton, and should allow extra travel time,' The Transport Management Centre said. The Narzo launch will start at 12:30 PM IST and the event will be streamed on all Realme social channels. The launch of the Realme Narzo series is perhaps the most ill-fated this year. After being deferred and postponed multiple times during the lockdown, the new entry-level lineup from Realme will be unveiled via an online event on Monday. Realme CEO Madhav Sheth confirmed the launch on Twitter on 11 May, i.e. today at 12:30 PM IST. Have you experienced real power? Introducing #realmeNarzo10A with 5000mAh Battery and Triple Rear Camera, to #FeelThePower- so much, that you will blink twice to believe it is for real! Watch the launch online tomorrow at 12:30 PM on our official channels.https://t.co/nF4YzbHOs0 pic.twitter.com/SZ3YUyTq35 realme (@realmemobiles) May 10, 2020 The Narzo launch was initially planned for March 26 which was then postponed to April 21. However, owing to the government not allowing the sale of non-essential goods (smartphones are considered non-essential goods in India) during the lockdown, Realme had to postpone the launch once again. Now, with the government allowing the sale of all goods in areas designated green and orange zones, Realme finally got a window to officially unveil the smartphones. Narzo 10, Narzo 10A launch today: How to watch it live The Narzo launch will start at 12:30 PM IST and the event will be streamed on all Realme social channels. The live stream video link has been embedded below as well. Its launch event will be pre-recorded and wont be conducted live. Narzo 10, Narzo 10A expected specifications, features and price Realme is positioning the Narzo series as entry-level smartphones with powerful specs. Based on the teasers released by Realme, the Narzo 10 and Narzo 10A will both offer large 5,000mAh battery. Both phones will also rock a waterdrop notch and feature a large 6.5-inch display with thin bezels. An older report had claimed the Narzo 10A will come with a quad-camera setup while the Narzo 10 will rock a triple camera setup at the back. Both smartphones will be offered in two colour variants Blue and Green. Realme also confirmed the Narzo 10 series will be powered by the new MediaTek Helio G80 SoC that promises stable gaming performance. The company also confirmed it will have a 48MP primary sensor in the rear camera setup. Furthermore, the phones are expected to be priced under Rs 10,000. We will be keeping an eye out for the live stream for more details, and bring you live coverage of the Realme Narzo launch in some time. Stay tuned. A firefighter walks past a private hospice after a fire killed nine elderly people in Krasnogorsk outside Moscow on May 11, 2020. (Russian Emergency Situations Ministry/Handout via Reuters) Russian Police Detain Hospice Owner After 9 People Die in Fire MOSCOWRussian investigators said on May 11 they had detained the owner of a private hospice outside Moscow after a fire there killed nine elderly people and hospitalized nine others. Investigators said they suspected that the blaze, which broke out during the night, was caused by faulty electrical wiring in the hospice for elderly people in Krasnogorsk, which is located in the wider Moscow region. A medical specialist takes an antibody test in Hadassah clinic at the Skolkovo innovation center on the outskirts of Moscow on April 24, 2020. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters) Amid the CCP virus pandemic, a Russian cadet wearing a mask stands guard in front of a military memorial during a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two in Vladivostok, Russia, on May 9, 2020. (Pavel Korolyov/AFP via Getty Images) The bodies of nine people aged between 66 and 90 years were found with thermal burns nine more people were hospitalized, Russias Investigative Committee said in a statement. A criminal investigation had been opened to establish whether safety rules were violated, it said. The incident follows another fire on Saturday at a Moscow hospital treating patients infected with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus which left one person dead. By Andrey Kuzmin Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. Telefloras Business Blossoms with CXone Teleflora is a floral wire service that brokers orders from customers to local florists for delivery. As the company expanded, they realized the on-premises PBX they had previously relied on in contact centers would not be enough. To better accommodate their growth, Telefora switched to NICE inContacts CXone integrated customer experience cloud platform. Read this case study to learn about the migration process, and the substantial cost savings Telefora accomplished since switching. China ensures 'stability by demolishing churches, removing crosses Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Chinas crackdown against Christianity continued to escalate throughout May, with numerous reports of church raids, cross removals, and intimidation of believers emerging from across the country. According to persecution watchdog Bitter Winter, as China attempts to reopen after coronavirus lockdowns, communist authorities continue propagating stability maintenance measures that specifically target Christian places of worship. Last week, the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness revealed on Twitter that a state-vetted church located at Panji District in the city of Huainan, Anhui Province, had its cross removed by authorities. In a video shared by the group, a worker can be seen standing on the now-vacant rooftop of the church next to a ladder. In another post, CCFR shared photos of a house church in Shangrao city in Jiangxi province allegedly scheduled to be demolished. The photos show the church severely damaged, with ceiling tiles littered across the floor. Bitter Winter reports that several churches in Dexing city, Shangrao city, and Fuzhou city were also raided by local authorities and told to shut down their churches and join the state-vetted Three-Self Church. Some church leaders were detained and forced to sign an agreement to stop gathering or join the official church. Last week, footage emerged of police using force to disband a service at Xingguang Church in Xiamen city in the southeastern province of Fujian. During the raid carried out by security guards and officers from the local Ethnic and Religious Bureau, many believers were violently beaten, one of whom had to seek medical attention. The church was reportedly banned after the raid, for which officers never presented warrants. Gina Goh, International Christian Concerns regional manager for Southeast Asia, said China has clearly resumed its crackdown on Christianity now that the threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic has reduced. In recent weeks, we have seen an increased number of church demolitions and cross removals on state-sanctioned churches across China, as house church gatherings continue to face interruption and harassment. It is deplorable that the local authorities not only conducted this raid without proper procedure, but deployed excessive use of force against church members and bystanders, she said. ICC calls on the international community and the US government to condemn Chinas constant human rights abuses. Persecution watchdog Open Doors USA ranks China as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to the persecution of Christians. The country rose in the rankings from No. 27 to No 23. on Open Doors 2020 World Watch List report of 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a believer. Earlier this year, Open Doors USA CEO David Curry told The Christian Post that China, under President Xi Jinping, is creating a system of persecution for the future. We have to call it out now, he said. Otherwise, it will be too late. Otherwise, they will sell it to Iran and others to oppress their religious minorities. That is why it needs to be really highlighted. Within five years, it would be almost too late to stop them." The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom last month released a report recommending that the U.S. government again designate China as a country of particular concern under the International Religious Freedom Act. The report cited Chinas continued persecution of Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and other Muslims. USCIRF also recommended the U.S. impose targeted sanctions on Chinese government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom. USCIRF warned that "the state of religious freedom in China has continued to deteriorate" over the last year. There is no question that China is the worlds foremost violator of human rights and religious freedom, said commissioner Johnnie Moore. It cannot be compared to any other country in the world not only because of its inexcusable actions, but because of the way it aids and abets similar actions by other countries all around the world. Moore also criticized the international order for continuing to let China play by its own rules, and especially at the United Nations. This is absolutely inexcusable, and those nations around the world who ignore Chinas malevolence may eventually find themselves subservient to it. It is past time for our world bodies, and our liberal democracies, to demand more from China, he said. Some 350 families left emergency accommodation into tenancies in Dublin in the first quarter of 2020 (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Dublin has the lowest number of families in emergency accommodation in three years, new figures show. There were 1,103 families in hotels and B&Bs in March, the lowest number since May 2017. Dublin City Council says it expects to see a further decrease in April. The figures show that 216 families went into emergency accommodation for the first time between January and March 2020, compared to 276 in 2019 and 293 in 2018. In the period January to March 2020, 350 families left emergency accommodation into tenancies. The figure was 237 for the same period in 2019 and 177 in 2018. The number of families living in hotels in was the lowest since early 2016. There were 540 families in hotel accommodation at the end of March 2020. At its peak in March 2017, the figure was 871 while the number of families in hotels will be reduced further in April 2020. At the beginning of the pandemic, up to 350 hotel rooms and living spaces were made available to Dublins homeless services. Dublin City Council deputy chief executive Brendan Kenny said the reduction in family homelessness results mainly from a gradual decrease in new presentations over recent months and a continuing increase in exits into tenancies. The increased level of housing supply in the latter months of 2019 and early months of 2020 has made a difference, he added. The recruitment of 15 new family support officers by the DRHE/DCC and their assignment to work intensively with families residing in emergency accommodation on their exit into tenancies has also had a very positive impact. With the big change in the property market we expect now to be able to source a significant number of self-contained apartments as an alternative to hotels that will provide much more suitable accommodation and represent much better value for money Council chief executive Brendan Kenny Since the outbreak of Covid-19, there have been indications the number of rental properties on the market has increased. Mr Kenny said he is hoping it will lead to a greater number of long-term leased or acquired homes that will serve as permanent social housing. It has had no real impact yet on exits of families from emergency accommodation, he added. With the big change in the property market we expect now to be able to source a significant number of self-contained apartments as an alternative to hotels that will provide much more suitable accommodation and represent much better value for money. While it welcomes the decrease in the number of families in emergency accommodation, Dublin City Council acknowledges that the figures are still far too high and promises that there will be no let-up in its collective efforts on this issue. President Donald Trump View Photo President Trump proclaimed May 10 through May 16th as National Charter Schools Week. Trump was Mondays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words: Nearly 30 years ago, in a small town in southeast Minnesota, freedom-loving Americans on both sides of the political aisle opened the doors to our Nations first public charter school, enabling families to more effectively choose the best learning environment for their child. This historic action sparked a movement that now spans 44 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam. There are currently more than 7,400 public charter schools providing individualized education and learning opportunities to more than 3 million students and their families throughout our Nation. During National Charter School Week, we recognize the contributions of public charter school leaders, teachers, students, and parents and reaffirm our commitment to further expand access to public charter schools and all high-quality education opportunities throughout our Nation. Every American family should have the right to choose the learning environment that works best for their child. Despite this, for decades the idea that all children can thrive under a one-size-fits-all approach to learning has defined American education. This antiquated and monolithic model leaves far too many of our Nations young people trapped in a learning environment that does not meet their individual needs. Public charter schools ensure individual choice and empower students to fulfil their potential. These important educational options also disproportionately serve low-income students and students of color, and have a proven track record of serving these children better than neighboring public schools. Although public charter school enrollment has increased at least eightfold in the past 18 years, there are currently more than 1 million students still on waitlists throughout the country. My Administration remains committed to ensuring these children are able to receive the best education possible by expanding access to alternative education options. Since my first day in office, I have championed school choice and education freedom for every American student, acknowledging that a familys zip code or socioeconomic status should not determine a childs future. My Administration has invested nearly $1.5 billion in the development of public charter schools, while also taking action to restore local control over education and expand access to high-quality education opportunities. Together, we are empowering students and families to be able to access learning environments that meet their unique needs. This week, public charter schools, families, and supporters will share inspirational stories of success, recognize leaders in the charter sector, and build awareness of the unique public charter school model that offers flexibility to try different instructional methods while being accountable for student achievement and outcomes. During National Charter Schools Week, and every week, let us celebrate the extraordinary work of public charter schools in advancing education freedom, excellence, and innovative approaches to learning. By continuing to support public charter schools and students, we will give power back to families and build a brighter future for all Americans. NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 10 through May 16, 2020, as National Charter Schools Week. I commend our Nations successful public charter schools, teachers, and administrators, and I call on States and communities to help students and empower parents and families by supporting high-quality charter schools as an important school choice option. The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML. President Trump said Monday 'we've prevailed on testing' as the White House announced a number of new recommendations and initiatives to boost the number of COVID-19 tests done in the United States. But the president continued to potentially oversell the country's capabilities answering 'very soon, really very soon' to a reporter's question on when Americans might be able to get tested every day before heading into work. 'If somebody wants to get tested right now, they'll be able to get tested,' the president said. Adm. Brett Giroir, the coronavirus taskforce's testing chief, said that the U.S. was expected to administer 12 million tests by the end of May for a country of around 330 million. He explained that this capacity should be enough in order to test Americans who believe they have an active case of COVID-19, test people who've come in contact with someone who's tested positive for COVID-19 and conduct what's referred to as 'surveillance.' 'And when you do the numbers, this amount of testing on a state-to-state basis really is in the range that we need to accomplish all of that,' Giroir told reporters Monday in the White House Rose Garden. Earlier Monday, the Associated Press reported that members of the coronavirus taskforce told governors that they now recommended every single nursing home resident and worker be tested in the next two weeks. Additionally, White House officials boasted that $11 billion - which was allocated in the CARES Act in late March - would go toward getting states the testing materials they need. President Trump's administration went on offense on testing on Monday, making new announcements on nursing homes and financial help for the states Testing equipment was placed on either side of the president for Monday's Rose Garden press conference, along with large signs that read 'American leads the world in testing' A coronavirus machine and testing supplies were on display at Monday's White House press conference The U.S. had conducted nearly 9 million COVID-19 tests since early March and is expected to hit 12 million by the end of the month, Admiral Brett Giroir, the coronavirus taskforce's testing chief, said at Monday's press briefing The administration said on Monday that it was going to push $11 billion out to the state to boost their testing capabilities. The money had been allocated by Congress in March, with a reporter asking the president why he held it up so long The $11 billion is being used to give states the rest of the testing supplies they need, including swabs, which are needed to conduct nasal tests that detect COVID-19 The White House put out a chart showing that each state's goal for testing in May was more tests per 1,000 people than what was utilized in South Korea The White House continues to tout that the U.S. has conducted more COVID-19 tests than any other country in the world The president arrived in the Rose Garden Monday afternoon and addressed reporters with testing equipment on display on either side of him. He spoke of the 'unprecedented testing capacity developed by the United States' calling it 'the most advanced and robust testing system anywhere in the world by far.' A large sign boasting 'America leads the world in testing' was hung behind him. The testing announcements came as the White House is trying to control its own coronavirus outbreak, with a Navy valet and Vice President Mike Pence's spokeswoman Katie Miller, the wife of top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, testing positive for the virus. While the president continued to be mask-less, administration officials including Jared Kushner and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar wore masks in the Rose Garden. Trump said it was at his direction to have White House staff don masks. Jared Kushner (left) and Admiral Brett Giroir (right) wear masks in the White House Rose Garden on Monday A Secret Service agent stands guard alongside the Rose Garden and sports a mask, after White House officials tested positive for the coronavirus White House officials, watching President Trump address reporters in the Rose Garden on Monday, are now all wearing masks Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and other White House officials wear face masks at Monday's announcement on testing after several White House officials tested positive for the virus TRUMP COMPARES U.S. DEATH RATE TO GERMANY'S Besides President Trump's back-and-forths about testing at Monday's press briefing, he bragged that the U.S., alongside Germany, had one of the lowest death rates per 100,000 people. 'I think one of the things were most proud of is, this just came out - deaths per 100,000 people ... so deaths per 100,000 people, Germany and the United States are at the lowest rung of the ladder,' Trump said Monday. 'Meaning low is a positive, not a negative. Germany, the United States, are the two best in deaths per 100,000 people, which frankly, to me, that's perhaps the most important number there is.' That is not true. Germany has about nine coronavirus deaths per 100K, the United States has 24. A lot of other countries are doing better than the U.S. too, with John Hopkins data putting the U.S. per capita death rate as the ninth-highest out of 140 countries where data is being made available. Advertisement He spent much of the press conference trying to square America's testing capability with that of the White House - where staffers who come in close proximity to Trump are tested frequently, while governors have complained of testing shortages for weeks. 'You're complaining that we get too many tests,' Trump pushed back at a reporter at one point, suggesting reporters would whine if White House aides didn't get tested enough. The president also explained that not every American needed a test. 'Not everyone should get a test because they have to have certain things,' Trump explained at one point, asking Giroir to again take over. Giroir explained that 'everybody who needs a test can get a test in America with the numbers we have.' 'People who come into close contact with the president get tested on a regular basis,' Giroir said, adding 'that's a very specific circumstance.' He said the country had enough tests to move toward phase one of reopening as outlined in the guidelines released by the White House coronavirus taskforce. People who 'need' a test, according to Giroir, included those with symptoms and then those who've come into contact with those who've tested positive. And then the government also wants to surveil communities where there could be rapid spread, such as nursing homes. Earlier in the day, members of the coronavirus taskforce told the nation's governors that the new White House recommendation was that all nursing home residents and workers get tested for the coronavirus in the next two weeks. Numbers crunched by The New York Times show that one-third of American COVID-19 deaths are nursing home residents or workers. Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the White House coronavirus task force, told governors on a video conference call Monday that it's the federal government's strong recommendation that such testing be done. At the briefing, Trump went further and said he's considering mandating the action. 'I will mandate it if you like,' Trump said. 'They have the capacity, they should be doing nursing homes, that's a real vulnerability.' Nursing homes, like the Cobble Hill Health Center in Brooklyn, New York are being advised to test all their patients and workers over the next two weeks, according to new White House guidanced delivered to the governors on Monday Members of the White House coronavirus taskforce told governors on Monday that they recommend that every nursing home resident and worker get tested for COVID-19 in the next two weeks Vice President Mike Pence (left) and Dr. Deborah Birx (right), both members of the White House's coronavirus taskforce made the nursing home testing recommendation to governors on a conference call Monday, the Associated Press reported Nursing home patients and workers accounted for one-third of the deaths in the United States, according to number crunching done by The New York Times Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force coordinator, told governors to focus over the next two weeks on testing all 1 million nursing home residents. She says the White House will help states that need it. Nursing homes and the elderly have been shown to be especially susceptible to the virus. The Times said that as of Monday, 28,100 residents and workers of nursing home and long-term care facilities have died from the coronavirus in the United States. The Associated Press obtained a recording of the meeting between taskforce members and governors. The White House has previously said that there would be monitoring in the nation's nursing homes as a part of the phased reopening around the country. In New York, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday that nursing homes must start doing twice-weekly coronaviurs testing for all staffers. COVID-19 patients leaving hospitals would no longer be sent back to nursing homes or long-term care facilities. If nursing homes cannot provide care, patients can be handed over to the state, which has ample hospital beds, Cuomo said. Cuomo faced criticism for previously allowing this practice to happen. Senior administration officials also announced Monday that $11 billion allocated for testing purposes in the CARES Act would be used to give states the supplies they needed. An official told reporters the billions would be used to send the states the 'exact number of supplies theyre requesting.' The money was first allocated in March. In the Rose Garden, Trump was asked if he delayed widespread testing to diminish the number of cases so he could more quickly reopen the country. The president denied that. 'No we just wanted to make sure we had the proper machinery, apparatus and everything else out there before people started wasting money,' Trump said. 'So, method of saving money.' Trump has been repeatedly criticized by governors, including some from his own party, for not leading more on testing. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam called Trump 'delusional' in mid-April for suggesting states had enough tests to reopen their economies soon. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, begged federal officials to fast-track reagent concoctions, while Cuomo, a Democrat, said the federal government needed to step in and address supply chain issues for reagent chemicals and testing swabs. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan was so concerned about COVID-19 test shortages that he bought some from his wife's home country of South Korea, had the plane fly to an airport where it couldn't be intercepted by the federal government. And then had the Maryland National Guard guard the tests. C oronavirus lockdown fines will rise from 30 to 100 in England from Wednesday. The first fine someone receives if police believe they are flouting restrictions will be lowered to 50 if paid within 14 days, according to the Home Office. Fines will double for each repeat offence, up to a maximum of 3,200. It comes as Boris Johnson sketched out the Government plans to modify lockdown measures in an address to the nation on Sunday. Existing legislation known as the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 will be updated from Wednesday to reflect the changes coming into force. "Police officers will continue to do their best, but their work must be based on crystal clear guidance," police boss says / PA It is not yet clear if the same changes to fines will be adopted in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The news comes as the body that represents rank-and-file police officers warned the Prime Minister's relaxed lockdown guidance still risks being a set of "loose rules that are left open to interpretation" and is difficult to implement. Reaction to Boris Johnson's new lockdown rules John Apter, the national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: "What we need from the Prime Minister and the Government now is clear and unambiguous messaging and guidance, explaining what exactly is expected of the public, so that my colleagues can do their level best to police it. "Police officers will continue to do their best, but their work must be based on crystal clear guidance, not loose rules that are left open to interpretation - because that will be grossly unfair on officers whose job is already challenging." Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures 1 /81 Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures A deserted Westminster Bridge PA A man wearing a face mask or covering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, walks past customers sat outside a restaurant AFP via Getty Images Boris Johnson addresses the nation on the Coronavirus lockdown Andrew Parsons Runners pass cardboard cutouts of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William during the London Marathon in London AP An empty escalator at Charing Coss London Underground tube station Jeremy Selwyn Electronic bilboards displays a message warning people to stay home in Sheffield PA A sign is displayed in the window of a student accommodation building following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Mancheste Reuters People take part in a 'We Do Not Consent' rally at Trafalgar Square, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions, in Londo AP People sing and dance in Leicester Square on the eve on the 10PM curfew Reuters Hearts painted by a team of artists from Upfest are seen in the grass at Queen Square, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bristol Reuters Graffiti reads 'good luck and stay safe', as the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases grow around the world, under a bridge in London Reuters A sign is pictured in Soho, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London Reuters Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures, during a coronavirus briefing in Downing Street, London AP A person runs past posters with a message of hope, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Manchester REUTERS Riot police face protesters who took part in a 'We Do Not Consent' rally at Trafalgar Square, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions in London AP An image of The Queen eith quotes from her broadcast to the UK and the Commonwealth in relation to the Coronavirus epidemic are displayed on lights in London's Piccadilly Circus PA Military vehicles cross Westminster Bridge after members of the 101 Logistic Brigade delivered a consignment of medical masks to St Thomas' hospital Getty Images Durdle Door in Dorset Reuters Captain Tom Moore via Reuters Mia, aged 8, and Jack, aged 5, take part in "PE with Joe" a daily live workout with Joe Wicks on Youtube to help kids stay fit who have to stay indoors due to the Coronavirus outbreak PA An NHS worker reacts at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS Reuters Goats which have taken over the deserted streets of Llandudno @AndrewStuart via PA Tobias Weller PA Novikov restaurant in London with its shutters pulled down while the restaurant is closed London Landscapes: Hyde Park and the Serpentine, central London. Matt Writtle A newspaper vendor in Manchester city centre giving away free toilet rolls with every paper bought as shops run low on supplies due to fears over the spread of the coronavirus PA Theo Clay looks out of his window next to his hand-drawn picture of a rainbow in Liverpool, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue Reuters A young man cuts another man's hair on top of a closed hairdresser in Oxford Reuters General view of the new NHS Nightingale Hospital, built to fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London via Reuters Jason Baird is seen dressed as Spiderman during his daily exercise to cheer up local children in Stockport, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters A woman wearing a face mask walks past Buckingham Palace Getty Images A man holds mobile phone displaying a text message alert sent by the government warning that new rules are in force across the UK and people must stay at home PA Medical staff on the Covid-19 ward at the Neath Port Talbot Hospital, in Wales, as the health services continue their response to the coronavirus outbreak. PA Prime Minister Boris Johnson taking part in a virtual Cabinet meeting with his top team of ministers PA A shopper walks past empty shelves in a Lidl store on in Wallington. After spates of "panic buying" cleared supermarket shelves of items like toilet paper and cleaning products, stores across the UK have introduced limits on purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have also created special time slots for the elderly and other shoppers vulnerable to the new coronavirus. Getty Images People on a busy tube train in London at rush hour PA Mia, aged 8 and her brother Jack, aged 5 from Essex, continue their school work at home, after being sent home due to the coronavirus PA Children are painting 'Chase the rainbows' artwork and springing up in windows across the country Reuters Social distancing in Primrose Hill Jeremy Selwyn A general view of a locked gate at Anfield, Liverpool as The Premier League has been suspended PA Homeless people in London AFP via Getty Images A piece of art by the artist, known as the Rebel Bear has appeared on a wall on Bank Street in Glasgow. The new addition to Glasgow's street art is capturing the global Coronavirus crisis. The piece features a woman and a man pulling back to give each other a kiss PA The Queen leaves Buckingham Palace, London, for Windsor Castle to socially distance herself amid the coronavirus pandemic PA A general view on Grey street, Newcastle as coronavirus cases grow around the world Reuters Matt Raw, a British national who returned from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, leaves quaratine at Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside PA Britain's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty (L) and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance look on as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks during a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) news conference inside 10 Downing Street Reuters The ticket-validation terminals at the tram stop on Edinburgh's Princes Street are cleaned following the coronavirus outbreak. PA Locked school gates at Rockcliffe First School in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear PA A sign at a Sainsbury's supermarket informs customers that limits have been set on a small number of products as the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases grow around the world Reuters Jawad Javed delivers coronavirus protection kits that he and his wife have put together to the vulnerable people of their community of Stenhousemuir, between Glasgow and Edinburgh AFP via Getty Images A sign advertising a book titled "How Will We Survive On Earth?" Getty Images A man who appears to be homeless sleeping wearing a mask today in Victoria Jeremy Selwyn A pedestrian walks past graffiti that reads "Diseases are in the City" in Edinburgh AFP via Getty Images Staff from The Lyric Theatre, London inform patrons, as it shuts its doors PA A quiet looking George IV Bridge in Edinburgh PA A quieter than usual British Museum Getty Images A racegoer attends Cheltenham in a fashionable face mask SplashNews.com A commuter wears a face mask at London Bridge Station Jeremy Selwyn A empty restaurant in the Bull Ring Shopping Centre Getty Images A deserted Trafalgar Square in London PA Passengers determined to avoid the coronavirus before leaving the UK arrive at Gatwick Airport Getty Images Mr Apter noted that Boris Johnson's statement came after a week of "mixed messages and the release of some information which, fuelled by media speculation, meant many people acted as though the lockdown had already ended". He said: "If the message of what is expected of the public is not clear, then it will make the job of policing this legislation almost impossible." It comes after the Metropolitan Police Federation (MPF), which represents police officers in London, criticised the Government's pandemic response as "wishy-washy" amid concerns that the public had begun ignoring lockdown restrictions. MPF's Ken Marsh told BBC Radio 4: "It's been quite wishy-washy how we've gone about it. "Had we been very stringent from the off - it is painful, but it's not overly painful in terms of what you're actually being asked to do - then I think we would have a better result now." India has decided to amp up its medical assistance effort to help authorities abroad combat Covid-19 and has targeted covering 90-plus countries over the next few weeks, people familiar with the development told Hindustan Times on Monday. New Delhis diplomatic outreach is expected to cost 110-120 crore ( 1.1-1.2 billion). This is in addition to drugs and equipment that India is supplying to various countries on commercial terms. For now, the foreign ministry has pledged to supply drugs, testing kits and other medical assistance worth 60 crore to 67 countries. But we have received many more requests that are likely to be cleared by the foreign ministry in view of PM Modis clear directions, a top government official told Hindustan Times. It is a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modis advice to Foreign Minister S Jaishankar in early days of the Covid-19 to reach out to as many countries as possible. PM Modi and Jaishankar have also been working the phones as part of this effort to reach out to as many countries as possible; National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has focussed on west Asian countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Jordan. Foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has been tasked with executing the plan. Also Watch | Covid-19: India sends ship with medicines, food to 5 nations amid crisis Out of these 67 countries, a senior government official said the government has already delivered consignments in 29 countries spread out over the South Asian region, the Indian Ocean region, the Gulf (Kuwait), Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Armenia, Tajikistan, Ukraine) and even remotely located countries like Dominican Republic and Ecuador. Six more African countries have received hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and paracetamol as well. We have reached aid worth 28 crore to these 29 countries. Consignments worth 13.6 crore are in the pipeline, the official said. A big challenge in reaching the assistance to the countries is the transportation logistics, given that international commercial flight operations are severely restricted. That is why, the official said, India had deployed the navys 5,600-tonne landing ship, INS Kesari, to reach medical teams, medicines and supplies to countries in the Indian Ocean region such as Maldives, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles. The two medical assistance teams on board the warship will be deployed in Mauritius and Comoros. In Indias immediate neighbourhood, India has committed more than 17 crore of medical aid including essential antibiotics, Covid-19 protection gear and testing kits. Nearly 40% of the committed assistance has been delivered, the rest will reach the SAARC countries this week, a foreign ministry official said. Apart from medical aid, India has also sent teams of medical personnel called Rapid Response Teams to Kuwait and Maldives, is setting up, conducting webinars to train personnel in other countries and extend technical assistance in other formats. Till date, a governments status report said, India had provided 8.3 crore worth of Covid-19 assistance in this region till date. Officials said procurement and delivery of medical assistance to about 50 additional countries including 28 countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean region and 12 countries in Africa. Also in this list are countries in other regions such as Madagascar, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Armenia, Jamaica, Uzbekistan, Malta, Lao PDR and Comoros. India is providing 10 million HCQ tablets to 67 countries out of which deliveries of 2.8 million have been done to 21 countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Zambia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, DR Congo, Myanmar, Armenia). Some more requests have been received for additional assistance from another 13 countries in Africa, 7 countries from Western Asia and North Africa region apart from 16 other countries. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON https://www.aish.com/ho/p/The-Muslim-Holocaust-Researcher.html Prof. Mehnaz Afridi, a Pakistani Muslim, has been the director of the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center in New York for the past decade. Don't even bother to try and label Mehnaz Afridi. A professor in religious studies, Afridi is a Pakistani Muslim who has been the director of the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center in New York (HGI) since 2011. She researches and teaches the Holocaust, genocide and Islam from a multi-cultural perspective. This year, due to the coronavirus, the March of the Living in Poland did not take place, and Afridi was invited to participate in a virtual ceremony for the International March of the Living. This is how I came to know her, a warm and impressive woman. Her book, Shoah Through Muslim Eyes (2017, a series edited by Michael Berenbaum), offers a unique and fascinating perspective on this chapter in history. In these times of factionism and strife, Afridi's devotion to the topic of the Holocaust, her continued activism for reconciliation and her commitment to interfaith dialogue are moving. When I delved into researching the Holocaust, I understood the need for the State of Israel. Afridi has traveled across the Middle East, Western Europe and the US throughout her life. It seems like the seminal paradigm in her identity is that of the other and foreignness. A sense of detachment and discrimination are not foreign to her and are a central part of her biography: "I was born in Karachi to a Muslim Pakistani family. My father worked in international banking. That means our family had to migrate often. In 1984 we moved to Scarsdale, New York, where I finished high school. In most of the schools I attended, I was the only Muslim. Dark skinned, with a different language and culture. "In Switzerland, I felt 'too dark'. In Dubai, I was an outsider. In New York, I was a Pakistani. I knew racism. In some of the schools, I became friends with Jews, who also stood out for being different. As time went on, I became more curious about Jews." Q: Do you come from a religious home? "My mother was religious. My father was a believer, but secular and more relaxed. I keep customs, fast during Ramadan, I don't wear a hijab. I pray, since praying is like meditation for me." Q: How does a Muslim woman become so interested in the Holocaust and end up scientifically researching it? "I did my Masters in religious studies at Syracuse University. Almost by accident, I became a teaching assistant to Alan Berger [a veteran Holocaust researcher who was a professor in the religious studies department RT]. In his lessons, I was exposed deeply to the Holocaust. I completed my doctorate at the University of South Africa. Michael Berenbaum, an orthodox rabbi and researcher of the Holocaust, was also one of my mentors. That's how I found myself studying Judaism, researching the many points where Judaism and Islam meet, and finding how the concept of God is so similar. My interest in the Holocaust grew and I began to understand the need for the State of Israel." 'This is the degree of humanity' She shares with me a defining moment in her life. The summer of 2007 when she was invited to speak at a conference in Munich, after which she felt the need to visit Dachau, the death camp in Germany. "I always wanted to visit the camps," Afridi says, "and in Dachau, I felt an emptiness, everything was exposed, the white rocks were blinding. I was holding my newborn baby daughter, her crying echoed inside me, and I asked myself what were you thinking, why did you bring her to Dachau? "I stood in the crematorium and prayer spontaneously rose inside me from the Koran (2:156) that is said when a person passes away. I wanted to give the dead the respect they deserved. The meaning of the prayer is that 'we belong to God, and to Him do we indeed return'. "I didn't realize then how that powerful moment would define me. I didn't know exactly why I wanted to visit Dachau. Maybe as a Muslim witness, to tell of the rage over Holocaust denial in the Muslim world and to raise attention to the dangers of ignoring history. I felt a responsibility for the dead, to be a voice for them in the Muslim world. I found myself looking into my daughter's eyes, feeling that remembering these horrors is the only way to avoid this happening again to anyone. In Islam, human dignity is a right given by God to all people, as those who accept the divinity across the world, whether a person is dead or alive (as is exemplified in the Koran, such as Surah 5:31). "Unfortunately, the Holocaust is not taught in Muslim communities. Muslims are aware of the Holocaust but it's not part of the curriculum. I wanted to bridge these stories to Muslims. To tell my community: 'accept the Holocaust, recognize the pain.' It may not be your pain, but it is the pain of humanity. "I've seen attempts in the Muslim community to refute the Holocaust, to distort history and numbers. My research was born out of this Holocaust denial and the relativism towards it. It hurt me as a Muslim, not only as an intellectual. I wanted to give the Holocaust the mantle of Islamic ethical justice." Q: How did your family and friends react to your choice? "My father died 20 years ago. My mother found it hard at first. She wondered why I didn't study a normative field. At first, she feared Muslim extremists. Today she supports me and has even come with me to Israel. I have two children, and as a mother, I can understand the motives. My children read books and watch movies about the Holocaust. They have close Jewish friends. I do not believe in occlusion but in exposure to a diverse environment. This is the way I wanted to live and raise my children, in religious freedom with understanding and tolerance for the other. In my eyes, this is the degree of humanity." For her book, Afridi interviewed survivors over the years. Q: What is the added value of a Muslim interviewing a Holocaust survivor? "I'm not another Jew or Israeli asking for their testimony. As a Muslim I felt that I wanted to interview the Holocaust survivors myself. One of the survivors, for example, decided that he no longer wanted to be interviewed, but when he heard I was Muslim he got very excited, changed his mind and spoke with me. The interviewees were curious about me and my religion. I keep in touch with many of the survivors, I visit their homes, eat with them on holidays, a close connection was forged. The view of Islam is based on a warped perspective given by the media. I let them meet with Muslim students and you can immediately see the difference in how people react to each other. These things define me and my life, these are the transformations I yearn for." Q: In your book and research, Islam is the fundamental model through which you observe the Holocaust, by using the Koran and Hadith. "Indeed, I am a Muslim dealing with the Holocaust of the Jews, and therefore my perspective is different. The soft and tolerant voices of Islam are not heard enough. The message of Islam was always universal: promote tolerance, equality, and acceptance of other faiths and cultures. That and moreover, the Koran says that if you are exposed to false testimony, even from your own people you must rise against it and stand for justice. Through Islam, my ethical responsibility towards humanity, as God has commanded, is not to tolerate false testimony (4:135). Therefore, it is my duty as a Muslim to condemn Holocaust denial; also, history must be known, if you disconnect Islam from its roots you miss similar stories, the shared heroes, traditions, and sisters. Therefore, I am committed to the Holocaust, it's strange, but that's how it is." Q: Who reacted more harshly: Muslims or Jews? "Both. I'm interested precisely in these junctions of Judaism and Islam. My appointment to head the Holocaust center was controversial in both communities, unfortunately, they don't trust each other enough. In Muslim circles they asked why I don't study Islamic issues, why I don't write about the Palestinians; and it wasn't easy for the Jews as well. When I took the job, it was the first time in history that a Muslim woman was chosen to head any Holocaust center in the world. It was an unusual decision that evoked opposition, such as 'it would be better to give the job to a neo-Nazi' or 'a Muslim chosen to direct the center will diminish the Holocaust as a seminal event for Jews.'" These reactions broke her heart, and also made her feel how important it was for her to bring change. With time, thanks to her research and personal interactions, more people in the community began to trust her. Even the more extreme elements were impressed: "In time they learned to understand my activism against anti-Semitism. Today I have Jewish friends whom I treat like family." Q: You are a woman, a Muslim woman, a Muslim woman dealing with the Holocaust, and an intellectual making her way in academia. Is it a lonely journey? "I'm fighting on two fronts. I'm drawing Muslim students to study the Holocaust: Albanians, Pakistanis, Syrians, Iraqis, Saudis. The male Muslim students have the most difficult time with me. But I have a lot of support from Muslims and Jews, such as the women's fraternity 'Salaam-Shalom'." Q: The Holocaust is a seminal event in Jewish modern history that you think Muslims should know more about. What should Jews learn about Muslims to understand them better, what are our blind spots as Jews? "We are 1.5 billion Muslims spread around the world. Islam has many colors. There is Muslim aggressiveness, like the Taliban, Hamas. But there are millions of silent Muslims, suffering victims, like in China, Bosnia, Kashmir. Muslims are treated as an extreme group, as troublemakers. As Muslims we also are victims of stereotyping, of Islamophobia. Even when I brought a group of 52 women to Auschwitz, some of them Muslims, we encountered anti-Muslim revelations." Afridi also deals with the Muslim Chinese minority of Uyghurs, of which China is holding in forced labor camps en masse. "They've been through abuse and rape of women and children. There is a silenced suffering of Muslims around the world. There are many 'pockets' of discriminated Muslim minorities, and many times it's the non-Arab Muslims. In Islam there is a hierarchy: The Arabs are on top, then the Asians and at the bottom are the Africans. A racist Muslim hierarchy. The Arabs see themselves as the 'pure Muslims', the pure receivers of the message, since the Koran was delivered in Arabia. But most Muslims are Asians and the minority are disadvantaged Africans." The tensions surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict definitely complicate the way the Holocaust is perceived. Afridi mentions Prof. Mohammed Dajani Daoudi from Al-Quds University, who in 2014 initiated a tour of Palestinian students to Auschwitz, for the first time ever. He received death threats and was forced to pack up and escape to the U.S. Q: Is it easier for a non-Arab Muslim to teach the Holocaust? "Maybe. There is more Holocaust denial in the Middle East, due to the tension with Israel. It's a painful discussion, submerged in political propaganda. There's an identity competition over the narrative, while everyone has a place in memory. By understanding the Holocaust we can improve the dialogue between us. We must show empathy outside our identity. It doesn't mean you lose your faith by doing so, but you become more aware of the sensitivities of other faiths and cultures. That is the only way to grow, to progress." This article originally appeared on Israel Hayom. Photo credit: Louis Constant Dui NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice today announced an agreement under which CD&R-managed funds will acquire Radio Systems Corporation, the leading innovator in the companion pet health and safety market. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1991 by entrepreneur Randy Boyd, Radio Systems Corporation designs and distributes more than 2,000 pet products under brand names such as Invisible Fence, PetSafe, ScoopFree, SportDOG, and Kurgo, among others. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, the company has more than 800 employees worldwide that help the company reach consumers across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Radio Systems holds the #1 market position by sales in many of the pet categories it serves, including pet containment, pet doors, pet training, and pet waste management, supported by the company's innovation capabilities and commitment to delivering product solutions that enhance the safety and wellbeing of pets. Radio Systems' strong positioning is further augmented by its broad patent portfolio as well as its unique capabilities in marketing, merchandising and distribution. The company's products are widely distributed in a channel-agnostic manner, with strong presence across e-commerce, bricks & mortar retail, and the company's own direct-to-consumer portal. As Radio Systems transitions to new ownership, Randy Boyd, Founder and Chairman, has agreed to serve on the Board of Directors to maintain continuity and the company's strong ties to the Knoxville community. "With the backing of CD&R and the talented team at Radio Systems, I'm confident the company will continue to deliver the best solutions and services available to its customers," said Mr. Boyd. "I'm excited for Radio System's future growth and the success and benefits it will bring to our employees, pet owners, and our local economy." "The market for pet care is large and growing with attractive long-term secular tailwinds and demonstrated recession-resilience. We believe Radio Systems' business model and channels align well with our experience with similarly positioned consumer companies," said CD&R Partner Kenneth Giuriceo. "We look forward to supporting the company's continued innovation and exciting growth plans." "Radio Systems is a differentiated market leader with a talented management team, dedicated, hard-working employees, a product portfolio that pet owners truly value, and a three-decade track record of product-driven innovation and strong overall results," said CD&R Operating Partner John Compton. "We believe Radio Systems is a great fit with CD&R's experience helping businesses prosper over the long term." The Radio Systems Board of Directors, which ran a competitive process and entertained multiple offers to find the right partner, unanimously approved the transaction. Upon the closing, expected around June 2020, Mr. Compton, a Knoxville, TN resident, will become Chairman of Radio System Corporation's Board of Directors. Mr. Compton is the former President of PepsiCo and serves as Chairman of three other CD&R portfolio companies: American Greetings Corporation, Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare, and TruGreen Corporation. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of First Horizon National Corporation. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is acting as legal advisor, and UBS Investment Bank, BMO Capital Markets Corp., BNP Paribas Securities Corp., and Fifth Third are serving as financial advisors to CD&R. Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP served as legal advisor to Radio Systems. About CD&R Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is a private investment firm with a strategy predicated on building stronger, more profitable businesses. Since inception, CD&R has managed the investment of $30 billion in 90 businesses representing a broad range of industries with an aggregate transaction value of approximately $140 billion. The Firm has offices in New York and London. For more information, please visit www.cdr-inc.com. About Radio Systems Radio Systems Corporation is a leading developer and distributor of durable pet products. The company is headquartered in Knoxville, TN with offices worldwide. The Radio Systems Corporation family of brands includes PetSafe, Invisible Fence, SportDOG , and Kurgo, among others. Since its founding in 1991, Radio Systems Corporation has grown into an international corporation selling in over 52 countries. The Radio Systems Corporation portfolio includes a wide array of behavioral, containment and lifestyle product solutions for dogs and cats. Radio Systems Corporation is driven by a dedication to creating quality products for pets and their owners. To learn more about Radio Systems Corporation visit radiosystemscorporation.com. SOURCE Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Istanbul, May 11, 2020 Turkish authorities should revise a recently passed financial regulation to ensure that it cannot be used against journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 7, Turkish authorities ratified a new banking regulation that imposes fines for disseminating information that would damage the financial system and lead to systemic risks due to the loss of trust in the financial system or which keeps the price [of a] financial instrument at an abnormal or artificial level or that [gives a] false and misleading impression regarding the supply, demand, or price of the same instrument, according to the text of the regulation, posted in Turkeys Official Gazette. Umit Akcay, an economics columnist at the news website Gazete Duvar and associate professor at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, told CPJ via messaging app that the regulation may prompt journalists who cover economic issues to self-censor for fear of being fined. The ambiguity in Turkeys new banking regulations, along with the arbitrary nature of deciding what reports may be harmful to the countrys banking system, threaten independent reporting on the countrys economy, said Gulnoza Said, CPJs Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. Turkish authorities should revise the regulations and ensure that journalists covering matters of ecnomics and finance can do so freely and without fear of retaliation. Veysel Ok, a lawyer and co-director of the Media and Law Studies Association, a local nongovernmental advocacy group, told CPJ via messaging app that while the regulation does not specifically mention journalists, the regulation has some open ended terms, therefore we cannot say that journalists would not be affected with a 100% [certainty]. Last June, Turkish authorities charged two Bloomberg journalists for allegedly undermining the nations economy in their reporting, as CPJ documented at the time. The journalists face up to five years in jail if convicted, according to that report. CPJ emailed the Turkish treasury and finance counsellor at the countrys U.S. embassy for comment, but did not receive any reply. GroupM has launched their weekly report on impact of Covid-19 on digital and TV consumption for the time period between 1 May and 8 May. According to data provided by social listening platform, Meltwater, reactions on social media to latest news on the lockdown remained largely neutral. Negative sentiment went down during the week while sale of liquor and transport of migrant workers were the key themes on the news. Search queries were largely related to lockdown guidelines where users largely searched for 'MHA guidelines', 'Lockdown 3.0 guidelines', 'Lockdown guidelines' keywords. Maximum search interest for the queries 'Lockdown', 'Lockdown 3.0' and '3.0 Lockdown' were from Delhi-Gurgaon. Viewership in Week 17 grew by 29% over pre-Covid period as per BARC data. After the initial rise of consumption in news and movies genre, both the genres see a dip in consumption as consumers look at other activities to spend their time. From 52% GEC genre dips to 44% growth compared to pre-Covid period. Similarly, news genre growth dips from 21% to 15% over pre-Covid period. In Hindi speaking markets, primetime viewership continues to grow by 5% but in South primetime viewership declines by 10%. (Growth in Week 17 (During Covid-19) data as compared to Week 2 to Week 4 (Pre-Covid-19) According to the report, as the Lockdown is relaxed/modified the viewership trends will continue to be volatile. India is divided into Red, Orange and Green zones depending on the severity of Lockdown restrictions. Green Zones are areas where lockdown has been completely lifted. These zones are beginning to see a slight dip in viewership. The good news is that advertisers are returning to television. Week 17 saw 10% increase in count of brands (395 new brands) that advertised on television. Photo: Unsplash Worcester's tech industry is experiencing strong job growth. Local employers posted 16 new jobs over the past week and 142 in the last month, ranking fourth among local industries, according to ZipRecruiter, a leading online employment marketplace. The tech sector also came in third in terms of local employers adding new jobs. In the past month, 37 companies listed open jobs for Worcester-based workers in that area. Top companies hiring locally in information technology include U.S. Army/Army Reserves, TekPartners, A P2P Company and CEI Group. According to a recent job opening posted by TekPartners, A P2P Company, "TekPartners has been a trusted and proven technology solutions firm for 17 years." Jobs posted by TekPartners, A P2P Company in the past month in Worcester included technicians, while CEI Group sought project managers. This story was created automatically using local jobs data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. GREGOR PETER SCHMITZ (INTERVIEWER): You have seen many crises. Is the Covid-19 pandemic comparable to any previous one? GEORGE SOROS: No. This is the crisis of my lifetime. Even before the pandemic hit, I realised that we were in a revolutionary moment where what would be impossible or even inconceivable in normal times had become not only possible, but probably absolutely necessary. And then came Covid-19, which has totally disrupted peoples lives and required very different behaviour. It is an unprecedented event that probably has never occurred in this combination. And it really endangers the survival of our civilisation. Could this crisis have been prevented if governments had been better prepared? SOROS: We have had infectious disease pandemics ever since the bubonic plague. They were quite frequent in the 19th century, and then we had the Spanish flu at the end of the First World War, which actually occurred in three waves, with the second wave being the deadliest. Millions of people died. And we have had other serious outbreaks, such as the swine flu just a decade ago. So its amazing how unprepared countries were for something like this. Is that the biggest problem of the current situation this lack of certainty about how to deal with this virus and how to proceed in the coming months or years? SOROS: It is certainly a very big one. We are learning very fast, and we now know a lot more about the virus than we did when it emerged, but we are shooting at a moving target because the virus itself changes rapidly. It will take a long time to develop a vaccine. And even after we have developed one, we will have to learn how to change it every year, because the virus will most likely change. Thats what we do with the flu shot every year. Will this crisis change the nature of capitalism? Even before Covid-19 led to the current catastrophic recession, the downsides of globalisation and free trade were attracting greater attention. SOROS: We will not go back to where we were when the pandemic started. That is pretty certain. But that is the only thing that is certain. Everything else is up for grabs. I do not think anybody knows how capitalism will evolve. Could this crisis bring people and nation states closer together? SOROS: In the long run, yes. At the present time, people are dominated by fear. And fear very often makes people hurt themselves. That is true of individuals as well as institutions, nations, and humanity itself. Are we witnessing that in the current blame game between the United States and China over the origins of the virus? SOROS: The continuing conflict between the US and China complicates matters, because we ought to work together on climate change and on developing a vaccine against Covid-19. But, apparently, we cannot work together because we are already competing over who will develop and use the vaccine. The fact that we have got two very different systems of government, democratic and Autocratic? SOROS: Right. That makes everything much harder. There are a lot of people who say that we should be working very closely with China, but I am not in favour of doing that. We must protect our democratic open society. At the same time, we must find a way to cooperate on fighting climate change and the novel coronavirus. That wont be easy. I sympathise with the Chinese people, because they are under the domination of a dictator, President Xi Jinping. I think a lot of educated Chinese are very resentful of that, and the general public is still very angry with him for keeping Covid-19 a secret until after the Chinese new year. Could Xis grip on power weaken as the Chinese come to recognise that the handling of the crisis was sub-optimal? SOROS: Very much so. When Xi abolished term limits and named himself, in essence, president for life, he destroyed the political future of the most important and ambitious men in a very narrow and competitive elite. It was a big mistake on his part. So, yes, he is very strong in a way, but at the same time extremely weak, and now perhaps vulnerable. The struggle within the Chinese leadership is something that I follow very closely because I am on the side of those who believe in an open society. And there are many people in China who are very much in favour of an open society too. Then again, the current US president does not really represent the values of an open and free society... SOROS: Well, that is a weakness that I hope will not last very long. Donald Trump would like to be a dictator. But he cannot be one because there is a constitution in the United States that people still respect. And it will prevent him from doing certain things. That does not mean that he will not try, because he is literally fighting for his life. I will also say that I have put my faith in Trump to destroy himself, and he has exceeded my wildest expectations. What role does the European Union your home that you care about so much play in this power struggle? SOROS: I am particularly concerned about the survival of the EU because it is an incomplete union. It was in the process of being created. But the process was never completed and that makes Europe exceptionally vulnerable more vulnerable than the US not just because it is an incomplete union but also because it is based on the rule of law. And the wheels of justice move very slowly, while threats such as the Covid-19 virus move very fast. That creates a particular problem for the European Union. Germanys Federal Constitutional Court exploded a bombshell last week with its latest ruling on the European Central Bank. How seriously do you take it? SOROS: I take it extremely seriously. The ruling poses a threat that could destroy the European Union as an institution based on the rule of law, precisely because it was delivered by the German constitutional court, which is the most highly respected institution in Germany. Before it delivered its verdict, it had consulted with the European Court of Justice and then decided to challenge it. So you now have a conflict between the German Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice. Which court has precedence? Technically, the European Treaties give the ECJ supremacy in this area. That is very clear. SOROS: Right. When Germany joined the EU, it committed itself to abide by European law. But the ruling raises an even bigger issue: if the German court can question the decisions of the European Court of Justice, can other countries follow its example? Can Hungary and Poland decide whether they follow European law or their own courts whose legitimacy the EU has questioned? That question goes to the very heart of the EU, which is built on the rule of law. Poland has immediately risen to the occasion and asserted the supremacy of its government-controlled courts over European law. In Hungary, Viktor Orban has already used the Covid-19 emergency and a captured parliament to appoint himself dictator. The parliament is kept in session to rubber-stamp his decrees, which clearly violate European law. If the German courts verdict prevents the EU from resisting these developments, it will be the end of the EU as we know it. Will the ECB need to change its policies after this ruling? SOROS: Not necessarily. This ruling only requires the ECB to justify its current monetary policies. It has been given three months to justify the actions it has taken. That will consume a lot of the ECBs attention when it is the only really functioning institution in Europe that can provide the financial resources needed to combat the pandemic. Therefore, it should focus its attention on helping Europe to establish a Recovery Fund. Do you have any suggestions where these resources could come from? SOROS: I have proposed that the EU should issue perpetual bonds, although I now think that they should be called Consols, because perpetual bonds have been successfully used under that name by Britain since 1751 and the United States since the 1870s. Perpetual bonds have become confused with Coronabonds, which have been rejected by the European Council and with good reason, because they imply a mutualisation of accumulated debts that the member states are unwilling to accept. That has poisoned the debate about perpetual bonds. I believe that the current predicament strengthens my case for Consols. The German court said that the ECBs actions were legal because they adhered to the requirement that its bond purchases were proportional to the member states shareholding in the ECB. But the clear implication was that any ECB purchases that were not proportional to the ECB capital key could be challenged and deemed ultra vires by the court. Recommended A ruling by German judges that frays the ties that bind the EU The kind of bonds that I have proposed would sidestep this problem, because they would be issued by the EU as a whole, would automatically be proportional, and would remain so eternally. The member states would have to pay only the annual interest, which is so minimal at, say, 0.5 per cent that the bonds could be easily subscribed by the member states, either unanimously or by a coalition of the willing. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, says that Europe needs about 1 trillion to fight this pandemic, and she should have added another 1 trillion for climate change. Consols could provide those amounts if the EUs member states authorised them. Unfortunately, Germany and the Hanseatic League states led by the Netherlands are adamantly opposed. They should think again. The EU is now considering doubling its budget, which would provide only about 100bn and yield only one-tenth of the benefit that perpetual bonds could provide. Those who want to keep their EU budget contribution to a minimum ought to support Consols. They would have to authorise certain taxes, like a financial transaction tax, that would provide the EU with its own resources, assuring its AAA rating, but the taxes would not have to be imposed their place would be taken by Consols. Both these parties and the rest of Europe would be much better off. Annual payments of 5bn, whose present value would continuously decline, would give the EU 1 trillion that the continent urgently needs an amazing cost-benefit ratio. When the EU relaxed its rules against state aid, Germany submitted more than half of the requests. Some people argue that this undermines the principles of a single market because it gives Germany an unfair advantage. What do you think? I agree with their argument. It is particularly unfair to Italy, which was already the sick man of Europe and then the hardest hit by Covid-19. Lega party leader Matteo Salvini is agitating for Italy to leave the euro and also the European Union. Fortunately, his personal popularity has declined since he left the government, but his advocacy is gaining followers. This is another existential threat for the EU. What would be left of Europe without Italy, which used to be the most pro-European country? Italians trusted Europe more than their own governments. But they were badly treated during the refugee crisis of 2015. Thats when they turned to Salvinis far-right Lega and the populist Five Star Movement. You sound very pessimistic. Far from it. I recognise that Europe is facing several existential dangers. That is not a figure of speech; it is the reality. The verdict of Germanys Federal Constitutional Court is only the most recent challenge. Once we recognise this, we may be able to rise to the occasion. We can take exceptional measures that are appropriate to the exceptional circumstances were in. That certainly applies to Consols, which should never be issued in normal times, but are ideal right now. As long as I can propose measures like issuing Consols, I wont give up hope. George Soros, Founder and Chair of the Open Society Foundations, is the author, most recently, of In Defense of Open Society (Public Affairs, 2019). Gregor Peter Schmitz is Editor-in-Chief of the Augsburger Allgemeine. They are the co-authors of The Tragedy of the European Union. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020. www.project-syndicate.org 11.05.2020 LISTEN Subsequent to the suspension of the former Central Regional Chairman of the main opposition National Democratic Congress Bernard Allotey Jacobs for his consistent anti-party conduct, this portal has observed that many NDC youth have welcomed the decision amidst jubilation. The youth have also called for the suspension of former Deputy General Secretary of the party Koku Anyidoho for his recent unpalatable media engagements which seem to denigrate the NDC. Most NDC youth on Social Media have described Koku Anyidohos pronouncements as anti-party conduct similar to what led to the suspension of his alleged ally Allotey Jacobs and therefore must not be entertained further. According to this portal, the former General Secretary in a subtle rebuttal to the calls for his expunge from the party is said to have tweeted that he remains unshaken about those threats and cannot be bothered since which is a clear indication that he will continue with his vituperative attacks on his own party despite the possible actions he might face. It is unclear why a former Presidential Spokesperson to the late President Prof John Evans Atta-Mills, who was elected on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress and served the nation in humility and so much passion will decide to lower the very party that made him once upon a time one of the most powerful men in the country. A careful look of commentary from a section of NDC sympathizers suggests that Koku Anyidoho, just like Allotey Jacobs has not been able to overcome the shock of the noble Prof Mills death and therefore refused to come to terms that power is transient, even in internal party political settings. In a newsletter that sought to ask if he (Koku Anyidoho) will be next to be suspended following Allotey Jacobs, the former presidential aide to the late President John Evans Atta Mills sarcastically said Is it true that Koku Anyidoho too will be suspended? I am laughing oooo. A very very very big joke of the current COVID-19 dispensation. Tweaaaa. He further stated that Battle lines are drawn: I am against all who are plotting to kill my destiny. If they are against me, I am also against them by the power of the Holy Ghost. Until my assignment on earth is over, no human being can stop me from living through my God-given days on earth. Comforting himself with scriptures from the Bible, Koku Anyidoho quoted Psalm 91:8 and said Gradually, gradually, the truth shall be told and no weapon fashioned against me shall prosper in the Mighty name of Jesus Christ. Shalom. Koku Anyidoho together with the suspended Allotey Jacobs has in recent times being very vocal complimenting the ruling New Patriotic Party for their actions during this pandemic period. Mr. Anyidoho recently praised President Akufo-Addo over his approach in dealing with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. After praising the president, he was criticized and insulted by some members of his party where he struck back saying, if those small boys who sit under the tree to play cards and draughts will want to play politics with the COVID-19, we can grant them that, but God forbid that I, Koku Anyidoho in a crisis moment like this, having worked with a President of the Republic before, having gone through crisis moment, decides to do politics with COVID-19. I wont do it . . . if that is the reason why you will crucify me then crucify me after all Christ died and went to Heaven. ---Ghanapoliticsonline.com DUBLIN, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Coronavirus (COVID-19) APAC Competitor Impact" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. With governments across the APAC region placing physical restrictions on consumers, significant changes in channel usage are expected, primarily from branches to telephone and digital banking. Although the majority of customers that bank with the large APAC regionals prefer to use digital channels for common banking tasks, there is a significant difference between the top and bottom. Some banks have large percentages of customers preferring a single channel for a task, suggesting a lack of other non-digital alternatives. Banks with a higher proportion of digitally active customers are also more likely to keep their customers on digital channels for more complex queries such as asking questions, complaining, and arranging to borrow money. This report provides information and insight into how the major APAC banks will cope with large changes in channel usage, as various lockdown restrictions remain in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. It identifies the banks least likely to adapt successfully by examining preferred channel usage across a range of tasks, digital satisfaction, and frequent channel visitation. The report also showcases the opportunities for banking players looking to attract new customers and improve their digital channels. Scope of the report: Maybank, CIMB, and HSBC have the least digitally active customers. Customer interaction services will be most disrupted by COVID-19. COVID-19 will bring to bear the weaknesses of some digital banking propositions. Banks used to higher telephone banking usage will be better positioned to deal with the additional number of customer queries. Key report benefits: Assess each bank's channel strengths and weaknesses and how these are likely to affect customer reaction and retention both during and after this disruptive period. Gain insight into current preferred channel usage as well as the propensity of each bank's customers to switch to telephone or digital channels. Key Topics Covered: Main Section Maybank, CIMB, and HSBC have the least digitally active customers Digital preference for common services means lower levels of disruption Customer interaction services will be most disrupted by COVID-19 Standard Chartered's customer base is vulnerable COVID-19 will bring to bear the weaknesses of some digital banking propositions Banks used to higher telephone banking usage will be better positioned to deal with the additional number of customer queries Appendix Methodology Companies Mentioned HSBC Standard Chartered OCBC UOB CIMB DBS Citibank Maybank For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/x3oq27 About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Kolkata: Trinamool Congress leaders held a meeting with poll-strategist Prashant Kishor on Sunday where the party decided to launch a social media campaign on Covid-19 misinformation to counter "BJP's lies." BJP on Saturday launched a social media campaign called Bhoy Peyechhe Mamata, meaning Mamata is scared,' and attacked West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for not holding a press conference on the Covid-19 situation for over a week. The decision comes close on the heels of a war of words between the Centre and West Bengal government on a range of issues pertaining to the handling of Covid-19 crisis. TMC leaders, including state president Subrata Bakshi, secretary-general Partha Chatterjee, Amit Mitra and Abhishek Banerjee, discussed the launch of the campaign with Prashant Kishor via videoconferencing on Sunday. A decision was taken that from May 13, a mass campaign would be launched on social media, involving the use of video and news conferencing. Besides this, promotional videos and short presentations bearing statistics would be circulated on social media platforms, including WhatsApp. During the conference, Prashant Kishor is said to have told senior TMC leaders to proactively counter the misinformation being spread against the state government. Kishor told leaders that there was a great deal of uncertainty and anxiety due to the lockdown and further advised the MLAs to reach out to the masses. TMC leaders will raise the issue of 50 bodies allegedly lying in a Gujarat hospital. Party MLAs have been asked to focus their efforts in ensuring proper distribution of essential supplies, asking the administration to make certain that no one is denied ration and dissemination of party initiatives through social media channels during the lockdown. With roughly 10 days to train employees and certify premises as prepped, many Connecticut workplaces are finding the May 20 date for non-essential offices to reopen a little close for comfort. Under Gov. Ned Lamonts Reopen Connecticut plan, restaurants, malls, salons and offices of all types must use an online form to certify their facilities have checked off a list of requirements, ranging from sanitizers to spacing between work stations, prior to reopening. The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development is creating a website for businesses to do so, allowing them to print a badge noting their compliance. The state is taking calls at its 2-1-1 information line for anyone who spots safety lapses that are not addressed by building owners or tenants. Employers must put up signs in offices noting the information line for workers to report any unsafe practices. In commercial office buildings, once workers arrive, responsibility for their safety will belong to building owners in common areas and tenants in their own leased premises, under the plan drawn up by Lamonts Reopen Connecticut committee. Well ... have an enforcement mechanism there, somebody either from the local municipality or from ourselves state police or otherwise saying these rules are the executive order, Lamont said Monday afternoon. Maybe well warn you the first time. ... The second time around, itll be tougher than that. Citing CDC and OSHA guidelines, the Lamont administration is asking employers to keep staff working from home where possible. Few office tenants will be able to get certified by May 20 to any kind of comprehensive standard, said David Lewis, CEO of the human resources training and consulting firm OperationsInc in Norwalk. I told my team this morning that we are looking at probably June 15 as a reasonable day, and its not we are opening its if you want to you can work in the office, Lewis said. If the certification process is not complete and comprehensive and trustworthy ... then people arent going to come to work or worse, theyre going to come to work and get sick. For those who require employees at the office, capacity is not to top 50 percent at any point, with the use of staggered shifts encouraged and logs required for all who arrive or leave to assist in any contact tracing should a worker or visitor be diagnosed later with coronavirus. Employees are to use designated desks at least six feet from coworkers, with workstations required to have barriers if that is not possible. There are limits to the safety precautions managers can make, however, given interior designs of the past decade that have emphasized packing more employees into less space, and the particular challenges for high-rise buildings with elevators that do not allow for six-foot intervals between riders. In its initial guidelines, the Lamont administration is advising building owners to post attendants at elevators to limit access and encourage workers to take the stairs if possible, while creating markers in lobbies to keep people separated as any wait for a ride. BOMA International provides more detailed advice for the building owners and managers it represents, suggesting limiting elevator capacity to four people positioned at each corner; and sanitizing stairwells frequently to encourage more people to make use of them. Includes prior reporting by Meghan Friedmann and Paul Schott. Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman Sitting behind the pulpit in Brown Chapel in Selma on Bloody Sunday, Stacey Abrams was visibly moved as the choir filled the hallowed sanctuary with an old hymn: "Order my steps in your word, dear Lord "Lead me, guide me, every day" It was a rare display of emotion for the daughter of United Methodist preachers, Abrams's normally placid demeanor stirred by the swelling voices. The moment came the day after the South Carolina primary and two days before Super Tuesday - a 72-hour stretch that would put the power of the black vote at the center of the 2020 election for the first time this cycle - as presidential candidates gathered with civil rights leaders and foot soldiers to mark the 55th anniversary of the battle that so horrified Americans that it led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Abrams, the most visible and vocal African American woman pushing back against efforts to block ballot access, was the keynote speaker. Her narrow loss in her 2018 bid to become the first black female governor in the country two years ago is asterisked by allegations of voter suppression by her opponent, then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp. In the months since, Abrams has returned to her roots as a voting rights advocate. At 46, Abrams has a political career steeped in an abiding understanding of the historical disenfranchisement of black voters, the stinging feeling that voter suppression thwarted her own ambitions and now, a new menace to the franchise: a pandemic that will change the way millions of Americans participate in the next election. It is a moment at once familiar and unprecedented for Abrams, whose leadership in an uncertain time is being tested as she is being considered - and openly campaigning for - the second most powerful job in America, again seeking a role never before held by a black woman. Greeted in Brown Chapel by an ovation that rivaled those for the presidential candidates who spoke before her, Abrams thanked those who put their bodies on the line on the Edmund Pettus Bridge before urging those in the audience, her parents looking on in the pews, to join her in the fight ahead. "We get the power we're willing to work for," she said, her voice rising. "We will have what we need, so let's get it done." A month later, Abrams was making the case for voter turnout on a conference call, now the primary means of communication for many Americans in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 1 million Americans have been infected, tens of thousands have died, and the economic fallout has forced more than 30 million people to file for unemployment. Black Americans are disproportionately exposed to and dying from the virus, accounting for 30 percent of deaths despite being only 13 percent of the U.S. population. Black unemployment is also outpacing that of white Americans. On the April 8 conference call - the day after a Wisconsin primary that raised concerns about in-person and mail-in balloting during a pandemic - Abrams was speaking not as a candidate or voting rights activist, but about the virus's threat to her state, particularly in the southwest Georgia town of Albany, emerging as an international hot spot. "What we saw happen in Wisconsin yesterday, what we have seen happen in southwest Georgia over the last few months and what we know is likely to occur in November should give all of us pause, but it should also not make us despondent," Abrams said. "Right now, I see the work that needs to be done is to be in service to communities that are facing a terrifying reality." She tied the pandemic to political participation in the state's upcoming primary, which has been postponed until June 9. State officials have sent absentee ballot applications to registered voters, but ballots don't include postage - a move Abrams has criticized as an insincere attempt to encourage voting by mail. "The money for serving these communities, for allocating the number of beds, for protecting our public health workers, the money for the next pandemic is going to be decided by the census count for 2020," Abrams said. "Our ability to direct our leaders to do better is determined by our participation and our right to vote." She called voting by absentee ballot "the first step to reclaiming our democracy" and said the message from Wisconsin's Republican leadership was that "retaining power was more important than protecting people's lives." "That cannot be the message that comes out of Georgia," Abrams urged. "We have to have proof that this works for November." Abrams's awareness of the fragility of the franchise has shaped her work for nearly four decades. In February, before the virus would ravage the country and Biden cleared the field of his rivals, Abrams was in southwest Georgia, speaking at the Brooks County NAACP's annual dinner in the small town of Quitman, where three out of four residents are black. The town became a voter suppression battleground in 2010, when Kemp sued on allegations of voter fraud a dozen residents whose absentee ballot campaign integrated the county's school board for the first time. The Quitman 10+2, as they became known, were acquitted on all charges after a lengthy legal battle. A decade later, Abrams shared a story with the crowd. The September before the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race, she visited her grandmother Wilter Abrams in Mississippi. Sitting on the edge of the bed in her grandmother's room, Abrams confessed that despite turning in thousands of absentee ballots - more than any Democratic candidate in the history of Georgia - and having good poll numbers, one of the nation's best statewide election protection operations and an army of volunteers, she was tired and she was worried about the election's process and outcome. Wilter Abrams gripped her granddaughter's hand with her own, her thin, papery skin and delicate bones squeezing tightly as she offered a rare glimpse into her life under legal segregation: "I remember the first time I voted." The year was 1968, three years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but the first opportunity for Abrams's grandmother to cast a ballot in a presidential election. On Election Day, it was Wilter Abrams who sat on the edge of the bed, terrified of what might happen when she finally reached the polls her friends, neighbors and family had fought hard to access. After some reassurance, the couple went down to the precinct, dressed in their Sunday best, and cast their ballots for the first time without incident. Her grandmother never missed an election after that. "What she was telling me," Abrams reflected, "was that she was afraid of power, because ultimately, that's what the right to vote was. And in the moment where it was most possible, she was afraid to take it, afraid maybe it was a trick - or, more importantly, afraid maybe it was real." As a freshman at Spelman College, Abrams registered to vote when she was 18. Except for a special election here or there, she said, she hasn't missed a vote. In the years since, Abrams has served as deputy city attorney in Atlanta and was Democratic leader of the Georgia House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017. In 2014, Abrams started the New Georgia Project, adding roughly 69,000 voters to the rolls. Abrams commands a deep understanding of the history of the franchise. She harks back to the Voting Rights Act and its initial purpose. "The Voting Rights Act, what it did for us between 1965 and 2013, was to create the oversight that says, 'Yes, we're going to trust, but we're going to verify. We're going to make you do the right thing,'" she said. But she blames the Supreme Court, which overturned part of the VRA in 2013, for failing to understand that "long lines [at the polls] did not exist because of enthusiasm; they existed because of underinvestment in black and brown polling places. They existed because of failed administrative responsibilities by a number of states that while being held to a higher standard, the standard wasn't high enough." "She built an organization that is spread across the United States to fight the metastasized cancer of voter suppression," said Carol Anderson, a political scientist at Emory University and an expert on voting rights and voter suppression. "She's got that unique ability to have the imagination and operational skills to make things happen. You want Stacey Abrams in this fight for democracy." Abrams describes voting as "an expression of the policies we want to see." "I'm in politics because I believe in politics," she said. "When I did not become governor, I gave myself the obligation to think about what work could I do even if I didn't have the title? And the work that drove me to run for governor remained." Right now that work focuses on the three organizations Abrams created after her 2018 defeat. Fair Fight has more than 40 staffers targeting voter suppression in nearly 20 states. Fair Count focuses on ensuring an accurate tally of the U.S. census. And the Southern Economic Advancement Project is aimed at addressing racial inequities in the region around issues including the economy, health care, transportation, children and the environment. Last month, Abrams also joined a coalition including former 2020 Democratic contender Andrew Yang, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Stephen Colbert for the Project 100 initiative, which aims to send $1,000 to 100,000 families hit hardest by covid-19. The effort has already raised $55 million and helped nearly 5,000 families across 21 states. With Georgia's primary less than a month away, the urgency to figure out a protocol for safe and fair voting is rising. "When I created Fair Fight, we believed there would be some catastrophe that would assail our elections," Abrams told CNN last week. "I never imagined it would be a pandemic, but we understood that we had to fight to protect the infrastructure of our democracy and start to fix what has been broken by voter suppression. Our responsibility is to make it as safe as possible, and the safest path is to ensure that early voting happens by mail." Abrams is also pushing for $3.6 billion in upcoming coronavirus recovery legislation in Congress for states to scale up their vote-by-mail initiatives and to be able to conduct safe in-person early and same-day voting. During all of this, Biden has pledged to select a woman as his running mate, but it is unclear whether he will, as some have called for, choose a black woman - a choice that, to some, represents a reward for the Democratic Party's most loyal constituency. Abrams, who declined to endorse Biden during the crowded primary contest, said she now supports him and is "excited" that he is the presumptive nominee. She's also now routinely mentioned as a potential vice presidential running mate for Biden. When asked about this, Abrams makes the case for why she should be on the 2020 Democratic presidential ticket, getting straight to the point after ticking off her resume of management experience, executive experience, foreign policy experience and legislative experience. It's a pitch that upends the presidential politics playbook. But again, for Abrams, there is no playbook. "You can't change things that you don't talk about," she said. "And you can't combat myths that you don't confront. And so, part of my responsibility is to articulate in clear and unequivocal language what I am capable of - and thus, what other women of color, other black women are capable of." - - - This story is part of a collaboration between The Washington Post and The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom covering gender, politics and policy. To mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, Caversham author Julie Roberts recounts her wartime memories. April 2020 I WOKE up this morning to a cloudless blue sky, the sun a brilliant orb of yellow, and silence. Silence in its pure form is eerie. Nature has given us the birds that should be chirping, tweeting or trilling their chorus to celebrate the day to come but not today. Why? Are they missing the sounds of cars, buses and trains, the running feet of children, the click-click of high heels, the calls of goodbyes at the school gates? Suddenly I am lifting open the corner of my memory... Fred King of clubs, I said as I laid the winning card. The evening had been fun as we all threw in our cards to end the final game. Why my thoughts suddenly went back to my grandfather, I do not know, other than that card game, but there he was in my minds eye. Before I was five, I have only snatches of memory my father carrying me home on a dark evening, playing ball with him in the park. Then nothing, he was gone, off to the war. This was when my mother and I moved in with her parents and my grandfather became the male adult in my life. He was too old for call-up and as he was a bricklayer by trade, he went off to work each day, as he always had. Fred. For some reason I never called him granddad. He had this gaunt face with a yellowish tinge, as though he needed feeding up. Grey eyes and a straight thin nose. But his hair was what fascinated me most. It was a steel grey colour and although he had plenty of it, the front stood up like a wave rushing towards a beach and broke back over on to the crown of his head. When he unwound himself from the armchair he towered over me like a giant from a fairytale. And, like most story giants, he was a very gentle person. Firm memories began for me the day I started school. My very best friend was just outside the starting age in September, so I had to brave it alone. There was none of the modern ways of introducing a five-year-old to a huge school classroom. The room had small tables and chairs set in squares of four and a strange lady, who looked as old as Fred, waiting to show me to my place. Suddenly I was sitting down with three other strange children and Mummy was saying goodbye, she would see me at lunchtime. Where was my best friend, why couldnt she be here too? I didnt like the others. But I wasnt going to cry like that silly girl across the room. Fred had told me that I would like school and that I would learn lots of new things and he would be home that evening so I could tell him all about it. At seven oclock Freds key sounded in the lock and as he came into the front room I caught the dusty building smell of his overalls and heard the scraping sound of his hob-nailed boots on the lino floor. I rushed at him and as he swept me up, he wanted to know how my first day at school had gone. At about six oclock Freds dinner was always put over a pan of boiling water to keep it hot, as Gran, Mum and I had ours at lunchtime. Fred always washed when he came home. He would go into the scullery and close the door. I would hear boiling water from the kettle on the black gas stove being poured into the white enamel bowl, the rubbing of carbolic soap, splashing water and blowing sounds as Fred sloshed it over his face and around his neck. Then a quiet moment as he towelled dry and a final emptying of the dirty water down the sink drain. The ritual was carried through to upstairs, change of clothes and back to the kitchen for dinner. This was what I waited for each day my share of Freds dinner. That little remark: Im full, can you eat the rest? In hindsight, he could have cleared a plate twice over but this was wartime, ration time and Fred had me to care for. Weekday evenings, Fred followed the pattern of most civilian men; he went down to the pub. The Bedfords public bar was mainly a male-dominated place and they would sit in the blue haze of cigarette smoke hunched around tables playing cards or dominoes, a pint and those favourite Woodbines set to one side. The scene sits vividly in my memory as on many a Sunday lunchtime I was sent to tell him dinner was ready. The bar door had a large round brass handle that I had to reach up to turn, then I poked my head round to call him. I cant remember him ever coming home before closing time, so his dinner always ended up over a saucepan of boiling water. Fast asleep, snug and warm under several blankets and an eiderdown. I didnt want to get up, it was dark outside and cold. There was snow on the ground and slippery with ice but Fred was shaking me and holding out my siren suit. Not again last night, the night before and the night before that. The neighbourhood had no shelters yet and as the warning air raid sirens whined. Fred carried me along the road down into the church crypt, its steps leading down into a dark cavern, lit only by candles. Families were huddled together, sitting on blankets, and I would sit on Freds lap where the warmth from his body soothed me off to sleep again. I would often wake up back in my bed, warm and cosy, but my mothers bed was often empty and cold. I think she just didnt bother. Most peoples lives in England during 1943 did not change very much. Work, survival, stretch out the rations, the coal, the clothing coupons did anyone know somebody who could get a bit of extra on the black market? But there were always the Picture Houses (Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, Shirley Temple, Laurel and Hardy) and the Palace Theatre Old Mother Riley up to her hilarious antics, the Christmas pantomime. Things could be worse and a lot better, so the adults said after listening to the radio news each evening. It even turned my Gran into a crook. She noticed that the grocer had marked off the sugar ration in lead pencil instead of indelible ink. Cutting off a corner crust of bread, she rubbed until the pencil mark was only a dent in the paper. Then she told me to go back to the grocers shop and get a pot of jam. I wasnt a stroppy child but I remember standing in the kitchen defiant that I wouldnt go. Dont you answer me back, my girl, you get going this instant. I ran all the way to the shop door, then my courage waned. I had to pass the dairy counter first, then the cash kiosk to get to the dry food counter. It was the walk of guilt; it must have been written all over my face as I handed the ration book over and asked for a pot of jam. Im sure she could see what had been done but all that happened was that she used her indelible pen and I paid for my purchase at the cash kiosk. My flight back home was as if all the demons in hell were chasing me and I told Gran that I would never, never do that again. I dont remember how Fred and I began our weekend card games, only the sharp memory of early dark mornings, the coal fire, a dining chair used as a table and each with our armchair drawn up close. Rummy was the first adult game I learnt to play, interspersed with snap and pairs. Draughts was another game and Freds patience in explaining about doubles and moves made me into a fair opponent in later life. It was the hammering on the front door that woke me up on June 6, 1944. It was Auntie Peg, who lived two houses along, shouting through the letterbox: Its begun, the invasion. I heard Gran open the door and Peg saying: Oh, I know Toms there, thats why I havent heard from him. From that moment on the sound of aircraft grew louder and louder and by the time I was up the whole street was out on the pavement looking skywards as wave after wave of planes flew over. This was, of course, the beginning of the end of the war. Air raids did not stop; in fact, they became worse for those living in doodlebug alley. Fred changed, becoming much older during those latter months of the war. He worked long hours, still saved me his little bit of unwanted dinner and went down the pub. But when the sirens sounded he only had to carry me across the road from our house as two air raid shelters had been built for our row of houses. Families made these into makeshift homes, leaving mattresses, blankets and lamps, so that they only needed to take themselves and hot drinks when those dreaded sirens began. VE Day arrived in our house much the same as D-Day, with Peg banging on the front door, shouting through the letterbox. Everyone spilled out into the street shouting: Its over, the wars over. Mothers, wives, sisters and brothers, some laughing and some crying as they hugged each other. Mum, Gran and I dancing in a circle. I was almost eight years old. Soon I would be leaving Gran and Fred, going home to a house that was similar in style but different, the rooms empty of any memories, and to a neighbourhood I did not know, to a school with new strange children and strange teachers and, most of all, to a father that I had only been with for the weeks he was home on leave in the past six years. A frightening prospect but, as always, Fred came to my rescue. I wouldnt be far away; we would still be seeing each other. I could stay for weekends; we could play our card games. Everything would be fine and I would have my Daddy to help now. And so a new era of my life began. Fred passed away two years later in August 1947. He had been my grandfather and especially my friend, who had helped me over those young years. I had been lucky; a lot of children had not had anyone. Today (May 8, 2020) we are staying at home to celebrate 75 years since that day in 1945 when everyone in the UK was out on their streets, in villages, towns and outside Buckingham Palace cheering our victory over a tyrant named Hitler. And we will now fight and see victory over a virus as wicked and hateful. My love to everyone on this planet called Earth. Julie Roberts Kaleidoscope series of short story books is available from Amazon. For more information, visit www.julieroberts.me.uk Covid-19 is playing havoc with the publishing schedule - Roddy Doyle, Ottessa Moshfegh and David Mitchell are just some of the bestselling writers whose book launches have been pushed back from spring to late summer or autumn. Online book sales have gone up during lockdown, but without tours, readings, signings and festivals, it's hard to get attention for new books. Come September, we'll be facing a glut of new titles in what is already the busiest publishing month in the calendar. Unless we're back in lockdown and the new releases are pushed back till next year... The vista is gloomy for publishers and authors, unless you have a controversy on your hands. Turns out this is the perfect time to publish a 'cancelled' book, as independent US publisher, Arcade, demonstrated when they fast-tracked Woody Allen's memoir, Apropos of Nothing, for release on March 23. That memoir came with more baggage than a jet-setter. On March 2, Hachette announced that it had acquired the book and would be publishing in April. Cue a Twitter storm fuelled by two of Allen's children - Dylan Farrow, who accuses Allen of molesting her when she was a child; and Ronan Farrow, scourge of Harvey Weinstein, and stout defender of his sister's right to be believed. Farrow is also an Hachette author for his bestselling Weinstein expose, Catch and Kill. Since the Farrows' position on Allen is long-established, Hachette had presumably factored in the backlash and decided to weather it. What they didn't factor in was a hundred or so of their employees striking in solidarity with Dylan and Ronan. This caused Hachette to cancel the memoir, just four days after they'd announced its acquisition. Stephen King tweeted that this made him "very uneasy. I don't give a damn about Woody Allen. It's who gets muzzled next that worries me". Expand Close Stephen King has voiced his concern about 'cancel culture' / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Stephen King has voiced his concern about 'cancel culture' Arcade, who have published Beckett, Tolstoy and Octavio Paz, spotted the chance to pick up a household name while standing up for freedom of speech, with founder Jeannette Seaver emphasising: "We as publishers prefer to give voice to a respected artist, rather than bow to those determined to silence him." And they were lucky with timing - the memoir appeared the day after New York went into lockdown over coronavirus. No bookshops, signings, book tours or festivals, and no gatherings of more than four people, means no opportunities for protests and placards. The Twitter trolls who love to insult and threaten publishers and bookshops into cancelling tours and signings lost traction. Preventing a book being ordered online appears to be beyond their powers. Flatiron, an imprint of Macmillan, may have looked on enviously. In January, they published Jeanine Cummins's migrant novel, American Dirt, initially to rave reviews and entry into Oprah's Book Club; then a savage online review by Mexican-American writer Myriam Gurba, entitled 'Pendeja [Bitch], You ain't no Steinbeck' went viral; the hashtag #culturalappropriation started trending; bookstores started cancelling signings and on January 29, Flatiron cancelled Cummins's national book tour and admitted "we made serious mistakes in the way we rolled out this book". Expand Close Writer Jeanine Cummins' best-selling 'American Dirt' was accused by many on Twitter of cultural appropriation / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Writer Jeanine Cummins' best-selling 'American Dirt' was accused by many on Twitter of cultural appropriation Cancel or gaslight? Censorship, in today's democracies, isn't a state instrument. It doesn't depend on a national censorship board like those that operated in Ireland and the USSR through the 20th Century. Now it's about particular groups coordinating protests to get books 'cancelled'. The 'no-platforming millenials' are one particularly vocal group. Another - diametrically opposed in their world view, and employing different methods, but identical in their aim, eg to stop us reading the books we might want to - are the religious right. Every year since 2001, the American Library Association (ALA) has published its list of frequently challenged books - the ones that individuals, schools or churches try, with varying degrees of success, to get removed or restricted from libraries. The list demonstrates that millennials have no interest in influencing library reads, but it's the battleground for the religious right. Across the past two decades, almost all the challenged books are children's and YA (young adult) books. At the start of the millennium, Harry Potter (reason: satanism/occult) and Catcher in the Rye (offensive language) were in the top 10 most challenged, but they've since been edged out by And Tango Makes Three (a picture book featuring a same-sex relationship), David Levithan's Two Boys Kissing (self-explanatory for some) and Alex Gino's George (includes a transgender character). Video of the Day Expand Close The religious right in the US tried to get JK Rowling's 'Harry Potter' series banned from libraries because of Satanism / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The religious right in the US tried to get JK Rowling's 'Harry Potter' series banned from libraries because of Satanism Since most schools and libraries resist removing the books, these efforts of parents and churches aren't greatly successful and are easy to mock as illiberal and anti-First Amendment rights. The same goes for millennials no-platforming, cancelling and trolling. Using death threats to get Cummins's book tour cancelled (Gurba also received death threats following her review) isn't a good look, and Farrow's show of muscle was a mistake. The accusation against Allen was investigated at the time. New York State child-welfare investigators found "no credible evidence" to support the allegation (although Justice Wilk refused to grant Allen custody), and the Farrow-Allen family rift predates the alleged incident. Expand Close Woody Allen / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Woody Allen Having taken sides so publicly (his mother's), Farrow, as a good journalist and lawyer, should have known to recuse himself. Censorship is never a good look. Whether it's the State operating a draconian censorship board, or the religious right trying to strong-arm libraries, or millennials taking to Twitter to 'cancel' and 'no-platform', the methods seem crude, and the aim ('we get to say what you read') offensive. Woke millenials are at their sophisticated best when they move away from no-platforming and start gaslighting. If you want to cancel a book, it's much smarter to undermine, than ban it. The aim is to pull off the trick of the tailors in the Emperor's New Clothes - eg make the reader doubt their own taste and opinions. The insults deployed in the Cummins row - 'cultural appropriation' and 'check your privilege' - are the perfect weapons to discombobulate the average novel-reader, so liberal, so middle-class and so desperate to be right-on (by the way, the furore didn't harm Cummins's sales - American Dirt is a bestseller in the US and Ireland - but her critics successfully changed the discourse so that the next person writing outside their cultural experience will find it harder to get published). In the same spirit, Ronan Farrow would have done better to give Woody enough rope - reviews are resoundingly hanging the memoir on its tone-deaf attitude to women. Home fires In Ireland, we don't need persuading that cancelling and no-platforming are counter-productive. Irish libraries don't publish lists of challenged books, but the memory of 20th Century State censorship has left us with little appetite for book banning. Liberals have a knee-jerk reaction and conservatives fear the backlash when the censor goes in too hard. It's now almost impossible to get a book banned in Ireland (the only one since 1998 is Jean Martin's astonishingly titled The Raped Little Runaway in 2016). Expand Close Edna O'Brien, whose novel 'The Country Girls' was banned in Ireland / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Edna O'Brien, whose novel 'The Country Girls' was banned in Ireland The books that have been most likely to stir controversy in Ireland in recent years are memoirs. In 2006, Kathy O'Beirne's siblings called a press conference to dispute her account of her upbringing in the bestselling Kathy's Story, in which she alleges an abusive home life, followed by further abuse in religious institutions. (The press conference was a familiar scenario, recalling Limerick DJ, Gerry Hannan's attack on the veracity of Frank McCourt's memoirs, Angela's Ashes, in two ripostes, Ashes and Tis In Me Ass). A journalist, Hermann Kelly, wrote a riposte, Kathy's Real Story, rejecting O'Beirne's version of events. However, O'Beirne's original publishers, Mainstream Publishing, stood by her robustly, as did her ghost-writer, Michael Sheridan. Her first (and only) book is still available on Amazon, without a disclaimer. Can you 'cancel' memory? In 2005, Augusten Burroughs and his publisher, St Martin's Press, were sued in Massachusetts by the Turcotte family for "defamation, invasion of privacy and emotional distress" over their depiction in Burroughs' bestselling memoir, Running with Scissors. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum and Burroughs agreeing to recognise on the acknowledgements page that the Turcottes' "memories of the events described in this book are different than my own". Expand Close Forty-something Laura Albert caused huge controversy when it was alleged she was the writer of memoir, 'Sarah', rather than a transwoman JT LeRoy. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Forty-something Laura Albert caused huge controversy when it was alleged she was the writer of memoir, 'Sarah', rather than a transwoman JT LeRoy. Also in 2005, there was uproar - played out on Oprah, of course - when James Frey was found to have fabricated sections of his bestselling addiction memoir, A Million Little Pieces. His publishers, Random House, offered a refund to readers who had bought the book. The controversy put the onus on future US publishers to comprehensively fact-check all memoirs (a surely impossible task, recalling Lloyd's George's description of arguing with De Valera: like trying to pick up mercury with a fork). Underlying neuroses If you want to know what a society fears, look at what it seeks to restrict, ban or cancel. In the 20th Century, Soviet Russia banned, inter alia, Orwell's Animal Farm and Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago; Ireland banned Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls and Marie Stopes's Married Love; Pakistan, India and most of the Middle East banned Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. It's clear what each feared: politics, sex, and religion, respectively. So what does the current situation with regard to cancelling/challenging books tell us about what our contemporary societies most fear? The answer is quite surprising - we seem to fear ambiguity and to crave absolute certainty. The religious right fears sexual and gender ambiguity and craves biological certainty; the woke no-platformers fear narrative ambiguity (only write what you know) and crave moral certainty (the Great Artist has to be a Good Person); and every reader who dishes out 15 for a memoir wants legal reassurance that it happened in just the way the author says it did. But boys will be girls, great writers will be assholes, and memory will always play us false. Now that the world has gone so spectacularly beyond our control, we may as well relinquish the illusion that we have any control over the narrative. And if you're a publisher with a book that offends against absolute certainty and seems likely to provoke dissent, now is a good time to get it out. Coronavirus has cancelled the cancellers. The CRN editorial team selects the honorees to celebrate a list of exceptional women acclaimed for their contributions to channel advocacy, growth, thought leadership and dedication to the IT channel. As CMO of Impartner, Desberg is responsible for driving demand for Impartner's channel management solutions, which are the choice of top channel chiefs and corporations worldwide to accelerate their channel sales many of which are among CRN's Top 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs and CRN's 5-Star Partner Programs. Desberg is widely known in the channel, having led the company's presence at industry events worldwide and ImpartnerCON, the company's flagship customer and channel management summit, which, in its 5th year, has become the largest channel chief event worldwide. "CRN's 2020 Women of the Channel list recognizes an accomplished group of influential women leaders whose strategic vision and unique achievements accelerate channel growth through cultivated partnerships, innovative thought leadership and unwavering dedication to the IT channel," said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. "We are proud to honor them for their accomplishments and contributions to driving channel success." "Our customer base includes such an amazing list of top women channel leaders worldwide, and we're excited to have Kerry recognized as one of CRN's 2020 Women of the Channel for her work to help elevate Impartner to its leadership position in the channel management technology industry," said Impartner CEO Joe Wang. "The passion we have for transforming the performance of our customers' channels is unending, and we appreciate Kerry's industry leadership and persistent passion for bringing that value to life for corporations worldwide." "What an honor to be included with so many amazing professionals for whom I hold such high regard," said Desberg. "I'm proud of the role that Impartner PRM plays in accelerating the performance of our customers' indirect sales, and even more proud to count so many of these talented women as customers, colleagues and friends." The 2020 Women of the Channel list will be featured in CRN Magazine on June 8 and online at www.CRN.com/WOTC. About The Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook About Impartner Impartner delivers the industry's most complete SaaS-based Channel Management Platform, helping companies worldwide manage their partner relationships and accelerate revenue and profitability through indirect sales channels. Impartner's flagship Partner Relationship Management (PRM) solution is the industry's most award-winning PRM technology and one of the industry's only turnkey solutions that can deploy a world-class Partner Portal in as few as 14 days. For more information on Impartner, which is based in Utah's tech hotbed, the Silicon Slopes, visit www.impartner.com , or in the United States call +1 801 501 7000, for EMEA general call +33 1 40 90 31 20, for London call +44 0 20 3283 4465, and for LATAM call +1 954 364 7883. Follow Impartner on LinkedIn , Twitter and Facebook . Contact: Brendan Hong Impartner +1 801-821-5556 [email protected] SOURCE Impartner Related Links http://www.impartner.com Senior doctors from across Vietnam convened a teleconference on Sunday to discuss the most viable treatment for a 43-year-old British man critically sickened by novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ho Chi Minh City. The meeting was attended by leading doctors and experts specializing in emergency care, active treatment, heart-lung transplantation, and thoracic surgery from the Viet Duc University Hospital in Hanoi, Hue Central Hospital in the namesake north-central city, and the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases. The doctors discussed transferring the patient to Cho Ray Hospital, the largest general hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, to continue his treatment and evaluate the possibility of a lung transplant. The Briton, who works as a pilot for Vietnam Airlines, was infected with COVID-19 in mid-March and has been receiving treatment at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in the southern metropolis. His treatment has been a roller-coaster ride, with tests alternating between positive and negative for the virus. The latest test on Saturday last week was positive. The man has been on life support in the form of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for over 30 days and has been given intubation to assist in his breathing. Doctors will focus on assessing multiple factors of the lung transplant as well as how to find a compatible lung, Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the Medical Examination and Treatment Management Department under the Ministry of Health, adding that the procedure will be carried out once there is an indication the transplant is necessary. Finding a donor may be difficult as the patient has a tall and big body. The difference in height, weight, and the size of lungs between the donor and the recipient must not exceed 20 percent, Khue elaborated. The Vietnam National Coordinating Center for Human Organ Transplantation will be in charge of this task, coordinating with major hospitals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. According to Dr. Nguyen Thanh Phong, a head physician at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, all medical expenses of the British patient have been paid for by the infirmary. Doctors have been using the best types of medicine, many of which were ordered from abroad, while ECMO is also very expensive, Phong added. Sources of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper revealed that the treatment of the British pilot has cost approximately VND5 billion (US$214,000) so far. Vietnamese authorities are expected to discuss with the British Embassy in Hanoi regarding the medical cost of the patient, said Khue. Vietnams COVID-19 tally stands at 288, with 241 having recovered as of Monday morning. No deaths from the disease have been recorded in the country. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! San Francisco police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man who was gunned down Thursday in the Portola neighborhood. The victim was identified by the San Francisco medical examiners office as Kevin Chew. Panasonic India, a diversified technology company, today announced that it has resumed sale of its products where allowed as per Govt guidelines. Starting this week, all Panasonic products are available on online platforms - Amazon, Flipkart and offline stores in the Green and Orange zones. The companys operations were suspended since March 22, 2020, in line with government directives of lockdown to curtail the spread of Covid-19. Following the guidelines by the government, the company has prepared for staggered operations at the retail and brand stores that have been recalibrated to abide by the social distancing norms. The company has also introduced special offers with 10% cash back and attractive finance schemes to help consumers in current times. Committed to the safety and well-being of its employees and the consumers, the company has deployed all safety measures such as placement of sanitizers, mandatory usage of masks, and contact-less assistance to consumers. Panasonic has also resumed field service to repair and service appliances, along with a host of new initiatives for the consumers like same day installation depending on the area, AC service using Jet pumps so as to shorten the technicians stay at customers place, Extended Warranty for all products. With this, Panasonic remains committed to strengthen trust among its consumers. The company has plans to start operations gradually at the manufacturing facility following carefully designed standard operating procedures to ensure safety of their workers at Jhajhar, Haryana. Speaking on the development, Mr. Manish Sharma, President and CEO, Panasonic India and South Asia said, We have defined the SOPs basis our learnings from our operations in other countries and as a first step, our product development and R&D teams will be starting work. We will closely observe the market demand this week and take a call on production. We have divided our manufacturing plant, which currently has assembly lines for Air Conditioners and Washing Machines, into zones with a roster of workers demarcated against each, preventing any engagement between them. Along with social distancing, sanitizing we will ensure all guidelines are followed for health & safety of our workforce. We plan to start with 25% capacity and slowly take it up to 50% in a months time. Likewise, we have divided our corporate office into zones with limited number of employees coming in for now. Keeping in mind the current situation, while the company is focused on driving sales through both online and offline platforms. It has also been continuously working towards upgrading its offline channel to provide a better purchase experience to consumers by effective trainings to in-shop promoters, regular upkeep and hygiene standards at stores and efficient inventory planning. The company has laid down a robust plan to meet the pent-up demand with the existing inventory available across categories. Panasonic India will continue to closely monitor the situation and take appropriate action as per regulatory and administrative guidance. Product page links on Amazon and Flipkart for easy reference: More than 65 percent of people who test positive for coronavirus report losing their sense of smell or taste, a new study finds. The symptom, which was only recently added to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) list of signs of the infection, was only reported by 22 percent of those who tested negative. Using a symptom tracking app, researchers at Harvard University and King's College in London followed more than 2.6 million people, and estimated that in total, 17 percent of them likely had coronavirus. Oddly, the scientists found that, in the UK, all 10 of the symptoms the app asked were linked to ultimately testing positive for coronavirus, while in the US, only loss of smell and taste, fatigue and skipping meals were linked to positive tests. Tracking coronavirus symptoms and identifying early signals of infection will become increasingly important to prevent or minimize a second wave as countries reopen - and lost sense of smell is emerging as a potential predictor of infection. Of the 10 coronavirus symptoms the COVID Symptom Tracker app asks about, loss of smell was the one most predictive of a positive test results, a new study reveals When coronavirus first struck the US, the CDC warned that the primary symptoms were fever, cough and shortness of breath. While those are still the virus's tell-tale signs, doctors have learned that patients might present with a wide array of symptoms. And by the time a symptoms like fever appears, a patient may be quite ill. Scientists used data on 2,618,926 people who downloaded the COVID Symptom Study app to assess which symptoms might be predictive of positive tests. They asked these participants to report their symptoms, changes in their conditions and any test results on a daily basis. CDC'S PREVIOUS AND CURRENT LIST OF CORONAVIRUS SYMPTOMS Until recently, the CDC only listed three symptoms of coronavirus on its website: Fever Cough Shortness of breath Late last month, the CDC expanded its list to include the following signs: Chills Repeated shaking with chills Muscle pain Headache Sore throat New loss of taste or smell Advertisement Symptom that participants were asked about were: loss of smell, skipped meals, fatigue, fever, persistent cough, diarrhea, delirium, hoarse voice, shortness of breath, abdominal pain and chest pain. Out of more than 2.6 million users, 805,753 participants developed any of those symptoms, according to the study published in Nature Medicine. A total of 7,178 people involved in the study eventually tested positive for coronavirus. But based on the symptoms reported, the scientists predicted that 140,000 - or 17 percent - of participants probably have COVID-19. That comes out to a similar infection rate to what is suggested by antibody testing so far. In New York City, about 20 percent tested so far have antibodies, suggesting they have had coronavirus. In New York state, the rate is about 15 percent. And the symptoms that earliest predicted who might have coronavirus were not the ones that have been looked to as indicators since the beginning of the pandemic. 'When covid was first spreading from other countries most of the concern was about fever and respiratory symptoms,' one of the study's lead authors, Dr Andrew Chan, told DailyMail.com. 'Fever isnt as common as you might think, and we think that may be a symptom that happens quite late in the disease.' Symptom tracking apps may fill an important gap left by lagging testing capacity in the US Instead loss of sense of smell was the symptom most predictive of positive coronavirus tests. However, most people that eventually tested positive or were deemed likely to have coronavirus had multiple symptoms. He said this lagging understanding of early symptoms like loss of smell almost certainly means that many cases of coronavirus went undiagnosed early on in the pandemic. 'People who are really asymptomatic or have very mild or light symptoms...those folks are unfortunately not always able to know they have the infection and are at high risk of spreading it,' said Dr Chan. Testing would be the obvious and most reliable way for these people to find out whether they have coronavirus and may be infectious to others. But even now, testing in the US lags. 'Testing is really quite behind, and what we really need to do is to find alternative means of trying to identify whos infected,' said Dr Chan. 'Given current gaps in testing and until testing is more widespread and available, we need to use other means to identify where infections might be most active. Enter the tracking app, which is being widely used in the UK (despite some controversy over potential privacy concerns involved in some tracing apps) and in some US states. 'Symptoms trackers are one way to gather data in a very cost efficient way across large parts of the population to understand where potential outbreaks and also understand where the prevalence of infection might be declining,' Dr Chan said. The app is free to download and will be the basis of future studies as well. For now, the app just gathers data, but in the coming weeks Dr Chan said he and his team hope to launch a study that lets the app give feedback to participants. The app might eventually, for example, tell a user who reported loss of smell and diarrhea that they should contact their doctor, or stay home to prevent the possibility of spreading the infection. Rights groups call on Malaysia to act after prominent Rohingya activists threatened with murder and sexual violence. Dozens of human rights groups have called on Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to address hate speech and violent threats against Rohingya refugees in the country amid a slew of online posts threatening murder and sexual violence. Mondays open letter, signed by 83 organisations, said the surge in hateful messages attacking the Rohingya community was causing fear of physical violence and discrimination among the refugees. We urge you to act immediately to address the recent proliferation of hate speech and violent threats against the Rohingya community and to ensure the incendiary rhetoric does not trigger discriminatory acts or physical attacks, said the letter. Signatories included Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International Malaysia, Article 19 and the International Commission of Jurists. The online posts directed at the Rohingya in the country included discriminatory and dehumanising language and images, with some users threatening prominent Rohingya activists as well as their supporters with murder and sexual violence, the groups said. Numerous online petitions calling for the expulsion of Rohingya were also launched on Change.org, Avaaz and other platforms, with some garnering thousands of signatures. While Facebook, Twitter, Change.org and Avaaz have removed some of the content, new posts and petitions containing hateful and discriminatory content continue to appear, the letter said. The surge in hate speech was driven by claims the Rohingya were demanding citizenship or other legal rights in Malaysia, according to the letter. It also follows a Malaysian government decision in early April to turn back boats carrying Rohingya refugees attempting to land in the country. Rights groups have previously expressed concern that coronavirus lockdowns across Southeast Asia could trigger a repeat of a 2015 crisis when a crackdown by Thailand prompted smugglers to abandon their human cargo at sea. Human Rights Watch, in a separate statement, said Muhyiddins government, which came to power at the end of February, has completely fallen down on the job when it comes to protecting the rights of Rohingya refugees. First the government pushed off a boat of starving refugees and then it stood by quietly as a massive hate speech campaign spread against the Rohingya, threatening violence against people who fled crimes against humanity and genocide at the hands of Myanmars military, it said. To date, the Malaysian government has done little to stop this cascade of violent threats against Rohingya leaders, resulting in the refugee community fearing even to go out to procure food and other basic supplies they need to survive in the COVID-19 lockdown. The government has sent mixed messages, the letter said with Defence Minister and Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob expressing sympathy for the Rohingya on April 27 and urging Malaysians to be peaceful and considerate while avoiding allegations that could foment anger. But that message was undermined on April 30, when the Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin issued a statement that emphasised the Rohingyas lack of legal status or rights in Malaysia and justified measures to stop the intrusion of illegal immigrants. Rohingya nationals who are holders of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees card have no status, rights or basis to make any claims on the government, he said. The government does not recognise their status as refugees but as illegal immigrants. Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees, and asylum seekers are not allowed to work or send their children to school. Nevertheless, the UN refugee agencys Kuala Lumpur office has more than 178,900 people registered as refugees in Malaysia, with substantial numbers of Rohingya. The signatories to Mondays open letter called on Malaysian authorities to ensure threats and other human rights abuses against the Rohingya and their supporters are investigated, and perpetrators held accountable. The government should publicly condemn all forms of violence and hate directed at the Rohingya, said Amy Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights. The campaign against Rohingya in Malaysia is dangerous, vulgar,and inconsistent with Malaysias human rights obligations. Buddhist-majority Myanmar does not recognise Rohingya as citizens and they face severe curbs on freedom of movement as well as access to healthcare and education. Myanmar denies persecuting Rohingya and says they are not an Indigenous ethnic group but immigrants from South Asia, even though many Rohingya are able to trace their ancestry back centuries. More than a million Rohingya refugees live in camps in southern Bangladesh, the majority having been driven from homes in Myanmar after a 2017 military crackdown. HRW Urges Iran To Halt Prosecutions For Protests Over Ukraine Air Crash By RFE/RL May 10, 2020 Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Iran to halt prosecutions of those who peacefully protested the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) deadly attack on a civilian airliner and the initial denial of responsibility. The rights group said that since late April, Iranian courts had sentenced 13 people, including several students, to prison terms apparently just for taking part in peaceful protest over the January 8 downing of a Ukrainian civilian airliner, which the IRGC said it "mistakenly" shot down, killing 176 passengers and crew. The incident, which led to outrage in the country, came hours after Iran had launched a missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq in response to the January 3 assassination of the IRGC's Quds Force commander, Major General Qasem Soleimani, by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad. Tehran initially claimed the plane had crashed, but the IRGC admitted three days after the tragedy that Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 had been shot down "unintentionally" by the country's air defenses. Iranian authorities have said that 30 people were arrested in connection with the protests and that an unspecified number of people had been arrested in connection with the downing of the plane. "Iranian authorities are following their usual playbook of dodging accountability," Michael Page, HRW's deputy Middle East director, said in a May 8 statement. "While refusing to provide details about any investigation of culpability for the deadly mistake, judicial officials are wasting no time in sentencing people who protested the loss of 176 lives." Iran has said that the deadly incident will be investigated, but the authorities have not shared any details of their investigation. Families of some of the victims have expressed concern that the coronavirus pandemic is slowing down any momentum toward justice for their loved ones, HRW said. The right group said Iran should conduct a transparent investigation and cooperate with international bodies. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/hrw-urges-iran- to-halt-prosecutions-for-protests-over- ukraine-air-crash/30603743.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. From Russia, Iran, and the Balkans to presidential primaries in 16 U.S. states, elections around the world have been postponed by coronavirus restrictions. But as the lockdowns are slowly being lifted, political battle lines are being drawn in many countries over how and when polling stations should reopen. Since late February, more than 50 countries have pushed back dates for nationwide, regional, or local elections. Postponed ballots include Iran's April 17 second-round parliamentary vote, legislative elections on April 12 in North Macedonia, and Serbia's April 26 general elections. European lockdowns had already begun by March 17, when Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that set April 22 as the date for a nationwide vote on changes to the country's constitution, though he said the date could be changed. Term limits in force under the constitution bar Putin from seeking reelection in 2024, but one of the proposed amendments would allow him to run in 2024 and again in 2030, meaning that he could potentially remain president until 2036. But Putin announced on March 25 that the nationwide vote would be postponed, and a new date has not been set. Some analysts have even suggested it may not be held as Russia struggles to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Russia has also postponed all local and regional elections across the country -- more than 90 public ballots -- that had been planned from April 5 through June 23. By-elections in Pakistan were delayed in March along with Armenia's April 5 referendum on changes to the Constitutional Court. Dates for local elections have also been pushed back in Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, and Romania. Belgrade Delays And Debates In Serbia, President Aleksandar Vucic is facing a possible opposition boycott of parliamentary and local elections that could foreshadow an even deeper political crisis. On March 15, when Belgrade declared a state of emergency over the pandemic, the country was in the midst of preelection campaigning for general elections scheduled for April 26. On March 16, Serbia's State Election Commission halted all election activities. But Vucic, leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, has been accused of using his daily official appearances for self-promotion and to support his political allies in the vote. After Vucic traveled personally to Novi Pazar to deliver hospital equipment and hold a press conference, one of the town's five deputy mayors, Emir Asceric, accused the president of staging a covert campaign event. Asceric wrote on Facebook that Vucic and his party were "more concerned with themselves and with politics" than dealing with the public health emergency. "The word 'abuse' is too weak to describe this active political self-promotion in the midst of a state of emergency and a dangerous pandemic," he wrote. Political observers say they expect Serbias ruling party to come out on top if the vote is held on its rescheduled date of June 21 and they say the Serbian Progressive Party will benefit from the elections being held relatively soon. With the early general elections, Vucics ruling party can benefit more from the popularity with the governments coronavirus measures -- including a 11,750-Serbian-dinars (about $108) economic stimulus check for every citizen and state help to pay minimum wages to people facing financial difficulties. WATCH: Supporters of Serbia's opposition Freedom and Justice Party defied a COVID-19 lockdown curfew and took to the streets of the capital, Belgrade. Political analysts say keeping the polls closed in Serbia until late in 2020 would have risked having an election in the midst of an anticipated recession. They say that would benefit opposition parties. Parliamentary speaker Maja Gojkovic, a member of Vucic's ruling party, rejected calls from Bosko Obradovic, a leader of the opposition Alliance For Serbia, for the elections to be delayed until autumn, adding that doing so would violate Serbias constitution. Opposition parties have threatened to boycott the early elections over accusations that there will not be a level playing field for the campaign. Skopje's Snap Elections North Macedonia disbanded its parliament in February and called early elections on April 12 in what was seen as a setback for the country's aspirations to join the EU. Skopje locked down all electoral activities and postponed the ballot just two days before the formal start of campaigning. Ironically, pressure on Prime Minister Oliver Spasovskis center-left Social Democratic Union (SDSM) has declined since then due to progress on Skopje's EU membership bid. As in Serbia, the deadlines for rescheduled elections in North Macedonia will automatically continue after the country emerges from its state of emergency. Officials suggest that will happen in mid-May, provided public-health conditions allow. Whenever the election is rescheduled, it is expected to be a closely fought battle between SDSM and the center-right, nationalist opposition VMRO-DPMNE party led by Hristijan Mickoski. Like the ruling party in Serbia, Spasovski's party is expected to benefit more if elections are held sooner rather than later. Some political analysts say the VMRO-DPMNE could benefit more from polls staged in the autumn when economic conditions could deteriorate. Observers also say Spasovski's party could use concerns about the possibility of another deadly outbreak of the coronavirus to push for an earlier date. Poland's Postal Vote The May 10 presidential election in Poland became a bizarre ballot in which polling stations remained closed and official turnout was zero after a political crisis over how to conduct a legitimate election in the midst of the pandemic. The presidential vote was formally neither postponed nor canceled, because the government and opposition were unable to agree on a constitutional and safe solution. Parliament has passed legislation charging the post office with carrying out the ballot. But agreement has not been reached on a date. The government wanted an election before June, but opposition parties say that's too soon. The timing of Poland's election became an issue after coronavirus lockdown orders undermined campaigning and prevented candidates from holding public rallies. Initially, Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party wanted to keep the original May 10 first-round vote, which it said could be conducted safely using the postal system. But the government's junior coalition partner balked at the idea, worried about potential fraud and technical pitfalls. Postal officials are now preparing for the official ballot papers to be mailed to the homes of some 30 million registered voters. Voters would cast their ballots in special boxes set up in neighborhoods across Poland for collection by postal workers. Opposition parties, international election observers, and European Union officials have noted the difficulties of having "free and fair" elections by mail. The opposition has also accused the PiS of putting its own political needs ahead of the public health, and of failing to adhere to the rule of law. Poland's opposition says a speedy vote gives an unfair advantage to incumbent President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the PiS, who has remained in the public eye on state television to speak about the government's coronavirus strategy, while the nine other candidates could not campaign. PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski admits Duda could lose the lead he has in opinion polls if the election is delayed until autumn, when a possibly worsened economic situation is felt by voters. Success In South Korea Of the 20 countries that pushed ahead with public votes scheduled in March and April, South Korea is widely seen as the country that carried out a nationwide election most responsibly in the midst of the pandemic. In fact, voter turnout of 66 percent for the parliamentary elections on April 15 was the highest in nearly three decades. More than one-quarter of South Koreas 44 million voters cast their ballots early -- taking pressure off of polling stations on election day. Voters who did cast their ballots at polling stations were handed face masks and gloves, just as candidates had done to campaign. The voting booths in South Korea's elections were regularly disinfected and voters stood far apart as they waited in line to vote. The temperatures of voters were taken at the door, with anybody with a fever voting in separate booths. South Korea never imposed the kind of strict nationwide lockdowns seen in other countries. But even sick voters who'd placed themselves under self-quarantine were able to go to the polls to vote after 6 p.m. on election day under special conditions just for them. Numerous observers point to South Korea as an example of how elections elsewhere in the world -- including the United States -- could be carried out safely and responsibly. 'Fiasco' In Wisconsin The U.S. presidential election is still on schedule for November 3. But primaries that determine the candidates for each party have been suspended since March, when a wave of states began delaying the votes due to the coronavirus. The state of Wisconsin pushed forward with its Democratic Party primary on April 7 -- along with several state votes -- after legal challenges against staging the election in the midst of a pandemic were rejected by a U.S. District Court. That ruling recognized that holding the vote on schedule would create "unprecedented burdens" for voters, election workers, and state officials. U.S. District Judge William Conley pushed the election back until April 13 so that voters asking to cast their ballots by mail would have time to receive and return their ballots. But the court ruled that it was up to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, and state lawmakers to reschedule the vote. Evers initially said he didn't have the authority to postpone the elections and called for the Republican-controlled state legislature to cancel in-person voting and extend the deadline for mail-in voting to late May. But lawmakers rejected his request -- forcing the vote to go ahead. But Evers issued an executive order on April 6 calling for the election to be delayed by two months. That order was blocked the same day by the state's Supreme Court. Then the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Judge Conley's ruling, pushing the election back to the original date of April 7. On election day, officials in Milwaukee said they could only open five of 180 polling stations because most poll workers were over the age of 60 and were sent home as being at risk of becoming infected. Some 12,000 Wisconsin voters who'd applied to vote by mail did not receive their ballots by election day. Meanwhile, even though voters were forced to risk their health by going to polling stations, people stood in long lines to cast their ballots. Weeks later, health officials in Milwaukee alone tracked down at least 40 cases in which voters had become infected by the coronavirus while going to vote. Critics see Wisconsin's April 7 vote as a fiasco with important lessons about how the U.S. presidential election should be carried out in November. They say state governments and federal officials need to take urgent action now to prepare for a massive amount of mail voting, to protect the health of election workers and of the voters coming to polling stations, and to ensure that citizens are not denied their right to vote in a contest likely pitting incumbent Donald Trump against former Vice President Joe Biden as his main competitor. Heather Erickson grew up being a grandmas girl. The Westview Care Center nurse credits her grandma for inspiring her to follow in her footsteps and become a nurse. Eighteen years later, and Erickson is still glad she followed her grandmothers advice to get into the health care field and help others. My 94-year-old grandma was an OB (obstetrics) nurse and since I was a grandmas girl, I wanted to be just like her, said Erickson, who lives in Algona and drives to her job in Britt. She inspired me to go into this field. Her caring personality and her always the one to be in charge stuck with me. While Erickson doesnt work in obstetrics, where a registered nurse helps care for female patients during pregnancy, labor and child birth, she does wear many hats at Westview, where she still helps out with patients on the floor. Its that willingness to help out her colleagues and her 18 years of devotion to patients at Westview that has made her one of the most well respected nurses in North Iowa. Because of that, she was selected as one of the Globe Gazettes Top 10 outstanding nurses. This is a real honor, she said. I like to have that contact with the patients daily and being out there helping the CNAs (certified nursing assistants). I like to show the other nurses I am willing to do what they do every day. Its why we get into this field. Jaime Rieck is Ericksons supervisor. She was one of the 10 nurses who were honored by the Globe Gazette during National Nurses Week 2019. Reick said the judges were spot on in picking Erickson as one of the Top 10 nurses in North Iowa. She is dedicated to Westview and the residents, Rieck said. She is willing to come in at any time to offer help in any department. She definitely goes above and beyond. Erickson has been helping people at Westview since she was a 16-year-old in high school. Working as a CNA helped her realize nursing is what she was destined to do. After high school, she attended Iowa Lakes Community College and earned a degree in nursing, then resumed her career at Westview where she has done many things such as working as a CNA, a medication aid, working as a restorative exercise nurse, and a care coordinator where she did medicine assessments and performed quality assurance checks. While she said she has enjoyed each of those duties, the thing Erickson said she likes most about her job as a nurse is that she gets to work with people every day and interact with the residents. You see them every day and that is so nice, she said. My daughter is 8 years old and she likes to come in when Im visiting the residents. She says, hey, can I go see so and so today. Westview has a Guardian Angel program where nurses and staff are assigned a resident and then asked to spend at least an hour a month with them. Most nurses easily spend more time than is required. For Erickson, the program is an added perk to her job. We get to spend one-on-one time with them and that builds that extra bond, she said. When the weather is nice, my daughter and I take residents to the park. She loves coming here. The program has especially been important during the COVID-19 pandemic as Westview has been shut down to visitors. The nurses and staff often have become extended family in these hard times. The longer visitor restrictions go on, the harder it gets, Erickson said. Its really hard on the residents, who often do video chats with their family members and sometimes interact with them through windows and doors. We spend extra time with them to reassure them. Even taking into account the scary times in the health care field due to the virus, Erickson said being a nurse is not a job for the light-hearted. She said if you get into the field, its a job you should really want to do. Its sometimes not the glamorous job people idealize it to be, she said. Nursing is a life-long career and I love it because it is so rewarding. Love 4 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. By Associated Press TEHRAN: The Iranian army says a missile strike on a naval vessel taking part in an exercise in the Gulf of Oman has killed 19 sailors and wounded 15. The statement on Monday drastically raised the death toll in the incident Sunday. Earlier Iranian state media reports said the Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, was too close to a target during an exercise on Sunday. The vessel had been putting targets out for other ships to target. It said that the missile struck the vessel accidentally. An Iranian missile fired during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman struck a support vessel near its target, killing at least one sailor and wounding 15 others, Iranian media reported Monday, amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the US. State TV said that the friendly fire incident happened on Sunday near the port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran, in the Gulf of Oman. The missile struck the Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, taking part in the exercise. State television described the missile strike as an accident, saying the Konarak had remained too close to the target. The Konarak had been putting targets out in the water for other ships to fire upon, it said. A local hospital admitted 12 sailors and treated another three with slight wounds, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Iranian media said the Konarak had been overhauled in 2018 and was able to launch sea and anti-ship missiles. The Dutch-made, 47-meter (155-foot) vessel was in service since 1988 and had capacity of 40 tons. It usually carries a crew of 20 sailors. Iran regularly holds exercises in the region, which is closed to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world's oil passes. The US Navy's 5th Fleet, which monitors the region, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Benjamin Field, who worked his way into the life of a university lecturer before killing him, is to appeal against his conviction A church warden who murdered a university lecturer after a campaign of physical and mental torture is to appeal against his conviction. Benjamin Field, 29, was jailed for at least 36 years for killing Peter Farquhar, 69, in order to inherit his house and money after driving him to think he was losing his mind following a period of gaslighting. In his trial, the court heard how Field secretly gave Mr Farquhar drugs and spiked his whisky, hoping that his eventual death at his hands would look like suicide or an accident. He was convicted by a jury at Oxford Crown Court of Mr Farquhar's murder in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, in 2015 but acquitted of the attempted murder of neighbour Ann Moore-Martin. The Baptist minister's son had pleaded guilty to defrauding Mr Farquhar of 160,000 from his will and of defrauding Miss Moore-Martin of 4,000 to buy a car and 27,000 for a dialysis machine. Field's plans to appeal over his murder conviction emerged at a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Oxford Crown Court last week. A further hearing is planned for June 18. The Court of Appeal confirmed the former University of Buckingham PhD student had lodged an appeal. 'An appeal against conviction was lodged and granted in the case of Mr Field. A date has not currently been listed for this to be heard,' a spokeswoman for the judiciary added. Church warden Ben Field (right) was convicted of murdering Peter Farquhar (left). The pensioner, who was gay, was duped into 'marriage' and signed over his house to Field An upsetting photo shown to the jury showed Mr Farquhar laying, confused, in his bed after he was drugged and 'gaslighted' by his killer Mr Farquhar's family branded Field a 'deeply malevolent and thoroughly evil man' when he was jailed. Detectives described Field as a psychopath and said he would have posed an 'ongoing danger to society' had he not been stopped. Imposing a life sentence, Mr Justice Sweeney said Field had been convicted by the jury of murder on 'overwhelming evidence'. 'In your evidence at trial you admitted that, from late 2012 until mid-2017, you had lived by deception and deceit and had been a well-practised and able liar,' the judge told him. 'You further admitted how you could manipulate and manoeuvre people, however sceptical they may have been, to achieve your ends without ever asking them to do so directly. Baptist minister's son Field (right) had pleaded guilty to defrauding Mr Farquhar (left) of 160,000 from his will It was only when the Baptist minister's son began targeting Mr Farquhar's neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire (Mrs Moore-Martin's home pictured), that his scheme began to unravel 'You were, you accepted, a snake talker, as you were able to build pressure on your victims to believe what you needed them to believe and then to do whatever you needed them to do. 'The evidence at trial clearly demonstrated grandiosity, a sense of superiority towards others, the exploitation of others to achieve personal gain, the need to belittle and humiliate others, fixation on fantasies of power and success, intelligence, a need for admiration from others, and a sense of entitlement together with an unwillingness to empathise with the feelings, needs and wishes of others.' In his trial Field also admitted defrauding another victim, Ann-Moore Martin (pictured), but was cleared of conspiracy to murder the pensioner It was only when the Baptist minister's son began targeting Mr Farquhar's neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin, in the village of Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire, that his scheme began to unravel. Judge Mr Justice Sweeney told Field during his trial: 'He [Mr Farquhar] was a committed Christian, but also gay and attracted to younger men - which was a conflict that he had resolved through his adult life by remaining celibate. 'He was, at his core, lonely and craving for love and affection. You realised that when, as a student, you came across him at the university in 2011 and 2012 and you decided to exploit him for your own gain. 'Although heterosexual by inclination, indeed you had numerous girlfriends whilst you were involved with both Peter Farquhar and Anne Moore-Martin, you set about seducing him.' Field accepted he had 'psychologically manipulated' the retired teachers but denied any involvement in their deaths. Pictured: Mr Farquhar and Field Field also gaslighted Miss Moore-Martin, a deeply religious retired headteacher, by writing messages on her mirrors purporting to be from God. He had admitted fraudulently being in relationships with the pensioners as part of his plan to get them to change their wills. Field accepted he had 'psychologically manipulated' the retired teachers but denied any involvement in their deaths. Mr Farquhar died in October 2015, while Miss Moore-Martin died in May 2017 from natural causes. Field denied murdering the author and University of Buckingham lecturer and maintained Mr Farquhar could have died from taking his usual dose of flurazepam and drinking whisky but was convicted by the jury. The judge said that Field murdered Mr Farquhar by covertly giving him drugs and getting him to drink strong whisky and then, 'if it was necessary, finished him off by suffocating him in a way that left no trace.' T he number of people who have died after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK has jumped by 210. The new figures from the Department of Health, which includes care home, community and hospital deaths, brings the total Covid-19 toll past 32,000. The latest figures from the Department of Health show that a total of 32,065 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Sunday, This is an increase of 210 from 31,855 the day before. As of 9am on Monday, a total of 223,060 people have tested positive for the virus in the UK - an increase of 3,877 from the day before. While these are the official Government figures, the Office for National Statistics has released its own data, while separate authorities in devolved regions also publish their own figures. Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures 1 /81 Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures A deserted Westminster Bridge PA A man wearing a face mask or covering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, walks past customers sat outside a restaurant AFP via Getty Images Boris Johnson addresses the nation on the Coronavirus lockdown Andrew Parsons Runners pass cardboard cutouts of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William during the London Marathon in London AP An empty escalator at Charing Coss London Underground tube station Jeremy Selwyn Electronic bilboards displays a message warning people to stay home in Sheffield PA A sign is displayed in the window of a student accommodation building following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Mancheste Reuters People take part in a 'We Do Not Consent' rally at Trafalgar Square, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions, in Londo AP People sing and dance in Leicester Square on the eve on the 10PM curfew Reuters Hearts painted by a team of artists from Upfest are seen in the grass at Queen Square, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bristol Reuters Graffiti reads 'good luck and stay safe', as the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases grow around the world, under a bridge in London Reuters A sign is pictured in Soho, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London Reuters Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures, during a coronavirus briefing in Downing Street, London AP A person runs past posters with a message of hope, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Manchester REUTERS Riot police face protesters who took part in a 'We Do Not Consent' rally at Trafalgar Square, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions in London AP An image of The Queen eith quotes from her broadcast to the UK and the Commonwealth in relation to the Coronavirus epidemic are displayed on lights in London's Piccadilly Circus PA Military vehicles cross Westminster Bridge after members of the 101 Logistic Brigade delivered a consignment of medical masks to St Thomas' hospital Getty Images Durdle Door in Dorset Reuters Captain Tom Moore via Reuters Mia, aged 8, and Jack, aged 5, take part in "PE with Joe" a daily live workout with Joe Wicks on Youtube to help kids stay fit who have to stay indoors due to the Coronavirus outbreak PA An NHS worker reacts at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS Reuters Goats which have taken over the deserted streets of Llandudno @AndrewStuart via PA Tobias Weller PA Novikov restaurant in London with its shutters pulled down while the restaurant is closed London Landscapes: Hyde Park and the Serpentine, central London. Matt Writtle A newspaper vendor in Manchester city centre giving away free toilet rolls with every paper bought as shops run low on supplies due to fears over the spread of the coronavirus PA Theo Clay looks out of his window next to his hand-drawn picture of a rainbow in Liverpool, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue Reuters A young man cuts another man's hair on top of a closed hairdresser in Oxford Reuters General view of the new NHS Nightingale Hospital, built to fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London via Reuters Jason Baird is seen dressed as Spiderman during his daily exercise to cheer up local children in Stockport, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters A woman wearing a face mask walks past Buckingham Palace Getty Images A man holds mobile phone displaying a text message alert sent by the government warning that new rules are in force across the UK and people must stay at home PA Medical staff on the Covid-19 ward at the Neath Port Talbot Hospital, in Wales, as the health services continue their response to the coronavirus outbreak. PA Prime Minister Boris Johnson taking part in a virtual Cabinet meeting with his top team of ministers PA A shopper walks past empty shelves in a Lidl store on in Wallington. After spates of "panic buying" cleared supermarket shelves of items like toilet paper and cleaning products, stores across the UK have introduced limits on purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have also created special time slots for the elderly and other shoppers vulnerable to the new coronavirus. Getty Images People on a busy tube train in London at rush hour PA Mia, aged 8 and her brother Jack, aged 5 from Essex, continue their school work at home, after being sent home due to the coronavirus PA Children are painting 'Chase the rainbows' artwork and springing up in windows across the country Reuters Social distancing in Primrose Hill Jeremy Selwyn A general view of a locked gate at Anfield, Liverpool as The Premier League has been suspended PA Homeless people in London AFP via Getty Images A piece of art by the artist, known as the Rebel Bear has appeared on a wall on Bank Street in Glasgow. The new addition to Glasgow's street art is capturing the global Coronavirus crisis. The piece features a woman and a man pulling back to give each other a kiss PA The Queen leaves Buckingham Palace, London, for Windsor Castle to socially distance herself amid the coronavirus pandemic PA A general view on Grey street, Newcastle as coronavirus cases grow around the world Reuters Matt Raw, a British national who returned from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, leaves quaratine at Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside PA Britain's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty (L) and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance look on as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks during a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) news conference inside 10 Downing Street Reuters The ticket-validation terminals at the tram stop on Edinburgh's Princes Street are cleaned following the coronavirus outbreak. PA Locked school gates at Rockcliffe First School in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear PA A sign at a Sainsbury's supermarket informs customers that limits have been set on a small number of products as the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases grow around the world Reuters Jawad Javed delivers coronavirus protection kits that he and his wife have put together to the vulnerable people of their community of Stenhousemuir, between Glasgow and Edinburgh AFP via Getty Images A sign advertising a book titled "How Will We Survive On Earth?" Getty Images A man who appears to be homeless sleeping wearing a mask today in Victoria Jeremy Selwyn A pedestrian walks past graffiti that reads "Diseases are in the City" in Edinburgh AFP via Getty Images Staff from The Lyric Theatre, London inform patrons, as it shuts its doors PA A quiet looking George IV Bridge in Edinburgh PA A quieter than usual British Museum Getty Images A racegoer attends Cheltenham in a fashionable face mask SplashNews.com A commuter wears a face mask at London Bridge Station Jeremy Selwyn A empty restaurant in the Bull Ring Shopping Centre Getty Images A deserted Trafalgar Square in London PA Passengers determined to avoid the coronavirus before leaving the UK arrive at Gatwick Airport Getty Images According to the ONS, the number of deaths involving Covid-19 that have been registered across the UK currently stands at 33,021. This includes 29,710 deaths that occurred in England and Wales up to April 24 (and which had been registered up to May 2). Todays figures from NHS England show that a further 3,964 hospital patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 died between April 25 and May 10 which, together with the total figure of 33,021 registered deaths, suggests the overall death toll for the UK is just under 37,000. NHS England announced on Monday that there had been 209 new deaths, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 23,359. Loading.... Of the 209 new deaths announced todaym 45 occurred on May 10, 76 occurred on May 9 and 18 occurred on May 8. The figures also show 39 of the new deaths took place between May 1 and May 7, 29 took place in April, while the remaining two deaths occurred in March, with the earliest new death taking place on March 18. NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks ago. This is because of the time it takes for deaths to be confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19, for post-mortem examinations to be processed and for data from the tests to be validated. Loading.... The figures published today by NHS England show April 8 continues to have the highest number for the most hospital deaths occurring on a single day, with a current total of 886. Public Health Wales said a total of 1,116 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus, an increase of five on Sundays figures. Meanwhile, a further 124 people have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of positive cases in Wales to 11,468. A total of 1,862 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, up by five from 1,857 on Sunday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said. There are 1,453 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, down 31 from 1,484 the previous day, Ms Sturgeon added. Of these patients, 80 are in intensive care, a fall of two. The separate figures from Northern Ireland have yet to be released. Santa Anita had its 13th horse fatality this season Sunday morning. (David McNew / Getty Images) Santa Anita had its 13th horse fatality this season when Tailback, a 4-year-old gelding, broke down after completing a four-furlong workout Sunday. He was euthanized after fracturing his right front leg. He was one of 216 horses to have a timed workout on the main dirt track Sunday. His time of 49.20 was the 28th fastest of 69 runners at that distance. The horse had raced twice at the maiden claiming level, earning $4,340. He was not raced until a 4-year-old, making his first start Feb. 15 and finishing third. He finished eighth in his second start March 20. Mike Puype trained Tailback. Last year he had two training fatalities, according to the California Horse Racing Board. Last year, the track had 23 fatalities by this date. Tailback becomes the 10th horse to die since Dec. 26 because of a catastrophic breakdown. Two died for what was believed to be heart issues and one died as the result of an accident. Santa Anita has been shut down for racing, but not training, since March 22. On Tuesday, the track plans to draw entries for racing Friday, although it is still seeking permission from the Los Angeles County Public Health Department. Last week, the Alameda County Public Health Department gave the OK to Golden Gate Fields to resume racing on Thursday. Los Alamitos Race Course, in Orange County, has not been shut down for racing as a result of COVID-19. Horses have to train several times a week when at the track regardless of whether they are racing. Santa Anita has set up a large quarantine area for jockeys and back stretch workers and will institute vigorous cleaning and safety protocols if it is allowed to resume racing. Fans, owners and media would be excluded from the track. It takes more than 1,000 people to hold morning training, but racing requires fewer than 100. As families adjust to stay-at-home orders to try and slow the spread of the coronavirus, family courts also saw and made changes. While one Beaumont family lawyer has seen a slight increase in divorce cases, he said the amount of couples citing financial stress as the reason they are splitting has risen. Jefferson County family courts have also dealt with more child possession litigation and changed the way they handle cases involving Child Protection Services. Financial issues always cause big problems (in marriages), Beaumont lawyer Bruce Smith said. Both parents get laid off and you dont have the money to pay their bills and live their normal lifestyle. That causes arguments and a lot of stress. That has been the cause of many of the divorces that we have seen. In terms of the number of divorces weve seen, we have seen an increase, but not a significant one. Smith said he believes a spike in divorce numbers is imminent the longer the shutdown continues. Divorces arent the only area of family law that changed during pandemic. Smith said some parents say they are not following the court order due to fear of the coronavirus. Some custodial parents are not allowing the other to have the children, and are saying its too dangerous to have the children out, he said. They think they have the right to change the court order and they cant do that. Weve seen a significant increase in the amount of enforcement hearings. Weve had to let the parents know that even though they have good intentions of protecting their children, they have to follow the order. As school districts began to close in mid March, parents began to question how their childrens schedule would change, given that many child possession court orders are based off of school schedules. Many court orders say the person who has (the child, or children) for spring break, is to bring them back by 6 p.m. the Sunday before school goes back, Smith said. Since there was no school, we had a bunch of clients telling us that the other party was refusing to bring children back, because spring break was continuing. On March 13, the Texas Supreme Court issued an emergency order stating that parents must abide by their childs school district calendar as it relates to possession of the child. Many of the countys family court cases are being held on the video conference application Zoom. While different, the transition has been smooth, Jefferson County 249th District Court Judge Randy Shelton said. I think we are getting people to participate in the cases that we havent had in the past simply because they couldnt get a ride to the courthouse, Shelton said. For CPS cases, a lot of times parents dont show up. Weve started appointing attorneys for parents from the very beginning. The attorneys are able to help get the parents on their feet and get them Zoom so they can participate. The theory behind it is that we will be able to have better outcomes for foster kids, statistically speaking. Reports of child abuse statewide have declined since much of the state shut down in mid March. However, advocates believe that many children are suffering in silence. Reports of child abuse to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services were down 4 percent in March compared to the same time last year. There is a concern that we dont have the same mandated reporters of abuse, like teachers and medical professions, reporting abuse to the state, said Andy Homer, chief public policy officer for Texas CASA, which advocates for foster youth. Hannah Dellinger contributed to this story. chris.moore@beaumontenterprise.com twitter.com/chris_moore09 Have you heard of "Argentinian alfajores?" Probably not, since most people, if not all, have not yet heard of it. In an article about this sweet treat with an Argentinian twist, The Guardian described alfajor is described as "the best chocolate treat" the readers have not heard of. If it is your first time to taste alfajor, those who have, claim, you will forget that moment. This is quite a perfect dessert to prepare, especially while on lockdown. Alfajores are customary Latin American delicacies typically coming in a pair of soft cookies around "dulce de leche" covered with chocolate. Those who have tried the treats describe the taste of the Alfajores as "heavenly!" The Story of Alfajores For the last five years, Latin food has gained popularity in Houston. Reminiscently, one local gourmet grocery used, had a fair with Argentinian products. They had Alfajores, which, as mentioned, are the most common treats from Argentina with biscuits made of cornstarch. One Argentinian introduced the Alfajores Havanna, amazing soft chocolate cookies that melt in the mouth. They are filled with Dulce de Leche, a perfect combination for a dark or semi-bitter coating of chocolate. To some, they describe the Alfajores Havanna is addictive. This is a perfect specialty to prepare for the kids if they have school events in the future that will require them to bring food from different countries. Specifically, in Chile, this Alfajores type is typically linked to "the Saulsalito brand" originally from the beach city close to the capital, Vina del Mar. Dark Chocolate Coating the Alfajores has Health Benefits Dark chocolate, which is usually used to coat the cookies in Alfajores, is filled with nutrients that can favorably impact one's health. Made from cocoa seed trees, dark chocolate is among the best sources of antioxidants. Studies have shown that dark chocolate helps improve a person's health, not to mention, lowers the risk of a heart ailment. Other than this, there are other health benefits you can get from Alfajores, specifically those that are coated with dark chocolate. Here are some of them: Nutritious Dark chocolate is to be rich in magnesium manganese, copper, iron and fiber, and some other minerals. Great Source of Antioxidants Both dark chocolate and cocoa have an array of powerful antioxidants. They even have "way more than a majority of the other foods." Lowers the Blood Pressure and Helps Improve Blood Flow The bioactive compounds found in cocoa help to lower blood pressure and also improve blood flow in the arteries. Increases HDL and Shields LDL from Oxidative Damage Dark chocolates help in the improvement of some essential risk factors for the disease. It reduces the vulnerability of LDL to oxidation while enhancing insulin sensitivity and increasing HDL. Lessens the Risk of Heart Disease Studies have shown a rapid reduction in the risk of heart disease among the people who eat or drink the most chocolate. Serves as the Skin's Protector from Exposure to Sun According to research, the flavanols that the cocoa has can enhance blood flow through the skin and shield it from the damage of the sun. Helps Improve Brain Function Dark chocolate or cocoa may help "enhance the brain function by increasing the blood flow." It has stimulants too, such as theobromine and caffeine. Check these out! BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks fell in cautious trade on Monday after China and South Korea reported new spikes in coronavirus cases, raising fears that too hasty a return to normal could spark a second wave of coronavirus infections. Germany has also seen regional spikes in cases linked to slaughterhouses and nursing homes, official data showed Sunday, just days after Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country could gradually return to normal. The pan European Stoxx 600 was down 0.55 percent at 339.19 after rising 0.9 percent on Friday. The German DAX dropped half a percent, France's CAC 40 index fell 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.4 percent. Wirecard shares soared 8 percent after the payments system provider announced a reshuffle of its management board amid multiple regulatory probes into financial disclosure. Wind turbine manufacturer Nordex lost 2 percent. With supply chain issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic affecting its business, the company said it was unclear when it could issue a new outlook for the current year. Consumer goods maker Henkel AG & Co. KGaA fell over 2 after its sales declined nominally by 0.8 percent to 4.9 billion euros during the first quarter. Volkswagen edged up slightly. The automaker said that sales in the month of April continued to fall sharply due to Coronavirus crisis. AstraZeneca was little changed after announcing a trio of developments regarding treatments for gastric and ovarian cancer as well as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Specialty chemicals maker Victrex fell over 1 percent after posting a fall in first-half profit and warning that the Covid-19 pandemic is beginning to hit its forward order book. Danone shares rose half a percent. Media reports suggest that the U.K.'s antitrust authority is considering whether the French food giant's proposed acquisition of Harrogate Water Brands Ltd., could result in reduced competition in any markets in the U.K. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has set a deadline of July 6 for reaching its phase 1 decision. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has positioned himself as the most aggressive critic of China from the Trump administration, arguing that Beijing is responsible for the coronavirus pandemic, The Hill reported. He aroused the anger of Chinese officials and state media who called him a liar and the common enemy of mankind for his attacks on the Communist Party. Pompeo continues to speculate that the virus came from a Chinese laboratory, demanding a global investigation. We know that it originated in Wuhan, China. That much is certain, Pompeo said. What we dont know yet is precisely where it came from and how it began to spread. We cant identify patient zero. Weve seen evidence that it came from the lab. That may not be the case, he added. Some US allies - such as Australia and the EU - echoed Pompeos calls for an investigation into the COVID-19 spread. But they disagreed on whether such an investigation should focus on the assumption that the virus originated in a laboratory in China. Australian intelligence agencies, which are part of the Five Eyes international intelligence sharing alliance with the US, rejected allegations that there was evidence to support the theory of a leak from the lav, saying that any information they examined was mostly taken from open sources and based on news reports. Meanwhile, the European Union has expressed concerns that tensions between the US and China could damage the global response to coronavirus. I know there is a controversy [between] China and the United States about the origin of the virus, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in an interview with Euronews on Friday. We need a scientific, independent approach, not to blame, but to know, he said. Chinese officials have retaliated against US efforts to blame Beijing. Trump often accused China of spreading the coronavirus, sometimes calling it the "Chinese virus." But since then, he has stoped claiming that virus escaped from a Chinese laboratory, even though he had previously said that he had seen the evidence. More recently he suggested the virus spread was a mistake and said it spread because of individual incompetence. "Something happened. Either they made a terrible mistake probably it was incompetence. Somebody was stupid, and they didnt do the job that they shouldve done. Its too bad," Trump said in an interaction with reporters on Thursday. Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, believes that Pompeo has been more direct, confrontational, in your face, than any other prior secretary of State we have ever had, and the Chinese likely see his rhetoric as a threat to the ruling Communist Party. Chinese MFA spokesperson Hua Chunying, in turn, has responded directly to Pompeos accusations, accusing the secretary of fabricating lies and manufacturing evidence to connect the virus with the lab. Where is the evidence? Show it! she said in a briefing Thursday with reporters. Or is he still in the process of manufacturing some? According to Glaser, relations between the US and China are low but have not yet bottomed out. On Thursday, US Treasury officials and their Chinese counterparts participated in a conference call and noted that good progress is happening on trade agreements. However, experts argue that the two countries are more competing than cooperating, and one of the biggest risks is whether diplomatic sparring is hampering progress in developing a vaccine against COVID-19. Its very much part of the great power competition thats underway, Glaser said. We dont want China to be the one to get the vaccine first. Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow with the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies notes that some of Pompeos criticisms of Beijing are unfounded, including reports that Chinese officials silenced informants, provided faulty statistics on the virus spread and given out inaccurate information about human transmission. Theres plenty of things you can hold them accountable for on that end, without pointing at this lab, he said. According to him, insistence on the version of the leak of the virus from the lav runs the risk of becoming worn out without clear evidence. If youre going to keep talking about the lab, at some point youre going to need to have some evidence to back that up, he said. If there isnt evidence, I dont know what theyre doing. The administrations statements on the origin of COVID-19 are far too driven by political considerations, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote in an email to The Hill. They are scurrying to deflect blame for a president who is foundering in his response to the pandemic, and China is a convenient scapegoat, he added. Its true [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] covered up Chinas mistakes and continues to but the insinuation that there is clear evidence to suggest the virus was man-made is totally irresponsible. He is inherently a political being, said Scott Mulhauser, a Democratic strategist who has worked in senior foreign policy roles with former Vice President Joe Biden, the Senate Finance Committee and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. China has become the political flashpoint ahead of the November elections, and the number of Americans with negative views of China is growing. According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to find Beijing unfavorable. Trump's re-election campaign ran an ad with attacks on Biden because of his stance on China. India's third Covid wave likely to peak on Jan 23, daily cases to stay below 4 lakh: IIT Kanpur scientist Uttarakhand reports no new COVID-19 cases today India oi-Briti Roy Barman New Delhi, May 11: Uttarakhand recorded no fresh infections of coronavirus on Monday. Meanwhile, 46 people have been cured or discharged and the total number of cases stands at 68 following one death according to state health department. While the number of active cases in the state is 21 at present. Coronavirus crisis: Indian Railways resume services gradually; Train ticket reservation begins Earlier, two suspected COVID-19 patients were discharged from a hospital in US Nagar and sent to home quarantine before their reports were received on Saturday in the state. They have been now sent to the Covid-19 hospital in Haldwani. District magistrate of US Nagar, has ordered an inquiry into the matter. No new case of #COVID19 has been reported in Uttarakhand today. Total number of positive cases stands at 68 including 1 death and 46 recovered. 21 active cases remain in the state: State Health Department pic.twitter.com/jftnYFSbuH ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 "This is a case of direct dereliction of duty and a serious matter. I have ordered an inquiry into the case and action will be taken accordingly against the accused health officials. People who came into their contact after they were sent home have also been kept in isolation now," DM said. Meanwhile, the total number of positive cases in the nation crossed over 67,000-mark following more than 2,200 deaths. Amid the biggest one day spike of positive cases with more than 4,000, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held meeting with the Chief Ministers of states discussing the nationwide lockdown where most of the states' CMs want economic activity revived in a graded manner. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, May 11, 2020, 16:29 [IST] Zscaler Private Access (ZPA), cloud-based security that enables zero-trust access to private applications, launched officially in South Africa last week. The South African POP has already amassed over 10,000 subscribed users, as customers take advantage of the new in-country platform availability to deliver seamless remote application access for mobile or home users. Enterprise customers that still use remote VPNs to connect users are dealing with a wide range of challenges as demand increases. Hardware scalability, poor user experience, weak security and inadequate control of end-point, user and application access, coupled with cumbersome VPN clients are inhibiting work-from-home efforts. ZPA enables organisations to provide access to private internal applications and services without compromising the security of their networks. Consequently, ZPA is easier to deploy, more cost-effective and more secure than traditional remote VPN solutions. Unlike VPNs which require users to connect to your network to access your enterprise applications, ZPA allows you to give users policy-based secure access to only the internal apps they need to get their work done. With ZPA, application access does not require network access. Additionally, ZPA decouples applications from the physical network, so you can provide seamless connectivity to private internal applications and assets whether they are in the cloud, the data centre, or both. It also adjusts dynamically to network changes, so you can move your resources without impacting user access. ZPA is part of a holistic security solution which shifts security and application access from the network, to the end-point (user device). Policy-based application access and enterprise security now follows the user irrespective of device, location or network supporting growing mobility and cloud application delivery, said Stuart Hardy, Director at Accelerate Networks Zscaler Partner for sub-Saharan Africa. ZPA has seen an almost 600% platform growth globally since January as companies shift access and security strategies from the network to mobile or home working. Zscaler provides a holistic security and app access solution for remote users ZPA follows Zscalers Cloud Proxy architecture by being globally available to company users as they travel, using geolocation to connect them to the closest ZPA node on any continent. The networks global load balancers then connect users to their applications over the shortest path, without coming back to the company DC. As a result, ZPA integrates with private workloads in all major IaaS providers, including Azure and AWS, delivering direct to private Cloud routing. How ZPA works Existing Zscaler customers that make use of the Zscaler App for mobile user protection from Internet related threats (Cloud proxy), can now connect users to their private business applications using the exact same App. ZPA, which has been available globally since 2016, can help customers manage application access quickly using sophisticated security, application segmentation, and policy-based management based on Zero Trust. ZPA provides complete visibility and control of device, user and application (Zero Trust) Because ZPA is built on Cloud, companies can scale to thousands of users in seconds without requiring additional hardware appliances or managing and scaling the platform essentially reducing the complexity and TCO over managing and scaling traditional remote VPN solutions. Equally important is that it overcomes all remote VPN weaknesses in security, and delivers faster access to applications that are delivered in Cloud and not bound to the company DC. ZPA address several pain points for customers in simplifying application access for trusted users, untrusted third-party users and partners, B2B connections and disaster recovery strategies. This is achieved through a single management console that uses native application segmentation to deliver access to multiple user types, ended Hardy. To get a comprehensive view of the features and benefits of Zscaler Private Access visit the Zscaler website or email Accelerate Networks, Zscaler Partner for Africa. The growing sense of gloom and uncertainty around the pandemic doesnt seem to have an end point in sight. However, during these times, the only thing that has kept all of mankind going is the kindness and sense of community which has evolved from being at the receiving end of the same atrocity. The kind of care and selflessness shown by frontline workers all across the world amid the coronavirus crisis is unprecedented, and deserves gratitude every single day. Twitter/teriin Take, for instance, this healthcare workers heartwarming action thats receiving a lot of love on social media. The photo shows a Malaysian healthcare worker fasting in Ramadan carrying an elderly Chinese woman on his back to a COVID-19 testing centre. The photo was shared online by Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, Malaysias Director General of Health and warmed many troubled hearts. Sharing the same picture on his Twitter account, Dr Abdullah appreciated the selflessness of front-line workers and wrote, Hats off to our frontliners for your dedication and sacrifices in this war against #COVID19. The picture features two healthcare workers who have been identified as Shahir Razak and Mastura Maznor, and captures their dedication to serve the people of their country and beat this virus outbreak. Hats off to our frontliners for your dedication and sacrifices in this war against #COVID19. You're already part of our history as Malaysian heroes and heroines. (Location:, Pudu Pasar / Pix by @lexradz , good job mate) pic.twitter.com/jNmKIcwytg MohdFaizalHassan (@f4izalhassan) May 5, 2020 Dr Abdullah couldnt stop himself from expressing his gratitude and wrote, Treating human life delicately without racial or religious boundaries. Our health inspector Shahir Razali carrying this elderly Chinese Aunty to the centre for covid testing. Fasting in ramadhan & serving the people in need while on full PPE suits, indeed you guys are our heroes. Shahir Razak and Mastura Maznor, you internalised our MOHs tagline We are ready to serve. Very proud of you both and Thank you (sic) Twitter/gazeteduvar This isnt an one-off incident, because we have been coming across several such instances all along and perhaps thats the only reason we have been able to stay strong. Frontline workers all over the world have become our messiahs of hope for a better future, and Shahir Razak and Mastura Maznor only affirm that goodness lies ahead. Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE The Santa Fe Opera on Monday announced the cancellation of its 2020 season, which was scheduled for July 3 through Aug. 29, due to health and safety concerns during the coronavirus pandemic. In an open letter, General Director Robert K. Meya wrote, It is with profound sadness that I announce today that the Santa Fe Opera has been forced to cancel its 2020 Season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This difficult but necessary decision was made with the health and safety of our staff, artists, patrons and the entire Santa Fe community at the forefront of our thoughts. The decision follows the cancellation of Santa Fes three key summer markets the International Folk Art Market, Traditional Spanish Market and Indian Market. The opera has never canceled a season in its 64-year history, although a fire that destroyed its theater in 1967 forced it to move performances to the Sweeney Auditorium in the Santa Fe Community Convention Center downtown. The Santa Fe Operas 64th season was scheduled to present 39 performances of five operas, including the world premiere of M. Butterfly, based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway show, as well as Steven Barlows new production of Rossinis The Barber of Seville. The 2020 season was going to follow the programming model pioneered by Santa Fe Opera founder John Crosby: a mix of new and old works and crowd-pleasers such as theater tours, preview dinners, tailgate picnics and prelude talks. The opera says its annual economic impact on the state of New Mexico is about $200 million. The opera has already sold $5 million in tickets for its 2020 summer season, and Meya is asking ticketholders to consider donating their tickets back to the opera to help it meet the financial challenge created by the cancellation of the 2020 season. Patrons can make a tax-deductible donation for the value of purchased tickets, receive a credit to be applied to the 2021 or 2022 season, get a refund, or tap a combination of donation, credit and refund options. A group of donors has agreed to match all donated tickets dollar for dollar, up to $3 million. Ticketholders have until Aug. 31 to choose their option, after which a credit in the ticket value amount will be issued for future use. In a telephone interview, Meya expressed concern for the many seasonal workers who join the opera each summer, taking payroll from 70 full-time employees year-round to 670. He said all contract workers will receive some form of compensation even though the season has been canceled. Opera buffs around the world want to know if some of the highly anticipated productions for the 2020 season will be rolled into 2021. Unfortunately, that will not happen, Meya said, because of the long lead times in the opera business. He said that sets for three 2020 productions, Tristan und Isolde, The Barber of Seville and The Magic Flute, were largely completed before Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued stay-at-home orders in mid-March. Those productions will show up in later years, Meya said. The summer season brings in opera lovers from around the world, including such luminaries as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and former ABC News broadcaster Sam Donaldson. Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber said the city has offered to help the opera any way it can. I think theres an opportunity of some kind to continue to bring the operas remarkable talent to the public without having the traditional opera that we all associate with going up the hill and having a chance to tailgate and all the parts that makes it so special, Webber said. Journal North Editor T.S. Last contributed to this report. IT body Nasscom on Monday said its COVID-19 task force has developed a platform for the Telangana government to help it take informed decisions in managing the lockdown and its phased release across the state. The open architecture technology platform brings together multiple solutions and delivers more than 100 dashboards, across over 30 government and public datasets, with thousands of data points to support the central and state governments in fighting this pandemic, a statement said. Working closely with the Telangana government, the platform will assist in sustainable industry recovery and will help them in taking informed decision in managing lockdown and phased opening across the state, it added. "As part of this Nasscom task force, we have built a technology-driven vision of a Pandemic Response Platform for India, Nivruti Rai, Country Head Intel India and VP Data Center Group, Intel and Lead Nasscom Task Force, said. The platform has been architected as an open application programming interface (API)-based locally hosted, privacy preserving, multi-cloud infrastructure that enables a multitude of citizen-centric apps. She added that this Pandemic Response Platform is designed to augment the central and state governments' efforts with a robust set of population-scale COVID-19 indicators that help predict outbreaks and improve medical care administration. "We are pleased to announce that we are delivering a first-of-its-kind COVID-19 tracking platform and dashboard to the government of Telangana. We will continue to develop solutions jointly with the government to get us ahead as a nation," she said. As a part of the solution, Nasscom task force has developed a COVID-19 India platform, which will provide real-time streaming of data about the pandemic, across regions and states in the country. The platform will source data from public sources that includes select social channels, websites, blogs, forums and public data sets to create actionable reporting dashboards and will allow the government to project insights sourced from the information with public datasets display on command centre screens. The external citizen-facing dashboard will allow the government to project critical information to the public for transparency, awareness, and guidance, the statement said. The Nasscom task force will also continue its work on the T-COVID app and align the same with the Aarogya Setu app. "It's wonderful to see how the technology industry is joining hands with a common goal to innovate for the war on COVID-19, K T Rama Rao, Minister of IT of Telangana, said. India has the capacity to quickly develop tech solutions for the post-lockdown environment and we are glad that the Nasscom taskforce has collaborated with the Government of Telangana and prepared an end to end COVID platform to manage the crisis, Rama Rao added. To fight the global pandemic and provide innovative technology solution, Nasscom had developed an online compendium of solutions for COVID-19 and shared the same with all state governments and other stakeholders. The task force comprised of almost 30 members including domain leaders from Fractal, Infosys, Mindtree, Wipro, AWS, Intel, Sprinklr, Microsoft, SAP, Accenture, Dell and others. Nasscom said, going forward, the body is committed to deliver a similar kind of platform to other states across the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pregnant women are not at greater risk of having a severe form of coronavirus than other women, a major study has found. The report, which examines the experiences of 427 pregnant women admitted to UK hospitals between 1 March and 14 April with confirmed coronavirus, found pregnant women from black and other minority ethnic groups were more likely to enter hospital with the virus. Researchers at Oxford University discovered that although pregnant women are no more vulnerable to having severe complications from Covid-19 than the general population, the majority of women who did become severely ill were in their third trimester of pregnancy. The study draws attention to the need for women in this category of pregnancy, which starts in week 28 and lasts until you go into labour, to practice social distancing to protect themselves. Researchers, who teamed up with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, found 4.9 pregnant women per 1000 went to hospital with coronavirus in the UK. Roughly one in 10 of them wound up needing intensive care and five women have died. Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside Show all 18 1 /18 Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside Jack Dodsley, 79, with a carer in PPE at Newfield Nursing Home Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside Jackie Wilson, a healthcare assistant, wearing PPE before going into rooms Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside Jack Dodsley, 79, speaks to a carer at Newfield Nursing Home Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside Carers working at Newfield Nursing Home Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside A care worker wearing PPE opens a drink carton Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside Jack Dodsley, 79, sits with a carer Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside Jack Dodsley, 79, with a carer in PPE Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside A care staff member wearing PPE Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside A staff member at Newfield Nursing Home looks after a resident SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside A carer wearing PPE uses a speaker Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside A carer helps Jack Dodsley, 79, from his chair Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside A carer wearing PPE helps Jack Dodsley, 79 Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside A staff member at Newfield Nursing Home Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside A carer brings food to a resident at Newfield Nursing Home Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside Jack Dodsley, 79, with a carer in PPE Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside A staff member puts on PPE at Newfield Nursing Home Tom Maddick/SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside Jackie Wilson, a healthcare assistant, puts on PPE before she enters a room SWNS Care home hit by coronavirus: A rare glimpse of life inside A bench at Newfield Nursing Home Tom Maddick/SWNS Professor Marian Knight, the reports lead investigator, said: A very small number of pregnant women do become severely ill with Covid-19 and sadly some women have died. Our thoughts must remain with their families. It is concerning that more pregnant women from black and minority ethnic groups are admitted with Covid-19 in pregnancy and this needs urgent investigation. Most pregnant women who were admitted to hospital were more than six months pregnant, which emphasises the importance of continued social distancing measures in the later stages of pregnancy. Following the current guidance about careful social distancing will help prevent infection. The chief medical officer has previously said all pregnant women are in a vulnerable group and the NHS states women who are expecting babies could be at higher risk from coronavirus and should only be leaving home for very limited reasons. Researchers, who also worked with Universities of Leeds and Birmingham, Kings and Imperial Colleges London for the new study, found health outcomes for babies born to mothers who had contracted coronavirus were predominantly positive. While one in 20 babies born tested positive with coronavirus, only half of them did so straight after being born. This indicates the transmission of infection from mother to baby is low, researchers said. The report found older mothers-to-be, overweight pregnant women and expectant mothers who suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, and other underlying health conditions were more likely to be hospitalised with coronavirus. Gill Walton, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said: Its absolutely vital that women continue to attend antenatal appointments to ensure that they and their babies are well. The report comes after The Independent reported doulas are being blocked from accompanying pregnant women in the delivery room due to the Covid-19 emergency leaving some facing the prospect of giving birth alone. Charities warned expectant mothers could be needlessly traumatised because doulas experts who help pregnant women in labour are being routinely barred from home births and maternity units due to women only being allowed to have birthing partners from their same household. Elon Musk's Twitter account is a gift that keeps on giving. The last couple of weeks have been specifically eventful for the rocketman on Twitter. Musk's two lavish mansions were reportedly up for sale after the billionaire expressed a desire to give up on his physical possessions. Then Musk and his girlfriend Grimes had a baby who the couple "named" X A-12, sending the social media on a tizzy. In the past few days, Musk has also been very vocal on his Twitter towards the lockdown restrictions laid down in America. In one of his Twitter posts, Musk called the coronavirus confinement a "fascist" action and "an outrage" that infringed on personal freedom and would damage the economy. However, on Saturday, things escalated quickly after Tesla Inc sued local authorities in California as the electric carmaker pushed to re-open its factory there and Chief Executive Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla's headquarters and future programs from the state to Texas or Nevada. This did not sit well with the lawmaker and California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who in a tweet on Sunday, made her feelings about Musk very clear. F*ck Elon Musk. Lorena (@LorenaSGonzalez) May 10, 2020 Musk being Musk, added fuel to the fire by acknowledging Gonzalez's tweet. Message received Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2020 For a change, Twitter appeared to be on Musk's side - perhaps they wanted to see more Twitter drama or simply because the Tesla factory created ample job opportunities in the California area. Elon taking her to court. Textbook defamation case. Kevin Hehmeyer (@spaceXcentric) May 11, 2020 I mean its hard to misinterpret to be fair. Good job @LorenaSGonzalez you just cost your state a BUNCH OF jobs. Nice temper tantrum. human (@DrewAdamTepper) May 11, 2020 Weird - I thought politicians worked for us - maybe I should try telling the people I work for FU and see how that goes Charles Scott (@CharlesScott78) May 11, 2020 This is truly terrible seeing a Government official adopting to a language like this Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) May 11, 2020 \_()_/ As India registered a record jump of 4,213 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the government on Monday said some relatively large outbreaks have been noticed in particular locations and it is important to focus on containment efforts to ensure that the country does not reach the community transmission stage. The government also said the coronavirus tracking app Aarogya Setu is secure as it was designed keeping in mind privacy of people and is playing a crucial role in India's fight against COVID-19. Asked if there has been community transmission of COVID-19 in India, joint secretary in the health ministry Lav Agarwal at a press briefing said, "Some clusters have been found here (in the country), and in some cases in some particular locations relatively large outbreaks have also been noticed." "And in this context if you remember even AIIMS Director (Dr Randeep Guleria) had said that if these are not contained properly, the transmission rate would become higher. So, it is important for us now to focus on containment efforts and ensure that we do not reach the stage of community transmission, he said. Agarwal said 4,213 COVID-19 cases and 97 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hrs till Monday 8 am, taking the total cases to 67,152 and death toll to 2,206. As many as 20,917 COVID-19 patients have been cured till now, taking the recovery rate to 31.15 per cent. Also 1,559 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, the highest number of recoveries in one day, the ministry said. Agarwal insisted on fighting the stigma associated with COVID-19 and said people who develop coronavirus symptoms should not hide them and come forward to report so that they get timely treatment and don't spread the infection to their family members and others. Asked about certain media reports claiming that the government is mulling religion based mapping of hotspots, Agarwal said it is a very irresponsible, baseless and incorrect "It is a very irresponsible Even the Supreme Court has already said that no fake should be published, and any news should be published after checking facts," Agarwal said. "I appeal to everyone not to encourage non-factual news," he said, asserting that the spread of COVID-19 has nothing to do with race, religion, area and spreads due to lack of precautions and when dos and don'ts are not followed. Agarwal said the government's focus is on identifyingcpockets which have been reporting a larger number of cases so that strong containment measures can be implemented. In response to a question, he informed that the specificity (true negative rate identification) of the indigenously developed antibody detection ELISA test kit for COVID-19 is 97 per cent and sensitivity is 92 per cent. The National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune has developed the detection kit that will play a critical role in surveillance of proportion of population exposed to the infection, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said on Sunday. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently cancelled orders for about half a million COVID-19 rapid antibody test kits from China after they were found to be giving inaccurate results. The testing technique is used to detect antibodies in the blood of people who may have had the coronavirus infection. The Department of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council COVID-19 research consortium has recommended 70 proposals for funding vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and other technologies, Agarwal said. To a question on whether centralised air conditioning can be used as the Railways will start operating AC trains from Tuesday and there would be no danger of transmission, he said, "Centralised AC can be used but then the flow of air has to be monitored while it is being used. It's important to note that if any aerosol generated issue is being felt, as a precautionary measure we can travel without using the centralised AC," he said. On the revised discharge policy for COVID-19 stating that very mild, mild and moderate patients can be discharged without test, subject to clinical conditions, Agarwal said the revised criterion specifies that such patients after discharge will follow home isolation for a further seven days. The policy was revised because several countries have changed their discharge criteria from test-based strategy to symptom-based strategy or time-based strategy', he said. "A review of ICMR laboratory surveillance data also indicated that after initial RT-PCR positive results, patients became negative after a median duration of 10 days," Agarwal said. "Recent studies have also suggested that the viral load peaks in the pre-symptomatic period (two days before symptoms) and goes down over the next seven days," he said. The official said the discharge policy is not meant for home or facility quarantine patients. Ajay Sawhney, Chairman, Empowered Group 9, which deals with technology and data management, said the Aarogya Setu app has been developed to alert people before they come in contact with infected patients and to alert the health system. Around 9.8 crore people have downloaded the app and it is available in 12 languages, he said. Information about 697 potential COVID-19 hotspots was generated through the app and it is secure,used only for health interventions and does not reveal identity of people, he said. Around 1.4 lakh Aarogya Setu users have been alerted via bluetooth contact tracing about possible risk of infection due to proximity to infected patients, Sawhney said. The app will soon reach a user base of 10 crore. It has created a world record in being the fastest app to reach five crore users, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Click the photo to write a caption and have a chance to win a free subscription to the Norfolk Daily News. Darryl Biel's wife, Kristen, was fired from a Catholic school when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She sued but died last year, and Biel is carrying on the suit. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) Kristen Biel taught fifth grade at St. James, a Catholic school in Torrance, when she told principal Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper she had breast cancer and would need time off for surgery and chemotherapy. A few weeks later, the principal told her she could not return in the fall of 2014. Kreuper faulted her for a noisy classroom and said it would not be fair to the children to have two teachers that term, as Biel took time off to recover. "She came home in tears," said her husband, Darryl Biel. "She had gotten so many notes from parents about how much she had done for their children. She was so hurt by what happened." Kristen Biel filed a federal lawsuit for disability discrimination based on her cancer diagnosis. She died last summer, shortly after the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals cleared her suit to proceed. On Monday, lawyers for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Trump administration will urge the Supreme Court to throw out Biel's suit, and a second similar action from a former teacher in Hermosa Beach, and rule that the so-called "ministerial exception" shields the schools from such legal action. This exception, long recognized by judges but not written into law, holds that courts should not interfere with the decision of a church or other religious body on whether to hire or retain a minister, priest, rabbi or other spiritual leader. Now the high court will hear oral arguments on whether that exception extends broadly to include tens of thousands of teachers in religious schools, and potentially hundreds of thousands of other employees in church-run hospitals, colleges, charities and child-care centers. Kristen Biel was fired last year. The issue is whether she was like a minister and subject to firing by the the principal for any reason, including her illness. (Darryl Biel) At issue is whether those teachers and other employees at religious institutions should be viewed as "ministers," allowing religious schools to hire and fire them at will, bypassing anti-discrimination laws that prevent basing such decisions on race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation or other impermissible factors. Story continues The St. James School has been in the headlines for other reasons. Kreuper, now retired, is one of the so-called gambling nuns, accused by church officials of stealing at least $500,000 from school bank accounts to finance trips to Las Vegas. No charges have been filed, but a criminal investigation is underway, according to Adrian Marquez Alarcon, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese. The Biel case is the latest in a campaign to expand religious-liberty rights. Last week, the high court weighed the Trump administration's push to exempt employers who oppose birth control on religious or moral grounds from Obamacare rules requiring most health plans to offer no-cost contraceptives. On another front, the Supreme Court ruled in 2017 in favor of a Lutheran church in Missouri that had been denied a state grant to improve the playground for its day care center. The state argued its constitution prohibited sending taxpayer money to a church, but Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said that denying a grant to the church, but not similar secular groups, amounted to "odious" discrimination against religion. The justices are expected to rule soon in a follow-up case from Montana on whether parents who send their children to religious schools have a right to state scholarship aid. In Espinoza vs. Montana, Trump's lawyers said imposing a "special disability" on students who enroll in church-run schools "violates the free exercise" of religion protected by the 1st Amendment. St. James Catholic School in Torrance. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) The court has also agreed to consider whether the Catholic Social Services has a right to participate in a city's foster care placement program even though it refuses to work with same-sex couples as required by city law. In Fulton vs. Philadelphia, which will be heard in the fall, lawyers for the Catholic group say that excluding them amounts to unconstitutional discrimination based on religion. The St. James case focuses on balancing rights in the workplace. Between 1964 and 1990, Congress made it illegal for employers to fire employees or otherwise discriminate against them based on their race, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability, which can include diseases like cancer. Lawmakers recognized a limited exception for churches and other "primarily religious" employers. They may prefer to hire members of their own faith. But otherwise, the anti-discrimination laws extend broadly to employers. Lawyers for the Catholic schools argue that because Biel's classroom duties included teaching a religion assignment for 30-40 minutes a day, four days a week, she was like a minister and subject to firing by the the principal for any reason, including her illness. "You can't have government decide who teaches the faith," said Eric C. Rassbach, a lawyer for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which stepped in to defend the Archdiocese when the case reached the 9th Circuit. He relies heavily on a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that dismissed a discrimination lawsuit from a "called" teacher at a Lutheran school in Michigan. The Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran school had "lay" teachers, who had no special religious training, as well as a few "called" teachers, who had extra religious training. They carried the title of "minister of religion" and led prayers at school and taught religion. "We agree that there is a ministerial exception" under the 1st Amendment, Chief Justice Roberts said in a 9-0 ruling in favor of the Lutheran church. "We are reluctant, however, to adopt a rigid formula for deciding when an employee qualifies as a minister." That's the question before the court in St. James vs. Biel and Our Lady of Guadalupe vs. Morrissey-Berru, the second related case. Since 1999, Agnes Morrissey-Berru had taught fifth- and sixth-graders at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Hermosa Beach. She was in her 60s when a new principal demoted her to part-time and then refused to renew her contract. She sued and alleged she was a victim of age discrimination. Both Morrissey-Berru and Biel initially lost before federal district judges, but won before the 9th Circuit Court. Because the two teachers did not have special religious training and were not viewed as religious leaders at school, they were not covered by the "ministerial exception," the appeals court ruled. The Trump administration joined in the support of the archdiocese and urged the court to adopt a broad rule. "The ministerial exception should apply to any employee who preaches a churchs beliefs, teaches its faith, or carries out its religious mission." Such a standard could sweep in church-run hospitals, universities, charities and child care centers that say they carry out a religious mission. Arguing for the former teachers, Stanford law professor Jeffrey Fisher said the court should limit the employer's legal immunity to those who are "spiritual leaders" at school. "Lay teachers are not ministers," he said in his brief to the court. "While a slice of their classroom time involved instruction about the Catholic religion, [the two teachers] performed this duty strictly from workbooks, not as preachers of the faith. And they spent the overwhelming majority of their time teaching secular subjects." The high court will not decide whether the teachers were victims of illegal discrimination, only whether they can proceed with their suits and try to prove their claims. Darryl Biel with his children Dylan, left, and Delaney. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) Darryl Biel said he will listen to the audio broadcast of the arguments, which begin at 7 a.m Pacific on Monday. "I'm really disappointed with the archdiocese for what they put her through," he said, adding that his wife was determined to seek justice. "She made me promise to see this through." Archaeologists uncovered a pair of 1,500-year-old skeletons in Mongolia that may have inspired the Ballad of Mulan. The remains belonged to two women who lived during the Xianbei period and are believed have been warriors. Large markings on the bones indicate the females were skilled in archery and road horseback during a time when the region was riddled with conflict. Although the remains do not reveal one was named 'Hua Mulan', the pair dates back to the fourth or fifth century the same time period in which the legend had emerged. Scroll down for video Archaeologists uncovered a pair of 1,500-year-old skeletons in Mongolia that may have inspired the Ballad of Mulan. The remains belonged to two women who lived during the Xianbei period and are believed have been warriors (left is one of the warrior women) The skeletons were uncovered during an excavation of a cemetery at the Airagiin Gozgor archaeological site, in the Orkhon province of northern Mongolia, LiveScience reports. Researchers at California State University, Los Angeles found remains from 29 burials in the area as they were studying the prolonged effect of horseback riding, archery and trauma on bones. According to the Ballad of Mulan, every family in the region was forced to send one man from the family to join the military, as the area was riddled with conflict. Mulan took her old, ailing father's place in the ranks, sparking the legend that was adopted by Disney in 1998. According to the Ballad of Mulan, every family in the region was forced to send one man from the family to join the military, as the area was riddled with conflict. Mulan took her old, ailing father's place in the ranks, sparking the legend that was adopted by Disney in 1998 and is being released as a live action film (pictured) this year Although the story has changed over the years, Mulan is said to have achieved success on the battlefield and becomes a leader for the military. Christine Lee and Yahaira Gonzalez, bioarchaeologists at California State University, Los Angeles, have led the excavations in the area for years and have found three groups that were laid to rest there. The groups include the Xiongnu, who dominated the region 2,200 years ago; the Xianbei, who displaced the Xiongnu around 1,850 years ago; and the Turkic people, who successively occupied the Mongolian steppes beginning around 1,470 years ago. Markings on the three female Xiongnu skeletons suggest they may have occasionally practiced archery or ridden horses, while their Turkic remains only road horseback. However, two of the three Xianbei stood out as seasoned riders and possibly skilled fighters, suggesting to Lee who believes they may have seen time on the battlefield. 'In neighboring China at that time, women were secluded,' Lee told LiveScience. 'The ideal woman was helpless and docile, while being in the north [in Mongolia], they're not.' 'They were probably pretty bada**.' 'They're doing what the men are doing. So, you can extrapolate from that [and say] that they have some gender equality.' Lee and Gonzalez have not yet published their findings in a peer-reviewed journal. The team had planned to present their work at a meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, but it was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. There is a good mix of opportunities and threats in the global ferrous trading environment in 2020, according to five major traders with supply chains out to the far reaches of the world. Chinas volatile policy changes, blooming markets in South Asia, a global trade war and excess steel supply will continue to have significant sway over the ferrous scrap and steel markets. Five major traders share their outlooks for the markets - and their best tips to beat them: Whats in store for China, the biggest steel-producing country in the world? Policies in China are key - they will continue to affect the global steel markets. While global ferrous scrap prices arent directly linked to the Chinese markets, any movements in the Chinese markets will still affect regional prices trends, and hence regional scrap prices. China will carry on importing metallics in 2020 because it continues to be short on ferrous scrap, especially the higher grades. So many opportunities remain for semi-finished and metallic imports into China, including HBI, DRI, billet and slab. - a major international trader handling ferrous scrap and steel Do not expect 2020 to be as good as 2019 - and we already know how bad 2019 was toward the end of the year. While China could export steel in the first half of 2019, it turned into an importer of steel in the second half. This was a very bad situation for steel traders. China may not export as much steel in 2020 compared with 2019, and watch out for new capacity in Southeast Asia coming up to eat away at Chinese market share. - the vice general manager of a major Chinese trading company The China steel markets are likely to remain depressed. The majority of the downstream segments are performing poorly, because of the weak economic growth. And together with continual changes in industrial policies, such as lowering pollution and tighter oversight on the steel industry, the Chinese market will not see any significant upticks in demand. - the vice general manager of a major Chinese trading company Whats your take on the ferrous markets in 2020? Prices of scrap or steel cargoes shipping in January and February will continue to increase. This can be seen from the recent increase in demand for steel billets by China and the Philippines, as buyers restock in light of higher upstream ferrous scrap prices. The need for semi-finished steel and ferrous scrap will also continue to increase for this reason so smaller mills that arent already running their meltshops will start running their electric-arc furnaces again, which means they will need more scrap in the short term. Whats a little unclear is what will happen after the Lunar New Year at the end of January... Turkey hasnt been affecting the Southeast Asian steel markets much because of their high scrap prices and corresponding high offers to the region. So a lot of market sentiment will take direction from China again in the first quarter of 2020. - the general manager of a major East Asian trading company There has been a lot of price erosion over the past couple of months in 2019. The steel industry as a whole will remain under pressure, until theres a rebalancing of global supply and demand. There are limited signs of any upticks in demand, however. Chinese demand will also slow, so 2020 is currently lacking any firm support. There will have to be some cuts in production, before prices stabilize or go on an uptrend. - the managing director of an international trading company Which are the growing markets that deserve closer attention from ferrous traders in 2020? 2020 may see a lot of scrap export activity from Japan, putting pressure on competing supply from the United States. However, Japan has typically not been a containerized scrap exporter, so they need to upgrade their port and logistics facilities. For example, Japan is loading ferrous scrap at a rate of 1,000-2,000 tonnes per day compared with the 3,000-3,500 tpd required by some sellers. Freight and scrap spot prices change very quickly, so such slower loading rates may affect their business. - the general manager of a major East Asian trading company Asia is growing as a whole, especially Vietnam. However, the Malaysian and Indonesian markets arent performing that well. There were some expectations that they would increase their demand after their election but it hasnt happened so far. The one major factor that will drive growth in Asia will be the end of the US-China trade war. - a major trader Bangladesh is one to look out for, especially with its growing economy. We expect steel consumption in the country to be relatively strong compared with other regions in Asia. And because certain domestic regulations impede the imports of finish steel productions, local steel mills have dominance in that market. So Bangladeshs scrap requirements will continue to grow and it should be a good market for ferrous scrap. It also doesnt have plans for domestic scrapyards yet. The markets in India and Pakistan should also continue to grow in the medium term, but they are facing economic headwinds at the moment. - the managing director of an international trading company Whats the best way to reduce risk in the current trading environment? Especially against a background of trade wars and currency fluctuations. Buyers and sellers should maintain smaller trading volumes and keep short-term shipments. Volatile government policies, such as the ones recently imposed by Indonesia, also pose a significant risk to trading. So another piece of advice is to not increase trading volumes sharply or look to expand market share aggressively in 2020. Whats happening in Indonesia now is technically not enforceable, so there will be a shortage of ferrous scrap from now until the policy firms up. - the general manager of a major East Asian trading company While demand is stable, it is not great - and supply has far outstripped demand. Market participants must take great care not to take on too much risk and to be more conservative in 2020 as prices are very volatile. The best way to handle ferrous markets will be to not buy too much because I still feel prices will remain subdued in a bearish 2020. Theres a lot of supply in Asia now, and more will come in 2020. - a major trader Stay very versatile and flexible and expect the unexpected. The world is not one where it is possible to make very accurate predictions, so trading strategies have to adapt accordingly. However, market participants can try to increase their acceptance of derivatives trading, where they can trade underlying commodities without the hassle of physical execution or counter-party performance. There are still some obstacles to overcome and it is not easy to trade derivatives, especially as it can be a partial hedge if there are no physical materials indexed against it. - the managing director of an international trading company Customs and Border Protection on Friday evening announced it had awarded a construction contract to an Alabama company called Caddell to build 14 miles of the border wall in Webb County for over $275 million. This is the first contract awarded to build the wall in the Laredo area; it is funded by Congress 2020 appropriations. THOSE RESPONSIBLE: The four men responsible for America's COVID-19 test disaster Construction would begin in January 2021, pending the availability of property, according to CBP. The government did not detail exactly where in the county this construction would occur. When members of the governments border wall team visited Laredo City Council in January, they mentioned that they had been granted the right of entry by about 40% of the affected landowners they have reached out to in the Laredo area. That number has likely increased. This right of entry is for the government to be able to get onto private land in order to conduct surveys and see where the wall would be best aligned. TESLA WOES: Elon Musk says Tesla will sue 'irrational' Alameda County, relocate headquarters So far several local landowners, including individuals and families, the City of Laredo and organizations like Sacred Heart Childrens Home have been sued by the government for not granting this right of entry. Caddell was one of four companies chosen to build prototype wall designs in 2017, the Associated Press reported. Over 3,000 stranded workers were sent home in buses by the authorities in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, officials said on Monday. The authorities sent 3,442 migrant workers to their homes in 103 buses on Sunday, they said. Some of these workers had come to Uttar Pradesh from other states, including Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab, Shamli DM Jasjit Kaur said. The remaining 700 workers stranded here due to the COVID-19 lockdown will also be sent back to their homes, the district magistrate added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi: The 'Bois Locker room' controversy erupted across the country recently after the conversation in a group belonging to mostly teenagers from the 'high class' of Delhi broke out in the open. Screenshots of the chats which were shared on social media showed minors glorified rape culture and indulged in sharing obscene photos of underage girls and women on the group. After an uproar, the Delhi police launched an investigation into the matter and discovered that boys, as young as 16 and 17, were students at elite schools of the national capital, had made a 'fun' group where they shared pictures of girls of the same age or less and objectified them. We take a look at the timeline of the Bois Locker room controversy that has drawn the attention from across the country: May 3: Bois Locker Room, an Instagram group, get busted online after a Twitter user shares screenshots of some private chats where members were seen sharing morphed and obscene pictures of females. The screenshots showed the group members participated in an open conversation of body shaming of the young girls as well as promoted rape culture. The posts led to a storm on Twitter and saw a lot of aggravation coming out. A number of screenshots featuring disturbing chats of the group featured online, drawing the attention of the Delhi Police and Delhi Commission For Women. May 4: The Delhi Commission For Women (DCW) issued notices to the police and Instagram over a group on the social networking site being used to share obscene comments and pictures of minor girls and women. Delhi Police initiates a probe in the matter. May 4: The Cyber Cell unit of Delhi Police writes to Instagram to share details of the group's members and admin. May 5: Delhi Police registers a case under IT Act 66 and 67A and apprehend a minor. Police also begins an investigation about other members of the group. May 6: Delhi Police arrest a Class 12 student, above 18 years of age and a Noida resident, for creating the Bois Locker Room Instagram group on which obscene messages and morphed photos of underage girls were shared. 15 more students of prominent Delhi schools were questioned and their phones were seized. May 6: Facebook-owned Instagram issues statement on the controversy, said the company removed the objectionable content that violated its community standards as soon as it was made aware of it. May 6: Two advocates urge Delhi High Court Chief Justice DN Patel to take suo motu (on his own) cognisance of the incident of Bois Locker Room case. May 8: DCW chief Swati Maliwal, who voiced her opinion on Bois Locker Room controversy, files a complaint with police after she allegedly received death threats on Twitter. May 9: A PIL moved in Delhi High Court seeking an SIT or CBI investigation into the Bois Locker Room social media group controversy. The PIL sought protection for the girls and women who called out the alleged criminal activities in the social media group. Court sets hearing on the matter on May 13. May 10: In a fresh development in the case, the Delhi Police revealed that the alleged 'sexual assault' conversation on Snapchat between two people was made by one juvenile, a girl, posing as male, to another juvenile, a boy, so as to test his character and values. Though there is an overlap in the two patient populations, the zoning code is different for each kind of clinical care, according to Michaela Kohlstedt, Northbrooks deputy director of planning and services. If they had intended to treat that patient population, they would have had to apply for another special use permit at the time, Kohlstedt said. Send to Email Address Your Name Your Email Address Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Email check failed, please try again Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. A Los Angeles charge nurse died of coronavirus two weeks after she rushed to treat a code-blue patient without a protective N95 mask. Ceila Marcos, 61, had worked at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center for more than 16 years before she died after contracting Covid-19. Staff at the medical centre said Ms Marcos was required to respond to patients who stopped breathing as a charge nurse, but at the beginning of her shift she wasn't provided with an N95 mask. They told the Los Angeles Times that the masks are "scarce" and staff members who are provided with them are often asked to reuse them. On April 3 Ms Marcos rushed to treat a code blue patient wearing only a thin surgical mask. Three days later she began feeling sick and by April 15 she had developed pneumonia in both lungs. Fourteen days after Ms Marcos had assisted with resuscitating the patient, her heart stopped beating and she died on April 17. One nurse, speaking anonymously, said: "The hospital wasn't giving us appropriate PPE - the N95s are locked. "It's just too painful for everybody, what happened to her." In a text message seen by the Times, Ms Marcos told her niece: "I was the one right in front of his face." The charge nurse also told her niece, Andrea Gian Lardizabal, that she put hand sanitiser in her hair after leaving the patient's room and showered as soon as she got home to try to avoid infection. Hollywood Presbyterian Officials denied that Ms Marcos was not provided with the appropriate personal protective equipment. In a statement to The Times, the administrators of the medical centre, said: "Despite these efforts, and our commitment to following all guidelines, we still lost one of our own to this terrible virus, and we feel this loss very deeply." California during Coronavirus lockdown 1 /29 California during Coronavirus lockdown A cyclist wearing his facemask rides past closed shopfront at the Grand Central Market in Los Angeles AFP via Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images Reuters AP AP AFP via Getty Images AP AP AFP via Getty Images AP AP REUTERS AP Getty Images Getty Images AP AFP via Getty Images People gather on Santa Monica beach Getty Images A shopper walks past a Pier 1 Imports store as going out of business signs are posted amid the coronavirus pandemic in Santa Clarita, California AP A pedestrian wearing a facemask walks past a sign for food pick-up outside a restaurant in Los Angeles, California AFP via Getty Images A shopper walks past a Pier 1 Imports store as going out of business signs are posted amid the coronavirus pandemic AP The nurses union SEIU 121 filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that referred to Ms Marcos' death as "the result of inadequate PPE provided to staff". President of the Union Nina Wells said: "Ceila was called to a Covid-19 isolation room while wearing only a surgical mask - not the required N95 respirator, gown, face shield, and booties that her hospital should have given her for protection." Ms Marcos began working at Hollywood Presbyterian after immigrating to the US with her family from the Philippines. Staff paid tribute to the 61-year-old charge nurse with a candlelight vigil last week. One nurse told the Times: "It's difficult to even fathom that Ceila is gone. "I love my job, but I'm not trying to die a hero." Authorities went to the scene and shut down the middle and right lanes of I-57 at 5 a.m., with traffic getting by in the left lane, Ugarte said. All lanes reopened about 7:40 a.m., she said. A 29-year-old pregnant woman was allegedly murdered by her husband at their house in south Delhis Dakshinpuri near Ambedkar Nagar late Sunday night. Later, the man surrendered himself before Ambedkar Nagar police station authorities at around 12:30 am on Monday and confessed to killing his wife by strangulation. Police said that the accused, Vijay Sonewal, an auto-rickshaw driver, said that he was angry because his wife had stepped out of their house amid the lockdown restrictions, which have been imposed since March 23 to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak. The family members of the deceased, Hemlata, however, alleged that Sonewal was an abusive husband and often resorted to physical violence. Sonewal had found his house locked and Hemlata talking to some of their neigbours when he returned with food at around 9 pm on Sunday, said deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (south) Atul Kumar Thakur, quoting the accuseds confessional statement. Hemlatas family members alleged that Sonewal would physically torture her since they got married in December 2018. They said that Hemlata had filed for divorce barely six months after the marriage because of Sonewals abusive behaviour. However, the court had asked my sister and Sonewal to stay together and mutually resolve their marital discord. But Sonewal never mended his ways and the domestic violence went on unabated, alleged Asha, Hemlatas sister. Sonewal reached the police station at around 12:30 am on Monday and confessed to his wifes murder. A police team was sent to his home, where she was found lying dead on the bed, said DCP Thakur. A case of murder was registered and Sonewal was arrested. Her body was sent to AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) for autopsy, he added. The police said that Hemlata was Sonewals third wife, while he was her second husband after she became a widow about five years ago. Hemlatas eight-year-old daughter from her first marriage was at her maternal grandparents home when Sonewal allegedly murdered her after a fight. Asha said Hemlata used to work as a caretaker in a private school. However, she had to leave the job because of her abusive husband, she further alleged. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Fishing boats dock off the south central province of Binh Thuan. Photo by VnExpress/Tinh Phu Quy. The owner of a Philippine cargo ship has paid $45,000 in compensation to a Vietnamese fisherman for ramming and sinking his boat on May 1. Vo Dinh Phuong, the owner of the fishing boat, said last Saturday he had received the money from the owner of the freighter White To Mony. His boat with six crew members was fishing 13 nautical miles east-northeast of La Gi Town in the south central province of Binh Thuan when it was accidentally rammed by the ship. The crew members jumped overboard and were rescued by a boat that had been fishing nearby. The ship did not stop after the collision, the Vietnam News Agency reported. According to the Binh Thuan Province Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue, through the automatic identification system installed on Phuongs boat, the White To Mony was found to have been sailing through the area at the time of the collision. On May 5 the company owning the cargo ship contacted Phuong to negotiate compensation. Truth has been on pause, as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has been forced to postpone dozens of meetings and temporarily shutter its 28 regional houses of truth. Justice has also taken a toll, as the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the judicial arm of the system, had to suspend public hearings and court terms on most proceedings. But its the victims of Colombias 52-year-long armed conflict who are especially feeling the uncertainties brought by Covid-19, as the disease has simultaneously rendered many of them more vulnerable than they were and relegated implementation of the 2016 peace deal in public debate. More importantly, it could end up pushing the reparations theyre expecting further away in time. If we stay at home, we might be killed The best way to protect ourselves from the coronavirus is to stay at home, but if we stay at home we might be killed, Leyner Palacios, a respected Afro-Colombian leader, told Congress during a public hearing on the situation of victims on April 9th, the day in which Colombia remembers its 8,9 million registered victims. His words highlight the stark conundrum faced by many victims today: the national lockdown designed to flatten the curve of Covid-19 infection is being used by illegal groups to pursue their rackets and regain territorial control in several regions, leaving entire communities more vulnerable to their threats, amid a diminished presence of state institutions. Palacioss community of Bojaya is a cautionary tale. The name of this small riverside town in the Pacific region is synonymous with an infamous 2002 massacre, after the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who laid down their weapons as a result of the peace deal launched a cylinder bomb against a church where 119 villagers were seeking refuge. Four years ago, it was also the site where FARC commanders made their first public acknowledgement of responsibility. Even though security conditions had improved over the past few years, they have declined recently. Confrontations between armed groups already led to the displacement of 74 Embera indigenous families in April, with hundreds more currently constrained. Palacios himself has been targeted, having been forced to leave his hometown in January after receiving death threats and seeing one of his bodyguards murdered in March. Hundreds of rural communities like Bojaya now fear the arrival of the pandemic to their impoverished regions, which have historically lacked the infrastructure and health services widely available to more affluent urban dwellers. Even though the majority of Colombia 8.613 Covid-19 cases as of May 4th were located in major cities and surrounding towns, a remote department like the Amazon has the national highest number of cases per inhabitants, with only eight critical care units to care for patients. Reparations on hold, in regions ravaged by war These are also the rural regions where victims have placed higher hopes on the peace deal translating into better living conditions and more opportunities. In fact, the countrys innovative transitional justice system is centred on victims rights to truth, justice and reparations, linking any legal benefit for perpetrators to their obligatory acknowledgment of responsibility and to actions redressing those who suffered. One example is Humanicemos, a demining organisation created by a group of former FARC rebels to destroy landmines which, as Justice Info showed, has been mired by bureaucratic hurdles. This model, in part, mirrors victims priorities. Out of their 27,000 proposals sent to the negotiators in the Havana peace talks, victims most frequently emphasised the possibility of rebuilding their lives (34%), even over knowing the truth (16%) or ensuring justice (11%). To achieve this, the peace deal stresses the importance of stepping up collective forms of redress that allow reaching a higher number of victims. The cornerstone of this approach is a series of regional investment plans seeking to build key infrastructure, improve public services and spearhead economic integration in regions historically ravaged by war. Known as territorial development plans, they group together the 170 municipalities with highest poverty rates and victim tolls, as well as high institutional weakness and presence of criminal economies, into 16 regional clusters. The beauty of this territorial approach is that it reflects the needs, desires and projects of communities, ensuring that state programs are not designed in a desk, but really incorporate the ideas of peasants, indigenous and Afro-Colombian inhabitants there During one year, at the end of Juan Manuel Santoss presidency, 250,000 rural inhabitants in these regions got together in over 1600 meetings in which they collectively identified their most pressing needs. Then, during his successor Ivan Duques first year in office, information stemming from these local communities and municipalities was compiled into regional listings of the desired public works. This ambitious and often chaotic participatory process is now in its final stage, as Duques government is attempting to translate it into fully-fleshed policy roadmaps establishing investment priorities, institutional responsibilities and funding sources for each of the 16 regional clusters over a 15-year period. Eventually, as Justice Info has told, even FARC commanders sanctions should be connected to specific tasks, such as road building. The first roadmap, in the Catatumbo region bordering Venezuela, was finalised in February. In a highly centralised country where communities voices are seldom heard, this has been a welcome change. The beauty of this territorial approach is that it reflects the needs, desires and projects of communities, ensuring that state programs are not designed in a desk, but really incorporate the ideas of peasants, indigenous and Afro-Colombian inhabitants there, says Menderson Mosquera, a national representative of victims based in Antioquia. The Covid-19 pandemic brought these investment plans to a standstill, precisely at the crucial moment in which communities should begin seeing how a three-year process materialises in public works. With government officials unable to travel, 15 roadmaps are yet to be designed and approved by communities and thousands of victims are awaiting one of the most tangible avenues for redress. Recommended reading More time to redress Colombias victims. The question is how. FARCs name change in limbo One form of symbolic redress many victims anticipate has been similarly postponed, as the political party founded by former FARC rebels was forced to suspend its national congress slated for mid-April. On its agenda was a desperately needed name change. After disarming in mid-2017, their newly-formed party was caught in a heated internal debate on whether to radically distance themselves from the FARC brand or not. In the end, they opted to keep the acronym Colombians knew them by, simply resorting to a slight variation in their longer name now the Alternative Revolutionary Force of the Commons. It was a choice seen by most of their victims as a slap in the face and proof of their lack of contrition. A strong feeling further reinforced when a minority group of former commanders announced in August they would abandon the peace deal and return to arms. It was this now fugitive faction, led by former chief negotiator Ivan Marquez, that which had insisted most on preserving their old identity. In the end, this made the Colombian transition quite confusing, with a political party and a rebel group both claiming property of the FARC brand. The consensus within the party is now to drop their vastly unpopular name. A good part of us thought it was convenient to leave behind name and acronym, so strongly linked to the war and its circumstances () Many things have happened since and we have to get in tune with them, Rodrigo Londono, FARCs military leader and their presidential candidate in the 2018 elections, reflected last year. At least four names have been touted: New Colombia, Party of the Commons, Force of the Commons and Party of the Rose, in allusion to the red rose they chose as a symbol of their new beginning. Yet they can only do so with a majority vote by its affiliates, something the sanitary crisis doesnt allow for the time being. Compensations will take longer to arrive As concerns over the preparedness of the Colombian health system are compounded by a looming economic depression, some local authorities are already facing decisions of whether to reallocate funds initially destined to reparations towards humanitarian aid for victims who most need it now. One lawmaker from Duques governing party even proposed appropriating the entire budget from peace-related programmes towards Covid-19, forcing the Finance Minister and other top officials to forcefully deny that the government is considering the current crisis as an opportunity to modify a peace deal it doesnt like but is constitutionally obliged to implement. In any case, the pandemic will probably delay the individual compensations that the Colombian government began to pay as a result of the landmark 2011 bill that first recognized victims of the armed conflict. However, only 13,8% of the 7,2 million eligible victims have received them so far and it would take 75 years to clear the backlog at the rate it was going before the health crisis, a recent congressional report revealed. Precisely because this is more than most victims lifespans and because monetary reparation has proven so costly and slow, the peace deal insists on a more comprehensive and collective approach to redress that probably has a greater chance of satisfying more victims rights. But many of these community-based restorative actions are also behind schedule, not just the territorial development plans. As Justice Info showed, FARC have been reluctant to step up ceremonies in which they acknowledge their responsibility and ask victims for forgiveness. Even the national psychosocial rehabilitation plan mandated by the peace deal, which seeks to improve access to mental health services and help rebuild trust at community level, is still in a limbo. In charge of it is the Health Ministry, currently tasked with the overwhelming responsibility of coordinating the countrywide medical response to Covid-19. COVID-19 crisis: Maharashtra govt allows migrant workers walk home on humanitarian grounds India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P Mumbai, May 11: Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the state government has decided to allow migrant workers wanting to return home on foot on basis of humanitarian grounds despite them violating lockdown norms. Speaking to a news organisation, Deshmukh said the sufferings of the migrant workers would have been much less if they had train services commenced earlier. "It is true that migrant workers who are walking back to their home towns hundreds of kilometres away are in a way violating lockdown norms, but we are letting them go on humanitarian ground," the state Home Minister said. 8 unusual symptoms of coronavirus to watch out for In April, it was seen that hundreds of migrant workers gathered in Bandra station, demanding transportation arrangements for them to go back to their native places. However, the Police lathi-charged the workers to disperse the crowd. "They (migrant workers) are so desperate to go home that they are ready to even face the wrath of law enforcement agencies. Hence, we decided not to be harsh with them. It is not alone my ministry but the government as a whole is trying to help them," the Home Minister said. Coronavirus positive case tally rises to 67,152; biggest one-day jump "During my visit to temporary shelter homes, a group of workers told me they might come back after Diwali, but now they want to go home," he added. The state Home Minister added that the state government has borne the cost of transporting around 10,000 workers belonging to Madhya Pradesh who were in Telangana. "The Telangana government dropped them at the Maharashtra border. Our government provided them shelter and food and later dropped them at the Madhya Pradesh border. The Maharashtra government did not charge anything for it," he said. Leaving his base in Germany for a two-week visit to Nigeria, artist Jimmy Nwanne never reckoned that a pandemic, which had been in the news since late last year, would eventually lead to a lockdown that would prolong his stay. Sure, there is something that sounds odd about being stranded in one's home country. But then, that exactly is Jimmy Nwanne's experience. "Yeah, I'm afraid that's what it is," the dreadlocks-sporting artist says even as he acknowledges the absurdity of his predicament. "Nigeria is home and it is a good feeling to come spend some time here and connect with people... I came for a two-week break and to hold a few meetings. Unfortunately, my stay is now stretching longer than I'd imagined." Talking about the meetings, they did hold. Besides, he was able to hang out with a handful of his close friends and was already looking forward to returning to base in the German town of Kaiserslautern when the news of flight cancellations and the closure of the international airports for a month came like a bolt from the blue. "I had to rush to the airport several times on different days to see if could get a flight before the lockdown, but there wasn't any. That meant that I would have to wait this out in Lagos, even though I planned to be here for two weeks." Since the lockdown began on Monday, March 30, he has been hunkering down in a fellow Germany-based colleague's pied a terre, located somewhere in the outskirts of Lagos, so to speak, waiting for the metaphorical ill wind to blow over. Held back in Nigeria against his wishes, he would have wanted to return to his family when he had planned to. But then, what could else he do? "I really miss my family first and foremost," he discloses. "At this crucial time, I would have loved to be around my kids. I have been able to stay connected with them virtually via WhatsApp video calls." Then, there was also this exhibition, which he had initially planned to hold in Kaiserslautern last month. It had, for obvious reasons, been postponed until further notice. "Lately, the gallery has been discussing with me about plans to reschedule the opening to sometime in June 2020 and that requires my being there to help organise things." Previously not so well-known among the Lagos aficionados, the Nnamdi Azikiwe University graduate of painting had wormed his way into their consciousness when, in July 2017, he was featured in a six-man exhibition held at the Ikoyi-based Wheatbaker Hotel. The exhibition, titledWanderlust, also had Germany-based artists like Chidi Kwubiri, Emeka Udemba and Junkman from Afrika as well as Germany-linked mixed-race female artists like Numero Unoma and Yetunde Ayeni-Babaeko as participants. Supported by Deutsche Bank, Still Earth Holding, the German Consulate in Lagos, ELALAN and Louis Guntrum Wines, it has stretched from its opening date on Monday, July 10 to Friday, September 15, 2017. No doubt, Nwanne's participation in Wanderlust did a lot to buoy up his self-confidence as an artist. For him, it was no mean feat being featured on the same platform alongside such internationally-renowned artists as Emeka Udemba and Chidi Kwubiri. Of course, he also owes so much to the SMO Gallery and Arthouse Contemporary Limited with its sister organisation, the Arthouse Foundation, for their recognition, which became the Open Sesame he needed to gain access into the talent-glutted Lagos art scene. Indeed, Nwanne had not only, previously featured in two other local exhibitions, but also taken part in an Arthouse Foundation's artist-in-residency programme from September 11 to December 8, 2017, which climaxed with an exhibition in January 2018. Besides, his works had attracted respectable hammer prices at the Arthouse Contemporary Limited's past auctions held in Lagos. "It is always a pleasure to get the chance to feature in Nigeria," he enthuses. "In Igbo, we say 'A na esi na uno amalu mma aputa ezi', which roughly translates as: 'Beauty begins at home'. Whatever I am and can do, it is a pleasure to show it here so that people here can have direct access to or contact with my creativity." Obviously, the amiable 31-year-old has come a long way. He had indeed metamorphosed from his childhood years' fascination for visual artistic expressions, which included watching cartoons and reading comics, to studying at a course in a federal university and finally becoming a fast-rising Nigerian in the diaspora. Deeply moved by the music of Tupac, Bob Marley and Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, he was inspired to communicate as they did through his paintings. Even with his recent forays into the Lagos art scene, the scenic southwestern German city of Kaiserlautern remains home for the Anambra State-born artist. This city of 100,000 inhabitants, which is snugly nestled in the wooded hills of the Palatinate Forest offers him an ideal platform for exposure to a different cultural environment and an enhanced possibility of interaction with people from other parts of the world living outside their countries of origin. On his schedule back home, he says it is somewhat flexible. His working hours would often stretch throughout the weekdays and spilling into the weekends. "I work at different times of the day," he explains. "It could be from the sunrise till sundown into the darkest hours of the night. It could even stretch all through the night into the early hours of the next day. However, I still find time to spend with my family and friends." In the meantime, it is already more than a month since the first lockdown was announced by the Nigerian government. The longing to reunite with his family back in Germany understandably grows more and more intense. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Coronavirus Entertainment By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Of course, he understands the need for travel restrictions. Nonetheless, he expects the government to somehow make some form of concessions for a lot of people in the same predicament as he is. This could be through arranging for a flight to enable them to rejoin their families abroad. It would be no different from the government's evacuation of Nigerians stranded abroad. Indeed, the coronavirus pandemic and the consequent lockdowns announced by several countries had its lessons for mankind. Nwanne sees one of the lessons as the fact that one can never be too equipped for unforeseen challenges. "Our humanity and solidarity are always needed to overcome obstacles," he adds. He further buttresses his point with a quotation of a saying of the late former Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie I: "We also know that unity can be and has been attained among men of the most disparate origins, that differences of race, of religion, of culture, of tradition, are no insuperable obstacle to the coming together of peoples. History teaches us that unity is strength." Much as he is irked by the fact that he is away from the comfort of his home in Germany, he sympathises with people who, he believes, have found themselves in worse situations because of the pandemic. A father has been arrested after his two children were found locked in a basement surrounded by meth and marijuana paraphernalia at his squalid Kentucky home. Austin Fuqua, 31, was arrested on Saturday morning after deputies were called to his address in Owensboro to check on his children, aged two and three. The children were found locked in the basement which was littered with dangerous items which included methamphetamine and marijuana apparatus, police said. Daviess County officials said the house was rundown and the children had poor hygiene, WBTV reported. Austin Fuqua was arrested on Saturday morning after deputies were called to his address in Owensboro to check on his children, aged two and three Fuqua is being held at Daviess County Detention Center charged with two counts of wanton endangerment, two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, two counts of unlawful imprisonments, two counts of criminal abuse, along with drug possession charges. He is being held on $100,000 bond and due to appear in court today. It comes amid growing fears that lockdown orders issued throughout the United States are causing increased domestic abuse. Fuqua was arrested at his home on Cambridge Drive (pictured) in Owensboro, Daviess County on Saturday morning The National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH), which usually receives as many as 2,000 calls per day, said 951 callers from March 10 to March 24 had mentioned the coronavirus while reporting abuse. Crystal Justice, the chief marketing and development officer at NDVH, told The Guardian last month: 'We are hearing from survivors how Covid-19 is already being used by their abusive partners to further control and abuse, how Covid-19 is already impacting their ability to access support and services like accessing shelter, counseling, different things that they would typically lean on in their communities.' One patient whose identity is yet to be ascertained has died in Ondo State from complications of COVID-19. The deceased became the first COVID-19 victim in Ondo State. Ondo Commissioner for Health, Dr Wahab Adegbenro, confirmed this while responding to questions in a radio programme. Adegbenro said the deceased was a man who came into the state from Lagos State after testing positive to Coronavirus. Adegbenro stated that the deceased has an underlying challenge of renal failure which he said worsened his case and led to his death at the states Infectious Disease Hospital. He said his body would be buried in accordance with laid down rules by the NCDC and added that other COVID19 patients were in stable condition. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Credit: Bence Balla-Schottner on Unsplash The coronavirus pandemic has sent shockwaves across the world's economy, and policymakers have so far responded with a focus on financial stability. But food system experts fear this will keep rural communities on a 'business-as-usual' pathlimiting their long-term resilience. EU policymakers face a daunting task to address the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Do they focus on stabilizing markets or build upon a new green ambition? On one side, lockdowns and travel bans continue to hammer consumer-facing sectors like tourism and hospitality, which prompted the International Monetary Fund to predict a worse recession than the financial crash of 2008. Then there's the new EU Green Dealthe European Commission's hopes to transform the bloc into the first climate-neutral continent. So far, it seems financial stability has been the sole priority, according to Thomas Norrby, an expert in rural entrepreneurship at the Swedish Agricultural University. "Current governments are funding ways to go back to normal, but normal is not what we need," he said. "There is a need for a reframing of the economic system, but I don't think governments are taking that chance." EU heads of state and government have agreed a 540 billion aid package to help member states weather the economic storm caused by COVID-19, which is mostly focused on preventing businesses going bankrupt and protecting jobs. Elsewhere, green organizations like the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) said the pandemic has exposed existing weaknesses, adding that "the crisis has given a glimpse of new, more resilient ways" forward. Norrby says it is important to keep as many businesses afloat as possible to limits the length of a recession, but he has also seen new ideas always emerge which could put rural communities on a more resilient path than before. Since the lockdowns began, there has an increased demand for local food; hotels are forming partnerships with farmers to send labor where it's needed and supermarkets are replacing some of their lost international suppliers with local producers. "If we can build on that momentum, it will be very positive for rural economies," Norrby said, adding that governments' response to the financial slump needs to be targeted in a way that lays the foundations towards this kind of system. This view is shared by the Green Recovery Alliance, an EU-wide initiative campaigning against blank government checks that prop up a business-as-usual approach. The alliance includes environment ministers from eleven member states, 79 members of the European Parliament, 37 CEOs, 28 business associations, 100 trade union organizations, seven NGOs and six think tanks. Together they want emergency funds to also address environmental issues, like climate change. Norrby thinks that such a green recovery for rural communities should also consider promoting more circular economy business models and diversification into new sectors. "With a more diversified, and possibly localised food sector, it is easier to change the production system in response to a crisis and that makes our societies more resilient," he said. Diversification dilemma Farmers that have already diversified are already in a less vulnerable position following COVID-19's economic crisis, according to Pablo Fernandez Alvarez de Buergo, who works at Agri-food Cooperatives in Spain, where he supports over 3,000 farming groups find innovative solutions to market challenges. "They were able to be more resilient because they had diversified in the past, which allowed them to balance their problems across markets," said Alvarez de Buergo. He thinks spreading risk through diversification is part of the puzzle for a more resilient future, but not the silver-bullet solution. It takes time, research and funding to help farmers and cooperatives diversify into new markets, such as biochemicals or biopharmaceuticalsand that requires a stable economy. It also means food producers hoping to diversify may have to wait until the dust of COVID-19 settles before the finances are available to support such plans, whenever that will be. Alvarez de Buergo says that adds more weight on the immediate financial response from governments, and he emphasizes that farmers desperately need support to deal with the loss of vital markets like hospitality and tourism. "Almost half the market is gone with the closure of hotels and restaurants in Spain," he said. "Governments need to stabilize the economy as soon as possible." But rebalancing the economy is no easy task. For example, Europe's tourism industry employs 22.6 million people, and accounts for 9.5 percent of the bloc's economy. But the sector's income is effectively on ice because of travel restrictions and social distance measures. Even as lockdowns ease, businesses and their suppliers will still feel the financial squeeze for months to come because they need to break even at a lower capacity, such as the 30% limit for restaurants proposed in Spain and Italy. That leaves a lot of job, incomes and businesses needing financial support for a prolonged period of time. Groups like IPES-Food and the Green Recovery Alliance acknowledge the need for financial stability, but they have also said environmental issues like climate change and biodiversity loss are not going away. They demand financial support that addresses the pandemic, but also accelerates the EU's transition towards climate neutrality. Appetite for change The best place to start for a green recovery for the food system could be where a transformation has already begun, according to Camille Poutrin, a consultant at GreenFlex, a sustainable business company in France. She says that some parts of agri-food supply chains have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic better than others, which shows that a wider transformation is possible. "[There are some] supermarkets proposing to supply more French food in their stores because all the smaller markets and distribution circuits were closed," she said, adding that in just one week, these businesses shifted their purchasing towards more local production. Poutrin believes this trend was partly because of the need for new suppliers, but also from consumers wanting more local produce. After the pandemic, she thinks the situation may return to the previous model to some degree, but not completely, as consumers have reconnected with where their food comes from. She thinks there is potential to build upon this emerging trend by helping farmers turn their harvests into new products and create localised food businesses. Poutrin says this could also take the shape of a cooperative of farmers that sell added-value products to nearby local or regional markets like schools. "As people begin to understand where their food comes from, there will be greater acceptance of farmers," Poutrin said, and hopes this will result in less 'agri-bashing' a term used by food producers when they feel vilified by public opinion and policies. Social dimension The shift in perception of farmers is something that Louise Lennon from the Irish Rural Link, a sustainable development organization, also hopes will expand and consider the role rural communities play in a resilient food system. "Many of the jobs available in rural areas are lower paid, like working in retail or supermarkets or community health and social care, but the true value needs to be put on those jobs," Lennon said. "The contribution they have put into helping rural communities to get through this pandemic is invaluable." Rural areas are also facing an uncertain year ahead as construction, agri-food sectors and tourism or seasonal businesses cannot open or face a diminished amount of commerce. These jobs support rural life as well as food security. "A lot of people have less money coming in," Lennon said, adding that rural communities have been some of the hardest hit communities from lockdown measures like social distancing. She adds that the subsequent isolation and loneliness is a lot harder for rural populations, but this has helped push more people to volunteer and help their neighbors who cannot leave their homes. She thinks this highlights the value that rural communities have not only to the agri-food sector, but also the social fabric of these areas, which many businesses have built their success on. "We need to look beyond the economic factors of rural communities and see what social and environmental issues are important," Lennon said. Explore further Leaving no one behind during the coronavirus pandemic More information: Article published following a series of interviews with academics, community organisations and advisors connected to rural entrepreneurship and the bioeconomy as part of the RUBIZMO initiative: Article published following a series of interviews with academics, community organisations and advisors connected to rural entrepreneurship and the bioeconomy as part of the RUBIZMO initiative: rubizmo.eu/ Tamil Nadu continued to witness a surge in COVID-19 cases with three more deaths and 669 fresh infections on Sunday, taking the tally to 7,204 but a top official attributed the steady rise in recent days to aggressive testing and asked people not to have any apprehensions. With the deaths of three men, the fatalities count has risen to 47 in the State. Special nodal officer for Greater Chennai Corporation region, J Radhakrishnan told reporters that people need not have apprehensions about the rise in numbers as it only showed aggressive testing to detect infections to halt further spread. Through the week, the numbers may continue to be high in Chennai considering more and more testing and emerging clusters like Tiruvanmiyur market in south Chennai and in view of some north Chennai areas, he said. As regards the Koyambedu market hotspot, "overall stability" has been achieved, the official said. He, however, did not elaborate on the stability factor. The official pointed out that families as a whole have been testing positive in some north Chennai areas. "Every person should be an anti-COVID-19 soldier and make it a point to use mask without fail much like the way we use inner wear without fail," he said and added that during inspections they found that about 30 per cent of the people here do not cover their faces. Stressing frequent hand washing as well, Radhakrishnan said authorities were encouraging use of umbrellas to ensure social distancing in public spaces. Till date, 2,43,037 samples have been tested and today alone 13,367 throat / nasal swab specimens were taken for examination and there are 53 labs (37 in government and 16 private),a health department bulletin said. While 135 people were discharged today following recovery from various hospitals in the State, the aggregate number of those who have overcome the illness caused by the virus stood at 1,959. Also, there were a number of children less than 12 years of age among the newly infected including a one-year old baby girl. A 55-year old man and a 59-year old man, both admitted to government medical colleges here and a 74-year old man who was treated at nearby Chengelpet government hospital, succumbed to COVID-19. The duo treated here had co-morbidities like diabetes and hypertension and the deaths have pushed the COVID-19 fatalities to 47 in Tamil Nadu. Of the 669 who have been infected, 412 were men and 257 women and they were contacts. Totally, 7,204 people have been infected in the State till date, the bulletin said. Chennai accounted for 509 of the 600-plus new coronavirus cases and totally 3,839 people have been infected in the State capital alone. Alongside Chennai, districts of Tiruvallur (337), Chengelpet (267) and Kancheepuram (122) that adjoin the state capital besides Cuddalore (395) and Villupuram (299) also in northern Tamil Nadu account for a whopping 73 per cent (about three-fourths) of the total 7,204 cases in the State. Central Tamil Nadu districts of Ariyalur and Perambalur have 275 and 104 cases respectively. Districts in southern Tamil Nadu like Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli have 24 and 90 cases respectively which are much lower than what is seen in northern and cental parts of the State. The spurt in the number of cases in Chennai and several other districts is attributed to the Koyambedu market here which emerged as a worrying hotspot towards April month end. Albany, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing a new federal law that will prevent companies from getting bailouts if they do not rehire employees after the coronavirus pandemic. The New York governor introduced the Americans First Law during his COVID-19 press briefing on Sunday, which would refuse subsidies for any corporation that lays off employees and does not hire back the same number of employees as it had pre-pandemic. Many businesses have shut down, reduced workforce, cut salaries or furloughed employees while applying for relief over the past two months. You will see corporations using this pandemic to lay off workers, Cuomo said in Albany. Thats what you will see, because they are already saying it to the market analysts. Were going to get lean during this period, were going to right-size during this period. What does that mean? It means theyre not going to rehire the same number of employees, so theyre going to boost their corporate profits by reducing the number of employees. NEW: Cuomo is offering a proposal to Congress calls The Americans First Law. pic.twitter.com/NhCumifzzy Dan Clark (@DanClarkReports) May 10, 2020 Cuomo made his pitch while repeating a plea for federal aid as New York state faces a revenue decline of $61 billion over the next four years due to coronavirus. WIVB reports Cuomo also said COVID-19 related expenditures will also cost the state $5 billion over the next two years. NYS could be forced to cut 20% of funding for schools, local governments and hospitals if Congress doesnt include more relief for states in its next bill, according to Cuomo. You took care of corporate America, and I dont even want to go through that, but now youre going to starve police and fire and hospitals and schools? Everybody applauds the healthcare workers, but now you dont want to provide any funding," the governor said Sunday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., refused to include state aid in a nearly $500 billion relief bill last month, saying he doesnt want to bail out blue states that may have had fiscal problems before coronavirus. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and some Republican governors criticized McConnells suggestion that cash-strapped states declare bankruptcy, which could threaten a wide range of services. An AP analysis last week found that states with few coronavirus cases, including Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and Wyoming, have gotten large shares of $150 billion in federal aid so far while the two hardest-hit states, New York and New Jersey, got comparatively little. The U.S. has 1.3 million cases of COVID-19 and nearly 80,000 deaths as of Sunday; New York state has seen 335,000 confirmed cases and 26,641 deaths, more than any other state. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has dismissed the National Democratic Congress (NDC)-propelled claims that the Akufo-Addo government tampered with figures presented to the institution to secure a coronavirus (Covid-19) impact mitigation facility. Government had requested from the IMF a rapid concessional loan of a billion dollars intended to be used to manage the negative impact of the pandemic in the country. The massaged-figures claim by the NDC intended to put government in bad light failed to fly when the Country Director of IMF, Dr. Albert Touna Mama, on Saturday cleared the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, of the politicized accusations. Fact Checking The Fact Checking Ghana campaign claimed that the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Ghana misinformed the Bretton Woods Institution regarding figures presented. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) did the fact-checking and the NDC has since been using it as a smear campaign against the NPP government. MFWAs work pointed out that the government wittingly misled the IMF by eroticizing the 2018 and 2019 fiscal deficit figures of 3.0 per cent and 4.4 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) respectively to the IMF to 7.0 per cent (2018) and 7.5 per cent (2019) of GDP in its report to the IMF. IMF Correction But Dr. Mama, speaking on Joy FM on Saturday, said those making the allegations are only comparing apple and pears. You need to go through the reports and understand what the figures that have been presented are, he stressed. He explained that the 7.5 per cent fiscal deficit in the IMF statement was generated by the institution itself and not the Government of Ghana, adding that the seeming discrepancy in the figures is as a result of two different methodologies used in calculating the deficit and international reserve based on different understanding. According to Dr. Mama, the IMF included in its computation the financial and energy sector payments, which were not part of the governments calculation. Our number includes these two elements (financial sector payments and energy sector payment) and we know why the Governor of the Bank of Ghana made the decision not to have these two elements in the fiscal deficits, the IMF Country Director said. BoG Methodology He stated that the IMF knew about the governments methodology of calculating the Gross International Reserve because the BoG Governor, Dr. Ernest Kwamina Yedu Addison, made the institution aware of it since the beginning of the year. When it comes to Gross International Reserve, we have our definition; definition that we think is the right one. But the Bank of Ghana also has a different understanding of what Gross International Reserve should account for. And the difference here is that Bank of Ghana accounts the Oil Fund, the Heritage Fund and the Stabilization Fund as part of Gross International Reserve and I think that point was clearly made at the beginning of the year by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana. That is the difference and that is the position that they have taken, Dr. Mama stressed. BoG Argument He said the central bank argued strongly that the government could access those funds on approval of Parliament when shoved by crisis in order to serve as additional buffers to the economy. What we say is that perhaps it is more complicated than that, but we can agree to disagree and present the numbers that we think are more aligned with other countries because that is our objective, he added. Clarifying Issues The IMF Director said much as the institution tried possibly to stay out of debates such as this one, he felt compelled to accept the call from the Joy FM to clarify statements made by the MFWAs Fact Checking Ghana. They basically said and I quote, The data presented by the government to the IMF are different from those in budget statements, he stated. Dr. Mama noted when it comes to the data we received that we worked with, in this debate, there is nothing new that we did not know about. Some political commentators have argued that the misrepresentation hoax will go down as the worst miscalculation by a civil society group in the countrys political history. Source: daily guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video BOULDER, Colo., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt, the world's first frozen Greek yogurt bar and fastest growing novelty brand, announced today the launch of its newest innovation, Dipped Greek Yogurt Bars . The new additions to Yasso's portfolio of great tasting, better-for-you items come in four indulgent flavors sure to satisfy any craving: Mint Chocolate Crunch, Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch, Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Crunch and Vanilla Chocolate Crunch. New Dipped Greek Yogurt Bars from Yasso Dedicated to delivering real, craveable goodness in all of its products, Yasso's new Dipped Greek Yogurt Bars feature both a milk and dark chocolatey coating with crisped quinoa covering the iconic, smooth and creamy Greek yogurt bars. Ranging from 140-160 calories per bar with 4g of protein, live and active cultures, and no high intensity sweeteners, Yasso continues to push boundaries by delivering uniquely superior frozen treats that don't sacrifice taste for nutrition and deliver goodness in every bite. "As we start the next chapter of Yasso, new platform and new category innovation will be key to accelerate our growth trajectory," said Craig Shiesley, Yasso CEO. "We will look to create the same craveable, satisfying goodness across these new frozen snacking categories as we have done within our leading bars business, starting with our new Dipped Bars, which deliver incredible indulgence." Yasso Dipped Greek Yogurt Bars (SRP $5.49) and are now available at retailers nationwide. For more information about Yasso or to find a store near you, visit https://yasso.com/find-a-store/ and follow the brand on Instagram and Facebook. About Yasso Kindergarten friends turned entrepreneurs, founders Drew Harrington and Amanda Klane set out on a mission to create desserts that deliver on everyday indulgence with great taste, quality ingredients and superb nutritionals. Since hitting store shelves in 2011 as the first to market frozen Greek yogurt, Yasso quickly became one of the fastest-growing dessert brands in the world, disrupting the brand ranks of deeply entrenched competitors and attracting a loyal following of brand enthusiasts. Yasso currently offers 18 flavors of novelty stick bars and 4 flavors of dipped chocolate bars all of which can be found at grocery and club stores nationwide. Yasso is also an active, positive contributor to the community via its Game On! Foundation which inspires health and wellness for people of all ages. To find your local retailers and to learn more about Yasso, please visit www.yasso.com and follow @yasso MEDIA CONTACT: Kelsey Gill [email protected] SOURCE Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt Related Links http://www.yasso.com A German man has been living in the transit terminal of Delhis international airport for almost eight weeks after he was left stranded by Indias decision to suspend all commercial flights. The 40-year-old man, named in reports as Edgard Ziebat, landed in Delhi on 18 March for what should have been an hours-long layover between Hanoi and Istanbul when all international flights to and from India were abruptly cancelled to stem the spread of coronavirus. A national lockdown followed on 24 March, and 54 days later Mr Ziebat is still living off his luggage in the transit lounge. Indian media have compared the situation to that of Tom Hanks character in the 2004 Steven Spielberg film The Terminal. Evil rapist Larry Murphy, who is the chief suspect for the murder of Deirdre Jacob, has been working on building sites in England as the DPP continues to decide whether to charge him in the missing Kildare woman case. "Gardai are aware of where Murphy is living in the London area and are aware that he has been working as a carpenter on building sites," a senior source told the Herald. In late February, officers submitted a file to the DPP on the murder of trainee teacher Deirdre, but a decision to charge Murphy has not yet been made. In the meantime, gardai continue to work with English pol-ice in "discreetly monitoring" Murphy. "The Deirdre Jacob investigation is at a very delicate stage at the moment. It is a case that is mainly based on circumstantial evidence, but huge work has been put into the file," the source said. Warrant "Larry Murphy is a person of interest in this murder investigation, and because of this, gardai have made sure they are aware of his location in the UK and his activities." If the DPP decides Murphy has a case to answer, gardai will secure a European Arrest Warrant for his detention. The investigation is being led by gardai based in the Kildare division under the command of Superintendent Martin Walker. Deirdre (18) was last seen on July 28, 1998. Her disappearance was treated officially as a missing persons case until Aug-ust 2018, when it was upgraded to a murder investigation. The decision to reclassify the case followed the emergence of new information, which led to gardai opening up fresh lines of inquiry. One of Ireland's most reviled criminals, Murphy (54), from Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, was convicted in 2001 of kidnapping, repeatedly raping and attempting to murder a young woman in the Wicklow mountains in February 2000. He was released in 2010 after serving 10 years, mainly in Arbour Hill Prison. Deirdre was last seen on July 28, 1998, near her home at Roseberry, Newbridge, Co Kildare, at around 3pm. She had left home at around 1pm to go to Newbridge. She was seen at the AIB on Main Street at 2.20pm before crossing the street and going to the Post Office at 2.30pm. The last CCTV footage of her was recorded from an Irish Permanent office, also on Main Street, as she walked back in the direction of her home. Murphy became a person of interest to detectives after it emerged he had visited the shop owned by Deirdre's grandmother. CCTV footage from the day of the disappearance has been digitised, resulting in new witnesses being identified. During a garda interview while in prison, Murphy denied any involvement in Deirdre's disappearance. Gardai travelled to Britain in 2018 and, in the company of the London Metropolitan police, attempted to interview Murphy, but he refused to answer questions. "Murphy is an extremely talented carpenter and he has been using his skills at building sites in London and Birmingham," a senior source said. "He has not come to the att- ention of police in the UK for any criminal offences." Confessed It previously emerged that two retired detectives who secured critical testimony from a prisoner who implicated Murphy in Deirdre's murder were interviewed by gardai and their statements have been included in the file sent to the DPP. The prisoner said Murphy confessed to the murder while he was serving a sentence for rape. Last July, on the 21st anniversary of her disappearance, Deirdre's family said they were confident gardai were making progress. Her father, Michael, said they have been able to "inch the case further, little by little". "We have always been positive, because you have to be - if you don't hold a positive outlook, the world collapses around you," Mr Jacob said. Initial Hygiene, Irelands leading experts in hygiene, is warning the Offaly public and businesses of the risk of the spread of bacteria via door handles. In response, the company is offering an innovative solution for businesses to counteract this type of surface contamination. It is called the HygenicTouch Door Handle. HygienicTouch is an antibacterial door handle cover that uses silver ion technology to eliminate bacteria, by working immediately to destroy any microbes deposited onto the surface by users. Its purpose is to reduce cross-contamination from one user to the next, ensuring that the handle is clean for all users. Dr Colm Moore, Area Technical Manager for Initial Hygiene said: "Door handles are a hotspot for the spread of bacteria, as a result of the amount of contact that they have from so many different people every day. "We would encourage any organisations or business to ensure they have a solution such as this in place, as part of their efforts to ensure proper hygiene among employees and customers." The company believes that washroom door handles in particular are a risk area for the spread of bacteria. A survey carried out by the company in September 2019 revealed that 49% of Irish people prefer not using soap when hand-washing, and 90% admitted to spending less than the recommended 20 seconds washing their hands. Initials hygienic door handle solution can fit any type of door handle (lever, push plate or pull handles), and can be installed in 60 seconds. It requires no alterations to the structure of the door. Migrant workers being sent from SN Kalayan Mantap walks to Hyderabad on Nice road after police asked them to leave fron the Kalyan Mantap in Bengaluru on Monday. Photo: Satish.B Bengaluru: Desperate to revive economic activity in Bengaluru, the Karnataka government begged migrant laborers to stay and made a ton of promises in the bargain. Now, 10 days after the government's assurance on behalf of the construction lobby, the migrant laborers who decided to stay back have been left in lurch. Most of them were lodged in schools and marriage halls till they could return to their work sites. But since they have not yet been taken back to their work sites, most of them have been asked to vacate the premises. And the food that was being served to them has been stopped. About 500 migrant labourers from Bihar and Jharkand were lodged at the S N Kalyana Mantapa, Talaghattapura on the Kanakapura main road. But since their employers have not yet taken them back to the work site, they have been asked to vacate the premises. Some of them have taken shelter under flyovers, some have decided to walk to Hyderabad and go home from there. The trouble started 10 days ago when the government decided to make arrangements to send back those migrant laborers who wanted to return. After nearly one lakh migrant laborers from north Karnataka, Odisha, Bihar and Rajasthan left Karnataka, it alarmed the state government that it would be difficult to start economic activity without the migrant laborers. An emergency meeting was called with representatives of various sectors, where it was agreed that the employers would try to persuade them to stay. The government assured that the migrant laborers would be looked after and cancelled the trains that were to take them to their respective states. When there was opposition to this move, government defended itself saying that their respective states were not ready to receive them. The problem was that migrant workers are handled by contractors. After the lockdown, the contractors had not paid the labourers. Those employed in the construction industry, housekeeping and security agencies depend on contractors for their payments. They were given temporary shelters in hope of contractors taking them back. Those taken back by contractors have returned to their work places and the others have been checked out. The trouble started for migrant laborers ever since lockdown began. On March 23, Karnataka government announced that the state run Indira Canteens will provide free food to daily wage workers. Within 24 hours of the order, the government went back on its promise to maintain social distancing thereby leaving the migrants in a lurch. However, on April , the canteens were opened but the government ordered it to be charged saying that they were anyway distributing free rations to workers across the state. Vievekananda Sharma, a worker from Jharkhand in Bengaluru had not eaten for two days so she could feed her 3 months old daughter. The condition of migrants from outside the state and the non-migrant urban poor at Mahadevapura was so horrendous that several of them wanted the pawn shops to be opened so that they can sell their possessions to get the basic needs for their family. Several such stories are noted in the report of SWAN. While the migrants have been leaving the state, in plenty of such stories based on the study conducted by Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN) stated the second highest number of SOS calls for demand of cash and other help were made by stranded migrants (4,736) in Karnataka. In one of the instances, SWAN team received three separate calls from Teachers Layout in Mysuru. The corporation did not distribute the ration saying that the condition of the stranded was not 'as bad' since the contractor was providing relief. Owing to a large group sizes, we referred this to the Mysuru City Corporation. Officials from the corporation checked twice, noted the details and photos of the stranded but did not distribute any rations. SWAN was told by the officials that the issue was taken care of, but in follow-up calls with the stranded, we discovered that rations were in fact not delivered. The contractor, who lived 30 km away from where the workers were stranded, claimed on the other hand that he could not help as he did not have a pass to travel in the city. Upon contacting the property owner, we found that he had initially provided some rations but was no longer able to, because of strict restrictions on travel. He was willing to give money/ration, and agreed to come to Mysuru border from his town. The Corporation has still not taken any concrete positive action, the report stated. On Saturday, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagare Palike (BBMP) were deputed to help stranded 11 migrants from Bagalagunte. They were shifted to Government Arts College Boys hostel on Primose road. With the lockdown being progressed SWAN has been receiving the calls from the non-migrant urban poor who have run out of cash as they were left out of work and wages. The study further quoted that not all non-migrant workers have ration cards. Since several workers were unable to know the ward numbers the BBMP helpline were proven futile to several of them. Tourism was the first industry hit by Covid-19 and will be the first to recover after the pandemic ends, experts say. Sharp decline The HCM City Tourism Department reported that 117,000 foreign travelers came to the city in March, a fall of 84.23 percent compared with the same period last year, and 1.3 million foreign travelers came in the first three months of year, a decrease of 42.26 percent. In terms of revenue, the number of clients and average revenue of travel firms in the first two months of the year decreased by 50-60 percent. Ninety percent of small and medium travel firms in HCM City have temporarily closed their operation. A survey found that the revenue of accommodation facilities has dropped by 58.29 percent, conference service providers by 60.8 percent, and restaurant and other business types by 60.1 percent. Since March, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 as a global pandemic, the tourism industry has become stagnant. Tourism was the first industry hit by Covid-19 and will be the first to recover after the pandemic ends, experts say. The HCM City Tourism Department commented that it has dealt a fatal blow to the citys tourism sector. Vo Thi Ngoc Thuy, deputy director of the department, said in Thanh Nien newspaper that nearly all plans to advertise new products in Q1 have been postponed. The World Tourism Organization has predicted a 1-3 percent decrease in number of international travelers in 2020. This is the first time the number of international visitors is expected to decrease after 10 consecutive years of growth. Vietnam also witnessed a significant decline in foreign arrivals, especially from China and South Korea, the two important markets accounting for 56 percent of foreign travelers to Vietnam in 2019. Recovery According to Savills Vietnam, though the influences of Covid-19 are predicted to last until the end of 2020, tourism and hospitality is believed to be the first sector to see strong recovery. A report shows that 82.5 percent of total travelers were domestic travelers in 2019, while the biggest inbound markets were China and South Korea. With these characteristics, the tourism market is believed to bounce back soon after the epidemic is contained. As soon as the epidemic is contained, the tourism department and businesses will speed up and promote a strong media campaign both in Vietnam and overseas to popularize new images of HCM City as a dynamic, lively and fascinating city. The detailed plan for each type of key product for different periods is being carefully prepared to be used when necessary, Thuy said. Kim Chi Digitally-driven travellers lead Vietnams travel re-opening Vietnams reopening of its domestic travel sector is expected to be replicated by focusing on Asian markets, according to a survey conducted by C9 Hotelworks and Delivering Asia Communications. - Increase in incidence of burn injuries, rise in government expenditure on healthcare, and advancements in burn care products have boosted the growth of the global burn care market PORTLAND, Oregon, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, "Burn Care Market by Product (Advanced Burn Care, Biologics, Traditional Burn Care, and Others), Depth of Burn (Minor Burns, Partial-thickness Burns, and Full-thickness Burns), and End User (Hospitals, Physician Offices, Home Care, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2027". According to the report, the global burn care industry was pegged at $1.99 billion in 2019, and is expected to reach $3.13 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2020 to 2027. Major determinants for the market growth Increase in incidence of burn injuries, rise in government expenditure on healthcare, and advancements in burn care products have boosted the growth of the global burn care market. However, high cost of advanced burn care products hampers the market growth. On the contrary, untapped markets and high growth potential in developing economies are expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market players in the coming years. Request Sample Report at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/4395 COVID-19 scenario: The outbreak of COVID-19 has hugely affected the global burn care industry. Dearth of materials or finished goods coming from logistical hubs in impacted areas has impacted the supply chain, which hampered the market sale. Labor shortage due to illness or mobility restriction and shutdown in various countries have negatively impacted the production, which hindered the market growth. The advanced burn care segment held largest share The advanced burn care segment dominated the market, accounting for nearly half of the market. Moreover, the segment is expected to register the highest CAGR of 6.4% during the forecast period. This is owing to advancements in burn care products, rise in awareness programs for advanced burn care treatment & management, surge in healthcare expenditure, and increase in incidence of burn cases around the globe. Partial-thickness burns segment to manifest the fastest CAGR through 2027 The partial-thickness burns segment is projected to portray the highest CAGR of 6.1% during the study period. Moreover, the segment held the largest share in 2019, accounting for more than two-fifths of the market. This is due torise in incidence of burns & burn-related injuries, rise in usage of advanced dressings & biologics such as skin grafts & substitutes, advancements in burn care products, and increase in awareness toward the usage of advanced burn care products. North America dominated the market The market across North America held the largest share in 2019, contributing to nearly two-fifths of the market. This is due to development of technological advanced burn care products, upsurge in adoption of burn care products for the treatment of burns & burn-related injuries, change in preferences from traditional burn care products to advanced burn care products.However, the market across Asia-Pacific is expected to register the highest CAGR of 7.5% during the forecast period. This is due to rise in demand for advanced burn care products, improvement in health awareness, development in healthcare infrastructure, rise in number of laboratories with advanced medical facilities, surge in healthcare reforms, and increase in number of target population suffering from burns & burn-related injuries in emerging economies. For Purchase Enquiry at:https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/4395 Major market players 3M (Acelity Inc.) Coloplast A/S B Braun Melsungen AG Essity AB (BSN Medical Gmbh) ConvaTec Group Plc Investor AB (Molnlycke Health Care AB) Integra Lifesciences (Derma Sciences) Medtronic Plc. (Covidien) Medline Industries, Inc. Smith & Nephew Plc. Avenue Basic Plan | Library Access | 1 Year Subscription | Sign up for Avenue subscription to access more than 12,000+ company profiles and 2,000+ niche industry market research reports at $699 per month, per seat. For a year, the client needs to purchase minimum 2 seat plan. Avenue Library Subscription | Request for 14 days free trial of before buying: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/avenue/trial/starter Get more information: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/library-access Similar Reports: Tissue Engineered Skin Substitutes Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2027 Scar Dressings Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2027 World Wound Care Market - Opportunities and Forecasts, 2020-2027 About Us Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-11 08:50:06 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 969 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Mota Ventures Corp. (CSE:MOTA)(FSE:1WZ:GR)(OTC PINK:PEMTF)(the "Company") subsidiary, Nature's Exclusive, an ecommerce provider of CBD products to consumers in the United States and Europe, is pleased to announce record revenues for the month of April totaling Cdn$3,818,000, representing an increase of 39% compared to April 2019. Expenses totaled Cdn$3,609,000, representing a Gross Profit of Cdn$209,000 for the month.DOMINANT ONLINE CUSTOMER ACQUISITION STRATEGYThe Company credits this success to its' online customer acquisition strategy, which is capitalizing on the strong consumer demand for natural health solutions, resulting in an interim record number of customer acquisitions for the Nature's Exclusive brand, as well as, new customers for the immune support category introduced in March 2020.The Company's strong ability to continue capturing customers, for both existing and new products, bodes well for the Company's CBD based hand sanitizer launch this month.Ryan Hoggan, CEO of the Company stated, "I am very pleased to report another successful month with increased sales over 2019. Our investment in customer acquisition in March 2020, which yielded additional subscribers, has been a significant driver to our increased profitability. Despite the worldwide pandemic, we continue to move forward towards our full year goals for 2020, including expansion into the European market. I look forward to reporting on new customer acquisitions in the coming weeks".NATURE'S EXCLUSIVE CBD BRAND LEADING THE WAYThe Company's Nature's Exclusive brand offers a CBD hemp-oil formulation intended to provide users with the therapeutic benefits that hemp may offer. The hemp oil used in the products is derived from hemp grown and cultivated in the United States. The extraction process is designed to maintain all the beneficial qualities that hemp may offer. Nature's Exclusive offers a range of products, which include CBD oil drops, CBD gummies, CBD pain relief cream, CBD skin serum, CBD hand sanitizer and CBD coffee.We encourage readers to visit www.motaventuresco.com to view our brands and sign up to our newsletter.We encourage shareholders and prospective investors to visit the Company's AGORACOM Discussion Forum, a moderated social media platform that enables civilized discussion and Q&A between Management and Shareholders.The Company cautions that figures for revenue, expenses and margin generated from the sale of Nature's Exclusive products have not been audited, and are based on calculations prepared by management. Actual results may differ from those reported in this release once these figures have been audited. These figures were translated from US dollars into Canadian dollars using the Bank of Canada monthly average exchange rate of US$1.00:Cdn$1.4058 for April 2020 and US$1.00:Cdn$1.3378 for April 2019.About Mota Ventures Corp.Mota is an established ecommerce, direct to consumer provider of a wide range of CBD products in the United States and Europe. In the United States, the company sells a CBD hemp-oil formulation derived from hemp grown and formulated in the US through its Nature's Exclusive brand. Within Europe, its Sativida brand of award winning 100% organic CBD oils and cosmetics are sold throughout Spain, Portugal, Austria, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. Mota Ventures is also seeking to acquire additional revenue producing CBD brands and operations in both Europe and North America, with the goal of establishing an international distribution network for CBD products. Low cost production, coupled with international, direct to customer, sales channels will provide the foundation for the success of Mota Ventures.ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORSMOTA VENTURES CORP.Ryan HogganChief Executive OfficerFor further information, readers are encouraged to contact Joel Shacker, President at +604.423.4733 or by email at IR@ motaventuresco.com or www.motaventuresco.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by management.Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementAll statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including with respect to anticipated product sales under its Nature's Exclusive and Sativida brands, its plans to offer a CBD infused hand sanitizer product, its plans to become a vertically integrated global CBD brand, its plans to cultivate and extract cannabis to produce CBD and high-quality value added CBD products in Latin America for distribution domestically and internationally and its plans to acquire revenue-producing CBD brands and operations in Europe and North America. The Company provides forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited those identified and reported in the Company's public filings under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com . Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law.SOU The Easter Attacks One Year On: How Far Have We Come? By Kulani Abendroth-Dias View(s): View(s): A few months ago, I got into a PickMe cab, on my way to a midday work meeting. It was prior to the presidential election, and the radio was playing an hourly news alert with an update on the candidates. The driver, with no prompting on my part, asked me in Sinhalese, Miss, are there a lot of Muslims where you live? I was taken aback at this strange, abrupt question. Nevertheless, I knew where this was going. I. really dont know, I responded in Sinhalese. Well, you see them, right? Everywhere. Have you heard - I just heard - Turkey has gotten it right. They have a military - the fourth strongest military I think. They have a strong military so that they can keep the Muslims out. Did you know that? I was bewildered. Where was he getting his information from? I dont think thats true, I said quietly. They have a military but I dont think its to keep Muslims out. I think Turkey has a large Muslim population actually Where did you see this? He paused. Ah. Well I saw it I saw it somewhere on the internet. And people told me. I nodded. Ah. Well I dont think thats true, really. I think around 60% of the population of Turkey is Muslim. But this good Muslim, right? They are fighting the bad Muslims. I paused. Who are the bad Muslims? And who are the good Muslims? He paused again, then gestured noncommittally. You know. There are good ones and bad ones. What would you say is the difference? I pressed. He glanced at me through the rear-view mirror. Youre a good Sinhalese girl, right? You know who they are. I smiled. But who do you think they are? And where did you see this? He gestured noncommittally again. You know, I saw something on Facebook. And a video on YouTube. On Easter Sunday last year, nine suicide bombers detonated their devices in six locations around Sri Lanka. The bombings too place at three churches and luxury hotels, targeting worshippers and tourists for local and international impact. The island was devastated, and the attacks received substantial international attention, given the particular locations and victims targeted. One year on, remembrance of these attacks are marked with quiet vigils and lone calls for justice at those within the upper political and security echelons who were allegedly aware of an impending attack, but chose not to act. The purported reasons behind this inaction range from motivated political gain to incompetence and diffusion of responsibility across various judicial, security, and political levels. In the aftermath of the attacks, calls for accountability were accompanied by another disturbing, yet expected, behavioral consequence: a spike in religiously and racially motivated attacks against those observing the Islamic faith/who identify as Muslim. These types of attacks are typically motivated by fear: fear of losing ones economic/social/political status to those from another group. Evolutionary biologists, anthropologists, sociologists, and social psychologists have illustrated how humans are motivated to form groups and compete for resources, even along arbitrary criteria such as the color of seats assigned to them, and eye color (or skin color!) The common hypothesis is that humans who form groups have a higher competitive advantage for survival i.e. theres strength in numbers. This instinct becomes problematic when groups are formed on the basis of religious and racial ideologies. The same instinct that can ensure our survival can lead to our demise. Fragmented societies within nation states can lead to civil unrest and as we have seen in Sri Lanka itself, escalate into civil war. Across history, some have aimed to foster these divisions for political and economic gain. Many local and international actors have emphasized the importance of strengthening institutions within Sri Lanka to foster accountability and prevent the further escalation of conflict. While the structures that create and sustain peaceful societies are important indicators of positive peace and are associated with positive economic factors such as increased foreign direct investments, Gross Domestic Product, and the Human Development Index (comprising life expectancy, literacy rates), top down approaches can only go so far to prevent violent extremism. Systems dont engage in violence: people do. Preventing violent extremism and future unrest are dependent on shifting behaviors that contribute to the escalation of tensions. Terrorist bombings can lead to vicious cycles of radicalisation. Those who experience or consume media about terrorist bombings can be motivated to engage in dangerous and hate speech towards members of a group whom the terrorist group will never wholly represent. The term extremists are used for a reason: terrorists are not representative of the entire group they allegedly represent. They operate on the fringes, often co-opting the ideologies of a group to carry out their more violent motivations: to create vicious cycles of terror and radicalisation (sometimes for economic gain). Those who engage in dangerous speech and hate speech are contributing to the terrorists goals by creating societal divisions. They create individuals who feel alienated by their former friends and colleagues, and may become more inclined to listen to the radical messages shared by the few extremists. Humans are social beings and we form groups to feel included. When we engage in dangerous speech, we create group divisions that exacerbate the problem - and increase the actual threat that can undermine the strength of a society and nation-state. What is dangerous speech? Many of us have heard the term hate speech. Hate speech usually means vilifying a person or group of people because they belong to a group or share an identity of some kind. Various countries address hate speech within their legal systems, from Norway to South Africa to Germany. However, the difficulty with hate speech is that its broad definition can be misused to punish and silence journalists, dissenters, and minorities (such as in the cases of Hungary, Rwanda, India, and Bahrain) and be convoluted with freedom of speech. In the United States for example, groups have justified engaging in hate speech on the grounds of freedom of speech. Dangerous speech by contrast is defined as any form of expression (e.g. speech, text, or images) that can increase the risk that its audience will condone or commit violence against members of another group. The crucial point here is that dangerous speech refers to behaviors that can increase the risk of violence. By focusing on behaviors based on this definition, we can better design interventions to reduce the risk of future violence. Dangerous speech refers to both committing and condoning violence. This is an important definition to make. While ethnic/religious violent acts are usually carried out by a small portion of a group (usually young men), their actions are often supported and justified by those around them, including mothers, fathers, siblings, friends, teachers, employers, etc. Generally, when a society suffers major intergroup violence, a few commit it and a much larger number condone it. Think back to the communal violence of 2014, where Muslim businesses and homes were attacked by mostly militant Sinhalese-Buddhists. There is strong evidence to support that most of the violence (and ensuing communal violence in Gintota, Beruwala, etc.) were carried out by young men. However, discussions about the events often involve both men and women, young and old, either denouncing or justifying the violence on political, social, economic, or religious grounds. The justification of this violence, regardless of which group you belong to, can foster intergroup tensions that culminate in mass violence. Dangerous speech includes the justification of these types of acts that can contribute to both Sinhalese-Buddhist and Islamic radicalism (radicalism across the board). Anyone who engages in dangerous speech is part of the problem. Anyone who engaged in dangerous speech contributes to the risk of escalating violence. How do we justify violence? Humans use a range of cognitive strategies to justify violence towards other groups. It can start small: we use white-washing or euphemistic language to justify what our group may have done: instead of saying we killed someone, we call it a sacrifice. We can try to justify the violence committed by our group by comparing past transgression committed by the other group - or unrelated violence occurring elsewhere: Yes, our boys may have done that, but look at the violence that they are committing in the Middle East. The important thing to note is that advantageous comparisons such as these will not help de-escalate tensions within the current context - just the opposite. Other strategies of moral disengagement whereby we actively disengage from, and justify violence committed by our groups, include displacement or diffusion of responsibility: They did it because the officers/higher ups told them to do so, or Im not sure the Sinhalese-Buddhist boys did that, there were so many people there. People discredit evidence: I cant accept that that happened, they did not do it, I dont believe that happened in that way, or use essentialist attributions, They did it because those people deserved it, they were born that way. They are stubborn. All of these strategies are types of dangerous speech that can contribute to the risk of perpetuating violence. The justification of violence happens across groups. When we make our pledges to never let events such as those resembling the Easter attacks happen again, we need to address dangerous speech, online and offline, that actively contributes to a culture of ethno-religious divisions and tensions across economic, social, and political lines. We need strong institutions to foster positive peace. At the same time, we need bottom-up awareness of, and behavioral shifts in, how we justify and propagate violence by engaging in dangerous speech. Where do we go from here? Building awareness of what constitutes dangerous speech in schools No one is ever born hating other people. We learn to hate. Training in how to identify and counter dangerous speech needs to occur in primary school. This is especially pertinent given the proliferation of dangerous speech online. The dangerous speech framework comprises five key tenets: who is delivering the message (messenger/speaker), what is s/he saying (message), via which platform (medium), to whom (the target audience), and within which social/cultural context is this referencing/taking place. Focusing on critical thinking and analysis in school to understand these types of messages and the dangers they normative entail can help individuals identify motivated dangerous speech that contribute to violence later on. It can help them question the incidence of events that culminate in violence: when their friend makes a racial slur into a joke, an awareness of how that seemingly one-off, irrelevant comment contributes to a larger culture of derogation and dehumanization could help reduce social divisions. It can help young people call out racism within their homes, schools, and workplaces, and be more critical of racially motivated online content masquerading as jokes, thereby legitimizing outgroup derogation. Digital literacy to target disinformation and dangerous speech The digital world is a vehicle for disinformation contributing to dangerous speech. Private Facebook and WhatsApp groups form along political lines to legitimize outgroup derogation and dehumanization via the guise of funny memes. WhatsApp voice files are a relatively new form of spreading disinformation - by having an actual voice deliver the misinformation, we create the illusion of the veracity of the information being shared. Ah there, is a voice, I can connect and hear that voice more viscerally, it must be true. Adding to the problem, sharing a WhatsApp message also takes very little effort. Digital literacy programs should target and segment audiences across gender, age, and socio-economic status. Models of dangerous speech and digital literacy workshops tailored for those above 65 show significant shifts in behavior. Psychological evidence shows that counter-narratives do little to dissuade those who have internalized dangerous speech already. Targeting disinformation and dangerous speech should be more of an upstream process, where individuals are taught to have agency in identifying and countering online and offline dangerous speech in real time, before certain attitudes have been internalized, or to raise legitimate doubts after the fact. If you dont measure long-term behavioral outcomes, you wont see change Digital literacy and pedagogical programs aimed at raising awareness of dangerous speech should be contextualized and measure long-term behavioral outcomes. Often, workshops on preventing violent extremism take the form of three-day workshops where consultants paid thousands of dollars are flown in to discuss theories of change with quick facilitator feedback surveys tacked on at the end. Workshops/trainings on digital literacy and dangerous speech should equip individuals with robust tools to understand who engaged in dangerous speech where, when, and how, and which social/historical/cultural/economic/political contexts are weaponized to create ethno-religious divisions. These trainings should aim for gender parity in attendance, and have long term behavioral measurement built into their activities instead of tick-boxes for completion. Measurements can include instances of when and how often participants identified and countered dangerous speech online and/or offline six months or a year after the intervention, communities of practice created, or interventions that participants designed to counter dangerous speech within their communities. Many of our peacebuilding interventions are not reaching out to those most at risk of being radicalized. We need to change this. There is a selection bias in most peacebuilding interventions. Many programs require participants to sign up to learn more about how they (often youth) can engage in peace and security. Individuals already interested in sustaining peace self-select into those programs. These are usually those individuals least likely to commit violence within their communities, and less likely to interact with those most vulnerable to radicalisation. Building communities of practice with those interested in engendering peace is important. Engaging with those most at risk of committing violence is as important. Programs targeting the reduction of violence extremism should be working to connect with individuals influential within groups most at risk of committing violence to create meaningful behavior change. Bystander intervention and norm change Studies from social psychology and behavioral science illustrate the power that ingroup members can have in shifting behavior. We encounter information from a variety of sources every day: from our parents to our teachers to the newspaper to our bosses to our colleagues, friends, and social media. Certain individuals within our networks have a higher capacity to influence our behavior than others. Think about popular kids at your school, celebrities, a radio personality you like, religious leaders at your local church/temple etc. This can be even more granular: individuals differ in whose behavior they choose to follow based on category e.g. you may be a role model to others within your workplace based on your performance/reputation (and not even know it!). We all have the power to influence the status quo. We may be going along with harmful norms of derogating outgroup members at home, at the workplace, or elsewhere because we think everybody else supports it and we dont want to feel excluded or socially ostracized. We need a few norm entrepreneurs to intervene when we see someone saying something that could contribute to the risk of future violence. It could be a joke here, a side comment there, that escalates to hiring practices based on group affinity and cement systematic ingroup/outgroup divisions within society. Never again, does not happen overnight. Never again, means that we ensure that we intervene when we see problematic behaviors so that we never again see them culminate in mass violence. Media that can sow confusion: Beware of availability cascades We see a video on social media that says that in the aftermath of the bombs that went off on Easter Sunday, more bombs will be dropped by planes overhead, and that the airport will be targeted. We hear rumors that ISIS is involved. We are told via social media that these terrorists are internationally funded. We remember the examples of LTTE planes flying overhead during the civil war. We remember the bombing of the Bandaranaike International Airport during the civil war. These events can cause an availability cascade: a self-reinforcing process of collective belief formation triggered by a chain reaction that creates the perception of increasing plausibility through raising its availability in public discourse. We start to see increased security on the streets and at the airport. We conclude that this must mean that the rumors are correct - there are increased threats at the airport, an increased threat of bombs being dropped by enemy aircraft. Messages on social media spread disinformation and sow confusion. The media pick up on this and start reporting on increased security at the airport. Even though they dont report on bombings at the airport, and there is no actual evidence to support that the airport will be bombed, or that air raids will occur, panic and confusion are perpetuated via word of mouth and social media. We start to believe that something that isnt actually happening, is happening. In the end, theres nothing there - except for heightened anger towards Muslims who had nothing to do with the bombings or the rumors. We are also left with more robust, legitimized dangerous speech. Beware of the availability cascade, especially during heightened tensions. Look for strong evidence. If theres a lack of robust evidence to support certain rumors, dont share it (even with your family and friends, even if you say Forwarded as shared!) WhatsApp messages don't necessarily count as evidence. A year has passed since nearly 270 people were killed in a terror attack in Sri Lanka. We owe it to them to be better. Many of us who grew up during the Sri Lankan civil war abhor a spiral into prolonged violence. There are many people doing important work to address the ethno-religious tensions that persist to this day. Fostering a common group identity along national lines could bolster trust across ethno-religious lines. Given the rapid, global proliferation of dangerous speech via online and offline disinformation, we need interventions that target dangerous speech to reduce the risk of future violence. Every message we send that dehumanizes another group, via jokes or fake stories, everytime we awkwardly laugh off that racially-motivated comment, everytime we forward as shared an untruthful story thats motivated along political/religious/social divisions, and every time we justify the wrongdoings of our own group members over others, we take a step towards the risk of future violence. Its been a year since the Easter bombings - how far have we come? Welsh dairy farmers hardest hit by the exceptional market conditions as a result of Covid-19 will now receive financial help, it has been announced. Producers in Wales challenged their devolved government to match Defra's hardship funding for England, which was announced on Thursday 7 May. Welsh government has now followed suit, confirming that farmers who have lost more than 25% of their income in April and May would be entitled to up to 10,000 to cover 70% of their lost income. The hardship fund would help ensure they can continue to operate without impacting animal welfare and the environment, Welsh government explained. The dairy sector has felt the immediate impact of the global pandemic with the closure of the food service and hospitality sectors. It is causing financial hardship to producers supplying processors who have been most impacted by the closure of cafes, restaurants, pubs and hospitality venues. The government has announced a series of announcements to help ease the impact, including a new consumer campaign to increase consumer demand for milk by 3% and the temporary relaxation of competition laws. Wales's rural affairs minister, Lesley Griffiths said the new measures for Welsh farmers would help provide some stability for the dairy sector. I am pleased to confirm dairy farmers in Wales will be eligible for support helping them adapt to the exceptional market conditions and ensuring they can continue to operate without impacting animal welfare and the environment. "Further details of the scheme will be announced shortly but I wanted to commit today to support this core group of dairy farmers with a payment to offset some of the financial impacts they have experienced," she said. We will continue to work closely with the sector to help them address the issues they face at this difficult time." NFU Cymru applauded the Welsh government's move for recognising the financial impact Covid-19 is having on dairy farming businesses. We thank the minister for her efforts in securing this funding at a time when we recognise the public purse is under significant pressure in dealing with the impacts, union's deputy president, Aled Jones said. Later that day, the money came $600 million delivered to the Navajo, 10 days after it was promised and more than a month after President Trump signed the relief package into law on March 30. Here, on the reservation where the Navajo tribe was relocated by government decree to their ancestral lands in 1868, the infection rate is among the highest in the world, with deaths reaching the level of some states with more than 15 times the population. Navajo leadership says the delay in funding has cost lives, the latest in hundreds of years of injustices delivered to their people, first by the colonial Europeans and now by the U.S. government. Why it matters: Medical professionals are at the greatest risk of contracting infectious diseases, especially during a pandemic. Google's partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital will allow nurses to limit physical contact with patients while still being able to monitor vitals and respond to patient needs. During the Covid-19 pandemic, medical professionals have had to ensure proper protection to avoid contracting the disease. However, this means using personal protective equipment (PPE) that may be in limited supply. Google has partnered with Mount Sinai Hospital to deploy Nest Cams which allow nurses to monitor and respond to patients without having to be physically present. This approach involves installing two Nest Cams per room, one for monitoring vitals and another for communicating with patients. There are special consoles at the nurse stations to allow them to interact with the cameras. According to Google's official blog post, Google will supply around 10,000 Nest Cams to the hospital. Google will not store any of the footage nor have access to it at all. The system was created to allow monitoring while still adhering to HIPAA and other regulatory requirements. As hospitals continue to treat Covid-19 patients, it's great to see tech companies assisting in limiting direct exposure for nurses and doctors. According to the CDC, over 9,000 health care professionals have been infected with the virus. Lessening the need to interact directly with infectious patients not only limits exposure, but also preserves PPE for when it's needed most. Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed officials to pay special attention to Agra, Kanpur and Meerut and asked them to conduct a special review of these districts. The nodal officers posted in these districts will be sending their reports to the government twice a day. In a meeting on Sunday with "Team 11" a team of dedicated officers handling the coronavirus cases CM Yogi also directed the officials to ensure the safe return of workers and labourers coming from other states and emphasised on the strict adherence of lockdown in the three districts. The Covid-19 tally in the state reached 3,467 on Sunday with 102 new cases reported from across the state. Agra continued to reel under the onslaught of the viral outbreak, with the number positive cases reaching 756. The district saw 13 new cases, and a total of 24 Covid-19 deaths have been reported. In a recent development, the Chief Medical Officer of Agra Mukesh Vats and Additional Director Health and Family Welfare AK Mittal were replaced by RC Pandey and Avinash Kumar Singh, respectively. In Kanpur, seven new cases were reported on Sunday, taking the Covid-19 tally to 301. Kanpur has so far reported six deaths. Fifty-eight people have been discharged while 237 cases remain active. Meanwhile, 22 new cases were reported from Meerut on Sunday taking the tally to 242. Meerut has recorded 13 coronavirus deaths. Sixty-five patients have been discharged, while there are 164 active cases. Earlier on Sunday, on the instructions of CM Yogi, the command of Covid Care was given to three senior IAS and IPS officers in these three districts. UP State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA) MD Anil Garg and IG Deepak Ratan have been posted in Kanpur. Principal Secretary Infrastructure Alok Kumar and IG Vijay Kumar have been posted in Agra. The command of Meerut has been given to Irrigation Department Principal Secretary T Venkatesh and IG Laxmi Singh. Besides this, orders have been issued for the posting of two senior health department officers. The chief minister has asked these officials to submit a report from the districts every morning and evening. Addressing a press briefing on Sunday, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said that as per the directions of the chief minister, Shramik special trains were operating to bring migrant labourers from other states to Uttar Pradesh. "On Sunday too, more than 70,000 people returned to Uttar Pradesh in 57 trains. About three lakh people are expected to return in the coming days. The stations of 40 districts in Uttar Pradesh have been equipped to receive the Shramik Special trains. Under the directives from CM Yogi, so far, over two lakh people have arrived by 215 trains in the state and 200 more additional trains have been permitted to ply," Awasthi said. He added that these trains would arrive in the next two days. "Medical check-up of the people is being conducted at the station itself and they are being sent for home quarantine based on their health condition," Awasthi added. Meanwhile, Principal Secretary Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said that in order to strengthen the fight against coronavirus, an Electronic Covid Care Support (ECCS) network has been established. "Through this system, medical advice will be provided to Covid and non-Covid hospitals and doctors. If doctors of any hospital do not have expert knowledge regarding treatment, then they can contact the ECCS team for advice. For this, the divisional level hospitals will play the role of mentors, he said. PORTLAND, Oregon, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report titled, "Malaria Diagnostics Market by Product Type (Rapid Diagnostic Tests, Microscopy, and Molecular Diagnostic Tests) and End User (Hospital, Clinics, Diagnostic Centers) Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20192026."According to the report, the global malaria diagnostics industry was estimated at $728,870 thousand in 2018, and is expected to hit $1,085,106 thousand by 2026, registering a CAGR of 5.1% from 2019 to 2026. Drivers, restraints, and opportunities- Rise in incidence of malaria, increase in healthcare expenditure among people, and surge in adoption of malaria diagnostics tools across the world fuel the growth of the global malaria diagnostics market. On the other hand, poor demand in underdeveloped countries restrains the growth to some extent. Nevertheless, development in emerging economies is expected to create a plethora of opportunities in the near future. Request Sample Report at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/285 The rapid diagnostic tests segment to lead the trail by 2026- Based on product type, the rapid diagnostic tests segment accounted for more than two-fifths of the global malaria diagnostics market share in 2018, and is expected to retain its dominance by 2026. Surge in healthcare expenditure in developing countries has propelled the market growth. The molecular diagnostic tests segment, on the other hand, would register the fastest CAGR of 6.0% throughout the forecast period. Rising awareness among people regarding early diagnosis of malaria and the wide array of benefits offered by drug molecular diagnostic tests spur the growth of the segment. The clinics segment to dominate during the estimated period- Based on end-user, the clinics segment generated the largest share in 2018, holding more than two-fifths of the global malaria diagnostics market. Availability of specialized treatments under one single roof has augmented the segment growth. Simultaneously, the diagnostic centers segment would cite the fastest CAGR of 6.0% from 2019 to 2026. The fact that diagnostic centers are quite specialized in performing malaria diagnostic tests has driven the growth of the segment. LAMEA to maintain the top status till 2026, North America to grow at the third highest CAGR- Based on geography, LAMEA contributed to 94% of the global malaria diagnostics market revenue in 2018, and is anticipated to maintain the lion's share till 2026. At the same time, the Asia-Pacific region would showcase the fastest CAGR of 6.1% during the study period. Surge in awareness regarding the use of antimalarial drugs in this region has propelled the growth. However, North America would register a CAGR of 4.1% by 2026. For Purchase Enquiry at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/285 Frontrunners in the industry- Access Bio. Inc. Siemens AG. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. Premier Medical Corporation Pvt Ltd. Atlas Medical Biomerieux SA Meridian Bioscience Inc. Novartis AG Abbott Laboratories Olympus Corporation Avenue Basic Plan | Library Access | 1 Year Subscription | Sign up for Avenue subscription to access more than 12,000+ company profiles and 2,000+ niche industry market research reports at $699 per month, per seat. For a year, the client needs to purchase minimum 2 seat plan. Avenue Library Subscription | Request for 14 days free trial of before buying: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/avenue/trial/starter Get more information :https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/library-access Similar Reports: Rapid Diagnostics Market - Global Opportunities and Forecasts, 2020-2027 DNA Diagnostics Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2027 Global Sepsis Diagnostic Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2027 About Us Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. Contact: David Correa 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1(855)550-5975 [email protected] Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com Follow Us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allied-market-research SOURCE Allied Market Research A man who was reportedly enjoying a sleep in the sun at Banff National Park, Canada, had a major scare when he woke to see a grizzly bear approaching, on May 5. Local photographer Chris Taylor was enjoying the warm weather with friends when he spotted the bear roaming around Cascade Ponds. We were always safe with the park official between us and the grizzly, Taylor said. Some people were unaware like the man in blue. He was sleeping and we all collectively screamed to wake him and let him know. The bear went and sniffed the area hed been in but kept going on his way and no one was harmed. Taylor told Storyful he believed the bear was the famous grizzly known by locals as #122 or The Boss. Local media previously reported that the famous bear was believed to be about 20 years old and was the Bow Valleys biggest and toughest male grizzly. Credit: Chris Taylor via Storyful Like most Americans, Julie Buckles, the owner of Honest Dog Books in tiny Bayfield, Wis., has had to be flexible in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Overnight, we went from hosting music, literary discussions and poetry readings to shipping books all over the country," she told me. With her bookstore shuttered, Buckles is now relying on the U.S. Postal Service to stay in business. Honest Dog staff will even select a used book to "suit your mood," based on your answers to a few personal questions. The cost: just $9, plus $4 for postal delivery. The private United Parcel Service, on the other hand, charges at least $10.75 for book deliveries. But just as the Postal Service is delivering more books, food and other essentials than ever, a crisis-related plunge in mail revenue threatens to bankrupt the system. Due in part to the pandemic, the Postal Service projects it will have a $13 billion revenue shortfall by September, the end of the fiscal year. That might just put it out of business. Postal leaders say they need at least $25 billion in emergency cash relief. The Trump administration, however, has offered only a $10 billion loan, in exchange for steep rate hikes and job cuts. In response to an online request, more than 1,000 people wrote to explain why losing the Postal Service would be devastating, especially for rural communities. Karen Nyhus wrote that she uses the Postal Service to send Christmas presents to her octogenarian mother, who lives outside a small town in Maine. "USPS comes in a little car with flashing lights, all the way out on her road to deliver the essentials she orders to be safe," she noted. "If she had to pay a private carrier, it would cost a fortune." Millions of Americans also rely on the Postal Service for their prescriptions. "USPS delivers my life-keeping medication," wrote Frank Cassianna, of Myrtle Point, Ore. "Without it, I would be dead." Military veterans, nearly one-quarter of whom live in rural communities, receive 80% of their meds through the mail. The 14.5 million rural residents without high-speed internet access need the Postal Service to pay bills and connect to the broader world. USPS also supports middle-class jobs in communities at a time of skyrocketing unemployment. According to an Institute for Policy Studies analysis of the 15 most rural states, the Postal Service employs more people than many other major job categories. Mississippi's nearly 5,000 postal workers, for example, outnumber the state's corrections officers, carpenters, plumbers, firefighters and bank tellers. Ordinary Americans of every political stripe, including 90% of Republicans and 96% of Democrats, support a postal relief package. Members of Congress have even formed a new, bipartisan Postal Preservation Caucus to heed that call. But Trump has argued that USPS could fix its own problems if it just quadrupled the rates it charges businesses like Amazon, headed by one of Trump's personal enemies, Jeff Bezos, for package delivery. This would just hurt customers without resolving the problem of plummeting mail revenue. In 1775, our Founding Fathers created the post office to help bind our nation. It continues to play this role by providing affordable service to every U.S. address _ no matter how remote. Postal workers deserve our help now so they can continue serving us for generations to come. Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project and co-edits Inequality.org at the Institute for Policy Studies. This column was produced for the Progressive Media Project, which is run by The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service. Parents are accustomed to putting their children on daycare wait lists long before theyre ready to attend sometimes even before theyre born. Then, if theyre lucky enough to get a spot, most can look forward to paying the equivalent of a sizable monthly mortgage and years of stressful daycare dashes racing from work to make pick-up time. Given all that, parents must be feeling like theyre witnessing some alternate version of reality right now. After all, during the pandemic, Ontario has offered free child care to essential workers. And its available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to suit the working schedules of parents, whatever that might be. Originally this child care was limited to registered health-care workers and first responders, but it has expanded, along with our understanding of essential workers, to include everyone from grocery store clerks and food processing workers to long-term-care home workers and even truckers. And Ontarios Education Minister Stephen Lecce was quick to connect the vital importance of child care to the governments staged reopening of the economy itself. Every member of this government understands how critical child care is to getting our economy on track and how important those centres are to permitting parents, and especially women, entering the job market, Lecce said. We get that. That may come as a surprise albeit it a very welcome one to the parents, economists and child care advocates whose contention that accessible, affordable child care is vital to Ontarios economic growth and progress have seemed to fall on deaf ears with this government. Ontario is not the only province to have come around so suddenly to the importance of child care. Most provinces are providing free emergency child care for essential workers. Quebec has already said it will expand access to all workers in the early stages of its planned reopening. But Quebec has long been light years ahead of other provinces when it comes to providing widely accessible and affordable child care. Its in Ontario where the change in tone has been nothing short of extraordinary. The Ford government, after all, killed a promising child-care plan when it came to power in 2018. It replaced the Liberal governments plan to make child care for preschoolers free with a tax credit for any type of child care, including babysitting and summer camp. The following year in its very first budget it put forward child-care cuts and policy changes that jeopardized thousands of subsidized daycare spaces for low-income parents in Toronto the city with the most expensive child care in the country. On top of that, the Ford government rolled back a planned hike in the minimum wage, which would have helped many of the women working the low-paid frontline jobs suddenly deemed so essential in the pandemic. And it stalled pay transparency legislation designed to reduce the longstanding pay gap for women. So the question now is how many of these political statements about the vital importance of child care and the social and economic lessons of this crisis will be carried over in the post-pandemic world? If the Ford government really has come to appreciate the relationship between child care and economic recovery, as it claims, it must take steps to stabilize the existing child-care system and create the more robust system Ontarios families and economy have long needed. The first step is to help ensure all the child-care centres that have been closed for two months, with no parents fees coming in to pay the bills, actually reopen. The sector was in bad shape before the pandemic hit. Staff are paid low wages, there arent enough government subsidies to create the necessary affordable spaces, and full-fee parents are unable to pay any more. And going forward it may be necessary to reduce occupancy limits for safety because of COVID-19, putting the centres on even shakier financial grounds. This is true of many small businesses, of course, but the government cant afford to let any child-care centres fail. Economic recovery depends on people being able to work. And as governments across Canada have acknowledged by making child care free for essential workers during the pandemic, child care is essential for labour force participation. Even before the pandemic there wasnt enough regulated child care, and in most communities it was far from affordable. This is the time to change that. Government funding for child care provides direct jobs for women, who have suffered higher job loses and reduced hours in the pandemic, and it enables other women to rejoin the workforce. The pandemic has laid bare the many things that dont work well in our society from long-term care homes to employment insurance to child care. How Ottawa and the provinces move forward will be evidence of whether governments have learned from this crisis and intend to rebuild in a better way. Or whether governments, like Ontario, that werent big on child care before simply return to their old ways and hope no one notices. If that happens well all lose, and our economic recovery will take even longer. Hate speech. Fake News. Freedom of expression. Election interference. Facebook has real problems. Those four are easily among the most challenging, but they are nowhere near the biggest problem with the world's largest social media platform. In fact, in many ways, they are merely symptoms. That doesn't mean that Facebook doesn't need to deal with those issues, it absolutely does. Especially as the world tries to find its way out of a pandemic, and Facebook has become a hotspot for misinformation and protest. That is ostensibly what the company is attempting to do with the announcement of the first 20 members of its advisory board. The board itself is impressive. No one can argue it isn't a collection of extraordinary humans who have well-considered positions on the relevant subject matter. The group includes journalist Tawakkol Karman, a Nobel Peace Prize winner; Andras Sajo, a former judge and vice president at the European Court of Human Rights; and Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the former prime minister of Denmark, among others with equally impressive backgrounds. You may remember that this is the board that will have the ultimate authority to hear appeals when Facebook removes content. According to an op-ed in The New York Times last week, the board's mandate is to "make final and binding decisions on whether specific content should be allowed or removed from Facebook and Instagram (which Facebook owns)." The problem is that the decisions it is able to make are hardly the ones the company needs the most help with. The biggest problem with Facebook, as I've written in the past, is that the company's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is a true believer. The ultimate problem with Facebook is that its interests are in direct conflict with the privacy interests of its users. That's a problem for a company with so much direct impact on our daily lives. I wrote earlier this year about a room full of people who literally laughed when a representative from Facebook described everything the company did as "privacy-protective." I'm not even sure what that means, but the same rep, Erin Egan, the vice president of public policy at Facebook, said the company builds every product with "privacy by design." The thing is, no one who doesn't work at Facebook actually believes that's true. That's a problem. And this super-board has no ability to do anything about it. It can't force Facebook to make real changes to protect users. It won't review products to flag areas that infringe on user privacy. It has no influence on the company's business decisions, which are at the core of the conflict it has over protecting user information. Which is really--at its heart--what is wrong with this board. It's almost as if Facebook wants to get credit for doing something without actually having to do something. In Facebook's case, that's a very real issue considering the level of scrutiny the company has faced from regulators, privacy advocates, investigators, and, ultimately, its users. Perhaps the company hopes that if it just regulates itself, everyone else will leave it alone. I'm not a particular fan of the government stepping in--rarely does that solve a problem like this. I am, however, in favor of real changes to how Facebook monetizes its users' personal information. In any number of ways, Facebook is arguably the most powerful company on earth. It knows more about most of us than probably any other entity, including the government. It has more influence over whom we interact with, what information we see, and what we buy (and why) than any other company ever. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will host the Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen 2020 on Tuesday, 2 June 2020, in partnership with the United Nations. The event, which will be held virtually, will be headed by the Kingdom under the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Hosting the 2020 event is an extension of Saudi Arabia's global humanitarian and development contributions to Yemen, in particular. Historically, the Kingdom has been the top donor country to Yemen, especially during the past five years. The Kingdom continues to support Yemenis inside Yemen, including large numbers of IDPs, and also provides significant support for Yemeni refugees in neighboring countries. Saudi Arabia also provides ongoing development assistance for the reconstruction of Yemen, including direct support to the Central Bank of Yemen. By hosting this event, Saudi Arabia affirms its commitment to alleviating the suffering of the Yemeni people and to providing ongoing support to the country. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia calls upon other donor countries to participate in the success of this important humanitarian pledging event to help the United Nations and the world provide essential, life-saving assistance to Yemen and its people over the next year. SOURCE King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre Lucknow: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was admitted to Medanta Hospital in the city on Sunday night after he complained of a stomach ache, just a day after he was discharged. This is the second time in the past five days that the former UP chief minister had to be hospitalised. He was previously admitted to the hospital on Wednesday and was discharged on Saturday. Mulayam is said to have undergone colonoscopy and is suffering from stomach-related issues. "There is swelling in his intestines but he is stable and should recover soon. Gastro-surgeon are monitoring his health," said Dr Rakesh Kapoor, director of the Medanta hospital told news agency IANS. The leader's brother and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia chief Shivpal Singh Yadav said Mulayam's health was fine and sought people's prayers for his long life. On Saturday, the SP patriarch had been discharged from a Lucknow hospital where he was admitted after he complained of stomach and urine-related ailments. Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary had said that the leader was admitted to Medanta Hospital on Wednesday and was discharged on Saturday afternoon. (With inputs from IANS) A man gets a hair cut at a hairdressing salon in Sevres, outside Paris, France, on May 11, 2020. (Christophe Ena/AP Photo) Restart or Re-stop? Countries Reopen Amid Second-Wave Fears PARISPlastic spacing barriers and millions of masks appeared on the streets of Europes newly reopened cities on May 11, as France and Belgium emerged from lockdowns, the Netherlands sent children back to school and Spain let people eat outdoors. All faced the delicate balance of trying to restart battered economies without causing a second wave of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus infections. Fears of infection spikes in countries that eased their restrictions have been borne out over the past few days in Germany, where new clusters were linked to three slaughterhouses; in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the CCP virus started; and in South Korea, where one nightclub customer was linked to a 85 new cases. People wearing masks to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 shop at an outlet mall in Gimpo, South Korea, on May 1, 2020. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters) Health officials in the United States will be watching closely in the coming days for any resurgence of the CCP virus two weeks after states began gradually reopening. Authorities have warned that the scourge could come back with a vengeance without widespread testing and tracing of infected peoples contacts, and efforts to assemble contact-tracing teams are underway in Europe and the U.S. While some countries such as Germany have established robust tracing abilities, other countries are far behind. Britain abandoned an initial effort in mid-March when the CCP viruss rapid spread made it impossible. Now it is recruiting 18,000 people to do the legwork of tracking contacts. People exercise in a fitness studio in Cologne, Germany, on May 11, 2020. (Marius Becker/dpa via AP) Britain and other countries are also developing contact-tracing cellphone apps that can show whether someone has crossed paths with an infected person. In the hardest-hit corner of the United States, contact tracers in New York began online training Monday. A May 15 goal for reopening parts of the state hinges on the ability to track the spread of the CCP virus. Gov. Andrew Cuomo set a requirement of 30 contact tracers per 100,000 residents for areas to reopen. That translates to about 6,000 workers statewide. Contract tracing across the rest of the United States is a patchwork of approaches and readiness levels. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo holds a protective mask to his face as he arrives for a daily briefing at New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., on May 7, 2020. (Mike Segar/Reuters) In loosening up the countrys lockdown, German authorities have spelled out a specific level of infection that could lead to the reimposition of restrictions in local areas. Other countriesand U.S. stateshave been vague about what would be enough to trigger another clampdown. With Mondays partial reopening, the French did not have to carry forms allowing them to leave their homes. Crowds formed at some metro stations in Paris, but the citys notorious traffic jams were absent. Only half the stores on the Champs-Elysees were open. Parisian hairdressers planned to charge a fee for the disposable protective gear they will have to give customers. Walk-ins will be a thing of the past, said Brigitte LHoste, manager of the Hair de Beaute salon. Catholic worshippers pray inside Sevilles cathedral, Spain, on May 11, 2020. (Miguel Morenatti/AP Photo) The face of beauty will change, meaning clients wont come here to relax. Clients will come because they need to, said Aurelie Bollini, a beautician at the salon. They will come and aim at getting the maximum done in the shortest time possible. In South Korea, the government clamped down again, halting school reopenings planned for this week and reimposing restrictions on nightclubs and bars. It is trying to track down 5,500 patrons of a Seoul nightlife district by checking credit-card transactions, cellphone records and security camera footage. In China, Shanghai Disneyland reopened but with limited visitors who had to wear masks and have their temperatures checked. Roughly half of Spains 47 million people shifted into looser restrictions, beginning to socialize, shop in small stores and sit outdoors at restaurants. Its biggest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, remained under lockdown. A young visitor, wearing face masks, waves at the Disneyland theme park in Shanghai as it reopened after the CCP virus closure, on May 11, 2020. (Sam McNeil/AP Photo) Spanish hotels were allowed to open with precautions, but their financial prospects were bleak with people not allowed to travel outside their provinces and few flights from overseas. Unfortunately this years business is lost already. Its going to be catastrophic, said Manuel Dominguez, manager at Sevilles Dona Maria Hotel. In Belgium, Brussels City2 shopping mall reopened, and everyone was impatient to open their shops, see their customers, so it is a relief despite the tremendous work they did to adapt their shops, to create paths with entries and exits for customers, said manager Jurgen De Gelas. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a modest easing of the countrys lockdown but urged citizens not to squander the progress made. Some people, however, were confused as the government shifted its slogan from Stay at Home to Stay Alert. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland stuck with the old motto. Britains Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacts outside 10 Downing Street during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS, following the outbreak of the CCP virus disease in London, Britain, on May 7, 2020. (Hannah McKay/Reuters) At the risk of more confusion, the British government did an about-face on masks Monday, telling people to cover their mouth and nose in stores and on buses and subways. People in jobs that cannot be done at home should be actively encouraged to go to work this week, Johnson said. He also set a goal of June 1 to begin reopening schools and shops if Britain can control new infections. Johnson himself is the only world leader to suffer a serious bout of COVID-19. At Londons Waterloo train station, not everyone was convinced. I am nervous about going back, because I have a family and they have been isolating since the start. I feel like I am now putting them at risk, said Peter Osu, 45, who was returning to work at a construction site. Vice President Mike Pence thanks faith leaders at the conclusion of the National Day of Prayer event at the White House in Washington, on May 7, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) In the United States, Trump administration officials spoke optimistically about a relatively quick economic rebound from the pandemic. Worldwide, 4 million people have been reported infected and more than 280,000 have died, over 150,000 of them in Europe. Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the University of Washington institute that has created a widely cited model projecting the course of the outbreak, said that moves by states to reopen businesses will translate into more cases and deaths in 10 days from now. Infections and deaths are going up more than expected in Illinois, Arizona, Florida, and California, he said. India reported its biggest daily increase in cases Monday as it prepared to resume train service to ease a lockdown that has hit migrant workers and their hungry families especially hard. In South Africa, authorities in Cape Town and the surrounding province considered reimposing a stricter lockdown as the area became the countrys CCP virus hotspot. The province accounts for about half of South Africas 200 CCP virus deaths. By Lori Hinnant and Nick Perry Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. As people stay indoors to contain coronavirus spread, the at-home economy has come into action, whether it is food delivery, online education classes or telemedicine. Fitness isn't behind too. Since people don't have access to gym or their aerobics centre, they are flocking to online fitness classes to burn calories. As lockdown started, healthcare startup Cure.Fit launched online fitness classes to ensure that its users continue their workout sessions. Within a month, a million users are accessing the online platform on Cure.Fit app and website to lead a healthy lifestyle within the confines of their homes. After the success of the digital product, the Bengaluru-based firm is now launching its freemium version. "Digital product was always in the pipeline to have a pan-India reach. With just physical centres, it is not possible to reach beyond top 20 Indian cities. Due to the lockdown, we fast forwarded our plans to launch online version by six to nine months," says Ankit Nagori, Co-founder, Cure.Fit. The original plan was to launch it in the first quarter of 2021. With its success, the firm is now launching the freemium model this month. The free version will continue to be there. In the new freemium model, a part of the content will be free but to access better experience, users will have to pay. The better experience will mean more content and much better technology features, says Nagori. Without divulging more details, he says, the focus will be on a host of social features, such as user's ability to create groups. The current energy meter feature would be expanded to tell the energy level of a class. The paid online classes will be 20 per cent of what they pay for Cult.Fit fitness centres. There will also be a free trial period for specific hours of content. Home fitness classes seem to be a business continuity plan for the offline fitness centres., Nagori predicts a 12 month cycle of business recovery. Demand will catch up from October onwards. "We are half way through it and the other half is left. The Q1 2021 will see the same demand as Q1 of 2020," he says. He adds, "Of course, macro-economic aspect will come into play, but health and fitness will now be seen as a non-discretionary spend. People would want healthy lifestyle and to achieve that they will prefer branded players due to their much better standards for health and hygiene." Founded by Nagori and Myntra cofounder Mukesh Bansal, the Bengaluru-based firm recently let go of its 250-300 trainers (from 2500) to keep cost structures sustainable. The founders announced they are forgoing their salary, senior management is taking a 50% cut and the rest will take 20-30 percent pay cut June onwards. The health and fitness app HealthifyMe too has launched home workouts on its app that have fitness, yoga and workouts sessions which are available for free and are suitable for users across all fitness levels. Also read: Coronavirus impact: Cure.fit now aims to deliver groceries within 24 hours Burma Myanmar Rebel Coalition Calls for Military to Extend Ceasefire to Rakhine TNLA troops patrol in an area controlled by the group in northern Shan State / The Irrawaddy Members of three ethnic armed groups known as the Brotherhood Alliance have asked the Myanmar army not to exclude Rakhine State from a unilateral ceasefire from May 10 to Aug. 31 as the country is trying to control the coronavirus pandemic. The Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) issued a joint statement Sunday saying that the Myanmar army should not exclude Rakhine from its latest ceasefire, as it has in the past, as the military has ongoing offensives in Rakhine and in Chin States Paletwa Township, where many local people are suffering the impacts of the fighting. The Brotherhood Alliance extended its own ceasefire for one month on May 3 but fighting between the groups and the Myanmar military has continued. The military, also known as the Tatmadaw, announced a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday that will last until Aug. 31 and cover the whole country except areas where terrorist organizations are based, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense. The Myanmar government declared the AA a terrorist group in late March. The group is involved in ongoing fighting with the Tatmadaw in western Myanmar. The Tatmadaw announced a unilateral ceasefire for all areas except areas recognized as the base of a terrorist organization, which refers to Rakhine and Paletwa in Chin, said the military statement on Saturday. Brigadier General Tar Phone Kyaw of the TNLA said the Tatmadaw should announce a nationwide ceasefire. If they announced a nationwide ceasefire, we could all work to prevent the spread of COVID-19 effectively. We could even successfully work for peace, he told The Irrawaddy on Monday. Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the Myanmar army, said the military is unwilling to negotiate with the AA. Unless the AA is removed from the list of terrorist organizations, we cannot negotiate with them. Therefore, we have to exclude them. The militarys announcement on Saturday said the ceasefire is intended to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the country, in line with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres call for a worldwide ceasefire to prevent and control the pandemic. Clashes between the Myanmar military and the AA have intensified steadily since the Rakhine rebels attacked a group of police bases in January 2019, and have continued to worsen this month. The Myanmar military has used naval, air and ground forces in the conflict, while the AA relies on guerrilla tactics and has resorted to abducting civilians, including a ruling party lawmaker and government officials. The conflict has resulted in a high number of civilian causalities. The UN and rights groups have accused the Myanmar army of committing human right abuses in the conflict area. More than 160,000 people have been internally displaced by the conflict in Rakhine. U Maung Maung Soe, an ethnic affairs analyst, said the Myanmar army will be able to cooperate with other ethnic armed groups such as the Karen National Union and the Restoration Council of Shan State to prevent the spread of COVID-19 under the unilateral ceasefire. However, as the army has excluded Rakhine from the ceasefire, he said the fighting in that area will continue as before. I do not see any change because of their ceasefire announcement. It will also be difficult to have peace negotiations with members of the Northern Alliance, U Maung Maung Soe said, referring to a coalition that includes the Brotherhood Alliance as well as the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). According to the TNLA, the Myanmar army will use the ceasefire to claim to the world that they are working to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, while at the same time they will try to eliminate the AA. If they do not stop fighting with the AA, a joint military offensive from our Brotherhood Alliance will come again soon, Brig-Gen Tar Phone Kyaw said. The joint statement from Brotherhood Alliance denied the Myanmar armys claim that the ceasefire is intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, instead saying the Tatmadaws announcement is just for show to the international community, including the International Court of Justice, and would be impossible for it to stop the fighting in the country. Brig-Gen Tar Phone Kyaw added that the military is taking advantage of ethnic armed groups unilateral ceasefires, like the one from the TNLA, saying that the military is sending its soldiers to travel from one village to another. We cannot attack them as we announced a unilateral ceasefire, he said, but added that if the military continues to prepare offensives, fighting could break out at any time. You may also like these stories: A Fierce Battle in Western Myanmar Has Killed Hundreds as the Country Braces for COVID TNLA Attacks Five Poppy-Growing Hubs in Northern Myanmar Hyderabad, May 11 : Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to allow resumption of train services to contain the spread of coronavirus. He made the request during the video conference the Prime Minister had with the Chief Ministers of all the states. He said the movement of people through trains would make the task of monitoring the Covid-19 situation difficult and this may lead to spread of virus from one place to the other. KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, told Modi that since conducting tests on all those travelling through trains or keeping them in quarantine is not possible, trains should not be operated at this stage. Pointing out that several major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad have a large number of Covid-19 cases, he said if trains were operated between these cities, there would be a big movement of people from one place to the other and it would not be possible to keep track of them. KCR told the PM that since the chances of an early end to Covid-19 appear remote, the people will have to be taught to live with it. "First of all we have to remove fear from them and make them learn to live with coronavirus," he said. The Chief Minister said the efforts were being made to prepare a vaccine for coronavirus and hoped that the first vaccine will come from India. "Companies in Hyderabad are also working hard. There are chances of first vaccine being developed in Hyderabad. It is likely to be available in July-August. The situation will change with the availability of the vaccine," he said. On the issue of migrant workers, KCR said all states should show empathy. He said the migrant workers were desperate to go home to meet their family members and hence, they should be allowed to visit them. Hailing the decision to operate Shramik trains, KCR said Telangana was sending the migrant workers who want to go home. He pointed out that workers from Bihar were returning to Telangana to work in rice mills. KCR reiterated the demand that the loans of the states be rescheduled on the lines of reschedulement of the loans of farmers. He urged the Centre to take initiative in this regard. Beijing: Wuhan has reported its first cluster of coronavirus infections since a lockdown on the city, the epicentre of the outbreak in China, was lifted a month ago, stoking concerns of a wider resurgence. The five new confirmed cases, all from the same residential compound, come amid efforts to ease restrictions across China as businesses restart and individuals get back to work. Firefighters prepare to disinfect areas at the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in April. Wuhan was the epicentre of the outbreak in China. Credit:Getty Images "We must resolutely contain the risk of a rebound," the health authority in Wuhan, a city with a population of about 11 million, said in a statement on Monday, local time. New confirmed cases reported in China since April have been low compared with the thousands every day in February, thanks to a nationwide regime of screening, testing and quarantine. Leading scientists fear systems are not in place for the government to ramp up its testing to swab hundreds of thousands of people each day. In his speech to the nation last night, Boris Johnson promised to dramatically ramp up testing as Britain moves towards finally leaving lockdown. The Prime Minister said the UK had made 'fast progress' on testing, as he pledged a 'world-beating system' for testing and tracing COVID-19 spread. But one top virologist admitted he was 'not convinced' Britain had the infrastructure in place to drastically scale up its swabbing scheme. Department of Health statistics released yesterday showed fewer than 93,000 tests were carried out across the home nations on May 9. It means health chiefs have failed to hit the ambitious target of carrying out 100,000 tests for eight days in a row. Questions have also today been raised about the government's contact-tracing app, which could be ditched in favour of a different model. Fewer than 50,000 people living on the Isle of Wight - 35 per cent of its population - have downloaded the app since a trial began last week. But experts say around two-thirds of Britain - the equivalent of 40million people - will eventually need to install the app for it to work. Boris Johnson addressed the nation from Downing Street to sketch out a road map from lockdown Figures released today show fewer than 93,000 tests were carried out on May 9, meaning officials havent met their ambitious pledge of 100,000 a day since May 2 TESTING IN CARE HOMES IS STILL 'VERY PATCHY' Testing for those living in care homes is 'still very patchy' despite a pledge by the government to check all staff and residents for COVID-19, an operator has said. Avery Healthcare, which houses around 2,500 residents in 56 care homes across England, said the testing facilities still currently varied across the country. In mid-April the government gave assurances that all frontline care workers in need of a test should have one. On April 28, it was announced that coronavirus tests would be extended to residents and staff in care homes - regardless of whether they have symptoms. A spokesman for Avery said that while testing is increasing for social care staff, checks for residents are not yet available 'in the quantity or consistency' providers are hoping for. 'Testing is now becoming more readily available for our staff and obviously as with every provider, we're encouraging our staff to go and get tested as quickly as possible,' the spokesman said. 'Testing for residents is starting to become available but not in the quantity or consistency across the country that we would want. And I'm sure that goes for every operator, it is still very patchy.' Advertisement Mr Johnson last night turned the screw on Matt Hancock by vowing the government would increase daily testing to the hundreds of thousands. The embattled Health Secretary - whose job is reportedly hanging by a thread after a bust-up with the PM - will be tasked with delivering the goal. Mr Johnson said last night: 'If we are to control this virus, then we must have a world-beating system for testing potential victims, and for tracing their contacts. 'So that - all told - we are testing literally hundreds of thousands of people every day. 'We have made fast progress on testing but there is so much more to do now, and we can. 'When this began, we hadnt seen this disease before, and we didnt fully understand its effects. 'With every day we are getting more and more data. We are shining the light of science on this invisible killer, and we will pick it up where it strikes.' Professor Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, raised concerns over the Prime Minister's pledge. 'Recognition of the importance of infection control through extensive testing and effective contact tracing was a welcome statement,' he said. 'But I am not convinced the systems are really in place to do this. Hopefully clarity will emerge over the next few days.' Professor Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, said: 'The Prime Ministers statement today certainly left a lot of questions unanswered. Mr Hancock's cabinet job is reportedly hanging by a thread after a bust-up Mr Johnson, who was scathing over the handling of the crisis while he was in hospital BRITAIN COULD DITCH ITS CONTACT TRACING APP BEFORE IT IS EVEN ROLLED OUT ACROSS THE UK Britain could ditch its coronavirus contact-tracing app before it has even been rolled out nationwide, a senior government minister has admitted. Communities secretary Robert Jenrick revealed the app - being piloted on the Isle of Wight - may need to 'adapt' or 'move to a different model'. Fewer than 50,000 people living on the island, or 35 per cent of its population, have downloaded the app since the trial began last week. But experts say around two-thirds of Britain - the equivalent of 40million people - will eventually need to install the app for it to work. The app, which works using Bluetooth, alerts users if they have been in close contact with someone who has reported symptoms of COVID-19. But its design has sparked privacy concerns, with officials admitting the 'centralised' NHS approach sees personal data stored in one database. Other nations have adopted an app model which stores data in a 'decentralised' way, meaning the app does not harvest location data. Google and Apple's own decentralised tech has been adopted by European nations including Germany, Ireland and Switzerland. Health chiefs - keen to roll the app out nationwide in the next week - are understood to be looking at switching to the system used by the two tech giants. Advertisement 'Whilst little seems to have changed for the rest of this month at least, it is still far from clear what the practicalities are of what we can and cannot do.' He added that before any significant change, Britain needs to ensure 'we have fully adequate testing services in place'. Professor Azra Ghani, of Imperial College London, said: 'Such testing should not be driven by an arbitrary threshold; rather it should be driven by need.' Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told Sky News that the Labour Party had pushed the Government to 'speed up' its response to the pandemic. He added: 'We pushed the Government on lockdown, we pushed them on testing, we pushed them on PPE. 'Now we pushed and challenged with the purpose, which was to try to get them to speed up. 'And I said that under my leadership we're not out to score party political points. So it was to get them to speed up and to ramp up.' Figures released by the Department of Health yesterday afternoon showed 92,837 tests were carried out on May 9. It means more than 1.8million swabs have now been carried out since Britain began to test suspected patients at the start of the crisis. Figures also show 1.3million Britons have now been tested for COVID-19 - around 2 per cent of the 66million population. TESTING FIRM GIVEN 130MILLION TO MAKE COVID-19 SWABS EMPLOYS TORY MP AS A PAID CONSULTANT A diagnostics firm won a 130million government contract to make COVID-19 swab tests without any other testing companies being invited to bid for the work, it was claimed today. The Guardian also reported the firm - Randox Laboratories - has employed Conservative MP Owen Paterson as a paid consultant on 100,000 a year since 2015. Randox was awarded the contract by the Department of Health to help make testing kits that the government could use to ramp up its capacity to carry out 100,000 swabs each day. The newspaper reported that the DH said there was no other way of getting the testing kits and the 'associated services that were urgently needed' without paying Randox. Advertisement It means that roughly 14 tests are carried out on every 10 people, suggesting that a third of suspected patients are tested twice. People may be tested twice if something goes wrong during analysis, to confirm the result, or if a doctor doesn't believe a negative result. While in other cases someone may be tested again after developing symptoms for a second time but testing negative in an earlier swab. Official data released by the Department of Health each day show the government has never tested more than 100,000 people in a 24-hour period. The government claimed to hit its target of carrying out 100,000 tests a day by the end of April - but ministers were accused of fiddling the figures. Mr Hancock faced claims that he used postal tests yet to be completed and multiple checks on the same people to hit his six-figure milestone. Deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said that not much could be read into day-to-day variations, adding that he experts there to be some fluctuation on a 'day-to-day basis'. The government has faced massive backlash over the lack of mass testing since the virus, called SARS-CoV-2, began spreading on British soil in February. The UK effectively abandoned efforts to screen everyone with symptoms last month when the response moved from 'containment' to the 'delay' phase. Instead tests were largely restricted to those in hospital, while those who suspected they were mildly infected were urged to self-isolate. Ministers were stung by comparisons with countries like Germany and South Korea, which done huge scale testing and have had much lower death rates. HOW NUMBER 10 HAS RAMPED UP ITS TESTING CAPACITY DATE Apr 1 Apr 2 Apr 3 Apr 4 Apr 5 Apr 6 Apr 7 Apr 8 Apr 9 Apr 10 Apr 11 Apr 12 Apr 13 Apr 14 Apr 15 Apr 16 Apr 17 Apr 18 Apr 19 Apr 20 Apr 21 Apr 22 Apr 23 Apr 24 Apr 25 Apr 26 Apr 27 Apr 28 Apr 29 Apr 30 May 1 May 2 May 3 May 4 May 5 May 6 May 7 May 8 May 9 May 10 TESTS PER DAY 10,412 10,657 11,764 10,984 11,085 13,069 14,006 14,682 16,095 19,116 18,091 18,000 14,506 14,982 15,994 18,665 21,328 21,389 21,626 19,316 18,206 22,814 23,560 28,532 28,760 29,058 37,024 43,563 54,429 81,611 122,347 105,937 76,496 85,186 84,806 69,463 86,583 97,029 96,878 92,837 Advertisement Several private labs - which have the capacity to conduct thousands of tests a day - were ignored in their offers to help the government early on in the crisis. It was revealed yesterday that up to 50,000 coronavirus test samples had to be sent from the UK to the US to be analysed after operational issues in the labs. In response to news, the Department of Health said it was one of the contingencies to deal with so-called teething problems in a rapidly-expanded testing system. It is understood the test results - flown from Stansted Airport - will be validated back in the UK and communicated to patients 'as quickly as possible'. In other developments to the UK's testing fiasco, it was reported key workers trying to book a coronavirus test were offered slots requiring a 400-mile round trip. Results for some patients are taking up to 10 days to come back from the laboratory - despite ministers aiming to send results within 48 to 72 hours of the test. The World Health Organization has previously said no country should consider lifting social distancing measures until it has the ability to test every suspected case. Without mass testing, symptomatic people must assume they are infected and self-isolate, which experts fear they will refuse to do if lockdown frustration builds. Ministers are clueless as to how big the UK's COVID-19 outbreak truly is because of their controversial decision to abandon a widespread testing regime. Number 10's scientific advisers have said they estimate no more than 10 per cent of Britain has caught the virus - the equivalent of 6million people. While estimates from antibody surveillance studies suggest up to 12million Brits may have had the virus, based on a death rate of around 0.4 per cent. Last week it was claimed that accurate antibody tests that are able to tell millions of Britons if they have had coronavirus could be rolled out within a fortnight. Testing giant Roche Diagnostics claimed it has created a kit accurate enough to be used at scale - after weeks of disappointment regarding Britain's mass roll-out. Despite promising home antibody tests, the UK has not yet approved any because the Government insists it can't find a kit that is accurate enough. Antibody tests are considered key to easing lockdown and getting Britain back on its feet because they give the clearest picture of how widespread the virus is. Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty On March 20, a 28-year-old pregnant woman arrived at Lausanne University Hospital hospital in Switzerland with a fever, fatigue, diarrhea and dry cough. She was given a fever and pain reducer and sent home. Two days later, she returned to the hospital with severe contractions and no improvement in her symptoms. After 10 hours of labor, she gave birth to a stillborn. The cause, researchers believe, was the novel coronavirus. Early studies of pregnant COVID-19 patients found surprisingly few negative outcomes. But two new case reports documenting stillbirths and maternal deaths have sparked discussion about what the medical community still has to learn. The two reports, published at the end of last month, are limited in size and scope. Experts cautioned that the most rigorous studies to date suggest little difference in outcomes for pregnant people with COVID-19 and the general population. But the reports do raise questions about what we still dont know about the virus, nearly months into a global pandemic. There are sort of known unknowns and unknown unknowns, said Neel Shah, an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School. Pregnant Women Turn to Home Births to Escape Virus The overwhelming majority of people who are pregnant and become infected do well, as do their babies, he added. The challenge is there are a lot of people who are otherwise healthy, who get suddenly and unpredictably sick, and that's something we don't fully have a handle on yet. The Swiss study, published April 30 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, followed one woman from her COVID-19 diagnosis at 19 weeks pregnant through her labor and delivery two days later. The stillbirth, the authors write, appears related to placental infection with SARS-CoV-2, supported by virological findings in the placenta. They suggest that the findings warrant further study to see if the coronavirus can cause similar adverse outcomes. Story continues A longer paper, published in the American Journal of Gynecology around the same time, follows nine pregnant women in Iran selected for their known negative outcomes with COVID-19. At the time of publication, seven of the nine women had died, one was critically ill and ventilator-dependent, and one had recovered. None of the women had pre-existing comorbidities, and all had worse outcomes than their other household members. The researchers argue that, while we still dont know whether mortality is greater in pregnant people than in the general population, the results should prompt the reinvestigation of any guidelines that might be potentially construed as providing yet unproven reassurance of the absolute absence of death among pregnant women with COVID-19 disease. The fatal cases reported herein demonstrate [the maternal mortality rate] is not zero, and should inspire caution against complacency and guide restraint in rushing estimates of relative or attributable risk with pregnancy, they wrote. But Christopher Zahn, the vice president of practice activities for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the results should be taken with a grain of salt. He pointed to other, larger studies out of New York and China that found no significant difference in outcomes between pregnant people and the general population, and cautioned against over-concluding based on select case reports. We certainly recognize that pregnant women can get severely ill, he said. But what we need to look at from a guidance perspective is the population, not the individual. In fact, 16 reports spanning 154 COVID-positive pregnant women and 118 newborns show strikingly few cases of critical outcomes, according to the study published in AJOG. A study of nine pregnant women in Wuhan, China, for example, found that none of the women required mechanical ventilation or respiratory support. A study of 43 pregnant women in New York found that the severity of the disease matched those found in non-pregnant individuals. The findings are particularly striking given that pregnant people were found to be at greater risk of dying from H1N1, known as swine flu, and SARS, another coronavirus. The low rate of maternal mortality associated with COVID-19, the Iranian researchers wrote, is unexpected and further inconsistent with data documenting severe disease and death among similarly aged adults who are not pregnant and of low-risk. Currently, most major medical associations suggest pregnant people and new parents follow general sanitation protocols, practice social distancing, and wear a face covering if they choose to breastfeed. (Face coverings for infants are not recommended.) Patients with known cases of COVID-19 may have to be separated from their newborn for a period of time to prevent transmission. Shah said it could be a year before we have accurate data on how exactly the virus affects maternal and fetal outcomes. For now, the important thing is we approach this with both humility and empathy, he said. We have to be able to update our priors when we get new information. A couple weeks ago, there was no evidence that a mom could pass the virus to a baby, and now there is maybe some evidence, he added. What that really means for people who are pregnant and trying to conceive is that they should take extra precautions. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. A face mask bearing the image of Mussolini is causing controversy in Italy - Twitter A company near Italy's northern city of Verona is producing protective masks with Benito Mussolini's image on them, sparking a heated political row as the country struggles to handle the second phase of the coronavirus pandemic. According to reports by Italian media, the company based in the small village of San Giorgio in Salici is selling anti Covid-19 face masks, featuring images of the Fascist dictator. The masks also include one of his famous slogans: "Walk, build and, if necessary, fight and win!". News of the masks production spread on social media and caused immediate reactions among center-left politicians, who are part of the ruling coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement. Deputies of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) called on Italian authorities to "firmly condemn this disgraceful action" and urgently stop the production of the masks. "Of the many things that can happen amid a pandemic, selling personal protective equipment with an image of the Fascist Duce is the most unpleasant possible," PD Senator Vincenzo D'Arienzo wrote on Facebook. The masks are also available online on the many sites that sell Mussolini memorabilia. Some far-right social media commentators have praised the initiative, saying it promoted freedom of expression. But critics stressed it amounted to apology of Fascism, a crime under the Italian Constitution. After being hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, Italy is facing deep political divisions, as its fragile coalition government grapples to handle the heavy social and economic fallout from the prolonged lockdown. On Sunday, Giuseppe Conte, the prime minister, reassured Italians that they won't spend the summer in quarantine, but they'll be able to go on vacation, after two months of strict lockdown. In an interview with Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera, Mr Conte said that special rules will be applied during the summer months to avoid new contagions. But he added that the new guidelines won't force people at home, allowing them to enjoy their holidays. Story continues This summer we wont stay on our balconies and the Italian beauty wont be quarantined, Mr Conte said. We will be allowed to go to the beaches, or the mountains, we will enjoy our cities. As Italys tourism industry has been hit dramatically by the coronavirus emergency, the premier suggested Italians to pick their country as a holiday destination, while international travels are still limited. The Italian economy depends heavily on tourism, which accounts for about 13 per cent of its national output. Owners of beach and mountain resorts and all the businesses in the tourism sector are bracing to know the security rules they will have to comply with to be able to restart activities. Mr Conte is also under surging pressure to deliver a much-awaited economic package needed to help citizens and firms to face a deep recession, as the Italian output is expected to drop by almost 10 per cent this year. PM interacts with CMs; discusses on easing curbs, boosting economic activity India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, May 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired the fifth online meeting with Chief Ministers on ways to strengthen the COVID-19 containment strategy and stepping up of economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day nationwide lockdown nears an end. In his opening remarks, PM Modi speaks about migrants, says he understands their need to go home. It is challenge for us is to not let Covid-19 spread to villages, the PM says. COVID-19 crisis: As PM Modi hold talks with CMs, Delhi govt claims zero fatalities in 24 hours ''We stressed people should stay where they are. But it's human nature to want to go home and so we had to modify or change our decisions (kuch nirnay badalne bhi pare) . Despite that, to make sure it doesn't spread and go to villages, that's our big challenge,'' Modi said. On Sunday, the government took a major step by allowing limited passenger train services from Tuesday, for which online bookings start from 11 May. Special trains (total of 30 journeys) will run between Delhi and 14 states. Coronavirus crisis: Indian Railways resume services gradually; Train ticket reservation begins In his last call with the state CMs, the Prime Minister had, on 27 April, discussed the exit plan for the second lockdown which ended on 3 May, which was further extended. White House Trade and Manufacturing Policy Director Peter Navarro speaks during a briefing on the CCP virus pandemic in the press briefing room of the White House in Washington on March 27, 2020. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) White House Trade Adviser Says Chinese Communist Party Took Down US Economy in 60 Days White House trade adviser Peter Navarro this week claimed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ruined the United States economy in just 60 days due to its handling of the CCP virus outbreak. Speaking to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday, Navarro explained how the CCP engaged in a cover-up of the virus outbreak and allowed it to spread by continuing to let people from China travel to other parts of the world. We know that patient zero in China was about mid-November. It was in Wuhan. We know that ground zero had the P4 weapons lab, where the virus likely came from, Navarro said. For the next two months, we know that China hid the virus from the world behind the shield of the World Health Organization. And as they did that, they sent gleaming passenger jets from China, not into the rest of China from Wuhan, but to places like New York and Milan, seeding the world with what would become a pandemic, the economist and author explained. Navarro said that customs data showed that the CCP also vacuumed up virtually all of the worlds personal protective equipment, including over 2 billion masks, and that China is sitting on that stockpile of what we call PPE, and selling it at profiteering prices to some, while also putting pressure on some countries to deny the virus came from China or to talk about Taiwan or to do other things. So thats it in a nutshell. And what that means for us here is, this morning, Americans wont go to church because of the China virus, Navarro continued. Sons and daughters of America wont be taking their mothers to brunch. Tomorrow, 33 million Americans wont be going to work, and millions of children in America will be home climbing the walls, instead of learning reading, writing, and arithmetic. People who lost their jobs wait in line to file for unemployment at an Arkansas Workforce Center in Fayetteville, Ark., on April 6, 2020. (Nick Oxford/Reuters) The White House trade adviser concluded: President Trump built the most powerful and beautiful economy in the world in three years. The Chinese Communist Party took it down in 60 days. As The Epoch Times has previously reported, CCP officials knew in November or early December that COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus, had appeared in Wuhan but chose not to share this vital information with the rest of the world. Chinese officials instead arrested those who tried to warn of the danger, including doctors and medical experts, and employed the regimes rigorous censorship to prevent media coverage and to delete any mentions of the virus from social media. As a consequence of the CCPs actions, the virus has created a global pandemic that has killed more than 280,000 people and devastated economies around the world, including the United States. President Donald Trump on May 3 promised a new very strong report which would reveal what really happened in China to cause the global pandemic, adding that the CCP was embarrassed by outbreak and had attempted to cover it up while treating the rest of the world badly by allowing people to fly out of Wuhan to other parts of the world, prompting the virus to spread. Trump also said he believes the United States economy, which has begun partially reopening in recent weeks, is set to have an incredible year and is going to go into a transition in the third quarter and see things happening that look good. VITAS, the nation's leading provider of end-of-life care, is issuing the call for volunteers during National Nurses Week 2020 (May 6-12), a celebration of profound importance at a time when many critical-care US nurses are battling COVID-19 on the frontlines of healthcare while other nurses are furloughed or working scaled-back hours. Robin Fiorelli, senior director of volunteer and bereavement services for VITAS, describes the program as an ideal opportunity for nurses, nursing students and nursing organizations to make a tangible difference in the lives of hospice patients and their families. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, many nurses are working reduced hours at the same time that hospice patients are unable to leave their homes or unwilling to invite healthcare workers and volunteers into their homes for compassionate end-of-life care. "A warm call from our nursing volunteers can brighten the day of a hospice patient and reassure a patient's family member that they are not alone during the pandemic," Fiorelli says. AAMN and Lambda Psi Nu commit to calls The first VITAS volunteers to undergo training are members of the American Association for Men in Nursing (AAMN) and Lambda Psi Nu, a nursing sorority for licensed practical nurses. Additional nursing organizations have begun the onboarding process. "VITAS provides training for all volunteers, and the experience gives nurses and nursing students exposure to post-acute specialties like hospice that they might not encounter during their career or schooling," Fiorelli explains. "Because these calls have been so successful at improving the patient and caregiver experience, we've decided to continue these relationships and proactive calls well after we've left this pandemic behind." Launched in mid-April, the volunteer initiative has already trained nurses and nursing students who are making regular calls to patients or their caregivers, while others await onboarding/assignment to one of 48 VITAS hospice programs throughout the US. AAMN President Blake K. Smith, MSN, BN, says that even before COVID-19, his organization had been exploring volunteer opportunities for active-duty nurses and nursing students who require community service hours for nursing school acceptance and graduation. "During this pandemic, our members have been asking, 'What can we do? How can we help?'" Smith explains. "Many nurses and nursing students are sheltered at home, yet we feel we should be on the front lines with our colleagues. Stewardship and service to our communities are in our DNA as nurses, so participating in the VITAS Volunteer Call to Action was a prefect decision for us." Beverly Morgan, president of Lambda Psi Nu, said volunteering with VITAS is an ideal alternative for her sorority's community service program, which was suspended during COVID-19. "We're all bedside licensed practical nurses in the trenches, trying to provide quality care services every day, and part of our mission is to improve the quality of healthcare in communities of despair," says Morgan, who committed 500 volunteer hours from her organization. "The VITAS initiative is not only our way to give back to our community, it's also an awesome opportunity to connect VITAS patients with nurses who are caring and knowledgeable." Interested nurses or nursing students can find more information and apply at VITAS.com/volunteer. About VITAS Healthcare Established in 1978, VITAS Healthcare is a pioneer and leader in the American hospice movement. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, VITAS (pronounced VEE-tahs) operates 48 hospice programs in 14 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia. VITAS employs 12,262 professionals who care for patients with advanced illness daily, primarily in the patients' homes, and also in the company's 27 inpatient hospice units as well as in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living communities/residential care facilities for the elderly. At the conclusion of the first quarter of 2020, VITAS reported an average daily census of 19,215. Visit www.vitas.com. Media Inquiries contact [email protected] or 877-848-2701 SOURCE VITAS Healthcare Related Links https://www.vitas.com - Edward Okello was stabbed to death by his girlfriend Vigilance Shigi on Sunday, May 11, with a kitchen knife - Okello was rushed to Mama Lucy Kibaki hospital but was pronounced dead while undergoing treatment - Body of the deceased was moved to Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital mortuary awaiting postmortem An aeronautical engineer working at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has died after he was stabbed by his girlfriend in his house at Umoja estate, Nairobi county. Edward Okello, 33, was stabbed on the eve of Monday, May 11, by his girlfriend Vigilance Shigi, 29, with a kitchen knife. READ ALSO: Kipchumba Murkomen turns to God amid looming changes on the Senate Majority seat Edward Okello had been working as an aeronautical engineer at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Photo: The Star Source: UGC READ ALSO: CS Matiang'i goes after police officers who damaged civilian's lorry in viral video In a police report filed at Buruburu Police Station, the deceased was stabbed on the chest in his house at Umoja II, Zone 8 plot number 5961. "It was reported through control room that Edward Okello, a 33 year-old Luyha male working as airplane engineer at JKIA had been stabbed in the chest by his 29 year-old girlfriend Vigilance Shigi," read the statement. Okello was rushed to Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital for medical attention but he succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment. READ ALSO: Marafiki wa DP Ruto waonyesha dalili za kukataa wito wa Uhuru wafike Ikulu Police officers from Buruburu Police Station rushed to the scene of the incidence where they arrested the suspect with help from members of the public. Body of the deceased was moved to Mama Lucy Hospital mortuary awaiting an autopsy examination. A viral video on social media, shows a drunk Shigi trying to narrate the circumstances that led to the stabbing, indicating she was not herself when the incident happened and could not fully tell what happened. READ ALSO: Migori police officers on the spot for stealing KSh 6K offerings from SDA church "I don't know what happened, we had a disagreement and I asked him what is not happening here, he also asked me what is going on from there on I don't remember what happened," she said. Cases of suspected love triangles and murders have been in the rise ine the recent months. The latest comes barely days after another lady was charged for stabbing her boyfriend to death over dirty dishes. The 25 year-old Susan Njeri Wachira, was accused of stabbing Kelvin Njenga Ng'ang'a 11 times using a knife on Thursday, April 09, at White House within Tena Estate in Nairobi. Story by Enock Ndayala, TUKO Correspondent Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Source: TUKO.co.ke A 15-year old girl was allegedly set ablaze by two men at a village near here over enmity with her family and she succumbed to burns at a hospital here on Monday and the duo were arrested, police said. The two men belonged to the ruling AIADMK, the leader of opposition and DMK president M K Stalin said and demanded that the police department secure maximum punishment for the alleged offenders. The AIADMK, meanwhile, announced their expulsion from party posts and basic membership as they "brought disrepute and worked against the ideals of the party." Condemning her killing and expressing grief, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said it was ghastly and promised tough legal action against the two men. A case of murder has been registered against them and a probe was on, he said. "I have ordered a solatium of Rs five lakh to the family of the girl," he said. The girl, a class X student, was set ablaze in her village, Sirumadurai, about 28 km from here, allegeldy by 57-year old Murugan and Kaliaperumal (53) on Sunday, a senior police official told PTI. "She was rushed to the Government Medical College Hospital (Villupuram) where doctors said she sustained 80 per cent burns. She died today ...," he said, adding the girl gave a dying declaration to a magistrate in the hospital. In her declaration, she named the duo and made it clear that they had set her ablaze, the official added. "Based on her statement to the magistrate we have arrested the two men." The incident has shocked and outraged the people who demanded examplary punishment for the two men in the social media. To a question, the police official said that both the men and the family of the girl had enmity that spanned several years. The official said preliminary investigation has revealed that "the deceased and the accused men are relatives and belong to the same village. The families of the accused and the dead girl had enmity over a couple of issues like those related to land." As people were incensed due to her death, police personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order in the village which is near the temple town of Thiruvennainallur. The girl's body was later handed over to her family for burial, the official said. Political parties including the main opposition, DMK,its allies like the Left parties and AIADMK's ally PMK have sought tough action against the culprits. Stalin, condoling th death, said his party will extend its support to get justice for the girl. Only exemplary punishment will protect children and women, he said, adding the plight of the girl who suffered due to serious burns will outrage everyone with a heart. Similarly, leaders of other parties condoled the death and asked the government to take appropriate steps for examplary punishment for those arrested in the incident. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Monday launched a helpline for counselling of students of the Central University of Odisha, who are in mental distress in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Inaugurating the helpline "Bharosa" through a video conference, Pokhriyal lauded the initiative as it aims at providing mental and psychological assistance to the students of the institute. Addressing the mental health concern of students is of great importance and the helpline, 08046801010, introduced by the university, is a good initiative, he said. The minister urged other central and state universities and institutions of higher across the country to emulate the initiative that will provide cognitive emotional rehabilitation services to students. Central University of Odisha vice chancellor Prof I Ramabrahmam highlighted the features of the helpline that seeks to address the problems of distressed students in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. He said the "Bharosa" can address concern of any student of any university in Odisha, and over 400 calls have been received in the pilot phase of the project. State Higher Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo appreciated the efforts of the university and hoped that it will help students during the crisis period. Dr Meena Hariharan, President, Association of Health Psychologists, the collaborating agency with the central university for the initiative, congratulated the authorities of the institute. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An American scientist told CBS' "60 Minutes" Sunday his group's grant for a years-long project with the Wuhan Institute of Virology was stopped following unproven claims that the novel coronavirus is manmade or escaped from a Chinese government lab. Driving the news: Peter Daszak, president of the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, said the National Institutes of Health told him two weeks ago funding was canceled "for convenience and it doesn't fit within the scope of NIH's priorities." The decision came after President Trump said on April 17 he was looking into claims that the Obama administration had given the group a grant of $3.7 million, vowing to "quickly" end it. A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted. The big picture: The research the NIH previously funded examined the role of bats in the origins of coronaviruses in China. USA Today notes the grant "continued under the Trump administration until it was recently rescinded." The NIH has regularly funded the non-governmental EcoHealth Alliance for projects "since at least 2002" including approving in 2014 funding for the "Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence" project, which the Trump administration approved again in 2019. "It is misleading to claim that the Obama administration gave funding to a Chinese research institute. It is true that funds were provided to a project where an American research group worked alongside a Chinese organization. Claims that the funding helped produce the pandemic are unsubstantiated. A total of $3.7 million was not given to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, only about $600,000." USA Today on EcoHealth Alliance funding claim How it works: The British-born Daszak told CBS the group's strategy is to "go to the wildlife source, find out where the viruses are, and try and shift behaviors like hunting and killing wildlife that would lead to the next outbreak." "We also get the information into vaccine and drug developers so they can design better drugs," he added. Daszak told USA Today Sunday his group's grant "was specifically designed to locate where these viruses are and to stop them from harming Americans." "Once we've overcome COVID-19, what about COVID-20? What about COVID-21? Who is going to go out and find those?" Of note: The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is investigating concerns raised by State Department officials who visited the Wuhan institute in January 2018, Axios' Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian points out. The officials' cables warning of safety issues at the lab were leaked and published by the Washington Post on April 14. "The messages also noted that the lab's research on coronaviruses from bats showed that such viruses had potential for human-to-human transmission and thus posed a risk of pandemic," Axios' China reporter notes. What he's saying: Despite the intelligence community making clear that the origins of the pandemic are still unknown, the president said on May 1 he has a "high degree of confidence" that the outbreak began in a lab accident in China. Trump tweeted Sunday evening that CBS and "60 Minutes" were "doing everything within their power, which is far less today than it was in the past, to defend China and the horrible Virus pandemic that was inflicted on the USA and the rest of the World. I guess they want to do business in China!" Go deeper: Editor's note: This article has been updated to include a fact-check on the NIH funding of EcoHealth Alliance. As part of Vande Bharat Mission launched by the Centre to evacuate Indians stranded across the world due to coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, a relief flight from Kuwait landed in Chennai on Sunday (May 10). The Airindia Express IX 396 from Kuwait with 171 Indians on board landed at 21.34 Hrs at Chennai International Airport. The passengers included 107 male, 60 female and 4 infants. One of the passnegers was wheel chair bound. All passengers were facilitated for smooth Customs Clearance. Another Air India evacuation flight carrying Indians, who were stranded in the Philippines, arrived in Mumbai, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday. Air India flight 1387 carrying Indians from Manila, Philippines has arrived in Mumbai. Thank @airindiain, @MoCA_GoI, Bureau of Immigration& Maharashtra Govt fr support& cooperation. Commend Amb @JaideepMazumda2 & his Team @indembmanila fr the sterling effort, Jaishankar tweeted. An evaucation flight also took off from London's Heathrow Airport on Sunday afternoon, carrying 323 passengers. The flight landed at Bengaluru airport in Karnatak. The first evacuation flight from the United States took off from the San Francisco International Airport on Sunday, with over 200 Indians on board. It is learnt that seven flights have been scheduled from the US. The Vande Bharat Mission has been launched by the Centre to bring back around 14,800 stranded Indians from 12 countries on 64 AI flights. A total of seven special evacuation flights will be operated on Monday (May 11) on the 5th day of the mission. The flights are - London to Delhi to Bengaluru, San Francisco to Mumbai to Hyderabad, Dhaka to Mumbai, Dubai to Kochi, Abu Dhabi to Hyderabad, Kaula Lampur to Chennai&Bahrain to Kozhikode. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. Jerry Stiller, a classically trained actor who became a comedy star twice in the 1960s in partnership with his wife, Anne Meara, and in the 1990s with a memorable recurring role on Seinfeld died early Monday morning at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 92. His death was announced on Twitter by his son, the actor Ben Stiller, who did not specify the cause. Mr. Stillers accomplishments as an actor were considerable. He appeared on Broadway in Terrence McNallys frantic farce The Ritz in 1975 and David Rabes dark drama Hurlyburly in 1984. Off Broadway, he was in The Threepenny Opera; in Central Park, he played Shakespearean clowns for Joseph Papp; onscreen, he was seen as a police detective in The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three (1974) and Divines husband in John Waterss Hairspray (1988). But he was best known as a comedian. The team of Stiller and Meara was for many years a familiar presence in nightclubs, on television variety and talk shows, and in radio and television commercials, most memorably for Blue Nun wine and Amalgamated Bank. Kanpur: Seven police personnel on a lockdown duty sustained injuries when a group of people attacked them with sticks in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Dehat on Sunday, an official said. The injured included a senior sub-inspector, two sub-inspectors and two women constables. Police have registered a case against 12 people, including a history-sheeter, in this regard. Kanpur Dehat ASP Anoop Kumar said the incident took place in the Rasoolabad area when the police personnel were enforcing the coronavirus lockdown. "Police caught many people, including Sarman Singh, a history-sheeter; Tiran Singh; and Balwan Singh, who had gathered there without masks on their faces. When police asked them to go to their homes, they started arguing," the ASP said. Soon, they started manhandling police personnel and beat them up with sticks, the ASP said, adding that the police personnel had to run from there to save their lives. The attackers even hurled stones at them, he said. "The injured police personnel have been admitted to a community health centre," he said. The ASP said the attackers fled when heavy police force reached there. The injured police personnel have been identified as Senior-Sub Inspector Sukhbir Singh; Sub-Inspectors Sanjeev Kumar and Umesh Sharma; and constables Vinod Kumar, Avnish Kumar, Jaya Yadav and Divya. An FIR has been registered against around 12 persons, including Sarman Singh, for attacking the police team, Rasoolabad SHO Tulsiram Pandey said. "Five people, including three women, were detained in this connection. Efforts are on to nab the attackers," Pandey said. First Air India special flight, which took off from San Francisco with 225 Indians on board, landed in Mumbai on Monday Mumbai: First Air India special flight, which took off from San Francisco with 225 Indians on board, landed in Mumbai on Monday. The passengers departed from San Francisco International Airport on Saturday (local time) under the Government of India's Vande Bharat mission on Sunday. "First AI spl flight from the US brings in 225 Indians from San Francisco to Mumbai. Thank @airindiain @MoCA_GoI and Maharashtra Govt for support and coordination. Great work by CG Sanjay Panda and Team @CGISFO," External Affair Minister S Jaishankar tweeted. Air India is operating in San Francisco sector after 50 days as India had imposed restrictions due to COVID-19 spread. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, India is conducting 'Vande Bharat' Mission - its biggest ever repatriation exercise since independence - to bring back stranded Indians from abroad, including from the US, UAE and UK. Nearly 15,000 Indians are expected to return on special Air India flights from 12 countries in the coming days. Alesha Dixon's golden buzzer act on Britain's Got Talent is allegedly a reformed criminal who spent 15 months in prison for drug offences. Comedian Nabil Abdul Rashid, 34, has revealed that he was 'in a bad place' when he was arrested for a 'controlled substance charge' in 2005. Nabil was a standout performer on Saturday night's show as a result of his edgy jokes which won over Judge Alesha. Revealed: Alesha Dixon's golden buzzer act on Britain's Got Talent is allegedly a reformed criminal who spent 15 months in prison for drug offences She said: 'You are edgy, charismatic. I loved it.' According to The Sun, the comedian was sentenced to three years in prison but only served half because of good behaviour. Nabil, who has raised 2million for charity, now helps vulnerable youths and homeless people in a bid to get them on the right path. Arrest: Comedian Nabil Abdul Rashid, 34, has revealed that he was 'in a bad place' when he was arrested for a 'controlled substance charge' in 2005 He told The Sun: 'I found myself in the wrong crowd. I was still quite young. I had some stuff on me that I shouldn't have had. 'I was in a bad place and that's the case for a lot of young people today.' The married father-of-two, who opts for a more offensive style of comedy, said he used to run joke ideas past the leader of his local mosque in Croydon, South London. Edgy comedy: Nabil was a standout performer on Saturday night's show as a result of his edgy jokes which won over Judge Alesha He said: 'I would call him at weird times and be like, ''Hey, so, a Rabbi and an Imam walking into a bar...'' and he's like, ''But why is the Imam in a bar?''' While Nabil is hoping that Britain's Got Talent catapults him into stardom he is bracing for potential backlash thanks to his use of satire being misinterpreted. He says he uses satire when speaking to ignorant, racist or homophobic people because they don't listen to rational speech. While he says that no subject is off limits for him to joke about, he thinks that if people are being targeted and bullied it's not funny and not acceptable. Good behaviour: According to The Sun , the comedian was sentenced to three years in prison but only served half because of good behaviour Nabil, whose comedy hero is late US comedian Richard Pryor, added that he never intends to offend anyone in his standup acts. However, he has previously gone on tour with a show called Black, Racist and Proud. Nabil clarified that he is not racist and the show was ironic and discussed power dynamics while making fun of the concept of racism. He said he didn't get a single complaint about the show and he was in fact met by audience members thanking him for discussing issues such as sexism, misogyny and racism. The World Health Organization said it could not invite Taiwan to an upcoming international health summit, despite pleas from the U.S. and its allies, due to divergent views, after China said it deplores and opposes efforts to include Taipei in the gathering. WHO principal legal officer Steven Solomon explained to reporters on Monday that the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom could not invite Taiwan which is not a member of the WHO to participate in the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA) if members of the international body disagreed. To put it crisply, director-generals only extend invitations when its clear that member states support doing so, that director-generals have a mandate, a basis to do so, Solomon explained. Today however, the situation is not the same. Instead of clear support, there are divergent views among member states and no basis there for no mandate for the DG to extend an invitation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that Tedros should include Taiwan in the upcoming WHA meeting, saying he has the power to do, and as his predecessors have done on multiple occasions. The proposal was supported by New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and Germany, but China disparaged the claim, saying that those supporting it severely violate the one-China principle. Last month, Tedros himself accused Taiwan of racist attacks over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, an allegation that Taiwan denied as unprovoked and untrue. Tedross claim came after Taiwan said in March that the organization had ignored its December warnings that human-to-human transmission of coronavirus was possible. The WHO tweeted on January 14 that Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission. More from National Review New Delhi, May 11 : Speculations were rife on Monday regarding the opening up of domestic passenger flight operations in the coming few days. According to industry insiders, these speculations got triggered after a team of senior bureaucrats from the Civil Aviation Ministry visited the Delhi airport on Sunday. The visit was to inspect the preparations made by the airport for the eventual restart of passenger operations. In fact, the senior leadership of the airport's management accompanied the Ministry team at the Terminal 3. Lately, various machines to sanitise and smoothly manage passenger entry and exit from the terminal building have been installed at the airport. The airport has made several technology-based unique facilities operational such as UV (ultraviolet) based tunnels to disinfect check point trays and baggage, mobile UV tower to disinfect surfaces in the terminal area and hand-held UV devices. In addition, passenger trolley disinfection systems and walk in shoe sanitiser mats are also unique facilities for passenger safety. Besides, the limited re-start of railway services from Tuesday has also given life to the idea that immediate approval for the civil aviation operations will be given. "We expect to get a notification soon on the restart of services from the government and the bookings thereafter," a senior executive with a travel products company told IANS. However, there was no official comment on the same. Even the airline industry contends that it will take time for the operations to restart, as booking inventories are required to be loaded on to online platforms, and the necessary airworthiness certificates obtained for the g rounded aircraft. "There are many areas that need to be addressed like route planning. We have no idea on how many services will be allowed in phases and from where to where these services will be allowed to operate," an airline industry insider told IANS. At present, all domestic and international passenger services are banned except for cargo or flights for which special clearances have been taken from the regulator. The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved Egypts request for an emergency financial assistance of $2.772 billion (100 percent of Egypts quota) under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to meet the urgent needs of the balance of payments owing to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The IMF announced that the purchase under the RFI entails exceptional access due to outstanding credit under the previous extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility. According the IMF statement, Egypt achieved a remarkable turnaround prior to the COVID-19 shock, carrying out a successful economic reform programme supported by the IMFs Extended Fund Facility to correct large external and domestic imbalances. The pandemic and global shock posed an immediate and severe economic disruption that could negatively impact Egypts hard-won macroeconomic stability if not addressed. The authorities have launched a comprehensive package to contain the economic impact of the COVID-19 shock. The RFI will help alleviate some of the most pressing financing needs, including spending on health, social protection, and supporting the hard-hit sectors and vulnerable groups, according to the statement. The IMF announced it remains closely engaged with the Egyptian government and the Central Bank of Egypt and stands ready to provide policy advice and further support as needed. Following the Executive Board discussion, Geoffrey Okamoto, the IMF's first deputy managing director and acting chair, said the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically disrupted peoples lives, livelihoods, and economic conditions in Egypt. The global shock has resulted in a tourism standstill, significant capital flight, and a slowdown in remittances, he added. "Egypts government has responded to the crisis with a comprehensive package aimed at tackling the health emergency and supporting economic activity. The authorities acted swiftly to allocate resources to the health sector, provide targeted support to the most severely impacted sectors, and expand social safety net programmes to protect the most vulnerable. Similarly, the Central Bank of Egypt adopted a broad set of measures, including lowering the policy rate and postponing repayments of existing credit facilities," said Okamoto. He added that emergency support under the RFI will help limit the decline in international reserves and provide financing to the budget for targeted and temporary spending, aimed at containing and mitigating the economic impact of the pandemic. The authorities are committed to full transparency and accountability on crisis-related spending including through publishing information on procurement plans and awarded contracts, as well as ex-post audits of such spending, he added. "Additional expeditious support from multilateral and bilateral creditors will be needed to close the remaining balance of payments gap, ease the adjustment burden, and preserve Egypts hard-won macroeconomic stability," he said "As the crisis abates, measures to lower the debt level would need to resume along with continued implementation of structural reforms to increase the role of the private sector to achieve higher and inclusive private sector-led growth and job creation, unlocking Egypts growth potential and entrenching resilience," according to Okamoto. On 26 April Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced that Egypt has filed a request to receive two loans under the RFI and the Stand-By Agreement (SBA). The IMF is expected to approve a disbursal of $200 million of Egypts quota under the SBA. Search Keywords: Short link: As the CBI custody of the Wadhawan brothers ended on Sunday, they were presented before the court, which sent them to judicial custody Mumbai: A special court here on Sunday rejected the interim bail plea filed by DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj, arrested in connection with the Yes Bank scam, and sent them to judicial custody. As the CBI custody of the Wadhawan brothers ended on Sunday, they were presented before the court, which sent them to judicial custody. After that they applied for a temporary bail citing the coronavirus oubreak and the risk it posed to jail inmates. However, the court rejected their plea. The Wadhawans' lawyer argued that they are susceptible to contracting coronavirus infection due to their health issues. "After what has been reported in the newspaper with respect to the Arthur Road jail having coronavirus positive cases and Taloja (prison) saying that it will take the accused inside only after conducting tests, it would be in their interest that they get bail for some time," he told the court. Right to health is one of the integral aspects of right to life. Therefore, they should be granted interim bail, he added. The court, however, refused to grant any interim relief to them. At least 77 inmates of Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai have tested positive for coronavirus. The duo was arrested last month from a Mahabaleshwar-based quarantine facility, nearly 50 days after the CBI booked them in a case of alleged bribery also involving former Yes Bank CEO Rana Kapoor. The Wadhawan brothers have been named accused in the CBI FIR pertaining to alleged swindling of money by Kapoor and others, officials said. The agency has alleged that Kapoor, 62, entered into a criminal conspiracy with the Wadhawans for extending financial assistance to DHFL through Yes Bank in return for "substantial undue benefits" to himself and his family members through companies held by them. According to the CBI FIR, the scam started taking shape between April and June 2018 when Yes Bank invested Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures of the scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL). In return, the Wadhawans allegedly "paid kickback of Rs 600 crore" to Kapoor and family members in the form of loans to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd held by the wife and daughters of Kapoor. Besides the CBI, the duo was also being probed separately by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Yes Bank scam. Following an attack by opposition forces, the Syrian army has hit back, targeting points belonging to the jihadist rebels reports Al-Masdar. The Syrian Arab Army has responded to the jihadist missile strikes on the Hemeimeem Airbase in Lattakia by launching a heavy attack against the militants in the southern countryside of Idleb Governorate on Sunday. According to a field source in northwestern Syria, the Syrian Arab Army unleashed a heavy assault along the southern Idleb front-lines, hitting a number of points belonging to the jihadist rebels. In particular, the Syrian army targeted the jihadist-held areas in Kansafra, al-Bara, and Ayn Larouz, while also hitting the militant sites inside the al-Ghab Plain region of northwestern Hama. The attacks by the Syrian army are still ongoing at this time, with these strikes primarily focusing on the jihadist defenses of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Rouse the Believers operation room, and the Turkistan Islamic Party. Sundays attacks on these axes in Jabal al-Zawiya and al-Ghaab are the heaviest strikes launched by the Syrian army since the Mar. 5, 2020, Moscow Agreement. With the jihadist attack on the Hemeimeem Airbase last night, it is likely that the Russian military may support a new operation against the militant forces inside the Idleb Governorate. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The General Overseer of The Citadel Global Community Church, formerly known as Latter Rain Assembly, Tunde Bakare, has advised Nigerian churches to be at the fore of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in the country. Mr Bakare gave the advice in a recent telecast and revealed that he is donating his church halls as isolation centres. On May 10, Nigeria recorded 248 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 4,399. Lagos remains the epicentre of the outbreak in the country with 1,845 reported cases. Mr Bakare also asked his colleagues to also donate their church halls as isolation centres, saying he has done the same with his churchs facilities. We have offered two of our facilities to the Lagos State government and a private residence we have in Abeokuta, we have offered also to the Ogun State government, he revealed. He also said churches that are capable should also be there to support the government at this trying period. Im not suggesting what we cannot afford to do, we have already done that in our church, he noted. Mr Bakare went on to advise that the church should support the government at this time, rather than criticise them for what is beyond their control. Recently, David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church popularly known Winners Chapel questioned the decision of the government to close down churches and leave markets opened, saying that the markets are more crowded. In the same telecast, Mr Bakare described the criticisms by some of his colleagues as lamentations. This morning, I would like to bring ethical correction to some of the lamentations of certain people within the church over the ban of congregational worship in churches across the land, while markets and hospitals are allowed to operate. READ ALSO: The governments order to open the markets to operate for a few days is to prevent hunger, especially in the life of daily earners because the palliatives from the government cannot go to every citizen in their homes right now, Mr Bakare said. Meanwhile, another Nigerian pastor, Chris Oyakhilome, also condemned the church lockdown order, while berating other pastors for accepting the order without praying about it first. He said the government had consulted some pastors before making the decision to ban religious gatherings but the pastors were not prayerful enough to gather other pastors for prayer sessions against the pandemic before consenting to the closure of churches. Pastors and ministers have been sending strong warnings to others not to venture into the church because of the virus. Thats because Christ has never truly been your Lord, youve been the master of your life all these years. Youve never truly known him, he said. Everyone can do something to help everyone Pastor Tunde Bakare said you should stop lamenting, donate your facility for Govt to use during this #Covid19 season. We will have enough time to do congregational service after now. Very simple something o. pic.twitter.com/VBrQioQrRG Taiwo_Ajakaye (@dmightyangel) May 10, 2020 A Kinahan cartel foot soldier "poured cold water on" and withdrew from a plan to murder Patrick Patsy Hutch, the Special Criminal Court heard today. Mark Capper, 31, of Cappagh Green, in Finglas, Dublin 11, pleaded guilty to having knowledge of the existence of a criminal organisation and participating in activities intended to facilitate the commission of a serious offence by that criminal organisation, or any of its members, to wit the murder of Patrick Hutch within the State between February 1 and March 10, 2018, both dates inclusive. The single count to which Capper pleaded guilty includes providing or assisting in the provision of one or more motor vehicles for use by the criminal organisation and/or moving one or more motor vehicles for subsequent use by one or more members of the criminal organisation and/or carrying out repairs to one or more vehicles for subsequent use by one or more members of the criminal organisation and/or carrying out reconnaissance on behalf of the criminal organisation and/or planning or assisting in planning the intended shooting of Patrick Hutch. Detective Superintendent Dave Gallagher told the Special Criminal Court today he was satisfied the criminal organisation that targeted Mr Hutch was the Kinahan gang. Det Gallagher said that the criminal gang has a hierarchical structure with sub cells where people were allotted specific roles. He agreed with counsel for the defence that Mr Capper was a foot soldier and had financial problems. Audio surveillance of a vehicle recorded Mr Capper asking Michael Burns - who has also pleaded guilty to the same offence for a loan of 50, which he was refused. Mr Capper was heard telling Mr Burns he wouldnt be sitting in the back of the car if he had any money. Detective Gallagher told the court today that this shed light on Cappers financial motivation as he was struggling to obtain 50. Defence counsel told the court that Mr Capper poured cold water on the plan and withdrew from the plan to conspire to murder Mr Hutch. Detective Gallagher said Capper was not a subject of the investigation the day before the attempted murder of Mr Hutch as he was dissatisfied with the plan and with the others involved. Meanwhile, Michael Burns, 43, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty today to participating in the activities of a criminal organisation contrary to Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 between February 1, 2018 and March 10, 2018, both dates inclusive, within the State with knowledge of the existence of a criminal organisation, participated in activities intending to facilitate the commission of a serious offence by a criminal organisation or any of its members, namely the murder of Mr Hutch. The count Mr Burns pleaded guilty to includes passing instructions to one or members of the criminal organisation, and/or acting as a conduit for communications between member of the criminal organisation, and/or providing assistance in the provision of one of more mobile phones for use by the criminal organisation, and/or purchasing or assisting in purchasing one or more sim cards for mobile phone, and/or purchasing or assisting in the purchase of one or more credit top for mobile phones, providing or assisting in the provision of one or more vehicles for use by a criminal organisation. He also admitted transporting one of more members of a criminal organisation, moving one or more vehicles for subsequent use by one or more members of a criminal organisation and planning or assisting in planning the intended shooting of Mr Hutch. Capper will be sentenced on June 9. A 30-year-old man who was admitted to a Covid-19 isolation ward of Ajmer-based Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital two days ago committed suicide on early Monday morning, the police said. The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) test results of the man are yet to come. The deceased, a resident of Uttar Pradeshs Rae Bareli district, was living in Ajmer and a suicide note was recovered from him, the police said. On Monday morning, around 5 am, the man was not found in his room and the hospital authorities started looking for him. They found him lying dead in a bathroom of the hospital, said Kunwar Rashtradeep, superintendent of police (SP), Ajmer. A team from Ajmers Kotwali police station recovered the suicide note from the deceased after the hospital authorities informed them about the death. The suicide note stated that he took his life out of a free will. He wished that his family members be conveyed the news of his death, the SP added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON - Additional reporting by Neil Michael Fianna Fail TD John McGuinness has joined the race to become the chair of the new Oireachtas Covid-19 committee, saying that oversight and transparency is needed to assess responses to the pandemic. Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane said he would hold ministers to account if he was chair and it is understood that Social Democrats co-leader Roisin Shortall is interested in the role. The 19 members of the new committee will decide on a chairperson tomorrow as well as the remit for the new group, which will be the first to scrutinise ministers and officials over the pandemic. However, despite hopes there would be a consensus candidate, parties were undecided and even split yesterday on who should lead the committee. Fianna Fail said officially it remains to be seen who its four members would back - despite party TD John McGuinness, a former chair of the Public Accounts Committee and the Finance Committee, seeking the role. He told the Irish Examiner he has canvassed other parties for the position and that there should beoversight and transparency over the responses to the pandemic. However, Mr Cullinane said: "We (Sinn Fein) believe it is important that you have a strong chair, someone that can guide the committee in the times ahead. I have been a member of the Public Accounts Committee. I think I will be able to do the job. He said there has been a lack of a plan for nursing home and residential settings. Ministers need to be held to account. Big decisions were made with huge cost implications and huge impacts on families lives and workers lives and on businesses as well. All of those have to be probed. Fine Gael's four members will decide who to support before the new committee meets while some Independents may back Clare TD Michael McNamara. Meanwhile, Cork could be open for tourists in two weeks if mass temperature screening and other restrictions are brought in at all access routes into the county, Cork South West TD Michael Collins, also a member of the committee, has said. The independent deputy wants screening put in place at Cork Airport, Cobh and - via roadblocks - on the main motorways and access roads into the county. He plans to raise this as an issue at tomorrow's meeting: "Restrictions need to be put in place for people coming into our ports coming into our airports and when those safeguards are in place, we should actually start looking at opening places in rural communities quicker than those in urban settings like in Dublin." Strong surge requires helicopter for rescue of Acapulco fisherman Acapulco, Guerrero A fisherman who was reported missing Saturday was rescued by helicopter Sunday off rocks near the cliffs of Balcones del Mar. The mans family reported him missing, which lead to a search for his boat. Members of the Navy located the mans vessel and eventually the man, who managed to abandon his ship and make his way to the tip of a rocky structure where he was found. According to the police report, the Acapulco fisherman was located around noon Sunday. His boat became caught in an area of heavy currents that dragged him out to sea. He was located on rocks in the west portion of the city where storm surge prevented his rescue by firefighters. Instead, navy troops aboard a helicopter arrived and lowered a man and rope to the rocky cliff where the fisherman was located. Both were returned safely to land. It could be weeks, if not months, before restaurants in central Pennsylvania are given the green light to reopen. Even so, when dining establishments do return, the landscape is going to be very different. The days of bustling dining rooms will be a thing of the past. The New Delhi railway station in the heart of the national capital will see the departure of three special trains for Dibrugarh, Bengaluru and Bilaspur on Tuesday, around 50 days after a nationwide lockdown caused suspension of all passenger train services. The same day, five other trains bound for Delhi will leave from Patna, Bengaluru, Howrah, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the railways said. The fares will be equivalent to Rajdhani fares, it said. However, several Shramik Special trains have run from the station over the last week to transport thousands of stranded migrant workers to their native places. Northern Railways in a statement has said that entry to the New Delhi station will be from the Paharganj side for all confirmed ticket holders. No entry for passengers holding such tickets will be permitted from the Ajmeri Gate side, it said. For now, the railways has issued a timetable for trains to be run between May 12 and May 20. These trains will have only AC classes i.e. first, second and third AC. The fare structure shall be as applicable for the regular time-tabled Rajdhani trains(excluding catering charges). On May 13, eight trains will depart from the national capital headed for Howrah, Rajendra Nagar, Jammu Tawi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Ranchi, Mumbai Central and Ahmedabad. Another train will leave Bhubaneswar for New Delhi. On May 14, the lone train leaving New Delhi will head for Bhubaneswar while one train each will leave Dibrugarh, Jammu Tawi, Bilaspur and Ranchi with the national capital as their destination. On May 15, a train each will leave Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai Central for New Delhi while one bound for Madgaon will depart from Delhi. As per the railway timetable, no trains are scheduled on May 16 and May 19. May 17 will see two departures -- Madgain to New Delhi and New Delhi to Secunderabad. The only train scheduled on May 18 is from Agartala to New Delhi, while two trains scheduled on May 20 are from New Delhi to Agartala and Secunderabad to the national capital. Officials said as per the guidelines, the e-ticket issued by IRCTC will work as an e-pass for the movement of drivers to and from the station to pick or drop passengers. All passengers arriving at the Delhi railway station would have to abide by the health protocols as prescribed by the state government, officials said. On arrival at their destinations, the travelling passengers will have to adhere to such health protocols as are prescribed by the destination state/UT, they said. Under normal circumstances, the New Delhi Railway station is one of the busiest stations in the country. A total of 351 trains arrive/depart from this station daily with a footfall of more than 5.20 lakh passengers each day. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Lambert Strether of Corrente. #COVID19 At reader request, Ive added this daily chart: The data is the John Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I have changed to a logarithmic scale for US States and territories. Once again, Default view is now new cases/day which changes the graph, more optimistically, and perhaps more accurately. I can change this back to Total Confirmed Cases if readers prefer. I thought Id pick the Bottom 25 states, which are the best off, highlighting Colorado, home of Castle Rock restaurant. Here is the latest New York Times map of re-opening (and not re-opening) states * * * See Vice, How to Read the Coronavirus Graphs: Quantities that grow exponentially, when depicted on a linear scale, look like curves that bend sharply upward, with the curve getting constantly steeper. On a log scale, exponentially growing values can be depicted with straight diagonal lines. Thats the beauty of plotting things on log scales. Plots are meant to make things easy to understand, and we humans are much more adept at understanding linear, straight-line behavior. Log plots enable us to grasp exponential behavior by transferring the complexity of constantly steepening curves into the simplicity of an exponentially increasing scale. On a log scale, we want to constantly be making the line more and more horizontal. The general concept of flattening is still a good one, but its never going to curve down. And so what we should be looking, and hoping for is a trend toward horizontal. Politics But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? James Madison, Federalist 51 They had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery. Frank Herbert, Dune They had learned nothing, and forgotten nothing. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord * * * 2020 Biden ((D)(1): [heavy sigh]: Hillary is selling tickets to a zoom call with Biden and Perez for $100,000 . This is NOT A JOKE, and they wonder why they lose. LMAOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/FdRwJ5H6qc Savion For Congress (@SavionForUS) May 9, 2020 You know that liberal Democrats believe that Sanders running a small-donor based campaign at scale was the most important thing about his candidacy. How? They never talk about it. Biden (D)(2): [puts head in hands]: I have a better idea: give people coronavirus economic relief and don't hold their hard-earned benefits hostage. https://t.co/b8cT22xGfd Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 11, 2020 Thats not an idea. Does everyone know about the Biden Insult Bot? You jackknifed the wrong turnip truck, ya shin-crackin' bellywobbler Joe Biden Insult Bot (@BidenInsultBot) May 11, 2020 It looks like theres a Biden Platitude Bot, too, and whichever intern is running the Biden Twitter account is pinging it. Biden (D)(3): Should democratic socialists endorse Joe Biden? [NJ.com]. Good politics meets people where they are, not where you want them to be. DSA is a socialist organization, and as such, it will not and need not formally endorse Joe Biden, whose campaign merchandise proudly features socialist crossed off alongside plutocrat, as if they are equivalent. But defeating Trump and, more importantly, Trumpism are strategic DSA priorities, and to that end, we urge everyone to make more compelling arguments here by addressing left concerns. Instead of vote-shaming the left, which might feel good but demonstrably does not work, those concerned about a Biden win might show that they are pushing Biden in more progressive directions. The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a medical crisis but a political one, ravaging communities already suffering from inequality. It shows clearly the need for much of the Sanders platform. We believe swing state leftists should vote Biden, not because he deserves it but because a Democratic administration offers more fertile ground for the left than a Republican one, where we desperately scramble to fight for basic union, reproductive, immigrant, and queer/trans rights. For those seeking to build third-party power, well do better under a Democrat as well, since Trump generates a false sense of resistance unity that obscures the deep divisions within the Dems. Im not sure I agree. For one thing, theres no reason for a DSA member to feel resistance unity; DSA members dont do brunch. I think. For another, Democrats are expert at decapitating the left, either by sucking them into NGOs or simply arresting them (see Occupy and Black Lives Matter). So why does a Democratic administration [offer] more fertile ground for the left than a Republican one? Sort of amazing to see a headline like that in a mainstream venue, though. Cuomo (D)(1): NYs Cuomo criticized over highest nursing home death toll [Associated Press]. Cuomo faced criticism at a recent briefing for saying that providing masks and gowns to nursing homes is not our job because the homes are privately owned. One key criticism is that New York took weeks after the first known care home outbreaks to begin publicly reporting the number of deaths in individual homes and still doesnt report the number of cases. By the time New York began disclosing the deaths in the middle of last month, the state had several major outbreaks with at least 40 deaths each, most of which were a surprise to the surrounding communities and even some family members. To the ice floes! Cuomo (D)(2): New York Gov. Cuomo enlists former Google CEO to head commission to reimagine the state after COVID-19 [MarketWatch]. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday he has enlisted Eric Schmidt, former chief executive of Google Inc. and Novell Inc., to head a blue-ribbon commission tasked with reimagining New York state in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Cuomo has been pushing for the state to consider using the crisis to make changes and improvements to how it handles such issues as public health care, education and housing at his daily press briefings on the virus. Schmidt, who headed Google from 2001 to 2011 before it came under the umbrella of Alphabet Inc., appeared briefly by webcast to say he would focus on issues such as telehealth, remote learning and expanding broadband access. I wonder how Schmidt feels about public broadband? Sanders (D)(1): Voters Have a Right to Know in 2020: CLC Files FEC Complaint Against Secretive Group [Campaign Legal Center]. Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against The Big Tent Project for illegally hiding the identity of the donors who bankrolled over $4.8 million on ads in the Democratic presidential primary. Big Tent Project formed the day after Sanders won the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, and one week after Sanders finished in a virtual tie in the Iowa caucuses. Its executive director, Jonathan Kott, said he created the group after being approached by wealthy donors concerned about Sanders rise. Oh. * * * Democrats to unveil Rooseveltian COVID-19 relief bill [FOX]. I heard the word Rooseveltian. I shiver with anticipation: I worked with House leadership on the CARES bill and was firmly against their plan for $1200 and income phaseout starting at $75,000. I believed the payment should have been $1400 with the phaseout beginning at $80K Atrios (@Atrios) May 10, 2020 Still got the means-testing details on the slab, no doubt. A rising star: Not a single patient should be forced to fight off medical bankruptcy in the midst of a global health pandemic without a lawyer by their side. Rep. Joe Kennedy III (@RepJoeKennedy) May 8, 2020 Without a lawyer by their side. Twice repeated! Realignment and Legitimacy Hillary Never Married Bill [Frank Bruni, New York Times]. Oy. Stats Watch At reader request, I added some business stats back in. Please give Econintersect click-throughs; theyre a good, old-school blog that covers more than stats. If anybody knows of other aggregators, please contact me at the email address below. No stats of interest today. * * * Commodities: Carmakers Urged to Invest in Mines to Avoid Battery Metal Pinch [Bloomberg]. Mine developers scrambling to fund projects to meet forecast demand for battery metals see the threat of looming supply crunches as a trigger for electric-vehicle makers to step in with investments. An already tough environment to raise project finance for the mines is being made worse by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and plunging global auto sales. Its a scenario thats threatening to slow a pipeline of operations planned to supply lithium, nickel and cobalt materials. I scratch my head and wonder where is all this metal going to come from, Clean TeQs Riggall said. The risks to the automotive sector are very, very large unless they secure their raw materials supply chain.' Commodities: Americas meat shortage is more serious than your missing hamburgers [Recode]. Sick workers mean meatpacking plants are shutting down, and these closures are contributing to a deeply disruptive breakdown in the meat supply chain. The vast majority of meat processing takes place in a small number of plants controlled by a handful of large corporations, namely Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, JBS USA Holdings Inc., and Cargill Inc. More than a dozen of these companies beef, chicken, and pork plants closed in April, and despite an order by President Trump to reopen the plants, managers fear that doing so will put lives at risk so facilities continue to close. The plight of these workers is just the starting point in a chain of crises the coronavirus is creating in Americas food supply. The shuttered meatpacking plants have created a bottleneck in the system through which most meat in the United States must flow in order to get ground beef to Wendys, chicken breasts to your local grocery stores, bacon to the nearby diner now trying to run a takeout business, and so on. Things get really tricky on the other side of that bottleneck, where thousands of farmers have planned the lives of their animals around a schedule that terminates at those meatpacking facilities. If those plants arent operating, its not like they can just keep the cows, chickens, or pigs in a nearby field. Now imagine this at scale. According to Jayson Lusk, an agricultural economist at Purdue University, the meat processing capacity in the United States is down by about 40 percent. In the pork industry alone, that amounts to 200,000 pigs that wont get sent to slaughter, because the meatpacking plants that would process them are closed or otherwise unavailable. If nothing else changes, those 200,000 excess pigs a day become a million pigs a week with nowhere to go but a mass grave. Shipping: Tanker veteran warns on rates: The storm is coming [Freight Waves]. Diamond S CEO Craig Stevenson and his CFO Kevin Kilcullen did not mince words about the trouble they see ahead as soon as the third quarter, earlier than implied by tanker executives on prior calls. Stevenson is veteran of the tanker industry and the former CEO of OMI Corporation, the company that famously sold its entire fleet in 2007 for $2.2 billion at the very peak of the boom, leaving buyers Teekay Corporation and Torm holding the bag when the financial crisis struck.. In the current cycle, the future rate trough which will come about when floating storage is unwound is clearly visible, even if exact timing is unknown. This visibility makes charterers less likely to agree to charters of a year or more in duration at rates acceptable to vessel owners, because charterers expect future spot rates to fall. Shipping: The urgent demand to get staple goods to consumers isnt compensating for the sharply-contracting U.S. economys impact on transportation and logistics employment. Trucking companies slashed payrolls by 88,300 jobs in April and warehouse operators cut 74,100 jobs leaving package-delivery companies as the only transportation sector boosting employment [Wall Street Journal]. The loss of 2.36 million jobs in goods-producing sectors, including 1.33 million manufacturing jobs, shows why many truckers say the added business moving cleaning supplies and other high-demand products pales next to the lost trade from industrial-scale operations. Manufacturing: A swath of manufacturing wont resume production even as states ease coronavirus-driven restrictions. Factory furloughs across the U.S. are becoming permanent shutdowns. in a sign that the pandemics heavy damage to the industrial economy wont be repaired quickly [Wall Street Journal]. Makers of dishware in North Carolina, furniture foam in Oregon and cutting boards in Michigan are among companies that have shut factories, and boat-and-motorcycle-maker Polaris Inc. and tire maker Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. also plan to close U.S. plants. The shutdowns will further erode an industrial base that has been shrinking as a share of the overall U.S. economy for decades and likely will help redraw the countrys distribution maps. Factories have raised output in recent years through automation, but manufacturers capital spending since the pandemic has cratered, and plants that havent invested are less likely to rapidly resume operations. Manufacturing: Washington in talks with chipmakers about building U.S. factories [Reuters]. Intel Corp is in discussions with the United States Department of Defense over improving domestic sources for microelectronics and related technology, Intel spokesman William Moss said in an emailed statement Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., on the other hand, has been in talks with the U.S. Department of Commerce about building a U.S. factory but said it has not made a final decision yet. The [Wall Street Journal] had also reported that U.S. officials are looking at helping South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co., which has a chip factory in Austin, Texas, to expand its contract-manufacturing operations in the United States. Mr. Market: Confidence Called Key Ingredient for Robust Post-Covid Economy [Bloomberg]. I would love to see robust economy, but that would require a breakthrough in vaccines, a breakthrough in widespread testing, a breakthrough in therapies to give all of us confidence that its safe to go back, Kashkari said on ABCs This Week.' Well, er. Mr. Market: Why the stock market rally is actually signaling an abnormal economic recovery, not a V-shaped coronavirus rebound [MarketWatch]. Investors are reading the stock markets breakneck bounce off the March 23 lows all wrong, says one prominent Wall Street analyst. Theres a widely held perception that the rally reflects expectations the COVID-19 pandemic will have a piercing but short effect on the economy, with growth rebounding sharply later in the year once the outbreak is corralled, workers return to their jobs and the economy begins humming again. That isnt the case, said Tony Dwyer, chief market strategist at Canaccord Genuity, in a Monday note. In our view, it hasnt spiked on the anticipation of a strong economic rebound, but has ramped based on the coronavirus impact and a probable abnormal economic recovery, he wrote. Its abnormal because the sectors that usually lead the stock market out of a recession-induced downturn arent doing so. Instead, leadership has come largely from big tech stocks and pharmaceuticals rather than financials and cyclical sectors that closely track the ups and downs of the economy, such as industrials and consumer discretionary stocks. Todays Fear & Greed Index: 45 Neutral (previous close: 44 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 44 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated May 11 at 12:40pm. Rapture Index: Closes down one on Satanism. The lack of activity has downgraded this category [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 186. Remember that bringing on the rapture is a good thing. The Biosphere What You Need to Know to Start Backyard Beekeeping (interview) [Hilary Kearney, Modern Farmer]. Beekeeper Kearney: The best beekeepers are the ones that have developed a love of honeybees and the love of learning about them. Focus on understanding how these bees live without a beekeeper to get a good understanding of their behavior and their biology. And know what actually goes on inside the beehive before you start focusing on beekeeping techniques. If you can grasp an understanding of the honeybee first, youre going to be a lot more successful. Health Care Coronavirus Came From Bats, Can Infect Cats, Ferrets, WHO Says [Bloomberg]. The novel coronavirus comes from a group of viruses that originate or spread in bats, and its still unclear what animal may have transmitted the disease to humans, Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO expert in animal diseases that jump to humans, said Friday in a briefing with reporters. The virus probably arrived in humans through contact with animals raised to supply food, he said. Recent studies showed that cats can transmit the virus to other cats and the WHO is aware of instances of pets of Covid-19 patients being infected, it said in a statement Friday. While precautions should be taken to avoid the infection of pets from close contact with Covid-19 human cases, further evidence is needed to understand if animals and pets can spread the disease. Its important to find out which animals can get infected to avoid creating a reservoir in another species, Ben Embarek said. WHO scientists are considering a new mission to China to get more information about the viruss animal origin, Maria van Kerkhove, one of the agencys top epidemiologists, said at a press briefing Wednesday. An important thread on the social determinants of health: In med school, I took an elective called "Stress", foolishly thinking I was going to learn about meditation and yoga. Instead the professor spent 6 weeks proving that being poor or a minority literally destroys your health on a molecular level, and I think about that every day. Jocelyn J. Fitzgerald, MD (@jfitzgeraldMD) May 10, 2020 Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions and Mortality in U.S. Cities during the Great Influenza Pandemic, 1918-1919 [Robert Barro, NBER]. The abstract: Non-pharmaceutical public-health interventions (NPIs) were measured by Markel, et al. (2007) for U.S. cities during the second wave of the Great Influenza Pandemic, September 1918-February 1919. The NPIs were in three categories: school closings, prohibitions on public gatherings, and quarantine/isolation. Although an increase in NPIs flattened the curve in the sense of reducing the ratio of peak to average deaths, the estimated effect on overall deaths was small and statistically insignificant. The likely reason that the NPIs were not more successful in curtailing mortality is that the interventions had an average duration of only around one month . Screening Room Spending too much time indoors: A Gingerbread rendition of Hitchcocks Bates Motel. (By Aaron Keeling https://t.co/kzrhuTvK2m) pic.twitter.com/QWvjPxqePp Diane Doniol-Valcroze (@ddoniolvalcroze) May 9, 2020 Class Warfare The Way Out William A. Peffer [Medium]. From 1890: The proper function of money is to serve a public use. he money power is the most dangerous foe to republican liberty at this hour; it must be disabled. Fortunately this can be done justly and peaceable, injuring none, benefiting all. The remedy is to take money out of the list of commodities which may be bought and sold for gain, and limit its use to its proper function of serving the people in the conduct of their everyday affairs. Can People Pay Rent This Month? The Consensus Was No [Jacobin]. The rising cost of housing has been a dire issue for working people in the United States for decades. But the arrival of COVID-19 has brought this crisis to a head, throwing millions out of work and leaving them unable to afford rent. The call for some kind of rent forgiveness legislation is growing; politicians like Ilhan Omar have introduced legislation to forgive rent and mortgages, while state representatives such as New York state senator Julia Salazar have brought similar measures to state bodies. But none of these laws have yet been enacted. While New York has passed a temporary eviction moratorium and a temporary suspension of some mortgages, no action on suspending rent has occurred. In the meantime, renters are taking matters into their own hands. Teen Vogue should review this: Madison Avenue: There is a problem. Young women are into socialism. Overpaid young guys: Lets sell capitalism as feminist by making it into a game for girls. Outcome: pic.twitter.com/jIFXwvZBlp melissa CANCEL ALL STUDENT DEBT NOW byrne (@mcbyrne) May 9, 2020 News of the Wired Crapfication: A maze of sans-serif characters, all alike. Get me rewrite: * * * Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here . Todays plant (pq): pq writes: Maple tree leafing out in a May snowstorm, Upstate New York. This is day two, one more in the forecast for tomorrow (May 10). Thought Id let something newsy jump the queue! * * * : Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldnt see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know Im on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals: Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated. If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you! The Trump administration hasnt been shy about wanting to reduce its dependence on Asia for technology, and that might soon include the processors inside PCs and phones. Wall Street Journal sources say the White House is talking to Intel and TSMC about setting up US chip factories. While Intel already has a US presence, its discussions revolve creating a foundry that other companies could use for their products its American plans typically focus on making in-house designs. TSMCs business already revolves around chipmaking for other companies. The aim would be simple: protecting advanced chip manufacturing against disruption. The US leans heavily on Taiwan (TSMCs home) for hardware, for example, and a conflict or natural disaster on the island nation could cripple the US tech sector. Domestic chip production could also improve security for military projects by reducing opportunities for espionage. A TSMC spokesperson told the WSJ the company was actively evaluating plants in other countries, including the US, but that there was no concrete plan. The Department of Defense, meanwhile, didnt directly confirm or deny the report but said chips were certainly a key part of the militarys supply chain concerns. There are a number of problems to solve before things move forward. Sourced noted that the Department of Defense was split between focusing on its own needs and tackling broader weaknesses in supply. Intels rivals might also be hesitant to trust the company unless it can prove their trade secrets will remain safe. Theres also the not-so-small matter of cost. Chip plants cost billions of dollars to make, and they need relatively frequent updates to stay current with new manufacturing techniques. The US might need to emulate other countries in subsidizing the cost of these factories. This wouldnt solve every issue. Companies set up shop in Asia in part due to closeness with suppliers for components and raw resources Intel and TSMC could build US plants, but theyd still rely on some imports. They would have to find alternatives (if possible) in case typical sources are no longer available. Nonetheless, this could be a win for the US if it can keep producing CPUs and graphics chipsets when theres trouble overseas. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that governors and legislators from five Western states wrote a joint letter to the federal government asking for $1 trillion in relief funding for state and local governments during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Governors and legislative chamber leaders from California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Colorado wrote the letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The letter from members of the Western States Pact called for at least $1 trillion to support basic government functions and services like public health, public safety and law enforcement and public education. "Without federal support, states and cities will be forced to make impossible decisions -- like whether to fund critical public health care that will help us recover, or prevent layoffs of teachers, police officers, firefighters and other first responders," the officials said in the letter. The relief funding would also support services and programs like job training and assistance for small business owners that will help state and local economies recover from the pandemic-induced economic crises and recessions. "It's not just states asking for a bailout, quite the contrary," Newsom said during his daily coronavirus briefing Monday. "It's requesting that we support those that we need the most at this time -- our public safety officials, our public health officials -- and making sure that we do justice to our public education system." Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. At least 19 Iranian sailors are dead and 15 injured after an accidental missile firing during a planned naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman, Irans state-run news agency reports. The Iranian press said the Hendijan-class Konarak was struck on Sunday afternoon during a drill near the Strait of Hormuz, one of the worlds most strategically important waterways. According to state TV, an Iranian navy frigate accidentally fired at the support ship near the port of Jask, killing 19 people. Other early reports put the death toll near 40. Naval relief and rescue teams reached the location shortly after the incident, retrieving the injured and the martyrs from the vessel and transferring them to medical centers, read a navy statement carried by state TV. Iranian officials provided few details on the extent of the damage. Despite some reports the vessel had sunk, the army-affiliated Tasnim News Agency posted a video Monday appearing to show the fiery aftermath of a still-floating ship. The navy said that the ship was pulled ashore and an investigation is underway. The US Navy announced last month that 11 Iranian vessels had harassed American ships at a dangerously close range in international waters. Shortly after, President Donald Trump tweeted that he had instructed the US Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats that threatened US ships in the Gulf. Sundays friendly fire incident marks the Iranian militarys second accidental missile strike this year. In January, the countrys Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps blamed human error and admitted it unintentionally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board. The chief of Western Army Command, Lt Gen R P Singh, visited forwards areas along the International Border (IB) on Monday and reviewed the security situation and operational preparedness of borderline with Pakistan, a defence spokesman said. Lt Gen Singh visited forward areas of the Rising Star Corps in Kathua and Samba Districts to review the current security situation and operational readiness, the spokesman said. The Army commander was accompanied by Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, GOC, Rising Star Corps. The Army commander interacted with the commanders of the field formations and was briefed about the operational and logistics preparedness and up-gradation of security infrastructure, he said. The Army commander interacted with troops and lauded them for their high morale and motivation. He appreciated the high state of preparedness of the Rising Star Corps to thwart any threat manifested by inimical and anti-national elements. He also commended the efforts of the formations in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As each country in Africa, and countries and territories in other continents, announced border closures on different dates, questions arose as to why countries were responding to the Covid-19 pandemic in disparate ways. So far, there is no indication that world leaders consulted among themselves before shutting down their borders for a more unified approach. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is to be commended for its extraordinary work during this pandemic: monitoring the risks, coordinating global responses and advising its Member States and their health agencies. Ghana's response has been highly commendable. Through this pandemic, the United Nations (UN) has failed to emulate the kind of leadership shown in past health crises. Typically, a declaration by the WHO of an outbreak or in this case, a pandemic triggers an official response from the UN that strengthens, reinforces and complements the work of the WHO more forcefully. This happened during the HIV and Ebola outbreaks. In lieu of an international response, there have been national, regional or bloc discussions about, and responses to, dealing with COVID-19. For instance, in the President of Ghana's initial message to the country, he hinted on the importance of a coordinated response with ECOWAS leaders. And, in Europe, the European Union heads and their health ministers have held several conference calls or meetings. At the long-anticipated April 9 UN Security Council meeting, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, reiterated his long-standing appeal for a global cease-fire. In response, Council members chose a more muted approach: a statement expressing their support of Guterres' efforts and the importance of a unified front in the face of the pandemic. During the Ebola outbreak, the Council declared that the outbreak posed a threat to peace and security, which carried the full force of international law. Stories emerging of WHO staff killed in the conduct of their duties underscore the need for a stronger response from UN Security Council. The UN stance might be due to the fragile and complex relationship between two of its veto-wielding, permanent members, the United States and China. This is further complicated by the unsettling, if not disturbing, fact that the majority of the current leadership of what are traditionally considered the powerful countries lack a global mindset. During the last few elections in Europe and North America, we witnessed the victories of presidents with right-wing populist political ideologies. These leaders seem to prefer focusing on national priorities at the expense of global or international interventions. They lack an appreciation of the fact that the progress of their nations owes much to the international system created after the devastating Second World War. It is this same system that has preserved the world from deadly confrontation and annihilation by the nuclear-armed powers. The nationalistic tendencies of these leaders prevented the early adoption of proactive measures to mitigate the far-reaching impact of this flu-like virus within their borders. In the weeks following the pandemic, Estonia recommended that the Council issue a statement that COVID-19 could pose a threat to international peace and security. This forward-looking proposal was not embraced by other members. In the United Kingdom, there was a failure or reluctance to act swiftly. And in the United States, it is troubling that some initially considered the virus a hoax. It is fair to state that all this is occurring at a time when the UN itself is grappling with managing its operations virtually and performing diplomacy digitally, a field that thrives on interpersonal relationships. The irony of this situation is that at a time when we are all connected through this pandemic, we are more disconnected than ever. No one country is in this alone. We are no longer islands unto ourselves. Our interconnectivity implies that any one country's ineffective approach to eradicating this pandemic within its borders puts us all at risk. Coordinating a global response and leveraging the learning should be our priority. We should all be bound by a common goal and desire to find a global solution in our fight out of this global pandemic. It no longer takes only a village. At least not in this fight. It will take us all, working together, and in tandem, to defeat this pandemic. The academic world has long had a well-known phrase among faculty: publish or perish. With COVID-19, the new phrase could very easily be: work together or perish. Literally The writer is the Dean of the Centre for International Education and Collaboration at the University of Professional Studies, Accra. She is also the host of GBC's Talking Point. Painstaking investigations conducted into the operations of the new Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS), otherwise known as UNIPASS, has revealed that their system is not connected to that of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA). The situation has, therefore, exposed revenue leakages associated with the ICUMS platform unlike the Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS) operated by GCNET and West Blue Consulting. The absence of a link between ICUMS and the DVLA has made the latter loss track of all vehicles imported into the country to enable it collect the appropriate tax on those vehicles. This major challenge means that the ICUMS platform is denying the DVLA the required data to rely on as well as revenue that would have otherwise been used by government on some other projects in the countrys developmental drive. The non-existence of a link between the two bodies has also opened the flood gate for persons who import cars into the country through Togo and other neigbouring countries with the aim of evading tax to continue their nefarious activities and even go to the extent of registering the vehicles at DVLA since the Authority has no tracker to keep track of the origin of those vehicles. The registration of vehicles are therefore left in the hands of certain individuals to manually decide whether those vehicles were brought into the country legally or illegally, a situation which breeds corruption. The investigations also revealed that the ICUMS has not made any significant investment in the platforms they are going to operate with, thereby, exposing their capacity of rendering topnotch services at the ports to regenerate the much needed revenue government so desire of. Due to the weaknesses in the system, ICUMS could not efficiently operate its system when given the opportunity to commence operations at the Takoradi Port on April 1, 2020, thereby, making government incur two days revenue loss. The non-functional of the ICUMS system compelled freight forwarders to resort to the use of manual valuation to clear goods. The story at the Tema Port in the Greater Accra Region, was even worse. That of the Kotoka International Airport was also hard-hit. The existing platforms, GCNET and West Blue were making about GH40million from the three points of entry; the Kotoka International Airport, Takoradi Port and Tema Port. With the nonfunctional of the ICUMS platform for two day, it means the country incurred a loss of about GH80million. What is more worrying is that in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no assurance that ICUMS could recover the two days revenue loss incurred by the government since they have not put in place a robust system to make a turn around to serve importers and exporters better. It is clear that ICUMS cannot deliver on its mandate, thereby, creating disruptions at the ports. The sad thing is that the signs of revenue and job losses are boldly written on the walls for all to see but government has turned a blind eye on them. ICUMS is a new port clearing system that processes documents and payments through one window. It encompasses five subordinate systems namely: single window system, clearance management system, cargo management system, information management system and an administrative system as well as an integrated risk management. The new system is expected to reduce clearance cost and time in line with the World Customs Organizations Trade Facilitation Agreement. The new system is a complete departure from the previous system where valuation and classification, risk management and payment were done by different entities. The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), a state agency responsible for revenue mobilization, aware of the alarming revenue loss, have directed the new system (ICUMS) to run concurrently with the old system (GCNET and West Blue) to minimize revenue losses at the ports while it pursues measures to fully operationalize the ICUMS effective June 1, 2020. The directive means that all transactions in respect of import and export manifest can be processed through the ICUMS or through Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS) operated by GCNET and West Blue Consulting until the end of May, 2020. For the avoidance of doubt, with effect from June 1, 2020, all new transactions, without exception in respect of import and export shall only be processed through the ICUMS, Acting GRA Commissioner-General, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah said in a statement copied to the media. He added All existing transactions commencing prior to May 31, 2020, for which processing have not been completed in the GCMS, before or after payment of duty, shall be processed through the ICUMS. However, the directive has not been adhered to at the Takoradi port and the frontier stations. This has resulted in untold hardships to Agents. Officers and Agents are being coerced to only use the ICUMS platform, a system which keeps on failing the customers. Despite the change from UNIPASS to ICUMS, the President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), Edward Akrong, said its operational failings still persist. According to him, the use of the platform will not inure to the benefit of the country since there are serious operational challenges that needed to be addressed. Reports are rife that some shipping agents even held a demonstration in Takoradi last week to protest against the problems they are still encountering using the ICUMS Platform. The Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade & Industry, Hon. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, addressing journalists in Parliament over the issue, said everything we had warned the government to address is happening now. As we speak, both ports operations are in disarray because it is obvious that the takeover from GCNET and the potential incompetence from ICUMS is affecting the country. We are losing millions of revenue and businesses are losing a lot of money in the midst of this COVID-19, he noted. He urged the citizenry to hold the President accountable for the revenue and job losses at the ports. We warned President Akufo-Addo but he didnt listen. Why would any government risk such a major change? What are we in a rush for? he quizzed. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Y ou may have thought undertakers would be in clover as a grim silver lining to the coronavirus crisis. But funeral homes giant Dignity today told investors it has actually suffered as church services were banned and restrictions on numbers of people allowed to attend funerals to grieve for their loved ones has left families choosing the most stripped back - and cheap - ceremonies possible. Dignity has suspended using limousines altogether in order to protect staff and customers. Together, this has left the average price paid for a Dignity funeral fall from 2648 to 2200. Revenues from memorials at Dignity's crematoria also fell sharply. The company warned that the high death rate this year could translate to fewer deaths in the next two years. Analysts said that would mean Dignity may struggle to make its normal profit margins for years. This is particularly a worry at a time when the Competition and Markets Authority is investigating a 6% annual rise in funeral prices. The Coop, Britain's biggest funeral homes operator, had asked the government for a bailout of the industry due to them having to bear the cost of stripped down covid funerals. Dignity did not join in the request with its trading statement today. It said it had not furloughed staff or seek government support. Chief executive Clive Whiley praised his staff as "an easily forgotten subset of key workers who all deserve our thanks." Diplomats of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna and members of their families commemorated the fallen Ukrainians and other prisoners of the Ebensee concentration camp at the memorial in Upper Austria. "We have gathered here to honor the memory of the sons and daughters of Ukraine who died in the Ebensee concentration camp, a subcamp of Mauthausen concentration camp. According to various estimates, several thousand Ukrainians died here," Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International organizations in Vienna Yevheniy Tsymbaliuk said, an Ukrinform correspondent in Austria reports. Mass events have been canceled and restrictions on gatherings have been imposed in Austria, as well as in other countries, due to COVID-19. However, the Ukrainian diplomatic mission decided to honor the memory of the fallen prisoners of the Ebensee concentration camp, while taking the necessary measures, in particular, maintaining the distance between the commemoration ceremony participants. The Ukrainian delegation, in particular, laid wreaths and flowers at the monument to the Ukrainian victims of the concentration camp unveiled in 1995. The flowers were also laid at the national monuments of other countries to honor the memory of representatives of other nationalities killed in this death camp. The Ebensee concentration camp was one of the largest subcamps of Mauthausen. More than 20,000 prisoners, quarter of whom were the USSR residents, built tunnels for armaments storage near the town of Ebensee, Austria, from 1943 until 1945. ol - On Sunday, May 10, the Jubilee Party invited its senators for parliamentary group meeting at State House - The meeting was reported to be about looming changes in the Jubilee Party leadership in the Senate - Senator Kipchumba Murkomen was expected to be replaced by KANU's Samuel Poghisio as the majority leader - The majority whip Susan Kihika was to be replaced by Muranga's Irungu Kang'ata Deputy President William Ruto's allies in the Senate have rubbished calls by the Jubilee Party to attend a parliamentary group meeting at State House. On Sunday, May 10, the ruling party's secretary-general, Raphael Tuju, issued a statement that was circulated to the senators through the National Assembly majority leader Aden Duale inviting the senators for the Monday, May 11, meeting. READ ALSO: Coronavirus: 160 Kenyans who were stranded in China arrive in Nairobi Senator Kipchumba Murkomen's majority leader position is at risk following the signing of post-election agreement between Jubilee and KANU. Photo: Kipchumba Murkomen Source: UGC READ ALSO: Mhandisi wa JKIA auawa na mpenziwe mtaani Umoja kufuatia ugomvi According to the message that was delivered through a text message, the senators were expected to be in State House as early as 8.30am. However, the Tanga Tanga senators distanced themselves from the meeting with some indicating they would not attend over what they claimed to be personalisation of party matters by President Uhuru Kenyatta. "Jubilee is a national party and is funded by the taxpayers, we owe it to the taxpayers in running affairs of the party, we cannot personalise party issues," said Caleb Kositany. West Pokot senator Samuel Poghisio is reported to be replacing Senator Murkomen in Senate leadership. Photo: Daily Nation Source: UGC READ ALSO: Coronavirus: 23 Kenyans in diaspora succumb to COVID-19, 191 infected The invitation to the meeting came amid reports that KANU had signed a post-election coalition agreement to work with Jubilee Party ahead of the 2022 elections. It was reported the meeting was meant to initiate key changes in the Senate leadership with Senator Samuel Poghisio (KANU) expected to take over Kipchumba Murkomen as the Senate's majority leader. Majority whip Susan Kihika was to be replaced by Muranga's Irungu Kang'ata whereas Senator Fatuma Dulo was to retain her post as the deputy majority whip. Senate majority whip Susan Kihika is said to be replaced with Senator Irungu Kang'ata. Photo: Susan Kihika Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Stivo Simpleboy distances himself from Twitter account making fun of fellow celebrities According to the party's Constitution, there should be at least 20 senators in the party required to approve the changes for it to be effected in the Senate. The absence of Tanga Tanga senators in the State House meeting was meant to deny the party leader the numbers needed to effect the much touted changes. Interestingly, the Tanga Tanga faction had been calling for a parliamentary group meeting to discussing some of the pressing issues in the party, but now it seemed their prayers had been answered in a manner they did not expect. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Source: TUKO.co.ke The virus doesn't care what religion you practice, or if you're in a red state or a blue state, it's going to take advantage of human frailty, Rupp said. "And if we let our guard down," he said, "and we try to get back to where we were three months ago as far as our enjoyment of our liberties and being able to interact with one another on a social basis, I have little doubt that we are going to see a dramatic rise in the number of cases." Nebraska was slower to climb its mountain of cases, and is still making its way to the peak. Cases in Douglas County are on a steep incline, as are those in Dakota and Lancaster counties. The COVID-19 map shows eight hot spots across the state. The doctors acknowledge the difficult position politicians are in and the pressure they are getting from both sides about reopening. But those in the medical field are looking at numbers and science, not politics. Rupp said the issue of the detrimental effects of the economic turmoil the pandemic has created and the impact of isolation on mental health can't be underemphasized. But the health effects of the disease and deaths are equally important. Saudi Arabia's international airports including King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, have provided joint operations rooms to receive citizens returning home from abroad. All health and preventive measures were taken during the procedures and stages that passengers are subject to from their arrival at international airports of the Kingdom until they board the buses designated for them, reported Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The operations room follow up those citizens arriving from international destinations starting by managing their movements in the airport lounges, and following their disembarking from the planes in a controlled manner to ensure that there is no congestion and passengers spread within the terminals, all while maintaining social distancing. This in addition to supervising and control of the luggage while quickly removed from the plane to ensure that passengers do not wait for a long time to receive their luggage and at the passenger traffic gate, and through medical check-up area, ending with luggage reception. The operation rooms tasks also include managing the movements of citizens arriving at the terminals, and monitoring as the passengers disembark from the plane in a manner that ensures no congestion, all while observing social distancing. Meanwhile, efforts are made to monitor the process of unloading baggage from the plane to ensure that there are no delays. This is in addition to supervising medical examinations and receiving passengers' luggage. Furthermore, the operation room include (Communications and Operations Unit, Data and Information unit, General Supervision Unit). The airports have implemented many measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus during flights designated for repatriation of citizens. This includes 12 stages that are applied from the arrival of citizens who wish to return at their country of departure until their arrival at the kingdoms airport. The stages that the citizens go through at the moment of their arrival at the airport, which include a medical examination of the passengers at the airport of the country of departure, before they board the plane in which care is taken to ensure that there are adequate spaces between passengers, and when the flight arrives at the airport, the passengers get off the plane in a controlled manner to ensure that there is no congestion, all while maintaining social distancing. Priority is then given to dropping the luggage from the plane to ensure that the passengers do not wait for a long time in the luggage reception area. The general authority of civil aviation (GACA) has also provided a sterilization area through which sterilizers and masks are provided at the passengers bridges and luggage gates. All passengers are then instructed to sterilize their hands and wear masks in the proper way until the completion of all procedures. The Ministry of Health has allocated a check-up points through which all arriving passengers go through the mandatory thermal camera area to make sure the safety of all travellers and aircraft crews who will undergo a preliminary medical examination by a specialized medical team and determine whether any passenger need for advanced medical isolation. Upon suspicion of a positive case between passengers, the passenger is then isolated away from the rest of the passengers, while a safe path is then activated to transfer the case. Passengers are required to sterilize the hands before starting the passport procedures and entry in the fingerprint area. The passport control area procedures are cleared without changing any of the procedures while maintaining a safe social distancing between the passengers while Customs Inspection area hand luggage inspection goes on without change. All this procedures is followed while maintaining a safe social distance between passengers. In the event of a secondary inspection of luggage, a distance of 1.5 metres is maintained between the customs officer and the passenger. Ground services provide assistance to passengers in the baggage handling area without changing the procedures followed. Furthermore, passengers passing through the final inspection gate in the customs inspection area are without change in the procedures followed while maintaining a safe distance between the passengers. Passengers are sorted during the last step upon exit by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Tourism on paths according to their destinations. Three Saudia flights dedicated for repatriating citizens from Moscow, Munich and Islamabad have arrived at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The returnees were received by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Health and the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), reported Saudi Press Agency (SPA). Immediately after their arrival, the returnees received all health and preventive measures to combat the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19). It included 12 stages that are applied from the arrival of the citizens at the airport of the country of departure until their arrival and exit from the kingdom's airports. By Elliot Lee School without a global pandemic was already a stressful environment. I know that from the many times I have studied into the early hours of the morning, the constant stream of assessments I had to prepare for and take, and the many extracurricular activities I was expected to balance with an ever-increasing workload. Now, the hectic, but nevertheless rather normal cycle of school has been broken not only for me but also for over a million students in New Jersey. While we may have been accustomed to a never-ending series of assignments, tests, and projects, few of us were prepared to see loved ones devastatingly sick and our parents out of jobs. Yet, that is the new reality for many students. That is why when my high school recently proposed a pass/fail grading policy, I was personally ecstatic. A pass/fail grading policy grades students not on the traditional A to F scale but on a simple question of if the student performed well enough to pass a class. Simply put, my school was proposing to give every student who receives at least a 55 for this semester a 99 on their transcript. To my surprise, many of my friends and peers opposed the idea. A pass/fail grading policy is in no way unique to my school. A similar concept has been implemented in a growing number of postsecondary educational institutions including some of the most prestigious universities in this nation including Harvard, Stanford, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The popularity of a pass/fail grading policy stems from the simple goal of reestablishing balance and equality to the educational system. A pass/fail grading policy disincentives cheating, evening the playing field. Cheating on assessments is a rampant problem in schools even with direct teacher supervision. I have seen my peers crack under stress and resort to less than honest methods of obtaining a good grade. My school is not alone in this regard: studies have found that more than 75% of college students admit to cheating in high school. Now, with remote assessments, it is easier than ever to search for answers on the internet or even to call friends and work cooperatively but dishonestly. The current system of grading used by high schools unfairly places those who view their academic integrity as more important than their grades at a disadvantage. Schools have always attempted to serve as an equalizer. At the very least, it was a place where everyone went through the good and bad together. The coronavirus pandemic has turned all of that on its head. Due to the uniqueness of every individuals situation, it has become impossible to expect that every student currently has the time, resources, and circumstance to succeed. This brings us back to the small but vocal opposition to the policy at my school. To some of my peers, it seems unfair to award a student who works and studies hard the same grade as those who barely do enough to pass. Others wish for the opportunity to rise above the rest of the student body. Undeniably, these concerns are valid. However, extensive cheating already allows for those who work less to do better academically than others. It is unlikely, to say the least, that a standard A to F grading policy would force each student to earn their respective grade. Even a policy that boosts a students grade or allows for an opt-in policy misses the spirit of pass/fail grading. By allowing traditional letter grades to even have a slight importance is affording those who are academically dishonest and those who are situationally better off an advantage over the academically honest and those who are suffering greatly during this pandemic. Much like we have told our elected officials that it is necessary to put aside political divides at this time in the interest of everyone, the same holds for education. This is not the time to put getting As above the equitable treatment of all students. Elliot Lee is a junior at a Bergen County high school. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. The Star-Ledger/NJ.com encourages submissions of opinion. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Branding time in North Dakota could take on a new look this year, and the reason for the changes likely will be the topic of conversation when crews sit down for a socially distanced lunch break. Branding cattle to show ownership is more than a job; it's a tradition, with ranchers helping others pound out an annual chore with a little fellowship mixed in. This spring, it will show the effects of the coronavirus pandemic as precautions are taken to stem the spread of the virus. In ranching country, its maybe the most visible sign of the pandemic. But others -- a drop in the price of beef and a reduction in the value of a producers herd -- are weighing heavy on the minds of cattle producers. Branding precautions Some basic protocols will be in place at many brandings, North Dakota Stockmens Association Executive Vice President Julie Ellingson said, but the work still needs to be done. Shes advising ranchers to consider keeping the older and younger generations away from the branding crowds, as theyre more susceptible to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. She also likes the idea of meals in individual containers instead of a family style service, and she recommends keeping chairs spaced to "allow for camaraderie and a break, but not in a tight fashion. Cow-calf producer Dan Rorvig of McVille, 59, president of the association, said hes modified his plans a little but is hoping the situation will have changed for the better when he brands his calves at the end of June. Hes trusting his neighbors to make good choices when deciding whether to help at a branding. If youre compromised, youve got to do whats good for you, he said. Were gonna go ahead with branding anyway. Pocketbook woes Producers have seen a huge reduction in value since the pandemic hit in mid-March, Rorvig said. An 800-pound feeder calf, for example, lost $200 in value in a one-week span, and the cattle he has on hand as he gets ready to go to grass this summer have taken a hit, too. We got some of it back, but not all of it, Rorvig said. Its a crunch that cattle feeder and buyer Randy Weigel, 56, of Kintyre, is feeling, too. He was selling fat cattle for about $1.25 a pound before the pandemic. Thats down to about 95 cents now -- far below his breakeven price -- and at times he cant even get a bid. A number of packing plants have shut down as workers have become ill from the disease or stayed home to avoid it. His cattle, at times, have nowhere to go. Hes not seen anything like it in his 34 years as a cattle feeder. The next-closest was mad cow, but that was short-lived and rebounded within a month, he said, referring to a fatal brain disease in cattle that can cause a similar disease in people and affected markets in the early 2000s. Now hes fielding calls from people about record-high retail beef prices. Its a bad situation, he said. The consumer is getting gouged, and its not from the rancher. For Weigel, theres likely more headaches ahead. The cattle he cant sell will have to be fed and cared for, adding to his expenses. Theyll continue to gain weight too, and cattle that are too heavy might be subject to discounts at the packing plant. And when the plants are ready to process cattle, there could be an oversupply from the backlog, which would knock down prices again. Its a tough deal all the way around for everybody, Weigel said. He'd like to see steakhouses and restaurants reopen because of the impact the businesses have on the beef industry. About a third of U.S. beef goes to food service, Ellingson said, and that represents about half of the value of U.S. beef production. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association estimates the pandemic will cause $13.6 billion in economic damage to the beef industry. Its a different feel for Joel Opp, 39, who along with his father raises registered Angus cattle near Hebron. He's been delivering bulls from his recent production sale, where he noticed buyer attendance was lower than normal. It hurt us some, Opp said. We did a lot more business on the internet, and we didnt sell some that we would have in a normal year. Some of his customers are employed in the oil patch or have oil wells on their property, Opp said. Oil prices have plummeted during the pandemic, and when oil went negative, that didnt help us either, he said. Opp sends some cattle -- those that didnt make it to his production sale -- to a feedlot to be finished. The carcass data from those animals is valuable information for him and his bull buyers, he said, because it's an indicator of how his cattle perform. Still, those cattle on feed have to go to market when they're ready, so hes watching the price for fat cattle. From what Ive heard, even if the plants are up and running, the realization of getting the market back to where it was is going to take a month or more, he said. Even with all that has transpired in the last month or so, Opp said he feels fortunate that he hasnt lost his livelihood or a loved one to COVID-19. I consider myself lucky to be doing what Im doing, he said. Ive never had to not go to work. Ellingson is encouraged by an executive order President Donald Trump recently signed. Its aim is to provide equipment and incentives to packing plants in an effort to keep them open. The goal is to keep the food supply moving, Ellingson said. That we see as a very big win. There will be another pandemic or similar scare someday, Rorvig said, adding that its been his hope that the nation will learn more from this crisis than was learned from others. We didnt necessarily get a lot of education; we just paid a lot of tuition, he said. Reach Travis Svihovec at 701-250-8260 or Travis.Svihovec@bismarcktribune.com Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. New Delhi: A political and human right activists from Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) called Islamabad's move to hold election illegal and unconstitutional' and urged people to boycott it. Gilgit-Baltistan, a part of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir, has been under Pakistan`s occupation since 1947. A seven-member bench of Pakistan Supreme Court recently allowed the Imran Khan government in Pakistan to amend the government of Gilgit Baltistan order 2018 to conduct the general election this year. "Under the present circumstances, there can be no free and fair elections in Pakistani-occupied Gilgit Baltistan. Unless the colonial order Schedule 4 and Anti-Terrorism Act are abolished and our political prisoners are released, the people of Gilgit Baltistan should boycott any such activity that is sponsored by Pakistan," said Amjad Ayub Mirza, a rights activist from Mirpur of PoJK and now settled in the UK . India has already issued strong protest with the Islamabad against the Pakistan Supreme Court order to hold an election in 'Gilgit-Baltistan'. "It was clearly conveyed that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of India by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession. The government of Pakistan or its judiciary has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it. India completely rejects such actions and continued attempts to bring material changes in Pakistan occupied areas of the Indian territory of Jammu & Kashmir. Instead, Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation," the MEA had said in a statement. The Pakistan government has banned several groups in recent time who voice an opinion against Pakistan atrocities in PoJK and other regions. Groups like the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) and Sindhudesh Liberation Army (SLA) were banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997. These groups are fighting for historical, political, economic and human rights of Sindhi people and have been victims of state human rights violations, according to the World Sindhi Congress. Meanwhile, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has included regions of Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad, territories currently under Pak occupied Kashmir (PoK), in its daily weather bulletin. The IMD has now included this addition in the Jammu and Kashmir meteorological subdivisions. The news of adding regions of POK into the Indian weather forecast came after Pakistan Supreme court's decision to allow Islamabad to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan. Johnson & Johnson's race to manufacture a billion doses of coronavirus vaccine is ramping up in a small biotechnology plant near Interstate 95 in Baltimore. But even as technicians prepare to lower 1,000-liter plastic bags of ingredients into steel tanks for brewing the first batches of experimental vaccine, international concern is bubbling about what countries will get the first inoculations. The Baltimore plant is the second of four planned locations around the world where Johnson & Johnson plans to pump out vaccine on a massive scale, months before testing the first dose in a human being. The manufacturing head start is one part of a worldwide scramble to protect the human population from the virus that is not expected to vanish on its own. If SARS-CoV-2 establishes itself as a stubborn, endemic virus akin to influenza, medical experts say there almost certainly will not be enough vaccine for at least several years, even with the unprecedented effort to manufacture billions of doses. About 70% of the world's population - or 5.6 billion people - probably will need to be inoculated to begin to establish herd immunity and slow its spread, scientists say. Yet the nationalistic priorities of individual nations could thwart the strategic imperative to tamp down hotspots wherever they are on the planet - including poor countries that can't afford the vaccine. The United States in particular could be left in the cold if vaccines developed here as part of a go-it-alone approach turn out to be less effective than those produced in China or Europe. The scenario public health experts fear most is a worldwide fight in which manufacturers sell only to the highest bidders, rich countries try to buy up the supplies, and nations where manufacturers are located hoard vaccines for their own citizens. "The model of countries thinking only of themselves is not going to work. Even if you're living somewhere that's somehow perfectly without any infections. Your best efforts to fight the virus are going to fail unless you shut off all your borders and trade," said Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, a public-private partnership that helps provide vaccines to developing countries. "This is a global problem that requires a global solution." International health advocates want to avoid a repeat of 2009, when wealthy countries - including the United States, which was led by the internationalist-leaning Barack Obama - were at the head of the line for H1N1 swine flu vaccine, leaving underdeveloped countries with little supply until after the pandemic subsided. Such an approach will be sorely tested by President Donald Trump and other world leaders with nationalistic impulses and their own anxious populations who want to reduce the deadly threat and bring their economies back to life. In the United States, the federal government agency in charge of emergency vaccine development indicated it is prioritizing domestic concerns - an "America First" mentality that has shaped much of the Trump administration's pandemic response. "Right now, we're focused on the whole-of-America approach required to expedite the availability of vaccines,'' said Gary Disbrow, acting director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), in an emailed response to written questions from The Washington Post. BARDA, tasked with protecting Americans from biological threats, is channeling nearly half a billion dollars in emergency funds to Johnson & Johnson to develop a vaccine. It also is providing hundreds of millions of dollars in financial support for vaccine efforts by Sanofi, the large French drug company, and Moderna, a biotech company in Massachusetts teaming with a Swiss company for vaccine manufacturing. "By working with multiple companies, we have more 'shots on goal' to increase the chances that the U.S. will have one or more vaccines available as quickly as possible,'' Disbrow said. The global grab for protective equipment and ventilators that left poorer countries empty-handed suggests the competition over vaccines could be at least as fierce. Dozens of companies large and small are rushing to develop vaccines using different technologies and approaches. Avalere Health, a pharmaceutical consulting company, is tracking at least 120 separate vaccine projects sponsored by governments, universities, nonprofit institutes and private companies. Large-scale manufacturing capacity will be required to produce viable products out of those experiments and clinical trials. Some vaccines may require two doses, putting greater pressure on manufacturing capacity. Some top officials in the Trump administration are raising attention to the issue. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, both physicians, were co-authors of an article published in the journal Science on Monday that urged international coordination. "Cost, distribution system, cold-chain requirements, and delivery of widespread coverage are all potential constriction points in the eventual delivery of vaccines to individuals and communities," they wrote. "All of these issues require global cooperation among organizations involved in health care delivery and economics." Recognizing the financial and logistical bottlenecks for smaller biotech firms, Bill Gates, the philanthropist and Microsoft founder, announced in April on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would make billions of dollars available to help seven undisclosed companies build out manufacturing capacity. The race for a vaccine is full of risks because no one knows which projects will succeed. That forces companies to scale up to produce millions of doses of vaccine that might end up being worthless. There is another risk. The United States might not be well-positioned if the best vaccines end up coming from other countries or international collaborations - such as a development and manufacturing cooperative that world leaders pledged billions toward this month at an online event the Trump administration skipped. A Trump administration official, not speaking for attribution this month under White House rules for speaking to reporters, said the United States supports such efforts despite skipping the pledge event. "We need to lay the groundwork for global vaccine sharing now, before we know who is the winner. It's basically negotiated - there's not a global framework or protocol, there's not a preexisting framework about how to do this," said Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, who worked on the U.S. government's response to international disasters in the Obama administration. "What we don't want is a situation of haves and have-nots, based on either who gets vaccine to work or who has the production capacity or who has the wealth." Much of the international outrage during the H1N1 swine flu pandemic 11 years ago centered on supply contracts western governments secured with vaccine manufacturers. The United States, under former President Barack Obama, had contracts in 2009 that entitled it to 600 million doses, The Washington Post reported at the time, a huge share of potential global supply. Stronger frameworks for international planning have since been established for influenza vaccines. But those frameworks do not automatically apply to the coronavirus. David Fidler, adjunct senior fellow for cybersecurity and global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a visiting professor at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, said the much larger threat of the coronavirus could make it more difficult for countries to act together - especially in the United States, which has experienced the highest covid-19 caseload and death toll in the world. "Access to vaccine, as a safety valve to release that political and economic pressure, is going to be astronomical for anyone who is in the White House. That pressure is not going to dissipate if (presumptive Democratic nominee) Joe Biden wins in November,'' he said. Large drug companies may enter into vaccine contracts again as they face pressure to recoup their investments, Fidler added. "For pharmaceutical companies that make vaccines, your best customer for return on investment are high-income countries,'' Fidler said. ``If you're going to get a return on investment, somebody has to buy it.'' According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 80 million Americans were inoculated in the 2009 swine flu pandemic - an amount that roughly equals the total number of doses that were received in 77 different countries under a distribution plan organized by the World Health Organization. "Rich countries monopolized the vaccine, poor countries were left behind. They got the vaccine later, and they got less of it,'' Gavin Yamey, director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health at Duke University said in a university podcast. Allowing a repeat scenario in the battle against the coronavirus would be a devastating mistake, he said. "Unless we make this vaccine globally available,'' he said, "we are not going to be able to end the pandemic because . . . an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere.'' BARDA has not signed contracts with Johnson & Johnson or other companies for delivery of specific numbers of doses, a step Disbrow said would be "premature at this point." Johnson & Johnson "has indicated that approximately 300 million doses of vaccine would be available in the U.S. each year," he said, which is enough to vaccinate 90% of the U.S. population of 330 million people. That number of doses matches up with the projected annual capacity at the Baltimore plant, which is operated by a publicly traded corporation called Emergent BioSolutions and receives funding as one of four federal Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing. Asked about Disbrow's assertion, a top executive at Johnson & Johnson did not commit to specific volumes or timing of delivery of vaccine in the United States, citing the need to evaluate global priorities to stop the pandemic. The company wants to produce 1 billion doses by the end of 2021, making the first doses available as early as this winter. Where vaccine will be most needed is not known, although health care workers will be a high priority, Paul Stoffels, Johnson & Johnson's executive vice president and chief scientific officer, said in an interview. Stoffels said Johnson & Johnson is committed to satisfying demand wherever it is most needed. The company also is not interested in making a profit on the coronavirus vaccine, he said. "It's very difficult to determine at the moment where the epidemic is then going to be," Stoffels said in an interview. "We think honestly . . . that the priority should go to the people who need it most - first, that are probably the health care workers and people at high risk, and maybe wherever they are in the world. "On the one hand, we work very much with the U.S.," he added, "but on the other hand we also do our best to make sure we can serve the world.." Johnson & Johnson says its vaccine technology is particularly well suited to underdeveloped regions because vials of doses can be shipped at relatively warm temperatures in the last stage of delivery. In addition to Baltimore, it will be producing a vaccine at its own plant in the Netherlands and is looking for at least two other locations in Asia and Europe, according to the company. It also is contracting with glass-vial manufacturers to buy 5-dose vials to ease shortages of packaging, Stoffels said. Pfizer, which is testing multiple vaccine candidates, has identified factories in the United States and Belgium and is securing its supply chain, with the goal of having 10 to 20 million doses available by fall and hundreds of millions of doses next year, the company said. "We're thinking completely outside of what is, quote-unquote, normal. We come up with unique approaches, we're getting into contract negotiations with suppliers, and we haven't seen a single clinical data point," said Kathrin Jansen, head of Vaccine Research and Development for Pfizer. "It's unheard of." Pfizer's vaccine, being developed with the German company BioNTech, contains genetic material encapsulated in a fat droplet made of four different lipids. Before it even knew which vaccine would move forward, Pfizer had to secure enough of each of those lipids. Pfizer managers need enzymes to make the genetic material, called RNA, so they had to find suppliers and secure enough supply for their anticipated demand. Layered on top of the logistical supply chain is scientific uncertainty. Pfizer's planning scenario is built on a "worst-case prediction" that the vaccine it ends up making will be the one that requires the highest dose. If the company succeeds with a different version - one that makes copies of itself once inside cells and thus is effective at about a tenth of the dose - Pfizer could be thinking about billions of doses as opposed to hundreds of millions. "All those are wild cards, and the whole planning right now needs a certain amount of flexibility," Jansen said. "We don't want to have too little capacity, we don't want to have too much capacity, we don't know how much we need. It's a very interesting dance going on right now to get it right, and none of us has ever done this." Jansen said that the global community will have to figure out how to distribute vaccine equitably through the world, through organizations such as the WHO She did not say where Pfizer's vaccines would go. "I think by the time we will face the issue, I'm very confident there will be plans in place, to make sure that there's an equitable roll out," Jansen said. Moderna has a factory in a suburb south of Boston capable of producing 100 million doses in a year. This month, the company announced a 10-year partnership with Lonza, a Swiss contract development and manufacturing firm that will help it scale up production, with the goal of beginning manufacturing in July. The partnership could expand manufacturing capabilities to 1 billion doses a year. Stephane Bancel, chief executive of Moderna, said he hopes governments will place large orders with companies like his before the products are formally approved - so that they can spend the next 12 to 18 months making as much vaccine as they can, to be ready for the surge in demand if and when they get the regulatory okay. "If we start stockpiling now," he said, "all the products we make between now and launch are available the day of launch." Step-down demands come after a protester was killed during renewed anti-government demonstrations in the southern city. Protesters in Iraqs southern city of Basra issued a strongly worded statement calling on the oil-rich provinces governor to step down, along with his two deputies, after a demonstrator was killed during anti-government rallies. The resignation calls on Sunday night came amid a revival of Iraqs anti-government protests since October last year to demand better living conditions, an end to corruption, and a complete overhaul of the political system. Rallies that gripped the capital, Baghdad, and Iraqs mostly Shia south halted for several weeks because of government-imposed curfews and restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus, which has killed more than 100 Iraqis and infected nearly 3,000 others. Triggered by anger by the appointment of former intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi as Iraqs new prime minister on Thursday, hundreds of demonstrators returned to the streets on Sunday to demand a complete overhaul of the political system. In Basra, those calls extended to the local government as well. From Basra, we declare that the Iraqi state has completely lost its credibility in the eyes of its people, said the demonstrators statement in footage circulated over social media. It (the state) has become nothing more than a network of support for oppressive militias and corrupt political parties. The statement went on to announce that Basras governor, Assad al-Eidani, and his two deputies, Mohamed al-Timimy and Dorgham al-Ajwadi, should be removed and tried by a court. We will nominate another governor for Basra, added one unidentified protester who read out the statement while covering his face with a red-and-white checkered kaffiyeh. As one of the biggest political blocs in the Iraqi parliament, the Iran-backed Binaa faction nominated its member Eidani as new prime minister in December last year, but the move was swiftly rejected by protesters. The Binaa bloc, linked to the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMF), includes the Fatah alliance led by Hadi al-Amrir and the State of the Law Coalition led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. 191225124512897 Complete overhaul According to Azhar al-Rubaie, a journalist from Basra, protesters called for the resignation of Eidani because they see him as part of the same system they want changed. Eidani made many promises to create employment opportunities and pay civil servants their salaries, but none of those promises have been met, said al-Rubaie. They also blame him for the killing of demonstrators during the months-long rallies, and thats why they want him put on trial, he explained. He continued: They want to see new faces in the central and local governments alike. Thats why they reject Kadhimi and Eidani both. Protester killed The statements came as large groups of protesters gathered in Basras streets on Sunday night to call for the removal of the ruling elite that they see as corrupt. As the demonstrators moved closer to the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia called Thaar Allah, armed men guarding the building shot and killed one protester, witnesses at the scene said. A 20-year-old protester was killed and four others were injured, Ali al-Bayat, a member of the Iraqi Human Rights Commission, told Al Jazeera about the incident. Following the escalation, al-Kadhimi said in a statement on Monday his government would commit to respecting human rights, the right to peaceful demonstration, protecting demonstrators, and holding perpetrators accountable. He also ordered his security forces to storm the militia groups headquarters and arrest the men responsible for the violence. The move was seen as a rare swift governmental response to protest-related violence. Since his appointment on Thursday, al-Kadhimi has attempted to appease the protesters by ordering the release of detained demonstrators and promising to hold perpetrators responsible for the killing of at least 550 people during the months-long rallies accountable. But according to independent Iraq analyst Zeidon al-Kinani, the protest movement is not likely to calm down. Theres an ongoing discussion among protesters on whether or not they should give Kadhimis government a chance before they mobilise again, al-Kinani told Al Jazeera. But waiting is hard because the cabinets formation followed the same ethnic-sectarian quota which people revolted against, he added. The Chief Medical Officer has said he is hopeful he will be able to make a positive recommendation with regard to restrictions ahead of the May 18 deadline as Irelands Covid-19 statistics continue to show improvement. Dr Tony Holohan, speaking at the daily briefing of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), said that he wouldnt be making predictions however as to the likelihood of the first phase of Irelands roadmap to the easing of restrictions will be allowed to go ahead. Ive said that Im hopeful, he said. The news came as a further 15 deaths from the coronavirus were reported in Ireland, bringing the overall death toll here to 1,467. An additional 139 confirmed cases meanwhile sees the overall number of cases in an Irish context rise to 22,894. That figure of 139 represents a return to low levels of new cases not seen since late-March, with Dr Holohan clarifying that Sundays figure of 236 had been over-reported in error, and that the official statistics had been adjusted to reflect that fact. The briefing dealt with the updated length of time people are waiting to receive test results having been referred by a GP, with the HSEs national director of community operations David Walsh saying that period from initial referral to the beginning of contact tracing is now five days. Thats an improving figure, he said. We are hopeful of having it down to four days by the end of this week. The lowering figure is an encouraging sign given the health authorities have been bedevilled by test wait times being consistently longer than the official figures have stated. The lower the turnaround time for testing the more effective attempts at isolation and contact tracing will prove to be. Mr Walsh said that he understands that the data on wait times is now being compiled on a daily basis, which suggests it may be published on such a basis in the near future, an eventuality which would bring a deal of clarity regarding testing that has previously not been available. Hospital tests remain those with the quickest turnaround times, he said - averaging two days - with those processed in laboratories taking three days on average at present. As to how long the process of contact tracing is currently taking, Dr Holohan said it should be shorter than four days for non-complex cases, they being those where the number of contacts with an infected person are relatively low. Dr Breda Smyth, Dr Tony Holohan and Dr Ronan Glynn at the press briefing this evening. Pic: Collins Meanwhile, Dr Holohan said that some cases of negative test results in ordinarily healthy people who presented with Covid-19 symptoms could possibly be psychosomatic. Of course that can happen, he said, adding that however it is more likely that people are suffering from illnesses that share symptoms with the virus. Regarding the idea of false negatives, Dr Holohan said that we dont think this is something that is happening to a great extent, though of course we cant say that it isnt happening. He said that a correct positive test result for the virus is most likely to be delivered when a persons symptoms are at their most severe when the viral load is heaviest. Regarding a letter, purporting to be from the local branch of the HSE, to residents of the Skellig Star direct provision centre in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, which alleged that the outbreak of the virus seen there had resulted from those residents not socially isolating effectively, Mr Walsh said he had yet to verify the letters authenticity or otherwise, but had said he was committed to doing so. On the subject of NPHET making a recommendation on the wearing of masks in the near future meanwhile - a subject which has been much discussed in an Irish context - Dr Holohan said he is not anticipating we will make the wearing of masks mandatory. He added however that if the wearing of masks is recommended by the authorities he would expect to see high levels of compliance. He said that todays meeting of NPHET will further be considering the change in protocols in the UK, which has seen lockdown restrictions ease and the central message change to one of stay alert, and whether or not they will have any effect on Ireland given the presence of the Common Travel Area between the two countries. The Patna district administration brought back smiles on the faces of nearly 160 stranded people, mostly migrant workers by facilitating their return home in the last three days. All these people were scheduled to leave Patna after March 24, but found themselves stranded due to the lockdown. Among them were 107 migrant labourers from West Bengal, 30-35 workers from Jharkhands Godda district, 17 Kashmiri woollen hawkers and a three-member group from Srinagar that was here to attend a marriage. Most of them had registered with the helpline numbers of their respective states hoping to be bailed out. They were running low on hope as they continued to be stranded in Bihar almost a month since their registration for help. Every passing day was proving to be a mental and financial drain. Patna district magistrate Kumar Ravi took up the case for evacuation of the stranded people after Hindustan Times highlighted the plight of Kashmiri woollen hawkers last week. I tried to get buses arranged and contacted officials of their state. When my officers got in touch with their counterparts, they got to know that two buses were coming, carrying stranded pilgrims to Bihar. The same bus was used for the return of the Kashmiri people stranded in Patna, said Ravi. (Rohit Raj) assistant commissioner, labour resources department, worked hard to coordinate it. The driver and staff of the bus, which came to Patna, were very reluctant he added. It was the cheapest and safest option available. We have informed the officers of J&K about every development orally, said Ravi, when this reporter asked him about their payment. Each Kashmiri had to pay the bus staff 2,500 for their return up to Jammu. The Patna district administration screened all passengers and gave them food packets and drinking water before the Kashmiri entourage left Patna on Sunday evening. We also facilitated the return of 107 migrant labourers by three buses from Bihta block in Patna to West Bengal on May 9. Today, we are trying to send back to Godda 30-35 migrant workers in a bus, which has come along with a magistrate, from Jharkhand, said Rohit Raj, assistant labour commissioner. It was not easy for the Kashmiris, most of who had been coming to Bihar for the past two decades, to cope with Bihars oppressive summer. We are not used to such heat and were developing rashes on our skin, as our return was delayed by a month-and-a-half, said Md Shafi Bhawani, 45, who was among the 17-member group of Kashmiri hawkers. We are thankful to the Bihar government for facilitating our return home, we so desperately wanted to during the holy month of Ramzan, said Nawaz Amin Bhawani, 35, whose marriage is scheduled in June. The joy on the face of Gulshna Akhtar, who is Md Shafis spouse, said it all. A mother can only realise the pangs of separation from her small children. Ill get to meet my children after two months, she said. Her children Bashrat Shafi (18), Saima Shafi (15) and Fida Hussain (10) who came to tour the hinterlands of Bihar, had left for Srinagar after Holi, in anticipation of their schools reopening. The couple, however, stayed back to collect some outstanding payments, which some of its customers owed, and got stuck during lockdown. Around 8,000 people from outside Bihar were stranded in the state due to the lockdown, as per information available with Bihars disaster management department till May 4. A community nurse who was diagnosed with the UKs first case of coronavirus-related laryngitis has insisted the NHS 'will overcome' the global pandemic. In tonight's episode of BBC2 documentary Hospital: Fighting Covid-19, NHS nurse Nancy, from the UK, was left fighting for her life on a ventilator in Royal Free London's ICU after contracting coronavirus, and needed an emergency operation to treat her condition, which the hospital had never seen before. The mother, who was given a 50 per cent chance of survival, addressed her colleagues when she was discharged from the hospital after four weeks. NHS nurse Nancy who was the UK's first diagnosed case of covid-related laryngitis, featured in BBC2 documentary Hospital: Fighting Covid-19. Pictured: Nancy leaving hospital Giving a rallying speech to hospital staff, she said that after working for the NHS since the 1970s and 'never having a day off sick' she was 'angry this stupid illness got her' - but insisted she was 'truly grateful and indebted' to all those who helped her recover. As the hospital staff clapped, Nancy continued: 'My colleagues, I want you to understand that I am truly, truly grateful. From the bottom of my heart. 'I have worked for the NHS since 1970. I've worked every day of my life and never taken a day off sick. So you can imagine how angry I am that this stupid illness got me.' 'I want you all to know I am truly, truly grateful and indebted to so many of you, who have left your families so far away and you are here to help us. 'Please just hold on a little bit more, we will overcome this. And when we do, hopefully the NHS will be better for it. So I am truly grateful. I am proud to be a nurse.' The mother gave a tear-jerking speech to show her gratitude for the staff who nursed her back to health. Pictured: Nancy preparing to leave hospital Nancy (pictured) went to the Royal Free Hospital after she began feeling unwell. She had no idea 'of the parameters' she was dealing with at the time The documentary showed Nancy ahead of being discharged, after being taken off ventilation and into the ward for recovery, where she was unable to even walk without assistance for three weeks. She said that the virus 'took control' of her life immediately, admitting that she had 'no idea' of the 'parameters she was dealing with at the time.' 'On that weekend I felt unwell and I went to the Royal Free', explained Nancy. 'Before you knew it, I'd lost control of my life and that was scary for me. I had no idea of the parameters I was dealing with, I knew I was not in control'. Dr. Sanjay Bhgani, who treated Nancy, said that after a patient has come off a ventilator, it is by no means the end of their illness, with many taking weeks to recover fully. Dr. Sanjay Bhgani, who treated Nancy (pictured), revealed that they were looking at a 50-60 per cent of death chance He explained some of the challenges facing the illness and how little we know about it currently, before revealing how procedures changed based on Nancy's treatment. 'Nancy went from casualty straight through to the intensive care unit and we were saying look there's a 50, 60% chance of dying,' he said. 'That was our first example of something we hadnt seen with a viral infection before which is loads of swelling of the larynx. 'And on that basis the whole of the intensive care have changed the way they work and so they always put down now smaller tubes than required as they know there will be swelling of the larynx so we learned a lot from looking after Nancy. There is a plausible weather scenario that pushes Lake Michigan and Lake Huron not only to a record monthly water level this summer. Those lakes could also rise to an all-time recorded high water level. Lake Erie also has a highly possible weather pattern that would lift it to all-time record high levels. Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Erie were officially at monthly record high water levels for April. Traverse City State Park Beach has only the top step showing in an area that used to have a "wide beach area." (Photo courtesy John Robert Williams) The water level forecast into summer from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows Lake Michigan and Lake Huron will likely continue at monthly record water levels. However, there is a range of possible outcomes, with heavier than normal precipitation being able to send Lake Michigan and Lake Huron to the highest level recorded since the late 1800s. Water level forecast for Lake Michigan and Lake Huron with upper end of possible outcomes in the red striped cone area. The highest water level recorded in modern history on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron occurred in October 1986. Notice the forecast above. The green line is the most likely water level for Lakes Michigan and Huron. The upper end of water level scenarios is possible, and would create a new all-time record water level on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. We arent talking about a monthly record. We are talking about a water level never before experienced since the 1880s. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers looked at what type of weather pattern would bring Lake Michigan-Huron to various levels. They looked at two springs after low ice cover years, similar to this past winter. If we had similar weather to spring 2018, Lake Michigan-Huron would rise nine inches from the current water level and three inches higher than October 1986. Traverse City State Park Beach on May 7, 2020 (Photo courtesy John Robert Williams) A nine inch water level rise from the current level would cause significantly more high water problems along the Lake Michigan-Huron shoreline. Lake Erie also could set an all-time record if a wet pattern develops. May 2018 did have heavier than average rainfall across much of Lower Michigan. Rainfall deviation from normal for May 2018. Southern Lower had between two inches and four inches more precipitation that usual in May 2018. It was a wet May, but nothing historic. Lets hope we dont get into a long-lasting wetter than average pattern. If we do, we could see a record set that we dont want to witness. READ MORE Great Lakes high water is going to affect everyone in Michigan Michigans shoreline towns struggle to survive Great Lakes high water Armed crime squad detectives have released CCTV footage of a vehicle they believe may be connected to the theft of $3.9 million of gold bullion, jewellery and cash from a CBD business two weeks ago. On April 27, Karl Kachami, 48, from Hawthorn East, allegedly entered a nondescript building at 227 Collins Street, where he allegedly pointed a Glock pistol at the head of an employee of the Melbourne Gold Company. Mr Kachami was charged on April 30 with armed robbery, theft, false imprisonment and assault, after police found some of the loot buried at a rural property near the Gippsland town of Dollar, about 160 kilometres south-east of Melbourne. Police also searched properties in Hawthorn East and Fitzroy connected to the accused thief. The national capital recorded 310 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 7,233, the Delhi government said on Monday. According to the Delhi government health bulletin, no new fatality due to COVID-19 was reported between May 9 and May 10 midnight and the death toll stood at 73. Sixty patients have recovered from the infection during the duration. According to the bulletin, 97 patients are in ICU and 22 on ventilator support. As many as 2,129 patients have recovered so far from the infection in Delhi, leaving 5,031 active coronavirus cases. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain held a meeting to review the issues related to home isolation of COVID-19 patients, the bulletin said. The central team, deployed by the Union Health Ministry to assist the State Health Department in management of COVID-19 outbreak, visited containment areas, migrant camps, food centres, and the city government-run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital. The Union home secretary and the health secretary held a meeting to review the health situation in Delhi, it said. The cabinet secretary also held a meeting through video conference regarding "Public Health Response to COVID-19 & Implementation of MHA guidelines". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Deputies, support staff get ready for two sessions Global Times By Leng Shumei and Wang Wenwen Source:Global Times Published: 2020/5/10 17:53:40 Preparations for the upcoming annual two sessions kicked off across China amid the COVID-19 epidemic as the Beijing traffic management authority conducted a thorough inspection of dozens of taxis that will serve the two sessions in late May. The taxis, provided by the Beijing Beiqi Taxi Group, went through a strict 37-item inspection including their exteriors, tires and brakes on Sunday. "The taxi should not even have a small scratch on the surface," an employee from the Beiqi group told media. The taxi drivers should undergo training on preventing epidemics, fires and terrorism, according to the report. China's most important political events - the plenary session of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) - also known as the "two sessions," usually take place in March every year, but they were postponed to late May this year due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. Apart from the capital where the two sessions will take place, NPC deputies and CPPCC members across the country have also been preparing to come to the capital to attend the sessions. Chan Yung, a vice chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and an NPC deputy, told the Global Times on Sunday that he and other deputies as well as CPPCC members of Hong Kong will hold a press conference at the Legislative Council on Monday afternoon to brief the local media about their proposals and suggestions to be raised at the two sessions. In East China's Jiangsu, 31 NPC deputies visited factories and companies, talking with workers and collecting their opinions and hearing their difficulties during the production resumption process, to draft proposals for the two sessions. According to media reports, the third plenary session of the 13th NPC will convene on May 22 in Beijing and the third annual session of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC will open on May 21. The total period for the two sessions is likely to be shortened to one week and see fewer reporters covering the event, according to delegates and reporters reached by the Global Times. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address It is not stimulus if theres nothing to stimulate. Most states have been under stay-home-shutdown orders for more than eight weeks, and only a few are reopening before mid-May, so the stimulus bills are really just bridge bills constituting a combined $2.7 trillion bridge to an uncertain future date when 33 million newly unemployed Americans can go back to work and businesses can re-open. Moreover, the bridge isnt even fully built. Many citizens have not received their $1,200 stimulus checks, and many of the legions of unemployed have not begun to receive their benefit checks. Many small businesses havent received Paycheck Protection Program loan funds intended to cover eight weeks of payroll. So a bridge designed to span an eight-week gulf isnt complete, even as the gulf is extending many weeks more. So stimulus is a cruel misnomer. Many workers and businesses will not survive or be able to revive. Connecticut and other states that prolong the shutdown based upon an abundance of caution are creating an overload of tragedy and danger instead. For some areas, an extended shutdown may make sense, most obviously the immediate New York City area. In other areas, particularly rural areas where social distancing is inherent, it probably does not. We should remember that the objective of the extraordinary stay-home-shutdown measures was to flatten the curve, not eliminate it. Even in hard-hit New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has acknowledged that the curve has flattened. The US Comfort hospital ship sent to New York City never reached capacity and departed last month. The spread of the virus has been slowed and kept within hospital and medical capacity, so the extreme measures should be lifted ASAP. We should reopen the same way we shut down, namely here and there, based on conditions on the ground, except, of course, in reverse sequence, starting where conditions are the best. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID, has said as much in White House briefings. However logical, this may not be easy. As the crisis has unfolded, a natural and admirable spirit of unity has developed. However, unity should not be misinterpreted as uniformity. The nation is not uniform, nor are individual states. The president recognizes this, in late March asking all 50 state governors to rate the risk in each county in their respective states as high, medium or low. His county level focus recognizes that there is as much difference within states as between states. Connecticut is a good example. One county out of eight, Fairfield County, has seen about one-third of the states positive tests, hospitalizations and deaths. The four relatively rural eastern counties combined have had less than 7 percent. Eastern Connecticut should reopen sooner than the rest of the state and soon. It should be governed by a different policy than Fairfield County, where, in fact, the curve has flattened, with hospitalizations falling significantly over the last 14 days. In face of the economic carnage, it is critically important to reopen the economy as soon as possible. Areas fortunate enough to have low risk factors should not only be identified, but also supported with policies to protect them and to accelerate their reopening. As a nation and a state, we should recognize that the sooner some areas recover, the sooner we all recover. Those first to re-open will provide strength to the nation and to states as a whole helping to lift lagging areas and ultimately hastening a nationwide recovery. Two weeks ago, Cuomo endorsed the idea of differing policies for different regions of his state. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has not. Instead, he has created another layer of bureaucratic delay and red tape in the form of an unaccountable, private committee, namely the 47-member Reopen CT Advisory Group including not a single member of the General Assembly, the duly elected representatives of the people. Theres no need for a committee, much less such a huge unwieldy committee. In its first action, the group recommended and Lamont announced April 30 a phased reopening approach, with phase one starting on May 20, the actual end of the states stay-home-shutdown orders, according to the governors April 9 pronouncement, when he last extended the shutdown. In response, state Rep. Mike France (R-District 42) called phase one much too little, much too delayed, especially coming on the same day the consensus budget forecast is released showing a $7 billion deficit through fiscal 2023. He repeated what he said to Lamont on April 9, We want to see the governors county-by-county risk assessments. We are unconvinced that his statewide one-size-fits-all policy is the right approach. Remember, until business reopens, the stimulus bills are just bridge bills if that, since even a staggering $2.7 trillion cant span the ever-expanding gulf that Lamont and other governors keep widening with their serial shutdown extensions and their overly cautious phased reopening plans. Red Jahncke, a Greenwich resident, is president of The Townsend Group Intl. This op-ed first appeared in The Hill . Millions of workers worldwide marked international labour day trapped between hunger and fear on Friday, as more countries and states reopen for business even though Covid-19 is far from vanquished. Beijings Forbidden City, the imperial palace turned museum that is one the countrys biggest tourist attractions, opened its doors, and shopping centres around the US were set to do the same, while world leaders try to salvage their battered economies without unleashing new waves of infections. With traditional May Day labour marches curtailed by strict limits on public gatherings, Turkish protesters attempted to stage a wildcat demonstration. California activists planned strikes, and Parisians sang from balconies to plead their causes: workplace masks, health insurance or more government aid for the jobless. Demonstrators practice social distancing due to coronavirus restrictions, at a Labour Day rally in Duisberg, Germany (Caroline Seidel/AP) It was a melancholy International Workers Day for garment workers across Southeast Asia such as Wiryono, a father of two in Indonesias capital, Jakarta, who was laid off last month as retailers slashed orders. His side job delivering coffee dried up, too, amid a virus lockdown. So he set up a clothing repair business to make ends meet. I dont earn as much as I got from the clothing factory. But I have to feed my wife and kids every day, said Wiryono. In Bangladesh, production is starting back up despite a rising number of new cases of the virus that has killed at least 230,000 people worldwide. South Korean police officers (Lee Jin-man/AP) A government-ordered lockdown could not extinguish the May Day protest spirit in Greece, where demonstrators lined up two metres apart in careful rows in Athens Syntagma Square. Organisers in masks and gloves used tape measures and large colored squares to set out exact positions for the protesters. Greeks who work by making deliveries staged a motorised protest, driving through Athens on their motorbikes, and police were out in force to ensure residents didnt head from cities to the countryside, another May Day tradition. We are praying for all workers, so that no one will lack work and all will be fairly paid and can enjoy the dignity of work and the beauty of rest, Pope Francis said at a private morning mass. May Day labour protests started in the 19th century in the United States, where this week the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits surpassed a staggering 30 million and joblessness in April could hit numbers not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Harold Frazier talks to reporters outside the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington on Feb. 28, 2017. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images) South Dakota Sioux Refuse to Dismantle Illegal COVID-19 Checkpoints Sioux tribes in South Dakota are refusing to remove COVID-19 checkpoints they set up on roads that pass through their land. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem wrote to tribal leaders last week saying that checkpoints set up by the Cheyenne River and Oglala Sioux tribes were illegal. We are strongest when we work together; this includes our battle against COVID-19, Noem said in a release. I request that the tribes immediately cease interfering with or regulating traffic on U.S. and state highways and remove all travel checkpoints. Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier defended the checkpoints in a May 8 news release, saying that they would not apologize for being an island of safety in a sea of uncertainty and death. Noem has ordered the tribes to dismantle them, stating in a letter to Frazier dated May 8 (pdf) that if the checkpoints are not removed within the next 48 hours, the state will take necessary legal action. The governor wrote a similar letter (pdf) to Oglala Sioux Tribe President Julian Bear Runner, in which she said the tribe installed the checkpoint in violation of a Department of Interior memorandum setting forth legal parameters and procedures the tribe must follow if it wishes to establish travel checkpoints on U.S. and state highways. To date, the Oglala Sioux Tribe has not followed the legally established procedure, she wrote. The Sioux insist the checkpoints are justified as their only means of preventing the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, from entering their reservations. Francisca Tobacco, of the Oglala Lakota tribe, manned a checkpoint near the Pine Ridge Reservation on May 10, Indianz.com reported. Im just here for our people, she told the outlet when asked why she had stopped a car seeking to enter the reservation and requested they take a detour. Im protecting my people. Frazier said in the release that while he acknowledges the need to work together, you continuing to interfere in our efforts to do what science and facts dictate seriously undermine our ability to protect everyone on the reservation. Ignorant statements and fiery rhetoric encourage individuals already under stress from this situation to carry out irrational actions, he said. We invite you to join us in protecting the lives of our people and those that live on this reservation. I regretfully decline your request. In remarks to NPR, Frazier said the limited health care facilities at the reservation, located in central South Dakota, wouldnt be able to cope with an outbreak. Its basically middle of nowhere, Frazier said, noting the closest health facility for critical care is a three-hour drive in Rapid City, while there are only eight beds and one respiratory therapist on the reservation. Theres probably about over 10,000 residents here that live on the reservation. So if we were to have a massive outbreak, you know, where are they going to go? he said. Currently, people are only allowed to enter the reservations for essential business if they havent traveled from a COVID-19 hotspot. We know that if it was to ever hit our reservation, its going to be really detrimental to a lot of our people, Frazier told NPR. Noem has threatened to take the two tribes to federal court if they dont comply. The checkpoints on state and U.S. highways are not legal, and if they dont come down, the state will take the matter to federal court, senior adviser and Policy Director Maggie Seidel wrote in an email sent to the local Argus Leader newspaper on May 10. An international law firm based in New York paid at least $11 million to avoid being sued by Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's former prime minister, according to The New York Times in a story published on May 10. The law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom paid the money after Tymoshenko accused the company of writing a report that was used to help justify her imprisonment by a political rival, the Times reported Tymoshenko was imprisoned from 2011-14 on abuse of office charges that the international community widely condemned as politically motivated. In 2012 the New York law firm started representing Viktor Yanukovychs Moscow-aligned government and produced a report that Yanukovychs supporters used to condone Tymoshenkos imprisonment. She was released after Yanukovychs government fell in 2014 amid protests against corruption and the government's shift toward Moscow. Tymoshenko told the Times in a 2018 interview that it was very painful to hear about Skaddens work while she was in prison. She accused the law firm of whitewashing Yanukovych and his government for money. 'Dirty Contract' Its a pity that such a well-known company like Skadden even considered to take this case to deliver, she said in 2018. This is a dirty, dirty, dirty contract. Tymoshenko reportedly hired the law firm Reid Collins & Tsai after the Times interview to determine if it was possible to sue Skadden over the report, two people familiar with the arrangement told the Times. Skadden paid $11 million or more to settle before a suit was filed, people familiar with the settlement said, according to the Times. Tymoshenko and her lawyer, Sergei Vlasenko, who has also claimed he was treated unfairly by the Yanukovych government, each received about $5.5 million from the firm between July and last month, the report said. Tymoshenko, in a Facebook post on May 4, referred to a settlement. "Yes, the other day I received monetary compensation for damage caused by political repression of 2011-2014...from a U.S. resident in the stage of pre-trial settlement. This suggests that the United States is a truly legal state, and human rights are not empty sound to them, but true value," Tymoshenko wrote. She said she managed to achieve justice and said it was more proof that her imprisonment was political. Tymoshenko said she declared the income as required by law and no other details would be released "due to legislative regulation in the United States regarding legal restrictions in the case." The Times said records filed with the Ukrainian government accounting for the sums do not mention Skadden, which declined to comment for the Times story. It has previously publicly defended its Ukraine work as an independent assessment that did not absolve Yanukovych of wrongdoing. The report concluded that, while Tymoshenkos trial violated some of her rights, her conviction was supported by the evidence presented at trial. And the report found no evidence that the prosecution was politically motivated. Neither Vlasenko nor Skadden responded to RFE/RLs request for comment. William T. Reid, IV, a founding member of Reid Collins & Tsai, said in an e-mail to The Hill that the firm was unable to comment but could confirm Tymoshenko was a client of the firm. Reid did not respond to an e-mail request for comment from RFE/RL. Last year, Skadden paid the Department of Justice $4.6 million to settle an investigation into whether the law firms work with Ukraine violated foreign lobbying laws. With reporting by The New York Times and The Hill People panicked over the arrival of so-called 'murder hornets' in the US are mistakenly killing essential bee populations, experts have warned. Scientists launched an effort to block the deadly Asian insects measuring up to two inches long from taking up residence in North America earlier this month after several sightings were reported in Washington state. The news was followed by a slew of alarming media reports about how the hornets, which can wipe out entire honeybee colonies by decapitating their prey, are known to savagely sting humans who get in their way, killing up to 50 people a year in East Asian countries like Japan. Such reports sparked national hysteria that has led to the 'needless slaughter' of native wasps and bees whose populations were already threatened, according to leading entomologist Dr Doug Yanega. People panicked over the arrival of so-called 'murder hornets' in the US are mistakenly killing essential bee populations, experts have warned. Pictured: An entomologist compares the size of a dead Asian giant hornet and a common native hornet in Blaine, Washington, on May 7 Scientists launched an effort to block the deadly Asian insects from taking up residence in North America earlier this month after several sightings were reported in Washington state Asian giant hornets are more than double the size of honeybees, and have a wingspan measuring more than three inches 'Millions and millions of innocent native insects are going to die as a result of this,' Yanega, a senior museum scientist for the Department of Entomology at University of California Riverside, told the Los Angeles Times. 'Folks in China, Korea and Japan have lived side by side with these hornets for hundreds of years, and it has not caused the collapse of human society there. 'My colleagues in Japan, China and Korea are just rolling their eyes in disbelief at what kind of snowflakes we are.' The Washington State Department of Agriculture issued a warning with instructions on how to trap the hornets, emphasizing that the hornets have yet to be spotted in any other state. 'There are no known sightings of Asian giant hornets anywhere else in the United States and trapping for them there will likely do more harm than good by catching native desirable insects,' the warning read. 'PLEASE DO NOT TRAP FOR ASIAN GIANT HORNETS IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE OF WASHINGTON STATE.' The murder hornets could pose a massive problem for America's dwindling honeybee population, which is responsible for pollinating approximately 75 percent of the nation's produce. Beekeepers in states including Kentucky and Tennessee have begun laying out traps with orange juice and cooking wine to attract the hornets and protect their hives. But Yanega warned that so far these traps are only catching native bees and insects. 'I don't want to downplay this they are logistically dangerous insects. But, having people in Tennessee worry about this is just ridiculous,' Yanega said. 'The only people who should be bothering experts with concerns about wasp IDs are living in the northwest quadrant of Washington. And really, right now, nobody else in the country should even be thinking about this stuff.' Beekeepers in states including Kentucky and Tennessee have begun laying out traps with orange juice and cooking wine to attract the hornets and protect their hives. But experts say the traps have yet to capture anything other than native bees and wasps that need to be protected. Pictured: Washington State Department of Agriculture entomologist Chris Looney replaces a trap used to search for the Asian giant hornet on May 7 in Blaine Asian giant hornets were spotted in the US and Canada for the first time late last year. However, experts have emphasized that there has not been a live sighting of the insect in 2020 A researcher holds a dead Asian giant hornet in Blaine, Washington state Other insect experts agreed with Yanega that the hornet 'hype' is dangerously overblown in the US and are working to ditch the homicidal nickname. 'They are not "murder hornets." They are just hornets,' Washington Agriculture Department entomologist Chris Looney, who is working on the state's search for these large hornets, told the Associated Press. Looney stressed that there have been no live hornet sightings yet this year - though they are known to come out of hibernation in April. Two dead hornets were found in Washington last December and a lone Canadian live nest was found and wiped out last September. Experts across the US say they have been flooded with calls from people who wrongly think they've seen the Asian hornet. 'This is 99 percent media hype and frankly I'm getting tired of it,' said University of Delaware entomologist Doug Tallamy. 'Murder hornet? Please.' Jerry Bromenshenk, a retired University of Montana bee expert, told AP: 'One nest, one individual hornet, hopefully, does not make an invasion. 'Do we want this hornet - surely not. But the media hype is turbo charged.' The experts cautioned that the hornets do carry a potent neurotoxin that can kill after multiple stings - but the threat they pose to humans is minimal. 'The number of people who are stung and have to seek medical attention is incredibly small,' Looney said. Chris Looney, a Washington entomologist working on the state's search for the large hornets, poses with a dead one attached to his jacket. 'They are not "murder hornets." They are just hornets,' Looney told the Associated Press Dead Asian giant hornets - the world's largest hornet which can grow up to two inches long - sit on a researcher's field notebook in Blaine, Washington University of Georgia bee expert Keith Delaplane said: 'It's a really nasty sting for humans,' but added, 'It's like the Africanized bee - a dozen [stings] you are okay; 100 not so much.' May Berenbaum, an entomologist at the University of Illinois, said of the worry: 'People are afraid of the wrong thing. The scariest insect out there are mosquitoes. People don't think twice about them. 'If anyone's a murder insect, it would be a mosquito.' Mosquitoes are responsible for millions of yearly deaths worldwide from malaria, dengue fever and other diseases, according to the World Health Organization. Asian giant hornets at most kill a few dozen people a year and some experts said it's probably far less. Hornet, wasp and bee stings kill on average 62 people a year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Looney said the traps he put out in Washington have yet to catch a live Asian giant hornet Looney displays a suit bought for the department specifically to wear when investigating a possible Asian giant hornet nest For bees and the people who rely on them for a living the murder hornets' arrival in the US could pose a massive problem, but it is not one yet. The number of US honeybees has been dropping for years, with the winter of 2018-19 one of the worst on record. That's because of problems such as mites, diseases, pesticides and loss of food. The new hornets would be different. If they get into a hive, they tear the heads off worker bees and the hive pretty much dies. Asian honeybees have defenses - they start buzzing, raising the temperature and cook the invading hornet to death - but honeybees in America dont. The worry for beekeeping in Washington is based on a worst-case scenario that officials have to take seriously, Looney said. Yet even for bees, the invasive hornets are far down on the list of real threats, not as big a worry as the parasitic 'zombie fly' because more of those have been seen in several states, Berenbaum said. For people, the hornets are scary because the world is already frightened by coronavirus and our innate fight-or-flight mechanisms are activated, putting people on edge, said risk expert David Ropeik, author of 'How Risky Is It, Really?' 'This year is unbelievable in a horrible, horrible way. Why shouldn't there be murder hornets?' Berenbaum said. People in England should wear face coverings when in enclosed public spaces, the government has said. Everyone is advised but not obliged to wear a scarf, homemade mask or shop-bought mask to cover their nose and mouth. The government said surgical-grade masks should be reserved for medical workers, however. Scientists believe face coverings can help prevent an infectious person who does not have coronavirus symptoms from passing on the disease. But they do not protect the person wearing them. People ought to cover their faces in some shops and on public transport, but ministers say that social distancing is still the preferred means of slowing the outbreak. Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, said the scientific evidence was not strong enough to make the wearing of masks compulsory. This is very distinct from the PPE worn by people in healthcare and social care settings, he said. We know that with this infection, people can have a period before they get symptoms when they can be infectious probably two, possibly three days. If we can use a face covering, that may reduce the possibility of transmitting onwards. Prof Whitty added: This is not an alternative to social distancing. And if people have got any symptoms they need to self-isolate with their family at home this is not a substitute. And more important than that is to continue to wash hands. Shopkeepers will be able to set their own rules on whether customers should be required to cover their faces. The advice follows Boris Johnsons announcement that he is now encouraging people to go back to work if they cannot work from home. The PMs speech on Sunday night led to widespread confusion, even among government ministers, as to what people in England were now allowed to do under social distancing rules and when the changes would come into effect. Footage from the London Underground showed commuters crammed onto trains on Monday morning. In a spate of announcements Mr Johnson warned on Monday afternoon that restrictions on movement might have to remain in place for the long haul because a Covid-19 vaccine may never be found. The Premier League can return to action next month, it was further announced. In addition, ministers are considering allowing households to merge as soon as 1 June. Ambassador of Armenia to Ukraine Tigran Seyranyan told Ukraines NASH TV that the Armenian Genocide not only concerns the Armenian people, but it is also one of the major factors for prevention of future genocides. Many people ask why the prevention of genocides is one of the priorities of Armenias foreign policy. This isnt an end in itself. As a nation having experienced the first genocide of the 20th century, we Armenians play a major role in prevention of genocides around the world, he said. Ambassador Seyranyan recalled that in 2015 Armenia and Ukraine co-authored the United Nations Resolution on establishing the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. That same year, Armenian and Ukrainian diplomats worked very effectively on the genocide agenda within other international organizations, particularly in Vienna and the OSCE. Our collaboration attests to the fact that we have tremendous resource for cooperation in the future, the Ambassador said, adding that Armenia is ready to enhance dialogue with Ukraine. The Armenian community of Ukraine is of major significance for Armenia. The citizens of Armenia and Ukraine serve as a unique bridge for the development of the relations between the two countries. There is great potential for the development of economic ties. The countries can cooperate to enhance ties in sectors such as alternative energy and high technologies. Both countries are part of the EU Eastern Partnership, and there are many terms for cooperation here as well, he said, adding that the most important thing is that the societies of both Armenia and Ukraine are hinged on a European value system. The Ambassador also said he is certain that the intergovernmental commission on economic affairs needs to resume its sessions. Another direction that I would like to mention is parliamentary diplomacy. In this sense, the Supreme Rada has a friendship group with Armenia. Armenian deputies have already visited Kyiv where they had an effective meeting with their Ukrainian colleagues. Ukrainian MPs were also scheduled to visit Armenia, but once again, the visit was canceled due to the pandemic, he said. Christians wearing face masks attend a service at the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Sunday, May 10, 2020. In a speech on the same day, President Moon Jae-in urged all citizens to "go back to normal" while staying cautious about the risks of coronavirus infections. AP According to a new paper from Prof. Dan Adelman of Chicago Booth, states could save thousands of lives if they can effectively share ventilatorsincluding those in federal governments Strategic National Stockpile. Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Daniel R. Betancourt Jr. To meet demand for mechanical ventilators during the coronavirus pandemic, the United States federal government has leaned on private industry to dramatically increase supply. But ramping up production of complex medical equipment in facilities configured for other products will take time that many COVID-19 patients don't have. New research from Prof. Dan Adelman of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business suggests there may be another way to make up a portion of any shortfall in ventilator availability: Share them between states. Because COVID-19 cases peak at different times in different states, Adelman argues that policymakers and health officials have an opportunity to maximize the usefulness of each machine by making sure it's in the right place at the right time. "Unless some other source or treatment alternative to ventilators miraculously becomes available," he writes, "the only solution appears to be for the federal government to execute a massive logistical operation to move ventilators around the country in real-time as they are needed." An expert in operations management who leads Chicago Booth's Healthcare Analytics Laboratory, Adelman developed a model that generates a plan for how states could do thisa proof of concept that he says could potentially save lives in this pandemic, but also be applied to a future one. To project demand for ventilators, Adelman used April 2 predictions generated by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), which include state-by-state estimates of whenand how highpeak intensive-care occupancy will be. Existing research indicates the current U.S. supply of ventilators is around 70,000, including 9,000 which are part of the Strategic National Stockpile. Using these estimates, Adelman modeled a number of scenarios involving high, low, and average levels of demandas well as the potential results of various policy choices. Deploying none of the ventilators in the national stockpile, for instance, would result in almost 27,000 deaths due to lack of available ventilators, if demand is as expected. The likeliest policy scenario, in which the federal government distributes the ventilators in the stockpile once but does not reallocate them over time as needs change, saves about 9,000 lives under the same demand conditions. If the federal government were to coordinate the sharing of ventilators among stateseven if it circulated just the strategic-stockpile ventilatorsit could potentially save about 5,000 additional lives under average demand conditions, and far more if ventilator demand is on the high end of the projections. In the scenario with the highest demand, coordinated sharing of all ventilatorsthose in the stockpile and those owned by hospitalsbetween states would save about 14,000 more lives than a one-time distribution of the stockpile ventilators. In the lowest-demand scenario, fewer than 1,000 deaths would be attributable to ventilator shortage if all ventilators were shared. Getting states to give up ventilators could be difficult, Adelman says, as few officials want to risk losing access to essential equipment before the local need for it has abated. He built into his model the condition that no state would part with ventilators until after its COVID-19 cases have peaked, and therefore its need for ventilators has begun to decline. However, Adelman also acknowledges that some experts have questioned the accuracy of the IHME projections. Any discrepancy between those predictions and the actual course of the pandemic would change the number of patients who might benefit from ventilator sharing. But because the federal government already incorporates the IHME projections into its analyses, Adelman says, it should therefore also adopt this model to minimize lives lost. The analysis also relies on important assumptions about mortality and duration of ventilatory support. The actions of policymakers and other officials thus far suggest such cooperative action is plausible. Oregon and California have both sent ventilators to other states. On April 14, President Donald Trump announced a programdeveloped with the American Hospital Associationto allow hospital systems to share ventilators with each other. However, that hospital-led program is voluntary, and relies on institutions to update a database of available equipment. At the time of its announcement, the program comprised just 4,000 of the roughly 62,000 hospital-owned ventilators in the U.S. In addition, Adelman calculates that the national stockpile of 9,000 ventilators should be at least quadrupled for the COVID-19 pandemic. He also notes that coordinating the sharing of ventilatorsparticularly if it involves the country's entire stockis an enormous logistical feat. Under the worst-case demand scenario, it could involve more than 18,000 ventilator moves. But, Adelman writes, "the U.S. military has the requisite expertise: this is really not too different from optimizing and coordinating the movement of tanks and other equipment on the battlefield." Explore further New planning tool to help states estimate ventilator needs More information: Daniel Adelman. Thousands Of Lives Could Be Saved In The US During The COVID-19 Pandemic If States Exchanged Ventilators, Health Affairs (2020). Journal information: Health Affairs Daniel Adelman. Thousands Of Lives Could Be Saved In The US During The COVID-19 Pandemic If States Exchanged Ventilators,(2020). DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00505 An Irish-owned renewable energy firm has joined forces with the ESB in a multi-million euro partnership that aims to power 10% of the country's homes. The initial 30m investment between Harmony Solar and the ESB will develop ground-mounted solar projects in Ireland, with an ultimate goal to deliver more than 1,000 megawatts (MW) of solar projects to power 230,000 homes by 2030. A megawatt is traditionally used to measure power plant output or electricity used by a city, with around 650 MW needed for a typical fossil fuel plant. Solar power generates clean energy. Phase-one of the 30m project will develop Harmony Solars existing 300 megawatt (MW) assets primarily in Wexford and Kildare, with an ambition track to develop a total portfolio of more than 1,000 MW of large-scale solar projects, the firm said. Further investment after the 30m will be made in the medium- to long-term as the pipeline comes to fruition, according to the ESB. The ESB said solar power is a major part of its Brighter Future strategy to shift electricity generation away from fossil fuels by developing renewable projects of scale, with the goal of a low carbon energy future based on clean, reliable and affordable electricity. The partnership has the potential to provide renewable electricity for approximately 230,000 homes more than 10% of Irelands households the ESB added. ESB's executive director of generation and trading, Jim Dollard, said: "We are committed to a future where low carbon electricity powers a low carbon society. We already have an established position in the solar market in Ireland, with both ground-mounted and rooftop solar projects under development. "This agreement with Harmony Solar represents another significant milestone, bolstering the companys solar portfolio and our wider ambition in developing renewable electricity generation projects of scale. The deal will help contribute to a reduction in emissions of up to 360,000 tonnes per year when fully operational, the ESB said. Harmony Solar is a Wexford-based firm established in 2016 by a team of Irish renewable energy entrepreneurs. ESB had a 38% share of electricity generation in Ireland in 2018. The scene of an arson attack in the Braeside area of Dungannon. Three people have been released on bail after an arson attack at a house in Dungannon. Two men aged 66 and 47 and a 16-year-old boy had been arrested following a number of incidents in the town on Sunday. It's after footage emerged on social media of an incident at a house in the Braeside area shortly after 5pm. Police said it's believed a group of masked and armed men approached the house and poured accelerant on the property after damaging a window. They then set the house alight. Detective Sergeant McGale said: "No one is believed to have been inside the property during the incident, with extensive damage caused to the living room and extensive smoke damage to the rest of the property. "A number of adjacent properties also had to be evacuated during the incident, but no injuries were reported. The fire was extinguished by Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service." The suspects left the scene in a silver Volvo, which was later found on fire on Ranfurly Road, before being seen leaving the scene in a black Ford Kuga. Expand Close The Braeside area of Dungannon. Philip Magowan / PressEye / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Braeside area of Dungannon. Detective Sergeant McGale said: "Upon arrival of police, two vehicles, a white Mercedes CLA and a silver Seat Ateca attempted to leave the area. The Seat Ateca was prevented from leaving by police. The driver was arrested and a number of items were removed from the vehicle." The Mercedes was later located and a number of items were seized, while the 47-year-old man, another 66-year-old man and the 16-year-old youth were arrested. They were later released on bail pending further enquiries. A link between that incident and an altercation in the same area on Friday May 8 is also being investigated. Two men aged 22 and 21 were arrested and have been released on bail pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service. "Enquiries are continuing and we would appeal to anyone who witnessed anything suspicious in the Braeside area on either Friday 8th or Sunday 10th May, to contact detectives on 101 quoting reference number 1411 10/05/20. Alternatively, information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime," said Detective Sergeant McGale. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 543 new coronavirus cases Saturday, raising the statewide total to 57,154 infected in about two months. Across the state, 3,731 people have died since March due to COVID-19, including 24 newly reported cases Monday. The youngest person to die was age 18. More than two-thirds of deaths were in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes. The governor last month announced a three-phase plan in reopening Pennsylvania: red, yellow and green. For counties in the yellow phase, more businesses can reopen, with restrictions. The plan has started to go into effect in 24 counties, and thirteen additional counties are scheduled to move into the yellow phase Friday. Gov. Tom Wolf's red, yellow and green phases reopening Pennsylvania after coronavirus-related shutdowns in 2020. (Graphic via the governor's office.) Wolfs stay-at-home order for red-phase sections of Pennsylvania has been extended until June 4.Many red-phase counties in central Pennsylvania, however, are impatient with Wolfs timetable and say they are ready to reopen. They say some businesses may not survive unless allowed to reopen, and they believe that can be done without endangering public health. Wolf and Democratic lawmakers contend a broad reopening of businesses could risk lives, and risks additional shutdowns if coronavirus cases spike again. Wolf has said one measure his administration is using to decide when to reopen counties is the number of new cases reported in each county over the previous two weeks. He wants to see that number below 50 cases per 100,000 people and have sufficient testing and a system for contact tracing in place, among other conditions before a county moves into yellow phase. Most central Pennsyvlania counties remain well over the 50 per 100,000 threshold. HOUSTON A few months ago, Israel and some Arab countries were laying the groundwork for an energy partnership that held the potential for economic cooperation between once-hostile neighbors. Israel started selling natural gas to Egypt, which in turn was reviving two gas export terminals, attracting badly needed foreign investment and opening a path for Israeli gas to Europe. Lebanon was preparing to drill its first offshore gas well after years of delays. And Palestinian representatives joined a regional forum with officials from Israel and other countries to lift energy exports to Europe. But the coronavirus pandemic has abruptly interrupted those efforts, delaying exploration and exports. Gas prices, already low after a relatively warm winter in the Northern Hemisphere, have plummeted and storage facilities have filled to the brim. Struggling international oil and gas companies have slashed investment budgets, jettisoning projects. The damage to the gas trade goes well beyond the Middle East, hurting businesses from Australia to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The pandemic is putting the brakes on a two-decade-long global expansion for natural gas, which has been replacing coal for electricity and heating and even competing with oil as a transportation fuel in some developing countries. MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / The Australian wool industry has been adapting to the changes in the economic environment brought forth by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Companies and farms from different parts of the supply chain are backing each other to make it through this hard time together. According to a study by McKinsey , Australia's population has fared rather well in the face of COVID-19. "First, there is the nation's success in dealing with the health crisis. Australia has so far been able to control the spread of the coronavirus and ranks among the group of nations with the lowest infection and fatality rates worldwide." The agricultural industry has not been so lucky. This pandemic comes on the heels of the bushfires earlier this year. The NSW Government has announced a $140.0 million package for firms in primary industries that were affected by the bushfires. This package is anticipated to support businesses in the Forestry and Logging industry, which have faced declining demand due to the COVID-19 outbreak. A sector update by IBIS said, "Many industries in this sector export a substantial share of their output. Consequently, global economic disruption caused by COVID-19 represents a significant threat to demand for agricultural exporters. According to the Australian Bureau of Resource Economics and Sciences, the largest threat to agricultural firms comes from declining global incomes, which will likely drive prices down." This is good news for those across the world looking to try Australian products at a discounted rate, but comes at a price for farmers and suppliers in the agricultural industry. Paul Ferronato, Senior Wool Buyer & Trader from United Wool said: "The current wool season has been very challenging for both wool growers and buyers with many factors affecting our industry. COVID-19 has dealt the industry a blow with a large amount of uncertainty about demand for wool going forward. Of course, during these circumstances, we are all working together to be in close communication to advise each other and discuss options." Story continues Champion Wool Factory , a leading Melbourne wool company established in 2011, is meeting and coping with the challenge. Eric Dong, its CEO, remains optimistic that with proactive, coordinated action between Australia & the wool industry, the economy will maintain order. "All parts of the Australian wool industry are collaborating closely, from sellers, factories, to sterilization facilities and ultimately to farmers and shepherds. By supporting each other in various ways, I strongly believe we can make it through." Eric's company only sources and processes high quality wool from farms that feed their sheep on green grasses and care about their wellbeing, making them work closely with many small farms, acting as a bridge between the upper and lower streams on the supply chain. "As we combine the modern technology with traditional Australian craftsmanship, we are able to produce premium wool products very fast," Eric added, "And our plan for next steps is not only to work with the Australian wool industry to survive this hard time, but also to export our world class wool products to the US market." The Australian Federal Government has also worked to ensure that Australia's freight network keeps moving. Essential services such as agriculture and food security would be exempt from lockdown restrictions, allowing these industries to get on the path to recovery. Media Contact: Champion Wool Factory Name: Kevin Yan E-mail: keviny@championwool.com.au Website: http://www.championwool.com.au/ SOURCE: Champion Wool Factory View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/589316/Australian-Wool-Industry-Players-Respond-to-Pandemic-By-Supporting-Each-Other The "come forward, get tested" strategy that's helped Korea contain the coronavirus has run into an obstacle: the country's longstanding homophobia. Following an outbreak linked to gay clubs in central Seoul, health officials are trying to track more than 5,500 people who visited the bars between April 24 and May 6. But more than half remain out of reach, while the infections tied to the bars continue to rise. Monday morning, health officials reported 86 cases so far, with 35 outside the city and as far south as Busan and Jeju Island. The spread poses the biggest threat yet to the Asian nation's success in curbing its epidemic through rapid and widespread testing. Instead of imposing strict restrictions on peoples' movement and business activity, South Korea its testing program, which has allowed officials to identify and isolate those infected before they can spread the pathogen to others. The strategy's relied on people's willingness to get tested and volunteer personal information, and for months, it's worked. From late April until the most recent outbreak, Seoul saw the number of new daily cases drop to one or two, and sometimes zero. The latest flare-up has emerged among a crowd of people who may not want to be identified. Gay people have few legal protections in Korea. According to a 2017 Gallup poll, 58% of Koreans are against same-sex marriage, including the President, who made his opposition a part of his campaign. After the Korean government revealed in its push alerts the names of the bars that the coronavirus positive patient had visited, anti-gay comments accumulated on the Facebook page of Seoul-based King Club. "There's a considerable level of discrimination and hostility against homosexuality," said Kwak Hye-weon, a professor at Daekyeung University and co-author of a 2019 study on the effects of homophobia on the nation's health system. "That makes potential victims of the infection more likely to stay in the dark rather than voluntarily come forward for testing." Kwak also noted that club-goers might pay in cash in order to stay anonymous, making it hard to trace them through financial transactions. The country's drive-through testing sites may help. In late February, when a cluster of cases broke out in Daegu City tied to a religious sect, health officials encouraged people worried about stigma to get tested that way, said Ki Moran, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Center. "I think they should do the same this time to avoid the worst and help potential patients get tested out of public sight," she said. Health officials have promised they won't ask for or reveal too much personal information if people come forward. Victims "don't need to specify the club they visited," said Yoon Tae-ho, director-general for public health policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare. "Just tell us you were in the same district and want to be tested, for free." "A day's hesitation would cost the entire community an entire month before returning to normal daily life," he added. The HCM City Department of Education and Training has told private schools to negotiate with students parents the tuition fees they need to pay for the closure period following complaints that many schools are demanding unreasonable amounts. Hundreds of parents of students at the Vietnam Australia International School (VAS) in HCM City protest in front of the school on May 5 about tuition fees payable during the closure period. Photo phunuonline.com.vn Following the coronavirus outbreak, city schools never reopened after the Lunar New Year holidays in late-January. They have only started to reopen now. During the period, some offered online classes, but are demanding that students should pay the full fees. Hundreds of parents recently gathered at a private international school to protest about the fees they had been told to pay when schools had been shut and children remained at home. Le Hoai Nam, deputy director of the Department of Education and Training, said the department had received complaints and officials had held a meeting with parents and would next meet with the school to resolve the dispute. Tuition fees must be agreed upon between the schools and parents. He said the department could not interfere with tuition fee collection by international schools. Private schools fees are prescribed in the Enterprise Law and Decree 86 on fee collection. Parents of children at many private schools have been complaining that the schools are demanding payment of full fees for the closed period including for lunch and bus services. On May 5 nearly 300 parents of children studying at the Vietnam Australia International School went to the school to demand a meeting with officials after their petitions were ignored. They had received a notice demanding the payment of full fees though students did not go to school and studied online during the closure period from late January. The school collects VND143-425 million (US$6,144-18,260) per year. VAS said at first that though students did not attend school, it still had to pay salaries to teachers and staff. It later announced a 70 per cent reduction. But most parents refused to pay even the 30 per cent, saying studying online is not as good as direct learning. Students had six hours of Vietnamese lessons a week, 40 minutes of English and 4.5 hours of maths, and the parents are protesting that VND25 million ($1,080) a month is too much for this. Some of them went to the department to seek its help. Pham Duc Cuong, one of them, said: We are aware the pandemic is difficult for everyone. We want to have a dialogue with the school to come up with a proper solution. Two hundred of the parents recently submitted a complaint to the city Peoples Committee. VNS Financial breakdown of VAS revealed through dispute with parents The recent disputes over school fees between VAS and parents have revealed painful weaknesses in financial management and training quality at the institute. Tag El-Din said the state could resort to stricter measures depending on the infection tally, signalling the possibility of a full lockdown Egypt is not ruling out the possibility of imposing stricter measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus outbreak if the infection toll continues to rise, Presidential Adviser for Health and Prevention Affairs Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din said late on Sunday. In a phone call with private satellite channel Al-Hadath Al-Youm, Tag El-Din said the state could resort to stricter measures depending on the infection tally, signalling the possibility of a full lockdown. Tag El-Din was responding to an earlier call by the head of the Doctors Syndicates Hussein Khairy to impose a two-week lockdown nationwide to curb the spread of the virus. Peoples health is a priority for the state. The government is assessing all measures to protect citizens, the state and the economy under a highly balanced approach, Tag El-Din said. He said that all of the prime ministers earlier statements indicate the possibility of introducing harsher measures in accordance with the situation and the need for such measures amid the rise in the number of cases. The presidential advisors statements come few days after Egypt extended on Thursday a nationwide night-time curfew by two more weeks until the end of the holy month of Ramadan, yet indicated that the economy will be reopened despite the rising infection rate. Egypt first hit its 1,000 benchmark on 4 April, with the infection tally continuing to rise despite restrictions imposed since March to stem the spread of the outbreak in the populous country. The curfew was first introduced in March as part of a series of measures to curtail the spread of the virus, and has been extended twice since. Other measures include the shuttering of schools, universities and places of worship, and limitations on public gatherings. The virus has so far infected over 9,000 people and claimed 525 lives since its outbreak in Egypt in mid-February. Despite the rising tally, Egypt said it will have to coexist with the coronavirus pandemic starting from June, cabinet spokesman Nader Saad said on Thursday, as the country continues to push forward with efforts to open the economy after the end of Ramadan. Egypt has signalled in the past few weeks that it is looking to pull back on some of the heavy restrictions introduced in recent months, and has urged people to maintain social distancing and other preventative measures when these changes are made. In recent weeks, it has resumed a number of governmental services, including licensing for new vehicles as well as some court sessions. Search Keywords: Short link: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hinted at a gradual lockdown withdrawal and said social distancing is the biggest weapon in the COVID-19 fight given a "twofold challenge" to check the virus spread and to increase the public activity. Many more continued to test positive for the deadly virus in the meantime, pushing the nationwide tally well above the 70,000 mark. The death toll also crossed 2,200 with more people succumbing to COVID-19 at various places including in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Interacting with chief ministers in a video conference, Modi flagged that problems have increased wherever social distancing or lockdown measures were not followed. He also said a big challenge is to ensure that the infection does not spread to rural areas. "I am of the firm view that the measures needed in the first phase of lockdown were not needed during the 2nd phase and similarly the measures needed in the 3rd Phase are not needed in the fourth," he said. The first phase of the nationwide lockdown began on March 25, which was supposed to be of 21 days but got extended later till May 3 and then further till May 17 for the third phase with some relaxations, mainly for industrial and agricultural activities. The new cases detected in the past few days include migrant workers who have returned to their native places from big urban clusters, many after being rendered jobless and homeless, as also some airlifted under a massive evacuation plan undertaken by the government for Indians and expatriates stranded abroad. In its daily update, the Union Health Ministry said the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased to 67,152, after a record number of 4,213 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours till Monday 8 AM, while the death toll rose by 97 to 2,206. More than 20,000 people have recovered also so far. However, a PTI tally of figures reported by different states and union territories, as of 11.45 PM, put the nationwide tally of confirmed cases much higher at 70,702, showing an increase of more than 6,000 cases since Sunday morning. It showed 2,223 deaths and more than 22,000 recoveries so far. Maharashtra reported 1,230 new cases, taking the state tally to 23,401, while its death toll rose to 868 after 36 more fatalities. Tamil Nadu reported 798 new cases and six more deaths on Monday. Gujarat saw 347 fresh cases and 20 more fatalities, including 268 cases and 19 deaths in Ahmedabad itself. In the national capital too, over 300 new cases were detected. Fresh cases were reported from various other states as well including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Bihar and Odisha. In his fifth such interaction with chief ministers, Modi said there is reasonably clear indication now as to the geographical spread of the pandemic in India, including the worst affected areas and this will help in having a focussed fight. "We have a twofold challenge - to reduce the transmission rate of the disease and to increase public activity gradually while adhering to all the guidelines -- and we will have to work towards achieving both these objectives," he said. Modi said everyone must understand that the world has fundamentally changed post COVID-19 and the world would be know referrred to as "pre-corona" and "post-corona", as was the case with the world wars. He said the new way of life would be on principles of 'Jan Se Lekar Jag Tak', or from an individual to the whole humanity, and all must plan for this new reality. "Even as we look at the gradual withdrawal of the lockdown, we should constantly remember that till we do not find a vaccine or a solution, the biggest weapon with us to the fight the virus is social distancing," Modi said. He also said that the suggestion of night curfew raised by many chief ministers would surely reaffirm the feeling of caution among people. Requesting all chief ministers for specific feedback on the lockdown by May 15, Modi asked them to give a broad strategy on how they wanted to deal with the lockdown in their respective states, including on "various nuances during and after the gradual easing of the lockdown". He also flagged concerns about proliferation of diseases other than COVID-19 during monsoons and asked for strengthening of medical and health systems. Modi said he saw potential for the domestic tourism sector and stressed on a need to think of the contours of the same. On resumption of train services, he said it was needed to boost the economic activity but all routes will not be resumed. Modi said he feels optimistic when not even a single state was sounding despondent and that this collective determination would make India win in its COVID-19 fight. He said the post-COVID era would bring opportunities that India must leverage. Earlier during a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation, Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said some relatively large outbreaks have been noticed in particular locations and it is important to focus on containment efforts to ensure that the country does not reach the community transmission stage. He also said that people who develop coronavirus symptoms should not go into hiding and come forward to report so that they get timely treatment and also do not spread the infection to their family members and others. Asserting that the virus outbreak has nothing to do with race, religion and area and the government's focus is on identifying pockets which have been reporting a larger number of cases for implementing strong containment measures. During their interaction with the prime minister, some chief ministers also sought measures to expand the medical and health infrastructure including for COVID-19 testing, while many of them also demanded fiscal support for states due to the pandemic having hit hard various revenue-generating economic activities. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is said to have favoured allowing all economic activities, barring in the identified containment zones. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Centre wanted a strict lockdown enforcement on one hand, but was resuming train services on the other. Chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Telangana opposed resumption of passenger train services, which are scheduled to begin on Tuesday with select special trains for taking the stranded migrant workers to their native places. The Home Ministry said only asymptomatic people with confirmed tickets will be allowed to travel in 15 trains to be operational from Tuesday. Online bookings began for these trains on Monday evening, after some delay due to a technical glitch, and some routes got fully booked within ten minutes. The Railways have been running 'migrant special' trains for ferrying migrant workers since May 1, but this will be the first time in nearly 50 days that the general public can also undertake train journeys even though flight and inter-state bus services remain suspended as of now till May 17. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray asked Modi to show "specific and concrete direction" on the ongoing lockdown and said the states would implement the same. He also requested the prime minister to start local trains in Mumbai for essential services staff working in the city. Mumbai's coronavirus tally has reached 14,355 with 791 new cases detected on Monday, while its death toll is 528 now with 20 more fatalities. At least 57 new cases were reported from the city's Dharavi slums. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh favoured extending the lockdown in view of the rising number of cases, but with a carefully crafted exit strategy backed by economic empowerment of states to save lives and secure livelihood. Some chief ministers also suggested that the states should be allowed to decide declaring red, orange or green zones after taking into account the ground realities. There are already concerns about re-emergence of the virus in some other countries, including in China, Germany and South Korea, after easing of lockdown restrictions and greater movement of people being allowed. Since its emergence in China last December, the deadly virus has infected more than 41 lakh people worldwide and over 2.8 lakh have lost their lives. More than 14 lakh people have recovered so far. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Selbyville, Delaware, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Market Insights, Inc. has recently added a new report on left atrial appendage closure device market which estimates the global market valuation for left atrial appendage closure devices will cross US$ 2 billion by 2026. Presence of major patient pool suffering from atrial fibrillation is one of the major factors augmenting the market growth. For instance, as per the recently published data, in the U.S., more than 2.3 million people suffer from atrial fibrillation that is associated with increased risk of stroke and mortality. Therefore, LAA closure devices play a vital role in reducing the risk of strokes. Moreover, increasing geriatric population across the globe will further contribute to the market growth. According to a recently published article, in the U.S., cardiovascular diseases affect over 40 million people that age above 60 years. Additionally, introduction of technologically advanced products for the treatment of atrial fibrillation will contribute to the significant growth of left atrial appendage closure device market over the forecast period. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3960 Rise in the government initiatives in order to raise awareness about cardiovascular diseases will enhance the market growth over the analysis timeframe. For instance, the Heart Truth is a national awareness program in the U.S. that generates awareness about the cardiovascular diseases and its risk factors. Such awareness programs will boost the demand for left atrial appendage closure devices. Moreover, a series of products in the pipeline for the treatment of atrial fibrillation as well as left atrial appendage closure will further boost the market growth. For instance, according to a recently published data, more than 2,300 products for atrial fibrillation are in the pipeline. Thus, increase in research and development related to the left atrial appendage occlusion will further enhance the market growth in the upcoming years. The endocardial LAA closure devices dominated the market with a revenue exceeding USD 380 million in 2019 and is anticipated to witness lucrative growth over the forecast period. The segmental growth is attributed to the easy availability of endocardial LAA closure devices as compared to epicardial LAA closure devices. Moreover, owing to the wide range of existing devices such as Amplatzer Cardiac Plug and Watchman, the demand for endocardial LAA closure devices will expand in the future. The percutaneous procedure segment held a market share of around 84% in 2019 and will showcase substantial growth over the analysis timeframe. Owing to its ability to reduce the high stroke risk as well as blood clots, the segment will show a significant growth in the upcoming years. Moreover, it helps in clinical identification of the most appropriate patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation for LAA occlusion. Hence, the above mentioned factors will boost the product demand, thereby fostering the market growth. The hospitals segment was valued at around USD 322 million in 2019 and will show a momentous growth in the projected years. The large share of this segment is attributed to the factors such as availability of accessories necessary for device implantation and easy implantation procedures in the hospitals. Thus, owing to the safe and competent occlusion of LAA in the hospitals, the segment growth will increase over the forecast period. Browse key industry insights spread across 150 pages with 346 market data tables & 14 figures & charts from the report, Left Atrial Appendage (LAA) Closure Devices Market Share & Forecast, 2020 2026 in detail along with the table of contents: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/left-atrial-appendage-closure-devices-market Japan held significant share in the Asia Pacific left atrial appendage closure devices market and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of around 22% in the projected years. The high growth can be attributed to the increasing prevalence of the atrial fibrillation and growing geriatric population in Japan. For instance, as per the recently published data, the overall prevalence of atrial fibrillation in the people aged 80 years or more is approximately 2-3% in Japan. Furthermore, increasing number of hospital admissions with atrial fibrillation as a primary cause will further enhance the growth of left appendage closure devices market. Some major findings of the left atrial appendage closure device market report include: Increasing prevalence of atrial defibrillation across the globe will contribute to the left atrial appendage closure device market growth. Growing government initiatives to generate awareness about cardiovascular diseases will increase the demand for left atrial appendage closure devices. Competitors focus on new product launches, acquisitions and mergers in a bid to capture market share and strengthen revenue generation. Some of the major players operating in the left atrial appendage closure device market are Boston Scientific Corporation, AtriCure Inc., Abbott, Occlutech, Lifetech Scientific, and Johnson and Johnson among others. Industry players are focusing on various strategies such as strategic acquisitions, approvals and new product launches to consolidate their market presence. For instance, in August 2019, AtriCure completed the acquisition of SentreHEART, Inc. that develops percutaneous left atrial appendage management solutions. This strategic acquisition will help AtriCure to increase their product portfolio thereby, expanding the market share. Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/3960 Partial chapters of report table of contents (TOC): Chapter 2. Executive Summary 2.1. Left atrial appendage closure device industry 3600 synopsis, 2015 - 2026 2.1.1. Business trends 2.1.2. Product trends 2.1.3. Procedure trends 2.1.4. End-use trends 2.1.5. Regional trends Chapter 3. Left Atrial Appendage Closure Device Industry Insights 3.1. Industry segmentation 3.2. Industry landscape, 2015 2026 3.3. Industry impact forces 3.3.1. Growth drivers 3.3.1.1. Growing ageing population 3.3.1.2. Increasing prevalence of atrial fibrillation 3.3.1.3. Strong product pipeline 3.3.1.4. Increasing government initiatives 3.3.1.5. Technological advancements 3.3.2. Industry pitfalls & challenges 3.3.2.1. Presence of alternate technologies 3.3.2.2. High cost of LAA closure devices 3.4. Growth potential analysis 3.4.1. By product 3.4.2. By procedure 3.4.3. By end-use 3.5. COVID-19 impact analysis 3.6. Regulatory landscape 3.6.1. U.S. 3.6.2. Europe 3.7. Porters analysis 3.8. Competitive landscape, 2019 3.8.1. Company matrix analysis, 2019 3.9. PESTEL analysis About Global Market Insights Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider, offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy, and biotechnology. Photo: Getty Images Were committed to keeping our readers informed. Weve removed our paywall from essential coronavirus news stories. Become a subscriber to support our journalists. Subscribe now. Not all members of the White House coronavirus task force are taking the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to heart. In the past two weeks, the vice-president and the president were seen in public spaces indoors without a mask, ignoring local protocol. Following confirmations that the vice-presidents press secretary, Katie Miller; the person who serves the president his meals; and 11 Secret Service agents tested positive for COVID-19, Trump is flouting CDC recommendations in his decision not to enter a two-week quarantine period. And while public health expert Dr. Anthony Fauci intends to self-isolate for 14 days after contact with one of the White House staffers, Mike Pence will quarantine just for the weekend, despite the time hes spent with his press secretary. On Sunday, Bloomberg first reported that the vice-president has been self-isolating since Friday, when Miller was diagnosed. Vice-President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine, a spokesman said in a statement. Additionally, Vice-President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow. Unlike Pences quiet weekend, Fauci intends to work from home for the full two weeks recommended by the CDC, and said that he may go to his office at the National Institutes of Health, where he would be the only person there; he will undergo a COVID-19 test every day of his time in isolation, and he tested negative on Saturday. CDC director Robert Redfield and Food and Drug Administration commissioner Stephen Hahn will also self-isolate after a similar exposure to one of the patients. The budding West Wing hotspot shows the difficulty of controlling workplace exposure as states reopen to an unknown level of risk, due to the gross inadequacy of testing around the country. Unlike the White House where all employees are tested at least weekly stores, restaurants, and offices wont be able to have extensive access to tests to determine if their staff remains healthy. It is scary to go to work, Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to the president, said on Face the Nation on Sunday. I think that Id be a lot safer if I was sitting at home than I would be going to the West Wing. (Hassett did not address the fear that working-class Americans would face in workplaces around the country that do not have unlimited access to PPE or frequent reassurances that they are not infected.) Trump, with his historically shallow reserve of empathy, has not been thrilled by the outbreak so close to him, according to the New York Times: A senior administration official said the president was spooked that his valet, who is among those who serve him food, had not been wearing a mask. And he was annoyed to learn that Ms. Miller tested positive and has been growing irritated with people who get too close to him. Faucis two-week work-from-home period may also prove to be an opportunity for the president to further sideline the National Institutes for Allergy and Infectious Disease head and task force response coordinator Deborah Birx as he reportedly intends to reel back public-health experts input on the reopening, which he perceives as a political concern. The decision to quarantine will also require Fauci to testify remotely before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Tuesday. Last weekend, Trump blocked Fauci from testifying before the Democrat-controlled House on the botched coronavirus response. The House is a setup, the president told reporters. The House is a bunch of Trump haters. This post has been updated. Confined to their 100 sq ft space in a subdivided flat in Hong Kong amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Wendy Cheung and her husband quarrelled numerous times over hygiene, money and caring for their son. gettyimagesbank Confined to their 100 sq ft space in a subdivided flat in Hong Kong amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Wendy Cheung and her husband quarrelled numerous times over hygiene, money and caring for their son. Finally, she decided it was time to get a divorce after eight years of marriage. The distress caused by the fear of coronavirus infection, confinement measures and social isolation has taken a toll on couples. Cooped-up Hongkongers have been flooding hotlines with calls seeking help with conflicts at home, while family lawyers say they have received more divorce inquiries. Cheung, in her 30s, says she and her husband had problems in the past, but she always put up with them. Her busy schedule left her no time to think seriously about the state of their marriage. But the pandemic proved the final straw. Cheung, a waitress, had no work since the outbreak started. Her husband, in his 40s, lost his job in construction. The couple found themselves trapped in their tiny home with their son, a Primary One pupil whose school remains closed. They squabbled more often, sometimes over cleaning and disinfecting their home, with the conflicts occasionally escalating into pushes and shoves. Even worse, she says, their son witnessed it all. Cheung started making discreet inquiries about divorce at help centres last month, although she remains anxious about how she will support herself and her son, given the city's battered economy and a gloomy job market. However, with the family court closed since January 29 because of the pandemic, she has been unable to apply for a divorce petition. Cymie Chan Mei-yin, Cheung's caseworker at the Hong Kong Federation of Women's Centres (HKFWC), says: "Given the current situation, she can neither deal with her marriage problems nor plan for the future. Everything is uncertain." The coronavirus has killed more than 270,000 people and infected more than 4 million worldwide. Hong Kong has recorded more than 1,000 cases and four deaths. Divorce has been on the rise in Hong Kong in recent years. Statistics show there were 20,321 divorces in 2018, up about 5 per cent from 19,394 in 2017. A government report on marriage and divorce trends in Hong Kong showed that in 2016, there were 109,316 divorced or separated men, or 3.7 per cent of the total male population, and 197,623 divorced or separated women, or 6.1 per cent of all women. The family court accepts adultery, unreasonably bad behaviour, separation, and desertion as grounds for divorce. gettyimagesbank Tacos a Go Go built a reputation for its lamb barbacoa and frozen margaritas. In a way, the meal was a feat of alchemy. It brought together meat and tomatoes, tequila and lime, and produced the stuff of early morning taco runs, catered birthday buffets and late nights out with friends. But the act of transformation didnt end there. The food was then turned into paychecks for employees, orders for vendors and rents for landlords, who, in turn, converted it into spending of their own. It was an everyday miracle, performed, in one version or another, by restaurants, retailers, salons and other businesses around the world until the need to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus clamped down on social interactions. The question is, how soon will that miracle return? Stay-at-home orders have been lifted in Texas, but fears of the pandemics resurgence, a decrease in disposable income and an increase in deferred debt remain for many. Workers have seen hours and paychecks reduced, vendors and their salespeople have lost sales and commissions and landlords have begun negotiating rents to help tenants survive, thinning their own bottom lines and potentially imperiling the commercial mortgage industry. COMMERCIAL EVICTIONS: As support flows to residential renters, commercial tenants are left in flux Before the shutdown, Monday morning at the Tacos a Go Go on White Oak Drive would have involved a crew of five setting out tables and chairs. A machine called the Egg King would be whirring, busily removing shells from entire pallets of eggs in order to keep pace with the incoming rush as the staff set up the self-serve salsa bar. Now, tables, seating and high chairs for toddlers were stacked against the walls as a skeleton crew scooped salsa into to-go cups. A delivery truck from local tortilleria La Ranchera pulled up, but the driver, Freddie Teran, unloaded fewer bags of fresh tortillas than he would have six weeks ago sales at the Heights Tacos a Go Go are down roughly 30 percent since closing its dine-in area. Bianca Ceballos, the restaurants manager, pointed an infrared thermometer at the necks of the two other employees working on a recent morning to check their temperatures as they arrived for work. Its the new normal, she said. Feeling the impact Ceballos had followed news of the coronaviruss spread across the globe since January, feeling her heartbeat quicken every time the virus advanced one step closer to Houston. The 40-year-old, who has had pneumonia in the past, worried she may be part of a vulnerable demographic. But it wasnt until she heard that cities were discussing whether to shut down restaurants that she realized the pandemic would affect peoples livelihoods. Thats when it clicked to me that, hey, this is going to impact a lot of people and it would impact me, she said. INSURANCE: Insurers balk at claims related to business virus closures Sharon Haynes, co-owner of Tacos a Go Go, also remembers realizing that the inherently social act of dining at a restaurant could risk spreading the coronavirus. As she listened on March 16 to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgos announcement closing restaurants and bars, she felt conflicting emotions. She agreed it was in the best interest for both public safety and the safety of her staff. But the financial consequences were obvious. She briefly considered shutting down the restaurants which first opened in 2006 and now employ roughly 100 people across five locations for even a short time as the most financially prudent decision in the face of a steep falloff in business. It seemed like it might be best in terms of business, in terms of bills, in terms of purchasing, she said. We decided to stay open mostly for our employees, so they could still have jobs and paychecks to pay their rent and feed their families. But with business down, there were no longer enough orders to necessitate a full staff of cooks and servers. Ceballos saw her schedule fall to 40 hours a week from 50; her twice-a-month paychecks have decreased by roughly $400 each. Feeling the squeeze, she has paused payments on medical bills, but would have nonetheless come up short on rent if her husbands stimulus check had not arrived in the nick of time. Rosalina Jenkins, the manager of the T.C. Jester Boulevard location, has also cut back on expenses. In some ways, the need to maintain social distancing has dictated what to cut. She is not traveling, not taking her younger children to Chuck E. Cheese, not throwing the parties that had been planned for her high school senior. Both Ceballos and Jenkins were positive about the support theyve received from their work families and customers. We always try to do the best we can do through whatever crisis, said Jenkins, recalling the time she worked through Hurricane Harvey. But unlike during Harvey, it will be difficult to know when the pandemics danger will have passed. Ceballos could not picture resuming her previous habits any time soon. I definitely look forward to going back to Marshalls or Ross or the Galleria even, she said. But its not something I want to do right away. She wants to wait until the number of new cases a day in the state falls to the low double digits and until her hours return, she does not have the money. Dominoes fall Mark Kennedy doesnt work in a restaurant, but his fortunes rise and fall with the industry. The salesman earns commission on the products he sells to restaurants mostly dairy products and dry goods such as to-go containers and paper bags. As restaurants have seen business fall, so has his pay. Hes now making 30 percent to 40 percent of what he had before the crisis. Now, Kennedy said, most of his sales are to-go items. He sells Tacos a Go Go its branded bags and condiment cups for its salsa. As he works, hes noticed problems up and down the supply chain. Some of his manufacturers have run out of certain supplies he has taken to running to Restaurant Depot and Sams Club to try to fill orders he cannot obtain through his usual channels. Some restaurants though not Tacos a Go Go have had difficulty paying for their orders in a timely fashion. Everybodys on the same ship, he said. Everybodys getting squeezed. Not just us. He believed it will take time for restaurants and his commission to recover. Wouldnt you be a little skittish going to a restaurant next week with your (loved ones)? MORTGAGES: Lenders tighten credit requirements on FHA, VA loans as uncertainty takes hold How long it takes for shoppers to return to stores and for retailers to see profits return will have an impact on the strip malls that line Houstons streetscape. Hines, the property manager for one Tacos a Go Go location, and Dan Braun, the landlord of another, declined to comment on the economic impact the pandemic is having on their businesses. We are simply trying to keep our heads above water, Braun wrote in an email. Some landlords have seen revenue drop dramatically. Excluding grocery stores, retailers in strip malls have been able to pay only an average of 20 percent to 40 percent of Aprils rent, according to preliminary data from commercial real estate firm CBRE. That has led many shopping center investors and owners to ask for relief from their lenders. If landlords begin to default, expect those who own commercial real estate debt including pension funds, insurance companies and others to take a hit. Every arrangement between landlords and tenants differs, but some small businesses that were able to receive a degree of relief will have to repay it over the remainder of their leases, said Derek Pershing, a real estate attorney with Wilson Cribbs + Goren. That means they will emerge with higher monthly costs as the economy restarts. Facing the future The morning before Gov. Greg Abbott announced that restaurants would reopen May 1, Haynes stood inside the empty Tacos a Go Go dining room on White Oak Drive contemplating what such a reopening would entail. Surrounding her were the new accouterments of the pandemic hand sanitizer by the cashiers station, tables by the door where orders could be left for pickup by delivery services to minimize physical interactions, taped Xs on the floor spaced 6 feet apart. On the door, a sign read, To be as safe as we can please limit 1 person at a time in the store. Reopening, she explained, entailed a difficult calculus trying to chart a course to keep staff and customers safe from an invisible threat while restoring as many work hours as possible. Were burdened with trying to make the best decision for the health of our employees, for the health of our community and for the financial health of our community, she said. To prepare for restaurants reopening, she was meeting that afternoon with an app developer to discuss a way to allow people dining in to order through their phones, which would remove the point of physical contact at the counter, but also reduce the need for a cashier. Their catering menu was moving toward individual boxed meals, instead of family-style trays; the salsa bar would no longer be self serve. But when the news broke that restaurants could reopen by the end of the week, she didnt feel ready. Tacos a Go Go remained closed for dine-in, though it opened its patios for people who wanted a place to eat their to-go orders. Over the weekend, Ceballos and Jenkins noticed modest upticks in traffic at their locations; this week, Jenkins hours are increasing, and, on his end, Kennedy has seen orders inch up, though they remain far below what they had been pre-shutdown. But they werent ready to resume their previous routines. Ceballos and Jenkins both described themselves as cautious in their habits outside of work. Im not ready to let my kids go out I havent changed the costs Ive cut back, Jenkins said. Haynes said safety would drive her decisions on when and how she will reopen dining in her restaurants shes keeping a close eye on the number of new coronavirus cases in the area. For now and probably for the foreseeable future, well probably keep doing things the way we are. rebecca.schuetz@chron.com twitter.com/raschuetz Actor Jerry Stiller arrives at the special screening of HBO's Documentary "Whoopi Goldberg presents Moms Mabley" at The Apollo Theater in New York on Nov. 7, 2013. (Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP) Hollywood Mourns Seinfeld Actor Jerry Stiller Comedian Jerry Stiller is being remembered in tributes after he died of natural causes this week. He was 92. His son, actor Ben Stiller, confirmed his death in a statement, writing, Im sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes. He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years, he wrote. Stiller, who appeared in Seinfield as Frank Costanza and later in King of Queens as Arthur Spooner, was remembered fondly on social media. So sorry for your loss, Ben, wrote Ricky Gervais. Hank Azaria also added a message: He was a lovely manalways so kind to me. Condolences Ben. Actress Anne Meara and her husband Jerry Stiller attend The Actors Fund of America Theres No Business Like Show Business Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City on May 23, 2005. (Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images) We send you all love and our condolences, Ben. Every Bway show I every did your folks would come back to say hello and it didnt matter if the show was a hit or a flop, the light and love they brought was always the highlight of the day. Thanks for sharing them with us. Godspeed, wrote Peter Gallagher. King of Queens stars Kevin James and Leah Remini also remembered him in Instagram posts. Im sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes. He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed. Love you Dad. pic.twitter.com/KyoNsJIBz5 Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) May 11, 2020 One of the most kind, loving, and funny people to ever grace this earth. Thank you for so many incredible memories. I love you and miss you, James wrote. I was lucky enough to work with Jerry Stiller, playing his daughter for nine years on The King Of Queens, but even luckier to know him, the man, the husband, the father, the grandfather. I am only comforted knowing that Anne and Jerry, the great comedy duo of Stiller and Meara are back together. I will be forever grateful for the memories, the fatherly talks off screen and for the many years of laughter, the kindness he had shown to me and my family You will be so very missed Jerry, wrote Remini. Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza in Seinfeld, told the Hollywood Reporter: He was perhaps the kindest man I ever had the honor to work beside. He made me laugh when I was a child and every day I was with him. A great actor, a great man, a lovely friend. Frontline nurses and midwives say they have earned a pay rise even as many Australians have lost their jobs or taken pay cuts and slammed a freeze on public sector wages as a 'disgrace'. New South Wales' State Nurses and Midwives' Association general secretary Brett Holmes has slammed Treasurer Dominic Perrottet for saying he will 'always put people before numbers' and then denying workers on the COVID-19 frontline a wage increase from July. State Nurses and Midwives' Association hit out at Treasurer Dominic Perrottet after he denied workers on the COVID-19 frontline a wage increase from July (stock image of a nurse taking swabs at a Mobile Testing site) 'The middle of a pandemic is hardly the time to be asking frontline nurses and midwives to suck it up, show up for their shifts and do even more for less,' Mr Holmes said in a statement issued on Monday. Public sector unions representing frontline workers called on the Labor opposition and crossbench politicians to 'vigorously reject' any wage freeze. 'The government cannot deny the sacrifices of frontline workers, especially when more than half of the 144 NSW Health workers who have contracted COVID-19, acquired it while at work,' Mr Holmes said. 'Thousands of nurses, midwives, other health sector workers and public servants are risking their lives daily to keep fellow citizens safe. These workers deserve recognition, not attempts by government to send wages backwards and our economy into further turmoil. 'We are all preparing for a second wave of COVID-19, yet the government is asking nurses and midwives to do more for less, putting the budget bottom line before people in need.' Mr Holmes said the proposed wage freeze was a 'disgrace', especially as nurses had been 'spat on and abused, forced to deal with a lack of Personal Protective Equipment and put themselves, and their families, at risk each shift'. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Perrottet's office for comment. President Donald Trump spent much of his Sunday holiday sharing more than 100 tweets and retweets, bouncing between wishing everyone a "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY," and railing against targets like former president Barack Obama, "60 Minutes" and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. But perhaps no one received as much ire from the president and his supporters on Mother's Day than "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd. In a late-night tweet Sunday, Trump said Todd should be fired by NBC News for using an abbreviated quote from Attorney General William Barr to criticize the Justice Department's decision to drop charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The show acknowledged the "error," and said that the tail end of Barr's quote, which was edited out of the clip shown on "Meet the Press," included important context. The disparity between Barr's full comment and the clip presented on "Meet the Press" spurred conservative media and politicians to denounce the show on Sunday. Before the day was out, Trump joined the fray. "Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd should be FIRED by "Concast" (NBC) for this fraud," the president tweeted late Sunday night, using a nickname he's used repeatedly when referring to Todd. "He knew exactly what he was doing." Trump frequently blasts reporters over critical coverage and tough questions. In his tweet calling for Todd's termination, the president tagged the Federal Communications Commission and its chairman, Ajit Pai. Trump's sentiments followed the Justice Department contesting the way in which "Meet the Press" presented a quote from Barr regarding Flynn in a Thursday interview with CBS News. "Not only did the AG make the case in the VERY answer Chuck says he didn't, he also did so multiple times throughout the interview," Kerri Kupec, a spokeswoman for Barr, tweeted on Sunday. Kupec was referring to the shortened clip of Barr's response to a question about how history would reflect upon the Justice Department's handling of the perjury case against Flynn. "Well, history is written by the winners. So, it largely depends on who's writing the history," Barr said. More for you Republicans grow nervous about losing the Senate amid worries over Trump's handling of the pandemic That's where "Meet the Press" cut the clip, and Todd reacted by characterizing the answer as cynical and claiming that Barr "didn't make the case that he was upholding the rule of law." "He was almost admitting that, yeah, this is a political job," Todd added. But in the full CBS clip, Barr did argue that the Justice Department was upholding the rule of law. After saying the answer would depend on who was writing the history, Barr continued: "But I think a fair history would say that it was a good decision because it upheld the rule of law. It helped, it upheld the standards of the Department of Justice, and it undid what was an injustice." In response to an inquiry from The Washington Post, an NBC spokesman pointed to a tweet replying to Kupec's criticism. "You're correct," the show tweeted in its reply. "Earlier today, we inadvertently and inaccurately cut short a video clip of an interview with AG Barr before offering commentary and analysis. The remaining clip included important remarks from the attorney general that we missed, and we regret the error." Todd has not responded to either Trump or the general criticism of the show's characterization of Barr's comments. The news show and its host were just one target in Trump's busy day of aggressive tweets defending the decision to drop the Flynn case and his administration's response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. He also targeted Obama, former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe and former FBI director James B. Comey. The president's tweets came amid news that the pandemic is projected to cause unemployment to jump 20 percent by June. The Justice Department's decision to drop the Flynn case has been criticized widely by many of those people. In a leaked phone call, Obama told his former aides "our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk" because of the DOJ's reversal, The Washington Post reported Saturday. Comey tweeted last week the DOJ had "lost its way," while McCabe denounced conservative media for becoming "obsessed with finding some indication of a setup." And on Sunday, Mary B. McCord, the former acting assistant attorney general for national security, published an op-ed in the New York Times, where she said current DOJ officials "twisted my words in dropping the Flynn case" and rebutted the claims made in the filing to dismiss the case. "In short, the report of my interview does not anywhere suggest that the F.B.I.'s interview of Mr. Flynn was unconstitutional, unlawful or not "tethered" to any legitimate counterintelligence purpose," she wrote. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. In the process of the implementation of judicial vetting, Justice Minster of Armenia Rustam Badasyan attaches more importance to who will enter the judicial system, rather than who will leave it. For that reason the judicial system is becoming more attractive for good judges, ARMENPRESS reports Badasyan said during a discussion with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. Nikol Pashinyan noted that he has the impression that the Government has not illustrated the judicial reforms to a sufficient extent and that is why many people think that the Government promised vetting but forgot the promise. In response, Justice Minister Rustam Bdasyan said, I think its more important to think of who will enter the judicial system, rather than who will leave it. The Minister noted the judicial system remains out of interest of really good specialists. According to him, in the last 2 years only 30 people study at the Academy of Justice, which means that there are 30 candidates for the position of judges, which is extremely low number. This is another proof of the fact that the judicial system is not interesting for many good specialists, which signals that serious changes should be carried out. I think the 1st condition is the adequate salary, the Minister said. He added that the Judicial Department introduced a gradual system of increasing the remuneration of judges with medium-term expenditure programs, which means that if the Government approves it, the salary of judges will increase by 50% in 2020, 60% in 2021 and 70% in 2022. Currently, the salary of a judge of the Court of First Instance is about 661 thousand drams, the judge of the Court of Appeal - 727 thousand drams, the judge of Cassation Court - 760 thousand drams. If the salary increase in 2020 takes place, the salary will be 991 thousand drams, in 2021 - 1 million 57 thousand, in 2022 - 1 million 123 thousand drams, the Minister said. PM Pahsinyan noted that the increase of the salary of salaries is 1st of all done for the benefit of the citizens, who often write to the PM or Minister that the decision of the court was not fair. Its clear that its also done for the judges, but 1st of all its done for making the job of the judge so attractive that the top level specialists get involved in the system, PM Pashinyan said. Reporting by Anna Grigoryan, Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan Listen to Outbreak Alabama: Stories from a Pandemic, above. Today, we hear from Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, the director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. Dr. Marrazzo is also part of the Coronavirus Task Force that Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey created in early March, and in April she joined a task force led by UAB Health System experts to develop plans for the University of Alabama Systems three campuses to be safe when on-campus instruction resumes. She talks about what Gov. Kay Iveys latest Safer at Home order means for Alabama, where the state now stands on testing and why she can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Outbreak Alabama will release two or three episodes per week, chronicling the experiences of those directly impacted by COVID-19s spread, including health care professionals, business owners, city leaders, artists, AL.com reporters and many others. If you or anyone you know is affected by the coronavirus and want to share your story, please email bflanagan@al.com. For all of our coverage on the outbreak and how it continues to impact Alabama, visit AL.com/coronavirus. Listen and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Acast or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like the show, please rate it and write us a review. Thank you for listening. More from Outbreak Alabama: Whiter Thomas on staying creative during the pandemic Our successes and failures so far The return of retail A barbers dilemma Is it really time to reopen Alabama? A coronavirus survivors message to the rest of us Ivey not ready to reopen just yet Crime in the age of coronavirus What role do our churches play? The absence of sports Learning from a distance Walt Maddox on leading Tuscaloosa through coronavirus Social distancing, or not Coronavirus early impact on musicians Alabama restaurants Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 04:30:26|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People are seen at the Coloseum in Rome, Italy, on May 8, 2020.(Photo by Alberto Lingria/Xinhua) -- Italy records lowest one-day COVID-19 deaths in more than two months; -- British PM reveals government's approach to tackling the pandemic in the next phase; -- France registers lowest daily toll since mid-March; -- Finland to re-impose restrictions if pandemic hits back. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, May 6, 2020. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua) LONDON -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed his government's approach to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic in the next phase in his address to the nation Sunday evening. The prime minister said that the government has a plan to ease lockdown, but "it is a conditional plan," and since "our priority is to protect the public and save lives, we cannot move forward unless we satisfy the five tests." The five tests previously set out by the government include: protect the NHS (National Health Service), see sustained falls in the death rate, see sustained and considerable falls in the rate of infection, sort out the challenges in getting enough PPE (personal protective equipment) to the people who need it, make sure that any measures the government takes do not force the reproduction rate of the disease, or the R, back up over one. This is "not the time simply to end the lockdown this week," instead "we are taking the first careful steps to modify our measures," and "the first step is a change of emphasis that we hope that people will act on this week," said Johnson. "We now need to stress that anyone who cannot work from home -- for instance, those in construction or manufacturing -- should be actively encouraged to go to work," said Johnson. "And we want it to be safe for you to get to work. So you should avoid public transport if at all possible -- because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited," said Johnson. A man rides a bicycle on the famous Rue de Rivoli in Paris, France, May 8, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua) PARIS -- The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in France rose by 70 to 26,380, the lowest daily toll in nearly two months, while the number of patients in intensive care keeps falling, the Health Ministry said on Sunday. A total of 22,569 patients with the COVID-19 were in hospitals, down by 45 in the last 24 hours. Of those hospitalized, 2,776 people received intensive treatment, a fall of 36 from Saturday, the ministry data showed. The total number of confirmed cases reached 139,063 after a single-day rise of 209, down from 433 recorded on Saturday, and well below the 3,000 upper limit the government has set to reverse a decision to start easing lockdown on Monday. Despite positive signs, the ministry warned that the epidemic "is still active and evolving," urging people to remain mobilized to help stem the virus circulation by respecting barrier gestures and social distancing when lockdown ends on Monday. "Tomorrow, after 55 days of confinement, a new gradual and cautious phase of activity's resumption begins. We invite each of you to respect all barrier measures, including the wearing of a mask when the physical distance cannot be respected," the ministry said. People walk along a street in Rome, Italy, May 8, 2020. (Photo by Alberto Lingria/Xinhua) ROME -- Italy on Sunday recorded its lowest one-day COVID-19 death total and the smallest number of new infections in more than two months, Italy's Ministry of Health said. The 165 deaths recorded over the last day was the lowest since March 9, the day Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte declared Europe's first peacetime lockdown, as the country sought to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The 802 new infections recorded over the previous 24 hours was the lowest total since March 6. Those numbers compare to 194 and 1,083 a day earlier. The total death toll from Italy's coronavirus outbreak is now 30,560, while the total number of infections is 219,070. The positive trends continued a week into Italy's "Phase 2," which refers to a loosened version of the national coronavirus lockdown, which started March 10. People participate in an event to cheer up the city amid the coronavirus outbreak in Helsinki, Finland, March 20, 2020. (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua) HELSINKI -- Finland prepares to slam the brakes again if the COVID-19 pandemic hit back after restrictions were eased, national broadcaster Yle reported on Sunday. The Finnish government has allowed commuting between Finland and Estonia, and the reopening of school classrooms -- both of which will start on Thursday, Yle reported. Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki, the Strategy Director at the Finnish Ministry of Social Service and Health, said on Yle that even though the government emergency powers for closing schools nationally will expire this week, regional authorities can act using the legislation on infectious diseases. A task force, chaired by Voipio-Pulkki, will monitor the infection rates and hospital capacities so that a possible backtrack policy could be arranged, Yle reported. LOCKDOWN PROGRAMS IN CHINA PROVE SUCCESSFUL FOR CURBING SPREAD OF COVID-19 The lockdown programs in Wuhan and other parts of China have proven successful and helpful for other countries for the effective control and prevention of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a world-renowned expert has said. I have called them (lockdown programs) before the largest public health experiment in the history of humankind. And you know, I think the experiment was a success, because it clearly, now we have evidence, reduced very much the transmission of this highly contagious virus, William Schaffner, an influential infectious disease specialist, told Xinhua in a recent interview. Schaffner is professor of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Health Policy as well as Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. And so were trying to model, what were doing along the lines of what happened in China. Were not as severe, but the principles are the same and going forward, other countries are also learning from that part of the China experience, said Schaffner, referring to the stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures taken by US states to curb the spread of the COVID-19. The public health expert cautioned Americans to exercise proper social distancing practices as a number of states began reopening their economies with more set to lift restrictions in the coming week. Its no longer a matter of whether were going to do it, but when and how. So some people have gone first. Perhaps theyre a little bit early. But the trick is to balance the medical side with the economic, social, and cultural side, Schaffner said. And thats going to be very tricky. If we open up, we have to maintain social distancing. The use of masks, for example, six feet, good hand hygiene, taking temperatures before you go into a store. All of those things will be very important and still, staying home, not going out so much, he said. I think we must still obey the rules and the recommendations and be conservative, not be so eager to get out because we dont want suddenly more coronavirus and then a second wave, right? he said. On 8th April, China lifted outbound travel restrictions on Wuhan, the city hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, ending a lockdown that sealed off around 10 million people from the rest of the world for seventy-six days. Over 1.4 million infections and 56,000 deaths might have been avoided as a result of the national and provincial public health measures imposed in late January in China, according to a new study led by Xi Chen, a professor at Yale School of Public Health and published in the Journal of Population Economics on 9th April. In the face of a previously unknown virus, China has rolled out perhaps the most ambitious, agile and aggressive disease containment effort in history, said a report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19 released in late February. Peoples Daily Description GIS 11 May, 2020: The new digitalised Work Access Permit (WAP) system has become fully operational since noon, today, 11 May 2020. The Mauritius Police Force, has so far received 10 311 applications, of which 3 084 have been approved. A total of 6 594 applications are being examined and 656 applications have been rejected. An overall number of 70 674 persons are in possession of the WAP as at now. The system for the self-employed and individuals requesting the WAP is also operational as from noon today. However, this latter category will have to submit documents to justify that they have to go to work. This information was communicated, this afternoon, during a press conference by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Mr Krishna Jhugroo, held at the Police Headquarters, Line Barracks, in Port Louis. This system, he emphasised, is viable and the Police will do its best to deliver the permits at the earliest. According to the DCP, people who do have no internet access to submit their applications may do so through Citizens Advice Bureaus (CAB) offices in alphabetical order. For applicants who do not own a smartphone, their WAPs will be sent to CAB offices, and thereafter they will be able to collect their permits. The DCP recalled that since the first curfew order was introduced on 23 March 2020, WAPs, in hard copies, were delivered to people going to work. A total of 1 258 WAPs has been delivered to Ministries/Departments, and involved around 57 000 persons. For private companies, 4 855 WAPs were delivered and involved 104 000. These permits will be valid till 13 May 2020, he said. Moreover, he indicated that the new digitalised system has been rolled out as from Friday 8 May 2020 for the private sector companies who already had permits. This system has been tested and those companies received their QR codes. Each employee will receive a QR code under the system. The private sector, the DCP pointed out, will have to access besafemoris.mu to submit applications. The hard copies which they currently have will be valid till 13 May 2020 and since digitalised copies have been delivered as from Saturday, these will henceforth be used. Companies requesting WAPs will have to submit to the Police a list of the names of employees, their ID and telephone numbers. All those employees who have a smartphone will receive the QR code directly on their mobiles while those who do not have a smartphone, their codes will be sent to their companies. The company will then have to print the document carrying the QR code and present same to those employees. The DCP also shared that the Police has received QR code readers from the Mauritius Telecom to carry out necessary verifications. In cases where an individual or company has committed an offence their WAPs will be immediately revoked, he emphasised. The WAP is being delivered for the sole purpose of allowing the holder to travel from his residence to his place of work and back, he indicated. Furthermore, he said, that a person who contravenes any conditions attached to this permit shall commit an offence and on conviction will be liable to sanctions. Additionally, Mr Jhugroo highlighted that some people employed in certain sectors are not required to have WAPs and the same applies to individuals who have to go to hospitals, pharmacies and supermarkets. Those employees who are exempted include judges, magistrates, Members of Parliament, lawyers, medical practitioners and pharmacists. Speaking about curfew orders, he stated that the urfew order introduced on 4 May 2020 as from 20 hours will end on 1st June 2020 at 20 hours. He pointed out that all trading premises will be closed except for food and gas distributors, hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, shops which are allowed to open from Monday to Saturday. As regards opening hours of certain trades, the DCP observed that from 5 May 2020 till 1st June 2020, shops and supermarkets can operate from 09 00 hours to 20 00 hours. If these trades breach the opening hours rule, the Police will be able to stop their operations. Poultry, meat and fish shops will open as from 14 May 2020 but will remain closed on Sundays. As from 14 May 2020 till 1st June, citizens will be allowed to buy their bread at bakeries according to the alphabetical order rule. Banks will, from 14 May to 1st June 2020, operate on normal working hours and according to the alphabetical order rule. Hair dressing saloons and hardware stores will open as from 14 May 2020 and will remain closed on Sundays. Restaurants, cafes, and fast foods will be allowed to take orders for take-aways and home deliveries only. The DCP shared that medical facilities, petrol stations, hotels, port and airport and related businesses, security services, cleaning and scavenging services, animal breeding and agricultural activities and agrochemical retail outlets and agricultural inputs will be able to operate. Self-employed and individuals will be able to work as from 14 May 2020. #ResOuL akaz #BeSafeMoris Government Information Service, Prime Ministers Office, Level 6, New Government Centre, Port Louis, Mauritius. Email: gis@govmu.org Website: http://gis.govmu.org Mobile App: Search Gov Former prime minister Manmohan Singhs condition is stable and he is under observation at Delhis All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), sources in the hospital said on Monday. The 87-year-old Congress leader was taken to AIIMS on Sunday night. Dr Manmohan Singh was admitted for observation and investigation after he developed a febrile reaction to a new medication, a source said. He is being investigated to rule out other causes of fever and is being provided with care as needed. He is stable and under the care of a team of doctors at the cardiothoracic centre of AIIMS, the source added. Several political leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, enquired about Manmohan Singhs health and wished him a speedy recovery. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot also tweeted about his health. Much worried to know former PM Dr Manmohan Singh ji has been admitted to AIIMS. I wish him speedy recovery and pray for his good health and long life, Gehlot tweeted. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also expressed his concern about Singhs health. Hope he makes a full recovery soon. All of India is praying for our former PM, said Kejriwal. As most of the San Francisco Bay Area continues enforcing a shelter-in-place order stricter than the one in place statewide, the architect of the local order is telling residents the region's opening will be "frustratingly slow." During an appearance on KCBS Radio's "In Depth" podcast Sunday, Santa Clara County health officer Dr. Sara Cody defended not allowing retail businesses and manufacturers in six Bay Area counties to reopen with the rest of the state on Friday. When pressed on why, Cody stated she has yet to review the specifics of the governor's new order. "We're waiting for the governor's order," she said. "We have not had an opportunity to see the details of the order, so that's step one. We cannot get ahead of ourselves here. So we need to really understand the governor's order, then we need compare it to our current order and see if there are some places where the governor's order is more restrictive than our local order, and as you know, whichever one is the most restrictive order prevails." Last Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom and state officials released a set of guidelines for the safe reopening of retail businesses. A full, revised stay-at-home order was not made available. A number of Bay Area retail businesses such as florists and toy stores defied the local order and reopened with the rest of the state on Friday, as did Tesla Motors. CEO Elon Musk said he plans to follow Newsom's guidelines and sue Alameda County for blocking the company's Fremont plan from reopening. On Monday, Michigan a state with one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the country reopened its manufacturing sector, leaving Tesla as the only major automobile manufacturer in the United States not yet permitted to reopen. Cody was not asked directly about the economic fallout, but did acknowledge the impatience of Bay Area residents before instructing them to "maintain patience." "Everyone is pretty tired of sheltering in place," she said. "The weather is improving and it is a point where it is difficult for everyone to maintain patience, yet that is exactly what we need." When pushed on when the region can reopen further, Cody stated there is "work to do" on ensuring a 30-day supply of personal protective equipment, ramping up testing and hiring contact tracers. She did not provide a specific timeline for when the region's order will be revised to be in line with the rest of the state, which includes hot spots like Los Angeles. L.A. County has seen a worse virus outbreak than the Bay Area, but Mayor Eric Garcetti is following the state's guidelines. "If we are going to find our way out of this in a safe way between now and when there's a vaccine, and if we want to prevent having spikes and enormous numbers of death, we're going to have to take it in a frustratingly slow and step-wise fashion," she said. A handful of Bay Area counties, such as San Francisco and Marin, have offered May 18 as a date for retail to return with modifications, although it is not clear if that means the entire six-county order will soften then or if individual counties will branch off and enforce their own orders. MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here. Eric Ting is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting ATLANTA Disheka Moore grew up in Section 8 housing on the north side of Racine. Now Moore, 21, is a first-generation college student who has interned at Microsoft and is on track to graduate from Spelman College next spring with a degree in computer science. Moore has now interned at Microsoft, has been a Google exchange scholar and is on track to make six figures after graduating next spring. I want to show other students in Racine or surrounding areas that its possible to have the upbringing that I had and to show others that they can pursue a career in tech, Moore said. Moore attended Julian Thomas Elementary School, Gilmore Middle School and Case High School. She was a good student, but did not have a particular passion initially for tech. After attending a Historically Black Colleges and Universities event in Milwaukee, Moore set her heart on Spelman College, a historically black liberal arts college for women in Atlanta. Moore headed south with $100 in her pocket and had to figure out how to pay tuition on her own. Two weeks after a major fair when a career in tech piqued her interest, Moore declared a computer science major and one of her teachers awarded her a scholarship that took care of tuition for that semester. I didnt have all my funds together going to Spelman, she said. That was a game-changer for me because I was sitting in the office of financial aid begging for money. Including fees, room and board Spelman typically costs $100,000 per year, and Moore knew she wanted a career that would allow her to pay back her student loans. But her decision to go into computer science isnt just about the money. Its something she enjoys doing as well. Problem-solving What I enjoy about it is the analytical, problem-solving aspect, Moore said. All my life I had to solve problems that I did not ask for. But she eventually realized that problem-solving was one of her most valuable skills. Utilizing that skill set and applying it to real-life problems is motivating for me, Moore said. Because I know Im solving a problem that needs to be addressed. Since she began studying computer science, Moore won a Google Hackathon, interned with Microsoft as a product manager and software engineer and will be returning to intern with Microsoft again this summer. Although she intends to interview with other companies, at this point shes planning to work for Microsoft after graduation. In October Moore was named a Forbes under 30 scholar, which allowed her to attend the Detroit Forbes under 30 summit. After graduation, Moore plans to continue working on her own brand. She has launched a startup called Eye Driven that sells blue light blocking products. Moore is hoping to give back to the Racine community, as she knows that the resources she had access to in Racine helped to contribute to her success. Those resources include the YMCA, Young Leadership Academy and Youth in Governance. Those programs added to what I am today, I cant forget that, she said. Staying in touch Moore has stayed in touch with her fourth-grade teacher at Julian Thomas, Tonya Wilson. Wilson remembers Moore as hardworking, determined and a top student. She was one of those students that stood out, Wilson said. She wanted to achieve. Shes self-motivated, and always had that desire to learn. Wilson said shes been elated to hear how well Moore is doing and to see a photo of Moore at her Microsoft internship. While Wilson said she knows that shes not supposed to have favorite students, Moore was one of hers. Moore said that attending a historically black college has allowed her to learn more about her history and the diversity of the black experience. It teaches you not only about your heritage and your brutal history that people dont teach in regular classrooms but it teaches you how to exist in a world that looks at your skin and assumes that youre something that youre not, Moore said. During her time at Spelman, Moore has traveled to Africa twice, and studied abroad there for four weeks. Moore knows how difficult it can be to attend college without financial and sometimes even mental support from your family. I want younger people to know not to limit yourselves, Moore said. With the technology we have today, you can do a search about just about any topic. Youre not limited anymore. She hopes that young people in Racine look beyond their immediate surroundings and realize that with hard work, they can make good things happen for themselves. She wants to be the face of what is not considered the norm for people of my background. Love 6 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Deleted tweet by Saudi Arabias prison authority said Prince Mohammed bin Naif was being treated after heart attack. A tweet that was posted and then deleted by Saudi Arabias Prison Authority, which falls under the kingdoms interior ministry, has raised questions about the wellbeing of former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz who is thought to have been detained since March. According to the now-deleted post, the senior prince and former minister of the interior had been transferred to intensive care after suffering a heart attack. The tweet, which was published in the early hours of Sunday morning, denied the death of the senior royal, adding that a specialised medical team was working around the clock to attend to him. After the tweet was removed, the Prison Authority posted another tweet saying that the security of its account had been breached, suggesting that the first post about the former crown prince has been published by hackers. Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite channel said on its Twitter account that the Prison Authoritys Twitter account had been compromised. Mohammed bin Nayef, a one-time successor to the Saudi throne and close ally of the United States, was reportedly arrested in March, in what analysts suspected was an attempt by MBS to consolidate his reign in advance of a potential handover. According to a Wall Street Journal newspaper report at the time, the former crown prince was arrested over accusations of plotting a coup against King Salman and Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Sundays series of tweets sparked controversy among Saudi activists, some of whom raised questions about the wellbeing the crown prince. Some said the posts may have been aimed to pave the way for the senior royal family members death. Meanwhile, an account called Prince Mohammed bin Nayefs adviser posted a series of tweets saying that the de-facto Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) wanted to see Mohammed bin Nayef dead as a result of medical negligence, but after news leaked to the family that the princes health was deteriorating, MBS was forced to allow the medical team to treat him. It added that bin Nayefs health has been deteriorating for more than a week. . ! pic.twitter.com/bllgW3E7o6 (@TurkiShalhoub) May 10, 2020 Saudi activists and observers questioned the response from the Prison Authority, saying that if its account had been hacked, it would have been impossible to recover it so quickly. Others believed that the account might have been hacked by people within the Prison Authority who felt loyal to the former crown prince. Saudi activist Omar Abdulaziz questioned the timing and content of the deleted tweet saying: I wonder if a security breach or a prelude [to announcing the death of the former crown prince]. . ! pic.twitter.com/bllgW3E7o6 (@TurkiShalhoub) May 10, 2020 Another Saudi activist, who calls himself Turkish Shalhoub, raised the same question. Is this to pave the way for getting rid of bin Nayef while in custody, he said on Twitter. Named crown prince in April 2015 shortly after King Salman acceded to power, bin Nayef served in the position until his dismissal in a major reshuffle two years later that also saw him lose his job as minister of the interior, which he had held since 2012. I am content, he said at the time about his cousin MBS promotion, adding: I am going to rest now. May God help you. Reports later said he had been placed under house arrest following his removal from office. Will the coronavirus destroy Californias smallest wineries? Puentes family struggles to hold on to Honrama Cellars after building it from the ground up Will the coronavirus destroy Californias smallest wineries? Puentes family struggles to hold on to Honrama Cellars after building it from the ground up The past few years have been kind to Miriam and Juan Puentes. In 2017, after running their Honrama Cellars wine label for nearly a decade, they finally bought a ranch of their own in south Napa, where they planted a vineyard and renovated the dilapidated Spanish-style house they now share with their three children. Last year, they opened a tasting room in Sonoma, and revenue suddenly grew by 30%. Their bootstrapping business finally looked like it was taking off. Now, the coronavirus crisis is making the Puentes family wonder whether theyll lose it all. Everyone has that question on their mind right now, Miriam said. Before the coronavirus, their only sales channel had been their tasting room, plus a couple of local restaurants such as La Calenda. All are now closed. They still have overhead costs to pay rent on the tasting room, mortgage on the ranch, wine storage fees but zero revenue. As shelter-in-place orders are extended in the Bay Area, wineries such as Honrama are shifting from emergency response mode to long-term planning mode. Im expecting it to be at least two years before things are back to normal, Miriam said. Restrictions will eventually ease, but will tourists return to Wine Country? Moreover, will the typical business model for the small California family winery even make sense anymore? Look at all we could do because business was good, said Juan, gesturing around the ranch, a colorful oasis on a side street near the bustling, industrial Highway 29, just north of American Canyon. Though the young vines are just barely peeking out, the place is teeming with life: The family keep pigs, goats, sheep, even a bull, and agave plants line the pathways. Theres the barn they built for their 10 horses along with the arena for charreada, or Mexican rodeo, in which Juan competes. They wanted their ranch to feel like old Mexico, Miriam said, and even tracked down 19th century horse-drawn carriages at antique shops to complete the look. Now, are we going to foreclose? Juan said. Whos going to give us a loan? Are we going to lose this beautiful place? The Puentes familys situation is emblematic of what many of their peers are experiencing right now. While the coronavirus appears poised to hurt all sectors of the American wine industry, it will damage the smallest wineries most severely. Of the 2,077 wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties, 74% produce fewer than 5,000 cases of wine annually, according to Wines Vines Analytics. (Honrama does about 1,200 cases in a normal year.) On average, American wineries of that size are expected to see a 57% drop in revenue in 2020, said Jon Moramarco, managing partner of the industry analyst bw166. By contrast, he said the largest wineries, those producing 500,000 cases or more, are on track for a mere 4.7% decline. Thats because bigger wineries are more likely to rely on retail, like grocery and liquor stores. Revenue from those channels is expected to grow by $1.3 billion this year, Moramarco said. Meanwhile, smaller wineries tend to sell their wine through restaurants and tasting rooms precisely the sorts of venues that the coronavirus crisis has fundamentally changed. U.S. wineries tasting room revenue will decrease $3 billion this year, Moramarco estimated. If grocery store wine brands are at one end of the spectrum, Honrama Cellars is at the other. Juan and Miriam do most of the work themselves, from farming to winemaking to marketing, with help from three employees. To drive customers to their tasting room, they have relied on word-of-mouth referrals and cultivated relationships with tour drivers. They feel that the business personal nature is an asset: People want to go to wineries that feel more intimate, said Juan. They do have another business, Puentes Wine Co., a bulk wine provider for private wine labels, that has been able to operate relatively normally during shelter-in-place. If it werent for our other company, we probably would have already shut down, Juan said. But Honrama is more than just a business to them. The wine label is named for Miriams late father, Honorio Ramirez Mata, a farmworker who always dreamed of owning his own winery. When Miriam was young, her family moved from Mexico City, where she was born, to Bakersfield. Her parents worked all the crops available, she said. Every fall, her father would bring a crew up to Napa Valley to pick grapes, which paid better than some other crops. One vintner, Charlie Wagner of Caymus Vineyards, took an interest in Ramirez Mata and hired him full time. He learned English and eventually became Caymus cellar master. When Miriam was in high school, she started babysitting for the Wagner family, and after high school she got a job doing payroll at Caymus. She said the Wagner family paid for her tuition at Saint Marys College. Her father died of cancer in 1998, and she met Juan the next year. Born in Winters (Yolo County) to Mexico-born parents, he was working for Pacific Bell in Sacramento when he met Miriam. After Juan lost his job, she persuaded him to apply for cellar work in Napa even though he knew nothing about wine. Her hope was that together, eventually, they could start a winery and finally realize her fathers dream. Juan worked his way up and learned winemaking. Their big break came in 2008, when the recession caused grape prices to drop. Suddenly, Juan and Miriam could afford to buy some high-quality Napa wine grapes. They started Honrama Cellars in that vintage, working out of custom-crush space in Napa. It wasnt easy. In the early years, before they opened their tasting room, they poured wine for free everywhere from hotel lobbies to wine festivals, in the hope that customers would take notice. They didnt feel they could afford to sign on with a distributor, because wholesalers and retailers take a cut of the wine price. Still, slowly, the business grew, and last year Honrama had its best year yet, Juan said. After Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all California tasting rooms to close on March 15, Miriam individually emailed every customer shed ever sold wine to a last-ditch effort to move some inventory. Moramarco, the industry analyst, sees this as a potential turning point for many U.S. wineries. This is going to change consumers buying habits, he said of the coronavirus. Every winery, for the next 12 months, needs to be back in startup mode. They have to be more entrepreneurial. How do they find new avenues to the consumer? Unfortunately, Moramarco continued, the wineries that are undercapitalized may not have the cash to survive. For now, like so many small-business owners, the Puenteses are waiting to see what course the coronavirus takes and how long shelter-in-place restrictions last. But the most urgent question they face wont be answered anytime soon: When this is all over, will it still be possible to be the sort of winery that depends on personal interactions in a tasting room to sell wine? Yes, were scared, Miriam said. But we grew up with nothing. Were going to leave with nothing. We try not to get too attached to anything we have now. Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine critic. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley Instagram: @esthermob UPDATE (5/12): Nearly 58K Pa. coronavirus cases, 3,806 dead. Trump to visit Lehigh Valley. More testing for nursing homes. Pennsylvania coronavirus cases increased to 57,154 while at least 3,731 residents have died from COVID-19, according to the latest update from the state health department. That includes at least 5,700 cases and 280 deaths in the Lehigh Valley. Meanwhile, Gov. Tom Wolf issued a stern warning to counties and businesses that reopen earlier than his administration is allowing, threatening to withhold federal funding or revoking insurance coverage or liquor licenses. These are your Pennsylvania coronavirus updates for May 11, 2020. (Cant see the map? Click here.) Wolf: We are fighting a war In his live-streamed news conference late Monday morning, Wolf likened the coronavirus to a war and called politicians and business owners who ignore the warnings cowards and deserters. "You're taking undue risks with the safety of your customers, the Democratic governor said. That's not only morally wrong but also really bad business." Wolf said counties that reopen before his three-tiered plan allows will not be eligible for federal stimulus funds doled out at the states discretion. Businesses that violate the order will not be eligible for liability insurance and could lose liquor licenses or certificates of occupancy. He said unemployment benefits will remain available for those who feel it is unsafe to return to work. "We have done things to address a disease that is far deadlier than I think anything else that could have hit us ... The economic toll is going to be heavy, Wolf said at one point. "But in the end, the ultimate goal is to defeat this virus. If we don't do that, nothing else matters." (Cant see the chart? Click here.) Fewer new cases The 543 new coronavirus cases reported Mondays daily update from the Pennsylvania Department of Health is the fewest since March 28. While the rate of new cases has been trending downward overall, it is not yet clear if Mondays low is part of that continued trend or an anomaly from lags in weekend reporting or processing by commercial labs. That may become clearer in the next few days. (Cant see the chart? Click here.) Reports of deaths typically are also slow during the weekend. Twenty-four more deaths were reported Monday, and 19 on Sunday. The number of daily reported deaths has fluctuated lately as the state health department works to reconcile its data with local sources, particularly in Philadelphia. Residents of nursing homes and similar long-term care facilities account for about 20% of the states coronavirus cases and 68% of deaths. At least 231,704 Pennsylvanians have tested negative for the virus. The health department does not track coronavirus recoveries. Coronavirus in the Lehigh Valley There are 5,724 coronavirus cases in the Lehigh Valley and 281 have died, according to Mondays figures from the state. Thats 30 more cases and two more deaths from Sundays report, again possibly due to the weekend lag. That breaks down to 3,259 cases and 121 deaths in Lehigh County, and 2,465 cases and 160 deaths in Northampton County. (Cant see the map? Click here.) Death reports from the counties themselves have differed in recent days, potentially from delays or different ways of logging the data. The state counts a death by a patients county of residence, not where they are treated, something the counties themselves may not track. The counties may include out-of-county residents or unconfirmed cases. When will the Lehigh Valley reopen? Parts of Pennsylvania are reopening, though not fast enough for some lawmakers. Twenty-four counties moved from the red phase to the yellow phase on Friday, the second level of Wolfs three-tier plan. Thirteen more will do so on May 15. But in eastern Pa., where population and cases are most dense, there is no timetable. (Cant see the map? Click here.) State Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Lehigh Valley, after consulting with doctors at local hospitals, has asked to move Northampton and Lehigh counties to the yellow phase. Republican state Rep. Doyle Heffley has asked the same for Carbon County. Officials in Schuylkill County and Lancaster County have said they plan to defy Wolfs order. Others have said they wont cite businesses that reopen early. When asked Monday about the possibility of reopening portions of the northeast or southeast before June, Wolf said it all depends on what data shows about the virus. He also didnt say when counties may begin moving from the yellow phase to the green phase, the last of the reopening process. "I don't know how you stay safe and move quickly. We're trying to move deliberately," Wolf said at one point. "That's the responsible thing to do." (Cant see the table? Click here.) Drug stores offering coronavirus tests Two local Rite Aid stores are offering free drive-through coronavirus testing, even for people not showing symptoms. The stores are at 7719 Main St. in Fogelsville and 110 Main Street in Hellertown. Patients must be at least 18, provide ID and pre-register online. (Cant see the chart? Click here.) Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. - Department of Health reported that 1,991 Filipino healthcare workers have been infected with the novel coronavirus - This makes up nearly 19 percent of the total COVID-19 cases in the country which is now at 10,794 - 544 of these infected healthcare workers recovered and a total of 34 fatalities - The World Health Organization earlier expressed concern over the high number of infected healthcare worker in the country PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed! The Department of Health (DOH) reported a total of 1,991 healthcare workers infected with COVID-19. In its report on Sunday, nearly 19 percent of the country's total COVID-19 cases were constituted of healthcare workers. 10, 794 COVID-19 cases were recorded. The Health Department said in its report that recoveries among health workers rose to 544 while the death toll remains at 34. Among the medical professions infected were nurses (754); doctors (628); nursing assistants (127); medial technologists (72); and radiologic technologists (39). PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! This number of cases among healthcare workers prompted the World Health Organization to express concern. However, the DOH said that with the government's intervention, a decline in the infection of healthcare workers is seen. The coronavirus outbreak is believed to have started out in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China. Scientists believed that the virus came from an animal at one of Wuhan's wet markets. At present, the Philippines is under a state of calamity while the entire Luzon is under an enhanced community quarantine as well as many other provinces all over the country. Please like and share our Facebook posts to support KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinion about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts! Being aware of the correct and relevant information is the first step towards solving any problem. Here, we remind you of the major symptoms of the coronavirus disease. Be safe and stay informed! Check out all of our videos on our KAMI YouTube channel! Source: KAMI.com.gh This crisis really is pushing the whole system to do something that a couple of weeks ago theyd have said theres no way, said Nia Tavoularis, director of development at Connections for the Homeless, which has relocated 194 homeless residents to two hotels in the northern suburbs. People are overwhelmed by the amount that it looks like its gonna cost to end homelessness, but the truth is we pay for that over and over again in how other systems end up failing. View from just north of Likoaeng (site location indicated with an arrow), looking downstream along the Senqu River. The line of cliffs running midway through the photo from the left beyond the bridge marks the southern side of the Sehonghong valley. Credit: Peter J. Mitchell After analysing organic residues from ancient pots, a team of scientists led by the University of Bristol has uncovered new evidence of dairying by hunter-gatherers in the landlocked South African country of Lesotho in the mid-late first millennium AD. The study on organic residue analysis from South African hunter-gatherer pots is being published today in Nature Human Behaviour.Extensive archaeological evidence shows that Early Iron Age agricultural communities settled in the coastal regions of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa from around AD 400. Although these farmers appear to have been in contact with local lowland hunter-gatherer groups, it was long assumed that they had little or no direct contact with hunter-gatherers already occupying the mountainous regions of Lesotho, as they did not settle the region until the 19th century due to the unsuitability of the mountains for crop cultivation. Over the past several decades however, remains of domestic animal bones have been uncovered in several sites in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains in Lesotho in hunter-gatherer contexts dating to the 1st and 2nd millennia AD. At one site in particularLikoaengdomestic animal bones were found in association with an Early Iron Age potsherd and some fragments of iron. This discovery led to the suggestion that the hunter-gatherers occupying the site were following a 'hunters-with-sheep' mode of subsistence that incorporated the keeping of small numbers of livestock into what was otherwise a foraging economy and that they must have obtained these animals and objects through on-going contact with agricultural groups based on the coast. In the past five years however, several studies have sequenced DNA from supposed domestic animal bones from these highland sites, and instead found them to belong to wild species. This led to the suggestion that the presence of domestic animals in the highlands, and therefore the level of contact, had been overestimated, yet the zooarchaeologists involved stand by their original morphological assessment of the bones. Lead researcher, Helen Fewlass, now based at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig) but who carried out the work as part of her master's project in the University of Bristol's Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, said: "We used organic residue analysis to investigate fats that become absorbed into the porous clay matrix of a pot during its use. "We extracted and analysed lipid residues from pots from two hunter-gatherer sites with domestic livestock remains in the highlands of Lesotho, Likoaeng and Sehonghong, dating to the mid-late first millennium AD and compared them to lipids extracted from pots from a recent nearby agricultural settlement, Mokatlapoli. "This allowed us to explore the subsistence practices of the hunter-gatherers occupying these sites to see if there was any evidence for their contact with farming groups." The team found that dairy residues were present in approximately a third of the hunter-gatherer pots. They directly radiocarbon dated a dairy residue from Likoaeng to AD 579-654 and another from Sehonghong to AD 885-990. The results confirm the presence of domestic animals at these sites in the 1st millennium AD. The team also observed patterning in the stable carbon isotopic values of fatty acids in the residues, which imply that different methods of animal husbandry were practised by the 1st millennium hunter-gatherer groups compared to the recent agricultural group occupying the same region. The stable carbon isotopic values of dairy residues from the agricultural site clearly reflect the introduction of crops such as maize and sorghum into the region in the late nineteenth century and the foddering of domestic animals upon them. As the hunter-gatherer groups must have learnt animal husbandry techniques, the results support the notion that hunter-gatherer groups in the highlands of Lesotho had on-going contact with farming communities in the lowlands, rather than just obtaining the animals through raids or long-distance exchange networks. Based on the direct date of the dairy residue from Likoaeng, contact must have been established within a few centuries of the arrival of agricultural groups in the coastal regions of South Africa. The results also have implications for the on-going debate about the molecular vs morphological assessment of the faunal remains. The results of the organic residue analysis support the osteoarchaeological evidence for the presence of domestic animals at Likoaeng and Sehonghong. However, as large amounts of milk can be generated from one domestic animal, the prevalence of dairy residues does not tell us how many domestic animals were present. Direct radiocarbon dating of domestic faunal remains in these contexts has been hampered by poor collagen preservation. The new method (published earlier this month in Nature) for direct dating of fats extracted from potsherds represents a new avenue for placing the arrival and presence of domestic animals in the area in a secure chronological context. Helen Fewlass added: "The presence of dairy fats in pots from Likoaeng and Sehonghong in highland Lesotho shows that hunter-gatherers in the mountains had adopted at least sporadic use of livestock from agricultural groups in South Africa not long after their arrival in the 1st millennium AD." Co-author, Dr. Emmanuelle Casanova, from the University of Bristol's Organic Geochemistry Unitpart of the School of Chemistry, added: "In addition to the identification of dairying practices we were able apply a brand-new dating method for pottery vessels to verify the antiquity of the dairy residues which perfectly fits with the age of the hunter-gatherer groups." This study represents the first analysis and direct radiocarbon dating of organic residues from pottery from south-eastern Africa. The high level of preservation found implies that the method has great potential for further applications in the region. This mountainous area of Lesotho has other hunter-gatherer sites containing pottery in contexts dating to the 1st and 2nd millennium AD so there is potential to expand this type of analysis to other sites in the region to understand whether this practise was relatively isolated or ubiquitous. Explore further Study sheds light on unique culinary traditions of prehistoric hunter-gatherers More information: Chemical evidence of dairying by hunter-gatherers in highland Lesotho in the late first millennium ad, Nature Human Behaviour (2020). www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-0859-0 Journal information: Nature Human Behaviour Chemical evidence of dairying by hunter-gatherers in highland Lesotho in the late first millennium ad,(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-0859-0 Emergency Medical Service workers unload a patient out of their ambulance at the Cobble Hill Health Center in New York City, N.Y. on April 18, 2020. (Justin Heiman/Getty Images) NY Reverses Rule on Discharging COVID-19 Patients to Nursing Homes A new executive order from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blocks hospitals from sending COVID-19 patients to nursing homes unless the patients test negative for the new disease, effectively reversing a nearly two-month-old policy. Were just not going to send a person who is positive to a nursing home after a hospital visit, period, Cuomo said at a press conference on May 10. Cuomos new order takes aim at a March 25 directive from New Yorks Department of Health. That directive stated that nursing home operators couldnt refuse to accept residents even if they tested positive for COVID-19, drawing widespread criticism from advocacy groups, relatives, and officials. No resident shall be denied readmission or admission to a nursing home solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19, the order says. If hospital staff determined residents were medically stable, nursing homes were prohibited from requiring that the patient be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission. Information regarding new rules about visiting a nursing home are taped to a window during an ongoing outbreak of the CCP virus in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters) The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine said admitting such patients represents a clear and present danger to all of the residents of a nursing home. This approach will introduce the highly contagious virus into more nursing homes, Mark Parkinson, president of the American Health Care Association, and Dr. David Gifford, the groups chief medical officer, warned days after the order was issued. There will be more hospitalizations for nursing home residents who need ventilator care and ultimately, a higher number of deaths. Nursing homes in New York have since reported thousands of deaths believed to be caused by COVID-19, a disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. The disease primarily affects older adults and people with underlying health conditions. State officials have insisted in recent days that nursing home operators could refuse to take COVID-19 patients by telling health officials they werent properly equipped to care for them. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo holds a protective mask to his face as he arrives for a daily briefing at New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York on May 7, 2020. (Mike Segar/Reuters) It was their obligation to inform. And it is their obligation to call the Department of Health and say, You have to come get this person, I cant care for them,' Cuomo told reporters in Albany. The directive itself contained no qualifications on accepting residents back from hospitals. Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said in a letter (pdf) sent more than a month later that operators could contact his department if they couldnt find a place for residents with COVID-19. Cuomos new order forces hospitals to keep elderly COVID-19 patients until a negative test is confirmed or move them to another state-run facility that isnt a nursing home. This puts the obligation on hospitals, which is saying a hospital cannot release a COVID-positive patient into a nursing home facility until they test negative, said Melissa DeRosa, Cuomos secretary. But it doesnt reverse the entire March directive. Instead, that directive and the new executive order will co-exist, DeRosa said. Cuomo imagined a scenario where an adult seeks to refer their mother, who tests positive for COVID-19, to a nursing home. The operator of the home cant refuse to take the person on the basis of the diagnosis alone because that would be discrimination, he and state officials claimed. But the operator can refuse to accept the person if they cant properly care for them. Proper care would include having an isolation area specifically for COVID-19 patients, adequate personal protective equipment, and employees trained in how to care for the patients. The Isabella Geriatric Center is shown on May 1, 2020, in New York City, N.Y. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo) Asked why he didnt issue his executive order reversing part of the directive sooner, Cuomo said: I dont know the March 25 [order]. The governor also rejected the notion that the order requiring nursing homes take COVID-positive patients was flawed. He said New York is 34th among states in terms of the percentage of COVID-linked deaths in nursing homes. Whatever were doing has worked, on the facts, he said. The press briefing took place amid calls for an independent probe into how Cuomos administration handled the matter. The New York Post editorial board said Cuomo is disingenuous at best when he claims homes need merely tell the Health Department if they cant handle coronavirus patients. The board pointed to an email sent by Cobble Hill Health Center CEO Donny Tuchman to health officials, telling them the facility wasnt able to care for COVID-19 patients and asking for them to be sent elsewhere, including the converted hospital inside the Javits Center. I was told those facilities were only for hospitals to send their overflow patients, Tuchman told the paper. George Pataki, a former New York governor, said he supports an independent probe, citing how the March order forbade nursing homes from rejecting infected patients and from requiring testing before admission. Medical workers put on masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) while preparing to transport a deceased body at Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center in Andover, N.J. on April 16, 2020. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images) Other States Other large states issued similar policies, including New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and California, even after warnings from elder care experts. Officials at fewer than 10 percent of nursing homes said they have the ability to care for incoming COVID-19 patients, according to a survey. Residents with COVID-19 that require hospitalization can and should be discharged back to the facility of residence once they are clinically stable regardless of whether COVID-19 testing is still positive or not, an order from Michigans Department of Health stated (pdf). Pennsylvanias order states (pdf) that facilities must continue to accept new admissions and receive readmissions for current residents who have been discharged from the hospital who are stable to alleviate the increasing burden in the acute care settings. This may include stable patients who have had the COVID-19 virus, it added. Californias Department of Health said skilled nursing homes shall not refuse to admit or readmit a resident based on their status as a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case. The directive was nothing less than a death sentence for countless residents, Patricia McGinnis, executive director of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, told the Los Angeles Times. That order and one in Massachusetts was softened after backlash from doctors and elder advocates. It now states that nursing homes can be expected to readmit residents, depending on certain conditions. Nationwide, more than half of the deaths in the United States linked to COVID-19 come from nursing homes, according to state-by-state data compiled by columnist Phil Kerpen, including 4 out of 5 deaths in Minnesota. Percentages were nearly as high in New Hampshire and Rhode Island. While some states require that nursing homes accept patients back, others blocked entry to people testing positive for the disease. Louisianas interim Health Secretary Stephen Russo on March 26 (pdf) prohibited hospitals from discharging patients to nursing homes if the patient had COVID-19, a pending test, or undiagnosed, active respiratory symptoms. The move was made to aggressively address COVID-19 and recognize the shortage of masks, gloves, and other equipment in nursing homes, Russo said. The Delhi government has provided free ration to more than 20 lakh poor people who do not have a ration card since the lockdown came into effect, according to officials. The Aam Aadmi Party government has also provided free ration to 39.18 lakh National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries till May 9, Delhi's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Imran Hussain tweeted on Monday. As many as 20.92 lakh people who are not covered under NFSA got free ration till May 9. There are around 30 lakh people in Delhi who do not have ration cards. Senior High/Techical Vocational and Special Schools in the Western North Region are being fumigated and disinfected against bedbugs, bacteria and viruses to free their environment for safe living. The Ghana Education Services (G.E.S) has engaged Zoomlion Ghana Limited to provide fumigation and disinfection services to all senior high secondary, technical, vocational and special schools (public and private) in Ghana. Today marked the turn of the Western North to benefit from the service as programmed by Zoomlion. The schools that are being fumigated are, Bibiani Secondary/Technical, Queens Girls' Secondary, Chirano Secondary, Sefwi Wiaso Sec/Tech, Sefwi Wiaso Senior High, St. Joseph Senior High, Asanwinso Senior High and many more. The Headmaster of Bibiani Secondary/Technical School, Mr. Stephen Kojo Dandey who spoke with media men expressed gratitude to the Ghana Education Service, the Minister and Ministry of Education and the government for the onerous support of fumigation and disinfection to the schools in Ghana. He was optimistic that when the Coronavirus pandemic melows down the students and the teachers will all enjoy a conducive environment in the schools. Mr. Dandey appealed to the authorities of G.E.S to sustain the kind gesture to reduce the financial pressure on the schools. He was happy that he himself and the other staff monitored the exercise and the Zoomlion workers have done a fantastic job and urged them to keep it up. In the middle of a spat between Europes top courts over the limits of European Central Bank monetary stimulus, President Christine Lagarde is probably preparing to do even more. A lawyer herself, Lagarde says her institution is undeterred by a legal tussle over its 2.7 trillion-euro ($2.9 trillion) asset-purchase program, and will do whats needed to carry the euro zone through the coronavirus crisis. For many economists and investors, that almost certainly means ramping up a separate bond-buying plan the 750 billion-euro pandemic purchase program which was created in March specifically to combat the fallout from the pandemic. The ECB could decide to increase that program, extend it into 2021, or promise to reinvest the proceeds of bonds as they mature. The only question is when. What Bloombergs Economists Say The decision opens up a route for the Governing Council to avoid falling afoul of the justices, and likely allows asset purchases to continue unhindered. However, it raises more questions than it answers and creates considerable uncertainty. -David Powell The shock ruling by Germanys constitutional judges last week that the ECB may have stepped outside its remit came at an extraordinary time. The continents worst postwar recession and the struggle by governments to agree on a joint fiscal response has led to warnings that the currency union is at risk. The verdict sparked an immediate backlash from the European Unions highest tribunal. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which had cleared the policy in 2018, issued a rare press release saying it alone can rule that an act of an EU institution is contrary to EU law. The European Commission threatened twice over the weekend to sue Germany, with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying in a statement that the final word on EU law is always spoken in Luxembourg. Nowhere else. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the leadership of her party that the ruling has far-reaching consequences. According to a person familiar with the discussion, she said one solution could be for the ECB to explain its asset-purchase program to the Bundesbank, which would serve as an intermediary to the German Parliament. Merkels spokesman Steffen Seibert said Monday the government doesnt see the constitutional courts decision as questioning the ECJs role in guarding European law. Investors seem to maintain faith in the ECBs ability to push ahead with its measures despite the ruling, with yields on benchmark debt in Italy and Spain relatively stable on Monday. The ECB is predicting the economy will shrink by 5 to 12 per cent this year and might not recover to pre-virus levels before the end of 2022. Lagarde said on Friday that governments could have to issue between 1 trillion euros and 1.5 trillion euros of extra debt. If the ECB doesnt help mop that up, markets could push borrowing costs higher and undermine the recovery. Some ECB officials have openly highlighted the likely need for more action. Most economists surveyed before the ruling predicted the crisis program will be increased by around 500 billion euros later this year. Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel sought to reinforce the message in her interview with an Italian newspaper on Monday. The ECB will continue to conduct bond purchases in line with its mandate despite the ruling, she told La Repubblica, adding that the resolve seems to have been well-understood by market participants. We are using this flexibility to make sure that our monetary policy is transmitted to all euro area countries, Schnabel, who runs market operations at the ECB. And we stand ready to adjust the size and duration of the program if needed. How soon more support is required depends partly on how the easing of lockdown measures proceeds, but some decisions are becoming pressing. The shortest-term debt that the ECB holds could start maturing next month and officials havent yet said if theyll reinvest the cash, as they do for the older asset-purchase program. Not doing so would mean withdrawing monetary support with one hand while adding it with another, even if the initial sums are small. Our working assumption is that its reinvested, said Danske Banks Piet Christiansen. But we cant verify it. Legal Jeopardy Some economists do see a chance policy-makers tread more carefully now. The ECB was given three months to justify the 2015 program, or Germanys central bank will have to drop out. That would be a massive blow Germany is the blocs biggest economy and its Bundesbank accounts for the largest share of bond purchases. The case for additional monetary policy support is clearly strong; the timing of any announcement has, however, become harder to gauge, said JPMorgan economist Greg Fuzesi. It is hard to know if the ECB will respond to the German Federal Constitutional Courts statement by moving more cautiously or whether it will more aggressively to demonstrate its independence. Should the ECB decide that more stimulus is needed, the emergency program is the obvious vehicle as it wasnt covered by last weeks ruling. That doesnt mean its out of danger though the plaintiffs in the latest case are now preparing to target that as well. In a sign of how the legal ruling has jangled nerves, Germanys Der Spiegel magazine reported that finance ministry officials are already trying to head off that threat. Theyre said to have investigated whether the plan is proportionate to the economic environment applying the kind of oversight that the court deemed missing. Read more about: New Delhi: In an attempt to repeat an attack similar to the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has joined hands with Pakistan-based don Dawood Ibrahim, top intelligence sources told News18. Sources said that Ibrahim was spotted in Islamabad on Sunday at his farmhouse, which is next to Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharrafs residence. The intel sources said the don had gone with a team of Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), for a meeting with the LeT leaders. According to an intercept, LeT is planning to send weapons to Gujarat or Maharashtra via sea route. It said that the ISI wants to create unrest while most of the Indian security paraphernalia is busy tackling COVID-19 and sees the pandemic as a great opportunity to target major Indian cities. Abdul Rehman Makki, the second-in-command of Pakistan-based LeT, had recently visited Karachi to coordinate the plan and met Dawood to discuss the future course of action, sources said. The intel sources further said the Pakistan spy agency has asked Dawoods D Company to ask their Indian modules to carry out the task of sending weapons within India. The ISI wants Lashkar to use local operatives of D Company for this job. The ISI is desperate to carry out an attack of Mumbai 26/11-magnitude as it has not been able to carry out any major terror activity post the implementation of Article 370 in Kashmir in August 2019, sources said. For the marginalised Lashkar, this will prove to be a great opportunity to bounce back in terror business as the ISI, sources said, is using only Jaish-e-Mohammed these days for attacks in Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that states will have greater say in determining the extent of restrictions and relaxations after May 17, within a broad national framework while underlining that India faced two challenges reducing the transmission rate of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and resuming public activity gradually. He also emphasised that social distancing remains the biggest weapon against the virus till a vaccine is found, and suggested that the lockdown may not be lifted entirely. In his fifth interaction with chief ministers on the pandemic, according to participants at the meeting, PM Modi said India now had a good sense of the spread of the disease; urged states to carefully examine specific geographical areas to come up with a road map for the next phase of lockdown; highlighted the importance of green zones in restarting economic activity; underlined that the full resumption of rail travel would not be possible; pointed out that India will have to use technology in imparting education; and, more broadly, spoke about how the pandemic will change the world, just as the world wars did; and the new principle of life would be jan se lekar jag tak (from an individual to the whole of humanity). Click here for the complete coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic In the backdrop of migrant workers returning home, Modi also emphasised that this will create challenges at two ends states from where the migrants have left will have labour shortages, and their home states will have to accommodate them economically while preventing the spread of the disease in rural areas. Over six hours, all chief ministers got an opportunity to speak on the extension of the lockdown (opinion was divided among the CMs but the majority view was continuing it in containment zones while relaxing it elsewhere); the issue of migrant workers (the dominant concern was the possibility of returning workers spreading the disease); the authority of the states in decision-making (most states sought more autonomy in declaring red, orange and green zones), the resumption of train services (several CMs saw this as an unwise move); and the financial support states now need in the battle against the pandemic. The most stringent criticism of the Centre came from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Click here for the latest updates from the coronavirus outbreak Home minister Amit Shah also spoke at the meeting, emphasising the importance of the Aarogya Setu app in tracking the disease. In his welcome remarks, according to an official statement, Modi said there was now a clear sense of the geographical spread of the pandemic in India, including the worst affected areas. Moreover, over the past few weeks, officials have understood operating procedures in a time such as this, right up to the district level. This understanding, he said, will help the country in having a focused strategy. We have a twofold challenge to reduce the transmission rate of the disease, and to increase public activity gradually, while adhering to all the guidelines, and we will have to work towards achieving both these objectives, he said. Modi, according to one of the meeting participants cited above, said that the Centre will decide on future strategy based on consultations with the states, and the states will have to lead the fight. He said that they will have to decide what new systems have to be in place but while keeping in mind that the lockdown was the biggest weapon we have till a vaccine is found. Also Read: Covid-19 crisis: Govts stimulus package on anvil He asked the CMs to sit with their teams and decide which areas they wanted to keep under a lockdown by May 15; draw a map based on it and provide the logic behind it; and after May 17, the Centre would act accordingly. Needs are changing in all phases, and so gradual changes are going to happen. We will incorporate the changes that you suggest, the PM told the CMs, according to the participant quoted above. The PM indicated that it would not be possible to end the lockdown entirely since there was a need to be alert. The lockdown is the only way to deal with the virus. But states can modify according to their needs. From May 18, states will decide but there will be a set of common things nationwide. A key issue that Modi addressed was of migrant workers. In his welcome remarks earlier in the day, he mentioned how the government had urged people to stay where they were but people wanted to return home and that was human nature. We have to make sure it doesnt spread and go to villages, thats our big challenge, he said. In his final remarks, the PM returned to the theme and pointed out that the exit of workers will create a dual challenge. The first was for states that had seen workers leave. These places are facing a huge labour shortage and so they have to devise a strategy as to how to restart their industry. The second was for their home states. The states which they are returning to have their own challenge. They didnt have jobs and thats why these people had left. They now have an economic challenge and also the threat of disease. How to deal with workers, how to motivate them to return to work, these are all concerns which we have to fix. Modi also emphasised the next set of tasks restarting economic activity; ensuring that there were no new diseases which spread during monsoon and the need for states to keep their non-Covid hospitals ready; modelling the education system using technology and conducting exams in a manner in which students did not lag behind; and thinking of ways to develop Indian tourist spots at a time when tourism the world over had stopped, to be able to take advantage of post-Covid tourism. At a time when passenger rail services have been resumed albeit to a limited degree and in response to CMs such as Bihars Nitish Kumar who expressed concerns that this will lead to the spread of the disease, the PM underlined that not all rail services will be resumed. We cant start all passenger trains at the same time. But we have started some limited trains like Rajdhani, which has few stations or is linked to the economic chain. Starting all is not a good idea. Also Read: Govt plans random testing for community surveillance Among the CMs, the strongest criticism of the Centre came from Mamata Banerjee, who accused the government of playing politics. According to a second participant who attended the meeting, Banerjee said, We as a state are doing our best to combat the virus. The Centre should not play politics in this crucial time; all states should be given equal importance. She waved papers, and claimed that every half-an-hour, a letter came from the Centre giving directions, and every second day, a central team arrived. Dont we have any work other than running behind those teams? We are not a small state but one of the bigger states. But the general theme of the meeting was the pandemic and the lockdown, with styles outlining their own experiences and challenges and views on what needed to be done next. Most states wanted the lockdown in the most affected zones, while greater relaxations elsewhere. Delhi, on lines of chief minister Arvind Kejriwals demand on May 3, said that the lockdown should continue in containment zones but lifted elsewhere. Rajasthan too wanted the lockdown only in containment zones, with the decision to be left to the states. MP sought strict compliance of the lockdown in infected areas and relaxations in other areas. Karnataka wanted the lockdown to be strictly implemented in containment zones, no international or domestic air travel but resumption of public transport in non-containment zones. Both Punjab and Haryana asked that states be allowed to decide on red, orange and green zones, and containment areas. Maharashtra wanted a caution over lifting the lockdown, on the grounds that the cases were projected to rise by end of May it also asked for additional deployment of security forces. Bihar sought an extension of the lockdown till May 31 in the meeting and followed it up with a decision to the effect later at night. Kerala asked for easing of norms in green and orange zones. Also Read: Ensure medical workers travel unhindered: Centre But besides the lockdown, states also expressed their views on other issues. Bihar and UP expressed concerns about the returning migrant workers and the challenges they posed on both the health and the economic front, while Maharashtra and Haryana urged migrant workers to stay back. Odisha, Chattisgarh, Telengana, and Bihar expressed apprehensions about the resumption of limited passenger rail services. So did Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, who warned about the possibility of community spread if trains were made operational without consulting states and its registration data. NSW Nationals MPs say Deputy Premier John Barilaro has the support of his party room despite a push from one of the party's elders, who is insisting he outline plans for his departure. Port Macquarie MP and deputy speaker Leslie Williams has accused Mr Barilaro of embarrassing the National Party following his decision not to contest the federal Eden-Monaro byelection. Nationals MPs says NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro's leadership is safe despite a push from Leslie Williams, one of his senior parliamentary colleagues, to stand aside. Credit:AAP In a letter to the NSW Nationals' chairman Andrew Fraser, Ms Williams said Mr Barilaro should either stand aside as leader or detail his transition plan, given he will not contest the 2023 election. Ms Williams' letter came after text messages from Mr Barilaro to Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack emerged, in which Mr Barilaro blamed Mr McCormack, the federal Nationals leader, for not supporting him. According to current polls, the election will be close in November. It may not turn out that way, but that's what we believe today. What could be President Trump's winning card? The answer is V.P. Mike Pence, who has looked very presidential lately. Twenty twenty may be the first time voters look very closely at #2. They may vote based on which #2 is more qualified to be #1. Both President Trump (74) and former VP Biden (78) would be older next January than what we've usually seen in the presidency. President Reagan turned 78 weeks after leaving office. We think of President Eisenhower as a grandfather figure, but he was 70 when he left office. Add to this the risk of coronavirus in older people, and don't blame voters for looking at #2 as a potential president. On that basis, V.P. Pence gets a good grade. On the other hand, former V.P. Biden has a problem. First, he committed to naming a woman. Some want him to pick a woman of color. One woman is running for the job on that basis. Second, what woman on the short list has executive experience? The governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, does, but she runs a very small state. And the Democrats are likely to win New Mexico anyway! She would have been a good pre-COVID choice, but things are different now. The rest are U.S. senators, but they are also left of center. They won't help him win much between the coasts. They won't add votes that the Democrats already have. Third, former V.P. Biden could break his promise and look for a governor, like Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana. Unfortunately for the Democrats, Governor Edwards likes President Trump too much and signed a "heartbeat" law to stop abortions. The base would never accept a "pro-life Democrat" who speaks well of President Trump. He won't deliver Louisiana. Up in Montana, Governor Steve Bullock succeeds in a red Western state. However, I don't think he will turn on the base. He didn't in the debates. Biden may even pick Governor Andrew Cuomo from New York. My guess is that Cuomo would rather wait until 2024. Can he break that promise to pick a woman? I guess so, but the convention won't like it. Pence the ace? I think so. Unfortunately, none of the women under consideration can stand up to V.P. Pence during their debate. PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. Leader of the Opposition Andrew Scheer speaks during a news conference on Parliament Hill, May 11, 2020 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) Scheer Backs Liberal Taiwan Push at WHO as Move Long Advocated by Conservatives OTTAWAConservative Leader Andrew Scheer backed the Liberal governments efforts to include Taiwan in the World Health Organization discussions on COVID-19, a position that China opposes. But Scheer also pointed out that his party has long called for Taiwans inclusion in organizations such as the WHO and the International Civil Aviation Organization, and their work should not be influenced by Chinas foreign policy. These types of entities which provide guidance and services to folks on the health and safety of people around the world should not be impacted by global politics and by the foreign policy positions of the PRC [Peoples Republic of China], Scheer said Monday. China views Taiwan as a breakaway province, and while Canada does not recognize its sovereignty, the two do have trade and cultural relations. Last week, Canada backed an international coalition that includes the United States, Japan, Australia and others, seeking to allow Taiwan to have observer status at a major WHO meeting next week. Taiwan had early success in controlling the outbreak of the COVID-19, and Foreign Affairs Minister FrancoisPhilippe Champagne has told The Canadian Press that Taiwans presence as a nonstate observer in the World Health Assembly meetings next week would help the pandemic fight. The move is also politically sensitive for Canada because it is in its own dispute with China over what it calls the arbitrary imprisonment of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. But Canada approved a verbal demarche to two senior WHO executives during a meeting last week that urged them to allow Taiwan to be admitted as an observer to an upcoming meeting because its input would be meaningful and important. The World Health Assembly meets next Monday in Geneva. The demarche was issued jointly on Thursday by the Geneva-based ambassadors of Canada, Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, Britain, Japan and the U.S.with the envoys from Washington and Tokyo taking the lead. Despite co-operation on health and trade since the pandemics outbreak, relations between Canada and China have been severely strained since the RCMP arrested Chinese high-tech scion Meng Wanzhou on an American extradition warrant in December 2018. China arrested Kovrig and Spavor nine days later in what is widely viewed as retaliation and has levelled accusations of spying against the men. Canada has marshalled a broad coalition of international support calling for their release and that has angered Chinese leaders. But Canada has pushed forward at the WHO on the Taiwan issue because it takes comfort in the fact it is part of a coalition of countries making the argument, said a senior government official, who has briefed The Canadian Press on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. The government believes that regardless of whatever dispute exists between countries, an organization such as the WHO is supposed to work for the greater good of all people around the world, the official said. Taiwan is also squarely in the centre of the Trump administrations dispute with China and the WHO. The U.S. has temporarily halted funding to the organization over its allegedly inadequate assessment of COVID-19s early threat when the novel coronavirus was breaking out in the Chinese city of Wuhan. By Mike Blanchfield Iraq's PMU forces kill Daesh top leader in Diyala, thwart infiltration in Anbar Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 1:57 PM Iraq's pro-government Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), known in Arabic as Hashd al-Sha'abi, says its anti-terror fighters have killed a top leader of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in eastern province of Diyala. In an interview with Arabic-language Almaalomah news agency on Sunday, Sadiq al-Hosseini, a senior official of Hashd al-Sha'abi said that the Daesh senior leader was killed in Haoz al-Waqf area, northeast of Diyala. He said that precise intelligence collected or received by the PMU led to the killing of the terror leader in the area, which is some 25 kilometers northeast of Baqubah, the provincial capital, stressing that with his killing, Daesh suffered yet another blow from the Iraqi forces. Yilmaz al-Najjar, the PMU's commander in northern Iraq, said that Hashd al-Sha'abi fighters managed to arrest three Daesh commanders in the north-central Kirkuk province, after gathering precise intelligence. The PMU has recently focused on detection and destruction of Daesh slipper cells in the Arab country. PMU thwarts Daesh raid in Anbar Also on Sunday, Hashd al-Sha'abi announced in a statement that its 26th brigade had managed to foil a terrorist plot by Daesh to target al-Nakhib area in the western province of Anbar. The statement, carried by Arabic-language al-Mawazin news agency, said that after collecting precise intelligence, a tactical team from the 26th brigade was sent 25 kilometers deep into the Anbar desert, where they discovered and seized some ready-to-be-used rocket-launchers plus six rockets as well as a motorbike. It further noted that the launchers had been fixed to hit al-Nakhib area in the western province, through which Daesh terrorists entered Iraq in mid-2014, adding that terrorists had fled the area before the arrival of the PMU forces. Qassem Mosleh, a senior PMU official and its commander in Anbar operation, announced that his fighters had managed to thwart an infiltration by Daesh terrorists in Akashat, northwest of Anbar, on Saturday night. He also said that Daesh terrorists fled the area with their motorbikes after exchanging fire with the PMU fighters. The terror group has already lost all of the urban strongholds it once held, thanks to continued anti-terror operations by the Iraqi army and its allied fighters from Hashd al Sha'abi. However, the Daesh remnants, every so often, attack civilians and soldiers alike in the Arab country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Fayaz Wani By Express News Service SRINAGAR: Banned terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen has appointed Gazi Haider as new operations chief for Kashmir to replace Riyaz Naikoo who was eliminated in an encounter by security forces on Wednesday A Srinagar-based news agency, KNS quoted a statement of Hizb saying that a command council meet of Hizb was held under its chief commander Syed Salah-ud-din in PoK in which Gazi Haider was appointed as new operations chief for Kashmir. Zaffar-ul-Islam was appointed as Deputy chief while Abu Tariq as Chief Military Advisor, the statement said.Naikoo alias Mohammad Bin Qasim had taken over Hizb command in Kashmir after his predecessor Yasin Yatoo alias Mehmood Ghaznavi was killed in August 2017. Hailing from Awantipora area, 35-year-old Naikoo was a mathematics school teacher before joining militancy in 2012. Naikoos body was not handed over this family but buried silently in a graveyard in central Kashmirs Sonamarg by authorities in presence of magistrate and few family members. After outbreak of Covid-19, authorities are not handing over bodies of local militants to their families for burial and instead burying them at graveyards in central and north Kashmir. With 50,000 employees nationwide and more than 1,600 in New Mexico alone, T-Mobiles workforce is large enough to get lost in. But according to the communication giants employees, who ranked it as New Mexicos top large workplace for 2020, its a company that fosters community, belonging and purpose. We create a culture thats very much like family and our teams are very much united in delivering memorable experiences for each other and our customers, said Karen Viola, senior director at the Menual Customer Experience Center. T-Mobile has 18 locations across the state, including two call centers, an administrative and engineering center and retail stores. Diversity and inclusion are among the most important components of T-Mobiles workplace culture, Viola said. The company created diversity networks to connect employees, including for womens leadership, veterans and equality, and Albuquerque was the first T-Mobile location to participate in a Pride event. Its the work we do to ensure were creating this kind of company where everyone feels like they belong and they can be themselves, and we can leverage the fact that no two people are alike, Viola said. I think that diverse thinking helps us best serve our customers and employees. Employees who responded to a Top Workplace survey said they feel valued by their colleagues and supervisors, challenged to succeed and comfortable being themselves at work. I love my job at T-Mobile because the culture is phenomenal, the compensation and benefits package are stellar, the flexibility and understanding of leadership is amazing, and the challenges and opportunities to be my full potential as my authentic self are bar-none, one employee wrote. The call centers turnover rate is among the lowest in the industry, Viola said. I think employees feel this is a place they enjoy coming to because were very much a family but we also invest in their personal development as well, she said. T-Mobiles tuition reimbursement program is currently helping 17% of its employees pursue higher education, Viola said, and the vast majority of the companys leadership is internal, homegrown talent. Employees also benefit from paid time off, health insurance, matching retirement plans, phone discounts and more. (Newser) A logistical support vessel for the Iranian navy was struck over the weekend by "friendly fire," resulting in the deaths of 19 sailors and the injuries of at least 15 others. The incident happened Sunday evening in the Gulf of Oman, "causing the martyrdom of a number of brave members of the naval forces," the navy said in a Monday statement cited by the BBC. Per Iranian media, the 155-foot Konarak was placing targets for other ships in the waters near the Strait of Hormuz and didn't get far enough away from one when it was hit by a C-802 Noor anti-ship cruise missile fired by the frigate Jamaran. Per the Guardian, the navy's statement upped the original reported number of fatalities, which had originally been noted by Iranian state media as being "at least one sailor" dying. story continues below The paper added that the media in Iran doesn't typically comment on training exercise accidents, indicating how serious this particular one must've been. The Drive has pictures of the damaged Konarak, which saw its "entire upper structure obliterated." A video put out by Iranian state media also allegedly shows the Konarak after the hit, black smoke billowing from its destroyed body. The BBC notes that "the Iranian armed forces are no strangers to error," recalling how an Iranian air defense unit shot down a Ukrainian airliner in January with two surface-to-air missiles, killing all 176 on board. (Read more Iran stories.) As the nationwide coronavirus lockdown 3.0 is set to end on May 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to interact with Chief Ministers of all states and Union Territories via video conference on Monday (May 11) at 3 pm, the Prime Minister's Office said on Sunday. "PM Narendra Modi to hold the 5th meeting via video-conference with state Chief Ministers tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a tweet. PM @narendramodi to hold the 5th meeting via video-conference with state Chief Ministers tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM. PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 10, 2020 It is expected that during the intereaction with the chief ministers, PM Modi will review the progress made by different states in containing coronavirus COVID-19 disease while restarting economic activities gradually in a phased manner. The prime minister may also discuss the next stage in the exit from the nationwide lockdown and will take feedback from states on further easing restrictions on economic activities. Discussions are also expected to take place on tackling the coronavirus pandemic in containment zones. Apart from PM Modi, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan along some other senior officials are expected to attend the all-important meeting. This will be the fifth meeting of the PM Modi with the Chief Ministers since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in India. On May 10, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country climbed to 62,939 while fatalities rose to 2,109. On March 24, the Prime Minister had announced a 21-day lockdown as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19. The lockdown was later extended till May 3 and later to May 17. Imagine it is two weeks from now and you live in one of the dozens of citiesincluding Harrisburgthat have recently seen anti-lockdown protests. Your immunocompromised parent or child becomes sick with COVID, so you take them to the hospital because they cannot breathe. How will you feel when you find out that all of the hospitals ventilators are being used by a cluster of individuals all of whom attended the same protest? You might think it isnt fair that a protester, who knowingly took on the risk of infection to make a political point, should get the critical resource in place of your loved one, when the latter abided by social distancing guidelines and stayed inside. You would be right about the unfairness. Your relative sacrificed some of their liberty for everyones benefit but was nevertheless infected, perhaps by an essential-worker family member who unwittingly brought the virus home. Individuals who get COVID-19 while protesting the very public health measures necessary to stop its spread should not get a ventilator before those who have been playing by the rules. Across the country, protestors have stormed state capitals demanding a return to business as usual. Their behavior is dangerous to everyone. Protesters who violate basic safety measures should, at a minimum, sign a pledge expressing their willingness to forgo scarce care in the name of their political ideals and for the benefit of their fellow Americans. Perhaps the leaders of the protests can set up a website where protesters can publicly attest to the pledge. Social distancing interventions are centuries old, tried and true ways to dampen epidemics. They are hugely disruptive, but that is the point. Viruses love business as usual, because business as usual brings individuals into close proximity with one another, and thats exactly how viruses spread. And spread they will. One reason for COVID-19s hyper-transmissibility is that spreaders can be people who are completely asymptomatic. The vast majority of AmericansRepublicans and Democrats alikefully understand this and have responded with a sense of solidarity and steely resolve. Most of us are diligently staying home, avoiding close contact with others outside our own households, and making essential trips strategically and efficiently. Yet thousands of protesters appear to lack a full sense of the gravity of this once-in-a-century pandemic, which has crashed across the globe leaving death and battered economies in its wake. Or, they view the economic consequences of social distancing as disproportionate to the health benefits. The protesters fly flags and carry signs accusing their governors of heavy-handedness, of unjustifiably quashing their freedom and limiting their liberty. They interpret statewide restrictions not as essential public health strategies but as unconstitutional assaults on their individual liberty. The unprecedented public health measures do indeed limit liberty and this does, and should, raise difficult questions about how to balance freedom with other values such as security and health. But during pandemics, where millions of lives are potentially at stake, the balance swings in favor of sensible and temporary restrictions on liberty. If the protesters cant be persuaded that they are wrong and their behavior is dangerous, they should own up to their political commitment and sign and carry a. pledge stating they decline all medical care to treat COVID-19, should they fall ill if resources are being rationed. Patrick Henrys famous proclamation, carried by many protestors, is give me liberty or give me death not give me liberty and if that doesnt work out so well give me a scarce ventilator. Dominic Sisti, PhD, MBE is an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; Moti Gorin, PhD, MBE is assistant professor of philosophy at Colorado State University; Emily Largent, JD, PhD, RN is an Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Arthur Caplan, PhD is founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City. If Sister Rosetta Tharpe was the Godmother of Rock and Roll, then Little Richard, who passed away Saturday at the age of 87 from bone cancer, deserves to be its Godfather. This is no empty honorific, despite the fact that Tharpe was already touring the country as a teenage gospel prodigy in 1932 when Richard Penniman was born in Macon Georgia, and other musicians, including Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, and Elvis Presley, had already been mining a similar vein by the time [Little Richard] recorded his first hit, Tutti Fruttia raucous song about sex, its lyrics cleaned up but its meaning hard to miss, writes Tim Weiner in a New York Times obituary. Little Richard raised the energy level several notches and created something not quite like any music that had been heard beforesomething new, thrilling and more than a little dangerous. Taking his lessons from Tharpe, he brought the dynamism of the gospel he was raised to sing and the profane rhythms of the blues into a high-voltage synthesis. Little Richards reputation needs no burnishing. He has never been neglected by historians of rock and roll. Nonetheless, it is startling to recognize, as guitar great Vernon Reid wrote in a Twitter tribute: No Jimi, No Beatles No Bowie, No Bolan. NO GLAM, No Freddie, No Prince, No Elton, No Preston No Sly, No Stevie, WITHOUT Little Richard! Little Richards life story mirrors his early hero Rosetta Tharpes in several significant ways. Not only were they two of the most widely influential stars to emerge from the black church and onto secular stages, but they were also the musics first stars to live openly gay lives, for a time, before succumbing to church and social pressures and returning to the closet. For Tharpe, that meant ending a long relationship with her romantic and touring partner Marie Knight and agreeing to participate in a spectacle of a wedding endorsed and encouraged by the record label for profit, writes Lynnee Denise, in front a paying crowd of 25,000 paying guests. Little Richard famously walked away from his explosive career in 1957 to marry, adopt a son, and become a missionary. The marriage, and re-conversion, didnt last. After four years, he was divorced following an arrest for approaching men in a restroom, notes France 24. Richardresentful that rock n roll was taking off without himsoon returned to music with a triumphant tour of England. (See him in a fierce performance in France above from 1966.) Then he went back to the church and never left. By the late 1980s he had managed to merge his religious life and his stage persona, touring as a preacher and officiating at flashy celebrity weddings. He became something of a caricature of himself in later years, appearing as a high-camp figure in TV and film. Throughout his life, Richard identified openly as gay or bisexual, recounting stories of orgies and telling Penthouse in 1995, Ive been gay my whole life. He also preached against LGTBTQ people, calling same-sex attraction unnatural. The L.A. Times Richard Cromelin understates the case in writing, he variously modified his story and renounced and/or denied his homosexuality. Depending on how one saw it, he was either divinely healed of his lifelong sexual orientation, or he was tragically beset by ingrained religious self-hatred. Maybe none of this should matter much in assessing Little Richards musical legacy, except for the fact that his sudden appearance as a gay artist in the then-macho world of rock, as France 24 puts it, changed that world irrevocably. Little Richards flamboyance and teasing ambivalence became a hallmark of pop culture; his persona informed the stage career of nearly every queer and sexually ambiguous superstar to follow. As a sexually fluid black man coming from the US south, he gave black artists permission to experiment with identity and defy rigid stereotypes imposed by a legacy of slavery. Theres also no getting around the fact that Tutti Frutti, the song that intoxicated legions of teenage fans eager to break loose from buttoned-up mid-century America, was originally a song about anal sex. You can read those excised lyrics at Billboard. They involve the phrases good booty and grease it. Like one of his most talented of his many offspring, Prince, Little Richard somehow found a lifelong home in a religion that rejected his sexual desire. This has been difficult for many of his fans to understand. Perhaps he was enacting this complicated, liberating, likely tortuous struggle to reconcile the irreconcilable while onstage screaming bloody murder and generally tearing the roof off the place. In whatever way Little Richard ultimately came to terms with his presence in music he claimed to have invented (despite Sister Rosetta), and yet also called demonic, its undeniable that the past sixty years or so of pop culture would never have happened without him. Related Content: The Woman Who Invented Rock n Roll: An Introduction to Sister Rosetta Tharpe New Web Project Immortalizes the Overlooked Women Who Helped Create Rock and Roll in the 1950s Chuck Berry Takes Keith Richards to School, Shows Him How to Rock (1987) Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness It Happened here is a weekly history column by Yakima Herald-Republic reporter Donald W. Meyers. Reach him at dmeyers@yakimaherald.com. Sources for this column include the city of Union Gap, An Illustrated History of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas Counties, Ka-mi-akin, The Last Hero of the Yakimas by A.J. Splawn, History of the Pacific Northwest, Historylink.org and the Yakima Herald-Republic archives. Brave New Corona World A heated Debate between Steven Pinker and Aldous Huxley Aldous Huxley: Did I not make sufficiently clear what I think about principled optimists and ideological perfectionism when I wrote a masterpiece of world literature on the subject? Dont believe that a man of the mind ever takes leave of thinking and simply retires. Instead Im anxiously following what youre doing down there and certainly that gives me no rest. Coronavirus is only one among many threatening forebodings. Homo sapiens insapientissimus seems to do everything in his power in order to put himself on the red list of species without a future. And you dont even know what you are doing! *0* Steven Pinker: Here you go, I dont talk to the dead; youve had your time, now the living are calling the shots. What you delivered in your great masterpiece was after all nothing but poetry, that is to say nothing but fantasy. But I can prove figures at hand that almost everything is much better today than it has ever been in the past. People live longer, they kill themselves less, they eat better, they have fewer illnesses than ever before even though their numbers have increased sevenfold during the last two hundred years. *1* What better proof is there to reduce all your objections to absurdity together with those of all other naysayers and prophets of doom, both living and dead? Huxley: Oh certainly, I can provide the proof. It is being delivered to us right now. While you make man believe that he is in paradise, pestilences are spreading at ever shorter intervals and with ever greater devastation. First among the animals. Hundreds of thousands of closely packed animals waiting to be taken to the slaughterhouse: ideal conditions for the mutation of microbes into deadly pathogens.*2* The only way to combat the danger is to stuff those animals with antibiotics (which we then use to poison ourselves). Nevertheless, entire populations of pigs, cattle, chickens, geese etc. have to be culled, mauled, gassed and buried. Pinker: So what? This is but a minor technical problem, which we successfully overcome. The sick is wiped out, the healthy remains, where is the problem? Huxley: We will never eliminate the problem as long as the habitat for animals and humans is getting more and more cramped. Man himself will have increased his number tenfold within only three hundred years. The emergence of epidemic diseases such as cholera, plague, influenza, typhoid fever and smallpox requires a certain population density to allow effective transmission of germs. Hunter-gatherers were still spared this evil which for us has turned into a murderous danger. Up to the present day, Europe was regularly hit by epidemics. None was as deadly as the so-called Spanish flu between 1918 and 1920. This epidemic, spread by soldiers in America and Europe through the H1N1 influenza virus, killed almost as many people in a single year as the Black Death killed in a whole century: between 50 and 100 million people, far more than the 40 million soldiers who fell victim to the First World War. But compared to former times, the problem could become much worse. Today, not only Western affluent citizens are demanding more and more meat, but also China and soon Africa and the rest of humanity. And in order to satisfy this hunger for meat, we need an area for all farm animals together that is already as large as the entire African continent.*3* In other words, industrialized husbandry created those very conditions which produce pestilences not only among animals but also in agriculture at large. Our monocultures among farm animals correspond to the monocultures among edible plants. These too are devastated by epidemics. Meanwhile, we are burdening the agriculturally used landscape with vast amounts of poison each year with new and stronger ones to save the harvests from hosts of constantly mutating plagues. Where once poets and thinkers sang the praises of nature in romantic verses, we are now confronted with disgusting stench. Who will still be happy let alone be poetically inspired when walking through vineyards or orchards freshly sprayed with pesticides? Ours are landscapes where the devil lets pop his bestial farts. Pinker: Oh yes, I can see, Aldous, you are a grumpy spoilsport. Instead of shuddering in awe at the great achievements of mans overpowering mind that led us down to the atom and the genome of living species and up to the galaxies, you criticize what is nothing more than childrens diseases, which of course always existed and will certainly still exist in the future. But I assure you, at some point our phytosanitary experts will invent odorless poisons and then your sensitive romantics and poets will go back to the vineyards to adorn the grapes with their verses. As to the wine, you continue drinking it anyway; I dont know any sober poets. I tell you, we scientists have so far overcome all difficulties. Huxley: No, that is definitely not true. So drunk you are with your own mind and Faustian endeavors that you are simply blind to all forebodings, though they be close enough. We are no longer speaking about animals only, it is about us, it is about people that we must worry. Our exploding numbers ensure that mass animal husbandry now goes along with mass human husbandry. In the large concrete heaps, we call metropolises, our species lives similarly confined as the animals we feed upon. What we do to other species, we end up doing to ourselves. To be sure, the Corona crisis has not led to mass slaughter among humans, but we lock ourselves up in multistoried sardine tins for weeks or even months, just to avoid contaminating each other through mutual contact. Pinker: Whats the point of whining? In the end, we will invent a vaccine and thats the end of our problems.. Huxley: We will certainly invent a vaccine, perhaps even odorless poisons. But that only means that we will be forced to search for antidotes at an ever faster pace just to repair all those damages we have caused in the first place. From the era of progressive society, meant to improve peoples lives, we stumbled into the era of risk society during the last century, careful not to let a nuclear power station become an atomic bomb (Chernobyl or Fukushima). In the 21st century, however, we entered the era of repair society, where we are mainly concerned with containing damage. I mean the damage we have caused to the air (CO2), to the soil (destruction of humus) and to the water (plastic waste) over during hundred years of industrialization. But thats a race against time, which is becoming more and more complex and expensive. As world population has grown larger and larger, wanting to be fed better and better, we need more and more energy just to satisfy our basic physical needs. Today we realize that the so-called industrial revolution is above all an energy revolution. We can no longer close our eyes to the evidence that we ruthlessly plundered the planets energy reserves stored in the ground over millions of years and that we still do so today. This plundering of scarce resources explains why both have grown exponentially within just two hundred years: energy consumption as well as the material standard of living measured in terms of GNP. Energy consumption: In 1800, it amounted to about 400 million tons of oil equivalents. A hundred years later it was already 1.9 billion tons, almost five times as much. In the next ninety years, until 1990, consumption increased by a factor of sixteen to 30 billion tons (McNeill). GNP: While global GNP converted into US dollars in 1990 was still around 650 billion around 1800, it had tripled to 1.98 trillion by 1900. With 28 trillion around 1990, this amount had grown fourteenfold in less than a century (Maddison). The connection between the two exponential curves is obvious. Of course, coal and oil would never have had an effect without the invention of the steam engine, diesel and electric motor. But conversely, these machines were able to begin their triumphal march solely because mankind had by now ignited the fossil fire. The industrial revolution and the use of fossil fuels form an indissoluble unity. Its only because we plundered the planet without any restraint that we are doing so well today. Pinker: Right. Today we are doing better than ever before in all human history. I have proven this point in my groundbreaking book Enlightenment Now with reference to quite a number of indicators. Huxley: Certainly, the book is one single hymn to the spirit of invention, but the dark flipside of the coin is unfortunately left out altogether. Any objective observer will understand that our experiment with the energy reserves hidden underneath the earths mantle will prove to be a flash in the pan. After just three hundred years, the reserves are already running out and worse still, the residues from combustion (CO2) are heating up the globe in such a way that the rising tides of the oceans threaten us with submerging most coastal cities thus transforming millions of people into refugees. We already passed the peak of the Gaussian normal distribution of early rise and later fall. Even if our reserves were unlimited, we can no longer use them because the fossil fire leads to climate change. Our wealth is so closely linked to fossil combustion that one can only marvel at how optimists still have the upper hand in most governments and even among economists optimists who cling with strange naivety to the myth of eternal growth. Whether we want to admit it or not, growth will be over as soon as our supply of fossil gold is exhausted. Perhaps we will then even be pushed back into the poverty of earlier eras. This is a view openly expressed by the collective of scientists led by Ugo Bardi.*4* In any case, we are facing a way of life in which we will have to make do with the amount of energy that the sun provides for our territory. It is obvious that the discovery of fossil fuels that is, the solar energy stored in coal and oil over millions of years allows us to consume far more than the current solar radiation. It is possible to calculate that at the peak of national coal production in the 1920s, coal was produced in England in such large quantities that it generated almost the same amount of heat as would have been produced by burning down the entire global forest (Bardi, my italics).*5* Pinker: How similar you Cassandras are! Your true and only trademark is lack of imagination. Maybe oil and gas will one day come to an end of course they will -, and maybe we will not be able to use the methane abundantly found on the oceans seabed because we want to shield the globe from further CO2 emissions. But then fusion energy will come to our aid and provide us with a cornucopia of energy. Dont you see, dear colleague, that we are the only species on earth, and perhaps in the whole cosmos, that has so far been able to give unlimited scope to the mind finding the right technical answer to every problem? For me, this superior trait represents no less than the very definition of what makes us human: we are the problem-solving species par excellence. Huxley: And I regret to have to contradict you once more. We are the problem-blind species, because we are very close to the abyss yet hardly anybody seems to notice or perhaps more correctly hardly anybody wants to notice. Listen to the news, to elected politicians, to economic and political pundits in this time of crisis. You will hear virtually no reference to climate change (remember climate change?), wild-fires, biodiversity loss, ocean pollution, sea level rise, tropical deforestation, land/soil degradation, human expansion into wild-lands, etc., etc., and there is no hint of understanding that these trends are connected to each other and to the pandemic. *6* Your vision of unlimited fusion power, dear Steven, would probably signal the final end of the human experiment. After all, energy is mainly used to convert substances. However, all the materials we need are now rapidly diminishing: copper, rare earths, phosphorus, even the sand needed for concrete. An unlimited supply of energy would only cause us to use up all the resources still left in one wild, orgiastic feast, so to speak whereupon mankind then wakes up crowding naked on a barren planet. Although we need more and more energy to produce the food for those ten billion people expected during this century, we are quickly running out of the energy needed to do so by the way, of green energy too. A research group around Jessica Lovering has calculated that we would have to cover with wind turbines and solar modules an area the size of the United States (including Alaska) together with the inhabited area of Canada and furthermore Central America if we want to produce the amount of energy projected for 2050.*7* Pinker: Stop it! Such pessimism, Aldous, is a crime not only against the people living now but against future generations as well. It darkens the mind and paralyses the power of invention. The best proof that mans story is one of unending success can be read from our numbers. We are born survivors. Whereas in the days of hunter-gatherers only hordes of at most a hundred people roamed the savannahs, cities with millions of inhabitants are now shooting out of the ground on all continents. Charles Darwin, undoubtedly the greatest scientist after Newton, gave us the right theory explaining this success already a century and a half ago. Whoever is better equipped in the life struggle will prevail, he will have the largest offspring and rule the globe. Huxley: Sorry that I have to contradict you again. How can Darwins theory be correct, when counterevidence is so obvious? When putting all mammals on the scale, humans account for only 36% of total biomass. With a total of just 4%, elephants, tigers, seals, whales, etc. are practically extinct. An overwhelming mass of 60% is made up of cattle, pigs, chickens and the like. Obviously, these represent by far the most successful species I cant see how this fact can be reconciled with Darwins theory other than by auxiliary constructions. Man and the animals he devours have multiplied like locusts and lemmings within only two hundred years. But we should know what fate regularly befalls such a population explosion population collapse. Darwin or not, I do not see how this can be seen as a success. Pinker: Oh, thats what youre getting at. Nature will help itself with wars, epidemics, famines, etc., so that in the end there will be a small group of people left who will then again go hunting and gathering, as they did ten thousand years ago. Thats the same old tune I do no longer want to hear. To tell you the truth right to your face. I was always advocating freedom and condemning censorship, but such spoilsports and defeatists like you should simply be forbidden to open their mouth. Sorry for that, but a small thought experiment would suffice to show you how harmless our current situation really is. If we were to accommodate all seven billion people in your dwarf state of Austria, then there would still be 12m2 for every single inhabitant, that is six by two meters more space than granted by most prisons where quite a few of our contemporaries have to spend their entire life. So, there can be no question of overpopulation. What bothers me about your pessimism is that it is so mentally barren. If you consider it your task to critically question every achievement of our great technical-scientific civilization, then please tell me how you would devise a better world. Mere criticism is a disease that does no good to anyone unless it is administered at the same time as a prescription for healing. Huxley: I accept this objection. I am even in complete agreement with you, but I also demand that you understand the immense difficulty we are facing. The sudden proliferation of our species beyond the ecosystems biological carrying capacity is a misfortune for which there are endless examples in nature all of them quite unfortunate. I already mentioned lemmings and locusts, but among bacteria and viruses, exponential-explosive reproduction is the norm. And it is a norm too that nature solves the problem in quite a brutal way: it lets the surplus perish. We humans never rebelled against this cruelty as long as it merely affected other species. Then it seemed even quite natural. But now, it is we ourselves with almost ten billion individuals that face an ecosystem that can no longer cope with this burden. Even at current global average levels of consumption (about a third of the Canadian average) the human population far exceeds the long-term carrying capacity of Earth. Wed need almost five Earth-like planets to support just the present world population indefinitely at Canadian average material standards.*8* Yes, we are much better off materially than all of humanity before our time you are absolutely right insisting on this point. But as soon as we realize that our success is due to the fact that we stripped the planet like locusts, the picture looks completely different. Only we, the ones you revile as naysayers and Cassandras, point out the danger. We say as loudly as we can that in the beginning 21st century humanity must do everything in its capacity to prevent nature from taking revenge on us by treating us in the same way as locusts and lemmings. Or to prevent nature from making ourselves its executors as we destroy each other with wars for the sake of the last remaining resources. There are no exceptions to the 1st law of plague dynamics: the unconstrained expansion of any species population invariably destroys the conditions that enabled the expansion, thus triggering collapse. *9* Pinker: All right, lets get to the main topic. Tell me now what you think the world should look like. I assume you either want to lead us back to stone age frugality or to radically reduce our number, as nature does with locusts. Thats what your prescription boils down to. Huxley: I am surprised by the ease with which you compare humans with locusts, although you see reason, gained through enlightenment, as a characteristic that distinguishes us from other living beings. I guess you know that lots of scientific studies unequivocally prove that the present Western standard of living can only be maintained quite a short time for a population of almost ten billion people. Our energetic flash of the pan will probably be extinguished before the end of this century. If we want to avoid this collapse and create a sustainable world, we will only achieve this goal in two ways: either we reduce our consumption of nature to about one fifth of its actual amount, or only two billion people will be allowed to enjoy the current Western standard of living. Pinker: Bravo, I already knew thats what it boils down to. Either radical renunciation, where we all lead an existence of beggars, or five of the existing seven billion people are simply declared superfluous. Maybe youll dispose of them on Mars? Huxley: Please, put mockery aside for a moment. Its nothing but the usual flight reflex when we are confronted with an existential threat. I guess youre thinking of the disastrous book by Ilija Trojanow Der Uberflussige Mensch (Superfluous Man). But no one who advocates a sensible population policy Bertrand Russell himself had already done so more than half a century ago has even for a moment thought of misunderstanding it in the sense of declaring any part of people already living to be superfluous. Such an absurd (and criminal) idea can only arise in the heads of demagogues. The point is to work towards the goal of sustainable population size by limiting the birth rate, as already practiced with considerable success in China. With its falling birth rate, Europe too provides a praiseworthy example. Pinker: Oh really? And why do companies, politicians and pensioners continue to complain about a lack of workers and even of money to pay their pensions? And why do European nations let foreigners from all over the world stream across their borders in Order to compensate for shrinking population numbers? In Europe, no one seems to be happy about what you call a praiseworthy example. Instead everyone seems to see demographic decline as a national disaster. Huxley: True, unfortunately, I have to agree with you. Leading scientists leave no doubt that a radical restriction of births is the only sensible policy if we want to escape ecological catastrophe. Everything: the overfishing of oceans and their rapid pollution with plastic, the poisoning of the atmosphere with CO2, the imminent depletion of energy reserves, the increasing threat of all kinds of epidemics in a totally overcrowded world all this can only be overcome if a consistent population policy succeeds in reducing the birth rate to a fraction within this century. However, instead of presenting the Chinese and European examples as the best solution to what is currently the biggest problem facing humanity, we complain about dwindling pensions. Instead of recommending a radically different policy to the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, where the birth surplus is thwarting all sustainability, and supporting all efforts to this effect, we are opening up our borders, thus encouraging these countries to stick to their existing population policies. Pinker: Do I understand you correctly that we should close our borders? Beware, dear colleague, of mutating into an inhuman, brutal national egoist who lets others die on the other side of the border rather than allowing foreigners into his country. Huxley: I admit that you are touching a sore point and one that is extremely problematic and controversial. Lets leave migration aside for a moment and look at the same problem from a different point of view. Then we may perhaps find more easily common ground. Lets take waste production, for example. It seems obvious to me that, in future, every state will have to dispose of it exclusively by itself. More and more foreign countries (once treated superciliously as the Third World) are now refusing to poison their own territory with Western garbage. This trend should be welcome. Only by being forced to deal with the problem ourselves do we find strategies for waste avoidance. The responsibility for ones own actions must again lie with the actor himself, whether individual, company or state. But what is true for waste should apply to industrial production as well. The Corona crisis has shown that, in an emergency, we should produce everything that is essential for life, if not in our own country then at least within the existing federations of states such as the European Union. We must not bring ourselves into existential dependence by relying on a workbench on the other side of the world.*10* In an ideal world, as described by orthodox economics, completely free trade would bring the greatest benefit to all people, that is true, but so far we never lived in a similar world, and we will only achieve it under a future world government. Yes, and this brings me to point three. Every country (or federation or Union) should only accommodate as many people as can live sustainably on its territory. This conclusion too seems to be inescapable. Pinker: Quite interesting and quite strange. Do you really know what you are saying? This is a program to reverse 150 years of globalization. You want to go back to the world as it was a thousand years ago, when China, India, Europe, Australia and America either knew nothing about each other or at least needed almost nothing from each other to satisfy their immediate material needs. Huxley: If it were as simple as that! Didnt I just remark that the world is facing what is perhaps the greatest challenge of all times? It belongs to the power of each of the three great powers that it may at any moment contaminate any point on earth with nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in such a disastrous way that the entire human race will be affected. This globalization through the progress of weapons technology is irreversible. Even if, in the future, each state or confederation of states were to bear sole responsibility for its own territory and the people living within it, common survival would still depend on no one harming the other. But this can only be achieved through peace, cooperation and mutually binding treaties. In other words, current humanity will have to achieve two major feats at the same time: regionalization on the one hand, i.e. full responsibility within its own borders, and globalization on the other, because we are all passengers on the same boat that may easily capsize. Pinker: That is again your usual exaggeration and panic mongering! In the times of the Thirty Years War, people believed that salvation could only be found in the right faith. In his great book The God Delusion, my dear friend Richard Dawkins has denounced the hopeless nonsense of all past and present religious fighters. A century after thirty years of religious murder, the Enlightenment has for the first time exposed this madness. But then Karl Marx came and created a new delusion. Supposedly, the workers only had to own the machines used by them for production in order to make them happy. Soviet Russia has shown us that they did not become happier at all but were simply turned into beggars, when compared with their rich counterparts in the US. Now the latest craze is that we ruin all previous progress for the sake of ecology. Huxley: No, we dont ruin progress, we only turn to the evidence. In the Lucky Latitudes located in the Old World in a strip of about 20 to 35 degrees north and in the New World between 15 degrees south to 20 degrees north, collecting yielded the best results. For a single calorie invested on the work of collecting, our distant ancestors ten thousand years ago gained fifty calories from the food thus collected. Today, this balance has turned into the opposite: 22,000 calories are needed to produce 100g of beef with a calorie content of 270 calories. Instead of being rewarded for a single calorie of bodily exertion with fifty calories of food, we now put 81 calories into work to gain just one calorie of food. Most of the calories needed are obtained from fossil fuels that are used in tractors, fertilizers, etc. a devastating energy balance. Every thinking person must understand that things cannot go on like this. The Green Revolution quadrupled the harvest yield between 1950 and 2000; only in this way was it at all possible to largely feed the number of people, which jumped from about 1.5 to six billion during this period. If instead the old methods would have remained in place, so that the agricultural yield had not been increased, then an area equivalent to the entire surface of the United States plus Canada and China would have had to be cleared and ploughed up to feed todays world population.*11* However, the willingness to draw the right conclusions from these facts has so far been demonstrated by only a handful of scientists. For it is at this point that something quite different comes into play. The elementary problem of ecology turns into a social question one could also say a question of consciousness. As long as a minority wallows in power and wealth, the majority will not want to accept any loss. Seen in this light, Marx was indeed perfectly right. Pinker: No, even this argument is far too simple. As long as the superpowers remain suspicious of each other, neither of them will want to give up the slightest advantage if it benefits the competitor. Its a great naivety to think that while the superpowers invest billions in weapons just to keep up with their rivals, they will voluntarily cut back on their use of resources just because they listen to the siren sounds of ecologists. Its here, my dear colleague, where all your hopeless idealism is suddenly revealed. Let me suggest a little more realism. Mankind has developed something much more effective and thoroughly democratic than the voluntary cutting back of resources and waste production. And you should know that as well as everybody else. We have got the market, which does not show any consideration even for governments. The market controls all economic transactions through prices. Thats why we have nothing to fear for the environment. If oil becomes too expensive or the disposal of waste no longer affordable, the industry will switch to other forms of energy. Market and prices that is global reason embodied in a global institution, which tames and regulates itself. As long as the market is intact, we have nothing to fear! Huxley: Steven, now you are making me laugh! You call me an idealist when you yourself are nothing but a conservative dreamer. Do the melting glaciers have a price? Will wild animals dying out all over the world ever be included in market calculations? Does industry measure CO2 content in the atmosphere in order to add the cost of climate change to its prices? Has inequality that made some people multi-billionaires and others starving ever unsettled the market? No, it is not the market that saves the world, but strong governments that consider the interests of both present and future generations. Our current misfortune could, however, prove to be helpful. As long as the world market, i.e. international competition, sets the tone, regionalization is out of the question. But now the major economic blocs have to think about themselves. This could turn out to be a huge opportunity. Before the onslaught of corona, many people were complaining about the fact that the environment cannot cope with the ever growing air traffic. Now the air industry has collapsed. Corona does almost everything that the saviors of the environment have been preaching and demanding for years. The virus has significantly reduced energy consumption, exhaust gases were reduced to a minimum because traffic came to a standstill, the sky over the cities has turned blue again, in sheer amazement some animals venture out of their hiding places. Corona forces the world to change. Pinker: That sounds as if you ecologists had been longing for such a crisis. Huxley: If without a smaller crisis it is not possible to save the world from the great catastrophe, then this question should be answered in the affirmative, because it is a fact that humans learn best from their mistakes. Incidentally, international cooperation in the fight against Corona is the obvious proof of the salutary aspect of globalization. The common misfortune could become a common opportunity. Pinker: This wont do. Man needs hope and a positive narrative. With my groundbreaking book on the Enlightenment, I succeeded in conveying precisely that kind of hope. We should be proud of everything we have achieved in science and technology. But you are taking hope away from the people. Huxley: Is there a greater hope than a world whose beauty we preserve for ourselves and future generations? Has it never occurred to you that a peacock, a hippopotamus or a lion are greater and far more complex inventions than even our fastest supercomputers? It is this world of incredible beauty and complexity that we want to preserve. I know of no greater positive narrative than this common task. *0* Arguably an even more convincing partner in this dispute with Steven Pinker would have been the former German psychiatrist and neurologist Hoimar v. Ditfurth, who is, however, little known outside Germany. The title of his book (published already in 1985!) So lasst uns denn ein Apfelbaumchen pflanzen Es ist soweit (lets plant an apple tree its time) alludes to what Luther would have done if the world were to perish. The book provides not only a detailed description of mankinds likely self-extermination through nuclear, biological and chemical weapons but also identifies the main reason for the predicament of our species: exponential growth of world population. For one thing only would I blame this extraordinarily well-informed, intelligent and sympathetic man. He saw no way out of mankinds predicament and equated his own demise which took place four years after the publication of the book with the end of the world. *1* Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now. *2* Des centaines de milliers de betes entassees les unes sur les autres en attendant detre conduites a labattoir : voila des conditions ideales pour que les microbes se muent en agents pathogenes mortels. (https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2020/03/SHAH/61547#nb9) *3* Pour assouvir son appetit carnivore, lhomme a rase une surface equivalant a celle du continent africain (8) afin de nourrir et delever des betes destinees a labattage. (https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2020/03/SHAH/61547#nb9) *4* Bardi (2014): Extracted. How the Quest for Mineral Wealth is Plundering the Planet, Chelsea Green Publishing 2014, *5* Quoted from Jenner (2019): Reflections. *6* William E. Rees (2020): The Earth Is Telling Us We Must Rethink Our Growth Society (https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/04/06/The-Earth-Is-Telling-Us-We-Must-Rethink-Our-Growth-Society/). *7* Quoted from Jenner (2019), Reflections. *8* William E. Rees, op. cit. *9* Rees, op cit.: Now heres the thing. H. sapiens has recently experienced a genuine population explosion. It took all of human evolutionary history, at least 200,000 years, for our population to reach its first billion early in the 19th Century. Then, in just two hundred years, (less than 1/1000thas much time) we blossomed to over seven billion at the beginning of this century. This unprecedented outbreak is attributable to H. sapiens technological ingenuity, e.g., modern medicine and especially the use of fossil fuels. (The latter enabled the continuous increases in food production and provided access to all the other resources needed to expand the human enterprise.) The problem is that Earth is a finite planet, a human Petri dish on which the seven-fold increase in human numbers, vastly augmented by a 100-fold increase in gross world product (consumption), is systematically destroying prospects for continued civilized existence. *10* This imperative I had already advocated in my first book on economics: Die arbeitslose Gesellschaft (S. Fischer 1997; now newly published by Amazon Nach der Coronakrise keine Arbeitslosigkeit durch Auslagerung und Automation). *11* Quoted from Jenner (2019): Reflections. By Gero Jenner https://www.gerojenner.com/ 2020 Gero Jenner - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 12 Trend: The Council of Europe underlines that in order to ensure mobility in a secure and well-managed environment, the successful implementation of existing visa liberalisation action plans through continuous fulfilment of relevant benchmarks, and of the visa facilitation and readmission agreements is essential, Trend reports citing the Council of Europe. The possibility to launch new visa liberalization dialogues with the remaining countries, whose citizens require visas to travel to the EU, will be considered, in due course, if conditions allow, provided that well-managed and secure mobility conditions are in place, including through the satisfactory implementation of the visa facilitation and readmission agreements, reads the CoE document. The Council recalls the mutual benefits and responsibilities from the visa suspension mechanism and notes that the high number of unfounded asylum applications by some Eastern partner countries nationals in the EU Member States raises concerns. The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint policy initiative which aims to deepen and strengthen relations between the European Union (EU), its Member States and its six Eastern neighbours: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia. Armed robbers numbering about four on Friday evening [May 8, 2020] attacked a bullion van which was transporting money belonging to Absa Bank at gunpoint at Mmaampehia near Techiman in the Bono East Region and stole over GH600,000 which was in the van. Graphic Online understands the robbers who were wielding guns attacked the van and its occupants at about 5.30 pm wounding the driver and a policeman who was on board in the process before fleeing with their booty. The driver of the van with registration number GT 3181-W was later identified as Frank Agyeman, the police officer as Lance Corporal Yussif Abubakar and an official of the bank on board as Sampson Kofi Sarfo. The robbers reportedly bolted with an AK 47 rifle loaded with 19 rounds of ammunition together with the policeman's armour into a nearby bush. Confirmation and retrieval of some of the money The Bono East Regional Police Commander, DCOP Djan Kyere, confirming the story to Graphic Online stated that GH234,000 out of the amount involved was however later retrieved by the police. According to him, in their hurry, the robbers left GH39,000 inside the van while GH195,000 was also retrieved when the vehicle used by the robbers was intercepted at Akomadan in the Ashanti Region. Sharing booty DCOP Kyere explained that the robbers parked their saloon car in front of an uncompleted gari processing factory at Akomadan to share their booty. He said in the process they were spotted by a police guard who called for reinforcement for the arrest of the perpetrators. Police reinforcement DCOP Kyere said when the police reinforcement arrived, the robbers had run away leaving behind the saloon car they used for the operation, GH195,000 out of the booty and a G3 gun and an action pump gun behind. They, however, went away with the AK 47 they seized from the policeman on board the bullion van and another one they used in their operation. DCOP Kyere explained that one person who had shown up to claim ownership of the vehicle used by the robbers for the robbery has been arrested for interrogation. The victims of the robbery who were rushed to the Techiman Holy Family Hospital and have since been treated and discharged while the bullion van has been towed to the Techiman Police Station. DCOP Kyere added that the police were still investigating the matter for the arrest of the robbers who were believed to be still hiding in the Ashanti Region. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A 53-year-old Indian national in Singapore, who was tested positive for coronavirus, died after suffering a cardiac arrest, the health ministry said on Monday. The man died on May 9. His COVID-19 test report came on May 10 after his death, the ministry said. The cause of the man's death was ruptured myocardial infarction due to coronary thrombosis, it said. The ministry said COVID-19 fatalities in Singapore include only those cases where the attending doctor or pathologist attributes the primary or underlying cause of death to the viral infection. "This is consistent with international practice for classifying deaths. In 2018, 86 male foreign workers aged 25 to 59 passed away due to heart disease in Singapore," the Channel Asia quoted the ministry as saying. Meanwhile, a 68-year-old Singaporean man died from complications due to COVID-19 infection on Monday. The man was diagnosed with COVID-19 infection on April 5 and had a history of hypertension and hyperlipidaemia, the ministry said. Twenty-one people have died so far in the country from complications due to COVID-19 infection. On Monday, Singapore reported 486 new COVID-19 cases, 481 of which were foreign workers living in dormitories, taking the national total to 23,787. The number of positive cases was lower on Monday due to fewer tests being processed, as one of the laboratories was recalibrating its apparatus for one of the test kits, the ministry said in its daily update. On Sunday, the Ministry reported an "apparatus calibration issue" for one of the test kits at a laboratory which resulted in 33 "false positives". "Subsequent retesting at the National Public Health Laboratory confirmed that these were negative cases. The laboratory has stopped all tests and is working to resolve the calibration issue," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A woman holds a packet of contraceptive pills, in Harare, Thursday, April 9, 2020. Lockdowns imposed to curb the coronavirus spread have put millions of women in Africa, Asia and elsewhere out of reach of birth control and other reproductive health needs. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) Read more The Supreme Court heard arguments about the birth control provision of the Affordable Care Act six years ago in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. Though it decided that case in favor of some companies that object on religious grounds to providing contraception coverage in their employee health plans, the issue is still not settled. Last week, the court heard yet another set of arguments about whether employers should be able to opt out of the mandate to provide contraceptive coverage to employees. The first time around, a narrow selection of employers was allowed exemptions to the ACA with the help of a workaround that would shift coverage to insurers instead of employers. In 2017, though, the Trump administration sought to broaden the exemptions to a much wider range of companies, even publicly traded ones, thereby potentially shutting off birth control coverage for more women over 100,000 by some estimates. This weeks case was prompted by a suit brought by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and joined by New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal to block those broader exemptions to any company that says it has religious or moral objections to coverage birth control for their workers. A lot has changed in six years. The justices on the court now include two conservative Trump appointees whose presence is likely to add mud to already muddy waters. Also different: a global pandemic that has thrown many people out of work and, tragically, out of health care. This is no time to be further restricting health coverage for those fortunate enough to still have jobs. The current health crisis has also provided a sharp new irony to arguments in favor of removing a womans reproductive rights and freedoms against the backdrop of anti-shutdown protesters carrying guns and My Body, My Choice signs. (Maybe women wouldnt still have to march on behalf of reproductive rights if they had been carrying rifles during their earlier protests.) The freedom being debated in the Supreme Court has centered on presumed governmental interference with religious freedoms not of individuals, but of companies that find it offensive to provide contraception to women. Whats not new: how tiresome it is to still be debating a womans right to control whether or how many times she bears children and the dismissal of the consequences that lack of choice creates. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who heard arguments from a hospital bed, further argued: You have just tossed entirely to the wind what Congress thought was essential, that is that women be provided these services with no hassles, no cost to them. You are shifting the employers religious beliefs, the cost of that, onto these employees who do not share those religious beliefs. Religious institutions that employ people are, at the end of the day, employers. Employers must adhere to the laws of the land in a range of regulations related to discrimination, workplace safety and other rules even if they object. Laws designed to protect workers shouldnt be subject to waivers. Neither should laws that protect a womans ability to make health-care decisions without interference from her boss. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2020) - Therma Bright Inc. (TSXV: THRM), ("Therma Bright" or the "Company"), a progressive medical device technology company, has initiated due diligence and has applied for government grants to manufacture personal protective equipment ("PPE") and hand sanitizers to combat the Covid-19 crisis. Several potential partners have approached Therma Bright to produce PPE and hand sanitizers for the Canadian and export markets. Therma Bright is ideally positioned to manufacture PPE leveraging the Company's quality management system ISO 13485 and recently approved MDSAP through SGS International. The Company also holds Health Canada & FDA approvals for its existing products and intends to utilize this regulatory expertise to apply to Health Canada for licenses related to PPE & hand sanitizers. Certain regulatory approvals are required to produce masks with specific claims such as filtering to N95 standards and hand sanitizers that claim to kill bacteria and viruses. Therma Bright has applied for government grants from the Government of Ontario and the Federal Canadian Government for the start-up of this business line. These grants may be complemented with an equity offering to fast track our capability to enter this business line quickly. The Government of Ontario grant is available to companies in Ontario that intend to set up production of PPE for local use and to support Ontario healthcare organizations and businesses to protect its citizens from Covid-19. In addition, Therma Bright has applied for two Federal grants related to innovative mask material or designs. Therma Bright applied for the Federal grants to investigate the use of its existing expertise and technology that may potentially be used to create a new innovative mask. Therma Bright has begun due diligence and has sourced surgical mask and N95 equipment and sourced the raw material related to manufacturing both types of masks from the U.S. Manufacturing would occur in Ontario. The inputs to manufacture hand sanitizers may initially be imported from the U.S. as the Company identifies local suppliers for bottles, labeling and hand sanitizer raw material sources in Ontario. Several locations have been identified that meet Health Canada requirements to manufacture PPE and hand sanitizers. Therma Bright will report back to investors as information materializes. Rob Fia, CEO, commented: "Therma Bright is pleased to assist the Provincial and Canadian governments in this endeavour to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Therma Bright has key components to enter this line of business such as quality management systems, regulatory licenses, innovative technology along with an expert advisory and consulting team. If successful at securing these grants the Company will donate a portion of the PPE and hand sanitizers to assist with the crisis to those that need it most. We feel this is a great way to give back to our country and its citizens. We also look forward to designing a new innovative mask to protect people around the world from this deadly virus." About Therma Bright Inc. Therma Bright is a progressive medical device technology company focused on providing consumers with quality medical devices that address their dermatological and healthcare needs. Clear and healthy skin for all is at the core of the Company's philosophy as is the belief that such outcomes should not be a privilege for only those who can afford costly procedures and treatments. The Company's breakthrough proprietary technology delivers effective, non-invasive and pain free skin care. Therma Bright received a Class II medical device status from the FDA for its platform technology that is indicated for the relief of the pain, itch, and inflammation from over 20,000 different insect stings and bites, (including bees, wasps, hornets, mosquitoes, black flies and jellyfish). The Company received approval for the above claims from FDA (United States) in 1997. Therma Bright Inc. trades on the TSXV (TSXV: THRM). For more information visit: www.thermabright.com and www.coldsores.com For further information please contact: Therma Bright Inc. Rob Fia CEO rfia@thermabright.com FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking" statements. These statements relate to future events such as manufacturing PPE and hand sanitizers and applying for government grants to support the Company's future performance. as described in the news release. All such statements involve substantial known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to vary from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, they should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and they will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions on the date of this news release, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities regulations. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. This press release is not an offer of the securities for sale in the United States. The securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/55695 Sterlite Technologies has also said exports from India have commenced to Europe, Middle East and Latin America. New Delhi: Data network solutions provider Sterlite Technologies has said it will go slow on the proposed Rs 300 crore expansion of cable manufacturing units in India and Italy, following global coronavirus pandemic. The expansion, which was slated to begin in June this year, will now start around March 2021, when there is greater clarity on the business environment, Sterlite Technologies Group CEO Anand Agarwal told PTI. "We have a plan of expanding cabling facility but we have slowed that down, we are currently looking at supply-demand scenario...," he said. The Rs 300 crore expansion blueprint of cable manufacturing units in India and Italy entailed increasing the capacity from 18 million to 33 million fibre kilometres, he said adding, "we have delayed that plan by 6-9 months". "...it was supposed to start by June 2020 but we delayed by 6-9 months. Now, it will start by March 2021," he said. With its portfolio spanning optical fibre and cables, network design and deployment as well as network software, Pune-based Sterlite Technologies positions itself as integrated solutions provider for global data networks, with optical preform, fibre and cable manufacturing facilities in India, Italy, China and Brazil. It is currently operating at at 60-65 percent of its global production capacity and has put in place measures to ensure that staff on duty at its units adhere to social distancing norms and come in staggered shifts. The data network solutions provider is hopeful that its global production capacity will reach near pre-COVID levels by May-end, if calibrated moves to reopen economies and businesses proceed as per expectation. The company -- which designs and deploys high-capacity converged fibre and wireless networks -- has also said exports from India have commenced to Europe, Middle East and Latin America. The manufacturing units in India produces preform, fibre and cable, while China unit focuses on fibre, and Italy and Brazil units on cables. In India, economic and business activities are now restarting outside containment zones, and partial movement has resumed within states, in the third phase of lockdown. The government has earlier announced extension of nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic till 17 May. As on Monday, the death toll due to coronavirus pandemic stood at 2,206, while the cases have risen to 67,152 in the country. Tests for Covid-19 are coming back more quickly but concerns remain, the president of the Irish College of General Practitioners, Dr Mary Favier, has said. A week ago it would have taken around seven days for the result of any test she requested to come back to her practice. However, the results of two separate test she requested on Thursday were returned electronically on Sunday. So that's three days and that's a definite improvement, Dr Favier said. Chief executive of the HSE, Paul Reid, has said three to four days is the average turnaround time for tests. Dr Favier said some GPs have complained it is taking up to two weeks and sometime longer to get test results. The ICGP has asked GPs to give examples of the problems they are experiencing in getting test results. Dr Favier said the ICGP is working closely with the HSE to see where the problems are and they are addressing each individual case. The HSE now has a helpline and an email service to make it easier for GPs to contact the health authority about tests. Dr Favier said GPs usually request a test after being contacted by a patients with symptoms of Covid-19 and the process usually takes an hour or two. It could take about a day before the patient is contacted by telephone and given a test time and there is very little delay in the testing. So we seem to have capacity there. It is then taking, three, four five days to get that test result back and another one to two days to get contact tracing done so there can be a week in that, said Dr Favier. And there's evidence that the later it goes before you actually start to chase up those positive results, the less effective that is and the less valuable it is in terms of how useful you are to stop the spread of the disease and that's what needs to be addressed. Dr Favier was asked on RTE Radio if there is a danger that the delay in the testing turnaround could have an impact on the pace at which restrictions are lifted. Yes, I think that's the concern. We do need a robust testing and treating system so that we can ease the restrictions. File image of the Covid-19 testing centre at Lucan Sarsfields GAA Club. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin There is a good baseline service but it is now going after those difficult cases to see why some are taking so long. Dr Favier thinks it will be possible to reach the target of 15,000 tests per day next week if they are needed in the community. At the weekly HSE briefing, Mr Reid, said there are plans to automate some of the test referral processes. "We are still on schedule to have the capacity to deliver 100,000 tests from the week commencing May 18," he said. Mr Reid also said the HSE has the "fullest support" from the Government in the provision of funding for testing and contact tracing. WATERLOO REGION Blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors, potentially containing life-saving antibodies, will be used to treat patients still battling the virus at Grand River Hospital and St. Marys General Hospital. The two hospitals are participating in a Canada-wide study on antibody testing. When it comes to combating the killer coronavirus, antibody testing could be the key to stopping the deadly disease. Not only could it save the lives of those who are in hospitals on oxygen and on the brink of needing ventilation, it could also help figure out which front-line workers are at low risk of getting the virus and allow them to keep working, said Dr. Donald Arnold, who is leading the national study. Most importantly, antibody testing could paint a picture of how many people have been infected and guide governments in deciding how long to keep us in shutdown mode and when to reopen businesses and workplaces. We just need the information to see if this works or not, said Arnold, a Hamilton hematologist, who is also the director of the McMaster Centre for Transfusion Research and an associate professor of medicine at McMaster University. Once a person has COVID infection and they get better, they have developed protective antibodies and helped their own body fight off the infection and presumably they are immune, he said. Those antibodies are the reason they got better in the first place. The study will involve 1,000 patients and about 50 hospitals, overseen by various doctors at universities, including McMaster, University of Toronto and the University of Montreal. Everyone feels the urgency and the need and their hearts are into it, Arnold said. Arnold said the experimental project was put together quickly. It started with 40 hospitals but others wanted to participate and its now at 50, including four hospitals in New York City. There has been a lot of interest right across the country. Its been phenomenal, he said. The last four weeks have been a complete frenzy to get this going, said Arnold, who met with other doctors and scientists and started a research plan over a Zoom meeting at the end of March. The first plasma was collected from donors at the end of April and the treatment could begin as early as this week. There are only so many collections we can do in a day, whereas the demand will be high right away, he said. The experimental treatment involves injecting antibody-rich plasma from recovered patients, known as convalescent plasma, into those who are still infected. The study looks at making the antibodies a therapeutic treatment to those still fighting COVID-19. Arnold said about two-thirds of patients will get the antibody-rich plasma and one third will get regular care so that scientists can compare their results and see how successful antibodies are in treating those with COVID-19. Using plasma for those who have been sick has been used before with some success in treating other viral diseases such as SARS, H1N1 and Ebola. Arnold said if the antibody testing works, there will be a need to screen people in the community or people who have been infected to see if they have protective immunity. I anticipate it will become very important, he said. If the testing results are found to be positive, researchers will need to know how long the protective antibody lasts, whether its six months or a year, he said. Lots of these questions we dont have an answer to, he said. Waterloo Regions acting medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said the region doesnt currently have the expertise or capacity to lead an antibody study but she said she is eager to see antibody testing done to get a better understanding of how widespread the virus is in the community because current virus testing is mostly limited to front-line workers and vulnerable groups such as the elderly. But some scientists have cautioned that the presence of antibodies does not mean protection from the virus or protection from a second wave. Narveen Jandu, associate professor at the University of Waterloo and a cellular microbiologist, said antibody testing is important but tests are not 100 per cent accurate. Antibodies are created by our immune response in response to infections, she said. Some people have a strong response, others not so robust. We all know someone in our lives who has one cold after another and others who never get sick, she said. They have an inherently strong immune system. Jandu said the amount of virus one has also plays a factor. Some will have a higher viral load, the virus particles that infect people; and for others with underlying health issues, the virus could multiply and replicate. The biomedical community is mixed and many urge caution in using antibody testing. It doesnt show how long someone has had the infection, whether it occurred a month or a day ago, or the severity of the infection. We dont want a false sense of security or these results to be interpreted as an immunity certificate, she said. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's wish to become financially independent has reportedly backfired because of the coronavirus. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have said to put their current business plans on hold due to the worldwide health pandemic. According to In Touch Magazine, the cash-strapped couple, who was supposed to launch their Tinseltown plans in the next few weeks, are already starting to worry about their future following their bombshell exit from the British royal family. A source told the publication, "This independence is what Harry wanted so badly. But the truth is, it's been a real struggle to adjust to the real world." "He's never had to worry about money, so he doesn't' really understand the concept of budgeting." Sources said that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle couldn't make money by doing only relying on speaking engagements and making appearances like how they expected to because of COVID-19. But just like the rest of the people in the world, they have to face the fact that bills are piling up. "They're still spending a ton. They're going to end up broke." After their royal step back this year, Meghan and Prince Harry were forced to pay their own security because British taxpayers will no longer pay them. According to several reports, their safety is estimated to be around $8 million annually. Because of their accustomed lavish and luxurious lifestyle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex reportedly have no idea of how to cut back on their indulgences and extravagances going forward. And since reports of the former "Suits" star surfaced of how she was hard to work with because of her diva behavior, it will be a hard pill to swallow for her. In a report by the Daily Mail, a former videographer came forward to slam the Duchess for acting like a diva during her "Suits" days. Because of the incident that happened, it reportedly left a few people on his crew "traumatized. Later, Meghan Markle earned the nickname" princess," even before she married Prince Harry. "People told me, 'Get ready because she is a lot. They used to call her 'the princess.'" The videographer said. "When I saw her, right away from the moment she arrived, I didn't even know who she was, and she was acting like a diva." People who worked with her reportedly had the same thought - Meghan acted like an A-lister, when in fact, she's not even a D-lister, said the unnamed videographer. "It was a caricature of someone playing the superstar. A real superstar, unless it's a super bad day, they will play it naturally and be generous with their presence." While the Duchess of Sussex dazzled in front of the camera, once he yells "cut," Meghan became the most "unfriendly person." Meghan Markle also had these outrageous demands, from requesting a specific type of flower or only having a particular brand of champagne should be on set. Because of his experience, the unnamed expert revealed he doesn't think Meghan deserves the attention. "I wasn't impressed with her, and I'm just surprised she charmed the guy. She came across as very insecure and spoiled." Because of this report, it may be hard for Meghan Markle to get a job once the lockdown is over because of these alleged demands and rotten behavior. READ MORE: Princess Diana Battle: Meghan Markle Would Have Clashed With Prince Harry's Mom on THIS A 33-year-old man allegedly strangled his wife to death at their house in south Delhi's Dakshinpuri following a heated argument and surrendered before police, officials said on Monday. The incident took place late on Sunday night, the police officials said. After the incident, Vijay Kumar, an autorickshaw driver, came to the Ambedkar Nagar police station around 12.30 am and told the policemen on duty that he had killed his wife at his house, the police said. "On visiting his house, the woman's body was found lying on a bed. A strangulation mark was found on her neck," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur. The body has been preserved at the AIIMS mortuary and Kumar has been taken into custody, he said. A murder case has been registered against him at the Ambedkar Nagar police station, he added. During interrogation, the accused told police that he had a quarrel with his wife and the two got into a scuffle. He strangulated her during the scuffle, Thakur said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The chair of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council said the Government should consider three different timescales (PA) The chair of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has warned political parties to keep everything on the table including tax increases. Sebastian Barnes said that hard decisions will have to be made to deliver some of the Governments ambitious objectives. He made the comments as Government formation talks between Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party continue on Monday. He told RTE Morning Ireland said the uncertainty brought around by Covid-19 leaves no political party in a position to make commitments, including not to increase taxes. As the politicians are sitting around the table thinking about the next five years, it is likely they will have to ask these questions particularly if they want to meet their ambitious programmes about whether the tax needs to go up Sebastian Barnes Its important to keep everything on the table so once things settle down, politicians have a full range of choices to decide both how to deal with the lasting impact and deliver with some of the ambitious objectives like Slaintecare, housing and climate change, Mr Barnes said. He said that the Government should consider three different timescales. Right now were still in the emergency phase and its right the Governments putting a lot of money into the economy to support those businesses and support people through this period, he added. I think even after the confinement measures are lifted, demand will still be very weak, unemployment will be high and so exactly for that reason, the Government will need to continue borrowing to continue spending and not to particularly focus on increasing taxes in that period so people have money in their pockets so they can spend and get the economy going again. What were really talking about in terms of likely or potential future tax increases is really over a longer period. As the politicians are sitting around the table thinking about the next five years, it is likely they will have to ask these questions particularly if they want to meet their ambitious programmes about whether the tax needs to go up. Thats why its important to keep those options on the table. Meanwhile, the president of Dublin City University (DCU), Brian MacCraith, said he does not believe the new calculated grades system will discriminate against students. It was announced on Friday that the Leaving Certificate examinations will not go ahead this summer as a result of the pandemic. Instead, students will have the option of receiving grades calculated by their teachers based on their school work. Students have the option to sit the exam at a later date but it will not be in time for when colleges open in September. Mr MacCraith said the new system addresses potential hazards for students and their families. It provides certainty and reduces the stress burden on students, he added. The second point is that universities will use the calculated grade system provided by this process in exactly the same way as for the routine Leaving Certificate because we trust the model. Mr MacCraith said he is very impressed by what he described as a multi-faceted system that is fair and equitable. First of all, youve got three elements at the school level each subject teacher provides an estimate percentage mark and rank for each student in each subject and that is checked by other teachers in schools and signed by the principal. They look at the results for each student and the group of students in the junior certificates. So they are trying to ensure that no school is either being too harsh or too lenient in estimating the marks of each student. I think that sort of robust and rigorous approach takes account of the high performer in a disadvantaged school. It allows for outliers because its not a narrow band, it is a broad distribution. Most importantly you must accept here is that we must trust in the professionalism of teachers, because ultimately the success of this comes down to teachers providing ways of reasonably accurate estimates of expected performances of students. Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 11.05.2020: Armenia has 79 COVID-19 new cases and 34 recoveries. The republic has confirmed 3,392 COVID-19 cases with 1,359 recoveries and 46 deaths, the health ministry reported. 1,970 patients with COVID-19 are currently undergoing treatment. In total, 32,561 tests have been carried out. Regarding the latest case of death, the 69-year-old male patient had pre-existing chronic diseases. 2 cases of death were registered yesterday when the patient had tested positive for COVID-19, but the cause of death was another disease. The total of such death cases is 17. Artsakh president Bako Sahakyan on Monday signed a decree on prolonging the term of emergency declared in Artsakh on April 12. The emergency has been extended for 30 days from 10 pm May 12, till 10 pm June 11, inclusive. Earlier on Sunday, Artsakh reported four new COVID-19 cases. A criminal case has been initiated into soldier Sasun Margaryan sustaining a fatal gunshot wound in Artsakh on Sunday, the press service of the Investigative Committee of Armenia reported. A criminal case was filed on the charges of negligently causing a soldier to commit suicide. An investigation is underway. Armenian ex-PM Karen Karapetyan was present at the meeting of the parliament's inquiry committee for examining the circumstances of the military activities of April 2016. After the meeting, Karapetyan talked to reporters and was asked what he had talked about with Armenian PM Pashinyan on April 22, 2018, whether he had proposed to go to the Republic Square with Pashinyan, and whether Pashinyan had responded to him that such a thing was not possible because there would be an impression that there were behind-the-scenes agreements to replace then PM and ex-President Serzh Sargsyan with Karen Karapetyan. According to him, what they have agreed with Nikol Pashinyan is our internal agreement. Asked whether that agreement was violated, Karapetyan answered, No. When asked what questions were asked to him at the above-mentioned meeting of the committee, the former PM noted. I have answered all the questions addressed by the committee. As the committee [meeting] is closed and contains state secrets, I can't say more. The former PM also touched upon the trial on the case against Armenian ex-president Robert Kocharyan. According to him, the trial process is quite agitated and politicized. Armenia on Monday ratified the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. During the vote, 79 lawmakers supported the ratification of this convention, whereas 13 others voted against it. A group of citizens are protesting Monday in front of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), demanding to revoke the licenses of the countrys credit organizations. "Our movement is called 'No to Robbery', 'No to Credit Organizations,'" said Manuel Manukyan, one of the organizers of this demonstration. The protesters are demanding a meeting with a CBA representative, noting that otherwise, they will even start a sit-in in front of the bank. Rare Race Heats Up Among Iran's Conservatives For Parliament Speaker By Golnaz Esfandiari May 10, 2020 Three months after the first round of national elections in Iran, a behind-the-scenes battle over the parliament speaker's post is pitting several conservatives against an ambitious former mayor of Tehran. The new 290-seat parliament, or Majlis, is dominated by hard-liners whose victories in February were all but assured through the disqualification of 9,000 candidates -- including scores of reformists and moderates -- by a watchdog loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Most of the deputies will be inaugurated on May 28, before the next speaker is chosen through a direct vote in parliament. Yet with weeks to go, media report that a growing number of conservatives are already fighting for the leadership post that has been held for the past 12 years by the relatively pragmatic Ali Larijani, who recently recovered from COVID-19. An ally of President Hassan Rohani, Larijani is in his second and final term and did not run in the February 21 parliamentary elections amid speculation that he has presidential ambitions. Former Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a onetime commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Aerospace Force and national police chief who's lost three bids for the presidency, is seen as a top contender to succeed Larijani. The canny Qalibaf, 59, who has in the past positioned himself as a moderate, has faced accusations of corruption during his mayoral tenure. Some hard-liners have cited such allegations while vowing to prevent him from grabbing parliament's most important seat. Qalibaf has reportedly traveled to Khuzestan in the southwest and other provinces to lobby for support while facing an increasing number of hard-line rivals, including several who served under former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad (2005-13). Rivals On All Sides Media speculation has mounted this week about Qalibaf's chances of success. The semiofficial ILNA news agency reported on May 4 that the tide could be turning against the ex-mayor due to support for lawmaker and former Education Minister Hamidreza Hajibabaei. But the Fararu news site suggested on May 5 that Qalibaf could be inching closer to his goal, following the apparent decision by Alireza Zakani to sit out the race. Zakani is seen as an influential potential rival who, unlike Qalibaf, faces no opposition from his fellow hard-liners. Qalibaf on May 4 retweeted Zakani's announcement on Twitter while saying that the next parliament will be "a Majlis of work and brothership in resolving people's problems." Iranian political analyst Ali Afshari says he thinks Qalibaf still has the best chance of winning, due to what he described as support from the office of Ayatollah Khamenei, who is said to have been pushing for a compliant parliament. "It is likely that the same intervention that put Qalibaf on the top of the list in Tehran, creating an imposed unity [among conservatives], makes him the speaker," Afshari, a former student leader based in Washington, tells RFE/RL. Apart from Hajibabaei, who is seen by some as Qalibaf's most significant rival, other reported contenders include Mostafa Mirsalim, a hard-line former culture minister who ran in the 2016 vote won by Larijani, who faces a hostile parliament through the conclusion of his term in 2021. Cleric Morteza Aghatehrani, the secretary-general of the ultraconservative Endurance Front and a former imam of an Islamic institute in New York, has also been cited as a likely challenger to Qalibaf. But analysts including Afshari have argued that Aghatehrani, who served as a spiritual adviser to Ahmadinejad, has little chance of success if he vies for the post. Others, including Fereydun Abbasi Davani, a former head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency who survived a 2010 assassination attempt on the streets of Tehran, and Seyed Shamsedin Hosseini, who served as economy minister under Ahmadinejad, have publicly expressed their intention to compete for the post of Majlis leader. Ali Nikzad, a former Ahmadinejad cabinet member who campaigned for Rohani rival, hard-line cleric, and current judiciary head Ebrahim Raisi in the 2017 presidential election, has also been named as a possible Qalibaf rival. Rare Competition The reformist Sharq daily suggested recently that such competition for the speaker's post within the establishment faction is virtually unprecedented, as the race for parliament speaker has usually played out among two or three contenders. "The fight for the post among hard-liners is so competitive that everyone sees themselves more qualified to sit in [the speaker's] seat," Sharq said in report published last month. For his part, the editor in chief of the conservative Jomhuri Eslami daily, Hojatoleslam Masih Mohajeri, complained last week about "worrying reports" on the Majlis battle. "About 10 individuals long for the parliament's speakership. Instead of praying in the nights of [the holy Muslim month of] Ramadan, some of them hold post-sharing meetings," Mohajeri wrote before warning that "the plague of political infighting," "division," "corruption," and a "disregard for people's suffering" threaten the country's officials. Saeid Golkar, assistant political science professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and senior fellow on Iran policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, argues that the battle signaling rifts among establishment conservatives means little to Iranians who have grown increasingly disenchanted at the worsening economy under intense pressure from crippling U.S. sanctions, mismanagement and corruption, and state repression. There has also been sharp criticism of the Iranian leadership's initially slow response to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 6,500 and infected over 100,000 Iranians, according to official figures. The actual COVID-19 infection figures are believed to be significantly higher. The historically low turnout for the February vote -- the worst since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and following a brutal November crackdown on anti-establishment protests and outrage over the clumsy handling of the IRGC's downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet -- appeared to highlight the popular frustration and discontent. "While the competition is essential for hard-liners -- especially since the presidential election is just a few months away and the succession of the supreme leader [might loom] -- it is not important for ordinary Iranians," Golkar says. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/rare-race- heats-up-among-iran-s-conservatives-for- parliament-speaker/30604246.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Photo: (Photo : Instagram/bethennyfrankel) Bethenny Frankel's daughter, Bryn Hoppy, turned ten on Friday, May 8 and she shared a series of photos of her daughter on her Instagram account showing how much she loves her. Bethenny Frankel Shared Rare Photos of Daughter The former "Real Housewives of New York City" added a caption to her post calling her only daughter "Peanut" saying that she loves her so much because the child has given her ten years of joy, inspiration, laughter, and absolute love. She added that her daughter brings meaning to her life every day. Because the ten-year-old girl is a sweet, loving, and funny person that brings light to everyone around her, she is loved. Frankel is wishing her daughter good health and happiness so that she could continue to do what she loves to do and what makes her happy every day. Adding to that, the actress told her daughter to set her spirit to fly. She also said that they stayed up all night just to wrap their presents for their daughter. The mom of one ended the post with dog paws, a dog, party poppers, a cake, a balloon, and a heart emoji. The first of the post was an adorable photo of Bryn posing wearing a straw hat. It is obvious in the second photo how happy the ten-year-old girl was with the surprise gifts that she has received. The third photo shows the mother and daughter hugging one another showing how much they love each other. And the last photo Bethenny Frankel shared was her giving a sweet kiss to her daughter as they both lay inside an indoor tent and Bryn could not help but grin with happiness. Other than the surprise gifts that they gave to Bryn, they also prepared a surprise drive-by parade for her daughter which included highlights to her stories on Instagram. Frankel said that she is so happy and lucky because of the amazing people around them. She also said that her baby is ten and it is the most emotional birthday she has ever had. She added that her daughter had such a good time because one of Bryn's 10th birthday wishes was for her mom to show her a lot. Because her daughter is very happy, it made Frankel very emotional. Although Bethenny Frankel has only one daughter, she made an addition to her household by adopting her two lovely dogs to give Bryn siblings. Frankel Quit the "Real Housewives of New York" After eight seasons, Bethenny Frankel quit casting in the "Real Housewives of New York" last August. She threw a fit when the producer said that the show would be fine without her. Bernstein said that they did three seasons without her in the middle and the shows were also successful so the next season that she is not around, it could also do well. Bethenny Frankel donated more than $17 million PPE to healthcare frontliners to help fight the coronavirus. Hospitals and public health authorities have taken drastic, expensive steps to get ready. Theyve reopened or converted buildings and rooms and even used tents to add beds and intensive care units. Theyve redeployed and retrained doctors, nurses and other staff to handle covid-19 patients. Theyve searched the planet for PPE in a market so tight that Maryland hospitals reported a seller asking for up to $15 apiece for gowns that would normally cost less than $1. New Orleans officials have reversed course on a controversial plan to require businesses to track their customers, and instead plan to follow the state's lead in how best to track the spread of the novel coronavirus once the city reopens. The change, announced at a Monday press conference, comes as criticism of the mandate has steadily mounted since Mayor LaToya Cantrell floated it last week and as Gov. John Bel Edwards has said the state is not considering a similar move. City Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno said the burden of tracing the pathogen will largely fall to the infected individual and to health care professionals, not businesses, and that the state's suggestions would dictate the city's actions. "We're waiting for the state guidance, and we want to see what that looks like," Avegno said. +2 Proposed customer logs raise privacy, logistical concerns, New Orleans business group says After initially expressing support, GNO Inc. officials on Thursday said they have "real" concerns about a city mandate that businesses keep a Cantrell and Avegno spent much of the news conference explaining the health data that has driven their policies and gave some details as to what New Orleanians can expect as restrictions loosen. The city is saving most of the particulars for a Tuesday announcement, including which businesses will be allowed to reopen first and how various industries should adjust their practices to stop the spread of the disease. Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up But Avegno did say that retail shops could be allowed open after May 16 if they embrace social distancing, masks and other precautions to prevent spread. And she said all reopened businesses would need to operate at 25% occupancy, a mandate that mirrors earlier guidance from Edwards. The mayor's proposal to require businesses to keep logs of all customers was unheard of in Louisiana and elsewhere in the U.S., and had raised questions about enforcement, customer privacy, and just how effective such a push would be if no other parishes embraced it. Some businesses said they feared they would lose customers if they adopted the idea. Others said they would do what it took to get their business open. New Delhi, May 11 : Binod, a resident of Bihar's Muzaffarpur had left his village four months ago to work at a bedsheet manufacturing unit in Haryana's Panipat. But the sudden announcement of nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of novel coronavirus has shattered his dreams. With only Rs 400 in his pocket, he left on foot from Panipat on May 7 for his home. On the way back, he was beaten by police on the Delhi-Gurugram border, resulting in damage of his mobile phone. Now he has arrived at New Delhi railway station after he was turned back from Lal Kuan area in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district to get a train to travel back to his home. Speaking to IANS, Binod said, "I used to work at the bed sheet factory. But one and half month ago, the factory was shut as lockdown was announced." He said, he received the salary of one and half month, the period during which he worked in the factory. "But as the money started running out, I left from my room in Panipat to my village in Muzaffarpur on foot," he said. Narrating his ordeal, Binod said, "I was having only Rs 400 when I left from my room in Panipat. To save money to reach my home I ate twice in last four days." He said, a woman in Haryana provided him food free of cost and also gave Rs 50 to him. "I used Rs 50 to buy the second meal," he said in a choked voice with teary eyes. He said that he was beaten by police officials near the Gurugram-Delhi border on May 9 when he tried to enter Delhi. "When police beat me my phone was broken," he said, adding that now he cannot call his family members at home. He further said that he was returned from Ghaziabad to Delhi on Sunday evening by police as they said that train services will resume from May 12. However, for Binod buying a ticket is more troublesome as government has said that the tickets will be sold only on IRCTC website and no tickets will be sold on ticket counters. "Now what should I do? I don't have money to buy ticket and now I don't even have a phone to buy online ticket," he rued. Similar is the condition of Parmanand Kumar, who has arrived in Delhi from Himachal Pradesh on foot and by hitch hiking on trucks. Kumar said that he started his journey from Himachal Pradesh's Chamoli on May 5. "After six days of travel on foot and on trucks today I have reached New Delhi railway station. Now I am clueless how to buy a ticket, for Bihar" he said. Kumar, a resident of Bihar's Jamui further said that the government should make the tickets available for the labourers stranded in several parts of the country. He said, "We do not have IRCTC ID and we don't know how to book tickets online. Even the fare of the Special AC trains are equivalent to Rajdhani Express which is beyond our reach," he added. Besides Binod and Parmanand, there are several other migrant workers, who have arrived at New Delhi railway station to buy a ticket and catch a train to return to their homes. On Sunday, the national transporter announced to gradually resume the train services with 15 pair AC trains equivalent to Rajdhani Express from New Delhi. According to railway officials these trains in the initial phase will run as special AC trains from New Delhi Station to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi. "Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations," an official had said. The Indian Railways, which has suspended the passenger, mail and express trains from March 25 amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has started to run the Shramik Special train from May 1 to transport the stranded migrant workers, students, pilgrims and tourists. Till 10 a.m. on Monday, the national transporter has operated 468 Shramik Special trains and transported over 4.7 lakh people across several states. (Anand Singh can be contacted at Anand.s@ians.in) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text MY FM, the radio arm of Dainik Bhaskar Group, has come up with a new comic sparkler in its unique repertoire of content called Miss Runout. The capsule will be the first time any radio station will attempt a female based character on radio. The sparkler is voiced by contemporary mimicry artist Saloni Gaur. It will have all the nuances of a popular Bollywood actor, but with a twist- there wont be any Bollywood gossips. Miss Runout will talk about the daily struggles of life like a common citizen and not as one of the most celebrated actors in the Industry it is inspired from. Speaking on the initiative, Mr. Vinay Manek, National Programming Head, MY FM, adds: MY FM brings more cheer on the airwaves in the lockdown era, with the inimitable Miss Run-out. She is a know-it-all nanny and has an opinion on literally everything. Her tongue is laced with sarcasm and she speaks her mind. Mannerism and tonality inspired by a true blue Bollywood rebel we know and love so much. You'd love her comments and takes on our lives and times. Every hour a chuckle guaranteed. Catch her on a radio set near you. Miss Runout will be featured every day, once every hour, across all the 30 stations of MY FM. The latest: President Donald Trump said he may mandate all nursing homes conduct coronavirus tests on their residents. Well, I would certainly consider that. I will mandate it, if youd like, he said to the reporter who asked why it wasn't a requirement. I think it's important to do. He added that he thinks all the states should be testing nursing home residents and that they have the capacity to conduct that testing. Earlier today, on a video call with Vice President Mike Pence, members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the nations governors, both Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx also addressed the issue. Moving forward, Birx said, the administration is looking to test key areas, nursing homes in particular. We really believe that all 1 million nursing home residents need to be tested within the next two weeks as well as the staff, she said, noting that there should be probably weekly testing after that. Pence reiterated Birxs comments, telling the governors that they should develop plans to test all nursing home residents whether their states have reached phase one reopening plans or not. We are recommending very strongly that as you all have been rapidly expanding testing is that you sit your teams down today and figure out a strategy to make sure whether youre in phase one or not were calling on states across the country, start now deploying those testing resources to test the residents and staff at your nursing homes as quickly as you can get up to weekly testing, he said. White House requires visitors and staff in West Wing to wear masks The White House is requiring everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask, the Associated Press reports. This comes after two staffers tested positive for the coronavirus. The AP reports that staff will be allowed to remove their masks if they are at least six feet apart from other colleagues. Trump official clarifies states will receive $11 billion for testing Dr. Brett Giroir, the Health and Human Services assistant secretary, clarified that the federal government will be giving states $11 billion to be used on coronavirus testing efforts. "As the President said, $11 billion are now being announced to be delivered to the states for the sole support of testing," Giroir said at a news briefing on Monday. President Trump said just a few minutes before Giroir took the podium that states were receiving $1 billion. Giroir said in order for states to receive the funding, there has to be plans in place that address testing in "vulnerable communities." "There needs to be minimum numbers to be planned to test. They have to have plans for their vulnerable communities, including nursing homes, including those who are disabled, including those who are in prisons or who have working environments that they may have a more likelihood to spread the infection," he said. WHO director says herd immunity a "dangerous" concept Dr. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO) health emergencies program, said the concept of herd immunity is dangerous. This idea that maybe countries that had lax measures and havent done anything will all of a sudden magically reach some herd immunity and so what if we lose a few old people along the way? This is a really dangerous, dangerous calculation," Ryan said at a news briefing on Monday. The term herd immunity is taken from veterinary epidemiology, where people are concerned with the overall health of the herd, and individual animals in that sense, doesnt matter, Ryan said. Humans are not herds. Ryan said the world needs to be careful using the term, as it can lead to a very brutal arithmetic which does not put people and life and suffering at the center of that equation. 'Most' states cooperating with federal reopening guidelines, Mnuchin says Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said "most" states are cooperating with federal guidelines as they begin the process of reopening. Responding to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's threat over the weekend to move the company's headquarters out of California after local officials refused to let the company reopen its Fremont factory, Mnuchin said he agreed with Musk. "He's one of the biggest employers and manufacturers in California, and California should prioritize doing whatever they need to do to solve those health issues so that he can open quickly or safely or they're going to find, as he's threatened, he's moving his production to a different state," Mnuchin said on CNBC. Mnuchin said that there were "ongoing discussions" in the administration on how to assess which states are deserving of federal aid. He reiterated that the president and congressional Republicans are against "bailing out" state pensions. Mnuchin said although Democrats have expressed a desire to "throw a lot of money" at the problem of state aid, he has not heard from Democrats that they are willing to put money toward state pensions either. "I think it's very clear there is not going to be bipartisan support that bails out states from previous problems," Mnuchin said. He also highlighted lending facilities opened by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department to help states with cash flow issues. Asked why he would not view the issue of states that rely heavily on sales tax revenues laying off workers as they face budget shortfalls with immediacy, Mnuchin said the CARES Act did give lot of money to the states, which was intended for coronavirus-related expenses, not for lost revenues. He said the federal government recently gave states more flexibility in allowing the use of these funds to keep first responders employed. "The issue of lost revenues is a complicated issue. These are taxing authorities on their own, different states tax different ways. Some states have more issues. Some states have less issues," Mnuchin said, adding that he will continue to discuss the issue with President Donald Trump and Congress. Predicted US death toll keeps rising with states reopening A leading model has upped its U.S. coronavirus death toll projection again as governors continue lifting measures toward a reopening. The model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington now forecasts more than 137,000 Americans will die by early August. That rise is largely due to Americans moving around more, IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray said in a news release, adding that in some places the upward trend in movements began before statewide measures were relaxed. Researchers tracked that movement through anonymous cell phone data, according to the release. "Unless and until we see accelerated testing, contact tracing, isolating people who test positive, and widespread use of masks in public, there is a significant likelihood of new infections," Murray said in the release. States began setting reopening plans in late April with governors in South Carolina and Georgia leading the way with some of the most aggressive plans and by this week, nearly every state has begun relaxing restrictions. Despite not meeting guidelines put forth by the federal government, states laid out phased reopenings they said were guided by data and the advice of medical experts. But other public health officials gave dire warnings about the thousands of lives that could be lost with a premature relaxing of measures. And the public remains torn as well: a Pew Research Center poll showed nearly two-thirds of Americans said they were concerned about their state opening too early. But thousands of people across the country protested in recent weeks for their right to go back to work. What might come after the reopenings won't be apparent for weeks. One expert told CNN it will be at least two to three weeks before states may begin seeing increased infections. The strange illness that could be linked to the virus In New York, health officials are now looking at a mysterious illness that's showing up in children they believe may be linked to the virus. The condition, which doctors refer to as "pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome," left dozens of New York children hospitalized, many of whom tested positive for the virus or had its antibodies, according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. On Sunday, the governor said state officials were investigating 85 cases, mostly toddlers and elementary school-aged children. Many of the children had fever and symptoms similar to toxic shock syndrome and Kawasaki disease, which causes inflammation in the walls of blood vessels, including those that supply blood to the heart. In rare cases, it can lead to deadly limitations in blood flow. Similar cases have been reported internationally, including in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. A battle over coronavirus checkpoints In South Dakota, a Native American community set up checkpoints along state and U.S. highways in efforts to track the virus and stop it from spreading. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem sent letters Friday to leaders of the Oglala Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux tribes demanding the checkpoints be taken down. In a Sunday update, Noem's office warned if the checkpoints "don't come down, the state will take the matter to federal court." But the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is refusing to take them down, and the tribe's chairman, Harold Frazier, told CNN the community wants to ensure people coming from highly infected areas go around the tribal lands. "With the lack of resources we have medically, this is our best tool we have right now to try to prevent (the spread of Covid-19)," Frazier told CNN. The 12,000 people who live on the reservation, Frazier said, rely on an eight-bed facility and have no intensive care unit (ICU). About 198 Native Americans in South Dakota have been infected with the virus, according to state data. The cases in the White House Meanwhile, top health and federal government officials have come in contact with people infected with the virus and some have announced they'll be going into quarantine. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House task force, told CNN he would be going in a "modified quarantine" after coming in contact with a White House staffer who tested positive for the virus. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield and Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, will also go into quarantine after coming into contact with a person who tested positive for the virus. Officials will not identify the person to whom Hahn or Redfield were exposed. The White House confirmed Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller tested positive on Friday. She was often in White House coronavirus task force meetings. But Pence is not planning to self-quarantine, his office said Sunday, adding that he plans to be back at the White House on Monday. He has tested negative for the virus every day, Pence spokesperson Devin O'Malley said. And last week, President Trump also learned one of his Oval Office valets tested positive for the virus. Spain calls for a unified European response to the air travel crisis caused by travel restrictions to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported referring to the economy minister Nadia Calvino. We are strongly supporting that there is a European response, Calvino said in an interview with Bloomberg TV, adding any responses by individual countries should not distort competition. All these large carriers are not one nationality or another, they are European carriers, she said. According to her, EU member states should ensure equal conditions for airlines, and richer countries should no longer assist their airlines to the detriment of airlines from other countries. Major European airlines, including Germanys Lufthansa, are negotiating state aid agreements. I think the European Commission is keeping a very close eye to make sure there is no breach of the competition rules, Calvino said. The amount of aid pledged varies widely in Europe. While Air France-KLM received 7 billion in aid from France and Dutch commitments of 24 billion, International Consolidated Airlines (ICAG.L), which owns British Airways and Spains Iberia, has only got a 1 billion euro loan guarantee from Spain. Calvino also reiterated Spain's position in supporting the creation of a common EU recovery fund, which will be co-financed by member states. President Trump and his supporters popularized the notion of an American deep state defined as a federal bureaucracy with less than total allegiance to the whims of a particular chief executive as if that were a bad thing. In Attorney General William Barr, Trump has found the personification of what might be called the shallow state: an official who perceives his duties as beginning and ending with the presidents personal and political interests. Barrs shallow-state machinations sank to a low-water mark last week, when his increasingly compromised Justice Department dropped the successful prosecution of Trumps first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, for no evident factual or legal reason. The attorney general and his minions are doing their best to unravel the departments own case against Flynn and others for one reason and one reason alone: The president wants them to. Flynn, a former military man fired by the Obama administration, infamously advocated the extrajudicial incarceration of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by leading the 2016 Republican National Convention in a chant of Lock her up! His own prospective punishment, by contrast, was a result of due process. In January 2017, less than a month into Trumps term, Flynn lied about the nature of his preinaugural conversations with Vladimir Putins ambassador to, among others, FBI agents investigating the administrations relationship with Russia. This crime, which Flynn would acknowledge in court twice, made him the shortest-tenured national security adviser in U.S. history, a valuable witness for Special Counsel Robert Mueller and a lasting preoccupation for the president, who unsuccessfully lobbied then-FBI Director Jim Comey to drop the case against him an instance of potential criminal obstruction considered by Mueller. Three years later, the president has at last found a ranking law enforcement official who not only takes such orders but likely has no need to receive them. While Flynn had been trying to withdraw his guilty plea since he hired a new defense team last year, his probability of success appeared scant without the unprecedented cooperation of the attorney general of the United States. Barr has been building up to this for a long time, having penned a memo arguing that the president could not be guilty of obstruction of justice well before he was returned to the job he first held under President George H.W. Bush. When Mueller filed his report documenting potentially criminal obstruction by Trump, Barr delayed its release while issuing a supposed summary that so flagrantly mischaracterized its conclusions as to provoke a written objection from the buttoned-up special counsel. Barr has since taken a series of steps to unravel the meticulous work of Mueller and his predecessors. He has accused federal authorities of spying on Trumps campaign; appointed prosecutors to reinvestigate the Russia inquiry and related prosecutions; intervened to keep former Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort out of New Yorks notorious Rikers Island jail; undermined his own prosecutors to seek a lighter sentence for Trump adviser Roger Stone; and dropped the case against two Russian companies charged with funding interference in the 2016 election. Barr told a Senate committee last year that we have to stop using the criminal justice process as a political weapon. Indeed, and it will take a new attorney general to do so. This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters. B ritain's manufacturers and builders on Monday cautiously welcomed the green light to return to work but called for urgent state help to prevent them from breaking rules and putting staff at risk. PM Boris Johnson last night said that anyone who cant work from home, including those in manufacturing and construction, should be actively encouraged to go to work. He told workers to avoid using public transport. His address left businesses scrambling to decide whether to advise workers to come in. Factories and building sites were never ordered to shut during the lockdown but many firms decided to close amid fears employees could not socially distance. Some never shut while other have begun reopening in stages. Stephen Phipson, chief executive of manufacturers organisation Make UK, said he cautiously welcomed the return to work advice. He added: However, it is critical that there is clear advice on how to do that, and an understanding that firms will be helped to comply as we navigate uncharted waters, and not punished for inadvertent errors. Phipson said that Britains three million factory workers often needed to work much closer than two metres apart and asked for explicit advice on what protective equipment is needed, and how to source it without reducing supplies to the NHS. He added that, with industries like retail and airlines largely shut, demand for new products from factories would be under pressure for many more months and called for more Government support to avoid mass redundancies. Many car makers went back to work today. Around 500 workers at Toyotas north Wales plant returned to work and staff at Bentley in Crewe also went back. The construction industry also tentatively picked up its tools. Privately owned housebuilder Weston Homes said it will begin restarting work on houses in London and the Home Counties worth 3 billion when completed. Housebuilder Bellways boss Jason Honeyman said: The Prime Ministers announcement gives Bellway the confidence to continue with our phased programme reopening of sites. This follows the implementation of strict social distancing safety measures and guidelines for workers on our sites and we look forward to further detail from the Government. Fredrik Widlund, boss of FTSE 250 offices landlord CLS, said: The easing of the lockdown is undoubtedly a positive step and I strongly support the new measures. These initial changes and the subsequent loosening of restrictions will be welcome news to many British businesses. However, it is essential that there is clear guidance and detail on what a staged return to work should look like. While this is beginning in industries such as construction, there will need to be more detail in time on how people can safely return to offices. We still have some way to go but this is a step in the right direction. Johnson was today expected to give further details on his plans to ease the lockdown in an address to Parliament. The Government has been consulting over back-to-work plans with industries, with initiatives such as staggered shift work times mooted. Crucial details on PPE advice remain unclear. Listen to The Leader: Coronavirus Daily podcast Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chamber of Commerce, said: It is imperative that companies have detailed advice on what will need to change in the workplace. Gov. Doug Burgum has been invited to the White House to discuss North Dakota's response to the coronavirus pandemic with President Donald Trump. Burgum announced the invitation Monday, the same day the Department of Health announced that cases of COVID-19 in the state had surpassed 1,500 and deaths had reached 36. However, the state has had plenty of successes in its efforts to stem the spread of the coronavirus disease, according to Burgum. North Dakotas positive test rate of 3.2% is the fifth-lowest in the country, and its testing per capita ranks third in the nation, according to the governor. The state has tested nearly 6% of residents, triple some surrounding states including Montana, Wyoming and Minnesota. That testing includes residents and staff in 80% of the states 218 long-term care facilities. "I look forward to highlighting these successes and the efforts and the great work of North Dakotans to be among the nation's leaders in terms of testing, contact tracing and reopening our economy," Burgum said during an afternoon briefing. Burgum, a Republican, will be joined at the White House by Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. New cases Another elderly Cass County resident has died of COVID-19, health officials announced Monday. The man in his 90s had underlying health conditions, according to the state. His death was the 27th in North Dakota's most populous county, which is home to Fargo and accounts for three-fourths of the state's COVID-19 deaths. The health department categorizes the statewide deaths this way: 24 cases in which COVID-19 is listed as the cause of death, four deaths in which the disease was not the primary cause, and eight cases in which an official death record has not yet been filed. That can take up to 14 days under state law. The state on Monday reported 27 more COVID-19 cases statewide, with 16 of them in Cass County, bringing its total to 821, more than half of North Dakota's total of 1,518. Burleigh County, home to Bismarck, and Morton County, home to Mandan, each had one additional case, raising their totals to 104 and 37, respectively. Other new cases were reported in the counties of Dunn, Eddy, Grand Forks, Grant, Mercer, Stutsman and Williams. A total of 115 people statewide have been hospitalized due to COVID-19; 34 remained so, up five from the previous day. There were 54 new recoveries, raising that total to 846 and lowering active cases by 28, to 636. It was the fourth straight day of a drop in active cases. State and private labs have tested 47,014 people for COVID-19, with 45,496 being negative. There were 2,145 tests handled Sunday. New drug North Dakota is getting 10 cases of the drug remdesivir, which has shown promise in helping some COVID-19 patients recover faster. The Food and Drug Administration has cleared the drug for hospitalized patients with severe disease, such as those experiencing breathing problems requiring supplemental oxygen or ventilators. The shipment North Dakota is getting is enough to treat 50 patients, according to Burgum. "The Department of Health is working with our North Dakota physician advisory group to determine how the drug will be distributed," he said. The shipment is possible through a donation by drug maker Gilead Sciences. A government-sponsored study showed that remdesivir shortened recovery time by 31%, or about four days on average, for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. School facilities Burgum has signed an executive order allowing school buildings in the state to be used for summer programming. Schools have physically been closed since mid-March, with the rest of the academic year being handled through distance learning. About 20,000 students were in school buildings last summer for various programs, about one-sixth of capacity, according to the governor. The summer opening will be "what might be called a soft opening of school facilities" in preparation for the return of in-school classes in the fall, he said. "This is going to give us an opportunity to learn how we can open and how we can manage with perhaps smaller numbers but still really significant numbers," Burgum said. Schools in the summer are used for everything from summer school classes to Head Start to child care, according to State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler. Schools will be required to follow various guidelines, including limiting group size to no more than 15, she said. Burgum also approved opening schools from May 15-30 for students to pick up personal items and return school property. The governor last week approved the use of school facilities for graduation ceremonies. None of the orders are binding on local school boards. Other matters The state is extending through July 3 a grant program aimed at shoring up the child care industry in North Dakota. The program is being funded through the federal CARES Act economic rescue package. North Dakota child care providers are eligible for grants if they prioritize spots for "lifeline" worker households -- people such as health care workers, first responders and law officers. The state since late March has doled out about $9 million in grants from the fund to more than 700 licensed child care providers, according to Burgum. The program was to expire at the end of this month. The state Department of Transportation on Monday began scheduling in-person driver's license and motor vehicle services by appointment, as part of a phased approach to reopening after weeks of handling that business online. That resulted in as many as 400 calls per hour Monday morning -- four times the norm, Burgum said. "We're adding more staff to help with the call center and looking at other options to handle volume," he said. Reach Blake Nicholson at 701-250-8266 or blake.nicholson@bismarcktribune.com. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. BLAKE NICHOLSON News Editor Follow BLAKE NICHOLSON Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Click here to read the full article. Karla Colleto Swimwear is launching e-commerce during the first week of June. The idea of diversifying to include a direct-to-consumer component had been part of the luxury swimwear brands strategy for some time, but with the coronavirus pandemic destabilizing the retail market, cofounders Lisa Rovan and Karla Colletto decided to accelerate the launch. The site will allow the company to offer a wider variety of styles, such as two-piece swimsuits and fashion-forward styles that showcase Collettos background in couture and ready-to-wear design. It will also allow the sisters to introduce resortwear. Rovan explained that the company, which is based in Vienna, Va., has been manufacturing its own swimwear domestically since 1987. We always wanted to be able to find a way to just do made-to-order, and not have to stock merchandise. Thats how weve always done our production. Its always on demand. The stores order and we manufacture whatever they order. We very rarely have inventory. We wanted to be able to do the e-commerce the same way, and now we have the tools to do that, said Rovan. The company hired an outside firm to develop the e-commerce. Rovan said the e-commerce site will be launched simply to start, considering the economic environment. The site will launch with resort 2020/spring delivery. They said they plan to carry some exclusives on the site. We find a lot of the stores shy away from buying the two-piece suits and the more forward pieces that we have in the collection because theyre afraid to take a chance sometimes, said Rovan. They will also launch resortwear on the site, such as easy, full-length pull-on pants and other pieces that work with their swim styles. They use microfiber fabrics and are very comfortable, added Colletto, who designs the collection. The overall price range will be from $217 for basic styles to $365 for a seasonal style. There will be 67 swimwear styles available, and three masks which match the swimsuits. Story continues At the start of the crisis, Collettos manufacturing facility came to a standstill and they repurposed a part of the facility to produce personal protective equipment for medical workers and essential workers. In addition to the medical-grade masks, Colletto and Rovan decided to make and include consumer face masks in their online offering, in an effort to provide alternative options so that the public doesnt have to purchase medical-grade PPE. Discussing retail business, Rovan said that, too, came to a standstill. But she did have one order recently that was shipped to Mytheresa in Germany and a few stores have asked for merchandise in June. I think our position is really good because we can ramp up whenever we have to, were not waiting for someone to manufacture for us. If someone needed a small order today, we can go ahead and produce that and ship it out very quickly, said Rovan. She would have started to ship spring a few weeks after the pandemic started, and fortunately it wasnt in production, so they could take that entire collection and turn it into the resort collection, which will be delivered September through November to their retail partners and also available on their e-commerce site. Colletto sells to such retailers and e-commerce sites as Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Everything But Water, Net-a-porter, Mytheresa and Moda Operandi. Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. A Co Antrim man has been jailed for assaulting a neighbour and smashing up his home with a machete. Kim Millar, 48, caused an estimated 500 worth of damage during the attack on the property in Ballymena last month. Millar, currently of no fixed abode, admitted possession of an offensive weapon, criminal damage and common assault. Ballymena Magistrates' Court, sitting today in Belfast, heard police were called to ongoing disturbances in the Cushendall Road area on April 12. A woman informed officers that Millar had assaulted her husband and smashed the front of their house with a large machete. Windows and glass panels in a door were all broken. A prosecution lawyer said the machete was found lying outside the property. Millar was arrested after being located at a nearby address, and made full admissions during interviews. Defence solicitor Michael Madden said it was the first time his client had ever been in trouble with police. "This was totally out of character for the defendant," Mr Madden insisted. "He suffers from depression and anxiety, but he's very apologetic and intends to pay back every penny to the injured party." Based on Millar's previous clear record, District Judge Fiona Bagnall imposed one month imprisonment. She also told him to pay 500 compensation, and ordered destruction of the machete. UNODCs new data portal makes its reliable global data on drugs and crime easier to access and visualize Photo: UNODC Vienna (Austria), 11 May 2020 - For years, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has been providing reliable global data on drugs and crime. Following todays launch of its new data portal, dataUNODC, users will not only find the data they are looking for, but will also be given a more user friendly interface to visualize and download all statistical information produced by UNODC. For example, recently released statistics about prisons and prisoner populations are now also available on data UNODC, showing that overcrowding of prisons is a global phenomenon. Overcrowding of prisons constitutes an infringement of prisoners human rights and is also a source of major concern in the current emergency situation linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the latest UNODC figures in 60% of the countries across the world prisoners far outnumber the capacity of prisons. The situation is particularly critical in Africa, where in more than half of the countries there are 50% or more prisoners than the capacity of penitentiaries allows. Data such as this are now available on data UNODC, which contains reliable data on the following policy areas: Drugs, such as drug use, trafficking and the production of drugs; Crime, such as homicide, trafficking in persons, or firearms trafficking; and Criminal justice and prisons, covering activities of criminal justice systems and prison population Its data can be a reliable source for anyone looking for credible information and UNODC hopes that researchers, scientists, journalists, decision makers, and students will find it especially useful in their daily work. Maps and other data visualization options available on the portal will help users in capturing trends and patterns of their field of interest. Information on data UNODC will be continuously updated. For example, further data on crime and on criminal justice activities will be released in the second half of May 2020, while new data on drug demand and drug supply will be out on 26 June jointly with the launch of the 2020 World Drug Report. Further Information dataUNODC File Photo Kolkata/UNI: Amid Coronavirus induced lockdown Bangladesh on Monday stressed on resuming trade with India through railways and developing deeper linkages to maintain uninterrupted supply of essentials. "India is Bangladesh's second largest trading partner, but we are dependent on India for essential commodities. At a time when all land channels are locked due to Coronavirus scare, maintaining the supply of essential commodities has become a challenge for us," Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said. He was speaking at a webinar "Vision Meghalaya, Vision North East, India Bangladesh Partnership" organised by ASSOCHAM, attended by DONER Minister Jitendra Singh, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangama and Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Riva Das Ganguly. Asserting that food security and livelihood is the main concern of his country, Mr Munshi said Bangladesh Government is now working in a bigger way for using railways to ensure supply of smooth essential commodities from India. Since land borders with India are closed, supply chains of essential commodities have suffered a setback, he said. Meanwhile, West Bengal government has given a proposal to continue border trade via trains through Gede in South Bengal's Nadia district. Mr Munshi said Bangladesh wants the normal movement of cargo trucks through Benapole land port to resume as soon as possible. Bangladesh has recently received a huge consignment of onions from India's Nashik via Gede rail route. The minister averred that the participation and sensitisation of the businessmen on both sides of the border is significant in resuming the export import activities amid lockdown. Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Riva Das Ganguly also suggested the transport of essential commodities through railways in the prevailing lockdown situation. "Railways should be used more extensively at a time when supply chains are broken due to closed borders. Bulk exports can be made through railways which offer a faster, cheaper option and the end to end contact is also minimum," she stated. DONER Minister Jitendra Singh said the COVID-19 situation has given rise to new kind of preferences and affiliations. Keeping this in mind the Northeast region can be developed as the hub of producing various commodities that can address the needs of both India and Bangladesh and other eastern countries such as Myanmar. The Northeast states are both rich in natural and human resources to fulfill this vision, he added. Speaking about creating deeper linkages with Bangladesh, he said the first rail route between Agartala, the capital of bordering state Tripura, and Bangladesh will be functional by next year. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangama said the COVID-19 situation has presented an opportunity to execute policies and decisions that would not be implemented otherwise. Mr Sangama said Bangladesh is an importer of limestone, boulders, stones and other minerals from Meghalaya, but he is keen on setting up a conveyor belt to export minerals to Bangladesh without human intervention. Cannibal porn star Luka Magnotta is being held at a maximum security prison where an outbreak of COVID-19 could result in inmates being released, DailyMail.com can reveal. The Netflix killer, who was found guilty of first-degree murder for the death of his lover Jun Lin along with charges for killing of cats in 2014, is being held at Port-Cartier prison in Quebec, Canada. DailyMail.com can reveal 10 inmates have fallen ill with the deadly virus at Port-Cartier where social distancing is almost impossible, while 16 officers are also confirmed to have tested positive with COVID-19, bringing the total cases to 26. Magnotta, 37, who gained newfound international attention after the Netflix hit crime documentary Don't F**k With Cats premiered last year, had boasted about living the high life behind bars at the facility, claiming it was more like being on a college campus. Cannibal porn star Luka Magnotta is being held at a maximum security prison where an outbreak of COVID-19 could result in inmates being released, DailyMail.com can reveal The Netflix killer, who was found guilty of first-degree murder for the death of his lover Jun Lin (pictured) along with charges for killing of cats in 2014, is being held at Port-Cartier prison in Quebec, Canada Magnotta, 37, who gained international attention after the Netflix hit crime documentary Don't F*** With Cats, had boasted about living the high life behind bars at the facility, claiming it was more like being on a college campus. Pictured: Cats that Magnotta killed DailyMail.com can reveal 10 inmates have fallen ill with the deadly virus at Port-Cartier where social distancing is almost impossible, while 16 officers are also confirmed to have tested positive with COVID-19, bringing the total cases to 26 In letters to a friend obtained by the Toronto Sun back in 2015, he said: 'Our doors are open 90% of the time so for me I feel like I'm in a university setting,' adding that he loved having pizza parties and sunbathing. Magnotta's ex-girlfriend Barbie Swallows, told DailyMail.com she was pleased he was no longer living it up, saying: 'He knows the difference between right and wrong, he deliberately murdered an innocent victim and those sweet little kittens. 'I hope the coronavirus finds him in prison, he has no remorse for what he did and only cares about himself.' The former escort was jailed for murdering and chopping up his boyfriend Lin in June 2012 and then mailing his body parts to schools and political parties. He also shockingly filmed himself eating his victim. The killer, who claims he was framed for the murder by a mysterious character named 'Manny', is locked up with a host of twisted criminals at the facility that has 243 cells in three blocks, 30 of which are reserved for long-term inmates. In an open letter earlier this month, government medical professionals claimed Canada's jails and prisons don't meet physical distancing guidelines for coronavirus and they want as many inmates as possible to be released. The former escort (pictured in 2006) was jailed for murdering and chopping up his boyfriend Lin in June 2012 and then mailing his body parts to schools and political parties. He also shockingly filmed himself eating his victim Magnotta's ex-girlfriend Barbie Swallows (pictured), told DailyMail.com she was pleased he was no longer living it up, saying: 'He knows the difference between right and wrong, he deliberately murdered an innocent victim and those sweet little kittens' She added: 'I hope the coronavirus finds him in prison, he has no remorse for what he did and only cares about himself.' Pictured: Swallows and Magnotta on a date in 2006 'Conditions are crowded, prisoners share cells, they must be frisked and handcuffed by officers, line up daily for medication, share common spaces and dining halls, and use the same telephones and washrooms', it says. 'They also lack access to some of the critical supplies people in the community are using to keep themselves safe, such as hand sanitizer, cleaning products and sometimes soap.' However, the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, which represents federal prison guards, hit back saying releasing prisoners would not solve the potential spread of COVID-19 and would only increase the risk to Canadians. Back in 2017, it was reported Magnotta had found love behind bars and was getting married. Magnotta joined Canadian Inmates Connect Inc., a dating forum that tries to set up lonesome jailbirds, in June 2015, and had his profile removed just one month later after he said he found his 'prince charming'. The killer (pictured during his arrest), who claims he was framed for the murder by a mysterious character named 'Manny', is locked up with a host of twisted criminals at the facility which has 243 cells in three blocks, 30 of which are reserved for long-term inmates Magnotta joined Canadian Inmates Connect Inc., a dating forum that tries to set up lonesome jailbirds, in June 2015, and had his profile removed just one month later after he said he found his 'prince charming' Magnotta submitted the profile with the help of a friend who sent the application via snail mail to the dating website's founder Melissa Fazzina. The profile, which featured two photos of Magnotta in an unbuttoned white shirt, was then posted online with the hopes of attracting potential companions on the outside. Magnotta described himself as a single white male who was seeking 'single white male, 28-38 years of age, white and in shape.' He further specified: 'One who is loyal, preferably educated, financially and emotionally stable for a long term committed relationship. Tinsel star, Chizoba Boye. is dead. Once again, the motion picture industry in Nigeria has been thrown into mourning with the death of veteran actress and filmmaker Chizoba Boye. It was gathered that the actress died after a brief illness. Chizoba Boye, who is the wife of veteran filmmaker, Sam Boye, was a regular face on television series, Tinsel. They recently celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary. Late Chizoba, a strong advocate for Nollywood Igbo, would be remembered for her pioneering role in Living in Bondage, Checkmate, Scandals among others. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Kim Brent / The Enterprise The Texas Education Agency addressed an obvious problem last week by recommending that public school districts expand their schedules for the next school year to make up for lost time from the coronavirus. Every school board in Southeast Texas should discuss those options this summer and be open to an earlier start and later conclusion. The TEA suggested that public districts begin their school year in early August (about two weeks earlier than normal) and end it in late June (about a month later than usual). Students wouldnt necessarily be in classrooms for all of that time especially if the virus flares up again later and more shutdowns are needed. That possibility cannot be discounted, especially since most experts dont believe a vaccine will be available until 2021. Even so, the TEA proposed longer-than-normal breaks around the Thanksgiving, winter and spring break holidays. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) At least 369 local government units or around 22 percent of all cities and municipalities failed to meet the deadline to complete distribution of the first tranche of the national government's cash aid program, the Department of Interior and Local Government said Monday. This was despite the nearly 91 percent national payout rate as of Sunday that was announced by DILG Secretary Eduardo Ano. That meant only nine percent of total funds for the first tranche remain undistributed at the time. DILG Undersecretary and Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya told CNN Philippines the 369 LGUs have yet to complete their distribution past Sunday, the deadline for the first phase of the social amelioration program. As of 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, 77.42 percent or 1,265 out of 1,634 LGUs have completed the rollout. With this progress, nine out of 10 beneficiary families have received the cash aid from the government, Malaya said. Of the 1,265 LGUs that have completed the payout, 120 are in the Ilocos Region; 107 in Central Luzon; 112 in Bicol Region; and 71 in Calabarzon. Meanwhile, those who were not able to beat the deadline can continue to distribute them to their constituents, unless the Department of Social Welfare and Development demands for the return of the funds, Malaya said. "Our advise to LGUs that are not yet finished is to continue with SAP distribution even after the deadline," he added. As of 12:00 p.m. on Monday, the DSWD reported 16.1 million beneficiaries have received cash aid under the government's social amelioration program, amounting to 90.56 billion disbursed. This represents 89.42 percent of the total 18 million qualified households. DSWD-NCR Regional Director Vicente Tomas said Monday that local government units in Metro Manila have another three days, or until Wednesday, May 13 to complete SAP distribution. The cities of Caloocan and Manila reported 100 percent distribution rate on Sunday, being the only two LGUs in the national capital region who beat the deadline. The DILG warned that it will start issuing show cause orders to the LGUs, starting with those which showed "very poor performance" in the distribution of the emergency subsidy. The show cause order that will be issued to the LGU is not only their accountability to the DILG but most importantly to their constituents. Kailangan nilang ipaliwanag kung ano-ano ang mga problemat balakid kung bakit di sila umabot sa deadline (They must explain what were the difficulties they encountered in the distribution which prevented them from meeting the deadline), Ano said in a statement. The agency said 183 barangay officials are currently under investigation for alleged corruption in distributing cash aid. Binabalaan ko kayo, kung nag-iisip kayo na mangulimbat ng mga tulong na para sa mga kabarangay ninyo (We are warning you, if you are thinking of stealing from the funds intended for your constituents), we will come after you, Ano added. The DILG urged the public to report barangay and local officials for incidents of graft and corruption through the government hotline 8888. The agency is coordinating with Philippine National Police stations in receiving these reports. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said separately that local executives should continue handing out cash subsidies until the unreleased money is demanded to be returned to the DSWD. He added that President Rodrigo Duterte has not made a decision yet on changes to the beneficiaries of cash aid, as well as on the proposal to add 5 million families to the list. "Kung kinakailangan talagang magbigay ng ayuda sa mga lugar na merong ECQ (enhanced community quarantine), hahanap tayo ng pondo dahil syempre po, kapag sila'y manatili sa ECQ, hindi sila makakapag-hanapbuhay [If we really need to give cash aid to areas under ECQ, we need to look for funds because of course, if they stay under ECQ, people won't be able to make a living]," Roque said in his Malacanang briefing. Roque earlier said that subsidies will be rechanneled to focus on poor families in areas that remain under enhanced community quarantine, given that most provinces have already reopened for businesses and workers. The second tranche of doleouts for 18 million struggling households should be rolled out this month, he added. The DILG earlier announced the second extension of the SAP distribution to May 10, as the national government initially targeted April 30 for the completion of the program. The DSWD is still waiting for the directive of Malacanang on the second tranche of SAP subsidies. Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, the national government has allotted 200-billion-worth of aid for those most affected by COVID-19. Subsidy ranges from 5,000 to 8,000 per household per tranche, depending on the minimum wage level in a region. The first tranche was originally scheduled in April and the second one in May. CNN Philippines' correspondent AC Nicholls contributed to this report. New Delhi, May 11 : In another relief over regulatory compliance for listed companies, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has said that if a company is not able to deliver a notice with the details of a proposed rights issue, opening up to July 31, to the shareholders, it will not be considered as a violation of norms. In a circular, the ministry on Monday said that it has received several representations for providing clarification on the mode of issue of notice referred to in section 62(1)a(i) of Companies Act read with Section 62(2) of the Act for rights issue of listed companies, in view of the difficulties faced by companies in sending notices through post or courier services on account of the threat posed by Covid-19. "In view of the above and on account of the overall situation, it is hereby clarified that for rights issues opening upto 31st July 2020, in case of listed companies, which comply with the SEBI circular date 6th May 2020, inability to dispatch the notice to the shareholders through registered post or speed post or courier would not be viewed as a violation of section 62(2) of the Act," it said. As per the regulation, the offer shall be made by notice specifying the number of shares offered and limiting a time not being less than 15 days and not exceeding 30 days from the date of the offer within which the offer, if not accepted, shall be deemed to have been declined. It should he be dispatched through registered post or speed post or through electronic mode or courier or any other mode having proof of delivery to all the existing shareholders at least three days before the opening of the issue. This is just another regulatory relief companies have been provided in view of the coronavirus pandemic. MCA's latest move is in line with security market regulator SEBI's relaxation announced on Wednesday to companies from compliance with procedural norms pertaining to rights issues opening up to July 31 amid the coronavirus lockdown. It said that the abridged letter of offer, application form and other issues material to shareholders can be undertaken by electronic transmission as already provided under the ICDR (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) norms. Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal will make a virtual visit to Germany on May 12. "We seriously prepare it [the visit] now. I, as an ambassador, am happy that not only the Foreign Minister of Ukraine paid his first virtual visit to Berlin, but also the Head of the Ukrainian Government will make his first virtual visit to Berlin," Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany Andriy Melnyk said in an interview with the Radio Liberty. According to him, the talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel will take place on May 12. "These will be the full-fledged talks which would take place in the format of a regular visit. There will be a powerful video conference. And I am convinced that thanks to such steps we will be able to attract support from the top leadership of Germany not only to further seek peace in eastern Ukraine, to de-occupy Crimea, but also to help Ukraine," the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany said. According to him, Germanys further support for reforms will be among the central talking points. Melnyk specified that "Germany is and this will not be an exaggeration main Ukraines partner in supporting reforms not only in the EU but also global wide." "Germany has allocated about EUR 1.4 billion in recent years alone to support reforms. Germany is one of Ukraine's economic partners. Last year, trade turnover exceeded USD 9.4 billion. And these topics, how not to lose this powerful pace of economic cooperation, how Germany can now help Ukraine overcome the consequences of coronavirus pandemic [will be discussed during Merkel-Shmyhal talks], "he said. As reported, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba paid his first virtual visit in Europe to Germany and held talks with Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on March 24. ol Brett knows what it means to be a steady voice in a crisis, which is why there is no one in the world better suited to taking on this critical leadership role. More than ever, United needs and as CEO, I will need an experienced, level-headed strategist who can help us continue to make smart decisions and aggressively manage this crisis, Kirby wrote in a letter to employees announcing the change. UPDATE: The shooting death has been ruled to have been accidental. The child was not shot, as originally reported, but instead received an injury to his hand from the slide of the gun when it discharged. Authorities have released the name of a man shot to death Saturday night in front of his young children. Birmingham police on Sunday identified the victim as Roderick Smith. He was 32, a father of three and lived in the Wylam home where he was slain. His 7-year-old son was also injured but is expected to be OK. "My brother was sweet, loved and caring,'' said his sister, LaTonya Murray. He used to pop up at my house to make sure I was OK and see if I needed anything every chance he got and now some low-life dudes killed him and wounded his son. "He had no enemies so Im not understanding why they killed him,'' she said. Jesus, my heart is aching. The shooting happened shortly before 10 p.m. in the 1200 block of Gulfport Street. Birmingham police spokesman Sgt. Rod Mauldin said when officers arrived on the scene, they first found the 7-year-old boy had what appeared to be a gunshot wound. He was transported to Childrens of Alabama with non-life-threatening injuries. Officers then found Smith inside the house. He was unresponsive and pronounced dead on the scene. Family members said he was a hospital security guard. A neighbor said three young children - two girls and the wounded boy- ran to her home for help after the shooting. The boy appeared to have been shot in the hand. He told his neighbor his father was inside the house on the floor. The neighbor said the two girls werent injured. Neighbors called 911 and wrapped up the boys hand. He was taken to the hospital. Neighbors and family members on the scene said someone came into the home, possibly to rob Smith. Police said they do not yet know a motive in the slaying, nor have they identified a possible suspect. Murray said her young nephew who was wounded is OK but shaken. "Im never going to forget my brother Rod because he made sure to check on his big sister and brought his kids to see me,'' she said. Police are asking for the publics help. "Right now, with this case, we have very limited details so were asking for additional assistance from the public,'' Mauldin said. If anybody heard or saw anything, please come forward. Smiths slaying is Birminghams 40th homicide in 2020. Of those, five have been ruled justifiable and therefore are not deemed criminal. In all of Jefferson County, there have been 62 homicides, including the 40 in Birmingham. Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban told CNBC on Monday that coronavirus safeguards in place at the White House need to become the norm before most Americans will feel comfortable going out again. "We have to get to that point where the White House standard becomes the national standard, I think, in order for consumers to feel safe going out, in order for employers to feel completely safe bringing people back to work," Cuban said on "Squawk Box." "I think we can get there, I just don't know when." Cuban's comments Monday come as many states across the U.S. start to relax business restrictions put in place to slow the spread of Covid-19. President Donald Trump has been supportive of efforts, tweeting over the weekend that it's "great to see our Country starting to open up again!" At the same time, two members of the White House staff a personal valet for Trump as well as Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary, Katie Miller have in recent days tested positive for Covid-19. The White House has stepped up its prevention efforts following the diagnoses, according to NBC News. White House spokesman Judd Deere told CNBC on Monday that every staff member close to the president and vice president is tested every day. Daily temperature checks, symptom history tracking and deep cleaning of all work spaces are also in place, Deere said in an email, adding all guests are tested as well. Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and an investor in small businesses through "Shark Tank," said he wants to apply the "White House protocol" for his employees. "Whatever the White House is doing for the president and vice president, that's the protocol I want to use for my employees. And if I can't adhere to that, then why would I put them at risk?" said Cuban, who added he's still not going out to eat at restaurants, even though Texas started to allow limited dine-in service. Most Americans do not have access to daily Covid-19 testing, Cuban said, and "that's the problem." He said Americans have to effectively ask themselves: "Who can we trust with our lives?" "If we're not getting a solid response, if we're not hearing a solid plan, and if we're not getting specific guidelines for health care, then the best we can do is emulate what has to be the highest level of care available, which is the White House," he said. "You have to protect the president. You have to protect the vice president. Why would I not want to adhere to the same standards for my employees?" Deere said the U.S. has become the "global leader in testing capacity" and added the Trump administration continues "to work with governors to ensure they have enough capacity for a safe, responsible reopen." Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Taipei, May 11, 2020 Police in Hong Kong must stop attacking and harassing journalists, and should ensure their safety while covering protests in the city, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Hong Kongs pro-democracy protests had stopped amid the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year, but recently reignited as the citys daily reports of new infections sharply declined, according to news reports. Yesterday, Hong Kong police detained two reporters with Student Depth Media, an online news outlet founded in February by secondary school students, while dispersing protesters in the Mong Kok area of Kowloon, according to news reports and a statement posted on Facebook by the outlet. Riot police took the reporters to the Tsim Sha Tsui police station and then released them without charge, but said the journalists, aged 13 and 16, whose names were not disclosed, would be arrested again if they were seen at protests, and threatened to report their parents for criminal negligence, according to Student Depth Media. Police also pepper sprayed an Apple Daily photographer who was covering the protests, and choked her while restraining her, according to a report by her employer, which identified the journalist only as Jessica. She was treated at the Kwong Wah Hospital for pain in her head and neck and for burning in her eyes, according to that report, which noted that Jessica was wearing a press vest and had her press pass visible at the time of the incident. According to news reports, police ordered groups of journalists to kneel and stop filming the protests, and fired pepper spray that hit dozens of reporters. Hong Kong police must allow journalists to do their jobs, and stop attacking and harassing them for covering protests, said Steven Butler, CPJs Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. The police forces failure to tolerate working journalists covering demonstrations only further erodes the citys once-admired reputation for press freedom and the rule of law. In its statement, Student Depth Media said that the police severely interfered with the journalists reporting and press freedom. Hong Kong Journalists Association Chairman Chris Yeung expressed anger over the police violence, according to news reports. The Hong Kong Police Force did not respond to CPJs emailed request for comment. In December 2019, CPJ issued a special report entitled One Country, One Censor: How China undermines media freedom in Hong Kong and Taiwan, which documented the erosion of press freedom in Hong Kong and Taiwan Drip irrigation systems enable farmers to apply Velum in a more targeted way Recently, Bayer has announced the launch of Velum Prime 400SC (referred to as Velum), a suspension concentrated nematicide for the control of nematodes in coffee, pepper, and cabbage. Velum Prime 400 SC is the first nematicide that selectively inhibits the nematodes generation of cellular energy. It offers growers effective nematode protection that helps sustain plant vigour and maximise crop yield potential. As a leading innovative company in our industry, we are committed to developing next-generation integrated pest management (IPM) tools to help farmers control pests on their crops effectively and thereby secure yields. With novel modes of action and favourable ecological characteristics, Velum is an innovative solution that can help Vietnamese farmers reduce nematode infestation significantly on various crops, said Weraphon Charoenpanit, country commercial lead of the Crop Science Division of Bayer Vietnam. Velum helps farmers to protect agricultural crops from plant parasitic nematodes whilst having the least possible impact on the environment Nematodes are mostly colourless roundworms that require a sufficiently humid environment to survive and are usually harmful during the rainy season and spread by water. Globally, there are more than 25,000 different types, some 4,000 of which are harmful to plants. Around the world, nematodes are responsible for damage exceeding $100 billion every year. Nematode infestation is widespread in Vietnam, affecting various crops and many areas and bringing a hugely negative impact on pest management, crop yields, and quality. The roots of coffees, peppers, and vegetables are an attractive source of nutrients for pests like nematodes. Infested roots become distorted and develop rounded or irregular galls, damaged, severely affected plants appearing discoloured, lacking vigour, and wilting under stress. In addition, the nematodes also exacerbate the deleterious effects of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Therefore, it is necessary to use nematicides to treat nematodes early to keep the roots strong and help increase crop yields. Agriculture is one of the most important economic sectors in the country. The export of many high-value agricultural products such as coffee and pepper, among others, has helped Vietnam to be one of the world's leading agricultural exporters. However, climate change is becoming more serious, leading to the emergence of many diseases, including nematodes, affecting crop yields and quality. Recent trials of Velum have demonstrated consistent yield and quality increases and reduction in plant-parasitic nematodes in coffee, pepper, and cabbage, among others. Velum creates a living barrier of protection around the young root and limits the chance that the nematodes reach them and cause damage. Furthermore, plants thrive better over the entire growing season and are generally more resistant to stress factors such as heat or drought and give better yield. Dr Pham Cong Tri, representative of the Western Highlands Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute (WASI) shared: One of the biggest challenges Vietnamese farmers facing today is to protect agricultural crops from plant-parasitic nematodes whilst having the least possible impact on the environment. Modern treatment will help farmers to effectively control nematodes and will become the cornerstone of IPM strategies for many crops. The use of Velum in low doses, prolonged and applicable to many crops will definitely be environmentally friendly and brings sustainable profits for farmers while boosting yield and quality serving both local and export demands. Besides, if soil elements are beneficial to nematode existence and damage, growers should treat the soil with nematicides twice a year at the beginning and middle of the annual rainy season to reduce crop losses." According to Dr. Pham Cong Tri, if soil elements are beneficial to nematode existence and damage, growers should treat the soil with nematicides twice a year at the beginning and middle of the annual rainy season to reduce crop losses. Many growers have experienced Bayers new technology in numerous field trials. Actual results have shown that the Velum solution eliminates old nematode active ingredients, suitable for root/drip irrigation. On light loam, Velum is evenly distributed on topsoil while other treatments either do not move to the deep root zone or actually move away from the root zone. Velum is available in 100ml and 250ml bottles, easy to apply, with minimal use restrictions. On top of that, the solution is the only one in the market which belongs to the GHS5 group, meeting the standards of the plant protection industry for fruit and vegetable crops. This is also an important factor to meet the export standards of international markets. The drastic increase in crop losses and the degradation of soil health is a major concern for many farmers every year, forcing them to use any available nematicides in order to protect the crops. However, due to regulatory pressure and growing demand for high quality and nutritious food, environmentally friendly nematicides are the most preferred and are gaining huge demand for improving soil health. Bayer, with its innovative Velum solution, is helping Vietnamese farmers grow food more sustainably, therefore contributing to increasing crop yield and quality for local food consumption as well as increasing Vietnams agriculture product export value, added Weraphon Charoenpanit.. Leading jewellery chain Malabar Gold & Diamonds has contributed Rs 1 crore to the PM Care Fund to support COVID-19 relief measures, taking its overall contribution towards the pandemic to Rs 5 crore so far. The Kerala-based company had earlier given Rs 2 crore to the state chief minister's fund and Rs 1 crore to Telangana chief minister fund last month. "The impact of the pandemic on the country and the world as a whole is unprecedented. We stand by the people and the governments in this time of crisis. This humble contribution to the PM Fund is aimed at supporting the nationwide fight against the pandemic," said MP Ahammed, the chairman of the Malabar Group. * * * * * StanChart offers all services digitally * British lenders Standard Chartered Bank has said its mobile app (SC Mobile) now accepts as much as 29 service requests and the customers have the option to raise any service request in their own words via an open text box. The initiative pioneered in the country will launched across the rest of Asia shortly, the bank said. This service is also launched in Singapore and Malaysia and is expected to be rolled out to other markets in the Asean and South Asia Region later this year. Zarin Daruwala, head of StanChart India in normal course of business, digital adoption is 69 per cent while 90 per cent of payment transactions are conducted through digital channels now. * * * * * * Bharat Financial handles Rs 100 cr DBT transfers during lockdown Hyderabad: Bharat Financial Inclusion, the microfinance arm of IndusInd Bank, has facilitated direct benefit transfer transactions worth over Rs 100 crore through its rural distribution service points known as Bharat money stores across Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra and Bihar during since April impacting over 4 lakh people since the COVID-19 related payments started flowing in. The Bharat Money Stores have also made banking services available to over 5,000 villages thus impacting 3.5 lakh people in addition to the 4 lakh DBT beneficiaries, the MFI said in a statement. During the lockdown, many people received funds from government under DBT. They have been using our stores to withdraw/deposit/transfer money. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Last week, Taiwan announced a major donation of over seven million face masks to the U.S., Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia in response to the ongoing coronavirus crisis. In Wisconsin, we experienced this generosity firsthand in the form of 100,000 surgical-grade masks, which will help keep our state healthy. This donation marked the third tranche of substantial international assistance from Taiwan, which stands in stark contrast to behavior of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) throughout the crisis. The CCPs contributions to the pandemic have inspired legislation holding the CCP legally liable and rapidly reducing supply-chain dependencies on China. These are solid steps, but in our new Cold War, the strategic center of gravity is not the CCP, but rather our allies and partners. As one Chinese diplomat wrote in 2012, the core of competition between China and the United States will be to see who has more high-quality friends. Its hard to have a more high-quality friend than Taiwan a vibrant democracy under intense pressure that deserves our full support. Unfortunately, support for Taiwan has been inconsistent. Unlike NATOs crystal-clear Article V collective-defense commitment, the U.S. commitment to Taiwan has been muddled. Since the Carter administration, the United States has adopted a policy of strategic ambiguity. Once upon a time, proponents of this strategy may have told themselves that they were calming tensions by deterring both sides from precipitous action: Beijing could not count on our restraint if they opted for invasion, while Taipei could not count on our support if they declared independence. Yet while Taiwan has embraced restrained, responsible statecraft, Beijing has poached Taiwans diplomatic allies, used economic leverage to punish Taipei, and engaged in dangerous military provocations with growing frequency. At a broader level, the cross-strait balance of power has shifted in Beijings favor thanks to a rapid rise in military spending, and General Secretary Xi Jinping has made clear his intent to annex Taiwan by whatever means necessary. The Chinese military threat to Taiwan is no longer a long-term hypothetical scenario. Rather, it is a dangerous course of action that gets more likely the less we stand up to CCP aggression. Story continues Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to demonstrate resolve and strengthen our relationship with Taiwan. In 2018, Congress passed the Taiwan Travel Act, making it U.S. policy to allow high-level meetings between U.S. and Taiwanese government officials, including military officers. Earlier this spring, President Trump signed the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act, which authorizes the State Department to pursue both carrots and sticks for countries that strengthen or weaken relations with Taiwan. The Trump administration has also regularized and increased arms sales to Taiwan, providing them with F-16s to modernize their aging air force. Building on this momentum and coming out of the coronavirus crisis, the U.S. should go farther by establishing a multinational COVID-19 task force in Taipei with U.S. scientific and diplomatic participation. When conditions permit, Secretary Pompeo could visit Taipei to give an address at the new American Institute in Taiwan on Taiwans role in helping humanity see through the CCPs lies and defeat the coronavirus. Congress should also invite President Tsai to address a joint session of Congress. Both Congress and the White House should push for Taiwans meaningful participation in international organizations such as the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization. An early test will come on May 18, when WHO member states are set to vote on Taiwans observer status at the World Health Assembly. Regardless of how that vote turns out, it is time to end our policy of strategic ambiguity with Taiwan, because there is nothing ambiguous about the CCPs designs on Taiwan. As Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger outlined in a remarkable speech, The cliche that Chinese people cant be trusted with democracy was . . . the most unpatriotic idea of all. Taiwan today is a living repudiation of that threadbare mistruth. The CCP knows this, and it is why they are increasing pressure against Taiwan on all fronts. But just as Taiwans very existence calls into question the CCPs legitimacy, so too would the invasion, absorption, or coercion of a democratic partner call into question the seriousness of American defense commitments. Regional allies such as Japan and Australia would nervously ask themselves whether they too would be abandoned under the wrong circumstances. By taking Taiwan, the Peoples Liberation Army Navy would have a foothold to turn Japans flank and break out of the first island chain, adding Taiwans numerous foundries to Chinas and gaining a near-monopoly on global microelectronics production in the process. In order to prevent this from happening, the U.S. must provide a full-throated defense of Taiwans sovereignty and territorial integrity. Now is the time for a declaratory statement of policy committing the United States to the defense of Taiwan. While this approach is not without risk, as we have learned painfully from decades of failed policy toward the CCP, the greatest risk of all comes from complacency. It is time to stand with Taiwan. More from National Review On May 4, 2020, the MyToyota.ph webpage was launched, and with it, customers can contact their dealership of choice for the management of their vehicles, and set and schedule service appointments. Technology has become a tool for many businesses to reach out to their customers. Convenience has become a big factor for continued patronage, and Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) is out to give just that to their clients. Users just have to log in to their account after a quick and simple process. They will then be asked to register their Toyota vehicles information as well; only vehicles from the 2009 model year and newer can be registered. After this, they can already book appointments for their vehicle/s. After receiving a confirmation, they will then be able to send messages and inquiries about their service and even set the tool to send them a reminder of their schedule. Job items and service cost estimates are also available and viewable using MyToyota. It may all seem simple and basic, but the use of mobile communications may very well see more service and different ways of implementation especially after COVID-19. Who knows? Maybe in the near future, MyToyota might even have a Buy Now button. That should give home tv shopping a run for their money. With the lockdown in place, many are facing challenges when it comes to going about their daily activities. To make matters worse, in a country like India, it's not uncommon to run into a few corrupt authorities. Recently, two constables from Hyderabad police were reportedly placed under suspension after a video of them allegedly taking a bribe from a fruit vendor became public. TOI The video was vastly shared on social media in which a man who is allegedly a fruit vendor can be seen handing over some cash to a policeman while the other one waits on a bike. Reports have said that the man was transporting goods and the policemen allegedly demanded money from him to allow him to do the same. TOI In the video, one of the policemen can be seen inspecting the vendor's phone, probably to confirm whether he was being filmed or not. Then, the vendor hands over some cash to the constable after which he joins his peer on the bike and leaves the scene. Still unclear about when the incident took place, the video seems like it was shot from the top of a building where the exchange happened. Once the video went viral on social media, Hyderabad Police took matters into their hands and began an inquiry. TOI According to an ANI report, the two constables PC Pancha Mukesh and PC Suresh from Afzalgunj police station were suspended by Hyderabad Commissioner of Police Anjani Kumar. A charge memo was also sent to the Station House Officer of the police station. Placed under suspension with immediate effect : PC Pancha Mukesh & PC Suresh of Blue Colt 2 of PS Afzalgunj who were found indulging in act of Grave Misconduct.Insp Afzalganj has been given a CHARGE MEMO for poor supervision and control . We are committed to public service. Anjani Kumar, IPS, Stay Home Stay Safe. (@CPHydCity) May 10, 2020 Wrong deeds clearly do not stay hidden for long. During Azatutyun TVs Sunday Issue, Andranik Kocharyan, a member of the My Step fraction, chairman of the NA Committee on Defense and Security, commented on the incident between Edmon Marukyan and Sasun Mikayelyan occurred in the National Assembly on Sunday, May 10, Media Advocate initiative said in a statement. Kocharyan actually repeated the Prime Ministers words, according to which Edmon Marukyan left the NA tribune and quickly approached Sasun Mikayelyan. Justifying Mikayelyan, Andranik Kocharyan noted: Sasun Mikayelyan calls uncle a lot of people, no one has perceived it as anything bad. Referring to Hrayr Tamrazyans question about who hit Marukyan in the back, Andranik Kocharyan questioned the fact that Marukyan was actually hit, though it was clearly reflected in the footage, noting: The media field and the well-known websites went shared the information spread by Edmon Marukyan that he was hit, but no one could clearly analyze whether he was hit or not. Among those who probably hit, Artak Manukyans name is circulated, its a bit strange for me, he couldnt do anything in that situation but calm the situation down. Tamrazyan says that it seems that Hayk Alumyan was the one who hit, confusing the name, actually meaning Vahe Ghalumyan, after which Kocharyan bypasses the topic. Then they try to relate Marukyan with the former authorities. Andranik Kocharyan touches upon the media again It is not a secret that the media field is mostly depends on the oligarchs financial capabilities. Without the support of the people, they use all their resources. Tamrazyan asks, if you have doubts about Marukyans ties with the former authorities, why dont you publish facts? Kocharyan answers: Doubts also arise when the political force, through its actions, contributes to the formation of the atmosphere that seek those rejected, that huge system, with their media resources. Media Advocate initiative notes that first of all, Azatutyun TV violated the principle of multilateralism, as only the point of view of the government representative was presented, without giving the second side a chance to defend itself. Besides, the commentator provoked the interlocutor and helped Kocharyan to target his colleagues. As for Andranik Kocharyan, the latter has also targeted the media and regularly insults them. Florida is suffering from more than a dozen wildfires as record temperatures and extremely dry weather takes its toll on the state. The wildfires have devastated acres of properties, forcing residents to evacuate. Florida is known for having warm and sunny weather. However, this year, the temperatures are exceptionally torrid. According to reports, the April weather in South Florida hit June-like numbers. Miami has seen more than 15 days of high temperatures that are above 90 degrees since the start of the year through the end of April. On average, there would only be two 90-degree days within the first quarter of the year. In April, weather officials did not record a day where the temperature was below average. More than half the month, the heat was 5 degrees above expected. Miami had also seen 14 days of record highs the previous month. On April 20, officials recorded a temperature of 97 degrees. The record broke the city's previous high of 96 degrees in 2015. A lack of rain also contributed to the widespread fires. Orlando and West Palm Beach recorded seven inches below normal for rainfall this year. Daytona and Fort Myers hovered around six inches. While authorities reported rainfall on Sunday, it would mostly affect South Florida. Panhandle Wildfire The soaring heat resulted in multiple wildfires across the state. Florida's Panhandle was among the wildfires' worst-hit regions. Hundreds of people were evacuated on Thursday after the wildfires swept through 2,000 acres in Santa Rosa County. The fire reportedly broke out on Monday afternoon and quickly grew due to high winds and low humidity. The firefighters had contained 35 percent of the fires by Thursday morning. The winds, which hit more than 20 miles per hour, carried the embers across the Interstate 10, forcing authorities to temporarily close portions of the highway. As of early Thursday, more than 1,100 people fled their homes in Santa Rosa County. Dozens of homes and building structures were also lost to the flames. The county also opened emergency shelters for displaced families. A Florida resident named Michael Dunlavy fled home with his wife and their five sons. He said, initially, they could only see smoke. "It really did not seem like it could reach us," he added. The fire, however, blazed through to the county. Dunlavy and his family left home and settled in a hotel in Navarre. "All you could see is smoke," he said. Florida vs. Wildfires Governor Ron DeSantis announced he was heading to the county via his official Twitter account. He also revealed he requested federal assistance to help combat the destructive flames. In Walton County, firefighters battled a 575-acre wildfire that displaced over 500 families. Authorities also sealed off Highway 98. According to reports, more than 30 homes were consumed by the flames and seven were damaged in the county. In Escambia County, a 335-acre fire also caused havoc. The agriculture department reported more than 1,100 wildfires since January. More than 18,100 acres across the state of Florida were affected. Catch up on the latest news from the U.S.; jackky wrote: I picked option A - Though not very much convinced but picked this as best of 5 answer choices. I Eliminated option C because the word false is too strong here. Moreover, nothing was shown as false. Rather an additional evidence was cited GMATNinja Could you please explain the answer choices.I picked option A - Though not very much convinced but picked this as best of 5 answer choices.I Eliminated option C because the word false is too strong here. Moreover, nothing was shown as false. Rather an additional evidence was cited Numerous studies suggest that salinities less than 30 parts per thousand are unfavorable to sea-lice survival. The archipelago has a salinity range of 2530 parts per thousand between March and June, the critical period for wild salmon migration These conditions tend to suppress sea-lice proliferation professor marine biologist flourishing suppress Quote: A. pointing out that a condition claimed to be necessary for sea-lice survival is not sufficient for it necessary unfavorable more favorable Quote: B. citing studies that suggest that salinity levels were not measured reliably Quote: C. claiming that there is evidence showing that one of its premises is false flourishing Quote: D. questioning the reliability of the biologist's scientific sources Quote: E. showing that its conclusion is inconsistent with its premises The marine biologist's conclusion is that "transmission of sea lice from farm salmon to wild salmon is unlikely in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia." His/her evidence for this conclusion is that:Notice that even though the word "concludes" is used later in the passage, the marine biologist's ACTUAL conclusion is stated in the first sentence. All of the subsequent information is there to SUPPORT the claim that "transmission of sea lice from farm salmon to wild salmon is unlikely in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia." In this context, "concludes" just links one supporting premise to another.Then, the(not the) states: "But a review of the literature shows that salinities of 2530 parts per thousand in combination with British Columbia's cool spring temperatures favor theof sea lice."This statement attacks a premise of the biologist's argument: that the conditions in the Broughton Archipelago "tend tosea-lice proliferation."So, how exactly does the professor undermine the biologist's argument?The biologist never discusses a condition that isfor sea-lice survival -- he/she only talks about a condition (low salinity) that isto sea-life survival.Even if you squint your eyes really hard and say that the biologist's argument implies that somewhat higher salinity is necessary for survival, that would not be totally accurate. At most, we can infer that higher salinity isto sea-lice survival, which is different than the condition being absolutely necessary. Because the biologist never claims that anything is absolutely necessary to sea-lice survival, it is not accurate to say that the professor undermines such a claim.Eliminate (A).The professor doesn't think that the salinity measurements were inaccurate -- in fact, he/she uses the same numbers in his/her own argument. Eliminate (B).The biologist thinks that sea lice transmission is unlikely because the conditions in the archipelago "tend to suppress" sea-lice proliferation. The professor provides additional information, and then says that, actually, the conditions "favor theof sea lice."Because the information provided by the professor completely contradicts the biologist's premise, we can determine that this additional evidence shows that the biologist's premise is false.(C) is looking good.The professor never questions WHERE the biologist got his/her information, or the validity of those sources. (D) is out.Nope, the professor doesn't attack the connection between the biologist's conclusion and premises. Instead, he/she provides additional evidence to attack a premise, which in turn calls the biologist's conclusion into question.(E) is out and (C) is the correct answer.I hope that helps!_________________ Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Reports on India Provides the Trending Market Research Report on India Olive oil Market By Value & Volume, By Segment, By Type, By Basmati Type, By Packed Olive oil Type, By Pack , By Sales Channel, By Company, By Region, By State, By City, Outlook 2025under Food Category. The report offers a collection of superior market research, market analysis, competitive intelligence and Market reports. The report titled India olive oil Market By Value & Volume, By Segment ( Industrial & Retail ), Market Size By ( Value, Volume ), By Type ( Extra Virgin, Pomace, Refined ), By Sales Channel ( Modern Retail, Direct Sale, General Trade, Online ), By Company ( Borges, Deoleo, Cargill Etc. ), By Pack Size ( 0-250 Gms, 251-999 Gms, 1000-1999 Gms Etc ), By Packing Type ( Dark Green Glass, Transparent , Glass Bottle Etc. ),By Demographics ( Urban, Rural ), By Application ( Pharmaceutical, Food Industry, Personal Care ), Outlook ( Trends & Forecast ), 2025 gives you a complete analysis of how the olive oil market is developing in India. This report provides you with all-round analysis of olive oil market size with its Value and volume along with detailed historical and forecasted analysis. Olive oil is considered as the premium product in the oil category whose production is the least in India as it is entirely imported from the countries like Spain, Italy. Olive oil is fat extracted from the fruit of olive (Oleaeuropaea) tree. It is one of the significant parts of Mediterranean cuisine from the ancient times. Production of olive oil in India as of now is only in Rajasthan as it is the only region which fits the production criteria. Olive plants require chilling to flower and fruit the temperature should be less than five degrees at night and less than 16 to 20 degrees in the day time. As olive oil is considered as the healthy alternative of regular oil, health sector plays an essential role in its growth. Olive oil previously was used for massage and salad dressing but with changing of time and growing awareness about olive oils health benefit its adaption among the consumer have increased. Olive oil has grown as the better alternative to regular oil/ghee, which contains a large number of bad fats and raises health-related issues. This report provides the changing trends in industrial as well as retail sector information about the types of olive oil and its usage along with top companies and their brands performance in the Indian market. Request a free sample copy of India Olive oil Market Report http://www.marketreportsonindia.com/marketreports/sample/reports/2051669 Olive oil consumption has seen growth in the last couple of years because consumers are getting aware of the benefits of olive oil usage and its effect on health. There are three main types of olive oil Extra-virgin, Refined and pomace. Extra-Virgin is the purest form of olive oil which is mostly used for massage and salad dressing and has the lowest smoking point. Refined and pomace olive oil has a moderate smoke point and is considered as a replacement of regular oil in the Indian kitchen. Extra-virgin olive oil is the most expensive and low smoke point contributes a tiny portion in terms of value as compared to refined and pomace olive oil. Indian olive oil market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.12% in terms of Value and at a CAGR of 1.05% in terms of volume in coming years. Over the years, the industrial sector used to dominate the trade of olive oil, which have been overtaken by the retail industry. Trade through the retail sector has increased as the companies are targeting mostly the tire one cities with an increase in the number of modern trade and the demand among the consumers. Olive oil being the premium product the companies are yet to explore the tire 2 and 3 cities because of lack of distribution in those sector and low demand among the consumers. To increase awareness among the consumers, companies have started providing sample packages of olive oil so that consumers can test the product and include it in their daily usage. The sizes of the packs are ranging from 10 grams to 250 grams and are available with the packages of more than 5kg packs according to the requirement.Major Companies. Olive oil companies that are competing in the Indian market are Deoleo, Borges India, Field Fresh Foods, Cargill, Universal Consumer, Manisha International, Modi Naturals, Jindal India Private limited etc. These companies are competing with their brand such as Figaro, Borges, Delmonte, Leonardo, Bertoli, Colavita, Oleev, Farrel, Solasz etc. Considered in this report: Geography: India & Global Base Year: FY 2018-19 Estimated Year: FY 2020-21 Forecast Year: FY 2024-25 Key points included in the report: Global olive oil market India olive oil market India industrial and retail olive oil market types and the applications of olive oil Profiles of top performing company Aspects covered in this report: Global Olive Oil Production and consumption in volume India Olive oil market size by value and volume with forecast India olive oil market share by oil type India olive oil market share by application India olive oil market share by sales channel India olive oil market share by city (Tire and Top metros) India olive oil production overview India industrial olive oil market by application by value and volume India industrial olive oil market by oil type by value and volume India retail olive oil market size by oil type by value and volume with forecast India retail olive oil market share by brand India retail olive oil market share by pack size India retail olive oil market share by packaging type India retail olive oil market share by oil type India retail olive oil market share by city India olive oil market product price and variant analysis India olive oil policy and regulatory landscape India olive oil pest analysis India olive oil market dynamics India olive import analysis Five force analysis Company profile of top 10 players Strategic recommendation Approach of the report: The report is prepared with a combined approach of primary as well as secondary research. Primary search was used to understand how many players are present into the rice industry and about their performance and provided with the understanding of how the local and small industries are functioning in this market. This consists of series of telephonic interview with the industries and getting to know their competition. The secondary research includes going through various press releases, company profiles, annual reports, information from various sources and databases. Please get in touch with our sales team in order to find out more. Intended audience: This report can be useful to Industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations & organizations related to olive oil industry, government bodies and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing & presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry. Please get in touch with our sales team in order to find out more. Keywords: Olive oil, Extra-virgin, Refined, Pomace, Industrial, Retail, Massage, Salad Dressing, Cooking, Health, Premium, Metro cities, Figaro, Borges, Delmonte, Leonardo, Bertoli, Colavita, Oleev, Farrel, Solasz etc. Browse our full report with Table of Content : http://www.marketreportsonindia.com/marketreports/india-olive-oil-market-by-value-volume-by-segment-market-size-by-by-type-by-sales-channel-by-company-by-pack-s/2051669 About Market Reports on India: Market Reports on India is an excellent source to obtain top quality market research reports that helps you to understand the business in the Indian market. We cover various industries, identifying and understanding key macro and micro-economic trends, insights and futuristic growth opportunities. To help achieve all this and more, Market Reports on India is the answer to all your business needs. Contact us at: Market Reports on India Tel: +91 22 27810772 / 27810773 Email: info@marketreportsonindia.com Website: www.marketreportsonindia.com Follow us on: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Washington: The US government plans to issue a warning that hackers tied to the Chinese government are attempting to steal information from researchers working to develop a coronavirus vaccine, US officials said. A microscopic virus with protein spikes that is convulsing Australian and global governments. Credit:AP The warning from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security will also specify the threat as coming from "non-traditional actors" such as Chinese students and researchers in the United States, said one official, who like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity. "These actors have been observed attempting to identify and obtain valuable intellectual property and public health data," a draft of the warning says, according to the official. There was no indication that any attempt had been successful thus far, said a second official. The expected warning should be out within a week or so. To gaze up at the empty niches in its eight projecting faces, which scholars believe once held statues of the Buddha, long since destroyed or plundered, was to be reminded of how powerful an absence this figure could leave. The image of the Buddha, with all its iterations, from India to Japan, variant yet somehow changeless, is so literally iconic that we forget that the business of giving a face, let alone a human face, to divinity is fraught with anxiety. The history of religious art, from Byzantine iconoclasm to Islams horror at representing any aspect of Gods creation, is replete with examples of how provocative such an act was. In the case of Buddhism, the provocation was twofold: Early Buddhists did not regard the Buddha as a divine being but a great teacher. He could not be deified for the simple reason that although Buddhism, unlike Jainism another doctrine, which emerged at the time of Buddhism, as a reaction to Brahmanic orthodoxy is not actively nontheistic, it is so reticent on the subject of god as to virtually eschew him. The other problem with representing the Buddha in human form, as the great Sri Lankan art historian Ananda K. Coomaraswamy points out in his 1918 essay Buddhist Primitives, is that early Buddhism was disdainful of art itself. He writes: The arts were looked upon as physical luxuries and loveliness a snare. Quoting the Dasa Dhamma Sutta, an early Buddhist text, Coomaraswamy adds: Beauty is nothing to me, neither the beauty of the body nor that that comes of dress. The relationship between religious and artistic expression is profound, but the evolution of one does not always coincide with the other. Before the early Buddhists found an aesthetic language of their own, they had to rely on a pre-Buddhist lexicon, no less than early Christianity had to borrow from Greece and Rome. In the case of the early Buddhists, the austerity of their doctrine stood in marked contrast to existing forms of non-Buddhist art in India, which were an expression of what Coomaraswamy calls the Indian lyric spirit. Early Buddhism, with all its severity, sought utterance against the background of Vedic religion. The Indian, non-Buddhist art of the time, with its cults of nature and worship of the elements, was in many ways antithetical to the Buddhist spirit. At Sanchi, one sees the strangest of all amalgams: the unornamented Buddhist railing and the spartan simplicity of the stupa competing for space in an overwhelming richness, a world populated by sensuous yakshinis, or dryads, leaning out of ornate brackets, like caryatids, along with drum-bellied dwarfs and the Guardians of the Four Quarters. The stupa, with all its primordial power, sits behind an ornate gateway, or torana, whose sculpted beams undulate, their playfulness culminating in whorled volutes, reminiscent of Ionic capitals. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment In its recently released Notice of 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders & Proxy Statement, the Board of Amazon.com recommended that shareholders vote against a shareholder resolution on viewpoint diversity. The Boards opposition suggests that an intolerant bias is alive and well in the leadership ranks of one of the worlds largest and most influential corporations. The text of the proposed resolution, officially titled ITEM 12Shareholder Proposal Requesting a Report On Viewpoint Discrimination located on page 41 of the document, states the importance of preventing discrimination based on religious, social or political views. If implemented, it would provide transparency to shareholders on the range of risks and costs associated with discrimination against different social, political and religious viewpoints. The resolution reads as follows: Whereas, Shareholders of Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon) invest in the company to receive maximum return on their ownership investment in Amazon, without the costs and risks associated with Amazon restricting specific social, political, or religious views. Whereas, any decision by Amazon to either endorse or reject social, political, or religious views may alienate customers, harm the companys reputation, and negatively impact business performance. Whereas, the City of Seattle, the State of Washington, the United States, and several International Conventions prohibit discrimination against religious groups and beliefs, and the City of Seattle prohibits discrimination against political ideology. Resolved: Shareholders request that Amazon issue a report, at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, evaluating the range of risks and costs associated with discriminating against different social, political, and religious viewpoints.[1] Amazon.com has taken great pains to portray themselves as champions of diversity, and have made public statements about their supposed commitment to respecting diverse viewpoints. For example, their website proclaims that diversity and inclusion are good for business and more fundamentally simply right.[2] AMAZON.COM DIVERSITY ONLY SKIN DEEP This begs the question, if Amazon.com is such a believer in diversity, why would their Board recommend that shareholders vote against a resolution that would provide a full evaluation of viewpoint bias and associated risks to ensure that Amazon is making balanced decisions and that it is acting consistent with its commitment to diversity?[2] The simple answer is because Amazons Board lacks diversity to the point that they cannot even see that a problem exists. On the surface, Amazons Board of Directors seems rather diverse: Of the ten Directors, five are women and five are men; there are two people of color; and they each have varied backgrounds in business, academia, law and so forth. However, this appearance of diversity is superficial. A look under the surface into the ideological perspectives of Amazons Board reveals a monolithically homogenous worldview committed to advancing a progressive-liberal political and social agenda. An examination of the personal political contributions of each individual Amazon.com board member tells a striking story. Of all the independent board members who made non-corporate political contributions in the Trump vs. Hillary 2016 election cycle, all of them donated to liberal, Democratic Party candidates, Political Action Committees (PACs) or other liberal political action groups, according to data from campaignmoney.com.[3] Prominent recipients of donations given personally by Amazons Board members included Hillary For America, Hillary Victory Fund, Friends of Schumer, Victory Now PAC, ActBlue, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. No conservative groups. No Republican, Libertarian or Green Party candidates. Just one flavor of super-non-diversity. AMAZON.COM VIEWPOINT CENSORSHIP Plainly stated, the current Amazon.com commitment to diversity is only a commitment to embracing a progressive-liberal viewpoint about diversity. Conservative, mainstream perspectives are not welcome. Case in point, numerous well-regarded, socially conservative, faith-based non-profits have been officially removed from the Amazon Smile charity platform, preventing Amazon.com customers who want to donate to those charities through their Amazon Smile purchases from doing so.[4] This charity censorship relies upon a list provided by an extremely partisan and discredited non-profit group operating under the misleading name Southern Poverty Law Center, or SPLC for short. The SPLC has been under intense fire in recent years as sexual abuse, racism and financial scandal has been exposed at the highest levels of the organization and reported in major media outlets across the nation.[5] Other organizations, such as Twitter,[6] the US Department of Defense, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,[7] have ended their relationship with the SPLC because of their glaring moral and ethical failures, but not Amazon.com. SHAREHOLDERS RIGHT TO TRANSPARENT REPORTING Shareholders are not asking Amazon.com to somehow become a stalwart defender of conservative values. All they are requesting is that Amazon.com provide a transparent reporting on its stated commitment to diversity, something that the Board of Directors should be quick to embrace as it is their fiduciary responsibility to ensure the company is living up to its promises. But, ironically, Amazons board is fighting against this resolution for viewpoint diversity put forward by the very shareholders they are supposed to represent. To be clear, I believe Amazon.com has every right to use their corporate influence to promote whatever agendas they see fit, including progressive liberalism. But dont try to hide it. If Amazons leadership is committed to a progressive-liberal agenda, then shareholders have a right to know about it, as well as the potential risks that position could cause by alienating customers who hold a different view. This is basic corporate responsibility. Denying shareholders material information that can affect their investment is not just bad-form, it is unethical. Amazon.com shareholders should be pounding the table for access to transparent reporting on Amazons performance regarding viewpoint diversity or lack thereof, and the risks associated with that performance. If you are an Amazon.com shareholder, you have the right to cast your vote on ITEM 12Shareholder Proposal Requesting a Report On Viewpoint Discrimination, and I would encourage you to exercise your right, no matter which way you vote. [1] Amazon.com Notice of 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders & Proxy Statement: https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/2020/ar/updated/2020-Proxy-Statement.pdf [2]https://www.aboutamazon.com/our-company/our-positions [3]https://www.campaignmoney.com/ [4]https://www.christianpost.com/news/amazon-removes-conservative-legal-group-charity-smile-program-splc-hate-group-label.html [5]https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-reckoning-of-morris-dees-and-the-southern-poverty-law-center [6]https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/twitter-dumps-southern-poverty-law-center-stops-making-hate-pay [7]https://www.christianpost.com/news/amazon-removes-conservative-legal-group-charity-smile-program-splc-hate-group-label.html My oldest child is now 30 years old. I started working at the Record-Journal six months before he was born. Its hard to believe its been that long, but there it is. I was hired, by Glenn Richter, as a copy editor, and in a couple of months was made what we call an origination editor, which means you supervise reporters. In those days the Record-Journal would hold an annual picnic in the summer at places like Lake Compounce and Quassy Amusement Park, and it would be an all-day affair. During my first picnic after my son was born I was having lunch in the food tent when I spotted Barbara White not too far away and decided Id say hello to her. She had been an editor, editorial writer and columnist over the course of her career, was the wife of the recently retired publisher, and commanded such affectionate respect that everyone called her Mrs. White. I wasnt sure shed recall who I was. But, she did. Hows our baby? she asked. I have no memory of my reply, but obviously Ive never forgotten her inclusive greeting. It made me feel a part of something special. Im aware that its unusual these days to have spent nearly the entirety of ones career with a single employer, and much more rare when that employer is a newspaper, but there are several people who have been at the R-J longer than I have. No kidding. Plus, Ive had many different jobs at the paper, which makes it seem I havent been in the same place all that long. (If there were a record for different jobs at a single place I think Id hold it when it comes to the R-J.) My favorite job was reporter, which is because being a reporter is the best job in the world. Take my word for it. You get to ask people all sorts of nosy questions, for one. People think you have to chase ambulances and write about malfeasance, which, OK, but one thing being a reporter also shows you is that people are wonderful theyre kind and generous. You get to see that, up close. Within every human being is a universe, but what we get to see during our day-to-day interactions is a glimmer. The artist strives to bridge that gap with creativity, the journalist with facts and information. Getting a glimpse into someones life and being able to share it is not a bad way of going about ones day. Years ago I was assigned to cover Ned Lamont, now Gov. Ned Lamont, when he was running his upstart but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman. One summer day I was following the candidate around as he campaigned, and also along was a writer from U.S. News & World Report. He and I had time to chat, and we talked some about the nature of politics, about how it can appear slightly unreal, the candidates and their cohorts abstractions. Id been a reporter in New Hampshire covering the 1988 presidential primary (Paul Simon, Jack Kemp, Bob Dole, Pat Robertson and so on) so I knew a little of what that was about. I preferred writing about real people, is how I thought about it. In 2009 I was given the assignment to write Barbara Whites obituary. There was a lot to write about and many people to interview. I wasnt surprised when someone made the observation that Mrs. White treated every employee like a member of the family. I made sure I emphasized how important a role she had played in establishing Connecticuts right-to-information laws, an enduring legacy that still gets challenged because some people remain convinced that secrecy is the way to go about things, even though theyre part of a democratic society and ought to know better. She and her husband, Carter H. White, were influential in the enactment of the state Open Records law, in 1957, and the Freedom of Information Act in 1975. It was also worth pointing out that she was a pioneer when it came to women and newspaper careers. Mrs. White had a conversational style to her columns that I admired. I wanted that to come through in the obituary, so I selected a passage from one of her pieces. It was about the merger of The Morning Record and The Meriden Journal that had taken place in 1977: there are days when I sit at my desk in the newsroom at 1:30 in the afternoon waiting for the shudder and then the steady vibration that meant the Journal had gone to press, she wrote. Then the bang of the back newsroom door opening, the first pile of papers landing with a crash on the desk, and everyone scrambling for a copy. Then, outside the window, the raucous voice of the first newsboy yelling, Journal! with an inflection that is lost forever. That column was about transition, and over its 153-year history the Record-Journal has weathered many of them, but theres nothing like the challenge everyones facing now. Today, Im the newspapers editorial page editor. Its not my only job. These days you have to do what it takes. Reporters dont just write stories. They take photos, take videos, and do social media and other stuff that I cant keep track of. Doing more and extra effort is commonplace. And now the organization is in its fifth generation of family ownership, with Mrs. Whites granddaughter, Liz White Notarangelo, at the helm. Glenn Richter and I, and others who have been around awhile, are still at it. The Fourth Estates watchdog role is more important than ever. You can never let your guard down when it comes to the freedom-of-information laws the Whites helped established. While Gov. Lamonts performance has been admirable when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic, for example, its been much less so when it comes to open government. Someones got to keep an eye on this. The world will be coming into shape again, and we will need newspapers more than ever to show and tell us how its working. I know Im not the first to urge that we cant let a free society be added to the list of coronavirus casualties. Those who are familiar with our pages know weve been asking for help. Subscriptions, donations; its not easy to have to ask. The newspapers status as an essential service doesnt protect it from the financial pressures brought on by the pandemic. So the Record-Journal is now part of the COVID-19 Local News Fund, which allows private news organizations to accept tax-deductible donations to support coverage of the pandemic. Its unusual, but what about these times isnt? Heres hoping you can see how important it is to keep the pile of papers landing ... Reach Jeffery Kurz at 203-317-2213, or jkurz@record-journal.com. Independent Pet Partners creates custom caregiver guide to help pet families plan for unexpected events. Our pets are a valuable part of our lives and families yet having a plan in place for their care during unexpected or even expected circumstances is often overlooked. The best time to make a plan for who takes care of your pet, and how, is right now. To make sure pets are properly cared for with caregivers or in times of crisis and lifes unforeseen occurrences, the parent company of independent brands Loyal Companion, Chuck & Dons Pet Food & Supplies, Krisers Natural Pet, and Natural Pawz, referred to as Independent Pet Partners (IPP), has launched the Things My Human Knows custom caregiver guide. The customizable manual, created in collaboration with pet parents, vets and pet experts, is a sharable pet prep guide for pet families to document pet information such as name, nicknames, feeding directions related to food and nutrition, exercise routine, bathroom habits, commands, house rules, social skills and temperament, playtime preferences and toys even where to find the leash and pet food. Owners are also prompted to fill out important information like vet contacts and microchip details to make sure their pets are taken care of properly when they arent home or in case unexpected events impact the family. Our pets are a valuable part of our lives and families yet having a plan in place for their care during unexpected or even expected circumstances is often overlooked. The best time to make a plan for who takes care of your pet, and how, is right now, said Tricia Nichols, Independent Pet Partners Chief Marketing Officer. To help, we created a customizable guide that can hold all essential information so pet parents can ensure familiar routines are kept and stress is reduced. IPP has launched an extensive #petprep marketing campaign to reach pet owners with this exclusive resource. In addition to completing the manual, IPP recommends pet families take the following preparedness steps: Identify a caregiver Identify someone who is willing to provide pet care and provide codes/keys for this caretaker to access the home and a copy of the care guide. Have a backup Always have a secondary caretaker. This could be another person that is familiar with your pet, the breeder or rescue or a pet shelter in times of crisis. Display Pet Inside stickers Alert emergency personnel that pets are in the home by placing Pet Inside stickers on doors or windows. IPP is providing complimentary stickers that can be picked up at any local store. Stock up on essentials Always have a 2-3 week supply of food, medicine, supplements, treats and any other pet essentials on hand. Keep identification current Engraved ID tags are the fastest and easiest way to recover pets. Pet families are also encouraged to contact their microchip company to ensure their information and subscriptions are up to date. Build an emergency kit Build a grab-and-go emergency kit, which can include an extra leash, waste bags or litter, a toy, five days of food and treats, collapsible bowls, medicines and supplements, and a blanket. Ongoing Pet Wellness IPP has also put together a wide variety of wellness resources and practices to ensure pets thrive during this stressful time. Last week, the company launched a new shopping option for pet families to buy online and pick-up orders in-store or curbside to make sure customers can get all their pet essentials and still adhere to social distancing policies. Its recent wellness series includes helpful at-home guides on grooming, stress relief, nutrition, indoor play and mental health. The series was inspired by IPPs 5 Pillars of Pet Wellness, which were developed through a collaboration between IPP and the University of Denver. IPPs network of stores offers a community of pet experts dedicated to holistic pet wellness along with natural food, healthy treats, supplies, services (varies by location), advice and a comprehensive loyalty program. To learn more about and download a copy of the Things My Human Knows pet prep guide, at-home guides and details about the 5 Pillars of Pet Wellness, visit each retailers website. Quickly find the information and guides at: Loyalcompanion.com/petprep Chuckanddons.com/petprep Krisers.com/petprep Naturalpawz.com/petprep About Independent Pet Partners Independent Pet Partners (IPP), an early-stage company backed by private equity firm TPG Growth, is comprised of four brands of independent pet retailers: Loyal Companion, Chuck & Dons Pet Food & Supplies, Krisers Natural Pet and Natural Pawz. IPP was founded to bring together a community of experts from nutritionists to groomers to behaviorists dedicated to holistic pet wellness, with everything you need under one virtual and physical roof, including food, supplies and services. Disrupting the traditional retail and digital landscape, IPP provides its family of independent natural pet retailers the back-end infrastructure and support they need to foster the health and wellbeing of pets everywhere. IPP currently comprises 157 locations in 12 states and Washington, D.C. and 1,300 team members with over a million hours (and counting) of wellness training, including a focus on nutrition. San Miguel Corp sale transaction lapses 11 May 2020 In May 2019 LafargeHolcim signed an agreement with San Miguel Corp for the sale of its entire 85.7 per cent shareholding in Holcim Philippines Inc, subject approvals, including those required by the Philippines Competition Authority (PCC). The PCC did not issue an approval of the transaction within the required time period and consequently the agreement lapsed. With today's unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, Holcim Philippines' number-one priority is to protect the health of its people while supporting its partners and communities, in full alignment with local authorities. With construction playing an essential role to keep society running, Holcim Philippines has resumed operations in three out of its four integrated cement plants and is well-positioned for a quick and efficient recovery. Working closely with its customers, the group looks forward to supporting the countrys strong and sustainable growth coming out of the crisis. Published under Based on rough calculations by the University of Wisconsins Mark Stephenson, its expected that the dairy industry will lose at least $10 billion because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that doesnt account for milk thats not produced due to shipping restrictions from processors. Beginning in January when the first news of coronavirus came out of China until the end of April, May Class III futures prices dropped from more than $17 per hundredweight (cwt.) to just over $11 per cwt. Class IV futures saw even steeper declines, falling from just below $18 per cwt. to right at $10 per cwt. The graph below shows how great the impact of the pandemic is expected to be. The blue line shows Class III expected future values on January 24, and the orange line shows the actual or expected Class III values at the end of April. Presenting during the Wednesday, May 6 DairyLivestream, Stephenson described his process for calculating the $10 billion loss. My approach to doing this was to take a look at what futures prices were thinking at about January 24 before we started to have known cases here in the U.S. and before this was hitting any of our major news cycles, he said. When you take this amount of price loss during this 2020 year and you multiply it by even last years milk production, let alone the increases that weve seen already this year, we come up with a number of about $10 billion. This doesnt really try to capture all of those masked sales weve had at distressed milk prices, which dont even show up yet here, he continued. The other thing I will say is this does not account for milk that we are simply not going to produce and get to market. Those are additional losses that you would have to factor into that. Looking to the rest of the year, the May 6 panel of Stephenson, Cornells Chris Wolf, Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association CEO Jay Bryant, and United Dairymen of Arizona CEO Keith Murfield predicted milk prices to recover but not rally. I do expect that Class III is going to be above Class IV for the year, but theres going to be some product out here thats keeping a little bit of a lid on recovery as it comes out, Stephenson concluded. Read more on the inventory lid in Dairy product inventories climbed 250%. Watch the archived version of Co-ops, customers, and COVID-19 by clicking on the link. An ongoing series If you havent joined a DairyLivestream broadcast yet, register here. The next livestream is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13, 2020. As always, a panel of experts will discuss over 30 minutes of audience questions. To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com. (c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2020 May 7, 2020 Dr. Vedat Obuz Mohamed Nabulsi, Esq, Co-Chair of Mandelbaum Salsburg P.C. Healthcare Practice, announced that Case No. 2:19-mj-06677-JAD-1 has been voluntarily dismissed by the United States District Court of New Jersey against internist Dr. Vedat Obuz (http://www.drobuz.com/) of Trenton, NJ. Since being charged in 2019, Dr. Obuz maintained that at no point did he violate the law. To prove his innocence, Dr. Obuzs attorneys Mohamed Nabulsi, Esq., Damian Conforti, Esq. and Ronen Yair, Esq., of Mandelbaum Salsburg P.C. (http://www.lawfirm.ms/), mounted a vigorous defense that lasted several months. This entailed reviewing and analyzing hundreds of medical records and corresponding claims, analyzing his practices billing procedures, applicable coding and billing laws, regulations and guidelines, and presenting reports of the findings, as well as other exculpatory evidence, to the government that demonstrated that at no time did his practice engage in any criminal wrongdoing. Shortly thereafter, the government voluntarily dismissed its case against Dr. Obuz, pre-indictment, without the need for a trial. Despite the devastating impact of the charges, Dr. Obuz, a veteran medical provider of Turkish origin, tenaciously defended his character, reputation, professional standing and, more importantly, his ability to continue to treat his patients. Obuz, whose practice is located in Trenton and Delran, draws patients from medically underserved areas, explains that, no emotional or material cost is too high to preserve the sacrosanct relationship between the physician and their patient. Nothing is more gratifying to a lawyer than the knowledge that, through their representation and efforts, their client was vindicated of the charges against them. In a world where being a healthcare provider inherently carries a disproportionately higher risk of scrutiny/prosecution, Dr. Obuzs victory should serve as reminder to the medical community that challenging a criminal prosecution, even when facing the most talented prosecutors, is not an unachievable feat, said Nabulsi. With the dismissal of the charges, Vedat has proven what many in the community already know about him: Dr. Obuz is a conscientious, law-abiding physician who would stop at no end to advance the interests of his patients, said Ronen Yair, an Associate in Mandelbaum Salsburgs Healthcare Practice Group Thank you for bringing us home safely By Tharushi Weerasinghe Roma Vedamuttu, a student following her Masters in Law in London, talks of her experience throughout the repatriation process View(s): View(s): The Foreign Ministry has expanded its repatriation efforts to students in other regions of the world, after concluding repatriation of Sri Lankan students across South Asia. Approximately 208 students were repatriated from the UK on a special Sri Lankan Airlines flight that landed at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) on May 4. Roma Vedamuttu, a student who was following her Masters in Law in London, spoke to the Sunday Times on her experience throughout the repatriation process. Social distancing rules on the flight itself depended on who you came with, if you were in a group youd be sitting together and if you came alone, youd have no one next to you, she said. Passengers were given bottles of water, but no pillows or blankets and were not permitted to use the screens onboard. Passengers were also expected to wear masks. The only medical precaution that had been in place at the Heathrow Airport had been the two-meter distance maintenance prior to check-in and the security check. At the security check the trays used for the scanning were not sanitized, we had to put in our jackets and luggage in trays used by 1000 passengers who passed by, she said. Staff had not been wearing masks and there was no sanitizer available for use at the airport. The Bandaranaike International Airport on the other hand, while maintaining the two-meter social distancing laws, had taken thorough medical precautions. These included the sanitization of everything possible from hands to luggage to feet. Passengers were given masks and gloves prior to entering the airport and thermal testing had been conducted prior to immigration checking. Roma is currently at a quarantine facility at the Diyagama Technological Institute. The students have been given their own rooms and communal toilets. Each floor has a washing machine, iron, water heaters, and the toiletries that people may require for the duration of their stay. Roma attests to the quality of the meals and desserts provided which the students are free to collect and eat at a time of their choosing. On the direction of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa students had been marked as a priority group in repatriation efforts. The Government of Sri Lanka has coordinated with the Sri Lankan High Commission (HC) in the UK and the SLA in the efforts to repatriate students from the UK. The HC has maintained constant contact with the students and had provided emergency contact numbers as well as 24/7 hotlines to reach them. Roma concluded her interview with the Sunday Times by expressing her gratitude to the Forces and medical staff who have played a vital role in ensuring their safety right throughout the process. I am very grateful to each and every one including our parents for the task of bringing us down safely, she said. Blaming the recent spurt in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka on 'Tablighis and Ajmeris', Karnataka BJP general secretary N Ravikumar charged that they were entering the state like thieves and spreading the virus. Addressing a media briefing, Ravikumar said: "What do you call the mentality (of persons) that infects and kills oneself and other members of the society? If this is neither Jihad nor a conspiracy, what is it then?" Ravikumar also demanded strict action against those spreading the virus, claiming that 1,890 Tablighis and 500 Ajmeris "entering cities like thieves" were the reason for the spread of the virus. To a question on Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging people not to blame any community for the spread of the disease, Ravikumar said that it was the stand of the government and not the party. It can be recalled that Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa publicly chided those blaming a particular community for the spread of the virus. Ms Holmes speaking to a local television station: (11 Alive - YouTube A black district attorney has been appointed to take over the Ahmaud Arbery murder case, a few days after two men were arrested and charged with the crime. Cobb County District Attorney Joyette M Holmes was chosen to take over the case from prosecutor Tom Durden, who asked to be replaced by someone with a bigger staff, as the case has grown in size and magnitude. Last week, two white American men were arrested and charged with murder for the fatal shooting of Mr Arbery, while he was jogging in Georgia. Mr Arbery, who was unarmed, was on a jog, when Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis, pursued the 25-year-old in the city of Brunswick, Georgia. They confronted Mr Arbery and fatally shot him. The shooting took place in February, but it took until last week for the two men to be charged, after the incident became national news when video of the shooting was released and celebrities including Kim Kardashian West and LeBron James called for action. Ms Holmes is based in Atlanta, Georgia, which is more than 300 miles from Glynn County, where the shooting occurred. The State Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement that District Attorney Holmes is a respected attorney with experience, both as a lawyer and a judge. The Republican added that the Cobb County attorney will be better placed to deal with the investigation, as she has sufficient staff and resources. The Cobb County District Attorneys office has the resources, personnel and experience to lead this prosecution and ensure justice is done, he added. Gregory McMichael used to work as a police officer for Glynn County, and retired as an investigator for the local district attorneys office last year, which has hampered investigations into the case, as many prosecutors in the area worked with him. Ms Holmes is the fourth prosecutor to take charge of the case, after two recused themselves because of connections to Mr McMichael, and Mr Durden passed it on because of a lack of resources. Story continues One of the attorneys for Mr Arberys father, Marcus Arbery, said he was pleased that the case had been given to a prosecutor not affiliated with the area. In order for justice to be carried out both effectively and appropriately in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, it is imperative that the special prosecutor has no affiliation with the Southeast Georgia legal or law enforcement communities, said attorney Benjamin Crump. He added that Ms Holmes should be zealous in her search for justice. The US Justice Department announced on Monday that it is assessing all of the evidence to determine whether to apply federal hate crime charges against the two men. In a statement, agency spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the department will continue to assess all information, and we will take any appropriate action that is warranted by the facts and the law. Additional reporting by Associated Press. Read more LeBron James and others demand justice over Ahmaud Arbery killing F rance took its first steps out of lockdown today as shops, factories and hair salons reopened amid alarm over scenes of overcrowding on public transport. People were also being allowed to travel up to 60 miles from their homes and some schools and nurseries were permitted to reopen. The relaxation of one of Europes strictest lockdowns is due to be followed by further measures over the coming weeks to take the country closer to normality after recording 26,383 deaths and 177,094 cases. But as images of packed platforms at the Gare du Nord in Paris were posted in the French media, health minister Olivier Veran warned that curbs would be tightened again if the virus resurges. If the virus were to resume its wild race, we would again take lockdown measures, Mr Veran told Frances BFM television. Commenting on the recent discovery of new clusters of infection in the country, which went into lockdown eight weeks ago on March 17, the minister added: I am not surprised. It shows we are going to have to live with the virus. The more vigilant we are collectively, the fewer clusters we will have. While shops and factories are allowed to reopen, bars, restaurants and cinemas will remain closed at least until at least early June. The country has also been divided into zones with Paris in the worst red category with the toughest continuing restrictions and commuters required to have a document from their employers to be allowed to use public transport. Fines will be imposed for anyone not wearing a mask on trains and buses. Social distancing is also being required nationwide with detailed instructions to employers about how to provide it. In a sign of the difficulties ahead, finance minister Bruno Le Maire said he regretted a decision by the hard-Left CGT trade union to prevent the reopening of a Renault plant at Sandouville. Frances car industry has been hit hard by the crisis and Mr Le Maire said he would hold more meetings this week with industry representatives. We hope for a significant return to work, that the largest number of employees possible can get back to their companies and get France back in working order, under conditions of maximum health security, he tweeted. Elsewhere, however, there was relief at the easing of the lockdown. Everyones a little bit nervous. Wow. We dont know where were heading but were off, said Marc Mauny, a hair stylist who opened his salon in western France at the stroke of midnight. There were also significant changes across much of the rest of Europe, including in Spain where residents outside Madrid and Barcelona are now allowed to gather in groups of up to 10 people. Outdoor spaces in restaurants and cafes are also now permitted. Churches and mosques will be allowed to reopen, but only at limited capacity, and schools may partially reopen from May 26. Meanwhile, in Belgium most businesses are resuming with social-distancing applied, while in the Netherlands hairdressers, driving schools and physiotherapists are among those allowed to restart. Shopping centres in Denmark and hotels in Poland are also reopening, while in Switzerland primary and middle schools are back with class sizes limited, along with bookshops, museums and restaurants applying social-distancing measures. The longer our nation progresses through its COVID-19 response, the clearer the expected long-term impact is coming into view. CO-OP Financial Services has detailed at least three payments trends that we see on the horizon migration from debit to credit, the need to be prepared for increased account delinquency and fraud, and digital, contactless payment adoption. In each case in fact, in the crisis itself we also see an opportunity for credit unions to shine as the compassionate banking alternative for members in their hour of greatest need. We built the CO-OP ecosystem with exactly this intention to help you be there and be more for your members regardless of the situation; to help you be agile, flexible and speedy. In our own case, we have exhibited these qualities in the past month by moving 80 percent of our staff to working remotely, met a 100 percent increase in call volume at our Contact Center; and maintained uptime through both technological investment and a workforce highly motivated to sustain our clients now more than ever. Four Phases of Strategic Planning Through CO-OPs work with leading consultancy EY, we have begun to center our thinking on the four phases of strategic planning for COVID-19 impact as outlined in their Pandemic Crisis Response report: Respond, Sustain, Recover and Transform. While many aspects of daily life will change as a result of COVID-19, credit unions must continue to be the compassionate and people-over-profit financial institutions that members need. Earning trusting, loyal primary financial relationships at scale in a post-COVID-19 environment will hinge on how well a credit union supported its members during key moments of the crisis; and on how well that dependability migrated and evolved as the pandemic impact subsided. Therefore, as you plan and respond to the economic impact of COVID-19, consider using this framework as a blueprint to guide your short- and long-term decisions. Compassionate Care for Members in the Near Term: Respond and Sustain As we continue through the near-term in the Respond and Sustain phase of COVID-19, credit unions have the opportunity to demonstrate an outsized impact. With over 26 million Americans unemployed or furloughed, many are struggling to stay afloat and pay their bills while they wait for the dust to settle. Credit unions can respond by dovetailing their products and services with government stimulus and private-enterprise assistance to bridge gaps experienced by the most vulnerable within their memberships. For example, as more members turn to credit as a method of self-help when cash runs out, card-issuing credit unions will want to make proactive enhancements or changes to their credit products. Offering a zero-percent for six months credit card, for example, is a way for a credit union to help members who are facing short-term losses in income. Other programs that cards teams may consider include skip payments, interest and fee relief, zero-percent for six months offers and credit line increases where prudent. CO-OP Full-Service Credit-client credit unions are activating options like these through three portfolio relief programs launched in March. Credit unions should also think about ways to support members evolving spending behavior. A travel rewards card, for instance, may have been a hugely attractive offering in 2019, but likely misses the mark in a big way for members confronting the new normal of 2020. Already, weve seen several of the major brands alter their rewards offerings. American Express Platinum cardholders, for instance, may now use their Uber credits for food delivery instead of rides. Credit unions should analyze spending patterns monthly (if not weekly) to see where members are spending and adapt their card products and rewards offerings accordingly. For instance, within the CO-OP Credit Portfolio, online bookstore purchases, namely Amazon, surged 45 percent in the first two weeks of April. Thats a great opportunity for a credit union to consider running a spend-and-get campaign with Amazon in order to secure top-of-wallet. Now is also the time to supplement your plastics with enhanced digital features your members demand. Contactless payments, for example, have seen a surge in adoption over the last few weeks as consumers have grown increasingly concerned with traditional methods of in-person payment, including cash and dipping or swiping their card at the point of sale. At the same time, the rise in COVID-19-related scams and payments fraud has made mobile card controls and alerts an important part of the digital banking experience. Finally, in a briefing letter to clients, Filene suggests credit union memberships may actually grow coming out of the pandemic, as they did during the Great Recession. As more consumers become frustrated with the lack of financial support and empathy exhibited by Big Banks, credit unions will be in a strong position to build deeper relationships with new members. It will be critical that your digital experience is ready from support channels to ATMs, branches and digital apps. Helping Members Thrive in the Long Term: Recover and Transform Many economists agree the impending COVID-19 recession will be painful, but short-lived. Depending on several factors, not the least of which is the governments ability to come through on stimulus packages for employers, the recession could be over as quickly as it started. Preparing now to help members make financially healthy decisions once recovery begins will be an important component for credit unions to contemplate. Credit unions would be wise to make strong investments in data analytics and/or partner with providers that can bring this competency to the table, either through research and analysis or open source API connections to data. With expected changes in the way members live, work, play, shop and finance their dreams, it will be critical to have real-time insights that can inform credit union moves. As an example, understanding which categories of discretionary spending are rebounding the fastest can factor into rewards program transformation and other payments strategy enhancements. Data will also provide insights into the long-tail impacts related to unemployment. As individual, family and business members recover at different rates, some may need specialized products to supplement income or revenue changes. Along with these products may be a need for highly personalized fin-touch programs that pair the best in human ingenuity and empathy with the best in high-tech solutions to solve financial problems. To help you get to the bottom of the necessary data to help you make these product and service choices, CO-OP will soon be unveiling the Insights Center, a new self-service reporting and business intelligence tool. The New Normal: Developing a Plan for Integrating Digital Engagements Many financial industry analysts predict the day-to-day of distance banking will have a strong influence on how people bank in the future. Credit unions will want to watch their members closely to understand which aspects of the virtualized banking experience are sticking around. Is the increased adoption of things like virtual tellers, mobile banking and remote deposit capture waning, or as experts predict, staying put? Developing a plan to further integrate all digital engagements into one, clean, trustworthy and secure module for convenient banking is likely to become a high priority during the Recover and Transform phases of credit unions response to an evolving consumer marketplace. Having a strong data-driven decision engine can also keep credit unions acting in the best interests of local communities. Recovery from the pandemic and its associated economic consequences is expected to happen at different rates across different locales as reduced consumer spending and rising vacancies in some areas will be more dramatically felt than others. Las Vegas, Orlando, New Orleans, Honolulu and Oklahoma City, for instance, were recently named by Brookings Institution as five of the largest high-risk cities. The institution predicted Provo, Durham-Chapel Hill, Hartford, Albany and San Jose to be the economically safest of the largest U.S. cities. Because the re-opening of America will happen at different rates, credit unions will want to keep a close watch on local trends throughout each of EYs phases of the pandemic impact, from Recover all the way through Transform. Its clear to see the coronavirus pandemic will have a significant impact on the credit union industry and its members. However, challenging times create an opportunity for financial cooperatives to live out their values and seal their purpose in the minds of the communities and people who depend on them. Through bold, decisive action that puts the well-being of members first, credit unions will prove that doing well by doing good is not only a defining strategy, but a viable one, as well. To help credit unions prepare for whats next and stay true to their essential role as the compassionate banking alternative, CO-OP is offering the Credit Union Strategic Investment Assessment Powered by CO-OP and backed by EY NextWave . The Assessment was announced last month as a benefit to institutions registering for the in-person THINK 20 Live conference planned for August 17-20 in Dallas Texas. Due to the interest in the Assessment as a strategic planning tool amid the COVID-19 pandemic, CO-OP is now enabling credit unions to participate in the Assessment for just $1,200, without registering for the conference. To register for the Assessment, visit co-opfs.org/strategicassessment. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-12 00:37:01|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Tens of new small businesses have sprung up in Kenya amid the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak as citizens adapt to the pandemic environment. From selling face masks to sanitizers and groceries, Kenyans have started several businesses to survive. Some of those who have started the businesses are people who have lost their jobs due to the crisis. Others are businesspersons whose line of trade was affected by measures announced by the government to contain the disease. These include bars. On the other hand, some of the businesses have been started by entrepreneurs who have seen a gap and chose to cash in. Before the outbreak of the disease, Joshua Musyoka was working as a teacher at a private school in Kitengela, south of Nairobi. Schools were, however, closed indefinitely in March and his employer told workers that he will only manage to pay that month's salary since there was no school fee being paid. To cushion himself, Musyoka now sells groceries in the sprawling town from the boot of his brother's car. "We started the business together because he was also out of employment as soon as the pandemic broke out but his employer recalled him," he recounted on Monday. He sells tomatoes, green vegetables, onions and fruits, with the car enabling ease of movement. Tens of other businesspeople across the east African nation's major towns that include Nakuru, Kisumu and Mombasa have embraced the car boot sale model, turning it into a craze during the pandemic. In the capital Nairobi, the car boot sale craze has spread in all the residential areas as people turn to business as a COVID-19 survival strategy. "We are eight of us here. Before the pandemic, no one used to sell produce at this point but I was the third to come, and five more followed," said Musyoka. Food distribution and sale has been classified as an essential service by the Kenyan government, making the sector friendly to entrepreneurs since supply chains are open. Besides, with schools and colleges closed and many people working or staying at home, the demand for food has doubled. The announcement by the government in April that every citizen compulsorily wears masks gave rise to business opportunities for many people. Demand for the gadgets shot up and created new business lines for tailors and hawkers, who are currently selling them on the streets, in public transport vehicles known as matatus and in traffic jams. To stand out and earn more, some businesspersons are branding the gadgets with Kenyan flags and COVID-19 messages. "The branded ones go for 100 shillings (about 1 U.S. dollar) while the non-branded 50 shillings. Business was very good at the beginning but it has slowed down since some people recycle the masks and many players have come on board," said Bernard Kariuki, a hawker in Nairobi, who shifted from selling handkerchiefs to masks that he sources from Gikomba market. Kenyans have also found business opportunities in making sanitizers at home, which are then hawked. The sanitizers are central in the fight against the disease as they are used when people cannot hand wash. "I use glycerol to make sanitizers from home. I have been doing it for over a month and selling in the neighborhood, online and someone sells for me in matatus at 50 shillings for a 100-ml bottle," said Roselyn Ngare, who branded the products Roservan, adding it is the product of the moment. Ernest Manuyo, a lecturer at Pioneer Institute in Nairobi, said crisises often bring out entrepreneurship as people adopt various measures to cope. "Just as good leaders may be born out of a crisis, so are entrepreneurs. In Kenya, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives including some people losing jobs and they are turning to businesses which heralds a brighter future since after the disease is contained, a majority will retain the ventures as they go back to their jobs and employ people," he said. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-12 06:50:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HOUSTON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. state of Louisiana will start to reopen on Friday, governor John Bel Edwards announced Monday. During a press briefing, Edwards said the state will move to Phase One of reopening on May 15. Phase One is expected to last 21 days until June 5, when the state could move into Phase Two. During Phase One, all non-essential businesses will be allowed to open to the public at 25 percent of capacity, same as restaurants, barber shops, gyms and movie theaters. Children's museums will remain closed, said the governor. Edwards encouraged vulnerable individuals to stay home as much as possible and required all employees working with the public to wear masks. Louisiana has been hit hard by COVID-19. As of Monday, the Louisiana Department of Health reported 31,815 positive cases across the state, of which 1,310 patients are currently being treated in a hospital. So far 2,242 people have died of the disease. Enditem RTHK: S Korea reconsiders school reopening after new cases South Korean officials scrambled on Monday to contain a new coronavirus outbreak that is threatening to spread throughout the densely populated capital city of Seoul, leading the country to reconsider plans to reopen schools. Officials reported 35 new infections across the country as of midnight on Sunday, the second consecutive day of new cases of that magnitude and the highest numbers in more than a month, reinforcing fears the country could be entering a second wave outbreak. The 69 cases reported by the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) over the past 48 hours were equivalent to the number of cases it recorded over the entire previous week. Most of the new cases were linked to an outbreak at several Seoul nightclubs and bars. Authorities had tested 4,000 people who had patronised the night spots, but were still trying to track down around 3,000 more. "Our top priority is to minimise the spread of the infections in the greater Seoul area," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a meeting with government officials on Monday. Chung called for local governments to mobilise as many personnel as available and work with police to track down the missing patrons, some of whom authorities suspect of intentionally avoiding being tested. "We should quickly find and test them, and speed is key," he said. The spike in cases comes just as the South Korean government was easing some social distancing restrictions and moving to fully reopen schools and businesses, in a transition from intensive social distancing to "distancing in daily life. Seoul's education superintendent proposed delaying reopening schools scheduled to begin on Wednesday by one week in light of the new outbreak, Yonhap news agency reported. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon pleaded with clubgoers to be test, warning that people caught evading testing could be fined. "If Seoul was penetrated, the nation is at risk," he said, noting the city currently has fewer than 700 of the nation's 10,909 cases, which include 256 deaths. (Reuters) This story has been published on: 2020-05-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. L abours Rachel Reeves has called for the return of the BBCs lunchtime show Politics Live, hosted by Jo Coburn and Andrew Neil. It went off air in March due to coronavirus, but the shadow minister for the Cabinet Office told us it was now time for a comeback. The Government needs to explain its policies and lot of people watched the show, she said. Its great that Parliament has returned, but scrutiny also involves government, opposition and other figures going head to head. Theres not that many opportunities to do that and Politics Live provided one. We understand the issue is the subject of heated debate within the BBC. Robert Halfon, Conservative chairman of the Commons education committee, said: We need this programme back, however difficult it may be for us politicians. The more scrutiny and transparency, the better. Politics Live enjoyed a 30 per cent higher audience than its predecessor Daily Politics, and drew a committed following who liked the change in format which allowed for broader discussion with more female guests. Our favourite moment was the legendary stare-off between Will Self and Mark Francois. TV gold. --- Addicited: Roisin Conaty (Photo: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images) / Dave Benett/Getty Images Comedian actress and Afterlife star Roisin Conaty confesses an addiction to Coke. The stuff in a can. I am a big fizzy drinker. I would say half my personality comes from Coca-Cola. She tells the podcast Off Menu. I really notice it when I havent had it. Theres a real drop in verve. If I havent had it in a couple of days, its very flat. Cant beat the real thing. --- Author Lauren James wrote an accidentally prophetic novel last year, The Quiet at the End of the World, which is set in London and features a pandemic. Now, James confesses that watching the news play out in the same way as her book has been eerie. She tells the Bookseller: Im not sure Im enjoying it. Not just you Lauren... SW1A Banging the drum: Ed Balls (Photo: Ed Balls) ED BALLS notched up another first last night with his festival debut. The former shadow chancellor turned Strictly star played a bongo soulfully alongside Ciaran Algar at the CCC folk festival, held online. Next stop: Britains Got Talent. --- George Freeman MP says the best bit of the new Stay Alert slogan is its green and yellow the colours of the team near his patch, Norwich City FC. Everythings coming up East Anglia: the clubs vice-president is Ed Balls. Beware of the doors: pooch at scene of grisly accident Vogue editor Edward Enninful posed outside Vogue House with his dog Ru, saying he missed his team dearly. But Ru should be wary of those revolving doors, where Tatlers dachshund Alan TBH Plumptre was involved in an unfortunate freak accident in 2013. RIP Alan... Meanwhile, Jamie Dornan said: Dressing up with my daughters took a turn, as he introduced Jenny (with the blue hair). And model Ikram Abdi Omar looked fierce in a vibrant pink headscarf. Police in the southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau on Sunday evening confirmed they had brought legal proceedings against an inmate after he allegedly beat a fellow prisoner to death last week. Le Hoang Quang, 21, is being investigated for deliberately inflicting bodily harm on another person, resulting in death, according to a local senior police officer. The offense is punishable by 7 to 14 years imprisonment, according to Vietnams Penal Code. Colonel Phan Dang Ha, chief of the office of the provinces investigative police agency, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Sunday that Quang is serving a sentence for another offense at a detention facility in the outlying district of Chau Duc. Meanwhile, the victim, Nguyen Q. L., 36, began serving a six-month jail sentence for gambling at the same facility on May 4, according to preliminary information. L. was placed in the same cell as Quang and four other inmates. On the afternoon of May 7, L. got into a dispute with Quang, and they ended up having a fight with each other. At midnight on the same day, Quang allegedly hit L. multiple times with a police baton he had stolen. The victim was found dead the following morning. Quang confessed to having stolen the nightstick from the wardens quarters and hidden it inside his cell. In photos of the victim provided by his family, his body is badly bruised. A leader of the provincial Peoples Procuracy, which acts as the legal representative of the prosecution in Vietnams legal system, said on Sunday that the agency was planning to inspect legal compliance at the custody suite of the district police station. A team of officials from the Supreme Peoples Procuracy of Vietnam is also carrying out an independent investigation into the incident, the leader said. The body of Nguyen Q. L., who was found dead inside a cell at a custody suite of a police station in Chau Duc District, Ba Ria Vung Tau Province, Vietnam on May 8, 2020, is full of bruises in this photo provided by the victims family. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! With many Texas businesses reopening, Dunkin will continue to offer contact-less service only, the company said in a news release Monday. From the start of the pandemic, Dunkin franchisees - all of whom are independent business people in their communities - have committed themselves to serving their communities while ensuring the safety of guests, restaurant employees, and communities, the release said. The company said it will continue to provide contact-less services including drive-thru, carry-out and delivery through delivery partners, where available. Dunkin of Texas will continue taking the following enhanced preventative measures, in accordance with the expert guidance from public health officials, to protect guests and restaurant employees, the release said. According to the release, the company will continue: Eliminating all dine-in options: Dunkin is currently limiting service to drive-thru, carry-out, delivery and curbside pick-up at select locations. All restaurants have closed their dining rooms and outdoor patios to prevent the congregation of customers. Encouraging mobile ordering and delivery: Dunkin encourages guests to order ahead with the Dunkin App or order Dunkin for delivery with Grubhub or other delivery partners, whenever possible, to limit person-to-person contact. Establishing health protocols for restaurant employees: Dunkin has implemented temporary brand standards requiring restaurant employees to wear single-use gloves, regardless of the task, and non-medical masks, with instructions on proper use and care. To encourage social distancing amongst restaurant employees, Dunkin continues to emphasize the importance of work-circles and maintaining a 6-foot distance. Franchisees have marked their floors with painters tape in six-foot increments. Helping to safeguard restaurant employee and guest interactions: Dunkin has implemented a temporary brand standard requiring installation of plexiglass as a physical barrier between restaurant employees and guests at the front counter of all restaurants open for carry-out. Dunkin also recommends that restaurant employees use trays to hand orders to guests at the drive-thru window. Extra cleaning precautions: Beyond Dunkins already stringent standards, franchisees have increased the frequency of handwashing and cleaning procedures, including disinfecting high-touch surfaces and high-traffic areas at all stores. Some locations are reducing their hours of operation to allow extra time for deep cleaning and sanitation processes in the evening. Dunkin has also mandated that all franchisees and their employees retake online food safety and hygiene training courses. Protecting guests in-store: Dunkin has temporarily suspended their refillable travel mug program and eliminated stir-sticks from the condiment stations. Franchisees have placed markings on store floors, spaced six feet apart, where guests can maintain social distancing while standing in line waiting for carry-out. Dunkin is also continuing offers for perks members including $2 medium iced coffee every Monday in May, $2 medium latte every Wednesday in May and a free donut when perks members purchase any beverage on any Friday in May. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 14:46:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Male nurse Xing Yuanfang works in an emergency rescue room in Xinyang, central China's Henan Province, Feb. 9, 2020. The International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world May 12, on the occasion of Florence Nightingale's birthday. The theme this year chosen by the International Council of Nurses is "Nursing the World to Health". (Xinhua/Li Jianan) Bhubaneswar, May 11 : Four doctors and two attendants of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar have been asked to undergo quarantine after they treated a COVID-19 patient, an official said on Monday. They treated a truck driver from Maharashtra after he was admitted in hospital for injuries sustained in a road mishap. He tested coronavirus positive on Saturday. Meanwhile, staff nurses of MKCG Medical College and Hospital at Berhampur staged mass protest in front of the Superintendent's office to demand institutional facilities and medical instruments in the hospital. "We are not getting gloves, face masks and sanitisers and PPE. While doctors are getting sufficient equipment, we have been ignored by the authorities. Besides, there are no quarantine facilities of us," a staff nurse rued. However, they later withdraw the protest after talks with Ganjam district officials and hospital Superintendent. Notably, Ganjam district has reported 137 corona cases, the highest in the state. Odisha has reported 394 positive cases so far. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, said his administration is using CCTV to monitor people and vehicles trying to come into the state. Akwa Ibom, like other Nigerian states, has barred people and vehicles from entering the state in order to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus. Besides, there is also a ban on interstate transportation of passengers across the country. Let me surprise all of you, you may not know this, if you go to those our borders, you can check this out, take for example go to our border towards Itu Bridge, you will see a 3G camera mounted there, Mr Emmanuel said on Saturday in a live phone-in radio interview in Uyo. Mr Emmanuel said people working at the Akwa Ibom COVID-19 Situation Room keep a 24-hour watch on the various entry points in the state via the cameras. The governor said he too monitors the situation at the entry points from his office and living room. The commissioner of police in the state, the governor said, also has access to the CCTV. READ ALSO: The cameras are not everywhere, they are only on the busy entry points, he said. You may not see us making noise, but I want to assure you we have our people protected, Mr Emmanuel said in the interview programme which was broadcast live via radio stations and Facebook and Twitter. The fact that you dont see me jump on trailers and be on television does not mean we dont have the latest way of monitoring things. We believe what is effective for us is what we are doing right down. The Akwa Ibom State government recently intercepted a corpse smuggled into the state from Lagos. The government said it had to bury the corpse in accordance with the protocol for the burial of infected corpse. The state has made it mandatory for residents to wear face masks in public and has extended the ban on religious and social gatherings and funerals. Markets in the state are opened only three times a week Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. There are 17 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Akwa Ibom as of April 10. FILE PHOTO: Logo of Swiss drugmaker Roche is seen at its headquarters in Basel ZURICH (Reuters) - Roche said Monday it has hired a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor as the new head of the Swiss drugmaker's U.S. research arm that was responsible for some of the company's best-selling medicines of the last few decades. Aviv Regev, an Israeli-American born in 1971, replaces the current head of Roche's Genentech Research and Early Development (gRED), Michael Varney. He is retiring after holding the post for five years. gRED, based near San Francisco, was the force behind medicines including cancer drugs Herceptin and Avastin that have reaped tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue over the last two decades. Regev is currently chair of the faculty, core institute member, and member of the executive leadership team of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, as well as a biology professor at MIT and investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. A prize-winning cancer researcher elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences last year, Regev is an expert in unraveling the complex molecular circuits that govern cells, tissues and organs in health and how their malfunction can lead to diseases including cancer. "She brings a rare combination of expertise that will help us unlock even more possibilities in data-based drug discovery and development," Chief Executive Severin Schwan said in a statement. (This story has been refiled to fix typo and adds dropped word in 5th paragraph.) (Reporting by John Miller, editing by John Revill) Husband and wife television presenters John Stapleton and Lynn Faulds Wood arrive at the British Academy TV Awards (BAFTA's) in London. (Photo by Rebecca Naden - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images) Lynn Faulds Wood's funeral took place today, Monday, 11 May, and friend Lorraine Kelly has spoken of her heartbreakat not being able to attend due to social distancing. The former Watchdog presenter died last month after suffering from a "massive stroke", he family revealed. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area Explained: Symptoms, latest advice and how it compares to the flu Husband John Stapleton and family and friends laid the 72-year-old to rest, but due to coronavirus social distancing, it is believed to have been a small affair, with government advice being ten or less people at funerals. Read more: Former Watchdog presenter Lynn Faulds Wood dies aged 72 This meant many of Fauld Woods friends could not attend, including Kelly. She said on the Lorraine show: "I'll tell you what is one of the really heartbreaking things about this whole situation, is you cannot pay your respects to someone when they die. Funerals are restricted. Lorraine Kelly attends the TRIC Awards 2020 held at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane in London.- PHOTOGRAPH BY Keith Mayhew / Echoes Wire/ Barcroft Studios / Future Publishing (Photo credit should read Keith Mayhew / Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images) "It's the funeral today of Lynn Faulds Wood who of course we knew very well and loved very much, and we cannot be there today obviously." Kelly also revealed she would have a special guest on the show later in the week. She said: "John Stapleton, her husband, he's gonna be talking to us on Thursday with his son, and that is when we will both and the rest of us can remember Lynn properly. "We're obviously sending the family and everyone all of our love today, it's gonna be a very, very tough day for them. "It's tough for anyone who someone has died, and you cannot give them that send off, it's very very sad." Read more: John Stapleton pays loving tribute to late wife Lynn Faulds Wood Guest Dr Hilary agreed, saying Faulds Wood was a "wonderful woman," adding: "It's such a cruel disease this one." A statement released by her family last month read: "Having suffered a massive stroke last night and a subsequent bleed on the brain, presenter and journalist Lynn Faulds Wood passed away peacefully at 12 noon today with her husband John Stapleton and son Nick at her bedside." Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV. The Centre has said it has noted with great concern that migrant workers continue to walk on roads and railway tracks to return to their native places and asked states to ensure that they travel home on the special trains being run for them from various parts of the country. In a letter to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also sought their cooperation in running more Shramik Special trains for the migrant workers. Referring to a meeting held by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Sunday, Bhalla said, in the meeting, the situation of migrant workers walking on roads and railway tracks was noted with great concern. "Since their movement by buses and 'Shramik' special trains has already been allowed to enable their travel to native places, all State/UT governments should ensure that migrant workers do not resort to walking on road and on railway tracks," he said. In case they are found in such condition, the home secretary said, they should be appropriately counselled, taken to nearby shelters and provided with food, water etc. till such time they are facilitated to board the Shramik Special trains or buses to their native places. Further, Bhalla said, as requested by the cabinet secretary, all state/UT governments should cooperate with the railways in running more Shramik Special trains so that travel of stranded migrant workers is facilitated at a faster rate. "I urge upon you all to allow receiving of all Shramik special trains without any hindrance and facilitate faster movement of stranded migrant workers to their native places," he said. Sixteen migrant workers, who were walking back home to Madhya Pradesh were mowed down by a goods train in Maharashtra's Aurangabad last week after they fell asleep on railway tracks. Bhalla added that states must ensure the smooth movement, including inter-state travel, of all medical professionals, paramedic staff, sanitation personnel and ambulances during the lockdown. The letter came hours ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with chief ministers at 3pm on Monday to work out the modalities of a graded exit from phase 3 of the lockdown. A Georgia doctor is thought to have been killed by a pack of wild dogs after she was found dead in a ditch, according to police. Dr Nancy Shaw, 62, was found dead on the side of a road in Lyons, 80 miles west of Savannah, in the early hours of the morning last Thursday, according to a report by WTOC. The Lyons police department told the local broadcaster that an autopsy confirmed the doctors death was a result of an animal attack. According to the report, officers became suspicious when they saw a car on the wrong side of the road at around 3am. When an officer saw that the car was running and its door was open they got out of the patrol car to investigate and found a female that was deceased in the ditch, Lyons Police Chief Wesley Walker told the outlet. Police identified the woman as Ms Shaw, recognising her from her trips to the police station to check in on officers. The victim was reportedly a long-time internist at Meadows Regional Medical Centre and was well known in the community. She was that kind of person. She was a caring person. She was a friend of ours, Mr Walker said. When I realised who it was, it was devastating. JERSEYVILLE Chad Bowker has been named Vice President of Commercial Lending at Jersey State Bank. Bowker will manage the banks current customers along with developing new business and commercial relationships. As our bank continues to grow, Chad is the perfect addition to our team, said Mark Schaefer, President/CEO. We strive to provide exceptional banking services to our customers and we believe Chads knowledge and experience will contribute to the banks continued success. Bowker has nine years of banking experience with his most recent position being President/CEO of Chesterfield State Bank in Chesterfield, Illinois. He earned a masters degree from Webster University in Business Administration and attended Greenville University where he earned a bachelors degree in Accounting. He and his wife live in Medora with their two children. Jersey State Bank is the only locally owned Bank in Jersey County with offices in Jerseyville and Grafton. A 17-year-old boy has been arrested and charged in the death of a baby in upstate New York over the weekend. The suspect, who was not named because he is a minor, was charged on Saturday with first-degree manslaughter involving a 15-month-old child. According to a press release from the New York State Police, officers were called to a home in Stillwater, located about 20 miles northeast of the state capital of Albany, at 10.18am to assist the local police department with an unresponsive infant. A 15-month-old baby was found unresponsive in Stillwater, New York, on Saturday and died at Saratoga Hospital (pictured), leading to the arrest of a 17-year-old boy The child was transported to Saratoga Hospital and pronounced dead a short time later. When reached for comment by DailyMail.com on Monday, a State Police spokeswoman declined to provide any additional details on the suspect, or his relationship to the deceased baby. She also would not discuss the circumstances surrounding the victim's death. 'Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of this young victim,' the Stillwater Police Department said in a Facebook post on Monday. 'We are heartbroken.' If charged as an adult and convicted at trial, the 17-year-old suspect could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. Campus News UB student crafts COVID-19 data models for government By MARCENE ROBINSON How many people are sick? How many will die? When will those things happen? These are the questions I try to answer in my models. While most people across the nation rely on government officials for critical information regarding COVID-19, officials in one city are turning to a UB student for guidance. Monica Rogers, a doctoral candidate in information science in the Graduate School of Education, is the information systems manager for the Tulsa Health Department. Rogers monitors infections, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19 to craft data models that provide crucial information on the peak spread of the virus and to project future rates of illness. These models assist key decision-makers in the city of Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma. How many people are sick? How many will die? When will those things happen? These are the questions I try to answer in my models, says Rogers, who enrolled in the UB graduate program to expand her skillset in data science. We work with decision-makers to show different scenarios and their outcomes, such as what would happen if we allowed limited social gatherings or lifted restrictions. The pandemic is the first time she has been tasked with modeling infectious disease; prior to the outbreak, she mostly forecasted community health needs and the prevalence of chronic conditions. A challenge of creating models around COVID-19 is that essential information is constantly changing or doesnt exist, says Rogers, who has worked in information science for more than a decade. In other matters, the council will meet in executive session via Zoom on May 14 to interview two candidates for police chief. Councilman Jeffrey Minchuk, D-3rd, said he wanted to move ahead with the interviews so there would be ample interaction between the new chief and outgoing Chief Joseph Petruch, who is retiring. BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 24 By Samir Ali - Trend: Two types of quarantine are applied in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Health Viktor Gasimov said. Gasimov made the remark in Baku at the briefing at the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers on April 24. Presently, about 3,000 people are on quarantine at home and their health condition is under daily control, the deputy minister said. The people who have arrived from abroad are also on quarantine, the deputy minister added. They are under special supervision. So far, the number of people who have arrived from abroad and are on quarantine is about 5,000. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump was pushing to get out in the public eye in recent weeks and tout his leadership during the pandemic, and White House staff thought they had hit on the ideal event: a presidential visit to thank the Pennsylvania factory workers who had recently taken herculean steps to ramp up U.S. supplies of protective equipment. Workers had received national attention after dozens of them lived for 28 days inside their factory so they could ensure they were virus-free and their production was not contaminated or disrupted by illness. White House officials pressed to hold an event at the Braskem factory, initially scheduled for last Friday. But after extensive back and forth, factory officials ultimately asked to postpone, worried that a visit from Trump could jeopardize both the safety of the workers and the plant's ability to produce special material for masks and other medical gear, according to two people familiar with the decision and documents reviewed by The Post. The White House's efforts to set up an event at the Pennsylvania factory came as Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have made a number of public appearances in recent weeks to showcase the administration's work combating the health crisis - gatherings that health experts say have created heightened health risks for both them and those around them. Trump has refused to wear a mask in public, and Pence has only occasionally done so. On Thursday, the vice president's face was uncovered as he delivered boxes of gloves and masks to a rehabilitation center and nursing home in Alexandria, Virginia and spoke within a few feet of the center's staff. Pence was accompanied by his press secretary, Katie Miller, who also did not have a mask. The following day, the news broke that she had tested positive for the coronavirus. Despite that, Pence continued with a trip to Iowa, where he made appearances Friday with Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who said she is now following a modified self-quarantine. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Trump has made safety the top concern as he and top administration officials have returned to doing public events. "President Trump's top priority is the safety and security of the American people, and the idea that during this pandemic he wants an event of any kind that would violate our own guidelines to opening up America again is categorically false," Gidley said. Pence spokesman Devin O'Malley declined to comment, referring to past remarks by the vice president in which he said he believed he was taking proper safety measures by getting regularly tested for the coronavirus, and noting that he had tested negative before attending public events. An administration official said the Virginia nursing home did not expressly ask the vice president to wear a mask. Nursing home officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A new White House directive expected to be issued Monday will require officials to wear face coverings in public spaces on the complex grounds, but Trump is unlikely to begin wearing a mask, The Washington Post reported. Trump and Pence have repeatedly resisted guidance to wear masks as the virus has spread. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to begin wearing cloth face coverings in public in early April, the president made it clear he did not plan to follow that advice. "I don't think I'm going to be doing it," Trump said. "Wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens - I just don't see it." The president has told others he dislikes masks and thinks they suggest weakness, said two people familiar with internal discussions. The tone set at the top has led many White House officials and senior advisers to similarly avoid using masks. Pence said he didn't wear a mask when he visited the Mayo Clinic because he wanted to look the doctors and staff "in the eye." Trump had no face covering on May 5 when he visited a Honeywell plant in Arizona that produces N95 respirators, which the White House featured in a campaign-style video. Nor did aides joining him, including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, or top executives at Honeywell, despite the plant's general mask policy. The White House was aiming for a similar event last Friday at the Braskem plant in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, a factory that made a special fabric used in making protective masks, gloves and other gear. Factory officials were initially excited about the idea of hosting a president but also had reservations, according to the two people familiar with the planning talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. The plant officials told the White House advance team that they doubted their workers could attend the event. It was too risky for them - and would run counter to the effort they had taken by self-quaratining. The White House then suggested that a few corporate officials could join the president, the people said. Factory officials said they didn't feel comfortable bringing the president and his entourage, which included a detail of several Secret Service agents, inside the plant, in part because social distancing would be hard to maintain. In response, the White House proposed holding the event in the adjoining open-air parking lot. Ultimately, company officials suggested rescheduling after the pandemic was over, saying that a visit from the president was just too risky at this time. Company officials declined to elaborate on their discussions with the White House. "We were deeply honored by the White House's acknowledgment of our production resiliency teams," Braskem CEO Mark Nikolich said in a statement. "However, after many discussions, the parties agreed due to the nature of petrochemical operations and the safety of our team members and visitors a visit wasn't feasible." A senior administration official said the White House planned the Braskem tour to resemble the visit to Honeywell, with as few as 20 people at the event, but mutually agreed with the company that safety concerns should be foremost. "The White House has looked, and continues to look at many locations for potential visits - and with each one safety is the top priority," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. However, White House practices on masks and social distancing have repeatedly shifted during the last few months. In late April, Pence visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and was excoriated by medical professionals for being the only person who was not wearing a mask when meeting in close quarters with patients and staff. A reporter later revealed that instructions from the White House provided to reporters before the trip made clear that the Mayo Clinic would require everyone on the visit to wear masks. The medical institution wrote in a now-deleted tweet that Pence and his team were aware of the masking policy ahead of the tour. Pence defended his decision to go mask-less, telling reporters he and everyone around him are regularly tested for the virus. But he later acknowledged that he should have worn one at the medical clinic. Two days after he visited the Mayo Clinic, Pence wore a mask while on a tour of a GM plant in Kokomo, Indiana, that was making ventilators. Joining him on the trip and also wearing masks were Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, GM CEO Mary Barra and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro. But on his May 7 visit to the Virginia nursing home, Pence was again without a mask. The vice president did not go inside the facility, where several patients were reported to have coronavirus infections. But he spoke to administrators outside from a distance that appeared closer than six feet, photos from the event show. Pence said his visit was one of more than 15,000 deliveries the Federal Emergency Management Agency was making to nursing homes across the country. "Early in the coronavirus epidemic, we recognized that the risk to seniors, particularly those with serious underlying health conditions, is very real," Pence said. The following day, after the news broke that his press secretary was positive for coronavirus, Pence flew to Des Moines, where he and the Iowa governor met with food industry executives. None wore masks during the roundtable meeting. A video of portions of the event, first reported by the Intercept, shows a woman approaching the executives before Pence's arrival and asking them to take off their masks. The staffer, the employee of another federal agency, was working as a member of the White House advance team, according to an administration official. The vice president's office declined to comment on the instruction or identify the staffer. But the administration official said she was noting that masks were not necessary for the roundtable, which had been arranged so the participants would be at least six feet apart. Reynolds, the Iowa governor, announced Monday she is following a modified version of self-quarantining, similar to one adopted by Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease official, after Pence's press secretary tested positive. Reynolds said she was doing so "out of an abundance of caution" to protect others around her after being invited to a White House meeting Wednesday where Miller was present and then hosting Pence on Friday. She said she tested negative for coronavirus and will continue to get tested daily. "While I didn't have direct contact with the vice president's staff member, it's important that I do my part to protect those around me while continuing to serve as your governor during this critical time," she said. - - - The Washington Post's Alice Crites, Josh Dawsey and Ashley Parker contributed to this report. It's a line you don't hear every day from Wall Street titans: Maybe we really should pay higher taxes. The pandemic has bold-face names like Larry Fink and Lloyd Blankfein thinking out loud that it might be necessary as the coronavirus pandemic derails the economy. A few are even calling for the wealthy to pay up. "We have to deal with our fiscal situation and stop indebting our children.": Leon Cooperman. Credit:Chris Goodney Finance billionaires benefited more than just about anyone from President Donald Trump's massive tax cuts, his signature legislative achievement. Now they're contemplating the end of that era, underscoring the gravity of the moment. Just this week, Ray Dalio, the man behind the largest hedge fund, told JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s private-banking clients to expect higher tax rates no matter who wins November's race for the White House. The mounting fiscal pain across the nation is making the math undeniable to leaders like Fink, who runs the world's biggest asset manager as chief of BlackRock, and Blankfein, who led Goldman Sachs Group through the last financial crisis. A 17-year-old boy from South Dakota has admitted to fatally shooting his 16-year-old out-of-state girlfriend during an argument last fall. Michael Gavin Campbell pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter for killing Shayna Ritthaler, from Upton, Wyoming. We got into an argument and then I shot her, the defendant said during his change-of-plea hearing at Meade County Court. I shot her in the head. Campbell faces 55 years in prison when he is sentenced later this year. Ritthalers body was found on October 7 in the basement of the home Campbell shared with his mother after the pair met on an online dating site. Asked by Judge Kevin Krull if he had any justification for killing Ritthaler, the teen replied, No. In court, the defendant referred to the victim as his girlfriend. Both the prosecutor and the defense agreed to ask the judge to sentence the boy to 55 years in prison. Krull said he plans to follow that recommendation and that if he changes his mind, the defendant could withdraw his guilty plea. The teen originally pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to alternate counts of first- and second-degree murder. Under the proposed sentence, the defendant could seek parole after 27 years, when he is 44 years old. Sentencing is set for July 10. Campbell and Ritthaler had been chatting online for a while but met in person for the first time when he killed her, Meade County States Attorney Michele Bordewyk told the Rapid City Journal. Ritthaler went missing October 3 after being seen getting into a Jeep-like vehicle at a coffee shop in Moorcroft, South Dakota. Her body was found on October 7 in the basement of the home her boyfriend shared with his mother east of Sturgis, near the Wyoming border. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Archaeologists working in a Bulgarian cave have unearthed the earliest direct evidence of modern humans ever found in Europe. The landmark finding reveals that human migration reached Europe around 45,000 years ago, proving the first ever Europeans overlapped with Neanderthals for much longer than previously thought. 'Now we see there is a period of about 8,000 years between the first modern humans putting their feet in eastern Europe and the extinction of the last Neanderthal in the far west of the continent,' Jean-Jacques Hublin, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology told The Times. 'Eight thousand years is a long time. Long enough for a lot of interactions between these populations in terms of biology, but also in terms of cultural diffusion from one group to another.' Analysis of fossilised human remains reveals the cave-dwellers regularly hunted bison and deer while also turning animal teeth into fashion accessories - something that Neanderthals are also known to have done. Several cave bear teeth which had been turned into personal ornaments were discovered at the site. Scroll down for video Pictured, stone artefacts from the archaeological site at Bacho Kiro Cave. These were fashioned into tools and blades by modern humans living in the cave n what is now modern-day Bulgaria Pictured, excavations work at Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria). Homo sapiens bones were recovered from this site along with a rich stone tool assemblage, animal bones, bone tools, and pendants Oldest known evidence of modern humans in Europe The recent findings place the human remains seen at the Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria as the oldest known modern human remains in Europe. Aside from Bacho Kiro, the directly dated human remains from the site of Pestera cu Oase in Romania is the next oldest direct evidence. Human remains here are thought to be 41,000 years old. Other studies have claimed to be the earliest evidence of modern humans in Europe. but these remain contested. For example, human remains at Kent's Cavern in the UK and Grotta del Cavallo in Italy allegedly predate the Bacho Kiro findings. These last two sites, however, are plagued with archaeological issues. The human remains were not directly dated, instead animal or marine fossils found at the site were dated. This contentious issue means the Back Kiro site, at least for now, is regarded by scientists as the oldest direct evidence of modern humans in Europe. Advertisement Researchers were working at a cave known as Bacho Kiro, which was first discovered and excavated in the 1970s and is located three miles (5 km) from the town of Dryanovo. Fresh analysis by two teams of researchers found a smattering of bones and teeth in the cave, but due to millennia underground it was impossible to tell which species most of the remains belonged to. One tooth was clearly human, but the rest underwent detailed lab analysis to scan the material's proteins and reveal which animal it came from. These results, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, reveal some of the bones belonged to bison, deer and other animals while others were definitely human. A separate study published in Nature found evidence of seven ancient hominins among the fossilised remains. DNA was successfully extracted from six of them. Dr Mateja Hajdinjak, a postdoctoral Fellow at the Francis Crick Institute in London and research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology said this was only possible due to the 'exceptionally good' preservation of the DNA. The two studies, which involved significant cooperation and overlap, proved humans did exist in Europe around 45,000 years ago. Animal bones found at the site had prominent butchery marks on them likely left behind as humans used tools to cut up the carcasses for meat and materials. High-quality flint also found at the site, which originated more than 100 miles away, may have been used as a butchering knife or as a weapon for hunting. The study revealed that many of the animal bones had been worked into tools, including awls and lissoirs, which were used to punch holes in hides and soften animal skins, respectively. The trove of cave bear teeth used as pendants came as a shock to the scientists as similar pendants have previously been found that were made by Neanderthals. Co-author Professor Shara Bailey, an anthropologist at New York University, says there were clear similarities between the jewellery made at the Bulgarian site by Homo sapiens and more recent versions carved by Neanderthals. She says: 'There are some similarities in manufacturing techniques used by Homo sapiens at Bacho Kiro and Neanderthals elsewhere, which makes clear there was cultural transmission going on between the two groups.' Professor Hublin says this level of cultural interaction and overlap while occupying the same territory means it is indubitable that humans and Neanderthals co-existed for a long period of time. Bone tools and personal ornaments from Bacho Kiro. Pictured A-J) Pendants made from perforated and grooved teeth (a, ungulate; bj, cave bear). K, L and O) Awls - used to punch holes in materials M) Anthropogenically modified shard of bone N and P) Lissoirs - curved pieces of bone used to work animal hides and make them softer and Q) an ivory bead Pictured, a selection of bone fragments from the Bacho Kiro Cave with surface modifications made by humans. A) horse bone B) bear bone C) Bison rib D and E) Bison long bones potentially from a limb While cave bear teeth was the 'bling' of choice for the prehistoric people, other animal remains were also turned into jewellery. The researchers of the Nature study, headed up by Professor Jean-Jacques Hublin, write: 'Several of the artefacts have red staining that is consistent with the use of ochre. 'We identified 1 [one] perforated ivory bead and 12 perforated or grooved pendants, 11 of which were made from cave bear teeth and 1 [one] from an ungulate tooth.' Professor Hublin believes it is unlikely this first wave of humans into Europe around 45,000 years ago caused the demise of our ancient cousins. 'The Bacho Kiro Cave site provides evidence for the first dispersal of H. sapiens across the mid-latitudes of Eurasia,' he explains. 'Pioneer groups brought new behaviours into Europe and interacted with local Neanderthals. 'This early wave largely predates that which led to their final extinction in western Europe 8,000 years later.' Dr William Banks of the University of Bordeaux was not involved in the research but the prehistoric archaeologist wrote an opinion article accompanying the studies. He praised the research but says it is difficult to expand on its findings to narrow down when and how Neanderthals were wiped out. 'The results summarised and discussed are important because we as archaeologists ultimately wish to understand the population and cultural dynamics implicated in the observed disappearance of Neanderthal populations in Europe around 40,000 - 39,000 years ago,' he writes. 'It is important to keep in mind, nonetheless, that some of the characteristics of the data we use to investigate these issues render the task challenging.' He says further research will need to be conducted to understand how, and indeed if, modern humans forced Neanderthals to extinction. 'These new results from Bacho Kiro provide us with an important piece of the puzzle, but many still remain to be put in place,' he says. A map showing the relative dates at which humans arrived in the different Continents, including Europe 45,000 years ago. All humanity began in Africa, and moved beyond it after dispersing throughout the continent over thousands of years The Iranian Navy says one of its own missiles has struck a support ship in a friendly fire incident during a training exercise in the Sea of Oman, killing 19 and injuring another 15. The navy said in a statement on May 11 that the incident involving a Konarak light vessel occurred a day earlier near the Iranian port city of Jask, off the southern coast of the Islamic republic. The death toll was a sharp revision from what was reported just hours earlier, when state media said at least one sailor was killed. The semiofficial ISNA news agency reported that the Konarak vessel, a Hendijan-class support ship, has been transferred to a pier in the region. It was not clear how many crew members were on board the vessel at the time of the accident. Earlier, state-controlled television said in a report on its website that the Konarak vessel was hit after moving a practice target to its destination and not creating enough distance between itself and the target. Some reports said the Konarak had been hit in the tail by a missile fired from the Jamaran frigate. The navy said that, until a "thorough" investigation into the incident had been conducted, "speculation" should be avoided. The incident follows the January downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which admitted to the "unintentional" shooting down of the plane, saying it came as Iran's air defenses were on high alert after the firing of missiles at U.S. troops based in Iraq in retaliation for the U.S. assassination of IRGC top general, Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a drone strike days earlier. The May 10 friendly fire incident comes amid tensions between Tehran and Washington, including in the Persian Gulf where U.S. authorities have accused Iranian vessels of "dangerous and harassing" approaches by U.S. ships. "This really showed that the situation with Iran is still dangerous because accidents and miscalculations can happen," Fabian Hinz, an expert on Irans military at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, was quoted as saying by the New York Times. "It doesnt give confidence about the stability of the Persian Gulf," Hinz added. On April 22, U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly tweeted that he had instructed the U.S. Navy "to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea." Tensions have heightened between the two sides following Trumps withdrawal of the United States from a 2015 nuclear deal and the reimposition of sanctions that have crippled Irans economy. With reporting by ISNA, Tasnim, Reuters, and The New York Times Massachusetts will see businesses reopen in a four-phase reopening that involves a series of restrictions, including safety standards for workers, the Baker administration announced Monday. The four-phase reopening first will allow a limited number of businesses resume operations with severe restrictions in place, followed by a second wave of industries reopening with restrictions and capacity limits. The third wave of industries will be allowed to reopen with public health guidance. In the fourth phase, Massachusetts will try to return to a new normal after a vaccine is developed, Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday. Baker did not attach specific dates to the phases, but he said he could see the states approach mirror those of other states that have spaced out phases four weeks apart if the state sees a sustained positive trend. Massachusetts plans to work off similar models used in other states, Baker said. If the state sees a spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, it could return to an earlier phase and again impose additional restrictions on companies. As part of the phased reopening, businesses will be required to implement a set of workplace safety standards laid out by the state, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said. Those rules include requiring face masks, providing handwashing stations for employees and rolling out contingency and disinfection plans in case an employee does test positive for COVID-19. As we move toward a new normal, we all have a lot of work to do, Polito said. Baker announced last month that an advisory board would develop the states roadmap for reopening. The advisory board has taken pitches from business leaders across the state, including golf course owners, retailers and dentists. Janis Moriarty, president of the Massachusetts Dental Society, said she met with the board for 30 minutes on Thursday. She pitched a plan for a partial reopening for dentists that relied on capacity restrictions and protective gear. Were looking toward seeing more than just emergencies in a controlled setting, she said. Baker extended the closure of non-essential businesses until at least May 18, which is also the due date for the advisory boards final reopening report. Baker and Polito have both said not to expect businesses to be able to open their doors and return to normal. It doesnt mean that the economy across the commonwealth will just reopen. Its just not possible as everybody knows. Safety is first, Polito said last week. Related Content: A South African couple who made home brewed beer to get around a strict alcohol ban during coronavirus lockdown have died after consuming it. Tony Hilliar, 54 and Alida Frouche, 42, decided to make their own home brew after South Africa went in to lockdown in late March and banned the sale of alcohol, The Sun reported. On May 2 Mr Hilliar called emergency services to their Port Nolloth flat, when they arrived they found Ms Frouche dead and Mr Hilliar seriously ill, local police spokesperson Brigadier Mohale Ramatseba told outlet,The Citizen. Police said Mr Hilliar was rushed to hospital where he later died in intensive care several days later. Two empty bottles from the home made brew were seized by authorities for forensic investigation and an inquest has been opened to confirm the cause of deaths. Tony Hilliar (left) and Alida Frouche (right) died after drinking homemade beer due to alcohol ban. Source: Facebook There has been a reported spike in home made alcohol since South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said lockdown would last three weeks but announced two extensions, he has also banned the purchase of cigarettes. They both liked a drink at the end of the day which is typically South African but thanks to this poorly thought out government ban there is no alcohol, close friend of the pair Tommy Cockcroft told The Mirror. "Everyone is making their own beer so Tony did as well but it seems something went terribly wrong with the brew and that they both collapsed and died very senseless deaths. Pastor Bertus de Jager who knew the couple well said they were lovely people who had been together about six years and were engaged to be married. They were very much in love and you would always see them around the town or on the beach hand in hand together ... this is so so tragic, he told The Sunday Times. According to The Citizen following president Ramaphosas latest announcement of a two week extension of the lockdown, Google SA reported how to make your own alcohol as one of the top searches in the country. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play. Under the high afternoon sun, Elaine Bixler and Nancy Sani waited on the sidewalk that wrapped around the brick nursing home where their 93-year-old mother lives. Bixler, 73, left her walker in the middle of the pathway so she and Sani, who is nine years younger, could crouch inches in front of a ground-floor window. The two sisters peered through the glass, cupping their hands around their faces to block the suns glare. There she is! Bixler exclaimed. Hi, Mar! On the other side of the glass was their mother, Margaret Brown, who smiled from a chair positioned in front of the window. She wore a beige lace shawl and a red dress her favorite color and a match with her nail polish. She looks so pretty, Sani told her sister. She then shouted through the glass, Hi, Mom! Mothers Day marked the first time in nearly two months that the mother and daughters had been able to see each other, even if only through the window. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, celebrating Mothers Day meant that some families were forced to replace traditions, such as brunches and days of in-person pampering, with video calls and socially distant gatherings. In San Antonio hospitals, women who had just made the journey into motherhood spent their first holiday nursing newborns in maternity wards where visitors are limited. At least one new moms own mother camped out in the hospital parking lot, waiting for the first chance to meet her grandchild. For other San Antonians, caring for their mothers this year meant abandoning holiday rituals. People whose mothers live in nursing homes were faced with the reality that protecting their loved ones meant forgoing hugs for the first time in decades. Instead, they delivered bouquets of flowers and neatly wrapped gifts to nursing home staff members because visitors are not allowed inside. At an assisted-living community in Alamo Heights, one San Antonio man hired a mariachi band to play in the parking lot so his mother and the rest of the residents could watch from their balconies. What do we do when we cant touch her and really be with her? said Mike Clements, who planned the musical interlude for his 88-year-old mother, Cecilia. This is the closest we can do to actually have a celebration and actually surprise them. As the mariachi songs wafted across the parking lot at Franklin Park Alamo Heights, Bixler and Sani waved to their mother through the window of St. Francis Nursing Home in the Alta Vista neighborhood just north of downtown. Brown has been celebrating Mothers Day for more than seven decades, usually with in-person gatherings, such as Sunday Mass, brunches and dinners. This year, everything had changed. She watched her daughters smile at her through the glass. A balloon reading, Happy Mothers Day! floated from a string tied to her chair. A couple minutes after her daughters arrived, a staff member pressed a sheet of paper to the window displaying a phone number. From outside the nursing home walls, Bixler dialed it, then passed the cellphone to her sister. Mom? Sani said. Hello, Mom. Its Nancy! Happy Mothers Day! Brown answered, her voice echoing through the speaker of the phone. Happy Mothers Day to you, Mom, Sani said. You look so pretty! Well, how bout that? Brown said, chuckling. While some families honored their longtime matriarchs, others celebrated the holiday for the first time as new parents. Theadora Martinez and her husband, Oscar Gonzalez, spent Mothers Day with their newborn daughter in the mother and baby unit at Methodist Hospital in the South Texas Medical Center. In January, Martinez and Gonzalez moved from Austin to San Antonio where she was born and raised to be closer to her family. They settled into a new apartment and got ready for the arrival of their daughter, whom they planned to name Nochtli Luna. Then, the coronavirus struck. It was scary, Martinez recalled. When it first started happening, I started having regular breakdowns. Twice, Martinez canceled her baby shower. Finally, she hosted a virtual baby shower online, which many of her family members joined by video. On April 27, Martinez and Gonzalez decided to get married in a quaint courthouse ceremony. They already had planned to tie the knot, but as the coronavirus outbreak worsened and she neared her due date Martinez decided that it would be better to get married sooner, rather than later. Martinez celebrated her 30th birthday Thursday. The next day, after she began having contractions, she checked into the hospital. Martinez said it was difficult not having her mother in the delivery room. But she was thankful her husband could be there, and she was comforted that her parents werent far away they camped out all night in the hospital parking lot. On Saturday, about 8:30 a.m., Nochtli Luna arrived, weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces. Once Martinez laid eyes on her baby girl and held her in her arms, all the anxiety eased. It was a huge sense of release, happiness and joy, Martinez said. When asked what hopes she has for her daughters future, the answer was easy. I hope that shes happy, Martinez said. I hope she knows shes loved. And I hope this whole coronavirus pandemic is something that happened when she was a baby, that it goes away and she never has to worry about it. On Sunday, Martinez cradled Nochtli in her arms, gazing at her full head of black hair hidden under a small striped cap. Martinez was looking forward to heading home, where her parents would get to meet their granddaughter for the first time. But first, Gonzalez had a detour planned. He needed to make a quick stop at H-E-B to pick up some flowers for his wife. Marina Starleaf Riker is an investigative reporter for the San Antonio Express-News with extensive experience covering affordable housing, inequality and disaster recovery. To read more from Marina, become a subscriber. marina.riker@express-news.net | Twitter: @MarinaStarleaf | Emilie Eaton is a criminal justice reporter in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Emilie, become a subscriber. eeaton@express-news.net | Twitter: @emilieeaton Nearly 2000 former Justice Department officials have signed onto a letter calling for Attorney General William Barr to resign over what they describe as his improper intervention in the criminal case of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn. Last week, the DOJ moved to drop charges against Flynn who had pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the former Russian ambassador during the presidential transition. The letter, signed mostly by former career officials in the department, accuses Barr of joining with President Trump in "political interference in the Departments law enforcement decisions." PHOTO: Attorney General William Barr takes part in the '2019 Prison Reform Summit' in the East Room of the White House in Washington, April 1, 2019. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters, FILE) "Attorney General Barrs repeated actions to use the Department as a tool to further President Trumps personal and political interests have undermined any claim to the deference that courts usually apply to the Departments decisions about whether or not to prosecute a case," reads the letter, which was organized by the group 'Protect Democracy'. Barr, in a CBS News interview last week, denied he was acting at the president's behest in his support of the move to drop the charges against Flynn. The federal judge in the case as of Monday morning had not yet responded to the DOJ filing. The letter is the latest in a wave of backlash among former officials to the DOJ's surprise reversal in the Flynn case. Barr has said he supported dropping the charges based on a recommendation from the U.S. attorney from the Eastern District of Missouri Jeffrey Jensen, who was tasked by Barr with reviewing how FBI agents handled their interview of Flynn at the White House in January 2017. The filing last Thursday by the U.S. Attorney in D.C. Timothy Shea cited new evidence uncovered in Jensen's review that the department said rendered the investigation into Flynn illegitimate at the time of his interview. Mary McCord, who served as the former acting assistant Attorney General for National Security during the early stages of the Russia investigation, said in a New York Times op-ed Sunday that the DOJ's filing to dismiss the charges cited comments she made in an interview "more than 25 times." Story continues McCord accused the department of "twisting" her comments in a misleading effort to undercut the department's case against Flynn. "The report of my interview is no support for Mr. Barrs dismissal of the Flynn case," McCord said. "It does not suggest that the F.B.I. had no counterintelligence reason for investigating Mr. Flynn. It does not suggest that the F.B.I.s interview of Mr. Flynn which led to the false-statements charge was unlawful or unjustified." McCord did note, however, that she had been critical of the FBI for failing to properly consult the Justice Department of its agents' plans to interview Flynn until when they were already "on the way" to the White House. "There were protocols for engaging with White House officials and protocols for interviews, and this was, of course, a sensitive situation, McCord said in the op-ed, while adding, "the report of my interview does not anywhere suggest that the F.B.I.s interview of Mr. Flynn was unconstitutional, unlawful or not tethered to any legitimate counterintelligence purpose." Separately, a former career prosecutor who resigned from the department after Barr's intervention in the sentencing of former Trump ally Roger Stone broke his silence Monday in a Washington Post op-ed, describing the move as the latest "appalling chapter" in the politicization of the nation's top law enforcement agency. "The dedicated public servants who remain cannot respond publicly to those who claim that the department acted appropriately in these cases," said Jonathan Kravis, who now works in the office of D.C. attorney general Karl Racine. "But I can, and I say this. If the department truly acted because of good-faith commitments to legal positions, then where is the evidence of those commitments in other cases that do not involve friends of the president?" In an interview last week, Barr said he was "prepared" for the criticism that would likely follow his decision in the Flynn case. "I also think it's sad that nowadays these partisan feelings are so strong that people have lost any sense of justice," Barr told CBS. "And the groups that usually worry about civil liberties and making sure that there's proper procedures followed and standards set seem to be ignoring it and willing to destroy people's lives and see great injustices done." Nearly 2K former DOJ officials call for AG Barr to resign over Flynn case originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Yemen urges UN to pressure Saudi-led coalition over offloading stranded oil tanker Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 5:56 PM The Yemeni minister of oil and minerals has called upon the United Nations to pressure the Saudi-led coalition involved in a campaign against his country into allowing the offloading of crude oil from a tanker afloat off the coast of Yemen's port city of Hudaydah. Speaking in an exclusive interview with Yemen's official Saba news agency on Sunday, Ahmed Daress said Safer tanker, loaded with nearly 1.1 million barrels of oil, has turned into a time bomb that threatens the marine environment. He noted that the Saudi-led alliance is adamantly preventing the unloading of the consignment or maintenance work. "Despite attempts by the Ministry of Oil to carry out maintenance, the coalition of aggression does not permit the entry of the technical team assigned to perform the maintenance under the supervision of the United Nations," Daress said. The Yemeni minister held the UN and the Saudi-led military coalition fully responsible for any environmental catastrophe in the Red Sea, and destruction of marine life due to a potential oil spill from the ship. Separately, Yemeni Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf held Saudi Arabia and its allies to account for a serious pollution off the Red Sea coast. He said Yemeni authorities in Sana'a have on occasions asked the United Nations and its organs to send an evaluation and maintenance team to assess the situation of Safer oil tanker. Sharaf noted that the ongoing sea, land and air blockade on Yemen has prevented access to the vessel and its much needed maintenance. The Safer tanker reportedly allows vessels to anchor offshore and transfer oil extracted and processed from installations in the Ma'arib oil field in central Yemen. The tanker is said to contain 34 crude oil tanks of different sizes and volumes, amounting to a total capacity of about three million barrels. Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in order to bring former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement. The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past five years. More than half of Yemen's hospitals and clinics have been destroyed or closed during the war by the Saudi-led coalition, which is supported militarily by the UK, US and other Western nations. At least 80 percent of the 28 million-strong population is also reliant on aid to survive in what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The director of Employer Relations with Ibec, the Irish business organisation, has said that the new normal for Irish workers is going to be quite different with more people working from home on a regular basis. Maeve McElwee was responding to a survey conducted at NUIG which found that 83% of people currently working from home, would like to continue to do so. Ms McElwee told RTE radios Today programme that the findings were not a surprise. This is something that we've been saying is a continuing trend for some time. Even before the virus, we had been in discussions with employers - looking at the whole question of the future of work, a lot of what came up in the survey is what we have seeing for employers across the board. Alma McCarthy, professor of public sector management in NUIG said that the top benefits cited by 7,241 respondents were no traffic and no commute, the reduced cost of going to work and greater flexibility to the working day. The survey was conducted at the end of April and early May, she said. The timing was useful as people had moved from the initial emergency reactive stage when we were all forced to work remotely where we could. People had gotten into a bit of a routine. "51% had never worked remotely before for any period of time - of those 78% want to continue for some or all of the time. Ms McElwee said Ibec thinks there will be a significant permanent shift to working from home following the crisis. It will be a considerable time yet before we see a lot of people who are in a position to work from home to actually move back into office work. I think this will be with us for a little while longer. I think our new normal will be quite different. We will see people working remotely on a much more regular basis. There's lots of things that we need to take into account. "Some jobs are very suitable to working at home, some jobs, with some adaptation will be very suitable to working at home, it has been a great opportunity for employers to learn what works well and what doesn't work well. However, Ms McElwee warned that for some working from home is not preferable, there is issue of wellbeing, of contact, the productivity and collaboration that happens naturally when people come together. "It will be up to employees and organisations to find what balance works well. At the moment employers are just trying to manage their companies through this crisis, for now lots of people are challenged with just managing through the day-to-day. "Where people have caring responsibilities productivity can be challenging. Some employers are concerned that staff are burning out. We do know that it is important how we manage this return to work in a safe way so that we don't see a surge of cases, lots of employers are hearing the message that where you can continue to work from home, you should do so. It's really important that employers and employees engage with the whole range of advice that is coming through, that they have the best facilities that they can manage. "Identify if there is equipment in the office that people could use at home. They live in a palace and have the eyes of the world watching them but Princess Mary and Prince Frederik have proven theyre really just like us. The Tasmanian-born princess uploaded a photo to the official Danish royal Instagram page, showing her and her husband, the future king of Denmark, with their feet up on the couch watching a film at Amalienborg Palace, where theyre self-isolating with their four children. Princess Mary and Prince Frederik posted a relatable lockdown photo to their Instagram page. Photo: Instagram/@detdanskekongehus "A different and a little more relaxed... well, yes... a much more relaxed way of going to the theatre," they wrote alongside the picture, which also showed them dressed up in a throwback photo of their time at the theatre. "Of course, sitting at home on the couch can never replace going to the theatre. But it is nevertheless wonderful that we can have a theatre experience at home during this time," Mary added. "We wish everyone who, like us, is watching the Royal Theatre's setting up of Hjskolesangbog online, have a great time. The Crown Prince Couple." At the beginning of March the Danish royals decided to cancel all official appearances, with Princess Mary and her kids returning home to stand with the Danes. The princess has been very present on social media since the pandemic began. Photo: Instagram/detdanskekongehus The Danish royals are self-isolating at Amalienborg Palace. Photo: Getty Images In a statement released by the palace, it was revealed that Aussie-born Princess Mary, her four children and her husband would all return from Switzerland, where they had been enjoying a 12-week school stay. "In light of the worsening situation in Denmark in connection with the handling of the spread of COVID-19, the Crown Prince couple has decided that the family will leave home from Switzerland, the statement read. The Crown Prince couple find it most natural to return home and stand with the Danes in a time that requires a lot of everyone and where there is a shared responsibility for looking after each other." The palace went on to clarify that the childrens education would continue in Denmark, once public institutions opened again. Got a story tip or just want to get in touch? Email us at lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com. A doctor has narrowly avoided death after mistakenly eating toxic mushrooms. Dr Anna Whitehead told Stuff.co.nz she spent more than three weeks recovering from the ordeal and described the pain as worse than when she underwent chemotherapy for cancer. The doctor, from Waikato on New Zealands North Island, found the mushrooms, which are often called death caps, growing near an oak tree in Raglan on the Easter long weekend. She initially planned to research them online before consuming them, but being especially busy with coronavirus-related commitments at work, she had forgotten. Dr Anna Whitehead has spent more than three weeks in hospital after accidentally ingesting toxic mushrooms. Source: Getty Dr Whitehead fried two of the mushrooms to eat with fish for lunch and said at first she felt fine, but awoke at 3am the next morning feeling unwell. "I had this vomit which was unusual. It was a green liquid, she told Stuff. The doctor went back to sleep but woke up again, and described having "a huge amount" of green diarrhoea and vomit. With the New Zealand health system overwhelmed while dealing with COVID-19, the doctor told Stuff she felt guilty about asking for medical assistance, but by 8am she said she knew something was seriously wrong. She phoned a healthline and a paramedic was sent to check on her. Dr Whitehead said was asked if she had ingested a magic mushroom, but she insisted she hadnt taken drugs and was taken to her local GP and placed on a drip. Dr Whitehead wasnt able to keep fluids down and she was later hospitalised in Waikato Hospital's high dependency unit. Dr Anna Whitehead wasnt able to keep fluids down after eating death cap mushrooms. Source: Getty She was given activated charcoal to help her vomit up the mushrooms, but the toxins from the death cap mushroom had already begun damaging her liver so badly that the New Zealand Liver Transplant Unit in Auckland was contacted as a precaution. More than three weeks later, Dr Whitehead is still recuperating and her tests have shown her liver function is slowly returning to normal. However, the incident has turned her off mushrooms. Amanita Phalloides, commonly known as the death cap mushroom, is a deadly poisonous fungus. Ingesting one mushroom is enough to kill a healthy adult. Story continues The fungus is usually found near Oak trees in wet weather. Its usually sticky or slippery to the touch and the colour can vary from olive to light brown colour. The stem and cap of the death cap is poisonous. There is no way to remove the toxins and the mushroom can be recognised by its distinct smell. "It also always has a slight ammonia-like smell, sometimes quite pronounced like household ammonia," fungi expert Heino Lepp told the ABC. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play. The Punjab Cabinet on Monday authorised Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to take decisions on amendments to the state's excise policy in light of the impact of COVID-19 and the prolonged lockdown. At a meeting, all cabinet ministers agreed that the CM should to take any decision he deems fit to thrash out the concerns of the liquor licensees, a government statement said. The issue of home delivery of liquor was also discussed but, amid apprehensions expressed by some ministers on allowing doorstep delivery, no final decision was taken, it said. The CM is likely to decide on the issue in a couple of days, the statement said. Liquor-vend owners have been seeking waiver in license fee and demanding collection of fee on the basis of actual liquor sales as against the fixed quota system, saying they are badly hit by the lockdown. The excise and taxation department has already allowed the liquor vends to open during the time the curfew is relaxed. It has also given permission to liquor contractors for home delivery. Though there is no provision of home delivery of liquor in the Punjab Excise Act and the Excise Rules, the decision was taken to ensure social distancing in the wake of the pandemic. However, it did not find much support. Wives of Punjab Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Congress MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring had urged the chief minister to reconsider the government decision, saying it may lead to a rise in domestic violence cases. Even many liquor contractors were also not in favour of home delivery of liquor, saying it will increase their cost of operation and encourage smuggling. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (Newser) Human bones from a Bulgarian cave suggest our species arrived in Europe thousands of years earlier than previously thought and shared the continent longer than realized with Neanderthals, per the AP. Scientists found four bone fragments and a tooth that detailed radiocarbon and DNA tests show are from four Homo sapiens, the oldest of which is dated to about 46,000 years ago, according to two studies published Monday in the journals Nature and Nature Ecology & Evolution. The previous oldest European human bone fragments were found in Romania, from around 40,000 years ago. The new fossils were found in Bulgaria's Bacho Kiro Cave, said Helen Fewlass of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. This early batch of our species probably never made it west over the Alps, was likely only a few hundred people, and may have died off. story continues below Researchers said they think our species came from Africa during a brief warming period. Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago. The discovery suggests that for about 6,000 years, give or take, humans and Neanderthals lived on the same continent, interacting a bit, but probably not often, said Jean-Jacques Hublin, another study author from the institute. "We know that when they [humans] arrived, there were Neanderthals," he said. Researchers also found bones from cave bears at the site. These early Europeans made pendants out of cave bear bones, not other animals, showing an affinity for that animal, Hublin said. He theorized that the discovery indicates that Neanderthals, who until this time period hadnt shown jewelry-making skills, learned making pendants from our species. (Read more archaeology stories.) The head of the NAACP in Nashville, Tennessee says a bullseye target was left in his front yard over the weekend - and when he reported it to the police, the officer dimissed the threat calling it 'pretty cool.' Cops have since launched an investigation after Nashville NAACP President Keith Caldwell said he spoke with a police supervisor about the incident Saturday evening and the officer's dismissive reaction. Caldwell in a Facebook post said that he found the 'bullseye' target on an easel-like holder in his front yard on Saturday night. Keith Caldwell, head of the NAACP in Nashville, Tennessee (pictured), says he stumbled on a bullseye target in his front yard over the weekend and that an officer who came to investigate said it was 'cool' Caldwell posted an image of a bullseye target (pictured) that he says appeared on his lawn Saturday evening 'I understood that it was meant to intimidate me, that literally I'm a target and particularly with the work that I do. So I called the police,' he told WKRN . When commenting on the officer who seemed to dismiss his report, Caldwell says he believed the officer might not be 'culturally competent', or that he needed sensitivity training. 'It felt like to me he didn't care,' Caldwell says. Caldwell said he followed up with police, who now say the officer's conduct is under review. The Nashville Metro Police is also investigating the case as an incident of intimidation. The NAACP leader says he believes the target was set up to intimidate him, especially because of his work with the civil rights organization. Caldwell said he followed up with police, who now say the officer's conduct is under review. The Nashville Metro Police (pictured) is investigating the case as an incident of intimidation On his Facebook post, he explains that he informed the responding officer he took the bullseye target 'as someone sending me a threat!' Caldwell, who is also pastor of Key Memorial United Methodist Church in Murfreesboro, about 35 miles south of Nashville, described how the target was set up in front of his home. 'They had to climb up on my fence to put it in my yard as my gate is locked,' he wrote in the social media post. Keith Caldwell, head of the NAACP in Nashville, Tennessee (pictured), says he stumbled on a bullseye target in his front yard over the weekend and that an officer who came to investigate said it was 'cool' He also described the responding officer's reaction to the target. Caldwell says the cop 'then shrugs his shoulders and said that he, "thought the target was pretty cool."' 'I informed him that I am the local NAACP President and have deep concerns about what this could mean for the safety of my life and the lives of my family members,' Caldwell explains. 'I expressed him that it concerned me that he was so flippant about the matter.' Sex workers have revealed how they have continued to see clients during the coronavirus lockdown. Speaking anonymously to BBC reporter Jonathan Gibson, male and female sex workers told how they have travelled across the UK in recent weeks to visit clients at home and in their offices. Meanwhile 'review' sections on websites listing sex workers' services include posts from clients in the seven weeks since government restrictions were put in place. Male and female sex workers told how they have travelled across the UK in recent weeks to visit clients at home and in their offices. Stock image It comes after campaign groups including the English Collective of Prostitutes explained the majority of sex workers are mothers and have continued to work despite the risk because they need to support their family and have no alternative income. Other groups, including Ugly Mugs, have warned sex workers are at greater risk of contracting other infections but are not seeking medical attention because of the ongoing crisis. One woman from Birmingham, identified only as Tiffany, told the BBC she had travelled as far as Bristol and Northampton to see clients during the lockdown. Asked whether she was concerned about the risk of contracting COVID-19 while in a stranger's home, she replied: 'No, because I sanitise myself from head to toe. 'My friend works for the NHS anyway, she's on the front line, and she tells me what I can and cannot do.' One woman from Birmingham, identified only as Tiffany, told the BBC she had travelled as far as Bristol and Northampton to see clients during the lockdown. Stock image Tiffany added that clients have been willing to pay her more for her services during lockdown, although she did not disclose how much. However it was the opposite story for a male sex worker, who told how he has been forced to cut his fees by two thirds in the hope of attracting clients. 'If it's just an hour it's 40,' he said, 'reduced because of COVID-19. Usually I'm 120 an hour.' Another woman, who is six months pregnant, said she chose to continue because she 'needs the money'. It comes after activist group the English Collective of Prostitutes, made up of current and former sex workers, revealed sex workers are putting themselves at risk because they have no alternative income during lockdown. A spokesperson told Euronews: 'Nobody wants to go on working, of course, but without access to financial support, some are forced to continue working outside, meeting clients, and putting themselves at risk of contracting and spreading coronavirus. 'With the lockdown measures in place, many sex workers have lost almost all of their clients.' STORY LINK Pound to Swedish Krona (GBP/SEK) Exchange Rate Steady as Swedish Economy Faces Unprecedented Declines GBP/SEK Exchange Rate Rangebound as Sweden Fails to Benefit from No-Lockdown Approach Pound (GBP) Falls as UK Lockdown Speech Sparks Considerable Confusion GBP/SEK Forecast: Could the Swedish Krona Rise as Swedens Covid-19 Situation Plateaus? Like this piece? Please share with your friends and colleagues: The Pound to Swedish Krona (GBP/SEK) exchange rate held steady today following news that Sweden is unlikely to benefit from its no-lockdown approach to tackling the coronavirus. The pairing is currently trading around 12.130kr.Christina Nyman, former deputy head of monetary policy at Riksbank, commented:It is too early to say that we would do better than others. In the end, we think Sweden will end up more or less the same.While David Oxley, the Senior Europe economist at Capital Economics, described economic activity in Sweden as grim and facing unprecedented declines.As a result, the Swedish Krona (SEK) has remained subdued today despite many schools and shops being opening throughout the peak of the coronavirus crisis. However, due to many businesses being shuttered and workers being laid off, this has since dragged on the Swedish economy.Moreover, the Swedish government has projected a possible shrinkage of -7% in the Swedish GDP this year. Though the Riksbank said the dip could be as large as -10%, which would equal the worst year since the beginning of World War Two.The Pound (GBP) struggled today after Labour leader Keir Starmer echoed UK investor sentiment by saying Prime Minister Boris Johnsons lockdown easing speech had caused considerable confusion.As a result, the Pound (GBP) has suffered on rising uncertainty on how the UK will continue to tackle the coronavirus.Richard Burge, the Chief Executive of London Chamber of Commerce, commented:We hope that the statement in parliament and the promised guidance documents will enable business to prepare. At the moment, it would be foolish for any business leader to encourage staff not already undertaking essential work to do anything but to continue to work from home tomorrow if they can do so.Meanwhile, Sterling has also suffered from a gloomy statement from the Bank of England (BoE) over the weekend, which pointed out that the UK could suffer its biggest financial crash in 300-years.Consequently, the Pound (GBP) has suffered from a lack of confidence in the UKs economic recovery, with fears rising over the Governments handling of the crisis.Pound (GBP) traders will be awaiting tomorrows UK BRC Like-For-Like Retail Sales report for April. However, with retail sales set to plunge due to the coronavirus it is likely well see the Sterlings gains compromised.Meanwhile, Sterling investors will also be keeping a close eye on the UKs coronavirus developments. If there are any signs of an increase of infections over the course of this week, then we could see the GBP suffer as its economic outlook remains uncertain.Swedish Krona (SEK) traders will be keeping a close eye on Swedens coronavirus situation. However, if Sweden continues to re-open its economy, and the death toll eases, then we could see the Swedish Krona begin to rise against the Pound. International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements. TAGS: Pound Sterling Forecasts A new study has emerged, suggesting that men are more vulnerable to the novel coronavirus infection or COVID-19 as they have a higher level of the enzyme that the virus uses to hijack healthy cells in the body. Men's Vulnerability to COVID-19 According to a report by Al Jazeera, there are more cases of deaths in men compared to women when looking at the data of most countries hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, the discrepancy was first noted in China, which is the center of the outbreak and is believed to be where the virus originated. Based on the report, the death rates of men who were infected with COVID-19 reached 2.8%, which is lower than the 1.7% of women. Meanwhile, data from Italy and South Korea showed the same. There is a 7.2% death rate in men in Italy, compared to 4.1% in women, while 54% of the deaths in South Korea were men. Read Also: Rome Eatery Employee Tests Positive for Hepatitis A and Might Have Exposed Their Patrons High Levels of Enzymes in Men In a study that was published this Monday by the European Heart Journal, it was discovered that the Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, which the novel coronavirus uses to bind with a healthy cell, is more diffused in men than in women. Researchers were able to come to this conclusion by measuring the ACE2 receptors in the blood samples that were taken from more than 3,500 elderly heart failure patients from 11 European countries. The samples were from both men and women. However, the study started before the COVID-19 outbreak and did not include patients of the pandemic, according to a professor of cardiology Adriaan Voors from the University Medical Center (UMC) Groningen in The Netherlands. Voors was one of the study's lead authors. Nevertheless, Voors and his team saw significant overlaps with their study when experts began pointing to ACE2 receptors as a vital element of the coronavirus infection. Now, their study is one of the top answers when people are researching why men are more vulnerable to COVID-19 compared to women. Dr. Iziah Sama from UMC Groningen, another author of the study, said that when they found out that one of the "strongest biomarkers" of the coronavirus infection is the ACE2 receptors, he immediately realized the potential of their study in explaining why men are "more likely to die from COVID-19 than women. "High levels of ACE2 are present in the lungs and, therefore, it is thought to play a crucial role in the progression of lung disorders related to COVID-19," Dr. Voors explained, according to Business Insider. Read Also: COVID-19 Update: China Finds New Wave of Coronavirus Cases After Ease Lockdown More Theories About Coronavirus and Men Besides the possible increased diffusion of ACE2 receptors in men's systems, various other theories have been given by different experts to explain the situation possibly. Some say that their vulnerability has got something to do with the preexisting conditions that worsen their infection, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, or that men tend to smoke more than women, which could also worsen their disease. In addition, some studies suggest men are less likely to wash their hands than women, which is something that can help protect against the novel coronavirus. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. According to reports, China offers help to North Korea in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic when Xi Jinping got a letter from Kim Jong Un. This was the scenario when Xi Jinping allegedly responded to communique sent to him by the North Korean Leader. Chinese media organizations said that the message Kim Jong Un sent was to congratulate China on their success in controlling the COVID-19 disease. This claim is under question after reports were filed that China underreported the victims of the virus reportedly from Wuhan. As of this writing, there are cases of reinfections in China which somehow it negated the prior claims. Based on the North Korean government records, it show no significant infections or a confirmed case in the secretive government which is very doubtful and analysts have greatly questioned the claims by Pyongyang. When the COVID-19 was reported, North Korea suspended tourism and closed borders to provide for the viral response that was in the third week of January. Compared to other health systems, North Korea's is not as robust as other countries and the threat of even a small outbreak of COVID-10 can quickly overload theirs. In his "verbal message of thanks", Mr. Xi said he highly appreciated Mr. Kim's support during China's outbreak and "showed his personal attention to the situation of the pandemic and people's health" in North Korea, according to state media. Jinping called for more efforts to strengthen co-operation in preventing the spread of the coronavirus, and said China was "willing to continue to provide assistance within its own capacity for [North Korea] in the fight against Covid-19". On Friday, North Korean state media reported that Mr Kim had sent a verbal message to the president that "congratulated him, highly appreciating that he is seizing a chance of victory in the war against the unprecedented epidemic". Also read: President Trump is Glad That Kim Jong Un is Alive and Well South Korea itself reported 18 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Saturday. Of the 17 cases reported, they are connected to a 29-year-old man registering positive when he made rounds in five nightclubs and bars in Seoul's Itaewon leisure district last weekend. The mayor, Mayor Park Won-soon ordered nightclubs, bars and hostess venues a general closure of these businesses all over Seoul to limit further spread of the coronavirus as a precaution. Strait Times reported that Park said in an interview,"Carelessness can lead to an explosion in infections - we clearly realised this through the group infections seen in the Itaewon club case." Park was stressing the need to be more careful in getting infected and spreading the virus. Health officials were asking those who went to those five venues in Itaewon to self-isolate and undergo tests to know if they have the virus, and not spread it. Upon checking the logs of the venue, about 1500 went there according to Yonhap. Adding these new cases to the South Korea national coronavirus tally, there are 10,840 cases with 256 dead at the hands of the coronavirus. Recently, the North Korean leader was missing for 20 days in public, missing significant dates and events of the year. Some speculated that Kim Jong-Un died, or was very sick. He resurfaced at a fertiliser factory on 2 May, and appears seemingly well. South Korea has downplayed the death rumors from the start, Kim Byung-kee said it his disappearance might be due to the North Korea outbreak. It is left to be seen what North Korea will do with Xi Jinping's offer, knowing the attitude of the secretive state. Related article: Where is Kim Jong Un? North Korean Leader's Whereabouts a Mystery as State Media Remains Silent @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. [May 11, 2020] Life360 Announces Russell Burke as Chief Financial Officer Life360, Inc. (ASX:360), the leading safety and coordination service for families across the globe, today announced global business executive Russell Burke as its chief financial officer. In the CFO role, Burke will reinforce Life360's commitment to family safety by focusing on the effectiveness of the business model and supporting the company as they move to the next level. "Russell's broad experience in the U.S. and Australian markets will be extremely valuable as we continue to expand our product offerings globally," said Chris Hulls, CEO of Life360. "We're confident that he'll be a major asset to our team as we redefine how safety is delivered to families around the world." Burke, an experienced financial executive having worked with both public and private companies, has extensive experience in management and business leadership. Prior to joining Life360, he held roles as chief financial officer of Mandalay Media Inc., chief executive officer of Weight Watchers Australia and New Zealand, as well as senior leadership positions at numerous high-growth early stage companies, including digita media subscription service Pressplay, and mixed-reality ecosystem and platform Magic Leap. In these roles, Burke successfully led international business and finance operations, as well as building high-performing global finance, HR, legal and IT teams in dynamic and challenging environments. "I was immediately attracted to the flexibility and effectiveness of Life360's business model and the opportunity for growth; and am thrilled to support the company at a time of such rapid expansion," said Burke. "As an added bonus, I've been using Life360 to keep my own family safe and connected for years. Being part of the Life360 family now has even more meaning." About Life360 Life360 operates a platform for today's busy families, bringing them closer together by helping them better know, communicate with and protect the people they care about most. The company's core offering, the Life360 mobile app, is a market leading app for families, with features that range from communications to driving safety and location sharing. Life360 is based in San Francisco and has more than 28 million MAU located in more than 195 countries. Life360's CDIs are issued in reliance on the exemption from registration contained in Regulation S of the US Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act) for offers of securities which are made outside the US. Accordingly, the CDIs, have not been, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act or the laws of any state or other jurisdiction in the US. As a result of relying on the Regulation S exemption, the CDIs are 'restricted securities' under Rule 144 of the Securities Act. This means that you are unable to sell the CDIs into the US or to a US person who is not a QIB for the foreseeable future except in very limited circumstances until after the end of the restricted period, unless the re-sale of the CDIs is registered under the Securities Act or an exemption is available. To enforce the above transfer restrictions, all CDIs issued bear a FOR Financial Product designation on the ASX. This designation restricts any CDIs from being sold on ASX to US persons excluding QIBs. However, you are still able to freely transfer your CDIs on ASX to any person other than a US person who is not a QIB. In addition, hedging transactions with regard to the CDIs may only be conducted in accordance with the Securities Act. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005965/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A body rub parlour and a beauty salon in Winnipeg were shut down last week and received hefty fines for violating public health measures meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (618 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A body rub parlour and a beauty salon in Winnipeg were shut down last week and received hefty fines for violating public health measures meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. Both Beauty Infinity, a Cordyon Avenue salon, and Executive Bath, a body rub parlour on Ellice Avenue, are listed on the provincial health department's most recent establishment closure report. On May 4, the province's public health office initiated the first phase of its efforts to reopen businesses, including patios, museums, retailers, dental offices, salons and therapeutic massage providers. However, those businesses that choose to reopen are required to follow strict guidelines or risk closure, financial penalty, or even imprisonment. For Beauty Infinity, penalties were handed out that day. While the provincial report doesn't specify how the business violated the public health order, it was dinged for a failure to comply, and issued a fine of $2,542 along with a closure order. The business's website, listed on its Facebook page, has been taken down. Executive Bath's penalty came on May 8, though the nature of its violation isn't specified in the report either. For its failure to comply with the public health order, a $2,542 fine was issued as well. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Beauty Infinity, a Corydon Avenue salon, has a sign on its door for violating public health measures meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. The pair are the latest local businesses to be hit with fines or closures related to improper COVID-19 procedures, but they aren't the first. In April, a pair of body art businesses in Brandon were shut down for staying open despite an order for non-essential businesses to close. Those businesses were also hit for not obtaining public health approval to operate a body art business in the city. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Ruby Nail Bar, a salon on Regent Avenue West, was shut down and fined $486 on April 20 for violating public health orders related to COVID-19. Two days later, California Nails, a salon on McPhillips Street, received the same penalty. JT's Club, a restaurant-club on Keewatin, was given a $2,542 fine and a closure notice on April 24. Thi Bui, listed as a personal services business, was given a $486 fine. The establishment closure report has a section for business' reopening dates, but none of the above businesses has one specified. Though the province has begun to ease restrictions on businesses, gatherings in Manitoba are still limited to no more than 10 people. Individuals could face fines for non-compliance as well. Under the province's enforcement regulations, individuals and corporations also face fines of up to $50,000 or $500,000 respectively, and could spend six months or up to a year in prison for violating the public health orders. ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca The Socio-Economic Right and Accountability Project, SERAP, has reacted to the demolition of two hotels by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, describing the action as executive rascality. The rights body condemned the demolition of Prodest Hotel by Wike, and vowed to take action. We condemn the reported demolition of Prodest Hotel by Gov Wike, Rivers State. Using COVID-19 to perpetrate human rights violations is executive rascality & Mr Wike must stop this now. Were taking legal action to hold him & his govt. to account for illegal actions. The demolition of Prodest Hotel is forced evictions and in violation of article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other human rights treaties to which Nigeria is a state party, SERAP said on its twitter handle. Wike had on Sunday supervised the demolition of two hotels in Eleme and Onne for violating the Executive Order 6 of the state government, which banned the operations of hotels amid the lockdown in order to check the spread of coronavirus. Government has no alternative but to apply the Executive order, which I signed before the lockdown of Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt. I called all the traditional rulers and council chairmen and told them to ensure that no hotel operates in the state, he said. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates (Natural News) A Colorado medic who had volunteered to help fight the COVID-19 outbreak in New York City passed away on April 30. Paul Cary had come all the way from Denver to help out in the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S. before succumbing to the disease himself. It was so busy when we first got here We had a few long days, stated fellow paramedic and friend, Royce Davis. Both Davis and Cary were stationed in the Bronx where they were helping with facility transfers with on-demand ambulance service Ambulnz. Davis recalls how they would constantly look out for each other amid the citys battle with the coronavirus. We would see each other every day, check up on each other, make sure we were rested, and doing good, Davis recalled. Cary volunteered to help even though he was retired Cary, a retired firefighter who worked for three decades with Aurora Fire Rescue, arrived in New York City in late March, days before authorities issued an emergency alert seeking licensed health care workers. For three weeks, Cary drove an ambulance transporting COVID-19 patients to hospitals and helped dispatch 911 calls due to the high volume. He started feeling sick shortly after signing up for a second 30-day deployment in New York. He was admitted to the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx where he eventually succumbed to the disease. Cary had been employed by Ambulnz, which deployed 72 employees from across the country, including California, Tennessee and Colorado, to help in New York. Pauls career is best defined by his kindness and service to others during his time as a paramedic at Ambulnz, and before that as a firefighter/paramedic of more than 30 years with the Aurora, Colorado Fire Department, read an official statement from the company. On May 1, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that New York City was grieving for Cary and that the city would erect a memorial to him. We have lost someone who came to our aid, to our defense, the mayor said. And theres something particularly painful when someone does the right thing a fellow American comes from across the country to try to help the people of New York City, and while working to save lives here, gives his own life. Thank you to Pauls family, de Blasio added. We will remember him and memorialize him. Its so important to remember this great example of heroism. On May 3, the fallen paramedics body was escorted by an honor guard and procession with more than 50 ambulances and first responders to Newark Liberty International Airport. His remains were then flown to Denver, where a second ceremony took place. He risked his own health and safety to protect others and left this world a better place, Carys family said in a statement. We are at peace knowing that Paul did what he loved and what he believed in, right up until the very end. Cary was among the thousands of first responders who traveled to New York to help the city during one of its darkest hours. According to Gov. Andrew Cuomos office, more than 94,000 active and retired healthcare workers have signed up online to help in New York City, including more than 27,000 from outside the state. City officials have stated that the additional help from these workers has been invaluable. His passing comes as infection rates in New York City and the surrounding areas have slowly declined, even as cases outside the state continue to rise. Visit Pandemic.news for the latest updates on the COVID-19 infection and death rates in New York and the rest of the United States. Sources include: Breitbart.com NYTimes.com By Express News Service As another repatriation flight under Vande Bharat Mission touched down at the Kochi airport from Dubai, 178 expatriates reached Kerala from the UAE on Monday. One more flight is also scheduled to land in Kerala late in the night -- from Bahrain to Kozhikode. It is scheduled to land around 12.30 am on Tuesday, carrying 184 passengers from ten districts in Kerala. There will be one flight each arriving from Dammam (Saudi Arabia) and Singapore (via Bengaluru) in Kochi at 8.30 pm and 10.50 pm, respectively, on Tuesday. In the first Air India Express flight that landed at the Kochi airport at 8.06 pm on Monday, there were 86 females, 86 males, five children and one infant. The second ship of Indian Navy, INS Magar, from the Maldives will call on Cochin Port on Tuesday with 202 passengers who belong to various states in the country. The highest number of 93 passengers are from Kerala followed by 81 from Tamil Nadu. The Doha-Thiruvananthapuram flight will be arriving by 12.40 am on Wednesday after it was canceled on Sunday. The flight will carry 181 passengers including 15 pregnant women from Doha. It was earlier scheduled to arrive by 10.45 pm on Sunday but was cancelled because the landing permission was not granted. The flight will carry 48 people from Thiruvananthapuram, 46 from Kollam, 24 from Pathanamthitta, 13 from Alappuzha, nine from Ernakulam, seven from Thrissur, two from Palakkad, one from Malappuram, five from Kozhikode, one from Wayanad, four from Kasaragod, 19 from Tamil Nadu, one from Karnataka and one from Maharashtra. IMF considers Lankas request for rapid financing facility By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is evaluating Sri Lankas request for a rapid financing facility to support the country during the coronavirus pandemic. Fifty countries, including Sri Lanka, are to be assessed to receive this facility with approval already given to requests for emergency pandemic aid from 50 more countries out of its 189 members. A total of about USD 18 billion has been allocated and the IMF is continuing to work quickly through these remaining more than 50 requests, an IMF spokesman said. The IMFs executive board was working through requests at record speed, spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters in an online briefing. Responding to a question raised by the Sunday Times on the status of IMF rapid credit facility requested by Sri Lanka and the kind of engagement, he said: I can confirm, we have received a request from the Sri Lankan government for emergency financial support, under the rapid financing instrument. The Funds staff was considering requests from Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zambia among others for rapid financing facility, he disclosed without revealing the amounts they have requested. The Fund will be working in close coordination with the Sri Lankan government to assess all relevant factors related to that request, Mr. Rice said, adding that I can also say that the Sri Lankan authorities also expressed interest in a range of options for future engagement with the Fund. In this context, again, were discussing the authoritys intention to replace the extended fund facility arrangement that they had with the rapid financing instrument. The aid granted under the IMFs rapid financing initiatives comes without the usual conditionality. But the Fund is working to ensure transparency and prevent corruption by asking all recipient governments to commit to enhanced reporting of crisis-related spending and undertake audits, Mr. Rice said. Mumbai: As India, continuos to follow lockdown restrictions in order to curb coronavirus threat in the country, the worst affected state Maharashtra recorded more than 1 lakh cases of lockdown violations by the people. The total number of offenses registered stands at 1,03,345 which includes 1,291 cases of illegal transport in the state. 19,630 people have been arrested by the Maharashtra police till date after the announcement of lockdown in the state. Police have also seized 55,784 vehicles for breaking the traffic rules and not following the state's guidelines. A fine amounting to Rs 3,87,50,494 have been collected by the Maharashtra police. The state police are working 24X7 to check on people during the coronavirus lockdown. 887 police personnel have been tested COVID-19 positive in the state and 7 have also lost their lives. It is to be noted that the state has recorded the maximum number of cases in India with the tally at 22171 which includes 4199 active cases and 832 deaths. On Monday, Buldhana district of Maharashtra became corona free as the last three-person who tested positive recovered. Total of 24 cases were reported from the district in which 23 recovered and 1 died. Meanwhile, the India tally stands at 67,152 which includes 44,029 active cases, 20,916 recovered cases, 1 migrant patient, and 2,206 deaths as per the Ministry of Health data. REVERB is a new documentary series from CBSN Originals. Watch the latest episode, "Coronavirus in Navajo Nation," in the video player above. Margie Barton unfolded a map of Dilkon in Navajo Nation and pointed to the clusters of households representing 90% of its residents living without running water. Barton is the coordinator of the Dilkon Chapter House, the local administrative and communal center, and is involved in almost all aspects of keeping services up and running for the community including access to clean water. About 30% of the population in the Navajo Nation does not have running water in their homes during a time when hand-washing is critical. It also has one of the highest COVID-19 infection rates per capita in the U.S. "Once it was brought to our attention just how many people were catching and dying from it that's when it hit home here in Dilkon. All of a sudden, everybody is scared," said Barton. "We are a strong people": Doctors on the front lines in Navajo Nation share their stories In response, the Navajo Nation quickly instated the country's most extensive lockdown orders, but inadequate infrastructure and lack of access to basic needs is intensifying the crisis. Homes without running water may only have a 50-gallon tank to siphon water out of, requiring careful use at a time when families can't afford to ration water. navajo-water.jpg A water tank in the backyard of an elderly Navajo woman whose home lacks running water. CBS News "We're at the most southwestern portion of the Navajo Nation, and our needs are dire. We feel like we're forgotten at times," Barton said. Dilkon is located 85 miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona, and spans almost 17 square miles. Those without running water spend hours hauling barrels of water, often on unpaved roads, forced to break social distancing guidelines to meet their daily water needs. It can also be very costly. Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) is the largest tribal multi-utility provider in the U.S. It operates 11 external watering stations for residents to haul water, charging $5 for up to 1,000 gallons. But for those who have to purchase water elsewhere or rely on bottled water, it can cost $1.50 a gallon. A study looking at water issues in Navajo Nation, funded in part by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, found Navajo households without running water paid 71 times the amount that water users in typical urban areas paid. Story continues Dilkon has two water trucks that haul weekly water supplies to elderly tribal members and families with health and transportation issues. Both vehicles were temporarily out of commission awaiting parts for expensive repairs something Barton has to manage frequently due to road conditions and unpaved tough terrain. "They'll have them repaired by next week, then we can start hauling water for the community again," Barton explained. She said 30 families are dependent on the trucks for water. "If the trucks are not running, we ask community members and neighbors to help them. We'll also take boxes of water out to them." navajo-nation-houses.jpg Navajo Nation has one of the highest rates of coronavirus infection in the U.S., and many homes lack running water. CBS News George McGraw is the founder of DigDeep, a nonprofit focused on water access issues. He said the Navajo Nation isn't alone: Over 2 million Americans across all 50 states don't have any running water or a flush toilet at home, but Native Americans have trouble accessing water more than any other group. The United States built one of the world's most successful water and sanitation systems, with the New Deal expanding the development to include rural areas in the 1930s. Still, McGraw said that system was never designed to serve everybody. "If you were poor or a community of color, you were deliberately sidelined out of the infrastructural development built to serve the rest of the country." A study by DigDeep and US Water Alliance, "Closing the Water Access Gap in the United States," identified race as the strongest predictor of access to running water as an American in 2020. It found African American and Latinx households were nearly twice as likely to lack complete plumbing compared to white families, while Native American households were 19 times more likely. The study found race was a more significant factor than income and geography. For tribal communities like the Navajo Nation, a decline in funding has made it hard to catch up to the rest of the country. In 2016, Indian Health Services estimated it would need $2.7 billion to provide water and sanitation infrastructure to all homes on reservations that can be reached by traditional lines, yet Congress appropriated less than 4% of the needed amount. navajo-nation-map.jpg Navajo Nation stretches across portions of three states in the desert Southwest. CBS News The Navajo, along with many other tribes, signed treaties with the federal government over 150 years ago giving up much of their land. In return, they were promised funding to support education, housing, health care and infrastructure. But decades of underfunding and bureaucratic obstacles left many tribal communities frustrated and without basics like running water. Despite insufficient federal funds and extraordinary geographic obstacles, NTUA manages to bring piped water and electricity to almost 70% of all homes in the Navajo Nation. McGraw described the NTUA as heroes. "They maintain water infrastructure that in any other part of the country would just be impossible." The NTUA has 37,000 electricity and 21,151 water ratepayers across an area the size of West Virginia, most of them residential. "In comparison, Los Angeles has millions of ratepayers, and most are industrial with a higher rate, yet the city is barely able to make ends meet," McGraw noted. Still, there are places in Navajo Nation that may have to wait decades for water infrastructure and some communities it may never reach. DigDeep started the Navajo Water Project to help fill that water access gap. Since 2014, they've built over 300 water systems in areas without infrastructure and diminishing clean water supplies. Groundwater in Navajo Nation is often contaminated in areas surrounding some 521 abandoned uranium mines. navajo-water-pump.jpg CBSN Originals' Adam Yamaguchi examines a water pump in Navajo Nation. CBS News "Our clients wake up every morning and the first thing they think of is, 'Where am I going to get enough water today to survive?' It's a daily reality that revolves around your access to water and a reality that most Americans cannot comprehend," said McGraw. Margie Barton enlisted the help of other Dilkon Chapter staff and spent a year and half surveying every household in Dilkon. McGraw recalled, "We got a call from Margie, and she said, 'I know water is not coming anytime soon, so we want to do what you're doing.' Then she sent us boxes and boxes of survey data." They found most of the community members were using barrels to store and use water at home. Dilkon Chapter House and DigDeep have secured enough funding to purchase the first 80 water systems that would use 1,200-gallon cistern tanks and water pumps to get running water into homes off the grid. Clean water still needs to be hauled to the homes, but with careful planning, the water could last families a month. Ten of these systems were installed before the pandemic hit. "We're trying to sustain our community," said Barton. "It's important to be strong. It's essential for living out here." COVID-19 has brought historical inequalities into sharp focus and made addressing these issues more urgent than ever. McGraw said, "When it comes to COVID-19, all we have is prevention. We have no treatment, no vaccine. You can do two things wash your hands frequently and you can isolate yourself from other people. Neither is possible if you don't have running water at home." To inquire further about relief efforts for the Navajo Nation or to make a donation, here are some links to reputable organizations: UnitedNatives.orgTolaniLake.org/ways-to-giveNavajoWaterProject.org NavajoHopiSolidarity.org "CBS Evening News" headlines for Monday, May 11, 2020 Trump tells CBS News reporter to "ask China" about deaths and abruptly end briefing Mom and newborn baby leave hospital after battling coronavirus New Adult-Use Customers Can Only Shop Online or Over-the-Phone for In-Store Pickup Medical Patients Can Shop In-Store, Online or Over-the-Phone for Convenient Curbside or In-Store Pickup BOCA RATON, Fla., May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jushi Holdings Inc. (Jushi or the Company) (CSE: JUSH) (OTCXQ: JUSHF), a globally-focused, multi-state cannabis and hemp operator, announces the beginning of adult-use sales at its dispensary in Normal, Illinois (Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area). As previously announced, Jushis Illinois dispensaries now operate under the Company's BEYOND / HELLO brand. On Monday, May 11, 2020 at 9:00 a.m., BEYOND / HELLO Bloomington-Normal will begin serving adult-use customers through Jushis newly launched online shopping experience at www.beyond-hello.com and over-the-phone orders for in-store pickup. Medical patients can continue to shop in-store as well as place orders online and over-the-phone for either curbside or in-store pickup. Jim Cacioppo, Jushis Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commented, On this day two years ago, BEYOND / HELLO opened up its very first dispensary in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Several store openings later, were now expanding into one of the most attractive and fastest-growing adult-use cannabis markets in the country. We continue to work aggressively to stay ahead of consumer demands, while remaining nimble in our response to COVID-19. Our new online shopping platform delivers a more convenient and transparent shopping experience, while providing an alternative way for our customers to engage with our BEYOND / HELLO retail brand. We look to continue our retail footprint expansion by opening up two additional storefronts in Illinois by year-end, along with several other retail locations in key states like Pennsylvania, Virginia and California. BEYOND / HELLO Bloomington-Normal , located at 501 West Northtown Road, Normal, Illinois, will be open on Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The new retail location will carry flower, pre-rolls, extracts, edibles, cartridges, disposable pens, tinctures, topicals, capsules, pills and various ancillary products such as batteries, vapes, rig and vape cleaning gear and other merchandise. As a part of BEYOND / HELLO's commitment to customer service, a trained staff will be on-site to answer questions and dispense products. The Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area in Central Illinois has a population of approximately 170,000 people, according to the U.S. Census. The area is one of the major economic centers in Central Illinois with both State Farm and Country Financial based in Bloomington. Normal is home to multiple educational institutions, including Illinois State University. With the existing location and a future second site in the area, Jushi plans to operate two of the three dispensaries allowed in the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area. Lastly, in accordance with the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all BEYOND / HELLO retail locations have taken additional steps to further promote a healthy and safe operating environment for all of its patients, customers and employees, including: Launching a new online shopping experience for either curbside or in-store pickup Over the phone pre-orders for either curbside or in-store pickup Frequently sanitizing high-touch surfaces Deep cleaning and sanitizing workstations Sanitizing or washing hands after each transaction Ensuring hand sanitizer is easily accessible Suspending all use of paper menus, demo products, and demo samples Taking the temperature of store employees prior to the start of their shift Positioning staff at every other register when possible Requiring all employees wear masks For more information, please visit https://www.jushico.com/ and https://beyond-hello.com/ . About Jushi Holdings Inc. We are a globally focused cannabis and hemp company led by an industry leading management team. In the United States Jushi is focused on building a multi-state portfolio of branded cannabis and hemp-derived assets through opportunistic acquisitions, distressed workouts and competitive applications. Jushi strives to maximize shareholder value while delivering high quality products across all levels of the cannabis and hemp ecosystem. For more information please visit www.jushico.com or our social media channels, Instagram , Facebook , Twitter and LinkedIn . Forward-Looking Information and Statements This press release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Companys beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Companys control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, will continue, will occur or will be achieved. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein may include, but are not limited to, information concerning the expectations regarding Jushi, or the ability of Jushi to successfully achieve business objectives, and expectations for other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. By identifying such information and statements in this manner, the Company is alerting the reader that such information and statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information and statements. In addition, in connection with the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release, the Company has made certain assumptions. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information and statements are the following: the ability of Jushi to successfully achieve business objectives, including with regulatory bodies, employees, suppliers, customers and competitors; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; changes in applicable laws; and compliance with extensive government regulation, as well as other risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in the Companys Filing Statement dated December 5, 2019 and other filings with securities and regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information or statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking information and statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by this notice. For further information, please contact: Investor Relations Contact: Michael Perlman Executive Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasury Investors@jushico.com (561) 453-1308 Police have voiced anger at the government for making enforcing coronavirus restrictions almost impossible with mixed messages over easing the lockdown. Representatives called for clarity amid widespread confusion. The government has been forced to correct even senior ministers over when people should return to work and whether they can meet relatives and friends in parks. The situation has also been worsened by differences between the rules in England, Wales and Scotland. John Apter, chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said the gaps would add massive confusion for the public. Policing this crisis has been tough, a lack of clarity and mixed messages has made that even harder, he added. If we fail to get clear and unambiguous guidance policing this crisis will become almost impossible. Only the most senior national police leaders were told about the guidance changes in advance, leaving most officers to rely on Boris Johnsons announcement and press reports. The government was forced to issue a swift correction when Dominic Raab advised the public to break the law on Monday morning. The foreign secretary said: If youre out in the park and youre two metres apart, were saying now, and use some common sense and you socially distance, you can meet up with other people. (AFP via Getty Images) (AFP/Getty) But the Health Protection Regulations state that no person may participate in a gathering in a public place of more than two people. There are exceptions, such as if people are working, exercising with members of their household or attending a funeral, but Mr Raab was discussing social meetings with people from different households. The Health Protection Regulations give police the power to arrest or fine people for breaking the law, but will not be updated to take the governments new guidance into account until Wednesday. That means that gatherings of more than two people in public and being outside without reasonable excuse are still illegal. The ban was widely disregarded over the bank holiday weekend, when hot and sunny weather saw people picnicking with friends in parks. Some celebrations held to mark the VE day anniversary also sparked concern, as people appeared to be violating social distancing rules. Days before, several newspapers had reported that the government planned to ease the lockdown on Monday but few of the changes detailed on the front pages came to pass in Mr Johnsons announcement. Mr Apter said mixed messages from the governments release of partial information fuelled by media speculation, meant many people acted as though the lockdown had already ended. This is putting extreme pressure on my colleagues who are on the frontline trying to enforce legislation in these most challenging of times, he added. What we need from the prime minister and the government now is clear and unambiguous messaging and guidance, explaining what exactly is expected of the public, so that my colleagues can do their level best to police it. Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Show all 19 1 /19 Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Two elderly people chat on a street in Valencia, Spain on 4 May EPA Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent People look at the city from Villa Borghese park in Rome during the first day of Italy's next phase in its coronavirus lockdown Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent An elderly couple who has not been outside for nearly two months enjoys the weather as they sit on a bench in a park in Athens on 4 May AFP via Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Henri de Chassey, wearing a protective face mask, kisses his partner Margaux Rebois, who is returning to Paris after spending two months in Brussels on 4 May REUTERS Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A commuter in protective mask wears gloves at an underground station in Brussels as some companies are allowed to bring workers back to the office EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Paralympic swimmer Inigo Llopis prepares to swim in San Sebastian, Spain, for the first time since the lockdown began Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A worker wearing personal protective equipment disinfects a school in Athens as Greece relaxes its nationwide lockdown REUTERS Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A Spanish National Police officer distributes protective masks in Melilla, Spain, on 4 May EPA Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent An employee poses in front of halfway-cured hams in a factory in Guijuelo, Salamanca, Spain, on 4 May EPA Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Workers in protective suits disinfect a high school in Athens as Greece moves to reopen schools for final-year students on 11 May EPA Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A worker disinfects a bus as transport vehicles are disinfected several times a day as part of Belgium's lockdown exit strategy Belga/AFP via Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A worker from Textilia haberdashery in Brussels holds a fabric that can be used to make customised protective face masks as Belgium relaxes its lockdown measures REUTERS/Yves Herman Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A bride tries on a wedding dress at a bridal shop in Madrid on the first day that some small businesses are allowed to open during Spain's lockdown REUTERS Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent People walk across the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping mall in central Milan as Italy eases its lockdown AFP/Getty Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A couple kiss in the Duomo Square in Catania as Italy starts moving out of its lockdown Reuters Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent Mirel Chetan organises the books of the Antonio Machado bookstore in Madrid after 51 days of closure Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A couple kiss in front of the sea in Catania as Italy begins a staged end to a nationwide lockdown due to the spread of the coronavirus disease ANTONIO PARRINELLO/ REUTERS Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A waiter at Caffe Cracco handles takeaway coffee in Milan on 4 May as Italy starts to ease its lockdown Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images Europe emerges from lockdowns across the continent A woman holds a yoga posture as she exercises by the Colosseum monument in Rome on the first day of Italy relaxing its lockdown measures VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images Police officers will continue to do their best, but their work must be based on crystal clear guidance, not loose rules that are left open to interpretation because that will be grossly unfair on officers. Later on Monday, the government released documents detailing the new rules and clarifying what will be allowed in England. Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said the initial lack of clarity would make police officers' job much, much harder. The government has put the police in an extremely difficult position by making announcements several days before the new regulations are introduced or even published, she added. Nor is it clear how the new regulations will be enforced even once published, or how the stay alert message will be clarified for the public. New guidance will be released by the College of Policing on how officers should interpret and apply the changes. The National Police Chiefs Council said it would work to ensure the correct instructions were in place and that policing by consent will continue to be at the heart of our approach. The president of the Police Superintendents Association called for clear and consistent communication with both the public and the police. Chief Superintendent Paul Griffiths said: It is also essential that all sectors play their role in ensuring social distancing, as this cannot fall to policing alone. Fines for breaching the Health Protection Regulations are to rise from 60 to 100 in England from Wednesday. Some police may have gone too far in enforcing lockdown, senior Tory admits The first offence can be halved to 50 if paid within two weeks, but fines will double for repeat violations to a maximum of 3,200. It is not yet clear if the same changes to fines will be adopted in Wales but Northern Ireland is expected to set its own rules on Tuesday. Lockdown fines will remain unchanged in Scotland as its government found no evidence to suggest an increase was required. MPs and civil liberties groups criticised police for overstepping their previous powers, which were misapplied in several parts of the country. Human rights group Liberty said the government had now created more confusion over what we can and cant do, while facing even greater penalties if we get it wrong. Policy and campaigns officer Rosalind Comyn said: If there is a general easement on the lockdown, the police powers must be reduced not increased. The Democratic Alliance (DA) has sent Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel a book titled E-Commerce, a South African Perspective via an e-commerce platform. This, the DA said in a press statement, was to show him how easy and beneficial ecommerce is in the fight against COVID-19. We have also made a step-by-step video for the minister on the purchase of this book, the DA said. This is in the hope it will dispel any lingering questions he may have about his continued ban on unfettered ecommerce trade. The move comes amidst pressure from ecommerce executives and consumers to allow unrestricted ecommerce activity in South Africa. Most countries internationally allow unfettered ecommerce during their COVID-19 lockdowns, because of the contactless nature of the industry. The inverse has happened in South Africa, despite ecommerce being punted as a way to limit the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Online shops are only allowed to sell the products which brick-and-mortar shops are allowed to sell, which severely impacted their operations. The reason for this decision, which many people feel is ill-advised and counter-productive, is fairness. Patel said that ecommerce will continue to operate under restrictions due to concerns over fair competition. If we open up any one category, lets say ecommerce, unavoidably theres enormous pressure to do the same for physical stores, Patel stated. World Trade Organisation fully endorses ecommerce Last week, the World Trade Organisation fully endorsed the use of ecommerce amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has made it clear that ecommerce can be an important tool for consumers, the World Trade Organisation said. Ecommerce can also support small businesses and, by making economies more competitive, be an economic driver for both domestic growth and international trade. The DA said there really can be no further objection from Patel and the government regarding ecommerce. To date, no real and justifiable reasons have been given by anyone on why South Africans cannot buy whatever they want on the various platforms that exist in the country, it said. In the end, the real reason we find ourselves in this position over ecommerce comes down to ideology whereby Minister Patel is using this ban to achieve what he believes is fair. The truth is this crisis has no winners and is not the time to determine what is and is not fair. The DA said it hopes the minister will take their gift of this book and demonstration to heart and finally allow full and unfettered trade in ecommerce. DA shows Minister Patel how easy e-commerce is KAMPALA On Wednesday 6th May 2020, the International Monetary Fund approved $491.5 million which is approximately 1.9 trillion shillings in emergency funding for Uganda. The loan which is under the Rapid Credit Facility of the IMF is meant to enable the landlocked East African nation to address the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the details of the fund, $340m will go to the Central Bank to buttress the countrys reserves and this is projected to ensure stability in the financial sector as Bank of Uganda will be in position to support the currency and other monetary policy duties. Another USD150m will support budget spending with support directed to the health sector and supplies of medicines while part of this USD150m will support private sector businesses through recapitalizing the Uganda Development Bank (UDB). Though the loan is interest-free with a grace period of five and a half years and a 10 year payment period, it raises more questions than answers. The fear on many peoples minds is that not only has the government of Uganda failed to come up with a coherent policy proposal to address the economic impacts of the COVID19 Pandemic, the country has almost drained its coffers under the pretext of responding to the pandemic. It should be noted that the Ministry of Health had projected that it needed only 25 billion shillings to handle the Coronavirus pandemic and even after submitting a supplementary budget to that effect, it is reported to have been puzzled when Parliament increased the budget to 114 billion shillings as the Ministry could not find activities to channel the money to. That is where the 10 billion cash bonanza to Members of Parliament originated from. Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MOFPED) has come up with a myriad of loan proposals and requests as part of disaster response. Among them is a loan request before the floor of Parliament in a bid to deal with the financing gap in the Government budgets for FY 2019/20 and FY 2020/21, Ministry of Finance will seek for a budget support loan on concessional terms worth US$ 100 million for FY 2019/20 and US$ 90 million for FY 2020/21 from the World Bank. With this insatiable appetite for borrowing, Uganda is fast morphing into a nation whose foundation is debt. Ugandas outstanding stock of government debt increased by more than 10% in one financial year from UGX 42.4 trillion in 2017/18 to UGX 47.3 trillion in 2018/19. According to the 2018/2019 Bank of Uganda annual report, Ugandas debt to GDP ratio increased from 38% in FY 2016/17 to 43% in FY 2018/19 and the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in its fiscal Risk statement of 2018 projected debt to GDP ratio to increase 52% in the FY 2021/22. With the trend of borrowing that COVID19 has ignited and with no signs that the appetite for borrowing is yet to be quenched, Ugandas debt to GDP ratio may sooner than later surpass the threshold of 50% by end of FY 2020/21 given that Parliament recently passed a 44.5 trillion budget yet revenue collection is only projected to bring in 23 trillion meaning that the country may have to borrow more than 20 trillion to finance its budget. There are lots of fears about the rampant embezzlement and misuse of public funds and the tough conditions that were set on the government by the IMF as a condition to lending have not arrayed the fears of many Ugandans mainly in the civil society. This is exacerbated by the low absorption capacity and delays in disbursement of borrowed funds and commencement of projects while the government pays interest on the no operational loans. The 2015 Value for Money report by the Office of the Auditor-General unearthed a meagre 37.7% average absorption level and Auditor generals report for the 2017/18 showed a 10% absorption level for some loans. Therefore, the conditions set by the IMF that require the government to publish large procurement contracts where this money will be spent and the establishment of an independent audit on the usage of the money are inadequate and do not address the other systemic issues like low absorption capacity of the loans which are lying idle yet accruing interest. Such a scenario depicts what Hon. Nobert Mao normally likens to shooting and targeting after. Cognizant of the absence of substantial domestic revenue to unlock Ugandas binding constraints to production and export enhancement, I opine that debt is a realistic outside option. However, Ugandas insatiable appetite for borrowing is taking the country to unsustainable debt levels and is even crowding out the private sector as government is becoming a leading internal borrower. It is my opinion that Uganda addresses its loan absorption capacity and also initiates measures to ensure the loans are used to enhance its production and export potential. ============================================ Prosper Mubangizi is a Policy Analyst with Parliament Watch. He is a consultant on Governance, Post Legislative Scrutiny and Youth Inclusion Related Continue Reading Real Housewives of Melbourne star Christa Billich has revealed she has undergone a facelift, neck lift and the shortening of her upper lip. The 75-year-old socialite spoke to New Idea magazine on Monday, revealing the surgery secrets of her recent $15,000 'freshen up'. 'I look younger and the sagging skin is gone,' said Christa, 75, who is married to artist Charles Billich. Facelift, neck lift and a shortening of her upper lip: Christa Billich, 75, has revealed her $15,000 surgery secrets. (L) In April. (R) In November, 2018 Christa, however, said her lip procedure was harder to get used to. 'My lips are changed and that takes a bit of getting used to. My big smile doesn't work quite the way it did,' she said. 'But I have a much better pout now when I want to kiss somebody.' Pucker up! 'My lips are changed and that takes a bit of getting used to. My big smile doesn't work quite the way it did,' Christa told the publication. Here with RHOM co-star Gina Liano The three-hour procedure was performed at Geniale medical aesthetic centre in Drummoyne - with the intent of shaving '12 years' off her face'. Christa dismissed any criticism, with the TV star saying it was important to look good at any age. The German-born socialite has been married to art gallery owner Charles Billich for the past 30 years. Glam: German-born Christa is the wife of art gallery owner, Charles Billich (right) Charles migrated from Croatia in 1956 when it was apart of Yugoslavia, and he and his wife later returned to his homeland to get married. He is one of Australia's most renowned artists and is also well-known for being a self-confessed swinger. Christa, who is his business manager, told New Idea magazine in 2016 about the bizarre nature of their wedding life. Famed: Charles is one of Australia's most renowned artists and is also well-known for being a self-confessed swinger The blonde beauty said she was 'upset at the time' after he slept with someone else but got over it quickly and the next three decades have been 'mostly happy'. 'Charles promised he would be loyal but he would never be faithful, and he's kept that promise,' she said, admitting that the philandering cuts both ways. They are so open with each other about the arrangement that Christa is even good friends with some of the 82-year-old's ex-girlfriends. The five-day extradition trial of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi to face charges of major financial offences in India is set to begin in the Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday, with New Delhi making a second extradition request in February. Modi, 49, is now the subject of two extradition requests; one processed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the other by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Lodged in the Wandsworth jail since arrest in March 2019, he has been refused bail five times. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which represents India in UK courts, said Modi is likely to take part in the extradition trial by video-link. Charges against Modi involve a Mumbai branch of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) that extended his companies loans worth over Rs 11,300 crore. Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings. The CBI case relates to large-scale fraud upon PNB, through the fraudulent obtaining of Letters of Understanding (LOUs/loan agreements); the ED case relates to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. The second extradition request was made on the basis of two additional offences as part of the CBI case. It was certified by home secretary Priti Patel on February 20 as required under the 1993 India-UK extradition treaty. The additional offences relate to allegations that Modi interfered with the CBI investigation by causing disappearance of evidence and intimidating witnesses (criminal intimidation to cause death). They have not been joined to the CBI case, but will be dealt with at a separate later hearing likely in July, the CPS said. Despite offering to raise the bail security amount to 4 million pounds, UK courts have refused Modi bail on the ground that he posed a flight risk and had the means to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and four other candidates from the ruling alliance filed their nominations on Monday for the May 21 MLC polls. The chief minister, who is currently not a member of either of the Houses of the state Legislature, submitted his nomination papers to the election officer here. He was accompanied by his wife Rashmi Thackeray, son and state Cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray and Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut. Neelam Gorhe, the deputy chairperson of Maharashtra Legislative Council, also filed her nomination papers from the Shiv Sena. Besides, NCP leaders Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari and Congress' Rajesh Rathod also filed their papers. Elections for nine seats of the state Legislative Council are scheduled on May 21. The ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, has fielded five candidates. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who is also president of the Shiv Sena, is set to enter the Legislative Council unopposed as the Congress on Sunday announced that it would withdraw one of its two nominees. The opposition BJP has announced four candidates - Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke and Ajit Gopchhade - who filed their nominations on Friday. Monday is the last day for filing nominations. The scrutiny of papers will take place on Tuesday and the last date for withdrawal of papers is May 14. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Here are todays top news, analysis and opinion. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times. Supreme Court forms 3-member team to look into J&K 4G mobile internet case The Supreme Court on Monday constituted a three-member committee to look into demand for allowing 4G mobile internet in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. There is a nationwide shutdown in place till May 17 to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Read more Some evidence of community spread of Covid-19 in parts of Maharashtra: State health official There is some evidence of community transmission of Covid-19 in parts of Mumbai and Maharashtra, state disease surveillance officer Dr Pradip Awate told HT. However, the overall picture in Maharashtra is that of cluster cases, the official said. Read more Covid-19: As Dharavi inches towards 900-mark, civic authorities plan special hospital for area The Dharavi slum continues to be a major Covid-19 hotspot in Mumbai, recording 26 new cases on Sunday. With this, the total number of Covid-19 patients in Dharavi rose to 859. Twenty nine people have died of the disease till now, authorities said. Read more Three in Chamba test positive for Covid-19 after meeting infected truck-driver over drinks Three people, who disregarded social distancing norms and met a Covid-19 patient over drinks, tested positive for the coronavirus disease in Chamba on Sunday. Chamba deputy commissioner Vivek Bhatia said the trio had attended a party with a truck-driver who had tested positive for Covid-19 on May 6. Read more UGC issues helpline, email address for redressal of grievances related to Covid-19 After issuing guidelines for the examination and academic calendar on April 29, the University Grants Commission (UGC) on Sunday requested all educational institutes to establish a cell for handling grievances of the students related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more Knew Sachin would hit over mid-wicket: Wasim Akram reveals plan that turned 1999 India vs Pakistan Test Former left-arm pacer Wasim Akram, who was the captain of Pakistan during their historic tour of India in 1999, recalled the pulsating Chennai Test match, revealing how he and Saqlain Mushtaq decided to take a risk against an in-form Sachin Tendulkar which luckily paid off. Read more National Technology Day: Here are 5 things you should know about it India is observing its 29th National Technology Day today. The day, which was first observed on May 11, 1999, aims to commemorate the scientific and technological achievements of Indian scientists and engineers. Read more Kartik Aaryans mom scolds him for not sharing Mothers Day post, he says I get lakhs for each post, will you pay? Watch As almost the entire Bollywood fraternity flooded social media with pictures of their moms on Mothers Day, Kartik Aaryan missed out on the opportunity and this did not go down well with his mother Mala Tiwari. Read more Netizens are waiting to walk down the aisle to say I do to these things The Internet is buzzing with a trend that you may highly relate to if youre itching to go out. After sitting at home for quite a long time, many of us are suffering from lockdown blues and daydreaming about all those places we would frequent - like a regular hangout spot or the mall on weekends or even a movie here or there. Read more Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt: Throwback to the most stunning celebrity looks in white The colour white has always remained a favourite in fashion be it for the maximalists or the minimalists. As they say, you can never go wrong with the white and many designer labels across the world have used the colour for numerous collections. Read more Watch: Will PM-CMs decide on lockdown exit & the man living at airport for 2 months? General Meeting under COVID-19 conditions Brisbane, May 11, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Lithium explorer and developer Lake Resources NL ( ASX:LKE ) ( FRA:LK1 ) ( OTCMKTS:LLKKF ) refers to the Notice of Meeting released to the Market on 14 April 2020 and provides an update regarding the Company's upcoming Extraordinary General Meeting to be conducted on Thursday 14 May 2020 at 11:00am (AEST) at Automic Group, Level 5, 126 Phillip Street, Sydney NSW 2000. Shareholders are not permitted to physically attend the meeting due to the Government restrictions on physical meetings and health risks associated with COVID-19 and social distancing measures still currently in place.Shareholders are able to attend the meeting via virtual means by joining the live weblink. Shareholders who wish to attend the Meeting via weblink must register their attendance with the Company by 11am (AEST) on Wednesday 13 May 2020, the day prior to the Meeting, by emailing the Company Secretary at cosec@lakeresources.com.au and including your Holder Name, Address and HIN or SRN. The Company will then provide you with the necessary details to participate in the Meeting via the weblink.Shareholders are encouraged to submit any questions they may have of the Company in writing to the Company Secretary at cosec@lakeresources.com.au by 5.00pm (AEST) on Wednesday 13 May 2020, the day prior to the meeting. The Company will also provide Shareholders with the opportunity to ask questions during the meeting. No new presentation will be provided. Shareholders are directed to the recent presentation on the company's website and the recent webinar.The Company reminds and encourages Shareholders to submit their proxy form to ensure their votes are cast. Proxy forms must be submitted by no later than 11am (AEST) on Tuesday 12 May 2020.About Lake Resources NL Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) (OTCMKTS:LLKKF) is a clean lithium developer utilising clean, direct extraction technology for the development of sustainable, high purity lithium from its flagship Kachi Project, as well as three other lithium brine projects in Argentina. The projects are in a prime location within the Lithium Triangle, where 40% of the world's lithium is produced at the lowest cost. This method will enable Lake Resources to be an efficient, responsibly-sourced, environmentally friendly and cost competitive supplier of high-purity lithium, which is readily scalable, and in demand from Tier 1 electric vehicle makers and battery makers. Stark and inexcusable. That was Education Secretary Betsy DeVos reaction to the recently released National Assessments of Educational Progress, otherwise known as the nations report card. Whenever the results are released, experts converge to suggest poor civics literacy is at the root of all of the countrys issues. Yet despite dips of a few points in scores on history, geography and civics, this years results were largely the same as results of tests past. (And, scores aside, researchers have taken aim at the NAEP methodology before.) But DeVos tone makes more sense considering the rest of her press release. Americas antiquated approach to education is creating a generation of future leaders who will not have a foundational understanding of what makes this country exceptional, she continued. She called the scores proof of the need to fundamentally rethink education in America. For the billionaire DeVos, that can only mean one thing funneling public wealth toward pet projects like charter schools. To be considered proficient in civics by NAEP standards, students must grapple with some key ideas and concepts. As NAEP puts it, they should know how citizens can influence the government, understand the differences between government and civil society, and between American ideals and reality. A look at the DeVos familys reach can, on its own, provide a lesson in how these civic principles operate today. Just days before the NAEP results were released, a group of people in DeVos home state of Michigan blocked traffic including a hospital entrance to demand Gov. Gretchen Whitmer end stay-at-home orders in a state hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Similar protests have since taken place across the country, even as far more Americans say they are more concerned about businesses opening up too quickly than too slowly. So heres a civics question to consider. More than three-fourths of polled Americans say they think the stay-at-home orders are working, and only a small percent say theyd feel comfortable getting on a plane or going to an event. So why was news of these protests papered all over news networks? As several outlets reported, the protests are backed by political forces linked to the ultra-wealthy, including Trump allies like Stephen Moore, who admitted to helping organize the protests, and DeVos herself. The Michigan Freedom Fund, which helped publicize the first protest, is headed up Greg McNeilly a longtime DeVos ally. These are the people who want to sacrifice the lives of front-line workers in order to open the economy to preserve their own wealth. The funding from the Michigan Freedom Funds associated political action committee comes almost entirely from the DeVos family. The group was heavily involved with a 2012 right-to-work campaign in the state, yet another reminder that the DeVos business ethic requires sacrifices to worker health and dignity to further enrich the rich. To top things off, the protests have attracted some of the most unsavory members of the far right. Several of these billionaire-backed campaigns have featured known white nationalists waving confederate flags. And while DeVos allies help bring white supremacists into the streets, she manages to find other ways to funnel public goods into private hands through her charter school agenda. As journalist Jeff Bryant pointed out in Inequality.org (a publication I co-edit), DeVos has used the pandemic to send millions of dollars toward charter operators. Its not like theyre helping students a recent report found that $1.17 billion in federal funding has gone toward charter schools that either never opened or shut down. Where did the funds go? One operator, which received $72 million in federal funds, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury travel and tickets to sporting events. The NAEP asks students to understand the difference between government and civil society. But how does that account for actors like DeVos, or any of the other hundreds of American billionaires who use their wealth to distort politics for their gain? Civic literacy isnt the problem. The real issue is billionaires like DeVos who look at the state and see levers of power they can exercise to enrich themselves and their friends, regardless of the cost to the rest of the public. Negin Owliaei is a researcher and co-editor of Inequality.org at the Institute for Policy Studies. She wrote this for InsideSources.com. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 The Tax Office has boosted security checks on the federal government's superannuation early access scheme, which reopened on Monday as investigations continue into up to 150 cases of fraud. While the ATO last week confirmed its systems had not been compromised, a spokeswoman said enhancements had been made to increase the end-to-end security of the scheme. The ATO has enhanced end-to-end security of the superannuation early access scheme. Credit:Michele Mossop "The ATO will now run additional risk filters over all files before they are delivered to [super] funds and provide additional information to funds to assist them in their own fraud-prevention processes. The files will still be delivered to funds within publicised service standards," the spokeswoman said. She urged people not to share their myGov log-in details with anyone, including tax agents. Anuja Susan Varghese By Express News Service KOCHI: When she completed her BSc nursing around a one-and-half years ago, Neenu Varghese, 23, like her classmates, had her eyes set on a career in the West, preferably the European Union. For her, the good pay and less cumbersome immigration process were the USPs for a career overseas. But when developed countries, from the US to Europe and West Asia, started tightening immigration rules, preferring natives to immigrants for jobs, Neenu suffered a setback. Now, she feels things will change for the better. The Kerala model of fighting COVID-19 and its healthcare system is being appreciated globally. I believe this will usher in more opportunities for nurses and doctors from Kerala abroad in the coming years, said Neenu who is waiting to clear the B2 paper (a language proficiency paper) in German language and then fly to Germany. I am very hopeful I will be able to do so, said the Angamaly resident. Every year, thousands of nursing students pass out from nearly 100 nursing colleges in the state and the coming years could prove helpful for them, thanks to the recognition the state is getting, said experts. They said the pandemic has led to a surge in the need and demand for qualified healthcare professionals, primarily doctors and nurses, across the globe. Many countries, including the UK, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the US, have turned to India to fill critical gaps in their overstretched healthcare system and have eased immigration regulations to facilitate the entry of nurses and doctors from other nations. This has opened up a flood of opportunities for nurses keen on working abroad. While Oman and Qatar are not entertaining recruitment of nurses, UK requires a large number of them, as the National Health Service plans to bring at least 10,000 nurses for recruitment. Due to the lockdown, this process has been affected, said Ajinas A M, Assistant Secretary-General of Trained Nurses Association of India. Doctors said there is a demand for Indian nurses abroad. Sources said soon, over 4,000 nurses will be recruited to work in Saudi Arabia and over 2,000 in Kuwait. The advantage for nurses from India is that they have good theoretical and practical knowledge. Short of prescribing medicines and conducting independent surgeries, our nurses can do anything in healthcare. Maternity and gynaecology nurses are in demand abroad. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have requested the Centre to facilitate the movement of nurses, Ajinas said. He said the UK is in need of nurses and doctors especially due to Brexit. Most of the nurses who worked in the UK shifted to countries like New Zealand and Australia. The formalities to recruit around 3,000 nurses is over but they are unable to travel due to the lockdown, he said. As per Indian Nursing Council records, there are over 17 lakh nurses in India. This is definitely a good opportunity for nurses, but there is a risk. It will be a long time before we get rid of the virus and we will have to live with it until then. As far as the nurses are concerned, they are prepared for the worst, said Dr Abraham Varghese, state president of Indian Medical Association. A irlines and airports were plunged into fresh uncertainty on Monday as the governments signals of 14 day quarantine for inbound travellers battered the sectors share prices. EasyJet stock tumbled 7% and aero engines maker Rolls-Royce slumped 4% as the time horizon for a recovery of the embattled industry extended ever further. Heathrows chief executive urged the Government to take the lead on uniting countries to agree on a common standard for safe travel, as he warned on the impact from a quarantine plan. John Holland-Kaye wants international airports and governments to have a consensus for all airports for when lockdowns ease. That could include all passengers wearing face masks and having temperature checks. He said a common international standard for health in aviation would mean passengers can travel freely between low risk countries once the infection rate has been brought down. Glyn Jones, chief executive at Southend airport operator Stobart Aviation said: International agreement on a clear and consistent approach to safe airport and airline operations is imperative, so that passengers can have the confidence they need to resume travel when the time is right. The pleas come as Britain prepares for a quarantine plan, with growing speculation it could be for a 14-days. The Prime Minister yesterday said it will soon be the time... to impose quarantine on people coming into this country by air. Heathrow, which today reported passenger numbers plunged 92% in April when travel restrictions hit the airport, warned a two-weeks quarantine would effectively close borders. Europes busiest airport said it is likely that few passenger flights will operate and even fewer people will travel until the quarantine is lifted. Holland-Kaye said: The Government needs to urgently lay out a roadmap for how they will reopen borders once the disease has been beaten. Charlie Cornish, chief executive of MAG, which owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports, said: The Government needs to be clear that a quarantine for passengers arriving into the UK can only be a short-term measure". Cornish added: Any quarantine is going to affect the whole aviation sector significantly. To protect the UK travel industry, we need to know how the quarantine will work, how long it will last and how businesses will be supported during this further period of near-zero demand." Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, the trade body representing UK-registered airlines, said: Public health is the priority and we need to see the full details of the proposals. But it is now vital that airlines get urgent additional Government support to get us through this growing crisis. A spokesman for London City Airport said: We recognise that there are no easy options for Government, however its imperative that a roadmap is developed to ensure any quarantine can be eased and then lifted just as soon as possible." STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Ive always wanted to be a nurse from the time I was very young, I always wanted to be involved in something in the medical field, said Nichole Nesci, 32. There was something inside of me that always drew me to it. Nesci, a Westerleigh resident, has been a member of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) for nearly three years, and as the coronavirus (COVID-19) has gripped New York City inexorably, she has seen her role of providing comfort care to patients and their families change significantly. Ranging from providing medication to residents, playing music to provide consolation and educating family members to ensure understanding, Nesci is part of a small army of nurses at VSNY treating over 100 vulnerable Staten Islanders. Working 12-hour shifts, Nesci assists five coordinators of care on Staten Island that divvy up the borough each treating between about a dozen to 20 patients in either assisted-living, nursing home or at-home settings. If they cant get to this patient on that schedule, then I would be the one who picks that up, Nesci said. VNSNY, a non-profit that has existed for over 125 years, has a wide swath of services for city residents, but its visiting nursing service serves as a part of the fabric of hospital workers, nursing home staff and others who have seen their roles magnified on Staten Island during the coronavirus outbreak. That role, according to interviews with multiple VNSNY nurses, is centered around individual patients and their families. Naturally, patients require different needs and families have varying goals, all of which require Nesci to be adaptive on a daily basis; however, Most of the time, their goals are no more hospitalizations quality of life and remaining at home and having as much quality time with family and loved ones as possible, she said. So thats my goal," Nesci said. Interventions to complete those goals include weekly visits, but also educating family members about what to prepare for even in the most tragic of circumstances. Were there to explain to them what to expect how the process progresses the transition process to the end-of-life process to the symptoms you might see...," Nesci said. And, at a time when visiting is restricted to nursing homes, Nesci said many families struggle with the emotional burden of being unable to see their loved ones. While using tele-health options when possible, including to screen patients before an in-person visit, Nesci said VNSNY has adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) to see patients in these facilities not only to be there for the patient, but to support the families. We act as like the advocate, Nesci said. Were the bridge between the facility staff and the family. Nescis experience with her own family fuels her ambition today. About seven years ago, her grandmother fell ill, and along with her family Nesci became her caretaker." Even as she had her child, Nesci said she would have the playpen next to me on one side and grandma on the other side of me. At the end of her grandmothers life, her family really, really wanted to bring her home and provide hospice services for her to allow her to enjoy her last days at home," Nesci said, but her grandmother never made it back. Knowing all that I know now, looking back on that time in my life, I wish we would have done things differently, Nesci said, saying her grandmothers final days have affected how she approaches every patient she comes into contact with. I take all of those feelings and those emotions and everything I experienced at that time and I use it every time I go into a patients home," she said. I use that by educating a family on what I really see is happening with the patient. I try to give them tips and pointers on how to provide more comfort ... thats what really brought me to this. Mike Guglielmelli, 26, a Grasmere native and lifelong Staten Islander who is a registered nurse for VNSNY. (Photo courtesy of VNSNY) HOME CARE For Mike Guglielmelli, 26, a Grasmere native and lifelong Staten Islander who is a registered nurse for VNSNY Home Care, his experience with his mother who fought and beat breast cancer in 2010 is a driving force in his quest to help others. I just saw how the nurses and the physicians really took care of her, Guglielmelli said. And after that, you know, I said, this is what I want to do. Treating borough residents in their homes, he said his job is focused on assessing patients individual needs and providing education, whether its therapy services, getting them in contact with different types of physicians and teaching the patients, teaching the family, assessing their emotional needs as well, not just physical. The coronavirus, however, has upended patients and left some incapable of understanding the totality of their situation. Some of these patients are, you know, theyre fine one day and then a few hours later theyre going into the hospital, being intubated, waking up a week or two weeks later before coming home only days afterwards, he said. So its a lot for them to really absorb and see, Guglielmelli said, adding that emotional support has been key for those recovering from the virus, and those thrust out of their homes and into hospitals or other medical settings. The emotional toll on a patient even one who recovered from the coronavirus could cause depression, anxiety and confusion, he said, making him a facilitator to try and find the best safe place to speak freely, including psychiatric or therapeutic help. And with unknowns still surrounding the virus, Guglielmelli said the task of teaching family members is one he views as paramount. Many relatives want to provide direct care to these patients, so educating those in the home with a VNSNY patient about elements of the virus, including transmission, is integral in providing the best care. And, with them too, we have to offer a lot of emotional support because that is a lot of stress, a lot of fear ... knowing that they could possibly catch it." Despite the strenuous circumstances, Guglielmelli said the success stories help keep him innately absorbed in his goal to help patients. I have a patient that on (a ventilator) for 25 days and woke up and just couldnt walk ... this is someone who had wounds from being in bed for so long, he said. And now she is walking with a cane. And by next week, she wont even need the cane." When they take those first steps, its really, really amazing. Alisa Giambalvo, a Tottenville resident, is an eight-year veteran of VNSNY. (Photo courtesy of VNSNY) THIS IS MY HOME HERE IN STATEN ISLAND Alisa Giambalvo, an eight-year veteran of VNSNY, serves as a hospital liaison for the non-profit at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) in West Brighton. On-call 24 hours a day and seven days a week, Giambalvo, a Tottenville native of 20 years, is responsible for the inpatient hospice for VNSNY at RUMC, and works to screen patients being moved from home or nursing home care into a hospital setting in an effort to have patients avoid the emergency room and go directly to a bed. However, with visiting still restricted at the boroughs hospitals, and facilities still caring for dozens of coronavirus patients on Staten Island, Giambalvo said her role of providing comfort to patients and their families has become more challenging than before. Donned in a full outfit of PPE, including a gown, face shield, two pairs of gloves and booties, Giambalvo said the effort to contain the spread of the virus between her patients in RUMC has been immense changing her snowsuit-like attire between rooms. And, serving as a binding force between patients and their families, sometimes otherwise unable to see their loved ones, she said she has focused on the small moments of humanity she has been able to provide. Ive been able to FaceTime the families and give them the chance to say goodbye or to see the patient, she said. And it really brings comfort to them. When they see you holding the patients hand and spending some time in the room and stroking their hair, they understand that for that time that Im with the patient, we are the patients family, that were really giving them a lot of support," she said. Working alongside workers at RUMC, she said she has seen the brunt of the coronavirus and its effect on its staff. Youre seeing patients come in, in sometimes rough shape and then sometimes, you know, theyre not going to leave the hospital, Giambalvo said. Its taken its toll on a lot of nurses and physicians, she said, and I think that you really have to have a good support system, which at VNSNY we do. For herself, a longtime borough resident, Giambalvo said she is managing through the help of a very, very strong faith based background and by doing the best that I can do every day. This is my home here in Staten Island, and I would do everything for the community that I possibly can to support them, she said. And, while numbers are declining" on the borough, which has seen a dip in new cases and deaths in recent weeks, somebody knows somebody that was affected by the virus, Giambalvo said, speaking to the prevalence of the virus not only globally, but locally as well. Doing her part to help those neighbors affected, she said I think that the best thing that we can do is try to alleviate suffering. I really do believe that knowing that they can have a peaceful passing, you know, with respect and dignity I think thats really what its all about. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 18:41:01|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close VIENNA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) daily basket price stood at 22.21 U.S. dollars a barrel last Friday, compared with 22.91 dollars on Thursday, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations released on Monday. The OPEC basket, also known as the OPEC reference basket of crude oil (ORB), is a weighted average of oil prices from different OPEC members around the world and an important benchmark for crude oil prices. It currently averages the oil prices of 13 countries, namely Algeria, Angola, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. Enditem A case about the appropriate separation between church and state is taking centre stage at the United States Supreme Court, which is hearing arguments by telephone for a second week because of the coronavirus pandemic. The case involving two ex-Catholic school teachers and their former employers is one of the two the court is tackling on Monday. The three days of arguments last week might be considered something of a warm-up, a test of how telephone arguments would work and of making the audio of arguments live for the first time. The stakes are higher later this week when the cases include high-profile fights over President Donald Trumps financial records and whether presidential electors have to cast their Electoral College ballots for the candidate who wins the popular vote in their state. Those cases will be heard on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Monday, the court is hearing a case involving Kristen Biel and Agnes Morrissey-Berru, former fifth grade teachers at Catholic schools in California. Biel taught at St James Catholic School in Torrance and Morrissey-Berru at Our Lady of Guadalupe in nearby Hermosa Beach. Morrissey-Berrus teaching contract was not renewed in 2015, when she was in her 60s, after she had taught for more than 15 years at the school. And Biels contract was not renewed after she disclosed she had breast cancer and would need time off. Both sued their former employers, with Morrissey-Berru alleging age discrimination and Biel alleging disability discrimination. A lower court said both lawsuits could go forward, but the schools have appealed and have the support of the Trump administration. The question for the justices is whether the schools are exempt from being sued as a result of a unanimous 2012 Supreme Court decision that said the Constitution prevents ministers from suing their churches for employment discrimination. The so-called ministerial exception ensures that control over religious functions lies with the church, not the state, to the great benefit of both, the schools have told the court. The schools argue that both women count as ministers, in part because they taught religion among other subjects. Lawyers for Morrissey-Berru and Biel disagree. Biel died last year at age 54 after a five-year battle with breast cancer. Her husband has pursued the case in her place. The other case the justices are hearing arguments in on Monday is about whether a large swath of eastern Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa, remains indigenous land that belongs to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The issue is whether tribal members can be prosecuted in state court for crimes committed on indigenous land, and has been heard before the court before. Eight justices apparently were evenly divided after the first round of arguments involving a Native American man who was convicted of murder. Justice Neil Gorsuch took no part in that case, because he participated in it at an earlier stage when he was a judge on the federal appeals court in Denver. But he will participate in Mondays arguments involving a convicted child molester, who is also a member of the Creek Nation. Losing a dog is a gut-wrenching experience for anyone no matter the pups age, and many wish their dogs could live longer lives. A recent paper in Frontiers in Genetics (a scientific publisher and research network) examined the genome of two dogs who lived to extremely old ages, 22 and 27 years old, and provides researchers with more information about what contributes to dogs becoming centenarians. If we better understand the mechanisms of aging in dogs, we can promote a healthier lifestyle for dogs, David Jonas, a research fellow at the Department of Ethology at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary, told TODAY via email. If pet dogs live longer and healthier, it could have a positive impact not only on the dogs themselves, but on the mental health of their owners as well. Researchers analyzed the genome of two extremely old dogs, Kedves, a 22-year-old female, and, Buksi, a 27-year-old male. Both dogs have since passed away, but their DNA might provide insight into canine aging. (Molnar Gerencser) For this study, the researchers sequenced the DNA of two dogs, Kedves, a 22-year-old female, and, Buksi, a 27-year-old male, what researchers called Methuselah dogs. These canines have a 50% longer lifespan than others (much like a human centenarian). Researchers were looking for genes they share that might explain their extended lifespan. This was the first study that investigated the genetic background of aging in dogs using whole-genome sequencing methods. We made the complete DNA information of these dogs publicly available for both scientists and the general public, Jonas, the author of the paper, said. We identified genes that are probably linked to extreme longevity in dogs. So what exactly did these genes reveal? Well, it's a little complicated. When we examined the approximately 20,000 canine genes, we found some so-called start- and stop-codon mutations, which might result in disrupted gene functions. It is worth further examining these genes: first to verify that these mutations are true positives, then to investigate their biological effects as well, noted Sara Sandor, a geneticist who was involved in the research, in a press release. Story continues Some of the genes that overlapped between their two genomes are related to immunity, inflammation and Alzheimer's in humans. These findings helped them develop a hypothesis for further research with a larger sample size of elderly dogs: A crucial genetic requirement of extreme longevity lies within the fine-tuning (i.e. the superior calibration) of gene expression. While it is too soon to say what this study means for the average dog owner, having a better understanding of canine aging might change how people might think of breeding dogs, said Carlos Alvarez, who was not involved with the research. One of the things that (breeders) would like the most is to create healthy dogs, said Alvarez, a principal investigator at the Research Institute at Nationwide Childrens Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The idea of breeding dogs to be healthy is almost overwhelming to think about. However, if you put the question in terms of life span, the fact that you have genetic variations that can increase or decrease lifespan, that's much easier to think about. The dogs in this small study enjoyed lives in the countryside that involved a lot of exercise and contact with humans. (Molnar Gerencser) Currently, people breed dogs to attain a certain look such as big eyes or squishy faces and those looks often impact a pups overall health. But this new understanding about aging might change how people think about dogs, Alvarez said. We selected very strongly for appearance traits and by doing that we made dogs more susceptible for diseases, he said. By doing genetic studies, we can start to think about what we did and select now for health. Whats more, the researchers suspect that if they understand what contributes to healthy aging in dogs, they might gain insight into how people age, too. It can also contribute to better understanding of the aging process in humans as well, because dogs share the same environment with their owners, which presumably makes the obtained results more relevant and applicable to human studies, Jonas said. Amnesty report documents 18 attacks on clinics and schools in violations that amount to war crimes. Acts that amount to war crimes have been committed by Russian-backed Syrian government forces in northwest Syria over the past year, according to an Amnesty International report. The UK-based rights group said on Monday the attacks include indiscriminately targeting civilian infrastructures. It documented 18 attacks on medical facilities and schools that took place between May 5, 2019, and February 25, 2020, in Idlib, Hama, and western Aleppo. Evidence shows that, in their entirety, the documented attacks by Syrian and Russian government forces entailed a myriad of serious violations of international humanitarian law, the report said. These violations amount to war crimes. The report found that the majority of the attacks occurred in January and February this year, during the governments latest onslaught that aimed to capture the last opposition-held pocket in the country. An escalation in fighting created the worst displacement crisis of the war in Syria, now in its 10th year. Nearly one million people were forced to flee, with many seeking shelter in the already overcrowded camps near the sealed border with Turkey. A ceasefire has largely held since early March, but hundreds of thousands remain displaced and highly dependent on aid even as the rebel-held region braces for a possible outbreak of the new coronavirus. Among the documented attacks were Russian air raids near a hospital in Ariha on January 29 that demolished at least two residential buildings and killed 11 civilians, it said. A Syrian boy removes a dead chicken from the debris of a building hit in an air raid in Idlib [File: Umit Bektas/Reuters] I felt so helpless. My friend and colleague dying, children and women screaming outside We were all paralysed, a doctor, who survived the attack, told Amnesty, adding that it took the civil defence two days to remove the bodies from underneath the rubble of one the flattened buildings. Raining shrapnel Amnesty also blamed the Syrian government for an attack using internationally banned cluster munitions on a school that killed three people in Idlib city on February 25. A teacher who witnessed the attack said she knew the sound of cluster munition attacks very well. You hear a series of small explosions. As if the sky were raining shrapnel instead of water, she said. The report also highlighted threats to international aid and the depth of the humanitarian crisis, where unsafe displacement conditions and a strained humanitarian response persist. Researchers interviewed 74 people, including direct witnesses of attacks, displaced people who provided accounts of conditions in displacement, local and international aid workers and UN staff members for the 39-page report. The latest offensive continued an abhorrent pattern of widespread and systematic attacks aimed at terrorising the civilian population, Amnestys MENA Regional Director Heba Morayef said. Russia has continued to provide invaluable military support including by directly carrying out unlawful air strikes despite evidence that it is facilitating the Syrian militarys commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Syrias war has killed more than 400,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. Tehran: A missile fired during an Iranian military training exercise mistakenly struck a naval vessel instead of its intended target in waters near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15 others, Iranian authorities say. The bungled training exercises took place on Sunday and raised new questions about the readiness of the Islamic Republic's armed forces amid heightened tensions with the US, just months after they accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran, killing 176 passengers. The Iranian Army released this image of the Konarak vessel, which was struck during a training exercise. The ship is docked at an unidentified naval base in Iran. Credit:Iranian Army It also comes soon after a tense naval encounter between Iranian and US forces in the nearby Persian Gulf. US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers two years ago, launching a maximum pressure campaign against Iran that has pushed the arch-rivals to the verge of conflict repeatedly. If you are struggling with call drops and poor mobile data speeds at home, some relief might be on its way soon. It is expected that the Department of Telecom will implement some new measures to help improve mobile network connectivity at a time when most people are working from home and are relying on voice calls as well as data for video calls and instant messages to stay connected with colleagues. It is believed that the DoT is milling measures to improve network to match the increased demand. The indications were there. Data suggests that the daily mobile data usage in India surged to 380 Petabytes in December 2019, up from 250 Petabytes. As part of that discussion, it is expected that DoT may accept the demand for additional backhaul spectrum made by the mobile service providers. Backhaul spectrum is used by telecom companies to connect and transfer data between towers. This will help in improving connectivity. At this time, CNBC TV18 reports that the DoT is studying the requirements as put forth by all telcos, and a decision is expected by next week. Sources say Backhaul spectrum of 11-20 GHz is being considered. The pending approvals for network equipment may also be fast-tracked, the report suggests. There has been a significant shift in the load on mobile networks. The towers around commercial and office hubs are generally designed to take additional load of users, as the density of mobile users in that area tends to be higher. That may not be true for network hardware and towers in residential areas, where mobile operators wouldnt have expected such a sudden spike in loadeveryone from the commercial zones is now connecting to the network from their home. However, it is unlikely that the DoT will allow telecom companies access to additional spectrum. The telecom operators are providing the details of congestion on their networks. DoT may also allow operators to enable Dynamic IP addresses on their network for devices that connectas long as the necessary security measures are in place. In some good news for the 181 passengers who were scheduled to fly from Doha to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala on Sunday on a special Air India Express plane, their re-scheduled flight is likely to operate on Tuesday from the Qatari capital. AFP The flight which was originally scheduled for Sunday was canceled last minute after it was denied permission for landing in Doha. The flight was to leave from the Karipur Airport in Kozhikode around 1.30 pm to airlift 181 stranded Indians but was not given landing permission from the Interior Ministry of Qatar following which it has been cancelled. "It has been rescheduled for Tuesday. We are in regular contact with the Indian embassy," Thiruvananthapuram District Collector K Gopalakrishnan said, adding, they had not received details on why the landing permission was not given. While no official explanation has been given for the denial of landing permission, the Indian Embassy in Qatar said the flight was cancelled for technical reasons, without elaborating further. Unfortunately IX-374 scheduled for today from Doha to Thiruvananthapuram was cancelled for technical reasons. Being rescheduled for 12 May 2020. Passengers already booked for the flight to reconfirm tomorrow. Those with exit permit issues will not be cleared for boarding. India in Qatar (@IndEmbDoha) May 10, 2020 BCCL/ FILE However, according to reports by several Malayalam media houses, Qatar had given permission for the Air India flight on the assumption that it was an evacuation mission and not a paid repatriation. The government had already come under heavy criticism for making the stranded Indian citizens pay for their flight tickets, including for those who have lost their jobs due to the lockdown. But the last-minute cancellation caught the 181 passengers, including 15 pregnant women and children, who had already reached the Doha airport by surprise. According to Revathy, a passenger booked on the cancelled flight, it was disappointing they could not take the flight after the long wait. Only after relatives of some passengers from Kerala called them and enquired, Doha airport officials told them that the flight had been cancelled, she told a television channel. AFP In anticipation of the arrival of the flight, the airport and district authorities were conducted third mock drill on Sunday morning and completed all preparations to receive the passengers from Qatar, returning home after being stranded there due to the coronavirus lockdown. India has started the repatriation of its citizens stranded in various countries, especially expatriates from Kerala in Gulf nations, since Friday and around 1,500 people have already arrived in the state by air and sea route. The government said that Air India will operate 64 flights in the first week from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals. As the number of Nigerians infected by COVID-19 increases daily, labour unions in Nigeria have called for a massive community based and decentralised contact tracing, testing and treatment to curb the spread of the virus. The unions also said the number of testing centres and kits for COVID-19 in Nigeria remains inadequate for the population. The labour-civil society situation room on COVID19 in a statement jointly signed by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Quadri Olaleye, said Nigeria has so far tested about 22492 people, a number that still lags behind that of other African countries. We also call for more testing facilities and kits across the country. As a matter of national health emergency, testing centres should be established in every senatorial district of the country complete with community mobilisation and enforcement, contact tracing should be prioritised as a major public health policy response to the pandemic, the union said. They said the absence of specialised and continued training on effective management of COVID19 and support is the reason for the rising figures of health workers infected. There are about 300 health workers infected with COVID19 and we are asking for specialised Isolation Centres for infected health care workers and standardisation of all isolation and treatment centres in Nigeria. They said proper equipping of the centres will correct their public perception as detention centres. We also reiterate the call for the prioritisation of adequate supply of personal protective equipment for health workers at all level of healthcare delivery. The union also said the paucity of public health education and mass community mobilisation on COVID-19 in many parts of Nigeria especially in rural places is a major challenge as many Nigerians still doubt the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic. Guidelines and economy The union said the rash of conflicting responses and approaches to the pandemic by state governments should be addressed. Nigeria Governors Forum (need) to issue a set of overarching guidelines on issues of common interest to states so that individual states can deal with peculiar nuances that affect them. We call on the Kano State Government to take the current wave of infection in the state more seriously. We call for very proactive measures by Kano State Government including strict enforcement of total lockdown of the state, deployment of robust public health education, provision of adequate personnel and equipment for rapid contact tracing, testing and treatment of cases. We also call on the Federal Government to mobilise additional support to Kano State and other states in similar situations. The union said it is also calling for a permanent fix to the alamjiri issue. The union also addressed the current economic downturn. The continuous importation of refined petroleum products as a result of the neglect of our oil refineries, perennial distortions in our trade balance, huge patronage of foreign goods and services including medical tourism especially by public officials, the dearth of a national development blueprint and appetite and widespread official corruption has brought us to this cauldron. To navigate out of this mess, we need a surgical socio-economic paradigm shift, it said. The union said the currrent challenge has brought to the fore the need for credible data now in Nigeria. We call for the empowering of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) with a fresh mandate to capture every Nigerian with all the relevant demographic information within the next two years. The union expressed concerns that food insecurity looms due to the restriction in the free movement of foodstuff across various checkpoints in the country contrary to the clear directives of Nigerian President. We call on all security operatives at different checkpoints to respect and adhere to the directives of Mr President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces who had ordered the free movement of foodstuff across the country. This is very critical to avoid a worse pandemic than COVID-19. Certainly, we do not want to start dealing with Hunger-20, the union said. As of Sunday night, Nigeria had recorded 4399 cases of the virus. Of these, 778 have recovered and have been discharged while 143 deaths were recorded in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A Muslim body has moved the Supreme Court seeking enforcement of fundamental rights of jail inmates saying it would be a "travesty of justice" and a "blot" on the criminal justice system if any innocent undertrial prisoner dies due to spread of COVID-19 in jails. The Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind has sought impleadment in the suo motu (on its own) matter taken by the apex court relating to de-congestion of jails to prevent over-crowding in view of Coronavirus outbreak. It has referred to media reports which said that several prisoners in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail have tested positive for COVID-19. The plea alleged that in Maharashtra, 11,000 prisoners have been identified by the high powered committee but only 2,520 have been released while in Madhya Pradesh, 6,033 prisoners have been released against the 12,000 identified by the panel. "It is therefore necessary to avoid any delay in releasing of the prisoners as a delayed response may not have the desired effect," it said. "While even convicted prisoners have the right to life and personal liberty to be protected by the state in the event of a pandemic, it would be a travesty of justice and a blot on our entire criminal justice system if an wrongly implicated, innocent undertrial prisoner dies due to the spread of COVID-19 in prison," the plea said. "The present application for impleadment is to seek enforcement of, inter alia, the fundamental right to life and personal liberties of prisoners under Article 21 of the Constitution who are currently languishing in over-crowded prisons across the country, where social distancing is impossible and are therefore, facing an acute risk of contracting the Coronavirus," the plea said. The plea, filed through advocate Ejaz Maqbool, said the apex court had in its March 23 order directed the states and union territories (UTs) to constitute high powered committees which could decide which prisoners may be released on interim bail or parole during the pandemic. It said though the high-powered committee of most states and UTs have already specified the criteria for release of prisoners, the jail inmates are not being released immediately. It said that several countries have released prisoners amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the apex court should direct the Centre and the states to expedite the process of release. The apex court, in its April 13 order passed in the matter, had made it clear that it has not directed all the states and UTs to compulsorily release prisoners from jails and its earlier directives were meant to prevent over-crowding of prisons in view of coronavirus outbreak. The top court had said that its orders have to be followed in letter and spirit and it would be also applicable to correctional homes, detention centres and protection homes. The apex court on April 7 had directed all states and UTs to ensure through Director Generals of Police (DGPs) that prisoners released from jails get safe transit, so that they can reach their homes amid the lockdown due to coronavirus. It had on March 23 directed all states and UTs to constitute high-level committees to consider releasing on parole or interim bail prisoners and undertrials for offences entailing up to seven-year jail term to decongest prisons in the wake of coronavirus. The apex court on March 16 had taken suo motu cognisance of overcrowding of prisons across the country and said it was difficult for jail inmates to maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) UK prime minister Boris Johnson urged workers who cannot work from home to go back to work. (Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street via AP) The UK governments call for an immediate return to work for those who cannot work from home has been dubbed a recipe for chaos. Union, business and opposition leaders all demanded more guidance on safety in workplaces after prime minister Boris Johnsons message to the nation on Sunday (10 May). Critics also warned over safety and severely limited capacity on public transport for commuters. Labours shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds told BBC Radio 4 the speech left millions of workers in an uncertain position over whether to go to work if they felt unsafe on Monday. Construction and manufacturing workers are among those most likely to be affected as growing numbers of sites reopen. Frances OGrady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said the government should be introducing tough new rules on safety alongside a return to work. READ MORE: UK prime minister Boris Johnson starts to reopen UK economy She said the message would cause many workers confusion and anxiety, adding: The government still hasnt published guidance on how workers will be kept safe. So how can the prime minister with 12 hours' notice tell people they should be going back to sites and factories? Its a recipe for chaos. Johnson had said in his speech that workers should be actively encouraged to return to work if they were unable to work at home. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab issued a more direct appeal to such workers on BBC Breakfast on Monday. If you cant work from home, then you should now go back to work, because theres been enough time, weve got the virus down, the consultation and measures have been put in place in the workplace, for example, manufacturing, or the construction setting, which means it can be done in a safe way. But he said workers should walk, cycle or drive, only using public transport if absolutely necessary. The government is expected to set out more details on the measures on Monday. Every child under-11 will return to school for a month before the summer holidays start, according to newly published government guidance. The details emerged in the government's 50-page 'road map' finally released this afternoon - which also includes instructions on social distancing and using face masks. The government wants Year 1 and 6 to go back at the start of June, followed by the years inbetween at the start of July. Years 10 and 11 would also go back at the same time to help prepare for exams, if coronavirus is spreading at a slow enough rate. Downing Street has also confirmed this afternoon that parents will not be 'penalised' or fined for keeping children out of school after lockdown. Wales and Northern Ireland have rejected the June 1 return date, with Stormont hinting a phased return may not begin until September. Scotland has warned schools may remain shuttered until August and said pupils cannot be allowed back until it is 'safe to do so'. Westminster's blueprint said: 'Schools should prepare to begin to open for more children from 1 June. 'The Government expects children to be able to return to early years settings, and for Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 to be back in school in smaller sizes, from this point.' The guidance also said it's 'ambition is for all primary school children to return to school before the summer for a month if feasible, though this will be kept under review.' Children will not be required to wear face masks and the government said it will publish further information on reopening safely to ensure schools can adequately prepare. Prior to the new measures being released a schools' union boss accused the government of being 'irresponsible' to suggest some primary school children could return to classrooms from June 1. Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, told Sky News that Boris Johnson's proposal to begin a phased return to schools from next month 'at the earliest' is 'reckless'. Boris Johnson (pictured on Sunday night) said pupils in reception, Year 1 and Year 6 will be the first to go back from the start of the month during the staged process When will students return to school in PM's proposal? Prime Minister Boris Johnson last night outlined when children could expect to return to schools across Britain. Primary school students in Year 1, Year 6 and reception could see a return to classrooms from June 1 'at the earliest.' Nurseries would also be involved in the initial phase and the hope is that all primary school children would return to classrooms by the summer. Mr Johnson added there was an 'ambition' that secondary school students who have exams next year - Year 10 and Year 12 - will be given time with teachers before the summer holidays, but most will not be back until September. Advertisement Parents won't be fined for keeping children out of school after lockdown Parents will not be 'penalised' for keeping their children out of school after lockdown, the PM has confirmed. Many had questioned whether they would be fined for refusing to send their children to school for fear of coronavirus, the Mirror reported. Boris Johnson revealed last night that reception, Year 1 and Year 6 children are expected to return to classrooms from June. They will be followed by years 2, 3, 4 and 5 ahead of the summer holidays, a newly released government document today said. The PM's spokesman said: 'The short answer is no, they won't. 'Whilst we will not penalise for keeping children at home, once children are eligible to return to school we will strongly encourage them to do so.' Advertisement In an address last night, the prime minister said pupils in reception, Year 1 and Year 6 would be the first to go back to classrooms as part of a staged process. Nurseries would also be included in the initial phase and the hope is that all primary school children would return to classrooms by the summer. He added there is an 'ambition' that secondary school students who will take exams next year - such as Year 10 and Year 12 - will get some time in classrooms before the summer break. 'At the earliest by June 1, after half term, we believe we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools, in stages,' he said. Mr Johnson added these were the 'first careful steps' and the timeline for reopening schools could be delayed if necessary. Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said the government's 'determination' for all primary school students to return to school before summer is 'not currently a feasible scenario.' In a statement released after Mr Johnson unveiled his 'road-map', he added: 'The availability of school staff, the sheer number of pupils, and the sizes of school classrooms and corridors, combined with the need for social distancing measures, mean that the government's calculations simply don't add up. 'Based on the current trajectory it seems wildly optimistic, to the point of being irresponsible, to suggest that we will be in a position to return all primary children to school within the next seven weeks. This will give false hope to families and parents that we are further along the road to recovery than we actually are.' Mr Whiteman added it is 'an insult to dedicated professionals to expect them to do their duty equipped with no more protection than a homemade face-mask and a bar of soap.' 'School leaders do not want to see classrooms empty for a day longer than they need to be, he said. 'But there is not a school leader in the land who wants to risk admitting more pupils unless it is safe to do so.' NEU boss Mr Courtney criticised last night's proposals for Year 1 and Year 6 to retrun from June this morning, asking how teachers could possibly adhere to social distancing measures in classes of 30 or more pupils. Nurseries would also be covered in the initial phase and the hope is that all primary school children would return to classrooms by the summer Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said Boris Johnson's plan to begin a phased return to schools from next month 'at the earliest' is 'reckless' He added that the union has set 'five sensible tests' they believe 'need to be in place' in order for schools to reopen, including a low case count and plans for social distancing in schools. 'We want lockdown to end, we want that to happen as soon as it safely can and we are not being irresponsible,' he said. 'We've said the case count in the country needs to be down low enough so that contact tracing can take over some of the work of social isolation but the case count is nowhere near those sorts of levels. 'We've said our second test is they need to have a plan for social distancing in schools - they've come up with nothing on that. This suggestion that reception, Year 1 and [Year 6] go back in 700 schools in the country, the infant schools, that's the big majority of children in those schools. 'How can you possibly do social distancing when the majority of children in classes of 30 or more are back in the school, it makes no sense.' Mr Courtney added that testing should be available for both students and teachers, alongside plans for what schools should do if a pupil or faculty member falls ill with coronavirus. 'We've said they need a plan for if there's a case in the school, what do you then do?' he added. 'Do you close the whole class down? Do you close the whole school down? 'We've been given no science on that. How can we be planning now when they haven't given us any of those things.' The NEU general secretary added the union had surveyed their members following the PM's address last night, and within an hour 49,000 teachers had responded with the 'vast, vast majority of them saying they think it is unsafe' to return to schools in June. 'It's reckless, it's irresponsible. Mary [Bousted] and I wrote to the government on May 1 asking them to talk with us before making any announcement, to get the science out there where people can see it, peer reviewed, about whether this would be safe or not,' he said. 'They've just ignored that. They've ignored three letters that we've sent them about the science. We've published a report about those questions recently. They made this announcement last night with no consultation with heads or with teachers before making the announcement, it's caused great consternation.' Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, last night slammed Mr Johnson's proposal as 'nothing short of reckless.' She said: 'In China, children stand outside the school gates and are sprayed front and back with disinfectant, their shoes are sprayed, they wash their hands with sanitiser, they must take off their mask and replace it with a new one, and their temperature is taken remotely.' Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams threw out Westminster's June 1 start date in Wales, and said a decision would only be announced with plenty of notice Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also appeared to back away from June 1 six days ago, telling a briefing she did not think it would be safe to reopen schools that early in Scotland Northern Ireland's Education minister Peter Weir has said schools there may not open until September due to the coronavirus pandemic Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have slammed the advice on school openings, and said they do not intend to follow Westminster's advice. Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams responded fiercely, saying: 'The situation for schools in Wales will not change on June 1. 'We will continue to be guided by the very latest scientific advice and will only look to have more pupils and staff in schools when it is safe to do so. 'We will, of course, need to ensure that social distancing requirements can be adhered to.' In a further broadside to the UK government, she said any decision on school opening will be announced 'well in advance' of the opening date to allow sufficient planning time. Scotland's First Minister has warned the nation's schools may not reopen until August due to the spread of coronavirus. She told reporters at a media briefing six days ago: 'I cannot and should not comment on whether it is appropriate for England (to go back to school on June 1)... but I do know, looking at the evidence I have now, I could not put my hand on my heart and say that would be a safe thing to do in Scotland.' Northern Ireland's Education Secretary Peter Weir has also appeared to throw out Westminster's start date in three weeks time, warning there are a number of 'practical measures' that need to be addressed. He said securing PPE for staff, putting social distancing in place in school lunch halls and ensuring measures are adhered to on school transport are all still being considered. And warned it is 'extremely likely' schools in the nation will not re-open until September. Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said: 'We think that the announcement by the Government that schools may reopen from June 1 with reception and years one and six is nothing short of reckless' Secondary school students who have exams next year will likely be given time with teachers before the summer holidays but most will not be back until September She told The Times similar measures should be introduced in Britain, adding: 'They're doing that in South Korea and they have a minuscule number of new cases.' Mr Johnson's plans would see children in reception, Year 1 and Year 6 return to schools from June 1 as part of a staged process. He added there was an 'ambition' that secondary school students who have exams next year will be given time with teachers before the summer holidays, but most will not be back until September. 'If we can't do it by those dates, and if the alert level won't allow it, we will simply wait and go on until we have got it right,' Mr Johnson said. 'If there are problems we will not hesitate to put on the brakes.' The plans sparked alarm across Britain, with more than 300,000 parents signing a petition to allow them to keep their children at home if schools begin to reopen next month. The petition, launched on Change.org within minutes of Mr Johnson's announcement, was created by Lucy Browne, who told other parents she fears for her daughter's safety. The PM gave five phases of a 'Covid alert level' that will be primarily influenced by the rate of transmission, or R, which he said is between 0.5 and 0.9 Which other nations have reopened their schools amid Covid-19? Pictured: A classroom in Morges, Switzerland Schools in Switzerland reopened today, with many teachers splitting classes in half. Attendance has been trimmed to just two days a week per group to accommodate the change. Denmark became the first European country to resume after a month-long closure, with nursery and primary classes opening on April 15. In France, around 85 per cent of schools are set to reopen from Tuesday. There will be a maximum of 14 students per class in primary schools and 10 in pre-schools. Spain's students are mostly set to return to schools in September, with children under six whose parents cannot work from home resuming classes on May 25. Classrooms in Italy will also not reopen until September, though the government is considering opening nurseries and daycares before the summer. Outside of Europe, schools in South Korea reopened to students in mid-April after weeks of closure. Advertisement 'I'm calling on the UK Government to give parents and guardians the option of not sending their children back to school if they reopen in June, as Boris Johnson has suggested could happen in England,' she said. 'As a mum I don't want to face serious repercussions for making a choice I feel affects the safety of my daughter during a global pandemic'. She added: 'The UK now has the highest death toll in Europe and second highest in the world. 'Many of us have lost confidence in the Government's handling of this crisis and feel it is too early to return children to schools. 'It seems it could post risks not only to children but also teachers and those they live with grandparents, parents and those [with] underlying health conditions'. Ms Browne claimed ministers had provided little reassurance about measures that might be taken to protect people and manage the risks of a return to school. 'Even drop-off and collection could increase risk of transmission among parents. We need the Government to be transparent with us and put things in place before we can consider placing our trust in this decision. 'Parents should have a choice on whether or not they put their children in this scenario'. One signatory to the petition said she would 'rather lose my job and my house than my child'. Another wrote: 'Open up Parliament first. Our children are not testing tools for anyone!' Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sausan Atika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 11, 2020 19:44 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd755589 1 City COVID-19,PSBB,violation,McDonalds-Indonesia,Sarinah Free First dates, a noisy study spot and late-night hunger pangs such were the memories that drove hundreds of people to flock to the parking lot of the Sarinah shopping center in Central Jakarta on Sunday evening. Strangers and acquaintances convened in front of McDonalds Sarinah the first branch of the fast food chain to ever open in Indonesia to witness the end of an era, as the restaurant was closing its doors for good that night after almost three decades. The send-off would have made for a fitting end to one of the citys most iconic haunts, if not for one spectacular blunder: The crowd was violating the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) in place in Jakarta. In a swell of nostalgia, fans and frequent visitors to the Golden Arches scribbled personal recollections on a banner specifically erected to pay tribute, while social media was flooded with videos of the momentous occasion, eliciting mixed reactions. Many people deplored the gathering in light of the flouting of PSBB rules, with some even expressing concern that a new cluster of COVID-19 cases might appear as the city struggled to flatten the curve of infections. The Pedestrian Coalition, through its Twitter account @trotoarian, wrote: Hopefully, there will not be a new [COVID-19] cluster from McD Sarinah. Is PSBB ferocious on paper only but weak in implementation? Semoga tidak muncul cluster McD Sarinah ya? PSBB cuma garang di kertas, tapi loyo saat dipelaksanaan? Kok bisa ada perkumpulan massa segini banyak tapi tidak dibubarkan?#PSBB#pandemiviruscorona pic.twitter.com/ltpGN7ayiu Koalisi Pejalan Kaki (@trotoarian) May 10, 2020 Claudia Stoicescu, an associate researcher at Oxford University's Center for Evidence-Based Intervention in the United Kingdom, who is also a visiting scholar at Atma Jaya Universitys HIV/AIDS Research Center, also expressed concern about the PSBB violation. Oh #Jakarta. Last night in the midst of supposedly strict #PSBB #physicaldistancing policies in the Indonesian capital, Jakartans flout the rules meant to keep them healthy and alive to mourn the closure of the iconic #mcdsarinah, she tweeted from her handle @ClauStoicescu. Twitter user @ziechampchamp wrote: I wanted to cry once I read news reports on why McD Sarinah had become a trending topic. I wanted to cry because they dont fear getting infected by COVID-19, do they? #mcdsarinah McDonald's Indonesia had announced on social media last week that it would close its Sarinah branch on Sunday at 10:05 p.m., triggering mass nostalgia and impromptu visits to the location. Sutji Lantyka, associate director of communications for McDonalds Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post that the companys management was shocked because it had no idea that so many people would come. Jakarta Public Order (Satpol PP) Agency head Arifin said the agency would dig deeper into the case to determine whether McDonald's Indonesia in Sarinah committed a violation. [McDonalds Sarinah may have] violated [restrictions]. The quickest thing we could do to enforce the law at the time was to reprimand the management and disperse the crowds. We are currently exploring legal sanctions against the management of McDonalds Indonesia, he told the Post on Monday. Arifin said the authorities had widely circulated information on the restrictions put in place and insisted that the chains management could have prevented crowds from gathering. This could have been anticipated from the beginning, he said. However, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Yusri Yunus played down the situation, saying the crowds dispersed after authorities arrived. It was just a spontaneous action to express their sadness, Yusri told the Post. He said the police would continue patrols all across the capital. Last month, police arrested 18 people for violating physical-distancing measures in Bendungan Hilir and Sabang in Central Jakarta after they refused to disperse, even after repeated warnings. The Jakarta Health Agency's head of disease control and prevention, Dwi Oktavia Handayani, said it was too early to declare a new COVID-19 cluster as the agency had yet to receive reports of infected people attending the gathering. We will interview patients for contact tracing when any of them arrive at a health facility in Jakarta. If they went to the McD event, for instance, we will certainly investigate the people surrounding them, she said. The agency was not able to arrange mass testing for those involved in Sunday's event as they were unidentified, she said. The city administration prioritizes tests for people who show symptoms. Meanwhile, other groups, particularly the elderly and communities living in densely populated areas, are prioritized for mass rapid testing. The number of COVID-19 cases continues to swell despite the PSBB status being in place for a month in Jakarta, the national epicenter of the outbreak with 5,190 cases and 434 deaths as of Sunday. The restrictions in place include bans on mass gatherings and restrictions on the flow of public transportation and private vehicles. Article 27 of the relevant regulation states that "violators will be punished in accordance with prevailing regulations, and these may include criminal sanctions." The 2018 Health Quarantine Law stipulates that violators will face a fine and imprisonment. Individuals and companies are subject to penalties, ranging from a one-year prison term and a Rp 100 million (US$6,695) fine, to a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a Rp 15 billion fine. The coronavirus pandemic is spreading rapidly in the meat processing industry. Recently, hundreds of workers in a slaughterhouse have become infected with COVID-19. At Westfleisch in Coesfeld, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), 151 of a total of 1,200 employees have so far tested positive for COVID-19. Thirteen workers had to be taken to hospital immediately. The agreed-upon relaxation of the COVID-19 measures for the district was suspended yesterday until further notice. The Westfleisch group of companies, based in Munster, is the third-largest meat processing conglomerate in Germany. In Oer-Erkenschwick, 33 of 1,250 workers at the Westfleisch plant have become infected. In Hamm, more than 1,000 workers of the same group have to be tested for the coronavirus. The two plants are also located in NRW. Test all before you open - US meat workers in Sioux Falls, South Dakota protest Westfleisch in Coesfeld is now the third German slaughterhouse where many workers have been infected with the coronavirus. Previously, 300 slaughterhouse workers from Muller Fleisch in Birkenfeld near Pforzheim had been infected. Ten days ago, two workers at slaughterhouse operator Vion in Bad Bramstedt (Schleswig-Holstein) were also infected with COVID-19, and by May 7, at least 109 workers had tested positive in the same slaughterhouse. The Vion Food Group is one of the largest slaughterhouse operators in Europe, with an annual turnover of over 5 billion. The rapid spread of the coronavirus among abattoir workers is an international phenomenon. As the World Socialist Web Site reported, US slaughterhouses are currently hotspots of the pandemic. More than 6,500 workers in large meatpacking companies have already been infected. At least 25 meatpacking workers in the US have already died of COVID-19. The Trump government has classified the meat industry as vital infrastructure and thus prevented its closure, although the operators do not provide workers with the necessary protective equipment, let alone sufficient testing facilities. Trump sees the slaughterhouses, where thousands of immigrant workers from Latin America slave away, as important examples to force all workers back to work. There have already been several spontaneous strikes in the US against these infections. Dozens of workers at a Smithfield Foods pork plant in Crete, Nebraska, are demanding the closure of the plant after 48 workers there tested positive. In Kathleen, Georgia, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, meat industry workers have also protested and spontaneously gone on strike for proper protection and sanitation measures. Immigrants from Romania are the main workers in the German meatpacking industry They are hired through subcontractors networked throughout Europe and are among the most exploited low-wage workers. Although they work all year round in Germany, they are only given fixed-term contracts. They are completely dependent on the subcontractors who broker them to the meat companies, like modern slaves. Officially, they receive the legal minimum wage of 9.35 gross, but large sums are deducted from this in brokers fees, accommodation, transport, laundry, tool costs, etc. Since Romania became an EU member over 10 years ago, the German meat industry has benefited from such exploitative relations. After the fall of the Stalinist regimes 30 years ago, financially powerful investors have plundered eastern European industries and lands, leaving increasing unemployment, poverty and blatant social inequality for the population. Since then, many thousands of Romanian workers have been forced to look for employment in Germany. Factory premises of the Coesfeld meat centre of Westfleisch SCE (source: Wikimedia) It is no coincidence that it is precisely these workers who are the victims of each new COVID-19 outbreak. The employee of an advice centre for south-east European butchers told broadcaster WDR that one of the main reasons the virus was spreading so quickly among the workers is because they are simply fatigued. Many are very exhausted because they have to work long and hard, the employee said. They are housed in accommodation where there is no question of protection and safe distancing. These establishments must be closed immediately. In Germany, the establishment politicians have so far followed a special quarantine policy in agreement with the corporations. This consists essentially of isolating these cheap labourers from the rest of the population, while the factory continues to operate, if possible. Federal Minister of Agriculture Julia Klockner (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) coined the term de facto quarantine with simultaneous work opportunities for this type of dangerous forced labour. Similarly, certain nursing homes, prisons and above all the refugee accommodation and anchor centres have been sealed off. For these most oppressed layers, the decisive coronavirus measuressystematic testing, contact tracing, isolationare essentially considered unnecessary. This is taking its toll in Coesfeld, where total infections have increased dramatically throughout the entire district, which currently has the highest rate of new infections in NRW. Since Thursday, it has clearly exceeded the limit set by the federal and state governments for the loosening of measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This limit was set at 50 infected persons per 100,000 inhabitants, based on the recommendations of the public health body the Robert Koch Institute. Initially, it was decided that production would continue at Westfleisch in Coesfeld. Despite the outbreak, the shortage of employees is not as serious as initially assumed, the company announced on Thursday. However, this decision had been revised by Friday evening. Since most of the media are now reporting on the unchecked spread of the coronavirus in the slaughterhouses and residents are protesting, it has suddenly been announced that the slaughterhouse will be shut down after all. The authorities fear that continued operation of the slaughterhouse could lead to massive protests among the population and strikes by the workers. In Baden-Wurttemberg, the state health office decided on April 24 that slaughterhouse operator Muller Fleisch in Birkenfeld had to continue operating, even though it was already clear that at least 230 workers had been infected. Since then, workers there have slaved away for 12 hours a day seven days a week to compensate for the staff losses, as one worker told the Pforzheimer Kurier . In the case of harvest worker Nicolae Bahan in Bad Krozingen, who died of COVID-19 on April 11, it was not even considered necessary to interrupt the asparagus harvest for a day following his death. As is being done practically everywhere, quarantine there consisted only of isolating the workers from the rest of the population. In Schleswig-Holstein, the Vion meat plant has only been shuttered for two weeks, beginning last Wednesday. Workers are in quarantine and are not allowed to leave their accommodation in a former barracks. Before that, management and local politicians had also vigorously resisted a shutdown. A district administrator wrote in his press release as late as Wednesday, Again and again, I am asked why the district does not simply shut down the factory? The answer, Legally we have no means of doing so, since food production is considered to be critical and the transmission of the virus through foodstuffs has not yet been shown. The spread of coronavirus throughout the meat processing industry drastically illustrates the capitalist principle that the economic interests of the big corporations and banks take precedence over the life and health of the working class. It is necessary to respond to this through the independent and international mobilisation of the working class, which must defend its health and conditions of life against the drive for profits by the corporations and banks. The Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party) is fighting for the establishment of independent action committees in all factories and a socialist programme. When he bellows Serenity now! as a tool for relaxation on the orders of his doctor, there is not a teaspoon of Zen about it. Stiller was no one-trick ranter, either. He could find laughs in a soft tone, too, even benefiting from the juxtaposition. Listen to him repeat You want a piece of me? to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, making her break character, in one of the great outtakes in comedy history. His quiet intensity is what startles at first, setting up the roar. Almost by accident, Frank Costanza was written as Italian, not Jewish. But those of us who are Jewish knew better. Or at least Jerry Stiller made sure we did. He was the Jewish heart of the show. Seinfeld was not explicit about its Jewishness, but it provided enough clues. Stillers greatest episode is probably the one where we learn from his mortified son, George, played by Jason Alexander, that he invented a holiday as an alternative to Christmas called Festivus. If there is a common outsider experience for Jewish kids, it is the peculiar alienation felt during the December holidays when they are stuck without Christmas trees and stockings. And while Festivus has entered the popular lexicon, theres a peculiar tone set by Stiller in the episode that sounded like so many Passover Seders. The tradition of Festivus, he announced, begins with the airing of grievances. Like so many great Jewish comics, Stiller is a master at complaint. At Stillers New York Friars Club roast, Jeff Ross turned to him and said, His Hebrew name is Yech! Highlights Data from app install trackers reveal that of total zoom downloads in April 18.4 per cent happened in India. The US was second with share of 14.3 per cent in total Zoom downloads. Aarogya Setu has more than 50 million downloads, according to Google Play store. India topped the most installs of Zoom Application, according to tech portals tracking installs globally. Arogya Setu application, while introduced only a month ago, has also made it to the global list of installs. Sensor Tower website quotes India at 18.2 percent of Zoom installs out of its total downloads and is followed by the United States at 14.3 percent. Sensor Tower's Store Intelligence platform reported that Zoom was the most downloaded non-game app worldwide for April 2020 with close to 131 million installs, 60 times growth from April 2019. Second most installed non-game app worldwide is TikTok, reporting more than 107 million installs, a 2.5 times increase from April 2019. India reported highest installs at approximately 22 percent, followed by the US at 9.4 percent. Interestingly, government approved Aarogya Setu also made it to the list at number 7. This was significant, as the app is specific to India while the list covers worldwide data. Aarogya Setu is a mobile application developed by the Government of India to connect essential health services with the people of India in our combined fight against COVID-19. The app claims to proactively reach out to and inform users regarding risks, best practices and relevant advisories pertaining to the containment of COVID-19. The app generated controversy recently with apprehensions on security surveillance as mentioned by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. Google Play Store shows Aarogya Setu installs at more than 50,000,000 though the App was introduced only in April. The Zoom installs stand at over 100,000,000. WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook rounded out the top five most installed non-game apps worldwide for the month. What has the Wuhan virus lab done since December? Global Times Source:Global Times Published: 2020/5/10 21:22:55 Amid rumors circulating on the internet that the novel coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology or that it was man-made, lab researchers outlined what the lab has done since December and its work on the frontline of epidemic prevention and control. In an interview with Beijing-based Technology Daily, Guan Wuxiang, a deputy director of the institute, said the lab started research into COVID-19 on December 30 when it received samples of a pneumonia of an unknown cause from the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital. Guan said the institute organized a team to carry out pathogen detection and identification overnight and reported the results to "relevant departments." The deputy director said that since the outbreak, the lab has carried out virus separation identification, pathogen detection, anti-viral drugs and vaccine research. The Wuhan lab also evaluated the efficiency of antibodies recovered from patients' plasma, established an animal model and researched the pathogenic mechanism. The lab obtained the whole genome sequence of the virus and identified it as a novel coronavirus from isolated strains. The virus sequence was submitted to the World Health Organization on January 11. The institute developed nucleic acid tests and serological detection technologies and products and produced COVID-19 nucleic acid detection kits in cooperation with a Shenzhen medical company. The kits received emergency approval from the State Food and Drug administration. In cooperation with a Zhuhai-based company, the lab developed novel coronavirus serological test kits approved on March 14 and obtained the medical device registration certificate. More than 6,500 pharyngeal swab samples from suspected COVID-19 patients have been tested since January 26. The lab also worked with researchers from the Academy of Military Sciences PLA China to screen and evaluate COVID-19 drugs and discovered that resochin and favipiravir can effectively contain the novel coronavirus at the vitro cell level. A COVID-19 vaccine developed with the China National Biotec Group (CNBG) entered clinical trials on April 12. They also worked with CNBG and evaluated a product created from recovered COVID-19 patients' plasma. They finished establishing rhesus monkey models for studies on the mechanism and transmission of COVID-19. Guan said the research team at the lab has studied coronaviruses for more than 10 years. Their knowledge and methods, such as a SARS general nucleic acid test and antibody detection, were applicable to the coronavirus family and played an important role in early identification of the pathogen. After the SARS outbreak in 2002, China improved its infectious disease monitoring system and with support of major infectious diseases, the epidemic prevention and control capacity was further enhanced. The existing system mainly focuses on monitoring and early warning of infectious diseases. It was hard to forecast actively, Guan said, noting that carrying out long-term surveillance and background investigation of the virus carried by wild animals was important in monitoring possible infectious diseases. The deputy director said "about 12 teams consisting of 120 people" were involved in pathogenic detection, virus monitoring and drug screening work at the lab. The researchers work at the lab 10 to 12 hours daily including 5 to 6 hours without drinking or eating. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, has dismissed the criticisms which trailed the demolition of two hotels in the state, saying he acted in go... Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, has dismissed the criticisms which trailed the demolition of two hotels in the state, saying he acted in good faith. In a statewide broadcast, the governor accused one of the owners of the hotels of unleashing thugs on members of the state task force when they visited the facility. Earlier on Sunday, Prudent Hotel, Eleme was pulled down alongside another on Wikes orders for allegedly violating the lockdown measures in the state. The action was widely criticised by many Nigerians who said it was too extreme. Wike, however, said though it welcomes genuine criticisms, the state government did no wrong by demolishing the facility. He said: We acted against the hotelier because, apart from using the facility to jeopardise the lives of our citizens in violation of the extant law, the owner audaciously unleashed thugs led by the Eleme local government youth leader of the Peoples Democratic Party and inflicted severe injuries on our task force members who went to enforce the law against the continued operation of the hotel. As we speak, nobody knows the fate of the lives of most of the victims of that brazen and deadly attack given the severity of the head injuries they sustained. And so, weve done no wrong as all our actions were taken in good faith and justified by, under and within the purview of the Executive Orders, which have neither been challenged nor set aside by any competent court of law. Therefore, while we welcome genuine criticisms directed towards strengthening our intervention measures, it is no use taking issues with uninformed critics and social media legal practitioners who, blinded and prodded by sheer politics, bias and hatred, have opted to demonised and paint our lawful and responsible actions in bad light. He said though the state may not have totally achieved our targets, he is convinced that the lockdown has helped in containing the coronavirus pandemic in Rivers. The owner of the hotel had said he did not break any law to warrant the demolition. Strict security arrangements were been put in place across Kashmir on Monday for the 17th day of the Holy month of Ramzan - or the day of Badr - as security forces feared there could be attacks on their installations in the region. Mobile internet connectivity, suspended last week since Hizbul Mujahideens operational commander Riyaz Naikoo was killed at his village of Beghpora in Pulwama along with an aide, is yet to be restored. Top officials said only the 2G services could be restored in Kashmir only after the 17th day of Ramzan passes off peacefully . People familiar with the situation said the government had decided to restore prepaid mobile phone services on Friday night. However, a high-level meeting in Srinagar, which was joined by top officials of security agencies, decided mobile internet connectivity would remain suspended till Monday. The day of Badr marked the first and decisive battle in the history of Islam, when the first few hundred Muslims led by Prophet Mohammed took on their powerful opponents in Arabia and won, according to Islamic tradition. It was decided to restore internet only after the 17th day of Ramzan, the day of Badr, as there were inputs that security forces could be attacked on this day. Keeping in view the past experiences when militants choose to target security forces on this day, security was beefed up in Kashmir, a senior security officer said. Last year too, there were similar reports about possible attacks on the 17th day of Ramzan. Keeping in view two attacks on the CRPF in north Kashmirs Sopore and Handwara areas, which left six CRPF troopers dead and more than five injured, the officials had apprehensions that there could be similar attacks on the CRPF. During a high-level meeting in Baramulla last week, Kashmir IG Vijay Kumar had asked security forces, especially the CRPF, to remain on high alert and maintain extra vigil especially for road opening patrols and Naka duties to prevent attacks. The divisional commissioner of Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole, described the suspension of internet connectivity as temporary. The mobile internet will be restored soon, he said. Meanwhile, additional check points were set up on the national highway and other sensitive places, and messages were passed on to security installations to remain on high alert during the night due to possibility of attacks. The armys Rashtriya Rifles units enhanced mobile patrolling in towns and villages. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Todd J. Gillman | The Dallas Morning News Sen. Ted Cruz flew to Dallas for his first haircut in three months on Friday at the hair salon whose owner just spent two days in jail for defying emergency restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19. Salon a la Mode owner Shelley Luther became a cause celebre for Texas conservatives and others by reopening her business in violation of the governors orders, then refusing to back down when a local judge tried to enforce the ban. What happened to her was wrong. It was ridiculous to see someone sentenced to seven days in jail for cutting hair. Thats not right. Thats not justice, and thats not Texas, Cruz said. Another stylist did the honors on Cruzs overgrown locks, using a bright green comb and clippers. Luther checked her colleagues work, wearing a red plaid mask. Cruz wore a striped white mask, leopard-print smock and white latex gloves. I got on a plane and I flew up from Houston. I needed a haircut anyway. And I figured that there wasnt a better place I could pick on the face of the planet, he told reporters afterward, standing outside with Luther nearby, still wearing their masks. When she spoke up... she was speaking up for 29 million Texans across our state. He ignored questions about what punishment he would view as appropriate for people who violate public safety measures during an epidemic, or how such measures can be effective if compliance is entirely voluntary. Asked what message it sends for him to celebrate a scofflaw, Cruz said: What Im celebrating is justice. It is injustice to sentence someone to seven days in jail for cutting hair, particularly when youve got local politicians releasing violent criminals, releasing child molesters from jail. And were going to lock up a small-business owner? That is crazy, he said. With Texas jails trying to reduce the risk of contagion by releasing some inmates, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order on March 29 that blocked the release of anyone charged with a violent crime, or with a history of violence, unless they could pay bail. The Texas Supreme Court upheld the order April 23. If she had waited until Friday, Luther would have been in compliance with Abbotts stay-home orders. On Tuesday, he eased restrictions, allowing hair and nail salons to open on Friday. On Thursday, with Luther at the Dallas County Jail, he clarified that people who defy his stay-home orders should not be arrested. The Texas Supreme Court quickly ordered her freed, two days into her seven-day term for contempt of court. President Donald Trump weighed in on the uproar Thursday, voicing his approval for Abbotts effort to free Luther. Good, Trump told him during an Oval Office visit. "I was watching the salon owner and she looked so great, so professional, so good. And she was talking about her children. She has to feed her children. Like other businesses deemed nonessential during the COVID-19 outbreak, Luthers Far North Dallas hair studio was required to close on March 22. She reopened on April 24, and tore up a cease-and-desist letter from County Judge Clay Jenkins at a demonstration the next day. Three days later, state district Judge Eric Moye signed an order requiring Luther to keep her salon closed. She defied that order and continued to operate the business. Sarah Palin, the tea party darling who served as Alaska governor and the GOP nominee for vice president in 2008, showed up at the salon on Wednesday to show support while Luther was still behind bars. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick vowed to pay Luthers $7,000 fine $500 for every day shed kept the salon open unlawfully. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the jail sentence outrageous and pressed Moye to release Luther. Cruz said he was disgusted that Moye had demanded an apology from Luther for refusing to comply with state and county emergency regulations, and his own court order. We need to take reasonable steps to flatten the curve, and stop the spread of this virus. We also need to let people provide for their families. Weve got 34 million people who have lost their jobs the last two months. Thats 20% of the American workforce," Cruz said. Asked what he thought about his haircut, he said, I think its terrific. Cruz spent weeks in self-quarantine at his home in Houston after learning that hed been exposed to people who later tested positive for the new coronavirus. Heidi was laughing at me. She said if I went much longer I was going to be sporting a full-on mullet, he said, referring to his wife. Cruz joked that his friend Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was sporting a beard that looked a little bit Duck Dynasty, but earlier this week, it sure did look like just about every other senator in the body had gotten a haircut. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Another way coronavirus kills: blood clots. Central NY dad, 57, dies at home Cuomo says parts of NY are ready to reopen as May 15 coronavirus shutdown end nears Syracuse company develops coronavirus-killing drone for arenas and stadiums Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com "Tamil Nadu should be declared as an atrocity state. The caste situation here is like in no other state," says A Kathir, executive director of Madurai-based NGO Evidence. Caste-based violence has raised its ugly head to new levels in Tamil Nadu during the time of the novel coronavirus pandemic, allege social activists. Since the first nationwide lockdown began on March 25, there have been at least 30 major incidents of caste-based violence in the state, according to a study by Evidence. Activists allege that in many places, some upper-caste groups are using the lockdown as an opportunity to assault Dalits. "In a lot of incidents, there are 40-50 people attacking in groups. How is this possible in a lockdown?" asks Kathir. "In the last four days, four Dalits have been murdered. Honour killings, group attacks, murders, rape and harassment have all happened. They say domestic violence has increased in the society. Caste-based violence has also increased now, and the victims are not even able to complain properly due to the lockdown. Under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, if the accused moves for bail, they have to intimate the victim. The High Court has now said accused don't need to appear because of the virus. Now people are using this in their favour and moving for bail. Government should take a policy decision on this." The severity levels of the crimes, as listed by Evidence, have seen a rapid escalation too. "On an average, 100 cases are filed under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act in a month," says Kathir. "Most of these cases are minor incidents while four to five could be bigger crimes. But this month, the 30 incidents that we're talking about are all big. So it's a rapid increase in brutal crimes." Among the incidents is an honour killing of M Sudhakar in Morappanthangal village in Arani. Sudhakar, who belonged to the Oddar caste, was murdered on March 29 by relatives of his lover who belonged to the Vanniyar caste. Two accused, including the woman's father have been arrested. In another incident on April 24, a reporter of the political party Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchis (VCK) Velicham TV channel, Adi Suresh, was attacked after he reported about a group damaging the portrait of Dr BR Ambedkar in the town. On April 21 in Karambakkudi in Pudukkottai district, MBA graduate Muruganandham, a Dalit, married his lover Bhanupriya. Soon after the wedding, Bhanupriya's relatives attacked Muruganandham and kidnapped her. "Bhanupriya was rescued after action by Evidence," said Kathir. On May 8 in Udayakulam village in Tuticorin, a dispute over loan led to the murder of A Palavesam and his son-in-law R Thangaraj by a group belonging to the Devar community. On the same day in Salem, Vishnupriyan, a Dalit, was murdered by upper caste groups, Evidence says. The incidents have increased with migrant workers, most of them from lower castes, returning to villages from cities. While many of them, especially ones that have returned from Covid-19 hotspot Koyambedu, have been quarantined, their family members are facing the brunt of discrimination. In some villages in Tiruvannamalai district, upper caste people have allegedly even placed thorns outside Dalit colonies to ensure they don't move out. These incidents, added with the general discrimination, has made life even more difficult for lower caste people, observers say. "In Nilakottai, there have been incidents where shops have refused supplying to Dalits, because of the perception that they are not hygienic people. Sanitary workers, scavengers, maids... there is a perception that they are not clean. This discrimination, when added with the caste factor, has increased manifold. Not all have bathrooms in their houses. Government bathrooms are hardly in usable conditions, so they still use open spaces. Now they're not able to come out, and are struggling," says Kathir. According to him, reopening of Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) liquor stores will only add to the woes. "They say TASMAC revenue hit Rs 175 crore on the first day it was opened. At least 80 per cent of that would have come through the poorest of poor people. They're people who struggle for food, so it's likely that the money is from loans. Two Dalits were murdered in Thoothukudi because of this. It's a cycle and it's all linked," says Kathir. While Kathir calls for a helpline for caste-based violence, P Sampath, president of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), says the only way to stop discrimination is by strict enforcement of existing laws. "Even in this pandemic, casteism has not stopped. A lot of Dalits who are workers have been returning home, and they're frowned upon," he says. " Unfortunately, there's no specific time for caste discrimination. It'll be there at all times. There is no dearth of laws against caste-based discrimination in India. There are plenty of sections under which people can be booked. Other countries do not have caste issues, but they don't have as many laws as India does to fight racism in their countries. But the government should enforce these laws. Government should act in such a way that people who indulge in such activities are not able to live peacefully in the society." Kathir, meanwhile, wants the authorities to come down hard on attackers by booking them in the state's Goondas Act. "The world is in lockdown, but casteism has not been locked down. The government has not taken action. They say people attacking doctors will be booked under National Security Act. Why is that concern not there over Dalits? How are they attacking in groups? It's a shame that people are fine to die of coronavirus but won't let go of their casteism. Coronavirus is scanning the society. It's bringing out the worst in some people. Caste is even more dangerous than coronavirus." PARIS, May 11 (Reuters) - French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday that he would hold new meetings this week with representatives of the country's automotive industry, which has been hit hard by the impact of the coronavirus. Le Maire also told BFM Business radio that he regretted a decision by the CGT trade union to prevent a reopening of a Renault plant at Sandouville, just as the French government tries to get the country back to work as lockdown measures start to ease. Last month, the European Commission approved a 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) loan guarantee to Renault to help Renault mitigate the impact of the coronavirus crisis. ($1 = 0.9222 euros) (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Toby Chopra) For Subscribers Aberdeen filmmakers release trailer for latest work called 'Homebody' The group is currently crowdfunding and hopes to begin production of the film in late spring. By PTI HYDERABAD: As many as 288 people stranded in the USA and UAE arrived at the international airport on board two Air India flights here on Monday as part of the off-shore evacuation drive of Indian Citizens under the Vande Bharat Mission during the COVID-19 lockdown. While 118 people returned from San Francisco in the US, the other 170 came from Abu Dhabi, sources at the GMR-led Rajiv Gandhi International Airport said. Air India flight AI 1617 from San Francisco via Mumbai landed in the morning while the AI 1920 at 8.50 pm, they said. To facilitate the arriving passengers and aircraft crew, the airport has kept the international arrivals and the entire stretch right from aerobridge to arrivals ramp fully sanitised and fumigated. The airport also enforced the social distancing among passengers right from the aerobridge to across the terminal, the sources added. All arriving passengers and aircraft crew were brought out from the aircraft in a batch of 20-25 people each. Each passenger or crew member was screened by the thermal cameras positioned at the aerobridge exit under supervision of the Airport Health officials (APHO) as per the directives of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare prior to Immigration formalities. After the health screening of passengers, CISF personnel in their protective gears escorted the group of passengers to immigration clearance, they said. Meanwhile, an Air-India Express flight carrying 178 Indian nationals, including five children and an infant, stranded in Dubai landed at the international airport here late Monday. Another similar flight had brought to Kochi 179 Indian nationals, including two infants, from Kuala Lumpur on Sunday as part of the "Vande Bharat" mission of the government of India, an airport spokesman said. The country has started repatriation of its citizens stranded in various countries, especially expatriates from Kerala in Gulf countries since last Friday and around 1,900 people have so far arrived in the state by air and sea. Actor Rob Lowe is celebrating three decades of abstinence from drugs and alcohol. READ: When Tom Cruise Went 'ballistic' For Having To Share A Room With Rob Lowe The Outsiders star took to Instagram on Sunday to mark the anniversary, urging people struggling with addiction to reach out for help. "30 years ago today, I found a sober life of true happiness and fulfillment. I am filled with gratitude on this anniversary. "From a treatment center in Arizona to a bomb shelter in Israel, I have come to know many extraordinary people, and the fellowship of recovery has changed my life and given me gifts beyond my selfish imaginings," Lowe, 56, wrote alongside his selfie. READ: Eminem Shares A Picture Of His Sobriety Coin To Celebrate 12 Years Milestone "If you, or someone you love is struggling with any kind of addiction, there is hope! Love to you all," he added. In January, the actor admitted he was worried about missing out on the "fun" by giving up alcohol. READ: Pooja Bhatt Reflects On Self-isolation & Sobriety In Empowering Instagram Post READ: San Francisco Gets Alcohol, Tobacco For Addicts In Hotels Image credit: AP Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment. - Senator Murkomen was replaced from the Senate Majority seat by KANU's Samuel Poghisio - The government took away his official car hours after his ouster from the Senate leadership - The senator rubbished the ejection and insisted he would continue performing his duties as the majority leader The government has confiscated Senator Kipchumba Murkomen's official car hours after his ejection from the Senate majority seat. The senator was ousted from his plum position and replaced with Kenya African National Union's (KANU) West Pokot Senator Samuel Poghisio while his Nakuru counterpart Susan Kihika was replaced with Senator Irungu Kang'ata as the Majority Whip. READ ALSO: Haiwezani! Femi One says Azziad didn't deserve payment for promoting Utawezana song The government took away Murkomen's vehicle after his ejection from Senate. Photo: UGC. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Andrea Rinaldi: Atalanta midfielder dies aged just 19 According to Citizen TV, the latest development in the ouster saga that ignited strong reactions in the ruling party was that he had lost his prestigious official motorcade. The embattled senator rubbished his ejection and insisted he would continue performing his duties since the due process of the law had not been followed. READ ALSO: Mt Kenya politicians in Ruto camp are rented, owe allegiance to Uhuru - Mutahi Ngunyi Speaking hours after their removal on Monday, May 11, the Elgeyo Marakwet lawmaker said Tanga Tanga legislators had not been invited to the Jubilee Party Parliamentary Group meeting. "There was no invitation extended to any of us 22 Jubilee senators for the meeting at State House to remove us," the tough-talking Ruto ally said. Murkomen said he and Kihika were being targeted because of their political inclination. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Eastleigh residents' plea to Uhuru | Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday suggested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch an employment guarantee scheme for urban areas on the lines of the MGNREGA. In a video conference with the prime minister, Gehlot said the lockdown has badly affected daily wagers due to which the Centre should come up with an employment generation scheme for the urban poor. He said states should be given powers to decide coronavirus zones. The CM also demanded a financial package for industries and said the states' borrowing limit should be increased. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) SAVANNA Poopys Pub and Grub is the latest addition to the growing list of businesses and organizations challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzkers stay-at-home orders in court. Attorney Thomas DeVore said he has more than a hundred businesses that want to file similar challenges to the orders that that have kept restaurants closed to dine-in service since March 16 and other businesses considered nonessential since March 21. DeVore said Poopys Pub & Grub in Carroll County filed suit on Monday. It has been following the curbside mandates. People would get their carry out and they would go on to a completely separate piece of property thats contiguous to the premises and they had have picnic tables scattered ten or 15 feet apart, DeVore said. He said the state, not local public health officials, then came with a cease and desist letter and threatened to take the pubs state license away. DeVore said he encouraged the state to follow the due process procedures to shut down businesses. If they want to take on an order of closure on behalf of one of my clients, come on, DeVore said. The court process is in the paperwork. I encourage that so that we can get in front of a court. DeVore said none of his clients have had local boards of public health issue individual closure orders. He contends state law requires such court action within 48 hours to give business owners proper due process. Pritzker has downplayed several other lawsuits filed against his orders. He has said anyone can sue and hes confident his orders will stand up in court. On Friday, Visible Changes, a salon in Clay County, sued the governor, claiming it has never received a closure notice specific to the business. It needs grit and resolve to lend a helping hand to the poor in tough times. And some students of Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Gorakhpur University have shown these qualities in them as they have been feeding the needy, including rag pickers, rickshaw pullers and slum dwellers, ever since lockdown on announced to check corona spread in March. Shiv Shankar Gaur, 25, a student leader and a Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha activist, and his team of 8 students ensure food for the poor who cant afford it on their own as they are jobless these days. Eminent people, well-off families and teachers make monetary contribution to keep the social service going. Sporting a red cap, kurta and Nehru jacket, diminutive Gaur, a law student, along with his team reaches out to the poor living under Dharam Shala overbridge, Tarang overbridge and in slum areas around railway station. So far, Gaur and his team have fed roughly 8500 poor people hailing from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Nepal or other regions. Resources are limited and hired car of a team member is used for delivering food. For 45 days, the team cooked and served meal to the poor. However, from Sunday (May 10) onwards, the team started distributing raw ration as they no longer can sustain food preparation cost. They have set a target of distributing 100 ration packets daily. Each packet has pulse, rice, flour, vegetables and other essential items like soap and tooth paste. Food grain is enough to last two times. In the last 45 days, I have developed an emotional bond with these people who also share their pain with us, Gaur said. A positive change that Gaur has noticed in them is that these poor people have started wearing masks and washing their hands as the result of an awareness campaign that he undertook while distributing food packets. The West Bengal government on Monday allowed bidi factories to resume operation with 50 per cent workforce during the ongoing lockdown while strictly adhering to social distancing and health safety norms. The labourers, involved with the industry, have been facing hardship and completely depending on the public distribution system after the bidi manufacturing units were closed due to the nationwide lockdown. Around 20 lakh people are directly or indirectly associated with the bidi industry in the state, largely concentrated in Murshidabad district. "It is a good move that the government has allowed bidi factories to reopen but unless public transport and train services resume, we will not able to operate properly," Sona Bidi factory owner Prasanta Mandal said from Murshidabad's Azimgunj. He wondered how the workers and traders will reach Dhuliyan, a hub of bidi manufacturers in the district with more than 1,000 units, without resumption of local transport. Hundreds of women, who are involved in rolling bidis from home, get raw materials and send their products through aggregators. "Availability of transport is important for the supply chain of the industry," he said, adding that liquidity is also an issue for factories due to the prolonged lockdown. Meanwhile, the Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA), a non-profit organisation representing farmers and farm workers of commercial crops across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat, on Monday urged the Centre to save their livelihoods in the COVID-19 crisis. The organisation said demand for the crop has been sluggish due to declining volumes of cigarettes and other tobacco products due to the lockdown. Nearly, 130 million kg of flue cured tobacco worth over Rs 1,700 crore is available for sale and the auctions of the crop are moving at a snarl pace, causing quality loss. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) London, May 11 : French passengers will be exempt from quarantine measures that will come into force in the UK amid the coronavirus pandemic, the media reported on Monday. In his televised address to the nation on Sunday night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the measures would be imposed on people arriving in the UK, to prevent COVID-19 being brought in from overseas, reports the BBC. Johnson said: "I am serving notice that it will soon be the time - with transmission significantly lower - to impose quarantine on people coming into this country by air." Following his speech, No 10 confirmed a reciprocal deal with the government in Paris meant restrictions would not apply to passengers from France. In a joint statement, the UK and French governments said they had agreed to "work together in taking forward appropriate border measures". "This co-operation is particularly necessary for the management of our common border. No quarantine measures would apply to travellers coming from France at this stage; any measures on either side would be taken in a concerted and reciprocal manner. "A working group between the two governments will be set up to ensure this consultation throughout the coming weeks," the statement added. UK-based airlines previously said they had been told that any quarantine period would last for 14 days, and that people might be expected to provide an address when they arrive at the border, the BBC reported. Government sources had already indicated that people arriving from the Republic of Ireland would not have to self-isolate when the quarantine measures take effect. Air travel has come to a halt because of the global coronavirus pandemic, prompting steep job cuts by the industry. Flag carrier British Airways has said it will cut 12,000 of its workforce and has warned that it might not reopen at Gatwick Airport once the pandemic passes. Irish budget airline Ryanair has said it plans to axe 3,000 workers and has asked remaining staff to take a pay cut. On May 8, 2020, U.S. Navy Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Boise (SSN 764) arrived at Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding division in Newport News, Virginia in preparation for the submarines engineered overhaul (EOH). On May 8, 2020, U.S. Navy Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Boise (SSN 764) arrived at Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding division in Newport News, Virginia in preparation for the submarines engineered overhaul (EOH). Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link The Los Angeles class attack submarine, USS Boise (SSN 764) leads the fast combat support ship, USS Seattle (AOE 3) and the guided missile cruiser, USS Hue City (CG 66) as the ships of USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) Battle Group transit the Suez Canal. (Picture source Wikimedia) An EOH is a major multi-year overhaul near the mid-point of a submarine's service life to perform necessary repairs, maintenance and modernization, to certify the submarine for unrestricted operations and to ensure the submarine is operating at full technical capacity and mission capability. The U.S. Navy has three classes of SSNs in service. Los Angeles-class submarines are the backbone of the submarine force, with approximately 40 now in commission. Thirty of those are equipped with 12 Vertical Launch System (VLS) tubes for firing Tomahawk cruise missiles. The USS Boise (SSN-764) is a Los Angeles-class submarine, the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Boise, Idaho. The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 6 February 1987 and her keel was laid down on 25 August 1988. She was launched on 23 March 1991 and commissioned on 7 November 1992. The Los Angeles class is a nuclear-powered fast attack submarines (SSN) in service with the United States Navy. IT is armed with both the land-attack and anti-ship version of the Tomahawk missile from Raytheon that can be fitted with a nuclear warhead. The land-attack Tomahawk has a range of 2,500 km. A TAINS (Tercom Aided Inertial Navigation System) guides the missile towards the target flying at subsonic speed at an altitude of 20 m to 100 m. The Los Angeles class submarine is fitted with four 533mm torpedo tubes located midships together with a Mark 117 torpedo fire control system. The submarine has the capacity for 26 torpedo tube launched weapons including Tomahawk missiles, Harpoon missiles and Mark 48 ADCAP torpedoes. The Gould Mark 48 torpedoes combat both high-performance surface ships and fast deep-diving submarines. The torpedo is capable of operating with or without wire guidance and uses either or both active and passive homing. It is equipped with multiple re-attack modes which operate if the target ship is missed. The torpedo carries out programmed target search, acquisition and attack procedures. It can also lay Mobile Mark 67 and Captor Mark 60 mines. Britain's coronavirus testing farce has continued as two teenage boys with symptoms of an 'inflammatory syndrome' were sent 'useless' kits with no labels or a return address. Sabrina and Steve Legge, from Bath in Somerset, were left terrified when teenagers Dylan, 16, and Colston, 14, began to display symptoms of an illness linked to the deadly coronavirus. The couple said both boys had suffered with sickness, diarrhoea, stabbing chest pains and blistering on their tongues since the end of April and were told by an NHS 111 call handler and their GP that the symptoms were 95 per cent likely to be related to Covid-19. Despite this, the pair claim a medic at their local practice refused to test them, reportedly saying 'we don't hand out tests willy-nilly' and allegedly telling the family only those who are over 18 or critically ill are eligible for NHS testing. Mr and Mrs Legge then decided to order throat swab testing kits from Randox Laboratories through a government scheme, but when they arrived the parents claim the kits were missing vital labels, instructions and barcode stickers needed for their return. Pictured: Steve and Sabrina Legge seen before lockdown began with teenagers Dylan and Colston After calling Randox for guidance, the couple said they were told they were one of 'thousands' of people who called with the same complaint after a packaging error rendered tests 'useless'. Randox said they were aware of the issue, while the Department of Health added 'urgent action' had been taken to mitigate 'small errors' within the testing process. The latest testing disaster comes as: Up to 50,000 coronavirus test samples were sent from the UK to the US after 'operational issues' in the lab network led to delays in the system Government continues to miss Matt Hancock's target of 100,000 tests per day Figures yesterday fell short of this number for the seventh day in a row, with 96,878 tests conducted in the 24 hours to 9am on Saturday It was also reported today that Britain could ditch its coronavirus contact-tracing app before it has even been rolled out nationwide Communities secretary Robert Jenrick revealed the app - being piloted on the Isle of Wight - may need to 'adapt' or 'move to a different model' Boris Johnson said last week he aimed to undertake 200,000 Covid-19 tests per day by the end of May Mr Legge said: 'I think it's a disgrace that I, as a taxpayer, am paying for these kits and they're useless. 'I've already had to fight like crazy to see if my kids have got this killer disease, and then when the kits do finally come they are completely useless. 'When we called Randox, the guy on the phone apologised and told us there had been an error with packaging on a batch of tests, that there were thousands and thousands of them, and they'd had thousands of calls related to the same problem. 'They told us the kits were useless. 'You couldn't make it up. With everything that is happening how could they make a mistake like that? It's scary.' Pictured: The leaflet that came with the Legges' testing kits, explaining 'in this pack you will find three Unique Reference Number labels' Pictured: The swab shown had a space for the codes to identify who the test belonged to - but there were no codes included in the kit Last month, GPs alerted to a sharp rise in children being admitted to intensive care with a 'possible SARS-CoV-2 related inflammatory syndrome'. Cases of this rare inflammatory disease were said to have 'in common overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease with blood parameters consistent with severe Covid-19 in children'. The alert, issued by a clinical commissioning group, was described as 'significant', with cardiac inflammation and abdominal pain among common symptoms, the Nursing Times reported. Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said it could 'entirely plausibly' be linked to the coronavirus outbreak, before Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned the new disease could be fatal. Children who have suffered with this illness have also tested positive for coronavirus, which is why Mr Legge was determined to get the teenagers tested. Northern Ireland biotech firm Randox Laboratories has partnered with the UK government to supply coronavirus home testing kits to British residents who apply for them online. The ordering process requires you to enter the details of the person the kit is for, before you are issued a URN code so the test results can be matched up with the correct patient. But Mr Legge claims when the two tests arrived, they were missing the URN codes, information about how to take the test and barcode stickers needed for couriers to return them. He said: 'When these kits arrived there were no instructions on where to send them to or anything. 'It said that we needed unique reference numbers but they weren't included and there was no barcode sticker for the courier to scan when you return the test. Pictured: The outside packaging of the kit showed no address or evidence as to where the kit should be returned to Randox said they were aware of the issue, while the Department of Health added 'urgent action' had been taken to mitigate 'small errors' with the testing process 'When you order the test you have to put the person's details who the test is for and you get given a unique reference number which should match all those on the kit so they can match up the results with the correct patient. 'When we called up to ask them how to do the test and where they needed to be sent to, they told us there should be a sticker with a barcode for the courier to scan, but it wasn't there either. 'Sabrina has tried to re-order the kits but the website is now saying there's none available. It's a nightmare. Did you receive a 'useless' testing kit? Email faith.ridler@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement 'The boys are very anxious, they're not themselves. We keep trying to reassure them that everything is going to be OK and that we will get them sorted and tested but they are very worried.' Mrs Legge, who works as a radiology assistant at Bristol Royal Infirmary, has now been forced to self-isolate from her job for two weeks until the couple have answers over whether the boys are coronavirus positive. Her husband said: 'We called NHS 111 and the handler told us she was 95 per cent sure their symptoms were Covid-related. 'The second opinion from the GP was that they were 95 per cent certain it was Covid related too. 'But we were told they don't test anybody under the age of 18 or that they only test those who are critically ill and/or in intensive care. 'My kids don't need to go into intensive care to get tested, we are trying to stop it from getting to that stage. I'm absolutely disgusted by this, it's a joke. Pictured: The leaflet included with the testing kit, which explained those being tested need to register URN numbers with Randox 'They have had nearly all the symptoms but they weren't willing to test them. It's a disgrace to the health service. 'My wife is working her socks off helping Covid-19 patients all the time and then as soon as it's your own kids that are sick nobody seems to be able to help.' A spokesperson for Randox said the organisation was 'aware of the issue', adding that it was 'being looked at' by those responsible for distribution. 'We are aware of the issue ... which is being looked at by those within the national testing programme who are responsible for testing kit distribution,' a statement said. 'It should be noted that Randox is only one partner within a multi-partner, national testing programme. 'The programme is being run and coordinated by the Department of Health and Social Care and they would be best placed to comment on the overall programme.' NHS contact tracing app 'does not work on Huawei and some older phones' Huawei and some older mobile phones cannot run the NHS contact tracing app being trialled on the Isle of Wight, NHSX has admitted. Dr Geraint Lewis, who is in charge of the development of the NHS Covid-19 app, said that the new tool will only work with newer operating systems on Apple and Samsung phones. Speaking to BBC Radio Solent, he said phones needed to have the capability of running Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and to be running either Apple iOS 11 upwards or Android 8 upwards. Several listeners had contacted the radio station to say that the app, which is being piloted on the island before being rolled out nationwide, was not working on older devices. Dr Lewis said: 'There are three reasons why the app might not work on a particular smart phone, it's either the development team has not got around to supporting that particular phone. 'The second reason is if the phone itself doesn't have this thing called Bluetooth Low Energy in it, certain older phones don't have BLE and that's the piece of technology we use to measure distance between phones. 'The third reason is the operating system, we currently support ios version 11 and upwards and Android version 8 and upwards, so if you can update the operating system that should hopefully help.' Another listener complained that the app drained the battery on their phone but Dr Lewis said that it had been designed to be low energy and only used 1 per cent of battery on his phone and asked for people with problems to give their feedback to NHSX. Dr Lewis explained that Android phones request permission to use location services because the system bundles it together with bluetooth permissions and he had written to Google to point out that this was 'confusing'. He added: 'It is not a tracking app, it doesn't know geographically where you are, all it is measuring is the distance between your phone and somebody else's.' Explaining how the app works, he said: 'If you download the app, it starts taking anonymous measurements of how far away you are from other app users and it stores that information anonymously on your phone. 'If later on you develop symptoms of coronavirus, either fever or continuous new cough, then you can choose to send that information to the NHS, then we will notify anonymously those people you have been in close contact with and then arrange for a virology swab test delivered to your door in a few hours. 'The system is there to protect the whole community, so if sufficient numbers of people download and use the app everyone will be protected regardless of whether they themselves have a phone that is compatible.' He added: 'The huge advantage of an app over more traditional forms of contact tracing, is that you can almost industrialise the process, it's able to send notifications very rapidly to people very soon after they have developed these symptoms which is the time when they are at their most infectious.' Dr Lewis said that 55,000 people had downloaded the app so far but it was not possible to say that all of those were on the Isle of Wight. Advertisement A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care added: 'We are aware of a small number of home test kits that were incorrectly dispatched without a return label. 'We are urgently seeking to resolve this so anyone affected can either be provided with a new label or order a replacement kit online, which won't be counted in the daily figures. 'We're rapidly expanding testing and have increased the numbers of those eligible over the last week. 'Nearly a million people have now been tested in the UK and the vast majority report no issues with the testing process. 'Where, in a small number of instances, process errors have been highlighted to us, we have taken urgent action to implement robust mitigations to the testing process.' The distribution of these 'useless' kits comes after up to 50,000 coronavirus test samples had to be sent from the UK to the US after 'operational issues' in the lab network led to delays in the system. The Department of Health said sending swabs abroad is one of the contingencies to deal with so-called teething problems in a rapidly-expanded testing system. It is understood the test results will be validated back in the UK and communicated to patients 'as quickly as possible'. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: 'The expansion of the UK's coronavirus testing network has involved setting up an entirely new 'Lighthouse' lab network to process test swabs. 'When problems arise, we have contingencies in place which include creating extra temporary capacity for our labs or sending swabs abroad to partner labs for completion. 'Of course, our partner labs must match our high standards.' The government has repeatedly missed Matt Hancock's target of 100,000 Covid-19 tests per day, with figures yesterday falling short of this number for the seventh day in a row. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said 96,878 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 9am on Saturday, down from 97,029 the day before. This is far from Boris Johnson's 'ambition' of 200,000 tests per day by the end of May. Heath leaders insisted they expected 'fluctuations' in the figures, claiming the testing was still much higher than it was at the start of the outbreak. Deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said not much could be read into day-to-day variations. He told the Downing Street press briefing: 'We are now really at a high plateau, in the region of 100,000 tests per day. 'There is some fluctuation, and quite frankly I expect there to be some fluctuation on a day-to-day basis. 'I don't think we can read too much into day-to-day variations, but the macro-picture is this is now at a much, much higher level than it ever was at the beginning of this crisis.' It was reported today that Britain could ditch its coronavirus contact-tracing app before it has even been rolled out nationwide. Communities secretary Robert Jenrick revealed the app - being piloted on the Isle of Wight - may need to 'adapt' or 'move to a different model'. Fewer than 50,000 people living on the island, or 35 per cent of its population, have downloaded the app since the trial began last week. But experts say around two-thirds of Britain - the equivalent of 40million people - will eventually need to install the app for it to work. The app, which works using Bluetooth, alerts users if they have been in close contact with someone who has reported symptoms of COVID-19. But its design has sparked privacy concerns, with officials admitting the 'centralised' NHS approach sees personal data stored in one database. Other nations have adopted an app model which stores data in a 'decentralised' way, meaning the app does not harvest location data. Google and Apple's own decentralised tech has been adopted by European nations including Germany, Ireland and Switzerland. Health chiefs - keen to roll the app out nationwide in the next week - are understood to be looking at switching to the system used by the two tech giants. Did you receive a 'useless' testing kit? Email faith.ridler@mailonline.co.uk Nearly 2,000 Former DOJ Officials Call on AG Barr to Resign Over Flynn Case A group of nearly 2,000 former Justice Department officials has criticized the department and Attorney General William Barr over its move to dismiss the indictment against Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former national security adviser to President Donald Trump. Barr has recently faced renewed scrutiny for his interventions in cases related to Trumps close allies after the department made a decision to drop its case against Flynn for allegedly making false statements during an FBI interview. On Monday, the group issued an online statement, organized by Protect Democracy, alleging that Barr had once again assaulted the rule of law by intervening in the Flynn case. Protect Democracy is a nonprofit advocacy group staffed by former government officials, political operatives, and activists that have been opposing Trumps agenda via legal means. The signees, made up of past career prosecutors who served under Republican and Democratic administrations, disputed the departments justification for moving to dismiss the case. They argued that it does not hold up to scrutiny because there was the ample evidence that the investigation was well-founded andmore importantlythe fact that Flynn admitted under oath and in open court that he told material lies to the FBI in violation of longstanding federal law. If any of us, or anyone reading this statement who is not a friend of the President, were to lie to federal investigators in the course of a properly predicated counterintelligence investigation, and admit we did so under oath, we would be prosecuted for it, they wrote. In DOJs filing to the district court, Timothy Shea, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, argued that the interview of Mr. Flynn was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBIs counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynna no longer justifiably predicated investigation that the FBI had, in the Bureaus own words, prepared to close because it had yielded an absence of any derogatory information. Shea added that since the government wasnt persuaded that the FBI interviewed Flynn with a legitimate investigative basis, Flynns guilty plea was irrelevant. He said to be a crime, a lie needs to be material, which means it has to have probative weight on the investigated matter. The departments decision to file the motion came shortly after documents pertaining to the Flynn case released by the DOJ included handwritten notes that revealed top officials in the agency had questioned whether the goal of questioning Flynn was to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired? Moreover, the documents also revealed that Peter Strzok, the FBIs then-deputy assistant director for counterintelligence operations, urgently reached out to agents handling the Flynn case to advise them not to close the case after the agents determined there were no more leads to follow in the Flynn probe. The group urged the judge presiding over the case, Judge Emmet Sullivan, to closely examine the Departments stated rationale for dismissing the chargesincluding holding an evidentiary hearing with witnessesand to deny the motion and proceed with sentencing if appropriate. While it is rare for a court to deny the Departments request to dismiss an indictment, if ever there were a case where the public interest counseled the court to take a long, hard look at the governments explanation and the evidence, it is this one, the statement read. The signees also called on Barr to resign, echoing a similar statement earlier this year over the departments handling of Trump associate Roger Stones case. But in the likely event that he will not, they are also calling on Congress to hold the attorney general accountable, the signees wrote. Barr was scheduled to testify in the House Judiciary Committee in late March, but the hearing was canceled due to the public health crisis caused by the CCP virus pandemic. The group has now called on Congress to reschedule that hearing while urging lawmakers to formally censure the attorney general. Barr has defended the departments decision to drop the case against Flynn. In a May 7 interview with CBS reporter Catherine Herridge, Barr said the decision was a good one because it upheld the rule. He noted that the new information that became available in recent weeks influenced the departments decision on the case. As new information just became available that has a bearing on whether there was a legitimate investigation, that requires us, our duty, we think is to dismiss the case, Barr said. The attorney general added that he was committed to restoring an equal standard of justice in the United States and that that standard requires the department to dismiss the case against Flynn. I wanted to make sure that we restore confidence in the system. Theres only one standard of justice, he said. Barr also dismissed claims that he was doing the bidding of Trump, saying that he was doing the laws bidding. Earlier this year, Protect Democracy also organized a similar statement signed by hundreds of former DOJ officials to express dissatisfaction over Barrs handling of the sentencing of Stone. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times request for comment. Petr Svab contributed to this report. TORRINGTON - Birthdays in the time of COVID-19 are drive-by affairs, and one of the longest such parades in town was the one marking the 100th birthday of Marjorie Dante on May 9. More than 100 people drove by her house, parked on the street and sang Happy Birthday from outside 34 cars displaying signs saying, Honk for Mrs. Dante and Happy Birthday Margie. Celebrated as the co-founder of the Torrington School of Ballet and a longtime volunteer for the Nutmeg Ballet, Marjorie Dante was a guiding force at both institutions for 47 years, retiring in 2017 at age 97. Those who know her say she did almost everything taking attendance, fitting dance shoes, keeping the books, ordering supplies, keeping the studio clean and more. Ive always called her the Mother of the Ballet, said Peggy Hotchkiss, a Nutmeg board member and longtime friend of Marjories daughter, Sharon Dante - Nutmegs founder and executive director. As Sharon Dante puts it, it was her mom who advised her to open a dance studio in 1969. As Marjorie Dante recalls it, her daughter was looking for ways to put her extensive dance training and performance experience to new uses. Why dont you try to give a few dance lessons? Marjorie Dante said. Thos ten words changed Torringtons history. Sharon Dante opened Torrington School of Ballet in December 1969 in the Migeon Avenue studio, where she studied dance as a child with Yolan Szabo. She later moved to Water Street and finally to Main Street, where the Nutmeg Conservatory has become a landmark. Would she have done it anyway? Of course she would have, Marjorie Dante said in a phone interview. Shes a lifelong Torrington resident, born Marjorie Andreoli on May 9, 1920, in a house on East Main Street. I never went much further than that, she said with a chuckle. But thats just geography and modesty. Though I didnt travel, I was able to see the whole world come to Torrington over these last decades, she said. She married James Jimmy Dante, a locally renowned trumpet player and tap dancer, and they had two children, Sharon and Joseph. She has two grandchildren, Jessica and Greg; and two great-grandchildren, Briella and Gavin. The Andreoli family is huge, Marjorie Dante said. My brother Johnny had eight children, those children had 23 and the next generation had over 46. So I have tons of great-great nieces and nephews out there as well. For almost 20 years, Jimmy and Marjorie Dante ran a diaper cleaning service, closing it just when they noticed that disposable diapers were catching on in the mid-1960s. She then worked as a sales clerk at Howards. But her tenure at TSOB and Nutmeg was her longest and most satisfying career. She was the first person I met when I started [as a student] at Nutmeg in 1975, said Susan Szabo, who is now the childrens ballet mistress at Torrington School of Ballet, the feeder school for Nutmeg Ballet. She was lovely, and she was in charge. She had a little corner office in the Migeon Avenue studio. She had ballet shoes and Pointe shoes all piled up, and thats where the kids would go over and get fitted with their shoes. She was an expert shoe fitter, she said. When Nutmeg moved to Water Street, Marjorie continued making it run smoothly so her daughter and the other instructors could concentrate on the students, Szabo said. Shed have her little dust cloth and shed be going over all the windowsills. That place had to be spotless, and it was. As Barry Hughson, a Nutmeg graduate, always put it, Mrs. Dante could spot a dust bunny from a mile away. Szabo would help out answering the phone. Her husband, Jimmy would call, and hed say, Would you please tell my wife to come home? She never wanted to leave, never, Szabo said. Peggy Hotchkiss, a member of the Torrington chapter of UNICO International, a service organization honoring Italian heritage, recalls when UNICO awarded Marjorie Dante the honor of Torringtons Italian Mayor for a Day on Columbus Day 2010, when Marjorie was 90. I just think that she is great, the most beautiful and amazing person. She knew every students name. When they came in, when those little children came in to the Torrington School of Ballet and she would call them by name and say hello, they would be so happy, Hotchkiss said. Donna Bonasera, owner of Connecticut Dance Theatre in Watertown and former associate director at Nutmeg in the early 1970s, often helped Marjorie Dante in between dance instruction. When she would go to Florida, I would take over. That was part of my training, she said. Bonasera also traveled with Marjorie Dante to Nutmegs branch schools in Winsted, Goshen and Watertown, cleaning and making sure the schools had what they needed so that the teachers could just go in and do their thing. Businesswise, Mrs. Dante taught me everything. When Mrs. Dante went to Florida, Sharon and I had to send out bills. We never did that before. Mrs. Dante took care of everything, Bonasera said. Bonasera purchased the Nutmeg branch school in Watertown from Sharon Dante, after leaving Nutmeg in 1987. It was one of the schools she had helped Marjorie Dante keep clean, more than 20 years earlier. I still have the broom, which Mrs. Dante gave me when I took over, she said. I think what Mrs. Dante also gave me is a work ethic, problem solving, just not being afraid to work, she said. Jessica Dante Rich, Marjories granddaughter, remembers working with her at Nutmeg after school when Jessica was a teenager. She loved when I would come. A lot of time she was the only one in the office in the afternoon, and she would give me tasks to do. I would help send out mailers to students, marketing things. I would do whatever she told me to. I would clean. She ran the show, Rich said. Rich remembers many shopping trips with Nonnie, as she still calls her grandmother. She would buy me clothes for Christmas or birthdays. That was our time. Shed pick me up, we would go out to eat, we would go shopping, we would try on clothes, buy clothes. Then when I got home I would have to do a fashion show for her, she said. Victoria Mazzarelli, Nutmegs Artistic Director and a former student, said, Mrs. Dante was always looking out for us when she worked with us, always keeping us on our toes, so to speak. I remember getting my first pair of Pointe shoes from her, which she fitted to me personally. She is simply an amazing woman. I dont have a secret, Marjorie Dante said, when asked how she lived to be 100. I worked all my life. I was with (Sharon) all the time that she had it, and I worked until I was 97 years old. Asked if she has a favorite memory of a century of living, she took a breath and said, All of it. I loved everything of it. And I want to thank everyone for celebrating with me. Next time, I hope you can all come in. NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The city will reassess whether to keep Front Street closed to traffic as part of the citys open streets plan, after local businesses said the closure caused sales to plummet and the Advance observed hardly any pedestrians or cyclists using the street, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. We put together these streets working with the City Council, working with the NYPD, Department of Transportation, where we thought they would be most helpful and where we could, of course, keep them safe, de Blasio told reporters Monday when asked if he would be willing to reopen the street or choose another street to close in the area. Like everything else, if we try something and it proves that theres not that many people who use it, we need to reassess, or if it has an unintended consequence, we need to reassess, he said. The mayor said he would have more to say in a few days. Earlier this month, de Blasio announced that the city would close down nearly a mile of streets between Forest Avenue and Victory Boulevard around Silver Lake Park and another half-mile of roadway on Front Street, between Canal Street and Edgewater Street. The closure was part of a plan to close down 40 miles of city streets over the course of the next month with the goal of closing up to 100 miles of streets, opening them up to pedestrians and cyclists during the coronavirus pandemic. But the Front Street closure has sparked pushback from Island politicians, civic groups and businesses, who have said the closure is hurting business in the area and only benefiting people living in the upscale Urby apartment complex who already have access to the adjacent Stapleton Waterfront Park. The manager of the Italian restaurant Pastavino in Urby, recently told the Advance that in less than a week since the street closure, Pastavino had lost thousands" in revenue. Over the weekend, hardly anyone was spotted using the closed street. But the adjacent Stapleton Waterfront Park next to the closed portion of Front Street was bustling Sunday, with many people spotted out on walks, riding their bikes and relaxing on park benches. The mayor said he was concerned about small businesses being impacted by the closure, but would not commit to a final result just yet. He said he would have his team follow up to see if Staten Island pedestrians and cyclists were using the street to determine if we think theres a different approach or better alternative. Last week, City Hall would not commit to reopening the street when asked. When the street closure plan was announced, an initiative agreed upon by the mayor and City Council, the City Council had said it planned to have conversations with communities and local stakeholders on the streets plan. North Shore Councilwoman Debi Rose said though she did not submit a list of streets for consideration to the city, she had told the City Council during hearing that streets near the North Shores NYCHA developments needed to be prioritized. Rose said the city had initially proposed a much longer route closure for Front Street. She had tried to get the city to close an area near Canal Street by Tappen Park, she said, but the city refused to do so, so she was able to convince them to close off the areas eventually agreed on. But she said the city had been set on closing Front Street from the beginning and would not agree to not close Front Street. Borough President James Oddo has been a vocal critic of the closure and called on the city to choose another location. Meanwhile, the Islands small business association, the Downtown Alliance has suggested the city instead close roads near the North Shores NYCHA apartment complexes, especially near the Stapleton Houses. The city plans to continue to look for more streets to close in the coming weeks. FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. London, May 11 : Khalsa Aid, the UK-based humanitarian relief organisation, had funded emergency food rations for the people in Kenya hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The organisation's founder, Ravinder Singh said in a tweet on Sunday: "UK based (Sikh) humanitarian organisation @Khalsa_Aid is funding 38 tonnes of food for those economically affected due to coronavirus in Nairobi." Similarly in a Facebook post, Khalsa Aid said: "We are funding emergency food rations for 1,000s of people in Kenya who are struggling economically due to coronavirus pandemic. "Our thanks to Ramgharia Youth Association (RYA) in Nairobi for their wonderful assistance." Besides Kenya, the organisation was also "supporting International students and migrant workers in Russia, Cyprus, Ukraine, Canada, the US, Australia and the UK with food rations", it said on Twitter on Monday morning. Founded in 1999, Khalsa Aid is an international NGO with the aim to provide humanitarian aid in disaster areas and civil conflict zones around the world. The organisation is based upon the Sikh principle of "recognise the whole human race as one". The stark inequalities of the coronavirus pandemic have been laid bare by new official figures showing workers in some sectors are several times more likely to die from the virus than others. Members of many low-paid and underappreciated occupations have suffered a disproportionate loss of life. Taxi drivers, care workers and security guards are all among the most at-risk groups, the Office for National Statistics said on Monday. That leaves many employees with a difficult choice: continue to work and put their lives in danger, or stay at home and see their incomes drastically reduced. Sarah* is a care worker in Huddersfield. It makes me feel awful, when I see those statistics, she says. It makes me question our safety. We feel like were left out really. Were not really thought of. The major issue is a lack of proper personal protective equipment (PPE), Sarah says. At the home of 38 mostly elderly residents where she works, carers get plastic aprons, standard surgical masks and gloves, all of which are tightly rationed. Its not much at all, she adds. Two people have tested positive for Covid-19 at the care home and others have shown symptoms but have not been tested. Officially, there has been one death at the home linked to Covid-19, but Sarah and the others believe more deaths have been caused by the virus but have not been recorded as such due to a lack of testing. A lot of the staff are very worried for their own safety and their familys safety, carrying it back home. Theyre very concerned but a lot of them cant afford to take off time in isolation either. Many care home workers thought when when the government announced its furlough scheme that they would be covered for 80 per cent of their wages if they self-isolated. In fact, they would receive statutory sick pay (SSP) of 95.85 per week, meaning a big drop in earnings and difficulty making ends meet. Are people going to work when they may be ill with the virus? Yes, yes, definitely, says Sarah. I feel there are people that have been in that situation, I really do. She says there has been little understanding and communication from her employer. Theres not much support there. All were told is that we have to follow [government] guidelines. Better PPE and more support would really help to lift peoples confidence in their safety, she says. We see on the news all the time about the NHS not having enough PPE. Doctors and nurses are dying, and yet weve got even less PPE than they have. How are we going to get through this? The plastic aprons they have leave care workers exposed, says Sarah, and staff are told to keep masks on for at least four hours because of a lack of supplies. We were told we had to use them sparingly. Our boss wasnt too happy at the rate we were going through them but I was trying to explain to her that if weve got patients who are showing symptoms the mask has to be changed every time we go in and out of that room. Sarah is pleased to see the thanks given to key workers from the general public, but staff morale remains extremely low because of the lack of protection. Everyone is down, depressed, worried and its showing. Unlike care workers, taxi drivers may not be thought of by many people as being on the front line of Covid-19 but the official statistics show that they are among the most at risk of any occupation. They are between three and four times as likely to die from Covid-19 as the average Briton. Rusheeswar Reddy has been a taxi driver for six years but was forced to stop working two months ago when the virus began to spread. His decision was not easy, but he says he had to put the health of his family first. His wife gave birth to their first child just 12 weeks ago so the risk of contracting the virus while in his cab and bringing it home was simply too great. You are just 1m away from your passengers in an enclosed space. Its very difficult to protect yourself he says. Its very difficult, its very scary. The virus is spreading very quickly. You dont know who you are picking up and what they have got. Not working leaves Reddy in a difficult financial position as he still has to cover outgoings for his car such as insurance which is 150 per month. He has paid off the cost of his car but other drivers are not so fortunate. Ive taken loans from friends and Im worried about paying them back. Its very risky. Recommended Social care workers dying at roughly twice rate of general population The governments scheme to help self-employed workers will help him, he hopes, but he fears it will come too late. Payments are not expected until June, by which time he will have been out of work for three months. The situation is getting bad. We need food now, not in June. How can you wait? asks Reddy. With the government announcing guidelines this week on sending millions more workers back to work, unions fear that more people will be put at unnecessary risk. They have been demanding improvements to safety for weeks for people who have worked through the pandemic but progress has been slow and lives have been lost unnecessarily. Jason Moyer-Lee, general secretary of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britan, said: The fact that security guards and private hire drivers have one of the highest death rates from Covid-19 is unfortunately not very surprising. The workers on the front lines, who cannot work from home, and often work for some of the worst employers in the UK are at extreme risk. Their health and safety needs to be treated with far more care. The IWGB is taking legal action against the government over what the union says is a failure to provide proper income protection and sick pay to millions of precarious workers. Steve Garelick, regional organiser for the GMB union, contacted the Department for Transport five weeks ago, asking them to put in place appropriate protective equipment for cab and bus drivers including face masks, plastic screens and gloves. Transport secretary Grant Shapps has not responded to his letter. A recent study led by Daniel King, professor of organisational studies at Nottingham Business School, found that frontline workers often feel less able to speak up against their employers than office-based workers. The shifts proposed by the government make clear that frontline workers are the ones who are much more likely to be asked to go to work, Professor King says. Yet we already know from the ONS data that certain occupations such as construction and factory workers are more likely to die from Covid-19. Many are also going to be more economically insecure, so might feel the pressure to go back to work earlier than they feel comfortable with. Our research demonstrates that frontline workers are less likely to have effective employee voice, often working in top-down, command and control, masculine environments where it is more difficult to raise concerns. It is really important that these workers have strong, effective employee voice, through unions and other representative structures, to be able to speak up about concerns they have and work effectively with employers to get their workplaces Covid-safe. These issues are not only about the workplace itself, but also how they get to work, their home issues, for example looking after children or vulnerable adults, which might not have been things they have talked about before. Now, more than ever, we need strong representative structures to give employees the opportunity to speak-up and not feel alone or isolated. *Name changed to protect anonymity On May 10, the armed formations of the Russian Federation launched 15 attacks on Ukrainian positions in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area in Donbas. The enemy used 122mm artillery systems, 120mm and 82mm mortars, antitank missile system, weapons on infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers of different systems, heavy machine guns, and small arms to shell Ukrainian positions, the press center of the JFO Headquarters reports. Russian-occupation troops launched five attacks in the zone of action of tactical force East, near Starohnativka (51km south of Donetsk) and Avdiivka (17km north of Donetsk). In the zone of action of tactical force North, the enemy fired 122mm artillery, 120mm and 82mm mortars, antitank missile system, grenade launchers of different systems, and heavy machine guns on Ukrainian troops near Orikhove (57km north-west of Luhansk); 122mm artillery, 120mm and 82mm mortars outside Novotoshkivske. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded and three more got combat injuries in the enemy shelling over the past day. According to the intelligence data, five Russian invaders were wounded on May 10. Today, the Russian-occupation forces have not opened fire yet. ol Chennai, May 11 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Monday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to resume regular air services and train services to Chennai till May 31. He also sought a credit restructuring package as well as refinancing support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in the state. Speaking to Modi on video conference meeting of the Prime Ministers with all Chief Ministers, he requested that regular air services not begin till May 31. Citing the Central government's decision to restart train services to Chennai and from Chennai from May 12 onwards, Palaniswami also pleaded against it, saying the number of corornavirus positive cases are increasing in the city. Batting for the MSME sector, he requested for a credit re-structuring package for MSMEs so that they do not have repayment obligations till December 31, 2020. Fresh working capital assistance should be extended to the MSME units, he added. The Chief Minister also asked for refinancing support of Rs 2,500 crore to Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation through the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and commercial banks for MSMEs. He also asked Modi to increase the annual credit plan target for lending to MSMEs in Tamil Nadu to Rs 125,000 crore for 2020-21. Pointing out that the Rs 312 crore released to the state under the National Health Mission (NHM) has been fully utilised, Palaniswami said the Utilisation Certificate has been submitted for release of the second installment. He also asked for release of Rs 2,000 crore as special grant for purchase of medical equipments and sought additional borrowing power of 33 per cent above the permitted level for fiscal year 2019-20 for FY21. "The pending GST compensation amount may be released now. 50 per cent of the 2020-21 Finance Commission grants to the Urban and Rural Local bodies may be released now. Moreover, no cuts should be made in devolution to States from the Central Budget estimates 2020-21," Palaniswami told Modi. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister also asked for an ad-hoc grant of Rs 1,000 crore from National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) procurement of medical, protective materials and for movement of migrant workers and Rs 1,321 crore towards custom milled rice subsidy to facilitate paddy procurement. According to Palaniswami, following the guidelines of the Central government, nearly 13,284 people consisting of migrant labours, people who came for treatment and others have been sent back to their home states in 12 trains. "We have also planned to send willing migrant labours and others in 61 trains from My 11 to May 17 based on the consent of the recipient States. I request the Chief Minister concerned to give their consent early," he said. "As on date, we have received four flights and one ship under Vande Bharat and Samudra Setu Missions. Around 900 passengers have been quarantined in various institutions and tested as per Standard Operating Procedures," he added. Security guards stand outside the headquarters of ABS-CBN network following government orders to cease its operations The Bishops of the Philippines speak of freedom of press, denouncing the governments closure of the countrys biggest broadcast company. By Vatican News In a statement released on Wednesday, Archbishop Socrates Villegas warned that if freedom of expression and dissent is curtailed, abuse of human rights will follow suit. Responding to the governments decision to shut down the countrys largest broadcasting network, the Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan and former head of the countrys Catholic Bishops Conference, said that aside from being a legal issue, the matter also involves moral and spiritual aspects that need attention. ABS-CBN On Tuesday the government of the Philippines announced it would not be renenewing ABS-CBNs 25-year license. Founded in 1946, the station has provided the country with various television and radio channels for over 70 years. With the shutdown, an estimated 11,000 company employees risk losing their jobs. Government's disdain President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed his disdain towards the television network numerous times since becoming president in 2016. He claims that ABS-CBN refused to run his political advertisements during the campaign season - allegations denied by the network. He has also repeatedly threatened to close down the network for its coverage of the governments bloody war on drugs that has claimed thousands of life. In a speech at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Congress member Arlene Brosas denounced the order as a "brazen clampdown of the freedom of the press". Bishop Villegas reiterated this concern, saying the government should be willing to listen to criticisms and opposing views to improve governance. World Communications Day The decision also comes just as the Church prepares to mark World Communications Day on Sunday, 24 May. Pope Francis released the theme for this years celebration in January: That you may tell your children and grandchildren". Life becomes history. In his message, the Pope expresses the importance of finding the good in every story and he urges all those who work in the field of the press to steer away from false and destructive news. In this regard, Bishop Villegas also called on ABS-CBN to use this moment to critically examine itself and its mission in society and to always promote wisdom and goodwill. "Dont be afraid to criticize," he concluded, "but do it for the good of all and always based on the truth. B Anbuselvan By Express News Service CHENNAI: Even as a decision is yet to be taken on public transportation in the State, the railways have decided to resume the biweekly services between Chennai and New Delhi. The move has eliminated the necessity to get transit passes for inter-state movement - in particular, migrant labourers can leave without taking an approval from their home States. Given that a majority of State governments are not prepared to operate buses or taxis for last mile connectivity yet, the Centre's decision comes as a surprise. "We never expected train services to resume so soon. As of now, autos and taxis are not allowed here. Resuming bus services is still in discussion stage," said a senior government official. FOLLOW CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES HERE However, a section of passengers opined that resumption of train services would only benefit those with private vehicles, because there is no public transport system in place to ferry them. K Baskar, former member of Divisional Rail User's Consultative Committee (DRUCC), Chennai division said, "For natives of other districts, buses need to be provided. For those staying in Chennai and outskirts, autos or taxis are also needed. Since there is no lodging facility, the railways and the government should clarify on the ambiguity over last mile connectivity." Guidelines Only passengers with confirmed tickets to be allowed to enter station Passengers must wear face covers/masks Passengers shall reach station at least 90 minutes prior to journey, to facilitate thermal screening Only those found asymptomatic will be permitted Passengers shall observe social distancing On arrival, passengers will have to adhere to health protocols as prescribed by State No linen or blankets Online cancellation shall be permitted up to 24 hrs before scheduled departure No cancellation permitted less than 24 hrs before departure Cancellation charges shall be 50% of fare Train timings Chennai to New Delhi (Fridays and Sundays) Departure: 6.35 am Arrival: 10.30 am New Delhi to Chennai (Wednesdays and Fridays) Error. Page cannot be displayed. Please contact your service provider for more details. (29) Politics USSR and War! 11.05.2020 19:43:26 - (live-PR.com) - Trump called the winners in World War II only the United States and Britain. Many residents of Russia, the countries of the former USSR, and other states reacted sharply, leaving more than 100,000 comments reminding that the United States joined the war later than the rest, and the United States was not the main victims. "Letters of memory, allies"! The world - Trump called the winners in World War II only the United States and Britain. Many residents of Russia, the countries of the former USSR, and other states reacted sharply, leaving more than 100,000 comments reminding that the United States joined the war later than the rest, and the United States was not the main victims."Letters of memory, allies"! The world must remember those who gave us Victory and freedom! There are cases when the history is "erased", accidentally or intentionally. We, at the Association of Mentors www.nastavniki.com, honor those who gave us the Victory, giving freedom to live and mentoring lessons of morality, morality and the will to Victory. The other day, the post of the US President - @Whitehouse, was published on Instagram, about the victory over fascist Germany in the USA and Great Britain, without mentioning the role of the USSR and other allies of the anti-Hitler coalition. The message attracted the attention of thousands of users from Russia and the CIS countries. Many began to write stories of the fate of their relatives. Public opinion is an important factor for American politicians. Therefore, we decided to appeal to ordinary citizens, and not to the authorities. We announce the civil action "Letters of Remembrance, Allies!", Which takes place exclusively in a friendly tone, during which we translate stories from Russian and other languages of the peoples affected during the war and send personal messages to @WhiteHouse subscribers We invite American citizens in response to share the stories of their families affected by the war! Ready to answer questions, exclusively in the correct key. Public organizations in Russia and other countries also write their letters to American NGOs in order to draw attention to the need to preserve memory. Stories are sent in private messages, and some are published with a single hashtag #memorylitter One history, from my family. we remember who won the war. Remember, and at what cost the USSR saved the world. You can not like the political views of the leadership of the time. But we must not forget the contribution of the people of Russia to the victory over fascism. USSR and War! Real history.I want to share with you the story of my family.November 16, 1941. My great-grandfather Stepan, grandfather Alexey and his brother were near Dedovsk. Alexey, was not a soldier, he was a 6-year-old boy.November 15, 1941. Somebody told my grandfather to leave urgently, but Stepan insisted that he would stay. My great-grandfather was an invalid, without one leg, he helped the soldiers and at the same time tried to feed the children. He was agreed that if the enemy broke through, he would set fire to the house.November 15, 1941, there was an Order. Soviet soldiers hit and went in offensive. My grandfather's brother died at the same time. Then, by the order of G. K. Zhukov, the troops of the 16th army struck from the area North of Volokolamsk. Unfortunately, this action didnt change the situation.December 2, 1941, the Germans attacked on the village of Lenino. The main line of defense on the Volokolamsk highway was just West of the village of Sadki, where was the rifle regiment under the command of Lieutenant Dokuchaev. The command post was in an old Church, which was surrounded by the Nazis. And on the Western outskirts of the village of Lenino, there were the soldiers of the battalion of captain Sharakshane. When the command post in Sadki was surrounded, the Commissar of the regiment Kutsev gathered soldiers for a breakthrough. This action allowed to dislodge the Fascists from the Cages, and their remnants were destroyed hand-to-hand by the soldiers.December 2, 1941, the enemy went around Dedovsk to get closer to the Volokolamsk highway. The enemy even partially skirted the city from the North, where it was stopped by our soldiers from an anti-tank group, fortified in a brick factory. The soldiers of Lieutenant Stepin protected the direction from the passage of the enemy to the rear of the entire division.December 8, 1941, A. Hitler, signed Directive No. 39 on the transition to defense on the entire Soviet-German front.#memoryletter @whitehouse must remember those who gave us Victory and freedom!There are cases when the history is "erased", accidentally or intentionally. We, at the Association of Mentors www.nastavniki.com, honor those who gave us the Victory, giving freedom to live and mentoring lessons of morality, morality and the will to Victory.The other day, the post of the US President - @Whitehouse, was published on Instagram, about the victory over fascist Germany in the USA and Great Britain, without mentioning the role of the USSR and other allies of the anti-Hitler coalition.The message attracted the attention of thousands of users from Russia and the CIS countries. Many began to write stories of the fate of their relatives.Public opinion is an important factor for American politicians. Therefore, we decided to appeal to ordinary citizens, and not to the authorities.We announce the civil action "Letters of Remembrance, Allies!", Which takes place exclusively in a friendly tone, during which we translate stories from Russian and other languages of the peoples affected during the war and send personal messages to @WhiteHouse subscribersWe invite American citizens in response to share the stories of their families affected by the war! Ready to answer questions, exclusively in the correct key.Public organizations in Russia and other countries also write their letters to American NGOs in order to draw attention to the need to preserve memory.Stories are sent in private messages, and some are published with a single hashtag #memorylitterOne history, from my family. we remember who won the war. Remember, and at what cost the USSR saved the world. You can not like the political views of the leadership of the time. But we must not forget the contribution of the people of Russia to the victory over fascism.USSR and War! Real history.I want to share with you the story of my family.November 16, 1941. My great-grandfather Stepan, grandfather Alexey and his brother were near Dedovsk. Alexey, was not a soldier, he was a 6-year-old boy.November 15, 1941. Somebody told my grandfather to leave urgently, but Stepan insisted that he would stay. My great-grandfather was an invalid, without one leg, he helped the soldiers and at the same time tried to feed the children. He was agreed that if the enemy broke through, he would set fire to the house.November 15, 1941, there was an Order. Soviet soldiers hit and went in offensive. My grandfather's brother died at the same time. Then, by the order of G. K. Zhukov, the troops of the 16th army struck from the area North of Volokolamsk. Unfortunately, this action didnt change the situation.December 2, 1941, the Germans attacked on the village of Lenino. The main line of defense on the Volokolamsk highway was just West of the village of Sadki, where was the rifle regiment under the command of Lieutenant Dokuchaev. The command post was in an old Church, which was surrounded by the Nazis. And on the Western outskirts of the village of Lenino, there were the soldiers of the battalion of captain Sharakshane. When the command post in Sadki was surrounded, the Commissar of the regiment Kutsev gathered soldiers for a breakthrough. This action allowed to dislodge the Fascists from the Cages, and their remnants were destroyed hand-to-hand by the soldiers.December 2, 1941, the enemy went around Dedovsk to get closer to the Volokolamsk highway. The enemy even partially skirted the city from the North, where it was stopped by our soldiers from an anti-tank group, fortified in a brick factory. The soldiers of Lieutenant Stepin protected the direction from the passage of the enemy to the rear of the entire division.December 8, 1941, A. Hitler, signed Directive No. 39 on the transition to defense on the entire Soviet-German front.#memoryletter @whitehouse Press Information: Mentors association of Russia Moskow, zelenograd Contact Person: Nikolay Kalmykov Phone: +79636936930 eMail: eMail Web: http://start.nastavniki.com 11.05.2020 19:43:26 - Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact the author. Please do not contact Live-PR.com. We are not able to assist you. Live-PR.com disclaims content contained in this article. Live-PR.com is not authorized to give any information about content and not responsible for content posted by third party. China is expected to ignore a Philippine protest against creation of an "administrative center" on a disputed islet because Manila has few means to follow up, but the outcry could throttle Beijings eventual pursuit of more legal control over Asias most hotly disputed sea. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on April 30 rejected Chinas illegal designation of Fiery Cross Reef as an administrative center, according to the departments website. Chinese officials point to historical usage records as support for their claims to numerous features in the South China Sea where the reef in question is located. China will ignore the April 30 protest because the Philippines lacks the military might or diplomatic clout to force its hand, South China Sea watchers say. China will do what it wants to do, the Philippines will protest, and these incidents will continue again, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapores public policy school. But the only thing the Philippines can do at this moment is just protest. Fiery Cross Reef, a human-built islet of 274 hectares, supports a runway and has received flights from the Chinese mainland. Its one of three major islets that Beijing controls in the Spratly archipelago, a group of tiny features in the South China Sea. The Philippines controls 10 islets in the same chain, which is valued for fisheries and energy reserves. The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam all contest at least part of China's claims to about 90% of the surrounding 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea. China landfilled Fiery Cross Reef among other features before 2017 to step up its military and civilian presence. China has the regions strongest armed forces plus the budget to overtake other maritime claimants in building disputed islets for human use. Since Rodrigo Duterte became Philippine president in 2016, the Philippine government seldom protests openly to Beijing over sovereignty disputes as the two presidents tried to improve relations. His predecessor filed a landmark world arbitration case in 2013, and three years later a court in The Hague ruled against the legal basis of Beijings South China Sea claims. China rejected the ruling. Protests are especially unlikely now as the Philippines accepts Chinese medical aid to fight COVID-19, said Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Metro Manila-based advocacy group Institute for Political and Electoral Reform. People are really preoccupied with the pandemic, he said. The latest protest is seen as a record of opposition against Chinas move in case Beijing uses it to seek more legal authority in the Spratly Islands. International courts sometimes admit demonstration of effective use to prove a countys rights to land or sea. Legally you need to register your displeasure, your protest and so on officially, said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. If you dont, you will be seen to acquiesce to whatever the other claimants are doing. Two Chinese government ministries have already renamed 25 islets and 55 submerged features in the contested sea that stretches from Hong Kong to Borneo, the countrys Civil Affairs Ministry said on its website last month. China Updates Disputed Sea Maps to Get Back at Vietnam Analysts believe the Chinese government hopes to solidify its claims to the South China Sea by renaming 25 islets and 55 submerged features Manilas protest calls Fiery Cross Reef an integral part of Philippine territory that belongs to a chain of the Philippine-controlled Kalayaan Island Group. It urged China to adhere to international law. China probably called Fiery Cross Reef an administrative region to consecrate its actual control of the islet, said Stephen Nagy, a senior associate professor of politics and international studies at International Christian University in Tokyo. Chinese officials might eventually redraw their own maps to reflect the new status they just gave it, he said. For the Filipinos, theyre in a process of trying to delegitimate the Chinese physical control through trying to create a legal argument or a legal case for their administrative control, which means sovereignty, Nagy said. Four ministers in the Andhra Pradesh government will spend Monday night in the villages affected by the poisonous Styrene gas vapour that claimed 12 lives in Visakhapatnam on May 7. Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy asked the ministers K Kanna Babu, Botsa Satyanarayana, Muthamsetty Srinivasa Rao and Dharmana Krishna Das, who have been supervising the relief operations in the affected villages, to do a night halt in the five villages that were affected by the poisonous gas leak from the LG Polymers plant. Around 15,000 villagers, who had been staying put in the relief camps for the last four days, started returning to their villages in the evening after the officials of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation authorities had completed massive sanitation and cleaning drive to restore normalcy in the villages. The chief minister told the ministers that if they spend a night with the villagers, it would instil a lot of confidence among them. Tourism minister M Srinivasa Rao said the officials completed the cleaning drive to make the villages habitable again. He, however, cautioned the villagers not to use air-conditioners and cook food at home till the experts give clearance. The government itself would supply food to the villages for some more time. We shall have a night stay in the villages and assess the situation, the minister said. An expert committee, from CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), which visited the LG Polymers plant and extensively toured the affected villages, is learnt to have observed that food and water stored by the people in the villages was not fit for consumption because of presence of Styrene residue in them. The experts team, which had a meeting with the high-powered committee of officials constituted by the state government, recommended that vegetables and fruits grown in the surrounding villages should not be consumed and even fodder should not be fed to the cattle. The NEERI team suggested that even the local milk products in the area should not be consumed. The open water sources like wells and borewells should not be used for cooking till a final evaluation is done, an official in the GVMC said on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, the government distributed cheques for Rs 1 crore to eight out of the 12 families of the deceased in the Vizag gas leak incident on Monday afternoon. The compensation for others would be paid once their legal heirs are identified, minister Kanna Babu said. He said 13,000 tonnes of Styrene gas stored in a few tanks in Vizag port was being sent back to South Korea. The GVMC staff has been creating awareness among the locals about the safety measures after the gas leak and how to dust away the residue, he said. The United Nations has warned of a 20 percent increase in domestic violence and at least one million unintended pregnancies in low- and middle-income countries as a result of even short-term lock down measures to contain COVID-19. Keeping people at home and health care focused on the highly infectious respiratory illness can increase risks for domestic violence as well as barriers to reproductive health. Shelters for battered women and children in Massachusetts have reported increased demand for services during the pandemic. This week, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey highlighted the states web page on resources for domestic abuse and sexual assault. A recent survey that included questions around pregnancy and the pandemic also showed fertility plans are being put on hold due to the financial impact of COVID-19 on income as well as concerns around access to prenatal care and fears of contracting the virus. Some 3.3 million babies are projected to be born between March 11, the start of many of the lock down measures in the United States, and Dec. 16. Dr. Jennifer Childs-Roshak, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, said her organization has taken steps to both protect staff and patients during the pandemic as well as insure access to services. We know that sexual and reproductive health care services are time sensitive and essential, which is why were doing all we can to meet the needs of our patients in person, online, and by phone, Childs-Roshak said. PPLM health centers have taken necessary precautions to protect the health and safety of our staff, patients, and the larger community. Those steps include reducing operating hours and limiting in-person appointments to the essential services of HIV testing and prevention, sexually transmitted infection treatment, abortion care and services related to long-acting reversible birth control. PPLM launched its first-ever telehealth program in mid-March when Governor Charlie Baker announced emergency public health regulations around COVID-2019. Currently, patients can rely on PPLMs telehealth program for contraceptive visits, problem-based care, gender-affirming hormone therapy, and the HIV prevention regimens PrEP and PEP, Childs-Roshak said. PPLM has also launched a pilot program for by-mail STI testing. Child-Roshak said PPLM has seen an uptick in services despite some peoples fears to seek health care during the pandemic. People dont stop having sex in a pandemic. They still need services such as birth control, STI testing and treatment, and safe, legal abortion, Childs-Roshak said. Since launching our telehealth program, we have created more appointment slots and expanded to weekend and evening hours to meet our patients needs. Childs-Roshak noted that some governors have declared abortion as non-essential, effectively barring abortion in their states." In Massachusetts, the Baker Administration included abortion as essential health care that would not be restricted during the pandemic, Childs-Roshak said. We are fortunate to live in a state committed to preserving abortion access. However, she said existing state laws make getting out of state care for an abortion procedure not allowed in Massachusetts downright dangerous. Medically unnecessary laws force doctors to send their patients out of state for abortion care when the patient receives a fatal fetal diagnosis later in pregnancy, Childs-Roshak said. The financial, logistical, and emotional strain of traveling across the country is a stressful prospect in normal times, but one that has become downright dangerous, if not impossible, since COVID-19 hit. She called it too soon to tell how this pandemic will impact reproductive health outcomes in the long term. There have been concerns that sexually transmitted infections may rise due to limited access and diminished prevention efforts, Childs-Roshak said. This crisis has shown us benefits of telehealth and the urgent need for laws and regulations that support telehealth as a long-term service delivery option for all health care, including sexual and reproductive health care. "The liquor rebate for Ohio's bars and restaurants is part of ongoing efforts to support Ohio businesses during the COVID-19 crisis," said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and chief investment officer. "Because JobsOhio's business model is unlike any other in America, we have had the unique capability to commit up to $300 million for similar initiatives since mid-March to help Ohioans when it is needed most." The Liquor Rebate Program is part of a broad directive from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to find innovative options that assist businesses' as they navigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. "We know this has been an uncertain time for Ohio bars and restaurants," said Sherry Maxfield, Director of the Department of Commerce. "We hope this brings some relief as they plan for reopening. Our team and agency partners will continue to find ways to ease some of the burden." Rebates will be applied as soon as a permit holder places an order from their assigned Agency. For example, if a permit holder purchases $1,000 in high proof liquor to restock inventory, the rebate will be applied at the point of sale and the actual cash cost to the permit holder will be $500. "Bars and restaurants have been hit hard economically by the COVID-19 pandemic, and creative solutions will be needed to help them eventually open once again," said Lorraine Terry, JobsOhio Beverage System Managing Director. "When bars and restaurants make plans to open operations, they can do so with the confidence they will have a rebate available to help them stock their shelves." There are more than 13,600 eligible permits in Ohio, totaling $6.8 million in potential rebates available to bars and restaurants. To view qualifying permits and to register for the liquor rebate program, visit Wholesale.OHLQ.com. JobsOhio is a private nonprofit economic development corporation designed to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio through business attraction, retention and expansion. The organization also works to seed talent production in its targeted industries and to attract talent to Ohio though Find Your Ohio. JobsOhio works with six regional partners across Ohio: Dayton Development Coalition, Ohio Southeast, One Columbus, REDI Cincinnati , Regional Growth Partnership and Team NEO . Learn more at www.jobsohio.com . Follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter and Facebook . The Division of Liquor Control is part of the Ohio Department of Commerce. The Department is Ohio's chief regulatory agency, focused on promoting prosperity and protecting what matters most to Ohioans. We ensure businesses follow the laws that help them create jobs and keep Ohioans safe. To learn more about what we do, visit our website at com.ohio.gov. Ohio Liquor is a partnership between the Ohio Division of Liquor Control and JobsOhio Beverage System (JOBS). JOBS owns the spirituous liquor product (intoxicating liquor containing more than 21 percent alcohol by volume) in Ohio for retail and wholesale sales. The division manages wholesale and retail operations for the sale of spirituous liquor in Ohio. OHLQ Locations are private businesses which own and operate retail outlets and sell spirituous liquor products on consignment. Profits from spirituous liquor provide dedicated funding for JobsOhio's economic development efforts. SOURCE JobsOhio Related Links http://www.jobsohio.com Kargil: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) escorted 900 trucks carrying essential supplies, from the icy heights of Zoji La to the frozen slopes of Kargil in past 21 days to ensure safe passage of trucks amid the ongoing lockdown. The 900 trucks carried goods and fuel tankers having essential supplies to people located in far-flung areas of Ladakh. Due to the effort of ITBP, the trucks carrying food and other items are reaching Kargil covering a distance of 100 km in about eight hours of time. The land route through Zoji La pass serves as a lifeline for the nearly 1.5 lakh residents of Kargil. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) has been assigned the vital responsibility to ensure no disruption on the movement of truck. The Leh based North West Frontier of ITBP has played a pivotal role in the process with active support of the Ladakh administration. The convoys move through Gumri, Meena Marg and Dras via Fotu La pass and Namika La pass in extreme cold climatic conditions, with temperatures dipping up to minus 10 degrees Celsius. The Drivers and other staff were screened at various checkpoints by ITBP personnel to ensure safety. Social distancing norm is also being practiced while carrying forward this process. Construction will soon ramp up on the expansion of the Trans Mountain oil export pipeline, including the installation of pipe in British Columbia where opposition to the project has been loudest. The multi-billion dollar project is owned by the federal government and will transport oil from Edmonton to the Vancouver area. A lack of new export pipelines has been a problem for the oilpatch for several years and is a reason for limits on Alberta's oil output. For a sector in the midst of historically low oil prices and layoffs, progress on pipeline projects like Trans Mountain provides some much needed optimism. Contractors began installing pipe in Alberta late last year and the first section of the pipeline, near Edmonton, is 60 per cent complete, according to the company. Crews are taking a brief hiatus for a period dubbed "spring breakup," when the ground is too muddy and soft to move heavy equipment. So far, about 42 kilometres of pipe is in the ground, all of which is in Alberta. Next month, the company expects to break ground along the 1,147-kilometre route and begin pipeline construction near Kamloops, B.C. The exact path through the Lower Mainland area around Vancouver may still change as detailed route hearings are underway by the Canada Energy Regulator. Such hearings typically deal with specific routing issues, like area-specific tree removal or road crossings. 'We are on track' Trans Mountain officials expect construction to be underway along every section of the pipeline route by the end of the year. "We are pleased where we are at," said spokesperson Ali Hounsell. "We are on track and it is a challenging time for everyone but we've managed to, together with our contractors, be able to ensure we are meeting all the health and safety requirements." CBC The portion of the pipeline route west of Edmonton is relatively straightforward on flat prairie land. As contractors begin work on the other side of the provincial border, they will face a variety of different challenges such as navigating the Rocky Mountains, crossing the Fraser River, and working in populated areas of the Lower Mainland. Story continues As Canada begins the slow process of reopening our economy, CBC News explores the financial and economic toll taken by the pandemic. This is part of our examination of the hardest hit regions and industries in the country, and a look to the path ahead. For more, next Wednesday tune in to our live virtual town hall, Living With COVID: Your job, your money, your future. We'll have it for you, commercial-free, on CBC News Network or CBC Gem at 7 pm ET. And on CBC Radio One. Send your questions in advance to COVID@cbc.ca. With so many delays to the start of construction, there has been ample time for crews to prepare. "Now we are in the execution phase and this is where we put all those plans and expertise into practice," said Hounsell. More than 2,900 people have been hired for the project. WATCH | Ali Hounsell on the tricky terrain ahead for TMX: Severe downturn Export pipeline space was at a premium in recent years and tight shipping capacity has been blamed for prices in Alberta being heavily discounted compared to the rest of North America. That's why the country set a record high in February for the amount of oil exported by rail. The Altex Energy heavy oil loading terminal near Lloydminster, Sask., was operating at its highest level in January and February. However, since the pandemic began, the terminal is moving half as much oil. "The tone in the industry changed dramatically over the course of a few days," said John Zahary, chief executive of Altex Energy, pointing to the decision by Russia and Saudi Arabia to flood the global market with oil and the plunge in demand for fuels as governments began COVID-19 lockdown measures. "From the perspective of somebody who has now been in the industry for about four decades, this is as bad as it has ever been," said Zahary. "The drop in price and the swiftness of the drop in price has made it extremely tough to be an oil and gas producer in Western Canada." WATCH | John Zahary about the depth of the downturn and what the road ahead will be for the oilpatch: Future of the oilpatch Industry leaders expect the situation to improve as demand increases slowly as lockdown measures are eased and the oil market balances from so many companies and countries cutting back on production. "The industry will look a lot different when that happens than it did before this started," said Zahary, as he expects more companies in Western Canada to fail, "but certainly we need oil to drive our lifestyles." In recent weeks, energy companies have been reporting their financial results for the first three months of the year and the numbers have been grim, with losses in the billions of dollars. Many companies are already warning investors that second-quarter results will be even worse. But, an increase in demand for fuel is already being noticed, according to Suncor, which owns several oilsands facilities in Northern Alberta, in addition to refineries and the Petro-Canada gas station chain. Demand for gasoline dropped by half at some points during the pandemic, according to the company, while jet fuel demand tumbled by 70 per cent. Kyle Bakx/CBC 'Innovation and drive' The sector's recovery will take time, but the industry has a bright future, especially the oilsands, according to Suncor chief executive Mark Little. "I think with the innovation and drive, the focus on lifting Indigenous people up as we go on our journey, dealing with environmental (issues) and our focus on reducing carbon, I see Canada playing a significant role going forward," he said during an interview with CBC News. Some oilpatch leaders have pointed to one possible bright spot of the pandemic: more Canadians will appreciate the oilpatch for what it provides, such as plastics used in personal protective equipment and medical supplies as well as the fuel to keep trucks, trains and supply chains moving. Little agrees with that sentiment and how the country came together to battle the pandemic. "When the chips were down, and we're facing a huge challenge, a global challenge that we need to get through as a country, we came together," said Little. "I see that as a great opportunity as we think about the energy transition and also how are we going to deal with greenhouse gas emissions in the country." WATCH | Suncor CEO Mark Little on finding optimism during the oilpatch downturn: The federal government has provided the oilpatch with $2.5 billion in aid aimed at reducing methane emissions and cleaning up old oil and gas wells. Ottawa also announced a plan to expand the Business Credit Accountability Program credit support to medium-sized businesses with larger financing needs. Suncor does not need any help, said Little, but he does want Ottawa to help smaller producers who are in dire straits. "We're advocating that not only liquidity be provided to the small and medium-sized companies, but that it happens quickly because this is a very important sector in our country," he said. Trans Mountain is not the only major export project proceeding right now in Canada. Enbridge's Line 3 replacement project could be finished by the end of the year, while TC Energy's Keystone XL could break ground in the U.S. this summer. All three projects still face specific regulatory and legal challenges. WATCH | Experts discuss the pandemic's impact on decarbonization: Europe emerges from confinement but Asia infections spike WORLD: Swathes of Europe began the long process of re-opening from coronavirus lockdowns today (May 11), but the first new infections in weeks at Chinas ground zero offered a sobering reminder of the dangers of a second wave of cases. ChineseCoronavirusCOVID-19deathhealth By AFP Monday 11 May 2020, 12:52PM A portrait of a teacher who was mobilized during the pandemic is displayed on a giant screen in Paris on the eve of Frances easing of lockdown measures. Photo: AFP The mixed fortunes illustrated the high-wire act governments face across the globe as they try to get economies moving while keeping in check a pandemic that has now killed more than 280,000 people. As Britain plotted a path to normality and France and Spain basked in a relaxation of restrictions, the Chinese city where the pandemic was born reported a second day of new cases after a month without sign of the virus. And neighbouring South Korea announced its highest number of infections for more than a month driven by a cluster in a Seoul nightlife district. With millions out of work and economies shattered, governments are desperate to hit the accelerator, but most are choosing a gradual approach as fears about a resurgence of the virus linger. In Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was too soon for the country to lift its lockdown but he offered hope by unveiling a conditional plan to ease curbs in England during the months ahead. Johnson said the restrictions had brought a colossal cost to our way of life but it would be madness to squander the nations progress by moving too early. Almost seven weeks after a nationwide stay-at-home order was put in place, more than 31,800 have died in Britain, a figure second only to the United States. Elsewhere in Europe, however, officials have been emboldened by declining death rates, with Frances toll dropping to 70 yesterday, its lowest since early April, and Spains daily fatalities falling below 200. The French were able to walk outside their homes without filling in a permit for the first time in nearly eight weeks today, while teachers began returning to primary schools and some shops were set to re-open. Many Spaniards meanwhile made plans to meet friends and family at outdoor bars and restaurants, although virus hotspots such as Madrid and Barcelona remain under wraps. Belgium and Greece were among other European nations set to ease lockdowns today, two months after the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. As governments across the world chart a course to recovery, Asian nations that were among the first engulfed by the virus but have since brought it to heel are being keenly watched for signs of a second wave. Much of China has begun to get back to a form of normality, and today Shanghai Disneyland threw open its gates following a three-month shutdown. We are very much looking forward to the first day of reopening and wondering whats the difference inside today compared to before, said one eager visitor named Kitty. But enthusiasm in China was tempered by news yesterday that one person had tested positive for the virus in Wuhan. There were five more cases today. Local health officials said the new infections were all from the same residential compound in the city and were mostly older people. South Korean officials ordered nighclubs and bars closed after a fresh burst of transmission linked to a single person who visited five establishments on a night out in early May. The discovery left authorities scrambling to trace possibly thousands of people who may have come into contact with a 29-year-old who has so far been linked to 85 cases. But cautious re-opening nevertheless continues around Asia, with one of the worlds largest train networks set to gradually restart operations from tomorrow as India eases its lockdown. The vast rail system, which usually carries more than 20 million passengers a day, was halted in late March, leaving millions of rural migrant workers unable to return to their homes after losing their jobs in cities. And success against the virus in Hong Kong has led to a bubbling up of the citys dormant anti-government protests, with riot police yesterday chasing protesters through shopping malls and streets as democracy activists launched flash mob rallies calling for independence from China. In the United States, the disease has moved into the White House inner circle, with a spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence testing positive. One of Trumps valets was found to be infected last week. Nevertheless, Trumps advisers were out in force yesterday, appearing on talk shows to push for an end to locally imposed lockdowns. Small anti-lockdown protests have emerged in a number of US states, with some demonstrators arguing the restrictions violate their rights. Extended periods at home have also given some people a chance to gather testimony on life in confinement, with the Museum of London launching an appeal for items that reflect the lives of Britons in unprecedented times. When we knew there was going to be a lockdown, we started straight away talking about what we needed to collect something for the future, Beatrice Behlen, the museums senior curator, told AFP. It could be something that gives you comfort - one example mentioned often is maybe your favourite slippers - youve been wearing them every day. By Express News Service KARIMNAGAR: Senior Congress leader and former Minister Juvvadi Ratnakar Rao, 92, died at a private hospital here on Sunday after prolonged illness. A three-time MLA, he also served as the Endowments Minister in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh State Cabinet of YS Rajasekhara Reddy from 2006 to 2009. He is survived by wife and three sons. Party leaders paid their last respects to the leader at his residence in Karimnagar. BC Welfare Minister Gangula Kamalakar too paid a floral tribute. Meanwhile, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao also expressed his condolences to the family of Ratnakar Rao. Chinese premier urges creation of famous brands to promote national development - Xinhua | English.news.cn Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday urged that more famous brands be created to better meet the demands of China's consumption upgrade and national development. Boosting the growth of brands and constantly raising the quality and influence of Chinese products and services is an important aspect of implementing the strategy of expanding domestic demand and promoting high-quality development, Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said in a message to the online event 2020 China Brand Day. Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, opened the online event in Beijing. Li called for the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, continually promoting mass entrepreneurship and innovation, adhering to putting quality first, deepening brand awareness among the whole society, and guiding companies to uphold the spirit of professionalism and craftsmanship, so that more brands that are famous and of high quality will be created. Organized by the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, and ministries including commerce, agriculture and rural affairs, as well as the Shanghai municipal government, the event featured an online Chinese brands expo and an online international forum with more than 1,300 companies taking part. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ahmad Parhizi (Agence France-Presse) Tehran, Iran Mon, May 11, 2020 06:40 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd7198a3 2 World Iran,coronavirus,COVID-19,COVID-19-lockdown,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus,pandemic,health,infection Free While many people in Iran's capital are taking advantage of loosened COVID-19 controls, some worry about a new spike in infections in what remains the Middle East's deadliest virus epicenter. "The line of fools," muttered shopkeeper Manouchehr, peering disdainfully at a queue of customers outside a foreign currency dealer in the Sadeghieh district of western Tehran. Many in the long line stood close to one another and did not wear masks. A traffic policeman told AFP such queues have appeared regularly ever since the money changers re-opened. People rarely observe basic anti-contagion protocols, he complained. The government began paring back coronavirus controls outside Tehran a month ago, arguing that the economy -- already sagging under punitive US sanctions -- needed to get back to bare bones operations. It allowed small businesses to reopen in the capital a week later, before permitting malls to welcome customers on April 21 and barbers on Wednesday. At 802, declared daily infections in Iran on May 2 had reached their lowest level since early March. But this critical daily number has since begun resurging, breaching 1,500 on Saturday and, the following day, taking the total number of confirmed infections beyond 107,000. "The situation should in no way be considered normal," said health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour, who warned of "a critical situation" in parts of the country. In the capital, a member of the virus taskforce warned that current health protocols could not contain the spread of the illness in Tehran. "With businesses reopening, people have forgotten about the protocols," Ali Maher told ISNA news agency, adding that "maybe it was too soon" to return to normal life. 'Endangering our lives' The capital's streets, bazaars and malls are now bustling after being nearly deserted for weeks. Milad, a shopkeeper in a mall, was conflicted about the easing of movement restrictions. "All these customers coming in will endanger our lives -- us who are forced to come" to work, he said. The mall gets very busy in the evenings, noted the 22-year-old, who did not wear any protective equipment. The COVID-19 respiratory disease has killed 6,640 people in Iran since the first two fatalities were reported in the city of Qom on February 19, according to authorities. Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi has called Tehran the country's "Achilles heel" in the fight against the virus. Its eight million residents are densely packed together and the capital is a magnet for hundreds of thousands of workers from other provinces. The government moved to ease restrictions even as Tehran remained at red, the top level of its color coded risk scale. Schools, universities, cinemas and stadiums remain closed for now. 'Life costs money' "People being careful made infections drop, but as soon as the disease was deemed less of a concern, we saw cases grow," said Masoud Mardani, an infectious disease expert at the health ministry. The rise is "partly due to the reopening and people going out shopping," he told the semi-official ISNA news agency, while also citing an increase in travel in Tehran province. Health officials have vowed to re-impose stringent measures if cases continue to climb, and have already done so in the southwestern Khuzestan province. But many Iranians remain adamant that they have to work to avoid financial ruin. "Life costs money," said Hamed. "People have to go to work since this virus has been with us for about three months now." The 22-year-old was among those out on the streets without a mask, deeming such protection "largely ineffective". He had travelled over 150 kilometers from Qom to Tehran for banking business for the private firm that employs him. It is a trip he has to undertake every few days and says he cannot refuse for fear of losing his job. A few streets away, pedestrians were shopping for fresh vegetables and dried fruit -- mostly women or older men, but this time, mainly in masks. "I think maybe only half the people follow health protocols" across the capital, said Zahra, a 30-year-old accountant. "Either people don't care or don't have the patience" to wear a mask, she said. Mohammad, a former building contractor, complained that masks were expensive and in short supply. A disposable surgical mask can cost from 49,000 rials (30 US cents, using the unofficial rate) to 10 or 15 times that amount for the better quality durable coverings. "They should have given them to people for free," said the mask-less 58-year-old. But Mohammad's biggest gripe was overcrowding on buses, where red crosses marked on half of the seats to ensure social distancing are routinely ignored. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday announced a $500 rebate to Ohio bars and restaurants, as they restock on alcohol and begin to reopen. JobsOhio and the Ohio Department of Commerce are working together on the program, to assist businesses in the wake of the coronavirus. The rebate is good only for high proof spirituous liquor at the permit holders assigned wholesale Contract Liquor Agency. Permit holders will place the order as normally, starting in mid-May. Rebates will be instantaneous. Liquor sales in Ohio have jumped during the pandemic. For example, March 2020 liquor sales were more than 26 percent higher than for the same month in 2019, when Ohio logged more than $97.9 million in sales. DeWine said the rebates will help the majority of the states liquor permit holders. For more information, see https://wholesale.ohlq.com/. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has long seen the Supreme Court as his best hope against what he considers vengeful congressional enemies and overzealous prosecutors, and on an extraordinary day of oral arguments Tuesday, he will begin to learn whether that confidence is well-placed. The court will spend hours in teleconferenced hearings - with the world listening in - on three cases with potential landmark constitutional consequences. All concern Trump's long-running legal fight to shield years of income tax returns from public view and keep his private financial records from the hands of Democratic-led House committees and a New York district attorney. The court's conclusion this summer will carry major implications for the limits of presidential power and accountability, and could affect the fall election. Also at stake is the public's perception of the court itself. Chief Justice John Roberts already this year has presided over Trump's impeachment trial and no doubt hopes the court can emerge from this legal showdown, regardless of outcome, with its reputation of neutrality intact. After losses in each court that has considered his request, the president is aggressively arguing that subpoenas to banks and an accounting firm for years of financial records from him, his company and his family are unprecedented attacks on the presidency itself. But previous presidents - Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat Bill Clinton - have made similar arguments about the deference owed the occupant of the White House and come away empty-handed. Both resulted in rulings against the chief executives, and the presidents' own nominees joined in the unanimity. In one of the current cases, involving Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance's investigation of Trump under New York state laws, Trump's lawyers repeatedly remind the court of the past views of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. They quote a 2009 law review article written by Trump's most recent addition to the Supreme Court: "A President who is concerned about an ongoing criminal investigation is almost inevitably going to do a worse job as President." But there's a striking difference in this showdown at the Supreme Court than with previous cases that tested Trump's power as president. His major backer is his own Justice Department, which says the subpoenas are improper but does not fully embrace the legal arguments of the president's private lawyers. The number of amicus briefs filed on Trump's behalf are dwarfed by those on the other side. Especially striking is the absence of supportive briefs from red-state attorneys general and Republican members of Congress, who have been stalwart backers of the president as he moved policy in a conservative direction, such as his ban of travelers from certain countries. Instead, the briefs supporting Congress and Vance come from former members of the Justice Department and Republican executive branch officials. Donald Ayer, a deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, said that is because Trump has gone too far in building an imperial presidency: spending money Congress has appropriated for other purposes in the case of Trump's signature southern border wall; forbidding current and former administration officials, including former White House counsel Donald McGahn, from testifying before Congress; and now invoking claims that he should be able to stymie congressional and criminal investigations into Trump's private conduct before he became president. "They waive this claim of absolute immunity like a talisman," Ayer said in an interview. He joined a brief in the Vance case put together by the Protect Democracy Project. It is filed on behalf of former Republican members of Congress and the executive branch "concerned that President Trump's assertions of absolute immunity from process while in office - and more generally, his arguments against accountability in any forum - could impose lasting damage on our constitutional system of checks and balances as well as on the rule of law." It is true that Trump's private lawyers have adopted a sweeping view of presidential immunity in all three of the cases the court will hear. Two of them, Trump v. Mazars and Trump v. Deutsche Bank, concern the attempts of three House committees to bypass the president to obtain his financial records from his longtime accounting firm and financial institutions. The committees say they are needed to check the president's financial disclosures and whether conflict-of-interest laws are tough enough. In Trump v. Vance, the president is attempting to stop subpoenas from a grand jury Vance is supervising. He is looking into whether corporate records were altered in violation of state laws to cover up hush-money payments. The cases are similar in that they are seeking much the same information. Included are Trump's tax returns, which every president since Jimmy Carter has made public but Trump has steadfastly guarded. They also seek much more. The congressional committees "demand information about seven business entities, as well as the personal accounts of President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump," said the brief filed by the president's private lawyers Jay Sekulow and William Consovoy. "The Committees also demand the banking records for all of the named individuals' immediate families - i.e., spouses, minor children, and, in the President's case, grandchildren." The congressional subpoenas followed testimony from Trump's former fixer and attorney Michael Cohen, who told lawmakers that Trump had exaggerated his wealth to seek loans. Two committees subpoenaed Capital One and Deutsche Bank as part of their investigation into Russian money laundering and potential foreign influence involving Trump. Federal judges in New York and the District of Columbia - at the district court and appeals court levels - moved swiftly by court standards and repeatedly ruled against Trump and to uphold Congress' broad investigative powers. In Washington, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in October rejected Trump's assertion that Congress' subpoena was an unconstitutional attempt to harass the president that lacked a "legitimate legislative purpose." The appeals court upheld a ruling from U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who wrote, "It is simply not fathomable that a Constitution that grants Congress the power to remove a President for reasons including criminal behavior would deny Congress the power to investigate him for unlawful conduct - past or present - even without formally opening an impeachment inquiry." A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York agreed. Trump's lawyers told the Supreme Court ahead of Tuesday's arguments that the House subpoenas for the personal records of a sitting president are unprecedented, go beyond Congress' authority into the realm of law enforcement and are intended to harass Trump for political purposes. "These Committees are not legislating; they are avowedly engaging in law enforcement. All of them - to one degree or another - have acknowledged that the purpose of the investigations is to determine whether the President engaged in wrongdoing," the lawyers wrote, calling the demand "a recipe for constitutional crisis." The Justice Department, which joined in defending the president in his official capacity, echoed Trump's lawyers in arguing that congressional subpoenas must serve a legitimate legislative purpose, cannot be issued simply to expose wrongdoing and must be authorized by a delegation from the full chamber. The department said Congress has not met the heightened standards required when it comes to matters involving the chief executive. "Those limitations should be even stricter when a committee aims its investigatory power at the president," said the Justice Department brief. But the House said that it is the president who is trying to invoke a crisis and that congressional powers are well-settled. "Many momentous separation-of-powers disputes have come before this court," wrote Douglas Letter, general counsel for the House. But this dispute, he said, "is not one of them." "Contrary to what President Trump and the solicitor general contend, there is nothing unprecedented about congressional subpoenas for documents that may shed light on presidential affairs." A brief from general counsels who worked for House speakers - including Republicans Dennis Hastert, Newt Gingrich, Paul Ryan and Democrat Nancy Pelosi - counted the ways in which sitting presidents are not beyond the reach of subpoenas. In the 1800s, Chief Justice John Marshall issued a subpoena ordering President Thomas Jefferson to produce private communications Aaron Burr viewed as critical in defending against charges of treason. In the 1990s, a special Senate committee investigating the real estate deals of Bill and Hillary Clinton issued subpoenas for access to presidential records, including White House phone records from the telephone company and Hillary Clinton's attorney billing records from when she was in private practice. Stephen Vladeck, a constitutional law professor at the University of Texas who is not involved in the cases, said the "sum total of the president's argument in these cases is that it is just about impossible for Congress to conduct oversight of alleged personal improprieties by the president and that the only possible mechanism is through a formal impeachment investigation." The problem with that argument, Vladeck said, is how can Congress know whether an impeachment investigation is justified without any opportunity to gather information from the executive branch? In Trump v. Vance, the president's lawyers have made an even more sweeping claim: that the president has "temporary presidential immunity" not only from prosecution but also from investigation. In response to a hypothetical question from a judge on the 2nd Circuit last fall, Consovoy said the immunity would apply even if the president were to shoot someone in the middle of a busy street. Vance is seeking records from the Mazars USA accounting firm as part of his investigation into whether Trump business records were falsified to cover up hush-money payments that Cohen testified he made just before the 2016 election to two women - pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal - who alleged they had affairs with Trump. Trump has denied their claims. The appeals court unanimously rejected Trump's claim that a state investigation would interfere with the president's ability to conduct the nation's business. "The subpoena at issue is directed not at the president, but to his accountants; compliance does not require the president to do anything at all," Chief Judge Robert Katzmann wrote for the court. The president's lawyers make similar arguments at the Supreme Court. "The risk that politics will lead state and local prosecutors to relentlessly harass the President is simply too great to tolerate," they wrote. "The President must be allowed to execute his official functions without fear that a state or locality will use criminal process to register their dissatisfaction with his performance." Vance replied that there is no precedent for what the president seeks. "The States are central to the Nation's criminal justice system, and state prosecutions are cloaked with a presumption of regularity that makes federal interference particularly inappropriate," his brief states. "Existing structural constraints - including jurisdictional limitations, ethical rules, and the prohibition on state investigation of official presidential conduct - further mitigate any risk of harassing or overly burdensome state investigations." The Supreme Court asked all parties to address whether the disputes were a "political question" beyond reach of the judiciary. All said last week that the court should reach the merits of the cases. Dear Editor: I attended a public cyber charter school from K-12th grade and it prepared me to pursue a fully online college degree in public relations. Through it, I gained self-discipline, time management, communication skills, and a love of learning that serves me well in adult life. During the coronavirus pandemic, all students are cyber students. Cyber charter schools have been instructing students online for years and have much to offer brick and mortar schools. My own experience enables me to assist numerous students at my college. Without online learning, it would be nearly impossible for schools to provide education during this time. Gov. Wolf continues to attack public charter schools and the right to school choice, threatening over 143,000 Pennsylvania public charter school students. Wishing to "reform" charter schools, he wants to cut approximately $280 million of their funding. The issue is not whether one agrees with cyber education or not. It is school choice and freedom that are at risk; the right for a parent to choose what is best for their family, for their own needs. Cutting funds is an offense against our students. Citizens should resist Wolfs budget cuts and voice our concerns to our state legislators. School choice could be taken away by our government, allowed by our own unwillingness to take a stand. A freedom the people do not stand for should not be expected to sustain. Rachel Marie Fleagle Camp Hill Love 7 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A former Ellen DeGeneres show staffer has claimed the presenter 'isn't always nice' as rumours continue to swirl over the star's alleged behind-the-scenes bad behaviour. On Sunday, the New York Post kept the rumor mill churning by quoting 'a former show staffer' who claimed: 'The stories are all true!' They said: 'Is she always nice? No. It irritates me that people think she's all sweetness and light and she gets away with it.' Allegations: A former Ellen DeGeneres show staffer has claimed the presenter 'isn't always nice' as rumours continue to swirl over her alleged behind-the-scenes bad behaviour The stories about the comedienne, 62, started circulating after comic Kevin T. Porter sent out a tweet in March urging people to message him 'the most insane stories [they've] heard' about Ellen in an effort to raise money for the Los Angeles Food Bank. Porter was flooded with written accounts by various Twitter users who claimed to have had less than savory interactions with Ellen - who he labeled as 'notoriously one of the meanest people alive' - over the years. Then in early April, Ellen was slammed on social media for being tone deaf after cracking a joke on her daytime chat show that being home all the time during the COVID-19 pandemic was akin to being behind bars. Nameless source: On Sunday, the New York Post kept the rumor mill churning by quoting 'a former show staffer' who claimed: 'The stories are all true!' She started doing her show from her mansion in Santa Barbara, California, north of Los Angeles after the coronavirus crisis prompted a statewide lockdown and shut down many Hollywood productions. 'This is like being in jail,' Ellen told her fans during her April 7 show as she sat in a spacious living room with windows opening onto a large plant-filled yard. 'Mostly because I've been wearing the same clothes for 10 days and everyone in here is gay,' she quipped. The response was swift on Twitter. 'Ellen you quarantining in your mansion in designer sweats is nothing like prison,' one Twitter user posted. Another tweeted: 'What a great look for Ellen as thousands of people sit in actual jail cells just hoping for the best without soap and basic protections.' Insensitive: Ellen, 62, faced a swift backlash after joking on her April 7 show that self-isolating in her mansion was 'like being in jail' Not funny: Twitter users swiftly rebuked the comedienne for being tone deaf #Fail: Some found her quip to be completely out of order Uncalled for: At a time when some prisoners are being released from jail due to fears over the spread of the coronavirus, Ellen was called out for her insensitivity A week later, Variety reported that the main stage crew for her show - roughly 20 people - received 'no communication' about issues like pay and working hours for over a month. The show's crew slammed the decision to hire a non-union tech company to help DeGeneres broadcast from home, while reducing the salaries of her usual union team by 60per cent amid the coronavirus lockdown. Two sources at Ellen's show, speaking to Variety under conditions of anonymity, said that 'higher-ups in production would occasionally answer phone calls but reveal little' about their status. Crew members finally heard from production executives last month, when they were told to expect a 60per cent pay decrease, even while the show continues airing. Meanwhile, Ellen herself is said to have a $77million per year contract for her talk show. Her total net worth is estimated to be a whopping $330million. Fury: DeGeneres was recently blasted by her own crew who received severe pay cuts while she hosted at-home show with non-union staff during lockdown Sources added that only four of the core crew members are currently working on the remote version of Ellen, according to Variety. A spokesperson for Warner Bros. Television made it clear the crew is still getting paid, though they confirmed their hours are reduced. 'Our executive producers and Telepictures are committed to taking care of our staff and crew and have made decisions first and foremost with them in mind.' Still, insiders speaking to the industry publication claim that for over two weeks, from late March until April 9, the crew were never told how much they would be paid. During this communication 'blackout,' Ellen expanded her at-home broadcasts, going from hosting four shows a week to five, all which were shot over a two-day period at her home. The show typically films four 10-hour work days per week, but the crew was told on April 10 that they should expect to be paid for just two eight-hour days a week. At the same time, Ellen hired Key Code Media to produce 'technical elements' of the show's new remote production while her crew members with the same skill set were not working. A rep for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union said they were of the crew would continue to be paid, but crew members were told to 'watch closely' for developments. Spoke out: On May 1, Tom Majercak, who was hired to provide security for Ellen when she hosted the 2014 Academy Awards, gave a damaging interview to Fox News in which he said the 'cold' star avoided eye contact with him and treated him in a 'demeaning' manner Then on May 1, Tom Majercak who was hired to provide security for Ellen when she hosted the 2014 Academy Awards, have a damaging interview to fox News in which he said the 'cold' star avoided eye contact with him and treated him in a 'demeaning' manner. 'Ellen is the one person that I've been assigned to - and I've been assigned to quite a few celebrities - that has never taken the time to say hi to me,' Majercak claimed to Fox. 'When you see her on TV, people fall in love with her but it is a false facade and bravado,' he added. 'You start hearing these stories and I was like, 'Man, there's got to be more to this.' She's not the person she portrays to be that she's playing off of society. That's my opinion.' However, the former security official - who left his security company last year - claimed he spent 'a lot of time' with Ellen's wife Portia De Rossi, who was 'very pleasant and carried on a conversation.' Claims: 'When you see her on TV, people fall in love with her but it is a false facade and bravado,' Majercak alleged 'It started going negatively when she introduced me to Ellen and Ellen pretty much just gave me a side glance out of her eye and didn't even say 'hello,' or 'thank you for protecting my mother, my wife and me,'' Majercak added. 'It was very cold and it was very sly and it was actually kind of demeaning in the way that she treats people other than those who are in her circle.' The Fox report says that representatives for DeGeneres did not respond to their request for comment. Majercak says he felt compelled to speak out about DeGeneres after seeing recent reports of her behaviour, particularly from transgender YouTube star NikkieTutorials, who also described the host as 'cold.' The 25-year-old Dutch beauty influencer, whose real name is Nikkie de Jager, opened up about a January interview in a new piece for local magazine &C, in which she compared The Ellen Show to 'Teletubbies after dark'. Comment: Majercak says he felt compelled to speak out about DeGeneres after seeing recent reports of her behaviour, particularly from transgender YouTube star NikkieTutorials, who also described the host as 'cold' Nikkie, who first voiced her upset over the interview during an appearance on Dutch show De Wereld Draait Door in February, added that she was disappointed by her treatment in the studio - where she was greeted by an 'angry, overworked intern'. 'Maybe I'm being naive, but I expected them to welcome me with confetti: 'Welcome to The Ellen DeGeneres Show!'' she said in an interview. 'But instead I got greeted by an angry intern, who was a bit overworked. I expected a Disney show, but I got a Teletubbies after dark.' During her appearance with De Wereld Draait Door, Nikkie also revealed that Ellen didn't even say hello to her when she arrived, telling host Matthijs van Nieuwkerk: 'It's really nice that you came over and said hello to me... She didn't.' And Nikkie's negative experience didn't end there, with the beauty star revealing to &C that she felt like she was treated very differently from the show's other guests, who were given a full VIP experience. Fury: The 25-year-old Dutch beauty influencer, whose real name is Nikkie de Jager, opened up about a January interview in a new piece for local magazine &C, in which she compared The Ellen Show to 'Teletubbies after dark' In fact, Nikkie says she wasn't even allowed her own toilet, and that she was banned from using the one closest to her dressing room because it was reserved for the Jonas Brothers, who also appeared on the same episode. 'Every guest at Ellen had a private toilet, but I didn't,' she recalled. 'I couldn't even use the closest toilet to me because it was reserved for the Jonas Brothers... They were allowed, I wasn't, I thought.' In fact, her experience was so unpleasant that Nikkie suggested she actually regrets doing the show at all, telling the Dutch publication that she wishes she had done a sit-down with Dutch-American TV host Eva Jinek instead. 'For people who don't know me, [the Ellen interview] was a good summary of my story,' she explained. 'But the people who did know me expected more. "I should've just went on Eva Jinek," I thought to myself.' What hurt Nikkie the most about her experience was that she had considered Ellen one of her 'idols', and she has since grown fearful of meeting any other people she admired in case she faces the same disappointment. 'After being on Ellen I thought to myself, "Don't meet your idols,"' she said while revealing that a meeting with popstar Adele has always been at the top of her bucket list. Nikkie's new magazine interview comes just a few weeks after a clip of her appearance on Dutch show De Wereld Draait Door resurfaced and went viral thanks to the YouTuber's candid description of her 'cold and distant' Ellen experience. When asked for more details, the YouTuber simply said that Ellen's show was like 'a whole different world'. 'What Ive experienced here and in other countries [is] that it's really a whole different world. Its more distant,' she said, according to Buzzfeed, before adding that it was nonetheless 'an honor' to have been offered the opportunity to appear on the show. Ellen, who came out as gay in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1997, launched her daytime chat show in September 2003 after a successful TV, film and stand-up comedy career. She is believed to have a net worth of around $330 million and in 2018 was the 15th highest-paid entertainer in the world, according to Forbes. Ellen has an extensive portfolio of multi-million dollar properties in exclusive upscale communities in the greater Los Angeles and Santa Barbara areas and she and wife Portia de Rossi like to purchase properties, remodel them and sell them on. Riot police detain a group of people during an demonstration in Mongkok district on May 10, 2020 in Hong Kong, China. Since the worst of the current coronavirus pandemic has passed, new anti-government protests have recently started to reappear in Hong Kong Hong Kong authorities said on Monday they arrested 230 people during pro-democracy protests on the weekend after a sing-along demonstration at a shopping mall spilled out on to the streets of the Chinese-ruled city. Hundreds of riot police were deployed to disperse the protesters on Sunday, with some members of the media caught up in the chaos that evoked memories of the sometimes violent unrest that rocked the global financial hub last year. Police said the arrested were aged between 12 and 65 and their offences included unlawful assembly, assaulting a police officer and failing to produce proof of identity. A 22-year-old man was found to have materials believed to be intended for making petrol bombs, police said. The Hospital Authority said 18 people were taken to hospital. Images beamed live from the working class district of Mong Kok showed riot police pushing back some reporters and firing pepper spray amid chaotic scenes. Footage showed protesters being subdued on the ground, scuffles and people bleeding. Police fired pepper spray at journalists and activists, and conducted stop and search operations on members of the public and media. The Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) said some members of the press were prevented from filming. "Some journalists who were sprayed by pepper spray were not allowed to receive immediate treatment, and they were requested to stop filming," said Chris Yeung, chairman of the HKJA. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The outbreak of coronavirus and strict rules to curb its spread had brought a relative lull in anti-government protests this year, but the recent arrest of democracy activists and renewed concern about Beijing's tightening grip on the city have revived the movement. Police in riot gear told protesters they were staging an illegal assembly and violating anti-virus measures that bar gatherings of more than eight people. Democratic Party lawmaker Roy Kwong was arrested for "disorderly conduct in a public place," police said. Video footage showed Kwong apparently being pushed to the ground and then surrounded by officers. He was later taken to hospital after he said he was feeling unwell. The financial hub is gearing up for protests over the next few months, with activists calling for two million people to gather for an annual march on July 1 that marks the anniversary of its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997. With childcare providers being told they cant get insurance cover for the risk of Covid-19, local Labour TD Ged Nash has called for a general insurance indemnity against Covid-19 related claims, using the State Claims Agency, to help get Ireland back to work and save jobs. Deputy Nash stated that insurance companies are refusing to provide cover for Covid-19 related claims, so too many businesses wont be able to reopen because they might be sued by a customer or employee who catches the disease. Jobs are at risk action is needed now, he added. Deputy Nash explained: Workplaces and businesses are being told they cant get insurance cover for Covid-19-related claims. It is the issue of liability, and the duty of care. Any renewal of insurance will not cover that. It will be impossible for many businesses, and some public bodies to open without that insurance. Weve seen this directly impact childcare providers and the same issue will arise to hotels and restaurants. They cannot take the risk of being liable for their employees or their customers becoming victims of Covid-19 if they are not insuredagainst it. We must have a solution to that, some sort of indemnity or insurability. A person cant sue if they get the flu when visiting the local supermarket. We need to address that issue or businesses will not re-open when this phase passes. Labour is calling on the Government to provide a general indemnity for COVID-19, using the State Claims Agency. This would remove the immediate risk from insurance renewal. There would still be the usual reasonable care provision meaning the State could void the indemnity for reckless employers. The long-awaited childcare scheme for health workers fell apart within a day when insurers told providers they would not be insured for any claims related to Covid-19. Shops, Hotels, pubs and restaurants are worried about the same thing. It is a major worry. We also dont know if schools can reopen in September, and one of the main reasons will be insurance cover. The Government now needs to step in and use the State Claims Agency to indemnify against the risk of people getting Covid-19. The costs of any future claims can be recouped through a levy on insurance profits, but whats most important now is to get Ireland reopened once it is safe to do so. Workers and customers also have to feel safe so there must be a very robust inspection regime from the Health and Safety Agency, and for those found breaking the rules are held to account. Thats why under our proposal, the Government must ensure that businesses that flout health and safety guidelines will pay the cost, not the State. The sooner we get the country back up and running in a safe way, the quicker we can get people back to work, once all the rules on social distancing and stopping the spread of Covid-19 are followed. Nurses and medical staff stand outside NYU Langone Hospital as people cheer to show their gratitude to medical staff during the daily "Clap Because We Care" initiative amid the coronavirus outbreak on May 09 2020 in New York City. John Lamparski/Getty Images New Yorkers are temporarily donating their empty homes to out-of-town health care workers who need accommodation during the coronavirus pandemic. One local, who decided to stay with her father in Minneapolis for the duration of the lockdown told The New York Times that lending out her East Village apartment to an ICU nurse was a "no-brainer." But those lending out their homes could face trouble with landlords or neighbors since their guests are technically not sub-letting and could potentially put other residents at risk of contracting the virus. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. New Yorkers have been donating their empty homes to out-of-town frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Several people who fled New York at the beginning of the outbreak said they felt guilty about not being able to be there to support the city during the pandemic. Instead of clapping for key workers or buying take out to support their favorite restaurants, they are choosing to temporarily donate their homes to strangers who need accommodation at this time of crisis. Hannah Cairns, a New Yorker who decided to crash on her father's couch in Minneapolis for the duration of the lockdown, is currently lending out her East Village apartment to an ICU nurse. The 28-year-old, who works in sales, told The New York Times: "The opportunity kind of fell into my lap, and it was a no-brainer. She tried to offer me funds and I said, 'Absolutely not.' This was an angel of a human." The registered nurse, Leona Hernandez, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota but works in a major hospital in New York. "This might sound silly, but it lifts my spirits just to know I am here because it means someone is willing to help a complete stranger," Hernandez said. "It helps me feel a little less alone." But some people who've offered to donate their apartments are struggling to find any takers. Story continues One journalist, Jordi Lippe-McGraw, has been posting her one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan on Facebook after she fled the city at the beginning of the lockdown. But while she received many initial responses, none of them panned out due to either scheduling issues or because her potential guests got sick. Those donating their apartments temporarily are also at risk of running into trouble with their landlords or neighbors. Their guests are technically not subletting and are also potentially putting other residents at risk of contracting the virus. Cairns told NYT: "My main concern is that I could risk eviction for hosting an ICU nurse or more generally having a visitor for a long stay." While the New Yorker doesn't plan on returning to her apartment for a while, she said that she was not worried about getting infected upon her eventual return. New York has been one of the worst-affected areas during the coronavirus pandemic. More than 26,000 people have died in the state as of May 10. Read the original article on Business Insider At least 14 people, mostly Surat returnees, tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha on Monday, taking the virus tally in the state to 391, the Health and Family Welfare department said. The fresh cases were reported from Ganjam (12) and one each from Sundergarh and Kendrapara districts, they said. While all the 12 new cases from Ganjam are those who returned from Surant recently and kept in quarantine centres, the patient in Sundergarh got the infection from a previous case. The person who tested positive in Kendrapara also returned from Surat. Therefore, of the 14 new cases, 13 were Surat returnees, the official said. The number of coronavirus cases in Ganjam district has mounted to 137, which is the highest in the state, while the number of cases in Sundergarh increased to 14 and nine in Kendrapara districts. There are 320 active cases in the state, while 68 people have so far recovered and three (two from Bhubaneswar and one from Ganjam) have died of COVID-19. Odisha on Sunday also carried 3,698 tests, the highest number of tests in a single day for coronavirus while the total number of samples tested so far has increased to 63,478, the official said. While Ganjam district tops the list of COVID-19 cases with 137, it is followed by 60 in Jajpur, 50 in Bhubaneswar, 42 in Balasore, 15 in Angul, 14 in Sundergarh, 9 Kendrapara, 8 Mayurbhanj, 5 Jagatsinghpur, 3 each in Puri and Boudh, 2 each in Keonjhar, Kalahandi, Jharsuguda, Cuttack, Bolangir and one each in Nayagarh, Koraput, Dhenkanal and Deogarh. Meanwhile, the Ganjam district administration in an order has said that COVID-19 patients will work as COVID Community Health Workers after the mandatory quarantine period. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Representative Image For governments that have had to shelve planned reforms due to political opposition, the last month has been a shot in the arm. Take for example the law that prohibited farmers from directly selling their produce to ultimate buyers. The Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) was set up by governments in different areas within the state, ostensibly to protect farmers from exploitation by the private industries which bought their produce. However, in effect, the commission agent who the farmer was forced to deal with, acted as a monopolist, and ended up gobbling up most of the profit. It was estimated that farmers never got more than 25-33 percent of the final price (and during seasonal spikes, like onions touching Rs 200, the farmer didnt share the bounty). Maharashtras government has been trying hard to abolish the APMC system over the last few years, only to run into opposition from the middlemen. Last month, so as to avoid the possibility of COVID-19 spreading at APMC mandis, the government permitted farmers to directly approach and sell to industries. One feels that the change is here to stay. While it is quite likely that farmers will still be better off trading directly with the consumer, perhaps prescribing a mandatory minimum indicative price would go a long way in protecting the farmer. The scrapping of labour laws by several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-run states are also the circumvention of opposition to planned labour reform by the Modi government. However, analyses of the changes have to be much more nuanced. Last year, the Union government consolidated Indias myriad labour laws into just four statutes. The code on wages has been enacted, while the ones on safety, health and working conditions; on social security; and on industrial relations, are still pending in the Lok Sabha. Trade unions across the spectrum have decried the reforms. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Now, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat (many other states are expected to follow suit) have reportedly abolished a substantial number of laws on worker protection including ones that mandated a minimum wage as well as decent working environment, such as the requirement for toilets. It is debatable whether the old labour laws actually did protect workers. Anecdotes abound of workers toiling in inhumane conditions, the law probably circumvented by greasing the palm of the labour-inspector. On the other hand, these laws unnecessarily stifled entrepreneurship with rules that required the enterprise to get government approval before shutting down, or even firing workers in some cases. Further, it stands to reason that if more industries existed, even if one factory shut down (leaving the worker unemployed), she would have other employment options. At the same time, the complete abolition of labour laws, as the states have resorted to, is simply unconscionable. Often labourers, at the risk of sounding patronising, are extremely poor and practically illiterate, making it almost unlikely they can negotiate fair terms for them, making it imperative that the government provide minimum conditions to be met by enterprises. Enterprises may be permitted to fire employees, but is there a justification for not providing salary in lieu of notice period, as urban middle white-collared workers are inevitably entitled to? The ordinances dispose with the need to maintain registers by the firms. These registers are not merely a bureaucratic hassle. Often, they are the only protection a worker has against exploitation. For example, mines were supposed to maintain a register that showed the number of people inside the mine at any given point of time. Scrapping such a requirement might be fatal to the miners life, or to even rescue efforts in the event of a disaster. The scrapping of laws might also directly violate Indias obligations under International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, which India is a signatory to. These include conventions pertaining to abolition of forced labour and child labour, as well as to discrimination. Interestingly, India has not signed the conventions pertaining to trade-unions and collective bargaining yet. It is quite likely that these ordinances will be struck down by the high courts, for its complete disregard for worker rights. If they are, the states would do well to revert to a much more moderate reform, perhaps on the lines of the four codes released by the central government. YouTube has been removing videos of a press briefing in which two doctors criticize the sweeping shelter-at-home edicts that governments have imposed throughout the world in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. One of the videos had over 5 million views before it was taken down. The original videos were posted by an ABC news affiliate in Bakersfield, California. When the affiliate reached out to YouTube about the removal, a company spokesperson issued a statement that offered the following justification: We quickly remove flagged content that violate [sic] our Community Guidelines, including content that explicitly disputes the efficacy of local health authority recommended guidance on social distancing that may lead others to act against that guidance. From the very beginning of the pandemic, weve had clear policies against COVID-19 misinformation and are committed to continue providing timely and helpful information at this critical time. The claims of the physicians (Dr. Daniel W. Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi, owners of Accelerated Urgent Care in Bakersfield) have been the subject of furious debate. Many health experts and organizations have denounced their remarks as unscientific and reckless. Even fellow critics of shelter-in-place who agree with much of the rest of their analysis have questioned some of their statistical inferences. Whatever the veracity of the doctors claims, YouTubes censorship of unorthodox ideas in the name of protecting the public from misinformation is misguided and counterproductive. Sheltering the public from ideas, even bad ones, only makes society more susceptible to dangerous error. Quarantining Ideas One of the censored doctors critiques of shelter-at-home provides an apt metaphor for the folly of censorship. Dr. Erickson said: Id like to go over some basic things about how the immune system functions so people have a good understanding. The immune system is built by exposure to antigens: viruses, bacteria. When youre a little child crawling on the ground, putting stuff in your mouth, viruses and bacteria come in. You form an antigen antibody complex. You form IgG IgM. This is how your immune system is built. You dont take a small child, put them in bubble wrap in a room, and say, go have a healthy immune system. This is immunology, microbiology 101. This is the basis of what weve known for years. When you take human beings and you say, go into your house, clean all your countersLysol them down, youre gonna kill 99 percent of viruses and bacteria; wear a mask; dont go outside, what does it do to our immune system? Our immune system is used to touching. We share bacteria. Staphylococcus, streptococcal, bacteria, viruses. Sheltering in place decreases your immune system. And then as we all come out of shelter in place with a lower immune system and start trading viruses, bacteriawhat do you think is going to happen? Disease is going to spike. And then youve got diseases spikeamongst a hospital system with furloughed doctors and nurses. This is not the combination we want to set up for a healthy society. It doesnt make any sense. Just as local health authorities are ostensibly trying to protect the public from COVID-19 through shelter-at-home policies, YouTube is seeking to shelter the public from misinformation. The following characterizes the perspective of YouTube and the health authorities that YouTube is serving in a metaphorical nutshell: The dissenting doctors are infected with harmful ideas. Their message may lead others to act against official guidance; in other words, their bad ideas are contagious. The video had already gone viral (over 5 million views) and risked becoming a misinformation pandemic which could result in worsening the physical pandemic. By cutting the doctors off from communicating their message to the public, YouTube is quarantining them to limit the publics exposure to their mind viruses and to nip the misinformation pandemic in the bud, or to at least flatten its curve. This is in keeping with the policy that YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced days ago, that YouTube would remove any content that contradicts the World Health Organization on COVID-19. Even assuming all the doctors ideas are indeed bad, such a policy doesnt work, and only makes things worse. The Intellectual Immune System Just as human immune systems are built up through exposure to viruses and other pathogens (as Dr. Erickson explained above), our intellectual defenses against error are strengthened through exposure to bad ideas. When you encounter a bad idea, what can conceivably happen? You can: Reject or ignore it. Investigate it. Adopt it. Adopt it and implement it. In the case of #1, there is no problem. Next, lets consider #4, since that is the outcome that censors are most trying to avoid. What happens when you adopt and implement a bad idea in your life? In the worst-case scenario, it could destroy you. But that is far less common in life than scaremongers would have us believe. More often, we suffer but do not die. And that is a very memorable way to learn that the idea implemented was indeed bad. We learn from experience, from failure, from the school of hard knocks. Thats one of the reasons why what doesnt kill you makes you stronger, as the saying goes. But not everybody needs to suffer to benefit from the lessons of suffering. That brings us to #2: we can investigate the idea. Through investigation, we can discover the accounts (whether first- or second-hand) of experiments with the bad idea and their bad results. Ideally, these would be rigorously scientific experiments whenever possible. Finally, we have #3, which is adopting the bad idea without implementing it. What would be the point of doing that? Well, it could mean adopting it just enough to advocate it. And arguing for an idea is one of the most efficient ways to investigate it (making #3 really a subset of #2). That is because argument elicits counterargument. And true, effective counterarguments are, by definition, antithetical to bad ideas. Even if the apologist of the bad idea holds fast to his belief, the counterarguments that emerge can arm debate spectators against error. In all of the above cases, exposure to bad ideas strengthens our defenses against bad ideas. We come away equipped with truthsfacts, information, and counterargumentsdrawn ultimately from experience, whether our own or that of others. These good counterideas are like antibodies that we develop through exposure to bad ideas. Bad ideas are not just pathogens, but antigens. We thus develop immunity, not only to those specific bad ideas, but to similar ones, because we learn to recognize the basic logical fallacies that they share. The mind, like our immune system and our muscles, is antifragile to use the term coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It grows stronger through exposure to adversity. The Dangerous Safety of the Bubble The flipside of that is also true. Just as sheltering from antigens can lead to immunodeficiency, sheltering from bad ideas ultimately makes us more susceptible to them. When paternalistic censors seal us up in a sterile bubble of ideas for our own protection, they deprive us of the chance to develop, through experience, our own ability to identify and grapple with bad ideas. As soon as a bad idea penetrates our bubble, we have no defenses against it. Our lack of experience with the responsibilities of intellectual independence has left us naive, credulous, and gullible. The more that self-appointed gatekeepers like YouTube and its allied health authorities protect us from ideas they disapprove of, the more susceptible we will be to falsehood and error (including falsehoods foisted on us by our protectors themselves). This vulnerability will in turn be used to justify still more such protection. Such is the vicious cycle of sheltering. Ironically, many secular leftists who support public-health influence sheltering probably fully understand the dangers of that practice in another instance. The classic critique of a sheltered upbringing is that it deprives the child of experience grappling with potentially bad influences and so ultimately leaves her more vulnerable to them. The stereotypical example of this is a child raised in an exclusively religious and traditional environment, without exposure to non-traditionalist peers, popular movies and music, and tempting situations. Once this naif inevitably leaves home, perhaps to go off to college or the big city, she has no defenses against the wave of bad influences that she must then face all at once with little support, and so the wave engulfs her. The same principle applies generally: sheltering backfires, whether the bad influences are cultural or medical. This is one reason why open discourse is so important and censorship is so debilitating and disrespectful. We need to be allowed the responsibility and practice of identifying and guarding against falsehood to be any good at it. Protected From the Truth Now, all of the above takes for granted, for the sake of argument, that the purported bad ideas are in fact bad, and that the censors are in possession of good ideas. However, that is often not the case. Heresies often turn out to be right, and orthodoxies often turn out to be wrong: and this includes scientific paradigms that wound up in the ash heap of history. Our protectors may be sheltering us from the truth and forcing falsehood upon us. Wrong orthodoxies are far more dangerous than wrong heresies, simply as a matter of the scale of the errors impact. That is yet another reason why open discourse is so vital. For the sake of human welfare, orthodox falsehoods need to be overthrown, and heretical truths need to spread. The remarks of the Bakersfield doctors are probably a mix of good ideas and bad, truths and falsehoods. Taking down the video does us a disservice regarding both sides of the coin. To the extent that they are wrong, their errors should be aired out and refuted. Any mistake the doctors made will probably be made again, since the human mind tends to fall prey to the same basic fallacies. By developing and disseminating counterarguments (mental antibodies) to them, we develop our immunity to these and similar errors. By taking down the videos, YouTube has limited the extent to which that social learning can happen and insulated the error from debunking. If anything, YouTubes censorship has lent additional credence to whatever mistakes they made by feeding into the narrative that the powers-that-be fear its truth. The debunking is being drowned out by outrage over the censorship. And the Streisand Effect (how censorship can boost somethings publicity) is causing it to spread even more. Moreover, even if the physicians are wrong in some ways (like in their statistical claims), they may be right in other important ways. Whether or not sheltering bodies is a wise policy for the spread of COVID-19, sheltering minds is surely a bad policy for the spread of ideas. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Pre-pandemic Hollywood was looking rosy for expat Australian actor John Harlan Kim. The tail end of 2019 had seen the 27-year-old play recurring roles in the Fox drama 9-1-1 and CBSs Hawaii Five-O, while hed also wrapped a small part opposite Denzel Washington and Rami Malek in the upcoming feature The Little Things. Earlier this year he shot tests for an upcoming series in New York. He didnt score the role, but it was still February so Id figured I had plenty of time to get back to LA and be snatched up by a show. Instead, just a couple weeks later, every single television and film production was promptly shut down. Expat Aussie actor John Harlan Kim. Credit:Emma Mead Actors might be in a better position than most to cope with the crisis, though. According to Harlan Kim, theyre used to the downtime. With the quarantine, for a lot of people in entertainment its almost like youre in a really long layoff between projects, and although you have zero idea how long itll be, now you really do have that guaranteed time to write that screenplay, edit your movie, learn that instrument, choreograph that dance. As a part of the 'Vande Bharat' Mission, the Air India evacuation flight from Manila, the Philippines carrying 1387 passengers landed in Mumbai on Monday morning. Taking to Twitter, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar thanked Air India and aviation Ministry for their support and co-operation for a successful evacuation process. Air India flight 1387 carrying Indians from Manila,Phillipines hs arrived in Mumbai. Thank @airindiain, @MoCA_GoI, Bureau of Immigration& Maharashtra Govt fr support& cooperation. Commend Amb @JaideepMazumda2 & his Team @indembmanila fr the sterling effort#VandeBharatMission Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) May 10, 2020 Read: Vande Bharat Mission: 1st evacuation flight from Bahrain lands in Cochin with 177 people 'Vande Bharat' Mission In a major relief for Indians stranded abroad amid the Coronavirus lockdown, the Centre had announced that their travel will be arranged via aircraft and naval ships in a phased manner. The mission that started on May 7, will go on for 7 days and will rescue stranded Indians from over 11 countries in 64 Air India flights carrying over 14,800 people. The flights will take off for 12 countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Maldives, Singapore, and the US. The Ministry of Home Affairs also issued the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the movement of the returnees. According to the SOP, those wishing to return to India must register themselves with the Indian Missions in the country where they are stranded, along with necessary details as prescribed by the Ministry of External Affairs. They will have to travel to India by non-scheduled commercial flights that'll be arranged by the Civil Aviation Ministry (MoCA) and naval ships to be arranged by the Department of Military Affairs (DMA). Only those crew/staff, who have tested negative for COVID-19, will be allowed to operate the flight/ship. As per the MHA, priority will be given to compelling cases in distress including migrant workers/labourers who have been laid off, short term visa holders faced with the expiry of visa, persons with medical emergencies/ pregnant women/ elderly, those required to return to India due to death of family member and students. The cost of travel, as specified by the MoCA and DMA will be borne by such travellers. Read: Vande Bharat Mission: Five Air India repatriation flights handled by Delhi airport on Sunday Meanwhile, taking to Twitter, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that six flights from Doha, London, Singapore, Riyadh, Kuwait, and Kuala Lumpur were flown back to India on Sunday. Untiring efforts of @airindiain AirIndia Express, @MEAIndia & our missions keep Mission Vande Bharat flying high. Today, 1239 Indians were flown back on 6 flights from Doha, London, Singapore, Riyadh, Kuwait & Kuala Lumpur. More flights are on the way.@MoCA_GoI @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/dUq7dMovtL Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 10, 2020 Read: First 'Vande Bharat Mission' Evacuation flight from US to takeoff; Day 4 schedule here Read: Five Air India pilots test positive for COVID-19; all had flown cargo flights to China A YOUNG man who is accused of driving in a very dangerous manner while being pursued by gardai was granted bail despite concerns he will not abide by any conditions. Jason Jake Casey, 26, who has an address at Star Court, John Carew Park, Limerick faces several charges relating to a series of incidents which are alleged to have occurred in the Murroe area on April 5, last. He is accused of trespassing at a private yard at Mongfune, Murroe and with driving without insurance at the same location. Mr Casey is further charged with two counts of dangerous driving relating to offences which are alleged to have occurred in the townland of Portnard. Opposing bail, Garda John Ryan said it will be alleged the defendant took off at speed when gardai encountered him pulling out of the yard. He said gardai then attempted to pursue the Toyota Avensis but that they pulled back given their concerns for the safety of themselves and other road users. Judge Marian OLeary was told the defendant has several addresses in Limerick and that he also has connections in Northern Ireland. Garda Ryan expressed concern he would continue to commit serious offences if released. Solicitor Sarah Ryan said her client was willing at live at the address at Star Court and that he would also abide by any other bail conditions if released. In the circumstances, Judge OLeary granted bail subject to the lodging of an independent surety and Mr Caseys compliance with a number of strict conditions. Some give birth at home because of coronavirus, Deddeh Mulbah tells The Independent. At the end of delivery, they have to cut the coil with a razor blade and tie it with rope. After one or two days, the baby gets sick and then they rush back to the hospital. The 29-year-old midwife, who is from Liberia, voiced fears the coronavirus crisis will wreak havoc in the West African country in the same way the Ebola outbreak did. Ebola led to high rates of maternal deaths in Liberia in the middle and aftermath of the epidemic, due to women avoiding healthcare services and resorting to dangerous home births instead. Campaigners have now raised concerns the coronavirus pandemic will lead to pregnant women and newborn babies needlessly dying from preventable causes during childbirth. Ms Mulbah, who is from Kakata, said pregnant women in Liberia are highly anxious about the coronavirus emergency and scared to access healthcare services. Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Show all 13 1 /13 Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Cheryll Mack, 46, a registered nurse in the emergency department, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift outside the hospital where she works. "The Covid-19 spread has affected a lot of livelihood, a lot of people's lives. It has created a crisis, death in general. So I would like to ask not one single person, but all people worldwide, to converge and join the platform that this is something that nobody can fight individually," said Mack. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Dr Laura Bontempo, 50, an emergency medicine doctor wears her personal protective equipment she uses when she sees patients, while posing for a photograph after a nine-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moments have actually been separating families from patients, there is a no-visitor policy now and taking people away from their loved ones is very challenging," Bontempo said. "I'm used to treating sick patients. I treat sick patients all the time. It's very different knowing that the patient you are treating, is actually a risk to you as well. That's the main difference here. No one who works in hospitals is afraid of treating sick people. Just want to keep staff safe and the patients safe at the same time." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Ernest Capadngan, 29, a registered nurse who works at a biocontainment unit poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moment during the shift was just seeing Covid patients die helpless and without their family members beside them," Capadngan said. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Martine Bell, 41, a nurse practitioner in an emergency department, poses for a photograph after a six-hour shift outside the hospital where she works. "The hardest thing in all of this, has been taking care of fellow healthcare providers. It really hits home and it's really scary when you see someone that could be you coming in and now you're taking care of them. It's also hitting home that once healthcare providers start getting sick, who is going to be taking care of the public," Bell said. "It's very stressful, everyone is on edge. We don't know who's coming in next, or how sick they're going to be, or if we are going to get a whole bunch of people or if we're not going to get no one. It's a really stressful and just a completely unusual time for all of us." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Kaitlyn Martiniano, 25, a registered nurse who works at a biocontainment poses for a photograph after a 12.5-hour shift, outside the hospital. "We have a lot of patients and they are pretty sick right now but we have not yet been hit as hard as New York or Seattle, so I feel like we are very lucky with that so far. Every day you have to just be optimistic." Said Martiniano. "I think the reason that we are not being hit as hard right now is because so many things are closed, and because so many people are staying at home." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Tracey Wilson, 53, a nurse practitioner in an intensive care unit (ICU), poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works. "I had a patient fall out of bed today and I had to call his wife and tell her and she couldn't come see him, even though she pleaded and begged to come see him," Wilson said. "There is a lot of unknowns and with that unknown is a lot of anxiety and stress that we're not used to dealing with." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Meghan Sheehan, 27, a nurse practitioner in an emergency department, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works. "I think the hardest moment has been the fear that lives within all of us. There is a lot of unknown right now. We fear what's going to happen tomorrow, how the emergency department will look next week when we come in. We have fears about our own colleagues, whether they will fall ill. We also fear that we could be asymptomatic carriers and bring this virus home to our families and our loved ones. There has been a lot of fear over our supplies and whether we'll run out. And then obviously there is the fear that we will see patients and not be able to do everything we normally can to help save patients' lives," Sheehan said. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Kimberly Bowers, 44, a nurse practitioner in an ICU, poses for a photograph after a 13-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moment was a young woman who died and her family wasn't able to be here with her," Bowers said. "I think right now, it's just frustrating and scary just not knowing what comes next." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Tiffany Fare, 25, a registered nurse who works at a biocontainment unit poses for a photograph after a 13-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works. "One of the hardest moments was having to see a family member of a Covid patient, say goodbye over an iPad, rooms away. That was a tough one, I can't imagine how hard it would be to be saying goodbye, you can't see your loved one and then they're gone," Fare said. "My team has been really great to me. We've worked really well together and we've really come together in this crisis. We don't really know each other, we all come from different units within the same hospital, so for us to come together and work so well as a team, it's been a journey but I think that's what is giving me hope." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Dr Kyle Fischer, 35, an emergency medicine doctor, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital where he works. "Since it's a new virus, we don't have any experience with it. For most diseases I am used to seeing it and taking care of it and this, I don't have any starting place. I know what I'm hearing from New York, I've read all of the papers it seems like, but no one knows what the correct answers are, so there's a huge amount of uncertainty and people are really, really sick. So it's hard to second guess whether or not you are doing the right thing when you think you are but you never quite know," said Fischer. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Julia Trainor, 23, a registered nurse at a surgical ICU, poses for a photograph after a 14-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moment was having to put a breathing tube in my patient who could no longer breathe for herself and after the breathing tube went in, we called her family and the husband, of course, couldn't visit her because of visitor restrictions at the hospital. So I had to put him on the phone and hold the phone to her ear, as he told her that he loved her so much and then I had to wipe away her tears as she was crying," said Trainor. "I'm used to seeing very sick patients and I'm used to patients dying but nothing quite like this. In the flip of a switch, without the support, they're completely isolated. They're very sick. Some of them recover and some of them don't. But the hardest part, I would think, is them having to go through this feeling like they are alone." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Lisa Mehring, 45, a registered nurse who works in a biocontainment unit with Covid-19 patients, poses for a photograph after a 12.5-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works in Maryland. "Seeing these new moms have babies has been the hardest moment along with having do their pumping for the new moms and them not being able to be with their newborn children, it's hard to think of the family that they are missing," Mehring said. Photos Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Jacqueline Hamil, 30, a registered nurse in an emergency department, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift outside the hospital. "The hardest moment of my shift today, I was in charge, and we had a really sick patient that was in a really, really small room and usually, when we have sick crashing patients, we can have a ton of resources and a ton of staff go in and help with the nurse and the doctors that are taking care of that patient. But due to the patient being ruled out for the coronavirus, we could only have five or six people in the room at a time and putting on all the gowns and gloves and masks and face shields to protect us in case the patient does have coronavirus, it takes a while, so the nurse that was in there, ended up being in the room for you know 6, 7 hours with minimal breaks and it was hard being in charge and knowing that she was stuck in the room and really nothing I could do to help her," Hamil said. Reuters We see people who are concerned in the community where we live, she adds. Some will come to me and say, I dont want to come to the hospital because of the virus. I dont want to get it. We say: You have to come to the hospital even though coronavirus is in Liberia, and it will be a problem if you dont come. You can see the fear in some of their faces. She said healthcare staff are battling against a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and being forced to make their own hand sanitiser from scratch. In this crisis, it is not easy, Ms Mullbah adds. The masks are not easy to get. There are no gloves. No sanitiser. We have to make our own sanitiser. We just buy the alcohol ourself and mix it with Dettol to make sanitiser for our own safety. But now the sanitiser is finished. The mother-of-one, whose child is almost two-years-old, noted being a midwife was a gruelling job before the coronavirus emergency. You come to work from 6am, Ms Mullbah says. You dont have time to eat or drink. When you are feeling tired, you go home. But there is no rest because you have to care for your family. And the next day you are coming to work. The stress causes tension. Today when I leave here and go home, I will have a sharp headache. Ms Mullbah, who says she became a midwife to save lives, explained there is a shortage of healthcare workers in Liberia due to training being inaccessible. You leave your home to come and work somewhere for no salary so it not easy, she adds. My first concern is the mother and how she will be cared for. You dont know whether they are infected with coronavirus, so you feel afraid to interact with them. But its important you speak to them like a human being, otherwise they will try to deliver at home. Ebola affected the country by killing many health workers. So people got scared when coronavirus came and remembered how additional people died during Ebola from other causes and said we also have to be careful now. Health workers are afraid too. Plan International UK, a global childrens charity, argued the coronavirus crisis will cause a surge in maternal deaths due to healthcare systems being swamped with emergency efforts to tackle the Covid-19 crisis and pregnant women not seeking maternity care due to fears of contracting the virus. Rose Caldwell, its chief executive, told The Independent: Were deeply concerned about the impact of coronavirus on children and families in some of the worlds most fragile communities. In developing countries like Liberia and Senegal, health systems are already weak and can quickly become overwhelmed when a crisis like this hits. The Ebola crisis in 2014 put huge pressure on healthcare workers in some of the most affected countries, such as Liberia, and this posed a serious threat to pregnant women and girls giving birth at this time, leading to a rise in maternal deaths. We know that many of these healthcare systems still havent fully recovered from the devastation caused by the Ebola outbreak and wont be in a position to cope with another pandemic. A study by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine previously found maternal and newborn deaths in Sierra Leone rocketed after the Ebola outbreak due to concerns around getting the virus and not trusting healthcare workers putting women off going to services to give birth. Researchers discovered deaths of women during or just after childbirth rose by almost a third while deaths of newborns increased by a quarter between May 2014 and April 2015 in comparison to the year before. While the number of women giving birth at healthcare services plummeted by 11 per cent, despite the fact the majority of services were up and running. Ebola is significantly less contagious than coronavirus but far more deadly killing up to 50 per cent of people who became infected with it and claiming 11,325 lives. Reflecting on the coronavirus crisis, Ms Caldwell added: What were already hearing from our teams across the world is that expectant mothers dont want to visit health clinics because theyre afraid of contracting coronavirus while they are there, and are instead choosing to stay at home to give birth. This is particularly worrying with pregnant women in developing countries because, in many circumstances, it puts the mother and baby at risk. Plan International UK, which has launched an emergency appeal urging Britons to support its work to help those hit by the Covid-19 emergency around the world, argues the impact of the worst health crisis of a generation could be catastrophic for girls in the poorest communities across the globe. Mame Badji, a midwife in Senegal, said she is working longer hours than ever due to services being overwhelmed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Unlike other health centres, which people have deserted because they are afraid of contracting coronavirus, the visiting rate to maternity centres has increased, she adds. Because it has increased, our days are longer as we are seeing more pregnant women. We have to make sure we see and attend to all the pregnant women who come, no matter how many, because often the woman has travelled a good distance to the hospital and its unfair to ask them to return the next day. We make sure we extend our working day and we see all the patients who come in. The pregnant women are very stressed about coronavirus, as well as the health workers. Ms Badji, who is from Kebemer, said she is anxious for the safety of pregnant women and their babies in case they become unwell while in hospital adding that pregnant women become very worried about Covid-19 when they hear that people in their communities have contracted the virus. Im always afraid a woman can come and be very healthy and then get contaminated while she is in the hospital with her newborn baby, she adds. As a midwife, Im scared that I will get contaminated with coronavirus and Ill spread the virus to my whole family. Im very anxious about this. My husband has also been stuck in a different area of Liberia for about a month now because of government rules restricting travel, and Im scared about what condition he is in, because I cant see him. Ms Badji, who said she had dreamed of being a midwife since she was a child, provides fellow midwives with extra support when they are delivering women who have high-risk pregnancies. An estimated 2.8 million pregnant women and newborns die every year with one dying every 11 seconds due to factors which were generally preventable prior to the Covid-19 crisis. COVID-19 India Live Update s : Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently chairing a fresh round of consultation with chief ministers on ways to strengthen the COVID-19 containment strategy and stepping up of economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day nationwide lockdown nears an end. Besides, a day before the Railways will resume operations after 54-days of lockdown for general public, the government has issued certain guidelines for ensuring all social distancing norms are followed by people. The railways has said only passengers with confirmed e-tickets will be allowed to enter the station. All passengers need to be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the trains. All passengers will be provided with hand sanitisers at entry and exit points, and all passengers will require wearing face masks. Railways will start with 15 trains initially and bookings will start at 4 pm today. Check out all the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic from across India and the world on BusinessToday.In live blog 11.36 PM: Five Air India pilots, who tested positive for coronavirus in an earlier test on Saturday, have been found COVID negative in a second test. These pilots can now be rostered for repatriation flights under the Vande Bharat Mission. 10.04 PM: PM-CM meet: PM Modi professes 'jan se jag tak' Interacting with CMs from across the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a "balanced strategy" to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. The Prime Minister also mentioned efforts needed to address 'jan se jag tak' - from people to world, adding that the world will change after the coronavirus crisis, as it did after the two World Wars. He also emphasised on the need to prepare for upcoming monsoon as this season is known for increase in diseases. 8.41 PM: Delhi hotspots latest updates One more containment zone in Delhi - House No. A-30, Mansarover Garden - has been de-contained today. This takes the total number of hotspots in Delhi to 81. No new containment zone happened today. 7.52 PM: Lockdown Extension in Maharashtra Latest Updates During interaction with PM Narendra Modi via video link, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray suggested that a decision about lockdown should be taken after careful consideration, as COVID-19 cases are expected to peak in June or July. Thackeray also called for resumption of industrial activities in Green zones, while reopening local train services for workers in essential services. He also sought GST refunds for Maharashtra to be disbursed at the earliest. 7.05 PM: Lockdown extension: Don't resume train services, says Telangana CM Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to resume passenger train services. Earlier Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami presented similar demands in view of rising cases in Chennai. 6.53 PM: Punjab coronavirus updates Punjab reported 54 new coronavirus cases in the state today, taking the total infection cases to 1,877. The state has 1,678 active cases and 31 deaths, informed Punjab Health Department. 6.43 PM: ICMR coronavirus survey ICMR-NCDC combine is going to conduct a population-based sero survey in selected districts of country to monitor trend in prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection at district level, informed Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Under this initiative, throat and nasal swabs will be collected for RT-PCR tests. This will also help to detect the antibodies in the samples, the blood test would be done through anti-body testing ELISA kits, the Ministry added. 6.41 PM: Odisha coronavirus cases Odisha reported 3 more coronavirus cases today, taking the total number of cases in the state to 394. This includes 306 active cases, 85 recoveries and 3 deaths, informed State Health and Family Welfare Department. 6.28 PM: Lockdown news: Punjab CM pitches for continued lockdown Punjab CM Amarinder Singh suggetsed continued lockdown with well-crafted exit strategy that will save lives and livelihoods. During the video conferencing with PM Narendra Modi, Singh suggested that categorisation of Red, orange and green zones to the states. The Punjab CM also called for national testing strategy and sought urgent fiscal aid for states to meet at least 33 per cent committed liabilities and revenue grants for 3 months. 6.26 PM: PM Modi meeting: Tamil Nadu coronavirus latest updates As positive cases in Chennai are showing an increasing trend, don't permit train service up to May 31 in Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami said during at PM Narendra Modi's interaction with CMs. I request you not to begin regular Air services till May 31, he added. 6.17 PM: PM Modi talks to CMs "Slowly but surely, economic activities have begun to pick up in several parts of the country. In coming days, this process will further gather steam. We must realise that fight against COVID-19 has to be more focused now," PM Modi said during his video conference with CMs today. 6.14 PM: PM meeting with CMs World has recognised India's success in handling the coroanvirus pandemic and Government of India appreciates the efforts made by all state governments in this regard, PM Modi said during his interaction with CMs today. Let us stay the course as we move forward together, he added. 6.09 PM: IRCTC ticket booking: India Railways releases timings of 30 trains that will run from May 12 Indian Railways issues the timings of 30 special trains to be run with effect from 12th May. pic.twitter.com/fvwxMrL3P3 ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 5.43 PM: Gautam Buddha Nagar corona latest updates Gautam Buddha Nagar has rreported 4 more coronavirus cases reported today, taking the total number of cases in the district to 222. This includes 85 active cases, 135 recoveries and 2 deaths. 4 more #COVID19 cases reported in Gautam Buddha Nagar district today. Total number of cases in the district is now at 222, including 85 active patients, 135 discharged, 2 deaths. pic.twitter.com/5dLolsIC8j ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 11, 2020 5.36 PM: Karnataka COVID-19 updates Karnataka Government has formed a Special Investment Task Force to "woo disenchanted multinational companies looking to shift their manufacturing bases away from China in the backdrop of coronavirus outbreak". Chief Secretary of the state will lead this task force. Karnataka Government constitutes a Special Investment Task Force to "woo disenchanted multinational companies looking to shift their manufacturing bases away from China in the backdrop of #coronavirus outbreak". pic.twitter.com/L7GileKdRX ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 5.33 PM: Karnataka coronavirus cases latest updates Karantaka has reported 14 more coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in the state to 862. This includes 426 recoveries and 31 deaths, said State Health Department. 14 more #COVID19 cases reported in Karnataka in the last 24 hours. Total number of cases in the state is now at 862, including 426 discharged & 31 deaths: State Health Department pic.twitter.com/PrSPjfnDah ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 5.21 PM: Gujarat coronavirius latest updates Home delivery has been made mandatorily cashless in Ahmedabad to prevent spread of coronavirus through currency notes. It is now compulsory to accept digital mode of payments through Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and other platforms, said Gujarat Additional Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar Gupta. Home delivery has been made mandatorily cashless in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. To prevent spread of #COVID19 through currency notes, it is mandatory to accept digital mode of payments through Unified Payment Interface (UPI)&other platforms:Gujarat Additional Chief Secy Rajiv Kumar Gupta pic.twitter.com/qtN5v2Ac9W ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 5.00 PM: Train ticket bookings on IRCTC IRCTC has said that train ticket bookings that were scheduled to start at 4 pm today will start at 6 pm. Booking for train tickets to begin at 6:00 PM: Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) pic.twitter.com/jXKWcsA8Nw ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 4.50 PM: No data leak in Aarogya Empowered Group-9 has said that the contact tracing app Aarogya Setu has been downloaded 9.8 crore times so far. The app will be available on Jio smartphones from tomorrow. The group has also said that they are ensuring security and added that no data will be leaked. 4.40 PM: IRCTC website crashes People are rushing to the IRCTC website that has led to its crash. Railways Ministry has apologised for the crash and stated that the details of the trains that will run are being fed into the system and the booking will be up and running in a while. 4.31 PM: Recovery rate is now at 31.15% The total number of recoveries is 20917, 44029 people are under active medical supervision. In last 24 hours, there were 4213 new cases & 1559 recoveries. Recovery rate is now at 31.15%. Total number of cases is at 67,152: Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary of Health Ministry. 4.15 PM: PM's virtual meeting with CMs Unlike earlier meeting, all CMs will speak during today's video conference. Meeting likely to continue till 9.30 PM A 30 min break will take place at 6 PM All states may seek graded exit Centre and states may not ease out night curfew restrictions Centre and states to work on different strategies for red and other zones Post lockdown 3.0, the country may see more easing of restrictions Centre and states to work to ensure infection doesn't reach rural zones 4.13 PM: Railways' additional guidelines on resuming operations Special trains to have only AC classes; fare structure shall be as applicable for regular time-tabled Rajdhani trains Passengers will have to reach station at least 90 minutes in advance to facilitate thermal screening All passengers advised to download and use Aarogya Setu application Passengers encouraged to carry own linen, food, drinking water; dry, ready-to-eat food, bottled water to be provided on payment Advance reservation period will be max 7 days; no RAC, waiting list ticket; on board booking by ticket checking staff not permitted Online cancellation permitted up to 24 hours before scheduled departure; cancellation charge to be 50 per cent of fare 4.10 PM: Home Ministry's coronavirus update: Around 4,000 Indians have been brought back by 23 flights under Vande Bharath Mission. "Over 5 lakh migrant workers have been sent to their home states by 468 special trains. A total of 101 special trains were run yesterday," says Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava. 4.08 PM: Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel taking part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video conference meeting with Chief Ministers over COVID-19: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's Office CM Bhupesh Baghel took part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video conference meeting with Chief Ministers over #COVID19: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's Office pic.twitter.com/vF9YFZAyv9 ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 4.00 PM: The health ministry's daily briefing on the COVID19 situation in the country has also started. 3.59 PM: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also present during PM Modi's video conference with CMs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 5th video conference meeting with Chief Ministers underway. Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also present. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/BAAaudPe75 ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 3.50 PM: PM-CMs meet has started During their fifth video conference in 51 days, PM and CMs will discuss issues related to the large-scale movement of migrant workers from urban to rural India and the problems their return to home states may cause in restarting the economy. 3.40 PM: PM-CMs meet begins Honble PM @narendramodi ji is set to meet chief ministers of all states for the 5th time in 51 days! The virtual meeting is happening in the context of #Covid19 . I, too, shall participate in this today.@PMOIndia @AmitShah @nsitharaman @BJP4India @mygovindia pic.twitter.com/r9wHhN3Rdp Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) May 11, 2020 3:30 PM: Many of incoming migrant workers testing positive for COVID-19: Principal Health Secretary AM Prasad Principal Health Secretary AM Prasad on Monday said that many of incoming migrant workers are testing positive for COVID-19. We have village monitoring committees in rural areas and mohalla monitoring committees in urban areas. It's necessary that we implement our community surveillance model effectively. "Asymptomatic workers are sent to 21-day home quarantine & the symptomatic ones are sent to institutional quarantine. If a worker doesn't test positive, we keep them in quarantine for 7 days & then sent them to 14-day home quarantine," he added. 3:25 PM: Coronavirus in Rajasthan: 126 new cases, 2 deaths reported today As many as 126 new cases of COVID-19 and 2 deaths have been reported in Rajasthan today till 1 pm, taking the total number of cases & deaths to 3940 & 110, respectively. Number of active cases stands at 1566: Rajasthan Health Department. 3:20 PM: WHO issued guidelines for workplace re-opening The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday issued guidelines for public health and social measures in the workplaces, as many countries are beginning to gradually re-open workplaces to maintain economic activity. 3:15 PM: Delhi govt to to give another Rs 5,000 to construction workers; start renewal and registration from May 15 Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai on Monday said that online registration for renewal and registration of new workers will begin from May 15. Website link will be made available on May 15 and registration shall continue till May 25. After May 25 verification process will take place, he said. Delhi government had taken a decision to deposit Rs 5,000 into the bank accounts of the registered construction workers last month. This month also as the lockdown has been extended government has decided to again deposit Rs 5,000 to provide them help, said the minister. 3:10 PM: GCC Biotech develops Rs 500 COVID-19 testing kit Kolkata-based GCC Biotech India claimed it has developed indigenous 'real-time' COVID19 test kit costing only Rs 500 for a single test. "After 2 months of R&D we made this kit. It is cost effective as it contains all reagents produced by us. We've made 1 crore test kits&have 40 lakh in store. If India can do 3 lakh tests per day, we'll be able to support the govt without any problems," ANI quoted R Majumdar, MD, GCC Biotech India, as saying. We received approval from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on May 1, 2020, he added. 3:00 PM:No increase in lease rent for SEZ for FY21; payment for Q1 deferred till July 31 There will be no increase in lease rent for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) units for the financial year 2020-21. Payment of lease rent of 1st quarter is to be deferred up to 31st July 2020 for all SEZ units, says Ministry of Commerce and Industry. 2:50 PM: 15 police personnel tested positive for coronavirus in Bihar Till now, 15 police personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 in Bihar, says Jitendra Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (headquarters). 2.40 PM: GCC Biotech India devises testing kit "After 2 months of R&D we made this kit. It is cost effective as it contains all reagents produced by us," says R Majumdar, MD, GCC Biotech India. - ANI West Bengal: A South 24 Parganas based private firm GCC Biotech India claims it has developed indigenous 'real-time' #COVID19 test kit costing only Rs 500 for a single test pic.twitter.com/X3hR01vxUy ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 2.30 PM: Bihar coronavirus cases live tracker Till now, 15 police personnel have tested positive for coronavirus in Bihar, Additional Director General of Police (headquarters), Jitendra Kumar, has confirmed. The total cases in the state stand at 696, including six deaths. 2.21 PM: No proposal to deduct salaries of govt employees: Jitendra Singh "Please ignore the FAKE NEWS being circulated in a section of media. There is no proposal by the Government to carry out deduction in the salary of its employees," Union minister Jitendra Singh. West Bengal: A South 24 Parganas based private firm GCC Biotech India claims it has developed indigenous 'real-time' #COVID19 test kit costing only Rs 500 for a single test pic.twitter.com/X3hR01vxUy ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 2.15 PM: Delhi govt to deposit Rs 5000 in construction workers' accounts Delhi govt has decided deposit Rs 5,000 in bank accounts of construction workers. "Online registration from May 15 will also begin for renewal and registration of new workers. Website link will be made available on May 15 and registration shall continue till May 25," says Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai. Please ignore the FAKE NEWS being circulated in a section of media. There is no proposal by the Government to carry out deduction in the salary of its employees.@DoPTGoI Dr Jitendra Singh (@DrJitendraSingh) May 11, 2020 2.05 PM: Human rights can't be exploited, says Rahul Gandhi "Labor laws are being amended by many states. We are fighting against corona together but this cannot be an excuse to exploit human rights," says Rahul Gandhi. Online registration from May 15 will also begin for renewal and registration of new workers. Website link will be made available on May 15 and registration shall continue till May 25. After May 25 verification process will take place: Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai https://t.co/pPlARl2uHh pic.twitter.com/iJGQkMJghl ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 2.00 PM: New MHA guidelines on Railways passenger movement Only those passengers with confirmed E-tickets shall be allowed to enter the station The movement of the passengers as well as the drivers of the vehicle transporting the passenger (s) to & from the railway station shall be allowed on the basis of confirmed E-ticket All passengers shall be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed All passengers shall be provided with hand sanitizers at entry & exit points at states and in coaches All passengers shall be wearing face covers/masks at entry and during travel On arrival at their destination, the travelling passengers will have to adhere to health protocols 1.50 PM: Civil Aviation Minister shares some enduring images of Mission Vande Bharat , , , Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 11, 2020 1.45 PM: Badrinath Temple to open on May 15 Total 27 people including the Chief Priest will be allowed at the Badrinath Temple when the portals of the temple will be opened on May 15. No devotee will be allowed at that time: Anil Chanyal, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Joshimath. Youngsters proudly holding the tricolour. Citizens embracing their motherland on arrival. Social distancing. Sanitization. Face masks & shields. These are some enduring images of Mission Vande Bharat & people's love for Mother India. @PMOIndia @MoCA_GoI @indiannavy @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/8JKmsFp2yw Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 11, 2020 1.40 PM: Tata Steel Europe to unbundle business Tata Steel Europe, which is in discussion with the UK government for a relief package, plans to unbundle its business as separate entities for the UK and the Netherlands. The British government wants to ensure that the financial relief offered to the company's operations in their country should not be supporting its operations in Netherlands. The debt-ridden company is facing severe crisis in the region after coronavirus pandemic forced it to shut operations. Also read: Tata Steel Europe to unbundle business to avail support from UK government 1.25 PM: Frequently asked questions on discharge policy for COVID-19 patients, as per the health ministry What was earlier criteria for discharging COVID-19 patients? The earlier criteria for discharging rt-PCR positive were (a) chest radiograph has cleared and (b) two consecutive negative test results on rt-PCR. What is the new discharge policy for COVID-19 patients? Mild cases: Patient can be discharged after 10 days of symptom on set and no fever for 3 days Patient can be discharged after 10 days of symptom on set and no fever for 3 days No need for testing prior to discharge Patient will be advised to follow home isolation for a further 7 days after discharge Moderate cases: Patient can be discharged (a) if asymptomatic for 3 days and (b) after 10 days of symptom onset Patient can be discharged (a) if asymptomatic for 3 days and (b) after 10 days of symptom onset No need for testing prior to discharge Patient will be advised to follow home isolation for a further 7 days after discharge Severe cases: Clinical recovery Clinical recovery Patient tested negative once by RT-PCR (after resolution of symptoms) 1.20 PM: Rajasthan relaxes travel guidelines The government has allowed inter-district and intra-district travel for certain activities from 7 am to 7 pm. However, these relaxations will be given in red zones. 1.15 PM: Govt issues guideline on restarting manufacturing industries after the lockdown period In the wake of Vizag tragedy, Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued detailed guidelines under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, on restarting manufacturing industries after the lockdown period. State governments shall also ensure the off-site disaster management plan of the respective Major Accidental Hazard (MAH) units are up to date and preparedness to implement them is high. It is also advised that all the responsible officers of the district shall ensure the Industrial On-Site Disaster Management Plans are also in place and cover Standard Operating Procedures for safe re-starting of the industries during & after COVID 19 lock down. 1.10 PM: Unsanitary conditions at Mumbai hospital In a video tweeted by BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, body bags seen lying next to patients in a ward in Mumbai's KEM hospital. No comment yet from KEM hospital on the body bags or unsanitary conditions of the ward. Total 27 people including the Chief Priest will be allowed at the Badrinath Temple when the portals of the temple will be opened on May 15. No devotee will be allowed at that time: Anil Chanyal, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Joshimath. #Uttarakhand pic.twitter.com/DI0d3IRpSe ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 12.55 PM:Odisha corona cases live tracker The COVID-19 cases in Odisha rise to 391 after 14 more people, including 12 in Ganjam district, test positive; 320 active cases. 12.50 PM: Containment zones in Kolkata: 338 There are at least 338 containment zones in the city, the Kolkata Police said on Monday. The city police has put up on its Twitter account the list of all the 338 containment zones as received from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). The list has names of all the 338 containment zones in the city starting from KMC Ward No 1 to KMC Ward No 140. 12.45 PM: 10 new cases reported in Karnataka Ten new positive cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of infections in the state to 858, the Health department said on Monday. "Ten new positive cases have been reported from last evening to this noon... Till date 858 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 31 deaths and 422 discharges," the department said in its mid-day situation update. The ten new cases include- three from Davangere, two each from Bidar and Bagalkote, one each from Kalaburagi, Shiggavi in Haveri and Vijayapura. - PTI 12.38 PM: Advisory for online conference via audio calls Advisory for public to exercise due care while joining online conference platforms through audio calls, after few consumers experienced bill shocks when they joined online conferencing platforms inadvertently dialing international numbers: TRAI In a video tweeted by BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, body bags seen lying next to patients in a ward in Mumbais KEM hospital. No comment yet from KEM hospital on the body bags or unsanitary conditions of the ward.#Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/ueqtmW0kuD ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 12.30 PM: Safe passage ensured for over 900 trucks carrying essential supplies, from Zoji La to Kargil in the past 21 days: Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). Advisory for public to exercise due care while joining online conference platforms through audio calls, after few consumers experienced bill shocks when they joined online conferencing platforms inadvertently dialing international numbers: TRAI pic.twitter.com/Wl4x9YXMlf ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 12.15 PM: The big climbdown of Yogi Adityanath's govt has rubbed trade unions the wrong way Within weeks of asking factory-owners and private firms to pay workers full wages and not retrench them during Coronavirus-afflicted lockdown, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government decided to suspend all key labour laws suggesting major climb down in the face of protests from industries. Also read: UP labour law reforms: The big climbdown 12.10 PM: Latest coronavirus update With an addition of 4,213 new cases, the total stands at 67,152. Here is the corona virus update as of 8 am today. Safe passage ensured for over 900 trucks carrying essential supplies, from Zoji La to Kargil in the past 21 days: Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). #CoronavirusLockdown pic.twitter.com/AgGlQSUOB0 ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 12.00 PM: Migrant exodus continues "I am welding worker in Delhi. It was becoming difficult for us to sustain here and we were facing food and other santisation issues, due to which we decided to walk on foot to our village in Purniya, Bihar. We don't have any information regarding train services run by the government," a migrant tells ANI. #CoronaWatch With an addition of 4,213 new cases, the total stands at 67,152. Here is the corona virus update as of 8 am today. #StayHomeSaveLives #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/DYl6hWwMzY PIB India #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) May 11, 2020 11.50 AM: 26,660 new cases, 1,737 deaths in the US The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported 1,300,696 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 26,660 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 1,737 to 78,771. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on May 9, compared with its count a day earlier. The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states. - Reuters 11.47 AM: 468 Shramik Special trains operationalised so far: MHA Subsequent to the Ministry of Home Affairs order regarding movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places by special trains,Indian Railways had decided to operate "Shramik Special" trains. As on May 11, a total of 468 "Shramik Special" trains have been operationalised from various states across the country, in which 363 trains had reached its destination and 105 trains are in transit. 11.46 AM: New Zealand to reopen malls New Zealand businesses including malls, cinemas, cafes and gyms will be allowed to reopen from Thursday as tight restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus were further eased on Monday. The Pacific nation was locked down for more than month under "level 4" restrictions that were eased by a notch late last month. - Reuters 11.45 AM: COVID-19 vaccine in the works Since coronavirus broke out four months ago, researchers and scientists from across the globe have been working to concoct the perfect cure. While developing a vaccine might take a few years, researchers from across the globe are optimistic that a coronavirus vaccine may be available by next year. Also read: Coronavirus vaccine: List of 5 COVID-19 treatment frontrunners 11.35 AM: Man jumps home quarantine to buy liquor in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur district, sent to institutional quarantine after wife complains to police: Official 11.25 AM: South Eastern Railway reduces speed of all goods, special trains to 40 kmph in its Kharagpur-Bhadrak section till Monday morning owing to the movement of migrant workers along railway tracks: Official 11.15 AM: Passenger train bookings start at 4 pm Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4 pm on 11th May and will be available only on the IRCTC website www.irctc.co.in. Ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) shall be issued. Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations. It will be mandatory for the passengers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train. 11.00 AM: Total cases in Jharkhand: 160 Total 160 positive COVID-19 cases have been reported in Jharkhand till date, of which 79 are active cases and 78 are recovered/discharged cases. To ensure that social distancing and other norms are strictly followed, all seats will not be available for booking in the passenger trains, says Union Minister of State for Railways, Suresh Angadi, on the Indian Railways' decision to restart passenger trains from May 12. - ANI 10.44 AM: Coronavirus cases in Delhi: 7,233 As many as 310 new COVID-19 cases reported in Delhi till May 10 midnight. The total number of positive cases is now 7,233. "We have ordered all hospitals to submit death report with death summary each day," says Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain. To ensure that social distancing&other norms are strictly followedall seats will not be available for booking in the passenger trains:Union Min of State for Railways Suresh Angadi on Indian Railways' decision to restart passenger trains from 12 May.#CoronavirusLockdown(File pic) pic.twitter.com/UCejLnyRtq ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 10.33 AM: Cities that'll be connected via train services from tomorrow Indian Railways to restart passenger train operations with special trains from New Delhi connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad & Jammu Tawi from tomorrow. 310 new COVID19 cases reported in Delhi till midnight of 10th May. The total number of positive cases is now 7233. We have ordered all hospitals to submit death report with death summary each day: Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain pic.twitter.com/HDMXL209oi ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 10.25 AM: MHA to States: Ensure smooth movement, including inter-state, of all medical professionals, paramedic staff, sanitation personnel and ambulances etc Private clinics and nursing homes be allowed to open without hindrances to facilitate fighting COVID-19 and non-COVID emergencies Indian Railways to restart passenger train operations with special trains from New Delhi connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad,Bengaluru,Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad&Jammu Tawi from tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/KSHGGdPBk8 ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 10.20 AM: After trains, start road, air transport gradually: Chidambaram Former finance minister P Chidambaram on lockdown exit: "The only way economic and commercial activity can effectively begin, is to open road, rail and air services for passengersand goods. We welcome the decision of the government to cautiously start operations of inter state passenger trains. The same modest opening should be started with road transport and air transport." MHA to States: Ensure smooth movement, including inter-state, of all medical professionals, paramedic staff, sanitation personnel & ambulances etc. Private clinics & nursing homes be allowed to open without hindrances to facilitate fighting #COVID19 & non-COVID emergencies pic.twitter.com/nZJ9J6FDKD Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) May 11, 2020 10.17 AM: 70 COVID-19 proposals recommended for funding To urgently develop safe and effective Biomedical solutions against SARS CoV-2, Department of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) had invited applications for COVID-19 Research Consortium. In addition, BIRAC has also created a provision to fund COVID-19 solutions that are ready for immediate deployment under a 'Fast Track Review Process'. Through a rolling multitiered review mechanism, 70 proposals of devices, diagnostics, vaccine candidates, therapeutics and other interventions have been recommended for receiving financial support. The shortlisted proposals includes 10 Vaccines candidates, 34 Diagnostics products or scale-up facilities, 10 Therapeutics options, 02 proposals on Drug Repurposing and 14 projects which are categorised as preventive interventions. 10.15 AM: The Ministry of Health and Family Affairs has revised conditions for ending home isolation of very mild/pre-symptomatic COVID-19 patients. 10.10 AM: Vasundhara Raje on National Technology Day Vasundhara Raje: "On the National Technology Day, we acknowledge the tremendous contributions of our scientific community in the nation's progress. From the 1998 nuclear tests to leading innovation and research during the COVID-19 pandemic -- today India has cemented its place as a global leader." The only way economic and commercial activity can effectively begin, is to open road, rail and air services for passengersand goods. P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 11, 2020 10.03 AM: Passenger train services to resume from tomorrow Tickets should be booked only via IRCTC website or Mobile App. Booking of tickets through 'agents' (both IRCTC and Railways) will not be allowed. No provision of tatkal and premium tatkal accommodation. No current booking will be allowed. Few of these trains may not run daily. Schedule will be out tomorrow. 10.00 AM: Cooperate in receiving Shramik special trains: MHA to states Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla writes to Chief Secretaries of all the states to cooperate in receiving Shramik special trains and to facilitate the movement of stranded migrant workers. "...all state/UT governments should ensure migrant workers do not resort to walking on road and on railway tracks. In case they are found in such conditions, they should appropriatelt be counseled, take to nearby shelters and provided with food, water, etc, till they are facilitated to board 'Shramik' special trains or buses to their native places," says the letter. 9.50 AM: Power ministry closed for two days as staff member's relative tests positive The Ministry of Power office to remain closed for two days as a stenographer working at the ministry has informed that his brother-in-law tested positive for coronavirus on May 1. He visited the patient on April 29 and later attended the office. He also attended the office on May 8. In view of this, the office will remain closed on May 11 and 12. All officers and staff members have been requested to take preventive measures. 9.41 AM: PM on National Technology Day The Prime Minister pays tribute to the researchers and innovators who are attempting to find a cure for coronavirus. "Today, technology is helping many in the efforts to make the world free from COVID-19. I salute all those at the forefront of research and innovation on ways to defeat Coronavirus," says the PM. Also read: National Technology Day: PM Modi pays tribute to coronavirus researchers, hails 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests 9.38 AM: 300 Indians land in Bengaluru from the UK Over 300 Indians arrive in Bengaluru from London, the UK, on an Air India special flight early morning today. - ANI Health Ministry revises conditions for ending home isolation of very mild / pre-symptomatic #COVID19 patients Isolation to be ended after 17 days of symptom onset & 10 days of no fever No need for testing after isolation https://t.co/nOaTSH7bM4https://t.co/VyvJnpVvjU pic.twitter.com/gScUO7OvrQ PIB in Maharashtra #MaskYourself (@PIBMumbai) May 10, 2020 9.36 AM: Today's evacuation schedule Total seven special evacuation flights will be operated on the fifth day of the Vande Bharat Mission today. The routes are London to Delhi to Bengaluru; San Francisco to Mumbai to Hyderabad; Dhaka to Mumbai; Dubai to Kochi; Abu Dhabi to Hyderabad; Kaula Lampur to Chennai; and Bahrain to Kozhikode. 9.20 AM: India sees biggest ever spike in COVID-19 cases The total cases in the country now stand at 67,152, including 44,029 active cases, 20,917 cured/discharged/migrated cases and 2,206 deaths. 9.13 AM: What's on agenda for PM-CMs meet? Today's discussion is expected to revolve on steps for reviving the battered economy and scaling up efforts to bring more 'red' zones- areas with a high number of COVID-19 cases- into 'orange' or 'green' zones'. Yesterday, the Indian Railways announced that it will gradually resume passenger train services from May 12. In the second phase of the lockdown, the Centre had allowed manufacturing and industrial activities across all the zones. Also read: PM Modi to meet CMs today at 3 PM: revival of economy, ease of restrictions on agenda 9.11 AM: Passenger train ops to start from tomorrow The Ministry of Railways, on Sunday, announced that it will start operations of 15 passenger trains (30 return journeys) from May 12. All these trains will run from New Delhi railway station. The fares will be equivalent to the ticket fare that is charged for Rajdhani trains. Also read: Indian Railways to start passenger services from May 12; check schedule, routes, ticket fare 9.09 AM: Total Operational (initiated independent testing) laboratories reporting to Indian Council of Medical Research Government laboratories: 345 Private laboratories: 131 Real-Time RT PCR for COVID-19:391 (Govt: 277+ Private: 114) TrueNat Test for COVID-19:55 (Govt: 53+ Private: 02) CBNAAT Test for COVID-19:30 (Govt: 15+ Private: 15) Total No. of labs: 476 9.05 AM: Pune institute develops 1st indigenous antibody detection kit The National Institute of Virology in Pune has successfully developed the first indigenous antibody detection kit for COVID-19 that will play a critical role in surveillance for coronavirus infection, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday. The test kit has the advantage of testing 90 samples together in a single run of 2.5 hours so that healthcare professionals can proceed quickly with necessary next steps, Vardhan said. - PTI Also read: Coronavirus: NIV Pune develops first indigenous antibody detection kit, says Harsh Vardhan 8.50 AM: Newark flight carrying Indians to land in Ahmedabad Indian passengers arrive at Newark Liberty International Airport to board the Air India flight to Mumbai. The flight will later fly to Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Thermal screening and security checks of passengers have begun. Under Vande Bharat Mission, the government intends to bring back over 2 lakh Indians this month alone. On #NationalTechnologyDay we acknowledge the tremendous contributions of our scientific community in the nations progress. From the 1998 nuclear tests to leading innovation & research during the #COVID19 pandemic - today India has cemented its place as a global leader. Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) May 11, 2020 8.40 AM: 1,200 migrants off to Uttarakhand in special train A special train carrying 1,200 passengers departed from Surat, Gujarat, for Kathgodam in Uttarakhand at 4 am, says Uttarakhand Chief Minister's Office. A total of 366 trains have transported nearly four lakh migrant workers since the first special train was rolled out on May 1. Karnataka: More than 300 Indians returned to Bengaluru from London, UK, on an Air India special flight early morning today. #VandeBharatMission pic.twitter.com/S3wffvL1ul ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 8.20 AM: 225 Indians from San Francisco land in India Union Foreign Minister S Jaishankar says the first Air India special flight from the US has brought in 225 Indians from San Francisco to Mumbai. United States: Indian passengers arrive at Newark Liberty International Airport to board the Air India flight to Mumbai. The flight will later fly to Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Thermal screening and security checks of passengers have begun. #VandeBharatMission pic.twitter.com/ANKWmWokrH ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 8.00 AM: Salute all at forefront of research, innovation to defeat coronavirus: PM On National Technology Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. "Today, technology is helping many in the efforts to make the world free from COVID-19. I salute all those at the forefront of research and innovation on ways to defeat Coronavirus. May we keep harnessing technology in order to create a healthier and better planet." Iran Says Ready For Prisoner Swap With U.S. Without Preconditions 05/11/20 Source: RFE/RL Iran is ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei says, adding that Washington has yet to respond to Iran's call for a prisoner swap. "We have announced that we are ready without any preconditions to exchange all prisoners and we are prepared to discuss this issue but the Americans have not responded yet," Rabiei told the news site Khabaronline on May 10. Michael White poses with his mother, Joanne, in Washington in this undated photo. "We are worried about the safety and health of Iranians in jail.... We hold America responsible for Iranians' safety amid the new coronavirus outbreak," Rabiei added. "Washington is aware of our readiness and we think there is no need for a third country to mediate between Tehran and Washington for the prisoner exchange," Rabiei was quoted as saying. The United States is set to deport Iranian professor Sirous Asgari, who was acquitted of stealing trade secrets, U.S. and Iranian officials told Reuters last week. Asgari was reported to have tested positive for the coronavirus while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Iran is believed to be holding at least four Americans, including Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, his father, Baqer Namazi, and environmentalist and businessman Morad Tahbaz. Western media reported last week that Tehran and Washington were negotiating a deal that would release U.S. Navy veteran Michael White for an Iranian held in the United States. White, detained in Iran for allegedly insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and posting private information online, was released on medical furlough in March amid the coronavirus pandemic. Iran says the U.S. authorities are holding some 20 Iranian nationals in jail. In a rare act of cooperation, the United States and Iran swapped prisoners in 2019: American graduate student Xiyue Wang, detained on alleged spying charges, and imprisoned Iranian stem-cell researcher Massud Soleimani, accused of sanctions violations. Tensions between Tehran and Washington have heightened since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, especially after he pulled the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed crippling sanctions on the Islamic republic. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Iran in March to release on humanitarian grounds all wrongfully detained Americans held in the country. With reporting by Reuters and AP Hopes are fading on Capitol Hill for a deal on the next round of coronavirus relief before an approaching Memorial Day recess, raising the prospect that Congress wont clinch a new spending agreement until June or beyond. While the Democratic-controlled House is aiming to pass a multitrillion-dollar package as soon as this week without GOP or White House input, the Senate Republican majority has no timeline for delivering its own bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the party is still assessing what weve done already, referring to the nearly $3 trillion in aid delivered by Congress thus far. Im in constant communication with the White House and if we decide to go forward well go forward together, McConnell told reporters on Monday. We have not yet felt the urgency of acting immediately. That time could develop, but I dont think it has yet. The GOP has little regard for Speaker Nancy Pelosis legislation and in interviews Republican senators said it does nothing to pressure them to act. Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said in an interview the House bill is "more like a messaging document than anything else." McConnell has offered Republican senators no timeline on the next bill, according to a GOP senator. The Senates restrained pace combined with the Houses sense of urgency suggests none of the bicameral cooperation needed to craft a massive rescue deal amid an economic and health crisis. In moments when both parties see a need to act, congressional leaders typically negotiate exhaustively over a period of days or weeks not follow opposing timetables. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has taken to likening the Republican Partys reluctance to move quickly to President Herbert Hoover, whose hesitation to respond to economic catastrophe helped usher in the Great Depression. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., listens to a reporter's question during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Thursday, May 7, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) House Democrats are moving really fast and big and bold. And Leader McConnell hasnt done anything, Schumer said Monday. The American people will be very much behind the kind of big, bold solution that the House is proposing. Story continues The last $484 billion bill, the fourth in a series of massive aid packages totaling nearly $3 trillion, was driven by the depletion of funds for the Paycheck Protection Program in April. But demand for that program has slowed, and its popularity has waned among lawmakers in both parties because of reports of money going to big companies and universities with large endowments. So even if the new $310 billion in funding for the Paycheck Protection Program is expended in the coming weeks, theres no guarantee it will force Republicans to the table. Still, if the House is able to pass legislation in the next week it would amount to a challenge to a Senate GOP thats considering leaving for a weeklong recess for Memorial Day during the last week of May. And some Republicans said the party is feeling more urgency than just a few weeks ago. Its hard for people to wrap their heads around it, said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who is advocating for federally subsidizing workers salaries to prevent layoffs. Im hearing a lot more of my colleagues say: What are we going to do about jobs? I think people are getting there. After Republicans openly dismissed Pelosis plan for a fifth bill, the speaker made no effort to negotiate with the GOP at the outset. Instead, Pelosi has been working to winnow a lengthy list of Democratic wants into whats expected to be a partisan proposal that receives little, if any, Republican support. And even that has proved difficult the initial timeline for finishing the House bill has slipped since last week as rank-and-file Democrats lobby leadership to include their ideas. As a result, the draft bill has ballooned, with some Democrats whispering it could cost close to $3 trillion when finished. At this point theres still negotiations just within the Democratic Party on what should be in this bill. Last week we were posed with the question: Should we go big? Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) said in an interview. The general consensus was go big and put in what we believe in and then the pressure is on Republicans to explain why theyre not supporting [our proposals]. The measure is expected to include more than $1 trillion in aid for state and local governments, in addition to expanding food assistance and money for mail-in voting, among other things. Democratic aides insist theyre working to pare back the costs before releasing the final proposal, saying that it will likely cost somewhere around $2 trillion, an eye popping figure that Republicans are sure to mock. On a private caucus call Monday, Pelosi said its up to Democrats to build our environment through public sentiment to give their bill momentum. The sooner we act, the bigger we go, the better, Pelosi told Democrats. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing this week on liability reform, the GOPs main demand for the next piece of legislation. But otherwise, the party has not yet coalesced around a large vision. And in an inauspicious sign, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) will now stay home in Tennessee after a staffer tested positive for coronavirus. The senator tested negative for coronavirus last week. Alexander is chairman of the Senates primary health committee, which would conceivably play a role in any coronavirus legislation. Privately, several House Democrats concede their latest bill feels like little more than an effort to appease the most liberal members of the caucus, many of whom were chafed that their most important priorities were minimized or ignored entirely in previous coronavirus negotiations. Democrats say they expect the House to come into session and pass their relief package along party lines, either this Friday or even sometime next week. And then its likely lawmakers will return home to their districts, at least until after Memorial Day. Gone is the unified sense of urgency in both parties that characterized the initial coronavirus negotiations as the mysterious virus rapidly spread throughout the country, shuttering U.S. businesses and sending the economy into free fall. Now, not everyone agrees that the answer is providing billions if not trillions of more federal dollars in relief, even as unemployment numbers soar into the tens of millions, food bank lines stretch for miles and the coronavirus death toll surpasses 80,000 Americans. The debate about how to stabilize the economy and take steps toward resuming normal life has taken on a much more partisan veneer in recent weeks. Republican leaders have seized on the defiant energy mobilizing hard-line conservatives, with several GOP governors moving to reopen their states against the advice of health experts. And senior Democrats say when the House does return after Memorial Day, it will be time to turn to the legislative seasons pressing matters spending bills, the annual defense policy legislation and reauthorizing water infrastructure programs. In the meantime, House leaders are promising at least 72 hours notice before lawmakers are due back in Washington to vote on the next round of relief funds. But the three-day heads up isnt just for travel reasons, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told Democrats on a private call Monday. This is a very large bill, and we will have to talk to our members about it and see where the votes are, Hoyer said, according to Democrats on the call. Abu Dhabi-based Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), the worlds first graduate-level, research-based artificial intelligence (AI) university, has announced the appointment of Dr Ling Shao as the universitys Executive Vice President and Provost. In his role, Dr Shao will lead MBZUAIs academic affairs and research, ensuring the university delivers world-class higher education and research in the field of AI. Dr Shao will be part of MBZUAIs leadership team, playing a pivotal role in ensuring that students receive a world-class education in a state-of-the-art campus, which is expected to be completed shortly, said a statement. With the first academic year scheduled to start in January 2021, the university is in the process of vetting thousands of applications from more than 80 countries. The first admissions letters will be sent to applicants soon, it said. In addition to his new role at MBZUAI, Dr Shao also serves as CEO and Chief Scientist of the Inception Institute of Artificial Intelligence (IIAI), an Abu Dhabi-based international research organisation dedicated to achieving breakthroughs in fundamental and applied AI research. MBZUAI is partnered with the IIAI for the supervision of PhD students and curriculum development. Under Dr Shaos leadership, IIAI will also serve as a principal partner for research collaboration. Speaking on Dr. Shaos appointment, MBZUAI Interim President, Professor Sir Michael Brady, said: With his impeccable track record and undeniable expertise in the field of AI, Ling is an ideal choice for MBZUAIs leadership team. It is a pleasure to welcome him aboard in his capacity as Executive Vice President and Provost. As the University prepares to welcome its first cohort in January 2021, we are making exceptional progress in putting the final details into place that will ensure MBZUAI is a world-leading establishment that will attract the finest young minds. Dr Shao said: AI is becoming an increasingly integral component of our everyday lives, which makes developing world-class talent and conducting in-depth research all the more important in order to advance our understanding and application of this versatile and essential technology. As the first establishment of its kind to focus solely on AI education and research, MBZUAI will play an important role in the future of our societies. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to guide the next generation of AI leaders. Prior to his involvement with IIAI, Dr Shao spent nearly a decade advancing the field of AI at prestigious higher education institutions in the UK, including as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield, Chair Professor at Northumbria University, and Chair Professor at the University of East Anglia, where he also served as Director of the Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has also spent considerable time working as a Senior Scientist at Philips Research, after he obtained his PhD from the University of Oxford. As a result of his work, he has published over 400 scientific papers at leading conferences and journals and was selected as a Highly Cited Researcher by the Web of Science in both 2018 and 2019. MBZUAI will offer Master of Science (MSc) and PhD level programs while also engaging policymakers and businesses around the world so that AI is harnessed as a force for positive transformation. Graduate students can apply to MBZUAI via the universitys website for 2021 registration. The first class of graduate students will commence coursework at MBZUAIs Masdar City campus in January 2021. The university will provide all admitted students with a full scholarship, plus benefits such as a monthly allowance, health insurance, and accommodation. MBZUAI will work with leading local and global companies to secure internships and will also assist students in finding employment opportunities. TradeArabia News Service (Photo : Tesla on Unsplash) Tesla headquarters Will Be Pulled Out As Elon Musk Threatens California Because Of Its Shelter-In-Place Rules For The Pandemic Crisis (Photo : @thehill) Tesla headquarters Will Be Pulled Out As Elon Musk Threatens California Because Of Its Shelter-In-Place Rules For The Pandemic Crisis Elon Musk has threatened California, saying that Tesla headquarters will be pulled out because of the shelter-in-place rules of the county. According to a report from CNN Business, a lawsuit was filed by Tesla last Saturday, May 9, against Alameda County in California after the company was declined to reopen its Fremont factory by local officials. California county stated that Tesla Incorporated "must not reopen" its vehicle factory located in the San Francisco Bay area since lockdown measures are currently in place to decrease the infection rate of COVID-19 as reiterated by the local county health department in Reuters' report on Friday, May 8. The decision was made after Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive, announced to its employees on Thursday, May 7, that the only US vehicle factory in Fremont will resume its limited production on Friday afternoon. Although Gavin Newsom, the California Governor, stated that Tesla would still be allowed to reopen, the Alameda County, where the factory is located, will remain shut until the end of May. The spokesperson for Alameda County Public Health Department clarified that the coronavirus lockdown of the county would only allow essential businesses to reopen. "Tesla has been informed that they do not meet those criteria and must not reopen," she said. Erica Pan, a health officer for the country, said that discussions were made and recommended that Tesla should wait at least another week to observe the infection rate and discuss safe ways to resume production. Tesla headquarters will be pulled out as Elon Musk threatens California because of its shelter-in-place rules for the pandemic crisis According to CNN Business, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also threatened Alameda County in a series of tweets earlier Saturday, May 9, stating that Tesla headquarters will be moved to Nevada or Texas where there are less shelter-in-place restrictions. Time for a lawsuit Ross Gerber (@GerberKawasaki) May 9, 2020 "Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately," said Elon Musk. "This has been a collaborative, good-faith effort to develop and implement a safety plan that allows for reopening while protecting the health and well-being of the thousands of employees who travel to and from work at Tesla's factory," responded the Alameda Health Department on Saturday, May 8. "The team at Tesla has been responsive to our guidance and recommendations, and we look forward to coming to an agreement on an appropriate safety plan very soon," the county added. A lawsuit was filed on Saturday, May 9, in the federal court of California's Northern District, stated that the county must not enforce its shelter-in-place order on the company's headquarters. Although Tesla has a battery factory called Gigafactory 1 in Sparks, Nevada, there are no footprints yet in Texas. A Twitter poll was posted by Elon Musk asking his followers if a Gigafactory should be relocated in Texas; the poll gathered 80% positive results. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Amir Mohebbian, a prominent analyst in Iran, says the young conservatives who have won the parliament are more likely to serve the interests of the country's rulers than trying to meet the demands of the people. Expressing his views about the future of politics in Iran and the role of the new parliament in an interview with reformist newspaper Arman Melli on Monday May 11, Mohebbian says: "Because of understandable reasons that have their roots in Iran's political history and the nature of power in this country, all political groups align their agenda with the will of the ruling power rather than the people. "Both conservatives and reformists in Iran have failed to see the real demands of the people. As a result, the people have turned their backs to them," he said. Meanwhile, Ali Motahari, an outspoken Iranian lawmaker warned the country's hardliners, including the Guardian Council members who barred him from running for parliament, that the young members of the new parliament will not obey the party line. Ali Motahari who says he was disqualified by the Guardian Council before the election in February because of his criticism of powerful hardliners, warned them that their dream of having an "obedient Majles" will not come true. Explaining the impact of the takeover of the legislative body by conservatives Amir Mohebbian, who is a conservative himself predicted, "This can certainly bring about some changes, but what they do will not necessarily improve the situation", in comparison to the performance of the current parliament with its reformist-moderate majority. Mohebbian does not believe that the newcomers can improve the country's situation: "I do not see any change of approach [to domestic and international policies] among the new MPs in comparison to their predecessors. They will try to make a fuss in the short run, but they will calm down soon because their behavior has no sustainable political backing," as serving the people's interests is not on their agenda. Asked whether the new Majles would decide to pull Iran out of the nuclear deal with the world powers or whether it will impeach Rouhani, Mohebbian said: The new Majles has two options: It can either follow the path of the current Majles and drown itself in political games and hate-speech, or it can try to put the country back on the right track. I hope that the latter would be the case, but my pessimism leads me to believe that the former option is more likely to occur." On the other hand, "The current administration (president) has turned everyone against it. No one will mourn for such an administration. This situation encourages everyone to attack the administration, unless the President would accept to play the part of a victim and bow in the hope of ensuring a silent survival by not causing much trouble in its final days," he said. Mohebbian added: "Although the reformists might encourage Rouhani to resist, but he will prefer his own interests to standing by the promises he made to his supporters." Asked about his views on Ahmadinejad supporters, Paydari Front and Pro-Qalibaf neoconservatives, Mohebbian said: "All of them want to take over political power, but they do not know what they are going to do next." He said this is evident in the way all three groups, that collectively hold the majority in the Majles, are competing with each other over winning the post of the speaker of parliament. Mohebbian said "Ahmadinejad is more focused on the people, but his supporters wish to take advantage of his social capital among the underprivileged people. As soon as they take over, they will distance themselves from Ahmadinejad and throw stones at him," stressing that "The smaller they are, they will throw bigger stones." On the Paydari Front members, Mohebbian said: "They are obedient soldiers who are focused on the interests and ideas of powerful people. Their main characteristic is anger and bad temper as well as radicalism. However, I doubt that the Majles will put them in a position of power. If they do, the reality of politics in Iran will silence them although at times they can make the arena of politics turbulent." Meanwhile, the press on Monday quoted a conservative former lawmaker Shamseddin Hosseini, a figure close to former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as having said that some of the new lawmakers are going to settle their accounts with President Hassan Rouhanis administration. Speaking of the former mayor of Tehran Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf (Ghalibaf) and one of the leading contestants for the post of Majles Speaker, Mohebbia believes, "Qalibaf, has too many die-hard outspoken enemies among both conservatives and reformists. We need to see how he controls himself in the middle of sham fights at the Majles." Mohebbian also explained his views about some of the older politicians. On the future of outgoing Majles Speaker Larijani and his clan, Mohebbian said, "They are too deep-rooted in the system to leave the scene altogether. They will move from one basket to another." On the other hand, "Ahmadinejad can get very close to red lines, but he never crosses them. He is well-connected to the people and does not care about what others say about him. He tries to determine his own future but I doubt if he could succeed. Nevertheless, he can surprise everyone. His story is one to continue." TDT | Manama His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yesterday lauded the National Guards top officials and servicemen. HM the King was speaking as he received at Al Safriya Palace National Guard president General His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa and National Security Agency chief Lieutenant General Adel bin Khalifa Al Fadhel, who was accompanied by National Guard director of staff Major-General Shaikh Abdulaziz bin Saud Al Khalifa. HM the King praised the efforts exerted by the National Guard Chief, which contribute to enhancing this military milestones readiness. He commended the National Guards servicemen, hailing their solidarity and joint work with the Bahrain Defence Force, the Ministry of Interior and the National Security Agency to fulfil their duties in defending the nation and protecting its security, stability and achievements. HM the King praised the advanced level attained by the National Guards units, regarding training, combat readiness and preparedness to answer the call of duty, wishing servicemen success in serving the nation. HM the King hailed the dedicated efforts exerted by the National Security Agency chief and all its affiliates in serving the nation and protecting its security, stability and achievements on all levels. He took pride in Bahrainis cohesion, fraternity, solidarity, awareness and collective responsibility in serving the nation. The National Guard officials congratulated HM the King on the Holy Month of Ramadan, praying to Allah the Almighty to bless him with good health and happiness and the Kingdom of Bahrain and its loyal people with further progress and prosperity. HM the King exchanged Ramadan greetings, wishing all many happy returns. Twice winner of the Booker Prize, Hilary Mantel is widely regarded as one of the finest novelists of her generation. Her historical trilogy based on the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell - the powerful minister in the court of King Henry VIII - has been nothing short of a literary sensation. When a figure of Mantel's calibre gushes about a writer, anybody with a love of books sits up and takes notice. For Irish readers, it's especially noteworthy if that author happens to be one of our own. In The Guardian last month, the Wolf Hall author described Eugene McCabe's Death and Nightingales as "truly one of the best novels I have ever, ever read", adding: "I wish heartily that I could have written it myself, and I don't believe you could start it without wanting to know how it ends." She said it was a mystery why she had only come to hear of it recently, but said she had "made up for my ignorance by reading it several times to see how it's done". Expand Close Eugene McCabe was a renowned Irish novelist, short story writer, playwright and television screenwriter / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Eugene McCabe was a renowned Irish novelist, short story writer, playwright and television screenwriter McCabe is, chiefly, a playwright and television screenwriter, although he has written several short stories that are distinguished by spare language and keen observations. Set in rural Ireland in 1883, Death and Nightingales is the Monaghan writer's only novel. It was published in 1992 and immediately hailed as a masterpiece. There was renewed interest in his work in 2018, when a BBC dramatisation of the book starring model-turned-actor Jamie Dornan was screened. Some, curious to read the source material, might have had the sort of epiphany Mantel describes. A sign of the impact that her words have had can be gleaned from the fact that there were no paperback editions of Death and Nightingales available on Amazon at the time of writing. There were hardbacks though - yours for 60. For those who want to get their hands on the book, a number of Irish booksellers, including Eason, have copies available for the usual price. McCabe turns 90 in July. His most recent work was a novella, The Love of Sisters, which was published in 2009. He was born in Glasgow, the third of seven children, to parents from Fermanagh and Monaghan. The family moved to Monaghan when young Eugene was nine, around the time of the outbreak of World War II. Unlike many of his contemporaries in the Border counties, he was privately educated, at Castleknock College in Dublin. He studied English and history at University College Cork. After graduating, he returned to the family farm near Clones, but a desire to write never left him and he started submitting radio plays to RTE from the late 1950s. In 1964, his first stage play, King of the Castle, had its debut at the Dublin Theatre Festival. Video of the Day It was considered a shocking work, especially for the Ireland of the time. It depicts an elderly farmer, 'Scober' MacAdam, who is married to a much younger woman. He has come into money and resides in a 'Big House' but is tormented by the fact that his impotency seems to have become common knowledge, so he hires a drifter to impregnate his wife. McCabe apparently based the plot on a rumour he had heard from a priest. His frank look at sex and gender got him noticed straight away and the play was a prize-winner at the festival. It was revived in 2017 with rising star Seana Kerslake in the role of the wife. In 1973, RTE broadcast a series of short films that McCabe adapted from his own short stories. Cancer, Heritage and Siege - shown under the banner Victims - captured life on the Border in the early years of the Troubles. The stories were eventually collected in a volume, Christ in the Fields, which was published in the mid-1990s. Much of McCabe's work has looked at politics, religion and identity where the two Irelands meet. He has written about what divides the Catholic and Protestant communities and the ties that bind them. Some have compared his unadorned prose to Chekov's. He once said that William Trevor - who died in 2016 - was the greatest living writer, but his short fiction has drawn many admirers, including Colm Toibin. "His territory, the borderlands between Monaghan and Fermanagh," Toibin has written, "is also a place of the soul, a place in which little is said and much is understood, in which emotions are fierce and memories are long, in which much is hidden and submerged." Toibin is especially taken with McCabe's story Music at Annahullion. It centres on two brothers and a sister who live together. She has dreams of playing a piano, and the kinder of her siblings helps her to get one. But the instrument is too large to be brought into the house, so it is left outside in the elements where it slowly rots. "The scene," according to Toibin, "is bleak, broken by an energy in the writing, which comes from the very exact descriptions of things, places, characters, and the use of a second voice within the voice of the story, as though someone were speaking as much as writing. "The dialogue is sour; the use of the half-spoken matches the sense of isolation each of the characters feels. McCabe's genius is to make the piano stand for itself and then to have an extraordinary resonance as it comes to stand for all her hope, and for all our hopes." In A Tribute to Eugene McCabe, published by the Centre for Cross Border Studies, the journalist and author Andy Pollak writes: "McCabe - perhaps uniquely among Irish Catholic writers - is equally able to write about the terror and contempt of Protestant border farmers and UDR men as he is to portray the anger and vengefulness of their Catholic neighbours and historic adversaries. "And he is able to see into the wounded humanity of both communities and evoke sympathy with the most unlikely people, people driven demented by religion and politics and death and drink and bigotry." McCabe has largely kept himself to himself and has little interest in media interviews. There was considerable surprise in 2011 when he raised his head above the parapet to attack an Irish Times literary critic who had been less than enthused by a book published by his friend Dermot Healy. Writing to the newspaper to express his annoyance at Eileen Battersby's review of Long Time, No See, he wrote: "Does Ms Battersby look at the photograph of Dermot Healy and say: 'This is an old man's effort not fashionable like Neil Jordan's so I'll disembowel him because that's how I feel today?'" He then proceeded to tear into a ghost story that the critic - who died in 2018 - had written for the paper some weeks before. "Sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, it was the worst piece of creative writing I have ever read in a long life of reading. Truly. Stunningly bad... That this person has the temerity to sit in negative judgment on one of the great masters of Irish writing should not pass without comment." In a small Irish literary world in which, some believe, writers and critics tend to only say nice things about each other, McCabe's intervention was striking. Healy subsequently expressed embarrassment that his friend had jumped to his defence in such a manner, while John Banville chided McCabe for his "intemperate attack". McCabe, himself, is unlikely to have been bothered by the fuss. He has lived outside Clones in a 200-year-old farmhouse, Drumard, since the mid-1950s. He married Margot Bowen, an Aer Lingus air hostess, in 1955 and has four children, Ruth, Marcus, Patrick and Stephen. For many years, he combined the business of farming cattle and sheep with writing, although he waved goodbye to agriculture around the time Death and Nightingales emerged. He has not been prolific. "I write very, very slowly," he once explained. "And I throw a lot of stuff out." From gigantic sculptures of spiders to 100 million steel sunflower seeds (and even a Star Wars premiere), the Tate Modern in London has managed to make its mark on the world of contemporary art. Today, it celebrates its 20th anniversary. Its hard to imagine that one of the capitals biggest tourists attraction is younger than some millennials, but it was 11 May 2000 that the Tate Modern opened its doors to the public. Queen Elizabeth cut the ribbon to the gallery, even though, in true British style, the rain made an appearance. Since then, one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world has seen nearly 100 million people walk through its doors. Recommended Luxury flat owners lose latest round of legal battle with Tate Modern The gallery is housed in the former Bankside Power Station, which was closed in 1981. In July 1994, it was announced that the Tate was to launch an international competition to select an architect. It was then revealed that Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron of Herzog & de Meuron were the winners. Visitors have been able to see work from art history giants such as Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso. Hundreds of modern artists from all disciplines including Damien Hirst, Ai WeiWei and Yayoi Kusama have also had their work put on display at the Tate. To celebrate the anniversary, Kusamas Infinity Mirrored Rooms were to return to the Tate for the first time since appearing at a 2012 retrospective. The Japanese artists now-iconic rooms are made with thousands of lights to mirror galaxy-like effects. Also to return was Louise Bourgeoiss giant spider sculpture Maman, the very first work visitors encountered when Tate Modern opened. However, due to the lockdown, all anniversary events at the Tate Modern have been postponed indefinitely. We want to highlight the artists Tate Modern has championed over the past 20 years, Frances Morris, director of Tate Modern, said back in February. Kusama and Bourgeois, for example, not only represent our commitment to great artists with truly international careers, but they also embody arts journey from the avant-gardes of the early 20th century to the immersive installations being created today. Click through the gallery above to see the best of Tate Modern. The governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, on Sunday confirmed that at least 150 persons have died from both unknown and natural causes in Katagum local government area of the state, in the past weeks. He, however, said except for a confirmed case, the deaths were not caused by COVID-19, a deadly respiratory ailment which has claimed thousands of lives globally. Mr Mohammed gave this information amidst disturbing rumours that scores of persons have been dying from COVID-19 related diseases in parts of Bauchi, which share a common boundary with Kano and Jigawa States. A former federal lawmaker, Ibrahim Baba, startled many Nigerians when he wrote save our soul letter to President Muhammadu Buhari alleging that about 300 persons have been buried in a part of Bauchi State after dying of COVID-19 related complications. A copy of the letter, which was addressed to the president through the office of the Secretary to the government of the Federation, circulated on the social media last week. The letter, dated May 8, 2020/was titled massive COVID-19 outbreak in Azare: request for urgent action! was signed by the federal lawmaker, Mr Baba. In the letter, the former House of Representatives member informed the president of the massive outbreak of coronavirus in Azare town and environs in Bauchi State, which has already resulted in over 100 fatalities in the last one week. Mr Baba highlighted that the centrality and proximity of Azare to Bauchi, Kano and some major cities of Jigawa State make the towns large population susceptible to the virus due to the already existing large cases of the disease in those areas. He said the situation in Azare went on unreported because the media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic concentrated on state capitals and other more prominent cities. He appealed to the presidency to direct the NCDC to urgently reach out to Azare town with all the necessary facilities and palliatives to assist the communities there, adding that the situation in Azare was a matter of life and death. Similarly, another concerned citizen of Bauchi State, Musa Azare, had also, in a separate SOS message circulated in social media, called the attention of Mr Mohammed to the situation in Azare citing higher casualty figures. In his open letter to the state governor, Mr Azare said Information reaching me from Azare says that as of yesterday (Thursday) there were 301 fresh graves in the Azare cemetery, dug in the last 14 days. I have verified this information from multiple sources. He also raised serious concern about the manner people escort their dead ones to the cemetery; no observance of any counter-measure against the COVID-19 pandemic. Charging the government of Bauchi to intensify awareness campaign on the reality of the new coronavirus, Mr Azare blamed the massive death in Azare and its environs on deliberate ignorance and reckless skepticism. In fact, it is part of the reasons why were witnessing more and more deaths. Not so many deaths Reacting to the two letters on Saturday, the deputy governor of Bauchi state, Baba Tela, who is also chairman of the states COVID-19 Committee told a journalist at a press conference that the rumours were unfounded. We got a lot of reports. Somebody will say five people died today and another will say 300 people died today, but these are just reports. I was there myself to interview the people who helped in burying the dead in the graveyard and yes; there have been a number of deaths but this is kind of seasonal, it comes with or without pandemic when it is very hot or cold, he said. The deputy governor also said while he was in Azare, he had a one on one discussion with the local undertakers who confirmed to him that they only buried an average of six corpses per day in the past one week. Hours after the deputy governor had faulted the claims that hundreds have died from COVID-19 complications in Azare, the NCDC announced that 44 persons tested positive for the new coronavirus in Bauchi. This was followed by another 22 the next day. Of the total 66 new confirmed cases, 42 of them turned out to be from Azare town and its environs, a development that may have corroborated the claims that there has been a prevalence of COVID-19 in Azare. Barely 24 hours after the deputy governor had briefed the media on the situation in Azare, and other communities bordering Kano State, Mr Mohammed called for yet another press briefing. Advertisements At the briefing, Mr Mohammed declared a 10-day 24 hour curfew in Katagum, Giade, and Zaki local government areas. The governor said the total shutdown of the areas was due to the large scale outbreak of COVID-19. He also denied the claims that about 300 persons have been buried in 14 days in Azare and environs. He, however, did not deny that people have been dying in numbers in Azare. In about a month now, we have had cases of people dying in Azare of strange diseases. Some from childbirth, some high blood pressure and other normal causes of deaths but certainly not COVID-19. Mr Mohammed said about 150 persons have been buried as a result of strange illnesses and other natural causes. Out of these 150 death cases, only one was confirmed to be from COVID-19, he said. C&C defied Colorado public health orders when it reopened on Mothers Day. Photo: Google Maps On Mothers Day, crowds descended on a Castle Rock, Colorado, restaurant that reopened for dine-in customers, against the states ongoing public health order that only allows for takeout and delivery. Photos and videos of C&C Coffee and Kitchen which specializes in high-end coffee and breakfast foods like keto bowls and Californiastyle breakfast burritos from its owner April Arellano and reporter Nick Puckett show a packed dining room with barely anyone wearing face masks. Unsurprisingly, the incident immediately sparked controversy, provoking a response from Colorado governor Jared Poliss office, articles in national news outlets, and a cesspool of comments supportive and otherwise on social media and Yelp. Sharing the first bit of this video, where you hear me ask the bouncer if its cool to walk in. I did not spy on them, they were glad to have the attention. pic.twitter.com/ma0025MmB0 Nick Puckett (@nick__puckett) May 11, 2020 In a statement, Poliss deputy press secretary Shelby Wieman wrote that restaurants like C&C are are endangering the lives of their staff, customers, and community and called the reopening illegal. The Denver Post reports that C&Cs owner Arellano posted on Facebook about the reopening in a since-deleted post in which wrote that shell go out of business if I dont do something. On Twitter, C&Cs account tagged President Donald Trump, writing we are standing for America, small businesses, the Constitution and against the overreach of our governor in Colorado!! Arellano, in a since-deleted Facebook Live video, reportedly says, so much for some of those people saying nobody would show up. Plenty of people did which could mean the restaurant gets its license revoked and the photos and videos depict customers who appear not to be concerned with social distancing or wearing personal protective equipment. In the video posted by Puckett, one customer gets the reporters attention by waving her hands and cheering at the camera. In fact, according to Puckett, this wasnt a normal Mothers Day: Arellano says she did double her usual business on the holiday. The scene brings to mind the anti-shutdown protests that have happened across the country, which have included a series of alarming (if overblown) incidents. Last week, North Carolina residents brought weapons, including a rocket launcher, into a Subway. Of course, large public gatherings during a pandemic can backfire and rather quickly. Thats what happened in Madison, Wisconsin, where more than 70 people who tested positive for the coronavirus say they were at a protest outside the state Capitol. The Netherlands has been one of the top destinations in the world for a long time now. Although it may be a small country, it is packed with a lot of interesting sights and things to do. It is also the perfect destination for anyone who wishes to further their studies at a top institution. Due to this, it is easy to imagine how high the demand for the Netherlands Visa application form is. Image: pexels.com Source: UGC Is Netherlands Visa easy to get? is one of the most popular Google searches. Getting a visa is not an easy process. However, with the right resources and a useful guide, it can be a walk in the park. Applying for the visa is a straightforward process. The first step is getting the Netherlands visa application form. After getting it, fill it, book an appointment and wait for the results. What are the Netherlands visa types? Your reason for visiting the Netherlands dictates the visa type that you will pick on your Netherlands embassy visa application form. There are several Netherlands visa types that are listed below: Short stay visa Also known as the Schengen visa, this visa is for those who wish to be in the Netherlands for less than 90 days. It is valid for entry to all of the countries in the Schengen state. The countries that you can get into with this visa include the following: Austria Belgium Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta The Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland If you intend to visit more than one country on this list, dont forget to pick the multiple entry option on your visa when applying. When applying for this visa, you will need the Schengen visa application form Netherlands. You can also get the Schengen visa application form online. READ ALSO: UK visa fees in Ghana: 2020 Long stay visa Image: pixabay.com Source: UGC For visits that will last more than 90 days, you should get the long-stay visa plus a residence permit. The long-stay visa is also called the Machtiging tot Voorlopig Verblijf (MVV). This visa lets you enter the country as a resident. Visa facilitation Those travelling together with a family member who is a citizen of one of the Schengen states or the European Union, in general, will require this visa. The advantages of getting this visa are that the processing time is way faster than that of the normal visa, and the application is free. It is also the go-to visa for those travelling to join a family member who is already in the Netherlands. Caribbean visa This visa is required if all of your intended destinations are in the Caribbean parts of the Netherlands. These parts are listed below: Aruba Bonaire Curacao Saba St Eustatius St Maarten The Caribbean carpet program makes applying for this program a lot easier. Airport transit visa This visa, also known as A-visa, is required if you will make a short stop at an airport in the Netherlands or another Schengen country. However, you cannot leave the airport for any reason. Return visa For the internationals living in the Netherlands who wish to travel abroad for an emergency, the return visa allows you to leave the country and come back legally. READ ALSO: Canada visa application Ghana: requirements and fees How do I apply for a Netherlands visa? Image: pexels.com Source: UGC The Netherlands embassy in Ghana uses the services of VFS Global for their services. This is where you can download the Netherlands visa application form Ghana. You can also get the Netherlands visa application form Ghana pdf online. To apply successfully, follow the steps outlined below: Download the application form from the VFS Global website Print and fill the application form Submit it. The form is submitted at the Netherlands visa application centre. First, you book an appointment and then submit the form on that day. You will receive a receipt after your application has been logged into the system. This is proof that the centre has your application. Submit your form in good time as the processing time takes between 15 to 30 days. After submitting your form, you can start tracking your application. You will need the reference number of your application for this. If you opt for the sms service option, you will get automated confirmation feedback messages on your phone. If your visa is accepted, a visa sticker that shows the validity of your visa will be added to your passport. This is why your passport should have at least one blank page. You will get a rejection letter if your visa application is denied. The letter will contain information on whether you are eligible for objection, and if yes, how to apply for it. What is the Netherlands visa application fee The Netherlands visa application fee is required in cash at the Netherlands embassy in Ghana. Application fees for the long-stay visa are not the same as those of the short-stay permit. Also, since the long-stay visa encompasses a lot of other visas, the fee will depend on the purpose of your visit to the Netherlands. The prices for the short-stay visa are the same in all the Schengen states. This is 243 GHS for those between ages 6 and 11, and a regular rate of 487 GHS. Those who fall into the following categories will get a waiver: Kids who are below 6 years Students and teachers accompanying them on a school trip Researchers travelling for research or attending a conference or seminar How do I book an appointment for the Netherlands visa? Image: pixabay.com Source: UGC After you complete filling the application form, you should book an appointment. This is through the following steps: Go to the VFS website Register or log in Complete the Netherlands embassy in Ghana appointment booking form You will then receive a confirmation email which will contain an appointment letter that you should print. When going for your Netherlands visa appointment, show up on time and carry the necessary documents. How long does it take to process a Netherlands visa? In order to be safe and get your visa on time, you should apply three weeks in advance. The processing time is at least two weeks, but it is wise to leave some room for any issues that may arise. The earliest you can send in your application is six months in advance, and the latest is 15 days in advance. Seafarers can send their applications at most nine months in advance. Although the application process is a long one, it is not difficult at all. Also, you can choose whether you want to do it physically or online. The Netherlands is a country that everyone should visit at least once their whole life. The tourist attractions, right living conditions, and the good schools that the country boasts of, are enough reason to get started on the process as soon as possible. The Netherlands is a beautiful country that houses all the best attractions in the world. The attractions include museums, monuments, historic architecture and a beautiful landscape. Get your Netherlands Visa application form today and get started on your journey towards visiting this wonderful country. READ ALSO: Visa Free Countries for Ghana in 2020 (A comprehensive list) READ ALSO: U.S. Embassy suspends activities over COVID-19 pandemic Canada Visa Lottery: How to Apply? German embassy Ghana contact, location, visa application Source: YEN.com.gh Prince Harry took part in a special broadcast on Monday evening in the U.K. to highlight the efforts being made to support injured veterans. Speaking via video link to the BBC's The One Show, he brought together two sets of veterans and their families to mark the moment that WWII ended in Europe 75 years ago. Maggie Wilson, widow of airman Sandy Saunders who received severe burns to his face when he crashed his Tiger Moth plane in the latter part of WWII told Harry how Saunders had been treated by pioneering reconstructive surgeon Archibald McIndoe. She said McIndoe told her late husband, " 'You need new upper eyelids, new lower eyelids. You need a proper nose, I'll give you a mouth so you can kiss the girls!' That's what happened." Harry smiled and said, "That's unbelievable. So when you met him, can I ask, he had a proper nose and good lips for kissing?" She answered, "Oh, definitely good lips for kissing." "I love that," Harry replied. RELATED: Prince Harry Says 'Life Has Changed Dramatically' in Personal Video Message About Invictus Games As the nation was celebrating #VEDay, the Duke of Sussex took part in a special film to commemorate the bravery of veterans in various conflicts.#TheOneShow pic.twitter.com/BqbLnNjaOu BBC The One Show (@BBCTheOneShow) May 11, 2020 Saunders was one of the men who helped form The Guinea Pig Club, which was set up for air force veterans who had been burned in their planes. The Guinea Pig Club were men who became known as "unexpected survivors," and the medical care they received served to bring about treatments for life-changing injuries in the field that are still used today. The name of the club of veterans stems from their willingness to undergo experimental treatments. Also on the call was Andy Perry, who told Harry of another ex-GPC member, his father Jack Perry. Story continues The GPC has inspired a modern-day version, called the CASEVAC Club, for those who were medically evacuated during the Afghanistan War. It was set up by two veterans who are close to Harry: David Wiseman and Dave Henson, who also joined the call. Wiseman told The One Show, "There are guys from the CASEVAC Club who are walking around today, [and] it's only thanks to advances in battlefield medicine that they survived their injuries. Again, offering our bodies up...we can help advance understanding about traumatic injury and help people in the future." Harry said, "It's so important to remember the Guinea Pig Club and to look forward to everything that the CASEVA Club is going to achieve as well. Those individuals that signed up, chose to serve and then had life-changing injuries, they don't stop there. That's why it's incredibly impressive and yet at the same time so incredibly uplifting." Cant get enough of PEOPLEs Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! Harry was asked by the BBC show to highlight a veterans' cause to mark the VE Day anniversary. This week, Harry would have been in The Netherlands at the Invictus Games, his Paralympic-style contest for wounded, injured and service members. However, it was canceled due to the coronavirus crisis. The Duke of Sussex called the show from his home in Los Angeles, where he is isolating along with wife Meghan Markle and son Archie, who turned 1 last week. On Friday, Harry's grandmother Queen Elizabeth led the U.K. in commemorating the anniversary of the end of WWII, saying, "Today it may seem hard that we cannot mark this special anniversary as we would wish," she said. "Instead, we remember from our homes and our doorsteps. But our streets are not empty; they are filled with the love and the care that we have for each other." The monarch, 94, continued, "When I look at our country today and see what we are willing to do to protect and support one another, I say with pride that we are still a nation those brave soldiers, sailors and airmen would recognize and admire." Watch the latest episode from Yahoo UK's The Royal Story New Delhi: Kalikho Pul, who has been found dead under mysterious circumstances, was the 8th Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh. Born on 20 July 1969, he was State Finance Minister in the ministry of Chief Minister Gegong Apang from 2003 until 2007. He was appointed as the acting Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh on February 19, 2016. His Government received support from Bharatiya Janata Party, until it was dismissed by Court on July 2016. His body has been found hanging at his residence in Itanagar on August 9, 2016. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. The Founder of the Roberta Okyere Darko (ROD) Foundation, a non governmental organisation, Mrs Roberta Okyere-Darko has implored parents, particularly mothers to be concerned about the materials their children learn on the internet during this COVID-19 pandemic. According to her, mothers had a greater responsibility during this time that children are home instead of being at the school due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She explained that although many parents are helping their children to study on the internet by providing them with the needed logistics such as tablets, phones, computers and internet services, parents must also be extra careful about the things their children study. Mothers Day Mrs Okyere-Darko gave the advice during a panel discussion session organised by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in collaboration with the Ministry of Information in Accra today [Monday, May 11, 2020] to mark this years Mothers Day celebration. The panel discussion, which was moderated by Mrs Selikem Acolatse, the host of the Womens Voice show on Ghana Television (GTV), was on the theme: The role of mothers in the face of COVID-19 pandemic. Mrs Selikem Acolatse (left) moderating the panel discussion. The members are Mrs Mercy Mainoo of NETRIGHT (middle) and Mrs Roberta Okyere-Darko The programme was organised to celebrate Ghanaian mothers for their various contributions to the socio-economic development of the country. The Mothers Day was celebrated yesterday, Sunday, May 10, 2020 across the globe. It is a day set aside to celebrate mothers, motherhood, maternal bonds and the influence of mothers in society. Changing lifestyle Mrs Okyere-Darko noted that the coronavirus pandemic had brought additional responsibilities on parents, particularly mothers and that it was about time mothers braced themselves for the occasion. Mothers, this is the time we have to be strong and be hardworking, she said, adding This is the time parents must find time to cook in the house. She said because of the risks associated with the COVID-19, mothers must discouraged their children from eating on the streets. This is the time the children must eat good food to boost their immune system, Mrs Okyere-Darko stated. Contributing to the discussion, Mrs Mercy Mainoo of NETRIGHT, said As a mother, you have a responsibility to supervise what your children are learning on the internet. She said mothers must adjust their lifestyles to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, pointing out that the impact of the COVID-19 had altered the way of life of many parents around the world, including those in Ghana. She was of the view that since children as well as their parents are not used to this type of lifestyle, parents must endeavor to explain to their children what is happening in the country. Mrs Mainoo noted that explaining the current circumstances to the children would help them to appreciate the situation and to cooperate with their parents on certain protocols. We need to be adventurous this time as mothers, she said, noting that parents could also use the COVID-19 pandemic to teach their children some life skills such as cooking. Mothers of with special needs children For her part, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mrs Cynthia Mamle Morrison, commended Ghanaian women for their contributions to the development of the country. She said Ghanaian women, particularly those with children with special needs such as autism and cerebral palsy must be praised for their resilience. She said many Ghanaian women, in spite, of the numerous challenges they face still manage to cater for their children. Mrs Morrison also praised men for their support for women and their children, saying that some men are playing the role of mothers. The Deputy Minister of Information, Pius Enam Hadzide, said the Akufo-Addo-led government was very particular about the welfare of Ghanaian women and would continue to introduce women-sensitive programmes and interventions to lessen the plight of Ghanaian women. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Manlius, N.Y. After just a few months in business most of it in a coronavirus-enforced takeout-only model Circa Ce Soir restaurant in Manlius has decided to close. Owners Alicyn Hart and Marco Locicero announced the closing of the restaurant on Route 92 in Manlius in a Facebook post this afternoon. They did not give a reason, and could not be reached for comment. Circa Ce Coir was Harts follow-up to the original Circa on Route 20 in Cazenovia. She opened that in 2006 as one of the first farm-to-table restaurants in Central New York. Hart, who battled cancer while running the original Circa, closed it in 2014. She then cooked at various places around Central New York, including the Toggenburg ski resort in Fabius, the Scotch 'n Sirloin in DeWitt and Heritage Hill Brewhouse in Pompey. Heritage Hill is where she met Locicero, and they decided to create a version of Circa in Manlius. Like its predecessor, Circa Ce Soir featured a changing daily menu written on a chalkboard, and used ingredients sourced from local farms and food purveyors. Those included Local Roots Farm in Cazenovia, Common Thread Community Farm in Madison, Satur Farms on Long Island and Lucky Moon Farm in Cazenovia among its food sources. Fried egg sandwiches on a homemade challah roll, with or without Serrano ham or smoked gouda from Jakes Gouda Cheese in Oneida County, was a daily staple. Soups, sandwiches and salad/grain bowls changed daily. Circa Ce Soir was located in a plaza at 8240 Cazenovia Road (Route 92), near Enders Road. The Facebook post said Hart hopes to relocate to a new spot soon, while Locicero will attempt to find a new use for the location. The coronavirus pandemic has been hard on restaurants, which have been forced to close their dining rooms and opt for takeout-only since mid-March. Circa Ce Soir, just a two-person operation, did takeout business even before the pandemic, with the "green' philosophy of asking diners to bring their own carry-out containers. It opened with just one long, communal dining table, which offered a view of the kitchen. MORE FOOD NEWS Hidden Gems of CNY: An old trailer offers Dominican flavor in a vacant parking lot Confidence amid the coronavirus: New restaurant opens in Baldwinsville Updated CNY restaurant takeout list Staff writer Jacob Pucci contributed to this report. Don Cazentre writes about food, beverages, restaurants and bars for syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact him by email, on Twitter, at Google+ or via Facebook. Carolina Vasquez lost track of days and nights, unable to see the sunlight while stuck for two weeks in a windowless cruise ship cabin as a fever took hold of her body. On the worst night of her encounter with COVID-19, the Chilean woman, a line cook on the Greg Mortimer ship, summoned the strength to take a cold shower fearing the worst: losing consciousness while isolated from others. Vasquez, 36, and tens of thousands of other crew members have been trapped for weeks aboard dozens of cruise ships around the world _ long after governments and cruise lines negotiated their passengers disembarkation. Some have gotten ill and died; others have survived but are no longer getting paid. Both national and local governments have stopped crews from disembarking in order to prevent new cases of COVID-19 in their territories. Some of the ships, including 20 in U.S. waters, have seen infections and deaths among the crew. But most ships have had no confirmed cases. I never thought this would turn into a tragic and terrifying horror story, Vasquez told The Associated Press in an interview through a cellphone app from the Greg Mortimer, an Antarctic cruise ship floating off Uruguay. Thirty-six crew members have fallen ill on the ship. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last month that about 80,000 crew members remained on board ships off the U.S. coast after most passengers had disembarked. The Coast Guard said Friday that there were still 70,000 crew members in 102 ships either anchored near or at U.S. ports or underway in U.S. waters. The total number of crew members stranded worldwide was not immediately available. But thousands more are trapped on ships outside the U.S., including in Uruguay and the Manila Bay, where 16 cruise ships are waiting to test about 5,000 crew members before they will be allowed to disembark. Conditions for Disembarking As coronavirus cases and deaths have risen worldwide, the CDC and health officials in other countries have expanded the list of conditions that must be met before crews may disembark. Cruise companies must take each crew member straight home via charter plane or private car without using rental vehicles or taxis. Complicating that mission, the CDC requires company executives to agree to criminal penalties if crew members fail to obey health authorities orders to steer clear of public transportation and restaurants on their way home. The criminal penalties gave us (and our lawyers) pause, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley wrote in a letter to crew members earlier this week, but he added that company executives ultimately agreed to sign. Melinda Mann, 25, a youth program manager for Holland America, spent more than 50 days without stepping on dry land before finally disembarking from the Koningsdam ship Friday in Los Angeles. Before she was transferred to the Koningsdam, she tried to walk off another ship with other U.S. crew members last week but the ships security guards stopped them. For 21 hours a day, Mann remained isolated in a 150-square-foot (14-square- meter) cruise cabin that is smaller than her bedroom in her Midland, Georgia, home. She read 30 books and was only able to leave her room three times a day to walk around the ship. Her contract ended April 18, so she was not paid for weeks. Keeping me in close captivity for so long is absolutely ridiculous, Mann said in a telephone interview. Earlier this week in Nassau, Bahamas, crew members from Canada aboard the Emerald Princess were told to prepare to be flown home in a charter plane. But the Bahamian government did not allow the ship to dock in the end. Leah Prasads husband is among the stranded crew members. Prasad said she has spent hours tracking down government agencies to help her husband, a Maitre DHotel for Carnival. He is getting discouraged. He is stuck in a cabin, Prasad said. It is not good for his mental health. Angela Savard, a spokeswoman for Canadas foreign affairs, said the government was continuing to explore options to bring Canadians home. For those aboard the Greg Mortimer in Montevideo, desperation is setting in, crew members told the AP. The Antarctic cruise set sail from Argentina on March 15, after a pandemic had already been declared. The ships physician, Dr. Mauricio Usme, said that when the first passenger fell ill, on March 22, he was pressured by the captain, the cruise operator and owners to modify the health conditions that had to be met for the ship to be admitted into ports. Dr. Usme refused. The boat anchored in the port of Montevideo on March 27. More than half of its passengers and crew tested positive for COVID-19. Finally, on April 10, 127 passengers, including some who were infected, were allowed to disembark and fly home to Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., Canada and Europe. Crew members were told to stay on board. The doctor was hospitalized in an intensive care unit in Montevideo, along with a Filipino crew member, who later died. People are exhausted and mentally drained, said Dr. Usme, now recovered and back on the Greg Mortimer. Its a complex situation. You feel very vulnerable and at imminent risk of death. CMI, the Miami-based company that manages the boat, said it has been unable to get the necessary permissions to let crew members of 22 nationalities go home, but said they were all still under contract receiving pay. Marvin Paz Medina, a Honduran man who works as the ships storekeeper, sent a video to the AP of his tiny cabin of about 70 square feet (6.5 square meters), where he has been confined for more than 35 days. Its hard being locked up all day, staring at the same four walls, he said. Paz Medina says his children keep asking him when hes coming home, but he doesnt have an answer. We are trapped, feeling this anxiety that at any moment we can get seriously ill, said Paz Medina. We do not want this anymore. We want to go home. Garat reported from Montevideo, Uruguay. Associated Press writers Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit, and Rob Gillies in Toronto, contributed to this report. Photo: In this May 8, 2020 photo, people aboard the Norwegian Epic cruise ship docked at PortMiami in Miami, sit on their balconies. Tens of thousands of crew members, including U.S. citizens, remain confined to cabins aboard cruise ships, weeks after governments and companies negotiated disembarkation for passengers in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Most crew members are stuck in ships with no confirmed cases but are rejected by governments because of new rules to avoid importing more virus cases. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics USA Canada Monday, May 11, 2020 Using AI in a variety of ways, Stevie-winner ThatWare LLP is optimizing digital marketing and improving customer experience. Digital marketing is part of todays landscape, and it's getting smarter by the minute. Smart devices abound. Consumers can ask chatbots all their questions, and artificial intelligence (AI) seems to permeate every corner of peoples lives. AI allows machines to learn from input over time and adjust their output accordingly, and thats why its so valuable to businesses. By understanding consumers preferences and delivering personalized content, AI provides an improved customer experience, which is invaluable in digital marketing efforts. With its ever-advancing tactics to cut out the human middleman when identifying marketing trends, AI is changing the digital landscape. Brands can leverage AI to automate their digital marketing and to save both time and money. The substantial advantages of AI technology are providing brands with the edge that gets them noticed in a competitive space. Understanding Your Audience AI can work to analyze data and to build a comprehensive picture of your target customers preferences. Once you have defined your customer personas, you can use AI to map their buying behaviors and to track their eventual purchasing decisions. As a marketer, you can use this intelligence to put products in front of your audience that they need, which makes purchasing decisions easy for them. A marketing strategy can evolve quickly and effectively with AI-driven analytics. Tuhin Banik, the founder of digital marketing company ThatWare LLP, aims to positively disrupt the system and to improve customer experience by using AI in a range of ways, including semantic engineering, natural language processing (NLP), and predictive analysis. Productivity The use of smart technology can help increase your productivity by allowing you to automate processes. You can outsource repetitive, time-consuming tasks and instead concentrate on strategizing and creating effective content. AI enables you to optimize the way you interact with your audience, and as AI continues to improve, the way your brand attracts new customers and keeps existing customers engaged to increase sales will continuously transform. Optimized Advertising Your product or service has to reach the right audience to be successful, and with the increasing intelligence of AI, its simpler than ever to pinpoint your ideal customer. You can use AI to collect user information, to analyze that data, and then to predict what the customer will do or need in the future. This means digital marketers can target ads to match user data. You can be creative with AI too. For example, Topshop, a British high-street clothing brand, created an immersive AI experience in Moscow, Russia. Customers could download a catalog app and then use the in-store smart screens to virtually try on outfits. This innovation not only created buzz around a product, but it also allowed the brand to gather data that fed back into their AI marketing systems. Using that data, they could create even more focused campaigns in the future. Customer Experience AI technology allows brands to deliver an enhanced customer experience and to make their digital marketing strategies even more successful. You can use AI to track customer preferences and buying behaviors and then leverage these insights to make further suggestions. Digital marketing specialists are focusing on using developing technologies to advance their field in the future. In recognition of this commitment to driving faster results in digital marketing using AI, THATWARE LLP, of West Bengal, India, was presented with a Bronze Stevie Award in the Startup of the Year - Business Services Industries category at The 2019 International Business Awards. Interested in entering The International Business Awards? A UK influencer has been busted flouting the countrys strict coronavirus lockdown rules by offering appointments for lip fillers to clients. Stephanie Scolaro, a Rich Kid of Instagram, was advertising Covid glam packages online - including lip fillers - for her spa in West London. Stephanie Scolaro has been busted ignoring lockdown rules. Photo: Instagram Current restrictions in the UK dont allow for any beauty services to operate, meaning her spa LA Beauty Dolls, should remain closed. The millionaire heiress was busted when she offered two appointments for lip fillers to an undercover reporter from the Mirror. The publication quoted Stephanie as saying: This has seriously stressed me out. This has basically ruined my day, after being busted. Stephanie Scolaro claims it was a misunderstanding. Photo: Instagram However a spokesperson for the 27-year-old issued a statement claiming the situation was a simple misunderstanding. Stephanie apologises unreservedly for agreeing to an appointment, but was just assuming Boris Johnson was going to announce the easing of restrictions on Sunday, the spokesperson said. Stephanie is the daughter of Italian mining tycoon Francesco Scolaro. Her mother is British but the family also have homes in Monaco, Ibiza and New York. She already made headlines once before back in 2019. The influencer at the time avoided jail after importing almost $34,000 worth of endangered snakeskin accessories into the UK. In Australia, hairdressers have remained open throughout the social distancing restrictions. But other beauty services such as tanning and waxing will likely not reopen until stage two of the Prime Ministers plan announced last week. Got a story tip or just want to get in touch? Email us at lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com. Recently in Sacramento, police appear to have solved a 40-year-old cold case. Based partly on DNA evidence, a black man now 71 years old has been charged in the brutal rape and murder of Robin Brooks. Like Robin Brooks, each year, some 500 whites are murdered by blacks in the USA. But the Brooks case never generated national media outrage, nor has any of the other cases where whites were murdered by blacks. Meanwhile, instances of white-on-black killing, such as that of Ahmaud Arbery, automatically draw scrutiny and spur protests. Its easy to get the impression that most interracial murders are committed by whites. Donald Trump attempted to correct that impression in 2015 when he tweeted that 81% of whites murdered were killed by blacks. The Poynter Institute's PolitiFact soon "corrected" Trump's tweet by publishing FBI statistics showing that "only" 15% of whites are killed by blacks, while 8% of blacks are killed by whites. These raw numbers, however, are not adjusted for population. Adjusting for the relative number of whites and blacks in the U.S. population (white population at roughly six times that of black) would show that individual blacks are some 12 times more likely to kill a white person as the other way around. That number does not appear in any liberal post. As usual, US News & World Report is a good place to search for accurate information. In a Sept. 26, 2016 article (during the presidency of Barack Obama, who promised to make America "racially neutral"), US News noted that the number of interracial homicides had been growing rapidly. Using 2015 data, numbers showed "500 killings of white people attributed to blacks" in a year when 229 blacks were killed by whites. In addition to these numbers, each year, there are many black-on-white murders that are never solved and thousands of serious assaults that are never reported. Still, as US News points out, only about 12% of homicides overall are interracial. What this figure masks, however, is the especially brutal nature of many interracial killings. The horrific rape-torture-murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom in January 2007 failed to make the national news despite the unspeakable violence involved. During the many hours that Christian and Newsom were held, they were repeatedly raped, sodomized, and tortured by a gang of five blacks. Channon Christian was beaten until she was brain-damaged, had Lysol poured down her throat, and was then wrapped in plastic bags and left to suffocate slowly, her body thrown in a trash bin. Newsom was shot, his body rolled in a rug and set alight. Had the victims been black, it seems likely that federal hate crime charges would have been brought. The national media would have been all over the case, and national black leaders would have been on the scene. Knoxville, where the crimes took place, would have been the scene of some of the most incendiary protests in modern history yet there was only silence. The murders and the long, excruciating trial and retrial that followed were not even mentioned in the mainstream media. Even now, to speak of these and similar crimes is to invite the charge of racism, as if simply speaking the truth were somehow wrong. Clearly, a completely biased double standard exists in the way interracial crimes are reported. When blacks are killed by whites, even in the case of police officers defending themselves against violent assailants, there is often talk of a racial "hate crime." Protestors march carrying signs of "Black Lives Matter." Certainly, black lives do matter, and they matter enormously, but one should not be protesting when the object of these protests was defending himself against a violent assailant. Often, those leading the Black Lives Matter protests are silent when whites are killed by blacks. So also, all too often, are federal authorities, including Vice President Biden. During the eight years in which Biden was V.P., some 4,000 whites were murdered by blacks, many of them, like Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, in a sickening manner. Yet so far as I can determine, Biden has never supported federal hate crime charges against any black assailant. There is no way to prevent most of these crimes, but it would help if politicians and other public figures would stop playing the race card every time a case arises. Among those on the national scene, former V.P. Biden appears to be one of the most culpable in this respect. Telling blacks that whites want them "back in chains" is not the pathway to racial tranquility. Stating that President Trump has a connection with "the Ku Klux Klans and the rest of them," as Biden did in January, does not bring America together. Similarly, announcing that he will have a woman, preferably one "of color," on his ticket in other words, excluding most candidates solely on the basis of their race and sex does not portend a race- and sex-neutral presidency. Unfortunately, the killing will continue, and blacks will continue to kill whites as well as other blacks at several times the national average. What can we do? For one thing, be vigilant. Be observant of your surroundings, and avoid dangerous situations. One cannot easily change the mindset of an underclass of Americans, both black and white, who are willing to kill for a few dollars or to kill out of a twisted sense of pleasure in violence or racial revenge. I pray that eventually the violence will end, but that's not likely for decades if not centuries. I feel compassion for the hundreds of thousands of victims of violence, interracial or otherwise. If there is one step that can be taken now toward improving the situation, it is to face the facts honestly. It doesn't help to pretend that blacks are the sole victims of interracial violence; they are the perpetrators as well, and to a disproportionate extent. Candidate Trump told the truth, though he may have been much mistaken on his numbers. V.P. Biden, so far as I can determine, has never spoken frankly about black-on-white crime. It is time for him and the national media to do so, and so begin a process of national reconciliation based on an honest acknowledgement of the facts. Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture including Heartland of the Imagination (2011). Meeting the overwhelming demand for a successful coronavirus vaccine will require a historic amount of coordination by scientists, drugmakers and the government. The nations supply chain isnt anywhere close to ready for such an effort. The nation is already grappling with a shortage of the specialized glass used to make the vials that will store any vaccine. Producing and distributing hundreds of millions of vaccine doses will also require huge quantities of stoppers which are made by just a handful of companies as well as needles and refrigeration units. Low stocks of any one of these components could slow future vaccination efforts, much as shortfalls of key chemicals delayed widespread coronavirus testing. A massive manufacturing effort is already gearing up to produce hundreds of millions of doses of promising vaccines now in late-stage trials, as scientists and the government gamble that at least one of the shots will prove safe and effective. The effort could rival the urgent national campaign to vaccinate children against polio in the 1950s. Probably the biggest challenge will be scaling up the actual vaccine. Its one thing to have clinical trial samples and materials in lab quantities, said George Zorich, a pharmacy expert and CEO of ZEDPharma. Its another challenge actually scaling that up effectively. Potentially making it even harder is that the U.S. is striking out on its own. The administration has snubbed an international collaboration spearheaded by the World Health Organization, while the president readies for a November election that could be a referendum on his coronavirus response. The government is already trying to avoid the costly pitfalls that have hindered the development of vaccines for emerging threats like the Zika and Ebola viruses. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, alluded to those challenges during a talk in February. Major drugmakers have been burned in the past, he said, when they have raced to develop vaccines for crises like Ebola outbreaks and have spent millions to expand manufacturing without ever seeing their products used. Story continues You invest hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to scale up on something that you hope might work. Thats the real glitch there, Fauci said. It is going to be a challenge to get a major company to do that. This time around, the government has given nearly a billion dollars to two experimental vaccines that are hurtling through human trials. Some of the funding will support the manufacture of doses of both vaccines, in the hopes that at least one will pan out. Moderna Therapeutics, a Boston biotech company working with the National Institutes of Health on a completely new vaccine technology, has received $430.2 million in federal funds. The company said last week that it could begin phase three trials the final, monthslong stage of vaccine development by early summer. And the government gave $456.2 million to Johnson & Johnson for its experimental vaccine. There are a lot of resources needed, from the early stages, the pre-clinical and clinical trials, to the moment it gets injected into peoples arms, said Howard Sklamberg, a former FDA official and attorney now at Arnold & Porter. Just creating a successful vaccine within the year would be an unprecedented achievement, since the record for developing a vaccine is four years. On top of that, while vaccines have been developed for a range of other viruses, there has never been a coronavirus vaccine. HHS has assembled an initiative under the name Project Warp Speed to accelerate vaccine development. Spearheaded by the experienced director of FDAs vaccine unit, Peter Marks, the project nonetheless could face hurdles. Speeding up the vaccine timeline means taking shortcuts. Some, such as letting vaccine makers forgo certain animal studies or do them in parallel with early human trials, are already underway. The government could also issue an emergency use authorization for a promising vaccine before its completed all the typical review steps, just as its done for some coronavirus tests and drugs. Health officials are still wary of promising too much. At a Thursday Senate hearing on the pandemic, Gary Disbrow acting director of the governments vaccine funding unit, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority resisted Sen. Mitt Romneys (R-Utah) repeated questions about whether achieving a vaccine this year was reasonable. Im not a betting person, but if we dont set lofty goals we wont achieve those goals, said Disbrow, who took the role just weeks ago after his predecessor Rick Bright was abruptly ousted. Marks hopes to have a vaccine ready in nine months, he said last week at an Axios event. What could make that possible is really taking away dead space in the development process and taking risks that one normally would not take, he said, referring to massive manufacturing expansions while vaccines are still in phase three trials. The thing that is very important with vaccines is FDA has to be very sure that they are safe and effective. Unlike with drugs, youre administering them to healthy people, Sklamberg said. So FDA is not going to cut corners and say, Were not sure of the safety of this one but were going to give it a ride. Then there are the supplies needed to package and distribute the vaccine itself. Each dose requires a vial, stopper, cap and packaging that keeps it stable through shipping. While the glass used for vials does not affect the vaccine, the stoppers are tricky: Manufacturers have to choose the right material, usually rubber or latex, that will not interact with the sensitive chemicals inside the vial. And in both cases, vials and stoppers, a vaccine manufacturer cannot just switch to a slightly different product or another brand. They typically have to run manufacturing changes by FDA first, which could make quick supplier changes to curb shortages a difficult prospect. The FDA can decide how flexible it will be about this type of change, says Sklamberg. The agency said in a December 2017 draft guidance that companies could note some changes in their annual reports rather than waiting for approval, but it has not finalized the policy. The ability to switch products could be crucial as the entire world readies for a possible vaccine and vies to secure their supplies. The stopper business is not a very crowded field. A Pennsylvania company called West Pharmaceutical Services is one of the dominant players, churning out millions of products a day at 25 sites worldwide. Another major producer, Schott, is based in Germany. Both companies also make glass vials, a market with a bit more competition both in the U.S. and globally India is a major producer, said Zorich. But a medical glass shortage was already setting in before the Covid-19 pandemic emerged this year because of sand shortages in the U.S., Evercore analyst Vijay Kumar wrote in an investor note. Desert sand is too smooth to use, necessitating angular sand from river beds and mining that has been difficult to procure because of environmental laws and restrictions, he wrote. Glass shortages are already on the U.S. government's radar, according to ousted Brights 60-plus page whistleblower complaint against the administration. Bright alleges he warned of a looming global shortage of glass vials but administration officials did not heed his advice. He wrote that major glass producers have warned that a particular material, borosilicate tubing, is sold out and it could take up to two years to meet the U.S. vaccine need alone. Some manufacturers are already preparing for this potential crunch: Moderna is exploring both single-use vials and those that can hold multiple vaccine doses, according to its regulatory filings. Neither Moderna nor Johnson & Johnson immediately responded to requests for comment. A shortage of vials could interfere not just with the availability of a coronavirus vaccine but a range of other medicines, including sedatives and other drugs administered in hospitals. Government efforts to avert shortages would have to begin soon if they involve enlisting more manufacturers. Not all glass is the same, said Sklamberg. A manufacturer making champagne glasses cant just switch to making medical vials. The coming manufacturing push for vaccines and related supplies could eclipse the scramble for masks, ventilators and tests. We have the capacity to do this," Sklamberg said. "Its just a lot of moving parts, organization and resources." The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported there were 57,154 confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus in all 67 counties as of 12 p.m., May 11, 2020. There are at least 3,731 reported deaths from the virus. Click the image to see a data page including an interactive maps for the state. (Please click the link in the previous sentence if you cant see the image) Click here for a ZIP code breakdown of cases provided by the Pa. Department of Health. Of these cases, 11,801 cases are among residents in 540 of the states nursing and personal care homes. At least 2,552 residents have died from the virus. A map of cases in Pennsylvanias nursing and personal care homes is below. Please click here if you cannot see that map. The state is also providing detailed hospital and respirator data here for desktop users and here for mobile users. PennLive is monitoring the new cases over a two-week period, part of the Wolf administrations criteria for reopening the state. A map and a database for these are below. If you cannot see either embed, please click here for the map and here for the database. Below is a map of the current reopening status of Pennsylvania counties. Please click here if you cannot see that map. Adams County 167 positive cases and 1,881 negative results with 5 deaths. 23 cases are among residents and 4 cases are among employees at 3 nursing home and personal care facilities. 4 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Allegheny County 1,511 positive cases and 19,699 negative results with 123 deaths. 350 cases are among residents and 103 cases are among employees at 36 nursing home and personal care facilities. 94 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Armstrong County 55 positive cases and 843 negative results with 5 deaths. 5 cases are among residents and 6 cases are among employees at 1 nursing home and personal care facility. 3 of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Beaver County 491 positive cases and 2,503 negative results with 78 deaths. 324 cases are among residents and 23 cases are among employees at 3 nursing home and personal care facilities. 71 of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Bedford County 29 positive cases and 344 negative results with 1 death. Berks County 3,417 positive cases and 7,495 negative results with 171 deaths. 677 cases are among residents and 85 cases are among employees at 24 nursing home and personal care facilities. 114 of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Blair County 29 positive cases and 1,475 negative results. Bradford County 38 positive cases and 905 negative results with 2 deaths. Bucks County 4,028 positive cases and 11,452 negative results with 349 deaths. 1,249 cases are among residents and 275 cases are among employees at 51 nursing home and personal care facilities. 284 of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Butler County 195 positive cases and 2,748 negative results with 6 deaths. 13 cases are among residents and 10 cases are among employees at 6 nursing home and personal care facilities. 2 of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Cambria County 44 positive cases and 1,929 negative results with 1 death. 1 case is among residents at 1 nursing home and personal care facility. Nine of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Cameron County 2 positive cases and 80 negative results. Carbon County 198 positive cases and 1,388 negative results with 17 deaths. 53 cases are among residents and 5 cases are among employees at 2 nursing home and personal care facilities. 12 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Centre County 119 positive cases and 1,262 negative results with 2 deaths. 13 cases are among residents and 6 cases are among employees at 3 nursing home and personal care facilities. 1 of the countys deaths was in those facilities. Chester County 1,884 positive cases and 7,079 negative results with 187 deaths. 615 cases are among residents and 89 cases are among employees at 38 nursing home and personal care facilities. 162 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Clarion County 23 positive cases and 554 negative results with 1 death. 1 case is among residents and 1 case is among employees at 1 nursing home and personal care facility. None of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Clearfield County 25 positive cases and 639 negative results. 2 cases are among residents at 2 nursing home and personal care facilities. Clinton County 41 positive cases and 351 negative results. Columbia County 328 positive cases and 859 negative results with 28 deaths. 92 cases are among residents and 31 cases are among employees at 5 nursing home and personal care facilities. 24 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Crawford County 21 positive cases and 766 negative results. Cumberland County 451 positive cases and 2,312 negative results with 33 deaths. 218 cases are among residents and 54 cases are among employees at 8 nursing home and personal care facilities. 32 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Dauphin County 830 positive cases and 4,938 negative results with 36 deaths. 189 cases are among residents and 39 cases are among employees at 3 nursing home and personal care facilities. 24 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Delaware County 5,046 positive cases and 12,182 negative results with 399 deaths. 1,401 cases are among residents and 210 cases are among employees at 40 nursing home and personal care facilities. 320 of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Elk County 5 positive cases and 221 negative results with 1 death. Erie County 123 positive cases and 2,680 negative results with 2 deaths. 3 cases are among residents and 2 cases are among employees at 4 nursing home and personal care facilities. None of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Fayette County 85 positive cases and 2,221 negative results with 4 deaths. 3 cases are among residents at 1 nursing home and personal care facility. One of the countys deaths was in those facilities. Forest County 7 positive cases and 39 negative results. Franklin County 513 positive cases and 3,673 negative results with 12 deaths. 70 cases are among residents and 10 cases are among employees at 6 nursing home and personal care facilities. 4 of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Fulton County 8 positive cases and 134 negative results. Greene County 27 positive cases and 522 negative results with 1 death. Huntingdon County 187 positive cases and 472 negative results. No cases are among residents and 1 case is among employees at 1 nursing home and personal care facility. Indiana County 76 positive cases and 898 negative results with 5 deaths. 13 cases are among residents and 2 cases are among employees at 4 nursing home and personal care facilities. 4 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Jefferson County 7 positive cases and 381 negative results. Juniata County 93 positive cases and 212 negative results with 1 death. Lackawanna County 1,187 positive cases and 3,488 negative results with 117 deaths. 504 cases are among residents and 83 cases are among employees at 15 nursing home and personal care facilities. 101 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Lancaster County 2,256 positive cases and 9,887 negative results with 168 deaths. 525 cases are among residents and 139 cases are among employees at 31 nursing home and personal care facilities. 145 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Lawrence County 70 positive cases and 912 negative results with 7 deaths. 0 cases are among residents and 2 cases are among employees at 2 nursing home and personal care facilities. None of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Lebanon County 815 positive cases and 3,250 negative results with 16 deaths. 67 cases are among residents and 12 cases are among employees at 4 nursing home and personal care facilities. 10 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Lehigh County 3,259 positive cases and 9,092 negative results with 121 deaths. 540 cases are among residents and 101 cases are among employees at 26 nursing home and personal care facilities. 88 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Luzerne County 2,426 positive cases and 6,578 negative results with 112 deaths. 379 cases are among residents and 56 cases are among employees at 19 nursing home and personal care facilities. 82 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Lycoming County 132 positive cases and 1,424 negative results with 4 deaths. 65 cases are among residents and 10 cases are among employees at 2 nursing home and personal care facilities. 4 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. McKean County 6 positive cases and 248 negative results with 1 death. Mercer County 75 positive cases and 948 negative results with 2 deaths. 1 case is among residents at 1 nursing home and personal care facility. None of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Mifflin County 52 positive cases and 857 negative results. 1 case is among residents and 1 cases is among employees at 2 nursing home and personal care facilities. Monroe County 1,224 positive cases and 3,492 negative results with 64 deaths. 133 cases are among residents and 28 cases are among employees at 8 nursing home and personal care facilities. 28 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Montgomery County 5,292 positive cases and 21,559 negative results with 525 deaths. 1,885 cases are among residents and 61 cases are among employees at 83 nursing home and personal care facilities. 436 of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Montour County 49 positive cases and 2,989 negative results. Northampton County 2,465 positive cases and 8,117 negative results with 160 deaths. 574 cases are among residents and 130 cases are among employees at 16 nursing home and personal care facilities. 101 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Northumberland County 125 positive cases and 861 negative results. 1 case is among residents at 1 nursing home and personal care facility. Perry County 35 positive cases and 372 negative results with 1 death. Philadelphia County 15,008 positive cases and 36,695 negative results with 857 deaths. 1,542 cases are among residents and 8 cases are among employees at 53 nursing home and personal care facilities. 349 of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Pike County 433 positive cases and 1,496 negative results with 21 deaths. 30 cases are among residents and 4 cases are among employees at 2 nursing home and personal care facilities. 8 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Potter County 4 positive cases and 101 negative results. Schuylkill County 117 positive cases and 645 negative results with 5 deaths. 44 cases are among residents and 1 1 cases are among employees at 9 nursing home and personal care facilities. 2 of the countys deaths were in those facilities. Snyder County 33 positive cases and 267 negative results with 1 death. Somerset County 32 positive cases and 908 negative results with 1 death. Sullivan County 1 positive cases and 54 negative results. Susquehanna County 81 positive cases and 413 negative results with 13 deaths. 42 cases are among residents and 15 cases are among employees at 3 nursing home and personal care facilities. 13 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Tioga County 16 positive cases and 348 negative results with 1 death. Union County 41 positive cases and 670 negative results with 1 death. No cases are among residents and 1 case is among employees at 1 nursing home and personal care facility. None of the countys deaths were in that facility. Venango County 7 positive cases and 302 negative results. Warren County 1 positive cases and 216 negative results. Washington County 124 positive cases and 2,719 negative results with 4 deaths. 6 cases are among residents and 2 cases are among employees at 3 nursing home and personal care facilities. 1 of the countys deaths was in those facilities. Wayne County 117 positive cases and 645 negative results with 5 deaths. No cases are among residents and 1 case is among employees at 1 nursing home and personal care facility. None of the countys deaths were in that facility. Westmoreland County 418 positive cases and 5,946 negative results with 30 deaths. 136 cases are among residents and 31 cases are among employees at 9 nursing home and personal care facilities. 27 of the county's deaths were in those facilities. Wyoming County 30 positive cases and 256 negative results with 3 deaths. York County 784 positive cases and 8,781 negative results with 13 deaths. 11 cases are among residents and 3 cases are among employees at 6 nursing home and personal care facilities. 1 of the countys deaths was in those facilities. This data is compiled from the Pa. Department of Health. The state will not be providing recovery data at this time. Several counties have released their own data maps. Information reported at the county level may not be consistent with the state numbers. Those counties include: Some medical systems have begun releasing discharge data. Those medical systems include: Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. Police in Oklahoma have released body camera video showing what appears to be shots fired by a murder suspect during a foot chase through a residential neighborhood at night, which ended with officers killing the wanted man. According to a press release from the Muskogee Police Department, 21-year-old Demontre Bruner was fatally shot in the early hours of May 4 during an attempt to take him into custody in connection to a homicide that took the life of 19-year-old James Hendricks in Tulsa last Sunday. Deputy Chief Chad Farmer referred to Bruner firing at police as 'an ambush shooting.' Police stated that at around 12.25am on May 4, they received an anonymous tip saying that Bruner was hiding out in Muskogee. The Muskogee Police Department in Oklahoma has released body camera footage showing a search for a homicide suspect that ended with a deadly officer-involved shooting This screenshot shows what police say was the muzzle flash of suspect Demontre Bruner's gun when he allegedly opened fire on the pursuing officers on May 4 Officers returned fire, shooting the wanted man in the head and limbs as he hid in the dark An hour later, officers and K-9 units arrived outside a home at 13th Street and Fremont Avenue, and saw two people standing on the porch. One of the men was apprehended at once, and the other, later identified as Bruner, took off running, sparking a chase on foot through residents' yards. Bruner, 21, was fatally shot by two police officers in Muskogee,Oklahoma Police set up a perimeter and began tracking Bruner with a K-9 dog named Loki, which eventually brought them to the suspect hiding a couple of blocks away near an air conditioning unit. According to the police press release, just before 2am, Bruner pointed a handgun at the pursuing officers and opened fire, squeezing off two rounds. Body camera footage released on Friday shows what looks like the muzzle flash of Bruner's gun. Lt. Chris Dean and Officer Shane Leach returned fire, striking Bruner in the head and limbs, reported Muskogee Phoenix. As the video shows, for several minutes police were not sure whether or not the threat had been neutralized. 'The officers made numerous attempts to establish verbal contract with the suspect to determine if he was still a threat and if he had been injured by the gunfire,' according to the release. Police seized this gun that they say Bruner had used to shoot at officers Lt. Chris Dean (left) and Officer Shane Leach (right) returned fire, killing Bruner. Both are now on paid administrative leave Eventually, police approached the mortally wounded Bruner, seized his handgun and proceeded to administer first aid. Bruner was then taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead shorty before 5am. None of the six officers who took part in the chase were injured. Initially, all six were placed on leave, but after it was determined that only Dean and Leach fired on Bruner, the other four were cleared to return to active duty today. Bruner was a suspect in the shooting death of his girlfriend's relative, 19-year-old James Hendricks, less than 24 hours earlier Dean, a 12-year veteran, and Leach, a four-year veteran, remain on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation. The chase and the fatal officer-involved shooting stemmed from an incident that took place less than 24 hours earlier at the Addison Apartments on East Admiral Place. Bruner reportedly had been fighting with his girlfriend when her relative, James Hendricks, intervened and the dispute escalated, according to Tulsa World. Bruner allegedly grabbed a gun and opened fire, killing Hendricks and injuring his girlfriend, who survived. According to police, Bruner had an extensive criminal record dating back to at least 2017, which included charges of burglary, kidnapping, robbery, obstruction and eluding a police officer. Just when you thought bipartisan politics was becoming the norm, politicians were focused on the task at hand and political self-interest had been put aside, along came the prospect of a byelection in the bellwether federal seat of Eden-Monaro. This weeks regular transmission of COVID-19 coverage was spectacularly interrupted by the machinations involving two NSW MPs, Nationals leader and Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Liberal Transport Minister and member for Bega, Andrew Constance. Both have long been considered interested in a tilt at federal politics, but crunch time came almost two weeks ago when sitting Labor MP Mike Kelly resigned due to ill-health. His anticipated decision fired up the political machines of all parties and for a week, there was a merry dance between the NSW pair, who both declared they would not run if the other did. Liberal Andrew Constance and Nationals NSW leader John Barilaro. Credit:AAP Then on Sunday evening, the Heralds state political editor Alexandra Smith broke the news that Barilaro would not run. It came following a revelation by our chief political correspondent in Canberra, David Crowe, that weekend polling had indicated he simply could not win. It was a far stronger picture for Constance, who shot to national prominence during the summer bushfire crisis. So as expected, 24 hours later Constance threw his hat in the ring and elected to run, adamant there was no bad blood with Prime Minister Scott Morrison despite his extraordinary comments during the height of the bushfire crisis. But that was far from the end - or, as many may have hoped, the start of an orderly byelection contest. Instead, less than 24 hours later, Barilaros remarkable text messages to the Nationals leader and deputy PM Michael McCormack were leaked, attacking him for failing to support his Eden-Monaro dream and adding he had "failed your team and failed as a leader". An embittered Barilaro was then reported as having called his cabinet colleague a crass four-letter word - leading to a stunning about-face from Constance, who promptly reversed his decision to seek preselection to run as the Liberal candidate in Eden-Monaro. He said the slur was a final straw, but its been speculated other forces were at play - not least of all that he faced an uphill battle to get support from the seats Liberal preselectors. Loading The story of Constances withdrawal from the seat was the most read story by our subscribers this week - no mean feat amid the global pandemic infecting almost every facet of our lives. Rounding out an extraordinary week, Alex reported that Constance had been stripped of his senior government role as leader of the house, while David's regular Friday column gave a withering assessment of the whole sordid mess. Of course, youll be pleased to know, both men say theyve buried the hatchet. How theyll work together remains to be seen. Political fissures may also be about to tear open between the state and federal governments over how quickly social distancing restrictions are lifted. This afternoon, Prime Minister Scott Morrison released a three-step plan outlining how society and the economy would reopen. Under stage one, five visitors would be allowed in a home, 10 in businesses and public places, 30 mourners at funerals, and 10 guests at weddings. The timing of each stage will be up to the state and territory governments but with the lockdown costing the economy $4 billion each week, the Prime Minister today made his view clear saying, a fear of going backwards could not stop the nation from moving forwards. A man was found dead on a runway in Austin, Texas, on Thursday night. Initial investigation suggests the victim was struck and killed by a landing aircraft. According to a report, the pilot had seen the person after landing at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and tried to avoid a collision. The Southwest Airlines Flight 1392 received clearance to land at the airport. It made a safe landing at 8:12 in the evening when it maneuvered to avoid an unidentified individual who suddenly appeared on the runway. LiveATC streamed the radio conversation between the air traffic controllers and the pilot. The latter can be heard saying: "Looks like there might be a person on the runway." When asked where the person is, the pilot reports, "They're behind us." The plane came to a stop. The pilot taxied the aircraft to the gate where the passengers and the crew safely disembarked. Investigation Shortly after the plane landed, authorities hurriedly checked the runway and found "a deceased adult male with trauma." First responders did not perform lifesaving measures. The unnamed individual was pronounced dead at 8:41 PM. According to the Autin Police Department, the man was not a badged airport employee. He was also not allowed to be on the airport runway. Airport officials have yet to confirm whether he worked in some other position at the airport. The aircraft was also seen with a sizable dent in its left engine cowling. It is still unclear how the plane was damaged. The FAA will be investigating the incident and will assist the local police department in determining whether the plane had hit the victim. The FAA said the case was a "pedestrian fatality." Airport Breach The Austin-Bergstrom International Airport had already experienced security breaches in the past years. In June 2018, a Georgetown man reportedly made it past airport security while carrying a loaded gun. According to police reports, the unnamed individual went through TSA Checkpoint 1 without any difficulties. When the man got through security, he went to look for his headphones. Police, however, noticed he had a gun in one of the front pockets of his bag. The officer reported the finding to a Delta agent. The man carried a Ruger LCP .380. and six bullets, which were not chambered. Police ran a background check and searched through the individual's bag. They also checked to make sure the gun was not stolen and that he carried no other illegal items. The man apologized to the airport officials, claiming he was not aware the gun was inside his bag. He was later released without facing charges. The TSA identified and fired the officer who did not identify the firearm at the security checkpoint. In June 2017, a 29-year-old man named Jeffery McAfee was caught carrying a firearm inside his backpack. A TSA discovered the gun as the bag went through the X-Ray belt. McAfee was brought to a screening area where he admitted the gun was his. He did not own a concealed handgun license. The suspect carried a revolver with six .22-caliber rounds chambered. He was placed in custody and charged with a third-degree felony with a $5,000 bond. Want to read more news? Check these out: Rains regularly displace thousands in Africa. - Source: Vadim Petrakov/Shutterstock 11.05.2020 LISTEN Floods are the second most prevalent and devastating natural disasters in sub-Saharan Africa. Between 2000 and 2019 floods accounted for 64% of all disaster events in the region. They affected the livelihoods of about 53 million people and killed more than 14,000. Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique were hit severely over this period. Policies and strategies to confront the increasing flood frequency and deaths on the continent are on international, regional and national agendas. Most of these documents acknowledge that information is an important resource for flood preparedness. The recent World Disaster Report , for example, states that the impact of floods has reduced in some parts of the world because the general public obtained useful information about the risk and acted on it. Mass information campaigns through radio, TV, newspapers, audio vans and weather reports have been ramped up globally in the past decade to improve flood disaster awareness. Such efforts are premised on the idea that people's ability to prepare depends on getting the right information about the flood. They need to know in clear language, at the right time what might happen and when, and what they can do. Unfortunately, it appears that efforts in flood risk communication haven't always helped the general public to prepare better. Ghana's government conducts flood education campaigns annually before the rainy season. But in the country's flood-prone informal settlements, where about 62% of the urban population reside, floods still have devastating consequences. In one of the most recent floods in the Greater Accra region in June 2015, one-third of the 152 fatalities were within or around informal settlements. The research Our study set out to investigate the effect of community participation in strengthening the relationship between disaster risk information dissemination and disaster preparedness. We chose three flood-prone communities (Old Fadama, Nima and Kotobabi) in Accra, Ghana's capital city. We developed a model to test whether communities prepared better for flood disasters when they have been involved in communicating information. The study was undertaken a few months after the June 2015 disaster. Our study showed that information that is accessible, comprehensive, and tailored to the needs of flood-prone populations strongly influences intentions to prepare. But this is only when city authorities make it possible for the public to get clarity and support to act on the information. This insight shows how disaster management professionals and policy makers can integrate the cultural, social and value systems of a community into the communication process. Risk should be clearly communicated in languages that are understood locally and information must be channeled through traditional and community institutions. Flooding in Accra When people move to Accra , they usually start by living in an informal settlement. Most of these areas are flood-prone because houses are built on flood plains with non-durable materials. The government carries out educational campaigns on radio, TV and other media through the National Disaster Management Organisation, Ghana Meteorological Agency and National Commission for Civic Education. These campaigns talk about the type of hazard, areas to be affected, potential damage and in some cases preventive measures. But they don't involve the active participation of the public. There's a need to revisit this one-way information flow, and instead encourage dialogue between experts and the public. This could happen when public authorities build a good relationship with communities. A sustained relationship builds trust. This could in turn give communities the confidence to share experiences of their response to floods. Our study results showed that providing flood information to the public instigates discussions among community members but has little impact on preventive action. It's more persuasive when the public is actively engaged in discussions with experts on flood risk preparedness. This should be on transparent and open platforms where experts readily address people's doubts and uncertainties. The study revealed that regular engagement between experts and the public is an opportunity to clarify messages, seek additional information and build trust. This can influence positive behavioural changes in terms of flood preparedness. Participatory disaster risk communication The risk of climate-related disasters worldwide is growing, especially in developing regions. To build local resilience, disaster management experts and policymakers must make community participation the core element of risk communication to the public. Our study showed that the level of community participation matters when it comes to disaster preparedness. When people get information in an engaging and interactive manner, their behaviour changes in positive ways. As one respondent quipped: Give me more information but also seek my views and experiences; then I will act. The public shouldn't just receive information but take an active part in what is communicated and how, so that it is useful in their local circumstances. Seth Asare Okyere is part of the Osaka University - Univerity College London (UCL) international joint research project on Freetown, funded by the Osaka University Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) Program Kim Maund, Matthew Abunyewah, and Thayaparan Gajendran do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. By Matthew Abunyewah, Sessional lecturer, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle And Kim Maund, Discipline Head Construction Management, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle And Seth Asare Okyere, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University And Thayaparan Gajendran, Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 23:26:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. - - - - MOSCOW -- Russia will end its COVID-19-related restrictions nationwide from Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin said Monday - - - - LONDON -- The British government on Monday published the long-expected COVID-19 recovery plan, hoping to gradually ease the lockdown measures while at the same time getting the coronavirus pandemic under control. According to the 50-page document, from this week those with jobs in food production, construction, manufacturing, logistics, distribution and scientific research in laboratories should return to the workplace. People should aim to wear a face-covering in enclosed spaces where social distancing is not always possible and they come into contact with others that they do not normally meet, for example on public transport or in some shops, said the document. - - - - BERLIN -- Many companies and industry sectors in Germany would react to the coronavirus crisis by cutting jobs, the German ifo Institute said on Monday. The catering sector in Germany was worst hit, with 58 percent of companies laying off workers or not extending fixed-term contracts, according to the ifo Institute's business survey. "An above-average number of layoffs are also being made" in Germany's important automotive with 39 percent as well as accommodation sector with 50 percent and manufacturer of leather, leather goods and footwear with 48 percent of companies, according to ifo. "From now on, the crisis will have an impact on the German labor market," said Klaus Wohlrabe, head of surveys at ifo. - - - - HELSINKI -- The majority of Finnish workers were satisfied with remote working during the COVID-19 epidemic, showed a survey published on Monday and conducted by the multidisciplinary Fast Expert Teams network, which is formed by experts from several Finnish universities and research institutions. The poll collected replies of around 5,500 people. In the survey carried out between March 26 and April 15, about 65 percent of respondents were satisfied with teleworking, 54 percent with their own productivity, and 42 percent with their work-life balance. In addition, 66 percent of the respondents thought that there were fewer interruptions and disruptions in teleworking than in the workplace. 72 percent of them felt that they could focus on their work as well or better than in the workplace. - - - - ADDIS ABABA -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the African continent surpassed 63,325 as the death toll reached 2,290 as of Monday afternoon, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said. According to the Africa CDC in its latest situation update issued on Monday, the new figures represented an increase from 60,657 cases and 2,115 deaths from Sunday. - - - - MADRID -- Over half of Spain's population will see an easing of lockdown restrictions starting Monday, as some areas move into the second stage of the government's "asymmetrical" plan to gradually take the country to a "new normality" after controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifty-one percent of the population has been allowed to progress to Phase One by the ministry of health, while regions of Madrid, Catalonia, as well as some provinces in the Communities of Valencia, Andalusia (Malaga and Granada) and cities in Castilla-Leon (central Spain) remain at Phase Zero after failing to meet certain criteria. - - - - KUWAIT CITY -- Kuwait on Monday reported 598 new cases of COVID-19 and seven more deaths, bringing the total infections in the country to 9,286 and the death toll to 65, the health ministry said in a statement. Currently, 6,314 patients are receiving treatment, including 131 in ICU, according to the statement. In addition, the ministry announced the recovery of 178 patients from the coronavirus, raising the total number of recoveries in the country to 2,907. - - - - MANILA -- All foreigners and Filipinos arriving in the Philippines need to undergo testing for the COVID-19 and quarantine to stem the spread of the virus, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Monday. "Mandatory testing and facility quarantine should apply to all arriving passengers at airports," Roque said in a daily virtual media briefing. He said all arriving passengers will be swabbed, tested and will not be allowed to go home until a test result yielded negative for the virus. While waiting for the results of the tests, arriving passengers will be brought to a government-run facility for quarantine for about two to five days, where they will be monitored. Those testing positive for the coronavirus will be transferred to a hospital or to a temporary health facility set up by the government for further treatment. - - - - JAKARTA -- Indonesia has been trying to scale up the COVID-19 tests and boost surveillance on tens of thousands of migrant workers who will come back home in a bid to rein the virus outbreak. Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday that the current level of 5,000 COVID-19 tests per day is too low, ordering authorities to step up the tests to 10,000 specimens per day. "I have reached a report that the level of the tests is from 4,000 to 5,000 specimens per day. I think this is still short of our target," he told a cabinet meeting. - - - - BRUSSELS -- Belgium on Monday allowed businesses throughout the country to reopen under strict conditions. The reopening came one day after the expansion of social contacts, which allows people to receive up to four guests, family members or close friends, in each home visit. The reopening of shops takes place in strict compliance with the rules of deconfinement, in particular a 1.5-meter social distance, a maximum of 30 minutes stay and wearing a mask. To avoid crowds, everyone has to do shopping alone. Excursions and tourist activities remain prohibited. Gatherings are also prohibited. Contact occupations other than medical and paramedical care will remain closed for the time being. Cafes, bars, restaurants, and places for festivities, recreation, culture and tourism will remain closed at this stage as well. Over the last 24 hours, 368 new cases of COVID-19 infection had been reported in Belgium, bringing the country's total confirmed cases to 53,449, said the public health institute Sciensano on Monday. - - - - SHANGHAI -- The Shanghai Disneyland theme park reopened to visitors with controlled capacity on Monday, after the COVID-19 epidemic in China became more subdued. This is the first Disneyland theme park in the world that has reopened since the outbreak of the COVID-19. Enditem Bentley Motors has today opened the doors to its UK staff as it kickstarts its assembly line that churns out thousands of luxury cars every year. Some 1,700 workers returned to the British firm's headquarters in Crewe on Monday. They were greeted by an entirely different looking factory and a set of 250 new 'comprehensive' safety guidelines to comply with Covid-19 social distancing requirements. Bentley back to work: The British car firm's Crewe production line reopened on Monday with 1,700 staff resuming outputs Production of the in-demand 133,000 Bentayga SUV and 240,000 Mulsanne limo have restarted first, while the Continental GT (150,000) and Flying Spur (168,000) line will recommence from next Monday. The British car builder has reopened its production facility with the new slogan and programme it's called 'Come Back Stronger'. Last week, colleagues were briefed on the protocol - including new working patterns, operations and environment - during socially-distanced briefing and training sessions. This was employees first chance to get their heads around the new wide-ranging hygiene guidelines to guarantee their safety while building vehicles. On return today for the first time in over seven weeks, workers entered a redesigned manufacturing facility that has measures in place to allow two-metre distance between individuals, and one-way movement paths and traffic flows around the 521,111-square-metre facility, of which 166,930m2 is indoors. Some 250 'comprehensive' new measures have been put in place as part of the firm's 'Come Back Stronger' programme to cope during the Covid-19 pandemic, including temperature checks on arrival The car firm shows the two-metre social distancing requirement, which is the same as the width of one of its luxury models In relevant office areas where distancing is challenging, plastic partitions - designed and manufactured by Bentley workers now offer segregation between colleagues Bentley has even 'reconfigured' its toilets across the site to reduce the number of people being able to use them. On each line, production will be running at approximately 50 per cent for a number of weeks, with each luxurious car taking twice as long to produce. The remaining 500 manufacturing workers are anticipated to go back to the Cheshire plant by the middle of June, based on current assumptions and government guidance. Other new measures Bentley has put in place for car production - Facemasks are now compulsory in all factory and office areas. - Personal protection equipment including facemasks, gloves, goggles - are provided as necessary, both to colleagues and in parallel donated to the local care sector. - The company will retain a work from home policy for those who are able to. - Health temperature checks administered to staff on a daily basis. - An enhanced cleaning routine. - New guidance to the workforce on limiting the risk of infection in areas such as meeting governance, site access and travel. - In relevant office areas and catering facilities where distancing is more challenging, plastic partitions - designed and manufactured by Bentley workers now offer segregation between colleagues. - Capacity limits in smaller areas to ensure control measures. - Staggered start, finish and break periods and distanced seating in communal areas. - Stringent measures to control the population density on site at any one time. - All entry and exit points reviewed and reconfigured to disperse the volume of people. Bentley is the third UK car maker to resume production following the Covid-19 lockdown, with Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin both restarting outputs from the beginning of last week. The car maker has provided a huge insight into the lengths it has gone to in order to put measures in place. This includes the production of a home-issued guide for staff, including video tutorials and a newly created Employee News app designed to ease any uncertainty that this challenging period prompts. Personal protection equipment including facemasks, gloves, goggles - are provided as necessary, both to colleagues and in parallel donated to the local care sector Outputs of the in-demand 133,000 Bentayga SUV started first(as seen in the image left) Commenting on the production restart, Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and CEO at Bentley Motors, said: 'We have introduced extensive new working measures to protect our colleagues, our families and our customers and we are confident, following the work of so many people, that being at Bentley will be as safe for our colleagues as being anywhere else. 'We have a strong order bank, around eight months of customer orders to manufacture, established parts supply routes and patient customers who are looking to receive their extraordinary cars as soon as possible. 'We will ramp up in a controlled, measured way to ensure we manage this continued demand, and look ahead and in spite of this interruption continue on our journey to lead sustainable luxury mobility in the future.' One-way movement paths and traffic flows have been introduced around the 521,111-square-metre facility in Creshire, of which 166,930m2 is indoors. Today was the first chance for workers to get their heads around the new wide-ranging hygiene guidelines introduced to guarantee their safety while building vehicles Last week, colleagues were briefed on the protocol - including new working patterns, operations and environment - during socially-distanced briefing and training sessions Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Sunday gave a breakdown of his activities from April till date. Osinbajo disclosed that he has been ... Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Sunday gave a breakdown of his activities from April till date. Osinbajo disclosed that he has been chairing meetings and activities aimed at boosting Nigerias economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He gave the insight in a bid to further douse tension over his whereabouts in the wake of COVID-19 in Nigeria. Recall that Laolu Akande, his spokesman, had yesterday disclosed that the Vice President had been attending to official matters on how to improve Nigerias economy. In a follow-up chat with Dailypost by Osinabjos spokesperson, Akande Laolu, he insisted that the Vice President has been chairing several Economic Council Committee meetings in the past one month. According to the chat: April 1, Osinbajo chaired the Economic Council Special Committee on COVID-19. April 2, inaugurated the Economic Sustainability Committee. April 8, presided over the 2nd Economic sustainability committee meeting. April 10, updated President Buhari on the progress of the Economic Sustainability Committee. April 16, chaired 3rd Economic Sustainability Committee meeting. April 21, Met with IMF and World Bank representatives regarding FGs Post COVID-19 economic stimulus. April 21, held teleconference meeting with the US Ambassador in Nigeria, the deputy ambassador and representatives of the US Centre for Disease Control. April 22, held a video conference meeting with 9 governors across the six geopolitical zones regarding coordinated plans of FG and state govt on COVID-19. April 23, chaired the 4th Economic sustainability committee meeting. April 23, chaired the 4th economic sustainability committee meeting. April 29, featured in a virtual conference themed, This isnt the Wet-How Africas informal sector reacts to COVID-19. April 30, chaired the 5th economic sustainability committee meeting with members of the presidential economic advisory council co-chaired by Prof.Doyin Salami. May 2, participated in a virtual conference with Pastor Oyemade at the 2020 edition of the Platform Nigeria. May 7, chaired the meeting of the presidential Power sector reform work group. A young woman appeared at a grocery store Saturday morning, no mask, pushing a cart through the aisles during the golden hour, that early morning time set aside for older shoppers and those at higher risk if they catch COVID-19. Even as Gov. Pete Ricketts and local officials reopen places of worship, restaurants and other businesses across the state, how many residents are taking the precautions that are accompanying the lessening of restrictions seriously? Most of the safeguards are, after all, recommendations, suggestions, encouragements, sometimes pleadings. But in the end, it's not like Denver Mayor Michael Hancocks order last week that requires residents and employees to wear masks inside businesses or face a $999 fine. In Nebraska, it's up to the people to choose if and when they will take precautions against the virus, and if they will choose to endanger others. People who are more apt to take advice from a doctor rather than a politician can consider this: If it was up to the doctors in this state who know about epidemiology and infectious diseases, or who are tracking the pandemic closely, the advice about reopening would be different. "This is absolutely no time to be complacent about this," said Dr. Mark Rupp, medical director of infection control and epidemiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. "Part of it, unfortunately, is the situation has been a little bit politicized, and I think that is really a disservice and unfortunate." The virus doesn't care what religion you practice, or if you're in a red state or a blue state, it's going to take advantage of human frailty, Rupp said. "And if we let our guard down," he said, "and we try to get back to where we were three months ago as far as our enjoyment of our liberties and being able to interact with one another on a social basis, I have little doubt that we are going to see a dramatic rise in the number of cases." Nebraska was slower to climb its mountain of cases, and is still making its way to the peak. Cases in Douglas County are on a steep incline, as are those in Dakota and Lancaster counties. The COVID-19 map shows eight hot spots across the state. The doctors acknowledge the difficult position politicians are in and the pressure they are getting from both sides about reopening. But those in the medical field are looking at numbers and science, not politics. Rupp said the issue of the detrimental effects of the economic turmoil the pandemic has created and the impact of isolation on mental health can't be underemphasized. But the health effects of the disease and deaths are equally important. "When cases are going up is not really the time to be relaxing the precautions," he said. Lincoln physician Bob Rauner, president of Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln and a member of the LPS Board of Education, has recorded 18 coronavirus community updates on YouTube to give people insight in decision-making on the virus. In his latest, he says that with the uptick in cases related to local and nearby meatpacking plants, the push to open may be too soon. "It's too early for churches to open up, for example," he said. Lincoln has a lot of cases coming out of the Smithfield meatpacking plant in Crete, with Lincoln and Lancaster County workers and their family members being infected. "My personal opinion is there should have been a little more planning first before we started to gradually reopen," Rauner said. "And we need to be a little more cautious about looking at how fast the spread is happening in Lincoln right now." Hundreds more people could become infected, he said. How many critical-care beds and ventilators are in use right now can't be the measure for reopening, because there's at least a two-week lag in the use of those from increased cases, he said. The number of cases should be the factor. "If your cases are rapidly increasing, you should probably not be talking about opening up," he said. But since they are reopening, people need to make their own decisions about whether they attend these restaurants, churches, businesses, he said. "Just because we can doesn't mean we have to," he said. "I think we shouldn't." Rauner said in a YouTube video that reopening should be based on the test being available to all people with symptoms, a sustained reduction in cases for at least 14 days, hospitals being safely able to treat all patients requiring that care without crisis standards needed, and the ability to actively monitor the contacts of confirmed cases. Rupp commended the increase in testing and contact tracing in the state, but said it's not as good as it needs to be. "And it can fairly readily be overwhelmed if we continue to have an increase in cases," he said. "We're not out of the woods and we could still get into serious trouble," he said. Even if the state were to completely interrupt transmission today, he said, it's likely cases would go up for a week after that. Not only are cases going up, but the percentage of tests showing positive results is also increasing dramatically, Rupp said, from 5% to 10% a few weeks ago to 20% to 25%. "It's just simply spreading and penetrating further into our community," he said. Dr. Bill Johnson, pulmonologist at Bryan Health, appeared at Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird's Friday COVID-19 news briefing to plead with people to continue social distancing and to wear face masks. "You need to get rid of the denial. You need to get rid of the anger. You need to get rid of the bargaining. And you need to take this disease for what it is," Johnson said. "It doesn't negotiate." Reach the writer at 402-473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSLegislature Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese president, holds talks with Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in Pyongyang, DPRK, June 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) President: Nation willing to provide support for DPRK on epidemic control President Xi Jinping has expressed his confidence in securing a final victory in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with the joint efforts of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as well as the international community. He said China is willing to enhance cooperation with the DPRK on epidemic control and provide support within its capacity in accordance with the DPRK's needs. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, made the remark on Saturday in a verbal message of thanks to Kim Jong-un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, in reply to an earlier verbal message from Kim. Under the firm leadership of the CPC Central Committee, China has achieved significantly strategic results in its epidemic control work through arduous efforts, Xi said, adding that he was also concerned about the situation of epidemic control in the DPRK and the health of its people. He said he felt gratified and pleased that Kim has guided the WPK and the DPRK people to adopt a series of anti-epidemic measures that have led to positive progress. Saying that he was glad to receive the warm and friendly verbal message from Kim, Xi also recalled that Kim had sent him a letter of sympathy over the COVID-19 outbreak in February and provided support for China to combat the virus. This has fully reflected the profound bond of friendship that Kim, the WPK, the DPRK government and its people share with their Chinese counterparts, and it is a vivid illustration of the solid foundation and strong vitality of the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK, Xi said, expressing his deep gratitude and high appreciation. Noting that he highly values the development of China-DPRK relations, Xi said he will work with Kim to guide related departments of both parties and countries to implement the important consensuses between the two sides, strengthen strategic communication and deepen exchanges and cooperation. By doing so, the two neighbors can constantly push forward the development of China-DPRK relations in the new era, bring more benefits to both countries and their people, and make positive contributions to regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, Xi added. Kim has paid four visits to China since March 2018. As last year marked the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Xi paid a two-day visit to Pyongyang in June, the first visit by the CPC general secretary and China's president in 14 years. In his verbal message sent to Xi on Thursday, Kim highly appreciated and congratulated Xi on leading the CPC and the Chinese people in making splendid achievements and securing a great victory in the battle against the epidemic. He said he firmly believed that under Xi's leadership, the CPC and the Chinese people will surely win a final victory. Kim also wished Xi good health, extended greetings to all CPC members, and expressed his hope that relations between the WPK and the CPC will grow closer and enjoy sound development. As of Sunday, more than 3.9 million people in the world have been infected with COVID-19, and over 274,000 people died, according to the World Health Organization. Pak Myong-su, director of the anti-epidemic department of the DPRK's Central Emergency Anti-epidemic Headquarters, told Agence France-Presse last month that the country's strict containment measures had been completely successful and no single person was infected. O ne remedy for the sensation of stagnation? Move a hell of a lot. In lockdown, abs have been the focus, and as were released into the wild to do unlimited (!) exercise, the fixation will go up a gear. Four of the nine most watched videos on YouTube involve ab workouts, and studios including Kobox, Core Collective and Psycle London are doing Insta Live classes that focus entirely on getting that torso ripped in time for Love Island 2021. But theres more to a strong middle than peacocking, It will help in keeping you stable, balanced, maintain a better posture and prevent injury, explains Core Collectives Head of Cycle, India Bailey (currently teaching virtual classes on the studios online platform, CCTV core-collective.tv). Plus, if your WFH set-up is making your back hurt, maintaining a strong core is a key way to help in addressing this. As Kobox founder Shane Collins points out, we may as well come out of this with rock hard abs. So, what does it take to make your six-pack pop, besides superhuman discipline? These are the experts signature moves. Plank power The plank is a wonderful test of core fitness and endurance, Bailey explains. Get into a press-up position, with hands directly under shoulders, legs off the ground and toes pressed into the floor. Then, engage your glutes to stabilise your body. Avoid locking your knees, your back should be a straight line, your hips should be neither raised nor dropped, and your eye line should be just in front of your hands. Breathe and see how long you can hold for. She recommends testing yourself every day. Aiming for at least two minutes is a great goal. 1Rebel Reshape and Ride instructor Scott Jordan (who leads classes on Rebel TV, tv.1rebel.com) recommends a spiderman plank: as above, except more active. You move your right knee to right elbow, and back, and then repeat on the other side. It strengthens the core in a completely different way than typical crunches. For Collins, its all about the plank step-up. Start on your forearms and make sure that your shoulders are stacked on top of your elbows. Try to keep a straight line between your heels, hips and head all the way through. Now, step from your forearms to your hands, making sure your shoulders are on top of your elbows and elbows on top of your wrists. His top tip? make sure not to let the hips wobble or tilt as you step up and down. (For more advice, check out Koboxs live workouts: instagram.com/kobox) Crunch it If youre going to whittle those abs, you need to get acquainted with crunches. Jordan recommends the bicycle crunch: a spicy little move which works the lower abdomen and obliques. When doing this move, make sure your shoulders are always raised and connecting the opposite knee to the opposite elbow, creating a full twist. Collins favourite? The butterfly crunch. Bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees push out to the side. Perform a full crunch touching your hands on the floor behind your head, and then crunching to touch your toes. Leg it The hollow hold works all aspects of the core, with hip flexors and quads thrown in too, explains Jordan. Lie on your back, and contract the abs, pulling your belly button to the floor. Hold your arms and legs out straight, pointing the hands and toes. Raise your shoulders, arms, legs and head off the ground. This is a great move for stability and posture. I personally enjoy an isometric hold with the abs to really feel the core burn. Collins suggests a scissor kick. Use your legs to attack those lower abs. Lie on your back, lift your shoulders and paddle legs up and down, keeping the core tight. India Bailey, Head of Cycle at Core Collective Climb every mountain Want an ultra-efficient move? Try a mountain climbers, an incredible full body exercise with a focus on core, says Bailey. Start in a high plank, with a straight back and hips. Continue by bringing one knee towards your chest, then returning it to the starting position. Repeat the movement with your other leg, and continue with an ongoing pace, speeding up where you can. She recommends trying to go for 20 to 30 reps, with two or three sets of work. Its one of Collinss signature core moves he calls it a cardio core killer. In a call with investors discussing Albemarles first-quarter results last week, chief executive officer Kent Masters said: "We know that Talison [Lithium] is a good project for us. Were following that process closely and well see where it goes. "We know that the Chinese government will probably... The U.S. will get less than half of Gilead Sciences Inc.'s worldwide donation of 1.5 million vials of its covid-19 medicine over the next six weeks, which isn't expected to be enough to treat all the patients who would qualify for it. Gilead is donating about 607,000 vials of its remdesivir in the U.S. during that time frame. That's enough to treat 78,000 hospitalized patients, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Health officials authorized emergency use of the treatment earlier this month. "Initial supply of remdesivir is likely to be constrained to an even greater degree than we had previously estimated," RBC analyst Brian Abrahams wrote in a note to clients. He said he had been expecting 80% of Gilead's donation to be distributed in the U.S. With less than 50,000 going out in the first two shipments, the rollout was also slower than what he was expecting. More than 300,000 eligible patients in the U.S. won't have access to the Foster City, California-based company's treatment through the end of July. That and "continued limited supply through almost the end of the year" could put pressure on state health departments, according to Abrahams. Gilead didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. It's shares rose as much as 2% Monday and have climbed more than 20% this year. New York State has been at the center of the pandemic with more the 330,000 of the 1.3 million cases of covid-19 in the U.S. according to Johns Hopkins University data. The state received the largest donation so far when an initial 565 vials were delivered last week as part of an initial allocation to the first seven states, HHS said a statement on Saturday. In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the amount of the drug shipped to his city was about 10% of what it needs. "We're still the epicenter of this crisis. So, I am hoping that the White House will hear our plea and quickly get us the additional doses we need," the mayor said during his daily briefing on Sunday. The agency said that starting on the evening of May 7, six more states would get shipments. That included 30 cases each for Maryland and Connecticut while Michigan would get 40. Hotspots like Illinois and New Jersey would get more at 140 and 110 cases each. Iowa is set to get 10 of the cases, each of which contain 40 vials of remdesivir. The shortage could bode well for another emergency use approval, this one for Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s antiviral treatment, some Twitter users speculated. The stock rose as much as 15% to the highest in a year on Monday. The small-cap company is testing galidesivir in a placebo-controlled trial in Brazil, the first part of the study will enroll 24 hospitalized covid-19 patients. The Council also stresses the importance of the future Eastern Partnership being a more strategic, ambitious, flexible and inclusive framework for cooperation. Ambassador of Ukraine to the Kingdom of Belgium, Representative of Ukraine to the European Union and European Atomic Energy Community Mykola Tochytskyi welcomes the adoption by the Council of the European Union of conclusions on Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020. "[I] welcome [the] adoption of EU Council Conclusions on Eastern Partnership with important messages on our European aspirations, territorial integrity and further integration with the EU," he said on Twitter on May 11. "Ukraine looks forward to ambitious 6th EaP [Eastern Partnership] Summit that should approve strategic goals for the future," he added. Read alsoNATO approves new package to support Ukraine and Georgia Stoltenberg The Council of the European Union on May 11 approved conclusions on the Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020, reaffirming its strategic importance, and the joint commitment to building a common area of shared democracy, prosperity and stability. The conclusions follow up on the conclusions of the European Council of 20 June 2019, which marked the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership, and the joint communication: "Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020: Reinforcing Resilience an Eastern Partnership that delivers for all" of March 18, 2020. In its conclusions the Council welcomes the significant achievements of the Eastern Partnership to date, and reiterates its incentive- and conditionality-based approach as a means to encourage Eastern partner countries to continue engaging in reforms and increasing efforts in this regard. The Council confirms that the current policy framework, including the set of '20 deliverables for 2020' is valid and brings tangible results and benefits for people. The Council also stresses the importance of the future Eastern Partnership being a more strategic, ambitious, flexible and inclusive framework for cooperation, allowing participants to tackle common and global challenges jointly in a wide range of areas, especially in the current unprecedented situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The conclusions call firmly for a renewed commitment to the fundamentals of the Eastern Partnership. These include democracy, human rights, rule of law, good governance, and successful anti-corruption policies, but also economic reforms, environmental, climate and energy challenges, digital transformation and investing in people. Finally, the Council looks forward to the next Eastern Partnership Summit, which is expected to review the results achieved since the last Summit in 2017, endorse long-term policy objectives, and set out the way forward in further strengthening and deepening cooperation, as well as give a mandate for preparatory work on the next generation of post 2020 deliverables. (Newser) Now there's only one degree of separation. Mike Pence has begun self-isolating after his press secretary tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, three insiders tell Bloomberg. Seems the vice president skipped a Saturday meeting with President Trump and senior military officials, and went behind closed doors at home at the US Naval Observatory in Washington. On the bright side, Pence apparently tested negative Sunday and is only self-isolating out of caution. This after Katie Millerwho is Pence's press secretary and wife to senior aide Stephen Millerwas diagnosed with COVID-19. story continues below Katie Miller is also the main rep for the White House coronavirus task force, which is led by Pence and last convened Thursday. As for Pence, he flew to Iowa on Friday and spent time with Gov. Kim Reynolds, who had been near Katie during a White House visit and is considering whether to self-isolate. Pence and Reynolds apparently kept a fair distance from each other, but didn't wear masks when meeting with food executives and state faith leaders. Meanwhile, a Trump valet and several Secret Service agents have tested positive, but TMZ reports that "as for DT, no word yet if he'll shutter himself in like his #2." (Read more Mike Pence stories.) Chennai, May 11 : In a gruesome incident, a 14-year old schoolgirl was set on fire in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district by two men belonging to ruling AIADMK. The girl, who had suffered 95 per cent burns, died on Monday, police said. With rising furore over the brutal murder, the AIADMK has expelled the two alleged killers from the party. According to police, Jayashree, daughter of small shop-owner Jayapal, had given a statement to the magistrate naming two persons - G. Murugan and K.Kaliaperumal - as the persons who had set her on fire. The crime occurred on Sunday at Sirumadurai area near Thiruvennainallur when the girl was alone at her house. On hearing the girl's cries and the smoke coming out of her house, neighbours rushed in and were shocked to see her condition. They took the girl to the government hospital where she breathed her last. Police told IANS that Murugan and Kaliaperumal have been taken into custody and are being questioned. According to a police official, there had been a previous enmity between the girl's father and the alleged killers. Meanwhile, major opposition parties have demanded severe punishment to the killers. Demanding quick and severe punishment to the two accused, including a former municipal councillor, opposition DMK's President M.K. Stalin on Monday claimed that the duo tied the hands and legs of Jayashree, stuffed her mouth with a cloth, and set her afire. The girl was admitted in a government hospital with 95 per cent burn injuries, and in her dying declaration to a magistrate, named the two AIADMK members as the culprits, he added. According to Stalin, it is the second such crime of burning alive a student by AIADMK members. A bus was set ablaze in Dharmapuri, in which three girl students of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University were burnt alive in 2000. Stalin urged the police to act impartially and ensure the strictest punishment to the culprits. Similarly, PMK Founder S.Ramadoss said whatever be the previous enmity, the gruesome act of burning alive a school girl cannot be permitted. Ramadoss, in a tweet, said the killers should be speedily punished in such a way that it remains as a lesson for such killers. MDMK General Secretary Vaiko too demanded a speedy and severe punishment for the killers. Meanwhile the ruling AIADMK announced the expulsion of Murugan and Kaliaperumal from the party and dismissal from their party posts. In a joint statement, AIADMK Coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam and Joint Coordinator and Chief Minister K.Palaniswami have also asked other party members not to have any contacts with the two persons. Palaniswami, condoling the death of Jayashree, announced a solatium of Rs 5 lakh to her family. AccuWeather forecasters are keeping a close eye on an area over the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas for what could become the season's first organized tropical system. Hurricane season doesn't begin until June 1, but there is a chance the emerging weather system could develop tropical or subtropical characteristics heading into the weekend. Dan Kottlowski, AccuWeather's chief hurricane forecaster, pointed out the potential for the area of low pressure to develop on Monday, and by Tuesday, meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center announced they were tracking the disturbance as well. Even if the system doesn't strengthen or only develops into a subtropical system, it will be part of a dramatic shift in the atmosphere over the eastern United States that is taking place in the space of about a week. A weather pattern that unleashed out-of-season cold and snow to a large portion of the East will soon give way to one that yields summerlike warmth. What's driving the big change? The jet stream, which will flip from a strong southward dip more typical of January to a significant northward bulge, a phenomenon more common during the mid to late summer. AccuWeather meteorologists will be tracking the area of disturbed weather that may evolve into a tropical system near the Bahamas late this week amid the summery pattern. The center of this tropical or semi-tropical feature, and most of the rain, is expected to stay east of the U.S. mainland, but there will be some impacts from it reaching the beaches of the U.S. and perhaps more significant impact to the islands offshore. Showers and thunderstorms may occur over part of South Florida late this week. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP However, there is some indication that the broad area of showers and thunderstorms in this zone from Friday to Sunday could develop some spin and perhaps give birth to the first depression or even named tropical feature of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. The first tropical system of the 2020 season will be named Arthur. Story continues "As long as this system sits out in the water and it can sit there and develop, it could become a subtropical system and in time a tropical entity. This is how you get early season development. We call it homegrown, because systems develop close to the United States, and it's the interaction between the jet stream and the tropics that can form them," AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. A non-tropical system could transition into a subtropical or weak tropical system as early as this weekend or early next week, according to Kottlowski. The potential system will encounter some weather factors that typically favor tropical development and others that can often inhibit strengthening and organization of features. "It appears this system, should it form, will likely be lopsided with a considerable amount of dry air on its westward side, closest to the U.S., and showers and thunderstorms on its eastern side, over the Bahamas," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said. Such a configuration and atmospheric setup would suggest a subtropical system rather than a fully tropical system. This means the storm could contain both tropical and non-tropical characteristics. Tropical systems have warm, moist air surrounding the center while sub-tropical systems can have some warmth near the core but also have some cool air in the mix. "This feature will have warmer-than-average waters working for it south of Bermuda," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said. AccuWeather is projecting a very active hurricane season for the Atlantic due, in part, to above-normal water temperatures that are already being observed across parts of the basin, including from the Caribbean Sea to an area east of the Bahamas. Forecasters issued an update to the 2020 season prediction last week as indications are pointing toward a developing La Nina, which is a pattern that would decrease the episodes of disruptive wind shear, or winds that change in speed or direction in different levels of the atmosphere, across key development regions of the Atlantic Ocean. That won't be the case with the system that meteorologists are monitoring in the western Atlantic. "Working against the feature will be wind shear," Anderson said. Strong winds aloft will cause the system to lean in the vertical and limit its overall strength. Even though the official Atlantic hurricane season spans June 1 to Nov. 30, tropical systems have been observed in every month of the year over the Atlantic, and May is no stranger to the formation of tropical systems, especially in recent years. In every year since 2012, except for 2014, there has been at least one named tropical system during May. Last year, Subtropical Storm Andrea formed on May 20 well east of the Bahamas before dissipating the next day. The most recent tropical system to form in May over the same near-shore waters that forecasters are watching now was Tropical Storm Bonnie in 2016. The storm rolled to the South Carolina coast just east of Charleston in late May, before turning out to sea. Tropical Storm Bonnie's center sits just off the United States coastline on May 28, 2016. (NOAA / GOES-East) In 2012, Tropical Storm Beryl developed in a similar area to the east of Florida. Beryl took a more westward track, cruising into northern Florida toward the end of May, before reversing its course and heading back out to sea. This image shows Tropical Storm Beryl approaching the upper coast of Florida on May 29, 2012. (NOAA / GOES-East) From late this weekend to early next week, the system is most likely to drift toward Bermuda, according to AccuWeather meteorologists. Beyond early next week, there is some question to the storm's survival and path. "On one hand, the storm may be picked up by a non-tropical storm and flung over the cold waters of the North Atlantic, where it will weaken. On the other hand, the storm could miss this connection and stall or perhaps drift southward and remain an ongoing concern for areas from the Bahamas to Bermuda for days," AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said. Regardless of development and classification of the system, even a non-tropical storm is likely to bring drenching downpours and locally gusty thunderstorms to the Bahamas. From Thursday to Saturday, an AccuWeather Local StormMax of 6 inches of rain is forecast over parts of the central and northern Bahamas. Much of that rain could fall in a few hours time and result in urban flooding. At roughly the same time, the circulation around the storm and an area of high pressure to its north will create gusty winds and building seas and surf from the Bahamas to the southern Atlantic coast and eventually Bermuda. Beachgoers seeking relief from being pent up in recent months due to concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic will need to be wary of the risks when venturing into the surf due to the likelihood of the increase in the frequency and strength of rip currents. Last week marked Hurricane Preparedness Week, and officials and coastal residents alike are grappling with adjusting plans for this season, with the new coronavirus adding complications. On top of that, a busy tropical season lies ahead, according to meteorologists who have been busying analyzing the latest computer models. AccuWeather forecasters last week extended the upper range of hurricanes predicted for the Atlantic hurricane season based on the latest data. The hurricane team, led by Kottlowski, is now predicting 14 to 20 tropical storms, with additions also to the number of storms that become hurricanes: seven to 11 this season. Kottlowski also increased the number of major hurricanes - Category 3 or higher - that could develop this season to four to six. Kottlowski warned that four to six named tropical systems could make direct impacts on the U.S mainland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. For a complete list of names for the 2020 season and to keep tabs on everything related to tropical weather, visit the AccuWeather Atlantic basin hurricane center. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios. News Rochester, Minnesota - The concept of herd immunity, or community immunity, has sparked debate about whether it would control the spread of COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), herd immunity is a situation in which sufficient proportions of a population are immune to an infectious disease to make its spread from person to person unlikely. Dr. Gregory Poland, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases expert and director of the Vaccine Research Group, explains the idea behind herd immunity. https://mayoclinic.org America Newscape is a simple resource for all things America through this portal. These productions are not created or meant for children. For more information please visit https://americanewscape.com Hyderabad, May 12 : Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday termed as "highly objectionable" the decision of Andhra Pradesh government to construct a new lift irrigation scheme to lift Krishna river water from Srisailam Project. Stating that the unilateral decision taken by the Andhra government is against the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganization Act, he declared that a legal fight would be initiated to stop it as it would severely affect the interests of the Telangana State. According to a statement from the Chief Minister's office late Monday night, he instructed the officials concerned to file a complaint against the Andhra government decision in the Krishna Water Management Board. KCR pointed out that taking a unilateral decision on the inter-state Srisailam project water issue and planning construction of a new project without the consent from the Apex Committee are the mistakes committed by the neighbouring state. He made it clear the project would be stopped by the Telangana government and it would put up a fight without any compromise. Andhra Pradesh government, which decided to construct a new Lift Irrigation project to lift 3 TMC of water from the Srisailam project, had already issued a Government Order (GO) in this regard. At a high-level meeting with ministers and officials, KCR discussed at length about the proposed project. "Srisailam project is AP and Telangana state's combined project. Water from these projects should be utilised by both the States. But the AP government without even consulting the Telangana state has decided to lift water from Srisailam project and issued a GO in this regard.A This is highly objectionable. If Krishna water is diverted by the AP government, then united Palamuru, Nalgonda, Rangareddy districts will face water crisis for both drinking and agriculture purposes. Hence, we will file a complaint with the KRMB and seek directions to stop the project," the CM said. He recalled that Telangana extended a friendly hand to Andhra Pradesh stating that river waters should be utilised for the benefit of farmers in both the states setting aside all the differences and disputes of the past. "I have taken the initiative by saying there should not be any ego or water basin problems in utilizing the water. It is very painful that despite this, the AP government declared a new scheme without even consulting with the Telangana state to lift water from Srisailam project unilaterally." The enemy used weapons banned by the Minsk peace agreements. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded in action, another three servicemen sustained combat-related injuries in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, in the past day. "As a result of enemy shelling, one member of the Joint Forces was wounded, three sustained combat-related injuries," Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) Headquarters said on Facebook in a morning update on May 11. Read alsoUkrainian troops destroy enemy firing position in Donbas (Video) On May 10, armed formations of the Russian Federation mounted 15 attacks on JFO positions in Ukraine's east, using proscribed weapons, namely 122mm artillery systems, 82mm and 120mm mortars. In particular, Russia-controlled troops lobbed forty-one 82mm and 120mm mortar shells to attack Ukrainian units deployed outside the city of Avdiyivka, while fifty-four 82mm and 120mm mortar shells and twenty-five 122mm artillery projectiles were fired to attack JFO members near the village of Orikhove. Other hot spots were the village of Starohnativka, where the enemy used armament of infantry fighting vehicles, and the village of Novotoshkivske, which saw three attacks with the use of 122 artillery systems, 82mm and 120mm mortars. What is more, Russia-led formations opened fire from an anti-tank missile complex, grenade launchers of various systems, heavy machine guns, and rifles. Ukraine's JFO units fired back, using available weapons. According to Ukrainian intelligence reports, five enemy troops were wounded on May 10. From 00:00 to 07:00 Kyiv time on May 11, Russia-led forces were observing the ceasefire in Donbas. ALBANY Capital Region colleges and K-12 schools are well-represented on a 20-member advisory committee appointed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to help New York officials and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation "reimagine education" in a post-COVID-19 landscape. Albany Superintendent Kaweeda Adams; Stephanie Conklin, a Master Teacher and math instructor at Colonie Central High School; Guilderland school board president Seema Rivera, and Hudson Valley Community College President Roger Ramsammy were among those asked to serve on the advisory council. The group has been asked to "help districts reimagine schools as they prepare to reopen while protecting health and safety, how virtual learning can bridge the gap, and supplement face to face education when schools reopen," Cuomo said. In his Friday announcement, Cuomo emphasized the efforts of teachers and students as the schools executed distance learning plans during pandemic-related school closures. "When we closed school facilities because of the COVID-19 virus, our teachers and students rose to the occasion, and we owe them a debt of gratitude for their heroic work," Cuomo said. "Like everything else, when we do reopen schools it's not just about reopening as they were before, it's about building back even better than before. The collective expertise and experience of this new advisory council will help answer key questions about how we can strengthen New York's entire education system for decades to come." But Cuomo's decision to enlist technology leaders to help expand broadband access in New York and map a plan to reinvent education through technology drew ire last week from union leaders, teachers, and parents concerned that their feedback would be sidelined. The Gates Foundation has been tapped by New York to develop plans to reopen K-12 schools and colleges while modernizing the classroom with an eye towards equity. School leaders are wary of the nonprofit given its role in the widely criticized Common Core academic standards and the state's linking of student test scores to teacher evaluations. The announcement of the panel, which will be chaired SUNY Empire State President Jim Malatras, a former Cuomo aide, appeared to placate the critics - although some criticized lack of representation from larger school districts, including New York City's Board of Education. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. American Federation of Teachers' Randi Weingarten, who initially voiced concerns that teachers would be left out of the conversation, and Interim State Education Commissioner Shannon Tahoe, are also among those on the advisory council. The details and timing of Cuomo's school reopening plan are unclear, but the governor has asked the Gates Foundation to examine how to incorporate "the cloud" in the classroom and how technology can be harnessed to better serve students with disabilities and those who are not proficient in English. Schools have been closed in New York since March 15 and will remain closed through the end of the school year. By PTI NEW DELHI: Two government research bodies at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus are in the process of initiating a population-based serosurvey to monitor the trend in the prevalence of the infection at the district level, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. The Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Centre for Disease Control will collaborate with key stakeholders for the survey at 10 health facilities (6 public and 4 private). A serosurvey involves testing of blood serum of a group of individuals to determine the presence of antibodies against that infection. The ministry said in a document uploaded on its website that there is a need to establish systematic surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 infection in all districts of the country. "This surveillance will be in addition to the routine testing as per current testing guidelines," it stated. The survey will include 200 samples a week and 800 samples per month, it said. It would test outpatient attendees (non-ILI patients) and pregnant women among the low-risk group, and health care workers among the high-risk population. At least 100 samples per week and 400 per month of healthcare workers from selected districts would be tested. The document stated that throat/nasal swabs will be collected for RT-PCR tests and samples would be tested in a one-time pool of 25. "Results of this sample pooling is only for surveillance purposes. It should not be used for diagnosis of individual patients. In addition to throat/nasal swabs, blood samples should be collected for detecting IgG antibodies for ELISA testing. In subsequent rounds, IgG ELISA based testing of serum samples will replace RTPCR based testing for surveillance purpose," it said. Data on demographic characteristics will be collected on a specifically designed standard data collection form. The data will be analyzed locally for action using standard indicator formats. Indicators for person, place, time and trend analysis will be made. Data collation and dissemination will take place as decided jointly by ICMR and department of health and family welfare, it said. Former So. Baptist Pastor Darrin Patrick dies of 'self-inflicted gunshot wound' at 49 Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Correction Appended Pastor Darrin Patrick, who founded The Journey megachurch in Missouri and served as a teaching pastor at the South Caroline-based multi-site Seacoast Church, died at the age of 49, the church said Friday. Darrin was target shooting with a friend at the time of his death. An official cause of death has not been released but it appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No foul play is suspected, Seacoast Church shared in an update Friday evening after announcing his death earlier in the day. The police investigation into the incident is ongoing and it's unknown whether the self-inflicted gunshot wound was "intentional or unintentional," a representative from the church told The Christian Post on Saturday. Pastors Greg and Josh Surratt said in a message on the church's website that they first learned of his death Thursday night. "Pastor Greg has traveled to St. Louis to be with Amie and the kids. We are going to walk with them every step of the way through this they are family," they added. After learning about Patrick's death, J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, and president of the Southern Baptist Convention, shared a message on Twitter, saying: Mourning today the loss of my friend and fellow pastor @darrinpatrick. Darrin was such an encourager to me over the years. Sat at my table. Preached at our church. We know grief of Amie and family must seem unbearable. We love you and are praying for you. Darrin was a good friend who spurred me on to be a better pastor and husband, Robby Gallaty, pastor at Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee, said in a statement. He used past experiences from burnout to put safeguards in place to keep the same from happening in my life. Im am still stunned by the news. In an earlier statement Friday confirming the pastor's death, Seacoast Church said: Darrin was a loved member of the Seacoast family, the teaching team, and pastoral staff and we are mourning his loss. Darrin had a gift for teaching the Word and a heart for encouraging other pastors. God allowed Seacoast to be a part of Darrins story in a time when he needed a family. He was a gift to us and we are thankful for the time the Lord gave him to us. The church added, His influence and impact cannot be measured. We are surrounding the Patrick family with our prayers and support during this time. The church has started an online fundraiser to support the Patrick family. As we process our grief and heartache, we want to provide a way for others to give assistance to the Patrick family, and show their deep love and appreciation for what Darrin meant to them, it says. Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, also issued a statement: When a personal tragedy like this occurs we not only grieve, but we also deal with so many other emotions, Floyd said. Once again, we realize that pastors are not any different from other people. We need relationships and friendships that help us walk through life and the challenges of leadership. The stress of ministry mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually is ever-present. In 2016, Patrick was fired from his position as pastor at The Journey for what his church described as deep historical patterns of sin. Patrick also resigned from his position as vice president of the Acts 29 Network, which plants churches globally. While Patricks sins did not involve adultery, the church elders said at the time, he did violate the high standard for elders in marriage through inappropriate meetings, conversations, and phone calls with two women. Patrick said he was devastated by his sins and apologized to the church. I am utterly horrified by the depth of my sin and devastated by the terrible effects of it on myself, my family and so many others, including all of you. I am so deeply and terribly sorry for the pain that my sin is causing you, as well as the broken trust that my sin has clearly produced. In short, I am a completely devastated man, utterly broken by my sin and in need of deep healing, he said. Responding to Patricks confession, Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore said at the time that Christians should not be shocked when pastors give into the temptation of immorality because sin is just an element of human nature. An earlier version of this article published on May 8 said Pastor Darrin Patrick died of an apparent suicide. A correction was made on May 9. Police are still investigating and it's not yet known whether the self-inflicted gunshot wound was "intentional or unintentional," a representative from the church told The Christian Post. House Democrats are preparing to roll out their own $1.2 trillion bailout package despite Republican resistance to passing another coronavirus economic relief bill so soon. The legislation - dubbed CARES 2 - will likely include nearly $1 trillion to prop up state and local governments, additional money for COVID-19 testing, money to assist the U.S. Postal Service, cash for food stamps and another round of direct payments for American taxpayers. In a Mother's Day letter to her Democratic colleagues, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked that her House Members 'Think Big' for the American people. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, photographed at her weekly press conference on Thursday, informed Democrats in a Mother's Day note to 'think big,' as House Democrats will likely roll out their own $1.2 trillion relief package Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (left) and President Donald Trump (right), do have some wish list items for a new package: including liability protection for businesses, but Larry Kudlow called the state of current negotiations 'informal' 'On this Mother's Day, I ask you to take an extra moment to understand the numbers we are seeing, which are the most overwhelming in our lifetime,' Pelosi wrote. 'These numbers require action that we have never had to take before. This is an historic challenge and therefor momentous opportunity for us to meet the needs of all Americans.' On Sunday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow suggested any votes in the House were premature. 'It's not that we're not talking. We are. It's just informal at this stage,' Kudlow said on ABC's 'This Week.' 'We're collecting ideas for next steps, which will undoubtably be data-driven.' Kudlow said he held a bipartisan conference call Friday with lawmakers from the House and will do the same Monday with members of the Senate. Pelosi acknowledged Friday that President Trump hasn't been part of the negotiations. 'I don't have any idea what the president does,' she told C-SPAN. But the White House does have a wish list for a future relief bill. It includes a payroll tax cut, potential infrastructure spending and liability protection for business, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has also emphasized. Republicans wish to shield businesses from lawsuits stemming from people contracting the coronavirus as the country begins its reopening. On Friday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated he was on board with Pelosi's plan to get Americans more quick help. 'No one could look at today's jobs reports, the highest unemployment since the Great Depression, and say we should hit the pause button on further government action,' Schumer said in a statement. Schumer compared Trump and Congressional Republicans with former President Herbert Hoover, who was criticized for not doing enough to assist the American people at the beginning of the Great Depression. 'We need a big, bold approach now to support American workers and families,' Schumer said. The April jobs report said American unemployment was at 14.7 per cent, the highest level since the Great Depression. House Democrats also want a piece of legislation they can vote on because they want to show they've gotten work done while saying out of Washignton. The Attending Physician of the United States advised House leadership not to come back to Washington due to the coronavirus curve in the D.C. area not being flattened yet. Meanwhile, the Senate, which is under Republican control, was back on Capitol Hill last week. Republicans have used this to hammer House Democrats. 'SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI's HOUSE is not officially coming back yet,' wrote Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn on Twitter Monday morning. 'They are waiting for the release of a new coronavirus bill, which will cost trillions of dollars. Neither this bill nor anything resembling it will ever become law.' 'It's a Democratic wish list filled up with all the partys favored policies,' Cornyn wrote. As of Monday morning, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer informed members that the soonest they'd likely need to be in Washington is Friday. 'Members are advised that conversations surrounding additional CARES legislation and a Rule change related to remote work are ongoing,' Hoyer said. Pakistan's Opposition parties on Monday accused Prime Minister Imran Khan's government of mishandling the coronavirus crisis, as the total number of the COVID-19 patients in the country rose to 31,684. During a National Assembly session convened after a gap of nearly two months, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former defence minister Khawaja Asif led the criticism. Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri chaired the session in the absence of Speaker Asad Qaiser who is recovering from the coronavirus. The meeting is the first since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. Asif said that the federal government was confused over the issue of how to handle the coronavirus crisis. "The current situation that we are in is due to the approximately two months-long negligence showed by the government. When we had fewer deaths, the entire country was completely shut down. Now that we are seeing a dangerous spike in cases, they are easing lockdown restrictions," he said. He also lashed out at the government's inability to increase testing capacity. "Two weeks ago, we were told that our testing capacity will be increased to 50,000. But now we are being told that it is only 20,000, he said. He said that the government was dividing the nation instead of uniting it on one platform as it had no strategy which also revealed the ineptitude of the Prime Minister. Pakistan People's Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that the federal government was impeding efforts of the Sindh government to address the coronavirus crisis. He said that an ordinance prepared by the provincial government was not allowed by the governor. "We demand that the ordinance should be endorsed without any further delay, he said, adding that his party, which rules over Sindh, wanted to support the prime minister to tackle the crisis. "The federal government should've stood with us shoulder to shoulder. We're in the midst of a war, and the PM expects us to fight the war on our own?" he said in the National Assembly. He also said that the centre was not providing kits to medical professionals and questioned whether the federal government wanted the provinces to fight the virus "without the weapons". Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi defended the government's handling of the pandemic, saying the situation of COVID-19 in Pakistan was different as compared to Europe and the United States. "Our death and infection rate is 2.17 per cent. Across the world this percentage is 6.8. So we have been largely spared from the larger consequences of this pandemic, he said. He also claimed that Pakistan was ahead of other South Asian countries in handling the coronavirus crisis. Qureshi also accused India of using the coronavirus crisis to divide the people. He said that Iran sent 4,000-5,000 Pakistanis across the border despite requests to wait until a quarantine facility was developed. Minister of Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar said hunger was as much a threat to Pakistan as the coronavirus itself. "Ours is not a western developed country where people can sit home and eat. We have to balance hunger and poverty with the virus," he said in the National Assembly. He said that if the government continued with the lockdown, 20 million people would go below the poverty line. Meanwhile, the coronavirus cases in the country jumped to 31,684. Out of the 31,684 cases, Punjab registered 11,568 patients, Sindh 12,017, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 4,875, Balochistan 2,017, Islamabad 679, Gilgit-Baltistan 442 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 86 patients. A total of 28 more people have died in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of COVID-19 deaths in Pakistan to 667. Another 8,212 recovered so far. On Monday, Prime Minister Khan chaired a meeting on the crisis where he was briefed about the latest efforts to control the spread of the disease in the wake of easing lockdown. According to an official statement, Khan said that lockdown is being eased in a phased manner according to the situation and to keep a balance between business and health needs. Meanwhile, an army officer died due to coronavirus. "Major Muhammad Asghar laid his life in the line of duty at Torkham border in fight against #COVID-19. Evacuated to CMH (combined military hospital) Peshawar with breathing problems, was put on ventilator but succumbed to Corona Virus. There is no cause bigger than serving the Nation, an army spokesman tweeted. Also, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) extended a ban on the domestic flights until May 13 as part of the government's instructions to minimize travelling of people. The earlier ban ended on May 10. Minister for Information Shibli Faraz launched a campaign "Masks for All" as part of the government's measures to contain COVID-19. He said that five million free masks will be distributed across the country. Separately, Special Assistance on Security Dr Moeed Yusuf told the media that the government was working hard to bring back all stranded Pakistanis at the earliest. "We will try to do everything to bring our people back. We currently are trying to bring back 10,000 Pakistanis, most whom will be from Middle Eastern countries, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sudanese authorities said tribal clashes killed three people Sunday and wounded at least 79 others in the countrys east, the latest in a series of outbursts of tribal violence that could derail the countrys fragile transition to democracy. READ: Statue Of Christ The Redeemer Used In Anti Hunger Campaign Tribal clashes in Sudan The fighting in the city of Kassalla first erupted on Thursday between the Bani Amer tribe and the Nuba tribe, according to Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Babaker, the governor of Kassalla province. Babaker said clashes flared up again over the weekend, with many houses set on fire before authorities deployed troops to restore security in the city. At least 59 people from the two sides were arrested. The three deaths occurred Sunday and were all members of the Bani Amer tribe. Tribal clashes across Sudan pose a significant challenge to efforts by the transitional government to end decades-long rebellions in some areas. The country is on a fragile path to democracy after a popular uprising led the military to overthrow longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir last year. A military-civilian government is now in power. READ: Oklahoma College's Graduation Hacked With Racist Images The city of Kassala is around 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Sudans capital, Khartoum. Footage circulated online showed dozens of people clashing in the streets and burned houses sending thick clouds of heavy black smoke to the air. In an address to the nation, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council, said on Sunday the military and other security agencies would act decisively to secure the country, lives and property. We all would stand united against the plotters who are the enemies of the people ... and the enemies of the peoples glorious revolution, Burhan said. He was apparently referring to Islamists and those allied with the regime of former regime of al-Bashir. READ: Intel Mulls New Chip Plant Amid Concern Over Asian Supplies The violence came as authorities struggle to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Sudans health care system has been weakened by decades of war and sanctions. The country of 43 million people has at least 1,164 confirmed cases including 64 deaths. Tensions between the Bani Amer and Nuba tribes mainly over water but also other resources started in May last year the eastern city of al-Qadarif, where seven people were killed. The fighting was renewed again in August in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, killing over three dozen people. Last week, tribal clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs in the province of South Darfur left at least 30 people dead and a dozen wounded, authorities said. A key priority of Sudans military-civilian government has been ending the insurgencies in Sudans far-flung provinces in order to slash military spending, which takes up much of the national budget. Rebel groups have for months engaged in talks with the transitional authorities to establish peace. READ: Russian Spacecraft Used For Satellite Launch Disintegrates In Earth's Orbit: Space Agency She recently denied any romantic connection to her former Dancing On Ice partner Alexander Demetriou after he split from his wife last month. And Maura Higgins was worlds away from the drama on Monday, as she slipped into some pretty pink lingerie and showcased her sexy dance moves on Instagram. The Love Island star, 29, sizzled in a hot-pink lacy bra teamed with matching knickers, as well as a pair of matching suspenders and a belt. Wow! Maura Higgins slipped into some pretty pink lingerie and showcased her sexy dance moves on Instagram on Monday The set highlighted her incredible toned physique as she sashayed towards the camera in the short clip, which she shared with her 2.8million followers. Maura kept her look glamorous as she styled her brunette locks in bouncy girls, and opted for a full face of make-up in nude tones. She accessorised with a nameplate chain necklace and a delicate bangle. Maura captioned the clip: 'Don't cha wish your lingerie was as hot as mine...' Work it: The Love Island star, 29, sizzled in a hot-pink lacy bra teamed with matching knickers, as well as a pair of matching suspenders and a belt Slender: The set highlighted her incredible toned physique as she sashayed towards the camera in the short clip, which she shared with her 2.8million followers On Sunday, Maura insisted she is just friends' former Dancing On Ice skate partner Alexander. The Dancing on Ice star made the admission when taking part in an Instagram Q&A, when asked by a fan if she's bothered by the speculation surrounding their relationship. Maura shared in response: 'It doesn't bother me. We're in 2020 and a man and women cannot just be friends.' Sizzling: Maura kept her look glamorous as she styled her brunette locks in bouncy girls, and opted for a full face of make-up in nude tones She then zoomed in on her face and said: 'Pure sh*** you know.' Maura also revealed that she has struggled with adjusting to fame since leaving the Love Island villa, but assured fans that she is still single. Her revelation comes after the Dancing On Ice star confirmed he has separated from wife Carlotta Edwards. Pretty: She accessorised with a nameplate chain necklace and a delicate bangle The professional skater, 28, took to Instagram stories to confirm the news and revealed to his followers that it had been a 'tough time' for him. It comes amid weeks of speculation that their four year marriage was on the rocks amid reports that he became 'besotted' with Love Island beauty Maura. In a statement posted on Instagram stories, Alexander said: 'I'm Sorry I have been quiet on social media recently but it's been a tough time for me personally. Lacy: Maura captioned the clip: 'Don't cha wish your lingerie was as hot as mine...' 'Carlotta and I have separated. Although it saddens me that we can no longer be together, I feel this is best for both of us. 'I'm looking forward to what the future will bring but in the meantime let's all say home and stay safe.' A friend of the former couple recently told their marriage troubles 'came as a shock', as they were so close before the last Dancing On Ice series. Sad times: The reality star was asked by a fan if she's bothered by the speculation surrounding her and Alexander's relationship following the news he and his wife had split A source told The Sun: 'Everything has seemed fine and her family thought they were having a good time. 'No one in her family suspected anything was up between them, so obviously this has all been quite a shock.' It was also reported that the pair had removed their wedding rings, with Carlotta having flown to her native Canada while Alexander remained in London. All over: Maura's revelation comes after the Dancing On Ice star confirmed he has separated from wife Carlotta Edwards Skate partner: The split follows weeks of speculation that their four year marriage was on the rocks amid reports that he became 'besotted' with Love Island beauty Maura It was said their four-year marriage had 'collapsed', following his pairing with Maura on the ITV contest last year, where Alex allegedly became 'besotted' with the Irish beauty. A source told The Sun: 'Carlotta and Alex are taking a break from their marriage and are trying to work out what they want from the future. 'Isolation is giving them a lot of time to think and both are with their families. 'Alexs friendship with Maura was the first proper crack in their relationship. But now theyre at breaking point.' Confirmation: The professional skater took to Instagram stories on Sunday to confirm the news and revealed to his followers that it had been a 'tough time' for him In a worrying development, COVID-19 infections in Dharavi, one of the world's biggest slums, are increasing at a spiralling rate. On Thursday, the number of COVID-19 patients reached 783 with 50 new cases surfacing there, a senior official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. So far 21 people have died due to the infection in the slum, but no death was reported on Thursday. According to the official, the fresh cases were detected in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, 60-feet Road, transit camp, 90-feet Road, Matunga Labour camp, Kumbharwada,Indira Nagar, Kala Kills and some other localities of Dharavi. BCCL The Central team has advised the state to aggressively expand its isolation facilities and shift high-risk people in containment zones of Dharavi to control community spread. Overall, Maharashtra reported 1,216 new cases and 43 more deaths, taking its tally of confirmed cases so far to 17,974 with 694 fatalities. The nationwide tally of COVID-19 cases crossed 56,000 on Thursday with big urban centres like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai reporting rising numbers of people having tested positive for the deadly virus infection, but the count of those who have recovered also neared 16,000. BCCL More than 5,000 new cases have been detected across the country since Wednesday morning, figures announced by different states and union territories showed. The nationwide death toll also crossed 1,800 while fatalities were reported from paramilitary forces too. A significant number of health workers and security personnel, who are among the 'frontline warriors' in the COVID-19 fight, have tested positive for the deadly virus in the recent days. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 12:54:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CHANGCHUN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Northeast China's Jilin Province reported three new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, local health authorities said Monday. The provincial health commission said the three domestically transmitted cases in the city of Jilin were all close contacts of earlier confirmed cases in Shulan, a county-level city administered by the city of Jilin. Of the three, one was earlier an asymptomatic case. Shulan reported 11 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday, who were all domestically transmitted cases. Local authorities in Shulan have taken some lockdown measures, including limiting traffic, closing amusement parks, libraries and Internet cafes. Third graders at junior and senior high schools who have previously returned to school are required to have online classes at home. By Sunday, the province had reported a total of 108 locally transmitted confirmed cases, including one death and 92 that had been discharged from hospitals after recovery. A total of 276 close contacts of the locally transmitted confirmed cases in the province are now under medical observation. Enditem Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 11, 2020 18:39 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd7515b7 1 National COVID-19-in-Indonesia,rapid-testing,kimia-farma,Netherlands,Biozek,made-in-China Free Hundreds of thousands of rapid test kits imported by the government from the Netherlands were made in China and have low accuracy, a report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has revealed. State-owned Indonesian pharmaceutical company Kimia Farma imported 300,000 of the testing kits early in April from a pharmaceutical company in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, called Inzek International Trading BV. Kimia Farma's strategic direct procurement assistant manager Fandji Yudha Yudistira told tempo.co he had gone to Apeldoorn to check the test kits before the purchase. Although he did not see the production, he believed the test kits, called Biozek, were manufactured in the Netherlands. Biozeks official website also claimed the same. However, an OCCRP investigation revealed that the Biozek test kits were not manufactured in the Netherlands but in China, allegedly by a company called AllTest Biotech Co. Ltd. and were rebranded by Inzek. Inzek's CEO Zeki Hamid admitted that the Biozek test kits were produced in China. He said the official website did not intend to claim the test kits were manufactured in the Netherlands but only "as a Netherlands brand", and the made in the Netherlands" claim had been removed from the site. Read also: From test kits to robots, Indonesia develops locally made devices to aid COVID-19 battle Although AllTest and Inzek claimed that the test kits have around 90 percent accuracy to test immunoglobulin, a type of antibody formed by plasma cells when someone is infected by a virus, several research studies have shown otherwise. Research conducted by John Bell from Oxford University in the United Kingdom found the accuracy level of the test kits was much lower, causing the British government to cancel orders for rapid test kits from China. A non-peer review study conducted in Spain by MedRxiv-arkaiv showed that the test kits only had around 47 percent accuracy levels. The study found that the test kits showed false negative results in more than half of 55 positive COVID-19 samples that were tested through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. Despite some research having questioned Biozeks accuracy, the brand is still on the list of recommended rapid test kits produced by the COVID-19 task force. The Presidential Palace also uses Biozek to rapid test guests. COVID-19 national task force chief Doni Monardo said the government still prioritized PCR tests to accurately test the virus. Read also: COVID-19: Indonesia secures 50,000 PCR tests kits to expedite mass testing "We all know that rapid tests have low accuracy. That's the reason the World Health Organization has not made rapid tests the sole indicator of detecting the COVID-19 virus and still prioritizes PCR tests," he said on Monday. He said the government was currently working hard to increase the nationwide PCR testing capacity to 10,000 specimens per day. "The President has asked for an increase in staffing in all the labs. We've asked the labs to recruit new staff including personnel from the Indonesian Military and the National Police who have the capacity to conduct lab testing," he said. (nal) We used to pride ourselves on a just-in-time system, said United Dairymen of Arizona CEO Keith Murfield on the May 6 episode of DairyLivestream. But that turned out to be just a disaster. COVID-19s upheaval of daily life as we knew it has created a tremendous number of questions for the future. One weighing on the minds of many food producers is how food supply chains can become more flexible to prevent shortfalls like those that have occurred recently. Just in time The just-in-time system makes sense because it is efficient suppliers dont have to make and keep excess packaging, processing plants dont need to invest in additional expensive refrigeration equipment, and grocery stores dont need as much space for inventory. The system chugs along and fills the holes as they open. That is, until it cant. Breaks in the chain of the magnitude the ones COVID-19 has imposed wreak havoc on this system when multiple aspects get backed up quickly and then affect others. Unfortunately, nearly every agricultural industry has experienced those backups in recent weeks. Choices and cushions As a result, food supply chains have had to quickly adjust to be able to maintain as much production as possible. Sometimes, that means producing quality products requires sacrificing some quantity. On the May 6 DairyLivestream, Jay Bryant, CEO of Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers, reported that some of the cooperatives retail customers were asking them to just run whole and 2% milk. Filling some orders is better than filling none while waiting on parts. Might those adjustments to processing lines become a more regular occurrence? Possibly, Bryant said. The changes that are happening now . . . youre not just going to go back and forget about all that. In some parts of the country, logistical challenges resulted in empty shelves. Murfield mentioned that this situation may be a wake-up call for processors and grocers to keep more inventory on hand in the future to prevent similar shortages. Bryant advised, People are going to take a step back to think about making a cushion. An ongoing series of events Where are dairy exports headed? will be the focus of the May 13 DairyLivestream. Former Secretary of Agriculture and current CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, Tom Vilsack, will be the featured guest. This episode is sponsored by Lallemand. As always, the panel of experts will discuss over 30 minutes of audience questions. You can also submit questions ahead of time by emailing livestream@hoards.com. If you havent joined a DairyLivestream broadcast yet, register here. Registering for previous broadcasts registers you for every week. To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com. (c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2020 May 11, 2020 Working from home isnt an option for low-income employees and primarily benefits those who make more money and save more money as a result. Credit: Alizee Baudez/Unsplash The importance of remote work, also known as telecommuting, is evident during the current COVID-19 crisis. During a period of confinement and physical distancing, telecommuting has enabled some workers to carry out their usual tasks from home. But remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality for workers in many different ways. These are related to the job sector and employers, as well as to the loss of the benefits associated with remote work. As shown in the graph below, compiled from the 2015 Canadian General Social Survey (GSS), the number of telecommuters increases with personal income. The higher a person's salary, the most likely they are to be able to work from home: Income and industry variations The possibility of working remotely isn't available to everyone, with one Canadian study estimating that only 44 percent of jobs are compatible with telecommuting. Remote work is particularly common among university graduates, managers and professionals, but its practice also depends on the sector and the nature of the job. Finance, for example, compared to manufacturing, is more suitable to remote work. Consequently, many workers are deprived of an alternative that allows them to continue working during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2015 GSS data shows that two of the occupation categories employing the most workers in Canada have very low proportions of telecommuters. Remote work is much more frequently practised in only four of the 10 occupation categories. Occupations with a large share of low income workers generally have few telecommuters, as the graphs below illustrate. The option to work from home also varies across organizations since some are more reluctant than others to offer it. In 2013, an estimated 23 percent of businesses offered telecommuting options in Canada. During the COVID-19 pandemic, employees unable to work from home, such as restaurant servers, personal trainers or manufacturing workers, may be laid off temporarily or permanently, a burden that seems to be falling disproportionately on low-income workers. Credit: 2015 Canadian General Social Survey (GSS), weighted to represent the Canadian workforce Benefits not available to low-income workers Telecommuters also enjoy potential benefits stemming from a flexible schedule that can improve their work-life balance, including less time spent commuting. In addition, people who work from home spend less on food, clothing and transportation. In 2011 in Canada, cost savings were estimated at between $600 and $3,500 annually for an individual telecommuting two days a week. Studies have shown that employees in Canada, the United States and France view telecommuting positively in terms of work-life balance. Those unable to telecommute, most of them low-income workers, are unable to reap these lifestyle and financial benefits. Given its potential benefits, telecommuting is an attractive option to many. Studies have shown a substantial number of workers would even agree to a lower salary for a job that would allow them to work from home. The appeal of remote work can be especially strong during times of crisis, but also exists under more normal circumstances. The ongoing crisis therefore amplifies inequalities when it comes to financial and work-life balance benefits. If there's a broader future adoption of telecommuting, a likely result of the current situation, that would still mean a large portion of the working population, many of them low-income workers, would be disadvantaged. This raises important issues for governments and organizations in general. This is especially true in the current public health crisis as workers and companies are suffering substantial financial losses. The federal and provincial governments have already taken appropriate action through a series of measures such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. Obviously, these measures aren't directly targeting inequalities related to telecommuting, but they nevertheless help ease the financial woes of workers. Governments and firms have also taken measures to increase the wages of many workers who work on the front line of the pandemic, namely grocery stores and nursing home employees. But governments can and should do more to increase the adoption of remote work to help reduce inequalities. Policies to encourage telecommuting could be justified for many reasons, including reducing travel at peak hours during the climate change crisis and accommodating employees with family constraints. Credit: 2015 Canadian General Social Survey (GSS), weighted to represent the Canadian workforce. How to solve remote work inequality? Governments should encourage the adoption of telecommuting by employers where it's possible but not yet implemented. They could, for instance, provide information to organizations about how it works. This could take the form of guides for the implementation of remote work that would establish well-defined objectives and describe how results will be evaluated, as well as follow-up protocols. Governments could also consider subsidizing and offering fiscal incentives for organizations that offer remote work options, for example by helping to provide home computers and other equipment for workers. High-speed internet is not available for a substantial number of Canadians located in rural areas. The federal government and some provincial governments have announced their intent to bring high-speed internet access to rural and remote areas, but delivery has been slow to come. While this will increase the feasibility of remote work for some workers, a large share of the workforce those in manufacturing and service industries, for example aren't helped by it because they have jobs that are incompatible with remote work. That means that even with existing and potential government encouragement, achieving equal access to remote work across all income levels will continue to be a challenging problem. Explore further Telecommuting found to have little impact on corporate careers This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with chief ministers on Monday, about a week before the third phase of lockdown ends. PM Modi said at the meeting that the government will have to think about moving forward and talked about a holistic approach. In this entire fight, the world has said that we have been successful in fighting the threat of Covid-19. State governments have played a major role in this fight. They have understood their responsibility and served their roles in countering this threat, the Prime Minister said. We stressed that people should stay where they are. But its human nature to want to go home and so we had to modify or change our decisions. Despite that, we have to make sure that the disease doesnt spread and go to villages, thats our big challenge, he added talking about the movement of migrants. This is PM Modis fifth video-conference with the chief ministers on tackling the Covid-19 outbreak. Home Minister Amit Shah, who was also present in the meeting, highlighted the importance of the Aarogya Setu mobile application and urged the chief ministers to popularise its download as it will help in tracking the spread of the virus. At the previous meetings, the Prime Minister has taken suggestions from chief ministers on the contours and extension of the national lockdown, put in place to check the spread of infections. Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba met state chief secretaries on Sunday and advised them to ensure that green zones - areas that are largely Covid-19-free - remain insulated from the spread of the pathogen, according to an official who was present during the interaction and spoke on condition of anonymity. The states were also asked to allow unhindered movement of health care workers, the official added. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said on Sunday no Covid-19 case has been reported in 10 states and union territories in the last 24 hours (between Saturday and Sunday) and the recovery rate has increased to over 30 per cent, asserting India was moving fast on the path of success in the fight against the pandemic. According to health ministry data, 1,736 Covid-19 patients recovered in the last 24 hours - the highest number of recoveries recorded in one day. The Union Health ministry on May 1 classified 733 districts as 130 in the red zone, 284 in the orange zone and 319 in the green zone, taking into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback. In March 2020, of all regions of Ukraine, only Poltava region fully paid 300% of the salary bonus to health workers. Head of the Ministry of Healthcare Maksym Stepanov said this during a briefing that he held during the visit to Poltava region. In March, doctors working with patients infected with coronavirus received $782 each. "The only region that really paid in full is precisely Poltava region; on average, they paid about $782 to each healthcare worker who worked with Covid-19 patients," Stepanov noted. Stepanov said that the Ministry of Healthcare will study the situation with the payment of these allowances in other regions. On May 8, the information on the payment of bonuses for March for Covid-19 is not encouraging, especially in some areas. I will report to the President and Prime minister," he said. Stepanov also said that during a working trip, he would look into the experience of a pilot project in Poltava region on introducing the basic principles of reforming the healthcare system. According to him, Poltava was elected because last year, starting from April 1, it was Poltava region that worked in a pilot project; it was designed precisely to make the transition in reforming secondary and tertiary care medicine comfortable. As we reported before, the Minister of Health of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov said that he would insist on making managerial decisions, including staffing, due to the delay in paying 300% of the bonuses to health workers. The dock where Charles Darwin's ship HMS Beagle spent its final days has been given protected status to help preserve it for the public. The legendary 19th century vessel was most likely dismantled at a submerged mud berth on the River Roach near Paglesham in Essex, according to Historic England. The location has been designated as a 'scheduled monument' by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of the conservation charity. Darwin made the discoveries that led to the formulation of his theory of evolution while aboard the vessel on its second ever voyage from 1831 to 1836. Visitors to the confirmed final location of HMS Beagle will soon be able to immerse themselves in a virtual tour of the vessel's interior. Location of the final resting place of the HMS Beagle, according to Historic England. The circled location is on the north bank of Paglesham Reach on the River Roach, near the Eastend Wharf and Waterside Farm, River Roach, Essex Location of the demise of HMS Beagle, on the River Roach. An archaeological survey concluded in 2008 that much of HMS Beagle's remains are still buried beneath the mud at the site 'The voyages of HMS Beagle had a transformative impact on the world and they began here on our shores two hundred years ago,' said Heritage Minister Nigel Huddleston. 'As 2020 marks a special anniversary in the Beagle's past, it is fitting that the significant site of its last days will be protected for the future.' HMS Beagle was first launched in May 1820 from Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, with the purpose of accompanying larger ship HMS Adventure on a hydrographic survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego in South America. The site in Essex where they say the HMS Beagle was likely dismantled at a dock by its owner around 1870 Multispectral UAV survey involved flying a UAV (drone) fitted with a specialist camera, which captures red, green, infrared, near-infrared light, to create a Neutral Density Vegetation Index (NDVI). This has created a clear outline within the dataset of the original mud dock where HMS Beagle was most likely dismantled, confirming its location But the ship is best known for its second voyage, which carried carrying 22-year-old Darwin across the Atlantic, around the the southern tip of South America and via Tahiti and Australia, under the command of Captain Robert Fitzroy. Based on fossils of extinct species and observations of living plants and animals, Darwin developed his theory of natural selection, later detailed in his seminal 1859 work, On the Origin of the Species. Following three far-flung exploratory voyages, the Beagle was refitted as a static watch vessel for the Essex Coastguard in 1845 to curb smuggling, until it was sold for scrap in 1870 and eventually demolished, likely by whoever bought it. The remains of an anchor on the shore indicate that ship remains are to be found in the area, though this is not the Beagle's anchor, which has already been found in the past Before the ship's destruction, she had been moored in the River Roach, which is part of a network of waterways and marshes known as The River Crouch and River Roach Tidal River System. But the exact location of the vessel's undistinguished demise had been undetermined until dedicated research of the area that kicked off at the turn of the century. Previous surveys undertaken by a team led by the late Dr Robert Prescott from the University of St Andrews in 2003, and more recent work by the University of Southampton, showed that there are the remains of material still buried beneath the surface at Rochford mud dock. HMS Beagle in the Straits of Magellan - Reproduction of frontispiece from Charles Darwin (1890), 'Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle Blueprint of HMS Beagle in 1832. Visitors will be able to immerse themselves in a CGI tour of the HMS Beagle by holding their smartphones or tablets up to the horizon The Rochford mud dock a specifically cut mooring place in which a vessel rests on the bottom at low tide was constructed sometime after 1847. Despite what was probably once a common feature on England's major waterways, particularly in the absence of designed dockyards, the locations of purpose-built mud docks are not well known and only five are recorded in England, Historic England said. A mud dock of the same type can be seen in John Constable's 1815 painting Boat-Building Near Flatford Mill on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Mud berths included the need for shoring to stabilise the sides, and wooden stocks to support the ship. The sloped brick hard extended alongside the dock and ship's side, allowing people access down the foreshore to low water. In 2019, Historic England commissioned Wessex Archaeology to investigate the Paglesham mudflats in Rochford, thought to be the last resting place of the Beagle, ahead of the bicentenary of the vessels launch in May 2020 Archaeologists at the site in Essex, who used geophysical surveys and an aerial survey by drone Maritime archaeologists confirmed the location of the mud dock and a brick slope or hard using geophysical surveys and an aerial survey by drone. Its outline, location and size matches the indentation of the riverbank recorded on early Ordnance Survey maps. Rochford District Council now plans to build an observation platform at the RSPB Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project, overlooking the River Roach where the ship was moored, to commemorate it. A mud dock of the same type can be seen in John Constables 1815 painting Boat-Building near Flatford Mill, by John Constable (1776-1837) Visitors to the site will be able to immerse themselves in a CGI tour of the HMS Beagle on their smartphone, by holding their device to the horizon. The site will be benefiting from a scheduled monument classification Historic England's oldest form of heritage protection, giving it protection against unauthorised change. Once a monument is scheduled, any works to it, with few exceptions, require scheduled monument consent from the Secretary of State. 'This is a fascinating example of a rare piece of maritime history, linked to one of the world's most famous ships,' said Duncan Wilson, Historic England chief executive. 'We are glad to see this site in a quiet corner of Essex given national protection.' The site will also get new historic information boards and a walking path, the 'Beagle trail', which will take visitors around the nature reserve, ending up on the sea wall. If the sale of a Northampton County hospital falls through nearly 700 people will lose their jobs. Steward Easton Hospital filed a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notice with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry this month. Steward Easton Hospital notified the state that if an anticipated sale of the hospital doesnt go through by June 30, the hospital at 250 South 21st St. in Wilson will close and 694 people will be laid off. Steward Health Care was in the midst of negotiating a sale with St. Lukes University Health Network when the COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S., according to a LehighValleyLive.com report. In March the hospital was set to close but worked with the Wolf administration to receive $8 million in federal stimulus money to keep the hospital open, the report said. READ MORE: Easton Hospital at 250 S. 21st St. in Wilson Borough is seen in April 2019. (Photo by Steve Novak, LehighValleyLive)Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com As you know, when Steward acquired Easton Hospital in 2017, the hospital was struggling and had been for many years, the hospital said in a letter to the state. Since the acquisition, Steward has made substantial investments to improve the hospital facilities, recruit talented medical staff, and has reconfigured service offerings all with the goal of making the hospital a viable operating entity. Despite our best efforts and investment in Easton Hospital, patient demand has stayed extremely low and our facility remains significantly underutilized. Recognizing this, Steward has been, and will continue to, work diligently to sell Easton Hospital to a prospective buyer, so that clinical operations can continue, and the majority of employees working at Easton Hospital can retain their jobs. Steward says it is working with the prospective buyer to hire a number of hospitals employees as part of the transition, but that some individuals will be impacted due to changes in size and scope of services that will occur after the sale. The hospital filed the WARN notice because some employees will be affected by the transition as some positions at the hospital will be eliminated between now and June 30th, in addition to informing the state that the hospital will close if the sale falls through. Steward Health Care is based in Texas and owns two hospitals in Pennsylvania. In addition to the Easton Hospital, the company owns Sharon Regional Medical Center in Sharon in Mercer County. The WARN Act is federal legislation that offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of a covered-business closing and covered-business mass layoff. The company filed the notice with the state on May 1. --Sign up for PennLives newsletters Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. You can follow Daniel Urie on twitter @DanielUrie2018 and you can like PennLives business page on Facebook at @PennLiveBusiness ALTON During this week, students from Alton area schools will be recieving schedules on when to pick up and return items to the respective school. Alton High School released its schedule May 6. In a letter sent to students, the returing process will be done in a curbside fashion and will maintain social distancing standerds. The process will be done one grade per day, and if a family has more than one student, they must bring them all on the day that serves the oldest students. Today, the Journal announces its endorsements in contested primaries in U.S. House races for Districts 1 and 2. District 1 GOP primary Michelle Garcia Holmes Garcia Holmes is a veteran of law enforcement with a focus on crimes against children and homicides. She worked for the Albuquerque Police Department for 20 years as an officer and detective, and she was chief of staff for former New Mexico Attorney General Gary King for eight years. Garcia Holmes says crime and poor education has persistently held the state back. Her experience attacking money laundering and drug crime, and collaborating with the U.S. Attorneys Office, FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency and local law enforcement means she can hit the ground running. If elected, she says she would like to sit down with Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and discuss a compromise to the citys sanctuary city policy, which recently prevented the city from receiving a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to combat crime. Garcia Holmes also has reining in health care costs on her priority list, saying New Mexicans need clarity in billing and portability in coverage. And she believes in a balanced approach to energy, supporting the traditional fuels that pay the bills in New Mexico while capitalizing on wind and solar. A former Democrat, Garcia Holmes says shes ready to work with Democrats in a bipartisan manner. Congress isnt working together, she says. Ive been on both sides and will fight for the Constitution, the 2nd Amendment, the sanctity of life (and) for veterans, seniors and children. Her willingness to work across the aisle and her crime-fighting experience are among the reason the Journal is endorsing Garcia Holmes in the GOP primary for the 1st District, which primarily consists of the Albuquerque metropolitan area. The winner in the GOP primary will face incumbent U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, who is unopposed in the Democratic primary. District 2 GOP primary Claire Chase Chase is a first-time candidate, but shes not new to the political scene, having been an advocate for the oil and gas industry for seven years. Chase was the first woman and youngest chairman of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association and was also president of the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico. She and her husband own Mack Energy of Artesia and a pecan farm in Eddy County, another important industry in the 2nd District, which spans the southern half of New Mexico. Her extensive background in the O&G industry enables her to be a strong advocate for thousands of oilfield workers in a time of tremendous strife. Chase also has experience on Capitol Hill, having worked for former U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce and former Sen. Pete Domenici. She says she learned how to fight from Pearce and how to be a statesman from Domenici. The New Mexico Military Institute high school graduate and mother of 3-year-old twins says she got into the race because younger, conservative leaders need to step up. She says her priorities include securing our border, which will help improve the economy and decrease the crime rate, and she believes Congress needs to increase checkpoint funding and the worker visa program, especially for those in the oil and gas and agricultural industries. She says 2nd Amendment rights are important to her district and dedicated mental health funding is the way to address the broken people caught up in drugs and crime. And as the granddaughter of a base commander, she wants to ensure those in New Mexico stay strong. The winner in the GOP primary will face incumbent U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, who is unopposed in the Democratic primary. Read: Q&As: Primary candidates for 1st & 2nd congressional districts . This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers. The Member of Parliament for North Tongu Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says he disagrees with President Akufo-Addos assertion that some political actors will want Ghanaians to believe that the government has failed with its COVID-19 fight due to the rising numbers in positive cases for their political survival. Nana Akufo-Addo addressing Ghanaians on the COVID-19 situation on Sunday, 10 May 2020 said I know some political actors would want you to believe that our current numbers represent a failure on the part of the government but do not begrudge them, adding: They need to make such comments for their political survival. The President reported that the numbers of confirmed cases that have been announced since Friday, 8 May, are current daily figures since all the backlog of samples have been cleared. So, as of today, Sunday, 10 May 2020, the country has conducted a total of 160,501 tests with our total number of infections standing at 4,700; 494 recoveries, five persons being critically ill and 4, 179 persons responding to treatment, he stated. Responding to the President, the North Tongu lawmaker in a Facebook said: I respectfully and vehemently disagree with President Akufo-Addo. This is not about political survival; it is all about human survival. According to him, from Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Keir Rodney Starmer, Bobi Wine to many other political opponents in any vibrant democracy; offering constructive critique and suggesting policy alternatives, particularly at a trying time like this, are considered a positive, worthy and progressive feature of democratic development. The war against COVID-19, in Mr Ablakwas view, requires our collective contributions and no credible and responsible political opposition is expected to keep mute or sit on the fence for that matter. The contributions of the Ghanaian political opposition led by Former President John Mahama in terms of making expertise available to the nation and providing material support including PPEs, free distribution of face masks, food relief and other kinds of support for the vulnerable should not be dismissed. Let us all learn to be tolerant of each other and we count on President Akufo-Addo to set a better example. Together we shall defeat the marauding virus and humanity shall survive in a much stronger come back, he added. ---classfmonline Credit: European Southern Observatory, M. Kornmesser Poor, dim-witted humanity. We used to think we were the center of everything. That wasn't long ago, and even though we've made tremendous advancements in our understanding of our situation here in space, we still have huge blind spots. For one, we're only now waking up to the reality of interstellar objects passing through our solar system. In 2017, "Oumuamua came for a brief visit and was confirmed as an interstellar object. It'll never return, and will spend an eternity traveling through the universe. Then, a few months ago, we detected our first interstellar comet. An amateur astronomer and telescope engineer at a star party discovered it, and it was named after him. His name was Gennadiy Borisov, and it's now called Comet 2L/Borisov. Pretty cool. But these objects are difficult to study. They show up and leave quickly. Comet Borisov in particular was traveling very quickly, at 32.2 km/s (20 mp/s) relative to the sun when inbound to our solar system. So how about sending a spacecraft to visit one of these interstellar visitors? Gennady Borisov, who lives in Naunchniy near the Crimean Observatory in the Ukraine, discovered the comet C/2013 N4 on July 8. Hes shown here with his two telescopes. Credit: Oleg Bruzgalov That's something that Richard Linares, an assistant professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) at MIT, has been thinking about. He's got an idea. He's developing an idea for a "dynamic orbital slingshot for rendezvous with interstellar objects." Now NASA's getting involved. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program provides funding for "innovative aerospace concepts that could enable and transform future missions." NIAC has selected Linares' research proposal for Phase One funding. NIAC is a well-known entity in space-science circles. They've funded studies into things like deep space probes powered by lightweight nuclear propulsion, sample-return systems for extreme environments, a Pluto orbiter and lander powered by direct fusion drive, and dozens of others. In a press release from MIT, Linares said "There are a lot of fundamental challenges with observing ISOs from Earththey are usually so small that light from the sun needs to illuminate it in a certain way for our telescopes to even detect it." Not only is light a problem, so is the object's speed. "And they are traveling so fast that it's hard to pull together and launch a mission from Earth in the small window of opportunity we have before it's gone," Linares said. "We'd have to get there fast, and current propulsion technologies are a limiting factor." Credit: Universe Today So what's his dynamic orbital slingshot, and how would it work? The idea is centered around solar sails. Solar sails are a propulsion technology based on stellar pressure, or the pressure of photons from the sun. By using a light, reflective material to catch those protons, much like a sailboat's sail catches the wind, spacecraft can be propelled through space. Look at the Planetary Society's LightSail 2 spacecraft, for example. Solar sails have their limitations. They're effective with very light spacecraft. But a lightweight spacecraft is all a part of Linares' concept. Linares' concept would see a fleet of static satellites on the edges of our solar system. They would have a very low mass-to-sail-area ratio. Even at the edges of our solar system, there's enough sunlight to propel a solar sail spacecraft, as long as the sail is large enough and the mass of the spacecraft is small enough. This fleet of sentinels would maintain their positions until we detected an incoming ISO. Linares calls them statites, and since they're stationary, their initial status has zero velocity. That's part of the trick, and according to a press release, "once released, the stored energy in the solar sail would leverage the gravitational pull of the sun to slingshot the statite in a freefall trajectory toward the ISO, allowing it to catch up." If things went well, the spacecraft could then dispatch a nano-satellite to orbit the ISO and train its sensors on it. There'd be no need for the main spacecraft to slow down, which would complicate the mission enormously. To ensure the best coverage of our solar system, MIT Assistant Professor Richard Linares envisions a constellation of statites that communicate and work together, only activating the statite in the optimum position to fly by or rendezvous with an interstellar object successfully. Other statites in the constellation can continue to wait for the next ISO to appear. Credit: Richard Linares, MIT "Flyby missions tend to be easier because they don't require you to slow downyou fly past the object and try to get as many pictures as you can in that window," says Linares. "A rendezvous mission is harder because you have to slow down and match the speed of the object so you can stay with it for a while. But the longer you can stay around the interstellar object, the better pool of data you can collect. Good science happens up close." Linares is not the only scientist behind this concept. There are three other researchers involved, including Damon Landau at JPL. The team is taking a nine-month period to work on their concept. They need to understand if it's actually feasible or not, and they need to flesh out their concept. Whether or not this concept could bear fruit, there's no question about the scientific value of studying an ISO up close. "Studying an interstellar body close-up would revolutionize our understanding of planet formation and evolution," said team member Benjamin Weiss from the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT. "For the first time, we could obtain sensitive measurements of the bulk composition of other solar systems. We could also learn how quickly and how commonly objects transit between solar systems, which will tell us the feasibility of the interstellar transfer of life." NIAC has approved the concept for Phase One, a nine-month study to determine viability. If that goes well, NIAC can approve a further Phase Two, then a Phase Three study. That would give the team more time to develop the concept. NIAC awards are a tricky business. Some ideas might sound far-out at first, so there can be a fine line between fundable and non-fundable. Would the Apollo mission to the moon have been funded under NIAC? That's a fun thought experiment. An illustration of the Light Sail 2 craft with its solar sails deployed. Light Sail 2 is probably the most well-known solar sail spacecraft. Credit: Josh Spradling / The Planetary Society "Winning a NIAC award such as this one is very prestigious, but also very difficult, because the proposer has to walk a fine line between an innovative idea that sounds almost like science fiction while being grounded in real physics," says Olivier de Weck, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and of engineering systems at MIT. "Professor Linares and his colleagues have done this perfectly, and this concept will enable the study of ISOs in an unprecedented way by essentially balancing out the two major things we get from our sun in new ways: gravity and radiation." There's been some scientific inquiry into "Oumuamua and Comet Borisov, but there wasn't much time for observations. About a month ago, a pair of scientists published a paper on "Oumuamua. They showed that it could have been ejected from its home solar system after its parent body was torn apart by tidal fragmentation. Also in April 2020, another paper showed that Comet 2L/Borisov formed in a very cold environment. That paper showed that Borisov contained much more carbon monoxide than comets from our own solar system. But these are just tantalizing hints into the nature of interstellar objects. We are at a disadvantage studying these ISOs, because they come and go so quickly. If Linares and his team can develop a way to study them, then we should do it. It doesn't sound like it would be an enormously expensive proposition. A Hubble image of Comet 2IBorisov from October 2019. Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA) If we can leverage our current technology to understand these foreign objects better, we'll learn more about other solar systems, and how differentor similar they might be. And then we'll be that much less dim-witted. Explore further ALMA reveals unusual composition of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov Another day, another major new iPhone 12 leak. This time, leaker Jon Prosser had detailed the pricing, storage, and RAM configurations of the iPhone 12 lineup and revealed other key specs of the devices as well. iPhone 12 Specs, Storage Variants As previously detailed, Apple will be replacing the iPhone 11 with two different iPhone 12 variants. This includes a $649 variant with a 5.4-inch OLED display and a 6.1-inch variant with a $749 price tag. Apart from the switch to OLED panels, Apple will also be reducing the bezels surrounding the display. Apple has so far sourced OLED panels from Samsung, but for the iPhone 12, the company is looking to source them from BOE as they will be cheaper. The OLED panels on these devices would apparently be called Super Retina. The devices will be powered by an A14 Bionic chip, sport 5G connectivity, and pack 4GB RAM. Apple is also going to bump the base storage on the device to 128GB. Additionally, the company will also offer a 256GB variant of the device. iPhone 12 Pro Display, Specs, and, Storage Variants The iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max will feature a 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch OLED display respectively. As previously leaked, Apple will use a 120Hz refresh rate panel on the devices with a variable refresh rate to offer the best of both worlds: performance and battery life. Seemingly, Apple does not intend on offering users the option to switch to a 60Hz refresh rate and theres also the possibility that the company might disable the 120Hz refresh rate option if it deems the feature is not yet ready. Apart from the refresh rate bump, the Super Retina XDR panels on the iPhone 12 Pro series will support 10-bit color depth. The iPhone 12 Pro series will also be powered by the A14 Bionic chip and feature 5G connectivity. It will ship with 6GB RAM and base 128GB of storage. Apple is also working on 256GB and 512GB variants of the device. The lineup will be available in four colors: Silver, Gold, Space Gray, and a new option Navy Blue. The iPhone 12 Pro will start from $999, with the iPhone 12 Pro Max starting from $1,099. There have been plenty of iPhone 12 leaks over the last month or so. Going by it, Apple will reduce the notch size on the entire lineup, improve Face ID so that it works over a wider angle of view, increase the battery capacity to negate the effect of 5G and 120Hz display, and more. There have been rumors of the launch of the iPhone 12 launch being delayed this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, though other reports claim that we will see a staggered launch with the iPhone 12 launching first followed by the iPhone 12 Pro series. Lawyers for Trump and the Justice Department argue that congressional subpoenas amount to harassment of the president. Justices on the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday pressed a lawyer for Donald Trump to justify the presidents bid to block Democratic-led congressional committees from getting access to his financial records in a major showdown over presidential powers. The nine justices kicked off a scheduled one-hour argument over attempts by committees in the House of Representatives to obtain the records in a pair of cases that test the authority of Congress to conduct oversight of the president. Lawyers for Trump and Department of Justice, which is siding with the president, argued that the president cannot be investigated while he remains in office, by either committees of the US Congress or local prosecutors in his hometown of New York City both of whom are seeking his tax returns and financial records from the years before he took office. The courts decision in the cases, expected in June, could shape the outcome of Novembers presidential election and redefine the limits of presidential power. Rulings against the president could result in the quick release of personal financial information that Trump has sought strenuously to keep private. Before the coronavirus pandemic erupted, the cases marked the most politically treacherous proceedings against Trump since the impeachment hearings in January. If, as some have testified, the financial records show that Trump has been artificially inflating his net worth for decades to both the general public and to the banks lending him money the sheen on his career in business, one of the presidents primary selling points, could quickly lose its lustre. Early in the arguments, the justices queried Trumps lawyer, Patrick Strawbridge, about whether lawmakers can ever subpoena a presidents financial records. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts questioned Strawbridge on the broad scope of his arguments. Do you concede any power in the House to subpoena personal papers of the president? Roberts asked. Strawbridge said it was difficult to imagine a situation where that would be justified. Trumps lawyers have argued that the congressional panels had no authority to issue the subpoenas and had no valid legislative reason for seeking the records. They amount, the lawyers argued, to harassment of the president. Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer probed whether under the approach taken by Trumps lawyers Congress would have been able to properly investigate the Watergate scandal of the 1970s under President Richard Nixon. Breyer said that in that instance, material related to the presidents official duties were handed over to lawmakers. Breyer grilled Strawbridge about whether, under view of the law being argued by Trumps legal team, a Senate panel headed by Senator Sam Ervin would have been able to investigate Watergate. Are you saying the Ervin committee subpoenas were unlawful? Yes or no?, Breyer asked. Strawbridge sidestepped the question. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan said past presidents had reached compromises with Congress in disputes over access to documents. What it seems to me youre asking us to do is to put a kind of 10-ton weight on the scales between the president and Congress, and essentially to make it impossible for Congress to perform oversight and to carry out its functions, Kagan told Strawbridge. Three cases Two of the three cases being heard on Tuesday concern attempts by committees of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives to enforce subpoenas seeking Trumps financial records from his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP, and two banks, Deutsche Bank and Capital One. Scott Turow's prediction: Will SCOTUS give POTUS a pass?@ScottTurow https://t.co/WskyYqXgsI David Friend (@DavidMFriend1) May 11, 2020 From Mazars, the House Oversight Committee asked in April 2019 to see eight years of records after Michael Cohen, Trumps former lawyer, told the committee that Trump had inflated and deflated certain assets on financial statements between 2011 and 2013 in part to reduce his real estate taxes. From the banks, the House Financial Services Committee, which has been examining possible money laundering in US property deals involving Trump, wants the banking records of Trump, his children and his various businesses. The House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating whether Trumps dealings left him subject to the influence of foreign individuals or governments, wants the same records and any others that identify any financial relationship, transaction or ties between Trump, his family members and any foreign individual, entity or government, according to the subpoena. Investigators hope the records will reveal whether there are any financial links between Trump and Russias government, including any evidence that loans to Trump by Deutsche Bank were backstopped by Russian entities. Deutsche Bank was the only major lender to conduct business with Trump in recent years doing so despite the fact that he defaulted on loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars that the German bank made to him between 2004 and 2008. Read this great breakdown of what to expect at SCOTUS this week and how to listen and follow along from home. Hi Remember the Trump tax returns/financial documents cases will be heard on Tuesday! https://t.co/pSxgJx3UUn Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) May 11, 2020 The other case concerns a subpoena issued to Mazars for similar information, including tax returns, but this one was issued as part of a grand jury investigation into Trump being carried out by New York Citys District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, Jr, a Democrat. Vances office sought in September of 2019 nearly a decades worth of tax returns from Trump and his organisations as part of a criminal investigation spurred by disclosures of hush payments made to two women who said they had past sexual relationships with him, including adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. In attempting to fend off House Democrats, Trumps lawyers argue that Congress has no authority to issue the subpoenas, a broad assertion of presidential power. No sitting president has ever had his personal records subpoenaed, they insist, saying that even if Congress could issue the subpoenas, it lacks a valid legislative reason for doing so and has not stated with sufficient detail why it needs the documents. SCOTUS hears arguments on Trumps financial records Tuesday. Heres why Trump will lose the argument. https://t.co/HtusqbVziC Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) May 9, 2020 In the case of the Vance subpoena, Trumps lawyers argue that he is essentially immune from any criminal proceeding when in office. They have downplayed prior Supreme Court rulings regarding limits on the reach of presidential authority and point instead to Justice Department guidance that asserts that a sitting president cannot be indicted or prosecuted. In a lower court hearing, Trumps lawyers went so far as to argue that law enforcement officials would not have the power to investigate Trump even if he shot someone on New Yorks Fifth Avenue. In two earlier cases over presidential power, the justices acted unanimously in requiring President Nixon to turn over White House tapes to a Watergate special prosecutor and in allowing a sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton to go forward. Three arrested for drug trafficking in Carlisle County Two tribal leaders in South Dakota have denounced the state governors demand they disassemble checkpoints designed to stop coronavirus spreading through native American lands. The heads of the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes issued separate statements over the weekend that criticised South Dakota governor Kristi Noems ultimatum. The leaders, who have defended their rights to protect their own people during the coronavirus pandemic, said that Ms Noems actions ignored health concerns. Both tribes were served with a two-day warning on Friday to take down checkpoints that have been screening for Covid-19 on state and US highways entering their territories, or face legal action. We have an inherent and sovereign right to protect the health of our people, and no one, man or woman, can dispute that right, said Julian Bear Runner, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, in a Facebook video on Saturday. Criticising the Republican governors call to start reopening South Dakota businesses, the Oglala president said Ms Noem had miscalculated his dedication to the health of his people. Governor Noem miscalculates our level of dedication to protect our most vulnerable people from crony capitalism thrust to force us to open our economy as they chose to do so, Mr Bear Runner said. We must adopt serious measures to proactively deal with the serious public health crisis. We demand you to respect our sovereignty, continued Mr Bear Runner. Your threats of legal action are not helpful and do not intimidate us. The only way we can get through this is to work together as a nation. Ms Noem alleged on Friday that neither Mr Bear Runner or his counterpart Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, had agreed with her office about the checkpoints constructed last month. According to the US Department of the Interiors Bureau of Indian Affairs in April, tribes must consult and come to an agreement with the state of South Dakota before closing or restricting travel on state or US Highways. Mr Frazier said in a statement that he absolutely agreed with the need to work together during this time of crisis, adding that his actions were to save lives rather than save face. He added that the governor, in continuing to interfere in our efforts to do what science and facts dictate was undermining our ability to protect everyone on the reservation. Ignorant statements and fiery rhetoric encourage individuals already under stress from this situation to carry out irrational actions, said Mr Frazier. The Cheyenne River tribe argued on Friday that checkpoints had not stopped state or commercial functions, as Ms Noem had claimed. Mr Bear Runner also said in his statement that his tribe was in full compliance with the April memo, as it has not closed non-travel roads or highways owned by the state of South Dakota or any other government. Mr Frazier added: We will not apologise for being an island of safety in a sea of uncertainty and death. In comments made to CNN afterwards, Frazier said that his main concern was preventing people travelling from Covid-19 hotspots into tribal lands. With the lack of resources we have medically, this is our best tool we have right now to try to prevent [the spread of Covid-19], Mr Frazier told the broadcaster. Mr Frazier added that the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe was not equipped for any medical emergency, with only one eight-bed facility on the reservation and no intensive care unit for around 12,000 people. Mr Bear Runner said on Saturday that the federal government had meanwhile provided only four ventilators to serve the Oglala tribes population of more than 46,000 members. There are thought to be almost 170 cases of Covid-19 among Native Americans in the state of South Dakota as of Friday, CNN reported. I had been pondering on the theme of friendship, when I learned that Eavan Boland had died from a stroke. She was considered to be the leading female voice in Irish, or even world, poetry. She wrote about the experiences of women, in a domestic setting, with great intelligence and a fine lyrical voice. We were quite warm friends back in the days of our young womanhood, and would meet on Saturday mornings for coffee in Grafton Street. Brown Thomas was then placed where Marks & Spencer is now, and there was rather a chic cafeteria on one of the upper floors. Eavan was very much involved with Trinity College Dublin at the time, previously as student, then as lecturer: she worshipped the Kerry poet Brendan Kennelly, a TCD star. She also talked a lot - often semi-jokingly - about her father, Freddy Boland, the distinguished public servant who had been a major influence in the development of Irish diplomacy, and a bigwig at the United Nations. She seldom mentioned her mother, the painter Frances Kelly, who - this is the small-world side of Dublin life, as it was - my own mother had admired both for her art and her beauty. Eavan had an infectious sense of humour, but, for a poet, she was also surprisingly conventional. There was nothing of the Bohemian about her. Her childhood had been so peripatetic, moving around the world with her diplomat parents, that she seemed to prefer safety, consistency, even tradition, to the wilder shores of what I had thought of as the poetic stereotype - Dylan Thomas drunk in Soho, Allen Ginsberg bonding with druggie hippies like Jack Kerouac or William Burroughs. And yet I came to see that perhaps the reason why Eavan was drawn to me, and even sought me out, was that I represented, to her, the wilder shores of bad behaviour and madcap lifestyles which she would never have wanted for herself. In our conversations, she was also interested in characters like Charlie Haughey and his glamorously unconventional girlfriend, Terry Keane. I may have been instrumental in introducing Eavan to Women's Liberation (as feminism was then called) and she attended several "consciousness-raising" meetings in my Dublin flat, along with the doctor, Eimer Philbin Bowman, and Mary Robinson. Eavan and Mary R had been at school together - at the posh Holy Child convent in Killiney - and they had been joined at the hip ever since school days. Eavan drew a lot from those feminist meetings: and quite rightly, too - a poet, like any writer, must find ideas to stimulate the muse. Didn't Conor Cruise O'Brien point out that Yeats only got involved with Sinn Fein because the energy of nationalism fuelled the poetry? Eavan married the very nice novelist Kevin Casey and had two daughters, and we sort of kept in touch. And then, for no discernible reason, she just seemed to drop me. I didn't hear from her any more, and whatever had been of the friendship simply dissolved. Did I offend her in some way? I suppose it's possible - most of us are capable of giving offence, and I could be abrasively argumentative. And yet, paradoxically, I regard the test of friendship as being able to overcome spats and rows. How many arguments did I have with dear Mary Holland, who could mock and jeer acidly, and yet remained steadfastly, utterly loyal as a pal? Friendships do come to an end, sometimes for no particular reason. Sometimes people just grow apart, or they move on to other spheres. Sometimes one goes up in the world, and the other goes down, and a difference in status can be difficult to maintain - Eavan became an international name in poetry, lecturing in America - while, look, I'm just a modest working scribe. I accept that friendships don't always endure, and we should dwell on the memory of the friendship we once enjoyed rather than resent its passing. Still, I was disappointed that a last effort of contact came to nothing. I read some royal archives at Windsor which seemed to indicate that Queen Elizabeth may have asked Freddy Boland, when he was Ambassador in London in the 1950s, about a possible visit to the Republic of Ireland (perhaps for the National Stud horses). I wrote to Eavan to ask her if her father had left any papers touching on this subject of Anglo-Irish relations, or spoken about the episode, but received no reply. Maybe she intended to answer, but was too busy - I have intended writing letters or sending emails that I haven't got around to doing. I'd been thinking about friendship in general because one of the positive sides of this wretched coronavirus lockdown is that it has kindled and reconnected so many friendships. The landline telephone seems to have been reinvented and friends are calling each other with renewed warmth. Friendly emails and messages pop up by the day. I've never known a time when people were nicer, kinder or more friendly to one another. The night after I learned of Eavan's death, I dreamt about her. She was just as she had been when we were both young: in the dream, she was as she was then, lively, friendly, and wryly amusing. In dreams, sometimes, all is made well again. Myanmar & COVID-19 Mandalay Steps Up Mask Campaign with Fines as City Begins to Reopen Locals in Mandalay wearing masks in late April. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy MANDALAYThe Mandalay government moved forward on Saturday with its campaign to get local residents to wear masks by instituting a fine for anyone who goes outside with their face uncovered. The regional government launched its campaign to get the public to wear masks on April 11 when it began distributing homemade cloth masks for free, both to educate people about the importance of wearing a mask and to ensure everyone has access to masks amid rising prices and short supplies. As the stay-at-home order over the Myanmar New Year holiday in April finished and some travel restrictions were lifted, some local residents returned to the streets without masks. According to the Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC), the program to fine those not wearing masks has begun at markets and crowded areas in the city. The staff from MCDC are at market areas to make sure the vendors and their customers wear the masks properly. For those found without a mask, the fine is 1,000 kyats (US$0.72) and we give them two masks that they can then wear on the spot, explained U Kyaw San Myint, a committee member of MCDC. According to MCDC, at least 100 vendors and local residents at wet markets in Mandalay were fined over the weekend. Although our country does not have many confirmed cases [of COVID-19] compared to other countries, the precaution is still needed and wearing a mask at all times when going outside of your home is compulsory. Thats why the government announced a fine for any person without a mask, just to educate the locals that our battle with COVID-19 is not over yet, he added. The regional government announced last week that any person going out without a mask on after May 15 will face a much larger fine. From May 9 to 15 is the education period and the fine is just 1,000 kyats. Starting May 15, the fine will be 5,000 kyats for going out without a mask and we will give them two masks, U Kyaw San Myint explained. The Mandalay regional government has so far distributed about 600,000 free cloth masks to wet markets, street hawkers, motorcycle taxi drivers and local residents across Mandalay District. We only open one or two entrances of the wet markets in Mandalay Region and we will not allow anyone [the vendors or their customers] to enter the market without a mask. For the vendors, we will do a first warning if they are found without a mask and will not allow them to sell goods in the market if they continue selling things without a mask, U Kyaw San Myint added. Although the markets and many local businesses in the city remain closed, locals came out from their homes over the weekend and some areas in Mandalay such as shopping malls saw significant crowds. Public areas such as pagodas, parks, playgrounds, the zoo, churches and mosques remain closed until further notice from the Union Government. Meanwhile in Tanintharyi Division and Ayeyarwady Region, the regional governments are also beginning campaigns get people to wear masks by instituting 5,000-kyat fines for anyone out without a mask. In Yangon, where the majority of Myanmars COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, the regional government is also planning to distribute free cloth masks and institute similar punishments for those not wearing masks. Myanmar has so far confirmed 180 cases of COVID-19, including six deaths. You may also like these stories: Myanmar to Receive $2B in COVID-19 Relief from Intl Development Organizations Over Half of Myanmars COVID-19 Cases Are Asymptomatic, Health Officials Concerned Myanmar Confirms 14 New Coronavirus Cases After Week of Few Cases Cars fill the parking lot at Tesla's corporate office in Fremont, California on May 11, 2020. (Ilene Eng/The Epoch Times) Teslas Musk Says Ready for Arrest as He Reopens California Plant Against Local Order Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk on Monday said production was resuming at the automakers sole U.S. vehicle factory, in California, defying an order to stay closed and saying if anyone had to be arrested it should be him. The move comes as states and cities around the country experiment with ways to safely reopen their economies after the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus outbreak shuttered businesses and forced tens of millions of Americans out of work. Musk over the weekend threatened to leave California for Texas or Nevada over his factorys closure. His move has highlighted the competition for jobs and ignited a rush to woo the billionaire executive by states that have reopened their economies more quickly. An exterior view of the Tesla factory in Fremont, Calif., on June 22, 2012. (Paul Sakuma/AP) In an email on Monday, Tesla referred to an order on Thursday by Californias governor allowing manufacturers to resume operations and said that as of Sunday, previously furloughed employees were back to their regular employment status. Were happy to get back to work and have implemented very detailed plans to help you keep safe as you return, according to the email seen by Reuters and titled Furlough Has Ended And We Are Back To Work in Production! Musk in a tweet said production was resuming on Monday, adding that he would join workers on the assembly line. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me, he wrote. Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2020 Health officials in Alameda County, where the Fremont factory is based, late on Monday said they were aware that Tesla had opened beyond the so-called minimum basic operations allowed during lockdown, and had notified the company it could not operate without a county-approved plan. In a statement, officials said they expected a proposal from Tesla later on Monday and hope Tesla will likewise comply without further enforcement measures. The statement did not specify consequences and said officials would not comment further. The countys lockdown order says violations are punishable by fine, imprisonment or both. A spokeswoman for the Fremont Police Department on Monday said her office was enforcing the lockdown order at the direction of the health department and had been advised that the county is working with Tesla directly. Separately on Monday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said California should do whatever is necessary to help the electric carmaker reopen its only vehicle factory in the country if it wants to keep the company in its state. California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday said he spoke to Musk several days ago and that the Tesla founders concerns helped prompt the state to begin its phased reopening of manufacturing last week. I have not only known that company but I have known its founder for many, many years, Newsom said in his daily coronavirus press briefing. I have great reverence for their technology, for their innovative spirit, for their leadership. California Governor Gavin Newsom (L) and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (R) are seen in a combination photo. (Mike Blake/Joe Skipper/Reuters) Tesla, which also has a vehicle plant in Shanghai and is building another in Berlin, on Saturday sued the county, alleging it had violated Californias constitution by defying Newsoms orders allowing manufacturers to reopen. Musk has discussed opening a second U.S. factory outside California in the past. In a tweet in February, he solicited comments on potentially opening a factory in Texas. Since his threat to leave California on Saturday, officials from Texas, Georgia, Utah, Oklahoma and Nevada have reached out to Musk on Twitter, encouraging him to relocate to their state. A Texas official said his county was available immediately to accommodate Tesla and invited the billionaire CEO for a visit. We have a motivated, pro-business governor, Richard Cortez, county judge of Texas Hidalgo County, said on Monday. What we no longer have is a shelter at home mandate. Musk in response tweeted: Note is much appreciated. By Tina Bellon Epoch Times staff contributed to this report Education Secretary Pedro Rivera said "we fully expect" schools to reopen this fall, though social distancing guidelines may be in place. Read more Pennsylvania leaders are preparing for schools to reopen this fall, the states education secretary said Monday. We fully expect to come back to school in the fall, Pedro Rivera said during a virtual Senate Education Committee hearing. He said the Education Department would provide more information in the coming weeks on how it will prepare teachers and staff to return to school buildings that have been closed since March due to the coronavirus outbreak. While Rivera said previously it was possible students would not return to in-person learning, he downplayed those comments Monday. The departments intention is to reopen schools while keeping students and staff safe, he said. At worst, schools going to look different, he said. READ MORE: Masks, staggered schedules, social distancing: When Pa. students return to school, things will look different Riveras comments came as some senators voiced concerns about the departments plans for reopening. Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr. of Bedford County, the Republican chair of the education committee, said the secretarys previous comments about the prospect of students not returning to school in the fall had spurred panic and confusion among residents. Rivera said the department was working to open schools come fall." He said it would follow the recommendations of Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine, but would not necessarily mandate a particular approach to reopening, like staggered school schedules. Instead, the department will allow school districts to choose from multiple strategies to meet continued social distancing guidelines, Rivera said. He did not detail how schools might deal with logistical challenges. For instance, to a senators question about whether districts would receive additional state funding for more buses to accommodate social distancing, thats a conversation thats going to come up, Rivera said. READ MORE: Schools brace for budget cuts as the coronavirus wreaks havoc on the economy Rivera said the Education Department was looking at approaches other countries have taken to reopen schools, including Israel. He said the departments reopening plan would account for remediation students may need as a result of the closures. And after canceling standardized tests this spring, Rivera said, the department will not mandate testing in the fall. More immediately, Rivera said, the department was working on providing guidance on summer camps and would follow Levines guidance for other summer activities. All Pennsylvania school districts and charter schools have complied with the requirement to submit plans for how they are continuing to educate students during the school closures, Rivera said. Asked whether his department was evaluating how well distance learning programs were working, Rivera said districts had been required to post their education plans online for the public. Community members can hold their schools accountable, he said. Some senators said they had heard mixed responses from constituents on how remote learning was working. Rivera said the state was working with intermediate units but was open to lawmakers ideas for improving instruction. Youve done a lot," said Sen. Andy Dinniman (D., Chester), but we all recognize more needs to be done. CLERMONT, Fla., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Uncle Matt's Organic, the nation's number-one selling brand of organic orange and grapefruit juices, has been welcomed back home to Founder and CEO, Matt McLean, who built and subsequently sold the company to Dean Foods in 2017. This unexpected homecoming also includes a new parent company named Harmoni, Inc., and an all-star advisory team of investors. Uncle Matt's Organic Juices and Beverages Dean Foods purchased Uncle Matt's in June of 2017 and retained the team to continue running the business, including McLean and his wife, Susan McLean, who oversees marketing. In November of 2019, Dean Foods filed for bankruptcy after struggling with shifting consumer preferences, private label competition and a reduction in milk processing. This unique situation presented an opportunity for McLean to bid for the beloved brand he started. "If you told me three years ago after selling to a publicly-traded, multi-billion dollar CPG leader that I'd buy Uncle Matt's Organic back out of bankruptcy, I wouldn't have believed you," said Matt McLean, Uncle Matt's Organic Founder and CEO. "When Dean's financial distress took a saddening and unfortunate turn, it became a rare opportunity for us to purchase Uncle Matt's to expand distribution, innovate into new categories, and educate consumers on the intrinsic health benefits of buying organic," he continued. The McLean family is now supported by a powerhouse of successful industry investors including: Gary Hirshberg, Co-Founder of Stonyfield Organic John Foraker, Former CEO of Annie's and Co-Founder and CEO of Once Upon a Farm Andrew Abraham, MD, CEO and Founder at Orgain Nicole & Peter Dawes, Founders of Late July Snacks & Nixie Sparkling Water Matt Rogers, Founder of Nest and Incite.org Renewal Funds, a mission venture capital firm with a commitment to supporting organic companies, also participated. "Uncle Matt's is one of America's truly legendary organic brands," said Gary Hirshberg, Co-Founder of Stonyfield Organic. "From their very start, the McLean family has been at the forefront of meshing the most advanced ecological sciences together with a maniacal dedication to extraordinary taste and nutrition. As a long-time fan and friend, I am thrilled to be their partner for the next leg of this exciting health and taste adventure," he added. Bob Burke, Principal of Natural Products Consulting LLC, will join board members Matt McLean, Susan McLean, Gary Hirshberg and Paul Richardson, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Renewal Funds. The Giannuzzi Group served as lead counsel throughout the bankruptcy process. John Foraker, Co-Founder and CEO of Once Upon a Farm commented, "I've been a consumer of Uncle Matt's for years and admire the brand for its authenticity and commitment to organic agriculture and great-tasting and approachable products. It is rare to have the opportunity to invest in and support a "start-up" with so much history and opportunity ahead of it. I am excited to support Matt, Susan, and the Uncle Matt's brand on their continued path to build a meaningful brand with impact that consumers love and trust." "I am humbled to partner with such a high-caliber and experienced team," said Matt McLean. "My wife and I are excited for the opportunities ahead. To be surrounded and supported by colleagues who have had enormous success in the organic industry is an honor and a journey we are looking forward to," he concluded. The sale of Uncle Matt's Organic to Harmoni, Inc., was finalized on April 30, 2020. About Uncle Matt's Organic Uncle Matt's Organic is the nation's oldest organic orange juice company offering premium quality organic products. All Uncle Matt's products are USDA Organic, have no synthetic additives or preservatives and contain no GMOs. Uncle Matt's products are available nationwide in fine retailers nationwide. Uncle Matt's is an active member of Organic Trade Association (OTA) and supports the Organic Farming Research Foundation, The Organic Center, and Organic Voices. To learn more, visit unclematts.com or follow along on Facebook @unclematts or Instagram @unclemattsorganic. Media Contact: Rachel Powell 516.314.7730 [email protected] SOURCE Uncle Matt's Organic (Photo : Lejven Djurakovic on Unsplash) Millions OF PCs Are Expose To Hands-On Hacking Because Of Intel's Thunderbolt Flaws (Photo : Christian Wiediger on Unsplash) Millions OF PCs Are Expose To Hands-On Hacking Because Of Intel's Thunderbolt Flaws Hackers are currently targeting PCs manufactured before 2019 because of Intel's Thunderbolt flaws. The hands-on hacking technique called Thunderspy is being used by hackers to physically access a device or PC. And this Thuderspy attack only takes five minutes to pull off. According to Wired's latest report, a warning was already given by security experts years ago that a personal computer or laptop left alone with a hacker, even for more than a few minutes, should already be considered compromised. A new demonstration was conducted by a Dutch researcher showing how a physical attack can be pulled off by a hacker using an ultra-common component which is found in millions of PCs: the Intel Thunderbolt port. A new method of attack was revealed in detail by Bjorn Ruytenberg, a researcher of the Eindhoven University of Technology. According to the results of the study, the technique of Bjorn can bypass the login screen, and even the hard disk encryption of sleeping or locked Linux PCs or Windows computers manufactured before 2019, to gain full access to the devices' data. Bjorn's new technique does not leave any trace of intrusion and can be pulled off in just a few minutes. However, the attack requires opening the victim's laptops or PCs in many cases, using a screwdriver. Millions of PCs are exposed to hands-on hacking called "Thunderspy" because of Intel's Thunderbolt flaws According to Wired, the Thunderspy hacking technique opens a new avenue in what the security industry calls an "Evil-Maid-Attack." This is a technique of hackers to breach a computer, and there's no easy software fix except only by disabling the Thunderbolt port, as explained by Ruytenberg. "All the evil maid needs to do is unscrew the backplate, attach a device momentarily, reprogram the firmware, reattach the backplate, and the evil maid gets full access to the laptop," explained Ruytenberg. "All of this can be done in under five minutes." He plans to present his Thunderspy research this summer at the Black Hat security conference. Intel's Thunderbolt interface has been a concern of many security researchers since it has long been considered a potential data issue. It allows a more direct access to a computer's memory than other ports to provide faster speeds of data transfer to external device. Still, it can also lead to security vulnerabilities. Last year, 2019, a group of researchers revealed a collection of flaws in the Thunderbolt components known as Thunderclap. One of these is a hacker who can easily breach a compter's security measures in just a short time by plugging a malicious device into the PC's thunderbolt port. However, the researchers suggested that the Thunderbolt feature called "security levels" must take advantage of PC users. The feature will block any access request coming from untrusted devices or even switching off the Thunderbolt altogether in the operating system's settings, turning the vulnerable Thunderbolt port into a normal display and USB port. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Hannah Hulett stopped seeing clients at her clinic in Hood River on March 14 after determining that she could no longer safely practice massage therapy due to the COVID-19 crisis. Two months later, Hulett doesnt think much has changed. While some locales have seen a drop in COVID-19 cases, testing is not widely available, new information about the virus is continuing to emerge and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state of Oregon still recommend physical distancing. Thats why Hulett was shocked to learn last Thursday that massage therapists and other personal services providers whose jobs require hands-on contact would be allowed to start reopening in certain Oregon counties on May 15 as part of Gov. Kate Browns Phase 1 plan to restart the state economy. I wont be opening my practice without more prevalent access to testing and without more information on the effects of COVID, Hulett said. I dont feel like I can practice massage therapy safely right now for my clients. Hulett is among many personal service providers in Oregon who are concerned that they will be asked to reopen before they feel safe to return to work and are worried they will lose unemployment benefits if they choose to stay shut. A petition calling on Brown to rethink her decision to allow personal services providers to be part of her Phase 1 plan had over 4,000 signatures as of Monday morning. The majority of those providers will not be allowed to open for weeks, including those in the states largest county, Multnomah County. Counties must meet specific criteria and be approved by Browns office before entering Phase 1. Those standards include having declining levels of COVID-19 hospital admissions over a 14-day period and minimum levels of testing and contact tracing, among other things. The Association of Oregon Counties said 23 of Oregons 36 counties applied to reopen Friday when Browns office began accepting applications. Hulett practices massage therapy in Hood River, one of the counties that has applied to reopen. But she wont return to work on May 15 if Hood River is approved, even though she would likely be ineligible to collect unemployment benefits if she chooses to remain closed. Gail Krumenauer, a spokesman for the Oregon Employment Department, said that a person would generally be ineligible for unemployment benefits if that person chooses not to return to work and doesnt meet one of six COVID-19 exceptions. Fear of personal safety is not among the exceptions. Providers who return to work, but are unable to draw the same business due to COVID-19, could still be eligible for newly established Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). Cortney Pinion, a hair stylist and owner of Style Haus in Salem, said she has asthma and doesnt yet feel safe returning to a job that will require her to stand within a foot of her clients. Yet she plans to start seeing clients once the state gives Marion County the go-ahead because she cant financially afford to stay closed without assistance. Pinion and her family have struggled to stay afloat over the last two months, in part because Oregon didnt start accepting benefits claims from self-employed workers and contractors until April 28. Many of those workers, including Pinion, have yet to see any money. Pinion and her family have managed to get by on her wifes income alone, but she said they were still forced to request a mortgage forbearance last month. She said she has racked up nearly $4,000 in business debt while her salon has been shut. Financially, Im going to have to go back to work as soon as Im cleared, Pinion said. God willing, Ill end up getting something at some point, the PUA will finally come through. But even if that happens, as soon as they open up Salem, theyre going to cut me off. Im going to be right back in the boat that Im in now. Not all personal services providers agree that it is too soon to return to work. Lindsey Graham, the owner of Glamour Salon in Salem, directly violated Browns March 23 stay-home order by seeing a client at her salon last week, saying that she needed to reopen to provide for her family. But trying to meet state guidelines to return to work could be a financial hardship for many providers, especially those who have seen little to no money coming in over the last two months. The Oregon Health Authority released guidelines last Thursday that personal services providers will need to follow to reopen once their counties are granted approval. The guidelines require providers to ask their clients about their health before the appointment, wear face coverings, use clean capes and smocks with each client, when applicable, adhere to heightened cleaning standards and ensure that six feet of distance is maintained between people in the facility except when the service is being provided. If the six-foot distancing is whats most likely to prevent the spread, why are you then making the exception for when we have to be face-to-face breathing the same air as our clients in small enclosed spaces for up to 90 minutes? asked Hulett, the massage therapist in Hood River. There shouldnt be situations where you can just throw that out the window because that demonstrates that its not safe to do that at this time. Additional recommended guidelines from the Oregon Health Authority suggest using touchless infrared thermometers to take the temperature of clients and staff, and having staff wear medical grade masks and face shields. Personal protective equipment remains hard to come by, even for some medical professionals, so personal services providers worry they wont be able to get their hands on it and wonder if theyll be able to afford it if they can. Its going to be an ongoing cost, said Stephanie June Johnson, an esthetician and owner of the Sugarpuss Beauty Petite Spa in Portland. Im sure there are people that arent going to be able to afford it and people that arent as concerned about this virus as other people, so theyre not going to take the precautions because theyre only recommended. Wendy Newsome, a hair stylist at Ceremony Salon in Portland, said she has heard from providers who are rushing to review their liability insurance or are drawing up new liability forms for clients to sign, fearing that the guidelines will do little to protect them from contracting and spreading the virus. By allowing personal services providers to resume work in Phase 1, Newsome said that the state is asking workers to choose between public safety and their own livelihood, without fully understanding the consequences. Theres absolutely no way we can avoid being close to people when we touch people for a living, Newsome said. It feels really premature to be basically putting us out on the front lines when were not really essential workers. It really feels like an experiment and it feels like were being used as lab rats to see what happens. -- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com | @jamiebgoldberg Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. US salt demand has been largely driven by the need for de-icing salt (Farmington Hills) Salt, or common salt, is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl) and is produced by either mining or by evaporation, using solar evaporation or a heating device. Salt is routinely used by the general population, with most people coming into contact with it at least once a day as a basic food ingredient. The food market is just the tip of the iceberg however, with some industry sources quoting up to 14,000 known end uses. The biggest global end market for salt is the chemical industry. Salt is the raw material used for the production of chlorine, an effective disinfectant, and caustic soda, an essential ingredient in many industrial operations like paper and detergent manufacturing. Globally, salt production totalled 273m in 2015, up from 266m the previous year, as the 2014-15 winter was colder than average for the second year in a row, and the number of winter weather events in the US requiring salt for highway de-icing grew. China is currently the worlds largest salt producer, since 2005 when it overtook the US. In 2015, the US produced around 48m tonnes salt according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), up 6% on the previous year, whereas China produced 70m tonnes, an increase on 68m in 2014. US salt production has remained relatively flat since 2005, when the country supplied just over 45m tonnes and was matched by output from China. Estimates for 2005 indicate that 39% of demand in the US came from the chemical industry. This number declined in subsequent years to 36%, replaced by the highway de-icing industry as the lead consumer, which now makes up about 46% of demand. Declining consumption by the chemical industry in the US is in contrast with the situation in China, where demand grew and drove an almost 100% increase in salt production from 2004 to 2013. Salt consumption demand in the US, 2015 (Source: USGS) The demand for salt grew so strongly that in 2005 China was unable to meet domestic demand, resulting in a shortfall which meant China had to rapidly expand production and import more material to alleviate some of the pressure. Left to pick up some of the slack, Australia produced about 11m tonnes salt in 2015 according to USGS figures, down from about 12m tonnes in 2005. The Western Australian (WA) Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) reported sales of some 11.7m tonnes in the 2014-15 financial year for WA alone. The fact that this number is higher than those numbers reported by the USGS may be attributed to differences in timing as well as a discrepancy between production and sales. Dampier Salt Ltd, located in WA and owned by Rio Tinto, accounts for the majority of Australias salt production with a combined approximate output capacity of 10.3m tonnes, but produces about 8.5m tpa in total. Rio Tinto's 68% stake means that it produces 5.5m tpa, making it worlds largest exporter of high-quality bulk, solar salt. WA salt production in terms of percentage relative to Australia and the world. (Source: WA DMP) In 2015, Rios production numbers for Dampier were 18% lower than that of 2014, reflecting a decline in market demand. According to various industry sources, the majority of Dampiers production is exported to Asia's chemical sector. This is representative of most of Australias production, with Andrew Speed, CEO of Cheetham Salt, telling IM that 90% of Australias total salt production is exported (as bulk salt). Steady price declines The prices for salt by region, source and quality vary significantly. According to the WA DMP, 2014-15 salt prices averaged Australian dollar (A$) $33/tonne ($24.6*), up on the previous year. Limited by reporting standards in different countries, data indicates that Australian export salt prices are declining in the face of slowing demand. Trade values which do not necessarily represent prices at which transactions actually took place, or bid and asked prices of Australian salt reported by China indicate a decline to an average of $41/tonne in 2015 from $46/tonne in 2014, and highs of around $50/tonne in 2013. Australias export volumes to China are second only to those heading to Japan. In 2015, tonnes of bulk salt exported to Japan outstripped volumes to China by around 1.3m tonnes. This has not always been the case, with China and Japan swinging between first and second place over the last decade. Data collected by IM, although restricted, indicates that exports to Japan from Australia are now fetching an approximate average of $48/tonne. Exports to China commanded highs of about $50/tonne in 2012, though these prices fell short compared to $77/tonne paid by Japan in 2010. Data reported by the US (a global importer of about 23.2m tonnes salt for consumption) in 2015 indicates that the trade value of salt imported from Australia averaged around $32/tonne. Shaky data While differences in prices might be explained by the way companies report their data, they could equally be explained by the availability of local supply and varying end market needs for individual countries for that country. An example of the differences seen in export end-markets is in Mitsui & Co. (Australia) Ltd, the second largest participant in the Australian market, which operates via its subsidiary, Shark Bay Salt Pty Ltd. Shark Bay exports about 1.3m tonnes salt each year, mostly to "high end food markets" in Japan and Indonesia, claiming that "food manufacturers value its distinctive texture and purity". Food grade salt demands a very different price to that paid for chemical grade and comes in a diverse array of 'flavours. Murray River Salt, or SunSalt, produces a solar-evaporated gourmet salmon-pink salt from concentrated brine of the Mourquong Salt Mitigation Basin, located 13km north-west of Mildura in New South Wales and markets it on its distinctive colour, taste, flake texture and trace-mineral content. The company finds small competition in operations such as the famous Pink Himalayan Salt and that of Mount Zero Pink Lake Salt, however the products are worlds apart when it comes to trace-mineral content, shape, source and taste. While the intricate differences, range of flavours and textures may be hard to fully appreciate even for the gourmands among us, Murray River Salt told IM that readers should take notice of their continual growth as "sales increase every year, with demand currently outstripping supply". Murray River Salt exports its products to Asia, Europe and the US, telling IM that gourmet salt may fetch upwards of $13,000/tonne due to increasing demand from food lovers as well as the small quantities sold per transaction. In the US, salt prices for their number one market segment, de-icing, are growing. All prices (average value of bulk, pellets and packaged salt, FOB mine and plant) were higher in 2016 coming in at $182/tonne for vacuum and open pan salt, $89/tonne for solar salt, $50/tonne for rock salt and $9.15/tonne for salt in brine. Wallace Bolen of the USGS said that prices were higher due to an increased need for de-icing salt during severe winter weather. Bolen added that "salt purchasers without contracts are subject to substantial spikes in pricing if they require an unplanned salt allocation". Salt prices are predicted to surpass $60/tonne for de-icing in some areas with Macomb County Agencies in Michigan reporting $58.90/tonne last year and a predicted $60.90/tonne for the 2016/17 snow season. Farmington Hills 2015 salt bid for a total target of 86,650 short tons (s.tons). Farmington Hills is a main participant in the cooperative purchasing of salt through the Michigan Intra-governmental trade network, which contains 153 member agencies. *Conversion made June 2016 Editor's note: This article was edited July 5, 2016 in order to clarify Rio Tinto's salt output from Dampier Salt Ltd. in Western Australia. (Website image source: Roger Ahlbrand via Flickr) By Gina Lee Investing.com Asian stocks reported modest gains on Monday morning after some countries revealed reopening plans over the weekend. Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index led the gains at it rose 1.91% by 10:56 PM ET (3:56 AM GMT), leading the gains. Chinas Shanghai Composite was up 0.27% while the Shenzhen Component gained 0.21% after the Peoples Bank of China released its quarterly monetary policy report, pledging more powerful policies to counter the COVID-19 virus economic impact as well as more focus on growth and jobs. But the report didnt repeat the bank's earlier vow to avoid excess liquidity flooding the economy. China reported 17 new cases on May 10 and put the northeastern city of Shulan, in Jilin province, under lockdown. South Koreas KOSPI gained 0.16% even as the country reported 37 new COVID-19 cases, the most in a month amid fears of a second wave in the country. I think its pretty clear that if you open too fast, its going to have significant consequences, Michael Yoshikami, founder and CEO of Destination Wealth Management, told CNBC. I think there is going to be a reckoning that people realize that we really are making a trade-off and the question that has to be asked: Is that trade off really worth it? Japans Nikkei 225 rose 1.32% after the government announced a second budget to ease COVID-19's economic impact, including aid for companies struggling to pay rent and more subsidies for those hit by slowing sales. Japan will also remove 34 prefectures that reported no new cases from the state of emergency designation on May 14. But the designation will not be lifted yet for Tokyo and Osaka. Down Under, the ASX 200 rose 1.26%. Some investors were cautious of the gains as Johns Hopkins University data said that there were over 4 million COVID-19 cases globally as of May 11, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin warned overnight that jobless numbers could get worse before they get better, adding that the U.S. unemployment rate could already have reached 25%. Story continues Much of the eventual improved growth and virus news is already priced into markets, Bob Baur, chief global economist at Principal Global Investors LLC, told Bloomberg. Because so much future growth and uptrend potential is priced in, we expect a period of relapse and consolidation through June. Related Articles CBIRC Launches Investigation into Citic Bank Client Tesla China sold 3,635 Model 3 vehicles in April, down 64% vs March: CPCA Stage Stores files for bankruptcy as pandemic chokes sales TEHRAN, Iran - A missile fired during an Iranian military training exercise mistakenly struck a naval vessel instead of its intended target in waters near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15 others, Iranian authorities said Monday. The bungled training exercises took place Sunday and raised new questions about the readiness of the Islamic Republics armed forces amid heightened tensions with U.S., just months after they accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran, killing 176 passengers. It also comes soon after a tense naval encounter between Iranian and U.S. forces in the nearby Persian Gulf. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers two years ago, launching a maximum pressure campaign against Iran that has pushed the archrivals to the verge of conflict repeatedly. Analysts have warned regional tensions likely will increase again. This week also marks the anniversary of attacks on oil tankers near the strait that the U.S. blamed on Iran. In Sundays friendly fire incident, a missile struck the Iranian navy vessel Konarak near the port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometres (790 miles) southeast of Tehran in the Gulf of Oman, the Iranian army said in a statement. Irans regular navy typically patrols those waters, while vessels from the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard usually patrol the Persian Gulf. The Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship taking part in the exercise, came too close to a target and the missile struck it, state TV said. Authorities did not identify the ship that fired the missile, though semiofficial media in Iran identified it as the Iranian destroyer Jamaran. The Konarak had been putting targets out for other ships to attack, state TV said. Initially, officials said only one sailor had been killed. That number quickly changed to 19. A hospital admitted 12 sailors and treated another three with slight wounds, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Iranian vessels towed the Konarak to its nearby namesake port of Konarak in Irans Sistan and Baluchistan province after the strike, satellite photos released by Maxar Technologies showed. The vessel appeared heavily damaged in the images. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi had bought the Dutch-made, 47-meter (155-foot) vessel just before being toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Konarak entered service in 1988 and crews later overhauled the vessel about 30 years later, making it able to launch sea and anti-ship missiles. Because of international sanctions, Iran still relies on weaponry purchased under the shah. The boat typically carried a crew of 20. Authorities did not explain why it had 34 people aboard when the missile struck. The army identified those slain as officers and enlisted men, including a combat diver. It appeared the sailors may have been firing Noor anti-ship missiles during the exercise, said Reed Foster, a senior analyst at Janes. He said a replacement for the vessel will likely take years to come into service and was a blow to the navy that also has seen a destroyer sink in the Caspian Sea in January 2018. Perhaps the greatest impact to the Iranian military and government is that this is the second high-profile incident in less than half a year where mistakes in missile targeting have resulted in significant loss of life, Reed said. Reed added that the friendly fire incident damages the credibility of claims by the Iranian military and government that the country can develop sophisticated defensive weapons despite international sanctions. This likely will provide new fodder for the U.S., which has been actively campaigning to keep a United Nations arms embargo in place on Iran that is due to expire in November. Iran regularly holds exercises in the Gulf of Oman, which is close to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the worlds oil trade passes. The U.S. Navys 5th Fleet, which monitors the region, did not respond to a request for comment. Tensions had been expected to rise after Irans government overcame the initial chaos that engulfed its response to the coronavirus pandemic. In April, the U.S. accused Iran of conducting dangerous and harassing manoeuvrs near American warships in the northern Persian Gulf. Iran also had been suspected of briefly seizing a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker just before that. Potential exists for a limited direct conflict, even though neither side wants one, the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies said. ___ Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Delta Drone reinforces its financial resources Signature of a 1M convertible-bonds contract with OTT Ventures Dardilly, 11 May 2020 Preamble: Risks in connection with the bond issue and impact of the transaction in terms of managing liquidity and timing risks In view of a cash position of 2.5M at the beginning of May 2020 after payment of most of current debts, setting up new financing in addition to the 10M contract for ORNAN with warrants announced 7 April 2020, would make it possible to have a minimum cash position of 12.5M, which would cover the Companys financing needs for several years. This analysis takes into account both the current situation and the implementation of the 2020-2021 plan in the event that the Company were unable to generate income from payments due, subject to the terms of the agreement (see below). CONTEXT FOR THE TRANSACTION The first priority is now to finance organic growth, thanks to the commercial success of professional solutions As stated in the press release dated 7 April 2020, this transaction (i.e., the 10 million ORNAN contract signed with Yorkville Advisors ) therefore presents itself as a significant and likely decisive safety net for navigating the still-unknown effects of the current health crisis. The issue of convertible bonds was undertaken with this in mind and in view of the Groups low market capitalization. The choice was therefore made to set up an additional source of funding to help implement the 2020 2021 plan. LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE ISSUING OF CONVERTIBLE BONDS Pursuant to a decision dated 28 April 2020 in accordance with the power granted by the Extraordinary General Meeting of 24 April 2020 upon approval of the fifth resolution, the Companys Board of Directors approved, on principle, the issuance of 1M in Convertible Bonds, granting the Chairman and CEO of the company the power to sign such a contract. On 11 May 2020, the Chairman and CEO signed a 1M Convertible-Bonds contract with OTT Ventures. Main characteristics of the Convertible Bonds The Convertibles Bonds (the CB) shall be issued in 10 Tranches of 10 CB each. The total par value of each Tranche shall therefore be equal to 100 000. The CB have a par value of 10 000 euros each and are subscribed at 90% of par. The CB have a maturity of 36 months from their date of issuance. Upon expiration, the CB that have not been converted shall be redeemed by the Company at par (plus accrued interest, if any). The CB bear 6% annual interest. At its discretion, the Investor may convert all or any of the CB into new shares (a Conversion). Upon a Conversion, the Company shall issue to the Investor the corresponding number of new shares (as described below). The conversion of a tranche of CBs with a nominal value of 100,000 euros will result in the issuance of 4,504,504 new shares, representing a subscription price per share of 0.0222 euros (i.e. 65% of the average daily prices weighted by the share volumes during the last 5 trading days preceding the date of signature of the contract). New shares resulting from the Conversion of CB The new shares issued upon Conversion of the CB shall be admitted to trading on Euronext Growth as from their issuance, will carry immediate and current dividend rights, and will be fully assimilated to and fungible with the existing shares. The Company shall update a summary table on its website showing the CB and number of shares outstanding. Main risks concerning the Company Shareholders are welcome to acquaint themselves with the main risk factors set forth in the Management Report available on the Companys website under the heading Investors, in the Shareholders section, as well as the risk factors set forth in this press release. Risks in connection with the COVID-19 health crisis It is still too early to assess accurately the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis. Nevertheless, the suspension of various assignments could affect the activity level of the first quarter and even the first six months of the current financial year, although it is not possible to evaluate the financial consequences at this time as it is still impossible to predict how long the health crisis will last. It should be noted that, in almost all the countries in which the Group has subsidiaries, strict stay-at-home measures have been ordered by the authorities. The main internal measures are to have employees work from home, coupled with taking some paid vacation. To much a lesser extent, partial unemployment has been applied in the cases where no work can be done due to the nature of the jobs in question (this concerns about thirty people within the entire Group worldwide). Some sick leave has also been recorded, generally falling under child-care. Theoretical impact of the issuance of the CB (based on the Market Price of the Companys share on 8 May 2020, i.e., 0.0342 euro) For reference, the impact of the new shares upon Conversion of the CB would be as follows: Impact of the issuance on the consolidated net assets per share (based on the shareholders equity as at 31 December 2020, i.e., 15.3M and the number of shares making up the Companys share capital as at 8 May 2020, i.e., 445 435 990 shares) Consolidated net assets per share (non-diluted basis) Consolidated net assets per share (fully diluted basis) (a) Before issuance 0.0448 0.0439 After issuance of 45 045 045 new shares upon conversion of 100 CB 0.0423 0.0428 Impact of the issuance on the situation of a shareholder owning 1% of the Companys capital, based on the number of shares making up the Companys share capital as at 8 May 2020, i.e., 445 435 990 shares) Shareholder investment (%) non-diluted basis Shareholder investment (%) fully diluted basis (a) Before issuance 1.00% 0.42% After issuance of 45 045 045 new shares upon conversion of 100 CB 0.91% 0.40% Notice This transaction does not require or include a prospectus approved by the AMF (French Financial Markets Authority). About Delta Drone : The Delta Drone Group is a recognized international player in the field of civilian drones for professional use. It develops a range of professional solutions based on drone technology as well as all related services, thus providing a full value chain. Delta Drone is listed on Euronext Growth Paris ISIN code: FR0011522168 Also listed on Euronext Growth: 33 443 695 BSA Y ISIN code: FR0013400991 www.deltadrone.com Investor-relations contact: Press contact: Jerome Gacoin Louise Caetano +33 1 75 77 54 65 +33 1 55 02 15 13 jgacoin@aelium.fr l.caetano@open2europe.com Sarah Ousahla +33 1 55 02 15 31 s.ousahla@open2europe.com Attachment Do you believe in ghosts? I don't. But I do believe in the active powers of the human imagination, especially in an old, cold building filled with the world's "acquired" ancient treasures and mummified humans. In this fascinating read in 1843 Magazine, Killian Fox chronicles the strange after-hours goings on in the halls of the British Museum. Sometimes it's the doors. To complete a full circuit of the museum more than 3,000 doors need to be opened and closed. Some of these, particularly ones that seal off the major galleries, are cumbersome to shut. But when bolted, they won't open again without a tussle. Except when they do. Take the Sutton Hoo gallery, which houses treasures from an Anglo-Saxon ship, among them a ferocious-looking helmet believed to have been worn by Raedwald, king of the East Angles, in the seventh century. On one occasion a guard bolted the double doors and moved on to the next room, only to be informed by a CCTV operator that the doors stood wide open again. Video footage of the gallery showed them moving spontaneously. Sometimes it's a sudden drop in temperature, like the unnerving patches of cold air that linger next to the winged, human-headed bull of Nimrud at the entrance to the Assyrian galleries. Sometimes it's the sound of footsteps, or music, or crying, where no obvious source can be found. Despite all this, I witnessed no supernatural activity myself. The skeptical part of me, which I hoped would be cracked open by some paranormal epiphany, remained stubbornly intact. But, over months pondering Angell's ghost stories and haunting the galleries myself, I experienced a gradual shift in my understanding of what a museum is. "All museums are strange places," Candlin told me. "You put loads of things together that otherwise wouldn't exist together and that have been utterly disassociated from where they come from it's quite a strange thing to do. Not all cultures do that, but we've got used to walking around spaces looking at objects that have been removed from use and meaning." Read the rest. Image: Massimo Virgilio on Unsplash Visakhapatnam, May 11 : A study is on over the impact of the gas leak from LG Polymers on the overall environment in the surrounding villages while authorities have sent samples from water bodies including a major water reservoir for analysis amid public apprehension that they were contaminated by chemical toxins. Following the Styrene gas leak from the chemical plant that killed 12 people and affected hundreds of others on May 7, authorities stopped drinking water supply from Megahdrigedda reservoir, one of the sources of water for the port city. The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) said the supply from Meghadrigedda was stopped immediately as a precautionary measure. "The water will not be drawn from Meghadrigedda till tests are conducted and it is proved that the water is safe for drinking," GVMC Commissioner G. Srijana said. She, along with officials from the regional water testing laboratory, inspected the reservoir on Sunday. Water from Mudasarlova, Yeleru and Thatipudi reservoirs is being used to meet the city's requirements. Officials said since Meghadrigedda caters to the water needs of only a few areas, the stoppage had no major impact on the supply. Locals claimed the reservoir was affected due to leakage of chemical toxins from the plant as layers of particles were seen floating on it and it also resulted in the death of fish in the water body.. The gas leak is reported to have polluted other water bodies in five villages surrounding the plant. The samples from all water bodies were collected and sent for analysis. GVMC officials said the impact would be known only after the receipt of the rest results. Meanwhile, a team of experts from CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Institute conducting an environmental impact assessment of the gas leak has suggested that water tanks in the affected areas be emptied out and cleaned thoroughly. Villagers, who would be returning home later in the day, have been advised not to use the provisions, including groceries, which were left out in the open. Officials have declared the five villages safe for the return of their residents. However, there are apprehensions over the extent of the impact the gas leak had on the environment. Some experts said the bacteria from the dead cattle and other animals could pose a health hazard for the residents upon their return. The people are also worried over the impact the chemical toxins could have on the quality of groundwater. A huge quantity of water was sprinkled on the leaking tanker in the plant for the last five days to keep its temperature under control. Water was also sprayed in the villages to reduce the gas density in the air. Locals said this water could have polluted the groundwater as well as flowed into water bodies around the villages. Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister K. Kannababu said the state government has constituted a committee of medical and health experts to study the impact of the gas leak on the health of the public. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Press Release May 11, 2020 Senators urge NTC to reconsider CDO vs ABS-CBN The Senate on Monday, May 11, 2020 adopted Senate Resolution 395 expressing the "sense of the Senate" urging the National Telecommunications Commission to reconsider its cease and desist order (CDO) against ABS-CBN. Twelve senators voted in favor of the resolution, while 9 senators, including Sen. Pia Cayetano who earlier signed the resolution, abstained. The senators who abstained explained that the issue has already been filed before the Supreme Court and that the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN should emanate from the House of Representatives. Aside from Cayetano, those who abstained were Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senators Panfilo Lacson, Francis Tolentino, Cynthia Villar, Imee Marcos, Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go and Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. PSR 395 also urged the NTC to allow the continuous operation of ABS-CBN, its subsidiaries and affiliates pending the disposition of its franchise renewal. Cayetano, in withdrawing her signature from the resolution, explained that, as a lawyer, she refuses to express her views once the Supreme Court takes over the matter. Despite the earlier resolution, the NTC issued the CDO on May 4, 2020 ordering the television network to immediately cease operation. ABS-CBN stopped its operation on the night of May 4. The network filed a petition Thursday last week, saying the NTC "gravely abused" its discretion when it issued a cease-and-desist order instead of deferring to Congress, which has the plenary power to grant and renew legislative franchises. PSR 395 states that "now more than ever, in the middle of the biggest public health crisis of our generation, the Filipino people deserve access to up-to-date news provided by a free and unfettered media, and multiple sources of information provide the best pathways for truth to emerge." "Equally important, the cease and desist order against ABS-CBN will impact on 13,000 of its workers, creating joblessness that could not be more ill-timed given the looming economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," the resolution stated. The resolution further stated that it was not the first time that the NTC allowed the operations of several entities despite its franchises have already expired. It cited PT&T, Globe Innove and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, which were allowed to operate despite expired franchises. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2020 | PADUCAH By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2020 | 05:12 AM | PADUCAH Four people went to the hospital Sunday afternoon after a two-vehicle crash in McCracken County. The McCracken County Sheriff's Office says deputies responded shortly before 5 p.m. to a crash at the intersection of Old US Highway 60 and Rickman Road. The investigation showed 80-year-old Lela Lester of Salem was driving on Rickman Road when she failed to see the stop sign at Old US Highway 60. As Lester continued into the intersection, the front of her vehicle struck the passenger's side of a westbound vehicle driven by 54-year-old Tammie Edwards of Paducah. The impact of the crash spun Edwards' vehicle off the road, where it struck the ditch and the parked van belonging to George Shelman before coming to rest in Shelman's front yard. Edwards, her 4-year-old passenger, Lester, and her passenger 54-year-old Stephanie Hook, were all taken to hospitals for treatment. S carlett Moffatt and boyfriend Scott Dobinsons relationship started off with a conversation about whether the moon landing was a hoax - and now the couple have come full circle, launching a BBC podcast unpicking the strange world of conspiracy theories. Their first joint venture, titled Scarlett Moffatt Wants To Believe, will see the polar opposite pair discuss everything from Roswell to the Illuminati to, yes, what happened to Apollo 11 on July 20 1969. But while former Gogglebox star Moffatt, 29, has been obsessed with conspiracies since childhood, police officer Dobinson is far more factual and straight to the point, she told Standard Online - meaning she has plenty of convincing to do. Its funny because on our first date, I asked him if he thought the moon landing was fake or real, Moffatt recalls. We had a big chat about that and now hes like 'I feel like weve just gone 360' - from that first date talking about that to our podcast. I think [Scott]s just pleased now that he can get a word in edgeways. Ill start talking about the Bermuda triangle or something and hell be coming at me with all these facts, why its false. I interrupt him normally, but now Ive got to actually listen to his points. The podcast has given the couple, who are currently isolating at home with their Chihuahua Bonnie, a focus during lockdown - and the lo-fi recording set up has taken Moffatt back to her Gogglebox days. Its really nice that weve got something to work on together because we are in the house and you do run out of things to do - theres only so many times you can play Monopoly, she laughs. I feel like this is the perfect time [for the podcast] because people are seriously running out of things to talk about. I sort of felt like I was back on Gogglebox because we record it on the couch, we just set up our little mics. Youll probably hear Bonnie barking a few times, the postman coming in because we really just recorded it on the couch. Moffatt credits her father Mark for fostering her interest in the paranormal. My earliest memory as a kid was when I was about six, my dad used to take me and our Labrador Glen for a walk, she says. We used to take a wind up camera and go searching for crop circles. Wed make little notes and Id take photos of the circles. In a strangely prescient twist, she also remembers putting tinned food in the attic in case there was an apocalypse" as a kid. Moffatt credits her dad Mark, right, with her lifelong interest in the paranormal Though shes not convinced that shell be able to win round her boyfriend over the course of recording (there are 12 episodes in the pipeline, each focusing on a new weird and wonderful theory), Moffatt thinks shell remain a true believer. Some will say that I have an issue with authority, but I just like to question things, she says. I was one of those annoying kids that was always like, But why? I dont want to believe that were the only beings out there, because to me, thats even scarier than there being other life forms. I think I always like the idea of there being something a little bit crazier than us out there. Radio 1s Scarlett Moffatt Wants To Believe podcast is now available on BBC Sounds This piece was originally published on Just Security, an online forum for analysis of U.S. national security law and policy. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and its chief judge will soon face a choice: whether or not to extend the tenure of interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Timothy Shea. Recent events have confirmed that there is only one way to restore public confidence in the fair and impartial administration of justice in the district: instead a veteran career prosecutor with no political entanglements must take over the interim role. The court and its chief judge may have a chance to make that happen as soon as the end of this month. Advertisement Shea began his tenure as interim U.S. attorney under inauspicious circumstances. The former U.S. Attorney, Jessie K. Liu, who had been nominated to a position in the Treasury Department, reportedly told her staff that she would remain until the confirmation was over, which is the standard practice. But Liu unexpectedly submitted her resignation as U.S. attorney on Jan. 29, 2020 with The New York Times reporting she and Mr. Barr then agreed that she would leave early. It is perhaps notable that, on the same day of her departure, the Justice Department retreated from its own stated position on the recommended sentence for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn in a filing in the district court. Soon after Lius departure, reports emerged suggesting that she had clashed with DOJs political leadership because her office decided not to continue pursuing criminal charges against former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe after a federal grand jury had declined to indict. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rather than allow Lius first assistant to take over, as is typical in such situations, Attorney General William Barr instead chose to appoint Shea as interim U.S. attorney. At the time, Shea was serving as counselor to the attorney general, a political appointment in Barrs immediate office, where he worked closely with Barr. By statute, Sheas appointment by the attorney general, which was effective on Feb. 3, 2020, expires after 120 days, or in early June. The statute further provides that, if a nominee has not been confirmed to fill the vacancy by that point, it falls to the district court to appoint an interim U.S. attorney to serve until the vacancy is filled. This is the law the federal court in the Southern District of New York relied upon in 2018 to appoint Geoffrey Berman as interim U.S. Attorney, affirming Attorney General Jeff Sessions temporary appointment. But the district court is not bound by the attorney generals selection; it has discretion over whom to appoint. Advertisement Both the facts surrounding Lius sudden departure and what transpired after Sheas appointment raise grave concerns about the impartial administration of justice by the office that would be best addressed by appointing a qualified, veteran career prosecutor to take over the role. Shortly after Sheas appointment, President Trump publicly criticized the harshness of the sentencing recommendation filed by the U.S. attorneys office in the case of Roger Stone an associate and ally of the president convicted of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation. Advertisement Soon thereafter, Sheas office filed a supplemental sentencing memorandum arguing that the court should impose a more lenient sentence than was initially recommended. This recommendation was a stark departure both from the offices prior position and from DOJs operative charging and sentencing policy, which disfavors sentence recommendations lower than the applicable federal sentencing guidelines range. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As a result of this sudden reversal, all four career prosecutors who had represented the government in its prosecution of Stone moved to withdraw from the case, and one resigned from the department altogether. At the same time, the president also abruptly withdrew his nomination of Liu (who had overseen the prosecution of Stone) to a position at the Treasury just days before her confirmation hearing was scheduled in the Senate. According to news reports, the presidents decision was due to Lius handling of the Stone and McCabe cases. This course of events overwhelmingly suggests that the U.S. Attorneys Office was subject to improper political pressure in the prosecution of an individual matter. More than 1,100 former DOJ prosecutors and officials from both political parties signed a letter condemning Trump and Barrs political interference in the Stone matter and objecting to the departments failure to comply with DOJ policy requiring its decisions be impartial and insulated from political influence. Separately, 60 former assistant U.S. attorneys who had served in the D.C. U.S. attorneys office publicly urged Shea to take affirmative steps to resist political interference or influence from the president and attorney general. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Events since the Stone sentencing debacle only reinforce these concerns. Reports soon emerged that Barr had taken the exceptional step of directing another U.S. attorney to review the offices prosecution of another close associate of the president, Michael Flynn. This atypical external review culminated earlier this week with the unprecedented and stunning decision by Shea to file a motion to withdraw the criminal information to which Flynn already had pled guilty. The motion advanced a narrow, defense-friendly view of whether Flynns lies were material an argument DOJ would never accept in an ordinary criminal case. Notably, no career prosecutors signed the motion, and the lead career prosecutor in the Flynn case withdrew from the case shortly before the motion was filed. Former federal prosecutors could recall no other instance in the history of the department where it moved to withdraw charges after the defendant entered a negotiated guilty plea and admitted to the charged facts. Advertisement Advertisement Politically connected defendants being afforded special attention and accommodations that no ordinary federal criminal defendant could expect are extremely troubling. Politicization of our justice system is a grave danger to the functioning of our democracy and to ensuring impartial accountability through the rule of law. Commentators have long noted that the ability of the attorney general to appoint interim U.S. attorneys, who have not been vetted and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, creates a risk of politicization of the investigations and prosecutions conducted by those offices. At a minimum, the events that have transpired here create at least the appearance that Barrs interim U.S. attorney appointment was made to affect the handling of matters involving close associates and political allies of the president. Advertisement Advertisement Because a statute limits the tenure of interim U.S. attorneys appointed by the attorney general, the district court has an opportunity to convey the importance of the impartial administration of justice. Even if the court believes Shea has acted competently and with integrity as interim U.S. attorney, the events surrounding his appointment and the ensuing highly unusual prosecutorial decisions made to benefit the presidents allies undermine public confidence in his leadership and in the office. It is critical that the court demonstrate a commitment to the impartial administration of justice by appointing a qualified, veteran career prosecutor to serve as interim U.S. attorney until a permanent replacement is confirmed by the Senate. More From Just Security Barr Ignores Settled Justice Department Policies in Run-Up to 2020 Elections Could the Coronavirus Put an End to the War in Yemen? A representative body of medical practitioners in government service of West Bengal has urged Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to reconsider the revised policy for discharge of COVID-19 patients prepared in consultation with the ICMR. Noting that different strains of 'SARS-CoV-2' are prevailing across the country with separate morbidity and mortality profile, the Association of Health Service Doctors (AHSD) said, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines cannot be exercised uniformly everywhere. In February, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) had announced 'severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as the new name of the virus. "As Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi are flooded with cases with perceived scarcity of beds and apparatus and too high bed occupancy rate, the ICMR's recentmost discharge protocol and advisory on quarantine stay may be applicable there having no other alternative. "But in West Bengal and many other states where geographical spread is not yet established, discharging confirmed cases without....sampling can't be the choice. Asymptomatics may potentially transmit the virus," the letter, dated May 10, said. The AHSD urged the Union government to take up state-specific focused intervention with the ICMR. Pointing out that the current COVID-19 outbreak has provoked social stigma, the letter said, if any coronavirus patient is released only on the criteria of not having fever, his neighbours may refuse to accept him in the locality. "It has also been experienced that coronavirus patients with mild symptoms or no symptoms are not encouraged for home isolation by his family and close relatives," the letter said. The letter further urged setting up of one testing laboratory in each district of the country. Besides one additional RT-PCR laboratory should be identified in each district for frontline COVID-19 warriors by the Centre and new machines should be supplied without disrupting the ongoing tuberculosis elimination projects, the letter signed by AHSD general secretary Manas Gumta said. The revised discharge policy for COVID-19 cases announced by the Union health ministry on Friday said, coronavirus infected patients developing severe illness or having compromised immunity will have to test negative through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test before being discharged by a hospital. However, moderate cases of COVID-19 and pre- symptomatic, mild and very mild cases need not undergo tests before being discharged after resolution of symptoms. According to the previous set of rules, a patient was considered fit to be discharged if he or she tested negative on day 14 and then again in a span of 24 hours. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Iranian flag flutters in front of the IAEA headquarters in Vienna By Parisa Hafezi DUBAI (Reuters) - One Iranian warship accidentally struck another with a missile during an exercise, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15 others, Iran's navy said on Monday. The incident took place during training in the Gulf of Oman, a sensitive waterway that connects to the Strait of Hormuz through which about a fifth of the world's oil passes. Iran regularly conducts exercises in the area. The frigate Jamaran fired at a training target released by a support ship, the Konarak. However, the support ship stayed too close to the target and was hit, state broadcaster IRIB said. "The incident took place in the perimeter of Irans southern Bandar-e Jask port on the Gulf of Oman during Iranian Navy drills on Sunday afternoon, in which 19 sailors were killed and 15 others were injured," state TV said, quoting the navy. Fars news agency quoted an unidentified military official as denying some Iranian media reports that the Konarak had sunk. The navy statement said investigations were undergoing regarding the cause of the incident, student news agency ISNA said. Video posted on Twitter purportedly of the Konarak showed a heavily damaged ship with black smoke rising from one side. Reuters could not independently confirm the authenticity of the video. IRIB said the Dutch-made Konarak vessel, which was purchased before Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, had been overhauled in 2018, and is equipped with four cruise missiles. The incident took place at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States since 2018, when the United States withdrew from a nuclear deal between major powers and Iran, and Washington re-imposed sanctions on Tehran. Animosity deepened in early January when a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Iran retaliated on Jan. 8 by firing missiles at U.S. military bases in Iraq. Later that day, Iran's armed forces shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 people aboard, in what the military later acknowledged was a mistake. Story continues Many of those killed aboard the airliner were Iranian and postings on social media on Monday drew comparisons between the two incidents. "Until when does the Islamic Republic want to play with the lives of Iranians," a Twitter user name Sedighe Taheri wrote. (Additional Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Kim Coghill, Robert Birsel, Simon Cameron-Moore and Peter Graff) Linda Lusardi has launched an online memorial for the victims of coronavirus following the death of close friend Eddie Large. The former Page 3 model, 61, has set up the free platform titled Rainbow Remembers alongside Eddie's son Ryan. Linda, who herself was hospitalised last month with Covid-19, is now encouraging people to pay tribute to their lost loved ones using the site. Tribute: Linda Lusardi, 61, has launched an online memorial for the victims of coronavirus following the death of close friend Eddie Large Speaking to The Daily Star, she said: 'My children could have been putting me on that site. We want this to honour people who weren't as lucky as me. 'I do find the stories really sad, some of them have made me cry. But it has been providing some comfort to those who have lost loved ones. 'It helps them knowing they are registered on this site and they will always be there.' Linda was spurred on after comedian Eddie Large, 78, died last month after contracting coronavirus while being treated in hospital for heart failure. Tragic: Linda was spurred on after her friend Eddie Large, 78, who died last month after contracting coronavirus while being treated in hospital for heart failure (pictured in 2017) Battle: The former Page 3 model was hospitalised in March alongside husband Sam Kane, 51, after displaying symptoms of the virus, which left her at 'death's door She told the newspaper: 'Eddie was vibrant and lively and full of fun... He had heart problems in the past but he went in for a routine operation and didn't come back out. I can't believe it, it was shocking.' She also paid tribute to the TV legend on social media at the time of his unexpected death. The mother-of-two wrote: 'We are devastated at the news that our wonderful friend Eddie Large has died from the virus. Our love and best wishes go to his beautiful wife Patsy and his family.' Linda was herself recently hospitalised alongside husband Sam Kane, 51, after suffering severe symptoms, which left her at 'death's door'. Doctors have since told her that it could be three months or more until she returns to full health. It comes after she told talkRADIO she felt like she wanted to die due to the severity of her condition. Traumatic: Linda (pictured in 2012 with husband Sam) said: 'Its nothing you can explain to people because unless youve been there, you think, "how could you know that", but you can almost feel your organs failing' She said: 'You get in a mindset where you almost want to go because it's so uncomfortable and painful and you feel so bad. 'I said to the ambulance lady, if you don't take me in I'm going to die in this bed. I knew I would. 'I think I probably had another 24 hours, 48 hours maybe, and I would have gone because I felt like my body was dying. 'It's nothing you can explain to people because unless you've been there, you think, "how could you know that", but you can almost feel your organs failing. 'You just lie back and think , "I have to give in, I give in, you're going to take me".' Bengaluru, May 11 : National carrier Air India's first evacuation flight to Karnataka from London landed in this tech city, with 326 passengers who are citizens of the southern state," an official said on early Monday. "The A-I 1803 Boeing-777-337 (ER) from London landed at the Kempegowda international airport at 4.41 a.m., with 326 passengers, including 3 infants," a state government official told IANS here. The flight was over 101 minutes behind schedule, as it flew via New Delhi where it took off at 2.23 a.m. All passengers were seen wearing mask and maintaining physical distance while coming out of the aircraft through the aero-bridge and till exiting the airport after thermal screening, testing and filling the self-declaration form about their travel history, health status and other details for contact tracing. Nearly a hour after landing, the passengers were ferried in special buses to star hotels for the mandatory 14-day quarantine amid the lockdown enforced on March 25 and extended twice up to May 17 to contain the coronavirus spread in the country. State Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar, a doctor by profession, was at the airport in the wee hours to receive the returnees and guide them in completing the formalities. As part of the Indian government's evacuation programme aVande Bharat MissionaA, three more repatriation A-I flights are due to land in Bengaluru from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, San Francisco in the US and Singapore on May 13-15 with over 600 state citizens. Two A-I Express flights are slated to land at Mangaluru airport on the state's west coast on May 13-14, with about 350-400 returnees from Gulf region. Polish authorities have detained four Tajik nationals on charges of attempting to recruit Muslim converts to carry out militant attacks. Stanislaw Zaryn, the spokesman for the minister coordinating special forces, said on May 11 that the four men would be expelled and barred from reentering Poland and the rest of Europe's passport-free Schengen Area. The suspects, who were detained on May 7, were inspired by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization but are not members of the group, Zaryn said. The men were detained based on evidence collected by the Internal Security Agency (ABW). The move in Poland comes as Tajik nationals suspected of ties to the IS extremist group have been targeted by security forces in Albania and Germany. On April 15, German authorities announced the detention of five Tajik nationals suspected of forming an IS cell plotting attacks on German soil. Two individuals in the cell were alleged to have traveled to Albania with plans to carry out a contract killing. Around two weeks later, authorities in Albania said they arrested a Tajik citizen sought by Germany for suspected membership in an IS cell. Based on reporting by Reuters, Wiadomosci, and TVP - The local government of Manila City launched a project to help tricycle drivers who lost income during the enhanced community quarantine - Mayor Isko Moreno announced that the local government partnered with food delivery company FoodPanda PH - In the PandaTODA project, tricycle drivers will be tapped to deliver food within Manila City - The job opportunity offered by FoodPanda PH can either be part-time or full-time PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Manila Mayor Isko Moreno announced that the local government partnered with food delivery company FoodPanda PH on Monday. KAMI learned that the PandaTODA project will allow tricycle drivers in Manila to gain income two months after the enhanced community quarantine was implemented. In a report by the GMA News, the tricycle drivers will be tapped to deliver food within Manila City. Through this program, initially, we will hire 500 tricycle drivers. More will be hired by the city government later on once the program has kicked off, said Director Fernan Bermejo of Manila Public Employment Service Office. FoodPanda Philippines Inc. Managing Director Mr. Daniel Marogy explained that the earning opportunities for the drivers are competitive and they have flexible hours. The total earning opportunities are very competitive and it's also flexible. They can choose how many hours they work per week, he said. According to FoodPanda PH, they will partner with the local government of Pasig City next. PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! In a previous report by KAMI, Vice President Leni Robredo is set to launch an app-based delivery service to help the vendors and tricycle drivers earn during the COVID-19 crisis. The Metro Manila is still under enhanced community quarantine as of posting time due to the increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Please like and share our amazing Facebook posts to support the KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinions about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts and views on different matters! In this new episode, we explain to you the symptoms of COVID-19 that everyone should be aware of amid the pandemic. Check out all of the exciting videos and celebrity interviews on our KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: KAMI.com.gh In times of a public health crisis, the true test of leadership is not exemplified through solitary actions or isolated mechanics but instead through the collective actions of health care systems, businesses, non-profits, government, and communities coming together to confront the threat and work towards its defeat. As leaders of three of Iowa's largest health systems, and members of the Iowa Business Council, we have the unique opportunity to demonstrate cohesive leadership as we address the COVID-19 pandemic. By serving on the IBC, we work with our peers, representing some of the largest companies and industries in Iowa, to elevate Iowa's economy and serve as a catalyst for economic vitality. This connection to the largest employers in the state will assist our efforts to defeat the virus and restart our economy. COVID-19 is unlike any other health crisis we have seen. While we are leading in challenging times, each of our health systems has adapted swiftly to implement regulatory and policy modifications in our statewide response. In many ways, we see ourselves as an extension of our public health system, finding ways to rally together behind the communities we serve to provide healthcare to Iowans. We are proud to serve in this capacity and want to thank our thousands of team members and providers who work on the frontlines by caring for the sick, sustaining vital operations, and showing kindness and bravery during a time of uncertainty. In addition to collaborating regularly to determine supply chain constraints, we are innovating and joining forces on projects to defeat the virus. Our health systems collaborated with the Iowa Department of Public Health as well as local emergency management teams to create regional plans to meet the need of an anticipated increase of COVID-19 patients and are continuing to work together to monitor and implement strategies to meet the needs of the communities. UnityPoint Health partnered with the University of Iowa's Protostudios engineers to mass produce face shields. In Central Iowa, MercyOne, UnityPoint Health and Polk County Public Health collaborate on a regular basis to help ensure their communities are informed. University of Iowa Health Care serves as triage location for high-risk patients from our hospitals and is working on potential COVID-19 treatments. We've held a joint state legislative town hall to address Iowans' questions, and we are in frequent, unified communication with local, state and federal officials. We have been amazed by the outpouring of support from businesses and individuals in the communities we serve. The sharing of hearts for our health care heroes, donations of handmade masks and many other ways have strengthened our mission and helped our teams feel supported in this unprecedented time. We are grateful to serve you. And as we work with our business peers as members of the IBC, we know collaboration amongst industries throughout Iowa will be just as important to re-establish Iowa's economic prosperity. The IBC was born out of one of the most difficult economic times in Iowas history: the Farm Crisis of the 1980s. As leaders did then, we will continue to come together to address Iowa's economic vitality and develop solutions towards recovery. For more information on broader IBC relief efforts, visit www.iowabusinesscouncil.org. J. Brooks Jackson is vice president for medical affairs, University of Iowa Health Care; Bob Ritz is CEO of MercyOne; and Sue Thompson is interim president and CEO, UnityPoint Health. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Doubt: Ken Cuccinelli seemed to rule out a swap for a US citizen and an Iranian citizen. Photo: REUTERS Iran says it is ready for unconditional prisoner swap talks with the US because of fears that the coronavirus could put the lives of the prisoners at risk. Iranian news website Khabaronline.ir quoted Cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei as saying there is a "readiness for all prisoners" to be discussed without condition. "But the US has refused to answer, so far," said Mr Rabiei. "We hope that as the outbreak of the Covid-19 disease threatens the lives of Iranian citizens in the US prisons, the US government eventually will prefer lives to politics." A senior US official said: "There has been no offer and no offer of direct talks." Mr Rabiei said Iran considered the US government responsible for the health of the Iranian prisoners, adding that "it seems that the US has more readiness to bring the situation to an end". Iranian media in recent months said there are several Iranians in US custody, including Sirous Asgari, a 60-year-old university professor. Last week, US officials said they were making progress in efforts to secure the release of a detained Navy veteran in Iran. But they were also pushing back on Iranian suggestions that a swap was in the works for the imprisoned Iranian professor. Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy Homeland Security secretary, said last week that the cases of American detainee Michael White in Iran and Mr Asgari had never been connected. Mr White, from California, was detained in July 2018 while visiting a girlfriend in Iran. He was convicted of insulting Iran's supreme leader and posting private information online. Mr White is among thousands of prisoners granted medical furloughs by Iran, one of the first countries to be hit hard by the coronavirus. But he has been forced to remain in the country. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2020) - Starcore International Mines Ltd. (TSX:SAM) (FSE: V4JA) ("Starcore" or the "Company") announces that effective today (May 11, 2020) shares of the Company have been approved to commence trading on the OTCQB under the symbol: SHVLF. This listing on the OTCQB compliments the Company's listings on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. "We are pleased to upgrade to the OTCQB venture marketplace and adhere to the transparency and extra reporting that are required," said Robert Eadie, President and CEO. "This listing, when paired with the operational excellence programs undertaken over the past two years, provides current and potential shareholders with a gold producing company that is highly leveraged to the price of gold, has a healthy share structure and a management team that is experienced in capital markets, finance and operations." About OTC Markets Group Inc. OTC Markets Group Inc. operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors. To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com. About Starcore Starcore International Mines is engaged in precious metals production with focus and experience in Mexico. This base of producing assets is complemented by exploration and development projects throughout North America. The company is a leader in Corporate Social Responsibility and advocates value driven decisions that will increase long term shareholder value. You can find more information on the investor friendly website here: www.starcore.com. Story continues ON BEHALF OF STARCORE INTERNATIONAL MINES LTD. Signed "Robert Eadie" Robert Eadie FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: EVAN EADIE Investor Relations Telephone: (416)- 640-1936 x 203 Toll Free: 1-866-602-4935 Email: eeadie@starcore.com The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed, nor does it accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/55606 By Tina Bellon (Reuters) - Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk on Monday said production was resuming at the automaker's sole U.S. vehicle factory, in California, defying an order to stay closed and saying if anyone had to be arrested it should be him. The move comes as states and cities around the United States experiment with ways to safely reopen their economies after the coronavirus outbreak shuttered businesses and forced tens of millions of Americans out of work. Musk over the weekend threatened to leave California for Texas or Nevada over his factory's closure. His move has highlighted the competition for jobs and ignited a rush to woo the billionaire executive by states that have reopened their economies more quickly in response to encouragement from U.S. President Donald Trump. In an email on Monday, Tesla referred to an order on Thursday by California's governor allowing manufacturers to resume operations and said that as of Sunday, previously furloughed employees were back to their regular employment status. "We're happy to get back to work and have implemented very detailed plans to help you keep safe as you return," according to the email seen by Reuters and titled "Furlough Has Ended And We Are Back To Work in Production!" Musk in a tweet said production was resuming on Monday, adding that he would join workers on the assembly line. "If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me," he wrote. Health officials in Alameda County, where the Fremont factory is based, late on Monday said they were aware that Tesla had opened beyond the so-called minimum basic operations allowed during lockdown, and had notified the company it could not operate without a county-approved plan. In a statement, officials said they expected a proposal from Tesla later on Monday and "hope Tesla will likewise comply without further enforcement measures." The statement did not specify consequences and said officials would not comment further. The county's lockdown order says violations are punishable by fine, imprisonment or both. Story continues A spokeswoman for the Fremont Police Department on Monday said her office was enforcing the lockdown order at the direction of the health department and had been advised that the county is working with Tesla directly. Separately on Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said California should do whatever is necessary to help the electric carmaker reopen its only U.S. vehicle factory if it wants to keep the company in its state. California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday said he spoke to Musk several days ago and that the Tesla founders concerns helped prompt the state to begin its phased reopening of manufacturing last week. I have not only known that company but I have known its founder for many, many years, Newsom said in his daily coronavirus press briefing. I have great reverence for their technology, for their innovative spirit, for their leadership. Tesla, which also has a vehicle plant in Shanghai and is building another in Berlin, on Saturday sued the county, alleging it had violated California's constitution by defying Newsom's orders allowing manufacturers to reopen. Musk has discussed opening a second U.S. factory outside California in the past. In a tweet in February, he solicited comments on potentially opening a factory in Texas. Since his threat to leave California on Saturday, officials from Texas, Georgia, Utah, Oklahoma and Nevada have reached out to Musk on Twitter, encouraging him to relocate to their state. A Texas official said his county was available immediately to accommodate Tesla and invited the billionaire CEO for a visit. "We have a motivated, pro-business governor," Richard Cortez, county judge of Texas' Hidalgo County, said on Monday. "What we no longer have is a shelter at home mandate." Musk in response tweeted: "Note is much appreciated." (Reporting by Tina Bellon in New York; Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Peter Henderson in Oakland and Brad Brooks in Austin; Editing by Richard Chang, Dan Grebler and Stephen Coates) The governors race should be in full swing in the commonwealth, with nominating contests about a year away. By this time four years ago, Democrat Ralph Northam had a campaign staff in place and countless meet-and-greets behind him, while Republican Ed Gillespie had raised nearly $1 million and driven the length of the state along Route 58. Addressing the inequalities in the United States exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic served as a major motivational force for Democrats running for Congress in central Virginia. Political campaigns have had to adjust how they get the word out to voters while maintaining social distancing. So instead of a forum held at a high school or community center before a crowd of voters, the four Democrats participated in an online forum on May 9. The candidates all brought the issues they discussed, from health care to voting rights, back to the coronavirus pandemic as a reason to make bold improvements to policy at the federal level. The four candidates are: n Roger Dean Huffstetler, Marine veteran and Charlottesville entrepreneur who lost the Democratic nomination for the same seat two years ago n John Lesinski, Marine veteran and former Rappahannock County supervisor who works in commercial real estate n Claire Russo, Marine veteran and Albemarle County resident n Cameron Webb, director of health policy and equity at University of Virginia Voters will choose their nominee June 23. The Democrat will face Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Nelson, or Bob Good, who are competing in a heated convention that will take place in the next several weeks at a date still to be determined. While the district is favorable to Republicans, House Democrats are targeting the seat. The 5th Congressional District is Virginias largest district, stretching from Fauquier County to the North Carolina border and includes Nelson County. Health care and economic inequality emerged as two of the most pressing issues during the forum, moderated by Del. Elizabeth Guzman, D-Prince William. This coronavirus pandemic has told us one thing: 2020 will be the health care election, said Webb, who has made fixing the health care system the main focus of his campaign. Webb, an internal medicine doctor, said making sure people can access affordable health care is more complicated than a three-word slogan. He worked on a White House health care team during the Obama administration to help implement the Affordable Care Act. He said the country can do better than having health insurance tied to employers, and there should be a public option. Weve got to fix private insurance so were putting people over profits, Webb said. Huffstetler and Russo both supported a proposal U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has reintroduced before called Medicare X, which would create a new public option for health insurance. Lesinksi also supported a public option. This pandemic has clearly demonstrated to all of us that every American must have access to health care, Russo said. The candidates said the pandemic has fueled a large growth in telemedicine. But Lesinski said people in rural areas dont have that same access because they lack broadband. He said that as the country emerges from the coronavirus crisis and tries to rebuild its economy, rural America will fall behind unless it has the broadband needed to attract employers and to allow for people to work from home. Its the rural electrification issue of our time, Lesinski said. Huffstetler emphasized his familys working class roots and said his campaign is focused addressing economic inequality. He said the economy has been changing, and people dont always keep the same job for more than 30 years, and workers need to upgrade their skills. Hed like to work on developing a program so community colleges and industries partner together to maintain a skilled workforce. My legislative priorities are making sure that when people work hard in this country, the country has their back, Huffstetler said. Russo said the federal government did not prepare for the pandemic as it should have done. Citing her own background as a Marine officer training Marines and an intelligence officer learning lessons from past wars and applying them to the future, she said shes equipped to work on steering the country out of the crisis and preparing for future ones. Its never been more clear that its going to take bold leadership to guide this country out of this crisis in a fair and just manner, Russo said. Lesinski connected the poor planning for a viral outbreak to the lack of bold action on climate change. Climate change is a legislative priority for Lesinski, who said reducing the countrys carbon footprint and shifting to renewable energy will create new jobs. Its a canary in the coal mine for fighting climate change, because if we dont get on this now, were going to lose a lot more lives, he said. The candidates all agreed that the pandemic has highlighted the need to expand voting rights. Huffstetler said there should be automatic voter registration when people get their drivers license. He said working people cant always make it to the polls on Election Day, so he said being able to vote absentee without providing an excuse is essential. There is no reason under the sun we should be making it harder to vote, Huffstetler said. Lesinki said that even though states are making progress in expanding voting rights, more needs to be done at the federal level. He referenced the federal court decision this week to waive the witness requirement to cast absentee ballots in the June primaries in Virginia. Republicans tried to retain the witness requirement, citing the risk of voter fraud. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud with voting by mail. The strategy here clearly is voter suppression, voter suppression of those individuals the Republican Party feels is going to be a continued threat to them winning or gaining a majority, Lesinski said. During the last election, Riggleman defeated Democrat Leslie Cockburn by about 20,000 votes. Webb raised the issue of 38,000 black residents who arent registered to vote in the district, and more than 30,000 registered black voters didnt vote in the last election. I think when we field the full team as Democrats, when we expand the electorate, we win, Webb said. Wild Rush Scores of shouting photographers swarmed past the Russian barrier, jostled German police and climbed on top of Russian sentry boxes when the Russians opened the road barriers at Helmstedt. Russian officers check one of the first American cars to cross the border at Helmstedt after the blockade was lifted. Credit:AP The Russians opened the gates at two minutes past midnight. The first car from the British zone was three minutes late, held up by a swirling crowd of hundreds trying to watch the carefully posed opening ceremony at the British barrier. Then there was a cheer and a flash of bulbs as white-helmeted military police on motor cycles escorted the first car down the 100 yards of no-mans land between the two frontier posts. Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Petrov, a well-built, unsmiling young man, took a cursory glance at the drivers papers and waved the car on within a few seconds. The Berlin blockade- and the suspense was over. For until the last moment, nobody in Helmstedt, not even the most senior offices, knew whether the Russians were going to open the gate at midnight or at 8 a.m. this morning. First Train An airlift plane roared over Helmstedt under a bombers moon and the crowd of journalists from all parts of the world raced down to the station to be on the historic first train to Berlin. The first train from the Western Zone enters Charlottenburg Station in Berlin after the blockade was lifted. Credit:AP But the opening of the road had stolen the limelight and the train left almost in silence. A quarter of an hour later it stopped at Marianborn, where Russians with tommy-guns and rifles paced the platform and lone German civilians made faces at them behind their backs. Then all but a few officials on the train went to sleep, and when it reached Charlottenburg station in Berlin this morning there was a vain search for the mayor of Berlin, and after a few minutes everyone dispersed. The train arrived an hour ahead of time, and only a handful of passers-by were there to see it come in. Happy City Berlin is a happy city today. After months of tension and austerity and recent days when scepticism tempered the hopes of more than 2,000,000 people besieged in the Western sectors, the whole city is lit with jubilation. Great crowds singing, laughing and cheering every Allied vehicle are parading the ruin-lined streets decorating tram cars with bunting, garlands and slogans: Berlin Lives Again! and Hail to the New Era! Airlift cargo workers cheer as they read of the blockade lifting in a Berlin newspaper. Credit:AP Laden with potatoes and other vegetables, a cavalcade of lorries poured into Berlin this morning after a race along the Helmstedt-Berlin highway. The placings were 16 tons of cucumbers, time, 4hrs, 1st. 13 tons of leeks, time, 4 hr. 7 min., 2nd. The winning driver won 10 bottles of schnapps, three bottles of wine, a golden wreath and a number of cash rewards. Autobahn Following these two trucks, the traffic rolled steadily along the reopened Autobahn. The gaiety remained while the trucks, barges, trains and airlift planes carried on their task of resupplying Berlin. By midday, eight freight trains had been cleared from Helmstedt. Over 50 lorries set off within four hours, but seven were turned back because the drivers did not have the right papers. In Berlin, a few lorries headed for Western Germany were also turned back. No Allied protest is expected because the Russian regulation under which they were refused passage existed before March 1, 1948, and was not affected by the terms under which the blockade was lifted. All Russian sector factories sounded their sirens after the lunch-time break to hail the beginning of understanding across the sector and zone boundaries. Chairman of the Bipartite Transport Group (Sir Robert Inglis), who arrived in Berlin on the first train from Helmstedt, said he hoped within 24 hours the line would be carrying its pre-blockade load of 8000 tons of supplies daily. General Clay, the retiring United States military Governor in Germany, spoke of the significance of the lifting of the blockade when he addressed the Berlin City Assembly this morning. The end of the blockade does not merely mean that trains and trucks are moving again, he said. It has a deeper significance. The people of Berline have earned their right to freedom and to be accepted by those who love freedom everywhere. The people of Berlin, he went on, ranked with the American and British pilots who fed the city as the real heroes of the blockade. General Clay finished his address with the words, Auf Wiedersehen, at which the Assembly then announced the renaming of a square near Tempelhoff Air Field. It will be called Platz Luftbruecke Air-Bridge Square. Speakers of all parties at the Assembly emphasised that the lifting of the blockade had not ended the cold war. Otto Bach, Social Democrat, said Berliners could have no illusions. Berlin was still split and there could be no question of compromise. Suncorp also revealed the surprise resignation of banking chief Lee Hatton, who left the bank after only three months in the job, quitting for buy now, pay later business Afterpay. The wide-ranging update, which also included extra costs of up to $70 million from underpaying staff, sparked debate over whether the company would slash the dividend at its full-year results in August, or defer the payment as some banks have done. The financial conglomerate on Monday said its flagship insurance division had taken a $205 million hit from market volatility in the March quarter, as its banking arm took a $133 million bad debt charge. Suncorp chief executive Steve Johnston says the strength of the balance sheet and the economy will be the crucial factors that determine dividends, after announcing a wave of extra costs to its bottom line. Mr Johnston said the board would take retail shareholders' desire for dividends into account when deciding on the full-year payment in August, but the strength of its capital position and the economic impact of COVID-19 would come first. "A lot of retail shareholders rely on the dividends from companies they invest in, particularly those who are invested in financial services, Mr Johnston said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Well be very minded to that element on behalf of our retail shareholders but equally a retail shareholder is not well-served if we pay a dividend and the companys capital position becomes tenuous. Mr Johnson noted that as Suncorp does not need to decide on a dividend until August, it would have more to assess economic conditions. In its insurance division, the pandemic had a mixed impact, with higher claim costs from landlord insurance and lower claims on motor policies because there have been fewer cars on the roads. There was a $205 million mark to market loss in the insurance division's investment portfolio in the March quarter. Its banking arm took a $133 million provision for bad loans caused by the pandemic, but this was a smaller impact than at the major banks, and its shares rose 4.2 per cent, to $9.28. Investors mutual portfolio manager Michael ONeill, who is invested in Suncorp, said its capital appeared robust after the bank said it held $682 million in excess capital. Theyre certainly in a better position to consider a final dividend than the major banks. I would expect a modest dividend, all depending on how this progresses, Mr O'Neill said. Dr Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI today announced the launch of Virtual Healthcare and Hygiene Expo 2020 (VH&H Expo 2020) Indias first International virtual exhibition and conference organized by FICCI from 22-26 June 2020. This is the first time that an event will be organized on virtual platform and digitally accessed by buyers from across the globe. The first edition of VH&H Expo 2020 will comprise of five-day comprehensive virtual exhibition on sectors like AYUSH & Wellness, Medical Devices, Medical Textiles and Consumables, Pharmaceuticals and Sanitization. The virtual event will also feature webinars and discuss various issues and opportunities in focus sectors, post Covid-19. Dr Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI said, Covid-19 is one of the biggest disaster mankind has ever faced in recent times, bringing disruption to the human life worldwide. With no vaccine or treatment currently in place, containment and social distancing has become the only solution to prevent the spread of highly contagious virus. We at FICCI are committed to support and help the Indian business houses, manufacturers so that they generate business and the exports gain momentum. FICCI team is working towards this and I am pleased to announce the 1st Virtual exhibition & Conference i.e. Virtual Healthcare & Hygiene Expo 2020 which will be the first of many such in pipeline from 22nd 26th June, 2020, Dr Reddy added. This will be first of its kind event which will organized on virtual platform indigenously built in the country and will be digitally accessed by the buyers from across the globe. I am sure the manufacturers of the ecosystem i.e. Pharmaceuticals, Medical Device, AYUSH & Wellness, Medical Textile, Hygiene & Sanitization will get benefited by this initiative and I welcome you all to be part of this mega program, said Dr Reddy. Mr Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General, FICCI said that the Chamber will invite buyers from over 120 countries to participate from the comfort of their home-countries to interact live with exhibiting companies. He added that the participants will have an immersive experience and the virtual platform will be close to a conventional exhibition which cant be organized in current scenario. FICCI is also in touch with central and the state governments for their participation in the exhibition, said Mr Chenoy. Mr Anurag Sharma, Chair, FICCI AYUSH Committee; Member of Parliament and Director, Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan Pvt Ltd, said that in these testing times, AYUSH systems of traditional medicines is playing an important role in supporting the government efforts to tackle the crisis. Ministry of AYUSH also plans to conduct a study to find evidence about the efficacy of AYUSH medicines to fight Covid-19. Industry will work towards the goals set by Honble Prime Minister for AYUSH manufacturers, he added. VH&H Expo 2020 will be a unique experience for the participants to interact at the ease of their office or home in these difficult times and get business. The expo will comprise of a Dedicated Virtual Exhibition showcasing products and services of over 100 manufacturers. Various webinars and digitally enabled B2B meetings will also be organised between the exhibitors and buyers. During the virtual exhibition, buyers can visit the expo, check exhibitors profile, products and can fix meetings and meet them during Live Hours from 12 noon-9 pm IST. Details about Virtual Healthcare & Hygiene Expo 2020 at www.vhhe.in Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money. Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists. The Delhi Police's investigation into the Bois Locker Room case has thrown up a new twist into the entire episode. AFP According to the Cyber Cell, the alleged gang rape conversation did not happen in the Bois Locker Room chat group. Read more Indian Railways To Restart Passenger Train Operations From 12 May The Indian Railways will gradually restart passenger train operations from 12 May, to start only 15 pairs of trains, the national transporter said on Sunday. BCCL Special trains from New Delhi station connecting these places will be running Dibrugrah, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgoan, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi. Read more Recorded COVID-19 Deaths Likely To Change As ICMR Issues Guidance For Suspected, Inconclusive Cases Amid reports of under-reporting of COVID-19 deaths in the country, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued guidance for the appropriate recording of deaths due to the disease in India. AFP ICMR said COVID-19 is a new disease and is a pandemic affecting all communities and countries and a robust data is needed in India to measure the public health impact of the ailment and to plan for timely health interventions. Read more Air India's Repatriation Flight Denied Landing Permission In Doha Likely To Fly On Tuesday In some good news for the 181 passengers who were scheduled to fly from Doha to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala on Sunday on a special Air India Express plane, their re-scheduled flight is likely to operate on Tuesday from the Qatari capital. AFP The flight which was originally scheduled for Sunday was canceled last minute after it was denied permission for landing in Doha. Read more Flights To Resume Soon, Aarogya Setu App, Face Masks And Social Distancing Mandatory For Flyers After nearly two months of suspension, flights are set to resume later this month, with a lot of changes that could be the new normal for flying. AFP As per reports, limited flight operation is likely to resume after May 18, the day after the lockdown is scheduled to come to an end. Read more San Francisco may have plenty of money to provide alcohol, cigarettes, and even marijuana to homeless people being housed in hotels, but meanwhile, the number of people living on its streets has multiplied by 300%, despite housing over a thousand homeless people in hotel rooms. Do you suppose that such lavish support might be incentivizing homelessness? The situation has gotten so bad in the city's Tenderloin District, a swath of prime real estate just a couple of blocks from the city's premier shopping district around Union Square, that local residents and businesses, including the University of California's Hastings College of Law, have sued the city over the severe health hazard. Tenderloin District homeless (YouTube screen grab). Danielle Wallace reports for Fox News: San Francisco is being sued by a law school and residents and businesses in the inner-city Tenderloin District who argue sidewalks are "unsanitary, unsafe, and often impassable" as homeless people crowd streets amid the coronavirus pandemic. The number of tents and makeshift structures in the Tenderloin has tripled since January, as homeless shelters are forced to operate at low capacity in order to enforce stringent social distancing requirements, reports say. The federal lawsuit, filed last week in part by the University of California Hastings College of Law, does not seek financial damages but instead demands the city clean up streets littered with drug needles and human waste. The litigants are also seeking help for people living in sidewalk tents, saying they are at increased risk of COVID-19. "We are suing because our neighborhood has become a pandemic containment zone," David Faigman, chancellor and dean at UC Hastings, who is heading the case in federal court, told CNN. "The city has basically cordoned off our area. Tents are blocking the streets. Tents are blocking doorways. There are needles in the streets. There's open-air drug dealing." Not just a University of California law school, but Willie Brown, the former S.F. mayor and longtime dominant figure in the state government, is fed up. He wrote in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle: [S]o far, the authorities who have locked us in have yet to figure out how to get us out. If they don't figure it out soon, the public is going to find a way to get out on its own. In fact, some counties and some professions are already opening up. And trying to keep businesses from opening with threats of suspending their liquor licenses or cosmetologist licenses won't work not on a mass scale that would be needed if many people start to say: enough. The goal of the shutdown was to curb the coronavirus and keep the hospitals from being swamped. We kept the hospitals working, but we have yet to curb the virus and a vaccine is probably at least a year away. In the meantime, we're headed over the economic cliff and facing unemployment numbers the likes of which we have never seen before. It looks like we're going to be stuck in place until at least June 1, no matter what. But June 1 may also be the boiling point. When you've lost Willie Brown and the University of California and you're a San Francisco Democrat, you're in trouble. PHILADELPHIA and NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- FS KKR Capital Corp. II (FSK II) announced today that the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the Annual Meeting) has been further postponed from May 15, 2020 to June 8, 2020 at 1:00 p.m., Eastern Time, due to COVID-19 (more commonly known as the Coronavirus). FSK II's first priority is to protect the health and safety of its stakeholders. FSK II intends to hold the Annual Meeting in person, as previously announced, at 201 Rouse Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19112. However, FSK II is sensitive to the public health and travel concerns its stockholders may have and recommendations that public health officials may issue in light of the evolving COVID-19 situation. As a result, FSK II might hold a virtual only meeting instead of holding the meeting in Philadelphia, PA. In that event, the Annual Meeting will be conducted solely virtually, on June 8, 2020 at 1:00 p.m., Eastern Time, via live audio webcast, and FSK II's stockholders or their proxyholders could participate, vote, and examine FSK II's stockholder list at the virtual annual meeting by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/FSKKRcapcorpII2020 and using the 16-digit control number included with the proxy statement. If FSK II decides to hold a virtual meeting, FSK II intends to make an announcement at www.fsproxy.com . Stockholders will only be able to participate in the Annual Meeting electronically if FSK II decides to hold a virtual meeting, instead of holding an in-person meeting in Philadelphia, PA. About FS KKR Capital Corp. II FSK II is a non-traded business development company (BDC) focused on providing customized credit solutions to private middle market U.S. companies. FSK II seeks to invest primarily in the senior secured debt and, to a lesser extent, the subordinated debt of private middle market companies. FSK II is advised by FS/KKR Advisor, LLC. About FS/KKR Advisor, LLC FS/KKR Advisor, LLC (FS/KKR) is a partnership between FS Investments and KKR Credit that serves as the investment adviser to BDCs with approximately $16 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2020. The BDCs managed by FS/KKR are FS KKR Capital Corp. and FSK II. FS Investments is a leading asset manager dedicated to helping individuals, financial professionals and institutions design better portfolios. The firm provides access to alternative sources of income and growth, and focuses on setting industry standards for investor protection, education and transparency. FS Investments is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA with offices in New York, NY, Orlando, FL and Washington, DC. KKR Credit is a subsidiary of KKR & Co. Inc., a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic manager partnerships that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR's investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. Forward-Looking Statements and Important Disclosure Notice This announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements, including statements with regard to future events or the future performance or operations of FSK II. Words such as "believes," "expects," "projects," and "future" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. Certain factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include changes in the economy, risks associated with possible disruption in FSK II's operations or the economy generally due to terrorism, natural disasters or pandemics, and future changes in laws or regulations and conditions in FSK II's operating area. Some of these factors are enumerated in the filings FSK II makes with the SEC. FSK II undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contact Information: Advisors and Retail Investors 877-628-8575 [email protected] Media Contact (FS Investments) Melanie Hemmert [email protected] SOURCE FS KKR Capital Corp. II A total of 9,000 guest workers stranded in Tamil Nadu due to coronavirus lockdown have been sent to their native states by special trains so far and arrangements would be made for the return of others in a week, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Monday The government has been taking all steps for staggered departure of guest workers if they choose to go home and also based on the concurrence of their home states, he said. "So far 9,000 guest workers have been sent to their respective states on eight trains and following the concurrence of concerned state governments," the Chief Minister said in an official release. Efforts were afoot to send the remaining workers to their homes in a week after getting the nod of their respective state governments, he said. "Till such time, I appeal to guest workers to stay put in their respective camps," he said following recent reports of some workers trying to reach railway stations out of anxiety. Recently, he had said that sending home all the guest workers who are in thousands in Tamil Nadu was not possible. Chennai Police Commissioner A K Viswanathan on Sunday visited guest workers from northern states housed at suburban Pallavaram and inspected the amenities there and assured them that they will soon be sent home. Meanwhile, a special train departed from Katpadi (Vellore) to Howrah in West Bengal at noon carrying 1,126 passengers registered and nominated by the state government. "Thermal screening of passengers done and social distancing ensured while boarding and on board," office of the Southern Railway General Manager tweeted. Vellore district officials said of the eight trains operated from Tamil Nadu so far, four, including the one that departed on Monday, originated from Katpadi, around 130 km from here. Those who departed to Howrah were stranded patients, including children, who had come to the CMC Hospital in Vellore for medical treatment and they were provided food and water for use during their journey. Days ago, two trains to Hatia in Jharkhand one to Dhanapur in Bihar were operated and totally 4,630 people including guest workers and those who had come for medical treatment had gone back to their respective home states from Katpadi, the Vellore district authorities said. On Sunday, nearly 1,000 workers from Tamil Nadu, stranded in Maharashtra, reached Tiruchirappalli by a special train. Also, Southern Railway operated similar services to ferry over 3,000 workers to destinations in Manipur and Andhra Pradesh among others from Tamil Nadu. On May 9 too special trains were operated from a couple of cities in Tamil Nadu to various destinations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Princess Diana gave up a lot to leave the royal family, but she scored a big payout following her divorce from Prince Charles. When Diana, Princess of Wales, finalized her divorce in 1996 she reportedly walked away with over 17 million. The royal familys fortune is largely protected from divorce, so how did Diana land a major payday upon her split from Charles? Princess Diana with other members of the royal family | Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images Princess Diana gives up her royal titles Diana and Charles tied the knot in 1981 and went on to share two children together, Prince William and Prince Harry. Although their marriage started like a fairytale, it didnt take long before cracks surfaced. By 1992, Diana and Charles confirmed that they had separated. Both parties had been involved in affairs, but Charless ongoing relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles proved to be their ultimate undoing. Diana, Princess of Wales, wears an outfit in the colors of Canada during a state visit to Edmonton, Alberta, with her husband. While their marriage was over, it took Diana and Charles four years to finalize their divorce. During the negotiation process, Queen Elizabeth was reportedly okay with Diana keeping her royal title. Charles, however, was against it. Diana subsequently lost her royal title, but she won a major victory when the royals agreed to pay her millions in the divorce settlement. This is how Princess Diana walked away with millions During the divorce hearings, Charles was apparently given the choice of paying Diana a monthly stipend for alimony or giving it to her in one lump sum. According to Readers Digest, Charles chose the latter and wrote a staggering check to his former wife. Diana never revealed how much the royal family paid her, but estimates have it was a little over $22 million. She also reportedly received a yearly salary of $600,000, which funded staff in her private office. Prince William, with his parents Prince Charles and Princess Diana | Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images Although Diana walked away with an enormous payout, it was hardly the Duke of Cornwalls undoing. Charless net worth is now estimated to be hundreds of millions of dollars, most of which he receives from the Duchy of Cornwall. Diana tragically passed away in a car accident in Paris a year after she finalized her divorce. The majority of her estate was passed on to William and Harry. Did Prince William and Kate Middleton sign a prenup? Considering how much money Diana got in the divorce, there was a lot of speculation about the need for a prenup when William tied the knot with Kate Middleton in 2011. At the time, divorce attorney Matthew Brunsdon told ABC News that a prenup is usually the last thing on a couples mind when they marry but it should always be considered. A prenup might be seen as anathema to the idea that the marriage vow is supposed to be for life but you cant ignore the statistics, Tully shared. Its probably prudent of people to at least consider what might happen. Prince William and Kate Middleton | Chris Jackson/Getty Images When it comes to William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, he was risking a lot not signing a prenup. Not only did William receive a good portion of his moms fortune, but he will also get an inheritance from the royal family worth millions. That said, Kate comes from a very wealthy family herself, so money might not be something at the top of her list in the event that her marriage falls apart. William and Kate never revealed if they signed a prenup in 2011. Royal experts do not believe the pair signed an agreement as it would have likely leaked to the press by now. What about other members of the royal family? William and Kate are not the only members of the royal family who did not sign a prenup. When they tied the knot in 2018, Harry and Meghan did not sign an agreement to protect his fortune. Princess Eugenie followed the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes lead when she exchanged vows with Jack Brooksbank. Turns out, prenups are a lot less common in the United Kingdom than they are in the United States. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Ben STANSALL WPA Pool/Getty Images And for the royals, a prenup is not necessary. Most of the wealth in the royal family falls under the control of the ruling monarch, who has the final say in what happens to it. In the event of a divorce, Queen Elizabeth would not be legally bound to give up any of the crowns possessions. HDB Financial Services, a non-banking financial arm of HDFC Group, has sacked about 150 employees during the lockdown, a development which the company said involves a minuscule number of employees and has nothing do with the current economic situation. However, many of these employees came out on social media platforms against the firing while alleging that HDB Financial Services asked them to resign with immediate effect or face termination. The company left them to fend for themselves when there is practically no scope of finding a new job in the middle of the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the sacked employees alleged. When contacted, HDFC Bank, the parent company of HDB Financial Services, said those resorting to Twitter were a set of disgruntled employees who were being watched for their performances and were intimated well in advance about the same as also there were some ethical issues. PTI spoke to some of the sacked employees who said it is unethical on part of the company to ask them to leave without any prior notice or anything when it is practically impossible to find a new job. HDFC Bank in a statement said, "What we are seeing is an attempt by a handful of disgruntled employees to take advantage of the current situation. This involves a minuscule number of employees out of the total 1 lakh+ and has nothing to do with the ongoing lockdown or the resulting economic situation." "We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that we, as a group, take pride in being a responsible employer and will do nothing to let that pride diminish. It's pertinent to add here that employee count at HDB actually increased by 15,794 from 93,373 as on March 31, 2019, to 1,09,167 by March 31, 2020," HDFC Bank added further. When contacted, several sacked employees said that they received calls from their senior management as well as the HR, informing that their services were no longer needed and that they must put in their papers with immediate effect or face termination. "I have been working from home since the lockdown and have been punching in my attendance online regularly, however, the HR has not recognised the same. I will not resign from my job... I have asked the company to send me a termination letter, citing the reason, if they wish to do so," said an employee posted at Delhi circle. Some employees claimed on Twitter that as many as 5,000 people have been axed since the lockdown has been imposed. Another person in a mail to his seniors alleged that the company has targeted only junior-level employees who earn up to Rs 20,000 a month and are being harassed to resign. Sacked employees tagged Twitter accounts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the microblogging site, seeking immediate intervention as the government has already asked employers not to take jobs from people during the lockdown period. Notably, economic activity and the growth have come to a halt across the globe as the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic has forced people to stay indoors to the extent possible. An HDFC spokesperson said the sacking of people has nothing to do with the pandemic-driven lockdown and these people were already under the scanner for their performance. "It is a regular exercise as part of the annual performance review. The employees were paid fully until the last two months of March and April. They will be paid accordingly as full and final settlement also," said the spokesperson. HDFC Bank held 95.53 per cent shares in HDB Financial Services as on March 31, 2019, according to the annual report of HDB Financial Services. The company offers secured and unsecured consumer, vehicle, asset finance, and enterprise business loans, among others. It also earns fee-based income and is engaged in selling of insurance products as well. HDB Financial Services had reported a profit of Rs 1,153 crore in 2018-19 against Rs 933 crore in the year-ago period. Total revenues were at Rs 8,725 crore in FY2019 against Rs 7,027 crore in the previous year. The company's assets under management stood at Rs 55,425.16 crore as on March 31, 2019, the annual report showed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 'The Delhi-Washington stalemate can end only if India's concern over trans-border terrorism is addressed.' 'The Indian security establishment expects a spike in terrorist attacks in the months ahead.' 'And there is every likelihood that India may retaliate against Pakistan at some point,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar. IMAGE: Pallavi Sharma, Colonel Ashutosh Sharma's widow, weeps as she holds the Tricolour during her husband's funeral in Jaipur, May 5. Colonel Sharma, commanding officer of the 21 Rashtriya Rifles, was killed along with four Indian Army soldiers and a Jammu and Kashmir policeman in an encounter with terrorists in Handwara, Kashmir, May 2, 2020. Photograph: PTI Photo The two-hour stopover in Delhi on May 7 by the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, accompanied by Lisa Curtis, the White House official in charge of South Asia, raises eyebrows. The Indian media reported (external link) that Khalilzad came all the way to render the advice that India should get involved in the 'internal processes' in Afghanistan, and, secondly, directly engage with the Taliban. The American side has not issued any statement on Khalilzad's mission. A press release (external link) by the ministry of external affairs stated that Khalilzad briefed External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval on the status of the US-led Afghan peace process and registered Washington's appreciation of the 'constructive contribution' India is making to Afghanistan's development. Most important, the press release conveyed that Khalilzad gently reminded ('laid importance to') Delhi of the gravity of India's 'crucial and continuing role in sustainable peace, security and stability' in Afghanistan. The emphasis on regional peace, security and stability highlights beyond doubt Washington's concerns regarding the role India is currently playing in Afghanistan and its impact on the US's regional strategies. Khalilzad's itinerary shows that he touched down in Delhi briefly before proceeding to Islamabad. What it suggests is that while he had a message for India, his meeting with the ministers in Delhi would also have a bearing on his talks in Islamabad. Meanwhile, Khalilzad also had talks with the senior Taliban leader Mullah Baradar in Doha before traveling to Delhi. IMAGE: An Afghan Sikh woman mourns for her relatives near the site of the attack in Kabul, which killed 25 Sikhs at a Kabul gurdwara, March 25, 2020 Photograph: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters Only recently, Khalilzad had a telephone conversation with Jaishankar. He later tweeted that their conversation on April 17 focused on the Afghan peace process. Khalilzad added that he and Jaishankar 'talked about the urgency of resolving the internal political crisis (in Afghanistan and the importance of Afghan leaders forming an inclusive government.' Khalilzad further wrote: 'We also discussed the need for both the Afghan government and the Taliban to accelerate prisoner releases, support a prompt reduction in violence, and start intra-Afghan negotiations. We also spent some time covering the immediate and longer-term impact of the coronavirus.' 'I told the Minister that the US welcomes Indian engagement in regional and international efforts for a lasting peace in Afghanistan. We are committed to a sustained engagement with India on this objective.' IMAGE: Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the leader of the Taliban delegation, and Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy for peace in Afghanistan, shake hands after signing an agreement between the Taliban and the US in Doha, February 29, 2020. Photograph: Ibraheem al Omari/Reuters The heart of the matter is that from the US perspective, Delhi today wields considerable influence with the Afghan elite in Kabul and can play a useful role -- if only it chooses to do so -- in nudging the Afghan government to move in a direction that galvanises the Doha pact between the US and the Taliban and in immediate terms create conditions for intra-Afghan talks. However, Delhi harbours concerns that Afghanistan may once again become a revolving door for terrorists to bleed India. One way out could be that India engages with the Taliban, as all other regional States have done in recent years. The Taliban has been sending signals that it is open to contacts with India. But Delhi tends to regard the Taliban as a mere progeny of the Pakistani military. Arguably, Delhi needs to take a leap of faith. But the signs are not encouraging. Indeed, it makes no sense for Delhi to take Khalilzad's advice and talk to the Taliban without getting diplomatic participation in the US-led group navigating the Afghan peace process (which puts India in a position to secure its interests in an Afghan settlement). IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani in New Delhi. Photograph: Shahbaz Khan/PTI Photo Washington is cherry-picking. The US objective is limited to bringing India's role in Afghanistan out of the shadows. Plainly put, Indian support for the Kabul elite has become the latter's vital lifeline today, which in turn emboldens the Afghan government to push back at US pressure tactic. Clearly, if the Afghan government didn't blink in the face of the recent US threat to cut off aid, the Indian support explained it to an extent. India's role today weakens the US's capacity to frog-march the Afghan government to the negotiating table with the Taliban. By getting India to move toward the middle ground -- between the Kabul elite and the Taliban -- Washington hopes to regain its lost leverage over the Afghan government. Of course, from the Indian viewpoint, it makes eminent sense that it has forged strong links with the emergent forces of Afghan nationalism. The reconstituted Afghan cabinet under President Ashraf Ghani has given weightage to the 'sons of the soil' instead of accommodating Washington's favourites/nominees. Delhi's comfort level with Afghan nationalists has been traditionally appreciable. Photograph: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com IMAGE: Indian Army soldiers at the end of the operation against terrorists in Handwara, May 3, 2020. The ensuing stalemate can end only if India's legitimate concern over trans-border terrorism is addressed. The Indian security establishment expects a spike in terrorist attacks in the months ahead. And there is every likelihood that India may retaliate against Pakistan at some point. If that happens, a flashpoint may well arise as had happened in February 2019, which in today's circumstances, may also deal a body blow to the US-led Afghan peace process. There are ominous developments lately. The killing of 5 military personnel in Handwara on May 2, 2020 highlights the criticality. There is always the danger of a Pakistani overreach, estimating that India's hands are full, given the unprecedented challenge of a pandemic, the crashing economy and a level of societal disintegration that the country has not experienced since Independence. Increased air activity by the Pakistan air force along India's western border has been reported. The Pakistan army may be flaunting its nuclear capability to create a firewall to deter India while abetting militancy in J&K. In fact, it will be a surprise if Pakistan does not exploit the mess we created ourselves in the Kashmir Valley. Washington would have liked Delhi to harmonise its Afghan polices with the stance of its allies. But India got disillusioned with the Doha process culminating in the US-Taliban pact in February brokered by Pakistan. Delhi has since carved out an independent pathway to secure its specific interests. Today, with the Trump administration caught in the COVID-19 quagmire and distracted by a tough electoral battle in November, the US capacity to leverage India's Afghan policies is severely limited. Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar served the Indian Foreign Service for more than 29 years. He has served as India's ambassador to Turkey and Uzbekistan and has been a contributor to Rediff.com for well over a decade. Campus News UB faculty share expertise during COVID-19 pandemic UB sociologist Erin Hatton was interviewed on C-Span about how the novel coronavirus is hurting gig economy workers. Hatton was interviewed from UB's broadcast news studio on the South Campus. By DOUGLAS SITLER The requests are important and I feel this is a crucial role for me to play in this process given my background and knowledge base. With the swift spread of COVID-19 and mandated social distancing orders, UB faculty experts have responded in a major way, helping local, national and international news media inform the public about critical issues related to the pandemic. Since Feb. 1, UB faculty have appeared in more than 1,000 print, digital and broadcast news stories about the coronavirus situation. Stories in The Washington Post, NPR, Al Jazeera, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Yahoo! News, ABC News, The Buffalo News and other news outlets have reached millions of people. Erin Hatton, associate professor of sociology and an expert on labor movements, appeared live on C-SPAN at UBs broadcast news studio to discuss how the virus is hurting gig economy workers. Equally as important, UB faculty have been a tremendous resource in explaining the many complexities of the pandemic to the Western New York community. News media around the world contact University Communications daily to requests interviews with UB faculty whose expertise is described on a COVID-19 Faculty Experts webpage. Faculty from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences have been regularly sought out for their expertise, as have faculty from the social sciences for commentary on the pandemics societal impacts, and faculty from the School of Management who have provided wide-ranging analysis of the economic effects. One of the most active faculty experts has been Thomas Russo, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine at the Jacobs School. Russos expertise in all aspects of infectious diseases has made him a highly sought-after voice for national and local media outlets. Despite an extremely busy schedule, he has made it a personal mission to answer as many media requests as possible. So far, he has handled more 50 media interviews regarding the pandemic, including several from The Washington Post. Topics have ranged from COVID-19 testing to the safety of face masks. The requests are important and I feel this is a crucial role for me to play in this process given my background and knowledge base, Russo says. He cites three separate areas as reasons to work with the news media. Informing the public on how to best protect oneself and loved ones, and to educate our community about the status of the outbreak in Western New York, he says. Lastly, to convey in understandable terms what we know and, most importantly, what we still do not know about this evolving pandemic and novel virus. As the crisis situation continues to unfold, there is enormous fear and uncertainty. Many UB faculty see their role as a form of public service. For them, being available to news reporters who are trying to help people be safe and make sense of the pandemic is an opportunity to demonstrate the universitys empathy, humanity and leadership to Western New York and the rest of the world. In a rare dawn raid on Monday, Iraqi security forces arrested at least five men affiliated with an Iran-aligned militia accused of shooting at protesters over the weekend. Police in the southern province of Basra stormed the Thaar Allah office, confiscating weapons and ammunition. A government statement said bullets had been fired at demonstrators Sunday by militiamen inside the building, killing one protester and injuring others. After a brief lull brought on by coronavirus lockdown measures, anti-government protests resumed in Iraq over the weekend in Basra, the capital Baghdad and across several predominantly Shiite provinces. Mass protests aimed at dismantling the political establishment and bringing an end to foreign interference in the country erupted in October, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. His successor, Mustafa Kadhimi, was sworn in as Iraqs new prime minister last Thursday following months of political deadlock. Kadhimi, the countrys former intelligence chief, has promised to release most of those detained for protesting and provide compensation to the families of hundreds of others who died while doing so. During Iraqs months-long protests, security forces and other armed groups repeatedly opened fire on demonstrators, killing over 500 and injuring thousands more. Under my direction, our security forces carried out operations to detain those behind assaulting protesters in Basra, based on judicial warrants, Kadhimi tweeted Monday. I promised that those who have spilled Iraqi blood will not be allowed to rest and we are honoring that promise. Kadhimi received a congratulatory phone call from President Donald Trump on Monday, his first conversation with the American president since assuming office. The United States and Iraq are preparing to meet next month to discuss the status of US troops in the country. SHENZHEN, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen will ban outdoor barbecue across the city, in a bid to prevent and control air pollution, according to the municipal ecology and environment bureau. According to an action plan issued recently, activities of outdoor barbecue will be investigated and punished by law. The government of Shenzhen plans to curb the average concentration of PM2.5 within 25 micrograms per cubic meter and ensure the air quality index maintains at least 96 percent in 2020. Other pollution control measures to achieve the goals will also be implemented in the city, including containing exhaust emissions from automobiles and ships. The city plans to phase out 60,000 old and obsolete vehicles and improve the public transportation network in the downtown areas by the end of 2020, as part of the emissions reduction efforts. Different areas of the country could emerge from lockdown at different times depending on where the virus flares up. The Governments road map suggests that parts of the UK, regions in England and even individual schools could have localised lockdowns if they have outbreaks. It indicates, for example, that Newcastle should not have to tighten measures just because of a fresh outbreak in Cornwall. The plan also raises the possibility that different parts of the country could enjoy different freedoms sooner than others. Pictured: Boris Johnson discussing his plan to come out of lockdown in parliament yesterday. The Governments road map suggests that parts of the UK, regions in England and even individual schools could have localised lockdowns if they have outbreaks A united four-nation response has been abandoned after Scotland and Wales said they would not adopt Boris Johnsons plan for England as public health is a devolved matter. The road map states: Restrictions may be adjusted by the devolved administrations at a different pace because the level of infection and therefore the risk will differ. Similarly in England, the Government may adjust restrictions in some regions before others. Europe heads for the shops Europeans flocked to shops and bars for the first time in two months yesterday as millions more were lifted out of lockdown. French workers returned to factories and offices and high streets bustled as shops, hair salons and markets re-opened. Spaniards flocked to restaurants, bars and cafes with outdoor terraces. In Denmark social distancing was cut from two metres to one as crowds formed at shopping centres. But Belgiums phased return to normality stalled as public transport workers went on strike over a lack of protective measures. Advertisement A greater risk in Cornwall should not lead to disproportionate restrictions in Newcastle if the risk is lower. Yesterday chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said: Going forward it is important that, as this comes under control, it will be something that needs to be managed locally and regionally much more. As the numbers come down and as this becomes a controlled situation where you are looking for outbreaks, that will have to be done locally and regionally and responses will need to be done locally and regionally. It may be necessary to make closures of certain businesses or a certain school, depending on what is happening. Outbreaks are going to need to be managed locally. This will become a situation where you start to see differences emerging. The Prime Ministers official spokesman did not deny the road-map meant limits could be eased in some areas before others. He also highlighted that if there was an outbreak in a school, it could be closed but not every local school would have to shut. The new alert system drawn up by the Government would help to identify pockets of infection around the country, he added. In Parliament yesterday, Mr Johnson said: The intention is the Covid alert system in time will be sufficiently sensitive and flexible as to detect local flare-ups, so that for instance if Covid is detected in the [waste] water supply of a certain town or in a school, in an area, then steps can be taken. Asked about these comments on traces in water supplies being used to pinpoint outbreaks, the spokesman said: Some studies have been carried out overseas and it is something we are looking at as a possible way of seeing if you could track the rate of infections locally. GRAND RAPIDS, MI Doctors at more than one West Michigan hospital are beginning to see positive results from experimental plasma treatments being used to help those severely ill as a result of the coronavirus. The experimental trial, which is centered around convalescent plasma infusions, is being led by the Mayo Clinic. Patients across the country participating in the trial are being infused with the plasma of someone who has recovered from the virus. Then they are monitored. The same form of treatment was used to combat SARS, the Spanish flu and Ebola. The therapy is based on the science of antibodies. A person who had COVID-19 but successfully recovers creates antibodies to help them fight off future infections. Dr. Gordana Simeunovic, a Spectrum Health infectious disease physician and researcher, said the antibodies start interrupting the virus and attack and kill it, while decreasing inflammation in the sick persons body. Transfusions of plasma from a recovered patient are believed to help improve the ill persons immune system, Simeunovic said, as well as boost the bodys ability to create its own antibodies. While results are far from complete on the trial, Simeunovic and other area doctors are seeing positive signs and asking more people who have recovered from the virus to consider donating. All these patients I see, they are in the ICU, they are intubated and they are literally fighting for their lives, and after they get plasma they are responding nicely," Simeunovic said. We are very optimistic about this treatment. Simeunovic said as of Monday Spectrum Health has performed 35 transfusion on critically ill patients since the networks first patient received a transfusion on April 10. Of those patients, three have died, five remain in the ICU, six are out of intensive care and in stable condition and 21 have been discharged, she said. The fatality rate of those who were critically ill that have been treated at Spectrum Health is 8.5%. And while the statewide fatality rate for those infected by COVID-19 is 10% according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services the fatality rate for those who become critically ill as a result of the virus is closer to 30%, Simeunovic said. "Were trying not to look at the data too much as were doing it, otherwise it biases you, but a lot of it depends on how sick the patient is when they get the plasma, said Dr. Ronald Grifka, chief medical officer at Metro Health Hospital in Wyoming, where three COVID-19 patients have undergone plasma transfusions. All three Metro Health patients are now out of intensive care following successful treatments, Grifka said. Like any illness if you wait too long they are not going to recover no matter how good the treatment is," he said. "So were trying to determine the best time to administer it. The people who have received it so far, the vast majority I can tell you have gotten better. Its encouraging. Grifka said one of the things the study is attempting to decipher is whether those who have been asymptomatic carriers or who have been sick will be immune from getting the disease. COVID-19 will be around for a number of years, and its going to take us a while to get a vaccine," he said. So were trying to do this as carefully and as scientifically as we can and hopefully come up with some answers. Both Bronson Methodist and Ascension Borgess hospitals in Kalamazoo also began plasma treatments of a select number of coronavirus patients in April. Bronson Methodist has had six patients undergo the treatment thus far. When asked about the success of those treatments, hospital communications specialist Jay Newmarch said the hospital was unable to disclose that information. Ascension Borgess also did not respond to a request for comment on its patients who had undergone the therapy. The hospitals chief medical director Thomas Rohs told MLive in a prior interview that there were very few risks involved in the treatment, however. Simeunovic said the biggest problem right now is a lack of available testing. She said Spectrum has 10 patients in its network who are severely ill and waiting for an infusion, but there is no plasma available. We dont have enough donors, she said. Simeunovic urged those who have been sick to remember what they went through and how difficult it was. As of now, recovered patients can donate eight consecutive weeks, she said. One donation can save four lives. Thats 32 lives in eight weeks. With a second wave expected to hit Michigan in the fall, Simeunovic said, the best-case scenario would be to have some plasma on reserve to help treat more patients at that point in time, while researchers continue to search for a vaccine. RELATED: Michigan-made coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer in clinical trials My goal would really be to treat moderately-ill patients to prevent them from getting really sick, from getting intubated and going to the ICU, but we dont have the plasma to do that, she said. "So right now we have to pick the patients who are really sick or in the ICU and already intubated. If we have more donors we would be able to treat more sick patients and prevent progression of the disease. Those who would like to donate plasma can do so through the American Red Cross, Versiti Blood Center in Portage, Grand Rapids or Grandville, or by contacting the Spectrum Health research department at covid19research@spectrumhealth.org. Donors must be a coronavirus survivor who has been symptom-free for 14 days, Simeunovic said. This whole trial is a real testament to the people who suffered from the disease that are kind enough to donate their plasma, Grifka said. Also on MLive: Michigan hospitals start infusing coronavirus patients with antibodies Michigan-made coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer in clinical trials Three Spectrum Health coronavirus patients receiving promising plasma therapy Kalamazoo hospitals begin treating coronavirus patients with plasma donations Dr. Anthony Fauci, other White House coronavirus task force members go into quarantine after possible exposure Michigan coronavirus crisis causes delays in other health care, sometimes with deadly consequences Hearing in a Kitchen Finding a New Way Forward (TNS) Before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered his courtroom in late March, Lehigh County District Justice Rashid Santiago had hundreds of cases on his calendar. Landlord-tenant disputes, truancy hearings, small claims civil matters and all sorts of criminal cases.When health officials decide its safe to reopen Pennsylvanias courthouses to the public perhaps next month, or the month after that, or even later most of those cases will still be waiting for Santiagos attention, along with matters filed since the pandemic began.My staff is starting to reschedule things, cautiously, Santiago said. We cant just open the floodgates and have 50 hearings in one day. Especially if were going to need to keep social distancing.Courts across the region are stepping up their use of technology to keep dockets moving. Teleconferencing systems such as Zoom are being used to conduct all types of hearings, with litigants, witnesses, judges and attorneys logging in remotely and communicating through a row of screens.But some matters, including jury trials, cannot be decided remotely. That has some attorneys worried that theyll be playing catch-up for months, while their clients wait for justice.Its a concern, said attorney Kimberly Krupka, who was preparing for jury selection in a medical malpractice trial in late March when COVID-19 struck, forcing a postponement. I think the courts are doing the best they can to keep things moving, but its a question of how to keep people safe.After closing courthouses to the public in mid-March, the state Supreme Court last month ordered county courts to resume most operations by May 4, stressing that technology should be used to limit the number of people in court buildings. The order also directed courts to use technology to provide interested parties better access to proceedings that would usually be open to the public.Lehigh and Northampton judges were already using video and phone conferencing to hear emergency matters. More preliminary hearings for incarcerated defendants moved to Zoom last week in Lehigh County. Northampton County uses Polycom video conferencing.Though the venue was broken into parts a defense lawyers home office, a white-painted cinder blocked holding cell at the Lehigh County jail, Courtroom 1C on the first floor of the courthouse, a conference room in the district attorneys office and a state troopers kitchen a preliminary hearingobserved via Zoom last week was conducted just like a prepandemic proceeding.Except that when the lone prosecution witness, a woman wearing a pink face mask in the courtroom, testified, it was difficult to understand her words. District Justice Ronald S. Manescu, hearing the case from a remote office, asked her to lean closer to the microphone.That hearing went smoothly, ending with the defendant being held for trial. Other hearings last week were continued because witnesses were not available.Though thats a common occurrence even when courts are operating normally, each delay during the pandemic compounds a backlog thats been building up for nearly two months, said defense attorney Paul Missan.Sometimes its unavoidable, but I do worry about my clients who are in jail with this virus going around. You dont want a healthy young kid whos a shoplifter getting a death sentence, he said.Both state and local judicial emergency orders handed down since the pandemic have prioritized hearings that could result in an incarcerated person being released. Other time-sensitive matters, such as arraignments, search warrant requests and juvenile detention hearings, have also continued despite the court slowdown.Virtual criminal hearings could be affected by individual police departments policies. Allentown police officers, for example, must attend preliminary hearings in person, at the courthouse, and not via Zoom, Chief Glenn Granitz Jr. confirmed.Missan, who began his career as a prosecutor in the Bronx, one of the first district attorneys offices in the nation to embrace video to record suspect interviews, said hes glad to see technology being used during the pandemic. Especially since he has a pregnant wife to worry about.The virus is everywhere. So Im not going anywhere near the courthouse, he said.Missan said he wouldnt mind if the courts continued to use Zoom and other technology even after the health crisis passes, especially for simple proceedings that require just a few minutes in court.I think it could be a great time saver, he said.Krupka also said shes been impressed by how smoothly virtual hearings have been going. She represented a client at an injunction hearing before Northampton County Judge Abraham Kassis last month. She and her clients were in one courtroom, the judge was in another, and opposing counsel logged in from his office.The judge was being extremely careful to make sure everyone was heard, Krupka said. It was new for everyone, but I think my clients were satisfied. They also didnt want to be in a courtroom with lots of people.In addition to what he expects to be a horrible backlog of cases when courts fully resume, Missan said hes concerned about upcoming jury trials, which cant be held virtually. Thats because defendants have the constitutional right to confront their accuser, and jurors are instructed to scrutinize witnesses demeanor to judge the validity of their testimony a task that requires a front row seat to the witness stand.Missan also thinks many potential jurors may balk at being crowded into a courtroom until COVID-19 is eradicated.People have to feel safe. Maybe theres a way to put protective plexiglass dividers in the jury box, like ones they have in supermarkets" he said.Krupka said she also thinking about how the coronavirus will change jury trials. In addition to her March med-mal trial, Krupka had trials scheduled in May and June. With jury service canceled statewide through July, those trials have been rescheduled for August and November.Jury selection usually requires a panel of about 75 people initially questioned in a courtroom together, before the group is winnowed down to 12 jurors and several alternates.The question is, how safely do we bring in that large of a panel of jurors? Krupka said. I think theyre being hopeful and trying to schedule cases in August, but I dont know thats going to happen.Lehigh County Judge Melissa Pavlack has been using teleconferencing to conduct protection from abuse hearings and other emergency matters since the pandemic began. Later this month, shell oversee adoption hearings, which are usually held in her chambers, via Zoom.Pavlack said she and her fellow judges are glad that technology exists to safely allow people to have their day in court even while COVID-19 has ground much of society to a halt.We have to keep going. So many people are depending on us, she said. Syracuse, N.Y. Onondaga County lost six more people to coronavirus overnight four in hospitals and two in nursing homes bringing the total number of lives lost to 75. Im very sorry to the families, Im certainly grieving with you and other members of the community are, County Executive Ryan McMahon said. Last week marked the countys deadliest week to date from the battle with coronavirus. Of those who died in hospitals, one was a woman in her 70s, the others were men, one each in their 50s, 60s and 80s. The county did not have information on the two nursing home deaths. In big news, the county is now opening up its stockpile of coronavirus tests to anyone who wants to be tested, McMahon said.. The triage site, at the Syracuse Community Health Center, 819 S Salina St., Syracuse, is now open for anyone to get a test who wants one. Thats a drive-through site that returns results within a few days. There are now 600 tests available a day at the health center, McMahon said. Anyone can get tested with a proper state ID (like a drivers license). As long as we have capacity, we might as well use that capacity, McMahon said. The county executive said hes still intimidated by the testing process, and repeated that he has no plans to get tested unless he has symptoms. But he admitted that hes still trying to get others excited to be tested, if they want to, so the county can get testing numbers up. Until now, an executive order required anyone who gets a coronavirus test to self-quarantine until getting results which can take up to a week. But McMahon said hell alter that to remove the quarantine for people who get tested now without symptoms. The county will also open its first mobile testing site on Thursday and Friday in the parking lot of the former Nojaims supermarket, 307 Gifford St. That will target people on the citys Near West Side, but can test anyone who brings proper identification, McMahon said. Come on in, show on up, show your ID, well log it, and get your test, McMahon said. Opening testing to everyone is a key part of Onondaga Countys plan to do tons of tests a day to fulfill the requirements by the state to reopen. The state guidelines require 30 tests a month for every 1,000 residents: thats 775 tests a day for Central New York region, which includes Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, Madison and Cortland counties. McMahon has stressed the need to do targeted, proactive testing. But he acknowledged Monday that well also need lots of people from all over to get tested to meet the states requirements. Overall, 29 new infections were confirmed overnight, bringing the total number of infections to 1,394. Of those, four were new cases within households with a known infection and three were in senior living facilities. That means 22 were in the community at large, a slight increase from last weeks average of 19 a day. However, there were only six new community infections on Sunday. There were 55 in the hospital, unchanged from a day ago, while 13 were in critical condition, up one. There were 28 recoveries, bringing that total to 737 people. The number of current infections went down 22 overnight to 587 active cases. In another major data point, tons of negative tests from state-regulated nursing homes were finally added to county totals for the first time. That means that, officially, 1,654 tests were returned overnight, the vast majority negatives from days and weeks before. There have now been 17,645 tests returned in Onondaga County so far. McMahon expressed frustration that the state has not yet cleared Central New York to restart on May 15, despite other Upstate regions getting the green light by the state on Monday. Somethings missing here, the county executive said of the ruling, arguing that he can prove were meeting the testing requirements right now. McMahon suggested that the states numbers, which have lagged several days behind at times, did not present the current picture locally. McMahon has promised that the county will meet all of its targets by May 15, citing his own data. But he expressed confusion over why the state believes there are only 647 tests a day being done in the region, when he says there are 700 or more being done a day in Onondaga County alone, let alone the other four counties in the region who also count toward the 775 a day total requirement. The county executive talked at length about his efforts to increase testing numbers, but said he believes such requirements dont make a lot of sense in a region that hasnt been as hard-hit by coronavirus as other parts of the state. Nevertheless, McMahon vowed to meet the testing mandate, saying the local economy needs to reopen. Just to make sure, McMahon promised to do all of the regions required tests each day in Onondaga County alone. The only way the county doesnt open on Friday, as planned, is if the state does not get results from all of the recent tests in time, McMahon said. But he insisted that the county will be ready and will convince the state the community is ready by then. Testing is the only requirement holding the region back from restarting. Testings not going to hold this county, this region, up from restart, he vowed. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Another way coronavirus kills: blood clots. Central NY dad, 57, dies at home Cuomo says parts of NY are ready to reopen as May 15 coronavirus shutdown end nears Syracuse company develops coronavirus-killing drone for arenas and stadiums Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070. Economic turmoil caused by the Coronavirus crisis has sent shockwaves through the stock market's dividend landscape. The good news is that some stocks are well placed to withstand these problems - and it looks like Washington Trust Bancorp Inc (NSQ:WASH) might be one of them. With dividend cuts sweeping the market this year, income investors have been under pressure. Deceptively high yields have turned into traps and the promise of payout growth has vaporised in many cases. But look hard enough and there are some stocks that look well placed to ride out this chaos. With a checklist of key dividend measures you can be on the path to finding them. Here's a summary of why Washington Trust Bancorp Inc - which is a player in the Banking Services industry - scores well against these tests... GET MORE DATA-DRIVEN INSIGHTS INTO NSQ:WASH 1. High (but not excessive) dividend yield Yield is an important dividend metric because it tells you the percentage of how much a company pays out in dividends each year relative to its share price. That makes it easy to compare dividend payouts right across the market. High yields are obviously appealing but be careful of excessively high yields (usually above 10%) because they can be a sign of problems. When the market suspects a company may be unable to sustain its dividend, the share price will fall and actually push the yield higher - and this can be a trap. So it pays to be wary of excessive yields. Washington Trust Bancorp Inc has a dividend yield of 6.14%. 2. Dividend growth Another important marker for income investors is a track record of dividend growth - and evidence that the growth will continue. Consistent dividend growth can be a pointer to companies that are carefully managing their payout policies - and rewarding their shareholders over time. Rather than aggressively dishing out earnings, dividend growth companies tend to have more modest yields, but are better at sustaining their payouts. Story continues Washington Trust Bancorp Inc has increased its dividend payout 9 times over the past 10 years - and the dividend per share is forecast to grow by 5.92% in the coming year. 3. Dividend safety Attractively high yields obviously turn heads - but its important to know that a dividend is affordable. Dividend Cover (similar to the payout ratio) is a go-to measure of a company's net income over the dividend paid to shareholders. Its calculated as earnings per share divided by the dividend per share and helps to indicate how sustainable a dividend is. Dividend cover of less than 1x suggests that the company cant fund the payout from its current year earnings - and might be relying on other sources of funds to pay it. Washington Trust Bancorp Inc has dividend cover of 1.85. Next steps With these three important rules, you can track down shares that offer a reasonable yield, with a record of growth and safety. On this basis, Washington Trust Bancorp Inc could be worth a closer look. To find out more you might want to take a look at the Washington Trust Bancorp Inc StockReport from the award-winning research platform, Stockopedia. StockReports contain a goldmine of information in a single page and can help to inform your investment decisions. To find more stocks like Washington Trust Bancorp Inc, you'll need to equip yourself with professional-grade data and screening tools. This kind of information has traditionally been closely guarded by professional fund managers. But our team of financial analysts have carefully constructed this screen - Stockopedias Dividend Stock Ideas - which gives you everything you need. So why not come and take a look? Plus, if youd like to discover more about dividend investing, you can read our free ebook: How to Make Money in Dividend Stocks. BJP MLA Dhulu Mahto, who is facing various charges including extortion, on Monday surrendered before the Dhanbad chief judicial magistrate who remanded him to 14 days' judicial custody. Mahto was absconding since February 19 when police raided his house at Barora area in Dhanbad in connection with the cases. Accompanied by his advocate S N Mukherjee, the legislator reached the residence of the CJM, Sangita, as courts are closed due to lockdown. She remanded her to judicial custody for 14 days in the extortion case. Police was looking for Mahto after a scrap dealer Irshad Alam filed a complaint against the MLA, accusing him of demanding extortion money and taking possession of his truck in February. The BJP legislator is also facing an arrest warrant in a sexual assault case filed by a woman leader of his party. Mahto was also awarded 18 months imprisonment by a Dhanbad court in October 2019 for assaulting policemen and snatching away one person from their custody. He was later granted bail by the high court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Farmers body FAIFA on Monday urged the government to provide a rescue package for tobacco growers, saying the crop worth Rs 4,400 crore is lying unsold in the fields due to the coronavirus pandemic. Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA), which claims to represent farmers and farm workers of commercial crops across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat, said demand for tobacco has weakened due to declining volumes of cigarettes and other tobacco products as a result of prolonged lockdown. It also sought government intervention to reschedule crop loans for next two to three seasons, and allow farmers to repay the loans in splits of 30 per cent each per season. "Failure to bail out the current duress for tobacco farmers will force many of them into debt trap which will virtually kill the ecosystem comprising of marginal farmers, workers, and people employed in handling and transportation activities while pushing the farmers to extreme measures," FAIFA President Javare Gowda said in a statement. FAIFA said in Gujarat 330 million kgs of tobacco worth Rs 2,700 crore is lying in the open fields as traders are not ready to pick-up the produce because the government has banned the sale of tobacco products. On the other hand, nearly 130 Million kgs of flue cured tobacco worth over Rs 1,700 crore is waiting to be sold as the auctions are moving at snail's pace, causing quality loss under prolonged storage, it added. Gowda further said, "We request the government to immediately start auctions in all the Tobacco Auction platforms". He said the government should also direct the Tobacco Board and other bodies to coordinate with FCV tobacco manufacturers, exporters and traders to facilitate reasonable prices (pre-COVID market prices) for FCV (flue cured virginia) tobacco produce at the auctions in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Urging Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to intervene "to reschedule crop loans for next 2-3 seasons", FAIFA General Secretary Murali Babu said the farmers must be allowed to repay the loan amounts in splits of 30 per cent each per season, while continuing the sanction of the regular seasonal loans. "The decision will benefit millions of FCV tobacco farmers, their families and workers dependent on the industry, as they are already staring at burden of huge interests of non-institutionalized loans," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Google Earth FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) Five people were shot and wounded during a party at a Texas park that drew about 600 people despite local guidelines discouraging large gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic, police said. The shootings happened Sunday night at Village Creek Park in Fort Worth, police said. Fort Worth Officer Buddy Calzada said fireworks were set off, and then witnesses reporting hearing about 30 rounds of gunfire, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. 10,000 liters of NaOClean Asia's disinfectant solution will be donated to nursing homes, senior activity centers and religious organisations in Singapore. This donation drive will take place from today till December 2020. Some of the beneficiary organisations include Fei Yue Community Services, St Andrew's Nursing Homes, Thomson Road Baptist Church and St John's Home. NaOClean Asia to donate 10,000 liters of disinfectant solution to churches and nursing homes. The NaOClean Asia team and strategic partner Ban Choon Marketing visited Thomson Road Baptist Church to make the donation, and support the church in sanitizing its premises. The COVID-19 outbreak has made us more conscious of the fact that viruses and bacteria can stay in the air and on surfaces for long durations. We are hopeful that this donation of disinfectant solutions will go a long way in ensuring that we keep our environments safe for elderly and children. Our goal is to offer the best solutions that can keep communities safe, especially during this period." Peter Kim, CEO, NaOClean Asia Peter has been distributing several leading brands of air purifiers worldwide since 2013. A serial entrepreneur for the past 30 years, Peter has gained an in-depth understanding of the region through his various business ventures in Singapore and Korea. NaOClean is a Korean brand of alcohol-free disinfectant solution with over 30 years of experience in the industry. It can be used to disinfect all surfaces and also be used as a hand sanitizer. The brand is launching in Singapore with this corporate social responsibility initiative to contribute resources to vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 outbreak. Safety measures in churches It is very important for churches to implement measures to keep the congregation safe. The NaOClean disinfectant solution will come in handy in helping us disinfect the church and also be used as a hand sanitizer for church members when we re-open for services." Peter Ng, Deacon, Thomson Road Baptist Church Alcohol-free disinfectant solution from Korea The NaOClean disinfectant solution is produced in Singapore. This production facility is supported by a strategic partner Ban Choon Marketing. The disinfectant solutions are produced through an electrolysis of water with a tinge of salt. NaOClean's machines generate sodium hypochlorite water through this process of electrolysis. According to the Korea Testing & Research Institute, the solution is clinically proven to be effective in killing viruses related to E.coli and H1N1 as well as the Salmonella bacteria. How organizations can collect the sanitizers Nursing homes and senior activity centers who need the disinfectant solution can get in touch with NaOClean Asia at [email protected] NaOClean Asia will then assess these requests and make the donations on a case-by-case basis. The head of the National Guard has tested negative for the novel coronavirus for the second time since learning he had previously tested positive. Gen. Joseph Lengyel, chief of the National Guard Bureau, received a negative result for COVID-19 at Walter Reed Military Medical Center on Monday, the Guard said in a statement. Lengyel first tested positive just ahead of Saturday's Joint Chiefs meeting with President Donald Trump. A second test Lengyel took the same day came back negative; officials said he would self-isolate and be screened again "to confirm his negative status." Related: Navy's Top Admiral Isolating After COVID-19 Exposure; National Guard Chief Tests Positive The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that some tests are known to produce false negatives. A patient undergoing a real-time diagnostic panel for COVID-19 and subsequently testing negative could still have the virus, the health agency said in March. "Thank you to all who have expressed concern for my health and safety," Lengyel said in the statement. "I am happy to continue to focus on the efforts of the 46,000 Guardsmen and women who are battling this pandemic in the 50 states, three territories and District of Columbia." "General Lengyel is continuing his work focused on the National Guard's efforts to fight COVID-19," said Army Master Sgt. W. Michael Houk, spokesman for the Guard Bureau. "As a whole, the National Guard has implemented COVID-19 risk mitigation measures, including reliance on video teleconferencing in place of in-person meetings, maximum telework, required mask wearing when social distancing measures are impractical, and testing as necessary." He did not say whether Lengyel will continue to self-isolate. Meanwhile, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday is spending the week quarantined after having contact with a family member who tested positive for the illness, a Defense Department official told Military.com on Sunday. Gilday has tested negative but will remain isolated, the official said. Gilday and Lengyel were not present at the weekend meeting at the White House with the other Joint Chiefs and several cabinet members. While the military has put social distancing measures in place in addition to mandatory mask-wearing protocols, Trump was not wearing a mask, nor were general officers or Defense Secretary Mark Esper, according to official White House photos. As of Monday, the military had 5,316 cases among its uniformed personnel, an increase of 145 troops since Friday. The Navy and the National Guard have the bulk of the cases, with 2,162 in the sea service and 1,037 in the Guard, according to the Pentagon. -- Gina Harkins contributed to this report. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214. Read more: Army Wants Wearable Coronavirus Symptom Detector for Soldiers (The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.) * GRAPHIC: Spot iron ore vs SGX coking coal: https://tmsnrt.rs/3fBSPtL By Clyde Russell LAUNCESTON, Australia, May 11 (Reuters) - There is an increasing disconnect between the two key ingredients for making steel, with iron ore safely within China's economic bubble and coking coal more exposed to the rest of the coronavirus-riddled world. The main difference is that while China imports the bulk of the iron ore with which it feeds its 1 billion-tonne-a-year steel industry, it has a large domestic coking coal industry and imports only about 10% of its needs. Benchmark spot 62% iron ore for delivery to China , as assessed by commodity price reporting agency Argus, ended last week at $88.30 a tonne. While this was down 8% from its peak so far this year at $96 a tonne on Jan. 17, iron ore's decline looks modest compared to the massive losses for other commodities, with both crude oil and liquefied natural gas at one point down more than 70% from their early 2020 peaks. Iron ore is also outperforming coking coal futures on the Singapore Exchange, where valuations for the Australian free-on-board price, ending at $115 a tonne on May 8. This was up from the low so far this year of $107.97 a tonne on May 1, but also down 29% from the year's peak at $161.95 on Feb. 3. Normally, iron ore and coking coal prices track each other fairly closely, but the weaker performance of coking coal shows the different dynamics of their underlying markets. China accounts for about 70% of the global trade in seaborne iron ore, and the recovery in output from steel mills since the lifting of coronavirus restrictions has buoyed the market for the steelmaking ingredient. China's steel mills actually managed to boost production in the first quarter, churning out 234.5 million tonnes, up 1.2% from the same period in 2019. Data on April's steel production is still to be released, but rising utilisation at mills and improving profit margins suggest output will be higher, boosting demand for iron ore. China's imports of iron ore reached a four-month high of 95.71 million tonnes in April, up 11.4% from March and taking the January-April increase to 5.3%. Story continues It's worth noting that iron ore supply from Brazil, the world's number two shipper behind Australia, has been affected by outages at mines and weather disruptions, while exports from China's number three supplier, South Africa, have been lower because of that country's ongoing coronavirus lockdown. This has kept prices well bid as traders looked to source more cargoes from Australia, where the country's mines have continued operating throughout the pandemic crisis. COKING COAL WOES In contrast to iron ore, China's role in global seaborne coking coal is far more limited. It imported about 75 million tonnes of coking coal in 2019, according to the Australian government's Resources and Energy Quarterly for the January-March quarter. About 31 million tonnes of that total, however, came overland from Mongolia, meaning China bought only about 44 million seaborne tonnes, or about 13% of the global total. Other major importers of coking coal include Japan, South Korea, India and Europe, and the declines in steel output in these countries and regions because of lockdowns to combat the coronavirus are weighing heavily on prices. India, for example, imports the bulk of its coking coal, with most of it coming from top exporter Australia. India imported an average of 3.73 million tonnes a month from Australia in the first quarter, according to vessel-tracking and port data compiled by Refinitiv. This dropped to 2.84 million tonnes in April as India enforced a lockdown that is still continuing, and its May imports are on track to drop even further. Just 1.47 million tonnes of Australian coal either has arrived in India this month or is en route and likely to arrive prior to month-end, according to Refinitiv data. This figure is likely to be revised higher as more cargoes are sighted, but with a sailing time from Australia's east coast coal ports to India of around three weeks, the chances are that the volumes won't rise too much. To make matters worse for seaborne coking coal, the flow of the fuel from Mongolia has resumed after China's landlocked neighbour idled much of its mining industry in the first quarter to combat spread of the coronavirus. While China is able to prop up the seaborne iron ore market by itself, it cannot do the same for coking coal, and the ongoing weakness in steel output outside China means coking coal prices are likely to weaken further. (Editing by Tom Hogue) At least 29 people were killed across 15 districts of Uttar Pradesh after rains and hailstorm lashed several parts of the state on Sunday, officials said. Four people were killed in Kasganj, three each in Sitapur, Bulandshahr and Badaun, two each in Barabanki, Chitrakoot, Ballia, Pilibhit, Kannauj and Hardoi and one each in Lucknow, Fatehpur, Amethi and Aligarh. At least 38 districts of the state have been affected by the rains and hailstorm. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath condoled the deaths and directed district magistrates to give financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh each to their families. Adityanath also asked officials to make arrangements for proper treatment of those injured. He has directed officials to make an assessment of loss to human life, animals and property. The weather department in Lucknow on Sunday issued a warning that thunderstorm, dust storm, lightning, hail storm accompanied by squall (up to 50-60 kmph) were very likely at a few places in the state. The maximum temperature on Sunday was recorded at 35.9C, which was 3.3 degrees below normal, and the minimum temperature stood at 25.6C, 1.5 degrees above normal. The writers state that we can use the science to design economies that will mitigate the threats of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pandemics. In fact, science has already designed such as system and it is called Technocracy, aka Sustainable Development. TN Editor The COVID-19 coronavirus has forced entire countries into lockdown mode, terrified citizens around the world, and triggered a financial-market meltdown. The pandemic demands a forceful, immediate response. But in managing the crisis, governments also must look to the long term. One prominent policy blueprint with a deep time horizon is the European Commissions European Green Deal, which offers several ways to support the communities and businesses most at risk from the current crisis. COVID-19 reflects a broader trend: More planetary crises are coming. If we muddle through each new crisis while maintaining the same economic model that got us here, future shocks will eventually exceed the capacity of governments, financial institutions, and corporate crisis managers to respond. Indeed, the coronacrisis has already done so. The Club of Rome issued a similar warning in its famous 1972 report, The Limits to Growth, and again in Beyond the Limits, a 1992 book by the lead author of that earlier report, Donella Meadows. As Meadows warned back then, humanitys future will be defined not by a single emergency but by many separate yet related crises stemming from our failure to live sustainably. By using the Earths resources faster than they can be restored, and by releasing wastes and pollutants faster than they can be absorbed, we have long been setting ourselves up for disaster. On one planet, all species, countries, and geopolitical issues are ultimately interconnected. We are witnessing how the outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China can wreak havoc on the entire world. Like COVID-19, climate change, biodiversity loss, and financial collapses do not observe national or even physical borders. These problems can be managed only through collective action that starts long before they become full-blown crises. The coronavirus pandemic is a wake-up call to stop exceeding the planets limits. After all, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and climate change all make pandemics more likely. Deforestation drives wild animals closer to human populations, increasing the likelihood that zoonotic viruses like SARS-CoV-2 will make the cross-species leap. Likewise, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that global warming will likely accelerate the emergence of new viruses. Governments that succeed in containing epidemics all tacitly follow the same mantra: Follow the science and prepare for the future. But we can do much better. Rather than simply reacting to disasters, we can use the science to design economies that will mitigate the threats of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pandemics. We must start investing in what matters, by laying the foundation for a green, circular economy that is anchored in nature-based solutions and geared toward the public good. Read full story here Stiller earned an 1997 Emmy nomination for his indelible "Seinfeld" performance. In a 2005 Esquire interview, Stiller recalled that he was out of work and not the first choice for the role of Frank Costanza, father to Jason Alexander's neurotic George. "My manager had retired," he said. "I was close to 70 years old, and had nowhere to go." He was initially told to play the role as a milquetoast husband with an overbearing wife, Estelle, played by Estelle Harris. But the character wasn't working until Stiller suggested his reincarnation as an over-the-top crank who matched his wife scream for scream. It jump-started the septuagenarian's career, landing him a spot playing Vince Lombardi in a Nike commercial and the role of another over-the-top dad on the long-running sitcom "King of Queens." While he was known as a nut-job father on the small screen, Stiller and wife Meara raised two children in their longtime home on Manhattan's Upper West Side: daughter Amy, who became an actress, and son Ben, who became a writer, director and actor in such films as "Dodgeball," "There's Something About Mary" and "Meet the Parents." The World Health Organisation has issued a terse statement denying a report by German weekly magazine Der Spiegel claiming that Chinese President Xi Jinping asked WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to withhold information about human-to-human infection of the Covid-19 virus. Der Spiegel reports of a 21 January, 2020, telephone conversation between WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and President Xi Jingping of China are unfounded and untrue, according to the WHO statement published on 9 May. Der Spiegel, citing sources within the German foreign intelligence service Bundes Nachrichtendienst (BND), claimed that the Chinese president had asked Tedros to withhold information about person-to-person transmission and to delay a pandemic warning. According to Der Spiegel, the BND calculated that the world lost four to six weeks in the fight against the Covid-19 virus as a direct result of Chinas lack of transparency. But according to the WHO, Tedros and Xi did not speak on 21 January, and, in fact, have never spoken by phone. Such inaccurate reports distract and detract from the WHOs and the worlds efforts to end the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisation added, noting that China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus on 20 January, one day before the alleged phone call. Taiwan in the picture? Meanwhile, the US, which on 7 April announced that it will stop contributing to the WHO, is pushing the global body to defy Chinese pressure and invite Taiwan to the organisation's annual meeting, which will discuss the coronavirus pandemic. The United States itself has yet to confirm its participation in the May 18-19 talks of the World Health Assembly. "I want to call on all nations, including those in Europe, to support Taiwan's participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly and other relevant United Nations venues," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters. China, which has veto power on the UN Security Council, considers Taiwan a province awaiting reunification and fights to block it from all international institutions. Taiwan has become a model for its swift response to the coronavirus outbreak, with just six deaths despite its close proximity and extensive economic ties with China, and has donated masks and other supplies around the world. Until Trump's announcement, the United States was the top contributor to the WHO, giving more than $400 million a year to help global efforts to combat illnesses including malaria and polio. Among those who are privileged enough to afford buying in volume, the pandemic has suddenly spawned a new population of bulk shoppers. Theyre stocking up on foods they never thought theyd need in large amounts. Theyre experiencing the simultaneous bouts of stress and satisfaction that come with buying and storing so much food, and trying not to waste any. Theyre changing how they cook, diligently planning meals to use up all those ingredients like, say, 50 pounds of potatoes. Matt Bochneak bought the bag of potatoes from a restaurant supply store in Portland because it cost only $20, and he wanted some peace of mind as store shelves emptied. But he feels overwhelmed by the sheer volume. Theres no way I could eat 50 pounds of potatoes, Mr. Bochneak, 42, said. He grilled a few of them, and had plans to make gnocchi but the potatoes turned out to be the wrong type. Buying in quantity has been popular since the advent of big-box retailers like Costco and Walmart, but the coronavirus lockdown seems to have accelerated the practice. In an April survey by Kroger, 39 percent of its customers said they were buying more ingredients like instant ramen and dry pasta in bulk than they did before the crisis. Sales of canned soups alone rose 63 percent in March and April over the same period last year, a company spokeswoman said. Beijing has warned it would take "countermeasures" unless the Trump administration "corrected" its decision to limit visas for all Chinese journalists posted in the United States, currently opened-ended, to 90 days. This language echoes previous threats by China, including before it expelled journalists for three American newspapers, and comes as a bitter diplomatic row between China and the United States plumbs new depths. Beijing is invoking matters ranging from McCarthyism to the war in Iraq amid a deterioration in relations that has been exacerbated by, but is not limited to, the coronavirus outbreak. "We deplore and reject the erroneous move by the U.S. side, which is an escalation of its political suppression of Chinese media," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Monday. He was responding to news that the Department of Homeland Security would publish a notice in the Federal Register on Monday stating that visas for all mainland Chinese journalists would be limited to 90 days, although they could apply for extensions. "The U.S., entrenched in a Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice, has launched one round of suppression after another against Chinese media agencies," Zhao told reporters in Beijing. The world's two biggest economies, having already fought a trade war and mired in a pandemic, have this year been at loggerheads over journalism. The tit-for-tat measures have forced 60 Chinese journalists working for state-media outlets to leave the United States, while almost all American reporters for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and The Washington Post have been forced to leave China. The DHS notice said the change was being made "to achieve greater reciprocity," the notice said. Foreign reporters in China have traditionally received year-long, multi-entry permits, although in the past few years Beijing has "weaponized" visas, according to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China, to show displeasure at reporting on sensitive subjects such as the mass detention of Uighur Muslims. Some foreign journalists now receive only month-long visas. But Chinese journalists have been granted visas that allow them to remain in the United States indefinitely, although the documents are valid only for a single entry. Zhao on Monday accused the United States of double standards. "The U.S. prides itself on press freedom and transparency, but why is it so afraid of Chinese media reports?" he asked. He accused the U.S. government of "prejudice, discrimination and exclusion toward Chinese media." "It has been using this so-called reciprocity as an excuse to escalate political suppression against Chinese media," Zhao said. "We urge the United States to immediately correct its mistake, otherwise we will have to take countermeasures." U.S.-Chinese relations have grown increasingly acrimonious over the source of the coronavirus now ravaging the United States. The Chinese Communist Party has been seizing on the rising coronavirus toll in the United States as evidence of what it describes as the Trump administration's bungled response to the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has repeatedly pushed the theory that the virus leaked from a top-security lab in Wuhan, without offering any supporting evidence, rather than originating in a seafood market as Chinese authorities and the World Health Organization have said is most likely. The promotion of the lab theory has evoked comparisons to the faulty intelligence on weapons of mass destruction that was used by the George W. Bush administration to justify invading Iraq in 2003. One of those to draw the comparison was commentator Fareed Zakaria, who said on CNN that it was this kind of "politicized intelligence" that led to the mistakes of the Iraq War. "China won't be Iraq," the Foreign Ministry's chief spokesperson, Hua Chunying, tweeted Saturday, posting an image of Zakaria. A leading proponent of the Wuhan lab theory has been deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger, a former Wall Street Journal correspondent in China during the SARS outbreak of 2003. Pottinger last week delivered a video message in Mandarin Chinese in which he asked what the "ultimate legacy" of the May Fourth student protest movement would be. He was referring to student protests in 1919 against the post-World War I Treaty of Versailles, which handed Germany's concessions in China to Japan. The students considered the agreement to be a national humiliation and blamed traditional Confucian values for China's weakness in the world. "It is a question only the Chinese people themselves can answer. The May Fourth Movement belongs to them," Pottinger said in the video. "Will the movement's democratic aspirations remain unfulfilled for another century? Will its core ideas be deleted or distorted through official censorship and disinformation?" Pottinger asked. "Will its champions be slandered as 'unpatriotic,' 'pro-American,' 'subversive'? We know the Communist Party will do its best to make it so," he continued. The video was quickly deleted from social media platforms in China. The China Digital Times, a California-based site that monitors the country's heavily censored Internet, reported that government authorities ordered media to "strictly delete any reposts, comments, and content" related to Pottinger's speech. But China's state broadcaster, often a conduit for official proclamations, devoted several minutes to the speech on Sunday's main news bulletin. Anchor Li Zimeng used an old Chinese proverb about having ulterior motives to accuse Pottinger of being like "the weasel who gives New Year's greetings to a hen." She also indirectly criticized President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who have been the loudest public proponents of the Wuhan lab theory. "Those American politicians who attempt to bring back the spirit of McCarthyism will only further disrupt American epidemic prevention and control and endanger the lives and interests of more Americans," she said. "Those who are obsessed with playing politics like a power game in House of Cards, you'd better save your street tricks." Instead of trying to sow discord in China, Li said, those in the Trump administration should be asking themselves "why the world's top scientific and technological power is in such a mess and is so defeated in the fight against the epidemic?" More than 1.3 million people in the United States have caught the virus, and almost 81,000 people have died. That toll far outstrips the 4,633 reported deaths in China, which locked down vast swaths of the country in late January and early February as the virus spread. But China's recent efforts show that fully stopping the transmission of the virus is an extremely difficult task. New cases are being reported - including in the original epicenter of Wuhan - despite strict controls on entry into and movement around China. The city of Shulan in Jilin province, near the borders with Russia and China, has declared it is in "wartime mode" after linking 15 new cases to a super-spreader. All public places have been closed and all public transport suspended, with residents told to stay home while the outbreak is contained. Separately, in Wuhan, six new cases have been found in two days at a residential compound. They appear to have started with an 89-year-old man who first developed a fever on March 17 but recovered at home within 10 days without ever seeing a doctor. But he started to have health issues again last month, and last week he was confirmed as having the coronavirus. His wife and two other elderly couples in the compound also tested positive for the virus. The compound has almost 5,000 residents, and about 300 returned to it last month once controls in Wuhan were eased. Chutian Metropolis Daily, a local paper, said those moves inflicted "heavy pressure on epidemic prevention and control." Zhang Yuxin, the chief of the neighborhood committee, the smallest unit of the Communist Party structure, was removed from his post for "perfunctory and ineffective work in compound management." - - - The Washington Post's Liu Yang and Wang Yuan in Beijing contributed to this report. The number of coronavirus cases in the country breached the 67,000-mark on Monday. According to the latest figures updated by the Ministry of Health, the Covid-19 national tally stands at 67,152. There are 44,029 active coronavirus cases in the country, 20,916 patients have been cured or discharged while 2,206 people have died from the deadly contagion. Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra have breached the 22,000-mark while Gujarat, the second worst-affected state has over 8,000 Covid-19 cases. Heres the statewise breakup of the number of coronavirus cases, deaths, and recoveries. Maharashtra With 22,171 Covid-19 active cases, Maharashtra continues to lead the state tally. The state has recorded 832 deaths so far while 4199 patients have recovered. Gujarat The state is second in terms of number of Covid-19 cases. The tally in the state, as per the Ministry of Health, stands at 8194. While 493 people have died due to the coronavirus disease, Gujarat has seen 2545 recoveries so far. Tamil Nadu The southern state has 7204 coronavirus cases. Tamil Nadu has seen 1959 recoveries and 47 Covid-19 deaths. Delhi As many as 6923 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the national capital. Seventy-three people have died from the infection while 2069 have made a recovery, as per the health ministrys data. Rajasthan Coronavirus cases in Rajasthan touched 3814 on Monday. The state has reported 107 fatalities, and 2176 patients have recovered from the infection. Madhya Pradesh The state has reported 3614 positive cases of coronavirus. Two hundred and fifteen people have died from Covid-19 here while 1676 have recovered. Uttar Pradesh The number of Covid-19 positive cases reaches 3467 in Uttar Pradesh. While 1653 people have recovered from coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh, 74 have died from the infection here. Andhra Pradesh The state has witnessed 1980 positive Covid-19 patients and 925 cases of recovery. Forty five people have died. West Bengal The number of infected cases in West Bengal reached 1939 on Monday. There have been 185 deaths and 417 recoveries in the state. Telangana The number of Covid-19 positive cases reaches 1196 in state so far. Seven hundred and fifty people have made a recovery from the virus while 30 people have died from Covid-19. Jammu and Kashmir The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has seen the number of Covid-19 patients rising to 861. Nine people have died from the infection while 383 were cured. Karnataka The state has recorded 848 Covid-19 cases and 31 deaths. As many as 424 people have been cured and discharged. Haryana and Punjab The neighbouring states have 703 and 1823 Covid-19 cases respectively. While 31 people have died in Punjab, Haryana has seen 10 deaths. Three hundred people have recovered from Covid-19 in Haryana, 166 in Punjab. Kerala As per the health ministry, Kerala reported 512 coronavirus cases on Monday. Kerala has witnessed four deaths due to Covid-19 while 489 people have successfully recovered. In Bihar, 696 people have tested positive for coronavirus, six people have died while 365 patients have recovered. Odisha has 377 Covid-19 positive patients, 68 have recovered while three people have died. Jharkhand has 157 Covid-19 cases, three patients have died and 78 have recovered. Uttarakhand has 68 coronavirus patients, 46 patients have recovered from the infection, one patient has died. Himachal Pradesh has 55 cases, two patients have died and 39 have recovered. Assam has reported 63 Covid-19 cases, two people have died while 34 people have recovered. Chhattisgarh has recorded 59 cases of coronavirus and 49 people have recovered. In Chandigarh, 169 people have contracted the Covid-19 disease and 24 have recovered, two people have died. Andaman has recorded 33 coronavirus cases, all patients have recovered. Ladakh has 42 patients, 21 people have recovered. Goa reported seven cases of Covid-19 disease, all patients have recovered. Puducherry has reported 9 cases, 6 have recovered. Meghalaya has reported 13 cases and one death, 10 patients have recovered. One patient has died. Manipur had two coronavirus cases, and those have recovered. Tripura, meanwhile, has 150 cases, two patients have recovered. States and Union territories with just one positive Covid-19 case include Dadar Nagar Havel, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. All patients in Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram have recovered. Sikkim has not reported any Covid-19 case yet. Note: Figures are from official data released by the Ministry of Health, and may differ from realtime numbers released by various state governments subject to confirmation from the Centre. The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka. Wednesday, May 6 8:43 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the area of Ashman Street and East Baker Street. 8:25 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a car-deer crash in Lee Township. 7:47 p.m. -- Officers responded to a report of a juvenile runaway in the 400 block of Willow Street. 5:51 p.m. -- A 64-year-old Mills Township man reported a possible gunshot from another vehicle while they were both stopped at a stop sign. The caller left the area. No injuries or damage was reported. The suspect vehicle was reported to be 4-5 feet away at the time. 5:42 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash causing injuries in the area of South Saginaw Road and East Patrick Road. 5:41 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the area of South Saginaw Road and East Patrick Road. 4:32 p.m. -- A 34-year-old City of Midland man reported that a Village of Sanford retail store was possibly violating the governor's executive order. The deputy observed the business and spoke with the 51-year-old owner, and found the business to be obeying the law and rules set in place by the order, and following CDC guidelines. 3:46 p.m. -- A deputy stood by with a stranded motorist on West Pine River Road near West Bradford Road in Porter Township after the 23-year-old Gratiot County man's SUV got a flat tire on a curved area of the road with little shoulder. The vehicle did not have a spare tire and had to be towed. 2:43 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the 2800 block of Ashman Street. 10:23 a.m. -- Animal Control was dispatched to Lee Township to help return two loose horses. 10:21 a.m. -- A deputy euthanized an injured deer in Lee Township. 7:55 a.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a Homer Township residence in reference to a general assist request regarding a woman asking for a detective. The deputies were canceled a short time later, as the caller called back and said she was able to get her cell phone back from her boyfriend. 7:23 a.m. -- Deputies responded to a car-deer crash in Hope Township. 5:28 a.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a Jerome Township location in reference to a 28-year-old man who reporting two unknown teenage males walking in the roadway and wearing masks. The deputies checked the area and were unable to locate the subjects. 4:10 p.m. -- A deputy assisted a Michigan State Police trooper with a conditional bond violation in Homer Township. A 30-year-old woman was arrested. 12:51 a.m. -- Officers responded to a felonious assault in the 4100 block of Swede Avenue. Five people were shot and a sixth person was stabbed during a barrage of crimes across Philadelphia on Sunday, according to police. The violence occurred over a three-hour span in neighborhoods that included Frankford, Nicetown, and Southwest Philadelphia. Each of the victims was reported in stable condition, police said. Authorities did not identify any of the victims, or announce the arrest of any suspects. Gun violence has continued to plague Philadelphia amid the coronavirus pandemic, even as Mayor Jim Kenneys administration has told residents to stay at home. Through Saturday, 492 people had been shot in the city this year, according to police statistics an average of nearly four a day. Police gave the following details about Sundays violence: At 3:14 p.m., a 29-year-old man was stabbed in the right arm at the intersection of Kensington and Torresdale Avenues in Frankford. He was taken to Jefferson Frankford Hospital. Two men ages 31 and 32 were shot on the 1900 block of West Wingohocking Street in Nicetown at 4:25 p.m. Both were hospitalized. A 38-year-old man was shot in the right biceps at 5:33 p.m. on the 2400 block of North Gratz Street. He was taken to Temple University Hospital. At 5:59 p.m., a 25-year-old man was shot in the stomach on the 6100 block of Lindberg Boulevard and was in stable condition at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. And a 31-year-old man was shot in the arm at the intersection of Pratt and Saul Streets in Frankford at 6:27 p.m. He was taken to Jefferson Frankford Hospital. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Travelers aboard Delta Air Lines are about to have fewer options when it comes to airports in major metro areas. Delta announced Friday that it is cutting service at 10 U.S. airports serving cities including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago as part of a previously announced 85% overall reduction in its service schedule. In each case, Delta says the airports where it is temporarily pulling service are relatively close to other, larger airports that travelers can use as an alternative. So in New York, Delta's Westchester County Airport service will cease, but flyers can still get to LaGuardia. Flights will stop at Stewart International, but John F. Kennedy International is the close-by option. No longer can Delta customers use Hollywood Burbank Airport and Long Beach in Southern California, but Los Angeles International flights will continue. And Chicago Midway is out, but Chicago O'Hare remains in. The changes take effect Wednesday and will stay until September, the airline said, portraying the cutbacks as an attempt to reduce its employees' possible exposure to the coronavirus. "By consolidating operations while customer traffic is low, we can allow more of our people to stay home in accordance with local health guidelines," said Senior Vice President Sandy Gordon in a statement. Air traffic overall has been dreadful, given stay-at-home orders and fear of the coronavirus that has brought the travel business to a near standstill. Earlier this week, Nicholas Calio, CEO of Airlines for America, the airline industry's most prominent lobbying group, told a Senate committee that the average domestic flight recently had 17 passengers aboard. International flights averaged 29 passengers. During the pandemic, Delta has announced it reducing its domestic flying by 80% and international flights by 90%. Delta is waiving change fees through Sept. 30, 2022 for customers who had flights canceled through this September and had booked before April 17. Other airports being dropped by Delta include T.F. Green International and Manchester-Boston Regional, while the nearby Logan International in Boston will still have service. Oakland will no longer have service, with San Francisco International as the alternative. And Delta will no longer fly to Newport News/Williamsburg International, close to Norfolk International in Virginia; or Akron-Canton, though flyers can still go to Cleveland Hopkins in Ohio. 2020 USA Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Adventurists around the world are now lining up for Virgin Galactic tourist flights into space, but in the near future, the company could also be rocketing people around the globe. The company said in February that it wants to build a fleet of vehicles that could transport passengers from Los Angeles to Tokyo in just two hours, and from New York to London in one. Its already working on the technology at its headquarters at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Thats where The Spaceship Co., Virgin Galactics subsidiary, built the first VSS Unity passenger rocket and the VMS Eve mothership, which are both in New Mexico now doing test flights to prepare for commercial launch. Once operational, Eve will carry the Unity on its underbelly to about 45,000 feet, at which point the spaceship detaches from the carrier plane and fires its motors to shoot into space at more than 50 miles up. The Spaceship Co. is now building more rockets and motors to join the Unity and Eve in New Mexico. But alongside those efforts, its laying the groundwork for superfast Earth-bound planes, drawing in good part on the knowledge and technological advances achieved through 16 years of research and development of commercial spaceships. Those plans got a boost last Tuesday, when Virgin Galactic announced a new Space Act Agreement with NASA to work together on the technology needed to facilitate development of high speed point-to-point travel. The agreement, signed with the Langley Research Center, enables collaboration across all of NASA, the company said. This is the beginning of an important partnership for Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Co. that will support the future development of aviation technology, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said in a statement. Virgin Galactics unique experience and innovative technology platform will, in partnership with the historic capabilities of NASA and other government agencies, enable the progression of new technical steps that will improve U.S. competitiveness. We see this as an area with tremendous growth potential that we will continue to invest in, alongside our commercial spaceflight operations. The company envisions a system that would be integrated into existing airspace and airport infrastructure to allow passengers to board superfast vehicles for point-to-point trips across the globe. Its an exciting opportunity, Whitesides told the Journal in March. Were working now on the fundamental pieces of high-speed global mobility. Chief Operating Officer Enrico Palermo said the company is building on lessons learned from its spaceship technology to transform planetary travel. Weve been traveling around the planet for 50 years at basically the same speed, but were looking at technology now that can greatly increase those speeds to connect the world a lot more in the future, Palermo told the Journal in March. Were well-poised to do it as the only team today thats already designing, building and flying a vehicle at supersonic speed. Weve built the team and the processes for it. The company formed a partnership in October with Boeing, whose venture capital arm HorizonX invested $20 million to help develop high-speed mobility. A focused project team and an advanced engineering group are now working on that mission in Mojave. A lot of research and development lies ahead, touching on everything from materials science and new analysis tools to propulsion, sustainable fuels, manufacturing guidance and navigation, Palermo said. But the company is not starting from scratch, given its extensive infrastructure in Mojave, where it employs about 500 people who specialize in every stage of new technology development, from designing systems to building, testing and deploying them. Were not a startup, Palermo said. We have vertically integrated capabilities Were the equivalent of a major aerospace contractor, but with much more lean and nimble operations. The company cant say yet whether the forthcoming vehicles will travel at hypersonic speeds, often considered to start at Mach 5, which greatly exceeds the speed of sound. In its second-quarter earnings report last Tuesday, Virgin Galactic said the initial focus of its NASA agreement will be vehicle thermal management and propulsion system options in the Mach 3-5 range. We will build something to integrate into current airport infrastructure, which will help determine the right speeds, Palermo told the Journal. But it will definitely be much faster than the speed of vehicles today. New Mexico will play a role in developing high-speed mobility through Virgin Galactic teams stationed at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico, where the company will launch its commercial space service. Our teams in New Mexico will contribute to it, Palermo said. Our pilot core and maintenance team will be there, and we will leverage that base in New Mexico. Spaceport America Executive Director Dan Hicks said the spaceport is uniquely suited for hypersonic research and development given its location next to White Sands Missile Range and the unrestricted airspace there. A lot of hypersonic research and development is already coming to White Sands, Hicks told the Journal in March. Were well positioned to support companies like Virgin Galactic as work to build those technologies advances. Long-term goals include turning the spaceport into a landing-and-departure link for high-speed vehicles when they begin flying around the world, Hicks added. Were ideally suited for point-to-point transportation, Hicks said. We have regional airports close by to transport people here to board vehicles or depart to other destinations after they arrive at the spaceport. The Federal Aviation Administration is already working with spaceports to prepare that network for the future. 1. Ramji Londonwaley (2005) 2. Cheeni Kum (2007) 3. Stanley Ka Dabba (2011) 4. Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana (2012) 5. The Lunchbox (2013) 6. Daawat-e-Ishq (2014) 7. Chef (2017) Cooped up inside our homes, each one of us is discovering his inner master chef during this quarantine.. Somehow, our filmmakers shy away from films revolving around food. Strange, isnt it, as its our most primary need. Presenting afrom the past two decades which revolve around food and cooking. Happy helpings!Director: Sanjay DaymaCast: Madhavan, Samita Bangargi, Harsh Chhaya, Satish Shah, Raj Zutshi, Akhilendra Misha, Aditya LakhiaRamji (Madhavan) is a village cook hailing from Bihar who is an expert in making vegetarian dishes. He and his sister being orphans, he finds it hard to arrange dowry for her. He hits upon the scheme of paying the dowry in instalments. He gets a job working as a cook for an NRI family settled in London. Upon reaching London, he learns that his would-be employer has passed away. Luckily, he gets a chance to work illegally in Gurus (Harsh Chaya) restaurant. His preparations are a hit and the restaurant starts doing roaring business. He does attract the attention of the authorities. To get out of it, Gurus lawyer friend Jai Kapoor (Raj Zuthshi) suggests he should enter a contract marriage with a British citizen. He marries Samira (Samita Bangargi), who initially is repulsed by his rustic ways but later he wins her heart with his cooking. They begin to live together to avoid being harassed by the authorities and thats when she starts falling in love for him. When she hears his sister has been thrown out, she arranges for the dowry out of the money he paid her for the contract marriage. The film ends with Ramji and Samira going back to Bihar and Ramji opening a school there, which is inaugurated by Amitabh Bachchan.Director: R BalkiCast: Amitabh Bachchan, TabuBuddhadev Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan). Buddhadev is the 64-year-old chef and owner of London's top Indian restaurant, Spice 6. Cooking is his whole life. He considers himself an authority on Indian cuisine, and hence he gets angry when a patron Nina Varma (Tabu) returns a dish -- Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulao -- back to the kitchen, saying its too sweet. He challenges her to produce something better and is humbled when she does so the next day. Despite their 30 year age difference, there is chemistry between them. And they bond well over the common passion they share -- food. Buddhadevs 85-year-old mother (Zohra Sehgal) too likes her. Hes old fashioned in the sense that he wants to properly ask her father for her hand in marriage. To do so, they travel to Delhi. Her father, Omprakash Verma (Paresh Rawal), a staunch Gandhian, is flabbergasted to know that Ninas suitor is elder than him. He goes on a fast in protest, and Buddhadev has to use all his ingenuity to get Ninas father say yes to the match. The dialogue between Amitabh and Tabu is full of repartee and wit and feels like a normal conversation. Both give each other space and are comfortable around each other. Their camaraderie holds the film together.Director: Amole GupteCast: Divya Dutta, Partho Gupte, Divya Jagdale, Raj Zutshi, Amole GupteStanley Ka Dabba is a poignant film about friendship, survival and hope. Stanley (Partho Gupte) is an orphan but no one at his school knows this. He remains a popular student among his classmates and teachers. He makes fabulous stories about not bringing his tiffin and his fellow schoolmates gladly share their tiffin with him. A new teacher in school, Verma (Amole Gupte), who has a habit of raiding the dabbas of his students humiliates Stanley for not bringing in his dabba and tells him not to come to school if he cant bring his own tiffin. Later, he brings leftover food from the restaurant he works and offers it to his teacher. The shamefaced teacher offers him an apology. Stanley performs well at a school concert and when the principal drops him home, thats when the audience comes to know of his true plight. However, a cook at the restaurant offers to fill his dabba every day, and Stanley is shown cooking up stories about how his mother prepared each dish.Director: Sameer SharmaCast: Kunal Kapoor, Huma Qureshi, Rajesh SharmaThe film revolves around reviving an old family recipe and a secret ingredient connected to it. On the run from a dangerous UK gangster to whom he owes money, Omi (Kunal Kapoor) returns to his native village in Punjab, pretending to be a well-settled London lawyer. Much has changed since Omi ran away from home a decade back after stealing money from his doting grandfather, Daarji. The old man has become senile and has forgotten the secret recipe of Chicken Khurana -- the dish that made their dhaba famous in nearby areas. Omi tries to recreate the dish with the help of his childhood crush Harman (Huma Qureshi), who is to be married to his cousin Jeet (Rahul Bagga). Its not known that Jeet loves a Bengali widow and even has a daughter by her. Jeet finally rebels and tells everyone about the love of his life. Omi also perfects the recipe and correctly guesses the secret ingredient. He and Harman are to be married when the London gangsters whom he owes money come calling. The film was admired for the ensemble acting of its cast and for its dark humour.Director: Ritesh BatraCast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin SiddiquiThis is a poignant tale of two souls who get united, thanks to a mistake done by Mumbais famous dabbawalas. Ila (Nimrat Kaur) is a married woman seeking to spice up her marriage and hits upon the idea of putting notes inside his lunchbox which she sends via the dabbawalas. Due to a mix-up, thegets delivered to Saajan Fernandes (), a widower who is about to retire from his job as an accountant. They both begin to write to each other, passing on the messages through the lunchboxes and come close. She develops feelings for him and takes pains to cook up delicious dishes for him to show her love. Ila wants to meet him face-to-face but sensing her relative youth, Saajan keeps his distance. Her anger is illustrated by her giving him an empty dabba. She decides to leave her husband and settle elsewhere and at the last moment, Saajan decides to look for her after all. The film was buoyed by nuanced performances by both the leads.Director: Habib FaisalCast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Parineeti Chopra, Anupam KherHeartbroken by love and weary of dowry-demanding bridegrooms, Gulrez Gullu Qadir (Parineeti Chopra), a shoe-sales girl from Hyderabad, now plans to con prospective grooms by imposing charges on them under section 498A of anti-dowry act. Her father Abdul Qadir (Anupam Kher) reluctantly agrees to her plans. But life, as they say, often changes the best-laid plans. In Lucknow, they stumble upon Tariq Taru Haider (Aditya Roy Kapur) who happens to be an extremely talented cook. Taru falls heads over heels in love with Gullu, and she too gets smitten by a combination of his manly charms and culinary skills. She does manage to dupe him at first but then struck by remorse, returns all his money. The duo plans a real wedding which will have sumptuous Hyderabadi and Lucknowi dishes. And itll be a dowry free wedding, of course.Director: Raja Krishna MenonCast: Saif Ali Khan, Padmapriya Janakiraman, Sobhita Dhulipala, Milind Soman, Svar KambleIts based on a Jon Favreau film of the same name. Roshan () is a chef in New York City going through a midlife crisis. He has lost his passion for cooking, and his emotions are out of control. In order to get his mojo back, he travels to Kochi, to reconnect with his ex-wife and son. India where he reunites with his ex-wife Radha (Padampriya) and son Armaan (Svar Kamble). He hits upon the idea of operating a food truck to get in touch with his Indian routes. In his journey from the South to the North, he discovers that his son shares his passion for cooking and the time he spends with his son, as well with a motley crew that he meets on the way helps him get his groove back. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: The number of tourists from Kazakhstan visiting Turkey amounted to 8,217 people in March 2020, which is 55.71 percent less compared to the same month of 2019, Trend reports referring to Turkeys Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The share of Kazakh citizens in the total number of foreigners visiting Turkey in March 2020 amounted to 1.14 percent. From January through March 2020, 44,593 tourists from Kazakhstan visited Turkey, which is 7.82 percent less compared to the same period of 2019. The share of Kazakh citizens in the total number of foreigners visiting Turkey during the reporting period amounted to 1.05 percent. In March 2020, 718,097 tourists visited Turkey, which is 67.83 percent less compared to March 2019. In 1Q2020, over 4.2 million tourists visited Turkey, which is 22.1 percent more compared to the first quarter of 2019. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu On 7 May the Tax Working Group of the British Chamber of Commerce for Luxembourg organised a Luxembourg Tax Update LIVE Webinar: All You Need To Know (From Home): Hear It From The Experts. In the event the panellists highlighted the main tax measures the Luxembourg Government has introduced for individuals and companies, and covering Personal Taxation, VAT and Corporate Taxation. In this article the Tax Working Group summarises the points covered in the Webinar: Personal Taxation, by Aude-Marie Breden, Founder at MyOwnTaxPractice The Luxembourg Government has introduced four main sets of tax measures: 1. Extension of the deadline to submit personal income tax returns for 2019. This is important in at least two situations: If you earn interest in another EU country, you may want to benefit from the same 20% flat rate that applies to interest earned in Luxembourg. If you are married and you want to change your tax regime (e.g. from joint taxation to individual taxation, or vice-versa) 2. Financial measures (also shared with corporate taxation, see below): A possible cancellation upon request of your two first tax advances for 2020 A possible four-month extension to pay your outstanding taxes 3. Increased deduction for cleaning and child-minder expenses from 5,400/annum to 6,750/annum for 2020 4. For cross-border workers privately residing in France, Belgium and Germany: Days spent homeworking during the COVID-19 crisis will be considered (or deemed) as days worked physically in Luxembourg, and will not be counted towards the tolerance threshold. Corporate Taxation, by Laetitia Borucki, Counsel at AKD Legal (corporate) and natural (individual) persons (as mentioned above) which realise a commercial profit, an agricultural and forestry profit, or a profit resulting from the exercise of a liberal profession and which experience financing and liquidity issues because of the COVID-19 pandemic, can benefit from specific tax measures. Thus, upon mere request (forms available on https://impotsdirects.public.lu/fr.html), taxpayers can obtain a cancellation of tax prepayments for the first two quarters of 2020 as well as an extension of the deadline for the payment of taxes. Also, these taxpayers benefit from an extension of the deadline for the filing of their income tax returns to 30 June 2020. Separately, most of the deadlines set for bringing proceedings before the Luxembourg courts in tax matters have been temporarily suspended or extended, keeping in mind that the deadlines for pre-litigations claims (such as reclamations) remain however fully applicable. VAT, by Michel Lambion, Managing Director at Deloitte Luxembourg VAT collected on turnover and reimbursed on costs is a major cash flow for many businesses. The main announcements of the Luxembourg VAT authorities are: Automatic reimbursement of all VAT balances up to 10,000 If justified by covid-19, possibility to request a delay of payment via guichet.lu and non-applicability of penalties in case of late filing of VAT returns until further notice. On 12 May, the VAT authorities have announced that the tolerance for the filing of returns is revoked and that returns should be filed shortly but that forced collection of tax debts remains deactivated for the time being. (without further detail). Specific reimbursement procedure (for VAT balances not already reimbursed) DAC6, by Andrew Knight, Partner at Harneys The EU Commission is seriously considering the numerous representations that have been made regarding an extension of some of the deadlines for DAC6 reporting in the context of the Covid-19 situation. While it is not expected that this will be in the form of a postponement of the introduction of DAC 6 on 1 July 2020, there is some room for optimism that some flexibility will be shown to take account of the negative impact of the current situation not only on intermediaries and taxpayers ability to comply but also on tax administrations readiness to provide guidance on the rules and an infrastructure for the submission of reports. One of the principal reasons for Luxembourg being a little late in enacting its legislation to implement DAC 6 was the debate generated by the original draft law regarding the issue of legal professional privilege. While the draft law gave the legal profession a measure of protection in recognition of its obligations of professional secrecy, it imposed a number of very onerous conditions some of which were themselves inconsistent with those obligations. In addition, a number of other professional bodies were unhappy that their own professions were not being accorded similar treatment. In the result, an exemption from reporting is given to lawyers, chartered accountants, and auditors but only to the extent that their involvement in reportable arrangements arises in the course of practising their professions. Intermediaries are subject to major operational challenges in meeting their DAC 6 obligations. In addition, in view of the number of intermediaries involved in cross border transactions involving Luxembourg, there is a significant risk of unnecessary and costly multiple and inconsistent reporting of the same transaction. It is in the interests of taxpayers to ensure that the DAC 6 compliance function is centralised either within their own organisations or delegated to an appropriate service provider. Substance, by Romain Tiffon, Partner at ATOZ A critical topic that stems in these challenging times, directly resulting from remote working and travel bans, is Substance, and this may have a substantial bearing on unintended permanent establishment and tax residency. Whilst the OECD has issued a paper confirming that the temporary measures taken amid the COVID-19 crisis should not create unintended permanent establishments or alter the residency of companies under treaty rules, this should be assessed on a case-by-case basis in light of the existing set-ups and from a local law perspective. TP, by Fernando Longares, Partner at EY Luxembourg The pandemic has impacted core elements of businesses around the world, ranging from supply chain and supplier disruption, decreased customer demand, liquidity and financing problems and personnel disruptions, all of which can have a significant impact on transfer pricing outcomes. Multinationals must balance immediate actions necessary for business continuity with longer-term strategies and sustainable transfer pricing policies. Detailed analysis and documentation of the business impact and potential changes from a transfer pricing perspective is key when navigating these challenging circumstances For more information: https://www.bcc.lu/group/tax-group/ Now that the wholly fabricated case against Gen. Michael Flynn has been dismissed and the 53 transcripts of 73 witnesses who were called to testify against President Trump on Russia collusion have been released, the scope of Adam Schiff's treachery is more clearly than ever blowing up in his face. He appears not to realize that fact just yet as he is tweeting and making public statements condemning Attorney General Bill Barr for the Flynn dismissal despite the volumes of proof that Flynn was set up and framed by the same crooks who set up and framed Donald Trump. He is still claiming that the transcripts prove Trump's guilt when in fact they prove exactly the opposite. He continues to attack Trump for addressing these revelations while COVID-19 is still ravaging the elderly in nursing homes, as if the two issues were related. His tweet on Sunday: @Adam Schiff: Over 70,000 Americans dead. More than 20 million newly unemployed. No national testing and trace strategy. What was the President's message to the nation. That I am "dirty" and "going down." I have said he's unfit for office, and every day he proves me right." Schiff is melting down, and it is a marvelous thing to see. For more than three years, long before the hearings, he has pronounced day after day that he has seen absolute proof that Trump is guilty of colluding with Russia to ensure his election victory. Now that the transcripts of the hearings are out there for all to read, we all know that these hearings did not produce a single witness who had knowledge of any evidence that candidate or President Trump had colluded with Russia. Not one. Not James Clapper, not Susan Rice, not one of them who for three years have been accusing Trump of treason had a bit of evidence, heard or seen, that could bolster their talking points. Some of them, like former Department of Defense official Evelyn Farkas and the vainglorious and pompous Col. Alexander Vindman, admitted they had lied, either on the networks or, in Vindman's case, about Trump's words during his phone conversation with Ukraine's President Volodomyr Zelensky. Shouldn't he be charged with perjury? He was under oath. Now we all know that John Podesta admitted in those hearings that the DNC and the Clinton campaign had indeed paid for the phony Steele dossier! And now we know that Obama was pulling the strings of all the moving parts. We also know now that Schiff knew just days after the "Trump Tower meeting," which Donald, Jr. had attended, that Trump was thoroughly innocent; a translator testified that not a word about "dirt on Hillary" was mentioned. Yet Schiff flogged that horse for years. His contention that there was something sinister about that meeting on the Trump side of things, was just another big Schiff lie. Not that he lacks many partners in the crime to destroy Donald Trump Brennan, Comey, Clapper, McCabe, et al. But it is Schiff who has been the crazed, bug-eyed face of the Democrats' attempt at impeachment ever since. Just as Mueller knew on day one of his appointment as special counsel that his job was to cover up the Crossfire Hurricane scheme to take Trump down well before the election, Schiff became the point man in the House to carry the water for the big dogs. He was their stooge, their dupe. The Republicans had the majority in the House from 2016 to 2018, but House speaker Paul Ryan did absolutely nothing to expose the Democrats' deceit; he betrayed those of us who had supported him. There were Republican members of the House in Schiff's subsequent secret hearings following the Russia ones that were just released Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, and John Ratcliffe being the superstars. While Schiff was leaking nonstop lies about what he was "learning" from witnesses in all cases, the Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee, whether it was under Nunes or Schiff as controlling parties swapped power in 2019, kept silent. They did call for him to resign but have otherwise kept their frustrations to themselves, bound by the House rules that Schiff freely abused. Schiff spewed his lies night after night on CNN and MSNBC. They knew that the opposite of what he was saying was true, so one has to admire their patience and confidence that the truth would eventually be revealed. Schiff has steadfastly resisted releasing those transcripts on the Russia matter, which had been conducted from 20172018 under Nunes's leadership until the acting director of National Intelligence, Rick Grenell, forced his hand. We have Grenell to thank for knowing the truth, or more of it anyway that not one of those 73 witnesses could or would say he had any knowledge or evidence of any collusion with Russia by the president or his campaign. In January, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with Schiff, the other Democrats, and their acolytes among the media escalated their plan into a full-blown impeachment trial. They were trying to see Trump removed from office for a perfectly appropriate phone conversation with the newly elected president of Ukraine. Schiff orchestrated it with Pelosi's blessings. He got one of his own staff's best pals at CIA to be a faux "whistleblower," -- Eric Ciaramella. He got IG Michael Atkinson to alter the whistleblower form to allow for hearsay tattling. That month Frank Miele wrote a terrific column on Schiff's duplicity that is still today a must-read. He brilliantly exposes Schiff's arrant misuse of Alexander Hamilton quotes and his relentless habit of calling his own opinions facts. The impeachment was a colossal misadventure as deadly serious as was the coup attempt. The arrogance of this crowd will go down in history as the epoch when the corruption of the deep state was exposed for all to see and know. To be sure, Schiff has friends in high places. His original run for Congress was underwritten by David Geffen, Michael Ovitz and the "gay mafia" at Dreamworks. He is aligned with George Soros and Soros's MoveOn.org. He has ties to Ukraine as well, in particular to Igor Pasternak under whose influence Schiff began lobbying for arms and money for Ukraine. In November 2019, Ukraine officials launched an investigation into a $7.4 billion money laundering scheme connected to the Democrat party, Franklin Templeton and BlackRock firms, both companies in which Schiff held shares. This information and much more is from a Medium column January 24, 2020, The Power Brokers Behind Adam Schiff. Over these past few days Schiff has been on several pseudo-news programs claiming that thousands of deaths by COVID-19 occurred because President Trump was not impeached! Such a claim is ridiculous on its face. This is a piteous man, a buffoon. He is without a doubt a pathological liar. So far gone is he, he is unable to realize that hes been caught out, the depth of his unethical scheming has been exposed. For his many, many crimes against this country he should be expelled from Congress but as we see from the democrats support for Joe Biden, a man also tainted by decades of corruption and lying, that is not likely to happen. The Democrats are known first and foremost for their double standards, their hypocrisy. What the coup cabal and the subterfuge of Pelosi, Schumer and Schiff have done to the Trump candidacy and presidency is the stuff of third world tyrannies. In a perfect world, the lot of them would be sent to prison for the rest of their lives. Photo illustration by Monica Showalter with use of image by Cliff, via Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0, and public domain source. Did you know today is National Technology Day? This day holds an extremely significant place in history as it is the day India successfully tested nuclear bombs in Pokhran on May 11, 1998. India conducted five nuclear tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan in May 1998. Five nuclear explosions were conducted between 11 and 13 May, at the end of which the central government, led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had declared India a nuclear state. The National Technology Day was named by Vajpayee on May 11 to commemorate India's scientific and technological achievements. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took to his Twitter account and wrote,On National Technology Day, our nation salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. We remember the exceptional achievement of our scientists on this day in 1998. It was a landmark moment in Indias history. On National Technology Day, our nation salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. We remember the exceptional achievement of our scientists on this day in 1998. It was a landmark moment in Indias history. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 11, 2020 The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make, Modi wrote in another tweet. The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make. Here is what I had said about Pokhran, Indias scientists and Atal Jis remarkable leadership during one of the #MannKiBaat programmes. pic.twitter.com/UuJR1tLtrL Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 11, 2020 The National Technology Day celebrates major achievements which were considered a groundbreaking and important contribution of scientists and engineers in the field of science and technology. Here are 5 facts you should know about this historically significant day: 1. On May 11, 1998, India successfully test-fired its Shakti-1 nuclear missile in operation called Pokhran-II, also codenamed as Operation Shakti. The nuclear missile was tested at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan. Two days later, the country conducted two more nuclear tests as a part of the same operation, following which India joined the elite club of nuclear power nations. Indian Express (Kalam and Vajpayee) 2. This was the second test which was conducted after Pokhran 1 codenamed Operation Smiling Buddha, in May 1974. May 11, 1998, was a regular day for Jaisalmer, until it witnessed a huge thunder that brought a loud cheer from a few scientists at the site who had kept a constant vigil on all the developments. Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, the then Scientific Advisor to Vajpayee, sent a message on the hotline, saying, "Buddha smiles again". PTI 3. A lesser-known fact is that our scientists had a year and a half to rehearse this. Keeping this mission's secrecy intact was the top most priority. Scientists only worked on test sites during the night, when satellites would be unable to capture clear images due to the absence of light. As dawn approached, everything was placed just as it had been the previous day. When the analysts at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) downloaded images from the satellites the next day, it would seem as if not a single strand had been moved. mpparimal/Twitter 4. The test happened months after then foreign secretary K Raghunath told his US counterpart that India did not have any intention of testing a nuclear device. Even when scientists of the DRDO and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) would come to visit Pokhran, they went undercover and wore army fatigues. False names were provided to scientists. Abdul Kalams name was switched with Major General Prithvi Raj and Rajagopala Chidambarams codename was Natraj. India Today (Chidambaram and Kalam in army fatigues in Pokhran, 1998) 5. Pokhran-II was the series of five nuclear bomb test explosions that consisted of five detonations, of which the first was a fusion bomb and the rest were fission bombs. To protect the secrecy of the mission and avoid leakages, India had to keep its own officials in the dark, including George Fernandes, the then defence minister who was not told about a confidential meeting which took place between Vajpayee, Kalam and Rajagopala Chidambaram (then atomic energy chief) to discuss the nuclear weapon tests. NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Kryon, the leading full-cycle automation solution provider known for its customer-centric approach to robotic process automation (RPA), today announces its game-changing Full-Cycle Automation as-a-Service (FCAaaS) in partnership with intelligent automation group Virtual AI. Kryon and Virtual AI will present the functionality alongside a featured case study with top British television channel ITV in a BrightTalk webinar on May 14th at 10:00 AM GMT, titled Frictionless Full-Cycle Automation: How ITV Found Rapid RPA Success. Kryon's Full-Cycle Automation Suite, which combines Process Discovery, RPA and analytics in a single, unified and easy-to-use platform, works seamlessly with Virtual AI's bespoke virtual workforce solutions. The result is a fully managed automation service that runs 24/7 in a private cloud or Virtual AI's cloud infrastructure. Once deployed, Virtual AI can create production-ready processes from scratch, carefully tailored to each customer's exact specifications. Alternatively, clients can build their own automation processes with Virtual AI's help, taking advantage of extensive software libraries for auditing, operational reporting, file checking, development guidelines, and standards compliance. Although embarking on an automation project may seem daunting to small and medium sized businesses, the integration can be up and running within 24 hours without a technical skillset or background. Key benefits of this joint FCAaaS include: Frictionless and straightforward setup with no upfront capital costs or long-term financial commitments Rapid implementation and accelerated ROI, without the need to recruit a specialist RPA team No server infrastructure or maintenance thanks to Virtual AI's secure cloud-based infrastructure, available on a monthly or annual basis Scale up on demand whenever extra capacity is needed "Many believe that RPA is complicated and difficult to implement. The reality couldn't be further from the truth. RPA exists to eliminate complexity and make it easier for companies to focus on their business rather than the technical backend," said Harel Tayeb, CEO of Kryon. "We're proud to partner with Virtual AI to launch FCAaaS and support our customers at a time when it's never been more important to reduce operational costs and deliver results." "RPA is a key driver in today's digital revolution, and Kryon are leading the automation charge with their Full-Cycle Automation Suite," says Ian Whitfield, Founder of Virtual AI. "By combining Kryon's market-leading offering with our proven track record in creating bespoke virtual workforce solutions, we're smashing the barriers to entry so businesses of all sizes can enjoy the benefits of automation." In the course of their upcoming conversation, Kryon VP Channels Daniel Peled, Virtual AI Founder Ian Whitfield, and ITV Director of Channel Operations Ian Cottrell will explore how to easily initiate a digital transformation without enlisting additional staff. They will also cover best practices for creating effective end-to-end RPA solutions, the benefits of deploying FCAaaS, and the real-life results of ITV's implementation. For more information about "Conversations with Kryon" and to register for the webinar please visit BrightTalk. ABOUT KRYON Kryon is a leader in enterprise automation, offering the only platform on the market which encompasses both Process Discovery technology and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). The Kryon Full-Cycle Automation solution maximizes ROI and cuts RPA implementation time by up to 80 percent. Powered by proprietary AI technology, Kryon Process Discovery automatically generates a comprehensive picture of business processes, evaluates them and recommends which ones to automate. Kryon offers desktop-based attended RPA, virtual-machine-based unattended RPA or a hybrid combination of both. The company's award-winning suite is used by enterprises worldwide, including AIG, Allianz, Deutsche Telekom, Ernst & Young, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, HP, Microsoft, Santander Bank, Singtel, Verizon and Wyndham Hotel Group. ABOUT VIRTUAL AI Virtual AI is comprised of leading digital architects, developers and business consultants that combine experience with technology to deliver positive business outcomes for clients. Virtual AI has developed an Intelligent Automation Platform (IAP) powered by proprietary AI technology using the very best machine learning-based technologies and products including Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Document Recognition, Audio Analytics and Computer Vision, to automate and improve business processes. The company's clients include Astro, ITV, Oakwood Financial Services, Resources 4 HR, Sky and Warner Media. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/902106/Kryon_Logo.jpg Contact Details: Chris Thatcher [email protected] 212-999-5585 SOURCE Kryon Related Links https://www.kryonsystems.com/ Four men were booked for allegedly pelting stones at a policeman patrolling Kachi Colony, a containment zone in Dhanas, Chandigarh, the police said on Monday. One of the assailants was identified as Rajbir Singh, who initiated the fight with the policeman on duty on Sunday. Police are still trying to ascertain the identity of the remaining three. Rajbir was riding a bicycle and wanted to leave the sealed territory when he was stopped by constable Anil Kumar. Rajbir was asked to turn back because no one is allowed to enter or leave the colony. But he resisted and began screaming, said a police official privy to the matter. He added that later three of Rajbirs associates arrived and pelted stones at Kumar from a distance. Kumar made a call to the police control room around noon and was immediately rushed to the Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, as he had injured his right hand, the official said. A case was registered under Sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from duty), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Rajbir and three others at the Sarangpur police station. All the accused are currently absconding, the police said. Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk! You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details. "Having worked remotely for almost a decade while consulting and then in my role as the founding CEO of the IAB SA and now with the PRC, it's pretty much situation normal for me. I complete the (zero carbon footprint) commute to my home office in under two minutes with a cup of warm water, lemon and honey. I usually have several Zoom, Teams, GoToWebinars and now, more recently WebinarJam video conference meetings and presentations. I still don't drink enough water or take regular breaks, so again, it's really more of the same!" - CEO of the Publisher Research Council, Josephine Buys' account of work-life in the time of Covid-19. Publisher Research Council CEO, Josephine Buys. What was your initial response to the crisis/lockdown and has your experience of it been different to what you expected? Comment on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the publishing industry. How is the publishing industry responding to the crisis and current lockdown? Comment on the challenges and opportunities. Speaking of opportunities, the world has really turned to creativity during this time. Why do you think this is the case and what does this mean for the industry, agencies and their clients/brands? How has the lockdown affected your staff? What temporary HR policies have you put in place regarding remote working, health & safety, etc.? How are you navigating physical distancing while keeping your team close-knit and aligned and your clients happy? Im particularly delighted that South Africans have stopped replying, Fine thanks, and you?. There seems to be a far more genuine, sincere wish to ask and hear about peoples true state of mind, as well as their physical health. It has become acceptable to ask and more importantly, to tell the truth. Ive often found myself admitting that Ive had a tough day, but on balance, more good than bad is, well... good. What are you busy working on? Any initiatives/campaigns relating to the coronavirus? How have you had to change the way you work? Has the global crisis changed your view of the future of advertising/marketing in any way? Any other emerging trends youve noticed? Your key message to fellow industry folk? My mother was visiting from Ireland when talk of a lockdown began, so our immediate priority was returning her safely home. The day after she left we were informed that a bride and several guests at a wedding we attended mid-March had tested positive, so my husband and I began self-isolation eight days before the government lockdown.During that time, based on governmental restrictions on large groups, I started arrangements to pivot the eagerly awaited Publisher Audience Measurement Survey (Pams 2019) to a webinar launch instead of the planned national roadshow. So, thankfully, we were already prepared when the lockdown was announced.I am comfortable with video conferencing, having hosted such meetings for several years, but this was the first time I hosted a webinar. Fortunately, people had been in lockdown for a week by the time we hosted our member preview, which means many more people had become used to this new normal. However, we faced quite a challenge guiding new users on how to mute their microphones, with myself and our research consultant Pete Langschmidt having to chatter over one unfortunate attendee (and clearly a new user) who audibly asked his wife: What did the doctor say?.This prompted us to further pivot our public launch to include YouTube Live, thus being able to stream the launch via PRC.za.com with the help of our hybrid marketing agency Twisted Toast, who has been remarkable in their own pivots to accommodate the pace of change required over the past five weeks.We welcomed approximately 200 live virtual attendees for the launch and converted 24 into subscribers to our YouTube channel. For a re-cap of the Pams 2019 launch, see here:As everyone in our sector is keenly aware, there have already been casualties, not only with salary and job cuts at many of our members, but most recently, the closure of Associated Media Publishing and Caxton Magazines. This is partly due to the lockdown affecting copy sales and distribution (in the case of magazines, unlike newspapers, they are not considered essential industry) but more so because advertisers, spooked about this unchartered territory, either cancelled intended advertising altogether or blocked search topics such as crisis, Covid-19 and coronavirus, stripping media companies of desperately needed revenue from programmatic keyword ad placement on their digital platforms. Sadly, it has created a perfect storm in the publishing world.Accelerated digitisation and in some cases, a move to digital-only publishing. In terms of research and audience measurement, we see this is a golden opportunity to innovate. We are re-evaluating current projects with the future in mind. For example, weve been aware that face-to-face surveys are becoming increasingly more difficult, particularly in our market due to gated communities and accessibility challenges in many areas. To future-proof our research studies, even before Covid-19, we had already decided to go online with our audience research, so we can seamlessly continue monitoring audiences during and post the lockdown world.Naturally the pause or, in some cases, the cancellation of entire advertising campaigns despite historical evidence that cutting ad budgets in times of crises is a high-risk strategy has had the unintended consequence of further diminishing revenues and resulted in some of the aforementioned closures. The opportunity here is for the strongest publishers with a strengthened online presence to survive and thrive into the post-Covid-19 world of advertising.I would like to see collaborations challenging the duopoly in wresting back some of the advertising income they have been hoovering up by sheer force of size and power. There has never been a more important time for people to seek and find trusted sources of news and information to keep families and communities safe. Trustworthy South African news brands deliver that.Another advantage I see resulting from this chapter of our lives is that digital transformation (previously just a buzz-phrase in many business sectors), is happening as we speak. People who have never attended a video conference in their lives now know exactly how to use and even host one themselves. Companies have adopted software to allow employees to work remotely, giving them back time formerly spent in choking traffic jams (not to mention the significantly reduced carbon footprints and clearer skies throughout the world).Necessity will be the mother of innovation. Some industry sectors (such as our own), are being disrupted and there will be casualties. But at the same time people will innovate, especially here on the African continent. I believe its time for our light to shine, for entrepreneurship, start-up businesses and technological advances to lead the way into our next new normal.Its business as usual for our small staff complement, as we are experienced in working remotely.I am using old-style personal phone calls and occasional WhatsApp messages to check in with colleagues and a wide range of other people. Im also using a few precious minutes (which admittedly I didnt necessarily do in the past) at the start and end of virtual meetings to check in on peoples wellbeing.We are currently analysing the exponential increase in the unique browsers audience metric of our publisher member websites since lockdown. While its true printed media circulation figures may be declining during the lockdown, readers have not gone away, they are simply using digital platforms more. We are working on evidence to prove this to advertising decision-makers as they start to plan for the next phase of a return to normality as lockdown levels become less restrictive.Fortunately, I am nimble and comfortable online. My strong work ethic and ability to multitask and pivot swiftly if and when required has equipped me well for this change.It certainly has. We, along with many other industry sectors will not be able to go back to business as usual. The world has changed forever, we will face a new market situation. I believe brands that are showing up now with empathy and care (no matter how they amplify or announce it), will be the ones we will support post-Covid-19. Purpose-driven marketing another trend weve noticed these past few years will now be a non-negotiable in the eyes of savvy consumers. Brands that have that in their DNA, who emotionally connect with consumers during this time of crisis will not only survive, they will thrive in the post-Covid-19 world.Human kindness has become a currency. I hope that remains so when this all fades into the rearview and becomes a distant memory.I hope we will all remember this time when less was more. Rampant consumerism is not the holy grail. Health is the new wealth.#StayHome#StayWell#StaySafe Juul is preparing to leave five European countries within the year, according to BuzzFeed News. The e-cigarette maker is reportedly planning to pull out of Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Spain in July followed by France at the end of the year. Unlike all the shutdowns and layoffs reported over the past months, BuzzFeeds source says the decision didnt have anything to do with the coronavirus pandemic. Austrias, Belgiums and Portugals markets are apparently too small in the first place. Juul enjoys relatively high sales in Spain and France compared to the rest of the continent, but not high enough to justify the costs of running a business there and the trouble of dealing with regulators. The European Union has stringent requirements when it comes to e-cigarette products, as the publication notes, requiring companies to stick to a nicotine limit of 20 milligrams per milliliter of fluid. Meanwhile, a single Juul pod can contain up to 59 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter in the US. Juuls exit in those markets means hundreds of employees will lose their jobs. According to an earlier report by The Wall Street Journal, the company will lay off around 800 to 950 employees as part of a restructuring plan. Its just unclear if that number already includes the employees losing their jobs due to the European closures. - Uganda Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng on Sunday said at least 1,498 samples from truckers had been screened - Three Kenyan truck drivers and two of their Ugandan counterparts were diagnosed with the disease - The trucker who vanished after learning about his health status had arrived in Uganda on Friday, May 8, through Malaba border - Uganda had 121 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Sunday while Kenya had recorded 672 cases out of which 239 were recoveries and 32 deaths Law enforcers in Uganda have launched a search for a Kenyan truck driver who vanished after he tested positive for coronavirus. The driver entered the President Yoweri Museveni-led country on Friday, May 8, and was screened by medics at the Malaba border but abandoned his truck after learning that he had contracted the virus. READ ALSO: Jubilee wrangles: Ruto's allies mull boycotting Uhuru's State House meeting with senator Trucks at Malaba border point. Photo: Daily Monitor. Source: UGC READ ALSO: DP Ruto ajiepusha na siasa, asema kuna matatizo mengine ya kushughulikiwa kwa sasa Aswa Region Police Spokesman Patrick Okema on Sunday, May 10, asked members of the public to volunteer information that would lead to tracing of the driver with the view of enabling him to commence treatment. "Efforts to trace this patient who has gone in hiding are ongoing. A security team at the border and medical officers are following this matter seriously until we trace him. This fight is not only for the security and medical teams. It calls for a concerted effort from all of us. Whoever knows where this gentleman could be, should alert the security team so that he is picked and taken to the treatment centre," Okema was quoted by the Daily Nation on Monday, May 11. READ ALSO: Kipchumba Murkomen turns to God amid looming changes on the Senate Majority sea As of evening of Sunday, Uganda had recorded 121 cases out of which 55 patients had recovered. The country had not reported any COVID-19 related death. Uganda Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng on Sunday said at least 1,498 samples from truckers had been screened within 24 hours. "Five new COVID-19 cases confirmed from 1,498 samples of truck drivers bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases to 121 in Uganda. Out of the new cases, two are Ugandan while 3 are Kenyan truck drivers. All 341 community samples have tested negative for COVID-19," Aceng tweeted. On the same day, authorities in Kenya directed for mandatory testing of truck drivers before they embarked on their journeys to help stem a spike in infections among them. The drivers would be required to have a certificate valid for 14 days showing they had tested negative for the virus. They were also ordered to only rest in designated restaurants in a move to reduce their contact with other members of the public. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. My wife left me at my lowest - Kennedy Mwangi | My Story | Tuko TV. Source: TUKO.co.ke Even as hospitalizations decline and Connecticut officials lay out plans to gradually reopen businesses, Gov. Ned Lamont has renewed calls for volunteers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In a press release Sunday, the Democratic governor said the more than 5,000 medical and more than 1,600 nonmedical volunteers have been incredibly generous during the pandemic. The volunteers who have come forward have been a tremendous help to our hospitals, and to critically important services at our food banks, meal delivery services, and shelters, Lamont said in a statement. Im grateful to everyone who is stepping forward and I ask that you keep pitching in, and invite others to join you so that we can meet the needs of our neighbors and communities over the coming weeks and months. Work by volunteers has included distributing food to food banks, worked with homeless populations in shelters, and provided meal deliveries to homebound senior citizens, the governors office said. A number of other public officials and nonprofit heads, including Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, also expressed their appreciation for volunteers who have stepped up during the pandemic. I thank every resident of Connecticut who has come forward to meet the needs of our most vulnerable residents during this time, Bysiewicz said in a statement. Volunteers are an absolutely essential part of effective response to this crisis. Those interested in volunteering can go to the states coronavirus webpage and follow the link for volunteers. Volunteers must be over the age of 18, and should not sign up if they are in an at-risk population, including those over the age of 60, or if they live with someone who is at risk. The net number of people hospitalized for the disease in Connecticut has continued to fall. On Saturday, the governors office laid out a set of criteria for how business can begin to reopen, starting in the coming weeks. As of Sunday, the governors office reported 33,554 have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The data shows 2,967 people in the state have lost their lives after falling ill. Officials ponder rolling lockdowns for new COVID-19 case areas PHUKET: Phuket officials are considering their next course of action for the areas where four new confirmed infections of COVID-19 have been reported, while other areas that have not had a new infection for 14 days may soon see their lockdown restrictions lifted. COVID-19Coronavirushealth By The Phuket News Monday 11 May 2020, 06:22PM Lockdown restrictions in Bang Tao may be lifted on Thursday (May 14), as long as no new cases are confirmed in the area. Photo: MaAnn Samran / Save Bangtao The news comes after four people were reported yesterday as confirmed to be infected with the virus. All four cases were in different areas on the island, and not in any areas currently under lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus. The four areas of the cases reported yesterday are Soi Pasak 4 in Moo 4, Cherng Talay; Soi Nasua off Chao Fa West Rd in Moo 4, Wichit; an undisclosed address in Moo 3, Wichit, and in Patong. (Currently the only location in Patong still under lockdown is the Bangla Rd nightlife area.) Phuket Provincial Health Chief Thanit Sermkaew told The Phuket News today that he was discussing with other officials what the next step should be for the four areas where the four new cases have been identified. Now, I am in a meeting and we are thinking what we will do about the new four cases, he said. However, Dr Thanit assured, We have already screened those areas and we have investigated the people at risk who were close to these four cases. I will give updates about the new four cases later. Dr Thanit also confirmed that the lockdown restrictions in place in Bang Tao, technically Moo Baan 2, 3 and 5 in Cherng Talay, are set to be lifted on Thursday (May 14) as long as there are no new confirmed infections in those areas. The lockdown in Soi Bang Chee Lao in Moo 2, Rassada, was lifted on Friday (May 8), Rassada Mayor Phudit Raksaraj confirmed to The Phuket News today. Meanwhile, Phuket Governor Phakaphong Tavipattana announced yesterday that the lockdown in Moo Baan Prachasamakhee in Koh Kaew will be lifted on Wednesday (May 13). The lockdowns in Bang Tao, Moo Baan Prachasmakee, Soi Bang Che Lao and in the Bangla Rd area were all extended on April 28, just before the Tambon Lockdown in Phuket expired on April 30, as those areas had new confirmed cases of infection at that time. The lockdowns in each area varied in severity, with Bang Tao not allowed any unauthorised persons to enter or exit the area, while access to and from Soi Bang Che Lao and Moo Baan Prachasamakee was permitted, but with checkpoints in place and temperature screening of all people in the areas. Despite the lifting of the lockdowns in the specified areas, Governor Phakaphong urged people to remain vigilant and continue to take precautions to prevent the virus from spreading and to protect themselves from being infected. He also asked all people in the lockdown areas for their cooperation, and to avoid any activities that encourage people to gather. Wear a face mask and maintain social distancing, he added. A technician of the German airline Lufthansa works at a parked plane at the "Franz-Josef-Strauss" airport in Munich, southern Germany, on April 28, 2020, as public life across the world has been limited in measures to combat the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Christof STACHE / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP via Getty Images) The coronavirus outbreak will have a lasting impact on the behavior of businesses across the globe, with jet fuel demand unlikely to ever fully recover, according to the head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs. The Covid-19 pandemic has meant countries have effectively had to shut down, with many governments imposing strict restrictions on the daily lives of billions of people. Confinement measures which vary in their application worldwide but broadly include school closures, bans on public gatherings and social-distancing guidelines have been implemented in 187 countries or territories in an effort to try to slow the spread of the virus. To date, more than 4.1 million people have contracted Covid-19 worldwide, with 282,727 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The public health crisis has led to an extreme demand shock in energy markets, with world travel brought close to a standstill. Jeff Currie of Goldman Sachs argued that the severe loss of oil demand came primarily from three sectors: Commuting demand; industrial demand and jet demand. Industrial demand and commuting demand should both be able to recover fairly quickly from the pandemic, Currie said, but jet demand "is the weakest one." "So far, we would tend to think when we see a normalization globally, you'll get the leisure demand back. The part I don't think you get back is what we are doing right now," Currie said during a video call with reporters on Thursday. "I think you are going to lose a good chunk of the jet demand that would have been associated with business travel. Our base case is you lose somewhere around 2 to 3 million barrels per day of that," he added. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New York state is collaborating with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to reimagine what schools will look like in the future. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced last week that as New York begins to develop plans to reopen schools and colleges, the state and the Gates Foundation will develop a blueprint to reimagine education in the new normal brought on by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The plans will include various ideas around the various ways technology can be used, including: providing more opportunities; reducing education inequality; meeting educational needs of students with disabilities; breaking down barriers to high-quality education. The collaboration also seeks to learn how to provide educators with more tools to use technology, as well as how the state can deploy classroom technology to re-create larger class or lecture hall environments -- given the ongoing social distancing guidelines. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** The last few months have been an incredibly stressful time full of change, but we have to learn and grow from this situation and make sure we build our systems back better than they were before, Cuomo said. One of the areas we can really learn from is education, because the old model of our education system where everyone sits in a classroom is not going to work in the new normal," he said. When we do reopen our schools, lets reimagine them for the future, and to do that we are collaborating with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and exploring smart, innovative education alternatives using all the new technology we have at our disposal. Cuomo later announced the members of New Yorks Reimagine Education Advisory Council, which is comprised of educators, students, parents and education leaders. The council will help districts reimagine schools as they prepare to reopen, how virtual learning can bridge the gap and supplement face-to-face education when schools reopen. The council is chaired by State University of New York (SUNY) College President Jim Malatras. Some members include: Shannon Tahoe, interim commissioner for the New York State Education Department; Dennis Walcott, former chancellor for the New York City Department of Education; and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. There are no current New York City Department of Education members on the council. When we closed school facilities because of the COVID-19 virus, our teachers and students rose to the occasion, and we owe them a debt of gratitude for their heroic work, Cuomo said in a news release. Like everything else, when we do reopen schools its not just about reopening as they were before, its about building back even better than before. The collective expertise and experience of this new advisory council will help answer key questions about how we can strengthen New Yorks entire education system for decades to come. The council will work with other experts and stakeholders, including the state and the Gates Foundation, to answer questions about what education will look like in the future using new technologies. 45 Photos of the pandemic in NYC: Our lives changed forever FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. A harmony between the authoritarian nature of the Chinese regime and that of the area's monarchies. Riyadh praises the Chinese management of the pandemic and forgets the guilty silences of Beijing. The Sauds' aggressive policy on the oil market in an anti-Russian key. Egypt sent medical material and hoists the Chinese flag over monuments. Riyadh (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The emergency triggered by the new coronavirus pandemic has led to a strengthening of relations between the Middle East and China, which continues with the plan to supplant the United States (and Russia) as a hegemonic power in the region. Analysts and experts point out that the path of rapprochement, already present in recent years, is favored by the authoritarian nature shared by the Chinese regime and the monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula. Riyadh has repeatedly praised China's management of the Covid-19 crisis in recent months, silencing Beijing's role in the spread of the epidemic. At the most critical moment, the Saudis sent medical material and signed a $ 256 million contract between the two nations for the supply of tests and swabs and the sending of doctors. The confirmation also comes from the tones used by the Saudi media, including al-Arabiya who went so far as to say that "China is the only country that has been able to manage this crisis well". A diplomacy of money and words, which allowed Beijing to develop the "soft power" policy in the region, strengthened today by the supply of medical materials and by the proclamations of renewed proximity to the Gulf nations. The coronavirus emergency is also compounded by the oil crisis between Saudi Arabia and Russia in March, in the context of the collapse of demand from China, the world's leading importer. To Moscow's refusal to regulate market shares, Riyadh responded with a further increase in production which led to a drop in prices that fell below $ 20 a barrel. The Wahhabi kingdom has adopted an aggressive policy, with lower prices and favorable conditions especially for Asian customers. The national company Aramco has made large investments in Chinese refineries, laying the foundations for a lasting relationship in terms of energy. Finally, this is joined by the project of the Saudi leadership to diversify its economy in the context of the Vision 2030 plan, while Beijing wants to increasingly extend its influence in Europe, passing through Africa and the Middle East in the "new silk road". Furthermore, the authoritarian profile of regional governments is better suited than Europe and to strengthen economic and commercial relations in a critical context such as the current one. Recently Beijing has been careful not to comment on the murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul of the journalist and activist Jamal Khashoggi, or the intervention of the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen. And Riyadh, which presents itself as the leader of the Muslim world, has not addressed half the criticism of the Chinese for the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang by China. On the subject, the Saudi crown prince said that Beijing "has the right to take anti-terrorism measures" which it deems most appropriate. In addition to the Gulf countries, other nations including Egypt have taken advantage of the pandemic to find new ways to trade with China. In the early stages of the crisis, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi sent medical material, while Cairo hoisted the Chinese flag on some symbolic monuments in Cairo and in the Nile valley. This mobilization did not stop even when the pandemic brought countries in the region such as Iran to its knees: when a Tehran official "dared" to criticize Beijing for the management of the pandemic, he had to retract a few hours later on the orders of the religious and radical leadership linked to the Ayatollahs. A plan to partially furlough state and local public workers to cut government costs during the pandemic was approved by an Assembly legislative committee Monday. The proposal aims to save state and local governments hundreds of millions of dollars by cutting employees hours and pay, while allowing state and federal unemployment benefits to make up for their lost wages. Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, announced the proposal to furlough 100,000 public workers part time last month and expects the full Senate to pass the bill Thursday. The Assembly will also vote Thursday. The Assembly Appropriations Committee approved the measure (A4132) Monday in a bipartisan vote. It was unanimously approved by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee last week. The Senate Majority Office estimated state and local government employers would save $750 million over three months by furloughing a quarter of the states 400,000-person public-sector workforce. Gov. Phil Murphy has remained cautious about the proposal, saying during a coronavirus press briefing last week that he is open-minded but is concerned about meeting the demands on government during the public health crisis. I think weve got to be very careful," Murphy said during his daily coronavirus press briefing in Trenton. And weve said this to (Sweeney), and he knows this, and we all understand this, we need government in many cases more than weve ever needed it before. Murphy has warned tax collections are collapsing and public workers are at risk of historic layoffs. Sweeney has pitched his plan as an alternative to layoffs that may actually boost the incomes of some workers. Under the Senate presidents proposal, some non-essential state and local employees work hours and wages would be reduced to 40% essentially, working two days out of five. The proposal capitalizes on federal aid for unemployed workers that increases weekly unemployment benefits by $600 under the massive stimulus bill, called the CARES Act. With that additional unemployment compensation, many low- and middle-income New Jersey workers will collect more on unemployment than while working, Sweeney has said. For example, an employee making $30,000 would collect an extra $5,100 over three months while furloughed, while an employee making $50,000 would come out $3,300 ahead and someone with $70,000 in income would make an extra $1,008, according to Sweeney. A worker earning $76,500 would break even, according to Sweeneys office. The temporary, part-time furlough would not affect employees pensions and they would continue to receive health benefits, Sweeneys office said. The states unemployment trust fund would not have to pick up the tab for these workers unemployment benefits, because of a lesser-known provision of the federal CARES Act that says the federal government will finance unemployment benefits if public- and private-sector employers furlough workers rather than outright lay them off, Sweeneys office said. The bill would formally create the Employee Job-Sharing Furlough Protection Act, allowing both public- and private-sector employers to take advantage of provisions of the federal stimulus to reduce payroll costs. Shared work programs save jobs, plain and simple, said Assemblyman Adam Taliaferro, D-Gloucester, who sponsored the bill in the Assembly. Participating in a shared work program is a viable way for employers to avoid layoffs, and for workers to continue to receive benefits as we work toward economic recovery. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. The compositions will continue to be uploaded at Platform's website in preparation for voting which will begin on 5 June In its first lot, Platform website released 18 compositions submitted by Arab musicians, aiming at taking part in 'Music from Here - Special edition' album. The album which is planned to be released by Platform later this year, will consist of 10 tracks which will be chosen based on the decision of panel of judges and voting of the listeners. With the new tracks being added on regular basis, the voting for the listeners will begin on 5 June and continue until 10 June. 30 tracks chosen based on the highest interaction of the listeners will be announced on 15 June. Final selection will be done by a committee of music specialists, who will choose 10 tracks that will make it to the Music from Here album; to be announced on 30 June. All Arab musicians are invited to continue submitting their works, as long as the productions see creative technical contribution prompted by the unique time we are going through. Since opening the 'Call for Music Bands and Musicians' last week, the Platform has recieved a high interest of Arab musicians from around the world. The tracks released so far include many entries from Egypt, topped with musicins from Morocco, Lebanon, Sudan as well as Arab musicians residing in France. To listen to the tracks please visit Platform's website here. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: The corporate logo of Samsung Electronics Co. is seen in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016. Samsung is bolstering its digital payments platform to offer users a debit card. The South Korean tech giant announced that it's teaming up with the fintech company SoFi to launch a Samsung Pay debit card later this year. The move comes almost a year after Apple launched its Apple credit card in a partnership with issuer Goldman Sachs. Samsung Pay, the company's digital payment platform, has been around for five years, but now it'll be backed by a cash management account. Samsung didn't offer many details about the move, but more will be announced in the coming weeks, the company said in a blog post. Tired of irrelevant emails? Microsoft enables a feature to block 'reply-all' email storms Google is also entering the arena. The Internet giant announced plans for a branded debit card to go with its Google Pay account in April. Google teamed up with Citibank and Stanford Federal Credit Union to explore what it calls "smart checking accounts," that would be attached to a Google debit card. By launching and expending financial services, tech companies gain access to more data about user's spending habits. The services also help to extend brand loyalty and lock you more deeply into their existing business models. Follow Dalvin Brown on Twitter: @Dalvin_Brown. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Samsung has plans to launch a debit card Sampanthan speaks on memorandum outlining Tamil peoples problems and helps his party to win the confidence of voters UNP and SJB in weak position; boycott what they call a politically motivated move Dr. P.B. Jayasunderas personal letter creates crisis; puts Govt. against public servants Barring changes at the eleventh hour, the governments fourth attempt to gradually restore social activity countrywide gets under way tomorrow. The three attempts earlier, one to restore from April 22 and put off for April 27, however, continued with round the clock curfew in the districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam. Thereafter, what was meant to begin from May 4 was put off till May 11. The curfew is to continue. The reason was the sudden spurt in the number of people who have contracted Covid-19 and the isolation of new clusters to identify more victims. Government offices are to open from tomorrow. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told Ministry Secretaries during a meeting this week that they should, at first, endeavour to function with 30% of the staff. That is also in sectors that are essential services. The private sector has been allowed to work out its own priorities bearing in mind the different guidelines issued by the health authorities. Schools, however, will not re-open tomorrow as previously announced. Around the clock curfew, the longest in Sri Lankas history, was introduced on March 20. It has continued till yesterday barring an eight-hour break from 6 am to 2 pm on March 24. In marked contrast to the early days, the roads remained relatively crowded and the traffic flow in the streets of Colombo was almost normal. Lorries laden with food and meat products moved around. Even shops were open in some sectors. This is not to say that threat levels from the spread of the deadly virus have receded. To the contrary, the lockdown is turning increasingly symbolic whilst there is a spike in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases. Prolonging the curfew, the same way, government leaders have acknowledged, was having a devastating impact on the economy. Private sector firms which employ a large segment have also expressedserious concerns over prolonged closure which is costing them dearly. Among them were some who complained they were on the verge of bankruptcy. Government leaders are convinced that limping back to normalcy, instead of a complete lockdown, has become imperative. Adverse publicity in the social media and from organised groups abroad has triggered considerable public displeasure on the government. The opposition parties are too weak and fractured to exploit the situation. On the other hand, too preoccupied with the campaign against Covid-19, the government has not been able to focus attention to this highly damaging aspect. The daily information overload locally has been on numbers, all of them related to Covid-19 and repeated self-congratulation by some key players. This has drawn thousands to their smart phones to catch up on video clips, cartoons and nasty comments which are not all good news for the ruling party. It is growing. A case in point is an appeal Presidential Secretary P.B. Jayasundera wrote in a letterhead from the Presidential Secretariat to Prime Ministers Secretary, Cabinet Secretary, Secretaries of Ministries, Provincial Council and Local Govt secretaries, the UGC chairman, all Vice Chancellors, heads of Departments, corporations, and other state officials. Marked private appeal, the four-page letter in Sinhala, said among other matters: The government requires Rs 100 billion a month to pay state sector salaries and allowances. We can reduce the budget deficit by reducing the expenses for May if the salary for a month is donated to the Widows and Orphan pension scheme by those in the state sector, corporations, statutory bodies, the Central bank and Insurance companies which do not pay taxes to the government. It will help to reduce the pressure on debt management. This could be considered a social responsibility project from the state sector. I believe this could be done.. As is well known, the vast majority in the state sector are relatively poor cousins of their private sector counterparts. In the Western Province itself, those who are most affected by the pandemic, it could be said without doubt, are the state sector employees and their families. This is besides the self-employed. Some had to borrow money to survive whilst others cut down their eating habits. Even under normal circumstances, making ends meet with meagre resources have made them lead frugal lives. A government minister who did not wish to be identified declared angrily they can sacrifice a months salary, but they and their family members would have to starve that whole month. He termed the request as unconscionable. Not surprisingly, Secretary Jayasundera was the star of the week in the social media. He was lampooned in cartoons, criticised in unfriendly language, and called different names. That may be forgotten when a week goes by. However, it has a demoralising effect in the minds of state officers. Not even spending millions of rupees could reverse such a situation. It is akin to the Sinhala adage Gahen wetuna ekkanata gona anne wagey or being gored by a bull after a fall from a tree. Life for most state sector workers has been most difficult during the days of round the clock curfew. Among those queued up before pawn shops during non-curfew hours were state sector employees. They raised money by pawning jewellery. UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam told the Sunday Times,it is grossly unfair to call for state sector employees to donate their May salary to the government. They face grave hardships. They have to pay for housing and the upkeep of their families. There are those who have to pay for vehicle leases. We feel President Gotabaya Rajapaksa should take the responsibility for his Secretary issuing this letter. Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara charged that the government had gone bankrupt after just five months in office. He told the Sunday Times the government was spending Rs 32 billion for new road projects but was finding it difficult to pay state officers salaries. He said their party was apprising voters through video conferencing and by word of mouth about this sad state of affairs and declared that 95 percent of the UNP organisers in electorates were now backing the SJB. By Friday midnight, the number of Covid-19 cases rose to 835. Unfortunately, the epicentre of the pandemic in Sri Lanka is the Sri Lanka Navy with 404 confirmed cases. This is almost half the number affected by the horrible virus. Conscientious Sri Lankans reacted with sympathy and support for the inflicted sailors. Some posted video comments praising the role of sailors for being at the vanguardwith their colleagues in the campaign against Covid-19 and the sacrifices they have made. That is without doubt absolutely true. However, the absence of preventive measures by those in the higher command, who placed them in harms way, do not in any way absolve them from thisserious situation. This is a war without weapons and consideration should have been given to their welfare and safety. More so, since a spike in the number of inflicted sailors was never dreamt of, leave alone being envisaged. Three Army personnel including two officers who contacted the virus have been discharged. The district distribution of the afflicted cases on Friday afternoon are: Colombo (150), Gampaha (36), Puttalam (35), Kalutara (34), Kandy (13), Kurunegala (11), Jaffna (07), Ratnapura (05), Kegalle (04), Moneragala (04), Anuradhapura (2), Kalmunai (2), Matale (2), Badulla (01), Matara (01), Galle (01), Batticaloa (01) and Polonnaruwa (01), Quarantine cases returning from abroad were 41, those quarantined locally 65, foreigners (3), Navy 393 and other forces (11). Health authorities have conducted 32,078 PCR tests since the Corvid-19 outbreak in Sri Lanka. In Colombo, four different areas Grandpass, Hetay Watte in Torrington, Dabare Mawathaa in Narahenpita and Nagalagam Street have been declared active areas meaning quarantine measures were in force. Other such areas are in Kurunegala and Gampaha. Four people were reported dead, two from a Quarantine Centre in Mullaitivu and two from Galkanda due to cases not involving Covid-19, a military officer in the area said. The number of tose who have recovered so far stands at 240 whilst the death toll remains at nine. It is amidst these developments that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa called a meeting of all former members of Parliament. This is from the last Parliament (dissolved on March 2) and the previous one. A total of 177 former MPs took part and it saw the participants being updated on how the government was tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. Those who took part raised a variety of questions. Some centred on the financial grant of Rs 5,000 given to the needy. There were allegations that such money was given only to supporters of the ruling party a charge which Premier Rajapaksa strongly denied. On Tuesday morning, he despatched to every participant a list containing the names and addresses of the persons to whom such payments have been made. When the near two-hour meeting ended, the focus was not on what was discussed or not discussed last Monday at Temple Trees. It turned out to be the emergence of a wholly new political reality. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which took part in the meeting, emerged as the most effective among political parties in Sri Lanka. If the others, like the United National Party (UNP), the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) gave their reasons but it prompted Prime Minister Rajapaksa to say, The TNA did their duty by their people. He told the Sunday Times, This is the time to help the people. I gave an opportunity to come over and tell me if there were grievances or any other issues. They were all former MPs who came from different areas. Regrettably, some parties did not heed my call. To say the least, they lost an opportunity. Sampanthan raised issue over a number of matters, most of them contained in a memorandum he had handed over to Premier Rajapaksa during a party leaders meeting at Temple Trees earlier. Reminded of this, whilst the former MPs meeting was under way, the Premier telephoned his Secretary Gamini Senarath. He urged that another meeting with the TNA be arranged for the same day at Temple Trees. That took place last Monday at 5 p.m. at the Premiers Wijerama residence. Taking part on behalf of the TNA were Sampanthan, Mavai Senathirajah, M.A. Sumanthiran and E. Saravanapavn. There was a 12-member team on the governments side including Basil Rajapaksa, G.L. Peiris, Gamini Senarath, Chaminda Kularatne (Additional Secretary). Sampanthan also sought government assistance to the Norths needy who were finding it difficult due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He also said there were a large number of farmers who were ready to return to their fields. He said the government should provide them the required assistance. Other matters discussed related to devolution of power and a request for the further release of lands owned by Tamil civilians in the north. Sampanthan also appealed for the release of Tiger guerrilla suspects who have been held in custody for more than 20 years now. Last Sunday (May 3), partner leaders of the TNA led by Rajavarothayam Sampanthan issued a statement. It noted that the alliance and other political parties made an appeal to the President for the dissolved Parliament to be re-convened but the response thus far has been negative. It is in this background, the TNA said, that the Prime Minister has invited all Members of the dissolved Parliament to a meeting at Temple Trees. The statement listed four different factors: (a) the Coronavirus has been gradually escalating much more needs to be done to eradicate it completely from our country, there is a legitimate fear among people it would further escalate with grave consequences (b) For the past 25 years, over Five terms of both Parliament and Presidency, the people have in the exercise of their sovereignty rejected the 1978 constitution for the enactment of a new constitution. (c) the Parliament elected in 2015 unanimously resolved to convert itself into a Committee of the whole Parliament termed a Constitutional Assembly with a Steering Committee and sub committees in charge of different Subjects and an Experts Committee to formulate a new Constitution dealing primarily with the Executive Presidency, Electoral Reforms to Parliament and the National Question the Tamil Question sharing powers of governance Hence, the TNA said it needed to attend the meeting with the Prime Minister, because all these issues outlined needed to be addressed and to clearly indicate that we are prepared to extend our co-operation to the resolution of these issues in a reasonable and acceptable manner in the interests of the country and all its people. The UNP which has remained the largest party in the opposition until its offshoot SJB was born, claimed that Premier Rajapaksa chose to host the meeting for a politically motivated move. That should have been quite obvious to the UNP. This is why in the statement it confirmed it was decided to attend so as to once again re-iterate the partys official stance that politics must be put aside in the face of the growing national crisis caused by Covid-19. However, the statement said, the party has learnt that the invitation to this meeting has been extended to all former MPs and other active political leaders, including those from previous Parliaments, expanding the invitation from the original 225 MPs. Hence, the statement said no meaningful dialogue can be held in this type of meeting. Instead, the Rajapaksa regime is focused on playing party politics at a time when the nation needs unity in the leadership. In the next sentence, the UNP statement refers to; playing politics at a time when the nation needs unity in the leadership. That bitter truth probably extends to the UNP as well i.e. the Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sajith Premadasa fractions which have been playing politics with little or no unity in the party. That is how an extended group, has emerged as the Samagi Jana Balavegaya under Sajith Premadasa. That unity broke. According to a UNP insider, a factor that weighed strongly against their delegation taking part in the meeting with Rajapaksa was to obviate accusations from the Sajith faction. They had said the UNP was taking part since it was tacitly supporting the government. The SJB statement claimed credit for first raising the issue of Covid-19 outbreak in Parliament on January 24, and again on February 25 but charged that the government was acting irresponsibly. It said; the SJB had reservations regarding many decisions taken by the government to eradicate Covid-19. However, we ignored the shortcomings and opted to support the government efforts. Ignoring shortcomings is not the responsibility of an opposition political party like the SJB. It neither helps the people of the country, their own voters nor the government in power. The statement then went on to give other reasons. Among them: (1) There is a curfew in the country by unlawful means. We let the matter be in order to support Covid-19 eradication efforts. (Note: by saying this, the SJB takes up the position that unlawful things could be carried out by the government, but they would let things be. How funny?) (2) The curfew has been misused to arrest social media activists. Curfew passes are being issued to business associates and to those who politicise relief efforts. (3) For six weeks, the people have sacrificed so much and endured so much pain in the belief that their government is capable of overcoming this national crisis. (4) If the six weeks lockdown has been successful, the curve showing new Covid-19 patients should drop. It has gone up rapidly. Evidently, the SJB was unaware that other than former members of the last Parliament, others too have been invited. The statement observes: On the one hand, the President and the Government proclaim that there is no need to convene Parliament. These pronouncements are given wide publicity. In this same situation, the PM calls a meeting of all 225 MPs in Parliament. This only shows the two-faced nature of the government. According to the SJB; the only practical solution to this crisis is to reconvene the old Parliament under the former Speaker. That is because only Parliament has the authority to look into state finances and pass relevant legislation. The government has made its position clear on the matter. They insist that moneys from the Contingencies Fund were being utilised in the next three months and approval from a new Parliament would be obtained. As for relevant legislation, the government, it is clear, has no new laws to be passed to deal with Covid-19. If all these and other reasons are causes why the SJB chose not to attend Premier Rajapaksas meeting, one wonders whether it has chosen not to have a dialogue with the government altogether. After all, it could list out the same reasons when it is invited for any other dialogue with government leaders. It is the SJBs paramount duty as members of an opposition party to place such concerns and challenge government leaders. A senior SJB member said that some of their leaders were strongly swayed by a statement issued by JVP leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake. So much so, he said, they followed the same line. Dissanayake said last week that his party was not attending the meeting. However, the JVP leader said they would take part in meetings of party leaders if invited and also support efforts to counter Covid-19. It is clear from these developments that the TNA took a dispassionate view and seized the opportunity of a meeting with Premier Rajapaksa. That way, they have been able to place on record the issues that confront it and won the confidence of its voters that it is fighting for their demands. That too with a parliamentary election pending. What of the two other major opposition groups the UNP and its stronger offshoot SJB? The psychological warfare among them is affecting each other. It was not many weeks before that at least two from the SJB were said to be wanting to switch sides to UNP after the elections. In addition, the SJB also seems injected with the revolutionary zeal of JVP leaders fired through words, their only weapon nowadays. Leave alone the public, the statements issued by them do not convince their own membership. That has become the fate of the opposition parties and there is more than a lesson they could take from the TNA. In a two-page statement, Premier Rajapaksa noted that the oppositions concern obviously is that if the election is held in a situation where the anti-coronavirus campaign in Sri Lanka has shown much better results than in most other countries, they would be placed at a serious disadvantage. Hence, we see the oppositions present efforts are aimed at getting the old Parliament reconvened and using their majority in Parliament to block government finances, thereby sabotaging the anti-coronavirus campaign in order to bring the government into disrepute before the election. All opposition parties are now focusing their attention on the Supreme Court where the fundamental rights petitions of at least four parties are listed for hearing tomorrow (May 11). The first to file was Charitha Gunaratne, an attorney at law and backer of the SJB. The other petitions are also to be taken up tomorrow. Among those who are petitioners are: Victor Ivan and seven others T.M Premawardena, Prof Anton Meemana, A.M. Jiffry, S. Sivagurunathan, Mahinda Hattaka, M.S. Jayakodi and Dr H.D.S.F.D. Herath, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and its Executive Director, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu and the SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara. In essence, the petitioners are all challenging the decision by Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya to fix June 20 as the new date for parliamentary elections. In the midst of this, former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, who is Chairman of the Constitutional Council, wrote on Thursday to all members to attend a meeting to be held tomorrow (Monday) at the official residence of the Speaker in Battaramulla. The letter does not accompany an agenda and the exact reason for the meeting has not been given. However, official sources said the meeting was intended to discuss the functioning of different independent commissions. The move, these sources said, would include a possible discussion on the functioning of the Election Commission. This is particularly in the light of increasing reports about continuing friction between the Chairman and a member of the Commission. Social activity resumes tomorrow after a prolonged curfew. The two major challenges for the government are to speed towards a return to normalcy after reducing the spike in Corvid-19 cases. It is a rough road and one with obstacles. A further spike in cases could slow things down. For the opposition parties, barring the TNA, their immediate focus to re-summon Parliament has failed. The government is firm it will not re-summon the dissolved Parliament again. The opposition parties hopes are now pinned on the outcome of petitions before the Supreme Court. In all this, the TNA, as an opposition grouping, has outsmarted all others. The 360 shows you diverse perspectives on the days top stories and debates. Whats happening Debates over masks and other face coverings have been at the center of discussion since the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. For much of that time, the conversation focused largely on practical matters, like how effective masks are at stemming the spread of the virus and questions about shortages for health care workers. The debate has shifted in recent weeks. There are no longer questions about whether masks prevent infection. Experts agree that even homemade ones help. The current conversation is more contentious. Those who refuse to wear masks have been accused of ignorance or selfishness while the mandates that they be worn outside or in shops have been painted as violations of civil liberties. The discontent over masks has been strong enough to force some politicians to change their policies. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who has been praised for his early and aggressive response to the virus, has lifted the states order requiring masks be worn inside stores, saying, People were not going to accept the government telling them what to do. The city of Stillwater, Okla., rescinded its mask policy after employees at some stores faced threats of violence. The disagreements over masks have even turned violent. In Michigan a security guard was killed after reportedly demanding a patron wear a mask. Why theres debate How did the discussion of masks morph from a conversation about their medical merits to a clash over politics and liberty? One of the most obvious answers is the partisan divide over how best to respond to the pandemic. After facing criticism for his administrations actions during the onset of the outbreak, President Trump has turned his focus to reopening the country and accused skeptics of his largely unpopular plan of playing politics. Declining to wear a mask could be, for many, a gesture of support for the president and his vision that its time to start returning to normal. Story continues Trump may have solidified this view by refusing to wear a mask at recent public appearances despite the administrations recommendations for U.S. residents. Wearing a mask can be a symbol of trust in leaders and scientists who set health policies. Refusing to wear one suggests a rejection of that authority. The mishmash of laws from state to state combined with confusing messaging from medical authorities like the World Health Organization may be contributing to doubts about the importance of face coverings. The intensity of the disagreement may have more emotional roots, some psychiatrists say. In times of difficulty, humans are wired to look for someone to blame for the challenges they face. Mask wearers may see the bare-faced as responsible for exacerbating the health risks of the outbreak. Non-wearers might believe that overzealous restrictions are causing severe economic pain. For these groups, masks can be a symbol of a disagreement that goes much deeper than whether someone has a piece of cloth over their face. Perspectives Masks have become more about politics than health The wearing of masks is morphing into an unnecessary and unhealthy political test in which your face is the bumper sticker. Jim Galloway, Atlanta Journal Constitution The debate over masks triggers resentment and defensiveness The way we do things is right. The way others do things is wrong. Usually the gulf between the two is a matter merely of frustration; now its also a matter of fear. And for those of us who are told were not being careful enough when were convinced were being very careful indeed, its a matter of resentment tinged with guilt. Molly Roberts, Washington Post Masks are symbolic of big government control to some people The decision not to wear a mask has, for some, become a rebellion against what they regard as an incursion on their personal liberties. Rick Rojas, New York Times Trumps strategy of reopening the country made masks a political statement Trump has apparently decided that the way out of the current crisis is to be bold about reopening as quickly as possible in as many places as possible. So we can expect to see the president out and about around the country, projecting confidence in the nations health and resilience. And that is what he is modeling by not wearing a mask. Ron Elving, NPR Masks create an in-group/out-group dynamic that is primed for conflict We find that when beliefs become shared by social groups and are part of how we identify that they are very difficult to change, even in the face of scientific evidence. Sharing beliefs is one of the ways we bond with others, and the desire to bond with others is so strong that often it distorts the objective evaluation of information. Psychology researcher Jonas Kaplan to NBC News American individualism conflicts with public health measures Making personal sacrifices for the public good has not always been an American priority. We are an individualistic culture, and by nature we may find it more difficult to empathize with others when our own freedom and liberties feel like they are on the line. There is resistance to allowing the government or anyone else step in and require or even strongly urge Americans to cover their faces. Catherine Pearlman, CNN America is so polarized, everything becomes a political fight eventually These days, everything is a partisan issue. Everything is political, and that includes health regulations. Politics professor Jack Pitney to San Francisco Chronicle Conservative news outlets have stoked conflict over masks If Americans simply studied the evidence and behaved accordingly, erring on the side of caution, many lives could be saved which makes it frustrating that hugely influential broadcasters who reach millions of Americans are turning masks into yet one more front in the culture war, telling their audiences that elites favor the use of face coverings to take away the freedom of the masses. Conor Friedersdorf, Atlantic Poor communication from leaders diluted the health message about masks If the case for masks were presented by the president and governors and mayors and religious and community leaders as treating others as wed like to be treated if in their place, I like to think people would overwhelmingly come to see them as an inconvenience all patriotic Americans can accept in these terrible times. Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe Overreacting to masks is misguided and counterproductive If we want authorities to actually allow commerce and freedom of movement again, and to avoid top-down impositions of protective-gear rules, we should be encouraging people to voluntarily adopt mask-wearing. If protecting civil liberties and constitutional rights is really the aim, its time to drop hysterical or pointlessly contrarian objections to wearing a mask. Thats not anti-authoritarian praxis, its just being a jerk. Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Reason Is there a topic youd like to see covered in The 360? Send your suggestions to the360@yahoonews.com. Read more 360s Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Getty Images UW Makerspace Keeps Producing Personal Protective Equipment for States Medical Facilities Ben Monger, a UW energy systems engineering student from Cheyenne, inspects one of the 3D printers that is producing personal protective equipment for several Wyoming medical facilities and first responders. (UW Photo) For nearly two months straight, the University of Wyomings 3D makerspace in the Student Innovation Center (SIC) has been producing personal protective equipment (PPE) for the states medical facilities and first responders. The SIC, located in the new UW Engineering Education and Research Building (EERB), has produced over 3,700 pieces of equipment -- mainly protective masks and face shields that have gone to nearly 40 medical facilities in Wyoming, including the Wind River Indian Reservation, and to law enforcement agencies and fire department personnel for free. Wyomings Office of Homeland Security also has asked for the 3D printed PPE. We have not stopped printing since March 27, when we did our first overnight push to get out masks for Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, says Tyler Kerr, the SIC makerspace coordinator. That means most of our 3D printers have been running all day and night for more than 40 days now. We have produced roughly 90 pieces of PPE a day. If ever there was an endorsement for excellent workhorse 3D printers, this would be it. As part of the statewide Wyoming Technology Coronavirus Coalition (WTCC), the SIC makerspace staff begins daily 3D printing around 8 a.m., and the first batch of PPE is typically finished about 12 hours later. Another of Kerrs team comes in during evening hours to remove the prints and kick off a slightly longer 3D printing run that ends before sunrise. In all, makerspace personnel spread across Wyoming who are part of the WTCC have produced about 5,500 pieces of safety equipment, including 3D printed masks, face shields, face shield visors and custom-printed parts. To view the daily count, where equipment is being shipped and those contributing to the 3D efforts, click the database here. We have shipped masks, face shields and custom-made 3D printed or laser-cut parts to all corners of Wyoming, Kerr says. Each of the facilities that have requested our services has received PPE, which means weve catered not only to medical facilities now, but also emergency responders, such as fire and police departments, as well as emergency management centers. He adds that some of the smaller Wyoming facilities -- such as nursing homes -- do not readily have access to PPE from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or federal stockpiles, and UWs SIC makerspace is assisting. The SIC team has now added the dental community as part of the medical group seeking PPE. Kerr says Dr. Ilene Choal, of Laramie River Dental, started the conversation for communicating the project effectively to the greater Wyoming Dental Association (WyDA). We have worked through different ideas and prototypes until the WyDA settled on a final design, Kerr says. The UW makerspace team is producing a face shield specifically for loupes worn by dentists outside the protective equipment. Loupes are small magnification devices that dentists wear over their safety glasses, often with a loupe light in the center that makes the entire device look like a miniature pair of binoculars. Because the loupes extend out from the eyewear and face by about two inches, dentists need a special-sized face shield, Kerr says. He says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created a special set of stringent rules required for dentists to continue practicing to address the fact that dental procedures typically produce significant amounts of aerosols. The most notable rule is that dentists providing emergency care must wear face shields at all times. Since many dental clinics now need face shields to continue operating, and because the government does not categorize dental care clinics at the same level of critical need as hospitals and emergency care centers, the PPE that dentists need for emergency procedures can be difficult to acquire, Kerr says. This is where we come in. We know that 3D printed or laser-cut PPE isnt a permanent solution, but we see ourselves as a simple stop-gap measure until the PPE supply chains can catch up and cater to dental groups. The UW 3D team modified a version of a popular face shield approved by the National Institutes of Health for clinical use in order to allow it to fit the larger profile of face-wearing loupes. The team is near its goal of 3D printing 1,308 face shields for WyDA members across the state after a two-week production sprint. To the best of our knowledge, we are the sole source for 3D printed PPE for the Wyoming Dental Association, Kerr says. Kerr says the SIC makerspaces success in helping Wyoming facilities and groups during the COVID-19 pandemic is due, in large part, to his UW student-led team. The student staff are pretty incredible, Kerr says. Ask me what I was doing at their age, and it certainly was not 3D printing thousands of critical personal protective equipment for front-line responders. And, on top of taking a full course load, no less. The student team members and their hometowns and majors are: -- Carlsbad, Calif.: Zack Woith, mechanical engineering. -- Cheyenne: Ben Monger, energy systems engineering. -- Colorado Springs, Colo.: Zach Hunter, mechanical engineering. -- Green River: Victoria Evans, pre-pharmacy. -- Guadalajara, Mexico: Ana Flores, physics. -- Riverton: Shannon Linch, chemical engineering. -- Torrington: Brayton Tolman, mechanical engineering. Veteran Australian actor Arthur Dignam has died at the age of 80. The Devil's Playground star suffered a fatal heart attack while waving to a friend on his morning walk on Saturday. 'He passed away surrounded by friends from his neighbourhood,' said his son, Nicholas Gledhill. Vale: Australian actor Arthur Dignam (pictured) has died at the age of 80 'We will have a fabulous wake for Arthur befitting his fabulous life when [coronavirus] restrictions are lifted,' Nicholas added. 'In the meantime, I would be grateful if you would please pass on the news of his passing to anyone who should know and with whom I may not be in contact.' Family and friends have since paid tribute to Arthur on social media. 'He was one of this country's greatest actors. He wasn't perfect, he led a full life and died as he lived, among friends. I will miss him,' wrote friend Anthony Hunt. 'This morning my father died': The Devil's Playground star suffered a fatal heart attack while waving to a friend on his morning walk on Saturday, according to his son, Nicholas Gledhill Arthur's stage and screen performances date back to 1962. His most memorable roles include The Devil's Playground, We of the Never Never, The Dismissal, Moulin Rouge! and Australia. Although he worked mostly in film and television, he is also remembered for his theatre and musical appearances. Star: Arthur's screen roles date back to 1962. Pictured in We of the Never Never in 1982 Arthur was born on Lord Howe Island in September 1939. He attended Newington College in Sydney as a boarder from 1955 to 1956, before studying at the University of Sydney. After finishing his studies, he landed his first role in Lend Me Your Stable in 1962. New York, May 11 : Scientists have called for the urgent need for research to understand the potential impacts of COVID-19 in certain animal species, the transmissibility of infection between humans and those animals, and the impact infection could have on food security and the economy. In a study from Western University of Health Sciences in the US, published in the journal Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Disease, the scientists focused on companion animals, livestock and poultry, working animals such as military service dogs, and zoo species. "We are now faced with many urgent questions that can only be answered through investigative studies and surveillance," the authors wrote. The researchers identify three urgent issues to consider: the potential for domesticated animals to transmit the infection to humans and to contribute to community spread of disease; the impact on food security, economy, and trade if livestock and poultry are affected by a coronavirus. And the effect on national security if the virus infects military service dogs and impairs their sense of smell, often used for tracking and to detect explosives and narcotics. The research team said stringent studies are needed, with robust data collection, and not just anecdotal evidence. Dogs, cats, lions, and tigers have all already tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Studies are needed on the transmissibility of the virus between animal species and between animals and humans, on the best diagnostic tests available for companion animals and livestock, and on how COVID-19 is expressed in animals. "The potential for zoonotic SARS-CoV-2 to infect companion animals has been a topic of much discussion," said Stephen Higgs, Editor-in-Chief of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases and Director, Biosecurity Research Institute, Kansas State University in the US. "With over four million cases of COVID-19 and over a quarter of a million deaths worldwide so far since January, it is vital that we understand the risks posed by domestic animals as a possible source for human infection," Higgs added. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The Electoral Commission (EC) has responded to accusations made against it by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu that it received Covid-19 support from government. The Minority Leader had registered the displeasure of the NDC on the management of the coronavirus by the EC as far as the compilation of new voters register is concerned. But the EC in a statement signed by its Acting Director of Public Affairs, Sylvia Annoh, expressed grave concern about the comments made by the Minority Leader during a press conference held on May 7, 2020. The Commission denied claims by the Minority that it had received personal protective equipment. It says in the statement that the Commission has not stated anywhere that it has received personal protective equipment from Government as stated by the Minority Leader during the press conference. For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission has not received any protective equipment from the Government. The Commission finds it troubling that, the Leader of the Minority party in Parliament will put out information of this nature without substantiating its authenticity. It says since the outbreak of the Covid-19, it has taken concrete steps in adhering to the rules and regulations regarding the protocols spelt out by the Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Health and therefore has not violated any safety protocols in the discharge of its duties. The EC says it takes collective decision on all electoral processes in conformity with the countrys republican constitution. ---Daily Guide JILL KARNICKI / HOUSTON CHRONICLE WASHINGTON The Democrats in the runoff race to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn are set to face off in a debate next month, the Texas Democratic party announced on Monday. The first debate in the runoff between former Air Force pilot MJ Hegar and longtime state Sen. Royce West is set for June 2 at 7 p.m. The debate will air on Nexstar stations across the state, including Houstons KIAH and San Antonios KSAT, and will be streamed online. Five attorneys are running for a rare open judges seat on the Multnomah County Circuit Court. All five have significant experience and each is making a special claim to have a history of and affinity for protecting immigrants, people of color or others who historically have been treated poorly by the judicial and criminal justice system. The typical path to a circuit court judgeship in Oregon is appointment by the governor. That occurs when a judge steps down before the end of their term, a choice judges often make to allow a panel of lawyers and ultimately the governor to choose from among applicants for the job. Once appointed, judges typically face no opposition for re-election. But in this instance, the path is via a contested non-partisan election, complete with candidates vying for endorsements, raising money and posting lawn signs. With five candidates, its unclear that any one of them will claim 50% of the vote on May 19. If not, the top two vote-getters will face off in a November runoff. The candidates are: Adrian L. Brown, 44, an assistant U.S. attorney in Oregon for 12 years. She serves as the offices civil rights coordinator and has handled cases involving the states mental health system, Portland police practices and disability access. She previously worked for seven years as a lawyer for the U.S. Air Forces Judge Advocate Generals Corps, where she served as a trial counsel and defense counsel for air force personnel. Portland criminal defense lawyer Ernest Warren Jr., 59, a managing member of the firm Warren & Sugarman, which he established in 1990 as the first black-owned law firm in the state. He previously worked for the Metropolitan Public Defenders Office from 1989 to 1990. He also served as general counsel for a nonprofit Portland developer of affordable housing. Defense attorney John E. Schlosser, who has worked as a public defender and private practice attorney, points to his track record standing up for immigrants, including forming an advocacy group to expedite granting citizenship to people whove served in the U.S. military and banning federal immigration officers from making warrantless arrests at the county courthouse. Civil attorney Rima I. Ghandour, 47, who has her own practice in Portland called Ghandour Law that specializes in construction defect, personal injury, products liability, commercial/business litigation and insurance coverage. Ghandour was previously a partner at Wiles Law Group, a staff counsel for Liberty Mutual Insurance and Safeco Insurance and a deputy county counsel for Orange County. Sonia A. Montalbano, 50, a civil lawyer with the firm McKean Smith who specializes in employment and business law. She previously worked as an associate and partner at Elliott, Ostrander & Preston, and was in private practice. Except for Schlosser, who self-funded his campaign with $5,500, all candidates have raised at least five figures, ranging from $28,000 for Warren to Ghandours $59,000, $20,000 of that from her family. The candidates are vying for the seat being vacated by Judge Gregory F. Silver, 67, who was appointed by Gov. John Kitzhaber in 2013. He plans to retire this summer and alerted other judges well ahead of the March filing deadline that he wouldnt seek re-election, so they could alert potential successors to prepare to campaign. His term ends in January. Silver said the timing of his retirement wasnt intended to prevent Gov. Kate Brown from making an appointment. Hes turning 68 this spring and will mark 22 years of serving the state. He decided with his wife Dale that "it is time to move into a new phase of our lives.'' "The best time for me to retire is what it is. The date of the election is what it is. Those two situations have come together in the way they did. There is no other explanation or motive,'' Silver wrote in a statement sent to other justices. -- Betsy Hammond; betsyhammond@oregonian.com; @OregonianPol -- Maxine Bernstein; mbernstein@oregonian.com; @maxoregonian Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. The Christian Retail Association (CRA), led by Bob Munce, owner of the Munce Marketing Group, surveyed member retailers to see how the Covid-19 pandemic is impacting their stores. With a total of 223 store responses, the survey offers a look at the biggest challenges booksellers are facing, including a number of mandatory store closures, cut hours, and layoffs, as well as the ways retailers are surviving. According to the survey, 167 stores closed due to being deemed non-essential, with 63 of these having to stay completely out of their stores. Of the bookstores that can operate in a limited fashion, 73% said they are offering curbside pickup, 45% have limited hours, and 38% are making home deliveries. Even with taking unusual steps to generate sales, 171 store owners reported steep sales declines in both March and April, with April sales down about 97% from April 2019. The survey reached stores that have a total of 1,043 employees. Of those, 589 were furloughed, while only six employees were permanently let go. A total of 76 stores cut hours, but maintained a staff. While virtual author events are increasingly more common across the book industry, Christian bookstores are also looking to online gatherings to boost sales. Many have hosted online childrens book readings and other Facebook live events. Additionally, Christian retailers are maintaining communication with customers via social media, with an especially high number of Facebook interactions followed by Instagram. Stores are already planning how they will reach out to customers when they reopen, with the majority electing Facebook has the main means of connecting. One hundred and seventeen store owners said they had applied for some type of government assistance but only 44% said they had received a loan or other help. The status update follows the CRAs initial reporting of a 30-50% sales drop among Christian retailers, as well as efforts to raise money for hurting stores. The novel Coronavirus pandemic will be remembered as a blessing in disguise for the world as hygiene norms to tackle will become the new normal for the society, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said on Monday. He was speaking as the chief guest at a digital conference on science and technology with industry body members organized by the Department of Science and Technology on the occasion of the 22nd National Technology Day. The Minister held that norms like wearing masks, social distancing, hand hygiene, and respiratory etiquette that are being told to practice to combat the COVID-19 pandemic will stay around after the crisis recedes. "All these good ideas and practices that we are forced to adopt during COVID time, if continued to be practiced in the future, COVID will always be remembered as a blessing in disguise for the world. If this wearing of masks, social distancing, hand hygiene, and respiratory etiquette that we have been propagating all through this crisis becomes the new normal for the society, this is going to help a lot in not only handling COVID but for many other (health) issues in the world," Dr. Harsh Vardhan said. Watch Live!! Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan as a chief guest to Digital Conference: 'Reboot the Economy through Science, Technology & Research Translations' organized by the DST in collaboration with CII on the occasion of 22nd #NationalTechnologyDay. https://t.co/rohWGBMipB DrHarshVardhanOffice (@DrHVoffice) May 11, 2020 READ | These Are The 15 Railway Train routes For Which IRCTC Booking Will Open At 4 Pm On Monday READ | Coronavirus Live Updates: COVID-19 Cases Rise To 67,152 In Single-largest One-day Spike Lauds India's tech advancements The Minister also recalled some great technological advancements made by India, especially in the defence sector, and lauded leaders like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former President APJ Abdul Kalam. "The celebration on National Technology Day symbolizes India's quest for scientific inquiry, technological creativity and innovations and integration of these developments into national socio-economic benefits and global presence," Dr. Harsh Vardhan said. "In the pandemic crisis, technology has been at the forefront of the battle. As the world adjusts to its new normal, global business leaders are rethinking strategies to harness technologies that would help drive resilience and help them emerge stronger," he added. READ | Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Discuss COVID-19 With Northeast States; Lauds Response READ | Health Ministry Issues Revised Guidelines For Home Isolation Of Very Mild Covid-19 Cases An analysis of more than half a million women in Sweden reveals that mammography screening reduces the rates of advanced and fatal breast cancers. The findings are published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society (ACS). For the analysis, Laszlo Tabar, MD, of Falun Central Hospital, Sweden, Stephen Duffy, MSc, of Queen Mary University of London, and their colleagues examined data on nearly one-third of the women in Sweden who were eligible for mammography screening. Among these 549,091 women, the investigators calculated the rates of advanced breast cancers and cancers that were fatal within 10 years of diagnosis, comparing the findings in women who participated in recommended mammography screening and those who did not. The team found a 41 percent reduction in cancers that were fatal within 10 years after diagnosis and a 25 percent reduction in the incidence of advanced breast cancer in women who participated in screening. "This study shows that participation in breast cancer screening substantially reduces the risk of having a fatal breast cancer. Because the comparison of participating with non-participating persons was contemporaneous--with mammography screening and breast cancer treatment belonging to the same time period--it is not affected by potential changes in treatment of breast cancer over time," said Dr. Duffy. Dr. Tabar stressed that participating in breast cancer screening confers a reduced risk of dying from breast cancer above and beyond what is obtainable with current therapies in the absence of screening. "Some may believe that recent improvements in breast cancer treatment makes early detection less important," he said. "Our study shows that nothing can replace finding breast cancer early." ### Additional Information NOTE: The information contained in this release is protected by copyright. Please include journal attribution in all coverage. A free abstract of this article will be available via the Cancer News Room upon online publication. For more information or to obtain a PDF of any study, please contact: Penny Smith +44 (0) 1243 770448 (UK) newsroom@wiley.com Follow us on Twitter @WileyNews Full Citation: "Mammography screening reduces the incidence rates of advanced and fatal breast cancers: Results in 549,091 women." Stephen Duffy, Laszlo Tabar, Amy Ming-Fang Yen, Peter B. Dean, Robert A. Smith, Hakan Jonsson, Sven Tornberg, Sam Li-Sheng Chen, Sherry Yueh-Hsia Chiu, Jean Ching-Yuan Fann, May Mei-Sheng Ku, Wendy Yi-Ying Wu, Chen-Yang Hsu, Yu-Ching Chen, Gunilla Svane, Edward Azavedo, Helene Grundstrom, Per Sunden, Karin Leifland, Ewa Frodis, Joakim Ramos, Birgitta Epstein, Anders Akerlund, Ann Sundbom, Pal Bordas, Hans Wallin, Leena Starck, Annika Bjorkgren, Stina Carlson, Irma Fredriksson, Johan Ahlgren, Daniel Ohman, Lars Holmberg, Tony Hsiu-Hsi Chen. CANCER; Published Online: May 11, 2020 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.32859). URL Upon Publication: https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cncr.32859 Author Contact: Sophie McLachlan, of the Queen Mary University of London's press team, at sophie.mclachlan@qmul.ac.uk or +44 (0) 20 7882 3787. About the Journal CANCER is a peer-reviewed publication of the American Cancer Society integrating scientific information from worldwide sources for all oncologic specialties. The objective of CANCER is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of information among oncologic disciplines concerned with the etiology, course, and treatment of human cancer. CANCER is published on behalf of the American Cancer Society by Wiley and can be accessed online. Follow us on Twitter @JournalCancer About Wiley Wiley drives the world forward with research and education. Through publishing, platforms and services, we help students, researchers, universities, and corporations to achieve their goals in an ever-changing world. For more than 200 years, we have delivered consistent performance to all of our stakeholders. The Company's website can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com. By Fredrick Nwabufo If the gods want to punish a people, they either invoke plagues on the land or deploy agents of slaughter as leaders. T... By Fredrick Nwabufo If the gods want to punish a people, they either invoke plagues on the land or deploy agents of slaughter as leaders. The gods are not happy with Rivers state, obviously, hence the affliction by Nyesom Wike. The state had a chance of averting this ruination in 2019, but it did not take it. The recent brutish actions of Wike in Rivers really knock me into wondering whether the governor superintends over a parallel country. Wike has taken deeper gulps from the chalice of malice, absolutism and despotism. He is now running wild and untamed. In April, the governor ordered the arrest of two Caverton pilots for allegedly violating the lockdown measures in the state. After their arrest, the pilots were arraigned at a magistrates court and remanded in prison until May. But Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, torpedoed this arbitrary action, saying aviation matters are strictly on the exclusive list of the federal government. Caverton protested against the remand of its pilots, and said the federal aviation authorities granted it the permission to fly into Rivers state. And at a press briefing organised by the presidential task force on COVID-19, Sirika corroborated the position of the logistics company, accusing the security agents who arrested the pilots on the governors order of displaying ignorance. Wike has carried on as a law unto himself in Rivers. He is the judge, the jury and the executioner in the state. On Thursday, he made a proclamation in his accustomed cadence like an emperor of Persia to auction cars seized during the lockdown in Rivers. He said: The defaulters will be tried by the Mobile Courts and I have told the Attorney General, all the impounded vehicles must be auctioned. By tomorrow, the Honourable Attorney General would have advertised those vehicles and we will auction them. On Saturday, bulldozers riding on the dispatch of Wike moved into hotels, which reportedly violated the lockdown measures, mowing them down. How addled can a man be by brute power? Really, it is depressing seeing how some Nigerians cheer the governor on in his inebriation. We have become so habituated to abuse and tyranny that we bless our violators and curse our liberators. What is happening in Rivers state violates every sense of decency, normality and rationality. It is a farrago. As a matter of fact, it is more telling that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which releases windy and vacuous press statements now and then, accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of tyranny, does not think it fit to call its transgressing members who are governors to order. Nigerians witnessed how Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River and a member of the PDP, harassed, hounded and incarcerated Agba Jalingo for criticising his government. They are also seeing how the administration of Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom is punishing Kufre Carter, a journalist, for criticising a commissioner in the state. On Saturday, Mary Akpan, mother of the detained journalist, was denied access to see her son by the DSS in the state. The distressed mother said her son did not commit any crime. Even families of armed robbers are permitted to see their son in a cell and see how he is doing. Painting her picture of despondence keenly, mama said she does not have money, he gives me the small money I use to eat because I retired since 2016 and the governor refused to give me my gratuity, Im being fed by my son. Her son has spent more than 14 days in detention without any charge. This is not how to govern a people. One thing is clear; the only irritation of the PDP with the Buhari administration is lack of access to power. The PDP should desist from issuing hypocritical statements and purge itself of the same vermin in the APC. The party has no moral ground to attack the ills of another like it. The PDP must call its governors to order now. Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist. Twitter: @FredrickNwabufo By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: COVID-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh breached 2000 mark and now stands at 2018 with another 38 new cases reported in the last 24 hours by 9 am on Monday. A total of 7, 409 samples were tested between 9 a.m. on Sunday and 9 a.m. on Monday. There were no deaths reported in the last 24 hours while the number of discharged increased to 998 with 73 people discharged. The number of recoveries is higher than the number of fresh cases reported. FOLLOW OUR CORONAVIRUS UPDATES HERE According to the media bulletin issued by the State Command Control Room (health) on Monday morning, out of 38 new cases reported, 9 were in Chittoor district taking the total number of cases in the district to 121. Among the 9 people tested positive in Chittoor, eight of them were those who visited the Koyambedu market in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and returned. Kurnool district also registered nine more new cases taking the total number of cases in the district to 575. Anantapur district reported 8 new cases taking the number of new cases to 115. Guntur district tally increased by 5 and now stands at 387. Krishna and Visakhapatnam districts reported three new cases each taking the total number of cases to 342 and 66 respectively. Nellore district reported one new case and the total number of cases in the district now stands at 102 Among the 73 people discharged from hospitals after recovery, 28 are from Kurnool, Guntur - 22, Nellore 14, Krishna - 5, Kadapa - 2, and Srikakulam - 2. The number of active cases in the state is now at 975. The Revelation Christian Resource Centre and Cafe is seeking to appoint a Centre Manager. The Revelation Christian Resource Centre and Cafe is seeking to appoint a Centre Manager. Christmas opening hours at Revelation Both the shop and cafe are temporarily closed due to the tier 4 restrictions in Norfolk, but will re-open as soon as the restrictions are lifted. Read more Five staff to leave Revelation centre in Norwich Five members of staff at the Revelation Christian Resource Centre in Norwich are set to leave the business after sales were hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more Cafe re-opens at Revelation in Norwich Food, glorious food, will once again be on offer at Revelation Resource Centre, because the Cafe is scheduled to re-open for business on Tuesday August 4, in time for the Governments Eat Out to Help Out deal. Read more Fundraising April Amble for Norwich Christian centre Revelation is once again holding a sponsored walk on April 5 to raise funds for the centre, which provides Christian books, bibles, stationery and a friendly cafe. Read more Make it a New Year's Revelation Members of the Norfolk Christian community are invited to consider some of the ways they can support their local Christian resource centre. Read more Nicholas returns from USA for Norwich book launch A former Norwich vicar, and now inter-faith pastor in Colorado, has returned to the city from the USA this week to help launch his new book Living the Life Force ... and Finding Your Own Way to Do It. Read more Norwich Christian centre is an oasis of calm in busy city Revelation is a unique place in Norfolk that provides Christian resources, a popular cafe and a forum for topical debate . Local people and churches are urged to help the centre continue to flourish. Read more First for Archbishop Justin at Norwich book reading The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby took part in a book reading chaired by Bishop Graham and hosted by Steve Foyster, manager of Revelation Christian resource centre in Norwich during his visit to the city on November 7. Read more Revelation is venue for Norfolk veterans drop-in Norfolk Christian cafe Revelation is the new venue for regular drop-in sessions of a Norfolk veterans charity. Read more Delia Smith is new patron of Norwich Christian centre Norfolk celebrity chef Delia Smith has become the new patron of a Revelation cafe and Christian resource centre. Read more The deadly Coronavirus pandemic has killed four people in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja in one day. This is coming as seven Coronavirus patients who recovered from the virus were discharged on Sunday. According to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, four more people died in Abuja on Saturday from Coronavirus, taking its total deaths to eight. However, FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello disclosed on Sunday that seven more survivors had been discharged after they tested negative twice for the virus. He said this brought to 92 the total number of people discharged in FCT as at Sunday, 10 May, 2020. Dear FCT Residents, it is yet another good news as we discharge 7 more COVID-19 patients from the Isolation centre in the FCT after their subsequent tests returned negative, bringing the total number of discharged patients in the FCT to 92 as at 10am, May 10th, 2020, Bello said. And that's something that I think people should be thinking about, the parishioners and the faith leaders who are conducting those services, that it's not just about yourself, it's about all the many people who attend. And even more importantly, the many people who will come in contact with the people who attended those services. Bra Boy Koby Abberton has unleashed a bizarre anti-vax conspiracy rant to claim the government is using coronavirus to stop Australians from leaving the country as part of a mass-vaccination plan. The former Australian professional surfer made the extraordinary claims while defending NRL star Bryce Cartwright's decision to refuse the flu jab, who was stood down over his dangerous position on vaccinations. Abberton, a founding member of the notorious beach gang, also jumped to the defence of a lifelong friend, Cartwright's wife Shanelle, who continues to face public backlash over her decision to not vaccinate her two young children. Her decision is risky to her children - and to the entire community, with vaccinations vital to reducing the spread of preventable diseases. Before vaccination campaigns in the 1960s and 1970s, diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough killed thousands of children. Today they kill almost none. Now based in Bali, Abberton on Monday said he's known Ms Cartwright and her family since she was baby, having grown up together in Maroubra in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Bra Boys founder Koby Abberton (pictured with wife Olya and son Makua) weighed into the the controversial anti-vaxxing debate on Monday 'To see the way the Australian media is portraying her and Bryce and their young family is wrong,' Abberton wrote. 'If a family is against vaccines that's on them. They should have a right! If a child gets sick that's on that family. Thats enough! Lets be honest this virus aint what we have been sold all day every day for months through the media.' Abberton said 'not many people' have been struck down by the virus in Australia, where there have been almost 7,000 confirmed cases and 97 deaths. 'Now the government want us to have another vaccine? Why?,' Abberton's rant continued. 'We are up to 38 vaccine shots for kids and it's too much. 'Autism is now through the roof and schools for autism are opening all around Australia. They need to open a lot more!' Anti-vaxxers consistently spread the false and dangerous theory vaccines cause autism, which is based on a completely discredited 1998 medical report that saw the author struck from the medical register. Abberton took to social media to plead his support for NRL star Bryce Cartwright and his wife Shanelle, who grew up with Abberton and his brothers in Maroubra Abberton's defended the Cartwrights' decision to not vaccinate their two children Abberton went on to claim the government wasn't there to help Australians, whom he urged to 'open their eyes' to really see at how the virus panned out. 'They are selling us vaccinations and now we are being told no travel, no government help, or medical until you're vaccinated. It's control guys, don't mind me, just see it with your own eyes,' he said. 'Now they want us to be vaccinated before international travel. That's why they got you all home in Australia. Get back to your own country, you all gonna die s**t!! The joke is on us and we will pay for it with our kids' health.' Abberton ended the post with the hashtag 'no more vaccines'. Koby Abberton Abberton unleashed a scathing attack on the government in his anti-vax conspiracy rant He first weighed into the childhood vaccination debate last November when he took to social media to gauge public opinion. Abberton declared at the time that his four-year-old son Makua, was fully vaccinated. However, he posted a graphic pointing out the multi-billion dollar figure the US National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has had to pay out for deaths and permanent disabilities caused by vaccinations 'Vaccine companies have paid out $4billion dollars to families affected by vaccine deaths and disabilities due to vaccines,' he wrote under the graphic. The surfer asked his followers to let him know if they noticed a difference in their children before and after they were vaccinated. 'I'm not sure what's right and what's wrong, I post to read real responses and get info for myself off real people,' he wrote. 'All I'm doing is showing you public information.' The Bra Boys founder first weighed into the childhood vaccination debate last November to gauge public opinion Ms Cartwright reshared Abberton's support for her and her husband, as did fellow outspoken NRL anti-vaxxer WAG Taylor Winterstein. 'Thank you for standing up,' she wrote. The Cartwrights have also been inundated with public support from actress Isabel Lucas. 'THANK YOU. We are so grateful to you speaking up for this basic human right freedom of choice. We are backing you. Keep standing for #prochoice. You are so courageous,' she wrote on Instagram. Celebrity chef Pete Evans pledged his support for the post by sharing four heart emojis in support of the Cartwrights. DUBLIN, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Metamaterial Market - Analysis By Product Type, Application, End-User, By Region, By Country (2020 Edition): Market Insights, COVID-19 Impact, Competition and Forecast (2020-2025)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Metamaterial Market, valued at USD 599.75 million in the year 2019 has been witnessing unprecedented growth in the last few years on the back of mergers, acquisitions and collaborations as well as research and development activities to link the existing gaps in the product offerings, the end market requirements and the geographical constraints, thereby creating large customer and partner base in the market. With the progressive growth of aerospace and defense, automotive, medical, energy and power and telecommunication industries, the global metamaterial market is expected to witness growth at a rapid pace in the coming years. However, owing to the COVID-19 crisis, lockdown measures taken by governments of all the countries around the world has resulted in closure of all economic activities. As metamaterials are used in various end-user industries like aerospace & defence, medical, automotive, consumer electronics and energy & power, hence, the recent outbreak of COVID-19 on all these industries leads to halt in production unit while some of the units are operating with less labour and faces the shortage of raw materials due to lockdown. Among the Product Type segment in the Metamaterial market (Electromagnetic, Terahertz, Photonic, Tunable, Frequency Selective Surface, Non-linear), Electromagnetic product type segment has been gaining popularity among various other segments and is expected to keep major market share in the forecast period. Electromagnetic metamaterials are comprised of structures, which have exceptionally built properties for applications in optical and microwave applications, including electromagnetic invisibility cloaks, microwave couplers, and beam steerers. Because of these properties showed by this product type, there is an inexorably enlarging extension in a few end-use verticals. Antenna segment among the application segment holds the majority market share in year 2019. The expanding use in radio wires and radars have prompted expanding effectiveness of these final products, for the most part by virtue of the predominant properties offered by metamaterials. Based on End-User segment, Aerospace & Defense segment holds the major share in the Metamaterial market followed by Consumer Electronics and Medical segment. Metamaterials are used in consumer electronics in a variety of ways such as transparent antennas, touch screen, transparent EMI shielding, augmented reality, etc. The North America region has the largest market share in year 2019 while it is estimated that North America will remain dominant during the forecast period with United States being the leading country in the region. The high growth can be attributed to the increasing demand from the aerospace and defense vertical. Government agencies, such as DOD (Department of Defense), DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), are funding research universities and industry players for the development of metamaterial-based antennas. Scope of the Report The report analyses the Metamaterial market by Value. The report analyses the Metamaterial Market by Product Type (Electromagnetic, Terahertz, Photonic, Tunable, Frequency Selective Surface, Non-linear). The report assesses the Metamaterial market by Application (Antenna, Absorber, Superlens, Cloaking Devices, Others). The report assesses the Metamaterial market by End-User (Aerospace & defense, Medical, Automotive, Consumer Electronics, Energy & Power). The Global Metamaterial Market has been analysed by Region ( North America , Europe , Asia Pacific ) and by Country ( United States , Canada , Germany , France , Spain , United Kingdom , China , Japan , India ) , , ) and by Country ( , , , , , , , , ) Also, the attractiveness of the market has been presented by Region, Product Type, Application and End-User. Also, the major opportunities, trends, drivers and challenges of the industry has been analysed in the report. The report tracks competitive developments, strategies, key developments in the market and innovations and development. The companies analysed in the report include Metamaterial Technologies Inc., Harris Corporation, Newport Corporation, Metamagnetics, Kymeta Corporation, Fractal Antenna Systems Inc., Jem Engineering, Phoebus Optoelectronics LLC, Echodyne Corporation, Multiwave Technologies AG The report presents the analysis of Metamaterial market for the historical period of 2015-2019 and the forecast period of 2020-2025. Companies Mentioned Metamaterial Technologies Inc. Harris Corporation Newport Corporation Metamagnetics Kymeta Corporation Fractal Antenna Systems Inc. Jem Engineering Phoebus Optoelectronics LLC Echodyne Corporation Multiwave Technologies AG For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xeahf0 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Riddhima Kapoor Sahni has shared two new family pictures on social media. The daughter of actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor took to Instagram stories and posted the pictures on Monday. While the first picture is a selfie with her brother Ranbir Kapoor, the second one shows Riddhima posing with her daughter Samara, and mother Neetu, in the backseat of a car. The family recently braved the loss of Rishi Kapoor, who died last month after a two-year battle with leukaemia. Riddhima was unable to attend his funeral, because of the nationwide coronavirus lockdown. She was, however, allowed to drive down to Mumbai from Delhi. Since Rishis death, Riddhima has shared several social media posts. Last week, she posted a picture of herself and Ranbir with Neetu. Sharing the picture, which shows Neetu with Riddhima and Ranbir on each side, she captioned it, Got your back Ma #yourpillars. Also read: Riddhima Kapoors Mothers Day wish for Neetu Kapoor: My mom, my everything. See pics On Mothers Day, Riddhima shared a picture with Neetu and wrote in the caption of her post, Love & only love - Happy Mothers Day Ma. On her stories, she shared more pictures, and wrote, My mom - my everything. A few days ago, she shared a couple of monochrome pictures: one of Rishi holding his mother, the late Krishna Raj Kapoors hand. Captioning the image, Riddhima wrote, Reunited with his most favourite person. The other image was from Rishi and Neetus wedding celebrations. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ten central trade unions on Monday said they are considering approaching the International Labour Organization (ILO) against suspension of major labour laws in some states. Image used for representational purpose. Photograph: PTI Photo. The Uttar Pradesh cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath last week gave nod to the 'Uttar Pradesh Temporary Exemption from Certain Labour Laws Ordinance, 2020' to exempt factories, business establishments and industries from the purview of all, except three labour laws and one provision of another law, for three years. The Madhya Pradesh government has also suspended some labour laws and as per media reports, Gujarat too is following suit. In a joint statement issued on Monday, the central trade unions also threatened to give a call for nationwide agitation to protest against such moves by state governments. "The CTUs consider these moves as....gross violation of the Right to Freedom of Association (ILO Convention 87), Rights to Collective Bargaining (ILO Convention 98) and also the internationally accepted norm of eight hour working day espoused by Core Conventions of ILO)," the statement said. It also noted that the ILO Convention 144 with regard to tripartism has been undermined by the governments. "While seriously considering to lodge a complaint with ILO on these misdeeds of the government for gross violation of Labour Standards, the CTUs call upon the working class to oppose these designs.... soon the CTUs would give a nationwide call for action," it said. The Joint Platform of CTUs and Federations/Associations denounced the blanket exemptions given to all establishments from the employers' obligation under all substantive labour laws for a period of three years by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In UP, an ordinance in this regard has been promulgated and same is going to be done in Madhya Pradesh also as asserted by the state's chief minister, the statement said. Media reports say that similar move of liberating the employers from all labour laws is going to be initiated in Gujarat also for a period of 1,200 days, it added. Working people have been subjected to inhuman sufferings owing to loss of jobs and wages, eviction from residences etc, reducing them to hungry non-entities in the process of 45-day lockdown, the CTUs said in the statement. The government of the day at the Centre has pounced upon those working people only with fangs and claws to reduce them to the stature of virtual slaves, the statement added. "Now the government at the centre has taken the strategy of letting loose their pliant state governments to take such anti-worker and anti-people autocratic measures, many other state governments are expected to follow suit," it said. "This retrograde anti-worker move (labour laws suspension) came in the second stage after six state governments have enhanced the daily working hours from eight hours to 12 hours through executive order in violation of the Factories Act, taking advantage of the lockdown situation. It is also reported that BJP government of Tripura is also making a similar move," the statement added. The 10 CTUs that issued the joint statement are INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTU, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC. There are a total of 12 CTUs. Sri Lankas fiscal outlook bleaker than ever By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s): With the impact of COVID-19, Sri Lankas fiscal outlook is bleaker than ever, making it extremely tough for the Treasury to meet public expenses and maintain cash-flows with limited cash balance from total allocations made in the revised Vote on account that was sanctioned by the President on March 6. In a bid to save resources, the Finance Ministry has already placed restrictions on expenditure and funds being diverted towards the fight against COVID-19, official sources said. The caretaker governments revenue collection has dwindled as most economic activities came to a standstill with the countrys revenue collection authorities working remotely. Total revenue from January to April 2020 was around Rs. 423 billion while expenditure shot up to Rs.753.1 billion during this period leaving a deficit of around Rs. 330 billion, provisional data revealed. The allocation made for public expenditure from the revised Vote on Account for the March May period had been Rs. 420 billion. Under these circumstances, the Treasury is now left with around Rs.90 billion for the day-today functioning of the caretaker government. With higher required spending and tighter liquidity conditions, the fiscal authority has no option other than to go for domestic borrowings for more deficit-financing from this month or to revise the Vote on Account again under the warrant of the President, the sources said. According to the Vote on Account passed in November last year, the borrowings limit was Rs. 721 billion which has already been exhausted to meet unforeseen and essential relief expenditure incurred during the COVID-19 crisis up to now. A sum of around Rs. 100 billion is needed monthly for the salaries and incentives of public servants, state corporations, boards, banks and insurance. Typically on Decision Day, high school students across Massachusetts wear T-shirts with college names or military branches, proclaiming where theyre going after graduation. The day, typically held on May 1, which is considered National Decision Day, is filled with excitement as peers learn where each other are going, and talk about the hope for the future. But due to the coronavirus pandemic this year looks different. As schools began closing, students, parents, teachers and principals began looking at how seniors can still celebrate these monumental moments that usually happen in spring, including Decision Day. I was crushed, said Granby Junior Senior High School senior Celia Huard. It was really hard to hear, knowing that I never even got to say my goodbyes. We still had a lot left to do to complete our senior year, so it was honestly devastating to hear it would be over so quickly. She started seeing other schools create Instagram accounts that took the spirit of Decision Day and put it online. After graduation, most of us will be going our separate ways to different colleges, she said. Thats when she decided to start one for her class. This was important to our class because it was our way to get a chance to see where all our classmates would be going next year, Huard said. We still wanted everyone to be acknowledged for which school they are attending since we are all so proud of each other. Students in schools across Massachusetts are starting these accounts for their peers. Showcased with senior photos, lists of accomplishments and plans for the future, the graphics, designed by a generation who has grown up with social media, look like a professional online yearbook. Wow! A huge congratulations on that ambitious endeavor, said one comment signed Ms. BP. I have the utmost confidence that you will do spectacular. Other students write, congrats" or simply respond with heart emojis. But its this kind of support thats important. For many students, they didnt realize their last day in the school would be their last day contributing to the feeling of loss. I struggled to cope with the fact that I would never step foot into Hampshire Regional as one of its students again. Even now, it doesnt feel like March 13th was my final day, said Anne Curran senior at Hampshire Regional High School. I wish I could go back to that day, that week even, and tell my fellow seniors and my teachers how much Id miss them; how much Id miss seeing their faces and not just pixelated depictions of them, how much Id miss hearing their voices and not just computer-generated frequencies, and how much Id miss smiling right in front of them - without a six-foot barrier in between. But this account and other efforts are helping with moral, she said. Shes even noticed younger students being inspired by the posts. The pandemic and social distancing have certainly separated us all, but they have also brought us closer together than ever, she said. Many students started thinking about their future plans long before the coronavirus pandemic, but making final decisions during this time was a hurdle in itself. Were picking a college right now not really knowing if were going to be able to be there in the fall, actually on campus and do all the things that we thought we were going to be able to do, said Smith Academy senior Riley Di Pillo. But yet we still have to make this decision right now. So that was a really difficult. And while Di Pillo hopes they can find just a little bit of normalcy in all this, he knows this isnt forever. For now, hell continue enjoying learning and promoting where his classmates are headed after graduation. Just because we dont have the graduation ceremonies that we all thought we were going to have doesnt mean were not going to go on and have a normal life, a normal college experience, he said. Related Content: Chinas leaders have made clear that they see criticism of their initial response to the coronavirus which included a cover-up that allowed the contagion to spread as a threat to Communist Party rule. Even a fact-finding mission appears to be too much for Chinas leadership. The countrys ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, called the inquiry proposal which China is expected to block at the W.H.O. a dangerous move that could lead to an economic boycott. If the mood is going from bad to worse, he said, people would think Why should we go to such a country that is not so friendly to China? The tourists may have second thoughts. He added that Chinese consumers might refuse to buy Australian wine and beef or to send their children to Australian universities. The economic pain, if actually meted out, could be severe. China is Australias No. 1 export market, its largest source of international students and its most valuable market for tourism and agricultural products. On Sunday, the countrys grain industry warned that China is threatening to place a hefty tariff on Australias barley exports in what some members of parliament are describing as payback. Australian officials, however, are betting that China will remain a major customer, including for the coal and iron ore it needs to spring back to life post pandemic. And they are convinced that the Australian public will tolerate some Chinese punishment if it means relying less on a country that, according to polls, it had already distrusted a negative view that is widely shared in Western Europe. "They inflicted tremendous damage on the world which is still ongoing," Navarro said. "We're up to close to $10 trillion we've had to appropriate to fight this battle." He declined to say whether he was advising the president to impose new tariffs or scrap the "phase one" trade deal reached between the two countries earlier this year. Navarro is one of the chief China hawks in President Donald Trump's administration and serves as the director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. "A bill has to come due for China," Navarro said during an interview on CNBC's " Squawk Box ." "It's not a question of punishing them, it's a question of holding China accountable, the Chinese Communist Party accountable." White House advisor Peter Navarro on Monday threatened retaliation against China for its role in the spread of the coronavirus pandemic as tensions between the world's two largest economies continue to rise. Trade negotiations between the two countries have been complicated by Covid-19, which spread around the globe and tanked world markets after the phase one trade deal took effect in February. The deal requires China to up its purchases of U.S. goods including agricultural products by $200 billion over two years. In addition to slumping global demand, the public health crisis has spawned a war of words between the two nations, which have each sought to lay blame at the other's feet. Trump, who has said he believes coronavirus was caused by a Chinese "mistake," said on Friday that he was "very torn" over whether to stay in the phase one deal. Scientists and the U.S. intelligence community have said that the virus emerged naturally and China has denied allegations that it came from a laboratory. Chinese officials have said the country has been transparent about its handling of the outbreak. "I'm very I'm very torn as to I have not decided yet, if you want to know the truth," Trump said during an interview on Fox News when asked if he would scrap the deal. Despite the president's comments, trade negotiators have continued to talk. On Thursday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He about the agreement. The three officials agreed to move forward with phase one "in spite of the current global health emergency," according to a statement put out by the American side. It's not clear, however, whether talks on future phases are still in the works. At the time the phase one deal was reached in January, U.S. officials said that lingering issues between the two countries would be hammered out in successive phases. Thursday's statement from Lighthizer and Mnuchin did not mention the prospect of future deals. Trump, who has touted the trade agreement with China as one of his top achievements, will face reelection in November. The Member of Parliament for Damango constituency, who doubles as a member of the Energy Committee of Parliament, Mr Adam Mutawakilu, has noted that no president or government in Ghanas history, has worked and invested in the energy sector more than Mr John Mahama did. According to him, Mr Mahama, as Vice-President to Prof Atta Mills, took over a sick energy sector in January 2009 with an in-store capacity of 1,810 megawatts. He added that the Mills-Mahama administration, by December 2012, had 2,885MW and 4,132MW in-store capacity by January 2017 when the Akufo-Addo administration took over. "There were also ongoing projects such as Amandi, Early Power. Those were going projects, which have not yet been added to the in-store capacity because they weren't completed and ready to generate power. "Now, this intervention is very critical because the previous dumsor crisis is a result of low generation as compared to high demand," he told Bobie Ansah on Accra FM. Reacting to Vice-President Dr Bawumia's recent comment on former President Mahamas performance on the 'dumsor' crisis vis-a-vis President Akufo-Addo's performance on the COVID-19 crisis, the lawmaker reiterated that though there is a highly misplaced priority in the comparison, the effort by the Mahama administration in fighting the energy menace which the Kufour administration left behind, remains unmatched. Mr Mutawakilu added that Dr Bawumia had admitted about four years ago that Mr Mahama solved the power crisis when he, Dr Bawumia, then a vice-presidential candidate, made comments suggesting that Mr Mahama, as president, should be praised for solving 'dumsor' as it was his responsibility. "Currently, the country is experiencing a power crisis because there's no enough fuel to power the various power plants left behind by the Mahama-led administration such as Atuabo Gas, due to mismanagement by this government," he said. "With the water and electricity freebies promised by the President, the reality is in shambles as about 90 per cent of Ghanaians are not benefiting. If you talk to ECG, they tell you they are now configuring it. Didn't the President have consultation with them about a month ago when he made the promise? Mr Mutawakilu questioned. Source: Class News Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Whats it like running a restaurant during a pandemic? We reached out to 10 Portland chefs, restaurant and food cart owners to tell us how they were managing in the face of a global crisis. Since dining rooms were closed across Oregon by Gov. Kate Brown on March 17, some small business owners have found themselves adapting to a new reality of takeout and delivery. Others have quarantined at home. All gave honest and raw responses to how the virus had impacted them and their businesses. I lose hope sometimes, said Nongs Khao Man Gai owner Nong Poonsukwattan. Sometimes I cry and try not to think about it. I just have to try to be as much positive as possible. Its been pretty tough and stressful trying to sort of recreate a completely different version of our restaurant, which weve done a couple time since the virus hit, said Handsome Pizza owner Will Fain. Its ok to feel vulnerable, said Kim Jong Grillin owner Han Ly Hwang. Its ok to lose (it). I think its really ok that just to cry at whats going on, too. The video gives a sense of what a new normal could look like as Oregon begins to enter its Phase 1 plan for reopening, including temperature checks for employees at Nongs Khao Man Gai, plexiglass separating guests from cashiers at Hat Yai and lots of masks and gloves for restaurant workers throughout. We used to be a place where the whole point was to bring people together, and now were trying to keep them separated, said Fain, pointing to a table the restaurant uses as a blockade and contactless pickup station. Business models are shifting rapidly during the crisis. Bonnie Morales talks about how Kachka has made the transition from restaurant to grocery store. Along with Hwang, whose Kim Jong Grillin and Demarcos Sandwiches carts reopened at the end of April, Carlo Lamagna of Magna Kusina and Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon and Canard both started serving family-style meals for takeout after sending in their videos. Thanks to Poonsukwattana, Rucker, Morales, Hwang, Fain, Lamagna, Tiffany Love of Love Belizean, Alan Akwai of Hat Yai, Cathy Whims of Nostrana and Doug Adams and Jen Quist of Bullard for taking the time to tell us how things are going. -- Michael Russell, mrussell@oregonian.com, @tdmrussell Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Looks like you typed in the wrong url. To visit the SiliconIndia Home page click here To view the SiliconIndia blogs page click here What is SiliconIndia? SiliconIndia is one of the largest content and community networks for Indian professionals, entrepreneurs and students worldwide. Since 1997, we have inspired successes for Indian professionals through our thought provoking SiliconIndia career events and magazines. Now, through the addition of the online professional network, we combine the power of news, magazine and events, with an online network that can exclusively help you develop deep professional and social relationships with the SiliconIndia member community. Some of the member benefits are: Your own trusted network, discussion groups, Messages and the Lounge to interact with and expand your professional and social network. Write on what you are passionate about and publish to the entire internet using our professional Blogs. Special web seminars and career events on topics of interest exclusive to SiliconIndia network members. Oportunities to get personalized one on one advice from experienced professionals for career growth, entrepreneurship and higher education through our unique mentorship program. Mentors are invited from within the SiliconIndia network. The opportunity to contribute to our leading magazine, online news and events, to help enhance your professional profile in the growing SiliconIndia community. One worker at Moy Park's Dungannon site has died after contracting coronavirus. A programme of mass testing is needed across Northern Irelands poultry and meat industry sites following the death of a worker at a food processing plant, a union has said. Luciana Viviana da Silva (58), who worked at Moy Parks Dungannon site, died from coronavirus. Unite the Union has written to the First and Deputy First Ministers to demand testing for workers in the poultry and meatpacking sector. The union said urgent action is needed by Stormont after reports of clusters of infection at a growing number of sites. Unite said it was aware of a number of cases among workers at Linden Foods in Dungannon, as well as the death of Ms da Silva (58), originally from East Timor. Read More They have called for workers to be retained on full pay while one of the firms sites is shut down to allow the workforce and their families to be tested if necessary - and for the Health and Safety Executive (HSENI) to conduct physical inspections of meat processing sites to assess infection controls. A HSENI spokesperson said: "HSENI sympathises with the family and friends of the Moy Park employee who has tragically passed away. Discussions are currently ongoing with the employer to understand the circumstances. "HSENI is currently carrying out unannounced inspections to businesses across Northern Ireland. Priority is being given to sectors such as food processing companies and sites where repeated complaints have been received. "We can confirm that a recent unannounced inspection was carried out at a Moy Park meat processing plant. A few minor issues were found but the overall compliance with the PHA COVID-19 guidance was found to be of a high standard. This approach will continue." The spokesperson said employers have a legal obligation to provide a safe working environment for their staff and that if employees or unions have concerns they should contact HSENI mail@hseni.gov.uk or 0800 0320 121. Moy Park has been approached for comment. In a statement to the BBC, Linden said since agri-food workers had been approved for government testing, it had insisted that any staff showing symptoms to avail of the measure. To date, we have received both positive and negative Covid-19 results and continue to reinforce our rigorous health and safety Covid-19 protocols, a spokesperson said. We report all Covid-19 related absences to the designated government agency. Regional Secretary at Unite Jackie Pollock said Ms da Silva, who was also living in Dungannon, was a member of Unite. She was East Timors first death as a result of the virus and was also known as Anoy Soriano. It is right that we pay tribute to her memory and extend our condolences to her friends and family, Mr Pollock said. We need to see immediate action in light of this news and the emerging Covid-19 clusters which are emerging at poultry and meatpacking sites. Mr Pollock called for Stormont to protect against crises such as those seen in the poultry and meatpacking sector in the USA and Brazil. He added: The high-risk nature of the poultry and meatpacking sector has been widely recognised for some time and makes all the worse the abject failure to roll-out a comprehensive programme of testing for those working in this sector. The absence of extensive testing among all essential workers has been a key factor leading to this growing crisis, a crisis which is already spilling over into the local communities from which these workers come. Mr Pollock said Unite is concerned that workers are still contracting the virus. He claimed current guidance and enforcement measures are not going far enough to protect their health and safety. Fermanagh/South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew called for employers to ensure that workers are given full and adequate protection in the workplace. She said: All employers have responsibilities to ensure appropriate and stringent measures are in place to minimise the spread of Covid-19. I will be contacting the Minister for Economy, the Health and Safety Executive and both companies management to seek clarification following todays news, she said. We must ensure that we do all that we can to protect these workers in the time ahead. A 40-year-old German who has been living in the transit area of the Delhis Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport for the last 55 days turned down an offer go to his home country, and was recently served a Leave India Notice by authorities, according to officials familiar with the matter. The officials said that the man, Edgard Ziebat, has said he will leave India as soon as international flights resume after the national lockdown, and wants to stay at the airport until then. HT reported on Monday that Ziebat has been living in the airport since March 18, after he arrived in New Delhi from Hanoi as a transit passenger on his way to Istanbul. March 18 was the day India banned all flights to Turkey to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Four days later, India banned all international flights. Stranded, Ziebat could neither exit India, nor the airports transit area, because he does not have an Indian visa. Also Watch | Will PM-CMs decide on lockdown exit & the man living at airport for 2 months An airport official indicated that Ziebat, who has not applied for an Indian visa, was unlikely to get one even if he did because of a prior criminal record in Germany. A spokesman for the German embassy in New Delhi told HT on Monday that Ziebat was offered a passage back to Germany, but he declined the offer. A spokesperson for the embassy said it was aware of the situation and in contact with relevant authorities and the person in question. We have repeatedly offered him a passage back to Germany but he turned down our offers, the spokesperson added. A second official from the Delhi airport who asked not to be named said Ziebat was issued a Leave India Notice. He was asked to make arrangements for his departure from the country, said the officer, adding that the notice was served because an international passenger can normally stay in transit for just one day according to Indian laws. The officer said that Ziebat assured them he will leave as soon as possible, but is waiting for the flight operation to resume. They have found that he has visas of multiple countries, the officer added. Last week, Indian authorities had tried to accommodate Ziebat on a relief flight to Ankara, but Turkish authorities refused to accept him onboard since the flight was only for their citizens or permanent card holders. For the last 55 days, Ziebat has mostly spent his days reading magazines and newspapers, talking to his friends and family ones over phone, eating at some of the fast food outlets when they operational within the terminal, interacting with housekeeping and security staff, taking walks within the transit area, and using the airports washrooms. He has been provided with a recliner, mosquito net, toothpaste, food and other basic essentials by the authorities, a third airport official said. A kill of more than 1,000 fish in the Glenavy River in Co Antrim at the weekend has prompted calls for stronger deterrents for polluters. Members of the Glenavy Conservation and Angling Club raised the alarm with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency on Friday after seeing distressed fish gasping for air. Further inspection led to the initial discovery of 510 dead fish but this number later increased to well over 1,000. Club chairman Anthony McCormack said: "The source of the pollution was determined to be in an area close to the Gobranna Road, Glenavy. "Above the site of the fish kill there was no sign of fish in distress and indeed fish were witnessed rising in a pool above the start of the upper limits of the kill. "This in itself would appear to be a good indicator of where the incident stemmed from. The species of fish killed were brown trout, not stocked fish but wild trout. "This does not take in to account of the numbers of other smaller fish killed as a result - species such as stone loach, an important fish that helps to maintain the cleanliness of the river bed by keeping unwanted harmful invertebrates in check. "There were hundreds possibly thousands, of these little fish wiped out as well." Garden worker Robert Nilsson presents some chicken manure to fertilise lawns in the Stadsparken park in Lund, Sweden amid the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. The move is an attempt to dissuade residents from gathering there for the traditional celebrations to mark Walpurgis Night. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency/AFP) A Swedish town has turned to a traditional source to try to prevent coronavirus spreading during an annual festive event on Thursday - chicken manure. The university town of Lund, in the south of the country, began spreading chicken droppings in its central park to put off would-be revellers who would usually come on April 30 to celebrate Walpurgis Night. The occasion, marking the shift away from dark, chilly winter days towards brighter spring and summer days, is typically celebrated with picnics, parties and bonfires across the country, and regularly attracts thousands of students. The City park (Stadsparken) is closed in Lund, Sweden, on April 30, 2020, amid the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. - Garden workers fertilized lawns with chicken manure in an attempt to aviod residents from gathering there for the traditional celebrations to mark Walpurgis Night. (Photo by Johan NILSSON / TT News Agency / AFP) / Sweden OUT (Photo by JOHAN NILSSON/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images) "This is a park where usually 30,000 people gather, but with COVID-19 this is now unthinkable," the town's mayor, Philip Sandberg, told news agency Reuters. "We don't want Lund to become an epicentre for the spread of the disease." Sweden has taken a softer approach than many other countries to preventing the spread of the respiratory disease that the coronavirus can cause, asking rather than ordering people to maintain social distancing. In line with this policy, authorities have requested people avoid gathering for this year's Walpurgis Night, but have not banned festivities. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area 6 charts and maps that explain how coronavirus is spreading The authorities fear young people, especially students, will still want to enjoy a picnic and drink in the park. "Most students in Lund and other parts of Sweden respect the recommendations ... although even a small number of people still going to the park can become a big risk," Sandberg said. Walpurgis Night celebrations take place across Sweden every year (Getty images) "Lund could very well become an epicentre for the spread of the coronavirus on the last night in April," the chairman of the local council's environment committee, Gustav Lundblad, told the Sydsvenskan newspaper. Defending the decision to spread a ton of chicken manure in the park, he said: "We get the opportunity to fertilise the lawns, and at the same time it will stink and so it may not be so nice to sit and drink beer." Story continues The origins of Walpurgis Night date back to pagan celebrations of spring. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Earnhardt Toyota will cater to online car shoppers and owners in the Mesa area with No Bull Express and No Bull Flexible Service online services. Located in Mesa Earnhardt Toyota is a premier Toyota dealership in the Valley of the Sun that is ready to help car shoppers find their dream car from the comfort of home with No Bull Express online services. With available lease and finance incentives, qualified buyers can find a great deal on select Toyota models at Earnhardt Toyota. The Earnhardt Toyota No Bull Express program will help potential customers find a Toyota car, truck or crossover that meets their expectations online in this uncertain time. Search the Earnhardt Toyota online inventory from the comfort of home to find a Toyota model that is the right price, year, make, model, trim level and color. Drivers who have found a Toyota that meets their expectations can schedule an at-home test drive with No Bull Express and a member of the sales team will deliver the vehicle to the established address. When the test drive and finances are complete, a member of the Earnhardt Toyota sales team will deliver it to its new home. To help Earnhardt Toyota customers find a vehicle that fits their budget, Toyota regional lease and finance incentives are available at the dealership for buyers who qualify via Toyota Financial Services. Finance incentives available at Earnhardt Toyota include a 0% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for 60 months on select Toyota models that include the 2020 Toyota Camry, 2020 Toyota RAV4 and 2020 Toyota Tacoma. To help potential owners in this difficult time, the Toyota Customer Support Program will allow qualified buyers to defer the first payment for 90 days. Current incentives are available until June 1. Individuals who would like to learn more about No Bull Express online services and Toyota sales incentives available at Earnhardt Toyota can visit the dealership online at http://www.earnhardttoyota.com. Those individuals who prefer a personal interaction can contact a member of the dealership team directly by calling 480-807-9700. Ah here - this is too much, a corona casualty too far. Bad enough we must suffer the absence of creamy pints and truant barbers, but Bewley's closing its doors is surely the straw to break the proverbial camel's back. There are places in all our lives that mean so much more than the bricks and mortar of their construction, and that Oriental palace at 78 Grafton Street ranks close to the top of this pilgrim's bucket list. If all the hours I lingered beneath Harry Clarke's stained glass windows were tallied together, they would track the 'Ginger Man' chapters of my youthful wanderings through an indolent haze of cigarette smoke and caffeine chitter-chatter. Ironically, my mother was much to blame for my introduction to that magical house of slothful pleasure, taking me by the hand aged eight for my first cream bun in the cosy warmth of the red velvet bench by the fire. "It won't be long, Johnny, until you're a university student coming in here with your books and a girlfriend," she promised. And while those halcyon student days fell far short of the energetic rumpy-pumpy exhibited on 'Normal People', Bewley's did facilitate as a love shack to romance where many a lingering 3pm coffee slowly transformed into evening kisses in Neary's or The Bailey. But more than the buns, beans and bustle, Bewley's was the podium the world passed through from early morning commuters to afternoon college dossers. It was a stage to strut your stuff in anything from a seedy Navy pea coat to a spanking FX Kelly three-piece, a catwalk through the heart of the city open to anyone with an attitude and a swagger. Eccentricity was always a valued currency within those marbled halls, such as the old boarding school chum whose career as an artist was stuttering to start. In desperation, he took to inserting a two-foot holly branch into the neck of his Afghan coat and pretending a blithe ignorance of the astonished stares as he supped his coffee with tranquil nonchalance. "Art is all about making a statement," he confided. A few years later his canvases were selling for IR5,000 a splatter. Democracy ruled in that pride of Grafton Street, a cultural demilitarised zone where business, politics, art and academia squashed together in chaotic harmony. In all of our different ways, we were living proof of Noel Purcell's maxim that 'Dublin can be heaven with coffee at 11.' Thank you for the days, Bewley's, those endless days, those sacred days you gave me. Bit of German efficiency Early evening and the phone rings displaying a Berlin area code. Does Ms Merkel need my help with the EU budget, I wondered? "Herr Daly, here is Frau Schmidt, you stayed at my Airbnb apartment in 2016," came the voice of authority. "I am retiring and want to alert you to this fact." Four years later and I'm getting a personal notification - proof indeed why they're the home of 'vorsprung durch technik'. But she had more to impart. "I have never been to your Ireland, sir, but I want to tell you how much we Germans admire you. You worked hard to recover from the crisis of 2008, and now again your country fights so well against the virus. This is admirable." A staunch German frau praising Ireland's economic resilience and Covid-19 good sense? Truly, wonders never cease. Darth Vader virus tips Wear a mask; follow orders; remain socially distant; and stay clear of your offspring. An NHS worker says she was forced to scrub her face with bleach after applying the wrong shade of fake tan. Kelsey Chambers, 19, from Newcastle, used a 13 bottle of St Moriz Darker Than Dark, thought to be the world's deepest sahde of fake tan, when trying to cheer herself up during the UK lockdown. But the glamming up didn't quite go to plan for the NHS call handler, when she turned a deep shade of brown. After several rounds of trying to scrub the tan off, Kelsey finally succeeded after having a bath filled with a little bleach, according to The Sun. Most experts advise against people using diluted bleach without speaking to a dermatologist first. Kelsey Chambers, 19, from Newcastle, used a 13 bottle of St Moriz Darker Than Dark lotion when trying to cheer herself up during the UK's lockdown. Pictured after leaving it on for an hour Kelsey had bought the lotion from online-based Pretty Little Thing because she 'hates being pale' and believes a tan 'makes your outfits look better'. She kept the cream on for an hour and was astonished by the results. 'When I realised it was that dark I laughed for hours and was shocked. I was not leaving the house looking like that. But the glamming up didn't quite go to plan for the NHS call handler (pictured), as she was left shocked after turning a deep shade of brown I just had to keep washing it until it looked natural,' she told the publication. Kelsey took to Facebook to share the amusing results, posting a picture of her tanned-self alongside the caption: 'Use darker than dark, they said.' The post racked up nearly 4,000 shares and 5,000 comments, with social media users sympathising with Kelsey. But the shocking experience has failed to put Kelsey off using fake tan again. She explained: 'I still use the fake tan now, but don't use so much and it goes on much better.' We have the technology but not the scale needed to test the whole population. If ever there were a job for the federal government, the singularly most powerful actor we can rely upon, this was it. Instead, we are now suffering with piecemeal efforts at diagnostic testing, while more than 20,000 new infections and about 2,000 deaths occur every day. What would it have taken for Mr. Trump to put testing kits in every workplace and school? We will never know, because he didnt try. As Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, notes in an op-ed in The Post, smart reopening requires not orders from above but confidence from below. Without a massive expansion of testing, there can hardly be public confidence that public areas are safe. Jinja Resident District Commission Eric Sakwa has been interdicted to allow proper investigations into manslaughter charge against him. Mr Sakwa on Monday this week returned to office to resume his duties as RDC after securing bail. But on the same day, Hajj Yenus Kirunda, secretary to the Office of the President, wrote asking him to hand over office to the District Internal Security Officer (DISO), Lt Obadiah Musimenta. "You're required to hand over any government property in your possession in accordance with the laid down procedure and regulations," Hajj Kirunda wrote in a May 4 letter copied to the Minister for the Presidency, Head of Public Service, Secretary to Cabinet and the DISO. "Please hand over to the District Internal Security Officer (DISO) for Jinja who will in addition to his schedule or duties perform the responsibilities of the Jinja RDC until otherwise advised or decided accordingly," letter further reads. It is the second time in four years Mr Sakwa is being asked to hand over office to the Diso. In 2016, he was acrimoniously transferred to Kumi after clashing with his counterparts in Luuka and Butaleja districts over funds for organising the 54th Independence Day national celebrations. However, a reshuffle in 2018 saw Sakwa bounce back to Jinja as RDC. Half salary In interdiction, Mr Sakwa is barred from leaving the country without clearance from the Secretary, Office of the President, and will receive half pay - subject to a refund in case the interdiction is lifted and the charges are dropped later. Mr Sakwa, 38, was on April 24, arrested and charged with manslaughter over the death of businessman Charles Isanga. Prosecution alleges that between March 22 and April 17 this year, Mr Sakwa, along with Bumali Bazimbyewa, 19, a mechanic and Simba Mohammed, 31, a businessman, unlawfully caused the death of Isanga, a resident of Lwanda Village in Jinja. Mr Sakwa on Friday refused to comment on his interdiction, referring this reporter to his appointing authority. However, in an interview last week, he accused Jinja West Member of Parliament Moses Balyeku of having engineered his troubles with the law. "Balyeku is the one who engineered everything; of course, he denies but he is the one who does all that," he told Daily Monitor last weekend. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Uganda By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. MP Balyeku denied the allegations, saying: "I have no problem with Sakwa what necessitates me to go to that level of arresting him. I am not a police officer, minister in government or army officer but an ordinary backbencher in Parliament. I don't have those powers to make court sit at 4pm," he added. While Sakwa had a relatively calm moment in Kumi during his brief stint as deputy RDC, his two times in Jinja have been riddled with controversy, climaxing in accusations of abuse of power and torture of citizens. In February, Mr Sakwa led security forces in arrest of Opposition politicians, including FDC stalwart DR Kizza Besigye. He later blocked the Opposition leader from access Jinja, labelling him a "desert locust" who needed a permit to visit the eastern district because "he is over-visiting Jinja." There are several complaints from a section of the public that while enforcing health guidelines and curfew, Sakwa crossed his mandate by threatening persons at gunpoint and beating up others. Mr Balyeku said the interdicted RDC is battling skeletons in his closet. He took a swipe at the supporters who protested the arrest. "The same people who are praising Sakwa are the ones who chased him away from Jinja, humiliated him and took him to Kumi District," he said. Struggling to breathe, feeling 'like she was drowning', Dr Geraldine McGroarty found herself in a bed at the hospital where she worked, wondering if she would survive Covid-19. 'I just felt so awful, so weak and with a fever of 40c [104f] that wasn't being controlled,' she recalls of the day she was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in London last month. She had been working there as a locum doctor in A&E, as well as being a surgical registrar at King's College Hospital. 'Earlier that day at home, my heart rate had shot up threefold and I'd coughed up what looked like water,' says Geraldine, 30. Dr Geraldine McGroarty (pictured) was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in London last month The doctor (pictured in hospital bed) had been working at the hospital as a locum doctor in A&E and was also a surgical registrar at King's College Hospital 'I'd also had an uncomfortable tight feeling in my chest. I wanted to take deep breaths and couldn't. I was unable to speak much as I was so breathless.' Her story is just one being featured in the second part of a BBC2 documentary, Hospital Special: Fighting Covid-19, filmed at the Royal Free during the peak of London's coronavirus crisis. Following doctors, nurses and managers on the front line in the fight against the pandemic, the deeply emotional and in parts harrowing fly-on-the-wall documentary shows up close the battles patients faced in their fight for survival, and the huge pressures on staff and beds. In moving scenes, it shows doctors in tears as they break bad news by phone to relatives, and desperately-ill patients video-calling their loved ones, not knowing if it will be the last time they see them. It also shines a light on the frantic hunt for a successful treatment for the illness. Geraldine is shown gratefully accepting the chance to try a trial drug, while two other patients turn down the opportunity. She is the first person to be filmed talking about her experience of taking the drug for Covid-19 and, as viewers can witness, in her case the effects were near miraculous. Having feared she may die, within days of taking her first dose, she was well enough to go home. It was on April 5, after calling 111 from the London home she shares with her partner Guy, 32, who works in finance, that Geraldine was rushed by ambulance to the Royal Free with suspected Covid-19. There, she was given oxygen via a mask. A chest X-ray showed severe pneumonia affecting Geraldine's left lung and blood tests revealed high levels of inflammatory markers in her bloodstream, indicating her body was fighting a severe infection. 'I couldn't believe what was happening it was so scary,' she told Good Health. 'I was young and fit. I play in a rugby team and regularly run 10km. I'd run one the week before in a time of just 46 minutes. Now, here I was on a Covid-19 ward wondering if I was going to die or not. I felt so overwhelmed.' Geraldine had started feeling unwell six days before. At first she had dismissed her symptoms as a case of mild flu. 'I felt achy and very cold at work and went home to self-isolate,' she says. 'I didn't think it was Covid-19 because I'd worn PPE [personal protective equipment] when treating patients. Dr McGroarty is the first person to be filmed talking about her experience of taking the drug remdesivir for Covid-19 A chest X-ray showed that the doctor had severe pneumonia which was affecting her left lung and blood tests revealed high levels of inflammatory markers in her bloodstream 'But I could have come into contact with patients with Covid who had no symptoms who were in hospital for other reasons. Equally, I was travelling on the Underground and it was packed, so I could have picked it up there. 'I reasoned that if I did have it, it wouldn't be serious as I was young, fit and had no underlying illness.' She went to bed hoping to have recovered for her 30th birthday in two days' time. But on her birthday, she was so weak and breathless she struggled to speak during a video call with her parents. She says: 'I ended up going back to bed, feeling too ill to celebrate.' Four days later, her condition nose-dived. 'I had the sensation that I was drowning and couldn't get out of bed because I was so weak,' she says. 'We called 111 and the paramedics brought me into hospital. It was strange being a patient in the place where I worked and seeing familiar faces.' She was put straight on to oxygen and a Covid test came back positive. 'A CT scan showed I had virtually no normal lung tissue in my left lung,' says Geraldine. 'I became quite tearful. I was worried I was going to die. My biggest worry was that if my breathing didn't improve I'd have to be ventilated. Given what I'd been told by doctors about the survival rate for ventilation, I didn't want that to happen. I knew there was a real chance I might not make it.' The next morning Geraldine got a lucky break when she was asked if she'd like to take part in a trial for antiviral drug remdesivir, which has previously been used to treat patients with ebola. The antiviral drug remdesivir works by stopping viruses replicating and is being looked at for use against coronavirus. (Stock image) It works by stopping viruses replicating and is being looked at for use against coronavrius because it has been promising in laboratory tests. But results from trials have been mixed. Data announced on April 29 from one run by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the U.S. involving 1,063 Covid patients, found the drug speeded up recovery time by 31 per cent. However, results of a trial in China, published in The Lancet last month, found remdesivir had no benefits over a placebo in seriously ill patients. Now, larger trials are ongoing. At the Royal Free, 24 patients, including Geraldine, have been treated as part of a global study of 1,000 people. The results will be published at the end of the month. The trial compares the outcome of patients given the drug with those who received standard care of antibiotics, fluids and oxygen. Geraldine says: 'I didn't know much about the drug, but I wanted to give myself the best chance to fight Covid-19 and survive.' She started to feel improvements two days later and was able to come off oxygen. She says: 'It really did turn around quite quickly. I went home only three days after I was given the drug. I can't say for sure why I suddenly got better but I believe it was down to that.' Corona explainer: A guide to why the virus causes certain symptoms This week: Loss of taste and smell Studies suggest at least one in ten Covid-19 sufferers experiences a total loss of smell and taste often days before any other symptoms, such as cough or fever, develop. The effects can last months. Other viruses, like colds or flu, can also affect the ability to smell but usually by causing inflammation and congestion in the nasal passages. Covid-19 acts differently and seems to home in on the olfactory bulb, a bundle of nerves at the roof of the nose that transmits smell signals to the brain. Animal studies suggest there is a high concentration of cells in the olfactory bulb that carry the ACE2 receptors which Covid-19 latches on to. The virus attaches to these receptors, penetrates the cell and uses it to grow more virus particles. Taste suffers because about 80 per cent of it is due to smell. Taste buds, mostly located on the tongue, are not affected. Advertisement Dr Sanjay Bhagani, a consultant physician in infectious diseases at the Royal Free Hospital, who has previously treated patients with ebola and some of the first Covid-19 patients, was amazed at how well Geraldine responded to the experimental treatment. He says: 'It was a really pleasant surprise, I wasn't expecting it. From the way she presented including her X-rays, CT scans and blood tests, I thought it would take days before she'd improve, but she did have youth and fitness on her side. 'Anecdotally, we have found that patients who get the drug in the first few days in hospital do very well but those patients who are sicker and need ventilators in intensive care don't do as well. 'With Covid-19, most patients get better in about seven days, but a small number don't and if we can catch that group at this stage before they need intensive care, the drug can be very helpful.' Dr Bhagani describes the last few weeks as the hardest in his career. He adds: 'There were times on ward rounds where I'd come across so many sick people and just feel there was nothing else I could do for them, which as a doctor is the worst feeling.' However, he says doctors have learnt much in the past few weeks. He adds: 'Although the major manifestation of Covid-19 is in the lungs, it also affects the kidneys, heart and blood-clotting system, making clots more likely, so if we are going to tackle it we need to stop replication of the virus and turn off the inflammation caused by the immune system.' Having been off work for two weeks, Geraldine is back part-time. She still suffers from fatigue and gets out of breath quickly. 'It will probably take months to fully recover from this,' she says. 'Don't underestimate Covid-19 or overestimate how well your body will fight it off.' Hospital Special: Fighting Covid-19 is on BBC2 tonight at 9pm. analysis After months of exchanging barbs in public rallies and on Twitter, rivals in the ruling Jubilee Party christened Kieleweke, who are aligned to President Uhuru Kenyatta, and Tangatanga, leaning to deputy William Ruto, were bound to flex muscles to know who has the numbers. The first shot came with the impeachment of former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu, who is aligned to the DP's camp. On the D-Day, both camps were bragging to have the numbers within Jubilee stable. But it turned out the side leaning to the president had an extra hidden card in a deal with the opposition, thanks to the "handshake". Come the hour of reckoning and the besieged governor didn't know what hit him, as he found himself under the bus. The next contest came last week when the president's side finally effected changes in the Jubilee leadership against spirited opposition from the DP's camp. When names in the new line-up of the party's management committee were handed to the Registrar of Political Parties three weeks ago, the DP mobilised his troops to petition the registrar not to effect the changes which he termed "fraudulent". Later he tweeted that 146 Jubilee MPs from both Houses (National Assembly and Senate), or about 70 per cent of the total in the party ranks, had sent objections to the registrar. NUMBERS GAME Buoyed by the temporary victory, Jubilee Deputy Secretary-General and Ruto lead spear-carrier, Soy MP Caleb Kositany, boasted his side has the majority and will be proceeding to the next move: to unilaterally convene parliamentary group meeting and "takeover the party". Apparently, the president's men aren't taking it lying down. In a conversation with the Sunday Nation on Wednesday, the party's vice-chairman - David Murathe - challenged the DP's side to "go ahead and takeover the party if they can", but said without elaborating that "soon they will be hearing from us and it will be a thunderstorm!" At the same time, Mr Murathe disputed the figure of 146 MPs the DP claimed had sent objections to the Registrar of Political Parties, which he termed "the work of forgery". He said: "People are known by names. The DP should have published names and signatures so that we actually know who is with us and who is against us". Who is fooling who? Political scientist and university don Amukowa Angangwe says that with each side likely to "manufacture" its own figures and tout them as gospel truth, the best and reliable point of reference is the voter register, prevailing roll-call of MPs and proven voter patterns and trends. In that instance, he says, while it would be fair to each of the Jubilee rivals to say they are neck-to-neck on numbers in both Houses of parliament, in terms of numbers on the ground, the president's side is head and shoulders ahead of their rivals going by the 2017 and 2013 voter register and known voting patterns. *** *** Let's first look at the roll-call in parliament. Of the two Houses, the National Assembly -- or the senior of the two as it keeps reminding the other -- is best indicator of who has what strength. Jubilee, the offshoot of the president's TNA, Ruto's URP and 11 other small parties have combined total strength of 171 MPs. ODM follows with 76 MPs, Kalonzo Musyoka's Wiper 23 MPs, and Musalia Mudavadi's ANC 14 MPs. Moses Wetang'ula's Ford Kenya has 12, Gideon Moi's Kanu 10, while 14 MPs came in as independents. So if one is equally generous to the protagonists, Kieleweke and Tangatanga, both are ahead of the pack with 85 MPs each. The half/half statistic is given credence by the 2013 tally, where TNA and URP were listed as separate entities in the parliamentary tally. TNA chalked up 71 MPs and URP 60. The difference from the total of 171 in the 2017 tally is explained by coming in of the 11 small parties and inroads combined Jubilee made in the opposition zones in the last election. *** *** But associates of the DP are quick to dispute the 50/50 strength in the National Assembly on claims that the former URP has significantly penetrated the formerly TNA zones, more so the Mount Kenya region. But Mr Murathe, Uhuru's ally, dismisses that as "wishful thinking". He says that having a handful of MPs from Mount Kenya region follow the DP wherever he goes on weekends, or appending signatures where he tells them to, is by no means to say he has penetrated the region. Again, he says, it is fair to drop names and not hide behind generalisations. In Kiambu, only Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung'wa is with the DP, says Mr Murathe. "In Murang'a, it is only Kiharu's Ndindi Nyoro and Kigumo's Alice Wahome on his tow. And in Nyeri, there is only Mathira's Rigathi Gachagua, and in Nyandarua and Kirinyaga, only the woman reps, Faith Gitau and Purity Ngirichi, respectively, are with him. That is only seven out of 38 MPs in Central Kenya." The president's camp has also been quick to point out that given the short-shelf life of elected leaders in Mount Kenya, it would be pointless for the DP to gauge his support in the area on a number of MPs he has under wraps, as none may be re-elected in 2022. Of the eight governors and eight senators elected in Mount Kenya in 2013, only two governors and a senator made it back in 2017. And of the 33 MPs elected in 2013 in central Kenya, only seven made it back in 2017. VOTER REGISTER In Kirinyaga, all four MPs were sent packing, while in Murang'a, with seven MPs, Nyeri with six and Nyandarua five, only a single MP came back in each of the counties, while in Kiambu, only four of the 11 MPs made a come back. Only two of the five Woman reps in the former central province were returned, while in Nyeri, all MCAs were sent packing and the same fate for upwards of 70 per cent MCAs in the other four counties. While the president and his deputy tallies could be neck-to-neck and too close to call in parliament, the president's backyards are far ahead in terms of registered voters, going by both 2017 and 2013 IEBC registers. For instance, Uhuru's Kiambu backyard had 1.18 million registered voters in 2017, which is more than the 1.17 million registered in Ruto's three topmost strongholds of Uasin Gishu (450,055), Kericho (375,668) and Nandi (346,007). While Kiambu, with more votes, gave Uhuru 11 MPs, Ruto's three best strongholds with lesser voters gave him 18 MPs. It precisely explains why Uhuru/Ruto MPs tallies could be close, in marked contrast to the huge difference in voter numbers in their respective backyards. That is best illustrated in the 2013 voter register, where Uhuru and Ruto MPs were separately voted in as TNA or URP. For instance, six URP constituencies -- Mandera East, Mandera South, Saku, Fafi, Banissa, and Wajir East -- had combined total of about 145,000 registered voters, less than those in each of Uhuru's two lead constituencies, Ruiru with over 159, 000 voters and Thika Town with over 147,000 voters. VOTING BLOCS Even in Ruto's Rift Valley backyard, TNA constituencies in Nakuru County alone registered over 200,000 voters than Ruto's Uasin Gishu backyard. In 2017, Uhuru's strongholds of Mount Kenya, Laikipia/Nakuru diaspora, and half Nairobi registered 6.33 million voters, compared to 1.91 million in Ruto's lead strongholds in north Rift (Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo-Marakwet, and Nandi), and central/south Rift (Baringo, Kericho and Bomet). Even were one to be over generous to Ruto and give him all the votes registered in Jubilee zones in 2017, he would still be behind Uhuru tally by over two million votes. An interesting arithmetic for Jubilee rivals is what happens in parliament in light of new "alliances" and voting blocs as happened in the case of Waititu's impeachment motion when Uhuru forces ganged up with opposition ODM to "fix" Ruto. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Kenya Governance By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Let's have a look at the numbers: Uhuru's share of 85 MPs added to ODMs 75 -- that is minus Malindi ODM's Aisha Jumwa, who long defected to Ruto camp -- would make a bloc of 160. If you throw in Kanu's 12, and half of the independents (7), that shores the number to 179. And if Kalonzo were to be predictable and stay with Uhuru/Raila line-up, that would make a solid bloc of 202 MPs. The number would be way above the 175 needed to constitute simple majority in the National Assembly, and only 31 MPs short of the 233 required to make two-thirds majority. On the other hand, Ruto's 85, his half share of seven independents, and Musalia's 14 would give him a bloc of 106. If Wetangula's 12 MPs were to come on board, he would chalk up a 118 member voting machine -- far behind the 202 in the rival camp. STRONGHOLDS A combined Uhuru/Raila alliance would have similar sweeping impact on the ground. From the 2017 voter register, Raila/ODM strongholds of Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori, Busia, Kisii, Nyamira, half Kakamega, and half Nairobi registered over 4.4 million votes. Added to the about 6.3 million in Uhuru strongholds would give the bloc over 10.7 million votes, which is comfortably over 50 per cent of the total 19.6 million national tally. That would explain why President Kenyatta and his "handshake" partner Raila are upbeat they can successfully steer their baby, the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), past a referendum vote. But as far as 2022 presidential poll is concerned, three factors will come into play. First is what government structure BBI and subsequent referendum come up with, and what rival formations face off in the ballot. Last, but important, is the role President Kenyatta's plays in post 2022 dispensation and which, to a great extent, will determine who runs away with the ultimate prize in the presidential ballot. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11 By Yusif Aghayev- - Trend: Azerbaijani PASHA Insurance has launched a new campaign as part of comprehensive motor insurance (CASCO), intended for medical staff, Trend reports citing the companys press service. Head of Marketing and PR department at PASHA Insurance Nurana Teymurova said that during the current period of struggle against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and the protection of public health, the main participants and heroes of this struggle are health workers. PASHA Insurance, praising the hard work of domestic medical staff in the fight against the pandemic, has developed a new campaign aimed at improving their social situation, she added. As part of this campaign, healthcare providers purchasing a comprehensive insurance package from PASHA Insurance will receive a discount of 50 percent from the calculated insurance premium. Health workers who want to take advantage of the campaign will be able to take advantage of the discount by submitting any documents confirming their professional affiliation during application. To obtain an insurance certificate within this campaign, as well as additional information about shares, interested parties can contact customer support by dialing *7000. To execute an insurance contract, it is enough to send information about the brand and model of the car, production date, approximate market value, contact numbers, as well as a copy of the cars ID and registration certificate in the form of a message to the official page of the insurance company on Facebook. PASHA Insurance OJSC is a recognized leader in the non-life insurance market in Azerbaijan. It provides insurance services for 36 voluntary and compulsory types of insurance to 300,000 corporate and individual clients. The company collected insurance premiums in the amount of 150.1 million manat ($88.2 million) and paid insurance claims in the amount of 52.7 million manat ($31 million) in 2019, ranking second among domestic insurers. Presently, 22 insurance companies and one reinsurance company operate in Azerbaijan. (1 USD = 1.7 manat on May 11) The European Union (EU) on Friday donated a number of sanitation materials, including Veronica buckets, touch-free automated handwashing stations and reusable face masks to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA). The donation, according to the EU Ambassador to Ghana, Diana Acconcia, was their "tangible contribution to the fight against Covid-19. It also forms part of activities to mark this years EU Day. At a brief ceremony held at the forecourt of the AMA premises, Ambassador Acconcia stated, With this donation, we want to prioritize the EU solidarity between the different countries of Europe, and countries outside Europe like Ghana. She gave an assurance that the gesture, though small, was part of a wider effort from the EU to support Ghana in this difficult moment. We are working with government and other partners to put together an effective response. We are looking at projects that are implemented all around Ghana to include initiatives to support communities during the Covid-19 crisis to help in the health sector, to assist the poor and to support the most vulnerable communities, she disclosed. She also announced that more activities would be rolled out in other regions in the coming weeks. Receiving the items, the Mayor of Accra, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, expressed his gratitude to the EU for its kind gesture and gave an assurance that the items would be distributed fairly between the various beneficiaries. He hinted that the items would be distributed to the Mamprobi and Kaneshie polyclinics as well as the Usher Clinic, all in Accra, so that persons who patronized those health facilities would have access to touch-free automated handwashing systems. Besides, he assured the EU of Ghanas cooperation in projects. The handwashing machines are produced locally, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Plastic Punch, a non-governmental organization that focuses on ridding beaches of plastic and other forms of waste. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video He made the difficult decision to isolate himself separately from his sons after the coronavirus pandemic began out of fear he could have passed the virus on to them from the hundreds of people he met in the weeks beforehand. Diplo serenaded the mothers of his children Sunday in a sweet Mother's Day post which also revealed that he'd welcomed a third son in march with the model Jevon King, 30. The 41-year-old music producers posted a photo of Jevon cradling their son Pace, along with photos of himself as a child with his mother and his sons Lockett and Lazer with Kathryn Lockhart. Making it official: Diplo, 41, confirmed that he had a son with the model Jevon King, 30, in a sweet Mother's Day tribute posted Sunday to Instagram Diplo's post showed King in a white robe as she gave Pace a cute smooth on the lips while holding him. The Trinidadian beauty queen welcomed her son back on March 20, though it wasn't confirmed at the time that Diplo was the father. 'Thanks for giving me life and helping me create it the three strongest mothers in the world.. I'm still a work in progress but u have given three perfect beautiful boys. I love you all til the moon and back,' he captioned his post. The Major Lazer mastermind also included a photo of himself with his mother Barbara Jean and one of Kathryn clasping Lockett, 10, and Lazer, six. New love: Diplo's son Pace was born on March 20; pictured in February All the mothers: The Major Lazer mastermind also included a photo of himself with his mother Barbara Jean and one of Kathryn clasping Lockett, 10, and Lazer, six 'Thanks for giving me life and helping me create it the three strongest mothers in the world.. I'm still a work in progress but u have given three perfect beautiful boys. I love you all til the moon and back,' he captioned his post Jevon shared her own Mother's Day posts, including another shot of her in the robe as she peacefully held her son. 'n the midst of all this chaos youve been my peace............,' she wrote, adding the hashtags '#myfirstmothersday,' '#happymothersday,' '#myson,' '#myheartbeat' and '#mylifeline.' Another closeup photo showed Pace in all his adorable chubby-cheeked glory. 'To my son, As your mother I promise to, Love you, protect you, guide you, teach you, inspire you, provide for you and most importantly pray for you. Love, Your Mom,' she wrote. Mother and child reunion: Jevon shared her own Mother's Day posts, including another shot of her in the robe as she peacefully held her son Pace Too cute! Another closeup photo showed Pace in all his adorable chubby-cheeked glory Diplo (real name: Thomas Wesley Pentz) revealed his decision to quarantine separately from his children in a moving post from March with a video of himself interacting with Lockett and Lazer through a pane of glass. Although he's been separated from family, the electronic music producer has been keeping busy with a series of Zoom live streams where he DJ's the same set he might do in a club for viewers. The only requirement is that they keep their cameras on and maybe dance for the rest of his fans. Limited contact: Diplo revealed in March that he was isolating separately from his children because he was afraid to pass the coronavirus on to them or their grandmother 'FOMO doesn't exist anymore,' Diplo told the New York Times. 'Im having the best time ever in my live streams. I was doing 300 shows a year before this. I hated going to dinners with the promoters I didnt like, I hated all the travel to get there. 'I love the shows, but everything else is kind of awful: paying for flights, paying for a jet, thats stuff we had to do, and I hated it. I kind of hate my house now, but other than that, Ive learned to really respect all this, you know, time, all the time we have here.' GlobalFoundries on Monday confirmed it is among the semiconductor manufacturers talking with the Trump administration about developing a new wave of leading-edge factories in the United States as the federal government looks at ways to reduce its dependence on Asian sources. The talks were first reported Monday in The Wall Street Journal. GlobalFoundries operates a chip fabrication plant in Malta, as well as other domestic factories, one in northern Vermont and the other in Dutchess County that it is selling to ON Semiconductor. The Malta plant employs 3,000 people. "GlobalFoundries is involved in discussions with the U.S. government on how to ensure technological leadership through U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing," spokesperson Erica McGill told the Times Union in an email. "As an active member of the Semiconductor Industry Association, we have historically partnered with key industry influencers to help drive awareness around Government policies and incentives that encourage investment in technology infrastructure and US-based semiconductor manufacturing." The Trump administration is talking with other semiconductor manufacturers, including Intel Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., about building new U.S. plants. TSMC, like GlobalFoundries, is a foundry that produces chips under contract to other companies. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Intel, which produces its own chips, had told U.S. Defense Department officials it was ready to build a commercial foundry "in partnership with the Pentagon." Would the Capital Region be in the running for new chip factories? "I'm very hopeful we're going to be looked at," said Dennis Brobston, president of the Saratoga Economic Development Corp., which played a central role in attracting GlobalFoundries to Malta, where it built a $15 billion factory. Andrew Kennedy, president and CEO of the Albany-based Center for Economic Growth, said that GlobalFoundries has been successful with its Malta site and that the region also has drawn companies including CREE, which is building a plant in Utica, IBM, and Applied Materials, both conducting research at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany. "This region is ready," Kennedy said. "We have the sites. We have the workforce." Tim Dunn, a technology analyst at Dunn Strategy Group in Malta, echoed Kennedy's observations. "We're really well-positioned in New York," he said. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Still, there's the issue of money. GlobalFoundries received public subsidies topping $1 billion to come here, while CREE was lured with a $500 million grant. But with the COVID-19 pandemic and an economy that has pretty much ground to a halt, New York is looking at a $13 billion state budget gap. Any support would likely have to come from the federal government. The administration is committed to ensuring continued U.S. technological leadership, a senior federal official told the Journal. The U.S. government continues to coordinate with state, local and private-sector partners as well as our allies and partners abroad, to collaborate on research and development, manufacturing, supply-chain management, and workforce development opportunities. And with international travel and supply chains likely to be disrupted for the foreseeable future, making the U.S. semiconductor industry more self-sufficient has its appeal. "Companies are looking at options," said Kennedy. "They've seen large-scale disruption over the past 60 days." (Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. asserts that restarting its operations in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic doesnt make the company an outlier, nor is it going against the grain. But its chief executive officers handling of the health crisis has been anything but ordinary. Tesla sued the county blocking its car plant from reopening, with Elon Musk calling the local health officer -- a former infectious diseases professor with a masters degree in public health -- unelected & ignorant. He threatened to move Teslas headquarters out of California, warning that all its manufacturing may leave the state, too. The weekend flare-up was without precedent in the three months since the first confirmed Covid-19 death in the U.S. -- a resident of Santa Clara County, home to Teslas headquarters and neighbor to its factory in Fremont, California. As the nations death toll approaches 80,000, Musk has emerged as arguably the loudest voice in corporate America advocating for the economy to reopen. Im not messing around, the 48-year-old billionaire tweeted after Tesla filed its lawsuit against Alameda County. Absurd & medically irrational behavior in violation of constitutional civil liberties, moreover by *unelected* county officials with no accountability, needs to stop. Tesla shares fell 2.7% as of 7:20 a.m. Monday in New York, before the start of regular trading. The stock has soared 96% this year. Auto Restart Tesla does have a case to make for being unexceptional within the auto industry. Ford Motor Co., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Toyota Motor Corp. and others also have set dates for restarting their operations, only to then call off those plans due to shutdown orders. Daimler AG has reopened a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama, as has its German peer BMW AG in South Carolina. Toyota and Honda Motor Co. will resume work at U.S. factories this week, followed by General Motors Co., Ford and Fiat Chrysler on May 18. But no carmaker other than Tesla has publicly attacked local health officials or threatened states over shelter-in-place measures that virtually wiped out North American vehicle production for more than a month. Story continues Read more: What you need to know about the U.S. auto industrys restart During GMs first-quarter earnings call on May 6, CEO Mary Barra said the automaker was having very constructive conversations with government officials. Were in a good position as we talk to country leaders and state leaders, she said. Well continue to have dialogue with our unions, as well as with the government leaders, to do the right thing. Bay Area Exception Teslas handling of the health crisis also has been unique among companies in the San Francisco Bay area. Ajay Shah, the CEO of Smart Global Holdings Inc., last month credited Alameda for allowing the manufacturer of memory modules to continue operating. Weve had discussions with the Alameda County health authorities and show them exactly what were doing and theyve been satisfied with it, Shah said on an April 7 earnings call. Earlier: Teslas drive to stay open irked officials who saw health risk Faceboook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose staff can more easily work from home than Musks manufacturing employees, has voiced his concern about lifting stay-home measures too soon. While there are massive societal costs from the current shelter in place restrictions, I worry that reopening certain places too quickly before infection rates have been reduced to very minimal levels will almost guarantee future outbreaks and worse longer-term health and economic outcomes, Zuckerberg said during Facebooks April 29 earnings call. Back to Work On the same day, Musk called shutdown orders fascist and unconstitutional, likening them to forcible imprisonment and saying they were breaking peoples freedoms in ways that are horrible and wrong. His comments were embraced by some Silicon Valley venture capitalists and political conservatives. Tesla released a 38-page Return to Work Playbook late Saturday laying out the safety protocols it will adopt at all of its facilities. While the company will disinfect work areas, enforce social-distancing precautions and provide personal-protective equipment, among other measures, the document doesnt include any plans to test workers other than by checking their temperatures. Alameda officials have said more testing needs to come online and that Covid-19 case counts need to drop before theyll feel comfortable moving to the next phase of reopening. Tesla has signaled it may disregard Alamedas order, saying in a blog post Saturday that it had started the process of resuming operations. Several Fremont workers shared text messages with Bloomberg News in which supervisors were calling them back to the factory. Our employees are excited to get back to work, and were doing so with their health and safety in mind, the company said. (Updates with pre-market trading in the fifth paragraph.) For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Sir Richard Branson is selling a 400m stake in his space exploration business to prop up the rest of his ailing empire. The billionaire, who has already been slammed for seeking taxpayer support to save struggling airline Virgin Atlantic, plans to sell 25m shares or 12 per cent of New York-listed Virgin Galactic. His company Virgin Group said it would use the proceeds 'to support its portfolio of global leisure, holiday and travel businesses that have been affected by the unprecedented impact of Covid-19'. The final frontier: Sir Richard Branson has already been slammed for seeking taxpayer support to save struggling airline Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, in which Branson owns a 51 per cent stake, is fighting for survival after the coronavirus pandemic caused it to cancel thousands of flights. It has already cut 3,150 jobs and announced it will end its presence at Gatwick Airport, while its sister airline Virgin Australia has gone bust. Branson was hoping to secure a 500m government-backed loan for Virgin Atlantic and had even offered to put his luxury Caribbean retreat Necker Island up as security against the loan. Though talks with the Government are ongoing, the chance of securing a bailout seemed slim after Chancellor Rishi Sunak wrote to airlines and airports in March saying the taxpayer would only step in 'as a last resort'. A rescue package for the airline would have been politically toxic given its super-wealthy backer has not paid personal tax in the UK for 14 years after moving to the British Virgin Islands - a well-known tax haven. Other potential investors include private equity firms Greybull Capital, which came under scrutiny for overseeing the collapse of troubled airline Monarch and British Steel, and Apollo Global Management. Critics had called for Branson, who is estimated to be worth around 4 billion, to put in some of his own money. His Virgin Group empire owns stakes in a slew of companies, from Virgin Wines and Virgin Money to social media giants such as Twitter and Pinterest. Yesterday's announcement that it would offload part of its stake in Virgin Galactic indicated Branson had succumbed to the pressure. But it will mean that the entrepreneur loses his controlling stake in the space exploration company, with his ownership falling below 43 per cent. Virgin Galactic was founded by Branson in 2004 and had initially hoped to launch tourist flights into space by 2009. But the mission has been beset by a series of delays, not least the death of copilot Michael Alsbury during a disastrous test flight of the VSS Enterprise craft in 2014. Tickets for the space flights first went on sale in 2004 for $200,000 each and the price was later raised to $250,000 (200,000). Branson owns 115m shares in Virgin Galactic, or 55 per cent, worth around 1.9 billion before he announced his intention to sell. Shares slid 3.7 per cent yesterday. Virgin Atlantic, which is 49 per cent owned by America's Delta Air Lines, has lined up insolvency experts Alvarez & Marsal in case rescue talks fall through. The airline believes it needs 750m of funding, which could be met with a mixture of private investment and cash raised by Virgin Group. On Monday (11 May), Muhammad Iqbal Mohamed Rafe was jailed nine months after he pleaded guilty to two counts of house trespass with the intent to commit theft and one count of theft. (PHOTO: Getty Images) SINGAPORE A thief with a fetishistic disorder entered a HDB flat and managed to sneak away with 10 bras from a bedroom that the homeowner was sleeping in. Some four months later, Muhammad Iqbal Mohamed Rafe entered another flat after seeing a bra on a clothes rack inside it. This time, Iqbal was caught when one of the units residents returned. On Monday (11 May), the 34-year-old was jailed nine months after he pleaded guilty to two counts of house trespass with the intent to commit theft and one count of theft. Another four charges of theft were taken into consideration for his sentencing. On 18 September last year, Iqbal left his home for work and rode past a HDB block along Yishun Road. A day before he had seen some undergarments hanging inside one of the blocks units but had resisted the urge to take them. This time around, he noticed that the padlock on the flats front gate was not secured. Iqbal entered the two-storey maisonette unit and began checking rooms for the underwear he had seen earlier. He entered the master bedroom on the second floor and took 10 bras from a clothes rack before he noticed a woman sleeping inside room. Iqbal then took also took a wallet, two savings account books, $100 in cash, and a haversack to hold the stolen bras from the flat before leaving. The stolen bras were worth $200 in total. As he was exiting the flat, Iqbal tripped and accidentally touched the padlock at the units gate. Worried that he had left fingerprints, he also stole the padlock. On his e-scooter, Iqbal returned home and inspected the bras, intending to use them for masturbation. However, he realised that he was late for work and left home again. In the morning of 29 January, Iqbal entered another Yishun flat after spotting a bra hanging from a rack inside it. The sight of the undergarment had aroused him sexually and he wanted to touch it. Iqbal then entered the unit and headed straight for the bra and two sets of panties. Story continues However, while caressing the undergarments; he heard a noise indicating someone returning back home, and thus he panicked and entered the toilet, locking himself, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Lim told the court. While there, Iqbal placed the underwear in the toilet basin. A male resident of the flat had returned to the flat, spotted Iqbal inside the kitchen and shouted at him, prompting the latter to hide in the toilet. When Iqbal finally exited the toilet, he lied to the male residents that one of the women in the flat had given him permission to use the toilet. The male resident checked with the two women at home, but both had been asleep in their respective rooms and claimed that they had no idea Iqbal was in the unit. Iqbal was allowed to leave after he provided his particulars to the man. One of the women then found the bra and panties in the toilet basin and a police report was lodged. Iqbal was arrested later that day. A medical report from the Institute of Mental Health diagnosed Iqbal with a fetishistic disorder in which he experienced recurrent sexual arousal from the use of womens undergarments. This manifested in his commission of the offences. For housebreaking with the intention to commit theft, Iqbal could have been jailed up to seven years. For committing theft in a house, he could have been jailed up to seven years and fined. Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore More Singapore stories: Jailed: Man who slashed jogger, attacked cyclist, then disrupted religious class at mosque Zam Zam boss and friend jailed for conspiring to slash rival restaurant's supervisor COVID-19: Man, 64, charged for leaving flat 5 times while on SHN SAN DIEGO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Vanamor Inc., a private San Diego-based real estate investor and operator, has announced the acquisition of Blanton Commons in Beaverton, Oregon. Vanamor Acquires 32-Unit Plus a Historic Single-Family Residence: Blanton Commons in Beaverton, Oregon Blanton Commons is a 32-unit apartment community built in 2018 as well as a historic single-family home commonly known in the community as M.E. Blanton House. The property is located in one of Portland's most sought-after communities and is situated between Nike's world headquarters to the east and Intel's Aloha campus to the west. The immediate location offers residents access to major employment centers and adjacent to the TriMet bus line which connects to both the WES commuter rail and MAX light rail. Other nearby high-tech companies include Airbnb, Nvidia, Salesforce, and more. Vanamor plans to enhance the unit interiors with light interior upgrades and significantly expand the property through the addition of common area amenities. According to Bobby Larsen, Vanamor's Principal and Chief Executive Officer, "Having acquired over 2,300 units in the Portland MSA through other joint ventures, we are excited to bring the dynamic growth market to Vanamor's portfolio. As we have already seen through the resiliency of the property during the pandemic, Blanton Commons is not only insulated from downward pressures but also well-positioned to capitalize on future growth trends." Blanton Commons marks Vanamor's first acquisition in the Portland market. The Company is targeting further acquisitions in Oregon, Washington, Arizona, California, Texas, Florida, Colorado, and Nevada. The Company focuses on long-term, moderately leveraged opportunities that deliver outsized market returns and is actively looking to partner with new investors. Vanamor (www.vanamor.com) is a privately owned real estate owner and operator investing in multi-family assets for private investors. The Company is led by leaders in the industry that have collectively acquired over 31,000 units representing a total value of over $6 billion throughout their careers. Vanamor is vertically integrated with in-house expertise in acquisitions and underwriting as well as asset, construction and investment management. Contact: Bobby Larsen, Vanamor (949) 697-1108 [email protected] Related Images blanton-commons-apartments.jpg Blanton Commons Apartments Vanamor Acquires 32-Unit Plus a Historic Single-Family Residence: Blanton Commons in Beaverton, Oregon Related Links Vanamor SOURCE Vanamor Related Links http://www.vanamor.com The College Board recently announced that J.W. Nixon High School senior Emily Lujano was one of over 4,000 students to receive a $1,000 scholarship for college. Lujano began her search and plans for scholarships in October and made sure to complete the guidelines and steps for completion to apply and be entered for an opportunity to win a College Board scholarship. She is now part of the first ever class of the Complete Your Journey scholarship group through the College Board. The scholarship opportunity was made possible through the completion of six actions that are required by those entering the process. Students must complete the build, practice, improve, strengthen, complete and apply tasks to have a chance to be selected as part of the 2020 scholarship class. Im grateful that I was afforded this opportunity to receive a college scholarship all while completing steps that helped me get one step closer to completing my high school requirements and be ready for college. It was easy to be entered into the process simply by registering and completing my SAT exam, Lujano said. READ MORE: Laredo Alexander students place at UIL State Theatrical Design Contest Nixon High School scholarship counselor Monica Jackson works with all seniors to help them obtain grants and scholarships for higher education. Emily is a motivated and well-rounded student looking for opportunities to further her academic success. She will definitely succeed as a future educator, for she has patience and passion for helping others, Jackson said. Its one of our top priorities to ensure our students are exposed to all higher education opportunities. The collaboration between our school district and College Board continues to promote and support the advancement of our students. The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Each year, the College Board helps students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success including the SAT and the Advanced Placement Program. Lujano will be attending Texas A&M International University to pursue a degree in education and will be using her scholarship funds to purchase books and supplies for her fall college courses. New Jersey authorities announced on Friday that they have arrested a total of 18 people who were allegedly part of a five-car caravan whose members shot and wounded a state trooper who was investigating a home invasion. Investigators on Friday announced the arrests, though an arrest warrant has been issued for one suspect who remains at large. The suspects are linked to the April 25 shooting of Detective Richard Hershey of the New Jersey State Police. Three of those arrested are alleged to have shot Hershey at a mobile home in Pittsgrove Township at around 10.40pm on April 25. A total of 18 people have been arrested and one suspect remains at large in the investigation of the April 25 shooting of Detective Richard Hershey, 29, of the New Jersey State Police Last Tuesday, authorities announced the arrest of three men alleged to have shot at Hershey. They were identified as Najzeir 'Naz' Hutchings (left), 21, of Bridgeton, NJ; Kareen 'Kai' Warner Jr (center), 19, of Bridgeton, NJ; Tremaine M. Hadden (right), 27, of Bridgeton, NJ A fourth defendant, Colby Opperman, 18, of Bridgeton, was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon Hershey was called to the area to investigate a home invasion that took place earlier in the day. When several people drove up to the mobile home in Harding Woods Mobile Home Park, Hershey identified himself as a law enforcement official. Moments later, he was shot in the leg and seriously wounded, according to authorities. Hershey returned fire and wounded one of the suspects in the leg. Hershey, 29, underwent surgery at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. He was released from the hospital earlier this week. Last Tuesday, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick J. Callahan announced the arrest of three men who allegedly shot at Hershey. Najzeir Naz Hutchings, 21, of Bridgeton; Tremaine M. Hadden, 27, of Bridgeton; and Kareen Kai Warner Jr, 19, of Bridgeton were charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault on a police officer, and weapons offenses. A fourth defendant, Colby Opperman, 18, of Bridgeton, was also arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon. Hershey was investigating a home invasion that took place at the mobile home hours earlier on April 25. Hershey was investigating a home invasion that took place at the mobile home hours earlier on April 25. Five women were arrested for assaulting the resident and stealing her iPhone. Two of the women - Iramari Lazu (left), 22, and her mother, Yomari Lazu (right), 43 - are pictured above The other three women were identified as 32-year-old Jazmin Valentin (left), 39-year-old Maria Betancourt (center) and 52-year-old Mayra Roblero (right) At approximately 6:15pm, five women allegedly forced entry into the home of a woman who lived in the mobile home park, assaulted her, and stole her iPhone, according to investigators. The victim suffered a broken rib and lacerated lung. A day after the home invasion, investigators announced the arrest of the suspects. They were identified as Jazmin Valentin, 32; Yomari Lazu, 43; Iramari Lazu, 22; Mayra Roblero, 52; and Maria Betancourt, 39. On Friday, authorities announced the arrest of nine more suspects and an arrest warrant for a 10th - bringing the total number of people linked to the shooting and robbery to 19. Two of the suspects - Ashley Diaz-Acevedo (left), 22, and Melissa Romero (right), 22 - are seen above Authorities identified three additional suspects as Noel Lazu (left), 20; Thomas Nieves III (center); and Shakeem Waters, 31. Waters has a warrant for his arrest Betancourt is a resident of Vineland, New Jersey. The other four suspects are from Bridgeton. Callahan said that the victim of the home invasion is an acquaintance of Betancourt. The five women were charged with first-degree robbery, second-degree aggravated assault, second-degree conspiracy to commit robbery, third-degree burglary, and third-degree conspiracy to commit burglary. Yomari Lazu and Iramari Lazu were ordered detained pending trial while the other three women were released subject to conditions. On Friday, law enforcement officials announced the arrest of an additional 9 people who were part of the hostile mob that shot Hershey. A tenth suspect, Shakeem Waters, has a warrant for his arrest. The 10 suspects were identified as Ashley Diaz-Acevedo, 22; Melissa Romero, 22; Noel Lazu, 20; Markese Rogers, 25; Aisha McArthur, 25; Rovell L. McArthur Jr, 26; Jenislen Quiles, 19; Waters, 31; Thomas Nieves III, 30; and Chavana Diaz, 22. From left: Rovell McArthur Jr, 26; Markese Rogers, 25; and Jenislen Quiles, 19 Two more suspects were identified as Chayana Diaz (left), 22, and Aisha McArthur (right), 25 Aisha McArthur and Rovell L. McArthur Jr are from Vineland. Rogers is a resident of Pittsgrove. The other seven suspects are from Bridgeton. They have all been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and rioting. The 10 are alleged to have driven to the mobile home in order to attack the resident who was burglarized. They are alleged to have been armed with at least two handguns, one knife, and one bottle. We are delivering on our promise to hold all perpetrators fully accountable for this cowardly ambush of a New Jersey State Trooper, who was gunned down while courageously investigating a violent crime in the midst of this pandemic, said Attorney General Grewal. We will follow every lead in our pursuit of justice in this case. Our police officers put their lives on the line each day to protect us, and we owe it to them to bring the full weight of the law to bear on anyone who would attempt to kill them. We are extremely grateful for 1-800-PetMeds commitment to saving homeless, injured and abandoned animals lives. Their support will help make a difference for over 7,000 animals we expect to have in our care this year. Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League is one of the oldest and largest rescues in the United States, based in West Palm Beach, Florida for nearly a century. In 2019 alone, Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League has helped over 30,000 animals by providing shelter to homeless and unwanted animals, providing low-cost spay and neuter services, and reuniting lost pets with their guardians. This year, 1-800-Petmeds has partnered up with the rescue to support their mission to find loving, permanent homes for pets. The annual sponsorship will help provide food and medical services for pets in their care. Peggy Adams Rescue saves animals from all kinds of situations, whether theyre found as strays, rescued from neglectful situations, or theyre just lost and need to be reunited with their family. The rescue gives them the care they need for a fresh start and supports pet parents beyond the adoption process, says Larissa Schenck, Director of Marketing at 1-800-PetMeds. Weve loved seeing those success stories, and were proud to sponsor them this year as part of our overall mission to make sure all animals get the loving home they deserve. We are excited to announce our new partnership with 1-800-PetMeds, says Rich Anderson, Executive Director/CEO of Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League. "We are extremely grateful for 1-800-PetMeds commitment to saving homeless, injured and abandoned animals lives. Their support will help make a difference for over 7,000 animals we expect to have in our care this year," Anderson added. About 1-800-PetMeds Founded in 1996, Petmeds.com is America's Most Trusted Pet Pharmacy providing fast, easy, and helpful service to over ten million customers across the U.S. by delivering prescription and non-prescription medications and pet supplies for less, direct to the consumer through its 1-800-PetMeds toll-free number, on the Internet through its website Petmeds.com, or with the 1-800-PetMeds mobile app available for free at Google Play for Android and the App Store for iOS. About Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League The Mission of the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League is to provide shelter to lost, homeless and unwanted animals, to provide spay and neuter and other medical services for companion animals, and to care for, protect, and find quality homes for homeless and neglected companion animals, to advocate animal welfare, community involvement and education to further the bond between people and animals. Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League has a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, Americas largest independent charity navigator, and is the first animal shelter in South Florida to become AAHA (American Animal Hospital Association) accredited. Peggy Adams is an independent nonprofit animal rescue organization operating continuously since 1925. For more information, please visit PeggyAdams.org. Global economy could become two-tiered: China expert By Kim Bo-eun Andy Xie JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Indonesia's government on Sunday condemned what it called the inhuman treatment of its nationals by a Chinese fishing company that allegedly kept Indonesian fishermen as virtual slaves, leading to the deaths of at least three of them. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a video conference from the capital, Jakarta, that 49 Indonesian fishermen, ranging from 19 to 24 years old, were forced to work an average of over 18 hours a day on at least four Chinese fishing boats. Marsudi said some of the fishermen were either not paid at all or did not receive the amount they had agreed to. The tireless work and poor conditions on the ship caused illnesses among the crew members, killing at least three Indonesians, whose bodies were cast overboard into the Pacific Ocean, she said. We condemn the inhuman treatment against our crew members working at the Chinese fishing company, Marsudi said. Based on the information from the crews, the company has violated human rights. Marsudi said almost all of the fishermen were repatriated to Indonesia from four Chinese fishing vessels after undergoing a mandatory coronavirus quarantine at a hotel in the South Korean city of Busan, where their boats were docked after 13 months at sea. The move came after videos released by local media in South Korea drew a public outcry. On May 5, an unidentified Indonesian fisherman told the South Korean television station MBC about the unfair treatment the crew members received while working on the Chinese boats. The station also aired a video that showed the dead body of another Indonesian fisherman being thrown overboard one of the vessels. Two other Indonesian fishermen who had previously died were also cast overboard, the fisherman said, adding that some crew members were sick for over a month but received no medical care. The crew members received less than $300 for a full years work as opposed to the $300 per month that their contract had called for, according to a group of Indonesian lawyers who represented 14 of the 49 fishermen. Story continues Marsudi said the Chinese government has paid special attention to the case and authorities from the two countries will set up a joint investigation into the allegations against the Chinese fishing company. We will ensure that the company has to fulfill our crews rights, she said. As the result of an Associated Press investigation in 2015, about 4,000 foreign fishermen, mostly from Myanmar, were rescued and freed after being stranded on several remote eastern Indonesian islands, including some found to have been enslaved for years. The treatment of both the Myanmar and Indonesian fishermen falls under the U.S. governments definition of slavery, which includes forcing people to keep working even if they had signed up for the jobs, or trafficking them into situations where they are exploited. ____ Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report. NEW BRITAIN, Conn., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) today announced that Jim Loree and Don Allan will be presenting at the following virtual investor conferences: Jim Loree , President and CEO, will present at the Wolfe Research Virtual Global Transportation & Industrials Conference on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 at 9:30 AM ET . , President and CEO, will present at the Wolfe Research Virtual Global Transportation & Industrials Conference on at . Don Allan , Executive Vice President and CFO, will present at the following conferences: , Executive Vice President and CFO, will present at the following conferences: Goldman Sachs Industrials & Materials 2020 Conference on Thursday, May 14, 2020 at 2:40 PM ET . at . J.P. Morgan 13th Annual Homebuilding and Building Conference on May 19, 2020 at 9:00 AM ET . The events will be webcast live, and will be available in the "Investors" section of the company's website at www.stanleyblackanddecker.com. A replay of the webcast will be provided on the website and will be available for 90 days. Stanley Black & Decker, an S&P 500 company, is a diversified global provider of hand tools, power tools and related accessories, electronic security solutions, healthcare solutions, engineered fastening systems, and more. Learn more at www.stanleyblackanddecker.com. Stanley Black & Decker Investor Contacts Dennis Lange Vice President, Investor Relations (860) 827-3833 [email protected] Cort Kaufman Director, Investor Relations (860) 515-2741 [email protected] SOURCE Stanley Black & Decker Related Links http://www.stanleyblackanddecker.com Katherine Feser / Houston Chronicle Stewart Information Services Corp. has begun cutting jobs and and reducing spending on business travel, temporary labor and professional services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. "In these unprecedented times and given the uncertain impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, we continue to take targeted actions and manage our operations to best position our company over the long-term," Stewart CEO Fred Eppinger, said late Friday in a statement, citing a $60 million annual impact. In a divergence of opinion from the United States, the United Kingdom would not support a potential Israeli annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank, junior Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said on Monday. Subsuming Palestinian land into Israel would make a two-state solution more difficult to achieve, he said. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said it is up to Israel whether to annex parts of the West Bank, under Israeli military occupation since 1967. Pompeo is expected to visit Israel this week to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his new coalition partner Benny Gantz, in a trip that is expected to focus on Israeli plans to formally absorb parts of the occupied Palestinian territory reportedly areas of the fertile Jordan Valley and other key strategic sites into the state of Israel. But Cleverly, the UKs minister of state for the Middle East and North Africa, told Parliament: Our long-standing position is that we do not support the annexation of parts of the West Bank, and doing so could make a sustainable two-state solution harder. Contrary to international law A spokesperson for the UKs Foreign and Commonwealth Office told Al Jazeera that the minister was simply restating the governments long-standing policy on the West Bank. The United Kingdom is concerned by reports of possible moves toward annexation of parts of the West Bank by Israel, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in January. Any such unilateral moves would be damaging to renewed efforts to restart peace negotiations, and contrary to international law. Any changes to the status quo cannot be taken forward without an agreement negotiated by the parties themselves. Alone among most governments, the administration of US President Donald Trump has said it would support the annexation of occupied West Bank territory claimed by the Palestinians for an eventual state as long as Israel agrees to enter peace talks with the Palestinians. Pompeo is expected to be in Israel for a few hours on Wednesday. France, meanwhile, is urging other nations in the European Union Israels largest trading partner to consider threatening Israel with a tough response if it goes ahead with a de facto annexation, three EU diplomats told Reuters. Belgium, Ireland and Luxembourg also want to discuss the possibility of punitive economic measures during a foreign ministers meeting on Friday, the diplomats said though all member states would have to agree to any collective action. Netanyahu has said cabinet discussions will start in July over extending Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements the existence of which is already considered contrary to international law and the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, as was mooted under Trumps Middle East plan. PATNA Chief minister Nitish Kumar Monday directed officials to make arrangements for facilitating the return of migrants and outsiders stuck in Bihar due to the lockdown but said all fresh arrivals should be subjected to Covid tests, instead of the current practice of random tests. The chief minister said a detailed plan for bringing back people stranded in other parts of the country should be worked out in discussion with Railways and states concerned immediately. For enabling the return of visitors and others stuck in Bihar, a SOP (standard operating procedure) should be prepared and circulated among them in the next seven days, so that they able to figure out their eligibility for the movement back to their respective states, Kumar told officials at a meeting also attended by deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and chief secretary Deepak Kumar. The CM said that in order to subject all fresh arrivals to Covid tests, capacity should be ramped up. It is necessary for breaking the chain. Another decision taken in the meeting was to provide one soap bar and four face masks to every family at the panchayat level free of cost. As awareness is key, immediate steps for loud speaker facility should be initiated to spread the message on the need to maintain personal hygiene, observe social distancing, use of face masks, etc, the CM said. For jobless workers returning home, the CM directed officials to ensure the availability of building materials for revving up construction activities for involving a large number of skilled and unskilled workers in productive activities. Kumar also asked the administration to gear up for accommodating state-bound migrants in quarantine centres at the panchayat and block level and entrusted the task for monitoring the progress in the hands of concerned DMs and SPs. He also directed officials to complete the setting up of Covid testing centres and increasing the number of isolation beds and ventilators at the district level so that tests and treatment went hand in hand. Till now, the state was getting testing kits in small quantities. But now the number of Covid patients are increasing, as people are returning, we must ensure there is an adequate supply to meet the requirement and also for carrying out the tests on a bigger scale, he said. At present, over 1.32 lakh people are put up in various quarantine centres. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Every day, sworn law enforcement officers, deputies, agents and troopers across Montana put their lives at risk, often while the rest of us are sleeping. They dont do it for recognition or money, they do it to protect us and our way of life. Along the way, some sacrifice their bodies and some give up their lives. Last year, 128 federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement officers died in the line of duty across America. In Montana, we lost Gallatin County Deputy Jake Allmendinger in a tragic accident while trying to save a stranded motorist near Fairy Lake. Our prayers go out to his family, his colleagues and the community for their loss. In addition to those officers who make the ultimate sacrifice, every year about 60,000 officers are assaulted nationwide and 18,000 officers are injured. Thats a rate of more than one assault for every 10 officers. And officers arent just exposed to risk from assaults and vehicle-related injuries while keeping us safe. They are also on the front line (along with jail and prison guards), exposed to deadly diseases like coronavirus. While most of us stayed in our homes as the pandemic moved into Montana, our law enforcement officers were out on the streets. Unfortunately, criminals dont social distance and the risky behaviors they engage in put our officers in danger. For example, on March 18, when uncertainty about the spread and lethality of coronavirus was at its peak, officers from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies caught a suspected drug dealer carrying two pounds of meth. In spite of the personal risk to themselves, these officers made the arrest and kept an estimated 7,250 doses of meth away from our communities. In the last eight weeks there have been many, many more examples of our law enforcement officers exposing themselves to coronavirus to keep us safe. Nationwide, at least 21 officers have already died from coronavirus. Ronald Reagan said, The future does not belong to the fainthearted, it belongs to the brave. Our law enforcement officers bravely put themselves in harms way every day, some of them and their families paying the ultimate sacrifice. Please go out of your way this week to thank them. Kurt G. Alme is the United States Attorney for the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A man was killed in a shark attack as he was surfing at a state beach in Northern California on Saturday, authorities said. The man, Ben Kelly, 26, was about 100 yards from shore at Manresa State Beach near Santa Cruz when he was attacked around 1:30 p.m., the California Department of Parks and Recreation said Sunday. The beach, at the northern end of Monterey Bay, had been closed to the public between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. as part of an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. While the beach was closed, people were allowed in the water for active aquatic recreation, the parks department said. Because of the attack, the beach has been closed to the public until Thursday, and signs warning beachgoers about the attack have been posted at access points. Kelly, a surfboard maker, lived in Santa Cruz with his wife, Katie Kelly. He was a self-taught shaper of surfboards who designed his first board when he was a child, according to a biography on the website of his business, Ben Kelly Surfboards. He took pride in sanding surfboards by hand to the specifications of his customers. I love the process of creating: taking something raw and formless and making it into something both functional and aesthetic, Kelly said on his website. The species of shark that attacked Kelly is unknown, the Department of Parks and Recreation said in a statement. Our best guess is that it was probably a white shark, Simon R. Thorrold, a senior scientist in the biology department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts, said in an interview. White sharks are big enough and their teeth are so sharp that even a halfhearted attempt will cause significant injuries, he said. Shark attacks are rare, but it is not unusual for them to occur close to shore, Thorrold said. The Florida Museum in Gainesville, Florida, which keeps track of shark attacks worldwide, documented 64 unprovoked shark attacks and 40 provoked attacks last year. That was down slightly from the average of 82 annual unprovoked attacks for the four-year period from 2014-18. Hippos kill way more people every year than sharks do, Thorrold said. While sharks prefer not to eat humans, surfers can find themselves in danger because the silhouette of a surfboard with a surfer on top, as seen by a shark underwater, can resemble a seal, Thorrold said. Seals are part of their natural prey, Thorrold said. It is not unreasonable to think that the shark thinks it is a seal and gets to the surfer and realizes pretty quickly it does not want to eat it. By that time, the shark has done enough damage to the human that it can end in tragedy. Kellys family could not be reached Sunday. On his Instagram account, he wrote that he was passionate about surfing and making surfboards. His motto was: You dream it, I make it. What started as a way to fuel my own surfing passion has now become a way to stoke out my fellow surfers, and that is truly fulfilling to me, Kelly wrote. You should feel stoked each time you enter the water and comfortable on your own board. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. RICARDO B. BRAZZIELL, MBR / Associated Press Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday directed state agencies to test 100 percent of residents and staff in Texas nursing homes for COVID-19. The directive went to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Division of Emergency Management and the Texas Department of State Health Services. A couple who are stuck in Mexico with no health insurance during the COVID-19 pandemic have defended their decision not to return home. Mechanical engineer Chris Beer, 29, and registered nurse Mietta Feery, 28, abandoned their lives in Melbourne in March 2019 for a three-year trip through north, Central and South America. They were living in a renovated Ford Transit camper van with their dog Jackson in Mexico when the global pandemic was declared in March. Mietta's mother told them Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged travellers to return home before the borders were locked. But instead of rushing to the nearest airport with more than 300,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents, the couple decided to isolate in Mexico. Chris Beer and Mietta Feery decided to isolate in Mexico instead of abandoning their trip through America 'It would have cost us thousands of dollars and we would have just been stuck in the same spot but at home and not been able to do anything anyway,' Mietta told the ABC. Some travellers reported paying up to $8,000 for a chartered flight from Central and South America to Australia in the scramble to return home before the nation's borders were closed. While Chris and Mietta's families tried to convince them to go back home to Melbourne, their friends urged them to stay. They managed to find a ranch owned by a local family to park their van. In exchange for food, facilities and somewhere safe to sleep, the couple feed animals and take care of the property. Chris, Mietta and their dog Jackson managed to find a ranch owned by a local family to park the van they live in - a renovated Ford transit In exchange for food, facilities and somewhere safe to sleep, the couple feed animals and take care of the property (pictured) But with their visas and van permit set to expire in June, the couple are concerned they'll have to leave the country and apply for new travel documents. 'If the Mexican Government doesn't extend them for the crisis period then we're actually going to have to make a run to a border so we can hand in our visas and our import permit for our car, renew them, and then come back to the ranch,' Chris said. Mexican officials have declared a national state of emergency with more than 33,000 positive cases of COVID-19. More than 3,300 people have died. The nation has limited testing facilities and supplies and experts believe the number of deaths and infections is much higher than the official statistics. The Melbourne couple eat meals with the family who own the ranch they're living on during the pandemic The ranch is near a beach (pictured). When the couple are not looking after the ranch and animals, they are walking their dog on the sand The government has imposed curfews and restrictions on movements to curb the spread of the virus, as the nation's healthcare system would not cope if the number of infected people spiked. While the couple said they wouldn't use the health facilities in Mexico if they got sick, their health insurance ran out in March and it can't be renewed. 'If we were really unfortunate enough to catch something or get sick, we definitely wouldn't be using the healthcare system. We wouldn't be going to the doctors or hospitals, we would just have to isolate,' Chris said. The couple have used their YouTube channel and Instagram profile to document their lives in Mexico during the pandemic. At the end of April, the couple admitted that aspects of the situation aren't ideal. The couple have used their YouTube channel and Instagram profile to document their lives in Mexico during the pandemic The couple explained that they do not want to bring Jackson to Australia during the pandemic because of Australia's tough pet import laws 'If things were to get really bad because of this virus we're not exactly stuck in the most resourceful country,' Chris wrote on Instagram. The couple explained that while Australians can still pay for flights back home, the nation's pet import regulations would mean abandoning Jackson - the dog they adopted in the US. Mr Importing pets to Australia is a long process where the animal must be medically tested, put in quarantine facility for at least 10 days and can cost more than $2,000. 'Mietta and I sat down and talked through our situation and all our options and realised we were trying to plan for something that literally could not be planned for.' 'We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, so being patient, taking it day by day and trying to make the most of the situation we're in was obviously our best option.' A number of companies have issued alerts to their customers encouraging them to download the governments COVIDSafe app as part of a push to expedite the easing of restrictions. Coles, McDonalds and Hungry Jacks all recently used their customer loyalty apps to send push notifications to their customers, with Hungry Jacks telling customers it would help them stay safe and ease restrictions. Major supermarket Woolworths is also promoting the app on its website, inviting customers to download COVIDSafe today. In late April, the CEOs of both Coles and Woolworths encouraged their collective 200,000-plus staff to download the app. Private health insurer Medibank has also recently told customers downloading the app would improve chances of containing future virus outbreaks. We believe the COVIDSafe app is an important step towards making even more health support services available for our members, Medibank chief medical officer Linda Swan said in a recent email. More than 5 million Australians have downloaded the app so far. Further privacy assurances are set to be passed in Parliament this week, introducing penalties such as prison time for anyone who misuses data collected by the app. The total recoveries from the coronavirus infection in Lagos State rose to 502 on Monday as 33 more patients were discharged from the states facilities. The recovered patients make up about a quarter of the 1,861 coronavirus cases recorded in the state. The Lagos State Ministry of Health announced on Monday that 33 more patients were discharged after testing negative to the infection two consecutive times. The newly discharged patients comprise nine females and 24 males. 33 COVID-19 Lagos patients; 9 females & 24 males; all Nigerians have been discharged from our Isolation facilities at Onikan & Eti-Osa (LandMark) reunite with the society. The patients; 17 from Onikan & 16 from Eti-Osa (LandMark) Isolation Centres have fully recovered & tested negative twice consecutively to COVID-19. With this, the number of patients successfully managed & discharged in Lagos has risen to 502, the ministry wrote on its Twitter page. READ ALSO: As of Monday, Lagos State has recorded 1,861 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Of these,1,308 are active, 502 discharged and 33 dead. Lagos has also conducted 9,583 COVID-19 tests as of Sunday. While over 25 per cent of coronavirus patients in Lagos have recovered, more than half of those still infected have avoided the isolation facilities in the state. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Lagos health commissioner, Akin Abayomi, lamented that a large number of those infected where on the run and avoiding health officials. There is also a situation that we experience, when we test people, sometimes they find it difficult to find them. The ambulances will go into community, people will flee their homes, and they make it difficult for us to find them, Mr Abayomi said Friday. Experts warn that the situation could worsen the coronavirus prevalence in the state, Nigerias commercial capital. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu also recently threatened to impose a a fresh lockdown in the state as residents violate the directives put in place by the government to check the spread of the virus. Lagos residents are encouraged to keep practising good personal hygiene, physical distancing and the use of face masks in public places. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday opposed amendments to labour laws put in place by some state governments, including in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- ruled Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, saying the fight against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cannot be made an excuse to exploit workers and suppress their voices. Many states are amending labour laws. We are together fighting against corona, but this cannot be an excuse to crush human rights, allow unsafe workplaces, exploit workers and suppress their voice. There cannot be any compromise on these basic principles, Gandhi wrote in a Twitter post. Eight political parties had earlier written to President Ram Nath Kovind protesting against the changes to labour laws, including extending the daily working hours from eight to 12 in six states. After the face-off between the government and the opposition over the return of migrant workers to their homes, the new labour laws have emerged as another contentious issue. BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, two states with substantial workforces, have frozen major labour laws, except basic ones, in the hope that businesses will recoup from the blow of the Covid-19 pandemic and create more jobs on a net basis.The changes give industries more flexibility in hiring and firing employees, determining their wages, and reducing their liabilities in terms of providing employee benefits. Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said it was a shame that BJP-ruled states were amending labour laws under the cover of a pandemic to lure foreign investors. He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deny permission to states amending labour laws in an attempt to strip workers of their basic rights. This is yet another shocking but unsurprising blow to workers and labourers by BJP governments. If the Prime Minister has a little concern for workers and labourers, then he should himself tell these states to not go ahead with amending labour laws and not allow them in doing so. We would expect the prime minister to intervene today itself, Gohil told reporters through video conferencing. He said it was shocking and heart-breaking that when the entire nation is dealing with an unprecedented pandemic, which has disproportionately ravaged the lives of the poor, the BJP governments had used the outbreak as opportunity to deprive them of their rights. This is shameful and once again highlights the true nature and priorities of this Suit-Boot ki Sarkar, the Congress leader said. Gohil said as the labour laws were in the Concurrent List so they cannot be suspended without the explicit approval of the central government. We, therefore, ask the Prime Minister to deny any permission that strip workers of their basic rights and have the potential of diminishing their livelihood. We also ask that trade unions be consulted before such an adverse step is taken, he said. Gohil alleged that labourers and migrants were already getting inhuman treatment in the wake of the post-Covid lockdown. We have all seen the visuals of lakhs of our brothers and sisters attempting to make the arduous journey home without any state support, any food or medicines, left to fend for themselves by an uncaring and apathetic government, he said. To be sure, 90% of Indias workforce, which is employed in the informal sector, wont be affected by these changes, which apply to those who are in the organised workforce and registered companies. Former union minister Jairam Ramesh also said it would be dangerous and disastrous to loosen labour, land and environment laws in the name of economic revival and stimulus. In the name of economic revival and stimulus, it will be dangerous and disastrous to loosen labour, land and environmental laws and regulations as the Modi govt is planning. The first steps have already been taken. This is a quack remedy like demonetisation, he tweeted. BJP spokesperson Gopal Agarwal said labour law reforms is a long standing demand of unions and industries both. As it is in concurrent list, Centre had earlier consolidated 40 existing laws into 4 codes to streamline compliance and help formalisation of labour force. Now some state governments are working for further streamlining the functioning of the industry and help restart the economic cycle. These amendments are for the benefit of the economy as a whole including workers, he said. Agarwal said, The focus of the governments has shifted towards economic revival and they are doing what is needed. Putting a spanner in the effort is completely uncalled for. One of the architects of the controversial safe injecting room has called for it to prescribe a pharmaceutical opioid to drug users to reduce the illicit heroin trade in North Richmond. Reason Party leader Fiona Patten wants the state government to extend the two year trial of the medically supervised injecting room in its current location. However she says it should be able to supply users with hydromorphone an opioid used to treat pain to "break the nexus between criminal activity and drug addiction". Reason Party leader Fiona Patten outside the safe injecting room at 23 Lennox St, North Richmond. Credit:Wayne Taylor Ms Patten's call comes just days before the state government receives an independent review of the trial of the medically supervised injecting room, which ends on June 29. A group of California prison inmates deliberately infected each other with coronavirus in a failed bid to get out of jail early. A sudden spike COVID-19 cases was reported at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic back in mid-April seemingly without explanation. LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced Monday that 21 inmates at the jail successfully infected each other with the virus by passing around a hot water bottle and by breathing into the same face mask. Shocking surveillance footage shot on April 26 inside the day room of the jail shows the men passing around a hot water bottle and taking sips before passing it along to the next inmate. LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced Monday that 21 inmates at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic intentionally infected each other with COVID-19 in a failed bid to win early release. Surveillance footage from the jails's day room filmed on April 26 shows an inmate fill a water bottle with hot water and pass it around Inmates pictured circled in yellow taking sips of the hot water bottle circled in red after another prisoner handed them the bottle The inmate who filled the water bottle pictured handing it off to another prisoner dressed in blue. The water bottle pictured circled in red The man circled in yellow pictured in line after giving the water bottle to another inmate circled in red In this huddle inmates at the jail are discreetly sniffing and inhaling the same mask and sipping out of the same Styrofoam cup with the hopes of contracting COVID-19 'With the hot water, they were trying to falsely elevate their temperature readings to generate a symptom for COVID-19,' Villanueva said. They were also seen sharing the cup of water and were seen crowding around in the same area of the day room instead of practicing social distancing. The men, Villanueva says, hoped theyd receive sympathy from a judge to allow them to get released early from the facility and placed on house arrest once they tested positive for coronavirus. 'There was some mistaken belief among the inmate population that if they tested positive, there was a way to force our hand and somehow release more inmates out of our jail environment, and thats not gonna happen,' Villanueva said at a Monday press conference. Villanueva says that 21 of the men in the 50-person block contracted the infection, but will not be given the chance to ride out the virus at their homes as they hoped. 'There was some mistaken belief among the inmate population that if they tested positive, there was a way to force our hand and somehow release more inmates out of our jail environment, and thats not gonna happen,' Villanueva said at a Monday press conference Villanueva says that 21 of the men in the 50-person block contracted the infection at the Pitchess Detention Center in LA County So far 357 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, a 60 percent jump from May 4 when there were just 123 cases among inmates. 117 of inmates who positive have recovered 'Then all of a sudden we saw a spike, a few weeks, ago, a very noticeable jump, and we couldnt really understand why, when everything seemed to be going the way we wanted to,' Villanueva said. Since February LA County's inmate population has reduced from the largest in the nation with 17,000 prisoners behind bars to a little over 11,700 over the past few months. 'Had this pandemic swept through while we were sitting on 17,000 inmates, the results would have been catastrophic,' Villanueva said. So far 357 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19, a 60 percent jump from May 4 when there were just 123 cases among inmates. 117 of inmates who positive have recovered. There are currently 4,590 in quarantine - about 40 percent of the jail system's total population. Now now new inmates are being tested upon entering the jail system. 'Theres a reason why these people are behind bars to begin with, because they violated the norms of society,' Villanueva said. 'But to then imperil not only their only safety, but the safety of their fellow inmates who did not want to participate in this behavior. It also endangers all the personnel, both the professional staff and the sworn staff,' he added. Panini supplier Toastyfresh has teamed up with Delice de France to launch a frozen home delivery service. The nationwide home delivery service will offer 12 frozen paninis and French-style bakery items. Its panini boxes comprise four fillings: three ham & cheese; three cheese & onion; three mozzarella, basil & tomato; and three tuna, pepper & onion. Boxes of sweet treats and premium bread products from Delice de France are also available. The quality and convenience of Toastyfresh products has helped drive strong demand from consumer markets across the country, said Toastyfresh sales director Matt Holman. As the current climate pushes more people to shop online, now is the time to provide a delicious range of Toastyfresh paninis and Delice de France sweet treat and premium bread products through an extremely reliable frozen home delivery service. All the products are hygienically boxed and packaged, and distributed via a nationwide fleet of freezer vans. Cross-contamination is minimised and cleaning is more efficient due to the brands Grill in the Bag technology, said the company. In light of todays heightened demand for reliable home delivery services and continuing government restrictions keeping people at home, Toastyfresh is providing the high-quality paninis you would normally be able to purchase from your local coffee shop, Holman added. To demonstrate its support for NHS workers, Toastyfresh has pledged to donate 10% of its home delivery profits to NHS charities. Based in Salisbury, Toasty Products supplies its Toastyfresh range of ready-made paninis and pre-filled food products to outlets across the UK. In the 1970s and '80s, when Richard Paul Thornell would go with his sons to the grocery store and return home late, his wife would teasingly ask, "Did you run into someone from the Peace Corps?" Usually, the answer was yes. In the early days of President John F. Kennedy's administration, Thornell had worked under Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver and future Pennsylvania Sen. Harris Wofford, negotiating and setting up the first Peace Corps program in the world. In May 1961, the 24-year-old Thornell traveled to Ghana as director of the Peace Corps Africa Regional Office to help design educational, agricultural and job-training programs there. Although he had to return to the United States that summer after contracting tuberculosis, the experience marked him. "For him it was a lifelong sense of pride," said Paul Thornell, recalling his father, who died April 28 at 83 of covid-19 at his home in Washington. "The Peace Corps is the thing that has lasted, in a meaningful way, longer than other things, and the fact that my dad had a central role in launching it, that meant a lot to him." Breaking ground was in Richard Thornell's veins. A native of New York City, he was the second black graduate of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, where he received his master's in public affairs in 1958. While there, he befriended a student from Germany, Hans-Christoph Boemers, and in 1956 the two took a road trip through the South, staying with Thornell's friends or alumni of Fisk University in Tennessee, where Thornell had received his undergraduate degree. In Columbia, South Carolina, "people shook their fists at us because a white and a black man were not supposed to ride together in one car," Boemers wrote in a 2017 essay. "I had Richard, who answered all my questions, helped me interpret human behavior that was foreign to me and who explained the everyday life conditions of black Americans in those years." Eventually, Thornell would apply his teaching skills more formally. After serving in the U.S. Army, USAID, and the Peace Corps and earning a law degree from Yale University, he worked at a law firm and then taught at Howard University School of Law in Washington from 1976 until his retirement in the mid-2000s. He taught hundreds of African American and other lawyers who went on to serve in the judiciary, law enforcement, elected office, philanthropy and the corporate world. He also served as a board member of Fisk; general counsel at Howard; special counsel to the Washington bureau of the NAACP; vice chair and counsel of the board of directors of Africare; chair of the exchange programs committee of the International Division of the YMCA of the USA; and a member of the board of directors of the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington. He was a charter member of the Beta Mu Boule of Sigma Pi Phi national professional fraternity. In the 1990s, Thornell helped launch the Howard University Republic of South Africa Partnership with the newly established government in South Africa. Thornell and other Howard leaders traveled to South Africa to provide strategic counsel to President Nelson Mandela's administration on the design of the country's constitution. In 2000, Thornell helped win a presidential pardon for his old Fisk classmate and friend Preston King, a civil rights activist who as a graduate student in the early 1960s was convicted of draft evasion and spent 39 years outside the United States to avoid going to prison. "Richard was in a quiet way at the forefront of so many things," said the W.E.B. Du Bois biographer David Levering Lewis, who met Thornell when they both matriculated at Fisk as 15-year-olds. The two remained best friends for life. In 1956, when John Hope Franklin, a historian at Brooklyn College and Fisk alumnus, became the first African American to be named chairman of an academic department at a municipal college, an excited Thornell rang up Lewis, who was doing graduate work at Columbia University. "He said, 'Let's go see him, let's go see John,' " Lewis recalled. "He came up from Princeton, and we got on the subway and went to Brooklyn College. We barged in on John Hope Franklin, who was very courteous. He said, 'Come on in.' And that was very much Richard. I think we talked about the . . . pride we took as Fisk alums in the tradition of Du Bois. It was such an uplifting and congenial experience." Later, when Thornell was a new trustee at Fisk, "he reached out to a local newspaper to have it investigate some improprieties and that led to a change in the governance of the school," Lewis said. "That was really quite courageous . . . to be a trustee and a whistleblower at the same time. His eye was really sharp to the way things should go, and if they weren't going right, he'd kick over the traces." Thornell had Parkinson's disease and other ailments, and he and his wife had moved from their home at Leisure World in Silver Spring, Maryland, to the Residences at Thomas Circle in Washington, late last year, she into independent living and he into assisted living. He tested positive for the novel coronavirus in mid-April and fell ill a few days before he died. "He had a little bit of a cough but he never really got full-blown symptoms," said Paul Thornell, adding that the family decided not to move him to a hospital, where he might be put on a ventilator. "We didn't want the last days of his life to be uncomfortable." He was married for nearly 50 years to Carolyn Atkinson Thornell, former executive director of the Kingsbury Center, former chair of the Board of Trustees of the Sidwell Friends School, and former chair of the Board of the Children's Hospital. Survivors also include sons David Thornell of London; Paul Thornell of Washington; and Douglass Thornell of Potomac, Maryland; a sister, Elizabeth Quinitchett, of Islip, New York; and grandchildren Nolan and Lena Thornell. Memorial services will be held later, when family and friends can safely gather to celebrate Thornell's life and legacy. While Argo enjoyed a higher net investment income, at US$35.5 million (around CA$49.3 million), the international underwriter suffered a US$13.9 million (around CA$19.3 million) underwriting loss in the period. The figure represents a 162% plunge from the companys underwriting result in Q1 2019. Meanwhile operating income stood at US$12.6 million (around CA$17.5 million), from US$41.5 million (around CA$57.7 million) previously. Catastrophe losses related to the coronavirus pandemic amounted to US$26.2 million (around CA$36.4 million). Commenting on the numbers, Argo chief executive Kevin J. Rehnberg stated: While we expect the premium and loss impact of COVID-19 to be challenging in 2020, we are committed to maintaining financial strength and implementing our strategy to drive long-term shareholder value a focussed review of our businesses; investment where there is significant opportunity; and a focus on maximizing underwriting profitability. I appreciate the dedication of the Argo team during these unprecedented times as they work tirelessly to serve our clients. Aktia Bank Plc Stock Exchange Release 11 May 2020 at 2.00 p.m. Anssi Huhta appointed EVP, Corporate customers at Aktia Anssi Huhta has been appointed EVP, Corporate customers and member of the Executive Committee at Aktia as of 1 January 2021 at the latest. Huhta reports to the CEO Mikko Ayub. Anssi Huhta transfers to Aktia from OP Group where he has most recently worked as director in charge of private and SME customers. Aktia is seeking growth in new, especially small and medium-sized corporate customers in growth areas in Finland. Anssi Huhta has a wealth of experience in different management duties on the banking sector within corporate customers, as well as strong proven skills in sales management and the implementation of culture change and has therefore excellent qualifications for the development of Aktias corporate customer business. I would like to extend Anssi Huhta a warm welcome to Aktia, says Aktias CEO Mikko Ayub. I am really happy to in my new role have the opportunity to develop Aktias corporate customer business towards an even more customer-oriented and active direction. I am eagerly looking forward to guiding the business area Corporate customers further, says Anssi Huhta. Further information: Lotta Borgstrom, Director, Investor Relations and Communications, tel. +358 10 247 6838, lotta.borgstrom@aktia.fi Aktia is a Finnish asset manager, bank and life insurer that has been creating wealth and wellbeing from one generation to the next for 200 years. We serve our customers in digital channels everywhere and face-to-face in our offices in the Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Vaasa and Oulu regions. Our award-winning asset management business sells investment funds internationally. We employ approximately 750 people around Finland. Aktia's assets under management (AuM) on 31 December 2019 amounted to EUR 9.9 billion, and the balance sheet total was EUR 9.7 billion. Aktia's shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd (AKTIA). aktia.com. Actress-politician Jayamala's daughter, Soundarya got stuck in London due to Coronavirus lockdown. Notably, Soundarya Jayamala is one of the 100 students, who are stranded in London. She is studying a four-year bachelor degree in zoology at Swansea University. Soundarya Jayamala is currently feeling desperate to return to India, since the situation is getting worse in the UK. Her final exams were supposed to be held in April, but it later got cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She wanted to come to India since the lectures were completed in April. But her attempt to return to India in the last flight before the lockdown was failed. On the other hand, she is feeling unsafe in London after her professor died due to COVID-19 and two others tested positive in her university. While speaking to the Times of India, Soundarya Jayamala said, "I feel very unsafe. There is no social distancing. I am worried about leaving my apartment. It is so scary to even buy groceries. I am worried about catching COVID. The procedure to contact a hospital here is so long." "It is not what I am used to. Back home we can see a doctor immediately. I have not been out of my flat at all. It is safer for me to be in India," Soundarya added. She had boarded the last flight to India from the UK but she and three others were later sent back to London once they reached Dubai. They were reportedly stranded for 17 hours in Dubai before coming back to the UK. Sadly, Soundarya also revealed that she stays alone and her visa-tenancy contract is going to expire soon. "There were people in the airport coughing and ambulances coming back and forth carrying people who could not breathe. We did not have anywhere to sit as so many flights were cancelled. People were sleeping on the floor. It was traumatic. I wasn't tested for COVID in any of the airports. They didn't even check my temperature," Soundarya said. Also Read : Simbu's Conversation With COVID-19 Affected Fan Leaked; Here's What The Actor Told Him On a related note, over 300 people who were stranded in London, have returned to Bengaluru by a special Air India flight on the fifth day of Vande Bharat Mission on May 11. But there is no confirmation about her arrival yet. Also Read : Dance With Shriya Saran! The Paisa Vasool actress Raises Money For COVID-19 Relief Funds In a relief to the Mumbai Police, which has been over-stretched due to continuous bandobast and rising cases in the city as well as the police force, another five to 10 platoons with 120 personnel each of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) will be added to its manpower. Last week, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had stated that the Mumbai Police is exhausted and needs some relaxation. He had also cleared rumours that the Indian Army will be called in. Vinoy Choubey, additional director general, Mumbai Police, confirmed the development to Hindustan Times. Earlier in April, five platoons of SRPF were added to the Mumbai Polices manpower when there were 380 containment zones in Mumbai. As on Monday, the number of containment zones shot up to 2,600 in Mumbai. Over 3L migrant workers applied for pass Applications from more than 3 lakh migrant labourers in the city have been processed by the Mumbai Police so far. Pranaya Ashok, DCP (ops) and Mumbai Police spokesperson, confirmed the development. While around one lakh migrants have left, the rest are on waiting list. They will continue to stay in Mumbai till their home states give permission for them to return. These migrants are mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Karnataka among others. In total, 2,21,150 people from other states, including migrant workers, tourists, students, pilgrims and visitors who were stranded in the city due to the lockdown, have returned to their hometowns. Man held for using fake pass to carry 36 migrants A 25-year-old tempo driver has been arrested by Vakola police on Saturday for using fake police permission to travel from Mumbai to Uttar Pradesh. The accused, Ajay Gupta, is a resident of Vakola. When MIDC police stopped his tempo for checking, they found 36 migrants, 10 women, 12 men and 14 kids, hiding. The case was transferred to Vakola police station. Kailash Avhad, senior inspector, confirmed the development and added that Gupta has been remanded in police custody till May 14 while the labourers were sent back to their shelters. Covid cases in state police cross 1,000-mark The total cases of Covid-19 reported from Maharashtra Police crossed the 1,000 mark on Monday with 1,007 reported cases, including a majority of 420 (till Monday evening) from Mumbai Police. Of the 1,007 patients, 901 are constables while the remaining are officers. Of them, 887 are being treated, 113 have recovered and seven policemen have succumbed to the disease. Over 100 booked for attending funeral Dongri police took suo motu cognisance and filed an FIR against more than 100 people for attending the funeral of a person while violating lockdown orders. The deceased, Babu Batatawala, 72, a member of Raza Academy, a religious group promoting Islam, had died of natural causes on May 7. Around 10pm on that day, about 100 people gathered for his funeral and offered Namaz. They have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and National Disaster Management Act. 61 taxis, 339 autos seized after Mumbai termed red zone Since Mumbai was declared as red zone on May 4, the traffic police issued challan against 3,368 taxi drivers and collected a fine collectively worth 12.36 lakh, till May 11. In addition, 61 taxis and 339 autorickshaws have been seized for repeated offences. Pravin Padval, additional commissioner of police (Traffic), said, A motorist is liable for suspension of driving license if he/she has committed a lockdown violation plus has another previous violation against him/her. BEST officer found dead in sealed building A 50-year-old officer with the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) was found dead in a building in Ghatkopar (east) which was sealed after Covid positive patient was found. According to Pant Nagar police, they received a call from local residents about a foul stench from the officers flat. The officer, a bachelor, lived alone in the flat and was not responding to calls. The police contacted the fire-brigade after which a civic team was called as a precautionary measure. The fire brigade broke open the flat and found the decomposed body in the kitchen. An accidental death has been registered in this regard. The body was disposed taking due care as a positive patient was found in the building, said a police officer. Police commissioner visits north region Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh visited north region of Mumbai Police, comprising areas between Goregaon to Dahisar. Hanif Mujawar, senior inspector of Dahisar police station said, We were happy to see the commissioner on the ground asking about the problems we faced. He inquired about everything, such as flow of vehicles going in and out of the city. He also asked women police personnel about the problems they faced. He asked us all to take all safety precautions. Two accused in lock up test positive for Covid-19 Two accused kept in the Andheri lockup tested positive for Covid-19. They were arrested by MIDC police for burgling valuables worth 7 crore from a jewellery unit. Police are now tracing their contacts. (With inputs from Jayprakash S Naidu, Suraj Ojha, Faisal Tandel and Pratik Salunke). Ankara threatens to target Haftar's forces if they continue to attack Turkey's interests Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 5:26 PM Turkey has warned that it would deem the rebel forces of Libya's renegade General Khalifa Haftar "legitimate targets" if they continue to attack Turkey's interests and diplomatic missions in the violence-wracked North African country. "If our missions and our interests in Libya are targeted, we will deem Haftar's forces legitimate targets," Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday, lambasting the United Nations for its alleged failure to take action over Haftar's attacks. Ankara had previously announced that the area around its embassy in the Libyan capital was shelled by Haftar's forces. "It is unacceptable for the United Nations to remain silent against this carnage any longer," Turkey's foreign ministry further said, adding, "Countries providing military, financial and political aid to Haftar are responsible for the suffering that the people of Libya are enduring and the chaos and instability the country is being dragged into." Turkey fully supports the internationally-recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj known as the Government of National Accord (GNA) and has already signed a military deal with Tripoli, a move that infuriated Haftar, whose forces are branded by Ankara as "putschists." Since 2014, two rival seats of power have emerged in Libya, namely the Government of National Accord and another one based in the eastern city of Tobruk, supported militarily by rebel forces collectively known as the so-called Libyan National Army (LNA) under Haftar's command. The military commander, who lived in the United States for years, is supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Jordan, and launched a deadly offensive to capture Tripoli in April last year. Despite fierce fighting, Haftar has so far failed to achieve his objective of ousting the Tripoli government and the offensive has stalled outside the city. Reports say that more than 1,000 have to date been killed in the violence. International attempts to bring about peace between the two warring sides have also failed. Turkey's foreign ministry also said Haftar's Saturday attacks on Tripoli's Mitiga Airport, the only working airport in the capital, which was part of an intensified barrage of artillery fire on the capital, were "war crime." The GNA said at least six civilians, including a child, were killed when rockets rained down on the airport. Figures by the UN show that four fifths of the 130 civilian casualties recorded in the Haftar-GNA conflict in the first three months of the current year have been caused by the so-called Libyan National Army's ground fighting. Early this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that the LNA plunged into a "period of regression" after NATO member Turkey began supporting the GNA. "Even the efforts of countries that provide him (Haftar) with unlimited financial support and weapons will not be able to save him," Erdogan said. During an escalation of fighting in recent weeks, the GNA forces and their allied fighters, backed by Turkish-supplied drones, have managed to retake some territory from the LNA around the capital. Last month, Haftar proposed a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, following requests by the international community and "friendly countries." However, the GNA rejected the truce, saying it did not trust the strongman based on his previous ceasefire breaches, and that it would keep fighting. Libya plunged into chaos in 2011, when a popular uprising and a NATO intervention led to the ouster and killing of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Delta Air Lines started 2020 celebrating what it said was the most successful year in company history. Not long after, it shared a record $US1.6 billion ($2.5 billion) in profits with its 90,000 employees. But with air travel nearly shut down by the coronavirus, the airline is now bleeding money and will drop 10 more airports from its already skeletal network. Even as Delta and the other major airlines in the United States dramatically slash schedules, they are averaging an anemic 23 passengers on each domestic flight and losing $US350 million to $US400 million a day as expenses like payroll, rent and aircraft maintenance far exceed the money they are bringing in. Passenger traffic is down about 94 per cent and half of the industry's 6215 planes are parked at major airports and desert airstrips, according to Airlines for America, a trade group. US airlines have been savaged by the coronavirus. Credit:AP Yet, devastating as the downturn has been, the future is even bleaker. With much of the world closed for business, and no widely available vaccine in sight, it may be months, if not years, before airlines operate as many flights as they did before the crisis. Even when people start flying again, the industry could be transformed, much as it was after the September 11 terrorist attacks. And airline executives need only look in the not-distant past to see how lesser crises sank carriers that were household names like Pan Am and Trans World Airlines. The current crisis could push some airlines, especially smaller ones, into bankruptcy or make them takeover targets. Consumer fears about catching the virus on crowded planes could lead to reconfigured seating. Carriers may initially entice wary travellers with discounts, but if they can't fill up flights, they may resort to raising ticket prices. Miriam Margolyes sparked more than 240 complaints after saying she wanted Boris Johnson to die from coronavirus while appearing on The Last Leg. The Harry Potter star took part in the live Channel 4 show via video-call on Friday night (8 May). Margolyes was discussing the governments handling of the pandemic with host Adam Hills and stars Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker when she made the comments. Read more: Miriam Margolyes admits wanting Boris Johnson 'to die' during coronavirus battle Her appearance and comments on the show have resulted in 241 complaints to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom. An Ofcom spokeswoman told the PA news agency: We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate. Margolyes told the show she had difficulty not wanting Boris Johnson to die. Boris Johnson takes part in Clap For Carers in Downing Street. (Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images) She added: I wanted him to die and then I thought that reflects badly on me and I dont want to be the sort of person who wants people to die. So then I wanted him to get better, which he did do. But he didnt get better as a human being and I really would prefer that. A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: The programme is live and unexpected comments can happen. Actress Miriam Margolyes interviewed on the BBC Breakfast in 2006. (Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images) In this instance Miriam went on to say that she wanted him to get better. Her comments lead to her trending on Twitter, and while some praised the star for her honesty, others were shocked at what she said. Actor Laurence Fox said of her: Shes funny, she shoots from the hip and she doesnt give a s***. Read more: Miriam Margolyes brands UK government 'utterly deplorable' Good on her. We spent yesterday celebrating victory over authoritarian tyranny. She is free to speak. We all are. Meanwhile The Suns Dan Wooton wasnt impressed. He said: Shame on Miriam Margolyes. Sick and disgusting wishing death on the Prime Minister. And do any of Channel 4's left-wing presenters step in? As part of our #LockdownLessons series, Bizcommunity is reaching out to South Africa's top industry players to share their experience of the current Covid-19 crisis, how their organisations are navigating these unusual times, where the challenges and opportunities lie, and their industry outlook for the near future. Feryal Domingo, operations director at Inyathelo What was your initial response to the crisis/lockdown and has your experience of it been different to what you expected? Comment on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on your organisation or economy as a whole. How is your organisation responding to the crisis? Comment on the challenges and opportunities. How has the lockdown affected your staff? / What temporary HR policies have you put in place regarding remote working, health & safety, etc.? How are you navigating physical distancing while keeping your team close-knit and aligned? How have you had to change the way you operate? Any trends youve seen emerge as a result of the crisis? Your key message to those in the sector? What do you predict the next six months will be like? We chatted to Feryal Domingo, operations director at Inyathelo, to get her take.Our first port of call was to inform the board of our virtual office work plans, and to confirm their support. Our trustees availability and counsel have been a source of great encouragement. The Covid-19 pandemic has naturally been a learning curve for all of us, but we have been boosted by the commitment and resolve of management and staff. We have been fortunate in that good governance and forward financial planning have ensured we have financial reserves to sustain us.Department of Social Development (DSD) statistics put the number of local NPOs at 201,644 in 2019. A study by the Funding Practice Alliance showed that the majority of local NPOs are newly established and micro (annual income below R50,000) to small (annual income above R50,000 and below R500,000). Many South African non-profit organisations (NPOs) are already on a precarious financial footing, and they face an even more uncertain future given the coronavirus pandemic. This is despite their services being so valuable, whether it is providing shelter for the homeless to setting up soup kitchens.Our focus has been two-fold: ensuring support for our staff and ensuring their safety, and productivity; and, as a capacity-building and training organisation, advising other NPOs on building resilience and putting systems in place to boost the prospect of long-term sustainability.NPO staff are working under extremely challenging conditions and experiencing considerable stress. The already precarious financial state of many NPOs has been exacerbated by the economic downturn and limited opportunities to network and fundraise. While NPOs' work becomes more important by the day, their resources are dwindling.We have, accordingly, set up a portal so that NPOs and other organisations can access practical, accurate and relevant information, and find out more about resources to support their activities during this stressful time. For more information, click here Inyathelo also has numerous publications, training videos, toolkits and research reports online, many of which can be accessed free of charge. We encourage NPOs to make use of these resources to help them navigate the current crisis and to better position themselves to attract support.We considered health and safety risks facing staff using public transport; and those key staff who are required to support the organisations business model, and how this would impact on servicing our non-profit rental clients working from the Inyathelo offices. We also put in place measures to ensure all staff have the relevant tools, equipment and data capacity to work safely from home; and work plans and schedules to ensure that those working remotely feel included and participative in the ongoing work required to deliver on the mission of the organisation. We obtained the approval of the board for our plans, and with their support, we ensured that our staff would have some form of secure livelihood during the lockdown period.Staff at most NPOs are grappling with uncertainty, fear and anxiety and it is important to address concerns and questions. We have found it important to be clear about the challenges one is facing and the goals one is prioritising. Ask staff to voice their ideas and you will have stronger buy-in when it is time to implement changes. Staff mostly need assurance that they have jobs, so keeping in touch and making sure that they know what track the organisation is on, are key. Dont leave anything out. No surprises. This is a worrying time, but if it is properly managed, the people in your organisation could emerge closer than ever and committed to the vital work they do.At Inyathelo, we have been appraising our vision and mission and strategic interventions for several months. The coronavirus pandemic has brought new urgency and depth to our deliberations. How can we broaden our sphere of contribution and influence to include more community-based organisations? What can we do to support them, to build capacity and strengthen them in their work? Simultaneously, how can we be more strategic and effective in partnering with others to bring about systemic change to the underlying systems? How to facilitate conversations and bridge impasses?Covid-19 will usher in a new world order. We are challenged to reassess how we will express our solidarity with our fellow human beings, and how we will partner to bring about a fairer and more just social order.We have seen some extremely well-run neighbourhood operations often manned by volunteers that are providing vital services. Cape Town Together is a movement supporting neighbourhood action around Covid-19 and there are sterling examples of street champions and volunteers offering services such as soup kitchens and mask-making. We have re-ignited interest and collaborations with players in the sector, with the full realisation of how important it is to work together in order to strengthen this very important civil society sector. It is certainly more cost effective!On a macro level, we would like government to recognise and support the true role that NPOs play. While the president committed himself in the 2018 SONA to the notion of a social compact with civil society, we need to improve the interface between civil society, government, business and philanthropy. We need to boost governments working relationship with the sector.It is important despite the current extreme pressures of lockdown to try to plan ahead and run a tight ship. Our experience is that both new and long-established NPOs are frequently ill-informed about the need for effective governance.This can result in NPOs losing registration status and benefits; misunderstandings grow between the governing body and operational staff; there is mismanagement of financial affairs; and they incur penalty fees for not submitting documents on time to public offices. With many NPOs facing a dire economic future, addressing these issues now can help avoid losing out on potential donor funding due to non-compliance.Covid-19 brings a deadly addition to a list of already untenable conditions in numerous townships and informal settlements: limited access to basic public services, unemployment, and high levels of crime, violence, HIV and Aids. Social distancing is virtually impossible when many families live in small, poorly ventilated shacks and only have access to filthy public toilets, let alone gaining access to preventative supplies such as hand sanitiser.For the NPO sector, the pandemic has posed practical questions on how to help deliver basic supplies and services and help lower the rate of infection. In addition, it also begs examination of systemic issues of inequality, of social justice and helping to bring about profound shifts in our unequal society.This is a wake-up call about inequality that questions our commitment to bringing about real change.We also need to hold state institutions such as the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and the Solidarity Fund to account, and to monitor and report on their ability to deliver to intended recipients. We also need to advocate for institutional reform in order to improve the flow of resources to civil society organisations. Ofcom has received 402 complaints after Miriam Margolyes said she had wanted Prime Minister Boris Johnson to die from coronavirus. Miriam made the outrageous statement on Channel 4 show, The Last Leg last month when she was asked how she felt the Government had handled the virus crisis so far. A spokersperson for Ofcom confirmed the figure to MailOnline on Monday and the media watchdog have been urged to investigate Channel 4. Complaints: Ofcom receives 402 complaints after Miriam Margolyes said she 'wanted Boris Johnson to die from coronavirus' during her appearance on Channel 4's The Last Leg One Tory MP previously said Ofcom should investigate and demand an apology from Channel 4. Another Conservative MP expressed disbelief at how Left-wing luvvies felt this type of remark was acceptable. The row was sparked when presenter of the show Adam Hills asked Miss Margolyes how she felt the Government had handled the virus crisis so far. Shocking: Boris left St Thomas's hospital in central London last month after a week-long stay due to the coronavirus and spent some time in intensive care - he could have lost his life Speaking from her home through a video link, the actress, 78, replied: Appallingly, of course, appallingly. Its a disgrace, its a scandal. I had difficulty not wanting Boris Johnson to die. I wanted him to die. Then I thought that will reflect badly on me... so then I wanted him to get better. There were concerns yesterday at the way the presenters Mr Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker had failed to step in during the conversation with the Harry Potter actress. When asked if it would be apologising to Mr Johnson, a Channel 4 spokesman said the programme was live and unexpected comments can happen. It added that the actress had gone on to say she wanted Mr Johnson to get better. But there was fury from the Conservatives about the comments from the long-time Labour supporter. Bill Cash, the Tory MP for Stone, said: It is an outrageous comment to make and completely in flagrant breach of the broadcasting act. I believe Ofcom should look into it and demand an apology. And fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen added: You really have to wonder what world these Left-wing luvvies inhabit and who they talk to that they think these sorts of comments are acceptable. Worrying time: Boris and Carrie Symonds anounced they had welcomed their first son together on Instagram on May 1 Carrie's tribute to NHS heroes who 'saved Boris's life' Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds have named their son Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, in a tribute to their grandfathers and the doctors who helped save the Prime Minister's life. The third name is a reference to Dr Nick Price and Dr Nick Hart, who Ms Symonds referred to as 'the two doctors that saved Boris' life last month'. Nicholas Price graduated from University of Birmingham's medical school in 1991. He has specialist training in infectious diseases, general medicine tuberculosis, tropical medicine and infection prevention and control. He was previously awarded a MRC Clinical Training Fellowship for research into tuberculosis at The Hammersmith Hospital. Dr Price became a consultant at Guy's and St Thomas' in 2005. In 2009, he was promoted to the Trust's Director of Infection and joint Director of Infection Prevention and Control. Nicholas Hart graduated from University of London's medical school in 1993. His area of expertise include weaning, rehabilitation and home mechanical ventilation in patients with chronic respiratory failure. He has been awarded nine Local Clinical Excellence Award points. Dr Hart became the director of the Lane Fox Respiratory Service, the largest rehabilitation and home ventilation service in the UK, in 2012. He is also a Professor at King's College London and Director of Research and Development Delivery at Guy's and St Thomas'. Source: NHS Advertisement Channel 4 has already suffered difficult relations with the Conservatives after a series of incidents including its decision to replace Mr Johnson on a debate with an ice sculpture. And the broadcasters former news and current affairs chief described him as a known liar. Boris left St Thomas's hospital in central London last month after a week-long stay due to the coronavirus and spent some time in intensive care. He later revealed that doctors prepared to announce his death in case he lost his coronavirus battle, admitting he was 'a lucky man'. As his chances of survival balanced on a knife-edge, he said he was given 'litres and litres' of oxygen as medics fought to keep him alive in intensive care. In his first interview since recovering from Covid-19 - and the birth of his son Wilfred - the PM recalled his frustration that he could not seem to shake the virus. But Mr Johnson described how the sobering experience allowed him to see the 'fantastic' care offered by the NHS, his voice cracking as he reflected on the rollercoaster past few weeks. 'I realised it was getting pretty serious', he told the Sun on Sunday, 'And I remember saying to myself, ''How am I going to get out of this?''' He added: 'To be honest, the doctors had all sorts of plans for what to do if things went badly wrong. 'I was not in particularly brilliant shape because the oxygen levels in my blood kept going down. 'But it was thanks to some wonderful, wonderful nursing that I made it. They really did it and they made a huge difference.' Mr Johnson's personal rollercoaster month saw him bed-ridden with coronavirus before a dramatic recovery and return to work, and then rushing back to hospital as fiancee Carrie Symonds, 32, gave birth to his son. Wilfred Johnson was unveiled to the world by his mother in a social media photo on May 1. The Prime Minister's updated lockdown recovery plans with the new 'Stay Alert' message have been rejected by political and trade union leaders in Northern Ireland. Last night the First and Deputy First Ministers said the Executive will not adopt the UK Government's new slogan, instead sticking with the 'Stay Home, Save Lives' message. The Stormont Executive is to discuss its own road map for recovery at its meeting today. It is likely the plan will be published tomorrow when the Assembly sits. Speaking last night First Minister Arlene Foster said: "People across Northern Ireland have listened and acted on the public health advice over the last six weeks. They have stayed at home, kept their distance and washed their hands, and because of that they have saved lives. "We have flattened the curve of infection, reduced the 'R' rate to below one and protected our health service, but we are not out of the woods yet. "As the Executive begins to finalise our plans for recovery, we need to strike the balance between continuing to protect people's lives and the health service and give people hope for the future. "The changes that we will introduce will be gradual, proportionate and based on scientific and medical advice and will be taken at the right time and in the best interests of the people of Northern Ireland." Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said: "Society has changed beyond all recognition over the past six weeks as people have followed the advice to stay at home and save lives. "That remains the message. As an Executive, we know it has been tough and we understand the impact the regulations are having on what was once our normal lives. "But we are at a critical stage in the fight against the virus and so our recovery must be phased, gradual and strategic." Other parties here have also criticised Boris Johnson's "road map". Ulster Unionist leader Steve Aiken said: "It is our strong belief that now is not the time to change the message or direction. "We must continue to keep staying home, keep protecting our NHS and, above all, keep saving lives." SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said he had told Mr Johnson the new slogan is "a nonsense". Alliance Party MP Stephen Farry said the new messaging could cause confusion. "There will undoubtedly be people in Northern Ireland now left confused as to the best way to approach staying safe during this crisis," he said. Teachers' union the NASUWT backed the Executive's stance. General secretary Dr Patrick Roache said: "The NASUWT welcomes the comments by Arlene Foster that Northern Ireland is sticking with the 'Stay Home, Save Lives' message. This reaffirmation of the stay at home message provides clarity for the public and those working in schools." Trade union Nipsa also said the new message risked confusing people. "The message is mixed - stay at home if you can, but go to work," general secretary Alison Millar said. "Now is not the time to send out confusing messages." And the Scottish and Welsh leaders said their devolved regions would not use the Prime Minister's 'Stay Alert' messaging. At the age of 24, Francy Sandoval has unwittingly become the sole breadwinner for her family, after her mom, dad and brother a nanny, a painter and a server all lost their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic. Her family needs the money, so the aspiring nurse feels she has no choice but to keep her high-risk job at the front desk of a suburban Chicago community health clinic treating many COVID-19 patients. But her home hardly feels like a haven either. Working during this time is not as stressful as coming home, she said. You were surrounded with patients who could have been or are positive and you might get your parents sick by just opening the door. Sandoval, an immigrant from Colombia, is among tens of millions of Americans living in multigenerational homes where one of the main strategies for avoiding infection following social distancing protocols can be near impossible. The problem reverberates deepest in communities of color, where families from different generations live together at much higher rates, in some cases nearly double that of white families. Joint living also often intersects with factors like poverty, health issues and jobs that cant be done from home, offering another glimpse of what fuels the troubling racial disparities of COVID-19. When you have generations in a household, some of them have to work, especially if they are in the service jobs or the retail or the grocery. They have to come in and out of that household, said the Rev. Willie Briscoe, who leads a black church on Milwaukees north side, where the pandemic has hit hard. You cannot safely quarantine. Families live together for many reasons saving money, pooling resources, child care, elderly care or just culture. Its a practice thats been on the rise since the 1980s, particularly after the recession, experts say. In the U.S., roughly 64 million people live in multigenerational family households, or 1 in 5 households, according to Richard Fry, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center. But its far more common among people of color: 29% of those households are Asian, 27% are Hispanic, 26% are African American and 16% are white. Fry said two major factors accounting for multigenerational living are location, with higher rates in densely populated urban centers where the cost of living is high, and culture, especially for immigrants in the U.S. Living with family into adulthood, common in many parts of the world, was blamed for contributing to the spread of the coronavirus in Spain and Italy. For families of color in the U.S., theres also more chance that household members cant work from home as federal guidelines suggest. Fewer than 20% of black workers can telework, according to a March study by the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute. Anthony Travis, a 65-year-old retired black man whos diabetic, has high blood pressure and is a cancer survivor, shares a home with his adult daughter and his elderly sister. The daughter works as a technician for a cable and internet company a job deemed essential during the pandemic. For them, living together was a matter of taking care of one another. Then Travis got diagnosed with COVID-19. For weeks, he suffered alone in his room, with sweats and chills, struggling to breathe. He would think twice about venturing to the microwave, where his sister, who has a heart condition, would leave his food. The worst part was when his daughter got pneumonia: He could hear her through the walls. I have to, as a parent, sit up and listen to my child go through pain and agony and suffering because of not being able to breathe, he said. I couldnt give her comfort, other than with my words. Dr. Garth Walker, an emergency room physician at a Chicago veterans hospital, said he has trouble counseling families living in cramped quarters about what they should do. His best advice is to choose one person to grocery shop and consider sending the most at-risk person to live elsewhere if possible. They just have a difficulty adapting to a pandemic because they cant adhere to the recommendations that we suggest to everybody, like physical distancing, because it is a privilege, he said of multigenerational families. Thats echoed by Dr. Lisa Green, who runs the Family Christian Health Center south of Chicago, a low-income clinic where most of the nearly 20,000 patients each year are black or Latino and multigenerational living is common. Those options that we are telling everyone else over the phone to do are not options for them, Green said. When you have a fixed income, your options are fixed. Sandoval follows strict procedures at home, removing her work clothes immediately and wiping every surface she touches before retreating alone to the attic. Thats where she spends her time, including her most recent birthday. She hopes to start nursing school online soon and dreams of stress-free family time again. My mom said, I cant wait until you are able to come home, and I can hug you, Sandoval said. Governors Office employees will follow Illinois Department of Public Health guidance and work from home after a member of Gov. J.B. Pritzkers senior staff tested positive for COVID-19. The staff member had been asymptomatic but tested positive late last week and was in close contact with the governor and other staff members, according to a statement from the office. The governor and all other staff members reporting to the office have tested negative. The governor was tested again Sunday and tested negative. A day after Punjab ministers and states top officers, including chief secretary Karan Avtar Singh, indulged in a showdown over excise policy in a pre-cabinet meet on Saturday, the ministers have decided to seek an explanation from excise officials for revenue shortfall. The issue will be raised with chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh at a cabinet meeting on Monday. This meeting had been deferred after Saturdays face-off. The department is under the CM. There was a revenue shortfall of around Rs 1,000 crore at the end of 2018-19 fiscal. Last fiscal that ended on March 31, the shortfall was around Rs 650 crore. HT has learnt that the ministers would also oppose compensating liquor contractors for the lockdown, imposed from March 23, with vends remaining shut for 45 days, nine in 2019-20 and 36 this fiscal. There is no justification to extend the current financial year into 2021-22 as it would spoil the entire revenue generation calendar. The idea of compensating contractors by giving them more time in the next year is not good, said technical education minister Charanjeet Singh Channi. Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal has also opposed this proposal. The department has also proposed to compensate contractors by reducing revenue targets by 10%, in proportion with the 36 days lost this fiscal. This will mean the state foregoing Rs 620 crore, as the annual target for this year was Rs 6,200 crore. The loss this year, however, is huge. Of 750 liquor groups opened for sale, only 500 were sold, with the rest 30% unsold. Who will compensate for this loss which runs into Rs 2,000 crore, questioned Channi. The excise department wants the cabinet to give clearance to compensate contractors for 45 days. Why were the stocks not sealed when lockdown was imposed on March 23? Now, the department doesnt talk of the stock audit. There are the reports that contractors have liquidated their stocks during the lockdown, said cooperation minister Sukhjinder Singh Radhawa. No one questions officers, revenue in other states is picking up and we are sliding down, said Randhawa. Ministers want chief secretary to apologise The ministers have taken a serious view of chief secretarys comments on Saturday and would seek an apology from him. He did not initially come for face-to-face meeting, and he turned up for it on the insistence of ministers. The ministers have also objected to this. This shows hes very arrogant and wants to prevail upon elected representatives. We want him to tender an apology, said a minister. ******************** Strap/Blurb Punjab CM to chair cabinet meeting today after a show-off between ministers and state chief secy led to its deferment on Saturday; ministers also question proposals to compensate liquor contractors for losses incurred during the lockdown &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Quote Of 750 liquor groups opened for sale, only 500 were sold this year, with the rest 30% unsold. Who will compensate for this loss, which runs into Rs 2,000 crore? Charanjit Singh Channi, cabinet minister SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 41-year-old Tucson man died after being struck by an SUV following an argument outside of a convenience store on the city's south side, police say. The incident started about 6 p.m. Saturday when Jesus Alberto Quevedo got into an argument with an unidentified man at the Circle K store near the corner of West Valencia Road and South Sixth Avenue, police said in a news release Sunday. During the confrontation, Quevedo followed the man to a Lincoln Navigator parked at the store as the man got into the passenger side of the vehicle. As the driver, Adrian Gilbert Manriquez, 27, tried to leave, police say Quevedo stepped in front of the SUV and slammed his hands on the hood. Manriquez struck Quevedo with the vehicle and drove away, police said. Quevedo died later at a hospital. Manriquez was arrested at his home a short time after the incident. He was booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal crash, police said. Michelle Obama waits backstage on her book tour in a scene from the documentary "Becoming." (Netflix) Whenever Nadia Hallgren was asked about the highlight of her filmmaking career, she always had an answer at the ready: shaking Michelle Obamas hand. It was just a quick gesture a polite thank you offered from the then first lady to the camera crew who had been trailing her for a CNN special on a 2016 trip to Liberia. But the cinematographer had long felt a connection to the Obamas, viewing their eight years in the White House as an incredible time in America" that Hallgren "experienced very deeply and emotionally. So when Hallgren received a call from the couples company, Higher Ground Productions, asking if shed be interested in shooting a documentary about Michelle Obamas upcoming book tour, she immediately started cramming. She had three weeks before shed take a train from her home in Brooklyn to Washington to interview with Obama in person. So Hallgren searched YouTube to watch her speeches, listened to her voice on podcasts and reread both of former President Barack Obamas memoirs to learn about the couple's relationship. But when she eventually turned up at the D.C. office in the fall of 2018, she couldnt ground herself. Michelle Obamas office, softly lighted and covered in beautiful artwork, felt ethereal. It looked like a dream, so I kept wondering if I was in one, Hallgren recalled from an apartment in Rockaway Beach, N.Y., where she has been spending the shutdown. She gets up and starts walking in my direction and Im very short, so she kind of towers over me. I extend my hand to shake her hand, and in my nervousness, we had this very awkward, intertwined-finger handshake. I was like, Oh my God, Im messing this up already!" But Obama who declined to be interviewed for this story wasnt put off. She suggested they hug instead, and they spent the next 30 minutes sharing stories about their respective upbringings. By the time the meeting was over, Hallgren had the job. Director Nadia Hallgren films Michelle Obama for "Becoming." (Netflix) Except it still wasnt entirely clear what the job was. At the time, Hallgren had no idea that the footage shed been hired to collect would end up in "Becoming," the Netflix documentary she also directed that debuted on the streaming platform Wednesday. Executives at Higher Ground which has a multiyear deal to produce films and series for Netflix said the material might well just live in Obamas personal archive. Story continues I looked at it like this: The bright side would always be spending a bunch of time with Mrs. Obama and having an incredible experience, even if no one ever knew about it, said Hallgren, who worked as a cameraperson on docs including RBG and The Hunting Ground, as well as Oprahs Master Class. But after reviewing some early footage, the filmmaking team agreed that it had the potential to make a feature-length movie. Hallgren ultimately trailed Obama on 23 of her 34 tour stops, filming her in conversation with the likes of Stephen Colbert and Gayle King. She recorded community events with high school students and church groups, observing Obamas effect on people of color in the U.S. But she was also able to capture the behind-the-scenes machinations of a massively famous persons life, revealing the security procedures, fashion consultations and hotel stays that make up Obamas day-to-day. The truth is that when we were on the tour, there were no parameters, Hallgren said of the restrictions placed on her. On the first day of filming, I went through certain channels so that I could ride in the car with her. I go to the car to load in, and theres an agent outside the door. I said, Hi, sir. I will be riding with Mrs. Obama today in the motorcade. And hes like, Are you sure about that? Give me one second. He turns around [to check] and hes like, You know, this never happens, and he opens the door and helps me load in, and Im like, Wow. Just to get in the car. Michelle Obama, during her time as first lady, embraces an admirer, as seen in the documentary. (White House / Netflix) During the first weeks of the shoot, Hallgren was intimidated. She wanted to make the film feel intimate, so she knew she couldnt remain in the corner of a room using a long lens. Instead, she had to be physically close to Obama a task that initially required some positive self-talk. I had to tell myself, You cannot be scared. Get that courage,'" Hallgren said. Because when youre making a film like this, every moment is valuable. Im not the type of filmmaker who is like, Im gonna hang out for two weeks with no camera. If I'm there, Im filming. She opted to fill the movie with verite footage instead of long sit-down interviews, using the onstage chats to reveal Obamas backstory. Hallgren also decided against a formal question-and-answer session with Barack Obama, who only turns up briefly in the documentary after its first 30 minutes. Because the movie is from Michelle Obamas perspective, the director decided to include her husband only when he naturally appeared in her life like backstage after her D.C. tour stop, when she asks what he thought of the appearance. Nadia Hallgren, the director of "Becoming." (Netflix) Hallgren was also keen to convey Obamas effect on strangers, which she first noticed during a book signing. I was really struck by how she locks into people when she meets them and is totally present, she said. She interacts a lot with young people and really enjoys the ability to share something of value with them her wisdom and perspective, being able to talk through some of their fears about their futures. Shes just really good at it. She gets great joy out of doing it, and I think that might be why the advice is given with lots of love and thoughtfulness. From my observation, she gets as much joy from those interactions as the folks waiting on line do. One of the youths who crossed paths with Obama on tour was Shayla Allen, now a 17-year-old on the cusp of high school graduation in Philadelphia. During a surprise roundtable with Obama at her school, the onetime first lady offered Allen guidance on how to avoid being more than just a number in a world that focuses so much on GPA and test scores. Throughout my childhood, Id been a dancer," Allen said. "And in competitions, you want to get to first place. You want to go to the best school in the city. You want to be valedictorian so you can choose the best college. She told me to see myself as more than in a competition so I could realize all the things I loved and wanted to do with my life," said the senior, who is planning to study biology at Arcadia University in the fall. "It truly helped me to see I didnt have to be a statistic to be good, as long as Im myself. High school student Shayla Allen is among those included in the film. (Netflix) When Obama watched the first cut of Becoming, it was these interactions that she most enjoyed seeing on screen. Hallgren said she gave feedback about moments she loved like seeing peoples faces in the audience as well as guidance on how to strengthen the narrative. She knows her story better than me, no matter how many books Ive read, Hallgren said. So she gave me tips to deepen her story, and it was really helpful. Ultimately, Hallgren hopes Becoming reinforces the importance of storytelling, and how transformative it can be to learn from anothers experience. Mrs. Obamas mother would always say, My kids arent special. There are millions of kids like them on the South Side of Chicago, the director said. At a young age, Mrs. Obama was taught that it takes community and family and love to develop a level of confidence. She never felt invisible. When her guidance counselor said, Youre not going to Princeton, she was wounded. But she had the inner confidence to say, Youre not right about that. Mumbai, May 11 : Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday filed his nomination papers for the May 21 Maharashtra Legislative Council biennial elections to nine vacant seats, here. A host of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders, including Nationalist Congress Party's Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state Congress President and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat and senior Shiv Sena leaders were present. Besides, Legislative Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe also filed her nomination as a Shiv Sena candidate. NCP candidates Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari also submitted their nominations to the Returning Officer, while Congress lone candidate Rajesh Rathod also followed suit. From the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party four candidates are fielded: Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil, Praveen Datke, Gopichand Padalkar and Ajit Gopchhede, and they also filed their nomination papers this afternoon. After the Congress consenting to withdraw its second candidate Rajkishore alias Papa Modi late on Sunday, the stage is set for all the nine candidates to be elected unopposed. Accordingly, now the ruling MVA will get five seats and the BJP will get four nominees elected - without a contest - to the Upper House. With the MLC elections, Thackeray - who was unanimously elected the MVA Chief Minister on November 28 - will make his debut as a Legislator, a mandatory requirement since he was not a member of either House of Legislature. He will also become the second member of the state's numero uno political clan to enter the Legislature as an elected member after his son and Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray. "The election to nine MLC seats will be unopposed. We discussed with the Congress leadership that this is not the time for elections but to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. They honoured our request and amicably withdrew their second candidate," Sena MP Sanjay Raut said after the nominations were filed on Monday. The nine vacancies in the state's upper House will be filled up in the biennial poll through the electoral college comprising 288 Legislators of the Legislative Assembly. A man was arrested here after tobacco products were found in his possession, the first such arrest in the state, after Jharkhand government imposed a complete ban on all types of tobacco products to prevent spitting in public places that could increase the spread of coronavirus infection. The man, a driver by profession, was arrested along with the banned tobacoo products at Sarai road, Dumka town police station in-charge Sanjay Kumar Malviya told reports here on Sunday. A case under section 188 (disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant) under the Indian Penal Code was registered against him, he said. The owner of the car was also arrested, the police said. The banned materials---eight bundles of khaini (tobacco substance) and two bundles of cigarettes--were seized from the car he was driving, the police officer said. On April 22, the state government had issued a notification prohibiting cigarette, e-cigarette, bidi, pan masala, hookah, gutka besides jarda and khaini consumption in public places. The offence will be punishable under section 188 IPC (disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant) that would attract imprisonment of six months or fine of Rs 1,000, said Principal Secretary (Health) Nitin Madan Kulkarni. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The facility manager at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Jacob Arthur Quarm is confident that the 100-bed infectious disease isolation and treatment facility being constructed at the Ga East Hospital will meet international certification requirements. Mr. Quarm was speaking during a visit to the project site to discuss and develop concepts for laboratories within the facility. The virologist, who has been working at the Noguchi Institute at the University of Ghana since 1991, indicated that he was astonished by the scale of the project and the speed at which it is being constructed. He said he is overwhelmed with joy because with the facility, Ghana will at long last get its first infectious diseases centre. I was a little bit surprised when I heard that it was being built and I'm waking up to the fact that it is actually physically here and it gives me a lot of joy to know that in this time and era we are waking up to the challenges of health and trying to separate the different types of challenges and making infrastructural provisions to be able to achieve safe healthcare for everybody, he said. He congratulated the Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund for the initiative which is delivering Ghanas first infectious disease isolation and treatment facility. They've done a very good job and it is very timely and the pace at which the contractors are working is also very good," he stressed. The first infectious disease isolation and treatment centre in Ghana is scheduled to be ready for use by the end of May. It is being built under the auspices of the Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund with donations from corporate organisations and individuals. It will initially be used to treat critically ill covid-19 patients and when the pandemic has blown over, it will also be used to isolate and treat people suffering from other infectious diseases. The Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund is seeking more funding to be able to construct similar facilities in Takoradi, Kumasi and Tamale in the foreseeable future. The Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund is an initiative by private business people who set it up with a seed fund of One Million Ghana Cedis, while campaigning to raise at least One Hundred Million Ghana Cedis from local and international businesses as well as the general public to aid the fight against Covid-19 in Ghana. For more information on how to donate/contribute, please visit: www.ghanacovid19fund.com Watch video here: New South Wales recorded only one new case of coronavirus on Sunday after 5,200 tests. The patient was a returned traveller from the United Kingdom meaning there was no recorded community transmission. There have been only 14 new cases of the virus in Australia's most populated state over the past five days, sparking calls to quickly relax lockdown. A 'roadmap' showing the way out of lockdown was presented to Australians on Friday. But NSW will not relax restrictions until a week later. Pictured: Volleyball on Sydney's Bondi Beach in March New South Wales recorded only one new case of coronavirus on Sunday after 5,200 tests. Pictured: Premier Berejiklian Protesters demanding more personal freedom clashed with police in Sydney's CBD on Sunday after Premier Gladys Berejiklian said restrictions will not be relaxed until Friday, a full week after the Prime Minster gave the green light. Explaining her cautious approach, Ms Berejiklian said she feared a second wave of the virus. 'The more activity there is, the more likelihood there is of a spike in cases,' she told reporters on Monday. Threatening a second lockdown, she added: 'The second we let our guard down the cases will go up again and then governments will have to look at other options and we don't want to be in that position. 'We rely on the advice of experts and consult with relevant people before we embark on our path forward.' The economy is bleeding $4billion a week due to lockdown. Pictured: Centrelink queues Ms Berejiklian warned that residents must obey social distancing rules after restrictions are relaxed. 'I'm extremely worried about people being complacent. We have to assume every time we leave the house we have the virus and that's how we have to lead our lives,' she said. The Berejiklian government on Sunday announced the easing of some restrictions from Friday, including allowing outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people, such as a physical training session or sitting down in a park. Up to five people, including children, will be able to visit a home and religious gatherings and places of worship can also welcome up to 10 worshippers. Surfers are seen at Duranbah Beach on the Queensland where they are allowed to exercise and enjoy beaches at leisure This image shows the federal government guidelines for relaxing lockdown by July CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement Restaurants and cafes will also be allowed to have up to 10 patrons at a time, while ensuring they maintain social distancing and four square metres space per person. Ms Berejiklian admitted the 10-people rule means it will not be viable for many bigger venues to re-open. A total of 10 guests will be allowed at weddings, and up to 20 people at indoor funerals and up to 30 at outdoor funerals. However, holidays in regional NSW are still banned. No new coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in NSW with the state's death toll sitting at 46. Ms Berejiklian on Monday urged people to come forward and get tested - especially on weekends when testing numbers generally drop. 'We need to remain vigilant and come forward and get tested,' she told reporters in Sydney. 'As the months and weeks get colder... please don't assume it's the flu, assume it's coronavirus.' It is up to the states and territories to decide when outdoor activities with more people can resume. Pictured: Surfers' Paradise Students in the state will return for one day of face-to-face learning per week from Monday, with attendance to increase over the course of the term. The premier said Year 12 students will be back in public schools on average three days a week, with some Year 12 students going back full time this week. 'We are looking forward to that number increasing,' Ms Berejiklian said. 'We expect to have full-time teaching by the end of May in many if not the majority of our schools.' Ms Berejiklian said it was not compulsory to send children to school and parents would not be penalised for keeping them at home. The NSW government has urged parents to be vigilant about their children's health and to keep them away from school if they exhibit any symptoms of coronavirus. WALLINGFORD Mayor William Dickinson Jr. has vetoed a $7.4 million plan to renovate the Community Pool. Dickinson issued his veto in a letter submitted to the Town Council late Friday, the last possible day he could have put a stop to the pool renovation plan. The council had approved the expenditure on April 28. The mayor said that while the pool project is worthy of support ... it is not time sensitive and is an ill-advised undertaking given the current economic climate brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. This is a new kind of economic downturn not experienced previously, Dickinson wrote. We can and should renovate the pool when the overwhelming financial hardships of citizens and businesses are no longer prevalent. The council has 10 days to overturn the mayors veto. The council had voted 6-3 to approve the $7.4 million pool renovation plan and needs seven votes to override the veto. Democratic Councilman Jason Zandri said he doesnt expect the mayoral veto to be overturned. Nor does he expect Dickinson to compromise and accept some sort of lesser expenditure. Its dead, Zandri said. The mindset of the mayor is not to spend any money, period. This is the elected leader of our town, who instead of offering us some kind of hope, just offers us gloom and doom. Fellow Democrat Gina Morgenstein called Dickinsons veto short-sighted. We are not going to do well as a town if we just curl up and hold on to our money, Morgenstein said. This was a project that was going to be bonded with payments spread out over time. The expenditure should be viewed as a way to put people back to work in the community who might currently be without a job. Zandri said the pools future without the improvements is grim. The bathhouse is 30 years out of date and when there is a biological problem in the pool, it is so big, it takes all day to clean it out, he said. Youre never going to see bonding rates this low and costs are only going to rise. It would be smart management to do it in a year like this, at a time when people arent going to want to buy passes to it any way, because of the coronavirus. Town officials spent much of the past 18 months discussing the future of the pool, which was last renovated about 20 years ago. The pool has seen dwindling attendance in recent years and supporters of the overhaul plan contend a newer facility might result in more usage of the facility. The town spent $625,000 designing the proposed pool upgrade. Then, last September, the council approved a $5.65 million upgrade that would include a new 8,000-square-foot pool, a splash pad, a new bathhouse with family changing rooms and a 116-space parking lot. But bids for the construction of the pool came back in April, in excess of the original appropriation. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com KITCHENER The Kitchener Waterloo branch of St. John Ambulance was ready to take its new patient-treatment trailer out to assist at large community events in March. Then COVID-19 hit. Now the trailer and its well-trained volunteers are going to Ray of Hope in downtown Kitchener to provided coronavirus screening and education to the people lined up for a free meal, and some medical care when needed. This is an opportunity that we can get out there and help, said Joshua Reitzel, chief of the medical first responder division. Three evenings a week, the 30-foot trailer is parked outside Ray of Hope to meet people as they begin arriving for when dinner is served. Its staffed each day by six St. John Ambulance volunteers and instructors including from the Cambridge branch. All are trained in first aid and some advanced medical first responders and all sidelined by the pandemic that would usually have them busy providing care at community gatherings until ambulances arrive. St. John Ambulance attends events across Waterloo Region year-round from Rangers games to concerts like Ever After and public gatherings like the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival and unsanctioned St. Patricks Day party in Waterloo. Outside Ray of Hope, the volunteers talk to people lined up to check on their wellness while also doing COVID-19 screening and education. Some people are unaware or dont understand whats happening with the pandemic. We try and get out there and educate them on everything thats happening, Reitzel said. Its screening questions to see if they are experiencing any of the symptoms. They can provide wound care inside the trailer, which is climate-controlled and outfitted with four cots that fold out from the walls. If needed, people can be connected with medical care or the isolation shelter. St. John Ambulance teamed up with the KW Inner City Health Alliance, which is a group of several local providers aiming to better respond to the needs of the homeless population. Reitzel said theyre happy to help where they can, using their skills and feeling useful during such an unprecedented situation. Its a real feel-good moment being there in that role. As restaurants struggle to survive the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsoms office recently announced an initiative that provides a financial lifeline to independent restaurants and encourages them to hire and promote more women and people of color. The High Road Kitchens initiative, supported through public and private funds, is being led in part by One Fair Wage, a national organization dedicated to raising pay and increasing equity among service workers. Through the program, which advocates say is the first of its kind in the nation, restaurants are offered money toward daily operations and the rehiring of staff, many of whom were laid off in March following the state shelter-in-place order. The funding comes with commitments. By joining the program, the restaurants vow to pay livable wages; join One Fair Wage within the next few years; provide food, free or at discounted rates, to low-wage workers, health care workers, first responders and others in need during the pandemic; and go through training, provided by One Fair Wage, to address race and gender inequities within the restaurant industry. Its this latter point that Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage and director of UC Berkeleys Food Labor Research Center, said she believes could forever change the restaurant industry in California. Unlike other changes in the industry, equity is not something you can really mandate. Instead, were trying to incentivize employers to understand the value of equity and want to move in that direction, she said. Clearly, the pandemic laid bare all of the industrys issues that have existed for far too long. This initiative shapes relief in a way that also shapes the future. Jayaraman said that as of last week, more than a dozen restaurants are taking part. Most either have received or are in the process of receiving $10,000 to $25,000 through High Road Kitchens. She said the program could soon grow to 30 restaurants across the state. San Francisco restaurants Flour & Water, Namu Stonepot and Nopalito, along with Oakland restaurants Obelisco and AlaMar Kitchen, are among the early participants. Before the pandemic, Californias restaurant industry was one of the largest private-sector groups in the country, employing around 1.6 million people, which was 9% of Californias workforce. The states restaurant industry generated over $10 billion in revenue and $905 million in federal and local sales taxes in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. More than 1 million service workers in California have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, according to recent data. The Bay Area restaurant industry employed more than 300,000 workers. But within that workforce, there have been longstanding issues around racial inequality and segregation. In a 2017 report compiled by the the advocacy group Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, white male restaurant workers in San Francisco were hired faster, paid more and promoted quicker than Latino, Asian American and African American workers. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes High Road Kitchens is a way to quickly increase diversity as the industry redefines itself during the pandemic, Jayaraman said. And the idea came to fruition through talks between Jayaraman, California chef Daniel Patterson, who has long been an advocate of social change in the restaurant world, and Robert Egger, founder of DC Central Kitchen in Washington. The initiative comes at a perilous time for the restaurant industry, as experts believe the Bay Area could lose half of its restaurants before the pandemic ends. The High Road Kitchens program is being funded through the state, the city of San Francisco, and the Workforce Investment Boards of San Jose and San Diego County, while several other cities and counties across California are considering making investments, Jayaraman said. Private contributions are coming from numerous organizations, including the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, the San Diego Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation. The program launched this month in San Jose, Monterey, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Oakland and San Francisco. Organizers hope to expand High Road Kitchens to New York City, Washington, D.C., and Boston in the near future. Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @justMrPhillips We all have our favourite holiday destinations we return to time and time again. This may be down to the fantastic beaches the country has or the great culture and sights and fabulous food. Some holidays are so good that we may even start to dream about living there. But with so many amazing countries how do you choose which one to live in if you had the chance? Well, dont worry because help is here thanks to a report by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Their Global Liveability Report has ranked the best places in the world to live by scoring 140 cities in five categories which include environment, education, healthcare, stability, infrastructure and culture. Some of the countries that have made the list will come as no surprise but there are others who havent even made the cut which will no doubt leave you scratching your head as to why. So without further ado here are the best places to live in the world. 1. Vienna, Austria Im pretty sure not many of us would think of this city as the number one best place to live. But with its fresh mountain air and incredible culture its easy to see why it scored an overall 99.1. A strong 96.3 for culture and a score of 100 for education, healthcare, stability and infrastructure, Vienna is one place that will be on our places to visit when the coronavirus pandemic is over. 2. Melbourne, Australia It may have been pipped to the top spot by Vienna but Melbourne can take heart in the fact it has been voted the best place to live in Australia. Australias hipster hub, which has a relatively high cost of living, is known as the countrys capital of culture with fantastic museums, trendy bars, restaurants and festivals. The city, which has the largest tram system outside of Europe, scored an overall rating of 98.4 with 98.6 for culture and environment, 95 for stability and 100 for education, infrastructure and healthcare. 3. Sydney, Australia When you think of Sydney two things spring to mind its incredible Opera House and the fantastic firework show every New Years Eve from Sydney Harbour Bridge. Younger expats are drawn in by the citys eclectic bars, restaurants and clubs, while and many families appeal choose to live in the suburbs. But its not cheap to live here with Sydney one of the most expensive cities in the world. The city has an overall score of 98.1, scoring 95 on stability, 97.2 for healthcare and 100 for healthcare, education and infrastructure. 4. Osaka, Japan Known as the nations kitchen for its reputation as a gourmands paradise Osaka is Japans third largest city by population and the central metropolis of the Kansai region. With its easygoing vibe Osaka, home to almost nine million people, is a stylish city with a score of 97.7 overall. Stability, healthcare and education scored an impressive 100, culture and environment 93.5, and infrastructure 96.4. 5) Calgary, Canada Known as Canadas sunniest city, Calgary narrowly beat Vancouver to fifth most liveable city. Sitting alongside the Canadian Rockies, the city mixes the modern and traditional really well and is famous for the annual Calgary Stampede, complete with rodeos. The city scores 90 for culture and environment and 100 for stability, healthcare, education and infrastructure with an overall score of 97.5. 6. Vancouver, Canada 97.3 7. Tokyo, Japan 97.2 7. Toronto, Canada 97.2 9. Copenhagen, Denmark 96.8 10. Adelaide, Australia 96.6 Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Lucknow, May 11 : The Uttar Pradesh police is now reaching out to children through animated videos to make them aware of the Coronavirus pandemic. IG (Moradabad range) Ramit Sharma, has got a one-minute animation clip made on the topic. The first of these clips features a young boy and his elder sister, and their conversation with a police official over phone. The police official is seen explaining to the kids how the virus is 'very notorious' and how a team of corona warriors is working to 'arrest' it. The clip ends with the police official advising the kids to stay indoors till the virus is reined in. The short animation clips have gone viral on social media and WhatsApp. According to Ramit Sharma, "We have been successful in reaching out to kids and making them understand why it is important for them to stay indoors to beat the Coronavirus with the help of these animation clips." Apart from these clips, police have also been interacting with kids on social media. "They are invited to sending paintings, essays and poems on social media handles of UP Police to drive home the message," the officer added. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Did you know that an episode of the long-running TV series CID dealt with a fast-spreading virus? The episode, titled The Case of the Deadly Virus (Khatarnak Virus Ka Rahasya), first aired in 2013. Actor Shivaji Satam, who played ACP Pradyuman on the series, recalled the episode, and compared its plot to the current coronavirus pandemic situation. One of the most memorable CID episodes for me was The Case of the Deadly Virus, he told Mumbai Mirror. It was quite similar to the current outbreak, in which, faced with an unknown virus threat, we needed masks and bodysuits to handle it. Of course, back then, all we could show was a vial of the fast-spreading contagion, but the premise was the same. According to the SonyLIV website, the episodes plot involves the CID investigating a plot to expose a major section of the countrys population to a deadly virus, after a pharma employee is fired and decides to take revenge by stealing the vial that contains it. Then, my team of detectives and I, helped save the day, Shivaji Satam continued. The episode begins with a shot of a vial, and a voiceover saying, This seemingly harmless vial contains a dangerous strand of a new virus. A kind previously unknown to man. Not only does it cause a horrifying death, it also spreads like wildfire, taking more and more lives. The only cure for this virus is death. In the episode, a doctor informs his colleagues that the virus spreads rapidly and can be transmitted by sneezing, coughing, or shaking hands. Also read: Books, shows, films that chillingly predicted coronavirus pandemic, from Big Bang Theory to creepy K-drama Previously, several other pop-culture works were discovered to have predicted the coronavirus pandemic. While The Simpsons had an episode in which the Osaka flu infected everyone in Springfield, a Korean drama actually featured its characters discussing a coronavirus outbreak.Episodes of The Big Bang Theory and its prequel series, Young Sheldon, have also witnessed a resurgence in popularity. In one episode of The Big Bang Theory, a paranoid Sheldon tries his best to avoid getting infected by a deadly disease. In one episode of Young Sheldon, sensing the arrival of flu season, Sheldon excuses himself from class because he doesnt want to die. Later, he is seen watching the news on TV, wearing a mask, while the newsreader talks about a virus that originated in China that is particularly contagious among old people and children. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR HT Entertainment Desk Dedicated professionals who write about cinema and television in all their vibrancy. Expect views, reviews and news. ...view detail Educational Radio and TV channels for school children to be launched View(s): The Cabinet has granted approval to the Education Ministry to launch a dedicated television and radio channel to telecast and broadcast programmes for students. The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission had been instructed to provide the required technical facilities to commence programmes. The Education Ministry said the current facilities to telecast programmes on Eye and Nethra channels were not sufficient, as the educational programmes had to be telecasted among the other programmes. The focus on carrying out educational programmes via TV and radio came about due to the current inability of reopening schools. Earlier this week Education Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said no decision had been taken even to reopen schools on June 1. The Government was forced to close schools in mid March due to the coronavirus outbreak. Classes were to be resumed for the second term on April 20. However with the situation aggravating, the Government considered reopening schools in the second week of May, which was ruled out again. As a result, the Education Ministry had planned to focus on electronic media to carry out educational programmes. The content will be developed by the Education Ministry with the help of teachers who have expertise in the respective subjects. Sher Bahadur Deuba to take oath as new Prime Minister of Nepal today Our friendship with India and China remains of 'paramount importance': Nepal at UN Nepal summons Indian Ambassador over road built for Kailash Mansarovar India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, May 11: Nepal's foreign minister summoned India's ambassador on Monday over a new road being built through the Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand that is claimed by Kathmandu. Nepal has expressed displeasure since India on Friday inaugurated the 80-kilometre road along the border with China in Uttarakhand with Dharchula at a height of 17,000 feet in the Himalayas. Nepal had condemned India's "unilateral act" that "runs against the understanding reached between the two countries... that a solution to boundary issues would be sought through negotiations." In response, India clarified that the road "lies completely within the territory of India". Bomb blast in Pak, earthquake in Nepal as grounds for lawyers' strikes irk Supreme Court "The recently inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in the state of Uttarakhand lies completely within the territory of India. The road follows the pre-existing route used by the pilgrims of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. Under the present project, the same road has been made pliable for the ease and convenience of pilgrims, locals and traders," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "India and Nepal have established mechanism to deal with all boundary matters. The boundary delineation exercise with Nepal is ongoing. India is committed to resolving outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue and in the spirit of our close and friendly bilateral relations with Nepal," it added. The road inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh via video-conferencing on Friday is expected to help pilgrims visiting Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet. Nepal, which has a series of boundary disputes with its both India and China, had previously protested to both in 2015 when they issued a statement listing the Lipulekh pass as a bilateral trade route. Kathmandu also claims the Kalapani region, which adjoins Lipulekh, although Indian troops have been deployed there since India and China fought a border war in 1962. The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) is ready to be a partner in coordinated international responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and can offer expertise on the ground in Africa, an emerging and critical battleground in defeating the worldwide crisis. This was the top line message Acting Senior Vice President Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala delivered during a United Nations Global Compact virtual panel titled Global Cooperation for Crisis Response to discuss strategies and recommendations for mounting a global response. In her opening statement, the acting SVP drove home the imperative for close cooperation at every level. No country is exempt or immune from the health and economic consequences which are unraveling. COVID-19 affects us all whether we are in a developed or developing countries, she said Tshabalala was joined on the panel by Dr. David Nabarro, Special Envoy on COVID-19 for the Director-General of the World Health Organization; Ellen Dorsey, Executive Director of Wallace Global Fund, a philanthropic organization; and Paul Polman, Co-Founder & Chair of IMAGINE Foundation, which advocates for the UNs Sustainable Development Goals. Dan Thomas, Communications Chief at UN Global Compact moderated. The virtual panel event was held on Tuesday 5 May. Panelists stressed that humanity will need to accommodate itself to a new normal in which the virus is here to stay and what all of us are going to have to do is live with the virus as an ever-present threat in our lives and in our communities, as Envoy Nabarro stated. Polman advised the audience to take the dual approach of being physically distanced but also socially more connected going forward. One theme that surfaced during the panel, as well as in the recent African Development Institutes virtual forum, is the extent to which the pandemic has exposed high levels of inequality across and within the worlds countries. Evidence for this came from the observation that industrialized countries have spent $10 trillion in economic stimulus while many developing economies cannot mount such a response. Polman urged, let us start to think about not restarting the global economy but redesigning the global economy. Dorsey pointed out that while the pandemic represents a crisis of unprecedented scale, other challenges must continue to be faced. It also provides an opportunity to reset. Intersecting crises require systemic not merely palliative responses. If ever there was a moment in which we are shaken out of our complacency and called to act with audacious intent and collaboration, its now. Addressing the issues of resilience, Polman pointed out that societies built on a multi-stakeholder models tend to do better in these sorts of crises. Members of the panel observed that Africa seemed less hard hit than other regions by the health impacts of the pandemic, to which SVP Tshabalala responded, from an economic point of view, we may be worst affected economically. She went on to point to estimates that Africa will require $110-$150 billion in stimulus to provide social and economic relief to its economies in the wake of the pandemic. The Bank has been in the forefront of helping Africa, which is scrambling to protect its economies, health systems and livelihoods of its people. The primary channel for the Banks intervention is its Covid-19 Response Facility, a $10 billion facility that will provide cost-effective and targeted emergency budget support through a fast-tracked approval process to provide immediate relief to countries to address the crisis, additional resources for public health interventions, social protection programmes and to protect their economies at a time of global volatility and uncertainty. The UN Global Compact is a voluntary initiative based on CEO commitments to implement universal sustainability principles and to take steps to support UN goals. The UN Global Compact in March issued an appeal (https://bit.ly/3bgfybm) for all companies to take collective action to stem the outbreak through implementing ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. Businesses are also being called upon to stand together to facilitate business continuity for a fast recovery. The panel was one its Special Academy series. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires Sun Tzu - Wuhan Flu By Robert T. Smith The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting, The Art of War, Sun Tzu. In the mid-1990s, it was extensively reported that the Clinton-Gore Administration transferred our missile and nuclear technologies to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for campaign contributions. Think about that as the CCP flexes its military muscle and runs through the world buying up companies diminished by the Wuhan Flu pandemic. The very progenitors of the China Lung Rot seek to achieve a competitive advantage because they are, by definition, Communists, and good old boy Democrat Bill Clinton and his hench-wife are by definition corrupt. As a reminder for those too young to remember or who were subject to only the fake news of the time, a walk down memory lane of "Chinagate" reminds us how during the investigation by the Department of Justice, about 120 people connected to Chinagate either fled the country or pleaded the Fifth to prevent testifying. The Clinton-Gore administration voluntarily released the secrets of Americas nuclear tests to the CCP, this combined with the systematic theft of the secrets that were left as a result of lax security controls effectively wiped out Americas technological edge over the CCP and provided them with the rocket and nuclear capability to target the U.S. The then CEO of Loral Space & Communications Ltd. gave $1.5 million to various Democrat party functionaries, including good old boy Clintons 1996 re-election campaign. Purely coincidental, of course, the Clinton Administration transferred technology export licensing authority from the State Department to the politically influenced Commerce Department. Loral then obtained licenses from the Commerce Department that were needed to launch Loral-manufactured communications satellites into orbit from China, a win-win-win-lose for Loral-Clinton-CCP-Americans. Of course, the CCP would never think to steal this technology delivered to their homeland courtesy of Mr. Clintons allowances. Good old boy Clintons friend Yah Lin Charlie Trie plead guilty to charges of violating campaign finance rules. The origin of Mr. Tries campaign contributions are self-explanatory within the context of Chinagate. Clinton donor Johnny Chung received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Bank of China, three days before he handed then-First Lady Hillary Clintons chief of staff a $50,000 check. Johnny Chung visited the White House 49 times over the course of two years. Nearly half of those visits were authorized by the office of the First Lady. In one visit, Hillary met with Chung and his visiting delegation of Chinese businessmen from CCP state-run companies. Liu Chaoying was the daughter of CCP military General Liu Huaging. She arranged to give businessman and ally of the Clintons, Johnny Chung, $300,000 which was then donated to the DNC. Not to be outdone on the campaign funds collections activities, then-Vice President Al Gore received political donations from Buddhist nuns who had taken a vow of poverty. This gave rise the iced tea defense by VP Gore. He had a lot of iced tea during the meeting and obviously he must have been in the bathroom when any untoward campaign contribution activities actually occurred. The list of corruption and selling out our country by the Clintons is extensive. These are only a few of the nefarious dealings perpetrated by the Arkansas grifters. Never mind more recent corruption perpetrated by the Clinton Foundation selling of indulgences by good old boy Clintons hench-wife as the former Secretary of State, or transfer of one quarter of our stockpile of uranium to the Russians after a lucrative half million dollar speaking engagement for Mr. Clinton provided by the Russians. In the words of then Senator from Texas Phil Gramm, if the American people ever figure out what this administration has been up to, we will be hunting Democrats with dogs by the end of the decade. An apparent missed American opportunity. It is unfair to lay our current tense situation with the CCP solely at the feet of the Clinton and DNC cabal. Unfortunately, we the people have been sold out by our political leaders in Washington and their globalist elite big business cronies for decadesnumerous Senators, Representatives, Bush and Obama administration leaders. We can only hope that making America great again can overcome the decades-long head-start provided to the CCPs art of war. Robert T. Smith is an environmental scientist who spends his days enjoying life and the pursuit of happiness with his family. He confesses to cling to his liberty, guns and religion, with antipathy toward the arrogant ruling elites throughout the country. Home MasterChef judge Melissa Leong's home is just as stylish as her wardrobe. The 40-year-old gave fans a glimpse inside her chic Melbourne apartment where she lives with her 'hot husband' Joe Jones, via Instagram on Sunday. She shared a picture of their beloved cat Ghoul relaxing in the middle of their bed, which is made up of luxe coloured linen sheets, knitted throws and pillows. Beautiful plants, ethically sourced crystals and a VERY luxe bed: MasterChef judge Melissa Leong has given fans a sneak peek at her VERY sexy bedroom, which she shares with her 'hot husband' Joe Jones Melissa's bedside table had a candle and crystal from Zalah Crystals on it. The company pride themselves on selling calming, ethically sourced, raw crystals. Additionally, the brunette beauty who is a self-described 'plant addict', has plenty of greenery scattered around the room to create a tranquil atmosphere. She recently told Domain she is 'in love' with her bedroom and 'invested in the best bed of her life' after moving into her current property earlier this year. Cute: Melissa shared a picture of their beloved cat Ghoul relaxing in the middle of their bed, which is made up of luxe coloured linen sheets, knitted throws and pillows Trendy: Her bed is made up of luxe coloured linen sheets, knitted throws and pillows Crafty Melissa has been creating her own art for their apartment in recent months, making 'ceramic avocado seed germination dishes'. She germinates the seeds in custom-made ceramic collars above glass jars. Although the writer is best known for critiquing food, last week she revealed that she'd spent the day baking pies in her kitchen at home. She lives with husband Joe Jones and their adorable cats Ghost and Ghoul. Crafty: Melissa has been creating her own art for their chic apartment in recent months, making 'ceramic avocado seed germination dishes' Family: She lives with husband Joe Jones and their two cats Ghost (pictured) and Ghoul Melissa grew up in Sydney, before making the move to Melbourne. Her husband Joe owns trendy inner city watering hole Romeo Lane, an intimate table service cocktail bar in the heart of Melbourne's CBD. The pair got married in 2017 after secretly eloping to America. When Trump tweets out an article with the message "Wow, this is BIG!," it's wise to pay attention. In this case, the message referred to a Gateway Pundit article entitled "NOW WE KNOW: John Podesta Admits in Testimony Both the DNC and Hillary Campaign Split the Cost for Bogus Trump-Russia Dossier That Launched the Coup." While Obama was famous for saying he first learned about the many scandals in his administration through media reports, Trump is no Obama, which matters for a couple of reasons. First, this is not a Trump scandal, so Trump's not creating a smokescreen. Second, only a credulous person would believe that Trump is not already well versed in the details of Podesta's testimony. This means that when Trump sent out the following tweet, he was telling Americans to pay close attention: So what's the story, and why does it matter? The FBI and DOJ obtained FISA warrants to spy on Carter Page. Under the two-hop rule, this meant they would have had access to everyone in the Trump campaign, including Trump himself. Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report regarding the FISA warrants confirmed that the basis for obtaining all of the FISA warrants was the infamous Steele dossier. Even as the FBI relied on the Steele dossier to spy on Page, FBI officials knew that the information in the dossier not only was unreliable, but probably contained Russian intelligence disinformation. In other words, the fabricated Steele dossier was the springboard for the attempt to take down the Trump campaign and, when that failed, to knock out Trump's presidency. It is a crucial document. Once James Comey leaked word out about the Steele dossier, it took little time to learn that the law firm of Perkins Coie had paid Fusion GPS for opposition research against Trump. Fusion GPS, in turn, hired Christopher Steele, a retired British spy who hated Trump, to assemble the information. Still more research established that both the Clinton campaign and the Democrat National Committee (DNC) used Perkins Coie as their general counsel. These connections seemed to tie the Clinton campaign and the DNC to the Steele dossier. However, on October 25, 2017, both the Clinton campaign and the DNC assured the New York Times that "they were unaware that Perkins Coie facilitated the research on their behalf." Likewise, on October 26, 2017, CNN reported that John Podesta, who was Hillary's campaign chairman, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the DNC chair, told congressional investigators that they knew nothing about "an arrangement to pay for opposition research on President Donald Trump." The newly released testimony from Podesta's December 2017 hearing before the House Intelligence investigators tells a different tale. To begin with, Podesta, who was in charge of Hillary's campaign, pulls an Obama and claims he'd never even heard of Fusion GPS until he read about it in the papers after the election. He claims that February 10 (presumably in 2017) was the first and only time he spoke to Glenn Simpson, Fusion GPS's founder, about "the Russian interventions in the campaign" because Fusion GPS wanted money for more research. Under oath, Podesta claimed that "I've subsequently learned that [Perkins Coie] had contracted with Fusion during the course of the campaign, but I didn't know that during the campaign." However, a short time later, in response to a different question, Podesta admitted that the campaign, along with the DNC, had paid for Fusion GPS's work: DR. WENSTRUP: And you testified then you did not know who paid Fusion GPS. MR. PODESTA: I don't have a transcript in front of me. I don't know that that was the precise question. I think that I only learned subsequently that the payments were made through Perkins Coie, 50 percent from the campaign, 50 percent from the DNC. DR. WENSTRUP: And you testified then you did not know who paid Fusion GPS. MR. PODESTA: I dont have a transcript in front of me. I dont know that that was the precise question. I think that I only learned subsequently that the payments were made through Perkins Coie, 50 percent from the campaign, 50 percent from the DNC. (As an aside, the staff member told Podesta to give "complete and fulsome replies to questions." That's a peculiar instruction, given that "fulsome" means disgusting and repulsive, and even insincere.) After conceding that Hillary's campaign helped pay for the Steele dossier, Podesta went coy about the fact that he was utterly incurious about either the information or its origin when it popped up on his desk. For those old enough to remember Hogan's Heroes, Podesta turned into the quintessential Sergeant Schultz, presenting himself as a glad-hander who knew nothing about campaign operations. As noted above, Trump probably knows everything that's coming down the pike about the Obama administration's attempt to destroy his campaign and presidency, a job that the Hillary campaign and the DNC abetted. With his tweet "Wow, this is BIG!" it's reasonable to believe that Trump knows that the Clinton campaign and the DNC, having agreed to go 50-50 for opposition research on Trump, didn't just fund the Steele dossier, but were up to their necks in it. It's therefore entirely possible that their ongoing attempt to distance themselves from the dossier and the coup attempt that it triggered is about to fall apart. [May 11, 2020] MetLife's 'In-House' Clinicians Join Fight Against COVID-19 MetLife is offering paid voluntary leave to its licensed healthcare workers who join the fight against COVID-19, the company announced today. MetLife medical professionals who volunteer will be deployed in two-week rotations to hospitals and other healthcare facilities in locations across the country. MetLife employs dozens of full-time trained nurses, behavioral health professionals, physicians and other medical workers to help patients on disability leave recover and safely return to work. Under this new program, which was created by MetLife's Return to Health Organization in response to the strong interest voiced from MetLife employees wishing to help, these specialists now have the flexibility to volunteer to support pandemic relief efforts without impacting their jobs. "MetLife has a 152-year history of always being there when our customers and communities need us the most," said Bill Pappas, executive vice president and head of Global Technology (News - Alert) and Operations, MetLife. "The entire MetLife family is incredibly proud that our people want to use their training to make a positive impact. Whether it's augmenting a local health center's staff or filling in for a front-line medical worker in desperate need of a break, our goal is to help in any capacity needed." MetLife has a long history helping the communities in which employees live. In 1909 MetLife created a Welfare Division that included a Visiting Nurse Service for policyholders. During its 44 years in existence, more than 20 million people received over 100 million nursing visits. MetLife anticipates placing clinical volunteers in hospitals, COVID testing centers, blood banks, assisted living facilities and urgent care facilities. Its mental health professionals will be matched with local community mental health and support groups. The first grou of 23 volunteers in the rotation spans nine states, with the largest groups located in areas in which MetLife has a significant employee base such as Oriskany, NY and the greater-Cary, NC area. Other locations include California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire and Oregon. Volunteers matched to-date include a registered nurse volunteering in an assisted living facility; a certified EMT providing relief hours for fire department staff; a psychiatric clinical specialist assisting a long-term care facility COVID unit; and numerous nurse consultants volunteering at local hospitals. If the demand for medical volunteers during the pandemic continues, MetLife will evaluate if rotations can be extended or added. This action follows MetLife's April 10 announcements on tools and accommodations being made for Small Business and Auto and Home customers as well the opening of the Intercontinental Hotel in New York City as free housing for healthcare workers. Additionally, the MetLife Foundation announced on March 31 that it is committing $25 million to the global response to COVID-19 in support of communities impacted by the pandemic. About MetLife MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("MetLife"), is one of the world's leading financial services companies, providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to help its individual and institutional customers navigate their changing world. Founded in 1868, MetLife has operations in more than 40 countries and holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.metlife.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005095/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] As we join forces with Adelanto AB, our customers will be able to benefit from our synergies, along with key training and consulting services toward an efficient use of IXIASOFT CCMS enterprise-class solution. IXIASOFT Business Development Director, EMEA Robert Bredlau IXIASOFT, a global DITA CCMS software company based in Montreal, and Adelanto Training & Consulting AB, a Sweden-based expert in technical communication and content strategy, announce today their newly formed partnership. The two companies are teaming up to help businesses seeking to adopt a CCMS find the right solution to get the best out of their technical documentation. We at Adelanto AB are looking forward to working with IXIASOFT CCMS and the experts at IXIASOFT. Says Agneta Weisberg, CEO at Adelanto Training & Consulting AB. We believe that IXIASOFT is one of the few companies that truly understand the needs of the technical writer and how to help us achieve the added value that we want to provide to our customers. Adelanto (Progress in Spanish) provides comprehensive XML/CCMS training and consulting services to customers across Europe. With a team of professionals specialized in technical communication, Adelanto AB evaluates client needs, and provides them neutral guidance to select and implement the appropriate CCMS solution. In addition, the consultancy firm offers training to enable companies to successfully migrate their content to the acquired system, and efficiently adapt to new work processes. Were thrilled about this new alliance with Adelanto AB, a strong partner in the Nordics and Benelux region. With Adelanto AB, we are furthering our expansion and commitment in Europe, says Robert Bredlau, business development director, EMEA at IXIASOFT. As we join forces, our customers will be able to benefit from our synergies, along with key training and consulting services toward an efficient use of IXIASOFT CCMS enterprise-class solution." IXIASOFT is proud to welcome Adelanto AB to its partner ecosystem as it continues its expansion in the European market. This partnership aligns with IXIASOFTs mission to ensure customers fully benefit from their IXIASOFT CCMS by supplying them valuable support during the evaluation and implementation phases. -- About IXIASOFT: Founded in 1998, IXIASOFT is a trusted global leader in the XML content management software industry. Its signature product IXIASOFT CCMS is an award-winning, end-to-end component content management solution (CCMS) that has been deployed by industry leaders like Mastercard, Ericsson, Komatsu, Omron, Qualcomm, and SAP. For more information, visit: http://www.ixiasoft.com. About Adelanto Training & Consulting AB: Adelanto Training & Consulting AB is an expert supplier of comprehensive XML/CCMS services, which creates added value for users and strengthens competitiveness. Created in 2018, Adelanto AB gathers a team of experts in technical communication who provides strategic guidance to customers across Europe, as they go through the selection and implementation processes of systems to make their technical documentation more efficient. For more information, visit http://www.adelanto.se. This promised to be the mother of all battles, but died at birth. The plans of the Congress to exploit the rift within the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Maharashtra legislative council polls seems to have boomeranged, due to discord within the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) put their foot down, to ensure that the Congress had to go back on its decision to field a second candidate, which would have otherwise forced an election. The nine seats to the Maharashtra legislative council are going to the polls. Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will contest his maiden election, defusing the Constitutional crisis looming large on his government as he was not a member of either house of the legislature almost six months after coming to power. While the Shiv Sena and NCP decided to field two candidates each (Uddhav and council Deputy Chairperson Dr Neelam Gorhe and Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari, respectively), the Congress was left with just one seat, as the BJP had nominated four candidates. The Congress announced the candidature of Rajesh Rathod, who belongs to the Banjara community, which has a presence in parts of Vidarbha and Marathwada. Rathod, the son of former MLC Dhondiram Rathod, is said to be a nominee of Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, who is also the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President. After Rathod's nomination was announced on Saturday, the Congress sprung a surprise by declaring a second candidate Rajkishore 'Papa' Modi. The man, who shares a surname with the Prime Minister, is a Congress leader from Beed district in Marathwada, and heads the district unit. Modi, who controls educational institutions in and around the pilgrimage entre of Ambejogai, is said to be in the good books of senior BJP leader and former Rural Development Minister Pankaja Munde and her Beed MP-sister Dr Pritam Munde. Pankaja, the daughter of senior BJP leader, late Gopinath Munde, faced a shock defeat in the recent assembly polls, and was in the contention for a legislative council nomination, along with other senior leaders like Eknath Khadse, Chandrashekhar Bavankule and Vinod Tawade. But, the BJP sprang a surprise by nominating a set of four fresh faces (Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Pravin Datke, Gopichand Padalkar and Dr Ajit Gopchade), in a decision that had a heavy imprint of former Chief Minister and incumbent Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis. Pankaja and Khadse, who were in the reckoning but eventually lost out, are seen as Fadnavis' rivals within the party, and had once pitched themselves as chief ministerial aspirants. Congress leaders claimed that by forcing a poll, they could split the BJP's votes in the secret ballot, in a setback to the later. The Congress, as a senior leader admitted, contended on the support of legislators from the anti-Fadnavis lobby to sail through, and was hence "confident of a win". The MVA counts on the support of 171 legislators in the 288-member legislative assembly, which forms the electoral college for this poll. If an election were to take place on May 21, a candidate would need to garner a quota of 28.8 preference votes to sail through. In the past, legislative council elections have thrown up nasty surprises. In 2010, the Shiv Sena's Anil Parab, who is now the Transport Minister in the Thackeray regime, and is one of Uddhav's close confidantes, was defeated by a Congress-supported independent Vijay Sawant. In 2006, the Shiv Sena, which was on the backfoot after then leader of Opposition Narayan Rane, who was its former Chief Minister, quit to join the Congress (Sena leaders maintain he was thrown out), had faced a similar setback. Then, the Shiv Sena's Vijay Loke was trounced by Rane's nominee and Congress candidate Rajan Teli. Congress leaders claimed they were sure of their ability to bring in the extra votes to score a win and turn the tables on the BJP. However, the Shiv Sena and NCP took umbrage to the decision of the Congress to field another nominee, with Uddhav reportedly threatening to even abstain from the poll. Eventually, the Congress had to capitulate a day after announcing it's candidates, with just Rathod being left in the fray. This will ensure that all nine nominees are elected unopposed. Shiv Sena and NCP leaders felt that forcing an election would be bad optics at a time when Maharashtra is fighting an uphill battle against the coronavirus. With the chief minister in the fray, the Sena wanted to ensure he was elected unopposed instead of facing a poll fight. The spread of the disease, disgruntlement among ministers at what is perceived to be a bureaucrat-run regime, and an unseemly confrontation among senior IAS officials that led to the transfer of Mumbai civic chief Pravinsinh Pardeshi, have already taken some sheen off the government. In case of an election, ensuring that 288 members of the legislative assembly could travel to Mumbai and vote in the middle of a pandemic would have been a logistical and public health nightmare. Though the Congress may have retreated for now, the last word on this episode may not have been said so far. The Congress feels that it has been pushed to the margins by the Shiv Sena and the NCP. It is upset at the NCP, which has already walked off with most of the plum portfolios, dominating the government. In the recent Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress was forced to give up on its demand for two seats. While the NCP got two of its nominees, elected to the upper house of Parliament, the Shiv Sena and Congress had to be content with one each. The Congress was said to be insisting on contesting two legislative council, with the NCP fighting from just one, but the demand was rejected. Congress leaders admit in private conversations that the decision to join hands with a "communal" party like the Shiv Sena was not an easy one as it stood the risk of alienating its core votebase. A faction loyal to former Congress President Rahul Gandhi is said to be upset at the decision, more so, as the Congress and Sena cannot see eye-to-eye on a range of issues like Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Congress may have withdrawn from the fray for now, but as is evident, the bitterness at this obvious loss of face will linger on, as will the feeling of being short-changed. The future of this unlikely, expedient alliance may depend on the relationship between the Shiv Sena and NCP with the Congress in the weeks to come. (The author is a journalist and author of the book 'The Cousins Thackeray: Uddhav, Raj and the shadow of their Senas'. Views are personal) South Korea was the first country to hold national elections amid the coronavirus pandemic. The election drew a high level of global attention, as other countries no doubt wondered how the pandemic would affect their own upcoming elections. Defying predictions that fears of the coronavirus would discourage participation, the April 15 parliamentary election instead had a remarkably high voter turnout. Media coverage took note of the government's comprehensive disinfection regimen and social distancing at polling places, a system designed to reduce the possibility of infection. The ruling Democratic Party's landslide victory became a cautionary tale to other leaders - voters rewarded the government's coronavirus testing and tracing efforts. But voting under the shadow of a pandemic may have obscured something else: This election marked the highest number of women ever elected into South Korea's parliament. Here are five things to know. 1. South Korea elected 57 women - more than ever before. The April election results show 57 women were elected (19 percent of the 300 seats in parliament), the highest ever since democratization in 1987. The ruling Democratic Party now has 30 female legislators, while the conservative opposition United Future Party has 18. Internationally, however, South Korea ranks 118th in terms of the share of women in the national legislature. 2. Gender quotas help women start their first term, but they do not help much for reelection. South Korea's National Assembly has two groups of representatives. Voters choose 253 district-level representatives, while 47 national-level seats are distributed proportional to each party's vote share. Among the 57 female winners of this year's election, 29 were elected as district-level members, making up 17 percent of the two major parties' district winners. Since 2004, South Korea has had a 50 percent candidate gender quota for national-level seats. Each party ranks its national-tier candidates before the election, and the two major parties alternate male and female candidates on the list. This system explains why more than half of the newly elected national-level members are women. The 50 percent quota is a great way for political newcomers to start their first term, but they often have a hard time getting reelected. My analysis of 4,111 district-level legislative candidates between 2004 and 2016 in South Korea showed that 11 percent of female candidates were "quota members," compared with only 1 percent of all male candidates. However, national-tier members have an almost identical chance of winning the district-level election as candidates with no national-level experience. Still, women use their national-tier experience to run for reelection more often than men, as the quota system opens up a rare opportunity for women to get their feet in the door. In April's election, eight out of 42 national-level members contested for district-level seats, all of them women. Four were reelected. 3. Female winners are younger but just as highly educated and politically experienced as men. In this election, female winners were, on average, four years younger than male victors (average age of 52 vs. 56). All 253 district-level winners had completed a four-year college education, and 62 percent of women and 60 percent of men pursued/completed postsecondary degrees. This educational pattern is similar to that in all previous elections in the country since 1988. Moreover, the reelected female members have a comparable level of national legislative experience as their male counterparts. About 38 percent of female winners and 45 percent of male victors were incumbents in their own districts, and 52 percent of female winners and 53 percent of male victors are either current or former national legislators. 4. Want more women in politics? Help them win primaries. Primaries in general tend to favor candidates with high name recognition and a strong support network - and that can be a challenge for female candidates in any election. However, in South Korea, candidates nominated through the primary process have higher levels of success than those selected by party bosses, regardless of their gender. A previous study on nomination paths and voter support showed that helping female candidates win a primary can be a more effective way to address women's underrepresentation than implementing a gender quota. The lesson seems to still apply to the April election. The two major parties selected 489 district-level candidates, which include 38 percent of the candidates who won their districts' primaries. Among the primary-winning candidates, 59 percent of them eventually won the April election, a higher rate than the 45 percent of candidates bypassing primaries. 5. South Korea had its first feminist political party on the ballot. In this election, 35 political parties jockeyed for the 47 national-level seats. The ballot was more than 18 inches long - and included the Women's Party, South Korea's first feminist party. The party platform addresses issues such as gender equality in political representation, gender-based violence, socioeconomic discrimination against women, intersectionality and climate change. Though just two months old, the Women's Party claimed more than 200,000 votes in the election - but with less than 1 percent of the total vote, the party won no seats in parliament. This was disappointing news to some Koreans, especially considering recent momentum on gender issues in the country, buoyed by a strong #MeToo movement and the Constitutional Court's decision in 2019 to strike down the ban on abortion. The list of newly elected legislators nonetheless includes a number of high-profile feminist activists and leaders. According to one recent study, women's parties around the world are rare but not unheard of, and sometimes even precede statehood (for example, in Israel) and women's suffrage (Argentina). Some women's parties are active for decades. Others disappear quickly, but their issues outlive the organization as other parties adopt these priorities. South Korea's fight for gender equality may well continue in the National Assembly. Which trajectory the new Women's Party will follow remains to be seen. - - - Young-Im Lee is an assistant professor of political science at California State University at Sacramento. For other analysis and commentary from The Monkey Cage, an independent blog anchored by political scientists from universities around the country, see www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage Messages obtained from Mr Puseys mobile phone show him bragging to a friend that day: I did 300[km/h] in the [Porsche] Turbo S today, was amazing man". "Apparently it will do 350[km/h] and its coming," he said. Richard Pusey's lawyer, Vincent Peters, at the Magistrates Court on Monday. Credit:Eddie Jim Several days earlier, Mr Pusey advised the same friend to get a set of blinders. Senior Detective Price said he understood blinders to be a device which purports to slow down or jam police speed guns. Mr Pusey has received 13 penalty notices, 10 relating to excessive speed, which demonstrates he has "absolutely no regard for the safety of other road users and police", Senior Detective Price said. Richard Pusey. Credit: Mr Pusey has a long list of prior convictions, which were detailed in court on Monday. Senior Detective Price said in one incident, Mr Pusey called a debt-recovery company and allegedly threatened the call taker, saying if she continued to call him he would hurt staff and her family. He threatened to spray-paint the name of the company on his car and drive it down Bourke Street in what police believe was a reference to the actions of James Gargasoulas during the 2017 massacre. These threats were not reported to police. In September last year, he was convicted of offences in Brisbane after he became abusive on a Tiger flight from Brisbane to Melbourne, filming the cabin crew and saying to one woman: F--- off, you fat cow. He had to be physically removed from the plane by police. He was also convicted of reckless conduct endangering serious injury after he opened a gas bottle inside the front door of a Fitzroy bar after he was refused service due to being drunk in December 2017. He was found guilty in mid-2018 of breaching an intervention order which had been brought against him by police at Forest Hill police station after harassing members there. There are also several matters which are still before the courts. Mr Pusey was charged with using a telecommunication service to harass or menace after he threatened a Westpac employee, which was due to return to court on April 27. In October 2018 he had a dispute over a parking spot and allegedly attempted to punch the victim to the head before reaching into the car, taking the keys from the ignition and driving away. He was charged with unlawful assault and theft, and the matter was due to return to court on April 30. Loading Senior Detective Price said Mr Pusey "continually exhibits violent tendencies towards police and the public". He appears to take disturbing pleasure in causing other people fear and discomfort, he said. He takes his point of view and decides he will intimidate or harass or stand over to get his view across, he said. He also said he believed Mr Pusey was at risk of harassing or intimidating witnesses, and also could flee Victoria due to his significant wealth and flagrant disregard for court orders. He is under pressure as he has never been before. This matter has huge public profile and if he faces a custodial term, he has got financial resources to flee the jurisdiction and not have to face what he has done. He doesnt like being held to account for what he does and he can access financial resources to avoid that," he said. Mr Puseys lawyer Vincent Peters argued his client was in a state of shock following the "horrendous crash" and didn't render assistance as there was a doctor at the scene. However, Senior Detective Price said Mr Pusey's actions - filming "abhorrent" footage of the scene while making "derogatory" remarks - didn't reflect someone in shock. "There is no evidence of shock in his voice or his actions," he said, adding that Mr Pusey could have comforted the police woman or started CPR. "You have to be trained in CPR, don't you?" Mr Peters asked. "He was a registered nurse," Senior Detective Price replied. "He has experience in first-aid." Mr Peters argued his client should be released as Mr Pusey is unlikely to face a committal in 2020 due to court delays brought on by coronavirus. Im not sure what easing of restrictions are being announced today but in any event it is not likely we are going to see courts resume still for some time, he said. Mr Peters said Mr Pusey had stable work and ongoing accommodation with his wife, and said there were concerns about his ongoing mental health. Prosecutor Robyn Harper said the delay was inevitable in the current climate but that the charges were "particularly serious". She said a psychologist's report tendered to the court showed Mr Pusey has a daily fear of being arrested, of being watched by police and had "fantasised about killing people". The psychologist said Mr Pusey had a "high risk of further acting out behaviour and self medicating with alcohol and recreational substances." Magistrate Johanna Metcalf will hand down her decision on Thursday. New recruits Constable Josh Prestney and Constable Glen Humphris were killed alongside senior colleagues Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor and Senior Constable Kevin King. After leaving the scene of the crash, Mr Pusey went to his doctor. The court heard while in the reception area, he showed videos and photos of the scene to the receptionist. The court heard he sent an email to a police officer the night of the crash detailing what he had seen. "I feel very unwell as to what I saw. What I saw was horrific ... Three males died instantly," he wrote. "A truck pushed all three cars, I saw the top of the truck and people flying then everything stopped right next to me. I have to sleep now as my head's a bit fuzzy." He was arrested the next morning after wandering around Smith Street telling someone he had been involved in the accident. Creative producer and on-air personality Ewoma Oyegwa who turned a year older took to her social media page to announce that she would be hosting people to a party even during this lockdown as she has made plans before covid19 sprang up hence her plans still stands. The most sought after and superstar voice-over artist however cleared the air that she is not going against the NCDC and government orders as India may extend anti-dumping duties on more than two dozen Chinese goods, including steel and USB drives, the Hindustan Times quoted officials as saying. The move was aimed at protecting domestic manufacturers from a flood of these Chinese goods once the current duty-protection regime ends, the report said. Vitamin E, solar cells, USB drives and steel are among the goods on which duty may be extended. In the case of sodium citrate, another import from China, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) last week recommended an extension of the anti-dumping duty. The duty protection period on the product ends May 19. Also Read | A tale of two outbreaks: Singapore tackles a costly setback Duties on the 25 goods end at different times during this year. The DGTR, which comes under the commerce ministry, conducts investigations into complaints filed by the domestic industry, alleging dumping of goods. Anti-dumping duties are tariffs levied by a government on certain imported items, which it believes are priced below fair-market value. This is done to ensure that companies do not undercut local businesses by flooding domestic markets with cheaply priced goods. CALGARY, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Pembina Pipeline Corporation ("Pembina" or the "Company") (TSX: PPL;NYSE: PBA) reported the voting results from its annual meeting of common shareholders held virtually on May 8, 2020 (the "Meeting"). Each of the matters voted upon at the Meeting is discussed in detail in the Company's Management Information Circular dated March 19, 2020 (the "Information Circular") and is available on the Company's website under "Investor Centre Shareholder Information" at www.pembina.com. A total of 340,164,302 common shares representing 61.87 percent of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares were voted in person and by proxy in connection with the Meeting. The voting results for each matter presented at the Meeting are provided below: 1. Election of Directors The following 10 nominees were appointed as directors of Pembina to serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders of the Company, or until their successors are elected or appointed: Nominee Votes in Favour Votes Withheld Percentage Number Percentage Number Anne-Marie N. Ainsworth 97.00% 310,852,084 3.00% 9,624,270 Michael H. Dilger 99.75% 319,682,256 0.25% 794,098 Randall J. Findlay 97.65% 312,956,484 2.35% 7,519,870 Robert G. Gwin 99.81% 319,862,115 0.19% 614,239 Maureen E. Howe 99.22% 317,970,884 0.78% 2,505,470 Gordon J. Kerr 96.47% 309,179,220 3.53% 11,297,134 David M.B. LeGresley 97.18% 311,433,612 2.82% 9,042,742 Leslie A. O'Donoghue 96.06% 307,854,584 3.94% 12,621,770 Bruce D. Rubin 99.81% 319,852,966 0.19% 623,388 Henry W. Sykes 97.28% 311,768,046 2.72% 8,708,308 2. Appointment of Auditors KPMG LLP, Chartered Accountants, were appointed to serve as the auditors of the Company until the close of the next annual meeting, at remuneration to be fixed by the directors on the recommendation of the Audit Committee. 3. Approval of Amendment to By-Law Number One A resolution to amend and restate By-Law Number One was approved with an approximate 99.64 percent of votes cast in favour. 4. Approval of By-Law Number Two (Advance Notice By-Law) An ordinary resolution to approve Pembina's advance notice by-law (By-Law Number 2) was approved with an approximate 99.60 percent of votes cast in favour. 5. Acceptance of Company's Approach to Executive Compensation On an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibility of the board of directors, the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the Information Circular was approved with an approximate 92.08 percent of votes cast in favour. Additional details in respect the Meeting's voting results can be found on Pembina's profile at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov. Retirement of Board Members and Appointment of New Board Members Pembina announced today that Mr. Bob Michaleski and Mr. Jeff Smith did not stand for re-election and will retire from the board. "On behalf of Pembina's Board and management, I would like to thank both Mr. Michaleski and Mr. Smith for their dedication and significant contributions to the Company and the Board," said Randall Findlay, Chair of the Board of Directors. "Pembina has benefited greatly from the experience, wisdom and counsel from these two gentlemen and we wish them all the best in the future." Pembina also announced the appointment of two new board members. Mr. Robert Gwin was appointed to the Board at the annual meeting of common shareholders on May 8, 2020 and subsequent to the Meeting, Ms. Cynthia Carroll was selected by the Directors to join to the Board. Mr. Findlay added: "I am also pleased to welcome Mr. Gwin and Ms. Carroll to the Board of Directors. Mr. Gwin will bring with him over 30 years of directly relevant leadership experience in the energy and financial sectors while Ms. Carroll brings leadership of global businesses, particularly in the industrial sector. We believe these two additional directors will further support our strategy to deliver long-term, sustainable value to our shareholders through operational excellence, strong governance and continued growth and we look forward to working with them." Mr. Gwin was the President of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, one of the world's largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, prior to its acquisition by Occidental Petroleum Corporation in late 2019. Prior thereto, he was the Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Anadarko from 2009 to 2018. Mr. Gwin joined Anadarko in 2006 and was a member of the executive committee since 2008. He also served as the Chairman of the Board of Western Gas Partners, LP, a large U.S. oil and natural gas midstream company, from 2010 to 2018, and previously as their President and CEO from 2007 to 2010. Ms. Carroll has spent most of her career leading global businesses in the industrial sector. She began her career as an exploration geologist at Amoco Production Company in Denver, Colorado before joining Alcan Aluminum Corporation. From 2007 to 2013, she served as the Chief Executive Officer of Anglo American PLC, at the time one of the largest and most diversified mining companies in the world. Ms. Carroll serves on the boards of directors of several public companies. Mr. Gwin's appointment includes serving on the Board's Human Resources, Health and Compensation and Governance, Nominating & CSR Committees. Ms. Carroll's appointment includes serving on the Board's Human Resources, Health and Compensation and Safety & Environment Committees. Committee charters and full biographies for both Mr. Gwin and Ms. Carroll can be found at www.pembina.com. About Pembina Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation is a leading transportation and midstream service provider that has been serving North America's energy industry for 65 years. Pembina owns an integrated system of pipelines that transport various hydrocarbon liquids and natural gas products produced primarily in western Canada. The Company also owns gas gathering and processing facilities; an oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure and logistics business; is growing an export terminals business; and is currently developing a petrochemical facility to convert propane into polypropylene. Pembina's integrated assets and commercial operations along the majority of the hydrocarbon value chain allow it to offer a full spectrum of midstream and marketing services to the energy sector. Pembina is committed to identifying additional opportunities to connect hydrocarbon production to new demand locations through the development of infrastructure that would extend Pembina's service offering even further along the hydrocarbon value chain. These new developments will contribute to ensuring that hydrocarbons produced in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and the other basins where Pembina operates can reach the highest value markets throughout the world. Purpose of Pembina: To be the leader in delivering integrated infrastructure solutions connecting global markets; Customers choose us first for reliable and value-added services; choose us first for reliable and value-added services; Investors receive sustainable industry-leading total returns; receive sustainable industry-leading total returns; Employees say we are the 'employer of choice' and value our safe, respectful, collaborative and fair work culture; and say we are the 'employer of choice' and value our safe, respectful, collaborative and fair work culture; and Communities welcome us and recognize the net positive impact of our social and environmental commitment. Pembina is structured into three Divisions: Pipelines Division, Facilities Division and Marketing & New Ventures Division. Pembina's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under PPL and PBA, respectively. For more information, visit www.pembina.com. SOURCE Pembina Pipeline Corporation Related Links http://www.pembina.com Press Release 11 May 2020 After nearly 30 years at the helm of a pioneering hotel management group, Hans R. Jenni is retiring today as president and director of GHM. The group's current CEO, Tommy Lai, will assume responsibility for GHM's day-to-day operations and management. Advertisements Since 1992, when Jenni co-founded GHM with Amanresorts group founder Adrian Zecha, his vision has led the management group down a succession of roads less travelled to little-known destinations. Names now synonymous with understated elegance and luxury accommodation - The Datai in Langkawi, The Legian in Bali, The Nam Hai in Hoi An, and the very successful Chedi brand in Muscat, Andermatt and most recently in Sharjah, UAE - are a testament to Jenni's foresight. "Hans Jenni was never interested in doing anything easy and was never infected by the complacency that sometimes comes with success," said Tommy Lai. "He remade the wheel with each new project, which was oftentimes a necessity because many of the places he wanted to go required a whole new means of getting there." And when the group did get there, said Lai, these far-flung destinations started lighting on the radar screens of travellers around the world and emerged somewhat transformed and in an altogether more compelling light thanks to the presence of a GHM flag. A Swiss national, Jenni began his career in hospitality in 1966 and is a graduate of the prestigious Ecole Hoteliere Lausanne in Switzerland. Prior to the launch of GHM, he groomed his skill-set in hotel management at the Peninsula Hotels, Shangri-La International and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and Swiss-Belhotel Management Ltd., where he led the company as president. Travelling around the world and locked down in Lanka By Joshua Surendraraj View(s): View(s): Its hard to find adventure whilst going through a lockdown, but being under lockdown in a strange country with a toddler is an adventure in itself, although perhaps a rather scary one. What travelling around the world has taught Annalisa and Rob Corrigan from the United Kingdom is the need to appreciate that home is wherever you are at the time; where your heart is. The smiles of the Sri Lankan community continue to reassure them that they are safer in a homeland away from their homeland as the whole world battles a deadly virus. Annalisa and Rob were travelling around Trincomalee when the first COVID-19 patient in Sri Lanka was detected. The couple had come to the island with their son Leo in November last year. After hearing the news about the COVID patient, they decided to head to Galle, a place they were familiar with and where they had many friends. They anticipated the curfew since the UK was already affected too. It took them three days to get to Galle in a rented trishaw. They rented a house and bought some vegetables and rice so that they could lock in and wait for further instructions. Choosing to stay in a foreign country and not go home was scary at first, Annalisa recalls. But after a couple of weeks they realised that Sri Lanka was safer than the UK. Today, they are grateful to be here. Annalisa explains they have got to know the area better and the places to go for food and essentials. We are content and as always just take it one day at a time. They also feel that the curfews have shown them how calm Sri Lankan people are in a time of crisis. This has in turn helped them keep calm and relaxed for Leo. Annalisa and Rob met 20 years ago when Annalisa was running her own company in Guildford, UK and Rob had applied for a job with her. They became friends and worked together for nine years, before they got together as a couple. Both travellers at heart, the pair had always known they wanted to see the world. Eight years ago, they decided to look into the possibility of selling their businesses, home and possessions to achieve this goal. The UK had just come out of a recession and businesses were struggling. Since the two were running their own businesses, they worked many hours a day, seven days a week. With so much work stress, they barely found time for themselves. We felt like our quality of life and happiness was low, Annalisa says. They needed a change. It took them a lot of courage and the next five years to organise things and change everything they had worked towards in life. But, as the plans took shape, Annalisa found that she was pregnant with Leo. This was a bit of a shock for us because we had planned to travel as a couple, she recalls. However, they made the decision to take Leo with them on their adventures. Annalisa and Roy feel blessed that Leo came along. They believe the experience of travel has broadened his mind in ways that they could not achieve living in the UK. Im sure anyone who has travelled with children will agree that it does make a difference to their learning and personalities, Annalisa says. Giving up your possessions and sentimental attachments can be hard, but they took it in stages. They left the UK in 2017, when Leo was five weeks old, and took their campervan to Europe for the summer. Having lived in a small space for many months helped them cut down on their belongings. Their next trip was to South East Asia, and when they returned to the UK they got rid of the rest of their stuff. It was liberating! It takes time to adjust but we feel free of all of the baggage, Annalisa says. Today, they travel light and can live almost anywhere with just a few personal possessions. Travelling around the world can be expensive and both Annalisa and Rob budget carefully and remain vigilant about how much they can spend each day. They earn a small income from a room that they rent out in Brighton and by giving meditation and dance lessons online. Despite the cost, travelling has enabled them to learn a lot about themselves and each other. It has taken away the work stress and given them freedom and a chance to immerse themselves in new cultures. As they travel, they find it easy to adapt to the foreign countries they visit. Neither had been to Sri Lanka before, but they both had pictures of Sri Lanka on their bedroom walls as kids, and dreamed of visiting the country. Hiring a trishaw in Sri Lanka was new to them instead of the mopeds they were used to. But they found it gave them the freedom to move around. For the past year, Annalisa has been uploading videos on their YouTube channel Along came Leo. She hoped to create a mini diary for Leo and to also share their journey with their family and friends. More recently, this turned into a vlog for anyone whod like to follow their journey. Starting the channel was no easy process. They had little to no experience editing videos, a time-consuming exercise, especially with a toddler around. Annalisa explains that they try to keep things simple, spending their time away from the tourist spots so that they can get to know the country and the people. They take a camera along whenever they visit an interesting place and if they have enough content, Annalisa makes a video. Their vlogs include their trips to the USA, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Switzerland, Austria, France and Sri Lanka to name a few. Annalisa hopes to continue building their story, so that in the future they could use this platform to help countries and people in crisis, while using their connections for humanitarian work. Their hope is to draw peoples attention to our planet and the things that are happening around us. If their visas are extended, they hope to stay in Sri Lanka until June and appreciate nature, the ocean and each other. I think it is important for us to consolidate and reflect before we head back to the UK, Annalisa says. Travelling around the world has taught them so much, and living in Sri Lanka has given them a taste of the support, love and humble nature of the locals. They firmly believe that this beautiful quality will bring tourism back to the country once things get back to normal globally. This is our second home now and we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your humanity, your hospitality and kindness as we experience this virus with you, they say. Their journey can be followed on Youtube- Along Came Leo (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx2aNIUTZzRGw6-IoFS6szg/videos) or Instagram- alongcame_leo. Dozens of Rohingya refugees stranded at sea for weeks have been relocated to a controversial flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh officials said (AFP Photo/STR) Dozens of Rohingya refugees stranded at sea for weeks have been relocated to a controversial flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh officials said Sunday. Bangladesh last year constructed facilities for 100,000 people on Bhashan Char, a muddy silt islet in the cyclone-prone coastal belt, saying they needed to take pressure off crowded border camps that are home to almost one million Rohingya. The 28 Rohingya were taken to the island late Saturday instead of the camps as authorities were afraid they might be infected with the coronavirus, Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told AFP. "Most likely they will stay there until they return to Myanmar." They are the first group of Rohingya to be sent to the island, local government administrator Tanmoy Das told AFP, adding they were being looked after by navy personnel who had built the facilities. Officials said the group -- including 15 women and five children -- were detained after coming ashore on Saturday from one of two boats suck at sea while trying to reach Malaysia. Some 250 other refugees who also left the boat in six or seven dinghies have not been found, he added. Bangladesh had refused to let the two trawlers carrying about 500 people land on its territory despite UN calls to allow them in as a powerful storm bears down on the region. So far, no coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the sprawling camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar that house Rohingya who fled a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar. The plan to move the refugees to Bhashan Char has been staunchly opposed by the Rohingya community. The UN refugee agency UNHCR said Sunday that comprehensive assessments were needed before anyone is moved to the island, spokeswoman Louise Donovan told AFP. "UNHCR has all preparations in place to ensure the safe quarantine of any refugees arriving by boat to Cox's Bazar, as a precautionary measure related to the COVID-19 pandemic," she added. Story continues Human Rights Watch South Asia chief Meenakshi Ganguly said the relocation would place the refugees "at further risk after the suffering that they have already endured". In mid-April, 396 starving refugees were rescued from a trawler stranded in the Bay of Bengal for more than two months. At least 60 people died on the boat. The survivors were moved to transit centres near the border camps where they were quarantined. Thousands of Rohingya try every year to reach other countries, making the perilous journey on crowded, rickety boats. Supreme Court on Monday (May 11) refused to restore 4G internet in Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir but ordered the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir administration to form a committee of Secretaries from MHA and J&K UT Admin to take a call after reviewing the ground security situation. The apex court also said that the high-powered Committeeheaded by the MHA Secretary should also look into the contentions raised by various petitioners. "This court has to ensure that national security and human rights are balanced. We do recognize that UT has plunged into crisis. At the same time court is cognizant to the concerns related to ongoing pandemic and hardships," said Justice NV Ramana. Special Committee is directed to examine the contentions made by Petitioners, as well as the appropriateness of their contentions and the alternative remedy, said the SC bench and disposed off the plea. On april 29, the Jammu and Kashmir administration had told the SC that right to access internet is not a fundamental right and the state has got authority to curb the freedom of speech and the right to trade through internet. The Jammu and Kashmir administration made the claim while opposing restoration of 4G services in the union territory. During the hearing, the Jammu and Kashmir administration had informed the top court that the internet speed has been reduced in the Union Territory to protect the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country. "It is submitted that the right to access internet is not a fundamental right and thus the type and breadth of access for exercising the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) and/or to carry on any trade or business under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India through the medium of internet can be curtailed," an affidavit filed by the Jammu and Kashmir administration said. Amnesty International says it has documented 18 attacks in northwest Syria carried out by Syrian government and Russian forces over the past year that amounted to war crimes. The rights group said in a report published on May 10 that the 18 attacks were on medical facilities and schools, and were carried out by either the Syrian government or its Russian ally between May 2019 and February 2020 in Idlib and areas adjoining the rebel stronghold. Evidence of the attacks entails multiple serious violations of international humanitarian law, according to Amnesty International. "These violations amount to war crimes," the report says. The attacks included three ground attacks and two barrel-bomb attacks by Syrian government forces. The remaining 13 attacks were air strikes -- two by Syrian government forces, seven by Russian government forces, and four by Syrian or Russian government forces. It said the majority occurred in January and February 2020, during the latest onslaught, which Amnesty International said subjected civilians in opposition-held areas in north-west Syria to a new wave of horrors. Since December around 500 civilians have been killed and almost 1 million people have been displaced. The recent escalation apparently is a continuation of an earlier offensive that began in April 2019 targeting the last pocket under the control of armed opposition groups. A cease-fire has largely held since early March, but hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced and highly dependent on aid even as the region braces for a possible outbreak of the coronavirus. 'Systematic Attacks' Among the documented attacks in Amnesty Internationals report are Russian air strikes near a hospital in the town of Ariha on January 29 that flattened at least two residential buildings and killed 11 civilians. Amnesty also blamed the Syrian regime for an attack on a school using banned cluster munitions that killed three people in Idlib city on February 25. "The latest offensive continued an abhorrent pattern of widespread and systematic attacks aimed at terrorizing the civilian population," Amnesty's regional director Heba Morayef said. The report said that, even by the standards of the nine-year war, the resulting displacement and humanitarian emergency were unprecedented. It said the attacks must be viewed in the context of a well-established pattern of Syrian government forces targeting civilian infrastructure and civilians that is "part of a widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population, therefore constituting crimes against humanity." Syria's war has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests. Amnesty Internationals findings are based primarily on remote research conducted between January and April 2020. Researchers interviewed 74 people, including direct witnesses of attacks, displaced people, local and international aid workers, and UN staff members. Researchers also reviewed videos and photographs, analyzed satellite imagery, and obtained logs of aircraft observations by flight spotters on the ground, as well as intercepted aircraft radio communication, to assess consistency with witness accounts. Amnesty International has sent letters summarizing its findings to the permanent missions of the Syrian and Russian governments to the United Nations in New York and to the largest coalition of armed groups in northwest Syria. It had not received a response as of 4 May, when its report was finalized. With reporting by AFP Ayodhya, May 11 : Mobile phones have been totally banned in the Ram Janmabhoomi complex area in Ayodhya. The decision was taken on Sunday by the district administration in consultation with the members of the Shri Ram Teerth Kshetra Trust. Earlier, during the shifting of the Ram Lalla idol from the makeshift temple to the new structure, priests and workers were allowed to carry their mobile phones. Under the new guidelines, only district officials and security personnel will be allowed mobile phones in the area. Trust secretary Champat Rai said that the decision has been taken in view of security concerns. "Devotees have been taking pictures of the temple and the adjoining area which is a major security risk," he pointed out. It may be recalled that mobile phones, cameras, watches, belts and any electronic gadgets were banned in the Ram Janmabhoomi complex that house the makeshift temples. However, mobile phones were allowed when the idol was shifted to the new structure. Meanwhile, the chief priest of the Ram Lalla temple, Acharya Satyendra Das, has welcomed the decision to ban mobile phones. "The Ram temple area is a high security zone and any move to strengthen the security is welcome. Even I do not carry my mobile phone into the temple area," he said. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text AN INTERVIEW WITH VENEZUELAn DIPLOMAT DANIEL GASPARRI I interviewed Daniel Gasparri (pictured), Head of Mission at the Venezuelan embassy, for Guardian to discuss the recent attack on Venezuela by the US. During our talk, Daniel shared with me his thoughts on the current events. Franc Stregone (FS): Hi Daniel, thank you for taking time out of your day for this interview. Given the circumstances, I know you are extremely busy. Daniel Gasparri (DG): Good afternoon, Franc. No problem! FS: With that being said, what can you tell us about the latest attempt at a coup d etat? The US is denying involvement, what evidence has been unearthed to suggest otherwise? DG: The best evidence has been made public by our Minister of Communication Jorge Rodriguez, who presented video and audio evidence of the involvement of the US in this attempt of coup detat. The videos and audio captured highlight the division within the opposition forces, which was a factor in the plans failure, it also reveals the involvement of several foreign governments in the financing of the coup and its operatives. Evidence collected by the Venezuela government and intelligence also shows that Juan Guiado (the self-proclaimed president) was involved in this attack. There are also images of a contract he signed with SilverCorp, the corporation responsible for the attack contract, which reveals Guiado was to pay 211 million USD, for their services. FS: What I found remarkable about the failure of this attack is how it was the ordinary Venezuelans, in this case, fisherman, who foiled this plan. What do you think this says about the relationship President Maduro has with the people of Venezuela? DG: This only reaffirms the immense support that president Nicolas Maduro has from his people. Even with the economic and financial blockade by the US, our people, especially the most vulnerable sector of our population, have a strong sense of protection of their land and our resources. It is especially in these crucial moments that I believe we see how Chavezs legacy is present more than ever. We will always defend our sovereignty. FS: Do you think the fact that the USA has resorted to using mercenaries rather than their own soldiers shows how desperate they are? To me, this attack was reminiscent of the infamous Bay of Pigs Invasion. DG: After numerous attempts to overthrow the legitimate government of Nicolas Maduro, I believe that the US government is desperate as they underestimated the organization of our people to defend their country. There are many declarations from high officials from the US that let us know their plans. FS: And lastly, what can we, the Australian public, do to help strengthen the campaign against the US blockade on Venezuela? How can we help at home? DG: I think it is essential that Australian people know about the current situation given the fact that the mainstream media bias towards the reality of the situation. We need to spread the truth about what is happening in my country. There is no doubt that President Nicolas Maduro has big support of the majority of our people and of the countries around the world who understand that Trumps policies are foolish. FS: Thank you for your time; this has been really informative. DG: Thank you for the interview! Mumbai: With as many as 1,278 people testing coronavirus positive on Sunday in Maharashtra, the number of such patients in the state surged to 22,171. The Covid-19 death toll stands at 832 after 53 people succumbed to the infection. However, 399 patients were discharged after recovery on Friday, taking the total to 4,199 till date. Out of the total deaths, 20 were recorded in Mumbai, 14 in Malegaon city, five each in Pune and Jalgaon city, two in Dhule city and one each in Dhule rural, Pimpri Chinchwad, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad city, Nandurbar, Solapur city and Vasai-Virar. Nineteen of the total deceased were above 60 years of age, while 30 patients were from the age group of 40 to 59 years. Twenty seven had high-risk comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, etc. Meanwhile, a 54-year-old inmate of Byculla women's jail in Mumbai has tested positive for coronavirus, a prison official said on Sunday. She was referred to the government-run JJ Hospital a few days back after her oxygen saturation level fell below 90 per cent. During the treatment, she was tested for coronavirus which came out negative on Friday. However, her second test conducted on Saturday came out positive for Covid-19. She is undergoing treatment at St George Hospital. The new case comes two days after a doctor attached to Byculla jail tested positive for coronavirus. Earlier, 77 inmates of Arthur Road Jail here and 26 staffers were found to have contracted the infection. Jamie Bell and Kate Mara left their Los Angeles home on Sunday for their daily dose of exercise amid the COVID-19 lockdown. The couple looked every inch the doting parents as they stepped out for a sunny stroll in the Los Feliz area of LA, taking a break from isolation. Enjoying the sunshine and the fresh air, the pair linked arms, as Kate carried their one-year-old daughter in a harness. Family time: Jamie Bell and Kate Mara left their Los Angeles home on Sunday for their daily dose of exercise amid the COVID-19 lockdown First-time-mum Kate, 37, and her British husband, 34, looked casual in their comfy clothes for the outing. Kate wore black sweatpants, a white T-shirt and a pair of white trainers. She strapped her adorable daughter to her chest in the sling and wore sunglasses to shield her eyes from the bright LA weather. The couple's baby, whose name has not yet been revealed, looked sweet in a red hat to hide her face. Adorable: Enjoying the sunshine and the fresh air, the pair linked arms, as Kate carried their one-year-old daughter in a harness Fresh air break: The couple looked every inch the doting parents as they stepped out for a sunny stroll in the Los Feliz area of LA, taking a break from isolation Rocketman actor Jamie, opted for a blue T-shirt paired with black tracksuit bottoms, a cap and shades. Both of them sported protective masks amid the pandemic. Kate announced the arrival of her little girl at the end of May 2019 on social media. Alongside a sweet photo she penned: 'We had a baby a couple weeks ago... Here are her feet.' Looking back: The couple first met as co-stars in Fantastic Four and began dating in 2015, before getting engaged in January 2017 (pictured in 2019) The couple first met as co-stars in Fantastic Four and began dating in 2015, before getting engaged in January 2017. Kate and Jamie married in July 2017 and now split their time between Los Angeles and New York. While the couple's daughter is the first child for Kate, she is Jamie's second child. The former child star shares a son, who is six, with actress ex-wife Evan Rachel Wood, 32. The couple were married from 2012 to 2014. In several interviews, Harris has said she would be honored to serve with Biden, but there is no public campaign similar to that carried out by Stacey Abrams, the former candidate for governor in Georgia. There is no surrogate lobbying effort like the one for Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, which includes direct polling presentations. Instead, even people close to Biden often bombarded with pleas from those vying to be his running mate have remarked about how little they have heard from Harris and her allies. : Irish Donors Raise $3 Million for Native Americans in Return for Help During Great Famine in 1845 EDWARDSVILLE SIUEs transition in mid-March to an online teaching format for the remainder of the spring semester due to COVID-19 had repercussions that went well beyond empty classrooms. With students moving out of their residence halls, SIUE has given them refunds on numerous items, including room and board and meal services. Gov. J.B. Pritzkers stay-at-home order went into effect on March 21, and most SIUE students left the campus. The order has been extended through May 31, but refunds were sent shortly after the initial closure. For students that had on-campus contracts for housing and meal plans, we refunded half of their semester balance, and that was done in April, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Jeffrey Waple said. When the next stay-at-home (extension) was announced, we started discussing refunds for some of our fee areas. It ended up being about 7.4 percent of the total student fee that was refunded to students who were enrolled for spring. That was part of the Student Fitness Center fee because we had to close that building, and that amounted to half a semester closure. SIUEs spring break, which was March 9-15, was extended for another week due to COVID-19 to give the school a chance to prepare for the transition to online classes for the remainder of the spring semester. That marked the approximate halfway point of the semester and provided a benchmark for a 50 percent refund for many services. The refunds for other fees varied because some services did not shut down. The refund for the Student Union was about one-third because we were still operating into April, Waple said. We still had our Cougar Pantry, which is our free food provider. We had Dining Services coming in and doing meals and they were open for most of the month of March. Parking passes are for 12 months and we refunded 10 percent on them and we also had reimbursement for some course fees. We charge a general fee to students every year and it supports a variety of things and most of those things were still operating under the-stay-at-home order. Classes were still going on (with an online format) and our mental health folks were still providing counseling appointments. Our Career Development Center was still doing Zoom meetings with classes and resume preparation. Waple is hopeful that students will be able to return to campus this summer, and that further refunds will not be necessary. If we are following the governors Restore Illinois plan that came out last week, we hope to have the campus open in some shape or form on June 1 as part of Phase Three, Waple said. By the end of March, there were still about 400 students living on campus. Those students remained for a variety of reasons. Some were deemed essential employees for working on campus or working in the community. Some had an internship that was still active while others were international students that could not go home. For some students, this is their home and they have nowhere else to go, Waple said. Some students are homeless, and this is the only place they have. We have married families that are living in family housing as well. While most students moved all their personal items out of their residence hall rooms when the campus shut down in March, some students still had items to pick up. Mallory Sidarous, SIUEs Director for Student Housing, set up a process where students and their parents signed up to come in and retrieve their belongings. We typically do it on a Thursday and Friday, but this has been a whole-week process, Waple said. They have to pick up their items by Sunday. We had a little less than 100 students on that list, so it wasnt a lot. We were able to move most of our students out in a timely fashion. SIUE has set up a dropbox on campus for students to drop off their textbooks. The deadline to turn in textbooks was May 9, but it has been extended to July. We are one of the unique colleges or universities in the nation that has a textbook rental program, Waple said. They can drop them off in the box or they can mail them in. We have worked with our faculty to provide about 85 percent e-books for the summer session, but there are some classes where a physical textbook is needed. For those students, we are mailing those books to them. H arry Potter star Miriam Margolyes has sparked more than 240 complaints after saying she wanted Boris Johnson to die from coronavirus. The actress, 78, told The Last Leg that the Governments handling of the pandemic has been a disgrace and a public scandal. Her comments to the Channel 4 show on Friday have resulted in 241 complaints to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom. An Ofcom spokeswoman told the PA news agency: We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate. The prime minister has returned to Number 10 after being hospitalised with Covid-19 / Reuters Margolyes had told the show she had difficulty not wanting Boris Johnson to die. She added: I wanted him to die and then I thought that reflects badly on me and I dont want to be the sort of person who wants people to die. Celebrities supporting Clap for Carers to battle Coronavirus 1 /14 Celebrities supporting Clap for Carers to battle Coronavirus Naomie Harris @naomieharris The Beckham Family @davidbeckham Daniel Craig and his wife Rachel Weisz @rachelweisz1 Amanda Holden @noholdenback Ben Whishaw @benwhishaw Katie Price with her son Harvey @katieprice Stacey Solomon @staceysolomon Stacey Solomon @staceysolomon Frankie Bridge and her family @frankiebridge Gemma Collins @gemmacollins So then I wanted him to get better, which he did do. But he didnt get better as a human being and I really would prefer that. A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: The programme is live and unexpected comments can happen. In this instance Miriam went on to say that she wanted him to get better. Her comments were criticised by some on social media, saying she should apologise. Others praised the honesty of her remarks. Additional reporting by Press Association Russia has announced it will ease lockdown restrictions despite recording the fourth highest number of coronavirus cases in the world on Monday. The country has overtaken Italy after a record daily rise of 11,656 new cases in just 24 hours. Mondays rise sees Russias overall number of confirmed cases surge to 221,344 behind the US (1,329,799 cases), Spain (224,350) and the UK (224,327). More than half of all cases and deaths in Russia to date have occurred in Moscow, the epicentre of the countrys outbreak, with 6,169 of the new infections reported in the region alone. The new figures were released just hours before president Vladimir Putin announced a gradual easing lockdown restrictions during a televised address to the nation. Russia's infections jumped by more than 11,000 cases in just 24 hours. (AP) The country's coronavirus response centre also reported 94 new deaths, taking the overall death toll to 2,009 people, while the official death toll remains lower than in many countries, a point that many critics of Russia have queried. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area 6 charts and maps that explain how coronavirus is spreading Russian officials attribute the rising and large number of cases to a massive testing programme they say has seen over 5.6 million tests conducted. Putin announced restrictions in the country would be eased from Tuesday, according to region - with badly affected areas such as Moscow extending its current rules to 31 May. Russian officials say around 5.6 million people have been tested for coronavirus. (AP) Putin unveiled new support measures for businesses and for families with children who have seen their livelihoods devastated, amid figures showing unemployment levels had rocketed by 1.4 million people in one month. Mass public events would still be banned, said Putin, and Russians aged 65 or over asked to stay at home, even as certain sectors of the bruised economy such as construction and agriculture were allowed to restart work. Story continues The Russian leader said in a televised address: "All the (coronavirus-related) measures we have taken allow us to move to the next step in the fight against the epidemic and start a phased lifting of the lockdown restrictions. He added exercise would need to be done carefully and in full compliance with new higher safety standards. "We must not allow a breakdown, a rollback, a new wave of the epidemic and an increase in serious complications. Once again, there will be no rapid lifting of the restrictions. It will take considerable time," he continued. The country marked the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War at the weekend in a ceremony devoid of its usual military parade and pomp. The figures came hours before president Vladimir Putin is due to review the country's lockdown restrictions on Monday. (AP) In neighbouring Belarus, however, the ceremonies went ahead in full, with tens of thousands of people ignoring the social distancing adopted by many of the worlds nations. Putin led commemorations and laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin walls in Moscow, before giving a short address honouring the valour and suffering of the Soviet army during the war. The ceremony was Putins first public appearance in about a month. Municipal employees, wearing special suits to protect against coronavirus, disinfect and clean a yard in Moscow. (AP) In his speech, the Russian leader did not mention the virus or how its spread had blocked the observances that were to be a prestige project for him, but promised that full commemorations would take place. We will, as usual, widely and solemnly mark the anniversary date, do it with dignity, as our duty to those who have suffered, achieved and accomplished the victory tells us, he said. There will be our main parade on Red Square, and the national march of the Immortal Regiment the march of our grateful memory and inextricable, vital, living communication between generations. Coronavirus: what happened today (Natural News) Youve probably heard the bizarre claim that hospitals are faking all the covid-19 deaths because theyre being rewarded with extra compensation from Medicare. No one is really dying from coronavirus, the deniers claim, and all the official death figures are simply counting people who would have died anyway, they say. But there are two glaring problems with that theory. The first and most obvious is that hospitals in lockdown zones (like New York City) have been steadily reporting substantial decreases in the number of covid-19 deaths since about April 10th (see the chart below). If hospitals were faking deaths to collect more money, wouldnt they engineer the death numbers to go higher rather than lower? In other words, do the pandemic denialists really want us to believe that hospitals hate money and want less of it? After 7 weeks of aggressive lockdowns that prevented the person-to-person spread of the coronavirus, New York announced today that hospitalizations have fallen to mid-March levels for the first time since the lockdowns began. On Saturday, 521 people were hospitalized with coronavirus infections and 207 died. These are the best numbers New York has seen in nearly two months. At the peak of the deaths, New York was seeing nearly 1,000 people die each day, and hospitals were stretched way beyond normal capacity. It turns out that the lockdowns just narrowly averted a colossal disaster of mass death in New York. Had Gov. Cuomo waited even one more week to initiate those lockdowns, the number of dead would have reached nearly 4,000 per day by around April 17th. Thats because the virus was doubling the number of infected about every 3.5 days, which means a one week delay would have quadrupled the number of people infected. And by the end of April, New York would have been seeing around 16,000 deaths per day. As the record shows, the deaths in New York peaked at around April 10th, which is roughly a 3-4 week lag time after the lockdowns were initiated. Theres a critical lesson in this that many states have already learned: Even after you initiate the lockdowns, hospitalizations and deaths will continue to surge for another 3-4 weeks. After that, the numbers begin to fall off for the simple reason that fewer people are getting infected due to the social distancing lockdown measures. Source: Covid19.healthdata.org Are pandemic denialists now going to tell us that New York hospitals are FAKING the drop in deaths? Pandemic denialists are at a loss to explain the drop in hospitalizations since April 10th. Many insist the coronavirus was no big deal from the start, claiming lockdowns werent necessary and dont even work. But if you ask them to offer an explanation of why New York experienced a +299% increase in excess mortalities from any cause, and why nearly 1,000 people were dying every day during the peak of the coronavirus there, and why those deaths have significantly dropped after 7 weeks of lockdowns, they have no explanation that fits with observed reality. They essentially claim that the lockdowns have nothing to do with the decline in coronavirus deaths. They quite literally believe that the sharp rise in deaths shown above was some sort of random, spontaneous event without cause. Similarly, they believe the decline in deaths also took place without cause. To people who dont understand exponential math, many phenomena in the world around them appear to be random when, in reality, they all have initiating causes. Dont forget that these people claim hospitals are faking all the deaths because they get paid more for recording covid-19 deaths. But if thats true, then why would hospitals engineer sharp declines in those numbers rather than increasing them to collect more money? Are these same denialists now going to tell us that hospitals are faking the declines for some reason? But what would be the financial incentive to fake declines in deaths? Or perhaps theyll tell us that the hospitals have run out of fake deaths to fake Anyone can have a theory about anything. Theories are a dime a dozen. What matters isnt the existence of a theory but rather how well the theory matches observed reality. Thats why Flat Earth is a theory, but it fails to explain the movement of the sun, moon and stars, as well as the effects of gravity. Similarly, pandemic denialism is also a theory, but it fails to explain the sudden surge and then decline in coronavirus deaths that has now been observed all across the world, in over 100 countries. As documented by the Financial Times: Excess mortalities in New York City: Excess mortalities in Italy: Excess mortalities in Spain: Nearly a dozen other countries: Would pandemic denialists now claim that hospitals in Italy and Spain are also being financially incentivized by Medicare to falsely claim covid-19 deaths? Because that would be really be a tall tale. The spread of a highly contagious pandemic explains all the observed hospitalizations and deaths Clearly, something has been killing people in a huge surge of mortalities, all around the world, all at nearly the same time, racking up death numbers that skyrocket far above typical mortalities. The pandemic denialists want you to believe that a global conspiracy of doctors, nurses, coroners and hospitals is faking covid-19 deaths worldwide, all in concert, all on command, and that now they are all faking declines in deaths, too. Occams Razor tells is the simpler explanation is probably more likely to be true: The deaths are being caused by a transmissible infection that spread around the world. The declines in deaths are being observed because most of the world initiated aggressive lockdowns to prevent a catastrophic outcome, and this caused the daily deaths to fall over time. Thats why the deaths are falling: Because the lockdowns were a necessary survival mechanism, and had they not been put in place, the USA, all by itself, would already be seeing something like 25,000 deaths per day (or even higher). By July, we would have seen millions of deaths. Of course, as weve repeatedly pointed out here, we can now lift the lockdowns if people would just wear masks and take vitamin D. We already know that if 80% of the population wears a mask, the virus spread grinds to a halt within just a few weeks. We also know that taking zinc, selenium and vitamin D offer substantial immune system protections that may further defend public health. Yet instead of people embracing these simple solutions to restore our freedoms and economic activities, we now face anti-maskers who refuse to wear masks, claiming the masks arent necessary because, as you might expect, they also claim all the deaths were faked in the first place. At that point, you have to realize youre dealing with a kind of shared delusion a mass mental illness that has ravaged the minds of the misinformed (who listened to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News). If you cant reason with these people and get at least 4 out of 5 to wear masks in public, the only available option is to re-initiate the lockdowns once the virus begins to spread again. And thats probably whats coming, given that America is now a land of shared delusions and widespread scientific illiteracy. Desperate to deny reality by any means necessary, far too many people have decided the virus faded away all on its own, for no apparent reason, and that it will simply vanish without cause, never to haunt us again. Stupid-19 has struck again. America is dominated by superstition, not by intellect America has become more of a land of superstition than a nation of intellect. When the masses have no idea why things happen or why observed phenomena stop happening then all events are a sudden surprise. (Which is exactly why the masses get wiped out in every stock market reset thats actually a mass transfer of wealth from the financially ignorant to the financially prepared.) Its a true statement that the world is divided into two types of people: Those who can grasp exponential phenomena (maybe 1 in 1,000 people) and those who cannot (999 in 1,000). All the exponential events that take place in the world around them positive feedback loop stock market crashes, the acceleration of gravity, the spread of pandemics and the physics of nuclear fission in a nuclear bomb are great mysterious to the 999 out of 1,000. The world is a blur of inexplicable events to these people, and they are always behind the curve when it comes to getting caught in a dollar collapse, or a stock market crash, or a pandemic. These people see events as spontaneous and random, when in reality, all events have an initiating cause. Identifying that cause, however, is simply beyond the mental comprehension of these people, so they only see the world as a series of random events usually attributed to luck. Theres no such thing as luck. There is only cause and effect. Every physical event has a cause, even if those causes are beyond the mental cognition of the masses. The difficulty in all this is that emergent properties of complex systems are extremely difficult to model and predict. Complex systems include things like human physiology, global weather, or the stock market. In these complex systems, very tiny changes affecting inputs can have wildly magnified impacts on outcomes, often due to things like self-reinforcing feedback loops. Ever wonder why supercomputers cant accurately forecast the weather just 30 days out? Because there are too many butterfly effect interactions where very tiny changes in initial conditions produce extremely hard-to-predict final outcomes. Exponential phenomena are often part of these complex systems, and such phenomena are found throughout nature, in things like the growth of bacteria or the spread of a virus. Because the human mind isnt wired to accurately assess exponential phenomena we tend to think in linear terms almost no one can accurately estimate future outcomes that depend on exponential factors without resorting to mathematical modeling. Importantly, when the cognitive demands to understand natural phenomena become too cognitively strenuous, people turn to superstition in a last-ditch attempt to explain the workings of the world around them. Playing the lottery might make them rich, they tell themselves, or getting caught in a global financial reset was just a matter of bad luck. The coronavirus is faked, the Earth is flat, carbon dioxide is a pollutant and climate change is real. These are all delusional, cult-like beliefs being paraded around as facts when, in truth, they are superstitions that only achieve a seeming consensus because so many people buy into their false claims. Thats because humanity is a suicide cult, as youve heard me say numerous times. The suicide part comes from the self-destructive nature of human expansion and ecological destruction that eventually turns back on the destroyers. The cult part comes from the tendency for intellectually suppressed individuals to surrender their beliefs to the consensus of their chosen cult rather than figure things out for themselves. There isnt one person in a thousand living in America today who can think for themselves, against the cult of the consensus. And this is more obvious than ever, watching the disappointing reaction to the coronavirus pandemic. Watching conservatives latch on to the coronavirus hoax conspiracy is just as pathetic and bizarre as watching progressives celebrate post-birth abortions as some twisted form of womens reproductive health care. The question for you is: Are you among the ONE, or the one thousand? The ONE is willing to stand for truth against a thousand-strong delusional mob. But 999 will go with the mob because they want to be accepted rather than right. Obedience and acceptance, you see. Thats how nearly all human beings are wired, and thats why nearly all humans work actually born to be enslaved. Theyre wired for it. They have no cognitive capacity to escape the mental prison that has been constructed for them by all the disinfo strewn about by the fake news media sources, which spans all political parties and all industries. Its easy for people to chant freedom at a public protest as long as theyre followed orders and going along with the mob. But that isnt freedom; its obedience and conformity. Whats far more difficult and rare, it seems, is for someone to demand reason. ALBANY The latest coronavirus-relief bill may include aid to local media outlets that were not previously eligible for government assistance, the office of Sen. Chuck Schumer said Monday. Schumer's announcement comes as newspapers, TV outlets and radio stations reeling from plummeting advertising revenues continue to lay off and furlough journalists. Current policy from the Small Business Administration blocks media outlets that were owned by larger corporations and had several locations from financial relief. The Times Union, for instance, is not eligible because it is owned by The Hearst Corporation, which also owns newspapers in California, Texas and Connecticut. The potential fifth bill will waive that requirement. "I fought hard to get these fixes to this legislation because just like any other small business in New York, access to this federal funding could be a vital lifeline for local news outlets that are losing major advertising revenue and suffering huge financial losses," Schumer said. "I will fight to make sure it stays in when it comes over to the Senate because New Yorks local media needs and deserves all the help we can offer and they need it now. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Local media outlets that have several l0cations would be eligible for loans under the payroll-protection program as long as each physical location meets the SBA's size-standard requirements. Loans received "must be used to support the provision of local news, information, content, or emergency information by that outlet," and each outlet will have to demonstrate the necessity of the loan to the SBA. Governmental relief for news outlets is a widely debated issue among journalists. Some people in media are concerned about accepting monetary aid from government entities they may cover. Others say that receiving government support is much needed, and no different than radio stations that are publicly funded. Michael.Williams@timesunion.com A group of anti-lockdown protesters armed with rocket launchers and rifles were seen purchasing Subway sandwiches as they demonstrated against North Carolinas stay-at-home order this weekend. Shocking images snapped by News & Observer photojournalist Travis Long shows a group of 11 armed protesters taking a break from their walk out to order Subway in Raleigh, with their massive guns slung over their shoulders. One man was seen with an AT4 rocket launcher strapped onto his back and pistols strapped to his sides in holsters. Another image shows a woman in army garb with her mouth covered carrying a heavy gun in her arms while wearing an army vest. One man was photographed sitting eating his sandwich with his camouflage print rifle placed next to him. Another man was pictured holding a massive weapon over his shoulder as he takes a selfie. Photojournalist Travis Long shared the photographs on Twitter on Saturday with the hashtag #MealTeamSix, a play on United States Navy unit SEAL Team Six, showing armed protesters stopping to buy Subway sandwiches One man was seen with an AT4 rocket launcher strapped onto his back and pistols strapped to his sides in holsters as he ordered a sandwich during the walk out Long shared the photographs on Twitter on Saturday with the hashtag #MealTeamSix, a play on United States Navy unit SEAL Team Six, where they went viral with over 20,000 likes and 7,000 retweets. On Saturday a few dozen demonstrators gathered in Raleigh in an effort organized by a group called Blue Igloo, where the armed protesters were seen walking through the desolate downtown area. 'The walk on Saturday wasnt a protest, it was a gathering to support our God given freedoms as Americans. We headed out for a walk to get some fresh air, sunshine, and some much needed exercise,' the group said Sunday to NBC News. 'We are a peaceful group, and wish to keep it that way at all costs. We arent looking for a fight. We in fact, want the opposite. We want to put on a smile, shake hands, and be friendly. An armed society is a police society.' The small protest on Saturday, organized by group Blue Igloo, defied lockdown orders the same weekend the state entered Phase one of reopening. About a dozen people showed up and walked through downtown Raleigh. No arrests were made Two protesters pictured above holding flags at Saturday's rally. The woman on the left carried a gun strapped to her chest while wearing army garb. The man on the right wore an American flag-themed shirt with an AT4 rocket launcher strapped to his back The man with the rocket launcher pictured in line at Subway on Saturday during the protest Blue Igloo posted video of the walk on Facebook where members are seen entering the Subway sandwich shop and ordering meals. Do you guys mind of we eat here? the person recording the video is heard asking. We dont want to make it look like were threatening or intimidating anyone, which is why I ask. A protester with a gun strapped to his back pictured in line to order at Subway with a rifle on the ground next to him at Saturday's walk out The group described the walk out on Facebook as an 'opportunity for First and Second Amendment supporters to get together, meet people with commonalities and get some exercise while were all wasting away at home.' Blue Igloo posted video of the walk on Facebook where members are seen entering the Subway sandwich shop and ordering meals. Do you guys mind if we eat here? the person recording the video is heard asking. We dont want to make it look like were threatening or intimidating anyone, which is why I ask. One man was photographed sitting down eating his sandwich - defying the state's rules that do not yet allow for in-person dining. There were no arrests at Saturdays small protest where the demonstrators were tailed by Raleigh and State Capitol Police as they traveled through downtown, many of them ignoring orders to wear masks. North Carolina is an open-carry state, but is one of at least six states that bans firearms from rallies. Phase one of reopening North Carolina started on Friday at 5pm and will last through May 22. Phase one will allow retail businesses to open at 50 percent capacity, limit gatherings to 10 people and outdoors, open up child care centers, but bars and restaurants will be limited to take out only and salons, gyms, and music venues will continue to be closed. As of Sunday evening there were 14,764 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 547 fatalities. The Irish construction industry is unique in being the only construction industry in the EU completely shutdown due to Covid-19. A CIF (Construction Industry Federation) survey shows how challenged the industry will be to remobilise the industry after sites reopen on May 18 with many companies expecting to be operating at a sub-optimally for at least 12 months. Also read: Office workers in Longford among least equipped for working from home Director General Tom Parlon said; Construction companies have seen 100,000 of their workers lose the jobs in the past month. This survey lays bare the impact of Covid-19 on the construction industry. "As the first sector to be allowed back to work, its critical that the construction industry can remobilise quickly so it can begin to benefit the wider economy. However, the pandemic has left a deep scar that our members think will take at least 12 months before they recover fully. "The Government has made significant efforts to support businesses which are to be lauded. Were heartened by the Governments commitment to maintain strong investment in public infrastructure such as roads, schools, rail, hospitals, housing and other vital societal construction. Also read: Longford set to be one of the worst-hit counties by Covid-19 economically "To maximise the positive impact of a fully operational construction industry will have on the wider economy the Government should: * Provide flexibility to state bodies to enable them to collaborate with contractors on public sector projects in sharing the burden of implementing Covid-19 safety measures (this will help avoid costly dispute and delays between the State and industries) * Accelerate house-building (both social and private) delivery through a suite of measures * Bring forward preparatory works on critical infrastructure as set out in the NDP and Project Ireland 2040 According to the survey, 71% of construction professionals are very concerned about the impact of the pandemic. Projected revenues are difficult to project, but 93% are certain that this pandemic will have an impact. Only 2% will expect to escape any consequences. Over 50% of those surveyed (52%), will expect the results to be dire. One fifth (20%), expect the pandemic to hit their bottom line by 40% with the majority (32%), expecting this figure to be in and around 30% - almost a third. While it is a small percentage, 1% of the industry have managed to hire during the lockdown. However, as expected, 67% have been forced to lay off staff on a permanent or temporary basis. 19% are monitoring the situation and we hope some of these layoffs will be reversed from the 18th of May. 55% of organisations have availed of government grants with the wage scheme topping the list at 81%. While much of the industry media has focused on the negative consequences of the pandemic (being layoffs), many construction ocmpanies have felt the repercussions financially (turnover and cashflow) and will expect to see an increase in logistical issues in securing materials from the supply chain. Director General, Tom Parlon stated; This survey shows the struggles that the construction industry faces. From cash flow issues and legal disputes to productivity challenges, the industry will need time to adjust and recover. Despite this, the construction industry has been preparing for a month and next week companies will be carrying out site safety assessments to 'covid proof' construction sites around the country to prepare for a gradual return to work. "This will involve putting in place extra hygiene facilities, adding safety modifications on sites and carrying out essential maintenance. We thank the 75,000 construction employees who have completed the online safety inductions on Covid-19 and we encourage the remainder of employees who aren't working from home to do so this week. "Equally, thousands of construction companies have adopted the CIF's new safety operating procedures in preparation of a return to work. The construction industry has a vital role in driving Ireland's economic recovery by getting people back to work and delivering the housing and infrastructure this country requires to move forward through this pandemic. I'm very proud that we are taking the steps to reopen our economy together and I working collaboratively with the Government, our clients, employees and the public, we can adapt and safely rebuild the economy. Also read: Making Cents: Make sure the time is right on your mortgage Since coronavirus broke out four months ago, researchers and scientists from across the globe have been working to concoct the perfect cure. While developing a vaccine might take a few years, researchers from across the globe are optimistic that a coronavirus vaccine may be available by next year. Once a vaccine or cure is found, it has to undergo multiple rounds of trials. The first round of trials involves healthy volunteers. Phase II is carried out in an outbreak area on hundreds of candidates, while Phase III is a repeat of Phase II with thousands of candidates. Also read: Coronavirus Live Blog: Shramik trains to now have up to 3 stoppages; to run with full capacity, says Railways So far, a few COVID-19 vaccines have reached various trial stages. Here's all you need to know about the frontrunners: Moderna RNA vaccine: Boston biopharma company Moderna said that it has received the nod from FDA to move into the Phase II of the trial. The company will enrol 600 participants in the coming weeks in a study. This will test if a vaccine and induce the immune system to produce antibodies that recognise SARS. The vaccine candidate is made out of messenger RNA that is responsible for carrying genetic recipes to make different proteins to a cell's protein producers. Moderna aims to make the recipient's cells produce partial spike protein that would train their immune systems to recognise the virus and attack it. Also read: Coronavirus vaccine: ICMR, Bharat Biotech join hands to develop vaccine for Covid-19 Oxford University corona vaccine: Oxford was already researching vaccines for MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) when COVID-19 broke. MERS and SARS are also caused by coronavirus. So, the university did not waste much time to gear up for a vaccine for COVID. This gave Oxford the much-needed lead. It has already entered Phase I of clinical trials to study how healthy volunteers between 18-55 years respond to the cure. Once the data is out, Phase II and III will follow, involving a larger number of volunteers. The vaccine developed by Oxford along with Jenner Institute is known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. It uses a weakened version of chimpanzee adenovirus as a vector, infused with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein genetic material. Also read: Coronavirus vaccine: NIV develops first indigenous antibody detection test kit Pfizer's BNT162 vaccine: Pfizer is also developing a vaccine called BNT162 with German pharma company BioNTech. The Phase I will enrol around 360 people in different hospitals. Trials in Germany have begun and the company is delivering doses of the coronavirus vaccine to candidates in the US. Pfizer is aiming to manufacture millions of doses in 2020, increasing it further next year. University of Pennsylvania coronavirus vaccine: UPenn is working with biotech company Inovio to produce a coronavirus vaccine codenamed INO-4800. The vaccine is made of synthetic DNA instead of RNA. The method is the same as Moderna's. SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is packaged into the DNA instead of RNA. The company was testing two doses in 40 healthy volunteers. Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine: Chinese company Sinovac is in discussion with regulators in other countries as well as WHO to carry Phase III of the clinical trials. Sinovac, like Oxford was already developing a vaccine against SARS, which had to be abandoned after the outbreak was contained. China's Beijing Institute of Biological Products is working with Sinopharm to create a vaccine. Phase I and II trials are being conducted simultaneously. Also read: Coronavirus vaccine update: These countries are closest to finding a treatment A 40-year-old man was killed in a clash in Uttar Pradesh's Bhadohi district, police said on Monday. Nanhku Harijan had a financial dispute with his uncle and cousins at Khamaria area on Sunday night, and he was brutally beaten up, the police said. He was rushed to a hospital in Varanasi in a serious condition and he succumbed to injuries in the early hours of Monday, an officer said. A case has been registered against four people, the officer added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former prime minister Manmohan Singh has been admitted to AIIMS hospital after he complained of chest pain. (File photo: PTI) New Delhi: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh was admitted to the All-Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi on Sunday evening after he complained of chest pain and uneasiness, sources said. Manmohan Singh, 87, is under observation in the cardiothoracic ward of the premier hospital, they said. "All his parameters are fine. He is under observation at AIIMS," a source close to him said, adding that he was taken to the hospital after he complained of "uneasiness". He is under the care of Dr Nitish Naik, a professor of cardiology at AIIMS. The former PM underwent a successful coronary bypass surgery at AIIMS in 2009. As news of the former PM's hospitalisation came out, a number of leaders expressed concern over his health and wished him a speedy recovery. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said, "Much worried to know former PM Manmohan Singhji has been admitted to AIIMS. I wish him speedy recovery and pray for his good health and long life." Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel tweeted, "Praying for good health of doctor saheb. We are sure he will be fit and fine at the earliest." RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav also tweeted, "Saw the news of Dr Manmohan Singhji being admitted to hospital. My sincere prayers for the speedy recovery of Manmohan Singhji, the humble, intelligent, scholar, true gentleman and one of the best PMs." His son and RJD chief Tejashvi Yadav said, "Wishing for the speedy recovery of respected Dr Manmohan Singhji." T here are few brands as synonymous with high-voltage glamour than Charlotte Tilbury. Founded in 2013, the makeup artist's eponymous label quickly garnered cult status thanks to her long-researched and effective makeup formulations and a user-friendly concept which encouraged shoppers to choose product from one of her 10 easy-to-recreate makeup looks. In addition to fabulous eye shadow cream pencils, game-changing lippies and a bronzer-highlighter duo brick that fast became a must-have in the makeup bags of those in the know, Charlotte also launched her line with a single skincare product, the Magic Cream. A thick and nourishing formula that Tilbury had herself developed in the years spent working with models backstage, the cream quickly became a bestseller for the brand, and is now the number one luxury face cream in the UK prestige market, with one pot selling every two minutes. Tilbury has continued gradually to add skincare items to her range, launching a Clay Mask in 2015, a Dry Sheet Mask in 2017 and a two-step Goddess Cleansing Ritual in 2018. And this month fans of the brand rejoiced at the arrival of the first Tilbury serum, the Magic Serum Crystal Elixir. The product, which amassed a waiting list of 8,000 prior to launch, boasts an A-list of ingredients, including replexium, polyglutamine acid, vitamin C, and the revered niacinamide, all which are accompanied by a host of other skin-loving stars. According to research from the brand, the Magic Serum resulted in 97 per cent of people surveyed noticing "intensely hydrated" skin and 93 per cent agreeing that their skin looked younger. So the fashion and beauty team took it for a test drive and noted the results. Charlotte's Magic Serum / Charlotte Tilbury Chloe says: No matter how much water I drink and cucumber and spinach I eat, my skin is for some reason always a little dry and dehydrated, meaning I am on a never-ending quest to find super hydrating products to give me glow. This has mostly meant a quest for the most effective hyaluronic acid serum on the market (for affordable, I rate Paulas Choice, or if youre happy to splash the cash, Barbara Sturms is life-changing), however, when I heard that beauty supremo Charlotte Tilbury had released her first serum and it contained something called polyglutamic acid, an ingredient the brand claimed to be four times stronger than hyaluronic acid, my interest was firmly piqued. Unlike Charlottes best-selling Magic Cream, which I find so heavy in consistency that I cant use it for a prolonged period, the Crystal Elixir serum is wonderfully light and has a gorgeous watery milk-like consistency, which my skin drank up faster than I tend to inhale my first G&T on a Friday night. And honestly, after two weeks of using the serum every morning, my skin definitely felt better hydrated and looked a little more 28 than 30-something. The product also contains Replexium, a fusion of two patented peptides that Charlotte previously used in her Flawless Filter foundation. Peptides are strings of amino acids, which are the building blocks that make up the proteins in our bodies. One such protein is collagen, and more collagen means fewer wrinkles. I cant tell whether the Replexium did actually have an effect on the fine lines around my eyes, or whether it was just the other hydrating ingredients working their magic, but my skin definitely looked plumper and less crepey. Alongside these hyper-hydrators, the serum also contains a killer combo of brightening vitamin C, and pore-refining Niacinamide, another ingredient known for its amazing powers to reduce transepidermal water loss. At 60, Tilburys serum is more reasonably priced than some of her luxury competitors, and if youre looking for a helping hand on the hydration and glow, you cant go far wrong. Plus, it contains actual crushed up crystals (dont ask me why), so thats cool? Naomi says: As a self-confessed hydration junkie, I must add an initial disclaimer that I fancy myself as a bit of a serum swat. Anything that boasts about being able to hydrate, impart a glow or generally make me look like I've just spent the last seven weeks in St. Barts and not in the confines of my own home, is a sure-fire win in my eyes. You name it, I've tried it. So when Charlotte Tilbury's Magic Serum landed on my doorstep, I was excited. The thing that I've always found with Charlotte Tilbury, a brand which can faultlessly be relied upon for a seductive smoky eye, is that while its make-up is deliciously creamy (try and part me from my KKW lipstick - I dare you), its skincare and I had just never crossed paths. Endeavouring to change that, I used the full Charlotte Tilbury skincare routine for two weeks, which is the amount of time it takes your skin to adjust to new products, and the blotchiness my skin is naughtily very prone to displaying had all but gone. My hero product from the range wasn't the Magic Serum as I'd hoped, but the Goddess Cleansing two-step ritual, which I feel was the real reason my skin cleared up. The serum, which I desperately tried to fall in love with, was a little too on the viscous side for me and didn't have as much of a visceral impact on my skin as I'd have liked. What I have unabashedly adopted as part of my routine though is Tilbury's Goddess Clay Mask and the Goddess Cleansing Ritual, both of which made me feel like, well, a goddess. Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte's Magic Serum Crystal Elixir, 60, buy now Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Cleansing Ritual, 32.50, buy now Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Skin Clay Mask, 38, buy now Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte's Magic Cream, 75, buy now Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-12 06:20:51|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Humanitarian agencies of the United Nations and their partners have launched an emergency air-bridge from Kuala Lumpur to Yangon to ferry in supplies to fight the coronavirus, a UN spokesman said on Monday. The World Food Programme launched the program by flying in 10,000 virus testing kits, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The project was established because of the suspension of commercial flights due to COVID-19. The kits were obtained by the UN Children's Fund to help Myanmar's Ministry of Health and Sports, Dujarric said. "The European Union and Switzerland are generously funding the first stage of this flight service," he said. "Each flight can bring up to 2 metric tons of humanitarian cargo, as well as personnel." The UN's resident coordinator, Ola Almgren, thanked all donors and member states for their support. The spokesman also said the UN Development Programme and the UN Refugee Agency agreed on Monday with the government to extend the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding for work through June of 2021 in Rakhine State. The memorandum, originally signed in June 2018, aims to allow for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, he said. It also supports development benefiting all communities living in the three northern townships in Rakhine. More than 900,000 Rohingya have fled violence in Rakhine over the border to Bangladesh and many are now in what is now the largest refugee camp in the world. Enditem Donald Trump has refused to make clear what offence he believes Barack Obama has committed, a day after suggesting he was responsible for the biggest political crime in American history, by far. Amid a series of claims that his predecessors administration acted improperly when it launched investigations into Russias alleged interference in the 2016 election and into contacts between Russian officials and members of his campaign, including ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn, the president was asked what precise crime he was alleging. Mr President, in one of your Mothers Day tweets you appear to accuse president Obama of the biggest political crime in American history by far. Those were your words. What crime exactly are you accusing president Obama of committing and do you believe the justice department should prosecute him, he was asked by Philip Rucker of the Washington Post at a White House press conference. Obamagate, the president said, using a word that his tweets set trending on social media. Its been going on for a long time. Its been going on from before I even got elected, and its a disgrace that it happened. When he was again asked exactly he believed Mr Obama had done, Mr Trump told the reporter: You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers except yours. Mr Trumps outburst on one day over the weekend he posted more than 100 tweets came after his department of justice announced it was dropping the criminal case against Flynn, a former army general who joined Mr Trumps campaign in 2015, and served briefly as his top national security adviser. He was obliged to resign after it emerged he had lied to vice president Mike Pence about his conversations with Russias then top diplomat in the US. Mr Flynn cooperated with the nearly two-year investigation overseen by Robert Mueller, and pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. He later sought to retract his confession. Mr Trump and his supporters have long considered the case against Flynn as outrageous. The president has claimed the investigation into the 61-year-old former solider, which was launched before he took office, was part of a broader effort by Mr Obama to undermine him and to spy on him. He has never provided any evidence to support such claims, and they have been dismissed by Mr Obama. Indeed, an inquiry carried out last year by DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz found sufficient cause for the FBIs actions. Coronavirus in numbers While he said agents had made errors in the way they sought Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants to monitor one member of Mr Trump campaign team, Carter Page, Mr Horowitz said he did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decision to open the FBI investigation. Last week, after the DOJ announced the decision to drop the case against Flynn, House speaker Nancy Pelosi said: Attorney General Barrs politicisation of justice knows no bounds. In one of his weekend tweets, made as the number of coronavirus tweets in the US approached 80,000, Mr Trump simply wrote: Obamagate. D iplo has confirmed that he recently became a father for the third time by welcoming his first child with Jevon King. The DJ, 41, is already a parent to Lockett and Lazer Pentz, who were born during his previous relationship with Kathryn Lockhart. Diplo, real name Thomas Wesley Pentz, shared the news on Sunday while celebrating the women in his life on American Mothers Day. Posting on Instagram, he shared a series of three images; one of his mother with him as a child, another of Lockett and their two kids, and a third of King and her young son. He captioned the snaps: Thanks for giving me life and helping me create it - the three strongest mothers in the world. I'm still a work in progress but u have given three perfect beautiful boys. I love you all til the moon and back. King, a 30-year-old former Miss Universe contestant, welcomed her son Pace in late March. She marked Mothers Day by sharing a picture of her son online for the first time. In the midst of all this chaos youve been my peace, King wrote next to the adorable picture. Gunman in N.S. mass shooting likely used gasoline to torch homes and vehicles, say RCMP Investigators have identified where the gunman responsible for the mass shooting in rural Nova Scotia that killed 22 people obtained decals for his replica cruiser, and now suspect he used gasoline while setting homes and vehicles on fire. RCMP sent out an update Monday on their investigation into the 13-hour rampage that started in Portapique, N.S., on April 18. The last time the force provided an update was a news conference on April 28. RCMP have not disclosed the name or location of the supplier of the decals featuring the police force's distinctive stripes and logos. Someone made the graphics for the vehicle without the business owner's permission and both people are now working with police, according to the news release. Police did not say if the person who made the decals worked at the business. The Mounties have previously said the vehicle outfitted to look exactly like an RCMP cruiser gave the gunman, Gabriel Wortman, an advantage as he travelled through Nova Scotia communities the morning of April 19. He separately pulled over two women, Kristen Beaton and Heather O'Brien, with his fake cruiser and shot them to death, police said. So far, police have spoken to about 500 people, with more interviews planned. They are asking anyone who had professional or personal conflicts with Wortman to contact them. Some of the witnesses have shared information that the gunman had a "significant supply of gasoline" at his Portapique property, leading investigators to suspect he used it as an accelerant. Several homes in Portapique and Wentworth, a community about 45 kilometres to the north where a number of victims were killed, were destroyed by fire. The replica cruiser and the vehicle driven by RCMP Const. Heidi Stevenson, who was shot to death by the gunman, were also torched. Source of firearms still under investigation Police now say they determined the shooter left Portapique with two semi-automatic rifles and two semi-automatic handguns. Previously, they said they traced one of the guns to Canada and were working with the Canada Border Services Agency because they believed others were obtained in the United States. Story continues The Mounties have not identified the specific calibre used, nor have they released any information about whether the gunman had modified the weapons. "Determining where and how the gunman obtained the firearms is a central part of the investigation, and we use this detailed information to verify the credibility of some of the information we receive," the release said. Another part of the RCMP's investigation is determining whether Stevenson shot at Wortman when she encountered him near Shubenacadie, N.S. RCMP initially asked Nova Scotia's Serious Incident Response Team to investigate, but the police watchdog referred the matter back to them. Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press SIRT is still investigating why two RCMP officers fired shots at the Onslow Belmont Fire Brigade hall and the confrontation with the gunman where he was shot dead at the Irving Big Stop in Enfield, N.S. Monday's news release also confirmed that the RCMP behavioural analysis unit is conducting a psychological autopsy of the gunman an in-depth study that analyzes his personality, his past behaviour and his interactions with others in hopes of better understanding his motivations. By interviewing friends, family and acquaintances, a psychological autopsy can provide insight into someone's mental and emotional state, as well as any patterns of abuse, said Jim Van Allen, who used the investigative technique in his past role managing the Ontario Provincial Police's criminal profiling unit. He trained and worked closely with RCMP. Nova Scotia RCMP Many violent crimes end up having "multiple motivations and overlapping motivations," he said, and abusive relationships are a common warning sign. "Sometimes, you might see this coming, but nobody did anything to prevent it. Or, you get to look at the significance of the sequence of events and that might help you determine what was most causative in leading up to the person's decisions to carry out the behaviour that they did," Van Allen said. "Everybody deserves an explanation, the best possible explanation the police can give. And I believe the psychological autopsy will help provide some of those answers to the people that want to know and deserve to know." CBC The RCMP's major crimes unit is leading the investigation with help from across the country, including crime analysts, people specializing in digital forensic and laboratory services, as well as forensic pathologists. As part of that effort, forensic identification officers worked with a team from Dalhousie University and searched for anything buried at the gunman's Portapique property. The police release said they didn't find anything relevant. They said they've completed searches of 17 scenes. The force is continuing to look into a possible motive and whether anyone helped the gunman in the lead-up to the fires and mass shootings. The release also said police are still working on tracing his movements on April 18 and 19. They've dubbed the investigation H-Strong, a reference to "H" Division, which encompasses the RCMP in Nova Scotia. It's unclear if the project name also refers to "Nova Scotia Strong," the phrase that people from around the world have been using while sharing condolences and tributes in the wake of the mass shooting. If you are seeking mental health support during this time, here are resources available to Nova Scotians. MORE TOP STORIES UK opposition leader Keir Starmer demanded more detail Monday on the easing of the coronavirus lockdown, after the government urged people who can't work from home to go back to work. Speaking in parliament, Starmer asked prime minister Boris Johnson to say when safety guidelines would be issued. He was responding to Johnson's announcement that workers in a number of sectors, including construction and manufacturing, are expected to return to work on Wednesday. They will have to adhere to new health and safety guidelines to curb the spread of the new virus. But these haven't been released yet. Johnson said that guidelines would be published later Monday and on Tuesday. The prime minister's roadmap document outlines a three-stage approach to ending Britain's lockdown, beginning Wednesday with a relaxing of limits on outdoor exercise and leisure activity. If there is no new spike in infections, that will be followed in June by a return to class for some school pupils, the reopening of nonessential shops and the return of televised sports, played behind closed doors. A third stage planned for July would see the gradual reopening of restaurants, cafes, pubs, hairdressers and other businesses. The plan has put Johnsons UK government at odds with semi-autonomous authorities in Scotland and Wales, who are urging more caution. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and could lead to death. Physicians have known for weeks about a vexing complication of COVID-19 patients are overwhelmed by an onslaught of blood clots. Studies in the Netherlands and France conclude that 20 to 30 percent experience clotting issues. "This is like a storm of blood clots, Behnood Bikdeli, a fourth-year cardiology fellow at Columbia University in New York City, told the journal Nature. Some clots are pudding-like globs of cells and proteins that can cause strokes when they reach the brain. Others are so tiny they can clog up capillaries. Blood thinners dont seem to work. Scientists are just now beginning to unravel the mystery of these clots. Here are some of the theories so far, according to Nature: A protein fragment known as D-dimer, which is produced when a clot dissolves, may be a predictor of mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Those experiencing a spike in D-dimer levels were less likely to survive. Studies by the Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City and the Irish Centre for Vascular Biology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin found capillaries clogged with clots in lung and skin samples. Patients may be suffering a double whammy: pneumonia gums up the tiny sacs in the lungs with fluid and pus, meanwhile microclots jam the capillaries, blocking the flow of oxygenated blood. The phenomenon may explain why some patients have critically low blood-oxygen deficits and why machine ventilation frequently doesnt work. Why does this mass clotting happen in the first place? We know SARS-CoV-2 attacks ACE2 receptor cells, which are the pathway for the virus to enter the lungs. But since the endothelial cells that line blood vessels also have these same ACE2 receptors, they may also be targeted. The invading pathogens could be compromising a key function of the lining that prevents clots from forming. The tendency of the immune system to go into overdrive in some people while fighting the virus, causing a cytokine storm, may be linked to a defense mechanism that triggers coagulation and clotting. Agnes Lee, director of the Hematology Research Program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, noted that many COVID-19 patients are already predisposed to excessive clotting by the time they enter the hospital. Obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, certain medications, immobilization and advanced age all can contribute to the risk of clots forming. On the other hand, a small number of young COVID-19 patients in their 30s and 40s, who otherwise are barely sick, have been suffering severe clot-related strokes. That kind of stroke, which can result in death or severe disability, normally occurs in people in their 70s (the median age is 74). MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here. Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Digital Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate Former prime minister Manmohan Singh was admitted to the AIIMS here on Sunday evening after he complained of uneasiness, sources said. Manmohan Singh, 87, is under observation at the cardio-thoracic ward of the premier hospital, they said. "All his parameters are fine. He is under observation at the AIIMS," a source close to him said, adding that he was taken to the hospital after he felt "uneasiness". He was admitted under Dr Nitish Naik, a professor of cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), around 8.45 pm. Singh is a senior leader of the opposition Congress and is currently a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. He was the prime minister between 2004 and 2014. In 2009, Singh underwent a successful coronary bypass surgery at AIIMS. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11 By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend: Twelve more coronavirus cases were reported in Kazakhstan on May 11, 2020, Trend reports with reference to Kazakhstans Ministry of Healthcare. New coronavirus cases were confirmed in Karaganda region (5 cases), Mangystau region (1 case), Kyzylorda region (1 case), Aktobe region (2 cases) and Almaty city (3 cases). The total number of coronavirus cases confirmed in Kazakhstan since the virus was first confirmed in the country amounted to 5,138 cases. This includes 1,941 people who recovered from the coronavirus, and 31 patients who passed away. Distribution of overall coronavirus cases in Kazakhstans regions: Total infected Total recovered Total deaths Nur-Sultan city 1 074 404 3 Almaty city 1 593 418 9 Shymkent city 233 130 5 Akmola region 110 90 4 Aktobe region 174 54 Almaty region 183 70 Atyrau region 302 113 East Kazakhstan region 51 13 1 Zhambyl region 179 84 1 West Kazakhstan region 252 96 Karaganda region 196 96 3 Kostanay region 62 28 1 Kyzylorda region 230 161 Mangystau region 129 16 1 Pavlodar region 154 63 2 North Kazakhstan region 36 29 Turkestan region 180 76 1 TOTAL 5 138 1 941 31 The first two cases of coronavirus infection were detected in Kazakhstan among those who arrived in Almaty city from Germany on March 13, 2020. The outbreak of the coronavirus began in the Chinese city of Wuhan (an international transport hub), at a fish market in late December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019. --- Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh As Kimberly Tusi was taken off a ventilator and began her long, slow recovery from COVID-19, she couldnt have known that in the same Billings, Montana, hospital her husband, her brother and her father were fighting the same disease. It wasn't until after the 54-year-old recovered that she learned her younger brother had died, and later, her father, too. They were the first and second, and as of Friday the only, deaths from COVID-19 in Yellowstone County. In all of Montana, 16 have died from the disease as of Saturday. More than 265,000 have died worldwide. Bruce J.R. Spotted Bear Jr., age 52, died April 17. His father, Bruce Spotted Bear Sr., 77, died April 28. Bruce Sr. died alone, not knowing his son had passed 11 days before. Kimberly didn't get to say goodbye. Her husband, Tafuna, recovered quickly from the disease. While making J.R.'s final arrangements, he tried to keep the news of her brothers death from her, fearing she may relapse. I was scared if she found out, and her heart broke, shed go under, Tafuna said. I didnt think shed come out of it. Tafuna Tusi is a native of Samoa and a Methodist. He said he sought Gods guidance in how and when to tell his wife of 32 years about the loss. He recalls thinking, If my wife gets mad at me forever, Im OK as long as shes alive. It was one of Kimberlys co-workers who inadvertently broke the news when she texted her condolences. By then, Kimberly was well enough to take it in. I was OK and understood, she said. "I know how hard it was for them to tell me." 'We prayed a lot' J.R. cared for his dad Bruce Sr. on a ranch they shared near Pryor. In late March, J.R. waved through the front window of their house to his cousin Renee Hawley and told her he loved her. She was dropping off his favorite sodas, Grape Shasta and Pepsi. It was the last time she would see him. The next day, Saturday, March 28, J.R. texted Hawley saying he was heading to the Billings Clinic emergency room. Hawley had spent her high school years living with the Spotted Bear family and considers J.R. and Kimberly her siblings. Kimberly, who lives in the Billings Heights with her husband, was admitted earlier the same day to the same hospital. She had told her husband she couldnt breathe and was having trouble smelling or tasting anything. He drove her to the ER. When Kimberly arrived at the hospital, she was given an oxygen mask and taken into the Intensive Care Unit where she was put on a ventilator. Kimberly, a diabetic, said she was intubated and heavily sedated and doesnt remember the next two weeks. On April 6, her 50-year-old husband started having trouble breathing, and checked himself into Billings Clinic. He was put on oxygen and developed pneumonia, although he was never sick enough to need a ventilator. Just three days later, the Tusis' daughter, Sonya Goes Ahead, raced to the ranch to get Bruce Sr. to the hospital. Goes Ahead had just finished basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and had been looking forward to visiting her grandfather. She had talked with him on the phone, but the rushed trip to the hospital was their only chance to reunite. Typically, Bruce Sr. hated hospitals and had to be dragged to doctor appointments. But, he was feeling alarmed enough that day to call for help. Before he was sedated, he gave Goes Ahead a list of chores to do around the ranch. The horses needed tending. Bruce Sr. was well known for his way with horses, and he raised racing horses on the ranch after retiring from 30 years of driving buses for St. Charles Mission School and Pryor public schools. He was the one who taught Goes Ahead how to work with horses. During the next few weeks, Goes Ahead made daily phone calls to check on her familys recovery. It was really stressful, she said. At one point they were all in the ICU, and there isnt anything we couldve done. We prayed a lot. Beating the ventilator Bruce Sr. and J.R., along with Kimberly, were all put on ventilators, not a good sign for COVID-19 patients. According to preliminary data, survival rates are low for coronavirus patients put on ventilators, a device that pushes air in and out of failing lungs. In New York City, one of the hottest spots in the country for the novel coronavirus, about 80% of ventilated patients have died, according to the Associated Press. No one is certain yet why the death rate is so high. Its possible the ventilators cause more trauma to the lungs, or that many patients are too sick to survive anyway. Kimberly beat the odds, after two weeks on a ventilator. She later told her husband that while she was under she prayed to God she could have more time with her family. She and her husband have raised five sons and two daughters and have four granddaughters. On April 11, Kimberly and her husband Tafuna were released from the hospital after twice testing negative for COVID-19. Kimberly was sent to Advanced Care Hospital of Montana in Billings to recover. Tafuna was sent home. A week later, J.R. died. Mourning during a pandemic As the family planned for J.R.s funeral, they still hoped for Bruce Sr.s recovery. On April 28, at 1 p.m., those gathered for J.R.'s small funeral on the family ranch didn't know that Bruce Sr. had died just three hours earlier. Tafuna and Kimberly Tusi waited until later that night, after J.R.s funeral, to tell everyone. At the funeral, Goes Ahead recalls thinking that even though her grandfather was in the ICU, he could still survive. I didnt want to be too sad, she said. Then I found out that he did pass away that day. All of my emotions compounded. Kimberly was still recovering at Advanced Care Hospital and couldnt attend the funeral. Truthfully, she was relieved she didn't attend, she said. Im not ready to see my brother put in the ground, she said last Friday. She still hadnt read his obituary, either. J.R.'s small funeral was closed-casket, and those who attended wore face masks. Everybody looked lost, recalled his cousin, Renee Hawley. It just seemed unreal. After J.R.s funeral, Hawley returned to her apartment in Billings to contemplate the second death in her family in less than two weeks. April 2, a fresh grave was dug next to J.R. Spotted Bear's grave. Bruce Sr.s funeral was a blend of Tafunas cultural tradition and his wifes tradition. Kimberly, her brother and their father, are enrolled members of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in North Dakota. A Samoan priest honored the service, which was conducted in English and in the Apsaalooke language. There were no hugs or handshakes as family members tried to respect social distancing. There was no reception afterwards. Were a family that loves to give hugs, Kimberly said. That was really hard not to give hugs. That hurts me because thats how we are. I dont get kisses anymore." Survivor's guilt How Kimberly became infected with COVID-19 remains a mystery. She had been working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs from home and said she was doing everything right. She limited herself to essential trips. She socially distanced. She wiped down groceries and washed her hands. Still, theres guilt. One distant relative has blamed her and her husband for the deaths in the family. Im here, and theyre not, Kimberly said. The fact that she was hospitalized first doesn't mean she was the source of infection within the family. COVID-19 symptoms can take up to 14 days to appear, and severity varies from person to person. Some people can be contagious without experiencing symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health officials have said there is evidence of community spread in Yellowstone County, meaning the source of the patients' infections is unknown. As Montana slowly reopens its economy, Kimberly urges people to consider those who are more vulnerable to the disease, like her 77-year-old father, her brother with kidney disease or herself, a diabetic. This virus, it just attacks who it wants, Kimberly said. Post-recovery she's going to donate her plasma, which should contain antibodies that others can use against the virus. A visit that would be the last The day before Kimberly and J.R. were hospitalized, he came to visit her at her Heights home. It was a ritual for the close siblings. Hed finish his shift at the West End Shiptons Big R and spend a few hours with her before heading back to the ranch in Pryor. J.R. and his father were more alike than not. Hawley would tease them by calling them Sanford and Son. Kimberly jokes that her father was a "tightwad, although it was more out of self-sufficiency than lack of generosity. He didnt like paying for things he could do himself. During the annual Crow Fair, or during rodeos, Bruce Sr. was quick to donate his time and horse trailers, or anything else the community needed, Kimberly said. J.R. inherited that generosity. He would gift a belt he had beaded, or a handmade quilt, or often he'd simply cook for his family, sometimes using his mom's recipes. Had Bruce Sr. recovered from COVID-19, Kimberly isn't sure he would have survived the loss of his son. Bruce Sr.'s wife, Myrna, died in 2014. It'll be tough for Kimberly to survive the losses, too. At 54 years old, she's now the last of her immediate family. But given the chance, she didn't want to watch her dad die. The doctors had offered her the opportunity to FaceTime with him before he died. She said no. "I didn't want to remember him like that," she said. She may have made a different choice with her brother. Kimberly doesn't blame Tafuna for keeping the news of J.R.'s death from her. But as it is, she doesn't remember the last words they said to each other. I wish I couldve said goodbye, she said. Photos: Funeral Yellowstone County man who died of COVID-19 IRGC Linked Agency Says Media, Analysts Got Khamenei's Pacifist Message Wrong Radio Farda May 10, 2020 Tasnim news agency in Iran says some foreign media and analysts got a tweet by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wrong and portrayed it as if he was prepared to make peace with the United States. The IRGC-linked news agency said that the interpretation about the tweet in praise of Imam Hassan, the second Shiite Imam, as a peace-maker was biased. Imam Hassan is known in the history of the Shiites for making a peace deal with his enemies, while his brother the non-compromising Imam Hussain was "martyred" in the course of a clash with his enemies. Meanwhile, Tasnim charged that misinterpreting Khamenei's words would be an act of "treason" in the country's current situation. Many on social media recirculated the tweet from Khameni's accounts believing it is a move to signal his readiness to negotiate with the United States. Tasnim explained that the tweet was taken from an old speech by Khamenei. Some Iran experts had explained on Twitter that Khamenei does not personally tweet and probably a social media aide had chosen to re-publish an old statement from him. Ayatollah Khamenei translated a book about Imam Hassan and his peace deal in 1977 and used this example when he came up with the idea of "heroic flexibility", ahead of 2015 nuclear deal with world power. Saturday May 9 coincided with Imam Hassan's birthday and this justified the re-publishing of the old comment from Khamenei's website. Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/irgc-linked -agency-says-media-analysts- got-khamenei-s-pacifist -message-wrong/30603872.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Four more people including three Surat returnees tested positive for novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 161 in Jharkhand. Three persons of Giridih and one belonging to hotspot Hindpiri locality in the state capital were found to be afflicted with COVID-19, health officials said. The three persons of Giridih were among 77 migrant workers who had returned from Surat in Gujarat, he said. Giridih Deputy Commissioner Rahul Kumar Sinha said that Prohibitory Orders under Section 144 CrPC have been promulgated in the three villages from where the three positive cases were found to prevent the spread of the contagion. Officials said the state now has 80 active cases and 78 have recovered. Two persons died of the disease while one patient succumbed due to Comorbidity conditions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal is being "unnecessarily targeted" over its handling of COVID-19, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, insisting she wants to fight the pandemic jointly with the Centre, TMC sources said. She also demanded that the Centre formulate a "clear strategy" to fight the disease, sources in the state's ruling party said. Banerjee, who spoke during a teleconference the prime minister had with chief ministers days before the third phase of the nationwide lockdown ends, highlighted the "contradictions" in the Centre's approach to tackling the outbreak. "On one hand the Centre wants the lockdown to be enforced strictly, and on the other it is resuming train services and reopening land borders," sources quoted her as having told the meeting while presenting her views on whether the lockdown should be extended beyond May 17. It was not immediately known whether she spoke in favour of lifting the lockdown or extending it. She suggested that states be allowed to decide on which sectors to open and which to keep shut keeping in mind the situation on the ground. We want to fight the pandemic alongside the central government. But Bengal has been unnecessarily targeted politically. Instead of shifting the onus on the states, the Centre should come out with a clear strategy on the way forward, she told the meeting. The chief minister also asked the centre to release the legitimate financial dues to states. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With asylum seekers being turned back by Canada at the land border, lawyers and advocates have been wondering what happens to the returnees. However, since the border measures were introduced on March 21 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government has yet to reveal the terms and conditions of the interim bilateral agreement reached between Ottawa and the White House. We understand theres no public written agreement. We have not seen any and there is nothing on the immigration (department) and Canada Border Services Agency websites, said Maureen Silcoff of the Canadian Association for Refugee Lawyers. We do not have a clear picture of what was agreed between the countries to ensure those who come to the border and are directed back would not be subject to harm. In March, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump announced they would close the land border except for essential services personnels in order to stop the spread of COVID-19. The measures also included turning back all asylum seekers who attempted to cross the Canada-U.S. border. Although the rules were relaxed last month to allow a few exempted asylum seekers to enter Canada for protection, irregular migrants who cross between official ports of entry are still subject to the ban. Refugee lawyers and advocates were alarmed and began looking for a copy of the interim agreement, when Trump, at one point, talked up the possibility of deploying 1,000 U.S. soldiers along the 9,000-km border to intercept unauthorized crossers a move that was immediately retracted after Ottawa protested. The U.S. is not refugee-friendly. If these people are turned back and Canada doesnt have the commitment from the U.S. not to deport, we are complicit to what happens to these refugees, said Ottawa lawyer Arghavan Gerami. There are good reasons to be concerned. With warmer temperatures, refugees in desperate circumstances will make their own arrangement and travel with the assistance from smugglers. We have people to be quarantined to protect the public and this is counterproductive to what we intend to do. Canada Border Services Agency did not respond to the Stars request for a copy of the interim agreement or reveal terms of the deal, but said the latest data showed that 24 asylum seekers were directed back to the U.S., including five irregular migrants nine in B.C., three in Southern Ontario; 12 in Quebec between March 21 and May 6. Two asylum seekers met the exemption criteria and were allowed in during the same period. Queens University immigration law professor Sharry Aiken said the federal government should go back to the policy that was in place prior to the travel ban and allow migrants to cross the border for asylum as long as they quarantine themselves for 14 days upon arrival. Over the past weeks, Ottawa has loosened the travel restrictions to allow migrant workers and some asylum seekers, such as those with immediate families in Canada, to enter the country. The refugee population is among the most vulnerable people in the midst, said Aiken. They can enter and self-isolate for 14 days. We can manage that. Read more about: The shoe label behind 'the most comfortable heels in the world' has launched in Australia, bringing a range of chic but wearable footwear priced between $150 and $340 to women Down Under. Sole Bliss creates boots, flats and heels for women with wide feet, bunions and other foot problems by adding a triple-layer of memory foam cushioning to every shoe which allows the wearer to stand comfortably all day long, without compromising on style. The cushioning cradles sensitive soles and supports the arch of the foot, while an supremely soft, leather elasticated panel on the inside stretches to soothe wide feet or bunions. A scientifically formulated 'shock resistant' heel absorbs the impact of walking and standing, reducing stress on the legs and feet typically associated with wearing heels for hours on end. The shoes are assessed by a panel of podiatrists who test how supportive and comfortable they would be for women with feet conditions before being approved for sale. Scroll down for video The Duchess of Cornwall wears her favourite pair of $282 'Carmen' kitten heels with husband Prince Charles, at the Prince's 70th birthday celebrations in London on November 14, 2018 Dame Helen Mirren wears a black pair of Sole Bliss block heels with actress Viola Davis at the launch of the L'Oreal Age Perfect cosmetics range in Beverly Hills on March 3, 2020 The $282 Carmen kitten heels (left) and $282 Ingrid block heels (right) beloved by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall The supportive yet fashionable footwear is beloved by British royalty, with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall regularly wearing Sole Bliss designs to glittering galas and official engagements. What makes Sole Bliss heels 'the most comfortable in the world'? - Three-layer memory foam cushioning - Soft leather lining - Shock resistant heel piece - High-cut top line which doesn't cut into the toes - Wide fit to accommodate bunions Source: Sole Bliss Advertisement While the Duchess, 72, appears to favour classic styles in beige, navy and black, there's also dozens of metallic, animal print and striking bright shades to choose from. The wife of Prince Charles is rarely seen of out her favourite $282 'Ingrid' block heels or $282 'Carmen' stilettos, both of which she owns in a rainbow of colours. Camilla often wears a pair of beige and black Sole Bliss slip-on courts, which bear more than a passing resemblance to Chanel's iconic two-tone heels. Real-life royalty aren't the only famous fans, with some of Hollywood's leading ladies like Dame Helen Mirren often seen walking red carpets in the label. A graphic shows the special construction of Sole Bliss footwear, which carefully cradles and supports wide feet and bunions Camilla wears a Sole Bliss dupe of Chanel's iconic two-tone courts at a civic reception in Enniskerry, Ireland on May 20, 2019 Dame Helen Mirren wears the 'Christie' heels by Sole Bliss at the London premiere of The Good Liar on November 1, 2019 Sole Bliss founder and designer Lisa Kay said the brand's mission is to create 'pain-free fashionable footwear for every woman and lifestyle'. A range of block and kitten heels, courts, flats, slingbacks and wedges are available to order from the brand's official website. Delivery to Australia costs $48, with shipping guaranteed four to eight days after an order is placed. Indianapolis police fired pepper balls at demonstrators on Saturday who had gathered for the fourth day in a row to protest the shooting death of 21-year-old Dreasjon Sean Reed by an officer on May 6 following a high-speed vehicle chase. During the protest, a 41-year-old man was arrested for allegedly obstructing traffic and disorderly conduct. A statement from Michael Hewitt of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said that pepper ballspellets used to spread a powdered chemical that irritates the eyes and nosewere fired to deter a crowd as they closed in on officers creating an unsafe environment for officers and protesters. However, at least two videos recorded on Saturday show a group of police officers moving in on the protesters, grabbing one of them and pulling him back across the street, where he is handcuffed. When the crowd expresses verbal opposition to the police action, one or more of the officers fires multiple pepper ball rounds into the group. Dozens of squad cars and police on horseback are seen on the videos in a show of force against the protesters. Protesters gather at the intersection where an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer fatally shot Dreasjon Reed. Indianapolis police faced protests Thursday after officers fatally shot two men and killed a pregnant pedestrian in three separate incidents just hours apart. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings) Approximately one hundred people had assembled at the corner of 62nd Street and Michigan Road on the northwest side of Indianapolis, where Reed was fatally shot at around 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday by a police officer who has yet to be identified. The IMPD reported that both Reed and the officer were African American. As reported here on the World Socialist Web Site, the shooting was streamed live on Facebook by Sean Reed from his phone as he was being chased by the police. In the video, which was watched by 4,000 people while it was happening, Reed tries to elude the pursuing officer, then parks and exits his vehicle and starts to run on foot. After a short distance, the officer apparently shoots Reed with a taser and the phone falls to the ground. Next comes at least 13 gunshots. Several minutes later, with Reeds phone continuing to record, a police detective is heard making the comment, Looks like its going to be a closed casket, homey, while another individual laughs. The IMDP was quick to present its version of the shooting, with spokesman Chris Bailey telling news media at the scene: It is believed at this time that shots were fired by both the officer and the suspect. The suspect firing at the officer and then return fire by the officer There is a gun near the suspect that does not belong to the officer. The suspect did have a gun over there. The officer was placed on administrative leave and the Marion County prosecutor, Ryan Mears, filed a motion Friday requesting an independent prosecutor for the investigation into the shooting. According to Mears, since IMDP Chief Randal Taylor is a witness in the investigationTaylor was a participant in the initial high-speed vehicle chasehe would have a conflict of interest if he were involved in the investigation. We believe it is important that an independent prosecutor enter the process now to ensure that they can provide an outside review throughout the investigation, Mears said. The police shooting of Reed took place several hours before another incident in which 19-year-old McHale Rose was killed by police. According to IMDP Chief Taylor, Rose opened fire on police after he made a 911 call in what police say appeared to be an ambush of officers. Taylor also said it was not clear if the incident with Rose was related to the shooting of Reed. In other developments within the Indianapolis police department, two officers were arrested on Friday, one on domestic battery and criminal confinement charges and the other on charges of official misconduct and theft of a handgun. The concern of government authorities over public anger in response to the police shootings was evident when Mayor Joe Hogsett said Friday that he had asked the US attorneys office and the FBI to actively monitor the investigations. Keir Starmer has rejected calls for the Brexit transition period to be extended, saying he would rather the negotiations were completed as quickly as possible. The deadline for agreeing a further extension to the transition period is next month, and some opposition parties, including the SNP and Lib Dems, have called for the government to request one in light of the coronavirus pandemic. If no extension is agreed then the UK will leave the single market at the end of the year with or without a deal potentially taking significant economic damage. The Labour leader said he didnt think it was practical to agree a deal by December but that he nevertheless wanted to see how we get on in talks. Asked whether he would support an extension with the deadline looming in June, Sir Keir told LBC Radio: The government says its going to get negotiations and a deal done by the end of the year. Ive always thought thats tight and pretty unlikely, but were going to hold them to that and see how they get on. They say theyre going to do it. Pushed again to clarify his position on the issue, he said: I would seek to ensure that the negotiations were completed as quickly as possible. Ive not called for a pause because the government says its going to get it done by the end of the year. So lets see how they get on. I dont think its practical but were a long way from December so well see how we get on. But the government has said we can do it within the 12 months, so lets see. Boris Johnson has said he will not support an extension under any circumstances, despite negotiating a mechanism to call for one into the withdrawal agreement. The European Commission has said it would be happy to agree an extension in light of the pandemic and pressures on negotiations. If no free trade agreement is agreed before the UK leaves the transition period during which is is treated like an EU member state the economic damage from the sharp break with Europe is expected to be significant. Talks so far have got off to a slow start, with two rounds being cancelled due to the pandemic. Negotiations have resumed via videoconferencing, but both sides are still far apart on issues such as fishing, human rights, state aid, and the role of the EUs court. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said Brussels is open to a further extension (EPA) Polling suggests strong public support for extending the transition period in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Sir Keir was also asked about Labours policy to help renters during the Covid-19 lockdown, which some critics have said favours landlords over tenants. Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Show all 20 1 /20 Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Britain votes to leave the European Union - 23 June 2016 A referendum is held on Britain's membership of the European Union. Fifty-two per cent of the country votes in favour of leaving AFP via Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? David Cameron resigns - 24 June 2016 David Cameron resigns on the morning of the result after leading the campaign for Britain to remain in the EU Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Theresa May takes the reins - 13 July 2016 Theresa May becomes leader of the Conservative party and prime minister, winning the leadership contest unopposed after Andrea Leadsom drops out Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? High Court rules parliament must vote on Brexit - November 2016 - 3 November 2016 The High Court rules that parliament must vote on triggering Article 50, which would begin the Brexit process Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Article 50 triggered - 28 March 2017 The prime minister triggers Article 50 after parliament endorses the result of the referendum Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? May calls snap election - 18 April 2018 Seeking a mandate for her Brexit plan, May goes to the country Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? May loses majority as Labour makes surprise gain - 8 June 2017 After a disastrous campaign, Theresa May loses her majority in the commons and turns to the DUP for support. Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party makes gains after being predicted to lose heavily AFP/Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Negotiations begin - 19 June 2017 David Davis and Michel Barnier, chief negotiators for the UK and EU respectively, hold a press conference on the first day of Brexit negotiations. Soon after the beginning of negotiations, it becomes clear that the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic will prove a major sticking point AFP/Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? MPs vote that withdrawal deal must be ratified by parliament - 13 December 2017 The government suffers a defeat in parliament over the EU withdrawal agreement, guaranteeing that MPs are given a 'meaningful vote' on the deal Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Boris Johnson resigns as foreign secretary - 11 July 2018 Following a summit at Chequers where the prime minister claimed to have gained cabinet support for her deal, Boris Johnson resigns as foreign secretary along with David Davis, the Brexit secretary Reuters Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Draft withdrawal agreement - 15 November 2018 The draft withdrawal agreement settles Britain's divorce bill, secures the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and vice versa and includes a political declaration commiting both parties to frictionless trade in goods and cooperation on security matters. The deal also includes the backstop, which is anathema to many brexiteers and Dominic Raab and Esther McVey resign from the cabinet in protest Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? May resigns - 24 May 2019 After several failed attempts to pass her withdrawal agreement through the commons, Theresa May resigns Reuters Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Johnson takes over - 24 July 2019 Boris Johnson is elected leader of the Conservative party in a landslide victory. He later heads to Buckingham Palace where the Queen invites him to form a government Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Parliament prorogued - 28 August 2019 Boris Johnson prorogues parliament for five weeks in the lead up to the UK's agreed departure date of 31 October. Stephen Morgan MP Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Prorogation ruled unlawful - 24 September 2019 The High Court rules that Johnson's prorogation of parliament is 'unlawful' after a legal challenge brought by businesswoman Gina Miller Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Johnson agrees deal with Varadkar - October Following a summit in Merseyside, Johnson agrees a compromise to the backstop with Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar - making the withdrawal agreement more palatable to Brexiteers Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Final Say march demands second referendum - 19 October 2019 As parliament passes the Letwin amendment requiring the prime minister to request a further delay to Brexit, protesters take to the streets in the final show of force for a Final Say referendum Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Johnson wins 80 seat majority - 12 December 2019 The Conservatives win the December election in a landslide, granting Boris Johnson a large majority to pass through his brexit deal and pursue his domestic agenda Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Withdrawal deal passes parliament - 20 December 2019 The withdrawal agreement passes through the commons with a majority of 124 Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? EU parliament backs UK withdrawal deal - 29 January 2020 Members of the European parliament overwhelmingly back the ratification of Britain's departure, clearing the way for Brexit two days later on 31 January. Following the vote, members join hands and sing Auld Lang Syne AFP/Getty He defended not calling for a rent holiday, telling a caller: If all rents are suspended full stop, then the government will have to pay to compensate landlords, theres no question about that. Therefore public money will be paid to landlords to compensate for the fact they havent got rent, even when people dont lose their jobs. Under Labours plan, renters would be given two years to pay back any arrears they have accrued but critics have said this would amount to a rent rise during a recession. The Labour leader said that he also believed the benefit system should be paying the rent at a better rate for people who lose their jobs. On a separate question of employees going back to work, Sir Keir was asked whether he would support a trade union with safety concerns urging workers to stay off the job. The Labour leader said wed have to look at it but added I do think everybodys entitled to a safe place at work. BAY CITY, MI - One of Michigans traditional industries is facing a changing tide during the COVID-19 crisis. Commercial fishing operations like the Bay Port Fish Co. are seeing a dramatic decrease in wholesale demand, leading them to have to adjust their strategy this season. Lakon Williams of Bay Port Fish Co. said the fall off is due to restrictions on restaurants under Gov. Gretchen Whitmers executive orders. What happened with Michigan and the restaurants kind of stopped us in our tracks, said Williams. "When Whitmer shut them down for safety, it put us in a position to evaluate whether or not we could even open and be profitable. About 60% of the companys catch is bought by restaurants, wholesaler processors and universities, according to Williams. Those customers are now only buying 10% of what they normally buy, she said. I got told by most of my wholesalers in Chicago in April that because the restaurants were shut down they were doing their retail of course, but whitefish, our biggest catch, is traditionally more of a restaurant fish," said Wiliams. To deal with the decrease in demand, Williams crew is going down to fishing with only one to two nets, a substantial drop from their regular normal number of 16 nets. Another problem for Bay Port Fishing Co. is that they are set up in a old-school manner. Fish are normally hand filleted at their facility in a close-quarters workspace. We dont have the modernization that a lot of these places have. They can have two employees on one fillet machine and fillet 5,000 pounds in a day, said Williams. "Its social distancing perfect, one person at this end, one person at the other. The problem that we have is usually theres 10 or 12 of us around an 8-foot table processing, bumping elbows. Williams also stated that she is working with a reduced 5-man crew on the payroll as the business works to balance its workflow. As for the idea of stocking fish in the freezer and waiting for things to change? Williams said that thats a no-go because restaurants favor fresh fish instead of frozen and will tend to gobble up the fresh supplies first when theyre available. So what happens to the frozen that you put away 6, maybe 8 months ago? Youre sitting on it longer. Frozen only sells when theres no fresh available," she said. The strain from the COVID-19 pandemic comes at a time when Michigans commercial fishing industry is already navigating through uncertain times. A trio of state bills that aim increase regulations on the commercial fishing industry would ban commercial fishing of yellow perch, reserving them for recreational anglers. The bills have yet to make it to discussion at the Senate after being approved by the House on Thursday, Feb. 6 and previously making out of the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Committee during the Oct. 8 session. The week that (Whitmer) shut down everything was the week that they were supposed to take up the bills for discussion, said Williams. Were just kind of on hold waiting and hoping they dont try to sneak something through during this time, thats a worry, too. Bay Port Fish Co. is planning to open up for retail purchases on May 20. Staff will be taking and preparing phone orders on Wednesdays and Thursdays and orders will be available to be picked up curbside on Fridays and Saturdays. Williams said that the move to curbside was done to keep customers safe. William said that she is hearing from others in Michigans commercial fishing industry that the retail side of business is booming. I know the other fisheries that are open for retail say that they are as busy as theyve ever been, which is awesome. But its got some negatives being that busy in retail. Most of us are wholesalers, most our income comes from wholesaling fish, she said. Bay Port Fish Company normally sells fish at farmers markets at places like Ann Arbor. However, Williams made the decision that it wasnt worth the risk to send staff to farmers markets. Related news: Commercial perch fishing on Great Lakes restricted under state House proposals Great Lakes anglers backing laws to further regulate commercial fishing Bill to ban catching perch for profit has Saginaw Bay fishing company worried The Bethlehem Area School District is already thinking about what public school will look like if Pennsylvania schools reopen in the fall. The states 500 traditional K-12 school districts pivoted to online learning after Gov. Tom Wolf shutdown the states schools March 23 amid a growing coronavirus pandemic. Now as this school year winds down, Bethlehem school officials are planning for what the 2020-21 school year may look like. The governors plan for reopening of the state only allows schools to resume in-person instruction when they have entered the green phase when the least amount of restrictions on daily life are imposed. That also applies to summer school or extended school year activities as well. The Lehigh Valley remains under the red phase with no date to move to the yellow phase yet. Bethlehem schools Superintendent Joseph Roy shared the scenarios being floated in a video message to the community Monday. Schools may remain closed come late August and students will start the next grade in virtual classrooms. Or school may open as scheduled with enhanced cleaning and social distancing in place. But opening doesnt guarantee a typical school year. Its a really strong possibility that we could have an opening of some sort and closure, for a temporary closure, if an outbreak breaks out, especially during the flu season, Roy said. If strict social distancing is required, schools may need to operate on a hybrid schedule where only a percentage of students attend on certain days. On days theyre at home, students would learn remotely. This pandemic is unpredictable, but Bethlehem school district staff are preparing for every scenario, Roy promised. Whenever we get the green light to open schools, in whatever fashion, Roy said. Well be ready to go. Last month, state Education Secretary Pedro Rivera told reporters theres a lot of uncertainty right now; whether schools reopen rests first and foremost on what is best for students health and safety. Many of the scenarios he outlined mirror what Roy shared Monday. Were planning for the best but preparing for the worst," Rivera said. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Vehicles and people fill Dhakas Babubazar commercial district after the government allowed some businesses to re-open on a limited scale, May 11, 2020. Bangladeshi officials confirmed more than 1,000 new coronavirus infections on Monday, even as activity picked up in the streets of Dhaka due to easing of curbs meant to contain the pandemic. Smaller vehicles took to the streets, and hawkers and shops were open for business, as officials and health experts expressed worry over the lack of social distancing, and authorities announced the largest daily jump in cases to date, 1,034. Mechanized and non-mechanized three-wheelers, motorcycles, private cars and other vehicles flooded city streets as the government opened businesses on a limited scale. The trend of flouting the physical distance has increased, too, professor Mahbubur Rahman, a physician and health expert, told BenarNews. Already the number of new COVID-19 infections has been going up every day. Because of this opening, we will see more infections and deaths, he said. The novel coronavirus has infected 15,691 people in Bangladesh and killed 238 since March 8, according to the latest official tally. Obaidul Quader, general-secretary of the ruling Awami League and transport minister, said the easing was meant to alleviate economic suffering. But he blamed people for not taking necessary precautions. The government relaxed the public holiday for the sake of the poor, hapless and jobless people. It is unfortunate that most people in Dhaka and other parts flouted the physical distancing guidelines, he said, referring to the government shutdown to contain the spread of COVID-19. At shops and other businesses, the health guidelines are not followed. A shopkeeper told BenarNews that he reopened because he worried about making ends meet. I stayed at my village home in Araihazar for one-and-a-half months while there was no work. As the government opened businesses, I opened my shop, Md Jahidul, a Dhaka footwear seller, told BenarNews. I have to open the shop, otherwise people like us will die from starvation. Relief for slum dwellers In poorer parts of Dhaka, fears of going hungry have eclipsed anxiety over the highly contagious virus. I used to work in different houses as a freelance maid. Now, nobody is allowing me in their houses. I have lost the income source, Jarina Begum told BenarNews. There is no time to think about the coronavirus. Seeking food and medicine has become more difficult, said Nurul Islam, a man in his 60s who cannot work due to chronic illness. Some slum dwellers said charities had supplied them with food and other relief aid. This is not the time for the poor to die of hunger, said Jasim Uddin Khan, president of one such organization, the NGO Songey Achi (We are with You). He said the government was helping the poor as well. Police are delivering food to people, if anybody goes to a police station and says he or she has no food to eat, he told BenarNews. Low-income people line up to receive relief in old Dhaka, May 7, 2020. (BenarNews) City official Shamim Hasan said officials were going door-to-door to distribute rice and other food items. We are trying to reach every person, he said. Khan acknowledged there were flaws in efforts to provide relief to the poor. Many people are getting assistance repeatedly while some others are being left off. Had there been a database of slum dwellers, poor and floating people, the aid could be managed properly, he said. Last June, Tajul Islam, minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives, said Dhakas 3,394 slums are home to 646,000 people including many who survive by working as rickshaw-pullers, maids, garment workers and hawkers. Police sealed a slum in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar after a resident tested positive on April 8. There is no alternative but to lockdown an entire slum if anybody is found to be COVID-19 positive, Dr. A.S.M. Alamgir, chief scientific officer of the government-run Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told BenarNews. It is true that the slums cannot maintain social distancing. They must be taken to institutional quarantine, if someone is found to be infected, before the situation turns grave, he said. Globally, more than 4.1 million people have been infected by COVID-19 and more than 284,000 people have died, according to the latest data compiled by disease experts at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. (Alliance News) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed there should for now be no quarantine measures for travellers arriving in Britain from France, the Elysee said on Sunday. Johnson said Sunday that Britain would "soon" quarantine air passengers from abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some reports had indicated London was contemplating a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all travellers from outside the British Isles.A In telephone talks, the two leaders vowed to work together to prevent the risk of cross-border contamination as COVID-19 infections finally begin to fall, the Elysee said. "No quarantine measure will apply to travellers from France at this stage; any measure from one side or the other will be taken in a coordinated and reciprocal way," the Elysee said. It added that a working group would be set up "to ensure this cooperation during the next weeks". Tens of thousands of people cross between Britain and France every day in normal times, with many using the Eurostar trains that whisk travellers between the two countries through the Channel Tunnel in just over two hours. source: AFP Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Colorado entered the safer-at-home order in the next phase of reopening the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, following the expiration of th Revenge of the Sith (Credit: Fox/Lucasfilm) Kathleen Kennedy, the boss of Lucasfilm, has weighed in on why she reckons George Lucas decided to return to his Star Wars universe and make his controversial prequel series. Lucas made Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977, then The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 before concluding the trilogy in 1983 with Return of the Jedi. But it wasn't until 1999 that he reinvigorated the franchise with The Phantom Menace, which was followed by Attack of the Clones in 2002 and Revenge of the Sith in 2005. Read more: Boba Fett to appear in The Mandalorian series two Speaking on new Star Wars behind-the-scenes series Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian on Disney+, Kennedy has said that it might have been the success of the Indiana Jones movies, which Lucas produced but didn't direct, that spurred him on. I dont think he ever stopped thinking about whether he would do more Star Wars, and I think what happened during Indy was that he was not on the floor directing. He was not necessarily in it, because it was primarily Steven [Spielberg], Kennedy says. The Phantom Menace (Credit: Fox/Lucasfilm) So, with anybody like George, and anyone whos a filmmaker, they get antsy after a while at not being able to be on that floor telling stories, making movies, and his love of pushing the technology, obviously. We were doing a certain amount of that with each of the Indiana Jones movies, but it wasnt like Star Wars, and I think that each time we would push the technology in making those movies, he got the bug to start thinking about what that might mean for Star Wars. Read more: Taika Waititi to make a new Star Wars movie Whether Lucas should have bothered remains a contentious issue among Star Wars fans. While they were a hit at the box office though Attack of the Clones took a significant dip in profits they've long been considered a disappointment. Though Revenge of the Sith received better notices, the first two movies were less well received critically, with many fans also complaining that they dwelled too much on galactic politics and suffered with sub-par dialogue. A restaurant in Castle Rock, Colorado, reopened on Sunday, serving hundreds of customers Mother's Day meals with no social-distancing measures despite the state's "safer-at-home" coronavirus-linked executive order, Colorado Community Media first reported. The big picture: It's the latest example of small businesses shirking their states' coronavirus restrictions and going viral in the process. April Arellano, the owner of C & C Coffee & Kitchen, told the outlet that the restaurant opened to "support the Constitution and stand up for what is right." A video from inside the restaurant by Colorado Community Media reporter Nick Puckett had more than 5,000 retweets and almost 18,000 likes on Monday morning. Puckett only saw one patron wearing a face mask inside the establishment and a bouncer with a visible sidearm stood by the door. Colorado's order does not allow dine-in service. A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted. What they're saying: "We are standing for America, small businesses, the Constitution and against the overreach of our governor in Colorado!!" the restaurant posted on Twitter, tagging President Trump. Arellano told Colorado Community Media: "We did our time. We did our two weeks. We did more than two weeks ... and we were failing. We had to do something." She said that she wasn't concerned about the virus spreading via her restaurant, telling the outlet that "we wash and sanitize everything anyway." A spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis told the Denver Post that the restaurant is "endangering the lives of their staff, customers and community." President Akufo-Addo on Sunday May 10 visited the Noguchi Medical Research Centre at the University of Ghana to familiarise himself with the operations of the centre. Noguchi is the heartbeat of Covid-19 testing centres in the country. President Akufo-Addo was received by the managers of the medical facility who took him round the operational areas and explained the processes that samples go through before results are declared. He assured them of adequate support to make their operations more effective. Ahead of the visit, the president had presided over a three-day cabinet retreat at Peduase where the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy had been discussed. He is said to have driven straight from Peduase to Noguchi for the inspection. President Akufo-Addo later in the evening addressed the nation spelling out further steps to contain the pandemic. ---DGN Online Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sep 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sep 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (18) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sep 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (135) Jun 2013 (204) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (351) Sep 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (348) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (442) Jan 2014 (547) Feb 2014 (476) Mar 2014 (526) Apr 2014 (527) May 2014 (469) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sep 2014 (443) Oct 2014 (472) Nov 2014 (497) Dec 2014 (536) Jan 2015 (539) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (582) Apr 2015 (658) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sep 2015 (923) Oct 2015 (924) Nov 2015 (802) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (782) Feb 2016 (835) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (866) May 2016 (947) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (882) Aug 2016 (1035) Sep 2016 (967) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sep 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (809) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sep 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (935) Jul 2019 (950) Aug 2019 (936) Sep 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (849) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (789) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sep 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (812) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sep 2021 (791) Oct 2021 (754) Nov 2021 (683) Dec 2021 (693) Jan 2022 (425) LOVELAND, Colo. Last Tuesday, during the first few days that this state loosened restrictions on businesses that were temporarily closed because of the novel coronavirus, Blush Beauty Bar reopened for appointments. It was the first time that customers had been allowed inside the hair salon in 48 days, and the stylists were booked solid. (They remain so through the end of the month.) The owner, Mindy Bodley, 40, took care with the safety precautions she put in place for her customers and her staff of three. She has bills and rent to pay. This month will be a push. We have to cover May and June, she said. I am relieved to be back working. Throughout Colorado and other states that have allowed certain businesses to reopen, store owners must navigate new government guidelines designed to balance a restart of the economy with the possibility of worsening the pandemic without scaring away customers. It remains to be seen how consumers will react; a late-April survey by Healthier Colorado and the Colorado Health Foundation found that 64 percent of Coloradans support a policy of staying home to slow the spread of the coronavirus, even if that means businesses will remain closed. But after seven weeks of isolation and relaxed beauty routines, it seems people desperately want to get their hair cut. Continuano le azioni di Fondo di Garanzia Pmi e prestiti garantiti Sace a sostegno di credito e liquidita per famiglie e imprese A 15-year old girl died on Monday after being set ablaze near here allegedly by two men over long-standing enmity with her family and the duo arrested as the ghastly incident triggered an ourtage. As the girl succumbed to burns a day after the incident and the two men, her relatives, were identified as members of ruling AIADMK, opposition parties, led by DMK, demanded that police take strong action and ensure maximum punishment. The AIADMK, meanwhile, announced expulsion of the two from basic membership for bringing 'disrepute' and "working against" the ideals of the party. Strongly condemning the killing and expressing grief, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said it was 'ghastly' and promised toughlegal action against the two men. A case of murder has been registered against them and a probe was on, he said. "I have ordered a solatium of Rs five lakh to the family of the girl," he said. The girl, a class X student, was set ablaze in her village, Sirumadurai, about 28 km from here, allegeldy by 57- year old Murugan and Kaliaperumal (53) on Sunday, a senior police official told PTI. "She was rushed to the Government Medical College Hospital here where doctors said she sustained 80 per cent burns. She died today without responding to treatment," he said. The girl in her dying declaration to a magistrate named the duo and made it clear they had set her ablaze, the official said. "Based on her statement to the magistrate, we have arrested the two men." The incident triggered an outrage, including on social media, with netizens demanding examplary punishment for the two men. To a question, the police official said that both the accused and the family of the girl had enmity that spanned several years. According to preliminary investigation, "the deceased and the accused men are relatives and belong to the same village. The families of the accused men and the dead girl had enmity over a couple of issues like those related to land," he said. Adequate number of police personnel have been deployed to maintain law and order in the village which is near the temple town of Thiruvennainallur. The girl's body was handed over to her family for burial, the official said. DMK and its allies including the Left parties and AIADMK's ally PMK sought tough action against the culprits. Condoling the girl's death, DMK president M K Stalin said his party will extend its support to get justice for the girl. Only exemplary punishment will protect children and women from such crimes, he said adding the plight of the girl who suffered due to serious burns will outrage everyone with a heart. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Barbers and brothers Tommy (L) and Jimmy Checkler watch the latest news on the coronavirus in their empty barbershop in the City of Worthington in Columbus, Ohio, on March 17, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Ohio Governor Defends Reopening State, Says Will Work to Inspire Confidence Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) on Sunday defended measures he has taken to reopen Ohios economy following closures due to the CCP virus pandemic, saying it wont be possible to do so unless people have confidence. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, De Wine said that although there are risks to reopening the states economy, its really a risk no matter what we do. The economys not going to open no matter what we do, whatever we order, unless people have confidence, the Republican governor said. And were trying to give them confidence. Read More Confidence Is Key to Reopening the Economy, Says Ohio Congressman He urged people to continue to wear face masks, wash their hands, and practise social distancing as officials emphasized the situation is still very, very dangerous. These are basic things that we have to do. We cant let up, the Republican governor said. By Saturday, Ohio state reported at least 22,500 cases and 1,214 confirmed deaths associated with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. Last week, DeWine extended the states stay-at-home order to May 29. It had been set to expire on May 1, and requires all Ohio residents to stay home, while public or private gatherings outside of a single household are prohibited. However, the governor said many businesses would be able to reopen as part of measures to reopen the states economy. From May 12, retail and consumer services will be permitted to reopen, while hair salons, barbers, nail salons, day spas, and tanning facilities can reopen from May 15. Restaurants on May 15 will be allowed to host outdoor dining, with parties no larger than 10 people. Indoor dining will be permitted from May 21. Construction companies, distributors, manufacturers, and offices were allowed to open last week. Ohio will require all companies to have employees practice social distancing and where that is not possible, barriers will need to be installed. Employees must perform daily health assessments, and companies will stagger or limit arrivals of employees as well as implement shift changes, DeWine said last week. Schools are still to remain closed for the remainder of the school year. The governor said Ohio had been hit very hard by the CCP virus pandemic, with more than a million people filing for unemployment. We have to move forward, he said on Fox News Sunday. And we know its a risk as we start the economy back open, he said. But its a risk if you dont too with, you know, not being able to come back economically. My message to my fellow Ohioans has always been, we can do two things at once, but we can only do them if were very, very careful about it, he said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Muthoni Drummer Queen is currently riding high in the music charts with her new release -Power. She has also been flying the Kenyan flag high as evidenced by her recent recognition in Switzerland. What expectations or fears did you have when you dived into music in 2004? My dads sudden death in 2003 made me realise life will end, so live as fully as you can, while you still can. My main fears were how to make sure it paid the bills; that I didnt end up reducing the dream to take a job in a cover band singing in a hotel lobby. Did you get willing people to work with you to unravel the artiste you saw in yourself? Yes. My friend Njeri Mwirigi and I formed a duet called Tyte. We wrote our songs and all our friends helped us plan a gig. All our musician friends who played instruments agreed to be our band, background vocalists and dancers. Njeris parents allowed us to rehearse at their house and even gave us snacks. Our former school gave us the music hall for free as the venue and Big Ted gave us all the equipment we needed for sound and lighting. With that, we were able to make our first step into music. How paramount has that been to your career? With the money we raised after our first concert, we walked around many studios in Nairobi looking for a producer. But the sustained feedback is that we were not Kenyan enough; meaning we did not sing enough party songs and our tracks were not kapuka. So, almost every producer except Ted Josiah told us to basically change who we were, so that Kenyans could accept us. That really made me decide to definitely stick to my guns and never quit till I hit critical commercial success as a means of showing what is possible and available when you stay true to yourself. Was the consciousness you drew from The Fugees music an attribute you always embodied before getting into music? Yes for sure. I grew up listening to adults talk about tribalism, corruption, a struggling economy, failing health system and other issues in Kenya. I remember reading about apartheid and watching films such as Sarafina and Biko. These things opened my mind to observe the world we lived in. In university, I studied International Relations and read works by Malcom X, Martin Luther, Franz Fanon, Wole Soyinka and more. I listened to hip-hop by artistes such as Common, so, the conversation and education taught me to see the whole world, and music helped me share my views. Why was it important for you to create your recent release Power, which is a powerful work of recognition? First off, womenKenyan Womenare powerhouses and I wanted to salute their courage, vision, and selflessness. The song itself is my attempt to bring attention to the political, social and economic contributions Kenyan women have made over the years that history would reduce, re-write and often erase. I wanted to give visibility to women who organise and resist oppression, break moulds, defy stereotypes, forge paths and occupy space. How do you manage the running of both Blankets & Wine and Africa Nouveau? Honestly, Im nothing without our team. I work with an amazing team of creatives and producers to make the festivals happen. Our advisory board is also really helpful in helping chart the path. I am grateful to have people who believe in the vision and have the competence to pull it off. What are the lessons that have come with the two festivals? Collaboration is power! We tend to want to do things on our own in order to shine alone, but I have discovered the power in collaboration. Bringing together teams, each endowed with talents in their fields has really been a great way to build. Accessibility is important. I have learnt that being within the reach of those who interact with us online, and even those who come to the festivals is a major key. This way you truly communicate; where communication is two-way. They give feedback and we have the information to make their ideal experiences come to life. How did you get in the running for the Best Act, which you won recently in the Swiss Music Awards? An academy of music leaders in Switzerland had to nominate 10 artistes and then poll and re-poll amongst themselves. Because the two producers I have been working with GR! and Hook, are both Swiss, we were eligible for the award. We had to motivate everyone we knew in Switzerland to vote for us. I didnt really have any feelings until they called our category, then I realised we really wanted to win. Im really glad the fans rallied and we got the award. It was very affirming. HAMDEN In a series of amended budget recommendations, the mayor is holding the line on taxes, while anticipating a large amount of state aid for pandemic-related expenses. The budget amendments, which were submitted to the Legislative Council before it began its first meeting on deliberations last week, cuts $3.6 million in expenses across departments. The mayors initial budget was called unrealistic in its revenue and expense projections in public comment submitted to the council. Reductions would affect the Board of Education, utilities, medical insurance, police salaries and overtime and youth and family programs, among others. The expense-cutting measures total $3,584,093, equaling about one mill in the tax rate, allowing Hamden to maintain its current tax rate, Mayor Curt B. Leng said. Expenses for Recreation, Youth & Family were cut by more than $100,000; the library reduced by $64,000; police expenses reduced by about $420,000; the BOE by $1 million; and public works by $70,000. Leng also adjusted the budgets projected revenues with an addition of $925,968. Revenues from recreation, building permits, police extra duty and Quinnipiac Universitys voluntary payment all were decreased. We needed to also work to best anticipate revenues the town will receive in the year ahead, which is filled with great uncertainty, Leng said in a statement. Given the lifestyle changes COVID(-19) demands for health protections and the already demonstrable impact on the economy, we responsibly had to look at what effects that is likely to have on our local revenues as well. Town clerk revenues were reduced by about $300,000; police extra duty by $75,000; investment income by $225,000; and Quinnipiacs voluntary payment by $350,000. The updated revenue recommendations included a conservative approach, trying to expect likely reductions in certain permit and program revenue, as well as revenue we get from the sale of property that are all likely to be down, Leng said. However, Leng increased a special revenue line anticipating state and federal aid related to the coronavirus pandemic by $7 million, an addition of $1.9 million since his initial budget presentation in March. The COVID(-19) revenue account is designed to reflect what our community can estimate it will need, at minimum, for restoration / reimbursement for lost revenue, the same way the Federal Government has offered lost revenue funding to help save the business community from being forced to lay off their employees, Leng said. The only alternative is increasing taxes and I believe the best move for our community is to keep fighting for this essential assistance thats been received by others and only tax as a last resort. After the initial budget presentation, some council members and state legislators questioned how realistic Lengs revenue projection was regarding the special funding, according to reporting by the New Haven Independent. Congress is already at work on direct funding relief for States and Towns and hopefully well have more details on exactly what that means for Hamden in the coming weeks, Leng said. Budget deliberations are ongoing until late May and held via Zoom webinars. The supplemental recommendations maintained the 100 percent pension payment required by law, more than the town has ever contributed in its history. mdignan@hearstmediact.com COVID-19 pushes US-China relations to lowest point in decades Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 2:10 PM The coronavirus threatens to further send the already strained relations between the US and China on a rapid downward slide, at a time when cooperation between the world's two largest economies is key to combat the pandemic and salvage the global economy. Faced with a deep recession in an election year, US President Donald Trump has increasingly blamed China for the spread of the virus that has caused thousands of deaths and millions of job losses in the United States. The Republican president has accused Beijing of keeping the world in the dark during the initial outbreak. He has also claimed that China "will do anything they can" to make him lose in the November election. Trump's attack on China is in line with a leaked GOP memo, which urged Republican presidential candidates to address the coronavirus crisis by aggressively attacking China. The 57-page memo stresses three lines of attack; that China triggered the pandemic by "covering it up," that Democrats are "soft on China," and that Republicans will "push for sanctions on China." In addition to sanctions, the Trump administration is reportedly devising a long-term plan to punish China on multiple fronts, including the possibility of canceling US debt obligations and drawing up harsher trade policies. Trump and his aides are also encouraging US allies to join the pressure campaign against Beijing. Trump has threatened to impose more tariffs on Chinese exports, ignoring warnings that a new round of trade war could further hit the global economy as the world heads for the worst recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s. The dramatic spike in tensions comes on the heels of a two-year trade war that had already pushed relations to new lows and spurred talk of decoupling. Last week, President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeoramped up the rhetoric even further, claiming --without providing evidence-- that the coronavirus has originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Beijing categorically rejected the accusation, dismissing it as an election strategy used by the Trump campaign to boost the president's standing with his Republican base. The claim contradicts the judgment of US intelligence agencies, the World Health Organization and most virologists. The Office of Director of National Intelligence has issued a statement, saying it "concurs with the widespread scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified." Beijing has pushed back against such criticism with increasingly fierce rhetoric and has accused the US military of spreading the virus in China in the first place. Shi Yinhong, an adviser to the Chinese government and international relations professor at China's Renmin University, said bilateral relations have now "reached the lowest point since 1972," when former US President Richard Nixon made his historic visit to Beijing to normalize ties with China, which for years had been diplomatically isolated from the West. "Since the start of 2018, China-US relations have already entered a state of comprehensive competition and rivalry. Since the pandemic, however, the relations have suffered a major blow," Shi said told CNN. Experts say while Trump's approach to China is not necessarily new, the stakes for decoupling are much higher now. A recent internal report has warned Chinese leaders that tensions could spiral out of control and in a worse-case scenario China needs to be prepared for an armed confrontation with the United States. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Vice President Mike Pence has been distancing himself from others after his press secretary tested positive for coronavirus. According to Devin O'Malley, the vice president's spokesman, Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit. He further added, "the vice president is not in quarantine and has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow." Another official said that the Vice President's schedule will probably be on the lighter side for the next few days but he is not doing a full ... THE ORANGE Order is lobbying for new legislation to be introduced in Northern Ireland that will see the public pay for security at its halls. Justice Minister Naomi Long is currently mulling over whether to support a Places of Worship (PoW) protective funding scheme being pushed through the Assembly. The project, which already exists in England and Wales, allows places of worship and faith community centres to apply for cash from a 1.6m public pot to improve building security. This includes CCTV coverage, reinforced windows and doors, and intruder alarm systems. Because Orange halls are not considered places of worship the Order is insisting that if the legislation is rolled out here it should be broadened to cover "symbolic buildings". But the proposal could face opposition from nationalist parties in the Assembly. A spokesman for the Orange Order said it would welcome a "broader Northern Ireland specific legislation which should also include 'symbolic' buildings which have been prone to high levels of hate crime". He added: "Since the signing of the 1998 Belfast Agreement there have been more than 600 recorded attacks on Orange halls and as such, we would certainly be keen to investigate how such a scheme could offer enhanced levels of protection for our properties." Details about the introduction of a PoW protective funding scheme being introduced in Northern Ireland were revealed by Justice Minister Naomi Long in a written response to an Assembly question by DUP South Antrim MLA Pam Cameron. Expand Close Pam Cameron / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Pam Cameron Ms Long (below) said her officials are working with the PSNI in exploring evidence in relation to attacks on places of worship to establish whether it would be viable in Northern Ireland. She said: "If a scheme were to be introduced in Northern Ireland there are other issues that may need to be considered such as: the types of building to be included; security measures that could be covered; administration of the scheme and available funding. "I will want to reflect on these issues and the findings provided by my officials before reaching a conclusion in the months ahead." Christian organisations in Northern Ireland have been lobbying heavily for some time for the Assembly to introduce a PoW scheme. Data compiled by the charity CARE shows 445 police reported criminal damage incidents occurring at churches, religious buildings and cemeteries between 2016 and 2019. Dr Alistair McCracken, Clerk of Session at Saintfield Road Presbyterian Church which which was targeted twice by arsonists, said: "As a congregation we would welcome any initiatives by government to protect churches from further attacks." CARE Northern Ireland's policy officer, Mark Baillie, added: "These are concerning figures and clearly action needs to be taken. "These attacks leave religious groups with property damage, potentially large insurance costs and fears of future attacks. "The security protection funding scheme which is available in England and Wales for places of worship should be extended to Northern Ireland as a matter of urgency." NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP >> In the wake of several pedestrian fatalities, the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors is moving forward with a multi-pronged plan to improve safety along Sycamore Street, the townships downtown commercial corridor. At its Jan. 13 meeting, the board voted unanimously to follow the short term and long term recommendations of its traffic engineer, Derek Kennedy, who was... Sheree Whitfield is one of the original cast members of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. The Bravo personality held a peach for the first four seasons of the series. She made a return in season 8 as a friend of the Housewives and was upgraded to a full-time star the following season. Whitfields housewife status only lasted for two additional seasons and left the cast before season 11. Sheree Whitfield | Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Would Sheree Whitfield return to the Bravo show? Whitfield made a guest appearance on Watch What Happens Live to dish on the RHOA Season 12 reunion. The fashion designer still has ties to the ladies and maintains contact with Cynthia Bailey, Kenya Moore, Kandi Burruss, and Kim Zolciak. If she would ever return to the show, she would fit right in as she knows all the peaches. I would never say never, Whitfield said at the prospect of returning to RHOA. We had a good time over there. When were having a good time its good Im in a different place right now and I would not say no. Whitfield seemingly left the door open to hear any offers Bravo might have for her about returning to the show. She would be the first housewife to return officially three times following their exits. Sheree Whitfield shades Nene Leakes If Whitfield were to return to RHOA and Nene Leakes continues on the show, they would most likely be at odds with each other. When the She by Sheree founder made an appearance on WWHL, she had some shade to throw Leakes way. I think Nene did really good tonight, her reads were amazing, Whitfield said about Leakes performance during the first part of the RHOA reunion. Whoever she paid for those, she owes them. Cohen said that Moore accused Leakes of paying someone to write her zingers to blast at the ladies. I dont think its far-fetched, Whitfield added. She did great on her reads tonight, so again, glad she paid. I thought Kenya did great too on her read. Leakes seemingly reacted to Whitfield on Twitter to clear up her reads. Yes, my reads are written down and rehearsed, Leakes tweeted. Remember, Im elderly, menopausal, and have no fu**in memory. In my younger days, I sat on [the] couch and read you bit***s from the top of my wig and have the most iconic reads to date. Is Cynthia Bailey leaving? There are rumors that Bailey is about to leave an open spot in the RHOA cast and many have suggested returning Whitfield. Many believe that Bailey will not be asked to return to the show as she plans to marry her fiance and move out to California. However, the former model denies that any contract negotiations have started for season 13. I have no plans to leave RHOA at this time, she told The Shade Room. Every year there are rumors saying that I am getting fired, or not returning. Ive been a peach holder consistently for 10 years now. I love my cast and my Bravo family. I am looking forward to next season. Bailey denied that she was offered a friend role for the new season. That is completely false, she added. We just recently filmed the reunion, and have not started contract negotiations yet. The Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion continues next Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo. The Observers Shocking images of the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano off the coast of the Tonga Islands have been flooding social networks since January 15. But several fake videos have crept in among the authentic footage, coming from near the Kampar River in Indonesia. A tsunami caused by a powerful eruption of an underwater volcano in Tonga, an archipelago of islands in the south Pacific, has caused widespread damage. There have been no casualties, according to New Zealand Prime Minister Two voting rights advocates have filed a complaint with the Dallas County district attorney, alleging Attorney General Ken Paxton committed voter fraud in each of the states 254 counties by contradicting a judge's order expanding the availability of mail-in voting during the pandemic. Attorney General Ken Paxtons letter intentionally misled Texas elections officials about eligibility to vote by mail, said Kendall Scudder, one of the complainants. Mail-in ballots arent where the election fraud is happening, its happening in the office of our indicted attorney general. UH SURVEY: Poll workers willing to show up amid pandemic; voters reaction mixed Travis County District Judge Tim Sulak on April 17 issued a temporary injunction stating that any voter concerned about exposure to the coronavirus can avoid in-person voting and request a mail-in ballot by claiming a disability. Paxton, a Republican who has argued disability claims should be reserved only for those who currently fall under that category, wrote in a filing that same day that Sulaks order was automatically stayed when he filed an appeal. Further, Paxton threatened to criminally prosecute local elections officials who use Sulaks order to justify an expansion of mail-in voting. Paxton himself is under criminal indictment for securities fraud and has been awaiting a trial for almost five years; he was re-elected in November 2018. This complaint is an outrageous effort by those who would mislead the public about Texas voting law in order to advance their own political agenda, said Marc Rylander, spokesman for the AG. In fulfilling its responsibility under the Constitution and laws of Texas, the Office of Attorney General will continue to safeguard the integrity of Texas elections by providing clear guidance to election officials and the public about the textually correct meaning of Texas election law. Two attorneys reached by Hearst Newspapers agreed with Paxtons assessment that the April 17 order was stayed when Paxton appealed. Any appeal of an order that grants a temporary injunction or denies a plea to the jurisdiction, both of which occurred in this case, places an immediate stay on that order, said Dallas appellate lawyer Chad Ruback. On top of that, the Attorney Generals office noted in its appeal that governmental entities are entitled to automatic stays in this situation, under Texas law. In the Dallas County case, complainants Scudder and Woot Lervisit, who live and vote in the county, say that under the Texas election code, their complaint should trigger a criminal investigation of Paxtons conduct. Scudder was a nominee for the Texas Senate in District 2 in 2018 and serves on the State Democratic Executive Committee. Lervisit, a Dallas attorney, is CEO of Our Ballot Institute, a non-partisan nonprofit organization created during the pandemic to promote voter participation and educate Americans about voting. TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox Texas is one of the few states where voters younger than 65 must have an excuse to cast a ballot by mail. In 2018, fewer than 7 percent of Texas voters mailed in their ballots. Voting-related lawsuits launched by Democrats and civic organizations have been ramping up in the months leading to the general election. The suits had been multiplying quickly even before the pandemic, as Democrats press to reverse voting restrictions established by Republicans who say they are concerned about voter fraud. Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal A male fertility system, hydrogen fuel cell technology used to power ferries and a small reactor that will produce medical isotopes are among technologies that evolved from work at Sandia National Laboratories and are now being developed commercially. Because of those efforts, the Albuquerque-based laboratories won four national Federal Laboratory Consortium awards for technology transfer. Each year they run an awards competition to identify the best of the best, said Jackie Kerby Moore, Sandias manager of Technology and Economic Development and the labs consortium representative. Its a highly competitive process. There were 87 nominations from about 300 federal labs, with 32 winners. Kerby Moore said having four winners is not typical. The labs won a new award, the Impact Award, for Sandstone Diagnostics development of the Trak Male Fertility Testing System. The company is a spinoff from the labs. Former Sandia inventors Greg Sommer and Ulrich Schaff based the system on the labs SpinDx technology, used to detect biological and chemical threats, Kerby Moore said. It evolved into a product on the consumer market, she said. Sandia won two Excellence in Technology Transfer awards for work by Golden Gate Zero Emissions Marine and Eden Radioisotopes using technology developed at the labs. Golden Gate Zero Emissions Marine is building the first commercial ferry using hydrogen fuel cell technology. Its typically used for vehicles, power generators and airplanes, Kerby Moore told the Journal. Sandia physical chemist Lennie Klebanoff and former labs scientist Joe Pratt were involved in the development. Eden Radioisotopes is building a small reactor in southern New Mexico to produce medical isotopes. This is something that will meet a need because of the shortage of medical isotopes, Kerby Moore said. It can also be an economic driver in southern New Mexico. Building the reactor is important because it represents new capacity to replace a limited number of aging reactors in the world that produce a short-lived isotope that can be used to make individual patient doses, Eden Chief Operations Officer Chris Wagner said in a news release. Sandia business development specialist Jason Martinez also received the Outstanding Technology Transfer Professional Award for developing a strategy for the labs Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, which allow the labs and the Department of Energy to collaborate with non-federal entities, including companies and universities. Martinez said told the Journal was surprised and humbled when he found out he won the award. When he first arrived at Sandia, he said there was a gap in Sandias ability to partner with non-federal entities. At the time the labs had CRADAs with only 19 to 20 non-federal entities a year. Martinez wanted to come up with a way to make it easier for collaboration without compromising the labs security missions. I feel like the labs can benefit from knowledge coming from industry and academia, he said. At the same time, they can benefit from the research we do here at the labs. He said the labs now have 165 active CRADAs. Since Martinez developed the labs current strategy, Sandia has been averaging 30 new CRADAs a year. The labs have had more than 40 the last two years. Martinez hopes Sandias CRADA strategy will serve as a model for DOE labs. Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday claimed that liquor was illegally being sold in Haryana during lockdown and hence there was no rush when its sale was allowed on May 6. "When liquor vends opened in other states like Delhi, UP, Chhattisgarh, there were long queues and vends at some places had to be closed. "But no such scene was witnessed in Haryana and the reason for this was that liquor smuggling was going on and liquor was being illegally sold during lockdown," he said. The former chief minister said it was a "serious issue" and the government should thoroughly probe it. During a video conference with reporters, Hooda, the leader of the opposition, was also asked about the huge stock of liquor missing from a godown in Sonipat and the SIT probe ordered by the state government. Asked if a liquor scam has taken place under political patronage, he said, "I cannot hold anyone guilty or innocent, this is for the SIT to probe." But if it is felt that the SIT cannot probe it, then this matter should be probed by a sitting judge of the high court, he added. On the recently announced 'Mera Pani Meri Virasat' crop diversification scheme by Haryana government, Hooda said it was not a right move as it would deprive a large number of farmers from cultivating the paddy crop. He said farmers are already facing a lot of hardship due to lockdown and it was not the right time to experiment" with schemes. He said the Congress party was not against water conservation efforts of the government, but they cannot impose a decision on farmers without viable alternative. He also demanded a rollback of the hike in bus fare and increase of VAT on diesel and petrol prices. Hooda said he has been saying that the opposition will extend full cooperation to the government in its fight against the coronavirus, but it cannot support them if they take anti-people decisions. I am of the belief that we can move ahead and resolve things with dialogue, the government must also not take any major decision without consultation, Hooda said. He maintained that in a recent all-party meeting with the chief minister on the COVID situation he had said that the state can borrow to provide relief to the poor, farmers, daily wagers. I said government can borrow but it should not burden common sections If they have to impose tax they can impose on super rich, but they should not burden sections like daily wagers, common people, farmers, he said. On ongoing wheat procurement, he said the lifting process was going on at a snail's pace and so far procurement of only 57 lakh metric tonne has been made, out of which only 29 LMT has been lifted from the mandis. I had suggested to the government that as schools and colleges were unlikely to reopen before July-August, so their buildings should be made temporary storage places, he said. Mustard procurement so far was also slow, he said, adding at some places farmers had to dispose of their crop by resorting to distress sale. Asked to comment on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi demanding audit of the PM-CARES Fund, saying the account of money received and spent be made public, he said when we fight battle against COVID, these questions are bound to be raised. However, when asked whether he agrees with what Gandhi said, Hooda, who did not specifically comment on what his party leader has demanded, and speaking generally, said, I am not of this thought that any controversy should be raised today. But I do say that tomorrow they (government) will have to give account. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Monday said that its 5-judge bench had powers to refer the questions of law to a larger bench for adjudication while exercising its limited power under review jurisdiction in the Sabarimala temple entry case, saying there is no fetter on the exercise of discretion of this Court in referring questions of law to a larger bench in review petitions. A 9-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde, which had on February 10, held that the top Court can refer questions of law to a larger bench in a review petition gave detailed reasoning to support its decision. The bench, also comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan, L Nageswara Rao, M M Shantanagoudar, S A Nazeer, R Subhash Reddy, B R Gavai and Surya Kant held the instant review petitions and the reference arising from the review petitions are maintainable. It is clear that there is no fetter in the exercise of the jurisdiction of this Court in review petitions of judgments or orders arising out of proceedings other than civil and criminal proceedings, the bench said. It said that from the plain reading of Supreme Court Rules, 2013, it is clear that there is no limitation for the exercise of power by this Court in review petitions filed against judgments and orders in proceedings other than civil proceeding or criminal proceedings. The bench rejected the submissions of several parties that a reference cannot be made in a pending review petition and it can only be made after the review petitions are adjudicated. It said that being a superior Court of record, it is for this Court to consider whether any matter falls within its jurisdiction or not and unlike a court of limited jurisdiction, the superior Court of record is entitled to determine for itself questions about its own jurisdiction. In the absence of any express provision in the Constitution, this Court being a superior Court of record has jurisdiction in every matter and if there is any doubt, the Court has power to determine its jurisdiction, it said, adding that the reference can also be supported by adverting to Article 142 of the Constitution of India which enables this Court to make any order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it. The top court had on February 10, rejected the objections that a 5-judge bench on November 14, 2019 was wrong in making a reference to a larger bench without deciding the review petitions challenging the 2018 Sabarimala verdict, which had allowed women of all age group to enter the hill-top shrine in Kerala. It had framed seven questions on the scope of religious freedom in various religions and made it clear that it was open to addition and deletion of issues framed. The bench had framed questions which include, "What is the scope and ambit of right to freedom of religion under Article 25 of the Constitution of India?" and "What is the inter-play between the rights of persons under Article 25 of the Constitution of India and rights of religious denomination under Article 26?" Besides other questions, the top court said it would also examine, as to whether a person not belonging to a religious denomination or religious group can question a practice of that "religious denomination or religious group" by filing a public interest litigation (PIL). These issues have been framed afresh after a battery of lawyers raised objections that the 5-judge Constitution bench, headed by the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi (since retired) on November 14, 2019, had framed vague and broad issues which cannot be decided without any facts of the particular case. Besides the Sabarimala case, the verdict had also referred issues of entry of Muslim women into mosques and dargahs and of Parsi women, married to non-Parsi men, being barred from the holy fire place of an Agiary, to the larger bench. The 5-judge bench, by a majority of 3:2, had referred to a larger bench the issue of discrimination against women at various religions' places of worship. It said the larger bench will have to evolve a judicial policy to do "substantial and complete justice" in matters of freedom of religion, such as restrictions on the entry of Muslim and Parsi women into their places of worship. It had set out seven questions of law to be examined by the larger bench. They included -- interplay between freedom of religion under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution; need to delineate the expression 'constitutional morality'; the extent to which courts can enquire into particular religious practices; meaning of sections of Hindus under Article 25 and whether 'essential religious practices' of denomination or a section thereof are protected under Article 26. Another question was the "permissible extent of judicial recognition to PILs in matters calling into question religious practices of a denomination or a section thereof at the instance of persons who do not belong to such religious denomination". Prior to that, in September 2018, by a 4:1 majority verdict, the apex court had lifted the ban that prevented women and girls between the age of 10 and 50 years from entering the famous Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala and held that the centuries-old Hindu religious practice was illegal and unconstitutional. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The viral pandemic of the mind and Sri Lankas loss of the law View(s): Even as petitions are collected and hands are rightfully wrung for redress regarding the arrest and detention of attorney Hejaaz Hisbullah, it is timely to recall (despite a tad unkindly) that if the attempt to push through Sri Lankas draft Counter-Terror Act had succeeded at the height of the yahapalanaya years, abuse of civil liberties in these covid-fearful times would have been a hundred fold worse. What is unfolding before us is a grotesque caricature of constitutional safeguards. Even so, it could have been manifestly darker. Fairy tales cannot justify arrests This countrys Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) is a misshapen creature no doubt. Yet it is of familiar form and can be challenged by a plethora of formidable legal authority, not the least of which is that, Detention Orders must be signed by the proper authority and must not be speculative in nature. As late Justice Ranjith (ARB) Amerasinghe proclaimed when a former Cabinet Minister was sought to be arrested under emergency law for allegedly plotting to assassinate a President, (the Sirisena Cooray case, 1997), reckless disregard for personal liberties is a most profound violation of the Constitution. In other words, state agents cannot arrest an individual and then hunt around to justify the reasons why or weave fairy tales with favorite bogeymen without objective reasons existing at the time of arrest. This is a fundamental caution that officers of the Criminal Investigation Department must remember as they release explanations for the arrest of this attorney to sympathetic journalists. That said, if that little lamented draft Counter-Terror Act had welcomed the statutory light of day, the very thought of consequences thereto in this terror stricken climate causes shudders to run up ones spine. That draft was hawked by international agencies supporting the yahapalanaya regime which flamboyantly sought to import international models of counter-terror into this land. It permitted senior police officers scattered throughout the land to sign Detention Orders rather than retaining the power as a high executive responsibility, thus rendering the exercise of that power more difficult to justify. Thankfully and as a not unimportant aside, it must be said that this high bar remains to be satisfied in this particular arrest. But let us not forget that this relaxation of authority to sign Detention Orders was just one of many extraordinarily measures permitting widespread abuse in a more than eighty page Counter Terror draft that would not have looked out of place in a totalitarian regime. Principle must predominate in application of the law It did not need extraordinary prescience to predict how disastrous this would be. But confident regime changers who did not think that yahapalanaya exuberance will ever fade, waved their hands and excused its farcical and secretively drafted contents. Let us also not forget that it was only after early drafts were leaked to this newspaper allowing public critique, that steps were taken to mitigate some of its obvious excesses including allowing access to personal bank records by the police without judicial oversight. That too, grudgingly and after several attempts to hoodwink critics by changing terminology and hiding vague clauses couched in obscure language. Indeed, it was a cruel irony that, even after forsaking responsibility for Sri Lankas national security in the background of Easter Sundays jihadist attacks on churches and hotels last year, all that the Wickremesinghe led band of United National Party (UNP) allies could do was to push this draft till the very day that they were ejected from power. Interestingly the Rajapaksa-led Pohottuwa joined in the chorus of opposition to the counter-terror draft, keenly aware of the manner in which it could be used to clamp down on the Opposition. Now that roles are reversed, it would be useful to know if the cacaphony of support for this Bill among its onetime supporters, persists. Regardless, the point is that Yahapalanaya then or Rajapaksa now, principles must predominate in the formulation and application of law, not political agendas, ethnic or racial prejudices. So as the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) collapses into cowed silence despite the continuing detention of this attorney, questions arise. Given the fact that, one of the primary reasons for the issuance of the initial statement by BASL on the arrest was its concerrn that reasons had not been given, is its considered opinion that reasons have now been sufficiently given? Or are we now at the absurd stage of contending that giving reasons for arrests constitutes an interference with the investigation, as some lawyers not worth their professional credentials have tried to argue? Ferocious consequences of the past Mixing up concern regarding the manner in which this arrest was carried out and justifiable outrage over the Easter Sunday attacks last year and its hateful perpetrators is to entirely mistake the issue at hand. Pre and post those attacks, these column spaces have been forthright in assessments of those who were blind to the stealthy growth of Islamist radicalism literally in the midst of civil societies in Kattankudy, Mawanella and elsewhere. It is no answer to this to say that some did protest to the authorities who turned a blind eye. The fact is that this was something more than just clashes between different Muslim religious sects. It involved training camps and organised Islamist radicalism which had a life and growth of its own. So the question is also as to why this creeping Islamist radicalism was denied in ponderous papers and theses written by those focusing on the evils of Sinhala Buddhist majoritarianism? Does the existence of one evil cancel the need to question the other evil? In fact, questions to that effect even before the Easter Sunday barbarities only provoked defensiveness and denial. It is time to recognise that this is a cycle of prejudices and counter-prejudices. For if the period 2015-2019 had not made the Sri Lankan public sick and tired of the very mention of democracy perhaps we may have had a better chance of facing and besting the the anti-democracy beast, which has now skulked from the shadows to the open. We are now at a point where a global health pandemic has enabled those (brought into power as a ferocious reaction to yahapalanaya mistakes) to stamp on the embers of Sri Lankas democratic albeit always fragile Republic. So will reminders of the past compel at least some of us to pause and reflect on mistakes? The broken jaw of our lost kingdoms Not so. Lessons yet remain to be learnt on how not to do good governance or for that matter, constitutional drafting or counter-terror reforms. It is safe to predict this as much as it can confidently be said that devastation brought about by the corona virus pandemic will not teach arrogant humanity any lasting lessons. Its belief that it has tamed the planet and can continue to ravage the living environment and animal life will persist once the initial shocks are overcome. That is, until the next far greater pandemic catches humanity in its grasp. This is the way that countries and hollow men perish, as T.S. Eliot famously warned, recalling the broken jaw of our lost kingdoms. Indeed, this is how liberties and the world dies, not with a bang but with a whimper. Prime Minister Scott Morrison does not believe a sudden escalation in a $600 million trade dispute with China is part of a co-ordinated campaign from Beijing aimed at squeezing local producers in retaliation for his push for a global inquiry into the coronavirus. China is expected to level tariffs on Australian barley producers as it pursues an anti-dumping investigation into Australian dumping of the grain, largely used for Chinese animal feeding and beer production. Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The tariffs of up to 80 per cent would effectively end barley trade between the two countries and hit farmers in Western Australia, where the majority of Australian exporters are based. More than half of all Australia's annual barley exports go to China. There are two interpretations within the Australian government on China's actions. The first is Beijing is sending a message as retaliation for Australia's advocacy of a coronavirus inquiry by targeting a relatively low-risk export. The second is China pursuing the process that began 18-months ago because of its grievances with Australia's anti-dumping measures against its own products, including steel. The coronavirus battle and the world oil glut could cost cities, parishes and school boards in Louisiana anywhere from $404 million to $1.1 billion over two fiscal years, the states Legislative Auditors Office said on May 7. Business shutdowns and unemployment resulting from the effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, lower demand for energy as a result of the virus fight and past increases in oil production by other countries that caused lower oil prices are factors in the reports projections. The losses are estimated for the current state fiscal year, which ends June 30, and for fiscal year 2021. The report lays out optimistic and pessimistic scenarios for the states recovery and the effects on local sales and property taxes and oil royalties. The report comes as Gov. John Bel Edwards weighs a variety of factors as he decides whether and how to allow businesses to reopen after a state emergency order expires May 15. Louisianas confirmed coronavirus cases now exceed 30,650 with more than 20,000 recovered. The death toll went up by 41 on Thursday to 2,135. Of those deaths, 709 were at nursing homes and 75 were at other residential care facilities for adults, the department said in a release updating the figures. Although the number of confirmed cases has gone up as testing increases, and the death toll continues to rise, there have been some positive trends: The statewide hospitalization total dropped for the second day in a row, to 1,432. That number has trended downward since early April, when there were more than 2,100. A major Louisiana health care provider has announced plans to offer free COVID-19 and antibody testing to at least 2,500 New Orleans-area residents to study the prevalence there of the sometimes-deadly disease caused by the new coronavirus. Ochsner Health announced the plan to test residents of New Orleans and neighboring Jefferson Parish in a news release. New Orleans and Jefferson together account for more than 13,000 of the more than 30,000 known cases in the state. This information will help inform community reopening plans and provide healthcare providers and leaders with more information about the novel virus, the release said. Ocshners release says its researchers hope to enroll at least 2,500 participants in the study. Residents of all races, ethnicities, ages and neighborhoods are encouraged to sign up online so the study can accurately represent our community, the statement said. Participants will be contacted if they are selected for the study. The economic toll of fighting the spread of the virus continues to mount. More than 310,000 people qualified for unemployment benefits in Louisiana as of last week, according to figures released May 7 by the state labor department. The figure is an increase of about 10,000 from the previous week. There were less than 14,000 for the comparable week last year, according to a department news release from Baton Rouge. The number of people filing new claims for unemployment was 50,941 last week, well above the 2,009 who filed in the comparable week of 2019, reflecting the continuing effects of the outbreak on the economy. Meanwhile, there was more evidence of the viruss toll on the culture-based tourism economy. This years French Quarter Festival and Satchmo Summerfest festival both in New Orleans have been officially canceled, with organizers saying they plan to return next year. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For others, the highly contagious virus can cause severe symptoms and be fatal. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics COVID-19 Louisiana Energy Oil Gas Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 08:43:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A 2-2 draw against the United States in the Superfinal of the FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup was enough to secure China the title after a superb round-robin stage by team China. Ding Liren and four-time women's chess world champion Hou Yifan drew against Hikaru Nakamura and Irina Krush. Wei Yi lost to Fabiano Caruana while Yu Yangyi contributed the decisive victory against Wesley So to tie the match. According to the rules, the team with the best performance in the round-robin stage would be classified as champions in the final if the result is a tie. In the 10 games he played, China's third board Yu Yangyi scored 7.5 points (six victories, three draws, one loss) and was the best performer of the team. The MVP of the tournament goes to American Fabiano Caruana with an unbeaten record in nine games (six victories, three draws). "I can feel the blood boiling even if this is an online tournament, congratulations to ourselves for winning the title," Ding wrote on his social media account. The new "match of the century" is played by six teams, including Russia, the US, Europe, China, India, plus a team representing the "Rest of the World." The tournament kicked off on May 5, 10 rounds of games ran from May 5 to 9 to decide two top teams in the Superfinal. As the winner of a historic double gold in the last Chess Olympiad, China is the top-seed of the tournament. The team is consisted of Ding Liren, Wang Hao, Wei Yi, Hou Yifan, Yu Yangyi, Ju Wenjun and led by Captain Ye Jiangchuan. China secured the Superfinal berth after just eight rounds before finishing the round-robin stage with eight victories, one draw and one loss. The US surpassed Europe in the last round while Russia, India and the Rest of the World ranking fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Enditem Speaker of the National Assembly of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Ashot Ghulyan today received head of the Bright Armenia faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Edmon Marukyan and member of the faction, Chair of the Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Mane Tandilyan. Ashot Ghulyan welcomed the deputies subsequent visit to Artsakh and congratulated them on Victory Day, the liberation of Shushi and the formation of the Defense Army of Artsakh. The parliamentary speaker highly appreciated the cooperation between the parliaments of the two Armenian states and expressed certainty that the relations with the seventh convocation of the National Assembly of Artsakh would grow deeper. Head of the Bright Armenia faction Edmon Marukyan expressed gratitude for the reception and expressed satisfaction with the cooperation established throughout the years. Mane Tandilyan also highlighted the high level of cooperation and the importance of strengthening the unity of all Armenians in regard to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The activities being carried out to eliminate the damages that COVID-19 has caused to the two Armenian republics were also discussed during the meeting. Under Lightfoots plan, the city also would need to be able to test 135,000 residents per month, with positive rates decreasing below 15% of those tested in the community and at least 14 days of declining rates of new cases, on average. Positive rates of below 30% would be needed in congregate settings such as nursing homes, shelters and jails, according to the Lightfoot plan. Wachau becomes Austria's 15th DAC winegrowing region Wachau has become Austrias newest and 15th DAC winegrowing region. Wachau submitted the draft of a DAC regulation to the Ministry of agriculture, regions and tourism, and this has now been signed by law by federal minister Elisabeth Kostinger. The protected designation of origin Wachau DAC is now the fifteenth of its kind in Austria. Chris Yorke, managing director of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board (AWMB), said: With the Wachau, we can now welcome another important member to Austrias DAC family. In doing this, Austrias wine industry has taken a further step on the path of origin-based marketing. This has proven itself effective for 17 years now, and has also become recognised internationally. Wachau DAC wines are classified on three levels: Gebietswein (regional wine), Ortswein (villages wine) and Riedenwein (single-vineyard wine). In the Gebietswein category, the traditional array of grape varieties is preserved, where 17 white and red varieties ranging from Gruner Veltliner and Riesling to Muskateller and Sauvignon Blanc to Pinot Noir and Sankt Laurent are permitted. Gemischter Satz and cuvees are also allowed. These wines will bear the name of the region coupled with DAC on the label. The grapes can come from anywhere in the entire winegrowing region Wachau. Ortswein is becoming increasingly important in Austrias landscape of origins, and the Wachau also provides for 22 designated municipalities, protected in its DAC regulation. The number of approved grape varieties is concentrated here to nine: Gruner Veltliner, Riesling, Weissburgunder, Grauburgunder, Chardonnay, Neuburger, Muskateller, Sauvignon Blanc and Traminer. These must be vinified as monovarietal wines. The top level on the pyramid of origins is Riedenwein. The most famous Wachau grape varieties Gruner Veltliner and Riesling are permitted here, harvested from 157 precisely defined vineyard sites (Rieden). Wachau DAC wines bearing the indication of a Ried on the label must not be enriched or chaptalised in any way and like Ortswein must exhibit hardly any noticeable cask tone, or none at all. Thanks to this seamless concept of origins, consumers will benefit from the greater transparency and specificity of provenance, the AWMB said. Anton Bodenstein, chairman of the Wachau Regional Wine Committee said: This brings origins to the forefront. Wachau DAC provides geographical protection of origin down to the most detailed entity: the individual vineyard. Back in the 1980s, the regional protection association Vinea Wachau established the levels Steinfeder, Federspiel and Smaragd, differentiated according to the natural alcohol content of the white and in rare cases rose wines produced by its members. This well-known and valuable classification will be retained within the new DAC system. Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC) is a legal designation of origin for regionally typical Qualitatswein (quality wine) from Austria. So, if the name of a winegrowing region is coupled with the letters DAC on a wine label, the consumer can be sure of receiving a Qualitatswein typical of the region, vinified from grapes harvested exclusively in that region. A DAC wine may only be produced from the grape varieties specified for this DAC region and must comply with all the requirements of the regulation laid down by the respective region. There are currently fifteen DAC winegrowing regions in Austria. Wines that do not meet the DAC requirements will bear the name of the respective federal state as indication of origin. Related articles: An order has be made in the High Court confirming the winding up of the Irish arm of related fashion outlets Oasis and Warehouse, which employed 248 people. Mr Justice Michael Twomey made the order in respect of Oasis Fashions Ireland Ltd, and Warehouse Fashion Ireland Ltd, which the court heard is part of the Aurora Fashions group owned by the Icelandic Kaupthing Bank. The judge, who said he was satisfied the firms are insolvent, also confirmed the appointment of Ken Fennell and James Anderson of Deloitte Ireland as joint liquidators of the two related companies. They were appointed on a provisional basis by the High Court last month. The two companies had operated 13 stores and 29 concession stands in Ireland. The appointment of liquidators came after administrators were appointed to its UK parent a month ago. Seeking the joint liquidators' appointment Kelley Smith Bl instructed by Barry Cahir of Beauchamps Solicitors, for the company said the firms had been trading in what has become a difficult environment. Those difficulties had been exacerbated with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, counsel added. Counsel said the group had been seeking a buyer, but the impact of the Covid-19 which had resulted in the closure of high street stores in late March, ended prospects of securing fresh investment, despite the fact there had been several expressions of interest. The group's decision to enter administration meant the Irish firms could no longer avail of certain services from its parent, such as HR, IT and the sourcing of stock, which they required to continue to trade. Brian Conroy Bl for the liquidators said that since their appointment they have been taking steps to ensure an orderly wind down of the business. Counsel said had been engaging with the firm's creditors which includes its employees, landlords of the stores the stores had operated from, and Revenue. SPRINGFIELD Baystate Health and Mercy Medical Center officials said Monday that hospitalizations for the coronavirus continued to decline at both facilities in the past week, as part of a general month-long trend. The positive trends were reported during the weekly updates on COVID-19 at City Hall, as presented by hospital officials, Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and city department heads. The inpatient census has been declining steadily now into its fifth week, said Dr. Mark Keroack, president and CEO of Baystate Health. Consistently, over the last 10 days, weve had fewer than 20 patients in our critical care unit. Keroack announced very good news that Baystate Health has received a limited supply of an anti-viral drug, Remdesivir, being reserved for the sickest of COVID-19 patients. He said Baystate can use the medication for up to approximately 20 patients. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced in late April that Remdesivir shown itself to be promising in treating COVID-19 patients. Last Monday, Keroack said the number of COVID-19 patients had dipped below 100 at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and three sister hospitals in the region. The number dipped into the 80s during the week, with an uptick to just over 90 as of Monday, possibly a blip, Keroack said. Both Keroack and Mercy Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Roose said that hospitalizations for the coronavirus had peaked during the first week of April, and have generally declined ever since. Roose said the number at Mercy Medical Center dropped to 29 cases, as of Monday, the first time it has dipped below 30 cases since the peak. Roose reported there were 39 COVID-19 hospitalizations at Mercy Medical a week ago. Both hospital officials said they continue to expand testing for COVID-19, and continue to see positive signs that create hope for a gradual reopening of Massachusetts. Really the headline here is that the old normal is not going to be coming back anytime soon, Keroack said. I believe that we are going to be wearing masks in public for a long time. I believe that we are going to be observing social distancing for a long time, that we are going to value hand-washing, cleaning, disinfection for a long time. Roose joined in saying that he does not see a post-COVID-19 period "for some time." Both hospital officials urged patients with other emergency needs to come to the hospitals for treatment, if needed, and said the hospitals were safe from COVID-19. French defence minister Florence Parly has acknowledged mistakes that led about two-thirds of troops aboard an aircraft carrier to be infected with the coronavirus. Parly told French lawmakers on Monday that one sailor from the Charles de Gaulle remains hospitalized. Others have recovered. The number of positive cases reached a total 1,046 out of 1,760 sailors onboard the aircraft carrier. The investigation shows that the virus first infected people after February 26, while the carrier was at sea, Parly said. The virus was then introduced again onboard during a stop in the French port of Brest in mid-March, as the country was about to enter into lockdown. Parly said the commandment established precautionary measures, like increasing physical distance between sailors, but they were lifted at the end of March because of concerns of the low morale of the troops. She said the virus was not detected onboard before April 5. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Apex body of staffing firms ISF on Monday hailed the decision of certain states on suspension of some key labour laws for the next three years to help revive businesses hit by the COVID-19 crisis. The India Staffing Federation (ISF) said that simplified labour laws will propel faster growth and hiring, significantly allowing employers to increase opportunities for citizens. ISF welcomes the decision of various states to "suspend multiple labour law provisions across its boundaries for the next three years considering it will not only help the industry come out of the crisis and boost their investments, but also promote ease of doing business induced by the lockdown to combat COVID-19 pandemic", it said. ISF President Lohit Bhatia said in a statement, "The various states including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and now Karnataka are now taking sharper chances with labour laws to attract investment into their states." By introducing time-bound labour law relaxations, these states will make themselves attractive for investors and promote ease of doing business, he said. These announcements are being arrived at post state cabinet meetings and possibly will be undertaken via the Ordinance route. "India has been lagging in simplifying its labour laws for nearly 70 years, though the government did try and bring about legislation in past three years to reduce over 44 labour laws to four labour codes, the current set of announcements by the state governments will be more likely to achieve the results," Bhatia added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An 'exceptional' mother-of-four nurse who devoted her life to terminally-ill children has become the latest healthcare worker to be killed by coronavirus. Eyitolami Olaolorun had been a nurse for 40 years, most recently working at Wellington Hospital, a private centre in St John's Wood, caring for young patients who were critically or terminally ill. Ms Olaolorun, 60, also worked for the NHS at various hospitals and raised her four children by herself, having arrived in the UK from Nigeria almost 20 years ago after splitting with her husband. Her daughter has encouraged the public to keep to the Government's original rule of staying home to save lives. Eyitolami Olaolorun (centre) with her children (left to right) Olajide, 33, Oluwadamilola, 27, Oladimeji, 29, and Oyinkansola Honey Iloba, 32. Eyitolami Olaolorun, a paediatric nurse from London, died after contracting Covid-19 Oyinkansola Honey Iloba described her mother, who died on April 16, as 'selfless and 'an exceptional woman'. 'She didn't see her patients as just someone she was looking after, they were family,' the 32-year-old said. 'There's a picture of one of her patients on her wall. He's pretty much our adopted younger brother because of how she saw him. 'She would spend Christmas with us and then spend it with her patients too, and always remembered birthdays. 'She raised all four of us by herself. We're all graduates, we're all doing well. That's all because of her, she sacrificed everything for us.' On Sunday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson relaxed the Government's 'stay home, protect the NHS, save lives' slogan to instead tell people to 'stay alert, control the virus, save lives'. After the death of her mother, Mrs Iloba said: 'Stay home. When it hits home, you realise how dangerous the situation is. 'You realise, yes, the NHS are heroes but let's not put their lives at risk as well. 'Let's not be selfish in our expectations of the NHS by going out, irrespective of what Mr Johnson has said, let's not go out and think we're immune to anything - we're not. 'By going out you're putting doctors' and nurses' lives at risk and they have families ... families who care for them, families who love them and families who want them to survive this pandemic. 'You just need to stay home.' Eyitolami Olaolorun, a paediatric nurse from London who died after contracting Covid-19. Ms Olaolorun, 60, most recently worked at Wellington Hospital, a private centre in St John's Wood, London Ms Olaolorun started showing symptoms of Covid-19 in late March and was taken to hospital, before being put onto a ventilator on April 6. 'I called her and she was crying,' Mrs Iloba said. 'I realised something was wrong and got my sister who is a doctor to call the hospital... they explained she would be put on a ventilator and sedated. 'She must have been told already but she was trying not to tell us so that we wouldn't be worried. 'We called her back in a four-way call on WhatsApp - She said 'I'll see you guys later they're just wheeling me off' we said 'alright I'll see you soon' and that was the last thing we said to her.' Ms Olaolorun was put on a ventilator before being moved from Ealing Hospital to Charing Cross Hospital, where she died ten days later. Ms Olaolorun's children have made a GoFundMe page and foundation in their mother's name to help young people in Nigeria to access higher education. Amid indications that the 'Mumbai dream' is turning sour for migrant workers amid the lockdown, many of them driving taxis and auto rickshaws in the city have left for their native places in their vehicles, union sources said. They pegged the number of 'kaali peeli' taxis and autos leaving the city at around 1000 and 5000 respectively. A cyclist on the Mumbai-Agra highway told PTI that he saw migrants travelling in trucks, auto rickshaws and bikes on way to their native places in central and north India. Union officials said with increasing possibility of further extension of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, several auto and taxi drivers are going to their native places in their black and yellow coloured auto rickshaws and taxis. A L Quadros of the Mumbai Taximens Union said over 1000 black and yellow taxis and 5000 auto rickshaws from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have left the region. There are around 45000 black and yellow cabs and around 5 lakh auto rickshaws in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, he said. "Due to the lockdown for almost two months, the cabbies and auto drivers are left with no money and hence instead of dying without food here, they are preferring to go to their native place," said Quadros. According to union leaders, the cabbies and auto rickshaw drivers are leaving Mumbai in groups of 20 to 50 or more and are headed to UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, while some cabbies are also going to Karnataka. "After another extension of the lockdown and the easing of restrictions on migrants, the auto drivers started to travel back to their native places in their auto rickshaws in groups since last week," said K K Tiwari, leader of the Swabhiman Taxi-Rickshaw Union. Shashank Rao, leader of Mumbai Auto Rickshawmens Union said that as bus and truck drivers were asking for exorbitant fare, the drivers are preferring to take their own vehicles to travel back home as these are anyway going to remain parked in Mumbai if they travel by any other mode of transport. "Packing their luggage, a few drivers are travelling with families, while many drivers, who have their families at their native place, are going with other drivers and friends," said Rao. According to union leaders, taxi and auto drivers are going to native places sans any e-pass issued by the police, as they consider it a time and money consuming task. RTO officials said auto and taxi permit holders are allowed to travel to native places by getting online temporary permits, which are valid for a few months. Quadros said Maharashtra government should issue a notification and waive the temporary permit condition for taxis and autos till things normalise. "The drivers don't have necessary facilities like internet connection and printers to get online permits, and the transport department cannot issue these offline due to staff shortage," said Quadros. Sujit Singh, an auto driver from Mumbai's Vakola area, said he left for Uttar Pradesh in a group of about 50 auto rickshaws from their area on Saturday and on Monday morning reached Madhya Pradesh, travelling via Nashik. "There is no sign of lifting of lockdown and the condition due to coronavirus is worsening further. Hence I decided to return to my native place," said Singh, adding that they had applied for e-pass but they did not get it so they are carrying health certificates with them to show to police and other authorities if they ask. Singh said the group did not face any issues enroute except police checkups at a couple of locations before Nashik. "We did not face any issue while entering MP as well. In fact, the police there offered us food which was arranged with the help of some organisations," he added. Also read: Home Ministry issues guidelines for train travel to check coronavirus spread; all you need to know Also read: 16 migrant labourers mowed down by freight train in Aurangabad By Fred Sachs Sachs is a retired corporate human resource director in the health care field and a former teacher of ethics at Community High School in Roanoke. This pandemic has given all of us thoughts and feelings that are new to us too many thoughts coming too fast and feelings that interfere with clear thought. But we have to try to learn from this horror. We cant know how things will play out. But at the low end, we know 200,000 Americans could die and at least a 30% drop in the U.S. economy will send out ripples of disruption that we can barely imagine. Just consider the possibility that we will see the scarcity of food. What should we do? We know that the highest value is first to save lives. In the midst of this worldwide disaster, it occurs to me that it may have come just in time. Human beings have been sliding along like lemmings for decades denying the science and the factual evidence smacking us in the face that the climate is changing in ways that will destroy civilization if unchecked. Climate change would disrupt the supply of water and the availability of food to the extent that millions and millions of people, desperate to survive, will move toward wherever they think they would be better off. We have already seen the disruption of most of Europe as refugees from Syria and North Africa ran for their lives driven by forces related to climate change. Imagine how much worse it will be if such apocalyptic events happen all around the world. What happened in Europe would look like a two-alarm fire in comparison. What we are seeing play out clearly enough for people to begin to understand it is that everything is OK until it isnt. People didnt pay attention when warned that the pandemic was growing and coming their way. It wasnt real, until it was. And then there was nothing to be done to stop it from rolling over all of us. The only choice now is to try to survive it, and most will. We will lose a terrible number of friends and relatives. The world will lose millions. The world economy will be devastated. But the world will get through this, changed but intact. And it may have happened to just in time. Just in time for us to see that if we dont listen to the facts and the science about climate change, it will happen. And once it gets an irreversible grip on the world and its effects speed up and grow exponentially, what happens will be far worse than whatever this pandemic does to us. Denial of what the scientists told us about the coming pandemic is causing a modern disaster of biblical proportions. Millions will die that didnt have to because people did not pay attention to and act quickly on the facts before us. Continued refusal to accept the facts that science is showing us about what climate change will do to us would be a clear message that human beings are a failed species. We may already be, but a post-pandemic failure to put stopping climate change at the top of the human agenda for immediate action would seal the deal. We have gotten a warning. We better pay attention. Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party patriach Mulayam Singh Yadav was on Monday discharged from Lucknow's Medanta hospital where he was admitted on Sunday night after he complained of stomach-related issues. It is to be noted that Mulayam has been admitted to the hospital in the past five days. Earlier, he was admitted to Medanta hospital on Wednesday (May 6). According to SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary, the veteran leader had gone to Medanta hospital on Wednesday for his routine checkup, but he was admitted by the doctors for monitoring his stomach and urine-related issues. Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya) chief and Mulayam's younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav said that the SP leader was fine and he urged the people to pray for his long life. "For the last 2-3 days, many well-wishers were worried about the health of Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is the source of inspiration and energy to all of us. 'Netajiji' is healthy by the grace of God. Pray to God that Netaji lives long and stays healthy and keeps giving direction to the country and society," Shivpal tweeted. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also tweeted saying that he prays for the good health of the SP founder. Dominic Raab tied himself in knots this morning as he tried to clarify if the public are allowed to see their parents or not. The Foreign Secretary took part in a shambolic series of media interviews this morning where he gave lockdown advice that conflicted with what the Prime Minister said in his speech last night. The public is understandably keen to meet with loved ones after seven weeks of lockdown, but rules on this were not made clear by Boris Johnson. In a chaotic interview on Good Morning Britain this morning, Piers Morgan asked MP Andrew Brigden if he was allowed to go and see his sons he hadn't seen in weeks. The Foreign Secretary took part in a shambolic series of media interviews this morning where he gave lockdown advice that conflicted with what the Prime Minister said in his speech last night Mr Brigden said he could, despite that being against the rules, prompting Piers to say to him: 'you haven't got a clue.' In the Foreign Secretary's first interview of the day on Sky News he said the rules did not allow people to visit family members. But later on BBC Breakfast Mr Raab was asked if someone could meet their mother in the morning and their father in the afternoon, he said: 'Outside in the outdoors, staying two metres apart, yes.' Then when asked later on BBC Radio 4 if someone could meet up with both their parents in a park, Mr Raab said: 'Well, you could if they are two metres apart.' The UK government put out a clarification saying people can only meet one person outside at a time. In a chaotic interview on Good Morning Britain this morning, Piers Morgan asked Andrew Brigden if he was allowed to go and see his sons he hadn't seen in weeks You can not meet two people, such as both parents, at the same time. The shambolic mixed messages drew the ire of Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain who said the whole episode was a 'total disgrace'. He said: 'Now they are having to apologise, the government, and clarify that Dominic Raab who had just told tens of millions of people to go and see their parents at the same time, now apparently you can't. 'What a total disgrace. How many people will now be infected because they only heard him on the Today programme and go off and see their parents? 'And maybe kill them? Do they not understand how dangerous this is? How serious it is? It's a total shambles.' The confusing messages have just added to the uncertainty after the Prime Minister's address last night. Mr Raab also urged people to go back to work from Wednesday if they cannot work from home. 'If you can work from home, you should continue to do so, but there are nine sectors of the economy like manufacturing and construction, where people can't do their job from home,' he said. 'So we're saying to them they should now from Wednesday, go back to work.' Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told LBC the position had obviously shifted. 'I accept that for some things, like when can a school open, that's going to be conditional, but on this business of going back to work, the suggestion was last night that people go back to work today if they can't work at home, but don't use public transport - and that's really difficult, particularly if you're in a city like London - and without guidelines in place as to how work places need to operate. 'You know, simple things like how do you keep people two metres apart? What about sanitation, protective equipment? 'These are things that were discussed in a consultation document last weekend but not resolved yet. 'I was actually quite surprised the Prime Minister said, effectively in 12 hours' time, start going back to work without those bits in place. 'We needed that clarity and it is unravelling a bit this morning because I think the foreign secretary has now said, ''Well, go back to work doesn't really mean until Wednesday'', so suddenly it has shifted.' THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has dismissed the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)-propelled claims that the Akufo-Addo government tampered with figures presented to the institution to secure a coronavirus (Covid-19) impact mitigation facility. Government had requested from the IMF a rapid concessional loan of a billion dollars intended to be used to manage the negative impact of the pandemic in the country. The massaged-figures claim by the NDC intended to put government in bad light failed to fly when the Country Director of IMF, Dr. Albert Touna Mama, on Saturday cleared the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, of the politicized accusations. Fact Checking The Fact Checking Ghana campaign claimed that the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Ghana misinformed the Bretton Woods Institution regarding figures presented. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) did the fact-checking and the NDC has since been using it as a smear campaign against the NPP government. MFWA's work pointed out that the government wittingly misled the IMF by eroticizing the 2018 and 2019 fiscal deficit figures of 3.0 per cent and 4.4 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) respectively to the IMF to 7.0 per cent (2018) and 7.5 per cent (2019) of GDP in its report to the IMF. IMF Correction But Dr. Mama, speaking on Joy FM on Saturday, said those making the allegations are only comparing apple and pears. You need to go through the reports and understand what the figures that have been presented are, he stressed. He explained that the 7.5 per cent fiscal deficit in the IMF statement was generated by the institution itself and not the Government of Ghana, adding that the seeming discrepancy in the figures is as a result of two different methodologies used in calculating the deficit and international reserve based on different understanding. According to Dr. Mama, the IMF included in its computation the financial and energy sector payments, which were not part of the government's calculation. Our number includes these two elements (financial sector payments and energy sector payment) and we know why the Governor of the Bank of Ghana made the decision not to have these two elements in the fiscal deficits, the IMF Country Director said. BoG Methodology He stated that the IMF knew about the government's methodology of calculating the Gross International Reserve because the BoG Governor, Dr. Ernest Kwamina Yedu Addison, made the institution aware of it since the beginning of the year. When it comes to Gross International Reserve, we have our definition; definition that we think is the right one. But the Bank of Ghana also has a different understanding of what Gross International Reserve should account for. And the difference here is that Bank of Ghana accounts the Oil Fund, the Heritage Fund and the Stabilization Fund as part of Gross International Reserve and I think that point was clearly made at the beginning of the year by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana. That is the difference and that is the position that they have taken, Dr. Mama stressed. BoG Argument He said the central bank argued strongly that the government could access those funds on approval of Parliament when shoved by crisis in order to serve as additional buffers to the economy. What we say is that perhaps it is more complicated than that, but we can agree to disagree and present the numbers that we think are more aligned with other countries because that is our objective, he added. Clarifying Issues The IMF Director said much as the institution tried possibly to stay out of debates such as this one, he felt compelled to accept the call from the Joy FM to clarify statements made by the MFWA's Fact Checking Ghana. They basically said and I quote, 'The data presented by the government to the IMF are different from those in budget statements', he stated. Dr. Mama noted when it comes to the data we received that we worked with, in this debate, there is nothing new that we did not know about. Some political commentators have argued that the misrepresentation hoax will go down as the worst miscalculation by a civil society group in the country's political history. ---Daily Guide Photo: Jerome Strauss/Flickr Missed the most recent top news in Fort Worth? Read on for everything you need to know. 5 shot in Texas park crowded with 600 people, police say It was not clear what such a large crowd was doing at the park in Fort Worth during the pandemic, the police said. Witnesses told officials at least 30 gunshots were heard. Read the full story on The New York Times. 56-year-old inmate of federal prison in Fort Worth latest to die from COVID-19, officials say He had been on a ventilator since April 28, federal officials said. Read the full story on WFAA. Language barriers, absence of bank loans and Texas lack of commercial eviction protections leave Latino small business owners struggling As Texas restaurants and retail stores began welcoming customers back through their doors last week, a few dozen people walking the hallways of this city's normally bustling La Gran Plaza shopping mall passed reopened stores whose windows featured quinceanera dresses, Mexican ranchero boots and cellphones. Signs on the food court tables banned sitting. Only five or six restaurants were open. Read the full story on KPRC2 / Click2Houston. This story was created automatically using data about news stories on social media from CrowdTangle, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. As World Health Organisation (WHO) continues to deny that India has entered the stage of community transmission, a recent study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) seems to suggest otherwise. Reuters For weeks now, ICMR has been doing random sampling tests conducted on patients from various states with Severe Acute Respiratory Illnesses (SARI). The testing has asserted a spike in the number of coronavirus positive cases among such patients with no travel history. As many as 39.2 per cent of SARI patients, who later tested positive for the coronavirus, neither had a history of travel nor had contact with a positive patient, the data compiled by ICMR has revealed. Reuters These patients were reported from 36 districts of 15 states. "These districts need to be prioritised to target COVID-19 containment activities," ICMR says in the report. When the COVID testing strategy was expanded to include all SARI patients (from March 21), a total of 4,946 samples yielded 102 (2.1%) cases. The positivity increased from zero during the initial weeks to 2.6% in the 14th week, the report notes. One hundred and two of these cases were from samples gleaned from March 22 to April 2. Of the 102 COVID-19 positive SARI patients, 40 (39.2%) did not report any history of contact or international travel, the study underlines. Only 2 of the samples from February 15 to March 20 later turned positive. ICMR's overall conclusion on the basis of this report stated, "Covid-19 containment activities need to be targeted in districts reporting Covid-19 cases among SARI patients. Intensifying surveillance for Covid-19 among SARI patients may be an efficient tool to effectively use resources towards containment and mitigation efforts." Reuters While WHO has maintained that India has seen a cluster of cases, but there is no community transmission, ICMR's latest study refutes that claim. Though there has been no official word yet from the government on ICMR findings. With 678 new cases reported in past 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus cases in India has jumped to 6412, showed latest figures from Union Health Ministry. The death toll from COVID-19 rose to 199 while 503 patients have been cured of the virus or discharged. Maharashtra remains the worst affected state with 1,364 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu at 834 and Delhi at 720, Rajasthan at 463 and Telangana at 442. Morrisons has announced a cut in price of petrol to a maximum of 99.7p per litre at all of its forecourts from Monday. The supermarket giant is the first to reduce the price of petrol below the 1 threshold since oil crashed last month and the coronavirus pandemic struck Europe - and it marks the first time fuel has been 'sold nationally' for less than 1 per litre since February 2016. Diesel prices have also been reduced, with drivers paying no more than 104.7p-a-litre at any of Morrisons' 337 filling stations across the country. Asda and Tesco followed suit but cutting the price of unleaded to below 1-a-litre from Tuesday - though the latter is charging a penny more than its rivals for diesel. Finally, 1-a-litre for petrol: Morrisons has announced it will reduce the price of its petrol to a maximum of 99.7p per litre at its UK forecourts from today (pictured, Morrisons Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear) Government figures show the average cost per litre and petrol and diesel on 4 May was 107.6p and 114.9p respectively. Ashley Myers, head of Morrisons fuel, said: 'This cut will help people who are travelling to work, those shopping for essentials, and those assisting the elderly and vulnerable. 'We want to play our full part in reducing the cost of living and feeding the nation at this difficult time.' The cuts by Morrisons means filling a 55-litre family car with a petrol engine is around 7 cheaper than it was when the nation first went into lockdown seven weeks ago and 10 less than at the start of the year. The supermarket chain reduced its prices across its UK forecourts on Monday, followed by Asda and Tesco a day later The cuts have since been matched by Asda, which reduced pump prices to the same level from Tuesday. Tesco also slashed fuel prices, though not by quite as much. Drivers filling up with petrol at Tesco will pay no more than 99.9p a litre, while diesel motorists will be charged 105.9p per litre - over a penny more than rivals. The news comes as the Government announced it would begin the first phase of dialling down the coronavirus lockdown from Wednesday, with those who are unable to work from home being allowed to travel to their places of employment. Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged these workers to avoid public transport if at all possible, recommending they drive, cycle or walk instead. People will also be allowed to driver as far as they want to in order to exercise with members of their own household from Wednesday, with visits to to parks or beaches in England given the green light. To say thank you to all key workers and other motorists making essential journeys, we're cutting the price of unleaded to 99.7p per litre and diesel to 104.7p per litre from tomorrow morning. #Morrisons #FeedingTheNation #ItsMoreThanOurJob #Fuel #Petrol #Diesel pic.twitter.com/6pTCnsZshr Morrisons (@Morrisons) May 10, 2020 UK drivers have seen petrol below 1-a-litre at supermarkets only once since the 2008/2009 financial crash - that was at the end of 2015 and start of 2016, according to official data. Pictured: Morrisons in Belle Vale, Liverpool Supermarket fuel retailers last cut the price of petrol to less than 1-a-litre in February 2016 Morrisons drops petrol below 1-a-litre more than 6 WEEKS after an independent filling station While supermarket price cut will be welcomed by motorists, they've come some six weeks after the first UK independent filling station - a Murco forecourt on the A435 between Kings Heath and the Maypole outside Birmingham - cut the price of unleaded below 1-a-litre on 26 March. Experts claim major retailers haven't cut prices to a similar level in the last six weeks as part of an effort to not tempt drivers to use their vehicles. 'The AA understands that lower fuel sales, and worries that slashing pump prices during lockdown might encourage people to make non-essential trips, had pressured fuel retailers to keep the cost of petrol and diesel higher than normal,' says Luke Bosdet, the AA's spokesman on fuel prices' 'However, there was evidence that this didn't always ring true, with a 10p-a-litre mark-up on average pump prices questionable and average fuel costs in predominantly rural areas significantly lower than in heavily populated parts.' This Murco fuel station near Birmingham has been selling unleaded for less than 1-a-litre since 26 March (picture taken 31 March after the price of petrol was reduced again to 96.7p) Despite Morrisons cuts this morning, campaign group FairFuelUK said UK fuel supply companies are still not giving motorists honest pump prices. 'In this worrying time for all of us. wholesale petrol fell 21 per cent, yet pump prices dropped on average just 9 per cent. Diesel wholesale dropped 17 per cent with filling up costs dropping by only 9 per cent,' it said. UK drivers have seen petrol below 1-a-litre only once since the 2008/2009 financial crash. That came at the end of 2015 and early 2016 when the UK average price of petrol fell as low as 101.80p per litre, but Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's were all charging less than 1 as part of a price war to attract customers. The green line is 23 March, suggesting the profiteering had begun ahead of the country being placed in lockdown Average petrol prices over the last four weeks show how the price gap between the cheapest (Northern Ireland) and the most expensive (South East) have been fluctuating, with differences of up to 8p-a-litre last week Simon Williams, RAC spokesman, said: 'Although the lockdown is far from over, yesterday's speech from the prime minister was a signal to drivers that they can begin to make more trips by car again - so credit is due to Morrisons for taking the lead and selling petrol and diesel at what is a very fair price and one that is much more reflective of what the retailer is itself paying to buy the fuel in.' However, Mr Williams warned that there is a 'darker side' to large price cuts like these, as they heap yet more pressure on smaller independent fuel retailers, who in some cases are already fighting for survival as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. With road traffic volumes dropping by around 60 per cent and more during the lockdown, the lack of demand for petrol and diesel has put many independent fuel retailers - especially smaller filling stations in rural areas - at risk of closure. Some 100 have already been shut and another 900 are at risk, according to the Petrol Retailers Association. According to FairFuelUK, independent garages have been 'bullied' by wholesales and big oil companies during lockdown with sky-high prices for bulk deliveries. The reduction in the cost of fuel has been driven by a collapse in oil prices due to lower demand as global economies shut down because of the coronavirus crisis. The price of US oil crashed into negative for the first time in history last month, with the cost of a barrel of crude delivered in May plummeting to negative $37 due to a lack of storage availability. The price of oil has crashed in recent weeks due to oversupply and a lack of consumption due to the Covid-19 pandemic The price of US crude delivered in May plummeted into the negative for the first time in history last month Nosediving oil prices were the result of a production dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia and falling demand due to restrictions of people's movements and driving during the Covid-19 pandemic. Saudi Arabia, which produces around 10 per cent of global supplies, decided to slash prices and ramp up production after Russia initially refused to go along with planned cuts two months ago. When Russia, the Saudis and other allies eventually agreed to the biggest production cuts in history last week, oil rose again. The price hovered around $31 per barrel on Monday morning. Simon Williams warned that this could mean the four-year-low petrol price might not last as long as drivers hope. 'It remains to be seen how long prices this low will persist for, with some early indications that wholesale petrol prices have started to rise as a result of the world oil price creeping up,' he warned. The UK average price for fuel stands at 108.74p per litre for petrol and 114.26ppl for diesel, according to RAC Fuel Watch - around 10p-a-litre more than Morrisons is charging from today. (Getty Images) The federal government is providing new financing to help large businesses get through the coronavirus pandemic. The Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) will provide bridge financing to the countrys largest employers, those with sales of at least $300 million a year. Its intended for companies unable to access capital through conventional financing, with the goal of protecting jobs and businesses. The government did not say how much the bridge financing program would cost. These companies employ millions of Canadians and provide for families across our country, said Finance Minister Bill Morneau during a news conference. The federal government says LEEFF is intended for companies, in all sectors except the financial sector, that were performing well before the crisis. Its not for companies trying to avoid insolvency. The financing will come with conditions. Companies will be required to have a large footprint in Canada and show how a plan to maintain employment. They will also be subject to environmental assessments and conditions. The money is intended for firms that need it. Its not low cost lending for those who dont need it. Nor is it to rescue companies that were already facing insolvency before this crisis, said Morneau. Its there to make sure that companies that came into the crisis on strong footing get to the other side and can rebound quickly. There will be strict limits on dividends, share buy-backs, and executive pay. Companies convicted of tax evasion will be disqualified. Collective bargaining agreements, including pensions, will have to be respected. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government will protect workers and hold companies accountable. He says enforcement details are to come. Let me be clear, these are bridge loans, not bailouts, said Trudeau during his daily COVID-19 update. Just as we are finding ways to support small and medium-sized businesses, well provide loans to the largest enterprises to weather the storm and protect the millions of jobs they provide across Canada. Story continues He also says he prefers businesses seek financing through their financial institutions, but that the federal government is a lender of last resort. Ottawa is also expanding the the Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP) for mid-sized businesses. Those businesses can get loans of up to $60 million and guarantees of up to $80 million through Export Development Canada (EDC) and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). The Business Council of Canada says it welcomes the measures as first steps, but looks forward to seeing more details. The priority of our members throughout the health emergency has been to preserve as many jobs as possible. Canadas leading companies have always demonstrated a high level of commitment to their employees and the communities in which they operate, said Goldy Hyder, President and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, in a statement. They are world leaders when it comes to sustainable environmental practices, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. Jessy Bains is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jessysbains. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Thiruvananthapuram, May 11 : The Congress has alleged that the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala is engaged in only a PR exercise and is least bothered about bringing back people who are stranded in various parts of the country. Speaking to the media here on Monday, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said it has now surfaced that the Indian Railways has run more than 366 trains from various locations in the country. "It's really unfortunate that not a single train came into Kerala when thousands of students, women and others have been stranded since the lockdown began in various states in the country. They are waiting to return to their home state," said Chennithala. "This clearly shows how callous is the Vijayan administration here. The only thing today that happens is a very high profile PR exercise going on by the US based PR and Marketing firm Sprinklr and is focussed on the upcoming elections. No plan of action is there, as every day thousands are waiting to return and hundreds of them are stranded at the six entry points of our state," added Chennithala. According to the state authorities, over two lakh Keralites who have been stranded inside the country have registered on the Norka-Roots web portal, seeking entry passes. At Kochi, four Congress lawmakers expressed their ire at the way entry passes are being given on a selective basis. Senior legislator V.D. Sateeshan said everyday what one hears here are new rules that are being announced by the state government with regard to the return of the people within the country and about their isolation protocol. "Our mobiles are ringing non-stop from people in our constituency and district pleading for help to see that they are able to return. We are helpless as there seems to be no standard procedure," said Satheeshan. Another legislator P.T. Thomas said it appears some districts in the state have one set of rules for entry passes, while other districts have another. "While many came from even hotspots and red zones from outside the state to some southern districts, very few residents from this district have got an entry pass. People are able to get entry pass from where they are now, but are unable to get it from their home state," said Thomas. Veteran parliamentarian P.K. Kunhalikutty of the Indian Union Muslim League who led a protest of his party leaders in front of the Kozhikode district collectorate, saying that nothing is on track when it came to bringing people who are waiting in nearby states. "The Vijayan government is claiming to have set up isolation centres for over 2 lakh people. So far here not even 1000 have come and it's utter chaos with regard to bringing in people from the check posts," said former state minister and senior IUML legislator M.K. Muneer. The Congress leaders pointed out that with the fresh schedules of railways coming out, none now needs the help of the Kerala government to return. "Vijayan is now spending all his energy on PR campaigns to fetch a UN award. Everyone who knows Kerala in-depth knows that the hard work of 21 former chief ministers before Vijayan is the reason why Kerala has been able to handle the pandemic well," said Chennithala. avianca Luiz Souza/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Avianca Holdings filed for bankruptcy on Sunday as the airline industry continues to take a hit under coronavirus travel restrictions. In a statement on Sunday, the Colombian flagship carrier said that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a court in New York. The company said the filing was spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, which grounded Avianca's flight operations since mid-March and has reduced the company's income by over 80%. If the company fails to rebound after filing for bankruptcy, it would be the first major airline to shut down as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Avianca Holdings filed for bankruptcy on Sunday as the airline industry continues to take a hit under coronavirus travel restrictions. The novel coronavirus has led countries around the world to impose strict travel restrictions, causing demand for air travel to plummet. Several airlines around the world have faced new financial hardships, with some collapsing under the pressure. In a statement on Sunday, the Colombian flagship carrier said that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a court in New York. "Avianca is facing the most challenging crisis in our 100-year history as we navigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic," Anko van der Werff, Chief Executive Officer of Avianca, said in the statement. The company said the filing was spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, which grounded Avianca's flight operations since mid-March and has reduced the company's income by over 80%. In filing for bankruptcy, the airline hopes to continue operations as COVID-19 restrictions are gradually lifted. The airline the second-largest in Latin America says it is responsible for more than 21,000 jobs throughout the region, including more than 14,000 in Colombia. According to Reuters, the airline failed to meet a bond payment deadline, adding pressure to its already thin bottom line. Story continues The airline, which has a fleet of 158 aircraft across 27 countries, said it is still seeking government bailout money. "Avianca continues to be engaged in discussions with the government of Colombia, as well as those of its other key markets, regarding financing structures that would provide additional liquidity through the Chapter 11 process," the statement said. If the company fails to rebound after filing for bankruptcy, it would be the first major airline to shut down as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The airline filed for bankruptcy in 2003 and underwent a major reorganization process after it was bought out by Bolivian-born entrepreneur German Efromovich, who still owns a majority stake in the carrier. According to Reuters, Avianca had $7.3 billion in debts in 2019. Aviation experts previously warned that many of the world's airlines could be bankrupt by May because of the coronavirus pandemic. Read the original article on Business Insider Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ghina Ghaliya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 11, 2020 20:17 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd7561b2 1 National overcrowded-prison,Yasonna-Laoly,COVID-19,coronavirus,COVID-19-in-Indonesia Free The Law and Human Rights Ministrys Corrections Directorate General has recorded a decrease in prison overcrowding following the early release of prisoners and juvenile inmates in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Corrections Director General Reinhard Silitonga said on Monday that the prison population had dropped to 75 percent above the intended capacity from 106 percent above capacity after more than 39,000 inmates were released early or granted parole to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in correctional facilities. "The policy has reduced the number of prisoners and inmates, which was initially 270,231 [or 206 percent of the intended capacity] to 231,609 [or 175 percent of the capacity]," Reinhard said on Monday in a hearing with House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs. Read also: Activists, experts caution against slapdash reform to tackle prison overcrowding The government plans to release or grant parole to a total of 50,000 prisoners under a regulation issued by Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly on March 30. The former inmates will be under the continued supervision of the Correctional Board (Bapas). Reinhard also noted that authorities had sent at least 95 of the 39,000 released inmates back to prison for various crimes, including drug dealing and theft, to serve their remaining prison time. If found guilty of new crimes, their sentences would be extended. The most recent case of recidivism was a theft in Pangkep regency, South Sulawesi, carried out by a man who had been released less than a month ago. "The number of cases is small, but we take this seriously," Reinhard said. Reinhard said the policy had been successful in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in correctional facilities. The directorate general has so far recorded only one confirmed COVID-19 case in a prison in Bojonegoro, East Java. The number of infections is relatively low. This is because of the new Law and Human Rights Ministry regulation, which mandates early release for prisoners to prevent the spread of COVID-19, he said. The coronavirus pandemic may affect the 'quantity and quality' of weather forecasts worldwide as the number aircraft-based measurements dropped up 80 per cent. Last week, the World Meteorological Organization revealed that the number of meteorological measurements via aircraft has 'plummeted' by an average of 75 to 80 per cent since the global pandemic spread. Apart from satellite data, commercial aircrafts have also been used to collect weather information for observations and forecasts. With the sudden drop in air travel amid a series fo travel bans, aircrafts that once provided consistent data have been grounded. Parts of weather modeling relies on wind and temperature data gathered by the thousands of airplanes that typically fly every day. The coronavirus pandemic may have a negative affect on the ability to gather weather observations and forecasts. Pictured: Front-line medical workers wearing personal protective equipment at a coronavirus testing site in Virginia 'As we approach the Atlantic hurricane, season, the COVID-19 pandemic poses an additional challenge and may exacerbate multi-hazard risks at a single country level,' WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement on May 7. 'Therefore it is essential that governments pay attention to their national early warning and weather observing capacities.' Although meteorological measurements have plunged some 80 per cent compared to normal, there are 'very large' regional variations. The southern hemisphere recorded losses closer to 90 per cent. 'Surface-based weather observations are in decline, especially in Africa and parts of Central and South America where many stations are manual rather than automatic,' the statement said. Lockdown orders have made it difficult for countries that rely on manual stations, which uses different equipment and does not measure as often as automatic. Pictured: A 24-hour coverage map from WMO shows the high volume global aircraft-based observation coverage from January 31 Pictured: This map shows the decreased in those observations and coverage on May 4, 2020, after virus spread across the globe The Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay Program (AMDAR) by the WMO is one of the main sources of aircraft weather observations systems for forecasts. The WMO is part of the United Nations and organizes a global observing system for 193 member nations. THE AMDAR system utilizes communication systems and sensors to automatically collect, format and transmit weather observation to ground stations by satellite links or radio links. It usually processes over 800,000 'high-quality' observations daily with help from 43 airlines and several thousands aircraft contributions. But travel restrictions and lockdown orders worldwide put a dent in the amount of data collected. The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting said in March that airport reports come from airlines in the US because of the high volume of flights each day,' Fox News reports. The center also reported that aircraft-based weather reports across Europe drop by 65 per cent between March 3 and 23. Globally, there was a 42 per cent drop. The lack of aircraft-based measurements have negatively affected some parts of the southern hemispher They noted that a small number of aircraft reports come from cargo flights, which as less affected than commercial flights. In the United States, American forecast groups like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also expressed concern over AMDAR and weather forecasts. 'We are anticipating the substantial reduction in the availability of US AMDAR data to continue over the coming weeks, likely to generate some measure of impact on the output of our numerical weather prediction systems,' NOAA's Christopher Hill said in a newsletter in March Much of the weather observing system in automated, but some countries still rely on manual weather stations to collect data As of now, the WMO said that much of the weather observing system, including observation networks and satellite components, are automated. But weather officials are concerned how the continuance of the coronavirus pandemic could affect countries that are manual or have not fully transitioned to automated yet. 'These human links in the observation and data delivery chain are highly vulnerable to current lockdowns and mandatory teleworking policies,' said Lars Peter Riishojgaard, Director, Earth System Branch in WMOs Infrastructure Department. 'And we have seen a substantial reduction in the current availability of surface pressure observations compared to the pre-COVID-19 baseline (January 2020), especially over Africa and parts of Central and South America.' In response, some affected countries have begun using more radiosondes, which are flown on weather balloons and transmit data back to the ground. There are more than 10,000 fully automated and automatic surface weather stations, in addition to satellites, around the world. Jaime Ortiz was born and raised in Manhattan, the main influence of his culinary flair which uses a variety of food and cultures. The focus of his cuisine is to put a spin on comforting daily favorites; while pushing the boundaries of culinary rules, he says. He has been awarded many scholarships and awards over the years, including Junior Chef of the Year by the American Culinary Federation and myriad of gold and silver competition medals. He's also worked at some of the top-rated restaurants in Chicago and New York City. Locally, many people first became familiar with Ortiz when he helped create and open several restaurants as corporate executive chef of Mazzone Hospitality. On that list? Aperitivo Bistro, Tala Bistro, Prime Bar and Grill, Prime at Saratoga National and the flagship steakhouse in 2005: 677 Prime, which he now owns. He's also the owner of TORO Cantina in Colonie and Prime Burger and Shakehouse in Troy. While the restaurant accolades are impressive and define his career, Ortiz has many other loves. He describes himself as a proud father and lover of travel and adventure. These days Ortiz is working non-stop to pivot 677 and Toro from full service dining to takeout-only amid the global pandemic. If posts in the various food and restaurant groups on social media are indication of how they're doing with this initiative, the answer would be 'well.' You cannot scroll through Instagram or Facebook without seeing people celebrating the take-out they scored from one of the two eateries. And he's doing all this while performing nursery rhymes, yard work and asking himself 'What's next?' Comment on this article on Kristi's blog. Note: Some ad blockers may prevent this article from fully loading. Ortiz, who you can follow on Instagram, is today's 20 things. Toronto police are probing the involvement of a Mexican cartel after a major drug bust in which 61 kilos of cocaine with a street value of $7.9 million was seized and four city residents were arrested. It is rare to seize this quantity of cocaine in a single investigation, Insp. Don Belanger of the forces drug squad said at a press conference Monday morning for the operation, dubbed Project Corredor. The cocaine came in through the U.S., Belanger said, declining to go into detail about the smuggling operation. We believe that in this investigation it arrived in Canada through land border crossings, Belanger said. We are not prepared at this time to comment further on which U.S. border crossings as certain aspects of the investigation are ongoing. Anytime Toronto police encounter such a large quantity of cocaine, there is ultimately a link to a Mexican cartel, Belanger said. It would be naive to think that the cartels dont have a foothold in a city with a population of three million people. The extent of the link to a cartel continues to be a focus of the investigation. Two local men are fugitives in the operation. Displayed at the press conference were photos of Andrew Wilson, 47, and Alan Smith Jones-Smith, 30, both of Toronto, who are each wanted on charges of possession cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Four other GTA men were arrested in the cross-border project, which began in the fall and also involved the Canada Border Services Agency. They are not street-level or even mid-level drug dealers, Belanger said. The cocaine was stored and distributed from residences in mid-town Toronto, North York and Scarborough, police said. The cocaine was seized in locked safes in a condo in the Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue neighbourhood, as well as in a condo at Bayview Avenue and Sheppard Avenue East, and in a house near Bayview and Finch Avenue East. As he made the announcement, Belanger stood near a table which held plastic bags containing cocaine, as well as plastic bags of cash, which added up to $210,00 in Canadian currency, $14,000 in American funds and 30,000 Euros. The cocaine would be stashed in residences, both condos and houses, primarily in North York, Belanger said. Police also seized luxury jewelry, including 11 watches, several of which were covered in diamond chips. They included at least one Rolex, a Patek Philippe and a black timepiece featuring a cartoon of a skull in a mini-sea of diamonds. There was also a golden skull ornament on one of the nine seized necklaces displayed by police. Police also seized four vehicles. The cocaine was high-grade and would likely have been diluted considerably before it reached street-level dealers, Belanger said. Fentanyl is often added to cocaine to increase its potency, often with fatal results, Belanger said. The drop in cross-border traffic during COVID-19 lockdowns has been accompanied by an apparent decrease in the supply of cocaine on the streets, police say. There is some indication that drug prices have increased as a result of a drop in supply, Belanger said. The full extent of this is still being monitored. Having said that, the ongoing issue with fentanyl overdoses would suggest that the supply of fentanyl continues to reach our streets. This is something were watching closely. Charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine and possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000 are Patrick English, 39, David Bergman, 48, and Ali Baek, 52, all of Toronto. Charges of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000 against another man were later dropped. The four men have all been released from custody and are scheduled to appear in court at Old City Hall, on Monday, June 15. Update July 7, 2021: This article was updated to remove one of the names of the accused. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) Senators on Monday signed a resolution asking the National Telecommunications Commission to revoke its shutdown order on ABS-CBN, citing the need to provide access to news and save the jobs of thousands of workers. Twelve senators signed Senate Resolution 395 which urged the regulator to "reconsider its cease and desist order against ABS-CBN" and allow its continuous operation pending action on bills granting a fresh 25-year franchise to the network. The Lopez-owned network is needed "now more than ever" as a source of free, up-to-date news in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to preserve the jobs of thousands of workers amid a "looming recession" as millions of Filipinos follow strict stay-at-home rules. Those who signed the resolution were Senators Risa Hontiveros, Franklin Drilon, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Ralph Recto, Kiko Pangilinan, Sonny Angara, Joel Villanueva, Nancy Binay, Lito Lapid, Sherwin Gatchalian, Manny Pacquiao, and Leila De Lima. Nine senators abstained, including Sen. Pia Cayetano, the sister of House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. She earlier signed the resolution but took it back. "There is precedent for entities whose franchises have expired to be allowed to continue to operate pending the grant of franchise renewal by Congress," the senators said, citing similar cases involving the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines' broadcast arm, Globe Innove, and telecommunications firm PT&T. RELATED: ABS-CBN can continue operations as NTC's closure order is 'illegal, void' Ex-DICT chief The NTC also had sufficient grounds to allow the Kapamilya network to stay on the air, the senators said, citing the agency's Memorandum Order 03-03-2020 which grants a 60-day extension for all expiring permits, certificates, and licenses during the enhanced community quarantine period. "This suggests that there is enough basis in policy and in practice to allow ABS-CBN Corporation and its subsidiaries and/or affiliates to continue their operations pending the renewal of their respective franchises," the resolution read. The Senate earlier passed a resolution formally asking the NTC to issue a provisional authority for the TV network to continue operating despite the expiration of its franchise last May 4. NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba pledged in March that the regulator will issue that authority to ensure uninterrupted operations of the network despite the lapsed franchise. RELATED: House panel to NTC: Explain why you shouldn't be held in contempt for ABS-CBN closure order CNN Philippines' Joyce Ilas contributed to this report. An association of medics of civic hospitals in Delhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that doctors of the north corporation have not been paid salaries for the last three months. The Municipal Corporation Doctor's Association (MCDA), set up during the time of the erstwhile unified municipal corporation of Delhi, sent the letter in an e-mail last week, officials said. The association, in the letter has said that doctors are working in "highly stressful" condition due to the coronavirus pandemic. "We have not been given salaries for the last three months (February-April), and we know our duty as a doctor to serve the patients. We are not asking for anything more, but just our salaries," MCDA president Dr R R Gautam said. There was no immediate reaction from the North Delhi Municipal Corporation authorities. "We have been compelled to write to the PM, seeking his interference, as this issue needs to be resolved," Dr R R Gautam said. Otherwise, only option left for the doctors would be to "resign en masse", the letter said. Ten medical staff, including seven doctors of NDMC-run Hindu Rao Hospital have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past few weeks. It is the largest civic hospital in Delhi. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 06:06:15|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People shop at a flower market in downtown Los Angeles, the United States, May 8, 2020. (Xinhua) As Los Angeles moved to reopen sectors of its economy this weekend, some said the lockdown should be loosened more carefully. by Julia Pierrepont III, Heng Huang LOS ANGELES, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Under California Governor Gavin Newsom's four-phase guidelines, Los Angeles moved this weekend to reopen sectors of its economy, rolling back restrictions on certain types of businesses and public sites. While some residents have shown their desires to speed up the reopening steps for local economy, others still believe the lockdown should be loosened more carefully since the county is still laying under the shadow of COVID-19. EASING RESTRICTIONS California, with 40 million residents, is the largest state in the United States and was the first to issue stay-at-home orders on March 19. In a concerted effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 and avoid overwhelming the state's public health system, the stay-at-home order temporarily shuttered retail shops and businesses that required people to be in close proximity. For the first time after an almost two-month lockdown, some lower-risk retail businesses are being allowed to reopen since Friday, including bookstores, clothing and toy stores, florists, sporting goods, and take-out restaurants, amongst others, but only for curbside delivery. No in-store shopping is allowed and business owners are encouraged to provide hand sanitizer to their customers and staff and to make use of hands-free payment devices to limit possible contamination vectors. "We're moving away now from 'essential' and 'non-essential' to 'lower risk' (businesses)," Newsom announced at his daily briefing on the novel coronavirus Friday. The governor also made it clear that the reopening will not include close-contact businesses, such as hair salons, tattoo parlours, sit-down restaurants and gyms. The easing of restrictions included reopening state and city hiking trails and beaches starting from Saturday, but again, with stringent social distancing and mask-wearing requirements in place. Newsom mentioned that these restrictions had a degree of flexibility, so that some local governments with fewer COVID-19 cases could receive variances to open other types of businesses earlier, while others might have to scale back if the number of their infected cases spikes again. "It is a dynamic process. It is not etched in stone," said Newsom. "At the end of the day, these are meaningful modifications." A pedestrian wearing a face mask walks past a closed shop in San Mateo City, California, the United States, April 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling) FACING CONTROVERSY Angelenos are taking to their newfound freedom with a vengeance this weekend. Attendance surged at beaches, parks and many just strolled the streets -- in masks of course. Meanwhile, some 1,500 people in Huntington Beach, a city of Orange County located 60 km south of Los Angeles downtown, waved flags and signs to renew their disapproval with the state's coronavirus restrictions on Saturday. The protesters, most of whom were seen without facial coverings and also seemingly defying physical distancing guidelines, called the stay-at-home order "absolutely unconstitutional." In Los Angeles, a much smaller group protested outside Mayor Eric Garcetti's home, pleading for more businesses to reopen their doors. The group argued that all jobs are essential for common life and they want everything from stores to schools and churches to be reopened. With an estimated 4 million unemployed in California due to the COVID-19 crisis and entire industries at risk, the pressure is mounting to reopen the state's businesses and jump start its economy as soon as possible. "People need to go back to work," Brad Plows, a Hollywood animator who lost out on gigs due to the lockdown, told Xinhua. "A lot of my friends and colleagues are desperate. At a certain point, if they get desperate enough, they'll go back to work anyway, with or without government permission." Businessmen showed a complicated feeling. "Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy," Robert Sun, president of the American Chinese CEO Society, told Xinhua. "Cautious reopening is a crucial step for small businesses, because if they go out of business during the pandemic, the economy loses its lifeblood." However, Chuck Hamil, an insurance investigator in Chino, California, told Xinhua, "It might be too soon, because Los Angeles showed big secondary spikes during the Spanish Flu when they relaxed restrictions. But, if businesses and their clientele follow the safety rules, it might work." "I'm all for curbside pick up, but I can wait on getting a haircut," he added. Mark Ghaly, director of California Health and Human Services, said that stable conditions at Californian hospitals were one of the key determinants that enabled state officials to begin easing restrictions. He indicated that more businesses sectors, such as on-site dining restaurants, malls, offices, museums, schools and day care centers, will be addressed in the second half of phase two, possibly in June or July. A citizen walks a dog in San Mateo City, California, the United States, April 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling) COPING WITH NEW NORMAL According to the state's regulation, during phase two, Californian businesses must meet a series of guidelines, including undertaking employee training, finishing risk assessments, and implementing control measures, employee health screenings and physical distancing guidelines, among others. Phase three involves higher risk businesses that require close personal contact, such as gyms, hair salons, tattoo parlors, film and TV productions, and church services. It could follow not too long after late phase two, but that might be months away. No date has been estimated for phase four, which involves high-volume, close contact events such as music concerts and sporting events. California uses six key indicators to determine when it is safe to initiate the next phase, which include maintaining an ongoing availability of hospital beds, access to widespread testing, and reliable tracing systems to identify and isolate secondary infection vectors before they can escalate. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, a high-profile on-air host, writer, commentator and documentarian, told Xinhua Saturday that he thought the phased reopening sounded rational, while expressing concern that decisions regarding the virus were hard to make when accurate data is so hard to get. "The comparative numbers from different countries don't make correlate. It's not deliberate, but everyone categorizes things differently so it's impossible to make direct comparisons," Kuhn said. And Hamil said, "Whatever the new normal evolves to, we will be living in a different world with a different paradigm." The Naku La Pass in northern Sikkim where about 150 Indian and Chinese soldiers were involved in a clash. New Delhi: The Line of Actual Control (LAC) has flared up in the past week, with skirmishes reported between Indian and Chinese soldiers in Sikkim and Ladakh, injuring troops on both sides. In both incidents, aggressive patrol parties of Chinas Peoples Liberation Army were stopped by Indian troops. The Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a fistfight on Saturday at Naku La in north Sikkim, which resulted in injuries to several soldiers on both sides. There are also reports of stone-pelting by both sides. Aggressive behaviour by the two sides resulted in minor injuries to troops. The two sides disengaged after a dialogue and interaction at the local level, a senior Army officer said. He clarified the issue was resolved mutually as per established protocols. Temporary and short duration face-offs between border guarding troops do occur as the boundaries are not resolved, the officer added. Sources said that a fistfight and stone-pelting also occurred on the northern bank of Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh on the intervening night of May 5-6. The issue was resolved through a dialogue between the local commanders. In both incidents 150-200 troops were involved, said sources. After the incident, more troops have been rushed to the Ladakh sector. There were also reports of skirmishes between Indian and Chinese troops on Sunday morning in Ladakh, but the Army denied any such incident had taken place. The fistfight and stone-pelting between the two armies occurred after a long gap, even though there were many times when soldiers from both sides came face to face last year. Chinese troops have become aggressive at the LAC as the world is busy tackling the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in Chinas Wuhan. Sources said it has to be seen if there is a change in strategy by the Chinese side to increase tensions at the LAC. In 2017, Indian and Chinese soldiers were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam after the Indian side stopped the construction of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. PM Narendra Modi and Chinas president Xi Jinping had held an informal summit in April 2018 in Wuhan to improve ties between the two countries. A number of steps to be followed by both armies, when border patrols are face to face at the LAC, were decided, including that soldiers from either side would not point guns towards the other. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) Rainfall brought by Tropical Depression Ambo will bring a much-needed respite from scorching temperatures when it moves closer to Metro Manila and Calabarzon towards the end of the week, state weather forecasters said on Monday. PAGASA weather forecaster Ariel Rojas told CNN Philippines that "Ambo" will bring rains over the two regions by Friday, helping to ease the heat. "Definitely we will be expecting rains over Calabarzon and Metro Manila. That would mean significant reduction in temperature," he said. Metro Manila and Calabarzon have been experiencing blistering weather especially in the afternoons. In the past few days, the temperature in Quezon City has been ranging from 35.6 degrees Celsius to 36.8 degrees Celcius. Echague in Isabela has recorded 40.1 degrees Celcius on May 9, the hottest temperature recorded since 2018. Tropical Depression "Ambo" was last seen 385 kilometers east of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur with maximum sustained winds of 45km/h. It is expected to bring scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms over Mindanao on Monday. Meanwhile, the rest of the country will continue to experience warm and humid weather. Thunderstorms may affect other parts of the country in the afternoon and evening. PAGASA said "Ambo" might intensify into a tropical storm while it moves closer to the Bicol Region on Wednesday night. The weather disturbance is seen to exit the country by Saturday night. The weather forecaster said one or two weather disturbances are expected to hit the country this month, reiterating it is still the dry season. E-Signature Market Research Report: By Component (Software, Hardware, Service), Deployment Type (Cloud, On-Premises), Type (Public Key Infrastructure, Username and Pin, Signature Pad at POS, Clickwrap, Voices Signature), Use Case (Unmediated, Mediated, Third-Party, Internal), Vertical (BFSI, Government, IT & Telecom, Healthcare, Legal) NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Around the world, the government is offering its support for the uptake of e-signature solutions, for efficiency and security in documentation processes. While Directive 1999/93/EC was implemented by the European Union in 1999, the U.S. passed the Global and National Commerce (E-Sign) Act in 2000, to give such solutions legal validity. Such measures are expected to propel the global e-signature market , which generated $951.3 million revenue in 2019, at a 24.6% CAGR between 2020 and 2030 (forecast period). In all, 75 countries already have legal mandates for this technology, and their number is still rising, thus helping the market advance. Get the Sample Copy of this Report at: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/e-signature-market/report-sample Software To Be Largest Category in Market till 2030 The software category would continue dominating the e-signature market till 2030, on account of the advancements being carried out in such solutions, including the provision of encryption and public key infrastructure (PKI) services, which make the communication and sharing of digital documents a secure process. During the historical period (20142019), cloud was the larger bifurcation in the e-signature market, as vendors are targeting customers with smoother management and better security features in their cloud-based e-signature solutions. Additionally, such solutions utilize a cloud-based signing key to authenticate documents, thereby eliminating the requirement for installing on-premises hardware. Furthermore, with the users key located on the cloud, the document signing process can be completed over the internet from anywhere. Story continues The clickwrap category is expected to grow at the highest CAGR in the e-signature market, of 29.3%, during the forecast period. This is ascribed to the fact that the legal validity of clickwrap signatures is similar to wet signatures, which is why the former are considered at par with verbal or written agreements. Such solutions require the user to click I accept, I agree, or other similar phrases, to agree to the contract terms and electronically sign it. In 2019, the unmediated category contributed the highest revenue to the e-signature market, because the preference for completing online transactions without third-party involvement is quite high; therefore, customers usually look for channels which help them do so. Browse report overview with 133 tables and 81 figures spread through 190 pages and detailed TOC on E-Signature Market Research Report: Global Industry Analysis and Growth Forecast to 2030" at: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/e-signature-market The banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector dominated the e-signature market during the historical period, as a large number of people are opting for online channels to complete payment-, banking service-, legal agreement-, and insurance policy-related documentation processes. Moreover, governments of numerous countries are stepping up efforts to transform into digital economies, which are creating a high demand for such solutions in the BFSI sector. In 2019, North America held the largest share in the e-signature market, due to the rising usage of e-signatures in the BFSI and healthcare sectors in the region and supportive legislations in the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, online documentation is being done by the huge number of people immigrating to Canada and the increasing number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) here. Asia-Pacific (APAC) would observe the fastest market advance during the forecast period, as the adoption of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), popularity of digital payments, presence of SMEs, and IT expenditure are increasing. Moreover, the BFSI sector and regional economies are growing, and governments are launching measures to reduce the paperwork and digitize the economy. Make Enquiry Before Purchase at: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/send-enquiry?enquiry-url=e-signature-market Product Launches Present Market Players Numerous Opportunities New and enhanced products are being launched by many e-signature market players, to target customers with the prospect of: Being able to e-sign documents from multiple platforms, in less time Saving settings for individual templates, for faster document dispatch Signing multiple documents at once and being assured of enhanced security Utilizing clear audit trails and automated contract creation features and connecting securely with partners and customers Modifying their existing public key infrastructure (PKI) authentication framework for access to the cloud The major companies operating in the global e-signature market include Adobe Inc., Entrust Datacard Corporation, Secured Signing Limited, DocuSign Inc., Ascertia Limited, SIGNiX Inc., Gemalto N.V., RPost Communications Limited, Thales eSecurity Inc., eSign Genie, Glykka LLC, IndenTrust Inc., DocVerify Inc., Symtrax Holdings Inc., KeepSolid Inc., SignaShare, Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd., and GetAccept Inc. More Reports of ICT And Media By P&S Intelligence Digital Signature Market Till 2030, Asia-Pacific is expected to display the highest CAGR in the digital signature market, due to the increasing focus of organizations and governments in the region on decreasing frauds. Further, the BFSI sector is expanding, the preference for digital payments is rising, and initiatives being taken by the government, to promote the adoption of digital technologies and reduce paperwork, are increasing. For instance, the Indian government launched the Digital India initiative in July 2015 to make government services available to people in the electronic form. https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/digital-signature-market Key Management as a Service Market Asia-Pacific (APAC) would observe the highest CAGR in the key management as a service market in the years to come, on account of the stepping up of digitization efforts, rising requirement for cloud solutions, increasing awareness about cyber attacks and ways to counter them, and improving key management lifecycle processes. Fujitsu Limited, a Japanese multination IT firm, selected Thales SAs Cloud HSM service and key management platform in February 2020. While the HSM service is being integrated to support public key infrastructure (PKI) security, the purpose behind implementing the key management platform is securing the lifecycle management of customers cryptographic keys. https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/key-management-as-a-service-market About P&S Intelligence P&S Intelligence is a provider of market research and consulting services catering to the market information needs of burgeoning industries across the world. Providing the plinth of market intelligence, P&S as an enterprising research and consulting company, believes in providing thorough landscape analyses on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness. Contact: P&S Intelligence International: +1-347-960-6455 Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.com Web: https://www.psmarketresearch.com BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11 By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend: The total number of coronavirus-infected people in Uzbekistan has reached 2,453, Trend reports on May 11 with reference to the Ministry of Health. To date, 1,881 patients have fully recovered in the country, 10 have died. Uzbekistan recently declared Jizzakh, Kashkadarya and Navoi regions were declared free from COVID-19. Uzbekistan has divided the country's regions and cities into "zones" of red, yellow and green colors, depending on the coronavirus infection level in the given area. The "red" zones include Karakalpakstan, Andijan, Namangan, Fergana, Samarkand, Tashkent region (also divided into "zones"), Bukhara, Syrdarya. The "yellow" zones include Surkhandarya, Khorezm, Tashkent city. The "green" zones include Navoi, Jizzak, Kashkadarya. In the "green" zones, free movement of cars and motor vehicles without special stickers is allowed. In "red" and "yellow" zones personal transport movement is allowed in certain hours (from 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM and from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, GMT+5). The first case of coronavirus infection in Uzbekistan was detected on March 15 in the laboratory of the Research Institute of Virology; it was an Uzbek woman who returned from France. The Ministry of Health later announced that her son, daughter, husband and grandson also tested coronavirus-positive. The outbreak of the coronavirus began in the Chinese city of Wuhan (an international transport hub), at a fish market in late December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019. --- Follow author on Twitter: @seyfaddini Kaduna State Government have successfully tracked the two coronavirus positive persons who fled their homes shortly after they were notified of their test results. Dr Amina Mohammed-Baloni, the states Commissioner for Health, had earlier raised alarm that the whereabouts of the two patients tested positive for COVID-19 pandemic in the state were unknown. The commissioner also mandated security agents to track and fish out the two persons before they spread the virus to other members of the public. In a statement on Sunday evening, Mohammed-Baloni confirmed that both of them have been arrested, adding that they are now at the isolation centre. She warned that it is illegal and dangerous for Covid-19 positive patients to switch off their phones and make themselves inaccessible to health authorities after being notified of their test results. Dr Baloni disclosed that the two run-away were duly informed that they had tested positive while on isolation on Friday. Health officials subsequently notified them that a team will be coming to convey them to the isolation centre for treatment. These persons subsequently switched off their phones and have remained incommunicado, she revealed. The Health Commissioner noted that the reckless action of the absconded positive patients is not only endangering themselves but their families and the larger community. Similar irresponsible conduct by some Covid-19 positive cases has been reported in another state. It is a pattern of behaviour that must be stopped because it is patently dangerous to public safety, she warned. Persons who get infected should note that COVID-19 is not a death sentence, Mohammed-Baloni said, adding that persons who receive treatment promptly have a higher chance of defeating the disease. She appealed to residents to take precautions and protect themselves and their families from coronavirus. KanyiDaily recalls thst Lagos State Government had also has lamented that many people run away from their homes after testing positive for coronavirus to avoid being taken to the states isolation facilities for treatment. Technavio has been monitoring the e-bike drive market and it is poised to grow by USD 5.66 billion during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost 13% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005671/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global E-bike Drive Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. BionX International Corp., Brose Fahrzeugteile SE Co., COMP DRIVES sro, Continental AG, Panasonic Corp., Robert Bosch GmbH, Shimano Inc., SPORTTECH Handels GmbH, Yamaha Corp., and ZF Friedrichshafen AG are some of the major market participants. The increasing popularity of mid-drive motor will offer immense growth opportunities. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Increasing popularity of mid-drive motor has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. E-bike Drive Market 2020-2024: Segmentation E-bike Drive Market is segmented as below: Market Landscape Hub Motor Mid-drive Motor Geography APAC Europe North America MEA South America To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR43152 E-bike Drive Market 2020-2024: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our e-bike drive market report covers the following areas: E-bike Drive Market Size E-bike Drive Market Trends E-bike Drive Market Industry Analysis This study identifies traffic congestion due to growing urbanization as one of the prime reasons driving the e-bike drive market growth during the next few years. E-bike Drive Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of vendors operating in the e-bike drive market, including some of the vendors such as BionX International Corp., Brose Fahrzeugteile SE Co., COMP DRIVES sro, Continental AG, Panasonic Corp., Robert Bosch GmbH, Shimano Inc., SPORTTECH Handels GmbH, Yamaha Corp., and ZF Friedrichshafen AG. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the e-bike drive market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform E-bike Drive Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist e-bike drive market growth during the next five years Estimation of the e-bike drive market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the e-bike drive market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of e-bike drive market vendors Table Of Contents: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2019 Market outlook: Forecast for 2019 2024 Five Forces Analysis Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by Motor type Market segments Comparison by motor type Hub motor Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Mid-drive motor Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by motor type Customer landscape Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison APAC Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024 North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA Market size and forecast 2019-2024 South America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Market Driver Market Challenges Market Trends Vendor Landscape Overview Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors BionX International Corp. Brose Fahrzeugteile SE Co. COMP DRIVES sro Continental AG Panasonic Corp. Robert Bosch GmbH Shimano Inc. SPORTTECH Handels GmbH Yamaha Corp. ZF Friedrichshafen AG Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005671/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ Following the detection of its first omicron case Saturday in Haidian district of Beijing, the Chinese capital locked down certain communities and office buildings just weeks before the Winter Olympics and the Lunar New Year holiday. The city opened 30 emergency testing points in Haidian on Monday as it rushes to contain the spread Jan 19, 2022 05:37 PM Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said he expects the Centre to unveil a financial package in two-three days, observing that the situation "was very bad" despite the three-month moratorium on loan repayments announced by the RBI. The minister for MSME, and Road Transport and Highways said the government stands with the industry but it also needs to understand the government's limitations. "We are trying our level best on how we can protect everybody," Gadkari said, adding that while Japan and the US governments have announced mega packages, their economies are bigger than India's. As part of measures to alleviate hardships faced by people, the Reserve Bank, on March 27, announced a slew of steps, including a three-month moratorium on loan repayments. Interacting with the industry of Telangana via video conference, the minister said he has also suggested the finance ministry to explore a mechanism through which income tax and GST refund payments can be immediately transferred to the bank account of the individual concerned. Gadkari said he has shared recommendationsarising out of his interactionsrelated to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and the industry with the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister. The minister said "within 2-3 days somewhere" he was "expecting a package from the government". "We are waiting for that", he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) HOW TO COMBAT Spear Phishing Spear Phishing is one of the most common and most effective cyberattack vectors used today. Unlike phishing, spear phishing is targeted at specific groups or individuals within an organization. Spear phishing relies on an attackers ability to make an email seem genuinemeaning attackers do their research before attempting a campaign. Download Issue 1 of Threats on the Rise to learn more about spear phishing and an example of how VMware Carbon Blacks cloud-native endpoint protection platform (EPP) constantly monitors and records what is happening on your endpointsoffering total visibility into malicious activities. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-12 00:49:00|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close VIENTIANE, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Laos will undertake the Mekong River Commission's (MRC) prior consultation process for its Sanakham hydropower project, the sixth proposed project on the Mekong mainstream, an MRC press release said on Monday. The run-of-river dam will operate continuously year-round and produce 684 megawatts of electricity, it said. In its notification submitted to the MRC Secretariat based in Lao capital Vientiane, the Lao government provided a set of engineering documents and technical feasibility study, including the project's social and environmental impact assessments and sediment and fisheries study, which will be shared with other MRC member countries including Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. According to the notification, the project's construction is expected to begin in 2020 and finish in 2028, the year the commercial operations are also set to begin. The energy generated by the project will mainly be exported to Thailand. "Laos submitted the project as an intra-basin water use around the year on the mainstream of the Mekong River, which is subject to undergoing the prior consultation process. The submission will enable the notified Member Countries and members of the public to have detailed information and study of the project's water use and any potential impacts stemming from the project," said An Pich Hatda, CEO of the MRC Secretariat, according to the press release. The prior consultation process normally lasts six months but could be extended further by the Joint Committee. It is not meant to approve or disapprove the proposed project. The Sanakham project is approximately 1,737 km from the sea, lying about 155 km from Vientiane at downstream. The powerhouse is about 350 meters long and 58 meters high, and has 12 turbines, each producing 57 MW of electricity. According to the submitted documents, Datang (Lao) Sanakham Hydropower Co. Ltd is listed as the project developer. The total cost of the project is estimated at 2,073 million U.S. dollars. Of these, about 27.7 million U.S. dollars are allocated for environmental and social mitigation measures and monitoring programs. The MRC Joint Committee Working Group (JCWG) is scheduled to meet on June 16 to discuss key issues around the prior consultation process of the project, including the starting date of the six-month process. The MRC is an intergovernmental organization for regional dialogue and cooperation in the lower Mekong river basin, and was established in 1995 based on the Mekong Agreement between Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Enditem As South Carolina opens up for the summer, brighter days on the lie ahead with Booe Realty. The Myrtle Beach icon in rentals and real estate has launched a brand-new website, designed for a new era on the Grand Strand. By continuing to improve and invest in their business, Booe Realty seeks to aid the recovery in South Carolinas beach communities. Booe Realty is fully committed to helping Myrtle Beach recover with superior hospitality, modern technology, and high standards of safety, said Miller Hawkins, Booe Realtys Owner and President-Elect of the Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA). Were proud of our community and the Booe Crew has worked hard to build a new website that makes life better for our guests, tenants, owners, sellers and buyers. In 2020, Myrtle Beach businesses need to adapt to keep people safe and the economy healthy. By launching a new website where people can plan their vacation, search for places to live, and discover real estate investment opportunities, Booe Realty provides a full suite of services in one easy-to-use, engaging website. With an inventory of over 400 vacation and annual rentals, Booe Realty works with a large cross section of the Myrtle Beach community. From homeowners to vacation guests to families looking to buy real estate, Booe helps residents and visitors plan their future and manage their valuable investments. Rebuilding the Myrtle Beach economy will require doing things better, said Hawkins. Safety and security are paramount. We also need to improve and support local businesses. We believe in new opportunities and look forward to helping people navigate a new era on the Grand Strand. About Booe Realty: Founded in 1971, Booe Realty is one of the longest-standing real estate and rental companies in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Locally owned, with over 400 vacation and annual rentals, Booe Realty offers a full suite of services for visitors, tenants, homeowners, sellers and buyers. Booe Realty is committed to helping the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic with personal service, superior safety, modern technology, and local expertise. For more information, visit BooeRealty.com. GARFIELD, TWP, MI A man was arrested after his estranged wife claimed that he choked her while under the influence of methamphetamine. At about 8:20 am on Sunday, May 10, Garfield Township Community police officers responded to a residence in Garfield Township for the report of a domestic assault. The deputy spoke with the 31-year-old female victim that indicated she had been receiving threatening text messages from her estranged husband. Information indicated that the husband had threatened repeatedly in text messages he was going to kill her. During an interview, the victim told police that in April her husband, a 33-year-old man who was under the influence of methamphetamine, choked her into an unconscious state. The Sheriffs Office Interdiction Team and Detective Bureau located the man who is also on parole at a residence in Fife Lake Township. A search warrant was executed at that residence in Fife Lake Township and the man was arrested for domestic assault/ strangulation, aggravated stalking and a felony warrant. A 34-year-old Traverse City woman was arrested for possession of methamphetamine at the residence as well. A 44-year-old woman in Hanoi's National Hospital of Tropical Diseases is announced to have recovered from Covid-19 on May 11, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Chi Le. Eight Covid-19 patients in Hanoi were declared free of the virus Monday, bringing the number of active patients in Vietnam down to 39. All the patients, four men and four women, were treated at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in the capital city. Four of the eight are natives of the capital's Ha Loi Village in Me Linh District, a major outbreak site that had a four-week lockdown lifted May 6. Among the villagers is a 51-year-old man with a chronic kidney disease who's had to undergo regular dialysis during his Covid-19 treatment. Of the remaining four, two men and a woman had returned to Vietnam from other countries. The fourth, a 44-year-old woman, is an employee of the Truong Sinh Company, which provided food and logistic services for several Hanoi hospitals, including the Bach Mai Hospital, also a major outbreak site. Before she tested positive and was transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases on March 28, she had traveled from Bach Mai back to her hometown in the northern province of Thai Nguyen, then gone to a local hospital in Dai Tu District. Vietnam recorded no new coronavirus infections Monday evening, marking day 25 without community transmission. The nations Covid-19 tally has stood at 288 since last Thursday, of whom 249 have recovered. Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording AcademyBlake Shelton and Gwen Stefani brought their chart-topping duet, "Nobody but You," to the Grand Ole Opry this past weekend. The couple streamed their performance, which served as Gwen's Opry debut, from Blake's Ole Red restaurant in his hometown of Tishomingo, Oklahoma. "I want to say to you as an Opry member, very honored to have you on this show," Blake told Gwen. "As soon as this is all over with, we've got to get you to the Opry house in Nashville and do this that way also." "This is already insane, that would be another level," Gwen raved. The couple delivered a passionate performance of the song during Blake's acoustic set. He also performed his previous number one, "God's Country," and the hit song that lent Blake's establishment its name: "Ole Red." "Nobody but You" reached number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in April, becoming Blake's 27th chart-topper and Gwen's first on the country charts. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh is stable and under observation at the AIIMS here after suffering reaction to a new medication and developing fever, hospital sources said on Monday. The 87-year-old Congress leader was admitted to the hospital on Sunday evening after he complained of uneasiness. He has now been shifted out of the ICU. The sources said that Singh had developed a reaction to a new medication and further investigation is being carried on him to rule out other causes of fever. "Dr Manmohan Singh was admitted for observation and investigation after he developed a febrile reaction to a new medication," the sources said. "He is being investigated to rule out other causes of fever and is being provided care as needed. He is stable and under care of a team of doctors at the Cardiothoracic Centre of AIIMS," they said. "All his parameters are fine. He is under observation at the AIIMS," a source close to him has said. Singh, a senior leader of the opposition Congress, is currently a Member of Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. He was the prime minister between 2004 and 2014. In 2009, Singh underwent a successful coronary bypass surgery at the AIIMS. A number of leaders expressed have expressed concern over his health and wished him a speedy recovery. Two White House staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, and three of the administrations top health officials have gone into self-quarantine after possibly being exposed to it. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Saturday that he would enter a modified quarantine after coming into low risk contact with an infected staff member. President Trump had already been threatening to put some distance between himself and health experts, figuratively speaking: He vacillated last week on whether to shut down the White Houses coronavirus task force, which has not held a news briefing in two weeks. During that time, the White House has encouraged many governors to lift restrictions on public gatherings against the recommendation of health experts and Trump recently rejected a set of recommendations for safe reopening by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another round of devastating unemployment statistics came out on Friday: Over 20 million jobs were lost in April, making it the worst month for American workers since at least the Great Depression and raising the official unemployment rate to 14.7 percent. Democrats in Congress are working toward a plan for a new stimulus bill with money for state and local governments but the White House is focused instead on a return to normal economic activity. Kevin Hassett, a White House economic adviser, told CNNs Jake Tapper on Sunday that it would be premature to talk about a new stimulus package. He emphasized that money from other such bills passed this year was still out there. Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday that bad economic news was inevitable. The reported numbers are probably going to get worse before they get better, Mnuchin said, acknowledging that official unemployment could reach 25 percent. The president wants to work with the states to safely reopen the economy, so we can safely get people to get back to work, he added, but he did not offer any promise of further legislative solutions. Former President Barack Obama rallied some core supporters around Joe Bidens candidacy during a conference call on Friday, while throwing a few broadsides at Trump. Obama denounced the White Houses decision to drop charges against the former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and blasted the administrations virus response as an absolute chaotic disaster. Obama said the decision regarding Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to perjury, was cause to worry that the countrys basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. The comments were directed to a group of roughly 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association, mostly consisting of people who served in his administration, but the statements immediately drew widespread coverage and were seen as a further sign that the former president was limbering up to play a more active role as the 2020 campaign heats up. As some United States hospitals are separating mothers from their newborns to curb the spread of COVID-19, a group of health experts in Boston are saying the practice is violating human rights and international advisories. Guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently says that new mothers who test positive for or are suspected to have the coronavirus should be isolated from their babies on a case-by-case basis using shared decision-making between the mother and the clinical team. Several factors should be considered when separating a woman from her newborn, the CDC says, including the health of the mother and the infant, the test results of both individuals, the desire to breast feed, hospital capacity and the ability to stay separated after being discharged. However, medical professionals are debating whether isolating a woman from her newborn is good practice, and in an opinion article published by The Boston Globe on Saturday, four health experts argued there is little evidence to suggest hospitals separating mothers from babies effectively staves off transmission of the disease. We have all been called to relinquish some autonomy to protect the health of our communities during this pandemic, the experts wrote. But the rights of women and newborns during the vulnerable moments surrounding birth should not be sacrificed based on little evidence that doing so will enhance safety. The writers of the article included: Kate Mitchell, a Boston University public health doctoral candidate and a consultant who specializes in maternal health care; Hagar Palgi Hacker, an attorney and a masters candidate in public health at George Washington University; Dr. Tejumola Adegoke, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Boston Medical Center; and Katharine Hutchinson, a midwife at Boston Medical Center. The four women, some of whom are mothers and one of whom is expecting a baby this summer, wrote they are in search of a common perspective about how to best support families and medical workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the experts, some hospitals are implementing emergency measures amid the coronavirus outbreak that may be disrespectful of women and newborns, including requiring or strongly encouraging induced labor, relying on forceps and cesarean deliveries that are not necessary, not allowing birth companions, restricting breastfeeding and separating mothers from newborns. The Cut reported in early April that some women in New York City were being isolated from their newborn babies and not being allowed to have birth companions accompany them during delivery, despite an executive order issued by the states governor, Andrew Cuomo, that all patients in labor could have a support person present. The emergency practices, which are often used regardless of whether a new mother has the virus, may be well-intentioned, the experts argued in their Globe article. However, evidence is lacking that such measures decrease transmission of the disease, they said. The preventative measures may also go against some international guidelines, the experts said. The World Health Organization says high-quality care before, during and after childbirth is a right and that mothers should have a companion of their choice present during the delivery process. The organization also notes women who have or are suspected to have the disease do not necessarily need to give birth by cesarean section. New mothers infected with the coronavirus can touch and hold their babies safely as well after delivery. Close contact and early, exclusive breastfeeding helps a baby to thrive, WHOs website says. You should wash your hands before and after touching your baby, and keep all surfaces clean. In their argument, the four experts pointed to a document published in 2011 called the Respectful Maternity Care Charter." The charter, which was updated last year, outlines 10 rights that should be guaranteed to women who are giving birth and their newborns, including the right of a new mother to have a companion during maternity care, the right to refuse medical care and the right of a child to be with their parents. It calls for respectful communication and collaborative decision-making during childbirth, meaning that health workers provide factual and unbiased information and women hold the ultimate right to make decisions for themselves and their newborns, the experts said. They added, This is particularly important in the context of COVID-19, when health workers and women alike are concerned about the implications of delivering a baby mid-pandemic. But not all health experts are in agreement about what hospital procedures in regard to maternity should look like during the pandemic. Both WHO and the CDC say a mothers breastmilk should be provided to an infant after delivery, but the organizations differ on how it should be provided. WHO encourages new mothers to wear a mask and breastfeed, while the CDC recommends feeding babies milk by bottles. WHO also recommends skin-to-skin contact between mothers and newborns after delivery, while the CDC recommends that hospitals consider temporarily separating women from their infants based on potential risks of exposure. Dr. Melissa Bartick at the Harvard University Medical School has argued, though, that breastfeeding after birth is allowed and encouraged and that data about infants contracting the virus and becoming seriously ill is conflicting. The CDC does not categorically recommend separating infants from infected mothers, and currently, there are insufficient data to support routinely doing so, Bartick wrote. Because the decision is ultimately up to the mother and family, they should be carefully educated about the clear risks of separation as well as its potential benefits. Related Content: Last month may represent the worst point of the downturn for the construction sector, according to Simon Barry, chief economist, Republic of Ireland, at Ulster Bank. Activity in the sector collapsed in April as almost all building sites across the country were forced to shut down due to Government measures aimed at limiting the spread of Covid-19. The latest Construction Purchasing Managers' Index from Ulster Bank reported a reading of 4.5 for the month, well down on the reading of 28.9 in March. Anything below 50 indicates a contraction in activity. It comes as the Construction Industry Federation said 71pc of its members are "very concerned" at the impact of the pandemic. With work at building sites set to resume from May 18, Mr Barry said the industry has "a number of things going for it". "As a sector it's used to dealing with interruptions in its activity, for reasons as basic as seasonal variations and weather. "There is a flexibility to the way the sector operates, which means that it does have the potential to get going relatively quickly when the restrictions start to get eased," he said. However, with a requirement for social distancing measures to be put in place on sites, it remains to be seen whether full productivity will be possible in the short-term. While there is going to be merit in providing support "for the economy in general, including particular sectors such as construction", Mr Barry is not convinced an easing of current mortgage lending rules, which means a bank can only lend 3.5 times a person's salary, is the best course of action. "I'm not fully convinced of that, I think the Central Bank's own view has been that it is not clear on why allowing people borrow more would make anybody better off," Mr Barry said, adding: "I don't see that as the best way to target support for homebuilding or construction." In order to stimulate the economy there is "undoubtedly going to have to be higher levels of borrowing". However, the actions of central banks around the world mean government borrowing costs are "at extraordinarily low levels," he said. Meanwhile, the economic fall-out here from the coronavirus will be "fundamentally different" compared to the previous downturn in 2008 . "Back then, the [Irish] economy starting point was one of a fundamental imbalance. There was too much construction happening, there was too much lending to support construction, and house prices were significantly overvalued," Mr Barry said. The country then had to go through a "painful correction". "This time, we are not starting from a position of any imbalance. [The recovery] is more closely linked to very specific public health driven policy to try contain the virus and the natural desire to try and release the economy back into something which can form the basis of a recovery." As Lehigh Valley school districts are grappling with projections of losing $60M or more in local revenues, some may soon be receiving a boost under federal COVID-19 relief funding, said state Rep. Jeanne McNeill. McNeill, a Democrat representing District 133 covering Bethlehem and Hanover Township in Lehigh County, Catasauqua, Coplay, Fountain Hill, Salisbury Township (Wards 1 and 2 and Division 2 of Ward 3) and Whitehall Township (Districts 1-9 and 12), wants all area school districts to consider applying for the funds. The funding is available via the Pennsylvania Department of Education submitting an application to the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. The nonprofit Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) earlier this month released its projections of how 2020-21 budgets will be impacted by the coronavirus and efforts to control its spread, which have closed wide swaths of the states economy. Statewide, depending on how quickly the economy turns around, the study projects losses in local school district revenue of $870.5 million to more than $1 billion. In the Lehigh Valley, the total local revenue loss for 2020-21 school budgets is projected at $57.5 million to $68.1 million. Local school officials say those projections may be a little high, but they are still bracing for millions less in crafting the current years budget. Once the states application is approved, school districts will need to apply individually for the additional relief funding, McNeill said. The U.S. Department of Education is expected to approve the application within a week and is working on a streamlined application process to ensure the funds can be available to school districts as quickly as possible, she said. These are valuable dollars that will aid the effort to ensure our children are able to continue learning and growing, McNeill said in a statement. Weve already seen the extraordinary work our schools have done during the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, and I encourage district leaders apply for the anticipated funding outlined below. The following area school districts are eligible to receive the following COVID-19 funding relief, according to McNeill: Bethlehem Area School District: $3.2 million Catasauqua Area School District: $511,707 Salisbury Township: $183,244 Whitehall-Coplay School District: $814,494 The funding can be used toward a wide range of purposes, including food service; professional training; technology; sanitization and cleaning supplies; summer and after-school programs; and mental health support. The funds, however, must be used by September 2022, under the legislation. School districts also are encouraged to prioritize investments for vulnerable students and families, including those living in the deepest poverty, students with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness and children in foster care. View the chart showing PASBOs projected local revenue losses in 2020-21 for the Lehigh Valleys school districts here. The Parkland School District is projected by PASBO to be the hardest hit in Lehigh County, with a range of local revenue losses from $7.1 million to $8.5 million. Parkland superintendent Richard Sniscak previously said the district still, however, is working to keep property taxes unchanged from 2019-20. In Northampton County, the Bethlehem Area School District is projected to lose the most local revenue, with PASBO projecting losses of $10.3 million to $12.1 million. That is around twice what the district is projecting in local revenue losses, Chief Financial Officer Stacy Gober had said. Benefiting the Bethlehem Area is the fact that many local employers, such as big box stores and warehouses, have remained open as essential businesses during statewide stay-at-home orders. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Attorney General William Barr waits in the press briefing room of the White House March 23, 2020, in Washington, DC. He had reaffirmed his guilt at a sentencing hearing a year later that was aborted to give him more time to cooperate with then-special counsel Robert Mueller. A retired Army general who briefly served as Trump's first national security advisor, Flynn pleaded guilty in late 2017 to lying to FBI agents. Barr is head of the Justice Department. A spokeswoman for the attorney general did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC. "I am convinced that the department's conduct in the Stone and Flynn cases will do lasting damage to the institution," Kravis wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post. The ex-prosecutor, Jonathan Kravis, also warned that the Justice Department's intervention in the Stone and Flynn cases, "to protect an ally of the president ... betrays this principle" of a "commitment to equal justice under the law." A former federal prosecutor who quit the Justice Department in protest over its handling of Republican operative Roger Stone's criminal case in a scathing article Monday accused the department of a "betrayal of the rule of law" and Attorney General William Barr of "egregious" conduct by intervening in that case and the one of Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump 's first national security advisor. In a filing Thursday, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, former Barr advisor Timothy Shea, argued that the FBI's interview of Flynn was not justified by a counterintelligence investigation, and that his lies about what he said to a Russian diplomat were not "material" to that probe. None of the career prosecutors who handled Flynn's case signed off on the dismissal request, which has yet to be approved by the judge in the case. Kravis' op-ed also came three months after he resigned from the Justice Department, where he had worked for a decade. "I left a job I loved because I believed the department had abandoned its responsibility to do justice in one of my cases, United States v. Roger Stone," Kravis wrote. "At the time, I thought that the handling of the Stone case, with senior officials intervening to recommend a lower sentence for a longtime ally of President Trump, was a disastrous mistake that the department would not make again," he wrote. "I was wrong." In that case, Stone, who was a longtime friend of Trump, had been convicted at trial last fall of lying to Congress and witness tampering. Kravis and three other trial prosecutors then recommended that Stone be sentenced to between seven and nine years in prison for his crimes. But hours after they filed that recommendation, Trump called it "disgraceful" in a tweet. The next day, in a move that had few if any precedents, Shea, with the approval of senior Justice Department officials, filed a new recommendation with the judge in Stone's case, saying that he deserved to be sentenced to "far less" time than what the career prosecutors had requested. The three other prosecutors in addition to Kravis quit the case in apparent protest, although they stayed employed by the Justice Department. Stone ended up being sentenced to 40 months in prison, but remains free as he appeals his conviction and sentence. Kravis wrote that in both Stone's and Flynn's cases "the department undercut the work of career employees to protect an ally of the president, an abdication of the commitment to equal justice under the law. "Prosecutors must make decisions based on facts and law, not on the defendant's political connections. When the department takes steps that it would never take in any other case to protect an ally of the president, it betrays this principle." Kravis also noted that in both cases, the Justice Department had assigned a special counsel, former FBI director Mueller, to handle both investigations, "precisely to avoid the appearance of political influence." "For the attorney general now to directly intervene to benefit the president's associates makes this betrayal of the rule of law even more egregious," Kravis wrote. The former prosecutor also blasted Barr for doing an interview on the heels of the decision to ask for a dismissal of Flynn's case. In that interview, Kravis noted, Barr had said that the Stone prosecutors had lost their "perspective" in handling the case, and criticized the Flynn prosecutors for becoming "wedded to a particular outcome." Kravis wrote that Barr knows that the career prosecutors whom he criticized are prohibited from speaking to the media without Justice Department approval, and thus "cannot respond" to the attorney general. "Barr's decision to excuse himself from these obligations and attack his own silenced employees is alarming," Kravis wrote. "It sends an unmistakable message to prosecutors and agents if the president demands, we will throw you under the bus." Kravis also scoffed at the idea that the Justice Department had acted in the cases of Stone and Flynn "because of good-faith commitments to legal positions." "Where is the evidence of those commitments in other cases that do not involve friends of the president?," he wrote. "Where are the narcotics cases in which the department has filed a sentencing memorandum overruling career prosecutors? Where are the other false-statements cases dismissed after a guilty plea?" Kravis concluded his op-ed by saying he was writing it for the Justice Department's career agents and prosecutors, who will have, "the task of repairing this damage." He wrote that their work already is hard, "and it becomes even harder when witnesses and jurors start to believe that the Justice Department's handling of these cases is infected by politics." "Your service during these times is a credit to the department," Kravis wrote. "And you will be at your posts, serving justice, long after this attorney general is gone." The General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has lauded President Akufo-Addos decision to extend the ban on public gatherings for a further three weeks as there is still a rise in the cases of the deadly Coronavirus. Johnson Asiedu Nketia maintained in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show Ghana Montie that, "it is a good decision and I agree with the President for not lifting the ban on public gatherings. Akufo-Addo Extends Social Gathering Ban To May 31. President Nana Akufo-Addo extended the ban on social gatherings to the end of May 2020 during his Sundays address to the nation on the coronavirus situation. Tonight, I have come into your homes to announce that the ban on public gatherings, as set out in Executive Instrument 34, has been extended, also to the end of the month i.e., 31st May, President Akufo-Addo announced on Sunday, 10 May, 2020 as he addressed the nation on the COVID-19 situation. So, during this period, there will continue to be a ban on public gatherings such as holding of conferences, workshops, parties, night clubs, drinking spots, festivals, political rallies, religious activities, sporting events. All educational facilities private and public, continue to remain closed. There is still a ban on funerals other than private burials with not more than 25 persons. It is noteworthy that the police are arresting and prosecution persons irrespective of their status in society who flout these regulations, the President noted. Watch Video Below Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video (Newser) Mexican gang leader Moises Escamiilla Mayalso known as "Fat May"has died from COVID-19 in a maximum security prison. The 45-year-old kingpin of the "Old School Zetas" group, part of the Los Zetas cartel, was 12 years into a 37-year sentence for crimes including his role in the 2008 decapitation of a dozen people, the BBC reports. He was being held at the Puente Grande prison in Jalisco state, where at least 74 other coronavirus cases have been reported. Mexico has reported around 35,000 coronavirus cases, with 3,465 deaths, though the low testing rate means the true totals are probably much higher, reports Reuters. The Mexican government says that according to its models, the pandemic likely reached its peak in the country over the weekend. (Read more Mexico stories.) NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Morgan James' new book release, 3D of Happiness: Pleasure, Meaning & Spirituality Based on Science, Philosophy & Personal Experience by Dr. Necati Aydin follows one man's journey as he searches for true happiness. 3D of Happiness was written for anyone struggling to find a lasting source of happiness in their lives. It shows how to become happier even when you are stuck at home. 3D of Happiness 3D of Happiness covers a personal and scientific journey of searching for happiness through pleasure, meaning, and spirituality. It is the story of a former shepherd, Necati Aydin, who was at the bottom 1% of the world's population, living in complete poverty and deprivation. He managed to acquire two Ph.D.s and climbed to the top 1% in terms of possessions and position. Nonetheless, he failed to achieve happiness along the way. The author shares his journey of having, doing, being, and loving which turned out to be a vicious cycle of deprivation, emulation, accomplishment, and disappointment. Inside, he shares a powerful message through the story of a youth who lived in poverty and only tasted a banana for the first time while attending college but lost the pleasure of this taste when he was able to purchase whatever he desired. Ultimately, he reveals his success in finally discovering three dimensions of happiness through a converging path of science, philosophy, and spirituality. If you would like more info or schedule an interview with Dr. Aydin, please call Nickcole Watkins. Reviews: "The book is a spiritual mind-twisting yet fitting puzzles next to each other. I feel like being in the movie inception in looking at daily life events in a twisted angle. The simplicity of explaining the complex matter shows a pure genius mind. Very BOLD." Al Whiterose "Dr.Aydin shares his personal stories all the way from childhood to his zenith of a career with a wonderful blending of his scholarly knowledge and personal experiences to answer the question of how to have genuine happiness." Caroline "The author has an unpretentious forgiving style that makes the book difficult not to like. The book provides thoughts on the personal perspective of the author as he pursues success and happiness in his personal and professional life from a spiritual, philosophical, and scientific perspective." Asma "Although many books have since antiquity examined the meaning of happiness, in my judgment, no other book is as provocative and intellectually mesmerizing as 3D of Happiness." Maha "When I read 'rich dad poor dad', I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today, I read "3D of HAPPINESS", I'm wiser, I'm changing myself." Enis "3D of Happiness makes clear that you can not reach lasting happiness through wealth, success, fame, fun, and love. It argues that higher happiness is possible through moving to the higher dimensions of happiness." Omar For further information about the book, visit: www.3dhappiness.org MEDIA CONTACT: Nickcole Watkins Morgan James Publishing 516-9005674 [email protected] Related Images image1.jpg Related Links 3D of Happiness SOURCE 3D of Happiness Related Links http://www.3dhappiness.org By Sunday night, Mobile police were investigating the citys fourth violent death in two days. Police found a man unresponsive in the parking lot at Johns Seafood, 1150 Springhill Avenue. The man was taken to the hospital and died as a result of his injuries, police said. MPD INVESTIGATION: Homicide - Police are on the scene at Johns Seafood located at 1150 Springhill Ave. in reference to a male down in the parking lot. The victim has been transported to the hospital and now has died as a result of his injuries. The is an active investigation. Mobile Police (@MobileALPolice) May 11, 2020 Earlier in the day, Mobile police found a 42-year-old man dead in the street. About 4:22 a.m. Sunday, police responded to the area of Kooiman Street and Blackmon Street and found 42-year-old Nikil Merrida lying in the street, dead. No further information was available in what Mobile police Sgt. LaDerrick DuBose called an ongoing murder investigation. Early Saturday morning, police found 50-year-old Myron King suffering from injuries in a yard on Third Street. King was later pronounced dead at the scene. Police arrested 27-year-old Joaquin Jones, charging him with murder. An altercation on Saturday afternoon among three people who Mobile police said were homeless left one woman injured and another man dead. Police said one man struck another multiple times with a knife, causing the death, just off U.S. 90 near an I-65 overpass. We think intelligent long term investing is the way to go. But along the way some stocks are going to perform badly. For example, after five long years the Airtificial Intelligence Structures, S.A. (BME:AI) share price is a whole 81% lower. That is extremely sub-optimal, to say the least. And it's not just long term holders hurting, because the stock is down 64% in the last year. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 26% in the last 90 days. However, one could argue that the price has been influenced by the general market, which is down 28% in the same timeframe. We really feel for shareholders in this scenario. It's a good reminder of the importance of diversification, and it's worth keeping in mind there's more to life than money, anyway. See our latest analysis for Airtificial Intelligence Structures Given that Airtificial Intelligence Structures didn't make a profit in the last twelve months, we'll focus on revenue growth to form a quick view of its business development. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth. Over five years, Airtificial Intelligence Structures grew its revenue at 37% per year. That's better than most loss-making companies. So on the face of it we're really surprised to see the share price has averaged a fall of 28% each year, in the same time period. You'd have to assume the market is worried that profits won't come soon enough. While there might be an opportunity here, you'd want to take a close look at the balance sheet strength. The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image). BME:AI Income Statement May 11th 2020 Take a more thorough look at Airtificial Intelligence Structures's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet. Story continues What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)? Investors should note that there's a difference between Airtificial Intelligence Structures's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price change, which we've covered above. The TSR attempts to capture the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested) as well as any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings offered to shareholders. Its history of dividend payouts mean that Airtificial Intelligence Structures's TSR, which was a 69% drop over the last 5 years, was not as bad as the share price return. A Different Perspective We regret to report that Airtificial Intelligence Structures shareholders are down 64% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 21%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 21% per year over five years. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 5 warning signs with Airtificial Intelligence Structures (at least 2 which make us uncomfortable) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process. We will like Airtificial Intelligence Structures better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on ES exchanges. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Simon Wanjau, a former executive chef at the InterContinental Hotel in Nairobi, has about 20 years worth of experience working at some of the top hotels around the world. Wanjau has also cooked for the high and mighty: former US President Barack Obama when he visited Kenya, Hillary Clinton when she was in Kenya in 2012 as well as Angelina Jolie during the shooting of Tomb Raider. Having reached the pinnacle of his illustrious career, Wanjau quit the high-profile job to join his wife, Koi, in running Kobbis Oven, a family-owned bakery with two outlets in Thika and Ruiru. With an initial capital of about Sh1.2 million, Wanjau says the business value has risen to about Sh15 million. He spoke to Hustle about his chefpreneurial journey. First things first: what led you to the decision to quit a high-flying job at a five-star hotel to set up a bakery in Thika? The truth is that I had reached the pinnacle of my career. There was no more up. It was time to pass on the mantle and mentor younger chefs. Then there was the family. I had missed out on the important stuff going on in the lives of my family members the bonding drives to school, the swimming galas, school recitals and other family events. In any case, my goal was to set up a food business that I would pass on to my kids. Kobbis is that business. How did Kobbis come to life? The groundwork for Kobbis was done by Koi, my wife. She had started Kobbis in our home kitchen back in 2015 in real hustler fashion. She used to bake cakes, decorate them and deliver them to clients. She then had to deal with the kids while I was still working. In 2016, she opened our first branch in Thika, alone. Our home is in Thika, and as they say, if you want to conquer the world, home is where you start. So I was the latecomer here. Talk of faith? She had it first. Did you have any doubts about your decision? The first thing that hit me was if I would be able to sustain my lifestyle. Would the business be scalable? Could I use it to advance my familys wellbeing, such as education for our kids? Could I use it at some point to build a permanent home for the family rather than live in rented facilities?In any case, I didnt want to go back to the long hours of employment and being away from family. Failure was not an option. Did you encounter any surprises? I had run multiple high-end kitchens in Kenya and abroad, won numerous accolades for best restaurants in Mozambique, Dubai and here at home. I had scooped several medals in culinary competitions in South Africa, Rwanda and Dubai. I had banked on the fact that I am a third-generation chef my grandfather, dad and mum were all chefs. Running Kobbis Oven, in my estimation, would be a walk in the park. I was dead wrong. You see, in a normal hotel, when a machine breaks down all you do is call the engineering department either for immediate repairs or total replacement. In your own business, however, you look for a fixer who may not come through when you want him to. You may take it to him only to find he has no spare parts. For example, we currently have one coffee machine that is waiting for a spare part from Italy. When will Italy open up? No one can tell. How were your prospects before Covid-19? We had good months and bad months and things tend to break in the good months. Like any other business, we had big plans. We wanted to open another branch in Kahawa Sukari.In fact, the dream was to have our business in each major town in Kenya. We even had plans to open up a baking college. Let me say that Covid-19 put the brakes on these plans. They will resume when time is right. How was the business hit by the current pandemic? Somebody just pulled the plug on us. We are managing about 15 per cent of projected revenues that we are used to at this time of the year. Majority of our corporate clients suspended their contracts, while others cancelled. We lost the pre-booked vending events and weddings were postponed. How have you made your business resilient in light of the ongoing crisis and other shocks that may come in future? It is important to re-evaluate expenses, suspend some projects and just handle those that resonate with the current situation. For example, we had to re-invent our cakes and create products that resonate more with families since everybody is home. We are calling it the curfew cake. In addition, we have leveraged on the grab and go concept similar to Starbucks where everything is packed and ready to go. We had minimal sitting space and after Covid-19, all we took out were the seats and business continued as normal. Personal deliveries have always been part of our revenue generation, accounting for a third of total revenues. The fact that our business started on a takeaway model has helped us adjust to the current situation. Have you had to lay off staff? No. We still have five members of staff on a full-time basis. There are others that we have engaged indirectly for deliveries. Our staff adapt quickly to changes and have unique selling points without which we would have closed. We just hope the situation improves so that we dont get to that point. What is that one thing you never knew about business that you do now? A chef working at a hotel relies on experienced marketers. A chef working on his own business has to become the chief salesperson and grow that thick skin salespeople are known for. Now that was new to me. In fact, I have to be a more resilient salesperson, perhaps even sell more than my salespeople. How can I set targets for them that I cannot meet myself? Let me say I was not ready for that role. What has this new normal taught you about preparing for unforeseen disruptions? First, I now know to invest in staff training thus creating a team able to internalise my ideas and think quickly. Second, to create a separate fund that is to be used to cater for such employees in case of unforeseen eventualities. I know many companies wish they had cash to keep employees on payroll rather than send them home. Was going into business the best decision ever? Yes, one I would never regret. If I were still in employment, who knows if I would still have a job in view of the situation? Employment may give you that sense of security on a monthly basis. Business has expanded my horizons. (Natural News) Could the new coronavirus have been created in a lab? Writing in Medium, Youthereum Genetics CEO Yuri Deigin said that he believes its quite plausible. He writes that labs across the planet have been creating viruses just like this one for a long time, and while skeptics say that there would be some sign of human manipulation in its genome, modern genetic engineering tools enable genomic fragments to be cut and pasted without leaving a single trace. Not only that, but he insists its something that can be carried out quickly, citing the fact that a Swiss team created an authentic clone of CoV2 in under a month. At first, Deigin thought the idea of the virus being a lab creation was little more than a conspiracy theory. In fact, it was only when he was researching the situation to support his belief that he first started having doubts. One big red flag? As he looked further into the research activities coronavirologists have been carrying out in the past two decades, he found that making chimeras like CoV2 was pretty common in their labs. Moreover, he said that virologists like the coronavirus research leader at Wuhan Institute of Virology, Shi Zhengli, have been doing precisely this type of thing since at least 2007. In 2017, they created eight new chimeric coronaviruses there. They even said in an NIH grant that they wanted to create live synthetic viral clones for research purposes. Nobel Prize laureate Luc Montagnier, a co-discoverer of HIV, agrees with the lab theory. He believes that COVID-19 resulted from an attempt to create a vaccine for AIDS that escaped from a lab, although his analysis has not yet been peer reviewed. He thinks that it came about from inserting DNA sequences from HIV into a coronavirus. A third of Americans believe coronavirus was made in a lab According to a survey, almost a third of Americans believe coronavirus was indeed a lab creation. The Pew Research Center survey, which was carried out between March 10 and 16, involved nearly 9,000 adults. Twenty-nine percent of Americans said they thought the virus was most likely created in a lab. Nearly a quarter of adults say they think the strain currently wreaking havoc on the world was developed intentionally in a lab; 6 percent think it was most likely made by accident. Younger people are even more convinced, with a third of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 thinking it was developed in a lab versus 21 percent of adults aged 65 and older who believe the same. The survey revealed several other divides as well. People with a bachelors degree or higher were less likely than those with less education to say the new virus was created in a lab, while more Republicans than Democrats believed it was lab-born at 37 percent versus 21 percent. For his part, Deigin says that theres no evidence of what really happened, but he does believe there has been a series of strange coincidences that are hard to ignore. He said that for CoV2 to have arisen naturally, bat and pangolin strains would have needed to meet in the same cell of an animal in Wuhan, where the outbreak started. However, since bats werent sold at the Wuhan market and tend to hibernate at that time of year and no other carriers of ancestral strains have been found, natural emergence is also difficult to prove. Theres also the fact that American experts raised concerns after a 2018 visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology about safety within the lab, particularly when it came to their work with bat coronaviruses. They contacted Washington to ask for more U.S. attention and support to the lab to help correct these issues. They noted a shortage of trained technicians and investigators there at the time. We may never know how this deadly disease got its start, as Deigin said a good genetic engineer would be able to create a synthetic virus that is impossible to distinguish from a natural one. He added that he doesnt want his post to be used to propagate one-sided theories, but he does wish to draw attention to the dangers of the gain-of-function research that goes on in virology. Sources for this article include: Medium.com MarketWatch.com The UK government has replaced its 'stay at home' message with 'stay alert.' (PA) Workers who can work from home should keep doing so for the foreseeable future, according to the UK government. The government set out its most detailed plans yet on the easing of lockdown restrictions in a document published on Monday. The most recent survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests around 44% of people in employment are working from home during the lockdown. The announcement comes after prime minister Boris Johnsons speech to the nation on Sunday night (10 May), which saw him call for workers unable to work from home to get back to workplaces. The new document also echoed the message on workers who needed to be on site. It said food production, construction, manufacturing, logistics, distribution, and scientific laboratories were among the sectors that should be open. The government has been accused of shambolic messaging, as Johnsons words were seen to suggest the changes applied from Monday. A minister has since confirmed they will apply only from Wednesday (13 May). READ MORE: Call for swift return to work recipe for chaos without new safety guidance There are widespread concerns about the safety of workers who do have to return to workplaces. The new document says workplaces should follow new COVID-19 secure guidelines from government as soon as possible, but they have not yet been released. Publication is expected this week. There are also fears about safety and capacity on public transport, given limited services and potentially crowded spaces during peak hours. The new guidelines say social distancing must be followed rigorously on public transport, with new guidance for transport operators also yet to be issued but expected this week. The latest report adds that people working from home make it possible for people who have to attend workplaces in person to do so. The new guidance on Monday urges everyone including key workers to avoid public transport wherever possible, instead walking, cycling or driving to work. More funding is being provided for new cycle routes, wider pavements and even road closures to encourage more cycling and walking. Story continues It said it would reduce the risk of overcrowding on public transport and in public spaces for those with no alternative but to commute. widespread working from home would minimise the number of social contacts, keeping down transmission rates. The government is now also encouraging face masks for the first time in enclosed spaces where social distancing is not always possible, such as public transport and some shops. Despite concerns about the easing of lockdown threatening to push up infection rates, the report emphasises a link between looser curbs on the economy and the strength of the NHS. Ultimately, a strong economy is the best way to protect peoples jobs and ensure that the government can fund the countrys vital public services including the healthcare response. Piers Morgan's wife Celia Walden shared a playful post about Vicky Pattison after she gave an interview saying she was 'obsessed' with her husband. Celia, 44, shared some pictures of Vicky, 32, wearing a pink latex outfit from the Fabulous magazine interview on Instagram on Sunday and had some questions. She wrote in the comments: 'Who is this latex-clad bombshell - and why is she obsessed with my husband? #sundayshocker.' Why is she obsessed with my husband?' Piers Morgan's wife Celia Walden wrote about 'latex-clad' Vicky Pattison after the reality star made an admission about him (pictured in February) Playful: Celia certainly had some things to say about Vicky's 'shock' admission One of her followers wrote: 'This threat is as serious as it gets' with a cry face emoji. And Celia replied: '@olivajenm that much is obvious... although Im told her other halfs as gorgeous as she is, which reassures me.' Celia and Piers married in June 2010 and have daughter Elise, eight, together. Vicky is in a relationship with Ercan Ramadan, 26. Vicky and Piers have indulged in some light-hearted flirting after he also caught wind of the interview. Big fan: Vicky did with Fabulous magazine which features a picture of her alongside the quote: 'I'm obsessed with Piers Morgan!' The Good Morning Britain host took to Instagram and shared a snap of the interview and wrote: 'Well now.... this should keep Celia on her toes'. Vicky, who admitted that watching Good Morning Britain in lockdown was making her 'fancy' Piers, responded in good humour. She wrote: 'The voice of the people Mr Morgan... what can I say? I like a man with backbone.' Piers responded by thanking Vicky for her enthusiastic support, writing: 'Thank you Ms Pattison, glad youre enjoying the show!' Chuffed: Piers joked Vicky's admission could spark his wife Celia Walden to worry as he wrote: 'Well now.... this should keep Celia on her toes' In her interview with the publication, Vicky had said: '[Lockdown] is making me fancy Piers Morgan. 'Just a bit, mind. But I f**king love him and I want him to be our next Prime Minster. Im obsessed! I cant get enough of him calling everyone out.' Praising the broadcaster for his tough interviews with government officials, Vicky added: 'Hes been the main champion for this from the get-go and I think hes doing the most fantastic job of holding our politicians to account.' It comes after Vicky candidly discussed her relationship with boyfriend Ercan Ramadan during lockdown and cheekily revealed that he 'always wants sex'. Back and forth: Vicky, who admitted that watching Good Morning Britain in lockdown was making her 'fancy' Piers, responded in good humour Vicky went on to speak about how her mother Caroll, 62, has fought off coronavirus but is still suffering from fatigue and breathlessness. Vicky has been isolating with her boyfriend of just over a year, former TOWIE star Ercan and revealed that she is happy to be in lockdown with him rather than any of her exes. She told The Sun: 'I'm with a man who's so lovely to me that I worry about getting out the door when I leave isolation not because of the size of my a**e but the size of my head because he makes me feel so good about myself. 'He wants kisses when I've got no make-up on, he's always touching my bum. He always wants to have sex. I think he's fallen in love with who I am as a person and so when he looks at me he doesn't see this little boy face and Mrs Trunchbull bun and squidgy mid-section. He sees a person he loves, and I've never had that before.' Lockdown perks: Vicky candidly discussed her relationship with boyfriend Ercan Ramadan during lockdown and cheekily revealed that he 'always wants sex' Smitten: Vicky has been isolating with her boyfriend of just over a year, former TOWIE star Ercan, 26, and revealed that she is happy to be in lockdown with him rather than any of her exes She went on to reveal that they have been using TV to buffer silences from being cooped up together all day. She admitted that there had been some tough times but said: 'It's difficult whether you've been together 20 years or 20 weeks and if you're trying to tell me it's all rainbows and kittens then you're full of s**t.' The coronavirus crisis and ensuing lockdown inspired the first episode of Vicky's new podcast series, Vicky Pattison: The Secret To, which discusses how to help your relationship survive quarantine. The episode will feature Made In Chelsea's Jamie Laing and his girlfriend Sophie Habboo. Vicky had been due to marry businessman John Noble, 31, last year but she called it off after he was caught in a compromising position with a girl in a nightclub. She said that even if she had gone through with the wedding she would have been divorced by now. Vicky opened up about some of her struggles in lockdown and said that not being able to see her family and friends, especially her three-month-old niece Mavie, is hard as she misses them. Sweet: She told The Sun: 'He wants kisses when I've got no make-up on, he's always touching my bum. He always wants to have sex. I think he's fallen in love with who I am as a person.' (pictured in January) The TV personality touched on her anxiety and said hers has got worse because she has more free time to overthink things. She revealed she thrives on logic and routine so has been struggling with the seemingly endless abyss of lockdown. Vicky has been getting back into cooking food from scratch and is focusing on healthy Masterchef recipes. However she did reveal that her go-to method for coping with isolation involves chocolate and wine. She said she's been really enjoying seeing other celebrities posting no makeup selfies on social media now that no one can get to their cosmetic appointments. The selfless TV personality is staying busy by working with Age UK to deliver food parcels to vulnerable people who are self-isolating across the country. At an Oakland City Council meeting in December, Lara Tannenbaum, manager of the citys community housing services, laid out a five-year plan to end homelessness. The plans price tag of $123 million annually caused me to gasp. Five months later, that actually sounds like a bargain. Heres why: In March, the $2 trillion Cares Act included $4 billion in emergency solutions grants for homelessness assistance. Oakland received about $2 million. Still, advocates for the homeless tell me billions more will be needed to house the vulnerable people living outdoors in Oakland and cities across the country and to keep people who are housing-insecure from joining them on the street. States and cities need more federal funding to effectively combat homelessness. Its one thing the coronavirus hasnt changed. I saw Tannenbaum last week at the opening of Operation HomeBase, a trailer program constructed in the shadow of the Oakland Coliseum on Hegenberger Road in East Oakland. The 67 trailers will be used to isolate homeless seniors 65 and older, and homeless folks with underlying health conditions such as heart disease, asthma and diabetes conditions that make the coronavirus infections more deadly. The city estimates that, at minimum, 53% of homeless people in Oakland fall within groups identified as high risk by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Everything were doing now the level of coordination, the level or reduced bureaucracy, the level of things were standing up we couldve done years ago, Tannenbaum told me. Shes right. Paul Chinn / The Chronicle Unfortunately, it took a global pandemic for the federal government to loosen purse strings. The problem has been that Congress for decades has underfunded investments in affordable housing, said Sarah Saadian, vice president of public policy for the National Low Income Housing Coalition, an organization working to expand the supply of low-income housing. When low-income people dont have an affordable place to live, they are at a very high risk of evictions and homelessness because it only takes one financial shock to push them over the edge. Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland said Congress should reprioritize financial resources. Were way past time to do this, Lee said. This is an emergency upon an emergency, and we have to deal with the immediate emergency, and thats get people housed and secured. We have to also see this as a moment to do some structural changes, and to make sure that we never go back to what it was. Before stay-home orders, about 300 people each month became newly homeless in Oakland, according to city data. As Mayor Libby Schaaf and others spoke during the Operation HomeBase news conference, I asked Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid what he thought about the billions released for homelessness. That tells you the richest country in this world had the ability to address the problems that cities across this country are faced with, he said. There is no reason why any of this should be going on. Theres no reason why people shouldnt have a roof over their head and food to put in their stomachs. Paul Chinn / The Chronicle In January, Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered state-owned trailers to Oakland, part of his weeklong statewide homelessness tour. Almost four months later, the trailers were finally ready to be occupied. By Friday, four people had moved in. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The air-conditioned trailers have showers and toilets, which make the trailers more homey than the Tuff Shed sites where people have been temporarily housed in storage sheds. Thats the good news. The bad news: Operation HomeBases capacity is only 134 people. In Oakland, more than 4,000 are homeless. The operating budget is $1.8 million annually, and it cost $1.5 million to launch. Funding for the program came from the states emergency coronavirus funds and a $500,000 grant from Taube Philanthropies. Ive always been concerned for our unhoused neighbors, but now Im also worried about the 4 million people in the state who have filed for unemployment since March. Sure, renters are protected by eviction moratoriums, but what happens when moratoriums are lifted and the jobless still cant pay rent? Will they end up on the street? We cant create a financial cliff for renters to fall off of, Saadian said. This is a dire time were living through, but Tannenbaum also sees projects like Operation HomeBase as an opportunity to address homelessness with money that wasnt available just a few months ago. Again, shes right. I have to see it as an opportunity or else its too much. Its too depressing, she said. The fact that so many people are paying attention to this issue in a way that they havent before and things are moving in a way they havent before, it is an opportunity. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Mondays and Thursdays. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr A screenshot from a video depicting the May 5, 2020 violence between Khmer Krom farmers and police in Kien Giang provice, Vietnam. Vietnamese police traded blows with about 100 farmers from the ethnic Khmer Krom minority in the southern Mekong Delta region last week, the latest violent clash over land rights in the Southeast Asian country. Witnesses told RFAs Vietnamese Service that 10 farmers were injured May 5, as the police descended on the land in Kien Giang provinces Phu My district to confiscate digging vehicles, with police using batons and tear gas, and the Khmer Krom farmers hitting back with rods and mud. Video posted on Facebook documented the violence at Giang Thanh commune, which broke out when the police attempted to remove the digger belonging to the family of local Khmer Krom farmer Huynh Van Dat as he and other farmers were planting crops. The government claims the land is part of a conservation area, but the Khmer Krom say they have been farming the paddies since the 1970s. They came and took the peoples digging vehicles and stopped them from working, a witness who requested anonymity to speak freely told RFA. They said the people were digging illegally on state land. The people protested and tried to stop them from taking the digger, said the source. According to the witness, the police began beating people in the crowd, leaving 10 of them with head injuries or broken arms and legs. RFA contacted Huynh Vin Lac, the head of the provincial office and spokesperson for the peoples committee, but he refused to comment on the May 5 violence over the phone, saying that he would only discuss the matter in writing. RFA then sent inquiries via text message to his phone and an email to the peoples committee, but they went unanswered. According to local sources, the Khmer Krom had freely farmed on the land from the 1970s to the year 2000, when many went to work as hired laborers. They recently decided to cultivate on the tract of land again, but local authorities informed them that the land is now part of a conservation area. Persecution A 2018 report by an NGO focusing on international ethnic minority rights said the Khmer Krom, ethnic Cambodians living in Vietnam, face a long-lasting repression fed by the economic interests in the region, the religious differences with the national government and the fear from the latter of seeing a divergent and influential political force emerge. These assimilation campaigns mostly consist on a daily basis in religious repression and severe restrictions of their individual and collective freedoms, said the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, which describes religious and language restrictions. Authorities have no consideration for the Khmer Krom religious norms as they do not hesitate to defrock monks that they consider as threats. More concretely, authorities can use violence to suppress protests or attempts to raise awareness about their cause and they can arrest monks and activists without any notice nor trial and sentence them to jail, the group said In 2013 RFA reported that according to U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) the Khmer Krom faced serious restrictions of freedom of expression, assembly, association, information, and movement in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government has banned Khmer Krom human rights publications and tightly controls the practice of Theravada Buddhism by the minority group, which sees the religion as a foundation of their distinct culture and ethnic identity. In 2007, the Vietnamese government suppressed protests by over 200 ethnic Khmer Buddhist monks in Suc Trang who were calling for religious freedom and more Khmer-language education. Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Huy Le. Written in English by Eugene Whong. An executive order by California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week is the most aggressive yet among the directives issued by 13 states that require workers compensation insurers to pay at least some COVID-19 claims. Pressure is growing on workers compensation systems across the country to cover the cost of treating and supporting workers caught up in the pandemic. In light of mandated social distancing, theres a strong argument to be made that work is the cause of any COVID-19 infection suffered by a front-line worker, said Jennifer Wolf, who heads an international organization of work comp regulators. But employers and insurers did not set aside reserves counting on paying for a pandemic, creating what Wolf calls a work comp Catch 22. That is leading to pressure by some business and insurance groups to call for creation of a federal backstop, similar to the Terrorism Risk and Insurance Act, to take a share of the costs off of overburdened workers compensation systems. It needs to be a part of the national conversation, said Wolf, who is executive director of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC). I think this is a situation that is truly a national concern. There have been incidents in the past where there have been federal solutions. Presumptions cost billions For the moment, state regulators have been focusing on easing the path to workers comp benefits for those who have to work with the public during the outbreak. Up to now, governors have created presumptions that favor claims by first responders, health care workers and some front-line employees in specified occupations. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear pushed the envelope furthest decreeing a presumption for workers in grocery stores, child care centers and domestic violence shelters and other occupations. Newsoms order applies to every worker in California who was required to work at a place away from home. Any of those workers who is sickened by COVID-19 from the day Newsom issued a stay-at-home order on March 19 until July 5 will get the benefit of the doubt when filing a workers compensation claim. The governor may have handed California employers and insurers a $33.6 billion workers compensation bill. That is the worst-case scenario projected by the states ratemaking agency, the Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, if every essential worker who is diagnosed with COVID-19 files a claim and is paid benefits. The WCIRBs mid-range projection was for $11.2 billion in losses, but even that equals 61 percent of current workers comp costs in the state. The bureau also included an optimistic projection that calculated $2.2 billion in losses for California. In that scenario, only 4 percent of health care workers and less than 1 percent of other workers file COVID-19 claims. The National Council on Compensation Insurance released its own projection of potential costs for the 38 states and the District of Columbia, where it collects claims data: Worst case: Losses of $81 billion. Best case $2 billon. There are several reasons one might bet on less than the worst-case outcome projected by the WCIRB. For one thing, Newsoms order expires after 60 days, while the bureaus estimate presumes the presumption will apply throughout 2020, said WCIRB Chief Actuary David Bellusci. Further, the bureau assumed the presumption would be conclusive while Newsoms directive allows employers to rebut the presumption by presenting evidence that the worker contracted the virus elsewhere, Bellusci said. Whats more, Californias efforts to control the spread of the virus through social distancing and business closures appear to have been effective. As of Friday, the state had an infection rate of 1,608 out of 1 million, less than half the national infection rate, according to The COVID Tracking Project. The number of new cases reported each day had been holding steady for the past two weeks at about 1,500 to 2,000. Bellusci said only one thing is clear about the new coronavirus impact on workers comp: Premiums are going to plummet because of unprecedented unemployment. Claims will initially decline as a natural course of those layoffs, but Bellusci said the state may have an uptick later because of post-termination claims. California statutes generally prohibit any claims for injury after a worker is terminated, but cumulative trauma claims are allowed. Alex Swedlow, president of the California Workers Compensation Institute, said Newsoms order may cover 85% of the states workforce. He pointed to two areas of concern in emails. The requirement that workers file claims within 14 days of their last possible work exposure may prove problematic if testing remains limited, he said. The order also requires employers to decide whether to accept or deny a COVID-19 claim within 30 days. Normally the deadline is 90 days. The 30-day window makes it easier to file a claim so you can expect more low end severity claims, Swedlow said in an email. That said, California is doing relatively well in terms of COVID cases. The accepted claim can still be challenged after the 30 day window if new evidence emerges or with a negative test result. Essential workers Californias residual market insurer, State Compensation Insurance Fund, decided on it own to pay COVID-19 claims for essential workers identified in the governors stay-at-home order on April 20, long before Newsom ordered a presumption. The carrier projects those claims will cost $115 million, a relative trifle when compared to State Funds $6.5 billion policyholder surplus. State Fund President Vern Steiner explained in a blog post that State Funds insured book of business has far fewer first responders and health care workers than the insured population that the WCIRB examined. The bureaus analysis projected much higher infection rates for that population. Further, State Funds estimate envisioned the carrier dropping the presumption once the governor lifts stay-at-home orders that continue to restrict businesses. Steiner said State Fund projects that the order will be lifted in June, while WCIRB projected a presumption continuing for the entire year. Steiner said of of April 27, State Fund had received only 21 claims from its insured book of business, which represents 10.5 percent of the states insured exposure. (The carrier also administers self-insured claims by state government employees.) More than half of those claims has come from one bankrupt hospital system that came to us in January because of their bankruptcy, Steiner said. The majority of those claims are showing a positive COVID-19 test result. The majority of the other claims we have received are showing a negative test result. Sometimes multiple negative results. The State Fund president closed by saying suggesting that with stay-at-home orders in place, there is little grounds to deny claims from workers who were not sent home. From my point of view as soon as the shelter-in-place orders started differentiating exposure for essential workers and the general population I believed that these claims would be compensable unless there was evidence that the exposure came from a non-work related source, Steiner said. I hope the rest of the insurance and self-insured community see this as well. Jennifer Wolf made much the same point in one of her Accidentally podcasts that she posts on the IAIABC website. The public has been asked to stay at home to limit exposure and the spread of disease, she said. It seems difficult to argue that essential workers are not exposed to COVID-19 by the very act of going to work. Wolf went on to say that workers comp loss reserves are built on actuarial projections that did not include a pandemic. Generally, workers compensation is not asked to pay for disability caused by illnesses to which the general public is exposed. Wolf noted that Risk Insurance Management Society on April 20 sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking for legislation to create a federal backstop that would allow businesses to recoup unprecedented business-interruption losses. She said a similar mechanism could be employed for workers comp. The Pandemic Risk Insurance Act, a draft bill introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., would provide a federal loss-sharing program for insurance claims relating to losses resulting from a certified pandemic or epidemic, according to RIMS, which supports the legislation. Footing the bill While some wait for Congress to come to the rescue, California employers are unhappy that the governor is forcing them to foot the bill for more worker claims. The California Chamber of Commerce said in a statement that Congress has already expanded the safety net for workers sickened by COVID-19 through emergency legislation that expands unemployment benefits and mandates 10 work days of paid sick leave, with the cost reimbursed by the U.S. Treasury. It seems that the governors goals can be achieved using federal dollars without placing even more financial strain on California employers, the Chamber said in a statement. Imposing a legal presumption that any employee who contracts the coronavirus is covered by workers compensation benefits shifts the cost of this pandemic to employers. The Workers Compensation Action network, which advocates for California employers, acknowledged that Newsom had mitigated the cost of his presumption order by limiting its duration to 60 days and requiring workers to present a confirmed diagnosed within 14 days of work. Our fundamental concern with a broad suspension of the work-causation standard is that it distorts the basic bargain of workers comp and makes employers responsible for COVID-19 cases contracted outside of work, said WCAN spokesman Jerry Azevedo in a prepared statement. Even rebuttable presumptions undermine the ability of employers to determine whether the illness is related to work. The practical result is that employers will pay workers comp benefits for COVID-19 even where there is no evidence it was related to work. Diana Rich, a public member representing California employers on the WCIRBs board of directors, said the impact of the pandemic on Californias workers is mitigated somewhat by the states best-in-the-state disability insurance plan. She said shes not in favor of Newsoms directive, as presumptions are another step toward socialized medicine. But Rich said she agreed with Wolf that national lawmakers should start planning for a federal backstop for workers comp. She said she doesnt know of anything can be passed soon enough to take care of this years batch of COVID claims, but that doesnt mean the nation cannot prepare for another pandemic. This is a good effort, to look to the future, she Rich said. Im glad to see people looking ahead and making plans now. Rockin' R River Rides River recreation is officially allowed under the state's plan to reopen Texas, and and some tubers wasted no time. Rockin' R River Rides, a popular tube and kayak outfitter, shared a video with mySA of the first weekend on the Guadalupe since officials allowed the reopening of rivers, lakes, beaches and parks in Texas. Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category Visitors in face masks streamed into Shanghai Disneyland as the park reopened today in a high-profile step toward reviving tourism, AP reports. Why it matters: The House of Mouse's experience in Shanghai, the first of its parks to reopen, foreshadows hurdles global leisure industries might face. Disney is limiting visitor numbers, requiring masks and checking for the virus' telltale fever. Photo: Sam McNeil/AP Decals on sidewalks and at lines for attractions show visitors where to stand to keep themselves separated. The company said rides will be limited to one group of visitors per car to keep strangers apart. Advance reservations are required and visitors are assigned times to enter. The company said guest numbers will be limited to one-third of the usual daily level of 80,000 at the start and will gradually increase. Go deeper: U.S. Disney parks might not reopen until next year (UPDATE: State agency suspends license of Owosso barber who defied coronavirus order closing non-essential businesses) (UPDATE: State seeks new court hearing after judge rules in favor of Owosso barber shop) OWOSSO, MI -- A crowd massed outside Karl Mankes barber shop let out cheers after attorney David A. Kallman delivered some good news for the businessman. Kallman confirmed Shiawassee County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Stewart had turned down a complaint by the Michigan Attorney Generals Office filed Monday, May 11 to obtain a temporary restraining order against the business. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issued a Health Protection Order on May 8, against Karl Mankes Barber & Beauty Shop, 421 W. Main St., in Owosso, and made the move for the temporary restraining order in court after he did not close. Manke reopened May 4 in defiance of one of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers executive orders. One of the dozens of executive orders has led to the closure of barber shops and salons amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Owosso barber says shop will stay open 'until Jesus walks in or until they arrest me "The next step now would depend on if the (Attorney General) appeals or not, said Kallman. I dont know if theyre going to, but for our point of view, the next step is two criminal charges pending against him in district court for misdemeanors. Manke reopened last week and has received two citations for violation of the order. Those who violate the order are subject to a 90-day misdemeanor and/or a $500 fine. Kallman said he would file motions to dismiss those citations at a June 23 court hearing. Addressing the media Monday afternoon outside his shop, Manke said he had some fear prior to reopening the business. Owosso barber confirms he was ticketed by police for opening shop Id gone six weeks without a paycheck with no money coming in. Ive been in this business 59 years...Im 77. Ive always worked, he commented. Ive never looked for handouts. I dont even know what they are. I had somebody call me and say why dont you get on food stamps. I dont want to get on food stamps. I want to work. Manke grew emotional when talking about the outpouring of support. I came into this last Monday alone, thinking Im going to swing in the wind alone, he said, calling the governors order to keep non-essential businesses closed oppressive and he doesnt need to be mothered by lawmakers. I cannot believe the support that Ive got. Its overwhelming." A message from MLive-The Flint Journal to the Attorney Generals Office for comment was not immediately returned. Kallman referenced the lawsuits filed by state legislators in opposition of the governors executive orders made after the state of emergency expired April 30. Hes also filed a lawsuit against the orders on behalf of churches, pastors, churchgoers and a former Republican delegate. Churches sue Whitmer, claim coronavirus orders hinder religious gatherings despite exceptions Were seeing this around the state, where people are finally saying enough is enough, he said. If you can walk down the aisles at Walmart...you can walk down the aisles at a church, you can walk down the aisles at Karls barber shop and practice the same physical distancing, hand washing, all the things weve been hearing on and on. Kallman had said in a statement issued earlier in the day they would fight the case all the way up to the Supreme Court, if necessary. Michigan House, Senate sue Gov. Whitmer after she extends state of emergency without their approval When asked if people may get sick coming to the barber shop, Manke said everyone is responsible for themselves. If people dont feel safe, then I think they should stay home, he said. Manke said it would take heaven and earth moving to get him to shut down. Im going to stay open until Jesus comes, he quipped. Whitmer issues orders extending state of emergency without support of legislature Hungarys law on the response measures to the novel coronavirus epidemic has stood the test of the rule of law and it has been proven that the freedom of the press is not under threat in the country, the justice minister said in an interview to the Saturday edition of daily Magyar Nemzet. Judit Varga said the reason behind her recent op-ed for German conservative daily Die Welt was that she was aware of how Hungary was depicted in the press and readers needed balanced reporting so that they could decide the truth for themselves. The minister recommended everyone should be brave and true to their own principles. She said honesty had a liberating effect in western Europe, adding, at the same time, that the presumption of guilt was regularly applied to Hungary in the European Union. Varga said it was reasonable to question the legitimacy of an upcoming European parliamentary session on Hungary that had also been backed by European Peoples Party MEPs. Meanwhile, she said the German constitutional courts decision to overrule a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) would be seen as a landmark ruling. Lawyers had long waited for the moment when it came time to decide who gets to have the final say when the authority of an EU and a national body are in conflict with one another, the minister said. Who has the right to decide who gets to decide on which matters? According to our stance based on the concept of strong nation-states it is certainly the sovereign member state and the ultimate arbiter of these rights is the Constitutional Court, she said. The German constitutional courts ruling strengthened the position that in this sense, the European Union is not equivalent to the united states of Europe. As regards Hungarys law against the spreading of falsehoods in connection with the epidemic, Varga said the essence of the special legal order was that the interests of the community are placed before peoples goals of self-fulfilment. She underlined the need for greater discipline, arguing that with mass communication tools, fake news was just one click away regardless of the consumers geographic location. MTI Photo: Balazs Mohai (Natural News) Public health experts in the U.S. are sounding the alarm on what they believe is an all-but-certain second wave of deaths and infections, as more states are easing their coronavirus lockdown and starting to reopen their economies. If these states are hit with a new surge of coronavirus infections, experts warn that officials would have no choice but to clamp back down. Were risking a backslide that will be intolerable, explains Dr. Ian Lipkin, director of Columbia Universitys Center for Infection and Immunity and one of the countrys foremost infectious-disease experts. A delicate balancing act Since the start of May, governors across the U.S. have begun rolling out plans to relax social distancing measures and reopen businesses. At the height of the restrictions, over 300 million Americans were affected with stay-at-home orders. But recent cell phone data revealed that people are leaving home more often, a trend that worries public health experts. Its worth noting that many states dont have measures in place for detecting and containing new outbreaks. Public health officials say that using these measures effectively can help policymakers decide on how to reopen the economy. In practice, however, the plan will require massive testing that is unlikely to be available soon. In addition, contact tracing also presents a unique set of challenges. The effectiveness of manual contact tracing, for instance, is highly dependent on external factors, such as the response rate of people and their willingness to self-isolate. Digital contact tracing wherein a persons digital footprint will be used to track his movement has been touted as a highly effective method to predict the spread of coronavirus, but it also raises ethical questions, particularly about privacy. In addition, governors have already unveiled measures to revitalize their states, even as they have yet to report a 14-day decline in new illnesses and infections a key benchmark in the White Houses guidelines for reopening. Lipkin is particularly concerned about the reopening of bars and large gatherings, which he says are ideal conditions for a widespread outbreak. To prevent it from happening, he says that aggressive contact testing is required a measure that will need even more health workers, a resource that the U.S. does not have at the moment. The U.S. has over 1.3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 80,000 deaths as of May 11, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Coronavirus models, however, predict that death tolls could reach well over 100,000. The University of Washingtons Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates 134,242 total deaths by August, while Northeastern Universitys MOBS model forecasts around 89,000 deaths by mid-May even with stay-at-home orders in place. Its clear to me that we are in a critical moment of this fight. We risk complacency and accepting the preventable deaths of 2,000 Americans each day, said Caitlin Rivers, a public health expert at Johns Hopkins University. States ramp up measures to fight coronavirus spread Across the U.S., both federal and state governments are rolling out measures to stymie the spread of coronavirus. On Wednesday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended the statewide stay-at-home order until May 28, saying that the state isnt out of the woods yet. This is an important step forward on our MI Safe Start plan to re-engage our economy safely and responsibly. Employees in manufacturing plants, however, will be allowed to return to work, and people with multiple in-state homes can resume travel between them. In California, state officials in Orange County reopened all of the countys beaches, even as Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered these to be shut down last week. The countys board of supervisors argued that the governor made the decision to close beaches based on deceptive newspaper photographs that made it appear the beachgoers were closer together. Visit Pandemic.news for all the latest updates on COVID-19. Sources include: APNews.com USAToday.com Bloomberg.com Coronavirus.JHU.edu COVID19.HealthData.org DailyMail.co.uk TheEpochTimes.com 1 TheEpochTimes.com 2 We conservatives have fought diligently in Eastern Montana to keep Republicans-In-Name-Only out of the legislature, it is not lost on us that there are also races in Western Montana that can tip the scales of power to the left. And no race has concerned me more than that between Nancy Ballance and Theresa Manzella. I was somewhere between amused and horrified to see photographs of Ballance's fliers go out to area voters alleging that Manzella was an F-rated Republican. Even more astounding than the fabricated scorecard was Ballance's attempt to paint Manzella as the liberal in this race. As someone who pays close attention to races all over the state, I felt it was important to share the real truth about this race and about Ballance's scorecard. Nancy Ballance received an F-grade from an actual and non-fabricated party-loyalty scoring organization, Legistats. The impartial and computer-generated program gave Ballance an F because she crossed over with Democrats to vote against Republicans an amazing 219 times in the last session alone. And these werent inconsequential procedural votes, but crucial votes in which Republicans stood on one side and Democrats (and Nancy Ballance) on the other. If SD44 voters want a Democrat or a far-left Republican, they should vote for Nancy Ballance, but her attempts to paint her Theresa Manzella as less-than-conservative is unethical and dishonest. Jordan Hall Sidney Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 Is there one symptom that can more or less point towards a coronavirus infection? According to Swiss journal, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, there is indeed one such symptom. A research conducted by the journal suggests that there is a correlation between a person's severity of symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath with the severity of loss of smell. Ahmad Sedaghat, MD and Associate Professor and researcher for the University of Cincinnati's College of Medicine, said that 61 per cent complained of reduced or lost sense of smell. "If the anosmia, also known as loss of smell, is worse, the patients reported worse shortness of breath and more severe fever and cough," Sedaghat said in a statement. Also read: Coronavirus Live Updates: PM Modi's 5th video conference with CMs begins; India tally 67,152 Loss of smell can also help doctors determine how long the patient has been infected for. He said that if someone has a reduced sense of smell then it signifies that he or she is within the first week of the disease course and there could be another week or two to deal with. Also read: Coronavirus cure: Cipla, Dr Reddy's in race to manufacture Gilead's Remdesivir in India Speaking about a treatment for coronavirus, Sedaghat said that experimental drugs such as Gilead's remdesivir can only be effective if the person is diagnosed early. "Antiviral medications have historically worked best when given early during a viral infection. The same is hypothesised to be true for remdesivir," Sedaghat said in his statement. He added that once remdesivir is more widely available, decreased sense of smell could help in identifying patients who would be excellent candidates for the medication. However, the researcher has said that loss of smell is not the sole or definitive symptom for coronavirus as some do not experience loss of smell at all. Additionally, loss of smell alone is not harmful. He says that if one experiences other COVID symptoms too, that's when they should be alarmed. Also read: Coronavirus vaccine: 30 candidates in different stages of development, researchers tell PM Modi BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11 Trend: General information As it is known due to the rapid spread of Coronavirus infection (COVID 19) around the world, most countries have taken serious measures, air and land borders between countries have been closed and trade relations have been limited. Many companies suspended their activities and have applied to remote working. A special quarantine regime has been applied in Azerbaijan as well, the movement of people has been restricted and most companies have been suspended their activities. At the same time Azerbaijan has closed its air and land borders with neighboring countries. As a result of the measures taken within the framework of the special quarantine regime, some companies may have some difficulties in connection with the fulfillment of their obligations. Therefore it is necessary to clarify whether the special quarantine regime is a force majeure or not. Azerbaijani Legislation First of all, let's clarify definition of "force majeure". The literal translation from French means "greater force". The legislation of Azerbaijan does not use a single term related to force majeure institution. For example, the term of "force majeure" clause is not used in our Civil Code at all. Nevertheless, the term "irresistible force" of the same nature has been used. Lets view provisions related to force majeure / irresistible force in our legislation: Article 448.4 of the Civil Code The debtor shall not be liable for the violation of the obligation, if he proves that the violation was caused by the circumstances beyond its control and that he was not able to take into account thereof at the time of the conclusion of the contract or to expect until he can exclude or eliminate the said circumstance and its consequences.... Article 557.1 of the Civil Code If as a result of an act adopted by a state or municipal body, the performance of the obligation is completely or partially impossible, the term of performance of the obligation is extended, then the obligation shall be totally or relevantly terminated... Article 1.0.9 of the Custom Code - force majeure - emergency situations, natural disasters or social and political events which are in advance unpredictable and prevent and slowdown individuals from performance of their obligations as a result of the impossibility of avoidance them in appropriate conditions. Sample of the Procurement contract for goods (works and services) (Article 21.2) approved by the Resolution No.34 of the Cabinet of Ministers dated 28 February 2003 Impacts of irresistible force include events that are not controlled by the Customer and Contractor, do not occur as a result of their fault or negligence, and are unpredictable. These include wars or revolutions, floods, epidemics, epizootics, quarantines, embargoes, state and governmental decisions, and other related cases. Article 6 of the Model Form of the agreement on payment of earmarked funds from the state budget to public legal entities established on behalf of the state - The parties shall not be liable for failure to perform their obligations, if force majeure effects the execution of the contract. Force majeure is the events, which are beyond the control of the contracting parties and are not occurred as a result of their fault or negligence and are unpredictable. These include wars or revolutions, epidemics, epizootics, quarantines, floods, earthquakes, other natural disasters and emergency situations, embargoes, also significant changes in the legislation affecting the terms of the contract, decisions of state bodies (institutions). In particular, we would like to emphasize that in the Civil Code, irresistible force is mainly reflected as a case(s) that stops the flow of time, excludes liability, and the basis for termination of the contract. Lets consider the following articles of the Civil Code: Article 379.1.1 as a case that stops the flow of the claim period; as a case that stops the flow of the claim period; Article 588.2 as a case that excludes the seller's liability for quality guarantee; as a case that excludes the seller's liability for quality guarantee; Articles 813 v 831.3 as a case that respectively excludes liability of commission agent and owners of the hotel or restaurant; as a case that respectively excludes liability of commission agent and owners of the hotel or restaurant; Article 847.1 as a basis for termination of the contract by carrier or passenger; as a basis for termination of the contract by carrier or passenger; Articles 1108.1, 1111.2 v 1131 liability is excluded if it is proved that the damage was caused by irresistible force. Along with the Civil Code, the term irresistible force was used in the Merchant Shipping Code, Law on Environmental Protection, Law on Transport, Law on Motor Transport and Rules of trade, catering, household and other services in the Republic of Azerbaijan. Additionally it is referred to the term of force majeure in the Law on Post (Art.17.4.1), Law on Energy (Art.25), Law on Electricity (Art.11), Law on Subsoil (Art.18), Law on Electricity and Heating Stations (Art.7) and Law on Patents (Art.20). Similar definitions We noted that definitions of irresistible force and force majeure have the same nature. However, there is a definition of significant change of circumstances in the Civil Code, which is sometimes mixed up with the definition of force majeure. But these definitions are different. This issue is reflected in the Decision of the Plenum of the Constitutional Court dated 7 September 2018: We should distinguish significant change of circumstances from irresistible force (force majeure event). Thus, while irresistable force makes performance of the contractual obligations impossible, a significant change of circumstances leads to the performance of obligations under extremely difficult conditions and does not eliminate the possibility of its performance. In this case, the execution of the obligation is possible. But such an execution becomes economically loaded for the one party or all the parties as result of significant change of circumstances that existed at the time of the conclusion of the contract. Significant change of circumstances means change of the economic, legal and other factors in the country which existed at the time of the conclusion of the contract and are independent from parties. Agreement on production sharing Agreements on production sharing, which are widely used in the oil and gas industry, also contain a "force majeure" clause. The provisions governing force majeure are the same or similar in almost all agreements. For example, according to the Article 21.1. of the Agreement on the Exploration, Development and Production sharing for the Shafag - Asiman offshore block in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian sea Non-performance or delays in performance on the part of any Party of its obligations (or any part thereof) under this Agreement, other than the obligation to pay money, shall be excused if occasioned or caused by Force Majeure. Force Majeure means any event which prevents, hinders or impedes Petroleum Operations and is beyond the ability of the affected Party to control such event or its consequences using reasonable efforts, including without limitation, extraordinary events, natural disasters (for example lightning and earthquake), wars (declared or undeclared) or other military activity, jurisdictional change with respect to the Contract Area, fire, labour disputes, insurrections, rebellions, acts of terrorism, riot, civil commotion, and laws, treaties, rules, regulations, decrees, orders, actions or inactions of any governmental authority which prevent hinder or impede Contractors conduct of operations or which substantially impairs or threatens Contractors rights under this Agreement ... Private international law According to the Article 7.1.7 of the UNIDROIT Principles of the International Commercial Contracts, non-performance by a party is excused if that party proves that the nonperformance was due to an impediment beyond its control and that it could not reasonably be expected to have taken the impediment into account at the time of the conclusion of the contract or to have avoided or overcome it or its consequences. When the impediment is only temporary, the excuse shall have effect for such period as is reasonable having regard to the effect of the impediment on the performance of the contract. The Publication No. 650 of the International Chamber of Commerce also discusses force majeure and significant changes in circumstances. For additional information you can use the following link: https://iccwbo.org/content/uploads/sites/3/2017/02/ICC-Force-Majeure-Hardship-Clause.pdf Practical problems, solutions and recommendations As you can see force majeure situation is not regulated in detail in the legislation of Azerbaijan. There is a need to improve the legislation in that part, to generalize the judical practice on force majeure and to interpret Articles 448.4 and 557.1 of the Civil Code by the Constitutional Court. As explained, the lack of a clear definition of "force majeure" in the legislation can lead to disputes. If a dispute arises between the parties over which force majeure circumstances are considered, of course, you must first pay attention to the contract. In general, in order to avoid such a dispute, we recommend that the force majeure situation be regulated in detail in the contract. If the contract does not regulate the force majeure in detail, then we will have to refer to the above-mentioned provisions. A party facing difficulties in fulfilling its obligations under the quarantine regime and wishing to rely on force majeure shall be obliged to prove the followings: The violation arises from the act that the party is not responsible; The inability of the party to take this into account at the time of the conclusion of the contract; The inability of the party to overcome this situation and eliminate its consequences; Informing adverse party about current situation in compliance with the notice period (otherwise, the liability of the parties for non-performance and damages is not excluded). In other words, the party must prove that the reason for non-performance of the obligation under the contract is directly related to the application of a special quarantine regime. The introduction of quarantine regime itself (automatically) does not entail force majeure circumstances. The party should use all reasonable endeavors for performance of its obligation and make every effort to mitigate the risks and losses. Thereafter, the party may refer to the occurrence of force majeure. If the force majeure events last for a long time (this period may vary depending on the nature of the contract. From the perspective of the International Chamber of Commerce, this period is defined as 120 days) the parties may terminate the contract by considering the notice period. In addition, we note that in the event of force majeure, the parties may benefit from alternative dispute resolution methods (mediation, arbitration) by mutual agreement. We also recommend that in the event of a dispute over force majeure, a professional lawyer be engaged at an early stage. Because sometimes the problems are so complex that even when you engage a lawyer, it becomes not that useful. Biography of co-authors: Fuad Gashamov received his bachelor degree in law from Qafqaz University in 2008 and his master degree from Baku State University, International Law Department in 2011. He is a partner at EKVITA and leads Dispute Resolution Practice Group along with Real Estate, Intellectual Property and Regulatory sectors. He is the member of the Bar Association since 2014. Farida Jabrayilova received her bachelor degree in law from Baku State University in 2015 and her Master of Law (LL.M.) degree from Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) in 2016. She is a lawyer at EKVITA. Women call for new laws on digital sex crimes, after Nth Room case exposes vulnerability of young in wired nation. Seoul, South Korea South Korean police on Monday said they had taken a 24-year-old man into custody in connection with the Nth Room, an online sextortion ring that has shocked the nation and driven renewed calls for tougher laws to deal with digital sex crimes. The man has been accused of creating some of the chatrooms that were used by the Nth Room and has not been publicly identified, but police say he has confessed to being the person behind the username God God, which became infamous when the ring was first exposed in March. Three other people, including alleged ringleader Cho Ju-bin, have already been named, and more than 100 people apprehended. These women and children were enslaved, and we have never before imagined such perverted, sadistic, inhumane acts happening here, said Chae Dae-Eun, director of the Korean Women Lawyers Association, which provides free legal assistance to victims of sex crimes. This has really shocked the public. I am a lawyer who has been involved in sex crimes for years, and even I am very shocked. The Nth Room ran on the encrypted messaging service Telegram, and the perpetrators used private information sometimes collected illegally from local government offices to blackmail many women and children into performing sexually explicit acts on camera, with thousands of users paying cryptocurrency to watch. Demanding change The victims included at least 74 women and 16 children referred to as slaves by the perpetrators in a case that has sparked rage, fear and renewed calls for change in a country that is no stranger to high-profile sexual violence. Many women say they are tired of seeing the same headlines over and over again. I was surprised, but at the same time, I wasnt really, because I feel like this kind of stuff has been happening everywhere, all the time, Yudori, a South Korean cartoonist and comic artist who focuses on feminist storytelling, told Al Jazeera English. As long as you paid, anyone could have access to these videos, and it just went on for far too long. Since at least 2012, there have been busts on illegal footage filmed using tiny, pea-sized spy cameras and shared on webhard P2P file-sharing platforms. In 2016, the South Korean government shut down a popular website called Soranet after the mass dissemination of illegally-filmed sexual content (the site had more than a million users). That same year, sexual violence and misogyny became a highly-discussed national issue after a man who said he hated women for belittling him stabbed and killed a 23-year-old woman in Seouls Gangnam Station. Then, in 2018, the national conversation around sexual violence resurged amid South Koreas #MeToo movement and mass protests against spycam porn illegally filmed in public restrooms and sold online. The Nth Room and its many copycat chat rooms, however, have triggered a new level of alarm. People are being struck with utter fear, said Lee Soo-jung, a professor of forensic psychology at Kyonggi University, because theyre realising: My child or loved one could be forced to film a video like that in my own bathroom.' The fear is definitely there, Yudori agreed. My mum even asked my brother if hes ever been in that chatroom. I was upset because my brother is an upstanding citizen, but my mum was like: You never know. That shows how scared people are. Children among perpetrators While the Nth Room is known to have involved at least 16 child victims, South Koreans have also been shocked by the age of some of the perpetrators. Four years ago, the brutal murder of a young woman at the Gangnam Station in Seoul prompted nationwide mourning. The killer said he hated women [File: Yonhap via EPA] More than two million people signed a petition urging the government to release Chos identity. The 24-year-old is now being charged with child pornography, sexual abuse, attempted murder and a litany of other crimes. Meanwhile, others alleged to be involved include children aged between 12 and 17, who are accused of managing copycat chat rooms, distributing videos of the assaults or even selling them online. It remains unclear how law enforcement will deal with them, but Lee, who is consulting legislators on the case, warned the youngsters themselves could be victims. There is a trend of runaway youth becoming perpetrators of crimes and repeat offenders, she said. For example, some of these youth might have run away from home and might form a makeshift family among themselves. These youth often form a group where they eat together, sleep together and live together with the money theyre earning from sex crimes. Personally, I wonder if those kids thought of it as some kind of game some kind of alternate, virtual reality, Chae added. Maybe they saw the victims just as characters, because it was all hidden behind a smartphone, happening in a virtual space. South Koreas court system is notorious for the lenient sentences given to convicted sex offenders. Most of the perpetrators of digital sex crimes are, first of all men, and most of them get off with like either a suspended sentence or a fine. Its actually very rare to see someone get a maximum sentence, said Haeryun Kang, a freelance journalist. Portrait of rage Kang recently created a short film called Color of Rage: The Nth Room, which she calls a portrait of the rage a lot of South Korean women are feeling. After cases like these become national headlines, the government makes a taskforce and all these different politicians come up promising reforms and having crackdowns on these issues, Kang added. Basically, the historic response has been not very proactive or preventative. Thousands took part on protests backing South Koreas #MeToo movement in 2018 [File: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters] On April 29, South Koreas National Assembly passed a string of bills to make digital sex crimes easier to prosecute. Under the new law, those who possess, buy, store or watch illegally-filmed sexual content can be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison or 30 million won ($24,660). Before the new legislation was enacted, it was not illegal to possess such content. In the case of the Nth Room, lawyers and experts like Chae are still faced with difficult legal grey areas because the perpetrators forced the victims to violate themselves; an area not specifically addressed under the law. The attacker might be found not guilty because of the lack of relevant laws, Chae said. We need to revise the law to punish those who committed sexual crimes by ordering victims to perform sexual acts on themselves, and it needs to be treated as a direct sexual crime. However, the Nth Room may prove a turning point for South Korea, which is becoming increasingly disturbed by sexual assault and other organised crime that is taking place on peoples phones and computer screens not just in shadowy alleys or illegal brothels. Police officers check a womens restroom in Seoul as part of a campaign to root out sex crimes making use of hidden cameras {file: Yonhap via EPA] I think theres a real lack of awareness for digital sex crimes, Lee said. But I think the Nth Room incident contributed the most to changing or shifting peoples understanding. I do feel like scandals like the Nth room are fuelling the anger that women have and the support for feminism, Kang agreed. Mitch S Shin contributed to this report. Prince Guillaume called the birth 'the most magical thing' and 'an incredible day' New father could barely contain his delight as he revealed the news to media He welcomed first child with his wife Princess Stephanie yesterday morning The Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, 38, is heir to the Luxembourg throne Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg, the heir to the throne, and his wife Princess Stephanie have welcomed their first child. The Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, 38, revealed the Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie of Luxembourg, 35, gave birth to a son yesterday, with the new father barely able to contain his delight when announcing the news during a broadcast interview. Discussing the birth, Prince Guillaume said it was 'probably the most incredible day that we will have in our life', adding: 'To be able to greet the child that comes into one's life is the most magical thing, parenting, a couple can have.' The couple shared the news that their son will be called Charles Jean Philippe Joseph Marie Guillaume, before photographs were shared as the newborn met his grandparents the Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa over a video call. Prince Guillaume, 38, the heir to the Luxembourg throne, and his wife, Princess Stephanie, 35, (pictured together), have welcomed their first child In a statement released yesterday on Twitter, the Luxembourg royals said they were 'delighted to announce the birth' of their son on Sunday. It read: 'The Hereditary couple is delighted to announce the birth of their son this Sunday, May 10, 2020 at 5:13 a.m. at the Maternity Grande-Duchesse Charlotte in Luxembourg. 'The baby will bear the first names of Charles Jean Philippe Joseph Marie Guillaume. 'The child weighs 3.190 kg and is 50 cm tall.' In a video interview given outside the hospital, Prince Guillaume was barely able to contain his excitement about the 'magical experience' Shortly afterwards, Prince Guillaume spoke with the media about the birth from outside the hospital, with the new father bubbling with excitement over the news. He said that the couple were 'delighted' to be 'living and sharing' the experience with Luxembourg, particularly because of the challenges of the current coronavirus pandemic. He explained: 'We are delighted to [have this experience] at a time that is difficult for families that have been separated but in the next weeks will see each other again. 'A birth is a message of hope, it's a blessing. This is what we are so happy to share with Luxembourg and all the different countries.' The couple went on to share snaps as they introduced their newborn son to the Prince Guillaume's parents Grand Duke and Duchess over a video call Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa appeared delighted as they met their new grandson, and fifth grandchild, over video call And later, photographs were shared on Instagram of the moment the Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg met their new grandson for the first time over video-call. In the snaps, the couple can be seen video-calling the new parents, beaming as they met the newborn. Meanwhile in other photographs, Prince Guillaume can be seen cradling the baby in his arms. Posting the snaps online, the Luxembourg royals said there had been 'great delight' and 'great emotions' despite their first greeting being 'only a digital encounter.' Despite only being able to meet their new grandson over video call due to the coronavirus pandemic, the couple said the meeting was 'emotionally charged' The caption read: 'In anticipation of being able to take the baby to the arm, the happy grandparents admired their grandson for the first time, under the gaze of his happy parents, the hereditary grand-ducal couple.' The couple announced they were pregnant with their first child in December last year. There has long been speculation about when the royal couple would be starting a family, with the pairing tying the knot in a lavish affair in 2012 after two years of dating. The history of Luxembourg's royal family Luxembourg is a constitutional monarchy in which the Grand Duke holds executive power and bills only become law with his signature. Its monarchy is one of the youngest in Europe and began in 1815 following the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Full independence under the Grand Dukes came just under 20 years later, when the Treaty of London enshrined Luxembourg's existence in international law and ended years of rule by the Burgundians, French, Prussians and the Dutch. Although part of Luxembourg was later incorporated into what would, in 1839, become Belgium, the country remained intact through the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the First and Second World Wars. In 1890 the grand duchy passed to Adolf, Duke of Nassau who ruled until 1905 - he was famed for his efforts to strengthen the territory's autonomy. But, during the war, Luxembourg was occupied by German troops. The royal family fled and a government-in-exile was established in London. In 1964 Grand Duchess Charlotte abdicated in favour of her son, who becomes Grand Duke Jean. In 2000, Crown Prince Henri became Grand Duke of Luxembourg on the abdication of his father, Jean. Crown Prince Henri remains in his position today. Much of the executive power lies with the prime minister - a grand duke appointee - and his cabinet. The duchy's figurehead remains a powerful and influential figure. Advertisement Princess Stephanie told French magazine Point de Vue in 2016 that she didn't 'have any plans to become a mother. For the moment, I'm enjoying spending time with my husband.' Prince Guillaume is the eldest child of Grand Duke Henri Luxembourg and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and the heir to the Luxembourg throne. His child will follow him in the line of succession for the throne, pushing Guillaume's four siblings - Prince Felix, Prince Louis, Princess Alexandra and Prince Sebastien - further down the list. Prince Guillaume said the birth was 'the most magical thing' as he and wife Princess Stephanie became parents for the first time (pictured together) The couple's special news comes after a difficult 2019, which saw the passing of Guillaumes grandfather, Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg. The Grand Duke, who died last April at the age of 98, surrounded by his family, abdicated in 2000 in favour of his son Henri. He was a soldier in the British army during the Second World War, and participated at the D-Day landings. Justice Department prosecutor Brandon Van Grack withdrew from his position as federal counsel on a handful of court cases after allegedly withholding potentially exonerating evidence from the trial of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.Van Grack, who worked on ex-special counsel Robert Mueller's team, withdrew from at least three cases on Thursday, the most conspicuous being the DOJ prosecution of Flynn, a former adviser to President Trump. The DOJ did not state a reason in the filings for Van Grack's withdrawals, and a department spokeswoman declined to comment after an inquiry by The Daily Wire.Soon After Van Grack withdrew from Flynn's case, the DOJ filed to dismiss the case. Because Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017, the case remains active pending a decision from D.C. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan. Flynn's defense team moved to withdraw his guilty plea on Jan. 31, asserting that he did not lie to the FBI.Van Grack's filings and the DOJ motion to dismiss the case came weeks after unsealed FBI documents showed that agents had strategized whether a Jan. 24, 2017, interview with Flynn was aboutAfter the interview, the FBI went on to accuse Flynn of violating the Logan Act, a 1799 law that was only used in one indictment before Flynn's case and was never used in a criminal prosecution.Van Grack, who heads DOJ's Foreign Agents Registration Act unit, had been obligated for over two years before the FBI notes on Flynn's meeting were unsealed to provide all evidence potentially favorable to Flynn's defense to the court, even if the prosecutors believe the evidence to not be material. To not do so is a violation of the Brady rule for criminal proceedings.The prosecution had for months told the court that all so-called exculpatory evidence had been turned over to the court. In an October 2019 filing, Van Grack stated that his teamaccording to Fox News In light of the new evidence, Van Grack faced a torrent of criticism from Flynn's allies and others that the lead prosecutor had hidden evidence favorable to the defendant to help the prosecution, according to The Washington Examiner In other FBI documents unsealed last month, former FBI agent and head of counterintelligence Peter Strozk was revealed to have intervened in the investigation of Flynn to keep it open despite a lack of "derogatory information" on him. On Jan. 4, 2017, the same day FBI investigators moved to stop the inquiry into Flynn, Strozk sent a text to an FBI case manager directing him keep the probe into Flynn open until FBI leadershipStrozk was fired from the FBI in August 2018 after it was revealed he sent a number of anti-Trump texts while working on Mueller's team investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church has once again kicked against the continued closure of Churches in Nigeria due to coronavirus pandemic. Days ago, the clergyman spoke against the closure of Churches while markets are allowed to operate after the Federal Government eased the lockdown period. In the video below, Bishop Oyedepo stated that the doors to Churches are declared open and that anyone against it will die. The doors to churches across Nations are again declared opened this morning. Can I tell you this? Hunger is far more devastating than any virus that will ever visit the earth. It kills silently. There is no vaccine for hunger. There is no medical solution to hunger. Hunger has no treatment than to have food and Spiritual famine is far more devastating. That is what the devil is looking for but he has failed. The church is back on its feet. Anyone who hates to see that dies for it. The church of Christ on the earth is liberated. Spiritual famine shall not have its way. Can I tell the world, no one has the answer to a problem like Jesus, he said Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The warning comes as several nations begin to ease coronavirus restrictions and reopen their economies. The World Health Organization (WHO) has hailed dwindling COVID-19 infection rates and deaths in some countries, but called on nations to show extreme vigilance as they begin loosening restrictions. Swathes of Europe began the long process of reopening from coronavirus lockdowns on Monday, with officials in countries like France and Spain emboldened by declining death rates. Germany earlier reported an acceleration in new coronavirus infections after it took initial steps to ease its lockdown. South Korea, another country that had won widespread international praise for its success in limiting virus infections, has seen a new outbreak in nightclubs. Now we are seeing some hope as many countries exit these so-called lockdowns, Dr Mike Ryan, head of the WHOs emergencies programme, told an online news briefing. But he added that extreme vigilance is required. If the disease persists at a low level without the capacity to investigate clusters, theres always the risk that the virus takes off again, he said. 200510204603804 Ryan said he was hopeful that Germany and South Korea would be able to suppress new clusters and praised their surveillance, which he said was key to avoiding large second waves. Its really important that we hold up examples of countries who are willing to open their eyes and willing to keep their eyes open, he said. In contrast, he said other countries, without naming them, were trying to drive through this blindly. WHO Directo-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the same briefing that lifting restrictions was complex and difficult and that the slow, steady lifting of lockdowns was key to protecting lives and livelihoods. Tedros said that Germany, South Korea and China which has reported a new cluster in its original epicentre, Wuhan all had systems in place to respond to any resurgence in cases. Until there is a vaccine, the comprehensive package of measures is our most effective set of tools to tackle the virus, Tedros said. Herd immunity warning The WHO warned against the notion in some countries that even if they do not take the measures needed to halt the spread of the virus, their populations will quickly build so-called herd immunity. Early serological studies reflect that a relatively low percentage of the population has antibodies to COVID-19, Tedros said, pointing out that this means most of the population is still susceptible to the virus. More than 90 so-called serological studies, which reveal the presence of antibodies in the blood to determine whether a person has had a past infection, were being conducted in several countries. Maria van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, said that while the UN agency has not yet been able to critically evaluate the studies, initial data released showed that between one and 10 percent of people had antibodies. There seems to be a consistent pattern so far that a low proportion of people have these antibodies, she said. Ryan agreed, saying the early results belied the widely-held assumption that most cases of the virus were mild and going undetected. Preliminary results were showing the opposite that the proportion of people with significant clinical illness is actually a higher proportion than previously thought, he said, stressing that this is a serious disease. This idea that maybe countries that have lax measures will all of a sudden magically reach some herd immunity, and so what if we lose a few old people along the way is a really dangerous, dangerous calculation, he said. The state government is set to increase COVID-19 testing at prisons across Victoria, as inmates express fears about the prospect of the virus getting in. It comes as the Supreme Court ruled authorities had seemingly failed in their duty of care to protect a prisoner from coronavirus. One prison is already in lockdown, it emerged on Monday, after three prisoners returned inconclusive tests for coronavirus. The trio, inmates at the Hopkins Correctional Centre at Ararat, have since tested negative. Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat. Credit:Justin McManus Initial testing indicated low levels of the virus in the three prisoners. They were each re-tested twice, with all returning negative results. Do we have any idea why Trotskyites are fighting this so hard?, I was asked earlier this year regarding the Socialist Equality Partys sensible criticisms of the New York Times Magazines 1619 Project. The harder question to answer is why does the Pulitzer Prize committee love it so much? The 1619 Project (a new profile of which is available at InfluenceWatch) was nominated last month for one of the prestigious journalism awards. It won in the category of Commentary last week. The Timess 100-page 1619 Project asserts that much of modern America (including health care policy, capitalism itself and more) to be a failed legacy of slavery. The project director told interviewers it was a conscious effort to advocate for slavery reparations. The New York Times editor said it was about pushing back against Trump. But a handful of prominent historiansmany with Ivy League affiliations who have already won Pulitzers for historybegan telling the Socialist Equality Partys World Socialist Web Site that 1619 was riddled with significant errors. Their criticisms grew to a chorus of at least 17 major academic names co-signed on two (so far unsuccessful) efforts to get the Times to retract the mistakes. Though largely unknown to those not part of it, todays radical left is deeply split between race warriors and class warriors. In its strident attacks on the anti-capitalist 1619 Project, the capitalism-denouncing Socialist Equality Party (which identifies ideologically with the Russian Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky) has been fighting a rare high-profile battle in what has been a hostile and otherwise obscure decades-old dispute between rival radical left factions. Class warriors like the Socialist Equality Party are the traditional radical left who adhere to Marxs workers of the world, unite! theology. They hope to rile up the working class to overthrow capitalism. Unlike mainstream center-left and radical-left race warriors, class warriors perceive appeals to racial or ethnic identity as dangerously dividing the workers rather than uniting them. As a Socialist Equality Party spokesperson recently said to the Wall Street Journal: The interests of a black worker on the line in an auto plant and a white worker are fundamentally the same, and a million miles from the interests of an Oprah Winfrey or a Hillary Clinton. Pure class warriors are harder to find these days (their current moment in the 1619 Project limelight notwithstanding). But race warriors are everywhereobviously even in the editorial offices of the New York Times. A textbook example from the more radical left is BAMNyet another Trotsky-inspired group that goes by the formal name of The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary. As that mouthful implies, BAMN is deep into identity politics. They fan the flames of ethnic and racial division, preach capitalism as the cause of the pain, and hope to rile up an army of the racially oppressed as the vanguard of a revolution. BAMN was founded in the mid-1990s as a reaction against the ultimately successful effort to repeal affirmative action at Californias state universities. In the early 2000s they set up shop in Michigan in a futile effort to fight the same battle. BAMN has repeatedly participated in angry disturbances and near-riots that have shut down meetings such as those at the University of Michigan Board of Regents, and the Michigan Board of Canvassers. They were on the scene in early 2017 when riots and threats of angry demonstrations at UC Berkley shut down two speeches by right wing culture agitators Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulos. Even Charles Murray, a much less pugnacious 70-something scholar from the American Enterprise Institute, was subjected to a BAMN-fueled October 2017 disruptive protest at the University of Michigan. The 1619 Project was high-caliber ammunition for the propaganda guns of race warrior leftists such as BAMN. But those cannons rip through the dreams of radical left class warriors as well as capitalists. A passionate September 2019 manifesto on the World Socialist Web Site charged the 1619 Project with being a politically motivated falsification of history that legitimizes the effort of the Democratic Party to construct an electoral coalition based on the prioritizing of personal identitiesi.e., gender, sexual preference, ethnicity, and, above all, race. That this offense was committed by the New York Times wasnt a coincidence to the three authors of the piece, who ripped the newspaper for being a mouthpiece of the Democratic Party and the privileged upper-middle-class layers it represents. Criticizing BAMN specifically in 2011, a World Socialist Web Site essay accused it of being a middle class protest organization that allies itself with Democrats on issues such as identity and racial politics. So, the answer to my colleagues question is that the Trotskyites are fighting the same battles he is. Their criticisms quoted above regarding the 1619 Project, the New York Times and the agenda of the Democratic Party are mostly shared by libertarians and the right-of-center. The identity politics that has infected the mainstream media and mainstream left threatens to ruin America with racial animosity. Thats an outcome neither capitalists nor true commies hope to see. Prasanta Mazumdar By Express News Service GUWAHATI: A man in Tripura travelled more than 900 km and spent hard-earned Rs 30,000 to reach home by a car from Assam but people in his neighbourhood denied him entry on the suspicion that he was a patient of COVID-19. His wife too was opposed to his entering the house as she was allegedly pressurized by the neighbours. The man, Gobinda Debnath (37), was screened by health officials when he arrived on the Assam-Tripura inter-state border on Sunday. As he showed no symptoms for the disease, he was allowed to travel into the state that shares a border with Bangladesh. However, when he reached the housing complex where his wife and kid stay in the house of his mother-in-law, the locals put up a resistance. They made it clear that they would allow him to stay there only after he undergoes 14 days mandatory quarantine at a government facility. Efforts made by the health officials to convince the agitated crowd proved futile. Later, he was sent to a quarantine facility. Ahead of the lockdown, Debnath, who works at a private firm in Tripura capital Agartala, had visited the house of his elder brother in Assams Silapathar to drop their father. He returned alone. FOLLOW CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES HERE "My wife was forced not to allow me to enter the house. She was afraid of the neighbours. They suspected that I was a COVID-19 patient but I was screened on the border. Had I been COVID-19 positive, wouldnt they have sent me to a hospital?," Debnath argued. His wife said she was not interested in "inviting trouble". "I was not pressurized by anyone. I want him to return home after 14 days quarantine. My mother is sick and I have a kid. I cannot give shelter to him now," she said. The woman said her husband travelled the distance even after she had asked him not to come. Dulali Saha, a neighbour, said the lives of the locals could be threatened if Debnath was allowed to stay there now. "If he turns out to be a COVID-19 patient in the next 14 days, our lives will be threatened. Let him come after 14 days," she said. District Health Officer Dr. Sangeeta Chakraborty said the hundreds of people in the locality had not followed the guidelines on social distancing while they were preventing the man from entering the house. "They said he is a COVID-19 patient and asked me to take him wherever I want. They were not ready to accept that he was not a patient. They opposed everything that I said," Dr. Chakraborty said. "We sent him to a quarantine facility but that is not an ideal place for him. He should be in home quarantine," she added. Of the 151 COVID-19 cases in Tripura, 148 were reported from two BSF battalion headquarters. While police were at the scene, a second alarm was activated at Family Express, 1251 Morthland Drive. The alarm indicated the staff was on scene. Police arrived at the location, which also had multiple areas of broken glass. Police confirmed with the employee that the store had been broken into while he was inside and the suspects fled. A look at Westport just before our grand reopening The Pitch dispenser in the middle of Westport // Photo by Samantha Sprouse We've been asking members of the KC community to submit stories about life under house arrest. If you've got a story you'd like to share, please send it to brock@thepitchkc.com for consideration. The pandemic has preyed upon densely populated areas and people piled on top of one another . . . Sadly, those are the key elements of this party district's plan to lure higher paying clientele and not just hobos and social justice activists who demand to hear outdated 90s hip-hop. Read more: KeithBinns/iStockBy JAMES GORDON MEEK and CONOR FINNEGAN, ABC News (NEW YORK) -- The family of an American kidnapped in Afghanistan weeks before the U.S. and the Taliban signed a peace deal in late February is voicing fears that he will be left behind as the Trump administration pushes ahead with its implementation of an agreement to end the 18-year war. Their concerns come amid growing pressure from Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the administration to do more to ensure the release of Mark Frerichs, 57, of Lombard, Illinois, and to halt a dramatic increase in violence between the Taliban and the U.S.-backed Afghan government. President Donald Trump has touted the deal for bringing American troops home. But even as the first few thousand U.S. troops leave, key conditions of the deal have not been met. Two months after the deal, peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban still haven't started, and the 80% reduction in violence that the U.S. Forces in Afghanistan spokesperson said the militants agreed to has been jettisoned, even as the novel coronavirus threatens to overtake the country. Frerichs is a longtime commercial contractor in Afghanistan who was abducted on Jan. 31. He is believed to be held now by the Haqqani Network, a faction of the Afghan Taliban known for killing hundreds of U.S. troops in combat and kidnapping journalists, tourists and former U.S. prisoner of war Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Frerichs, a U.S. Navy diver decades ago, is not a U.S. government contractor or a security operative or adviser, according to a family adviser and confirmed by several U.S. officials familiar with his background. Charlene Cakora, a sister of Frerichs, said their family is pinning hope on the White House, which has successfully negotiated or secured the release of many detained U.S. hostages in Syria and North Korea, across Africa, and others also held by the Haqqani Network, such as professor Kevin King and separately Caitlan Coleman and her children. "We know that President Trump does everything he can to get American hostages home safely. He won't leave Mark behind," she said in a statement to ABC News. "We have faith he won't let his diplomats cut any more deals with the guys holding my brother until they agree to release him." Another American, writer Paul Overby, disappeared in eastern Afghanistan several years ago, and his fate remains unknown as well. But critics say resolving Frerichs' and Overby's fates was brushed aside during the final days of negotiating and signing a deal between the U.S. and Taliban, with some suggesting that chief U.S. negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad did not want to derail the process of ending the war over the two missing U.S. citizens. "The Trump administration has been very strong on hostages and on bringing Americans home, so I was surprised that Khalilzad continued with a peace deal with the Taliban after they took an American citizen hostage during a negotiation. That's a red line to me," Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., also a Green Beret officer, told ABC News on Friday. Khalilzad said Thursday that he raised Frerichs' case in a meeting with Taliban leaders this week, urging "actions necessary to secure [his] freedom." It was the first time the retired ambassador, who served as the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations under former President George W. Bush, has mentioned Frerichs by name, just days after the FBI released a poster about his case, featuring photos of his possible appearance and asking anyone with information to submit a tip. Khalilzad's meeting with the militant group's leadership in Qatar comes amid a stalled peace process and an escalation in violence across the country. In his statement, he didn't say whether progress was made on any front, but that he and his team sought a reduction in violence and humanitarian ceasefire, the "acceleration of prisoner releases by both sides ... and movement to intra-Afghan negotiations ASAP," in addition to Frerichs' release. Those intra-Afghan negotiations haven't happened largely because the Taliban says the Afghan government hasn't released enough of its prisoners. After initially balking at the idea of releasing Taliban fighters, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government has started, but in batches of 15 to 50, not the 5,000 that the U.S.-Taliban deal said would be released by March 10. After a contentious presidential election, Ghani is also still finalizing a power-sharing deal with his political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, which U.S. officials have said is hampering prisoner releases. But more broadly, Trump's deal is imperiled by a major escalation in violence. The United Nations mission in Afghanistan reported a significant increase in attacks in March after the U.S.-Taliban deal was signed on Feb. 29 -- contradicting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's repeated line that the Taliban were meeting their commitments. The U.N. reported over 500 civilians, including 152 children, killed in Afghanistan in the first quarter of 2020. The U.S. and NATO's Resolute Support declined to provide statistics to the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan for the time period since the deal, with Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman saying it's "part of the diplomatic discussions with the Taliban ... and sharing that information would not move the ball forward." But the U.S. military has been vocal about demanding a decrease in violence, including by Afghan and U.S. forces. "Reducing the violence is an absolute necessity -- and this is up to the leaders of all military forces -- Afghan Security Forces, Taliban fighters and, yes, the Coalition. Attacks generate attacks, while restraint produces restraint," U.S. Forces Afghanistan spokesperson Col. Sonny Leggett tweeted on May 2, revealing that "ALL sides" agreed to reduce violence by "as much as 80% to pave the way for peace talks." That contradicts what the Taliban has said -- that they never agreed to halt fire against Afghan security forces except for a week-long nationwide "reduction in violence" in February to get the U.S. to sign the deal. The group's spokesperson provided a brief readout Thursday of Khalilzad's meeting with leader Abdul Ghani Baradar, saying they "focused on the speedy release of prisoners" and made no mention of a ceasefire or reduction in violence. Khalilzad said he'll meet again with Baradar and others after stopping in Pakistan and India. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Per the Tennessee Safe Haven Law, the nonprofit organization A Secret Safe Place for Newborns of Tennessee assists the victims of unwanted pregnancies. Mothers can confidentially and safely surrender their newborns at numerous facilities without fear of legal prosecution. MARYVILLE, TN / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / The statewide nonprofit, A Secret Safe Place for Newborns of Tennessee, per the Safe Haven Law, has designated facilities to assist the victims of unintended or hidden pregnancies. Any Tennessee mother who wishes to surrender a newborn can do so at selected facilities without the fear of prosecution. Unwanted babies are protected under the law and cared for through adoption services. More information is available at https://www.secretsafeplacetn.org/. The 2001 Tennessee Safe Haven Law allows mothers to surrender their unharmed newborns within 72 hours of birth. The process is confidential and eliminates the state's right to prosecute the mother for abandonment. As a result, the law works to protect both mother and child from harm or legal pursuit due to an unwanted, unintended, or hidden pregnancy. Mothers can surrender their newborns at the following facilities across the state of Tennessee: hospitals, birthing centers, community health clinics (health departments), outpatient walk-in clinics, 24-hour staffed emergency medical service facilities (EMS), 24-hour staffed fire stations, and 24-hour staffed police stations. A map of all facilities is available on the website. A Secret Safe Place for Newborns of Tennessee hopes to educate on the legal and safe process for mothers to surrender their babies privately and securely. The tragic death of a newborn due to abandonment by a young mother who was too scared to inform anyone about her pregnancy is what prompted the creation of the Tennessee Safe Haven Law in 2000. By providing numerous convenient facilities to legally, confidentially, and safely surrender a newborn, mothers don't have to fear legal consequences or adverse reactions from their communities, and babies will remain safe. These locations will always accept newborns who are unharmed and less than 72 hours old, with no questions asked. Story continues Mothers of unintended pregnancies can rest assured that their newborn will receive the care and protection that they are not able to provide. Parents can bring others to support them, but it must be the mother who leaves the baby with the designated staff member. After surrendering the newborn, mothers will receive a baby identification bracelet with an identification number. The mother or father have 30 days to reclaim their child if they choose to do so. After the initial 30 days, local DCS will start the process of placing the child into an adoptive family. Through the Tennessee Safe Haven Law, the state hopes to eliminate the unsafe abandonment of newborns. Many unintended pregnancies result in abrupt abandonment by a frightened mother who has nowhere else to turn. The state encourages those who find themselves in this precarious situation to consult any Safe Haven Facility to ensure that their baby is safe and healthy. More insight on the process of surrendering a newborn, as well as opportunities to volunteer with the nonprofit organization, or donate, can be found at https://www.secretsafeplacetn.org/ Contact Info: Name: Kayla Ridenour Email: Send Email Organization: A Secret Safe Place for Newborns of Tennessee Address: 1133 East Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804, United States Phone: +1-865-254-2208 Website: https://www.secretsafeplacetn.org SOURCE: A Secret Safe Place for Newborns of Tennessee View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/589291/Tennessee-Nonprofit-and-Safe-Haven-Law-Work-to-End-Newborn-Abandonment Rantoul, IL (61866) Today Cloudy skies. Morning high of 30F with temps falling to near 20. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 8F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph. The highly awaited sequel to Ganesh starrer Gaalipata has been in the making for a while now. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, things had come to a halt. However, director Yogaraj Bhat has now confirmed that he will be re-commencing work on Gaalipata 2 next week after having received the governments nod. Yograj told TNIE, "Gaalipata 2 will enter the dubbing phase this week, and I will have the artistes joining me one by one to dub their portions of what has been completed. I dont think we can get permission to shoot in foreign locations for the next year at least, and it doesnt work in our films favour. I have now come up with various versions. He went on to add, "My initial script did have me choosing locations within the state. But then I thought we should have variety, and I had finalized on locations in Georgia, Scotland, and a few other places I visited before the lockdown. But now I have found some beautiful locations in the best places in Karnataka. I also want to shoot in Himachal Pradesh and other places in North India. I am looking at the best spots we can show in Gaalipata 2, right in our country." On being quizzed about safety measures on his film shoot in the coming days, the director replied, "Since I recently shot the Corona song in Bengaluru, I have got a hang of the safety measures that we should take during the shooting process. I will follow them when I resume shooting for Gaalipata 2. We should get more responsible towards handling the film, and exercise patience. Nothing is bigger than life. Discipline matters here and that will help us as well as people around us to survive." Bankrolled by Ramesh Reddy, Gaalipata 2 also features Diganth, Pawan Kumar, and Vaibhavi Shandilya, along with Samyuktha Menon, Sharmiela Mandre, Anant Nag and Nishvika Naidu in pivotal roles. ALSO READ: Ganesh Starrer Gaalipata 2 Georgia Schedule Postponed By Two Months Due To Coronavirus Outbreak New Delhi/Chennai, May 11 : India's auto sector continues to reel under the economic impact of the Covid-19 outbreak, as only 3,500 dealerships are operational across the country now. The low number of operational dealerships comes even after relaxed movement norms were implemented across the country in the third phase of the nationwide lockdown. In fact, half of these dealerships are just utilising their workshops capacities. According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), even under lockdown 3.0, as on date just 20 per cent of the total network has opened up, which is close to 3,500 outlets. Currently, FADA represents over 15,000 automobile dealers having 25,000 dealerships, including 30 Associations of Automobile Dealers at the regional, state and city levels, accounting for 90 per cent of the total market share in India. "This number is going up on a daily basis as many dealers are in the process of obtaining permission to open up their businesses" Ashish Harsharaj Kale, President, FADA, told IANS. At present, the country has entered into the third and a more relaxed phase of lockdown. Some industrial and retail activities are allowed under this phase, depending on the geographical area of the operations. The whole country is divided into zones which are designated as red, orange or green depending upon the number of Covid-19 cases detected in these areas. The lockdown has dealt a heavy blow to commercial activities, leading to temporary closure of shopping malls, dine-in restaurants, grounding of aircraft, shutting down of factories, leaving major market places deserted. Not just the automobile sector, even the government's own revenue collection has been impacted. In terms of sales during the current month, Kale said: "May is going to be a slow month in terms of sales, as the auto industry is currently focusing on getting operational. It is difficult to comment on how the recovery in business is going to be like." Business and demand revival will strongly depend on the withdrawal date of the nationwide lockdown. More importantly, the support package offered by the government to kick start the economy and the extent of it, along with new initiatives taken by the vehicle makers for boosting retail, will also have a bearing on demand revival. The country's auto sector is a key engine of economic activity. Presently, the automotive industry accounts for almost 50 per cent of manufacturing gross domestic product (GDP), 15 per cent of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and employs 37 million people directly and indirectly in India. (Rohit Vai can be contacted at rohit.v@ians.in) A black district attorney has been appointed to take over the Ahmaud Arbery murder case, a few days after two men were arrested and charged with the crime. Cobb County District Attorney Joyette M Holmes was chosen to take over the case from prosecutor Tom Durden, who asked to be replaced by someone with a bigger staff, as the case has grown in size and magnitude. Last week, two white American men were arrested and charged with murder for the fatal shooting of Mr Arbery, while he was jogging in Georgia. Mr Arbery, who was unarmed, was on a jog, when Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis, pursued the 25-year-old in the city of Brunswick, Georgia. They confronted Mr Arbery and fatally shot him. The shooting took place in February, but it took until last week for the two men to be charged, after the incident became national news when video of the shooting was released and celebrities including Kim Kardashian West and LeBron James called for action. Recommended LeBron James and others demand justice over Ahmaud Arbery killing Ms Holmes is based in Atlanta, Georgia, which is more than 300 miles from Glynn County, where the shooting occurred. The State Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement that District Attorney Holmes is a respected attorney with experience, both as a lawyer and a judge. The Republican added that the Cobb County attorney will be better placed to deal with the investigation, as she has sufficient staff and resources. The Cobb County District Attorneys office has the resources, personnel and experience to lead this prosecution and ensure justice is done, he added. Gregory McMichael used to work as a police officer for Glynn County, and retired as an investigator for the local district attorneys office last year, which has hampered investigations into the case, as many prosecutors in the area worked with him. Ms Holmes is the fourth prosecutor to take charge of the case, after two recused themselves because of connections to Mr McMichael, and Mr Durden passed it on because of a lack of resources. One of the attorneys for Mr Arberys father, Marcus Arbery, said he was pleased that the case had been given to a prosecutor not affiliated with the area. In order for justice to be carried out both effectively and appropriately in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, it is imperative that the special prosecutor has no affiliation with the Southeast Georgia legal or law enforcement communities, said attorney Benjamin Crump. He added that Ms Holmes should be zealous in her search for justice. The US Justice Department announced on Monday that it is assessing all of the evidence to determine whether to apply federal hate crime charges against the two men. In a statement, agency spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the department will continue to assess all information, and we will take any appropriate action that is warranted by the facts and the law. Additional reporting by Associated Press. by Mathias Hariyadi For Indonsian Muslims, the 14 May initiative will promote brotherhood among all human beings. Card Suharyo calls for tolerance and compassion for those suffering from COVID-19". The government will hold a special event next Satuirday. Jakarta (AsiaNews) Indonesian authorities and religious leaders have responded favourably to Pope Francis' invitation to pray next Thursday (14 May) to ask God for help against the pandemic. The High Committee for Human Brotherhood launched the initiative aimed at every person, in every part of the world, regardless of their religion, faith or doctrine. For Moch. Qasim Mathar, from Aliudin Islamic State University in Makassar (southern Sulawesi), Indonesians can be expected torespond positively to the Pope's appeal. Our country has the most Muslims in the world, and their active participation in prayers would benefit the pontiffs call. Amany Lubis, dean of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta, agrees. The initiative is a great tool to promote brotherhood among all human beings in this time of difficulty. Archbishop Card Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo of Jakarta wrote a special prayer to help people overcome the crisis. In it, he calls on the merciful God to protect humanity from the disease, to allow the infected to heal, and to welcome the dead in his glory, whilst giving comfort to their relatives. The cardinal also asks the Lord to guide the country's leaders, doctors, nurses and scientists in their efforts against the disease. The prayer ends with a request for help to promote social tolerance and compassion for others, especially those suffering from the pandemic. More than 14,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Indonesia, with about 2,400 people hospitalised, and almost a thousand eaths. Religious groups are making a major contribution to the fight against the coronavirus, their representatives say. Even the government will hold a moment of prayer on 14 May, broadcast on state TV and some private broadcasters. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo will open the event, called the National prayer for social solidarity, which will led by various religious leaders, namely Kiai Hajj Quraish Shihab for Muslims, Card Suharyo for Catholics, Rev Ronny Mandang for Protestants, Ida Pedanda Nabe Gede Bang Buruan Manuaba for Hindus, Sri Panyavaro Mahatera for Buddhists, and Budi S Tanuwibowo for Confucians. Boris Johnsons most senior aide is facing fresh allegations he flouted lockdown rules by taking a sightseeing trip on Easter Sunday. The prime minister is facing mounting calls to sack Dominic Cummings amid claims he made several trips to see his family in County Durham, while the country was being told to stay at home. Ministers vociferously defended Mr Cummings after it emerged he had made the 260-mile journey, insisting he had obeyed the rules by staying in one place while there. However, an eyewitness told The Observer and the Sunday Mirror he had seen Mr Cummings on 12 April, 30 miles from Durham in Barnard Castle. Another eyewitness said they saw the prime ministers most trusted aide in Durham on 19 April, days after he had been photographed returning to Downing Street. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 11 January 2022 A couple walk underneath an umbrella during wet weather on Westminster Bridge in central London PA UK news in pictures 10 January 2022 A jogger passes the Covid Memorial Wall in London AP UK news in pictures 9 January 2021 The sun rises over horses at Seaton Sluice in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 8 January 2022 Riders compete during the Veterans Men's race at the UK Cyclo-Cross National Championships 2022 in Ardingly, south of London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 7 January 2022 A dog looks out of a car window at the wintry conditions in Killeshin, Co. Laois PA UK news in pictures 6 January 2022 People walk through frost and mist alongside a frozen lake during sunrise in Bushy Park, London REUTERS UK news in pictures 5 January 2022 A skier jumps on the slopes at Allenheads in the Pennines to the north of Weardale in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 4 January 2022 Freshly-fallen snow covers houses in Corbridge, near Hexham in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 3 January 2022 Dean Morrison, 13, receives his Covid-19 vaccine from student nurse Anthony McLaughlin during a vaccination clinic at the Glasgow Central Mosque PA UK news in pictures 2 January 2022 Konastantinos Tsimikas of Liverpool with Chelseas Mason Mount during the Premier League match at Stamfrod Bridge Liverpool FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 January 2022 New Years Eve Lasers, drones and fireworks illuminate the sky in front of the Royal Naval College in Greenwich shortly after midnight in London EPA UK news in pictures 31 December 2021 Competitors in fancy dress run across the Pennine tops near Haworth, West Yorkshire, in the annual Auld Lang Syne Fell race which attracts hundreds of runners every year PA UK news in pictures 30 December 2021 Sunrise at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 29 December 2021 The Very Revd Dr Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, looks at Becket, a six month old red-billed chough as he visits Wildwood Wildlife Park in Kent on the anniversary of the murder of Thomas Becket PA UK news in pictures 28 December 2021 Troops of the Household Cavalry are seen reflected in a puddle during the changing of the Queens Life Guard, on Horse Guards Parade, in central London PA UK news in pictures 27 December 2021 A pedestrian walks past a winter sale sign outside a John Lewis store on Oxford street in London Getty UK news in pictures 26 December 2021 Riders take their bikes through the snow near Castleside, County Durham PA UK news in pictures 25 December 2021 Patrick Corkery wears a santa hat and beard as waves crash over him at Forty Foot near Dublin during a Christmas Day dip PA UK news in pictures 24 December 2021 People stand inside Kings Cross Station on Christmas Eve in London Reuters UK news in pictures 23 December 2021 Christmas shoppers fill the car park at Fosse Shopping Park in Leicester PA UK news in pictures 22 December 2021 The sun rises behind the stones as people gather for the winter solstice at Stonehenge. Getty UK news in pictures 21 December 2021 People take part in a winter solstice swim at Portobello Beach in Edinburgh to mark the solstice and to witness the dawn after the longest night of the year PA UK news in pictures 20 December 2021 An auction employee displays poultry to buyers and sellers attending the Christmas Poultry Sale at York Auction Centre in Murton PA UK news in pictures 19 December 2021 Joao Moutinho of Wolverhampton Wanderers looks on during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea at Molineux Getty Images UK news in pictures 18 December 2021 Freight lorries queuing at the port of Dover in Kent PA UK news in pictures 17 December 2021 Newly elected Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan, bursts 'Boris' bubble' held by colleague Tim Farron, as she celebrates following her victory in the North Shropshire by-election PA UK news in pictures 16 December 2021 Brussels sprouts are harvested by workers as they prepare for the busy Christmas period near Boston in Lincolnshire PA UK news in pictures 15 December 2021 Lewis Hamilton is made a Knight Bachelor by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 14 December 2021 The Royal Liver Buildings surrounded by early morning fog in Liverpool PA UK news in pictures 13 December 2021 People queue outside a walk-in Covid-19 vaccination centre at St Thomas's Hospital in Westminster Getty Images UK news in pictures 12 December 2021 People take part in the Big Leeds Santa Dash in Roundhay Park, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 11 December 2021 People arrive at a Covid-19 vaccination centre at Elland Road in Leeds, PA UK news in pictures 10 December 2021 Stella Moris speaks to the media after the US Government won its High Court bid to overturn a judges decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange PA UK news in pictures 9 December 2021 Camels are lead around Salisbury Cathedral during a rehearsal for the Christmas Eve Service PA UK news in pictures 8 December 2021 Margaret Keenan and Nurse May Parsons, a year after Margaret was the first person in the UK to receive the Pfizer vaccine PA UK news in pictures 7 December 2021 Snowfall in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire as Storm Barra hits the UK with disruptive winds, heavy rain and snow PA UK news in pictures 6 December 2021 A person tries to avoid sea spray on New Brighton promenade in Wallasey as the UK readies for the arrival of Storm Barra Getty UK news in pictures 5 December 2021 People release balloons during a tribute to six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes outside Emma Tustin's former address in Solihull, West Midlands, where he was murdered by his stepmother PA UK news in pictures 4 December 2021 People walk through a Christmas market in Trafalgar Square Reuters UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 2 December 2021 Duchess of Cambridge inspects a Faberge egg at the Victoria and Albert Museum Getty UK news in pictures 1 December 2021 Meerkats at London Zoo with an advent calendar PA UK news in pictures 30 November 2021 Workers put the finishing touches to the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree ahead of the lighting ceremony later in the week PA UK news in pictures 29 November 2021 Home Secretary Priti Patel is greeted by a police dog at a special memorial service for Met Police Sergeant Matiu Ratana Getty UK news in pictures 28 November 2021 Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City battles for possession with Aaron Cresswell of West Ham United during a match at the Etihad during snow Manchester City/Getty UK news in pictures 27 November 2021 Residents clear branches from a fallen tree in Birkenhead, north west England as Storm Arwen triggered a rare red weather warning AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 An aerial picture shows a worker using a quad bike and trailer to transport freshly harvested trees at Pimms Christmas Tree farm in Matfield, southeast England AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 26 November 2021 A shopper browses Christmas trees for sale at Pines and Needles in Dulwich, London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 November 2021 A murmuration of hundreds of thousands of starlings fly over a field at dusk in Cumbria, close to the Scottish border PA UK news in pictures 3 December 2021 A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London AFP/Getty Earlier, Downing Street had described the first trip as essential, saying Mr Cummings needed his familys help to care for his young son because his wife was sick with coronavirus and he feared he was next. Cabinet ministers lined up to defend Mr Cummings, saying he had put his family first and accused critics of trying to politicise the issue. Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, used the daily Downing Street press conference to suggest that Mr Cummings had not broken lockdown rules because he had stayed put upon arrival in Durham. But Robin Lees, 70, a retired chemistry teacher, told the papers he had seen Mr Cummings in Barnard Castle on Easter Sunday. Mr Lees compared him to Catherine Calderwood, Scotlands former chief medical officer, who stood down after visiting her second home twice during lockdown. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP have written to Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, calling for an inquiry into Mr Cummingss decision to travel from London to Durham. They want the probe to include when the prime minister was made aware Mr Cummings had left the capital. Senior Tories also expressed concern that Mr Cummings's behaviour could encourage others to flout the rules, jeopardising the governments plans to gradually lift the lockdown. The Independent can reveal that senior MPs are set to question Mr Johnson over Mr Cummings later this week, as pressure grows on the prime minister to explain what he knew about the trip under lockdown. Parliament is in recess until June, meaning Mr Johnson will not have to face MPs at Prime Ministers Questions. But members of the Commons Liaison Committee, which is made up of the chairs of other select committees, said they expected Mr Johnson to be questioned about Mr Cummings when he makes his first appearance before them later this week. Pete Wishart, an SNP MP who sits on the committee and is a member of the "quad" which organises its business, said: If nothing has changed and Dominic Cummings is still in post by Wednesday, it would be very surprising if this was an issue that was not raised. Another member of the committee said: Im sure one of my colleagues will crowbar the Cummings question in. In a statement defending Mr Cummings, Downing Street said his trip had been essential to ensure his young son was properly cared for. After an offer of help from his sister and nieces, he travelled to a house near to but separate from his extended family. A spokesperson for No 10, said: "Yesterday [Friday] the Mirror and Guardian wrote inaccurate stories about Mr Cummings. Today [Saturday] they are writing more inaccurate stories including claims that Mr Cummings returned to Durham after returning to work in Downing Street on 14 April. We will not waste our time answering a stream of false allegations about Mr Cummings from campaigning newspapers." There was confusion about the involvement of police, however. No 10 also said that at no stage was Mr Cummings or his family spoken to by the police. On Saturday night Durham Police took the unusual step of confirming they had spoken to Mr Cummingss father. Steve White, the police and crime commissioner for Durham Police, a former head of the Police Federation in England and Wales, said it was "most unwise" for Mr Cummings to have travelled when "known to be infected". The SNP accused No 10 of a "cover up" after reports some in Downing Street knew Mr Cummings had made the 260-mile journey during lockdown. Former Tory cabinet minister David Lidington, Theresa Mays de facto deputy prime minister, told Newsnight: "There's clearly serious questions that No 10 are going to have to address, not least because the readiness of members of the public to follow government guidance more generally is going to be affected by this sort of story." Professor Neil Ferguson, the epidemiologist whose modelling prompted the lockdown, quit as a government adviser for flouting the rules when he was visited at this home by his lover. At the time Mr Hancock, the health secretary, said he was "speechless" and that he backed any police action against Mr Ferguson. Sir Ed Davey, acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, called for Mr Cummings to quit over the allegations, while a spokesperson for Labour said: "The British people do not expect there to be one rule for them and another rule for Dominic Cummings." Asked by reporters on Saturday if he had considered his position, Mr Cummings said "obviously not". While the state health department has ordered disposal of bodies of Covid-19 patients within two hours, a ground reality check by HT shows that the four major Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)-run hospitals are forced to hold the bodies longer in their morgues, mostly on humanitarian grounds. DIFFICULTIES, PROBE According to the departments rules based on the guidelines of the Union health ministry, dead bodies need to be removed from the ward within 30 minutes and disposed of within two hours. Forensic experts claim the time limit is not feasible. Firstly, a large city like Mumbai gets patients from far-off areas in Thane and Navi Mumbai. In some cases, the families refuse to take the bodies, fearing infection. Also, the lockdown makes it difficult for relatives to find vehicles to reach hospitals in time. In some cases, relatives cant reach hospitals as they either are in isolation centres or home quarantine. A case in point could be a 73-year-old woman, resident of Kalapani, who succumbed to her infection at King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital on April 18. Around 2am, the family received a call from the hospital to take away the body, but her two sons, their wives and children were quarantined. One of their relatives agreed to claim the body, but couldnt find a vehicle to reach the hospital. We tried private vehicles and ambulances, but no one agreed to take my uncle to the hospital. We requested a neighbour who has an auto to ferry him, but he refused. We had to request the hospital to keep the body till morning, said Rohit Kumar, 21, the grandson of the deceased patient. Currently, as of Monday, there are 14 unclaimed bodies of both Covid and non-Covid patients lying in the morgues of KEM, BYL Nair, Topiwala General Municipal Hospital also known as Sion hospital and Dr RN Cooper Municipal General Hospital. Of these, six are in Cooper Hospital and Nair Hospitals each, one each in KEM and Sion hospital. Most of them are from other districts and states. Due to the lockdown, the families asked us to hold the bodies. So, on humanitarian grounds, we held it for four-five days now, said a forensic expert from Cooper Hospital. The hospitals have now initiated talks with the police to dispose of the bodies. The relatives plead and cry on phones. They request us to allow them to see their beloved ones one last time, said the officer. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) clearly states that hospitals can hand over bodies of suspected patients without waiting for swab reports. In some cases, forensic experts have to hold the bodies when they think further investigation is needed into the death. At Sion hospital, forensic resident doctors have been stationed at the casualty ward to screen bodies. On Tuesday, the body of a 32-year-old woman was taken to the hospital with bruise marks. When questioned, the family said, she had symptoms like coronavirus. The on-duty doctor was suspicious of the marks so we held the body and we are waiting for her swab report. If the result is negative, we will have to conduct a post-mortem to confirm the cause of death, said a senior doctor from the forensic department of the hospital. VIDEOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA Recently, the BMC was criticised when videos on social media went viral showing Covid patients lying beside corpses in civic hospitals. In response to the videos, forensic experts said those are meant to defame the hospitals and extremely discouraging for staffers who work around-the-clock. On a daily basis, we receive around five-eight Covid bodies. We try to quickly dispose of them, but it takes time to inform family and provide them the time. We have to take help from police to contact families as often, due to stigma, they give wrong addresses and phone numbers, said a forensic expert from Nair Hospital. When the videos from Sion and KEM hospitals were circulated, Opposition leaders claimed the hospital morgues dont have space to keep the bodies. A check done by HT shows that such claims are incorrect. In the past one month, the four civic-run hospitals have disposed of around 125 non-Covid unclaimed bodies to make space for Covid bodies. Of these, KEM hospital handed over 36 unclaimed bodies to police and 17 were shifted to the anatomy lab. Police disposed of another 30 unclaimed bodies from Sion hospital and 39 from Cooper hospital. Police have disposed of three bodies from Nair hospital. We have also divided our cold storage into two the hospital morgue has been turned into Covid and the morgue under the post-mortem centre has been kept as non-Covid. This has been done to curb any possible transmission, said a forensic expert from the hospital. Similarly, Sion hospital has also divided their morgue into Covid and non-Covid. The Sion hospital which currently has over 250 Covid patients has preserved 16 cabins for Covid patients and 38 for non-Covid patients. Cooper Hospital has 36 cabinets for Covid and 70 for non-Covid. Nair Hospital has 32 boxes for Covid patients. But KEM hospital, which receives the most critically ill patients, has 27 cabinets in the morgue. On a daily basis, the hospital receives around eight bodies. As of now, we have enough space, but we are trying to extend the facility, said a senior doctor from the hospital. At Kasturba Hospital, the newly constructed morgue started functioning from Friday. Now, the hospital has a capacity to keep around 17 bodies. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) Private universities and institutions still using the old academic calendar may have to adjust to the new schedule and open classes in August amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Commission on Higher Education said Monday. But CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera said the proposed August to September opening of classes will not severely affect higher education institutions, as some universities have already shifted to the new academic calendar (from August to July the next year, instead of from June to May). "Wala namang significant shift doon sa opening of classes because August na talaga nago-open ang classes sa higher education institutions under the new calendar," De Vera said in the virtual Laging Handa briefing. [Translation: There's no significant shift in the opening of classes because some HEIs are already opening classes, under the new calendar, are already opening classes in August.] "What will change is that many private universities who are still using the old calendar will now move also to August. 'Yun 'yung (that's the) major change," he added. CHED earlier proposed to conduct a "rolling opening" of classes, where colleges and universities that can implement a flexible learning system can open in August, while those that need to conduct face-to-face classes can open in September or a later date, De Vera said. De Vera noted the agency is in the process of assessing institutions' "preparedness" to open in August. CHED is likewise coordinating with the Information and Communications Technology Department in checking the internet connectivity of campuses, which may help in the flexible learning arrangement, he added. De Vera, however, stressed the new proposed academic calendars are still subject to approval of the respective schools' Board of Regents. Earlier, the Education Department, which has jurisdiction in elementary and secondary schools as well as alternative learning systems, said the next school year will officially open on August 24 and end on April 30, 2021. The department said the decision to delay the start of classes will help ensure that learners and teachers are given enough time to prepare and adjust to the new learning environment. An outside adviser for a multimillion-pound oil and gas firm listed in London may have inadvertently sent shares in the company soaring last week when they texted someone pretending to be one of the companys directors. Volga Gas, whose shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange, said that on Thursday a consultant with access to confidential information about a plan to sell the company had sent several WhatsApp messages with a person purporting to be a non-executive director. Shares in the company rose significantly after the conversation, the Russian energy producer said. It did not reveal when the exchange happened. However, the companys shares were up around 50% when markets compared to a low of 18p earlier in the day. The release from the company did not say what the consultant revealed to the unknown person behind the WhatsApp number. However, they did have access to sensitive information. Volga is in the process of looking for a buyer, and said it has had several non-binding expressions of interest. The potential bidders have agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement. The company looks forward to engaging with all potential offerors in a constructive and positive manner through the FSP (formal sale process) to achieve an outcome that maximises value for Volga Gas shareholders, Volga said. Shares spiked by as much as 28% following the news on Monday, settling later to a rise of around 4%. Volga owns five licences in the Volga region of Russia. It explores and produces oil, natural gas and gas condensate. The company has around 9.1 million barrels of oil equivalent in proven and provable reserves, according to an assessment from earlier this year. The company is chaired by Mikhail Ivanov and its chief executive is Andrey Zozulya, both veterans of oilfield services company Schlumberger. Before getting down to business at Sunday mornings Cabinet meeting, Boris Johnson said he wanted to make a personal statement. Addressing ministers joining him via video link, he cleared his throat he still sounds chesty on occasions after his near fatal brush with coronavirus and launched into a vehement dismissal of the slew of weekend media reports that No 10 had been involved in an angry slanging match with Health Secretary Matt Hancock over the failings on testing and PPE. Its all nonsense, dont believe a word of it, said the Prime Minister. Yesterday, it was Boris Johnsons judgment that was being questioned after the mixed-to-poor reviews of Sunday nights televised address. The PM is pictured in the Commons yesterday According to one who was privy to the meeting, the PM had also singled out Mr Hancock for praise at Thursdays Cabinet meeting. Turning to him at the start, he said: No Health Secretary has ever had a task like this. It is an Atlas-like burden. All well and good, you might think, for the beleaguered Mr Hancock, who has come in for widespread criticism on access to testing, PPE provision and the care homes crisis. But the fact the PM felt the need twice to speak up for him is the clearest sign yet that the political heat over perceived blunders in the handling of the pandemic is starting to divide the Cabinet, with members now briefing against each other. Fuelling the situation is the growing resentment felt towards the quad Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Mr Hancock who along with the PM and his senior aide Dominic Cummings are calling all the shots. All well and good, you might think, for the beleaguered Mr Hancock, who has come in for widespread criticism on access to testing, PPE provision and the care homes crisis Matters came to a head this weekend after claims that the roadmap to ease lockdown was presented as a fait accompli to the rest of the Cabinet. One minister has described it as a Potemkin Cabinet in which decisions are made before meetings take place. Indeed, the 50-page strategy document had been printed even before they met. Others say it is a return to the Blair-era sofa style of government, a small, cosy group who made the important decisions, usually without senior civil servants present. Yet, less than six months ago, Boris Johnson was secure at the helm of a handpicked cadre of MPs, loyal to him and his stance on Brexit, after delivering the biggest Tory majority at a general election since 1987 and becoming the most powerful Tory PM since Margaret Thatcher. Yes, the country faces an unprecedented challenge and seemingly has the highest number of fatalities in Europe, but it is astonishing how quickly Cabinet discipline has started breaking down as the virus blame game begins. Yesterday, it was Boris Johnsons judgment that was being questioned after the mixed-to-poor reviews of Sunday nights televised address. One minister has described it as a Potemkin Cabinet in which decisions are made before meetings take place. Indeed, the 50-page strategy document had been printed even before they met The Foreign Secretary didnt do his boss any favours, either, when he sallied forth to face TV and radio interviewers yesterday morning at best unprepared for questions he might easily have anticipated and at worst seemingly contradicting the line from No 10. That has done little to reassure those rebellious ministers, and the PM has been left in no doubt as to the strength of feeling about the quad. At that meeting on Sunday, a succession of ministers, from Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey to Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, complained the first they knew about the new public health slogan Stay Alert (to replace the highly successful Stay at Home slogan) was when they read about it in that mornings newspapers. As for the PMs address to the nation, it was recorded before the Cabinet meeting, which was to ostensibly sign off on the phased plan for easing lockdown. One Whitehall source said: The TV address raised more questions than it answered. If there had been a proper Cabinet discussion before it was recorded we might not look like the left hand doesnt know what the right one is doing. The Foreign Secretary didnt do his boss any favours, either, when he sallied forth to face TV and radio interviewers yesterday morning at best unprepared for questions he might easily have anticipated and at worst seemingly contradicting the line from No 10 While Boris is ahead in the polls he gets away with it, but poll leads dont last for ever. Now Labour are operating as a coherent opposition under Keir Starmer, it is putting more pressure on the Government. There is also genuine concern among some ministers about Boriss health. He looks tired, which is understandable, and has lost weight. He looks very post-viral, rheumy-eyed and down, said one observer. There is talk privately that his hand is not as firmly on the tiller and he has been unable to stop the Cabinet dividing into rival camps the so-called hawks and doves on how swiftly Britain should emerge from the lockdown. Once the most hawkish of hawks, Johnson was criticised by the Labour Party for not taking Britain into the lockdown sooner. But after developing Covid-19, hes now at one with fellow sufferer Matt Hancock, who is the noisiest advocate around the Cabinet table of a softly-softly approach along with Cummings who was also laid low by the virus. Its no coincidence that the people who have had this terrible disease all agree about the cautious approach, says the Whitehall source. They fear a second spike in infections will be even more deadly for peoples health and the economy. The split centres on how low the reproduction rate of the virus known as its R number should be before the lockdown is eased. Chancellor Sunak, a hawk, believes that if it is sustainably below 1 where the number of new infections is no longer rising then restrictions can be lifted. Chancellor Sunak, a hawk, believes that if it is sustainably below 1 where the number of new infections is no longer rising then restrictions can be lifted Hancock wants the R number close to zero before reopening the economy. Alok Sharma, the Business Secretary, and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, have been persuaded of the dove approach in recent days. But the majority of the Cabinet want to move faster, although some, including Liz Truss, the International Trade Secretary (and hawk), are deeply worried at an increasingly disunited kingdom, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland going their own way. One ministerial source said: Boriss address to the nation must have been the first from Downing Street which was only to the nation of England and not the rest of the United Kingdom. Its a very worrying trend. The tensions, the rifts and the hostile briefings are only likely to get worse as the economic news deteriorates further. If the polls stay in Boriss favour, then he can see off his critics. If they dont, it wont be the quad taking the flak from ministers, but direct hits on the PM himself. Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi was non- committal on fiscal assistance to states despite them apprising him of the fiscal sufferings during his video conference on Monday. Therefore, there was no other option for Puducherry except to borrow from the Reserve Bank of India to tide over the current fiscal crisis, he told reporters here on Monday night after participating in the video conference of chief ministers with Modi. Narayanasamy said he had brought to the Prime Minister's notice the fall in the revenue due to closure of all business establishments, liquor shops and industrial units since the COVID-19 lockdown began in March. He said salaries were paid to Puucherry government staff for March and April. But the present situation was grim and hence a way out should be found. "The Prime Minister was non-committal on the fiscal assistance to states and there was no reply whatsoever from him to the projection of fiscal sufferings of the states," he said. Replying to a question, Narayanasamy said he felt that Modi would continue the lockdown beyond May 17 but ease curbs. "A real picture will emerge only on the night of May 17," he said. The Prime Minister asked the Chief Ministers to send him a detailed report before May 15 on the next course of action. Narayanasamy said people should be calm and help win the battle against the pandemic. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Astec Industries, Inc.s ASTE first-quarter 2020 adjusted earnings per share of $1.00 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 46 cents by a margin of 117%. The bottom line also improved 54% from the prior-year quarter. The better-than-expected results were driven by the companys restructuring initiatives taken in 2019 and 2020, which offset the impact of lower revenues amid the coronavirus crisis. Including one-time items, the company reported earnings per share of 91 cents in the reported quarter, up 44% from 63 cents in the year-ago quarter. Astec reported revenues of $289 million in the quarter, down 11% from the year-ago quarter. Further, the top line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $303 million. The companys domestic sales decreased 11% year over year to $263 million as dealers were slow to convert rentals to retail sales. International sales declined 13% year over year to $55 million owing to COVID-19-related softness, the wildfires in Australia and the temporary shutdown of Johannesburg, South Africa and Omagh, Northern Ireland facilities in late-March. Astec Industries Inc Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Astec Industries Inc Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Astec Industries Inc price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Astec Industries Inc Quote Cost of sales declined 14% year over year to $215 million. Adjusted gross profit came in at $74 million, down from the year-ago quarter figure of $77 million. Gross margin was 25.6% in the reported quarter compared with the prior-year quarters 23.6%. Selling, general, administrative and engineering (SG&A) decreased 3% year over year to $56 million primarily to the decline in sales, partially offset by cost savings related to the companys strategic transformation. The company reported adjusted operating profit of $17.9 million, which declined 5% from the prior-year quarters $18.7 million. First-quarter 2020 adjusted operating margin was 6.2% compared with 5.7% in the prior-year quarter driven by improvement in gross margin courtesy of transformation initiatives put in place beginning in late 2019 and the start of this year. Story continues Adjusted EBITDA came in at $24.3 million in the reported quarter, a decline of 4.7% from $25.5 million a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 8.4%, a 60 basis point expansion from 7.8% in first-quarter 2019. Despite lower sales, the companys restructuring initiatives benefited margins in the quarter. Segment Performance As part of the companys continued transformation under its strategic pillars for profitable growth Simplify, Focus and Grow, the company has simplified operations into two business segments: Infrastructure Solutions and Materials Solutions. Infrastructure Solutions includes road building, asphalt and concrete plant equipment, thermal and storage solutions and wood grinding equipment. Revenues for the segment declined 8% to $203 million from the year-ago quarter. The segment reported an adjusted EBITDA of $24.9 million compared with the $23.7 million in the prior-year quarter. Materials Solutions includes crushing and screening, washing and classifying, plants and systems and material handling equipment. The segments total revenues decreased 19%, year over year to $86 million. The segment reported an adjusted EBITDA of $8.4 million, reflecting year-over-year decline of 25%. Financial Position Astec reported cash and cash equivalents of $43.9 million as of Mar 31, 2020, up from $28.6 million as of Mar 31, 2019. As of first-quarter 2020, total debt was at $1.2 million. The company has available liquidity in excess of $186.0 million as of Mar 31, 2020. Receivables were at $141 million at the end of first-quarter 2020 compared with $137 million as of the prior-year quarter end. Inventories were $295 million as of Mar 31, 2020 compared with $367 million as of Mar 31, 2019. The companys total backlog increased 4% year over year to $245 million as of Mar 31, 2020. Domestic backlog rose 14.4% year over year to $185 while international backlog decreased 19% to $60.2 million. Astec is taking actions to counter the financial and operations impacts of COVID-19, by reducing expenses and conserving cash. The company is suspending hiring, except for critical positions, lowering discretionary spending and reductions in work force as necessary. Share Price Performance Astecs shares have lost 10.6% in the three months, compared with the industrys decline of 20.7%. Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider Astec currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked stocks in the Industrial Products sector are Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation AP, Silgan Holdings Inc. SLGN and Energous Corporation WATT. While Ampco-Pittsburgh and Silgan Holdings sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Energous Corporation carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Ampco-Pittsburgh has an expected earnings growth rate of 2.70% for the current year. The stock has appreciated 4% in the past three months. Silgan has a projected earnings growth rate of 11.3% for 2020. The companys shares have gained 6% over the past three months. Energous has an estimated earnings growth rate of 17.3% for the ongoing year. The companys shares have gained 17% in the past three months. More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone! It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020. Click here for the 6 trades >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Astec Industries Inc (ASTE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Silgan Holdings Inc (SLGN) : Free Stock Analysis Report AmpcoPittsburgh Corporation (AP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Energous Corporation (WATT) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. According to Justice Minister of Armenia Rustam Badasyan, the exisiting tools in the Judicial code allow to carry out gradual improvments, while a total vetting can have negative impacts, moreover, it's impossible without changing the Cosntitution, ARMENPRESS reports Badasyan said during a discussion with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. Pashinyan asked if it's possible to launch disciplinary proceeding against a judge who cannot explain how he acquired some property in 2013. The Minister noted that this is the point of the main criticism. ''It's mentioned that ex post facto legislation is not applied. But is should be mentioned that if we want to go in that way, it means checking all the judges at once, within a short period of time. This can lead to negative consequences. But let's put it aside and focus on the legal side. Constitutional changes are necessary for doing it. I mean it's impossible to carry out such a vetting, let's name it total vetting, without changing the Constitution'', he said, noting that tools provided by the Judicial code allow to carry out gradual improvements. Reporting by Anna Grigoryan, Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan (Newser) Visitors to a California marina called firefighters when they noticed three bear cubs in an apparent pickle: They were huddled together under a dock, separated from their mother, reports the San Jose Mercury News. But by the time firefighters arrived at the Keys Marina in South Lake Tahoe, Mama Bear was already on the case. She saved each cub individually by swimming across the marina to the dock, coaxing a cub to swim out to her, then swimming back to safety with the cub attached, per CNN. The South Lake Tahoe Firefighters Association posted this video, which shows the rescue of the final cub. (Read more bears stories.) Former JNU student Sharjeel Imam moved the Delhi High Court Monday challenging trial court's order granting more time to the police to conclude investigation in the case related to alleged inflammatory speeches during the protests against CAA and NRC. The plea was mentioned before the high court and is likely to be listed on May 14. Imam has challenged the trial court's April 25 order by which the Delhi Police was granted further time, beyond the statutory 90 days, to complete the investigation in the case filed under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He has also approached the high court seeking default bail in the matter on the ground that the investigation was not concluded within the statutory period of 90 days. The trial court had recently dismissed the bail plea. Imam was arrested on January 28 in the case related to violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act near the Jamia Millia Islamia University in December last year. The statutory period of 90 days from the arrest was concluded on April 27. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 19:05:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CANBERRA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced 650 million Australian dollars (about 426.2 million U.S. dollars) in funding to rebuild bushfire-affected communities on Monday. Morrison and David Littleproud, the Minister for Emergency Management, announced the cash injection for regions hit hardest by the bushfires that devastated much of Australia over the summer. The funding package includes 448.5 million AUD (294 million U.S. dollars) to support the delivery of local recovery plans with priority given to the most severely impacted regions, 149.7 million AUD (98.1 million U.S. dollars) for restoring damaged landscapes and habitats and 27.1 million AUD (17.7 million U.S. dollars) to install approximately 2,000 satellite dishes to provide a link if other connections are damaged. "The same communities that were hurting most from the bushfires are hurting from the impacts of COVID-19. The impacts have been devastating," Morrison said. "Every community is different and every community is at a different point in their recovery. That's why the projects that these funds will support are not one-size-fits-all - they will reflect community needs." More than 10 million hectares of land were burned by bushfires in Australia during the "black summer," killing more than 30 people and destroying thousands of homes and businesses. Morrison said the National Bushfire Recovery Agency (NBRA), which was established in January, would lead work to "drive a strong economic recovery so the more than 18,600 families and businesses in bushfire-affected areas could get back on their feet." Littleproud said the last six months had been "incredibly tough" with the impact of the fires on Australia's economy exacerbated by COVID-19. "To date, the efforts of every level of government have been focused on emergency relief, the restoration of basic services, clean-up operations and the immediate wellbeing needs of people in the most severely impacted communities," he said. "While we recognise not all communities are at the same point of recovery, some communities are starting to consider longer-term planning. We're here to support them with opportunities to rebuild." Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-12 06:51:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chinese medical team members and Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun (C) pose for a photo at Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare, Zimbabwe, on May 11, 2020. A Chinese medical team arrived in Zimbabwe on Monday to assist the southern African country's efforts in the fight against COVID-19. (Photo by Wanda/Xinhua) by Tafara Mugwara, Zhang Yuliang HARARE, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese medical team arrived in Zimbabwe on Monday to assist the southern African country's efforts in the fight against COVID-19. The 12-member team from central China's Hunan Province also brought a consignment of medical supplies including ventilators, nucleic acid testing kits, face masks and medical protective suits. The team includes experts from respiratory departments, infectious disease departments, and the fields of intensive medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, infection control, public health and nursing. They will share experience in epidemic control with the Zimbabwean side and offer training for medics on the prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. Speaking during a reception ceremony held at Robert Mugabe International Airport in capital Harare to welcome the team, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun expressed gratitude to the Hunan provincial government and leading medical institutions in the province for sending the medical team to Zimbabwe. "I'd also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all doctors in this team for coming such a long way to Zimbabwe and to join us fight COVID-19 together," he said. By standing together in solidarity, the battle against COVID-19 will be eventually won, Guo said. "Our friendship dates back to the struggle of national independence of Zimbabwe, and today we are facing a common enemy, COVID-19. The only way to fight against COVID-19 is international coordination and international cooperation," Guo said. Zhu Yimin, deputy director of Hunan provincial health commission, said China's experience in dealing with the pandemic will enhance Zimbabwe's efforts in combating COVID-19. "We are here to exchange ideas and to share the experiences of China combating COVID-19 as China has flattened the curve of this pandemic," he said. "I hope our mission here will help enhance the confidence in responding to COVID-19 and also cement our friendship," said Zhu. July Moyo, Zimbabwe's Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Chinese government for standing with Zimbabwe in its fight against COVID-19. "These experts will interact with experts from Zimbabwe and I think by the time they leave we will have more insights, we will have more things to learn and it can assist us in our strategy to combat COVID-19," he said. Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care John Mangwiro said the exchange of ideas between Zimbabwean and Chinese experts will go a long way in combating the spread of COVID-19. "Their coming in in-person, physically to be with us, with cross-pollination, where we were making mistakes we can now be able to ask them directly. So the human factor is extremely important because now we interface, correct each other, talk medically and we can be able to do all these things," he said. Zimbabwe has so far recorded 36 cases of COVID-19, with nine recoveries and four deaths. Since 1985, China's Hunan Province has sent 17 groups of 166 medical workers to Zimbabwe. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 20:49:34|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BLANTYRE, Malawi, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Taxi operators in Malawi have said they have been heavily hit by COVID-19 pandemic that saw enforcement of a number of travel restrictions. Gregory Kazembe, who drives a minibus in Blantyre in southern Malawi, said that his business had gone down. "The business is not as usual, people are not travelling as they used to do. Meanwhile, I cannot afford to generate enough funds to support my family," Kazembe told Xinhua. Kazembe suggests that the government should intervene on challenges that a lot of people like him are facing. He said that a lot of minibus operators were not making enough money, despite the fact that the government had allowed them to operate in line with safety measures. Among many measures, the government of Malawi instructed minibus operators to reduce the number of people sitting in a minibus per travel. The government recommended two people per sit against the usual arrangement of three people per sit. Two months ago, Mishek Idi was a minibus conductor, as of today Mishek is just staying home because his boss fired him to remit the number of people in the minibus per trip. "I have no idea on what to do next, operating in a minibus was the only thing that I have been doing for the past four years. Now life is getting hard so much that am thinking of going back to the village and find other means of supporting my wife and my 3-year-old daughter," he said. There is no lockdown in Malawi, however, a number of offices remain closed as employers are trying to minimise the spread of COVID-19. This closure has limited the number of people travelling to and from the cities. Meanwhile, different stakeholders in the country are calling for the government to ease some of its restrictions that it outlined two months ago. The number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Malawi, as of May 10, the country had registered 56 confirmed cases. Enditem MERIDEN, Conn. The single-story red brick building looks unremarkable on the outside. But this nursing home in central Connecticut is now the site of a novel approach to protect the population most vulnerable to the coronavirus. Connecticut is among a handful of states to open COVID-19-only facilities that provide an environment specially designed to handle infected patients and help prevent outbreaks at other nursing homes. "This is really the safest approach," said David Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. The deadly virus has wreaked havoc across the country, killing more than 80,000 people. No institutions have been hit harder than nursing homes, where outbreaks are particularly dangerous for the highly concentrated populations of the ailing and the elderly. Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak It is estimated that a third of nursing homes nationwide have at least one COVID-19 case, according to Grabowski, in part, he said, because "nursing homes have been in the back of the line in terms of getting testing and personal protective equipment." In Connecticut, more than 50 percent of the state's known COVID-19 deaths are linked to nursing homes, according to the latest figures, a total of 1,627 long-term care patients. Of the 213 registered nursing homes in Connecticut, at least 159 have had positive cases and 146 have had deaths as of May 6, according to state health department data. Three facilities have had more than 100 residents test positive. The figures are expected to rise dramatically in the next week as testing is expanded across the state. "I'm terrified," Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said. "Nursing homes are like a petri dish for this pandemic," added Lamont, who pushed the plan for facilities restricted to coronavirus patients only. IMAGE: Ned Lamont (NBC News) The new centers are intended to be the first stop for nursing home residents who are released from the hospital after having been treated for COVID-19. The facilities can also provide a critical service to seniors who are hospitalized with the virus and need rehab after their stints or for COVID-19 patients in nursing homes that are unable to safely segregate infected residents. Story continues In all of the cases, keeping the patients in a COVID-19-only facility ensures that they will get specialized care and avoid potentially exposing seniors at other nursing homes. The state has five free-standing centers, including the single-story facility in Meriden called Westfield Specialty Care Center. NBC News was granted an exclusive tour of the 90-bed facility, owned and operated by Athena Health Care Systems, before it accepted its first residents on May 1. The building was previously used as a nursing home, but it shut down in November. That makes it an ideal candidate to be used for COVID-19 patients only, according to experts like Grabowski. "You're not displacing existing residents by moving nursing home residents out of a building to create a COVID-specialized facility," Grabowski said. "You have adequate infection control and personal protective equipment. This is really what we want to see in terms of a specialized COVID facility, and this is really what many clinical leaders and what many nursing home leaders around the country are calling for." Meriden Mayor Kevin Scarpati acknowledged that some people living in the community were concerned about opening a facility catering to people suffering from the virus. "But one thing that I think we've embraced is the fact that there is a need," Scarpati said. "There's a need for these individuals who are needing to transition out of a dangerous environment in a hospital before they go back and potentially cause infection for other residents in their nursing homes." Upon entering the center, staffers are screened for symptoms and their temperatures are taken. Staffers said in interviews that they have no fears working at a facility replete with COVID-19 patients in large part because they have proper personal protective equipment, or PPE, and training. "I'm in that critical age group, and I'm not concerned," said the facility's head administrator, Donna Orefice. "We have the proper PPE. We have proper infection control procedures. We're keeping our staff to individual units so that people aren't crossing." Orefice said she didn't need to spend time convincing her family that she should accept the job. "They know what kind of person I am," she said. IMAGE: Westfield Specialty Care Center (NBC News) Dr. Anu Walaliyadda, the facility's medical director, said providing a place for the elderly to go when they leave the hospital will also help alleviate the burden on area medical centers. He said recovering coronavirus patients of any age would be welcomed in Meriden. "It's whoever that is needed," Walaliyadda said, noting that younger COVID-19 patients sometimes need additional rehab after they leave the hospital. "They can come to a place like this and recover." Creating COVID-19-only facilities presents numerous challenges. Chief among them: Where do you find the space? Unable to find other empty facilities like the facility in Meriden that could quickly be repurposed, Connecticut officials decided to move healthy residents out of two existing homes to turn them into coronavirus-only centers. State health officials have said they agonized over the decision, knowing that moving nursing home residents can lead to poor outcomes. "It's really traumatic to move long-stay residents," Grabowski said. "That's a policy that's really not putting the nursing home residents first." That the nursing home system across the country is under unprecedented strain should come as little surprise, Grabowski said. "Nursing homes have always been this forgotten setting," he said. "They've been underfunded. Oftentimes we have a workforce that is underpaid and underappreciated. Nursing homes are forgotten in many respects." So when the coronavirus struck, it hit many facilities filled with vulnerable elderly particularly hard. The crisis isn't just among the residents staff members are struggling, too. About 40 percent of the workers in 13 nursing home facilities in Connecticut are out sick with COVID-19 or are quarantining at home, according to Rob Baril, president of the SEIU Healthcare 1199 union. And that often means fewer staff members are available to take care of sicker residents. Baril said he doesn't believe that a small number of COVID-19-only facilities are going to make a significant impact on slowing the death toll. "The overwhelming majority of the cases of nursing home residents who are ill are outside of the state's" COVID-19-only facilities, he said. Grabowski believes it is a good first step, especially when combined with other moves the state is taking. "Connecticut deserves a lot of credit, he said. "They're testing everyone staff and residents they're providing personal protective equipment for the staff and then finally creating these specialized COVID facilities." Download the NBC News app for full coverage and alerts about the coronavirus outbreak The federal agency that oversees nursing homes isn't keeping track of coronavirus-only facilities. The nursing home crisis has plagued governors around the country. In New York, the hardest-hit state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has drawn criticism for his response to outbreaks in nursing homes, including a mandate that required the facilities to take back coronavirus patients being discharged from hospitals. "If you can't provide adequate care to a patient, you must transfer the patient," Cuomo said last month. "If they cannot transfer a patient to another facility, they should call the Department of Health ... and the Department of Health finds a facility." The governor said repeatedly that if nursing home operators couldn't find appropriate transfers, the state would. Cuomo has also faced scrutiny for saying it's "not our responsibility" to provide protective equipment like masks and gowns to privately owned nursing homes, although the state has now done so. On Sunday, Cuomo announced a policy shift aimed at providing new measures to protect the 100,000 New Yorkers living in nursing homes. Under the new policy, hospitals aren't allowed to release COVID-19 patients to nursing homes. They now must hold on to the patients or send them to one of the state's COVID-19-only facilities. Cuomo also says he is mandating that all nursing home staffers be tested twice a week. Lamont, the Connecticut governor, said his office has devoted considerable time and effort to securing protective equipment and testing supplies for his state's nursing homes. "I've gone to every single broker from China I can find," Lamont said. "I've gone down on bended knee to the Mike Pence commission and said, 'This is what you need to do.' And most importantly, I've worked with all the private vendors I could, the major businesses that are responsible for this, and that's how we're getting significant loads of PPE and testing we wouldn't otherwise get." "I think, especially in a crisis, the buck stops right here," Lamont added. Under the measure, the city would investigate such claims, and the business would have up to 30 days to fix the violation, which some aldermen said is too long. The employee would be able to sue to get reinstated at work and to recover damages from their employer if a violation is discovered. Since March, the company's philanthropic arm Panda Cares and co-founders Andrew and Peggy Cherng have donated nearly $9 million to support various COVID-19 relief efforts, including partnering with Feeding America as well as providing hot meals and personal protective equipment (PPE) to healthcare workers. More than 4 million N95, KN95 and surgical masks have been sourced and allocated to hospitals in 13 cities and counting, with a commitment to donate 50,000 meals to care for the healthcare community by June. Panda will continue to fundraise for its COVID-19 Community Care Fund with a new focus on the race to find a cure, supporting a team of renowned scientists that are developing a treatment for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. "In a time when connection seems difficult to grasp, we hope to bring comfort and hope by giving back and letting our communities know that they are not alone," said Dr. Peggy Cherng, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Panda Restaurant Group. "The appreciation discount program for hospital workers and first responders is a small token of our appreciation for all that they do for us. We will continue to support hospitals with PPE and food donations. Our commitment to caring for our frontline caregivers extends beyond Hospital Weekwe will do everything in our ability, however big or small, to take care of our heroes." As a result of the restaurant brand's philanthropic impact throughout the pandemic and the Cherngs' long-time advocacy of the healthcare space, Panda Express has been recently chosen as the exclusive lunch and dinner partner of MED 4 OUR WORLD, an organization that focuses on providing medical care to underserved communities and has since pivoted during COVID-19 to providing free meals to hospitals nationwide. To kick off this partnership, Panda sponsored MED 4 OUR WORLD's National Nurses Day (May 6) celebration with 450 hot meals to the staff at Palomar Health Foundation locations in San Diego, California. Since March 2020, all Panda Cares donations are allocated to Panda's COVID-19 Community Care Fund to donate PPE to hospitals in need, so doctors and nurses are best equipped to care for their patients. For more information about how Panda is navigating through COVID-19, please visit www.pandaexpress.com/forourpandafamily. *This offer is only valid for in-store orders at participating Panda Express and Panda Inn locations in the U.S. and Canada. Not valid with orders made online, through the Panda Express mobile app, or through any third-party delivery service. This offer may not be combined with any other discount, code, or promotion. Valid until December 31, 2020. Panda Restaurant Group, Inc. reserves the right to modify or discontinue this discount at any time without notice. Additional restrictions may apply. About Panda Express On a mission to inspire better lives, American Chinese trailblazer Panda Express is the largest Asian dining concept in the U.S. Family-owned and operated since 1983 by co-founders and co-CEOs Andrew and Peggy Cherng, Panda Express is best known for creating a wide variety of industry-first recipes, including its best seller the Original Orange Chicken and award-winning Honey Walnut Shrimp, which have defined the category of authentic American Chinese cuisine. Each dish at Panda Express, including the Wok Smart selections, is thoughtfully crafted with quality ingredients and inspired by bold Chinese flavors and culinary principles. The restaurant brand has more than 2,200 locations throughout the U.S. and has introduced American Chinese cuisine to more than ten international countries. Powered by this global family of associates, Panda Cares, the organization's philanthropic arm, has raised more than $196 million and countless volunteer hours in bettering the health and education for over 12 million youths as well as supporting communities in need since 1999. In 2020, Panda established the Panda Cares Scholars Program to provide the necessary funding, academic support and leadership development to help high school and college students learn, lead and thrive towards a bright future. For more information about Panda, visit pandaexpress.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. SOURCE Panda Express Related Links https://www.pandaexpress.com Four soldiers also seriously wounded as convoy of Chadian peacekeepers on patrol hit explosive devices in the north. Three United Nations soldiers from Chad have been killed in Mali when their convoy hit a roadside bomb, according to officials. The blast in the northern region of Aguelhok left four more soldiers seriously wounded, the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, said in a statement on Sunday. We will have to make every effort to identify and apprehend those responsible for these terrorist acts so that they can be brought to justice, said Mahamat Saleh Annadif, MINUSMA mission head. I bow before the remains of these brave Blue Helmets who died in the service of peace in Mali. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned what he described as a cowardly attack. 200504054720164 Guterres called on the authorities in Mali to spare no effort to identify those responsible so that they can be brought to justice swiftly, according to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The statement from his office also said attacks targeting UN peacekeepers could constitute war crimes under international law. Security crisis Established in 2013, the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali has some 13,000 troops, drawn from several nations, deployed across the vast semi-arid country that has been facing a worsening security situation in recent years. What began as a localised revolt in Malis north in 2012 soon spread to the centre of the country and then to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso. The UN peacekeeping force, a French military intervention and military campaigns by national armies have failed to stem the violence, which killed 4,000 people in the three countries last year and displaced hundreds of thousands, according to UN figures. The conflict has exacerbated ethnic tensions and local grievances over poverty and the absence of the state, giving rise to ethnic militias and bolstering support for armed groups, some of which are linked to the al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) armed groups. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More IT company Tech Mahindra expects 5G rollout, demand for home connectivity and digitisation will drive business growth in the coming days, senior officials of the company said. The company expects short term setbacks for businesses due to coronavirus pandemic, however, telecom clients will support business growth. "There will be some headwinds, and those headwinds will be common to everybody, but company continues to innovate, continues to leverage every of my acquisition and certain businesses where the expansion is likely to happen faster, for example, digital, for example, healthcare, we are doing a double click or a double drilling," Tech Mahindra MD and CEO CP Gurnani said in an investors call. According to the details uploaded on the company's website, 93 per cent employees in the company's IT team and around 85 per cent in the business process services were working from home after the lockdown was announced. Tech Mahindra CEO for Network Services Manish Vyas said that major service providers continue to remain focused on investment in network expansion and 5G services. "The new workspace is clearly shifting more towards the home and that is something telcos, particularly the large ones who have been incumbents, they are all going to be looking at that product mix and all looking at digitisation and strengthening the product mix with home as the new access of growth," Vyas said. He said that a lot of discussions are going on telecom players towards digitisation of homes. During the lockdown, most of the employees across businesses are working from home. IT major TCS has already announced plans to allow 75 per cent of employees to work from home by 2025. Tech Mahindra in the quarter ended March 31, 2020 reported 29 per cent dip in the March quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 803.9 crore owing to narrowing of margins due to factors including a surge in COVID-19 related costs. For the 2019-20 financial year, the Mahindra group company reported 6.15 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 4,033 crore. In December quarter, the profit stood at Rs 1,145.9 crore. Gurnani said that the company continued to book businesses in March and teams both in the US and India were very active and they booked some good businesses. "We are confident that the company is in a war mode, our teams are warriors and we will fight and we will fight back," he said. For couples trying to tie the knot, 2020 has presented a unique set of problems ranging from a total ban on ceremonies and receptions at times to small-scale guest lists of 15 people. From 00.01 on Saturday 19 December, additional areas will move into tier 3, due to growing coronavirus numbers. These include Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Peterborough, the whole of Hertfordshire, Surrey with the exception of Waverley, Hastings and Rother on the Kent border of East Sussex, and Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant in Hampshire. Greater London and parts of Kent and Essex continue to be subject to tier 3 measures. To check your area use the government postcode checker here. Read more: Covid tier rules: Everything you can and cant do in tiers 1, 2 and 3 after lockdown Big plans like weddings will be negatively impacted under the tier system and new tier changes. So what should people expect? Will weddings begin again? Mr Johnson has previously said that by the spring 2021 the whole concept of a Covid lockdown will be made redundant by a mixture of vaccine and measures having driven the R-number below one. This will come as reassuring news for those who have planned summer weddings next year or moved a 2020 wedding back 12 months. However, he warned, we are not there yet and those looking to walk down the aisle this side of Christmas still face challenges. The tier one, two and three places different restrictions upon people depending on where they live. The general rule is that weddings (and collective worship) will be back in business. But what this means in individual settings will still vary. Read more: Which tier am I in? How to check the alert level in your area Weddings and civil partnerships can happen in all tiers (1-3) with an upper limit of 15 guests, as before, but reception events are banned in tier 3. This is the tier where pubs, restaurants and hotels are also closed (apart from takeaway). Mr Johnson also reassured people there would not be supplementary rules on top of the tiers. So the rules as you see them will apply. What tier is my area in? People can find out which alert level their area falls under using the postcode search available on the government website. You can also refer to a full list here. The NHS Covid 19 app will also be updated and show which local alert level applies in which area. Photo credit: The Washington Post - Getty Images From Popular Mechanics Climate researchers who study historical climate events say there are links to today. Scientists study history by pulling enormous cores of ice out of deep holes. The ice "records" events like drought and disease, but must be studied with historical records. Scientists from the Ohio State University say that Earths crust will carry evidence of COVID-19 (coronavirus) likely for the rest of Earths long timeline. Thats because of both environmental signs of a global pandemic and the way pathogens like viruses and bacteria are effectively flash frozen in snow and ice. The scientists, from OSUs Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, have tested ice cores in some of the world's most remote areas for viruses. These cores are most useful as a way to corroborate the human historical record. [If] all you have are the ice core records, and you dont have the human history, you might miss the connection, said Byrd Center geography researcher Ellen Mosley-Thompson in a statement. One example is of a high amount of dust in cores dating back to the 1300s, which scientists cant place or contextualize without some written record, such as contemporary notes about a drought or even a volcanic eruption. The same is true in reverse: Its impractical for scientists to search entire ice cores for evidence of a viral pathogen at some point in the past. Instead of that needle in a haystack, they need bookends on a smaller time frame, and that guidance comes from the historical record. [I]f you are looking for evidence of old viruses, then you have to know precisely where to look in the cores, Mosley-Thompson said in the OSU statement. In the case of the dusty core from the 1300s, the cause was a major drought that lasted for more than four decades. Combined with that, the human population was impacted and reduced by the plague. And, the statement says, On some glaciers the ice that formed during the years of the Plague contains less lead than ice that formed during preceding years, likely because mining and smelting activities sharply dropped off during that time. Story continues The multifaceted impact of a global pandemic had similar hallmarks even in the 1300s. The human cost of illness affected everything, from culture to industry to Earth itself. And a drought and illness event that lasted for decades was enough to pull down some of the worlds great contemporary civilizations, including the Akkadian empire in Mesopotamia, societies around the Indus River and the Yangtze River in Asia, and the Old Kingdom in Egypt, the statement says. COVID-19 is already affecting Earth's atmosphere, the scientists say. From the statement: As people stayed home and drove less, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide levels dropped over China and throughout much of the United States. Both are potent pollutants that primarily form by burning gas and oil the fossil fuels that power most of our vehicles. That decrease in nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide levels will be evident in the nitrate and sulfate levels in ice cores retrieved by future glaciologists. So the scientists believe there are parallels between events like the ones in the 1300s and the global pandemic happening today. One interesting difference, of course, is that the world is now totally interconnected. In the 1300s, entire civilizations could thrive and perish without ever meaningfully contacting each other. Today, any group that suffers affects everyoneand can ask everyone for help. I suspect there are some lessons here that would be useful today, Mosley-Thompson concluded. Indeed, humankind has faced pandemics and catastrophes for all of history. What we can change is how we respond. You Might Also Like The latest: President Donald Trump said he may mandate all nursing homes conduct coronavirus tests on their residents. Well, I would certainly consider that. I will mandate it, if youd like, he said to the reporter who asked why it wasn't a requirement. I think it's important to do. He added that he thinks all the states should be testing nursing home residents and that they have the capacity to conduct that testing. Earlier today, on a video call with Vice President Mike Pence, members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the nations governors, both Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx also addressed the issue. Moving forward, Birx said, the administration is looking to test key areas, nursing homes in particular. We really believe that all 1 million nursing home residents need to be tested within the next two weeks as well as the staff, she said, noting that there should be probably weekly testing after that. Pence reiterated Birxs comments, telling the governors that they should develop plans to test all nursing home residents whether their states have reached phase one reopening plans or not. We are recommending very strongly that as you all have been rapidly expanding testing is that you sit your teams down today and figure out a strategy to make sure whether youre in phase one or not were calling on states across the country, start now deploying those testing resources to test the residents and staff at your nursing homes as quickly as you can get up to weekly testing, he said. White House requires visitors and staff in West Wing to wear masks The White House is requiring everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask, the Associated Press reports. This comes after two staffers tested positive for the coronavirus. The AP reports that staff will be allowed to remove their masks if they are at least six feet apart from other colleagues. Trump official clarifies states will receive $11 billion for testing Dr. Brett Giroir, the Health and Human Services assistant secretary, clarified that the federal government will be giving states $11 billion to be used on coronavirus testing efforts. "As the President said, $11 billion are now being announced to be delivered to the states for the sole support of testing," Giroir said at a news briefing on Monday. President Trump said just a few minutes before Giroir took the podium that states were receiving $1 billion. Giroir said in order for states to receive the funding, there has to be plans in place that address testing in "vulnerable communities." "There needs to be minimum numbers to be planned to test. They have to have plans for their vulnerable communities, including nursing homes, including those who are disabled, including those who are in prisons or who have working environments that they may have a more likelihood to spread the infection," he said. WHO director says herd immunity a "dangerous" concept Dr. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO) health emergencies program, said the concept of herd immunity is dangerous. This idea that maybe countries that had lax measures and havent done anything will all of a sudden magically reach some herd immunity and so what if we lose a few old people along the way? This is a really dangerous, dangerous calculation," Ryan said at a news briefing on Monday. The term herd immunity is taken from veterinary epidemiology, where people are concerned with the overall health of the herd, and individual animals in that sense, doesnt matter, Ryan said. Humans are not herds. Ryan said the world needs to be careful using the term, as it can lead to a very brutal arithmetic which does not put people and life and suffering at the center of that equation. 'Most' states cooperating with federal reopening guidelines, Mnuchin says Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said "most" states are cooperating with federal guidelines as they begin the process of reopening. Responding to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's threat over the weekend to move the company's headquarters out of California after local officials refused to let the company reopen its Fremont factory, Mnuchin said he agreed with Musk. "He's one of the biggest employers and manufacturers in California, and California should prioritize doing whatever they need to do to solve those health issues so that he can open quickly or safely or they're going to find, as he's threatened, he's moving his production to a different state," Mnuchin said on CNBC. Mnuchin said that there were "ongoing discussions" in the administration on how to assess which states are deserving of federal aid. He reiterated that the president and congressional Republicans are against "bailing out" state pensions. Mnuchin said although Democrats have expressed a desire to "throw a lot of money" at the problem of state aid, he has not heard from Democrats that they are willing to put money toward state pensions either. "I think it's very clear there is not going to be bipartisan support that bails out states from previous problems," Mnuchin said. He also highlighted lending facilities opened by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department to help states with cash flow issues. Asked why he would not view the issue of states that rely heavily on sales tax revenues laying off workers as they face budget shortfalls with immediacy, Mnuchin said the CARES Act did give lot of money to the states, which was intended for coronavirus-related expenses, not for lost revenues. He said the federal government recently gave states more flexibility in allowing the use of these funds to keep first responders employed. "The issue of lost revenues is a complicated issue. These are taxing authorities on their own, different states tax different ways. Some states have more issues. Some states have less issues," Mnuchin said, adding that he will continue to discuss the issue with President Donald Trump and Congress. Predicted US death toll keeps rising with states reopening A leading model has upped its U.S. coronavirus death toll projection again as governors continue lifting measures toward a reopening. The model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington now forecasts more than 137,000 Americans will die by early August. That rise is largely due to Americans moving around more, IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray said in a news release, adding that in some places the upward trend in movements began before statewide measures were relaxed. Researchers tracked that movement through anonymous cell phone data, according to the release. "Unless and until we see accelerated testing, contact tracing, isolating people who test positive, and widespread use of masks in public, there is a significant likelihood of new infections," Murray said in the release. States began setting reopening plans in late April with governors in South Carolina and Georgia leading the way with some of the most aggressive plans and by this week, nearly every state has begun relaxing restrictions. Despite not meeting guidelines put forth by the federal government, states laid out phased reopenings they said were guided by data and the advice of medical experts. But other public health officials gave dire warnings about the thousands of lives that could be lost with a premature relaxing of measures. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. And the public remains torn as well: a Pew Research Center poll showed nearly two-thirds of Americans said they were concerned about their state opening too early. But thousands of people across the country protested in recent weeks for their right to go back to work. What might come after the reopenings won't be apparent for weeks. One expert told CNN it will be at least two to three weeks before states may begin seeing increased infections. The strange illness that could be linked to the virus In New York, health officials are now looking at a mysterious illness that's showing up in children they believe may be linked to the virus. The condition, which doctors refer to as "pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome," left dozens of New York children hospitalized, many of whom tested positive for the virus or had its antibodies, according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. On Sunday, the governor said state officials were investigating 85 cases, mostly toddlers and elementary school-aged children. Many of the children had fever and symptoms similar to toxic shock syndrome and Kawasaki disease, which causes inflammation in the walls of blood vessels, including those that supply blood to the heart. In rare cases, it can lead to deadly limitations in blood flow. Similar cases have been reported internationally, including in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. A battle over coronavirus checkpoints In South Dakota, a Native American community set up checkpoints along state and U.S. highways in efforts to track the virus and stop it from spreading. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem sent letters Friday to leaders of the Oglala Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux tribes demanding the checkpoints be taken down. In a Sunday update, Noem's office warned if the checkpoints "don't come down, the state will take the matter to federal court." But the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is refusing to take them down, and the tribe's chairman, Harold Frazier, told CNN the community wants to ensure people coming from highly infected areas go around the tribal lands. "With the lack of resources we have medically, this is our best tool we have right now to try to prevent (the spread of Covid-19)," Frazier told CNN. The 12,000 people who live on the reservation, Frazier said, rely on an eight-bed facility and have no intensive care unit (ICU). About 198 Native Americans in South Dakota have been infected with the virus, according to state data. The cases in the White House Meanwhile, top health and federal government officials have come in contact with people infected with the virus and some have announced they'll be going into quarantine. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House task force, told CNN he would be going in a "modified quarantine" after coming in contact with a White House staffer who tested positive for the virus. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield and Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, will also go into quarantine after coming into contact with a person who tested positive for the virus. Officials will not identify the person to whom Hahn or Redfield were exposed. The White House confirmed Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller tested positive on Friday. She was often in White House coronavirus task force meetings. But Pence is not planning to self-quarantine, his office said Sunday, adding that he plans to be back at the White House on Monday. He has tested negative for the virus every day, Pence spokesperson Devin O'Malley said. And last week, President Trump also learned one of his Oval Office valets tested positive for the virus. An Iranian warship was hit by a "friendly fire" missile during naval exercises, killing 19 sailors, state media and the army said Monday, amid tensions with the US in Gulf waters. The Konarak was struck on Sunday afternoon near Bandar-e Jask, off the southern coast of the Islamic republic, state television's website said. "The vessel was hit after moving a practice target to its destination and not creating enough distance between itself and the target," it said. Nineteen crewmen were killed and 15 injured in an "accident" during the exercises, the armed forces said, without elaborating. The vessel had been towed ashore for "technical investigations", the military said in a statement, calling on people to "avoid speculation" until further information is released. Tasnim news agency said in an English-language tweet that the missile was fired by another Iranian warship. The Konarak had been hit by "'friendly fire' after Moudge-class frigate 'Jamaran' accidentally shot (it) with a missile during live firing exercise in Jask area of #PersianGulf waters". The 15 injured were hospitalised in Sistan and Baluchistan, said Mohammad-Mehran Aminifard, head of the province's medical university. Two of the sailors were in intensive care, he told the semi-official news agency ISNA. A video released by Jam-e-Jam daily showed what it said was the Konarak partly under water and smouldering as it was being towed by a boat. Iran's army chief and foreign minister offered their condolences to the sailors' families in separate statements. Trump 'shoot down' threat The Konarak is a logistical support vessel built in the Netherlands and purchased by Iran before the 1979 Islamic revolution. Weighing 447 tonnes and 47 metres (154 feet) long, the Hendijan-class vessel is equipped with four cruise missiles, according to state television. It was not immediately clear how many crew members had been on board the warship at the time of the accident. Iran and its arch enemy the United States have traded barbs in the past year over a spate of incidents involving their forces in the sensitive Gulf waters. Their latest high-seas confrontation came on April 15, when the United States charged Iranian boats had "harassed" its navy ships in the waterway. President Donald Trump then tweeted that he had ordered the US Navy to "shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea". His Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani retorted that Washington "should not plot against the Iranian nation every day", adding that the Islamic republic had "protected this waterway for thousands of years". Airline disaster The friendly-fire incident occurred near the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for a third of the world's seaborne oil. The escalation of Iran-US tensions last year saw ships mysteriously attacked, drones downed and oil tankers seized in the strait. In July 2019, Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero in the waterway for allegedly ramming a fishing boat and released it two months later. The Guards seized at least six other ships that year over alleged fuel smuggling. Tensions have escalated since 2018 when Trump withdrew the United States from a multinational accord that froze Iran's nuclear programme, and reimposed crippling sanctions on its economy. Iran's armed forces in January mistakingly shot down a Kiev-bound Boeing 737 passenger jet shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard. The military admitted to the catastrophic error, saying it came as Iran's air defences were on high alert after firing a barrage of missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq. Iran launched the missiles in retaliation for the US killing of its top general Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad. But there have been some significant local clusters, notably from a birthday party at a restaurant on the Sunshine Coast. The initial cases were contracted overseas but the party gave the virus ample opportunity to spread among people in close proximity for long periods of time. Eventually, 28 people came down with COVID-19 thanks to the party, before Queensland Health confirmed late last week they had all recovered. Amanda Hicks (far right) and the team at Queensland Health's dedicated contact-tracing unit. Amanda Hicks is a nurse manager with Queensland Healths special team of contact tracers, who are called in to handle clusters like the one stemming from the Sunshine Coast party. She said while it was significant, by far the biggest single source of infections had been people returning from cruise ships. "The initial contact tracing work is done by the public health units," she said. "Theyll talk to someone and find out theyve been on a cruise ship or a flight, and thats when my team is called in. "So we get tasked to call everyone on the list at the party, for example, informing them they had an infectious case [near them]." Ms Hicks said almost everyone was helpful but it still took time and effort to piece together movements over the period when someone might have been infectious. "Youre infectious around two days before you show symptoms, so that could have been a week before we talk to you," she said. "So you have to ask things like what did you do last Wednesday?, which is sometimes a problem because people can forget where theyve been or who they talked to." The Queensland government showed how seriously it took contact tracing relatively early in the pandemic. In April it announced a plan to reallocate 500 extra public servants to the front line of the response in public health units. Fever clinics like this one at the Gold Coast University Hospital have been the public face of the fight against coronavirus. Credit:Stuart Layt Ms Beaverson said a number of them were being trained at Metro South, and it was good to get reinforcements as cases climbed rapidly in March. "It got very busy when we were having a lot more of the overseas travellers returning, and then once they put the travel bans in place, that assisted with ongoing transmission," she said. During the initial push to bolster the health system to deal with the worst-case scenarios of the pandemic, much was made of the doctors and nurses working in emergency rooms, testing patients and treating confirmed cases. But in addition to their excellent work, it has been the contact tracers who have managed to contain the number of overall cases by choking them off before they could take hold. Dr Bhakti Vasant, a public health officer with Metro South Hospital and Health Service, has been at the forefront of contact tracing COVID-19 cases. Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young has repeatedly praised the contact-tracing teams, singling them out again for mention during a media conference on Friday. "We've had outbreaks in Queensland but they've been managed beautifully because we have really good people in all of our hospitals and health services," Dr Young said. Loading "The most important thing we all have to do, if we get any symptoms at all, is to go and get tested because then we can contact trace and get anyone whos been near that person into quarantine." Going forward, that will be Queenslands strategy to manage the virus as restrictions are progressively lifted: ensure widespread testing and trace any cases that emerge. Public health physician Bhakti Vasant, from Metro South, said that was what health authorities did routinely for diseases such as measles. The highly infectious disease was having a small resurgence in late 2019 and early 2020 before social distancing largely eradicated it again. Robbio (Italy): Europe's top rice producer Italy has seen consumption of the staple rise throughout the coronavirus pandemic, putting even pasta in the shade. It's not just popular at home either China itself has even signed a deal to import Italian rice. The Chinese have their eyes on varieties used to make typical risotto dishes such as medium-grained Carnaroli, Arborio, Roma or Baldo. "It is because our rice is better quality than that cultivated in China," says Stefano Greppi, Pavia province president at Italy's main agricultural union Coldiretti. Himself the owner of a nearby rice farm, Greppi welcomes the recent signing, during the pandemic, of an agreement allowing Italy, which produces more than half of European rice output, to export rice to China. That is a boon for producers in the provinces of Pavia, Lombardy, Vercelli and Novara (both in Piedmont) which account between them for 95 percent of national production. "It's a bit like selling ice cream to the eskimos," quipped daily Il Corriere della Sera the day after the export protocol was signed in April. "The doors of the huge Chinese market are opening to rice (and risotto) cultivated in the countryside around Pavia," added the newspaper, explaining that "native imitations of Italian risotto" already exist in China. Spread over 220,000 hectares (545,000 acres) and cultivated by 4,200 producers in all, Italian rice production totals an annual 1.5 million tonnes. The country boasts more than 200 varieties in all, each with its own peculiarities. Even so, Europe is a mere lightweight when it comes to global production. It has just 0.4 percent of the total world output of 500 million tonnes a year, 90 percent of that Asia-based. Outstripping Pasta With the wind in its sails internationally, Italian rice is also making good headway at home. Consumption soared 47 percent during the first six weeks of the coronavirus pandemic sometimes outstripping demand even for pasta in that period, according to Coldiretti. "During the COVID-19 emergency, people rediscovered rice and also risotto, which has always been a bit snubbed in Italian cuisine," Stefania Buffa, a 27-year-old rice farmer from Robbio in Lombardy, told AFP. Sergio Lombardi, 63, who owns a farm in the same area, explains that "the region can count on water reserves and a constant supply throughout the duration of rice cultivation, which is not possible in many regions of Italy." Sown in spring, Italian rice is harvested between September and October. Rice was introduced into the country's north in the 12th century by Cistercian monks, who took upon themselves the task of improving what was then unsanitary and wooded terrain prone to malaria outbreaks. The rice crop benefited from the arrival of canals, whose layout Leonardo da Vinci designed. Mechanisation then brought further crop advances. Up until the 1950s and 1960s, people came from the south of Italy, particularly women, dubbed "mondine" or seasonal pruners, to cultivate the Po plain. Their harsh working conditions inspired the famous protest song "Bella ciao" as well as neo-realist films including "Bitter Rice" (Riso Amaro, 1949) notably featuring Silvana Mangano and Vittorio Gassman. Ludhiana (Punjab) [India], May 11 (ANI): Migrant workers staying in Punjab's Ludhiana have been left in lurch despite the announcement by the Ministry of Home Affairs to allow Indian railways to operate special passenger trains to ferry stranded migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons back to their homes. While speaking to ANI, migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh stranded in Ludhiana expressed their ordeals. "I along with other people who are staying with me had applied online to go back to our homes. We were taken to the station by bus and then asked to return. We were assured that we will be taken again tomorrow but we have not received any message yet. We do not have any job, now. We are running out of money. Nobody is there to help us," Virendra Pratap, one of the migrant workers and a resident of Gonda district of UP told ANI. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on May 5 wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking his intervention to arrange special trains for the next 10-15 days, beginning May 5, to send stranded migrant labourers back to their home states from Punjab. Despite the prime minister's request on television to not hold anyone's salary, Migrant worker said, "We are not even fully paid for the work we have done in factories. The owner of the factories are advising us to leave for our home if we can. But how can we go, We do not have any means to go." Similar sentiments were echoed by other migrant labourers who are stranded here. "Companies have asked us to go if we can..but how can we go without any means. They are not paying us. I have applied to go back but I do not get any confirmation. Those who get, even they were returned from the Railway station. We are not receiving any help from the government. Government is not providing us ration and we are running out of money," said Bablu Ojha, a resident of Balrampur district of UP. Hoping to receive any help, Another migrant worker, Vinay Pandey of Gorakhpur said, "Administration is promising us to help but they are not helping us. They have asked the factories to resume work, but we are not asked to come back to work. We are dependent upon each other. We are taking money from home for our survival. It is becoming difficult for us to live here in this lockdown." The countrywide COVID-19 lockdown, which was scheduled to end on May 3, has been extended by another two weeks till May 17. (ANI) Ukrainian nuclear power plants' output plunges to lowest level on record 15:20, 11.05.20 11865 The SBI on May 7 launched a pretrial investigation into limitations on electricity generation by the country's nuclear power facilities. Aer Lingus owner IAG has exhausted every avenue to shore up its finances and is burning through cash, its CEO said on Monday, as the aviation industry warned of the fresh damage it would suffer if Britain quarantines international arrivals. Willie Walsh told parliament's transport committee IAG would have to review plans to resume flying in July if the government pressed ahead with plans to introduce a quarantine on most people coming into the country by air as part of measures to prevent a second peak of the coronavirus pandemic. While Walsh said IAG was not in a position where it had to ask for a specific bailout from the government, he added the quarantine plan would add to the pressure on the group. "We've probably exhausted every avenue that I can think of at this stage to shore up our liquidity. The cash has been reducing significantly and that will be the case as we go through May, June and July," he said. "The announcements yesterday of a 14-day period (of quarantine) for coming into the UK, it's definitely going to make it worse," he said, forecasting demand for "minimal" capacity under such rules. Questioned by UK lawmakers over a British Airways plan to lay off up to 12,000 people, or 30% of its workforce, Walsh told lawmakers that aviation was facing the deepest crisis in its history. "The industry has changed and anybody who believes that we're going back to the way things were in 2019 misunderstands the scale of the challenge that is being faced," he said. He suggested job losses could follow at IAG's other airlines, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling in Spain, saying that Iberia management would be doing "everything they possibly can to right-size Iberia." Global aviation is facing a battle to survive, with most flights grounded since March due to travel restrictions to contain the pandemic. Britain's new quarantine rules risk derailing any recovery for UK-based airlines, and the industry urged the government to come up with an alternative plan. Heathrow Airport, which during normal times is Europe's busiest airport but saw passenger numbers plunge 97% in April, called for common international standards to enable passengers to travel freely between low risk counties once the virus is under control. That would allow borders to be re-opened, it said. Meanwhile, budget airline easyJet said any quarantine requirements must be short-lived and replaced by a targeted regime allowing low-risk passengers to travel easily. Walsh said that IAG was working with regulators to implement a common system across Europe of measures to be taken at airports and onboard aircraft to stop the disease spreading. He said that he believed the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) would publish a draft document on safety measures later this week. Airlines UK, which represents British Airways, easyJet and other UK carriers, said quarantine measures would lead to the industry requiring additional government support. The industry body has already asked for Britain's job retention scheme to be extended beyond June, and requested a temporary suspension of some taxes airlines pay, such as air passenger duty. Bosses complained there was lack of clarity over how long the new rules would last and how often they would be reviewed. "It's inevitable that consumers will be confused by the message, they will not be certain as to when they should book their holidays," Manchester Airports Group Chief Executive Charlie Cornish told BBC television. Some destinations will be at an advantage, as travelers from France will be exempt from the quarantine rules, while airlines said the new rules wouldn't be applied to arrivals from Ireland. Britain's foreign minister Dominic Raab told BBC Radio there would be exemptions from the rules but did not give details. He said the government was aiming to bring in the quarantine from the end of the month. Critics have asked why it was not brought in sooner and how it will be put into practice, given passengers could fly to France and then cross into Britain via ferry or train. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie IoT systems in business and operational environments have increased the attack surface and introduced new risks to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of critical data and systems at many enterprises. Security leaders need to update their organization's threat profile to account for these risks and implement a formal plan for proactively managing them. Otherwise they risk becoming soft targets for adversaries looking to exploit vulnerable IoT environments to spy, steal data, launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, escalate privileges and disrupt operations in other ways, analysts say. "IoT devices present a unique risk because organizations typically have hundreds of these devices on their IT and OT [operational technology] networks each expanding the attack surface and increasing organizational risk," says Kyle Miller, chief engineer and senior associate at Booz Allen Hamilton. In recent years, internet-connected devices have proliferated within traditional IT and in operational environments. Organizations looking to remake themselves as connected enterprises have deployed IoT sensors and devices on plant floors, on equipment, in the field and elsewhere resulting in a massive data deluge. Within enterprises, everything from facilities management and security monitoring systems to printers and lighting systems are being connected to the internet. Analysts expect that over the next few years, enterprises will deploy billions of IoT devices to support myriad use cases. That will force organizations to reconsider the following factors when developing their threat models. What IoT proliferation controls are in place? A lot of the IoT use within organizations has happened in an incremental and non-strategic manner with little IT or security oversight, says Robert Boyce, North American cyber defense leader with Accenture's global cybersecurity practice. "Many organizations are deploying IoT devices without going through a formal governance process," he says. As a result, few have a clear picture of their IoT asset landscape and associated risks. Smaller IoT deployments are sometimes overlooked entirely from a threat perspective. For instance, many of the devices used in enterprise settings including IP cameras, digital assistants and other smart devices connect directly to the internet. "A lot of these devices call home for upgrades," Boyce says. "And a lot of the time, China is home." Similarly, when employees and executives interact as a group or individually with technologies like voice-activated virtual assistants, data confidentiality and privacy can become important concerns, says Dan Cornell, CTO at the Denim Group. Conversations that happen in conference rooms or in an executive office can involve privileged and protected information that are sent to the device manufacturer's cloud, Cornell says. Considerations like whether confidential data is stored locally or in the cloud, where the data travels and how traceable it is, all become vital to understanding and mitigating the threat, he says. Securely sending data over IoT systems is another challenge, because a high percentage of the traffic is not encrypted. Organizations also can underestimate the risk around device identification and authentication, provisioning and maintenance without formal threat modeling, Cornell says. The consequences of such issues are far greater in an operational technology and industrial environment than they are in an IT network. Attacks on IoT vulnerabilities or security failures resulting from weaknesses in these environments can result in physical damage and safety-related consequences. Increasingly, organizations are connecting smart devices to old and new industrial control systems (ICS) and other operational technologies. Critical OT systems and networks that once used to be safely air-gapped from the external world are now open to internet access and therefore more vulnerable to attack. Where OT systems rarely extended beyond the operational environment they are now accessible to business users, suppliers, vendors and others. Adding to the risk are third-party manufacturers who put new access functions into critical industrial control systems and then lock them down so others cannot update them. This has left many organizations in a situation where a third-party has a direct and permanent connection into the operational environment, Accentures Boyce says. How much visibility do you have into your IoT network? Visibility is key to understanding and modeling threats in the IoT environment, says Cornell. To mitigate IoT risk, you need to know your assets and identify the threats associated with each of them in a systematic and planned manner. It involves identifying all the different ways in which a particular IoT asset might become a security liability and then applying measures to mitigate the likelihood of that happening, he says. These measures can include removing or disabling risky features, deploying operations controls, or implementing the technology differently. When building a threat model, dont look at IoT devices in isolation particularly in industrial and OT environments, says Mark Nicholson, a cyber principal with Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory. In assessing IoT-related threats, organizations need to consider the broader ecosystem within which these devices might exist. That means looking at how the devices connect with each other, with other devices and servers and hosts, he says. "If you are just looking at the security of the devices and not appreciating how the devices interact with the rest of the environment and data you might be missing some of the picture," he says. Gaining the visibility needed to do threat modeling can be hard. The sheer variety of IoT devices, lack of a standard architecture and inconsistent availability of security features across devices of the same type can make threat modeling a challenge. "IoT devices and systems come in a variety of flavors and not all are designed or built with the same degree of cybersecurity robustness," says Booz Allen Hamiltons Miller. Many IoT devices run off of simplified, real-time or legacy operating systems and software frameworks that do not support the same level of security protections as traditional IT systems. For these reasons, visibility of IoT systems in an enterprise environment becomes more challenging to achieve, he says. "The first step most organizations should take is getting an accurate snapshot of what IoT devices are already deployed within their networks," Miller says. "This is frequently one of our clients largest blind spots as it pertains to asset inventory." Multiple active and passive network and wireless discovery tools are available that organizations can use to aid in IoT asset discovery, Miller says. Once an organization understands their IoT assets, they can then begin to implement security controls such as network segregation and threat monitoring to help protect them. How do you vet device security during procurement? For future deployments, the best place to begin is with procurement, the Denim Groups Cornell says. Enterprises procuring IoT devices are in a good position to ensure the vendor implements the requisite security features in their devices. The acquisition process is a good time to do threat modeling and assessments to identify potential risks and vulnerabilities in planned IoT deployments, he says. "You have a much bigger stick to influence the vendor's behavior prior to completing the procurement process," than after. If the IoT devices you plan to use are consumer focused, the vendor is unlikely to have a sales channel to sell to or support enterprise security requirements. So organizations need to be careful on where they source their devices, Cornell says. To fully understand the risks and build safeguards against them in the contract, IoT procurement needs to happen in collaboration with the security organization. Get a comprehensive bill of materials and audit rights around all the components in the IoT environment, says Deloitte's Nicholson. Organizations need to understand where the components come from and the provenance of any IoT software they might intend to use. If a third party will manage your IoT devicesespecially in industrial and OT networksthen the contract needs to talk about the vendors or contractor's liabilities for any security incidents, Boyce adds. "I would also recommend a security review of the physical device itself," to ensure it meets security requirements, he says. How well do IT and OT communicate about IoT security? The most critical step to mitigating IoT risks is to involve the IT security organization, security analysts say. Often organizations that are increasing their IoT footprint, especially on the industrial side, barely recognize the potential security implications. Some organizations have begun building security capabilities into their ICS environments, but in many cases, the OT and IT side barely communicate with each other, Boyce says. Despite the enormous security implications, very little coordination occurs between the two groups. OT groups are often wary of IT security teams introducing controls in the environment without fully understanding their potential impact. "You can't really operate these groups separately anymore," Boyce says. "There has to be constant cross education." Since the lockdown was announced, over 1,700 women undertrials have been given parole by seven states to ensure social distancing in jails, the National Commission for Women (NCW) said on Monday. With 1,039 paroles, Uttar Pradesh let go of the maximum number of women undertrials, followed by Haryana with 223 women undertrials. Chhattisgarh (107), Gujarat (102), West Bengal (93), Delhi (73), Telangana (61) and Manipur (4) were the other states. The womens agency had asked prison authorities from 25 states to take part in a review meeting on Monday to take stock of their reform measures for women inmates. The NCW had on April 22 asked states to implement a slew of measures for safety of women during the Covid-19 pandemic. On Sunday, a woman in Byculla jail was found to be positive for Covid-19. Most of the states reported 50-80% occupancy after authorities gave bail to women undertrials. No cases of Covid-19 positive have been found in womens prison wards and barracks, the NCW said. NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said the virtual meeting was necessitated by several states not following up on the April 22 advisory. Some jails, she said, had pregnant women. Haryana, with 7 pregnant women, had the highest and Bihar has three. They are taken care of, she said. Karnataka, she said, was giving jobs to women who have finished jail term or were on parole in a petrol pump run wholly by women. The prisoners in the state of Kerala have manufactured nearly 500 litres of sanitisers under the lockdown. The state of Tamil Nadu has made total of 2900 video calls and other states were advised to advertise E-Mulaqat on a bigger scale. A commendable task is done by the state of Kerala, where 10,000 (female and male) prisoners were presented before the court for their (parole) proceedings, the NCW said in a release. The womens agency had in a letter on April 22 to Director General and Inspector General of Prisons in states, recommended that to decongest jails under the lockdown, women undertrials even in non-bailable offences be given bail application under Section 437(I)(ii) of the CrPC. Services of the respective state or District Legal Services Authority (SLSA/DLSA) should be provided to women so that they can place the applications of the inmates before a competent court, the letter said. The NCW had also suggested that the legal help should come with positive recommendation from the prosecution side. It also asked prison officials to maintain hygienic conditions and ensure supply of toiletries, masks, hand gloves and sanitisers, provide adequate medical and healthcare services. Provisions for medical check-up and arranging for services of specialists like psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric social workers, gynaecologists on visit basis in the prison ... authorities should also arrange and encourage video conferencing of the prisoners with their family members, for the psychological and mental wellbeing and strength of the prisoners, read the NCWs recommendations. 11.05.2020 LISTEN After more than three years of loud silence on concerns about Ghanas indecent manipulation of macroeconomic data, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Saturday, 9th May 2020, reluctantly commented on the growing revelations of how the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration had been suppressing figures to help hide the true state of the economy and to deceive Ghanaians and by extension, investors and the international community. The Country Representative of the IMF to Ghana, Dr Albert Touna Mama, is reported to have told JOY FMs News File programme that the Fund was aware that figures presented to it were DIFFERENT (emphasis mine) from those presented to Ghanaians through the governments official communications. Dr Mama basically said that Ghana currently had two different sets of data which it choses from depending on the situation/purpose. According to him, the differences in the figures arose from a DISAGREEMENT (emphasise mine) between the Fund and the government on; a). how fiscal deficit is calculated. He explained that while the fund insisted that the energy sector and the financial sector costs should be added in the calculation of the deficit, the government thought otherwise, hence the reasons for the differences in deficit figures for the 2017/18/19 fiscal years. b). how gross and net international reserves are calculated. He again explained that while the Fund said that the petroleum funds should be excluded from GIR and NIR, the Bank of Ghana and the government were of the opinion that they should be included hence the reason for the differences in the figures with respect to those indices. While I welcome the Funds intervention, albeit diplomatic and belated, I find it relevant to and revealing in the push for our government to be transparent and ethical in the presentation of the state of the economy to Ghanaians and the international community in general. I particularly find it to be a clear vindication of what NDC have been saying about the unethical doctoring of figures by the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government as part of their grand scheme to run the country using creative accounting, PR, lies and propaganda. Unfortunately, no amount of diplomacy, enhanced lies and PR and whitewashing will save the government from the embarrassment that it has been causing itself. Before I go into the substantive matter, please note that the NPP government, since its assumption of power in 2017, has never compiled and presented full year data on the management of the economy to Parliament as required by law. Since 2017, the Finance Minister has been presenting interim data to Parliament, a practice I recently decried when I appeared on the Wednesday Palaver, a programme by the Socialist Forum of Ghana, on Pan African TV. Thus, how our government used three months after the end of 2019 to get full year data for the performance of the economy in that fiscal year for the IMF but never had end of year data for 2018 for Ghanaians 11 months after 2018 in the 2020 budget and have still not reported 2017 final year figures to Parliament after two full years of budget implementation baffles me. It is obvious that but for the need to apply for the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF), Ghanaians would never have known the economic mess we are in. No wonder the Ministry of Finance issued a statement on May 10 in which it shamefully said that FactCheckGhana.com was comparing third quarter data with full year data. Cooked fiscal data Having said that the following observations are worth making from the IMF Country Representatives intervention on the data manipulation; 1. The Country Representatives response showed that the government admits that it has two different standards for reporting Ghanas fiscal deficit and international reserves; the one that is internationally accepted and required by the IMF (which Ghana was using and complying with prior to 2017) and the one that only Akufo-Addo, Bawumia and Ken Ofori-Atta originated and believe in after assuming office. Now, depending on the purpose for which they are reporting data on Ghanas economy, they choose the one they deem fit. This explains why Ghana has fiscal deficit figures for 2017, 2018 and 2019 that are different in government communications locally from those stated in the documents presented to and/or released by the IMF and investors. It also explains why the country has two different figures for gross and net international reserves for those three years in the Bank of Ghanas documents and the government of Ghana budgets on the one hand and documents released by the IMF. So, whenever Dr Bawumia says that he is comparing the performance of the NDCs four years with the NPPs three-year performance, what data is he always using? Does he always use the credible one that has been smuggled to and/released by the IMF or the massaged one that the IMF does not trust and continually refine to meet the internationally-accepted requirement? 2. In the case of the fiscal deficit, the IMFs Resident Representatives response showed that while the government successfully suppressed the numbers in the data that it presented to Ghanaains, it could not do that with regards to the data it presented to the IMF and investors obviously because those two insist on sticking to the internationally-accepted way of calculating the deficit. In times when the government suppressed the data, the IMF Resident Representative admitted that the Fund had to recalculate them to meet the required standards. Thus, the government was forced to add what it sought to exclude from its data when calculating the fiscal deficits for 2017, 2018 and 2019. In fact, prior to granting the interview, the IMF had, in the 2019 Article IV Report, explained why, in its view, Ghanas calculation of the fiscal deficit was flawed and not compliant with best practice. In the report released in December 2019, the Fund said Best international practice would include these transactions (the energy and financial sectors costs) above the line, as they reflect either direct government obligations or government transfers to SOEs. The Fund went further to state that spending on roads (Cocobod) and potentially infrastructure collateralised on bauxite (Sinohydro) should be recorded in the central government budget. IMF doesnt produce data Globally, the IMF works with countries to obtain data on the status of their economies. Therefore, the Fund cannot have data on Ghanas economy that does not originate from the government. However, since the government sort to suppress its overall balance by excluding the costs of energy sector and financial sector payments and payments to contractors it made through Fidelity Bank, which are contrary to internationally-accepted way of calculating deficits, and reported same to Ghanaians, it could not do same when reporting to the IMF. Key questions arise at this point. a). Are the data presented to and/or generated and released by the IMF reflective of Ghanas true economic indicators? The answer is yes. b). Does the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government agree with that data presented to and/generated by the IMF? The answer is yes. c). Has the government ever reported the data it presented to the IMF to Ghanaians? The answer is no. At this moment, it is obvious that the international community will evaluate Ghana not by the data cooked for Ghanaians but by the data that was agreed with and presented to and/or generated by the IMF. d). Does this put us in good light? The answer is no. Now, you are free to make your own conclusions. Deceitful international reserves 3. On international reserves, as the IMFs Resident Representative said, the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government has been inflating Ghanas gross and net international reserves by adding the petroleum funds, which are incumbered, and that is contrary to the internationally-accepted methodology. It is obviously clear that Ghana cannot have its own set of reporting standards on international reserves different from the IMF balance of payment manual five (BPM 5), which all countries are enjoined to comply with. A dispute should, therefore, never arise with methodology with IMF because once that happens, foreign investors will not trust that data. That is why it is an embarrassment of international stature to seek to inflate your reserves through clever accounting in complete lack of compliance with the rules of the Bible used by all Contral Banks the world over. Instructively and as has been admitted by the IMF Resident Representative, the government made sure that its report to the Fund was accurate in response to the IMF staff concerns. However, that was not the case with the data reported to Ghanaians. It is obvious that thr government at the moment values thr IMF more than Ghanaians when it comes to compliance with standards and credibility in data. Suppressed and manipulated public debt 4. The disparities in the data presented to Ghanaians and those presented to or released by the IMF are not limited to only fiscal deficits and international reserves. They extend to gross public debt and debt-to-GDP ratio. However, Dr Mama of the IMF, in his response to JOF FM, limited himself to the deficit and the reserves because those were the two reported by the Factcheck Ghana.com. However, the document released by the IMF in April 2020 contained disparity in public debt too. The IMF report quoted Ghanas nominal GDP at GHS347 billion and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 61.1%. This gives a public debt of GHS212 billion. In the governments communications locally, however, the debt stock is quoted at GHS203 billion, representing a whopping GHS9 billion difference. This means that about GHS9 billion was removed from our public debt. 5. This is the first time in our history that Ghana is operating with two different sets of data on fiscal deficit, international reserves, debt stock and debt-to-GDP ratio; one set (which is more appealing) for Ghanaians and another (which is unappealing) for the IMF and investors. This is the practice that the IMF Country Resident Representative shockingly admitted to but said we can agree to disagree. The strange thing though is that in the eyes of the government, both data sets are supposed to reflect the status of one economy; the one superintendented by Akufo-Addo and Bawumia and their 127 multitude of ministers. If this is not the height of disgustful deception, then I wonder what it is. Disgraceful GRA Thanksgiving 6. The application of creative accounting, the resort to manipulation and cooking of data and the use of naked lies to run the economy is not limited to only the fiscal deficit and the international reserves. It extends to almost every sphere of government machinery. Last year, I had cause to dispute a claim by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) that the government had exceeded its revenue targets for the 2019 fiscal year. My disputation was in response to separate claims by the Board Chairman of the GRA, Prof. Stephen Adei, and the Commissioner-General of the Authority, Mr Amisshaddai Owusu-Amoah, that the authority had collected more revenue than it was tasked to collect due to the governments policy interventions. It is instructive to note that less than five months into making that claim, the GRA has backtracked and stated that it did not meet its 2019 targets. In a Memo signed by the Commissioner-General and dated 9th April, 2019., the Authority said that GRA did not meet the original target set by the Ministry of Finance. In fact, the fiscal data released by the Ministry of Finance for the 2019 fiscal year show that GRA missed almost all its targets on revenue mobilisation lines in that year. The question that then arose after reading that memo and the data earlier released was what successful meeting and exceeding of target was GRA celebrating and thanking God for; a Thanksgiving that started in Accra and ended in Kumasi? Like I have said before, the GRA took inspiration from the Ministry of Finance and, indeed the government, to deceive Ghanaians on its operations. However, when reality caught up with the Authority when its Staff demanded for the payment of their bonuses, the GRA had no option than to come clean on its revenue mobilisation targets and the actuals. Mind you, it is the same reality that caught up with the government when it was forced to come clean on the economy or be denied a loan that it so desperately needed fdom the IMF. Other burning issues to peruse It is obvious that creative accounting and data manipulation are now a trait of the government. It is such that the data is cooked at the Ministry of Finance, dished by the Bank of Ghana and the Jubilee House and parroted by Dr Bawumia, the Walewale Adam Smith whose claim to and sustenance of fame was and has been a resort to clever deception through empty lectures and townhall meetings. Thus, while I thank the IMF for confirming that the government had been manipulating data on Ghanas economy and had subsequently prepared two data sets which it uses, Ghanaians need to appreciate that the deception and cooking of data is widespread. In my subsequent public engagements/write up, I shall be exposing how the government also engages in double budgeting as part of its grand scheme to inflate expenditure and use the excess for dubious ventures. Meanwhile, thank you, IMF and Dr Albert Touna Mama, for confirming a distasteful act that the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration have been perfecting and using to deceive Ghanaians. written by: Isaac Adongo SEATTLE All passengers traveling through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport will be required to wear cloth face coverings beginning next Monday to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The requirement also applies to airport workers, including Port of Seattle employees, and visitors who arent flying, according to The Seattle Times. The move announced by the Port of Seattle on Saturday night exempts people who cant tolerate facial coverings for medical reasons, as well as very young children. It's not yet clear how the Port of Seattle will enforce the requirement, but port spokesman Peter McGraw said the policy will be refined in the coming week. Coronavirus in Oregon: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter Several major airlines and some airports also are requiring passengers to wear masks. Philadelphia International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport will require all passengers and visitors to wear masks starting Monday. Denver International Airport started requiring all passengers to wear face coverings this past week. Some carriers, including Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, require passengers to wear face coverings when they are on the plane. The Transportation Security Administration now requires workers at screening checkpoints to wear masks. At Sea-Tac, seven TSA employees have tested positive for the coronavirus. The virus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most patients, and the vast majority recover. But it is highly contagious and can cause severe illness and death in some patients, particularly the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. The Associated Press Subscribe to our Oregon coronavirus newsletter: At least six security force members were killed while five others were injured in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan's Laghman province on Sunday night, Tolo News reported citing the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The outlet quoted the MoD as saying that the Taliban attacked a checkpoint in Alishing district while adding that the attack was pushed back by the Afghan forces and that the Taliban had sustained heavy casualties. Meanwhile, Gulzar Sangarwal Neyazi, provincial council member claimed of 22 casualties of Afghan security forces in the attack. Earlier today morning, at least four blasts occurred in Tahia Maskan area of Kabul city, security officials told Tolo News. The security forces said that the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and government vehicles were the target of the blasts. On Sunday night, two explosions were reported from Caharrahi Qambar and one explosion was reported from the Hootkhil area, according to officials. Since last night, seven explosions have occurred in different parts of Kabul city. (ANI) Also Read: US special envoy to visit India, Qatar, Pakistan to revive Afghan peace talks The UK Foreign Office privately admitted that the killing 1.2 million Armenians during World War I was genocide, but they could not say so because Turkey would take diplomatic and economic reprisals, Geoffrey Robertson, a distinguished human rights barrister said in an interview with the Harvard Political Review. In his book, An Inconvenient Genocide, Geoffrey Robertson establish the case outlining the Armenian Genocide where the Ottoman Empire systematically murdered up to 1.2 million Armenians during World War I. He suggests that proving that this was an act of genocide is inconvenient for the world, because, according to him, in this case, Turkey is neuralgic. Because, in this case, Turkey is neuralgic the word that the British Foreign Office used to describe it in some secret memoranda I obtained under our Freedom of Information Act. The Foreign Office privately admitted that it was genocide, but they could not say so because Turkey would take diplomatic and economic reprisals. Turkey is a NATO member of great strategic importance, and for that reason, the U.S. government cannot admit the truth either. President Obama always said that he would call it a genocide, but he quailed when he became president and called it Medz Yeghern an Armenian phrase which means a great catastrophe. Donald Trump, for all his bravado, dare not speak the truth either by calling it genocide. Turkey is too strategically important, and its neuralgia must not be stoked by honest description of its history, he noted. In a major administrative reshuffle, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday removed health secretary Bhadrani Jayawardena with immediate effect and appointed a military administrator with background in medicine in her place. The reason for Jayawardena's removal is not known. Her removal came amid easing of the nearly two-month coronavirus lockdown in the island nation. Major General Sanjeewa Munasinghe has replaced Jayawardena, who has been transferred to the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Affairs in the same capacity, officials said. Before assuming his current position, Munasinghe was serving as the Director General of the Army Medical Services. He is also a former Colonel Commandant of the Army Medical Corp. Meanwhile, President Rajapaksa ordered easing of the lockdown, which was in force since March 20 to combat the spread of the coronavirus. The deadly virus has claimed nine lives and infected 863 people in the nation. A 24-hour curfew was lifted on the island, except for Colombo district. The state and private sector offices were asked to follow strict health guidelines under quarantine ordinance. Public transport operation was less than normal on Monday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 15:33:05|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Medical supplies are loaded onto a plane heading for Zimbabwe at Huanghua International Airport in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, May 11, 2020. China has sent a team of 12 medical experts to Zimbabwe to help with the African country's fight against COVID-19. On Monday morning, the experts from Hunan Province left Changsha, along with medical supplies donated by the provincial government, which include ventilators, nucleic acid testing kits, face masks and medical protective suits. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai) CHANGSHA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China has sent a team of 12 medical experts to Zimbabwe to help with the African country's fight against COVID-19. On Monday morning, the experts from Hunan Province left Changsha, the provincial capital, along with medical supplies donated by the provincial government, which include ventilators, nucleic acid testing kits, face masks and medical protective suits. Zhu Yimin, deputy director of the provincial health commission and head of the medical team, said Zimbabwe and some other African countries had lent a hand to China during the period when China was hard hit by COVID-19. The Chinese medical experts are expected to help Zimbabwe fight against the epidemic. The 12 experts are from respiratory departments, infectious disease departments, and the fields of intensive medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, infection control, public health and nursing. Most of them have frontline experience in the prevention and control of COVID-19. The medical team will exchange experience in epidemic control and prevention with their counterparts in Zimbabwe, and provide prevention and treatment training to local medics. They will also provide guidance and assistance to other Chinese medical teams in Africa via video conferences. Since Hunan sent the first medical team to Zimbabwe in 1985, as part of the Chinese aids for the country, the province has sent a total of 17 groups of 166 medical workers to Zimbabwe to provide medical services to local people. Matt Scarfo performed what he called a stupid human trick. Scarfo, the owner and president of Full-Time Fitness in Morristown, has been like every other gym-starved person stuck at home amid the coronavirus shutdown looking for ways to stay active. But as uncertainty about when his business, as well as other small businesses in New Jersey, can reopen, Scarfo wanted to bring an awareness to the plight of those owners still finding a way to cope with their doors closed. He saw on April 28 that there were protests being held in Trenton on the same day the Blue Angels flyover was occurring, and decided this was the right moment for that so-called trick. That morning, Scarfo ran approximately 90 kilometers (or about 60 miles) from his Morristown gym to the Trenton War Memorial. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage I ran it for the small business owners like me who felt like they were left out to dry, as the heads of the households who are barely holding it together emotionally, and especially financially," Scarfo said. "Its for those who spent years building a dream and having it frozen with an empty promise. Just like everyone else, Im mortally afraid of losing everything. Im at risk of losing everything in this business that Ive spent over a decade building and a career Ive spent over two decades building. Its a frightening time for everyone. There has been a growing debate over if more businesses should be allowed to reopen. Gov. Phil Murphy last week said he is considering allowing more New Jersey businesses to reopen with either curbside service or other social-distancing guidelines, adding social distancing has been a reason the coronavirus has not spread further. But you look at the progress were making, thats because people are staying home," the governor said on Wednesday. Theyre not going out. And thats the sort of still guiding principle here. We do know social distancing is probably the best weapon weve got. If we can do that responsibly, you can assume thats on the list of things we want to do. ... Stay tuned." Scarfo made his trip in under 13 hours and leaned heavily on Google Maps (input with no tolls and no highways) to guide the way. The idea came to Scarfo a week prior to putting feet to pavement and admitted, after not speaking about it leading up to his run, that he finally decided to run while at the dinner table with his wife and three children the evening prior. I wanted to do something, whatever it was, and this just falls in my skillset and it was crazy enough for some people to pay attention to," Scarfo said. "Im running for them, for the people that feel like they dont have a voice. I wanted to carry those burdens of everybody with me down to Trenton so that people know that theres someone out there doing something. Even if its inconsequential. That people are doing something to bring awareness to this. Even arriving nearly two hours late to see the Blue Angels couldnt dampen his spirits. It was relief because my feet were killing me," Scarfo said. It was the one thing I couldnt get past (mentally) and my feet started hurting about 60k in. When I got there, there was no more protest and everyone had already left. There was no one there but I felt good because I proved to myself that most of those limits are self imposed. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. This article is part of NJ Is Open*, an important initiative designed to help essential businesses that are still open get the word out and connect with customers. Business owners can become part of our comprehensive resource by filling out this simple Google form. Have several locations? Fill out a new form for each one. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. As an ode to all mothers, the Godrej Group has released a touching digital film titled #MothersOfManyKinds, to commemorate Mothers Day. Through this film, Godrej wants to draw attention to the fact that the virtue of motherhood is found not just in our own mothers but in almost every person especially in trying times like these. Right from our nurses and doctors who spend sleepless nights to heal us, farmers who are making sure we have adequate food supplies, our police force and security personnel for ensuring that we are safe and the NGOs and other corona warriors who rescue our troubled friends relentlessly and kudos to our Government for being responsible and vigilant in this fight against the Cororna virus. Commenting on the film, Tanya Dubash, Executive Director and Chief Brand Officer, Godrej Group said, We are forever grateful and acknowledge the relentless efforts of all our heroes who have persistently strived in this fight against the deadly virus. The virtue of motherhood is visible all around us has been abundantly displayed by everyone who has been helping us in this fight the nurses, doctors, police, sanitation workers, farmers, security personnel, and delivery forces who provide us with essential items. We have seen #MothersOfManyKinds, and motherhood taking new forms to care for the people of the world. Anu Joseph, Chief Creative Officer, Creativeland Asia, said, From Corona Warriors to doctors to our police force to a milkman, everyone is selflessly ensuring safety for the rest of us. It is a very motherly thing to do. And we thought, this Mothers Day should be dedicated to them an our mothers alike. Officials of the Panama City Police said a search warrant resulted in four arrests on Friday. The officials conducted the search at a residence in Panama City's Glenwood area after they developed a possible cause while on a narcotics investigation. Based on the press release the authorities issued, the officers said they discovered, "370 grams of THC syrup, 181 grams of manufactured methamphetamine pills, 29 grams of crack cocaine, 25 grams of marijuana, nine grams of crystal methamphetamine and eight grams of cocaine HCI." On top of the discoveries, the officers revealed they also seized $1,000 in cash, drug paraphernalia, counter-surveillance equipment, and two handguns. The Arrested The police arrested and charged 43-year-old Andre Evans with two counts of cocaine trafficking, illegal "use of a two-way communication device," retaining a "nuisance drug shelter," possession of marijuana with an intent to distribute, ownership of ammunition by a sentenced criminal, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of cocaine, and possession of a firearm, among others. Also arrested was 57-year-old Frederick Middleton, who was also indicted with possession of both drug paraphernalia and crack cocaine. The third of four arrests was 55-year-old Christopher Lawler. He was arrested and indicted with the principle of ownership of cocaine to distribute the illegal drug. Finally, also arrested was 40-year-old Willie Cleveland, who, the officers said, was apprehended and charged with "trafficking methamphetamine of more than 28 grams," possession of THC concentrate, cocaine to distribute, less than 20 grams of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. According to the arresting officers, this is still an ongoing investigation, and they encourage everyone who has information to contact the police department of Panama city by dialing 850-872-3100. Report tips may also be anonymously reported through smartphone by simply downloading the "Panama City PD" app or Tip411. Drug Trafficking in Panama City In Panama City, drug trafficking has historically been a widespread issue, which has prompted federal and state law enforcement agencies to become active in the region. Usual drug offenses in the Panama City comprise of "possession of a controlled substance," possession to distribute, manufacturing of drugs, attaining a prescription by deception and possession of drug equipment or paraphernalia. Moreover, based on the statistics from the 2016 data of the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there were more than 110,000 total apprehensions for drug-related crimes in Florida. Incidentally, the Florida Office of Drug Control approximates roughly $300 million are capitalized in drug control programs across the state every year. Fines or punishments for the drug-related felony rely significantly on the drug type, the quantity, and if it is either being distributed or sold. Finally, Florida categorizes drugs depending on the different "Schedules." This is a system which groups drugs depending on their abuse potential and acceptance for medical purpose. For instance, "Schedule I drugs" primarily carry a stricter punishment than those that are in "Schedule II" or "Schedule III." Check these out! A new blood test has been developed for detecting recent exposure to 'relapsing' or vivax malaria. Credit: Mayeta Clark, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia A new technique could provide vital information about a community's immunity to infectious diseases including malaria and COVID-19. The diagnostic test analyses a blood sample to reveal immune markers that indicate whetherand whena person was exposed to an infection. It was developed to track malaria infections in communities, to assist in the elimination of deadly 'relapsing' malaria, but is now being adapted to track immunity to COVID-19 in more detail than existing tests. This new diagnostic approach in malaria, published today in Nature Medicine, has the potential to enhance infectious diseases surveillance. This could be of particular benefit in lower income countries where it can enable health authorities to track the spread of a disease such as malaria in a community and target resources where they are most needed. The research was led by researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia; Pasteur Institute, France; and Ehime University, Japan. Detecting past infections Exposure to viruses, parasites or bacteria triggers immune responses that lead to antibodies circulating in the blood. These antibodies can remain for years, but over time the amount of different types of antibodies changes. The new diagnostic technique allows researchers to look in detail at the amounts of different antibodies in the blood, to pinpoint whetherand importantly whena person has been exposed to a particular infection, said Professor Ivo Mueller, who led the research and has joint appointments at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and the Pasteur Institute. "Many tests for immunity give a simple 'yes or no' answer to whether someone has antibodies to the infectious agent," he said. "In contrast, our testwhich was initially developed to look at malaria infectionscan pinpoint how long ago a person was exposed to an infection. "This information is extremely valuable for tracking the spread of an infection in a population. Particularly in lower income countries it may not be possible to monitor the actual spread of the infection, but it is very helpful to look retrospectively at whether the infection has been spreadingand to monitor the effectiveness of infection control programs, and respond to disease resurgence," he said. Malaria is caused by a parasite which infects red blood cells. In this image you can see red blood cells (purple), one of which contains malaria parasites (coloured specks). Credit: Michal Pasternak, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute The team established this research to understand the spread of relapsing 'vivax' malaria. The parasite causing this form of malariathe most widespread malaria parasite in the worldcan be carried in a dormant state by people and later reawaken to continue to disease spread, causing significant challenges for malaria control. Professor Mueller said that his team in Melbourne and France were now applying the systems they have established for malaria to detect immunity to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. "We have already started to study the blood of people who have had COVID-19 infections to document the types of antibodies they carry. In the next six months we hope to have discovered how these antibodies change over time, meaning we can use this information to explore immunity in wider groups in the community. "This is not a tool for diagnosing individual people, but rather for monitoring COVID-19 disease spread in populations. In countries in the Asia-Pacific, Africa or Latin America, it is possible that COVID-19 will be spreading undetected in some regions for the coming yearespecially as governments try to loosen shutdown restrictions. This test could be invaluable for informing these decisions." Malaria is caused by a parasite which reproduces within red blood cells before being spread by mosquitos. A new blood test has been developed for detecting recent exposure to 'relapsing' or vivax malaria. Image from WEHI.TV Malaria animation Credit: Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia Eliminating malaria Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher and joint lead author Dr. Rhea Longley said the malaria blood test had been validated using samples contributed by people living in malaria-endemic regions of Brazil, Thailand and the Solomon Islands. "Our investigations confirmed that the test could detect people who had been infected with P. vivax in the preceding nine monthsand who would thus be at risk of recurring malaria infections," Dr. Longley said. "This information will enable better surveillance and deployment of resources to areas where malaria remains, and targeted treatment of infected individuals. This could be a huge improvement in how vivax malaria is controlled and eventually eliminated." Further development of the malaria blood test received a recent boost with funding from an Australian Government NHMRC Development Grant, which commenced in 2020. "We will be working with the Australian biotech company Axxin to develop a diagnostic test for malaria that can be deployed in the field, based on the immune markers our laboratory testing identified," Professor Mueller said. "We plan to continue clinical trials investigating how our test can guide malaria elimination efforts, and having a rapid field test will be an important aspect of this." Explore further Cancer drugs show promise in preventing malaria More information: Development and validation of serological markers for detecting recent Plasmodium vivax infection, Nature Medicine (2020). www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0841-4 Journal information: Nature Medicine Development and validation of serological markers for detecting recent Plasmodium vivax infection,(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-020-0841-4 DENVER, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Strava Craft Coffee, Inc., the leading U.S. manufacturer of hemp infused specialty coffee (CBD coffee), has signed a distribution agreement with BettermentRS, a leading health and wellness category manager and distributor. "We've known the BettermentRS team for a while now," says Andrew Aamot, CEO of Strava. "We share a common vision for the future of hemp-based wellness products, and are extremely proud to be working together to provide Strava's 'Peace & Wellness' CBD Coffee products to consumers in many of their favorite retail locations around the U.S." Enjoy Strava Coffee Strava CBD Coffee - Regular Strength Dark Roast Following enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill, the popularity of hemp-based products has skyrocketed in the U.S., with hundreds of new brands coming to market. The Brightfield Group projects that the hemp CBD market will be worth $23 billion by the year 2023, and expects food & beverage products to be the fastest growing segment of the market. Consumer preferences are changing; they're elevating their standards. "Strava is one of the originals," notes Aamot. "We introduced CBD coffee to the market in 2016 and we remain true to our passion: roasting amazing coffee and delivering the absolute best CBD coffee available." Asked how the industry is evolving, Aamot states, "We're observing a shift in consumer behavior as hemp products become more available in established retailers consumers are seeking out traditional products enhanced with hemp cannabinoids rather than the specialized niche products which have characterized the industry for years." The Brightfield Group concurs, finding that although tinctures have dominated the hemp market in recent years, comprising 25% of the market, their popularity is giving way to more mainstream consumer products. Through this distribution deal, Strava and Betterment anticipate availability of products in over one thousand new retail locations by the end of 2020, with more to come in 2021 and beyond. About BettermentRS BettermentRS is a health and wellness company based in West Des Moines, Iowa. The company is laser-focused on providing clients with thoughtful sourcing and distribution of top-tier and emerging hemp brands and offers a complete portfolio of services to both suppliers and retailers, including comprehensive brand management, logistics solutions and education. BettermentRS's clients include a growing list of large national chains, regional retailers/distributors, and many specialty and nutrition retailers. For more information about Strava Craft Coffee, visit http://www.stravacraftcoffee.com Contact: [email protected] or 1-800-204-6803 For more information about BettermentRS, visit https://www.bettermentrs.com/ Media Contact: Andrew Aamot [email protected] 800-204-6803 SOURCE Strava Craft Coffee, Inc. Related Links http://www.stravacraftcoffee.com Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy DENVER Colorado sheriffs deputies shot and killed a man after he fled police, set fire to the inside of his vehicle and brandished a gun, authorities said. The Clear Creek County Sheriffs Office did not immediately identify the man who was killed or the two deputies involved in the shooting, who are on administrative leave, The Denver Post reports. Clear Creek County Undersheriff Bruce Snelling said in an email that a driver fled after being pulled over in Idaho Springs around 10 p.m. Saturday. Deputies spotted the vehicle on Colorado State Highway 103. During a pursuit that followed, the suspect set fire to the car, Snelling said. The vehicle stopped southwest of Idaho Springs, 33 miles (53 kilometers) west of Denver. The driver, who was the sole occupant, got out of the vehicle with a gun, Snelling said. The deputies fired an unspecified number of shots and killed the suspect. The deputies were not injured, Snelling said. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation will review the shooting, Snelling said. Avianca Holdings, the world's second-oldest airline, filed for bankruptcy as it pleas for coronavirus aid from Colombia's government have so far come up short. The Bogota, Colombia-based airline, Latin America's second-largest, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday in New York after failing to meet a bond payment deadline. If it fails to come out of bankruptcy, Avianca would be one of the first major carriers worldwide to go under as a result of the pandemic, which has crippled world travel by 90 percent. 'Avianca is facing the most challenging crisis in our 100-year history,' Avianca Chief Executive Anko van der Werff said in a news release. 'We believe that a restructuring under Chapter 11 is the best way to protect the essential air travel and air transportation services we provide in Colombia and other Latin American markets.' Avianca, the second-oldest airline in the world, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday in New York Avianca says it carries 30 million passengers a year and is directly or indirectly responsible for 21,000 jobs in Latin America, including 14,000 in Colombia. Most of it employees are not being paid Avianca has not flown a regularly scheduled passenger flight since late March and most of its 20,000 employees have gone without pay through the crisis. While Avianca was already weak before the coronavirus outbreak, its bankruptcy filing highlights the challenges for airlines that cannot count on state rescues or on such rescues coming fast enough. Avianca is still hoping for a government bailout. 'This isn't a surprise at all,' said Juan David Ballen, chief economist at Casa de Bolsa brokerage in Bogota. 'The company was heavily indebted despite the fact it tried to restructure its debt last year.' Avianca is second-oldest continually operating airline in the world after KLM, which was founded October 1919. The Colombian airline, founded December 1919, had $7.3 billion in debts in 2019. The airline said it would continue operations while it restructured its debts. The Colombian Association of Civil Aviators [ACDAC], a union representing many Avianca employees, said it supported the move. Airport workers loaded 19 tons of food and supplies on Avianca aircrafts on April 29 and May 6 that were dropped off in San Andres island for distribution throughout the region Airport workers in Bogota await the arrival of 247 Colombian nationals who were flown in May 8 after they were left stranded across North America Avianca already went through bankruptcy in the early 2000s, from which it was rescued by a Bolivian-born oil businessman, German Efromovich. Efromovich grew Avianca aggressively but also saddled the carrier with significant debt until he was ousted from the airline last year in a boardroom coup led by United Airlines Holdings Inc. He still owns a majority stake in the carrier. United stands to lose up to $700 million in loans related to Avianca. Efromovich told Reuters on Sunday that he disagreed with the decision to file for bankruptcy and that he was not involved in making it. The management that took over after Efromovich's ousting was already focused on a cost-cutting reorganization dubbed 'Avianca 2021' before this year's crisis. Warnings about its fragile finances abounded. Roberto Kriete, president of Avianca's board, said last year in a meeting with employees that the airline was 'broke.' Last month, Avianca's accounting firm, KPMG, said it had 'substantial doubts' about the carrier's ability to exist a year from now. Avianca's shares closed at 88 cents on Friday in New York, from a high of more than $18 in 2014. Most pressingly, Avianca was facing a $65 million bond payment due on Sunday that analysts did not think the airline was in a position to meet. S&P downgraded the airline to CCC- status in the days leading up to that payment. Airline executives confirmed in a press call on Sunday night that they had not made the payment. Van der Werff had mounted a public relations campaign in recent weeks to secure emergency aid from Colombia's government, but none had materialized as of Sunday. Avianca has no certain date to resume operations, as its main hubs - Colombia, El Salvador and Peru - have all shut down air traffic to fight the coronavirus. The carrier faced backlash after it sold plane tickets for late May only to have to cancel them when Colombia extended its coronavirus lockdown. The airline says it carries 30 million passengers a year and is directly or indirectly responsible for 21,000 jobs in Latin America, including 14,000 in Colombia. Avianca will also shut down its operations in Peru, which represents 5% of the airline's revenue, and will lay off hundreds of employees within the next 10 days. 'In this time, we do not have liquidity to sustain a loss-making operation,' Silvia Mosquera, Avianca's chief commercial officer, told reporters regarding Avianca Peru. Colombia's Avianca is the third of Efromovich's airlines to go through bankruptcy or out of business in recent years. Airlines Avianca Brasil and Avianca Argentina ceased to exist last year because of economic troubles in their markets. Whether its packing home-cooked food for the needy, feeding the strays, or raising awareness about the plight of waste warriors in the hills actor Fatima Sana Shaikh is extending support in whatever possible ways she can during the Covid-19 crisis. She urges that in times like these, people need to step out and unite for the larger good. Talking about how shes making sure the help reaches the right people, the actor says, Theres an NGO Ive come across. You can pack meals (at home) and the NGO people come and pick the packets and deliver it to the people in need. Were also feeding the stray animals around the area I stay. The actor is also harnessing the power of social media to spread awareness about raising help for not just daily wage workers in the film industry, but also for a group called Waste Warriors, which is an NGO for people who clean up the mountains in Dharamsala, Himachal. Shaikh notes how the lockdown has made their already difficult life very unbearable, and that the post garnered a good response, couldnt have made her happier. Its a very tough time and a lot of people are suffering. During such times, we should come together and do our bit, adds the actor, whos spending time with family, besides cooking and cleaning. And thats where shes drawing positivity from amid the lockdown, which recently entered its third phase. As a family, we joke around and laugh a lot together, and that helps us stay positive. Were taking precautions and keeping everything sanitised, shares Shaikh, whos also reading, watching a lot of films and getting back to her love for sketching. Career wise, the 29-year-old has been cautious. After her much successful Dangal (2016), she took a two-year-gap to do her second film Thugs of Hindostan, which didnt set the cash registers ringing. It was painful for Shaikh, but shes all set to come back with Ludo and Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari. However, now due to this crisis, things will take time to roll. But, shes being patient and looking forward to work. Along and all the way, there have been learnings. Shaikh elaborates, In Dangal, we werent conventional. So I was looking for something different in my next that would reveal a different side of me as performer rather than the audience seeing me as Geeta (her character in Dangal). At that time, TOH came in like a perfect set-up. That it didnt work is a different thing altogether. Now, were dealing with something like corona. So, from an extreme high to an extreme low, Ive experienced both these aspects closely quite early on, and honestly, I feel that theyre equally important. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON L ondoners enjoyed a boost over the bank holiday weekend when the image specially created by Sir Peter Blake for our Food For London Now appeal was projected in Trafalgar Square. The rainbow picture with its slogan London Stands Together was beamed onto the front of the National Gallery as the Government confirmed the lockdown would be extended. Sales of prints of the poster have already raised 100,000 for our appeal partner The Felix Project and will help pay for meals to be delivered to vulnerable people across the capital. Zara Mendison, 31, who saw the projection while taking her daily exercise with her two young children, called it absolutely stunning. She said: It is so beautiful. It is unity in art and we need that at this time. Cyclist Andy Chan, 45, from Lewisham, thanked the Standard for organising the projection. Everyone needs to know there is a community and that everyone is standing together, he said. We will only get through this by standing together, as the message says. The display was supported by the Mayor of London and approved by the National Gallery. Justine Simons, Londons deputy mayor for culture, said: We are so pleased to support the projection. It captures the defining message of this time that Londoners stand together. It is a powerful expression of thanks to all the Londoners who have helped distribute food as part of the Food For London Now appeal. The director of the National Gallery Gabriele Finaldi said the image was particularly appropriate because Sir Peter was a former associate artist at the institution. While it is closed, the gallery has been distributing images of its artwork via social media and providing free online talks by its experts. We were delighted to help support the Evening Standard Food For London Now appeal, Mr Finaldi said. Thousands of Londoners have been helping to distribute the food and so we were honoured to get involved and help recognise their contribution. The projection was displayed after British YouTube star KSI had joined the Standard at the Refettorio Felix at St Cuthberts Centre in Earls Court to help distribute food. The rapper, who is releasing his debut album Dissimulation at the end of this month, handed out meals to homeless people on the bank holiday with the Evening Standards proprietor Evgeny Lebedev. The Standard launched its Food For London Now appeal to deliver food to frontline charities, vulnerable people and NHS staff in the capital on March 27. It has committed to raising 10 million to protect Londoners food security for three years after the coronavirus crisis. Story Highlights Fifty-eight percent say they are well-informed; 36% overwhelmed Nearly eight in 10 say misinformation about virus a major problem Social media, Trump administration seen as most common sources of false info WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The novel coronavirus pandemic has spawned what the World Health Organization is calling an "infodemic," an overabundance of information -- some of it false -- about COVID-19. Americans divide evenly over whether it is harder or easier to be well-informed about the coronavirus because of easy access to a wide variety of information sources. Fifty-eight percent believe they are well-informed about the virus. Separately, 36% indicate they feel overwhelmed. U.S. adults acknowledge that misinformation about the virus is a major problem. Asked to identify the two most common sources of misinformation, a combined 68% name social media and 54% name the Trump administration, though more give the Trump administration as their first response (47%) than social media (15%). Americans are about equally likely to rely on one of three approaches -- consulting health professionals or information sources directly, sticking with their most trusted news sources, or looking at a wider variety of news sources than usual -- to help them sort out accurate from inaccurate information. But young adults and older adults differ in their strategies. These results are part of a special April 14-20 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey focused on the coronavirus situation, part of the Knight Foundation's Trust, Media and Democracy initiative. The Infodemic Americans' attention to news has increased during the coronavirus situation. In addition to standard news sources like television and newspapers, they can also get information on demand through the internet and social media. When asked if the amount of information available about the coronavirus makes it easier or harder to be well-informed, half say it is easier, and half say it is harder. People's opinions about whether it is easier or harder to be informed are strongly related to their attitudes about the media, more so than any other variable, including partisanship. Whereas 70% of those who have a positive opinion of the media say it is easier to be informed, 64% of those with a negative opinion of the news media say it is harder. The survey finds 58% of Americans describe themselves as well-informed about the coronavirus. Americans with a positive opinion of the news media are nearly twice as likely as those who view it negatively to say they are well-informed, 79% to 41%. Meanwhile, 36% of U.S. adults indicate they feel overwhelmed by the amount of information on the coronavirus. Nearly half of those who say it is harder to be informed, 48%, say they feel overwhelmed. Republicans, Democrats and independents are about equally likely to say they feel overwhelmed, as are those who have a positive or negative opinion of the news media. But young adults are more likely than older adults to say they feel overwhelmed. The reasons behind the age differences are unclear. Although young adults indicate they pay less attention to news than older adults (those 55 and older), their attention levels are on par with middle-aged adults. Solutions to Navigating Infodemic Vary, Particularly by Age When asked how they go about deciding what is accurate about the coronavirus and what is not, Americans are about equally likely to rely on one of three approaches. Thirty-four percent say they get information from the one or two sources they trust most; 31% consult health professionals or official health organization websites directly, and 30% consult a wider variety of news sources than usual. Just 4% rely on friends and family to help sort out information about the novel coronavirus. Younger and older Americans are taking very different approaches to determining what coronavirus information is accurate. Whereas adults under age 35 are most likely to consult healthcare professionals or health websites, adults ages 55 and older are most likely to rely on the one or two news sources they trust most. In fact, young adults are more than twice as likely as older adults to consult health professionals (41% to 18%), while older adults are more than twice as likely as young adults to focus on their most trusted news sources (49% to 23%). Americans Taking Different Approaches to Evaluate Accuracy of Coronavirus Information Which of the following approaches have you mainly relied on to decide what is accurate and what is not accurate about the coronavirus? U.S. adults Ages 18-34 Ages 35-54 Ages 55+ % % % % Getting information from the one or two news sources you trust most 34 23 28 49 Consulting health professionals or official health organization websites directly 31 41 36 18 Consulting a wider variety of news sources than you usually do to try and see where they agree 30 32 31 29 Talking with your friends and family 4 4 5 3 Gallup/Knight Foundation April 14-20, 2020 Although young and old adults take different approaches to evaluating COVID-19 information, partisans largely do not. Similar proportions of Republicans and Democrats focus on their main news sources (40% and 36%, respectively) or consult a wider variety of news sources (32% and 29%). Democrats are modestly more likely than Republicans to consult health professionals or health websites, 32% to 22%. Misinformation Seen as Big Problem In addition to normal partisan disputes about how well federal and state elected officials are handling the coronavirus situation, information about it has been marked by claims of possible cures for COVID-19 and methods to avoid catching it. Seventy-eight percent of U.S. adults believe that false or inaccurate information about the coronavirus has been a major problem. Most of the rest say it has been a minor problem. Members of most key subgroups share high levels of concern about coronavirus misinformation, with only slight party differences -- 82% of Democrats, 79% of independents and 73% of Republicans believe it is a major problem. Americans were asked to name the two most common sources of misinformation. Majorities identify social media (68%) and the Trump administration (54%) on the basis of combined first and second choices. Forty-five percent name the mainstream national media as their first or second most common source of COVID-19 misinformation. Smaller percentages choose state elected officials, family and friends, or local news. Majorities Say Social Media, Trump Administration Common Sources of Coronavirus Misinformation What do you think is the main source of false or misleading information about the coronavirus in the U.S.? What do you think is the next most common source of false or misleading information about the coronavirus in the U.S.? Main source Next most common source Total % % % Social media websites and apps 15 53 68 The Trump administration 47 7 54 Mainstream national news 33 12 45 State elected officials (governors) 2 12 14 Friends and family 2 10 12 Local news <1 4 5 Gallup/Knight Foundation April 14-20, 2020 Even though social media ranks first based on combined first and second mentions, just 15% identify it as the "main source." Americans mainly choose the Trump administration (47%) or the mainstream national news (33%) as the primary source of misinformation. Partisans have clear ideas of what entities are most responsible for misinformation. For Democrats, it is the Trump administration; for Republicans, it is the mainstream national news media. But Democrats are more likely to name the Trump administration than Republicans are to name the mainstream media. Independents are about equally likely to name the Trump administration and the mainstream news media. Trump Administration, Mainstream Media Most Likely to Be Cited as Main Source of Misinformation on Coronavirus What do you think is the main source of false or misleading information about the coronavirus in the U.S.? U.S. adults Democrats Independents Republicans % % % % The Trump administration 47 85 39 4 Mainstream national news 33 2 36 75 Social media websites and apps 15 10 19 17 State elected officials (governors) 2 1 2 2 Friends and family 2 2 4 1 Local news <1 <1 <1 1 Gallup/Knight Foundation April 14-20, 2020 Americans Want Social Media Companies to Police Coronavirus Misinformation Four in 10 Americans believe social media companies should immediately remove any posts on their websites or apps that they suspect contains misinformation about the coronavirus. An equal proportion say the post should be left up until the social media company can confirm it contains misinformation. Relatively few, 14%, think social media companies should leave the posts up without checking whether it contains misinformation. Democrats are much more likely than Republicans and independents to favor an aggressive approach to combatting misinformation. A majority of Democrats, 57%, believe social media companies should remove posts they suspect contain misinformation immediately. Republicans and independents lean toward having social media companies leave the posts up until they can confirm it contains inaccurate information. Of all party groups, Republicans are most likely to say the post should be left alone without checking its veracity. Americans Believe Social Media Companies Should Remove Posts Containing Coronavirus Misinformation, Either Immediately or After They Confirm the Post Is Inaccurate If a social media company suspects that someone has posted information on its website or apps that contains inaccurate information about the coronavirus, should the social media company -- Remove the post immediately, Leave the post up until it can confirm whether the information is accurate or inaccurate, Leave the post up without trying to confirm whether the information is accurate or inaccurate? U.S. adults Democrats Independents Republicans % % % % Remove the post immediately 42 57 34 30 Leave the post up until it can confirm whether the information is accurate or inaccurate 42 38 46 44 Leave the post up without trying to confirm whether the information is accurate or inaccurate 14 3 18 25 Gallup/Knight Foundation April 14-20, 2020 Implications Other than health professionals who study infectious diseases, Americans had little if any knowledge of the coronavirus when the disease spread to the U.S. As such, key information sources like the news media, the internet and social media helped fill the knowledge gap. The accuracy and the quality of the information people learn about COVID-19 could literally affect their physical health, and in the extreme, could have life or death consequences for them. At a time when Americans have access to a wide range of information, the "infodemic" includes not only factual information reported by scientists and government officials but also unsubstantiated rumors and outright false information. As such, trust in institutions that attempt to educate the public, including federal and state public health agencies, federal and state elected officials, and the news media, is critical to navigating the pandemic. As evidence of the importance of trust in institutions, Americans who view the news media positively report it has been easier to be informed about the coronavirus, while those who view the news media negatively are finding it harder to be informed. Learn more about how the Gallup Panel works. By Nailia Bagirova BAKU (Reuters) - BP will cut its oil production in Azerbaijan by 76,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May and June as part of the ex-Soviet country's efforts to curb supply, state energy firm SOCAR said on Thursday. SOCAR plans to cut production by 17,000 bpd over the same period, while companies that produce onshore oil will cut by 3,000 bpd. Azerbaijan, the third largest oil producer among ex-Soviet countries after Russia and Kazakhstan, is a member of the OPEC+ group of countries which have agreed to cut supply. For its part, Azerbaijan should cut output in May-June by 96,000 barrels per day (bpd), in July-December by 63,000 bpd, and by 30,000 bpd between January and April 2022, SOCAR said in a statement. SOCAR's portion works out to cutting 17,000 bpd to reduce output to 100,000 barrels in May-June, by 12,000 bpd to 105,000 barrels in July-December and by 6,000 bpd to 111,000 barrels between January 2021 and April 2022, a source from oil industry told Reuters. SOCAR and foreign companies operating in Azerbaijan agreed to divide production cuts between each other proportionally as per a recommendation by the energy ministry, the source said. BP leads an international consortium operating the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oilfields. Its portion of the planned cuts works out to reducing production by 76,000 bpd to 434,000 bpd in May-June, by 49,000 bpd to 461,000 barrels in July-December and by 23,000 bpd to 487,000 barrels between January 2021 and April 2022. Azerbaijan expects to produce 30.7 million tonnes of oil or 226.3 million barrels in 2021, SOCAR said. It had forecast 36.5 million tonnes of oil this year, but its revised outlook in view of the planned cuts is not known yet. (Writing by Alexander Marrow and Margarita Antidze; editing by Mark Potter and Jason Neely) Every day, the women and men of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon are on the frontline to promote peace and stability in the Missions area of operations and along the Blue Line, while operating in a very challenging environment between Lebanon and Israel. Of late, UNIFIL peacekeepers have been working tirelessly round-the-clock to deliver on the Missions mandate while taking precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in southern Lebanon and following the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Lieutenant Daniel Kawabena Duodu, from the Ghanian Contingent is one of them. He has been conducting mixed-gender patrols for the Bravo Company since July 2019. This is his second deployment to UNIFIL. The Bravo Company is based at a strategic location along the Blue Line, a very important point of call for dignitaries and visitors of nearby host communities to the UNIFIL Ghanaian Contingent camp. The company continuously monitors their area of responsibility along the Blue Line by carrying out day and night patrols. For him, serving with UNIFIL as patrol commander has been one of the most extraordinary experiences of his career. He, like many of his fellow peacekeepers, has been trained at the Kofi Annan International Centre operating since 2002 in Accra, Ghana, before getting deployed to UNIFIL. He brings to the mission, operational and academic knowledge on peace operation experiences, conflict management, as well, as tactical peace and security skills. Every day, Lieutenant Duodu takes instructions from UNIFIL Ghanaian Contingent Tactical Operations Center, known as TOC. As the patrol commander, I take instructions from the Officer Commanding (OC) and he/she provides me with the proper guidance, and instructions. My role is to translate those instructions into action plans while working together with my troops on the ground, he explains. These actions are taken to ensure safety and to maintain mission readiness. It is important that as a foot patrol unit, we continue to find innovative ways to better work together, especially when coordinating activities with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), so in order for our patrols to be more efficient and impactful, I coordinate in-mission training to keep my troops highly motivated and therefore improve performance. This has been of paramount importance for our efficacy, he added. Committed fully to serve for peace Daniel strongly believes that being deployed on a second term brings an added value to their mandated activities while implementing the Missions mandate. The majority of our peacekeepers have served previously with the Mission, so they bring already existing strategic knowledge and experience to UNIFIL, he described. Patrols are the most visible component of UNIFILs operational activities. Ghanaian peacekeepers continue to carry out daily patrols in close coordination with the LAF to help maintain calm and stability in southern Lebanon. Ghana is the oldest and currently one of the largest contributing countries, serving UNIFIL with over 850 troops. Out of this, 115 are women peacekeepers, making Ghana the largest contingent with the highest number of women peacekeepers. Since their arrival in Lebanon in 1978, the Ghanaian contingent has carried out several operational and humanitarian activities, such as conducting patrols along the Blue line, social donations, health outreaches, capacity building in support of the LAF, and other governmental institutions, among others. With close to Ghanaian 3,000 UN peacekeepers deployed to nine peacekeeping missions, for Lieutenant Daniel Kwabena, it has been an extraordinary opportunity and a pleasure to serve in UNIFIL, especially during these trying times, making personal sacrifices in the service of peace and the collective good. Our host communities depend on us to provide security, calm, and stability, and we will not let them down. Prince Charles has been labeled as a threat to the monarchy after a royal commentator spoke up how the future king could end up destroying the royal family. Prince Charles is currently the heir to the throne, and he has prepared himself for years now to take over The Firm as soon as Queen Elizabeth II ends her reign. However, his capacity remains questionable, as one of his traits could potentially put the monarchy in danger. Sky News Australia opinion columnist Rita Pahani expressed how the Prince of Wales' openness could ruin the future of the monarchy once he takes over the throne. "I think he's everything that the Queen is not," Panahi said. "I don't think he's going to be able to stay away from these contentious issues, to understand his role and not to preach about climate change... or other issues he's spoken about in the past." She then suggested that if Brits do not want the U.K to become a republic, Queen Elizabeth II should hold on or let Prince William -- the current second reserve to the throne -- be king. Over the years, Prince Charles has been a serious environment advocate and has openly called on people to work together to turn the world into a more sustainable one. Previously, Panahi even compared him to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, saying that Prince Charles could ignite more danger than the Sussexes. According to the commentator, the Prince of Wales always chooses to be "too political" when it comes to the Palace's relationships with other countries, and it is something a future incumbent should not possess. "Prince Charles, he is the next king, and these royals live a long time, he might be king for a good 20-30 years," Panahi suggested. "I don't think the monarchy can survive the reign of a Prince Charles, a King Charles I should say." Because of this another particular character he has, Panahi emphasized that Queen Elizabeth II should prevent Prince Charles from "polluting" and breaking the royal family with his political views. Prince Charles' Wrong Move Back in the early 2000s, Prince Charles attempted to stop the publication of the "black spider memos," a controversial collection of communications he directed to the ministers and Cabinet members through the years. The documents also revealed that the Prince of Wales made connections with politicians and other stakeholders to share his views on several issues like affordable rural housing and public health. Because of this, he received criticisms numerous times for breaking the royal household's neutrality. Clarence House then tried to defend him, saying that the memos showed "the range of the Prince of Wales' concerns and interests for this country and the wider world." "The letters published by the Government show the Prince of Wales expressing concern about issues that he has raised in public like affordable rural housing, the quality of hospital food, the preservation and regeneration of historic buildings, an integrated approach to healthcare, climate change, and others," the Clarence House said in 2015. They added that the Prince of Wales was only trying to address public concern through practical ways. New Delhi: The Centre has said it has noted with great concern that migrant workers continue to walk on roads and railway tracks to return to their native places and asked states to ensure that they travel home on the special trains being run for them from various parts of the country. In a letter to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also sought their cooperation in running more Shramik Special trains for the migrant workers. Referring to a meeting held by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Sunday, Bhalla said, in the meeting, the situation of migrant workers walking on roads and railway tracks was noted with great concern. "Since their movement by buses and 'Shramik' special trains has already been allowed to enable their travel to native places, all State/UT governments should ensure that migrant workers do not resort to walking on road and on railway tracks," he said. In case they are found in such condition, the home secretary said, they should be appropriately counselled, taken to nearby shelters and provided with food, water etc. till such time they are facilitated to board the Shramik Special trains or buses. Further, Bhalla said, as requested by the cabinet secretary, all state/UT governments should cooperate with the railways in running more Shramik Special trains so that travel of stranded migrant workers is facilitated at a faster rate. "I urge upon you all to allow receiving of all Shramik special trains without any hindrance and facilitate faster movement of stranded migrant workers to their native places," he said. Sixteen migrant workers, who were walking back home to Madhya Pradesh were mowed down by a goods train in Maharashtra's Aurangabad last week after they fell asleep on railway tracks. The appearance of coronavirus/covid19 cases in Mali is difficult to measure because there are only about 6,000 medical professionals in a nation of 19 million. Most of the medical personnel are concentrated in the capital and other cities, where less than half the population lives. As a result, the reported covid19 infections and deaths is incomplete. So far there have been 35 confirmed cases per million people and two deaths per million. In most of the country, covid19 would probably be mistaken for influenza or one of the many other diseases present. Covid19 often kills with what appears to be a case of pneumonia and most of the covid19 dead are elderly. That means in many parts of the world a covid19 death is seen as another loss to old age. The covid19 threat was a recent one, even though the disease has been ravaging China for four months. There has been little of the virus in Africa so far and the first case in Mali was not confirmed until March 25th. That prompted the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to authorize a $200 million loan to Mali to deal with the virus. While most of this money will be stolen, a lot of it will go to covid19 treatment if only because most politicians and senior businessmen are not only corrupt but also elderly. The Larger Terror A culture of government corruption created the rebels and Islamic terrorists in Mali, a Moslem majority nation. There are several Islamic terror groups in Mali and largest of them is JNIM (Jamaah Nusrah al Islam wal Muslimin, or Group for the support of Islam and Moslems). This is an al Qaeda coalition formed in early 2017 to consolidate the many separate Islamic terror groups in Mali. In part, this was a reaction to the growing threat from ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), which is hostile to everyone who is not ISIL and will attack or recruit from the JNIM members like AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), Ansar Dine, FLM and several other smaller groups. Another reason for the merger was to make it easier to pool resources, especially information and practical advice, and coordinate with other Islamic terror groups in the region. This reduces friction and destructive feuding. Making a coalition like this work is always difficult, especially considering the importance of ethnic differences. The FLM is Fulani (the largest local tribal contribution) while the other groups are largely Tuareg or Arab, and some have a lot of foreigners. Note that JNIM did not absorb all of AQIM groups in the area, just local groups that had long been identified with al Qaeda. The income from the drug trade keeps a lot of these factions in business and local Islamic terrorists know that business and religious fanaticism do not mix and keep it that way. Those groups that did not went broke and withered to nothing. Meanwhile, the Islamic terror groups evolved with more radical JNIM members joining more radical groups like ISIL, which is universally hated by other Islamic terrorists and Moslems in general. Earlier in the year, Malian ISIL members released a video on the Internet in which the group pledged allegiance to Abu Hamza al Qurayshi, the new ISIL leader. By 2018 there were two ISIL provinces in central Africa. The smaller one was ISGS (Islamic State in Greater Sahara) and showed up in 2018. ISGS is currently active in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. The other, slightly older and larger, ISIL province was ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province). ISWAP was actually a faction of the Nigerian Boko Haram Islamic terrorists who had been around since 2004. ISWAP personnel are mostly in northeastern Nigeria as well as smaller numbers in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon. There has been increasing friction between ISGS and JNIM (and other al Qaeda affiliates). This is not unusual because, worldwide, ISIL demands all other Islamic terror groups acknowledge the supremacy of ISIL. This rarely happens anymore. In areas where both ISIL and al Qaeda operate there is usually an informal truce or, as is now the case in Mali, open warfare. ISIL groups are usually outnumbered but often survive because they are more ruthless and vicious. In northern Mali, ISGS also accuses JNIM of collaborating with the security forces against the ISIL group. That is not unusual worldwide but it is unclear if it is actually happening in Mali. What is happening is that ISGS continues to recruit new members from al Qaeda factions. This is how ISIL was created back in 2013 and the practice continues. May 10, 2020: In the north (outside Kidal) a roadside bomb was used against a peacekeeper convoy near the Algerian border (Aguelhok). Three peacekeepers were killed and four wounded. Local Islamic terrorists are believed responsible. May 9, 2020: The UAE (United Arab Emirates) delivered six tons of medical supplies to help Mali deal with the covid19 virus. May 1, 2020: In the northeast (south of Gao) in the three-border Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso area, several thousand French, G5 and Mali troops completed a 21 day operation to sweep the territory where the three borders meet for known or suspected Islamic terrorists camps and bases. The counter-terror operations was supported by over a dozen transport and armed helicopters as well as several hundred troops from Britain, the Czech Republic and Estonia. This operation is the latest of several similar operations carried out this year. The Islamic terrorists in the area know they are facing a very large force that has air support, so the usual tactic of ambushes defending a fortified position with a large force is not an option. The latest operation cleared areas in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, in part to demonstrate that the Islamic terrorists could not depend on escaping across borders as they had in the past. The entire counter-terror force was mechanized and the vehicles available included several hundred armored ones. While the enemy fled when they realized they were under attack, or about to be, they had to abandon a lot of weapons, vehicles, equipment (tents, electronics, generators) and supplies (ammo, food, medical). The captured vehicles included many motorcycles. These are a favorite mode of transportation for scouts or raiders. The bikes can move faster, get into more kinds of off-road terrain and are harder to spot from the air. The French have Reaper UAVs and jet fighter bombers available for these operations. The task force suffered over a dozen casualties during the operation. This included two French soldiers, which brings the French dead in Mali since 2013 to 43. April 23, 2020: In central Mali (Mopti) over fifty Fulani gunmen on motorcycles attacked several villages leaving twelve dead and many wounded. The attackers also stole at least 500 cattle. It is unclear if the attackers were Islamic terrorists or simply tribal militia. The victims were Dogon tribesmen. The fighting between Dogon and Fulani tribal militias had been going on for years and there was a surge in 2019 that began with a spectacular March massacre where Dogon militia attacked a Fulani village. That action left over 160 Fulani dead and it wasnt just the Fulani who were outraged by this. The Fulani were the ones who started this violence years ago as they sought to force farmers off land and away from water supplies the Fulani coveted. But the Fulani raids were meant to terrorize, not exterminate. The Dogon tribe, one of the larger sedentary groups in central Mali, has always been the most organized and aggressive in confronting Fulani expansion into the better watered and more fertile (for grass and crops) Niger River Valley and beyond. After 2012 and the separatist/Islamic terrorist uprising in the north there was an increase in Fulani-farmer violence and the bloodiest incidents often involved Dogon militias fighting Fulani. Calls for the government to disarm the Dogon militias were popular for a while until police and army commanders convinced the government that attempting disarmament would be bloody and, in the long run futile. For the Dogon and Fulani, all this feuding is a matter of life or death while the politicians are concerned about appeasing popular outrage, which tends to fade quickly. Then there are the critical foreign media, which influence foreign aid decisions and are more important, especially for corrupt politicians who steal much of that aid. Getting the Fulani and Dogon (and other farming tribes) to settle the land and water disputes peacefully is more difficult but is the only lasting solution but also the more difficult one. Those fundamental conflicts are still there, which is why the current peace deal will be under growing pressure and will eventually collapse into renewed violence. The many Dogon-Fulani ceasefires were always at the mercy of natural (drought, hunger) and political (corrupt politicians) events. In the north, the basic problem is poverty and the negative impact banditry and Islamic terrorism is having on efforts to revive the economy. A lot of the Islamic terrorist violence up there is just bandits. It gets more attention if the victims describe the attackers as Islamic terrorists. April 19, 2020: Despite the threat of Islamic terrorist violence and the spreading covid19 virus, the final round of parliamentary elections were held. These elections had been delayed for nearly two years. These are the first such elections since the military coup in2013. The first of two rounds was held on March 29th and fewer than 15 percent of eligible voters participated. Most of the 19 million people in Mali dont have to deal with the Islamic or tribal terrorism found mainly in thinly populated central and northern Mali. Everyone knows about this problem and how it has spread from the north to central Mali in the last five years. The main reason for the spread of this violence is corruption. It has been a problem ever since Mali became independent after the French left in 1960. It is a problem common throughout Africa and many other parts of the world. April 6, 2020: In the north (near Gao) a JNIM attack on an army base outside the town of Bamda left 25 soldiers dead. Many attackers were also killed but the Islamic terrorists took their dead and wounded with them after looting the army base and Bamba itself. The next day this group of Islamic terrorists had crossed the nearby border into Burkina Faso and attacked and looted another town, killing or wounding over 30 civilians. April 2, 2020: In the northeast, across the border in Niger, ISGS claimed responsibility for an attack that left four Niger soldiers dead and 10 wounded near Abala. Message in solidarity with President Nicolas Maduro and the Venezuelan people The Communist Party of Australia condemns in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attempt carried out in the wee hours of 3rd May against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the government of Nicolas Maduro. Mercenaries unsuccessfully tried an invasion into Venezuelan territory from the coast of La Guaira on speedboats from Colombia. This attempt was thwarted by the Bolivarian Armed forces and special action police. Some terrorists were killed, others arrested during the operation, and their large cache of weapons and ammunition was seized. According to the Venezuelan Ministry of Interior, Peace and Justice, the aim of these mercenaries was to commit terrorist acts in the country, like carrying out assassinations of leaders of the revolutionary government, while also promoting violence across the South American nation. The Colombian state, against the wishes of its own people, is deeply entrenched in the US foreign policy of destabilisation, coup attempts and terrorism against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. While further details of this latest terrorist attempt are yet to come, it is obvious that the script was written by those pushing for this same US agenda. Despite the situation of a global pandemic, the US has not let up in its criminal actions against the Venezuelan government and its people. Decade long sanctions against Venezuela have not been lifted to allow crucial medical supplies into the country and instead have been further tightened. This comes at the time of COVID-19 when the greatest cooperation and solidarity is needed globally. The latest acts of aggression are being executed in a framework of unconventional warfare in a bid to destabilise the legitimate government of Venezuela. We call upon the Australian government to condemn this most recent terrorist attempt on the government and the people of Venezuela, and to also push for the lifting of the criminal economic sanctions on the country. We demand that all actions to interfere within Venezuela be rejected by the Australian government. Long live the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela! Down with the US coercive and unilateral economic sanctions! Long live peace! Communist Party of Australia, CPA International Department 4th May 2020 An endangered species, according to Lexico.com, is one that is at serious risk of extinction. When an animal becomes extinct, it no longer exists on Earth. At the time of this writing, there are presently sixteen animals listed on the WorldWildlife.org website as being critically endangered, meaning they are on the brink of extinction. With proper conservation efforts and support, animals can be brought back to healthy numbers, and can continue to live for generations to come as part of Earths vast ecosystem. Here are ten creatures that were brought back from being endangered through the efforts of conservationists and governments working to protect their habitats and wellbeing. 10. Giant Panda A giant panda cub on a tree in Chengdu, China. Image credit: Dangdumrong/Shutterstock.com In 2016, the giant panda was downgraded on the global list of species who are at risk of becoming extinct to vulnerable from endangered. This was done by governments in collaboration with conservation organizations. The two sides worked together to create integrated networks of giant panda reserves, as well as nature corridors that can connect previously isolated panda populations. This, coupled with other efforts, succeeded in increasing the giant pandas population on Earth. 9. Southern White Rhino White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) with calf in natural habitat, South Africa. Image credit: EcoPrint Sadly, the northern white rhino is presently on the brink of becoming extinct. There are only two known left on Earth, and they are female, living in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, the rest having been poached to death for their horns. The southern white rhino was once believed to be extinct, but then a group of them was found living Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa. This group of 100 rhinos was found in 1895, and since then, authorities have been working to protect the animals and increase their numbers. The efforts have resulted in success, and this species of rhino is now the only one of all five types of rhinos that is not endangered. 8. Louisiana Black Bear Louisiana black bear searching for insects in a tree. Image credit: Brandy McKnight/Shutterstock.com A black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus) may not be something you want to cuddle up with as you go to sleep, but you might with its toy look-alike. The Louisiana black bear is rather cute with its big ears, and thankfully in 2016, the US Department of the Interior declared that it was no longer an endangered species in the US. Around the turn of the century, in the early 1900s, hunting black bears was often done for sport, which reduced its numbers drastically. 7. Gray Wolf Gray wolf in the snow. Image credit: Vlada Cech/Shutterstock.com The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced in 2019 that the gray wolf was being taken off the Endangered Species List in the country. Not everyone agrees that this species no longer needs extra protection from humans in order to thrive successfully, however. The current debate over how to support the gray wolf represents ongoing tensions between farmers who raise livestock, conversation efforts and hunters. Gray wolves can prey on farm animals, making them an unwanted presence in some states. In the 1970s, however, the gray wolf population dipped to critically low levels. 6. Stellar Sea Lion Stellar sea lions. Image credit: Caleb Foster/Shutterstock.com These sea lions live mostly in the Gulf of Alaska and in the Aleutian Islands. They are an important subsistence resource for Alaska Natives, who hunt them for their meat, fur hides, oil, among other things. In 1990 this animal was listed as an endangered species, and the stellar sea lion was reclassified as being not at risk in the US in 2013. 5. American Crocodile American crocodiles. Image credit: Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock.com This formidable species was considered to be endangered back in the 1970s in the US, but has now recovered its numbers considerably. It is now listed as vulnerable. In the US, the American crocodile lives exclusively in South Florida, and it can also be found inhabiting parts of Cuba, Jamaica, and southern Mexico, as well as Central and South America. 4. Gray Whale A gray whale in the Pacific Ocean. Image credit: Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock.com Gray whales were removed from the Endangered Species List in 1994. In the days before electricity, whales were hunted for their blubber which was used to produce oil that was burnt in lamps. The gray whale has also long been hunted by populations around the world for its meat. 3. Northern Brown Kiwi North Island brown kiwi. Image credit: Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust/Public domain This long-beaked bird is found in New Zealand, and was once listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is now considered to be vulnerable, as populations have grown due to conservation efforts. Northern brown kiwi eggs have been rescued from their natural setting in the forest, so they can hatch away from predators. The bird is still considered to be at a high risk of extinction, however. 2. Bald Eagle American bald eagle with wings spread and perched on branch against background of Alaskan Kenai region shoreline along Cook Inlet. Image credit: FloridaStock/Shutterstock.com There was a time a few decades ago when spotting a bald eagle in the US was a rare thing to do. It is still a special moment to witness one gliding through the wilderness, but thankfully this majestic bird is now no longer on the Endangered Species list in the US. It is still protected under both the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, but it is not at risk of disappearing forever, at least for the moment. 1. Monito Gecko Monito gecko. Image credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region/Public domain This reptile lives on Monito Island in Puerto Rico, and was listed as endangered in 1982, as it was being eaten by black rats. The rats have now been eradicated from the island leaving the geckos to thrive, with a population of up to 11,000 now living on the island. , We're sorry, this article is not currently available ROSEVILLE, Calif., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Always Best Care Senior Services, one of the leading senior care franchise systems in the United States, announced today the launch of an aggressive nationwide caregiver recruitment campaign to meet an increased demand for in-home care amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Always Best Care provides essential services to seniors and disabled adults, including non-medical in-home care and assisted living referral services, as well as skilled home care for clients that suffer from illness or injury. Always Best Care delivers its services through an international network of more than 200 independently owned and operated franchise territories throughout the United States and Canada. "It's widely recognized that the elderly population is extremely vulnerable to the novel coronavirus, and as a result, the landscape of senior care will likely be changed forever," said Jake Brown, President and CEO of Always Best Care. "Compassionate, hard-working and dedicated caregivers are the foundation of Always Best Care, and with the sudden shift to our industry, we recognize the need to build upon our network with individuals looking to help. With outstanding benefits and training programs in place, we urge those looking to make a positive impact whether an experienced caregiver or someone looking for a new opportunity to contact their local Always Best Care to learn about career opportunities." With thousands of caregivers already on hand, Always Best Care is recognized for being an employer of choice within its sector through its impressive caregiver benefits. Local offices across the country offer various benefits including flexible schedules, competitive wages, ongoing training programs and certifications, employee recognition initiatives, among many others. "I couldn't be where I am without my company; without my Always Best Care company. The whole staff is just wonderful. They're excellent. I couldn't be where I am today without them," said Quandra Conner, caregiver at Always Best Care of Midlothian. "I want them to know that it's not just me; it's all of us. We're in this together, and we want it to work together." With stay-at-home orders in place for seniors, Always Best Care is also emphasizing its proprietary telephone reassurance program, Always In Touch. The program offers daily check-ins or weekly socialization calls, providing a virtual alternative for companionship and a sense of security that the senior is not alone. Always Best Care is one of the only major senior care franchise systems to provide this kind of program as a service to its clients.* In addition to Always In Touch, Always Best Care offers a variety of other non-medical in-home care services, including prescription pickup, grocery shopping and more. By working with case managers, social workers, discharge planners, doctors, and families, Always Best Care franchise owners provide affordable, comprehensive solutions that can be specifically matched to meet a client's particular physical or social needs. For additional information on Always Best Care's caregiver benefits, please visit AlwaysBestCare.com/Caregivers/. * Always in Touch is not a referral service or medical alert service, nor is it a substitute for professional medical advice or for the care that patients receive from their physicians and medical advisors. In the event of a medical emergency, you must call your doctor or 911 immediately. About Always Best Care Founded in 1996, Always Best Care Senior Services is based on the belief that having the right people for the right level of care means peace of mind for the client and family. Always Best Care assists seniors with a wide range of conditions and personal needs, and currently provides millions of hours of care every year. Franchise opportunities are available to individuals interested in leveraging the company's clear strategy and proven track record for delivering affordable, dependable service to seniors in their local areas. Always Best Care also offers an exclusive program called Always in Touch, a telephone reassurance program that provides a daily phone call to seniors and disabled adults who are living alone and have limited contact with the outside world. Always in Touch is a national telephone reassurance program offered in the USA and Canada. For more information on Always in Touch, or to request an application, visit www.Always-In-Touch.com. CONTACT: Chelsea Bear Fish Consulting 954-893-9150 [email protected] SOURCE Always Best Care Tesco in-store bakeries are to sell two Hovis-branded bake-off loaves following the retailers decision to reduce its scratch-baking operations. Tesco has this month axed scratch-baking in 58 stores and reduced it in more than 200 other sites, with the loss of hundreds of in-store bakery roles. At the time it announced the move, the retailer said it would be launching new speciality breads to meet changing consumer demand. The Hovis products will be available through 650 Tesco instore bakeries and are inspired by the bread brands Tasty Wholemeal and Seed Sensations wrapped loaves. Described by Hovis as premium and containing no artificial preservatives, the loaves are packaged in 100% recyclable bags. Hovis said research had shown that 84% of Tesco in-store bakery shoppers think having their favourite brands available baked in-store is a good idea, with 76% of those saying they would buy Hovis if it was available baked in-store. The bakery brand said the launch underlined Hoviss heritage and supported consumer perception of the brand as being traditional, natural and wholesome. We hope this proves to be a positive contribution that will help to boost the range and volume of bread available at a time of unprecedented consumer demand, added Hovis marketing director Jeremy Gibson. Hovis has increased production to meet higher demand and the introduction of these premium in-store baked loaves, with Tesco, offers more choice. Ocean levels could rise as much as 4.2 feet by 2100 if global emissions targets are not achieved and the Earth's surface warms by another 6.3F (3.5C), a study found. This would put the planet on track for 16.4 feet (5 metres) of average sea level rise by the year 2300 exceeding International Panel on Climate Change projections. However, controlling greenhouse emissions could limit ice sheet melt and bring sea level rise down to only 1.6 feet by the end of the century, experts said. Scroll down for video Oceans levels could rise as much as 4.2 feet by 2100 if global emissions targets are not achieved and the Earth's surface warms by another 6.3F (3.5C), a study found 'We know that the planet will see additional sea-level rise in the future,' said paper author and environmental scientist Andra Garner of Rowan University in the US. 'But there are stark differences in the amount of sea-level rise experts project for low emissions compared to high emissions. 'This provides a great deal of hope for the future, as well as a strong motivation to act now to avoid the more severe impacts of rising sea levels.' In their study, the research team analysed the projections of global sea level change drawn up by 106 leading climate researchers. They considered two future scenarios one where emissions are kept to low levels and one where emissions were high. If global warming is limited to 3.6F (2C) above pre-industrial levels that is, 1.8F (1C) above present levels the experts predict a sea-level rise of 1.6 feet (0.5 metres) by 2100 and 1.66.6 feet (0.52 metres) by 2300. In a high-emissions scenario where warming is allowed to reach 8.1F (4.5C) above pre-industrial levels, the researchers predict a rise of 24.3 feet (0.61.3 metres) by 2100 and around 5.618.4 feet (1.75.6 metres) by 2300. In a high-emissions scenario where warming is allowed to reach 8.1F (4.5C) above pre-industrial levels, the researchers predict a rise of 24.3 feet (0.61.3 metres) by 2100 and around 5.618.4 feet (1.75.6 metres) by 2300 'The complexity of sea-level projections, and the sheer amount of relevant scientific publications, make it difficult for policymakers to get an overview of the state of the science,' said climatologist Benjamin Horton of Nanyang Technological University. 'To obtain this overview, it is useful to survey leading experts on the expected sea-level rise, which provides a broader picture of future scenarios and informs policymakers so they can prepare necessary measures.' Surveys of the experts also highlighted that the greatest sources of uncertainties in the models comes from the extent of melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets both of which are major drivers of sea level rise. Satellite-based measurements of the ice sheets have revealed that both are melting at an accelerate rate. However, the experts did note that the reduction of emissions levels in the future has the potential to reduce the magnitude and resulting impact of sea level rise. 'One of the key takeaways from this study is that our actions today can make a profound difference in how much our coastlines will retreat in the future,' said geoscientist Andrea Dutton, who was not involved in the present study. of 'That knowledge is empowering because it means that we can choose a better outcome through our actions,' the University of Wisconsin-Madison expert added. The full findings of the study were published in the journal npj Climate and Atmospheric Science. Former US President Barack Obama has strongly criticised his successor Donald Trump over his response to the coronavirus crisis. In a private conference call, he called the US handling of the pandemic "an absolute chaotic disaster". His remarks were made while encouraging former staff to work for Joe Biden's presidential election team , CNN says. The White House said in response that President Trump's "unprecedented" action had "saved Americans' lives". During the call, Mr Obama said his Republican successor's approach to government was partly to blame for the US response to coronavirus. "It would have been bad even with the best of government," he was quoted as saying in the call. "It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset of 'what's in it for me' and 'to heck with everybody else', when that mindset is operationalised in our government." Mr Obama also strongly criticised the decision to drop criminal charges against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. What is the coronavirus situation in the US? More than 77,000 people have now died and the US has 1.2m confirmed cases - both by far the highest in the world. Many states introduced lockdown measures in March but have now lifted restrictions, allowing people to return to work. But health officials warn this may lead the virus to spread further. Mr Trump's approach to the pandemic has oscillated. In February he dismissed the threat, saying it would disappear, but by mid-March he acknowledged its severity. In April he suggested that ingesting disinfectant could be a treatment - something experts immediately rejected. Last week he announced he would close down his government's coronavirus task force , but later said it would continue - but focusing on reopening the economy. ---BBC A birthday party was reported to be the reason behind the cluster of COVID-19 cases in Pasadena, California, according to health officials. The Pasadena Public Health Department also said via a news release that a large number of friends and extended family members were at the said party. The department added that the event occurred after the city's issuance of the 'stay-at-home' directive in March. A health official claimed that one patient at the gathering was coughing and was not wearing a face mask to cover her face. More so, they said, the other guests at the party were not covering their face as well, or even practicing social distancing. Jokes About Having COVID-19, A Selfish Behavior According to Lisa Derderian, Pasadena spokeswoman, the said coughing person in question even joked with the other guests at the party saying she may have COVID-19, which later on turned out to be true. Derderian described what the woman showed as "a selfish behavior," which could have been preempted. Through contact tracing, officials investigating the case were able to validate five cases of COVID-19 traced to the birthday party, and they were all residents of Pasadena. However, they still think that about five or six more guests at the party who reside outside Pasadena may have also been infected as they showed symptoms of the virus, as well. Because of this, these people should quarantine and eventually undergo a COVID-19 test. Importance and Effectiveness of Contact Tracing An epidemiologist with the health department, Dr. Matthew Feaster, said, the department's initiative "is an example of how good contact tracing can determine illness clusters and tell us more about their spread in the community." As of this writing, over 66,500 people have been affected by COVID-19 in California, with more than 2,600 dead, the Johns Hopkins University said. Moreover, California was the first in the United States to execute a "stay-at-home" order for over 40 million locals on March 19, shutting down nonessential services and urging the residents to maintain social distancing and stay home. The officials of Pasadena came out with a similar directive. With this, essential businesses that remain operational should strictly follow the social distancing order by keeping people six feet apart and providing access to hand-washing, among other requirements. Currently, California is in the middle of a phased reopening and permitted some companies like manufacturers, warehouses, and retailers to restart operations starting Friday. Additionally, gyms, malls, restaurants, particularly those offering dine-in services, bars, and salons, remain closed. According to the director and health officer, Dr. Ying-Ying Goh, even though they are "moving forward with minor modifications to the Safer at Home Order," get-togethers of people who do not reside in the same home are still not allowed. Lastly, the health official added that COVID-19 continues to be highly contagious, and thus, frequent hand-washing, social distancing, and wearing face mask stay "our best defenses from the further contagion of the COVID-19 in the community." Check these out! A medical worker checks the temperature of a man returning from Kuwait in Giza, Egypt, on May 10, 2020. Egypt reported on Sunday 436 new cases and 11 deaths of COVID-19, bringing the total infections registered in the country so far to 9,400, including 525 deaths. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa) CAIRO, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Egypt reported on Sunday 436 new cases and 11 deaths of COVID-19, bringing the total infections registered in the country so far to 9,400, including 525 deaths. Meanwhile, 73 COVID-19 patients were completely cured and discharged from hospitals on Sunday, raising the total recoveries to 2,075, said Egyptian health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed in a statement. Megahed emphasized that all the patients infected with the novel coronavirus in Egypt receive medical care "in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization." Egypt announced its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on Feb. 14 and the first death on March 8, both of whom were foreigners. The Egyptian government has recently started to ease restrictions and reopen services and offices that have been closed for nearly two months, within a coexistence plan to carry out anti-coronavirus precautionary measures while resuming services and economic activities. The North African country is currently implementing a nationwide nine-hour nighttime curfew that will continue throughout the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan. By Michael Reagan A month ago I said it will be the public that makes the decision to reopen America, not the government. It took too long, but that's exactly what has happened. From the beaches of Southern California and Florida to the state capitals of Michigan and Pennsylvania, thousands of regular people have yelled, "End the COVID-19 shutdown. Give us back our country and our freedoms." The elite liberal media portrayed the peaceful crowds that crashed the beaches and waved their handmade "Freedom is Essential" signs as irresponsible grandma killers, mindless Trump supporters or Nazis. But as usual, the liberal media had it backwards. The ordinary people calling for the reopening of America and defying the sweeping decrees of petty tyrants like California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf are not villains. They're American heroes. The Rebels of 2020 have uncommon American common sense. They're the ones who know that waging a war against a new and lethal coronavirus does not mean we must shut down the economy, throw 33 million people out of work overnight and cancel the Bill of Rights. The Rebels are the ones who are not willing to cower in fear in their basements until a vaccine comes to save them. They're people like the brave businesswoman from Dallas who was sent to jail (and later released) for refusing to apologize for reopening her spa in defiance of city orders. And after almost three months of being spooked and confused by the media, medical experts and authoritarian politicians, they're people who have figured out that the coronavirus dangerous and mysterious as it is doesn't attack people randomly. They know that unless you are over age 75, living in a nursing home and already have serious medical problems like heart disease or diabetes, your chances of catching COVID-19 are low, your chances of getting seriously sick from it are even lower, and your chances of dying from it are minuscule. The Rebels of 2020 also realize that our all-out war against the spread of the coronavirus has been a historic economic and social mistake for the country and that it has to end as quickly as possible. It was their peaceful civil disobedience that put the political pressure on several governors and forced them to begin relaxing their severe policies or end their statewide shutdowns sooner. It sure wasn't "elite" liberal journalists and pundits who made that happen. They were universally fearful and pro-shutdown and still are. They couldn't stop praising the most-dictatorial Blue State governors for their "courage" and, despite the mistakes of Gov. Cuomo of New York, they crowned him as our wisest and greatest leader in a time of crisis. At the same time the media shamed Red State governors like Kristi Noem of South Dakota for not closing down their states and criticized Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia for reopening his state too soon. Gov. Noem was called foolish and stupid for supposedly risking thousands of lives. But she didn't panic and refused to shut down the economy of South Dakota, which as of Thursday had 31 COVID-19 deaths out of a population of 900,000. She was sensible and measured. She advised the vulnerable population to stay home. And she urged social distancing while encouraging the rest of the state to continue the economic activity they needed to survive. Most important, Noem didn't fold to the pressure to get tough and become an overnight dictator. As she said, "The people of South Dakota are the source of the power and legitimacy of our government not the media, not politicians and not political parties. That's a healthy perspective for any elected official to keep in mind." Noem will never be hailed as one of the heroes of the COVID-19 crisis by the liberal media, but she should be. Unlike most of governors, she was always in touch with the people. Michael Reagan (Reagan@caglecartoons.com) is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan." He is the founder of the email service reagan.com and president of the Reagan Legacy Foundation. His commentary was distributed Cagle Cartoons Inc. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that barring containment zones, economic activities should be allowed to resume in the national capital, as senior city government officials deliberated on how to re-open Delhi post-May 17 after over a 50-day lockdown. According to a health bulletin, the day recorded 310 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 7,233. No new fatality due to COVID-19 was reported between May 9 and May 10 midnight and the death toll stood at 73. Sources said Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev held a meeting with top officers of the Delhi government to discuss a detailed plan for re-starting economic activities amid changes wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. They, however, added that any decision on relaxation will be in accordance with the Centre's guidelines for activities post May 17, when the third phase of the lockdown will end. Participating in a video conference held by the prime minister with chief ministers of different states, Kejriwal batted for starting economic activities at the earliest. Early this month, the chief minister had said that people will have to learn to live with the virus, and the time has come to reopen Delhi. Kejriwal is learnt to have also raised the issue of Delhi receiving only Rs 325 crore as share in the central taxes. The AAP government has been demanding an enhanced share in the central taxes. On relaxing the restrictions post lockdown, the government has already demanded from the Centre that all eleven districts of Delhi should not be treated as 'Red Zone' so that more economic activities are allowed in the national capital, sources said. The government wants the Red Zone areas to be identified as per the wards and not districts. Recently, the Union Health Ministry designated the entire national capital, which has eleven districts, as Red zone in the new classification. The city has 272 wards. Malls, theatres have been shut since mid-March, much before the lockdown was announced in Delhi on March 23. The nation-wide lockdown came into force since March 25. Kejriwal in the past has highlighted the adverse impact of the coronavirus-forced lockdown on the state exchequer. The AAP government also decided to provide another financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to the construction workers amid the extended coronavirus lockdown. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Construction Workers' Welfare Board, chaired by Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai. There are around 40,000 construction workers registered with the board. Meanwhile, three special AC trains will leave the New Delhi railway station to Dibrugarh, Bengaluru and Bilaspur on Tuesday. The same day, five more trains bound for Delhi will leave from Patna, Bengaluru, Howrah, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the railways said. Nearly two months after it suspended operations of passenger trains over the coronavirus crisis, the railways will resume the services with 15 pair of trains on select routes from Tuesday. Northern Railways in a statement has said that entry to the station will be from the Paharganj side for all confirmed ticket holders. No entry for passengers holding such tickets will be permitted from the Ajmeri Gate side, it said. However, there was no clarity on the passengers alighting at Delhi, who do not have their transport, will reach their homes since only people dealing with essential services are allowed to board the Delhi Transport Corporation buses. Trains, taxis and cab aggregators have not been plying since the lockdown came into force. The Delhi government had come up with an elaborate plan for returnees from abroad after 234 stranded Indians were brought back to the country from Singapore through a special flight last week. Those who came back are being lodged at paid quarantine facilities. Health Minister Satyendar Jain also held a meeting to review the issues related to home isolation of COVID-19 patients. The central team, deployed by the Union Health Ministry to assist the State Health Department in management of COVID-19 outbreak, visited containment areas, migrant camps, food centres, and the city government-run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital. The Union home secretary and the health secretary held a meeting to review the health situation in Delhi, it said. The cabinet secretary also held a meeting through video conference regarding public health response to COVID-19 and implementation of MHA guidelines. The fresh coronavirus cases include a 38-year-old Delhi Police Sub-Inspector deployed at Mandir Marg police station. The sub-inspector (SI) who was performing emergency duties tested positive for the infection on Sunday but he is asymptomatic, they said. So far, more than 100 Delhi Police personnel have tested positive for coronavirus. With a rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the force, the Delhi Police on Monday modified six of its vehicles to transport personnel either infected with or suspected of having COVID-19 to hospitals or quarantine centres, officials said. According to police, the drivers of the special vehicles will be provided with Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE) kits as a precautionary measure. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An operation ran by an affiliate of Google by which Totontos waterfront would become a smart city, has been cancelled by the technology giant. Daniel L. Doctoroff, the CEO of Sidewalk Labs (a company held under Googles parent company Alphabet Inc.) said in a blog post that it will no longer pursue the Quayside project. Doctoroff said the reason was due to the coronavirus pandemic, which he describes as unprecedented economic uncertainty [which] has set in around the world. The project, which would have spanned 12 acres, apparently became too difficult. This is after Google scaled back its original proposal, which would have developed 190 acres of property and was hotly contested by the development agency Waterfront Toronto. I believe that the ideas we have developed over the last two-and-a-half years will represent a meaningful contribution to the work of tackling big urban problems, particularly in the areas of affordability and sustainability Doctoroff also said. Recommended Why smart cities need to be more human The development between Google and Totonto to create the new town named Quayside was intended to be a blueprint for the 21st-century urban neighbourhood. Innovations included retractable canopies, heated bike and pedestrian paths which would melt snow, and buildings that would block wind in winter but not during the summer. However, many criticised Googles intentions in the project. US venture capitalist Roger McNamee said last year that: The smart city project on the Toronto waterfront is the most highly evolved version to date of surveillance capitalism, and suggested that Google would use algorithms to nudge human behavior in ways to favor its business. No matter what Google is offering, the value to Toronto cannot possibly approach the value your city is giving up, he also wrote. It is a dystopian vision that has no place in a democratic society. The year before Jim Balsillie, co-founder of the company behind BlackBerry, Research in Motion, said that the project was a colonizing experiment in surveillance capitalism attempting to bulldoze important urban, civic and political issues. Sidewalk Labs had previously said that a data trust would be used, so that urban data collected would not be shared by third parties, and that it would use open standards for any digital infrastructure and services it provides In a recent interview about the closure of the project John Tory, the mayor of Totonto, said that he was disappointed but that everyone acted in good faith even though the project got off to a bad start". STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- During their 65 years of marriage, George and Else Hess had never spent a day without seeing each other, their daughter Laura Kump said. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit New York City and Kumps father was not allowed to make his daily visit to his wife in the Queens nursing home where she lived while she was battling Alzheimers disease. On April 8, Else Hess, 85, about two weeks after testing positive for COVID-19, died alone at the Forest Hills Care Center, her daughter said. My father didnt deserve it, Kump, of Princes Bay, said. Nobody deserved to die that way, alone. A DIFFICULT DECISION Around March 23, Kump received a call from the nursing home saying that her mom had started running a fever and the nurses told Kump she could decide to transport her to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. She couldnt be in that kind of setting, said Kump, referring to the Queens hospital. Kumps mom had been struggling with Alzheimers for over 10 years and could not communicate anymore, so her daughter decided to keep her at the nursing home with people [she] knew cared about her mom. I cant say anything bad about the nurses [at the Forest Hills Care Center], Kump said. After deciding to keep her mom in a familiar environment, Hess conditions got worse. Hess husband was able to visit her one last time before the love of his life passed away, Kump said. However, now he is devastated" as he had never spent a day away from her mother in the six decades they had been married. He has never been without her, she said. He feels like he let her down because he couldnt protect her. Kump, on the other hand, was only able to say goodbye to her mom through a FaceTime call, the daughter said while breaking down in tears. Kump said her mother, who did not have any underlying conditions, could have been put at risk because of an executive order Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed on March 25 stating that no resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH (nursing home) solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. Someone has to revise that order, said Kump, describing it as flawed. CRITICISM OVER NURSING HOME POLICY The executive order has received a lot a criticism since Cuomo signed it, including from former New York Gov. George Pataki. Pataki, who served as the governor of New York State from 1995 to 2006, labeled the way Cuomo handled the coronavirus pandemic in nursing homes a disaster. To compound the problem, the state required nursing homes to admit coronavirus patients," Pataki told the New York Post. "Anyone should have known this would be a problem to require nursing homes to take in coronavirus patients. Any way you look at it This is inexcusable. Theres no defense for this. Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesman for the New York State Department of Health, said in a statement to the Advance/SILive.com that "the Department will continue to work with administrators of private and county nursing homes to do everything possible to protect the health, well-being and privacy of the residents who call these facilities home. Weve said from the start that protecting our most vulnerable populations including people in nursing homes is our top priority and thats why the State acted quickly and aggressively to issue guidance specifically for these facilities on testing, infection control, environmental cleaning, staffing, visitation, admission, readmission, and outreach to residents and families, Hammond said. As of Wednesday night there have been 5,003 deaths in nursing homes in New York State -- 2,418 deemed as confirmed and 2,585 as probable, according to the latest data available from the New York State Department of Health. Of the overall total of fatalities, 244 occurred in 10 nursing homes on Staten Island -- 85 classified as confirmed and 159 as probable -- representing about 30% of the overall coronavirus-related deaths recorded in the borough. The drowning of at least 18 young Afghans allegedly forced at gunpoint into a river by Iranian border guards has caused a diplomatic strain between Kabul and Tehran and prompted international calls for an investigation. Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar has pledged to use "all diplomatic efforts to bring justice and investigate this unforgivable crime", and said he had held tense meetings with Iranian officials. Accounts of the incident and video of the bodies laid out in the desert provoked an outcry in Afghanistan. A camp for the internally displaced in Herat Province, Afghanistan. Credit:Kate Geraghty The US State Department said: "Iran's cruel treatment and abuse of Afghan migrants alleged in these reports is horrifying. We support calls for a thorough investigation. Those found guilty of such abuse must be held accountable." National assembly speaker says embattled prime minister will have to step down by May 22. The government of Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane has fallen apart in Parliament after his coalition partners withdrew their support, signalling a potential end to a lengthy political crisis that has gripped the country. Announcing the collapse of the government majority, National Assembly Speaker Sephiri Motanyane said on Monday the embattled prime minister would have to step down by May 22, and the formation of a new administration could take two weeks. There was no immediate comment by Thabane. The octogenarian in recent months has faced mounting pressure to leave office over a case in which he and his current wife are suspected of involvement in the 2017 murder of his previous, estranged wife. They both deny this. Thabanes own All Basotho Convention (ABC) and two other coalition parties on Monday ended their support for the prime ministers four-party coalition. We have verified that the four-party coalition agreement has been terminated, Motanyane said. Sam Rapapa, deputy chairman of ABC, said all parties had provisionally agreed on Finance Minister Moeketsi Majoro to replace Thabane. Thabane is now a caretaker prime minister until May 22 when a new prime minister is sworn in, Rapapa said. Deepening crisis Following intense criticism from political opponents and rivals within his own party, Thabane had promised to retire due to old age but had been dragging his feet on when to do so. In March, he suspended Parliament for three months shortly after the lower house passed a bill barring him from calling fresh elections if he lost a looming no-confidence vote. However, the countrys constitutional court on April 17 overturned his decision, bringing closer the possibility of the no-confidence vote. The next day, Thabane sent troops onto the streets of the capital Maseru to restore order, accusing unnamed law enforcement agencies of undermining democracy. The army withdrew the following day, but tension and uncertainty remained in a country with a long history of coups and military involvement in its often fragile politics. South Africa, which entirely surrounds Lesotho, then dispatched a delegation to the tiny mountain kingdom for high-level talks aimed at calming the situation. In a joint statement, mediators said the coalition government and other stakeholders had agreed to guarantee a dignified, graceful and secure exit for Thabane. The prime minister, however, hit back, saying he would not be told when to leave office. King Letsie III last week assented to legislation that prevented Thabane from dissolving Parliament and calling an election in the event of a vote of no confidence against him. Thabane first served as prime minister between 2012 and February 2015 when a split within the coalition government led to an early general election. The succeeding government, led by Pakalitha Mosisili of the Democratic Congress party, was also rocked by divisions. Mosilili lost a vote of no-confidence, and Thabane returned to power after a February 2017 vote as the head of the ABC-led coalition which was endorsed by three smaller political parties. AUSTRALIA-CHINA RELATIONS HIT FRESH LOWS IN VEILED ATTACK ON CHINESE SOVEREIGNTY Australias relations with their largest trading partner China have hit fresh new lows, with the Morrison government joining Washingtons push to have Taiwan re-join the World Health Organisation. This push by the Trump regime, under the cover of humanitarian diplomatic assistance, seeks to undermine the One-China policy and ultimately Chinas territorially sovereignty. Cross-strait relations have been a defining feature of geopolitics in the Asia Pacific region since the Kuomintang retreated to the provincial island following their defeat in the Chinese Civil War. The United States, along with the major European powers, backed the Republic of China (ROC) as the sole legitimate government of the entire Chinese mainland, leaving the Peoples Republic and the Chinese Communist Party at its helm out of international relations for the next two decades. This situation was resolved in 1971, when the legitimacy of the ROCs claim was truly exhausted, and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) took their rightful position in various multilateral bodies, most importantly as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Whilst an independence movement in Taiwan exists and has entered mainstream local politics since the 90s, it has hardly seen overwhelming support from the local Taiwanese people, with only twenty-eight per cent being in favour according to ROCs own survey in 2019. The population of Taiwan is made up of Taiwanese Aborigines (circa two per cent), and various waves of Chinese migration over the last four centuries; most notably during the Manchu conquest of China (1618-1683) and the Chinese Civil War (1927-1950). The push by Washington for the ROC to be re-admitted as an observer of the World Health Organisation (WHO) might seem innocent on the surface, yet it fits into their larger order modus operandi of applying maximum pressure to a fast-rising China at all costs. On top of that, it is an opportunity to deflect from the disaster that is the handling of the COVID-19 crises at home. As of 7th May, the US has over 1.2 million confirmed cases (the actual number is expected to be far higher), more than five times that of any other nation, and over 75,000 deaths. These numbers are continuing to rise at a rapid rate of more than 20,000 confirmed new cases per day, seemingly only limited by the numbers of tests they can carry out. The state of New York is of particular concern, with over 300,000 confirmed cases (more than any other country alone) from just over 1 million tests a whopping thirty per cent positive rate. Comparing the performance of the worlds two largest and ideologically opposed economies could not be clearer as to which kind of political-economic system has the interests of ordinary people at heart. Figure 1: Chinese and US per cent of Australian imports and exports. (Source: The Observatory of Economic Complexity.) Australian politicians, like clockwork, are falling over each other in their efforts to pronounce their alignment to Washingtons foreign policy. Whilst the US are Australias major defence partner (should accurately be better read as Australia signs up for unequivocal support for whoever the US decides to bomb next partner), the average Australian seems unaware of just how much the Australian economy is reliant on cordial relations with the Peoples Republic of China: Since 2013, China has been the destination for over a third of all Australian exports. This is up from a lowly three per cent as little as twenty-five years ago. US trade both imports and exports have reduced significantly as a proportion of total trade over the same period. Chinese Ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye recently made the obvious remarks that at some point, the Chinese people may think whether this place, which they find is not so friendly, even hostile, is the best place to send their kids to, and maybe the ordinary people will think why they should drink Australian wine or eat Australian beef. This wasnt so much the threat of a boycott, but rather a warning of what Chinese citizens may choose themselves should ongoing hostilities continues, when he made clear So its up to the public, the people to decide. As long as the Australian government exists as a state to manage the affairs of the bourgeoisie/ownership class, a growing contradiction is emerging in Australia-US-China relations that is, between US lobbies such as AUSMIN (Australia-United States Ministerial Consultation), who seek to align all emerging mainstream political leaders (from both major parties) with the Washington Consensus, and whats left of our local / national bourgeoise that will see their own profits at risk should Australia-China relations deteriorate further. As of today, that appears to be a when not if scenario. Two Native American tribes are defying South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's order to remove roadside checkpoints that tribal leaders claim are necessary to keep the coronavirus from infecting reservations, officials said Monday. If the Oglala and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes don't take down their checkpoints on state and federal highways, the government in Pierre will take them to court, the governor said. Delivery personnel, property owners, ranchers and highway maintenance workers are being slowed or turned around, Noem said. "We need people that are just driving through the area to be able to do so," she told reporters Monday afternoon. "These checkpoints have been an issue allowing these kinds of services to get through." Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak There are no plans for state police or other law enforcement action, a spokesman for the governor told NBC News on Monday. Image: Kristi Noem (Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images file) Noem's staff issued memos Friday and Sunday to make it "perfectly clear it is unlawful to interrupt the flow of traffic on these roads," according to the most recent communication. "The checkpoints on state and U.S. highways are not legal, and if they don't come down, the state will take the matter to federal court," senior adviser and policy director Maggie Seidel wrote Sunday. Download the NBC News app for full coverage and alerts about the coronavirus outbreak Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier told MSNBC on Sunday that federal-tribal treaties allow the tribe to monitor who comes through reservations and to turn away travelers if they're from areas known to be coronavirus hot spots. Image: Harold Frazier (Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images file) "We have every legal right to do what we're doing," he said. "We're just doing preventative action. It's nothing to try to hinder people." Frazier said that with few hospital beds on its reservation, his tribe believes the checkpoints will save lives. "When we talk about rights, one of the greatest rights is the right to live," he said. "And that's all we're trying to do is to provide that right for our residents on this reservation." Story continues Oglala Sioux President Julian Bear Runner said tribes have been in regular consultation with state authorities, but he insisted that Pierre ultimately has no authority over their actions. "The Oglala band is ready to stand against foreign intrusions in our daily lives. We have a prior, superior right to make our own laws and be governed by them," Bear Runner said in a video message over the weekend. "We are not moved by threats when they come from a position of weakness." What should South Africas coronavirus endgame look like? Here are some options SA's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was one of 'intervene first and ask questions later'. Now is the time for government say what its strategic endgame is. South Africa has aggressively intervened to contain the local SARS-CoV-2 viral epidemic. But it is far from clear which strategic outcome is being pursued. Is it following the lead of countries such as New Zealand or South Korea and trying to stop virus transmission altogether until a suitable vaccine becomes available? Or is it attempting to manage the infection rates so that extreme peaks in morbidity are prevented? As the governments strategy is not currently explicit, the intervention framework implemented so far appears consistent with a wide range of possible policy objectives. The rapid emergence of the pandemic defaulted policy to intervene first and ask questions later. But the dust is now settling, and the strategic endgame can and should be made transparent. Any strategy requires a rational combination of what is known with what isnt. Whats not known includes the possible outcomes of interventions, as well as contingencies that can materially influence the trajectory of the disease. Given the substantial uncertainties of disease elimination, South Africa should adopt at least a multi-year strategic perspective that is the time until a vaccine or treatment is probable and has been implemented. The strategy should, however, allow for the possibility that each month introduces more certainty about the success of public health interventions and the options for treatment and vaccines. We discuss three possible approaches, and consider the efficacy of each. Whats known, and whats not known The various options mapped out below take into account what is known, and whats not known. Whats known. First, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is highly infectious. In the absence of interventions it has an average reproduction rate (R or R0) every four days of roughly 2.5. Infections are also associated with levels of morbidity and mortality that make an active public health response necessary. Second, no vaccine is available yet and no drug has been shown to prevent transmission of the virus. Third, no virus-specific treatments exist to mitigate the current levels of morbidity. Fourth, the complexity of the economic and social problems arising from general lockdowns means it is very difficult to rely on extended lockdowns without creating a new range of severe socio-economic problems. Where does uncertainty lie? First, the extent to which reliance can be placed on social distancing and lockdown strategies in South Africas high-density, poor and informal settlements is in question. Second, South Africa appears unable to get testing to the levels necessary to successfully manage a health prevention strategy based on testing and contact tracing. This is true of a number of well-resourced countries too. It is also unclear whether South Africa is able to ramp up testing, and associated isolation of those infected or their contacts, to the level needed to stay ahead of the epidemic during the course of 2020. Third, it is unclear when a vaccine will become available. Even under ideal circumstances, it is likely that it will only be available for wider use in 2021. And even with the development of suitable vaccines, it may still take years to eliminate the virus. Fourth, therapeutic options based on existing treatments, which could be available soon, are still speculative and unlikely to prove wholly successful. Fifth, therapeutic options based on new technologies are unlikely to be available in South Africa until the latter part of 2021. Strategic options Option 1 is to target complete disease control within 2020, without waiting for a successful treatment or vaccine to be introduced. This would require that public health interventions achieve a sustained reproduction rate of the disease (R) below 1. This would require selective, targeted lockdowns, ongoing social distancing and high rates of population testing, tracing and quarantining. Option 2 is to keep new infections relatively low, but accept that the epidemic will continue until a vaccine or some other treatment becomes available. This strategy would require keeping the R at around 1, by limiting daily, country-wide new infections to roughly 250 to 300. This approach is premised on the assumption that no public health approach, or other intervention, will be able to eliminate the epidemic in 2020, and also not completely in 2021. It assumes that a combination of treatment and vaccinations will eliminate the virus during the course of 2021. Option 3 is to keep new infections sufficiently low that they prevent excessive morbidity at any point in time to avoid health services becoming overwhelmed, but sufficiently high as to achieve early herd immunity within, say, the next 18 months. While this approach assumes an average R of more than 1 for an initial period and roughly 1 thereafter, the daily levels of new infections would be higher than option 2, but should still be kept manageable using targeted public health interventions. Process of elimination Of the above, the third option allowing infections to rise to achieve herd immunity is ill-advised, at least for now. To achieve herd immunity over a period of just two years, assuming that only 60% of the population would need to have achieved immunity, would require roughly 51,000 new infections per day. At these levels it can be expected that more than 2,500 people will require hospitalisation each day and that approximately 500 will require intensive care, most of whom would die. This option can also be rejected on rational grounds. If it is possible to maintain the R at about 1 over an extended period using public health interventions without undue economic hardship, it makes sense to manage a lower rather than a higher and more risky level of infections. This leaves options 1 and 2. The choice comes down to what is achievable with South Africas public health and economic capacities and capabilities. Both options, however, must be compatible with the maintenance of a functioning economy. A generalised lockdown is unlikely to succeed as a preventive option in the South African context. As a result much depends on whether more focused public health measures such as testing and contact tracing, social distancing, employer health protocols, generalised requirements to wear masks and border management are sufficient to hold R at 1 or below 1. If these interventions cant be relied on, the outlook for South Africa would be bleak, as a runaway epidemic would be more, rather than less, probable. The de facto consequence would be option 3. But its plausible that a strategy that is able to maintain a low level of daily new infections over a two-year period could hold out the opportunity for disease elimination if public health prevention improves over time. For instance, while significant constraints exist to scale up testing in the short term, these can reasonably be expected to lift progressively over a 12-month period. Similarly, it is not unreasonable to expect the specificity and speed of contact tracing and quarantining to improve over time. It is also common sense for testing priority to be given to communities where transmission risks are highest such as townships and informal settlements. The direct costs of many of these interventions may appear large. But when compared to the indiscriminate impact of a general lockdown, the additional resources required pale into insignificance. Conclusion The current best option is for the government to pursue option 2 as a minimum strategic goal keep new infections relatively low, but accept that the epidemic will continue until a vaccine or some other treatment becomes available to allow for societal immunity. With a continuous expansion of key public health interventions, such as testing, tracing and quarantining, this approach also offers some hope of achieving option 1 to target complete disease control within 2020. Keeping open the option of disease control through targeted public health measures within 2020 is plainly worthwhile, even if it is far from certain until treatment and vaccine options become more concrete. Alex van den Heever, Chair of Social Security Systems Administration and Management Studies, Adjunct Professor in the School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand; Imraan Valodia, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, and Head of the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand; Lucy Allais, Professor of Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand; Martin Veller, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, and Willem Daniel Francois Venter, Ezintsha, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, University of the Witwatersrand This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. - The midfielder helped distribute food materials and medication to vulnerable people in Porto area - Fernandes has since been recalled by Man United ahead of Premier League resumption in the coming weeks - The Portuguese star joined the Red Devils during the January transfer window Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes joined friends to help fight deadly coronavirus by providing relief materials to vulnerable people in Porto. The 25-year-old Portuguese returned to his home country after the Premier League was suspended mid-March, barely two months after moving to England. READ ALSO: Odion Ighalo: Shanghai Shenhua want Nigerian striker back in China before league kickoff READ ALSO: Andrea Rinaldi: Atalanta midfielder dies aged just 19 He, however, made himself useful by delivering food packages and medicine to locals of his native country after being asked to help by the leader of a supporters group in Fernando Madureira. Real SC star Ibra Cassama revealed how Fernandes played an active role in helping the community, going on to outline just how serious the situation has become. READ ALSO: Premier League: UK government gives greenlight season to restart PAY ATTENTION: Install Pitch Football app for FREE to easily access stats, news and live updates The next day, Bruno Fernandes appeared asking how he could join the group and was also soon available to help. He even went to distribute food with Madureira," Cassama told the media. Here is the case of a person with much more visibility and who left his comfort zone to help others, when he was under no obligation to do so, but wanted to participate. At that time, he was not the Manchester United player but a person like us Basically, we are all the same," he added. Daily Star reports that Fernandes has returned to England in preparation for the return Premier League in the coming weeks, though the fear of COVID-19 is causing a delay in the restart of the league. Do you have an inspirational story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Tuko news. My wife left me at my lowest, chose alcohol over our children - Kennedy Mwangi | My Story | Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke Union leaders have attacked the Prime Ministers speech about easing the lockdown, accusing him of sending mixed messages which could have lethal consequences. Unions have been urging the Government for weeks to make sure workplaces are safe, with plenty of personal protective equipment (PPE), before the lockdown is eased. John Philips, acting general secretary of the GMB, said: More mixed messages from the Government saying theres no end to lockdown, but asking everyone to go back to work. If ministers want the economy moving again, we need strict rules on hygiene and social distancing, enough PPE for everyone, and regulations employers cant just ignore if they fancy it. The overall message is contradictory and confusing, when what people really need is clarity. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) advised its members not to work if they felt unsafe, saying the Government was shifting away from the stay at home message, which would unleash a surge in passengers on the railways and Tubes from tomorrow, breaching social- distancing measures with potentially lethal consequences for staff and the public. Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said the new stay alert slogan was meaningless rhetoric, adding: Tonight the Prime Minister told millions of people they can immediately return to work with 12 hours notice for many, telling them they cant use public transport and with no assurances on whether PPE, social distancing and other safety measures will be in place. That wasnt a message from the Prime Minister. It was a message from big business and those who put profit before people. Never mind being led by the science, the British response is now being led by the money. Manuel Cortes, Transport Salaried Staffs Association general secretary, said the mixed messaging from the Prime Minister was dangerous, adding: By comparison, the clarity from Scotland and Wales is somewhat of a relief. Story continues The PM telling people who cant work from home to go to work but not use public transport is a ridiculous notion by someone who appears to have lost all grasp of reality. It will cause chaos. Our transport network is not ready for any increase in passengers. We wont allow our members to be used as Covid-19 cannon fodder so that Tory donors in the building industry can make a quick buck at their expense and that of our key worker heroes who need safe access to our public transport network to keep people alive. Mick Whelan, leader of the train drivers union Aslef, said: The message around unlimited exercise, and the self-policing of it, will make it impossible to differentiate between those travelling as key workers, and in those areas where return to work has been encouraged, and those who are not. Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: The return to work must be safe. There must be no cutting corners, no playing fast and loose with employees safety. The economy is important, but lives are too. Many health, care and other key workers use trains, buses and tubes to get to work. Their safety must not be compromised by crowded public transport. The Government must ensure the NHS and the care sector have guaranteed supplies of protective equipment and theres a comprehensive test, track and trace programme in place before any mass return to work. TUC general secretary Frances OGrady said: Boris Johnsons statement will cause working people a lot of confusion and anxiety. The Government still hasnt published guidance on how workers will be kept safe. So how can the Prime Minister with 12 hours notice tell people they should be going back to sites and factories? Its a recipe for chaos. Unions want to support a safe return to work so we can start rebuilding Britain. Government must provide clear direction to workers and business by introducing tough new rules on workplace safety. Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, said: People cannot get to work safely unless there is safe transport for them to use. Yet there is now a real risk that in a few hours time, workers will be cramming onto public transport, putting at risk their lives and those of others. This has not been thought through and the failure to do so places working people in danger. Advertisement A set of stunning images show lions and giraffes silhouetted against the sky during the 'golden hour' of the African savannah at sunset. Photographer Clement Kiragu, 39, stalks his subjects in the hours before the sun sets and rises at Amboseli and Maasai Mara National Parks to 'immortalise' the creatures in the fleeting golden light. The photos show heavenly rays of warm sunshine resting over the vast expanse of the African savannah, mixing with the dust and foliage to create a misty haze. With a focus on 'big cats', Kiragu spends hours photographing lions and other animals in their most-active hours, when the sun is less ferocious. In one spectacular image, a lioness and her cub can be seen meandering through the dusty plains in the dusky evening light. In another, the silhouette of a male lion is defined by the setting sun. Lions aren't the only species avoiding the searing daylight hours: Mountainous African elephants live in the grassland, with towering giraffes nearby too. Vultures are shown waiting for scraps at the top of a knotted trees sticking out of the landscape. Even horses buck and play under the shade of a tree in the hazy light. Africa receives more than 30 million tourists a year and the continent is the world's number one destination for safaris. With the number of visitors increasing, Kiragu hopes that his images will highlight the importance of wildlife conservation. An image shows the blinding sun stretching out through the dusty savannah at sundown. The beautiful images were taken by a wildlife photographer who spends his time taking snaps during Africa's 'golden hour', the time before sunset and after sunrise Pictured: The glowing morning sun casts a silhouette of a lioness in the African savannah in Amboseli National Park and Maasai Mara National Park A tower of giraffes stand spread out along the savannah as the sun sets in Amboseli National Park and Maasai Mara National Park. Africa receives more than 30 million tourists a year and the continent is the world's number one destination for safaris A pair of lionesses walk along the dusty plains flanked by their playful cubs during Africa's golden hour, before sunrise and after sunset, in Amboseli National Park and Maasai Mara National Park A lion cub walks through the dusty African savannah, the morning light cast off its fur in Amboseli National Park and Maasai Mara National Park Vultures sitting in a twisted, knotted tree watch the sun set over the African savannah (left) as an African elephant stomps through the grassland Horses buck and play as the sunrise causes a haze to creep through the savannah in Amboseli National Park and Maasai Mara National Park, during Africa's golden hour The sun lightens the face of an alpha lion during Africa's morning golden hour in Amboseli National Park and Maasai Mara National Park. Lions in particular are mainly nocturnal or crepuscular - and so they become active at sunrise and sunset A lone antelope appears as a dark shadow, silhouetted by the golden sky and sun in Amboseli National Park and Maasai Mara National Park The warming sun casts a silhouette of the lion in the hazy light. As nocturnal creatures, lions can spend up to 20 hours a day resting to avoid the scorching daylight African sun New Delhi, May 11 : The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswamis plea seeking quashing of FIRs filed against him for allegedly disturbing communal harmony. Goswami told the apex court that the case against him is a concerted action by a political party against a journalist. Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Goswami, said that a political party is targeting him. The top courts said the interim protection granted to Goswami on April 24 will continue until the pronouncement of its order. Salve contended before a bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah that the probe should be taken away from the Mumbai police. The apex court had earlier stayed action on all the FIRs against Goswami, except one filed in Nagpur, and gave him three weeks' relief against coercive action. These FIRs were registered against Goswami in various states after his programme on the Palghar mob lynching incident. It was alleged that he made a defamatory statement against Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that this matter should be investigated by an agency. "An offence prima facie has been made out, let this case be handled by an independent agency which does not need any insulation," Mehta submitted. He also said that this is the first case where the police want to get insulated from the accused. The top court said the order on the matter will be pronounced later this week. Salve contended before the court that Goswami's 12-hour long interrogation was nothing short of "arm twisting tactic". Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state of Maharashtra, opposed the transfer of the probe to an independent agency saying that if this happens, then the investigation would lead to Goswami's favour. This argument was objected by Mehta. Salve, citing the exchange between Sibal and Mehta, pressed for the transfer of probe, saying that it was apparent that Goswami was merely caught in a political crossfire between the Centre and the state. A second FIR accused Goswami of communalising the migrant incident of April 14 when a large crowd gathered in Mumbai's Bandra area. The crowd had gathered in a bid to board trains to return to their homes amid the nationwide lockdown in place to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. [May 11, 2020] Walibi Holland Announces Virtual Queuing Partnership with accesso to Facilitate Social Distancing ORLANDO, Fla., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- accesso Technology Group plc (AIM: ACSO), the premier technology solutions provider for attractions and venues worldwide, today announces a new strategic agreement with Walibi Holland, a longstanding theme park customer located in Biddinghuizen, Netherlands. The park, owned by Compagnie des Alpes, already leverages accesso's patented virtual queuing solution as a premium service option and will now offer 100% virtual queueing to all guests to deliver reliable social distancing when the park reopens May 25. Last year accesso's patented virtual queuing technology empowered over 38 million guests to step out of lines at theme parks around the world. In light of the need for social distancing, accesso will now extend its range of use-cases to specific deployments around social distancing. "We're delighted to extend our partnership with Walibi to support their social distancing efforts," said Steve Brown, accesso CEO. "We have decades of experience in keeping guests out of lines and we are eager to help our customers and the broader industry back to their feet in what is still a challenging environment. We're excited to be able to contribute as Walibi prepares to return to normal operations and welcome back their loyal visitors." "Reliable social distancing is a key feature of our park when it reopens as of May 25," said Mascha van Till, director of Walibi Holland. "Accesso is already providing us with its virtual queueing solution and this agreement is a natural evolution of that relationship. Our industry has a need which only Accesso can meet at this time." accesso's virtual queuing technology dynamically adjusts to unprdictable variables such as guest flow and operational changes, allowing Walibi Holland to employ real-time capacity optimization and real-time communication with guests via their own mobile device. Using accesso's QsmartSM virtual queuing platform is quick and easy. After selecting a ride or attraction on their mobile device, guests will be placed in a virtual queue and a countdown will begin. When it's their turn to ride, guests will be notified to proceed to the attraction. Park attendants will conduct a contactless scan of the QR code on the guest's smartphone to redeem the ride reservation. About accesso Technology Group, plc At accesso, we believe technology has the power to redefine the guest experience. Our patented and award-winning solutions drive increased revenue for attractions operators while improving the guest experience. Currently serving over 1,000 venues in 30 countries around the globe, accesso's solutions help our clients streamline operations, generate increased revenues, improve guest satisfaction and harness the power of data to educate business and marketing decisions. accesso invests heavily in research and development because our industries demand it, our clients benefit from it and it makes a positive impact on the guest experience. Our commitment to improving the guest experience and helping our clients increase revenue is the core of our business. Our technology solutions allow venues to increase the volume and range of on- and off-site spending, and to drive increased transaction-based revenue through cutting-edge ticketing, point-of-sale, virtual queuing, distribution and experience management software. Many of our team members come from backgrounds working within the attractions and cultural industry. In this way, we are experienced operators who run a technology company serving attractions operators, versus a technology company that happens to serve the market. Our staff understands the day-to-day operations of managing complex venues and the challenges this creates, and together we strive to provide our clients and their guests with technology that empowers them to do more and enjoy more. From our agile development team to our dedicated client service specialists, every team member knows that their passion, integrity, commitment, teamwork and innovation are what drive our success. accesso is a public company, listed on AIM: a market operated by the London Stock Exchange. For more information, visit www.accesso.com. Follow accesso on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/walibi-holland-announces-virtual-queuing-partnership-with-accesso-to-facilitate-social-distancing-301056747.html SOURCE accesso Technology Group plc [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] "Thunderbird transformed spring graduation ceremonies in order to celebrate our students with a ceremony that honored our historic traditions of bringing the world together like our parade of flags from around the world. We also designed one that reflected our community's resilience, compassion and creativity," said Thunderbird Director General and Dean, Dr. Sanjeev Khagram. "We teach our students how to maximize the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution by embracing global ingenuity and innovation, so leveraging transformative technologies like mobile telepresence robots for an unprecedented commencement was a fitting final lesson for the Class of 2020. "We plan to celebrate our graduates again together in person when Thunderbird holds the grand opening of its new high-tech state-of-the-art global headquarters in 2021 in Downtown Phoenix," said Dr. Khagram. About Thunderbird School of Global Management Thunderbird School of Global Management is a unit of the Arizona State University Enterprise. For more than 70 years, Thunderbird has been the vanguard of global management and leadership education, creating inclusive and sustainable prosperity worldwide by educating future-ready global leaders capable of tackling the world's greatest challenges. Thunderbird's Master of Global Management was ranked #1 in the world for 2019 by the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education. ASU is ranked No. 1 "Most Innovative School" in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for five years in succession. About ASU Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American Research University, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. As the prototype for a New American University, ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it. CONTACT: Jonathan Ward Media Relations Manager [email protected] +1 480.490.9773 Download Media https://thunderbird.asu.edu/spring2020graduation SOURCE Thunderbird School of Global Management Related Links https://thunderbird.asu.edu/ An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar hit the nail on the head when he spoke to the nation on May 1 about Covid-19. He said: We have not yet won this fight. Every day we still have too many new cases. We still have too many people in hospitals and in our intensive care units. Every day, regrettably, we still have too many deaths. There is a minority, perhaps conspiratorial, belief that some of the above quotes from his speech are overblown and even not true. Some people may believe that the worst is over and the restrictions should be eased faster. Publicans for instance have described the delay in allowing them to open as a kick in the teeth. But as Dr Padraig McGarry reminded us in the Longford Leader last week: It is how we behave during this time that determines the damage Covid-19 leaves in its wake. On Bank Holiday Monday, it was announced that Longford recorded a massive jump of 60 confirmed Covid-19 cases, thereby bringing the total number of cases in the county since the pandemic began to 213. Yes, there are people recovering but the threat of the virus remains very real and complacency is the enemy. Medical personnel speak of having to completely restructure hospitals not just in the delivery of care but also infrastructurally. They also speak of the harrowing toll the virus is taking on the worst affected and their families. Bereaved families and spouses are left with lots of questions. They are left to grieve without the traditional support an Irish funeral provides. Only one family member is allowed to say goodbye to a loved one in their dying moments. They cannot even touch. Then the bereaved person must go into self-isolation. And then there are the dead. Remember the words of Funeral Director John Kelly. Its a difficult job at the best of times, but its horrific now. We feel like were selling grieving families short. Its heartbreaking. Now, see why the fight against Covid-19 mustn't relent. Dana Balters first TV ad of the Democratic congressional primary election criticizes President Donald Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic but doesnt mention her opponent. The 30-second ad will begin airing today on broadcast and cable television in the Syracuse market, according to the Balter campaign. The initial one-week ad buy is for $20,000. Balters ad begins with video of a virtual town hall meeting she held with supporters on Zoom. People are furious Donald Trump made this crisis so much worse, Balter says in the ad. And they want someone who will fight for them. Ive always fought for people. Balter talks about her background fighting on behalf of a brother with disabilities and for students when she worked as a special education teacher. The commercial doesnt mention Francis Conole, her opponent in the June 23 primary election in the 24th Congressional District. Balters own polling may explain the omission: Most Central New Yorkers are not familiar with Conole, a 41-year-old Iraq War veteran from Syracuse who is making his first bid for public office. And Balter doesnt want to help improve his name recognition among Democratic voters. About 76% of likely Democratic primary voters are familiar with Balter, while only 28% could identify Conole, according to a March poll by GBAO Strategies of Washington paid for by the Balter campaign. Balter, 43, an educator from Syracuse, won the Democratic congressional primary election in 2018. She lost to Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus, by about 5 percentage points in the November 2018 election. Conole has the backing in the primary election of Democratic Party committees in Onondaga and Cayuga counties, representing more than 80% of the active Democratic voters in the district. Balter won the Democratic designation in Oswego County. Wayne County Democrats did not designate a candidate. The poll commissioned by Balter found that she held a 43 percentage-point lead over Conole (64-21%) in late March among likely Democratic primary voters. Both candidates have suspended in-person campaign events and shut down their public campaign offices during the coronavirus pandemic. They have tried to reach voters through virtual meetings online and through voter outreach campaigns by telephone. Watch Balters first TV ad All voters in New York will have the option of voting in the June 23 primary election by absentee ballot in order to maintain social distancing during the pandemic. Primary voters will receive an absentee ballot application in the mail under an executive order issued last month by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The application will include prepaid postage to send the application back. Balter and Conole each had about $200,000 in campaign cash on hand to spend on the primary election as of April 1, according to Federal Election Commission records. The 24th Congressional District covers all of Onondaga, Cayuga and Wayne counties, and the western half of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton. READ MORE Poll: Dana Balter early favorite over Francis Conole in Democratic primary for Congress Balter, Conole each have $200K to spend on Democratic primary for Congress VP Mike Pence cancels fundraiser for John Katko over coronavirus concerns How John Katko survived a Conservative Party uprising Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Mark Weiner anytime by: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 Just when you thought 2020 couldn't get any crazier, an invasive, seemingly terrifying species of insect given the not-so-subtle nickname "murder hornets" are causing quite a panic in the U.S. Also known as Asian giant hornets, these insects are native to several regions in Asia, but reports from December 2019 confirmed that the hornets had, in fact, been sighted in Washington state. But what did these hornets do to earn such a horror-movie-ready moniker? Asian giant hornets are known to attack colonies of honey bees and slaughter the bees by decapitating them one by one," says Michael Deutsch, an urban entomologist with Arrow Exterminating Co. on Long Island, NY. "It only requires a small number of giant hornets to destroy a colony of hundreds or even thousands of honey bees." Um, OK... But don't go building a bomb shelter or taking drastic measures to protect your home just yet. We spoke with bug experts to get down to the truth about this pest. And it turns out, things arent as bad as they seem. Here's everything you need to know about Asian giant hornets. What is a 'murder hornet'? In December 2019, scientists confirmed a sighting of the Asian giant hornet species in Washington state. A few months before that, entomologists saw the critters twice in British Columbia. And while these hornets are ruthless when it comes to killing other insects (remember the whole "decapitating honey bees" thing?), they dont count humans among their enemies. (It's worth repeating: You are not their enemy!) Still, like any wasp or bee, they will sting if they feel threatened. Reports of human attacks are relatively rare, Deutsch says. However, should you encounter a nesting site, you need to remain calm and slowly back away. If these hornets perceive a threat to their colony, they can become aggressive and attack an intruder to neutralize that threat. Michelle Infante-Casella, an agricultural agent and professor at Rutgers University, says a person would need to be stung multiple times to incur death from the venom of the Asian giant hornet. Research samples of Asian giant hornets Elaine Thompson / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ELAINE THOMPSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images How concerned should we be about murder hornets? Before you panic, know that the Washington state Department of Agriculture has not confirmed any sightings of Asian giant hornets in 2020. However, some believe there's a chance they might start showing up again once the weather gets warmer. Deutsch says the biggest threat at the moment is to local beekeepers whose hives could be at risk if Asian giant hornets really are here to stay. But in the event that Asian giant hornets do move into the U.S. for good, they arent going to build a hive on the side of your home. They nest in the ground and in decaying logs, Infante-Casella says. Asian giant hornets do not live in trees or nest like other hornets in paperlike or mud nests. Thats good news if your home has been inviting to bees or wasps in the past. However, the downfall here is that Asian giant hornets nests will be more difficult to spot. But spotting the actual hornets flying around might be considerably less of a challenge. Deutsch says Asian giant hornets are about twice the size of any hornets found in the U.S., approximately 1.5 to 2 inches long. They have distinct coloring, as well, with a yellow head, while typical European hornets (the ones most commonly seen in the U.S.) have a reddish-brown head and are yellow around the face. Watch: 4 Key Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Centipedes If you think you see a murder hornet If you think you have a hive of Asian giant hornets on your property, call a pest control company. Eradicating an infestation is not a job for an amateur. The sting from the Asian hornet contains a neurotoxin, Deutsch says. The victim will likely need emergency medical intervention. Human deaths have been reported in Japan after multiple stings. That also means you shouldnt go invest in bug killer. We ask the public to not indiscriminately kill bees, wasps, or hornets since they are very important as pollinators and predators of insect pests in our environment, Infante-Casella says. If you see a large hornet this summer, it most likely will be a look-alike hornet, like a cicada killer wasp. For proper identification, contact your local Co-operative Extension Office in the county where you live. The post 'Murder Hornets' and Your Home: Here's How Concerned You Should Really Be appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. PLANS to construct more than 1,000 social homes have been put on hold because Northern Ireland's outdated water system needs a 2.5billion overhaul. According to Ulster Unionist MLA Roy Beggs, this is just the tip of the iceberg, with developments in more than 100 areas in danger because they cannot be linked to the existing sewage network, which is at full capacity. Communities Minister and Sinn Fein MLA Deirdre Hargey has also expressed major concerns that the perilous situation could result in some of society's most vulnerable people being left homeless. Eight proposed schemes, totalling more than 1,000 properties, are affected by the sewage fiasco, along with several planned private developments, including the 500million Tribeca project in Belfast city centre. The Housing Executive told Sunday Life the delay had hit planned social housing schemes at the Gasworks, Hannahstown, Hope Street and Shore Road in Belfast, Sean Dolan GAA in Derry, Clonavon and St Patrick's in Ballymena, and Dunluce Street in Larne. Mr Beggs, whose Assembly questions uncovered the setback, said: "What it basically comes down to is, no drains, no cranes. Northern Ireland Water has advised that additional sewage from new developments in over 100 areas cannot be linked to the existing sewage network for treatment as systems are at full capacity. This has been curtailing new private developments. "Now the Communities Minister has advised that over 1,000 urgently needed social houses are also at risk. Clearly we need to re-prioritise spending." Expand Close Department for Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Department for Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey Mr Beggs called on the Executive to commit funds to urgently update the sewage system instead of pouring more public money into "flagship schemes" such as the redevelopment of Casement Park and the A5 road upgrade. He added: "Choices must be made because many families will remain homeless unless the Executive takes decisions to prioritise and enable capital investment in vital sewerage infrastructure. "The scale of capital funding and the delivery schedule of flagship schemes should be reassessed, given the real pressures on wastewater treatment." In a written response to an Assembly question from Mr Beggs, Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey spoke of her concern at how the outdated sewage system could lead to lengthy delays in the construction of 1,000 badly needed new social homes. She said: "The potential implications for the development of social housing schemes because of the current issues affecting the water/sewage infrastructure is a concern for me, particularly given the increasing levels of housing stress. "I understand that presently there are around nine schemes, totalling more than 1,000 units programmed over a number of years, at risk. "I have asked the Housing Executive to carry out a detailed analysis of the areas of housing need that may be impacted by the water infrastructure issues." Ms Hargey explained that officials from her department were working with Infrastructure Minister and SDLP MLA Nichola Mallon, who she said wanted to "explore potential solutions to what is a growing problem". Northern Ireland Water chairman Dr Len O'Hagan previously warned that it would take 2.5billion to bring sewage services up to scratch. Expand Close Dr Len O'Hagan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dr Len O'Hagan He said: "To put it bluntly, the system is getting ready to burst at the seams. "Due to historic underfunding, many of our wastewater treatment works are at or are rapidly approaching full capacity. "This means we can't accept new connections for new developments, which will be severely curtailed. "Inadequate funding also leads to inadequate environmental protections. No drains means no cranes. "To remain fit for purpose, we calculate that we need 2.5billion, including 1billion to address wastewater, flooding and drainage problems in Belfast alone." Principals are calling for compulsory education, not compulsory attendance, as the number of students not attending school and not engaging in remote learning remains concerning. While the average student attendance at state government schools on Friday was more than 74 per cent, Western Australia Primary Principal Association president Ian Anderson told WAtoday a high number of students were missing out on an education. WA principals are calling for compulsary education, not attendance. Credit:Quentin Jones We are currently experiencing a high number of those children not attending school not engaging in the remote learning packages provided by schools, he said. This is a growing concern amongst principals and we need to ensure that education is occurring for all. Plants such as sunflowers and thyme could help save Britain's dwindling bumblebee population, a new study suggests. Scientists have found that planting rows of pollinator-friendly plants known as flowering strips increases bee reproduction and population numbers. While these plants harbour the harmful parasite Crithidia bombi, associated with reduced bee foraging and mortality, reproduction benefits outweigh infection risks. The team found that some flower species, such as the colourful Purple loosestrife, increase parasite transmission rates in bee colonies more than other species, such as sunflower and thyme. These 'low-infection' flowers could be critical to saving bumblebee populations, which have dropped around 17 per cent in Europe since the 20th century. A common eastern bumble bee, Bombus impatiens, foraging on sunflower, Helianthus annuus Bumblebees are agricultural pollinators, meaning they carry pollen that lead to the spread and germination of human-consumed crops like tomato, squash and berries. These pollinators contribute somewhere between $235 billion to $577 billion of the global economy by enhancing crop output, according to a previous study. Planting flowering strips benefits bee colony reproduction by adding floral resources for common eastern bumblebees. But these plants carry pathogens, which can develop in the insects' digestive tracts and destroy their ability to distinguish flowers that contain nectar, eventually resulting in the bee starving to death. Pollinators such as sunflowers are essential to food security but are threatened by pathogens 'Flowering strips are becoming more common as people look for ways to mitigate pollinator declines,' said Rebecca E. Irwin, professor of applied ecology at NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, the US. 'Crithidia is somewhat benign, but if these patterns hold for other pathogens like Nosema, a common honey bee disease, it may be more of a concern. CAUSES OF BEE POPULATION DECLINES - Habitat loss, leading to less forage and shelter for bees. - Changes in our land use, including insensitive urban development and intensive farming - Intensive farming methods have resulted in the loss of traditional hay and flower meadows, hedgerows, trees and other habitats. - Climate changes, which may be disrupting bee nesting behaviour and their emergence after winter. - Pesticides including neonicotinoids - harming bee health. - Pests and diseases, including parasitic mites and fungal diseases that affect the closely knit colony. - Non-native bee species, such as the Asian Hornet, which recently arrived in the UK. Advertisement 'Right now I would not recommend stopping our investment in flowering strips providing flowering resources in pollinator habitat is still the best path forward. 'We would recommend planting sunflower and thyme as part of a diverse wildflower planting in an effort to reduce disease transmission and increase bee health.' For their experiments, the US research team used information from a previous study to divide flowering strips into two groups low-infection and high-infection. Low-infection plants included sunflower and thyme, while high-infection plants included swamp milkweed and purple loosestrife. 'In a prior study, we evaluated 15 plant species by putting the same amount of Crithidia bombi on each, letting a bee forage, and then seeing whether and how bad of an infection it developed,' said Professor Lynn Adler from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 'We used that to designate plant species as 'high/low infection' for this study.' Researchers placed bees in tents with the crop plants and either high-infection flowering strips, low-infection flowering strips or no flowering strips at all just canola flowers. However, bees were infected with C. bombi before they entered the tent with the aim to see which flowers increased the infection rates after time. 'The bees were all infected with the same amount of pathogen and then allowed to forage, so the plants could increase or decrease infection,' Adler said. C. bombi is transmitted by fecal-oral route, meaning infected bees will defecate on flowers. Other bees will then step in that bee waste and through the grooming process bring it into their mouths or bring it back to the nest on their bodies. After two weeks, bees exposed to high-infection plants had approximately twice the infection intensity as bees exposed to low-infection plants. However, bee reproduction increased with exposure to flowering strips with either high-infection or low-infection plants, compared with exposure to just the canola. Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) may increase pathogen infection intensity in bee colonies The results suggest flowering strips provide essential food resources for bumblebees, but plant species such as swamp milkweed and purple loosestrife may increase pathogen infection intensity in colonies. And the authors say the trade-off of more bee reproduction but higher pathogen infection rates may actually be acceptable. 'It depends on how critical food versus the pathogen is for pollinators,' Professor Adler said. The researchers hope to continue examining the effects of flowering strips on bee populations and health by including other bee species and pathogen types. 'I think we need a much more comprehensive program to evaluate how pollinator habitat characteristics affect pathogen spread to make informed choices,' Adler said. The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In February, another team of scientists warned bumblebees are at risk of becoming extinct due to higher global temperatures and climate chaos'. Bumblebee populations fell on average by 17 per cent in Europe and 46 per cent in North America between the two time periods 1901 to 1974 and from 2000 to 2014, they reported in Science. PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-12 01:11:48 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1007 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / NEXGENRX INC. (TSXV:NXG) ("NexgenRx" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its interim financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.Q1 2020 ended on a positive note with new recurring revenue producing a growth rate of 20.62% vs. 2019, however the effects of COVID-19, with the lockdown starting March 16th, began impacting revenue immediately and continues to drag down the Company's revenue. First quarter net income of $284,591, representing an increase of $176,614 over the first quarter of the prior year. First quarter EBITDA of $589,893 represented an increase of $204,906 over the first quarter of the prior year. As soon as the COVID-19 lockdowns began, the Company instituted its disaster containment strategy, made up of 3 distinct phases; Mobilize, Stabilize and Strategize.The Company immediately exercised its Mobilize phase and had all staff working remotely as of March 17th. On March 25th, the Company exercised the first part of its Stabilize phase by forming a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) team that meet every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings to manage the changes that were occurring in real-time. By immediately cutting expenses to match projected reduced revenue, the Company was able to stay ahead of the curve while still maintaining optimal operations efficiencies. As the Company continues to move forward it is progressing into its Strategize phase, where it will seek opportunities for further efficiencies and growth.The Company continuously evaluated the eligibility criteria for the newly enacted Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) program. After many iterations, the program finally crystalized into three qualifying periods (and now reportedly a fourth period has been added). The Company did not qualify for the first period but will qualify for the second period that runs from April 12 - May 9. Management believes that the Company will automatically qualify for the 3rd period as a result.The effect of the COVD-19 pandemic on the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 saw an overall slight decline in dental and extended health care (EHC) transactions. Combined revenue in dental and EHC dropped by 8.7% compared to the same period last year. Because pharmacies are deemed essential and have remained open, the performance of drug transactions has stayed strong in the first quarter. Dental and extended health claims subsequent to the end of Q1 have reduced by over 90% as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company projects that the cost cutting measures that were quickly implemented in March 2020 will allow it to remain cash flow positive as the Company and the world work their way through this crisis. The Company is ensuring that its customers continue to receive the level of services they expect while keeping its expenses under control."Overall, the first quarter of 2020 continued to represent positive growth for the Company up until mid-March, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. NexgenRx and its staff have done an exemplary job in continuing to provide top-quality services in processing claims and responding to call centre inquiries. Though we recognize that 2020 will represent new challenges for us and for the industries that we interact with, we take comfort that we continue to be well positioned to capitalize on the market's demand for an alternative to the traditional group benefits offerings as we enter into our Strategize phase as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides," stated Ron Loucks, President & CEO.About NexgenRxNexgenRx is Canada's only independent full service technology solutions provider, offering proprietary full front end enrolment, hour bank and mobile access capabilities, combined with state of the art claims adjudication and full provider network coverage. These combined capabilities allow NexgenRx to provide complete proprietary solutions to plan sponsors that need sophisticated front end administration and health benefit technology applications, all in a cost- effective manner. NexgenRx is committed to building partnerships with organizations looking to exceed the expectations of their clients and plan members and deliver superior administration and claims processing solutions at a competitive cost. More information on NexgenRx can be found at www.nexgenrx.com Caution Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsExcept for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to continued positive earnings and profitability. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information.Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: uncertainty as to whether our strategies and business plans will yield the expected benefits; availability and cost of capital; the ability to identify and develop and achieve commercial success for existing and new products and technologies; the level of expenditures necessary to maintain and improve the quality of products and services; changes in technology and changes in laws and regulations; continued development and enhancement of the Company's proprietary software technology; cyber security risks and the other risks and uncertainties disclosed in our annual Management's Discussion and Analysis, as filed under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.The forward-looking information contained in thi Alan Bratton liked the low numbers. Scores are usually the first data that coaches consult when seeking new recruits, but these were outliers that indicated Bratton was looking at special players. Rickie Fowler was 15 years old and still wearing braces when he shot 62 to win Southern Californias high school championship in 2004. He was the first freshman since Tiger Woods to win that title. RELATED: Fans at home will be able to contribute to TaylorMade Driving Reliefs COVID-19 relief efforts thanks to PGA TOUR Charities online and Text-To-Give donation platforms powered by GoFundMe Charity. Click here to donate . MORE: TaylorMade Driving Relief to benefit COVID-19 relief efforts | Live golf set to return | Seminole Golf Club ready for its close-up This was an earlier time, though, before the widespread adoption of smartphones and social media, so it was still possible for such a sensation to stay a secret. Fowler hadnt competed much outside California, so Bratton, then the assistant golf coach at Oklahoma State, thought he was ahead of the curve when he watched Fowler at the Western Junior. He kept his distance to avoid tipping off other coaches. There was just one problem. Fowler won the tournament. With a final-round 64, including a birdie on 18, for a one-stroke win. The secret was out. A few years later, Bratton heard about another special player going low. The tip came from a recruit who casually mentioned about playing a tournament where the winner shot 61 and won by 13. Bratton, who had become Oklahoma States head coach in 2013, needed to know the name of the kid who dusted the field by more than a dozen strokes. It was Matthew Wolff. While their stints in Stillwater, Oklahoma, were separated by a decade, ties run deep between Cowboys. Fowler returns to his alma mater often, playing golf with each member of the team and giving the players his phone number. Wolffs team had dinner at Fowlers house when they were in town for a tournament. Fowler was on hand to congratulate Wolff when he won. So it made sense for Fowler and Wolff to be teammates when the TaylorMade Driving Relief match was in the works. Theyll need to tap into their penchant for shooting low scores if they want to succeed May 17 at Seminole Golf Club. Their opponents in this four-ball skins game Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson -- also have something in common. Theyre the current and former World No. 1s. Ive seen some fan reaction saying how much of a favorite Rory and DJ are, so Matt and I are going in as underdogs, Fowler says. Were ready to bring the upset. Team chemistry could be an equalizer for the former Cowboys, though McIlroy revealed recently that he and Johnson had discussed teaming for this years Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Fowler and Wolff met when Fowler returned to campus for homecoming. We clicked right off the bat, Wolff says. For obvious reasons. Both developed unique swings while growing up on public golf courses in Southern California. michael barbaro From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. [music] Today: As Europe begins to reopen, and countries like Germany send children back to school. Why the country that was the most skeptical of the virus may be the slowest to reopen. Mark Landler on the situation in Britain. Its Tuesday, May 12. Mark, how would you describe Boris Johnsons original approach to the coronavirus? mark landler Well Id say initially, he was really kind of out to lunch on it. You know, remember, the earliest days of the virus in late January, early February coincided with Britain formally leaving the European Union. michael barbaro Right. archived recording (boris johnson) This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act in our great national drama. mark landler In those early days, Johnson was really very preoccupied and distracted by the milestone of Brexit. archived recording (boris johnson) I know that we can turn this opportunity into a stunning success. And whatever the bumps in the road ahead, I know that we will succeed. mark landler So there were several very key early meetings of his cabinet that he didnt attend, where the subject of the virus came up. And then even when you began to see the first cases in Britain, and it became clear that Britain also faced a major risk, he affected an air of nonchalance. archived recording (boris johnson) Wash your hands with soap and hot water for the length of time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice. mark landler He even sort of made light of some of the caution of the scientists. There was a very early press conference on March 3 where he made a point of saying hed visited coronavirus patients at a hospital, and he went around and shook all their hands. archived recording (boris johnson) I was at a hospital the other night where I think there were actually a few coronavirus patients, and I shook hands with everybody, youll be pleased to know. And I continue to shake hands and I think its very important that we people obviously can make up their own minds, I think mark landler And then, as if seeking validation, he turned to the governments chief scientific adviser, who was standing next to him archived recording (boris johnson) I think the scientific evidence is well, Ill hand it over to the experts. mark landler And the scientific advisor was shaking his head with pursed lips. archived recording (boris johnson) But our judgement is wash. Washing your hands is the crucial thing. mark landler This is a guy who has his own way of living, and very much a live-and-let-live philosophy, and I think he brought an element of that to the early days of this crisis. michael barbaro Mark, there are obvious ways in which the story youre describing echoes what we saw here in the U.S., and with President Trumps initial response to the coronavirus. Having covered both our White House and now Downing Street, are there notable differences in the way the two countries and the two governments responded to their leaders dismissing the severity of the situation? mark landler Oh, yeah. I think there are stark differences. And I would group them in a couple of categories. First, in the United States, you obviously have independent minded governors who chose to respond to the crisis for their own states, regardless of what President Trumps decisions and signals were on the federal level. You dont have that here in Britain. Here, Downing Street, the rime minister, really sets the policy for the whole country. So thats one obvious difference. I think somewhat more subtly is the role of the scientific community. In the United States, you had the C.D.C., Dr. Anthony Fauci and others very quickly and urgently calling for a very rigorous response for lockdowns. Here, on the other hand, you had a scientific community that took a slightly maverick initial response to this virus. There were very prominent scientists who advised the government who were arguing that maybe the best way to deal with the virus is to let it rip through the population, to let the population develop what they call herd immunity. And that that would build up a natural immunity that would make Britain more resilient to subsequent potential waves of infection. So this was an idea that was circulating in the scientific community in those early weeks late February, early March and it, to some extent, also informed where Boris Johnson was coming down on these issues. Unlike in the United States, where Donald Trump has blown hot and cold on his scientific advisors, Boris Johnson has said from the very start, I will be guided by the science. The wrinkle is that in those early days, the science was also calling for a more casual reaction. And thats what you saw in the first two weeks of March. michael barbaro Thats fascinating. So given that, what ends up being the official approach to this in Britain? mark landler Well, in the second week of March archived recording (boris johnson) Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you very much for coming. mark landler Boris Johnson has a daily news conference, very similar to what you saw in the White House with President Trump. archived recording (boris johnson) Weve done what can be done to contain this disease. mark landler And at that news conference, he begins to urge a very mild form of social distancing. archived recording (boris johnson) We are considering the question of banning major public events, such as sporting fixtures. And the scientific advice, as weve said over the last couple of weeks, is that this banning such events will have little effect on the spread. mark landler But hes stopping well short of asking people to quarantine themselves in their houses, closing restaurants, closing bars. All of things, by the way, that are being done by France, by parts of Germany, by Spain, by Italy. So at that point, Britain is a clear outrider, and youre really seeing the British go off in a very different direction that is really very striking, and beginning to draw notice all over Europe. michael barbaro Mm hmm. mark landler And then on March 16, Imperial College, which is one of the leading institutions in Britain that studies infectious diseases, published a report that changed everything. The headline of the report was basically that if the British government allowed the virus to spread through the population unchecked, it risked anywhere from 250,000 to 500,000 fatalities. michael barbaro Wow. mark landler Its worth noting that this report was written by an epidemiologist called Neil Ferguson. Hes probably the leading figure on epidemics and infectious disease in this country, and his reports and his pronouncements have almost a sort of a holy writ quality to them. Hes really viewed as something of an oracle in this area. And the report essentially terrified everyone inside the British government. And you could almost see the change in the thinking take shape over the subsequent days as Boris Johnson continued to appear on television, each day looking a little more rattled, a little more anxious. And then finally on Monday, March 23 archived recording (boris johnson) Good evening. The coronavirus is the biggest threat this country has faced for decades. mark landler Johnson addressed the nation at around 7 oclock in the evening. archived recording (boris johnson) From this evening, I must give the British people a very simple instruction: You must stay at home. You should not be meeting friends. If your friends ask you to meet, you should say no. If you dont follow the rules, the police will have the powers to enforce them. mark landler So you now finally had Britain in alignment with Italy, with Spain, with France, in a total lockdown. archived recording (boris johnson) Stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives. Thank you. mark landler But it was at least a week to 10 days later than those other countries had acted, so in essence, Britain lost some valuable days. And sure enough, events began to vindicate that very dark picture. archived recording Some breaking news coming into us from NHS England, and it is an update of some of the numbers of those who have sadly died. mark landler The death toll begins mounting. The hospitals begin filling up. And in fact, and most dramatically, perhaps, the virus actually makes its way into the political establishment of the government. archived recording Now proof that the virus can affect anyone came earlier on Wednesday, when it was confirmed mark landler The first dramatic moment comes when Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth, announces that hes tested positive. archived recording He has been displaying mild symptoms, but otherwise remains in good health, and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual. mark landler A few days later, you begin hearing that senior officials in the government are testing positive. The health secretary, the man most directly responsible for leading the response to the crisis, has to quarantine himself. He has symptoms. The chief medical officer is quarantining himself. He has symptoms. And then on March 27 archived recording (boris johnson) Hi, folks. I want to bring you up to speed with something thats happening today, which is that Ive developed mild symptoms of the coronavirus. Thats to say, a temperature and a persistent cough. mark landler Boris Johnson announces to the British public that he has tested positive for coronavirus and will be going into isolation. archived recording (boris johnson) But be in no doubt that I can continue, thanks to the wizardry of modern technology, to communicate with all my top team to lead the national fight back against coronavirus. And I want to thank mark landler So what you see in that first week is Boris Johnson recording videos in which he says, Im still at the helm, Im still directing policy. He runs several crisis meetings from his apartment adjacent to 10 Downing Street. So hes isolated, but hes in command. Thats the very reassuring message that hes trying to send. But then you arrive at an important weekend, the weekend of April 5, when Queen Elizabeth is going to address the nation on this national challenge of the pandemic. And shes delivered a handful of such addresses in her 68-year reign, so this is a very big, historic moment for the country. archived recording (queen elizabeth) Im speaking to you at what I know is an increasingly challenging time. mark landler She addresses the nation early in the evening. archived recording (queen elizabeth) We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return. mark landler She finishes her address archived recording (queen elizabeth) But for now, I send my thanks and warmest good wishes to you all. mark landler And about an hour later, Downing Street puts out a press release saying Boris Johnson has entered the hospital. [music] michael barbaro Well be right back. So Mark, what happens once Boris Johnson enters the hospital? mark landler Well, the first thing that happens is theres a great deal of uncertainty over who would actually run the government were he to be incapacitated for a long time, or God forbid, not come back at all. Britain, unlike the United States, doesnt have a clear line of succession for the head of the government. But then you kind of enter this very unsettling period where the government is continuing to put out reassuring press releases. They invariably say the prime minister is in, quote, good spirits. But his top aides acknowledge that no ones talked to him for several days. His doctors are not releasing any status reports on his condition. And there starts to be this undercurrent of worry in the country that things are actually maybe worse than we think. And then sure enough, a few days later comes the really alarming news archived recording (dominic raab) During the course of this afternoon, the prime ministers condition worsened, and on the advice of the medical team, he was moved into a critical care unit. mark landler Hes actually been admitted to the intensive care unit. Statistically, the odds of patients decline rapidly when they go into the I.C.U. And so there is a sense, a real sense, that Boris Johnson may not make it. archived recording 1 This is obviously an extremely serious situation. I mean, how worried should people be about his health and about whos in charge of the government? archived recording 2 Well, the governments business will continue. And the focus of the government will continue to be on making sure, the prime ministers direction, all the plans for making sure that we can defeat coronavirus and pull the country through this challenge, will be taken forward. mark landler But then theres sort of good news. archived recording We got this statement from 10 Downing Street. The prime minister has been moved this evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery. mark landler You start to hear better things. Hes beginning to walk around a bit, hes beginning to read some briefing papers. And then on Easter Sunday, of all days archived recording The prime minister, Boris Johnson, has now been discharged from hospital as he continues his recovery from Covid-19. mark landler We get the news that Boris Johnson has been discharged from the hospital. And of course, the timing occasions some classic British humor. Senior government officials are heard saying to each other, he has risen, and referring to Boris as the Messiah. And for the country, the moment of peak anxiety, the moment where they genuinely thought they might have lost their leader, has passed. michael barbaro Mark, Im curious how Brits responded to all of this. I could see this being an obvious moment for the British people to turn on Boris Johnson. He was slow to act, he took risks, he was pretty dismissive of the coronavirus. It would be easy to see all of this as the actions of an irresponsible leader that almost cost him his own life, and deprived the country of its prime minister. mark landler Thats a very plausible assumption to make. But oddly, it isnt the way it played out. And I think the reason it is isnt has to do with the rather clever way that Boris Johnson handled his own illness. archived recording (boris johnson) Good afternoon. I have today left hospital after a week in which the NHS has saved my life. No question. mark landler On the day he was released from the hospital, he recorded this very heartfelt video, in which he thanked the doctors and nurses at the hospital for saving his life. archived recording (boris johnson) Im going to forget some names, so please forgive me. But I want to thank Po Ling and Shannon and Emily and Angel and Connie and Becky and Rachael and Nicky mark landler He singled out two of the nurses archived recording (boris johnson) Jenny from New Zealand Invercargill, on the South Island, to be exact and Luis from Portugal near Porto. mark landler who kept a vigil at his bedside all night long, giving him oxygen. archived recording (boris johnson) For every second of the night, they were watching, and they were thinking and they were caring and making the interventions I needed. mark landler The NHS in this country is a revered institution, and so Boris Johnson very much tied himself to that institution and made his own personal story part of a broader narrative. And in so doing, he kept the support of the public far from turning on him, far from telling him you got what you deserved. I think a lot of people in this country were sympathetic to him, and its really all the more remarkable when you consider that in the days and weeks since he left the hospital, the death toll from coronavirus in this country has continued to spiral upward. And as of a week ago or so, Britain now has the largest number of deaths of any country in Europe, and the second largest number of deaths of any country in the world, after the United States. And yet, even with that tragic human cost of this virus, Boris Johnson and his government retain the support of something like 51 percent , 52 percent of the people who approve of the way that theyve handled this virus. michael barbaro So Mark, where are we right now in Britain? I mean, were watching the world Europe in particular start to figure out what reopening is supposed to look like. Given this up-and-down history that you just recounted, what are you seeing that look like in Britain? mark landler Well, so Britain is facing this increasing pressure to restart its economy, to ease the lockdown, to try to bring society back to some level of normalcy. And youre beginning to see the Italians, the Spanish, the Germans lift their lockdown. Britain reaches that same moment, and Boris Johnson announces hes going to give a speech to the nation in which hes going to lay out a roadmap. And theres a tremendous burst of hope that we are at the end of this difficult period. Some of the tabloids talk about the end of the lockdown, and the happy days that lie ahead. And so on Sunday night archived recording (boris johnson) It is now almost two months since the people of this country began to put up with restrictions on their freedom your freedom. mark landler Boris Johnson does appear and he delivers this fairly detailed speech. archived recording (boris johnson) So I want to provide, tonight, for you, the shape of a plan, both to beat the virus and provide the first sketch of a roadmap for reopening society. mark landler He lays out all sorts of benchmarks and criterias. archived recording (boris johnson) And the first step is a change of emphasis that we hope that people will act on this week. We said that you should work from home if you can, and only go to work if you must. We now need to stress that anyone who cant work from home, for instance, those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work. And we want it to be safe for you to get to work. In step two, at the earliest, by June the first, after half term, we believe we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools. mark landler But when you actually go back and read his words archived recording (boris johnson) And step three, at the earliest by July, and subject to all these conditions and further the scientific advice if and only if the numbers support it we will hope to reopen at least some of the hospitality industry and other public places, provided theyre safe and enforce social distancing. mark landler Really, nothing much has changed. Hes given a very dramatic speech in which he has barely budged the policy. archived recording (boris johnson) And so, no. This is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week. michael barbaro Huh. So his speech about reopening is really about how Britain is not about to truly reopen. mark landler Yes. This turns out to be a speech that, when you really analyze it, is about why we are going to continue to live under a lockdown one that might be tweaked at the edges here and there, there might be slight shifts but fundamentally, nothing is changing in this country. michael barbaro Its kind of remarkable how everything is flipped. Meantime, neighboring, more progressive countries like Germany, which took the virus so seriously from the beginning, are now announcing relatively aggressive reopening plans, and here we have Britain taking this far more cautious approach. It all seems quite scrambled, and I wonder what you make of that. mark landler Well, its interesting. Every country had to make a choice about how to deal with something that is fundamentally so mysterious and so unpredictable. And the choices these countries made played out in ways that were either fortunate and successful, or tragic and largely unsuccessful. And that in turn has very much driven the way that these countries have dealt with this moment the moment where they lift the lockdown. And so you have in Germany a country that, as you say, took the threat extremely seriously at the beginning, was very conservative, was very cautious, went to a lockdown, took the science of it extremely seriously. In Germany, the caution paid off. The death tolls stayed low. And now, as we come to this moment of lifting the lockdown, the Germans have the confidence to be brave, to take some risks, to lift elements of the lockdown, even at the risk of kicking up the infection rate. And conversely, here in England, where they came into this crisis with such an air of self-confidence, theyve now been rattled to their core. Theyve really had their confidence shaken. And far from being brave or bold at this moment, theyre now the country thats reacting with extreme caution. This libertarian country is now ready to keep the heavy hand of government in place, as long as it takes. And so you really see a role reversal that reflects how this virus has struck different countries, how the experiences that theyve undergone have been so starkly different. And as a result, how theyre going to emerge from this period is sometimes extremely unexpected. And in Britain, its been perhaps the most unexpected of all. The country that took this pandemic the least seriously is arguably going to now take it more seriously than anybody else. michael barbaro Mark, thank you very much. mark landler Thank you, Michael. [music] michael barbaro Heres what else you need to know today. On Monday, countries across the world took some of their biggest steps yet toward easing restrictions on their citizens movements. Spain began permitting small gatherings of up to 10 people, and for small shops to reopen. France allowed residents to leave their homes without filling out release forms for the first time in eight weeks. archived recording (vladimir putin) [SPEAKING RUSSIAN] michael barbaro And Russia announced the end of nationwide stay at home restrictions, despite a recent rise in infections. And archived recording (donald trump) If you look at all of those people over there, every one of them, from what I see, these are White House staffers, theyre White House representatives, theyre White House executives, and everybody has a mask on. Weve had michael barbaro The White House has instituted a new rule, requiring that all employees wear masks inside the West Wing after two aides tested positive for the coronavirus. archived recording Were you the one who required that, sir? archived recording (donald trump) Yeah, I did. I did. I required it, yes. michael barbaro But the policy is not expected to apply to either the president or the vice president, who, for weeks have avoided wearing masks. An attitude that The Times reports have trickled down to staff members, creating a dangerous situation. [music] Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's top-secret move from Canada to Los Angeles was a "well-planned operation." Earlier this year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their decision to step down from their roles as senior members of the royal family. They started their independent life in a $14 million, 10,000-square-foot mansion in Vancouver Island, Canada together with their one-year-old son Archie Harrison. The former royal surprised the press and royal watchers when news broke in that they moved a secluded compound in L.A. after Megxit became official. Prince Harry And Meghan Markle's Top Secret Plan A source told a British news outlet that the couple's hush-hush move was "a well-planned operation that appears to have worked perfectly" after they discreetly slipped into the U.S without getting noticed. Moreover, the outlet detailed how the ex-royals have managed to escape the prying eyes of the media with the help of Hollywood tycoon Tyler Perry. Apparently, Perry sent his $150 million private jet to fly the Sussexes from Canada early in the morning to a "corporate airport" in Portland, Oregon. All the travel processes like immigration and customs were completed in Canada so when they landed in L.A, it would be easy for the couple to glide past the airport security. Multiple reports claimed that the reason why the Duke and Duchess of Sussex chose Los Angeles was because they wanted to be closer to Meghan's friends and family. "They have a big support network [in Los Angeles]. It's where their new team of Hollywood agents and PRs and business managers are based. Meghan has lots of friends there and, of course, her mum, Doria," a source told The Sun. Meghan And Harry's Connection Through Oprah Winfrey Interestingly, apart from the private jet of Perry, it was also reported that they are currently staying at his $18 million Beverly Hills mansion. Prince Harry and the former "Suits" star made their connection with the mega-rich Hollywood actor/producer through media executive and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey. The multi-million Tuscan-style villa has eight bedrooms and 12 bathrooms that sits on a 22-acre land on the top of a hill in the exclusive Beverly Ridge Estates. "Meghan and Harry have been extremely cautious to keep their base in LA under wraps," a source told a U.K news outlet. "Beverly Ridge has its own guarded gate and Tyler's property has a gate of its own which is watched by their security team. Beverly Ridge is an excellent place to keep out of view. The neighbors are mostly old money and mega-rich business types rather than show business gossips." The former royals are likely renting the property to Tyler, as they are reportedly still looking for a permanent home in Los Angeles. WASHINGTON - The White House on Saturday scrambled to deal with the fallout from two aides testing positive for the coronavirus, as officials who were potentially exposed responded differently, with some senior members of the pandemic task force self-quarantining while others planned to continue to go to work. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, both task force members, said they are self-quarantining or teleworking for two weeks after exposure to a coronavirus case at the White House. On Saturday night, a spokeswoman for Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious diseases official, acknowledged that working from home sometimes will be among the precautions he is taking. But several administration officials said White House staffers were encouraged to come into the office by their supervisors, and that aides who travel with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence would not stay out for 14 days, the recommended time frame to quarantine once exposed to the virus. The conflicting ways in which officials and aides are responding after two staff members were diagnosed with the coronavirus this past week - Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller and a military valet to the president - continued to raise questions about how the White House is responding to the challenge of maintaining a safe work environment for Trump, Pence and their staff. The White House press office declined to comment Saturday on whether employees beyond Miller and the military aide have been told to self-quarantine. "The president's physician and White House operations continue to work closely to ensure every precaution is taken to keep the president, first family and the entire White House complex safe and healthy at all times," White House spokesman Judd Deere said. "In addition to social distancing, daily temperature checks and symptom histories, hand sanitizer, and regular deep cleaning of all work spaces, every staff member in proximity to the president and vice president is being tested daily for covid-19 as well as any guests." But the nervousness and concern among White House staffers became more palpable on Saturday, according to people familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the tensions. Now that Redfield and Hahn are staying away, some officials said they don't know if they should keep going to work at the White House. Staffers who had potentially been in contact with Miller were still getting calls on Saturday from officials trying to gauge their exposure to the virus, according to one person who received a call. All White House staffers received a memo from the White House management office on Friday, which encouraged employees to "practice maximum telework" and to "work remotely if at all possible." The White House will receive "heightened levels of daily cleaning," according to the memo. It also told employees they must quarantine for 14 days if they leave the Washington region and must report all of their travel. The memo did not suggest that employees wear masks, as the CDC has suggested for all Americans in public spaces. Masks generally protect other people from the person wearing the face covering, rather than preventing the individual from contracting the virus. "We are exercising daily caution by testing [Executive Office of the President] staff who have high proximity to the president and Vice President for covid-19," the memo says. "For any presumptive positive covid-19 results, the White House medical Unit conducts immediate contact tracing and notifies any affected individuals." On Thursday, aides began to close the door to the outer Oval Office, and Secret Service and White House officials began to limit who was in the Oval Office, even as Trump continued not to wear a mask and evoked no concern. Elsewhere in the administration, senior officials were taking varied levels of precaution in response to the positive cases at the White House. The FDA said late Friday that Hahn began to self-quarantine for two weeks after being exposed to an individual who tested positive. A senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the matter, said the individual in question was Miller, who was present at task force meetings attended by Hahn and other health officials. Redfield "will be teleworking for the next two weeks," according to a CDC spokesman, who said Redfield "has been determined to have had a low-risk exposure" on Wednesday to "a person at the White House who has covid-19." The spokesman, Benjamin Haynes, did not identify the infected person. Haynes said Redfield was last tested on April 27 and had a negative result. "He is feeling fine and has no symptoms," said Haynes, who added that, if Redfield needs to go to the White House during his teleworking time, he will have his temperature taken, be screened for symptoms and keep at a distance from others. Both Redfield and Hahn had been scheduled to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Tuesday, but will now do so by videoconference, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the panel's chairman, said Saturday night. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has been tested "multiple times," most recently on Friday, according to a department spokeswoman. He has tested negative each time and is following the advice of his physicians at the White House Medical Unit, the spokeswoman said. Asked about a potential quarantine, the spokeswoman said Azar, a member of the task force, is continuing to consult with his doctors about whether that could be necessary. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and another task force member, "has tested negative for covid-19 as recently as yesterday," an institute spokeswoman said Saturday. "He will continue to be tested regularly and is actively monitoring his temperature and other health indicators." At first on Saturday afternoon, the spokeswoman said Fauci, one of the administration's most recognizable figures in the pandemic response, "is considered to be at relatively low risk based on the degree of his exposure. Nevertheless, he is taking appropriate precautions to mitigate risk to any of his personal contacts while still allowing him to carry out his responsibilities in this public health crisis." Then, hours later, the spokeswoman said Saturday night that the precautions include "a mix of teleworking and wearing a mask during in-person meetings." Brett Giroir, the HHS assistant secretary for health who is in charge of coronavirus testing, has not been at the White House since Tuesday, participating in meetings since then remotely, according to a spokeswoman. He previously tested negative for the virus, the spokeswoman said. It remains unclear whether some White House officials and other members of the coronavirus task force have been in closer proximity to the infected aides than others and therefore would be at greater risk of contracting the virus. But concerns were evident at the White House, where there is worry that if Miller and the unidentified personal valet to Trump are infected, then multiple officials may be at risk. After news of Miller's diagnosis, aides were going through seating charts, looking at her schedule to discern where she had been and trying to question anyone who may have been close to her in a room. Emails were sent about possible exposure, and staffers were called. "Any place she spent extensive time was immediately sanitized," one official said. Miller was regularly in the Oval Office and around Trump when the daily coronavirus task force news briefings were ongoing, but has not been since the briefings ended a couple of weeks ago. She was in the task force meeting in the Situation Room on Thursday, sitting in the back row facing Pence on the far right side, closer to the door, according to a person familiar with the situation. Miller, who had told other colleagues that she did not have symptoms, attended a senior staff meeting on the coronavirus at 8 a.m. on Friday and was near other aides, rattling some of her White House colleagues. Neither Trump nor Pence was in the meeting. A number of aides from Pence's office were sent home on Friday after the contact tracing was complete. Miller is married to top White House aide Stephen Miller, who is expected to quarantine at home for the time being. Friday was "totally nuts," a senior administration official said. A White House official said all visitors and employees now will be questioned by doctors about a list of symptoms before they enter the complex. The East Wing staff is wearing masks. Agents on the president's detail - who work in three rotating shifts - typically huddle in a small "down room" a floor below the Oval Office when Trump is there. Those agents have been wearing face masks for several days, according to one administration official, due to concerns they cannot appropriately distance in this confined space. But other Secret Service agents are not wearing masks on campus, according to two senior administration officials who interact with Trump. The concerns are spreading to the Trump campaign, where a senior official said there was no plan to hold a large-scale campaign event with the president until at least August. "It's just not practical right now," the official said, "to even try." - - - The Washington Post's Laurie McGinley and Carol D. Leonnig contributed to this report. Police in Machakos have launched a hunt for a youthful man who fatally stabbed his heavily pregnant girlfriend, 27, on Saturday morning. The woman, who works at one of the hotels at Mutituni Market in Machakos Town, Kenya was on her way to work at around 7am, when her boyfriend, identified only as Mutiso alias Kamondo, confronted her before whipping out a knife and stabbing her several times in the chest. Though the exact term of the womans pregnancy wasnt immediately ascertained, police say she was in her last trimester (between 7 and 9 months of pregnancy). Police are yet to be establish why Mutiso killed his lover, though it is suspected the two had protracted relationship problems. Residents familiar with the couples relationship said the lovers affair got turbulent the moment the 27-year-old woman got pregnant. They would argue time and again, and at one point they even lived separately before reuniting again, the pairs neighbour told K24 Digital. Both the suspect and the victim worked at Makutano hotel in Mutituni Market. A single yelp by the victim caught the attention of other passersby, who rushed to the scene and found the victim lying on the ground with blood gushing from her chest. She had been stabbed in the right side of her chest, and in the back, said a witness. Attempts to chase the suspect bore no fruit as he outran his pursuers. In the last two months, the lovers were not staying together in the same house, though they shared a compound. The man rented a house adjacent to his girlfriends, said a neighbour. The victims body was taken from the scene at 9am and taken to Machakos Level 5 Hospital morgue. The knife that the suspect used in killing his lover was also found at the scene. Machakos County Police Commander, Karanja Muiruri, told K24 Digital that a search for the suspect is ongoing. We do not know where he ran to, but one thing were sure of, is that well catch him, said Karanja. The incident drew anger in residents whom we spoke to, with all calling for the arrest and prosecution of Mutiso, whom they termed as a non-native of Mutitini area. As a parent, I am highly disappointed by what the young man did. Violence should not be an option when it comes to resolving relationship issues. His action forced us to close shop and leave for our homes; it was so horrifying and unfortunate, said Ruth Mutala, a trader at Mutituni Market. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Pakistan's Opposition parties on Monday accused Prime Minister Imran Khan's government of mishandling the coronavirus crisis, as the total number of the COVID-19 patients in the country rose to 31,684. During a National Assembly session convened after a gap of nearly two months, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former defence minister Khawaja Asif led the criticism. Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri chaired the session in the absence of Speaker Asad Qaiser who is recovering from the coronavirus. The meeting is the first since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. Asif said that the federal government was confused over the issue of how to handle the coronavirus crisis. "The current situation that we are in is due to the approximately two months-long negligence showed by the government. When we had fewer deaths, the entire country was completely shut down. Now that we are seeing a dangerous spike in cases, they are easing lockdown restrictions," he said. He also lashed out at the government's inability to increase testing capacity. "Two weeks ago, we were told that our testing capacity will be increased to 50,000. But now we are being told that it is only 20,000, he said. He said that the government was dividing the nation instead of uniting it on one platform as it had no strategy which also revealed the ineptitude of the Prime Minister. Pakistan People's Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that the federal government was impeding efforts of the Sindh government to address the coronavirus crisis. He said that an ordinance prepared by the provincial government was not allowed by the governor. "We demand that the ordinance should be endorsed without any further delay, he said, adding that his party, which rules over Sindh, wanted to support the prime minister to tackle the crisis. "The federal government should've stood with us shoulder to shoulder. We're in the midst of a war, and the PM expects us to fight the war on our own?" he said in the National Assembly. He also said that the centre was not providing kits to medical professionals and questioned whether the federal government wanted the provinces to fight the virus "without the weapons". Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi defended the government's handling of the pandemic, saying the situation of COVID-19 in Pakistan was different as compared to Europe and the United States. "Our death and infection rate is 2.17 per cent. Across the world this percentage is 6.8. So we have been largely spared from the larger consequences of this pandemic, he said. He also claimed that Pakistan was ahead of other South Asian countries in handling the coronavirus crisis. Qureshi also accused India of using the coronavirus crisis to divide the people. He said that Iran sent 4,000-5,000 Pakistanis across the border despite requests to wait until a quarantine facility was developed. Minister of Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar said hunger was as much a threat to Pakistan as the coronavirus itself. "Ours is not a western developed country where people can sit home and eat. We have to balance hunger and poverty with the virus," he said in the National Assembly. He said that if the government continued with the lockdown, 20 million people would go below the poverty line. Meanwhile, the coronavirus cases in the country jumped to 31,684. Out of the 31,684 cases, Punjab registered 11,568 patients, Sindh 12,017, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 4,875, Balochistan 2,017, Islamabad 679, Gilgit-Baltistan 442 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 86 patients. A total of 28 more people have died in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of COVID-19 deaths in Pakistan to 667. Another 8,212 recovered so far. On Monday, Prime Minister Khan chaired a meeting on the crisis where he was briefed about the latest efforts to control the spread of the disease in the wake of easing lockdown. According to an official statement, Khan said that lockdown is being eased in a phased manner according to the situation and to keep a balance between business and health needs. Meanwhile, an army officer died due to coronavirus. "Major Muhammad Asghar laid his life in the line of duty at Torkham border in fight against #COVID-19. Evacuated to CMH (combined military hospital) Peshawar with breathing problems, was put on ventilator but succumbed to Corona Virus. There is no cause bigger than serving the Nation, an army spokesman tweeted. Also, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) extended a ban on the domestic flights until May 13 as part of the government's instructions to minimize travelling of people. The earlier ban ended on May 10. Minister for Information Shibli Faraz launched a campaign "Masks for All" as part of the government's measures to contain COVID-19. He said that five million free masks will be distributed across the country. Separately, Special Assistance on Security Dr Moeed Yusuf told the media that the government was working hard to bring back all stranded Pakistanis at the earliest. "We will try to do everything to bring our people back. We currently are trying to bring back 10,000 Pakistanis, most whom will be from Middle Eastern countries, he said. By PTI KOLKATA: West Bengal is being "unnecessarily targeted" over its handling of COVID-19, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, insisting she wants to fight the pandemic jointly with the Centre, TMC sources said. She also demanded that the Centre formulate a "clear strategy" to fight the disease, sources in the state's ruling party said. Banerjee, who spoke during a teleconference the prime minister had with chief ministers days before the third phase of the nationwide lockdown ends, highlighted the "contradictions" in the Centre's approach to tackling the outbreak. "On one hand the Centre wants the lockdown to be enforced strictly, and on the other it is resuming train services and reopening land borders," sources quoted her as having told the meeting while presenting her views on whether the lockdown should be extended beyond May 17. It was not immediately known whether she spoke in favour of lifting the lockdown or extending it. She suggested that states be allowed to decide on which sectors to open and which to keep shut keeping in mind the situation on the ground. "We want to fight the pandemic alongside the central government. But Bengal has been unnecessarily targeted politically. Instead of shifting the onus on the states, the Centre should come out with a clear strategy on the way forward," she told the meeting. The chief minister also asked the centre to release the legitimate financial dues to states. The COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped the work of a federal panel trying to tackle a different crisis plaguing Indian Country. Were continuing to meet to carry out the mission this task force was created for, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney said in a phone interview last week about Operation Lady Justice, a group created by President Donald Trump in November to address the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women. May 5 was proclaimed Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day by the president. Similar proclamations were introduced in the U.S. House and Senate by Rep. Deb Haaland and Sen. Tom Udall, both D-N.M. The National Institute of Justice estimates 1.5 million Native American women have experienced violence, including many who are victims of sexual violence. On some reservations, federal studies have shown, women are killed at a rate more than 10 times the national average. Sweeney said the task forces work groups are working on ways to revive missing persons and murder cases. Were continuing to work on literature for outreach, she said. Were looking for training opportunities for law enforcement and victims groups. She said the task force is also gathering information that can be provided to victims and their families. Were looking at best practices on how to communicate with families and the layers of jurisdictions and how they interact, Sweeney said. The pandemic has created challenges for the task force, including the way it works with tribal communities and governments. (The Bureau of Indian Affairs) has engaged with tribal governments on other issues in Indian Country not involving Operation Lady Justice, she said. Theyve mostly been about coronavirus relief efforts. Weve done some virtual consulting, which we may also do with Operation Lady Justice. Were having to look at our schedule and make adjustments. Interaction with regional and state task forces including New Mexicos Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force has been at a minimum, Sweeney says. But we must work with them, she said. We cant solve this crisis unless we work together. Udall called the crisis appalling when introducing his resolution last week. He said in a news release that it demands the attention of the federal government and our nation especially now in light of reports of domestic violence increases caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Udall is calling for the Senate to pass the Violence Against Women Act, which includes provisions he sponsored that address the crisis and other issues. Haaland one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress is also calling for support for bills that address the issue. That includes the Not Invisible Act, which would establish a committee on violent crime made up of law enforcement, tribal leaders, federal agencies, service providers and survivors to make recommendations to the Interior and Justice departments. The bill also seeks to establish practices for law enforcement on combating the crisis, and trafficking of Native Americans and Alaska Natives. Were living through tough times right now, but its not going to stop us from highlighting the need to address the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, Haaland said in a news release. Scott Turner: sturner@abqjournal.com Firefighters in California have captured the moment a mama bear rescued her three cubs, swimming back and forth across the water to carry them one by one. A video shared on social media shows the adult female moving toward a young creature which is waiting by a dock. It is then able to mount her back and shake off its drenched head in preparation for the ride across the water. South Lake Tahoe Fire Fighters Association shared the story of a mother bear and her three cubs that came out into the community a week ago Witness Betsy Sommerfeldt shared a picture of the moment the cub was falling into the water The sweet footage was shared on the South Lake Tahoe Fire Fighters Association Facebook page last week. 'With Mother's Day quickly approaching, we feel like sharing a story of a mother bear and her three cubs that have come out into the community today and ended up in the keys marina,' the group admin captioned the clip. Witness Betsy Sommerfeldt shared a picture of the moment the cub was falling into the water. 'The mother bear was determined to save all three of her cubs herself and ensure that they see tomorrow by continually swimming each one to safety!' the firefighters association explained. The video shows fire crew standing on a platform above where the cub was stuck. 'Firefighters were called to the scene for a separated cub that the mother was able to coax into the water and swim it to safety,' the caption explained. Left, the cub is seen waiting for its mother. Right, The cub gets ready to climb onto her back They said the animals ended up in the keys marina and the mother bear was determined to save all three of her cubs herself. The pair are seen swimming back across away from the crowd During the rescue a crowd can be heard cheering nearby. Some voices behind the camera make comments of encouragement. 'There you go,' one person is heard saying as the adult scoops up her cub. 'Hang on little guy,' she adds as the mother reaches the other side and heads off into the brush. The post got thousands of reactions from viewers commenting on the display of love and care. Grizzly bears are great swimmers thanks to their high fat body mass and oily coat that helps them stay afloat. But little ones usually start to swim when they've reached 30 pounds in weight. China on Monday deployed a team of doctors and donated a consignment of medical equipment to Zimbabwe to help the southern African nation's fight against coronavirus. "The Chinese medical experts will make a contribution to the battle ... against the coronavirus," Chinese ambassador Guo Shaochun said at Robert Mugabe International Airport after the plane bearing 17 doctors and equipment arrived. "This is a very good reflection of the long-standing friendship between China and Zimbabwe," Guo added. The value of the donation which included personal protective equipment for frontline medical staff was not divulged. Social Welfare Minister July Moyo said told the Chinese diplomat that "you have demonstrated that we are all-weather friends". "You are bringing professional medical staff who were on the frontline fighting COVID-19 in your own country," he said adding the help "can only bolster our determination to fight this pandemic". Zimbabwe has recorded 36 cases of the coronavirus including four deaths. Local doctors have warned that Zimbabwe's health services are inadequate to deal with a coronavirus pandemic. Coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, was first detected in China in December last year. Search Keywords: Short link: A majority of Israeli Jews back annexing parts of the West Bank, according to an Israeli research center. An April survey released Sunday by the Israel Democracy Institute found 52% of Israeli Jews support applying Israeli sovereignty over parts of the Palestinian territory of the West Bank. Only 9% of Israeli Arabs, also known as Palestinian citizens of Israel, supported the territorys annexation. Most countries consider the West Bank to be a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. Israel seized control of the majority Palestinian area from Jordan during the 1967 war. Since then, Israel has built more than 100 settlements for Jewish citizens there, which most countries but not the United States consider illegal. Parts of the territory are directly ruled by Israel, while others are controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Political momentum toward annexation has gained traction in Israel recently due to possible US support. Last week, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said the United States would recognize a partial annexation under certain conditions. The same day, Israel announced plans to build new settlements in the West Bank. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Israel on Wednesday when the countrys new unity government is sworn in and discuss annexation. The Israel Democracy Institutes poll shows wide variance on the issue between the Israeli right and left. The poll found 71% of Israeli Jews identifying with the political right support annexation, while only 31% from the political center and 8% from the left do. Only 33% of Jews and 25% of Arabs think such an annexation will happen this year, the institute said. West Bank annexation raises questions on how Palestinians in the West Bank, the majority of whom are not Israeli citizens, would be treated legally in such a scenario. The poll found Jewish and Arab Israelis differed on this. For Jews, only 20% support giving Palestinians there Israeli citizenship and 37% do not want to give such Palestinians more rights than they have at present. For Arabs, 47% supported giving Palestinians in the West Bank Israeli citizenship and only 9% did not want to give them additional rights, according to the poll. Annexing the territory in the Jordan River Valley has been a long-standing Israeli security goal. Palestinians envision the West Bank as part of a future independent state of Palestine, but many Israeli say this would make its border too narrow and thus indefensible. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a strong step toward promising annexation in September when running for reelection. The new Israeli unity government of Netanyahu and former rival Benny Gantz has led to criticism from Palestinian and international actors who fear annexation is receiving political legitimization. A group of European Union ambassadors warned against annexation late last month. The Arab League called it a war crime at the same time. by Vladimir Rozanskij Putin: No to a "rancid and moldy" patriotism, but "to dedicate yourself to the development of your country". Kirill: "The heroic commitment to serve and help each other, as the soldiers on the battlefield of the Great Patriotic War did." The Orthodox faith in Stalin's time and in the struggle against Nazism. Death continues due to coronavirus in the clergy of the Orthodox church. Moscow (AsiaNews) During the Victory Day commemorations, devoid of parades and processions, President Vladimir Putin and the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill (Gundjaev) intervened to clarify the true concept of love of country, the great "national idea" of Russia. In his direct and "popular" language, Putin spoke on the TV channel Rossija, explaining that patriotism "must not be cheap, it must not be rancid and moldy ... Patriotism consists in dedicating oneself to the development of one's country, contributing to its progress ". Criticizing the nostalgic excesses, the president stressed that "we must not only recall our heroic past all the time, we must look to our no less heroic and victorious future, in this there is the promise of success". On May 9, in the church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Peredelkino, where he is still in solitary confinement in the patriarchal villa, Kirill celebrated a funeral liturgy in honor of the fallen in what the Russians call the "Great Patriotic War" against Nazism. In the homily, Kirill indicated the war heroes as models of Christian charity towards others: Today's funeral prayer is combined with prayer for our homeland, so that the Lord will protect our people and our country from internal and external enemies. May he strengthen us in the heroic commitment to serve and help each other, as did the soldiers on the battlefield of the Great Patriotic War. " The head of the Russian Church hoped that everyone will be able to express such love of neighbor "not only in extreme conditions, but also in normal and even comfortable conditions of modern life". In particular, Kirill invited people to pray that the Lord protect us all from the terrible epidemic that came upon us in this jubilee year of the 75 years of Victory, taking many lives. Perhaps the memory of the great war heroes will help us to be more courageous in the face of this aggression, remembering that we must not think only of our personal life, but also of the life of those we have next to us, according to the example of the soldiers of the Patriotic War " . Many comment on the patriarch's expressions as a form of "theology of victory", which combines faith with "the strength of arms and the talent of the supreme leader" ("for the homeland and for Stalin"). After the liturgy, the patriarch went to Moscow to lay a bouquet of red roses, at the foot of the heroes' "eternal flame" in Victory park (photo 1). In a speech for the occasion, Kirill recalled how the war made it possible to revive the Orthodox faith in the Soviet people, helping victory: "during the war something very important happened; we had entered the war with destroyed churches and closed monasteries, but the war started, and it was as if there hadn't been all those terrible years of persecution. People stopped being ashamed, and making the sign of the cross launched themselves into the attack of the enemy, in the name of God. " Following the German invasion of 1941 Stalin put the Orthodox Church back on its feet, precisely in order to support the patriotic ideal, which was not contemplated in the "internationalist" theory of Leninist communism. In the trenches - Kirill recalled - Orthodox prayers were recited, in particular Psalm 90, "Who lives in the shelter of the Most High", and he invited faithful to repeat it in these days of pandemic. Patriotic theology requires us to celebrate victory "with tears in our eyes", by virtue of the great sufferings that the Russian people have been able to endure in its history, in ancient times (the Tatar yoke, the "turbid" Poles) and in modern ones (Napoleon, Hitler): the hope is that the victims of the pandemic are not as numerous as those (in the millions) of the great victories. Meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox Church continues to count the victims of the virus. Another well-known parish priest from Moscow died on 9 May, the 69 year-old protoierej Vladimir Bushuev (photo 3) of the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God in the large district of Ismailovo. Even the well-known father Dmitrij Smirnov, hospitalized on 7 May, is in a very serious condition, and doctors fear for his life. People Weve Lost Nelson Henry Jr. 96 years old Lived in Logan Square He received honorable discharge nearly 75 years after Army expelled him More Memorials Nelson Henry Jr., 96, of Philadelphia, a World War II veteran who received an honorable discharge nearly 75 years after the Army kicked him out because he was black, died Saturday, May 9, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital of complications from the coronavirus. Mr. Henry was hospitalized May 1 after experiencing COVID-19 symptoms at the Watermark at Logan Square, an assisted-living facility where he had lived since 2014, said son Dean. READ MORE: WWII vet wants Army to upgrade discriminatory discharge to honorable, nearly 75 years after expelling him In a Zoom chat, the family said their farewells to Mr. Henry Friday afternoon, told him they loved him and gave him permission to pass, said Dean Henry, one of three children. Dad, you will be with Mom, one of the siblings said. His wife of 71 years, Lydia, died in 2016. Mr. Henry had been under quarantine for six weeks in his apartment, his son said. Since February, at least 65 Watermark residents have tested positive for the coronavirus, a Watermark spokesperson said Monday. Dean Henry said the sting of his fathers death was easier to take because an Army review board last June unanimously agreed to change Mr. Henrys discriminatory blue discharge from 1945 to honorable. It found that an injustice had occurred. After fighting for decades, Mr. Henry said he would not believe it until he received his DD-214, a discharge certificate issued upon leaving active duty under honorable conditions. He was at a loss for words when Dean presented him with the framed certificate in September. I waited so long, Mr. Henry said then. This was more like a shock, a miracle. Mr. Henry was among more than 48,000 soldiers given blue discharges between 1941 and 1945, a disproportionate number of which went to black, gay, or lesbian service members. The administrative discharge was neither honorable nor dishonorable, but was considered a badge of shame. READ MORE: World War II veteran calls it 'a miracle: Honorable discharge from Army to correct an injustice, nearly 75 years later After several failed appeals in the 1940s, Mr. Henry stopped trying until last year. Lawyers with the Golden Gate University School of Law Veterans Legal Advocacy Clinic and Legal Aid at Work appealed in March 2019. The Army expedited the appeal because of his age. He really was an inspiration. He knew it was wrong, said Elizabeth Kristen, a senior attorney at Legal Aid at Work in San Francisco. The Army board said that it found no evidence of misconduct by Mr. Henry, that Mr. Henry had been targeted by his superiors, and that there may have been an environment of racial discrimination that led to his separation from the Army. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Mr. Henry enrolled in Lincoln University as a pre-dental major. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and was placed in a training program for junior officers. After several minor infractions that his lawyers contend were unsubstantiated, he accepted a blue discharge to avoid a court-martial. On Oct. 17, 1945, Pvt. First Class Nelson Henry was discharged and given $63.90 in travel pay. Back in Philadelphia, Mr. Henry raised three children with his wife. He drove a taxi for many years, earned a bachelors degree in psychology at Temple University, and worked for the Pennsylvania state employment office. He was a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. For decades, Mr. Henry tried to forget his military experience, but his family said he struggled with his past. He said it was like going back into slavery. Mr. Henry said he hoped others would be inspired by his fight to keep on keeping on. If I go tomorrow, Ill go with a smile, he said. I am happy now. In addition to his son, Mr. Henry is survived by son Nelson K.; daughter Lydia; and a sister. Funeral services were pending due to the coronavirus. Dean Henry said the family hopes to bury his father at a national cemetery with military honors. Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, Box 22478, Oklahoma City, Okla. 73123. The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has published the names of 195 candidates who it said engaged in a series of examination infractions in the 2020 examination. The examination board detailed this in its weekly bulletin released today. It said of the 1,945,983 candidates who sat for the 2020 examination, prima facie cases of examination misconduct have been made against the named candidates. The misconduct by the candidates, it said, include examination by proxy, connivance to cheat, smuggling of phones and electronic devices into the examination hall, attempt to cheat, unruly behaviour, double registration, tampering with exam documents, forceful entrance, faking of vital documents. Most of the candidates listed were either indicted for examination by proxy or connivance to cheat. Imo State, with 25 candidates, ranks top among states with the highest number of candidates indicted. Anambra ranks second with 16 candidates, while each of Enugu, Kano and Kaduna has 15 candidates on the list. Plateau has 13. JAMB says it has also deregistered 9 examination centres, one for conniving with candidates to cheat, and the other eight for technical deficiencies. The centres delisted are St. Anthony Comprehensive Secondary School, 83b Omuma Rd, Off Ama-Ogbonna, Aba, Abia State (Technical Deficiency); St. Josephs Institute, 20/22, Amaigbo/Mgbemena Lane by CIC, Uwani, Enugu, Enugu State (Technical Deficiency); Federal College of Education, Okene, Kogi State (Technical Deficiency); H. S. P. S. CBT Centre, Bishop Oyedepo Street, Opposite Omu-Aran Police Station, Alaka Junction Omu-Aran Kwara State (Technical Deficiency) and Darman Model College CBT Centre, 1 Holy Child Way, By Alakija Bus Stop, Mile 2 Badagry Expressway, Satelite Town (Technical Deficiency). Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Education By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Others JAMB centres deregistered are Lafia Knowledge Centre, Bakah Sidi, Adjacent National Open University, Jos Road, Lafia Nasarawa, Nasarawa State (Technical Deficiency); Solid Rock Girls Academy, Ibadan Expressway, Opposite FGGC Sagamu, Ogun State (Technical Deficiency); Sejdom Global Ventures Limited, Beside Adelayo Academy, Alaagba, Iyana Church, Ibadan, Oyo State (Technical Deficiency) and MS World ICT Institute of Information Technology, No 84, Airport Road, Opp Chediya Uku, Nomansland,Kano, Kano State (Connived with Candidates to cheat). The 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) held between March 14 and April 4. Earlier this month, JAMB announced an interim remittance of 3.5 billion to the federal government's purse after the conduct of its 2020 examination. DES MOINES Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Monday she is following a modified quarantine plan after she spent two days last week with White House officials and staff who had been in contact with fellow staff members who tested positive for the new coronavirus. Reynolds said Monday she did not come in direct contact with anyone who tested positive for the virus, and she has since been tested including Monday morning and the test results have been negative. Reynolds said nonetheless she will follow a modified quarantine out of an abundance of caution. She said it will be similar to a quarantine being followed by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key figure in guiding the federal administrations virus response efforts. Reynolds said she will be tested daily, have her temperature taken multiple times per day, practice social distancing, limit her interactions with staff members, and wear a mask when she does interact with others. These steps are similar to what Ive asked all Iowans to do if theyve had contact with someone known to have the virus, Reynolds said Monday during her daily briefing at the State Emergency Operations Center at Camp Dodge in Johnston. Again, while I didnt have direct contact with the vice presidents staff member, its important that I do my part to protect those around me while continuing to serve as your governor during this critical time. Reynolds spent last Wednesday at the White House in a meeting with President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other high-ranking administration officials. Reynolds gave the officials a briefing on Iowas pandemic response efforts. It was reported over the weekend that one of Trumps personal valets tested positive for the coronavirus. On Friday, a spokeswoman for Pences office tested positive for the virus. Pence was tested and the results were negative, so he maintained his plan for that day to travel to Des Moines for two events, with state religious leaders and with agriculture and food processing officials, to discuss the pandemic. Reynolds attended both events. None of the elected officials at Fridays events, including Pence, Reynolds, and U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, wore face coverings. A video recording showed officials from food processing companies being told just before their event that they did not have to wear their masks. Reynolds said she carried a mask with her Friday, but did not wear it because she and other officials and staff maintained a safe social distance between each other throughout the day. I want to assure Iowans that Im healthy and feeling good, and Im fully focused on leading Iowas response to the pandemic (and) on our economic recovery efforts, Reynolds said Monday. Dr. Caitlin Pedati, the state epidemiologist in the state public health department, also attended the White House meeting. A department spokeswoman said Monday that Pedati and Reynolds had different contacts with different individuals during the week, and provided a comment from Pedati that says she also plans to quarantine. I will be following public health guidance and quarantining at home and taking my temperature and monitoring myself for symptoms twice a day, Pedati said in the statement. I will be working from my home and continuing to fulfill my duties as state epidemiologist and medical director. If it were to be necessary for me to have an in-person meeting or appearance, I will continue to follow public health guidance for essential workers. The state public health department does not make a formal recommendation regarding face coverings, but says wearing them in public places where social distancing is difficult like grocery stores and pharmacies can help slow the virus spread. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain. WASHINGTON, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, in a virtual briefing, more than 125 participants from the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), members of their staff and others, discussed with Israeli elections officials how to keep polling places safe, and ensure voter turnout during the coronavirus pandemic. In partnership with American Jewish Committee's (AJC) Project Interchange, the Israeli officials participating were Israeli Central Elections Committee Director-General Orly Adas and Chief Legal Counsel Dean Livne. "As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, election officials both here in the U.S. and around the world are working day and night to keep our elections, voters and poll workers safe. During this unprecedented time, it is hugely important to work with our allies like Israel to ask questions and learn from one another. Today's briefing was an excellent conversation and I look forward to continued dialogue," said Paul Pate, NASS President and Iowa Secretary of State. In March, Israel conducted national elections, with precautions instituted to ensure voting and safeguarding of Israel's election sites, voters and poll workers. Special "pop up" polling locations were staffed by paramedics wearing protective suits and masks. Voters and polling station staff were physically separated. Israel's Health Ministry allowed those under quarantine who were asymptomatic to vote, so long as they wore face masks and gloves, did not use public transportation and followed other directives. As a result voter turnout on March 2 was the highest since 1999. "Israel's experience conducting elections amidst the COVID-19 pandemic can provide important lessons for American state officials contemplating how to organize polling places to ensure the safety of voters and election workers," said Nisha Abkarian, AJC Project Interchange Director. Today's briefing is the second time the organizations have worked together. In December 2019, a bipartisan delegation of 11 NASS members led by association President Paul Pate visited Israel with AJC Project Interchange. They participated in discussions on cybersecurity policies and practices at the state, local, and federal level as it relates to business services, election administration, and records management. AJC Project Interchange: For over 35 years, AJC Project Interchange (American Jewish Committee) has brought 6,000 influential figures to Israel from 110+ countries and all 50 U.S. states, offering broad exposure and first-hand understanding of the complex issues facing Israel and the region. www.projectinterchange.org National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS): Founded in 1904, NASS is the nation's oldest, nonpartisan professional organization for public officials. NASS serves as a medium for the exchange of information between states and fosters cooperation in the development of public policy. The association has key initiatives in the areas of elections and voting, state business services, and state heritage/archives. https://www.nass.org SOURCE American Jewish Committee Related Links http://www.ajc.org Coronavirus infections are spiking again in Korea after a man in his late 20s, who went to a nightclub and other bars in Seoul's Itaewon district over the long weekend, tested positive for coronavirus on May 6. Four days later new infections apparently linked to clubs in Itaewon had swelled to 75. The resurgence came amid a gradual easing of lockdown rules after new infections had stayed in single figures for around a week. According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cases traced to Itaewon clubs stood at 49 in Seoul on Sunday, rising to 75 if cases outside the capital are included -- 16 in Gyeonggi Province, six in Incheon, two in North Chungcheong Province, one in Busan and one on Jeju Island. People wait in line to test for coronavirus at a makeshift facility in Seoul on Sunday. KCDC chief Jeong Eun-kyeong told reporters, "The level of contagiousness is very high with several clubbers spreading the virus to others." But nearly half of them seem to have no symptoms, so anyone who visited clubs and bars in Itaewon over the long weekend should get themselves checked." The visitors' logs of the five clubs that appear to be the sources of the infections -- King, Queen, Trunk, Soho and HIM -- show 5,517 patrons from April 30 to May 5. Health officials have contacted 3,535 but the whereabouts of the rest are unknown. The personal information on the visitors' logs may not be wholly accurate but include an IT company employee, a nurse, a soldier, department store employee and a call center operator. Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo told reporters that the government is considering isolating everyone who went to the Itaewon clubs during the period. Eom Joong-shik at Gachon University Gil Hospital said, "There is a strong chance of a resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic, because infections are spreading nationwide from contact between strangers. We could be back to where we were two months ago." A temporary closure notice is placed in front of a nightclub in Itaewon, Seoul on May 9. /Newsis Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon in an emergency press conference on Saturday ordered all clubs and bars to shut again. Gyeonggi Province announced similar measures. People who violate the order and infect others will be ordered to pay for the medical costs and financial damage they cause. They could face a maximum two-year prison term or W20 million fine (US$1=W1,221). Getty Images For many people, starting a company in the midst of a global economic crisis is the last thing on their lockdown to-do list. But it might not be such a crazy idea. According to entrepreneurs and start-up investors CNBC spoke with, now might even be the best time to start thinking about setting up a new venture from home. The coronavirus pandemic is in many ways serving as a "catalyst to creation," Index Ventures Partner Jan Hammer told CNBC. He thinks history may be on the side of entrepreneurs building their businesses at a time of adversity. "If history gives us a good precedent, out of the last crisis which was the great financial crisis of 2008 to 2010 a cohort of extremely resilient businesses have emerged," Hammer said in an interview. He cited examples such as food delivery firm Just Eat, payments company Adyen and money transfer start-up TransferWise, which were all founded in 2001, 2006 and 2011 respectively. "These were ideas born in, you could argue, difficult times," Hammer added. "And in a way, the trends that had driven the growth of these businesses were unrelated to the macroeconomic cycle." Jan Hammer, partner at Index Ventures, speaks during a panel session in London, U.K., on Thursday, July 10, 2014. Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg via Getty Images There are plenty of businesses which were founded during or around the time of economic crises. General Motors, IBM and HP are some of the biggest names that were born out of downturns, such as the panic of 1907 and the Great Depression. Meanwhile, many tech start-ups, such as Groupon, Uber and Pinterest, were established during or shortly after the Great Recession. Building new ventures Lara Vandenberg launched Publicist, an online marketplace for businesses to find freelancers in PR and communications, on Tuesday. Usually New York-based, Vandenberg temporarily moved back to her native Australia as the coronavirus hit the U.S., but pressed on regardless of the time difference. Around 35% of the U.S. workforce or 57 million people are freelance, according to a report by jobs website Upwork, and the pandemic has accelerated a move to project-based work, Vandenberg said. Publicist is about to close a funding round after bootstrapping the beta site, though isn't disclosing how much it has raised. It will charge hirers 20% commission per project. "Although we are launching a company at this really volatile point in this macro economy, the future of work is an area people are really excited about," Vandenberg told CNBC. "And in parallel, it's just an exciting problem to solve." For Chris Howard, co-founder at venture fund Fuel Capital, now is a good time to promote a new company because ad space is cheaper. "You have an increase in the amount of time that users are spending online," he told CNBC. "You can get a better understanding of cost per new customer that you're adding then you can begin retention marketing campaigns." Saying goodbye to 'bulls--t jobs' Matt Clifford heads up Entrepreneur First, a so-called "talent investor" out of London that helps founders network with each other and develop their business ideas. "We're not seeing a reduction in applications, which is really interesting and I'll be honest, I thought we would," Clifford told CNBC. " I can totally identify with the mindset where you say now is not the time to quit a job." "It's also a time where a lot of things look pretty trivial," he added. "There's this whole thing about 'bulls--t jobs' that's sort of been going around for about a decade now." By "bulls--t jobs," Clifford is referring to roles that workers feel don't have a meaningful impact on society. It's a concept that was explored in a book by American anthropologist David Graeber in 2018. The number of proposals for new fund offers (NFOs) filed by mutual fund houses with markets regulator Sebi has been dwindling since past few months largely due to the nationwide lockdown and its impact on overall investor sentiment. Fund houses approached Sebi for as many as 11 NFOs in January, the number fell to six in February and further dropped to just one in March and nil in April. In May so far, the figure stands at two, according to the markets regulator. Since March, draft documents for only three new schemes have been filed. This comprises one by Nippon India MF in March and two by SBI MF in May and interestingly, all the three are passive funds. "The slowdown in March/April is largely related to the lockdown and its impact on overall investor sentiment," said Kaustubh Belapurkar, Director Manager Research, Morningstar India. Jimmy Patel, MD and CEO, Quantum Mutual Fund said the industry is grappling with fixed income funds facing redemption pressure last month and the prevailing market conditions are not so encouraging either, which resulted in slowdown in NFO filing. "In COVID-19 era, there seems to be uncertainty on the survival and continuity of a lot of industries and business models. At this point in time, it is not a liquidity crisis but a crisis of confidence," Ashika Wealth Advisors Co-Founder and CEO Amit Jain said. So far in 2020, draft documents for 20 NFOs have been submitted with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Of these, some of the schemes have already been launched after getting regulatory clearances. Of these 20 NFOs request filed with Sebi, a large chunk of these offerings are passive funds. Patel said passive funds have slowly gaining traction as such funds do not need minimum assets under management (AUM) and investor count, Patel said. Themes like exchange traded funds (ETFs) and environment social and governance (ESG) attracted of mutual fund companies. Besides, many mutual fund companies filed applications for index funds. Given the defined Sebi categories most fund companies are only looking to fill gaps in their active fund bouquets if any. "On the passive side there has been a fair bit of interest with a number of offerings around broader Index funds and ETFs as well as some thematic /sectoral ETFs. Another theme that is seeing interest is the ESG theme, which has been in the spotlight globally for a while now, Belapurkar said. "Fund companies are beefing up their product bouquets to be ready for the future where passive funds and ESG funds will play an increasingly important role in investor portfolios, he added. Jain said new fund offer shall increase once economic and financial stability is restored in the system. Nippon India MF, SBI MF, Aditya Birla Sunlife MF, DSP MF, BNP Paribas MF, UTI MF, Tata MF and HSBC MF are the fund houses that approached Sebi with the offer documents for NFOs. Nippon India Mutual Fund spokesperson said new schemes have been filed to complete our ETF portfolio suite. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police officers arrest a pro-democracy demonstrator (C) during a pro-democracy protest calling for the city's independence in Hong Kong on May 10, 2020. (Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images) Hundreds Arrested as Hong Kong Protests Renew on Mothers Day Hong Kong saw the largest mass arrest in months as authorities sought to thwart pro-democracy protests planned for Mothers Day. Hong Kong police arrested around 230 protesters on May 10, aged 12 and 65, on offenses including unlawful assembly, assaulting police, and failing to provide proof of identity, according to a police statement. Another 19 people were fined for violating a health regulation that prohibits public gatherings of more than eight people. Mass demonstrations, sparked by fears of Beijings growing influence in the city, erupted last June. While the protests quieted down amid the virus outbreak, protesters braced for a comeback this weekend, after recent arrests of pro-democracy activists and Beijings renewed interference in local politics. Pro-democracy demonstrators protest calling for the citys independence in Hong Kong on May 10, 2020. (Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images) Hundreds gathered in shopping malls across the city on Sunday afternoon to chant slogans and sing protest songs after police refused to grant permission for a Mothers Day march, citing new regulations prohibiting public gatherings in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Riot police soon appeared to disperse crowds. The police used pepper spray inside a shopping mall to disperse protesters who refused to leave and surrounded the officers, according to the police statement. Among those arrested was Democratic Party lawmaker Roy Kwong, who was pushed to the ground by riot police. One officer pressed his knee against Kwongs head, according to social media footage from the scenes. Kwong, who was charged with disorderly conduct, was one of 18 people hospitalized on Monday for injuries from Sunday, Hong Kongs Hospital Authority said. Gary, a resident in the Tsim Sha Tsui neighborhood, said he saw what was happening on television and stepped outside his apartment building to check on the situation. He said the governments actions have made people angry, forcing them to protest on the streets. Having been to several mass protests in 2019, he said he had deep respect for the young protesters persistence and civil manner. They had sacrificed their career for Hong Kong and for our society, to fight for the justice that Hong Kong otherwise might not have, he said in an interview. Jenny, a protester, said that she saw many mothers participating in the Sunday protests. They are caring for the next generation, she said, adding that her Christian faith provided her the courage to stand up. I have to speak the truth and let the world know. The polices rough and at times violent handling of protesters, which invited international scrutiny last year, has prompted a fresh torrent of complaints after Sundays events. A pro-democracy demonstrator (C) is held on the ground before getting arrested by undercover police during a protest calling for the citys independence in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong on May 10, 2020. (Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images) A middle-aged protester in Tsim Sha Tsui said that the police threatened to beat him up while checking his identity. He didnt provoke the police, but just asked the people in the front to watch out, his friend told The Epoch Times. As protests continued into the night in the Mong Kok area, police fired pepper rounds at press members and conducted stop and search operations on journalists at the scene. A reporter from local newspaper Apple Daily collapsed after she was pulled away by a police officer and placed in a chokehold for about 20 seconds, according to the outlet. Riot police raise their pepper spray projectile inside a shopping mall as they disperse anti-government protesters during a rally, in Hong Kong, China May 10, 2020. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters) TMHK, a citizen journalist broadcaster, said officers forced its photographer to kneel down for over an hour and pinned him down to the ground by the neck. He was detained there as pepper spray liquid from the polices firing of weapons seeped onto the ground. The Hong Kong Journalists Association, along with half a dozen other local media associations, issued a joint statement on May 11 condemning the police for attacking and humiliating reporters. Riot police hold back members of media during a demonstration in Mongkok district in Hong Kong, on May 10, 2020. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images) Toward the end of last year, the police force last year had changed its motto into serving Hong Kong with honor, duty, and loyalty but their behavior over the past year and what had transpired last night have completely run counter to these stated values, it said. Shelly, who was holding a protest banner on Canton Road, a major thoroughfare, criticized the government for suppressing peoples assembly rights in the name of fighting the outbreak. She had come out because of her love for Hong Kong, she told The Epoch Times. I thought that when one more citizen steps out, its a bit safer for the students [young protesters], she said. Mr. Chen, who was visiting from Beijing, watched the protests unfold. He said Hongkongers are unlikely to give up their efforts. Remember why the older generations came to Hong Kong? They all came here to escape the Chinese Communist Party [after the Partys takeover of China in 1949], he said. The Hong Kong edition of The Epoch Times contributed to this report. A previous version of the article misstated the date of the arrests. The arrests occurred on May 10. The Epoch Times regrets the error. The governors office says it will sue the Oglala and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes if they dont take down their COVID-19 prevention checkpoints on state and federal highways. These checkpoints are not legal, and if they dont come down, the state will take the matter to federal court, Maggie Seidel, senior adviser to Gov. Kristi Noem, said in a Sunday email. Noem said in a Friday news release and letters to the tribes that the state will take necessary legal action, if the checkpoints dont come down in the next 48 hours but she did not specify what she meant by legal action. Seidel said the state needs the tribes to allow unobstructed access to state and U.S. highways for thru-traffic and access for property owners and lessors; state personnel and contractors; and people making essential deliveries. She told the Journal that the state has received complaints from all of these groups. Requiring unobstructed access to state and federal highways on reservations would prevent checkpoints on those roads since checkpoints, by their nature, require drivers to be stopped and questioned before theyre allowed to pass through or told to turn around. The key here is that tribes are letting tribal members come and go as they please the same is not true for non-tribal members, Seidel said in her email. However the Oglala Sioux ordinance and descriptions of the Cheyenne River Sioux policy distinguish between residents and non-residents, not tribal members and non members. Tribal members gathered Sunday at checkpoints on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River reservations in solidarity with border workers and their leaders who say they have no plan to stop the checkpoints. We will not apologize for being an island of safety in a sea of uncertainty and death, Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe said in a Friday news release. Many have been inconvenienced by the current situation but the virus does not differentiate between members and non-members. We demand you to respect our sovereignty, Julian Bear Runner, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, wrote to Noem on Friday. Your threats of legal action are not helpful and do not intimidate us. Both leaders cited the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty which says non-Native Americans cant live on, occupy or pass through reservations without tribal consent. Noem previously said the state does not have jurisdiction over this issue. The state of South Dakota does not have jurisdiction in this area but the federal government does, she said during an April 24 news conference when asked about the checkpoints on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. Whatever they want to do on the reservation the state has no objection to, Seidel told the Journal when asked about Noems previous comment. Were talking about blocking state and U.S. highways. The checkpoints The Bureau of Indian Affairs wrote in an April 8 memo that tribes across the country have set up temporary roadblocks or checkpoints as a means to stop or limit travel in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Leaders with the Oglala and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes say the state has not taken enough precautions against COVID-19 and the checkpoints are meant to protect everyone who lives on the reservations. They say tribal members are especially susceptible to contracting and dying of the virus due to lack of medical resources and socioeconomic health barriers. I could see (coronavirus) just potentially coming in and spreading like wildfire, Frazier previously told the Journal. Bear Runner told Noem that South Dakotas response to COVID-19 is ineffective. We are a vulnerable population and created checkpoints to save the lives of our people, including the lives of our elderly tribal members, without whom we cannot pass on our language, culture and traditions, he wrote. Checkpoints on both reservations are staffed by tribal members who ask drivers where they are coming from and going, and educate them about the tribes' COVID-19 policies. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe also asks some drivers to answer screening questions to help with contact tracing, according to its COVID-19 website. Frazier said that checkpoints on the Cheyenne River Reservation are not blocking any state or commercial drivers. Bear Runner wrote that non-residents with non-essential business cant visit the Pine Ridge Reservation. But he said everyone is allowed to pass through. But Seidel said the governors office has received complaints from individual drivers plus associations representing industries with drivers who arent being allowed to pass through the reservations. The checkpoints have been extremely disruptive and the state fears things will turn violent, she said. Things have already gotten (verbally) hostile and this is uncharted territory, Seidel said when asked why the state is afraid of violence. Consultation debate The BIA memo says tribes have the right to close or restrict access on tribal-owned lands. The state has no objection to that, Seidel said in her email. But the BIA says tribes can only do the same on state or federally-owned highways only on behalf of the affected road owner after the the tribe has consulted and reached an agreement addressing the parameters of the temporary road closure or restrictions. Frazier and Bear Runner both say theyve had extensive consultations while Seidel says theres been neither consultation nor any agreements. Bear Runner wrote that he and the police chief had an April 16 phone call with one of her senior advisers plus the secretaries of transportation, public safety and tribal relations. He said the tribes attorney general spoke with the state attorney general on May 1. We have heard no objection from state officials until Friday, Bear Runner said, adding that he learned of Noems letter through media reports, not from her letter or office. Frazier said the tribe has consulted with federal agencies, the state Department of Transportation, and county and municipal leaders. And Noem said during her April 24 news conference that she and Frazier have spoken and texted about the checkpoints. Seidel said theres been many hours of communication behind the scenes between the tribes, federal officials, and the offices of the governor, attorney general and tribal relations. But it is not accurate to claim consultation has taken place and certainly no agreement has been reached, she said. Communication is not synonymous with consultation, Seidel told the Journal. Were not going to negotiate through the press but were happy to work with tribal leaders, she said when asked what consultation means to Gov. Noem. Lawmakers respond A group of 17 state lawmakers 16 Democrats and one Republican told Noem theyre against her request, according to a May 9 letter obtained by the West River Eagle. The lawmakers who represent districts with tribal members, land and governments said Noem could have reached out to them to serve as liaisons between the state and tribes before issuing her ultimatum. The lawmakers say the 1851 and 1868 Ft. Laramie treaties, state and federal law, and court rulings allow the tribes to regulate all traffic entering their reservations. They specifically cited a 1990 federal appeals court decision that ruled the State of South Dakota has no jurisdiction over the highways running through Indian lands in the state. But Seidel said the ruling is not relevant to the checkpoint issue. We are not talking about civil or criminal jurisdiction on the reservations, she said. We are talking about the ability of the tribes to interrupt the flow of non-tribal traffic on state and U.S. highways. The lawmakers told Noem that they recommend she sets up a meeting with Frazier, Bear Runner and legislative leaders to negotiate a resolution that reflects our combined goal of keeping all people healthy and safe." We do not wish to be party of another lawsuit that will ultimately cost the people of South Dakota more money," the lawmakers wrote. Contact Arielle Zionts at arielle.zionts@rapidcityjournal.com. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The rebellion that began to bubble up Friday and throughout the weekend was met with equal force by the Wolf administration Monday. After commissioners in at least six central Pa. counties said that they planned to go ahead and reopen ahead of the governors schedule, Wolf fired back Monday by saying he could cut funding and take away licenses from businesses that open before they are permitted. To those politicians who decide to cave in to this coronavirus, they need to understand the consequences of their cowardly act, he said. The funding we have put aside to help with fighting this crisis will go to the folks who are doing their part, and that includes our CARES Act funding, which will be used to support counties that are following the orders to prevent the spread in the medical communities who are treating patients." Wolf also took time to defend Dr. Rachel Levine, his Secretary of Health, who has drawn increasing amounts of criticism recently by those unhappy with how the state is dealing with the coronavirus. On Monday, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin County, held a press conference on the Third Street steps and called for her resignation. based on what he charged was her mishandling of the pandemics impact on nursing homes. "The very same people our secretary of health said were going to be vulnerable... It unleashed heck upon our dearly beloved fathers, mothers, grandparents, aunts and uncles. I think thats unconscionable, unacceptable, and that secretary needs to be held accountable for that awful decision, Mastriano said. Wolf responded this afternoon by saying that Levine has done a phenomenal job, and I think weve got to be careful about blaming the messenger for the message. I think its a tribute to her that Pennsylvania has actually done a better job than many of our surrounding states in terms of the infection rate and the death rate, he added. Here are other stories from PennLives coverage of the coronavirus pandemic that published Monday: Lebanon, Berks county DAs issue new guidance on risks of defying governors orders Perry County not happy about being in red zone, but wont bolt for yellow PA Game Commission extends terms on shooting range permits to compensate for closings Hoping for another round of coronavirus stimulus payments? Report sheds light on how long you may be waiting White House recommends tests for all nursing home residents Coronavirus cases by day in Pa. (5/11/20): How fast is COVID-19 spreading? The latest Pa. unemployment compensation filings total: 1.8 million As Penn State Health prepares to ease restrictions, doctors worry patients may fear coming back over coronavirus concerns Whats allowed when child care centers reopen in Pa. counties? And when should kids wear masks? Football is the perfect setup for spreading coronavirus says Dr. Fauci Trump tweets Pennsylvanians want their freedom now in apparent support of bypassing Wolf order Its risky for businesses to defy Gov. Wolfs coronavirus closure order: insurance commissioner Pennsylvanias state and section Little League tournaments canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic Gov. Tom Wolf had praise Monday for the performance of his Health Secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, in helping to manage the states response to the coronavirus pandemic. Levine has increasingly become the top public target for many politicians and business people who are losing patience with the states reopening schedule, or believe that the Wolf Administration overreacted to the pandemic in the first place. Those criticisms came to head at the state Capitol Monday morning, when state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin County, held a press conference on the Third Street steps in which he called for Levines dismissal based on what he charged was her mishandling of the pandemics impact on nursing homes. As in many American states, nursing homes have seen the majority of COVID-19 related deaths. Mastriano said Monday he believed that in Pennsylvania, that was directly related to Levines policy of requiring nursing home patients that had been transferred to hospitals for coronavirus treatment to be returned to their original facilities after hospital treatment was no longer needed. The Health Department said it followed that course as part of its overall strategy to preserve bed capacity in hospitals in the case of a surge of new cases, but Mastriano said Monday he believed Levines policy only exacerbated the situation in many of the states long-term care facilities, leading to unnecessary deaths. Advocates for nursing home operators have been sharply critical of the states response too, arguing that homes were left largely on their own as the state focused its attention on hospitals. I feel, very much, that we were an afterthought, Zach Shamberg, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, told a Senate panel last week. Wolf made clear, in a Monday morning press appearance, that he is firmly in Levines corner. My assessment of Dr. Levine is that she is doing a phenomenal job, and I think weve got to be careful about blaming the messenger for the message, Wolf said, when asked about Mastrianos remarks. Dr. Levine has done a phenomenal job of making sure that we do what we need to do in keeping Pennsylvanians safe. I think its a tribute to her that Pennsylvania has actually done a better job than many of our surrounding states in terms of the infection rate and the death rate. Through Sunday, state figures show that nursing homes residents have accounted for 2,552 of the states 3,731 reported COVID-19 deaths. That is a pattern that has been echoed in most states across the country, however. To Wolfs point, the overall per capita case rate in Pennsylvania (469 per 100,000 residents) that is far lower than in neighboring New York (1,751) and New Jersey (1,560), two of the hardest-hit states in the nation. Maryland and Delaware also have higher per capita infection rates than Pennsylvania, though Ohio and West Virginias are lower. . A man in a full protective suit prepares to remove the body of someone who died at home in one of the Brazilian cities hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. A woman speaks through a closed window to her daughter and grandchild on Mother's Day in the United States. The pandemic has upended the rituals of both life and death across the globe. In their place, new rituals have sprung up. In New York City, for instance, the subway is shutting in the middle of the night in order to disinfect the trains. That means clearing the cars and stations of people at the end of the line a process that has put a spotlight on the city's homeless, many of whom have long taken refuge on the subways. Around the US this past Sunday, families celebrated a strange Mother's Day wishing moms well through video calls or windows in the era of social distancing. And still the virus continues to kill in many places. In Brazil, freshly dug graves are filling up from Manaus on the Amazon River to Rio de Janeiro on the Atlantic Ocean. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Albany, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing a new federal law that will prevent companies from getting bailouts if they do not rehire employees after the coronavirus pandemic. The New York governor introduced the Americans First Law during his COVID-19 press briefing on Sunday, which would refuse subsidies for any corporation that lays off employees and does not hire back the same number of employees as it had pre-pandemic. Many businesses have shut down, reduced workforce, cut salaries or furloughed employees while applying for relief over the past two months. You will see corporations using this pandemic to lay off workers, Cuomo said in Albany. Thats what you will see, because they are already saying it to the market analysts. Were going to get lean during this period, were going to right-size during this period. What does that mean? It means theyre not going to rehire the same number of employees, so theyre going to boost their corporate profits by reducing the number of employees. NEW: Cuomo is offering a proposal to Congress calls The Americans First Law. pic.twitter.com/NhCumifzzy Dan Clark (@DanClarkReports) May 10, 2020 Cuomo made his pitch while repeating a plea for federal aid as New York state faces a revenue decline of $61 billion over the next four years due to coronavirus. WIVB reports Cuomo also said COVID-19 related expenditures will also cost the state $5 billion over the next two years. NYS could be forced to cut 20% of funding for schools, local governments and hospitals if Congress doesnt include more relief for states in its next bill, according to Cuomo. You took care of corporate America, and I dont even want to go through that, but now youre going to starve police and fire and hospitals and schools? Everybody applauds the healthcare workers, but now you dont want to provide any funding," the governor said Sunday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., refused to include state aid in a nearly $500 billion relief bill last month, saying he doesnt want to bail out blue states that may have had fiscal problems before coronavirus. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and some Republican governors criticized McConnells suggestion that cash-strapped states declare bankruptcy, which could threaten a wide range of services. An AP analysis last week found that states with few coronavirus cases, including Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and Wyoming, have gotten large shares of $150 billion in federal aid so far while the two hardest-hit states, New York and New Jersey, got comparatively little. The U.S. has 1.3 million cases of COVID-19 and nearly 80,000 deaths as of Sunday; New York state has seen 335,000 confirmed cases and 26,641 deaths, more than any other state. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Cuomo says parts of NY are ready to reopen as May 15 coronavirus shutdown end nears Stimulus payments: $2,000 a month until coronavirus ends gaining momentum (report) Coronavirus in NY: 3 children have died from mysterious complication WESTPORT In its second meeting, the Re-Open Westport Advisory Team discussed challenges local businesses and the community may face in reopening, from social distancing to an influx of people buying locally. We are not trying to move at a quicker pace than the governor, Re-Open Westport Advisory Team Chair Jen Tooker said at a meeting on Monday. What were trying to do is bridge the inevitable gap between communication that comes from the state on phased re-openings and the questions our business owners and community have when we actually try to operationalize those recommendations. Tooker was joined by state Sen. Will Haskell, state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, state Sen. Tony Hwang, state Rep. Gail Lavielle and other local dignitaries for the video meeting. Steinberg said a half dozen hair salons have voiced concern to him about re-opening on May 20, which Gov. Ned Lamont has marked for the first phase of reopening the state. Steinberg said the town will have to communicate state recommendations and caution businesses against re-opening if they are unable to provide a safe space. Were all concerned about re-opening 10, 11 days from now, he said. I think were going to learn as we go along and we have to be prepared to be adaptable to what were actually experiencing on the ground. Haskell said he confirmed with David Lehman, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, that a business will still be eligible for state programs if they choose to not re-open. I think thats so crucial as folks do face a lot of fear, he said. Especially in an industry where social distancing is nearly impossible with hair salons. Matthew Mandell, executive director of the Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce, said though May 20 is coming up it doesnt mean every business has to reopen on that date. It would be prudent to do this right, Mandell said. Worst thing we could do is have someone open incorrectly. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA commissioner and Westport resident, said as the state begins to reopen, he believes shopping behaviors will change with people seeking to do more locally. Were not going to be looking to go into a big city to do that, Gottlieb said. That presents both an opportunity and challenge to the local community. Gottlieb said moving services outside and taking advantage of outdoor settings can help to provide lower risk. How testing is held in the community will be important, he added. Im of the belief a lot of businesses are going to represent theyre taking certain precautions within their businesses, he said. I think youre going to see places of employment try to move testing into those settings. Gottlieb said there could be a chance of a new outbreak in the fall, but improved screening and treatment could help to improve conditions then. I dont think were going to have a licensed vaccine until, at the very least, the second half of 2021 and thats aggressive and optimistic, he said. But we could have a vaccine available in tens of millions of doses heading into 2021 that we could deploy on emergency use basis to try to ring-fence outbreaks if we have those. He said more and better testing will also help see how other groups, such as children and the community, have truly been affected. The more that we can bring testing into the community and have greater density of testing in the community, the more we can have a sense of what the background risk is in this community, Gottlieb said. dj.simmons@hearstmediact.com By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2020 | 05:10 PM | GRAVES COUNTY Graves County Sheriff's Deputies said they clocked a vehicle reportedly going 91 miles per hour through US 45 North near KY 408. As they attempted to perform a traffic stop, the vehicle sped up through the intersection, and deputies say the vehicle was being driven recklessly, swerving in and out of traffic, allegedly traveling at speeds of up to 112 miles per hour. A short time later, the driver allegedly almost lost control of the vehicle and swerved into the emergency lane, but came to a stop. There were reportedly five people in the vehicle, with the driver being 27-year-old Elizabeth Wright. She was arrested while the others were released. Several charges against Wright include first degree fleeing or evading, first degree wanton endangerment, reckless driving, possession of an open alcoholic beverage in a vehicle, speeding 26 or more over the speed limit. A Mayfield woman faces numerous charges after a high-speed chase through Graves County on Sunday. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen said because workers at meat processing facilities are within 6 feet of each other, which puts them at risk, her department is telling plants to provide PPEs for workers, not just face coverings, provide testing onsite and offer sick leave to workers. Cohen said all of the companies she has spoken with told her they are providing paid sick leave but she has not spoken to all of them. Heather Overton, assistant director of public affairs for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said the department is responsible for ensuring food safety. She said the positive cases in employees at meat processing facilities does not present a food safety issue. Overton said COVID-19 is not a food-borne illness and the CDC has said the spread of the virus from food and food packaging is low-risk. On Monday, the state reported 550 deaths so far from the virus and 15,045 positive cases, with 464 people hospitalized. The state says 195,865 people have been tested for the virus so far. During a briefing Monday, Cohen said the state estimates that 9,115 have recovered from COVID-19 but reminded folks that an individual patients recovery could be longer. A North Carolina officer was fired and is under criminal investigation after he allegedly gathered a group of people and tried to break into a teen's home while searching for a missing person, prosecutors said. New Hanover & Pender County District Attorney Ben David charged Jordan Kita, a former deputy with the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office, with "forcible trespass, misdemeanor breaking and entering, and willful failure to discharge duties," for the incident that took place on May 3, David's office said. Monica Shepard told reporters that her son Dameon answered loud knocks to the door of their Pender County home and were allegedly confronted by Kita and other men, who were armed. Shepard and her son are both black; Kita and the group that confronted them are white. PHOTO: In this scene taken from video, police cars are shown outside the Shepard home on the night of the incident. (WWAY) Kita, who was off-duty but allegedly had his weapon and uniform, said they were looking for a missing girl and came to the address looking for a suspect with a different name, according to the mother and son. Dameon Shepard said he was confused since there was a sign on the lawn that announced his graduation from Laney High School with his name on it. MORE: Georgia attorney general calls for DOJ investigation into Ahmaud Arbery case "I'm just like, 'My name is Dameon. My name is Dameon. I go to Laney High School. I graduated. My sign's on the lawn," the teen told ABC affiliate WWAY. Monica Shepard said she tried to step in and told Kita he had to leave. The officer allegedly said, "Well, I'm just going to step inside and close the door and talk to you guys," and put his foot in the door, according to Shepard. PHOTO: In this screen grab taken from a video, Dameon Shepard and his mother, Monica Shephard are shown. (WWAY) The officer and the crowd eventually left after they realized they had the wrong address, and the unidentified girl was found safe, according to the DA's office. The New Hanover County Sheriff fired Kita on Friday while the investigation continues. Austin Wood, who was in the crowd, was charged with "going armed to the terror of the public," DA David said. Story continues "Please remain calm and know that committed professionals will see that justice is done in a courtroom," he said at a news conference. Attorney information for Kita and Wood weren't immediately available. MORE: Investigation of Ahmaud Arbery's death faces new scrutiny David said more arrests were pending and asked members of the public to provide more details about the incident. He could not give more information on the officer's motivation or actions but did say there appears to be a "familial relation" between Kita and the missing girl. "One thing we absolutely make certain of is that anyone who's violating the law is treated the same," David said. PHOTO: In this Thursday, May 7, 2020, photo, provided by the Port City Daily, high school senior Dameon Shepard, right, his mother, Monica Shepard, and their attorney Jim Lea, left, pose for a photo at the Shepard's home in the Rocky Point, N.C. (Mark Darrough/Port City Daily via AP) Monica Shepard told WWAY she's thankful that the incident didn't end violently. She is mulling civil action against the officer, according to her attorney, James W. Lea. Officer fired, under investigation after attempting to force way inside house while off duty: Cops originally appeared on abcnews.go.com HALIFAX - The RCMP says that three of the four semi-automatic weapons used by a gunman during last month's mass shooting in Nova Scotia are believed to have come from the United States, but the agency continues to withhold some key details. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. An RCMP officer talks with a local resident before escorting them home at a roadblock in Portapique, N.S. on Wednesday, April 22, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan HALIFAX - The RCMP says that three of the four semi-automatic weapons used by a gunman during last month's mass shooting in Nova Scotia are believed to have come from the United States, but the agency continues to withhold some key details. A news release issued Monday doesn't give the model or calibre of two rifles and two handguns that the gunman had when he started the rampage in Portapique, a small community west of Truro. The investigators said in the release one semi-automatic weapon was obtained by the killer in Canada, but they didn't specify whether it was a rifle or a handgun. The Mounties say the four guns were in Gabriel Wortman's possession when he killed 13 people in Portapique on the night of April 18 and nine more people in other towns the next day. The release also says the 51-year-old denturist used an accelerant to set fire to buildings, noting he had a significant supply of gasoline at his Portapique home. Observers of the gun control issue in Canada say details on what firearms are used are key to informed discussion, as debate continues over the Liberals' recent announcement of a ban on 1,500 military-style assault firearms would prevent similar incidents. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair confirmed in an email sent by his staff that the two semi-automatic rifles used in the mass shooting are now on the prohibited list. He has left it to the RCMP to indicate the model and calibre. But the RCMP said Monday it needs to keep those details confidential as its investigation is ongoing. The Mounties also said the matter of who brought the weapons used into Canada is still being jointly investigated with the Canada Border Services Agency. Andrew Somerset, author of "Arms: the Culture and Credo of the Gun," said in an interview there is little evidence the Liberal gun control measures would prevent a similar mass shooting. "Honestly, what this really shows us is that a lot of Canada's problem with guns actually originates in the United States," he wrote in an email. "The lack of regulation in the United States, and the dominant gun culture of the United States, not only limits what we can reasonably do in terms of legislation in Canada ... but also creates this ongoing hazard for Canadians." Blair has defended the move against assault-style rifles as a first step in the government's overall gun-control plan and has said he'll introduce legislation that creates a new framework for classification to ensure federal intentions can't be easily overridden. He's said the current classification regime permitted manufacturers to bring in a number of different variants that got around the restrictions. Blake Brown, a Saint Mary's University history professor and author of "Arming and Disarming: A History of Gun Control in Canada," said in an email he believes the Liberal prohibition on some assault-style guns is a useful response to the mass shooting. "I think it is reasonable to believe that limiting the domestic legal supply of some semi-automatic firearms, combined with reducing the flow of illegal guns from the United States, could in the long term reduce the likelihood of mass shooting events in Canada," he said in an email. A media consortium is currently before the Nova Scotia courts attempting to gain more information about the details of the mass shooting through the release of search warrants that have been carried out. On Monday, another hearing was set for May 19, when David Coles, the lawyer for the media consortium, says it's expected that redacted copies of some of the warrants would be received by the judge. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Meanwhile, in Monday's RCMP release, investigators also say they have identified the supplier of materials used to create the RCMP decals that were on the gunman's replica patrol car. They said the decals were created without the permission of the business owner, and that the business is co-operating with police in the investigation. In addition, the RCMP says it has specialists conducting a psychological autopsy of the gunman, with the goal of gaining insight into why he committed the murders. His victims included an RCMP officer, two nurses, two correctional officers, a family of three, a teacher and some of his neighbours in Portapique. A Mountie fatally shot the gunman at a gas station in Enfield, N.S., about 90 kilometres south of Portapique on the morning of April 19. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2020. New Delhi, May 11 : Shiprocket, a New Delhi-based tech-enabled logistics aggregator, on Monday announced its Series C round of financing to the tune of $13 million (approximately Rs 100 crore). The round was led by Tribe Capital LLC, a frontrunning Silicon Valley-based investment firm, along with Innoven Capital and existing investor Bertelsmann India Investments, Shiprocket said. As part of the agreement, Arjun Sethi from Tribe Capital will join Shiprocket's Board of Directors. The latest capital infusion brings Shiprocket's total funding to $26 million. Shiprocket said the investment will be used to fuel its product development roadmap which includes hiring top talent across the data science and engineering domains. The funds will also be focused on the company's new initiatives including its international expansions. "As a truly disruptive platform, Shiprocket has offered numerous SMEs a cost-effective and world-class solution for e-commerce shipping," Saahil Goel, CEO and Co-founder, Shiprocket, said in a statement. "The boom in D2C brands and social selling across India has been facilitated by companies like ours who are committed to providing advanced technology and fulfillment solutions to online sellers enabling them to compete with larger brands and marketplaces," Goel added. Launched by Bigfoot Retail Solutions in 2017, Shiprocket turned profitable in FY 18-19 with an annualised revenue run rate between $25-30 million. Shiprocket processes more than 2 million monthly shipments, enabling more than 35,000 sellers to sell directly to their consumers across India. "We invested in Shiprocket because they empower the small to medium businesses that truly represent the heart and soul of any emerging economy," said Arjun Sethi, Co-founder, Tribe Capital. Partnering with over 17 logistics providers, Shiprocket's tech-enabled logistics platform connects merchants, consumers and supply chain partners across 26,000 pin codes pan-India and over 220 countries and territories globally. How do you make sure that someone sick with the coronavirus stays home? As the United States begins reopening its economy, state officials are wondering whether technology being used to enforce house arrest orders could be used on coronavirus carriers. High-tech tools have been used in some cases to follow confirmed carriers over the past few weeks. But more widespread use has been held back by a larger legal question: Can officials require electronic observation without a court order or evidence of criminal activity? This question has been raised in places like Hawaii, notes Ronald Kouchi, president of the Hawaii state senate. His state considered the use of high-tech tools to enforce stay-at-home orders given to arriving air travelers. One idea was to require confirmed carriers to wear GPS-enabled devices around their arms. The other was to require those infected to equip their smartphones with tracking apps -- software programs able to report their movements. Kouchi said Hawaiian officials were concerned that many travelers were violating the states 14-day quarantine order. But he said that the plan for using such technology to follow incoming travelers was halted after Hawaiis top law enforcement official raised concerns. America is America, Kouchi told the Reuters news agency, noting individual rights and freedoms in the country. Hawaiis COVID-19 Joint Information Center released a statement to the office of the states attorney general. It reads: the ideas being evaluated for tracking those under mandatory quarantine in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are right now just that, ideas. Similar ideas have already been executed in a few other states. Seven people who broke quarantine rules in Louisville, Kentucky were court-ordered to wear GPS-tracking devices, notes Amy Hess, the citys chief of public services. She told Reuters that while she had little interest in the devices, state law requires the enforcement of stay-at-home orders to protect public health. We dont want to take away peoples freedoms but at the same time we have a pandemic, she said. Industry officials said they had taken calls from state and local governments about repurposing their high-tech tools for quarantine enforcement. They would not identify the possible buyers. Kris Keyton works for E-Cell, a company based in Arkansas. Keyton told Reuters he had recently spoken with a state agency that wanted to make changes to his detainee-tracking smartphone app for quarantine enforcement. He said the changes the agency requested affected the softwares appearance, but not what it does. Unexplored territory The industry has two main ways for following offenders: One is through the traditional ankle bracelet. The device is connected to the bottom of a persons leg, so their movements can be observed with GPS technology. The other is through a smartphone app. It can used either in combination with facial or voice recognition technology or connected through Bluetooth to a device placed around the end of the arm. One version of the app-and-wrist band solution is already being used in Hong Kong to enforce quarantines on incoming travelers. Poland uses a facial recognition-powered version of the technology that asks users to upload a selfie to prove they are indoors. Other governments are weighing similar technology, said Robert Magaletta of Shadowtrack Technologies in Louisiana. Magaletta told Reuters he was in talks with countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. In a call with reporters, Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union noted that some governments were considering the idea of using smartphones in place of ankle devices. As a technological matter that probably would be effective as long as too much precision is not expected, Stanley said. But he warned that efforts to enforce public health measures often create more problems. Magaletta also said he expects problems as far as the federal government was concerned. He added that he is more worried about observing patients with COVID-19 than he was about enforcing house arrests for criminals. Its uncharted territory, Magaletta said. Im Bryan Lynn. Raphael Satter reported this story for Reuters news agency. George Grow adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story GPS n. short for global position system, mapping based on the reception of signals from satellites in Earths orbit quarantine n. a period in which peoples movements are restricted because they might have been infected with disease evaluate v. to study or consider pandemic n. a disease spreading over a wide area and affecting large numbers of people uncharted adj. unexplored or unknown We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. They braved great risks to flee danger in their Balochistan homeland in southwestern Pakistan, where thousands have been killed and disappeared amid a separatist rebellion that began two decades ago. But hundreds of exiled Baluch activists are again facing anxiety after the mysterious disappearance and death of an exiled journalist from Balochistan in Sweden. Baluch activists in Europe, many of them still striving to highlight the plight of their homeland, say Sajid Hussains case has revived their fears of being killed or forcefully disappeared. Such fears prompted many, particularly those associated with nationalist organizations, to flee the region after violence engulfed Balochistan Province following the 2006 killing of a nationalist leader. Malik Baloch, an exiled Baluch activist in Sweden, was a close friend of Hussain, whose body was discovered in the Swedish city of Uppsala late last month. Since they found Sajids dead body, I am are very careful and always watchful, he told Radio Mashaal. I check my surroundings and look for anything unusual. In a statement earlier this month, Swedish police said they were conducting investigations after identifying Hussains body. "The autopsy has led to the conclusion that suspicion of a crime has decreased, but still some police investigation actions will be taken, the statement said. Hussain was reported missing in early March. But the possible links between Hussains death, his years of reporting on the unrest in Balochistan, and his ties to nationalist factions have now frightened exiled Baluch activists in Europe. Many say they no longer feel safe years after fleeing Balochistan. Since 2000, international and Pakistani rights watchdogs have documented hundreds of cases of illegal killings and forced disappearances in Balochistan. The region has seen thousands of civilians, soldiers, and guerillas killed in attacks by Baluch separatists, Pakistani forces, and Islamist militants. Young men associated with Baluch separatist militant groups or political factions supporting their insurgency make up a large part of those killed and disappeared. While the Pakistani authorities deny any involvement, they have not solved any cases of illegal killings or disappearances. The current fears among Baluch exiles in Europe follow a Pakistani government campaign to reach out to European authorities in an attempt to discredit exiled separatist leaders by accusing them of violence. Peaking in 2017, the campaign resulted in travel bans and other restrictions for some leaders. Hammal Baloch, 31, another exiled activist in Germany, says Hussains mysterious death has dented their confidence about feeling safe in Europe. Before Sajids death, I used to go out and roam around with no fear, he told Radio Mashaal. But I now feel as if I have returned to Balochistan because like when I lived there, I now feel that I might not return home safely, he added. I fear being killed or picked up. Baloch spent a month in prison after protesting the August 2006 killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, a senior Baluch nationalist leader, by Pakistani security forces. He eventually fled Pakistan after he was implicated in numerous court cases. Many Baluch activists first fled to Arab Gulf countries, where a large Baluch diaspora offered some support. But most eventually fled to Europe after realizing that tough laws in the monarchic nations impeded their campaigning and freedom of speech. Some realized that exile in the Gulf didnt guarantee they were beyond the reach of the Pakistani authorities. In February 2019, global rights watchdog Amnesty International criticized the reported detention of an exiled Baluch activist in the United Arab Emirates. On 26 December 2018, Emirati security forces detained Pakistani national Rashid Hussain Brohi without an arrest warrant, the organization said. He has been held incommunicado since then. Emirati authorities have not disclosed his location, any cause for arrest, or any charges being raised against him. The organization expressed concern over his fate. There are strong indications that Emirati officials are preparing to deport or extrajudicially render Rashid Hussain to Pakistan, where he was involved in Baloch activism prior to moving to the Emirates, the statement said. There is reason to fear his life would be in danger if he were forcibly returned to Pakistan. Brohis whereabouts are still unknown. Abdullah Abbas fled Pakistan in 2011 after unidentified men beat him near the university in the southwestern city of Karachi where he was studying. He was a member of the Azad faction of Baloch Students Organization, a separatist group. Security forces later raided his familys house and the apartment he was living in. Surveillance and intimidation of nationalist activists is still a common compliant in Pakistan. Now living in Germany, he says the fear he feels is like when he lived in Balochistan. I am being told that my activities are being monitored whenever I leave my house, he told Radio Mashaal, without elaborating on who he believes is shadowing him. Abbas, 32, now works for the Human Rights Council of Balochsitan, a nongovernmental organization working in France, Sweden, and Britain. He says their estimates suggest that currently more than 600 Baluch activists are seeking asylum in Europe. Out of these, some 400 are seeking protection in Germany, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants since 2015. Around 1,100 workers at P&O Ferries are to be made redundant as part of a plan to make the business 'viable and sustainable'. The proposal involves more than a quarter of the workforce losing their jobs, the firm said. Travel restrictions have resulted in a collapse in passengers on its routes, which include Dover to Calais, Hull to Rotterdam and Liverpool to Dublin. Stormy weather: Travel restrictions have resulted in a collapse in passengers on P&O's routes P&O also transports 15 per cent of all goods in and out of the UK. But a number of ships have been taken out of service as the company fights for survival. A spokesman for P&O Ferries, which is owned by Dubai-based DP World, said: 'Regrettably, therefore, due to the reduced number of vessels we are operating and the ongoing downturn in business, we are beginning consultation proceedings to make around 1,100 of our colleagues redundant.' It emerged in early April that P&O Ferries was seeking a 150m bailout from the Government to avoid collapse, but no offer was made. It is understood the firm's proposal was based on running its full complement of 21 ships. But the company is now only operating 15 vessels, with reduced frequency, and expects to reach an agreement with the Government for a lower amount of money to secure critical supply routes. It emerged last month that DP World was set to pay shareholders a 270m dividend. P&O began operating ferries in the 1960s. Before the pandemic, its ships carried 8.4m passengers on 27,000 sailings a year across the Channel, North Sea and Irish Sea. Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT union, said: 'This is devastating news and an appalling betrayal of the P&O workforce. What is utterly shameful is P&O have been kept afloat by our members and the taxpayer whilst their owners have been paying out hundreds of millions in dividends in Dubai. The biggest fear is that these jobs will never return to Dover or Hull.' Connor Crosby runs Ignition Visuals, a video production company in Lowell, Mass. After painstakingly calculating how much he could receive as the sole proprietor, he asked Citizens Financial Group for $15,000 under the paycheck program. Citizens, however, gave him only $9,000, without explaining why it had reduced the amount. An S.B.A. employee told Mr. Crosby that it was his bank, not the government agency, that determined how much money to give him. After The New York Times asked Citizens about his case, Mr. Crosby got a call from a bank representative saying he would be receiving the remaining $6,000. Given the scale and complexity of the program and the very short time frame available to put it in place, it is not surprising that some errors may have been made in the early days of its execution, said Peter Lucht, a Citizens spokesman. We are committed to identifying and addressing such cases so that we can get these applicants the maximum possible loan amount. Another Citizens customer, Alexander Ball, was told on April 20 by a bank representative that he wouldnt get stimulus money because he had overdrawn his account trying to pay bills after losing his piecemeal work as a delivery driver. A week later, in response to an inquiry by The Times, Mr. Lucht said the banks policy was to grant overdrawn customers access by temporarily crediting their accounts to zero out the overdrafts but only if they called and asked. He said the representatives response to Mr. Ball appeared to have been a mistake and suggested he try again to get the bank to release his funds. Mr. Ball eventually got the money on April 28. Bank of America has also faced complaints that it gave small-business owners a fraction of what they asked for. We have funded more than 250,000 loans so far and continue to process applications, Bill Halldin, a Bank of America spokesman, said in an email. When a client has a concern about their loan amount, we review it. Jacob Leibenluft, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and an economic adviser to President Barack Obama, said he could understand the motivation for enlisting banks to help distribute aid. But theres no question that any form of additional small-business assistance needs to be both better targeted to businesses that are experiencing the greatest need and take that rationing or decision-making processes out of the banks. Many banks, including the countrys four largest lenders and several regional and community institutions, are now fighting lawsuits filed by groups of would-be customers claiming they were mistreated or even defrauded when they tried to apply for help. COVID control: Gazette to enforce tough guidelines View(s): A Gazette giving legal teeth to measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is due to be issued this weekend, as Colombo and a few other districts open under a controlled mechanism, a high-level health official said. The Gazette to be issued under the Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance would ensure social distancing and other measures such as adequate facilities for hand-hygiene, as the country is opened up after the lockdown, Health Services Director-General Dr. Anil Jasinghe told the Sunday Times. We cannot afford to keep the country closed for a long period, he said, pointing out that the Gazette would allow for legal action to be taken if social distancing and hand-hygiene facilities are not in place. He said that in addition to the guidelines already developed for the country to adhere to after the lockdown was eased, more specific guidelines which would go very deep were also in the pipeline. This is while the legal empowerment through the latest Gazette would help maintain the gains achieved during the lockdown. Legal power would be vested in me as DG of Health Services and I would be able to delegate some of these powers to the police to act on my behalf and also seek the assistance of the armed forces, he said. A seven-member operational and monitoring cell headed by Dr. Hemantha Herath, the National Coordinator for Disaster Management, has been established to work closely with different levels of healthcare staff. These levels are the Medical Officers of Health (MOHs), the Regional Directors of Health (RDHS) and the Provincial Directors of Health (PDHS) and also the hospitals to support OPD and triaging protocols, it is learnt. This cell would be in constant touch with the divisional health units, Dr. Jasinghe added. The Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance of 1897 makes provision for preventing the introduction into Sri Lanka of the plague and all contagious or infectious diseases and for preventing the spread of such diseases in and outside Sri Lanka. Under this ordinance, the Minister may, from time to time, make and when made revoke or vary, such regulations as may seem necessary or expedient for the purpose of preventing the introduction into Sri Lanka of any disease. All regulations made under this ordinance shall be published in the Gazette and shall from the date of such publication have the same force as if they had been enacted in this ordinance, it adds. Children with intellectual disabilities and autism are missing school as parents struggle to provide education, a survey has found. For children with complex behaviour and medical needs, home education is very difficult or non-existent. Inclusion Ireland conducted a survey of 733 parents of children with disabilities who are trying to home educate. If you have any disability or COVID-19 issues or queries please contact us for information and support at 0818 559891 or covid19support@inclusionireland.ie pic.twitter.com/Fwe4eicvvW Inclusion Ireland (@InclusionIre) May 11, 2020 Some of the parents were working from home, work on the front line and are isolating at home or minding other children or elderly adults. The survey found that the experience of parents across the country varies widely, with some children having daily class via Zoom and access to educational materials and smart applications from their teacher, but some other children are having no contact or education provision. The survey also found that a small group of children who have no access to any form of technology to engage in virtual/online schoolwork. There is also a group of children with complex needs who cannot access education, unless it is provided in person and for these children, education has stopped. Enda Egan, CEO of Inclusion Ireland, said: Home education is not working well for most families who have a child with an intellectual disability or autism. There are huge barriers to educating at home for parents, who are not teachers in most cases. Some parents state that their child presents with behaviours that can be a challenge or have poor attention skills that require the support of a skilled teacher and not a parent. Slightly more than 10% have no access to any technology at all for schoolwork. These children need to be supported immediately by the Department of Education and Skills with a technology solution or direct access to teaching as they have no access to education at present, Mr Egan added. Most families have access to some form of technology such as a laptop, smartphone or iPad to access schoolwork, but this is often shared with a sibling or parent. Also, 45% of respondents do not have access to high-speed broadband, meaning no access to the internet or access only through 4G. Mr Egan added: Inclusion Ireland was seeking an urgent meeting with Minister for Education Joe McHugh to discuss the emerging crisis in special education. Children with disabilities require a range of supports including virtual or 1:1 access to a teacher (when public health allows), speech therapy, occupational therapy, technology for remote learning, lesson plans from the childs Individual Education Plan and educational materials such as work sheets, arts and crafts. Last year, Billboard magazine came under intense criticism over how its charts accounted for sales bundles when artists tack a copy of their new album as a bonus for buying a T-shirt or other merchandise, or a concert ticket. Long a useful marketing tool, bundles have run rampant in the streaming age, leading to concerns about chart manipulation. Billboard tweaked its rules in January. But complaints have flared up again over albums that come bundled with concert tickets during the coronavirus pandemic, when touring has been halted. Is it fair to count an album tacked on to a ticket for a show that may be delayed for months or might not happen at all? The contest on this weeks album chart is a case in point, as the country star Kenny Chesney beat out the hip-hop giant Drake by a narrow margin that largely came down to bundles versus streams. Chesneys new album, Here and Now, had the equivalent of 233,000 sales in the United States, and was credited with moving 222,000 copies as a complete package, according to Nielsen Music. The album had just 13 million streams the lowest for a No. 1 album since Celine Dions Courage late last year, which reached the top with 3.8 million streams (and a ticket bundle). Sex workers in Zambia are helping to trace people who have contracted coronavirus after a surge in new infections at the border town of Nakonde, the health minister has said. Chitalu Chilufya said 76 of 85 reported new cases in the northern town were either sex workers or lorry drivers. "Sex workers have been very co-operative and they are giving us all the leads we want," Mr Chilufya said. Zambia has confirmed 267 Covid-19 infections, with seven deaths. Last week, President Edgar Lungu announced the reopening of restaurants, casinos and gyms after a month-long shutdown to enforce social distancing measures. What did Zambia's health minister say? "The situation in Nakonde remains grave, and the president is concerned," Mr Chilufya said on Sunday, adding that Mr Lungu had ordered the border to be "temporarily closed." Nakonde streets are usually lined by lorries leaving Zambia or entering from neighbouring Tanzania, the BBC's Kennedy Gondwe in Lusaka reports. Lorry drivers are seen as a high-risk group because they stop at several towns along the way and are known to have multiple sex partners, he added. "They [sex workers] are being very co-operative in our investigations, and we don't want to stigmatise or discriminate against them. They are being very useful in contact tracing," Mr Chilufya said. "We had a case where one of them appeared with symptoms and told us about a client who was a lorry driver of a foreign jurisdiction and even gave us a contact number. We called that number and we were told the person we called had Covid-19," the minister added. Health authorities in East Africa have expressed concern that lorry drivers, listed as essential workers, could be spreading coronavirus. Strict checks, including tests by Ugandan authorities, have caused long tailbacks at its border with Kenya. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Cheyenne River Lakota Chairman Harold Frazier said the South Dakota Governor never contacted him, but made fiery statements in the media. Regardless of the threats, Lakota here maintain their checkpoints and are focused on saving lives and halting the spread of coronavirus. By Brenda NorrellCensored NewsEAGLE BUTTE, South Dakota -- Cheyenne River Lakota Chairman Harold Frazier responded to the South Dakota Governor's "fiery rhetoric" in the media and said the governor never contacted his office with the threats toward border checkpoints.Chairman Frazier reaffirmed the tribe's position to protect its members during this time, as the coronavirus spreads through South Dakota.Chairman Frazier said South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem did not contact him -- but instead made statements in the media with threats over the tribe's border checkpoints.In her media statements, Gov. Noem threatened to file suit if the Cheyenne River Lakota and Oglala Lakota if they did not take down their health checkpoints at their borders."We found it in the press, in the media," Chairman Frazier said during his live weekly update on Saturday. Since he was never officially contacted, he said he didn't know when the 48 hours ends."There is nothing more important than human life," Chairman Frazier said. "As human beings, we have a right to live. That is one of the greatest rights that we have, the right to live."Chairman Frazier said prior to the Treaty making era, Lakota lived under the Creator's law, and after Treaties came about, Lakotas started living under man-made laws which can be changed by people.During his weekly address on May 9, Chairman Frazier said, there have been 77 tests with 76 negative and one positive. We have 240 test kits available. He pointed out that there are new cases in South Dakota, including those at Sisseton and Rosebud.The virus does not care who you are or where you live, he said.In a letter of support to Chairman Frazier from Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Delbert Hopkins, Jr., pointed out that a non-member entered the Enemy Swim housing district of Sisseton-Wahpeton and infected nearly one dozen people over a period of a few weeks."Let's the checkpoints stay until it is safe to remove them," said Hopkins, at the Lake Traverse Nation in northeastern South Dakota.Chairman Frazier responded to the governor's fiery rhetoric with a written statement."The English definition of consultation is "a meeting with an expert or professional, such as a medical doctor, in order to seek advice." In the Lakota language, woglaka means "to speak about something." In meeting with county commissioners, municipal, South Dakota Department of Transportation, Public schools and Federal agencies we have met the definition of consultation in both of our languages.""We have not stopped any state or commercial functions as you claim in your request," Frazier said in his statement."I absolutely agree that we need to work together during this time of crisis, however you continuing to interfere in our efforts to do what science and facts dictate seriously undermine our ability to protect everyone on the reservation," the statement said. "Ignorant statements and fiery rhetoric encourage individuals already under stress from this situation to carry out irrational actions."Read the complete article at Censored NewsCopyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News When I accepted an administrative position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, friends warned me that I would not fit in as a conservative. I dismissed their concerns as hyperbole, an instance of believing universities are more politicized than they actually are.After eight long months, however, I had to admit that they were right. The political atmosphere in the college bureaucracy does not tolerate political disagreement and is overwhelmingly left-leaning.Administrators keep large universities running and help students access the extra services for which they pay. University staff handle finances, work in human resources, or, in my case, serve as program administrators. Most of my job was focused on marketing events and making sure vendors get paid. I would do the small behind-the-scenes work that keeps a program running.Though those basic duties are non-political, the office environment can be anything but.That point was brought home to me when, one day, my supervisor walked into my office and said,I was dumbfounded.She expressed concern with my general demeanor and my desire to take classes-which is an employee benefit at all UNC system campuses. Nor was it the first time she admonished me for enrolling in classes, advising that it would be "better for the department" and those I worked with if I waited until I had more experience in my job to take classes.She refused to cite any specific issues with my job performance, even after three meetings between herself and my program director. Additionally, she reprimanded me for attending a meal with a visiting lecturer which the department offers as a benefit to faculty and staff and warned me that I needed to "learn my place."Of greater concern, she took issue with me talking to students about my religious and political views and threatened to have me removed from my job if she got another complaint that I shared my views.What few conversations I had with students were with friends after work or at events specifically designed to foster dialogue on campus. Just a few weeks prior to that conversation with my supervisor, the program I coordinated partnered with the Listen First Project and Living Room Conversations to host an event to encourage healthy dialogue among the campus community. She would never specify what was said or done to cause an issue, so I am still not sure if any complaints about me were actually made.Talking politics or religion is not generally good practice at work, especially when holding a view that contradicts majority opinion. I was always very cautious about who I would share my views with, though no one is shy about sharing their opinions and beliefs at Chapel Hill.If a student or coworker would ask me directly, I was happy to share my beliefs with them. As a Christian and seminarian, I am very open about my faith and was approached about it twice by curious students, who spoke with other students I knew. At one point, I even had two students commend me for my neutrality on an issue.Another flashpoint for my supervisor was offering support to a campus student group.Having been actively involved with Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) as an undergrad, I connected with Chapel Hill YAL students and offered to be their advisor, thinking it a good way to give back and contribute to the intellectual community on campus. To my supervisor, doing so was apparently too much to tolerate. She claimed that being YAL's advisor would cause the UnKoch My Campus movement to criticize our department.Our program maintained a politically neutral stance and had this reputation on campus, something of which the program director and students were particularly proud. To truly remain politically neutral, however, workers need an environment where they are not pressured by supervisors to believe or not believe certain things. Political neutrality isn't only refusing to endorse political candidates. It also involves accepting political differences and respecting others.While at Chapel Hill, for example, my department hosted a series of speakers who shared the belief that gender does not exist. Grad students would often wear shirts expressing support for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton when tutoring students or at events. Professors would make outlandish comments to students about how awful Republicans or conservatives are. I sat in on two sessions of a graduate course in the department and, during both of them, the professor made blatantly political asides such asOther administrators were also quick to share their political opinions. After the death of David Koch, a coworker made a joke about how they were celebrating the death of "such an evil, despicable old bastard" and invited me to join. Students walking down the hall laughed; "Hell yeah," one student said.A strong insistence on political neutrality while in the office would be just. Many workplaces don't approve of political discussion during business hours, and Chapel Hill serves students and professors who shouldn't feel pressured to think one way or another. However, Chapel Hill's administrators do not insist on political neutrality at the university. They do not even see it as a norm that is desirable.My problem wasn't unique to my department. When I talked with my program director and others in the appropriate chain of authority, nobody wanted to get involved. The bureaucratic culture at Chapel Hill does not actually insist on neutrality; instead, it favors the expression of liberal and progressive views and disapproves of anything else.I was not alone in my experiences. I heard stories from students and administrators about how they were made uncomfortable and excluded for their beliefs. One student said the journalism school staff could be just as callous, citing a time when an administrator was worried about the student's journalistic ethics because she wanted to intern for a conservative news outlet.We as a people are better than this-our public universities should be too.Even with First Amendment protections guaranteed by the North Carolina Free Speech Law ( State Law 2017-196 ), campuses can still be restrictive and harmful to intellectual pursuits on campus. As pointed out in a Martin Center article , there is still work to be done on campus.Shortly after my conversation with my supervisor and program director, I resigned from UNC. Upon leaving, I confronted this supervisor about how her words affected me, to which she was short and vapidly apologetic. She refused to acknowledge that she was out of bounds.she said.Perhaps she is right. Yet it is clear that Chapel Hill will let some opinions be, while others will be pushed off campus. Chicago, Illinois Ramadan for Chicagos only Rohingya Culture Center is not just a time for prayer, community and service, but also a time for survival. Every year, the centre, located in the heart of the major United States citys bustling South Asian community, hosts nightly iftars for the families it serves, pairing them with fundraising drives through local mosques to support the programming it provides to the citys Rohingya refugees who have settled here. About 12 percent of the centres programming expenses, and the majority of its zakat fund (the obligatory charity required of all Muslims) for rental assistance and food distribution, comes from donations usually given during Ramadan, according to employees of the centre. But this year, the coronavirus shutdown has shuttered the centre and local mosques. Families who once attended the centres iftars are holding these meals in their homes instead. And without the annual Ramadan funding drive bringing in donations, the cultural centres future remains uncertain, at a time when the community needs its services more than ever. The centre was started in 2016 by Nasir Zakaria, a Rohingya man originally from Myanmar, who arrived in Chicago with his wife and baby, a suitcase and not much else three years earlier. Zakaria escaped Myanmar, where the countrys Rohingya minority has been persecuted for decades, in 1991, before spending about 20 years working various jobs in Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia before coming to the United States. In 2016, he opened the Rohingya Culture Center. The centre has served hundreds of Rohingya refugees who fled anti-Muslim persecution in Myanmar, where they are one of the most oppressed demographics in the world. In Chicago, where about 1,600 Rohingya refugees have resettled, they rely on the centre for citizenship and English-language classes, Quran study, and job training and placement. We have a budget for two, maybe three months, Zakaria said. I am very worried about the centre. He added that they had to cancel English as a Second Language (ESL) and citizenship classes because they could not pay the teachers. Extremely vulnerable The coronavirus shutdown has impacted Chicagos wider Rohingya community as well. In general, this population is extremely vulnerable, said Laura Toffenetti, the centres assistant director. Most refugees do not speak English and because many have only recently begun to settle in Chicago, there is no pre-existing diaspora that can bring networks and intergenerational resources to provide support. The centre has helped many of them find work at OHare International Airport and various factories in the area, but many workers have had their hours slashed or were laid off in recent weeks, Zakaria said. Making their situation even more precarious is the fact that the neighbourhood where most of the Rohingya refugees live in has seen more than 750 confirmed coronavirus cases. Some of those who held jobs have received a one-time $1,200 stimulus cheque. What little unemployment insurance the centres caseworkers have helped laid-off workers obtain barely covers their rent. Many have family in Myanmar who rely on them to send money because the government there prohibits the Rohingya from holding jobs there. About 50 families who have received asylum but not yet been granted work permits are not eligible for stimulus cheques or unemployment benefits, and are struggling to make ends meet. Everyone needs money, Zakaria added. The people who have jobs paid [April] rent. Next month, theyre worried about. Rohingya refugees rely on the centre for Quran study, citizenship and English-language classes, and job training and placement [Courtesy of Rohingya Cultural Center] Toffenetti said that in the past, local mosques have donated food boxes to needy families during Ramadan, and some are now providing gift cards instead. And while the centre is closed, its caseworkers are still working to connect refugees with service organisations. Were still talking to people on the phone and scrambling to try to find money for people to be able to pay their rent and buy food, Toffenetti said. Until recently, the centre had relied on Ramadan donations and a grant to fund its operations. Toffenetti said this year, they hired a fundraising consultant and put together a plan that included giving presentations at mosques. But the pandemic and shutdown threw that into disarray. Were in a really financially precarious position right now, Toffenetti said. With the coronavirus, we have almost no ability to [raise] money, Zakaria added. Our community and the cultural centre really need help. Sri Lanka makes cremations compulsory for COVID-19 victims, but Muslims and activists urge authorities to allow burials. The grief-stricken family of Zubair Fathima Rinosa in Sri Lankas capital Colombo is demanding justice and explanation after tests, released two days after her body had been cremated, showed that the 44-year-old Muslim woman did not die from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Mohammed Sajid, one of Rinosas four sons, said his mother was cremated on May 5 as part of Sri Lankas controversial policy of mandatory cremation of all coronavirus victims in violation of traditional Islamic funeral practices. He says his brother signed a consent form for cremation under duress from authorities. However, two days later, Rinosas test results showed she did not die of coronavirus. On May 7, we learned through a media release that there had been an error in the initial testing of my mother for the virus. She did not die of COVID-19, he said. Sajid said his father cried painfully after it emerged that his mother was wrongfully cremated. My father was crying nonstop. He kept saying: I can accept someday that she is gone, but not that she was cremated.' Against basic religious right Four of the nine who have died from the disease were Muslims. All of them were cremated, which goes against the Islamic tradition of burying the dead. The family is grieving. Not only have they lost her, but they have also been deprived of the basic religious right of burial. Ali Zahir Moulana, a former Sri Lanka Muslim Congress member of parliament The Buddhist-majority South Asian island nation originally agreed on burials but amended the guidelines on April 11 making cremations of COVID-19 victims mandatory a step Muslims say deprives them of their basic religious right. The family is grieving. Not only have they lost her, but they have also been deprived of the basic religious right of burial. They were also treated very badly by the authorities, Ali Zahir Moulana, former Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) member of parliament, told Al Jazeera. We urge the authorities to take all relevant precautionary measures in a way that does not dehumanise individuals. The island nations top Ulama body urged the government to allow the burial. We wish to reiterate that the Muslim community stand on this matter has always been that a Muslim deceased due to COVID-19 should have the option of being buried, in line with the WHO guidelines and as implemented in more than 180 countries, since it is an integral part of our faith and a religious obligation of the community towards the deceased, All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama said in a statement. Prominent Muslim activists and personalities have expressed their concerns against the ban on burials which they see as part of anti-Muslim rhetoric amid the pandemic. Ali Sabry, the presidents counsel, said the governments cremation order was in disregard to guidelines by the World Health Organization (WHO). If the decision-makers, having considered all facts and aspects and have reached a decision based on scientific, medical or logical concerns, I have no issues with it and people must comply with it, he told Al Jazeera. The island nations top Ulama body urged the government to allow burial of coronavirus victims [EPA] Ethnic and religious bias Buddhist nationalists and section of media have blamed Muslims, who form nearly 10 percent of the population, for the spread of the virus that has, worldwide, killed more than 280,000 people and infected at least four million people. This is part of their racist agenda, where they are telling the rest of the country that 'we will teach the Muslims a lesson'. Hilmy Ahamed, vice president of Muslim Council of Sri Lanka Hilmy Ahamed, vice president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, told Al Jazeera extremist Buddhist forces are using their influence in the government to punish the Muslim community. This is part of their racist agenda, where they are telling the rest of the country that we will teach the Muslims a lesson. There is widespread belief that Muslims did not vote for the current government so [what is happening now to Muslims] is political revenge. In a letter to the inspector general of police, organisations, including the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka and the Colombo District Mosques Federation, said social media posts and audio recordings deemed hate speech were circulating, the Hindu newspaper reported last month. The letter, dated April 12, said videos circulating on social media spread messages urging people to refrain from buying goods from Muslim-run businesses. Muslims have faced increased attacks from Buddhist hardliners following the end of the civil war between Tamil separatists and government forces in 2009. Businesses owned by the minority community have come under attack multiple times over the last 10 years. The island nation of 21 million withdrew the Muslim halal system of certifying foods in 2013 after campaigns by Buddhist nationalists. Following the deadly attacks on Easter Sunday last April, relations between the majority Sinhala Buddhists and Muslims have deteriorated further. Sajith Premadasa, who was the runner-up in the November presidential elections, also expressed his concerns at the religious bias. Every human being has to be treated equal. If we cannot uphold such moral and ethical values that are essential to a humane society, we are a failed state due to racism, inherent ethnic and religious bias, and marginalisation, Premadasa posted on Twitter. Stigmatisation of Muslims Rights groups such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International and other international bodies have also spoken out against the stigmatisation of Muslims. [The governments position on mandatory cremation] has been criticised by four United Nations special rapporteurs as a violation of freedom of religion. The special rapporteurs noted that Sri Lankan Muslims have been stigmatised and targeted with hate speech during the coronavirus pandemic, Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at HRW, said in a report released late last month. The threat that the coronavirus poses to all Sri Lankans provides the government with an opportunity to improve communal relations in the country, Ganguly said. To promote public safety, its important for the authorities to be seen as acting against discrimination, not promoting it. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which is the second-largest inter-governmental organisation after the UN, expressed concerns over the reports of escalating hate speech in the country. The OIC called on the authorities to ensure the safety, security and rights of the Muslim community, as well as commitment to respect their religious practices and rituals. Minorities and immigrants in several countries around the world, including Sri Lankas neighbour India, have faced attacks and have been blamed for the spread of the virus. On Friday, UN chief Antonio Guterres said the pandemic has unleashed a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scaremongering. Guterres said anti-foreigner sentiment, antisemitic conspiracy theories, and attacks against Muslims have increased. Sri Lankan authorities have denied accusations of discrimination against Muslims, maintaining that the cremation order applied to other religious groups as well, including minority Christians. But two Catholics, Oshala Lakmal Anil Herath and Ranmal Anthony Amerasinghe, challenged the cremation order in the Supreme Court in two separate petitions. Herath said the order was arbitrary and against the law. Despite several attempts by Al Jazeera to get a comment from Sri Lankas Presidential Office and Ministry of Health, no response had been received by the time of publication. Meanwhile, Sajid says he wants closure and justice. I do not want anyone to go through the trauma and agony that my family went through over the last week. Rukshana Rizwie contributed to the report from Colombo Authorities looking to find and test thousands after cases traced to a number of clubs and bars in Seoul. South Korean officials scrambled on Monday to contain a new coronavirus outbreak linked to Seouls nightlife that threatens the densely populated capital. Officials reported 35 new infections across the country as of midnight on Sunday, the highest numbers in more than a month, reinforcing fears the country could be entering a second wave outbreak. The 69 cases reported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) over the past 48 hours were equivalent to the number of cases recorded in the country over the entire previous week. Most of the new cases were linked to an outbreak at several Seoul nightclubs and bars. Authorities had tested 4,000 people who had patronised the nightspots, but were still trying to track down approximately 3,000 more. Our top priority is to minimise the spread of the infections in the greater Seoul area, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a meeting with government officials on Monday. Distancing in daily life Chung called for local governments to mobilise as many personnel as available and work with police to track down the missing patrons, some of whom authorities suspect of intentionally avoiding being tested. We should quickly find and test them and speed is key, he said. The spike in cases comes just as the South Korean government was easing some social-distancing restrictions and moving to fully reopen schools and businesses, in a transition from intensive social distancing to distancing in daily life. Seouls education superintendent proposed delaying the reopening of schools by a week in light of the new outbreak, Yonhap news agency reported. Classes were due to resume on Wednesday. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon pleaded with clubbers to be tested, warning that people caught evading testing could be fined. If Seoul was penetrated, the nation is at risk, he said, noting the city currently has fewer than 700 of the nations 10,909 cases, which include 256 deaths. In a speech to the nation on Sunday, President Moon Jae-in warned that its not over until its over, adding that the new cluster shows the virus can spread widely at any time. Two young children found dead inside a Wisconsin home nearly three months ago have still not been laid to rest as police are yet to make any arrests in the mysterious case. Little William Beyer, 5, and his younger sister Danielle, three, were found dead by police at around 7am on February 17 in the upper level of a duplex at 1201 Crooks Ave, Kaukauna, having suffered intentionally inflicted injuries. The person who dialled 911 from inside the home indicated their children needed help, Kaukauna Police Chief Jamie Graff said in a press conference at the time. But with more than eighty days having passed since their tragic deaths, police are still yet to name any suspects in the case or release details about what specifically happened to the two young children. Little William Beyer, 5, and his younger sister Danielle, three, were found dead by police at around 7am on February 17 in Kaukauna, Wisconsin Their bodies were found in the upper level of a duplex 1201 Crooks Ave, having suffered intentionally inflicted injuries At the time of their death, William and Danielle were understood to be living with their mother Melissa Schuth and step-dad Tyler Schith (above) inside the Kaukauna duplex Will and Dani were inseparable, a joint obituary for the children reads online. Will was Dani's protector and Dani always looked up to Will. They were both always smiling with their great big smiles and were just happy to always be together. The last official update came from police in early March, in which Graff said both local and state investigators were still working on the case. This is definitely not a cold case, Graff insisted to The Post-Crescent last week, failing to disclose anything further. An early request for information filed by the outlet prompted the police chief to say he couldnt release any information about the case because he didnt want to jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. I understand people are curious about the case, he said, but unfortunately I have no new details I can release. In the obituary, the children were listed as being survived by their mom and step-dad, Melissa and Tyler Schuth, as well as their biological father, Matt Beyer. At the time of their deaths, William and Danielle were understood to be living with their mother and Schuth inside the Kaukauna duplex. Meanwhile, Beyer was listed as living at an address in Manitowoc. Will and Dani were inseparable, a joint obituary for the children reads online. Will was Dani's protector and Dani always looked up to Will. They were both always smiling with their great big smiles and were just happy to always be together' Graff has indicated in the past that investigators talked to the parents of the children but has routinely refused to disclose any details of those conversations. Hes also declined to speak about suspects or possible motives The bodies of the two children still havent been released by authorities, which has prevented family members from having proper funerals for them Graff has indicated in the past that investigators talked to the parents of the children but has routinely refused to disclose any details of those conversations. Hes also declined to speak about potential suspects or any possible motives. A cousin of the two children, Dayzia Beyer, who said she occasionally babysat them, said she has been left frustrated by the polices silence. We haven't gotten any new information, other than they are gone, she said. It's like the coronavirus happened and they were forgotten. Dayzia said the bodies of the two children still havent been released by authorities, which has prevented them from having proper funerals for them. Former homicide detective Jim Trainum explained that a possible reason for the lack of information about the case could be because certain details regarding the deaths may only be known by the perpetrator, so releasing that information publicly could foil the investigation. We always want these things solved quickly, but if you move too fast because you're under pressure, you make missteps, he told the Post Crescent. Police might already know who committed the crime, even if they're still putting all of the pieces together before sending the case to prosecutors, Trainum said. The Kaukauna Police Department has not yet returned a DailyMail.com request for comment. COVID-19 lockdowns significantly impacting global air quality WASHINGTON--Levels of two major air pollutants have been drastically reduced since lockdowns began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a secondary pollutant - ground-level ozone - has increased in China, according to new research. Two new studies in AGU's journal Geophysical Research Letters find nitrogen dioxide pollution over northern China, Western Europe and the U.S. decreased by as much as 60 percent in early 2020 as compared to the same time last year. Nitrogen dioxide is a highly reactive gas produced during combustion that has many harmful effects on the lungs. The gas typically enters the atmosphere through emissions from vehicles, power plants and industrial activities. In addition to nitrogen dioxide, one of the new studies finds particulate matter pollution (particles smaller than 2.5 microns) has decreased by 35 percent in northern China. Particulate matter is composed of solid particles and liquid droplets that are small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and cause damage. The two new papers are part of an ongoing special collection of research in AGU journals related to the current pandemic. Such a significant drop in emissions is unprecedented since air quality monitoring from satellites began in the 1990s, said Jenny Stavrakou, an atmospheric scientist at the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy in Brussels and co-author of one of the papers. The only other comparable events are short-term reductions in China's emissions due to strict regulations during events like the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The improvements in air quality will likely be temporary, but the findings give scientists a glimpse into what air quality could be like in the future as emissions regulations become more stringent, according to the researchers. "Maybe this unintended experiment could be used to understand better the emission regulations," Stavrakou said. "It is some positive news among a very tragic situation." However, the drop in nitrogen dioxide pollution has caused an increase in surface ozone levels in China, according to one of the new studies. Ozone is a secondary pollutant formed when sunlight and high temperature catalyze chemical reactions in the lower atmosphere. Ozone is harmful to humans at ground-level, causing pulmonary and heart disease. In highly polluted areas, particularly in winter, surface ozone can be destroyed by nitrogen oxides, so ozone levels can increase when nitrogen dioxide pollution goes down. As a result, although air quality has largely improved in many regions, surface ozone can still be a problem, according to Guy Brasseur, an atmospheric scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, and lead author of one of the new studies. "It means that by just reducing the [nitrogen dioxide] and the particles, you won't solve the ozone problem," Brasseur said. Worldwide emissions Stavrakou and her colleagues used satellite measurements of air quality to estimate the changes in nitrogen dioxide pollution over the major epicenters of the outbreak: China, South Korea, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Iran and the United States. They found that nitrogen dioxide pollution decreased by an average of 40 percent over Chinese cities and by 20 to 38 percent over Western Europe and the United States during the 2020 lockdown, as compared to the same time in 2019. However, the study found nitrogen dioxide pollution did not decrease over Iran, one of the earliest and hardest-hit countries. The authors suspect this is because complete lockdowns weren't in place until late March and before that, stay-at-home orders were largely ignored. The authors did see a dip in emissions during the Iranian New Year holiday after March 20, but this dip is observed during the celebration every year. Air quality in China The second study looked at air quality changes in northern China where the virus was first reported and where lockdowns have been most strict. Brasseur analyzed levels of nitrogen dioxide and several other types of air pollution measured by 800 ground-level air quality monitoring stations in northern China. Brasseur and his colleague found particulate matter pollution decreased by an average of 35 percent and nitrogen dioxide decreased by an average of 60 percent after the lockdowns began on January 23. However, they found the average surface ozone concentration increased by a factor of 1.5-2 over the same time period. At ground level, ozone forms from complex reactions involving nitrogen dioxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), gases emitted by a variety of household and industrial products, but ozone levels can also be affected by weather conditions and other factors. ### AGU is an international association of more than 60,000 advocates and experts in Earth and space science. Through our initiatives, such as mentoring, professional development and awards, AGU members uphold and foster an inclusive and diverse scientific community. AGU also hosts numerous conferences, including the largest international Earth and space science meeting as well as serving as the leading publisher of the highest quality journals. Fundamental to our mission since our founding in 1919 is to live our values, which we do through our net zero energy building in Washington, D.C. and making the scientific discoveries and research accessible and engaging to all to help protect society and prepare global citizens for the challenges and opportunities ahead. Notes for journalists These two papers are freely available through June 15. Journalists and public information officers (PIOs) can download a PDF copy of the Stavrakou article here and the Brasseur article here. Journalists and PIOs may also request a copy of the final paper by emailing news@agu.org. Please provide your name, the name of your publication and your phone number. Neither the papers nor this press release are under embargo. Stavrakou paper title: "Impact of coronavirus outbreak on NO2 pollution assessed using TROPOMI and OMI observations" Authors: M. Bauwens, S. Compernolle, T. Stavrakou, J.-F. Muller, J. van Gent, J. Vlietinck, Huan Yu: Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Brussels, Belgium; H. Eskes, R. van der A, J. P. Veefkind: Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, Netherlands; P.F. Levelt: Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, Netherlands; Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands; C. Zehner: European Space Agency Centre for Earth Observation, Frascati, Italy. Brasseur paper title: "The Response in Air Quality to the Reduction of Chinese Economic Activities during the COVID-19 Outbreak" Authors: Xiaoqin Shi: Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany; Guy P. Brasseur: Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany; National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, United States; Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China. The following press release and accompanying image are available online at: http://news. agu. org/ press-release/ covid-19-lockdowns-significantly-impacting-global-air-quality/ AGU contact: Lauren Lipuma, +1 (202) 777-7396, news@agu.org Contact information for the researchers: Jenny Stavrakou, Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Brussels, Belgium: +32 477 067 415 (GMT+2), jenny@aeronomy.be Guy Brasseur, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany: +49 171 287 6106 (GMT+2), brasseur@ucar.edu This story has been published on: 2020-05-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Afghanistan's Defense Ministry says six soldiers were killed and five wounded in a Taliban attack on an army checkpoint in the eastern province of Laghman as a wave of violence threatens an accord aimed at ending fighting in the war-torn country. The Defense Ministry said in a statement on May 11 that the troops repelled the attackers, adding that the Taliban also suffered casualties though it did not provide specific figures. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack that occurred late on May 10. In a separate incident four bombs, one placed under a garbage bin and the other three by the side of the road, went off in northern Kabul on May 11, wounding four civilians, including a child, police said. The roadside bombs were spaced within 10-20 meters of one another, said Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz. The wounded child is a 12-year-old girl, Faramarz added. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in Kabul and its surroundings. The explosions in the Tahia Maskan area of Kabul city, targeted vehicles belonging to the National Directorate of Security (NDS), according to security officials. In a meeting with Taliban representative in Qatar last week, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad stressed the need for a cease-fire after an uptick in violence throughout the country. The Taliban has not carried out any large attacks in the capital since it signed a landmark deal with Washington in February meant to pave the way for peace in the country after more than 18 years of war. But the Afghan capital has been the scene of several smaller-scale attacks over the past week, including explosions from two hand grenades late on May 10 in the western part of Kabul. There were no casualties in that attack, according to Tariq Arian, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Meanwhile, an exchange of prisoners between the Afghan government and the Taliban has continued under the February deal that stipulates Kabul frees 5,000 Taliban prisoners, while the militants are to release 1,000 captives -- a move expected to lead to intra-Afghan negotiations. The government says it has freed 1,000 Taliban prisoners. The militants have confirmed the release of 300 Taliban members and said they have freed 225 Afghan soldiers -- a figure not confirmed by the government. With reporting by AP, dpa, AFP, and tolonews.com More than 100 staff at a Brisbane high school formed a guard of honour on Monday morning to welcome back their Year 12 students after six weeks apart. It was also the first time the final-year students wore their senior jerseys, which staff delivered to their houses on the final day of Term One, when the students couldn't collect them from the school. Staff at Brisbane's Bray Park State High School form a guard of honour to welcome back Year 12 students. On Monday, community kindy, prep as well as Years 1, 11 and 12 returned to their classrooms, as part of the state government's plan to reopen schools in two stages over the next three weeks. Bray Park State High School principal Peter Turner said staff waved "welcome back" signs and clapped the students through the school gates upon their return. The majority of seriously ill pregnant women were in their third trimester, the study found. (Getty Images) Pregnant women are not at higher risk of developing severe coronavirus symptoms, new research has suggested. As the coronavirus outbreak developed in the UK, the government classed pregnant women in the moderate risk category, based on evidence that pregnant women can sometimes be more at risk to viruses like the flu. The new study did note that the majority of pregnant women who fell severely ill were in the latter stages of their pregnancy, indicating that theres still a need for pregnant women to follow stricter social-distancing rules. Read more: How worried should we be able coronavirus mutations? The study, by the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford, also noted that expectant mothers from black and other minority ethnic groups were more likely to be admitted to hospital with COVID-19. This is in line with a study from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) that found black men and women in England and Wales were twice as likely to die from coronavirus as white people. It also found that older women, those who were overweight or obese, and pregnant women with pre-existing conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes were also more likely to be admitted to hospital as a result of the virus. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area Explained: Symptoms, latest advice and how it compares to the flu The Nuffield study looked at 427 pregnant women admitted to hospital in the UK with coronavirus between 1 March and 14 April. All of these women had confirmed cases of COVID-19, which equates to 4.9 pregnant women out of every 1,000. This information has led scientists to believe that pregnant women are not at a higher risk of developing severe coronavirus. In order to be sure, the study excluded pregnant women from ethnic minorities from London, the West Midlands and the North West, areas known to have a higher rate of infection. Story continues The scientists still found a higher rate of serious infection among these women, which indicates that the difference in serious contraction of the virus cant be put down to higher rates of infection in certain areas. The study also discovered that one in five babies born to mothers admitted to hospital with the virus were born premature and were admitted to a neonatal unit. Despite this, fewer than 20 babies were born very premature when a baby is less than 32 weeks pregnant. Read more: Working from home may have unexpected foot benefits With only one in 20 babies born to a mother with coronavirus testing positive themselves, this gave scientists an indication that the transmission of infection between mother and baby was low. Only half of the one in 20 babies contracted the virus immediately after birth. A very small number of pregnant women do become severely ill with COVID-19 and sadly some women have died, said Marian Knight at the Nuffield Department of Population Health. Our thoughts must remain with their families. It is concerning that more pregnant women from black and minority ethnic groups are admitted with COVID-19 in pregnancy and this needs urgent investigation. Most pregnant women who were admitted to hospital were more than six months pregnant, which emphasises the importance of continued social distancing measures in the later stages of pregnancy. Read more: Post-pandemic baby boom unlikely, study finds Following the current guidance about careful social distancing will help prevent infection. 60% of the women admitted to hospital have now given birth. Most of the women from the study are now recovering at home, while one in 10 needed intensive care treatment and five sadly died. Its absolutely vital that women continue to attend antenatal appointments to ensure that they and their babies are well, said Gill Walton, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives. Staying in touch with their maternity services team will help put any concerns at ease and enable them to act quickly when necessary. Information for the study was collected from all 194 hospitals in the UK with a consultant-led maternity unit. Doctors are warning against stigmatising patients with obesity when non-Covid health treatments are re-started. The Irish Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ISCNM) has issued the warning, saying they are at higher risk of complications from Covid-19. It says they need equal access to treatments as the health system begins to tackle backlogs and organise new appointments. St Vincent's University Hospital consultant surgeon Helen Heneghan says people with obesity should not be on a lower priority list. "It behoves us to provide timely care for all of these patients, we shouldn't be prioritising one patient or one disease ahead of another," said Dr Heneghan. "Patients with the disease of obesity already experience significant stigma in their everyday lives including in healthcare situations and they must not be stigmatised in the restart of non-Covid health treatments." The ISCNM says over a million people here live with or are at risk of the complications of obesity. It says due to the progressive nature of diabetes, delaying surgery can increase future health complications and even earlier death. Dr Heneghan says we need to introduce international guidelines on prioritising surgery here. "The guidelines recommend that people with the disease of obesity and its complications are prioritised into different categories. "For example, surgery within 30 days for patients who have complications from previous metabolic or bariatric surgery. "Then surgery within 90 days for patients with substantial risk of complications from obesity particularly Type 2 diabetes which is poorly controlled." Cooper Hefner, the son of Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner, is managing to keep his father's memory alive while serving in the United States Air Force. The 28-year-old, who is a Reservist, took to Twitter to share some new images from his time serving and reveal the 'keepsake' he gave to each member of the team who trained with him in a new post on Monday. In December, Cooper announced that he was temporarily stepping away from his career in media to enlist in the armed services. Legacy lives on: Cooper Hefner took to Twitter with images from training with the U.S. Air Force and revealed the Playboy inspired 'keepsake' he gave to each member of the team who trained with him in a new post on Monday 'During training at Lackland Air Force Base I had the privilege of being our flight dorm chief,' Cooper tweeted. 'Following I served as our Squadron Rope.' 'At the end of training each member of Flight 167 received one of these challenge coins. A fun and sentimental keepsake we all have.' Along with the tweet, Cooper posted a snap of himself with a shaved head wearing his Air Force fatigues alongside dozens of other service members. He also posted photos of the 'keepsake' which was a commemorative coin with a black and white playboy bunny logo on one side and the words 'aim high airman!'. 'During training at Lackland Air Force Base I had the privilege of being our flight dorm chief,' Cooper tweeted. 'Following I served as our Squadron Rope. At the end of training each member of Flight 167 received one of these challenge coins. A fun and sentimental keepsake we all have.' From Lackland: The 'keepsake' is a commemorative coin with a black and white playboy bunny logo on one side and the words 'aim high airman!' and on the opposite side 'Fight 167; 17th Dec 2019 - 14th Feb 2020' On the opposite side of the coin was an embossed airplane, the name of the flight and dates of the training mission: Fight 167; 17th Dec 2019 - 14th Feb 2020. The day the training ended, Valentine's Day, was also the first day Hefner was able to reunited with his wife Scarlett for the first time in two months while he was at Lackland. 'Valentine's Day was extra special this year,' the actress penned in an Instagram caption at the time. 'After more than two months apart I got to see my husband complete Air Force Basic Military Training. We had a lovely weekend together and I couldnt be happier.' Cooper has followed in the footsteps of his father Hugh, who served in the U.S. Army as a noncombatant for two years at the end of World War II and was honorably discharged in 1946. Reunion: The day the training ended, Valentine's Day, was also the first day Hefner was able to reunited with his wife Scarlett for the first time in two months while he was at Lackland Making a change: Prior to enlisting, the heir was the CEO of Playboy Enterprises, but he left in 2019 to start his own media company, including the digital content platform HefPost Prior to that, the heir was the CEO of Playboy Enterprises, but he left in 2019 to start his own media company, including the digital content platform HefPost, which has yet to launch. The family no longer has a business interest in Playboy nor does it have anyone running it since he left his role in April. He and Scarlett married in December after a four-year engagement. That same month, he shared on Instagram that he was stepping back from his new business venture and was headed for basic training. In March, Scarlett revealed on social media that the couple was expecting their first child together. Famous family: Cooper is one of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's sons with his second wife, Kimberley Conrad (Pictured in 2012 with Playboy Bunnies) Big news: In March, Cooper and his actress wife Scarlett revealed on social media that the couple was expecting their first child together 'Cooper and I are delighted to share that we have a little one on the way,' stated the Harry Potter actress. 'Our hearts are filled with gratitude and joy, and the two of us cant wait to meet the newest little Hefner. Cooper is one of the Playboy founder's sons with his second wife, Kimberley Conrad. His older brother Marston is an author. In addition to Cooper and Marston, Hugh has two older children, Christy and David, who are both in their sixties. The four inherited his $35 million worth of shares when he died, but the estate sold them last year and no longer has any business interest in the company. Hugh Hefner died in 2017 at the age of 91. Vietnamese entries have won several Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year awards in the U.K. Do Thanh Nhan won first prize in the Food in Action category. His photo, Waiting for Sunshine, was taken in a traditional rice paper making village in Tay Ninh Province, southern Vietnam. In Tay Ninh, besides visiting the famous Cao Dai Holy See (Cao Dai Great Temple), visitors also have the opportunity to enjoy the unique Trang Bang dew-wetted rice paper. Rice paper is made from rice flour, dried in the sun and then baked before being left outside to be wetted by the dew. The rice paper is used to make spring rolls with vegetables and meat, a long-time specialty of Tay Ninh. Another version of this dish has shrimp, salt and sesame. Flowers on water by Khanh Phan. Flowers on water by Khanh Phan, which features a small group of women in the Mekong Delta harvesting and cleaning water lilies in a river, won the second prize in the Bring Home the Harvest category. The high water season from August to November in the Mekong Delta is also a season for tourism, when people come here to watch the mighty river and enjoy the specialties that are available, including water lillies. The flower is added to soups, salads and stir fry dishes. Harvest of salt by Khanh Phan. Harvest of salt taken at the Hon Khoi salt field in the central province of Khanh Hoa won for Khanh Phan the third-placed prize in the Bring Home the Harvest category. Hon Khoi Peninsula is 40 km from Nha Trang Town in Khanh Hoa Province, and is also famous for its Doc Let Beach, a major tourist destination. The awards were recently announced by the jury via livestream because of the coronavirus pandemic. All the works selected by the judges will be exhibited at Mall Galleries, London. The Pink Lady Food Photography was instituted in 2011 by Caroline Kenyon, founder and owner of The Food Award Company, a food photography agency. It has attracted nearly 60,000 entries so far from 77 countries. This year there were more than 9,000 works in 27 categories. Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro criticized lockdown measures implemented by state governors even as the number of coronavirus cases and related deaths showed no signs of slowing down. Bolsonaro said he will add more job categories to those deemed essential on Monday in efforts to get citizens back to work, clashing with state government plans to toughen restrictions on movement and commerce. "Since they don't want to open, we will," Bolsonaro said on Sunday. Referring to a lockdown imposed by the governor of the northern state of Maranhao, the president said the measures are forcing heads of household to "to stay gome and go hungry with their family." "Millions already feel like they are living in Venezuela," he wrote onTwitter. Bolsonaro has railed against virus containment efforts adopted by local authorities, saying they will inflict undue economic damage and spur unemployment. It's a risky strategy that may hit his popularity as the number of new virus cases and its death toll continues to climb in Brazil. Since the pandemic began, Bolsonaro has lost two ministers and is now facing criminal accusations and a ballooning political crisis. The president's remarks come as some analysts warn the pandemic will lead to more economic pain than previously anticipated. JPMorgan now expects Latin America's largest economy to shrink 7% this year amid a worsening health crisis driven by a later and higher virus peak, according to a report dated May 8. "The delay in the peak and the negative impact on sentiment due to fear of contamination will not only keep economic activity subdued for longer, but will also increase the chances of more long-lasting damage to the economy,'' JPMorgan economists wrote in the report. "In addition, we are concerned that a prolonged economic downturn could intensify political and social tensions." Brazil's Health Ministry on Sunday reported 162,699 total cases of Covid-19 and 11,123 deaths, among the world's highest. In recent days, local officials have toughened restrictions to help slow the virus. Large cities including Fortaleza and Belem have instituted strict lockdowns, while the city of Sao Paulo is clamping down on automobile circulation and Rio de Janeiro Governor Wilson Witzel said he will extend his state's quarantine. Still, on Friday, Bolsonaro told reporters that he would attend a barbecue party at the presidential palace Saturday afternoon, adding that he expected thousands of people there. It was unclear how serious Bolsonaro was about his plans, and the barbecue was later canceled. Instead, the president was seen on video in Brasilia on Saturday steering a jet ski around Paranoa Lake. When questioned outside the presidential palace on Sunday by a person who shouted that democracy demanded his resignation or impeachment, the president responded, "I'll leave on January 1, 2027." Outlander Never My Love Season 5 Episode 12 Editors Rating 3 stars * * * Previous Next Photo: Aimee Spinks/Starz To simply say that this episode of Outlander is brutal, while true, is a complete understatement. And yet it sums up the experience so clearly. Its a brutal episode obviously because of the subject matter. Its a brutal episode because it is yet another example of this series relying on sexual violence to build story and character. People may argue that its in the source material, but the shows deviated from the books before in ways that have made it better. They could surely do it again with this aspect of the series. They should do it again with this aspect of the series. The first 15 minutes of this episode, in which Claire is savagely raped and beaten by Lionel Brown and his gang of men who abducted her from Frasers Ridge, is almost impossible to watch. Lionel, who has discovered that the Dr. Rawlings articles were written by Claire, claims that hes taking Claire to Brownsville so that she can confess in front of all the women there. Shes been putting dangerous ideas in their heads and it needs to stop. I know this is obvious by now but seriously, fuck this guy. These wrenching first 15 minutes continually cut to Claire detaching herself from her assault by way of a fantasy world: Its her safe place. She is at home in the 1960s and her family is there, safe and happy, gathering for Thanksgiving dinner. Well, most of her family is there, because even in her safe place, Claire imagines Roger and Bree having been killed in a car accident, I mean, this is Outlander after all. The insane attention to detail put into Claires fantasy world deserves a nod. And Im not just talking about getting to see Fergus and Marsali and Murtagh (my heart!) and Jocasta in great 60s costumes, but of all those small easter eggs and callbacks. Things like the blue and white vase that Claire wishes she had a home for when we first meet her in the pilot here, she has found a home for it. Or Jamie repeating the line, youre shaking so hard its making my teeth rattle also from the pilot, reminding us of one of the first examples of Jamie keeping Claire safe and protected, as he covers her in his tartan. Theres so many of these carefully placed details (feel free to call them out in the comments!) you wish you could stay in this place, too. Alas, we cannot. Mercifully, for a show that loves to wring out the trauma, Jamie and the men of Frasers Ridge find Claire and the Browns. Oh guys, they murder the Browns so hard. Just so, so hard. When Jamie finally comes across Claire, tied up and covered in blood and bruises, he barely has words. Until finally, he tells her what he told Roger after they found him hanged: You are alive. You are whole. Ian, Fergus, and Myers inform them that a few of the men in the group are still alive. Myers offers Claire a chance to have her vengeance, but Jamie knows that as a doctor shes taken an oath to do no harm. Its myself that kills for her, he says. And I, echoes Ian. Fergus, too: And I, milady. These three men who have sworn to seek vengeance on Claires behalf not only love her but have all also suffered sexual assault, you know, in case you were wondering about my aforementioned complaint in the opening. Its Jamie who gives out the chilling order: Kill them all. They keep Lionel alive to ask him questions back at the Ridge, but, honestly, must we? Jamie takes Claire home on his own, she is still completely numb. During a quick stop still wrapped up in that protective Fraser plaid she asks Jamie first about Marsali, who is fine and whose baby is fine. She also wants to know if a Native American was found dead with the Browns shes asking about Wendigo Donner. Donner, you see, knew that whoever wrote the Dr. Rawlings articles could not be from this time, and when he sees Claire and she starts saying things like Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ! well, then hes convinced. He knows she is a time traveler because so is he. It turns out he traveled from 1969 with Robert Springer, also known as Otter Tooth, and he desperately wants to return. Claire promises him gemstones and instructions to the stone circle if he lets her go, but it never happens. Still, Donner survives the massacre at the hands of the men of Frasers Ridge and is on the run. This means hell definitely be turning up sooner or later. Speaking of time-travelers, is now a good time to talk about what befell Roger and Bree? Because I have notes. Well guys, it was all a big fake-out. When Roger and Bree pick themselves up after traveling through the stones, they find Ian sitting there. The stones brought them right back to where they started. Apparently, its because they both were thinking of home and this is home and blah blah blah. All this means is that the entire last episode, which was basically an hour of Roger and Bree saying tearful good-byes to their loved ones which, again, was a change to the books made by the show was all in service of a cliffhanger that has zero payoff. This is frustrating? A waste of some moving scenes that will surely temper the emotion for any future scenes of similar nature if/when the MacKenzies contemplate traveling again? Its both. Anyway, I hope those two are happy quoting Robert Frost to each other. Their quickie time-travel u-turn also means that Roger is with the men as they attack the Browns (he kills someone and it weighs on him), and that Bree is there to help Claire pick up the pieces when she returns to Frasers Ridge. It will obviously take some time, especially because Claire is being so hard on herself. When Claire, in agony, lists the horrific things that have happened to her in an attempt to convince herself that this specific horrific thing will not break her, it is gutting but also highlights the insanity and violence of this show. When its all listed out like that? The excessiveness of it becomes tough to swallow. Its also hard for Claire to begin to process her trauma because, hello, theyre keeping Lionel Brown alive down in her surgery. Marsali is tending to his wounds and Claire walks in for about a minute long enough to contemplate breaking the Hippocratic Oath and taking a scalpel to his throat before she has to leave and breaks down crying in the stairwell. (Whatever you think of the storyline in this episode, Caitriona Balfe is, as usual, excellent.) Meanwhile, Marsali is like aw, hell no. Claire may have taken an oath to do no harm, but Marsali sure as shit didnt. She refuses to let Lionel hurt anyone else in her family and she shoots that man up with water hemlock, instantly killing him. Marsali may be worried about Lionels ghost haunting her or going to hell, but no one else is. Marsali is the best thing to come out of season five. Jamie delivers Lionels body to his brother Richard, who is pretty much fine with Lionel getting what he deserved, but also makes a few threats about the future. So thats very cool and exactly what Jamie needs at this point. He doesnt seem concerned though, mainly because he needs to be there for Claire. They share two important moments as Claire begins to heal. For the first time, she is able to look out over the Ridge and at her family and take in an ordinary day. She tells her husband she loves him and Jamie responds: When the day shall come that we do part, if my last words are not I love you yell ken it was because I didna have time. Later, as the two hold each other naked in bed, he asks her how shes feeling and she responds simply: safe. Jamie has always been Claires real safe place. Theres no doubt that this trauma will change Claire moving forward, but even in this episode, Outlander is preparing us for the next trauma: the impending Revolutionary War. Yeah, that thunderstorm that comes rolling in over the ridge? Thats a metaphor. VULTURE NEWSLETTER Keep up with all the drama of your favorite shows! Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. Questions about the genealogical imprint of tumors have hovered over cancer research since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. Is liver cancer different at a basic, molecular level in people of African descent than people of European descent? Does breast cancer have a different genetic profile in East Asians than Native Americans? A new paper by researchers from the NCI Cancer Genome Analysis Network, a collaborative group with investigators in the U.S., Canada and Europe, provides the most comprehensive look to date at the effect of ancestry on the molecular makeup of normal and cancerous tissues. Drawing on data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) involving 10,678 patients and 33 cancer types, the investigators found that ancestry was tied to variations in hundreds of genes, but that the most important of these differences were linked to specific tissue types. The study is being published online today by Cancer Cell. "We found that in patients of different ancestries, the molecular features corresponding to those differences were largely confined to specific organs and tissue types," said Rameen Beroukhim, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber and the Broad Institute, the co-senior author of the study with Andrew Cherniack, PhD, group leader at Dana-Farber and the Broad Institute. "This suggests that tracking the molecular effects of ancestry - both in normal and cancer tissue - needs to take a tissue-by-tissue approach." Among the researchers' specific findings: From a molecular standpoint, people of African ancestry tend to have a different type of kidney cancer than people of European ancestry. The African variety is marked less often by mutations that disable the VHL gene, spurring the growth of new blood vessels for tumors. Bladder cancers in people of East Asian extraction show fewer signs of drawing an immune system response than bladder tumors in people of European background. In the study, investigators used a variety of molecular techniques to determine the ancestry of the patients whose tissue samples were analyzed. Patients were classified as being primarily of European, East Asian, African, Native/Latin American, or South Asian descent. Patients whose ancestry was at least 20% mixed were classified as being of admixed descent. (These patients were subcategorized by their primary ancestry, such as African-Admixed, European-Admixed, etc.) As a group, the patients had 33 cancer types, 13 of which were further divided into subtypes. TCGA had conducted a deep analysis of each patient's tissue, testing cancerous and normal cells for a range of molecular features. These included mutations (miscopied sections of DNA); patterns of DNA methylation (a process that influences whether genes are switched on or off); messenger RNA (a molecule that carries a transcribed version of DNA and is indicative of gene activity); and microRNA (a form of RNA that assists or hampers gene activity). The NCI Cancer Genome Analysis Network investigators used this data to see whether differences in any of these features reflected differences in ancestry. "We found that ancestry-associated differences spanned all of these features and were present in hundreds of different genes," Cherniack stated. "It turned out, though, that the most significant differences - the ones that affect how cells function and interact with the rest of the body - were profoundly tissue-specific." Although ancestry affected molecular features in most cancer types, these effects were not shared across cancer types. Molecular differences in lung cancers that were traceable to African ancestry, for example, were not found in breast, pancreatic, or other cancers. The data also enabled investigators to ask whether the ancestry-related features of normal cells carried over into the cancerous versions of those cells - whether the molecular particularities of lung cells in people of European extraction for example, are also found in the lung cancer cells of such individuals. They found that this was overwhelmingly the case. "Most of the differences in the normal tissues of people with specific ancestries are recapitulated in cancer," Beroukhim stated. Moreover, evidence suggests that some of these differences may contribute to the development of certain cancers in people with similar backgrounds. Having access to data from patients of mixed lineage proved to be an asset, the study authors say. Investigators conducted their initial analysis in patients whose ancestry was at least 80% within one of the five genealogical groups. They followed this with a similar analysis of data from the admixed populations. "When the results of the two analyses jibed - when molecular differences specific to one ancestral group also appear in patients whose ancestry is a combination of that group and others - it was particularly strong evidence of the validity of the original finding." said one of the study's co-lead authors, Jian Carrot-Zhang, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow of the Meyerson group at Dana-Farber and the Broad. "The patients of mixed background were a particularly powerful group in which to study the molecular effects of ancestry in cancer," Beroukhim stated. "It helped us narrow down which regions of the genome contribute to these differences." The comprehensive nature of the study revealed some of the shortcomings of previous efforts to link ethnicity and ancestry to molecular elements of cells. For one, such studies tended to lump various subtypes of cancer together, Beroukhim said, despite the fact that certain subtypes are more common in certain ancestries than others. Some of the techniques used to dissect molecular features may also have skewed the results of previous studies. Researchers have yet to determine whether the molecular differences between ancestries result from environmental factors or genetic factors. However, they did identify genetic differences between ancestries that could explain many of their findings. "Our findings point to a need for more samples from diverse ancestries to conduct a truly comprehensive ancestry analysis, especially of normal tissues," Beroukhim remarks. "This study represents an important step in that direction." ### The co-lead authors of the study are Nyasha Chambwe, PhD, and Theo A. Knijnenburg, PhD, of the Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, Wash.; Jeffrey S. Damrauer, of Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; A. Gordon Robertson, PhD, of British Columbia Cancer Agency; Christina Yau, PhD, of Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, Calif., and the University of California, San Francisco; Wanding Zhou, PhD, of the Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Ashton C. Berger, of Dana-Farber and the Broad Institute; Kuan-lin Huang, PhD, of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, N.Y.; and Justin Newberg, PhD, of Foundation Medicine, Inc., Cambridge, Mass. Co-authors are: R. Jay Mashl, PhD, of Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Mo.; Alessandro Romanel, PhD, and Francesca Demichelis, PhD, of University of Trento, Italy; Rosalyn W. Sayaman, PhD, and Elad Ziv, MD, of Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Francisco, and Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, Duarte, Calif.; Ina Felau, MS, Anab Kemal, and Jean C. Zenklusen, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute; Garrett Frampton, PhD, of Foundation Medicine, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.; Seunghun Han, of Dana-Farber; Katherine A. Hoadley, PhD, of Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Peter W. Laird, PhD, and Hui Shen, PhD, of Van Andel Research Institute; Alexander J. Lazar, MD, PhD, and Xiuning Le, MD, of The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; Ninad Oak, PhD, of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine; Christopher K. Wong, MS, of University of California, Santa Cruz; and the Cancer Genome Atlas Analysis Network. Funding for the study was provided by the National Cancer Institute (U24 grants CA210999, CA210974, CA211006, CA210949, CA210978, CA210952, CA210989, CA210957, CA210990, CA211000, CA210950, CA210969, CA210988, and K24CA169004 and R01CA1845851). About Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is one of the world's leading centers of cancer research and treatment. It is the only center ranked in the top 5 of U.S. News and World Report's Best Hospitals for both adult and pediatric cancer care. Dana-Farber's mission is to reduce the burden of cancer through scientific inquiry, clinical care, education, community engagement, and advocacy. We provide the latest in cancer for adults through Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Care and for children through Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. Dana-Farber is dedicated to a unique and equal balance between cancer research and care, translating the results of discovery into new treatments for patients locally and around the world. About the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard was launched in 2004 to empower this generation of creative scientists to transform medicine. The Broad Institute seeks to describe the molecular components of life and their connections; discover the molecular basis of major human diseases; develop effective new approaches to diagnostics and therapeutics; and disseminate discoveries, tools, methods, and data openly to the entire scientific community. Founded by MIT, Harvard, Harvard-affiliated hospitals, and the visionary Los Angeles philanthropists Eli and Edythe L. Broad, the Broad Institute includes faculty, professional staff, and students from throughout the MIT and Harvard biomedical research communities and beyond, with collaborations spanning over a hundred private and public institutions in more than 40 countries worldwide. For further information about the Broad Institute, go to http://www.broadinstitute.org. The Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) has called for the state government to consider relaxing the restrictions on public auctions and open-for-inspections. Leah Calnan, president of REIV, said Victoria has to follow the lead of other states, including New South Wales and Western Australia, in easing the ban on open houses and auctions. She said public auctions and open homes can be conducted with strict rules in place to prevent any possible risks of COVID-19 transmission. "Sales and rental open-for-inspections, and public auctions can safely operate with crowd restrictions, social distancing and other measures; the easing of these restrictions would inspire confidence in our market," she said. "Public auctions can be conducted in a safe and responsible manner. The real estate sector is willing to work with the state government to gradually progress to normal levels of activity. Also read: Auction recovery needs bigger boost Calnan said the property market is crucial to the state's economy, given that it employs thousands of Victorians and contributes over 45% of the state's taxation revenue. "An active property market is a key building block for economic growth and auctions are the most visible way of rebuilding consumer confidence," she said. Calnan said estate agents have adapted well in transitioning to online auctions when restrictions were put in place. While the number of auctions has declined significantly over the past month, success rates continue to be strong. "Property transactions are a critical factor in a strong economy. The strong clearance rates and the level in interest in attending private inspections shows there is still a strong demand in the market," she said. This is a peculiar moment in global politics. There is no sign greater than the coronavirus pandemic that the fate of nations are intertwined, and that there challenges which do not respect borders. This should have, logically, given strength to multilateralism. But the opposite has happened. Countries have turned more insular, focused on their domestic priorities. The fact that the rift between the United States (US) and China has grown hasnt helped the cause of global cooperation. And international institutions which are supposed to provide leadership such as the World Health Organization face a serious crisis of credibility. Given this backdrop, India has done well on the diplomatic front. It has stayed away from the US-China diplomatic tiff, seeking to leverage its relationship with both in the quest to battle the pandemic. It has used every platform to push its point of view, from convening a meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) to participating in a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries to nudging a conference of G20 countries. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister S Jaishankar have been in touch with counterparts across the world. Most significantly, as reported by Hindustan Times on Monday, it has decided to provide assistance to over 90 countries, including drugs, testing kits and other medical support. Quiet and effective diplomacy at this stage, including building goodwill with other countries, will help India at a moment of realignment in the international system. Launched by Bigfoot Retail Solutions in 2017, Shiprocket turned profitable in 2018-19 with an annualised revenue run rate between $25-30 million. New Delhi: Shiprocket, a tech-enabled logistics aggregator, on Monday said it has raised $13 million (about Rs 100 crore) in funding led by Tribe Capital LLC and Innoven Capital. The series C funding round also saw participation from existing investor Bertelsmann India Investments. The latest capital infusion brings Shiprocket's total funding to $26 million, a statement said. "The investment will be used to fuel Shiprocket's aggressive product development roadmap which includes hiring top talent across data science and engineering domains. The funds will also be focused on the company's new initiatives including its international expansions," it added. As part of the agreement, Arjun Sethi from Tribe Capital LLC will join Shiprocket's board of directors. "The boom in D2C (Direct to Consumer) brands and social selling across India has been facilitated by companies like ours who are committed to providing advanced technology and fulfillment solutions to online sellers enabling them to compete with larger brands and marketplaces," Shiprocket CEO and co-founder Saahil Goel said. This additional capital will allow the company to accelerate its strategic goals and product development endeavours by hiring top talent in key areas, he added. Launched by Bigfoot Retail Solutions in 2017, Shiprocket turned profitable in 2018-19 with an annualised revenue run rate between $25-30 million. Shiprocket said it processes more than 2 million monthly shipments, enabling more than 35,000 sellers to sell directly to their consumers across India. Shiprocket has previously raised $13 million in funding from existing investors Bertelsmann India Investments, Nirvana Venture Partners, Beenext and 500 startups who continue to back Shiprocket. The latest round gives nearly 30 times returns in five years for Shiprocket's angel investors who exited in this round, the company said. Early angels in the company include angel investor Jatin Aneja and 5ideas/Superfuel run by Gaurav Kachru and Pearl Uppal. TWIN FALLS Passenger numbers are down 90% at the Joslin Field, Magic Valley Regional Airport. The Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey has seen a 98% decrease in travelers. Each of the airports is down to one daily flight to Salt Lake City. Often well struggle to get 10 or 12 people, Joslin Field Manager Bill Carberry said. But even though air travel has all but disappeared, the Magic Valleys two biggest airports should be able to weather the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to U.S. Department of Transportation grants. By no means are we in a position of insolvency or anything, Carberry said. The CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act) grants go a long way toward providing some of that relief. Magic Valley airports by the numbers A couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that $10 billion would be distributed in grants to airports around the country as part of the CARES Act. The Joslin Field, Magic Valley Regional Airport received $1,193,730, while the Friedman Memorial Airport received $18,476,130. The Boise airport received $18,930,039. Smaller airports, such as those in Gooding, Jerome, Buhl, Burley and Jackpot received either $20,000 or $30,000 each. Those grants arent necessarily in proportion to the airports budgets. For example, the Boise airport saw 1.9 million enplanements (departing passengers) in 2018. The Friedman Memorial Airport saw 93,280. The Hailey airport had about 200,000 total passengers last year, compared to 87,000 in Twin Falls. Friedman Memorial Airport Manager Chris Pomeroy noted that the Hailey airport has the second-largest economic impact of any airport in Idaho, contributing $305 million annually to the state economy according to a 2019 Idaho Transportation Department Aero Airport Economic Impact Analysis. The Boise airport contributes $2.7 billion, while the Joslin Field-Magic Valley Regional Airport comes in at $108 million. The Hailey airport has somewhat of an outsized impact, Pomeroy said, because it serves a resort community and many wealthy residents and visitors fly in and out on private jets or chartered flights. Some small airports have received surprisingly large payments from the CARES Act. For instance, the Powell Tribune reported that the Yellowstone Regional Airport in Cody, Wyoming, which sees about 40,000 departing passengers annually, received $18 million. Thats six times the airports annual budget. The Friedman Memorial Airport has a $7 million budget for fiscal year 2020 according to the Idaho Mountain Express. The Federal Aviation Administrations grant distribution model was based on an airports departure numbers, debt and cash reserves. The grant money can be used for up to four years. Given how the COVID-19 pandemic could affect air travel for an extended period of time, airports might need that money to stay afloat. Were all hoping that in four years things start to return back to normal, Pomeroy said. Long-term impacts The coronavirus pandemic could have long-term repercussions for Magic Valley airports. For example, it now appears unlikely Twin Falls will be getting a Denver flight soon although if SkyWest is ready to add the flight in the relatively near future, grant money will be available to help launch that service. For now, Carberry noted that airlines arent very focused on adding new routes. Pomeroy said its virtually impossible to know exactly how the pandemic will alter travel habits. It could take a long time for people to be comfortable flying. There might not be as many people willing to be packed so tightly in an enclosed space with strangers. And on top of that, as people grow more accustomed to telecommuting and teleconferencing, businesses might be less inclined to spend large sums of money sending their employees to expensive conferences and gatherings. Carberry said he thinks that while people will be more cautious at first, people will still fly. Air travel is just ingrained in the mechanics of our economy, he said.sd This picture taken on May 9, 2020 from the French side of the Europe Bridge in Strasbourg shows few dozens of Pro-European Union activists waving EU flags on the German side of the Rhine river as they mark Europe Day and protest against the closing of the borders between France and Germany as a results of the two countries' measures to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. (Photo by FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP via Getty Images) - FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP There are growing calls in Germany for the countrys borders to be reopened. Germany began to lift its coronavirus lockdown three weeks ago and announced the end to most restrictions last week. But its borders with most neighbouring countries remain closed. Armin Laschet, the favourite to become the next leader of Angela Merkels Christian Democrat party (CDU), called at the weekend for the border with France to be reopened. This would be a good time to send a signal to our neighbors that we are striving for a common European response to the pandemic, Mr Laschet, who has emerged as a leading proponent of lifting the lockdown, said. But Horst Seehofer, the interior minister, has refused to consider reopening the borders , claiming the closure is part of the reason for our success so far against the coronavirus. Germany has suspended free travel under the Schengen Agreement and closed most of its borders. The current closure order expires at the end of this week, but Mr Seehofer has held out little hope of reopening, despite growing pressure from across the German political spectrum. Ensuring protection and open travel in the border regions as quickly as possible is a European responsibility,, Norbert Walter-Borjans, the leader of Mrs Merkels main coalition partners, the centre-Left Social Democrats (SPD), said. Here in Germany, we need the interior minister to come up with more creative solutions than a relapse into the thinking of last century. The closures have proved particularly unpopular in border regions where many people routinely commute between Germany and neighbouring countries for work and leisure. Mr Seehofer must finally come up with a plan for the border regions that combines freedom of movement and health protection," said Anton Hofreiter of the opposition Green Party. The calls come as Mrs Merkel on Monday urged Germans to remain disciplined as lockdown measures are lifted. Story continues We are in a new phase of the pandemic, the German chancellor said in a brief statement. With all the loosening, we need the safety provided by people sticking to the basic requirements: that is, social distancing, wearing facemasks, and respect for one another. This is very important. RASTATT, GERMANY - MAY 08: General view of the closed Pont de l'Europe Kehl road to Strasbourg at the German-French border during the coronavirus crisis on May 8, 2020 in Kehl, Germany. The rates of new infections in both Germany and France, as in much of the European Union, have fallen dramatically over recent weeks, allowing governments to ease lockdown measures and strengthening demands by both business leaders and local communities to reopen international borders. In Germany so far Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is resisting a fast-paced lifting of border closures. (Photo by Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images) - Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images Europe Mrs Merkels intervention came after widespread reports of people ignoring rules that require facemasks while shopping. Germanys reproduction number, or R the number each person with the virus infects rose above 1 for two consecutive days at the weekend. But government scientists have cautioned that infection rates are now low enough that comparatively small changes can cause wide variation in the statistics. The R number will have to remain elevated for several days before it is clear evidence of a second wave of infections, the government-funded Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said. The weekend saw widespread protests against the lockdown, with thousands joining demonstrations in Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin against the remaining restrictions. Protesters accused the German government of exaggerating the pandemic and using it to clamp down on individual rights. Among their number were anti-vaxxer campaigners, conspiracy theorists who claim the pandemic was manufactured by Bill Gates and extremists from both the far-Right and far-Left. But the protest in Munich alone attracted more than 3,000 people are there growing concerns in Germany that the coronavirus is becoming radicalised as an issue. Get ready to have your temperature taken and don't hug Mickey Mouse. Those are two of the takeaways from a video issued by Shanghai Disney Resort that walks Chinese visitors through what they can expect when the park re-opens on Monday. During its earnings call last week, Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced that the Chinese resort would be the first of its parks to reopen, albeit at lower capacity. Shanghai Disneyland is reopening on Monday. Credit:AP He said Shanghai Disneyland has a capacity of 80,000, but that the Chinese government is restricting it to 30 per cent, or 24,000 . "We are going to open up far below that to have our training wheels on," he said. In a few weeks, he said the park will ramp up to the new limit." When EU and UK trade negotiators first met in Brussels on a rainy day in early March, the impact of coronavirus was largely limited to extra bottles of hand sanitiser on desks in the conference centre. But two months on, the pandemic has changed the political assumptions underpinning the next seven months of Brexit negotiations if not the parties public positions. This week, negotiations are back again, with around 200 officials logging on to videoconference with each other about the finer points of EU-UK trade. But despite the limited time available to conclude a deal, it took weeks to agree to go ahead with remote talks with two planned rounds cancelled in the meantime. There has been some dispute about what the hold-up on starting videoconferencing was. Some reports had suggested that the European Commission side was more sceptical that going online could replace in-the-room negotiations. But one EU official insists that it was the exact opposite. Actually it was the UK, they were not so sure about the process of doing so and the security of it, they told The Independent. The dispute over how things went down will be familiar to anyone who has been following Brexit talks since the beginning. Whoever held things up, both sides eventually settled on using WebEx, an enterprise-grade videoconferencing suite produced by software company Cisco with more robust security than commercial-grade apps like Zoom and Skype. One UK source close to the talks says videoconferencing has turned out to be basically OK and even suggested it had been more efficient in some respects. When youre doing a real round [in person] you have to keep large numbers of people hanging around for their bit of the discussions, they said, noting that this wasnt true online. Both sides are also keen to stress that they made use of the time that would have been taken up with the cancelled negotiations by exchanging legal texts, which helped to clarify each others views. But even those positive about videoconferencing admit it is difficult to replicate the atmospherics of face-to-face negotiations. In international negotiations of all kinds what is often called corridor diplomacy plays a big role: outside structured talks there is more room for flexibility and possibly candour. That hasnt materialised. You either have it or you dont, one Brussels official says. You can try and replicate it, sure, but its not the same and it cant be the same until we can go back to negotiating face to face. You need to be in a room with people to negotiate and dont forget, its not just both sides behind a screen but everyone is individually behind a screen in their own homes, so its even difficult for each side to talk to each other. Were all doing it, says Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow and trade expert at the Centre for European Reform. We all know what the limitations are when it comes to teleconferencing. You lose all of the informal interaction. Just by personalities interacting you get a much better grasp of the person youre talking to. And you can have chats about normal things as well and it just builds up a better working relationship: the problem with formal videoconferences is theres no time for just talking about how are the kids? Those sorts of conversations actually create a better atmosphere. If Boris Johnson decides its in his political interests to extend the transition I have no doubt that he could sell it Sam Lowe, senior fellow, Centre for European Reform Perhaps post-work Zoom drinks could break the deadlock? We havent planned anything like that yet, the UK source says. Slightly frostier negotiations at a technical level may not end up being the biggest problem that coronavirus has caused, however. The policy sticking points between the two sides are well known and acknowledged by both teams: on fishing, the level playing field for regulations, a role for the European Court of Justice, adherence to the European Convention on Human Rights, and governance of the deal. All of these are big political issues: negotiators sitting down and going through the minutia can only make so much progress whether they are friends or not. Observers of the talks say political calls have to be made, and they have to be made by politicians. This is a more significant effect of the pandemic. The British government does not have the political bandwidth to make calls on Brexit at the moment: the focus in Westminster, as in all national capitals, is resolutely on dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak. Its just that most other national capitals havent decided to totally reorder their relationship with their neighbours at precisely the same time as the pandemic, or staked their political reputation on sticking to a rigid timetable. The top of government just isnt focused on the talks right now rightly so theyre dealing with the pandemic and the fallout; Boris Johnsons been unwell, says Mr Lowe. So we have this issue with the negotiations where all the actual decisions that need to be taken in order to conclude the free trade agreement on issues such as state aid, level playing field, role of the court of justice are big, political, meaty issues. Theyre not technical issues. Theyre not somewhere where David Frost and his negotiators can just find some clever tweaks and youve done it, these are big political decisions that require a change of course from the UK. Were not in a place where were even thinking about that. In order to get to a point where you can make those compromises you have to go through a lot of political theatre, I think, and at the moment everyones focused on Covid-19. Which is fine. Boris Johnson has been sick and out of action during the pandemic (PA) For the country to even have the political headspace to debate these questions, the political situation in the UK would have to return to something like last year, with Brexit dominating the airwaves. As it is, the UK government has been candid that it has redeployed 47 officials from Brexit duties to fighting fires elsewhere in government because of the pandemic. With this in mind, its notable that both sides agree coronavirus hasnt really changed anyones mind about anything at least officially. Instead of blowing a wind of disruption through the parties positions, theyve effectively been put in the deep freeze, to be acted out by negotiators going through the motions while the politicians deal with something else. The approaches are more or less the same, says one EU official. I wouldnt think theyve changed radically because of coronavirus, no. A UK government source close to talks agrees: I dont think the crisis makes any difference to it, to be honest. I do sense that Barnier himself would like to get a deal and I sensed that before the crisis started. But British officials are aware that big political calls need to be made, and that the prime minister and his cabinet will have to get their hands dirty eventually. He will at some point need to get involved, the UK government source says. I dont think were at that point yet. He needs to get involved when we are settling or dealing with the most sensitive political aspects of this negotiation. The source speculates that the prime minister might rear his head on Brexit in the run-up to the stock take scheduled for mid-June, where the decision on an extension on the transition period will need to be made and Boris Johnson will sit down with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen probably by video conference. In the run-up to that he would, I imagine, want to be involved in shaping the context for that, the UK source adds, describing it as a political waypoint. Michel Barnier calls for progress in Brexit negotiations The question of an extension is a vexed one. Under the agreement signed by Boris Johnson, the transition period can be extended by up to two years, but the extension must be agreed in June, to give businesses on both sides of the channel time to prepare for the actual cliff edge in December. Boris Johnson has point-blank refused to consider a further delay, despite writing the ability to extend in his agreement. While the extension clause was originally agreed by Theresa May, the EU insists the new prime ministers team went through things line-by-line and kept it in there. The governments position is thus raising a few eyebrows across the continent. How coronavirus affects the question of an extension is politically complicated. A simple reading is that a pandemic is exactly the kind of reasonable excuse for a delay a pragmatic government, seeing talks stuck, might be searching for. Poll after poll has shown the public firmly supportive of and totally understanding of an extension, given the pandemic situation: the latest survey from pollster Focaldata has 66 per cent of voters supporting a delay, including 48 per cent of Conservative voters and 45 per cent of Brexit Party supporters. The only question that matters now is what does Boris Johnson want to do because if Boris Johnson decides its in his political interests to extend the transition I have no doubt that he could sell it, says Mr Lowe. If he were to go on television and say Look, I know I said we were going to have all this done and dusted by the end of the year, but the pandemic has eaten up a lot of time and were just going to need a little longer, Im sure you all understand, 90 per cent of the population would say, Yeah, fair enough. Youd have a few outliers who would grumble, but theyd be the same old people he hasnt got a general election to worry about for years. Of course he could change his mind on this and I actually think he has a very valid reason for doing so. So its still possible, however we will see. Indeed, a cynic might point out that the UK government has at every opportunity in the past four years denied it would ever extend anything to do with Brexit, and then equally always extended at the last minute. If were going to have any chance of persuading them to take more time then we need to be careful about how we do that because demanding it from them almost as a concession to the EU, is certainly not the way to do it Simon Coveney, deputy prime minister of Ireland But each of those times, the UKs strategy was always to have someone else bounce them into a delay: usually parliament. With a huge parliamentary majority and the coronavirus crisis drowning out the required political mood music, its hard to see how the government could seem to be forced into an extension this time. Even Labours Keir Starmer on Monday refused to do the honours, saying he was not calling for a delay and would rather the negotiations were completed as quickly as possible. This situation has led to another, very different theory about how Covid-19 might affect the politics of an extension. I think that the United Kingdom politicians and government have certainly decided that Covid is going to be blamed for all the fallout from Brexit and my perception of it is they dont want to drag the negotiations out into 2021 because they can effectively blame Covid for everything, the EUs trade commissioner Phil Hogan theorised in public last week. Under this account, which is circulating as much in Westminster as it is in Brussels, no-deal wont be such a big deal, because the UK economy is already in the intensive care ward thanks to the coronavirus lockdown. Whats a few per cent of GDP between friends? But this line of thinking, Mr Lowe says, would be a mistake for political as well as economic reasons. The question for the British government becomes do we really want another hit again so close to the Covid shock? and my argument would be why do we want to do that?, he says. The argument is maybe the Covid-19 economic shock will mask any negative impact of Brexit, and potentially, but actually the shocks that come from Brexit are different to those that come from Covid-19 so I think it would be very silly. But then Im not in charge. What Brexit does it it creates new barriers and friction on the food supply chains and that will be on top, additional to existing problems. Ignore GDP figures and like, but the day one impact of new entry and exist procedures being put in place at ports of entry and exit of the country will lead to some television moments as in you will have the live footage of trucks backed up from Dover. That in itself is distinct from Covid-19. The EU, for its part, has said it is happy to facilitate an extension but is aware of the political situation in the UK. Irelands deputy prime minister Simon Coveney spelt out the EUs conundrum on Friday. I wouldnt be raising expectations around the British government agreeing to seeking more time. If were going to have any chance of persuading them to take more time then we need to be careful about how we do that because demanding it from them almost as a concession to the EU, is certainly not the way to do it, he said. How might that work in practice? Away from the cameras the EU has a cautious strategy to help the UK government move towards an extension if it chooses. I think the point that weve been making is you dont have to request an extension, you just have to have the agreement of both sides, one EU official close to negotiations told The Independent. It sounds silly, but nobody has to request one, we just have to agree jointly and it doesnt have to be anybodys fault... I know its a nuance. Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Show all 66 1 /66 Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A message projected onto the White Cliffs of Dover Sky News/AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Big Ben, shows the hands at eleven o'clock at night AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Nigel Farage speaks to pro-Brexit supporters PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-Brexit demonstrators celebrate on Parliament Square REUTERS Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU The Union flag is taken down outside the European Parliament in Brussels PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU campaigners outside the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A pro-Brexit supporter jumps on an EU flag in Parliament Square PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU EU Council staff removed the Union Jack-British flag from the European Council in Brussels, Belgium EPA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A pro-Brexit supporter pours beer onto an EU flag PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pedestrians pass in front of the Ministry of Defence Building on Whitehall, illuminated by red, white and blue lights in central London AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A Brexit supporter shouts during a rally in London AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU campaigners outside the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU campaigners take part in a 'Missing EU Already' rally outside the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A large pro-EU banner is projected onto Ramsgate cliff in Kent PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU supporters light candles in Smith Square in Westminster PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man waves Union flags from a small car as he drives past Brexit supporters gathering in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU The five-year old Elisa Saemann, left, and her seven-year old sister Katie hold a placard during a rally by anti-Brexit protesters outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Europe supporters gather on Brexit day near the British embassy in Berlin, Germany EPA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Anti-Brexit protester hugs a man while holding a placard REUTERS Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A decorated, old fashioned fire pump in Parliament Square PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit Elvis impersonator performs at Parliament Square Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU An anti-Brexiteers stands with his dog in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Paddy from Bournemouth wears Union colours as he sits next to an EU flag decorated bag in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A pro-EU activist plays a guitar decorated with the EU flag during a protest organised by civil rights group New Europeans outside Europe House, central London AFP via Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU People celebrate Britain leaving the EU REUTERS Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A Pro Brexit supporter has a Union Jack painted onto his face at Parliament Square Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Men hold placards celebrating Britain leaving the EU REUTERS Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit supporters dance in the street draped with Union Jack flags at Parliament Square Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU An anti-Brexit demonstrator spreads his wings during a gathering near Downing Street AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro EU supporters display a banner ' Here to Stay, Here to Fight, Migrants In, Tories Out' from Westminster bridge EPA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-Brexit supporters burn European Union flags at Parliament Square Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man poses for a picture on Parliament Square in a 'Brexit Day' t-shirt Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU People celebrate Britain leaving the EU Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man wears a pro-Brexit t-shirt Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Anti-Brexit demonstrators visit Europe House to give flowers to the staff on Brexit day Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit supporter wears a novelty Union Jack top hat outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Customers Scott Jones and Laura Jones at the Sawmill Bar in South Elmsall, Yorkshire, where a Brexit party is being held throughout the day PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU activists protest Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A pro-Brexit demonstrator burns a European Union flag AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit supporters Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro Brexit supporters Getty Images Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A Brexit supports holds a sign in Parliament Square AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man carries an EU themed wreath Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Ann Widdecombe reacts with other members of the Brexit party as they leave en masse from the European Parliament PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Anti-Brexit demonstrators in Parliament Square PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro EU supporters let off flares from Westminster Bridge Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU British MEPs Jonathan Bullock, holding the Union Jack flag and Jake Pugh leave the European Parliament, in Brussels on the Brexit day AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Newspapers and other souvenirs at a store, near Parliament Square Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Brexit supporters hold signs in Parliament Square AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU protesters hold placards in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU French newspapers PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald with a Border Communities Against Brexit poster before its unveiling in Carrickcarnon on the Irish border PA Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU National growers organisation British Apples & Pears has renamed a British apple to EOS, the Greek goddess of dawn, to commemorate Brexit day AP Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Pro-EU protesters hold placards in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Britain's departure from the European Union was set in law on January 29, amid emotional scenes, as the bloc's parliament voted to ratify the divorce papers. After half a century of membership and three years of tense withdrawal talks, the UK will leave the EU at midnight Brussels time (23.00 GMT) on January 31 Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man poses with paintings on Parliament Square Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU People sporting Union Flags gather in Parliament Square Getty Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A man walks with a St. George's flag at Westminster bridge on Brexit day Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU A British bulldog toy and other souvenirs at a souvenir store Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU British pro-brexit Members of the European Parliament leave the EU Parliament for the last time Reuters Brexit day: UK says goodbye to EU Jonathan Bullock waves the Union Jack as he leaves the European Parliament EPA A long shot? Perhaps, but one which provides the narrowest of openings and gives Johnson some more room for political manoeuvre. Alternatively, the British government could simply let the deadline pass now, and hope that it can bend the rules in December if an extension is really needed then. There are two schools of thought on this: an optimistic one that says a way will be found if it is needed, and a sceptical one that notes that inflexible treaties have caused bigger problems in the past than tariff barriers and quotas. But one UK source close to negotiations thinks Covid-19 actually makes an extension even more unpalatable, and insists that theyre serious about not wanting to delay. The looming pandemic rescue package being cooked up in the EU, they argue, could herald a fundamental shift in EU policy that Britain never signed up for. Theyll be designing all sorts of new laws for the 27 we dont know what theyre going to be, what theyre going to cost, or whether theyre going to suit our conditions, the UK government source said. It does not seem sensible for us to be bound into an unpredictable situation. The situation is, of course, already highly unpredictable. Im not in the camp of people and I should say other people who follow trade negotiations disagree on this who think trade negotiations need to take a long time. I dont think there is really any technical reason why they have to take seven years, for example, says Mr Lowe. Could the trade agreement be done this year, even with the time wasted? Of course it could be, it just requires political decisions to be made and it to be decided in the UK in particular that theyre going to upset a few constituencies. Then it could be done. Is there still time to do it this year? Yeah, of course there is, I just think its massively irresponsible to do it this year because youre asking businesses to adapt to a big change whether theres an agreement or not right after theyve had to deal with the fallout of a global pandemic and a recession. Nursing home residents are front and center of the high risk population not only because these illness but also because of the way Nursing Home residents live/lived: congregate dining, social activities, sometimes sharing restrooms, and open policies for visitors. As more individuals are tested (community and Nursing homes alike) the number of COVID positive people will clearly increase," he said. "Dyer Nursing & Rehab has clear plans in place to manage our residents that are infected and move them through their path of recovery. Men's blood has higher levels than women's of a key enzyme used by the new coronavirus to infect cells, according to a new European study. The higher presence of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) found in the heart, kidneys, in tissues lining blood vessels, and in particularly high levels in the testes, could explain why more men die from COVID-19. ACE2 is a receptor on the surface of cells which binds to the new coronavirus and allows it to enter and infect cells. While men and women are equally likely to catch the coronavirus, men are more likely to suffer severe effects of the disease, in part due to their higher levels of ACE2, according to the lead researcher. Illustration of SARS-CoV-2 virus binding to ACE2 receptors on a human cell, the initial stage of COVID-19 infection 'ACE2 binds to the coronavirus and allows it to enter and infect healthy cells after it is has been modified by another protein on the surface of the cell, called TMPRSS2,' said Dr Adriaan Voors at the University Medical Center Groningen in The Netherlands. 'High levels of ACE2 are present in the lungs and, therefore, it is thought to play a crucial role in the progression of lung disorders related to COVID-19.' The study, published in the European Heart Journal, also found that widely-prescribed drugs called ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) did not lead to higher ACE2 concentrations and should therefore not increase the COVID-19 risk for people taking them. ACE inhibitors and ARBs which are widely prescribed to patients with congestive heart failure, diabetes or kidney disease account for billions of dollars in prescription sales worldwide. 'Our findings do not support the discontinuation of these drugs in COVID-19 patients,' said Dr Voors. COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has infected more than 4 million people worldwide and killed almost 277,000. Men are twice as likely to die from coronavirus as women, the biggest-ever study into the disease's risk factors found Death and infection rates suggest men are more likely than women to contract COVID-19 and suffer severe or critical complications as a result. According to Chinese research, 58.1 per cent of men test positive for the illness compared with 41.9 per cent of women. While an NHS England analysis of 17.4 million patient records discovered that men are 1.99 times as likely to die as women from the disease. To find out more, Voors and his team measured ACE2 concentrations in blood samples from more than 3,500 heart failure patients from 11 European countries. The study had started before the coronavirus pandemic, the researchers said, and so did not include patients with COVID-19. But when other research began to point to ACE2 as key to the way the new coronavirus gets into cells, Voors and his team saw important overlaps with their study. After looking at clinical factors, including the use of ACE inhibitors, ARBs and chronic disease, they found male sex was the strongest predictor of elevated ACE2 concentrations. The fact ACE2 was present in the testes might partially explain higher ACE2 concentrations in men, and why men are more vulnerable to COVID-19. ACE-2 receptors have a shape which matches the outside of the coronavirus, effectively providing it with a doorway into the bloodstream, scientists say Because the sample of patients was so large, the results can likely be generalised to the real world setting, according to Professor Ian Hall, director of the Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre at the University of Nottingham, who wasn't involved in the research. But there are likely to be other factors at play that are responsible for higher infection and death rates in men, he said. 'The actual difference in ACE2 levels between men and women, whilst statistically significant, is in real terms small, and I believe it likely that whilst this might contribute in a small way there must be other explanations as to why men are at increased risk of severe disease,' he said. 'One potential explanation would be that differential immune responses to the virus, regulated by genetic differences between men and women, may also underlie this difference in susceptibility.' The research did have a few limitations ACE2 was measured in blood samples and not in tissues such as lung tissue. Patients looked at also had pre-existing heart failure and so may not be entirely representative of the general population, and perhaps most crucially, did not have COVID-19. Imaging reveals bowel abnormalities in patients with COVID-19 OAK BROOK, Ill. (May 11, 2020) - Patients with COVID-19 can have bowel abnormalities, including ischemia, according to a new study published today in the journal Radiology. Several studies have evaluated the chest imaging findings in COVID-19, which helped improve understanding of how the disease affects the lungs. More recently, reports have documented that gastrointestinal symptoms, liver injury, and vascular findings are common in these patients. However, abdominal imaging findings have not yet been widely reported. Imaging findings may help physicians understand abdominal manifestations in patients with the infection. Therefore, the authors of this study set out to explore abdominal imaging findings in patients with COVID-19. The retrospective study included 412 patients consecutively admitted to a single quaternary care center from March 27 to April 10, 2020, who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The cohort included 241 men (58.5%) and 171 women (41.5%), with an average age of 57 years. Records showed that 17% of patients had cross-sectional abdominal imaging, including 44 ultrasounds, 42 CT scans, and 1 MRI. Bowel abnormalities were seen on 31% of CT scans (3.2% of all patients) and were more frequent in intensive care unit (ICU) patients than other inpatients. Bowel findings included thickening and findings of ischemia such as pneumatosis (gas in the bowel wall) and portal venous gas. Surgical correlation in four patients revealed unusual yellow discoloration of bowel in three of the patients, and bowel infarction (dead bowel) in two patients. "We found bowel abnormalities on imaging in patients with COVID-19, more commonly in sicker patients who went to the ICU," said Rajesh Bhayana, M.D., FRCPC, abdominal imaging fellow in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In two patients who had bowel resection, pathology demonstrated ischemia with patchy necrosis (injury due to reduced arterial flow with patchy areas of cell death). Both had fibrin thrombi (blood clots) in submucosal arterioles (small arteries in the bowel wall), suggesting bowel ischemia in these patients might be caused by these small blood clots. Lung base findings led to a diagnosis of COVID-19 in one patient who presented with abdominal symptoms only. Of right upper quadrant ultrasounds, 87% were performed for liver laboratory findings, and 54% demonstrated a dilated sludge-filled gallbladder suggestive of cholestasis, or a decrease in bile flow. "Some findings were typical of bowel ischemia, or dying bowel, and in those who had surgery we saw small vessel clots beside areas of dead bowel," Dr. Bhayana said. "Patients in the ICU can have bowel ischemia for other reasons, but we know COVID-19 can lead to clotting and small vessel injury, so bowel might also be affected by this." According to the researchers, possible explanations for the spectrum of bowel findings in patients with COVID-19 include direct viral infection, small vessel thrombosis, or nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia. "ACE2 expression is most abundant in lung alveolar epithelial cells, enterocytes of the small intestine, and vascular endothelium suggesting that small bowel and vasculature may be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection," they wrote. The authors added that further studies are required to clarify the cause of bowel findings in patients with COVID-19 and to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 plays a direct role in bowel or vascular injury. "Our study is preliminary, and more work is needed to understand the cause of bowel findings in these patients," Dr. Bhayana said. ### "Abdominal Imaging Findings in COVID-19: Preliminary Observations." Collaborating with Dr. Bhayana were Avik Som, M.D., Ph.D., Matthew D. Li, M.D., Denston E. Carey, B.Sc., Mark A. Anderson, M.D., Michael A. Blake, M.D., Onofrio Catalano, M.D., Michael S. Gee, M.D., Ph.D., Peter F. Hahn, M.D., Ph.D., Mukesh Harisinghani, M.D., Ph.D., Aoife Kilcoyne M.B.B.Ch., B.A.O., Susanna I. Lee, M.D., Ph.D., Amirkasra Mojtahed, M.D., Pari V. Pandharipande, M.D., M.P.H., Theodore T. Pierce, M.D., David A. Rosman, M.D., M.B.A., Sanjay Saini, M.D., Anthony E. Samir, M.D., M.P.H., Joseph F. Simeone, M.D., Debra A. Gervais, M.D., George Velmahos, M.D., Ph.D., Joseph Misdraji, M.D., and Avinash Kambadakone, M.D., FRCR. Radiology is edited by David A. Bluemke, M.D., Ph.D., University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, and owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc. (https:/ / pubs. rsna. org/ journal/ radiology ) RSNA is an association of radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Illinois. (RSNA.org) For patient-friendly information on abdominal imaging, visit RadiologyInfo.org. This story has been published on: 2020-05-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. (Photo : Florian Olivio on Unsplash) Hacked Accounts Were Sold To Dark Web; 73 Million User Records Stolen By "ShinyHunters"; 2020 Best Password Managers To Protect Your Business Accounts (Photo : Kevin Ku on Unsplash) Hacked Accounts Were Sold To Dark Web; 73 Million User Records Stolen By "ShinyHunters"; 2020 Best Password Managers To Protect Your Business Accounts According to Engadget's latest report, many user accounts were revealed to have been breached by a team of hackers called ShinyHunters. The incident was first reported by ZDNet stating that ShinyHunters are selling data of 10 companies on the dark web marketplace. According to Engadget, over 73.2 million user records were breached from numerous sites and sold on the dark web. More than 15 million came from a printing service called "Chatbooks, while 30 million were hacked from the accounts on the dating app Zoosk. The remaining accounts came from the Star Tribune newspaper which is over 1 million. Meanwhile, 8 million accounts came from South Korean furniture and fashion sites, and 3 million were hacked from the Chronicle of Higher Education accounts. Hacked accounts were sold to the Dark Web; 73 million user records stolen by "ShinyHunters" ZDNet reported that over 500GB of data were stolen from different accounts of Microsoft's private GitHub repositories that were discovered by BleepingComputer. ShinyHunters contacted BleepingComputers stating that they are planning to sell the 500GB of private projects but decided to leak them for free. The breach may have happened on March 28, 2020, according to the file stamps in the full directory of the leaked files. The hackers offered 1GB of files as a teaser on a hacker forum to access the leaked data by using the site credits of registered members. The stolen files appear to be mostly test projects, an eBook, code samples, and other generic items based on the source code from the private repositories that were sent to BleepingComputer and the full directory listing of the stolen data. According to Engadget, although samples of the breach matched real records, the legitimacy of some databases couldn't be verified. It was also clarified that the breach didn't include any known sensitive material as GitHub stated. However, Tokopedia's database, an Indonesian online store hacked by ShinyHunters in May, was put on sale for $5,000. The incident is different from other breaches because of its surprising scale and speed of the group's effort. To avoid this kind of incident, ZDNet's previous report provided a list of the best password managers in 2020 that could help people protect their business accounts. The core features of the apps are similar; secure notes, form filling, secure sharing of passwords with trusted contacts, a combination of upper and lower-case letters (including symbols and numbers), and a feature that connects saved password databases to the cloud for end-to-end encryption. For those looking to increase their security, here's a list of top 10 best password managers for your professionla or personal use: Sticky Password Dashlane RoboForm Free / RoboForm Everywhere NordPass Open-source options LogMeOnce Keeper Hypervault KeePassXC Passbolt 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. People sit on the grass at San Francisco's Alamo Square Park during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Rich Fury / Getty Images) Although some hope the worst of California's coronavirus crisis has passed, there are signs the pandemic in the Golden State has merely stabilized, and the worst may be yet to come. The number of weekly COVID-19 deaths in California has hit a stubborn plateau, and the number of cases has not begun a sustained week-over-week decline, a Los Angeles Times analysis has found. For the seven-day period that ended Sunday, 503 people in California died from the virus the second-highest weekly death toll in the course of the pandemic and a 1.6% increase from the previous week. In fact, the latest tally shows that the death toll has continued to average about 500 fatalities each week over the past month. The week before last, there were 495 deaths. Prior to that, there were 542 fatalities, and the week before that, 497. Coronavirus cases shot up to a new weekly record last week, with more than 13,000 new infections reported. On Sunday, an influential coronavirus forecast projected a worsening death toll by early August. The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation now forecasts a California death toll of more than 6,000 by early August, up from 4,600 from a forecast issued a week ago an increase of more than 1,400 deaths. "If we were to see the kind of spike that's predicted in that model, that would be extraordinarily worrisome," said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health for Los Angeles County, which so far has seen 56% of all of California's coronavirus deaths despite being home to one-quarter of the state's population. If the model's projections became reality, Ferrer said that would result in an even slower reopening of society in L.A. County or force the nation's most populous county to reimplement stricter stay-at-home measures. L.A. County implemented its first major easing of stay-at-home measures on Friday, allowing some retail businesses to open for curbside pickup, and plans to reopen beaches for active recreation this week. Story continues California is among eight states predicted to see the largest increases in projected cumulative deaths, according to a forecast issued May 4 and updated Sunday. This group of states included Pennsylvania, Illinois, Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri and Connecticut. As a whole, the U.S. is now projected to record more than 137,000 deaths by early August, up from a forecast of over 134,000 issued last week. The U.S. death toll was more than 80,000 as of Monday, an astonishing total that has accumulated in less than three months. It has exceeded the death toll of the Vietnam War, in which more than 58,000 members of the U.S. Armed Forces died, and has surpassed the total number of deaths in the 2018-19 flu season, which was 34,200, and the preceding flu season, which was 61,000. Experts attribute the rising forecast of coronavirus-linked deaths to the public growing more weary of stay-at-home orders, as well as moves across the nation to roll them back. California is in its eighth week of statewide restrictions aimed to stop the spread of the coronavirus. "We're seeing just explosive increases in mobility in a number of states that we expect will translate into more cases and deaths, you know, in 10 days from now," the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Dr. Chris Murray, said Sunday on the CBS program "Face the Nation." Experts say the number of cases will grow as testing capabilities increase. Still, tracking the number is still seen as a useful indicator, as at some point, scientists expect testing capacities will eventually catch up to the demand. As government officials begin rolling back restrictions, health experts have urged caution and pushed back against the idea that officials need to choose between the economy and public health. Reopening society at a dangerous pace and then being hit by a spike in deaths would shatter public confidence and hurt the economy further, they said. Polls show that large majorities want to move slowly on ending stay-at-home orders. "We have to show people that this disease is under good control, and people will then have confidence in going out and reengaging the economy," Dr. Thomas Inglesby, director of Johns Hopkins' Center for Health Security, said on Fox News on Sunday. California is still in its first wave of cases California officials have noted the state's death toll which sits at more than 2,700 is markedly lower than New York's, with over 26,000 dead, or New Jersey's, more than 9,000. But there are many more Californians who haven't been infected yet. It would be a mistake to think California has turned the corner, experts say. UC San Francisco epidemiologist and infectious disease expert Dr. George Rutherford, a former epidemic intelligence service officer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said California hadn't left its first wave of cases. "As long as it's going up, it has not ended," he said. "It's got to come down for it to end." Nationally, too, "we're in a steady state," Rutherford said, "with about 25,000 to 30,000 cases of COVID being reported daily nationwide." Health officials in both Los Angeles County and San Francisco also warned that key pandemic indicators have also merely stabilized and haven't gone down. L.A. County has seen the average weekly number of deaths remain constant at around 300 a week for each of the past four weeks. In San Francisco, the number of hospitalized people with confirmed or suspected coronavirus infections has remained steady since mid-April, averaging at 100 for the last three weeks. "It is not decreasing substantially," the San Francisco director of public health, Dr. Grant Colfax, said Monday. More infections among minorities Although Latinos make up 39% of California's population, they make up about half of all positive cases in the state. Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders also are being diagnosed at a rate greater than their demographic in the population, Rutherford said. Blacks are dying at a disproportionately higher rate in California. Blacks made up 10% of total deaths, higher than the 6% share they comprise in California's population. Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are dying at a slightly higher rate than their share of California's population. About half the people in California being diagnosed with COVID-19 are adults under the age of 50. Rutherford called that "a surprisingly large number." 'Headed for potentially a very large outbreak in the fall' Experts expect the number of fatalities to grow nationally. "We're headed for potentially a very large outbreak in the fall, which will make whatever we've seen pale in comparison," Rutherford said. It's possible, he said, that children could further spread the disease when they return to school in the fall. In the 1918-19 flu pandemic, the first wave occurred in the early summer of 1918 but noticeably receded by mid-summer. A second wave, far deadlier than the first, started in the fall and did not let up until the beginning of winter. Then, a third wave picked up in late winter, persisting through the springtime. This COVID-19 pandemic is different. Instead of deaths declining, they've stabilized, but at a higher level. Rutherford says there's a risk that some states that are opening up too quickly will see a rising death toll and the effects of the pandemic will disproportionately hit Latinos and blacks. Rutherford says society does need to reopen it's too destructive to continue to be closed but that it should be done carefully. If we have a prolonged depression, that has tremendous costs in morbidity and mortality as well. So its a tradeoff: Just understand that were trading economy for lives," Rutherford said. Make no mistake the more the economy opens up, the more people are going to die," he added. "You have to be really careful to minimize that number and make sure its not on the backs of all the poor people who are doing the front-line jobs who are going to get the most exposed. Lin reported from San Francisco, Lee from Los Angeles. British Airways parent company has insisted it is not picking on the airline after announcing it will shed up to 12,000 jobs. IAG chief executive Willie Walsh told MPs that restructuring will be carried out across the group, which owns other carriers such as Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling. It announced last month that up to 12,000 British Airways workers will be made redundant, which is equivalent to more than a quarter of the workforce. At 10am our session with Willie Walsh, Chief Executive of International Airlines Group, parent company of @British_Airways will begin We'll cover redundancies, refunds, bailouts and much more Watch live from 10am here: https://t.co/60zXNODw3N pic.twitter.com/TZRRpjtuyF Transport Committee (@CommonsTrans) May 11, 2020 Giving evidence to the Commons Transport Select Committee, Mr Walsh insisted the timing of the announcement about the reduction in staffing at British Airways was due to the UKs labour laws. He said: The labour legislation in Ireland and Spain the two other major countries in which we operate its different. Were required to do it in a different way. We are embarking on a restructuring and Ive made it clear that this is group-wide restructuring. Its not specific to British Airways. Its group-wide restructuring in the face of the greatest crisis that the airline industry and the airlines within IAG have faced. He added: We are not picking on British Airways. Were not doing anything that we dont think is absolutely necessary to secure the survival of British Airways and were doing exactly the same with the other airlines in the group. Story continues Labour MP Sam Tarry put it to Mr Walsh that cabin crew cannot understand why they are being thrown on the scrap heap given IAG has billions of pounds in liquidity, and it has been suggested the restructuring is a pre-determined decision which will be potentially quite market advantageous versus your rivals. Mr Walsh replied: Our restructuring is solely driven by the fact that we are now in the deepest downturn that the aviation industry has ever seen. Our capacity is going to be significantly lower in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and beyond than we had planned to be. The amount of flying were doing will be significantly lower than the flying that we were proposing to do. As a result of that, we need to restructure our business. He went on: This has been driven solely by the downturn. I dont think I need to hide the scale of it, because its obvious to everybody. Were not flying our aircraft to transport passengers. Dar es Salaam The government has laid bare the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the tourism industry, with a warning that at least 477,000 jobs will be lost and revenues drop by 77 per cent should the pandemic persist beyond October this year. Natural Resources and Tourism minister Hamisi Kigwangalla, told Parliament yesterday that the number of people who will lose jobs represents 76 per cent of the total direct employment in the sub-sector. The tourism industry in Tanzania employs some 623,000 people at the moment and according to the minister, the coronavirus could whittle it down to 146,000 only. The minister revealed that earnings from tourism will also decrease from $2.6 billion (About Sh6 trillion) projected earlier to $598 million (Sh1.4 trillion), a whopping 77 percent decline. "This is because the number of tourists anticipated to visit Tanzania during that period will decline from 1.9 million to 437, 000 which is a 76 per cent drop," said Dr Kigwangalla in Dodoma. He was tabling, in Parliament, his ministry's 2020/21 budget estimates in which he asked MPs to approve a total of Sh114.6 billion for his annual expenditure. Tourism is Tanzania's second foreign exchange earner, raking in $2.5 billion (Sh5.75 trillion) in 2019 compared to gold which topped the list with $2.7 billion (Sh6.21 trillion). Transport services came third with $1.3 billion (Sh2.99 trillion) and in fourth place was manufactured goods with roughly $1 billion (Sh2.3 trillion). Also Read China supports WHO-led review of global pandemic response First multiparty elections held in Tanzania after years of single party rule Covid-19: NIMR directed to research symptoms peculiar to Tanzania Tanzania is one of Africa's leading tourism markets, with Serengeti plains and Ngorongoro crater its safari gem among the global travel enthusiasts but the industry worldwide has taken a knock since the Covid-19 pandemic grounded airlines and saw hotels closing as countries closed boarders and restricted movement to stop the virus from spreading. While several countries have started easing the lockdown, it was still uncertain when movement restrictions across the globe would end. Yesterday, Dr Kigwangalla did not indicate in his budget any fiscal or policy interventions to help the local industry recover but his permanent secretary, Prof Adolph Mkenda, earlier told The Citizen in a telephone interview that the ministry will meet its stakeholders on Monday, in Arusha, for a discussion on the impact. "We expect to come up with a detailed recovery strategy to enable the sub-sector to recover quickly after the pandemic," Prof Mkenda noted. In his speech, the minister, who is the Nzega Rural MP, said revenue collected by institutions under his docket such as Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa), the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), the Tanzania Forest Services Agency (TFS) and the Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority (Tawa) would all suffer. According to him, revenue projected by Tanapa will decline from Sh363.9 billion to Sh64 billion, NCAA collections will go down from Sh162.7 billion to Sh58 billion. "TFS anticipated revenue will also decline from Sh153.6 billion to Sh121 billion, as Tawa revenue targets will decrease from Sh58.1 billion to Sh22 billion," he said, warning that the institutions may fail to even meet their operational costs. The minister said a rapid assessment on Covid-19 carried in April showed that the country started recording the loss in March. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Tanzania Coronavirus Travel By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. He said by March 25, 13 airlines had stopped flying to Tanzania, diminishing hopes of tourists' arrivals. Speaking on the budget which declined by 4.66 per cent, Dr Kigwangalla said he requested for S69.594 billion in recurrent expenditure and Sh45.02 billion for implementation of development projects. According to him, Sh700 million out of funds allocated for development projects will be locally sourced, while Sh44.32 billion will sourced from international sources. He said among development projects targeted include the Resilient Natural Resource Management for Tourism and Growth (REGROW) and the capacity building project for residents in conservation areas, game reserves as well as strengthening the anti-poaching unit. Others are the tree planting projects for business purposes, capacity building for institutions, organising trainings on forestry and beekeeping as well as value addition on forestry products. A mother and bikini designer has shared how she managed to secure a 328 per cent spike in sales during the coronavirus lockdown by offering customers $50 to spend as they wish on her brand IIXIIST. Rebecca Klodinsky, 31, from Sydney, said when the pandemic struck, she was faced with two options: she could either scale back her business or take a gamble. 'I decided to take a leap of faith and offered customers $50 to spend as they wish on IIXIIST, the only restriction being they had to use it within a five day period,' Rebecca told FEMAIL. A mother and bikini designer has shared how she managed to secure a 328 per cent spike in sales during the coronavirus lockdown by offering customers $50 to spend as they wish on her brand IIXIIST (Rebecca Klodinsky pictured) Rebecca Klodinsky, 31, from Sydney, said when the pandemic struck, she was faced with two options: she could either scale back her business or take a gamble (women pictured wearing IIXIIST swimwear) 'Everyone is hurting right now, the incentive was never sales or dollar driven. 'All I wanted was to give back as I could see that website traffic was up by 203 per cent but our abandoned cart rate was at 86 per cent and this made me sad. 'Girls were scrolling and shopping, but not able to check out.' The average IIXIIST swimsuit costs around $100, meaning a $50 voucher leaves the swimwear costing a much more affordable $50 (or half price). The entrepreneur decided to take a leap of faith and offer women a $50 voucher to spend as they wanted, meaning much of their swimwear (pictured) was reduced to just $50 The initiative has paid off in multiple ways, as IIXIIST has reported a staggering 328 per cent sales spike since Rebecca introduced the offer (IIXIIST swimwear pictured) The initiative has paid off in multiple ways, as IIXIIST has reported a staggering 328 per cent sales spike since Rebecca introduced the offer. 'It's amazing to feel like we've been able to bring a little love to these girls during lockdown,' Rebecca said. 'Clearly women are planning their lives for post isolation, and it made me feel great to be able to offer this and help in a tiny way.' The brand is a celebrity favourite among homegrown names like Nadia Bartel (pictured), as well as Kim Kardashian and Hailey Bieber Rebecca founded IIXIIST (formerly known as Frankii Swim) seven years ago when she was just 24; it began as a side hustle (IIXIIST swimwear pictured) Rebecca founded IIXIIST (formerly known as Frankii Swim) seven years ago when she was just 24. While it started as a side hustle, she slowly and steadily built her debut brand into something that turns over $7million per year. Rebecca said she credits a lot of her success to playing the 'Instagram game', and 'catching the wave' just as the app took off. Instagram has played a major role in the brand's success, with the likes of Bella Hadid, members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan and Rihanna all donning the minimalist bikinis on social media - Kylie's costing just $100. Australian WAG Nadia Bartel is also a fan of IIXIIST Swimwear, and the brand currently has 231,000 followers online. While COVID-19 has had an impact on business, Rebecca told FEMAIL she has been lucky as they have no bricks and mortar store, but only an online presence (IIXIIST swimwear pictured) While COVID-19 has had an impact on her business, Rebecca told FEMAIL she has used this opportunity as downtime, temporarily relieving IIXIST of many moving parts. Rebecca (pictured) said sme employees are on annual leave, digital advertising campaigns have been cancelled and plans are on hold Some employees are on annual leave, digital advertising campaigns have been cancelled and plans are on hold. 'We have been lucky in the fact that our business is 100 per cent online with no brick and mortar doorways, so while our web sales have somewhat slowed, the COVID-19 crisis remains manageable,' Rebecca said. 'I'm working from home and focusing all my efforts on what will happen when we come out of this.' Rebecca's advice for other entrepreneurs is that they 'cut costs' where they can and 'reduce overheads'. 'Shoppers will shop when they are ready to shop again,' she added. 'I think it's imperative to be mindful of how we, as brands, communicate to our customers; we are all in this together.' For more information about IIXIST, you can visit the website here. China has been at the forefront of the global fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, sharing its experiences, expertise and donating supplies and equipment to countries around the world. On May 5, Singapore received a total of 620,000 face masks donated by the Chinese government and the Red Cross Society of China to help the city-state manage the outbreak. COVID-19 infections had risen to 23,336 in Singapore as of May 10, the highest in Southeast Asia. "As the pandemic continues to threaten lives and livelihoods around the world, international cooperation is crucial in surmounting this common foe," said Lam Pin Min, Singapore's senior minister of state of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport, in a statement. "I am heartened that Singapore and China have been working closely together at all levels to stem the spread of the virus," said Lam, adding such robust collaboration during this difficult time is testament to the strong friendship between the two countries. On May 4, China donated about 270,000 Fijian dollars ($119,780) in medical supplies to Fiji. The donation came after an earlier donation of $300,000 to Fiji from China. Fijian Minister for Health and Medical Services Ifereimi Waqainabete said the donation will further strengthen Fiji's fight against the virus and also enhance the strong development partnership with China. "Going forward, this pandemic will only make us stronger and also grant us the ability to share expertise between Fiji and China," said Waqainabete, as quoted on a government website, expressing his gratitude to China's assistance in the South Pacific island nation's fight against COVID-19. The Chinese government has pledged $1.9 million in cash and medical supplies to Fiji and other Pacific Island countries to fight COVID-19, according to the Chinese embassy in Fiji. In Japan, the nationwide state of emergency has been extended until the end of May due to the continuous rise in new COVID-19 infections. As of April 28, the Chinese government, friendship organizations and enterprises have donated tens of millions of pieces of medical supplies, including masks and protective gear, as well as testing equipment and kits, according to the Chinese embassy in Japan. Japanese State Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Gaku Hashimoto said in early April that China has provided important support to Japan for prevention and control of COVID-19, noting China's timely sharing of anti-pandemic experience and large provisions of medical supplies. Infectious disease, Hashimoto said, is a common challenge faced by the international community that needs to be jointly dealt with by all countries in solidarity and through cooperation. On May 4, a new consignment of donations, including medical equipment, reagents and consumables, was donated to a newly built military hospital laboratory in Myanmar. The lab was also set up with the help of a Chinese medical team, according to Xinhua News Agency. Khin Ma Ma Myo, professor of international relations at the University of Yangon, said the medical supplies and the medical experts' team sent by China to Myanmar are vital for the country during the COVID-19 outbreak. Cooperation between Myanmar and China against COVID-19"brought about positive implications" that will surely strengthen closer bilateral relations, Khin Ma Ma Myo said, adding that both countries can also cooperate in the post-pandemic era by promoting border trade, human resource development in public healthcare, traditional medicine and medical research. She says she hopes to see the return of investments from Chinese small and medium-sized companies and the restarting of Chinese-backed factories in Myanmar. Chinese enterprises and nonprofit organizations are also playing active roles in supporting other nations in containing the outbreak. In a signed article published on April 29, Chinese Ambassador to Brunei Yu Hong said that donations from Chinese companies to Brunei amounted to more than $1.3 million. BGI, a Chinese genome sequencing company, provided technical support to Brunei in setting up a virology laboratory, in addition to testing kits sent in January. Yu Wanying, senior researcher at Sungkyun Institute of China Studies at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, said the "assistance from China to the international community showcased the virtue to repay goodwill with greater kindness and the country's responsibility", noting the nation cannot stand alone with the virus still not fully under control in the world. "When lives are facing threats (from COVID-19), the only choice for countries is to stand in solidarity and jointly fight against it," she said. China has provided medical supplies to more than 150 countries and international organizations by mid-April, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said earlier. Wrexham secondary school praised for ensuring no pupil is left behind in positive inspection report This article is old - Published: Monday, May 11th, 2020 A Wrexham secondary school has been praised for ensuring no pupil is left behind in a positive inspection report. All areas of performance at St Josephs Catholic and Anglican Secondary School have been judged as either good or excellent. It follows a visit by inspection watchdog Estyn to the church school in February this year. The areas examined included teaching, attitudes to learning, leadership and the level of support offered to the 732 pupils at the school. In their report, the inspectors said: St Josephs Anglican and Catholic High School is an inclusive, caring and very supportive learning community. The Anglican and Catholic ethos, which states No child is left behind, is fundamental to all aspects of school life. Nearly all pupils demonstrate particularly high standards of behaviour in class and around the school and are exceptionally polite, respectful and courteous to others. Many make strong progress in lessons. Nearly all teachers foster positive working relationships with their pupils and have well established classroom routines that create a positive and engaging learning environment. Leaders have a clear vision for the school to provide pupils with a high quality education in a caring, supportive Christian environment. Officials said the school had been successful in supporting improvements in pupils achievements, as well as their behaviour and attendance. They also praised the well-structured professional dialogue between leaders and staff. They added: Nearly all teachers foster positive working relationships with their pupils. They have well-established classroom routines that create a positive and engaging learning environment. These aspects contribute to the strong progress that many pupils make in lessons. The inspectors have made two recommendations for improvement, including ensuring that teaching meets the needs of all pupils and enhancing the quality of written feedback. The school will now be required to draw up an action plan to address the points raised. WASHINGTON The chairman is in quarantine for coronavirus exposure. So are the star witnesses. But fireworks albeit virtual ones are likely when Dr. Anthony S. Fauci and three other top government doctors testify before the Senate Health Committee on Tuesday in one of the strangest high-stakes hearings in memory. The session, in which the chairman and witnesses will appear by video, will be the first time Dr. Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert and one of the few truth-tellers in the administration in the eyes of many Americans appears before Congress since President Trump declared the coronavirus crisis a national emergency on March 13. On March 11, when Dr. Fauci was still permitted to testify before the Democratic-controlled House, he made headlines by bluntly telling the nation, Things will get worse. They did. At least in Washington, his return to the Capitol, though virtual, is going to be must-watch TV: a chance for Dr. Fauci and his fellow M.D.s Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Adm. Brett P. Giroir, the assistant secretary for health to talk to Congress and the public unfiltered, without Mr. Trump hovering over them, cutting off questions or determining when they can speak. P iers Morgan has returned to Good Morning Britain after his coronavirus test came back negative. The host had previously taken a break from the morning talk show after displaying mild Covid-19 symptoms. Piers took to Twitter to confirm he'd be back on Monday and began the show by taking aim at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's latest coronavirus advice. Johnson addressed the nation on Sunday night to set out new lockdown rules, in a speech that has been criticised for being confusing. ITV The Prime Minister also set out a new 'Stay Alert' slogan, which Morgan branded nonsense. He said: Control the virus when we don't even have a vaccine. It's complete nonsense, it's almost like he's back to fighting a brexit campaign again. The host also he revealed how he was feeling after being unwell. ITV He said: "It's good to be back, good to be back thank you," before adding: I feel fine except I feel extremely frustrated by what I watched last night. Morgan continued: Boris Johnson clears 15 minutes of prime time television to address the nation and we expect to get loads of great details, instead we got a load of his fluster... I don't know where this leads. Morgan tested negative for Covid-19 last week but remained off work after continuing to feel ill. He updated his 7.4 million Twitter followers with the result of his test last Monday, writing: "UPDATE: My COVID-19 test was negative. I was advised to take the test by my doctor after developing possible coronavirus symptoms, and was entitled to do so as a Govt-designated essential worker." The symptoms in question were "shortness of breath, a cough & unusual lethargy three possible signs of COVID-19," he added. Ben Shephard joined Morgan's co-host Susanna Reid on the panel in his place. Thousands of extra deaths have been recorded since the last quarter ended (Jacob King/PA) More than 20,000 excess deaths were counted in just one week since the end of March, the highest in two decades, funeral provider Dignity said on Monday. The business revealed that overall deaths rose by just 2,000 in the first three months of the year, to 161,000. Since the quarter ended, the rate has picked up, Dignity said. However, the funeral provider warned against predictions that its business would reap a major windfall from the coronavirus crisis. Firstly, if many more people die than the 600,000 predicted by the Office for National Statistics, it is possible there will be fewer deaths over the following two years. The group will not speculate on the most likely outcome, Dignity said. Secondly, as mourners are forced to keep away from funerals due to social distancing rules, most are now cutting back on all but the most essential services. The various government schemes designed to protect jobs and people's livelihoods are intended for small businesses and sectors that are under threat more directly than Dignity Clive Whiley, executive chairman So far this quarter, 60% of clients are now choosing a simple funeral, as opposed to the full service. This compares with just 20% in the first quarter of the year. It has meant that the average income per funeral, before ancillary revenues, has fallen to 2,200, compared with 2,648 in the previous three months. Covid-19 is presenting a unique set of challenges for the UK as a whole and for Dignity, said executive chairman Clive Whiley. He paid tribute to the companys staff as an easily forgotten subset of key workers who all deserve our thanks. No-one who works for the company has been furloughed, and Dignity will not ask the Government for any direct financial support, apart from business rates relief. The various government schemes designed to protect jobs and peoples livelihoods are intended for small businesses and sectors that are under threat more directly than Dignity, Mr Whiley said. Dignity said its underlying operating profit fell 11% to 19.4 million on revenue of 83.1 million in the first quarter. Dignity has a trust to safeguard the money that customers pay to take care of their funeral expenses. It revealed that this pre-pay trusts assets have a 6% deficit due to the global market downturn. Mr Whiley added: We continue to progress the strategic review of the business, initiated upon my appointment in September 2019, which is designed to position the group for all eventualities. Piers Morgan says he has probably taken things a bit too far with his criticism of Meghan Markle after she and Prince Harry quit the Royal Family. The Good Morning Britain presenter has previously accused her of having ditched her own relatives and splitting Harry from the royals. Speaking to The Sunday Times, however, he conceded that its probably not wise, if youre a columnist, to make things too personal. Commenting on his previous comments about the Duchess of Sussex, Mr Morgan said: Have I taken things a bit too far? Probably. Do I think that will govern and temper how I talk about them going forward? Absolutely. He added that he is at his best as a journalist on stuff that really matters. Its the stuff that is substantial, particularly when peoples lives are at stake, that seems to galvanise my personality into the best possible place, he said. And its times of relative peace, calm, quiet and dare I say boredom that might occasionally bring out the worst in me. Having squabbles with people who are never going to change their mind in a million years about stuff that no longer seems remotely important. Mr Morgan was a regular critic of Meghan and her husband after they announced their decision to step back from their roles as senior royals. In January, he tweeted: People say Im too critical of Meghan Markle but she ditched her family, ditched her Dad, ditched most of her old friends, split Harry from William and has now split him from the Royal Family. I rest my case. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Decision to send students for training in COVID-19 wards decried, as 100 doctors reported to have died on front lines. Fourth-year medical student Alexandra says she wants to become an infections specialist, but when her school said students must do their required training in a coronavirus ward, she baulked. This is not volunteering by choice. Coronavirus is dangerous, and they should give people a choice, said Alexandra, who studies at Moscows top Sechenov medical university. Daunted by the prospect of contracting the virus in the clinics and infecting family members, or facing expulsion, aspiring medics have protested against the decision to send students in their fourth, fifth and sixth years who can be as young as 21 to complete their medical training in coronavirus clinics. The Ministry of Health announced on April 27 that the measure would go into effect starting May 1, and only students with medical contraindications can refuse. Students of all medical fields, including dentistry and paediatrics, are affected, according to the decree. Those who refuse to go will not get their qualification and can face expulsion, said Svetlana, a sixth-year student. Confronted with a relentless daily increase of confirmed cases, which on Sunday pushed its total number over 200,000, Russia is taking measures to staff its hospitals as it expands the number of beds by 100,000 across the country. But many students say they do not want to be put in such conditions without allocated housing and assurances that full protection will be issued. Were not doctors yet Svetlana, Alexandra and other students spoke to AFP news agency on the condition of anonymity due to fears of being expelled or other reprisals. Were not doctors yet, our task is to get an education, said Alexandra. There are fears that we will be of no use and spread the infection instead. She said students are offered training in regular hospitals, or coronavirus hospitals, including red zones where patients are treated for COVID-19. There is no adequate protection, and its difficult to believe that if the doctors dont have enough, they would find it for us, she said. In an anonymous appeal circulated on social networking sites, students at the Pirogov medical university in Moscow have asked rector Sergei Lukyanov to make the coronavirus mobilisation voluntary. Pirogov and the department of health in the Moscow government did not respond to a request for comment. At the Sechenov university, vice-rector Tatyana Litvinova said that working with coronavirus patients would not be obligatory and the school would not punish anyone who declines. If a student does not want to do it, they can do their practice in a different establishment, nobody is going to force them, she told AFP, contradicting the text of the health ministry decree. She further promised that students in Moscow would be paid a salary of 100,000 rubles ($1,360) and given personal protective equipment. Ivan Konovalov, spokesman for the Alliance of Doctors, a union associated with opposition politician Alexei Navalny, said the authorities have turned to students because of medical staff shortages. Healthcare reforms of the past years have led to the departure of many doctors from the profession, he said. This problem was even flagged by some government institutions like the Audit Chamber, which stated that optimisation of the sector a euphemism for cuts had left Russian healthcare weakened during the epidemic. Shortage of doctors Russia needs more doctors at various temporary facilities set up in the past weeks for light coronavirus cases, as the number of people testing positive has grown by more than 10,000 daily for over a week. More than 100 doctors have died treating the infection, according to a list of names kept by people in the profession. Konovalov said that, despite these difficulties, reaching out to students is not the solution. Even those in their last year dont have experience to work in these conditions, he said. Students have also launched an online petition, demanding that the ministry decree is revoked. An Instagram campaign against forced labour is ongoing. Not all Russians are sympathetic. Why did you choose this profession? To save lives! Marina Goncharova, a user of the VK social media network, commented in a group dedicated to the subject. If war breaks out, are you also going to hide behind your mothers skirts? In 2019, Game of Thrones's infamous Starbucks coffee cup left on the set became talk of the Internet, more than what had actually happened on the episode. Now, there may be an Indian version of it - in the Mahabharat. As the show which ruled the televisions during the late 80's and early 90's has now made a comeback during India's coronavirus lockdown, and has people watching the historic tale of epics unfold on their television screens. After a water cooler which was spotted on the show, people have now discovered a second goof up - a soldier 'rising' from the dead. A video which is going viral on Twitter shows a scene from the Battle of Kurukshetra with Bheeshma Pitamah lying on the cot of arrows, and being comforted by Ganga in his death. But that's not what catches everyone's attention. In the background, where there are dead soldiers, one of the 'dead' soldiers, little too uncomfortable with lying on the ground, decided to come back to life and remove his helmet so he could be more cozy. This bit captured on camera has made it to the final edit. @actmukeshkhanna #Mahabharat The soldier moves his head to check his helmet even after he is dead.... pic.twitter.com/mHkyERBDLg Sandip Agarwal (@sandee2k2) May 6, 2020 After the water cooler went viral, Mukesh Khanna, the actor who played Bheeshma said "I doubt if this picture is from a still from the show. And if it is, it is a huge mistake. But from what I can say after seeing it is that it appears to be clicked in between shots. I dont think such a glaring mistake would have happened from BR Chopras side. He was too careful with the making and the editing of Mahabharat. Spoke too soon? The re-run of the popular show started after the government announced complete lockdown in India to curb the spread of novel coronavirus. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting decided to televise the shows so as to encourage people to stay at home and spend time with their family. The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is calling for broader stakeholder consultation on the utilisation of the GHS600 million soft loan scheme for micro, small and medium scale businesses hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The National Board for Small Scale Industries has indicated that 200,000 businesses are in line to benefit from the package. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Ghana and the subsequent ban on public gatherings, most businesses in major economic hubs have seen a massive downturn inactivity. Government has announced a GHS600 million soft loan scheme to cushion businesses affected by COVID-19 beginning this month, May. We are rolling out a soft loan scheme of six hundred million cedis (GH600 million), in this month of May, to support micro, small and medium scale businesses, and, as you know, the commercial banks, with the support of the Bank of Ghana, have also instituted a three billion cedi (GH3 billion) credit and stimulus package, to help revitalise industries, especially in the pharmaceutical, hospitality, services, and manufacturing sectors, he added. But speaking to Citi News, the National Welfare Officer for GUTA, Benjamin Yeboah, said the government should as a matter of urgency constitute a committee to ensure some prudence in the distribution. We felt and we are asking the government that there should be a proper constitution of a committee that will have GUTA represented on it because we are traders and therefore we will be able to tell what ere committee is set up the way our structure is and the ways we can help them in terms of the allocation. Per head estimation, we are looking at about 200,000 people. If you are looking at GHS600 million for per 200,000 people, even if you sharing it across the board, it becomes GHS 3,000, Mr. Yeboah noted. Currently, an online portal had been developed to be used which was awaiting approval from the board of directors of the National Board for Small Scale Industries. The portal is expected to be stress-tested by independent consultants to address all implementation challenges. Call to avoid partisanship GUTA also previously asked the government to avoid partisanship in the management of the soft loan scheme. It asked that scheme is managed in a fair, transparent and equitable manner, devoid of partisan politics It also urged beneficiaries not to misuse the funds and to pay back the loan as may be arranged. Persons who access these loans will have a one-year grace period before beginning repayment. The scheme also allows for two-year repayment plan. ---citinewsroom With the new discharge protocol coming into effect in Pune on Monday, after the Centre issued guidelines for the same on May 9, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) believes it will have 500 beds freed on an immediate basis for Covid-19 patients. According to civic commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad, there are currently 1,350 Covid-19 positive patients in various Pune hospitals. Of these 1,350 patients, 500 have completed 10 days in isolation while undergoing treatment. These patients can be released immediately if they do not have strong symptoms and can undergo isolation at home. This means PMC can have up to 500 beds freed on an immediate basis, even as we have decided to follow the protocol on a case-to-case basis, Gaikwad said. Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said, The new protocol has been implemented in the division and all the guidelines of the Centre are being followed while discharging patients with no, or mild symptoms after 10 days. The earlier protocol demanded a Covid positive patient, irrespective of symptoms, to be isolated in hospital for 14 days and discharged after two consecutive tests, within a gap of 24 hours, returned negative. The new protocol states that those with mild symptoms can be discharged in 10 days based on a single negative test, if, there is no fever for three days. There is no repeat test. For those with moderate symptoms, if the fever is resolved within three days and the oxygen saturation is maintained without support, then, the patient can be discharged in 10 days. Those with moderate symptoms who need oxygen therapy, can be discharged only after the resolution of clinical symptoms, and the ability to maintain oxygen saturation for three days. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) changed the discharge protocol of Covid-19 patients stating that those with mild, very mild and pre-symptomatic positive patients can be discharged after 10 days since the onset of symptoms, and with no fever for three days, without a repeat test. City doctors have responded to the changed protocol by saying that while it might reduce the load on hospitals and staff, who can now focus more on severe patients, the risk of community transmission cannot be ignored. Dr Vijay Natarajan, chief executive officer (CEO) of Symbiosis University Hospital, said, ICMR and NIV, based on their studies, state that the virus stays in the body for only 10 days. We, in our experience, have found that even on the 14th day, almost 15%-20% of patients test positive. This means we are letting 15%-20% of the carriers to go out in the community which risks community transmission. Although the viral load may be less on the 10th day leading to no symptoms, no study states that less viral load prevents transmission. Dr Natarajan added, Home quarantine will be extremely difficult in slums. A healthier infected person may infect someone with a comorbidity, who otherwise could have been safe. However, Indian medical association (IMA) president for Maharashtra, Dr Avinash Bhondwe, says, With limited testing kits and a staff crunch, the changed discharge protocol will be of great help. Also, it is not usually seen that the symptoms reoccur and if home quarantine and social distancing is strictly followed then it might help. IMA has also written to the state government that all passengers arriving in the state should undergo a swab test RT-PCR, on arrival, and be sent into quarantine. The association has also demanded that people from the other states should be transported in a non-air conditioned vehicles, because the central AC may spread the coronavirus. By Express News Service BENGALURU: All those who arrive from outside Karnataka should be compulsorily quarantined for 14 days before they are allowed to go home, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said on Sunday. The chief minister held a meeting with ministers and bureaucrats at his home office Krishna to discuss the states preparedness for the return of thousands of people of Karnataka stranded in other states and countries. According to sources, the meeting also decided that those returning to Karnataka have to compulsorily register online. All those who arrive in the state will have to undergo a mandatory swab test for Covid-19, even if they are tested elsewhere. The meeting also decided that if one dies in another state, the body should not be brought back to Karnataka and the last rites should be performed where one is dead, the sources said. This was the year Arizona was poised to become the new Nevada a nearby state for California Democrats looking for a place to flip from red to blue. Caravans from California in particular from the Bay Area had already started. Arizona Democrats were looking forward to the extra canvassers to help capture a battleground state that President Trump narrowly won in 2016, where first-term GOP Sen. Martha McSally looks vulnerable and where Republicans have a narrow hold on the state legislature. But the coronavirus pandemic dashed those plans, sidelining an army of supporters who could provide Arizona Democrats with one of the most powerful ways to convince voters to support them: face-to-face campaigning. Swing Left, an organization dedicated to flipping GOP areas to Democratic ones, led six trips from California to Arizona starting last fall. The pandemic forced the cancellation of eight more planned for the spring. Organizers said momentum was building just before everyone had to shelter in place, as more than 200 people from across California made two weekend trips to the desert in February. And this was in February, said Debbie Raucher, a volunteer organizer for Swing Left in Oakland, overseeing a chapter with 2,700 members. Usually, you dont see those kinds of numbers of people coming out until October. Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle The appeal of Arizona is that it is a super state, as Swing Left organizers call it. It is a place where volunteers can influence a presidential campaign, a U.S. Senate seat and a state legislature. That is one reason why Trump chose Arizona last week to make his first trip away from the East Coast since the pandemic hit. Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads Trump in the state by 49% to 44%, according to the RealClearPolitics.com aggregation of top polls. McSally trails Democrat Mark Kelly by nine points. Nevada, with two Democratic senators and a track record of backing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the past three presidential elections, is less in need of outside help from California Democrats looking for a place to expend their political energy. Its typically Democrats who go looking for a state that, unlike California, is competitive between the two parties such trips by Republicans are rare. You get triple your bang for your buck when you do work in Arizona, said Raucher, a foster care advocate who volunteers roughly 20 hours a week for Swing Left. But just because there are no road trips doesnt mean there isnt work to do. Arizona is no longer a reliable reflection of its iconic conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater, whose small-government principles influenced the Reagan revolution of the 1980s. Its politics have inched left over the past decade, influenced by a growing Latino electorate now roughly 21% of the vote and by people who have moved from California in search of cheaper housing. More than 500,000 Californians relocated to Arizona from 2010 to 2018, according to census statistics. California Democrats dabbling in Arizona politics should keep in mind that the states sensibilities are far different from their own, progressive activists say. Nonpartisans there are more truly middle-of-the-roaders than in California, where they are more likely be disaffected former Republicans or Democrats. Here there are a lot of people who really are in the middle, said Nelson Morgan, a retired UC Berkeley professor and former Point Richmond resident who moved to Arizona last year and is active there in Democratic politics. You have people here who like their guns and are very interested in the environment. Here, one of my best friends is a Republican, Morgan said. I dont know if I knew more than one Republican when I was at Berkeley. Colleen McCarthy, Swing Lefts California coordinator, said, It is not about bringing our California way there. They are much more independent. Some of the issues they want to talk about dont fit in a Democrat versus Republican box. Persuading independent Arizona voters to register as Democrats isnt easy. Jim Johnson, an Arizona retiree who hosted visiting California canvassers in his Sun City West home in February, said their group knocked on 100 doors. Of the 20 people who answered, only two re-registered as Democrats. When you talk about independents here, theyre very conservative financially but liberal on some social issues, Johnson said. Experts say Californians politicking in Arizona should also heed warning signs among the states Latinos. A March survey by Univision and Arizona State University found that 36% of the states Latino registered voters felt that Democrats didnt care much about them and 12% felt they were hostile. The fact that a third of Latinos thought that Democrats dont care too much should be alarming, said Edward Vargas, a professor of transborder studies at Arizona State University and author of the poll. People feel that they arent being contacted by the campaign or brought into it. He added, Does Trump have a chance (in Arizona) to win? Yeah, I think he has a chance. Democrats cant expect Latinos to just vote the party line. Organizers with Living United for Change in Arizona, a 10-year-old organization advocating for Latinos, were looking forward to having up to 3,000 volunteers from California in August to help them make the case for the states Democrats. Those connections were in the works and we were ready for them, said Tomas Robles, co-executive director of the organization. Unfortunately, COVID-19 happened and those conversations are suspended for now. Instead, the organization is focusing its efforts online. Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Other left-leaning groups have pivoted to alternative means of contacting voters. Swing Left is among several groups joining forces for what they call the Big Send. Activists are writing letters to battleground voters and banking them to send in the final months of the campaign. We call it Canvassing from Your Couch, said Craig Koester, an organizer with the San Francisco chapter of Sister District, which aims to flip state legislatures that will draw new political district boundaries for the 2020s. For Californians hoping to help in Arizona, its going to be about texting and calling, said Ben Wessel, executive director of NextGen America, which plans to spend $45 million in battlegrounds this fall to try to persuade young people to vote progressive. Wessel hopes to take his outreach a step further if physical distancing rules are relaxed by November. He plans to attend a cousins wedding in Palm Springs on the Saturday before election day. Then, Wessel said, the whole family is going to hop in a car and drive to Yuma to help with get-out-the-vote. Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli - Murkomen said President Uhuru had forged the signatures of some senators so as to eject him and Senator Kihika from Senate leadership - The senator said he had been ousted because of his political affiliation and added the country had spent three years fighting Ruto - Murkomen insisted he would continue performing his duties as majority leader since his ejection did not follow the due process Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has rubbished his ouster and of his Nakuru counterpart Susan Kihika as majority leader and majority whip respectively. Murkomen said he would continue discharging his duties as the majority leader since State House was not Jubilee Headquarters where key changes would be made. READ ALSO: Will Smith's wife says lockdown has taught her she doesn't know hubby at all Murkomen and Kihika addressing the press after their ouster. Photo Source: UGC READ ALSO: Premier League: UK government gives greenlight season to restart Speaking hours after their ejection on Monday, May 11, the senators said the decision to oust them was null and void with the Elgeyo Marakwet lawmaker reiterating Tanga Tanga legislators had not been invited to the Jubilee Party Parliamentary Group meeting. He further termed a joke that a Kenya African National Union (KANU) senator, Samuel Poghisio had been chosen to replace him. READ ALSO: Marafiki wa DP Ruto wakaa ngumu, wakataa uamuzi wa Uhuru uliofanyika Ikulu "There was no invitation extended to any of us, 22 Jubilee senators for the meeting at State House to remove us," the tough-talking William Ruto ally said. The ejected leader alleged that President Uhuru Kenyatta had forged some signatures of some senators who had not attended the PG meeting. "To the president, you cannot lead the country in forgery. You cannot forge the signatures of our colleagues," he was quoted by the Star. Murkomen said he, and Kihika, were being targeted because of their political inclination further stating that Kenya had lost the last three years fight Ruto. "We urge President Uhuru to support the handshake from within Jubilee and work amicably with the DP," he added. This statement came some few moments after the ousted majority whip wrote a letter to Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka disputing the changes made to Senate leadership. "No vote was carried out as required by Standing Order 19 to remove the Majority Leader and the Majority Whip," the letter read in part. She was replaced with Irungu Kang'ata as Majority Whip while Samuel Poghisio replaced Murkomen as Majority leader in a PG meeting at State House. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Eastleigh residents' plea to Uhuru | Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke Afghan security forces arrested three senior South Asia Islamic State members including the group's regional leader, the government said on Monday. The militant group's head of South Asia, Abu Omar Khorasani, was arrested in Kabul alongside the group's spy chief and public relations officer, the General Directorate of National Security (NDS) and Interior Ministry said in a statement. "NDS will continue its comprehensive and targeted operations to hunt down senior leaders of regional terrorist groups and destroy the joint hubs of these terrorist networks," the statement said. South Asia Islamic State is mainly focused on a small presence in Afghanistan, largely in the north, though it has waged high profile attacks further south in the capital. Afghan security forces arrested eight members of a network grouping Islamic State and Haqqani militants responsible for bloody attacks in the capital including on Sikh worshippers, the country's security agency said last Wednesday. The ongoing violence underscored the challenges to securing lasting peace in Afghanistan even after the United States signed a troop withdrawal agreement with the militant Taliban in February. The Taliban, which says it opposes the Islamic State and has fought the group, has since held off on large-scale attacks on foreign forces or in major centres, though it has continued attacking Afghan security forces throughout the provinces. On Monday, there were four roadside blasts in the capital which wounded four civilians, including a child, according to Kabul's police. No group immediately claimed responsibility. Clashes in eastern Laghman province between security forces and the Taliban killed six security force members and wounded five, according to Haroon Yousufzai, a local military spokesman. The ministry of defence said the Taliban also suffered heavy casualties. The Afghan government and foreign powers including the United States have been calling on the group to reduce violence, saying it is hindering progress on moving towards formal peace talks. Search Keywords: Short link: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Zimbabwe has signed a $20 million contract with a local organization expected to boost food production in the country. In a statement, the U.S Embassy in Harare said the new Feed the Future program, known as Fostering Agribusiness for Resilient Markets (FARM), is designed to combat food insecurity in Zimbabwe. The US$19.8 million, five-year contract with Chemonics International will commence in the next few months and will focus its efforts in Manicaland and Masvingo Provinces. FARM builds on the work of Feed the Future Zimbabwe-Crop Development, Feed the Future-Livestock Development, and USAIDs Food for Peace Development Food Security Activities, which will allow FARM to start quickly. The Feed the Future Zimbabwe FARM activity will target 20,000 households in Manicaland and Masvingo provinces and provide innovative technical training and assistance to smallholder farmers to increase their productivity, bolster crop and livestock sales, and improve household nutrition and hygiene, ultimately reducing rural poverty and improving household incomes. The U.S Embassy quoted USAID mission director Stephanie Funk as saying, USAID is excited about the innovations the FARM activity will bring, as we assist Zimbabwean farmers and their families to improve their livelihoods and their lives. In 2019, USAIDs Feed the Future Crop Development activity reached over 30,000 farmers, who sold crops valued at US$7.47 million. In addition, the Feed the Future Livestock Development activity reached over 4,000 smallholder livestock farmers, whose average annual household net income increased significantly. The average net income for beef producing households increased by 45 percent to US$986 a year, while the average net income for dairy producing households increased by 35 percent to US$2,589 a year. Over the past four years, participating farmers sold crops and livestock valued at over US$45.75 million. These increased incomes have had a major impact on beneficiaries, allowing them to provide for their families while improving household nutrition, and building overall resilience. For more than 30 years, the American people, through USAID, have contributed over $3 billion in assistance to Zimbabwe. Current projects include initiatives to increase food security, support economic resilience, improve health systems and services, and promote a more democratic system of governance. Gurugram, May 11 : Desperate to return home as soon as possible amid the lockdown, over 400 migrant labourers from different states queued up at the Gurugram Civil Hospital to obtain mandatory health certificates while throwing social distancing norm to the wind. Health certificates are required for booking train tickets for the return journeys. As labourers queued up outside the hospital in Sector 10 with little space to separate them from others, police and health officials faced a tough situation. A The Civil Hospital is one of main isolation centre for Covid-19 in the city and considered highly sensitive area on the health front. At least five medical staff have since tested coronavirus positive after treating corona patients. Besides, Gurugram tops corona-infected districts in Haryana, with 142 positive cases so far. This includes over 20 labourers of Khandsa vegetable and fruits wholesale market. Asked about violation of social distancing, a labourer of Kadipur said that people like him were facing a precarious situation while stranded in Gurugram since the lockdown with no food and total dependence on others. "In such a situation, who cares about social distancing. We are dying every day without any fault. Foreign returnees brought corona to our country and not poor labourers, but the latter are getting penalised. Hence, we want to go home at any cost," said Rahul Yadav, a resident of Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh. Another labourer Shri Ram Kumar said: "Our savings have completely dried up and we are dependent on others. We start the day by queuing up to get food donated by people. It is humiliation we face every day, which has crushed our self-respect. I ask you to stand in a queue for food and experience our plight. It would be wise to stand in a queue to undergo thermal scanning and obtain medical certificates from authorities to return to our native villages. At least, we would stay there with some respect." The situation in various cybercafes, tour operators' offices on the Khandsa Road is similar. A large number of people were found standing in queues to book tickets. No one can be certain of what the social distancing guidelines will be in the state of Illinois at that time; however, we wanted to ensure that a date for graduation has been reserved in the hopes that an in-person event can occur, district officials said in the email, which was signed by Superintendent Charles Johns, Glenbrook South Principal Lauren Fagel and Glenbrook North Principal John Finan. The US Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) launches a Trident II-D5 missile. By Hu Gaochen Recently, it was reported that Dr. James H. Anderson, US PTDO Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, said that if the United States approves the principle of no first use (NFU), the risk of nuclear conflicts will increase accordingly. Such remarks show that the US side deliberately turns a deaf ear to the objective benefits of the no-first-use policy and only considers its own security based on unilateralism ideas. The no-first-use principle is a positive concept in nuclear control that can reduce nuclear risk. The connotation of the principle is that a nuclear power pledges not to use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare in crisis or wartime unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons. The no-first-use policy is a positive value in nuclear control worth getting promoted and popularized. It correctly understands and views the relative role of nuclear weapons in national security strategy. With the implementation of the no-first-use strategy, neither side will resort to nuclear weapons first, and thus will not cause uncontrollable consequences from nuclear conflicts. This is a nuclear strategy aiming at preventing and reducing the risk of nuclear wars. On the very first day when China possessed nuclear weapons, it declared the no-first-use policy and has since adhered to it. China's nuclear policy demonstrates the country's role in maintaining strategic stability and sets a positive example for the international community. If the policy can be obeyed by all nuclear weapon states, it is bound to deliver a positive impact on establishing a strategically stable relationship among those countries and contribute to a reasonable and well-organized global nuclear order. Besides China, India also pursues the no-first-use nuclear policy and primarily intends to deter Pakistan. In the face of Pakistan's nuclear weapons, India would use the no-first-use strategy as a deterrent to ensure that Pakistan does not dare to use nuclear weapons first in crisis or wartime, while India can gain an advantage by relying on its conventional military power. During his presidency, Barrack Obama said that the United States may announce the implementation of the no-first-use nuclear strategy, a positive action related to nuclear weapons that was once well-received in the international community. However, the strategy was completely abandoned when Donald Trump took office. The US is seemingly avoiding no first use and actually seeking access to nuclear weapons whenever it wants. The reason why the United States proposed that the no-first-use strategy would increase the risk of nuclear conflicts is that accepting such principle will prevent the United States from using nuclear weapons first when its own or allies' major interests get damaged. And this will serve to increase the risk of using nuclear weapons instead. This reason can be understood like this: if the United States implements the no-first-use strategy, then it will not respond first with nuclear weapons when the opponent attacks the United States and its allies. This will induce the opponent to use nuclear weapons first to attack the United States, and with the counterattack from the United States, a nuclear war occurs. To be specific, the reason may include three implied meanings. First, the United States firmly believes that its opponent who sets to damage its own and its allies' interests, is likely to resort to nuclear weapons first. In the eyes of the United States, its identified opponent country is willing to actively use nuclear weapons first, while indifferent to the United States' nuclear counterattack capabilities. Thus, the US side is worried that the no-first-use principle will induce its opponent country to prefer to use nuclear weapons first. Second, even if the opponent does not use nuclear weapons, the US adoption of the no-first-use strategy is but to indirectly encourage the opponent to take advantage of conventional military power in some localities, causing damage to the United States or its allies. According to this thinking, if the United States adopts a no-first-use nuclear strategy, which means it fails to provide nuclear umbrella for its allies in Asia and Europe, resources of the US and its allies in those areas will get damaged by superior conventional military power of China and Russia. In addition, the United States believes that since no-first-use principle will lead to the risk of nuclear conflicts, it is necessary to maintaining the stance of using nuclear weapons at any time or even preemptively using them, to deter the so-called strategic opponents from using nuclear weapons and superior conventional military power. All the above-mentioned three meanings just reflect the United States' assumptions about security threats from other countries, especially the so-called strategic adversaries. The United States has always subjectively determined the hostility of its opponents. If a country poses a challenge to the great power's hegemonic position and benefits that comes along, the United States often judges it as an opponent, believing that the country is a threat to the United States and intends to harm the US anytime and anywhere, though the countrys input in national development and its overall national strength growth do not aim at competing with the United States for hegemony. If the country develops military power on account of its own national defense and security needs and is regarded as an adversary by the United States, its development of national defense capabilities is to be labeled as a threat on the US side. This is a typical strategic victimhood left over from the Cold War. The United States is still upholding the Cold War and victimhood mentality for the other countries' improvement of comprehensive national and military strength, and thus adopts an unhealthy self-defense mechanism that superficially responds to threats to the United States while actually destabilizes great powers relationships and undermines global stability. The emphasis on the preemptive and handy use of nuclear weapons, and lowering the nuclear threshold to enhance actual combat capabilities with nuclear weapons, are the manifestations of this unhealthy mechanism. (The author is a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, who specializes in arms control and national security) Disclaimer: This article is originally published on thepaper.cn and translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn. A man walks past a banner showing Saudi King Salman, right, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, outside a mall in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. (Amr Nabil/AP) Saudi Arabia is hiking taxes and slashing public spending in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The government news agency said on Monday the state was taking measures worth 100bn Saudi riyals ($26.6bn, 21.5bn) in a bid to shore up public finances. Key measures include increasing value added tax (VAT) from 5% to 15% from July 2020 and the axing of a cost of living allowance for all state workers. The allowance is worth 1,000 riyals ($267, 214) per month and will be stopped from the start of June. A new ministerial committee has been established to review spending on benefits for all state employees and contractors, while Riyadh is also cancelling some state spending including on the countrys much-publicised Vision 2030 modernisation project. These measures that have been undertaken today, as tough as they are, are necessary and beneficial to maintain comprehensive financial and economic stability on the medium and long-term for the interest of the country and its citizens, the Saudi state news agency reported minister of finance Mohammad Aljadaan as saying. READ MORE: European stocks on 'firm footing' as UK sets out lockdown roadmap Aljadaan said Saudi Arabia faced three economic shocks as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic a slump in demand for oil globally, the shutdown of the Saudi economy to slow the spread of the virus, and a need to radically increase healthcare spending. Each of [these shocks] could in itself have an extremely negative effect on the performance and stability of public finance had the government not intervened by taking measures to absorb them, Aljadaan said according to the state news agency. Saudi Arabia last month reported a 22% slump in state revenues in the first quarter of 2020. The fall in income pushed Riyadh to a budget deficit of 34.1bn Saudi riyals ($9bn, 7.3bn) in the first three months of the year. Oil exports are the key revenue driver for the Saudi state but the price of Brent crude (BZ=F) has fallen 50% since the start of the year as worldwide lockdowns and travel bans have crushed demand. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK The State of Illinois modern deer hunting season was instituted in 1957. Two years later, a young Jack Gorden of West Vienna, an avid squirrel and rabbit hunter thought hed give the new sport a try. Gorden rigged a makeshift deer stand in a tree on the family farm, a piece of property that has been in his family since the 1840s. On his second day of deer hunting, Gorden bagged an eight-point buck. Now 92 years old, Gorden, a retired teacher, has bagged a deer on his property every year since. For the math impaired, thats 60 straight years. Compared to today, deer were scarce in Southern Illinois at that time. But, Gorden remembers seeing deer on the family farm as early as 1944. When I was growing up, I remember the first deer I ever saw, he said. I was probably about a sophomore in high school and fixing a fence. He jumped out of the grass and I didnt know what it was. I ran home and asked my grandpa what it was. He told me it was a deer. That got me kind of excited. Over the next 15 years, Gorden kept track of the small deer herd on the 400-acre farm. When the state instituted a deer season he began watching the deer a bit more intently, studying their movements. And, in 1959 he took the plunge. The first day was less than successful. It was a cold day and Gorden abandoned the deer stand after a couple hours and headed for the warmth of home. The next morning I said, Im going to stick it out, Gorden said. A little 8-point buck came by. I shot at it a couple times. Im pretty sure I hit it. I went back to the house and got my boys and my bird dog. It didnt take the bird dog about 10 minutes to locate it. I still have the little rack. A bit older and slower now, Gorden has eschewed the tree stand in favor of a ground blind. However, he still takes to the field to hunt deer in the fall and turkey in the spring. He filled his 60th straight deer tag this fall. Only once in his 60-year run was Gorden worried his streak would be broken. He doesnt remember the year, but the circumstances are fresh in his memory. It was the last hour of the last day, he said. I was really antsy I didnt want to break my record. That only happened one time. It was about 15 minutes before quitting time. A doe walked out in front of me. He admits the hunt is tougher on him physically than it used to be and his priorities afield have changed. But, Gorden isn't ready to throw in the towel. I've just always been an outdoors person, he said. It just seems natural. I just have never stopped doing it. I just like to get out and watch. In turkey hunting, I really dont care if I kill one or not, but if I can call one up and get it close, that makes my day. At my age, I really appreciate the opportunity to be able to hear them too. I use ground blinds now. Theyll probably find me out in my deer blind some time when my time comes. For Gorden, that would be a happy ending to this hunting tale. Love 6 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 1 A mother of three from Dover, Florida has been missing since January and her family fears something terrible happened to her. Veronica Marllen Reyes-Diaz Veronica Marllen Reyes-Diaz, 23, was last seen in the early morning hours of Saturday, January 18, 2020. Her father, Fidencio Minjares, told Dateline that Veronica had made plans to go out Friday night with a friend. Her husband stayed home with their 1-year-old son and she took their two older sons, ages 4 and 5, to her sisters house in Plant City, Florida, about 15 minutes away. She returned home and was picked up by her friend later that night. Around 1:15 a.m. on Saturday, Veronicas friend dropped her off at her house and then Veronica drove to her sisters house to pick up the boys before returning home, according to Veronicas father. Once the children were inside and put to bed, her father said thats when it appears she left the house again, but didnt return. Veronica's Chevy Yukon was found parked outside the house. Her car keys and wallet with cash were inside the vehicle. Veronicas father told Dateline her cell phone pinged in the area over the weekend, but by Monday, it had been turned off because no messages or calls were going through. We werent really worried at first, Fidencio said. Thought maybe she was staying with a friend. Maybe she just needed some space. It happens. But not for this long. And she would have never left her kids. Never. They were everything to her. On Monday, Veronicas family filed a missing persons report and began searching the area. But there was no trace of Veronica. Assistant Chief Communications Officer Amanda Granit with The Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office told Dateline that Veronicas case is classified as a missing persons case and anyone with information is encouraged to call the authorities. It is still a case that is being actively investigated, Granit said. Reyes-Diaz is not considered endangered and there are no signs of foul play at this time. Story continues The family, however, believes her disappearance is completely out of character and is frustrated with the lack of movement in her case. Theres a big problem with sex trafficking in this area, Fidencio said. And Im just worried that someone grabbed her that night. Nearly three weeks after Veronica vanished, 28-year-old Cieha Taylor disappeared from Plant City, Florida on February 6. She was previously featured in Dateline NBCs Missing in America. Ciehas black 2000 Toyota Solaris was found abandoned on railroad tracks at East Trapnell Road. The engine was still running. Her belongings, including her cell phone and debit card, were in the car. It is not known if these two disappearances are connected, but Fidencio said he is looking into every possibility. He said that as far as he knows, the two women did not know each other, but said he has discovered they have mutual acquaintances. Fidencio said their family and Ciehas family are working together to bring their loved ones home safe. This has brought our families together for one goal, to find our daughters, Fidencio said. Every time Im out searching for Veronica, Im searching for Cieha, too. But the searches for both women stalled when the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down in March. Everything has just stopped because of coronavirus, Fidencio said. Were all just really worried. Im just so desperate for answers. For closure. Something. Fidencio said Mothers Day was especially hard for the family. I just tried to keep the kids entertained, Fidencio said. But they keep asking for her. Theyre worried. I just dont know what to tell them anymore. We just need her home. Veronica is described as being 411 tall and 150 pounds. She has hair that has been dyed burgundy and brown eyes. Veronica was last seen wearing a white and grey long sleeve cropped shirt, jeans and sandals. She has a mole near her left eye and may be wearing glasses. A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to Veronicas whereabouts. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriffs Office at (813) 247-8200 or email Piocommandcenter@hcso.tampa.fl.us. CASTLE ROCK, Colo. - A day after C&C Coffee and Kitchen defied Democratic Gov. Jared Polis's executive Safer at Home order - packing the restaurant with hundreds of customers on Mother's Day - the regional health department ordered the business to shut down immediately until authorities could determine if the business was in compliance with coronavirus-related restrictions, according to a statement from the agency. Nearly every table was full after the restaurant opened its doors on Sunday morning, according to footage from Colorado Community Media reporter Nick Puckett. Customers crowded around the counter waiting for their orders. The line to place them went out the door, wrapping around the side of the building. Almost no one was wearing a face mask. For the owners of the breakfast cafe, it was a way to both celebrate Mother's Day and to openly push back against policies they believe are strangling the American economy; the decision was met with enthusiasm in the wealthy enclave south of Denver, as customers flocked. "We are standing for America, small businesses, the Constitution and against the overreach of our governor in Colorado!!" C&C Coffee & Kitchen wrote on its Twitter account, tagging President Trump. Open defiance of government orders has become a political rallying point for small businesses from coast to coast as the nation's shutdown nears two months. More than 20.5 million Americans lost their jobs in April and the unemployment rate has soared to nearly 15%, an economic catastrophe for some that has them questioning the logic of shutting down to prevent the spread of the virus - which has now killed about 80,000 Americans and has infected more than 1.3 million. Some business owners have reopened even after being threatened with legal consequences, though some have chosen to keep social distancing restrictions in place. Dallas hair salon owner Shelley Luther, for example, was sentenced to seven days in jail for defying a court order to shut down, although salon employees were still wearing masks and taking customers' temperatures. She was freed by the Texas Supreme Court two days after sentencing. On Monday, Karl Manke, 77, kept the doors to his barber shop in Owosso, Michigan, open in defiance of state orders, despite receiving two citations last week. Since he has reopened, customers have arrived from as far away as New York and California to get their hair cut and to back his fight to keep working. "Everything I have was in jeopardy, my business was in jeopardy, my credit was in jeopardy," Manke said Monday, wearing a surgical mask as he attended to Paula Weister, a 73-year-old customer from nearby Lansing. "I had no other choice. I had to open up." Customers were spaced a seat apart in the small barber shop. Others arrived to demonstrate, waving yellow "Don't tread on me" and Trump flags. A few members of the Michigan Home Guard, a local militia, stood sentinel outside the shop with loaded weapons and planned to barricade the door and prevent Manke's arrest if police arrived. Passing cars and trucks blared their horns in support. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, is fending off widespread dissent after gradually allowing businesses to reopen in the western part of the state but ordering most commerce to remain closed in the more populous east until June 4. In York County, which includes the northern exurbs of Baltimore, the owners of the Round the Clock Diner decided to reopen on Monday, despite the stay-home order, according to staff members and local media reports. The decision to reopen followed an announcement Friday by the York County district attorney that he would not prosecute business owners who defied Wolf's order. David Sunday, a Republican, also urged law enforcement agencies to no longer cite business owners who violate the governor's order, saying the definition for an essential business is too murky. "Rapid changes in the definition of what constitutes criminal conduct renders the application of criminal law as arbitrary and impossible to follow or defend against," Sunday wrote in his order. "In analyzing the ever-changing scope and application of these orders, we find that their enforcement as criminal penalties is not possible on the consistent basis required of prosecutors and law enforcement." In a fiery speech on Monday morning, Wolf responded by portraying his detractors as traitors who were choosing to desert their posts "in the face of the enemy in the middle of a war, that we Pennsylvanians are winning and that we must win." He added that it is "cowardly" for local politicians to try to sidestep his authority. The business owners' decisions to reopen also largely is a gamble in the court of public opinion. A recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll showed sizable majorities of Americans opposing reopening dine-in restaurants, movie theaters and gyms. On Monday morning at 8 a.m., dozens made the pilgrimage to Castle Rock from cities throughout Colorado to purchase $10 burritos and support a business operating in line with their gripes over the handling of the coronavirus outbreak here, one of the first states with a Democratic governor to allow counties to make the decision about reopening nonessential businesses. Suzanne Andrews, 68, a retired member of the National Guard, said she made the hour-long drive from Aurora, a suburb of Denver, to Castle Rock "to support the family and the business and to get the governor to realize that we need to open up," she said. "I figure if I could spent 30 days in Germany in -40 degree weather, God's not ready to take me. I'm as healthy as I ever would be." Customers who were among the first to patronize the restaurant Monday morning shared a skepticism of nationally reported test data and fatality statistics, doubts about the virus's lethality, and resentment for what they described as "unconstitutional" state health orders requiring businesses like C & C to limit their offerings to carryout and curbside service. "I'm a historian. I know history," said Andy Stone, 56, president of an MRI company in Centennial, Colorado. "What's happening is like Nazi Germany. It's a totalitarian environment where the government is going to establish their power and through fear enable the rest of the society to help them stay in power. . . . They just keep moving the target, and people just can't survive that. We can't save every single life." The restaurant's reopening on Mother's Day, with apparently no social distancing precautions, is the latest example of small businesses bucking their states' executive orders while fearing for their survival. Under Polis' "Safer at Home" order, restaurants are still prohibited from offering dine-in service. Colorado has seen more than 19,700 cases of covid-19, along with 973 deaths. The move to open Sunday drew swift backlash, as state and local officials condemned the restaurant's disregard for public health protections and some Castle Rock residents feared the restaurant could have worsened covid-19 in the community. A spokeswoman for the governor's office said in a statement that the restaurant's conduct is "endangering the lives of their staff, customers and community." The Tri-County Health Department issued it's order to shut down the restaurant after the business continued to host customers Monday, with several opting to dine in. "It is disheartening that this restaurant has chosen to move ahead of the public orders and not even consider implementing best practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19," said John Douglas, executive director of the local health department. "It is not fair to the rest of the community and other business owners that are following Safer at Home and doing their part. We sincerely hope that C & C will choose to cooperate with the rules under which they are allowed to operate so we can lift this closure order." The Korean-fusion breakfast cafe's owners, April and Jesse Arellano, declined requests for an interview. But April Arellano told Puckett that she had never seen a Mother's Day crowd at the restaurant like the one on Sunday in their seven years of operation. She told KDVR the restaurant had about 500 customers. "I expected it to be busy. I never expected this," she told Colorado Community Media. "I'm so happy so many people came out to support the Constitution and stand up for what is right. We did our time. We did our two weeks. We did more than two weeks . . . and we were failing. We had to do something." Few customers inside the restaurant appeared concerned about the lack of social distancing. In a since-removed Facebook Live video archived by CBS Denver, a maskless Arellano scans the noisy, crowded space, thanking everyone who came and saying, "So much for some of those people who said nobody would show up. And our patio is full." A sign on the door reportedly read: "ATTENTION: Our freedom doesn't end where your fear begins. . . . If you are afraid to be within 6 feet of another person, do not enter this business!" Others within the restaurant industry said they understood the restaurant's frustrations but completely disagreed with the owners' decision. "It pisses me off," said Chris Fuselier, owner of the Blake Street Tavern in Denver. "They have put Castle Rock on the global pandemic map. They should have been shut down on Monday morning. You bolt the doors and you send a message to the thousands of other restaurants in Colorado who are abiding by the order and doing the right thing. I'm struggling too. My bank account is on fumes. But we need to do this right. We've got a couple more weeks and our time is coming." Another man who went to the restaurant to pick up takeout told the Denver Post he was so taken aback by the lack of social distancing and the fact that no one was wearing face masks that he decided he didn't want his food anymore. "It was unbelievable," the customer, Nick Whitehill, told the newspaper, adding he filed a complaint with the county health department. The Yelp review page for C & C Coffee and Kitchen highlighted some of that disapproval Sunday, as dozens of people - some of whom were clearly not from Castle Rock - flooded the restaurant with complaints. But the restaurant also had plenty of supporters. Among them was state Rep. Patrick Neville, a Republican who also is among a number of conservative lawmakers nationwide who have joined their constituents in acts of defiance. He said on Facebook that he found it "shocking" that, after taking a photograph of himself with Arellano at the restaurant on Sunday, the "left mob is coming after me over this hardcore." In a text message to The Washington Post, Neville said he went to the restaurant on Sunday to return the kindness the owners showed his family a couple of years ago, when his wife was hit by a car in a nonfatal accident outside the restaurant and they brought out hot cocoa to Neville's daughters. "They made a lasting impression on my family and we wanted to show our support as they are providing for their families," Neville said. - - - Flynn reported from Washington. Moriah Balingit in Owosso, Mich., and Tim Craig in Washington contributed to this report. Senator Ademola Adeleke has celebrated his daughter, Adenike on social media for her graduation. In his post on social media to celebrate her, he revealed that she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Nursing and Health Professions. The senator shared a photo of her on social media with caption; Glory be to God! Im so proud my beautiful daughter Adenike Marlyn Adeleke graduated today from Oakwood University in Alabama class of 2020, he wrote. The post Senator Adeleke is proud of his daughter, Adenike as she graduates from US university appeared first on . Share this post with your Friends on The Northern Irish devolved government has said it is considering a 'different approach' in addressing the Covid-19 impact on the local dairy sector. Farmers in England and Wales will be entitled up to 10,000 to cover 70% of their lost income as a result of the coronavirus crisis. But no fund has been announced for dairy producers in Northern Ireland and Scotland, many of whom have felt the immediate impact of the global pandemic with the closure of the food service and hospitality sectors. Northern Ireland's agriculture minister Edwin Poots said the scheme in England and Wales addresses demand problems that materialised 'very quickly' in April for a 'small number' of farmers. He said the issues faced by Northern Irish farmers are 'different' due to their 'exposure to international markets and downturn in global economic activity'. "The impact for our dairy farmers may become evident more slowly, last longer and be more widespread, and on that basis, we are considering a different approach to address our particular circumstances," Mr Poots explained. The minister added that the Northern Irish government has asked the UK government what 'enhanced funding' it could provide dairy farmers. "I have also been working closely with the dairy sector and expect to receive a document outlining their concerns shortly, this will help deliver a robust case for the needs of the industry," Mr Poots said. "You have my full support and I will continue to fight for our farmers so that we have a profitable and sustainable sector in the long-term. The situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border after the shootout on the eve of May 9 with a machine gun and mortar remains tense. The cause of the conflict was an unmarked plot of land. Bishkek and Dushanbe exchanged notes of protest. At the scene of the incident, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Kyrgyzstan Akram Madumarov and Chairman of the Border Service Ularbek Sharsheev. Border guards of Tajikistan recognized the fact of mortar fire. At the same time, in a statement by the press center of the border troops of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) of the Republic of Tajikistan (RT), it was noted that the Kyrgyz border guards were the first to open fire from machine guns and a machine gun at peaceful Tajiks. The conflict occurred due to the fact that the citizens of Kyrgyzstan decided to plant 4 hectares of corn adjacent to the village of Chorkukh, Isfara district of Tajikistan. This is a controversial site, which, supposedly under regulatory legal acts, was soon to go under the jurisdiction of Tajikistan. According to the Tajik side, Kyrgyz citizens were warned about this and asked to get out. But residents of the neighboring Batken region of Kyrgyzstan ignored the demand of their neighbors. The word skirmish first grew into a battle with stoning, and then with the use of weapons. The first shot from a hunting rifle sounded from the Kyrgyz side. Kyrgyz border guards hurried to the noise, who, according to the Tajik border service, "instead of resolving the conflict, supported the provocative actions of compatriots by firing from Kalashnikov machine guns and machine guns at the civilian population of Tajikistan." "After that, in order to defend themselves and protect civilians, Tajik border guards were forced to return fire. As a result of the shootout, two Tajik citizens received heavy gunshot wounds," the Tajik agency said. According to the Kyrgyz side, the conflict began due to the use of 50 acres of land in the Chek Batken region. This site is unmarked, but was used by peasants of Kyrgyzstan from time immemorial. "Military personnel of the Border Guards National Security Committee of the Republic of Tatarstan opened mortar fire in the direction of Kyrgyz border guards. During the shootout, three military personnel and one local resident were injured," the State Border Service of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan (GPU KR) said. On Victory Day, Tajik Ambassador Nazirmad Alizoda was called to the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry. A Tajik diplomat was handed a note of protest "in connection with the targeted shelling of servicemen and citizens of Kyrgyzstan from machine guns with under-barrel grenade launchers, including from multiple mortar weapons, as a result of which three soldiers of the border service and one local resident of Kyrgyzstan received heavy gunshot wounds." Concern was expressed over the obvious destructive and provocative actions of Tajik military personnel and citizens, leading to the destabilization of the situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik state border, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said. It is very unfortunate that these illegal actions of the Tajik side were committed on the eve of the great holiday and during the holy month of Ramadan, symbolizing the unity of peoples and the preservation of peace and tranquility. " Bishkek assigns all responsibility for the aggravation of the situation in the border regions to the Tajik side and demands that urgent measures be taken to avoid further aggravation of the situation and the prosecution of those responsible. The Tajik Foreign Ministry, in turn, called on the carpet after the neighboring state, Zhanysh Rustenbekov, who was also handed a note of protest "because of the provocative actions of citizens and military personnel of Kyrgyzstan that led to the armed conflict." "The ambassador was informed that the cause of the incident was a targeted shot from a firearm fired by a citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as the subsequent actions of the Kyrgyz border guards, which forced the Tajik border units to take retaliatory measures," the RT Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. After the incident, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Chingiz Aidarbekov and his Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Mukhriddin, during a telephone conversation, "noted the need to coordinate actions aimed at quickly resolving" the incident. The ministers agreed on the need "to conduct outreach to the local population in order to relieve tension in the border region" and agreed to keep in touch. At the beginning of this year, it was decided to begin the process of the exchange of disputed territories. The created topographic groups of the two countries considered the possibility of exchanging equivalent territories between the Batken region (Kyrgyzstan) and the city of Isfara (Tajikistan) in the Samarkandek and Kok-Tash sections. The final version of the exchange must be submitted before March 1, 2020. But the plans were confused by the coronavirus. A state of emergency was introduced in Kyrgyzstan and all work was stopped. The Kyrgyz military expert, Colonel Toktogul Kakchekeev, is convinced that the conflict is so complex that it cannot be resolved quickly. "The problem is that a river runs through the disputed section, where hydraulic structures are located that supply water to the Kyrgyz territory and then Tajik. This land has always been controversial - Tajikistan claims for it. Now this land has been included in the exchange plan. 29 years this question has not been was resolved, and it is unlikely that it will be resolved today, Kakchekeev told Vestnik Kavkaza. He recalled that the corridor of drug trafficking and smuggling of fuels and lubricants, which was formed during the civil war in Tajikistan with the stimulation of the West and Afghan political forces to enrich individual clans and spread radical Islam in the region, runs through this territory. One of the goals of Dushanbe is to unite the Tajik enclave with the mainland. And in order to get out of the natural environment, the Tajiks took various methods - from domestic quarrels to interethnic conflicts. To stabilize the situation, meetings were held, documents of little significance were signed. A post was created in Kyrgyzstan for these purposes Deputy Prime Minister, who should deal with the solution of the border issue, but nothing good came of it, as one of the deputies of the Jogorku Kenesh, Deputy Prime Minister Janish Razakov said over four years of work even for four I didnt delimit the border meters, but blood was shed more than once. Today this post is occupied by a native of these places, the former head of the Batken region, a graduate of the agricultural institute, veterinarian Akram Madumarov, "the expert noted. According to him, in Kyrgyzstan graduates of agricultural institutes are now at a price, which practically reduce the territorial sovereignty of the country to almost zero. Until the last border pillar is placed on the border of the designated state, the country has no territorial independence. Because there is a hole there. How can we say that Kyrgyzstan fully controls its borders? - Kakchekeev wonders. The expert believes that since all the cartographic documents of the districts and oblasts are in the Russian Federation, and Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, these issues should be resolved precisely with the participation of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. North Koreans in China live in Fear of Repatriation including church members. Illegal migrants from North Korea hiding in northeastern China fear immediate and violent reprisals if they are repatriated, according to missionaries working with the community. While the ruling Chinese Communist Party relies on an army of citizens with red armbands to keep tabs on illegal immigrants and report them to the authorities. It is stated that Pastors and missionaries offering outreach services to the migrants say they run an enormous risk living in China, because repatriation could result in immediate torture and death at the hands of guards on the other side of the bridge. "Anyone who leaves the country by stealth is considered a traitor," Zhang told RFA. "There are people wearing red armbands everywhere in the villages near the border," he said. "There is nowhere left to hide, because there are surveillance cameras and red armbands in every village in China, and they know when someone enters the village." A Christian surnamed Li who is linked to a church in the border city of Dandong said Zhang's account is consistent with what he has heard from North Koreans. "My friends there say that any North Koreans who are caught are repatriated," Li said. "They have the hook in their collarbone before they've even crossed the bridge." "Being caught is a death sentence for them ... that's the situation right now," he said. According to RFA, Zhang also stated that there is a North Korean child in a Dandong church who was adopted after both parents were caught by the authorities. Zhang said there is a hidden network of missionaries who lend aid to North Koreans in China, but they are sworn to secrecy so as to protect the refugees they are helping. "They have caught South Koreans before," Zhang said. "Some were sentenced in China and some were sent to North Korea. If they are Americans, they are sentenced in China." "Anyone sent to North Korea will get a harsher punishment, and sometimes get used to making political deals with South Korea and the U.S., to release them in exchange for something." Without a high level of security, it is very easy to get arrested. "Once you are caught, you can be punished for espionage." Credit: CC0 Public Domain For decades, it has been assumed that a quieter ocean could help take the Salish Sea's southern resident killer whales off the endangered species list. But researchers lacked enough data to test this theoryuntil now. When COVID19 put the world on lockdown, David Barclay, an assistant professor in the Department of Oceanography, Faculty of Science, and researchers in his lab seized an opportunity to explore how much change has occurred in the underwater noise environment due to the pandemic. "Oceans Network Canada operate an amazing network of underwater observatories that provide a tool to characterize the soundscape of B.C."s coastal waters," says Dr. Barclay. "These hydrophones allow us to analyze everything from the force of winter storms to the presence of killer whalesin near real-time." The paper, which was recently accepted for publication in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, found a measurable reduction in the amount of low-frequency sound 300 km off the west coast of Vancouver Island, near a major shipping route for container traffic between western Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the U.S and Asia. They found the same significant reduction in the Georgia Strait between Vancouver Island and mainland B.C., North America's largest export terminal. Tracking the decline The reduction in underwater noise pollution due to COVID19 may be good news for whales and other sea mammals. Between January and April of this year, an offshore hydrophone station west of Vancouver Island recorded a 16 percent decrease in noise poweror 1.5 decibelscompared to the same time last year. "It's a small but significant reduction and may hint at even larger decreases in the coming months," says Dr. Barclay. In the busy Strait of Georgiathe body of water between Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainlandDr. Barclay looked at the change in noise week over week, noting that not only was the ocean getting quieter, it was getting quieter at a faster rate. By April, the noise power being put into the water by ships' engines and propulsion systems had reduced by almost half, or more than 5 decibels. It's not fully known what effect that might have on marine life, but a 2012 study showed that North Atlantic right whales appear less stressed when noise levels in the ocean are reduced, as was the case in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., when most ships were ordered into ports. Ocean noise is also thought to effect how whales communicate, behave and migrate. The results effect of a quieter ocean may lead to healthier marine mammal populations. "Free from the distraction and stress we cause, hunting would become easier, mating more convenient, and wayfinding more obvious. Sound is for some whales and marine mammals what sight is for humans," Dr. Barclay emphasizes. The impact on animals and marine life Dugald Thomson, a Major in the Royal Canadian Air Force and a Ph.D. student in Dr. Barclay's lab, noted that economic data revealed that the port had seen a 20 percent decrease in the value of exports and imports during this time. "The impacts of ambient noise on animals is a difficult question to address because controlling ocean noise is almost impossible at the relevant scales," said Maj Thomson, who has been working with Dr. Barclay for four years. "Observing the changes in ocean noise during this unique time may provide opportunities to better understand the impact human activity is having on the ocean." Dr. Barclay also noted that there is a group of scientists who have been planning an International Ocean Quiet Experiment. The experiment would see scientists from all over the world who study underwater sound work to quantify the impact of this virus on certain noise levels in the world's ocean. "There is extreme value in having this information from the observatories at our fingertips," says Dr. Barclay. "Now that we have this data, we plan to look at it in detail and dissect it over the entirety of the pandemic. This could be an important opportunity for biologists and ecologists to study and understand what exactly happens when we turn down the noise in the marine environment." Listen: Audio files (MP3) AmbientNoise: Sound under natural conditions Large Vessel: Demonstrates loud human contributions to underwater noise SRKW Calls: Example of how southern resident killer whales use sound to communicate in the Salish Sea Explore further Feds: Plan addresses impact of ocean noise on marine mammals New Delhi, May 11 : With companies reeling under financial crisis and are near standstill in revenue flow, a report by 'The CFO Board' suggests that chief financial officers (CFOs) should focus on optimising cash reserves of their companies to survive the crisis and revive after the pandemic is subsided. The report noted that broader forces at work in the global economy mean underlying economics of strategies could continue to shift with unprecedented speed and scale. And like in 2008, there are symptoms of a synchronised global recession, it said. Titled 'Post Covid-19 Revival: Action points for CFOs', the report also suggested the creation of a 'cash war room'. "The priority then is to optimise cash reserves since the magnitude and duration of the crisis remain unclear. A centralised 'cash war room' should be launched as was done by a leading organisation during the 2008 crisis," it said. "This will ensure that decisions are fast as sometimes people can get unnerved by the situation. Re-think all assumptions on liquidity including worst case scenarios depending on the potential paths of the virus' spread," the report suggested. It said that companies should seek waiver on debt covenants as early as possible to strengthen the balance sheet. They should examine all financing documents and seek amendments to loan agreements and proactively communicate with the lenders. It noted that setting up the 'cash war room' helps in implementing aggressive curbs on spending throughout the organisation. An initiative called ADAPT (Action for Downturn Alleviation and Profitability in Turbulence) was undertaken by a leading organisation in 2008-09, through which liquidity was tracked in real time across units of the company in all geographies, it said. It further said that companies may have to self fund their growth for over the next 12-18 months. They should revisit insurance contracts and focus on working capital as a source of liquidity. "Invest time in banking relationship management. Develop a strategy on money market fund investments. And don't ignore counter-party risks," it said. Among other suggestions, the report advised the companies to review commodity or index linked pricing on contracts and revisit payment terms policy in the light of the new credit environment. Companies should assess the supplier base for criticality and solvency, it said. New bank lending in China fell less than expected in April from the previous month while growth of broad money supply quickened, as the central bank ramped up policy support for the coronavirus-ravaged economy. Chinese banks extended 1.7 trillion yuan (US$240 billion) in new loans in April, down from 2.85 trillion yuan in March but exceeding expectations, according to data released by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Monday. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted new yuan loans would fall to 1.4 trillion yuan in April, down from 2.85 trillion yuan in the previous month and compared with 1.02 trillion yuan a year earlier. Broad M2 money supply in April grew 11.1 per cent from a year earlier, above the 10.2 per cent forecast in the Reuters poll. It rose 10.1 per cent in March. Outstanding yuan loans grew 13.1 per cent from a year earlier compared with 12.7 per cent growth in March. Analysts had expected 12.9 per cent growth. Household loans, mostly mortgages, fell to 666.9 billion yuan (US$94.3 billion) in April from 989.1 billion yuan in March, while corporate loans fell to 956.3 billion yuan from 2.05 trillion yuan. The PBOC has already rolled out a raft of easing steps since early February, including cuts in reserve requirements and lending rates and targeted lending support for virus-hit firms. The first quarter monetary policy implementation report from the PBOC published on Sunday dropped a vow to refrain from "flood-like" stimulus, suggesting authorities were keen to jump start an economy grappling with its biggest slump in decades. What measures have China used to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus? The report said the central bank will keep growth of M2 and social financing in line with and slightly higher than nominal gross domestic product growth. Broad M2 money supply in April grew 11.1 per cent from a year earlier, central bank data showed, above the 10.2 per cent forecast in the Reuters poll. It rose 10.1 per cent in March. Story continues The net new lending figures are highly seasonal, so it makes sense to focus on the year-on-year change in the outstanding amounts to gauge the underlying trend, analysts said. "Credit growth continued to accelerate last month as a pickup in bank loans and direct financing offset a deepening contraction in shadow credit," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics. "After the persistent slowdown in credit growth in recent years, the latest pickup is a reminder that the PBOC is still capable of engineering faster lending when it wants to. The PBOC's latest monetary policy report, published over the weekend, suggests that further easing measures are in the pipeline and that credit growth will probably continue to accelerate in the coming months "This should provide a tailwind to the economic recovery but is likely to worsen structural problems. Despite policymakers efforts, the [small and medium-sized enterprises] that have been hit the hardest by the crisis remain poorly served by the traditional banking system. "And although these firms can turn to shadow banks, the deepening contraction in shadow credit last month suggests that regulators have yet to ease restrictions on these type of lenders. As a result, much of the acceleration in credit growth is being driven by local governments and state-owned firms, who tend to make use of funds less efficiently than their private counterparts." Outstanding yuan loans grew 13.1 per cent from a year earlier compared with 12.7 per cent growth in March. Analysts had expected 12.9 per cent growth. Growth of outstanding total social financing (TSF), a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, quickened to 12 per cent in April from a year earlier and from 11.5 per cent in March. TSF includes off-balance sheet forms of financing that exist outside the conventional bank lending system, such as initial public offerings, loans from trust companies and bond sales. In April, TSF fell to 3.09 trillion yuan from 5.15 trillion yuan in March. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected April TSF of 2.65 trillion yuan. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. At a time when many smaller colleges and public institutions are facing budget constraints in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, ACLS remains proudly committed to supporting the development and advancement of humanistic scholarship. The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is pleased to announce 15 new awardees for its Project Development Grants program. For the third consecutive year, these ACLS grants will provide seed funding to support faculty at teaching-intensive colleges and universities whose proposed research projects have the potential to significantly advance areas of humanistic study. Each grantee will receive $5,000 to cover summer salary or course buyouts, travel expenses for and assistance in research, and other research- or project-related expenses. Among the timely and topical projects supported by the grants this year are: The Sword Outside, the Plague Within: Influenza, War, and Religion, 1918-1920, which explores the cultural impact of the 1918 pandemic on rural communities in Europe to better understand popular perceptions of science, religion, and folk cures at the beginning of western medicines golden age. (John Eicher, Assistant Professor, History, Pennsylvania State University, Altoona) In the Name of Innovation: Law and the Political Economy of Reproductive Futures, which examines complex bioethics issues surrounding the use of non-invasive prenatal tests and other recent biotechnologies. (Jennifer M. Denbow, Assistant Professor, Political Science, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo) Creating European Communities Against HIV/AIDS: Activism, Socialized Health Care, Scientific Research, and Education, a study of the research, treatment, policy, activism, and public education undertaken during the first 20 years of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Western Europe. (Louie Dean Valencia, Assistant Professor, History, Texas State University, San Marcos) Learn more about each of the ACLS Project Development grantees and their projects here. At a time when many smaller colleges and public institutions are facing budget constraints in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, ACLS remains proudly committed to supporting the development and advancement of humanistic scholarship, said ACLS President Joy Connolly. We are especially pleased to recognize the promising work of these talented scholars whose dedication to classroom teaching ensures that new generations can benefit from the insights gained through their research. Project Development Grants are a component of the ACLS Fellowship program. The program is funded by the ACLS endowment, to which many individuals and institutions have contributed, including The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Arcadia Charitable Trust, the ACLS Research University Consortium and college and university Associates, former fellows, and individuals and friends. About the American Council of Learned Societies Formed in 1919, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 75 scholarly organizations. As the preeminent representative of American scholarship in the humanities and related social sciences, ACLS holds a core belief that knowledge is a public good. As such, ACLS strives to promote the circulation of humanistic knowledge throughout society. In addition to stewarding and representing its member organizations, ACLS employs its $140 million endowment and $35 million annual operating budget to support scholarship in the humanities and social sciences and to advocate for the centrality of the humanities in the modern world. You do not need to look far to strengthen the impression: Without a Smartphone, nothing more is running in Germany. The love for the device, there is little doubt, but the question is: Come the Germans no longer arises even without? Thiemo Heeg editor in the economy. F. A. Z. Twitter not at all: Two out of three German citizens say, a week or even, more generally, on the Smartphone or waive to. 28 percent could do according to their own information up to four weeks without the device, an additional 15 percent for five to twelve weeks. 22% could even do without the General. The but corresponds roughly to the share of the Germans, who have no Internet-capable mobile phone. 32 percent hold of the mobile Computer is essential. that 84 percent of the German "Onliner" a Little different is the rates to see when it comes to the Internet in General. Here are two of three that can, in principle, not to use the network without. Especially the 16 - to 29-Year-olds are overwhelmingly 86 percent of this view. In the group of 30 - to 49-Year-olds, the proportion is 83 percent, the 50 - to 64-Year-olds come to 73 percent Verzichter. Only the elderly aged 65 years and over are significantly less online need: Here, 31 percent say, in General, a Internet to want to use renounce. A total of 84 percent of the German "Internet users" are, so they have used the Internet in the past three months. all of This emerges from a representative survey of 1003 people (aged 16 years) in Germany, carried out by the digital Association Bitkom in April. The question, to refrain from what the respondents in terms of climate protection would be available and for how long. Also, the virtual sphere contributes, finally, to real to global warming. According to a may study of the climate impact of the digitization of 1.8 to 3.2 percent of the global emissions of greenhouse gases to the production and operation of digital devices and infrastructures are due. Streaming could be. every Second with a view on the power consumption of the climate-critical applications The harm, however, depends largely on which device you look at movies, and in what quality. So video streaming on the Smartphone or the tablet computer in a relatively low SD required-resolution-per-hour, 65, or 75 watt-hours of energy, according to an output of 30 to 35 grams of CO2. That is less, than for the classic television or play a DVD on a 50-inch flat-screen TV are incurred, estimates of Bitkom. You can stream a Video in 8K quality on a 65-inch device, drying the energy needed to 1860 watt-hours (880 grams of CO2) to the top. Streaming has now arrived in the mass market: Eight out of ten Internet users look after their own information, and video streams. The Corona-crisis has promoted the business of providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Youtube. In spite of the high user rate, only every Fourth is, not on Streaming without. More than half said, however, to be able to manage without them. Updated Date: 26 June 2020, 14:19 Union leaders have said it will take at least two weeks for most businesses to reopen - despite the Prime Minister hoping tens of thousands of workers would be returning tomorrow. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (Beis) has unveiled workplace guidance for eight different sectors of the economy yesterday as Boris Johnson took the first baby steps towards restarting the economy. But Dan Shears, national health, safety and environment director at the GMB union, which has 600,000 members, claims that the rules will take at least a fortnight to work through with staff being urged to withdraw their labour if they feel 'unsafe'. Workers have been advised to turn their backs on co-workers, take their own packed lunch and go to the toilet one at a time while innovative construction companies are trialling hard hat tags that vibrate and sound an alarm when workers come closer than two metres, for example. But union-appointed health and safety inspectors will hold the power and check if offices, factories, shops and other workplaces have been redesigned to ensure social distancing or check that shifts are staggered and that staff are not sharing equipment such as pens, for example. While employers have a responsibility to keep their safe, there are concerns about the power wielded by unions who have been accused of 'creating obstacles' and 'standing in the way' of the private sector to prevent the lockdown easing for political reasons and recruit more members. Labour MPs, including former leader Jeremy Corbyn, have even signed a letter declaring that Boris Johnson has 'declared a class war' on blue collar workers by asking them to go back to work. The Government has set out new guidelines for swathes of the economy to get them back to work Mr Shears told the Independent: 'There's no legislation around this, but employers have to assess the risk of workers being exposed to Covid-19, and implement ways of reducing that risk to the lowest level that they can achieve. 'In practice, that will require screens, barriers, floor marking, signage, hand sanitiser, face masks and potentially a whole range of other interventions. All of this will take time to procure and set up, so I would suggest at least a week and more likely two weeks, unless the employer had this equipment already in the workplace.' The guidance was provided online for people working in eight areas: Labs and research facilities Restaurants offering takeaway and delivery Offices and contact centres Homes Vehicles Shops Factories and warehouses Construction sites and other outdoor settings The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (Beis) unveiled workplace guidance for eight different sectors of the economy today as Boris Johnson took the first baby steps towards restarting the economy. They set out in detail the steps companies should take to reintroduce staff at work safely, with the most important being staff should stay at home unless their work cannot be done at home and is deemed 'critical'. Among the guidance is to carry out a Covid-19 risk assessment, with employers told: 'You must consult with the health and safety representative selected by a recognised trade union or, if there isn't one, a representative chosen by workers. As an employer, you cannot decide who the representative will be.' It adds: 'If possible, employers should publish the results of their risk assessments on their website and we expect all businesses with over 50 employees to do so. ' It comes as trade unions in various sectors including transport and education voice fears about workers being sent back to work too early. The Prime Minister today admitted ending lockdown will be 'supremely difficult' today as he unveiled an 'exit plan' that could see family and friends reuniting next month. The PM played down expectations of a quick end to the misery for the country, saying going 'too far and too fast' risked a devastating second peak. Ministers said they have consulted with around 250 businesses, trade bodies and unions to agree the plans. The Government said the new Covid-19 secure guidance will work alongside current health and safety rules, rather than with the introduction of new laws for protecting workers. Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: 'This guidance provides a framework to get the UK back to work in a way that is safe for everyone. These are practical steps to enable employers to identify risks that COVID-19 creates and to take pragmatic measures to mitigate them.' British Chambers of Commerce director general Adam Marshall said: 'This is a significant step forward in terms of the information available for businesses, who will now need to digest the detail. 'The guidance signals big changes for the way that many businesses operate, and some firms will now need time to plan and speak to their employees so that they can return to work safely. 'Alongside this guidance, businesses urgently need clarity on the future of government support schemes, which must be adapted to help those firms who need to remain closed for an extended period or face reduced capacity or demand'. It came as the Prime Minister admitted ending lockdown will be 'supremely difficult' today as he unveiled an 'exit plan' that could see family and friends reuniting next month As many people as possible should be working from home with those on site limited to those whose jobs are 'critical for business and operational continuity, safe facility management, or regulatory requirements' that cannot be done elsewhere. They are expected to adhere to the same social distancing rules as elsewhere. Changes to the usual routine start before staff even arrive, with suggestions of staggered working times, extra facilities for cyclists and runners, and limited numbers in any minibuses used. Workplaces themselves should open more entrances and exists where possible and consider running a one-way system to reduce congestion, with keypad entry systems turned off. Where desks cannot be two metres apart from each other, screens should be used to separate staff, and desks should be either side-by-side or facing away from each other. Hot desking - where more than one person uses a desk at various times during a day or week - should be avoided. The advice says meetings should be virtual where they can, but with two metres between people if not, adding: 'Avoiding transmission during meetings, for example avoiding sharing pens and other objects.' Even breaks should be staggered to allow people to space out, and canteens should remain shut because of the infection risk, with firms urged to think about 'providing packaged meals or similar' and 'encouraging workers to bring their own food'. And offices should undergo regular deep cleaning. Here are some of the key points for each setting. Offices 'For people who work in one place, workstations should allow them to maintain social distancing wherever possible. 'Workstations should be assigned to an individual and not shared. If they need to be shared they should be shared by the smallest possible number of people. 'If it is not possible to keep workstations 2m apart then businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate and if so take all mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission.' Restaurants (take away and delivery) Special advice for restaurant includes asking staff to change into uniforms at work and wash them there rather than taking them home if they can As few people should be in a kitchen as possible and minimum staff. Workstations shoukld be two metres apart if possible, 'recognising the difficulty of moving equipment such as sinks, hobs and ovens'. Cleanable panels could be used and floor signs showing a two metre distance. Minimal access should be allowed to 'walk-in pantries, fridges and freezers, for example, with only one person being able to access these areas at one point in time'. There should also be 'minimal contact at ''handover'' points with other staff, such as when presenting food to serving staff and delivery drivers'. Shops Shops could be asked to take an authoritarian approach to allowing shoppers into their stores. This could include limiting the number of people in a shop at one time, and demanding children are kept under close control. Services with contravene social distancing, like carrying a customer's heavy shopping, may have to be scrapped. Shoppers should be encouraged to shop alone where possible. Factories and warehouses This includes manufacturing and chemical plants, food and other large processing plants, warehouses, distribution centres and port operations. Their advice warns they may have to look at 'reviewing layouts, line set-ups or processes to allow people to work further apart from each other'. Construction and other outdoor work Advice here is on reducing unnecessary movement within building sites. This includes 'restricting access to some areas, encouraging use of telephones where permitted, and cleaning them between use'. It also calls for 'reducing job rotation and equipment rotation, for example, single tasks for the day' and 'implementing one-way systems where possible on walkways around the workplace'. Vehicles This includes people working as couriers, mobile workers, lorry drivers, on-site transit, work vehicles and field forces. The guidance notes: 'It will not always be possible to keep a distance of two metres inside vehicles. 'Many in-vehicle tasks need more than one person, for example heavy deliveries or refuse collection, and changing vehicle configurations to create more space may not be practical. 'Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full in relation to a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate, and, if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between their staff.' This includes using screens, extra handwashing and limiting the time spend on an assignment. Homes People working in homes include: repair services, fitters, meter readers, plumbers, cleaners, cooks and surveyors, plus delivery drivers 'momentarily at the door'. It does not apply to nannies working with one family, or their employers. This group are adviced to travel to work alone if possible, but if they cannot to take steps including: keeping to the same group of people and a limited group, keeping vehicles clean. Within homes, 'it will not always be possible to maintain physical distance from customers. 'If it isn't possible to maintain social distancing while working in the home then extra attention needs to be paid to equipment, cleaning and hygiene to reduce risk. 'Working materials, such as tools or domestic appliances, should be assigned to an individual and not shared if possible. If they need to be shared, they should be shared by the smallest possible number of people.' Labs and research facilities The advice notes: 'It will not always be possible to keep a distance of two metres in labs and R&D facilities that may be designed for close-proximity collaboration. 'Fixed equipment may mean that changing layouts to create more space may not be practical. 'Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full in relation to a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate, and, if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between their staff.' File image As India registered a record jump of over 4,200 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the government on May 11 said some relatively large outbreaks have been noticed in particular locations and it is important to focus on containment efforts to ensure that the country does not reach the community transmission stage. Asked if there has been a community transmission of the disease, joint secretary in the health ministry Lav Agarwal at a press briefing said, "Some clusters have been found here, and in some cases in some particular locations relatively large outbreaks has also been noticed." Agarwal said 4,213 COVID-19 cases and 97 deaths have been reported in last 24 hours till Monday 8 am, taking the total cases to 67,152 and death toll to 2,206. Follow our LIVE updates here. Here are all the latest updates: COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show >> Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with Chief Ministers of different states regarding the COVID-19 situation. Many of the states wanted the lockdown to be extended. Some CMs also said that the states should get the right to classify areas into green, orange and red zones. >> During the conference, PM Modi said that economic activities have begun to pick up in various parts of the country, and that the process will gather steam in the days to come. >> The IRCTC began online booking for special passenger trains starting from tomorrow. The Railways also issued new guidelines for travel on the 15 pairs of special trains, asking passengers to carry their own food and linen and arrive at stations at least 90 minutes before departure for health screening. >> The government said today that over 5 lakh migrant workers have been sent to their home states by 468 'Shramik' special trains. >> Wuhan in China, where the outbreak began, reported the first cluster of cases since lockdown was lifted from the city. A local official was sacked by authorities after the emergence of new cases. >> The United Nations said that international tourism could decline by 60-80 percent in 2020. >> British PM Boris Johnson launched the new COVID-19 Alert System and "modified" the UK's coronavirus lockdown which allows people more time outdoors. SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthcare Resource Group, Inc. ("HRG") is providing notice on behalf of Orleans Community Health ("Orleans") of an incident that may affect the security of certain personal information relating to current and former Orleans patients. This notice is regarding the same event which HRG provided notice of on April 7, 2020 . Since April 7, 2020, HRG received approval from Orleans to provide this notice on behalf of Orleans. While, to date, HRG has no evidence of actual misuse of the information present in the account, in an abundance of caution, HRG is providing notice of this event. HRG provided medical billing services to Orleans. On December 31, 2019, HRG determined that an HRG employee's email account was subject to unauthorized access between November 4, 2019 and November 30, 2019. HRG was unable to determine what, if any, emails and attachments within the account were subject to unauthorized access. HRG was only able to confirm that the email account was subject to unauthorized access. HRG then enlisted the services of a third-party firm to review the contents of the email account in order to determine whether it contained any sensitive information. The time-intensive review of the email account concluded on February 27, 2020. Through this review, HRG determined that certain patient records belonging to Orleans were present in the account at the time of the unauthorized access. HRG notified Orleans about the event on March 11, 2020. At this time, HRG is unaware of any actual misuse of the personal information as a result of this event. The information potentially impacted by this event varied by individual but included first and last names and one or more of the following data elements: Social Security number, driver's license number, date of birth, medical record number, patient account number, treatment information, health insurance information, and medical billing or claims information. On April 7, 2020, HRG began mailing notice letters to affected individuals for whom it has address information. On [date], HRG mailed notice letters to the patients who sought services from Orleans for whom it has address information after receiving approval from Orleans to do so. The notice letter includes an offer of access to 12 months of credit monitoring and identity theft restoration services at no cost to the individual. In addition, the notice encourages potentially impacted individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud, to review account statements credit reports, and explanation of benefits forms for suspicious activity and report any suspicious activity immediately to their insurance company, health care provider, or financial institution. Orleans is providing potentially impacted individuals information on obtaining a free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com, calling 877-322-8228, or contacting the three major credit bureaus directly at: Equifax, P.O. Box 105069, Atlanta, GA, 30348, 1-800-685-1111, www.equifax.com; Experian, P.O. Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013, 888-397-3742, www.experian.com; TransUnion, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016, 800-680-7289, www.transunion.com . Potentially impacted individuals may also find information regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, security freezes and the steps they may take to protect their information by contacting the credit bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission or their state Attorney General. The Federal Trade Commission can be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement or the individual's state Attorney General. HRG, on behalf of Orleans, provided notice of this incident to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as required state regulators. HRG takes this incident and security of personal information in its care seriously. HRG moved quickly to investigate and respond to this incident, assess the security of relevant HRG systems, and notify potentially affected individuals. In response to this event, HRG is reviewed and enhanced existing policies and procedures. HRG reported this incident to law enforcement and relevant regulatory authorities. HRG and Orleans are also notifying potentially impacted individuals so that they may take further steps to protect their information, should they feel it is appropriate to do so. Individuals seeking additional information regarding this incident can write to [email protected] for additional information. SOURCE Healthcare Resource Group, Inc. The central government is planning to directly track coronavirus cases in West Bengal without waiting for the state government's response. It comes after the central and state governments have remained at loggerheads over the weeks on the issue of handling coronavirus cases. The central government would use RT-PCR app, developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Informatics Centre (NIC), to access data related to coronavirus cases in West Bengal, which were being monitored by the state government until now. The central teams visiting the state have constantly accused the state government of inept handling of the virus cases. The teams have also accused the state government of discrepancies in reporting the accurate number of patients. The RT-PCR app enables data entry in real time. It also shares updates on reports -- both negative and positive -- with both central and state governments simultaneously. The government is now making the app available to medical workers collecting samples and handling coronavirus cases in remote areas or even state headquarters. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently said that the West Bengal government is not supporting the central government's efforts to help migrant workers return to their home state. In a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Shah accused the Bengal government of not allowing Shramik Special trains to reach West Bengal and warned that non-cooperation would create hardship for state's migrants. "We are not getting expected support from West Bengal. The state government is not allowing trains to reach. This is injustice for West Bengal migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them," Shah had said. Also read: Coronavirus Live Blog: Shramik trains to now have up to 3 stoppages; to run with full capacity, says Railways Also read: Vizag gas tragedy: LG Polymers told to empty all storage tanks; probe panel begins work Chittoor (Andhra Pradesh) [India], May 11 (ANI): The Telugu Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are helping the farmers of Andhra Pradesh in distress by procuring their yield. Further, they are distributing the procured items to the poor and needy for free, during these tough lockdown times. For this, they have initiated the "Tomato Challenge" to raise funds. Andhra Pradesh farmers are facing problems as they are unable to sell their produce. Particularly, the vegetable farmers, who have no option but to dump the vegetables if they are not sold. The NRIs from the Telugu states who came to know about the difficulties of the farmers came up with a solution. Dr Vasudeva Reddy, an NRI from the USA took the initiative to help the farmers and the poor. He started the "Tomato Challenge", to bring together some fellow NRIs and friends in the USA and pooled funds. With the help of friends in Chittoor district, they are now procuring vegetables and distributing to the poor for free. As of today, they have procured 13 tonnes of sweet potato, 40 tonnes of tomatoes, 2 tonnes of cabbage, 3 tonnes of brinjal and 5 tonnes of carrot from farmers at Tamballapalle village. And, they have distributed 5 tonnes of tomato, 2 tonnes of carrot, 2 tonnes of cabbage and 1 tonne of beetroot to the poor people in Padmavati Nagar, Timmapalem in Tirupati town. Dr Vasudeva Reddy explained: "Small and marginal farmers are suffering during this corona crisis. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is doing a lot for the people. However, farmers are incurring losses as they are unable to transport their produce due to inter-state lockdown and lack of transportation." "We thought of how to help those farmers and started this 'Tomato Challenge'. Many celebrities and kind-hearted NRIs are contributing to our task. Particularly, we came to know that farmers in Chittoor and Anantapuram district and tomato farmers at Prakasam district have lost a lot of their produce. We came forward to help the farmers. I thank every NRI who has cooperated in this endeavour," he added. (ANI) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram His Excellency Rodrigo Duterte President of the Philippines Malacanang Palace Compound J.P. Laurel Street San Miguel, Manila Philippines Sent via email Dear President Duterte, We at the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent press freedom organization, call on you to exercise your executive authority to reverse the order to close news broadcaster ABS-CBN. We are dismayed by your efforts to influence the franchise renewal application now pending in Congress, and ask that you refrain from such efforts going forward. On May 5, the National Telecommunications Commission regulator ordered ABS-CBN, your countrys biggest and most widely watched news broadcaster, to cease and desist operations after its 25-year franchise agreement expired the previous day. The closure order amounts to an attack on the independent media and a clear and present danger to press freedom in the Philippines. On May 4, the day before the closure order, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that ABS-CBN could continue its operations with a provisional license while Congress deliberates its renewal request. House of Representatives Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said days earlier that Congress had instructed the National Telecommunications Commission that ABS-CBN should continue to broadcast while its application was pending. He said Congress had no intention to order their closure, to shut them down, or take advantage of the situation. While you have denied having any role in the decision, you have publicly targeted the station in the past. Last December, you were quoted in media reports saying, Your franchise will end next year. If you expect it to be renewed, Im sorry. I will see to it that youre out. That threat came as ABS-CBN was producing award-winning journalism, including a ground-breaking report on your governments controversial war on drugs. ABS-CBNs closure follows your governments wider campaign to stifle independent reporting in the name of upholding the law. That includes but is not confined to the legal actions your government has pursued against online news group Rappler and its founding editor Maria Ressa. CPJ bestowed Ressa its Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award in 2018 in recognition of her bravery in the face of your governments threats. ABS-CBNs unbiased and independent reporting serves a crucial role in keeping the Philippine public informed, a role that has become all the more important during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Your governments order to shutter the broadcaster has deprived the public of crucial news and information when they most need it. CPJ calls on you to reverse the decision to shut down ABS-CBN immediately. We also continue our call for you to cease and desist your campaign against independent media and journalists, which is eroding press freedom in your country. Sincerely, Joel Simon Executive Director BOISE, Idaho Three environmental groups have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the U.S. government from killing coyotes and other predators in Idaho until environmental studies are carried out. Western Watersheds Project and two other groups are also asking a federal court in the lawsuit filed Thursday to rule that an eastern Idaho facility in Pocatello that manufactures poison to kill predators is operating in violation of environmental laws. The groups say the public health risks to the community also need to be examined. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are named in the lawsuit. The Agriculture Departments Wildlife Services kills coyotes and other wildlife that are killing livestock or damaging crops. Wildlife Services killed 2.6 million animals nationwide in 2018, including 68,000 coyotes in 48 states, 2,900 of them in Idaho. Wildlife services also reported killing 84 wolves, eight mountain lions and 14 black bears in Idaho. Wildlife Services claims to kill coyotes to protect livestock, but science says lethal controls dont actually reduce livestock losses, Talasi Brooks, an attorney with Western Watersheds Project, said in a statement. Wildlife Services cannot simply proceed with these futile actions without first addressing this contrary science. The U.S. Department of Justice, which defends federal agencies in lawsuits, didnt respond to an inquiry. The lawsuit follows a previous lawsuit that resulted in the Agriculture Department saying it would prepare an environmental impact statement for some of its predator damage management actions in Idaho. However, the lawsuit said, theres no deadline for completing the environmental impact statement and the groups are concerned about intentional delays. The lawsuit said the government is meanwhile violating environmental laws by relying on outdated environmental studies. The environmental groups also contend the Pocatello Supply Depot, which manufactures poison used to kill wildlife, is operating without an updated environmental analysis. The groups say that includes potential harmful effects on area residents as well as the results of using the poison in Idaho and other states. The groups in a news release note that the Supply Depot is where coyote-killing M-44 cyanide devices are made. The devices are embedded in the ground and look like lawn sprinklers but spray cyanide when triggered by animals attracted by bait. They are meant to protect livestock but sometimes kill pets and injure people. Such a device mistakenly put on public land near a Pocatello familys home in 2017 injured a then-14-year-old boy and killed his dog. The family has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government. We dont know how much danger Pocatello residents might be in, because Wildlife Services has never undertaken a public assessment of the risks and dangers posed by the deadly toxins manufactured and stored at the Pocatello facility, said Lindsay Larris, wildlife program director with WildEarth Guardians. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. May 11, 2020 This year, Ts spring Travel issue is devoted to just five stories, each an account of its writers journey along a different section of the Silk Road the ancient network of trade routes that until the 15th or 16th century spanned some 4,000 miles of the globe, from Central Asia across the Middle East to Southern Europe, and formed a vital conduit for both new commodities and new ideas. While venturing to faraway places might seem like a distant possibility now, a year after this issue began to take shape, as we reckon with the global pandemic, these pieces are a powerful reminder of our innate desire to move and explore. T writer at large Ligaya Mishan begins the journey by documenting her immersion in the cuisine of the Muslim Quarter in Xian, China, once the ancient city of Changan, where the Silk Road began. The writer Anna Sherman takes the second leg of the route, traversing the awe-inspiring desserts of western China. For chapters three and four, the writer Aatish Taseer travels first to Varanasi, India where he considers how the Buddha, for centuries depicted only through symbols, finally found its human form and then through the famous caravan cities of Khiva and Bukhara and the steppe of Uzbekistan. Finally, the novelist Esi Edugyan visits the country of Georgia, cited by the 13th-century explorer Marco Polo for its exceptionally fine silk, and discovers what remains of silk-making culture in the country today. Below, each of the writers recommends various books (and films and art) that proved invaluable to them along the way, works that you might also find transportive, whether or not youre able to recreate these trips for yourself. The Capital Honda Buy From Home Program in Prince Edward Island will cater to online car shoppers with at-home test drives and no-contact delivery options. Prince Edward Island car shoppers in search of a brand-new Honda car, truck or crossover can purchase their dream car from the comfort of home at Capital Honda with the Buy From Home Program. With online sales and services available at the dealership, Capital Honda can cater to car shoppers and help keep customers and dealership team members safe. The Buy From Home Program available at Capital Honda allows car shoppers to find a car from the comfort of home with an online experience. The Capital Honda online inventory is easy to navigate and will help car shoppers find the perfect fit with price, year, make, model, trim level, color, body style, engine and drivetrain filters. Drivers who find the perfect automotive fit can schedule an at-home test drive online or by phone at 902-566-1101. When an at-home test drive is scheduled, a member of the Capital Honda team will bring the designated vehicle to the customers home and the potential owner can take a test drive at their leisure. To ensure customer safety, all test drive vehicles are cleaned, sanitized and disinfected in between drives. Individuals who enjoy the test drive and decide that the 2020 Honda CR-V is the vehicle for them can schedule a no-contact delivery. A member of the Capital Honda sales team will help customers navigate the financial process by phone and email. With the finances set, a member of the dealership team will drop the customers vehicle off at their home with the final paperwork to sign - no contact. Potential owners who are interested in the Buy From Home Program at Capital Honda can learn more online by visiting http://www.capitalhonda.com. Those individuals who prefer a more personal interaction can contact a Capital Honda team member directly by calling 902-566-1101. Slate is making its essential coronavirus coverage free for all readers. Subscribe to support our journalism. The Senate returned last week, the same week that the Labor Department announced that 20.5 million jobs had been lost in April and the unemployment rate was at its highest since the Great Depression. The chambers Republican leadership, though, reflecting the rough consensus within the Republican conference of the whole, did not spend that time writing additional legislation devoting additional resources to cash-strapped state and local governments, businesses, and human beings in the United States. The leadership of the Republican Party is on a self-described pause right now from considering new disbursements of federal relief. The pause could last anywhere from a month to eternity. Advertisement As a political matter, the decision to pause is vexing. There is a presidential election in six months in which the Republican incumbent will be running on his record. The last time a Republican incumbent ran on this kind of economic record, Democrats won not just the 1932 election but dominance over federal policy for the next half-century. Why, then, are Republicans in the Senate, House, and White House turning back now? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The simplest argument is ideology. Repulsion at the sight of big numbers on (the nonmilitary section of) the federal ledger is a real thing for members of the Senate majority. The numbers haunt them. Here is Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy writing the figures $3,000,000,000,000, or $3,000 $Billion, on a poster on the floor of the United States Senate. When they begin writing 13-figure numbers on posters for Senate floor speeches, we know the window for additional action is either closing or closed. When genuinely insulting proposals such as allowing Americans to take advances against their Social Security benefits, rather than just cutting a new round of checks, resurface, the door is nearly shut. Advertisement Advertisement But Republicans have never allowed, and would never allow, ideology to supersede winning an election. They might be repulsed by the large numbers, as they were by the cost of Medicare Part D in 2003. But they rammed through the new benefit anyway, through sheer force of will, because thenWhite House adviser Karl Rove insisted it was necessary for Republicans to win. Concerns about unpaid-for spending, and agonizing lines like families across the country are cutting back their spending, so the government should too might be foundational notions for them. But they dont become practicable ideas, for present-day governance, unless Democrats are in power. Advertisement Could that be it, then? The shutdown on spending would make sense if theyve already given up on Trumps chances at reelection and are instinctually transitioning to handicapping the country that the Biden administration would inherit. Governance has its moments, sure. Its fun to fill every vacancy on the federal judiciary. But can it really compare with the thrill of handing a collapsed economy to a Democrat, watching that Democrat assume blame for the whole thing, and then winning back the House in two years? When you get to practice your anti-spending ideology and watch as voters blame the Democratic president for it? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its plausibly cynical. But Republicans havent given up on Trump just yet. Biden has been doing well in national and swing-state polling. He may even be a favorite for November at the moment. He is still, however, a nearly 78-year-old man who is either locked in a Delaware basement or doesnt know how to get out of it. But if they still have hope for November why are Republicans pausing relief efforts, for now, ahead of a national referendum on their relief efforts? Becauseagain, for nowtheyve gotten what they wanted. Advertisement Advertisement Between the Federal Reserve going to unprecedented lengths to prop up capital markets and the CARES Acts enormous relief for large corporations, the constituencies for whom the Senate Republican conference serves as concierge are taken care of. Advertisement Advertisement Though the Paycheck Protection Program has been far from a perfect success, its served areas dominated by small- or medium-size community banks that already have strong relationships with the Small Business Administration well. Those areas are often red states. Less-dense red states, similarly, havent been as hard-hit by the virus. Of the 20 senators representing the 10 states with the highest per-capita number of COVID-19-related deaths, only three are Republicans. And while red states budgets arent a pretty sight now, either, Republicans have a narrower view of what state and local government services might be considered essential enough to merit federal bailouts. This is why most Senate Republicans are, for now, willing to entertain more flexibility in states use of existing federal grants but arent really talking about the additional $500 billion to $1 trillion for which Democrats have been lobbying. Advertisement Republicans priority, now, is not providing additional relief money as efforts to stamp out the virus continue. It is getting businesses to reopen and commerce to recommence, virus be damned. And if thats your view, then certainly liability protection for business owners would be your top legislative priority going forward, as it is for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Advertisement Advertisement What might snap Republicans from the spending pause, though, is when America reopens but Americans stay in their homes. Georgia and Texas moved ahead aggressively with allowing businesses to under certain conditions. That does not mean, however, that commerce has roared back. As long as businesses are operating at limited capacity, and as long as customers are concerned about getting sick and dying from a pandemic, Americas reopening will be a bust. Without a national test-and-trace system in placehint, hint!the money printers are the only way through. For more on the impact of the coronavirus, listen to What Next. Iraqi security forces have raided the office of an Iran-aligned party in the southern province of Basra and arrested militiamen who fired on demonstrators, killing one protester and injuring several others outside the party building. The May 11 dawn raid on the Thaar Allah party office led to the arrest of five members of the group and the confiscation of weapons and ammunition, Basra police chief Rashid Fleih said. The arrests for the death of the protester, the first killed since anti-government demonstrations restarted during the weekend following a brief hiatus, is a rare response by authorities to violence by security forces and militia groups that has killed at least 600 protesters. The government said the operation was directed by new Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Protesters in Baghdad, Basra, and other cities in Iraq's predominately Shi'ite south restarted demonstrations on May 9, just days after Kadhimi was sworn in following a nearly six-month political crisis. The new prime minister, Iraqs former intelligence chief, has stretched out an olive branch to the anti-government protesters who are demanding employment, better services, and an end to rampant corruption. The cross-sectarian protest movement has also demanded an end to Iranian meddling in Iraqi politics and an end to the post-Saddam Hussein political order. On May 10, the judiciary ordered the release of demonstrators arrested since the protests began on October 1. The move came after Kadhimi said demonstrators should be protected and that all protesters should be released. Kadhimi also promoted Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi to lead counterterrorism operations. Saadi, who led the militarys campaign against the Islamic State extremist group, was demoted in September 2019 by former Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. Widely considered a hero, his demotion caused outrage and sparked the protest movement. Saadi is considered close to the United States. His demotion in 2019 has led to speculation that the move was forced upon the government by Iran-backed political factions and militia groups. With reporting by AFP, AP, and dpa Amid indications that the 'Mumbai dream' is turning sour for migrant workers amid the lockdown, many of them driving taxis and auto rickshaws in the city have left for their native places in their vehicles, union sources said. They pegged the number of 'kaali peeli' taxis and autos leaving the city to 1000 and 5000 respectively. A cyclist on the Mumbai-Agra highway told PTI that he saw migrants travelling in trucks, auto rickshaws and bikes on way to their native places in central and north India. Union officials said with increasing possibility of further extension of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, several auto and taxi drivers are going to their native places in their black and yellow coloured auto rickshaws and taxis. A L Quadros of the Mumbai Taximens Union said over 1000 black and yellow taxis and 5000 auto rickshaws from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have left the region. There are around 45000 black and yellow cabs and around 5 lakh auto rickshaws in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, he said. "Due to the lockdown for almost two months, the cabbies and auto drivers are left with no money and hence instead of dying without food here, they are preferring to go to their native place," said Quadros. According to union leaders, the cabbies and auto rickshaws drivers are leaving Mumbai in groups of 20 to 50 or more and are headed to UP, Bihar, Mandhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, while some cabbies are also going to Karnataka. "After another extension of the lockdown and the easing of restrictions on migrants, the auto drivers started to travel back to their native places in their auto rickshaws in groups since last week," said K K Tiwari, leader of the Swabhiman Taxi-Rickshaw Union. Shashank Rao, leader of Mumbai Auto Rickshawmens Union said that as bus and truck drivers were asking for exorbitant fare, the drivers are preferring to take their own vehicles to travel back home as these are anyway going to remain parked in Mumbai if they travel by any other mode of transport. "Packing their luggage, a few drivers are travelling with families, while many drivers, who have their families at their native place, are going with other drivers and friends," said Rao. According to union leaders, taxi and auto drivers are going to native places sans any e-pass issued by the police, as they consider it a time and money consuming task. RTO officials said auto and taxi permit holders are allowed to travel to native places by getting online temporary permits, which are valid for a few months. Quadros said Maharashtra government should issue a notification and waive the temporary permit condition for taxis and autos till things normalise. "The drivers don't have necessary facilities like internet connection and printers to get online permits, and the transport department cannot issue these offline due to staff shortage," said Quadros. Sujit Singh, an auto driver from Mumbai's Vakola area said he left for Uttar Pradesh in a group of about 50 auto rickshaws from their area on Saturday and on Monday morning reached Madhya Pradesh, travelling via Nashik. "There is no sign of lifting of lockdown and the condition due to coronavirus is worsening further. Hence I decided to return to my native place," said Singh, adding that they had applied for e-pass but they did not get it so they are carrying health certificates with them to show to police and other authorities if they ask. Singh said the group did not face any issues enroute except police checkup at a couple of locations before Nashik. "We did not face any issue while entering MP as well. In fact, the police there offered us which was food arranged with the help of some organisations," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As part of our #LockdownLessons series, Bizcommunity is reaching out to South Africa's top industry players to share their experience of the current Covid-19 crisis, how their organisations are navigating these unusual times, where the challenges and opportunities lie, and their industry outlook for the near future. Richard Rattue, MD, Compli-Serve What is a typical workday in the life of the lockdown? What was your initial response to the crisis/lockdown and has your experience of it been different to what you expected? What impact has Covid-19 had on your company, the industry or economy as a whole Regulation has helped to prepare financial services for this unexpected crisis Comment on the challenges and opportunities The world has really turned to innovation during this time. Why do you think this is the case and what does this mean for the industry, your company and the economy? Richard Rattue is the MD of Compli-Serve, which helps financial services businesses to mitigate their regulatory compliance risk in todays environment. He talks us through how the company is adapting to a Covid-19 world.I have tried to maintain my office routine. Im dressed for the workday as I normally would be, only now I walk down the passage to my home office instead of taking my car to my real office. The workday is much the same, but with digital meetings featuring, instead of face-to-face. I typically schedule between two and four collaborative calls per day, primarily on MS Teams or Zoom. Compli-Serve is a knowledge-based business, so lockdown doesnt impact our ability to operate, and thats basically thanks to moving to the cloud. We couldnt possibly operate the same way we are now through our old virtual private network due to complexities and cost, so the cloud is our saving grace. Have we been operating at 100% capacity? No, but we are probably in the high-80s Were still able to conduct business, and while its not the same as before, we are coping well to date and feel fortunate compared to friends in the non-essential retail sector.My initial response was certainly some degree of concern as to the impact on our lives. Our exco hunkered down to assess what we were facing. We were lucky that most of the big picture planning was already in place, but an example of something that caught us off-guard was having to spend more than needed on laptops to accommodate all staff from home. Unfortunately, due to stock shortages, we had to purchase high-end laptops for lower level admin tasks, costing us more than we should have spent for those devices.I became more (though quietly) confident when I realised, we should be fine overall. Im not sure how fine yet, but a large portion of our company was already used to working remotely. Our compliance officers team are road warriors who typically work from home offices, coffee shops, malls, or outside school waiting to pick up their kids. So, we were equipped with some advantage in that it hasnt been as much of a transition for them. More challenges were presented with our back office and finance teams.The impact on our company has been a glancing blow rather than a hammer blow, which I am happy to say. For the economy as a whole, it has unfortunately been a hammer blow. There is sadly no getting around that and we will all feel this in the months to come as the economy contracts. The financial industry itself is far better positioned to work away from office than other industries, and that is partially due to regulation, which forces financial firms to have business continuity and back-up procedures in place.The challenge in my role as MD has been managing the different personality types within the team; some of whom work very well on their own and some who are less inclined to do so. You find mental resilience can droop, so as a leader, I think its important to be a torch bearer. If you come across as downcast, or depressed and uncertain, that is not what your team wants to hear (even if you have your doubts or dark days). Some people are more vulnerable to cabin fever and depression than others. Taking away cigarettes and alcohol, even though there are warranted reasons for doing so, does have an impact on individuals where you are taking away their nice or must haves. We are all just trying to get through it as best we can.The lockdown will accelerate the fintech revolution as it has accelerated the work from home revolution. This isnt going to be over in six months. They say it could be two years for a vaccine, but then they need to manufacture hundreds and millions of doses. The new normal could be around for a long time, and even remain. I dont think we will ever get back to where we were entirely. I think that by the time a vaccine comes out, we will be so used to this new environment.The opportunities are there for the sunrise sectors, which are mostly in the online space, accelerating the demise of smokestack industries that are not online and tied to large overheads. I feel that firms that cannot migrate to some form of online presence, are going to struggle or fail in the times ahead. In financial services, it remains unlikely that the regulator will be undertaking on site visits for some time to come, and will be relying on regtech, which is likely to expand exponentially as well. SHIPROCK, NM / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / There are many ongoing and devastating issues that continue to plague the Navajo Nation and are contributing to their extremely high death rate during pandemics, especially now during this Covid-19 crisis (CV-19). Much of their 27,000 square miles of vast, renowned and famous landscapes such as Monumental Valley-based at the southwest four corners of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona has been dangerously contaminated for decades by poisonous uranium output and refuse from large power and mining companies who previously leased their Native lands. Many water sources are unsafe for drinking due to unauthorized dumping and negligent cost-cutting over the years while not adhering to the proper environmental and safety regulations set out. Despite countless court orders, lawsuits, commitments, and many promises from both USA government organizations and private corporations, the Navajo continue to live in a state of despair with primitive and inadequate infrastructure in place and without the "basic human right" means to clean, safe, running water. The Navajo people have the third-highest death rate per capita in the world for CV-19 deaths and their situation will never begin to improve in the future unless they get the promised funding needed to clean up their contaminated lands and provide access to clean, running water and electricity in every home and business. The Human Right to Water and Sanitation (HRWS) was recognised as a human right by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010. "I just want to thank President Trump for this acknowledgement of $600 million in Covid Relief aid allocated to our Tribe which will be a tremendous help in fighting our current devastating health and sanitation situation". Said Dineh Benally, President of San Juan River Farm Board. "However, we will still continue to press those other agencies that have already promised funding earmarked to clean up the contaminated lands and regulate all water sources to prevent many of the health issues that plague this Nation in future." Story continues From 1944 to 1986, mine operators removed millions of tons of uranium ore from Navajo Nation that was high in demand after the development of atomic power and weapons at the close of World War II. Many companies were on long term land leases with the Navajo working the mines, often living and raising families in close proximity to these locations. Today, there are over 500 abandoned uranium mines on Navajo Nation and a legacy of uranium contamination remains, as well as leaving their homes and water sources with elevated levels of radiation. Potential health effects include lung cancer from inhalation of radioactive particles, as well as bone cancer and impaired kidney function from exposure to radionuclides in drinking water to name but a few. Health conditions like these are examples of the ailments many Navajo suffer from when they contract the CV-19 virus which makes them most high-risk. As well, without access to clean, running water and adequate living conditions, their ability to adhere to proper hand-hygiene and social distancing guidelines can also be contributing factors to their devastating mortality rates. "After many years of Federal land assessments and surveys of the dangers we face, we are asking for no more delays, no more political red tape, and no more excuses." Said Benally. "It is estimated that approximately $7.9 Billion dollars in needed to provide the proper infrastructure for the Navajo and also correct the damage that has been done to the land and water over the years." There are currently approximately 40,000 families (with an on-reservation population of about 174,000) living on Navajo Nation and have been on ordered government lockdown with emergency weekend curfews in place for the past several weeks. It is estimated that up to 30% of the population (approximately 54,000 people) do not have piped water to their homes. These residents haul water either from safe watering points or from unregulated sources, such as livestock wells and springs. The number of unregulated and potentially contaminated water sources is estimated to be in the low thousands. The Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency (NNEPA) policy prohibits the use of unregulated sources of water for human consumption as they are susceptible to bacterial contamination, including fecal coliforms and exceed drinking water standards for uranium and other chemicals. However, this policy is often disregarded out of sheer necessity due to lack of public water systems in the more remote and sparsely populated regions and has become one of the greatest public health risks associated with water for the Navajo. Residents are helpless, without clean water and money to buy food and essential supplies. Many of these families have elderly members vulnerable to CV-19 and are already challenged by existing severe health issues. Navajo children & grandchildren are unable to visit their high-risk elders to bring them medicine and the domestic violence and increased alcohol abuse has become even more rampant than ever before. "This $600 million aid will go along way in helping our fragile and much-underfunded healthcare system cope with this horrific situation and give the people immediate access to supplies and resources they need." Added Benally. "During the H1N1 flu epidemic in 2009, Native Americans died at four to five times the rate of other Americans so this will also contribute from this tragic history repeating itself". In 2008, The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created a "5 Year Plan" (2008 - 2012) to address cleaning up contaminated structures, providing clean drinking water, assessing abandoned uranium mines, cleaning up Northeast Church Rock Mine and other high priority mines, remediation of groundwater, conducting health studies, providing for workforce training and development, conducting coordinated outreach and also to clean up the Tuba City Dump. Then, in 2014 EPA created a SECOND "5 Year Plan" (2014 - 2018) which built upon the work done during the first five years, and established objectives and strategies to address the most significant risks to human health and the environment. Accredited Government Organizations such as, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Department of Energy (DOE), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Indian Health Service (IHS) collaborated together on these plans with specific milestones and objectives to address. Since however, there has been no update on what action has been taken and the status of these projects reported. Just to provide access to safe drinking water that includes traditional piped water solutions and basic sanitation alone to all Navajo homes, IHS estimates minimum cost of $200 million dollars. * This is additional to the urgent need of hundreds of millions of dollars for cleaning up the soil and positioning the people for new sustainable farming practices as emerging global agriculture opportunities arise once adequate water sources can reach their farms. Benally added, "My ultimate priority is protecting our people and all the visitors and tourists that begin to travel here again from getting sick, and ensuring the water source they are using is clean and safe as tourists most naturally assume". (*source: epa.gov website) On March 25, Congress passed the two ($2) trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, which includes eight ($8) billion to help tribes fight the coronavirus however it wasn't specified how this money was being allocated and so far none has reached the Tribe directly. In addition, many residents don't have the means to apply (or qualify) for any benefit as they have no postal address or valid government ID recognized off the Nation. Furthermore, this funding announcement created even more disputes and unrest as the Navajo strongly opposed sharing this funding with for-profit Alaska Native corporations that have adequate economic infrastructures in place and clean, safe water sources available. Please refer to these government assessments and summaries completed identifying all contaminated mines, structures and water sources on Navajo Nation reported over the last twelve years. 2008 - Health and Environmental Impacts of Uranium Contamination in the Navajo Nation Five-Year Plan (2018 - 2012). Click here . (pdf) 2013 - EPA Summary Report. Click here . (pdf) 2014 - EPA Five-Year Plan 2014 - 2018: Federal Actions to Address Impacts of Uranium Contamination on the Navajo Nation. Click here . (pdf) 2008 - 2014 - Federal Plans to address Impacts of Uranium Contamination on Navajo Nation. Click here. "I implore these esteemed government agencies mentioned to immediately come back together in May 2020 with the Navajo Nation Council and resolve these basic human rights violations identified". Said Benally in closing. "The faster we can get the funding and move forward with the solutions outlined in all the EPA reports, the faster we can begin to implement measures that will prevent this dire situation of fatalities from ever happening again". Some personal friends and supporters of the Navajo have also developed a public fundraising campaign and Go Fund Me page to make a plea to the public and businesses for donations to give to the Tribe members directly and draw media attention to their plight as well. A website has also been launched that further highlights the desperate situation these Natives face. Whether you are able to donate, like or share the fundraising page, or post on personal social media networks, the Navajo appreciates any support available. Every small effort can make a huge impact. Here are links. #CovidKindness #WeAreInThisTogether GO FUND Me - Urgent: Forgotten Navajo Natives Need Help Now Facebook - Help Our Natives Covid Relief Website - HelpTheNavajos.com Navajo Nation - NNDOH.org/donate Media Contact: Info@HelpOurNatives.com www.HelpOurNatives.com +1-505-718-1891 Sources: SOURCE: One World Ventures Inc View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/589138/Navajo-Receives-Covid-Aid-for-Health-Crisis-but-Land-Contamination-Issues-Still-Loom Hyderabad, May 11 : Authorities in Telangana's Bhainsa town imposed 24-hour curfew after a communal clash late Sunday night. Trouble broke out in the communally sensitive town, in Nirmal district, after a person, allegedly in an inebriated condition, entered a place of worship and attacked 4-5 persons offering prayers. One of them sustained bleeding injuries. Police said following the incident in the Shivajinagar area, two groups pelted stones at each other. Few people were injured in the stone pelting while three houses and two vehicles were damaged. Police rushed to the scene and used force to disperse clashing groups. Police imposed 24-hour curfew to bring the situation under control and intensified patrolling across the town to prevent further clashes. About 15 people were detained in connection with the clash. Nirmal district Superintendent of Police C. Shashidhar Raju, who rushed to the town, said the situation was now under control. "We have deployed more forces and closely monitoring the situation," he said. Karimnagar range in-charge DIG P. Pramod Kumar also visited the town on Monday and reviewed the situation. This is the second communal clash in the town this year. Large scale violence had rocked the town in January, leaving scores of people injured. Several houses, shops and vehicles were damaged in the clashes. Bhaina, a major trading centre, has witnessed a series of communal riots in recent years. In 2008, nine people were killed in the riots that broke out during a religious procession. Six of the victims belonged to one family who were burnt alive in the Vatoli village near the town. Blocking UN resolution defies WHO role, hurts global solidarity Global Times By Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times Published: 2020/5/10 21:48:35 Blocking a UN resolution for a global cease-fire over reference to the World Health Organization (WHO) is just another typical move by the US to weaken global efforts in fighting the coronavirus pandemic as the organization has been Washington's next key target in its blame games against Beijing which aim to disguise the Trump administration's massive failures in handling the pandemic. Such anti-China and anti-WHO campaigns choreographed by American leaders won't conceal the chaotic management that has led the US to be the worst-hit by the disease globally, analysts and officials said, calling for global solidarity in combating the pandemic as political divides have been weighing on the matters of lives and deaths. The US rejected any reference to the WHO when it came to a text of the resolution that a 15-member council has been trying to reach an agreement on a cease-fire in conflicts around the world to concentrate on the pandemic, Reuters reported on Sunday. The US' move of stymieing the passage of the resolution on Friday was also seen as an attack at an international health agency, which has been a forerunner in calling for global solidarity and collaboration in fighting the pandemic. It was a deliberate attempt to downplay the role of the WHO after the Trump administration decided to halt funding to it. While some netizens on Twitter slammed the US move as it acted against international peace and security, such moves are indeed in line with the hostile stance of the White House toward the WHO as the US President Donald Trump has been accusing the organization of being China-centric and fueling a disinformation campaign to disguise the failures of the US government amid the outbreak, particularly when the Trump administration's handling of COVID-19 has been totally disastrous, analysts said. Next key target of US attack In reviewing Trump's daily routine in dealing with the pandemic, netizens and critics summarized it as "blaming everything from attacking CNN to Democrats to China and the WHO and so on." Meanwhile former US President Barack Obama also criticized the Trump administration's response to COVID-19, describing it as an absolute chaotic disaster, media reported on Sunday. "What we're fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy -- that has become a stronger impulse in American life," the former president was quoted as saying in the reports. To conceal their own mistakes, the Trump administration used its two largest enemies to divert public dissatisfaction - China and the WHO, Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for US Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Sunday. "The administration has no interest in global governance since the beginning, particularly after Trump thinks that some international organizations might not serve American interests, he raises doubts, even heaps criticism upon them," he said. Trump announced on April 14 to halt funding to the WHO, accusing the organization of severely mismanaging and covering up the outbreak. Trump's move drew wide-range criticism from officials, medical professionals, key opinion influencers and geopolitical observers, as some health groups and charities in the US urged him to reverse the decision that hurt global efforts to contain the viral spread. Martin Jacques, who was a senior fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University, also slammed such a decision as "outrageous and grossly irresponsible," which prioritizes Trump's own electoral interests over the needs of Americans and people around the world, he told the Global Times in an earlier interview. Affecting 187 countries and regions with more than 4 million people, the COVID-19 pandemic gives rise to the importance of global solidarity as no country could deal with such an unprecedented public health crisis alone. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated during a recent press briefing that countries should come together to confront this common enemy. "At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the US joined forces to conquer a common enemy. They recognized that viruses do not respect nations or ideologies," Tedros was quoted as saying in media reports on Friday referring to a joint effort against smallpox , noting that the same solidarity, built on national unity, is needed now more than ever to defeat COVID-19. In contrary to China, which supports the WHO as a backer of multilateralism, the US has been escalating confrontation and leading anti-China rhetoric since the outbreak began, spreading a disinformation campaign about COVID-19, which was followed by some Western media and politicians. The WHO on Sunday refuted a report from media outlet Der Spiegel regarding the details of information-sharing on COVID-19 between China and the organization, slashing false reports that distract global efforts in fighting the pandemic as the report also contradicted the official timeline of the epidemic response that the Chinese government had earlier released. The WHO comments came after the German newspaper published an article on Friday, citing the country's intelligence service, claiming that China urged the organization to delay global warnings following the outbreak and that Chinese President Xi Jinping requested via a phone call with Tedros on January 21 to ask him to withhold information on human-to-human transmission, claiming this caused the world a delay of four to six weeks in fighting COVID-19, the newspaper said. The WHO refuted the claims by saying that reports of a January 21 phone call between the WHO chief and President Xi were unfounded and untrue. They didn't speak on January 21 and have never spoken via phone. Such inaccurate reports distract & detract from the WHO's and global efforts to end COVID-19, said an official tweet from the WHO. China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the virus on January 20, the WHO added in a follow-up tweet. Some Twitter users also raised suspicions regarding the report as they believe the alleged cover-up makes no sense particularly when the Chinese government had already publicly revealed human-to-human transmission the day before. Also, there was no information relevant to such a call on the official timeline of China's COVID-19 response that the Chinese government released on April 6. "Groundless and false reports are also part of a disinformation campaign being waged against China by some Western media and politicians," Xin said, noting that such a campaign has been fueled by US-led anti-China sentiment and rhetoric which has been escalating in recent weeks as the pandemic continued worsening. The US attacked the WHO on its relationship with China, claiming that the organization is controlled and bribed by Beijing, which is however, a lie from Washington, according to a list of 24 lies and facts released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Saturday. In 2018 and 2019, China was the third biggest donor to WHO's assessed contributions, after the US and Japan while the organization is composed of 194 member states. China began sharing information with the WHO and the international community starting from January 3 on a regular basis, however, the US had not declared a national emergency until March 13, 70 days after it was notified by China, the list clarified. Rising criticism George Packer, a staff writer from The Atlantic said in his latest article that the coronavirus crisis demanded a response that was swift, rational and collective. However, the US reacted like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government "whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering." The administration squandered two irretrievable months to prepare. From the president came willful blindness, scapegoating, boasting, and lies, Packer noted. Such rising criticism was also echoed by more US officials and observers. Some claimed that the blame game can't disguise massive failures when the death toll continues surging over 75,000 and more deaths are forecasted as the government plans to reopen the economy. In spite of rising unilateralism, more calls emerged across the globe for joint efforts in fighting the pandemic, for instance, the global medical journal the Lancet said in an editorial published on May 5 that "the coronavirus pandemic puts societies to the test: it is a test of political leadership, national health systems, social care services, solidarity, social contracta test of our very own fabric." Though Washington has been constantly assailing China and the WHO, the US has been collaborating with China and the world, especially on a people-to-people level, in confronting COVID-19. "It is time to end the blame game," Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said in a recent opinion article. All lives are equally precious, and we do not want to see the death toll going up anywhere in the world, and we all want it to come down and want to save every life with the greatest extent possible, Cui told a recent interview with Chinese Central Television, urging that collaboration should prevail in order to get countries through a dark moment in history. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address By Andrew Osborn and Andrey Kuzmin MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday announced a gradual easing of coronavirus lockdown measures despite a new surge in infections which took Russia's tally past Italy's, making it the fourth highest in the world. Putin, in a televised nationwide address, said that from Tuesday he would start lifting restrictions that had forced many people to work from home and businesses to temporarily close. He unveiled new support measures for businesses and for families with children who have seen their livelihoods devastated. He said unemployment had doubled to 1.4 million in a month and he wanted to try to stop it spiralling higher. The Russian leader emphasised the lifting of restrictions would be gradual and that individual regions in the world's largest country would need to tailor their approach to varying local conditions. Moscow for example has said it will keep its own lockdown measures in place until May 31. Mass public events would still be banned, said Putin, and Russians aged 65 or over asked to stay at home, even as certain sectors of the bruised economy such as construction and agriculture were allowed to restart work. "All the (coronavirus-related) measures we have taken allow us to move to the next step in the fight against the epidemic and start a phased lifting of the lockdown restrictions," said Putin. That exercise would need to be done carefully and in full compliance with new higher safety standards, he added. "We must not allow a breakdown, a rollback, a new wave of the epidemic and an increase in serious complications. Once again, there will be no rapid lifting of the restrictions. It will take considerable time," he said. Putin was speaking after the number of new cases of the novel coronavirus rose by a record daily amount to 11,656, making the official tally 221,344. Only Britain, Spain and the United States have recorded more cases. Story continues The country's coronavirus response centre also reported 94 new deaths, taking the overall death toll to 2,009. The official death toll remains far lower than in many countries, something Kremlin critics have queried. Official data published on Sunday showed Moscow reported 18% more deaths in April this year than the same month in 2019, raising the possibility that the official death toll from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, seriously understates the impact. Government officials attribute the lower death toll and the rising and large number of cases to a vast testing programme, under which they say 5.6 million tests have been conducted. That, they say, has allowed doctors to quickly identify people who need medical care and make sure they receive it in a timely fashion. Putin on Monday complained that an order he had given for frontline medical staff to get extra payments for their work had not been fulfilled by all regions and gave them four days to comply. (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Daria Korsunskaya; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Andrew Heavens) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- If there is one homemade food I associate with my mother it is meatballs. As this is Staten Island, the immediate image youll conjure up is a giant pot of tomato gravy or steaming plate of spaghetti topped with Italian versions. But my mothers famed dish in our Dongan Hills home hails from the Swedish variety, many dozens of the hand-rolled specimens smothered in brown gravy. 01/17/2013 - Authentic Swedish meatballs include fish such as anchovy. (Staten Island Advance/ Jan Somma-Hammel) Staten Island AdvanceStaten Island Advance A teacher by profession and of Northern European decent, my mother was funny, thoughtful, sweet...although not a confident cook. To her credit, she could follow recipes. And when I was 16 Patricia threw herself into execution of requested Swedish meatballs for a birthday dinner party, an entree from which meals came afterward for many, many days to come. For better or worse, she shared the recipe with her mother -- known better for making restaurant reservations -- who prepared and froze dozens of them in preparation for my stay with her one summer. The legend of grandma Lillian cooking any such thing is the stuff of Greenbriar II retirement community legends. Dick's Deli of West Brighton, currently closed in the pandemic, features Swedish meatballs on its menu (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)(Staten Island Advance/Pamela Si With Dicks Delicatessan and Ikea closed temporarily in the pandemic, Staten Islands Swedish meatball supply is sorely missed from our food chain by some. So we turn to the Italian versions in the borough. The Roadhouse in Sunnyside (TheRoadHouseSI.com) mixes a mean batch of the stuff, a tradition started by its founder, appropriately nicknamed Tony Meatballs. Meatball Salad at The Road House in Sunnyside. (Courtesy of Jeannie Ciurcina) Pamela Silvestri Road House owner Mark DAndrea told the Advance, My grandfather and my father handed out meatball sandwiches -- they were longshoremen. My grandmother [Josephine] made these incredible meatball sandwiches." And, while the men stood around waiting to get called for work in the Shape Ups, as it was known, the foreman would call, Pick Meatballs, kid! In the modern day meatball setting, Josephines specialty comes over greens for a Meatball Salad." The famed creation is made with pork, beef and veal and is also served with steaming rigatoni. Other formidable meatballs come from Robertos Gourmet Kitchen in Castleton Corners (RobertosGourmetKitchen.com), De Lucas Italian Restaurant in Tottenville by the hands of Momma Kim DeLuca (DelucasItalian.com) and Mangia, also Tottenville (Mangia via WhereYouEat.com). The latter makes a Sicilian version with pignoli nuts, raisins and provolone cheese. Meatballs are an unlikely suspect on the Laceys Bridge Tavern menu as the Elm Park restaurant (LaceysBridgeTavern.com) has Polish roots with former owners Pearl and Walter Daszkowski. Its current proprietor Chris Lacey rolls them with Black Angus beef, bread crumbs, eggs, grated cheese, parsley, garlic, onions and crushed red pepper. Despite the coronavirus pandemic Laceys was still busy for Mothers Day, according to Chris, with minimal call for meatballs this year and instead a massive demand for lobster tails. As our boys are not fans of any sort of meatball, on the menu at our home tonight is a roast duck, a Long Island specimen sourced from Hook & Rail in Travis. The boys made a nice collage on a pizza peel for a gift. My mother, gone from us now for five years, would have gotten a kick out of it. Happy Mothers Day to you and yours. Keep in touch. Pamela Silvestri is Advance Food Editor. She can be reached at silvestri@siadvance.com. DANBURY Elective surgery is resuming this week at three New York medical centers run by the health network that operates Danbury and Norwalk hospitals a small sign that life is getting back on track in the Empire State. Connecticut may not be far behind. Everybody is anxious to get back to some semblance of what the new normal will be with COVID-19, and starting to do elective surgery metaphorically represents a move in that direction, said Dr. Jeffrey Nicastro, chairman of surgery for Nuvance Heath, whose seven hospitals include three in New York. From a finance standpoint, stopping elective surgery has been a burden for all hospitals. News that elective surgeries will resume in New York as soon as Wednesday and may return in Connecticut within weeks means not only that the coronavirus crisis is declining as net hospitalizations drop, but also that the capacity, staffing and flexibility at facilities is increasing. St. Francis Medical Center in Hartford, for example, has already established COVID-free zones and testing procedures for patients, in preparation for resuming the non-emergency surgeries that were postponed in early March to clear the deck for the coronavirus surge. We are taking a thoughtful, phased approach to resuming select services and are following (federal) and state COVID-19 guidance to provide a safe environment for both patients and colleagues," St. Francis Hospital President Dr. John Rodis, said in a statement. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamonts office agrees. We support a gradual reinstatement of these procedures for these institutions large and small because we understand the toll this has taken on hospitals, and patients who have been waiting to get treatment, said Max Reiss, Lamonts spokesman. The advent of elective surgery comes 10 weeks into a public health crisis in Connecticut that could cost the states hospitals $1.5 billion this year. The elective surgeries starting Wednesday in New York at Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel, Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie will be a step in the right direction but a long way from the solution for Nuvance. Our intention is to start with a small volume of elective procedures in all three of our New York hospitals, Nicastro said. But understand that we are going to phase it in, so the (financial) impact will be modest. Like other industries hard-hit by the pandemic, Connecticut hospitals are counting on lobbyists and lawmakers to come to the rescue. On Friday, for example, Connecticuts seven-member Congressional delegation called on the federal government to provide COVID-19 funds for the states small and medium-sized hospitals whose plight have been overlooked. The delegation noted that Connecticut had the third-highest death rate and fifth-most COVID-19 cases per capita in the country as of May 4. Many of these hospitals invested a considerable amount of money to create additional capacity and have cared for a significant number of COVID-19 infected patients, yet received no additional support from the Department of Health and Human Services, the letter reads. Its also important for Connecticuts public health for hospitals to get back on track, an industry official said. Weve had pretty significant progress in slowing the progression of the coronavirus disease, said Paul Kidwell, senior vice president of policy at the Connecticut Hospital Association. While it was necessary to defer non-emergency care to provide the COVID-19 response, the health needs of the patients need to be met, otherwise we could have other public health consequences. It was not clear on Monday how soon Nuvance hospitals in Danbury and Norwalk could begin elective surgery, but Nicastro estimated it was a matter of weeks. New York hospitals are getting back on track first, in part because the pandemic peaked there earlier. Nicastro stressed the point in resuming non-emergency surgeries was not to rush to recover loses, but rather to meet the needs of patients while keeping an eye on the pandemic. We wouldnt do this if it wasnt safe, Nicastro said. rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342 Franz Tost is hopeful F1's plan for 'ghost races' starting in July will work out. That is despite the fact that there are obvious issues with that plan to re-start amid the corona crisis. For instance, British PM Boris Johnson has announced that all international travellers will need to quarantine for a full two weeks, even though an exemption for sport is reportedly being discussed. There may also be insurance problems for the drivers. F1 business journalist Christian Sylt says he has spoken with "three of Europe's top virologists" and all of them say strict quarantines after but also before races will be necessary. He added that if the drivers ignore that advice, it could "invalidate their insurance policies and they wouldn't legally be allowed to race". Alpha Tauri boss Tost, however, told Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper: "I bet a bottle of wine that we are going to Spielberg". The plan is for back-to-back races at the Red Bull Ring in July. "The 'bubble' being planned is a completely correct procedure," said the Austrian. After Austria, F1 intends to host another series of back-to-back races at Silverstone. A British 'senior government source' told the Sun newspaper that "everyone is being positive. If we can do this safely, we should try to get it on". Alex Wurz is president of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, and after a telecall with F1 authorities involving Sebastian Vettel, he said the drivers are supportive of the sport's plan. "Formula 1 is dependent on the policies of the various countries," Wurz told Kurier newspaper, "but what I can say is that everything that falls into the direct decision area of Formula 1 has been carefully processed so far". (GMM) CAIRO Even after its one-year chairmanship term of the African Union (AU) ended in 2019, Egypt continues to prioritize Africa when it comes to its foreign policy. On April 29, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi participated in a mini summit for AU leaders held via video conference to discuss the coronavirus outbreak. During the meeting, Sisi underlined the importance of the results reached in previous summits, mainly the establishment of an African fund to confront the novel coronavirus aimed to mobilize resources and implement projects in the health-care sector. Sisi stressed the need to communicate with international partners and global institutions to support African countries economically in the medium and long run and offer the necessary support, including medical and preventive supplies to halt the pandemic, as part of the Egyptian initiative proposed in a previous meeting. During a March 26 online mini African summit, African leaders agreed to establish the AUs COVID-19 Response Fund, under the framework of the African Business Coalition for Health. Sisi, who took part in the meeting, pledged his countrys financial support for the fund and proposed a debt relief initiative for African countries, which was widely welcomed by African leaders. His initiative was addressed to the Group of 20 (G-20), the Group of Eight (G-8), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to consider easing debt burdens in light of the repercussions of the coronavirus crisis. The COVID-19 Response Funds Board of Trustees held its first meeting via video conference on April 27. The fund is tasked with collecting the needed resources to support the already fragile health-care systems in African countries, and providing medical and preventive equipment to the health-care sector, in coordination with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The latter estimates that the strategy to deal with the virus requires $450 billion, of which $61.5 billion have been collected so far through donations from businessmen and international partners. As of May 7, coronavirus infections in Africa reached 52,989 cases, with 2,018 deaths, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data. Although numbers are much higher in the United States and Europe, the WHO and the United Nations warned of the risk of the coronavirus spreading in Africa, amid fears the fragile health-care system will collapse, saying the worst is yet to come. Egypt, South Africa, Morocco and Algeria have been the hardest hit in Africa so far. Mona Omar, former assistant to the foreign minister of African affairs and African Union affairs, considered the establishment of the African fund an important step in the fight against the coronavirus as it unites governmental and private sector efforts. Omar told Al-Monitor over the phone that the debt relief initiative proposed by Sisi to major countries and international institutions shows how important Africa is for Egypts foreign policy. Egypt sees Africa as a priority and carries the continents concerns to all international events it participates in, she said. According to Omar, Egypt has large investments in Africa and its major companies are entrenched in the continent, like the Arab Contractors company, Elsewedy Electric, Qalaa Holdings and Hassan Allam Holding. This could help Egypt play a role in the fight against the virus in Africa, by continuing its projects in the African countries and supporting the health-care sector. She said Egypt sent its experts to several African countries, such as Tanzania, Congo, Sudan and South Sudan, to offer them technical support in implementing development projects, which proves that Africa has become a priority of the Egyptian foreign policy for cooperation, integration and achievement of common interests. Rashad Abdo, director of the Egyptian Forum for Economic and Strategic Studies, said that the African fund and the Egyptian debt relief initiative is a good step that reflects Egypts influential role in the continent and support for its brethren in these tough times due to the virus that causes COVID-19. Abdo told Al-Monitor on the phone that Africa not only needs financial support from international institutions, but it also needs development and investment projects to revive its economy and increase employment, in addition to limiting the repercussions of COVID-19 on Africans. He said that Egypt is prioritizing Africa and has undertaken development projects in Sudan, South Sudan, Congo and Tanzania, despite its tough economic conditions. Its internal crises have not prevented it from playing a pioneering role in Africa, he added. Abdo expects Egyptian businessmen and companies in Africa to contribute largely to the success of the fund in supporting anti-coronavirus government efforts in the framework of social responsibility. Mohammad al-Arabi, former foreign minister and head of the parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee, said that although Egypts chairmanship of the AU ended, Africa is still a priority for the country, especially given the coronavirus pandemic. Arabi told Al-Monitor that Egypts anti-coronavirus efforts come at a time when each country is preoccupied with its own issues, whether in the world or Africa. Egypt has proven to have an insightful perspective, as it can only succeed in countering COVID-19s negative implications by cooperating with others, notably in Africa. He expressed his concerns over the positions some African countries are taking in reference to Ethiopia that vowed to continue filling the controversial Renaissance Dam on the Nile River despite its dispute and the conflict in Libya, which could hinder the efforts deployed to counter the coronavirus, He called on the AU, which is currently presided by South Africa, to unite all parties around the main goal of containing the virus outbreak. He further urged international associations and major countries to support Africa, which was already suffering under difficult conditions before the pandemic. Arabi stressed that Egypt is playing its role to the fullest in Africa through development projects. Even when Cairo held the presidency of the AU, it carried the African cause to international forums, such as in Russia, Germany, China and France, and is still doing so. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia 11.05.2020 LISTEN The good sense of the Ghanaian people, which has preserved the peace and stability of the 4th Republic for the last 27 years, will continue to prevail, and they will not permit any poor, desperate loser to plunge this country into chaos. Ghana is bigger than the ambitions of any of us. President Akufo-Addo There is one name in this country that has attracted a lot of tongue-lashing from the folks under the eagle-headed Umbrella since 2016 till date. The said character is their nightmare. The mention of his name sends shivers down their spines. His economic analysis makes them look so ordinary that they've vowed to do all in their power to desecrate his name and make him look like a man of ill repute. Yes, you've guessed right! The character in question is no other than the Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. Indeed, it is an open secret that Dr. Bawumia was a thorn in their flesh during the 2016 electioneering campaign. Dr. Tony Aidoo confirmed that fact soon after the election when he proclaimed that his party did not have an effective antidote to Dr. Bawumia's devastating economic punches. The beleaguered former Central Regional Chairman of the party, Allotey Jacobs, also made the same observation. He postulated that without a running mate who could stand toe-to-toe with Dr. Bawumia, the Umbrella better say goodbye to the presidential throne on December 7, 2020. That the Umbrella is desperate for power is an understatement. Their aggressive attitude amply shows that their desire for power will make them do anything. The desperation for power has blinded their sense of patriotism and sound reasoning. Otherwise, why would they be playing politics with the deadly COVID-19 pandemic? We all saw how their flagbearer, President Ogwanfunu, started a subtle political campaign with his live Facebook broadcasts that later turned into full blown political campaign. We all saw how he rode on the back of philanthropy (sharing food) and went campaigning when the whole country was struggling to fight the pandemic. The last straw was when he had the audacity to say the country's economy was on a ventilator. You can trust Dr. Bawumia not to allow such a deceitful comment to pass without a reply. He will not allow an overused pot to call a fairly used kettle black, especially in an election year. His reply was only a punch, but it sent members of the Umbrella crushing to the ground. One week has elapsed and one can still see their puffy faces. Dr. Bawumia's point was simple: The country has witnessed two crises, one under the reign of the Umbrella and the other under the reign of the Elephant. The country has thus seen the crisis management skills of both sides and could therefore make a better judgment. While the former increased electricity tariffs and cancelled nursing and teacher training allowances during a crisis, the latter is spending more to mitigate the effects of a crisis by providing free water, free electricity for lifeline users, 50% reduction for others, tax exemptions for all public sector health workers, 50% additional allowances for frontline workers and a GH600m stimulus packages for businesses! A crisis could be anything. It could be energy crisis like 'dumsor' or public health crisis like COVID-19. A crisis could be internally generated like dumsor or externally generated like coronavirus. Both would have an impact on individuals and businesses. So what a government does to mitigate the effects on individuals and businesses proves its crisis management skills and the robustness of the economy. Massa, how Zu-za tongue lashed Dr. Bawumia! As expected, they called him all manner of names. Reactions came from many sources ranging from regular Facebook junkies through rented journalists to professors lobbying for running mate slot for their brothers. Some even wrote what could pass for a thesis. But one thing was clear. None was able to mention even one mitigating factor by the Ogwanfunu government during the 'dumsor' period. By the way, did you hear the self-styled neutrals and civil society organizations calling for de-escalation of politics after Dr. Bawumia's response? It is puzzling that people think some have the prerogative to throw jabs at the government but sees it as morally reprehensible when government responds. They preach palpable falsehood against the government for political expediency and you expect government to keep mute? That cannot be! I will remind them if they've forgotten. This is 2020, the year of election. The sanctimonious effusions and pious lamentations must cease forthwith. They should rather tell the desperate former president to stop the politicking at this critical time or expect an uppercut in return from 'Walewale Adam Smith' if he dares to throw a jab. Back to COVID-19 mode. We can now wear our face masks and go to the Veronica bucket to wash our hands. Hope to see you next week for another interesting konkonsa, Deo volente! The COVID-19 pandemic is a war between human beings and the virus. At this special moment when countries must fight together for a shared future, the media is not only a disseminator of information, but also a major participant. Its difficult to distinguish between fiction and facts in an information-overloaded world. Based on lessons learned from history, the World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized the importance of offering accurate information to the people around the world since the onset of the outbreak, pointing out that its crucial to fight epidemic-related rumors and false information. The WHO suggested stopping the spread of false information about COVID-19 by tracking misinformation in multiple languages. The organizations infodemic management team is working hand in glove with its communications department to deliver information to a broader public audience. The UN health body is also engaging with search engines and social media companies, asking them to filter out false information and promote truth. As a matter of fact, the pandemic is a big test for global media, as it reflects media outletspractices and sense of justice. The media should faithfully record history and respect facts in news reporting. Truth is basic for news. At this crucial moment, media practitioners must work in a down-to-earth way, learn the real situations, and report the truth in the most accurate, objective and comprehensive manner. Unfortunately, some irresponsible Western media outlets spread and even fabricated rumors, which undermined international cooperation to fight the virus. Chinas incredible sacrifice in fighting COVID-19 has made huge contribution to the world, winning high recognition from the international community. Its of great significance to provide objective and accurate coverage of Chinese anti-epidemic achievements when rumors abound. The media should be aware that when they share Chinas successful anti-epidemic experiences with the world, they are injecting positive energy into protecting the lives and health of the people across the world. The media should uphold the common values of mankind and see to it that the limits of civilization shall never be tested in news reporting. In this situation sometimes, its easy to move into perspectives in which there tends to be discrimination; there tends to be violation of human rights; there tends to be stigma on innocent people just because of their ethnicity or whatever. I think its very important to avoid this, said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, some Western politicians and media have deliberately spread racially discriminatory messages, which is one of the main reasons for the language and physical violence against Asians. COVID-19-related stigmatization is a racist act against a country and all its people, and it is a hate crime, said Mushahid Hussain Syed, the chairman of the Pakistani Senates standing committee on foreign affairs, adding that such behaviors are also uncivilized, and go against diplomatic norms and international law. All responsible media in the world should conscientiously resist stigmatization and stand by justice. Under the current circumstances, the media plays a vital role in reassuring the people, Bieito Rubido Ramonde, director of Spanish newspaper ABC, emphasized in his letter to the Peoples Daily. Besides, the media should also fully reflect the general trend of the worlds future becoming increasingly interconnected, and inject positive energy into the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. As COVID-19 continues to sweep the world, the international community should work together to overcome the difficulties and defeat the virus. Similarly, the media should also enhance cooperation to assist in the worlds COVID-19 fight and contribute to safeguarding the health and wellbeing of mankind. The Belt and Road News Network (BRNN) issued an open letter to its alliance members of 205 media outlets from 98 countries around the world, calling on them to give the message of unity and support to the public, tell stories of how countries fight together by looking over for and helping each other, and give the warm message of unity and strength. The letter demonstrated the common aspiration of all media practitioners who stand by justice. When people are united and determined, they can achieve anything. To conquer the virus, the world must reach the consensus of building a community with a shared future, gather the common will from all human beings, and formulate a strong power for joint actions. Upholding the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, encouraging global cooperation on pandemic response, and making responsible actions for both the people and history - thats a mainstream value that global media shall appreciate. French publishing, and its associated literary prizes like the (now somewhat disgraced) Goncourt, has long crowded the fall with a flood of titles (which has, in normal years, made the spring frantic for publishers getting the word out). But can that continue? One agent: Why must so many prizes be awarded at the same time of the year? What logic is behind this? With a more balanced spread of editorial production, the chances of a larger number of books would be increased. Le Monde Trump administration officials spoke optimistically about a relatively quick rebound from the coronavirus on Sunday. It came as life within the White House reflected the stark challenges still posed by the pandemic, with Vice President Mike Pence self-isolating after one of his aides tested positive. A balancing act was playing out the world over, with leaders starting to loosen lockdowns that have left millions unemployed while also warning of the threat of a second wave of infections. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin predicted the American economy would rebound in the second half of this year from unemployment rates that rival the Great Depression. I think youre going to see a bounce-back from a low standpoint, Mr Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday. Mr Mnuchin, and other economic advisers to the Trump administration, have emphasised the importance of states getting more businesses and offices open even as the pandemic makes its way to the White House complex. More economic activity and travel will likely lead to more people contracting Covid-19. But tight restrictions on which businesses can operate are causing huge increases in the ranks of the unemployed. Another 3.2 million US workers applied for jobless benefits last week, bringing the total over the last seven weeks to 33.5 million. If we do this carefully, working with the governors, I dont think theres a considerable risk, Mr Mnuchin said. Matter of fact, I think theres a considerable risk of not reopening. Youre talking about what would be permanent economic damage to the American public. But the director of the University of Washington institute that created a White House-endorsed coronavirus model said the moves by states to re-open businesses will translate into more cases and deaths in 10 days from now. Expand Close Shanghais DIsneyland reopened on Monday while elsewhere in China, Jilin province reported a rise in Covid-19 cases (Sam McNeil/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Shanghais DIsneyland reopened on Monday while elsewhere in China, Jilin province reported a rise in Covid-19 cases (Sam McNeil/AP) Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said states where cases and deaths are going up more than expected include Illinois, Arizona, Florida and California. In a reminder of the continued threat, Mr Pences move came after three members of the White Houses coronavirus task force placed themselves in quarantine after coming into contact with the aide. Meanwhile, families in the US and other countries marked Mothers Day in a time of social distancing. For many, it was their first without loved ones lost in the pandemic. Others sent good wishes from a safe distance or through phone and video calls. The virus has caused particular suffering for the elderly, with more than 26,000 deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities in the United States, according to an Associated Press tally. Expand Close Global coronavirus cases and deaths (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Global coronavirus cases and deaths (PA Graphics) In Germany, which was also celebrating mothers, officials made an exception to allow children who live outside the country to enter for a Mothers Day visit. Germanys restrictions currently forbid entry except for compelling reasons, such as work. In Grafton, West Virginia, where the tradition of Mothers Day began 112 years ago, the brick building now known as the International Mothers Day Shrine held its first online-only audience. Anna Jarvis first held a memorial service for her mother and all mothers on the second Sunday of May in 1908. Matilda Cuomo, the mother of New York governor Andrew Cuomo, called into her sons daily briefing so he and his three daughters could wish her a happy Mothers Day. I am so blessed as many mothers today are, she said. The US has had 1.3 million infections and nearly 80,000 deaths, the most in the world by far, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Expand Close The Canadian Forces Snowbirds fly past the Toronto skyline as part of Operation Inspiration, their cross-country salute to Canadians helping fight the spread of Covid-19 (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Canadian Forces Snowbirds fly past the Toronto skyline as part of Operation Inspiration, their cross-country salute to Canadians helping fight the spread of Covid-19 (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press/AP) Worldwide, four million people have been reported infected and more than 280,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins. Germany, which managed to push new infections below 1,000 daily before deciding to loosen restrictions, has had regional spikes in cases linked to slaughterhouses and nursing homes. France is letting some younger students go back to school on Monday after almost two months out. Attendance will not be compulsory right away. Residents of some Spanish regions will be able to enjoy limited seating at bars, restaurants and other public places on Monday, but Madrid and Barcelona, the countrys largest cities, will remain shut down. China, where the virus was first detected, reported 14 new cases on Sunday, its first double-digit rise in 10 days. Eleven of 12 domestic infections were in the northeastern province of Jilin, prompting authorities to raise the threat level in one of its counties to high risk, just days after downgrading all regions to low risk. South Korea reported 34 more cases as new infections linked to nightclubs threaten its hard-won gains against the virus. It was the first time South Koreas daily infections were above 30 in about a month. The UK government has published a step-by-step DIY guide to making a face covering out of old t-shirts, after people in England were advised to wear masks in enclosed spaces such as public transport and some shops. Britons are advised to wear a scarf, homemade face mask, or shop-bought mask to cover their nose and mouth to limit the spread of coronavirus, but the government stressed that surgical-grade masks should be reserved for medical workers. The DIY instructions come as the government published its 60-page Recovery Strategy document, which sets out detailed guidelines for changes to lockdown rules to apply in England from Wednesday. Workers in the construction, manufacturing and other sectors are being actively encouraged to return to work, but concerns over how people can avoid transmitting and catching the coronavirus outside of their households. This prompted the government to advise that homemade face coverings can help reduce the risk of transmission in some circumstances. How to make your own face mask Show all 6 1 /6 How to make your own face mask How to make your own face mask Using a T-shirt - Step 1 Cut a straight line across the width of the T-shirt (front and back) approximately 20cm from the bottom of the T-shirt. Gov.uk How to make your own face mask Steps 2 and 3 From a point 2cm below the top right-hand corner of the fabric, make a 15cm horizontal cut through both sides of the fabric that is parallel to the top of the rectangle. Cut down towards the bottom of the fabric until you reach approximately 2cm above the bottom edge. From here, make another 15cm cut that runs parallel to the bottom of the fabric to make a rectangle that can be discarded. Gov.uk How to make your own face mask Step 4 To make the ties, cut open the edge of the 2 long strips of fabric. Unfold the main piece of fabric and place over the mouth and the nose. The 4 strips act as ties to hold the cloth face covering in place and should be tied behind the head and around the neck. Gov.uk How to make your own face mask A sewn cloth face covering - Steps 1 and 2 Cut out two 25cm x 25cm squares of cotton fabric. Stack the 2 squares on top of each other. Fold over one side by 3/4 cm and hem, then repeat on the opposite side. Make 2 channels by folding the double layer of fabric over 1.5cm along each side and stitching this down. Gov.uk How to make your own face mask Step 3 Run a 20cm length of elastic (or string or cloth strip) through the wider hem on each side of the face covering. These will be the ear loops. Use a large needle to thread it through. Tie the ends tightly. If you only have string, you can make the ties longer and tie the covering behind your head. Gov.uk How to make your own face mask Step 4 Gently pull on the elastic so that the knots are tucked inside the hem. Gather the sides of the covering on the elastic and adjust so the covering fits your face. Then securely stitch the elastic in place to keep it from slipping. These elastic loops fit over the ears. Gov.uk Face coverings are not intended to help the wearer, but to protect against inadvertent transmission of the disease to others if you have it asymptomatically, added the guidelines. People who choose to wear such items are urged not to touch the front of the face covering, or the part of the face covering that has been in contact with your mouth and nose. Cloth face coverings should be washed regularly, and people should continue to wash their hands and use hand sanitise The steps showed how to make two types of masks, one that does not require sewing and another that does. The first can be made simply with an old t-shirt and a pair of scissors, while the other requires more materials including two squares of fabric, two pieces of elastic, scissors and a needle and thread. A sewing machine is optional. Transport for London said all passengers in London should wear face coverings and carry hand sanitiser if they use public transport. The advice applies to anyone using the underground tube network, buses, black cabs and minicabs. Passengers are also required to stay two metres apart at all times, which means public transport will operate very differently compared to the way things were before the pandemic, said TfL. The governments DIY face covering suggestion has drawn some skepticism and laughter from the public, many of whom have joked about the appearance of covid crop tops. One person said: The government has published guidance on how to make your own face mask out of the bottom of a t-shirt. Im worried thatll now have to practice ab crunches in addition to my social distancing. Another said: Why doesnt the government provide these free, to its citizens? Millions was spent on posting out of date information letters to the public, whereas it could have been better spend on providing face coverings. But all we need is a sewing machine + an old t-shirt to do our own LOL. Khalsa Aid, the UK-based humanitarian relief organisation, has funded emergency food rations for the people in Kenya hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The organisations founder, Ravinder Singh, said in a tweet on Sunday: UK based (Sikh) humanitarian organisation @Khalsa_Aid is funding 38 tonnes of food for those economically affected due to coronavirus in Nairobi. Similarly, in a Facebook post, Khalsa Aid said: We are funding emergency food rations for 1,000s of people in Kenya who are struggling economically due to the coronavirus pandemic. Khalsa Aid also thanked Ramgharia Youth Association (RYA) in Nairobi for their assistance. Besides Kenya, the organisation is also supporting international students and migrant workers in Russia, Cyprus, Ukraine, Canada, the US, Australia and the UK with food rations, the organization said on Twitter on Monday morning. Founded in 1999, Khalsa Aid is an international NGO, which provides humanitarian aid in disaster areas and civil-conflict zones around the world. The organisation is based upon the Sikh principle of recognise the whole human race as one. CHICAGO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Skyway Concession Company LLC (SCC), the company that operates and maintains the historic Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge (I-90), today announced several donations that reflect continued support of the local Skyway community and our essential workers. Truckers on the Chicago Skyway are being treated to free bags of snacks each "Trucker Tuesday" during the month of May to help them deal with long haul trips during this time while rest stops have been closed due to Covid-19. Trucker Tuesdays: Chicago Skyway is offering snacks bags to truck drivers at the toll plaza each Tuesday during the month of May. The snack bags, decorated with drawings made by the families of SCC employees, contain bottled water as well as healthy, salty and sweet snacks. "With increased demand for food and goods during these unprecedented times, truckers are struggling to navigate long hauls with closed rest stops," said Skyway's CEO Fernando Redondo. "We hope these snack bags serve as a small token of the Skyway's gratitude to America's truckers for moving the goods that keep our country moving." Good Neighbor Program: SCC is also providing more than 10,000 pieces of personal protective equipment for elderly and at-risk members of our surrounding community. With the help of the 7th, 8th, 10th, and 20th, Ward offices, gloves and masks are being distributed to vulnerable neighbors in the wards surrounding the Chicago Skyway on the southeast side of the City. Feed the Frontline: In a show of appreciation for the staff on the front lines of COVID-19, The Intensive Care Unit at Advocate Trinity Hospital, located just west of the Chicago Skyway gets meals donated by SCC. "These first responders work long hours to ensure patients' needs are met, often at their own expense," said Skyway CEO Redondo. "We can't thank them in person, so Skyway hopes a good meal lets them know how much they are appreciated." Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund: SCC also made a $5,000 donation to The Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund in a show of support for our larger Chicago community. The fund is providing basic needs to our Chicago neighbors in this time of crisis, partnering with philanthropy, government, business and individual donors. About the Chicago Skyway: Built by the City of Chicago in 1958, the Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge is a 7.8-mile-long toll road that connects the Indiana Toll Road to the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago's South Side. The January 2005, 99-year lease agreement between Skyway and the City of Chicago was the first privatization of an existing toll road in the United States. For contact: Avis LaVelle [email protected] 312 402 2171 Related Images skyway-concession-company-staffer.png Skyway Concession Company staffer hands out free snacks for truckers Truckers on the Chicago Skyway are being treated to free bags of snacks each "Trucker Tuesday" during the month of May to help them deal with long haul trips during this time while rest stops have been closed due to Covid-19. SOURCE Skyway Concession Company, LLC The French authorities have begun gradually lifting COVID-19 restrictions on Monday. The decision came last week by President Emmanuel Macron, PM Edouard Philippe, and was approved by the parliament. The country was in strict quarantine for 56 days, while the death toll in France has reached 26 thousand people, TASS reported. According to Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, the process of lifting quarantine measures will take many weeks in France. The mandatory use of a paper form or e-pass with a QR code is being canceled on Monday. Now, however, those leaving for work in Paris should stock up on their own written explanatory note or a certificate with a seal from the employer, which, in particular, indicates the time of the trip. Transport situation Public transport passengers are required to present this document to inspectors - otherwise, they will face a fine of at least 135. Passengers must also wear masks. And 60 out of 302 Paris subway stations will be closed. During the rush hours, the metro will be used by those who are going to work or from work with a certificate, as well as by those due to emergency situations. Shops and educational institutions All stores are opened in the country, except for large shopping centers. Supermarkets will open with the mayors' permission. Shopkeepers may require shoppers to wear a mask at the entrance. Markets are opening. Parks and squares in most cities remain closed. Theaters and concert halls will remain closed. All cafes and restaurants are closed until at least June. On Monday, schools will open for teachers to prepare classes for students. Paris schools and lyceums will open on May 14. The internet of things (IoT) is increasingly becoming a key component of many companies data-driven transformation strategies. Indeed, organizations that have embraced IoT are already seeing benefits such as improved operational processes, better inventory management, and enhanced equipment maintenance to name a few. But a successful IoT strategy is more than just connecting a bunch of devices and sensors to the internet and gathering data from these things. IT must establish the ability to effectively analyze the vast amounts of data IoT creates in order to make sense of it and gain real business insights. Thats why an analytics strategy for IoT should be a top priority for any company looking to get the most out of all the connectivity. Organizations can enjoy a number of advantages in leveraging the IoT data they gather, says Carlton Sapp, senior director and research and advisory leader at Gartner. These include contextual awareness of equipment and systems; improved decision-making, optimization and supervisory control of equipment and resources; reduced costs associated with data management; proactive, predictive and prescriptive management of equipment; and environmental compliance. These opportunities are pervasive in use cases such as fleet optimization and management, asset management, financial risk management, and smart cities, Sapp says. But they require a sound, streamlined approach to the data end of IoT. Here are several tips for dealing with IoT data, and getting the most out of these resources. Build an IoT analytics organization and infrastructure Once an organization has an idea of its IoT analytics business goals, it needs to identify the key stakeholders who will be involved, says Stacy Crook, research director for IoT at IDC, and ascertain whether or those stakeholders require additional skills to make the project successful. It is a well-known fact that data science skills are in short supply in the industry, but these are essential for IoT analytics projects, Crook says. So the project may require hiring new employees, or outsourcing certain parts of the project to third parties, if in-house data science skills are thin. Organizations should also consider appointing a chief data officer (CDO) to champion IoT data analytics efforts and lead the data governance strategy, Crook says. Because IoT is essentially a big data problem, IDC suggests organizations consider how their existing infrastructure could also serve IoT use cases. Although older big data architectures might have been focused on batch-oriented workloads, increasingly there are tools available to run real-time workloads over this same backbone, Crook says. Leveraging the same infrastructure for various IoT workloads can have benefits in terms of preventing data siloes and providing the ability to more easily run cross-functional data analysis across those workloads, Crook says. It can also provide data governance and security benefits, she says. Deploy an architecture that supports IoT data growth Companies need to start with the right IoT data architecture and understand how to manage IoT data at various locations. Data emanating from IoT endpoints offers new and unique challenges, such as unreliable network access and combining devices that may be distributed over large distances and generate data in multiple formats over multiple protocols, Sapp says. Today, most IoT data is telemetry data, but endpoints are increasingly emitting image and audio data that should be handled by persistent data stores, Sapp says. Start with an appropriate IoT data architecture that will support the expected growth in the volume of IoT, he says. Organizations often fail to effectively manage IoT data, due to a lack of a flexible/elastic data architecture. Data will continue to grow, so design an architecture that leverages analytics and data mining techniques that identify critical information that can be used to improve processes, improve decision-making, or reduce costs, Sapp says. For example, telecommunications companies are successful at reducing the cost of moving data over a network by taking advantage of IoT analytics at the network edge that reduces noisy data. Those organizations focus on scalable edge-centric data architectures that are designed for rapid knowledge discovery in IoT data, Sapp says. Deliver analytics across data pipelines The IoT data architecture should also support analytics across data pipelines (via streaming) and in local data stores to take advantage of faster decision-making and reduced costs, Sapp says. Organizations can do this by focusing on data-centric design patterns when creating and deploying IoT analytics, including the use of event-driven architectures. Start by distributing analytics at the edge, on streaming pipelines, on the platform, and in the enterprise, Sapp says. Organizations should take advantage of streaming IoT data pipelines as a source to deploy analytics to improve latency and reduce costs and security vulnerabilities, he says. For example, the U.S. Department of Defense often performs analytics over streaming data pipelines to reduce the throughput of data over a network, Sapp says. It also leverages IoT edge analytics to avoid sending any data over a network, using operational analytics closer to the source of data. There will most likely be multiple analytical environments deployed to support disparate analytics, Sapp says. Environments may range from operating systems to embedded analytics software, he says. Be prepared to deploy IoT analytics across a landscape that spreads from the network edge to the corporate enterprise. For example, utility organizations leverage distributing IoT analytics across various infrastructures to support fleet management. Leverage artificial intelligence Organizations should enhance what they can do with IoT data by taking advantage of AI, Sapp says. Edge intelligence is an emerging field that uses AI as an analytic method deployed at the network edge, to develop intelligent applications from IoT data, Sapp says. These intelligent applications range from video surveillance to intelligent supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. For example, environmental organizations use IoT data to build intelligence control systems to maintain environmental compliance. Adding AI to the IoT architecture Is becoming an operational imperative, Sapp says. IoT systems, including endpoint devices, must become smarter and more autonomous in order to deal with the ever-increasing magnitude of data. To make these systems smarter, organizations need to deploy AI and machine learning. Be a cloud native Given the huge volumes of data generated by IoT applications, for many organizations the cloud will be the only answer for getting a hold on data management, including analytics. Its not worth it to build the scale and speed needed to really manage this volume in real time, says Greg Meyers, group CIO and chief digital officer at Syngenta, a company that produces agrochemicals and seeds. Trying to manage it yourself in your own data center or on your own infrastructure is hugely self-defeating, Meyers says. IoT gives Syngenta the ability to manage its customers farms and fields, which are usually arbitrarily aggregated into small micro segments. Humans are great at managing averages, but computers are better at managing variability, Meyers says. IoT lets us understand why things that are happening in one area are different than things that are happening maybe 100 meters away. Leading public cloud vendors are offering services to help companies with IoT analytics. For example, Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers IoT Analytics, a managed service that enables companies to run and operationalize sophisticated analytics on massive volumes of IoT data, without having to worry about the cost and complexity typically required to build an IoT analytics platform. Microsoft offers Azure IoT, which includes a data analytics service called Azure IoT Central to provide analytics capabilities to examine historical trends and correlate various telemetries from connected devices. And Google provides Cloud IoT, a set of tools to connect, process, store, and analyze data both at the network edge and in the cloud. Prioritize data governance, security, and privacy Organizations need to ensure they have governance, security, and privacy mechanisms in place for IoT data analytics processes. Much of the data generated by IoT will be sensitive or have competitive value and needs to be carefully managed and protected. Reassess current data governance practices [to] include machine data, says Nicholas Colisto, vice president and CIO at Avery Dennison, a manufacturer and distributor of adhesive materials, apparel branding labels, and tags. From my experience, IoT governance is an immature area, Colisto says. In a previous company, I faced a situation where a business unit deployed an IoT system without seeking IT involvement, and simple operational tasks and tools to audit devices and apply firmware were not considered. Companies need to consider IoT data risks based on confidentiality, privacy, and retention requirements, Colisto says. For example, if you are working with personal data, consider the issues that can arise from algorithmic bias or inability to comply with regulations such as GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation], which can lead to legal action and damage your companys reputation, he says. Leverage IoT data for new revenue opportunities Data generated from IoT can be valuable both inside and outside the company. Chemical manufacturing company Texmark Chemicals launched an effort to modernize operations at its plant by deploying sensor-enabled pumps. Using technology from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Aruba Networks, the company gathers operational data from pump sensors that measure temperature, pressure, vibrations, flow, and power. This data is analyzed to predict equipment failures before they happen. Through a workshopping process, Texmark realized that having sensor-enabled equipment not only helps the company monitor its assets and processes, but has opened the possibility to new business models, says Doug Smith, CEO. The use of IoT becomes an additional selling factor prior to contract negotiations, Smith says. Clients are beginning to realize the value of having access to data coming off contractor assets, such as industrial pumps, he says. Clients then ask Texmark to add sensors to their pumps and provide them with the data. In essence, we are developing a library of historic performance attributes that can be catalogued and shared with other companies using similar equipment, Smith says. When deploying machine learning analytical models, the more data acquired, the greater the accuracy in the analytical prediction. By sharing IoT data with pump manufacturers or fellow suppliers, we could prove the new business model, as long as the documentation is clear and precise, Smith says. Meanwhile, customers are impressed we have deployed instrumentation and software analytics to capture, analyze, and report on such data allowing for more cost-effective decisions. This new data-as-a-service offering enabled by IoT can distinguish Texmark from competitors, Smith says, and creates a stronger bond with customers while empowering employees to achieve more from their work. At some point in the weeks after the world seemed to stop, two teachers planted a yard sign in front of a small white house on the far west side of Texas City. My teachers miss me, it read, signed by Mr. Myers and Mrs. Reed. Two dogs, tethered to poles, howled Friday morning as Roosevelt-Wilson Elementary School Principal Wendy Patterson and Assistant Principal Angela Randall knocked on the front door of the same house. No one from the school or district not even the teachers who had put up the sign weeks before had heard from the student who lives there since his campus closed in mid-March. After several minutes, the administrators turned to head back to their cars but stopped when a small boy in a peach-colored T-shirt walked outside barefoot, rubbing his eyes. CORONAVIRUS UPDATES: Stay informed with accurate reporting you can trust on HoustonChronicle.com Before Friday, he was among thousands of Houston-area students who have lost contact with their teachers and schools since campuses closed to help slow the spread of the new coronavirus. They and their families have not signed onto virtual learning platforms, turned in or picked up paper work packets, and have not responded to teachers and administrators calls. In Lamar Consolidated ISD, for example, about 2,330 students about 6.6 percent of the districts population have not logged onto online lessons or have requested paper work since that district shut its doors in mid-March. Up in Spring ISD, about 5 percent its elementary students, 8 percent of middle school students and 2 percent of high school students have not been in contact with the district. About 3 percent of Fort Bend ISD students have not responded to teachers messages. Other districts, including Houston, Alvin and Dickinson ISDs, have not yet collected data on how many of their students, effectively, have gone missing. The Texas Education Agency on Friday asked districts to begin logging raw numbers and percentages of their students who have not been contacted, as well as those who have been in infrequent contact. The agency also asked schools to separate those numbers by race, gender and grade level to ascertain whether there are disparate impacts that also need to be addressed. School district leadership, including the superintendent, should be aware of the absolute number and percentage of students that are considered uncontactable, TEA officials wrote. In addition, they should be developing or adopting best practices to organize and track the efforts used to locate the uncontactable students. Checking in Districts will not be penalized for their missing students, though the state normally funds schools based on their average daily attendance. The TEA said it would waive those attendance requirements, so long as districts could show they are teaching students remotely. Sheleah Reed, communications director for Aldine ISD, said between 7 and 10 percent of the district's 67,259 students remain unaccounted for. That is down from about 27 percent in the first days and weeks after schools closed due to COVID-19. The decrease, Reed said, is due largely to campus efforts, with multiple teachers calling students' families each week to check on their wellbeing and access to necessities such as food and the internet. The district has lent out thousands of laptops and mobile internet hotspots, as have most other districts in greater Houston. Still, some families may have new phone numbers and did not update their information with their childrens campus, she said. Others may have moved or are leaving children with grandparents while the parents go to work in essential jobs. "It's important to recognize that not getting in touch with one child is way too many," Reed said. CORONAVIRUS CHRONICLE: Subscribe to our new daily podcast for pandemic insights through a Houston lens Gulf Coast schools have experienced this before, particularly after hurricanes and floods. However, the scale of students who are unaccounted for is more widespread than after storms, even ones as devastating as Hurricane Harvey, and the lack of contact has stretched for months rather than weeks, said Andree Osagie, assistant superintendent for secondary education at Lamar Consolidated ISD. In that case, we had sections of our community hit by the flood, so we knew certain groups of students in certain subdivisions couldnt make contact, Osagie said. Now, what we are finding in this particular situation is a lot of that moving in with grandma in El Campo or another part of the state. When Patterson, Randall and two Galveston County Sheriffs deputies visited an apartment complex near the Texas City Dike, a woman at the leasing office told them the family they were looking for had been evicted weeks ago. Still, Texas City ISD has been relatively lucky. Only 93 students, or 1.1 percent, in that district are unaccounted for; and in nearby Friendswood ISD, the district only lost contact with two students. Hit or miss visits To find the remaining 93 students, more than two dozen Texas City school staff members and sheriffs school liaisons fanned out across the district Friday morning to knock on students doors. Whats really important is knowing where our kids are, making sure that theyre OK during this time of separation, and just putting our eyes on them and seeing them and checking on them, Interim Superintendent Susan Myers said. The more we do that now, the better off theyll be and well be when we return, hopefully, in the fall. Patterson already had hand-delivered paper packets to about 50 of her students, but she and her staff had been unable to track down nine of her schools 628 students. She and Randall rode with two deputies from house to house. No one opened the first door, although the porch light was on, a car was parked in the driveway and colorful stickers lined one of the front windows. At the second house, the one with the homemade sign out front, the young boys older brother eventually came out. He said their mother had been helping to teach the student but he did not know why they had not turned in any assignments. He said he would tell his mother to call the school. The third stop was among a series of single-story apartments, where tenants cautiously leaned out of their front doors to see why two deputies and two women in teal shirts and face masks were knocking on their neighbors door. A woman wearing pajamas answered, explaining that she was the grandmother of a Wilson-Roosevelt student. LIVE UPDATES: Stay on top of the latest coronavirus news, analysis and more with our daily live blog Am I in trouble or something? she asked, glancing nervously at deputies Cipriano Ruiz and Louis Maldonado, who stood about 10 feet away. They needed an Uber, Deputy Ruiz told her, gesturing at Patterson and Randall with a laugh. There was no answer at the fourth and fifth houses. A little girl answered the door at the sixth, a white house with a toy truck and a pair of pink childrens sandals out front. Hi! Patterson said. Im Principal Patterson. Is your mom or dad home? About five minutes later, a woman pushed open the glass door. Minutes later it was closed. That was her mom, Patterson said. She just hasnt done any of her work, so we did offer her some help if she needed any help getting on the internet or getting the curriculum. She said no, she didnt. Before leaving, Patterson looked at the little girl and told her it was important for her to do her school work, and if she needed any help, her teacher would be there. I think well just continue to reach out to them, she said as she walked to the car. shelby.webb@chron.com (Natural News) Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee is set to introduce a bill that will help American companies move their manufacturing from China back to the United States. The bill builds on calls for the country to decouple from the former as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Talking to the Epoch Times, Green said that his forthcoming bill would allow firms to deduct the entire cost of capital spending associated with moving out of China a practice called immediate expensing to lure companies to move back home. Green proposed that the government would pay for this using money collected from U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports. Moving manufacturing back to America White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow also recently endorsed the idea of covering 100 percent of moving costs. According to Kudlow, it would be a very good thing for American companies. The bill comes as President Donald Trumps administration pushes to cut Americas supply chain dependence on China. The coronavirus pandemics disruption of global supply chains, coupled with Beijings mishandling of the outbreak, has led the U.S. and other countries to look for other manufacturing bases. (Related: Chinas response to COVID-19 is the latest in string of COVER-UPS and suppression.) Any efforts to decouple is wise for us, both from an economic standpoint and from a national security standpoint, Green added. Green stated that his bill was slated to be introduced by the end of the week. Other countries doing the same What Green is proposing is similar to what other countries are already doing to shift manufacturing out of China. Japan recently set aside $2.2 billion in its financial aid package to help Japanese manufacturers move out of China. The extra budget, approved by the government in an attempt to offset the effects of the pandemic, included about $2 billion for companies moving production back to the country, and $221 million for those moving production to other countries. Securing against Beijing Prior to this new bill, Green also introduced another bill, called Secure Our Systems Against Chinas Tactics (SOS ACT), aimed at stopping China from acquiring American companies vital to national security. Right now, they are on a buying spree across the globe for companies with a significant national security implication, Green explained. One example that Green cited, was United Airlines recent sale and leaseback of 22 planes to BOC Aviation, the Hong Kong-listed aircraft operating leasing unit of the state-owned Bank of China. The deal gave China 22 large aircraft that, Green said, China could take off from the market if they wanted to hurt the United States. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg has also warned of such developments. Some may seek to use the economic downturn as an opening to invest in our critical industries and infrastructure, Stoltenberg said. The SOS ACT is designed to incentivize American investors who fund companies critical to national security by having the Treasury back 50 percent of their investment. This way, even if the investments fail, investors will still be able to recover half of their initial costs. To pay for this, the bill will set aside $10 billion from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that Congress passed to address the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Green has also supported canceling U.S. debt obligations to Beijing as a way to recoup the costs of the pandemics damage to the country. President Donald Trump, however, rejected the idea, calling it a rough game. Instead, the president suggested that any sanctions against China would involve further tariffs. The Trump administration is also reportedly considering a range of other measures against the regime for its role in the pandemic. These include imposing sanctions and trade restrictions as well as removing the legal protection of sovereign immunity. The latter would allow Americans to sue Beijing in U.S. courts. Sources include: TheEpochTimes.com 1 Bloomberg.com TheEpochTimes.com 2 BRUNSWICK HILLS TOWNSHIP, Ohio Missing juveniles: Substation Road Brunswick Hills police, Ashland County sheriffs deputies and members of the United States Marshal Service Task Force located two missing juvenile girls at 3:15 p.m. April 28 after they had been reported as runaways at 8:28 a.m. that day. One of the girls had reportedly left a note indicating that she was running away. Law enforcement had been following up with several persons that the girls had reportedly been in contact with during the time they were missing, but neither girl would say who they were with, according to reports. There was no further information at the time of the report. Theft: Substation Road A man reported a golf cart stolen at 6 p.m. April 28 after he was denied entry to Willow Lake Park when he tried to pick the golf cart up. A representative from the park said the caller had not paid storage fees. There was no further information at the time of the report. Read more news from the Brunswick Sun. In Manso Datano in the Ashanti Region, where an eight-year-old boy has allegedly shot dead his seven-year-old brother to death. The siblings were said to be playing with their father's locally manufactured gun and accidentally the eight-year-old boy pulled the trigger to shoot his brother at close range. The sad incident, according to a police report which the DAILY GUIDE has sighted, happened around 12 noon on Saturday when their parents were on the farm working. The father of the children, James Amedze, a 44-year-old farmer, and the little suspect are being questioned by the police for further information. The police report said James Amedze and his wife, Margaret Ahenkan, are farmers who live with their three children, including a three-year-old daughter at Datano. On Saturday afternoon, James Amedze and his wife left for their cocoa farm to peel their plucked cocoa pods and left their three children behind in their house. In their absence, the little suspect reportedly went for his father's locally manufactured single barrel gun hidden in the room, and the two brothers started to play with it. They were said to be struggling over the gun and the little suspect accidentally pulled the trigger to hit his brother, killing him instantly. The noise of the gunshot attracted curious people to the scene, who met the seven-year-old boy in a pool of blood. ---Daily Guide By Sonali Paul MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's most populous state, home to Sydney, will allow restaurants, playgrounds and outdoor pools to reopen on Friday as extensive testing has shown the spread of the coronavirus has slowed sharply, New South Wales state's premier said on Sunday. The state has been worst hit by the coronavirus in Australia, with about 45% of the country's confirmed cases and deaths By Sonali Paul MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's most populous state, home to Sydney, will allow restaurants, playgrounds and outdoor pools to reopen on Friday as extensive testing has shown the spread of the coronavirus has slowed sharply, New South Wales state's premier said on Sunday. The state has been worst hit by the coronavirus in Australia, with about 45% of the country's confirmed cases and deaths. However it recorded just two new cases on Saturday out of nearly 10,000 people tested, clearing the way for a cautious loosening of lockdown measures. "Just because we're easing restrictions doesn't mean the virus is less deadly or less of a threat. All it means is we have done well to date," Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Sunday. From May 15, New South Wales will allow cafes and restaurants to seat 10 patrons at a time, permit outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people, and visits of up to five people to a household. Playgrounds and outdoor pools will also be allowed to reopen with strict limits. The moves are in line with a three-step plan to relax lockdown measures outlined by the Australian government on Friday, which would see nearly 1 million people return to work by July. Places of worship in New South Wales (NSW) will be permitted to open to up to 10 people from Friday. Weddings, which had been restricted to two guests, will be able to host up to 10, and indoor funerals will be allowed to have 20 mourners. Schools in NSW are set to reopen from Monday, but only allowing students to attend one day a week on a staggered basis. Berejiklian gave no time frame for any further reopening of the economy, saying that would depend on infection rates. "We continue to take a cautious approach in New South Wales, but also one which has a focus on jobs and the economy, because we can't continue to live like this for the next year or until there is a vaccine," Berejiklian said. NSW and Victoria, which has had the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country, have maintained their tight restrictions longer than other states. Victoria's premier said he would announce plans for easing lockdown measures in the state on Monday. Dozens of people protested against the lockdown measures outside Victoria's state parliament in Melbourne on Sunday, leading police to arrest 10 people for breaching coronavirus restrictions on large gatherings. "It's incredibly disappointing that people would be protesting or seeking to suggest we don't have a pandemic," Victoria Health Minister Jenny Mikakos told reporters. Meanwhile Australia's chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, told reporters in Canberra that state and federal officials will meet on Monday to discuss ways of dealing with the risks of crowds on public transport as businesses start to reopen. Western Australia (WA), which shut its borders to combat the spread of the virus and has had only 1 new COVID-19 case in the past 11 days, has moved faster than other states in easing restrictions. On Sunday, WA Premier Mark McGowan said from May 18 the state would allow indoor and outdoor gatherings of up to 20 people, including at cafes and restaurants. Queensland state will allow restaurants, pubs and cafes to reopen with up to 10 people at a time from next Saturday, and said it would increase that to 20 people from June 12. In South Australia, from Monday, holiday travel will be allowed within the state, in a push to revive tourism that has been devastated this year by bush fires and the coronavirus. (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Kenneth Maxwell) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. He said, Lets go see him, lets go see John, Lewis recalled. He came up from Princeton, and we got on the subway and went to Brooklyn College. We barged in on John Hope Franklin, who was very courteous. He said, Come on in. And that was very much Richard. I think we talked about the . . . pride we took as Fisk alums in the tradition of Du Bois. It was such an uplifting and congenial experience. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Parliament today ratified the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse with 79 votes in favor and 12 against. Armenia had signed the convention in 2010. The convention is a comprehensive international tool aimed at preventing sexual exploitation and abuse of children, protection of victims, implementing duly investigation, awareness and cooperation. The Convention also establishes programmes to support victims, encourages people to report suspected sexual exploitation and abuse, and sets up telephone and internet helplines for children. It also ensures that certain types of conduct are classified as criminal offences, such as engaging in sexual activities with a child below the legal age and child prostitution and pornography. The Convention also criminalises the solicitation of children for sexual purposes ("grooming") and "sex tourism". With the aim of combating child sex tourism, the Convention establishes that individuals can be prosecuted for some offences even when the act is committed abroad. The new legal tool also ensures that child victims are protected during judicial proceedings, for example with regard to their identity and privacy. Deputy Minister of Justice Kristine Grigoryan, who presented to lawmakers the convention, also briefed the legislators on the statistics in Armenia for the past three years. She said that in 2017 investigative bodies investigated 265 criminal cases concerning crimes committed against children, of which 101 were of sexual nature. In 2018 the number of investigations was 317, 76 being of sexual nature. In 2019, only in Q1 there were 209 criminal cases with 51 being of sexual nature, she said. Opposition lawmaker Gevorg Petrosyan from the Prosperous Armenia (BHK) party said the convention includes clauses which in his words give hope that an attempt is made in Armenia to exercise human rights protection more comprehensively, however he said he believes the convention also includes clauses which jeopardize the disciplinary interests of children. According to him, some representatives of the Armenian Church have contacted him and expressed their disapproval of the convention. Petrosyan was particularly concerned with the fact that the convention foresees educating children about the threats of sexual abuse and self-defense measures as early as from 1st to 4th grades. Dont they have anything else to teach children of this age? he said. He proposed to solve the matter by more severe accountability in the criminal code. Parliament Majority Leader (My Step bloc) Lilit Makunts reminded that all factions had voted in favor during a committee hearing earlier. Addressing Petrosyan, she said: I am sorry that some individuals are able to impact your stance. However, this convention is in the interest of children, it is a convention against pedophilia, which will prevent pedophilia in Armenia, she said. Vice Speaker Vahe Enfiajyan from the opposition BHK also spoke in favor of additional hearings on the matter. Reporting by Anna Grigoryan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan The president of Maynooth University, Professor Philip Nolan has said that the decision to cancel the Leaving Certificate examination this year was the right decision at the right time and that Maynooth university expects to admit a near to normal cohort of first year students this autumn. Prof Nolan, who is also chair of modelling at NPHET, told RTE radios Today programme that it was very important to remember that it was only 72 days since the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in Ireland. In the early days of the epidemic it was very unclear to anybody, including the Minister for Education, how things would play out over the coming months, so I think the first decision to postpone the examinations and look at a contingency plan was the right decision at that time. And as we learned more about the practicalities of running the examinations, about the feasibility and fairness of a calculated grades system, the strain that remote learning and the uncertainty around the examinations was placing on the students - I think those three factors, properly taken into account by the Minister, led to the right decision to defer the written examinations and to move to a system of calculated grades. Prof Nolan explained that there are two phases to the new system: the first phase is for teachers, both individually and working together in their subject groups, to estimate, based on all the objective evidence that they have already, assessments already completed by students, what that student would have achieved if they sat the Leaving Certificate examinations and where the student would rank within the class group. "It's important that the individual teachers judgement on an objective basis but also the teachers and the subject getting together and moderating each other's views, examining all the evidence together. There's a check then by the school principal - was the process followed? Are the outputs reasonable? And then there's a second national phase where the calculated rates submitted by the school are compared to what we would expect to come from that school based on looking back over previous Leaving and Junior cert results in that school. And also comparing this class with that class's own Junior Cert performance - it's very important to highlight that high achieving students or high achieving cohorts are not going to be held back by the system. It's the overall statistical picture of the grades put forward on the basis of the expert judgement of teachers, that's being examined at national level. Prof Nolan further explained that the overall distribution of grades for a school is similar, not identical, to the distribution of grades from preceding years. Of course there will always be individual outliers, there will always be high achieving students, one year and then maybe not so many next year. "It's not to try to pick out individual outliers, it's to try to ensure that School A applies the system in the same way as School B and the best check on that is - broadly speaking, are you getting the same distribution of results from School A this year that you got in preceding years in School A. Individual marks may well change but individual students won't be treated any differently under this system than they would have under previous systems. It's not going to pick out an individual outlier and somehow alter their position. Prof Nolan said that he believed the decision to move to calculated grades will serve the students well. The vast majority of students are likely to be satisfied with the outcome of that, that allows those students to progress to further education from September, we would expect to be admitting a near to normal first year cohort in September and October. He added that the decision to cancel the Leaving Certificate has been made in close consultation with all the education partners, students, teachers and parents. It's going to be a very difficult year for everybody next year. "Students will have the option at some point to sit a written examination, but they would be deferring entry to third level for another year, in the extra ordinary circumstances, this is the best we can do. Firefighters disinfect a street against the CCP virus in western Tehran, Iran, on March 13, 2020. (Vahid Salemi/AP Photo) Iran Locks Down Southwest County After Spike in CCP Virus Cases A county in southwestern Iran has been placed under lockdown to prevent the spread of the CCP virus, Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, also quoting the provincial governor as saying there had been a sharp rise in new cases across the province. Tasnim quoted Gholamreza Shariati, governor of Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq and includes the county of Abadan, as saying people had not been observing social distancing rules. Because of this the number of corona patients in the province has tripled and the hospitalization of patients has risen by 60 percent, Shariati said. Banks and offices in Abadan will be closed until the end of the week and entry corridors to the county from the north and east have been closed, according to Tasnim. Offices will be closed and travel restrictions will also apply to nine other counties in oil-rich Khuzestan, Tasnim cited Shariati as saying. Members of the Iranian Red Crescent test people for CCP virus symptoms outside Tehran, Iran on March 26, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Iran, one of the countries in the Middle East hit hardest by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, has begun easing restrictions on normal life in order to keep afloat its economy, already battered by U.S. sanctions. Health officials have repeatedly warned, however, that easing restrictions could lead to a boost in the number of infections. Schools will open next week, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday, according to the official presidency website. On Friday, prayer gatherings resumed in up to 180 Iranian cities and towns seen at low risk of virus contagion after a two-month suspension, state media reported. The resumption of Friday prayersstill banned in the capital Tehran and some other major citiesfollowed the reopening last Monday of 132 mosques in areas consistently free of the CCP virus. Iranians, some wearing protective masks, walk outside the capital Tehrans grand bazaar, during the CCP Virus pandemic crisis, on March 18, 2020. (-/AFP via Getty Images) The virus infections in Tehran are still rising, the ISNA news agency reported on Sunday, citing a local official. The total number of deaths from the virus rose by 51 in the past 24 hours to 6,640, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said in a statement on state TV on Sunday. A total 107,603 cases have been diagnosed, he said. Iranian officials have said sanctions that were reimposed in 2018 after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran have hampered the Islamic Republics ability to combat the pandemic. The oil price crash is a further challenge, Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said, according to the government website. The sanctions, corona, the drop in oil prices and a slump in the global economy have placed perilous conditions in front of the national economy, Jahangiri said. Of course these conditions dont mean a dead end, but the countrys leaders must use different approaches and capacities to solve the challenges ahead. By Babak Dehghanpisheh The Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. After a three-month hiatus, the Walt Disney Company's largest Magic Kingdom in Asia is back in business. The Shanghai Disney Resort threw open its doors Monday -- albeit with strict social distancing and public safety measures in place. Tickets for the earliest days of Shanghai Disneylands re-opening sold out rapidly on Friday. Visitors wear Minnie Mouse ears at Shanghai Disney Resort as the Shanghai Disneyland theme park reopens following a shutdown due to the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Shanghai, China. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters Visitors wearing protective face masks walk along the Shanghai Disney Resort. The first group of 200 lucky visitors were allowed into the park at the usual opening time of 9:30 am. Guests are being granted entry in staggered batches, based on predetermined times printed on their tickets. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters Disney characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse greet vistors at Shanghai Disney Resort as the Shanghai Disneyland theme park. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters A visitor dressed as a Disney character takes a selfie while wearing a protective face mask at Shanghai Disney Resort. Due to social distancing requirements, posing for pictures with Disney characters in costume will be no-go for the foreseeable future. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters A worker wearing a face mask prepares social distancing markers at Shanghai Disney Resort. Disney has capped attendance at 30 per cent of usual capacity, or approximately 24,000 people, to keep guests safe and to help staff adjust to new safety procedures. Working with Chinese public health officials, the company has implemented a range of new safety measures, including social distancing in lines, required mask wearing for staff and patrons, frequent cleaning and a temperature check upon entry. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland, speaks while participating in a signing ceremony of H.R. 266, The Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, in the Rayburn Room of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, April 23, 2020. The House will not vote on its next coronavirus relief plan before Friday, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Monday. Democratic leaders have worked to cement their next bill to try to rescue an economy and health-care system battered by the pandemic. The office of Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told representatives "that pending introduction of legislation, it is possible that the House may meet this week, no earlier than Friday." Democrats and Republicans are also discussing a rules change that would make it easier for lawmakers who are not physically in the Capitol to vote on legislation. Late last month, Democrats canceled a planned vote to allow representatives to vote by proxy, instead setting up a bipartisan task force to consider the issue. Hoyer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have pushed for additional funding to combat the outbreak as U.S. unemployment soars to levels unseen since the Great Depression and states move to reboot their economies despite inadequate Covid-19 testing infrastructures. The legislation could near the $2 trillion in spending in the emergency package passed in March. In a letter to Democrats on Monday, Pelosi outlined legislative priorities such as money for state and local governments, direct payments to Americans, rent and mortgage relief and student loan assistance. She called for a "clear strategy of testing, tracing and treatment." However, Republicans in the Senate and White House have downplayed the need to spend more taxpayer money now to curb the damage from the pandemic. Pelosi contended Monday that "not acting is the most expensive course." Last week, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said he did not expect formal talks between the Trump administration and Congress to restart until late May or early June. However, Kudlow said Sunday that the White House is still holding "informal" talks with lawmakers. Potential sticking points include $500 billion or more in relief for states and municipalities which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has criticized and liability protections for businesses reopening their doors, which the GOP backs but Democrats oppose. If the House passes a Democratic-written relief bill, it is unlikely to get through the Republican-held Senate. The pandemic has now led to nearly 80,000 deaths in the U.S., according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. jobs report Friday showed the economy lost more than 20 million jobs in April as businesses shuttered to slow the pandemic's spread. Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Mayank Singh By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Indian Navy has worked out a solution to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission to medical staff supervising the COVID-19 patients requiring Intensive Care Unit. The push to find, innovate such solution came after the Navy team visited Vishakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) to hand over Portable Multi feed Oxygen Manifold innovated by the team of naval Dockyard, Vishakhapatnam. Indian Navy in an official press statement mentioned, VIMS hospital is COVID-19 designated hospital catering to four adjoining districts for severe cases of COVID patients. Director VIMS had requested to explore the feasibility of providing a solution for remote monitoring of Vital Parameters of patients in ICU to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID to its health staff." After the request was received, a core team comprising of two officers and 4 workers of Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam under Eastern Naval Command, expeditiously designed and implemented a solution, told Navy. The sources confirmed that the whole project, from conceptualization to final implementation at VIMS and handing over to its Director VIMS was completed in 6 days. Portable Multi feed Oxygen Manifold Talking about the cost, a source added that it came less than a lakh for the entire configuration. The Audio Visual output of the bedside Patient Monitoring System was converted to HDMI output and multiplexed for all 48 beds in ICU through a Digital Video Recorder and provided on a big display outside the ICUs where the staff sits. The supervisor gets every parameter sitting at one place and with minimum needs to get in contact with the patient. A source said, "While lesser number of people will be needed for monitoring the staff spared from this task can pay attention to other relevant requirements of the hospital." Further, the same parameters through HDMI Ethernet converter have also been provided to the Doctors on their mobile over the internet. The doctor can at any time from any place with internet connectivity, monitor his 48 patients in ICU. There are options of focusing on single patient requiring extra attention. Navy mentioned, "The facility includes monitoring all patients simultaneously or selecting as required including zooming to one patient and an audio alarm if any vitals are beyond. Gathering students and their families from around the world to share hopeful and optimistic messages and music, Life is Good committed to donating $1 per viewer to The Life is Good Kids Foundation up to $20,000. With over 189,000 viewers, they reached their goal and will donate the full $20,000 to support frontline healthcare workers and education professionals helping children overcome the impact of trauma. Celebrating the courage and positive attitude of the Class of 2020, the interactive commencement address was given by Life is Good Co-Founder & Chief Creative Optimist, John Jacobs, and hosted by Bert Jacobs, Life is Good Co-Founder & Chief Executive Optimist along with performances by The Avett Brothers, Michael Franti, and National Poetry Slam Champion, IN-Q. Addressing the Jacobs' early struggles in launching Life is Good in 1994, John Jacobs said: "Your first steps don't have to be pretty or well-planned. If you feel a bit lost right now about job prospects, a career path, or how to chase some distant dream so did we. We had no business degree, no business plan, and no idea what we were doing until we tried, stumbled, and adjusted. We had to figure out what we stood for. You may not know what you stand for yet. But keep asking yourself, because it's more important than what you are up against. And when you find it, a lot of other key decisions will start to fall into place." Jacobs continued, "It's not about being brilliant - it's about being open, and positive, and willing to try. When you try, you either succeed or you learn. Either way, you win." Jacobs also discussed key messages that the Class of 2020 shared with Life is Good through an online survey of over 800 grads that highlighted their enduring gratitude and positive outlook for the future saying, "Some of you talked about gaining extra moments with loved ones before your next big step Others pointed out that this whole thing will unite your class, more than it will divide you. That you'll come through it stronger and more adaptable." Throughout the virtual commencement, Bert Jacobs encouraged the audience to shout out and honor a 2020 graduate in their life. The feed quickly filled up with thousands of well wishes for high school and college students, as well as general gratitude for Life is Good for providing this opportunity to celebrate with family and friends. Joining from North Carolina, The Avett Brothers performed two songs "Tell the Truth" and "Ain't No Man". Seth Avett of The Avett Brothers said, "We're honored to work with our dear friends at Life is Good to lift these young people as they start an exciting new chapter in their lives. We have nothing but love for everyone involved." Performing from Bali, Indonesia, Michael Franti played the title track off his new album, Work Hard and Be Nice (launching on June 19, 2020). IN-Q joined from Los Angeles, where he shared his message of optimism through an original poem representing Life is Good's signature "superpowers" values like gratitude, compassion, humor, and love. To continue their support, Life is Good also created a special-edition collection of t-shirts focused on celebrating the Class of 2020's unique shared experience. In case you missed it, the 2020 virtual commencement celebration is streaming on Life is Good's Facebook and YouTube channels. Partners and friends of Life is Good that helped support and promote the event included the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Team Impact, University Tees, Sea Bags, Coastal Pet, Mantra Bands, Oath Pizza, and NAACO. About Life is Good The Life is Good Company is the original positive lifestyle apparel brand dedicated to spreading the power of optimism through art and messaging. The company donates 10 percent of its net profits to help kids in need through the Life is Good Kids Foundation. The Foundation's signature Playmaker Program provides teachers, nurses, social workers, and other childcare professionals with training, support, and workshops that help them understand trauma and compassion-informed care. Over 14,500 childcare professionals are engaged in the Playmaker Program, which improves the quality of care for more than 1 million kids each year. Life is Good is a registered trademark of The Life is Good Company. Visit LifeisGood.com for more details, and follow Life is Good on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. About The Avett Brothers The Avett Brothers made mainstream waves with their 2009 major-label debut, I and Love and You, landing at No. 16 on the Billboard Top 200 and garnering critical acclaim. 2012 saw The Carpenter hit No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200 and was followed by Magpie and the Dandelion (2013) which debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's Top 200 and saw the band appear twice on Jimmy Kimmel Live! True Sadness (2016) achieved The Avett Brothers' highest career debut to date hitting No. 1 on Billboard's Top Albums Chart, No. 1 Top Rock Albums Chart, No. 1 Digital Albums Chart, No. 3 on Billboard Top 200, and scoring two GRAMMY nominations. In the same year, the band was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. In 2017, the band released their critically acclaimed documentary May It Last: A Portrait of The Avett Brothers, which was co-directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio. The film followed the band as they wrote their GRAMMY nominated album True Sadness. The film was released theatrically and on HBO to rave reviews and critical acclaim and is now available on DVD/Blu-ray/VOD. In November 2018, the band headlined the concert for Hurricane Florence Relief in Greenville, North Carolina, raising $325,000 to help those affected by Hurricane Florence. Last year, the band released their tenth studio album Closer Than Together featuring new single "High Steppin'" which reached #1 on the Americana Radio Chart. Coming soon: Swept Away - a new musical inspired by and featuring the music of The Avett Brothers. About Michael Franti Michael Franti is a globally recognized musician, humanitarian, activist, and award-winning filmmaker revered for his high-energy live shows, inspiring music, devotion to health and wellness, worldwide philanthropic efforts, and the power of optimism. Throughout his multi-decade career, Franti has earned Billboard No. 1's with triumphantly hopeful hits "Sound of Sunshine" and "Say Hey (I Love You)," five Top 30 Hot AC singles, eight Top 25 AAA Singles and three Billboard Top 5 Rock Albums. In January 2019, Franti released his self-directed documentary "Stay Human," which won an array of awards at film festivals worldwide and influenced his writing for his most recent album Stay Human Vol. II (Thirty Tigers), which debuted at No. 1 on both the Americana and Independent Album charts and received critical acclaim from USA Today, Billboard, Associated Press, and Paste. Amidst touring, Michael Franti & Spearhead have been in recording studios in Nashville, Los Angeles, and San Francisco working with A-list writers and producers on their most diverse record yet, Work Hard And Be Nice, set for release June 19, 2020. For more information, visit MichaelFranti.com or follow on Instagram and Twitter @MichaelFranti and Facebook.com/MichaelFranti. About IN-Q IN-Q is a National Poetry Slam champion, award-winning poet, and multi-platinum songwriter. His groundbreaking achievements include being named to Oprah's SuperSoul 100 list of the world's most influential thought leaders, being the first spoken word artist to perform with Cirque Du Soleil, and has been featured on A&E, ESPN, and HBO's Def Poetry Jam. He's inspired audiences around the world through his live performances and storytelling workshops. Many of his recent poetry videos have gone viral, with over 70 million views combined. Ultimately IN-Q writes to entertain, inspire, and challenge his audiences to look deeper into the human experience and ask questions about themselves, their environment, and the world at large. SOURCE Life is Good Swathes of Europe began the long process of re-opening from coronavirus lockdowns on Monday, but the first new infections in weeks at China's ground zero offered a sobering reminder of the dangers of a second wave of cases. The mixed fortunes illustrated the high-wire act governments face across the globe as they try to get economies moving while keeping in check a pandemic that has now killed more than 280,000 people. Health officials wearing protective gear spray disinfectant in a classroom at a high school in Seoul. By Jung Yeon-je (AFP) As Britain plotted a path to normality and France and Spain basked in a relaxation of restrictions, the Chinese city where the pandemic was born reported a second day of new cases after a month without sign of the virus. And neighbouring South Korea announced its highest number of infections for more than a month driven by a cluster in a Seoul nightlife district. With millions out of work and economies shattered, governments are desperate to hit the accelerator, but most are choosing a gradual approach as fears about a resurgence of the virus linger. South Korea has announced its highest number of new coronavirus cases for more than a month, driven by an infection cluster in a Seoul nightlife district. By Ed JONES (AFP) In Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was too soon for the country to lift its lockdown but he offered hope by unveiling a "conditional plan" to ease curbs in England during the months ahead. Johnson said the restrictions had brought "a colossal cost to our way of life" but it would be "madness" to squander the nation's progress by moving too early. Almost seven weeks after a nationwide stay-at-home order was put in place, more than 31,800 have died in Britain -- a figure second only to the United States. Social distancing markers are seen on seats in a waiting area at the Gare de l'Est train station in Paris. By Thomas SAMSON (AFP) Elsewhere in Europe, however, officials have been emboldened by declining death rates, with France's toll dropping to 70 on Sunday, its lowest since early April, and Spain's daily fatalities falling below 200. The French were able to walk outside their homes without filling in a permit for the first time in nearly eight weeks on Monday, while teachers began returning to primary schools and some shops were set to re-open. COVID-19 testing takes place at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital in Nigeria. By Audu MARTE (AFP) Many Spaniards meanwhile made plans to meet friends and family at outdoor bars and restaurants, although virus hotspots such as Madrid and Barcelona remain under wraps. Belgium and Greece were among other European nations set to ease lockdowns on Monday, two months after the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. COVID-19 patients are assisted by medical staff in protective equipment at the regional hospital in Iquitos, the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon. By Ginebra PENA (AFP) As governments across the world chart a course to recovery, Asian nations that were among the first engulfed by the virus but have since brought it to heel are being keenly watched for signs of a second wave. Much of China has begun to get back to a form of normality, and on Monday Shanghai Disneyland threw open its gates following a three-month shutdown. Relatives in protective gear tie up the body of a victim who died from the COVID-19 coronavirus before burial at a graveyard in New Delhi. By SAJJAD HUSSAIN (AFP) "We are very much looking forward to the first day of reopening and wondering what's the difference inside today compared to before," said one eager visitor named Kitty. But enthusiasm in China was tempered by news on Sunday that one person had tested positive for the virus in Wuhan. There were five more cases on Monday. High school students study with plastic partitions in a classroom in Wuhan, China. By STR (AFP) Local health officials said the new infections were all from the same residential compound in the city and were mostly older people. South Korean officials ordered nighclubs and bars closed after a fresh burst of transmission linked to a single person who visited five establishments on a night out in early May. The discovery left authorities scrambling to trace possibly thousands of people who may have come into contact with a 29-year-old who has so far been linked to 85 cases. Volunteers distribute food to people in need during the weekly food pantry service run by Grace Ministries of the North Shore in Everett, Massachusetts. By Joseph Prezioso (AFP) But cautious re-opening nevertheless continues around Asia, with one of the world's largest train networks set to gradually restart operations from Tuesday as India eases its lockdown. The vast rail system, which usually carries more than 20 million passengers a day, was halted in late March, leaving millions of rural migrant workers unable to return to their homes after losing their jobs in cities. A Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrator is held on the ground before getting arrested by police during a protest. By ISAAC LAWRENCE (AFP) And success against the virus in Hong Kong has led to a bubbling up of the city's dormant anti-government protests, with riot police Sunday chasing protesters through shopping malls and streets as democracy activists launched flash mob rallies calling for independence from China. In the United States, the disease has moved into the White House inner circle, with a spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence testing positive. One of Trump's valets was found to be infected last week. Health officials wearing protective gear spray disinfectant in a classroom at a high school in Seoul. By Jung Yeon-je (AFP) Nevertheless, Trump's advisers were out in force on Sunday, appearing on talk shows to push for an end to locally imposed lockdowns. Small anti-lockdown protests have emerged in a number of US states, with some demonstrators arguing the restrictions violate their rights. Extended periods at home have also given some people a chance to gather testimony on life in confinement, with the Museum of London launching an appeal for items that reflect the lives of Britons in unprecedented times. "When we knew there was going to be a lockdown, we started straight away talking about what we needed to collect something for the future," Beatrice Behlen, the museum's senior curator, told AFP. "It could be something that gives you comfort -- one example mentioned often is maybe your favourite slippers -- you've been wearing them every day." burs-axn/hg With coronavirus cases rising across the Bay Area after several days of record-breaking numbers, five counties continue to backtrack on the critical goals laid out in the regions established checklist for reopening. The checklist illustrated here is based on the benchmarks that six Bay Area counties Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara set to determine when to fully reopen the region, established at the time they announced an extension of stay-home orders in May. It shows how each county in the Bay Area has progressed against the indicators. We update the numbers at least once a week on our page tracking Californias reopening, analyzing both publicly available data and information that has not been shared by county websites. In May, the Bay Area had reported impressive strides in curtailing its outbreak, leading most counties to move ahead with relaxing some restrictions on residents and businesses and moving into limited Stage 2 reopening. San Francisco announced a reopening timeline, setting specific dates for when many businesses and activities could resume. (See the timeline here, plus a schedule of key dates that you can add to your own calendar.) Yet none of the six counties is meeting all of the goals, and recent spikes in cases across the Bay Area has caused most counties to pause their reopening plans and Gov. Gavin Newsom to warn of the possibility of renewed restrictions across California. Nineteen counties including Contra Costa, Santa Clara and, as of Monday, Solano in the Bay Area that make up nearly three-quarters of the California population are now on a state watch list due to signs that the virus is spreading widely in the community and potentially threatening to overload local hospitals. San Francisco is the only one of the six Bay Area counties that established the reopening checklist still meeting the goal of a flattened case count. All six counties had previously met that benchmark when we first launched this checklist on Friday, May 8. Heres what the checklist looked like in early May: Because case counts can fluctuate dramatically but still remain steady overall, how each county determines what constitutes "flat" varies across the region. Total case counts continue to tick up in all six counties, but the indicator is intended to spot trends as well as sudden spikes upward, as seen recently. Clusters of cases from social gatherings, prison outbreaks, nursing homes and a general loosening of shelter-in-place restrictions are all responsible for the surge since California began reopening its economy more than a month ago, public health and political leaders said Monday. The Bay Area so far is faring better than many other parts of the state. The number of patients in hospitals has also ticked higher, and Santa Clara and Contra Costa are no longer meeting the benchmark of flattened hospitalizations. All six counties are still meeting the benchmark set for hospital capacity: no more than 50% of hospital beds in use by coronavirus-positive patients. The checklist is also evolving for officials as the early phases of reopening get under way, and criteria are subject to change. Plus, week-to-week fluctuations and ups and downs are to be expected in many of these numbers. California has in place a four-phase process for counties to reopen from shelter-in-place orders. The majority of counties are now in Stage 3, though some counties have kept more restrictive orders in place, including most Bay Area counties. Bay Area indicators to reopen Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The six indicators Bay Area counties will be watching are: (1) Numbers of cases: The total number of cases in the community and the number of hospitalizations must flatten or decrease. (2) Hospitalizations: Number must flatten or decrease for 14 consecutive days. (3) Hospital capacity: For at least a week, no more than 50% of patients in staffed hospital beds not added as part of pandemic-surge planning can be coronavirus-positive. (4) Testing: At least 200 coronavirus detection tests must be conducted per 100,000 residents per day. Here is a list of Bay Area locations where coronavirus testing is available and who can get it. (5) Investigation and contact tracing: Public officials must be able to design a system that reaches at least 90% of confirmed cases and identifies their contacts; ensures that 90% of the cases reached can safely isolate; reaches at least 90% of all contacts identified; and ensures that at least 90% of identified contacts can safely quarantine. (6) Personal protective equipment: All acute care hospitals, outpatient clinics, skilled nursing facilities and medical first responders must have a 30-day supply of PPE on hand. The Nepal government summoned the Indian envoy on Monday to protest against the construction of a road in Lipulekh area that is claimed by Kathmandu, signalling an intensification of the diplomatic row on the matter. India has on Saturday rejected Nepals initial protest against the construction of a road to Lipulekh on the border with China, saying the region is completely within the territory of India and both sides could resolve such boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue. People familiar with developments said Indias envoy Vinay Mohan Kwatra was summoned to the foreign ministry in Kathmandu, where foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali handed over a diplomatic note of protest. The foreign ministry also tweeted: Foreign Minister Hon. @PradeepgyawaliK conveyed Government of Nepals position on boundary issues to Ambassador of India to Nepal H.E. Mr. Vinay Mohan Kwatra at a meeting held at MoFA today and handed over a diplomatic note in this regard. No further details were immediately available. There was no immediate response to the development from Indian officials. The border row erupted months after Nepal was irked by the depiction of Kalapani as part of Uttarakhand in new Indian maps showing the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Nepal had sought talks to address the Kalapani issue but New Delhi rejected Kathmandus protest, saying the new maps accurately depict Indian territory. Earlier on Monday, Gyawali said Nepal could not wait for the end of the Covid-19 crisis for holding boundary talks with India. Gyawali, who was summoned by the Parliaments international relations committee, also said Nepal will hold talks with China after sorting out the issue with India, The Kathmandu Post reported. The parliamentary panel had summoned Gyawali to discuss the opening of the road to Lipulekh by the Indian government last week. Nepal, India and China are yet to ascertain the tri-junction in Lipulekh. So after talks with India, we will hold talks with China as well, Gyawal told the committee. We are ready for talks at any level with India at the prime ministers level or foreign secretary-level, he added. On Saturday, Nepal had expressed regret at the inauguration of the route from Dharchula in Uttarakhand to Lipulekh, with the foreign ministry contending the road passes through Nepali territory. Defence minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 80-km road on Friday to curtail the time taken for the pilgrimage to Kailash-Mansarovar. The road ends at Lipulekh Pass, and will help pilgrims avoid dangerous high-altitude routes through Sikkim and Nepal. The recently inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in the state of Uttarakhand lies completely within the territory of India. The road follows the pre-existing route used by the pilgrims of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had said. India and Nepal have an established mechanism for boundary issues, and the delineation of the border with Nepal is ongoing, Srivastava said. India is also committed to resolving outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue, he said. Nepals foreign ministry had sought talks between the foreign secretaries and Srivastava had said the two side are in the process of scheduling these talks, which would be held after they have dealt with the Covid-19 crisis. White House advisor Peter Navarro has threatened retaliation against China for its role in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, CNBC reported. A bill has to come due for China, Navarro said during an interview on CNBCs Squawk Box. Its not a question of punishing them, its a question of holding China accountable, the Chinese Communist Party accountable. They inflicted tremendous damage on the world which is still ongoing, Navarro said. Were up to close to $10 trillion weve had to appropriate to fight this battle. Trade talks between the two countries were complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic after the first phase of the trade deal entered into force in February. The deal requires China to increase purchases of US goods, including agricultural products, by $ 200 billion over two years. However - in addition to lowering global demand - the public health crisis has spawned a war of words between the two countries that seek to blame each other. Last Thursday, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed an agreement with Chinese Deputy PM Liu He. Three officials agreed to begin the implementation of the first phase, in spite of the current global health emergency. Two Punjab ministers on Monday said they will not participate in any meeting attended by the state's chief secretary, worsening a crisis triggered by a showdown last week. Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal announced his intention at a Cabinet meeting, where he recalled his protest on Saturday against the unacceptable behaviour of Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh at a meeting that day. Badal and Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had walked out of Saturday's pre-cabinet meeting, prompting the postponement of the Cabinet meeting itself to Monday. The chief secretary, however, kept himself away from Monday's Cabinet meeting to discuss changes in the excise policy. Home Secretary Satish Chandra attended in his place. As the crisis escalated, Punjab Congress too backed the ministers, asking the top bureaucrat to step back. Manpreet Singh Badal told reporters that the issue was raised as part of the unofficial agenda of the Cabinet meeting, and his stand was supported by the other ministers present there. Channi also supported him and said he will not be part of any meeting attended by the chief secretary, the most senior bureaucrat in the state. I gave a proposal that it will be impossible for me to sit in a Cabinet meeting in which CS Karan Avtar Singh is also seated, Badal told reporters. He claimed that this was also the unanimous decision of the rest of the Punjab Cabinet. We urged the CM to decide whether to call the CS or us to a meeting, Badal said after the Cabinet meeting. After the walkout by Badal and Channi on Saturday rest of the Cabinet too had reportedly followed them -- the finance minister had objected to the chief secretary's body language and the manner in which he spoke. Badal claimed the behaviour was against the dignity of the Punjab Cabinet. On Monday, he said it was not a battle of egos, but did not elaborate on what the bureaucrat actually said. This decision which has been taken is in the highest interest of the state, he said, referring to the two ministers' intention to not sit on any meeting with the CS.It is now up to the CM what decision he takes. "Manpreet will not be there in any meeting where CS Karan Avtar Singh is present, he reiterated. At Saturday's meeting, Technical Education Minister Channi is learnt to have opposed any relief for liquor vend owners in the excise policy under discussion. The CS had allegedly made some curt remarks after Channi spoke. Badal and Channi then walked out, reportedly followed after some time by the other ministers. The Cabinet meeting, scheduled later that day, was then called off. No decision on changes in the excise police emerged immediately after Monday's Cabinet meeting. Badal said the Cabinet has unanimously authorised the CM to take a decision. Liquor vend owners are seeking an extension of their licences, saying they were badly hit by the lockdown. Some of them are also against the Punjab government's plan on doorstep delivery of liquor with the easing of the lockdown against coronavirus. Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar criticised the CS. It is unfortunate that a senior officer in the rank of CS has his own ego and arrogance coming in the way of well-established principles of law. Keeping his own dignity and that of the office he holds, he should step back himself, said Jakhar. In a series of tweets, Congress MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring alleged that the chief secretary's son had an undeclared business interest in a Punjab distillery. Will the Chief Secretary Punjab be pleased to let us know if every IAS officer is required to declare the business interests of his immediate family members to the state government, especially if they are covered by the domain of his department? Is this not a conflict of interest? Warring asked the chief minister to inquire into the matter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Resentment of a perceived Russian control over Syria, has lead to criticism from officials in the regime government reports Asharq Al-Awsat. Russian and Syrian media outlets are exchanging accusations following social posts of former members of the Syrian parliament and officials attacking Moscow and President Vladimir Putin. The repercussions of the media exchange were seen in both countries. Russia had not issued any official comment on the matter, and military and diplomatic officials only commented on the field situation in Idlib and surrounding regions. However, Russian circles familiar with matters of the Middle East, namely Syria, are closely following the comments, a source told Asharq Al-Awsat. Notably, Russian state-owned channel RT removed an interview of Syrian dissident Firas Tlass with Salam Mosafir. During the interview, Tlass revealed details on corruption in Syria and accused the leadership of covering it. The channel issued a statement on its official page saying the deleted material violated its standards and included information without supporting evidence. However, RT and other Russian channels conducted dozens of similar interviews in the past with dissidents or several Syrian figures who expressed similar positions. A source estimated that the decision to remove the interview was related to the recent media campaigns and came in response to a Syrian government request. The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Russian authorities asked some of media organizations to prevent the publication of op-eds criticizing the Syrian regime. A Russian diplomat responded to this earlier by saying that Russia cannot prevent the press from expressing all points of view and that it is a free country and respects freedom of the press. In Syria, a number of journalists and MPs criticized MP Khaled al-Abboud, who launched a campaign against Putin in a post on his Facebook page, entitled: What if Assad gets angry with Putin? The post included sharp criticism that focused on the fact that Assads main ally is Iran Hezbollah, and wondering what the scenario would be if he pulled the rug from underneath Putin. Abboud warned that Syria can be deadly for Putin and saying that the Russian troops are an occupying force in Syria. The long post also carried many references threatening the Russians, and concluded that if Assad wanted, he can defeat Putin and the latters his name will be removed from Russian history forever. Many authors and former officials in Damascus sought to undermine the importance of Abbouds speech, and consider it personal comment that does not reflect the official position. Separately, Russian Defense Ministry said in a daily briefing that it was satisfied with the cease-fire established in the Idlib region, and announced there were only two violations. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the Russian and Turkish military continue working to implement the Additional Protocol of March 5 in Idlib. We mark Ankaras efforts to counter the provocations of radicals in their attempts to destabilize the situation in the de-escalation zone, she said. Zakharova stressed that sustainable security in Idlib can only be achieved by separating the so-called moderate opposition from the terrorists. She pointed out that the situation is difficult in southern Syria, noting that they received information on the deteriorating health and epidemiological situation, especially after Jordan closed its borders as part of measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Advertisement Sark is a tiny island measuring just 2.1 square miles, with a tiny population, 500 or so, and, as these pictures show it has a tiny prison to match. In fact, the prison on this picturesque island part of the Channel Islands archipelago is thought to be the smallest anywhere in the world that's still in use. The decidedly compact building comprises just two windowless cells, measuring six-feet-by-six and six-feet-by-eight, and a three-foot-wide corridor that runs the length of the building in front of them. The prison on Sark (pictured) part of the Channel Islands archipelago is thought to be the smallest anywhere in the world thats still in use The decidedly compact building comprises just two windowless cells, measuring six-feet-by-six and six-feet-by-eight, and a three-foot-wide corridor that runs the length of the building in front of them Creature comforts in the cells include wood-slatted beds and thin mattresses. This most modest of jailhouses officially a 'holding cell' was built in 1856, with prisoners held in it for a maximum of two days under judicial powers granted to the island in the 16th century. If the crime is more severe or the punishment needed lasts for longer, the offender is shipped off to the bigger clink on neighbouring Channel Island Guernsey. One of the earliest Sark prisoners was a young servant girl, who was thrown in the jail because she had stolen a pocket-handkerchief from her mistress. The story goes that the girl was so scared of the dark cells that she was allowed to sit in the doorway, where local women came to visit and knit with her until her three-day sentence was completed, according to Atlas Obscura. The last serious crime on the island came in 1990 when a French nuclear physicist called Andre Gardes rowed from France to the island (a distance of 25 miles) armed with a semi-automatic weapon. He stated that he was Lord of Sark and that the island was now under his rule. He was arrested the day after he came ashore after being punched in the face by one of the local policemen. This most modest of jailhouses officially a holding cell was built in 1856, with prisoners held in it for a maximum of two days under judicial powers granted to the island in the 16th century A stunning aerial image of Sark taken by Phillip Capper as he flew over it on a flight from London to Spain. He posted it to Flicker, writing: 'I had a family holiday here in 1952 and this was the first time I'd seen the island since' Sark's police force numbers two a constable and a vingtenier, or assistant constable. And it may surprise you to hear that they are kept quite busy. In fact, last year the outgoing assistant constable, PC Mike Fawson, said the island is 'awash' with criminals and that officers should be equipped with pepper spray to deal with suspects. He said offences range from drug trafficking, alcohol-fuelled violence and intoxicated driving. However, the latter offence is not being committed in cars, because they're banned on Sark. Last year the outgoing assistant constable, PC Mike Fawson, said Sark is 'awash' with criminals One of Sark's bustling main streets. A visit to the island is like stepping back in time The Sark lighthouse. Cars are banned on Sark, but locals are allowed to drive a horse and cart - and operate tractors Sark's police force numbers two a constable and a vingtenier, or assistant constable Locals are allowed to drive tractors, operate a horse and cart, ride bicycles, and elderly and disabled people can drive battery-powered buggies. In his report to Sark's Chief Pleas government, PC Fawson suggested that people coming to the island should undergo background checks. He wrote: 'Sark in the past (and current) has been awash with people who have various criminal convictions, which in many cases we have no knowledge of until another offence is committed.' Watch this space for any news on the prison being expanded For more on Sark visit www.sark.co.uk. I doubt if the music of the late American songwriter Kenny Rogers ever made it on to the Leaving Cert music syllabus. He passed away earlier this year and a line in one of his songs speaks to the historic decision by the Government to swap this year's Leaving Cert exams for calculated grades. In his song 'The Gambler', Rogers sang: "You've got to know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away, And know when to run." We've seen a significant gamble play out over the past weeks and the decision in early April to delay the exams until late summer was not an unreasonable first hand to play by the minister, given the public health advice at the time. Establishing July 29 as a start date provided optimism and challenge to students. Talk of a brief preparatory return to school, social distancing and moving Junior Cert exams aside offered a possible roadmap to the Leaving in late July. Or August. Across the table from the minister, however, sat a formidable new player whose next moves aren't easily anticipated. Could our luck line up to bring 61,000 students and invigilators into exam centres in late summer, complete exams and publish results in time for a delayed entry into college in the autumn? Publication on May 1 of the Government's roadmap for exiting Covid-19 restrictions brought a sobering mood to the table. Phases four or five didn't offer much optimism for massed gatherings of students in July or August. The State Examinations Commission was sitting its own problem-solving examination - how to run the exams alongside a bewildering array of conditions set out by the Department of Health. In the end, it simply couldn't be done safely in a logistically practical manner. The minister folded his hand, but not before laying one last card - calculated grades. There are different views on this, but I'm with Kenny Rogers. You've got to know when to walk away. The terms calculated grades and predicted grades now fill the vacuum left by the decision to forego summer exams. I'm easy on what we call the new grades because that doesn't really matter. What matters now is that we have a plan that can be delivered, a plan that should minimise stress and risk for students and enable them to move on. Calculated grades are estimates for what students might have received if they completed the orals, practicals, project work and exams. Teachers and schools will follow procedures to arrive at estimated grades for each student. Any parent who has attended a parent-teacher meeting in sixth year will likely have heard similar estimations from teachers about their child. Mindful of some research around calculated grades in other jurisdictions, the Department of Education offers advice to schools about minimising bias when generating student marks. Equally, parents and students need to trust teachers and avoid the canvassing for grades that some parties fear. Specifically, the concept of relational trust needs to move centre stage. This trust stems from professional respect between the parties, personal regard, perceived competence in role and personal integrity. Schools rely on maintaining relational trust amongst all members of the school community and calculated grades will certainly test this trust. Results supplied by schools will be adjusted to fit patterns of results at national and school level over the past years. The process will not be perfect, but out-waiting the coronavirus was not going to be perfect either. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have confirmed they will use these grades for admissions purposes. Irish HEIs know a thing or two about workarounds for unadministered exams. They are implementing alternative assessment arrangements for over 232,000 students this semester, allowing students to progress and graduate this year. I don't expect that the qualifications awarded by HEIs will be regarded with suspicion. Great care has been taken to ensure the probity of alternative arrangements to protect the integrity of qualifications. This can be achieved with Leaving Certificate calculated grades also. Schools retain much data about student learning. According to the OECD's Teaching and Learning International Survey, Irish teachers exhibit high confidence in their ability as educators. International surveys such as PISA and TIMSS bear this out - the performance of Irish students in reading, mathematics and science are significantly above average internationally. Teachers enjoy public support and they operate under a demanding code of professional competence developed by the Teaching Council. This all suggests that schools and teachers can meet the requirements set out by the department and provide grades in a professional manner. Undoubtedly challenges, anomalies and individual cases will arise, but this would happen also if we waited for coronavirus to go away. There will be arguments that the minister should have stayed at the table a while longer and tried to run the exams in August, or September. Maybe it would have worked. Maybe not. Perhaps there were other ways to do the Leaving this year? Given Ireland's high dependence on terminal exams at the end of sixth year, however, the degrees of freedom were reduced. During the financial crisis that preceded the current one, former Greek finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis wrote a memoir. The book, partly titled 'Adults in The Room', described the inner workings and fractious meetings of EU leaders during that period. In the past weeks as pressure mounted over how to salvage something workable for the Leaving Cert class of 2020, thankfully, the adults and representatives of students were in the room. Prof Damian Murchan is head of the School of Education in Trinity College Dublin Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 20:18:19|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LONDON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The third round of negotiations to seek a permanent post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and the European Union (EU) got underway Monday. Negotiators are conducting intensive week-long discussions using video links between London and Brussels because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fresh round of talks started against a background of disappointment expressed by the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier at the conclusion of the previous round of talks last month. Britain is currently in an implementation period after ending its membership in the bloc on Jan. 31. A race is now on to make a significant breakthrough before the end of June, the deadline set for a decision to be made on whether to seek an extension of the current implementation period due to expire on Dec. 31. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted he will not extend Britain's links to the bloc beyond the end of this year. Over the weekend, Johnson held talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, mainly discussing the COVID-19 crisis. In London, the Daily Express reported Monday that Britain's chief Brexit negotiator David Frost would issue a fresh warning to Barnier, saying progress must be made on the deadlocked trade talks this month because the British government will not seek to delay them. The report said Downing Street's planned rejection of an extension beyond Dec. 31 was fuelled by fears Britain could be locked into swathes of EU coronavirus pandemic legislation. While Barnier expressed his disappointment on April 24 at the progress in the previous round of talks, Downing Street said limited progress had been made, adding talks needed to move forward in a constructive fashion. Downing Street confirmed Monday talks were being held and will continue through the week. A Downing Street spokesperson said, "As the EU looks to deal with the impacts of coronavirus on the 27 member states, they will need to propose all kinds of new legislation which will obviously be designed for the 27, rather than being tailored in a way to suit the interests of the UK. An extension to the transition period would bind us into future EU legislation, without us having any say in designing it." Enditem By Express News Service CHENNAI: Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu have urged the state government to severely punish those responsible for the murder of a Class 10 girl in Viluppuram district. 15-year-old Jeyashri of Sirumadurai village near Thiruvennainallur in Viluppuram district was set afire on Sunday and died the following day. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy condemned the murder of the girl who was set ablaze by AIADMK functionaries. He promised stern action against the culprits and granted Rs 5 lakh in aid to the girl's kin. The AIADMK has expelled two of its functionaries from Sirumadurai Pudu Colony in Villupuram district -- K Murugan and K Kaliyaperumal -- who have been arrested for the murder. DMK president MK Stalin expressed his shock on Monday in a press statement. He said the DMK will strive to get justice for Jeyashri and urged the police to take action without any bias as such incidents would be reviewed when there is a regime change. MDMK general secretary Vaiko expressed his shock and condolences over the murder of the girl and urged that the accused be punished before the law at the earliest. CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan stated in a press release that all of the accused should be arrested and remanded in prison immediately. The state government should offer proper solatium to the victims family and a government job to one of the members of the family, he said. The Tamil Nadu government and police should ensure that such brutal incidents are prevented in the state in the future, he added. Tweeting about the tragedy on Monday, AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran urged that the accused be given severe punishment which would be a lesson for others who wish to commit such crimes in future. PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss condoled the death of the girl on Twitter and said that the accused should be punished at the earliest. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Beijing, China Mon, May 11, 2020 08:38 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd71d283 2 World China,WHO,US-China,coronavirus,virus-corona,COVID-19,pandemic,global-crisis Free China said Friday it supports a World Health Organization-led review into the global response to the coronavirus outbreak, but only "after the pandemic is over". The comments from foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying came as China faces increasing global pressure to allow an international investigation into the origins of the pandemic. The review should be conducted in an "open, transparent and inclusive manner" under the leadership of WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Hua said at a press briefing. She added that it should be at an "appropriate time after the pandemic is over". But Hua did not say the review should probe the origins of the virus, despite growing calls led by the US and Australia for an international inquiry into the issue, which has become a key flashpoint in deteriorating tensions between Washington and Beijing. Instead, the review should "summarize the experience and deficiencies of the international response to the pandemic, strengthen the WHO's work, enhance the construction of countries core public health capabilities, and provide suggestions to improve global preparedness against major infectious diseases," said Hua. She said China would cooperate with WHO efforts to trace the origin, but rejected US calls for an investigation, accusing it of "politicizing the issue". Hua stressed that any inquiry should be based on the International Health Regulations, and be authorized by the World Health Assembly or Executive Committee -- the WHO's dual governing bodies. WHO epidemiologist Dr Maria van Kerkhove said Wednesday the agency is in talks with China to send a mission to investigate the animal source of the virus. Both US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have heavily criticized China's alleged lack of transparency, and have repeatedly pushed the theory that the virus emerged from a Wuhan maximum-security virology lab. The claim has become a key point of contention between China and the US, with Beijing accusing US Republican politicians of shifting the blame as an electioneering strategy. Most scientists believe the virus originated in animals before it was passed on to humans. Numerous countries including France, Germany and Britain have also urged greater transparency from China over its handling of the virus. China has strenuously denied accusations it concealed information relating to the initial outbreak, insisting it has always shared information with the WHO and other countries in a timely manner. Indian Insitute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) on Monday said its civil engineering department has collaborated with Chengalpattu Medical College and Hospital in Tamil Nadu to design and develop a doffing unit. A doffing unit is the one where the personal protective equipment (PPE) worn by medical professionals are removed safely without risk of further virus spread. According to IIT-M, the project was undertaken with financial support from corporates under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Donning is the procedure of assembling PPE on the healthcare providers and doffing is the procedure for its removal. Such procedures will have to adhere to certain standard protocols to prevent the further spread of infections. The teams from IIT=M and the Chengalpattu Government Medical College and Hospital have successfully designed, fabricated and installed the doffing unit, the statement said. [May 11, 2020] USA Technologies Names Sean Feeney as Chief Executive Officer USA Technologies, Inc. (OTC:USAT) ("USAT" or the "Company"), a cashless payments and software services company that provides end-to-end technology solutions for the self-service retail market, today announced that its board of directors has named Sean Feeney as chief executive officer (CEO), effective May 8, 2020. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005304/en/ USA Technologies (News - Alert) New CEO, Sean Feeney (Photo: Business Wire) "USA Technologies is on the threshold of a great new chapter, as we look to set the company on the right path to growth and success," said Douglas Bergeron, Chairman of USAT. "Sean joins as CEO after an extensive search, involving a wide range of outstanding candidates. He is a proven business leader with a deep background in both technology and financial services. Sean has demonstrated success in building great companies, assembling world class management teams, and reinvigorating culture, while delivering a strong record of metrics-driven performance. His focus on accountability and profitable growth makes him the right choice to lead USAT into the future." Feeney served as CEO of GT Nexus, a cloud supply chain platform owned by Warburg Pincus (News - Alert), Primera Capital and Aaron Sasson. During his four-year tenure, Feeney tripled the company's revenue and oversaw its sale to Infor in 2015. Most recently Feeney was CEO of Defensetorm, Inc., a cybersecurity management platform providing cloud-based and compliance-automated solutions to financial institutions. Previous to that, he was as an operating partner at Golden Gate Capital (GGC), a San Francisco-based private equity firm. While there he advised on software-focused acquisitions, and also stepped in as Interim CEO for Critigen, a GGC portfolio company providing GPS consulting and data management IT services. He was also CEO at Inovis until its sale to GXS in 2010 (OpenText), and earlier in his career held senior management positions at CheckFree (News - Alert), which was acquired by Fiserv for $4.4bn in 2007. "I am honored and enthusiastic to lead USAT through its next evolution," said Sean Feeney. "I look forward to working with all the company's talent and creating a culture that attracts top talent. There are countless ways that we can build a world class organization that continues to best serve our customers' needs while creating significant value as we rapidly grow USAT while increasing the company's profitability and amplify its leadership position in the payments and unattended retail marketplace." Feeney holds a B.S. degree in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and proudly served as an Army Officer for six years. He has been an active supporter of the technology community in Atlanta and is a past Chairman of the Technology Alliance of Georgia (TAG). Don Layden, USAT's former CEO, has resigned from his position and has also resigned from the USAT Board of Directors. The Board and Mr. Layden have agreed that he will not receive any severance, and he has withdrawn his name from consideration in the upcoming election. About USA Technologies, Inc. USA Technologies, Inc. is a cashless payments and software services company that provides end-to-end technology solutions for the self-service retail market. USAT is transforming the unattended retail community by offering one integrated solution for payments processing, logistics, and back-office management. The company's enterprise-wide platform is designed to increase consumer engagement and sales revenue through digital payments, digital advertising and customer loyalty programs, while providing retailers with control and visibility over their operations and inventory. As a result, customers ranging from vending machine companies, to operators of micro-markets, gas and car charging stations, laundromats, metered parking terminals, kiosks, amusements and more, can run their businesses more proactively, predictably, and competitively. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains content that could be considered "forward-looking statements" under applicable securities laws, such as statements about the expected development of the Company's business, projects and joint ventures; execution of its vision and growth strategy; and the effects of such factors upon financial results. These and other forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Such statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause actual performance and results to differ materially from current expectations that the statements express or imply. Although the forward-looking statements in this release reflect the current beliefs of Company management, there can be no assurance that those forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or opinions about them should change, except as may be required by applicable law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements in this news release. This news release also contains content regarding past performance by certain Company executives, and the reader is cautioned that past performance may not be indicative of future results. -- F-USAT View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005304/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] T he number of passengers passing through Heathrow's terminals in April plunged 97% as coronavirus-induced travel bans hit the airport. Europes busiest airport said it supported essential travel for just 200,000 people last month the same number it would typically serve in just one day. It added that a total of 1,788 cargo only flights operated from Heathrow in April, helping to bring in critical supplies of PPE. The busiest day was April 30, with 95 dedicated cargo movements - 14 times the usual daily average pre-Covid. However, cargo volumes were down over 60%. Heathrow said it supports the Governments aim of avoiding a second wave of infection, but it said the rumoured 14-day quarantine plan will effectively close borders temporarily... It is likely that few passenger flights will operate and even less people will travel until the quarantine is lifted. Heathrows chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: Aviation is the lifeblood of this countrys economy, and until we get Britain flying again, UK business will be stuck in third gear." He added: "The Government needs to urgently lay out a roadmap for how they will reopen borders once the disease has been beaten, and to take an immediate lead in agreeing a Common International Standard for health in aviation that will allow passengers who dont have the infection to travel freely. Serbian politicians launched dueling hunger strikes after a protest over next month's parliamentary elections turned violent. The Balkan state's biggest opposition parties have vowed to boycott the June 21 vote, accusing President Aleksandar Vucic of muzzling media and wielding state institutions to prevent free elections. Tens of thousands of Serbs have held months of demonstrations, including nightly noise protests from balconies in one of Europe's strictest virus lockdown regimes. Bosko Obradovic, the leader of the right-wing opposition Dveri party, began his hunger strike Sunday after police arrested 15 of his supporters when they scuffled with ruling-party lawmakers outside of parliament Friday. He demanded that Vucic begin a dialog on the freedom of speech and fair campaign conditions. "I'm asking for something quite reasonable and constructive - dialog between the authorities and opposition," Obradovic told reporters. Two members of the president's Serbian Progressive Party, which opinion polls show may win a majority in the election, responded to Obradovic's protest with their own hunger strikes, saying they would wouldn't eat until the 15 detained people were prosecuted. Opposition parties have effectively stopped campaigning under Serbia's coronavirus lockdown. They complain that Vucic has blocked their access to state-run media. Meanwhile, Vucic and the government have dominated news with coverage of their response to the pandemic. The president now has more public support than any other Serbian leader in more than two decades, with 61% approving of his performance, according to a poll last month. "For our children's sake, decent and modern Serbia will defeat all the haters," Vucic said on Instagram. The country of 7 million has suffered from the virus less than many other European countries, with 215 dead as of Monday. PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-11 19:57:49 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 359 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 AUSTIN, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Rockwell Trading Founder Markus Heitkoetter has announced that they have recently made available on their YouTube channel a free 60-minute course that serves as a beginner's guide on how to trade options.Markus Heitkoetter explains, "Options can be a little overwhelming to someone with no experience. From the Greeks, to Implied Volatility, and Expiration Dates, there's a lot going on. But in reality, to consistently trade options you really don't need to fixate too much on all of that. In fact, for a solid options foundation I think it can be broken down into three simple things:(1) options have a strike price and an expiration;(2) there are call options and there are put options; and(3) you can buy options or you can sell options." 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And also available from Rockwell Trading is the PowerX Optimizer, which is a leading software for trading options and stocks.People who are interested in trading stocks, options and futures may want to subscribe to Markus' YouTube channel where he's doing live sessions Monday-Friday, starting at 2:30 pm Central. Those interested can subscribe to his channel here.For more information about Rockwell Trading, contact the company here:Rockwell TradingMarkus Heitkoetter(512) 337-1885support@ rockwelltrading.com 401 Congress Ave 1540Austin, Texas 78701SOURCE: Rockwell Trading The closest thing to human contact Laura Cattari has is the knock on her apartment door and the bag of food that sits and waits on the other side. Since March 20, Cattari, who suffers from chronic pain and a compromised immune system, has been confined to her fourth-floor apartment in the Corktown neighbourhood, a one-bedroom unit spanning roughly 640 square feet with a balcony that boasts nothing but a view of a grey and decaying parking lot, these days lifeless and without cars. For years, Cattari has been mindful of the potential health risks of shared spaces. Now, even as officials begin to ease COVID-19 social distancing measures, that conscientiousness has taken on a stricter form. A walk down the stairs, a trip to the nearby grocer, a meet-up with friends at the park: theyve become akin to a choice between fresh air and debilitating illness, freedom and risk of death. Ive realized how much the virus is actually taking from my life, Cattari said, speaking from the room shes been stuck in for more than 50 days. The reality is, even when others are let out, I probably wont be allowed out. And thats scary. Its scary knowing that other people will go back to normal, and Im not sure if people will remember theres other people like me who need help. Cattari is one of thousands of Hamiltonians who have spent quarantine in high-density areas, crammed and without the room to sprawl out in the streets and parks and backyards of relatively comfortable suburban life. Its a setting that presents challenges beyond seclusion and boredom and extend to the logistical conundrums of obtaining basic necessities, like food and mail. Cattari, for one, thinks herself lucky to have connection into the community. A neighbour picks up her mail and drops it off. A friend comes around to deliver groceries. Colleagues call and check-in. But I do worry about people in the same sort of situation as me, Cattari, 50, said. Do people have the social network to get the things they need? If youre on low-income or social assistance, you were experiencing deep poverty long before this pandemic ever hit, said Tom Cooper, director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, where Cattari works part-time. A lot of people are forced to go to food banks to supple inadequate incomes, but that might not be possible for some people now because it puts their health at risk. There, too, is the risk of exposing others, like those with whom one shares a space. Dayna Sparkes has been limited throughout the pandemic to an east-end housing complex where she lives with her four young children and husband. Each passing day is awash in a blur of unfamiliar home-schooling and restless isolation. At first, we didnt even have the devices for the kids do schooling expect my one daughters iPad, Sparkes said, adding her childrens school eventually shipped over the necessary technology. Its been stressful and frustrating. The kids cant go outside, and we have to stay in to look after them. All the days kind of mesh together We dont get a whole lot of time for ourselves. The moments Sparkes does have to herself are marred in the fear of whats to come. She and her husband are without work, living off disability and social assistance checks, and they worry about paying rent as do scores of others. According to a survey conducted in recent weeks by ACORN Canada, an advocate for low-to-moderate income Canadians, one in three Hamilton residents say they dont have enough money to pay their May rent because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But food and financial insecurities represent just a fraction of the concerns associated with isolated living in low-income areas. Health experts have warned that COVID-19 can disproportionately affect dense communities stricken with high poverty rates. In New York City, now the epicentre of the pandemic, boroughs with the highest number of cases are areas with the lowest median incomes. Density is really an enemy in a situation like this, Dr. Steven Goodman, an epidemiologist at Stanford University, told the New York Times in late March. (W)here people are interacting with more people all the time, thats where its going to spread the fastest. Evidence of steadfast spread in dense spaces stokes fear for Craig Mair, a wheelchair user who lives in an eight-floor apartment building on Limeridge Road West. Mair said a lack of distancing measures and maintenance in his complex has prompted a reluctance among residents to leave their units. The other day, I saw three people in the laundry room close together, no one wearing masks or gloves, he said. You just go stir-crazy. Mair said he and a neighbour have taken the liberty to vacuum their own floor and wipe down the walls because cleaning crews have yet to been sent by the buildings property managers. But thats not our jobs as tenants, Mair said. If the government is telling us to stay home, we need the health and security to do that. Ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Chairman Lee Hae-chan, center, DPK floor leader Kim Tae-nyeon, third from right, and other members of the party's Supreme Council promise to donate their individual relief money to be provided by the government in its efforts to cope with economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun China is a country run by government bureaucrats, Communist ones, no less. Yet apparently the cream of the crop of capitalist nameplates rate it as a place with one heck of a business climate. By one count, over 300 businesses have set up operations there. They range literally from A to Z from Apple to Zale Corp. with such companies as bailed-out GM in between. Chinas apparently enticing business climate has, of course, siphoned off American jobs and technology in the process of persuading companies to expand there instead of here. The trend has left once-thriving factory towns like Trenton, N.J. and Anderson, Ind., with vast empty acreage overgrown with weeds and ruins reminiscent of Berlin at the conclusion of World War II. But the business migration to China has had its benefits, no disputing that. The shelves of big box stores sag with the weight of great piles of bargain merchandise priced to fend off American competitors. On the bright side, there have been some whove gotten rich from the trend. Theyre more likely, though, to possess Harvard MBAs than, say, county vo-tech welding certificates. China has succeeded in blending Communism with the worst features of predatory capitalism. Name a company. It likely has operations in the land where the Politburo reigns supreme and unopposed. AT&T, Cisco, Eli Lilly, Google, Honeywell, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Merck go right on through the alphabet. While the greatest names of corporate capitalism have been cozying up to the Commie colossus, it has been tightening its grip on the hapless nations political and social controls. Reforms have made Xi Jinping in effect president for life, like some sub-Sahara African potentate of yesteryear. New measures called social credits dole out small favors for the compliant masses and impose crushing penalties on any who betray hints of dissent. Great business climate! Within China, meanwhile, critics still have a way of going. poof. Of vanishing, never to be heard from again as happened with those who contradicted the party line on Covid-19. Yes indeed, great business climate! As always, as seen in Hong Kong, any dissent that manages to manifest itself in mass protest is likely to be put down forcefully, if maybe not quite so brutally nowadays as with the tanks of Tiananmen Square. One of Communisms founding fathers, having second thoughts about the Marxist revolution, once observed thats its little consolation for the masses to be told that the stick theyre being beaten with is the peoples stick. Meanwhile, speaking of being beaten with a stick, reports are that the Beijing regime in 2017-18 rounded up 1 million Muslim Uighurs, a Turkic minority, and put them in detention camps. And, the reports further say, some 80,000 of the detainees were transferred to government-owned factories. Slave labor. Did somebody say great business climate? This is not the gossip of right-wing crazies, by the way. According to reports by the Guardian and PBS not to be confused with Fox News some of those slave-labor factories are churning out materials for the likes of Apple, Nike and Volkswagen. Great business climate? Now we have found out that were dependent on China for more than just socks and skivvies. Turns out were 100 percent dependent on the authoritarian regime for a whole range of basic pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. This we learned from yet another Chinese export the Wuhan virus, if we may dare to identify that affliction by place of origin as we did other outbreaks such as Legionnaires Disease and Spanish Flu. If you dare to utter the words Wuhan virus today, however, youre likely to have one of the hallway monitors of our times wagging a scolding finger in your face and screeching racism, racism! Conservative Republicans were the first to unfurl the banner of free trade with China. But Democrats especially ones calling themselves liberal soon thereafter took up the cry of free trade themselves. Joe Biden, as a senator, ushered legislation through Congress admitting China to the World Trade Organization and conferring on it most favored nation status (MFN). China is our new partner, said Biden, as a million American jobs went out the door headed toward Asia. Those in the throes of Trump Derangement Syndrome wont want to hear this at all. But mouthy, bull-in-the-china shop President Trump (no pun intended) was the first top figure of either party to challenge China on its one-sided trade arrangements allowing it to siphon off Americas economy. Businesses and media fretted that he was setting off shudder a trade war. Joe Biden, meanwhile, rushed to Chinas defense. Cmon, he pleaded, these are not bad folks, folks. Of course, nobody had said they were. The skepticism was directed at the overbearing Chinese government, not its hapless citizens. Even amid an exploding pandemic, China-apologist Joe Biden swiftly condemned as xenophobic Covid-19 restrictions on Chinese travel to the United States. American corporations continued to pursue business deals with China even as it ratcheted up repression at home and asserted an aggressive military posture in the international waters of the South China Sea, like some oversized playground bully. Great business climate! Sign us up! The theory has been all along that China, by becoming the sole supplier of our penicillin and face masks, would meanwhile become a paragon of free enterprise and individual liberty. That theory finally has been abandoned but not the supposed allure of Chinas business climate. Theres money to be made there, and corporate capitalists seem eager to get at it, even if they have to play the role of Beijings groveling catamites, as some have. For example, Bloomberg News, which is reported to have gone to extraordinary lengths of self-censorship to appease Chinas political bosses. Various founding fathers of Communism have been credited with declaring that capitalism would sell the rope its foes would use to hang it. That might now be amended to add that the manufacture of the rope will provide Chinese, not American jobs. Despite being Communists and railing constantly against wealth, Chinas bosses have a solid grasp of graft and its role in politics. The nomenklatura the top tiers of the Communist bureaucracy have never hesitated to help themselves to a heaping serving of the loot. Thus, as the New York Times notes, China has shrewdly given politically connected Americans a piece of the action. The Times suggests that Ivanka Trump is cleaning up on brand-name arrangements China has conferred on her. The Times also wonders out loud what favors China may have bestowed on Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who tried to get a Chinese buyer to take a financially troubled Manhattan real estate parcel off his hands. And, the paper adds, President George W. Bushs banker brother, Neil, was favored by the Beijing regime with a $400,000 consulting contract via a Chinese semiconductor company. Well, whatever. In regards to Trumps own family members, it would seem that imposing a tax on imports from China and pressuring it to make other trade concessions would be an odd way for Trump to curry favor with Beijing for his daughter and her husband. The Times brings these matters up in a not entirely logical effort to persuade us to ignore the odors of possible graft emanating from the wheelings and dealings of Joe Bidens son, Hunter Biden, in the wake of the old mans diplomatic activities. While Dad Joe, the Vice President, was President Obamas diplomatic point man in Ukraine, son Hunter landed a spot on the board of directors of Ukraines biggist oil and gas company, Burisma Holdings, hauling in, by one account, as much as $85,000 a month. Hunter Biden had little business experience, unless you include negotiating for street drugs. In and out of rehab programs, he was booted from the Navy Reserve for cocaine use. Nevertheless, the son landed a Burisma directors position as Dad Joe dealt with Ukrainian officials over a $1 billion U.S. aid package. The elder Biden bragged of holding back the aid until the top Ukrainian prosecutor was fired. Bidens story is that the prosecutor was lax in pursuing corruption. The prosecutor says he was fired explicitly because he was investigating Burismas arrangements with Bidens son. Curiously, Joe Biden says he was totally in the dark regarding his sons business activities in Ukraine and never asked his son about them, not even once. Hunter Biden similarly latched onto a business deal in China, also in wake of his fathers diplomatic activities there. Shortly after accompanying his Vice President dad to Beijing, Hunter Biden along with well connected business partners landed an investment deal backed by the political might and assets of the Bank of China. However little business knowledge Hunter Biden may have possessed, he seems to have had a sharp eye for Chinas favorable business climate, just as much of corporate America has. The money parameters of Hunter Bidens China deal remain undisclosed. But the figure may be, um, substantial, given reports that he had a $400,000 stake in the deal. Trump himself has suggested that Hunter Biden is dancing in a gusher of Chinese dollars $1.5 billion is the figure he suggests. But as Trumps critics are quick to point out, the President tends to indulge himself in hyperbole. Joe Biden, meanwhile, again takes the position he was unaware of his sons activities in China as in Ukraine. And he says again that he never thought to ask his son about his activities again not even once. Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice said. But suddenly it now looks like a political earthquake is shifting the tectonic plates of Chinas business scene. No more Mr. Nice Guy regarding China on Joe Bidens part. Hes no longer saying theyre our new partners. Hes no longer telling us, Cmon, theyre not bad folks, folks. New message: Yes they are! The Democratic PAC American Bridge is running ads attacking Trump for praising the Chinese over their handling of Covid-19. Flowery diplomatic language is no longer permitted. And the Biden campaign is running ads attacking Trump for being soft on China. Trump Rolled Over For The Chinese! say the ads. Ah, yes, those evil, evil Chinese. Sounds like somebody had better get a memo out to all those corporations with operations in China. Maybe the business climate there is not quite what it was cracked up to be after all. WhatsApp users have been warned over a scam that promises to give you free chocolate but in fact just steals money and personal information. The message being sent around on WhatsApp suggests that Cadbury is celebrating its anniversary by giving away a free hamper of chocolate. All users have to do, it says, is pass on the message and go through a few steps. But the chocolate will never come and those steps are intended to cause frustration to users at best, and could lead to them losing money or access to their personal data. Cadbury chocolate has been used as to lure people into scams for years. As with all such scams which can use anything from free iPhones to the promise of money from the government it is presumably because the offer seems enticing enough to be exciting but small enough that it is believable. While the precise details of what criminals want users to do changes, they tend to revolve around similar principles: that the company is giving away free chocolate as part of the celebration of an anniversary, and that the only way to claim it is to go through a series of steps. Those steps usually include circulating the scam which will help explain why it often will come from a trusted contact, and therefore could look legitimate before going on to be forced to take surveys, download questionable apps onto the phone, or to sign up to expensive text message services. Please beware of a phishing scam circulating via WhatsApp that states Cadbury is giving away free chocolate hampers, encourages recipients to take part in a survey and then share the link with ten friends," the company told The Sun, which first reported on the latest iteration of the fake messages. Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty This is a scam and not associated with Cadbury. Promotions of this kind will always be announced on Cadburys official channels. "We do not advise fans to take part in the survey, share personal data or share the message within their networks. 5 People Hurt, 2 Critically, in Texas Shooting at Park With 600 People At least five people were reportedly shot Sunday at a park in Fort Worth, Texas, at a 600-person party, according to authorities. The shooting occurred at the Village Creek Park in Fort Worth at around 6:30 p.m., officials told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Two of the victims were critically wounded, officials added. The three others suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Star-Telegram. After fireworks were set off in the park, about 30 gunshots were fired, witnesses told police. Parks in Fort Worth are open during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, but city officials and state officials have called on people to engage in social distancing practices. Fort Worth public information officer Buddy Calzada said in a press briefing on Sunday night that police responded after 7 p.m. The best thing we can do for them is obviously pray and allow them some medical care right now, Calzada said, referring to the victims. Calzada said the Fort Worth police gang unit is leading an investigation into the matter. State and federal law enforcement agencies are assisting, Calzada said. The stay-at-home order in Texas expired on May 1, while Gov. Greg Abbott has laid out plans for the loosening of additional restrictions. Calzada said that the department has worked to inform people about social distancing. Fines are typically not used to enforce the guidelines. Weve been stating that everyone would follow the rules that have been set out, Calzada said. Weve tried to work with everybody to not try to cite them or ticket them but ultimately people have a choice and thats just the choice they made tonight. A 23-year-old woman was killed by a caretaker of a factory after she refused to marry him, police said on Monday. The incident took place on May 3 when the accused took the woman to the factory where he worked in outer Delhi's Narela, they said. While getting intimate with the woman, he asked her marry him but when she refused, he killed her with a hammer, police said. The body of the woman was found a day later after police were informed by the factory owner that the caretaker was missing, police said. "A police team under the supervision of ACP Narela Nirav Patel was sent to Uttar Pradesh from where the accused hails but he was later found from Delhi's Paschim Vihar," said Gaurav Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer North). During interrogation, the accused told the police that he was in relationship with the woman and wanted to marry her. On the day of incident, he brought her to the factory, insisted on getting intimate and proposed her again. But when he rejected, he killed her with a hammer and fled the spot, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi: Whodunits, murder mysteries, investigation and thrillers, Bollywood has dazzled us with several tales based on these themes. From the era of black-and-white films to the present day, we have witnessed an avalanche of iconic crime mysteries. The web too has witnessed several crime thrillers and the recent one in SIN, streaming on Addatimes. It is directed by Arunava Khasnobis and stars Aryan D Roy, Sweta Mishra and Lakshya Punjabi among others. The six-episode series has been extensively shot across Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal. It is an investigation drama focusing on the world of carnal fantasies, drugs and deep criminal conspiracies. SIN is an assertive blend of crime detection, raw fantasy, and millennial lifestyle. This web series will keep you hooked till the very end and you just cannot even miss a second of it. The mysterious death of a young girl in the hills triggers an investigation that reveals the alleys of a high-profile organised crime in Kolkata, involving drugs, sex-trafficking and murder. SIN is an investigation drama shot originally in Hindi, although it is available in Bengali as a dubbed version. Ready to watch SIN? NAIROBI, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Huawei on Sunday pledged to support Africa's COVID-19 epidemic control efforts, an official said. Chen Lei, president of Huawei Southern Africa region said in commentary published in The Standard newspaper that its remote video conferencing systems have already helped medical institutions communicate more efficiently. "We have also implemented an AI-based diagnosis solution in several medical institutions. CT scan reviews can now be completed in two minutes, 80 percent faster, in a race with time, critical for saving lives," Chen said. He noted that the Chinese telecom firm will continue using its core information and communication capabilities to support Africa's efforts to combat the novel coronavirus. The official added that during the pandemic and once Huawei secured its people and operations, it looked at how to support its business partners in Africa. "We were fortunate to assist with social distancing by African organizations through our technologies," Chen observed. He added that as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19, a new business model is taking shape across sectors, one characterized by remote work, distance education, remote healthcare, online shopping and mobile money. "This new paradigm is driven by vastly greater data consumption, facilitated by the mass connectivity of 4G/5G technology," he said. An Alabama murder case involving love, religion, betrayal and a visit to Milos Hamburgers will be the focus of tonights episode of Southern Gothic, a TV series on Investigation Discovery. In a 9 p.m. episode titled The Sinner, the true-crime series explores the 2015 killing of Michael Reese, a resident of Morris. Reese, 40, died from a gunshot wound to the head on Feb. 18, 2015, at his home in Jefferson County. The victims wife, Cindy Henderson Reese, was charged with the killing and convicted after a weeklong trial in 2016. The jury deliberated for 90 minutes before rendering a guilty verdict. Henderson Reese was sentenced to 40 years in prison. The Sinner relates those facts, of course, but the hourlong episode takes a closer look at the impetus for the murder: Hendersons Reeses affair with the pastor of her church, Jeff Brown, and their plan to get rid of her husband. People interviewed for the program said Henderson Reese didnt believe in divorce, and evidently considered murder a more palatable alternative. Although police never determined who actually pulled the trigger, Henderson Reese and Brown both were charged with the murder. Brown pleaded guilty to manslaughter and agreed to testify against his girlfriend in exchange for a reduced sentence. Brown received a 20-year sentence in 2016. The Sinner includes interviews with Reeses family and friends, neighbors in Morris, law enforcement officials and lawyers involved in the case. (Ivana Hrynkiw, a reporter who covered the Reese case for AL.com, is interviewed, as well.) The episode features photos of Reese and his wife, video clips of Henderson Reese and Brown being grilled by the police, and footage of Henderson Reese in court. In true-crime documentary style, the program uses actors to re-create scenes from the lives of Reese, Henderson Reese, Brown and others involved in the case. It also offers a re-creation of the murder scene. Milos Hambugers pops up in two key spots in the narrative. That might sound odd, but it seems the fast-food restaurant was a favorite with Reese and his wife. The couple went there on their first date -- at least one person on the episode raised an eyebrow at that -- and more important, the Reeses stopped at Milos on the way home from church on the night of the murder. Their bag of takeout food from Milos, and a receipt stamped with the date and time of purchase, were part of the evidence considered by police at the crime scene. Henderson Reese said she had abandoned her food from Milos that evening, allowing it to get cold while she ventured out again to the Piggly Wiggly. Her husband was killed while she was gone, Henderson Reese said, and she found his body when she returned home. Her story didnt stand up to scrutiny, though, and at least one person interviewed for Southern Gothic considered it suspicious that Henderson Reese would neglect her French fries from Milos, allowing them to get cold. (Everyone knows you have to eat Milos fries while theyre hot or they taste awful, he says in the episode.) According to IMDB, the Reese case was featured in another series on Investigation Discovery, Six Degrees of Murder," in a 2017 episode called The Happy Groom. In addition, Reeses murder was highlighted in June 2018 on an episode of Snapped, a true-crime series on the Oxygen network. Henderson Reese served less than three years of her 40-year sentence, and was moved from Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women to a work-release program in Birmingham, according to a 2019 report by AL.com. (Newser) Last summer, then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris emerged as Joe Biden's toughest critic in the Democratic primary over his record on race issues. Now, however, Politico reports that the California senator is the favorite to be his running mate. The story says Elizabeth Warren also is in strong contention, but interviews with two dozen Biden aides and Democratic donors suggest that Harris is the top choice at the moment. The Biden campaign has begun formally vetting the first large group of contenders. Coverage: Repairs: Politico reports that relations between Biden and Harris have warmed since the debates, helped in part by the friendship Harris had years ago with the late Beau Biden, a fellow state attorney general. And the story includes this quote from influential African-American Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina: "Joe Biden is a big boy," he said. "Ive never seen Joe have any animus toward Kamala for what may have been said during the campaign." Clyburn added that his preference is for Biden to pick a black woman as his running mate. story continues below Maybe not VP? The New York Times also has a story out on Harris, and it suggests she's not limiting her options to the VP's office. Harris, who turned down an offer to be attorney general in the Obama administration, would consider the role under Biden, according to the report. But other options are open. Harris "has dedicated the five months since she ended her campaign to housecleaning steps meant to position her better for what comes next: whether its a vice-presidential bid, a longer career in the Senate, a run for governor or a position like attorney general in a Biden administration." The New York Times also has a story out on Harris, and it suggests she's not limiting her options to the VP's office. Harris, who turned down an offer to be attorney general in the Obama administration, would consider the role under Biden, according to the report. But other options are open. Harris "has dedicated the five months since she ended her campaign to housecleaning steps meant to position her better for what comes next: whether its a vice-presidential bid, a longer career in the Senate, a run for governor or a position like attorney general in a Biden administration." Low-key: Both stories note that Harris is not openly campaigning to be VP, unlike another contender, Stacey Abrams. Politico calls it the "less-is-more approach to the veepstakes." The Times adds that nor is there a more subtle "surrogate lobbying effort" underway for Harris, as there is for Warren. "Even people close to Mr. Bidenoften bombarded with pleas from those vying to be his running matehave remarked about how little they have heard from Ms. Harris and her allies," per the Times. Both stories note that Harris is not openly campaigning to be VP, unlike another contender, Stacey Abrams. Politico calls it the "less-is-more approach to the veepstakes." The Times adds that nor is there a more subtle "surrogate lobbying effort" underway for Harris, as there is for Warren. "Even people close to Mr. Bidenoften bombarded with pleas from those vying to be his running matehave remarked about how little they have heard from Ms. Harris and her allies," per the Times. Biden's Biden: At Bloomberg, Francis Wilkinson makes the case that Harris is the best choice for Biden because she would be to him what he was to Barack Obama, an important balancing factor. Candidate Obama was "a mixed-race intellectual whose father was from Kenya." Biden was "Regular Joe," a veteran of white, establishment politics. Now the situation is flipped. Harris is the daughter of immigrants whose father is Jamaican and mother is Indian. "Harriss face is the future of the Democratic Party, and of the nation, just as Biden is the face of receding power. She complements and strengthens him. She can be Bidens Biden." At Bloomberg, Francis Wilkinson makes the case that Harris is the best choice for Biden because she would be to him what he was to Barack Obama, an important balancing factor. Candidate Obama was "a mixed-race intellectual whose father was from Kenya." Biden was "Regular Joe," a veteran of white, establishment politics. Now the situation is flipped. Harris is the daughter of immigrants whose father is Jamaican and mother is Indian. "Harriss face is the future of the Democratic Party, and of the nation, just as Biden is the face of receding power. She complements and strengthens him. She can be Bidens Biden." Tara Reade: The woman who has accused Joe Biden of sexual assault told Megyn Kelly that she brought her allegations to the attention of Harris' presidential campaign. "Kamala Harris is my representative, so I tried to reach out to her in particular for help, like I wanted to get a safe place to tell what happened," she told Kelly. But a top adviser to Harris say there is no record of any such contact, reports Axios. Reade also says she took her complaints to the campaign of Warren. (Read more Kamala Harris stories.) The idea of a "Universal Basic Income," or as the Yang Gang called it, a "Freedom Dividend," is a pretty nifty idea. Everybody would have some basic income floor to pay for basic necessities, and then people are free to work as they're able to up on top of that. Sound like something people might be clamoring for right about now? We've got a country that's demanding to go back to work but can't, and everybody's still got bills to pay regardless of their ability to work. The problem is that it's not super easy to test that kind of immense social experiment out, and getting reliable data with a large enough sample size would require more funding than you can shake a Harvard endowment at. Enter Finland. Back in 2017 and 2018, they buckled down and actually ran the broadest universal basic income experiment to date. The preliminary results were generally panned because a lot of people felt the experiment's parameters and conditions were flawed from the get-go. As a result, there were ways to look at the study and make cases both for and against a UBI. Now, the study has published its conclusions, appearing to be in favor of a UBI. People who received a UBI were slightly more employed than the control group, and they reported overall better self-perceived mental health. Minna Ylikanno of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, when asked about a UBI in the context of COVID-19, claimed that a UBI could, quote, "bring people security in very insecure situations when they don't know whether they're going to have an income." CHICAGO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Paessler AG, the IT monitoring specialist, announced today that CRN , a brand of The Channel Company, has named Amanda Karkula, its senior channel sales manager for the Western United States and Canada, to its esteemed 2020 Women of the Channel list. Recognizing the unique strengths, vision, and achievements of a select group of women, this prestigious, annual list acknowledges channel leaders who are blazing a trail for future generations. These women are from all areas of the IT ecosystem, including technology vendors, distributors, solution providers, and other IT organizations. CRN editorial team selects the honorees to celebrate a list of exceptional women acclaimed for their contributions to channel advocacy, growth, thought leadership, and dedication to the IT channel. Karkula, who has worked in the channel for over 10 years, has been key in creating the foundation and driving the growth of Paessler's channel business in North America. Over the past year, she has been responsible for managing all aspects of Paessler's VAR relationships. In addition, she worked closely with Paessler's distribution manager to leverage distribution programs, strengthening channel relationships and onboarding new Paessler channel managers to develop a focused VAR team by territory. Karkula organized and attended events across North America with the mission to help grow Paessler's market share in the channel. "CRN's 2020 Women of the Channel list recognizes an accomplished group of influential women leaders whose strategic vision and unique achievements accelerate channel growth through cultivated partnerships, innovative thought leadership, and unwavering dedication to the IT channel," said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. "We are proud to honor them for their accomplishments and contributions to driving channel success." "We are extremely proud of Amanda for this well-deserved recognition of her leadership and accomplishments developing Paessler's North American channel business," said Sebastian Kruger, vice president, regional manager for the Americas, Paessler AG. "It is through her hard work and expertise that we continue to expand our North American channel footprint, including the steady increase of alliance partners, the certification of large scale enterprise partners for the rollout of our largest subscription license, PRTG Enterprise Monitor, and successfully growing our Canadian channel market share." The 2020 Women of the Channel list will be featured in CRN Magazine on June 8 and online at www.CRN.com/WOTC. About Paessler AG In 1997 Paessler revolutionized IT monitoring with the introduction of PRTG Network Monitor. Today over 200,000 IT administrators, in more than 170 countries, rely on PRTG to monitor their business-critical systems, devices and network infrastructures. PRTG monitors the entire IT infrastructure 24/7 and helps IT professionals to seamlessly solve problems before they impact users. Our mission is to empower technical teams to manage their infrastructure, ensuring maximum productivity. We build lasting partnerships and integrative, holistic solutions to achieve this. Thinking beyond IT networks, Paessler is actively developing solutions to support digital transformation strategies and the Internet of Things. Learn more about Paessler and PRTG Network Monitor at www.paessler.com About The Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook Copyright 2020. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Media Contacts Paessler AG Hughes Agency for Paessler AG Gimena Robles Amanda Long Marketing & PR Manager T: +1 864.271.0718 T: +49 911 93775-0 [email protected] F: +49 911 93775-409 www.hughes-agency.com [email protected] www.paessler.com The Channel Company: Jennifer Hogan The Channel Company [email protected] SOURCE Paessler AG Related Links https://www.paessler.com As landowners and managers, livestock producers, farmers and conservationists, we know that if we dont take care of the land, it wont take care of us. It is from this perspective that we write today on the subject of stream access in New Mexico. If we care about the future of the states fish and wildlife, our environment, food security and our health, its time for better public dialogue on important issues concerning land use. Unfortunately, in the case of the current stream access debate, much of the information being disseminated is incorrect and misleading to the public, causing incalculable damage to the public/private partnerships essential to conserving and restoring our watersheds and wildlife habitats. To set the record straight, it is not true that either the 2015 River Access Law or the stream certification rule reduced public access to streams on private land. In fact, the New Mexico Legislature passed this legislation to reaffirm long-standing rules and regulations. The New Mexico Constitution recognizes both private property rights and the public ownership of water. When these two sets of rights intersect on one location, it creates the potential for conflict. The solution New Mexico has supported for decades, and which is supported by case law in the U.S. Supreme Court decision in PPL Montana LLC. vs. Montana is that in non-navigable streams, landowners own and control access to the bed and banks of the stream, while the public has the right of access to the water. This means boaters and anglers can float and fish streams across private land but cannot wade up the streambed and banks. This solution recognizes and balances both sets of rights. The currently contested stream certification rule was intended to clarify which streams are navigable and which are not. It is also time to consider the broader issues at stake. Recreation is important, but agriculture, conservation, human health and clean water are, too. Declining biodiversity poses a profound threat, and the majority of wildlife depends on private lands and private stewardship for survival. Were it not for the refugia and investments provided by private lands, we would have a fraction of the habitat and wildlife we have today. Species such as the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, among many others, would already be listed as endangered if not extinct. When landowners conserve and restore open lands, streams, watersheds and wildlife habitat, the benefits extend far beyond property lines. In New Mexico, landowners have made these investments in good faith based on long-standing private property laws and regulations. Current efforts to overturn these laws in pursuit of free recreational access are already bringing these investments to a halt. This is a critical concern at a time when we most need to keep these lands intact, both for their ecological value and, notably today, for the food, the economic security, and the foundation of human health they provide. As it is, our family farms and ranches are already struggling to survive with New Mexico losing more land to development than any other state in the West. If we are going to save the things we really care about, we need to be talking about how we can promote healthy food production, biodiversity, ecological function and related public health amidst an economic system and public policies that consistently undermine the stewardship of these values. We have to work together in an honest manner that both acknowledges the benefits and impacts of public recreation and also respects both public and private rights and contributions. Above all, we need to keep our eye at this critical moment on the things that matter most to our collective future. A man who allegedly spat in the face of a teenage KFC worker has been arrested and charged by police in Queensland. The customer is accused of verbally abusing the 18-year-old shop assistant at Capalaba KFC, 20km south-east of Brisbane, on Saturday. He then spat in her face before fleeing the scene, police allege. A 36-year-old man has been charged after allegedly spitting on a teenage worker at Capalaba KFC (pictured), 20km southeast of Brisbane Detectives canvased CCTV footage in the local area and arrested a man at Capalaba Busway. Queensland Police told Daily Mail Australia the 36-year-old taken into custody is alleged to be the same man in the CCTV footage. He appeared in court on Monday charged with serious assault and public nuisance and has been remanded in custody after undergoing a mental health assessment. It comes after another incident in Capalaba on May 6, when a man was reported to have caused a public disturbance after entering an adult shop on Tingal Rd. The assailant allegedly exposed himself before stealing a magazine and running off, The Courier Mail reported. It is not known if the two incidents are related. In Queensland, new laws were recently passed to protect frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Anyone who deliberately spits, sneezes or coughs on frontline workers can be fined up to $13,000. 'During a pandemic, a cough can be used as a weapon. A sneeze can be as dangerous as a knife. Spitting is of course always disgusting, Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said. And this new order will allow us to protect all of our essential workers from deliberate coughing, sneezing, and spitting.' Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 22:36:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People have their temperature checked while entering a market in Dhaka, Bangladesh on May 11, 2020. On Monday, major Dhaka roads and streets got busy again a day after shops and markets reopened though on a limited basis following a government order. (Str/Xinhua) by Naim-Ul-Karim DHAKA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- For the first time since March, shop owner Rahim Miah went out on Monday. "I'm going to see my boutique shop," said Miah on a Dhaka street, "I'm planning to reopen my shop soon to have some Eid shoppers." Miah's store in Mouchak, one of Dhaka's famous shopping hubs, sells stylish clothing, luxury goods and jewelry items to woo female customers especially during the Muslim Eid festival. Shukkur Ali is a street vendor in Dhaka's Rampura area. He said he reopened his stall on Sunday and got some customers. "I'll open my roadside stall of shirt, pant and baby dresses again today," he said. With about two weeks left before Eid-ul-Fitr which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that started here on April 25, many like Ali and Miah are reopening or planning to reopen their shops and stalls either inside a market or on footpaths. Dhaka, therefore, sees a big spike of traffic on its major roads and streets on Monday. People in the city are apparently no more in COVID-19 lockdown mood. On Monday, major Dhaka roads and streets got busy again a day after shops and markets reopened though on a limited basis following a government order. Mofiz Uddin Ahmed, additional commissioner traffic of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), told Xinhua Monday that the pressure of capital dwellers returning back to streets is expected to mount further in the coming days. To make the travel of the passengers easy and safe, he said additional forces have been deployed on Dhaka streets. "We've deployed 1,300 traffic personnel today to ensure the safety of motorists," he said. Even two days ago, he said around 1,000 traffic personnel were required to be deployed in the city in a relaxed motion. "But today we had to increase deployment of our forces as we faced more pressure of the people returning to the streets." "I've asked my people to equip themselves with the protective gear properly, particularly when they have to respond to emergency situations, and enforce strict traffic rules so that we can prevent COVID-19," he said. Law enforcers tasked with ensuring the safety of Dhaka dwellers are growing increasingly susceptible to COVID-19 in the country. At least 1,509 policemen have so far reportedly been infected with COVID-19 in Bangladesh. Among them, 708 contracted the virus in Dhaka city alone under the DMP. Against this backdrop, an official at DMP traffic control room who preferred to be unnamed said the increased pressure of people on Dhaka streets is a big concern for them. He said traffic on main Dhaka streets increased by around 50 percent on Monday compared with the previous two days. People in Dhaka had about one and a half month of respite from the usual crowd, noise, car honking and pollution owing to the COVID-19 lockdown which was eased later last month with permission to reopen factories. Later Bangladesh allowed re-opening of shops and markets in the country from May 10 on a limited scale. The decision also came days after thousands of the country's readymade garment (RMG) factories resumed operations amid fears that a sudden reopening of economic activities could spark a new wave of infections. The virus has spread to 63 out of the 64 districts in Bangladesh. The number of confirmed infections in the country totaled 15,691 while fatalities stood at 239 including 11 deaths on Monday. A total of 1,034 more cases were confirmed in Bangladesh in the last 24 hours as of 8:00 a.m. local time Monday, the highest daily increase in the country since March 8. Defending the government's recent move, Bangladesh Commerce Secretary Md Jafar Uddin said that the economic disruptions caused by COVID-19 have taken a toll on the livelihoods of millions of people in the country's informal sectors. "We have to contain COVID-19 and save our economy. We have to do both," said the commerce secretary. In a unique initiative, a Canadian and a Spanish student, both of Chinese origin, on Saturday cycled 100 km in Singapore to raise funds for migrants 4,000 km away in Mumbais Govandi suburb, an associate said here on Sunday. The fund-raiser by Canadian Daren Xiao, 30 and Spanish national Ke Xu Zhou, 29 - helped collect nearly (Singaporean) $1,700 at last count at 7 p.m. on Sunday. Both the students at the INSEAD Business School in Singapore hope to achieve their target of $7,000 by May 15. Daren and Zhou completed the gruelling 100 kms cyclothon in Singapore to mark her (Darens) birthday yesterday, May 9. They will continue to raise funds online for seven days, Feeding From Far (FFF) initiative co-founder Paritosh Pant, 28, told IANS here. In early April at the height of lockdown, FFF started as a small community kitchen project in Baiganwadi slum area of Govandi. In the past nearly six weeks since launch, it has dished out more than 400,000 meals to hungry and jobless migrants during the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown. The proposal was broached quite casually along with my friend and Adv. Pooja Reddy and we co-founded the FFF. People started helping us out and in the initial few days we got generous support from the legal fraternity of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, in the form of large individual donations to enable us kick-start the service, said Pant, a graduate of the countrys premier catering institute, IHM Mumbai. What was launched informally, has now turned into a serious care-giver for thousands of migrants trapped in the lockdown, as the FFF has collected funds of nearly 1 crore from various quarters and it is comfortably placed to feed the migrants for the entire lockdown, he said. Presently, we are serving around 14,000 meals daily - 7,000 lunches and 7,000 suppers to daily wage earners who have lost their livelihoods - through a team of volunteers in the area. We are taking full precautions and adhere to all Covid-19 protocols for this, Pant said. The FFF community kitchen has come up in the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)s Al Mahdi School in Bainganwadi, Govandi. As word of FFFs work spread, several celebs like Vishal Dadlani, Abish Mathew, Monica Dogra, Tanmay Bhat, Saba Azad, Rega Jha, Harish Iyer and others also chipped in for the cause of the migrants. At one point, the Rotary Club of Bombay Powai also decided to associate with the humanitarian project and helped collect around 50 lakh for the initiative, besides offers from others to join the initiative. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Dar es Salaam A series of articles that we have been running on this page have shed light on how the first polls in the country were held in 1958 while Tanganyika was still under the British colonial rule. In the polls, despite conditions set by the colonial government that required voters to vote for contest-ants from the groups of Africans, Indians and Whites, the Tanganyika African National Union (Tanu) party scored a landslide victory, scooping 28 seats out of 30 that were contested for. Two years later--1960--, parliamentary elections were held, whereby Tanu scooped 70 seats out of 71 that were contested for. After independence in 1961, Tanganyika conducted its polls in 1962 after becoming a republic, whereby Tanu emerged victorious again and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere was elected president of Tanganyika. The other polls were held in 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990 before the October 29, 1995 General Election that was the tenth to be held in the country involving a multiparty political system. Until his voluntary retirement in November 1985, Mwalimu Nyerere, from the October 1965 polls, stood as the sole presidential candidate, who sailed through unopposed. Likewise, his successor, President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, was picked as the sole presidential candidate during 1985 and 1990 polls. The amendment of the constitution and the Political Parties Act of 1992 that allowed a multiparty system in the country did not only mean that the CCM contestants would be challenged by other aspirants from opposition parties in the October 1995 polls, but also saw the ruling party allowing its different cadres to contest for the position of president on the CCM ticket. After the transformation of the Tanzania politics in 1992, before the October 1995 polls, there were three by-elections that were held in 1993 and 1994 at Kwahani in Zanzibar, Ileje and Kigoma Urban on the mainland. Although the Kwahani by-election, which took place on April 19, 1993, involved opposition political parties, it was a piece of cake for CCM that got 89 percent of all votes cast. In the Ileje by-election, which was held on January 30, 1994 following the death of minister Stephen Kibona, CCM emerged victorious after getting 78.5 percent of all votes cast. The contestants for the Ileje by-election were Gideon Cheyo (CCM), who scooped 14,160 votes; Olufin-go Gwalusako (CUF, 1,000 votes); Mmanyi Malang'ombe (NCCR-Mageuzi, 908); Stewart Mwenison-gole (Tanzania Democratic Alliance-Tadea, 510); Chawinga Mulambo (Popular National Alliance-Pona, 508); Anangisye Pilika (NLD, 275) and John Tweve (Tanzania People's Party--TPP). However, in the Kigoma Urban by-election things were a bit different as CCM aspirant Azim Premji got 9,453 votes, Dr Aman Kabourou (Chadema, 5,325 votes); Pona party, 165; Tadea party 114; TPP party, 45 and NRZ party, 36. The last by-election was that one that involved the Igunga constituency, whose seat was left vacant fol-lowing the death of Education minis-ter Charles Kabeho. In the by-lection the winner was Rostam Aziz.On October 30, 1994 Tanzanians participated in the local government polls held in 2,418 wards across the country. In 1,191 wards, CCM aspir-ants sailed through unopposed. The October 22, 1995 polls were in Zanzibar to elect president who dou-bled as the chairman of the Revolu-tionary Council. That was one week before the General Election to elect president of the United Republic as well as Members of Parliament of the Union Parliament. The position of president of Zanzibar was up for grabs by two sep-arate presidential candidates namely, Dr Salmin Amour on the CCM ticket and Seif Sharif Hamad on the CUF ticket. At least 50 seats for members of the House of Representatives were contested for by 114 aspirants from six political parties. On the part of the United Republic, the October 29, 1995 General Election was held as four presidential candidates from four political parties with their running mates participated in the polls. The presidential candidates were Benjamin Mkapa (CCM), Augustine Mrema (NCCR-Mageuzi), Prof Ibrahim Lipumba (CUF) and John Cheyo (UDP). In the parliamentary elections of 1995, a total of 232 seats were up for grabs as 182 seats were contested for on the mainland and 50 in Zanzibar. The total number of seats in the Parliament of the United Republic was 274.At least 1,338 parliamentary aspir-ants from 13 registered political par-ties contested for the 232 seats. However, the only party that managed to field its contestants in every constituency was CCM. Preparations for the October 1995 polls began officially on June 9, 1995 after the lawyer of the National Electoral Commission, Abraham Senguji, declared that voters would start to be registered countrywide on August 26. 1995. Also, Senguji announced that elections of parliamentary and presidential contestants would take place on August 28 and campaigns would be launched from August 29 to October 28. On the same day, Senguji also announced that the polls would take place Sunday on October 29, 1995 as the last time when the General Election was held was in October 1990. At least eight million Tanzanians were expected to register for voting in the polls. At the time Tanzania was estimated to have a population of 26 million people. Senguji's report said that since Tanzania had already readopted a multi-party system at that time of the polls, then members and workers of his commission would cease to be members of any political party. In accordance with the 11th amendments of the Constitution of the United Republic, which were made on January 17, 1995, all the seven members and 37 workers of the NEC were not allowed to be members of any political party. "All the people who are involved in the General Election are not allowed to join any political party ... as the ones who are involved in the polls are the chairperson and deputy chairperson of NEC, workers of NEC and returning officers," Senguji told reporters as he quoted the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania. "Five members of the NEC took oaths on April 27, this year. One mem-ber took an oath on May 30 while another did that the other day," said Senguji, who also showed the report-ers his oath that he was not a member of any political party. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Tanzania Governance By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. However, what was thrilling in the polls was the action by former Labour minister Augustine Mrema, who announced to contest for Tanzania's presidency on the NCCR-Mageuzi ticket after he vacated from CCM. Mrema was expelled from a ministerial post and he later ejected himself from CCM and joined the NCCR-Mageuzi party after a tension occurred between himself and the government of President Ali Hassan Mwinyi. The tension occurred due to a debate in Parliament over a parliamentary probe's report that unearthed the issue of a foreign businessman, V. G. Chavda, who owned some sisal estates in the country. However, before that, the issue hit the headlines in the press media for several months. The parliamentary probe advised that Chavda be arrest-ed and charged with embezzlement of millions of shillings under the Debt Conversion Programme (DCP). The committee accused him of misusing Sh916 million loaned to him by the government so that he could develop sisal estates, but he could not do so. Some ministers, except Mrema, viewed the businessman as innocent. However, on February 11, 1995 the government kicked the businessman out of the country although three days later the High Court blocked the government from expelling him. After that move, Mrema, while in Parliament, did not sit with fellow ministers and instead sat with MPs and he used that opportunity to blame Mwinyi's government for protecting Chavda. Mrema said he did not agree with the government over the way it was handling the issue of Chavda. After his unwavering stand, President Mwinyi announced to expel him from the cabinet for his failure of collective responsibility. The decision to appoint Georgia's former president Mikheil Saakashvili to the post of head of the Executive Committee for Reforms of the Ukrainian presidential National Reforms Council is unclear and it "casts a shadow on bilateral political cooperation, Georgian Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze said. "This decision was very unclear and this staff decision undoubtedly casts a shadow on political cooperation between our countries," Talakvadze said on Georgian television on Saturday evening. Georgia turned to the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, which later took the issue of Saakashvili's appointment to the post of deputy prime minister off the agenda, but the president of Ukraine then appointed him head of the Committee for Reforms, he said. "We have heard the commentary that the government of Ukraine decides on its own to what posts to appoint their citizens," he said, adding that "on the other hand, when this citizen of a different country daily interferes in the internal policy of Georgia, plans destabilization and is engaged in destruction, I wonder what the position of Ukraine will be in this case." The Georgian parliament speaker said "Ukrainian society will see" in the next few months "who was really appointed as Saakashvili" as head of the Committee for Reforms. Credit: CC0 Public Domain It was a good week for Earth sciences as a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that in some cases, cold air risesand showed what that could mean for Earth's climate. They found that in the tropics, sometimes cold air rises due to the lightness of water vapor. Also, a team led by Columbia University's Colin Raymond found that potentially fatal combinations of humidity and heat are emerging across the globefar earlier than has been predicted. And a team at Rice University developed an 'artificial leaf' concept that inspired research into solar-powered fuel production which led them to create a low-cost device that splits water to produce hydrogen fuel. In technology news, a team at North Carolina State University, inspired by cheetahs, built the fastest soft robots yetquadrupeds that feature a spring-powered, 'bistable' spine and are part of a new class of robots called "Leveraging Elastic instabilities for Amplified Performance" (LEAP). Also, a combined team from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz developed a simple method for measuring the state of lithium-ion batteries using atomic magnetometry. And a team at the University of Southampton mapped wind and solar energy sites around the globe for the first time. Also, a team from Pennsylvania State University, Minjiang University and Guizhou Education University suggested that emerging supercapacitors promise storage, high power and fast charging. In other news, Anirban Basu, with the University of Washington in Seattle, calculated that the U.S. COVID-19 death rate is 1.3%excluding undetected cases. And in somewhat related news, a team at Michigan State University conducted a study into mysterious giant virusesand in so doing, identified and characterized several key proteins responsible for orchestrating infections. And finally, if you are like millions of others wondering if there is a way to increase your chances of surviving novel coronavirus infection, you might want to check out the results of a study conducted by a team at Northwestern Universitythey found that vitamin D deficiency appears to play a role in COVID-19 mortality rates. 2020 Science X Network E very now and then an American beauty brand will launch on UK shores and cause quite the stir. From the much-anticipated arrival of Glossier and the more recent UK drop of Drunk Elephant, some US exports are enough to send British beauty junkies into a major frenzy. Launching in the UK on Thursday this week (May 14) is a makeup brand set to do just that. Il Makiage is a direct-to-consumer, digital-first beauty brand, founded by a brother and sister duo in June 2018. The inclusive, bold makeup line embraces colour and a maximalist aesthetic and has been so well received in the US that, in just two short years, its become the fastest-growing ecommerce brand in the US. Il Makiage The brand will arrive in the UK with 500 skus, priced from 19, which it will sell exclusively via its own website. To make shopping easier, the company has worked with hundreds of UK-based tastemakers, including influencers and make-up artists (from micro to macro) who have created shoppable looks exclusively for the website. The waitlist to shop is now open (sign up here) and the product will go live on Thursday May 14. Keen to start planning what youll add to your bag? We were given a sneak peek at the range, and found these were some of our favourites... Woke Up Like This Flawless Base Foundation Woke Up Like This Flawless Base Foundation, 36. Buy now The brands most famous product is its Woke Up Like This Flawless Base Foundation. With an impressive 90,000 reviews, over 50,000 of which are 5-star, its one of the most reviewed beauty products in America. Other than its streak-free formula and natural matte finish, the foundation is popular because, thanks to the brand's PowerMatch questionnaire, its easy to find your perfect shade from the comfort of your own home a feature thats really come into its own in lockdown. The PowerMatch service asks a series of detailed questions (from what moisturiser you use to how often you wear foundation), to select which of the formulas and shades will suit your skin type. The Woke Up Like This foundation comes in an impressive 50 shades, so its helpful to have guidance on which will suit you. As with any algorithm, the more people that input data, the more accurate its predictions become, and thanks to the fact that over 10 million users have already taken the PowerMatch quiz, it tends to be 94 per cent accurate. If you fancy trying a new foundation while youre stuck at home in quarantine, this is one you can shop with a fair amount of confidence. Mineral Baked Blush Mineral Baked Blush in Bootylicious, 29. Buy now This gorgeous baked blush gives a really fresh flush of semi-pearlescent colour. You can apply it wet or dry, and we found it was so heavily pigmented that you really only need use the tiniest amount. The Bootylicious shade we tried gave a gorgeous natural pinky glow. Infinity Long-wear Matte Lip Cream Infinity Long-wear Matte Lip Cream, 20. Buy now If youre looking for a super pigmented, matte lip paint that wont fade or smudge as the day goes on, this one is well worth a punt. The lip cream comes in 27 bold shades, gives a richly coloured, very opaque effect and smells faintly of a delicious vanilla. Icon High Volume & Intense Curl Mascara Icon High Volume & Intense Curl Mascara, 23. Buy now This mascara, which comes in three shades, lifted our lashes without being heavy in any way. Its perfect if you like a natural, fluttery look (similar to the Glossier Lash Slick mascara), and you can build it for a bit more drama. Note, if youre in the market for something really claggy and unctuous, it might not be the one for you. F*ck Im Flawless Multi-use perfecting concealer F*ck Im Flawless Multi-use perfecting concealer, 24. Buy now This long-wear, lightweight concealer covers under-eye circles, blemishes, dark spots & hyperpigmentation with an advanced vegan, cruelty-free, oil-free & paraben-free formula. Its available in 30 diverse shades, to suit every skin type. Join the Il Makiage waiting list here [May 11, 2020] COVID-19 Impact and Recovery Analysis | PLM Software Market in the Automotive Sector 2020-2024 | Rise in IoT Integration to Boost Growth | Technavio Technavio has been monitoring the PLM software market in the automotive sector and it is poised to grow by USD 937.74 million during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of 3% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005608/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global PLM Software Market in the Automotive Sector Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact The market is concentrated, and the degree of concentration will accelerate during the forecast period. Accenture Plc, Altair Engineering Inc., ANSYS Inc., Autodesk Inc., Dassault Systemes SE, Infor Inc., Oracle Corp., PTC Inc., SAP (News - Alert) SE, and Siemens AG are some of the major market participants. The rise in IoT integration will offer immense growth opportunities. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Rise in IoT integration has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. PLM Software Market in the Automotive Sector 2020-2024: Segmentation PLM Software Market in the Automotive Sector is segmented as below: Product Collaborative Product Data Management Computer-aided Design Simulation and Analysis Digital Manufacturing Geography North America Europe APAC South America MEA To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR43612 PLM Software Market in the Automotive Sector 2020-2024: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our PLM software market in the automotive sector report covers the following areas: PLM Software Market in the Automotive Sector Size PLM Software Market in the Automotive Sector Trends PLM Software Market in the Automotive Sector Industry Analysis This study identifies automatic real-time tracking of product as one of the prime reasons driving the PLM software market in the automotive sector growth during the next few years. PLM Software Market in the Automotive Sector 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of vendors operating in the PLM software market in the automotive sector, including some of the vendors such as Accenture Plc, Altair Engineering Inc., ANSYS Inc., Autodesk Inc., Dassault Systemes (News - Alert) SE, Infor Inc., Oracle Corp., PTC Inc., SAP SE, and Siemens AG. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the PLM software market in the automotive sector are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform PLM Software Market in the Automotive Sector 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist PLM software market in the automotive sector growth during the next five years Estimation of the PLM software market in the automotive sector size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the PLM software market in the automotive sector Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of PLM software market in the automotive sector vendors Table Of Contents: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Market characteristics Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2019 Market outlook: Forecast for 2019 - 2024 Five Forces Analysis Five forces summary Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by Product Market segments Comparison by Product Collaborative product data management - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Computer-aided design - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Simulation and analysis - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Digital manufacturing - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by Product Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison North America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 APAC - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 South America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Market Driver Market Challenges Market Trends Vendor Landscape Vendor landscape Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors Accenture (News - Alert) Plc Altair Engineering Inc. ANSYS Inc. Autodesk Inc. Dassault Systemes SE Infor Inc. Oracle Corp. PTC Inc. SAP SE Siemens AG (News - Alert) Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005608/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Donald Trump is accusing Democratic governors of slow-rolling opening their states amid the coronavirus outbreak, charging them with trying to tilt the planned November election in their favour. County leaders in four counties in Pennsylvania last month took legal action trying to overturn Democratic Governor Tom Wolf's emergency stay at home order. Even after failing, some counties under Republican control there are again angling to move faster with the reopening process than is the Wolf administration. The Keystone State always has the president's attention. He won it in 2016 over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and again needs its coveted 20 Electoral College votes in November if he hopes to secure a second term. He lashed out at Mr Wolf in a Monday morning tweet as he continued a a social media blitz that included over 100 tweets and retweets on Mother's Day. "The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now, and they are fully aware of what that entails," Mr Trump wrote. The president is slated to visit the battleground state later this week, but the White House has yet to announce details of the planned trip. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, leads Mr Trump in Pennsylvania 48.3 per cent to 41.2 per cent, according to an average of several prominent polls tabulated by RealClearPolitics. Nationally, the former VP has a 4.4-point lead and would win the presidency under the Electoral College system easily, 183 to 125 over Mr Trump. (It takes 170 Electoral College votes to win.) But Mr Wolf was not the only Democratic state leader to catch the president's wrath. He accused other Democrats of "moving slowly, all over the USA, for political purposes." He was referring to Republican governors moving faster than Democratic ones to start the process of reopening their states, some going as far as opening gyms and restaurants even as Covid-19 cases are either still rising or have yet to meet the White House's own recommendation to have posted two weeks of declining cases before hitting start on the opening process. "They would wait until November 3rd if it were up to them," Mr Trump tweeting, adding this advice for Democrats: "Don't play politics. Be safe, move quickly!" Over 45 states have started the reopening process, including ones with Democratic governors -- though the furthest along states have GOP chiefs executive. Mr Wolf responded during a press conference, saying "I don't know how you stay safe and move quickly." He said there is no "magic wand" that any official can wave to overcome the realities of the virus. An Indian businessman, who owns a well-known biryani restaurant here, was on Monday sentenced to six years of jail and six strokes of cane for conspiring to have a man from a rival eatery slashed for selling the same delicacy next door in 2016, according to a media report. Zackeer Abbass Khan, 49, who owns the Zam Zam restaurant was found guilty after a long-running trial of conspiring with several others to have Victory restaurant supervisor Liakath Ali Mohamed Ibrahim slashed and scarred for selling the same delicacies next door, Channel Asia reported. While Zackeer has been jailed, he intends to appeal, his lawyer said. Zackeer had instructed business associate and long-time friend Anwer Ambiya Kadir Maideen, 50, to attack on Liakath for selling the same delicacies next door, the report said. Anwer, also an Indian-origin, the middleman in the scheme, was given five-and-a-half years' jail. He had hired secret society (gang) member Joshua Navindran Surainthiran, an Indian-origin, to attack Liakath on the face with a knife on August 26, 2015, for 1,700 Singapore dollars. Joshua was jailed for six-and-a-half years and six strokes of the cane for the slashing and other offences in November 2016. Both Zackeer and Anwer were found guilty of a charge of conspiring to cause grievous hurt to Liakath, who was left with a permanent scar, the report said. Zackeer was convicted of another charge of criminal intimidation for threatening the victim, saying: "I see how you will work here and within one week I will either hit or kill you." Anwer pleaded guilty on Monday to one additional charge of being a member of a secret society, with two other similar charges taken into consideration. The case was all about business rivalry, noted District Judge Mathew Joseph, dating back to 2005 when Zackeer and the victim were business partners. After the business failed, Zackeer blamed the victim for being "cheated" of 80,000 Singapore dollars and tensions increased after the Liakath joined the rival Victory restaurant. Allegations were tossed back and forth of customers being pulled away, and things came to a head on August 22, 2015, when the police went to both restaurants in North Bridge Road to advise them to stop touting. Four days later, Joshua slashed Liakath on the face. For his involvement, he was sentenced to six-and-a-half years' jail and six strokes of the cane in 2016, after pleading guilty to several charges. "This case is a salutary and sad reminder that one should not allow the red mist of bitterness and anger to cloud one's better judgment," said the Indian-origin Judge Joseph. He told Zackeer that he was a "successful businessman in Singapore", as evidenced in the success of Zam Zam, and "should have known better", the report said. "The resulting consequences can be severe for both the victim and the perpetrators involved. Certainly there can be no place in our society for gratuitous violence arising out of mere business rivalry," said the judge. He granted Anwer his request to defer the sentence as he needed to arrange for someone to take over his restaurant business, which has been "suffering" because of COVID-19 pandemic. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) America Ferrera gave birth to her second baby with her husband, Ryan Piers Williams. They already have a one-year-old son named Sebastian "Baz" Piers Williams. America Ferrera gives birth to a daughter On May 4, the "Superstore" actress gave birth to her first daughter, whom she named Lucia Marisol Williams. The little one arrived just in time to send her hugs and kisses to her mom on Mother's Day. Ferrera shared a photo of her daughter's hand holding hers and added a caption saying that "Mama, Dada & Big Brother" are so happy to welcome her bright to their family. Williams also shared the same photo saying that the "most exquisite little creature" joined their family on May 4, 2020. He also added that their baby girl arrived just on time for Mother's Day, and everyone is healthy and happy. America Ferrera's epic baby shower The couple also said that they had an "epic" baby shower that was hosted by Eva Longoria and Elsa Collins but not the typical type of shower. The party was made to help migrant families that are suffering because of the coronavirus pandemic. Williams shared that they have partnered with Yes We Can World Foundation and This Is About Humanity to send essential supplies to the mothers and children in Mexico asylum. He is thanking all their families and friends who donated and helped make it happen. Ryan Williams included a link in his bio for those who would like to donate to the migrant families in Lucia's name. America Ferrera's message to mothers A month ago, America Ferrera shared a powerful message to all pregnant mothers who are struggling during this time of global health crisis. She said she is afraid of the unknowns brought by the pandemic while she is carrying her baby, so she is also thinking of all the mothers experiencing the same. The actress is also calling out to all the women across generations and centuries who have given birth and are currently "birthing new life" through the "extraordinary and daunting circumstances." She said that life is a miracle, and mothers have made it possible with the strength and power that they have. Surprise birthday party for Ferrera On April 18, Ferrera celebrated her birthday, and her husband surprised her with a Zoom birthday party. She said that she had seen many parties celebrated through Zoom, and she even thought to herself how it could make someone happy. When she experienced it, she was completely overwhelmed with joy and love. Adding to that, she said she had no idea how much she had wanted to be with her community and see their faces so much. Her husband has made his wife's quarantine birthday the most "joyous and memorable," said the then-pregnant actress. America Ferrera announced on New Year's Eve that she was pregnant. She posted an adorable photo of her showcasing her belly bump, her husband, and their firstborn. It was apparent how happy the couple were to welcome their new bundle of joy. Some of the food parcels prepared by the Cregagh Community Association Some of the food parcels prepared by the Cregagh Community Association Many people currently on furlough due to the pandemic are refusing to sit on their hands and have turned to volunteering to keep busy and help those most in need in these uncertain times. They include Cara Doran (23) from north Belfast, who for the past six years has been a receptionist at Belfast's Merchant Hotel, a casualty of the Covid-19 crisis and now closed along with countless other bars and restaurants. With no idea when she will be back behind her desk in the lobby, Cara was keen to use her free time to make a difference through volunteering. Now for six days a week she is one of the 'soup-er heroes' making deliveries throughout the greater Shankill area to the most vulnerable, elderly and those in need. On a typical day Cara packs her car full of deliveries before heading to around 20 homes, where people of all ages are isolating from the virus. "After a few days of being at home when the hotel closed I just knew that I had to do something during this pandemic," Cara said. "With all this free time on my hands, I couldn't just sit about not helping out people in need. I saw an advert on Facebook that the Spectrum Centre were seeking drivers for soup deliveries and got in touch. "It's contact-free work where I deliver the soup and leave it outside the homes, rap the door and then walk away." Cara says the work has been really fulfilling. "Everyone is friendly and very appreciative. Some are quite lonely and do like to have a chat, which is fine, and I do. "From a mental health point of view, doing this is a great help as it gets you motivated to get up and go out. "If I can help out in any way when this is all over, I will stay involved with the centre," Cara added. Meanwhile, Joan Murphy (61) is four weeks into her stint delivering soup with the same group, having been furloughed from her job at the Movie House Cinema at Yorkgate, where she has worked for 12 years. "I locked the cinema doors for the last time on St Patrick's Day and it was a really weird feeling not knowing when the projectors would be back on again," Joan said. "After two weeks of pacing the floor I knew that I needed to be doing something and started following some community pages on social media who needed drivers for delivery. "Giving up a few hours for three days each week really isn't that much, but you get to know those you meet on the run and your fellow volunteers. "I'm loving being a part of this as I'm getting a lot out of it and it gives your week some structure too. Plus I'm getting to know parts of Belfast I had never been to before." Tens of thousands of food packages are also being delivered to those who are shielding, the financially vulnerable or people who may be experiencing difficulties physically accessing food. Numerous local voluntary groups are involved, including Cregagh Community Association in east Belfast, and it's where Joanne Snodden (38) helps to deliver 30 food and essential items parcels every Friday. The mum-of-two was a children's play worker with Venture Kids after school club and was keen to help others in whatever way she could. "It gives me a reason to get up, dressed and get out there," Joanne explained. "We put the parcels together in Mount Merrion Church and then normally divide the runs up so you take about six each. "Last Friday when I dropped off a parcel with one wee man he just burst into tears he was so happy. "My daughter was in the car at the time and she asked me why he was crying, so I had to explain it was because he was thankful as he can't get out himself. "This has also been a chance for her to learn the importance of helping others." Elsewhere Maura O'Brien (47) from Glengormley was previously an administrator with a construction firm for over three years before being furloughed on April 1. Now she is using her free time to do shopping for an elderly couple who are self-isolating after registering with the Volunteer Now website. "It's a chance to give something back because initially I felt a sense of guilt that I was still being paid to do nothing whilst others are working hard on the front line," Maura said. "I phone the couple every week, get their order for groceries the next day, do the shopping and then leave it on their porch. "At this stage I know their shopping list better than my own. "They are a lovely couple and you could easily sit and talk to them all day on the phone. "I'm glad to be doing this as I can't get to see my own parents back in Co Tyrone at the moment. "You'd love to be able to do more but every little helps. "I'd urge anyone considering doing something to help others so just get out there and do it," she added. New Dark Web Search Engine Can Strengthen Business Security The Dark Web has a sinister, foreboding, reputation for good reason. It can be used to infiltrate organisations and businesses and use their data and steal important corporate information. People also go to the Dark Web to anonymously buy illegal drugs, to watch child pornography, get credit card numbers, fake passports, Bitcoin Lottery Tickets, Fake College Degrees, weapons and also to find murderers for hire. If the Internet is an online world of towns and cities, then the dark web is the red-light district, the hideouts of criminals and all the other dark alleys and criminal enterprises that exist in the underground economy. Terrorists use the Dark Web to hide and organise. There are libraries of pirated books and music on the dark web. The Dark Web is growing. Some analysts would say that it is more than just growing and that before long it will change the Internet as we know it. In November 2019, a Dark Web search engine called Kilos emerged from the depths of the cyber-criminal underground, ostensibly to play the role of new heavyweight champion of search engines for cyber-criminal marketplaces, forums, and illicit products. Yet the Dark Web is only a small part of the Deep Web, which is a massive portion of the Internet not indexed by normal web search engines. The Dark Web is essentially comprised of small peer-to-peer networks and larger and growing Dark Web networks like Tor, Freenet and I2P. Cyfirma, a threat discovery and cyber intelligence startup, has brought out a report on the dark web marketplace, focusing on the changes in cyber criminals approach and attitude, in the times of the Covid-19 crisis. Kumar Ritesh, the CEO of Cyfirma, believes that the attacks will become more frequent and sophisticated as the pandemic continues. A New Legitimate Dark Web Security Search Engine Now there is a Dark and Deep Web search tool that is legitimate and can be used by organisations and governments wanting to reduce their risk of cyber-attack. Canada's Echosec Systems has recently released Beacon, a security tool that's designed to analyse the Dark Web and help legitimate organisation comprehend and monitor how they are being hacked. Beacon is a Dark Web search engine that allows users to search anonymously, without the need for a TOR browser, designed to be simple to interact with, while incorporating powerful advanced search tools, making searching unindexed data in the Dark Web as easy as using a surface web search engine. The idea behind Beacon is that it can be used by a company to potentially head off, or at the very least mitigate, a potential disaster. Since the bulk of the data on the Dark Web is essentially unstructured, the Echosec team crawled the Dark Web, indexed its content and then built a natural language query interface that allows non-hackers to access that information quickly and easily. Simply put, Beacon is like Google for the Dark Web. The CTO of Echosec, Michael Raypold uses the story of Coca-Cola's attempt, some years ago to acquire a Chinese soft drink company. Unknown to Coca-Cola executives, the company's secret plans and negotiation tactics were not secret because Coca-Cola had been previously hacked. Beacon did not exist at that time, but it's likely that some of the information retrieved from the hack and many pilfered emails would have ended up on the dark web, then Beacon could have unearthed them, letting the company know of its vulnerability long before 2009 and perhaps allowing Coca-Cola to mitigate the damage. The goal of Beacon is to enable companies to easily examine data on the dark web as a way of locating the potentially harmful information. This could include stolen corporate emails, company documents, personal info, or other such data that could be detrimental to a company, its brand, or its customers. While hackers and scammers have been leveraging the pandemic to push out malware and phishing emails as part of their cyber- attack campaigns to steal data from businesses and consumers, there seems to be an understanding amongst hacker groups to not cross the line of humanity by selling fictitious vaccines. However, there is a group of hackers who have ignored this warning and are choosing to sell fake vaccines and making anywhere from US$ 99 to US$ 25000. According to Cyfirma these hackers are from North Korea and have got interest from buyers in Italy, Spain, France and the US. Payment is being made via bitcoin, few bitcoin accounts have collected to the tune of US$ 400K just in the last six days. The obvious fallout of this malicious act is loss of money by the users but in order to get the vaccine, they have shared their personal identifiable information including health and social security details. Theft of personal information will also fetch additional financial gains for the hackers. Cyfirma predicts that personal information provided to buy fake vaccines could be used for the next wave of cyber-attacks. Cyber Criminals Take Advantage Of Global Pandemic The Covid-19 pandemic has enforced social distancing. Many employees are now working remotely in distributed operations. This increase in remote work arrangements, both temporarily and permanently, is creating significant growth in network access and traffic which provides more opportunities for threat actors to strike. Cyber criminals quickly recognised the opportunities the pandemic provided them. Cyber criminals are sending emails that resemble legitimate coronavirus-related notices in phishing attacks targeting anxious individuals expecting such communications. The attacks aim to get readers to click through on false links that promise coronavirus guidance. Covid-19 themed phishing campaigns using Word and PDF documents that include names like coronavirus response, coronavirus practices, and coronavirus safety. Attackers are also using images and names of entities like the UN, WHO, CDC, FDA, and commercial companies in targeted fraud and phishing campaigns embedded with malware that would infect corporate networks, these phishing attacks deploy social engineering tactics to steal data and assets. Hackers were also spreading fake news to create further confusion. By investigating the dark web marketplace, Cyfirma uncovered illicit groups selling organic medicine claiming to cure and eradicate the Covid-19 virus (this is separate from fake vaccines). These discussions in the hackers communities were carried out in Mandarin, Japanese and English. Hackers leveraging the Covid-19 pandemic are motivated by a combination of personal financial gain as well as political espionage to cause social upheavals. Threat actors in the world of cyber-crime are equipped with the tools, technology, expertise and financing to further both commercial and political agendas. In our hyper-connected digital world, cyber crime is a lucrative business, and we should expect attacks to be more frequent and more sophisticated as the pandemic continues to cast a shadow over the global economy. Government agencies, large telecommunications, retail, transportation, healthcare, manufacturing, B2C and supply chain companies are within the radar of hacker groups. While all businesses are at risk of cyber-attacks, SMEs tend to be most vulnerable as they typically have fewer measures in place to protect their systems and data. Echosec expects to sell Beacon mainly to corporate customers interested in keeping tabs on their intellectual property, corporate secrets and other sensitive data. Digital Shadows: Express Computer: Analytics India: Hot Hardware: Beacongainer: BCTE Technology: CIO Applications: You Might Also Read: Whats On The Dark Web?: Two weeks after the federal government extended the ban on flight operations across the country as a measure to check the spread of COVID-19, Some Key political figures are feeling the hit of the lockdown operations. Naija News understands that the Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade is one of the popular political elite that has begged for President Muhammadu Buhari led administration to ease the ban operation on domestic and local flight operations across the country. Speaking While, inspecting the ongoing asphalting of the dualized Odukpani-Calabar highway in the state, Ayade opposed the continued closure of Nigerias domestic airspace, lamenting its negative impact on the aviation, hospitality and tourism sectors of the economy. The suspension of domestic flights has affected most hotels, leading to their closure. It is so bad that most hotels including the five-star hotels are shutting down because they cannot even sustain the cost of diesel for their generating sets and as that happens, they start laying off workers, he said. So, you have a lot of workers, young people who used to work in the hotels and the tourism industry, out of jobs. And the big question is, how long can this continue? The caterers who supply food to the hotels are all out of business. All the suppliers are out of business. So, as we continue to lock the domestic airports for another four weeks, what we are going to have in terms of economic loss, and in terms of social delinquency, the associated moral and social tension that will come with it, will be just too huge for the country to bear. Ayade said rather than ban domestic flights, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) should devise strict guidelines to enable the aviation sector to continue to operate without escalating the number of COVID-19 cases in the country. Share this post with your Friends on New clusters of Covid-19 have been reported in the South Korean capital, Seoul, and the Chinese city of Wuhan where the global outbreak originated sparking fears of a second wave of infections in two countries thought to have tamed the virus. The South Korean cases have been linked to nightclubs and bars in the capital city, with officials searching for thousands of people who may have been infected. Seouls party district is now banned from hosting crowds of people, and President Moon Jae-in has warned South Koreans to never lower their guard in efforts to prevent the virus from again taking hold. Held up as a global model on how to manage the coronavirus, South Korea had been on track to loosen restrictions following weeks of surveillance and social distancing measures. But the country announced its highest number of new Covid-19 cases in more than a month this Monday. Gyeonggi province and the city of Incheon followed Seoul in ordering the closure of clubs and bars following the detection of fresh cases. The capital's nightlife cluster has prompted officials to delay the reopening of South Korean schools. Meanwhile China is also introducing renewed restrictions after five new cases were reported in the central city of Wuhan, and another 12 in the north-eastern city of Shulan. Authorities say the small Wuhan cluster came from the same residential compound, and that no cases were imported from overseas. Wuhan was the worlds first city to go into lockdown, lasting 76 days. An increase in infections has led to a lockdown being imposed on the city of Shulan, in the province of Jilin, which borders both Russia and North Korea. China's National Health Commission urged people to "stay alert, warning the new clusters were a reminder to be on the lookout for symptoms, and to avoid social gatherings. The new clusters in east Asia come as parts of Europe begin to cautiously reopen. Teaching and writing articles about Western political concepts such as constitutionalism resulted in the firing of Shanghai professor Zhang Xuezhong in August 2012. (Weibo.com) Chinese Scholar Detained for Proposing Transition to Democracy An outspoken Chinese constitutional scholar was detained overnight after he publicized a letter to the regimes rubber-stamp legislature that criticized the one-party political system and proposed a transition toward a genuine democratic government. Late on May 10, Zhang Xuezhong, 43, was taken from his Shanghai home by police, Chinese dissident Mo Zhixu said on his Facebook page. Officers arrived at Zhangs house in three police cars and took him into custody, two of Zhangs Shanghai-based friends told BBC Chinese. But late on May 11, Wang Aizhong, another Chinese dissident, wrote on Twitter that Zhang had been released. In his letter, Zhang blamed the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus outbreak on the regimes arbitrary suppression and strict control over society, which he said had almost completely destroyed the organizing and self-help capacity of the Chinese society. The letter was addressed to deputies of the National Peoples Congress (NPC), the CCPs rubber-stamp legislature that will meet on May 22 in Beijing for its annual plenary session, which was previously scheduled to meet in March but had been delayed by the virus outbreak. After it was posted on WeChat, a Chinese social media platform, on May 9, the letter quickly went viral and was widely circulated online. A Fake Constitution Chinas current constitution is a fake constitution, Zhang wrote, because it is just a manual used by the ruling party to organize and run its regime. Because China has not built a modern political system in accordance with a genuine constitution, its social governance remains extremely backward, he wrote, adding that the outbreak and spread of the epidemic have been a good indication of the problem. According to Zhang, the lack of transparency and scrutiny, the silencing of whistleblowers, the incompetence of local governments, and the human rights disasters caused by the draconian quarantine measures have shown that the last 70 years [of CCP rule] has been a complete failure not only in nation-building but also in social governance. Zhang urged the NPC deputies to transform the legislature into a special body to initiate national political transition, which formulates election rules and appoints an impartial election commission. The NPC should order the immediate release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, end the ban on free media and political parties, and abolish the special status of the CCP, so that a supreme transitional authority can be elected through direct universal suffrage, the letter said. The supreme transitional authority will then create a drafting committee for a new constitution, and the draft constitution will be put to a referendum, Zhang proposed. Zhang also attached to the letter a draft constitution he wrote for the United Chinese Republic, which stipulates the nations leaders and parliamentarians should be chosen through democratic elections. Quitting the CCP Zhang is a renowned scholar of constitutional law and a human rights lawyer. In 2011 and 2012, he wrote to Education Minister Yuan Guiren twice, urging him to remove courses about Marxism and Maoism from the compulsory curriculum for university students. In 2012, after he announced on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging platform, that he had relinquished his CCP membership, his posting was soon deleted by censors. In 2013, Zhang was fired from his teaching position at the East China University of Politics and Law in Shanghai for teaching and writing articles about constitutionalism. That notion has been a rallying point for reformists in China seeking restraints on state power, while also been vociferously attacked by communist ideologues who see in it the destruction of the Communist Partys peoples democratic dictatorship. In April 2019, Shanghai authorities revoked his license to practice law. Data network solutions provider Sterlite Technologies has said it will go slow on the proposed Rs 300 crore expansion of cable manufacturing units in India and Italy, following global coronavirus pandemic. The expansion, which was slated to begin in June this year, will now start around March 2021, when there is greater clarity on the business environment, Sterlite Technologies Group CEO Anand Agarwal told PTI. "We have a plan of expanding cabling facility but we have slowed that down, we are currently looking at supply-demand scenario...," he said. The Rs 300 crore expansion blueprint of cable manufacturing units in India and Italy entailed increasing the capacity from 18 million to 33 million fibre kilometres, he said adding, "we have delayed that plan by 6-9 months". "...it was supposed to start by June 2020 but we delayed by 6-9 months. Now, it will start by March 2021," he said. With its portfolio spanning optical fibre and cables, network design and deployment as well as network software, Pune-based Sterlite Technologies positions itself as integrated solutions provider for global data networks, with optical preform, fibre and cable manufacturing facilities in India, Italy, China and Brazil. It is currently operating at at 60-65 per cent of its global production capacity and has put in place measures to ensure that staff on duty at its units adhere to social distancing norms and come in staggered shifts. The data network solutions provider is hopeful that its global production capacity will reach near pre-COVID levels by May-end, if calibrated moves to reopen economies and businesses proceed as per expectation. The company -- which designs and deploys high-capacity converged fibre and wireless networks -- has also said exports from India have commenced to Europe, Middle East and Latin America. The manufacturing units in India produces preform, fibre and cable, while China unit focuses on fibre, and Italy and Brazil units on cables. In India, economic and business activities are now restarting outside containment zones, and partial movement has resumed within states, in the third phase of lockdown. The government has earlier announced extension of nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic till May 17. As on Monday, the death toll due to coronavirus pandemic stood at 2,206, while the cases have risen to 67,152 in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Every week, 200 people will be tested at health facilities in each of Indias 733 districts to check whether they have or have had the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the Union health ministry said in new guidelines released on Monday, charting out a comprehensive community surveillance strategy that experts have long said was crucial in managing the outbreak. The guidelines have been sent by the Union health ministry to all districts, which will now need to select 10 health facilities of these six need to be run by the state where certain sets of people will be put to swab as well as blood tests. The swab tests identify a concurrent infection while the blood tests can detect if a person has previously had the infection and is now fighting or has fought it off. There is a need to establish systematic surveillance for Sars-CoV-2 infection in all districts of country. This surveillance will be in addition to the routine testing as per current testing guidelines, says the document titled District level facility based surveillance for Covid-19. The purpose of surveillance in an outbreak situation is to establish a trend on how far the disease is spreading; what is the pattern like; which areas are more affected and where the containment measures are succeeding. The preparations have already begun for this survey that will be conducted at the district level, said a senior government official, who didnt wish to be identified. The ministry did not specify when the protocol will be put into place. According to the document, the 200 weekly samples will be divided into high risk and low risk groups. The high risk individuals have been identified as health workers, from whom 100 samples will be collected. The remaining 100, considered in low risk, will be evenly split between out-patient department (OPD) visitors and pregnant women. The OPD patients will include people who do not show signs of an influenza-like illness (ILI), a category of people from whom samples are routinely taken for testing for Covid-19. The samples will be collected as throat and nasal swabs for an RT-PCR test, which detects the presence of the virus, and as blood for ELISA tests that detect if a person has a type of antibodies called IgG. In subsequent rounds, IgG ELISA based testing of serum samples will replace RT-PCR based testing for surveillance purpose, the guidelines added. The swab samples will be tested in pools a strategy that reduces the number of tests that will actually need to be carried. According to guidelines, the 200 samples will be split into batches of 25. The strategy dictates that if a batch tests positive, only then will the individual samples need to be tested. Experts welcomed the move, saying it will be more effective to check the extent of disease spread than current measures. This is a systematic surveillance for action, and there is high relevance of choosing pregnant women because usually pregnant women are at the least risk of getting infected because of normally not engaging in a behaviour that can make them vulnerable towards contracting an infection. So, if a pregnant woman is found to be positive it would reflect the extent of disease spread, said Giridhara R Babu, professor and head Lifecourse Epidemiology, Public Health Foundation of India. And testing healthcare workers is necessary as these are front line workers at the highest risk, so you need to check they dont become the vectors, he added. Pooling samples for testing is the best way to save precious resources but the only thing is, it needs to be done at a place where disease prevalence is low; the ICMR guidelines recommend about 2%. If it is done in a high prevalence district then you will have to test samples individually again and again for different batches, which would defeat the purpose, said Dr Ekta Gupta, senior virologist, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, which is one of the approved labs for Covid-19 testing. The move comes a day after the Indias top medical research lab the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune announced that it had created an ELISA test to detect antibodies. Antibody testing has been controversial in the world over since initial test kits, imported mostly from Chinese companies, turned out to be unreliable. The tests will be done in addition to the random testing of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) and influenza-like illness (ILI), for which at least 250 samples are being lifted from each district as reported by HT on May 7. The sampling will have to be done in all districts, which is going to be crucial in determining the prevalence of Covid-19 in our community. It is important, said health minister Harsh Vardhan, while conducting review of the Covid-19 situation in one of the states on Thursday, referring to the tests on SARI and ILI patients. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rhythma Kaul Rhythma Kaul works as an assistant editor at Hindustan Times. She covers health and related topics, including ministry of health and family welfare, government of India. ...view detail She reopened Saturday but it was a slow day. She didnt appear overly concerned, though, pointing to larger stores that were probably getting an influx of business. I think, truthfully, other big stores were open today and I think (people) flocked to those stores because they havent been able to get there, she said on Saturday. Theyve been shut down so I think thats where the crowd was. As a newer business, though, she has a unique perspective on the outbreak. I was just getting momentum, people getting to know I was here, I have a few regular customers and then we got hit with this, she said. The downtown committee has been very helpful and encouraging, but I think it has put a damper on, of course, ourselves as well as people coming I was looking forward to summer downtown and different events, but I dont know how thats going to go now. Its something that we just have no control over. Vietnams antivirus software developer and smartphone producer Bkav on Sunday unveiled the fourth generation of its flagship Bphone smartphones, retailing between VND5.49 million (US$235) and VND9.99 million ($427). After many delays because of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, on Sunday evening, Bkav held a launch event for their latest line of Bphone products. The highlight of the night was the Bphone B86, the first smartphone without physical buttons in Vietnam, as the company touted. The smartphones shown off on the stage on Sunday evening were Bkavs fourth generation of smartphones. Thats why, besides their official names as Bphone B40, Bphone B60, Bphone B86, and Bphone B86s, they are also known informally as Bphone 4. Experience without limitation was the key message conveyed throughout the launch ceremony, repeated many times by presenters on the stage. Several speakers, who are senior officials of Bkav, took turns introducing some of the special and unique features of the new smartphones, including dual cameras with AI technology said to help everyone take a photo with the unique quality of computational photography. Thanks to the function, Bphone users can take stunning photos of fast-moving objects with the B86s camera module. Hence Bkavs slogan, freeze every moment of a movement. Bphone B86s eSim technology scraps the limitation of two or three SIM cards on one smartphone, as a Bphone user can now use up to 16 different SIM cards, or 16 different phone numbers, at the same time. The B86s waterproof rating of IP68+ means the phone can still function normally even at two meters underwater. Fourth-gen Bphones continue to use BOS, or Bphone Operating System, developed by the firms engineers. The latest version, BOS 8.6, boasts upgraded designs aiming to extend the battery life. People take photos of the Bphone B86 at the smartphones launch event on May 10, 2020. Photo: Bkav The new Bphones come in four colors black, white, pink, and blue with the intention of appealing to both male and female customers. The four models Bphone B40, Bphone B60, Bphone B86, and Bphone B86s will retail at the starting prices of VND5.49 million ($235), VND6.99 million ($299), VND8.99 million ($384), and VND9.99 million ($427), respectively. The Bphone B86 and Bphone B86s are set to be on sale from May 17, while the rest will be available for sale one month later, on June 17. Customers will be able to experience and buy the new phones at every Bphone and Mobifone store across the country. Before the launch event on Sunday evening, Bkav had launched three generations of Bphone smartphones in the years 2015, 2017, and 2018. Bkavs smartphones have received mixed feedbacks until now, some of them revolving around the fact that the phones real quality has not held up to the praise they receive from company executives. Bkav is a Hanoi-based technology firm specializing in cybersecurity, software, e-government, smartphone manufacturing, and smart electronic devices. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Battles. Wars. Fighting talk. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has outlined what the next front looks like when we move to Alert Level 2. The guiding principle remains to "play it safe". Remember, we aren't there yet. Here's the basics, updated with detail from Monday's announcement about when the move will take place. When do we move to level 2? Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday New Zealand would move from alert level 3 to level 2 at 11.59pm on Wednesday night, meaning retailers and public spaces would be largely able to reopen from Thursday, May 14. She revealed there would be a staggered approach to the loosening of restrictions, with schools reopening from the following Monday, May 18. When it comes to having a tipple at your local, however, Cabinet was not having a bar of it - at least, not yet. Jacinda says bars would have to wait until the following Thursday, May 21, before reopening. She says this is because bars posed the biggest risk. Bars and other eateries would be distinguished by the guidelines of the Easter Holiday Act legislation. Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi further clarified the rules: Patrons must be seated Patrons must be served a meal, not just drinks Serving staff must stick to serving specific tables Establishments must ensure no more than 10 people per booking Establishments cannot accommodate more than 100 people Establishments must ensure safe spacing between seated groups The rule of 10 You won't be raging it up with hundreds of your best mates anytime soon. Indoor and outdoor gatherings are limited to a maximum of 10. It applies to parties of all sorts, weddings, funerals and tangi, church meetings, and group bookings at restaurants or bars. It is the same for churches and other venues. Social distancing rules must be followed too. What remains unchanged? The basic public health measures. If you are even slightly sick, stay at home. If you have any symptoms - a runny nose or sore throat - stay at home and get a test. Wash those hands and clean surfaces regularly. Don't share your phone. The border remains closed to all except Kiwis returning home. On arrival, they will spend 14 days in an isolation facility. Keep your distance. Two metres remains the gold-standard for strangers but in your workplace or with people you know the prime minister says we can "live with less" because tracing can be done if needed. Can I throw the doors open to my workplace? Generally speaking, yes. Businesses can re-start for staff and customers but it's slightly different strokes for different folks. The Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment will be providing more advice in the coming days but here are some starters for 10s: If you can work from home it's something to talk to your boss about. The PM was encouraging it where possible. All businesses must observe the appropriate hygiene and distancing rules. Retail outlets need to follow the example already set by supermarkets, with physical distancing and regular cleaning. Hair-dressers and beauticians need to wear PPE. Bars, cafes and restaurants, stick with me here as this is quite a lot, must work under the three Ss: People must be seated. You can only have as many people as you can safely seat. No one can have more than 100 - regardless of venue size. People must be separated - physical distance is a must. This and the seating makes it easier to trace people. Tables must have a dedicated server. So seat, separate, serve. Contact tracing is also key. While the government is working on a nationwide technical fix for now businesses should be able to detail who has visited. If there are queues outside venues these must also be managed with the suitable social distancing. Those who don't follow the rules will be shut down. Again, we will learn more from MBIE in the coming days. Can we see some of our family and friends though? Your bubble can grow. But hang on to the same principles mentioned above in reference to hospitality and the basic social distancing and health measures. You can have friends and family to your home but keep the numbers small. More specific guidance is still coming. Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said while he may hug a few close family members he wouldn't be going beyond that - stick to the East Coast wave. Can I take a holiday elsewhere in NZ? A trip from Wellington to Napier to see your mum is fine. A trip to Napier for a conference with an open bar is not. So, you can gad about the place a bit more. However, keep to the social distancing rules. It's key. What about getting back to the gym and pool? They, and other public facilities like playgrounds, will re-open as long as the right rules are followed (more to come here). Professional sport can resume - rugby and netball will be doing so - but given the rules about mass gatherings it won't be with crowds. In some cases, you won't notice the difference from before! Lower level sport is back on the cards but we can expect more information on that later. Can I send my child back to school? All education facilities, including early learning, will re-open. These will liaise directly with parents. Distance learning will remain in place too. If an education facility has a confirmed case it will close for 72 hours to allow for tracing and then, potentially, another 14 days. When a decision about level 2 is made, schools won't open mid-week but at the start of the following week. Again, sick children should be kept at home and regular basic healthcare steps taken. What happens to the more vulnerable groups? Those in higher risk groups need to think about their own personal safety when outside and continue to apply social distancing and basic healthcare steps. If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP -RNZ/Greg Scanlon. Spains Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government continues to lift confinement measures, even as internal Spanish army documents forecast this will provoke new outbreaks of the disease. The state is placing the lives of millions of workers going back to work in danger, putting corporate profits above workers lives. Today, over half Spains population will move to the so-called Phase 1 of the governments deconfinement plan. Those living in harder-hit areas still in Phase 0 will have stricter restrictions on their movements, as under the previous confinement policy. But those in Phase 1 will be able to visit family members, attend funerals, go shopping, go to restaurants, hold meetings of up to 10 people, and open hotels, tourist accommodations and places of worship. This will inevitably lead to a major resurgence of the virus, according to an Informative note on long-term epidemic prediction produced by the Technical Unit of Support for Decision-Making of the Spanish army, in charge of the Armys operational research. The document has circulated among the top brass of the Spanish army, and was seen by Confidencial Digital . According to the document, there will be two more waves of the epidemic by 2021. By the fall, a second wave of COVID-19 is likely, and possibly this will happen again the following winter. This is the first official Spanish document to acknowledge the possibility of large-scale resurgence of the contagion. Previously, Fernando Simon, an epidemiologist serving as director of the Centre for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies of the Health Ministry, had warned of the risk of new outbreaks while defending deconfinement measures. This scenario is based on the Spanish armys untested and possibly overoptimistic assessment that during the summer, the number of infections will decrease as the heat will slow down the expansion, but it wont stop it completely. If this assessment proves wrong, the number of the sick and of the dying could rise even more rapidly. The armys document speaks with undisguised contempt for the lives of the working masses. It states, the problem is not so much the number of severe cases or deaths, but rather that they all accumulate at the same time again provoking the collapse of health care services. That is, the confirmed deaths of 26,621 people in Spain, 151,882 across Europe and nearly 300,000 worldwide are not a problem. Nor has the collapse of health services and the mass infections of health personnel provoked the Spanish state machine or the PSOE-Podemos government to increase health spending. If truth be told, the central concern in state circles is that a collapse of health care services could trigger an uncontrollable eruption of anger in the working class against the callousness and irresponsibility of the ruling capitalist aristocracy. The army document endorses the Social-Darwinist herd immunity policy envisaging the infection of tens of millions with COVID-19. This could lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths in Spain alone. The policy has been advocated by capitalist governments worldwide, and perhaps most crudely summarized by a UK government adviser: herd immunity, protect the economy, and if that means some pensioners die, too bad. The Spanish army document claims that future waves of infection will be less extensive or lethal because those who have already been infected will be immune to the virus, though scientists are divided on this question, and because of new treatments and a future vaccine. As a result, emerging problems will have less impact. It claims without evidence that the more infected in the current wave, the less contagious will it be in the next wave. It admits, however, that there will never be 100 percent immunity. It confidently predicts that a second wave will not be like the first, because strong confinement measures will be taken immediately and the means and treatments will have improved. Even if this were to be true, this would only underscore the enormous cost of European governments decisions not to promptly take confinement measures during the initial outbreak. The way the ruling class prioritizes profits over lives emerged last week when the Madrid regional government, ruled by the right-wing Popular Party, appealed to the central government to scale down the confinement, passing from Phase 0 to 1. That petition was made after meetings with different economic sectors, according to regional premier Isabel Diaz Ayuso. She overrode recommendations to the contrary by the regional director general of Public Health, Yolanda Fuentes, who resigned to signal her disagreement. Madrid is the epicentre of Spains coronavirus pandemic. While cynically claiming to value human life, Ayuso demanded it be balanced against profits: We have to combine life, which for me has always been the most important thing, with starting to reactivate the economy, because if we do not, we will have a lot of problems, including public order. On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister and Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias cynically criticized Ayuso, stating: The people are scandalized that some try to gain political positions playing with something as serious as saving lives. The truth is Ayuso was openly stating the policy that the PSOE-Podemos government, with the collaboration of the trade unions CCOO and UGT, are implementing. Moreover, Iglesias and the PSOE-Podemos government are just as much a political tool of big business as Ayuso and the PP. In April, the government announced the back-to-work policy a day after Rafael Domenech, from BBVA banks research team, told eldiario.org he demanded undertaking of massive testing in the population to see who is already immune to the virus, so they are ready to go to work and restart the economy. A day earlier, Ana Botin, executive chairman of Santander Group, told a group of shareholders that she had asked the government to plan, as soon as possible or even sooner, the return to work of younger people and those that are immune. The PSOE-Podemos government is now forging ties with the right-wing Citizens party. Last Wednesday, the government managed to save its fourth extension of the state of alarm, guaranteeing centralized control of the pandemic until May 24, thanks to the support of Citizens. The terms of the deal are virtually like those to include Citizens in the ruling coalitionincluding attending weekly meetings to consider progress. Iglesias thanked Citizens, calling them the civilised right. This is a political fraud. Civilised right parties like Citizens run regional governments of Madrid and Andalusia and rule thanks to the support of the fascistic Vox party, which openly hails the record of 20th-century Spains fascist dictator, the mass murderer Francisco Franco. Citizens is also famous for its austerity programme, and for its poisonous promotion of anti-Catalan chauvinism and Spanish nationalism. Podemos growing alignment with the right reveals the class character of their policy. Like its sister in Greece, the Syriza ( theCoalition of the Radical Left) government, which imposed 4 years of brutal austerity with the far-right Independent Greeks, its policies are based on fraudulent theories of left populism. A party formed in 2014 by Stalinist and Pabloite middle-class youth who came to prominence during the indignados protests of 2011, Podemos now openly defends bailouts for big business, austerity and sending the police to suppress strikes and protests. Iglesias concisely summed up his partys orientation to save capitalism and the wealth of the ruling class when he told the Financial Times of London that his government guarantees that the market economy is protected much better, and it guarantees certain minimum levels of demand and welfare. The boss of BT has urged customers to 'be on your guard' after cyber criminals launched a wave of scams targeting customers staying at home. In a shameless bid to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis, criminals are offering fake testing kits, posing as government representatives and even fraudulently claiming they are collecting donations on behalf of charities. Philip Jansen, the telecoms group's chief executive, said his company already protected customers from more than 4,000 cyber attacks per day but that there had been a spike in extra activity in recent weeks. Stay alert: BT boss Philip Jansen said his company already protected customers from more than 4,000 cyber attacks per day His comments come after spy agency GCHQ warned that foreign states believed to include China, Russia and Iran have launched opportunistic cyber attacks on Britain's research and medical institutions during the coronavirus pandemic in a bid to steal information. Jansen, 53, told the Mail: 'Unfortunately, the coronavirus crisis has created a new currency for cyber criminals and they are not shy in taking advantage of it in a really sad way.' He appealed to customers 'to be on your guard, because these guys are smart'. Jansen added: 'They will telephone and they will send you official-looking emails that no one can stop BT cannot stop those activities because they involve physical people sending them.' So-called 'phishing' attacks are when criminals try to obtain your personal information, like usernames, passwords or credit card details, by disguising themselves as a trustworthy person or business. New ones being circulated by cyber criminals, by phone and by email, attempt to entice people with the promise of 'free coronavirus test kits' and 'government insurance'. Others try to intimidate the receiver by claiming to be a healthcare provider and demanding payment for treatment that a relative has received for coronavirus. A BT spokesman added: 'Common scams include pretending to be your employer, the Government, energy companies, broadband providers, banks and even the NHS.' Hallmarks of scam emails include those with 'URGENT' in the subject line, spelling errors or unusual spellings of words in email addresses, attachments that you do not recognise, phone numbers that do not match those on a company's website and email addresses that change when you hover your mouse cursor over them. If emails look suspicious, they can be forwarded to the National Cyber Security Centre's new service report@phishing.gov.uk. 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Pandemics can spread rapidly around the world because of the ease of international transportation. Among the most salient examples are the Spanish flu of 1918, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2003, and the H1N1 influenza of 2009. Intermittently, serious regional epidemics, such as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012, Ebola in West Africa in 2014, and the Zika virus in Central and South America in 2016, have also reared their heads. Today, a novel form of pneumonia that first emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019 and has since been classified as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a global pandemic. As of May 10, World Health Organization data shows that more than 4 million people had been confirmed as having the disease, with 280,393 deaths. The virus has reached 213 countries, areas and territories with fatalities in 206 of them. Taiwan has not been spared. In the 17 years since it was hit hard by the SARS outbreak, Taiwan has been in a state of constant readiness to the threat of emerging infectious disease. As a result, when information concerning a novel pneumonia outbreak was first confirmed on Dec. 31, 2019, Taiwan began implementing onboard quarantine of direct flights from Wuhan that same day. On Jan. 2, 2020, Taiwan established a response team for the disease and activated the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Jan. 20 as a level 3 government entity, upgrading it to level 2 and level 1 Jan. 23 and Feb. 27, respectively. The CECC is able to effectively integrate resources from various ministries and invest itself fully in the containment of the epidemic. As of May 10, Taiwan had tested a total of 67,133 persons showing 440 confirmed cases, of which the majority were imported, and six deaths; 361 people have recovered. Despite its proximity to China, Taiwan ranked a low 122nd countries in terms of confirmed cases per million people. This has shown that Taiwan's aggressive efforts to control the epidemic are working. Disease knows no borders. In response to the threat of the COVID-19 epidemic, Taiwan has implemented dynamic plans concerning border quarantine measures, including onboard quarantine, fever screening, health declarations, and a 14-day home quarantine for passengers arriving from nations it has listed under Level 3 Warning. Moreover, Taiwan has established an electronic system for entry quarantine, which allows passengers with a local mobile phone number to fill in health information via mobile phone. A health declaration pass will then be sent to them via a text message. This is connected to the community care support management system, which allows government agencies to provide care services and medical assistance. Individuals' travel history is now stored on the National Health Insurance (NHI) card to alert physicians to possible cases and prevent community transmission. For those undergoing home quarantine or isolation, the government is working with telecom operators to allow GPS tracking of their locations. Quarantine offenders are subject to fines or mandatory placement according to relevant laws and regulations, so as to prevent transmission. Taiwan has also increased laboratory testing capacity, expanded the scope of its surveillance and inspections based on trends of the COVID-19 epidemic, and retested people with higher risk who had already tested negative, including patients with symptoms of severe influenza, community cases with upper respiratory tract infections who were already being monitored, and cluster cases of upper respiratory tract infections, to identify suspected cases and perform treatment in isolation wards. Meanwhile, Taiwan has designated 50 regional hospitals and medical centers and 167 community hospitals and clinics to create a tiered system for testing. These hospitals and clinics are required to set up special wards or areas; in principle, COVID-19 patients are isolated and treated individually in these wards and areas to prevent nosocomial infections. Moreover, Taiwan has banned the export of surgical masks since Jan. 24, requisitioned masks, and expanded domestic mask production to more effectively allocate masks. On Feb. 6, Taiwan launched a name-based rationing system for mask purchases at NHI-contracted pharmacies and local public health agencies. It added an ordering system for masks March 12. This allows people to order online and pick up masks at convenience stores. These measures have helped achieve effective allocation of limited resources and meet healthcare, epidemic prevention, household, and industrial needs. A crisis anywhere readily becomes a problem everywhere. Global health security requires the efforts of every person to ensure an optimal response to public health threats and challenges. Taiwan, though not a member of the WHO, cannot stand alone and must be included in the fight against such threats and challenges. Taiwan has fulfilled its responsibilities as a global citizen and abided by the International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR 2005) in notifying the WHO of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Moreover, Taiwan has communicated with other countries such as Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, the United States, Canada, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the Netherlands, as well as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, to share information on confirmed cases, travel and contact histories of patients, and border control measures. Taiwan has uploaded the genetic sequence of COVID-19 to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID). Taiwan has worked with global partners to respond to the threat of COVID-19 to ensure that global health is not imperiled by a lack of communication and transparency. If it is indeed WHO's mission to ensure the highest attainable standard of health for every human being, then WHO needs Taiwan just as Taiwan needs WHO. Yet Taiwan has long been excluded from WHO due to political considerations. This has been regrettable given all that Taiwan could share with the world thanks to its renowned public health experience, health system, NHI, and ability to perform rapid testing as well as research and manufacture vaccines and drugs against COVID-19. We can also share our methods for analyzing the virus. We hope that after this pandemic abates, the WHO will truly understand that infectious diseases know no borders, and that no country should be excluded, lest it become a major gap in global health security. The WHO should not neglect the contribution to global health security of any nation. We urge the WHO and related parties to acknowledge Taiwan's longstanding contributions to the international community in the areas of public health, disease prevention, and the human right to health, and to include Taiwan in the WHO and its meetings, mechanisms, and activities. Taiwan will continue to work with the rest of the world to ensure that all enjoy the fundamental human right to health as stipulated in the WHO Constitution. Echoing the mantra of the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, no one should be left behind. Dr. Chen Shih-chung is minister of health and welfare, the Republic of China (Taiwan). In brief: Qualcomm's latest mid-range, gaming-oriented mobile platform doesn't bring a lot of new features, and instead delivers anywhere between 15 to 25 percent more raw performance when compared to the previous generation. As a bonus, it's also the first Qualcomm chipset that will receive regular driver updates. Back in March it emerged that phone makers like Google, Nokia and LG don't want to use Qualcomm's expensive flagship mobile platform in their top tier devices. The main reason is that the cost proposition isn't appealing in any way since they'd also have to buy the X55 5G or X60 5G modems separately, not to mention account for that in their designs, from fitting it on the circuit board to ensuring a decent battery life. Qualcomm says there's so much demand for its mid-range mobile chipsets that it thought it's the perfect time to introduce yet another one - the Snapdragon 768G. The G designation means this is intended for mid-range gaming phones that need a fast and relatively energy efficient chipset for avid mobile gamers. The company was short on details, but the successor to last year's Snapdragon 765G features the same Kryo 475 CPU running at a higher clock speed of 2.8 GHz, paired with the Adreno 620 GPU overclocked to yield 15 percent more performance compared to the one in the older chip. More importantly, it is able to power a 1080p display at 120 Hz and it will receive driver updates for optimal performance in the latest mobile games. This is Qualcomm's second generation 5G-capable mobile platform, and the company says it supports both sub-6Ghz and mmWave 5G "for all key regions and frequency bands." In terms of speed, it can reach 3.7 Gbps on download and 1.6Gbps on uploads, which is plenty for a mid-range chipset. There's also support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 to complete everyone's connectivity needs. The new chipset will debut in Asia inside phones like Xiaomi's sub-$300 Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition, and Qualcomm is confident it will power a variety of gaming phones, which have become popular as of late. Both Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu need the political capital that such a deal would bring them. Dr Adnan Abu Amer is the head of the Political Science Department at the University of the Ummah in Gaza. Over the past few weeks, there has been increasing talk of a new prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel. The initiative comes at a time when both sides are concerned that their prisoners might contract COVID-19 in detention facilities. On April 1, Israels Defence Minister Naftali Bennett suggested to reporters that Israel could provide humanitarian relief to Gaza in exchange for recovery of the fallen. He was referring to Hadar Golden and Shaul Aaron, two Israeli soldiers who went missing in the strip during the 2014 war. The Israeli army insists they have been killed and demands the return of their remains; Hamas maintains they are still alive and wants the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for freeing them. Israel is also interested in repatriating Avraham Mengistu, an Israeli citizen of Ethiopian descent, and Hisham al-Sayed, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, both of whom are said to have crossed into Gaza under bizarre circumstances while reportedly suffering from mental illness; Hamas has referred to both as Israeli soldiers. A day after Bennetts statement, Yahya Sinwar, Hamass leader in Gaza, said the resistance movement might make partial concessions on this matter in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, namely the sick and the elderly. This is perhaps the first time that Hamas has announced this level of flexibility regarding the Israeli prisoners it holds. Previously it had always insisted that Israel first sets free all high-profile Palestinian prisoners it rearrested after releasing them following the 2011 Gilat Shalit prisoner exchange something Israel has refused to do. On April 7, Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement calling on Yaron Blum, the official in charge of the issue of prisoners, to initiate contact with mediators to discuss how to move forward with a possible prisoner exchange. By mid-April, reports started appearing in the Arab and Israeli press, claiming Egypt has started mediation, forwarding proposals between the two sides. In early May, Netanyahu called a security cabinet meeting to discuss important national security developments, reportedly including the latest developments surrounding the possible prisoner swap deal with Hamas. Although the details of these early discussions are still unclear, it seems both sides are more serious about this initiative than previous ones. Israel realises that the healthcare system in Gaza, which is under the control of Hamas, is at its worst, raising the possibility that its prisoners lives might be at risk if they contract the disease. Hamas is also concerned about Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons following the announcement that some Israeli prison guards, as well as Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in the West Bank, tested positive for COVID-19. But even if the coronavirus outbreak is brought under control, as the Palestinians and Israelis hope, talks of a prisoner swap deal will likely continue because the issue of Israeli prisoners is of major importance to some circles of Israeli decision-makers. Hamas has been reminding Israelis from time to time of their prisoners, putting pressure on the Israeli leadership. The movement has signalled that it may publish a short video or other proof that the two Israeli soldiers are alive. Such a development, if it takes place, will represent a turning point that will shock the Israeli public. Hamas ultimately wants the swap deal to happen in two stages the first one will likely involve Hisham al-Sayed and Avraham Mengistu in return for basic humanitarian assistance. The second stage would see the release of Hadar Golden and Shaul Aaron in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile ones, members of Hamas and other Palestinian factions. Given the sensitivity of this demand, striking a deal for these two prisoners will take more time. It would be difficult for Israel, especially under Netanyahus leadership, to fulfil these demands because he does not want to be seen as conceding to Hamas by releasing high-profile prisoners twice. The prisoner exchange talks should be seen within the larger efforts of the past few years to establish some kind of a ceasefire between the two sides. In fact, it is possible a ceasefire might be included in the provisions of the deal. This, of course, does not mean there will be a major change in Israeli-Hamas relations. It only shows that such a deal has become politically expedient for both sides. For Netanyahu, this is the ideal time to push for a deal. Under the new unity government, he, as a prime minister, would be able to reap the political benefit of bringing Israeli captives home and at the same time would be cushioned from any potential fallout or negative public reaction by the presence of his main opponents in the ruling coalition the Blue and White alliance with its two popular retired generals Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi. At the same time, Netanyahu probably hopes that a potential ceasefire in Gaza would help push through his plan for the annexation of parts of the West Bank without major popular disturbances among the Palestinians in the strip. Hamas, too, stands to benefit from a deal. It has held the Israelis for nearly six years now and given the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the strip, the time has come for it to play this political card in order to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. The release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners would increase its popularity among Palestinians at the expense of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has failed to secure such a concession from Israel over the past quarter of a century. However, Hamas is unlikely to agree to a ceasefire which would involve it holding back popular protests against the annexation. Such a move would amount to political suicide and the movement has already indicated it will openly resist any move to annex Palestinian territories. If the announcement of Israels illegal annexation of the West Bank is made, it may temporarily interrupt negotiations on the prisoner exchange, but it is unlikely to completely kill the initiative. Both sides appear quite serious about it and both need the political capital that would come with a successful prisoner exchange. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr on Sunday sent a formal request to the U.S. Department of Justice, asking them to investigate the handling of the Ahmaud Arbery case. Arbery, 25, was shot and killed February 23, but no arrests were made until Thursday, after cellphone video of the shooting emerged earlier in the week. "The request to the U.S. Department of Justice includes, but is not limited to, investigation of the communications and discussions by and between the Office of the District Attorney of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit and the Office of the District Attorney of the Waycross Judicial Circuit related to this case," Carr said in a press release Sunday. The case is currently on its third prosecutor due to conflicts of interest. According to Carr, his office received a request from Office of the District Attorney of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit on February 27 to appoint on new prosecutor. Carr's office granted the request and appointed the Waycross Judicial Circuit's district attorney. "At the time of the request by the Brunswick Circuit District Attorney and acceptance by the Waycross Circuit District Attorney, neither revealed to the Office of the Attorney General that the Waycross Circuit District Attorney had already taken a role in the case in reviewing evidence and advising the Glynn County Police Department regarding whether to make arrests in the case," Carr said in the statement. A second request to appoint another new prosecutor was made on April 7, according to Carr. "In the request of April 7, 2020, the Waycross Circuit District Attorney indicated that he and the Brunswick Circuit District Attorney learned as of 'about 3-4 weeks ago,' that his son who is employed as a prosecutor in the Office of the Brunswick Circuit District Attorney had handled a prior prosecution of Mr. Arbery and that one of the defendants in this case had also served as an investigator on the same prosecution," Carr said. "The request of April 7, 2020, did not provide any reason for the delay in contacting the Office of the Attorney General to request appointment of a new prosecutor since the discovery of those facts." Story continues Georgia Chase Deadly Shooting Gregory McMichael, left, and his son Travis McMichael, were charged on May 7, 2020, with murder in the February shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery. Glynn County Detention Center via AP One of the two suspects, Gregory McMichael, 64, used to work for the local district attorney as a law enforcement officer. McMichael's son, Travis, 34, was also arrested. When Carr was asked Saturday why the McMichaels went months without being arrested, he said, "There's a lot of questions that are being asked, and I'm asking the same thing." "What I do know is that once the state was asked to participate, it took 48 hours," Carr added. Several local county commissioners have stated that the office of Jackie Johnson, the local district attorney that McMichael used to work with, initially blocked the arrests in February. Meanwhile, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations on Sunday arrested a man who made a Facebook post "that contained a threat to future protests related to Ahmaud Arbery." Rashawn Smith, 20, was charged with Dissemination of Information Relating to Terroristic Acts, according to the GBI. How build-it-yourself firearms skirt most federal gun laws How Amazon is handling the coronavirus pandemic How dishonest politics upended a coronavirus researcher's funding Politico has never been known as a cheerleader for Republicans, so when it headlines, "Democrats are on verge of the unthinkable: Losing a swing district in California," you know that the donkeys are facing a humiliating and symbolically important blow to their House majority and a possible portent of disaster on November. Recall that pervy Congresswoman Katie Hill resigned after being caught in sexual involvement with her staff. Tomorrow will see a special election in her suburban Los Angeles district largely in the Inland Empire, pitting a Dem state rep against a ruggedly handsome retired Navy combat veteran fighter pilot, who just happens to be Hispanic. Amy Mutnick of Politico writes: California Republicans may be on the verge of something they haven't done in more than two decades: capturing a congressional seat from Democrats in the nation's most populous state. Tuesday's special election runoff in the Los Angeles suburbs, which is taking place because of former Rep. Katie Hill's resignation last year, has Democrats bracing for defeat in a district they flipped by 9 points in the 2018 midterms. Armed with a highly touted recruit and an older, less diverse electorate than in general elections, Republicans feel they are on the verge of an upset. Private polls show the race in the state's 25th District is within just a few points, and Democrats are already downplaying expectations for their nominee, state Assemblywoman Christy Smith, citing depressed turnout in the midst of a pandemic and the negative impact of the scandal surrounding Hill, who resigned amid allegations that she had inappropriate sexual relationships with staffers. The GOP is running a solid candidate: I am running to serve again; to protect what I fought for as a Navy fighter pilot. With CA's problems of high taxes and homelessness threatening to spread across the nation, we need a fighter in Congress, not a career politician. I am ready to answer the CALL once again. pic.twitter.com/MawIqfri0j Mike Garcia (@MikeGarcia2020) March 30, 2020 And President Trump is all in in support: A great man for Washington! Will Drain the Swamp! https://t.co/IHdPE3JGXL Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2020 A sure sign of the Dems' panic is a last-minute change in the rules. The Wall Street Journal reports: The race is also being watched because of its heavy reliance on mail-in voting. In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed an executive order requiring county elections officials to mail a ballot to every registered voter in the California House district. Some in-person voting will also be allowed, as state law requires. President Trump became more involved in the race with a series of tweets over the weekend alleging that it was rigged after county officials on Friday said they were adding a new in-person polling station in a part of the district with more minority voters. "They are trying to steal another election. It's all rigged out there. These votes must not count. SCAM!" Mr. Trump tweeted Saturday. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk announced Friday it would open an in-person voting center in Lancaster at the request of the city's Republican mayor. On Monday, the head of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party had complained that the registrar's office had failed to provide voting centers in areas that are predominantly black or Latino and called for an additional voting center in Lancaster. Mr. Garcia said on Twitter Friday night that Democrats had waited until the last minute to call for a new polling center. That polling center is one of only 13 that will be open (instead of the customary thousand) and is located in an area of Lancaster with a large and growing black population. The district voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 by a margin of 7 points, but Smith made a serious blunder: The latest trouble for Democrats occurred last week when a leaked video of a Smith virtual town hall showed her mocking her opponent's focus on his military resume. It was a misstep in a district that includes Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works in Palmdale that designed the U-2 spy plane and the F-35; other major defense contractors; and military bases. Smith apologized. "Without question I have the deepest respect for Mike Garcia's service to our country and I'm sorry for comments that I made that might suggest otherwise," she said in a statement. But the National Republican Congressional Committee called it "disgusting," and Trump weighed in, writing on Twitter: "Vote @MikeGarcia2020 by May 12th! His opponent @ChristyforCA25 . . . Now she's mocking our Great Vets! We need Navy Fighter Pilot Mike Garcia in #CA25!" Moreover, Republican voters have a history of turning out in special elections more heavily than Democrats. If Garcia wins, expect the national media to mostly ignore the election. Even though his term would be only a few months, it would make him the incumbent and give him the opportunity to provide constituent services that are sorely needed during the lockdown. NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 1,000 frontline workers in 40 states across America and more than nine countries have received personalized thank you videos from people at home thanks to 6FTCloser . The platform, which was founded in mid-April and built by a team of twenty-something entrepreneurs across the country, allows anybody to send a quick, personalized thank you video at no cost to a frontline worker whom they've never met. 6FTCloser facilitates anonymous matches between those who would like to personally say 'thanks' and frontline workers who have been nominated by friends, colleagues, and loved ones. Companies and municipalities are also participating in a 'gratitude challenge' by encouraging employees and residents to make videos. Noah Friedman, 6FT Closer Sahil Bhaiwala, 6FTCloser "I was seeing the tireless effort of those on the front lines and felt both deeply grateful for their work and increasingly motivated to reach out directly to say thank you," said co-founder Noah Friedman, an entrepreneur who conceptualized the idea. "We built 6FTCloser as a way to create connection, hope, and positivity in a time when we're physically apart and our essential workers need it most." The need to show support is especially important amidst the increasing trauma many frontline workers are experiencing. Leading psychiatrists continue to express mental health concerns on their behalf and, have reinforced the benefits of positivity in such a trying time. The platform was created quickly with the common goal of bringing compassion and connection to a world in isolation due to COVID-19, and its positive impact has been clear. Friedman states, "The messages from the frontline workers inspire us to keep the connections flowing. One example is this exchange: "Thank you for sending me such a sweet message," said Lauren - a nurse in Ohio replying to her message from Ariella in Buffalo. "I'm actually on shift right now and I teared up. It means a lot to have the support of you and others during this challenging time." The 6FTCloser team continues to build toward their vision of connecting the world through authentic recognition and gratitude to empower people to live more hopeful, empathetic, and positive lives. Said co-founder Sahil Bhaiwala: "We have been humbled by the power these simple personal messages are having. The world will always need some positivity and hope, and we encourage everyone to take a moment and create some." To participate, individuals can simply sign up on 6FTCloser's website ( www.6ftcloser.com ) to be matched with an essential worker and receive instructions on how to make their video. 6FTCloser securely, privately, and with permission delivers the message. No app download is required. The process is simple, free, and only takes a few minutes. Contact: 6FTCloser 212-627-5766 SOURCE 6FTCloser This story has been updated. Authorities have identified the two people who died last week in a murder-suicide north of Battle Ground. The Clark County Medical Examiners Office said Leon Garcia, 54, shot Rita Sizemore, 50, multiple times in the torso with a rifle, and then shot himself in the head. The Clark County Sheriffs office said the two were found on Sunday, May 5 inside a home in the 13600 block of Northeast 319th Street. Support for anyone experiencing domestic violence is available: Portland Womens Crisis Line: 888-235-5333 National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1800-799-7233 Call to Safety: 503-235-5333 Project Unica, which serves, Latinx survivors: 503-232-4448 Clackamas Womens Services: 888-654-2288 Domestic Violence Resource Center in Washington County: 503-469-8620 or 1-866-469-8600 Cowlitz Indian Tribe Pathways to Healing, Vancouver, WA. Office: (360) 397-8228 YWCA Clark County Safe Choice, Vancouver, WA. Office: (360) 696-0167, Crisis Line: (800) 695-0167 Help is available for anyone dealing with a mental health crisis or suicidal thoughts: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 Multnomah County: 503-988-4888 or 1-800-716-9769 Clackamas County: 503-655-8585 Washington County: 503-291-9111 Southwest Washington: 1-800-626-8137 or 866-835-2755 Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR Jim Ryan contributed to this story. Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Opinion Article 11 May 2020 The survey discusses COVID-19 pandemic and its unprecedented impact on the Bangkok hotel market. On a property level, the survey focuses on hoteliers' point of view on contingency measures, business strategies, signs of recovery, and comparison between pre- and post-COVID-19. The survey was distributed to participants on 15 April 2020 and the data collection period was available through 30 April 2020. Advertisements Photo: HVS Survey Overview: Contingency Measures, Signs of Recovery, and Market Outlook The level of effectiveness for each contingency measure Other contingency measures being undertaken Contingency measures being undertaken from the Corporate Office to support Hotel Owners The period of implementing the contingency measures F&B business models to support local resident demand Staycation business model (*staycation: local resident demand) An indication of signs of recovery A recovery period by each market segment A recovery period by each source market The market's dynamic between pre- and post-COVID-19 Key Takeaways Over 70% of the sample hotels are located in Middle Sukhumvit, Siam-Chidlom-Ploenchit, and Silom-Sathorn areas. of the sample hotels are located in areas. There are a number of contingency measures being undertaken to control operating cost at a property level. The contingency measures are planned for an average of 4.5 months . . 21% of corporate offices offer to defer management/license fee payments . of corporate offices offer to . Respondents have difficulties ascertaining clear signs of a recovery. 34% expect full recovery could take more than a year . expect could take . The short-haul market is expected to recover in less than a year and the domestic market to recover in 1-2 months . is expected to recover in and the to recover in . There is an expected shift in the market post-COVID 19 with regards to the overall performance and market segmentation. Almost 90% believe the industry will employ less full-time staffs to be cost-efficient. Respondents Respondents by its Opening Status Source: HVS Photo: HVS The fully open and partially open properties record a reduction in the number of staff by approximately 10% during this period. The properties that are temporarily suspending operations are expected to close on an average for approximately 1.7 months. Respondents by Hotel Positioning Source: HVS Photo: HVS Approximately 70% of the properties in the survey sample are in the upper-upscale and upper-midscale positionings. Respondents by Location Source: HVS Photo: HVS Over 70% of the sample hotels are located in Middle Sukhumvit, Siam-Chidlom-Ploenchit, and Silom-Sathorn areas. Contingency Measures What is the level of effectiveness for each measure? Source: HVS Photo: HVS There are a number of contingency measures being undertaken to control operating cost at a property level. The contingency measures are planned for an average of 4.5 months. The freeze of new hiring is expected to be the most effective measure. Optimize labour planning by cross-training staffs to carry out other duties and responsibilities. This also includes paid leave, leave without pay, voluntarily non-paid leave, furlough, and voluntarily non-paid leave. Reduce staff training is also deemed effective as it may help short-term endurance but should not be done at the expense of thriving excellent services in the longer-term. What are the measures undertaken by the corporate office to help hotel owners? Source: HVS Photo: HVS The common themes are deferring renovations and product improvement plans (PIPs) that would initially be due. Other measures include waiving furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) reserve payments and providing FF&E reserve funds to cover operating expenses. 21% of corporate offices offer to defer management/license fee payments. Does your property implement any new F&B business models to support local resident demand? Approximately half of the properties that are fully open and partially open extend their F&B offerings by mainly providing delivery service or takeaway to service customers. Does your property witness an increase in a Staycation business over this period? A quarter of the properties witness an increase in a Staycation business, which ranges between two to 50 room nights per week. Signs of Recovery & Market Outlook Which of the following would indicate a sign of recovery? Source: HVS Photo: HVS Respondents have difficulties ascertaining clear signs of a recovery. Split opinions about the relevance of a daily decrease in the number of new cases can be observed among the hoteliers. Although over 33% believes that it is the first sign of a recovery, 34% seems to believe otherwise. 40% of the respondents considers an official announcement from the WHO to be the final sign of recovery, while only 6% is convinced it is first. Most hoteliers are expecting business to bounce back before the official announcement. How many months do you expect each market segmentation require to cover? Source: HVS Photo: HVS Partial Recovery is defined as the market is 50% recovered. Full Recovery is defined as the market is 100% recovered. 34% expect full recovery could take more than a year. Corporate demand is expected to be the segment to partially recover the fastest in less than six months. A 50% recovery to come as early as 1-2 months. Leisure demand is expected to partially recover faster than Leisure Group segment, but both are moving toward full recovery at a similar pace. MICE is expected to be the last to recover in the long term. The respondents anticipate that MICE demand will take more than six months to partially recover. How many months do you expect each source market to recover? Source: HVS Photo: HVS The short haul market is expected to recover in less than a year. The Domestic market is expected to be the first to recover within between one to two months, followed by short haul markets including China and India. The majority of source markets is likely to recover in between three to four months, with an exception for North America and Europe, which are likely to recover by mid 2021. Assuming that the market will be recovered by Q2 2021, how would the market perform in comparison to the pre-Covid-19 period? Source: HVS Photo: HVS There is an expected shift in the market post-COVID-19 with regards to the overall performance and market segmentation. Most hoteliers generally agree that the market will witness a lower average rate and attain lower occupancy level. With the uncertainty in the market, 56% expect that the industry will experience less supply growth, 14% thinks otherwise. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Suva, Fiji Mon, May 11, 2020 08:03 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd71c41c 2 News Fiji,travel,tourism,coronavirus,COVID-19 Free South Pacific island nations have dodged the worst ravages of the coronavirus pandemic, but now face a stark choice between a risky reopening to tourists and economic collapse. Today countries all over the world are weighing when to ease restrictions that would save jobs but risk the virus running amok. But the tradeoffs are perhaps starker in the South Pacific islands than almost anywhere else on Earth. Most of these postcard-perfect archipelagoes have been spared outbreaks that would instantly overwhelm their barebones health systems. Around a dozen Pacific island nations remain virus-free, most of them remote dots in the ocean that sealed their borders when they saw the carnage COVID-19 was causing elsewhere in the world. One notable exception is Fiji, where 18 cases have been reported although the authorities hope to be able to declare the islands virus-free later this month. But the economic impact of the pandemic has been devastating. Communities across the region rely heavily on tourism -- in some places as much as 50 percent of GDP -- that comes from parts of the world where COVID-19 has been actively spreading. Since the crisis began, flights have stopped, hotels have been abandoned, and revenue has dried up. "When Australia closed its borders to international travel, our resort went to zero income in three days," Elizabeth Pechan, co-owner of Vanuatu's The Havannah resort, wrote in a recent blog post. In Vanuatu alone, 70 percent of tourism jobs have reportedly disappeared. And the already impoverished nations have no US Treasury or European Central Bank to race to the financial rescue. Still, an idea to include the islands in a quarantine-free travel "bubble" with Australia and New Zealand -- where infection rates are low -- is getting only a cautious welcome. "There's a huge risk if COVID finds its way into Pacific island nations that are currently untouched," said New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern after recent talks with her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison. 'Ingenious idea' "(We) believe that little pockets like ourselves, currently free of the virus and working with other like-minded countries in the region, exercising caution, should be able to reopen," said Cook Islands Tourism chief executive Halatoa Fua. But he stressed the bubble would need to come with stringent safeguards. Many of the islands already suffer from high levels of diabetes and heart disease that could make any coronavirus outbreak especially dangerous. Chairman of the Palau Visitors Authority Ngirai Tmetuchi said the idea was worth exploring "but we'd have to read the fine print and evaluate the risks". The island's Tourism Minister F. Umiich Sengebau said in the absence of direct air links with Australia and New Zealand, it made more sense for his country to pursue a bubble arrangement with Taiwan. Palau is one of the few nations to have diplomatic relations with Taipei. "This is an ingenious idea that we must consider for a country like Taiwan, which has done a very good job in handling of COVID-19 pandemic," he said. "This is mutually beneficial given the tourists from Taiwan want to visit Palau for leisure and Palauans go to Taiwan for medical treatments and some leisure time as well." Elsewhere, the immediacy of the pandemic threat has put such plans firmly on the backburner. "Right now, the Solomons Islands government's priority is to finalize preparedness and response requirements such as in-country testing and facilitate repatriation of stranded citizens within the region," a spokesman for Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said. With total eradication in Australia, New Zealand or Taiwan unlikely, the ability to trace, treat and isolate any outbreak will likely be key. Australia on Friday announced plans to boost COVID-19 testing in places where there is no domestic capacity at all and where only a handful of intensive care units exist. In a signal of the scale of the challenge, Marshall Islands Health Secretary Jack Niedenthal said it was too early even to consider the idea of a bubble. "Even just responding with a 'maybe' could cause a lot of unnecessary anxiety with our people," he said. A majority of Americans disapprove of protests against restrictions aimed at preventing the spread the coronavirus, according to a new poll that also finds the still-expansive support for such limits including restaurant closures and stay-at-home orders has dipped in recent weeks. The new survey from the University of Chicago Divinity School and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 55 per cent of Americans disapprove of the protests that have popped up in some states as some Americans begin chafing at public health measures that have decimated the global economy. Thirty-one percent approve of the demonstrations. Texas hair salon owner Shelley Luther was sentenced to seven days in jail last week after refusing to apologize to a judge for opening her salon in defiance of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's emergency orders. She was released less than 48 hours later after Abbott removed jail as a punishment for defying virus safeguards. In Michigan, thousands of people rallied outside the state capitol last month to protest Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer's restrictions. Hundreds returned two weeks later, some of them armed, to demonstrate inside the statehouse. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to disapprove of such protests, 67 per cent to 51 per cent. Thirty-two percent of Republicans and 25 per cent of Democrats say they approve. Only 8 per cent said public protests, marches and rallies should be unrestricted during the outbreak, while 41 per cent think they should be allowed only with restrictions and 50 per cent think they should not be allowed at all. Dee Miner, 71, of Fremont, California, said she disapproves of the protests, but also feels people have the right to express themselves. We have to have the right to protest, but I have to tell you, seeing those people with those weapons at the statehouse in Michigan was pretty disturbing, said Miner, a Democrat and retired dental office manager. I felt sorry for the legislators having to work with that angry mob in the lobby. It seemed like it was just pure intimidation. Adam Blann, 37, of Carson City, Nevada, said he does not personally favour the protests, but does not believe they should be restricted. Its a tough situation, said Blann, a Republican-leaning voter who works in the natural gas industry. But I also think that one of the reasons we live in a great country is that we have freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom to protest." As some states have begun to slowly ease restrictions on businesses and individuals, the poll finds that 71 per cent of Americans favour requiring people to stay in their homes except for essential errands. Support for such measures is down slightly from 80 per cent two weeks earlier. Similarly, 67 per cent of Americans now say they favour requiring bars and restaurants to close, down from 76 per cent in the earlier poll. The poll also suggested dipping support for requiring Americans to limit gatherings to 10 people or fewer (from 82 per cent to 75 per cent) and requiring postponement of nonessential medical care (from 68 per cent to 57 per cent). Mark Roberts, a retired transportation worker in Abingdon, Virginia, said he's going about his business despite Democratic Gov Ralph Northam's stay-at-home order. Roberts said people in his southwestern Virginia community are driving the short distance into neighbouring Bristol, Tennessee, to patronize restaurants open there. People from Virginia have been crossing over into Tennessee to eat and just get out, you know, and do things, and Virginia is losing out on it, said the 61-year-old Republican. Among Republicans like Roberts, the share supporting stay-at-home orders dipped from 70 per cent in late April to 57 per cent in the latest poll. The share supporting other measures also dropped, from 75 per cent to 63 per cent for limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people and from 70 per cent to 53 per cent for closing bars and restaurants. Among Democrats, 84 per cent favour stay-at-home orders, down slightly from 91 per cent in the earlier poll. Eighty-seven per cent of Democrats favour barring gatherings of more than 10 people, and 79 per cent support bar and restaurant closures, about the same as in the previous poll. Blann, the Nevada resident, said he didn't mind officials imposing certain restrictions for a short period of time, but fears the potential of authorities being unwilling to roll back some of their newly declared powers. I do think the government should respond to allowing people to make more of their own personal choices without legal repercussions, said Blann, who said he doesn't expect to find himself in a crowded bar anytime soon, but is looking forward to being able to go back to church. The poll found most Americans in favour of some kind of restriction on in-person worship, with 42 per cent saying that should be allowed with restriction and 48 per cent that it should not be allowed at all. Marilou Grainger, a retired nurse anesthetist and registered Republican in Washington, Missouri, said she's torn between the need to take precautions against the virus while also allowing people to make their own decisions. I think we should still be under a bit of quarantine, especially people who are 60 or older, said Grainger, 67, who believes the jury is still out on whether lockdowns and stay-at-home orders have been effective in stemming the spread of the virus. Did we make a mistake? Did we totally annihilate our economy, or did we actually save some people issuing this quarantine? she asked. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always." Ive seen a lot over the years. From people being minutes away from the Sheriff's knock on the door for eviction or being suicidal or on the verge of losing their job due to transportation issues. But with COVID-19, the lost of basic needs is staggering. It's beyond comprehension." I got nowhere else to turn. Please, please help me. I am so desperate! Those words of anguish are often found in the steady stream of distraught emails that Bob Schwartz has received over the last 12 years. But during COVID-19s economic devastation, Schwartz has seen a remarkable increase in need. Hes operated his unique grassroots and hands on Here to Help Foundation since 2008, in Detroit and surrounding communities, and has assisted over 8500 people in his unassuming yet profoundly significant way. "Ive seen a lot over the years. From people being minutes away from the Sheriff's knock on the door for eviction or being suicidal or on the verge of losing their job due to transportation issues. But with COVID-19, the lost of basic needs is staggering. It's beyond comprehension." Schwartz is in the trenches, helping people when all hope has been lost. But it's nothing like what he's seeing now. From essential workers needing a used vehicle to get to work; to those laid off and struggling to pay rent while unemployment benefits have yet to begin; to domestic violence victims fleeing to a new residence and needing furniture; to overdue utility bills of families fearing shutoff, and transportation issues for senior citizens needing to get to medical treatment. Schwartz has been there to quietly, but heroically, provide emergency assistance in a time of crisis to those in need. He helps people in a myriad of ways including car repairs, rent/security deposit, used vehicles, furniture and utility assistance amongst many other forms of help. He allows people to face their tipping point and come out on the right side. The side of hope and sustenance. But Schwartz doesnt let the overwhelming nature of the need in his community to overwhelm him. Far from it. He knows he cant help everyone, but he can help a tremendous amount of people. That means fielding hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of emails and phone calls with pleas for assistance as Schwartz is relentless in his approach to help all that he can. Since mid-March hes been able to help a tremendous number of people who all have desperate stories of both despair and determination. Such as essential worker Alicia Grier, as shown in this recent Fox 2 News Detroit story, battling daily to get to her essential worker job. Schwartz will remain ready, willing and able to assist for he truly is Here to Help. For more information, including helping to spread the feel-good story of people helping people and getting a Here to Help Foundation in your area, contact Bob at heretohelpfoundation@icloud.com or (248) 330-7271 In a bid to safely repatriate stranded migrant workers to their native places in Uttar Pradesh, the Ministry of Railways has operated 184 trains amid the Covid-19 lockdown and has brought 2.26 lakh migrant workers from across the country, Additional chief secretary (Home), Uttar Pradesh, Awanish Awasthi told reporters on Monday. Fifty-five more trains will arrive in Uttar Pradesh today with migrant workers from across the country, news agency ANI reported. Around 1 lakh migrant workers have returned by their own conveyance, Awasthi said. So far, 184 trains have brought 2.26 lakh migrant workers from other states. 55 more trains will arrive in Uttar Pradesh today. Around 1 lakh migrant workers have returned by their own conveyance: Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi pic.twitter.com/2hu5E3IKe4 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 11, 2020 Since May 1, the railway ministry has operated more than 400 Shramik special trains to repatriate migrants workers to their native places amid the coronavirus lockdown. This comes on a day when the Ministry of Railways issued revised guidelines for Shramik special trains on Monday. The ministry has decided to increase the capacity of these special trains from existing 1,200 to over 1,700. As per the guidelines, the capacity of these trains should equal the number of sleeper berths. The Union Home Ministry asked all the states and union territories to cooperate with the railways ministry in running more Shramik special trains for the repatriation of migrant workers. Also read: Train ticket booking opens, cheaper gold bond - 4 things launched on May 11 Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, in a letter to states, said, I urge upon you all to allow receiving of all Shramik special trains without any hindrance and facilitate faster movement of stranded migrant workers to their native places. Bhalla also urged states and union territories to ensure that migrant workers do not resort to walking on roads, rail tracks and make use of the special railway services. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2020) - Roscan Gold Corporation (TSXV: ROS) (FSE: 2OJ) ("Roscan" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding Letter of Intent ("LOI") pursuant to which it will, through its wholly owned Malian subsidiary, acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Komet Mali SARL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Komet Resources Inc. ("Komet") Komet Mali SARL owns the Dabia Sud Project, including 35km2 of concessions with highly prospective exploration potential directly adjoining our Kandiole Property. (Figure 1) Acquisition Highlights Highly prospective land package adjacent of Roscan to the North-East and West of Oklo Resources (OKU AU) (See Figure 1); The Kabaya deposit has an "historical estimate" (Disclosures are listed below) that is pit-constrained with 105,000 ounces of Indicated Resource and 35,000 ounces of Inferred Resource which has been drilled to an average depth of 80m, and the deposit remains open at depth (See Figure 2); Multiple High Priority Targets on the newly acquired property including Kabaya, Disse and Walia (See Figure 3); Attractive acquisition price at $3.2MM CAD comprised of 50% cash and 50% in shares of Roscan (ROS), equating to a purchase price of $16 USD per ounce (see Definitive Terms below); With the recent successful financing (May 5, 2020) and post recently warrant exercises (April 24, 2020) the Company has added over $10MM to its treasury. The Company is in an excellent financial position to capitalize on this opportunity and unlock value with increased financial flexibility. Figure 1: Location Map of Dabia Sud Property with Roscan and Oklo Resources To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4821/55678_8a35b091d45759dd_001full.jpg Based on the binding LOI, the terms of the transaction are as follow: Cdn $1,600,000 cash payment to Komet; Cdn $1,600,000 in Roscan shares. (Subject to TSXV approval, the number of Roscan Shares to be issued by Roscan in connection with the payment will be calculated by dividing such amount by 5-day VWAP of the Roscan Shares on the TSXV calculated as of the day prior to the Closing Date.) ("Purchase Shares") It is anticipated that the Purchase Shares will be subject to a voluntary hold period for 6 months after the Closing Date. It is also expected that Komet will enter into a voting trust agreement with Roscan pursuant to which it will agree to vote the Purchase Shares in favour of management's recommendations. The transaction remains subject to customary conditions including the entry into a definitive agreement, completion of satisfactory due diligence and receipt of TSXV approval. Closing of the transaction is required before May 21, 2020. The Agreement, which is arm's-length, was signed on 23rd April 2020 and there are no finder-fees. Nana Sangmuah, President and CEO, stated, "We are delighted to work towards consolidating a key asset in this prolific mining district at a very attractive price for our shareholders. This acquisition will add an attractive mineral resource stage expansion portfolio with an extensive exploration data base which can't be understated. This provides an opportunity for Roscan to achieve new discoveries and delineate new resources in the Dabia Project. The Company is in an excellent financial position to maximize the value of this to be acquired asset and our highly prospective land package in Mali." Robert Wares, President and Chairman of Komet Resources, stated: "This transaction will provide our shareholders with exposure to a well-managed and successful precious metal company in Mali. With a strong operating history, solid balance sheet and significant experience, Roscan's management team is well-positioned to fund and continue to advance the project. The proceeds from this transaction will allow Komet to restructure and proceed with exploration programs in Eastern Canada." The Dabia Sub Property Contains 3 main areas of focus: Kabaya Project - Table 1 Walia Target Disse Target Kabaya Project (Source Komet's NI43-101) The historical estimate is based on optimized pit shells using a gold price of US$1,350 and a presumed heap leach gold recovery of saprolite material. Classification Tonnage (Mt) Au (g/t) Ounces (koz) Indicated 3.17 1.03 105 Inferred 0.96 1.14 35 Table 1: Pit Constraint Historical Estimate Effective date for resources is January 7, 2019. (Source Komet's NI43-101) The independent QP for this resources estimate is Yann Camus, Eng., SGS Canada Inc. The mineral resources are presented at a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off grade in pits. The resources are presented without dilution. Whittle pits have been utilized based on a gold value of US$1,350/oz. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. No economic evaluation of the resources has been produced. This Resource Estimate has been prepared in accordance with CIM definition (2014). Density used is of 1.7 based on measurements and similar projects. Capping grade is of 30 g/t Au on original assays. Based on the Disclosure of Historical Estimate of NI43-101, Section 2.4 The source is Komet's NI43-101 that is effective January,7, 2019 We consider the reliably and relevance to be reasonable The key assumptions are listed above (1-10) Below Table 1 The categories are similar (the historical estimate was prepared using CIM definitions) There are no recent estimates The QP needs to complete due diligence to verify the historical estimate The qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves; and The issuer is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. Figure 2: Typical Section View of the Kabaya Resource Block Model. (Source Komet's NI43-101) To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4821/55678_8a35b091d45759dd_002full.jpg Walia and Disse In the period 1997-2000, Ashanti Mali SA performed permit scale soil geochemistry surveys. In 2007, Robex repeated the permit scale soil sampling program and identified the Kabaya, Disse and Walia gold zones. In 2007, Robex completed 5 trenches on the Walia gold target which are located on the northern portion of the property. The 5 trenches accounts for 777 meters of sampling. Based on the geochemistry it is noted that some of the greater than 250ppb gold results would warrant follow-up. Qualified Person The scientific and technical data contained in this news release was approved by Greg Isenor, P.Geo., a non-independent "qualified person" under the National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects. About Roscan Roscan Gold Corporation is a Canadian gold exploration company focused on the exploration and acquisition of gold properties in West Africa. The Company has assembled a significant land position of 100%-owned permits in an area of producing gold mines (including B2 Gold's Fekola Mine which lies in a contiguous property to the west of Kandiole), and major gold deposits, located both north and south of its Kandiole Project in West Mali. For further information, please contact: Andrew J. Ramcharan, P.Eng Executive Vice President - Corporate Development and Investor Relations Tel: (416) 572-2295 Email: aramcharan@Roscan.ca Greg Isenor, P.Geo Executive Vice-Chairman Tel: (902) 221-2329 Email: gpisenor@Roscan.ca Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required regulatory or governmental approvals, and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, including those risks set out in the Company's management's discussion and analysis as filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable securities laws. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/55678 Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty ImagesBy GUY DAVIES, ABC News (LONDON) -- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced modifications to the lockdown currently in place across the country and a phased plan to reopen society on Sunday night, but the measures were roundly criticized as lacking clarity. In a televised address to the nation on Sunday evening, Johnson announced that the formal government slogan had changed to Stay Alert, Control the Virus, Save Lives, from the previous guidance which said that people must stay at home to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus and protect the National Health Service (NHS). While the rules on social distancing remain in place, starting this Wednesday members of the public will be allowed to leave the house for unlimited amounts of exercise, to sunbathe and drive to other destinations. Fines for those who break the measures, which are still limited to spending time with members of your own household, will be increased, Johnson said. The prime minister announced a new COVID Alert System to track the coronavirus R number -- the rate at which the virus reproduces -- that will determine how the country phases out of lockdown. The R number is now between 0.5 and 0.9 in the U.K., he said. If the data supports it, by June at the earliest some schools could open, and by July, pending further scientific advice, the government hopes that areas of the hospitality industry may be able to reopen. The prime minister announced that new plans to quarantine travelers entering the U.K. would be introduced soon. The U.K. has thus far been one of the few countries in the world to remain open for foreign travel. Johnson will be laying out the plans in more detail in the House of Commons Monday. But the governments messaging has been criticized by opposition lawmakers as sowing a sense of confusion for ordinary citizens and businesses, after a week in which headlines in the national press indicated that Johnsons address would herald a far more substantive lift to the lockdown measures currently in place. Previously, people had been told to work from home if you can, and only go to work if you must, he said, but that guidance has now changed. We now need to stress that anyone who cant work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work, Johnson said. And we want it to be safe for you to get to work. So you should avoid public transport if at all possible because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited. So work from home if you can, but you should go to work if you cant work from home, he added. I think what the country really wanted tonight was clarity and a real sense of consensus, and I dont think weve got either, Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, said after the televised address. The basic message, stay alert, just isnt clear enough, and the Prime Ministers statement raises as many questions as it answers. The U.K. is the second worst affected country in the world by the pandemic, after the U.S., with 31,930 deaths, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Staten Island, N.Y. For the first time in the companys history, early childhood nutrition leader Gerber announced its first adopted spokesbaby in its annual Photo Search campaign. Meet the adorable Magnolia Earl from Ross, California, who captured the hearts of Gerbers judging panel for the 10th annual Photo Search with her joyful expression, playful smile, and warm gaze. Magnolia who celebrated her first birthday on Saturday was chosen as the 2020 Gerber Spokesbaby from more than 327,000 entries submitted through photosearch.gerber.com where families were able to upload photos, videos, and share stories, Gerber announced in a press release. Our Gerber family of farmers, factory workers, employees and customers are all united in our pursuit to do everything and anything for baby. We believe every baby is a Gerber baby and standing behind our babies has never mattered more than it does now, said Bill Partyka, President and CEO of Gerber, in a press release. At a time when we are yearning for connection and unity, Magnolia and her family remind us of the many things that bring us together: our desire to love and be loved, our need to find belonging, and our recognition that family goes way beyond biology. As the newest spokesbaby, Magnolia represents every Gerber baby and her familys story serves as a reminder of what unites all parents the promise to do anything for your baby. Courtney Earl, Magnolias mother, said the family received a call on May 9, 2019, from the adoption agency that there was an expectant mother in labor and wanted to speak with them. We pulled off the highway, got a chance to connect with her amazing birth parents, and a few hours later, this sweet baby girl was born. Adoption is incredibly special to our familys story, Earl said. Magnolia has two older sisters, Whitney (12) and Charlotte (8), who is also adopted. The sisters adore playing together, especially splashing in the kiddie pool and dancing to the Baby Shark song. Magnolia has brought so much joy to everyone she meets, Courtney Earl said. "Her personality is beyond happy and joyful. Winning Photo Search is an opportunity to tell Magnolias story and shed light on all the beautiful and different ways families are made. Photo Search launched in 2010 and was inspired by the countless photos received over the years from parents who see their little ones in Gerbers iconic baby logo which features the original Gerber baby, Ann Turner Cook. The campaign celebrates babies and families from all backgrounds, highlighting the belief that every baby is a Gerber baby. In addition to the opportunity to be featured on Gerbers social media channels and marketing campaigns throughout the year, Magnolia and her family were awarded a $25,000 cash prize, $1,000 in Gerber Childrenswear, $1,000 from Walmart, and phones with a year of free unlimited service from Verizon. FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. The days are idyllic on East Brother right now. Theres the view of San Francisco, clear enough without the traffic fumes to see the hard outlines of the city, not just a hazy sketch. There are the seal pups sunning on the islands rocky edge, the hummingbirds flitting to and fro, the flowers and the pelicans and the butterflies and the nest of sparrows and the incessant seagulls and their incessant poop. If the coronavirus pandemic werent wreaking havoc around the world, it would be a particularly lovely spring to visit this scrappy mound of windswept rock 1,000 feet off Richmonds Point San Pablo. As it happens, it is a particularly lovely spot to shelter in place for Tiffany Danse and Tyler Waterson. The sole residents of this tiny island, the couple are halfway through a two-year post as innkeepers at the nonprofit East Brother Light Station Bed & Breakfast. When the dream job opened up last spring, it attracted thousands of inquiries from as far away as Bulgaria and China. Danse and Waterson landed the gig, and theyve spent the past year working 60- to 80-hour weeks as the historic inns only employees. They manage reservations, ferry guests to and from the island, give tours of the 147-year-old Victorian lighthouse (where a Coast Guard-run LED now flashes at five-second intervals), cook four-course dinners and hot breakfasts, do the dishes, make the beds, clean the bathrooms and sound the 1934 diesel foghorn in great, farty blasts. At least, thats what they did until mid-March, when the coronavirus ground their practiced routine to a halt. Its kind of a funny way to end our first year, Waterson says of the coronavirus shutdown. We were so on a roll. Its been a little bit of a shock. Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle Instead of welcoming visitors to the five-room dinner, bed and breakfast, the couple have spent the past six weeks slowing down and catching up. Theyve propagated succulents for the guest rooms, stocked the freezer with homemade ravioli, ticked off long-term projects and taken some time to absorb the island and its quiet. Ferry traffic has almost evaporated, and the only visitors are a crew of workers repairing the boat crane. Without guests hanging over the picket fence, the seal pups are less skittish. Without a constant to-do list hanging over their heads, Danse and Waterson have found herbs growing wild and spotted more animals lounging around. Its hard to tell if theres more of it or if were just noticing because were not racing around scrubbing toilets, Waterson says. You live here, but we never got a chance to take it all in, Danse says. The couple shudder at the thought of passing the pandemic in their former home: a 32-foot boat with a dorm-size fridge. Comparatively, the -acre isle is vast, and, though essential errands are a boat and car ride away, they feel almost guilty for sheltering in such a beautiful, isolated setting. Were very fortunate to be here, Waterson says. Nowhere Id rather be. East Brother has offered refuge during an outbreak before. When Spanish influenza swept through the Bay Area in 1918 and 1919, killing more than 6,000 people, Walter Fanning fled to the island. Fanning was 9 years old at the time, and his grandfather, John Kofod, was keeper of the light station. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. My mother, sister and I lived in Berkeley (my father was in France), wrote Fanning, who helped preserve the lighthouse, years later. The schools were closed for weeks at a time during flu epidemics. We stayed at the island whenever this happened and so escaped the flu. Now, Danse and Waterson are doing the same and imagining how the five-room inn could reopen in a post-coronavirus world. Our program here is just so intimate, Waterson says. Guests congregate in an upstairs game room and sit down to dinners around one big, communal table. The minute you get in the boat, you cant social distance. Maybe visitors will get tested before they hop aboard the transfer boat. Maybe the innkeepers will cut nightly capacity from 10 to six or four. Danse and Waterson are envisioning a way forward for the nonprofit private meals spaced out around the lighthouse, more day tours and fewer overnight guests. While the inn isnt an essential business, the money it brings in is a means of protecting the lighthouse and its history. The past is always present on East Brother, but during the coronavirus shutdown, the couple have felt it especially acutely. We feel more like lightkeepers than ever before, Danse says. Were not tending the wick, but we really are caretakers. Sarah Feldberg is The San Francisco Chronicles assistant features editor. Email: sarah.feldberg@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sarahfeldberg O ver the last eight weeks, Great British Menu has undertaken the enviable task of testing out the creme de la creme of British cooking. During a deeply strange period of time that has seen Brits shut out of their favourite restaurants, the BBC series has served as a reminder of just how superb the UK food scene really is, and the of the talented professionals that keep it going. Through regional heats that have scoured the length and breadth of the UK for extraordinary cooking, Great British Menu amassed a roster of eight chefs who are now in a chance with getting a dish on the menu at the shows famed annual banquet. From an Anguillan-born chef with a taste for seafood to Simon Rogans right hand man in the Lake District, this is everything you need to know about the Great British Menu 2020 finalists. Niall Keating Central BBC/Optomen Television Ltd/Ashleigh Brown Who is Niall Keating? Stoke-on-Trent born Niall Keating is executive chef of the two Michelin-starred Dining Room at Whatley Manor hotel. The restaurant earned its first Michelin star within a year of Keating taking the helm in 2016 aged just 25 and gained its second in the 2019 guide. Before this stellar turn, Keating worked at Restaurant Sat Bains, three-starred Benu in San Francisco and at Kong Hans Kaelder in Copenhagen. To add to his Michelin-related awards, Keating was also awarded the guides European Young Chef of the Year Award in 2018. Where is Whatley Manor? Country house hotel and spa Whatley Manor can be found in the Cotswolds near the Wiltshire town of Malmesbury. It is located on Easton Grey, SN16 0RB. What kind of food does the Dining Room at Whatley Manor serve? While Keatings modern British menu takes many cues from the surrounding, quintessentially English countryside, influences from his international travels also play a key part. The Dining Rooms tasting menus are littered with Asian inflections, with dishes including halibut with yuzukosho, grilled wagyu with kimchi salad and nashi pear and a dessert of sheeps yoghurt with sansho pepper and ginger. Kerth Gumbs London & South East (BBC/Optomen Television Ltd/Ashleigh Brown) / BBC/Optomen Television Ltd/Ashle Who is Kerth Gumbs? Anguillan-born Gumbs is head chef at Ormer Mayfair. The fine dining restaurant is under the ultimate direction of executive chef Shaun Rankin, having opened as a spin-off to his original Ormer restaurant in Jersey. Gumbs has headed up the kitchen for three years, and previously held roles at Tom Aikens Restaurant, Texture and LAtelier de Joel Robuchon. Where is Ormer Mayfair? Ormer Mayfair is part of Flemings, one of Londons oldest hotels. It is located at 7-12 Half Moon Street, W1J 7BH just round the corner from Green Park station. What kind of food does Ormer Mayfair serve? In a substantial nod to Rankins love of the Channel Islands, expect to see a lot of British seafood on the menu at Ormer Mayfair. Standout dishes include Jersey lobster with crab, carrot, coconut and herring roe, alongside Dover sole with smoked salmon, quails egg, caperberry and a seaweed beurre blanc. For the full details on all the chefs in the London & South East heat, read our full guide here. Roberta Hall Scotland BBC/Optomen Television Ltd/Ashleigh Brown Who is Roberta Hall? Roberta Hall was born and bred in Edinburgh, and now runs her own restaurant, The Little Chartroom, in the city. Kicking off her cooking career at 16, Hall has since worked with the acclaimed chef Tom Kitchin at Michelin-starred The Kitchin, before moving on to Dominic Jacks Castle Terrace, located directly beneath Edinburgh Castle. Where is The Little Chartroom? The Little Chartroom is in central Edinburgh, at 30 Albert Place, EH7 5HN. What kind of food does The Little Chartroom serve? Hall has been influenced by French techniques, but her menu pays tribute to her Scottish roots throughout. A quail dish is served with a mushroom broth, onions and prunes, while the set menu features a dessert of rhubarb cranachan a traditional Scottish pudding made with oats and whisky. For the full details on all the chefs in the Scotland heat, read our full guide here. Alex Greene Northern Ireland BBC/Optomen Television Ltd/Ashleigh Brown Who is Alex Greene? Dundrum-born Alex Greene is head chef at Michelin-starred Deanes EIPIC. His career has come full circle, having enjoyed an early stint there under Derek Creagh when the restaurant first earned its star. Before moving on to work at the likes of Gordon Ramsays Michelin-starred, eponymous restaurant at Claridges, and later Petrus. Greene then moved to New Zealand and worked at Saffron restaurant, and then back across the world to Waterford in Ireland, where he worked at the Cliff House Hotel. Where is Deanes EIPIC? Deanes EIPIC is located in Belfast city centre, found at 28-40 Howard Street, BT1 6PF. What kind of food does Deanes EIPIC serve? Alex Greenes cooking at Deanes EIPIC is all about keeping it local and seasonal. In the majority, there is no menu for all dinners, eight or ten course tasting menus are created daily by Greene from local produce selected that morning at the nearby market. For a more narrowed idea for what to expect, take a look at the Friday lunch menu: brill is served with sprouting broccoli, lemon and bone sauce, while a brown butter tarlet is made with mushrooms and served with bacon jam. For the full details on all the chefs in the Northern Ireland heat, read our full guide here. Tom Barnes North West BBC/Optomen Television Ltd/Ashleigh Brown Who is Tom Barnes? Cumbrian Tom Barnes is the executive chef at Simon Rogans restaurants in the North West of England including two Michelin-starred LEnclume and one Michelin-starred Rogan & Co. While working as a sous chef at LEnclume, Barnes won the 2014 Roux Scholarship, which allowed him to take on a stint at Peter Goosenss Restaurant Hof Van Cleve in Belgium. Barnes then worked for a year at three Michelin-starred restaurant Geranium in Copenhagen, before returning to the UK to take up the role of head chef at Rogan & Co. In recent months, Barnes has also helped open Rogans most recent project, hotel and restaurant Henrock. Where are LEnclume, Rogan & Co and Henrock? All three restaurants are located in the Lake District national park in Cumbria. The village of Cartmel is home to both LEnclume (Cavendish Street, LA11 6QA) and Rogan & Co (Devonshire Square, LA11 6QD), while Henrock has recently opened on Lake Windermere (Crook Road, Bowness-on-Windermere, LA23 3JA). What kind of food do LEnclume, Rogan & Co and Henrock serve? All of the restaurants are dedicated to celebrating the local produce of the Lake District so much so that they all source ingredients from Rogans very own farm in the Cartmel Valley. LEnclume is the most formal of the three, offering tasting menus only, with some numbering up to 15 dishes including the likes of oyster crackers and sea scallop with pike perch roe. Rogan & Co offers a la carte dishes including confit chicken wings with beetroot and cherry, while Henrock is the most relaxed, serving sharing platters of braised short rib with bone marrow potato. For the full details on all the chefs in the North West heat, read our full guide here. Joe Baker South West BBC/Optomen Television Ltd/Ashleigh Brown Who is Joe Baker? Joe Baker is the chef owner of Number 10, a restaurant run by himself and his family on his native Jersey, in the Channel Islands. Baker only became a chef after earning two degrees in English and Finance, before starting out full-time in the restaurant world with a role at May the Fifteenth in Londons Clapham Common. After a period of travelling around the world to cook in restaurants, Baker returned to Jersey in 2016 to open Number 10 with his parents and sister. Where is Number 10? Number 10 is located in the parish of St Helier, Jerseys capital. You can find it in the centre of the town, near the harbour at 10 Bond Street, JE2 3NP. What kind of food does Number 10 serve? Number 10s menu reads like a whats-what of Jersey produce. The restaurant makes the most of the islands famous bounty, including Jersey cow butter with its homemade sourdough, Jersey oysters with yuzu kosho and rhubarb granita and local beef ripe for serving alongside Jersey Royal potatoes. For the full details on all the chefs in the South West heat, read our full guide here. Hywel Griffith Wales BBC/Optomen Television Ltd/Ashleigh Brown Who is Hywel Griffith? North Wales-born Hywel Griffith is the chef-owner of Michelin-starred restaurant Beach House at Oxwich. Having trained in Bangor, Griffiths previous roles include stints at the Lanesborough Hotel in London and The Chester Grosvenor. He then became sous chef at Ynishir Hall the restaurant earned its Michelin star during his time there before becoming head chef at Paul Heathcotes Longridge restaurant. Where is Beach House? Beach House is located in the town of Oxwich, on the Gower Peninsula near Swansea. The seafront restaurant can be found on Oxwich Beach itself (SA3 1LS). What kind of food does Beach House serve? Fluent Welsh-speaker Griffith is dedicated to celebrating Welsh produce and more specifically that of the Gower on his Beach House menus. The Gower tasting menu features rotating dishes made with the best seasonal produce available in the immediate area. Current dishes include wild garlic and Snowdon cheese ravioli with morel mushroom and pennywort, and crispy Gower potato with Brefu bach cheese with hedgerow pesto. For the full details on all the chefs in the Wales heat, read our full guide here. Ruth Hansom North East BBC/Optomen Television Ltd/Ashleigh Brown Who is Ruth Hansom? Ruth Hansom was, until very recently, the head chef at London restaurant Pomonas. She revealed she was leaving last month to start a new venture, and the restaurant has since announced its closure. Hansom moved to London when she was just 15 years old to start he cooking career, training at Westminster College Kingsway and receiving mentorship from Frederick Forster. She then went on to work at Boundary in Shoreditch, before moving to Michelin-starred The Ritz, where she rose to the position of chef de partie aged just 21. In 2017, she became the first woman to win the Young Chef of the Year award. Where is Pomonas? Pomonas was in Londons Notting Hill, located at 47 Hereford Road, W2 5AH. What kind of food did Pomonas serve? Ruth Hansoms food at Pomonas was very much about sharing even her tasting menus were made to share. Sustainability-focused small plates used British ingredients and channeled them through Hansoms classical training. Dishes on the a la carte menu divided into Earth, Sea and Land included the likes of a coffee and cardamom bavette steak with heritage carrots, and swede with shallot, Berkswell cheese, thyme and nettle. For the full details on all the chefs in the North East heat, read our full guide here. Forensics at the scene of a punishment shooting in the Springhill Drive area of west Belfast on May 10th 2020 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Forensics at the scene of a punishment shooting in the Springhill Drive area of west Belfast on May 10th 2020 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) A man was shot in both legs in a Belfast paramilitary-style attack, police said was carried out by a man on bicycle. Police condemned the attack as "brutal and barbaric". It happened in west Belfast on Sunday, May 10, at around 10.30pm. Police said a 23-year-old man was walking along Springhill Drive when he was approached by a lone male on a bicycle. He was ordered to lie down before being shot in the legs. He was taken to hospital for treatment for a gunshot wound to each leg. SDLP west Belfast Representative, Paul Doherty condemned the incident. He said: The shooting in west Belfast was a brutal attack committed by criminals who need to face justice. No one can be allowed to intimidate this community. Those responsible have nothing to offer people here. Were trying to build a better Belfast and acts like this only make that harder. They have to be faced down. It is a disgrace that when our health and emergency services are already stretched dealing with a public health emergency, an attack like this occurred. I would appeal to anyone with information to bring it forward to the PSNI. PSNI Detective Inspector Dane added: This was a brutal attack for which there is no justification. There is no place for attacks such as this in our society. Nothing gives these people the right to violate the human rights of people and their actions should be condemned by all. "Those who are involved in these attacks do not represent the interests of this community, nor do they contribute anything to it. They do it to try and exert influence, or gain control of those they claim to represent. Our health service colleagues have a big enough challenge on their hands as they continue protecting our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The last thing they need is to deal with the aftermath of this senseless and barbaric shooting. I would appeal to anyone who witnessed this incident or anyone who has information that could assist us with our enquiries to contact detectives at Musgrave on 101, quoting reference 1994 10/05/20. "Alternatively, information can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime. A health worker holds a sign that reads "I am a nurse. I fight for you and for my life" as she takes part in a protest in demand of medical material to care for COVID-19 patients, in Mexico City, Mexico, on April 13, 2020. (Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images) Mexico: 2 Men Arrested in Strangling Deaths of Sister Nurses MEXICO CITYTwo men were arrested for the strangling deaths of three sisters who worked in Mexicos government hospital system, and authorities ruled out any link to nationwide assaults on medical staff as anxiety over the pandemic escalates. Initial evidence shows the suspects, a nurse and a municipal market worker in their 20s, planned to rob the women, whose bodies were found in a house in the city of Torreon, said Miguel Angel Riquelme, governor of the northern border state of Coahuila. The killings had nothing to do with the sisters hospital work, Riquelme said late May 8. Two of the sisters were nurses for the Mexican Social Security Institute and the third was a hospital administrator. The sisters, who were between 48 and 59 years old, were killed on May 7, according to the Social Security Institute. In sporadic incidents in other parts of Mexico, nurses have had been hit, kicked off public transport, or had cleaning fluids poured on them because of fears they might spread the new CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus. Mexican authorities have denounced the attacks and urged medical personnel not to wear uniforms or scrubs on the street to avoid being targeted. Many Mexicans have praised their medical workers, describing them as heroes as hospitals treat an increasing number of people suffering from the COVID-19 disease. NTD staff contributed to this report Nashville NAACPs Keith Caldwell says the bulls-eye is act of intimidation against an outspoken African American. The head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NACCP) in southern US city of Nashville, Tennessee, said a police officer who responded to his home after a bulls-eye-like target appeared in his front yard dismissed his concerns. Nashville NAACP President Keith Caldwell said in a Facebook post that he found the bulls-eye target on an easel-like holder on his front yard on Saturday night. After Caldwell called the citys non-emergency police number to file a report, he said the responding officer who arrived at his home was flippant about the matter. After Caldwell told the officer that he was concerned the target was a threat to him and his family, Caldwell said the officer responded by saying that he thought the target was pretty cool. It felt like to me that he really, he didnt care, Caldwell told local news channel WKRN-TV. After speaking with the officer, Caldwell said he then called the officers supervisor. I know that its an act of intimidation, Caldwell told The Tennessean newspaper. The fact is that I am a Black man, and I am outspoken, and I am the president of the NAACP, Caldwell said. And Ive said a lot of things that someone who wants to keep people oppressed dont like. Metro Nashville Police Department said in a statement on Sunday the target was from a back yard archery and tomahawk play set designed for children. They added that Caldwell is also concerned the target might have been placed in his yard due to a dispute a member of his family is having with another individual, the police statement said. The case is being investigated as an incident of intimidation. A spokesman for Metro Police told local media in a statement: The threat assessment component of the MNPDs Specialized Investigations Division [SID] will lead the investigation in an effort to determine who placed the target on the Caldwell property and why. A detective from SID has been in contact with Mr Caldwell today and informed him of their work. Police have also started patrolling Caldwells neighbourhood with greater frequency. Caldwell said the police department has been taking the issue seriously after the responding officer declined to file a police report about the matter. I dont want to paint the entire police department as a reflection of this one officer, Caldwell told WKRN-TV. The interaction between Caldwell and the responding officer is under review, the police said in their statement. Caldwell has been the president of the Nashville NAACP since 2018. The event comes as racial concerns are back to the forefront of US politics. The killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African American jogging in a predominately white neighbourhood in Georgia has been described as a lynching and prompted a nationwide outcry for justice. Arbery was killed by two white men. It took more than two months for authorities to make an arrest, which came after a video of Arberys death was made public. MIDDLETOWN State and local authorities are investigating the discovery of a mans body found under mysterious circumstances following an early April fire hat destroyed a former auto parts store in the south area of the city. Firefighters were called to the fast-moving, two-alarm blaze at 3:30 a.m. April 5 at the onetime Car Quest Auto Parts store at 311 Main St. Extension, according to South Fire District Chief Michael Howley. State police, police and the fire marshal are putting their heads together to solve the mystery, he said. The unidentified individual who perished in the fire was found inside the structure. Investigators determined the front door was smashed in, he added. No other details were available. An excavator was used to assist in the removal of heavy rubble, and, as layers of debris were removed, a body was located, Middletown Police Lt. Heather Desmond said in a press release Monday night. At one point, the intensity of the blaze caused firefighters to pull back from the building, according to the South Fire District Firefighters IAFF Local 3918 Facebook page. Because of the age and construction of the facility the wood frame and balloon construction the structure was consumed by rapidly moving flames, the chief added. It was just an old timber building. What remains is a partially standing building surrounded by a pile of metal, brick and concrete. Portions of the brick facade remain, but the wooden frame of the 3,552-square-foot facility built in 1936 has been reduced to a charred rubble. When the two large metal-frame billboards on the property went up in flames, crews were concerned about which direction they would fall, as well as the safety of fire personnel and apparatus operators. The signs were a staple there for 50, 60 years. They were big and heavy and a hazard for us. It was just a matter of time, before they toppled, the chief said. Middletown property records show the property is owned by John C. Seagrave. Seagrave didnt return a request for comment by press time. Two days prior to the fire, the owner found the window of the front door broken, Desmond said. He searched the building and did not find anything suspicious. The day before the fire, the owner reported the damage to the police and provided pictures of the damage. The incident was documented, she added. The body has been identified and next of kin has been notified. Once the investigation is complete, city police expect to release more information. The historic building once housed a machine shop in the back. People would send their wheel drums there to be replaced, the chief said. There were many flammable materials inside the building, such as paint supplies and machine shop materials. The cause and the origin will be determined after reports expected to be filed by the states fire marshal office are concluded, Howley said. Coastal law enforcement officials on Monday said they saw an uptick in visitors over the sunny, warm weekend. Many of those visitors flocked to Cannon Beach, where police asked hundreds to leave the citys closed, sandy stretch of Oregon coastline. But elsewhere throughout Clatsop and Tillamook counties, which span from Warrenton to south of Pacific City, the weekend passed without any similar incidents. While beaches are technically open in Oregon, all public access points managed by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department are closed until further notice. Several cities and counties on the coast have enacted separate, stricter bans on tourism, Cannon Beach among them. Clatsop County Sheriff Matt Phillips said lots of people were at beaches throughout his county, which stretches from the states northwestern-most corner to south of Cannon Beach. Small groups and families were doing a good job of distancing from one another, he said, and crowds dissipated away from popular access points. He wasnt aware of any problems that required a law enforcement response. Tillamook County Sheriffs Lt. Gordon McCraw, who serves as the countys emergency management director, said his county experienced an increase in visitors in spots like Pacific City as well as trails in the Coast Range. The crowds, he said, were bigger than the county has seen in some time. Lots of people were out clamming, and there were plenty of surfers in Pacific City. He wasnt aware of the sheriffs office having to break up any groups on the beaches, however. That wasnt the case in Cannon Beach. Coronavirus in Oregon: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter The popular city had issued an order closing its beaches from 7 a.m. Saturday through late Sunday night. But plenty of out-of-towners ignored the measure and Gov. Kate Browns stay-home orders and went to the beach anyway. Police asked about 700 beachgoers to leave on Saturday and did the same with more than 100 people Sunday. No arrests were made. Most were from out of town, Cannon Beach City Manager Bruce St. Denis said in an email Sunday, adding that some "had some questions/comments but all were eventually cooperative. State officials ask people not to recreate with those outside their own households and for people in urban areas to stay within a 50-mile radius from where they live. -- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Kristi Turnquist contributed to this report. Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Mumbai, May 11 : After acquiring permissions from the Maharashtra and Karnataka governments, actor Sonu Sood has arranged but transport for stranded migrant workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Sonu has organised multiple bus services. On Monday, buses left from Thane, Maharashtra to Gulbarga, Karnataka. The actor also visited the bus terminals to bid the workers goodbye. " I strongly believe that in the current times when we are all facing this global health calamity, every Indian deserves to be with their families and dear ones. I've taken official permissions from the Maharashtra and Karnataka Governments to help these migrants reach home in about ten buses," said Sonu. "The Maharashtra government officials were very helpful in terms of organising the paperwork and a special mention to the Karnataka government for welcoming the migrants back home. It was really moving for me to watch these migrants walking on roads including the little kids and old parents. I shall continue doing the same for other states as well to the best of my abilities," he shared. Apart from this, Sonu recently donated over 1,500 PPE kits to doctors across Punjab. He has also offered hi hotel in Juhu as residential facility for frontline workers. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text By PTI MUMBAI: With thousands of migrant workers desperate to return home even by marching on foot, the Maharashtra government has decided not to be harsh with them and let them go on humanitarian ground despite violation of lockdown norms, state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has said. Talking to PTI, Deshmukh said had the train services commenced earlier, as the state government was demanding, the sufferings of labourers would have been much less. "It is true that migrant labourers who are walking back to their home towns hundreds of kilometres away are in a way violating lockdown norms, but we are letting them go on humanitarian ground, Deshmukh said. Last month, hundreds of migrant labourers gathered near Bandra station here, demanding that transportation arrangements be made for them to go back to their native places. Police then baton-charged the workers to disperse them. Deshmukh said the state government earlier tried to be strict, but extension of the lockdown "pushed the migrant labourers to the edge". "They are so desperate to go home that they are ready to even face the wrath of law enforcement agencies. Hence, we decided not to be harsh with them. It is not alone my ministry but the government as a whole is trying to help them, the minister said. "Had the train services commenced earlier, as the Uddhav Thackeray government has been demanding, the sufferings of labourers would have been much less," he said. Deshmukh said there was some communication gap (between the state government and labourers) which could have been corrected earlier. "We never thought the lockdown would get extended for such a long time. We tried to speak to migrant labourers. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also made several appeals, but the migrant workers decided to return home, he said. Deshmukh said the government tried to convince migrant labourers not to leave the state by telling them that some industries have resumed and there would be more relaxations in days to come. "During my visit to temporary shelter homes, a group of workers told me they might come back after Diwali, but now they want to go home, the minister said. They are taking a huge risk by setting off on foot to their native places as they do not have money and resources to complete the journey," he noted. The minister also said the Maharashtra government has borne the cost of transporting 10,000 workers belonging Madhya Pradesh who were in Telangana. "The Telangana government dropped them at the Maharashtra border. Our government provided them shelter and food and later dropped them at the Madhya Pradesh border. The Maharashtra government did not charge anything for it," he said. Never hit a man when he is down except if youre a government desperately playing catch-up in the fight against Covid-19. The proposed quarantine rules whereby all travellers coming to Britain, including Britons returning from abroad, will have to self-isolate for two weeks and tell authorities where they intend to stay while doing so aside from those coming from France after last nights deal is such a devastating blow that one tour operator told me yesterday: Were dead and buried. The proverbial shutting of the stable door after the horse has bolted has never sounded more appropriate According to government figures released last week, there were 18.1million arrivals in the UK by air, land and sea between January 1 and March 22. Of those, just 272 were quarantined. Come on in was the message and bring your infections with you. From June, all arrivals in the UK - including returning Britons - will be quarantined for 14 days and face 1,000 fines or deportation if they fail to do so. Pictured: Terminal 2 arrivals at London's Heathrow Airport on May 8 As a result, the UK received a big influx of cases during that all-important period, which seeded right the way across the country, Sir Patrick Vallance, the Governments chief scientific adviser, admitted last week. The 14-day quarantine rule announced just as some airlines, including British Airways and easyJet, were hoping to start flying again at the beginning of July suggests ministers are behind the curve. The theory is that when the transmission rate falls to a low enough figure, restrictions on those coming into the country could keep it in check. But killing off the aviation and travel industries wont kill the virus. Even if an infected person arriving in the UK goes into quarantine, he or she can still pass on the virus while moving to their designated place of isolation. And how would you police those in quarantine to ensure they dont pop to the shops, sit on a park bench or hop on a bus? Why quarantine healthy people as the majority of those leisure or business travellers will be if the country is past the peak of infections? It would make far more sense to put a greater onus on airports to test departing and arriving passengers. If passengers could be assured a plane had been declared, as far as possible, Covid-free, they would be far less fearful of flying. Airports are ideal locations to create secure testing areas before passengers could potentially spread the virus further in the air, says aviation expert Paul Charles. At Viennas main airport, passengers leaving or arriving can take a Covid-19 test, which costs about 166 and will deliver a result in three hours or so. If its negative, there is no need to quarantine for 14 days. If positive, well, they know what to do. Testing at airports is essential because social distancing on a plane is impossible. Pictured: people sit amongst socially-distanced seating signs at Heathrow Airport in May this year It doesnt matter who is wearing a mask and who isnt and removing the middle seats or fitting plastic hoods on each seat might help restore confidence but wont significantly limit the spread of the virus. If the travel industry is to survive, planes need to fly. And, crucially, load factors need to be running at an average of 80 per cent just for an airline to break even. Punishing healthy passengers for flying will only prolong the damage to the economy. A 14-day quarantine effectively means Britain is closed for business to business travellers. How many of the thousands of holidaymakers still hoping to get away for a fortnight this summer or autumn will want to do so if faced with two weeks of quarantine which no doubt employers would, understandably, insist be part of their leave entitlement (even if they could allow workers to be absent for a month in the first place). And how many travel companies will still be in business by the time this draconian restriction is lifted? Precious few, sadly. Investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine and several other institutions have shown that a new type of vaccination can substantially enhance and sustain protection from HIV. A paper describing the vaccine, which was given to monkeys, will be published online May 11 in Nature Medicine. The findings carry broad implications for immunologists pursuing vaccines for the coronavirus and better vaccines for other diseases, said Bali Pulendran, PhD, professor of pathology and of microbiology and immunology at Stanford. The key to the new vaccine's markedly improved protection from viral infection is its ability -- unlike almost all vaccines now in use -- to awaken a part of the immune system that most current vaccines leave sleeping. "Most vaccines aim at stimulating serum immunity by raising antibodies to the invading pathogen," said Pulendran, referring to antibodies circulating in blood. "This vaccine also boosted cellular immunity, the mustering of an army of immune cells that chase down cells infected by the pathogen. We created a synergy between these two kinds of immune activity." Pulendran, the Violetta L. Horton Professor II, shares senior authorship of the study with Rama Amara, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology at Yerkes Primate Research Center at Emory University; Eric Hunter, PhD, and Cynthia Derdeyn, PhD, professors of pathology and lab medicine at Emory; and David Masopust, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Minnesota. The lead authors are Prabhu Arunachalam, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford; postdoctoral scholars Tysheena Charles, PhD, and Satish Bollimpelli, PhD, of Emory; and postdoctoral scholar Vineet Joag, PhD, of the University of Minnesota. 38 million people with AIDS Some 38 million people worldwide are living with AIDS, the once inevitably fatal disease caused by HIV. While HIV can be held in check by a mix of antiviral agents, it continues to infect 1.7 million people annually and is the cause of some 770,000 deaths each year. "Despite over three decades of intense research, no preventive HIV vaccine is yet in sight," Pulendran said. Early hopes for such a vaccine, based on a trial in Thailand whose results were published in 2012, were dashed just months ago when a larger trial of the same vaccine in South Africa was stopped after a preliminary assessment indicated that it barely worked. Vaccines are designed to arouse the adaptive immune system, which responds by generating cells and molecular weaponry that target a particular pathogen, as opposed to firing willy-nilly at anything that moves. The adaptive immune response consists of two arms: serum immunity, in which B cells secrete antibodies that can glom onto and neutralize a microbial pathogen; and cellular immunity, in which killer T cells roam through the body inspecting tissues for signs of viruses and, upon finding them, destroying the cells that harbor them. But most vaccines push the adaptive immune system to fight off infections with one of those arms tied behind its back. "All licensed vaccines to date work by inducing antibodies that neutralize a virus. But inducing and maintaining a high enough level of neutralizing antibodies against HIV is a demanding task," Pulendran said. "We've shown that by stimulating the cellular arm of the immune system, you can get stronger protection against HIV even with much lower levels of neutralizing antibodies." In the new study, he and his colleagues employed a two-armed approach geared toward stimulating both serum and cellular immunity. They inoculated three groups of 15 rhesus macaques over a 40-week period. The first group received several sequential inoculations of Env, a protein on the virus's outer surface that's known to stimulate antibody production, plus an adjuvant, a chemical combination often used in vaccines to beef up overall immune response. The second group was similarly inoculated but received additional injections of three different kinds of viruses, each modified to be infectious but not dangerous. Each modified virus contained an added gene for a viral protein, Gag, that's known to stimulate cellular immunity. A third group, the control group, received injections containing only the adjuvant. At the end of the 40-week regimen, all animals were allowed to rest for an additional 40 weeks, then given booster shots of just the Env inoculation. After another rest of four weeks, they were subjected to 10 weekly exposures to SHIV, the simian version of HIV. Monkeys who received only the adjuvant became infected. Animals in both the Env and Env-plus-Gag groups experienced significant initial protection from viral infection. Notably, though, several Env-plus-Gag animals -- but none of the Env animals -- remained uninfected even though they lacked robust levels of neutralizing antibodies. Vaccinologists generally have considered the serum immune response -- the raising of neutralizing antibodies -- to be the defining source of a vaccine's effectiveness. Even more noteworthy was a pronounced increase in the duration of protection among animals getting the Env-plus-Gag combination. Following a 20-week break, six monkeys from the Env group and six from the Env-plus-Gag group received additional exposures to SHIV. This time, four of the Env-plus-Gag animals, but only one of the Env-only animals, remained uninfected. Pulendran said he suspects this improvement resulted from the vaccine-stimulated production of immune cells called tissue-resident memory T cells. These cells migrate to the site where the virus enters the body, he said, and park themselves there for a sustained period, serving as sentinels. If they see the virus again, these cells jump into action, secreting factors that signal other immune-cell types in the vicinity to turn the tissue into hostile territory for the virus. "These results suggest that future vaccination efforts should focus on strategies that elicit both cellular and neutralizing-antibody response, which might provide superior protection against not only HIV but other pathogens such as tuberculosis, malaria, the hepatitis C virus, influenza and the pandemic coronavirus strain as well," Pulendran said. ### Pulendran is a member of Stanford Bio-X and a faculty fellow of Stanford ChEM-H. Other Stanford co-authors are medical student Madeleine Scott; postdoctoral scholar Florian Wimmers, PhD; and Purvesh Khatri, PhD, associate professor of biomedical informatics and of biomedical data science. Additional researchers from Emory University and the University of Minnesota contributed to the study, as did researchers from Duke University, Louisiana State University, Cornell University, 3M Corp. and Biolegend. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grants UM1AI124436, U19AI110663, HIVRAD P01AI110657 and ORIP/OD P51OD01132) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Stanford's Department of Microbiology and Immunology also supported the work. The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://med.stanford.edu/school.html. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. For information about all three, please visit http://med.stanford.edu. Print media contact: Bruce Goldman at (650) 725-2106 (goldmanb@stanford.edu) Broadcast media contact: Margarita Gallardo at (650) 723-7897 (mjgallardo@stanford.edu) Republican attorney George Conway argued Monday that Donald Trump should lose his bid before the Supreme Court to keep his tax records secret in his latest provocation of the president. Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, and Trump have repeatedly clashed since the president took office. Last week Trump reacted with fury as the anti-Trump group headed by Conway, Project Lincoln, ran an attack ad on Fox News called 'Mourning in America' assailing the president's response to coronavirus. Trump tweeted calling Conway 'moonface,' which some took as a racial slur - Conway is partly of Filipino descent - and other members of the group 'bottom feeders,' then said Kellyanne had 'done something bad' to her husband to make him hate the president. In return Conway revealed that producing the ad and running it on Fox News in Washington D.C. had cost just $15,000, but that after Trump's first rage tweets the group had taken in more than $2.5 million in donations. The latest shot from Conway comes as the Supreme Court on Tuesday prepares to consider three blockbuster cases concerning efforts by the Democratic-led House of Representatives and a grand jury working with a prosecutor in New York City to obtain copies of Trump's financial records. George Conway argued Donald Trump should lose his bid before the Supreme Court to keep his tax records secret in his latest provocation of the president Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday on efforts from House Democrats and New York prosecutor to obtain President Trump's financial records Unlike recent presidents, Trump has refused to disclose his tax returns and other materials that would shed light on the scope of his wealth and his family-run real estate business. The cases test the limits of presidential power in relation to Congress and state prosecutors. They arose from investigations into Trump's business dealings, including whether payments made by his former personal attorney Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal violated the law. Cohen also told House investigators Trump had inflated and deflated certain assets on financial statements between 2011 and 2013 in part to reduce his real estate taxes. Trump's lawyers argue that his records cannot be handed over because of his authority as president under the Constitution, contending he is immune from any criminal proceeding when in office. But Conway argues those privileges don't apply to Trump's businesses. 'Trumps position stupefies. In essence: Authorities cant investigate anything touching his personal affairs including, ahem, payments to pornographic actresses because hes president. Think of the logic: Not only does the president enjoy a personal constitutional immunity his businesses do, too,' Conway wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post. Conway argues the presidency doesn't keep a president from testifying and points out other presidents have done so while in office: The Supreme Court rejected Richard Nixon's claim of presidential immunity and ordered him to turn over the Watergate tapes and Bill Clinton provided testimony in the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky investigations, in which he was a possible target. 'The Constitution is concerned with protecting the presidency, not the person who happens to be the president. Thats because no one in this country is above the law. The Supreme Court is now called upon to teach that lesson once again even if Trump will likely never learn it,' Conway concludes. It's the latest salvo between the two men. Last week, Trump called Conway a 'deranged loser' and 'moonface' in a series of tweets after Conway's political action committee released its advertisement. The ad plays off a famous quote from beloved Republican President Ronald Reagan, stating: 'There's mourning in American. And under the leadership of Donald Trump our country is weaker and sicker and poorer.' Conway is a vocal and public Trump critic even though his wife works at the White House as one of the president's top advisers. Kellyanne Conway currently serves as counselor to the president and managed the president's successful 2016 campaign. George Conway helped start The Lincoln Project in December 2019 with other anti-Trump Republicans to derail his reelection efforts while remaining true to their conservatives roots and values. On Tuesday, Supreme Courts will hear arguments by telephone in Trump's legal battle, which could affect the presidential campaign, even with the coronavirus outbreak and the resulting economic fallout. Rulings against the president could result in the quick release of personal financial information that Trump has sought strenuously to keep private. 'Americans are asking: If we have another four years like this, will there even be an America?' the ad, titled Mourning in American, concludes George Conway is married to Kellyanne Conway who serves as a counselor to the president; the couple is seen together in January 2019 The justices have been hearing cases by phone this month in an effort to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Six of the nine Supreme Court justices are over the age of 65. Trump has resisted calls to release his tax returns since before his election in 2016. Now, joined by the Justice Department, he is appealing lower court rulings that determined subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives and the Manhattan district attorney to his longtime accounting firm and two banks for years of tax returns, bank records and other financial documents are valid. The president is advancing broad arguments to try to stymie House Democrats. In the case involving the criminal investigation launched by District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., Trump is asserting that while he holds office he cannot even be investigated. His Supreme Court arguments draw on law review articles that will be very familiar to one member of the court. 'At the end of the day, `a President who is concerned about an ongoing criminal investigation is almost inevitably going to do a worse job as President,'' Trump's lawyers told the court, quoting from a 2009 article by now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The Trump-appointed Kavanaugh previously worked on independent counsel Ken Starr's investigation of President Bill Clinton, which led to Clinton's impeachment in 1998. He was acquitted by the Senate the following year. Kavanaugh is quoted five times in Trump's main Supreme Court brief in the Vance case. Justice Neil Gorsuch is Trump's other high-court appointee. In all three cases, lower courts in Washington and New York ruled against Trump and the records have not been turned over pending a final court ruling. Rulings are due by the end of June. The case about congressional subpoenas has significant implications regarding a president's power to refuse a formal request from Congress. In a separate fight at the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., over a congressional demand for the testimony of former White House counsel Don McGahn, the administration is making equally broad arguments that the president's close advisers are 'absolutely immune' from having to appear. The House argues that Congress has very board subpoena powers and that courts should be reluctant to interfere with them. 'Many momentous separation-of-powers disputes have come before this Court,' the House wrote in its primary Supreme Court brief. 'This dispute ... is not one of them.' In two earlier cases over presidential power, the justices acted unanimously in requiring President Richard Nixon to turn over White House tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor and in allowing a sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton to go forward. In those cases, three Nixon appointees and two Clinton appointees, respectively, voted against the president who chose them for the high court. A fourth Nixon appointee, William Rehnquist, sat out the tapes case because he had worked closely as a Justice Department official with some of the Watergate conspirators whose upcoming trial spurred the subpoena for the Oval Office recordings. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the president's case on Tuesday with a ruling expected in June The subpoenas are not directed at Trump himself. Instead, House committees want records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One, as well as the Mazars USA accounting firm. Mazars also is the recipient of Vances subpoena. Appellate courts in Washington, D.C., and New York brushed aside the president's arguments in decisions that focused on the fact that the subpoenas were addressed to third parties asking for records of Trumps business and financial dealings as a private citizen, not as president. Two congressional committees subpoenaed the bank documents as part their investigations into Trump and his businesses. Deutsche Bank has been one for the few banks willing to lend to Trump after a series of corporate bankruptcies and defaults starting in the early 1990s. Vance and the House Oversight and Reform Committee sought records from Mazars concerning Trump and his businesses based on payments that Trumps former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, arranged to keep two women from airing their claims of affairs with Trump during the 2016 presidential race. Turkey Threatens Retaliation Against Haftar's Forces in Libya By VOA News May 10, 2020 Turkey is threatening tough retaliation if forces loyal to Libyan general Khalifa Haftar strike Turkish interests or its diplomatic missions in Tripoli or elsewhere. Haftar, who has set up a rival government in eastern Libya, has been fighting to topple the internationally-recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj. "If our missions and our interests in Libya are targeted, we will deem Haftar's forces legitimate targets," The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Sunday. Turkey says the area near its embassy in Tripoli was shelled late last week. Haftar's forces deny responsibility. But Turkey is strongly criticizing the United Nations for what it says is the U.N.'s failure to move against Haftar. "It is unacceptable for the United Nations to remain silent against this carnage any longer. Countries providing military, financial and political aid to Haftar are responsible for the suffering that the people of Libya are enduring and the chaos and instability the country is being dragged into," the foreign ministry statement said. Turkey supports the Tripoli-based government as it tries to defend itself from a year-long offensive from Haftar to seize the capital. Weekend shelling in and around Tripoli has killed as many as six and wounded several dozen, reports say. Residents in Tripoli say the fighting has been some the worst in recent months. The country's only functioning airport has been badly damaged and parts of northern Libya are at risk of going dry after armed men stormed a power station belonging to the government's water authority. Al-Sarraj's Government of National Accord, has been able to push back Haftar's forces which have the support of Egypt, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates. Appeals from the European Union to all foreign countries earlier this year to stop supplying arms and interfering in Libya and let peace talks proceed have gone nowhere. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The German government has sharply criticised attacks on police officers and journalists at recent protests against pandemic restrictions. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Monday that while demonstrations were an important way to express divergent opinions on the handling of the pandemic, the high aggression toward both police officers and journalists ... needs to be strongly and sharply condemned. Three TV camera crews were attacked at protests in Berlin and the western city of Dortmund in the past two weeks. Police also detained dozens of people in the capital on Saturday after bottles were thrown at officers. German officials have expressed concern that the demonstrations are being hijacked by extremist and fringe groups. Seibert criticised the promotion by some protesters of absurd claims (and) hate-filled, stereotypical theories that either point toward a a scapegoat or some kind of global villain that's holding all the strings in his hands. Whoever spreads such things wants to divide our country, Seibert said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Managing Director To Step Down From Executive Duties Sydney, May 11, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Theta Gold Mines Limited ( ASX:TGM ) ( OTCMKTS:TGMGF ) advises that the Managing Director, Mr Robert Thomson, has advised the board that he intends to step down from executive duties with effect from 5 August 2020. Mr Thomson will remain on the Board as a non-executive director.The Company's project activities in South Africa continue uninterrupted under CEO Mr George Jenkins, based at the mine site. The local team is being continuously expanded, as the Company moves towards the construction phase.Chairman Mr Bill Guy commented, "Rob has led the Company since November 2016 and has seen the Company evolve to a potential gold producer with the Theta open-cut project. We thank Rob for his efforts and look forward to his continued contribution in a non-executive role."About Theta Gold Mines Limited Theta Gold Mines Limited (ASX:TGM) (OTCMKTS:TGMGF) is a gold development company that holds a range of prospective gold assets in a world-renowned South African gold mining region. These assets include several surface and near-surface high-grade gold projects which provide cost advantages relative to other gold producers in the region. Theta Gold Mines core project is located next to the historical gold mining town of Pilgrim's Rest, in Mpumalanga Province, some 370km northeast of Johannesburg by road or 95km north of Nelspruit (Capital City of Mpumalanga Province). Following small scale production from 2011-2015, the Company is currently focussing on the construction of a new gold processing plant within its approved footprint at the TGME plant, and for the processing of the Theta Open Pit oxide gold ore. Nearby surface and underground mines and prospects are expected to be further evaluated in the future. The Company aims to build a solid production platform to over 100Kozpa based primarily around shallow, open-cut or adit-entry hard rock mining sources. Theta Gold Mines has access to over 43 historical mines and prospect areas that can be accessed and explored, with over 6.7Moz of historical production recorded. Agra, May 11 : The corona crisis in Taj city has taken a turn for the worse after 12 inmates of the Agra Central jail tested positive for the deadly virus on Sunday night. Deputy Inspector-General (Prisons) Luv Kumar said, "We had sent 24 samples of prisoners for lab testing and out of these, 12 reported corona positive by the S.N. Medical College (SNMC). Now, fresh samples have been collected for lab testing at the National Jalma Institute for Leprosy." On Saturday, a 60-year-old convict of the Agra Central Jail, who was tested positive for corona, had died during treatment at the S.N. Medical College. According to the jail officials, the convict was admitted to the emergency ward of the SNMC on May 3. He had high blood pressure and suffered a brain stroke. His samples were collected and sent for testing on May 4. He was confirmed Covid-19 positive on the evening of May 6. The corona positive cases form the central jail, meanwhile, have caused considerable worry for the health officials, indicating the possibility of community transmission in the prison which is now being sanitized. Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Mukesh Kumar Vats said, "All the new patients have been shifted to an isolation facility. A team of doctors is attending on them. Their contacts are being identified. We will conduct a health check of all these people." Agra, so far, has reported 764 corona positive cases in the district, turning it into the COVID-19 hotspot. The CMO added, "Till now, 326 people have recovered and discharged from hospital. All the people who had come in contact with any Covid-19 patients are being screened." Meanwhile, Hamirpur and Farukkhabad districts have reported their first corona cases. A man undergoing kidney treatment at a private hospital has tested positive for Covid-19 in Hamirpur district and in Farrukhabad, a man who had returned from Maharashtra has tested positive for the deadly virus. Hamirpur District Magistrate Gyaneshwar Tripathi said that the man has been admitted to the L 2 hospital in Banda. "We have sealed the village and locals have been home quarantined. We have taken samples of his family members for testing. We are also procuring the details regarding his travel history." In Farrukhabad, the district administration has sealed the Shamshadabad locality where the corona positive patient lives. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Midland County added no new cases over the weekend. Read more: Midland County coronavirus numbers hold steady over weekend. A couple days after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced an extension of her "stay home, stay safe" executive order through May 28, Midland seems to have settled into the new normal: Midland residents offer reactions to extended 'stay home, stay safe' executive order. Princeton University has named its first black valedictorian in the Ivy League school's 274-year history. Nicholas Johnson of Montreal, Canada, has secured the prestigious title after earning top honors at the university. Johnson studied operations research and financial engineering, according to a news release. 'It feels empowering. Being Princeton's first Black Valedictorian holds special significance to me particularly given Princeton's historical ties to the institution of slavery,' Johnson told CNN. 'I hope that this achievement motivates and inspires younger black students, particularly those interested in STEM fields.' Nicholas Johnson (pictured) was named Princeton University's first black valedictorian in the school's 274-year history Princeton University, founded as the College of New Jersey in 1746, was originally steeped in slavery and racism. 'The University's first nine Presidents all owned slaves, a slave sale took place on campus in 1766, and enslaved people lived at the President's House until at least 1822. One professor owned a slave as late as 1840,' according to Princeton Universities website. At Princeton University, Johnson participated in international internships and cultural immersion trips to Hong Kong, Peru and the United Kingdom. Although those trips were significant to Johnson, his fondest memories are those he made with classmates and friends. 'My favorite memories of my time at Princeton are memories of time spent with close friends and classmates engaging in stimulating discussions often late at night about our beliefs, the cultures and environments in which we were raised, the state of the world, and how we plan on contributing positively to it in our own unique way,' he said in a statement. Johnson said he's grateful for the encouragement he received at Princeton, and specifically praised two teachers who positively impacted his experience. William Massey, the Edwin S. Wilsey Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering, and Dannelle Gutarra Cordero, a lecturer in African American studies, helped him achieve new heights. 'Professor Massey inspired me by sharing his ever-present love for operations research and through his advocacy for black and African American students in STEM fields,' Johnson said. While at Princeton University (pictured), Johnson studied operations research and financial engineering 'He encouraged me to pursue increasingly ambitious research projects and to share my work at academic conferences. 'Professor Gutarra introduced me to academic writing during my first-year Writing Seminar. She was instrumental in helping me develop my skills as an effective academic writer and communicator, and she motivated me to become a writing fellow.' Johnson's senior thesis focused on developing algorithms to create a community-based preventative health intervention to decrease obesity in Canada. 'This work...also has applications to public health interventions designed to increase adherence to strict social distancing to curb the spread of COVID-19,' the statement said. As a rising senior, Johnson worked as a software engineer in machine learning at Google's headquarters in California. He previously interned at Oxford University's Integrative Computational Biology and Machine Learning Group. This upcoming fall, Johnson (pictured) will continue his studies by pursing a PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology This summer, Johnson will intern as a hybrid quantitive researcher and software developer at D.E. Shaw Group, a global technology and investment development firm. Then, he will pursue a PhD in operations research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall. The coronavirus pandemic has cancelled the in-person graduation for the Princeton University Class of 2020, but a virtual ceremony will be held on May 31. Johnson said it's 'disappointing' the graduating class can't celebrate with each other this year, but he's grateful the administration chose to host 'an in person commencement for my class in Spring 2021 to celebrate our achievements.' 'I have been comforted to see how well my friends and classmates have adapted to these challenging times,' Johnson said. 'And have ensured that Princeton's strong community persists virtually despite our physical separation from one another.' Reliance Industries reclaimed the Rs 10 lakh crore market capitalisation mark after the stock of Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate gained over 3 per cent in early trade on Monday. Finance Ministry refuted reports that Centre is planning to slash salaries of its employees. Government is planning to make it compulsory to have Aarogya Setu app installed on mobile phones for air travel. Read for more top stories from the world of business and economy: 1. Reliance Industries reclaims Rs 10 lakh crore market cap mark, stock closes shy of 52-week high Share price of Reliance Industries rose up to 3.4% to Rs 1,614 compared to the previous close of Rs 1,561.80. 2. No proposal to cut salary of central govt employees, clarifies Finance Ministry "There is no proposal under consideration of government for any cut whatsoever in the existing salary of any category of central government employees," Finance Ministry said. 3. Coronavirus: Govt plans to make Aarogya Setu app compulsory for air travel, says report The Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had earlier indicated that airlines, especially domestic flights, were expected to resume operations by May 15. 4. Coronavirus: Why India dumped rapid testing for mass Elisa-based tests Mumbai-based medical devices company Transasia Biomedical's German subsidiary Erba Mannheim has already got clearance from the US and Europe to make COVID-19 antibody ELISA kits. 5. Lockdown 3.0: MHA asks states to allow private clinics to operate, free movement for medical personnel Coronavirus lockdown: MHA said that any restriction on the movement of medical professionals and paramedical staff can lead to severe constraints in rendering COVID and non-COVID medical services. If, as Rush Limbaugh has opined, there is no way the Democrat Party will hoist Joe Biden over the finish line, then what do the Democrats have up their sleeve to stay in power? After all, "[t]he Democrats have no enthusiasm. There's no fire in their bellies. They're grumbling even as they're defending Biden. ...[T]hey really couldn't give a damn about Joe Biden." Enter Gavin Newsom. The California governor certainly has the credentials. From the beginning of his term, he blatantly ignored constitutional and immigration law. He has proven that he is a radical illegal immigration advocate, thus adhering to the first rule of the Democrat Party: bring in as many people who will vote Democrat as you can, and you will own the country forever. In the midst of the coronavirus, Newsom has stated that California "will give cash payments to immigrants [sic] living in the country illegally." He has announced, that "using a mix of taxpayer money and charitable contributions [California will] give 150,000 adults $500 each." In fact, "California has an estimated 2 million immigrants [sic] living in the country illegally. They are not eligible for the $2.2 trillion stimulus package approved by Congress last month, which gives cash payments to most Americans plus boosts unemployment benefits by $600 per week," but Newsom asserts that he feels "a deep sense of gratitude for people that are in fear of deportations that are still addressing essential needs of tens of millions of Californians[.]" Newsom defiantly stood up to Trump another notch in his political belt from the Democrat Party's point of view when, in January 2019, he ramped up California's already grossly unconstitutional obstruction of federal immigration laws concerning sanctuary states. In reality, "the state already has unprecedented sanctuary laws on its books that shield its 2.4 million illegal aliens from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE)." In fact, "the Trump administration is suing California over its 'sanctuary state' laws that punish compliance with federal immigration laws and provide legal cover for corrupt officials to continue brazenly flouting immigration laws and interfering with federal agents trying to enforce them." But "dealing with the illegal alien problem is the furthest thing from Democrat politicians' minds. They view illegals as future Democrat voters and demonize anyone who supports enforcing federal immigration laws that could lead to the deportation of their future voter base." Newsom is aided by activist judges, heroes to the Democrat Party, as they go "far beyond the bounds of [their] authority and interfer[e] with the president's ability to deal with a national security and humanitarian crisis." Activist judges do reign supreme in California. Moreover, most of the Hollywood crowd will rally behind Newsom. In fact, they were recently enlisted to help in public health messaging. An unprecedented global crisis has led to extraordinary celebrity participation in offering public health messaging, with Newsom's office leading the way by calling on Hollywood constituents essentially in his backyard. Never before have stars showed up en masse in a matter of weeks for a public health crisis and for the office of a governor. It is striking, however, how mute so many of these stars are when it comes to Angel Mom concerns or the increase in homelessness in Newsom's San Francisco. Newsom certainly has fans within the gay community since "in 2004, recently elected San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the county clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses for same-sex couples who applied at San Francisco City Hall. Newsom's daring move allowed more than four thousand couples to get married that weekend in his city. He became a hero to the gay and lesbian community for his defiance." Newsom has raised the ire of conservative Christian groups, another boon to his credentials as a possible Democrat nominee for presidency, although he may have to approach this group differently if he wishes to win their support. Thomas D. Elias asserts that "[t]o beat Trump, that candidate would have to unify the party's ultra-left wing[.]" Moreover, such a "candidate would require strong support from women voters and Latinos, as well as white males. Strong liberal stances would be a must; so would a record of standing up to Trump." Additionally, Newsom no longer has to contend with Kamala Harris, as she is out of the race. Moreover, as Elias points out: Newsom ... gave away the store to utility companies via this summer's bailout legislation, but he also has brought early childhood education into the limelight, aided gays, supported rent controls and housing construction and pleased labor unions at every turn. He denied parole to several serious killers, fights Trump almost daily and is business-friendly to a fault. These are necessities for a unifying Democratic candidate. So if Democrats really want to win next fall ... they have a potential unifier right in front of them. Moreover, Newsom announced that "he has signed an executive order that requires county officials to send vote-by-mail ballots to every registered voter in the state." Joe Biden is thrilled with this move. Newsom asserts that "California will work with people with disabilities, those experiencing homelessness and voters who do not speak English [emphasis mine] to ensure that in-person voting is still accessible to those who need it." This, despite the fact that "[b]etween 2012 and 2018, 28.3 million mail-in ballots remain unaccounted for, according to data from the federal Election Assistance Commission. The missing ballots amount to nearly one in five of all absentee ballots and ballots mailed to voters residing in states that do elections exclusively by mail." States and local authorities simply have no idea what happened to these ballots since they were mailed and the figure of 28 million missing ballots is likely even higher because some areas in the country, notably Chicago, did not respond to the federal agency's survey questions. This figure does not include ballots that were spoiled, undeliverable, or came back for any reason. Although there is no evidence that the millions of missing ballots were used fraudulently, the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which compiled the public data provided from the Election Assistance Commission, says that the sheer volume of them raises serious doubts about election security. This is all music to the Democrat Party. After all, what could possibly go wrong? The optics of Newsom defying Trump warm the cockles of Democrat Party leaders' hearts and, so too, those who are still blinded by Democrat lawlessness under the guise of social justice. While he does not align with the need for a minority woman candidate, he could easily have a V.P. candidate who meets the racial and genital qualifications. Then again, in wonderland, gender-neutral may also be a box to check off. Although it does not really matter who is put up as the Democrat nominee since they all spout the same left-wing ideology, the party still needs a candidate who will sway the voters. Some have stated that Michelle Obama might be a winning presidential contender. But Michelle is too mercurial and headstrong. Furthermore, why would she ever want to take on any of the responsibilities of the Executive Branch when she is leading the good life? So while time will tell, Gavin Newsom may be the one the Dems will eventually anoint. Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com. Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr. India has 451 million active internet users, second only to China. A solid 66 million of these are between 5 and 11 years old. This is the kind of data point that puts a gleam in the eyes of tech bros who think that Indias education crisis can be solved with a mobile phone in the hand of every child. When this is over what will we be? This is a question that my friend Brinda, an expressive arts therapist, is trying to answer in a shaman class that she signed up for. She is in Bengaluru, the shamans in the US. Shamans have been teaching Brinda and other students to respond to the pandemic with a sense of expansiveness, an expansiveness that can take in a grief as global as the pandemic. When this is over, what will we grow? Kannaiyan Subramaniam, a farmer in a district 170 km from Bengaluru posted a video on Twitter to find a buyer for his 100 tonnes cabbage crop for a barely breakeven price. Three hundred thousand views later, he doesnt have a buyer but other farmers all suffering from a country under lockdown have gone online for the first time to find a white knight for their produce. When will this be over? In most of stand-up comedian Danish Saits hit lockdown Instagram videos, characters wonder about the future in the distinctive, east Bengaluru patois that have made Saits videos a sensation. A video called Conversations with Friends ends with a character saying, This will go on till June-July-August-September-October-November-December. The internet is where a small population of India is living currently. Even under an extremely strict lockdown, this population is able to work from home, connect with family, take free fitness classes, binge-watch, and crucially, buy groceries. They can adopt, mock or riff any sourdough trends. When this is all over, they make promises to themselves. When will all this be over, they ask online. Even more than usual, the upper middle class India is projecting their astral bodies all over the internet via quarantine meals on Instagram and dance challenges on TikTok and operatic versions of housework. This coupled with those working from home means that Indias internet consumption has risen by 13 percent in the month since the national lockdown began on 24 March. Everyday Indians have used an average 308,000 terabytes (TB) of data from the newly ubiquitous Zoom call to recipe sharing to rivers of fake news and corona realities. Pornhub recently reported a 95 percent increase in traffic from India. While certainty and the pleasingly consumable outside world are gone, they have been replaced by the internet pleasingly consumable even for the jaded. Since 24 March, the day the national lockdown began, thousands of workers have been making tragic journeys on foot to their villages hundreds of kilometres away from the cities where they worked. The lockdown came with no warning, no preparation and certainly no arrangements for those who would be immediately rendered homeless. A month later, the caravan is still walking and hunger has become as big an issue as the virus that started it all. The government has decided in a move that makes all Marie Antoinette comparisons meaningless, that excess foodgrains would be converted to ethanol for hand sanitisers. Yet it is right that alongside civil society bandaging the food crisis, some activists are raising their voices to ask the government for more internet. Now. Not when this is over. Around the world there is a well-documented history of librarians saving books and readers from all manner of marauders: from governments and armies, from censors, censoriousness and from well-meaning bores. In the courageous tradition of librarians from Timbuktu to Baghdad to Havana, a small group of librarians in New Delhi have stepped up. Working in underserved neighbourhoods since 2014, The Community Library Project, a small non-profit chain of libraries in the National Capital Region, has over 4,000 members, children and adults. The libraries are multilingual, beautifully curated and on an average weekday buzzing with activity. That ended on 24 March. S, a 27-year-old, has a degree in nursing and has been a librarian at TCLP for two years. She lives in Sikanderpur, alongside her members but she wasnt prepared for the stream of calls from her young readers and their families. S was shaken by the realisation that for many of them she was their only source of information. They couldnt step outside their doors without fear of the police and they didnt have the internet. For a large subset of her readers families, the question that had to be answered was urgent where could they find food? On 4 April, as Mridula Koshy, novelist and director of TCLP, reported on Facebook, Early calls are finding members in distress, sometimes severe distress wherein food is being rationed or even cases where food has entirely run out. Within three weeks, the librarians had massively revamped their operations. TCLP decided to act as a hub of information. Purnima Rao, a spokesperson for the libraries said, Were calling every single member we can to check up on them, give them information about ration shops, nearest food distribution points, medical help and what to do if landlords are harassing them. Rao tells the story of a reader with a heavily pregnant wife who called the library. Public transport was closed and the police were already acquiring a reputation for violently enforcing the lockdown. It was a TCLP staffer who persuaded the man to go introduce himself to the policeman on patrol and lobby for unhindered passage. Also read: Coronavirus crisis underscores urgency of bridging divide between India's digital haves and have-nots India has 451 million active internet users, second only to China. A solid 66 million of these are between 5 and 11 years old. This is the kind of data point that puts a gleam in the eyes of tech bros who think that Indias education crisis can be solved with a mobile phone in the hand of every child. TCLPs leadership has also been told in the past that physical libraries are passe. But TCLP believed in physical libraries and the space of refuge and revolution they hold. It was a place where members could meet as equals, access thousands of books and also learn to use the internet. Almost no TCLP members family owns a laptop. A modest number of families have a smartphone, usually in possession of the man of the house. The rest of TCLPs community have basic phones which are also shared in a family. What can these phones do? Koshy tells a story. On the first day of the lockdown she got a WhatsApp message from seven-year-old Badal who has had access to books, games and the internet at the library. The message he sent was a two-second long audio file just saying Hi maam. On Day 3, Koshy sent him a video of a librarian doing a read aloud. He replied in a message three seconds long to say he did not have enough data to open the video. As Rao says, Even our librarians said that one Zoom call wiped out their data quota for the day. The library saw right away they needed to create a library of new audio material for their members and have done so with a speed and nimbleness that makes the head reel. But without much improved access to the internet, working class children are left out of everything, including the governments new Zoom classroom plans. The hundreds of millions of users only add up to 36 percent of Indians. Which is why the librarians are campaigning for the government to work with mobile operators, telecom providers, ISPs and give everyone data urgently. At the other end of the country, in the state of Kerala as lockdown began, the government held talks with telecom service providers to increase bandwidth by 30 to 40 percent. And in a not unrelated development, this state has had the greatest success in flattening the infamous curve, raising doubling time to 70-odd days. As TCLP librarians argue, treating access to data as luxury is wrong and reflects a deeply paternalistic attitude towards the working class. As Koshy pointed out on Twitter recently, If we accept that such access is part of how one accesses ones citizenship, then denial is denial of rights. We fail to see as essential for the working class what we see as essential for ourselves. Its a short road from this to where we decide who gets access to ventilators based on who can pay. When this is over, what will the internet be? US Vice President Mike Pence has placed himself in self-isolation after one of his close aides tested positive for the coronavirus COVID-19 last week. Pence's spokesman Devin O'Malley told the media that the US Vice President has voluntarily decided to limit his exposure to other people. It is learnt that Pence has tested negative for the deadly virus but he decided to go in self-isolation following the advice of medical officials. "Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine. Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow," said spokesman O'Malley. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading member of the White House coronavirus task force, along with Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn, has decided to go in self-isolation over the weekend, . Pence's press secretary tested positive for COVID-19 on May 8, becoming the second person working at the White House complex to test positive for the highly contagious virus in the last week. It is to be noted that Pence led the White House coronavirus task force for more than two months. On Wednesday, a member of the military serving as one of Trump's valets had tested positive for the coronavirus. US President Donald Trump said that he 'not worried' about the news that Pence's spokeswoman Katie Miller has tested positive for the coronavirus and the virus spreading in the White House. He, however, added that White House officials have been asked to step up safety protocols for the complex. Meanwhile, the number of people infected globally by the coronavirus by Sunday evening surged to 41.52 lakh while the global pandemic has now killed over 2.82 lakh people. As per the Worldometers website's COVID-19 data at 11:30 PM IST, around 41,52,870 people have been infected with the coronavirus across the world, and over 2,82,660 have lost their lives. The COVID-19 confirmed cases on Sunday saw a surge of 54,590 cases. The number of recoveries also increased to 14.65 lakh. Under constant attack from the BJP for "mishandling" the COVID-19 crisis in West Bengal, the TMC said it has decided to launch a strong counter- attack against the saffron party by reeling out data and videos to highlight "dismal performance" of the BJP-ruled Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in tackling the pandemic. Attacking the BJP's strategy was planned during a series of online meetings of the TMC top leadership with a select group of MLAs and poll strategist Prashant Kishor since Sunday night, TMC sources said on Monday. It was decided to launch a social media campaign to counter the BJP's campaign of "lies" against the state government regarding the COVID-19 situation in West Bengal, they said. The TMC leadership and Kishor asked leaders to counter the BJP's lies by using data, videos and statistics of the saffron party's "dismal performance" in the BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, the sources said. On Sunday, the number of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh rose to 3,614 and in Gujarat the cases climbed to 8,195. After a close fight with the BJP in the general elections last year, the TMC hired Kishor to boost its chance in the 2021 state polls. The BJP had secured 18 out of a total of 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, only four less than the TMC, which won 22 in the 2019 general elections. The TMC leadership is all set to start the social media offensive to counter the BJP's "lies and fake news" from Wednesday, the sources said. "A mass campaign would be launched on social media, which will include use of video news conferencing. Promotional videos, various schemes and short presentations bearing statistics will be circulated on social media platforms, including WhatsApp. "We would play recorded messages of local administration and MLAs, particularly in the non-containment zones of coronavirus on the steps taken by the state government to check spread of the contagion to nail the BJP's lies," a senior TMC leader told PTI on condition of anonymity. The development comes in the backdrop of the Bharatiya Janata Party recently launching a social media campaign with #BhoyPeyechheMamata, (Mamata is scared) to highlight the "state's dismal performance in handling the COVID-19 situation and absence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the last few days from the scene". The Trinamool Congress has responded by using #BhatBokcheBJP (the BJP is blabbering baseless allegations). "We have been told by the leadership to stay away from the state-run ration distribution system and just ensure that no one is deprived of the free ration given by the state government," the TMC MLA said. The TMC government in West Bengal and the BJP-led Union government have locked horns since the beginning of the pandemic, with the Centre accusing the state government over its COVID-19 response and enforcement of the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of the disease. The Trinamool Congress has dubbed the allegations as "baseless and politically motivated". The war of words between the two escalated after the Centre sent two teams from Delhi to assess the COVID-19 situation in the state. The TMC government had strongly protested their arrival without consulting them beforehand. More recently, a letter from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last Saturday, charging the state of not allowing the trains to ferry native migrants to their home, served as another strong flashpoint between the two political adversaries. PTI PNT SNS KJ University staffers grow anxious about their employment status, as administrators hint at pandemic-related cuts ahead and the province remains mum on specifics. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. University staffers grow anxious about their employment status, as administrators hint at pandemic-related cuts ahead and the province remains mum on specifics. On Monday afternoon, University of Winnipeg president Annette Trimbee announced the post-secondary schools provincial operating grant for 2020-21 would be cut by $2.3 million the equivalent of a 3.7 per cent reduction. SHANNON VANRAES / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES David Barnard, President & Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manitoba. That brings the facility's total expected COVID-19 losses to $6.3 million, an almost six per cent cut in revenue compared to figures in this years $144-million budget. "Our focus is on non-salary reductions. At the same time, we are pivoting to meet the growing demand for educational programs we know post-secondary education will be on the front lines of the post-COVID-19 recovery," Trimbee wrote in an email to faculty and staff. She said the school has been preparing to deal with several budget scenarios, but did not get into specifics about what they might mean for U of Ws future; its board of regents is expected to review the draft budget in June. "Everybodys on pins and needles, expecting the cuts to come down soon," said Scott Forbes, president of the Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations. "This is just making it impossible for the universities to function. This whole thing has been mishandled from the start." In mid-April, the Pallister government gave post-secondary institutes less than a week to draw up staff reduction blueprints for four months, ending in August. Last week, the province revealed the group of reporting entities in which universities and colleges fall under would be asked to find $175 million in total savings what it deemed was a one per cent reduction for the group, to redirect to the COVID-19 response. It has since provided post-secondary schools with verbal feedback and, according to a government spokesperson, will provide "written letters to reflect the direction that has been given in the near future." Among the "directions" being delivered, adjusting the workforce in areas affected by limited in-person interactions, such as cafeteria rosters, and reducing executive salaries and travel expenses, the spokesperson said. University of Manitoba president David Barnard has said administrators are waiting on written confirmation from the province before sharing details. "I was clear in my conversation with government, as I have consistently been, that post-secondary is an investment not a cost," Barnard wrote in an email dated Friday. "Indeed, the economic and social success of this province depends on the success of its largest and only research-intensive university." Janet Morrill, president of U of M Faculty Association, said Monday members "are pretty much in the dark, as much as anybody else is." While many remain uncertain of what lies ahead, dozens of precarious school employees have already lost their jobs amid the shift to e-learning and subsequent pandemic-emptied campuses. Upwards of 50 U of M members of the Association of Employees Supporting Education Services have received temporary layoff notices in recent weeks. The layoffs have mostly taken place in the areas of kinesiology and recreation management, external relations and extended education. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. That figure doesnt include the number of seasonal employees whose terms were ended early or contract positions that have no longer been assigned further hours at either U of M or U of W. "Cutting staffing resources will leave the universities unable to meet the additional student demands and will only result in a reduction in the quality of student services," said union president Laurie Morris, adding remaining staff are also being affected negatively by increased workloads. Forbes said Monday many teaching assistants have also already lost their jobs in cost-cutting measures. Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3909, which represents graders, teaching assistants, lab demonstrators, seminar leaders, tutors, lecturers and instructors, did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 04:15:17|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Strategic bombers Tu-95MS are seen during the Victory Air Parade in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2020. (Photo by Bai Xueqi/Xinhua) Moscow is seeking to hold "a serious conversation" on the matter with U.S. officials, according to Russian Foreign Ministry. MOSCOW, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Russia has accused the United States of distorting the history of the World War II and downplaying the Soviet Union's role in defeating Nazi Germany. "We are extremely indignant at the attempt to distort the results of the defeat of Nazism and the decisive contribution of our country," Russian Foreign Ministry said Sunday in a statement. The ministry said it could not ignore the comment posted by the White House on social media, which only mentioned the United States and Britain as victors over the Nazis. "The U.S. officials have neither the courage nor the will to pay homage to the undeniable role and the huge death toll suffered by the Red Army and the Soviet people in the name of all humanity," it said. "Unfortunately, such an attitude is clearly discordant with the statement adopted on April 25 by Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the meeting between Soviet and U.S. soldiers at the Elbe River," it added. Moscow is seeking to hold "a serious conversation" on the matter with U.S. officials, according to the ministry. Russia on Saturday briefly celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory against the Nazis in World War II, amid its intensified battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Malaysias lower house of parliament scheduled to sit for the first time since the change in government will only be accessible to journalists from government media organisations on May 18. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the National Union of Journalists Peninsular Malaysia (NUJM) urge the government to give journalists access to parliament while maintaining safety standards. Journalists from non-government media organisations will be barred from attending the first sitting day of the lower house since the political crisis in February and March that led to a change in government. In addition to the government plans to introduce Covid-19 related bills and motions, the opposition will attempt to table a no-confidence motion against prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, despite suggestions that agenda items of the current government will be prioritised, meaning the no-confidence motion will not be heard. Lower house speaker Mohamad Ariff Mohd Yusof confirmed only Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) and Malaysian National News Agency (BERNAMA), both government owned news outlets will receive access to the parliamentary building. Yusof cited Covid-19 as the reason for the restriction, without elaborating. The sitting will be broadcasted live online. NUJM said: Covid-19 prevention measures could be put in place without curtailing media access. NUJM understands and appreciates the government's effort of ensuring safety during Covid-19 but it can be done in a way where the media is given access while adhering to safety standards at the same time. IFJ said: "By creating an information divide between government and non-government media, politicians cannot be held accountable by the public and democracy will crumble. The IFJ call on the government to consult media organisations to inform best practices that will ensure journalists are given safe access to parliamentary sittings. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The extended lockdown, shortage of drivers and non-availability of cargo for return trips had pushed truck freight rates higher by 35-60 percent thereby putting a strain on prices of even essential commodities. A one-way movement of goods delivery meant a truck had to make a return trip with an empty cargo hold, which is otherwise filled with goods costing the supplier 20-30 percent less than the first trip. For instance, a truck doing a Nashik-Delhi trip with 18-tonne payload would have cost Rs 45,000 and a return load would have cost Rs 35,000-40,000. So a round trip would have cost up to Rs 85,000. But when there was no return load available the truckers started charging Rs 75,000-80,000, one way. There could be some respite in the coming days, with several industries and factories, since April 20, given the nod to restart operations and many of these are located in the Green and Orange zones. These zones have allowed movement of labour and goods though in a controlled manner. With the national truck capacity utilization expected to rise to 55-60 percent by the end of May from just 10 percent in April, there is a wide-spread expectation of some moderation in truck rentals. Government has now allowed the opening of booking and delivery offices of the transporters too. During this week and next, the freight market will settle down. The freight rates will be rationalized because there will be some return load also available. They should come back to the levels of March 15. Drivers have started coming back but it will still take about a week for them to reach the levels of pre-lockdown, said SP Singh, senior fellow and coordinator, Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training. Transport by road forms a very important link in free movement of goods across the country. Currently, freight transport in India is road-dominated, accounting for 59 percent of freight movement. 35 percent of freight demand is met by rail, 6 percent by waterways and less than 1 percent by air, as per data shared by the NITI Aayog. Driver shortage While return load may now be available since the recommencement of businesses across states, transporters will be grappling with a bigger challenge which is driver shortage. Umesh Revankar, Managing Director, Shriram Transport Finance Company said, By the time the drivers come back it will be another month or so. Only by mid-June, there will be a reduction in freight rates. Freight rates are 30-40 percent higher now as there is no visibility in return freights. By the end of this month, the fleet utilisation should be 55-60 percent because most of the manufacturing operations have started and that means movement of raw materials and finished goods. Harvesting is also going on in full swing. More and more trucks are getting added, Revankar added. As little as 7 percent of the drivers and cleaners employed in the organized sector get salaries whereas others are dependent on freight-linked wages and ownership business model for earnings. A majority of truck operators in India belong to the small category having a fleet of 1-5 trucks. These have been under financial duress for several months. SK Mittal, Chairman, All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) said, Car carriers have opened and drivers are coming back. The freight rates should be coming down in the coming weeks. There are 12.5 lakh trucks with the national permit. Out of this 85 percent have a fleet of 1-5 trucks and are categorized as small operators. Then there are 1-2 lakh driver cum owners. Many of these small operators are on the verge of collapse. There are loan defaults of up to six months default on many truckers. AIMTC represents about 93 lakh truckers and approximately 50 bus and tourist operators. It is an umbrella body of covering over 3300 talukas, districts and state-level federations and transport associations. In Nigeria, one out of every three people lives below the poverty line. And with the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on the global economy, employed persons are slipping into the brackets of the unemployed, and the struggles of people in underserved communities with little or nothing to feed on have been compounded due to the government-sanctioned lockdowns in COVID-19 hotspots. However, heeding to the call to provide relief for affected communities around Nigeria are itel Mobile and Lagos Food Bank, an NGO based in Lagos, Nigeria. United by the aim of reducing hardship worsened by the coronavirus, the smartphone for everyone brand, through its Love Always On CSR Initiative, and the NGO, reached the residents of Ipaja, Ayobo, and adjoining communities in Lagos state at a time when they needed it the most. Raw food and relief items were provided to the semi-urban communitys households as part of their relief efforts, and at the forefront of these efforts are a deep concern and care for their communities. Advertisement Commenting on the brands CSR campaign, Oke Umurhohwo, itels Marketing Communications Manager said: I am very proud to be a part of a brand who is giving back to the communities where we live and work. We know that this period is a tough one for many families because of the lockdown, and as such, we are happy that our CSR activities are able to give families a measure of relief. Its also worth noting that our CSR initiative themed: Love Always On will continue to impact lives, even after this pandemic has been thoroughly defeated. The joy on the faces of members of the community was a common theme throughout the hours-long outreach. More than 20 volunteers gave up hours of their time to enrich the lives of Nigerians and this is something worth applauding. See more pictures of the positive difference itel Mobile and Lagos Food Bank made in Ipaja, Ayobo, Lagos below. An employee enters Woowa Brothers' headquarters in Songpa-gu, southeastern Seoul, in this 2019 file photo. / Korea Times file By Kim Jae-heun Woowa Brothers CEO Kim Beom-joon The situation of migrant workers walking on roads and railway tracks was noted with great concern New Delhi: The Centre has said it has noted with great concern that migrant workers continue to walk on roads and railway tracks to return to their native places and asked states to ensure that they travel home on the special trains being run for them from various parts of the country. In a letter to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also sought their cooperation in running more Shramik Special trains for the migrant workers. Referring to a meeting held by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Sunday, Bhalla said, in the meeting, the situation of migrant workers walking on roads and railway tracks was noted with great concern. "Since their movement by buses and 'Shramik' special trains has already been allowed to enable their travel to native places, all State/UT governments should ensure that migrant workers do not resort to walking on road and on railway tracks," he said. In case they are found in such condition, the home secretary said, they should be appropriately counselled, taken to nearby shelters and provided with food, water etc. till such time they are facilitated to board the Shramik Special trains or buses. Further, Bhalla said, as requested by the cabinet secretary, all state/UT governments should cooperate with the railways in running more Shramik Special trains so that travel of stranded migrant workers is facilitated at a faster rate. "I urge upon you all to allow receiving of all Shramik special trains without any hindrance and facilitate faster movement of stranded migrant workers to their native places," he said. Sixteen migrant workers, who were walking back home to Madhya Pradesh were mowed down by a goods train in Maharashtra's Aurangabad last week after they fell asleep on railway tracks. Hagens Berman: Duke Student Files Class-Action Lawsuit Against University Seeking Repayment for Tuition and other Costs Lost During COVID-19 An anonymous Duke University student has filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to represent his fellow Duke students to obtain repayment of tuition, room and board and other expenses in light of the outbreak of COVID-19, according to attorneys at Hagens Berman. The latest lawsuit follows similar actions from Hagens Berman against Boston University, Brown University, George Washington University and Vanderbilt, in which students and parents sued their universities. The class-action lawsuit against Duke has been brought by a fulltime Duke student and Minnesota resident, referred to in the complaint anonymously as John Doe. The case was filed May 8, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina and accuses the university of breach of contract, unjust enrichment and conversion. If you are paying for college tuition, and/or room and board at a college or university closed due to COVID-19, find out more about the lawsuit and your rights. The law firm is investigating all higher education institutions in the U.S. According to attorneys at the firm, Duke University students, like millions of college students across the country, have been forced to endure closed residence halls, cancelled events, online learning in place of in-class courses, and lack of access to labs, cafeterias and often their own belongings as dormitories shutdown in a rush response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. "Duke prides itself on its 'exceptional academics,' and 'community of support,' and there's a reason hopeful students choose Duke ovr higher education via remote learning," said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman and attorney for students in the class action. "While many schools nationwide offer and highlight remote learning capabilities as a primary component of their efforts to deliver educational value (see, e.g., Western Governors University, Southern New Hampshire University, University of Phoenix-Arizona), Defendant is not such a school," the suit states. "Furthermore, touting its campus, Duke notes that its 'campus of 8,600+ acres gives students space to roam-both physically and intellectually. But it isn't just the setting that makes Duke unlike any other university. It's the feeling-the kinetic energy of connections forged, creativity sparked, and ideas born.'" "Students at Duke suffered an abrupt and unprecedented upheaval after their 2020 spring break, evicted from the dorms and switching entirely to remote learning," Berman added. "No more library access, hands-on lab experiences, gym access or in-person access to professors, all of which our client and many other Duke students paid for and expected to receive." The suit states that students, parents and guardians who paid Duke's tuition and fees for the spring 2020 semester, for which Duke charges $27,940 for undergraduate tuition, deserve payback for their disrupted studies, living situations and other losses. Attorneys say plaintiff paid Duke for opportunities and services that he will not receive, including on-campus education, facilities, services and activities. "In matriculating at Duke University, Plaintiff, like other students, chose to enroll for in-person classes to obtain a hands-on educational experience, avail himself of top academic instruction, and directly interact with faculty and classmates to increase his knowledge and understanding of the subject material," the complaint states. Other Affected Universities Hagens Berman is investigating the rights of those who are currently paying for room and board, and/or tuition at colleges and universities that have been forced to close due to the outbreak of COVID-19. This may include parents, guardians or college students who are paying for their own costs of college. Despite orders from colleges and universities sending home students and closing campuses, these institutions of higher learning continue to charge for tuition and room and board. Collectively, these institutions are continuing to receive millions from students despite their inability to continue school as normal, or occupy campus buildings and dorms. Find out more about the class-action lawsuit against colleges and universities for tuition, room and board and other costs incurred during the outbreak of COVID-19. About Hagens Berman Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is a consumer-rights class-action law firm with nine offices across the country. The firm's tenacious drive for plaintiffs' rights has earned it numerous national accolades, awards and titles of "Most Feared Plaintiff's Firm," and MVPs and Trailblazers of class-action law. More about the law firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005791/en/ The Maharashtra government on Monday allowed resumption of manufacturing activities in the designated export units of gems and jewellery, though only for fulfilling export commitments. Keeping in view the COVID-19 situation, the state government has allowed the functioning of these units with only 10 per cent manpower with a point-to-point bus transport facility for workers. Bharat Diamond Bourse and SEEPZ, two of India's largest jewellery export designated zones, are based in Mumbai. The permission to resume partial activities has been given after the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and other trade bodies urged the Centre as well as the state governments for allowing manufacturing to clear the backlog of orders from the pre-lockdown period. We are yet to ship our March orders and are already late by one month. Already 25-30 per cent of our artisans have gone back to their villages at the beginning of the lockdown. It is going to be very challenging but we are confident that we will be able to fulfill the orders within 1-2 months, GJEPC vice chairman Colin Shah told PTI here. The export commitments of the sector are worth around USD 500-600 million, he added. Meanwhile, Surat Diamond Bourse and Jaipur resumed work after a gap of almost 5-6 weeks and these centres are operational by adhering to the COVID-19 safety guidelines set up by the government. Jaipur is another important centre for gems and jewellery business. Till date 40 units in SEZ, Sitapura and 25 units in gems and jewellery zone of EPIP, Sitapura has commenced their production. "The Customs department has remained open during the ongoing lockdown and officials have bravely come forward to ensure exports to take place. Both the Ministry of Commerce and Customs departments worked relentlessly for the gems and jewellery exports... As a result, cancellation of orders got minimised from Mumbai SEEPZ, Surat Diamond Bourse and Jaipur, Shah added. Bharat Diamond Bourse and SEEPZ in Mumbai are major centres, which has a huge backlog of orders and these centres will be operational in the next few days, GJEPC chairman Pramod Kumar Agrawal said. Exports of gold, silver and imitation jewellery has started. Exports of studded jewellery will also begin soon, Agrawal added. Frances Schultschik, a past president of the San Antonio-Mexico Friendship Council, attended a Zoom meeting with its board members this week. It was a small step in her recovery from COVID-19, but a big measure of her comeback from 10 days in an intensive care unit on the precipice of death. She remembers the high fevers and headaches that felt as if her eye was about to pop out. She has been home for three weeks, and like others struck by the highly infectious novel coronavirus, Schultschik suspects she contracted it while traveling. Shes done a lot of it, and after shes healed and travel precautions are in place, she plans to do more of it. Schultschik, a Chicago-born daughter of a Mexican mother and a Puerto Rican father who says, Im from here, was a member of the citys tourism team in action as San Antonio rose as a convention and visitors destination. She started her career in the executive training program at the beloved department store Joskes of Texas and honed her public relations skills at the Instituto Cultural de Mexico, where she coordinated visits from Mexican artists. That got noticed and in time she was helping spearhead the citys tourism efforts as director of public relations for the citys Convention & Visitors Bureau, now known as Visit San Antonio. Its name sounds heartbreaking now, as a global pandemic has halted industries that will take years, not months, to rebuild. Schultschiks words to the friendship council brought some to tears as she spoke of her ordeal. She talked about the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on Latinos and other people of color. COVID-19 has laid bare those inequities, while amplifying that the most vulnerable also are the most essential. One of the nations most inspiring leaders, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has spoken passionately about their work while pointing to their lack of healthcare and their place on the wrong side of the digital divide. The friendship council what a lovely name, by the way met to discuss ways to move forward and decided to refashion its fundraising efforts. All nonprofit organizations are trying to figure out how to raise money as longtime supporters and corporate sponsors signal donations will be smaller or non-existent. In an interview this week, Schultschik also spoke of how San Antonio built itself into a destination city. A Mexican proverb echoed through her talk and has meaning for her own recovery. Her mother used to say: No hay mal que por bien no venga. My mother repeated the adage to comfort broken hearts and soothe disappointments. Its literal translation is clumsy, but may be best understood as alls well that ends well or every cloud has a silver lining. Schultschik recalls when San Antonios tourism industry began to bloom post-HemisFair 68. It didnt happen immediately. The way she remembers it, it came after a Mexican peso devaluation in the 80s. Major U.S. cities retreated from their Mexican tourism strategies. The first focus was on Mexican tourists within a four- to five-hour drive from San Antonio. At the time, Houston was the mecca for Mexican shoppers, she said. In San Antonio, the pesos fall coincided with Saks Fifth Avenues opening at North Star Mall, Schultschik said. She went there to frame a window of opportunity. Fashion shows in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara followed, as did media attention. San Antonios theme parks, hotels and medical facilities eventually seized the market, too. Each step turned San Antonio into a landing and consumer base for Mexican wealth. Saks numbers in San Antonio were higher than their numbers in Houston, she said. Schultschik retired from the city eight years ago and started her own marketing company. Shell go back to traveling for work and pleasure once more precautions are in place. The industries will survive, she said, with some changes. The pandemic will change everything we do. In early March, when she traveled to Panama to meet clients, she noted that U.S. airports already were behind. Panamanian officials screened foreign travelers with temperature checks twice before they were allowed to leave the airport, she said. On her return flight through Houston, no such checks existed. Two weeks later, none were in place to and from Chicago either. It may take a while for people to want to go very far from home, she said. After 9/11, people waited to see precautions, and she remembers that San Antonio was one of the first cities to come back. eayala@express-news.net Just because a business does not make any money, does not mean that the stock will go down. For example, although software-as-a-service business Salesforce.com lost money for years while it grew recurring revenue, if you held shares since 2005, you'd have done very well indeed. But while the successes are well known, investors should not ignore the very many unprofitable companies that simply burn through all their cash and collapse. So, the natural question for Fortune Sun (China) Holdings (HKG:352) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of cash burn. In this article, we define cash burn as its annual (negative) free cash flow, which is the amount of money a company spends each year to fund its growth. Let's start with an examination of the business's cash, relative to its cash burn. View our latest analysis for Fortune Sun (China) Holdings When Might Fortune Sun (China) Holdings Run Out Of Money? You can calculate a company's cash runway by dividing the amount of cash it has by the rate at which it is spending that cash. As at December 2019, Fortune Sun (China) Holdings had cash of CN28m and no debt. Importantly, its cash burn was CN22m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of approximately 15 months from December 2019. That's not too bad, but it's fair to say the end of the cash runway is in sight, unless cash burn reduces drastically. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years. SEHK:352 Historical Debt May 11th 2020 Is Fortune Sun (China) Holdings's Revenue Growing? We're hesitant to extrapolate on the recent trend to assess its cash burn, because Fortune Sun (China) Holdings actually had positive free cash flow last year, so operating revenue growth is probably our best bet to measure, right now. Regrettably, the company's operating revenue moved in the wrong direction over the last twelve months, declining by 45%. In reality, this article only makes a short study of the company's growth data. You can take a look at how Fortune Sun (China) Holdings has developed its business over time by checking this visualization of its revenue and earnings history. Story continues How Easily Can Fortune Sun (China) Holdings Raise Cash? Since its revenue growth is moving in the wrong direction, Fortune Sun (China) Holdings shareholders may wish to think ahead to when the company may need to raise more cash. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash to drive growth. By comparing a company's annual cash burn to its total market capitalisation, we can estimate roughly how many shares it would have to issue in order to run the company for another year (at the same burn rate). Fortune Sun (China) Holdings has a market capitalisation of CN63m and burnt through CN22m last year, which is 36% of the company's market value. That's not insignificant, and if the company had to sell enough shares to fund another year's growth at the current share price, you'd likely witness fairly costly dilution. Is Fortune Sun (China) Holdings's Cash Burn A Worry? On this analysis of Fortune Sun (China) Holdings's cash burn, we think its cash runway was reassuring, while its falling revenue has us a bit worried. Summing up, we think the Fortune Sun (China) Holdings's cash burn is a risk, based on the factors we mentioned in this article. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 5 warning signs for Fortune Sun (China) Holdings (of which 2 are concerning!) you should know about. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies insiders are buying, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts) If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 22:25:59|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HONG KONG, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) announced on Monday that it has proposed to provide 5.4 billion Hong Kong dollars (697 million U.S. dollars) to Ocean Park to keep it afloat. Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the HKSAR government Edward Yau said at a press conference that the theme park, which has been temporarily closed since late January due to the COVID-19 epidemic, is facing a dire situation with "no visitor nor income". He expressed hope that the HKSAR Legislative Council would approve the bailout proposal before June so as to save the park. The HKSAR government had proposed to provide 10.64 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.37 billion U.S. dollars) of funding to the park in January for its redevelopment and financial burden alleviation. However, Yau said given the COVID-19 pandemic and the changing global tourism scenario, the government had to reconsider the support plan. The new funding proposal aims at supporting the park's operation in the next 12 months, and paying off a commercial debt of around 3 billion Hong Kong dollars (387 million U.S. dollars) so that the park could avoid liquidation, he said. Chairman of Ocean Park Leo Kung said at the press conference that the epidemic has hit Hong Kong's economy as well as the global economy, and that the theme park is facing an unprecedented challenge. Without the support, the park will cease operation, which will deal a heavy blow not only to Hong Kong residents and visitors but also to Hong Kong's tourism recovery, Kung said. Enditem Bengaluru, May 11 : Reinforcing Karnataka's Covid-19 combat efforts, a mobile fever clinic has been inaugurated. "Covid mobile fever clinic has been inaugurated," tweeted Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, here on Monday. The makeshift clinic, set up in a remodelled KSRTC bus, was inaugurated by the Chief Minister at his home office Krishna. Bengaluru South member of Parliament Tejasvi Surya said his office along with other entities developed the mobile fever clinic. "We have made available swab collection facilities for Covid, CBC, CRP and ESR tests in five such clinics," said Surya. The Karnataka government has deployed a host of innovative solutions to combat Covid-19. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Several on-site labourers in the city want to take special trains being run to transport workers back home. The rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city has caused anxiety among them. Mumbai, one of Indias top employment generators, has started to worry about the labour shortage, with companies saying workers want to return home. Several on-site labourers in the city want to take special trains being run to transport workers back home. The rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city has caused anxiety among them. While some wish to return to their families, others need to reach to their farms before the sowing season. Labourers go back in summers because it is wedding season and also a helping hand is needed to till the family land in villages. Following the governments recent decision to permit the migrant workers to travel to their home states, there has been a rush of applications from the migrant workers who want to take the special trains to their home state. "The lockdown has tested patience of these workers, said a spokesperson for Shapoorji Pallonji Engineering & Construction (SP E&C). Vikas Oberoi, chairman and managing director, Oberoi Realty, however, said: Forty to fifty per cent of our labour force wants to go back. "They also realise that if they go back they will be quarantined for 21 days before they get to see their families. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has close to 11,000 labourers working on different projects, including the city-wide metro network. A top official said: We have been able to execute work smoothly due to the lockdown since roads were empty and management of the construction work was easy. Labour is our only concern. The official said workers may start feeling uneasy if the number of COVID-19 cases in the city rises further. They are at our site and taken care of, and need not worry about infections. However, we cannot force them to stay back if they wish to go, he added. For now, the city planning authority has managed to create awareness and convince them to stay back. Real estate companies, which had arranged for their workers to stay back at their sites are facing similar concerns, albeit for different reasons. Oberoi said the company was in talks with its workers and convinced them to work until the lockdown was over. We have been successful in convincing more than 50 per cent of them, he added. Some of the labourers want to reach their home state before the sowing season starts. Many of those on our sites want to go back to the farms. They do it every year just before the rains to sow the seeds. "There will be shortage of workers in the short run, said Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director of Hiranandani Group. Some like SP E&C are using incentives, among other measures, to keep the labourers motivated. We are incentivising our workers financially and releasing timely payments to motivate our workers. Other measures include assurance over continuity of preventive and welfare measures in the post-lockdown scenario, motivational talks for workers to alleviate their anxiety and urging them not to believe in rumours. On a media call on Saturday, executives from Adani Transmission, which is also an electricity provider in Mumbai, said: Work related to upgradation is underway; the only worry is we should not see a flight of labourers. However, not everyone in the city is facing a similar challenge. People directly involved in the construction of the citys coastal road project suggest that labourers continue to stay on site with no concerns. Kamal Khetan, chairman and managing director, Sunteck Realty, said all of its 2,000 workers are on sites and work has started on nine out of 10 locations. While attempts continue to convince the labour class, some like SP E&C expect it would take at least six months for the worker strength to return to normal. Photograph: PTI Photo PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-11 10:13:01 Companies around the world can now secure a valuable premium .cloud domain name with new affordable pricing NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Top-level domain (TLD) .Cloud today announced the release of over 100,000 premium domain names with a new pricing structure to their worldwide partner network. These premium domain names are considered highly valuable for branding and marketing purposes and opens new opportunities for businesses to create modern branding and memorable websites. Released on May 6, 2020 at 16:00 UTC, the inventory totaling 103,395 domains is available for immediate purchase from hundreds of domain name registrars and thousands of their resellers. The inventory has been released within a simple new pricing structure with nine tiers, and one renewal price across all tiers. The lowest tier is expected to retail for under USD200. 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Aruba is also active in key European markets including France, the UK and Germany. The company has extensive experience in the management of data centers, with its European network capable of hosting over 200,000 servers. Aruba manages 2.7 million domains, 8.6 million email accounts, 6.7 million certified email (PEC) accounts, 130,000 physical and virtual server, for a total of approximately 5.4 million customers. Media enquiries: Simon Cousins, Allegravita, +1 347 850-3360 Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 23:22:53|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BERLIN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Volkswagen brand sold 67 percent less vehicles in Germany in April due to the standstill caused by the coronavirus crisis, Germany's largest car manufacturer announced on Monday. The German market was in an "almost exclusively good position" because in some other countries the minus had been considerably greater, said Juergen Stackmann, board member of Volkswagen, during a telephone conference on Monday. Volkswagen sales in Europe, excluding Germany, even plummeted by 83 percent compared with the same month last year, according to the German car manufacturer. In Britain, France, Italy and Spain there were almost no sales at all, according to Volkswagen. In the United States, sales were down 35 percent. Sales in China, on the other hand, almost remained at last year's level and only fell by around 2.5 percent, according to the German car manufacturer. According to Volkswagen, 60 percent of customers in China were first-time buyers. In China, Volkswagen brand was expecting to "reach the previous year's level again in May," said Stackmann. In order to boost sales in its home market Germany, Volkswagen brand launched a new program that included special leasing and financing offers. After around five weeks of shutdown due to the coronavirus crisis, Volkswagen gradually restarted production in Germany at the end of April. Enditem FP Trending The Poco F2 Pro smartphone will be unveiled today, that is, 12 May. Poco informed users about the launch of the new device on Tuesday. The company released a teaser on Twitter where it said that it was inspired by users to innovate after the launch of its first phone in 2018. The teaser showed messages by some users to the company, demanding a Poco F2. The launch event will kick off at 5.30 pm IST. Poco has scheduled the launch event in Spain, said several media reports. The phone will not come to India. Hey POCO Fans, hit now if you want to experience the simplicity of life powered by innovations that truly matter. BTW, a hidden message at the end of the video.#POCOisBACK #PowerfullyCool pic.twitter.com/FoF3zrLpd3 POCO (@POCOGlobal) May 7, 2020 A recent report suggested that the smartphone may be the most expensive one yet from Poco. The smartphone is expected to be priced at 570 (which roughly translates to Rs 47,000). It is believed that the Poco F2 Pro will be a rebranded version of Redmi K30 Pro and that the 128 GB variant of the phone would cost EUR 570. F2 Pro will come in four colour options - White, Purple, Grey, and Blue. From what we know so far, the Poco F2 Pro will feature a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with 60 Hz or 90 Hz refresh rate. It will also feature a 20 MP pop-up selfie camera and a quad-camera setup on the back. The main camera on the back may be of 64 MP and may be paired with a 13 MP ultra wide-angle lens, a 5 MP macro lens along with a 2 MP depth sensor. The smartphone will be equipped with a 4,700 mAh battery with 33 W fast charging support and powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor. B:2020 20200511 18:20:31 :B:2020 :B:2020 Stock Code: 000553(200553) Stock Abbreviation: ADAMA A (B) NO. 2020-30 ADAMA Ltd. Amended Announcement on Expected Related-Party Transactions in the Ordinary Course of Business in 2020 The Company and all members of its board of directors hereby confirm that all information disclosed herein is true, accurate and complete with no false or misleading statement or material omission. ADAMA Ltd. disclosed the Announcement on Expected Related-Party Transactions in the Ordinary Course of Business in 2020 (Announcement number 2020-24) On April 28, 2020. After review of the announcement, it shall be revised as follows by adding Amount already occurred as of the disclosure date in the part of (2) The types and amounts of expected related-party transactions in the ordinary course of business. Before the revision: (2) The types and amounts of expected related-party transactions in the ordinary course of business RMB0000 Type of related-party transaction Related party Content of related-party transaction The pricing principle of related-party transaction Contract amount or estimated amount not to exceed Amount occurred in the previous year Purchasing raw materials and products from related parties Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 151,940 117,685.34 Bluestar (Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 920 3,739.82 Jiangsu Huaihe Chemicals Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 22,770 20,960 Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co. and its Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 48,990 -- subsidiaries Zhonglan International Chemical Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 3,102.7 -- Sub-total - - 227,722.7 142,385.16 Selling raw materials and products to related parties Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries Selling products Market price 86,675.9 59,647.6 Jiangsu Huaihe Chemicals Co., Ltd. Selling products Market price 26,668.5 24,096 Sinofert Selling products Market price 941.85 -- Sinochem Agriculture Selling products Market price 311.65 -- Sino MAP Selling products Market price 272.55 -- Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. Selling products Market price 88.55 -- Jiangsu Youshi Chemical Co., Ltd. Selling products Market price 17,250 -- Zhonglan International Chemical Co., Ltd. Selling products Market price 2,300 -- Sub-total - - 134,509 83,743.6 Receiving services from related parties China National Chemical Information Center Value-added OA services Market price 261 202 Shanghai Branch of Zhonglan Lianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. Design services Market price 663 634 Sub-total - - 924 836 After the revision: (2) The types and amounts of expected related-party transactions in the ordinary course of business RMB0000 Type of related-party transaction Related party Content of related-party transaction The pricing principle of related-party transaction Contract amount or estimated amount not to exceed Amount already occurred as of the disclosure date Amount occurred in the previous year Purchasing raw materials and products from related parties Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 151,940 43,229 117,685.34 Bluestar (Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 920 233 3,739.82 Jiangsu Huaihe Chemicals Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 22,770 5,218 20,960 Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co. and its subsidiaries Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 48,990 Not Applicable -- Zhonglan International Chemical Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 3,102.7 2,698 11,016 Sub-total - - 227,722.7 51,378 153,401.16 Selling raw materials and products to related parties Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries Selling products Market price 86,675.9 17,055 59,647.6 Jiangsu Huaihe Chemicals Co., Ltd. Selling products Market price 26,668.5 6,555 24,096 Sinofert Selling products Market price 941.85 Not Applicable -- Sinochem Agriculture Selling products Market price 311.65 Not Applicable -- Sino MAP Selling products Market price 272.55 Not Applicable -- Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. Selling products Market price 88.55 Not Applicable -- Jiangsu Youshi Chemical Co., Ltd. Selling products Market price 17,250 Not Applicable -- Zhonglan Selling products Market price International Chemical Co., Ltd. 2,300 293 -- Sub-total - - 134,509 23,903 83,743.6 Receiving services from related parties China National Chemical Information Center Value-added OA services Market price 261 11 202 Shanghai Branch of Zhonglan Lianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. Design services Market price 663 0 634 Sub-total - - 924 11 836 The appendix is the Amended Announcement on Expected Related-Party Transactions in the Ordinary Course of Business in 2020. It is hereby announced. The Board of Directors of ADAMA Ltd. May 12, 2020 ADAMA Ltd. Amended Announcement on Expected Related-Party Transactions in the Ordinary Course of Business in 2020 The Company and all members of its board of directors hereby confirm that all information disclosed herein is true, accurate and complete with no false or misleading statement or material omission. I. Basic Information on Related Party Transactions in the ordinary course of business (1) Overview of related-party transactions in the ordinary course of business The Company expects that the aggregated amount of related party transactions between it and/or its subsidiaries (together the "Group Companies") and the subsidiaries of China National Chemical Co., Ltd (ChemChina, the actual control controller of the Company) in 2020 is RMB 3,631.56 million. It consists of (1) the Group Companies will purchase raw materials/products, receive certain services from subsidiaries controlled by ChemChina, in a total amount that will not exceed RMB 2,286.47million; and (2) the Group Companies will sell products and provide services, in a total amount that will not exceed RMB1,345.09 million, to subsidiaries controlled by ChemChina. Such transactions hereinafter referred as the "related-party transactions". Related-party transactions of the above type performed by the Company in 2019 in the ordinary course of business amounted to RMB 2,387.79 million. These estimations were performed based on the current available data and may change, inter alia, as a result of changes to the Group Companies business and/or due to market conditions as well as due to the formation of Syngenta Group Co., Ltd.(Syngenta Group), comprising the Company, Syngenta AG and Sinochems agriculture-related activities, which will further bolster the alignment between the companies and capitalize on the value creation and synergy opportunities identified. The related-party transactions matter has been reviewed and approved at the 25th Meeting of the 8th session of the Board of Directors of the Company. Among the five directors of the Company, there were three affirmative votes, zero negative votes and zero abstentions, while the two related-party directors (Mr. Erik Fyrwald and Mr. Chen Lichtenstein) refrained from voting. The related-party transactions matter shall be further approved by the Shareholders Meeting. China National Agrochemical Co., Ltd.and Jingzhou Sanonda Holdings Co., Ltd. will refrain from voting. (2) The types and amounts of expected related-party transactions in the ordinary course of business RMB0000 Type of related-party transaction Related party Content of related-party transaction The pricing principle of related-party transaction Contract amount or estimated amount not to exceed Amount already occurred as of the disclosure date Amount occurred in the previous year Purchasing raw materials and products from related parties Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 151,940 43,229 117,685.34 Bluestar (Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 920 233 3,739.82 Jiangsu Huaihe Chemicals Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 22,770 5,218 20,960 Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co. and its subsidiaries Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 48,990 Not Applicable -- Zhonglan International Chemical Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products Market price 3,102.7 2,698 11,016 Sub-total - - 227,722.7 51,378 153,401.16 Selling raw materials and products to related parties Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries Selling products Market price 86,675.9 17,055 59,647.6 Jiangsu Huaihe Chemicals Co., Ltd. Selling products Market price 26,668.5 6,555 24,096 Sinofert Selling products Market price 941.85 Not Applicable -- Sinochem Agriculture Selling products Market price 311.65 Not Applicable -- Sino MAP Selling products Market price 272.55 Not Applicable -- Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. Selling products Market price 88.55 Not Applicable -- Jiangsu Youshi Chemical Co., Ltd. Selling products Market price 17,250 Not Applicable -- Zhonglan International Selling products Market price 2,300 293 -- Chemical Co., Ltd. Sub-total - - 134,509 23,903 83,743.6 Receiving services from related parties China National Chemical Information Center Value-added OA services Market price 261 11 202 Shanghai Branch of Zhonglan Lianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. Design services Market price 663 0 634 Sub-total - - 924 11 836 (3) Actual related-party transactions in the ordinary course of business performed in the previous year RMB0000 Type of related-party transaction Related party Content of related transaction Actually occurred amount Estimated amount Difference proportion% Purchasing raw materials and products from related parties ADAMA Anpon (Jiangsu) Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products (including the designated products) 130 31,904 -99.59% Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries Purchase of raw materials/products 117,685.34 82,800 42.13% Beijing Grand AgroChem Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials 455 1,800 -74.72% Shandong Dacheng Agrochemical Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products 0 690 -100% Bluestar (Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products 3,739.82 3,843 -2.68% Jiangsu Huaihe Chemicals Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products 20,960 20,099 4.28% Zhonglan International Chemical Co., Ltd. Purchase of raw materials/products 11,016 11,983 -8.07% Sub-total - 153,986.16 153,119 0.57% Selling products and goods Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries Selling products 59,647.6 69,000 -13.55% to related parties Jiangsu Huaihe Chemicals Co., Ltd. Selling products 24,096 23,138 4.14% Sub-total - 83,743.6 92,138 -9.11% Receiving services from related party China National Chemical Information Center Value-added OA services 202 65 210.8% Jiangsu Lianhai Testing Co., Ltd. Testing Services 1 60 -98.33% Zhonglan Lianhai (Shanghai) Chemical Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. Testing Services 0 144 -100% Shanghai Branch of Zhonglan Lianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. Design services 634 712 -10.96% Sub-total - 837 981 -14.68% Providing services to related parties ADAMA Anpon (Jiangsu) Ltd. Consultancy and management services 150 1,996 -92.48% Sub-total - 150 1,996 -92.48% Accepting the entrustment of the related party to sell its products ADAMA Anpon (Jiangsu) Ltd. Entrusted Sale 63 569 -88.93% Sub-total - 63 569 -88.93% Aggregated 238,779.76 248,803 -4.03% An explanation by the board of directors for the major difference between the actual occurred amount of daily related transactions and the estimated amount The expected amount of the related party transactions in 2019 is RMB 2,488.03million while the occurred amount in 2019 is RMB 2,387.79million. No material difference between the expected figure and the occurred figure. An explanation by the independent directors for the major difference between the actual occurred amount of daily related transactions and the expected amount Not applicable Notes: 1. Please refer to the announcements on February 22, 2019 and April 30, 2019 for the 2019 expected related-party transactions of the Company (Announcement number 2019-11 and 2019-31). 2. The Company is a global crop protection company, with sales amounting to RMB 27,563.239 million in 2019, such that the total amount of related party transactions performed in 2019 represents only a relatively low proportion of the overall business of the Company, 3.29% of its total 2019 sales. II. Introduction to Related Parties and Their Relationships with the Company 1. Syngenta AG (legal representative: n/a; registered address: Schwarzwaldallee 215 4058 Basel) has the registered capital of RMB 41.33 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to crop protection, seeds. The main financial data as of the date December 31, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB93,661,472,000 yuan, total assets of RMB156,245,951,400 yuan, net assets of RMB31,190,590,200 yuan. Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actual control holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company. Analysis of contract performance capability: Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries produce and operate normally andare in good operational and financial conditions and thus have a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement. 2. Bluestar (Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. (legal representative:Qiao Xiaofeng; registered address: No. 5, Xingye Street, Beijing Economic and Development Zone) has registered capital of RMB200 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to production of chemical machinery and equipment, production of type III pressure vessels, design, maintenance and installation of chemical machinery and equipment, technical consultation, technical services, technical training. The main financial data as of the date December 31, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB632.91 million, net profit of RMB 34.50 million, total assets of RMB1,032.84 million, net assets of RMB 559.04 million. Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actual control holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company. Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Bluestar (Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. operates normally and is in good operational and financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement. 3. Jiangsu Huaihe Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Xia Wenbiao; registered address: Yutai County, Jiangsu Province) has registered capital of RMB 24.7million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to manufacturing and sale of chemical products. The main financial data as of December 31, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB919.02 million, net profit of RMB24.81 million, total assets of RMB638.71 million, net assets of RMB152.68million. Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actual control holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company. Analysis of performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Jiangsu Huaihe Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financial conditions and thus has a good performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement 4. Zhonglan International Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Yang Hongbin; registered address: No. 1202-1207, 12/F, No.62 North 4th Ring West Road, Haidian District, Beijing) has registered capital of RMB 100 million and mainly undertakes the wholesale chemical products, technology import and export, technology and information consulting services. The main financial data as of September 30, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB 2,650,627,406.10 yuan, net profit of RMB9,855,233.90 yuan, total assets of RMB863,538,774.38 yuan, net assets of RMB -7,669,944.53 yuan. Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actual control holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company. Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Zhonglan International Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement. 5. Zhonglan Lianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. (Legal Representative: Huang Zhenwei; registered address:No.51, Chaoyang West Road, Haizhou District, Lianyungang) has registered capital of RMB128 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to project consultation and evaluation, design and project management, engineering construction (excluding blasting), general contracting, technical services. The main financial data as of September 30, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB 277,563,142.17 yuan, net profit of RMB9,375,882.71 yuan, total assets of RMB969,721,326.13 yuan, net assets of RMB638,737,455.15 yuan. Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actual control holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company. Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Shanghai Branch of Zhonglan Lianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. operates normally and is in good operational and financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement. 6. China National Chemical Information Center (legal representative:Shui Min; registered address: No. 53 Anwai Xiaoguan Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing) has registered capital of RMB150 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to chemical information analysis and consultation, software development and network technologies and services. The main financial data as of the date September 30, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB181,249,046.78 yuan, net profit of RMB 17,972,020.94 yuan, total assets of RMB823,925,088.30 yuan, net assets of RMB679,043,422.54 yuan. Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actual control holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company. Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, China National Chemical Information Center operates normally and is in good operational and financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement. 7. Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Qin Hengde; registered address: No. 39, Wenfeng Road, Yangzhou) has registered capital of RMB 309.8989 million and mainly undertakes the manufacture of agrochemicals and fine chemicals. The main financial data as of September 30, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB 7,061.92 million, net profit of RMB1,069.57 million, total assets of RMB 9,567.13 million, net assets of RMB 5,021.77 million. Jiangsu Youshi and Sinochem Agriculture mentioned in this announcement as expected related parties are subsidiaries of Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person whose shares are indirectly held by ChemChina, the actual control holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(5) of the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company. Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement. 8. Sinofert Holdings Limited (Executive Director & CEO: Qin Hengde; registered office: Clarendon House 2 Church Street Hamilton HM11 Bermuda) is a company listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (stock code:00297), which has registered capital of HKD 7,024,456 million and mainly undertakes the production, import and export, distribution and retail of fertilizer raw materials and finished products, provision of technological research and development and services relating to the fertilizer business and products, exploration and exploitation of phosphate mine, and production of monocalcium/dicalcium phosphate (MCP/DCP). The main financial data as of September 30, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB 18,719.86 million, net profit of RMB 470.65 million, total assets of RMB 18,324.8 million, net assets of RMB 5,664.61 million. Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actual control holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company. Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Sinofert Holdings Limited produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement. 9. Sinochem Agriculture Holdings (legal representative: Ying Minjie; registered address: Room 818, No. 28 Fuxingmennei street, Xicheng district, Beijing) has registered capital of RMB 1,000 million and mainly undertakes sales of agricultural production materials; grain purchases; services for agriculture; technology development and technology consultation on soil improvement and restoration, etc. The main financial data as of September 30, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB 1,112.7107 million, net profit of RMB -250.4939 million, total assets of RMB 2,411.1988 million, net assets of RMB 489.7226 million. Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by SinoChem Group Co.,Ltd.(SinoChem). SincoChem is transferring its total share equity in this company to Syngenta Group Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of the Companys controller ChemChina. According to the Article 10.1.6(1) of the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company. Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Sinochem Agriculture Holdings produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement. III. Main Content of Related-Party Transactions 1. Main content (1) All related-party transactions between the Group Companies and the relevant related parties should be carried out based on market terms and according to the principles of voluntariness, equality, mutual benefit, justice and fairness and without prejudice to the interests of the Company. (2) If there is any available state fixed price, then the state fixed price shall prevail; if the state fixed price is inapplicable or not applicable any more, then the market price shall prevail; if the market price is inapplicable or not applicable any more, then both parties shall determine the exact and fair pricing standards they believe to be based on relevant data. 2. Signing of transaction agreement The Group Companies will conclude contracts with the relevant related parties according to their production and operation requirements and their ordinary course business practices. IV. Purpose of Related-Party Transaction and its Impact on the Company These related-party transactions are necessary for the daily business operation of the Group Companies. They mainly aim to capitalize on the Group Companies unique positioning and profile, including as part of the Syngenta Group, achieve cost savings, increase the Companys sales and market share and to drive its profitable growth. Based on the understanding of the related-parties business performance, credit status and performance capability, the Group Companies have selected them to conduct transactions in the ordinary course of business. The related-party transaction activities follow the principle of fairness and justice, they will not adversely affect the Company and its non-related party shareholders. The Board of Directors of the Company holds that the related-party transactions benefit the continuity and stability of the Companys business operations and has a positive impact on the normal operations of the Company. Those transactions will not impact the independence of the Company. V. Independent Directors Opinions The Companys independent directors have given separate opinions on the related party transactions matter: The Group's related-party transactions performed in the ordinary course of business are mainly to purchase or sell goods, materials and services from/to the related parties based on the principles of justice and fairness and the pricing standards consistent with those of non-related parties, in order to capitalize on the Groups unique positioning and profile including as part of the Syngenta Group, achieve cost savings, increase the Companys sales and market share and to drive its profitable growth. All such transactions shall conform to relevant national laws and regulations, as applicable, and market-oriented principles, and shall not influence the independence of the Company or damage the interests of the Group Companies and their other shareholders. The decision-making procedures for these related party transactions conform to the Company Law of the Peoples Republic of China, the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, the Articles of Association and other laws and regulations. We agree on this proposal and submit it to the General Meeting of Shareholders for deliberation. VI. Documents for Future Reference 1. The resolution made at the 25th Meeting of the 8th session of the Board of Directors of the Company; 2. Independent directors prior written approval; 3. Independent directors opinions. The Board of Directors of ADAMA Ltd. May 12, 2020 Stock Code: 000553(200553) Stock Abbreviation: ADAMA A (B) NO. 2020-30ADAMA Ltd.Amended Announcement on Expected Related-Party Transactions in theOrdinary Course of Business in 2020The Company and all members of its board of directors hereby confirm that all informationdisclosed herein is true, accurate and complete with no false or misleading statement ormaterial omission.ADAMA Ltd. disclosed the Announcement on Expected Related-Party Transactions in theOrdinary Course of Business in 2020 (Announcement number 2020-24) On April 28, 2020. Afterreview of the announcement, it shall be revised as follows by adding Amount already occurredas of the disclosure date in the part of (2) The types and amounts of expected related-partytransactions in the ordinary course of business.Before the revision:(2) The types and amounts of expected related-party transactions in the ordinary course ofbusinessRMB0000Type ofrelated-partytransactionRelated partyContent ofrelated-partytransactionThe pricingprinciple ofrelated-partytransactionContract amountor estimatedamount not toexceedAmountoccurred inthe previousyearPurchasingraw materialsand productsfrom relatedpartiesSyngenta AGand itssubsidiariesPurchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price151,940117,685.34Bluestar(Beijing)ChemicalMachinery Co.,Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price9203,739.82Jiangsu HuaiheChemicals Co.,Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price22,77020,960JiangsuYangnongChemical Co.and itsPurchase of rawmaterials/productsMarketprice48,990--subsidiariesZhonglanInternationalChemical Co.,Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price3,102.7--Sub-total227,722.7142,385.16Selling rawmaterials andproducts torelated partiesSyngenta AGand itssubsidiariesSelling productsMarket price86,675.959,647.6Jiangsu HuaiheChemicals Co.,Ltd.Selling productsMarket price26,668.524,096SinofertSelling productsMarket price941.85--SinochemAgricultureSelling productsMarket price311.65--Sino MAPSelling productsMarket price272.55--JiangsuYangnongChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price88.55--JiangsuYoushiChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price17,250--ZhonglanInternationalChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price2,300--Sub-total134,50983,743.6Receivingservices fromrelated partiesChina NationalChemicalInformationCenterValue-added OAservicesMarket price261202ShanghaiBranch ofZhonglanLianhai DesignInstitute Co.,Ltd.Design servicesMarket price663634Sub-total924836After the revision:(2) The types and amounts of expected related-party transactions in the ordinary course of businessRMB0000Type ofrelated-partytransactionRelatedpartyContent ofrelated-partytransactionThe pricingprinciple ofrelated-partytransactionContractamount orestimatedamount notto exceedAmountalreadyoccurredas of thedisclosuredateAmountoccurredin thepreviousyearPurchasingraw materialsand productsfrom relatedpartiesSyngenta AGand itssubsidiariesPurchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price151,94043,229117,685.34Bluestar(Beijing)ChemicalMachineryCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price9202333,739.82JiangsuHuaiheChemicalsCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price22,7705,21820,960JiangsuYangnongChemical Co.and itssubsidiariesPurchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price48,990NotApplicable--ZhonglanInternationalChemical Co.,Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price3,102.72,69811,016Sub-total227,722.751,378153,401.16Selling rawmaterials andproducts torelated partiesSyngenta AGand itssubsidiariesSelling productsMarket price86,675.917,05559,647.6JiangsuHuaiheChemicalsCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price26,668.56,55524,096SinofertSelling productsMarket price941.85NotApplicable--SinochemAgricultureSelling productsMarket price311.65NotApplicable--Sino MAPSelling productsMarket price272.55NotApplicable--JiangsuYangnongChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price88.55NotApplicable--JiangsuYoushiChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price17,250NotApplicable--ZhonglanSelling productsMarket priceInternationalChemicalCo., Ltd.2,300293--Sub-total134,50923,90383,743.6Receivingservices fromrelated partiesChinaNationalChemicalInformationCenterValue-added OAservicesMarket price26111202ShanghaiBranch ofZhonglanLianhaiDesignInstitute Co.,Ltd.Design servicesMarket price663634Sub-total92411836The appendix is the Amended Announcement on Expected Related-Party Transactions in theOrdinary Course of Business in 2020.It is hereby announced.The Board of Directors of ADAMA Ltd.May 12, 2020ADAMA Ltd.Amended Announcement on Expected Related-Party Transactions in theOrdinary Course of Business in 2020The Company and all members of its board of directors hereby confirm that all informationdisclosed herein is true, accurate and complete with no false or misleading statement ormaterial omission.I. Basic Information on Related Party Transactions in the ordinary course of business(1) Overview of related-party transactions in the ordinary course of businessThe Company expects that the aggregated amount of related party transactions between itand/or its subsidiaries (together the "Group Companies") and the subsidiaries of ChinaNational Chemical Co., Ltd (ChemChina, the actual control controller of the Company)in 2020 is RMB 3,631.56 million. It consists of (1) the Group Companies will purchaseraw materials/products, receive certain services from subsidiaries controlled byChemChina, in a total amount that will not exceed RMB 2,286.47million; and (2) theGroup Companies will sell products and provide services, in a total amount that will notexceed RMB1,345.09 million, to subsidiaries controlled by ChemChina. Such transactionshereinafter referred as the "related-party transactions".Related-party transactions of the above type performed by the Company in 2019 in theordinary course of business amounted to RMB 2,387.79 million.These estimations were performed based on the current available data and may change,inter alia, as a result of changes to the Group Companies business and/or due to marketconditions as well as due to the formation of Syngenta Group Co., Ltd.(Syngenta Group),comprising the Company, Syngenta AG and Sinochems agriculture-related activities,which will further bolster the alignment between the companies and capitalize on the valuecreation and synergy opportunities identified.The related-party transactions matter has been reviewed and approved at the 25th Meetingof the 8th session of the Board of Directors of the Company. Among the five directors ofthe Company, there were three affirmative votes, zero negative votes and zero abstentions,while the two related-party directors (Mr. Erik Fyrwald and Mr. Chen Lichtenstein)refrained from voting.The related-party transactions matter shall be further approved by the ShareholdersMeeting. China National Agrochemical Co., Ltd.and Jingzhou Sanonda Holdings Co., Ltd.will refrain from voting.(2) The types and amounts of expected related-party transactions in the ordinary courseof businessRMB0000Type ofrelated-partytransactionRelatedpartyContent ofrelated-partytransactionThe pricingprinciple ofrelated-partytransactionContractamount orestimatedamount notto exceedAmountalreadyoccurredas of thedisclosuredateAmountoccurredin thepreviousyearPurchasingraw materialsand productsfrom relatedpartiesSyngenta AGand itssubsidiariesPurchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price151,94043,229117,685.34Bluestar(Beijing)ChemicalMachineryCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price9202333,739.82JiangsuHuaiheChemicalsCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price22,7705,21820,960JiangsuYangnongChemical Co.and itssubsidiariesLtd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarketprice48,990NotApplicable--ZhonglanInternationalChemical Co.,Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price3,102.72,69811,016Sub-total227,722.751,378153,401.16Selling rawmaterials andproducts torelated partiesSyngenta AGand itssubsidiariesSelling productsMarket price86,675.917,05559,647.6JiangsuHuaiheChemicalsCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price26,668.56,55524,096SinofertSelling productsMarket price941.85NotApplicable--SinochemAgricultureSelling productsMarket price311.65NotApplicable--Sino MAPSelling productsMarket price272.55NotApplicable--JiangsuYangnongChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price88.55NotApplicable--JiangsuYoushiChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price17,250NotApplicable--ZhonglanInternationalSelling productsMarket price2,300293--ChemicalCo., Ltd.Sub-total134,50923,90383,743.6Receivingservices fromrelated partiesChinaNationalChemicalInformationCenterValue-added OAservicesMarket price26111202ShanghaiBranch ofZhonglanLianhaiDesignInstitute Co.,Ltd.Design servicesMarket price663634Sub-total92411836(3) Actual related-party transactions in the ordinary course of business performed in theprevious yearRMB0000Type ofrelated-partytransactionRelated partyContent of relatedtransactionActuallyoccurredamountEstimatedamountDifferenceproportion%Purchasingrawmaterialsandproductsfrom relatedpartiesADAMA Anpon (Jiangsu)Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products(including thedesignated products)13031,904-99.59%Syngenta AG and itssubsidiariesPurchase of rawmaterials/products117,685.3482,80042.13%Beijing Grand AgroChemCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials4551,800-74.72%Shandong DachengAgrochemical Co., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products690-100%Bluestar (Beijing) ChemicalMachinery Co., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products3,739.823,843-2.68%Jiangsu Huaihe ChemicalsCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products20,96020,0994.28%Zhonglan InternationalChemical Co., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products11,01611,983-8.07%Sub-total153,986.16153,1190.57%Sellingproductsand goodsSyngenta AG and itssubsidiariesSelling products59,647.669,000-13.55%to relatedpartiesJiangsu Huaihe ChemicalsCo., Ltd.Selling products24,09623,1384.14%Sub-total83,743.692,138-9.11%Receivingservicesfrom relatedpartyChina National ChemicalInformation CenterValue-added OAservices20265210.8%Jiangsu Lianhai TestingCo., Ltd.Testing Services60-98.33%Zhonglan Lianhai(Shanghai) ChemicalEngineering TechnologyCo., Ltd.Testing Services144-100%Shanghai Branch ofZhonglan Lianhai DesignInstitute Co., Ltd.Design services634712-10.96%Sub-total837981-14.68%Providingservices torelatedpartiesADAMA Anpon (Jiangsu)Ltd.Consultancy andmanagement services1501,996-92.48%Sub-total1501,996-92.48%Acceptingtheentrustmentof therelatedparty to sellits productsADAMA Anpon (Jiangsu)Ltd.Entrusted Sale63569-88.93%Sub-total63569-88.93%Aggregated238,779.76248,803-4.03%An explanation by the board of directors for the major differencebetween the actual occurred amount of daily related transactionsand the estimated amountThe expected amount of the relatedparty transactions in 2019 is RMB2,488.03million while the occurredamount in 2019 is RMB2,387.79million. No materialdifference between the expectedfigure and the occurred figure.An explanation by the independent directors for the majordifference between the actual occurred amount of daily relatedtransactions and the expected amountNot applicableNotes:1. Please refer to the announcements on February 22, 2019 and April 30, 2019 for the 2019 expectedrelated-party transactions of the Company (Announcement number 2019-11 and 2019-31).2. The Company is a global crop protection company, with sales amounting to RMB 27,563.239million in 2019, such that the total amount of related party transactions performed in 2019represents only a relatively low proportion of the overall business of the Company, 3.29% of itstotal 2019 sales.II. Introduction to Related Parties and Their Relationships with the Company1. Syngenta AG (legal representative: n/a; registered address: Schwarzwaldallee 215 4058 Basel)has the registered capital of RMB 41.33 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related tocrop protection, seeds. The main financial data as of the date December 31, 2019 are: operatingrevenue of RMB93,661,472,000 yuan, total assets of RMB156,245,951,400 yuan, net assets ofRMB31,190,590,200 yuan.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actualcontrol holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of ShenzhenStock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company.Analysis of contract performance capability: Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries produce andoperate normally andare in good operational and financial conditions and thus have a goodcontract performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcementinformation of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement.2. Bluestar (Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. (legal representative:Qiao Xiaofeng;registered address: No. 5, Xingye Street, Beijing Economic and Development Zone) hasregistered capital of RMB200 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related toproduction of chemical machinery and equipment, production of type III pressure vessels,design, maintenance and installation of chemical machinery and equipment, technicalconsultation, technical services, technical training. The main financial data as of the dateDecember 31, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB632.91 million, net profit of RMB 34.50million, total assets of RMB1,032.84 million, net assets of RMB 559.04 million.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actualcontrol holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of ShenzhenStock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Bluestar(Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. operates normally and is in good operational andfinancial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching onthe website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest partysubject to enforcement.3. Jiangsu Huaihe Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Xia Wenbiao; registered address:Yutai County, Jiangsu Province) has registered capital of RMB 24.7million and mainlyundertakes the businesses related to manufacturing and sale of chemical products. The mainfinancial data as of December 31, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB919.02 million, netprofit of RMB24.81 million, total assets of RMB638.71 million, net assets ofRMB152.68million.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actualcontrol holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of ShenzhenStock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company.Analysis of performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Jiangsu HuaiheChemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financialconditions and thus has a good performance capability. After searching on the website ofdisclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject toenforcement4. Zhonglan International Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Yang Hongbin; registeredaddress: No. 1202-1207, 12/F, No.62 North 4th Ring West Road, Haidian District, Beijing) hasregistered capital of RMB 100 million and mainly undertakes the wholesale chemical products,technology import and export, technology and information consulting services. The mainfinancial data as of September 30, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB 2,650,627,406.10 yuan,net profit of RMB9,855,233.90 yuan, total assets of RMB863,538,774.38 yuan, net assets ofRMB -7,669,944.53 yuan.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actualcontrol holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of ShenzhenStock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, ZhonglanInternational Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operationalconditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the websiteof disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject toenforcement.5. Zhonglan Lianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. (Legal Representative: Huang Zhenwei; registeredaddress:No.51, Chaoyang West Road, Haizhou District, Lianyungang) has registered capital ofRMB128 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to project consultation andevaluation, design and project management, engineering construction (excluding blasting),general contracting, technical services. The main financial data as of September 30, 2019 are:operating revenue of RMB 277,563,142.17 yuan, net profit of RMB9,375,882.71 yuan, totalassets of RMB969,721,326.13 yuan, net assets of RMB638,737,455.15 yuan.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actualcontrol holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of ShenzhenStock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, ShanghaiBranch of Zhonglan Lianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. operates normally and is in goodoperational and financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. Aftersearching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not adishonest party subject to enforcement.6. China National Chemical Information Center (legal representative:Shui Min; registered address:No. 53 Anwai Xiaoguan Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing) has registered capital of RMB150million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to chemical information analysis andconsultation, software development and network technologies and services. The main financialdata as of the date September 30, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB181,249,046.78 yuan, netprofit of RMB 17,972,020.94 yuan, total assets of RMB823,925,088.30 yuan, net assets ofRMB679,043,422.54 yuan.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actualcontrol holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of ShenzhenStock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, ChinaNational Chemical Information Center operates normally and is in good operational andfinancial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching onthe website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest partysubject to enforcement.7. Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Qin Hengde; registered address:No. 39, Wenfeng Road, Yangzhou) has registered capital of RMB 309.8989 million andmainly undertakes the manufacture of agrochemicals and fine chemicals. The main financialdata as of September 30, 2019 are: operating revenue of RMB 7,061.92 million, net profit ofRMB1,069.57 million, total assets of RMB 9,567.13 million, net assets of RMB 5,021.77million. Jiangsu Youshi and Sinochem Agriculture mentioned in this announcement asexpected related parties are subsidiaries of Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person whose shares are indirectly held byChemChina, the actual control holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(5) ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, JiangsuYangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational andfinancial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching onthe website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest partysubject to enforcement.8. Sinofert Holdings Limited (Executive Director & CEO: Qin Hengde; registered office:Clarendon House 2 Church Street Hamilton HM11 Bermuda) is a company listed on the MainBoard of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (stock code:00297), which has registered capitalof HKD 7,024,456 million and mainly undertakes the production, import and export,distribution and retail of fertilizer raw materials and finished products, provision oftechnological research and development and services relating to the fertilizer business andproducts, exploration and exploitation of phosphate mine, and production ofmonocalcium/dicalcium phosphate (MCP/DCP). The main financial data as of September 30,2019 are: operating revenue of RMB 18,719.86 million, net profit of RMB 470.65 million,total assets of RMB 18,324.8 million, net assets of RMB 5,664.61 million.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by ChemChina, the actualcontrol holder of the Company. According to the Article 10.1.3(2) of the Rules of ShenzhenStock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the Company.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, SinofertHoldings Limited produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financialconditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the websiteof disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject toenforcement.9. Sinochem Agriculture Holdings (legal representative: Ying Minjie; registered address: Room818, No. 28 Fuxingmennei street, Xicheng district, Beijing) has registered capital of RMB 1,000million and mainly undertakes sales of agricultural production materials; grain purchases;services for agriculture; technology development and technology consultation on soilimprovement and restoration, etc. The main financial data as of September 30, 2019 are:operating revenue of RMB 1,112.7107 million, net profit of RMB -250.4939 million, totalassets of RMB 2,411.1988 million, net assets of RMB 489.7226 million.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by SinoChem GroupCo.,Ltd.(SinoChem). SincoChem is transferring its total share equity in this company toSyngenta Group Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of the Companys controller ChemChina. According tothe Article 10.1.6(1) of the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is arelated party of the Company.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, SinochemAgriculture Holdings produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financialconditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the websiteof disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject toenforcement.III. Main Content of Related-Party Transactions1. Main content(1) All related-party transactions between the Group Companies and the relevantrelated parties should be carried out based on market terms and according to theprinciples of voluntariness, equality, mutual benefit, justice and fairness andwithout prejudice to the interests of the Company.(2) If there is any available state fixed price, then the state fixed price shall prevail; ifthe state fixed price is inapplicable or not applicable any more, then the marketprice shall prevail; if the market price is inapplicable or not applicable any more,then both parties shall determine the exact and fair pricing standards they believeto be based on relevant data.2. Signing of transaction agreementThe Group Companies will conclude contracts with the relevant related partiesaccording to their production and operation requirements and their ordinary coursebusiness practices.IV. Purpose of Related-Party Transaction and its Impact on the CompanyThese related-party transactions are necessary for the daily business operation of the GroupCompanies. They mainly aim to capitalize on the Group Companies unique positioningand profile, including as part of the Syngenta Group, achieve cost savings, increase theCompanys sales and market share and to drive its profitable growth. Based on theunderstanding of the related-parties business performance, credit status and performancecapability, the Group Companies have selected them to conduct transactions in theordinary course of business. The related-party transaction activities follow the principle offairness and justice, they will not adversely affect the Company and its non-related partyshareholders. The Board of Directors of the Company holds that the related-partytransactions benefit the continuity and stability of the Companys business operations andhas a positive impact on the normal operations of the Company. Those transactions will notimpact the independence of the Company.V. Independent Directors OpinionsThe Companys independent directors have given separate opinions on the related partytransactions matter: The Group's related-party transactions performed in the ordinarycourse of business are mainly to purchase or sell goods, materials and services from/to therelated parties based on the principles of justice and fairness and the pricing standardsconsistent with those of non-related parties, in order to capitalize on the Groups uniquepositioning and profile including as part of the Syngenta Group, achieve cost savings,increase the Companys sales and market share and to drive its profitable growth. All suchtransactions shall conform to relevant national laws and regulations, as applicable, andmarket-oriented principles, and shall not influence the independence of the Company ordamage the interests of the Group Companies and their other shareholders. Thedecision-making procedures for these related party transactions conform to the CompanyLaw of the Peoples Republic of China, the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for theListing of Stocks, the Articles of Association and other laws and regulations. We agree onthis proposal and submit it to the General Meeting of Shareholders for deliberation.VI. Documents for Future Reference1. The resolution made at the 25th Meeting of the 8th session of the Board of Directors ofthe Company;2. Independent directors prior written approval;3. Independent directors opinions.The Board of Directors of ADAMA Ltd.May 12, 2020 Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Kremlin wall marking the 75th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in World War II in Moscow, Russia on May 9, 2020. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Russia, Belarus Mark Victory Day in Contrasting Events MOSCOWRussian President Vladimir Putin marked Victory Day, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, in a ceremony shorn of its usual military parade and pomp by the CCP virus pandemic. In neighboring Belarus, however, the ceremonies went ahead in full, with tens of thousands of people in the sort of proximity that has been almost unseen in the world for months. Putin on May 9 laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just outside the Kremlin walls and gave a short address honoring the valor and suffering of the Soviet army during the war. Victory Day is Russias most important secular holiday and this years observance had been expected to be especially large because it is the 75th anniversary, although the Red Square military parade and a mass procession called The Immortal Regiment were postponed as part of measures to stifle the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. The only vestige of the conventional show of military might was a flyover of central Moscow by 75 warplanes and helicopters. The ceremony was the first public appearance in about a month for Putin, who has worked remotely as the virus took hold. In his speech, he didnt mention the virusRussia has nearly 200,000 confirmed casesor how its spread had blocked the observances that were to be a prestige project for him. But he promised that full commemorations would take place. We will, as usual, widely and solemnly mark the anniversary date, do it with dignity, as our duty to those who have suffered, achieved and accomplished the victory tells us, he said. There will be our main parade on Red Square, and the national march of the Immortal Regimentthe march of our grateful memory and inextricable, vital, living communication between generations. The sharply reduced observances this year left a hole in Russias civic and emotional calendar. The war, in which the Soviet Union lost an estimated 26 million people including 8.5 million soldiers, has become a fundamental piece of Russian national identity. Beyond the stern formalities of the Red Square military parade and smaller parades in other cities, Russians in recent years have turned out in huge numbers for the Immortal Regiment processions, when civilians crowd the streets displaying photographs of relatives who died in the war or endured it. Russian officials routinely bristle at criticism of the Red Armys actions in the war, denouncing the comments as attempts to rewrite history. An online substitute for the processions took place on May 9, showing streams of photos of veterans submitted by relatives. A full military parade of some 3,000 soldiers was held May 9 in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, which hasnt imposed restrictions to block the viruss spread, despite sharply rising infection figures. Tens of thousands of spectators, few of them wearing masks, watched the event. President Alexander Lukashenko, who has dismissed concerns about the virus as a psychosis, said at the parade that Belaruss ordeal in the war is incomparable with any difficulties of the present day. Belaruss more than 21,000 recorded infections is higher than in neighboring Ukraine and Poland, both with populations about four times the size. The former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan, which hasnt reported any CCP virus infections, held a large parade and procession late on May 9 in the capital Ashgabatthe first time the country has marked Victory Day with a large public display. Among the guests was Deputy Russian Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, whose speech at the ceremony underlined Russias sensitivity about interpretations of World War II. Now, unfortunately, in a number of countries, we see attempts to revive Nazi ideology, falsify the common history, exalt traitors and revise the role of the Soviet people in the victory over fascism, he said. None of those at the parade wore masks or observed social distancing. In the capitals of Latvia and Estonia, both former Soviet republics with large ethnic Russian populations, small groups were seen arriving throughout the day to lay flowers on Soviet war memorials. By Jim Heintz. The Epoch Times contributed to this report Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 18:55:47|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HONG KONG, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Police Force said Monday that about 230 people were arrested over illegal assembly, possession of offensive weapon and some other offences on Sunday. Protesters had gathered and chanted slogans at various shopping malls in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island starting from Sunday afternoon. They were suspected to have violated the Prevention and Control of Disease (Prohibition on Group Gathering) Regulation, which stipulates that any group gathering of more than eight persons in any public place is prohibited, according to the police. Protestors continued to gather in the vicinity of Mong Kok on Sunday night, blocking roads and set fire with miscellaneous objects. Police conducted dispersal actions after giving numerous warnings but in vain. As at noon on Monday, the police issued fixed penalty tickets to 19 persons for violating the Regulation in various districts. Besides, about 230 persons, aged between 12 and 65 were arrested for offences including unlawful assembly, possession of instrument fit for unlawful purposes, possessing anything with intent to destroy or damage property, possession of offensive weapon, possession of dangerous drug, disorder in public places, obstructing a police officer in the execution of the officer's duty, assaulting police officer and failing to produce proof of identity etc, according to the police. The police stressed that in view of the severe situation of COVID-19, any group gathering may increase the risk of spreading the virus. The public are advised not to participate in any prohibited group gathering. Enditem A medical staff works in a laboratory that examines samples for Covid-19 testing at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in HCMC, April 10, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran. Experts said Monday the lungs of a 43-year-old British Covid-19 patient have not been damaged to the extent of needing a transplant. Dr Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, director of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, said that while it cannot be said at the moment that the patients lung functions can be recovered, it has not reached the point of requiring a transplant. The hospital continues to treat the patient and conduct tests and necessary procedures to prepare for lung transplant if and when needed, he said. The patient, a Vietnam Airlines pilot, tested negative for the coronavirus Monday. He has been on a ventilator for 16 days and put on a life support machine called Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which involves pumping blood out of the body to a heart-lung machine that removes carbon dioxide and sends oxygen-filled blood back, for 36 days. The Health Ministry and experts from five major hospitals in the country said at a meeting Sunday that the patient cannot be given a lung transplant yet due to severe infection. The transplant also depends on the source of the organ and compatibility between the donor and the recipient. "If eligible for the lung transplant, the patient will be transferred to the Cho Ray Hospital (in HCMC)," doctor Chau said. Last week, the health ministry had said a lung transplant was being considered for the British patient, Vietnams most severe Covid-19 case. He was confirmed positive on March 18. The patient's condition worsened despite his young age. Doctors said he suffers from a blood clotting disorder and cytokine storm syndrome, an intense immune response where the immune system releases a lot of cytokines through the bloodstream, which works against the body. His body has been resistant to all types of domestic coagulant drugs and the health ministry has had to purchase drugs overseas for his treatment. His lungs are condensed and test results for Covid-19 have come out both negative and positive multiple times. The Vietnam Airlines pilot was the first case of a cluster the Buddha Bar and Grill in District 2 which turned out to be HCMCs biggest Covid-19 hotspot with 19 cases. Vietnam recorded no new coronavirus cases Monday evening. The country has gone through 25 days without any infection caused by community transmission. Its Covid-19 tally has stood at 288 since last Thursday. Of these, 39 are active cases as 249 patients have recovered. Among those still under treatment, 14 have tested negative at least twice and six once. No dealths have been recorded. Beirut: Syrias brutal conflict has now claimed the lives of more than 290,000 people, a monitoring group said today, giving its latest death toll for the devastating five-year war. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 292,817 people had been killed between March 2011 -- when the conflict eruptedand the end of July. The toll represents an increase of just over 10,000 people since the monitor gave its last account on May 26. Among the dead are 84,472 civilians, including 14,711 children and 9,520 women, it said. The Observatory also documented the deaths of 50,548 non-jihadist rebels and Kurdish militiamen.Another 49,547 extremist militants including non-Syrians were killed. A total of 104,656 pro-regime fighters were killed, among them 57,909 soldiers and 1,306 militants from the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which is fighting on behalf of Damascus. The monitor said that 3,594 of those killed have been unidentified. The Britain-based Observatory depends on a network of sources inside Syria to gather its information on the conflict. It estimates that thousands more people are missing or have disappeared into detention centres run by various armed groups. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Disgraced former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo is out of federal prison, thanks to the coronavirus. How is that fair, that the kingpin of county corruption is back home, with years left on his sentence? Were discussing that question on This Week in the CLE. Watch online here. Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour coronavirus news podcast, with help this week from crime editor Kris Wernowsky and me. We answer many of the questions youve sent through our text message platform. Youve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom account, in which he shares once or twice a day what were thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up for free by sending a text to 216-868-4802. And youve been offering all sorts of great perspective in our coronavirus alert account, which has 13,000-plus subscribers. You can sign up for free by texting 216-279-7784. Why was corrupt former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo released from prison almost five years early? Kris says Russo was one of the vulnerable inmates released because of concerns about the coroanvirus. Why is Delta Airlines pulling out of Akron-Canton Airport? I explain the airline is cutting back on flights because of decreased demand due to COVID-19. Delta got a chunk of federal CARES money and so, cant eliminate service to a region, but argues that CAK is in the same region at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. How much is Cleveland paying to three men who spent most of their lives in prison because city police framed them for a 1975 murder? Kris details the $18 million settlement, believed to be the biggest in Ohio for police misconduct. Is the coronavirus suddenly spreading in Cleveland neighborhoods? I have the latest data from the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. Who are the contact tracers Ohio trying to hire? I explain the 1,800 part-time jobs, who will help investigate small coronavirus outbreaks to try to prevent them from spreading. Should I take aspirin to thin my blood in case I get the coronavirus? Kris says no way, despite a report about coronavirus patients on ventilators at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. Whats the latest on Northeast Ohio event cancellations because of Covid-19? Unfortunately its the Cleveland Orchestras entire summer season, both at Severance and at Blossom Music Center. Thanks for joining us. Well be back Tuesday. Meanwhile, find all our past episodes here. Do you get your podcasts on Spotify. Find us here. If you use Stitcher, we are here. RadioPublic is another popular podcast vehicle, and we are here. On Google Podcasts, we are here. On PodParadise, find us here. And on PlayerFM, we are here. DATED: 11.04.2020 CENTRAL TRADE UNIONS DENOUNCE AND CONDEMN TOTAL EXEMPTION TO EMPLOYERS FROM ALL LABOUR LAWS IN UTTAR PRADESH AND MP AT THE INSTANCE OF CENTRAL GOVT AND SERIOUS DILUTION OF OBLIGATIONS UNDER LABOUR LAWS IN SOME OTHER STATES The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions and Federations/Associations vehemently denounces the blanket exemptions given to all establishments from the employersa obligation under all substantive labour laws for a period of three years by the state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In UP already the Ordinance in this regard has been promulgated and same is going to be done in Madhya Pradesh also as asserted by the Chief Minister there. Media report has also indicated that similar move of liberating the employers from all labour laws is going to be initiated in Gujarat also for a period of 1200 days, i.e., more than three years. As the mass of the working people have been subjected to inhuman sufferings owing to loss of jobs, loss of wages, eviction from residences etc reducing them to hungry non-entities in the process of 45 days lockdown, the Govt of the day at the centre has pounced upon those working people only with fangs and claws to reduce them to the stature of virtual slaves. In desperation the migrant workers have been walking for several hundreds of miles on roads, on railway tracks, through fields and jungles to reach their homes with several precious lives lost on the way due to hunger, exhaustion and accidents. Now the Government at the centre has taken the strategy of letting lose their pliant state governments to take such anti-worker and anti-people autocratic measures, many other state governments are expected to follow suit. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister has announced the decision to exempt the employers from their substantive obligations under various labour laws like Factories Act, Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act and Industrial Disputes Act, Contract Labour Act etc through appropriate amendments by executive order or Ordinance for a period of 1000 days, i.e., three years empowering the employers to hire and fire workers aat their conveniencea ; and there will be no labour departmentas intervention in the establishments during the said period. Not only that, the employers were also exempted from payment of Rs 80/- per labourer to Madhya Pradesh Labour Welfare Board. Similarly the Uttar Pradesh Government has already issued Ordinance to exempting all establishments in the state from all 38 labour laws in vogue in the state for a period of three years barring four. This retrograde anti-worker move came in the second stage after six state governments have enhanced the daily working hours from eight hours to 12 hours through executive order in violation of the Factories Act, taking advantage of the lockdown situation. It is also reported that BJP Government of Tripura is also making similar move. Central Trade Unions consider these moves as an inhuman crime and brutality on the working people, besides being gross violation of the Right to Freedom of Association(ILO Convention 87), Rights to Collective Bargaining( ILO Convention 98) and also the internationally accepted norm of eight hour working day a espoused by Core Conventions of International Labour Organisation (ILO). The ILO Convention 144 in regard to Tripartism has also been undermined by the Government. While seriously considering to lodge a complaint to ILO on these misdeeds of the Government for gross violation of Labour Standards, Central Trade Unions calls upon the working class to oppose these designs of imposing slavery on the workers and employees in the interests of the employersa class through united agitation and prepare for countrywide resistance struggle both at workplace level and at national level. We note with satisfaction that the unions in the states are already on agitation path independently and unitedly and soon the CTUs would give a nationwide call of action. INTUC AITUC HMS CITU AIUTUC TUCC SEWA AICCTU LPF UTUC And Together with the Federations and Associations of various sectors Two people are dead after wrong-way accident in San Antonio on Sunday, according to FOX San Antonio. About the Wrong-Way Crash Around 1:15 a.m., officers received calls of a reckless sedan driver traveling Westbound on I-10 in the Eastbound lanes. On the way there, the call was upgraded to a major accident. Upon arriving, deputies saw that the sedan had collided head-on with an 18-wheeler, causing the sedan to burst into flames and the truck to jackknife the roadway. Another 18-wheeler had then struck the cab of the first truck. According to investigators, the people in the second 18-wheeler were not seriously injured; however, both drivers of the sedan and the first truck were pronounced dead at the scene. Medical examiners identified one of the victims as Hector Segura, 54, and the other as Olga Casas, 57. An investigation is underway to determine if alcohol was involved. Large Truck Fatal Crash Data 2016 Information below compiled by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA): At least 39% of large truck occupants killed in crashes were not wearing a seatbelt Speed was a factor in 17% of truck crashes with at least one large truck occupant fatality 61% of fatal crashes involving a large truck occurred in rural areas 27% of fatal crashes in work zones involved a large truck 6% involved large truck driver distraction as a factor, of which 16% was related to cell phone use Injured in a Truck Accident? Contact Thomas J. Henry If you or a loved one have suffered a serious injury after being involved in an 18-wheeler accident, contact Thomas J. Henry immediately. Our experienced commercial trucking injury attorneys are available to respond to semi-truck accidents at any hour, day or night. Our lawyers understand that the immediate acquisition of evidence is paramount to understanding how the accident occurred. We will take immediate action on your case. Our firm has offices in Corpus Christi, San Antonio, and Austin, serving clients across Texas and nationwide. Remember, your choice does matter. Contact us today for a free legal consultation. Attorneys are available 24/7, nights and weekends. Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com. The automakers are moving ahead with their reckless and life-threatening plans to restart North American production, with Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler Automotive (FCA) preparing to bring large portions of their operations online on May 18, a week away. In Michigan, the center of the US auto industry, manufacturing activity is allowed to resume beginning today, under a revised stay-at-home order from Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The United Auto Workers has granted its blessing to the companies restart plans and Whitmers announcement, demonstrating once more that the UAW is in the pocket of the companies and fundamentally hostile to the basic needs of workers. The same phrases were recycled in UAW press releases throughout last week, with President Rory Gamble intoning that we all knew this day would come. He continued to lecture about the necessity of reporting symptoms or exposure to the infection, seeking to shift the blame for future outbreaks from the companies onto workers. But the temperature checks and other screening measures lauded by the UAW and the companies are virtually worthless, with studies finding between 20 to 50 percent of those with the virus have no fever or other symptoms, yet still can transmit it to others. At a pork processing plant owned by Triumph Foods in Missouri, nearly 400 workers who tested positive for the coronavirus were asymptomatic, according to Business Insider. Ford assembly line. Source: Ford Motor Company Meanwhile, the UAW reported Friday without fanfare that two more workers had died due to COVID-19, UAW members employed at Caterpillars Progress Rail subsidiary in LaGrange, Illinois, which has continued to operate during the states stay-at-home order. At least 27 FCA, Ford, GM and Hyundai workers have died in the US, with dozens more auto parts workers dying in Mexico. The companies are nonetheless rushing ahead to reopen with the support of the unions. FCA and Ford have already restarted production in Europe, and the Detroit Three companies and many of their suppliers have gradually recalled workers to prep production lines in the US in recent weeks. Fords parts distribution centers are returning to full operations today, according to a company press release. Some 12,000 white collar workers in IT, facilities management, product development and other supposedly location dependent roles not eligible for remote work are also being brought back. GM, for its part, is restarting production today at its transmission plant in St. Catharines, Ontario; its components plant in Lockport, New York; and its DMAX Duramax Diesel plant in Moraine, Ohio. While thousands of workers are being forced into crowded plants and workplaces where the virus can run rampant, thousands of others will face the prospect of unemployment with no end in sight, as auto sales and demand have plummeted catastrophically. Ford has stated that plants which previously had three shifts will only resume with two, and a number of plants that had two will only begin with one. The number of shifts, automakers say, will depend on demand. Some foreign-owned automakers, including Hyundai, Kia, BMW and Daimler, have already restarted US operations, or are planning to do so beginning today, in the case of Honda and Toyota. On Saturday, electric car maker Tesla Inc. filed a lawsuit in federal court in a bid to reopen its Bay Area assembly plant in Fremont, California. Although Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom allowed large segments of state businesses and manufacturing to begin reopening Friday, Alameda County health officials put a halt on Teslas plans to rush to restart production without adequate safety measures. Throughout the pandemic, Tesla CEO and celebrity billionaire Elon Musk (the 23rd richest person in the world, according to Forbes) has used his Twitter account to spread conspiracy theories downplaying the danger of the virus and has denounced social distancing measures in increasingly unhinged and deranged terms. On Saturday, Musk escalated his offensive against efforts to protect the population and his workforce from the pandemic, threatening to withdraw Teslas operations from California, tweeting: Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependent on how Tesla is treated in the future. The drive to reopen factories is proceeding at the behest of Wall Street and despite the rising toll from the COVID-19 pandemic, with deaths nearing 81,000 in the US at the time of this writing. The rollback of social distancing that this will entail defies all the warnings of infectious disease experts and threatens a massive increase in new cases and deaths. A sign warning workers to don masks before reaching the scanning tent. Source: Ford Motor Company This ruthless disregard for human life is provoking deep-seated anger among workers, who see no reason to expose themselves and their families to the virus in order to boost the profits of the automakers. Nobody is happy about going back, a worker at FCAs Jefferson North Assembly Plant said. In March, workers at the plant rebelled against efforts to continue production as the virus spread, joining a wave of wildcat strikes and job actions in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Ontario, compelling the auto companies to idle production. Nobody feels safe. We dont see how they are going to keep us safe, the worker continued. I dont see how we are going to do this social distancing. I dont get it. I think we will have another wave of coronavirus starting up again. She said that many workers were under heavy financial pressure due to the almost universal difficulty in securing jobless benefits. Some people havent got their unemployment, and they say they have to go back because they dont have any money. Underlying the disorganized and ramshackle character of state unemployment systems lies a deliberate policy by the ruling class of using economic coercion to compel a return to work. State governments and businesses are now working together on plans to claw back unemployment benefits from workers who refuse to return to unsafe conditions, with Ohio, a major seat of manufacturing, launching a maliciously named Covid-19 Employee Fraud form for employers to report absenteeism. There have been people working in my sweatshop (Faurecia) since this has begun, a worker at the auto parts supplier in Indiana said. Theyve been calling people back for the last three weeks. Whats scaring me is our ventilation system. Last year they didnt care if we even had clean air to breathe. It was so smoldering hot you couldnt even catch your breath. This year will be twice as bad wearing a mask with no outside air. Were all going to suffocate. A worker at Fiat Chryslers Kokomo Transmission plant in Indiana expressed outrage at the return-to-work announcements, saying: Its inhumane! They still have people dying from COVID-19 that work for FCA. We all know they will not give us hot water, soap, gloves, masks or sanitizer. If you work on a sub-line or assembly line, there is no such thing as six-foot distance. How will they be able to protect people when the front-line workers of the [response to] the COVID-19 pandemic don't even have enough personal protective equipment? Commenting on the senselessness of the return to work, she added: Who is going to buy a new car right now? They have warehouses full of transmissions and the car lots are full, so what is the point? This will just expose people to death, then take it home to their families. The worker pointed to the interconnected dangers facing working class families, saying: Some workers are married to employees who work at the meat factories such as Tyson. These people are exposed to the virus and are going to bring it right into the plant. Following the walkouts at auto plants in Europe and North America in March, opposition has continued to mount among workers across many different sectors around the world, including at meat processing plants, at Amazon and other logistics companies and at grocery stores. Dozens of workers for auto parts manufacturer Lear Corporation protested outside one of the companys facilities in Port Elizabeth, South Africa last week, and a strike has shut down Nissans main assembly plant in Barcelona, Spain since the middle of last week. Workers all around the world confront a ruling class utterly opposed to taking any serious measures to address the pandemic. From company executives to the trade union officials to the capitalist politicians, all are indifferent to the mass death and suffering the mad dash for profits is causing. Workers cannot allow themselves to be led back to the slaughter! Rank-and-file factory safety committees must be organized to stop the premature return to work. The demands must be raised to halt all non-essential production, to immediately provide full income and benefits to those affected by shutdowns, and to reverse the multi-trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street and the major corporations, which must be redirected toward life-saving needs. The corporate owners have demonstrated that they are incapable of protecting workers health and safety and have thus forfeited their right to run the factories. The auto industry must be taken over by the workers themselves, placed under their democratic control and operated in the interests of society, not the parasitic financial oligarchy, as part of the fight for socialism. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump insisted Monday his administration has met the moment and prevailed on coronavirus testing, even as the White House itself became a potent symbol of the risk facing Americans everywhere by belatedly ordering everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus during a press briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, May 11, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump insisted Monday his administration has "met the moment" and "prevailed" on coronavirus testing, even as the White House itself became a potent symbol of the risk facing Americans everywhere by belatedly ordering everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask. Trump addressed a Rose Garden audience filled with mask-wearing administration officials, some appearing publicly with face coverings for the first time during the outbreak, after two aides tested positive for COVID-19 late last week. The startling sight served only to further highlight the challenge the president faces in instilling confidence in a nation still reeling from the pandemic. Trump himself, not wearing a mask, sought to emphasize to the American people the steps being taken to ensure their safety in hopes that will coax them to resume normal activities. Shortage of coronavirus testing has long been a sore spot for the president, but he insisted anew that everyone who wants a test can get one. The pledge, first issued by Trump more than two months ago, comes as governors across the country continue to call on the federal government to do more to boost supply to meet the requirements needed to begin "reopening" the nation. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany listens as President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus during a press briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, May 11, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) The upbeat message was undercut by the new protective measures implemented to keep Trump safe, evidenced by the absence of Vice-President Mike Pence and three of the nation's top medical experts, who were in various states of isolation after two cases of COVID-19 were confirmed among staffers in one of the most-protected complexes in America. A memo to staff Monday directed "everyone who enters the West Wing to wear a mask or facial covering." Staff will be allowed to remove their face coverings if they sit at least six feet apart from their colleagues. The directive apparently doesn't apply to the president. Monday's briefing was meant to highlight the availability of COVID-19 testing as the White House seeks to convince Americans the country is safely reopening. "They should all be able to get a test right now," Trump said, even though experts say there is no capacity for testing on that scale. Officials later clarified that "everybody who needs a test can get a test." Only on Monday did the administration believe it had enough tests to mount a nationwide testing campaign to address significant death rates in nursing homes and other senior care facilities. On a call with governors, Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House co-ordinator for the virus response, recommended that every nursing home occupant and staffer be tested for COVID-19 in the next two weeks, with vigilant monitoring going forward, especially of staff. FILE - In this Friday, April 24, 2020, file photo, Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, speaks about the new coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence listens. Three members of the White House coronavirus task force, including Hahn, have placed themselves in quarantine after contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, another stark reminder that not even one of the nations most secure buildings is immune from the virus. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) Pence led the weekly call with governors from an isolated room, after his press secretary tested positive Friday. Birx and other staffers participated as usual from a conference room in the Situation Room, Pence said, explaining the "slightly different circumstance." "We are taking the appropriate countermeasures to protect the presidents health," Pence added, according to a recording obtained by the AP. The White House was moving to daily testing of some staff members to detect the disease. The stepped-up protective measures comes as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn, were all quarantining after exposure to the White House staffer. The three experts are scheduled to testify before a Senate panel Tuesday on "Safely Getting Back to Work and Back to School." However, they, along with committee chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., will all participate remotely. Alexander is quarantining after a staff member of his own tested positive for COVID-19. The images of top administration officials taking such precautions come as states seek to loosen economic restrictions put in place to mitigate the virus spread. FILE - In this April 29, 2020, file photo Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks during a meeting between President Donald Trump and Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-La., about the coronavirus response, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. From left, Fauci, White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, Bel Edwards, and Trump. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Trump on Monday was complaining that Democratic governors were too slow in lifting restrictions in their states. "The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now, and they are fully aware of what that entails," he tweeted. "The Democrats are moving slowly, all over the USA, for political purposes. They would wait until November 3rd if it were up to them. Dont play politics. Be safe, move quickly!" Trump was scheduled to travel to the state on Thursday, according to advisories from the Federal Aviation Administration. Decisions about how fast to reopen are being made with the general election less than six months away, and Trump and other incumbents facing it in the midst of a public health and economic crisis. "If we do this carefully, working with the governors, I dont think theres a considerable risk," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on "Fox News Sunday." "Matter of fact, I think theres a considerable risk of not reopening. Youre talking about what would be permanent economic damage to the American public." Mnuchin was one of several economic advisers the White House dispatched on Sunday to place the focus on the merits of loosening restrictions on the economy. Yet attention to possible risks of infection also turned to how the virus even found its way into the White House. Faucis institute said he was "taking appropriate precautions" to mitigate the risk to others while still carrying out his duties, teleworking from home but willing to go to the White House if called. Officials said both Redfield and Hahn will be self-quarantining for two weeks. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Pences press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus in the past week. A military service member who acts as a valet to the president tested positive on Thursday, the first known instance for a person in close proximity to Trump at the White House. The announced precautions contrast with a president who has declined to wear a face covering in meetings at the White House or at his public events. Kevin Hassett, an adviser to Trump and the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, acknowledged Sunday its "scary to go to work" in the White House, calling the West Wing a "small, crowded place. Its, you know, a little bit risky." Hassett said he wears a mask when necessary and practices "aggressive social distancing." Appearing on CBS "Face the Nation," he said any fears are tempered by frequent testing, access to an excellent medical team and his belief that this is a time "when people have to step up and serve their country." ___ AP writer Alan Suderman contributed from Richmond, Virginia. Looking back at my Triple Crown memories, one of the special ones was in 1997 when I flew to Louisville from New York about a week before the Belmont Stakes (G1) after making arrangements to fly back to New York with Silver Charm on his quest to become the first Triple Crown winner in 19 years. The plan was to fly there to watch Silver Charms final work at Churchill Downs, where he was stabled and then join him on his flight, in which he would be the only equine passenger, at great cost to owners Bob and Beverly Lewis. Arriving in Louisville I couldnt help but think back to Kentucky Derby (G1) morning when I met trainer Bob Baffert for breakfast, along with his brother Bill and bloodstock agents J.B. and Kevin McKathan, who found Silver Charm at an Ocala 2-year-old sale. Even after a year, Baffert was still hurting from the nose defeat by Cavonnier in the previous years Derby. At the time, he thought he would never get that chance again and couldnt believe he was back a year later, and with one of the favorites. At 7 a.m., a bleary-eyed Baffert sauntered into the coffee shop of the Executive Inn West Hotel, where he was staying, for a quick eye-opener before heading to the track to check on Silver Charm. I need some coffee, please, before I kill you, Baffert said jokingly to the waitress. He flipped through the Courier-Journal and discussed a variety of subjects while avoiding Derby talk. When it was time to head off, Baffert left the hotel mouthing the music from Rocky and throwing a flurry of punches into the air. Now here we were four weeks later and Silver Charm and Baffert were household names on the verge of immortality. Silver Charm was scheduled to have his final work before departing the following morning. The day before, Baffert took it upon himself to invite the public to come out and watch the work, much to the dismay of Churchill Downs. Like everything with Baffert, it was said half in jest, but little did he realize the floodgates he was opening. Local television and radio stations announced the invitation, and at 7:30 a.m. the Tuesday before the Belmont Stakes, a steady stream of cars began filing into Churchill Downs. Look at that, Baffert said from the trainers stand. Is that awesome or what? Taking a line from the movie Field of Dreams, Baffert added, If you work the Charm they will come. And boy did they come. By 7:45, about a hundred people had gathered outside Barn 33, many with still and video cameras, waiting for Silver Charm to emerge. Out on the frontside, the apron was packed 15 to 20 deep from the finish line to the bleachers on the clubhouse turn. The matrix board in the infield was lit up with the words, Good Luck in the Belmont Silver Charm. But now, reality hit, and Baffert acknowledged that this was the most important work of my life. Perhaps it wasnt a good idea to have all these people out there. Churchill Downs had given Baffert permission to work Silver Charm before the others came out to the track, but Baffert refused, saying the colt likes to have other horses on the track to get his competitive juices flowing. When Baffert saw the crowd and heard them cheer wildly as Silver Charm jogged by the wrong way, he said, This is going to be a disaster. Theres going to be some horse that gets loose. This might not have been such a good idea. As Silver Charm turned around at the eighth pole and headed back down the stretch, Baffert told jockey Joe Steiner on the two-way radio, Dont let him duck out when he sees that crowd. Seconds later, a horse named Firecreek bolted halfway across the track, with exercise rider Filamon Garcia pulling back so hard he was almost on the horses rump. Steiner steered Silver Charm out of harms way, but the incident was enough to bring a chorus of gasps from the crowd. Sonofabitch, Baffert said. They got to tell the crowd to knock that off. Silver Charm finally began his work, rattling off the eighths in :12 1/5. Beautiful, just like that, Baffert told Steiner. OK, let him pick it up; you can tap him on the shoulder the last eighth. After Silver Charm hit the wire, Baffert said to Steiner, 1:00 4/5, beautifuldont fall off. That was a good deal, Baffert said. Hes ready. Baffert admitted afterward that he was to blame for inviting everyone out. He immediately called Bob Lewis, who was preparing to fly 110 people to New York. Big Bob, he did great a minute and four, Baffert told him. Hes right on schedule. You should have seen the crowd out here today; it was unbelievable. They had over 2,000 people screaming and yelling down there. The crowd scared some other horse, and he jumped out in front of us. It could have been disastrous, but we dodged a bullet. Hes off the track and everything is great. Go ahead and fuel up the plane. The following morning, it was time to leave. After 10 days of being treated like a king by an adoring community ,who flocked to him for autographs and photos wherever he went, Baffert now found himself face to face with reality as he approached the Boeing 727 that would take him and Silver Charm to their final battle in their quest for racings Triple Crown. Earlier that morning, as Baffert drove through the gates of the Churchill Downs stable area for the last time, he said, I wish I could look into the future through a crystal ball. Id like it to be two weeks from now, and I want to drive by Espositos (tavern across the street from the Belmont stable gate) and see what colors theyve got hanging up there. Just before 6 a.m., Baffert, accompanied by client and longtime friend Mike Pegram, arrived at Barn 33, where he had nine horses stabled with trainer April Mayberry. After unloading his luggage from the trunk of his Lincoln Town Car, Baffert said, I feel like Im going to camp. It was tough saying goodbye to the people of Louisville, who embraced him like a native son and their hero. I feel like hes a Kentucky horse, and the weight of Kentucky is on my shoulders, especially after the turnout we got for the work and all the people who showed up at the Derby museum to see the new slide show and get autographs, the trainer said. Thats why I feel like Im carrying the torch for Kentucky. Im looking forward to getting up to New York and getting this thing done and coming back to Kentucky, hopefully wearing the Triple Crown on my head. After arriving at the airport, Baffert said one final goodbye to April Mayberry, who had been taking care of his horses while he was in California. Well, April, this is the end of the road, he said. Once on the Tex Sutton-chartered plane, it became apparent who the real star of the Triple Crown was. There, in the middle of dozens of red empty stalls was the familiar gray and white face of Silver Charm digging into his hay rack. Mel Prince, who had worked for Tex Sutton for 34 years said it was extremely rare to fly one horse by itself. Chartering an entire plane is very expensive, Prince said. I think the last time they did it that I can remember was when we flew Genuine Risk from New York to the Kentucky Derby in 1980. From the time Silver Charm boarded the plane to the time he arrived in New York, he did not stop munching hay. By the end of the trip, he had dug a hole in the rack and was still pulling out hay with great vigor. All the while, groom Rudy Silva sat on a chair next to him, holding the shank and carefully watching the colt, making sure he was happy and comfortable. Look at Rudy, Baffert said. He hasnt left that horses side for two months. Although it looked as if Silver Charms head was precariously close to the ceiling before takeoff, Prince said that once the plane takes off, the pressurization becomes a natural tranquilizer to a horse and makes them lower their head. Because of his allergies, Baffert spent most of the flight up front, sitting on a cooler, reading a newspaper, and talking with Pegram or Prince. Baffert had to pop an allergy pill before the flight, and whenever he became exposed to the timothy hay, he went into a sneezing fit. One thing Baffert said he wasnt feeling was nervous. Im just playing the waiting game, he said. The horse worked well and everything is going good. The thing about him is that hes such a push-button horse. You ask him to go and he picks it up. He doesnt waste any energy at the barn and doesnt get hot. One other person who had been around Silver Charm every day was hotwalker Eddie Thomas, who ironically worked around the last Triple Crown winner Affirmed when he was a teenager. Its scary how this horse has gotten stronger and kept his flesh, Thomas said. Before the Derby, he wasnt even eating up that much, but after we got to Pimlico he was tearing up his feed tub. It was like he needed the Derby. Usually, they back up, but he drank three buckets of water coming out of the Derby and only a half or three-quarters coming out of the Preakness. As the plane made its descent, all Baffert wanted to do was bed the horse down, go to the hotel, turn off the phone and go to bed. The plane touched down at JFK at 8:50 a.m. after the hour and 45-minute flight. Silver Charm was led onto the van, and with a police escort, headed through the streets of Queens to Belmont Park. Unlike the plane ride, Silver Charm got a bit wound up, pawing a path through the straw on the floor. Silva kept stroking the colt on the neck while exercise rider Larry Damore offered a few reassuring words. This is the only time he gets upset, Damore said. Around the barn and when we gallop him he likes to look at things. The more action the better. But theres something about the van ride. The van continued to meander through the streets with people staring quizzically at the sight of a horse van with a police escort. Silver Charm arrived at Barn 9 just before 9:45 to perhaps the largest throng of reporters, photographers, and cameramen ever gathered to greet the arrival of a horse. For Baffert, who was now engulfed by the media, Kentucky was a memory. There was a Triple Crown to be won. Little could he have known it would take him another 18 years to achieve that feat, as Silver Charm was narrowly beaten by Touch Gold in the Belmont. Silver Charm had put his arch rival Free House away in mid-stretch and never saw Touch Gold on the far outside. Now almost pure white in color, Silver Charm, at age 26, is back in Kentucky at Old Friends, still attracting a multitude of visitors daily and still every bit the star he was during the Triple Crown. Stacey Lott, President of LOTT Restaurant Construction We are a fast-track construction firm and the social distance requirement has forced us to seriously refine our scheduling At the start of 2020 the Philadelphia region was in the midst of one of the biggest building booms in recent history more than 2,100 permits issued for new construction in the city alone. All that came to a screeching halt on March 23rd when Governor Tom Wolf ordered the shutdown of all non-essential businesses due to COVID-19. Just days ago, Governor Wolf lifted that order with guidelines to permit each city and municipality to safely implement their own set of protocols. One thing is clear, no matter what state youre in, it wont be business as usual as we get back to work, said Stacey Lott, President of LOTT Restaurant Construction. She says safety first has never had more meaning in construction and other industries after this unprecedented pandemic. Some new requirements for those working on a job site include: staggered start and break times; managed social distancing; face masks; regular handwashing; and much more cleaning. While it should have been easy, finding the necessary tools was a challenge. Masks and hand sanitizers are scarce, but no touch thermometers have been completely elusive. We are a fast-track construction firm and the social distance requirement has forced us to seriously refine our scheduling, she explained. Since we are limited in how much manpower is allowed on site at a time and we are used to stacking trades, but now we have to rethink how to get the maximum effect from fewer people while maintaining the same quality and timeline results. On a job site, safety and cleaning measures have always been and will remain a priority at LOTT, but the company has had to alter its "Super Command Centers to include a few more items and communicative measures for its superintendents. Lott, one of the few women leaders in the male-dominated field is taking everything a step further by instituting fines for subcontractors who dont comply. Weve instituted an amendment to our safety policy that must be signed by all subcontractors to strictly enforce the new protocols. Failure to follow the site guidelines will result in a fine and all fines will be donated to restaurant worker relief funds, said Lott. All subcontractors have always been required to clean up after their crew and for job site safety, but now there are added measures, such as wearing masks and performing temperature checks. One of LOTTs administrative personnel, Renee Falter, has made masks during the stay-at-home order, but new safety protocol states the subcontractors arrive with them. We will give the first mask for free, but subsequent masks cost $5, and all proceeds will be donated to COVID-19 relief funds, said Falter. We figure fines can be a hardship, so we will use the money to ease the hardships of others as redemption for noncompliance, says Lott. LOTT specializes in restaurant development and construction, from soup to nuts, and Stacey Lott admits it is scary to think about the damage social distancing and isolation has done and will do to the restaurant business, but she remains hopeful that owners will be able to find viable ways to reassure the public it will be safe to dine out and enjoy time with friends and family again. It is unfortunate that some establishments may not survive, but many will adapt, and we [LOTT] have some really creative ideas to help anyone with a vision to bring people together over food and drinks. We are not chefs, but we are masters of creating beautiful backdrops which create atmospheres to enhance dining experiences, and well continue to do so. Nevertheless, construction is a stimulus to the economy, so when our economy gets back on track, construction is the indicator and people are going to want to celebrate. We get up early every day to build awesome spaces to achieve that. And no one will be happier than us to see that happen in the coming weeks. LOTT Restaurant Construction is a full-service construction management firm specializing in restaurant development and design. LOTT thrives on bringing complex projects to completion in record time and maintaining strict cost controls. The company has opened more than 400 restaurant locations in more than 15 states nationwide. To learn more, please visit http://www.restaurantsontime.com/. Attorney General William Barr offered a misleadingly pro-Trump summary of the Mueller report - and was called out by a federal judge for it. Since then, he has offered many public comments and been involved in a number of decisions that have skewed in the favor of President Donald Trump and his allies. And now a key figure in the prosecution of Michael Flynn says Barr has done it again. Former acting assistant attorney general for national security Mary McCord penned an op-ed for the New York Times on Sunday arguing that Barr's Justice Department "twisted" her words in its controversial filing Thursday moving to withdraw its case against Flynn. The op-ed by McCord, who later served as an outside adviser to Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in the impeachment investigation of Trump, marks the most significant public rebuke of the decision from an official who was involved in the investigative process. The central premise of the Justice Department's Flynn filing is that, even if Flynn knowingly lied to investigators about his calls with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, the lie wasn't "material" to a legitimate investigation. And because the investigation wasn't properly founded at the time of Flynn's interview, the Justice Department now says, his lie isn't a prosecutable offense. To substantiate this claim, the Justice Department referred to a later internal interview with McCord - known as a "302" - in which she described internal deliberations about how to handle the Flynn case. If there's a fault in the op-ed, it's that McCord doesn't go through the alleged discrepancies point-by-point and use quotations. But a look at the Flynn filing compared with McCord's op-ed and her 302 reveals a couple of key instances of what McCord regards as the filing having "twisted" her words. Let's break them down. 1. McCord's op-ed says the Justice Department's Flynn filing "myopically homes in on the calls alone, and because it views those calls as 'entirely appropriate,' it concludes the investigation should not have been extended and the interview should not have taken place." She adds: "The account of my interview in 2017 doesn't help the department support this conclusion, and it is disingenuous for the department to twist my words to suggest that it does." The Justice Department's filing does indeed suggest that the calls were the "sole basis" for continuing the investigation. McCord said it wasn't so much the calls themselves but rather evidence that later emerged that Flynn was lying to White House officials about them. This is something that, in the estimations of McCord and others, could have opened up Flynn to blackmail by the Russians, who knew the true contents of the calls. The Justice Department filing devotes considerably more time to whether the calls themselves were criminal than it does to the idea of potential blackmail - which it waves away rather briefly. It spends several paragraphs running through whether the calls might feasibly have violated things like the Foreign Agent Registration Act or the Logan Act, a rarely invoked law preventing private citizens from conducting diplomacy on behalf of the U.S. government. "With its counterintelligence investigation no longer justifiably predicated, the communications between Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kislyak - the FBI's sole basis for resurrecting the investigation on January 4, 2017 - did not warrant either continuing that existing counterintelligence investigation or opening a new criminal investigation," the Justice Department now says. "The calls were entirely appropriate on their face." McCord's argument is that the calls were hardly the "sole basis" but rather it was the later lies to White House officials, including Vice President Pence. And her 302 backs that up. "She described the [calls] as 'concerning' but with no particular urgency," the 302 says, adding: "However, that changed with Vice President Michael Pence went on Face the Nation [on Jan. 15] and said things McCord knew to be untrue. Also, as time went on, and then-White House spokesperson Sean Spicer made comments about Flynn's actions that she knew to be false, the urgency grew." The Justice Department filing, in explaining its reasoning, does mention the Pence and Spicer comments, but its conclusions don't spend much time substantiating the idea that Flynn lying to them wasn't problematic. It merely says, "Whether or not Mr. Flynn had been entirely candid with the future Vice President or Press Secretary did not create a predicate for believing he had committed a crime or was beholden to a foreign power." McCord suggests it's totally misleading to dismiss that and instead focus so much on the potential criminality of the calls themselves - especially since this was a counterintelligence investigation. 2. McCord's op-ed says, "The account of my July 2017 interview describes my department's frustration with the F.B.I.'s conduct, sometimes using colorful adjectives like 'flabbergasted' to describe our reactions. We weren't necessarily opposed to an interview - our focus had been on notification [of the White House] - but any such interview should have been coordinated with the Justice Department." She adds: "The Barr-Shea motion to dismiss refers to my descriptions of the F.B.I.'s justification for not wanting to notify the new administration about the potential Flynn compromise as 'vacillating from the potential compromise of a 'counterintelligence' investigation to the protection of a purported 'criminal' investigation. But that 'vacillation' has no bearing on whether the F.B.I. was justified in engaging in a voluntary interview with Mr. Flynn." Basically, McCord says the disagreements didn't mean the matter wasn't worth pursuing. In describing its conclusions, the Justice Department's memo summarizes the disagreements about how to proceed with Flynn by saying, "The frail and shifting justifications for its ongoing probe of Mr. Flynn, as well as the irregular procedure that preceded his interview, suggests that the FBI was eager to interview Mr. Flynn irrespective of any underlying investigation." In fact, though, McCord says the disagreements were merely about how to proceed - not whether to do so. She's saying the investigation was justified, regardless of whether it was intended as a counterintelligence or criminal matter and regardless of how the FBI handled the timing or notifications involved. Indeed, in her 302, McCord makes no mention of disagreements about whether Flynn should be interviewed at all. The Justice Department memo seems to regard the lack of a determined purpose and careful process as evidence of a lack of a legitimate purpose, but McCord clearly regarded the substance of what Flynn was being asked about as significant and worthy of probing. And McCord's 302 reinforces her belief in the utility of interviewing Flynn. "The implications of that were that the Russians believed one of two things - either that the Vice President was in on it with Flynn, or that Flynn was clearly willing to lie to the Vice President," McCord's 302 states. Whether the government should have asked Flynn about something it already knew about - the Kislyak call transcripts - and invited him to repeat his previous lies under oath is one thing; but McCord clearly saw utility in the interview beyond that. And finally - and this is a key point - McCord states in her op-ed that whatever disagreements existed about how to proceed and whether the investigation should be criminal in nature, she says explicitly that there was agreement within the Justice Department about the counterintelligence purpose of pursuing the Flynn matter. "Although several of us at Justice thought the likelihood of a criminal prosecution under the Logan Act was quite low," she said, "we certainly agreed that there was a counterintelligence threat." Randox was awarded the contract by the Department of Health. Northern Ireland healthcare firm Randox has hit back at suggestions it was awarded a 133million contract to produce coronavirus testing kits without any other companies being given the opportunity to bid for the work. The Guardian newspaper reported the Co Antrim business had seen details of a contract awarded by UK's Department of Health without prior publication of a call for competition. The firm was founded by Northern Ireland doctor Peter FitzGerald and was awarded the contract last month under fast-track arrangements that enable public bodies to give out contracts without asking other firms to bid for them. Randox employs Conservative politician and former Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson as a paid consultant. Mr Paterson, an MP for North Shropshire has been employed by it since 2015 and is paid 100,000 a year. He did not respond to our request for comment. A spokesperson for Randox said: "It should be noted that Randox is only one partner within a multi-partner, national testing programme. "The programme is being run and coordinated by the Department of Health and Social Care and they would be best placed to comment on the overall programme." In a statement, a spokesperson for the UK Department of Health said: "The speed at which we have increased our testing capacity is unprecedented and a real success made possible by teamwork between the Government and key partners. "In a matter of weeks we have engineered the largest ever expansion of British diagnostic capability - scaling up a nationwide network of drive-in testing sites, introducing home testing, deploying mobile testing units operated by Armed Forces personnel, building three new mega labs to analyse test samples, and more than doubling the capacity of the NHS and Public Health England laboratories." Under the new contract, Randox will carry out tests, which will be posted to homes and administered at testing centres in an aim to carry out 100,000 tests a day pledged by Health Secretary Matt Hancock. The firm has said it intended to recruit mechanical, electrical and manufacturing engineers to work on developing ways of detecting whether people had been infected. The provincial police watchdog is investigating after a woman was injured when she was shot by a Peel police officer in Mississauga on Sunday night. Police were called to a disturbance just after 10:30 p.m. to a home on Ledbury Crescent, in the Matheson Boulevard West and Terry Fox Way area, where they encountered a man and a woman on a porch. Two officers used their conducted energy weapon, then one fired her gun, striking a 34-year-old woman, according to the Special Investigations Unit. Const. Akhil Mooken said the woman is in stable condition. The SIU is urging anyone with information or possible video evidence to contact the agency. The SIU is an arms length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault. David Venn is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @davidvenn_ Read more about: OTTUMWA, Iowa, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Union Officials say workers at the American Bottling plant in Ottumwa, Iowa are planning to strike at 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 13 if the company doesn't back off its proposal to terminate the employees' current healthcare plan in the next contract. The company is proposing switching employees from their current plan under United Healthcare of Iowa to a company plan under Keurig Dr. Pepper with higher out-of-pocket expenses. Jesse Case, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 238, said the company has refused to give a proposal that doesn't terminate the current healthcare plan for employees. "People can live without Dr. Pepper and 7-UP, but people are dying during this pandemic. Workers at Dr. Pepper just want the peace of mind to know that their insurance won't change for the foreseeable future," Case said. The union has given the company two extensions on the current agreement. The union contract expired April 1, 2020 and the current extension expires at 5 p.m. this Wednesday. American Bottling in Ottumwa distributes Dr. Pepper, 7-UP, A & W Root Beer, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Sunkist, Hy Vee brand soda and other products in several midwestern states. The workers, who voted down a five-year proposal from the company on April 29, 2020, simply want to maintain current healthcare benefits during the course of the next contract and are asking for a three-year deal. There are approximately 100 employees covered by the agreement. Company Contact: Christopher Lopez Keurig Dr. Pepper (641) 683-5453 [email protected] Contact: Jesse Case, (319) 361-3212 [email protected] SOURCE Teamsters Local 238 Details of Aurania\-\-s Annualand Special Meeting of Shareholders Posted by Publisher Internet Aurania Resources Ltd. (TSXV: ARU; OTCQB: AUIAF; Frankfurt: 20Q) (?Aurania? or the ?Company? https://www.commodity-tv.com/play/aurania-resources-supporting-indigenous-shuar-with-food-lidar-results-show-possible-veins/) announces that it will hold its Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders (the ?Meeting?) on Wednesday, June 10, 2020 at 2:30pm EDT at 36 Toronto Street, Suite 1050, in Toronto, Canada.? COVID-19 Guidance In the context of the effort to mitigate potential risks to the health and safety associated with COVID-19, and in compliance with the orders and directives of the Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto, the shareholders of Aurania Resources Ltd. are being discouraged from attending the Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders in-person. All shareholders are encouraged to vote on the matters before the meeting by proxy in the manner set out in the Notice of Meeting and Management Information Circular dated April 30, 2020. To allow shareholders to follow the conduct of the Meeting, the Company is providing a teleconference facility that can be used by shareholders and guests to follow the conduct of the Meeting in real time and to ask questions during the question period. Teleconference & Webcast Details Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2020 Time: 2:30pm EDT Webcast URL:? http://services.choruscall.ca/links/aurania20200610.html ?? When prompted, webcast participants enter: First Name, Last Name, Company, Email Address. PARTICIPANT TELEPHONE NUMBERS Canada/USA Toll Free: 1-800-319-4610 Toronto Toll: +1-416-915-3239 UK & Europe Toll Free: 0808-101-2791 Callers should dial in 5 ? 10 min prior to the scheduled start time and ask to join Aurania?s call.? A question and answer period will follow the formal part of the Meeting and presentation by management. Notice-and-Access The Company is utilizing the notice-and-access mechanism (the ?Notice-and-Access Provisions?) that came into effect on February 11, 2013 under National Instrument 54-101 ? Communication with Beneficial Owners of Securities of a Reporting Issuer and National Instrument 51-102 ? Continuous Disclosure Obligations, for distribution of Meeting materials to registered and Non-Registered Shareholders.? The Notice-and-Access Provisions are a set of rules that allow reporting issuers to post electronic versions of proxy-related materials (such as proxy circulars and annual financial statements) on-line, via the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (?SEDAR?) and one other website, rather than mailing paper copies of such materials to Shareholders. Aurania?s Notice of Meeting and Management Information Circular can be found under the Company?s SEDAR profile on www.SEDAR.com, on Aurania?s website http://aurania.com/investors/annual-general-meeting/ and at? https://docs.tsxtrust.com/2167. Changes to the Meeting date and/or means of holding the Meeting may be announced by way of press release. ?Please monitor Aurania?s news releases http://aurania.com/news/press-releases ?as well as the home page of the Company?s website at http://www.aurania.com for updated information. The management of the Company advises shareholders to check our Company website one week prior to the Meeting date for the most current information. About Aurania Aurania is a mineral exploration company engaged in the identification, evaluation, acquisition and exploration of mineral property interests, with a focus on precious metals and copper.? Its flagship asset, The Lost Cities ? Cutucu Project, is located in the Jurassic Metallogenic Belt in the eastern foothills of the Andes mountain range of southeastern Ecuador. Information on Aurania and technical reports are available at www.aurania.com and www.sedar.com, as well as on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/auranialtd/, Twitter at? https://twitter.com/auranialtd, and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/aurania-resources-ltd-. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Jason Daddario, 37, was kicked out of McDonald's for refusing to wear a mask A man who had been kicked out of a McDonald's restaurant for not having a face mask threw a rock through the window, stole some underwear from a Walmart and surrendered when police threatened to set a dog on him, authorities said. Jason Daddario, 37, was charged with criminal mischief and a breach of the peace, according to a police report. Daddario was asked to leave the McDonald's in Brooklyn, Connecticut, last week for failing to comply with a statewide order to wear masks in businesses to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the Hartford Courant reported. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont had previously issued an executive order that face masks must be worn while in public and proper social distancing cannot be followed as part of the states efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Daddario threw the rock and then stole several pairs of ladies underwear from a nearby Walmart, according to the police report. After leaving the McDonald's Daddario is alleged to have broken one of its windows with a rock He tried to flee but thought better of it when a police dog met him as he left the store, authorities said. Officers along the police dog took Daddario into custody. As of Sunday, Connecticut had over 31,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. More than 2,700deaths have been reported in the state due to COVID-19. Daddario is scheduled to appear June 15 in Putnam Superior Court. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Kyodo News) Tokyo, Japan Mon, May 11, 2020 09:43 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd7214b8 2 World COVID-19,Tokyo,Japan,economy,stimulus-package Free The Tokyo metropolitan government on Monday started compensating small and medium-sized businesses that had suspended operations through last week amid the coronavirus pandemic. Subsidies for businesses and nonprofit organizations shut between April 16 and last Wednesday are worth 500,000 yen ($4,700) for single-shop owners, and 1 million yen for operators of multiple sites. The metropolitan government, which began accepting applications from April 22, had completed screening procedures by Sunday in the quickest cases. It expects up to 130,000 applications by the June 15 deadline, and had received 66,000 by Friday evening. Following the extension of the nationwide state of emergency through May 31, the metropolitan government plans to additionally pay the same amount of subsidies to businesses that remain closed until the end of the month. The Tokyo government has set aside some 96 billion yen in aid and will earmark the same amount for further assistance in a supplementary budget to be deliberated at a metropolitan assembly session through June 10. The screening process requires businesses to supply posters or copies of website pages announcing the suspension of operations, and which clearly state the shop name and period of closure. Hairdressers and beauty salons are not among businesses requested to shut, but will receive 150,000 yen if they voluntarily choose to do so. The metropolitan government plans to start accepting applications for the additional subsidies after the assembly endorses the extra budget, and to simplify procedures for businesses that applied for the initial subsidies. The capital has reported the most cases of coronavirus infections in Japan at more than 4,800, with 180 deaths. The total number of cases in the country has exceeded 16,500 - including about 700 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined near Tokyo in February - with nearly 650 deaths. A retired soldier and Kildare town resident has been recalling his memories of the Sandes Home at the Curragh - a unique club for soldiers. Sgt Paddy Dowling, who travelled from Borris in Co Carlow to join the Army in the Curragh in the 1960s, said the Sandes Home was a place where soldiers could have a good meal, play board games, read and generally relax in a homely atmosphere. The Sandes Home in the Curragh was opened in 1912 and it continued to serve thousands of members of the Defence Forces for several decades after independence. It all started in Tralee in 1868 when a friend of local woman Miss Elizabeth Sandes asked her to befriend a soldier in the town. She did so and he brought other soldiers to her house. Then she took a room in the town and started a club for the men. She was a teenager at the time and she was to dedicated the next 64 years to building and improving a network of these homes. Her idea was to give alternatives to regular pastimes of the period such as drinking and gambling. The first Sandes Home was in Cobh in Co Cork. There was a network of up to 19 of the Homes in many areas where the British Army was based, including India and Jamaica. In an article in the Irish Times in 1893, quoted in a book: Sandes Soldiers' Home by author Joe Murray, Miss Sandes, a devout Christian, insisted that soldiers of all religions were welcome. There is no such thing as religious distinction in my establishments, we welcome all religions. A very large proportion of Sandes visitors are Roman Catholics. We have a room set apart for bible' meetings, but nobody is compelled to go there. It is entirely optional, and as to Roman Catholics, we discriminate them by fish dinners on Fridays. Force in these matters defeats your own ends and none is used here. When asked about soldiers turning up a bit the worse from drink, she said that they would never turn him away. No matter how bad he is we take him in and we have a dormitory where he can rest while under the influence. We will not give him drink, but we would not drive him away to do worse. We make him quite welcome. According to Mr Murray, another Sandes Soldiers Home was opened in Edward Street, Newbridge, in September 1910. It was described in the Freemans Journal as been extremely large with a splendid concert hall, recreation, dining, and mess rooms. It said: The kitchen and bathrooms are fitted in the most modern manner, the place throughout being installed with electric light. Just twelve months previous an advertisement was placed in the Belfast Newsletter seeking bids for the building of the Newbridge Home. Miss Sandes attended a meeting in Belfast in January 1910 where the Lord Mayor welcomed her and she explained that she wanted to raise 10,000 to build three new homes at the Curragh, Newbridge and Athlone. The reason why the Newbridge Home was built so quickly was it was mostly made of timber. Paddy said: During World War One, the homes played a very important role for the soldier. With conditions very poor, and regiments moving to the front all the time, Sandes Home was the only place a soldier could relax. Miss Sandes herself also gave daily bible readings to soldiers. Of the 19 homes that were in existence, all of them were managed by women. None of these ladies never married. It was probably an unwritten law to remain single. Paddy said that the three remaining Sandes Homes in the Republic gradually faded away and suggested the reasons were declining armies or lack of interest from the authorities. Miss Sandes died at a Sandes Home in Ballykinler, Co Down, on August 1, 1934 and buried in Tyrella Churchyard nearby. At the end of World War One, she was awarded a CBE - a fitting tribute to her contribution to military life at the Curragh. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab sowed further confusion for millions of British workers on Monday by repeatedly stating that those who could not work from home should begin to return to work from Wednesday. His words were in contradiction to Boris Johnson's statement to the nation just a day earlier in which the prime minister implied workers should start going to work on Monday. A Downing Street press release on Sunday evening also said that "from tomorrow (Monday), anyone who can't work from home... should be actively encouraged to go to work." Yet, in an interview on the BBC's Today programme on Monday morning about the government's heavily criticised plans to begin easing the lockdown, Mr Raab said: "Starting from Wednesday, the first-step measures will begin. Pressed for details on what that meant in practice, Mr Raab said: "If you can work from home you should continue to do so but there are vital sectors of the economy like manufacturing and construction where people can't do their job from home so we are saying to them they should now go back to work from Wednesday." The interview, aired shortly after 8am, came too late for many employees already heading into workplaces after the prime minister's message on Sunday. Mr Raab said guidance on how to keep workplaces safe will be published later on Monday, with a further document to be released on Tuesday. The prime minister had said on Sunday: "We now need to stress that anyone who cant work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work." Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the prime minister's announcement lacked "clarity and consensus", while "effectively telling millions of people to go back to work tomorrow" without clear guidelines. He said: "This statement raises as many questions as it answers, and we see the prospect of England, Scotland and Wales pulling in different directions." The party's shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds told the Today programme: "People should be able to work in safety. "People shouldn't be in the uncertain position that they are today. "Certainty helps workers. It helps employers. And, that's what the government should actually be providing." Employment lawyers warned that the government's new message of "return to work if you cannot work from home" is likely to bring employers and workers into conflict. "Employees may be rightly concerned for their own health and safety as well as that of their co-workers and others in their household," said Dan Hobbs, an employment barrister at 5 Essex Court. Workers have a legal right not to be subjected to detriment because they have raised a legitimate health and safety concern such as the lack of personal protective equipment. Mr Hobbs added: "Accordingly, if an employee walks out of the workplace or refuses to return to the workplace in circumstances of danger which the employee reasonably believes to be serious and imminent, the employee cannot be subjected to a detriment by his employer as a result." If an employer were to take disciplinary action or withhold pay because the employee has raised a relevant health and safety concern, they could face proceedings in the Employment Tribunal. Employees who are dismissed could bring a claim for unfair dismissal. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11 Trend: During the Summit initiated by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as the Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on May 4 and dedicated to the fight against coronavirus, President Aliyev announced that the Azerbaijani government will allocate a donation to the World Health Organization (WHO) for those NAM member countries that are most in need of assistance, Trend reports on May 11. In this regard, a donor agreement was signed between Azerbaijan and the World Health Organization at the WHO headquarters in Geneva on May 11. The donor agreement was signed by Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the UN office in Geneva and other international organizations, Ambassador Vaqif Sadiqov and WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The agreement envisages the allocation of voluntary financial assistance in the amount of $5 million to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund within the WHOs strategic preparedness and response plan as well as the use of these funds in coordination with Azerbaijan to help the most needy NAM member countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Stressing at the ceremony of signing the document that this decision of the Azerbaijani government is commendable, WHO director general emphasized that the organization which he heads highly appreciates the country's attention and care for the health sector, in particular, to combat COVID-19 at the global level. Noting that the financial contribution voluntarily made by Azerbaijan to combat the COVID-19 is an example of global solidarity, Ghebreyesus, on behalf of the organization, expressed deep appreciation to the Azerbaijani president. In turn, Sadiqov emphasized that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to the cooperation with WHO. Sadiqov said that Azerbaijan appreciates the organizations global measures to combat COVID-19, stressing that the Azerbaijani side takes into account the WHOs recommendations regarding the pandemic. The World Health Organization, which is the UN specialized structure responsible for international health system, is Azerbaijans main international partner in the field of health care system. Azerbaijan and WHO cooperate through the General Staff of the organization in Geneva and the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen. At the same time, the WHO office is operating in Azerbaijan. JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda on Monday expressed "deep concern" about the health of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said the nation needs his guidance in these times of crisis. "I am deeply concerned about former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's health. I pray for his speedy recovery. Our Nation needs his guidance in these times of crisis," Gowda, who was the Prime Minister between June 1996 and April 1997 tweeted. Singh is stable and under observation at the AIIMS in New Delhi after suffering reaction to a new medication and developing fever, hospital sources said on Monday. The 87-year old Congress leader was admitted to the hospital on Sunday evening after he complained of uneasiness. Several Congress leaders in Karnataka have him a speedy recovery. "There are reports of @INCIndia leader & former Prime Minister Shri. Manmohan Singh being admitted to hospital due to chest pain. I wish him speedy recovery & good health," former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said in a tweet. State Congress chief D K Shivakumar said, he was deeply concerned about the health of the former Prime Minister. "I along with more than a billion Indians wish him a speedy recovery and pray for his good health and long life," he tweeted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dr. Alaa Moussa has been accused of torturing protestors during the early demonstrations, but now works as a doctor in Germany after seeking refuge writes Zaman Al-Wasl. The cries of Hamza, a pseudonym, echoed through the corridors of the military hospital after Dr. Alaa Moussa set fire to his genitals, leading to severe burns and damage that is, according to a urologist, Dr. Mohamed Wahbi, is impossible to undo. Dr. Wahbi, who started working in the same hospital in February 2011, has previously revealed that Alaa Moussa, who recently moved to Germany, harbored a great hatred of the demonstrators and enjoyed torturing the injured as a show of loyalty to the regime. Moussa, originally from central Homs city, left Syria through Lebanon to take refuge in Germany, in the town of Bad Wildungen, where he was seen several times, working as an orthopedist in a local clinic. Tens of pro-regime fighters have arrived in Europe after committing horrendous war crimes and human rights violations in Syria. Anwar al-Bunni, Director of Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research in Berlin, told The New Arab newspaper that his center is collecting evidence and witnesses against a number of persons accused of human rights violations, so that they can be prosecuted in specialized courts. Activist Mohammed al-Kurdi confirmed that the doctor has lived in the city of Kassel, in Germany for 4 years. A number of refugees stated that he is collecting information on Syrian refugees and activists for the regime, the nature and purpose of which is unknown. Previously, Moussa has publicly threatened a few refugees with their property and their relatives in Syria, indicating his affiliation with the security services. In 2012, Channel 4 broadcasted a video that was filmed secretly over the first three months of the revolution from inside Abde Qader Shaqfa Hospital, and that showed shocking scenes of torture from inside the hospital in al-Waer neighborhood, west of Homs, committed by doctors and medical and security staff against the injured. In the video, a number of people, who were injured in the demonstrations, were brought there blindfolded and tied to beds to be whipped, beaten, and electrocuted, they were left with no food for days, their legs twisted and broken, and their penises tied, preventing them from urinating and causing intense kidney pain. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Vodacom has released its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2020, showing an increase in revenue and subscribers across the group. The company said that group revenue is up 4.8% while group service revenue growth is up 5.0%. In the South African business service revenue grew 2.3%, while international operations saw service revenue growth of 12.5%. Vodacom also saw user growth in both the total customer and financial service customer segments: Group customers up by 5.9 million to 116 million. Financial services customers up by 6 million to 53.2 million. Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said an improved second-half performance in South Africa and the sustained growth of our international businesses contributed to the growth at the company. The past year has been characterised by strong customer growth we now connect 116 million customers across the group, including Safaricom and the benefits of prudent portfolio diversification, said Joosub. Price cuts mean more subscribers Joosub said that in the South African business, a sharp drop in data prices, including out-of-bundle rates, resulted in an increase in traffic. 1.9 million more data customers connect to the Vodacom network, a 9.7% increase to 21.9 million, he added. While it is still early days, the trend of increased data usage has continued into the current financial year following reductions in 30-day data bundle tariffs of up to 40% from 1 April 2020 and the launch of our ConnectU platform, which provides easy access to numerous zero-rated essential service websites, said Joosub. Financial services have also performed well in South Africa, and revenue from the segment increased by 21.5% to R2 billion. This was thanks to products like Airtime Advance, insurance, and VodaPay services. Our digital services business has also produced solid growth, contributing R1.5 billion in revenues on the back of increasing purchases of our video-on-demand offering and our music, sports, gaming and other video services. This comes despite deteriorating economic pressures in the country, said Joosub. Saudi Arabia is tripling its value-added tax (VAT) and suspending cost-of-living allowances as part of a new round of painful austerity measures to save the Kingdoms finances after oil prices collapsed in the pandemic. Saudi Arabia, which had already cut government expenditures shortly after the price of oil crashed in March, is now tripling VAT to 15 percent from 5 percent beginning in July 2020, the Saudi Ministry of Finance said on Monday, as carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. In order to reduce government expenditures while the oil price crash cripples the main budgetary incomeoil revenuesthe Kingdom is also discontinuing the cost-of-living allowances for state workers as of July. As a whole, Saudi Arabia is saving US$26.6 billion (100 billion Saudi riyals) from the measures announced on Monday, which also include canceling, extending, or postponing some operational and capital expenditures for some government agencies, as well reducing provisions for a number of programs and major projects this year. These measures that have been undertaken today, as tough as they are, are necessary and beneficial to maintain comprehensive financial and economic stability on the medium and long-term for the interest of the country and its citizens, Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of Economy and Planning, Mohammad Aljadaan, said in a statement carried by the Saudi agency. The Minister explained that due to the precautionary measures undertaken worldwide to combat the pandemic, the first economic shock was the unprecedented decline in oil demand, which led to lower oil prices and a sharp decline in oil revenue that represents a main source of public revenue for the state budget, the Saudi Press Agency said. Saudi Arabia, OPECs top producer and the worlds top oil exporter, is preparing to borrow dozens of billions of US dollars this year to plug the widening budget gap due to the oil price crash. Last week, the Saudi Finance Minister had already warned that the government was preparing to implement painful measures for propping up the oil-dependent economy. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: An association of doctors in West Bengal has shot off letters to the Union health ministry and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, making a case for a relook at the revised policy for discharge of coronavirus patients and setting up dedicated critical care units in COVID-19 hospitals of the state. Noting that different strains of the coronavirus are prevailing across the country with non-identical morbidity and mortality profile, the Left-backed Association of Health Service Doctors (AHSD) said in its missive to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan that the Centre's discharge guidelines cannot be uniformly exercised everywhere. The revised discharge policy for COVID-19 cases announced by the ministry in consulation with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had said coronavirus- infected patients developing severe illness or having compromised immunity will have to test negative through the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) before being discharged by a hospital. However, moderate cases of COVID-19 and pre- symptomatic, mild and very mild cases need not undergo tests before being discharged after resolution of symptoms. "As Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi are flooded with cases with perceived scarcity of beds and apparatus, and too high bed occupancy rate, the ICMR's recentmost discharge protocol and advisory on quarantine stay may be applicable there having no other alternative. "But in West Bengal and many other states where geographical spread is not yet established, discharging confirmed cases without.... sampling can't be the choice. Asymptomatics may potentially transmit the virus," the letter, dated May 10, said. According to the previous set of rules, a COVID-19 patient was considered fit to be discharged upon testing negative on day 14 and then again in a span of 24 hours. The AHSD urged the central government to take up state-specific focused intervention with the ICMR. In its communication to Banerjee, the association voiced concern that the coronavirus situation may spin out of control in the state if appropriate steps such as dedicated critical care units (CCUs) for serious coronavirus patients are not developed in all COVID-19 hospitals. "COVID hospitals in Kolkata and Howrah are already overflowing with patients. Reports are coming that not enough space is available for even properly keeping the corpses," the letter said. While "lack of infrastructure and human resources" in the district-level COVID-19 hospitals is worrying, "The CCU for serious patients has not been developed in most of the hospitals except Beleghata ID and MR Bangur Hospital. The number of beds in these two hospitals is limited, too," the government service doctors' body said. The association said that non-COVID services in hospitals have almost collapsed with OPDs, cancer and dialysis treatment having "practically stopped" or continuing "on a meagre scale." The AHSD, in its letter to the Union health ministry, added that "it has been experienced that coronavirus patients with mild symptoms or no symptoms are not encouraged for home isolation by their family and close relatives". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) PM Phuc announced the targets at a meeting with businesses on May 9 that was connected to 93 venues in provinces and cities across the country as well as ministries and sectors. It was also broadcast live by Vietnam Television (VTV). To that end, the PM ordered focusing on attracting investment from domestic economic sectors, firstly the private sector, and foreign direct investment (FDI), stepping up exports, promoting public capital disbursement, and encouraging domestic consumption. The resolve is needed to overcome weaknesses and spur development, thus reaching the set targets, the government leader stressed. He urged businesses, including the banking sector, to join hands in bolstering national development, saying the meeting must have concrete outcomes and reflect the spirit of removing difficulties faced by enterprises. Authorities need to stop troubling businesses and citizens with red-tape and administrative procedure hassles, he requested. On this occasion, the PM tasked businesses with promoting patriotism and law respect, sharing difficulties with the Government, staying united, cooperative, dynamic and creative, and maintaining determination. Local businesses need to contribute to the country's growth so that the national economy could develop in accordance with the V shape but not the U or W shapes, said PM Phuc. He highlighted the goal of turning Vietnam into a prosperous nation in 2045 set in draft documents to be submitted to the 13th National Party Congress, and expressed his hope that there will be Vietnamese firms in the list of the world's 500 biggest enterprises by that time. Vietnam has huge, sustainable growth potential for the long term, he said, adding that the country is among economies considered safe in the post-COVID-19 period, with tens of free trade agreements with the worlds 38 biggest markets. The leader asked domestic businesses to optimize opportunities generated by the transform of value chains during which Vietnam has been regarded as the centre. Vietnam grew 3.82% in the first quarter of this year, the lowest over the past decade, he said, but noting that it was the highest among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The PM reiterated the duo target of fighting the pandemic and maintaining economic activities, along with administrative reform and restructuring. The country has reported no new COVID-19 within the community over the past 23 days, he said, attributing the result to public support and sound, drastic, prompt and synchronous decisions and policies adopted by the Party and State to contain the acute respiratory disease. The meeting looked into the implementation of policies that have been rolled out to assist domestic enterprises in operation and epidemic prevention and control. Initiatives and proposals raised by enterprises, experts and people regarding necessary solutions to help businesses recover and develop after the pandemic passes were collected for the issuance of an action plan or a resolution of the Government to restart the national economy. Ashitha Jayaprakash By Online Desk The Indian government's Vande Bharat Mission to fly back stranded citizens from across the world is in full swing, with 827 people reaching home from the UK on May 9. While passengers are grateful for the opportunity to return home, the lack of communication has kept them on edge not only in the run-up to the flight and also right through their journey home. A 23-year-old post graduate student live tweeted her bittersweet experience of travelling as part of the mission from the UK to Mumbai. Ayushi Shah's trip began after she came to know by e-mail on May 8 that she was shortlisted for a flight the very next day which was later confirmed through a phone call. Her flight tickets which usually costed Rs 25,000 for a one-way trip now costs double the amount. Living four hours away from London where the airport is, she struggled to receive any written confirmation from the government for the seat on the flight. She said, "The Indian Embassy didn't answer my calls or emails. Half the call centre numbers don't even connect!" By the time she reached London after receiving confirmation from Air India, it was 12 A.M, but another problem cropped up accommodation. A student help organization called Education Beyond Borders and Community Response Kitchen provided her with free stay and a drop to the airport the next morning. Help came through private organizations Daksha Varsan, the founder of Community Response Kitchen, provides up to 2500 meals every day to stranded Indians in the UK. She said, I get calls daily from Indian students who need food or are evicted from residences. We go to them and provide them with meals or groceries like atta for example to make rotis. Food packaged and ready to be sent to college students in Wembley. (Photo | Community Response Kitchen) She has set up a kitchen in a community in Kachhia Samaj hall, London, run by a team of 50 unpaid volunteers, where she prepares food and distributes them to key workers in the NHS, vulnerable and shielded families, homeless shelters, stranded students and families who have no recourse to public funding. Daksha, who was working as an administrator in a high school there, said, There are hundreds of Indian students in London who are in need of food and shelter. While food is provided from her side, Roxann, who is part of Education Beyond Borders, finds accommodation for them. The students approach them because there is often no help from the High Commission in the UK or any Indian companies. All help comes from the community, she added. Luggage processed smoothly but no social distancing in sight The security check and checking-in of luggage went off smoothly, Ayushi said, but "there was no social distancing on the plane." The flight she boarded carried around 300 passengers with only a nine-seat quarantine zone. Shortage of staff While waiting to board, she spotted a middle-aged male passenger who slept at the London airport with no help even for water for long, until a security guard came around to assist. Right before boarding, the passengers are screened medically. She said that they are super helpful but understaffed," and emphasized that social distancing is "almost non-existent" in the airport she departed from. Lack of communication These returnees will be quarantined for 14 days but no information on the stay or options of stay were intimated by government officials throughout the trip. For Mumbai residents home quarantine is not an option. Neither is a spare home even if you can quarantine alone," she said. And this information was given to them only after they touched base and were literally standing at the arrival lounge of the airport at 1:30 A.M. But, at the end of the day, Ayushi was grateful to return home and to the Air India staff for "the risk they took by choosing to help us fly". The Air India staff are her heroes, she said. But she added that "things could have been so much better". Kudos to in-flight and ground services The UK is one of the severely affected nations with 2,15,000 COVID-19 cases and 31,662 deaths as of May 10. To repatriate Indians stranded abroad in places like the UK, frontline warriors like crew members and ground staff of Air India have put their lives on the line. Passengers were cared for well. They were provided with vegetarian meals, snacks and offered masks, face shields and water bottles, while cabin crew members drenched in plastic suits were all completely protected. The staff including doctors kept their cool while dealing with tired and cranky passengers in Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport. The ground services which included collection of luggage and immigration were faster and more efficient. Even the medical screening before boarding took only an hour. Options of stay Once the chaos at the arrival of the Mumbai airport settled, the passengers were given options of OYO rooms or budget hotels with prices ranging from Rs 2,150 to Rs 5,000 and were transported to their respective hotels. Those from other cities like Pune or Thane were transported in state buses or tourist cabs, according to PTI. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has reserved over 3,340 rooms in 88 hotels for quarantining passengers brought back to India under 'Mission Vande Bharat'. You can check the live tweet here. The Americans behind the failed Venezuelan coup went ahead with the ill-fated mission even though the country's ruling regime publicly exposed their plan on live TV more than a month earlier. In footage unearthed by DailyMail.com Venezuelan state television claimed its government had infiltrated the 'mercenaries' and even aired photographs of the coup's US leader, Jordan Goudreau. They also appeared to have the names of the other two Americans captured and paraded on TV this week, ex Green Berets Luke Denman and Airan Berry. The revelation, alongside the apparent lack of funding and adequate equipment for the mission last Sunday, raises more questions as to why the disastrous operation ever went ahead. On March 28, an episode of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro's weekly low-budget propaganda show publicly exposed the American 'mercenaries' plan on live TV. The president's right-hand man Diosdado Cabello led the presentation Diosdado Cabello showed photographs of the coup's US leader, Jordan Goudreau Jordan Goudreau, 43, who identified himself as the ringleader in a failed coup in Venezuela did not take part in the foiled plan as it went into action as his boat broke down at sea on March 28 and he was forced to return and remain in the United States because of coronavirus travel restrictions Luke Denman (right) and Airan Berry (left), both former U.S. special forces soldiers, were captured in Venezuela for trying to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro in a failed coup this week One photo from the broadcast had three icons of armed masked men tagged as 'Agente Yordan', 'Agente Lut' and 'Agente Aro'. It would appear the last two names referred to Denman and Berry, their first names written in a poor Spanish translation On March 28 an episode of President Nicolas Maduro's weekly low-budget propaganda show called Con El Mazo Dando, or Swinging the Mace, the president's right-hand man Diosdado Cabello laid out the regime's version of the operation. It came complete with an elaborate organizational chart pinned onto a cork board and with photographs of individuals, cars and apartments. And during the dramatic reveal Cabello said three Americans were involved. He named Goudreau, repeatedly calling him 'mercenary' and 'the gringo', and presented various photos of the former Green Beret taken from his company website and social media accounts including one next to President George Bush and TV footage of Goudreau providing security at a Trump event. 'This is Jordan,' Cabello said with contempt, speaking in front of a gigantic photograph of the late Hugo Chavez as he flicked through printed-out photos. He then moved to the board, where under the heading 'American Instructors', with various red arrows coming from various directions, he had three icons of armed masked men tagged as 'Agente Yordan', 'Agente Lut' and 'Agente Aro'. Circling the three names with a marker pen he said: 'Mercenaries'. It would appear the last two names referred to Denman and Berry, their first names written in a poor Spanish translation. The broadcast appears to have been prompted by the arrest of former Major General Cliver Alcala, a hate figure for the Maduro regime who had been in exile since 2018. 'This is Jordan with George Bush,' Cabello says in Spanish during the broadcast as he presented this photo He named Goudreau and presented various photos from his social media accounts, including a print out of his Instagram page Cabello repeatedly called Goudreau 'mercenary' and 'the gringo' in Spanish Cabello's presentation included an organizational chart pinned onto a cork board and photographs of individuals, cars and apartments After a cache of arms was picked up by Colombian police near his home, he claimed they were bought under a contract with opposition leader Juan Guaido and with the intention to remove the rulers of Venezuela. In a matter of days, Alcala was charged with narco-terrorism alongside Maduro by the US government. He handed himself over for extradition on March 27th and is currently in the US, where he has claimed he would clear his name. The following day, Cabello took to the airwaves to claim they were onto him all along. Apparently believing the plan had now been shelved, he claimed Venezuelan forces were ready for the operation. 'The operation suffered a tough blow,' he said. 'We were going to give them a surprise. The best thing that happened was that the arms were taken, because if they hadn't been taken we would have been waiting for them for a lesson they would never forget.' Cabello showed photos he alleged to be of Alcala's apartment, his car and where he would take his family on outings. Those could not be verified. The broadcast appears to have been prompted by the arrest of former Major General Cliver Alcala, a hate figure for the Maduro regime who had been in exile since 2018 Luke Denman (left) and Airan Berry (right): Two arrested U.S. 'mercenaries playing Rambo' who were paraded after their failed attempt 'to kill' Venezuela's Maduro Members of Operation Gedeon provided passport photos of the men to confirm their U.S. citizenship Luke Denman (bottom) and Airan Berry (top) as pictured during their arrest in Venezuela on Monday 'We have been investigating this case for days. We have recordings and photos,' he boasted. 'Even the apartment where he lived. He had been infiltrated. For a long time. Infiltrated. How he moved. His car. Where it was parked. Photos of the living room in his apartment. 'This is a process we have been doing for a while and it came at the right time.' 'They were obsessed with killing us,' he added. Cabello is reported to have been one of three or four figures in the ruling regime that were to be targeted in the operation - although all indications are that the plan was to take them to justice in the US. Returning to the subject of Goudreau, he delved into the Special Forces veteran's Florida based security firm Silvercorp USA as he attempted to link him to the communist party's favorite adversary the United States government. 'Without a doubt it is a shell company that gives services to others, that's how they do it. It's a front for the CIA,' he said, this time reading from a script but showing no evidence. 'The reality is that Silvercorp USA is used to undertake clandestine operations in various countries in the world, especially to finance groups of mercenaries and destabilize legitimate governments.' Cabello added of Goudreau: 'He is known as very blood-thirsty.' The men are former U.S. special forces soldiers and are among eight men captured by the security forces of the ruling Maduro regime He had opened the anti-American show by slamming President Trump's handling of the COVID-19 crisis, calling it an 'international shame'. In a rambling press conference following the capture of Americans Denman and Berry this week, embattled Venezuelan president Maduro boasted that his security forces had infiltrated the operation. While the leader's speeches are usually padded with inflated claims, it would appear this time he got it right. Denman, 34, and Berry, 41, were arrested along with six Venezuelans Monday for their role in the failed coup and both Americans have since appeared in interrogation videos broadcast on state TV. The two Special Forces hostages both appeared to give secret signs that they were lying in the video clips. Bradley County Emergency Management is providing information on disaster support and recovery for residents of Bradley and Hamilton Counties. Recovery Update DR 4541 TN Tennessee homeowners and renters in Bradley and Hamilton counties who had uninsured losses from the April 12-13 tornadoes and storms may be eligible for federal disaster assistance from FEMA. Deadline to apply for assistance is June 23, 2020. You can register with FEMA in several ways: o By visiting DisasterAssistance.gov o Downloading the FEMA App for smartphones o Calling 800-621-3362 (800-462-7585 TTY). Multilingual operators are available. The tollfree numbers are open every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. EDT. Applicants for FEMA assistance will receive a letter from FEMA by mail or email. It is important to read it carefully as it will include the amount of any assistance FEMA may provide to you and information on the appropriate use of disaster assistance funds. You may need to submit additional information for FEMA to continue to process your application. o Examples of missing documentation may include proof of insurance coverage, settlement of insurance claims, proof of identity, proof of occupancy, proof of ownership, or proof that the damaged property was your primary residence at the time of the disaster. o If you have questions about the letter, go online to DisasterAssistance.gov or call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 or 800-462-7585 (TTY). After you register: After you apply for federal disaster assistance, it is important that FEMA be able to contact you. Be aware that phone calls from FEMA may appear to come from unidentified numbers and make sure that FEMA has your current contact information. FEMA may call to obtain more information for your application or to conduct a remote home inspection in order to be able to continue processing your application. If you have questions about FEMA assistance: You can register, check the status of your application, ask questions about your determination letter and obtain other information by calling the Helpline at 800-621-3362 or 800-462-7585 (TTY). Survivors are also strongly encouraged to set up a disaster account with FEMA online. o Go to DisasterAssistance.gov. o Select Apply Online and follow instructions. You will be asked for your Zip Code and connected to Tennessee disaster assistance. o A PIN will be sent to the email address on file. You can then log into your account. o Documents can be uploaded in the Upload Center. As of COB May 10, 2020: o FEMA has approved more than $781,686 in disaster grants for 206 Tennessee homeowners and renters who sustained uninsured or underinsured losses from the storms. That total includes: ? More than $604,826 in housing grants to assist people in rebuilding or repairing their homes and to provide the means for a safe place to stay while they consider their long- term housing options. ? More than $176,859 in grants for Other Needs Assistance to survivors. o SBA has approved more than $1.5 million in disaster loans to businesses and households. FEMA reminds survivors: FEMA and U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) never charge for registration, home inspections, grants, disaster-loan applications or anything else. If you have registered and want to verify any correspondence from FEMA, call at 800-621-3362 (TTY 800-462-7585). If you suspect fraud, call the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721 or report it to your local police department. FEMA Public Assistance (PA): Bradley, Campbell, Hamilton, Marion, Monroe, Polk, Scott, Unicoi and Washington Counties are eligible for Public Assistance to reimburse disaster-related expenses and the repair or rebuilding of critical infrastructure. The State of Tennessee, local governments and certain private nonprofits can request funding through FEMAs Public Assistance grant program to help pay for debris removal, emergency protective measures and the repair or rebuilding of roads, bridges, water-control facilities, buildings, equipment, utilities, parks and recreation facilities. The federal cost share for reimbursed expenses is not less than 75 percent. Volunteers and community members should contact their local government for guidance on debris removal processes. U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA): Business owners, private nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters may be eligible for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to help recover from losses not covered by insurance, grants or other services. Applicants can apply for a low-interest disaster loan online using SBAs secure website at https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance. Survivors can get more information by calling a Virtual Disaster Loan Outreach Center/Business Recovery Center (VDLOC/BRC) at 571-422-1925, 571-422-6016 or 404-909-1535. Or they may email FOCE-Help@SBA.gov. After you apply for disaster assistance from FEMA, you may be referred to SBA. If you are referred to SBA, you should complete an SBA disaster loan application. If your application is approved, you are not obligated to accept an SBA loan. But failure to return the application will disqualify you from other possible FEMA assistance, such as disaster-related car repairs, clothing, household items and other expenses. The State of Tennessee lists a variety of resources for survivors, including: Home and Property Cleanup Help: A Crisis Cleanup service is in place for Tennesseans who need help with debris removal and home cleanup from the tornadoes and storms. Individuals needing assistance should go online to https://www.crisiscleanup.org or call the hotline at 844-9651386. Tennesseans who need assistance with downed trees can email the Tennessee Volunteers Active in Disasters (TN VOAD) at tennesseevoad@gmail.com. Tennessee Crisis Phone Line: Call 855-CRISIS-1 (855-274-7471) to speak with a trained mental health professional 24 hours a day if you are experiencing a mental health emergency. You can also text TN to 741741. Disaster Unemployment Assistance: Workers whose employment in Hamilton and Bradley counties was impacted by the tornadoes can apply online for DUA through www.Jobs4TN.gov. They can also call 844-432-0969 to apply by phone. Volunteer: If you live in Tennessee and want to volunteer to help tornado survivors, please visit the Tennessee Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (TN VOAD), https://tnvoad.shutterfly.com/. If you'd like to volunteer and live outside of Tennessee, please visit the national site for the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, https://www.nvoad.org/ Tennessee Housing Development Agency: Individuals or households displaced by storm damage can use this resource to locate short-term or permanent rental housing options. The listings have been provided by property managers and landlords and the site includes the information about specific needs, such as income restrictions, pets and accessibility. The site is also available in Spanish: www.TNHousingSearch.org; phone 877-428-8844. Avoiding Scams: There is increased risk for scams and fraud after a disaster. Watch out for people asking for upfront fees to help you claim services, benefits or get loans. To report any illegal activity, call 615-741-4737 or go to www.tn.gov/consumer. Report Misconduct: The Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance licenses many of the professionals who play a role in rebuilding, including contractors, home inspectors and insurance agents. To file a complaint, visit www.tn.gov/commerce. Free Legal Assistance: A toll-free legal assistance hotline is available to low-income individuals facing legal issues as a result of the tornadoes at 844-HELP4TN (844-435-7486). Callers should say they are seeking tornado-related legal assistance. Survivors can also go online to ask questions of volunteer attorneys through Tennessee Free Legal Answers service: https://tn.freelegalanswers.org/. For more information on Tennessee recovery, visit the FEMA disaster web page, https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4541 and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency website, https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/tema.html. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced today that he is going to appoint Gilad Erdan, currently minister of internal security, as Israels new ambassador to the UN. Why it matters: Erdan is also expected to replace Ron Dermer as ambassador to Washington following the 2020 U.S. election, and will serve in both posts at the same time. That dual role is almost unprecedented. The only time a single ambassador has taken on both roles was in 1950 two years after Israel was founded. That was the legendary Abba Eban, who served in both posts until 1959. Very few countries in the world have one ambassador for both the U.S. and the UN, and most are small countries like Andorra or Pacific islands. It is unclear how a single ambassador from Israel, which has massive interests both in Washington and in the UN, will be able to handle both jobs. Driving the news: Erdan was appointed by Netanyahu as part of a reshuffle ahead of the swearing in of Israel's new government. That reshuffle left Netanyahu with fewer cabinet posts to give to members of his Likud Party, and the solution was to appoint some as ambassadors. Netanyahu's appointment will also bring Dermer's tenure in Washington to an end after seven years. He is one of Netanyahu's closest advisers and has become one of the most powerful ambassadors in Washington, due in part to his links to Jared Kushner and members of Trump's cabinet. P hotographer Mick Rock is to release another five never-before-seen images of stars including Debbie Harry to raise money to buy essential PPE supplies for the NHS. The five portraits of Harry, plus Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Joan Jett and The Ramones will be sold by gallery West Contemporary, with 20 per cent of proceeds going towards its #MasksforNHS fundraiser for much-needed FFP3 masks for NHS staff. The fund will be used to buy as much PPE as possible from the official Health-Care Equipment (HCE) site, with it then delivered to hospitals. Rock previously donated five unseen prints of David Bowie, Kate Moss, Freddie Mercury, Syd Barrett and Bryan Ferry three weeks ago to support the campaign. Mick Rock donates portraits to raise money for NHS supplies 1 /5 Mick Rock donates portraits to raise money for NHS supplies Debbie Harry Mick Rock Lou Reed Mick Rock The Ramones Mick Rock Iggy Pop Mick Rock Speaking about the fundraiser, Rock said the NHS workers are, like many famous faces hes photographed, an important and hugely iconic part of British culture and British history. He said: The NHS have always been there for me growing up in the UK and for all members of my family, which is why I want to donate 20% of sales of my new works to this amazing fundraiser West Contemporary have set up. If this virus is a reminder of anything, its how much we need the NHS. They are our lifeline. We owe them every effort we can think of to protect their own lives whilst they are protecting the lives of others. gofundme.com T his week, the rules of lockdown get more complicated - and therefore more difficult to explain or enforce. For instance, you will be allowed to drive your car, if you have one, to the beach to sunbathe - but you still cant use a bus to get to one of the capital's great parks. This must seem illogical and unfair to the millions of Londoners who do not have a car and rely on public transport. The challenge for the Government is to explain its reasoning well enough that queues do not form for the Brighton train at the next sunny weekend. There are more pressing complications. Last night the Prime Minister urged people to go back to work but to avoid public transport. That might make sense to non-Londoners but not to commuters from anywhere beyond Zone 2. The comedian Matt Lucas satirised the message as Go to work; dont go to work. At Transport for London, they were worrying about a potential spike in passenger numbers that would strain the socially-distanced network. Another complication is that leaders of the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales are implementing different rules. In London, the Mayor takes a tougher line than the Prime Minister on lockdown: He wants it to become socially unacceptable to use the Underground without a face covering, while the PM will say they are to be encouraged but very much on a voluntary basis. Also confusing is the decision to scrap the crystal clear stay home slogan in favour of stay alert, which everyone outside No 10 thinks is meaningless in relation to a virus that cannot be seen or heard. Staying at home is very much part of staying alert, one Government official argues, in an attempt to square the circle. The complications are a result of contradictory pressures. The Prime Minister is simultaneously trying to save lives and trying to save businesses from collapse. That means encouraging some people back to work, at the same time as pleading with as many as possible to stay at home. The PM is having to balance tensions in Cabinet between hawks like Rishi Sunak who want the economy opened and confidence boosted, and doves who are nervous of moving too quickly and creating a disastrous second peak. The tensions at this critical juncture were apparent in weekend briefing against Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, in a Sunday newspaper. Outside government, business groups plead for the freedom to produce goods, while trade unions warn their members will not work unless protected from risk. Beyond England, the Scots and Welsh have different R numbers and priorities and have leaders who are keen to assert their independence of Westminster. For the public, the result is a more nuanced set of rules that may take a while to get used to - just as the original lockdown did. The hope at No 10 is that common sense and community solidarity will prevail. New Delhi: The coronavirus pandemic spanning over 212 countries and territories by Monday (May 11, 2020) evening infected more than 42.2 lakh people with more than 2.85 lakh people succumbing to the virus. According to the COVID-19 data by the Worldometers website at 10 PM IST on Monday, there are over 42,24,845 COVID-19 positive patients across the world while around 2,85,140 people have died due to the coronavirus. As many as 15,10,980 people have recovered or cured of the virus. There were approximately 46,691 new cases and 1,413 deaths in the world in the last 24 hours. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday that "extreme vigilance" was needed as countries begin to exit from lockdowns imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, amid global concerns about the second wave of infections. "Now we are seeing some hope as many countries exit these lockdowns," Dr Mike Ryan, head of the WHO`s emergencies programme, told an online news briefing, but he added that "extreme vigilance is required." "If the disease persists at a low level without the possibility to investigate clusters there`s always the possibility that the virus takes off again," he added. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said that lifting restrictions was "complex and difficult" and that the "slow, steady lifting of lockdowns" was key. The United States (US) tops the list of having the most number of COVID-19 positive infections and deaths. The number of confirmed coronavirus patients in the US on Monday surged to 13,72,740. The US on Monday registered more than 5,100 cases. The US is followed by Spain where more than 2,68,140 people have contracted the virus. Spain reported close to 3,500 new cases in the last 24 hours. The United Kingdom (UK) with 2,23,060 COVID-19 patients is the third worst-hit country. There were close to 4,000 cases in the UK on Monday. Russia with 11,650 fresh cases has reported the most number of cases in the last 7 days in the world. Russia's total count on Monday mounted to 2,21,340. Italy being the fifth-worst affected has close to 2,20,000 COVID-19 confirmed cases in the country. France with 1,76,970 infections is the fourth worst-hit nation in the world. Germany having close to 1,72,000 cases, Brazil with 1,63,500 infections, Turkey with 1,38,650 positive cases, and Iran with over 1,09,280 confirmed cases are the other countries in the world that have breached the 1,00,000 mark. Earlier on Monday, the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that a lockdown would be imposed starting on Saturday and ending after Tuesday, May 19, which is a national holiday. Ankara has imposed lockdowns in major cities over the past four weekends, as well as on national holidays to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. On the list of the places with most COVID-19 deaths, the US remained on top with more than 80,933 deaths. The UK has been the second-worst affected country where over 32,065 people have died due to the virus. Italy on the third spot has lost around 30,739 of its citizens. Spain with 123 deaths in a day has now 26,744 COVID-19 deaths. France with 26,380 fatalities and Brazil with 11,207 deaths have also been severely hit by the coronavirus. American Eagle Paper Mills Introduces Paper With Antimicrobial Protection American Eagle Paper Mills' "Eagle Armour" suite of paper products are treated with Biomaster silver ion technology to provide antimicrobial protection for the lifetime of the paper. May 11, 2020 - American Eagle Paper Mills is launching a new line of antimicrobial paper to help minimize the transmission of communicable diseases. The Eagle Armour suite of paper products are treated with Biomaster silver ion technology to provide antimicrobial protection for the lifetime of the paper. "To address the need for cleaner surfaces, American Eagle Paper Mills is proud to have successfully manufactured a paper that incorporates an antimicrobial agent," said Scott Igoe, President of American Eagle Paper Mills. "What's especially great about Eagle Armour antimicrobial paper is that it inhibits the growth of bacteria without sacrificing paper performance or appearance." Laboratory testing conducted by the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) showed no noticeable difference in print quality between the antimicrobial treated paper versus the untreated control paper. According to BiomasterUSA LLC, supplier of the EPA registered antimicrobial silver technology used in the Eagle Armour branded papers, silver is an element found naturally in the environment and has long been regarded as a versatile antimicrobial agent. The silver ions interact with the molecular processes within microorganisms resulting in inhibition of growth, loss of energy production, and prevention of DNA replication and new cell formation. "Additional testing performed at an independent microbiology laboratory on the antimicrobial-treated paper demonstrated a 99.9% reduction in non-pathogenic bacteria," Igoe explained. "These papers are ideal for use in hospitals, clinics, doctor offices, dental offices, long term care and assisted living facilities, restaurant and food service facilities, schools, offices, and more." About American Eagle Paper Mills Located in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, American Eagle Paper Mills is a producer of recycled uncoated freesheet papers, including office, printing, and converting grades. The mill employs about 230 people and uses 300 tons of recycled paper per day to manufacture premium recycled papers. For further information, visit: aepaper.com . SOURCE: American Eagle Paper Mills Axons ability to offer a differentiated cyber product to the SME marketplace is very timely, said Randy Hampton, executive vice president and partner at Axon Underwriting. Our broad product offering is highly relevant to the increasing number of exposures faced by companies given changes in the work environment. Weve spent significant time developing CyberAdvantage and are very excited to bring another customized Axon product to the market, said Doug Gahagan, executive vice president and partner. Not only is this a highly relevant addition to Axons portfolio of specialty offerings, it further expands our relationship with Lloyds of London. We see this as one of several specialty products currently under consideration that will be backed by Lloyds. Beneath the waves, two smoldering coals for eyes watched me with an intense, unyielding stare. Pristine white bodies floated up elegantly from the depths, one after another, surrounding my kayak in the open water. Their ghostly pale faces with wide, Joker-esque smiles pushed closer. A long, powerful sound burst up through the air, like a slowly deflating balloon, followed by silence and more expectant staring. I was having a one-sided conversation with a pod of curious beluga whales. The mouth of Churchill River in northern Manitoba, Canada, was calm and quiet on this chilly, overcast July day, but these bright white whales were not. Belugas, nicknamed the canaries of the sea thanks to their song-like sounds, are social, playful and highly communicative. They repeated their shrieks and tunes, floating around me in anticipatory silence. There was only one thing left to do: sing along. In response, raucous clicks and squeals drifted upward out of the dark water, like someone tapping on a microphone for attention, broken by steady streams of blowhole bubbles. I got the distinct feeling that I was being discussed. Brace yourself, warned Noah Ransom, my wildlife guide, who had been singing his own songs to belugas in another kayak about 20 feet away. The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has issued payments valued at 206.3m to 589,000 people in respect of their application for the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP). Around 8,700 people are receiving a payment for the first time. This is a reduction of 9,000 on the number of people paid at the same point last week. All Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment payments issued will be in recipients' bank accounts or at their local post office on Tuesday, May 12. Below is a county-by-county breakdown of the payments: The list is continued below: There are now over 53,000 employers who have registered with the Revenue Commissioners for the Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) with at least one subsidy being paid in respect of 456,200 people under that scheme. The number of employees supported at least once under the TWSS has increased from 427,400 as at 30 April. The payments are in addition to the 214,700 people who were reported on the Live Register as of the end of April. Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty today said: "Today we see a slight drop in the amount of people receiving Pandemic Unemployment Payments as the number leaving the scheme primarily to go on the Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme is now greater than the number of new entrants. We now have a very clear view of the peak of the challenge we currently face. "Hopefully the direction of travel from here on will continue to be positive. "As we move through the Governments phased re-opening of society - while observing the recently published guidance for returning to work we can expect certain sectors of the labour market to gradually re-open and for more people to close their applications for assistance. "However, there wont be a quick return to work for everybody and the nature of the virus is such that we wont be able to switch the economy instantly back on in the same manner as we put it into sleep mode. "My Department will continue to support those who cant go back to work while simultaneously working on effective plans for the post-pandemic environment to retrain, re-energise and re-employ all those who have been disrupted by this unprecedented health emergency." Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment In total (since launch on the 16th March, 2020), and excluding duplicate claims the Department processed applications from 682,000 people for the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment or a jobseekers payment. As is the case, for all social welfare schemes, the Department conducts a series of pre and post payment checks. For example: - Integrity checks are made against records already held by the Department including Public Service Information data and cross checks with payments on other schemes. These help to verify if a person is who they claim to be and that they are entitled to claim payment. - Each week when the Department processes the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payments (PUP), are conciliation takes place between the Departments payment file and Revenues payment file for the Covid-19 Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme. This results in claims from those who are being paid by their employer being withheld and therefore not processed by the Departments payment process. These people are then contacted by the Department to inform them of the position. - A prior employment status check is made by comparing all claims for PUP against prior earnings and employment records from Revenue data. Where this check indicates that a person may not have been employed, as claimed, the person is contacted and asked to submit corroborating information. Failure to submit corroborating information leads to the claim being closed. - As with other welfare schemes, the Department contacts recipients to ensure that they continue to satisfy the eligibility criteria of the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment. - Data analytics is also used to identify claims where a person may not satisfy other conditions for example residence in Ireland - and Department inspection staff check these cases. - The Departments inspection staff also participate with Garda and Customs staff, in security checks on major transport routes and transport hubs. - Confidential reporting facilities are available to the public (1890 927999 and at https://www.welfare.ie/en/ Pages/secure/ReportFraud.aspx) and to employers (email to: C19EmployerReports@welfare.ie ) to report cases of suspected mis-claiming. Following the application of these checks and controls the Department has this week paid 589,000 people out of the 682,000 unique claims processed, the vast majority of these claims were paid within a week of receipt. This indicates the efficiency of using data analytics to both identify incorrect claims and ensure prompt processing of valid claims. To date, over 95,000 people have contacted the Department to close their Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment. Many of these requests are because employers are taking people back onto their payroll under the Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme. The Department is continuing to resolve any issues, such as invalid IBANS or PPSNs, with legitimate applications and is contacting the people concerned directly over the next few days. We wish to remind people to take care when submitting applications, to ensure that critical information such as dates of birth, PPSN and IBANs are entered correctly. An IBAN has 22 characters and people should take care that it is entered correctly. Any errors by individuals in submitting their incorrect IBAN or PPSN will cause their application to be rejected by the Department. Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme There are now over 53,000 employers who have registered with the Revenue Commissioners for the Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS). Workers whose employers have registered them on the scheme are not eligible to receive a pandemic unemployment payment. In addition workers who were in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment but who have now been registered by their employers on the TWSS are no longer eligible to receive a payment pandemic unemployment payment The Department is aware that some workers may be incorrectly registered as part of the TWSS or may face difficulty in transitioning back from the pandemic unemployment payment to the employer payroll. Such a situation may arise, for example, because a worker has been registered in error by their employer, or because an employer having registered for the TWSS has since ceased operating their payroll, or, due to differences in the weekly payment pattern of the pandemic unemployment payment as compared with a monthly or fortnightly payroll from the employer. Any worker affected by these issues can contact the Department and arrangements will be made to restore their payment or provide them with interim income support as appropriate. Covid-19 Enhanced Illness Benefit Payment There are now 42,000 people medically certified for receipt of the Covid-19 enhanced Illness Benefit. This predominantly relates to applications in respect of people who have been advised by their GP to self-isolate together with a smaller number in respect of people who have been diagnosed with Covid-19. Please apply online at www.MyWelfare.ie The Department wishes to thank its customers for submitting the majority of applications through our online portal www.MyWelfare.ie. This is the quickest and easiest way to submit an application and enables the Department to allocate resources to contacting those who submitted invalid applications. Individuals can close their Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment online at www.MyWelfare.ie. In the interests of the public health advice and the restrictions on movements please if at all possible do not attend your local Intreo Centre as opening hours have now been restricted. Instead please apply through www.MyWelfare.ie. L ondon's biggest hospital trust today unveiled plans to double its critical care capacity for coronavirus patients. The previously mothballed 14th and 15th floors at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel are being used for the first time since the 650 million hospital was opened in 2012 creating space for 176 intensive care and high dependency beds. Barts Health, its parent trust, had been unable to afford to use the two floors due to the private finance initiative (PFI) deal to build the hospital. But 24 million from the NHSs Covid-19 fund enabled the empty floors to be fitted out in less than five weeks. This will double the number of Covid critical care beds across the trust, which includes St Bartholomews, Whipps Cross and Newham hospitals, and allow it to plan the restart of elective surgery. Jackie Sullivan, chief executive of the Royal London, said: This facility allows our teams to separate Covid and non-Covid patients, and will help us encourage other patients who require treatment, but have not been able to attend hospital in recent weeks, to come back for essential surgery or care. It came as doctors warned of a second spike in British cases after some people ignored the lockdown over the Bank Holiday weekend. Doctors expressed concern about the failure of some Londoners to maintain social-distancing. Dr Claire Dow, a consultant geriatrician at Barts Health, tweeted: To all those people I saw in groups that were obviously not families on my way home, Ill see you and/or your family members on May 17 when youre admitted for us to care for you. Yes, Im a grumpy doctor about this as Ive seen far too many of my patients die in the last few weeks despite the best care my colleagues and I can give them. Over the weekend, Barts Health became the London trust declaring most Covid deaths a total of 554 after cross-checking found 114 had not been included in previous totals. The total number of Covid-positive deaths in London hospitals is now 5,555. Figures were also released for the Nightingale field hospital, which was set up under the control of Barts Health at the ExCeL conference centre. It closed last Friday, having treated 54 critically-ill patients in five weeks. Of these, 34 were able to be discharged to lower levels of care at other hospitals and 20 died. The hospital is on standby in case of a second wave. There were 1,639 people being treated for coronavirus in London hospitals last Friday, the latest available data a third of the peak of 4,813 patients on April 8. Yesterday Barts Health had 175 patients with Covid, of which 55 were in intensive care. Loading.... The new floors at the Royal London have six critical care wards. They will enable space that was used for Covid-19 patients to be returned to its previous use, allowing routine services like elective surgery to restart. The extra beds will also relieve pressure on Whipps Cross and Newham hospitals, and on other London hospitals outside the trust. The Royal London had 44 intensive care or critical care beds prior to the outbreak. A date for the restoration of normal services at Barts Health has yet to be set, amid concern from staff that many are still treating coronavirus patients. The trust had its 592 million debt written off by the Government last month as part of a NHS-wide erasing of 13.4 billion owed by hospitals. The 24 million investment is not part of the PFI but trust sources say it is not clear whether the money is a grant or a loan. Alwen Williams, Barts Health group chief executive, said: Our patients live in the one of the most highly deprived, densely-urbanised and hyper-diverse parts of the country, with the highest rates of Covid-19. They deserve the best critical care services the NHS can provide. These new wards will be used for many years to come, both during this pandemic and to meet other health needs of our wider local population. From House Beautiful A Place in the Sun, the show that helps British property hunters find their dream homes abroad, is returning for a new series on Channel 4 from Monday 11th May at 3pm. In this new series, the presenting team will be searching for the perfect properties for house hunters across Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and France. The show follows a simple format in each one hour episode, house hunters are shown five handpicked properties within their budget, and if one of the options turns out to be their dream home, it's up to one of the presenters to negotiate the best possible price. With the world in lockdown and more people watching TV for longer, the viewing figures for repeat episodes of channel 4s hit series have surged. Filming for this new series was paused in mid-March as a result of the coronavirus outbreaks, with the new series pushed out to broadcast earlier than planned so that the nation 'can all enjoy an extra bit of escapism on a weekday afternoon'. The new series offers three weeks' worth of brand new episodes, which will be followed with some repeats and more new episodes in July. A Place in the Sun presenters The show is presented by Jasmine Harman, Danni Menzies, Laura Hamilton, Scarlette Douglas, Jean Johanson, Jonnie Irvin and Ben Hillman. Here's what trips the presenters have been dreaming about since lockdown... Jonnie Irwin 'The thought of travelling anywhere later this year is an exciting prospect but with a young boy and twins soon to arrive Im dreaming short haul! A short flight to any of the Balearics would scratch my itch with Majorca a particularly family friendly option walking the cobbled streets of Palma Old Town in the day with dinner around Port dAndratx in the evening.' Jean Johanson Story continues 'Im longing for our summer house on the Island of Gotland, outside Stockholm. I cant wait to go skinny dipping in the sea, sit up drinking under the midnight sun and dance around the maypole for Midsommar celebrations. Im dreaming of the crayfish parties, endless amounts of food and delicious Swedish snapps!' Scarlette Douglas 'Ive been scrolling through wanderlust hashtags on Instagram and The Bahamas continue to draw my attention. The azure waters that house the sun kissed chalets that accommodate excited holiday makers that dont have a care in the world. No pandemic, no lockdown, no worries, just sun, sea, sand and smiles.' Ben Hillman 'Currently we are dreaming about jumping in the car with our bikes and taking a family road trip down to Oleron and then on to Cognac to Logis La Cabane, a beautiful Gites surrounded by vines and sunflowers.' Jasmine Harman 'This time last year, we visited our close friends who live in Lisbon and explored the city on the trams; there are gorgeous parks, shops & restaurants. We caught a ferry across the water and we explored the riverside; discovering little secluded beaches and waterside bars, enjoying the sensational views of the city. Ive always had a soft spot for Portugal since living there for four years in my 20s.' Laura Hamilton 'We cant wait to return to our second home in Spain near San Pedro, Marbella. We are looking forward to a few days of sunshine followed by a few days in the beautiful city of Granada and then some skiing in the Sierra Nevada mountains!' Danni Menzies 'During lockdown Ive had time to sit and reminisce about all the fabulous places that Ive been lucky enough to visit while filming and theres one place that stands out in my mind. Last summer we visited Kefalonia, it was my first time and I was blown away by how parts of the island were so untouched. I spent a day on a moped whizzing around the island, taking in all the beautiful empty beaches and scenery. I cant wait to get back on those bumpy roads and hike down to all the beautiful hidden gems that island has tucked away.' A Place in the Sun properties The first week of episodes will be heading to Costa Almeria, Tenerife, Costa Dorada, Portugal's Silver Coast and Sucina. You can search thousands of properties for sale on A Place in the Sun's online property portal. Photo credit: A Place in the Sun A Place in the Sun programmes A Place in the Sun was originally presented by Amanda Lamb, and its growth in popularity has led to other spin-offs including, A Place in the Sun: Spain, A Place in the Sun: Home or Away, A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun and, A Million Pound Place in the Sun. You can catch up on all A Place in the Sun programmes on All4. Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox. SIGN UP You Might Also Like AutoNation's Mike Jackson told CNBC on Monday that U.S. auto plants should be reopened to support increasing demand for vehicles as the U.S. economy tries to restart from its coronavirus-driven halt. "It's entirely appropriate that the factories reopen. I fully support it. We need the vehicles," Jackson said "Squawk Box." "As a matter of fact ... I would go so far as to say, I support Elon Musk. Tesla should open." AutoNation, the country's largest auto dealership chain, sells used Tesla vehicles. Jackson, executive chairman of AutoNation's board and CEO, has been a frequent critic of Musk, the CEO of Tesla who is pushing back against health officials in Alameda County, California, over his desire to restart production at the company's main U.S. car plant in Fremont, which is located in the county. Dr. Erica Pan, the county's interim public health officer, has said health orders to contain a Covid-19 outbreak in the region remain in effect. She said that the electric vehicle maker does not have a "green light" to resume operations. Tesla on Saturday filed suit against Alameda County, arguing its rules contradict the state of California's policy on business closures. The company has released a list of safety protocols it would implement while working during the pandemic. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also told CNBC on Monday that he agrees with Musk's wish to restart operations. "He's one of the biggest employers and manufacturers in California, and California should prioritize doing whatever they need to do to solve those health issues so that he can open quickly and safely," Mnuchin said on "Squawk on the Street." Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler have plans to restart production at manufacturing facilities on May 18. On Saturday, Scott Haggerty, supervisor for the Fremont district of Alameda County, told The New York Times that the county and Tesla executives were in talks on a plan to restart the plant on May 18, as well. Jackson, who is back in the CEO job for Cheryl Miller as she takes a leave of absence for health reasons, said there is growing demand for vehicles in the U.S., following a significant downturn driven by pandemic lockdown orders. Sales at AutoNation had been down around 50%, Jackson said, but in the last 10 days of April, they were down just 25%. "Now, I never thought I'd be celebrating only being down 25% down but it could have gone the other way. I'm comfortable sitting here today and declaring the automotive recovery is underway," he said. Jackson said he believes there are a few factors behind the uptick: pent-up demand, favorable financing and the "need for personal space" in response to concerns about the virus. Jackson added that he believes the U.S. should continue to take steps to ease up on coronavirus-related business restrictions, saying that the restrictions largely succeeded in keeping the country's health-care system "from being overwhelmed." "That goal has by and large been achieved. It wasn't to shelter in place until there's not one more case of corona," Jackson contended. "Don't let the health-care system be overwhelmed, so now that it has not, and we paid a big price for that ask of America, it's time to gradually, safely, reopen and rebuild America." -- CNBC's Lora Kolodny and Jessica Bursztynsky contributed to this report. CALUMET, MI - More than a century ago, a simple hot shower or a long soak in a bathtub were daily luxuries out of reach for most of those who worked grueling hours in this Upper Peninsula towns copper mines. Staff at Michigan Technological Universitys Archives recently took a deep dive into the history of Calumets communal bathhouses around 1900 and its later construction of a community swimming pool. By sifting through floor plans for turn-of-the-century workers homes, personal letters and photographs, Archivist Emily Riippa was able to explain why this U.P. bathhouse tradition was not only necessary, but a popular perk. An old photo of the Swedetown neighborhood in Calumet, Michigan. Image courtesy of the Archives at Michigan Technological University. COPPER TOWN U.S.A. Now a small village of about 700 people parked halfway up the Keweenaw Peninsula, Calumet of 1900 was one of the central hives in the Calumet and Hecla Mining Companys massive copper operation that boasted some of the richest, deepest mine shafts in the world. Then known as Red Jacket, the town had about 4,700 residents at the turn of the century. Most had ties to the mines. And while it wasnt strictly a mining company town - there were farming and trucking industries there, too - C&H had a profound influence on everyday life there. They provided money and land to provide churches, a public library system, underwrote the public high school and training for young boys," Riippa said in an interview with MLive. They kind of set the tone for the community. If you worked for the mine, its likely you paid rent for your family to live in one of the C&H row houses, or you bought land from C&H so you could build your own home. And if you were a worker on the lower rungs of society, its likely your house didnt come with an indoor bathroom. Mine managers, prosperous business owners, bankers, or other members of the upper crust might have a bathroom with hot running water for themselves and even their household servants," Riippa wrote in a blog she compiled earlier this year for the MTU Archives. "The family of the average trammer or surface laborer, on the other hand, hauled a washtub into the kitchen on Saturday nights, boiling water on the stove, and pouring it into the larger vessel for a scrub. A photo of the new C&H bathhouse when it opened in Calumet in 1911. Image courtesy of the Archives at Michigan Technological University. EXTRA ROOMS WERE FOR BEDROOMS, NOT BATHROOMS In company-built houses, indoor toilets were not a given. One historian noted that by 1912, toilets were present in about half of C&H company homes. Because they were not typically included when the homes were built, renters could request one in writing. According to Riippas research, the company would install these flush toilets upon request in a homes basement, but only if that home was on a street that connected to the sanitary sewer. As far as full bathrooms as we know them today - with a toilet and a bathtub - these were considered a wasteful use of space in an era where every spare room was coveted as a spot to put growing families, or make some extra cash by taking in boarders. Large families and boarders who provided needed supplemental income strained the size of working-class company houses; residents needed all the square footage provided by bedrooms, kitchens, pantries, and common areas, Riippa wrote in her blog. Giving up sleeping spots for bathing room was simply impractical, and constructing an addition to make a space was beyond the financial means of a common laborer. I found it really fascinating, she told MLive of sifting through the photographs and documents tied to the U.P. bathhouse era. I looked at letters people sent to the company, asking to install bath fixtures. Some of the letters people wrote were really quite personal. They would go into great detail about why they needed this. Nowadays, you can look around the houses in Copper Country and see a bedroom that has been turned into a very large bathroom. Back in the day, if you had six children, you might take in renters or boarders. You needed every space to bunk down." A group of people in period dress, swim in what may be the C & H swimming pool in Calumet, Michigan. Photo courtesy of the Archives at Michigan Technological University. BATHHOUSES WERE A COMPROMISE C&Hs compromise on the pressing need for more bathroom space? Communal baths. The first one was built in the basement of the C&H library building. It had a strict gender segregation setup: Bath patrons descended the western staircase of the building to a landing that separated them into male and female quarters, Riippa wrote. On the mens side, showers proved more popular than baths. In the womens facilities, tubs won out. While friends and family members browsed the vast selection of company-approved books a floor or two above, downstairs their bodies could be scrubbed clean of dirt, germs, and worry. It was a popular spot, and by 1911 an expanded bathhouse was opened nearby, this one with a charge per-scrub for men. Possibly to offset the $45,000 price tag and to subsidize operations, C&H imposed a small fee for male users: 3 cents for grown men, with a half-cent discount for adolescents. Women, girls and very young boys still enjoyed the bathhouse for free. This new building came with an exciting perk: a swimming pool. It its early years, pool time was segregated by gender, just like the bathhouse section. It seems swimsuits were not a common item back then. Most people swam au naturel, Riippa said. Back in these times, the need for a swimsuit was not always so apparent to people. You bathed in the nude in the swimming pool and that is why it was so strictly gender-segregated. The big pool, she said, was a place for fun and socializing, she said. It wasnt a substitute for the bathhouse and you didnt bring your bar of soap in with you. In this undated photo of the Calumet and Hecla Bath House, men and boys enjoy a swim in the pool. Image courtesy of the Archives at Michigan Technological University. Riippas research into this topic started with something shed seen earlier in her career, while touring one of the buildings that used to be a bathhouse. She said she was surprised to still be able to see marks on the basement floor from the bath equipment. To read more about U.P. life and see historical photos and fascinating stories researched by MTUs archivists, check out their online blog. To browse the MTU Archives and Historical Collections online, check here. An undated photo of the Calumet & Hecla Bath Pool, showing a group of children wearing their bathing attire in the pool. Image courtesy of the Archives at Michigan Technological University. READ MORE Epic salvage effort saved 230 new Chryslers from U.P. shipwreck 1913 Italian Hall Disaster was a Michigan Christmas Eve tragedy As racetracks begin to plan for the return to Standardbred racing in Canada, our members should be too! Its not too early to begin to renew horse eligibilities, make your ownership transfers and renew your SC membership, if required. With qualifiers and racing drawing nearer in your jurisdiction or at your racetrack, Standardbred Canada recommends that you begin to conduct your business early online via eShop, or by email, phone or fax. We want to mitigate risks for everyone including our SC Field Representatives while ensuring efficient service for our members during the rush. Your co-operation is very much appreciated during these challenging and unprecedented times. Our main office building remains closed to external visitors and guests but we are hopeful that well be back working from our head office in Mississauga soon! Mail is still being received and distributed, fax machines are being checked, emails are being read and phone calls are being answered as quickly as possible and our Member Services staff are available from 8:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. (EST) from Monday to Friday to assist you. During the COVID-19 pandemic SC members can continue to transact business online via eShop, or by email, phone or fax. If you wish to download and print a specific form to scan and email, mail in or fax, click here. Membership Renewal For any SC member whose birthday is between March 19 and July 15, your membership has been automatically renewed until July 15, 2020. Please ensure that your membership fee is paid by July 15, 2020 to avoid expiration. If your SC membership expired before March 19, 2020, you will need to renew your membership prior to your horse racing. Memberships that expired prior to March 19 were not part of the fee deferral program. This is for SC membership only, NOT APHRC. The APHRC membership expires on your birthdate and there is no extension. eShop You can conduct most of your 'horse-related' business with Standardbred Canada online via SCs eShop. If you have an SC online account and are logged in, you are ready to do business on eShop, and if you dont, you can register here to set one up. Did you know you can pay eligibility fees, renew your membership, make stake payments, complete a mare report, complete a location report for microchipping, post a horse on the Horses For Sale board, pay an SC invoice and much more, right from the comfort of your home and laptop? Click here to see all of the services that are available through eShop. For a directory of SC staff and their phone numbers and email addresses, click here. This month marks the 40th anniversary of the Mount St. Helens eruption, which reverberated throughout the Pacific Northwest and around the world. If you cant go to Mount St. Helens right now, you can still read about it, see an art exhibit centering on it, attend a virtual discussion or presentation about it, and listen to a symphony inspired by it. To read: Here are four new books, all published this spring, that reflect on the May 18, 1980, eruption. After the Blast: The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens (University of Washington Press, 264 pages, $29.95). Author Eric Wagner takes a lively, enthusiastic look at the post-eruption landscape from the perspective of ecologists who seized the opportunity to track how life responds to a massive disturbance, how it recovers from one, or how it does not. Wagner smartly tells this story through the eyes of individual scientists and researchers and their work with species that turned out to be unexpectedly resilient and that challenged longtime models and premises. Ground Truth: A Geological Survey of a Life (Overcup Press, 212 pages, $15.95). Chapters on Mount St. Helens bookend this poignant memoir by Oregon geologist Ruby McConnell, who deftly braids together geography, culture and personal history. Ultimately, this is an ode to the Pacific Northwest and its people. Wagner and McConnell will appear in a free reading and discussion webinar, A Discussion of Post-Eruption Recovery and Resilience, from 6-7 p.m. Friday, May 15. Registration is requested. Memories of Mount St. Helens (The History Press, 144 pages, $21.99). Jim Erickson, a journalist who covered the eruption for the Tacoma News Tribune, takes a local and regional perspective in looking back on the mountains history, the frenzied days surrounding the eruption, and its aftermath. The book features archival photos. Crater & Tower (Duck Lake Books, 82 pages, $15.99). In her new poetry collection, Cheryl J. Fish, who was in lower Manhattan when the World Trade Center towers fell in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, draws parallels between that disaster and the eruption of Mount St. Helens, tracing connections between the victims, the preventable and the unpreventable, the magnitude of bearing witness, and the fallout. To see: The Portland Art Museum opened its exhibit Volcano! Mount St. Helens in Art on Feb. 8 and had planned to keep it up through May 17; the exhibit has since been extended. We expect to keep it on view until January 2021, said museum spokesman Ian Gillingham. The museum, closed due to the pandemic, has not yet set a date for reopening. In the meantime, the exhibit can be viewed online. The museums YouTube Channel features a video tour narrated by curator Dawson Carr, The Janet and Richard Geary Curator of European Art at the museum. Both the online exhibit and the video tour include glimpses of pastels by the late Portland author Ursula K. Le Guin, who reveled in having a view of the mountain from her home. The museums director of learning and community partnerships, Stephanie Parrish, has organized these complementary events, among others: Ask Us Anything on Reddit: Scientists and volcano experts answer questions from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, May 12, on the social media platform Reddit. Get the link from the events Facebook page on Tuesday. Bill Nye: The television host teams up with the Mount St. Helens Institute for a 40th anniversary observation titled Mount St. Helens Goes Boom! It starts at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 16, on Facebook and YouTube. For details, go to the Mount St. Helens Institute website, mshinstitute.org. Virtual Story Circle: Voices of the Mount St. Helens Community: This Washington State Parks event features a ranger program, first-person stories about the mountain, and a volcano hat craft (youll need paper or card stock; tape, a stapler or a glue stick; and crayons, markers, colored pencils or paint). It runs from 6:30-8 p.m. Monday, May 18, at facebook.com/historymuseum/live. OMSI Virtual Science Pub: Research geologist Heather Wright presents Mount St. Helens Rocked Our World! What Weve Learned Since 1980 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, May 18, on the Oregon Museum of Science and Industrys Facebook Live page and YouTube channel. Mount St. Helens & the Cascade Range Volcanoes: Four Northwest scientists review Cascadia Region tectonics, volcanic hazards, and how science and monitoring have evolved since the eruption. The program, hosted by the University of Washingtons Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, starts at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 18, on the networks YouTube channel. The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane opened the exhibit Mount St. Helens: Critical Memory 40 Years Later in December. Its scheduled to run through Sept. 6, so theres a chance it might be viewable again soon. Meanwhile, the museum has posted a virtual gallery talk, Behind the Scenes of Spirit Lake, to its YouTube channel. To listen: The eruption inspired American composer Alan Hovhaness three-movement Symphony No. 50 Mount St. Helens, recorded by the Seattle Symphony. The first movement, the majestic Andante, summons images of a powerful peak. Bells fill the meditative second movement, Spirit Lake: Allegro. The final movement, Volcano: Adagio Allegro, offers an orchestral rendition of the blast. awang@oregonian.com; Twitter: @ORAmyW Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Police in Pakistan's Punjab province have arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly burning alive five members of his family, including his parents, as he was angry with his father for scolding him. The incident occurred in Daska city, some 100kms from Lahore. According to police, a mysterious fire engulfed the house of Muhammad Ashraf late last month, killing him, his wife Yasmin and their three teenage children, Sobia, Fauzia and Haider. Senior police officer Capt (R) Mustansar Feroz told reporters on Monday that Ashraf's elder son Ali Hamza was not present when the incident took place. We took Hamza into custody who confessed to killing his family members by setting them on fire, Feroz said. Hamza told police that his father would admonish him for not going to work and having a bad company. I had set his house on fire when my parents and siblings were in asleep and fled. A murder case has been registered against the suspect. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shocking footage shows a woman terrorised on her doorstep by a group of five men who kick her front door and smash her car and house windows. The attack caught on CCTV in Ilford, east London saw the woman just make it inside before they arrived and began battering her door. Police were called around 6pm on Friday and officers attended the scene but the suspects had gone. The motive is unknown. The woman is seen talking to someone in a car outside her house when she spots a group of men approaching At the beginning of the footage the woman is seen talking to someone in a car outside her house. She spots the men approaching from down the road and quickly flees inside her home, shutting the door behind her. Seconds later, the men armed with weapons arrive at her doorstep and the first man runs and kicks at her door to try and break it open. Seconds after she shuts her door a group of men arrive at the property and begin to bash her door They turn their attention to the car in her driveway's windows and the car she had been speaking to on the street The woman's neighbour Frank Adams said: 'My neighbours have said the footage should be shared to create awareness and in pursuit of the attackers. 'They're fine but still in shock. I've not spoken to them since the attack.' The other men begin smashing up a black VW Golf sitting on the driveway and the one on the street which she had been speaking too. It quickly drives away. The thugs continue stabbing at the car on the driveway before turning their attention to the house and shattering a front window. Footage from a different angle shows the men managed to smash the rear window of the car Footage from another angle reveals the gang managed to break the rear window of the car on the driveway. The clip ends with the youths running off, leaving the trail of destruction behind. There were no reports of any injuries sustained from the attack. The motive is unknown. Neighbours heard the woman screaming when a gang chased her into her home, smashed her windows and attacked her car. A neighbour said the family is in shock and have left their home over the terrifying incident. The man who did not want to be named said: 'I wasn't at home when it happened, but I spoke to them after. 'They are terrified and I think they have left for a while because it was so scary. 'The whole thing makes no sense. He is a normal guy, he can't have done anything to anyone. Maybe they have the wrong guy and it was mistaken identity.' Today five of the front windows of the terraced home were boarded up and there were no cars in the driveway. They continue the attack and smashing the windows before running off. The police were called at 6pm and attended the scene but the suspects had gone Another neighbour added: 'I was in the back garden with my kids when I heard the screaming. But by the time I came out they had all run away, it was over so fast. 'It was so, so scary. Her husband was away at work at the time and she was at home with her kids. 'She was so lucky, one guy looked like he had a knife. 'It's a terrible thing to happen so close to your home. My little girl, she said she could not sleep the next night because of what happened. 'I've never seen anything like that happen around here before.' One man who lived in the same street said the family had not lived in the area long. He said: 'I've not seen them much, they're a new family, I don't think they've been here long. 'They must of had a problem with someone, that doesn't just happen out of nowhere. Why did they target just that one house?' Anyone with any information is encouraged to contact police via 101, tweet @MetCC and quote CAD6172/8May, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. While some counties in Pennsylvania may push forward against the states guidelines and try to reopen business and public life later this week, Perry County isnt one of them. Perry County commissioners discussed the possibility at a meeting Monday morning and decided to stick with Gov. Wolfs phased-in plan, which leaves Perry County in a red zone, at least for now. The Perry County commissioners, through their local legislators, had been lobbying Gov. Tom Wolfs office in the hopes of getting a designation of yellow, which would remove the stay-at-home order and allow non-life-sustaining businesses to open, but the county remained red in the governors latest announcement, along with all the surrounding counties. The commissioners had tentatively made plans to try to bring back furloughed county employees, thinking they would be in the yellow by now. Instead, they arent sure when they will get to move to yellow. We are as disappointed as any other citizen in Perry County, said Commissioner Gary Eby. We know this isnt a popular decision. But thats the position for the benefit of all citizens of the county. Perry County commissioners made the decision to honor the governors plan for reopening about one hour before Wolf announced several consequences that could face counties that rebelled. Wolf said counties that deserted the states efforts could lose discretionary funding from the Cares Act, that flows through the state to help deal with the COVID-19 crisis. Businesses also could be at risk of losing liquor licenses or other licenses granted by the state and run afoul of insurance policies. Eby said the commissioners were on board with Wolfs plan before he revealed the repercussions, but commissioners were aware of the consequences and did not believe risking funding for the county would be prudent. This is not the time to draw lines in the sand, Eby said. I think were this close to opening. But opening too soon, and against the states directive, would put Perry County as yellow in the middle of a bunch of other red counties. It wouldnt make sense and wouldnt send the right message, Eby said, especially as local emergency workers still face shortages of vital supplies. The most compelling argument to stay on board provided by the state is the fact that state officials are looking at the big picture, Eby said, and their decisions are informed by health professionals. Were all in this together, Eby said. Nows not the time to split our horses. We want to keep it together so we can open up the schools in the fall. If we trip and slip up this reopening, we could be facing one million kids not getting an education in the fall, he said. I dont think thats a situation we want to be in. We need to think beyond next week. Other county leaders will have to decide whats in their residents best interests, Eby said. The commissioners in the area work together very well, Eby said, noting they had conversations with commissioners from other counties as they mulled their decision. For right now, in an ever-changing climate, we have to stand by the governors recommendation, he said, and his order is that we remain red. We want to continue to work with our state leaders to get this resolved. While the decision is not popular, Eby said they believe it is best for county residents right now. No one wants to see this, he said. But we cant wave a magic wand and make (the virus) go away. Cumberland County commissioners also announced Monday they would stay the course with the state map, which keeps them in red status, but Dauphin County commissioners said Friday they were planning to go their own way. Dauphin County Chairman Jeff Haste said Monday he supports a balanced approach to reopening, allowing businesses and communities to reopen safely and under the CDC and DOH guidelines. The Lancaster County Commission Chair on Monday confirmed to PennLive that he wants to unilaterally move the county into a yellow phase although he provided no date or formal plans. The county has a population greater than 500,000, so it will get Cares Act funding directly from the federal government and not through the state. READ: Spending Mothers Day away from mom? Heres how some families plan to celebrate Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike supervised the demolition of two hotels in the state on May 10th, for violating the lockdown order of the state government for hotels to remain shut as part of measures to stop the spread of Coronavirus in the state. last week, the Governor, placed the capital city, Port Harcourt and Obio-Akpo local government areas on curfew, and vowed to pull down hotels operating during the lockdown and buildings opened for business. The Prodest hotel Eleme and one Edemeteh Hotel, Onne were found to have violated the lockdown order as they opened for business. The governor stunned residents of the state this afternoon when he accompanied a bulldozer to the Prodest Hotel and Edemeteh Hotel, Onne. to pull the structure down. Governor Wike while supervising the demolition, dismissed claims that it has a political undertone. According to him, the hotel in Eleme belongs to a PDP member and so if he can demolish a property belonging to a PDP member, then the same fate can befall any other person. Whether you are PDP or not, what we are saying is that nobody is above the law. If we can do this to a PDP member, then you will know that we are not discriminating he said Rivers state has 21 confirmed cases coronavirus. See photos below; By Trend Iran's Minister of Education Mohsen Haji Mizaei has announced that schools across country would be opened with limits, on May 16. He made the remark in a video conference of the National Committee on Combating Coronavirus. Students are not forced to attend the classes and can only go to schools to solve their problems and if they have questions to teachers, he explained. Iran has closed all schools on March 5. The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019. Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease. The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19. Carlos Stouffer and his daughter Paulina Valdivia bring stray kittens found near their home to the Los Angeles Animal Services shelter in Chesterfield Square on Thursday. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) When Los Angeles resident Paulina Valdivia scrolls through Snapchat and Instagram, she sees both heartwarming and troublesome posts about dogs and cats. "There's a lot of people looking for pets or wanting to ditch their pets," said Valdivia, who was dropping off stray kittens shed found in her yard at the citys Chesterfield Square animal shelter Thursday. Fosters of shelter animals are way up, both in Los Angeles and nationwide, as people seek out companions to ease the isolation of the coronavirus outbreak. At the same time, Los Angeles city officials are bracing for an influx of pets being dropped off at city animal shelters, predicting that people facing financial hardship after losing jobs or homes will have to surrender their animals. That influx hasn't happened yet, but Los Angeles Department of Animal Services general manager Brenda Barnette is warning that she expects to see more pets given up in the coming year than during the Great Recession. Although many people are fostering and adopting shelter animals, Los Angeles officials fear that many more people who have lost a job or home will have to surrender their pets. Above, a litter of stray kittens. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) "If you want to know what keeps me up at night, it's wondering how we're going to accommodate all those animals who have been family members, as people start to have to surrender them," Barnette said in an interview. The pandemic threatens to roll back progress at the city's Animal Services Department, which has brought down the euthanasia rates of its shelter animals over the last decade. In 2012, about 18,000 cats and dogs were euthanized. By 2016, the number had dropped to 3,236, an 82% reduction. Last year, 4,886 cats and dogs were euthanized at city shelters, according to city data. Concerned about a surge at shelters, the department is now asking people who call in to report a loose dog, for instance, to try to find the owner themselves or to foster the animal, if appropriate. "We do not want to go back to the days that the shelter is so crowded that we're having to kill animals because of lack of space," Barnette said. "And so there's a lot of ways to do that. One is to have aggressive adoption programs; one is to have big foster programs." Story continues Christine Gamez returns Tyson, a fostered pit bull mix, to the Chesterfield Square animal shelter. Surrendering the dog was emotional for Gamez, who said her neighbors had complained about his barking and crying. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) Animal shelters across the county are facing "an immense amount of stress" because of COVID-19, said Matt Bershadker, chief executive of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "Many shelters are facing reduced staff and volunteer support, which is putting animals in desperate need of temporary or permanent sheltering," Bershadker said. The city of L.A. has temporarily closed two of its six animal shelters to help protect the health of its staff, while four remaining shelters are operating on an appointment-only basis. None of the Animal Services employees have been diagnosed with COVID-19, Barnette said, but about 80 workers are out because of issues related to the virus or other reasons. The shelter closures and appointment-only hours at the facilities alarm Lisa Lange, senior vice president at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The city's shelters "need to be seen as the essential service that they are," Lange said. PETA sent a letter last month to Mayor Eric Garcetti saying it had received complaints that the city was turning away animals, including sick and injured ones, at its shelters. In one instance, a staff member at the West L.A. shelter reportedly told a caller that even if an animal looks sick or starving, the facility would take the animal only if "it was an emergency, according to the letter. A man brings kittens to the animal shelter in Chesterfield Square. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) Agnes Sibal-von Debschitz, a spokeswoman for Animal Services, said the allegations in the letter were so generalized it appeared they had been taken directly off of Facebook. We didn't have enough detail that we could even investigate. Lange also said she's troubled by Garcetti's proposed budget cuts to the department's sterilization program. "That's our biggest defense against overpopulation," Lange said. "It'll cost the city more in the long run and will cost the animals their lives." Facing a dramatic loss in revenue, the mayor last month proposed slashing spending at departments and furloughing thousands of workers. Garcetti's budget, set to be debated this week by council members, reduces funding for Animal Services to $23 million, down from $27 million this year. The proposed budget allocates $400,000 for animal sterilizations, nearly half of what the department received this fiscal year. Barnette called the drop in funding for sterilization concerning. The department is also asking that some types of Animal Services workers be exempted from the furloughs. The city partners with Best Friends Animal Society, a national animal welfare group, on efforts to bring down euthanasia rates at shelters. Best Friends Chief Executive Julie Castle said that investing in sterilization programs and offering pet food to owners are going to be key to saving animals. She's also hopeful that the community continues to step up and foster. "It really is about keeping pets in the homes in the first case," Castle said. "Thats our entire focus right now." The city of Los Angeles has temporarily closed two of its six animal shelters, with the others open on an appointment-only basis. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) More than 545 dogs have been fostered this year from city shelters, compared with 134 at the same point in 2019, according to the Animal Services Department. At the same time, cat and dog intakes were down 39% at the city's shelters in March compared with a year ago. Fullerton resident Christine Gamez fostered Tyson, a pit bull mix, for the last few weeks but was forced to return him to L.A.s Chesterfield Square shelter after neighbors in her apartment complex complained about his barks and cries. Gamez, who attends Cal State Fullerton, was tearful as she dropped him off but hopeful that Tyson would soon be fostered again by someone she'd connected with on social media. Fostering is a way "to get another dog out of the shelter," Gamez said. "There are probably more dogs being surrendered right now." Farm workers are crucial to food production and economic strength in California and the nation, but they often lack health and economic protections. Credit: Wikimedia Commons by Tony Webster | CC BY-SA 2.0 Californians strongly support health and economic protections for farmworkers who stay on the job despite the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new poll by UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS). Though Democrats expressed the strongest support, clear majorities of Republicans and independents agreed that employers should provide farmworkers with equipment and sanitation facilities and offer full sick pay to those who fall ill because of virus. But significant geographic divides were evident: The farmworkers found much stronger support in urban areas around Los Angeles and San Francisco, with lower support in the Central Valley and the Inland Empire, where much of the state's farming takes place. "Californians are, by and large, willing to support farmworker protections, regardless of legal status," said IGS co-Director Cristina Mora. "Now, whether this support also translates for other worker benefits beyond COVID-19 is another story, and only time will tell if these sentiments are long-lasting." The Berkeley IGS Poll of 8,800 registered California voters was conducted online, in English and Spanish, between April 16 and April 20, in conjunction with the UC-based California Institute of Health Equity and Action. It is one of the first U.S. efforts to gauge opinion on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact. The poll noted that California farmworkers harvest over a third of U.S. vegetables and over two-thirds of the nation's fruits and nuts. The laborers, many from Mexico, have been deeply vulnerable during the crisis because they lack job security, health insurance and sanitation facilitiesand often legal protection. But according to the poll, most Californians believe they deserve protection during the pandemic, no matter their legal or immigration status. Among all poll respondents: 94% said employers should provide hand-washing stations, personal protective equipment and workplace conditions that allow them to meet the physical distancing standards recommended by health authorities; 71% said that when farmworkers fall ill with COVID-19, employers should provide full replacement wages; 80% supported equitable medical and paid sick leave for both documented and undocumented farmworkers who are ill with the virus; and 79% supported equal pay, regardless of the laborers' legal status or guest worker status. To be sure, there were significant political disagreements. For example, when asked whether employers should provide full sick pay to farmworkers who must stay home because they are ill with the virus, 61% of Republicans expressed support or strong support, while 21% were neutral. But 92% of Democrats expressed support or strong support. A geographic assessment of opinion showed a similar divide. In every region of the state, a majority of voters agreed that undocumented farmworkers should receive the same medical and sick leave benefits as documented colleagues. In Los Angeles, just under 80% expressed support, along with 77% in the Bay Area. That support fell to 63% in the Central Valley, a major U.S. agricultural center. The IGS report on public opinion regarding farmworkers was the third and last in a series arising from the April poll. The first report, released May 1, found that California voters were deeply divided about the COVID-19 pandemic, with supporters of President Donald Trump more worried about the economy and less concerned that they will infect others. A second report, released May 6, found that people of color in California face elevated health and economic risks resulting from the pandemic. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 12:25:51|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Researchers have proposed and demonstrated a new computational imaging method by the incorporation of a physical model into a deep neural network, according to a recent research article published in the journal Light: Science and Applications. Deep neural networks have been widely used in computational imaging, but most of them need a large amount of labeled data to train. Depending on the network architecture and amount of data used for training, the network training process can take several hours or even several days, said the article. In the article, the researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Stuttgart and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology proposed a widely applicable physics-enhanced deep neural network, or PhysenNet for short, without the requirement of training data. They demonstrated the applicability of PhysenNet in phase imaging. When a single diffraction image was fed into a PhysenNet model, the network weight and bias factors will be optimized through the interplay between the neural network and the physical model. The new method opens up a new paradigm for the design and use of artificial intelligence in computational imaging. Enditem Medical Doctor Who Arrived Ondo State From Lagos Tests Positive For Coronavirus The Osun State government on Monday confirmed that a medical doctor, who came into the state from Lagos, has tested positive for COVID-19. The Commissioner for Health in the state, Dr Rafiu Isamotu, said in a statement that the new case was confirmed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Isamotu said the patient was a Lagos-based medical doctor who came into Osun on Saturday to join his family. The commissioner said the doctor suspected that he had been infected with the virus so, as soon as he arrived in the state, he checked into the states Isolation and Treatment Centre at Asubiaro in Osogbo. Isamotu said the patients sample was taken and sent for testing at the NCDC accredited testing centre in Ede. He said: The state yesterday (Sunday) recorded another case of the COVID-19. He is a medical doctor based in Lagos who came into the state on Saturday to be with his family and suspected he was having the virus on arrival and checked into our Isolation Centre at Asubiaro rather than going home. His sample was collected and sent for testing. His result came out on Sunday and turned positive. We are glad that he did not have contact with anyone but took the initiative to check himself into our isolation centre immediately he arrived in Osun. That way, the virus was contained. According to Isamotu, the new case brings to four the number of active cases in the state as at today, May 11, 2020. Power stocks were trading with losses, with the S&P BSE Power index falling 2.15 points or 0.15% at 1402.41 at 13:53 IST. Among the components of the S&P BSE Power index, Siemens Ltd (up 2.39%), Tata Power Company Ltd (up 1.93%), CESC Ltd (up 0.87%), Adani Power Ltd (up 0.33%), and NTPC Ltd (up 0.17%), were the top losers. On the other hand, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (up 2.48%), Torrent Power Ltd (up 1.18%), and Adani Transmission Ltd (up 0.89%) moved up. At 13:53 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 220.13 or 0.7% at 31862.83. The Nifty 50 index was up 75.5 points or 0.82% at 9327. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 33.26 points or 0.31% at 10671.96. The S&P BSE 150 Midcap Index index was up 34.03 points or 0.91% at 3790.89. On BSE,1150 shares were trading in green, 1057 were trading in red and 181 were unchanged. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) For more coverage, visit our complete coronavirus section here. As the rest of the state of California entered Stage 2 of Gov. Gavin Newsom's reopening plan Friday, six Bay Area counties continued enforcing a stricter shelter-in-place order. The order, in effect in most of the Bay Area, does not allow for the return of retail and manufacturing even with strict physical-distancing requirements but some local officials have indicated in recent days that could change soon. Here's where every county stands on joining the rest of the state in the early phases of Stage 2. San Francisco Mayor London Breed tweeted last week her city is eyeing May 18 as a date to reopen retail businesses. "As long as SF continues progress reducing the spread of Covid-19, we anticipate allowing some businesses to resume operations with storefront pickup as soon as May 18th," she tweeted. "Retailers like bookstores, florists, & music stores will be the first allowed to operate storefront pickup." Santa Clara County health officer Dr. Sara Cody was the driving force behind the region's original shelter-in-place order, and has indicated in recent days her county and the rest of the region is not close to hitting metrics for reopening anytime soon. "Health officers across the Bay Area, we made an attempt to name a number, an indicator wed all follow," Cody told the Mercury News last week. "That was two tests per 1,000 residents a day. And in our county, that translates to 4,000 a day. You can see its picked up a little 800 to 1,000 a day. Maybe were 20-25% of the way toward our goal." She told the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors on Tuesday her county was "weeks" away from hiring and training the 1,000 contact tracers required for reopening, and declined to give a timeline for when she may be comfortable writing an order that allows for the return of retail and manufacturing. San Mateo In a letter to the community last week, county health officer Dr. Scott Morrow indicated he may be willing to loosen the shelter-in-place order in his county even further beyond the state's Stage 2 reopening prior to May 31 given the state order changes as well. "I have great hope that the indicators we are monitoring will continue to improve and this Order can be revised before May 31, 2020 in a manner that focuses more on behavior (social distancing, face masks, etc.) and risk of disease transmission in contrast to categories of businesses (essential vs. non-essential)," he wrote. "However, for me to issue such an Order, the State first needs to revise its Order to allow it. While the Governor has indicated that the State will do so in weeks, not months, the actual date is uncertain. Modification by the State of its Order is a pre-requisite for such a change here." Alameda In an email to ABC7, a county spokesperson said last week officials believe Stage 2 businesses can be open by mid-May. "Ongoing favorable results will be the deciding factors to further relaxation, and we are cautiously optimistic that we're making progress toward safely opening up to the State's allowed activities in mid-May," the email read. Contra Costa County health officer Dr. Chris Farnitano echoed Cody last week when taking questions on when his county would be able to move to Stage 2, and similarly declined to provide a timeline. "We want to stay the course, Farnitano said last week, per KTVU. We want to study the state order.... Now is not the time to let down our guard. The virus has not gone away. it has not gotten any less deadly. During virtual town hall, Farnitano was asked by a resident if the Bay Area was merely delaying the inevitable, and whether shelter-in-place had already accomplished its goal of not overwhelming the region's hospitals. "Were buying time, he said. Back in early March, when cases were doubling, we were looking at the prospect of a surge that would overwhelm our hospitals. Were also buying time for better treatment theres no specific drug, but doctors are learning better techniques, which are making a difference on the mortality rate Even a few months gives our hospitals time to get prepared and allow for more advanced medicine and treatment. So its not delaying death, its preventing it. Marin In a statement issued last week, county public health officer Dr. Matt Willis said his county plans to reopen retail and manufacturing on May 18. County officials have released their own plan for reopening, complete with a checklist of benchmarks that need to be hit before loosening restrictions. The county believes it still needs to expand testing and contact tracing ability before moving to the next stage of the plan, and county officials must approve each sector's plan for safety adaptations. Napa, Solano and Sonoma These three counties are not part of the six-county consortium enforcing a stricter order, and entered Stage 2 with the rest of the state on Friday. MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here. Eric Ting is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting Kuwait Authority For Partnership Projects (KAPP) has announced that the last date for submitting the request for proposals (RFPs) for the South Jahra Labour City Project has been extended to November 15 this year owing to the Covid-19 crisis. KAPP is developing the project in collaboration with the Kuwait Municipality in line with the governments direction to promote the public private partnership programme in Kuwait. The scope of work involves the design, finance, build, operate, maintain and transfer to the state according to the provisions of law No 116 of 2014, its executive regulations and other laws related to KAPP and other relevant laws, said a statement from the Authority. The proposed labour city will come up over a sprawling 1.02 million sq m area in South Al Jahra region of Kuwait featuring several integrated components including residential areas, commercial and neighborhood and community services along with other municipal and utilities services. The terms of the contract with Kuwait Municipality is expected to be for 40 years including a three-year construction period, stated the KAPP statement. The ambitious KAPP project aims to improve the living conditions of low-income expatriates by providing adequate and affordable housing for 20,000 expatriate labourers, while rehabilitating Kuwaiti neighbourhoods in and around current worker residents, it added.-TradeArabia News Service CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With millions sheltering in place, businesses everywhere have been impacted. Now, more than ever, businesses need to network effectively to generate revenue. In response to these needs, BNI (Business Network International) the world's largest referral networking organization launched bni online, an innovative, online networking and referral platform to help business leaders connect and grow. Using the online platform, Members can easily meet every week to collaborate with others in their community without leaving the comforts of home. During these challenging times, BNI is inviting business leaders across the globe to attend a weekly online meeting free of charge for an inside look at the valuable resources bni online provides. "Having a trusted referral network is more critical than ever, and with the launch of bni online, we've provided the essential tools our Members need in order to successfully grow their business," said Graham Weihmiller, Chairman and CEO of BNI. "We have enhanced BNI's platform so businesses can thrive in any environment." During the month of April, Members generated nearly $1 billion in referred business through bni online. With over 9,500 chapters in 70 countries worldwide, BNI helps its 270,000 Members keep their businesses strong through weekly meetings and exclusive resources. BNI connects like-minded professionals to sharpen their networking skills and grow their businesses. In the last year, BNI helped Members generate over $16 billion in referred business. "BNI has quickly and successfully transitioned Members to the online platform, helping to lay the groundwork for their continued success," said Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of BNI. "Members can virtually share referrals, counsel on best practices and provide support. It's inspirational to see how the BNI community is coming together in a virtual world to support one another." For more information on bni online and how to attend an online meeting for free, visit https://bni.com/bnionline. About BNI BNI is the world's largest and most successful business networking organization in the world. BNI has over 270,000 Members who attend one of over 9,500 weekly chapter meetings in more than 70 countries around the globe. BNI's proven business networking platform provides its Members the ideal environment, technology, training and support to help them build strong businesses. Visit https://bni.com/bnionline for more information. SOURCE BNI Related Links https://bni.com/bnionline Hong Kong's protests kicked off again last weekend, and authorities used a new weapon in their arsenal to suppress them social distancing directives in force since the coronavirus outbreak in January. While demonstrations have continued throughout the Covid-19 pandemic in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, which never went into lockdown, they have been much smaller and less frequent than the ones that rocked the enclave for more than six months last year. A march with the theme resumption had been planned for Sunday, but was cancelled by the organisers when it was refused a permit by police. Though Hong Kong has gone three weeks without a locally transmitted coronavirus case, restrictions remain in place. Groups of protesters turned up nonetheless at about ten locations across the city, including the march's original starting point in the shopping neighborhood of Tsim Sha Tsui. As with many protests in recent week, the intention was to sing in a shopping mall but a heavy contingent of riot police moved in quickly and arrested those present on violations of the Prevention and Control of Disease (Prohibition on Group Gathering) Regulation, which currently prohibits gatherings of more than eight people. One of those detained was a 13-year-old boy working on a secondary students' journalism scheme. There were also arrests in another shopping mall in Mong Kok, where police fired pepper rounds as families ate Mother's Day dinners in nearby restaurants. Later in the night, police and protesters faced off on the streets of Mong Kok, with the gathering firmly repressed, as police even forced journalists to the ground. In all, 230 people were arrested on Sunday, while 18 people were injured. There were previous arrests on Friday as protesters took to the streets in anger after pro-Beijing parties wrested control of the Legislative Council House Committee from the pro-democracy faction, an act the latter decried as a coup. On Friday too, social distancing violations were cited in the arrests and fining of protesters. This was in marked contrast to the offhand attitude taken towards the crowds of mostly Western expats who thronged the central bar district the same night, as bars reopened after being closed for a month. While individual parties might well have constituted eight people or fewer, there was no social distancing being practised between the groups. Other than a few murmurs of disapproval on social media, there was no sanction forthcoming. The next big test of the police's tolerance of large gatherings will be the annual 4 June vigil, which has been held every year since 1990 to commemorate the Tiananmen massacre the only such event permitted on Chinese soil. Under the current legislation, it would be easy for the authorities to say no to it going ahead, but Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement are unlikely to take that sitting down, if the city remains free of Covid-19. Celia Lardizabal Marcos, 61, died after treating a patient with COVID-19 A 61-year-old nurse has died from coronavirus after she attempted to resuscitate a man who had already been diagnosed with the disease, while not wearing the proper protective masks, due to a shortage at the hospital. Celia Lardizabal Marcos was diagnosed with COVID -19 two weeks after she had been conducting chest compressions on the man who was already receiving treatment for the virus. At the time she was giving the life saving treatment, she was wearing a surgical mask instead of an N95 mask which offers medical staff far greater protection. Staff at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center have admitted that the change in protective gear was specifically due to a shortage. Marcos, pictured far left, was not wearing the proper protective N95 mask and gown 'Despite these efforts, and our commitment to following all guidelines, we still lost one of our own to this terrible virus, and we feel this loss very deeply,' Hollywood Presbyterian officials said in a statement. The nurses union SEIU 121 have also filed a complaint with the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration calling Marcos' death 'the result of inadequate PPE provided to staff.' 'Celia was called to a COVID-19 isolation room while wearing only a surgical mask not the required N95 respirator, gown, face shield, and booties that her hospital should have given her for her protection,' said SEIU 121 President Nina Wells said in a statement. 'Now we know she gave her life to try to save a life.' Marcos, pictured far right, was simply wearing a surgical mask which likely put her at risk Staff at the hospital have said they do not have the personal protective equipment that they need Hospital officials do not agree that Marcos was under-equipped and say an investigation has determined she did not have 'unprotected exposure to COVID-19 at the hospital,' they said. They insist that nurses responding to 'code blues' are provided with the proper equipment. Marcos' death, on April 17, has highlighted an ongoing problem that has been a frequent cause for concern throughout the global pandemic. Countless doctors and nurses have complained of having to reuse masks several times instead of throwing them away, thereby increasing their risk and possible exposure to the disease. During the incident in question, a man with COVID-19 had stopped breathing and Marcos rushed into his room to treat him without wearing the more protective N95 mask which would have taken time to retrieve and put on. Colleagues and friends of Celia Marcos react as they gather during a vigil to honor her memory amid the coronavirus pandemic at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles Staff paid tribute to Marcos in a vigil outside the entrance to the hospital in their scrubs Carrying out chest compressions and intubating the patient also risked spewing dangerous virus particles that may have landed on her face and clothes leaving her at a high risk of catching the disease. Fourteen days after carrying out the life-saving treatment, she lost her own. And while Marcos is undoubtedly a hero, her death was needless were it not for the lack of PPE in the hospital where she had worked since 2004. Staff at the hospital say the masks are hard to come by with staff who do receive them often asked to reuse them for several days. 'The hospital wasn't giving us appropriate PPE the N95s were locked,' said one nurse to the Los Angeles Times. 'It's just too painful for everybody, what happened to her.' Marcos had a feeling that she may have been exposed and wrote as much in a text message. Nurses, colleagues and friends of Marcos gathered while holding candles outside the hospital Marcos died two days after testing positive for COVID-19, which she contracted at work 'I was the one right in front of his face,' Marcos wrote to her niece explaining how she had stayed in the patient's room for half an hour while he was resuscitated and placed on a ventilator to help him breathe. Marcos did not show symptoms of the disease for a further two weeks after the incident and she passed away two days later. 'It was heartbreaking She passed away alone, without family by her side,' her son John Marcos said to KTLA. 'The hospital she was admitted in was also the hospital she was working in, so at least there were coworkers who knew her. 'She knew they needed her and that was all she needed as a reason,' Marco said. Before the nurses first shift without Marcos, a prayer was said for her in her memory Colleagues, friends and family members gathered in Marcos' memory outside the hospital 'I want people to remember she's not just a regular nurse. She went above and beyond and she made the ultimate sacrifice unfortunately.' A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for Marco's funeral expenses. Staff paid tribute to Marcos in a vigil outside the entrance to the hospital in their scrubs. Before the nurses first shift without Marcos, a prayer was said for her. 'It's difficult to even fathom that Celia is gone,' one nurse said. 'I still think of her as being on vacation. It is easier than having to lose someone.' In the days since her death, staff members have begun to demand better protections after Marcos' death with some even refusing to work without proper protective gear. 'I love my job, but I'm not trying to die a hero,' she said. OTTAWA, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadas unions applaud todays Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) announcement, which recognizes the importance of worker interests and collective agreements. Were glad to see the government announce support for hard-hit sectors, and companies that employ millions of Canadians, said Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) President Hassan Yussuff. Most importantly, the government has included explicit directives to respect collective agreements, bargaining and pension protections. In the wake of todays announcement, labour leaders continue to push for requirements to preserve employment and maintain these investment in Canada, and the necessity for all employers to supply proper health and safety protections for returning workers. Todays announcement could have gone further by restricting access from firms who use offshore tax havens and tax-shelters, as well as halting share buybacks, dividend payments and executive bonuses. Overall, we believe that the terms laid out in this announcement will help save Canadian jobs, added Yussuff. Beyond todays announcement, we will be advocating for further measures to protect the pensions of employees of companies facing insolvency who arent large enough to qualify for LEEFF. YEREVAN. I will no longer petition again, and let Mr. Khachaturov decide for himself; even his coming to the committee is no longer important. Andranik Kocharyan, Chairman of the National Assembly Inquiry Committee for Examining the Circumstances of the Military Activities of April 2016, stated this in a conversation with journalists Monday in Armenias parliament. "His participation [in the meeting of this committee] is essential in the sense that all the servicemen under his command have respected our statehood and come to the National Assembly," Kocharyan added. "If Mr. [Yuri] Khachaturov [the former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces] realizes this by June 4, much better, first of all, for him because if he does not answer a number of questions there [at the committee], there have been many respondents instead of him. I want the committee to hear from him and he respond to those questions." As the CBI custody of the Wadhawan brothers ended on Sunday, they were presented before the court, which sent them to judicial custody A special court on Sunday rejected the interim bail plea filed by DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj. (Credit: PTI Photo) Mumbai: A special court on Sunday rejected the interim bail plea filed by DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj, arrested in connection with the Yes Bank scam, and sent them to judicial custody. As the CBI custody of the Wadhawan brothers ended on Sunday, they were presented before the court, which sent them to judicial custody. After that they applied for a temporary bail citing the coronavirus oubreak and the risk it posed to jail inmates. However, the court rejected their plea. The Wadhawans' lawyer argued that they are susceptible to contracting coronavirus infection due to their health issues. "After what has been reported in the newspaper with respect to the Arthur Road jail having coronavirus positive cases and Taloja (prison) saying that it will take the accused inside only after conducting tests, it would be in their interest that they get bail for some time," he told the court. Right to health is one of the integral aspects of right to life. Therefore, they should be granted interim bail, he added. The court, however, refused to grant any interim relief to them. At least 77 inmates of Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai have tested positive for coronavirus. The duo was arrested last month from a Mahabaleshwar-based quarantine facility, nearly 50 days after the CBI booked them in a case of alleged bribery also involving former Yes Bank CEO Rana Kapoor. The Wadhawan brothers have been named accused in the CBI FIR pertaining to alleged swindling of money by Kapoor and others, officials said. The agency has alleged that Kapoor, 62, entered into a criminal conspiracy with the Wadhawans for extending financial assistance to DHFL through Yes Bank in return for "substantial undue benefits" to himself and his family members through companies held by them. According to the CBI FIR, the scam started taking shape between April and June 2018 when Yes Bank invested Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures of the scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL). In return, the Wadhawans allegedly "paid kickback of Rs 600 crore" to Kapoor and family members in the form of loans to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd held by the wife and daughters of Kapoor. Besides the CBI, the duo was also being probed separately by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Yes Bank scam. Domestic equity benchmarks -- Sensex and Nifty -- closed in the red on May 11 despite a positive trend in other Asian markets. The Sensex closed the day with a loss of 81 points, or 0.26 percent, at 31,561.22 and the Nifty settled 12 points, or 0.13 percent, lower at 9,239.20. Analysts believe the market will continue to remain volatile in the near term, reacting to the spread of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, newsflow regarding development of its vaccine and government's measures on stimulus and restarting the economy. "Technically, we maintain our negative to rangebound stance. We expect the Nifty to fall towards 9,000, then 8,800, in coming days. On the upside, immediate resistance is placed at 9,400 and then 9,550-9,600, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. We have collated 15 data points to help you spot profitable trades: Note: The open interest (OI) and volume data of stocks given in this story are the aggregates of three-months data and not of the current month only. According to pivot charts, the key support level for Nifty is placed at 9,159.47, followed by 9,079.73. If the index moves up, key resistance levels to watch out for are 9,379.42 and 9,519.63. The Nifty Bank closed 2.08 percent lower at 18,950.50. The important pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 18,656.47, followed by 18,362.43. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 19,488.97 and 20,027.43. Maximum call OI of 15.33 lakh contracts was seen at 9,500 strike, which will act as crucial resistance in the May series. This is followed by 9,000, which holds 5.91 lakh contracts, and 9,700 strikes, which has accumulated 5.61 lakh contracts. Significant call writing was seen at the 9,400, which added 1.01 lakh contracts, followed by 9,700 strikes that added 86,100 contracts. Call unwinding was witnessed at 9,200, which shed 8,550 contracts. Maximum put OI of 24.71 lakh contracts was seen at 9,000 strike, which will act as crucial support in the May series. This is followed by 9,500, which holds 11.08 lakh contracts, and 9,200 strikes, which has accumulated 5.91 lakh contracts. Significant Put writing was seen at 9,300, which added 9.63 lakh contracts, followed by 9,400 strikes, which added 5.72 lakh contracts. Put unwinding was seen at 9,100, which shed 45,375 contracts, followed by 9,600 strikes that shed 16,950 contracts. A high delivery percentage suggests that investors are showing interest in these stocks. Based on OI future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which long build-up was seen. Based on OI future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which long unwinding was seen. An increase in OI, along with a decrease in price, mostly indicates a build-up of short positions. Based on the OI future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which short build-up was seen. A decrease in OI, along with an increase in price, mostly indicates a short-covering. Based on OI future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which short-covering was seen. Bulk deals (For more bulk deals, click here) Nestle India, Bandhan Bank, Havells, Blue Star, Sterlite Technologies, Syngene International, IndiaMART InterMESH and Shiva Cement. Godrej Agrovet Q4: Profit fell to Rs 74.58 crore versus Rs 113.69 crore, revenue rose to Rs 1,627.68 cr versus Rs 1,390.91 crore YoY. Piramal Enterprises Q4: Loss at Rs 1,702 crore versus profit of Rs 455 crore, revenue fell to Rs 3,341 crore versus Rs 3,408.52 crore YoY. Ind-Swift Labs: Company received Establishment Inspection Report from USFDA for facility at Derabassi, Punjab. Seamec: HAL Offshore placed a Notification of Award (NOA) for charter hire of SEAMEC III for 2 years, the value of the contract is about $22.98 million. Century Plyboards: Company partially resumed operations at some manufacturing locations, warehouses, and offices. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 534.87 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 821.6 crore in the Indian equity market on May 11, provisional data available on the NSE showed. Vodafone Idea is under the F&O ban for May 12. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit. A cosmetic nurse whose screaming son was pulled from her arms as police arrested her during an anti-lockdown protest has been accused of illegally running her beauty salon business in breach of coronavirus containment restrictions. Mum-of-three Renee Altakrity, 36, had her son, Isaac, four, pulled from her arms as she was placed in the back of a police wagon during the 'Exercise My Rights' protest outside New South Wales parliament house on Saturday. The 36-year-old fined $1000 fine for breaching strict COVID-19 rules. But now Mrs Altakrity has now been accused allegedly offering beauty services at her Flawless Features salon despite such salons being closed under COVID-19 restrictions on March 25th. A NSW Police spokesperson confirmed they were aware of the complaint. She faces a further $5,000 if she's found to have been in breach of the restrictions. Scroll down for video Mrs Altakrity (pictured) was pulled away from her screaming son by police officers during an 'Exercise My Rights' protest outside New South Wales parliament house on Saturday Her business, Flawless Features by Renee, offers microneedling, microblading, cosmetic tattooing and threading. Microneedling uses small needles to prick the skin. The treatment is aimed reducing the appearance of scars and dark circles by generating new collagen and skin tissue for smoother, firmer, more toned skin. Mrs Altakrity frequently posts on the Flawless Features by Renee Facebook page. She has posts from just last week showing off the treatments she has done on clients. Mrs Altakrity previously said she uses her 'strong intuition' when it comes to medical advice. Mrs Altakrity faced criticism over her decision to take her young son to the protest. She told Daily Mail Australia he had wanted to go because he wants skate parks to reopen. 'The point for me exercising our rights is to stick up for ourselves and have freedom of speech,' Mrs Altakrity said. 'My son wanted to come with me. He said: "Mum can I come? I'd love to put a sign up about the fact that I want to go back to the skate parks and not feel scared". 'I don't keep my kids in the shadows... my children are very aware of what is going on and I think it is very important our children know how to handle themselves and have a freedom of speech, even at four.' Renee Altakrity (pictured) has been accused of running her beauty business during the coronavirus lockdown Her business, Flawless Features by Renee, offers microneedling, microblading, cosmetic tattooing and threading. Microneedling uses small needles to prick the skin The day after her arrest she told Daily Mail Australia she believed Prime Minister Scott Morrison had taken a 'Gestapo' approach to running Australia. Despite admitting she is 'not a scientist or doctor', Mrs Altakrity said she believed a more targeted quarantine would have been a better option. 'I would've talked about possibly quarantining the sick, not the healthy,' she said. 'There is no reason healthy people shouldn't be allowed to go about their lives. That's all I've got to say about it. 'I don't think its been handled with common sense.' Police attempted to arrest the woman, while her son screamed and cried. 'Mummy is not going,' he said 'My children are very opinionated, they probably get that from me, but he had every right to be there.' When asked exactly what she was protesting over, the beautician said Dozens of people gathered outside parliament house on Macquarie Street in Sydney from midday on Saturday as part of the 'Exercise My Rights' protest. In addition to the COVID-19 restrictions, among their other grievances was the need for NRL players and those visiting aged care homes to have had the flu vaccination. Mrs Altakrity admitted she was against vaccinations, but said that was not the main reason she was protesting. At Saturday's protest she had a yellow sign hung around her neck that read: 'If you don't know your rights, you don't have any. Magna Carta.' When police officers approached her about 3.50pm she insisted she was not doing anything wrong, despite the government's social distancing regulations. Pictured: A police officer holds on to the woman's child as she is arrested A NSW Police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia to woman refused to give officers her details and would not comply with their direction to move on Australians can leave their homes for exercise or essential reasons but must keep a 1.5 metre distance from others. While these restrictions are expected to be eased in the coming weeks, they remain in place across most states and territories. 'I don't know how you guys are going home in honour tonight and trying to infringe me with a notice which I don't consent to because we're doing nothing wrong,' Mrs Altakrity told the group of officers. 'You guys should be here holding the signs with us, defending us. I don't consent to what you're doing.' She said she was not 'acting in aggression' and that she did not consent to sharing her name. Mrs Altakrity appeared to fight off attempts to put her in the back of a paddy wagon and continued to claim she was not doing anything wrong She asked if police she was 'under arrest' and a female officer explained they were 'asking for her name' as they believed she was committing an offence. Mrs Altakrity then appeared to walk on. The dangers of not being vaccinated Immunisation is an effective way of protecting people from harmful, contagious diseases. Before vaccination campaigns in the 1960s and 70s, diseases like tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough killed thousands of children. Immunisation also protects the whole community, preventing the spread of the disease - known as 'herd immunity'. Vaccination can cause a disease to die out altogether - as was the case when smallpox was eradicated in 1980 after a vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organisation. Vaccination rates are at over 93 per cent for five-year-olds in Australia. Source: Australian Department of Health Advertisement But additional video footage showed the altercation taking a turn for the worst, with police attempting to arrest the woman as her son screamed and cried nearby. 'Mummy is not going... leave mummy alone,' he said. Mrs Altakrity appeared to fight off attempts to put her in the back of a paddy wagon and continued to claim she was not doing anything wrong. The distressing footage concluded with police pulling the child away from his mum, with one officer seen holding on to the boy as he kicked and screamed. Inside the police van, Mrs Altakrity posted a video to Instagram calling for help from her fellow protestors. 'Im in the back of a paddy wagon. They singled me out,' she claimed. 'If someone can please send legal representation. I cannot believe this is happening. 'This system is absolutely bulls**t. They singled me out. They singled me out... Why? I was just exercising my rights like everybody else.' The alarming confrontation left viewers divided, with many slamming the mother for bringing her child along with her. 'Foolish, selfish attention seeking woman. A mother should protect their child far far away from aggravating situations like that during a global pandemic,' one wrote. 'She should not expose a vulnerable child to such unnecessary trauma. Her poor innocent boy,' another wrote. NSW Police confirmed late on Saturday night that she had been issued with a public infringement notice (PIN) and a subsequent $1000 fine A NSW Police spokesperson said officers spoke to 'unauthorised protesters' about 3.50pm on Saturday. 'Officers moved the group on after explaining they were not authorised to protest and were also not complying with social distancing regulations,' the spokesperson said. 'One woman refused to give officers her details and would not comply with their direction to move on. 'She was placed under arrest; however, resisted and struggled with officers. 'The woman was taken to Surry Hills Police Station.' NSW Police confirmed late on Saturday night that she had been issued with a public infringement notice (PIN) and a subsequent $1000 fine. Daily Mail has contacted NSW police about the complaint against Mrs Altakrity. Himesh Reshammiya and Sonia Kapoor are celebrating two years of marital bliss on May 11. They shared pictures from a romantic photoshoot to wish each other. In the snapshots, the couple is seen twinning in white outfits. Wedding anniversary , Wishing you and I, love youuuuuuuuuu, Himesh captioned a photo, in which he and Sonia are seen holding each other and smiling for the camera. He shared another mushy picture of them and wrote, Missing the cinemas, full on filmigiri on wedding anniversary, love you. Sonia shared the same super filmy picture with Himesh on her own Instagram account and captioned it, Happy anniversary to my BETTER-IN-EVERY-WAY HALF , love this super filmy pic of ours. After being in a relationship for a few years, Himesh and Sonia tied the knot on May 11, 2018 at his residence in Mumbai, in the presence of close friends and family. Earlier, in an interview, he revealed that the key to his happy marriage was always agreeing that his wife was right, instead of starting a debate. Also see: Neha Dhupia asks Angad Bedi scariest part about marrying her, he admits to checking her phone many times If you want a successful relationship, at least for the guys, whether your girlfriend is right or wrong, immediately say that she is right and end that debate. Because then, she will give the world to you. The problem is when anything challenges your intelligence and then you want to prove that you are right. How can my wife always be right? Tell me, in 10-12 years, Sonia is always right! And she believes that she is always right. I have to say that she is always right, and then, everything is right, he had said. Eventually, because I love her like crazy, I have to accept it. It is better that I accept it in one go and dont get into a debate. Just kill my intelligence, even if it is challenging me. Mere liye debate khatam ho jaati hai (The debate ends for me) and then she is like, Jo bolo, jaanu (Whatever you say, darling), he had added. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Harvey police did not respond to a request for comment on the shooting, which is the citys fourth homicide in just over two weeks and fifth this year, according to county records. Market forces rained on the parade of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK) shareholders today, when the analysts downgraded their forecasts for this year. Revenue and earnings per share (EPS) forecasts were both revised downwards, with the analysts seeing grey clouds on the horizon. Following the latest downgrade, the current consensus, from the eleven analysts covering Alaska Air Group, is for revenues of US$4.4b in 2020, which would reflect a sizeable 49% reduction in Alaska Air Group's sales over the past 12 months. After this downgrade, the company is anticipated to report a loss of US$7.37 in 2020, a sharp decline from a profit over the last year. However, before this estimates update, the consensus had been expecting revenues of US$5.5b and US$1.27 per share in losses. So there's been quite a change-up of views after the recent consensus updates, with the analysts making a serious cut to their revenue forecasts while also expecting losses per share to increase. Check out our latest analysis for Alaska Air Group NYSE:ALK Past and Future Earnings May 11th 2020 The consensus price target fell 12% to US$39.54, with the analysts clearly concerned about the company following the weaker revenue and earnings outlook. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company's valuation. There are some variant perceptions on Alaska Air Group, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$51.00 and the most bearish at US$28.00 per share. This shows there is still some diversity in estimates, but analysts don't appear to be totally split on the stock as though it might be a success or failure situation. Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. These estimates imply that sales are expected to slow, with a forecast revenue decline of 49%, a significant reduction from annual growth of 11% over the last five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the same industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 21% annually for the foreseeable future. It's pretty clear that Alaska Air Group's revenues are expected to perform substantially worse than the wider industry. Story continues The Bottom Line The most important thing to note from this downgrade is that the consensus increased its forecast losses this year, suggesting all may not be well at Alaska Air Group. Regrettably, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and the latest forecasts imply the business will grow sales slower than the wider market. With a serious cut to this year's expectations and a falling price target, we wouldn't be surprised if investors were becoming wary of Alaska Air Group. Worse, Alaska Air Group is labouring under a substantial debt burden, which - if today's forecasts prove accurate - the forecast downgrade could potentially exacerbate. To see more of our financial analysis, you can click through to our free platform to learn more about its balance sheet and specific concerns we've identified. We also provide an overview of the Alaska Air Group Board and CEO remuneration and length of tenure at the company, and whether insiders have been buying the stock, here. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. The family of a Houston man fatally shot by police called him a talented gospel recording artist on the rise, moments before Police Chief Art Acevedo on Monday held a press conference to break down video of the deadly struggle. Adrian Medearis, 48, most recently directed the gospel choir at Evangelist Temple Church of God In Christ in South Acres. He was also a former director for the Prairie View A&M Baptist Student Movement gospel choir and founder of Gods Anointed People, a contemporary gospel group. Adrian is mourned as a beloved brother, devoted grandson, uncle, nephew, cousin and faithful friend to all, according to a portion of the familys statement. Others who had the pleasure of knowing Adrian, fondly remember his smile, humor and easy going spirit. Adrian was a true gentleman and a proud Texas scholar. His love for Prairie View A&M University remained close to his heart. Medearis was shot and killed around 1:30 a.m. last Friday during a struggle with an officer, only identified as J. Ramos, who was trying to arrest him on a DWI charge in the 11700 block of the North Freeway, police said. Acevedo said Medearis was clocked driving 97 mph down the highway. He failed field sobriety tests and resisted being placed in handcuffs, the chief said. He was shot when he grabbed Ramos Taser and pointed it at the officer, Acevedo said. Medearis death stunned his friends in the church community. The Evangelist Temple said its congregation is mourning the loss of their beloved choir director, Brother Adrian Medearis, who Sunday after Sunday ushered in the Holy Spirit through praise and worship, according to an Instagram post. Family members have merely begun to process this tragic loss, their statement said. Repeating or echoing statements not yet verified by the facts, only add to our pain and grief, according to their statement. To be clear, we are beyond shocked at the initial accounts of this tragedy. Unfortunately, there are no public details available regarding the murder of our loved one. We respectfully ask for our privacy, and your patience, during this time of bereavement. Houston police have not publicly released video of the shooting. No other officers or witnesses were on the scene at the time. Ramos body-worn camera fell off during the struggle, but Acevedo said the entire incident was captured on the officers dashboard camera and two nearby security cameras. Acevedo viewed the footage and reiterated that details initially supplied by police are accurate. During a 3 p.m. news conference outside Houston police headquarters, Acevedo said he planned to show the family the video and let them decide whether they want it released to the public. Not everybody wants their loved one to be in cyberspace for the rest of eternity and for their last minute on earth to be public, Acevedo said. The chief said he left a message with the family but had not received a response. Medearis brother, Audrick Medearis, posted his own comments on social media around 2 p.m., saying family had not heard from the department before they called the press conference. He also said he hadnt been notified about the location of his brothers car and personal belongings. Acevedo said his attention last Friday was focused on fallen officer Jason Knox, whose visitation was held hours after the shooting. Audrick Medearis could not be reached after the press conference. In an earlier Facebook post, he said: "It is disappointing and absurd that Chief Acevedo would call a public press conference before speaking with the Family of Adrian Medearis. I am not only his brother, but am also a first responder and Cy Fair firefighter. I am very easily accessible to HPD. The Harris County Chief Medical Examiner is aware that I am the next of kin as I contacted the office last Friday requesting to view my brother's remains. During the traffic stop, Acevedo said Medearis initially denied consuming any alcohol but later admitted to drinking a Mimosa cocktail. A fight ensued when the officer tried to get him in handcuffs, he said. The officer struck Medearis once with a Taser during the struggle, but it was ineffective. Acevedo said the violent altercation lasted about two and a half minutes, during which Ramos called for backup at least twice. At one point, Ramos pinned Medearis to the ground, and Medearis appeared to calm down, Acevedo said. When the officer tried to arrest him with a second pair of handcuffs, Medearis again resisted the officer and grabbed the Taser, which was loaded with one additional live round, Acevedo said. The officer tried to distance himself, he said, but fired multiple times when Medearis pointed the weapon. Acevedo added that Medearis blood-alcohol levels will be included in toxicology reports from the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. Police did not administer a breathalyzer on the scene, he said. Acevedo so far has declined to release the video publicly because doing so, he said, could taint any potential criminal prosecution locally. I dont ever want to see a case where an officer ends up being indicted, and the next thing you know theres a change in venue and it ends up in East Texas, or some other part of Texas that isnt this melting pot that we call Harris County, with jurors that may have a different mindset, he said. The Harris County District Attorney's Office, as well as the Houston Police Department's Special Investigations Unit and Internal Affairs Unit, are investigating the shooting. Medearis funeral will be held for immediate family only. julian.gill@chron.com President Nana Akufo-Addo says the ban on public gatherings is not a punishment on Ghanaians but a safety tool to rescue them from the current pandemic situation. The President has extended restrictions on public gatherings to the end of the month; 31st May 2020. He noted that the extension is in the interest of Ghanaians adding that the government is strong to resolve the situation. He said; "like you, I will like to see an end to these restrictions . . . uncomfortable as these restrictions have been we have no option than to stay the course". In his ninth address to the nation, President Akufo-Addo indicated that he will soon roll out systematic measures to ease the restrictions and so implored Ghanaians to remain patient. " . . these restrictions cannot and will not be a permanent feature of our lives. Shortly, I hope to announce the steps for systematically easing the restrictive measures to bring us back to normality. Each one of us however can help to speed up this process if we continue to practice the measures of social distancing, washing with soap under running water, refrain from shaking hands and wearing our masks whenever we live our rooms. These measures must be respected by all," he said. Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Bengaluru, May 11 : Breaking a 3-day trend of 40 plus Covid-19 cases, Karnataka registered only 14 new cases, raising the state's tally to 862, on Monday. "As of 5 p.m. Monday, cumulatively 862 Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in the state. It includes 31 deaths and 426 discharges," said a health official here. In the past 24 hours, discharges increased by only four to 426. Of the 404 active cases, 395 are isolated at designated hospitals and are stable, except nine in ICU. Of the new cases, Davangere contributed 3, followed by Bagalkote and Bidar (2 each) and Kalaburagi, Shiggavi in Haveri, Bengaluru Urban, Hassan, Mandya and Vijayapura (one each). Except two patients with travel history to Mumbai in Maharashtra and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, the top Covid-19 hotspots in India, the rest are contacts of earlier cases. Another 26-year-old man from Shiggavi in Haveri had a travel history to both Bhatkal and Mumbai. Barring three cases in their 50s, all are below 38. Among the new cases, nine are men and five women. With the addition of new cases, active cases rose to 65 in Davangere, followed by Bagalkote (31), Bidar (13), Kalaburagi (22), Haveri (3) and Vijayapura 14. Incidentally, earlier positive case 298 was readmitted to a designated hospital. According to Karnataka Covid Dashboard information portal, eight districts -- Yadagiri, Raichur, Koppal, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagara and Kolar -- are untouched by Covid-19. Karnataka's green zones with 1-5 cases include Gadag (5), Haveri (2), Udupi (3) and Kodagu (1). Though Gadag is a green zone, it has not active case as four of its five cases got discharged and one succumbed to the virus. Similarly, green zone Udupi also has no active case as all its four Covid-19 patients got discharged. Likewise, Kodagu's lone positive case has been discharged. Active cases in orange zones, places with 5-15 cases include Dharwad (5), Ballari (4), Shivamogga (8), Chitradurga (6) and Tumkur (7). With no active cases, Bengaluru Rural has been rebranded as a green zone. Active cases in red zones, places with more than 15 cases comprise Bidar (13), Kalaburagi (22), Bijapur (14), Bagalkote (39), Belgaum (68), Uttara Kannada (28), Davangere (65), Dakshina Kannada (15), Mysuru (5), Mandya (14), Bengaluru Urban (81) and Chikkaballapura (5). Until Monday evening, 1.1 lakh people have been tested for coronavirus in the state. Of this, 1.06 lakh tested negative. Of the 862 cases, 14 per cent are senior citizens, 64 per cent men and 36 per cent women. The state's discharge rate rose to 49 per cent. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin backed Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Monday, telling CNBC that California should help the company reopen its plant there amid the Covid-19 pandemic. "I agree with Elon Musk. He's one of the biggest employers and manufacturers in California, and California should prioritize doing whatever they need to do to solve those health issues so that he can open quickly and safely," Mnuchin said on "Squawk on the Street." Tesla's Fremont, California, plant has been closed since March 23 due to shelter-in-place orders, but the company is pushing to resume production. A rush to return has been met with heavy resistance from local authorities. Musk threatened Saturday to pull Tesla out of California amid a dispute with Alameda County over the shutdown. Tesla also filed a lawsuit against the county, asking a federal court to invalidate orders by local authorities that have prevented the automaker from resuming production. "They're going to find that if he's threatened he's going to move his production to a different state," Mnuchin said. Ethiopia admits shooting down Kenyan aircraft in Somalia Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 7:15 AM Ethiopian military forces in Somalia have admitted to shooting down a Kenyan cargo plane carrying aid supplies earlier this week, which resulted in the deaths of all the six people on board. The Ethiopian army said in a statement to the African Union (AU) on Saturday that the privately-owned Kenyan plane had been shot down by Ethiopian troops guarding a camp in the town of Bardale in southwestern Somalia. The aircraft, belonging to African Express Airways, was carrying humanitarian and medical supplies to help Somalia in its battle against the new coronavirus outbreak when it went down in Bardale, about 300 kilometers northwest of the country's capital of Mogadishu, on Monday. The Ethiopian military said in the statement that the soldiers had mistakenly thought that the plane was on a "potential suicide mission" because they had not been informed about the "unusual flight" and the aircraft was flying low. "Because of lack of communication and awareness, the aircraft was shot down," the military said, adding that, "The incident will require mutual collaborative investigation from Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya to further understand the truth." Six people the pilot, a copilot, a flight engineer, a trainee pilot, and two other people working for the airline were on board the Kenyan plane and lost their lives. Kenya at the time expressed shock over the incident and called for an urgent investigation into the fatal crash. Ethiopia and Kenya both have soldiers deployed to Somalia as part of an AU peacekeeping mission to fight the armed militant group of al-Shabab. The al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab militants were driven out of Mogadishu with the help of AU forces in 2011. The Takfiri militant group has since lost power in most of its former strongholds; however, it still wields significant influence in vast swathes of the countryside, from where it recruits, coordinates, and launches attacks against government, military, and civilian targets in Somalia and neighboring countries. Earlier this year, the terrorist group launched an attack against a military base used by US and Kenyan forces in neighboring Kenya. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Organizers of the 2020 Midwest Venture Showcase, a partnership between the Midwest Growth Capital Symposium (MGCS) and InvestMidwest, today announced that 61 companies actively seeking funding will be showcased to an audience of top-tier investors, entrepreneurs, researchers and business executives at the virtual event on May 5-8, 2020. The Midwest companies in the Showcase span the life sciences, medical device, agriculture/food and tech industries. Of the 61 companies, 28 are seeking seed stage funding and 33 are seeking Series A/B funding. The companies represent 15 states, including Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, California, Missouri, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Texas, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia. Presenting companies' innovations include: A mobile device helping countries diagnose and follow up with COVID-19 patients through heart monitoring Testing to identify and treat children whose condition is a result of antibodies attacking their brain Technology to increase crop production via increased quality of light An all-in-one diabetes management system in a smartphone case System that allows easy and stable blood collection samples from anywhere The virtual event will also feature 12 companies from the Capital Innovators tech accelerator 2019-2020 cohorts and 35-40 Tech Transfer spinouts seeking pre-seed and seed funding. Participating universities include Michigan State University, Ohio State University, University of Louisville, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University. The Showcase is flexible to accommodate the current needs of the investor community. All presentations will be taped in advance, with pitch videos going live on May 5 and available through June 5. There will be opportunities to interact with the companies on May 5 during a virtual networking session and on May 7-8 during one-on-one meetings. "We listened to our investors and designed the event based on their feedback," said Phyllis Ellison, executive director of InvestMidwest. "We created a format that allows busy investors to access presentations at their own pace during a time when they may also be focusing heavily on their existing portfolio." "Now is the time for companies to authentically appeal to investors and let them know they are moving forward," said Mary Nickson, associate director of MGCS. "Investors are equally interested in building relationships with high-quality startups during these challenging times, and gaining firsthand insight to the innovation coming out of Midwest-based University Tech Transfer offices." For more information and to register, please visit www.MidwestGCS.com or www.InvestMidwestForum.com, or email Mary Nickson and Phyllis Ellison . About the Midwest Growth Capital Symposium The Midwest Growth Capital Symposium (MGCS) is the original university-based venture investment fair. First held in 1980, this decades-old event is the largest Midwest venture fair of its kind that brings together venture capital investors, angel investors, high-growth companies, and university tech transfer officers. MGCS is presented by the Center for Venture Capital & Private Equity Finance and the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. About InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum The InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum brings together high growth companies from across the Midwest that are seeking $1 million or more in equity investments in Life Science, Tech, and Ag/Food/Energy tracks. Celebrating 20 years, the annual spring forum attracts investors from across the country to meet with companies. InvestMidwest is managed by the Cortex Innovation Community, with strong support from the investment communities of St. Louis and Kansas City. SOURCE The Zell Lurie Institute Brighton Michigan Podiatrist Dr. Tomasz Biernacki discusses plantar fasciitis and heel pain! Patients who let 2-3 months go by can develop difficult to reverse scar tissue and ligament damage that can be more difficult to reverse. There are 6 common causes of heel pain that could be prevented from getting worse! Dr. Tomasz Biernacki states that if plantar fasciitis and heel pain are caught early, this can help prevent a condition called plantar fasciosis from developing. This is essentially scar tissue that is exceedingly difficult to reverse. This is when people can develop years of chronic heel pain. Dr. Biernacki further states it is estimated that between 10 to 40% of people around the world will develop chronic crippling heel pain at some point in their life. There are some extremely easy changes to implement such a shoe gear and orthotic changes that dont have to be expensive and can be very quickly effective. The podiatrists and foot doctors at Advanced Foot and Ankle Specialists of Brighton Michigan have developed a treatment algorithm for diagnosing heel pain. There are six common causes of heel pain that can cause your chronic heel pain. These are plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, heel stress fractures, fat pad atrophy to the heel, back injuries that can cause nerve pain down to the heel, and finally a bottom of the foot nerve entrapment called Baxters nerve compression. Dr. Tomasz Biernacki is a practicing podiatric foot and ankle surgeon at Advanced Foot and Ankle specialists of Howell Michigan and Brighton Michigan. Advanced foot and ankle specialists of Howell Michigan and Brighton Michigan pride themselves on providing comprehensive the care and working as a multispecialty team. The four doctors at this practice are on staff at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Livingston, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Brighton, and St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Ann Arbor. Working as part of this large multidisciplined team, they can work with internal medicine doctors, primary care doctors, endocrinologists and vascular surgery specialist to provide comprehensive care. Advanced foot and ankle specialists have four different doctors within their practice: Dr. Tom Biernacki, Dr. John Stevelinck, Dr. Marc Bonanni and Dr. Danielle Meyka-Blanchard. All podiatrists foot doctors are on staff at St. Joseph Mercy hospitals in Ann Arbor, Howell and Brighton Michigan. They pride themselves on serving Livingston County and Washtenaw County. Liberal MPs are calling for a pathway out of the mammoth job assistance programs that are supporting more than 5 million workers as the coronavirus crisis pushes Commonwealth debt beyond $600 billion. Worried about the cost of the schemes, government backbenchers are backing the return of mutual obligation rules as a gradual step to curb the sweeping payments to those who have been thrown out of work. Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared it "premature" on Monday to change the JobKeeper wage subsidy of $1500 per fortnight for those in work and the JobSeeker payment of $1100 per fortnight for the unemployed. But the Prime Minister's own ministers and MPs are debating ways to phase out the record assistance as active coronavirus case numbers fall and parts of the economy return to life. It is crucial that internships teach Luxembourg's pupil and student nurses everything they need to know to graduate, the association of teachers for medical professions (Aleps) stressed. The ongoing coronavirus crisis poses considerable challenges to the usual learning process of pupil nurses as hospital activities were reduced, Aleps representatives explained. They added that many pupils were recruited for the medical reserve corps, which means that they do not complete the internships they would have completed under normal circumstances. This unprecedented situation should not come at the expense of the budding nurses, Aleps stressed, adding that the communication between the ministries and the association had been poor. Aleps underlined that this poor communication had been the reason why the CDD contracts of pupil nurses recruited for the medical reserve had been cancelled prematurely. As a reminder, budding nurses and pupils in related medical fields had joined the ranks of Luxembourg's medical reserve corps to look after the increased amount of patients when the pandemic broke out. They were officially employed by the state and were paid for their efforts. The CDD contracts were meant to expire on 28 May. An email then informed the young medical staff that their contract would already expire on 11 May. The pupils were asked to continue working in unpaid internships. As Woxx magazine had reported, this controversial decision sparked outrage from the young nurses, who felt treated unfairly as they would have been required to do the same work without being paid. The harsh criticism led the government to back-pedal. Officials decided that the pupils would be paid for those two weeks after all. A part of the pupils will also be able to complete the internships they had been meant to do before the pandemic broke out. According to Aleps president Gilles Evrard, the ongoing crisis should not be allowed to take a toll on the education of the prospective nurses. "Our main goal during this crisis is to make sure that the pupils can continue their training as well as possible, that they fulfill the main objectives, and [...] that they can do the internships prescribed by the European directive", he explained. According to the association, the communication between the ministries and on-site coordinators had been poor for years. Aleps accused the ministries of not listening to the medical teachers. "It is a problem for the future of the country. We have pointed out for years that it is important to invest in the training [of pupil and student nurses]," Evrard said. The association hopes to meet with the ministries in the near future. 11.05.2020 LISTEN On 12th March, 2020, Ghanas Minister of Health Hon. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu announced at a press conference that Ghana had confirmed its first two cases of the Novel Coronavirus; both cases, he noted, were imported. Since then there have been several measures taken by the government to manage the virus, including ban on social gathering, partial lockdown, enhanced testing, contract tracing, stimulus packages, public education on protocols and compulsory wearing of masks. In all this, how effectively has Ghana managed the COVID-19 pandemic during this period? TV3, your number one TV channel for news and news analyses will be seeking the views of experts exactly 60 days since that announcement was made at a roundtable discussion on Tuesday May 12, 2020 at 4PM. Confirmed panelists include Dr. Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, Neurosurgeon and Public Health Physician, Dr. Victor Bampoe, Coordinator of Global Financing and Technical Support of UN AIDS, Dr. Ama Kyerewaa Edwin, Physician and Clinical Psychologist and Dr. Yaw Bediako, Immunologist and Research Fellow at University of Ghana. Tune into TV3 from 4pm and be part of this very important roundtable discussion. Also watch live on the 3FM92.7 page on Facebook. With labour laws in UP, MP being suspended, here is how the hire and fire policy works Labour ministry likely to give shape to National Employment Policy by December Centre may allow 4-day work week but with longer hours Rollout of New labour codes likely in October; Gratuity, PF contribution may rise Lesser take home salary, four day working week: New Labour Codes in FY 2022-23 The new labour laws in UP, MP and Gujarat explained India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 11: Several states have announced major labour reforms, which allow businesses to hire and fire people. These reforms have been introduced in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, which are ruled by the BJP. These reforms appear to be part of the efforts to lure companies that are looking to move out of China. Let us examine the changes: Gujarat: In Gujarat, the new industrial establishments are exempted from all labour laws except the following: Minimum Wages Act Industrial Safety Rules Employees' Compensation Act Ordinance to roll out benefits that would be available for 1,200 days 100 per cent online approvals within 15 days 33,000 hectares to be set aside and land to be allotted in 7 days Uttar Pradesh: The industry has been exempted from labour laws, except the following: Building and other Construction Workers' Act of 1996 Workmen Compensation Act of 1923 Bonder Labour (Abolition) System Act of 1976 A section of Payment of Wages Act will be applicable Madhya Pradesh: Hire, fire Establishment with up to 100 workers can hire according to needs No registration for contractors with 50 labourers No factory inspection for 3 months No inspection for firms with less than 50 workers Third party inspection allowed Registration and licences to be issued within a day Renewal of factory licences once in 10 years Startups need one time registration and no renewal Shift hours raised to 12 hours from 8 hours in a factory Overtime of up to 72 hours permitted Flexibility in changing shifts Shops and establishments can operate from 6 am till midnight The others: In Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, the Factories Act was amended to increase the work time from 12 hours a day and 72 hours a week in place of the 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week. Rajasthan has amended the Industries Disputes Act to increase the threshold for lay offs and retrenchment to 300 from 100 earlier. The threshold membership of the trade union has been increased from 15 per cent to 30 per cent. Maharashtra has allowed shops/establishments/factories to submit a consolidated annual returns in lieu of multiple returns under the various labour laws. Tamil Nadu has permitted the employment of women in night shifts subject to safeguard measures. In Kerala, it has been decided to facilitate new industrial licence within a week after the applications are filed. However, this would be subject to the investor agreeing to complete formalities within a year. The impact: Free hand to hire and fire No labour inspection No government intervention No role of unions Those who are happy and unhappy: India Inc says this will provide flexibility and there would be competition among states for reforms. Labour unions say that these would be detrimental to workers and would give too much free hand to employers. Unions want Centre to intervene and stop states from implementing such laws. SALT LAKE CITY, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Impartner, the world's fastest-growing, most award-winning, pure play Partner Relationship Management (PRM) and channel management platform provider, announced today that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Kerry Desberg, Impartner Chief Marketing Officer, to its esteemed 2020 Women of the Channel list. Recognizing the unique strengths, vision and achievements of a select group of women, this prestigious, annual list acknowledges channel leaders who are blazing a trail for future generations. These women are from all areas of the IT ecosystem, including technology vendors, distributors, solution providers and other IT organizations. The CRN editorial team selects the honorees to celebrate a list of exceptional women acclaimed for their contributions to channel advocacy, growth, thought leadership and dedication to the IT channel. As CMO of Impartner, Desberg is responsible for driving demand for Impartner's channel management solutions, which are the choice of top channel chiefs and corporations worldwide to accelerate their channel sales - many of which are among CRN's Top 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs and CRN's 5-Star Partner Programs. Desberg is widely known in the channel, having led the company's presence at industry events worldwide and ImpartnerCON, the company's flagship customer and channel management summit, which, in its 5th year, has become the largest channel chief event worldwide. "CRN's 2020 Women of the Channel list recognizes an accomplished group of influential women leaders whose strategic vision and unique achievements accelerate channel growth through cultivated partnerships, innovative thought leadership and unwavering dedication to the IT channel," said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. "We are proud to honor them for their accomplishments and contributions to driving channel success." "Our customer base includes such an amazing list of top women channel leaders worldwide, and we're excited to have Kerry recognized as one of CRN's 2020 Women of the Channel for her work to help elevate Impartner to its leadership position in the channel management technology industry," said Impartner CEO Joe Wang. "The passion we have for transforming the performance of our customers' channels is unending, and we appreciate Kerry's industry leadership and persistent passion for bringing that value to life for corporations worldwide." "What an honor to be included with so many amazing professionals for whom I hold such high regard," said Desberg. "I'm proud of the role that Impartner PRM plays in accelerating the performance of our customers' indirect sales, and even more proud to count so many of these talented women as customers, colleagues and friends." The 2020 Women of the Channel list will be featured in CRN Magazine on June 8 and online at www.CRN.com/WOTC. About The Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook About Impartner Impartner delivers the industry's most complete SaaS-based Channel Management Platform, helping companies worldwide manage their partner relationships and accelerate revenue and profitability through indirect sales channels. Impartner's flagship Partner Relationship Management (PRM) solution is the industry's most award-winning PRM technology and one of the industry's only turnkey solutions that can deploy a world-class Partner Portal in as few as 14 days. For more information on Impartner, which is based in Utah's tech hotbed, the Silicon Slopes, visit www.impartner.com , or in the United States call +1 801 501 7000, for EMEA general call +33 1 40 90 31 20, for London call +44 0 20 3283 4465, and for LATAM call +1 954 364 7883. Follow Impartner on LinkedIn , Twitter and Facebook . Contact: Brendan Hong Impartner +1 801-821-5556 Brendan.hong@impartner.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/701684/Impartner_Logo.jpg Nirmala Sitharaman New Delhi: The Finance Ministry has made it clear that there is no plan to cut the salaries of central government employees. This rumour was circulating for the past few days that the government may cut the salaries of central employees due to the coronavirus. Advertisement Photo In this regard, the Finance Ministry has said that no reduction is being made in the salaries of central employees. They will be paid in full. All the rumours that are being spread about this are false and baseless. The Finance Ministry tweeted from its official Twitter handle that the government has no proposal to reduce the existing salaries of any category of central government employees. Photo Advertisement She said that reports from some sections of the media are false and baseless. As per the information, lease rent will not be increased this year for the units of companies in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) located in different states. In addition, these companies can pay the lease rent for the quarter ending July 31 in which there will be no interest. (HedgeCo.Net) The SECs alleges that, from at least January 2016 to May 2019, Elliott, operating through Piptastic, falsely represented to investors that he would use their money for an overseas fund that purportedly engaged in a trading strategy known as spread trading or spreadbet trading, which involves speculating on the price movement of a security or other financial instrument. According to the complaint, Elliott instead knowingly misused investor assets for his own personal benefit, as well as that of his wife, relief defendant Sharon Elliott, and others including his associate, relief defendant Paul Rose. As further alleged, from at least 2019 through the present, when investors tried to redeem their money from Piptastic, Elliott lied about the status of the investments. Specifically, Elliott allegedly claimed that he had profited from spread betting and that the funds were safely held in trading accounts for the benefit of the investors. Elliott also allegedly provided fictitious account statements that purport to reflect the investors preserved assets. The SECs complaint, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, charges Elliott and Piptastic with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The SEC seeks permanent injunctive relief, civil penalties, and disgorgement with prejudgment interest. The complaint also names DSE Retail Limited, a second Elliott-controlled entity; Rose and his entity Unique Asset Management Limited; and Sharon Elliott as relief defendants in connection with their receipt of ill-gotten gains without a legitimate claim to those funds. Z Energyreported a net loss after tax of NZ$88 million for the year ending 31 March 2020. This followed a profit of $186 million for the previous corresponding period.The company says its earnings were impacted by the competitive retail market and low refining margins.The loss includes non-cash impairment charges of NZ$96 million to account for the write downs of goodwill associated with the Flick investment and the Caltex retail supply contracts.The company was also hit with a NZ$33 million provision as a result of Covid-19 that is NZ$6 million more than the company anticipated.The Board has cancelled the final dividend for FY20 and refused to provide guidance for the financial year ahead. Meanwhile, it seeks to raise $350 million New Zealand dollars through a placement and share purchase plan.Shares in Z Energyare in a trading Halt. They last traded at $2.97. Clinical leaders from the University of Kentucky's Markey Cancer Center, College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy have launched a clinical trial for experimental therapies to treat patients infected with COVID-19. The trial will investigate the effectiveness of azithromycin, ivermectin and camostat mesylate--drugs that could inhibit replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease. The three will be tested either as stand-alone therapies or in combination with the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine. The trial has a "pick-the-winner" design, which will allow UK researchers to rapidly understand what potential therapies appear to be effective, guiding patients to treatments that work and researchers to promising drugs that warrant further investigation. "We are pleased to be able to offer this clinical trial to patients with COVID-19 in Kentucky. While there is no standard treatment for COVID-19, this trial gives us the ability to test multiple therapies rapidly in order to identify the most promising agents," said Dr. Susanne Arnold, a medical oncologist and associate director of clinical translation at the UK Markey Cancer Center who is co-leading the trial. "This rapid assessment means that the trial can quickly include and test new therapies as it identifies ones that are not effective." The team plans to scale up a larger, more traditional placebo-control clinical trial using the most promising therapies with the best patient outcomes. This trial is reserved for patients both at home and in the hospital who have tested positive for COVID-19, or who have COVID-19 symptoms but have not developed severe symptoms that would require progression to ICU care. Patients must also have at least one high-risk feature, including hypertension, diabetes, cancer, lung disease, have an underlying heart condition, or be over the age of 50. Outside of the hospital, clinical care and follow-up for research will arranged in coordination with the UK Healthcare's Infectious Disease (ID) division under the direction of Dr. Alice Thornton. Researchers began consenting patients the first week of May and plan to enroll 240 patients over the course of the study. "The goal is to prevent patients from getting severe cases of the disease that would require hospitalization or put them in the ICU or on a ventilator," said Dr. Zachary Porterfield, an infectious disease expert, virologist and assistant professor of medicine at UK who is co-leading the study with Arnold. "No proven therapies have been demonstrated to prevent progression of COVID-19 to severe illness. This is a critical unmet need for high-risk individuals that would also reduce the strain on our healthcare system." Patients with cases of COVID-19 who choose to enroll in the trial will be randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: one group will receive hydroxychloroquine alone; a second group will receive hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin; a third group will receive hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin; and a fourth group will receive camostat mesylate. "The medications were selected by a multidisciplinary committee of medical experts from across the university. These were chosen as some of the most unique and promising initial trial study drugs that can be offered at the moment. Not only do they have some data to suggest they may work against COVID-19, these are all oral medications that are widely available and could have an effect worldwide," said Porterfield. Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are generic formulations long used to treat other conditions and their combined use has already shown promise in some early COVID-19 clinical trials. Hydroxychloroquine is used for the prevention and treatment of malaria as well as for autoimmune disorders including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. In past research, it also showed some effectiveness against related coronaviral diseases MERS and SARS. Azithromycin is an antibiotic with an immunomodulatory effect that is used to treat many types of infections caused by bacteria, including respiratory, skin, ear and eye infections. Ivermectin is an antiparasitic agent that also has activity in cellular models against a number of RNA viruses, including influenza, equine encephalitis and West Nile and appears to affect the entry of viral RNA into the cell nucleus. Camostat mesylate is a serine inhibitor that has been used in Japan for 40 years to treat symptoms of chronic pancreatitis and postoperative esophageal reflux. Studies show that camostat mesylate can prevent cleavage of the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2, which is necessary for the virus to infect cells. The UK trial will be among the very first in the world to include this novel treatment. UK's COVID-19 related research is coordinated by the COVID-19 Unified Research Experts (CURE) Alliance team, which is uniting UK medical researchers across disciplines in the fight against the novel coronavirus. The Alliance was launched and is supported by UK College of Medicine Dean Robert DiPaola and Vice President for Research Lisa Cassis. The CURE team is led by Rebecca Dutch, a virologist and chair of the department of molecular & cellular biochemistry. A testament to the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of the CURE Alliance, the design and implementation of this trial is truly indebted to the work of experts from across the university. Key insights in the trial have been provided by individuals like Dr. Elijah Kakani, a hospitalist physician who has been dedicated to developing the camostat mesylate arm of the trial, to Kip Guy, dean of the College of Pharmacy who has led a team of individuals in the evaluation of novel drug targets to be included in the trial, to Ken Campbell who has created a centralized biobank for management of blood and other samples from participants to help support crucial COVID-19 research and Jill Kolesar of the College of Pharmacy and Markey Cancer Center who provided critical insights on the viral testing platform used in the study. In addition to principal investigators Arnold and Porterfield, this study includes several co-investigators, including Dr. Zin Myint, Heidi Weiss, Donglin Yan, Dr. Therese Bocklage from the Markey Cancer Center; Dr. Aaron Hesselson from the College of Medicine; Jared Hammill and Frank Romanelli from the College of Pharmacy; and Scott Berry from the College of Engineering. Additional collaborators and consultants include Dr. Phil Kern, Dr. Robert DiPaola, Rebecca Dutch and Vivek Rangnekar. Additional information about the trial can be found on http://www.clinicaltrials.gov under Trial Identifier NCT04374019. ### TEHRAN, Iran, May. 11 Trend: Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations Majid Takhte-Ravanchi said that unilateral US sanctions hurt Iran's fight against the coronavirus, and Switzerland's humanitarian channel is insufficient to meet Iran's needs, Trend reports via IRNA. Noting that Iran has had one of the largest outbreaks of the coronavirus, Majid Takhte-Ravanchi said during a video conference that US unilateral sanctions have weakened Iran`s efforts to fight the disease, Trend reports citing IRNA. Rejecting claims by US officials that human and medical exchanges were exempt from sanctions, he said such transactions are "practically impossible". The video conference was attended by the ambassadors of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, Zimbabwe and Nicaragua to the United Nations. Referring to the so-called Swiss Humanitarian Trade Agreement (SHTA), Takhte-Ravanchi said the channel was insufficient to meet Iran's needs. The US Treasury Department's conditions for licensing applicant companies to use the channel is so strict that it is impossible to trade via this way, he said. Takhte-Ravanchi also referred to the widespread economic and human losses due to coronavirus outbreak in Iran and other countries. He asked immediate lifting of all banking, insurance, transportation, medical, industrial, export, import and other sanctions to help the affected countries. Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease. The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19. INS Magar, the second Indian Naval ship to reach Male in Maldives for evacuation of Indian citizens, has departed Male after completing embarkation of citizens Indian Navy as part of Operation Samudra Setu under the Vande Bharat Mission has deployed INS Magar for second phase of repatriation of Indian citizens from Maldives. In the first phase, INS Jalashwa had evacuated a total of 698 Indian nationals stranded in the Maldives on Sunday. A total of 202 personnel have embarked the ship, which includes 24 women, two expectant mothers and two children. Rumours have been swirling for months that she called it quits with her long-time boyfriend of three years, Dave Bashford, earlier this year. But Sam Frost and her beau are still going strong, despite reports she ended the romance to prioritise her career over a relationship. Speaking to TV Week, the 31-year-old Home and Away star confirmed that she was still with Dave and considered herself lucky to have such a supportive network of people in her life. Still going strong! Home and Away's Sam Frost has confirmed she is STILL dating boyfriend Dave Bashford despite reports they had quietly split 'Thankfully I have [my family], Dave and a circle of girlfriends who know me so well, and the sensitive side of me,' she gushed. 'There aren't many who know the intricacies of that, and I feel blessed I can count of them to lift me up and make me stronger.' It comes as the former Bachelorette star said she kept positive thanks to the support of her close network after facing a barrage of criticism following two very public breakups. Thankful! Speaking to TV Week , the 31-year-old Home and Away star confirmed that she was still with Dave and considered herself lucky to have such a supportive network of people in her life 'My family were worried about me. I've always had tendencies to get really down, and anytime I get extremely quiet, they worry,' she said. Sam, who plays Jasmine Delaney on long-running soap Home and Away, began dating navy diver Dave in July 2017. They were last spotted in public together on September 21, at the Colgate Optic White Stakes Day in Randwick, Sydney. Low key: Rumours that the pair had split swirled when Sam and Dave appeared to spend New Year's Eve apart Rumours that the pair had split swirled when Sam and Dave appeared to spend New Year's Eve apart. The former Bachelorette instead enjoyed a girls' trip to New Zealand with her friend Laura French. A source close to the couple supposedly 'confirmed' the breakup to Woman's Day in January, explaining that Sam, was prioritising her career over romance. 'It all became too much for Sam who was going through a lot,' the source claimed at the time. 'When things are good, they're both very happy, but the lows are bad. They argue over trivial things.' Health TolerogenixX Reports Positive Phase Ib Data of its Lead Product to Combat Transplant Rejection 11.05.2020 10:12:31 - - Product shows excellent safety and tolerability - Enables long-term reduction of standard medications and side effects while maintaining immune tolerance and transplant function - Findings endorsed by third-party experts (live-PR.com) - Heidelberg, May 11, 2020 TolerogenixX GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company developing personalized, cellular therapies to combat organ rejection and autoimmune diseases, today announced the publication of positive Phase Ib results of its lead product MIC-Lx in The Journal of Clinical Investigation ( - Heidelberg, May 11, 2020 TolerogenixX GmbH, a biopharmaceutical company developing personalized, cellular therapies to combat organ rejection and autoimmune diseases, today announced the publication of positive Phase Ib results of its lead product MIC-Lx in The Journal of Clinical Investigation ( doi.org/10.1172/JCI133595) . MIC-Lx is a cell therapy product based on modified immune cells (MICs). The so-called TOL-1 study met all endpoints and demonstrated the feasibility and safety of MIC-Lx administration in inducing donor-specific tolerance in kidney transplant recipients. In a related commentary ( In the study, patients showed excellent graft function without rejection or de novo human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies and retained full immune competence against bacteria and viruses. Due to a reduction of standard immunosuppressive drugs, there was a marked reduction of side effects when compared to current treatment standards for the immunosuppression of kidney transplant recipients. The Phase Ib trial was designed as a 30-day single-arm, single-center trial in 10 patients with chronic kidney disease receiving kidney transplants from a living donor. Patients were intravenously administered MIC-Lx prior to transplantation in 3 groups at different concentrations and on different administration dates. MIC-Lx was prepared from donor peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) obtained by leukapheresis and modified using TolerogenixX proprietary MIC technology. The primary endpoint safety and feasibility of intravenous administration of MICs was measured by the frequency of adverse events. Infusions were extremely well tolerated. During the study, no adverse events occurred that were related to MIC-Lx infusion. No donor-specific HLA antibodies or rejection episodes were detected even though the patients received up to 1.3x1010 of MIC prior to transplantation. After the end of the study, patients were followed up to day 360 after kidney transplantation. During the entire follow-up, no de novo donor-specific HLA antibodies or rejection episodes occurred, and all patients had stable kidney graft function. Of note, antibody titers against common pathogens such as measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, diphtheria and tetanus were unchanged. In one of the treatment groups, a strong increase of important tolerance markers, so-called regulatory B lymphocytes (Breg), was observed. All four patients in this group were taken off steroids and were administered reduced cyclosporine A and mycophenolic acid, corresponding to about 40% immunosuppression compared to the level of standard of care. In this trial, MIC therapy has proven clear superiority regarding rejection and side effects as compared to standard of care, said Dr. Matthias Schaier, CEO of TolerogenixX. Moreover, we have seen excellent kidney function in all patients, low protein excretion indicating structurally normal kidney grafts, and reduced side effects due to a reduction of immunosuppressive drugs. For patients, this translates into less medication, less side effects, and, most importantly, full recovery of a normal life, added Prof. Dr. Christian Morath, CSO of the Company. MIC treatment modulates the underlying functions of the immune system. With our personalized approach using a novel mode of action, we can achieve a specific and sustained immune tolerance. This approach can not only be applied to transplant recipients, but also to patients with autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. MIC production is fast, safe and effective. MICs are manufactured by TolerogenixX within 24 hours, using cells obtained by leukapheresis. Due to a standardized procedure, MIC production can be scaled up easily. It is planned to make MIC therapy available in Europe and beyond, said PD Dr. Anita Schmitt, CTO of TolerogenixX. TolerogenixX is preparing a Phase IIb trial in patients receiving kidney transplants from living donors, which is scheduled to start later this year and aiming at a conditional approval of MIC therapy in this indication. Starting in 2021, the Company is also planning a Phase Ib study in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. ### About TolerogenixX TolerogenixX is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of novel, personalized therapies for autoimmune patients and transplant recipients. The Companys proprietary MIC (modified immune cells) treatment is designed to suppress unwanted immune responses in the body, thereby enabling a targeted, specific and sustained immune tolerance. While the current standard of care, i.e. traditional immunosuppression, is only addressing symptoms and has serious side-effects, MIC treatment is tackling the roots of immune responses and provides increased effectiveness, little or no side effects, significantly increased quality and length of patients lives as well as decisive cost advantages. TolerogenixX lead compound MIC-Lx has successfully completed a clinical Phase Ib trial in kidney transplant recipients, demonstrating sustained safety and tolerability after a single application while retaining normal immune responses. The Company was founded in 2016 and is based in Heidelberg, Germany. Contact TolerogenixX GmbH PD Dr. med. Matthias Schaier Im Neuenheimer Feld 162 D-69120 Heidelberg/Germany schaier@tolerogenixX.com Tel. +49 170 7704595 akampion Dr. Ludger We / Ines-Regina Buth Managing Partners info(at)akampion.com Tel. +49 40 88 16 59 64 Tel. +49 30 23 63 27 68 endpoints and demonstrated the feasibility and safety of MIC-Lx administration in inducing donor-specific tolerance in kidney transplant recipients.In a related commentary ( doi.org/10.1172/JCI136475) , Sam Kant and Daniel C. Brennan from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (Baltimore, MD) call the findings encouraging and state that if safety and efficacy can be demonstrated in further clinical studies, we will witness the realization of what transplantation originally set out to achieve: to move from a treatment to a cure.In the study, patients showed excellent graft function without rejection or de novo human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies and retained full immune competence against bacteria and viruses. Due to a reduction of standard immunosuppressive drugs, there was a marked reduction of side effects when compared to current treatment standards for the immunosuppression of kidney transplant recipients.The Phase Ib trial was designed as a 30-day single-arm, single-center trial in 10 patients with chronic kidney disease receiving kidney transplants from a living donor. Patients were intravenously administered MIC-Lx prior to transplantation in 3 groups at different concentrations and on different administration dates. MIC-Lx was prepared from donor peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) obtained by leukapheresis and modified using TolerogenixX proprietary MIC technology.The primary endpoint safety and feasibility of intravenous administration of MICs was measured by the frequency of adverse events. Infusions were extremely well tolerated. During the study, no adverse events occurred that were related to MIC-Lx infusion. No donor-specific HLA antibodies or rejection episodes were detected even though the patients received up to 1.3x1010 of MIC prior to transplantation.After the end of the study, patients were followed up to day 360 after kidney transplantation. During the entire follow-up, no de novo donor-specific HLA antibodies or rejection episodes occurred, and all patients had stable kidney graft function. Of note, antibody titers against common pathogens such as measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, diphtheria and tetanus were unchanged. In one of the treatment groups, a strong increase of important tolerance markers, so-called regulatory B lymphocytes (Breg), was observed. All four patients in this group were taken off steroids and were administered reduced cyclosporine A and mycophenolic acid, corresponding to about 40% immunosuppression compared to the level of standard of care.In this trial, MIC therapy has proven clear superiority regarding rejection and side effects as compared to standard of care, said Dr. Matthias Schaier, CEO of TolerogenixX. Moreover, we have seen excellent kidney function in all patients, low protein excretion indicating structurally normal kidney grafts, and reduced side effects due to a reduction of immunosuppressive drugs.For patients, this translates into less medication, less side effects, and, most importantly, full recovery of a normal life, added Prof. Dr. Christian Morath, CSO of the Company. MIC treatment modulates the underlying functions of the immune system. With our personalized approach using a novel mode of action, we can achieve a specific and sustained immune tolerance. This approach can not only be applied to transplant recipients, but also to patients with autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.MIC production is fast, safe and effective. MICs are manufactured by TolerogenixX within 24 hours, using cells obtained by leukapheresis. Due to a standardized procedure, MIC production can be scaled up easily. It is planned to make MIC therapy available in Europe and beyond, said PD Dr. Anita Schmitt, CTO of TolerogenixX.TolerogenixX is preparing a Phase IIb trial in patients receiving kidney transplants from living donors, which is scheduled to start later this year and aiming at a conditional approval of MIC therapy in this indication. Starting in 2021, the Company is also planning a Phase Ib study in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.###About TolerogenixXTolerogenixX is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of novel, personalized therapies for autoimmune patients and transplant recipients. The Companys proprietary MIC (modified immune cells) treatment is designed to suppress unwanted immune responses in the body, thereby enabling a targeted, specific and sustained immune tolerance. While the current standard of care, i.e. traditional immunosuppression, is only addressing symptoms and has serious side-effects, MIC treatment is tackling the roots of immune responses and provides increased effectiveness, little or no side effects, significantly increased quality and length of patients lives as well as decisive cost advantages.TolerogenixX lead compound MIC-Lx has successfully completed a clinical Phase Ib trial in kidney transplant recipients, demonstrating sustained safety and tolerability after a single application while retaining normal immune responses.The Company was founded in 2016 and is based in Heidelberg, Germany.ContactTolerogenixX GmbHPD Dr. med. Matthias SchaierIm Neuenheimer Feld 162D-69120 Heidelberg/GermanyTel. +49 170 7704595akampionDr. Ludger We / Ines-Regina ButhManaging Partnersinfo(at)akampion.comTel. +49 40 88 16 59 64Tel. +49 30 23 63 27 68 Author: Ines-Regina Buth e-mail Web: http://www.akampioneer.com Phone: 030-23632768 11.05.2020 10:12:31 - Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact the author. Please do not contact Live-PR.com. We are not able to assist you. Live-PR.com disclaims content contained in this article. Live-PR.com is not authorized to give any information about content and not responsible for content posted by third party. Michigan chef Brian Polcyn, a professional chef since 1980, said that it took approximately 150 trial runs working with pork belly before his maple smoked bacon recipe was perfected. The recipe was a major reason why his 2005 book Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing (co-authored by Michael Ruhlman) has gone on to sell almost 300,000 copies by his latest estimate. Many online recipe sites and YouTube videos cite it as the primary source for bacon making. I approached the recipe from a chefs perspective, but wanted to do it in a way that was done with simple ingredients and the process was easy to understand, Polcyn said. Now, its bulletproof. If you go through the steps, you will make great bacon. Making your own bacon can change your life. I rank it up there with smoking a perfect brisket. Theres also a tremendous amount of satisfaction to giving away your finished bacon to friends and family. Bacon is the perfect starting point to understanding how the curing process works, said Joe Saenz, who opened his Swine House Bodega restaurant in downtown San Antonio in 2019. Its pretty hard to screw up, and even if you do a little bit, odds are good that you still end up with something delicious. On ExpressNews.com: Chucks Food Shack: Nows the perfect time to deep clean your grill, smoker The biggest impediment to making home bacon was acquiring the meat needed to do it, but thats not the case anymore, as pork belly has surged in popularity. Most meat cases now stock 4- to 5-pound slabs at prices that hover around $4 per pound. Thats right on par with the cost of the most commercially packaged bacon brands. After you have acquired the belly, the process is a simple mixture of salts, sugar and patience. Most cured bacon recipes call for the addition of pink curing salt, which contains sodium nitrite. Sodium nitrite is toxic when consumed at high levels, but in the amounts used to make bacon, its harmless. Curing salt kills botulism and does a lot more good than it will ever do bad, Saenz said. Outside of the curing salt and gallon-size freezer bags, the other ingredients needed to make bacon are probably already in your pantry. You can add additional flavor with sliced or chopped jalapenos or other spices, but for first-timers, I dont recommend straying from Polcyns recipe. On ExpressNews.com: Chucks Food Shack: Cook protein in bulk, then freeze it for future meals Polcynmethod takes seven-days in the refrigerator, flipping the bagged belly every other day for proper salt distribution throughout the meat. It should be firm to the touch through the bag. If you get anxious and dont give it a full week, it wont fully cure. And if you go much beyond 10 days, the meat will get too salty, Polcyn said. One week is also an easy time frame to remember. Make Saturdays or whatever your bacon day. Another benefit to bacon is that its a great way to put your smoker to use. The belly needs to cook to an internal temperature of 150 degrees, which takes about three hours in a smoker set from 200 to 225 degrees. Fruit woods and Texas favorites like oak and pecan work well. Im a big fan of using whatever is free, Saenz said. Any hardwood is going to give off that good smoky flavor. I think people can put too much thought into that (with bacon). Once the pork belly is finished in the smoker, its time to get your hands dirty. Slide a knife over the skin of the belly to remove it, cutting as little into the layer of fat as possible. Then, its up to you about how you choose to proceed. Finished belly bacon can be sliced while hot, but you can get cleaner slices if you allow it to cool for 30 minutes or so first. If you own a meat slicer, there is no better time to use it. A 5-pound slab will cook down to about 4 pounds when finished, and thats a lot. Bagged bacon can be frozen, but since it has gone through a curing process, it will still be good stored in the fridge for about two weeks. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing your work be valued. Its a pleasure, Polcyn said. You ask any real or true chef the whole point is to share. Thats how food movements happen. Recipe: Home Cooked Maple-Cured Smoked Bacon Chuck Blount is a food writer and columnist covering all things grilled and smoked in the San Antonio area. Find his Chuck's Food Shack columns on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.comTo read more from Chuck, become a subscriber. cblount@express-news.net | Twitter: @chuck_blount | Instagram: @bbqdiver Cairo: Today, the crime of increasing crime is causing panic and chaos in everyone's heart and mind, where every day some news comes in, due to which the atmosphere of fear increases in people. Everyday news of someone's death from somewhere or sometimes someone's suicide incident completely shakes people. People have died during a conflict in Sudan. According to Sudanese officials, three people have died and at least 79 others were injured in clashes between tribal groups in the east of the country. According to officials, the three deaths occurred on Sunday and all of them were members of the Bani Amer tribe. Corona Live: Death toll reached near 3 lakhs, more than 41 lakhs infected According to Kasala city governor Major General Mahmood Babekar, violence in Kasla first erupted between the Bani Amer tribe and the Nuba tribe on Thursday. Babekar said that clashes started again in the weekend. Many houses were set on fire even before the troops were deployed to restore security in the city. At least 59 people from both sides have been arrested. Tribal conflict has become a significant challenge to the government's efforts to end decades of rebellion in Sudan. The country is on a delicate path to democracy after the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir last year. Vice President of America isolated himself Kasla town is about 400 kilometers (250 mi) east of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Footage aired online shows dozens of people committing violence on the streets and burning houses. This violence has come to the fore in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic in the country. Sudan's health system has been weakened by decades of war and sanctions. In the country of 43 million people, 64 people have died due to coronavirus, while 1,164 people are infected. Tensions between the Bani Amer and Nuba tribes mainly for water as well as other resources began in May last year in the eastern city of Al-Qadrif, where seven people were killed. A fresh fight erupted again in August in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, killing more than three dozen people. U.S. approves new coronavirus antigen test with fast results Indore, May 12 : There was cheer with a 20-day-old baby girl conquering coronavirus to dispel the gloom over 171 new cases getting reported from across Madhya Pradesh on Monday. "A 20-day baby girl, a two-month old boy and an 18-month-old boy have been discharged from our Covid -19 ward in the last 15 days," senior pediatrician at the Choithram Hospital, Rashmi Shad, said on Monday. The 20-day-old infant is yet to be named and could probably be the youngest one in the country to beat the virus. The pediatrician said that 20 kids below two years of age have come out triumphant over coronavirus in the city, where 90 people have fallen prey to the dreaded virus. Shad said that the 20-day-old girl was admitted to the hospital on May 1. She was discharged on May 9. Shad said the little girl contracted the virus from her close kin. Surprisingly, her mother who stood by her side did not contract the disease, she said. "Eighteen kids below the age of two have won their battles against Covid-19 and returned home from our hospital in the last 45 days," said Ravi Dosi, head of chest disease department at the Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences' (SAIMS). Of these, eight kids were below six months and thrived solely on breastfeeding. Mothers who breastfed their infants wore masks and other protective equipment to keep the virus at bay. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) The Zam Zam and Victory restaurants along North Bridge Road. (PHOTO: Google Street View screengrab) SINGAPORE The former boss of the popular Zam Zam restaurant and his friend were jailed for conspiring to assault a rival restaurants supervisor on Monday (11 May). Zackeer Abbass Khan, 49, was jailed six years and given six strokes of the cane, while his long-time friend Anwer Ambiya Kadir Maideen, 50, was jailed five-and-a-half years. Zackeers lawyer Sarbrinder Singh said that his client would be filing an appeal. In passing the sentence, District Judge Mathew Joseph said, This case is a salutary and sad reminder that one should not allow the red mist of bitterness and anger to cloud ones better judgment. He noted that Zackeer had been a successful businessman in Singapore as seen by the success of Zam Zam restaurant. You should have known better, when anger and bitterness take centre stage the resulting consequences can be severe for both victim and perpetrators involved... there can be no place in our society for gratuitous violence arising out of mere business rivalry, the judge told Zackeer. Both Zackeer and Anwer had been involved in a dispute with the neighbouring Victory restaurant that culminated in the latters supervisor, Liakath Ali Mohamed Ibrahim, being slashed in the face by a secret society member hired by Anwer. The attack left Ali with a permanent scar on his right upper lip. Zackeer and Anwer were both found guilty of engaging in a conspiracy to cause grievous hurt to Liakath with a weapon. Zackeer was also convicted of one count of criminal intimidation. Anwer, a senior member of the Sio Ang Koon gang, also pleaded guilty on Monday to being a member of a secret society. Lawyers pleas Addressing the court via a video link, Deputy Public Prosecutor Claire Poh sought six years jail and six strokes of the cane for Zackeer and five years and seven months jail for Anwer. Mitigating for Zackeer, Singh argued that his client was not a mastermind as he would have been involved in every stage of the process. However, Zackeer did not know what knife was used, or provided any information on Ali, he said. Story continues DJ Mathew disagreed with Singhs assessment, stating that there was no standard formula for how a mastermind should work or what acts (Zackeer) should carry out to come within label of mastermind. It is quite clear that without Zackeer approaching Anwer, this whole transaction leading to the attack would not have taken place. It is quite clear that the mastermind is not less culpable simply because he did not get involved or in this case did not participate in actual attack, said the judge. Lawyer Peter Keith Fernando said on behalf of Anwer that his client had been an inactive gang member for a substantial period of time, and that the offence was not related to gang violence. Anwer had joined Sio Ang Koon, part of the 24 group, in 1990 and was ranked as a fighter. Fernando sought four years jail for the assault charge and two months jail for the secret society charge. (Anwer) is now a family man with a child to look after and has a business to run. Four years jail by itself is a devastating sentence on him and his young family. (Anwer) is the sole breadwinner with a seven-year-old adopted son, said the lawyer. The lawyer added that Anwers current business an Indian food stall was suffering due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding the offence, Fernando said that Anwer had initially refused to get involved but had contacted another man to carry out the attack after Zackeer insisted on it. Addressing the court himself, Anwer said that he was separated from his wife due to the court case and had lost custody of his son. He had also lost his job as a safety officer and his life savings. Anwer also blamed Zackeer, his friend of 20 years, for using him as a pawn and a shield to get his own malicious deeds done. He said that he was very remorseful for his actions and was also supporting an 87-year-old mother who has cancer. Rivalry with Victory Restaurant Anwer had offered $2,000 to fellow Sio Ang Koon member, Joshua Navindran Surainthiran, carry out the attack on the night of 26 August 2015. The incident took place at a bridge between Rochor Canal and Sungei Road. For his role, Joshua pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years jail and six strokes of the cane. Four others who were involved, Joshuas elder brother, Joel Girithiran Surainthiran, Ramge Visvamnathan, as well as Zam Zam employees Koleth Abdul Navas and Koleth Abdul Nasir, have all been dealt with by the court. Zackeer and Anwer were convicted on 6 March. At the time, District Judge (DJ) Mathew Joseph noted that this case was all about the intense competition between the two eateries. Business rivalry is a common occurrence. This is part of everyday commerce and has to be taken into stride. In the case of Victory and Zam Zam restaurant, both are household names in Singapore and, at the same time, their rivalry has gone on for almost 100 years. This is not surprising as murtabak is a very popular and tasty food item (that) is eaten at all time, day and night, in Singapore, said the judge. Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore Related story: Zam Zam Restaurant head and friend found guilty of conspiracy to slash Victory Restaurant rival PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-11 20:31:22 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 973 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / George Sookochoff, CEO/President of Belmont Resources Inc. (TSXV:BEA)(Frankfurt:L3L2) ("Belmont"), (or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a Definitive Agreement ("the Agreement"), dated May 7, 2020 with Forty Ninth Ventures Ltd. (the "Vendor") for the Company to acquire a 100% interest in the Vendor's right, title and interest in and to the Crown Granted Claims known as the "Athelstan-Jackpot Property", located in the Greenwood Mining Division, British Columbia.The terms of a non-binding Letter of Intent ("LOI") to acquire the Properties were announced on February 24, 2020 (refer to press release "Belmont Signs LOI to Acquire Athelstan-Jackpot Crown Grants In the Greenwood Gold Camp, B.C." posted under the Company's profile on SEDAR.The Athelstan-Jackpot acquisition is part of the Company's continued focus to acquire and develop strategic gold properties in the prolific Greenwood mining district.The Athelstan gold property ("Athelstan") comprises 10 contiguous crown granted mineral claims and a private parcel of land covering an area of approximately 120 hectares (ha) The claims are situated about 8 kilometres (km) northwest of the city of Grand Forks, B.C. and 3kms south east of the former Phoenix Mine which produced during the period 1900 - 1976, 27 million tonnes at a grade of 0.9% Cu and 1.12 g/t Au, from a number of different ore bodies (Church, 1986). This amounts to over 1 million ounces of gold and 500 million pounds of copper produced from the Phoenix deposit.Airborne Magnetic Survey Over Athelstan Claim Group.View Athelstan Map at: http://www.belmontresources.com/Athelstan-Airborne-Mag.jpg George Sookochoff, CEO/President commented, "The signing of the Agreement is an exciting milestone for the Company and enhances Belmont's strategy of consolidating properties with known historic gold-copper mines in the prolific Greenwood mining district." About the Athelstan PropertyThe Athelstan property was staked in the late 1890's, and was worked intermittently from 1901 through to 1940. The property has two past producing gold mines, Athelstan and Jackpot and total production during this period was in the order of 33,200 tonnes of direct smelting ore at an average grade of about 5.4 g/t Au (~6,324 ozs) and 6.3 g/t Ag (~7,378 ozs) (Minfile 082ESE047).More recently extensive exploration has been carried out in 2003 by Linda Caron, M.Sc., P. Eng. of Grand Forks who completed trench layout, geological mapping, soil and rock sampling.A detailed property scale geological mapping program was completed in 2004 again by Linda Caron, M.Sc., P. Eng. and detailed in an August 2004 Assessment Report authored by the same.The mandate of the program was to better understand the nature of mineralization, to understand the relationship between different zones of known mineralization, and to evaluate the potential for discovery of additional mineralization on the property.Belmont is currently compiling the extensive amount of both historic and recent exploration data from the Athelstan property into a GIS digital database.Three distinct styles of mineralization have been observed on the Athelstan property, one of which consists of low sulfidation epithermal quartz veinlets and silicification and it is the potential epithermal gold deposits that Belmont is particularly focused on in the Greenwood District.Predictive Epithermal Gold Deposit ModelingExploration and mining in the Greenwood Camp had primarily focused on copper skarn veins/deposits and less on gold. One reason may have been that the nearby Grand Forks smelter (the second largest in the world at the time) was readily available to process the copper in the region but wasn't necessarily equipped to efficiently extract the gold.In the past 20 years there have been significant gold discoveries just south of the border in Washington State. This area is known as the Republic mining district which has a rich history in gold production (4 million ounces of gold). Unlike the skarn deposits in Greenwood the gold deposits in Washington were epithermal in nature.Over the past years geologists in Washington State and in particular the Republic Graben have compiled an extensive database of information and modelling of epithermal gold deposits. This relatively new database provides valuable information on new geological modelling of epithermal gold deposits in Washington State and in delineating favorable areas for epithermal gold deposits as well as predicting areas of future exploration activity for similar deposits in Washington State.Belmont is utilizing these epithermal prediction models of the Republic Graben in Washington State and combined with the recently assembled comprehensive Greenwood Camp historic exploration database and the new Athelstan GIS database, are delineating favorable areas for epithermal gold deposits and predicting areas of future exploration activity for similar deposits in the Greenwood camp.The Greenwood-Republic Mining Districts.View Republic Mines Map at: www.belmontresources.com/Republic-Graben.jpg Definitive Agreement Between Belmont and Forty Ninth Ventures Ltd.Under the terms of the agreement, Belmont may acquire a 100% interest in the Athelstan-Jackpot Crown Grants by making certain staged cash payments and share payments of common shares in the capital of Belmont to the Vendor.a. On TSX Venture Exchange ("Exchange") approval; 200,000 common shares of Belmont Resources, subject to 4 months +1 day hold period from issuance date upon signing of a final agreement;b. After a period of one year from the signing of the final binding agreement a cash payment in the amount of US$50,000 plus an additional 200,000 common shares of Belmont Resources, subject to 4 months+1 day hold period from issuance date;c. Belmont will have the option to issue common shares valued at US$25,000 in lieu of the cash payment of $25,000 of the total US$50,000 cash payment (b)Share price will be determined by a 5 day trading average price preceding the one year option anniversary date.d. Upon Belmont acquiring 100% right, title and interest to the Property, the Owner will retain a 2.0% NSR (Net Smelter Royalty) in the property;e. Belmont will have the right to buy back 1% Rajesh Kumar Thakur By Express News Service "Be it Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar or any other CM, the first thing they should have done was forming a task force of health experts, economists and public representatives to deal with the corona crisis. Sharing this with Rajesh Kumar Thakur through an email interview, Bihars leader of Opposition Tejashawi Yadav said taking decisions merely on the advice of a handful of bureaucrats by ignoring public representatives fails to deliver the results. Excerpts: Bihar is battling against COVID-19 with increasing number of positive cases daily. How do you rate the response of the state to check it? Beyond front pages of newspapers, there is nothing but chaos and huge resentment among the general public because of the poor handling of this whole situation emerged on account of the outbreak of COVID-19 with ever-growing number of positives cases. The state preparedness to deal with this situation is not matching the requirements. Simply put, the response of the state has been haphazardous, which has only aggravated the misery and agony of our people and the slow testing rates have aggravated the problems. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar constantly changes his stand be it earlier on the CAA or now the migrants issue or whatever else issue has emerged. Does he lack foresightnesse or decisiveness, is beyond anyone's comprehension. If you were the CM of Bihar right now, what would you have done? Even in my capacity as LoP, many of the suggestions I made to the Bihar government were adopted by the central government and other state governments except Nitish Ji, who perhaps didnt work on them out of complex and feeling of being dwarfed by a young chap like me. That being said, the first thing any CM should have done was forming a task force of health experts, economists & public representatives to deal with this crisis. With their consultation, a proactive approach aimed at maintaining equilibrium between lives and livelihood should have been the single agenda for the government. All the time you cant take the decisions merely on the advice of handfuls of bureaucrats by ignoring public representatives, who have hands-on experiences and knowledge of actual ground realities. In future, if I am given the opportunity by the people, my actions will speak for themselves. As a leader of Opposition, are you not heard by the Bihar chief minister? If you assess the performances of last few years, Nitish ji has bluntly failed on the parameters of administration, communication and taking positive suggestions of opposition also. He asks himself, denies himself, urges himself and raises his hands to himself. His one-point agenda is to go opposite to the suggestions of opposition. I dont mind whether he listens to me or not but as I listen to the people, the people wholeheartedly listen to me reposing trust in us. Now, migrants and students are being brought and still you lambaste the state government. Why? It has become possible only because of the persisting demand of RJD to bring back the migrants and students. The state government was adamant to not bring them citing a bunch of flimsy reasons. When the RJD offered to arrange 2000 buses, the state government realised that the issue may soon be beyond their control as it started gaining peoples sentiment. So now the migrants and the students are being brought. But look at how they are being placed in quarantine and a number of them had escaped from Katihar just because of miserable conditions. As long as all the issues related to migrants and the poor people of the state are not sorted out, the RJD will never stop fighting against the governments inability and lack of willpower to redress the people problems. As the government claims that Bihar is the first state in the country to provide financial assistance to the migrants stuck outside. Are you satisfied with this initiative or find it true? A long duration of nationwide lockdown has elapsed but what the state government has done is like offering a small chocolate bar to a hungry person. With a peanut of one thousand rupees, do you think anyone can eat properly for the full duration of the lockdown, leave alone other things? Even this cash assistance could not be availed by majority of migrant labourers due to several anomalies like account should be of Bihar branches, photograph mismatch, aadhar seeding etc. Nitish Ji has a habit of premature hatching of eggs and taking its credit. On Kota issue, now the state govt after initial refusal, has started bringing the students and thousands of them have arrived till date. How as a responsible opposition, you view it? I was shocked and appalled to see how Nitish Ji had outrightly refused to bring back those young students from Kota. Setting aside politics for a moment, he himself is a father and should have emphatically thought what those children & their parents would be going through and should have started bringing them back much earlier. I relentlessly pursued this matter with the government, sought permission to bring them back on my own and even offered buses to the government for their transport when it surrendered citing lack of resources. Whatever is being done by the government has been possible just because of mounting efforts of the Opposition. If you observe Nitish jis politics, you will find up to what extent his coterie enjoys privileges. A pass to BJP MLA is only a hint to his exclusionary politics. He is discriminatory to common people always. All migrants should been have brought back to Bihar earlier in comfortable and safe transport. Do you support decision of state govt on the relaxations given to some sectors amid the lockdown? You see a country like us cannot afford to have a prolonged lockdown. Economic activity has to begin sooner or later. But the government must have a roadmap as to how it would allow activities to resume without allowing resurgence of this virus. This lockdown period gave us enough time to strategize on future course of actions which Bihar government seems to be not utilizing at all. Similar to what anti-virus software does to a computer, massive testing would have killed this coronavirus. But sadly Bihar remains one of the most under-tested states in the country. Are you satisfied with the pace of testing in Bihar? No, not at all. Testing continues to be very slow in Bihar. I have been demanding to ramp up testing from day one. Right from WHO to our epidemiologist, they have unanimously agreed to maximise testing. Bihar being the third most populous state in the country, the risk of the spread is higher than other states. Therefore, I once again request Bihar government to do massive testing which is when we will be able to defeat this killer virus. Did RJD help the migrants, who were stuck in other states? We were the first party to launch helpline to stranded labourers outside the state. The Bihar govt set up the helpline 5 days after us when people started questioning the govt. If you see my timeline on Twitter, we worked relentlessly to reach out to them and provide every possible assistance with the help of respective state governments, our state party units, personal contacts and local representatives. The numbers would be several lakhs but that not the question, we are happy to help them and are doing so even today. Politics for me is a medium to serve people and I am more than happy in doing so. The NDA always brands you of having escapist attitude from the scene whenever a problem for public in state has emerged like the AES outbreak in 2019 and now the Covid-19. What you have to say to them? What do you expect; JD-U leaders will praise me and my party for doing wonderful job of helping stranded migrants across the country with food, ration and money. They have nothing substantial to talk about their work and hence the accusation to hide their failures. They are defensive and pensive on our excellent accomplishments, carried out for fellow citizens. They are in power due to the robbery of mandate. Isn't it govts responsibility to fight this pandemic? It's their job to ensure nobody dies due to starvation and lack of medical care. Its their duty to rescue migrant labourers stranded outside the state. Savage personal attacks on me and my family might help them to save their skin but does not serve the interests of the state. Why do they think that is Tejashawi so capable that he should help and guide them always? This just justifies that Bihars opposition is so strong that they always feel the heat. Politically speaking, what would be the fate of NDA in the coming elections? NDAs political doomsday has started and fast approaching and be sure, the people have got fed up with its rhetoric based and backed politics. The peoples punishment will be so stringent in the elections to come that one will cite the result in the history of politics. The Uttar Pradesh government has replaced Agras Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in the wake of current Covid-19 situation prevailing in the city. Special Officer Dr. RC Pandey to take charge as Agra Chief Medical Officer with immediate effect, replacing Dr. Mukesh Kumar Vats. The decision has been taken considering the current situation prevailing in Agra due to spread of Covid-19, the order from state chief secretary Amit Mohan Prasad said. Uttar Pradesh reported five more coronavirus deaths on Sunday as 102 fresh cases surfaced, pushing the states infection tally to 3,467. So far, 79 people have died of the infection in the state. A health department official had said on Sunday that three deaths were reported from Agra and two from Meerut, the worst-hit districts in terms of fatalities. Till now, Agra has reported the maximum 24 Covid-19 deaths. Agra has so far reported 764 corona positive cases; 13 fresh cases were reported on Sunday. So far, 1,653 Covid-19 patients have been discharged after treatment while the count of the active cases in Uttar Pradesh stands at 1,753, according to state health department. Meanwhile, 12 inmates of the Agra Central jail tested positive for the deadly virus on Sunday night. We had sent 24 samples of prisoners for lab testing and out of these, 12 reported corona positive by the SN Medical College (SNMC). Now, fresh samples have been collected for lab testing at the National Jalma Institute for Leprosy, news agency IANS quoted Deputy Inspector-General (Prisons) Luv Kumar as saying. On Saturday, a 60-year-old convict of the Agra Central Jail, who was tested positive for corona, had died during treatment at the SN Medical College. The Covid-19 positive cases form the central jail have caused considerable worry for the health officials, indicating the possibility of community transmission in the prison which is now being sanitised. Senior Producers, Larger-Cap Near-Term Production Royalty & Streaming Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld Symbol Rating 8-May-20 (MM) (US$MM) 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2020E % Altius Minerals Corp ALS 1.8 C$8.73 42 $261 0.55 0.29 0.38 30.6 22.9 1.03 0.77 0.92 11.4 9.5 -- 1.6% Anglo Pacific Group PLC (UK) APF 1.6 GBP$1.60 181 $359 0.20 0.21 0.24 7.6 6.7 0.26 0.22 0.24 7.4 6.8 20.5 4.8% Franco-Nevada FNV 2.5 US$143.20 190 $27,199 1.82 2.21 2.49 64.8 57.5 3.29 3.64 4.21 39.3 34.0 54.9 1.0% Maverix Metals (CA) MMX 2.3 C$6.38 120 $547 0.09 0.12 0.17 54.7 37.1 0.25 0.31 0.36 20.5 17.7 -- 0.2% Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd OR 2.0 C$13.32 157 $1,507 0.28 0.30 0.43 44.1 31.1 0.61 0.69 0.87 19.2 15.3 55.3 1.6% Royal Gold Inc RGLD 2.9 US$136.43 66 $8,947 1.99 2.82 3.14 48.4 43.4 4.53 5.60 5.95 24.4 22.9 32.7 1.2% Sandstorm Gold Ltd (CA) SAND 2.3 US$7.99 190 $1,518 0.06 0.10 0.16 81.9 50.7 0.30 0.36 0.41 22.4 19.5 40.9 0.0% Wheaton Precious Metals WPM 1.9 US$43.42 448 $19,437 0.56 0.88 1.04 49.1 41.8 1.12 1.49 1.70 29.2 25.5 33.0 1.3% Average 47.7 36.4 21.7 18.9 39.5 Gold Large-Cap Gold Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd AEM 2.1 US$65.89 241 $15,899 0.96 1.33 2.31 49.4 28.6 3.70 4.29 6.14 15.4 10.7 19.7 0.9% AngloGold Ashanti Ltd AU 2.7 US$26.59 416 $10,923 0.91 2.10 2.64 12.7 10.1 2.50 3.56 4.16 7.5 6.4 8.2 0.5% Barrick Gold Corp ABX 2.2 US$27.38 1778 $48,687 0.51 0.78 0.91 35.3 30.0 1.61 2.43 2.55 11.3 10.7 15.5 1.1% Kirkland Lake Gold (CA) KL 1.8 US$42.93 277 $11,900 2.74 2.98 3.60 14.4 11.9 4.38 4.54 5.49 9.4 7.8 66.7 0.9% Newcrest Mining Ltd (AU) NCM 2.6 US$18.02 808 $14,487 0.79 0.93 1.00 19.4 18.0 1.75 1.79 1.93 10.1 9.3 11.3 1.1% Newmont Goldcorp NEM 2.1 US$64.55 803 $51,807 1.32 2.17 3.25 29.7 19.8 3.89 4.69 6.02 13.8 10.7 23.7 1.2% Polyus Gold International (UK) PGIL 1.7 RU$11,973.0 134 $21,737 769.61 1145.54 1252.19 10.5 9.6 1054.82 1278.73 1433.60 9.4 8.4 -- 2.3% Zijin Mining Group (HK) 2899 1.9 CNY$3.03 25377 $13,577 0.18 0.26 0.41 11.8 7.3 0.45 0.46 0.53 6.5 5.7 23.6 3.7% Average 22.9 16.9 10.4 8.7 24.1 Mid-Cap Gold Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld Symbol Rating 8-May-20 (MM) (US$MM) 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2020E % Alamos Gold AGI 2.2 US$8.29 391 $3,232 0.21 0.32 0.55 25.7 15.2 0.66 0.78 1.12 10.6 7.4 20.6 0.9% B2Gold Corp BTG 1.6 US$5.49 1040 $5,706 0.23 0.45 0.44 12.2 12.6 0.49 0.77 0.73 7.2 7.5 17.7 0.7% Buenaventura (ADR) BVN 2.9 US$8.43 254 $1,863 (0.05) 0.10 0.53 82.6 16.0 0.20 0.47 0.83 18.0 10.1 8.1 0.6% Centamin PLC (CA) CEE 2.0 US$2.06 1156 $2,394 0.07 0.14 0.12 14.5 17.6 0.16 0.21 0.20 10.0 10.3 5.3 4.8% Centerra Gold (CA) CG 2.1 US$9.24 294 $2,716 0.62 1.02 1.39 9.1 6.6 1.14 2.16 2.51 4.3 3.7 7.7 0.5% Endeavour Mining Corp (CA) EDV 1.8 US$19.77 110 $2,166 0.67 1.41 1.69 14.0 11.7 2.75 3.67 4.29 5.4 4.6 12.0 0.0% Equinox Gold Corp (CA) EQX 2.1 US$8.88 216 $1,910 (0.16) 0.85 1.33 10.4 6.7 0.53 1.35 1.97 6.6 4.5 -- 0.0% Evolution Mining Ltd (AU) EVN 2.5 AUD$5.39 1704 $5,966 0.18 0.27 0.30 19.7 18.2 0.45 0.57 0.58 9.4 9.3 13.7 3.4% Gold Fields Ltd (ADR) GFI 2.4 US$8.11 883 $7,234 0.20 0.49 0.94 16.7 8.6 1.08 1.31 1.81 6.2 4.5 7.3 0.8% Harmony Gold Mining Ltd HAR 2.5 ZAR$65.94 543 $1,925 3.76 7.22 9.36 9.1 7.0 10.05 15.22 17.70 4.3 3.7 9.1 0.0% Kinross Gold Corp KGC 2.3 US$7.03 1257 $8,839 0.34 0.52 0.58 13.5 12.2 0.97 1.20 1.32 5.8 5.3 12.0 0.0% Lundin Gold Inc (CA) LUG 2.2 US$8.62 224 $1,936 (0.10) 0.27 0.73 31.9 11.8 (0.10) 0.53 1.08 16.2 8.0 -- 0.0% Northern Star Resources (AU) NST 2.7 AUD$13.03 740 $6,262 0.41 0.80 1.03 16.3 12.7 0.81 1.30 1.55 10.0 8.4 20.6 1.3% NovaGold Resources Inc NG 2.0 US$11.47 329 $3,750 (0.09) (0.08) -- -- -- -- -- (0.03) -- -- -- 0.0% Polymetal International PLC (UK) POLY 2.0 US$20.32 472 $9,623 1.25 1.77 2.00 11.5 10.1 1.46 2.17 2.20 9.4 9.2 14.7 3.9% Saracen Mineral Holdings (AU) SAR 2.3 AUD$4.46 1103 $3,194 0.18 0.32 0.39 13.9 11.5 0.34 0.52 0.63 8.5 7.1 54.8 0.0% Sibanye Gold Ltd (SA) SGL -- ZAR$44.33 2670 $7,646 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- SSR Mining SSRM 2.0 US$18.12 123 $2,233 0.81 1.23 1.76 14.8 10.3 1.10 2.09 2.56 8.7 7.1 9.8 0.0% Yamana Gold Inc AUY 2.4 US$5.24 952 $4,980 0.35 0.17 0.25 30.1 21.2 0.55 0.66 0.76 8.0 6.9 9.4 1.4% Zhaojin Mining Industry Co Ltd (HK) 1818 1.9 CNY$8.47 3270 $3,916 0.15 0.28 0.34 30.3 25.2 0.78 0.60 0.74 14.2 11.5 21.7 0.5% Average 20.9 13.1 9.0 7.2 15.3 Note: Currency shown is that used by the company for financial reporting. Currency does not always reflect the country/market in which the company/stock symbol trades. GAAP may differ between stocks due to countries and markets. The tables are compiled from the Thomson Reuters database of consensus Ratings & Estimates of equity analysts. The historicals and estimates of earnings and cash flows exclude non-operating, special items. Thomson Reuters Rating System: Buy (1.0), Buy/Hold (2.0), Hold (3.0), Sell/Hold (4.0), Sell (5.0) Source: Thomson Reuters. Small-Cap Gold Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld Symbol Rating 8-May-20 (MM) (US$MM) 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2020E % Alacer Gold Corp (CA) ASR 2.1 US$5.88 295 $1,728 0.37 0.52 0.55 11.3 10.7 0.86 1.06 1.10 5.6 5.3 58.1 0.0% Belo Sun Mining (CA) BSX 2.0 C$0.97 450 $313 (0.02) (0.02) (0.03) -- -- (0.02) (0.02) (0.03) -- -- -- 0.0% DRDGold Ltd (ADR) DROOY 5.0 ZAR$17.97 865 $836 0.49 0.94 0.50 19.2 35.9 1.17 1.26 -- 14.3 -- 38.6 0.0% Dundee Precious Metals (CA) DPM 1.8 US$4.64 181 $839 0.19 0.59 0.66 7.8 7.0 0.55 1.07 1.30 4.4 3.6 11.3 0.6% Eldorado Gold Corp EGO 2.8 US$9.47 167 $1,546 0.04 0.88 0.59 10.8 16.0 0.93 2.21 1.84 4.3 5.1 11.7 0.0% Gold Resource Corp GORO 2.0 US$4.06 70 $284 0.09 0.18 0.18 23.2 23.2 -- -- -- -- 1.0% Gold Road Resources Ltd (AU) GOR 2.4 AUD$1.54 880 $880 0.01 0.10 0.10 15.1 14.9 0.04 0.16 0.16 9.7 9.9 -- 0.0% Golden Star Resources GSS 2.6 US$2.48 161 $275 0.16 0.23 0.46 10.6 5.4 0.21 0.75 0.87 3.3 2.8 7.3 0.0% Gran Colombia Gold Corp (CA) GCM 2.0 US$4.55 61 $277 0.73 1.33 1.22 3.4 3.7 1.24 1.57 1.65 2.9 2.8 -- 0.0% Great Bear Resources (CA) GBR 1.7 C$11.05 48 $380 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0.0% Hecla Mining Co HL 3.1 US$2.66 526 $1,399 (0.13) (0.02) 0.10 -- 25.9 0.25 0.28 0.43 9.6 6.2 7.8 0.5% Highland Gold Mining Ltd (UK) HGM 1.7 US$3.09 364 $1,129 0.45 0.32 0.38 9.7 8.1 0.38 0.49 0.51 6.4 6.1 9.0 6.2% Hochschild Mining PLC (UK) HOC 2.2 US$1.83 514 $943 0.09 0.09 0.17 20.9 10.6 0.55 0.39 0.61 4.7 3.0 3.2 0.9% Iamgold Corp IAG 2.5 US$3.72 470 $1,734 (0.04) 0.22 0.38 16.7 9.7 0.78 0.82 1.04 4.6 3.6 4.7 0.0% K92 Mining (CA) KNT 1.4 US$2.69 213 $572 0.12 0.24 0.35 11.1 7.6 0.13 0.29 0.42 9.2 6.3 -- 0.0% McEwen Mining Inc. MUX 2.0 US$0.98 400 $392 (0.17) (0.03) 0.04 -- 23.3 (0.11) (0.03) 0.01 -- NM -- 0.0% New Gold Inc NGD 2.7 US$1.02 676 $687 (0.08) (0.07) 0.05 -- 22.6 0.43 0.32 0.44 3.2 2.3 3.5 0.0% Oceanagold Corp (AU) OGC 2.2 US$1.78 622 $1,127 0.05 0.07 0.27 24.8 6.6 0.32 0.34 0.60 5.2 3.0 4.6 0.0% Orla Mining Ltd (CA) OLA 2.0 C$3.51 224 $562 (0.16) (0.09) 0.02 -- NM (0.14) (0.06) 0.00 -- NM -- 0.0% Osisko Mining Corp (CA) OSK 1.8 C$3.95 291 $826 (0.17) (0.05) (0.05) -- -- (0.01) (0.04) (0.04) -- -- -- 0.0% Pan African Resources (UK) PAF 1.0 US$0.17 1928 $324 0.02 0.04 0.05 4.1 3.5 0.03 0.04 -- 4.1 -- 11.7 1.0% Perseus Mining Ltd (AU) PRU 2.2 AUD$1.06 1168 $804 0.03 0.06 0.12 17.9 9.0 0.15 0.18 0.26 5.8 4.1 99.2 0.0% Petropavlovsk PLC (UK) POG 1.6 US$0.32 3310 $1,053 0.02 0.05 0.06 6.6 5.8 0.02 0.05 0.08 7.0 4.0 8.1 0.0% Premier Gold Mines Ltd (CA) PG 1.9 US$1.21 237 $288 (0.10) (0.04) 0.09 -- 12.9 0.11 0.06 0.31 20.0 3.9 5.6 0.0% Pretium Resources PVG 2.4 US$8.54 186 $1,579 0.55 0.58 0.77 14.8 11.1 1.21 1.28 1.47 6.7 5.8 -- 0.0% Ramelius Resources Ltd (AU) RMS 1.8 AUD$1.40 772 $702 0.06 0.10 0.14 13.9 10.0 0.23 0.26 0.29 5.4 4.8 12.8 0.8% Regis Resources Ltd (AU) RRL 2.4 AUD$4.76 508 $1,571 0.38 0.47 0.52 10.0 9.1 0.59 0.67 0.71 7.1 6.7 9.4 3.7% Resolute Mining Ltd (AU) RSG 2.0 AUD$0.95 1095 $676 0.02 0.15 0.23 6.4 4.2 0.15 0.21 0.30 4.6 3.2 -- 0.0% Roxgold Inc (CA) ROXG 2.0 US$0.93 372 $343 0.05 0.08 0.12 11.0 7.6 0.27 0.21 0.23 4.4 4.0 32.9 0.0% St Barbara Ltd (AU) SBM 2.3 AUD$2.61 703 $1,192 0.23 0.27 0.33 9.7 7.8 0.41 0.46 0.58 5.6 4.5 6.2 2.9% Sabina Gold & Silver Corp (CA) SBB 2.3 C$2.08 298 $446 (0.01) (0.01) (0.01) -- -- (0.01) (0.01) 0.01 -- NM -- 0.0% Seabridge Gold SA 2.0 C$20.19 64 $923 (0.19) (0.16) (0.12) -- -- (0.17) (1.40) (0.11) -- -- -- 0.0% Semafo (CA) SMF 2.0 US$2.81 334 $936 0.22 0.32 0.51 8.7 5.5 0.66 0.78 0.97 3.6 2.9 6.5 0.0% Silver Lake Resources (AU) SLR 2.4 AUD$1.96 880 $1,117 0.07 0.12 0.15 15.9 12.7 0.18 0.25 0.27 8.0 7.2 24.7 0.0% Silvercrest Metals Inc SILV 1.8 C$10.75 127 $983 (0.67) (0.13) (0.13) -- -- (0.62) (0.13) (0.09) -- -- -- 0.0% Teranga Gold Corp (CA) TGZ 1.6 US$7.68 168 $1,287 0.01 0.44 0.81 17.4 9.5 0.93 1.25 1.75 6.1 4.4 13.8 0.0% Torex Gold Resources (CA) TXG 2.0 US$13.62 86 $1,165 0.79 0.56 0.91 24.2 15.0 3.51 2.95 3.97 4.6 3.4 7.3 0.0% Victoria Gold Corp (CA) VIT 2.0 C$8.27 61 $362 -- -- -- -- -- -- (0.40) 0.18 -- 47.3 -- 0.0% Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd (CA) WDO 1.9 C$11.51 138 $1,141 0.29 0.49 0.91 23.5 12.6 0.51 0.77 1.17 15.0 9.9 90.9 0.0% West African Resources Ltd (CA) WAF -- AUD$0.26 871 $464 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0.04 -- 7.1 -- -- Westgold Resources Ltd (AU) WGX 1.3 AUD$2.12 400 $554 0.05 0.23 0.43 9.3 4.9 0.29 0.53 0.71 4.0 3.0 -- 0.0% Average 13.5 11.6 6.6 6.2 20.4 Select (Gold >US$20MM Mkt Cap) Gold Springs Resource Corp (CA)* GRC 2.0 US$0.06 249 $14 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0.0% Lion One Metals Ltd (CA)* LIO 1.5 C$1.26 118 $107 (0.02) (0.02) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0.0% Minera Alamos Inc (CA) MAI 2.0 C$0.42 408 $123 (0.01) 0.01 0.05 42.0 8.4 0.03 0.05 -- 8.4 -- -- 0.0% Northern Vertex Mining Corp (CA)* NEE 2.0 US$0.17 251 $41 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0.0% Paramount Gold Nevada Corp* PZG 1.8 US$1.18 28 $34 (0.21) (0.17) -- -- -- (0.19) (0.16) -- -- -- 0.0% Average 42.0 8.4 8.4 *includes research coverage by Scarsdale Equities. Note: Currency shown is that used by the company for financial reporting. Currency does not always reflect the country/market in which the company/stock symbol trades. GAAP may differ between stocks due to countries and markets. The tables are compiled from the Thomson Reuters database of consensus Ratings & Estimates of equity analysts. The historicals and estimates of earnings and cash flows exclude non-operating, special items. Thomson Reuters Rating System: Buy (1.0), Buy/Hold (2.0), Hold (3.0), Sell/Hold (4.0), Sell (5.0) Source: Thomson Reuters. Silver Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld Symbol Rating 8-May-20 (MM) (US$MM) 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2020E % Alexco Resource Corp* AXU 2.5 C$2.45 125 $219 (0.08) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0.0% Americas Gold & Silver Corp (CA) USA 1.8 US$2.36 95 $223 (0.46) 0.12 0.25 19.6 9.5 0.20 0.42 0.81 5.6 2.9 53.0 0.0% Coeur Mining Corp CDE 2.6 US$4.17 244 $1,016 (0.25) (0.02) 0.20 -- 20.9 0.42 0.53 0.84 7.9 5.0 6.1 0.0% Endeavour Silver Corp EXK 3.2 US$1.44 142 $204 (0.36) (0.00) 0.05 -- 29.9 (0.07) 0.17 0.25 8.4 5.8 5.7 0.0% First Majestic Silver Corp AG 2.8 US$8.27 210 $1,728 0.04 0.15 0.23 53.6 35.7 0.69 0.40 0.81 20.7 10.3 15.4 0.0% Fortuna Silver Mines FSM 2.4 US$3.27 160 $525 0.17 0.21 0.52 15.5 6.3 0.63 0.45 1.04 7.2 3.1 7.4 0.0% Fresnillo (UK) FRES 2.9 US$8.42 737 $6,226 0.23 0.25 0.42 33.1 20.1 0.59 0.93 0.99 9.1 8.5 6.7 2.3% MAG Silver Corp MAG 1.8 US$12.10 87 $1,044 (0.05) 0.01 0.46 NM 26.2 (0.04) 0.10 0.58 NM 20.9 -- 0.0% New Pacific Metals Corp (CA) NUAG 2.7 C$6.48 148 $686 (0.02) (0.02) (0.03) -- -- (0.02) (0.02) (0.03) -- -- -- 0.0% Pan American Silver PAAS 2.5 US$22.36 210 $4,693 0.78 0.57 1.54 39.0 14.5 1.40 1.84 2.99 12.1 7.5 17.4 1.0% Silvercorp Metals Inc SVM 2.0 US$4.15 173 $717 0.21 0.20 0.21 20.8 19.8 0.43 0.37 0.39 11.3 10.5 -- 0.4% Average 30.3 20.3 10.3 8.3 16.0 *includes research coverage by Scarsdale Equities. Platinum Group Metals African Rainbow Minerals (SA) ARI 2.1 ZAR$131.93 223 $1,585 27.48 27.09 22.64 4.9 5.8 16.23 18.19 23.92 7.3 5.5 27.0 8.6% Anglo American Platinum Ltd (SA) AMS 2.9 ZAR$976.70 270 $14,171 70.61 100.59 122.51 9.7 8.0 107.94 85.03 200.26 11.5 4.9 26.5 2.2% Impala Platinum (SA) IMP 2.1 ZAR$108.33 799 $5,074 10.00 21.56 24.21 5.0 4.5 16.32 34.34 42.62 3.2 2.5 31.0 0.9% Northam Platinum Ltd (SA) NHM 1.7 ZAR$88.30 510 $2,422 4.94 14.16 16.08 6.2 5.5 11.79 22.47 31.28 3.9 2.8 64.9 0.0% Average 6.5 5.9 6.5 3.9 37.3 Base Metals & Diversified Large-Cap Base Metals Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld Symbol Rating 8-May-20 (MM) (US$MM) 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2020E % Anglo American PLC (UK) AAL 2.3 US$18.13 1363 $24,717 2.70 1.86 2.46 9.7 7.4 5.97 4.47 5.64 4.1 3.2 5.9 3.8% Antofagasta PLC (UK) ANTO 2.9 US$9.96 986 $9,856 0.51 0.15 0.46 64.5 21.7 2.12 1.31 1.45 7.6 6.9 8.3 2.8% BHP Billiton Ltd BHP 2.3 US$20.50 5058 $96,009 1.81 1.71 1.63 12.0 12.5 3.22 2.94 2.93 7.0 7.0 6.9 5.5% China Molybdenum Co Ltd (HK) 3993 2.2 CNY$2.27 21599 $10,368 0.09 0.08 0.11 29.8 19.9 0.08 0.16 (0.10) 13.9 -- 44.2 1.4% Freeport McMoran C&G FCX 2.1 US$9.21 1452 $13,373 0.02 (0.10) 0.94 -- 9.8 1.02 1.06 2.45 8.7 3.8 6.4 2.2% Glencore International PLC (UK) GLEN 2.3 US$1.83 13324 $24,496 0.18 0.08 0.16 23.3 11.3 0.63 0.60 0.55 3.1 3.4 5.7 0.0% Grupo Mexico (MX) GMEXICOB 2.4 US$2.24 7785 $17,141 0.29 0.14 0.21 16.2 10.6 0.51 0.30 0.30 7.6 7.4 7.6 8.6% Hindustan Zinc (IN) HZ 2.1 INR$175.30 4225 $9,774 17.33 16.37 17.25 10.7 10.2 20.86 20.97 22.72 8.4 7.7 5.2 0.0% MMC Norilsk Nickel (RU) GMKN 2.0 RU$5,429.84 158 $43,105 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16.5 10.7% Rio Tinto PLC (UK) RIO 2.6 US$46.05 1618 $77,420 6.36 4.83 4.46 9.5 10.3 9.15 7.48 7.16 6.2 6.4 6.9 2.7% Southern Copper Corp SCCO 2.4 US$34.45 773 $26,632 1.92 1.42 1.92 24.2 17.9 2.47 2.43 2.74 14.2 12.6 14.3 5.7% Vale SA (ADR) VALE 2.0 BRL$48.84 5284 $44,274 5.01 6.56 7.64 7.4 6.4 10.56 11.07 11.36 4.4 4.3 8.9 3.2% Average 20.7 12.6 7.7 6.3 11.4 Note: Currency shown is that used by the company for financial reporting. Currency does not always reflect the country/market in which the company/stock symbol trades. GAAP may differ between stocks due to countries and markets. The tables are compiled from the Thomson Reuters database of consensus Ratings & Estimates of equity analysts. The historicals and estimates of earnings and cash flows exclude non-operating, special items. Thomson Reuters Rating System: Buy (1.0), Buy/Hold (2.0), Hold (3.0), Sell/Hold (4.0), Sell (5.0) Source: Thomson Reuters. Mid-Cap Base Metals Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld Symbol Rating 8-May-20 (MM) (US$MM) 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2020E % Assore Ltd (SA) ASR 3.3 ZAR$317.35 140 $2,384 52.53 41.90 35.62 7.6 8.9 -- 18.27 27.33 17.4 11.6 12.2 7.7% Aurubis AG (GR) NDA 2.5 EUR$50.66 45 $2,467 3.14 3.51 4.14 14.4 12.2 5.58 5.86 6.66 8.6 7.6 6.6 2.3% Boliden AB (SW) BOL 2.3 SEK$199.00 274 $5,549 21.15 17.08 20.56 11.7 9.7 34.52 36.92 38.73 5.4 5.1 6.0 3.9% Exxaro Resources Ltd (SA) EXX 1.8 ZAR$112.65 359 $2,174 29.62 24.40 23.59 4.6 4.8 (9.28) 23.52 25.68 4.8 4.4 9.4 10.9% First Quantum Minerals (CA) FM 2.0 US$6.38 689 $4,401 0.36 (0.48) 0.14 -- 44.5 1.29 1.79 2.07 3.6 3.1 13.7 0.1% Iluka Resources Ltd (AU) ILU 2.3 AUD$7.30 423 $2,004 0.66 0.59 0.81 12.5 9.0 0.76 0.95 1.11 7.7 6.6 -- 1.4% Independence Group NL (AU) IGO 1.8 AUD$4.54 591 $1,742 0.21 0.30 0.34 14.9 13.5 0.70 0.79 0.78 5.7 5.9 15.7 2.2% Ivanhoe Mines Ltd (CA) IVP 2.1 US$2.00 1198 $2,393 0.02 (0.59) 0.59 -- 3.4 (0.01) (0.04) 0.20 -- 9.9 -- 0.0% Jiangxi Copper Co "H" (HK) 358 2.5 CNY$6.70 3463 $5,120 0.70 0.57 0.74 11.8 9.0 1.75 1.09 1.39 6.2 4.8 13.0 1.0% Kazakhmys PLC (UK) KAZ 2.3 US$5.12 472 $2,419 1.17 0.70 0.83 7.3 6.1 1.04 1.27 1.17 4.0 4.4 22.3 1.7% KGHM Polska Miedz (PO) KGH 3.5 PLN$77.00 200 $3,664 7.11 5.44 8.84 14.1 8.7 25.24 14.99 17.01 5.1 4.5 4.7 0.0% Lundin Mining Corp (CA) LUN 2.0 US$4.55 734 $3,329 0.22 0.09 0.44 51.3 10.4 0.77 0.66 1.09 6.9 4.2 6.6 0.0% Mineral Resources Ltd (AU) MIN 1.8 AUD$17.00 188 $2,081 1.35 1.59 1.35 10.7 12.6 1.40 1.88 1.95 9.1 8.7 7.9 3.3% Oz Minerals (AU) OZL 1.9 AUD$8.69 324 $1,829 0.51 0.29 0.76 30.3 11.5 1.58 1.10 1.69 7.9 5.1 7.7 2.2% Sesa Sterlite Ltd (ADR) SSLT 2.4 INR$77.40 3089 $3,155 14.73 10.97 13.20 7.1 5.9 50.56 39.63 42.77 2.0 1.8 3.3 3.8% South32 Ltd (AU) S32 2.1 US$1.21 4846 $5,822 0.12 0.07 0.11 18.6 10.8 0.28 0.23 0.26 5.2 4.6 3.1 2.2% Sumitomo Metal Mining (JP) 5713 2.0 JPY$2,715 291 $7,403 226.17 175.73 227.71 15.5 11.9 378.82 392.01 442.91 6.9 6.1 10.1 3.5% Teck Resources Ltd TCK 2.2 C$12.74 531 $4,872 2.75 0.71 2.09 17.9 6.1 6.16 3.62 5.83 3.5 2.2 4.1 1.9% Vale Indonesia Tbk PT (ID) INCO 2.2 US$0.21 9936 $2,050 0.01 0.01 0.01 34.1 20.6 0.01 0.02 0.02 10.4 8.7 12.7 0.0% Vedanta Resources PLC (UK) VED -- US$10.85 285 $3,089 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Average 16.7 11.6 6.7 5.7 9.4 Small-Cap Base Metals Adriatic Metals PLC (AU) ADT 1.7 GBP$0.68 309 $256 (0.02) 0.01 0.31 NM 2.2 (0.02) 0.01 NM -- -- 0.0% Atalaya Mining PLC (UK) ATYM 1.3 EUR$1.31 137 $194 0.27 0.11 0.45 12.2 2.9 0.27 0.12 0.30 11.4 4.4 12.3 0.0% Eramet (FR) ERA 2.2 EUR$29.38 27 $848 (6.93) (3.76) 3.25 -- 9.0 3.24 8.63 13.56 3.4 2.2 6.2 0.0% Ero Copper Corp (CA) ERO 2.1 US$11.49 86 $986 0.94 0.80 1.23 14.4 9.4 1.40 1.44 1.93 8.0 6.0 -- 0.0% Hudbay Minerals HBM 2.6 US$2.51 261 $657 (0.20) (0.51) 0.01 -- NM 1.19 0.75 1.19 3.3 2.1 2.8 0.4% Kenmare Resources (UK) KMR 1.8 US$2.61 110 $286 0.40 0.25 0.85 10.5 3.1 0.69 0.32 6.10 8.2 0.4 51.4 2.6% Mitsui Mining & Smelting (JP) 5706 2.6 JPY$2,071 57 $1,117 88.59 157.01 231.89 13.2 8.9 622.22 698.89 776.60 3.0 2.7 5.8 2.4% MMG Ltd (HK) 1208 2.7 US$0.18 8055 $1,445 (0.01) (0.00) 0.01 -- 22.1 0.14 0.09 0.14 2.0 1.2 11.3 0.0% Nexa Resources NA NEXA 3.3 US$4.31 133 $575 (0.03) (0.95) (0.10) -- -- 0.93 1.06 1.84 4.0 2.3 -- 6.5% Northern Dynasty Minerals NAK 2.5 C$1.15 437 $359 (0.19) (0.16) -- -- -- (0.06) -- -- -- -- -- 0.0% Outokumpu (FN) OUT1V 2.8 EUR$2.46 416 $1,110 (0.20) (0.16) 0.25 -- 9.9 0.90 0.49 0.60 5.0 4.1 7.5 0.0% PolyMet Mining Corp PLM -- US$0.26 1006 $259 (0.08) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Sandfire Resources NL (AU) SFR 2.1 AUD$4.22 178 $488 0.54 0.54 0.59 7.9 7.1 1.46 1.65 1.47 2.6 2.9 2.8 3.5% SolGold PLC (UK) SOLG 1.5 US$0.32 1923 $612 (0.01) (0.00) (0.01) -- -- (0.00) 0.00 0.00 -- -- -- 0.0% Trilogy Metals Inc TMQ 2.2 US$1.74 141 $247 (0.20) (0.09) -- -- -- (0.16) -- -- -- -- 0.0% Turquoise Hill Resources TRQ 3.0 US$0.51 2012 $1,023 0.23 (0.01) 0.13 -- 3.9 (0.01) (0.08) 0.17 -- 3.0 6.1 0.0% Volcan Cia Ninera VOLABC1 3.0 US$0.10 4077 $1,856 (0.02) 0.01 0.01 7.9 8.2 -- -- -- -- -- 9.2 0.0% Western Areas NL (AU) WSA 2.1 AUD$2.13 274 $379 0.11 0.19 0.20 11.4 10.8 0.41 0.45 0.44 4.7 4.9 6.5 1.0% Average 11.1 8.1 5.0 3.0 11.1 Note: Currency shown is that used by the company for financial reporting. Currency does not always reflect the country/market in which the company/stock symbol trades. GAAP may differ between stocks due to countries and markets. The tables are compiled from the Thomson Reuters database of consensus Ratings & Estimates of equity analysts. The historicals and estimates of earnings and cash flows exclude non-operating, special items. Thomson Consensus Rating System: Buy (1.0), Buy/Hold (2.0), Hold (3.0), Sell/Hold (4.0), Sell (5.0) Source: Thomson Reuters. Aluminum Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld Symbol Rating 8-May-20 (MM) (US$MM) 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2020E % Alcoa Inc AA 2.6 US$8.07 186 $1,500 (0.99) (1.25) (0.19) -- -- 3.70 2.57 2.72 3.1 3.0 3.6 0.0% Alumina Ltd AWC 2.4 US$1.00 2880 $2,852 0.11 0.06 0.06 17.3 16.0 0.13 0.08 0.05 12.1 18.9 3.8 5.3% Aluminum Corp China Ltd (ADR) ACH 2.5 CNY$1.47 17023 $6,064 0.04 0.04 0.08 35.6 17.8 0.73 0.69 0.64 2.1 2.3 13.3 0.0% Century Aluminum CENX 2.8 US$4.84 89 $433 (1.35) (0.51) (0.24) -- -- 0.20 0.13 0.63 37.2 7.7 22.5 0.0% United Company Rusal Ltd (HK) 486 2.3 US$0.35 15193 $5,293 0.08 0.09 0.10 3.7 3.4 0.11 0.08 0.08 4.1 4.5 7.7 0.0% Average 18.9 12.4 11.7 7.3 10.2 Iron Ore Cliffs Natural Resources CLF 2.9 US$4.82 399 $1,921 1.05 (0.52) 0.32 -- 15.0 1.98 0.06 1.34 74.9 3.6 10.9 2.7% Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AU) FMG 2.9 US$7.86 3079 $24,074 1.22 1.15 0.78 6.9 10.1 1.62 1.57 1.19 5.0 6.6 6.2 9.4% Kumba Iron Ore Ltd (SA) KIO 3.4 ZAR$363.33 322 $6,296 50.73 45.28 38.71 8.0 9.4 85.20 64.52 55.43 5.6 6.6 6.3 11.2% Labrador Iron Ore Royalty (CA) LIF 2.1 C$19.95 64 $914 3.21 2.60 2.37 7.7 8.4 3.51 2.31 2.28 8.7 8.7 13.9 7.4% Mount Gibson Iron Limited (AU) MGX 2.7 AUD$0.63 1158 $470 0.10 0.09 0.09 7.3 6.8 0.08 0.14 0.19 4.4 3.3 16.2 4.2% Average 7.5 10.0 19.7 5.8 10.7 Fertilizers CF Industries CF 2.5 US$29.03 214 $6,207 2.31 1.54 1.88 18.8 15.5 6.79 5.48 5.81 5.3 5.0 14.7 4.4% Compass Minerals CMP 2.3 US$46.75 34 $1,585 1.90 2.90 3.58 16.1 13.1 4.71 6.77 9.03 6.9 5.2 10.1 7.5% Incitec Pivot Ltd (AU) IPL 2.5 AUD$2.19 1613 $2,295 0.11 0.16 0.19 13.9 11.2 0.28 0.37 0.40 6.0 5.5 8.0 1.4% Intrepid Potash IPI 3.0 US$1.06 131 $139 0.10 (0.01) 0.00 -- -- 0.38 0.29 0.28 3.7 3.9 -- 0.0% Israel Chemical (IS) ICL 2.4 US$3.61 1280 $4,610 0.37 0.30 0.40 12.0 9.1 0.77 0.45 0.55 8.1 6.6 6.8 3.9% K & S Aktiengesellschaft (GR) SDF 2.9 EUR$5.66 191 $1,173 0.46 (0.11) 0.51 -- 11.2 3.34 2.38 2.32 2.4 2.4 7.7 0.4% Mosaic Co MOS 2.4 US$11.91 379 $4,514 0.19 0.20 0.88 60.4 13.5 2.85 2.49 3.37 4.8 3.5 8.2 1.8% Nutrien Ltd NTR 2.0 US$35.51 569 $20,191 2.17 1.85 2.39 19.1 14.8 6.29 5.57 5.09 6.4 7.0 -- 5.2% Sociedad Quimica Minera (ADR) SQM 3.2 US$23.15 263 $5,870 1.06 1.14 1.42 20.3 16.2 1.62 1.83 2.00 12.7 11.6 8.7 4.6% Yara International ASA (NO) YAR 1.8 US$33.11 272 $9,021 3.09 3.15 3.78 10.5 8.8 7.00 6.24 6.86 5.3 4.8 7.7 5.4% Average 21.4 12.6 6.1 5.6 9.0 Coal Large - Mid Cap Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld Symbol Rating 8-May-20 (MM) (US$MM) 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2020E % Adaro Energy TBK (ID) ADRO 3.2 US$0.07 31986 $2,189 0.01 0.01 0.01 6.5 6.5 0.03 0.02 0.02 3.3 3.4 3.5 4.2% China Coal Energy Co (HK) 1898 2.3 CNY$1.82 13259 $5,983 0.47 0.39 0.41 4.7 4.5 1.55 1.00 1.35 1.8 1.3 10.7 4.6% China Shenhua Energy Co (HK) 1088 2.2 CNY$12.32 19890 $42,848 2.10 1.85 1.87 6.7 6.6 3.17 3.04 3.29 4.1 3.7 4.5 9.3% Consol Energy CNX 2.0 US$10.70 187 $2,002 0.60 0.51 0.47 21.0 22.6 5.12 3.47 3.78 3.1 2.8 8.0 0.0% Yancoal Australia Ltd YAL 3.0 AUD$10.00 1320 $2,114 0.69 0.29 0.33 34.5 30.3 -- -- -- -- -- -- 11.4% Yanzhou Coal Mining Co Ltd (HK) 1171 2.6 CNY$5.41 4906 $4,991 1.91 1.41 1.42 3.8 3.8 3.58 2.51 3.23 2.2 1.7 16.4 9.3% Average 12.9 12.4 2.9 2.6 8.6 Small Cap Alliance Resource Partners LP ARLP 2.3 US$3.36 127 $427 3.07 0.07 0.41 48.0 8.2 1.22 1.37 1.90 2.5 1.8 1.7 19.8% Arch Coal Inc ARCH 2.2 US$32.58 15 $493 12.58 (0.15) 8.70 -- 3.7 24.26 9.84 20.28 3.3 1.6 -- 6.4% Banpu Public Co Ltd (TH) BANPU 3.1 US$0.17 5162 $878 0.01 0.02 0.03 8.6 6.2 0.08 0.05 0.06 3.2 2.8 14.3 5.0% Fushan Int'l Energy Group (HK) 639 2.3 HK$1.57 5302 $1,074 0.22 0.23 0.22 6.9 7.0 0.37 0.38 0.42 4.1 3.7 6.0 10.2% Natural Resource Partners LP NRP 2.0 US$12.63 12 $155 6.40 6.25 6.45 2.0 2.0 10.69 10.58 5.28 1.2 2.4 2.9 9.0% New Hope Corp Ltd (AU) NHC 2.6 AUD$1.41 832 $762 0.26 0.17 0.16 8.2 8.9 0.34 0.30 0.25 4.8 5.5 10.2 8.0% PT Tambang Batubara Bukit (ID) PTBA 2.8 IDR$2,060 11521 $1,584 371.00 292.63 295.60 7.0 7.0 383.90 330.18 330.66 6.2 6.2 6.0 0.0% Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AU) WHC 2.3 AUD$1.75 1026 $1,163 0.32 0.12 0.18 15.1 9.5 0.59 0.33 0.42 5.3 4.1 5.3 5.5% Average 13.7 6.6 3.8 3.5 6.6 Note: Currency shown is that used by the company for financial reporting. Currency does not always reflect the country/market in which the company/stock symbol trades. GAAP may differ between stocks due to countries and markets. The tables are compiled from the Thomson Reuters database of consensus Ratings & Estimates of equity analysts. The historicals and estimates of earnings and cash flows exclude non-operating, special items. Thomson Reuters Rating System: Buy (1.0), Buy/Hold (2.0), Hold (3.0), Sell/Hold (4.0), Sell (5.0) Source: Thomson Reuters. Uranium Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld Symbol Rating 8-May-20 (MM) (US$MM) 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2019 2020E 2021E 2020E 2021E 2020E % Cameco Corp CCJ 2.2 C$14.97 396 $4,241 0.10 0.05 0.04 NM NM 1.33 0.74 0.72 20.2 20.8 9.7 0.7% Denison Mines DNN 2.3 C$0.60 597 $257 (0.03) (0.02) (0.01) -- -- (0.03) (0.03) (0.02) -- -- -- 0.0% Energy Resources Australia (AU) ERA 4.0 AUD$0.17 3691 $408 0.01 0.00 0.00 -- -- (0.19) 0.02 0.00 8.5 -- 24.7 0.0% Nexgen Energy Ltd (CA) NXE 1.7 C$1.97 360 $510 (0.04) (0.08) (0.06) -- -- (0.04) (0.04) (0.03) -- -- -- 0.0% Uranium Participation Corp (CA) U 2.1 C$5.12 138 $506 0.01 0.41 0.26 12.6 20.0 (0.03) (0.05) (0.04) -- -- -- 0.0% Average 12.6 20.0 14.4 20.8 17.2 Note: Currency shown is that used by the company for financial reporting. Currency does not always reflect the country/market in which the company/stock symbol trades. GAAP may differ between stocks due to countries and markets. The tables are compiled from the Thomson Reuters database of consensus Ratings & Estimates of equity analysts. The historicals and estimates of earnings and cash flows exclude non-operating, special items. Thomson Reuters Rating System: Buy (1.0), Buy/Hold (2.0), Hold (3.0), Sell/Hold (4.0), Sell (5.0) Source: Thomson Reuters. Commodity Prices Cash Price (8-May-20) Silver ($15.48 / oz) Palladium ($1800 / oz) Platinum ($767 / oz) Aluminum ($0.66 / lb) Cobalt ($13.38 / lb) Copper ($2.37 / lb) Lead ($0.73 / lb) Molybdenum ($9.09 / lb) Nickel ($5.56 / lb) Tin ($6.94 / lb) Zinc ($0.91 / lb) WASHINGTON Amid the upheaval caused by the coronavirus epidemic, the 2020 election season heats up Tuesday with the first competitive House special elections since the pandemic began with contests in California and Wisconsin that will produce two new members of Congress. Republicans have high hopes of winning both races, keeping the Wisconsin seat in GOP hands and winning back a California seat they lost to the Democrats in 2018. But the ongoing uncertainty around the virus and the new realities of social distancing restrictions have driven many voters to cast mail-in ballots, a process that has created more uncertainty than usual and more unpredictability given that special elections historically draw lower voter participation. And as the unknown trajectory of the virus threatens to also disrupt the fall campaign season and Novembers elections as well, Tuesdays races could provide a possible roadmap for campaigning in the coronavirus era. "The dynamics right now are setting up for the biggest shift in how campaigns are run since the advent of early voting," said Matt Gorman, the former communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. "Being able to motivate voters to go out to the polls, chase absentee and mail-in ballots and just overall get an accurate picture of turnout is going to be very instructive for the fall." Image: Mike Garcia (Michael Blood / AP file) The special election in Californias 25th District pits Democratic state Assemblywoman Christy Smith against a former Navy pilot, Republican Mike Garcia. The Los Angeles-area seat had been in GOP hands for years, but President Donald Trump lost the district by 7 points in 2016, a harbinger for Democrat Katie Hills victory two years later over the GOP incumbent, Steve Knight. In 2019, Hill abruptly resigned from Congress amid an ethics investigation over an allegedly inappropriate relationship with a staffer and after some news organizations published nude photos of her without her consent. Story continues The special election called to fill her seat became even more unpredictable when just over two weeks after the March 3 special primary, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, issued a stay-at-home order that transformed both daily life and campaigning. Smith and Garcia say their campaigns initially focused on helping connect voters with needed information and services, shifting away from traditional in-person campaigning. Im a handshaking candidate, Smith told NBC News. There is no meaningful substitute for that person-to-person contact in earning a voters trust and support. This campaign has been hardened by fire and unorthodox environments, Garcia said in an interview in March. Now the race is being conducted almost entirely by mail because of Newsoms executive order requiring all voters to receive a mail-in ballot a practice that the state has promoted in previous elections, but has prompted concerns in the past. The simmering tensions over mail-in ballots exploded over the weekend after the decision to add an in-person polling place in Lancaster, a city with a significant minority population. Trump blasted the move on Twitter, arguing it was proof of Democrats' moving for a rigged election. And Garcia questioned the timing of the decision after polling places had already been publicized. But Democrats countered by pointing out that the mayor of Lancaster, a Republican, supported adding the center, as well as to concerns about not having a voting center in such a diverse area of the district. While the pandemic has flipped the notion of traditional campaigning upside down, some parts of the election still look familiar, albeit with a coronavirus twist. Republicans are trying to cast Smith as too liberal for the swing district, focusing on votes she took in the state legislature to raise taxes. And Democrats are trying to tie Garcia as being close to Trump, saddling him with the criticism over the federal governments response to the pandemic. The race has drawn some big endorsements. On the right, Trump endorsed Garcia, repeatedly stoking fears about dishonesty regarding mail-in ballots despite no evidence that the method results in high rates of fraud. Smith garnered support from both former President Barack Obama and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. But another high-profile appearance proved more controversial. Hill aired a TV spot in the district in which she donned a mask and called on voters to vote like their lives depended on it. That was probably not completely welcomed by Democrats," said Rob Pyers, research director at the nonpartisan California Target Book, which tracks elections in the state. Regardless of who wins, Smith and Garcia will face off again in November for the right to take over the seat in 2021. In Wisconsins 7th Congressional District, a seat Trump won by 20 points in 2016, Democrat Tricia Zunker and Republican state Sen. Tom Tiffany are vying for the seat vacated by GOP Rep. Sean Duffy, who resigned citing his childs health complications. If she wins, Zunker would be Wisconsin's first Native American woman elected to Congress. After Aprils primary elections were marred by a last-minute debate over the safety of in-person voting, Tuesdays election is expected to be smoother as many voters are casting absentee ballots. Image: Tricia Zunker (T'xer Zhon Kha / Wausau Daily Herald via AP file) Handicappers believe the GOP will easily hold the historically Republican seat, and the partys combined effort has outspent Zunker on the airwaves. Zunker though, argues that the pandemic could propel support for Democratic causes like the push for affordable health care. The pathway to a new president starts with our win on May 12, she said. Tiffany, however, said that the president who has endorsed him remains a real force in the district and that together they can get the economy back to prosperity. Though past special elections have become top news stories, these races have been overshadowed by the virus, and winners may not get significant publicity bounces. And experts say that Tuesdays results, particularly in California, dont guarantee a November repeat because of the unusual circumstances compounding already-unforeseeable election outcomes. I dont think we can draw larger partisan conclusions from the upcoming specials because they are so unique and specials dont always predict which way the wind is blowing, Dave Wasserman, the House editor for the Cook Political Report, told NBC. He added that Novembers elections will be more of a referendum on the president since hell be on the ballot. Another factor is the Democratic cash advantage. Both sides have spent in relative parity but Democratic campaigns have largely outraised their Republican rivals so far this cycle with the California race as an exception potentially making it even less of a bellwether, according to Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Democrats are defending their vulnerable seats with incumbents, and those incumbents (in many instances) have giant money edges over their top Republican rivals, Kondik said. Credit: Cushing/Whitney Medical Library One of the haunting images of this pandemic will be stationary cruise shipsdeadly carriers of COVID-19at anchor in harbours and unwanted. Docked in ports and feared. The news of the dramatic spread of the virus on the Diamond Princess from early February made the news real for many Australians who'd enjoyed holidays on the seas. Quarantined in Yokohama, Japan, over 700 of the ship's crew and passengers became infected. To date, 14 deaths have been recorded. The Diamond Princess's sister ship, the Ruby Princess, brought the pandemic to Australian shores. Now under criminal investigation, the events of the Ruby Princess forced a spotlight on the petri dish cruise ships can become. The ship has been linked to 21 deaths. History shows the devastating role ships can play in transmitting viruses across vast continents and over many centuries. Rats in the ranks Merchant ships carrying rats with infected fleas were transmitters of the Plague of Justinian (541-542 AD) that devastated the Byzantine Empire. Ships carrying grain from Egypt were home to flea-infested rats that fed off the granaries. Contantinople was especially inflicted, with estimates as high as 5,000 casualties a day. Globally, up to 50 million people are estimated to have been killedhalf the world's population. The Black Death was also carried by rats on merchant ships through the trade routes of Europe. It struck Europe in 1347, when 12 ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina. Subsequently called "death ships," those on board were either dead or sick. Soon, the Black Death spread to ports around the world, such as Marseilles, Rome and Florence, and by 1348 had reached London with devastating impact. The people of Tournai bury victims of the Black Death. Credit: Wikimedia Commons The Italian writer, poet and scholar, Giovanni Boccaccio, wrote how terror swept through Florence with relatives deserting infected family members. Almost inconceivably, he wrote, "fathers and mothers refused to nurse their own children, as though they did not belong to them." Ships started being turned away from European ports in 1347. Venice was the first city to close, with those permitted to enter forced into a 40-day quarantine: the word "quarantine" derives from the Italian quarantena, or 40 days. By January 1349, mass graves proliferated outside of London to bury the increasing numbers of dead. Army and naval ships, as well as travelers around the globe, also carried cholera pandemics throughout the 19th century. In the first pandemic in 1817, British army and navy ships are believed to have spread cholera beyond India where the outbreaks originated. By the 1820s, cholera had spread throughout Asia, reaching Thailand, Indonesia, China and Japan through shipping. British troops spread it to the Persian Gulf, eventually moving through Turkey and Syria. Subsequent outbreaks from the 1820s through to the 1860s relied on trade and troops to spread the disease across continents. At war with the Spanish Flu The Spanish influenza of 1918-1919 was originally carried by soldiers on overcrowded troop ships during the first world war. The rate of transmission on these ships was rapid, and soldiers died in large numbers. One New Zealand rifleman wrote in his diary in September 1918: The SS Port Darwin returned from Europe, docked at Portsea, Victoria. Soldiers are waiting to pass through a fumigation chamber to protect Australia against the Spanish Flu. Credit: Australian War Memorial "More deaths and burials total now 42. A crying shame but it is only to be expected when human beings are herded together the way they have been on this boat." The flu was transmitted throughout Europe in France, Great Britain, Italy and Spain. Three-quarters of French troops and over half of British troops fell ill in 1918. Hundreds of thousands of US soldiers traveling on troop ships across the Atlantic and back provided the perfect conditions for transmission. The fate of cruising A new and lethal carrier in the 21st century has emerged in the pleasure industry of cruise ships. The explosion of cruise holidays in the past 20 years has led to a proliferation of luxury liners plying the seas. Like historical pandemics, the current crisis shares the characteristic of rapid spread through ships. The unknown is in what form cruise ships will continue to operate. Unlike the port-to-port trade and armed forces that carried viruses across continents centuries ago, the services cruise lines offer are non-essential. Whatever happens, the global spread of COVID-19 reminds us "death ships" are an enduring feature of the history of pandemics. Explore further Italy closes ports to cruise ships This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. T he government has been accused of "shambolic" communication after Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab appeared to contradict Boris Johnson by saying that workers who cannot work from home should return to work on Wednesday. Mr Raab also said on Monday morning that restaurants and pubs across the UK will not open until July 4 at the very earliest. During an address to the nation on Sunday evening, Boris Johnson said the stay home slogan would be altered to urge Brits to instead stay alert, adding that workers who cannot work from home should start travelling to work from Monday. Mr Raab took to the airwaves today to give further clarity to the exit plan, but appeared to contradict the Prime Minister. He told Sky News: "Were saying in relation to the existing guidelines that if you can work from home you still should, but for those who cant work from home, thinking particularly the construction and manufacturing sectors, we are encouraging them to go back to work actively now. Mr Raab said you could meet your parents 'at a social distance' / Sky News "That wont start until Wednesday. There will be guidance out, weve been working with the employers to make sure it can be done in a safe way. "This is the first step in the road map over the next weeks ahead as we transition out from the current restrictions and protect life, but also protect peoples livelihoods and get back as close as we reasonable responsibly can to our way of life. "Its the first step and well proceed with maximum conditions, maximum monitoring. But I think its right and we can do so in a sure-footed way." After Dominic Raab indicated that people would not be expected to go back to work until Wednesday, shadow business secretary Ed Miliband tweeted: The PM didnt say workplace changes applied from Wednesday. "He said And the first step is a change of emphasis that we hope that people will act on this week. "Wednesday was only mentioned in relation to other changes. Words matter. Clarity is essential. This is shambolic. Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan also weighed in, asking how many lives the government's poor communication would cost. Wuhan students return to school after Coronavirus 1 /9 Wuhan students return to school after Coronavirus AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images REUTERS REUTERS AFP via Getty Images Asked when pubs and restaurants could reopen, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky News: I just dont think we are ready yet, given where we are with the virus. There are three steps, theres the modest changes we are announcing which will take effect from Wednesday. Theres the other changes for things like non-essential retail, and people going back to school, particularly primary school, which wont start until the earliest on June 1 subject to conditions. And then, starting from July 4 at the very earliest, those are the sectors where they are just inherently more difficult because people are mixing together and its difficult to maintain the social distancing we wouldnt be able to say, based on the advice we get, and the monitoring we do, that we would start them at least until July 4. Boris Johnson told those who could not work from home to go back to work this week / Reuters Dominic Raab also said that, under the new lockdown rules, people can meet different family members separately on the same day while maintaining social distancing. He told BBC Breakfast: If youre out in the park and youre two metres apart, were saying now, and use some common sense and you socially distance, you can meet up with other people. The key thing is people want to get outdoors, particularly with this weather, particularly I think for mental health and, frankly, the frustration people feel if theyre cooped up for too long for protracted periods. We want to make sure that that people can enjoy the outdoors more but people must stay alert, because the more we do some of the things that we want to do, the more we need to just be careful about this social distancing. Asked if someone could meet their mother in the morning and their father in the afternoon, he said: Outside in the outdoors, staying two metres apart, yes. The government announced on Sunday the gradual resumption of passenger train services from this week even as authorities laid down guidelines for factories that are reopening with the easing of lockdown norms in certain areas. Meanwhile, a new study suggested that the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, might have originated from a recombination of coronaviruses in bats and pangolins. Trains to restart tomorrow, bookings open online today The Indian Railways will resume passenger services gradually with trains to 15 destinations from May 12, the government announced on Sunday, green-lighting the operations close to two months after it stopped them as part of a strategy to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Read more India sees biggest jump in new coronavirus cases but recoveries hit 20,000 The number of people who have so far recovered after contracting the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the country crossed 20,000 on Sunday, with a recuperating rate of 31.2%, or about one in every three patients, even as the number of infections of Sars-CoV-2 crossed 67,000. Read more Covid-19: What you need to know today Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting chief ministers of states for the fifth time in 51 days on Monday. Theres exactly a week to May 17, a date that can be called either the end of the first phase of Indias graded exit from the lockdown, or the extension of the second phase of the lockdown but with the easing of some restrictions. Read more Guidelines for factories to resume operations safely The first week in which factories reopen after the national lockdown must be used as a trial period in which safety protocols are ensured and high production targets are not set, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said in detailed guidelines issued on Sunday. Read more Ensure adherence to guidelines: Govt to states ahead of PM meet The Centre told states on Sunday to ensure strict adherence of containment zone guidelines and clear demarcation of the areas with coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases, adding that they should not let any relaxation of the national lockdown lead to chaos, a development that came a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis meet with chief ministers. Read more CBSE charts plan to hold remaining exams The logistics seem daunting. Hundreds of thousands of students appearing for a test, the need to make sure social distancing norms are observed in these days of the coronavirus disease and students and invigilators get safely to the examination centres. Read more Central teams chart Covid plan with states, flag gaps The Centre has sent at least 50 health and disaster response teams to various states since March when cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) started rising to assist state governments in managing cases and containing the spread of infection. Read more Migrant workers battle stigma, bias back home Migrant workers returning from Indias industrial states are battling stigma and bias in their home villages in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha because local residents suspect that the labourers are potential carriers of the coronavirus disease, or Covid-19 . Read more New rise in Covid infections raises fears of a second wave New clusters of coronavirus infections are igniting concerns about a second wave even as calls grow in some countries to relax restrictions even further. Read more Govt sends aid to Indian Ocean states India has despatched a warship with two medical teams and medical supplies to help authorities in the Maldives, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles combat Covid-19, symbolising the importance attached by New Delhi to its maritime neighbourhood. Read more 25 Chinese items may face extension of dumping duty India may extend anti-dumping duties and safeguards on more than two dozen Chinese goods ranging from calculators and USB drives to steel, solar cells and Vitamin E amid concern that a flood of imports would kill domestic manufacturers who will lose duty protection soon against such products , two officials aware of the development said. Read more One man, 8 profiles and an elaborate hoax Sameer Chaturvedi woke up on April 1 to a raft of WhatsApp messages. His college friends were discussing the paucity of ventilators to treat Covid-19. On his extended family group, relatives were blaming people who attended a religious congregation in New Delhi for the outbreak. Read more Regulator approves first trial of lab-grown antibody drug The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Sunday approved the first multi-centric trial of Tocilizumab in India after the second-line drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis emerged as a treatment option for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Read more ICMR develops test kit to detect Covid antibodies The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has developed Covid Kavach ELISA, a test kit for detection of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) antibodies, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan announced on Sunday. Read more Covid may have originated from recombined bat, pangolin coronaviruses A new study has suggested that the Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, might have originated from a recombination of coronaviruses in a bat and pangolin. The findings strengthen the theory that pangolins could be the intermediate host for transmission of Sars-CoV-2 to humans. Read more Tripura BJP MLA and former health minister Sudip Roy Barman requested Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb to blacklist the companies or traders who allegedly provide substandard Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits to the state government. Almost two weeks ago, Roy Barman wrote to the chief minister about alleged embezzlement of government funds estimated to be around Rs 39.28 lakh to procure kits to prevent spreading of coronavirus. The state received about 9,000 PPE kits of different categories. Of these, only 914 PPE kits supplied by HIL were found to be appropriate while the rest were found to be permeable to liquid, as alleged by Roy Barman. He also alleged that the goggles procured by the state was not so much protective for eyes and a 500 ml hand sanitiser bottles VENTIZ CLEAR ALL were found to have only 57.68 per cent alcohol, that is much less than the required. ....these substandard PPE kits & component articles of PPEs, the frontline soldiers are bound to be vulnerable to the Virus & requested him to purchase kits conforming to the standards laid by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. I would also request you to blacklist those companies/ traders who have provided such substandard materials, his letter read. He also alleged of improper disbursement of the funds allocated by the state government for the Tripura people stranded in other parts of the country. ....there are a huge number of stranded persons in actual who have not received single farthing assistance to date in spite of fulfilling all formalities. It is a matter of concern that it is not clear as to what mechanism has been adopted by the State Government to ascertain the genuineness of the claims made & reimbursement made to that effect, said Roy Barman in the letter. The state government on May 5 launched a WhatsApp number where the people could lodge their complaints regarding any corruption. States that are reopening their economies even as cases of Covid-19 are still rising are threatening their own residents and the whole country. But they are also running into two challenges that all states will face: Employees dont want to return to work if they fear exposure to coronavirus on the job, and employers dont want to get sued if their workers or customers end up sick. Both concerns are reasonable, and both could further cripple the economy unless Congress steps in. Its essential that companies take actions that protect their employees, yet they are getting little federal guidance in what exactly that means. Even those that take every conceivable precaution, however, will face unprecedented liability concerns that could paralyze investment and prevent them from rehiring workers they may have laid off or furloughed. To protect employees, the federal government should outline exactly what safeguards companies should be taking at a minimum and at the same time, offer a legal safe harbor to those that adopt and follow them. We know that workplaces are potential hotbeds for coronavirus. By early April, more than 9,000 American health-care workers had already come down with Covid-19. At least 170 meat-processing plants had outbreaks as of Friday, infecting 11,500. Clerks and cashiers have been similarly hard hit. As the world returns to work, those numbers will surely worsen. Meanwhile, hundreds of lawsuits related to the virus have already been filed, targeting schools, cruise lines, retailers and more. Class-action suits from customers or tort-law claims from workers could impose a heavy burden on companies at a time when theyre struggling to stay afloat and when bankruptcy would mean even more job losses and even higher unemployment. On a nationwide scale, these suits could impose a significant economic cost, create persistent uncertainty for businesses, impede needed investment and potentially cause production bottlenecks in industries that are essential to the countrys recovery. Congress must act, and soon. Creating a safe-harbor arrangement that incentivizes employers to take specific steps will help ensure workplaces are safe. To qualify, companies could be required to provide employees with protective equipment such as masks and gloves and take other important precautions against inflection, such as disinfecting workplaces, offering flexible sick-leave policies, and imposing social-distancing measures on workers and customers. Businesses that fail to follow the specified guidelines could still be held liable in court. Both employees and businesses would benefit from this arrangement. Workers would have better protections, safer conditions and a legal recourse if their employer acted negligently. Companies acting in good faith could feel more confident opening their doors. And by adopting best practices and changing social norms for the better, they would help slow the spread of the virus. Congress should also consider additional steps to help workers and businesses. For instance: Lawmakers should establish a public fund for employees in critical industries, similar to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, to help them if they get sick on the job. Congress should also consider a more expansive unemployment-insurance program for workers who are at especially high risk for coronavirus, and allow companies to offer tax-free bonuses hazard pay for those who need to be on site during the crisis. With so many small businesses now in danger of closing, Congress should offer tax benefits or other relief to help them defray the costs of taking protective measures. It should also amend health-privacy laws that might prohibit employers from verifying if workers had been infected, assessing whether theyre at elevated risk on the job, or tracing their contacts within the workplace. Those laws, though well-intentioned, are now potentially quite dangerous. Until a vaccine is discovered, produced and available to all, these kinds of common sense measures will be necessary to protect American workers and to help American businesses survive, hire employees and get our economy moving again. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Lawsuits LOS ANGELES, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A half a century ago, a young high school dropout with several arrests, a boy-turning-man who grew up in a broken, impoverished home with 11 siblings in a bad neighborhood, and who as a child needed braces just to walk, joined the Marines to straighten his life out and serve his nation proudly during the Vietnam War. He exorcised some ghosts there. His dad was convicted of being a deserter in another war. When he returned, he knew what he wanted to become. Al Moreno had to overcome all types of obstacles to become a rookie cop at age 29. He went on to become a highly-honored hero in his seven-year stint with the Los Angeles Police. He has owned and run a successful private security company for the past 35 years. He is also the author of a powerful new book, In L.A.'s Last Street Cop (Highpoint Lit; May 4, 2020). In his insightful and story-filled book that reads like a Hollywood film, Moreno reveals the honor, courage, strength, and conviction needed to carry out a job that put his life and the lives of others on the line every day. He learned from his military service what it means to be a patriot, to serve and protect, and to defend the American dream. "My war-time experiences helped prepare me for policing America's streets, and taught me about the discipline, hard work and determination needed to survive," says Moreno. "It also taught me about the sanctity of life." He was one of three Moreno family members that enlisted military service. "The Moreno family had warriors in Vietnam from 1967 to 1971," he says. "My brothers, Art and Tony, were 11 Bravos in the Army infantry, and both were awarded Purple Hearts and Bronze Stars for valor. Tony was wounded and nearly died from his wounds." Moreno earned a reputation as a cop who bent over backwards to avoid deadly police shootings, even when the interactions with the bad guys would have justified such actions. "Lethal violence is a last-resort tactic," says Moreno. "We want to stop crime and bring people to justice." Indeed, Moreno believes that police officers don't always get the respect and praise they deserve. Nor do soldiers. He hopes that this coming Memorial Day all citizens will pause to honor the heroism and sacrifice of those who fought to defend our nation abroad and within its streets. For more information, please consult: www.laststreetcop.com. SOURCE Al Moreno Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2020) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today released an updated roster of the executive staff of Chairman Jay Clayton, including several individuals who have recently joined the office. Chairman Clayton's executive staff is responsible for advising the Chairman on all matters before the Commission, working closely with agency staff, and helping the Chairman perform all day-to-day operations needed to fulfill the SEC's mission. "The women and men in the Chairman's office have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to advancing the SEC's mission, particularly during these challenging times," said Chairman Jay Clayton. "Their diverse backgrounds, wide ranges of experience, and dedication, together with that of my fellow Commissioners and our 4,500 talented colleagues, have allowed the agency to continue our important work on behalf of Main Street investors." Below is a full list of Chairman Jay Clayton's executive staff as of May 2020. Sean Memon Chief of Staff Bio Bryan Wood Deputy Chief of Staff Bio Kristene Blake Director of Administration Bio Aleah Borghard Senior Advisor to the Chairman Aleah Borghard is the lead advisor to the Chairman on matters involving the Division of Enforcement and assists on other regulatory and policy matters. Ms. Borghard joined the SEC in 2015, previously serving as an investigative attorney in the Division of Enforcement and as Counsel to the Co-Directors of Enforcement. Prior to joining the SEC, Ms. Borghard practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, specializing in government investigations and securities litigation. Ms. Borghard earned her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Alan Cohen Senior Policy Advisor to the Chairman Bio Matthew Cook Senior Advisor to the Chairman Matthew Cook advises the Chairman on matters involving the Division of Investment Management and the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis. Since joining the agency in February 2017, Mr. Cook has worked in the Division of Investment Management and advised on key rulemaking initiatives, including the Commission's interpretation of the fiduciary standard under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, proposed amendments to the Advisers Act's advertising rule, and the Volcker Rule. Previously, he was a senior associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. Mr. Cook earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.A. from Colgate University. Jeffrey Dinwoodie Chief Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor for Market and Activities-Based Risk Bio Sharon Freeman Program Support Specialist Bio Peter Frans Gimbrere Senior Advisor to the Managing Executive Peter Gimbrere advises the Managing Executive of the Agency on staffing, personnel, labor, employment, and other operational matters. He has served in the Chairman's Office since September of 2019. Mr. Gimbrere joined the SEC in 2015 and served in several roles in the Office of Human Resources, including as an Attorney Advisor on workforce and labor relations matters. Before joining the SEC, Mr. Gimbrere served as Chief Negotiator at the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Gimbrere earned his J.D. from University of Pittsburgh School of Law and a B.A. in international affairs from George Washington University. Sebastian Gomez Abero Senior Advisor to the Chairman Bio Kelly Halferty Special Assistant Bio Kimberly Hamm Chief Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor Bio Manisha Kimmel Senior Policy Advisor on the Consolidated Audit Trail Bio John Moses Managing Executive Bio Awilda Santiago Correspondence Coordinator Bio Kay Smith Senior Advisor to the Chairman Bio Natalie Strom Communications Director Bio Nancy Sumption Senior Advisor to the Chairman for Cybersecurity Policy Bio More snow on the way in Pennsylvania; here's how much to expect Lori Van Buren/Times Union NEW SCOTLAND Ballston Spa National Bank, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York and the Voorheesville School District will conduct a contactless drive-through food pantry distribution beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, May 15, at the Clayton A. Bouton High School parking lot, 432 New Salem Road in Voorheesville, for area families and individuals in need of food. Want to read or share more good news and ways to help? Join our new Facebook group. Iranian military says missile hit support ship in friendly-fire incident, killing at least 19 sailors and wounding 15. At least 19 sailors were killed and 15 wounded after an Iranian missile fired during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman struck a support vessel near its target. The friendly fire accident happened on Sunday near the port of Jask, about 1,270km (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman, a statement on the armys website said on Monday. On Sunday afternoon, during an exercise by a number of the navys vessels in Jask and Chabahar waters, the Konarak light support vessel had an accident, it said. The missile struck the Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, which was taking part in the manoeuvres. At least a navy sailor has been killed & several injured in a naval accident on a light Iranian vessel in the Gulf of Oman on Sunday pic.twitter.com/2del4M6ZMw ISNA International (@Isna_Int) May 11, 2020 State television said the Konarak had been putting targets out in the water for other ships to fire on when it was hit. Irans Moudge-class frigate Jamaran accidentally hit the Konarak ship with a missile during the exercise, Irans semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The bungled training exercises raised new questions about the readiness of the Islamic Republics armed forces amid heightened tensions with US, just months after they accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran, killing 176 passengers. It also comes soon after a tense naval encounter between Iranian and US forces in the nearby Gulf. Iranian media said the Konarak had been overhauled in 2018 and was able to launch sea missiles. The Dutch-made, 47-metre (155-foot) vessel had been in service since 1988. It was not immediately clear how many crew members were on board the warship at the time of the accident. Turkeys Anadolu news agency reported as many as 40 crew members were on board the Konarak. Anadolu said the incident had been blamed on human error, citing sources in Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iran regularly holds exercises in the Gulf of Oman, which is closed to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Gulf, through which 20 percent of the worlds oil passes. Iranian media rarely report on mishaps during its exercises, highlighting the severity of the incident. Iranian vessels towed the Konarak to a nearby naval base after the strike. A photograph released by the army showed burn marks and damage to the vessel. Credibility damaged It appeared the sailors may have been firing Noor anti-shipmissiles during the exercise, said Reed Foster, a senior analyst at Janes. He said a replacement for the vessel will likely take years to come into service and was a blow to the navy that also has seen a destroyer sink in the Caspian Sea in January 2018. Perhaps the greatest impact to the Iranian military and government is that this is the second high-profile incident in less than half a year where mistakes in missile targeting have resulted in significant loss of life, Reed said. He added the friendly fire incident damages the credibility of claims by the Iranian military and government that the country can develop sophisticated defensive weapons despite international sanctions. The US Navys5th Fleet, which monitors the region, did not respond to a request for comment. US-Iran tensions The incident also comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States. Relations between the two foes have deteriorated sharply since 2018 when US President Donald Trump withdrew his country from a 2015 nuclear deal between key world powers and Iran. Washington then reimposed sanctions on Tehran, crippling its economy. The animosity deepened in early January when the US assassinated top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. Iran retaliated on January 8 by firing missiles at bases in Iraq where US troops were stationed. On the same day, Irans armed forces shot down a Kyiv-bound Boeing 737 passenger jet over Tehran, killing all 176 people on board. The military admitted to the catastrophic error, saying it came as Irans air defences were on high alert after firing the barrage of missiles at American targets in Iraq. In April, the US accused Iran of conducting dangerous and harassing maneouvres near American warships in the northern Gulf. Iran also had been suspected of briefly seizing a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker just before that. Analysts have warned regional tensions likely will increase again. This week also marks the anniversary of attacks on oil tankers near the strait that the US blamed on Iran. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 17:51:49|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Washington has been mounting its smear campaign against China to combat the wave of criticism of incompetence it faces over the coronavirus fight, like a drowning man clutching at a straw. Following a flurry of false charges against China, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently set its targets on China's medical supply trade and transparency of anti-COVID-19 polices, a politically motivated frame-up aiming to pass the virus buck to Beijing amid its own failure. China has never concealed its COVID-19 outbreak from the international community. Starting on Jan. 3, several days after China's local authorities detected cases of pneumonia of unknown cause, Beijing has been regularly informing the World Health Organization, and other countries and regions including the United States about the outbreak and sharing with them its scientific research findings and experience. The DHS's accusation that China intentionally stockpiled medical supplies "by both increasing imports and decreasing exports" is ridiculous, because the report's conclusion is based on the analysts' ill intentions instead of facts. Yahoo News quoted Daniel Hoffman, a retired senior intelligence officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, as saying that "it's trade data. That's not going to answer the question of China's strategic intent," while Nate Snyder, a former DHS counterterrorism official, said "I'm not sure what this product is trying to prove aside from finding convenient open sources to point the finger further at China." Production and export reduction in China is always expected in the first two months each year when the Lunar New Year holiday disrupts manufacturing to allow time for workers to travel home. This year, the dual pressure posed by the unexpected contagious disease outbreak and the extended holiday made China's manufacturing, including production of medical equipment, hit a record low. When China took unprecedented measures to lock down cities in order to prevent and control the outbreak at home, it experienced a brief under-supply of medical equipment. China's sacrifice bought precious time for other countries to fight the virus. As soon as its domestic production gradually resumed, China has been providing as much support to other countries in need within its capacity. From March 1 to May 6, China exported anti-epidemic supplies to 194 countries and regions, according to China's Ministry of Commerce, despite a huge domestic demand for medial supplies to guard against a virus rebound. In the same period, customs data showed that China also provided more than 6.6 billion masks, 344 million pairs of surgical gloves, 44.09 million sets of protective gowns, 6.75 million pairs of goggles and nearly 7,500 ventilators to the United States. The buck-passing strategy by some U.S. politicians cannot hide reality: It is Washington that squandered the time bought by China and undermined international efforts against COVID-19 by imposing export bans on medical supplies. In April, 3M, a major U.S. mask manufacturer, said that the U.S. administration had required it to halt exporting U.S.-made N95 respirator masks to Latin America and Canada. Washington was also accused by Berlin of "modern piracy" after it diverted shipments of masks intended for the German police and outbid others for medical supplies. With the absurd mindset of "always blame China," some U.S. politicians have been recklessly shifting blame of their poor performance amid the COVID-19 outbreak and grabbing political gains. However, a lie remains a lie though told 1,000 times, and Washington's blame game will fool no sober minds. TELEMMGLPICT000202632191.jpeg Boris Johnson has ditched soft justice plans to let criminals out of prison six months before the halfway point in their sentences after the threat of a backbench rebellion.. Robert Buckland, the Justice Secretary, decided at the weekend to abandon plans that would have let offenders sentenced to fewer than four years in prison to be released 45 days earlier than planned. The changes - which would have extended an early release scheme first brought in by Labour - would have meant that a prisoner on a two year term would have been freed after just six months and allowed to stay at home under a home detention curfew. However, a source said that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) had reviewed the plans and decided they were not needed given the reduction in the prison population during the coronavirus pandemic. Some 3,000 fewer prisoners are being held in jails. When it was decided to go ahead with the scheme, it was based on prison projections from September which pre-dates the coronavirus pandemic. With the prison population falling, there is no need for it, said the source. Conservative MP Philip Davies, said new Tory MPs who won former Labour seats at December's election had been furious about the changes. He told The Telegraph last week: "Extending Labours disastrous early release scheme for prisoners so that someone sent to prison for 2 years can be released after just 6 months is unjustifiable, betrays our voters - especially those blue collar voters in our red wall seats - and flies in the face of what we told voters in the recent general election. This has nothing to do with coronavirus but the Ministry of Justice is using the fog of coronavirus to sneak through under the radar something that no self-respecting Conservative could possibly support." Kabul/IBNS: The head of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) has said Talibans relations with other terrorist groups 'continue to be close and mutually beneficial which is against the spirit of the peace agreement the group had signed with the United States'. The Talibans leadership is still thinking of a comeback to power by military means. They do not value things like mutual tolerance and peace, the NDS chief Ahmad Zia Saraj told Afghan senators during a briefing about the security situations of the country on Sunday as quoted by Tolo News. Acting Minister of Interior Massoud Andarabi said Taliban will fail to win on battlefield. We will prevent the Talibans wish to settle the problem through military means, Andarabi was quoted as saying by the news portal. According to NDS chief Saraj, since March the Taliban has conducted over 220 attacks and the group still has ties with terror groups. Officials from the Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that Pakistan and Iran are trying to disrupt the security situations in Afghanistan, Tolo News reported. There is nothing to keep in secrect, it's a crystal-clear fact that Pakistan kills us on a daily basis, general Yasin Zia, the deputy Minister of Defense told the news portal. After nearly 19 years of hostilities, the United States signed a peace deal with Taliban which came after months of negotiations between the representatives of the two sides in Doha in February. The peace deal was signed by US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Mullah Brother of the Taliban. The deal requires the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners by the start of the talks, in a prisoner exchange for 1,000 government soldiers held by the Taliban. However, on April 7, 2020 the Taliban officially withdrew from prisoner swap talks, which had been taking place in Kabul starting 30 March 2020 and only resulted in the release of 100 Taliban prisoners on 8 April 2020. The signing of the peace agreement is suppose to end the longest war of US. The deal was signed in the presence of the leaders of Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey India, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, among others. Qatar had invited 30 countries to witness the signing of the historic peace agreement. The US had wanted Taliban to agree on a ceasefire before signing the peace deal and it finally happened when the Islamist outfit asked its fighters to refrain from launching new attacks. Mark Mahoney Toiletries linked to personal health/hygiene Haircare, beauty products, manicure and pedicure tools, dental care products, body and facial items/treatments. These are considered cosmetic toiletries Personal protective equipment (PPE), and all first aid/medical supplies remain available for purchase All components and parts linked to hardware, vehicle repair and academic stationery are now on sale Computers, mobile and cellular phones, plus any supplies linked to home office/IT business make the list. For example: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/electronics/top-deals/pcmcat1563299784494.c?id=pcmcat1563299784494 https://www.newegg.com/ https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/ Winter clothing, footwear, childrens clothes, bedding, heaters, and blankets have been added to the list of essentials. For example: https://www.matalan.co.uk/shop-sale https://www.boohoo.com/womens/looks/winter?cat=winter https://www.mountainwarehouse.com/clearance/ https://www.alpinetrek.co.uk/p/winter-clothes/ https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/sale/kids/view-all.html https://www.gap.co.uk/gap/boys/sale/shop-all-sale/ Aramex is an essential services provider and has operated right from the start of level five lockdown. The restrictions around level five, however, meant that we were only authorised to deliver essential items as per legislation at that time, which were very restrictive and did not cater to the vast majority of commodity types that our customers usually purchase online.New essential items are being added to the list during level four lockdown, including winter clothing, childrens clothing, books, office supplies and stationery. There is a lot of pressure being brought to bear on government by consumers and the industry who feel that now, more than ever, is the time to embrace online shopping as a way to further encourage social distancing. We are hoping more commodities become essential over the coming weeks.Almost all the online stores overseas are having massive sales, especially on winter clothing as they move into summer in the Northern Hemisphere, so its a great time to take advantage of these sales as South Africa moves into winter.Aramex Global Shopper enables you to buy from online stores that dont offer shipping to SA or only offer slow postal or prohibitively expensive shipping options. You can also save money when you pay for the shipping to SA using the service because the shipping charges are calculated in ZAR as opposed to when you chose shipping directly from the online retailers website, which is charged in foreign currency such as GBP/USD or EUR. Aramex Global Shopper shipping charges are the lowest in the industry and you only pay shipping based upon the actual weight of your order.You can still buy most items online from overseas retailers, but some the items you can buy and that Aramex Global Shopper can deliver to your door in SA during level four of lockdown are as follows:Aramex Global Shopper provides 30 local delivery addresses worldwide, which can be used as your delivery address when checking out on overseas online stores. So, all you do is use the local delivery address overseas to have your order delivered to when checking out on the online retailers' website. Then choose whatever local delivery method the retailer offers you, which is often a postal service such as Royal Mail and USPS and is fast, reliable and usually very low cost or even free. Once your order arrives at our local address, we process it and fly it to SA, clear customs and deliver to your door, anywhere in SA. All shipping and customs charges can be paid on the website or mobile app.For the duration of the lockdown period, we have a special discount on offer: The sign-up fee to the Aramex Global Shopper service is only R10, (saving you R140) and youll receive a lifetime membership. Go to https://www.aramexglobalshopper.com/en/signup/profile to take advantage of this offer. The Department of Justice announced Monday it is "assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crimes charges are appropriate" in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Georgia black man who was shot while out jogging. Why it matters: Cellphone video that appears to show his shooting sparked a national outcry. President Trump called the video "disturbing" and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called for a "swift, full, and transparent investigation" into his Arbery's death. The white father and son who pursued Arbery were arrested on murder charges. They told police they suspected he had committed a burglary. The big picture: Georgia's Republican attorney general asked the Department of Justice on Sunday to investigate the handling of Arbery's case. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr tweeted that he made a formal request to the DOJ to investigate because the state is "committed to a complete and transparent review" of how Arbery's case was handled from the outset. The DOJ has asked the state's attorney general to forward "any information that he has about the handling of the investigation." Meanwhile, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement Sunday that investigators had arrested 20-year-old Rashawn Smith in Midway, Georgia., after being made aware of a Facebook post that "contains a threat to future protests" related to Arbery. According to various media reports, figures within the Australian intelligence and political establishment have rejected as dangerously spurious the Trump administrations claims that the COVID-19 pandemic began with a leak from a Chinese laboratory. The primary fear among some in these ruling circles is that the Wuhan lab allegations are so unsubstantiated and contrary to all the scientific knowledge of the coronavirus that they discredit the US confrontation with China, in which Australia is on the frontline. We cant repeat the mistakes of the past. The WMDs fiasco was not that long ago, one unnamed former security official told the Sydney Morning Herald this week. He was referring to the fraudulent US, British and Australian government claims of Iraqi weapon stockpiles that formed the pretext for the criminal and disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003. In other words, before instigating military conflict, more sophisticated lies are needed in order to overcome popular distrust and anti-war sentiment. As is well known in this milieu, a US-led attack on China would necessarily place Australias people in the firing line because of the countrys key US bases and integration into the US military and intelligence forces. On May 3, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared there was enormous evidence that the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory, adding: Remember, China has a history of infecting the world. During the ensuing week, President Trump escalated the anti-China propaganda, saying the pandemic was worse than Pearl Harbor and worse than the World Trade Center. The unavoidable logic of these statements is that China has launched a biological war against the US, making a military confrontation unavoidable. Yet neither man provided a shred of evidence to back these inflammatory accusations, which contradict statements by scientists globally, and even the US director of national intelligence, that the virus is not man-made. The Trump administrations allegations are clearly an attempt to deflect attention from its own criminally negligent response to the virus, which has resulted in more than 80,000 deaths in the US so far. But they are also based on the escalating drive of the US ruling class as a whole to overcome its relative global decline and restore its post-World War II dominance over its rivals by military means. However, even Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has closely identified his government with the Trump administration, has voiced scepticism about the Wuhan lab claim. Theres been no change to the Australian position on this, he told reporters last week, saying the most likely COVID-19 source was a wildlife wet market. At the same time, Morrison still pushed his governments provocative demand for an international investigation into Chinas handling of the pandemic. Nervous concerns inside the ruling class seemed to reach new levels after the Murdoch medias Sydney Daily Telegraph ran front-page headlines on May 2 claiming that a 15-page dossier prepared by concerned Western governments pointed to the Wuhan Institute of Virology as the source of the global pandemic. The newspaper reported that the research document showed that China destroyed evidence of the coronavirus in laboratories and refused to provide live samples to international scientists who were working on a vaccine. In reality, as early as January 13, Chinese virologists posted the genome sequence for the virus on the NIH genetic sequence database, GenBank. The article reported that agencies within the Five Eyes surveillance networkthe US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UKwere investigating the matter. National security commentators in the US quickly promoted the Telegraph story. Fox News, the Murdoch groups cable broadcaster, said this was the most substantial confirmation of what we have suspected so far. Fox News host Tucker Carlson told viewers: Because it is a multinational document I think it would be hard to dismiss it as a political document. Within days, unattributed Australian security sources denied that the dossier came from the Five Eyes alliance. They said the document was based on publicly available sources, not any intelligence gathering, and insinuated that the material had originated from the US embassy in Canberra. Allan Behm, the head of the international and security affairs program at the Australia Institute, a business think tank, and a former senior defence official, told the Guardian that those pushing the Wuhan labs story were damaging Australias call for an international COVID-19 inquiry. It just doesnt help Australia in pushing that, any more than fake intelligence on WMD helped the credibility of [Australian Prime Minister] John Howard in 2003, and I suspect thats why the government is treading very carefully this time, Behm said. Medical experts also reiterated the lack of any scientific basis for the Wuhan lab theory. Dr Hume Field, an epidemiologist who worked on the multinational investigation into the origin of SARS, told the Guardian the molecular biological evidence demonstrated no evidence that SARS-Cov-2 was created or manipulated in a laboratory. The Guardian said the deputy chair of the parliamentary intelligence and security committee, the Labor Partys Anthony Byrne, was incensed by the tricked-up document, fearing the episode was reminiscent of the weapons of mass destruction debacle. That is significant because Byrne has close contact with the intelligence agencies and is one of the most hawkish pro-US members of parliament. Backed by Labor, however, the Morrison government is pushing ahead with its demand for an inquiry into Chinas conduct, including by raising it a G20 meeting on May 18. The Australian call includes an aggressive demand for greater World Health Organisation inspection powers, recalling the demands made against Iraq before the 2003 US-led invasion. Australias proposal was initiated unilaterally last month, without any global consultation, making it clearly a US-backed operation. The Trump administration last week stepped up pressure on the European Union to back Australias proposal, which would immediately target Chinas alleged role in starting the pandemic. An EU draft motion was less explicit, backing an inquiry that would begin only after the pandemic had passed and focus on the lessons learnt from the international health response to COVID-19. Any genuine inquiry would record the responsibility of major governments, not least the Trump administration, for the global disaster. As late as February 28, Trump declared that the coronavirus is going to disappear like a miracle, a claim he repeated last week, even as the US death toll continued to soar. Beneath the alarm inside Australias intelligence apparatus are also conflicts in the corporate elite, sections of which rely heavily on exports to China, especially of iron ore and coal. Two Western Australian billionaires, iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest and media mogul Kerry Stokes, have publicly opposed the Morrison governments moves to ramp up the confrontation with China. An Australian Financial Review editorial on May 8 reflected these qualms, saying: Australias security hawks also need to recognise that Chinas industrialisation has also been the source of much of modern Australias prosperity, as has been access to global markets under a multilateral framework. The Australian ruling class is caught between its dependence on Chinese and related Asian markets, and its military-intelligence and foreign investment reliance on the US. Nevertheless, Liberal-National and Labor governments alike have increasingly aligned the country behind Washington, intensifying the danger of a catastrophic war. The author also recommends: Trumps Big Lie, accusing China of spreading COVID-19, a prelude to US war against China [5 May 2020] Trump and Pompeos big lie [4 May 2020] Australian government places country on frontline of anti-China witch hunt [2 May 2020] New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (May 11) chaired a fresh round of consultation with chief ministers on ways to strengthen the COVID-19 containment strategy and stepping up of economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day nationwide lockdown nears an end. The interaction was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan among others. Here's what the Chief Ministers told Prime Minister Modi during the meeting: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray asked PM Modi to show specific and concrete direction on the ongoing lockdown. A CMO official said Thackeray requested Modi to start local trains in Mumbai for essential services staff working in the city. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee sought a special economic package for the state along with central assistance to bring back all state migrant labourers stranded in various parts of the country. She alleged that Bengal was being targeted politically over COVID-19 and appealed to the PM and all other political parties not to engage in any sort of politics during coronavirus crisis. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said economic activities should be allowed to resume in the national capital barring containment zones. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami came out against resumption of passenger train and air services in the state till May 31 and sought more PCR kits from the Centre to ramp up the ongoing aggressive testing. Palaiswami said the state has also sought nod for additional borrowing of 33 per cent above the permitted level for 2019-20 be allowed for 2020-21 as well and release of pending GST compensation. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh pitched for extension of the lockdown, but with a carefully crafted strategy, backed by fiscal and economic empowerment of the states, to save lives and secure livehoods. He said micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) should be allowed to function in red zones with proper safeguards. Amarinder also demanded an urgent financial assistance to states to meet at least 33 per cent of their committed liabilities, along with revenue grants for three months to meet the shortfall in revenue and fund expenditure on tackling coronavirus. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao urged the PM not to allow resumption of train services to contain the spread of coronavirus. The Chief Minister said the efforts were being made to prepare a vaccine for coronavirus and hoped that the first vaccine will come from India. "Companies in Hyderabad are also working hard. There are chances of first vaccine being developed in Hyderabad. It is likely to be available in July-August. The situation will change with the availability of the vaccine," he said. On the issue of migrant workers, KCR said all states should show empathy. He said the migrant workers were desperate to go home to meet their family members and hence, they should be allowed to visit them. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu requested the PM for TrueNat machines for quick COVID-19 testing as a large number of stranded people have begun returning to the northeastern state. TrueNat is a tuberculosis testing machine, which the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved for coronavirus tests as it can provide results within an hour, if the case is negative. However, for positive cases, it has to be reconfirmed through other methods. The Arunachal Pradesh CM said the state's lone RT-PCR laboratory has been under tremendous pressure as people stuck outside because of the lockdown have started arriving. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy called for an end to the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown as it has vastly affected the livelihoods of people, and appealed to the Centre to take a relook into the current containment strategy and shift towards preparing people to live with the virus. He also demanded resumption of inter-state transport service and stated that Andhra Pradesh requires Rs 16,000 crore immediately to fight COVID-19. Goa CM Pramod Sawant urged the PM to lift curbs on inter-state public transport partially and demanded resumption of mining activity and tourism to kickstart the state economy. Goa, which has been tagged as a green zone with no COVID-19 case as of now, has partially lifted curbs on its economic activities. (PHOTO: Getty Creative) By Andy Mukherjee (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Much of our pre-coronavirus lives may be reclaimable with some modifications around how we work, socialise and travel. In one crucial way, though, the post-pandemic landscape will be very different: The individuals autonomy over her data may be lost forever. Our mobiles will keep us safe by spying on us. This will have important consequences for the relationship not just between citizens and governments, but also between consumers and businesses. Blame the coming end of privacy on success. South Korea and Taiwan have won acclaim for flattening the Covid-19 curve by digitally tracking infected persons. As my colleague Anjani Trivedi described in March, no government was using dispersed databases as extensively to fight the spread of the disease as Seoul. Before an explosive outbreak in its worker dormitories, Singapore earned praise for TraceTogether, which claims to be the first Bluetooth contact-tracing app covering an entire nation. The 1.4 million users represent roughly a fourth of the islands population. It hasnt gone unnoticed that enthusiastic adapters of such software are in East Asia where, as MIT Sloan School of Management professor Yasheng Huang and others note, a collectivist spirit may encourage civic-minded embrace of and a more willing compliance with governments infection control. But while cultural differences can help explain the beginning, the end game may be more universal: power and profit. Safely restarting economies will require governments to restore trust in people mingling in factories, offices, cafes and trains. It can supposedly be done with data more granular than what can be obtained from cellphone networks. Hence states want access to phones, with or without informed consent. Turning the clock back will be hard, if not impossible. Take Indias Aarogya Setu, or Bridge of Health, Covid-19 contact-tracing app. Its got privacy warriors worried because the country lacks a data protection framework. Among other things, activists want the government to ensure that any data collected in an external server is designed to be deleted and that it wont be integrated with other databases, according to a working paper by the New Delhi-based Internet Freedom Foundation. For now, there are only assurances that the app will wither away once the outbreak is contained, but no legal guarantees. Story continues The Singaporean app records physical proximity in an anonymised form on smartphones. Minimal data is stored on servers. Only if a user falls sick are his contacts tracked and alerted. Given that its been less than two years since the revelation that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loongs health records were hacked, Id hesitate to brand the experiment as foolproof. But its at least a voluntary exchange. Indias app is anything but. As the country tentatively reopens after a 43-day lockdown, its been made mandatory first for public-sector employees and now for private-sector workers. Company bosses are liable to ensure their workers download the app, though nobody is accountable for misuse of data. TraceTogethers building blocks are in the public domain. The source code of Aarogya Setu is yet to be opened. The Indian government recently denied a French security researchers claim that the privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake. Hours later, the so-called ethical hacker who goes by the name of Elliott Anderson tweeted that five people were feeling unwell in Prime Minister Narendra Modis office. Where boundaries between private and public are thin to begin with, a pandemic can make them disappear. A New York Times analysis of Chinas Alipay Health Code software, which mixes a cocktail of data to colour-code a persons health status, found that some information is shared with the police. The digital prowess of Alibaba Group Ltd. or its rival, Tencent Holdings Ltd., has no match in India. But firms are eager to harness the online footprints of the countrys 1.3 billion people. Covid-19 might give those plans a fillip. Just as the Sept. 11 attacks irrevocably shrank personal freedoms as security-at-all-costs became a policy driver, Covid-19 will erode privacy in the name of public health. The potential market is immense for instruments far more intrusive than Big Brothers telescreens. Richard Brooks, a computer engineering professor at Clemson University in South Carolina, told Bloomberg News: If the ability to track social contacts exists to stop a contagion, I can guarantee you it will be used to track the spread of dissent. An Israeli court verdict that banned Shin Bet, the internal security agency, from using its Covid-19 tracking app shows the discomfort societies have with handing over a shiny, new lever of control to governments. Europes data protection laws will try to ensure that the emergency collection and processing of personal information is conducted with accountability, and for a limited purpose. The British parliaments human rights committee says it isnt convinced that the National Health Services proposed tracing app protects privacy. Tracing in Korea went overboard in the early days, when the authorities released so much data that anonymous patients became identifiable and got harassed. A strong data protection law forced Korea to limit disclosure. The bottom line: Where they exist, robust institutions could still offer resistance. In most other places, the individuals autonomy has already become a virus casualty. Poorer countries where consumers have only recently started going online will see states insist on devices that come with pre-loaded tracking apps. More information will reside on central servers than epidemiologists have asked for or need. But who will stop the juggernaut? 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services. He previously was a columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. He has also worked for the Straits Times, ET NOW and Bloomberg News. NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- GDS Group, global B2B events company, announced today that Brian Solis will be delivering a keynote address at the upcoming CIO, Digital Innovation and CMO Brand Digital Summits, taking place this May and June digitally. The closed-door summits will focus on driving key transformation in this new world by connecting senior executives from companies such as Facebook, Groupon, Adidas and Walmart, by sharing their ideas and challenges and addressing the most pressing issues in each industry sector. Brian Solis is the world-renowned Global Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce, where his work focuses on thought leadership and research that explores digital transformation, innovation and disruption, commerce and the cognitive enterprise, described as "one of the greatest digital analysts of our time." Brian is a renowned keynote speaker and award-winning author of eight best-selling books. Over the three days, you can expect live audience Q&As, live polling, interactive quizzes and moderated breakout sessions with our C-suite audience in attendance. Your digital experience will be tailored to your key projects with expert keynotes, interactive panels and live debates which will equip you with cutting-edge insight and approaches to forge ahead. There is still opportunity to participate in the summits. For more information about the speakers, agenda and how you can apply to attend or contribute, you can visit the website here. About GDS Digital Summit Series: With 10+ years of expertise in delivering digital events, GDS Digital Summits are here to connect business and innovation digitally, with collaborative and interactive sessions, thought leadership, cutting-edge technology and solution providers and not forgetting the chance to make real and powerful connections. Media Contact: Georgie Beer Email: [email protected] Related Files Brian Solis - Linkedin - 1200x628 v.1.png Brian Solis - Linkedin - 1200x628 v.1.png SOURCE GDS Group BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11 By Eldar Janashvili - Trend: The volume of total liabilities Azerbaijani AFB Bank remained almost unchanged in the first quarter of 2020, Trend reports citing the banks balance sheet on May 11. Since the beginning of 2020, the volume of the banks total liabilities increased by only 20,000 manat ($11,764) to 494.3 million manat ($290.7 million), the report said. A significant share (77.2 percent) in the structure of liabilities accounted for deposits, which increased by 0.5 percent and exceeded 381.3 million manat ($224.2 million). Moreover, over 90 percent accounted for deposits of legal entities, which increased by 750,000 manat ($441,176) to 345.7 million manat ($203.3 million). The deposits of individuals accounted for nine percent or 35.7 million manat ($21 million), indicating an increase of 3.5 percent from the end of 2019. Liabilities to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), credit organizations and other financial institutions decreased by 3.4 percent since the beginning of 2020 and amounted to 106 million manat. Other liabilities amounted to 6.9 million manat ($4 million), an increase of 34.1 percent. The banks capital stock did not change and remained equal to 70.4 million manat [$41.4 million]. Retained earnings amounted to 11.3 million manat [$6.6 million], increasing by 29 percent since the beginning of 2020. Capital reserves of the bank exceeded to 1.4 million manat [$0.8 million], an increase of 14 percent, said the report. The banks total capital amounted to 83.2 million manat ($48.9 million), an increase of 3.4 percent. (1 USD = 1.7 manat on May 11) --- Follow the author on Twitter: @eldarjanashvili An aerial view shows Colombian airline Avianca's planes parked at El Dorado International Airport amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bogota, Colombia April 7, 2020. Avianca, Latin America's second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, after failing to meet a bond payment deadline, while its pleas for coronavirus aid from Colombia's government have so far been unsuccessful. If it fails to come out of bankruptcy, Bogota-based Avianca would be one of the first major carriers worldwide to go under as a result of the pandemic, which has crippled world travel. Avianca has not flown a regularly scheduled passenger flight since late March and most of its 20,000 employees have gone without pay through the crisis. "Avianca is facing the most challenging crisis in our 100-year history," Avianca Chief Executive Anko van der Werff said in a news release. While Avianca was already weak before the coronavirus outbreak, its bankruptcy filing highlights the challenges for airlines that cannot count on state rescues or on such rescues coming fast enough. Avianca is still hoping for a government bailout. "This isn't a surprise at all," said Juan David Ballen, chief economist at Casa de Bolsa brokerage in Bogota. "The company was heavily indebted despite the fact it tried to restructure its debt last year." Avianca, the second-oldest continually operating airline in the world after KLM (AIRF.PA), had $7.3 billion in debts in 2019. The airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York and said it would continue operations while it restructured its debts. The Colombian Association of Civil Aviators (ACDAC), a union representing many Avianca employees, said it supported the move. Avianca already went through bankruptcy in the early 2000s, from which it was rescued by a Bolivian-born oil businessman, German Efromovich. Efromovich grew Avianca aggressively but also saddled the carrier with significant debt until he was ousted from the airline last year in a boardroom coup led by United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL.O). He still owns a majority stake in the carrier. United stands to lose up to $700 million in loans related to Avianca. Efromovich told Reuters on Sunday that he disagreed with the decision to file for bankruptcy and that he was not involved in making it. Jaipur, May 11 : Over 700 tribal women are stitching PPE kits for corona warriors in Dungarpur as part of the contract given to a rainwear company in the district for 100,000 PPE kits by the Union Textile Ministry. "Our priority was to hire single, poor, widow and needy women, and provide them a regular source of income during the challenging times of Covid-19 when many people were losing jobs due to the economic shutdown. "We hired 700 women from Banswara. They are being paid Rs 9,500 a month. They are also being provided pick & drop facility," said Deenbandhu Trivedi, owner of New Zeel Rainwear. The Textile Ministry recently gave us the order to make 100,000 PPE kits, he said and added, we wanted a strong workforce to meet the order on time. "The idea was to do quality work and help the people. We zeroed upon the tribal women in Banswara. We had trained them under the skill development project," Trivedi said. Apart from the pick & drop facility, the company is also providing them free lunch. "We are confident of finishing the order in one month. These women are quite efficient. The state government has also given us the order to produce PPE kits to meet the district's needs. For example, we are manufacturing 650 PPE kits for Banswara and many others," Trivedi said. "Our technical staff has been guiding them. For example, after cutting and stitching, we need to do tapping to make the PPE kits water and air proof. These women have learnt the art and are stitching them fast," he said. The company's plant in Bhiwandi (Thane) is also producing PPE kits. Around 1,200 workers, from UP and Bihar, are employed there. At a time when the migrants were returning to their villages, "our workers are working hard to produce PPE kits for corona warriors," he said. "We have residential facility at the plant to accommodate them and are also serving them food. We are following all guidelines and are providing sanitisers, gloves and masks," he said. GOD TV says Israel gov't wants to shut new Christian channel down, vows to obey regulations Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The head of the international Christian television network GOD TV confirmed that Israeli authorities are looking to shut down its new Hebrew-language Christian channel after concerns were raised about whether the channel will proselytize to Jews. In a video to supporters posted over the weekend, GOD TV CEO Ward Simpson addressed the ongoing controversy surrounding Shelanu TV, which recently began airing on Israels HOT cable network. Since we have started to broadcast, it has created quite a stir in Israel, he explained. The governing authorities that manage these things have been receiving numerous complaints about our content and about different things with the channel, especially as it relates to the rules and regulations of what can and cannot be said on TV in Israel. Let me just tell you whats going on at the moment, Simpson continued. As far as we have been told, the [Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council] would like to shut down the channel. We have a great team of lawyers over there, probably the best in Israel. So they are working with the council now to try and figure out what to do. As previously reported, GOD TV was given a seven-year license from the Israeli Communications Ministry and began airing last month. It billed itself as one of the first Christian channels in Israel to broadcast in Hebrew. But reports surfaced with questions about Shelanu TVs intent to preach about Jesus Christ to Jews. Evangelism and proselytizing in Israel is a touchy subject, Simpson admitted in his update video. In Israel, proselytizing to minors without their parents' consent is against the law. And under the terms of Shelanu TVs license, the network is forbidden from engaging in missionary activities. Basically, our attorneys and our staff over there have all told me that we are in compliance and that we are following the rules and regulations, that we are legal and that there is no way that they can really pull us off the air because we havent done it, he said. In case you dont know, proselytizing in Israel is a very touchy subject. For example, you cannot try to convert Jews. You cant try to make them become a Christian, for example, which we arent anyway. You cant do that to children for sure under 18. You cant offer a gift or a bribe or to pay somebody to come across to your beliefs. Those things you cant do and we dont do. Simpson assured that Shelanu TV will follow all of the guidelines and regulations that govern its license. We believe that the authorities, once they abide by the rules that they set for themselves and once they abide by the things they put in place, once this is all said and done, Shelanu TV will continue to broadcast in Israel, he said. We have faith in the Israeli government and we have faith in their judicial system. We thank God that Israel is a nation that practices religion and freedom of worship. The fact that they gave us a license to broadcast Christian content in Hebrew is a testament to that truth. We thank God for them. The CEO assured that GOD TV knows that preaching Jesus in Israel is an emotional subject and the network is sensitive to that fact. However, he stressed that preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what all Christians are called to do. But thats what we do, he reiterated. Thats who we are. We are Christians. We are called to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. Thats what we are trying to do and thats what we are doing with your help and Gods grace. Simpson added that there are already some Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah. As far as our Messianic Jewish brothers and sisters go, they havent converted, he explained. They dont convert. They continue to live their lives as Jews and they continue to practice Judaism for the most part. They just believe that Yeshua is the Messiah and they follow Him but they keep all of their traditions. They keep all of their practices. Simpson also apologized for some language in an earlier video promoting Shelanu TV that some in Israel found offensive. Media reports suggested that Simpsons comments were indicative of Shelanu TVs intent to take Jesus into the homes and lives and hearts of the Jewish people. I did apologize and I express regret for anything we might have said or done to create the appearance that we are not going to follow the guidelines," he said. GOD TV is a supporter of the state of Israel and has been involved in providing aid to underprivileged kids and pregnant mothers there, he noted. If you remember some time ago, the ministry of tourism made GOD TV an honorary ambassador, Simpson said. According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Shelanu TVs license stipulates that the channel cant carry programs that have undue influence on viewers. Council Chair Asher Biton told the newspaper that GOD TV originally informed the council that it would earmark its programing toward pro-Israel, Christian audiences. Other Christian channels such as Daystar and Middle East Television are also given permission to broadcast in Israel. New Delhi, May 11 : As the world continues to battle the Covid-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted the importance of technology in the fight against the Coronavirus as Technology Day was observed. "Today, technology is helping many in the efforts to make the world free from COVID-19. I salute all those at the forefront of research and innovation on ways to defeat Coronavirus. May we keep harnessing technology in order to create a healthier and better planet," he said in a tweet. Technology Day is observed to mark the successful testing of nuclear missiles in 1998 under the leadership of Vajpayee and scientist and former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. It was after the successful completion of these tests that Vajpayee declared India as a nuclear state. Modi recalling the Pokhran nuclear tests, tweeted: "On National Technology Day, our nation salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. We remember the exceptional achievement of our scientists on this day in 1998. It was a landmark moment in India's history." The Prime Minister also shared an old video from his Mann Ki Baat programme where once he had spoken about the Indian scientists and the tests. "Here is what I had said about Pokhran, India's scientists and Atalji's remarkable leadership during one of the Mann Ki Baat programmes." Modi also asserted that the tests in Pokhran showed the "difference a strong political leadership can make." -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The feud began last week, when House of Pain opened despite the countys order. Orwick wrote letters to the two locations of House of Pain and ordered each to cease operations or explain why they think they dont have to comply. She said a conviction for violating the order was a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $2,000. And, she said, noncompliance may disqualify the business from receiving grants under the countys federally funded $17.5 million small business relief program. Orwick said Sunday that the county would not comment on pending legal matters. The gyms attorney pointed out in his letter that St. Louis County has arbitrarily and capriciously allowed adult lingerie and sex toy stores, liquor stores and cigarette stores to remain open. Perhaps if my clients changed the gyms names to House of Lingerie, House of Booze or House of Cigs and started selling those items, the government would lift its boot from their throats, wrote McDonough. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. So, as a supplement to human detective work, technology companies and governments around the world are testing smartphone apps that can automatically alert residents if they get near anyone infected with the coronavirus. The idea has garnered the attention of the two biggest smartphone software companies in the world, Apple and Google. They are working together and have already released a preliminary program that would enable health departments to conduct contact tracing in this way. Technology can be speedy The possible advantages to such a system are many. In the case of the New York couple, neighbors would not have to depend upon communication with the couple or whether they notified health authorities. A smartphone alert could be sent without identifying the couple or where or when people might have been exposed. The people notified also would not have to rely on patients imperfect memories. More important, say researchers from Oxford University in England who were some of the first scientists to propose the idea, is the speed with which such warnings could be broadcast. Using humans to track down contacts is slow and tedious, allowing for the continued spread of a disease, according to professor Christophe Fraser, senior group leader in pathogen dynamics at Oxford's Nuffield department of medicine and senior author of the researchers report. An estimated 100,000 people would have to be hired to do the work in the United States, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, a nonprofit that represents public health agencies across the country, told Congress in early April. Virtually instantaneous smartphone alerts can stop an epidemic much more effectively, say the researchers at Oxford, about 50 miles northwest of London. But privacy advocates have raised concerns about using such a smartphone app, which may require users to keep on their Bluetooth, a short-range wireless technology built into smartphones. Celebrity chef Maggie Beer has cracked the secret to the perfect scrambled eggs. The Australian cookbook author said all you'll need are eggs, cream, butter, a pinch of salt and the secret ingredient she adds to the mixture - orange zest. 'This is something that I love, it's using the rind of an orange,' Maggie said in her cooking video from her Barossa kitchen. 'This is just an extra special if you have oranges. Add the rind of the orange into the mix now because the longer it's with the mix, the more flavour you'll get.' To make scrambled eggs for two, she cracked four eggs into a bowl, along with 1/3 cup of cream, salt and grated orange zest. Scroll down for video Celebrity chef Maggie Beer (pictured) has cracked the secret to the perfect scrambled eggs Scrambled eggs for two INGREDIENTS 4 eggs 1/3 cup of cream 1 tsp of butter Pinch of salt 1 orange zest 2 slices of sourdough Salt and pepper to serve 1. Whisk eggs with cream, a good pinch of salt and orange zest. 2. Heat a frying pan over heat, add a teaspoon of butter and when foaming, pour in the eggs. 3. As the curds start to form pull the eggs from the edges, into the centre of the pan. Continue to move the eggs out of the centre, then push the curds around the edges, and back into the centre for about one minute. 4. Remove the pan from the heat before the egg is completely set. 5. Serve on buttered toast, and season with salt and pepper Advertisement 'This is a dish we love in the morning. I want to show you the little trick to making scrambled eggs that are so delicious, rich and wonderful - it's a beautiful treat,' Maggie said. 'Whisk the eggs, put the cream in, now I use quite a lot of cream, don't be alarmed, it's worth it. This is a once a week thing for us. Put a pinch of salt. I don't put butter into the mix, I put a teaspoon of butter in the pan.' Over a stove on low heat, coat the frying pan with the butter. 'I don't put anything in the pan until the pan is hot and the butter is sizzling,' she said. She then poured the mixture into the pan, and then turned the heat to high. As the curds start to form, Maggie used a silicone spatula to pull the eggs from the edges, into the centre of the pan. The Australian cookbook author said all you'll need are eggs, cream, butter, a pinch of salt and the secret ingredient she adds to the mixture - orange zest She then poured the mixture into the pan, and then turned the heat to high. As the curds start to form, Maggie used a spatula to pull the eggs from the edges, into the centre of the pan The TV personality said the perfect scrambled eggs look 'juicy, silky and glossy' To serve, place on top of of well buttered toast, 'glossy' side up, and finish with salt and pepper She continued moving the eggs out of the centre, then pushing the curds around the edges, and back into the centre. Repeat this step. 'I don't walk away from it,' she said. After about one minute of pushing the curds around, Maggie removed the pan from the heat before the eggs are completely set. 'See how juicy that is? See that silkiness and glossiness? That to me is the perfect scrambled egg,' she said. To serve, place on top of of well buttered toast, 'glossy' side up, and finish with salt and pepper. 'I usually let the toast get a little cool so the butter can be thicker but that's my preference,' she said. 'You pick it up with a large spoon and you don't turn it over so that glossiness stays on top. Now this is where the pepper and a little more salt.' She added: 'I don't mind having [scrambled eggs] for dinner.' Rutland police officer John D. Songy is on a ventilator and in critical condition at St. Vincent Hospital after his body rejected coronavirus medication, remdesivir. It is with a heavy heart that I am posting that John is now in critical condition because of all the struggling he has done and all the medications he has received. He has now entered organ failure, said Joanne. The care team states there is nothing that could have been done differently. John has been fighting coronavirus since he and his wife Joanne Songy, a nurse, both tested positive on April 23. Joanne overcame the virus quarantining at home. John, however, did not recover as quickly and was admitted to St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, around 1 a.m. Saturday, May 2, for shortness of breath. On Tuesday, John received a plasma infusion as part of COVID-19 treatment as well as receiving remdesivir. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced that the drug remdesivir has proven itself to be promising in treating patients with COVID-19. [Remdesivir] has side effects. That is a chance that we had to take because there is no cure for Coronavirus, said Joanne. We took the risk to try to help him and his body rejected it. The doctors at the hospital chose to ventilate him on Saturday due to his difficulties breathing as well as his liver and kidneys failing. Because hes been suffering so much with the breathing all week, said Joanne. Theyve been trying to keep him off the ventilator [because] that uses a lot of accessory muscles in the chest. Medical professionals are more reluctant to use ventilators for COVID-19 patients because once they are on them, a persons lungs start to rely on aided breathing. This is partially due to a deconditioning of the chest muscles. Its not that a ventilator isnt good, said Dr. Andrew Artenstein, the Baystate Health chief physician executive and chief academic officer in April. Because obviously, if you cant get enough oxygen, any other way the ventilator is lifesaving. The problem with the ventilator is it keeps you in the hospital longer. However, because of the severity of Johns condition the doctors had no choice. A medical professional herself, Joanne sees the severity of her husbands infection more so than most partners would and understands that the ventilator is the best course of action. [Im] looking at it from a clinical position and from a wifes position, said Joanne. My husband is still fighting for his life. Related Content: Domestic violence hearings which relate to incidents that ocurred during the Covid-19 emergency lockdown will be able to be brought before judges from May 18 in District Courts. The resumption of such hearings is among measures to be implemented at District Courts around Ireland on the day when the lockdown restrictions begin to be eased. However, non-urgent matters will not resume and there will be restrictions on how courts operate and who can attend. Non-urgent motoring offences will have to be rescheduled. Apart from domestic violence criminal matters, some Family Law and Child care mattters have been added to the list of cases that are now regarded as urgent issues for local courts to begin dealing with from May 18. The President of the District Court, Judge Colin Daly, in consultation with the Chief Justice and other Court Presidents has decided on the additional measures concerning the business of the Court will be implemented on May 18. A statement said these measures are a necessary response to the developing COVID-19 situation and the continued need to focus on prevention of community spread of COVID-19 while ensuring access to justice in a manner fully respecting public safety and considering Government public health advice. The following is an outline of the amended measures. 1. Parties with non-urgent cases are not required to attend court at this time. 2. The District Court will continue to hear urgent matters in all District Court Districts throughout the country and will resume hearings of certain urgent matters. 3. Urgent matters are now extended to include: (i) Criminal Law Attendance for Service of Books of Evidence and sending forward for trial on indictment; matters for sentencing where a guilty plea is indicated; the hearing of cases where an accused person is in custody on the charges before the court; resuming and concluding part-heard cases; prosecutions for alleged breaches of Domestic Violence Orders which have occurred during the emergency period; and hearing cases where there are garda witnesses only. The statement says remands where the accused is in custody should be dealt with by video-link wherever possible. (ii)Family Law. New applications for protection orders or interim barring orders and return hearings of interim barring order cases. If safety order hearings are being adjourned interim protection orders will be extended to the new date. Applications and hearings for breach of maintenance or access that have occurred during the emergency period or applications and hearings for temporary guardianship orders. Remote call-overs and hearings may be conducted in some courts. Consent orders that do not require the hearing of evidence may be applied for by email by the applicants solicitor exhibiting consent in writing from the respondents solicitor. Following consideration by an assigned Judge orders will issue from the Court Office as appropriate without the need for the parties or their legal representatives to attend court. (iii) Child Care Law. Extension of care orders and interim care orders and emergency care orders and interim care orders. Applications to regulate access, After-Care Reviews, part-heard Care Order Hearings and certain Care Order Hearings. Remote call-overs and hearings may be conducted in some courts. Consent orders that do not require the hearing of evidence may be applied for by email by the applicants solicitor exhibiting consent in writing from the respondents solicitors and the support of other participants on notice. Following consideration by an assigned Judge orders will issue from the Court Office as appropriate without the need for the parties or their legal representatives to attend court. The statement says that if your case is not included in the description of urgent matters above, then it is a non-urgent matter and parties do not need to attend court. The statement says solicitors are to inform clients that they do not need to attend where their case is a non-urgent matter. It adds that non-urgent cases will be adjourned, and parties will be informed of their new court dates by the Court Service by ordinary post or by their solicitor. Civil Matters are also addressed in the measures. All District Court Civil matters are at present considered to be non-urgent and will be adjourned generally with liberty to re-enter either on consent or on notice to the other party. Exceptions include a case which does not come within the defined urgent category can be treated as urgent if a good case can be made. A party can email the relevant court office setting out the reasons why the case should be considered urgent. This should be on notice to the other side who must be given an opportunity to set out their position. An assigned Judge will assess if the matter may be treated as urgent. Public Safety Measures The statement says matters will be scheduled where the presiding judge is satisfied that there are proper measures in place in court rooms and at courthouses to ensure that social distances can be maintained and that the court environment is safe for witnesses and all court users to attend. It says the Health Act Temporary Restrictions COVID-19 Regulations at Regulation 4 (l) permits members of the public to leave their homes to fulfil a legal obligation such as attending a court office or court. Schedule 2 of the Regulations at parts 10 and 14 recognises legal services and courts as essential services. The statement says scheduling may be conducted by call-over of lists requiring legal representatives and prosecutors only to attend, and may in some courts include remote call-over of lists,. Indications of pleas/consent at call-over and the avoidance of requiring witnessed to attend will be given the appropriate credit. The statement adds thay cases will be managed to ensure that numbers coming to courts will be minimised wherever possible. This may include staggered lists, where smaller numbers of cases are required to be in courts at allocated times, or scheduled lists/hearings, where cases are scheduled according to time slots. Practioners and Court users are expected to exercise social distancing and other public health guidelines. The statement says these measures will be constantly reviewed to ensure that the business of the District Court is being conducted safely. It is hoped that we will be able to incrementally increase the amount of work that can be safely carried out in the District Court in accordance with Government guidelines and the roadmap for reopening society and business. The statement replaces in full the updated statement published on 16th March 2020. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan TD, welcomed statements by the Chief Justice, the Court Presidents and the Courts Service outlining the next steps being taken "I appreciate the difficulties that the public health emergency is causing for the many people who both rely on and work in providing critical court services. "The business of the courts is of fundamental importance and therefore I welcome the announcement of these important measures to ensure continuity of access to justice during the current public health emergency. I welcome the statements by the Presidents, which show that the right balance has been struck in providing essential frontline services and access to justice, while ensuring the safety of service users and essential staff. "The continued expansion of remote hearings and physical distancing measure is welcome. It is particularly important that maintenance, domestic abuse and insolvency matters can now be dealt with as a matter of urgency for those experiencing these difficult matters. "I know that for many people, issues in respect of Court Orders for access and custody have been of particular concern and I believe that the new measures in respect of family law and child care cases will provide greater clarity and reassurance to many people. "I believe that the measures announced today will ensure that the courts continue to respond to the current health emergency in an agile, innovative and sustained manner for the people who both use and deliver their services," concluded the Laois Offaly TD. The full statements are available at https://beta.courts.ie/latest_news The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's Relief Fund has received donations of Rs 56.40 crore between March 24, a day before lockdown for the novel coronavirus outbreak began, and May 7. A state government release said the donations were made by commercial and social organisations, firms, government staff and common citizens. Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said all details of the donations would be made public. "When you are reposing faith in the government at the time crisis, it becomes my responsibility to maintain transparency. I am confident that your support will be continued," he tweeted. "Between March 24 and May 7, the Chief Minister Relief Fund received Rs 56,04,38,815 as donations. Of which, we have released Rs 10,25,30,000 to districts of the state to prevent the spread of coronavirus and to provide assistance to the needy people," his tweet added. Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh Congress, after Baghel's move, demanded that details of donations to Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund be made public. "Chief Minister Baghel has kept details of donations received in the CMRF in the public domain and also where the fund is being spent. In the same way, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should reveal the details of the amount deposited in the PM CARES fund and its expenses," said Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, head of state Congress communication wing. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Argentum, the leading national association serving senior living providers, has called for transparency in COVID-19 reporting among the states by releasing the following statement and call to action: ____________________ Openness and transparency are critical to maintaining the valued trust of senior living residents, families, employees, and the public. As such, Argentum members continue to report COVID-19 cases and fatalities to their applicable state agencies and to their stakeholders. Now, we are calling upon each state to publicly and promptly report the COVID-19 data that their regulatory agencies are required to collect. This includes COVID-19 data on positive cases and fatalities, as well as recovered cases, and the distinction of data reported by setting such as assisted living communities and nursing homes. ____________________ "Since the beginning of the pandemic, we've been encouraging openness and transparency in reporting among our members and have shared our guidance on reporting and leadership communication," said James Balda, Argentum president & CEO. A recent survey of Argentum's members showed that 100 percent of respondents that had COVID-19 positive cases in their communities were reporting data to state agencies, families, staff, and residents. In addition, nearly half were sharing updated COVID-19 data publicly either on their own company or community website or other mechanism. "We grieve with those who have experienced tremendous loss from COVID-19, but we are pleased to see these results and encourage Argentum members to continue taking the important steps to report and communicate cases," said Balda. "We are, however, seeing discrepancies in how and which states across the country are publicly reporting data, and we are asking the states to offer full transparency. Not only is it important to maintaining trust and integrity; it's also the right thing to do." The number of recoveries from COVID-19 is one of the most critical data points being omitted from most state reporting. Reporting recoveries, along with positive cases and fatalities among residents and staff, will provide a broader understanding of COVID-19's full impact across the senior living industry. "There are a significant number of residents and staff recovering from COVID-19 in senior living communities who are continuing to live healthy, fulfilling lives," said Balda. "It's important that we continue to see accurate and complete data reported so it can inform critical decisions now and as we continue to fight the pandemic." About Argentum Argentum is the leading national association exclusively dedicated to supporting companies operating professionally managed, resident-centered senior living communities and the older adults and families they serve. Since 1990, Argentum has advocated for choice, independence, dignity, and quality of life for all older adults. Argentum member companies operate senior living communities offering assisted living, independent living, continuing care, and memory care services. Along with its state partners, Argentum's membership represents approximately 75 percent of the senior living industryan industry with a national economic impact of nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars and responsible for providing over 1.6 million jobs. These numbers will continue to grow as the U.S. population ages. Argentum's programs and initiatives are driven by its membership. For more information about joining Argentum, please visit argentum.org/membership. Learn more at argentum.org. Contact Jessica McKay Senior Director of Marketing & Communications, Argentum 571-527-2624 | [email protected] SOURCE Argentum Related Links https://www.argentum.org PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-11 09:35:34 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 758 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 /Major players in antimicrobial coating market have diversified product portfolios, strong geographical reach, and have made several strategic initiatives. The dynamics of the antimicrobial coating market extends beyond routine macro-economic elements of supply and demand. It is the relationship between buyer's needs and seller's capabilities as well as the macroeconomic forces at work that affect the market. It is how well and how efficiently the sellers meet the needs of the buyers that determine long-term success.To download free PDF brochure please go to https://www.lucintel.com/lucintel-leadership-quadrant-of-antimicrobial-coating-2019.aspx Over the years, the level of demand for antimicrobial coating has increased due to growing concern about health and hygiene and growing demand in building and construction, medical, and food & beverages industries. Antimicrobial coating is used for a variety of applications, such as building & construction, medical, food & beverages, textile, and others and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 9. The major growth drivers for this market are the growing demand for antimicrobial coatings in HVAC systems and growing health concern.Firms that produce antimicrobial coating are approaching market opportunities with starkly different strategies. Lucintel, a leading global management consulting and market research firm, has analyzed the global antimicrobial coating suppliers and has come up with a comprehensive research report, "Lucintel Leadership Quadrant and Strategic Positioning of Antimicrobial Coating Suppliers". Using its proprietary research methodology, Lucintel has developed a comparative analysis tool, the Lucintel Leadership Quadrant,' which identifies leaders, contenders, visionaries, and specialists in the antimicrobial coating market and rates each antimicrobial coating producer on two primary criteria as shown below:1. Alignment with market opportunity2. Ability to gain market shareIn this research study, leading players such as AkzoNobel, BASF SE, Diamond Vogel, Axalta Coating Systems, Nippon Paint Company Ltd, PPG Industries, Sherwin-Williams, and RPM International Inc. are analyzed and profiled based on various parameters such as target markets, product mapping, selling strategies, production capabilities, geographic footprint, financial, new product developments, market share, innovation, and other benchmarks. Some of the features of this research study are as follows:Leadership and competitive analysis:Product mapping of leading playersBenchmarking of financial strength of leading playersLeadership quadrant / strategic positioning of playersLeadersContendersVisionariesSpecialistsMarket shares of leading players in various regions:North AmericaEuropeAsia PacificThe Rest of the WorldProfiles of leading players in terms of below parameters:Product positioningMarket positioningFinancial strengthRevenue breakdown by market segmentsRevenue breakdown by regionsOrganizational capabilitiesInnovation and market leadershipDesigned for the industry professionals, financial services firms, and users of antimicrobial coating, this more than 140-pages report will enable you to understand competitive landscape of antimicrobial coating market. It will allow you to determine which companies are better aligned with future market opportunities and which has the ability to gain additional market share. For a detailed table of contents, contact Lucintel at +1-972-636-5056 or click on this link helpdesk@ lucintel.com About LucintelLucintel, the premier global management consulting and market research firm, creates winning strategies for growth. It offers market assessments, competitive analysis, opportunity analysis, growth consulting, M&A, and due diligence services to executives and key decision-makers in a variety of industries. For further information, visit www.lucintel.com Brandon FitzgeraldLucintelDallas, Texas, USAEmail: brandon.fitzgerald@lucintel.com Tel. 972.636.5056Cell: 303.775.0751Related reportsLucintel Leadership Quadrant and Strategic Positioning of Nanocoating Suppliers:For more details click here https://www.lucintel.com/lucintel-leadership-quadrant-and-strategic-positioning-of-nanocoating.aspx Lucintel Leadership Quadrant of Bioadhesive Suppliers - 2019:For more details click here https://www.lucintel.com/lucintel-leadership-quadrant-of-bioadhesive-2019.aspx Worldwide Antifouling Paint and Coating Competitive Analysis and Leadership Study:For more details click here https://www.lucintel.com/worldwide-antifouling-paint-and-coating-competitive-analysis-and-leadership.aspx Packaging Coating Suppliers Strategic Positioning and Leadership Quadrant:For more details click here https://www.lucintel.com/packaging-coating-leadership.aspx Lucintel Leadership Quadrant of Electrically Conductive Adhesive Suppliers - 2019:For more details click here https://www.lucintel.com/lucintel-leadership-quadrant-of-electrically-conductive-adhesive-2019.aspx Lucintel Leadership Quadrant of Hot-Melt Adhesives Suppliers - 2019:For more details click here https://www.lucintel.com/Lucintel-Leadership-Quadrant-of-Hot-Melt-Adhesives-2019.aspx Lucintel Leadership Quadrant of Aerospace Adhesive Suppliers - 2019:For more details click here https://www.lucintel.com/aerospace-adhesive-leadership.aspx Lucintel Leadership Quadrant and Strategic Positioning of Semiconductor Adhesive Paste and Film Suppliers:For more details click here https://www.lucintel.com/lucintel-leadership-quadrant-and-strategic-positioning-of-semiconductor-adhesive-paste-and-film.aspx Lucintel Leadership Quadrant of Green Coatings Suppliers - 2019:For more details click here https://www.lucintel.com/green-coatings-market-leadership-study.aspx Lucintel Leadership Quadrant and Strategic Positioning of Vinyl Ester Resin Suppliers:For more details click here https://www.lucintel.com/lucintel-lea A 23-year-old man who said he "snapped" and beat his grandfather to death after the pensioner allegedly admitted sexually abusing people has been jailed for four-and-a-half years for manslaughter. The Cork pensioner was found dead by his wife lying in a pool of his own blood after she returned home from working a night shift, the Central Criminal Court was told today. The court also heard that despite her efforts to be rehoused, the victim's wife remains living at the scene of the violent killing. In a letter of apology to his family and the deceased's wife, the defendant wrote: "I do want to apologise to my grandfather. I had no right to be his judge and jury." In March, Christopher O'Callaghan, of Woodview, Pinecroft, Grange, Douglas, Co Cork pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of his grandfather Joseph O'Callaghan (66) on July 2, 2018 at Galway's Close, Galway's Lane in Douglas, Cork. Sentencing Christopher O'Callaghan at the Central Criminal Court today, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said he was satisfied that the accused did not set out with the "remotest intention" to kill or cause serious injury to his grandfather but that is what had happened. He highlighted that the accused had not been entitled to beat up his grandfather for any alleged wrongdoing against two individuals. A victim impact statement was read to the court today by Detective Inspector Vincent OSullivan on behalf of Joseph O'Callaghan's wife, Angeline OCallaghan, who said her husband was needlessly and selfishly killed. Joe was a friend, a kind hearted man, he was a joker and always made me and everyone around laugh, she said. On the night I left for work, I said my goodbyes and told Joe that I would see him in the morning. Little did I know that the following morning I would be walking into a crime scene, where I found Joe lifeless on the floor. There was blood on the wall, bedding and floor. For a moment, I thought I was dreaming; broken door, blood on the wall, bedding and floor. I am still emotionally and psychologically scared to this day. I am dealing with enormous stress and depression from all the challenges that Joes death has left me. The home, I once shared with Joe remained a crime scene for a very long time, a time during which I had to be put up by friends. I tried the council to be rehoused but to no avail, approached TDs and the Tanaiste for assistance but even they were not able to help me and I am expected to carry on with life as normal in a house that was the scene of a violent killing. Each time I open my door, I have flashbacks and anxiety attacks. I have spent so much on that house and hired someone to clean up the blood. Life has never been the same, at times I drown my fears with alcohol. I have health issues and I am afraid that I might have a mental breakdown if I dont get out of that house, she concluded. Passing sentence, Mr Justice McDermott noted that Mrs O'Callaghan had been left without her husband and this has a continuing effect on her. She has to live in the house in which she discovered Mr O'Callaghan's body and responsibility for this lies at the accused's door, he said. The judge said that the accused never set out on the morning of the Munster hurling final to kill his grandfather and it was the furthest thing from his mind. He observed that the accused had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol before knocking on his grandfather's door and asked him straight away if he had sexually abused the two named individuals. The grandfather refused to give him an answer at first but then said he had, said the judge, and the accused "snapped". The defendant accepted that he had hit him up to four times, kicked him twice and "stomped" on him, he said. Mr Justice McDermott emphasised that the defendant had told gardai that he could hear his grandfather breathing when he left the house. The accused "saw red" when his grandfather admitted what he had done and later told his father that he had given the deceased "a good hiding", he said. Referring to the defendant, the judge said he told gardai that if he had realised that he had killed his grandfather he would have gone to him earlier. "I'm satisfied you did not set out with the remotest intention to kill or cause serious injury to your grandfather but that is what happened," said the judge, adding that the awful event was fuelled by alcohol. He pointed out that the accused had not been entitled to beat up the deceased for any alleged wrongdoing against two individuals. Before delivering the sentence, Mr Justice McDermott said there was no doubt he had "snapped" and lost it when his grandfather admitted what he had done. However, the victim was rendered defenceless by being knocked to the ground beside his bed and the attack continued on the floor, when the victim was not in a position to do anything about it, he said. The aggravating factors in the case were that he had broken into his grandfather's house in the early hours of the morning and attacked him, when he was clearly encouraged by others to go home. The victim was in bad health with a heart condition and the accused had gone to his home in an angry state of mind, he said. Another aspect of the case which caused concern, said the judge, was that the accused disposed of his clothes in the early hours of the morning. "This was a spontaneous and ill-advised effort to avoid the consequences of your actions rather than to avoid attempts at prosecution for the killing of your grandfather," he said, adding that the defendant had taken full responsibility for everything else when he learned of the man's death. Furthermore, the accused had made no effort to obtain assistance for his grandfather and this may have been because he did not fully appreciate the injuries he had inflicted on the deceased, said the judge. The judge said the appropriate headline sentence before mitigation was seven and a half years. In mitigation, Mr Justice McDermott noted the accused's early guilty plea, his decision to go to the garda station with his uncle, his interviews with gardai, his sincere remorse and his significant efforts with alcohol abuse. In summary, the judge said terrible damage had been inflicted on those who loved Joseph O'Callaghan and that could not be undone. Christopher O'Callaghan was sentenced to six years imprisonment with the final 18 months suspended. The terms of the suspension include that he abstain from alcohol, attend drug and alcohol treatment and continue with his studies and employment. Sentence hearing At today's sentence hearing Det Insp Vincent OSullivan summarised the facts of the case. Det Insp OSullivan agreed with prosecution counsel Sean Gillane SC that the accused had gone with others to Thurles to watch the Munster hurling final on July 1, 2018 and had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol. The mood soured when the accused learned that his grandfather had allegedly sexually assaulted two named individuals some years ago. Mr Gillane said this information caused a lot of agitation and upset for the accused man and he began to cry and became very emotional. The father of the accused had noted that his son was riled up and agitated at the time. Neighbours later heard a commotion at the front door of Joseph OCallaghans home on the night, said Mr Gillane. The accused told his father that he had given his grandfather a good hiding. Following this, the accused told his aunt that he had struck his grandfather a number of blows before he left the house. The wife of Joseph O'Callaghan, Angeline OCallaghan, had worked a night shift and returned home to Galway's Close at 8.10am on the morning of July 2, said Mr Gillane. Mrs O'Callaghan found the front door damaged and her husband in an injured state on the bedroom floor. She raised the alarm, emergency personnel arrived and Joseph OCallaghan was pronounced dead, the court heard. There was blood pooled around the deceaseds head, Mr Gillane said, as well as blood on the bedside locker and skirting boards. A post-mortem report by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster found that Joseph OCallaghan had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and extensive bruising to his scalp and face. His right cheek was fractured and there was a laceration to his upper lip. Mr Gillane said the finding was consistent with the victim having suffered multiple blows and kicks. The detective agreed with Mr Gillane that the immediate cause of death was due to head injury but his death had been accelerated by heart disease. The accused later presented himself at Togher Garda Station and told gardai: Im here to hand myself in for my grandfather, I did it. Gardai conducted three interviews with the accused in which he accepted that he was responsible for the deceaseds injuries. Christopher OCallaghan said he wanted to confront his grandfather and not attack him. He told gardai that his grandfather had opened the door a little and then tried to close it but he had kicked the door and entered the house. The defendant said that when he put the allegations to him, Mr O'Callaghan accepted that he had sexually abused two named individuals. As a result of this, the accused told gardai that he had snapped. He told gardai that he had no intention to kill or cause serious harm to his grandfather, who was alive when he left the house. He said he had punched his grandfather in his bedroom, which caused him to be dazed or dazzled. He also kicked him in the head and upper torso and told gardai it was a stomping motion. He said the incident happened fast and took no more than moments. The accused has three previous convictions which include driving without insurance and two public order offences, the court heard. The detective agreed with defence counsel Tom Creed SC that there was confirmation from other individuals that the two individuals had been sexually abused by Joseph OCallaghan. The court also heard that the deceased had been prosecuted and found not guilty of sexually assaulting a child. The detective said this was a completely separate incident to the case of the two named individuals. Mr Creed said the granduncles of the accused were both seeking leniency on behalf of the accused man for the tragedy that had occurred. A probation report and welfare report were made available to the court, which heard that the accused was not likely to re offend if he stayed away from alcohol and drugs. The accuseds uncle and son of the deceased, Brendan OCallaghan, took the stand and told the judge that he was asking for leniency for his nephew. The witness agreed that his relationship had not been the best with his father Joseph and said he was a huge drinker, who caused a lot of hassle in the home. In mitigation, Mr Creed pointed out that the sentiments going through all of the reports were that his client was a caring individual at heart and this criminal event was out of character. He said that mitigating factors were his client's early guilty plea to manslaughter and his remorse. The defence barrister read aloud to the court a letter of apology written by his client in which he said he wanted to offer his sincere apologies to his family and his grandfathers wife. Im sorry for the pain my actions have caused. I would do anything to turn back the clock. I do want to apologise to my grandfather. "I had no right to be his judge and jury. Ive turned my life around completely since that night and will never stand before the courts again. New Delhi: Facing a month-long turbulence and violence in the state, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to open a dialogue process with the people of the state. Talking to reporters after a two-hour meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, which was attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Mehbooba also hinted at resuming a dialogue with Pakistan on Kashmir issue saying the state could act as a"bridge" between the two nations. "I believe there is a need to heal the wounds of people,to initiate dialogue with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.These are our own people. If process of dialogue with the people of Jammu and Kashmir can improve the situation in valley, we should do it," she said and adding, her state could become a bridge between India and Pakistan. "There is a need to apply balm to the wounds of Kashmiri people," she said. Mehbooba, who has been facing difficulties in restoring normalcy in the Valley following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani on July 8, said only the process of dialogue with the people of Kashmir can help improve the situation. The Chief Minister said during the one month of unrest,which started after the killing of Wani, 55 people lost their lives and referred the deceased as "our own boys". "People will keep dying if we don't take initiative to bring normalcy. We want peace. There is an opportunity for dialogue and we should avail it," she said. "We have seen agitations in the past like in 2008 (Amarnath land row) and 2010 (over fake encounters by army).Our children have been killed. Our families have suffered. I don't wish to see any more killing. "Our Prime Minister has a huge mandate in the present Lok Sabha and he should seize the opportunity created by the unrest to win the hearts of the people and solve their problems, the way former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee did," she said. "I am hopeful that the Prime Minister will take this as an opportunity to initiate dialogue with people to address their problems. There is a need to take the same initiative of winning hearts of people, which was taken during Vajpayee ji's tenure," she said after the meeting which was also attended by National Security Advisor A K Doval and other senior officials of Home, Defence and Finance Ministries. The meeting took place on a day when month-long curfew in Kashmir echoed in Parliament with Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad raising the matter during Zero Hour and demanding a statement from the Prime Minister about the steps being taken by the government for restoring normalcy. "In such circumstances, we want to awaken the government... We feel the government and the Prime Minister are watching the situation deteriorate like a silent spectator," he said,adding he wanted to know why Modi has not spoken on the grave situation in Kashmir so far. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Nurses are heroes of the COVID-19 crisis. May 12 is International Nurses Day, which commemorates the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the first professional nurse. The World Health Organization also named this year the Year of the Nurse in honor of Nightingales 200th birthday. To nurses everywhere, this day and this year have great significance. Nurses, who are being recognized as heroes, have long awaited recognition as health care professionals in their own right and not ancillary to physicians. Its wonderful to be recognized now in the context of coronavirus, but nurses have always been at the forefront during war, epidemics and other times of disaster. I have been a nurse for 40 years and a nurse practitioner for 17 of those years. An active clinician, researcher, scholar and educator, I currently serve as dean of the Solomont School of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Throughout my career, nurses have typically been relegated to a secondary role, and if mentioned at all, we are described as assisting doctors. Nurses today are still asked why they didnt become doctors instead. Arent we smart enough? Many people dont realize that nursing and doctoring are entirely different professions with different purposes. We are proud to work alongside doctors and other health professionals, but we have never worked behind them. Not all nurses work at the bedside, but we all touch the lives of patients. Many nurses have doctoral degrees. They conduct research that advances the quality of patient care. Nurses change health care policy. For example, nurses play a significant role in health care reform and advise Congress on proposed health care rules and regulations. They also guide organizations regarding health care technology and care coordination and sit on executive boards of health care organizations. Nursing is both an art and a science. Story continues The role of the nurse has evolved, but some things havent changed. Nurses have always cared for the sick, the well and the dying. We promote health and prevent illness. We interpret what is happening so that patients understand it. We are there for the entire patient experience from birth to old age, from wellness to illness, and throughout age and illness toward a peaceful and dignified death. Our history provides many examples. In 1854, Florence Nightingale brought 38 volunteer nurses to care for soldiers during the Crimean War. The cause of the conflict focused on the rights of Christians in the Holy Land and involved Russia, the Ottoman Empire, France, Sardinia and the United Kingdom. Male nurses provided care as far back as the Knights Hospitaller in the 11th century. But prior to Nightingales involvement, male and female nurses consisted of untrained family members or soldiers who cared for the ill and infirm. Nightingale was the first to organize nurses and provide standardized roles and responsibilities for the profession. As such, she is credited with founding modern professional nursing. She was also an expert statistician, collecting data on patients and what did and didnt work to make them better. Nightingale and her nurses improved sanitation, hygiene and nutrition. They provided care and comfort. Their work had a major impact on the survival of soldiers. The American Civil War in the 1860s brought thousands of trained nurses to the battlefront, risking their lives to care for soldiers on both sides of the conflict. The most famous were Dorothea Dix, an advocate for indigenous populations and the mentally ill; Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross; and Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women. Nurses again answered the call with the yellow fever epidemic of 1878, rushing from all over the country to Tennessee. The epidemic ultimately killed 18,000 people, and many nurses died while caring for the sick. The U.S. recruited more than 22,000 trained nurses to treat Americans overseas and back at home from 1917 to 1919 during World War I. The war brought death from combat to about 53,000 Americans, while about 40 million civilians and military died worldwide. Time after time, nurses have left the warmth, comfort and safety of their homes to care for others. Nurses were also among the millions who died from the 1918 influenza pandemic. Fifty million people died worldwide. This pandemic is probably most comparable to what we are experiencing today with COVID-19. But epidemics, such as polio, off and on from 1916 to 1954; the global pandemic of influenza A, 1957-1958; swine flu, 2009-2010; Ebola, 2014-2016; and Zika, 2015-2020, have also required constant nursing care. I remember the AIDS pandemic, which began in 1981. I was a visiting nurse and saw many patients in their homes, from homeless shelters to penthouse apartments. Everyone suffered not only because of the physical and mental effects of the disease but also because of the stigma. People, even their families, were afraid to touch patients, kiss them or be near them. It was a lonely time for these patients. I watched them deteriorate and die. Nurses were often the only ones to hold the hands of these patients, so they wouldnt die alone. Nurses were also there during 9/11. They were among the courageous first responders who risked their lives to save others. Many have chronic diseases because of their exposure to Ground Zero. Every year, nurses are voted first among the professions the public trusts the most, according to Gallup. We work hard to earn and maintain that trust. You will find us caring for people in their homes, in public health departments, in nursing homes and skilled care facilities, in rehabilitation hospitals, in prisons and correctional institutions, caring for the mentally ill and providing health care advice over phones and computers. Nurses work wherever there are people. What do we ask in return? Its simple. We dont consider ourselves heroes, but we do deserve respect. Public images of the nurse in a sexy uniform or as a handmaiden to a doctor are wrong and insulting. We are professionals. Once the COVID-19 crisis is over, please dont forget that we are always here for you. Always have been. Always will be.

Este articulo se vuelve a publicar de The Conversation, un medio digital sin fines de lucro dedicado a la diseminacion de la experticia academica.

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Leslie Neal-Boylan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Fact check: Did government reach out only to Sikhs through IRCTC emails IRCTC site not crashed, data being uploaded: Indian Railways India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, May 11: The Indian railways has clarified that the IRCTC site has not crashed and that data is being uploaded. It urged users to wait for sometime for the site to return to normalcy. A pop-up on IRCTC's website says that train ticket bookings will start at 6 pm. The statement comes hours after reports surfaced that the train booking website, irctc.co.in, has crashed, likely from the sudden surge in traffic. Multiple users have not been able to load the website. Indian Railways is gradually restarting passenger trains - not just for migrant workers - from May 12, allowing bookings only on the IRCTC website. Trains will run on 15 routes from and to Delhi, completing 30 return journeys. Ticket booking counters at the railway stations will remain closed and no counter tickets - including platform tickets - will be issued. The "special trains" will ply from Delhi to/from Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi. Only passengers with confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations, and only passengers who are asymptomatic for COVID-19 will be allowed to board the train. People will also have to wear masks and undergo screening at departure. South Africa: Social Development recruits 1 809 social workers The Social Development Department is boosting its capacity to assist families and communities affected by COVID-19 with the recruitment of 1 809 social workers. Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu made this announcement during a virtual briefing on Monday. As COVID-19 continues in this regard, we are recruiting an additional 1 809 social workers to reinforce the current workforce and to provide a range of social work services, including timely psychosocial interventions to support affected individuals and families, said the Minister. The allocation of additional social workers is as follows: Eastern Cape 171, Free State 92, Gauteng 676, KwaZulu-Natal 266, Limpopo 116, Mpumalanga 128, Northern Cape 33, North West 31, Western Cape 246. These social workers will be employed for a period of three months, with priority given to social work graduates who registered on the departments database of qualified unemployed social work graduates developed in 2019. A further 1 210 unemployed social work graduates will be given a one- year internship opportunity in a joint venture between with the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), the South Africa Council for Social Service Practitioners, the Department of Social Development (DSD) and Wits Consortium. Food distribution To support the distribution of food to vulnerable people, the National Development Agency (NDA), has recruited and placed 580 volunteers. In addition, 620 new volunteers will be added to increase the number of volunteers of the NDA, bringing the total number of volunteers to 1200. The volunteers will assist the department with food distribution, COVID-19 education and prevention, and verification of applicants for the Relief of Distress Grant. To date, volunteers have distributed over 100 000 brochures on health and education. Grants With various services suspended during lockdown level 5, the DSD suspended temporary disability grants to curb the spread of COVID-19. These will now be reinstated and paid until the end of October. The same applies to the care dependency and foster child grants that are due to lapse during the lockdown period. The payment of these reinstated grants will take place before the end of May. We have published regulations which give effect to the extension of temporary disability grants from the date they were suspended until the end of October this year, said the Minister. Movement of children In the original plan by the department, only parents with relevant documentation signed off by the courts or empowered officials were allowed to move children between parents homes. However, given the nature of co-parenting in the South Africas context where many families do not approach the court but rely on mutual agreements, the department amended regulations to allow parents without formal documentation to move children between co-holders of parental responsibility. Under the new regulations, the movement of children between co-holders of parental responsibility who reside in different municipalities, or provinces is allowed provided the parent has a court order, parental responsibility and rights agreement of parenting registered with a family advocate or a permit issued by a magistrate. We developed this form on the basis that we realised that some of them will not be able to move if they dont have the above documents, said the Minister. To obtain this permit, parents must furnish a magistrate with a birth certificate or certified copy to prove a legitimate relationship between the co-holders of the parental responsibility and written reasons on why the movement of the child is necessary. We have specifically made these amendments to allow any child who was not at the residence of the primary caregiver prior to the announcement of the lockdown to return to the caregiver. However, I must point out that this will be done in a once off basis which has already happened, said Zulu. The Minister appealed to parents who share joint custody to be reasonable and act in good faith and prioritise the health and safety of their children. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-05-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. New Delhi, May 11 : In an attempt to assist states effectively address the situation arising out of Covid-19, the Centre on Monday released the second instalment of states' share of revenue deficit grant amounting to over Rs 6,000 crore. The grant had been released for 14 states including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Sikkim and six North Eastern states excluding Arunachal Pradesh. "The government on May 11, 2020 released Rs 6,195.08 crore to 14 states as the second equated monthly installment of the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. This would provide them additional resources during the Corona crisis," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's office said in a tweet. The money has been released ahead of schedule and as a special dispensation to meet immediate funding needs of the state governments looking to restore economic activity and minimise losses to its citizens due to disruptions caused by the lockdown. Of the 14 states, the maximum grant-in-aid for May has gone to Kerala that has been given an amount of 1,277 crore followed by Himachal Pradesh with revenue deficit grant of Rs 953 crore. Much of this money is expected to be used by states towards paying the salaries to their staff as sharp fall in tax collections in April has already put pressure on their accounts. (Natural News) The threats posed by the Chinese communist regime are very real and the world is finally waking up to them. Speaking on The Steve Gruber Show U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, I think the whole world can now see that this regime, [China], this authoritarian regime, is just different than we are. Secretary Pompeo warned that China is not cooperating with the US and is not being transparent about the origins of the outbreak. We still dont have the samples that we need. We still dont have the access, Pompeo said at a May 6 press conference. They continue to be opaque, and they continue to deny access for this important information that our researchers, our epidemiologists, need. A growing number of countries are now demanding an investigation into the origins of the pandemic. Citizens around the world are also beginning to resist the communist surveillance and control tactics that started in China and are currently being mimicked by governments around the world. Nations around the world are beginning to realize that China controls most of the worlds medical supplies and basic pharmaceuticals, which is a threat, in and of itself. As China continues to abuse their citizens using censorship, surveillance, tracking and bodily requirements, here are three other serious threats that the communist regime poses to the rest of the world. Biological warfare and virus gain-of-function research In 2019, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded Chinese scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology to further Chinas controversial research on bats and coronavirus gain-of-function. Widely criticized by scientists, gain-of-function research involves manipulating viruses in the lab to explore how they can best infect humans. Scientists fear that an accidental or non-accidental release of these manipulated virus sequences can cause outbreaks or a worldwide pandemic. Now that researchers are finding over thirty different mutations in coronaviruses, with varying viral loads, its practically impossible to understand their life cycle in human populations across the globe. Its equally difficult to differentiate benign strains from the most virulent ones by simply going off positive/negative PCR test results and broad range symptom diagnosis. Its even more difficult to develop a spectrum of vaccines to control various coronavirus strains without exacerbating further mutations and complications in human immune systems. In other words, the world must face ongoing virus mutations and biological warfare threats posed by China and their collaborators. As biological warfare research continues in China, it will be impossible to predict when and where new strains will crop up and how they could be used to cause new outbreaks. The American people should demand that Dr. Fauci come clean about the gain-of-function research that American tax money helped fund for years over in China. The implications for future outbreaks are nigh. Re-education camps and organ harvesting Over the past three years, China has rounded up hundreds of thousands of Muslims and turned them into prisoners. These Muslims are being held within indoctrination camps throughout Xinjiang China. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reveals that Chinese authorities are brainwashing the Muslims in Chinas high security prisons. Up to 60,000 illegal organ transplants are occurring in China every year. Chinese scientists use the organs of executed prisoners to conduct experiments. Chinese scientists have used hearts, lungs and livers taken from dead prisoners. Human rights groups warn that the Muslim prisoners are a prime source of organs, especially during pandemics. These prisoners have no rights, no right to opt out of the organ procurement process. During the pandemic, reports circulated about a double lung transplant operation to save a life in China. The speed and precision of the life saving surgery could only have been conducted via selective organ harvesting. Spreading communist ideas and tactics through the World Health Organization When the pandemic began to spread to countries outside of China, the World Health Organization (WHO) began to praise the communist country on how they handled outbreaks. The WHO also kept the United States and other countries in the dark, even though the had information on how the virus would spread to other nations. Since then, the WHO has recommended removing people from their homes and quarantining them from the rest of their family members. U.S. President Donald Trump has cut funding to the agency and initiated an investigation into this shady group. WHO is now primarily funded by Bill Gates, who wants to use the organization to mass produce and push out billions of vaccines while much of the world is locked down, economies shattered, food supply threatened, populations made more vulnerable. (Related: Microsofts relationship with the Chinese government could be considered treasonous as they assist in espionage against America.) Sources include: TheEpochTimes.com TheHill.com NewsWeek.com BusinessInsider.com NaturalNews.com GreenMedInfo.com NaturalNews.com Less than a third of Britons understand what the Government's new 'stay alert' coronavirus message requires of them, research shows. Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled the next stage of plans to tackle the virus last night, including a partial easing of lockdown measures and a roadmap of how the economy might possibly be reopened in the months to come. But the new slogan 'Stay Alert, Control the Virus, Save Lives' has caused confusion among many members of the public after Mr Johnson announced in his address that people should return to work if they cannot work from home, are allowed unlimited exercise by Wednesday and would also be permitted to sit in parks. And now a poll has found that the new message from the Government is only clear to 30 per cent of people. Last night Boris Johnson announced a partial easing of lockdown measures, saying people could exercise and sit in parks, but a new slogan has caused confusion The PM has dropped the 'stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives' slogan in favour of a 'stay alert' version - but research shows many people do not understand what it means The public is almost evenly divided on whether they support the partial easing of the lockdown announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to the YouGov survey, conducted for ITV's Good Morning Britain. A large majority of people, 91 per cent, say the previous slogan 'Stay home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives' gave them clarity on what was expected of them during the pandemic. Meanwhile, 44 per cent voters backed the moves to partially ease restrictions and 43 per cent opposed them. The survey also found that 46 per cent think the changes go too far in easing the rules, with 10 per cent saying they do not go far enough and 35 per cent insisting that the balance is about right. Split into political voters, the research showed that six in ten 2017 Conservative voters support the changes to the lockdown - a much higher figure than the 37 per cent of Lib Dems and 32 per cent of Labour voters. Of adults under the age of 50, 39-40 per cent are in favour of new measures, with 47 per cent among 50-64 year olds and 53 per cent for those aged 65 and above. And men were more likely to back the updated rules, with 48 backing them compared to 41 per cent of women. Chris Curtis, of YouGov, said: 'While the public have so far been overwhelmingly behind the government and its approach to tackling coronavirus, we might now start to see that consensus fracture. 'Previous polling has highlighted Brits' concerns about the lockdown ending too quickly and this new research reinforces this view with almost half saying the announced relaxing of the rules goes too far. 'What's more, the much derided new British government slogan, which YouGov's snap poll shows many are struggling to understand, alongside the competing advice emanating from each part of the Union, has the potential to sow more confusion in the coming days.' During his speech, Mr Johnson said that people who could not work at home, such as construction workers, would be encouraged to return to employment. The PM also said members of the public would be allowed to relax in parks with people in the same household, travel to different destinations and enjoy exercising for longer than one hour. In a conditional plan to restore normality to the nation, he also said that a phased reopening of schools and non-essential shops in England could potentially begin from June 1 if transmission can be reduced. And in July there could see a return of the hospitality industry, including bars and restaurants, as well as other leisure hotspots should the virus reproductive rate continue to remain below zero. Guidelines for preparations in the workplace for COVID-19 prevention View(s): A webinar was recently organized by the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) for members of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka aimed at helping workplaces (offices) and factories understand the need to have precautions in place when work resumes. The panelists were Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama, President, Ceylon College of Physicians; Prof. Saroj Jayasinghe, Professor of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo; Prof. Manuj Weerasingha, Prof of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo; Dr. L.T. Gamlath, Deputy Director General, Environment and Occupational Health and Food Safety Unit, Ministry of Health, Nutrition and indigenous Medicine; Dr. N. Shirani Chandrasiri, President, Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists, Dr. Padma Gunaratne, President-Elect SLMA and Prof. Lal Chandrasena, Health Sector Advisor of the National Chamber of Commerce. The moderator was Prof. Indika Karunathilaka, President, SLMA. Asked whether there were any antiviral drugs effective against COVID-19 infection, the response was that not at the moment but many drugs are being tested. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has issued detailed guidelines for patient management in Sri Lanka. It was stated that the main COVID-19 test is real-time PCR test done one week after the exposure to detect the presence of viral RNA. Antibody tests are not useful for diagnosis of the disease. There is no place for screening of all workers with RT-PCR tests. Even if a PCR test becomes negative, it should be repeated if there is a high degree of suspicion of possible infection. There is no guarantee that a person tested negative will not catch the COVID-19 infection in future. Living with COVID-19 Asked whether people have to live with COVID 19, the answer was that the disease is highly infectious and at present no vaccination is available against the infection in the foreseeable future. As such, adherence to laid down measures of avoiding exposure to the infection for at least another 1 -2 years is essential for prevention. On whether there is a community spread of the disease in Sri Lanka, it was stated that the epidemic is still confined to clusters and there is no evidence of community spread up to now. Tests are carried out among the high-risk community that include the associates of COVID patients and the rate of positivity is much lower even among them, when compared to other countries. However, as the country returns to normal, there is a potential risk of transmission of infection, unless prevention practices are strictly adhered to. Leaving room for errors would lead to development of new clusters and stoppage of work at the company, it was noted. Asked whether a resurgence of the epidemic is possible and if so, when, the reply was that yes, its possible, especially within vulnerable populations such as crowded confined spaces. There can be a surge of cases due to the spread from current clusters around mid-May. On measures to prevent a resurgence, it was stated that there is a four-pronged, highly coordinated mechanism that needs to be implemented at national level; institutional measures; law-enforcement prevent overcrowding, spitting in places; and at an individual level. The national level measures to control the epidemic are daily monitoring; risk assessment based on real time data; surveillance; policy on gradual reopening based on risk assessment and economic impact; low risk high impact industry- eg. farming, fishing; high risk high impact industry e.g. highly populated industrial factories, hospitality; low risk low impact industry-where work from home is possible; and high risk low impact industry e.g. schools, universities. The institutional measures needed are: Management should identify a team/unit for the risk assessment and to develop, implement and monitor an institutional COVID plan. The team should develop a plan based on guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health They should conduct awareness programmes using videos, posters and preparedness drills for workers on hygienic practices in relation to COVID prevention. The company should screen workers at the entrance for temperature and use a questionnaire to reveal exposure and symptoms of the COVID infection. Measures should be taken to reduce overcrowding and movement between different sections, dining areas, exit and entry. Management should plan for maximum efficiency using minimum number of workers. Facilities for hand washing/sanitization at entrance, work areas, dining areas and washrooms should be made available. There should be a mechanism for waste disposal. All surfaces that are frequently touched should be cleaned with disinfectants with 70 per cent alcohol. Ensure adequate ventilation keeping doors and windows opened as much as possible. Workers should avoid sharing instruments and equipment. In case a worker develops suspicious symptoms of COVID, there should be a mechanism to isolate the patient ensuring confidentiality and to get medical advice avoiding stigmatization. The company should follow the guidelines prepared by the Ministry of Health for workers with risk exposure following a risk assessment. Use of ACs On using ACs in a factory/office setting, the response was that there is a higher risk of transmission if the air is recycled in a closed compartment. If ventilation is with fresh air coming in, the risk is minimum. The number of people in an A/C room at a given time should be a minimum and use of standard precautions should be encouraged. It is advisable to have good natural ventilation at workplaces. On the use of decontamination chambers to prevent the spread of COVID 19, it was stated that there is a minimum concentration and a contact time for any disinfectant (alcohol, ozone, TCA) to be effective. These requirements are not met in decontamination chambers. Concentration of certain disinfectants such as ozone that is needed to kill viruses is harmful for humans. All disinfectant chemicals have their own harmful effects. It may either cause asthma or other respiratory symptoms or dermatological symptoms such as allergies. Ozone may cause chest pain, vomiting and abdominal pain. Therefore, decontamination chambers are not recommended. It was stated that the WHO does not recommend the use of decontamination chambers. Spraying disinfectants on vehicles There is no scientific basis for spraying disinfectants on all types of vehicles. There are guidelines developed by the Ministry of Health for decontamination of vehicles that have been used to transport COVID patients. Frequent cleaning using disinfectants with 70 per cent alcohol on surface areas of vehicles frequently touched eg; handrails, doorknobs etc. is recommended. Stigma associated with COVID 19 The stigma will discourage patients to reveal the truth particularly with regard to important points in the history, leading to delayed diagnosis. Therefore, there shouldnt be stigmatization. The employer could display a simple message such as COVID is a preventable disease and promote the employees to follow the measures of prevention and to inform the management, in case they develop symptoms. The media should take all measures to maintain confidentiality of patients and to avoid the stigma associated with the disease at present. Personal protective equipment (PPE) Surgical masks or simple 3 layer cloth masks are adequate for day-to-day use. The surgical mask gives better protection than the cloth mask. The mask should adequately cover the nose, mouth and chin. After wearing the mask, touching the face and adjusting the mask frequently should be avoided. The cloth mask could be washed with soap and water. N95 masks are recommended for aerosol-generating procedures. Gloves could be worn in environments where there are many customers to deal with. Individual level measures at the workplace: Maintain one meter distance from each other. Wash/sanitize hands regularly. Disinfectant the contaminated surfaces. Properly wear masks. If you have fever, sore throat, dry cough/suspicion of contact, inform the office and get immediate medical advice. On the question of what needs to be done if a worker develops symptoms of fever or respiratory tract infection, the response was that all workers should be made aware of possible symptoms of the illness. The management should encourage workers to remain at home if they develop symptoms of fever or respiratory tract illness. If symptoms develop at the workplace, they should isolate the patient immediately and request medical help. Using public transport safely It is useful to carry a pocket, alcohol-based hand rub and to disinfect the hands before getting in and as soon as getting out of the public transport. It is necessary to adhere to the guidelines issued by the government for seating. Before commencing and after completing the journey, the vehicle needs to be disinfected. Precautions to be taken after returning home from work Children should not be cuddled soon after returning home. If using a disposable mask, dispose it properly. There should be a dedicated place to keep the belongings. The number of items that you will bring home must be minimised. After returning home, have a proper body wash straightaway in the washroom. Worn clothes should be washed thoroughly with soap and water, dried and ironed before reuse. If clothes are left for washing later, they should be kept in a sealed bag. Car keys and mobile phones should be disinfected using a sanitizer with 70 per cent alcohol prior to keeping them on the dedicated place. Afghan Forces Kill Senior Taliban Spy in Laghman Province Sputnik News 13:19 GMT 10.05.2020 KABUL (Sputnik) - The Afghan forces have killed one of the Taliban's regional intelligence officers in the eastern province of Laghman, Asadullah Dawlatzai, the provincial governor's spokesman, stated on Sunday. According to the spokesman, the Afghan forces killed Omar Khater, the Taliban's intelligence chief for the province's Alishang district, as well as injured his right-hand man Fawad Yasir in an ambush that took place in the aforementioned district last night. The Taliban have not yet commented on the matter. Clashes between militants and government forces continue in the country despite a mass prisoner release, as Kabul is preparing for intra-Afghan talks with the movement. This move is a result of a deal between the US and Taliban, which stipulates the withdrawal of American forces from the country after a 19-year campaign. At the same time, the movement pledged to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for terrorists. However, according to Reuters, Taliban militants have carried out more than 4,500 attacks since the signing of the peace deal. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rotunda Rumblings Daycare dilemmas: Ohio parents and daycare operators are eagerly awaiting an announcement from Gov. Mike DeWine this afternoon on when they can reopen. Many are concerned about the rules and logistics and how their arrangements could be affected if school kids are only in classrooms two days a week, this fall an option being considered. Struggle for survival? Cleveland.coms Robert Higgs talked to school leaders and observers about the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, with one describing his districts fiscal plight as terrifying. Few, if any, superintendents are optimistic about the future given the economic meltdown....Meanwhile, one policy wonk predicts as many as 50 of Ohios districts will not survive, Higgs writes. Heres the poop: Ohio officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have discussed testing for the coronavirus at wastewater treatment plants, which public health experts say could help predict future outbreaks of COVID-19, writes cleveland.coms Evan MacDonald. The testing could indicate low levels of infections in a community and serve as an early warning system for public health officials, preliminary research shows. Obamacare or bust: If a Trump-backed effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is successful before the U.S. Supreme Court, hundreds of thousands of Ohioans could lose their health insurance, reports cleveland.coms Sabrina Eaton. Critics of the law told Eaton it drove up insurance premiums and made health care more expensive. Help wanted: Ohio is looking to hire contact tracers to help investigate coronavirus outbreaks, cleveland.coms Andrew Tobias reports. The part-time job pays $18.59 an hour, or $21.81 an hour for a supervisory position. Testing, testing: The Ohio Department of Health hopes to start antibody testing this week, cleveland.coms Mary Kilpatrick reports. The hope is that the 1,200 random tests could show how many Ohioans had COVID-19 without developing symptoms potentially giving health officials a better understanding of the virus spread. Back in style: Ohio barbers, hairstylists and nail techs who talked to MacDonald say theyre grateful to have clarity on their reopening date of this Friday. And they think the guidelines announced last week will help keep them and customers safe. Not working out: Cleveland.coms Troy Smith tapped into the frustration of gym owners and health enthusiasts who still face uncertainty about when they can get back to their workout routines. The gym owners are urging fitness enthusiasts to email DeWine in support of gym openings. Weekend report: By Sunday, 24,081 Ohioans had been infected with the coronavirus and 1,341 had died. On Saturday, the numbers were 23,697 infections and 1,331 deaths. On Friday, infections reached 23,016, with 1,306 deaths. You can check out the latest map and graphics from cleveland.coms Rich Exner here. Gov. Mike DeWine didnt have briefings Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Ohio total: The U.S. Department of the Treasury reported Friday that it has so far paid $8,322,111,961 in Economic Impact Payments to more than 4.9 million Ohio taxpayers. "The vast majority of payments have been delivered in record time, and millions more are on the way every week, said a statement from IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. Settlement details: Ohio State University will pay about $40.9 million to the 162 sexual abuse victims of former team doctor Richard Strauss. A program will be set up to review each plaintiffs claim and how much they should receive, which will be confidential, cleveland.coms Laura Hancock reports. 'Go-to guy: Ohios Jim Jordan is now one of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthys favorite Republican attack dogs in Congress, Politico reports. The two were once rivals, with Jordan, founder of the ultra conservative Freedom Caucus, once helping block McCarthys bid to become House Speaker. But now, McCarthy considers Jordan a go-to guy for tough jobs, which have included defending President Donald Trump during impeachment proceedings, according to the Politico story. Full Disclosure Five things we learned from state Sen. Louis Blessings Feb. 14 financial disclosure. Blessing, a Republican from Cincinnati, had served in the House, but in October was named to the Ohio Senate. 1. In addition to working as a legislator, hes an engineer, earning $25,000 to $49,999 last year. 2. He likes precious metals, owning stock in Kinross Gold Corp., Yamana Gold Corp. and Barrack Gold Corp. 3. The Ohio House last year reimbursed him $4,117.36 for mileage between home and Columbus. 4. The Ohio Association of Election Officials named him legislator of the year and gave him a gift valued at $45.50. 5. Hamilton County government covered his $12.07 lunch when he met with people involved in the county heroin coalition. On the Move The ACLU of Ohio announced that Elizabeth Hopkins is its new director of organizing. Hopkins, who lives in Cincinnati, comes to the ACLU from Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio. Birthdays Craig Fleck, Ohio House deputy administrative officer; Faith Oltman, communications director for Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein Straight From The Source The Ohio House will continue passing legislation that protects Ohioans regardless of threats. -Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder on Twitter, replying to news that Gov. Mike DeWine will veto any bill that limits health orders signed by him and Dr. Amy Acton during the pandemic. Householder, whose chamber passed a bill last week that would do just that, later added to his retort in another tweet: If any doctor told you to quit your job, close your business, stay at home, dont associate with your grandchildren and only take advice from that doctor... would you at least ask for a second opinion? Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. If you do not already subscribe, you can sign up here to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free. Dr. Charles Francis Raley Jr. observed his 97th birthday on May 8. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 8, 1923. He attended grade school in Baltimore and in Wilmington, Delaware, then high school in Wilmington. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1943, with a bachelor of science in chemistry. He is a veteran of World War II, serving two years in the U.S. Navy as an electronics technician. Returning to school after the war, he received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Delaware in 1950. He was employed by Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, for seven years before accepting a position as a research chemist with The Dow Chemical Co. in Midland. He retired from Dow in 1982 as an associate scientist. He married Jane Ann Davis in June 1947; she passed away in 2016. He is a life-time member of Blessed Sacrament parish. He has three children, Charles Christopher, Lelia Ellen and Amy Jane; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. A family dinner is planned to celebrate his birthday. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Scientists have developed a test that can identify hybrids resulting from crossbreeding between European and American lobsters. American lobsters have occasionally escaped or been released into European waters after being imported for the seafood market. Experts have long feared they could threaten European lobsters by introducing disease or establishing as an invasive species. Hybridizationwhen a "pure" species is threatened at a genetic level via interbreeding with a different but related specieshad been less of a concern because lab studies suggested European and American lobsters were reluctant to mate. However, when an American lobster female was found bearing eggs in a fjord in Sweden, University of Exeter researchers tested the offspring and found they were "clearly distinct" from both European and American lobsters. "We had just developed a genetic test for seafood traceability that could separate any American lobsters mislabeled as more expensive European equivalents once they've been cooked and shell coloration is no longer a useful indicator of the species," said Dr. Charlie Ellis, of the University of Exeter. "What we found when we tested these offspring is that they came out exactly in the middle of this separationhalf American and half Europeanso these lobsters were hybrids." This has potentially concerning implications for the lobster industry and conservation efforts, and Dr. Ellis says further research is required to assess the extent of the threat. "Until recently, it was thought that American and European lobsters would avoid crossbreeding, but this introduced American female has mated with a native European male, probably because she was unable to find an American male," he said. "We now need to check whether any mature adult hybrids are fertile, because if they are then they have the ability to spread these unwanted American genes far and wide across our native lobster stocks." Working with collaborators from the University of Gothenburg who originally found the hybrid egg clutch, the researchers say their study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, highlights the vital use of genetics to distinguish hybrid lobsters which might look almost identical to a pure strain. "It is particularly concerning that we seem to have found American lobster genes in one of our lobster reserves," said Linda Svanberg of the Gothenburg team. "The better news is we now have this genetic tool to test lobsters or their eggs for hybridization," added Dr. Jamie Stevens, leader of the research which was funded by an EU grant through the Agritech Cornwall scheme, "so we can use it track the spread of these 'alien' genes to assess how big a threat this presents to our native lobster species." The team advise that, for a range of conservation reasons including potential contact with American lobsters, it is important that the general public never release a marketed lobster back into the wild, even our native species. Dr. Tom Jenkins said: "Although we appreciate that all animal-lovers have concern for the fate of individual animals, in this case the rescue of one animal might endanger the health of the entire wild population, so once a lobster has entered the seafood supply chain that's where it should stay." Explore further Sweden asks EU to stop American lobster invasion More information: Charlie D. Ellis et al. Crossing the pond: genetic assignment detects lobster hybridisation, Scientific Reports (2020). Journal information: Scientific Reports Charlie D. Ellis et al. Crossing the pond: genetic assignment detects lobster hybridisation,(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64692-z PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-11 22:01:12 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 944 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Gold Terra Resource Corp. (TSX-V:YGT)(Frankfurt:TX0)(OTC PINK:TRXXF) ("Gold Terra" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of 10 drill holes from Sam Otto South (Link to map) on its 100% wholly-owned Yellowknife City Gold ("YCG") project in the Northwest Territories. To date, Gold Terra has released the assay results of 28 holes from its 36 holes winter drilling program totaling 10,989 metres.This drilling targeted the northern part of Sam Otto South. All 10 holes intersected gold mineralization, indicating the potential to add to the current inferred mineral resource estimate dated November 4, 2019 (the "2019 Mineral Resource Estimate").Highlights include:1.03 g/t Au over 23m, including 1.30 g/t Au over 12m (TSO20-077)1.60 g/t Au over 11.75m (TSO20-078)1.18 g/t Au over 11m, including 1.94 g/t Au over 6m (TSO20-074)1.05 g/t Au over 9m (TSO20-076)1.09 g/t Au over 7m (TSO20-068)President and CEO David Suda stated: "Our stated goal prior to this drilling campaign was to establish continuity and potentially increase the current mineral resource. Results to date have demonstrated continued success in expanding the footprint of the Sam Otto South gold mineralized system. For example, very good continuity is shown on Section 3400N with holes TSO20-074 and 077 announced today. We look forward to receiving the assay results from the remaining holes in the untested central zone and Main Zone of Sam Otto." Technical Summary:The drill holes reported today were following up on holes TSO18-037 (1.92 g/t Au over 11.82m) and TSO19-046 (1.36 g/t Au over 14.00m) at the northern end of Sam Otto South. This drilling completed on approximate 50m centers covers an additional 250m of strike length beyond the news release of April 22, 2020, which together encompass 500m of continuous mineralization to a vertical depth of 200m to 250m (Link to cross sections).The drilling results reported to date demonstrate good continuity of the gold mineralization at greater than 1 g/t and have expanded the mineralized zone beyond the boundaries of the 2019 Mineral Resource Estimate.The drilling also intersected an additional zone of mineralization in hole TSO20-075 at a vertical depth of approximately 300m. This hole was drilled deeper due to favorable geology (to the west) and intersected 0.54 g/t Au over 18.26m. This mineralization is currently interpreted to be an offset of the main mineralized zone, which is associated with mafic dykes emplaced along fault zones. This possible interpretation is reinforced by hole TSO20-079 which missed the main mineralized zone and intersected chert horizons that are interpreted as being stratigraphically above the mineralized intermediate tuff host rocks. This possible western offset has been covered by the 2020 IP surveys, which will potentially provide future drilling targets.Technical Appendix:This news release reports the assay results from 10 drill holes totaling 2,754m from which 1,410 core samples were assayed. Assay results range from non-detectable gold to a highest assay of 4.17 g/t Au. The Company inserts certified standards and blanks into the sample stream as a check on laboratory Quality Control (QC). Drill core samples are cut by diamond saw at Gold Terra's core facilities in Yellowknife. A halved core sample is left in the core box. The other half core is sampled and transported by Gold Terra personnel in securely sealed bags to ALS (ALS) preparation laboratory in Yellowknife. After sample preparation, samples are shipped to ALS's Vancouver facility for gold analysis. Gold assays of >3 g/t are re-assayed on a 30 g split by fire assay with a gravimetric finish. Samples with visible gold are additionally assayed using a screen metallics method. ALS is a certified and accredited laboratory service. ALS routinely inserts certified gold standards, blanks and pulp duplicates, and results of all QC samples are reported.Drill holes were drilled at right angles to the zones of mineralization and dip angles of holes were designed to intersect the zones as close to normal as possible. Zones reported here are interpreted to be 85-95 percent of true thickness.The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Joseph Campbell, Chief Operating Officer, a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.About the Yellowknife City Gold ProjectThe YCG project encompasses 783 sq. km of contiguous land immediately north, south and east of the City of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Through a series of acquisitions, Gold Terra controls one of the six major high-grade gold camps in Canada. Being within 10 km of the City of Yellowknife, the YCG is close to vital infrastructure, including all-season roads, air transportation, service providers, hydro-electric power and skilled tradespeople.The YCG lies on the prolific Yellowknife greenstone belt, covering 70 km of strike length along the main mineralized shear system that host the former-producing high-grade Con and Giant gold mines. The Company's exploration programs have successfully identified significant zones of gold mineralization and multiple targets that remain to be tested which reinforces the Company's objective of re-establishing Yellowknife as one of the premier gold mining districts in Canada.Visit our website at www.goldterracorp.com For more information, please contact:David Suda, President and CEOPhone: 604-928-3101 I Toll-Free: 1-855-737-2684dsuda@ Goldterracorp.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.Sam Otto South - DDH Intersections (Sections 3300N to 3500N)Section 3300NDrill HoleDipAzimuthUTM LocationFrom (m)To (m)Interval (m)Au g/tEastingNorthingTSO20-068-45270639750694328679.00 rBusinessman and the Bushenyi District National Resistance Movement (NRM) Chairman, Mr Hassan Basajjabalaba, has accused politicians in the district for failing distribution of relief food to the vulnerable people in the area. Mr Basajjabalaba who was donating 20.5 tons of maize flour to Bushenyi Covid-19 taskforce on Friday, said him together with Bushenyi District Woman MP, Mary Karoro Okrut, Igara West MP, Raphael Magyezi, and Igara East MP Micheal Mawanda; had mobilized to support residents of Bushenyi District with relief food, but their efforts are being undermined by self-centred people playing cheap politics. "We decided that we should mobilize support for our people, we first brought 40 tons and now we have brought 20.5 tons of maize flour. Am requesting the RDC that we should not mix politics in this, we should give food to people who deserve it," he said. Mr Basajjabalaba said some politicians in the district are using the situation to front their political intentions to the extent of paying LC1s not to distribute food to people with different political views. "Am told that some leaders who want to contest are giving LCI chairpersons Shs30,000 each not to distribute this food. I have already reported to Lt Col Edith Nakalema about the money being exchanged and if it is proved to be true then that will be unfortunate for them," he said. Mr Basajjabalaba said that some people are also rebranding relief food bags by removing the names of real donors and putting theirs. "We found out that some people are buying food just for political reasons, that is why we have brought food without names of the donors because the purpose is not publicizing ourselves, but rather ensuring that our people get food," he said. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Uganda Food and Agriculture By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. The Bushenyi District LC5 Chairperson, Mr Jaffar Basajjabalaba, said because of political interference, they have instructed those planning to donate food not to bother branding their donations. "We have been combining food donations and distributing it at once, that is why we decided that technical people should be the ones to distribute but not politicians. We shall not accept any donation marked with donors' names. We also do not want what those who tell us where they want their donations to be taken, we are not playing politics here," he said. Bushenyi Resident District Commissioner, Mr Jolly Tibemanya, said they are investigating cases where people are refusing to distribute food because they do not support donors politically. Lt. General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi (C) is an extremely popular figure in Iraqi politics for his work in the fight against Islamic State - Khalid Mohammed/AP Iraqs newly confirmed prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi announced the reinstatement of a top general whose sacking in September sparked a wave of protests across the country. Speaking on state television on Saturday, Mr Kadhimi said that General Abdul Wahab Al-Saadi would be reinstated and promoted to head of the countrys elite Counter-Terrorism Services. In an olive branch to protesters, Mr Kadhimi also announced the release of those arrested at demonstrations which have flared up in cities across the country since October. He promised investigations into the deaths of hundreds of protesters killed in those demonstrations. Mr Saadi, a national hero from the countrys battles with Islamic State, is widely regarded as being close to the US. His sacking in September was interpreted by many as an indication of Irans growing influence over Baghdad. Hours after the announcement, protesters took to streets in cities across the country. Yet what started as simple demonstrations against Mr Saadis removal quickly morphed into a widespread movement against the countrys fledgling political system. An attempted clampdown by security forces and militias saw at least 600 people killed in the months that followed. The violence prompted the resignation of previous prime minister, Adil Abdul Mahdi. Sajad Jiyad, a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that Mr Kadhimis efforts were as much about reigning in security forces as they were about reaching out to the protest movement. Anti-government protests have raged since October - Hadi Mizban/AP The prime minister is sending out messages that he is going to try and reverse some of the damage done by Adil Abdul Mahdi's government, he said. Its something that he is trying to repair the relationship between the government and protesters, but he is also trying to reassert control of security and take back some of the power that was decentralised. Ali Al Bayati, head of the Iraqi Human Rights Commission, told The Telegraph that Mr Kadhimi would need to do more the win the trust of protesters. Story continues Releasing the protesters is an important, positive step, but these investigations need to cover everyone in government, including the previous prime minister he was the commander-in-chief. Any investigation should start with the countrys senior officials. The announcements represented Mr Kadhimis first moves since being confirmed by Iraqs parliament on Wednesday following months of horse-trading between the countrys political factions. Two previous nominees for the premiership failed to gain sufficient support in parliament, leaving the country rudderless in the face of a myriad of crises. Mr Kadhimi managed to secure backing for 15 of his 22 proposed ministers, but critical ministries including Foreign and Oil have so far refused to provide their support. In its continuing efforts to monitor and reduce the environmental impact of its vehicles, FCA has completed its latest Global Warming Potential (GWP) analysis. The redesigned-for-2018 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited was compared with the previous-generation vehicle, its overall GWP is 15 percent lower than that of its predecessor. "This is the outcome we expect when we launch a new vehicle," says Mitch Clauw, FCA Vice President and Head of Global Pre-Programs and Program Management. "In all our processes, the mitigation of environmental impact is a baked-in consideration." The GWP improvement was calculated using industry-standard software that examines multiple factors associated with a vehicle's design, production and on-road performance. These factors include: the environmental impact of fuel production and delivery material use the vehicle's own fuel consumption Determinations are based on 150,000 miles of operation. And improvements are measured by contrasting anticipated C02-equivalent greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, with those of comparable vehicles. C02-equivalent, or CO2e, is a term for describing various greenhouse gases as a common unit. For any quantity and type of greenhouse gas, CO2e signifies the amount of CO2 that would have an equivalent effect on global warming. In this case, the comparison was made with the previous-generation Wrangler Unlimited, as powered by its only available engine FCA's award-winning 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 and a since-discontinued five-speed automatic transmission. The new Wrangler's performance was measured as equipped with the available 270-horsepower, 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4 engine, featuring engine stop-start (ESS). Accordingly, each new Wrangler Unlimited has the potential to account for a 14-metric-ton reduction in GHG emissions, which is equivalent to: GHG emissions of three passenger cars, driven for one year C02e output from 7.7 tons of coal burned in a power-generation plant C02e produced when powering 2.4 average American homes for one year Equally compelling is that the reduced emissions from each 2.0-liter Wrangler Unlimited, over its lifetime, has the potential to account for the carbon sequestration that occurs in 16.5 acres of U.S. forest, over an entire year. Material choices also contribute to the new Wrangler Unlimited's greener performance. Its ferrous metal content was reduced to 54 percent from 68 percent in the previous-generation vehicle. Meanwhile, non-ferrous metal content, which contributes to weight reduction and corrosion resistance, increased to 20 percent, from 12 percent. Further improving its on-road performance, FCA's TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic transmission benefits fuel economy, whether mated to the 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4 or the 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6. In I-4 configurations, the celebrated transmission helps the 2020 Wrangler Unlimited achieve a 21 miles-per-gallon (mpg) rating in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's combined city/highway test cycle an increase of three mpg over the previous-generation vehicle and its five-speed automatic transmission. In the Sahara trim level, the 2020 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited may be equipped with a version of the 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4 that features FCA's eTorque mild-hybrid technology. In addition, the new-generation Wrangler Unlimited is available with a 3.6-liter V-6 from FCA's award-winning Pentastar engine family. It comes with a choice of a TorqueFlite eight-speed transmission or a six-speed manual gearbox. The 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4 is also available in the Jeep Cherokee midsize SUV. To accommodate its continued proliferation across the FCA lineup, the Company is committing $400 million to produce the engine at a former transmission plant in Kokomo, Indiana, a project that will bring FCA's total employment in the state to 8,300. The results of this latest GWP analysis come on the heels of FCA's 2019 Sustainability Report. Distributed on April 16, it says the Company further reduced its environmental footprint around the world. Among the highlights, FCA cut its water use by nearly 40 percent, compared with 2010. Over the same time period, the Company also shaved its carbon footprint by 27 percent, and slashed its waste generation by 64 percent. FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is a global automaker that designs, engineers, manufactures and sells vehicles in a portfolio of exciting brands, including Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Lancia, Ram and Maserati. It also sells parts and services under the Mopar name and operates in the components and production systems sectors under the Comau and Teksid brands. FCA employs nearly 200,000 people around the globe. For more details regarding FCA (NYSE: FCAU/ MTA: FCA), please visit www.fcagroup.com. SOURCE FCA WASHINGTON Two days after President Donald Trump visited a mask factory in Arizona last week, Joe Biden talked to voters from another crucial election state, Florida. Except, unlike Trump, the former vice president wasn't there physically. Like all his campaign events since mid-March endorsements from Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, virtual town halls, fundraisers and more Biden was at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, as he follows social distancing guidelines like most Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic. For his two Florida calls, he spoke from a back patio, a departure from his basement, which has been transformed into a studio for the presumptive Democratic nominee to conduct most of his campaign Zoom meetings and interviews. "I'm going to need you if we win," Biden told a group of 50 black leaders gathered in Jacksonville. Later that evening, after a live DJ session, several introductions and even more glitches (at one point, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Florida, disappeared from the screen but could still be heard), Biden addressed supporters in Tampa, Florida. "Have you introduced me? Am I on?" he said, still wearing his sunglasses. He then took them off, settled in and thanked his loyalists. "There's nothing we cannot accomplish if we work together, and come this November, we're going to prove it." In this image from video provided by the Biden for President campaign, Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a virtual press briefing Wednesday, March 25, 2020. The arrangement has worked just fine so far even with some technical warts. A Monmouth University poll this week found Biden leading Trump in a head-to-head matchup 50%-41%. But the campaign-via-basement strategy could be tested if Trump continues to take presidential visits outside Washington amid the COVID-19 crisis. More: Trump lands in Arizona for most extensive trip since start of coronavirus pandemic Some Democrats are getting antsy for Biden to move beyond the standard online speeches and policy announcements that have defined his campaign in the coronavirus era. Story continues With Trump now starting to travel and the election less than six months away, the Biden campaign faces an added risk: the competing images of a president in action, conversing with voters as he pushes to reopen the economy, and a challenger talking into a camera in an empty room. Former top Barack Obama campaign advisers David Axelrod and David Plouffe, in a recent New York Times op-ed, called on the Biden campaign to "up the tempo" of his campaign. They argued a basement campaign can work, but it must fully utilize his army of surrogates and perhaps most important move quickly to ramp up the campaign's digital presence, which has lagged. "His authentic sense of empathy is a quality uniquely suited to this agonizing moment," Axelrod and Plouffe wrote of Biden. But they said he's now "mired in his basement, speaking to us remotely, like an astronaut beaming back to earth from the International Space Station." They continued: "Mr. Biden finds himself on the outside looking in" on the only story that matters, the coronavirus pandemic. "Online speeches from his basement wont cut it." Inside the day of a presidential candidate at home The 77-year-old Biden begins his daily routine around 8 a.m. riding a Peloton exercise bike. He then gulps down a protein shake and takes part in two separate teleconference calls one with a team of health experts for the latest update on the coronavirus and another with economic advisers. Meetings and phone calls take place in various rooms throughout Biden's home. What the public sees usually is the basement, the venue for most of his media interviews and campaign events. In a push for more face-to-face time with everyday voters and front-line coronavirus workers, Biden recently held a "virtual ropeline" for supporters and a talk with a Wisconsin nurse and her family. The campaign declined to say how many staffers are present in Biden's home to help carry out the operations. More: Joe Biden has addressed Tara Reade's sexual assault allegation. Will voters care? President Donald Trump listens to Tony Stallings, vice president of integrated supply chain at Honeywell International Inc., during a tour on Tuesday of a Phoenix plant that manufactures personal protective equipment. Even as some states start reopening businesses, the Biden camp has given no indication publicly of plans to get back on the campaign trail. Delaware is among several states under a stay-at-home order. It's set to expire May 15. "The health and safety of our supporters, staff and the American people is our top priority, and our decision making on how to campaign will be guided by public health experts with that in mind," Biden national campaign secretary T.J. Ducklo said in a statement. "Vice President Biden continues to connect with voters across the country everyday through a range of virtual platforms and looks forward to traveling the country again as soon as we can safely do so." Providing direction, according to the campaign, is a six-member panel of health experts assembled March 11 to provide "science-based, expert advice" on steps to minimize risks for Biden, his campaign staff and supporters. The groups includes Vivek Murthy, who was surgeon general in the Obama administration, along with other doctors who have backgrounds in epidimeology and microbiology. For Biden, the absence of campaign stops has taken away a perceived strength: retail politicking. Biden, whose first run for office was a city council win in 1970, often seems more comfortable giving a hug and sharing a personal moment with a voter than giving a policy speech. Still, Democrats and Republicans alike say Biden benefited from being confined the past two months. As Trump held meandering two-hour-long daily press briefings on the coronavirus crisis, offering mixed messages and lines that backfired suggesting disinfectant as a cure for the virus tops them all Biden was able to put forward a consistent message: listen to the doctors and other health experts. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorses former Vice President Joe Biden for president during a live streamed town hall on April 28, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. The setting has allowed him to avoid major gaffes, save vital campaign money and energy for the race ahead, and display a united Democratic front to take on Trump through the steady stream of endorsements. "So far, I don't think it's hurt him at all. If anything, it's hurt Trump," Joe Trippi, a veteran Democratic campaign strategist, said of the lopsided media attention. Usually, it would be a major advantage for an incumbent during a crisis, but, Trippi said, "in a lot of ways, Trump is competing against himself." Trippi said Biden can make his case to voters sufficiently from home moving forward as well because the race is foremost about the contrasting personalities of the candidates. "I think this comes down to do you want the chaos and division of Trump, or do you want that empathetic leader that Biden is seen as?" Trippi said. "I don't know that it's going to matter what form those messages get delivered." He noted that despite the bigger crowds of Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren during the Democratic primary, Biden emerged as the presumptive nominee anyway. Biden won some states without visiting them or opening campaign offices or airing any television ads in them. "It's definitely limiting," Trippi said of Biden's home-based campaign. "But given what we saw all this year with Joe Biden and his opponents, and given who Trump is, I'm not sure it's a big advantage for (Trump) to be holding rallies and running around the country in the midst of this." Better for Biden to stay at home? Trump and allies say so Unlike Biden, Trump is in position to conduct trips on Air Force One as official White House business. But there's a risk for the president. Critics knocked Trump for the Arizona visit, pointing to the hundreds of staffers, Secret Service personnel, military members and others who typically fly in for such events, this time during a global pandemic. More: 'Nothing can cover up how he failed': Biden rips Trump ahead of Phoenix visit Trump attracted more criticism from Democrats for choosing to not wear a mask while touring a factory that makes them. His traveling could bring future scrutiny if states reopen their economies too soon and it leads to more coronavirus cases. In a phone interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump needled Biden about campaigning from home, saying he would help him gain access to rapid COVID-19 tests if he were asked. "I would love to see him get out of the basement so he can speak," Trump said, adding, Every time he talks its like a good thing. They dont want him to come out, the president said. Ill give them the test immediately. We would have it to them today. More: What the fight between Biden and Trump over China means for the 2020 election Although the Trump campaign has not scheduled any campaign stops or rallies, the president intends to take more White House trips like the one to Phoenix to tout his coronavirus response. In that same vein, Vice President Mike Pence visited Iowa for a meeting Friday with faith leaders on reopening houses of worship and a meeting with agriculture and supply chain leaders. "Were going to start to move around," Trump said at a recent news briefing. He said he was tired of being cooped up in the White House and wants to resume reelection campaign rallies as soon as possible. More: Honeywell silent on Donald Trump's claim he was told he didn't need to wear mask But Brad Todd, a Republican strategist and founding partner of the media consultant firm OnMessage Inc., said the Biden campaign should keep the status quo as long as possible. "If I was running the Biden campaign, I would unplug his broadband and keep him in the basement," Todd said. "I think the memory of Joe Biden as vice president is more compelling to voters than the present of Joe Biden the candidate. "So I think the basement is a great place to be. The only problem is they continually broadcast out of there." Todd, whose firm worked for the campaign of Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, among others, said Biden is better off if the election becomes a "single referendum on Trump" where Biden doesn't factor in at all when people cast their votes in November. He said Democrats chose Biden because he had the "least risk," not his individual appeal. He believes the Biden campaign will eventually cave, however. "I predict the Biden campaign will take the bait, and they'll put him out," Todd said. "I think it will be a mistake." As for Trump, Todd said he would be surprised if the president starts holding major campaign rallies anytime soon, which would put him at a disadvantage. Besides activating Trump's loyal base and dominating media coverage, the rallies help the Trump campaign collect data on their voters. "If you're looking at who this helps, who this hurts, the Trump campaign losing the rallies is a major tool out of the toolkit," Todd said. Former Obama advisers send signals to Biden campaign In the Times op-ed, Axelrod and Plouffe said that the Biden campaign must rethink every aspect of the campaign amid the coronavirus pandemic and that adjusting to the new political realities is "imperative." They said the campaign can't afford to assume Trump's election fate will be tied to his handling of the crisis and the sinking economy. They gave several suggestions: campaign like an insurgent eager to put Trump on his heels, not an incumbent playing defense; respond rapidly to the negative attacks of Trump and his surrogates; enhance the campaign's digital footprint; enlist the liberal-leaning creative class to improve the quality of the content; prepare for a virtual convention; and organize digitally such as urging supporters to share content and enlisting their friends. The Biden campaign followed through on one tip from Democratic digital experts Friday by turning to the left-wing social media network, NowThis News, for remarks to address the nation's historic rise in unemployment. More: Biden fares almost as well with young voters as Sanders in matchup vs. Trump, poll finds With Trump holding a 15-to-1 advantage on Biden with social media followers (79.5 million Twitter followers to 5.3 million for Biden), Democrats have urged Biden to lean on the social networks of allies who have a greater online presence. NowThis News has 16 million Facebook followers, compared with 1.8 million for Biden. The Biden campaign also doubled its 20-member digital team, The Washington Post reported Friday, as part of a major staff expansion in all major departments. Lis Smith, former campaign adviser for Buttigieg and Obama, wrote in a separate Times op-ed that if Biden "plays his cards right," he can put a death to the traditional campaign and create a new standard for talking to the media. She said he must become "digitally omnipresent," adding that Biden's "palpable empathy" is a quality that translates well to the screen. "The 77-year-old Mr. Biden, whom the president derisively calls 'Sleepy Joe, can become the hottest bad boy and disrupter in the media game," she wrote. But if the Biden campaign remains in the basement long-term, it must work out the kinks before it can rewrite the rules on how to win a race for president. More glitch-filled virtual town halls like the one in Florida last week will only fuel his opponents. "If Joe Biden cannot run a livestream event," the Republican National Committee said in a news release Friday, "why should we think he could run a country?" Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus keeps Joe Biden at home as 2020 campaign rolls on Bagalavan Perier B By Express News Service VILLUPURAM: A 15-year-old girl from a village near Thiruvennainallur was allegedly burnt alive by two men linked to the AIADMK who had a dispute with her father. Police arrested the duo based on her statement. The girl died on Monday morning, a day after the incident. ALSO READ: TN opposition urges severe punishment for Class 10 girl's killers, EPS condemns murder According to police sources from Thiruvevennainallur, J Jayasri of Sirumadurai village was studying in Class 10. Her father K Jayabal owns two shops in the village and on Saturday night, his son Jayaraj was sleeping in one of the shops after closing it. When K Praveenkumar of the same village knocked on the door and asked for beedis, Jayaraj refused as the shop was already closed. Praveenkumar entered into an argument and attacked Jayaraj. K Jayabal, Jayasri's father. Jayabal subsequently took his son to the Tirukoilur government hospital for treatment. On Sunday morning, he and Jayaraj went to Thiruvennainallur police station to lodge a complaint against Praveenkumar. At that time, villagers noticed smoke coming from his home attached to the second shop. They went inside and found Jayasri had been set afire. Immediately, they doused the fire and sent her to the Government Villupuram medical college hospital in Mundiyampakkam for treatment. Meantime, in her statement to judicial magistrate K Arunkumar, she said G Murugan, a former AIADMK councilor's husband, and K Kaliyaperumal, AIADMK branch secretary in the area, poured petrol on her and set her on fire. Based on her statement, Thiruvennainallur police filed a case under Section 307 for attempt to murder and arrested the duo the same night. The girl died in hospital on Monday morning. Sources in the hospital said since she had got 95 per cent burns, they were unable to save her. Meanwhile, police converted the case to Section 302 for murder and added three more sections. Police said they also questioned Praveenkumar and found that he didn't have any connection to the girl's death. They also said the duo who had been arrested claimed that while they had a dispute with her father, they were not involved in the girl's murder. Police took some of their relatives for inquiry. "In 2013, Murugan and his supporters attacked my younger brother Kumar with sickles and since we filed a case against them, they were angry with us. They tied the hands of my daughter and set fire to her when she was alone at home. If severe action had been taken against them at the time, this wouldn't have happened to my daughter now," said Jayabal to The New Indian Express. District superintendent of police S Jeyakumar inspected the spot on Monday evening and questioned the neighbors about the incident. After that he told Express, "Based on the girl's statement, a case has been filed against the duo and further inquiries are going on. We have confirmed that Saturday's incident didn't have any connection with her murder. " Flash The United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) issued the "200th birth anniversary Florence Nightingale Year of the Nurse and the Midwife 2020 Definitive Stamp" on May 12. An online release was organized in China on Weibo with the participation of the UN, UNICEF, WHO, UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA and UN Women. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared 2020 the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife to recognize the critical contribution both professions make to global health. The year also marks the 200th birthday of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). Florence Nightingale laid the foundation for professional nursing by establishing the St. Thomas' Hospital in London and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses in 1860. Her efforts to reform healthcare greatly influenced the quality of care in the 19th and 20th centuries. Nurses and midwives play a vital role in providing health services and are the largest professional group in the healthcare workforce, accounting for 50 percent of healthcare personnel globally. Nearly 70 percent of the health and social workforce are women. Thanawat Amnajanan, the chief of UNPA says, "As the COVID-19 pandemic is ravaging the world, the stamp and online event provide an opportunity for us to come together and recognize the works of all healthcare workers." The stamp's denomination is 1,35. It is illustrated by artist Martin Morck and designed by Rorie Katz. The image is Florence Nightingale's portrait. The quote on the left in German reads "Live life when you have it. Life is a splendid gift there is nothing small about it." On the right of the portrait is "United Nations" in German. The stamp can be used in the UN International City in Vienna for mailing letters and postcards all over the world. Thiruvananthapuram, May 11 : Seven new cases of coronavirus were reported on Monday in Kerala - almost all who had returned from the state from elsewhere in the country or abroad, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. Of the seven, four came from Maharashtra, and one each from Chennai and Kuwait. An 11-year-old child from Wayanad also has turned positive, he said. In a Facebook post, Vijayan also said that 489 cases have been cured in the state so far, and at present, there are 27 positive cases under treatment. "A total of 27,545 people are under observation at their homes while 441 others have been kept under observation at different hospitals across the state," he said, adding that one more hotspot has been added in the state, taking the total to 34. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Worldviews have consequences. The pandemic that grips the whole world is symptomatic of the deadly grip that the ungodly leadership in China holds over a wide populous (including tens of millions of Chinese Christians). The coronavirus did not just come out of nowhere. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims that it came out of the wet markets of Wuhan, a city of about 11 million people. But there is evidence that it may have originated in a biolab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Steven Mosher, the president of the Population Research Institute, certainly thinks so. He says corners were being cut, leading to the virus escaping from the lab. But the CCP tried to hide these things. As we know now, they allowed flights from Wuhan to the rest of the world, but not flights from Wuhan to other parts of China. Recently I interviewed Mosher on my radio show. He argued, This didnt come from nature. This came from man. This came from the leadership of the Communist Party, which was putting a rush on research in their biolab in Wuhan. And I think they were putting so much pressure on the research that the researchers cut corners, and this dangerous coronavirusescaped from the lab. Mosher continued, And there the story gets even worse. Because after it escapes, it could have been contained very, very quickly by using means that were all familiar with contact-tracing, finding out who Patient Zero was, tracing that persons contacts, putting those people under quarantine. Instead, the deadly virus was allowed to spread throughout the city of Wuhan. China hid it.Even to this present day, they are still hiding what they know about the virus. And yet millions of Americans are ready to blame President Trump for the virus crisis rather the actual perpetrators. Furthermore, millions of young Americans want to see America become a socialist nation which often leads to communism. They think socialism means sharing and fairness to everybody. A recent Gallup poll found that the younger you are in America, the higher your view of socialism. Only 51% of Americans aged 18-39 had a high view of capitalism with 49% preferring socialism. At the same time, of those older than 55, 68% were positive toward capitalism with only 32% in favor of socialism. Gary Bauer of American Values told me in a recent TV interview: I think all of us have been disturbed by polling data that shows that young Americans particularly seem to be very open, if not outwardly and completely supportive, of socialism.The majority of students that are saying that socialism is a good thing have not been educated in any way shape or form about what socialism is. Mosher noted the CCP (and communism everywhere) is built on a series of lies: There is no God. Man is not made in the image of God; instead hes just a little higher than the apes. The Party can create paradise on earth, if you give it all power. Chairman Mao who forced communism on China in 1949 is the greatest mass-murderer in the history of humanity, exterminating as many as 45 million of his own people. When he took over the worlds most populated country, one of the goals was to dominate wider parts of the world, notes Mosher. And in 1958, Mao set up the Earth Control Committee. Thus, it is possible that the whole world has been upended by a group of atheists who reacted criminally in response to accidents in a lab that was dealing with very dangerous substances. No wonder the state of Missouri filed a lawsuit last week against the government of China. At least we can say that their irresponsible reaction to the virus once it began to spread has brought misery to many parts of the world. Many Chinese people themselves would gladly not have the Communists rule over them. But, amazingly, as noted, we have many in America who want communism or socialism. I asked Mosher about this trend among young people. He chalked it up to the naivete of the young and the miseducation many of them receive in the schools. They think socialism can work if just the right people put it into practice. But in every communist regime, Mosher observes, they kill at least about 10-15% of their own people in order to remove the counter-revolutionaries. Of all the sins and crimes of communism throughout the last century and a half and there have been many the outbreak of the coronavirus and the failure of the CCP to truly cooperate with other agencies to control this before it became a pandemic has got to be among the greatest crimes of all. There was an old saying during the Cold War, You can trust the communists to act like communists. It is about time naive Americans woke up to the rotten fruit of communism. A combination of bad factors, plus cold air mass and convergence of winds at a height of 5,000 meters, have caused extreme weather phenomena, including large hail and the 50-year historic cold spell on April 22-23. Many dangerous weather phenomena took place in the first months of the year. Hail occurred in late January. Sun and sultry heat appeared in late March and early April but it was followed by a historic cold spell. Nguyen Van Huong from the National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting said that climate change has made extreme weather phenomena occur more regularly everywhere. These are also the results of many bad weather factors, cold air masses and convergence of winds. Huong predicted that from now to the end of May, Vietnam will have 2-3 more spells of cold air. However, the intensity of the cold air spells wont be as strong as the one seen on April 22-23. However, he warned that the cold spells during the intermittent period, when moving into Vietnam, will meet hot and humid air masses and cause extreme weather events such as storms, whirlwinds, hail and strong winds. Huong cited a report of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as saying that the last five years had the highest global average temperature in the past 140 years, with the average standard deviation of temperature as follows: higher by 0.87oC in 2015, 1.04oC in 2016, 0.93oC in 2017, 0.78oC in 2018 and 0.99oC in 2019. 2016 was the hottest year and 2019 was the second hottest year. The most recent five years saw the temperature reaching the highest levels among the data monitored since 1880. In the context of global warming, Huong said 2020 is expected to have higher temperatures than many years ago. The average temperature in Vietnam so far this year has been higher by 1.0-2.5oC of many years ago. In the context of global warming, Huong said 2020 is expected to have higher temperatures than many years ago. The average temperature in Vietnam so far this year has been higher by 1.0-2.5oC of many years ago. It is expected that the average temperature in May-October will be higher by 0.5-1oC than that of the same periods last year. Heat waves are likely to happen in May and June in the north, and in May-August in the northern and central parts of the central region. We believe that heat waves this year will be intensive, but they will be less intensive than 2019, he said. The National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting believes that the 2020 typhoon season in the East Sea may come later than in previous years. The number of typhoons and tropical depressions in the East Sea which have a direct impact on Vietnams mainland are likely to approximate the previous years average level. Le Ha Hanoi and northern provinces to experience warmer weather Hanoi and other northern provinces are forecast to experience warmer weather as of Monday until May 6. 11.05.2020 LISTEN Supreme Court Judge Nominee Justice Clemence Jackson Honyenuga has said he did not endorse the presidency of Nana Akufo-Addo in his personal capacity but was a speech he was elected to read on behalf of the chiefs and people of Afadjato when the President visited the Volta region. According to Justice Honyenuga, the state-owned Daily Graphic which reported the story misrepresented him and did not state that the endorsement was not his, but a speech he was elected to read on behalf of the chiefs. He also indicated that the assertion that the president visited his traditional area was untrue as the President visited the Afadjato area where he was selected to speak on behalf of the traditional leaders. Justice Honyenuga gave the explanation when he appeared before the vetting committee of parliament on Monday, 11 May 2020. Justice Honyenuga who is also the Paramount Chief of the Nyagbo Traditional Area earlier this year in his welcome address to President Akufo-Addo at a durbar of chiefs and people of the Afajato South District, was full of praise for the Akufo-Addo-led administration. We wish to congratulate you for the excellent manner you are governing this dear country of ours, Ghana, and the significant gains made in the economy in your first term, adding: It is true that you have won high admiration, not only in Africa but also in advanced democracies. Your flagship programmes, like the Free Senior High School, Planting for Food and Jobs which has increased food production and has even led to exports; One District-One Factory, among others, has (sic) increased food production and has (sic) improved upon the standard of living of many Ghanaians, he said. Indeed, he added: For special mention is the Free SHS, which has broken boundaries and has greatly bridged the gap between the rich and the poor, observing: This programme has also broken the record, which was held by the first President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who gave free education to our brothers and sisters in the northern part of Ghana. The chief continued thus: Your Free SHS programme is unprecedented in the history of Ghana, in a first term, as it covers the whole country. The Daily Graphic newspaper quoted Justice Honyenuga as calling on Ghanaians to give President Akufo-Addo another term to implement his vision for the country. We wish to congratulate you for the excellent manner you are governing this dear country of ours; it is our hope that with your vision and the gains made in your first term, Ghanaians may consider giving you another four years, he stated. Justice Honyenuga was widely condemned for the endorsement taking into consideration his position as a Court of Appeal Judge who is barred from making such political endorsement per the code of their conduct. ---classfmonline Connecticut is swabbing corpses at funeral homes. Maryland is testing all nursing-home residents and staff, symptomatic or not. Coast to coast, governors have intensified efforts to get accurate death counts at the facilities as investigations suggest far more devastation than initially recorded. In New York and New Jersey, tallies of deaths from the novel coronavirus surged in recent days after the states began disclosing more data on nursing-home residents. On Sunday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo added a requirement that all positive test results for staff must be reported to the state health department by the next day. Nursing homes account for at least a third of the nation's 76,000 covid-19 fatalities, and in 14 states they're more than half the total, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data from Thursday. Those numbers, though, are woefully incomplete because 18 states aren't disclosing such data and those that are provide varying levels of information. As officials struggle to measure and understand the true toll, the virus continues to victimize the frail and elderly in even the best-run facilities, said Elizabeth Dugan, associate professor of gerontology at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. "They're almost like sitting ducks," said Dugan, whose research team warned of imminent widespread nursing-home infections in early March. Around the same time, one of the first major U.S. outbreaks of covid-19 took place at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington. Since then, the number of deaths linked to that facility has more than tripled, to 45 as of Thursday. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on April 19 started requiring long-term care facilities to report covid-19 cases. And the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it will penalize nursing facilities that don't submit weekly infection updates. Some states have been forced to do their own detective work. Connecticut's chief medical examiner, Dr. James Gill, sent investigators on the trail of vague death certificates, going so far as to swab the deceased as their bodies awaited cremation. Of 65 dead nursing-home residents his staff tested at funeral homes, 54 were newly found to be positive, he said. "'Acute respiratory failure' isn't a cause of death -- it means the person's dead, and you have to answer why they had acute respiratory failure," Gill said in an interview. As of Wednesday, more than 1,200 covid-19 deaths were confirmed at Connecticut nursing homes and another 399 were probable. In California, autopsies detected coronavirus in two individuals who had died at home, pushing back Santa Clara County's first known cases to February, almost a month earlier than previously reported. On April 30, the CDC made recommendations specifically for coronavirus testing during postmortem exams. In New York, a tally of nursing- and adult-care home deaths jumped to 5,215 as of Wednesday with both confirmed and presumed cases being counted. That's up from a total of 3,653 deaths the state had reported as of April 28. New Jersey on April 30 reported 458 deaths, its biggest daily tally, which added earlier fatalities newly ruled as virus-related. Officials said the new figure included nursing-home residents, but they didn't know how many. Both states are conducting broad inquiries amid reports of improperly stored bodies, scarce personal protective-equipment and poor communication with families and officials. About 70% of the nation's more than 15,000 nursing homes are run by companies, including Life Care Centers of America Inc. and HCR Manorcare, which each operate more than 200; and publicly traded Genesis HealthCare, which has more than 300, and whose founder died in April after a long-term illness and covid-19 complications. All of the homes are regulated by federal and state laws, while care is funded by a mix of Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance and individuals. Though the Trump administration previously had worked to ease government regulation of the nursing-home industry, it said after the first virus outbreaks in U.S. facilities that its inspections oversight would emphasize infection control. The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, representing most of the nation's long-term homes, acknowledges that not all coronavirus deaths have been counted, and says its members "are being as responsive as they can with the resources they have been given." "Without additional testing, our nation's providers have no way of knowing who has or may have succumbed to the virus, especially those who are asymptomatic," Cristina Crawford, a spokesperson for the groups, said in an email. "Therefore, non-reporting is not necessarily due to a lack of willingness, but a lack of accessibility to tests." At least 15 states have enacted shields against coronavirus-related lawsuits involving long-term care facilities, and the organization was urging more to do the same. "It is critical that states provide the necessary liability protection staff and providers need to provide care during this difficult time without fear of reprisal," Crawford said. Nursing homes and adult-care facilities account for more than 25% of the 21,000 deaths in New York, the hardest-hit state. As more information comes in, he said, the numbers will change, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday at a press briefing. Some nursing homes previously were combining presumed deaths with confirmed, according to Cuomo adviser Jim Malatras. "Now we're putting up both categories so people can clearly see, because some of the facilities were reporting both together and it was difficult to tease out," Malatras said. "So we've asked them to report clearly that line of confirmed and presumed." Cuomo on April 23 announced state health department and attorney general investigations to ensure nursing homes are complying with guidelines. The inquiry includes whether the facilities have notified residents and their families within 24 hours of discovering virus cases or deaths. On Sunday, the governor added measures to protect the state's 100,000 nursing-home residents, including requiring all workers to be tested for covid-19 twice a week In New Jersey, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has been investigating some long-term homes since April 16, after reports of unusually high fatalities and shortages of equipment and staffing. "For many of these facilities, this was the equivalent of a 500-year flood -- but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't examine how folks responded when those floodwaters started rising," he said at a news conference on May 5, when he asked anyone with knowledge of missteps to contact investigators at covid19.nj.gov/LTC. A day later, Gov. Phil Murphy said the state had hired two outside experts to examine "incredibly uneven performance" among nursing homes. Of the state's 9,255 coronavirus deaths as of May 10, more than half were long-term care residents. Several cases turned up after the state ordered better reporting. "Was it just a delay in reporting versus willful? I think that's why the attorney general is involved with a task force looking at this," Murphy said. "I hope it is: 'We were late. We were overwhelmed. It was a 500-year flood,' as opposed to anything willful." Murphy also assigned 120 National Guard personnel to perform non-medical tasks to boost staffing at such homes, including the state's largest, in Andover, where authorities removed 17 bodies from a makeshift morgue in mid-April. "The performance by the operators has been extremely disappointing," Murphy said at his Saturday virus press briefing. "Not in every case, but in too many cases. Uneven, disappointing, lacking in communication, lacking in some basic blocking and tackling." The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on May 6 fined that facility, Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center II, more than $220,000, citing non-compliance that put residents in "immediate jeopardy." At least 94 residents and staff have died of coronavirus, according to the report, which cited missing temperature logs and symptomatic patients who weren't tested. Chaim Scheinbaum, the home's owner and operator, wasn't available to comment on Friday, according to the home's staff. He didn't respond to a voicemail left on an administrative line. In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan on April 29 ordered testing of all nursing-home residents and staff, "regardless of whether they're symptomatic or not." States including Massachusetts, Wisconsin, South Carolina and West Virginia have done the same. Minnesota is expanding testing of residents and staff, stockpiling personal-protective equipment and relying more on local health specialists. The facilities house less than 1% of Minnesotans, but account for 80% of the state's covid-19 fatalities, according to Jan Malcolm, the state health commissioner. "We have to be ready for it to continue to spread, and that's where I think we need to get less reactive and more proactive," Malcolm said. In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, criticized the federal government for not providing enough tests early on to check asymptomatic workers and keep down infections in nursing homes, where there have been at least 342 fatalities. Inspectors since March 22 have issued 137 citations after infection-control reviews of about 20% of the state's 1,081 long-term homes, officials said on Wednesday. "We want to find out if there are nursing home and senior centers that are trying to cut corners, and make sure they're penalized appropriately," Polis said. President Donald Trump abruptly ended Monday afternoon's press conference in the White House Rose Garden after he got into another heated exchange with reporters. After speaking with reporters for nearly an hour, Trump, 73, got into a brief argument with CBS reporter Weijia Jiang after she asked the president why he views coronavirus testing numbers as a "competition" with other countries. Trump, who has repeatedly touted that the United States has done more testing than any country in the world, fell back on a familiar talking point he's used to blame China for the pandemic. "You said many times that the U.S. is doing far better than any other country when it comes to testing," Jiang said before asking: "Why does that matter? Why is this a global competition to you if everyday Americans are still losing their lives and we're still seeing more cases every day?" Trump responded: "Well, they're losing their lives everywhere in the world. Maybe that's a question you should ask China. Don't ask me, ask China that question, okay?" "Sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically, to ask China?" asked Jiang, who was born in Xiamen, China, and immigrated to the U.S. when she was 2 years old. "I'm not saying it specifically to anybody," Trump said, claiming that Jiang asked a "nasty question." Trump had called on CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who let Jiang follow up and ask the president why he specifically suggested she ask China about testing. Instead, when his exchange with Jiang ended and he went to go take the next question from another reporter, he apparently decided to skip Collins and looked for another journalist to call on. "No, that's okay," Trump said to Collins, who began asking her question. "Next, please." When Collins continued asking her question despite Trump trying to skip over her, the president said his thanks, turned and left. Story continues "Ladies and gentleman, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you very much," Trump said before walking away as reporters confusingly responded. "But you called on me," Collins said to Trump as he turned and walked away with press cameras snapping. Alex Brandon/AP/Shutterstock Trump takes questions from reporters at the White House on Monday. RELATED: Donald Trump Tangles with Yet Another Reporter Over Coronavirus: 'Keep Your Voice Down' Trump has sparred with reporters throughout his presidency, but the number of arguments has risen in recent months as the president has opted to hold daily coronavirus task force briefings where he chooses to take questions from the White House reporters pool. Specifically, Trump and his administration have had tiffs with both Jiang and Collins in recent weeks. In late April, Trump told Jiang to "just relax" and "keep your voice down" after the CBS reporter asked him about why he didn't act sooner if he knew about the coronavirus pandemic's potential impact as early as he's claimed. He also snapped at NBCs Peter Alexander in March after the reporter asked, What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared? I say that youre a terrible reporter, Trump told Alexander. Thats what I say. I think thats a very nasty question. Drew Angerer/Getty The White House reporters pool sits apart from one another during President Donald Trump's press conference at the White House on Monday. RELATED: CBS Reporter Responds to Trump's Gripe That Female Journalists Aren't Like '50s Actress Donna Reed: 'True' Before Trump's April 24 briefing, the Trump administration tried to move Collins' seat to the back of the White House briefing room in an apparent move to punish CNN for what Trump deems "fake news." Instead, Collins and the reporter she was ordered by White House staff and members of the Secret Service to exchange seats with refused to move because the seating arrangement was agreed upon by White House officials and the White House Correspondents Association. The day before, Trump lashed out at Collins during the briefing, telling her, "The problem is, you dont write the truth and physically turning away from her while she tried to ask him a question. No, not CNN," he said. "I told you, CNN is fake news. Dont talk to me. Trump took his media fit a step further on Monday, walking out of the briefing after another run-in with reporters he doesn't personally like. Last week, Trump complained about specific CBS reporters in a New York Post interview where he griped that women reporters aren't like "Donna Reed," the actress who starred in the 1946 film It's A Wonderful Life. Paula Reid, shes sitting there and I say, How angry. I mean, whats the purpose? Theyre not even tough questions, but you see the attitude of these people, its like incredible," Trump complained. Reid, the CBS reporter, later replied to the president's complaints on Twitter. "President Trump tells @nypost I am nothing like 50's American archetypal mom Donna Reed," CBS political reporter Paula Reid tweeted last Tuesday. "Fact-check: True." MasterChef Australia star Ben Ungermann, 35, is reportedly engaged to his girlfriend, South African TV star and radio personality Leigh-Anne Williams, 37. According to Monday's Woman's Day magazine, the couple have been in a long-distance relationship for 14 months, but rarely post about each other on social media. Rumours of their engagement began on January 10, when Leigh-Anne debuted a diamond ring in an Instagram post taken in Melbourne. Engagement rumours: MasterChef Australia star Ben Ungermann, 35, (left) is reportedly engaged to his girlfriend, South African TV star and radio personality Leigh-Anne Williams, 37 (right) 'I have fallen in love with the people of Australia,' she wrote on her popular page at the time. Fans once again became suspicious on March 19, when Queensland father-of-three Ben shared a photo of himself holding Leigh-Anne's hand alongside a love-heart emoji and the word 'forever'. His stunning girlfriend, who starred on Strictly Come Dancing, shared a similar photo to her own page. Under wraps: According to Monday's Woman's Day magazine, the couple have been in a long-distance relationship for 14 months, but rarely post about each other on social media Ring-a-ding-ding! Rumours of their engagement began on January 10, when Leigh-Anne debuted a diamond ring in an Instagram post taken in Melbourne Did you notice it? Fans spotted a sparkler on Leigh-Anne's finger In the caption, she wrote '1 year', indicating that the couple were celebrating their first anniversary. The pair are said to have met in Cape Town, South Africa, while Ben was touring the world on the back of his newfound MasterChef fame. Ben, who owns an ice cream parlour in Ipswich, Queensland, was interviewed by Leigh-Anne on her radio show segment 'Man Crush Monday', at the time. Anything to tell us? On March 19, Ben shared a photo of himself holding Leigh-Anne's hand alongside a love-heart emoji and the word 'forever' (left). Leigh-Anne shared a similar post with the caption: '1 year' (right) Glamorous: Stunning Leigh-Anne is also a motivational speaker and former reality star, having appeared on Strictly Come Dancing Daily Mail Australia has reached out for comment. Meanwhile, in late March it was revealed that Ben had left MasterChef Australia halfway through production after he was arrested over 'a personal matter'. News of Ben's arrest prompted a spokesperson for Endemol Shine, the production company behind MasterChef Australia, to issue a brief statement to the media. 'We can confirm Ben Ungermann has left the MasterChef Australia competition. As this is a police matter, we will not be making further comment,' they said. Georgia is not going to sever diplomatic relations with Ukraine due to the appointment of Mikheil Saakashvili to a high position in Ukraine. "We recall the ambassador from Ukraine for consultations, but this does not mean that we question diplomatic relations or strategic partnership," Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia said, Georgian First Channel reports. The Prime Minister of Georgia notes that the strategic partnership with Ukraine will not be called into question "because of certain irresponsible politicians." Gakharia reminded that he was personally involved in the process of normalization of relations with Ukraine after Saakashvili's resignation from the post of the Odesa region governor. According to him, Georgia has never concealed from Ukraine its attitude towards Saakashvili. "Now we recall the ambassador so that such political adventurers will not able to damage and jeopardize our relationship with our fraternal and strategic partner. This is the most important thing for us. After this appointment, the guarantees of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries should be provided. I am very interested, and we will see how Mikheil Saakashvili can be kept from interfering in Georgia's internal affairs now," Gakharia said. On May 8, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia David Zalkaliani announced that, by the decision of Georgias Government, Georgian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine Teimuraz Sharashenidze would be summoned for consultations in Tbilisi after Saakashvili had been appointed as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Reforms Council. In January 2018, the Tbilisi City Court found Saakashvili guilty of abuse of office in Sandro Girgvliani case and sentenced the former president to three years in prison. According to the investigation, in 2009, the then President of Georgia Saakashvili bypassed the Pardon Commission and illegally pardoned four employees of the Constitutional Security Department convicted for the murder of Girgvliani. In addition, in June 2018, the Tbilisi City Court found Saakashvili guilty of beating MP Valeriy Gelashvili in 2005 and sentenced him to six years in prison. Saakashvili is also charged with embezzlement of nearly $ 4 million in Georgia. On May 7, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Mikheil Saakashvili as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Reforms Council. ol WASHINGTON As the Trump administration pushes for the federal government to lead the nation in reopening the doors to daily business, the leaders of the capital region that would live with the consequences are fragmented on how to move forward. This city, home to 700,000 people, anchors one of the most interconnected metropolitan regions in the nation, with a total population nearly 10 times larger than the District of Columbia. Washington and the close-in counties within Virginia and Maryland have a shared Metro system and populations that move daily across their borders, a large number of them workers for the government. Now, the regions residents are headed toward a collision with its largest employer, the government, as Congress prepares to fully reconvene and President Trump presses to get tens of thousands of federal workers back at their desks, even as the White House struggles to contain coronavirus infections in its own ranks. The region is not yet open for business, and coronavirus cases are climbing steadily in Washington, Maryland and Virginia. WHAT RIGHT HAS SHORT TO TALK ABOUT WHAT IS REAL UNIONISM? HOW UNIONS UNDER SOCIALISM BENEFIT WORKERS Ironworkers secretary, Mr Short, co-delegate of Richards, of the Security Police at the recent war mongering SEATO conference, in a new outburst against ACTU policy and friendly relations with the socialist countries, repeats the old furphy about the trade unions in the Soviet Union not being real trade unions. This is in direct conflict with the reports of ACTU leaders who have visited socialist countries and investigated trade union conditions. Does Mr Short suggest they are lying? Mr Short should be the last to talk about what constitutes genuine trade unionism. His leadership played a major role in taking control of union affairs out of the trade unions and placing them under the control of the capitalist legal system, the arbitration system. In fact, this leadership owes its existence to the intervention of the State in the affairs of the union. It conducts no campaign against the court of pains and penalties which, in effect prohibits the right to strike. WET BLANKET The present leadership with its theory of increased productivity as the method of improving conditions, not only acts as a wet blanket on the struggle of its members, but refuses to support, very often, the. struggles of other unionists against that prize monopoly, the BHP, forbidding its members to act in solidarity with the rest of the workers. The present Ironworkers leadership certainly has shown no startling results for the membership and as far as trade union democracy is concerned, this has been pretty effectively squelched by it. In fact, it has established a form of company unionism. CONTRAST Trade unions in socialist countries are in a fundamentally and incomparably more favourable situated to those in a capitalist country. In the first place, there is the decisive fact that they are not faced with the capitalist class, with capitalist exploitation, and capitalist resistance to the demands of the workers in order to net ever greater profit and capital accumulation. Thus in Socialist society there are no antagonistic classes which give rise to the bitter class conflicts in capitalist society. The working class in socialist countries is not faced with either temporary or long-range unemployment which under capitalism is a result of the ups and downs of the profit-making economy. The power of the trade unions in the socialist countries is very great. One example will suffice. In our conditions it is almost a daily occurrence for the working class in one industry or another to conduct strikes against victimisation. In the Soviet Union workers cannot be dismissed without the consent of the elected factory committee. AMENITIES In the Soviet Union, there are an amazing number of amenities for the workers centred around the factory. Space will permit of naming only some of them. There are facilities for education of all kinds, nurseries for women workers with babies, equal pay for the sexes, a workers club where every kind of game is played, fine libraries, a hall where the workers themselves participate in amateur theatricals and where even Bolshoi stars perform. Canteens provide up to 200 items of food at prices that are extremely cheap, to say the least of it. The trade unions control camps, weekenders and what not for the workers families and children. The trade unions control a vast network of sanatoriums and rest homes, magnificent buildings, with all mod. cons., including every kind of medical attention, games, sports, etc. something unknown in this country. The medical system in the factory is wonderful. For a dozen doctors and nurses to be attached to the factory, complete with hospital, etc., is the rule. Many have much greater medical staffs, depending on the number of workers. The workers are medically examined three times a year. Prevention, rather than cure, is the watchword. Many other social benefits exist for the workers; these are but a few important examples. HOURS CUT The Government is a workers one, not dominated by capitalist interests, and works closely with, the trade union movement. For example, this year the change-over to a forty and thirty-five hour week will be completed by decision of the Supreme Soviet. This became possible when the terrible damage caused by the war was repaired and the Soviet industry made a big leap forward. The workers did not have to carry on a long series of strike struggles or be batoned by the police or jailed in order to shorten hours. As soon as it became economically possible, it was introduced. So, too, will the thirty-hour week later on. During the next decade or so, the Soviet workers will achieve the highest living standards and the shortest working week in the world, without a single strike or spending huge sums on agitation. The abolition of income tax will alone put 74,000 million roubles extra into the pockets of Soviet working people. Can the present Ironworkers leadership achieve such wonders in the next ten years with their policy of class collaboration, of submission to the BHP and the dictates of the Menzies Government? Merely to ask the question makes one smile. It Is clear that the Grouper leadership is less than a genuine trade union leadership in the conditions of Australia, just as its political party, the DLP, is less than a genuine labour party, but merely a subsidiary of the Liberal Party of the monopolies; its stock in trade is anti-communism and anti-socialism, it betrays both the immediate and long-range interests of the working people. This article originally appeared in Tribune July, 1960. Read what is in the news today. Politics The 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam convened its 12th plenum in Hanoi on Monday. Society Vietnam logged no new cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Monday morning. The countrys tally is still at 288, with 241 having recovered. All 161 Vietnamese citizens repatriated from the United States on Friday last week have tested negative for COVID-19 in the first round of testing, said Luong Ngoc Truong, director of the Center for Disease Control in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa, where the citizens are being quarantined. A Vietnam Airlines flight carrying 273 Vietnamese citizens from Malaysia landed in the central city of Da Nang on Sunday. All of them are now quarantined as per regulations. Police in the southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau on Sunday evening confirmed they had launched legal proceedings against 21-year-old inmate Le Hoang Quang for deliberate infliction of bodily harm, resulting in death after he allegedly beat a fellow inmate to death last week while being detained in Chau Duc District. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has announced drivers license examinations will resume from Friday, May 15, after a suspension due to COVID-19. All buses in Ho Chi Minh City have resumed from Monday, running at 80 percent their regular frequency, according to the municipal Management and Operation Center for Public Transport. Experts are considering the option of transferring a British pilot who is critically sickened by COVID-19 in Ho Chi Minh City from the municipal Hospital for Tropical Diseases to Cho Ray Hospital for intensive treatment. Business Vietnams antivirus software developer and smartphone producer Bkav on Sunday unveiled the fourth generation of its flagship Bphone line, the Bphone B86 and B86s, which retail at VND8.990.000 (US$385) and VND9.990.000 ($427), respectively. Low-cost carrier Vietjet Air on Sunday announced the firm is offering three million air tickets at a discounted price of VND18,000 ($0.77), not including additional taxes, fees and surcharges, from May 11 to 16 for domestic trips departing from May 12 until December 31, 2020. World News The novel coronavirus has infected over 4.18 million people and killed more than 283,850 around the globe as of Monday morning, according to statistics. More than 1.49 million patients have recovered from COVID-19. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Delhi Universitys examination branch on Sunday reopened the application process for revaluation, rechecking, and photocopy of evaluated answer scripts for the semester examinations held in November-December 2019. The students, except AECC and SEC Papers for which the students may contact to their respective colleges, can apply for these facilities through email. The decision has been taken in regard to the students who could not apply for the process within the stipulated time as prescribed by the University due to the coronavirus pandemic. A notice regarding this has been uploaded on the varsitys official website. As per the notice, students can download and may take a print out of the Revaluation/ Rechecking/ Photocopy of Evaluated Answer Script forms and fill them manually. The varsity is also providing a one-time exemption from the requirement of countersigning the Form from the Dean/Head/Principal of the concerned faculty/ department/ college. However, students are required to enclose a copy of their Mark Sheet and Admit Card of the semester examination conducted in November-December 2019. Students can pay the online fee for Revaluation/ Rechecking/ Photocopy of Evaluated Answer Script by clicking here. Finally, students need to scan copies of the form, copy of mark sheet, copy of admit card, copy of fee receipt, and mail it to revaluation.branch.105@gmail.com. The Under Graduate Students of Regular College which falls under the ambit of South Delhi Campus are required to send the documents to revelcell.sdc@gmail.com. Students can send the application form to the University on or before May 26, 2020. Iran is ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei says, adding that Washington has yet to respond to Iran's call on a prisoner swap. "We have announced that we are ready without any preconditions to exchange all prisoners and we are prepared to discuss this issue but Americans have not responded yet," Rabiei told the news site Khabaronline on May 10. "We are worried about the safety and health of Iranians in jail ... We hold America responsible for Iranians' safety amid the new coronavirus outbreak," Rabiei added. Western media reported last week that Tehran and Washington are negotiating a deal that would release Navy veteran Michael White for an Iranian held in the U.S. White, detained in Iran for allegedly insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and posting private information online, was released on medical furlough in March amid the coronavirus pandemic. Iran is believed to be holding at least four Americans. Iran says U.S. authorities are holding some 20 Iranian nationals in jail. In a rare act of cooperation, the United States and Iran swapped prisoners in 2019 - American graduate student Xiyue Wang, detained on alleged spying charges, and imprisoned Iranian stem-cell researcher Massud Soleimani, accused of sanction violations. Tensions between Tehran and Washington have heightened since the coming to power of U.S. President Donald Trump who exited the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed crippling sanctions on the Islamic republic. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Iran in March to release on humanitarian grounds all wrongfully detained Americans held in the country. With reporting by Reuters and AP The judge presiding over the trial of a man charged with the capital murder of a garda during a credit union robbery has reminded the jury not to pay attention to social media. Justice Michael White today told the six men and seven women that he has mentioned it before but wished to say it again, that they are to consider only the evidence they hear in court. He added: "Don't be on social media and don't pay any attention to any social media." Aaron Brady has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Det Gda Adrian Donohoe who was then a member of An Garda Siochana on active duty on January 25, 2013 at Lordship Credit Union, Bellurgan, Co Louth. The 29-year-old from New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh also pleaded not guilty to a charge of robbing approximately 7,000 in cash and assorted cheques from Mr Pat Bellew on the same date and at the same location. His trial at the Central Criminal Court began in January. Contacts between phones analysed Policing analyst Edward McGoey and Detective Garda Gareth Kenna today took prosecution counsel Lorcan Staines SC through CCTV footage and mobile phone data of phones attributed to Mr Brady and two suspected accomplices. Mr McGoey detailed contacts between the phones in the hours and days before and after the shooting. The witness, who put together graphs and charts detailing the activity of numerous phones, said that from 20:01 on the evening of the robbery until 22.45, a period of just under two hours and 45 minutes, there were no outgoing calls or texts on Mr Brady's phone. The robbery happened at shortly before 21.30 that night. Suspect A's phone records show no activity from 19.58 to 22.37 when he received a phone call from his mother. Suspect B's phone showed no activity from 20.29 on the same night until 22.48. Mr McGoey also detailed 31 interactions between phones belonging to Mr Brady and the two suspects from 19.00 and 20.30 that evening and 19 interactions between 22.30 and 23.00 that night. Detective Garda Kenna also analyzed the phone data to see if there was a difference in the length and number of calls made by Mr Brady's phone on the day of the shooting compared with previous days in the same month. He found that the average length of Mr Brady's calls from January 1 to January 25 was 68 seconds. On January 26, the average call length was 134 seconds. From January 1 to January 25 he made or received an average of 22 calls per day, the witness said. On January 26 he made or received 48 calls, more than double the average for the previous 25 days. Det Gda Kenna also went into detail about the number of interactions between Mr Brady's phones and those attributed to the two suspects throughout January 2013. The trial continues in front of Mr Justice White and the jury of six men and seven women. ST-JEAN-SUR-RICHELIEU, QUE.Quebec schoolchildren were greeted by their teachers with smiles and squirts of hand sanitizer on Monday as the province became the first to reopen some schools following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Daycares and elementary schools outside the Montreal area were allowed to open, with a maximum of 15 students per classroom and a new set of rules in place. At Ecole St-Gerard in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, southeast of Montreal, the mood seemed upbeat as children posed for parents photos on coloured dots painted on the ground outside the school to indicate sufficient distancing. Marie Fortin watched as her twin seven-year-old daughters each received a spray of disinfectant from a staff member wearing a mask. She said sending her kids to school was important for their routines. She said she felt reassured after seeing all the preparations done by staff, including sectioning off classrooms with tape, devising a game around handwashing, and cleaning and disinfecting. We dont feel unsafe at all, she said. The province has said attendance is not mandatory, and one school bus pulled in with a lone student aboard. Marie-Claude Audet, a special education teacher, said about half the schools parents had elected to send their children. The school is bringing them back gradually, beginning Monday with kindergarten and first grade. At a second elementary school in the city, a staff member could be seen trying to keep four young children apart on a playground during recess. Too close! Too close! she said repeatedly as she broke up forbidden games of tag. Moments later, she led the small group in a game of passing a ball between them, as they stood several metres apart. Students are being met by staff wearing masks and in some cases face shields, and they are being told to follow physical-distancing rules and wash their hands frequently. Libraries, gyms and cafeterias were closed, and children were expected to spend most of the day at their desks. Through the windows at St-Gerard, children could be seen sitting at different ends of a classroom that had been divided into sections using yellow tape. But staff at the provinces elementary schools promised they would find ways to make the day enjoyable. At St-Gerard, children in the schoolyard ran around playing walk the dog, carrying hockey sticks with pictures of dogs attached combining a game and a tool to illustrate proper distancing, a teacher said. Simon Descoteaux, the principal of Ecole de la Primerose in Quebec City, said the school has been transformed to take into account new health guidelines, but staff are welcoming children with a smile. They will ensure there is nothing frightening for the children, he said, adding that the revamped school will be fun and not a prison. Descoteaux said about two-thirds of the schools 500 children were expected back. People need to get back to a normal life, he said. Marie-Odile Lessard, a mother at the school, said her son Jerome leapt out of bed that morning, eager to see his classmates. Were aware of all the things theyll have to do, distancing, washing hands to ensure a safe return, but we still feel good, she said. Schools in the Montreal area, which continues to be hit hard by the novel coronavirus, will remain closed until at least May 25, while high schools and junior colleges wont be back until the fall. Quebec has faced some pushback on the decision to reopen schools ahead of any other province, despite having the countrys highest COVID-19 caseload by far. Some educators and parents have raised questions over issues such as school bus transport, staff safety and the challenges of enforcing distancing requirements in classrooms. But Premier Francois Legault has defended his decision, noting the risk to young people is limited and that its better to open things up gradually rather than all at once. He said children, especially those with special needs, will benefit from seeing their teachers and classmates. Life needs to continue, Legault said when he announced the reopening. He said there likely wont be a vaccine for over a year, and children cant be kept home until then. Legault has said the situation will be closely monitored by public health officials, who wont hesitate to adjust the rules if needed. With files from Caroline Plante in Quebec City Read more about: Amid the lifting of restrictions on air travel by officials, a United Airlines flight aboard a Boeing 737 can be seen wholly filled with passengers who are wearing face masks. The photo was uploaded to Twitter by a cardiologist who was aboard the plane. Dr. Ethan Weiss was returning from New York after being dispatched for free by the airline company to aid in the surge of patients due to the coronavirus pandemic. Apparent lack of safety and hygiene Dr. Weiss said he was concerned with the apparent turn-around of United Airlines in maintaining their social distancing policies, even posting a tweet about the encounter to the social media platform. The incident was seen as ironic and counter-intuitive to the airline company's chief customer officer's announcement that they will be leaving middle seats open to help keep the distance between passengers in this time of crisis. Also I guess a lot has changed in 10 days pic.twitter.com/mIPdxL13KZ Ethan Weiss (@ethanjweiss) May 9, 2020 He expressed his thoughts that the company might be relaxing their policies with their strategies against the disease while sharing the apparent fear and unease of the passengers on the plane. The doctor said he had no other comment to give other than his tweets. A spokeswoman for United Airlines has come with a response stating they are taking appropriate steps to address the existence of the coronavirus and ways to reduce the risk to passengers. Kimberly Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the airline company, said in an email that they have completely redesigned their hygiene and safety procedures and have placed new processes for their boarding and deplaning per social distancing guidelines. She also said that their flight to San Francisco, where Dr. Weiss was a passenger, had an excess of 25 medical professionals that were flown for free in their fight against the coronavirus in New York. The spokeswoman also stated they had given more than 1,000 complimentary flights to doctors and nurses in recent weeks. They've ensured that all passengers and employees are required to cover their faces, as stated by their new policy. Read Also: [Video] Reunited At Last: Dog Joyfully Greets Owner's Girlfriend After 56 Days Apart As Italy Lifts Lockdown Amid Coronavirus Threat A drop in the overall number of travelers The company in question is only one of several airline companies that have placed new policies that work in line with social distancing requirements, though, for some, it looks to be something more of a, aim, rather than a necessity. CEO of the industry trade group Airlines for America, Nicholas Calio, told a Senate Committee that recent events had caused average airline passenger traffic to dip to an all-time low not seen since the 1950s where domestic flights are averaging 17 passengers per trip. With the impending reopening of the nation amid the increasing number of positive cases, passengers are once again starting to gather in airlines, which results in more traffic that pressures the filling of middle seats. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) revealed that they'd monitored 215,444 people that went through checkpoints on Friday in the wake of Mother's Day coming up on the weekend. The numbers show the highest daily statistics since March 25 while being more than double that of April 14, which resulted in 87,534 people. The year-by-year comparison figure is still showing a decline of 92% from last year, which showed a total number of more than 2.6 million passengers, along with crew members and airport employees that were screened at TSA checkpoints. Read Also: Amazon To Become 'Incubator' Of Massive Coronavirus Infection If Left Untreated Says Workers Rights Group There is some evidence of community transmission of Covid-19 in parts of Mumbai and Maharashtra, state disease surveillance officer Dr Pradip Awate told HT. However, the overall picture in Maharashtra is that of cluster cases, the official said. We are getting clusters of coronavirus cases in Mumbai and in the entire state of Maharashtra. There is some evidence of community spread not only in Mumbai but in other parts of the state but the overall picture is that we are getting clusters of cases, Awate said. ALSO WATCH | Covid spurt in Mumbai: Official admits some evidence of community spread On the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the countrys financial capital, Awate said Mumbais case is very different as compared to other regions in the country. It is densely populated and has a distinct socio-economic significance. Also read: Trains to start tomorrow, booking from today. Here are 10 things to know Not only is it the capital of the Maharashtra but its socio-economic location is also quite different from many other metros in India. It has more population density. 20,000 people are living here per square kilometre, so that is one of the reasons why Mumbai is throwing so many Covid-19 cases, he said. With respect to cases of community transmission, Dr Awate called for an in-depth analysis of each and every case. We need to find out the linkage of each and every case, its travel history, likely exposure and all those things, he said. Maharashtra continues to lead the national Covid-19 tally with over 22,000 coronavirus cases. The state has recorded 832 deaths so far while 4199 patients have recovered from the disease. Mumbai alone has reported more than 12,000 Covid-19 cases. Thane and Pune are also among the top Covid-19 affected regions in the state. The number of coronavirus cases in the country breached the 67,000-mark on Monday. According to the latest figures updated by the Ministry of Health, the Covid-19 national tally stands at 67,152. There are 44,029 active coronavirus cases in the country, 20,916 patients have been cured or discharged while 2,206 people have died from the deadly contagion. Maura Higgins has insisted she is just friends' former Dancing On Ice skate partner Alexander Demetriou. The former Love Island and Dancing on Ice star made the admission when taking part in an Instagram Q&A on Sunday evening, when asked by a fan if she's bothered by the speculation surrounding their relationship. Maura, 29, shared in response: 'It doesn't bother me. We're in 2020 and a man and women cannot just be friends.' 'Just friends': Maura Higgins has insisted that she and Alexander Demetriou are 'just friends' when taking part in an Instagram Q&A on Sunday She then zoomed in on her face and said: 'Pure sh*** you know.' Maura also revealed that she has struggled with adjusting to fame since leaving the Love Island villa, but assured fans that she is still single. Her revelation comes after the Dancing On Ice star confirmed he has separated from wife Carlotta Edwards. Sad times: The reality star, 29, was asked by a fan if she's bothered by the speculation surrounding her and Alexander's relationship following the news he and his wife had split The professional skater, 28, took to Instagram stories to confirm the news and revealed to his followers that it had been a 'tough time' for him. It comes amid weeks of speculation that their four year marriage was on the rocks amid reports that he became 'besotted' with Love Island beauty Maura. In a statement posted on Instagram stories, Alexander said: 'I'm Sorry I have been quiet on social media recently but it's been a tough time for me personally. 'Carlotta and I have separated. Although it saddens me that we can no longer be together, I feel this is best for both of us. 'I'm looking forward to what the future will bring but in the meantime let's all say home and stay safe.' Honest: Maura also revealed that she has struggled with adjusting to fame since leaving the Love Island villa, but assured fans that she is still single All over: Maura's revelation comes after the Dancing On Ice star confirmed he has separated from wife Carlotta Edwards Skate partner: The split follows weeks of speculation that their four year marriage was on the rocks amid reports that he became 'besotted' with Love Island beauty Maura Confirmation: The professional skater took to Instagram stories on Sunday to confirm the news and revealed to his followers that it had been a 'tough time' for him A friend of the former couple recently told their marriage troubles 'came as a shock', as they were so close before the last Dancing On Ice series. A source told The Sun: 'Everything has seemed fine and her family thought they were having a good time. 'No one in her family suspected anything was up between them, so obviously this has all been quite a shock.' Split: 'Carlotta and I have separated. Although it saddens me that we can no longer be together, I feel this is best for both of us It was also reported that the pair had removed their wedding rings, with Carlotta having flown to her native Canada while Alexander remained in London. It was said their four-year marriage had 'collapsed', following his pairing with Maura on the ITV contest last year, where Alex allegedly became 'besotted' with the Irish beauty. A source told The Sun: 'Carlotta and Alex are taking a break from their marriage and are trying to work out what they want from the future. 'Isolation is giving them a lot of time to think and both are with their families. 'Alexs friendship with Maura was the first proper crack in their relationship. But now theyre at breaking point.' 'Shock': It comes after a friend of the former couple recently told their marriage troubles 'came as a shock', as they were so close before the last Dancing On Ice series The insider went on to say that the couple's friends are of the belief their 'marriage is over' due to Alex's closeness with Maura, adding that the 'trust' the pair is 'shattered'. They added that at the start of the furore it was believed to have been 'just a flirtation' between Maura and Alex, but with the two now in 'constant contact', their closeness is now 'obvious' for everyone to see. The source went on to say that Carlotta was initially 'hell bent' on keeping up the 'pretence' of her marriage, but has now come to terms with the situation and is reassessing what to do next. A spokesman for Maura told MailOnline: 'Maura and Alex had a great friendship whilst training for DOI this was always and has always been just professional, she regards him as a close friend and will continue to do so although they have not spoken in a few weeks. 'Maura has been single since splitting with Curtis, and is spending her time focusing on herself and some exciting projects she has lined up in the near future.' Lancaster County has joined the growing list of counties resisting the coronavirus restrictions put in place by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. In a letter to the governor dated Saturday and signed by numerous Lancaster County lawmakers and commissioners, they asked Wolf to formally move Lancaster County out of the red designation and into yellow under the plan to reopen the state. They note the county is prepared to do so on Friday, adding, We prefer to act with your cooperation, but we intend to move forward with a plan to restore Lancaster County. You can see the entire letter here: Republican commissioner majorities in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lebanon and Schuylkill counties have all made public moves in that direction in recent days. They argue residents have responded, sometimes at tremendous personal cost, to Wolfs initial emergency lockdown and its stated goals of buying time against the virus so that the states hospitals arent overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases. And, as of mid-May, the commissioners say, they feel theyve won. The letter points out that as of May 9, Lancaster General Hospital had 43 coronavirus patients with six of them requiring ventilators, and Ephrata Hospital had two coronavirus patients. All hospital systems are reporting ample supplies of beds and ventilators and are resuming normal operations, according to the letter. The letter states Lancaster County and many others have been patient and followed the governors orders and guidelines despite a lack of clear benchmarks or consistent application of your own actions. The letter states due to a lack of answers and transparency, it is time for the county to transition to yellow, following a set of guidelines outlined in the letter. Additionally, the Lancaster County District Attorneys Office put out a notice Sunday that it will not prosecute citations for violations of the stay-at-home orders or closure orders for non-essential businesses. We decided this after careful examination of the law and the Governors orders/business waivers. We discussed with our neighbor @yorkcounty_da Dave Sunday and agree with his stance: a citizen must be clearly aware of the difference between criminal and non-criminal conduct. Lancaster DA (@Lancaster_DA) May 10, 2020 We find that the governors continuously changing orders - and business waivers have presented circumstances where criminal enforcement of the orders is difficult, District Attorney Heather Adams said in a press release. Rapid changes in the definition of what constitutes criminal conduct renders the application of criminal sanctions insupportable. The Dauphin and York County District Attorneys Offices made similar announcements. Adams said her office encourages police departments to prioritize education and instruction on CDC safety guidelines and encourages voluntary compliance. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi approved on Monday Law 27/2020 to add EGP 10 billion to the state budget for the current fiscal year 2019-2020 to ease the repercussions of the coronavirus on the country and stimulate the economy, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported. The new allocation, which parliament approved last month, is part of an emergency plan estimated at EGP 100 billion the president agreed to on 14 March to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus in Egypt, Mohamed Maait, minister of finance, told parliament earlier. The law is meant to help day and seasonal labourers negatively affected by the precautionary measures taken to contain the coronavirus, and to support productive sectors, Maait added. The law was published in the official gazette. Search Keywords: Short link: Photo Dubai: An Indian dentist in Kuwait has died from the novel coronavirus, becoming the country's second medical professional to succumb to Covid-19, according to a media report. Coronavirus Dr Vasudeva Rao, 54, died on Saturday in Jaber hospital where he was undergoing treatment for coronavirus infection. Advertisement A resident of Kuwait for about 15 years, Rao worked as an endodontist at Kuwait Oil Company, a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, a government-owned company. Rao was a member of Indian Dentists' Alliance in Kuwait, an organisation of Indian dental professionals in Kuwait. The organisation mourned his loss. On Friday, Egyptian ENT specialist Tareq Hussain Mokheimer died of Covid-19, becoming Kuwait's first such medical fatality. Advertisement PhotoMokheimer, 62, had worked in Kuwait for more than 20 years. A total of 171 people arrived in Chennai from Kuwait on Sunday as part of the government's Vande Bharat Mission to bring home Indian nationals stranded in various countries. Kuwait has reported 58 deaths and 8,688 infections due to the novel coronavirus. Computerworld Australia has compiled a list of upcoming technology events for the Australian IT industry taking place in the following weeks and months. With the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person conferences and summits may be rescheduled or canceled unexpectedly, so be sure to verify an events status before scheduling travel. [ Keep up on the latest thought leadership, insights, how-to, and analysis on IT through Computerworlds newsletters. ] This list will be updated as we hear of more events, so keep checking for updates. February 2022 3 February: Government Data & Analytics Summit 2022, Canberra. The Data & Analytics Summit will focus on data quality, fostering a data-centric culture, and how to extract valuable insights from data sets. 9-10 February: Tech in Gov, Canberra. The conference offers senior public and private sector IT experts opportunities to learn, network, and source ICT solutions for the ongoing digital transformation within Australian business and government. 15 February: Higher Education ITS Summit 2021, Melbourne. The event brings together senior leaders from IT, client services, and service delivery to discuss the key challenges in developing their information and technology capabilities. March 2022 1-3 March: APAC Blockchain Conference 2022, Melbourne with virtual option. The annual conference for enterprises wanting to develop or deploy blockchain brings startups, developers, and others to share ideas, insights, and accelerate blockchain adoption. 21-22 March: Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference 2022, virtual. The conference will focus on how to embrace change and serve evolving enterprise needs through optimizing workloads, maximizing efficiency, and building resilient systems and teams. 23-24 March: Fintech 2021, Melbourne. Industry leaders will discuss smart receipts, payments gateways, blockchain solutions, business innovation, digital currencies, and automated financial services. 30-31 March: SMB Digital, Sydney. For business owners to better understand how to use new technology to fortify their organisations for the future. July 2022 25-26 July: Gartner Data & Analytics Summit, Sydney. The event promises to teach skills to build and execute a world-class data strategy. For almost two months, the killing of Ahmaud Arbery received very little attention. Over the past two weeks, it has become a subject of national outrage. This morning, I want to tell you the story of what changed. In early April, more than a month after Arberys death, an actor and writer named JL Josiah Watts sent an anguished email to Kim Severson, a food writer for The Times who had met him while reporting a story several years ago. Watts explained that a cousin of his Arbery had been chased, shot and killed by two men, and nobody had been arrested. The men are white, and Arbery was black. This is like something from the 50s, Watts wrote. Im very angry. Severson forwarded the email to Richard Fausset, The Timess Atlanta bureau chief, and he began looking into it. He discovered that the police report was based almost entirely on the account of one of the two white men who turned out to be a former local police officer. It all seemed very much worth digging into, said Richard, who grew up in New Orleans and has spent more than a decade covering the South. He asked his editors to let him go to the Georgia coast, even though most Times correspondents arent traveling during the pandemic. The editors said yes, so long as he wouldnt have to spend the night in a hotel. The economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak will likely derail the momentum of the housing market this year, according to ANZ's latest report. ANZ projects price declines across capital cities, with substantial drops predicted for Sydney and Melbourne. On average, the peak-to-trough decline is expected to hit 10% across the capital cities. Prices in Sydney, Melbourne, and Hobart are expected to fall by as much as 13% until mid-2021. Brisbane, Darwin, Adelaide, and Canberra are also poised to register price declines of around 5% to 7%. Of all markets, Perth is expected to be hit the least, as prices in the city are only projected to drop by 2%. Felicity Emmett, senior economist at ANZ, said prices will likely bottom out in mid-2021, but the recovery will be gradual, given that the unemployment rate could remain above 7% until 2020. "Already, nearly a third of Australian households have reported a deterioration in finances due to the pandemic. But this does not capture the scale of the loss of income, with households across the income and industry spectrum experiencing cuts to hours and wages," she said. Also read: Property values stable amid COVID-19 Emmett estimated the unemployment to hit close to 10% as a result of the economic shocks due to COVID-19. This is the highest unemployment rate since the recession in the early 90s. "This collapse in income will create significant uncertainty for households and leave many unwilling to commit to buying a home," she said. Michael Yardney, director of Metropole Property Strategists, said while there is a possible price decline, not all markets will be equally affected. In a think piece in Property Update, Yardney said that investment-grade and A-grade homes could fall in value by around 5%. C-grade properties will be the hardest hit, as there will be a flight to quality. "But this will be on very low levels of transactions and the pace of recovery from that point will depend on the state of the wider economy," he said. After watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion on May 10, its easy to see why there are three parts to it. The first installment of the event featured arguments, knockouts, and drags that are customary for this sort of thing, but some of the reads in this episode will go down in history as RHOAs finest. Porsha Williams shot a dagger at Eva Marcilles breasts that was felt around the world, and Kenya Moore had Andy Cohen cracking up with her comments to Nene Leakes about White Chicks. Twitter and Instagram fans had a ball while trying to catch their breath from all the back-and-forth, but viewers certainly took sides. Some declared Williams the winner of part 1 and found themselves taking her side in her feud against Kenya. Whats behind it? Porsha Williams | Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images Kenya Moore started trouble with Porsha Williams Things were certainly messy on the RHOA reunion with multiple battles happening, but Williams and Moore had it out over a few issues. One was about Moores abilityor inabilityto own all of her past mistakes, and the other was about whether Moore is actually a real friend to Cynthia Bailey. For most of the segment, Bailey was quiet, but that didnt stop Williams from dragging Moore on her behalf. Moore started it by asserting Nene texted her and Bailey to complain about Williams being on Celebrity Apprentice. Williams was a contestant on the show way back in 2017, and that prompted her to tell Moore that it was old news. Moores attempt to drive a wedge between Leakes and Williams didnt work. Porsha Williams snapped back at Kenya Moore On a roll all night, Williams commenced to turn the virtual table on Moore by saying she has legit receipts that shes been doing Bailey dirty behind her back. She claims to have text message evidence that Moore was trying to take Bailey down. When Bailey asked if the messages were from this current season, Williams confirmed it. Whew Chile this shihhhh is lit Porsha Williams (@Porsha4real) May 11, 2020 Cohen asked to see them during the reunion, and she sent them to him and Bailey as proof. Now fans want to see these receipts. Fans are on Team Porsha Though Moore got quite a few licks in against the other ladies, fans loved how Williams threw it back at her and some of the other women. Many want to see a screenshot of what she sent to Cohen, already believing that Moore was really plotting against Bailey. One Twitter user wrote, Porsha is legit RUNNING this reunion. Reading Eva every time she speaks. Hyping Nene up and vice versa. Also coming with receipts against Kenya. LAWD. Another sided with Porsha and tweeted, Porsha for sure! Nothing Kenya said last night seemed real. She was making it up as she goes along. For her part, Moore says the receipt is fake and part 2 of the reunion will reveal that. But fans point out that Moore picked on Bailey all season, including during the trip to Greece. LOL the receipt is fake. Youll see next episode. Ive never dogged Cynthia out to Porsha. Nene sent Porsha a cease and desist, come for her job, baby, looks Ill keep the receipts talking about Baby Daddy and Nehe. I dont react on mad day. #chess #porshathepawn pic.twitter.com/264ULYbEjw KENYA MOORE (@KenyaMoore) May 11, 2020 Others are glad Williams pointed out some of Moores past transgressions with the cast in terms of gossiping and throwing shade at peoples marriages. The reunion sage continues on May 17 at 8 p.m. EST, so tune in to find out if the texts incriminate Moore. Disneyland reopens in Shanghai even as new coronavirus cases are reported further north in Wuhan China has reported 17 new coronavirus infections, the most significant increase since April. But more businesses are resuming, among them Shanghais Disneyland which welcomed back crowds for the first time in three months. Al Jazeeras Katrina Yu reports from Beijing, China. We have to have the right to protest, but I have to tell you, seeing those people with those weapons at the statehouse in Michigan was pretty disturbing, said Miner, a Democrat and retired dental office manager. I felt sorry for the legislators having to work with that angry mob in the lobby. It seemed like it was just pure intimidation. NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Viewers across the United States, and in at least 45 other countries around the world, are logging on to watch AJC Advocacy Anywhere, which begins its eighth week of conversations with diplomats, political figures, policy analysts, and AJC staff experts on pressing issues. "In response to heavy demand, we are continuing to offer timely and topical online programs to an ever-expanding global audience," said AJC CEO David Harris. "More than 1.6 million viewers have watched our programs to date." Registration for AJC Advocacy Anywhere is free and programs can be viewed via Zoom and Facebook. Previous programs are available for viewing on the AJC Facebook page. Programs last week included: A Conversation with Natan Sharansky, May 4, has garnered more than 44,000 views on Facebook. One of the most notable Jewish figures of the past century, Sharansky's name was a rallying cry for the Soviet Jewry movement. Jailed for his human rights activism and efforts to immigrate to Israel, he spent nine indescribably difficult years in the Soviet Gulag. He was released in 1986, and went on to serve as a minister in several Israeli governments. Sharansky is the only living non-American to have received both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Medal of Honor. AJC's Avi Mayer, who worked with Sharansky at The Jewish Agency, moderated the fascinating discussion about democracy vs. tyranny, the meaning of Jewish identity, Zionism, and Israel AJC Town Hall with College Democrats and College Republicans, May 4, has been viewed by nearly 35,000 on Facebook. Mikaela Guido, President of College Democrats of America, and Chandler Thornton, Chairman of the College Republican National Committee, shared their parties' views on a range of issues important to students: from student loan debt, to antisemitism on college campuses, to the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship. AJC is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit and nonpartisan organization. Seffi Kogen, AJC Global Director of Young Leadership moderated the conversation. The United Arab Emirates and the Coronavirus, May 5. United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the UN Lana Nusseibeh, in a rare public dialogue with AJC's Jason Isaacson, talks eloquently of coronavirus impact, strategic threats, the country's Jewish community, and Israel's place in the region, as the UAE approaches the 50th anniversary of its 1971 founding. Transatlantic Dialogues: U.S. Rep Ted Deutch and MEP Lukas Mandl, May 6, has been seen by nearly 36,000 on Facebook. U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism, and Lukas Mandl, Member of the European Parliament from Austria and Chair of the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI), discussed U.S. and EU views on Iran, Russia, Israel and other key issues. AJC's Julie Fishman Rayman moderated the probing discussion. Combating Hate and Misinformation Online, May 7, has garnered more than 32,000 views on Facebook. As social media eclipses traditional media in influence, the reliability of the information that the public receives has come under scrutiny. Conspiracy theories many of them antisemitic mingle online with inaccurate health guidance, finger-pointing, and blame, with no end in sight. Peter Stern, who handles Facebook's outside engagement efforts, discussed with Holly Huffnagle, AJC U.S. Director for Combating Antisemitism, what the platform is doing to counter hate speech and address the ever-present misinformation around the coronavirus. From Tragedy to Triumph, May 8. AJC CEO David Harris discusses the Jewish journey of 1,102 days from the end of World War II and the Holocaust, to the remarkable rebirth of the State of Israel. This mesmerizing story has been viewed by more than 24,000 on Facebook, and will be televised in full four times, on May 14 and 15, by JBS, the national cable Jewish news channel. AJC Advocacy Anywhere programs for this week are: Monday, May 11, 12:00 PM (ET) Transatlantic Dialogues: Rep Brian Mast and MEP Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou. From international trade and Iranian belligerency, to relations with China and opportunities and challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean region, there are many issues that the United States and the European Union must tackle together. Can these partners find some much-needed common ground? U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism, and European Parliament member Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou, representative from Greece and Vice Chair, Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI), will discuss these issues with Daniel Schwammenthal, Director, AJC Transatlantic Institute. Monday, May 11, 3:00 PM (ET) -- Fighting Antisemitism while Protecting Free Speech on Campus , featuring Holly Huffnagle, AJC Director for Combating Antisemitism, and Marc Stern, AJC Chief Legal Officer. Moderated by Zev Hurwitz, AJC Director, Campus Affairs. Tuesday, May 12, 11:00 AM (ET) Leading in Times of Crisis: A Conversation with H.E. Manuel Valls, Prime Minister of France (2014-2016). Moderated by Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, Director, AJC Europe. NOTE: This program will be in French. Tuesday, May 12, 1:30 PM (ET) -- Identity Politics, Polarization, and the Collapse of the Center: The Changing Political Landscape of the United States and What's At Stake for American Jews, featuring Seth Mandel, Washington Times Executive Editor, and Batya Ungar Sargon, Forward Opinion Editor, in conversation with Seffi Kogen, AJC Global Director of Young Leadership. Thursday, May 14, 12:00 PM (ET) Dr. Einat Wilf: Updates from Israel and the Path to Israeli-Palestinian Peace. In her newly-released The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace, Dr. Einat Wilf and co-author Adi Schwartz argue that for the Israel-Palestinian conflict to end with a durable peace agreement, Palestinians must finally come to terms with the reality that there will be no "right of return." Wilf was a Member of Knesset (2010-2013), has appeared in numerous AJC settings, and is a compelling speaker. Friday, May 15, 12:00 PM (ET -- The Resurgence of Antisemitism: A Frontline Perspective 2000-2020. In 2000-1, AJC CEO David Harris spent a year in Europe as Chair of UN Watch, in Geneva, and a Visiting Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, in Bologna. He became the first American Jewish leader to alert the world to the resurgence of antisemitism in Europe, and to identify its multiple sources. He hasn't stopped. From his front-line position, Harris will discuss the global battle against antisemitism over the past two decades, especially in Europe and, more recently, the U.S. the strategies, successes, failures, and frustrations. To date, the three most viewed programs in AJC's Advocacy Anywhere series are: AJC CEO: An Improbable Jewish Journey, with more than 195,000 Facebook viewers. David Harris on the Soviet Jewry Movement (Part 1), with more than 136,000 views on Facebook. Coronavirus on the Eve of Easter and Passover: A Catholic-Jewish Conversation on Faith and Interreligious Cooperation in Trying Times, with more than 88,000 views on Facebook. SOURCE American Jewish Committee Related Links http://www.ajc.org MLFORD A group that will advise city businesses on reopening under new state guidelines is set to get to work. The establishment of the Reopen Milford Advisory Group follows two months of statewide closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the advisory panel is tasked with developing recommendations and guidelines in anticipation of the reopening of certain businesses, according to Economic Development Director Julie Nash. Nash and Pam Staneski, executive director of the Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce, will serve as liaisons and administrators. The advisory group will work with industries on guidelines and orders to reopen safely, Nash said in an email. Representatives for Mayor Ben Blake, in addition to Nash and Staneski, are Director of Health Deepa Joseph and Chief of Staff Justin Rosen. The advisory group includes Dr. Clifford Kramer; John Schuld, Swistek Machinery America; Ken Sterba, CRRP, Centennial; Robert Creigh, vice president Patriot Bank; Elena Fusco, owner and founder of Bin 100 Restaurant; and Al Franke, president of Advisra. The mission of the group is to safely reopen industry in Milford by eliciting information from various industries and to provide information to those industries on state and local mandates, according to Nash. The group will plan a safe reopening for Milford to include marketing, strategy and confidence in the marketplace. The reopening will come in three stages: 50 percent, 75 percent and then100 percent. The group will cover issues such as bringing employees back to work, potential new business models, working from home, the supply chain, utilities, resources and connections, and planing to provide confidence in the marketplace. Also part are corporate values, legislative priorities, corporate responsibility and community and tourism. Nash said Kramer has lived in Milford for 35 years and maintains a cardiology practice in the city affiliated with The Hartford Heart and Vascular Group. He is past president of the Milford Hospital medical staff, was chief of cardiology at Milford Hospital from 1995-2019, and is an assistant clinical professor at the Yale University School of Medicine. A city native, Schuld earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Arizona State University, then began his career in machinery sales for Rudel Machinery working side by side with manufacturers as big as Sikorsky and Medtronic as well as smaller local shops, according to Nash. Schuld started ISMS Machinery Sales in 2004, then Swistek Machinery America in Milford in 2009 and sells his own brand of Swiss-type computer numerical controlled machines across North America as well as supplying the tools and accessories required to run a machine shop, according to Nash. Further, Schuld has become a strong advocate for getting young people involved in manufacturing. Sterba began his retail property management career as the assistant general manager at Westfield Connecticut Post in 2006 and, in 2017, returned to the Connecticut Post Mall as the general manager after stints at Westfield Trumbull and Westfield Meriden, according to Nash. In Meriden, Sterba served on the board of directors for the Midstate Chamber of Commerce from 2013 through 2017. Originally from Ohio, Sterba earned his bachelors degree from Bowling Green State University. Creigh has been in retail banking for almost 30 years, and is one of Patriot Banks most tenured branch employees, according to Nash. His career has included roles as investment specialist, mortgage loan office and branch management. He earned his bachelors degree from the University of New Haven and has lived in Milford for the last 25 years, Nash said. Fusco has been the owner-operator of Bin 100 Restaurant since 2007, according to Nash, and has more than 35 years of experience in the restaurant industry. Fusco is a director of the Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Milford Restaurant Council. She maintains a membership with the Connecticut Restaurant Association. Franke is responsible for driving the overall valuation and brokerage business strategy within Advisra, according to Nash. Franke has more than 30 years of real estate industry experience and his appraisal experience involves commercial, residential, industrial, special purpose and open space properties, Nash said. Franke serves on Milfords Economic Development Commission. william.bloxsom@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @blox354 BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is working on a "concrete model" to aid Lufthansa, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Sunday, amid a political row over whether the state should take a strategic shareholding and play an active role in the stricken airline. Altmaier's comments followed calls by the Social Democratic Party, junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition, to tie aid for Lufthansa to protecting jobs, cutting the dividend and giving the government a say on strategy. "For me it's important that we don't exert any influence on business decisions. That has never worked in the past," Altmaier told ARD public television in an interview. Lufthansa said on Thursday it was negotiating a 9 billion euro ($9.8 billion) bailout with Germany's economic stabilisation fund after the coronavirus pandemic slashed travel by 99% and forced it to ground 700 aircraft. The package includes a non-voting capital component - known as a silent participation - a secured loan, and a capital increase that may leave the government owning up to 25% plus one share. While Altmaier and Merkel's conservatives oppose a direct state investment, the opposition Greens have said that a silent participation would be unacceptable. "I'm a firm supporter of the market economy and am convinced that the state should not increase its holdings during this crisis - at least not for the long term," Altmaier also told ARD. "We should ensure that free enterprise in Germany can continue. That will only be possible if the companies that are in crisis, together with their social partners, help to overcome this crisis." ($1 = 0.9225 euros) (Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Alex Richardson) Australians are set to shiver as Melbourne plunges to just 6C and Sydney battles through its coldest early May night in 51 years. Temperatures in both cities will plunge to single digits this week as a high pressure system moves over Victoria and New South Wales. Meteorologist Joel Pippard from the Bureau of Meteorology told Daily Mail Australia a dry air mass, very light winds and clear skies are the recipe for a spate of chilly mornings. Sydney plummeted to 7.8C on Monday morning - the coldest temperature recorded for the first half of May since 1969. Australians are set to freeze as Melbourne struggles to get above 14C and Sydney battles through its coldest early May night in 51 years Sydney could see up to 20mm of rain on Wednesday, with light showers on Thursday. Pictured: People walking through the rain in Sydney in March 'If we look at May as a whole, to get this cold this early is very unusual,' Mr Pippard said. Temperatures will begin to warm up throughout the week with relatively warm autumn days of about 20C. The eastern suburbs of Sydney could see up to 20mm of rain on Wednesday, with light falls extending into Thursday. Cold temperatures will also expand west into regional parts of NSW and the ACT. Melbourne had its coolest morning of the year on Sunday with temperatures of 7.2C. Pictured: a woman in a face mask on a cold morning in Melbourne last week Canberra will fall to -3C while Goulburn, south west of Sydney, will be the coldest place in the state with temperatures of -4.3 - seven degrees below average. Melbourne had its coolest morning of the year on Sunday with temperatures of 7.2C, but will fall to 6C on Saturday morning. 'It's normal for Melbourne to be cooler at this time of year,' Mr Pippard said. 'Temperatures overnight will hover around single digits - about 7C on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Temperatures will hover around 20C during the day in Sydney this week. Pictured: Heavy rains effects Sydney CBD, Monday, March 9. 'The warmest night will be 9C on Tuesday, which is the average.' He also said the clear skies mean there won't be much snow in the alpine areas of Victoria, including Thredbo and Perisher, until late next week. Meanwhile, Mt Wellington in Tasmania could see flurries with lows of -2C. South Australia will also see lower temperatures, with the mercury falling to 7C overnight on Wednesday. MUSCATINE When Drake Daniels saw the gleaming blue and grey 2006 Ford Mustang GT online, he knew he had to have it. Even though the muscle car was being sold about eight hours away in Missouri, he knew that was the car for him. He remembered back to the day when he was about 11 and saw his first Mustang. Even since that day, he knew he would own one himself. When he turned 17 he found the perfect one and decided it was the car for him. By his own admission he paid a lot and is still making payments, but his love of the vehicle shown through. I love the sound of cars and the way cars look, Daniels said. It was in that vehicle he joined many longtime friends and car enthusiasts Sunday for a cruise around Muscatine. He said the show of support for the car community had made him come out to just cruise. Organizer Hunter Stoll commented when he arranged the cruise he had forgotten it was on Mothers Day. Despite the holiday, dozens of cars pulled into the parking lot of Muscatine Mall to sign up for their place in the line of the 2020 Cruise for a Cause hosted by MRR Car Meets and Cruises. PockeTracker is a powerful and easily customizable tracking and credential verification tool available in the age of COVID-19. With PockeTracker administrators can scan the ID or search a persons credentials via smartphone and instantly get a red or green screen to determine whether the person should be present in a certain area. User defined fields allow PockeTracker to easily keep track of any data element that may quickly change such as whether a person has permission to be on campus or other criteria including if they have paid their dues and/or completed required training. PockeTracker retains an activity log of every scan giving campus administrators a real-time snapshot of campus activity that can be viewed from the web-based reporting system. Currently, PockeTracker is implemented at colleges & universities, K12 schools, and corporate venues for event admittance, attendance, preventing suspended/unwanted people from entering campus, as a busing solution, and much more. It is being used to verify admittance to high value sites in places such as Disney World and the Grand Central Terminal in New York, as well as the highly secure Academy Awards venue to keep uninvited guests off the Red Carpet. PockeTracker can be enabled to read any existing employee or student ID card to gain admittance; or you can also create a unique barcode for all individuals that can be used transparently or anonymously. Once created, any iPhone or Android device equipped with the PockeTracker app can instantly read the barcode to accept or reject people from any location including: sporting events, concerts, meat-packing plants, nursing homes or other venues where safe-distancing is difficult. The criteria for checking individuals can flash red or green for any criteria important to the company or institution owning the solution such as mandatory quarantines. Were very pleased with PockeTrackers 15 years of proven success and are excited for the many ways it is being used to further enhance campus safety and security., stated Zack Walker, Director of Sales. Nepal on Monday handed over a diplomatic note to the Indian envoy here to protest against the construction of a key road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand. The 80-Km new road inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday is expected to help pilgrims visiting Kailash-Mansarovar in Tibet in China as it is around 90 kms from the Lipulekh pass. The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani, a disputed border area between Nepal and India. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory - India as part of Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district and Nepal as part of Dharchula district. Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinaya Mohan Kwatra met Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali at his office, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. During the meeting, Gyawali conveyed to the Indian Ambassador the Nepal government's position on boundary issues. "The ministry has handed over a diplomatic note to ambassador Kwatra," it said. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi on Saturday said the road lies well within the Indian territory. "The recently inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in the state of Uttarakhand lies completely within the territory of India. The road follows the pre-existing route used by the pilgrims of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. Under the present project, the same road has been made pliable for the ease and convenience of pilgrims, locals and traders," the MEA said in a statement. The Nepal government raised objection to the construction of the road at the Lipulekh area by the government of India to connect to the Mansarovar of Tibet "unilaterally". Nepal has claimed that the territory on which the road was constructed lies within its territory. In a statement issued on May 9, the Nepalese Foreign Ministry said that "it has learnt with regret about the inauguration by India of the Link Road connecting Lipulekh that passes through Nepalese territory." Addressing the Parliament on Sunday, Foreign Minister Gyawali said that the Kalapani border issue will be resolved with India through diplomatic initiatives. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) PORTLAND, Ore. On a long, winding drive home one night in March, Geoff Latham realized his life, and his business, could not go on as planned. Were gonna have to lay off so many people, he choked out to his wife, Melody, tears in his eyes. Its gonna be horrible. He had built up his small meat processing plant selling quality products to fancy restaurants. Now those restaurants were closing as customers and waitstaff were confined to their homes in the midst of a deadly pandemic. For Latham, shutting down wasnt an option. Not only would his business fail to survive such a drastic move, but as the country plunged into the biggest crisis in nearly a century, he felt certain his work was essential to keeping Americans fed. As the coronavirus sweeps the nation, Americans are worried: Will there be enough food for everyone? Will more workers get sick to provide the rest of us with steaks, chicken quarters and pork chops? Small meat processing plants like Latham's will be crucial to keeping the food chain running, he says, but moving forward won't come without challenges or risks. His staff are now among the thousands of workers risking their health to keep the American food supply running. Nicky USA owner Geoff Latham stands on the deck outside his office on April 28. Nicky USA is a processing plant and wholesaler in Portland, Ore., that supplies most of the small restaurants in the Northwest. "Every small plant is gonna be really busy, maybe for the next six months," Latham says. "Not only is the shortage happening because those plants are shutting down, but they're shutting down right as restaurants are starting to open up again. So demand is gonna go up as supply goes down." The Lathams own and operate Nicky USA, one of about 2,200 small meat processing plants in the U.S. that employ fewer than 500 people. Another 400 large meat processing plans help makeup the nation's meat supply. Nicky USA churns out roughly 10,000 pounds of meat a day. Before the coronavirus shut down the U.S. economy, 85% of its sales, which usually total $16 million annually, were to high-end restaurants in Oregon and Washington. Story continues As the global pandemic spread, the company let go of 13 workers, downsizing to a staff of 33. No clients but ... Ive got a plan That the Lathams managed to stay afloat is a credit, at least partially, to their oldest son, 23-year-old Gerick Latham. Officially, his title is sustainability and efficiency director. Unofficially, hes chief problem solver. On the drive home that March night, Geoff and Melody Latham dialed their son and put him on speaker phone. From his apartment in North Portland, he listened in disbelief as his parents told him what was coming: The next day, on March 16, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown would order all bars and restaurants closed except for delivery and takeout. Nicky USA wouldn't have clients for the foreseeable future. Adding to the crisis: $250,000 worth of meat was on its way to the plant to be processed. Without restaurants, it would have nowhere to go. Overnight, their cash flow would evaporate. We are gonna have to scrape and scratch to turn every single piece of meat into cash, Geoff Latham told his family. Gerick Latham heard panic and fear in his parents voices, and he shifted from nervous employee to caretaker. My parents have poured their lives and their savings into this, Gerick Latham says now. If I was working for some giant company, maybe Id just ride it out on unemployment. But in that moment all I could think was, I cant let this, or them, fall apart. Around 11 that night, Gerick Latham texted his mother: Ive got a plan. Were going to do an online sale and sell everything in the freezer. Six and a half hours later, at 5:30 a.m., plant manager and master butcher Jace Hentges walked through Nicky USAs coolers and freezers, taking notes on what needed to be cut and package immediately, what could be sold to grocery stores and the general public right away, and what wasnt salvageable. Staff cuts came next. On March 18, Geoff Latham laid off part of the staff and trimmed most remaining workers' hours to 32 a week choosing to keep people who could do multiple jobs in the plant. He calls it the worst day of his career. Im horrible at firing people Geoff Latham says, before his wife interjects. He likes to give people lots of chances, she says, smiling kindly at her husband. He drops his head and swallows the lump in his throat. I cried more than the employees did, he says. SUBSCRIBE: Help support quality journalism like this. We can be nimble Eight weeks into lockdown, Nicky USA has recouped about 40% of its business through increased grocery store demand and direct-to-consumer sales. Before the pandemic, the company sold just 13% of its product to grocery stores; now that number has jumped to 50%. The company has added non-meat products to its inventory, including toilet paper (with more than 21,000 rolls sold), paper napkins and CBD products, a line thats the brainchild of youngest son, Gerod, 21. Geoff Latham takes pride in telling people he made his first major sale to a local vegan restaurant, offloading 40 pounds of maitake mushrooms. A direct to consumer "grill box" is packaged for distribution on April 28. The box includes steaks, sausages, pork chop and pork belly among other items from Nicky USA. The Lathams anticipate being able to hire back workers and add hours soon, partly a result of increased demand but also because Nicky USA was one of the few businesses to get a Paycheck Protection Program loan, the government-funded program to help small businesses navigate the economic free fall. In Nicky USA's 600-square-foot processing room, Hentges and four other butchers work quickly to saw through meat, trimming it to consumer-friendly cuts. In larger plants many of which shut down temporarily as workers have gotten sick most of the butchering is done via automated machines, forcing people to work shoulder-to-shoulder and making it nearly impossible to maintain social distancing. But a smaller plant Nicky USA operates in a 23,000-square foot building in Portland and has an additional city-block-size warehouse in Seattle is more like a regular butcher, says Hentges, allowing Nicky USA workers to maneuver around the room without running into one another. We can be nimble, says Hentges, the plant manager. Big plants cant go from cutting whole loins to ground chuck like that he snaps his fingers for emphasis but we can. While talking, he slices through a rack of ribs and tosses pork trimmings in a bin to be processed into sausage. Butchers at Nicky USA cut up a pig carcass on April 28 in Portland, Ore. The plant has added the safety precautions common in the COVID-19 era: Every person who enters gets their temperature taken, and masks are mandatory. No one except office workers are allowed inside the office, and customers who arrive for pickup pop their trunks so items can be placed inside, contact-free. So far, none of the 33 workers at Nicky USA have gotten sick. If someone did, the plant would shut down immediately for at least two weeks and resanitize. The thought makes Geoff Latham queasy. Instead of worrying about worst-case scenarios, he and his team try to problem-solve. When he's not slicing meat, Hentges, the plant manager, calculates what it would take for Nicky USA to increase its daily output by 2,000 to 5,000 pounds. Meanwhile, Geoff Latham connects with local farms to reserve more pork and beef in anticipation of increased demand expected given large plants' closure. Geoff Latham, 54, got his start 30 years ago, selling rabbits out of his red Ford hatchback to local French, Italian and German restaurants. He built Nicky USA slowly, adding exotic game like foie gras, quail, pheasant, wild boar, antelope and more. He persuaded his wife to leave her job as an insurance underwriter when he spread dozens of invoices across their dining room table and sheepishly admitted, I have no idea who owes me money. A butcher at Nicky USA packages a pork belly for distribution on April 28. Together they built a powerhouse small production plant thats directly correlated to Portlands rise as a food destination, supplying meat to multiple James Beard awarding-winning restaurants around the Northwest. Portland's Gregory Gourdet of "Top Chef" fame says Geoff Latham is single-handedly responsible for introducing dozens of food industry people to one another and building camaraderie in the food community, mostly through Nicky USA's Wild About Game, an annual gathering that celebrates creativity and competition and is widely considered one of the best industry parties in the Northwest. Geoffs the man, says Gourdet, who has ordered duck (for his Instagram cooking shows) and toilet paper (for his apartment) from Nicky USA during the lockdown. He never turns people down for charity events, even when its last-minute and its outside his budget. Of course were going to make sure hes OK during this. To Geoff Latham, every single sale and online order represent a blip of hope in a dire situation where the finish line keeps moving back on us. Every night during the first week of their new reality, Geoff Latham retreated to the deck off his office, to sip whiskey sometimes Scotch, straight, Melody says and cry while watching the sun set over the Portland skyline. Melody, Gerick and Gerod took turns joining him. Despite the heartbreak, fear and uncertainty swirling around their family and their business, Gerick Latham was struck that every night, his dad would raise his head, nod and say the same thing: Weve gotta be strong for the team right now. Its awful, and its tough, but were gonna get through it. Together. SUBSCRIBE: Help support quality journalism like this. Americas Food Chain: Who feeds the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic? As many of us across America have hunkered down in our homes under safer-at-home orders, someone else has had to venture out day after day to keep the country fed. To get the food from the farm to our tables, they continue to work sometimes without the protections were told are crucial to guard against the coronavirus to pick the oranges, slaughter the pigs, truck the goods and cook the food, so America can continue to eat. Through an occasional series of intimate portraits in the coming weeks, USA TODAY Network journalists are shining a light on their lives and work. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Americas Food Chain: Small meatpacking plant adjusts to coronavirus Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 15:47:18|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TEHRAN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen Iranian navy servicemen were killed after an incident happened to the Iranian Army's Konarak logistic vessel in the country's waters near the southern port of Jask in the Sea of Oman, official IRNA agency reported on Monday. In the incident which happened on Sunday evening naval drills, 15 others were injured. Konarak has been towed to the port for further technical investigations, according to the statement. Enditem We are kind of bemused by the situation, he said. Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn is miffed after missing out on tourism during peak season. The weather is warming right up, and yet the government sees it fit to direct people down south, we dont see why we should be treated differently. I can't understand the logic in it to be brutally honest. Its not like we dont have access to health facilities here in Geraldton. We are one of the largest regional areas in the state and yet weve been excluded from tourism, I honestly cant think why they would do it. Everyone is a bit miffed at the moment to leave us out of the border restrictions, it certainly defies economic logic." Shire of Northampton president Craig Simkin echoed Mr Van Styns sentiments, saying he thought it was unfair people could visit the Margaret River wine region but couldnt come to Kalbarri. The long weekend in June would have been beneficial," he said. "People probably would have travelled to their holiday destination. Both Mr Van Styn and Mr Simkin said their destinations were missing out on the tourism dollars brought in by the grey nomad migration up north as the weather got colder. The grey nomads, they always travel through to Broome [at this time], and our parks in Kalbarri theyd be at 80 per cent now heading through on their journey into the North West, Mr Simkin said. Mid Wests pain is Wheatbelts gain Its just so wonderful, four oclock in the morning , you can hear the [boat] engines revving up again and you think thank goodness, said Shire of Dandaragan president Leslee Holmes. Our lives are starting to slowly turn up again. Jurien Bay is open for tourism business, and caravan parks in the area have been flooded with bookings. Ms Holmes said caravan parks in Jurien Bay, Leeman and Cervantes hadnt been off the phone since Mark McGowans announcement lifting travel restrictions to the region. It will be incredible. Everyone wants to be here at the moment because the fishing is great, she said. We have an enormous amount of holiday homes and people havent been able to come to their holiday home. Hopefully it will put some more money into the economy. Ms Holmes said the fact people were starved to get away after the lock-down period and the north still remained off limits would create a boon for her Shire. I think Jurien Bay will do really well out of this. I feel sorry for Geraldton and a bit further up, she said. I think its going to be a real boom for us. And its a cheap-ish holiday when you consider not everyone can afford to go down to Margaret River and go around to the wineries, this is more of a family oriented holiday. Ms Holmes said the Wheatbelt had started a campaign targeted at families, weekenders, day-trippers and fly-in, fly-out workers instead of overseas tourists. Dr Clay Golledge, infections diseases expert at Perth's Hollywood Private Hospital, said he did not see any reason anymore to have any travel restrictions within the state. "It's time to tear the [regions within WA] down," he said. "I don't see any point to having the regions anymore with perhaps the exception of the Kimberley. I think we should be opening it up now, there is so little virus around." A spokesman from the Premier's office said the measures were done in line with advice from the Chief Health Officer, Dr Andrew Robertson, and Police Commissioner Chris Dawson. Loading All of the advice suggested boundaries need to be removed in a staged process, and thats what we have done," he said. This will allow us to continue to monitor the situation and respond to any outbreaks that may occur. The changes announced yesterday will allow more Western Australians to travel to visit family, and will allow some tourism operators to begin to open. Dr. Veena Jones was on her morning commute from her home in Menlo Park to her office at Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital in Palo Alto when she learned of lab test results that nearly jolted her to a stop right in the middle of El Camino Real. The 6-month-old patient she was on her way to release after treatment for a rare inflammatory condition called Kawasaki disease had tested positive for the coronavirus. It was March 16, just before the statewide shelter-in-place order and long before there was any reason to consider a link between COVID-19 and the feverish and inflammatory symptoms of Kawasaki disease. Dr. Jones quickly conferred with her colleague, Dr. Roshni Mathew, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Packard, to see if there was any precedent for this in the medical journals. They found none because Jones had hit on the first recorded diagnosis of a child with both COVID-19 and Kawasaki disease. That very day, I had a discussion with Dr. Mathew that we should share this with the rest of the world, Jones told The Chronicle. Their paper, COVID-19 & Kawasaki Disease: Novel Virus & Novel Case will be published in the Journal of Hospital Pediatrics in June. But it has been rushed into prepublication online and gained urgency in the past week when it was revealed that 73 children in New York had been hospitalized, with three fatalities, for a mysterious disease being described as pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome. The New York children had tested positive for the coronavirus or its antibodies, but neither they nor Jones patient, a South Bay girl identified only as Zara, showed respiratory symptoms. She has since gone home and passed a 14-day quarantine, and nobody knows yet whether her condition was the same as that of the children in New York, with additional cases having been reported in Chicago, Los Angeles, the United Kingdom and Spain. We dont know exactly what these patients are presenting. All we know is that they look like Kawasaki disease because they have cardiac involvement, said Dr. Mathew. A disease that mainly affects children ages 1 to 4, Kawasaki is a hyper-inflammatory condition whose cause has so far eluded doctors. It can also be found in children younger than 1, as was the case in Palo Alto. Symptoms include rash, swelling or redness of the lips or throat, swollen lymph nodes, particularly in the neck, swelling of hands and feet, and pink eye. About 25% have some changes in their coronary arteries that can lead to an aneurysm, said Dr. Rachel Wattier, a UCSF specialist who cares for children with infectious disease. Concerns mounted Monday after new reports surfaced out of New York that coronavirus inflammatory syndrome in children was causing heart and kidney failure. Medical experts in the Bay Area said that because of early intervention in the spread of the coronavirus, a cluster of children experiencing similar inflammatory syndromes as those seen in New York is unlikely in Northern California. COVID has been around now for a few months, and what we know is that children are not affected as much, said Dr. Mathew. Now, there is this information that we are getting that there is a subset of pediatric patients that are having this multisystem inflammatory condition. I dont think anyone knows for sure if there is a clear link (to the coronavirus), but there is a suspicion of it. Nor is there a clear link between Kawasaki and the coronavirus. Dr. Lyn Dos Santos, the pediatric clinical medical co-director at John Muir Health/Stanford Childrens Health Joint Venture, said she normally sees 15 to 20 Kawasaki cases a year. Since January, she has seen about five cases. Two of those cases were children diagnosed in mid-March and April, but neither were coronavirus-positive, she said. Kawasaki is a disease that is well known but not well understood, Wattier said. Its a hyper-inflammatory condition and it doesnt have a specific known cause, though its thought to be associated as a postinfectious syndrome in a variety of different infections, she said. The babys doctors are careful to differentiate their patient from the clusters of cases in New York and elsewhere because she had classic Kawasaki disease, and none of the other children have received that diagnosis. But the symptoms are similar enough that there might be a connection somewhere. Mathew speculates that it could have been the coronavirus that triggered both the case of Kawasaki disease in Zara, and the cases of pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome elsewhere. The body has already seen the infection, but then the immune response goes into override, she said. We can say it is a suspicion, added Jones, but not definitively. There was no suspicion of either COVID-19 or Kawasaki when Zaras mother, identified as Mahera, brought her to the Mountain View clinic operated by the Sutter Health Palo Alto Medical Foundation on March 10. She was given medication for the fever and sent home, with instructions to watch for worsening symptoms. Three nights later, the baby was back with a body rash, redness of the eyes, and swollen hands and feet all common symptoms of Kawasaki. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. There is no definitive test for the disease, but a blood test revealed enough of the markers that she was transferred to Packard, which has a reputation for treating kids with rare afflictions. Kawasaki qualifies. Although more common in Japan, it afflicts between 4,000 and 5,000 children in America per year. It was early in the pandemic and the patient would not then have been suspected of suffering from COVID-19, but Packard had an early supply of tests and Zara received one as a precaution because she had a fever. She was then given a normal course of medication for Kawasaki, and her symptoms improved dramatically. Two days after the test, the results came back positive for the coronavirus. It was the first positive test for the coronavirus at Packard and may have been the first in the nation or the world for both Kawasaki and COVID-19. There was an element of surprise, and we had to put our heads together with a safe plan to send her home, said Jones, who is affiliated with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation but works at Packard. We had not been expecting this. Zara exhibited no upper respiratory symptoms, so after Jones carefully interviewed her mother, she was sent home with both mother and daughter instructed to maintain in quarantine for 14 days, which they did. Also requiring quarantine was Dr. Evie Huang, whod spent more than half an hour treating Zara at the Mountain View clinic before Zara was tested. A contact history of the family was taken, and none had traveled or believed they had been in contact with anyone who had tested positive. Typically people get it from household contacts, Mathew said. At this point we just dont know how she was exposed to it. Its a mystery. Zara, meanwhile, is being monitored and has passed two echocardiograms in the past two months, and ultrasounds have been normal. She seems to be OK, Jones said. She has no symptoms of COVID. Sam Whiting and Sarah Ravani are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com, sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @samwhitingsf, @SarRavani NC pastor arrested, accused of sexually assaulting 2 former youth group members Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The senior pastor of a North Carolina church was arrested Thursday after two people alleged that he sexually assaulted them when they were minors at a former church where he worked. Brian Mahiques, the 41-year-old pastor of the nondenominational Encounter Church in Concord, was charged with two counts of statutory sexual offense of a child and three counts of indecent liberties with a minor. Mahiques is being held in the Cabarrus County Jail under a $1 million bond. According to the Concord Police Department, the investigation into Mahiques alleged actions began in spring 2019. The investigation was initiated after the first victim told his or her parents that they had been sexually assaulted by Mahiques when he was a youth pastor at The Refuge Church in Concord. According to a police statement, the victim alleged that Mahiques sexually assaulted him or her numerous times between 2005 and 2006 when he was on staff at The Refuge Church, which has since moved to a new location. During the course of the investigation, the second victim was located who indicated they, too, had been sexually assaulted by Mahiques during that time frame and was also a member of the same youth group, the police statement adds. Police investigators are continuing to conduct follow-up interviews to determine if there are other alleged victims. Encounter Church released a statement on its website explaining that the churchs board is aware of allegations that were brought forward concerning Pastor Brian Mahiques. We are waiting for the due process of law to unfold, the churchs statement reads. Meanwhile, we pray for truth, light, and grace to abound, inviting the Spirit of God to lead us in these moments. Just as our church supports fellow members in good times, we also stand beside them offering prayer and strength in difficult times. The churchs statement adds that the board is supporting Mahiques wife, Sarah, and the rest of his family during this time. The church is asking that people be respectful and mindful of the family as they are going through this. We are grateful for the loving response of the community, the statement continues. Our Lord Jesus Christ brings redemption out of the most troubling and tragic circumstances. As we seek what abundant life looks like in these times we will be partaking in communion daily and invite you to do the same. The Refuge Church, a multi-campus church based in Kannapolis, told The Christian Post in an emailed statement that Mahiques was on staff in 2005 and 2006, but "no accusations were ever made while Brian was serving on our staff." "Our hearts go out to the victims and families affected by the alleged crimes committed by Brian Mahiques," the statement from The Refuge Church reads. According to the church, Mahiques served on The Refuge Church staff from 2005 to 2008 and has not been part of the church since 2008. "No accusations were made and we had no cause for suspicion while Brian was serving on our team," the statement adds. "The first accusation was brought to our attention in February of 2019 when Founding and Lead Pastor, Jay Stewart, immediately contacted both the district attorney and the Department of Social Services." "This prompted an investigation by the Concord Police Department with which we have fully complied," the church's statement says. "The Refuge Church has always gone to great lengths to protect children and youth and to operate at the highest levels of accountability and integrity. We continue to pray for all who have been affected." Nigeria is set to receive Republic of Madagascar's herbal drug 'COVID Organics (COV)', which the country's leaders said cures and prevents Coronavirus. The Nation reported that Nigerias consignment has been sent to Equatorial Guinea from where it will be airlifted to Abuja. It was gathered that African countries were divided into zones for ease of transportation, leading to freighting of Nigerias consignments to Equatorial Guinea. The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has been notified of the offer from Madagascar and arrangements are being made to bring Nigerias allocation to Abuja. While some health officials are pushing for clinical trial of Covid Organics before being used in the country, there is reportedly pressure on the Federal Government by different medical and scientific organizations to allow the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) subject the drug to further analysis. The Nation source said; The consignments of the drug are being distributed to different countries in Africa based on zonal grouping. We have been told that Nigerias consignment is in Equatorial Guinea from where it will be airlifted to Abuja. When the herbal drink is brought into the country, we will know the next step. But some medical and scientific organisations are pressurising that the drug be subjected to clinical trial. Some countries like Tanzania, Congo-Brazzaville, Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea have subscribed to the drugs. Also, while South Africa has offered to conduct a scientific analysis of the drug, Senegal said it will subject it to clinical trial. I can assure you that the Federal Government will take the best decision on the drug in the overall interest of Nigerians. Before any food or drug can be administered in this country, there are certain protocols that must be followed. The government will not circumvent these protocols. We want solution; we want the best for Nigerians. Recall that on April 28, the Chairman of the PTF on COVID-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha said the nation was ready to give Madagascars herbal drink a trial. Mustapha said at that time; I want to assure you that whatever is happening in the world, we are mindful of it and we are keeping a tab. I was reading of the experiences in Madagascar of why everybody is drinking some solutions that have been prepared. This morning I was sharing with my wife, and I told her that probably I would request that Mr. President allow us import a plane load for a trial. We are all navigating an unchartered cause. Nobody has ever been on this road. So, every attempt to find solution that would bring succour to our people, be rest assured that this task force is very responsible and we would do everything to ensure that we get what will benefit our people, what will help them in the processes that we find ourselves today. This is coming after the World Health Organisation (WHO) maintained that the efficacy of the drug was unproven. Source: LIB Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ministry of Health has received a set of GeneXpert machines which will be positioned at border points to help in testing truck drivers in a short time. Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Health minister, on Thursday said with this machine, the Covid-19 results can be received within an hour. "By positioning the GeneXpert machines, there we will be able in a way to get results of the truck drivers before they leave if there is no congestion, but if there is congestion then we can still get them when they have not moved a long distance and give them their results so in a way it will be able to address some of the challenges we are experiencing now," she said. Uganda coronavirus cases have shot up to 101 as result of truck drivers from neighbouring countries. The Ministry of Health has revealed that they have received about 1,500 tests of the GeneXpert machines, which can only be used within five days although more orders are being placed to address this gap. Meanwhile, Government has extended the rapid assessment survey, meant to estimate the prevalence of Covid-19 in communities for more 10 days to be able to hit the targeted 20,000 people. Scarcity Results from the survey were to be ready by May 4, however, the Ministry of Health has revealed that the process was hampered by inadequacy of test kits and vehicles for teams to go in the field. Dr Aceng, however, revealed that they have been able to receive adequate number of test kits. On Thursday, American Tower Corporation donated Shs345 million to Uganda Virus Research Institute towards the purchase of testing kits. Stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, giving back some of their recently strong gains, as investors evaluated the latest attempts to reopen the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 457.21 points lower, or 1.9%, at 23,764.78. The S&P 500 dropped 2.1% to 2,870.12 while the Nasdaq Composite also fell more than 2% to 9,002.55. Tuesday's decline snapped a six-session winning streak for the Nasdaq. Stocks poised to benefit from economies reopening rolled over in afternoon trading, dragging down the major averages. Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo all fell at least 3%. Nike and Disney both closed 2.9% lower. Investors also cooled off from buying technology stocks. Facebook, Amazon and Apple all slid more than 1%. Netflix and Alphabet both closed 2% lower. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards "The economic worries are still front and center here. Even though there are reopenings, they're going to go slowly," said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. "There's this underlying worry the economy is going to rebound in a slow fashion and we're still in a deep recession. This was covered up by hopes of reopening and performance of big cap tech." Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and other health officials testified before the Senate Health Committee to discuss reopening the economy. Fauci noted a vaccine will be essential in stopping the coronavirus spread, but warned it will be a while before a usable one is available. Fauci added the U.S. could face more "suffering and death" if states start to reopen too quickly. "Markets have been torn between optimism on the tentative re-opening of some economies and caution on the still grim economic data," Mike Pyle, global chief investment strategist at BlackRock Investment Institute, said in a note. "Markets will watch out for any cracks in the financial system and elsewhere in the economy as virus infections climb." Several states, including Georgia, Texas and Tennessee have already started to let nonessential businesses resume operations. New York officials have also laid out a plan to gradually reopen the state. "We're just starting to get some ideas about what some of these economies are looking like as they reopen," said Megan Horneman, portfolio strategist at Verdence Capital Advisors. "Until we get some more solid data out of that, which is a few weeks away, people are just going to be in limbo for a bit." More than 4 million cases have been confirmed globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. In the U.S. alone, over 1.3 million infections have been confirmed. Senator Lindsey Graham introduced legislation to require China to cooperate with a coronavirus investigation or face sanctions, pressuring market sentiment. Tuesday's moves came as the Federal Reserve started buying corporate bonds and some of the ETFs that track them. The Fed announced these programs last month as they try to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic. The iShares IBoxx Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) climbed 1%. "The Fed's actions so far also point to a willingness to do more if required," said Oliver Jones, senior market economist at Capital Economics. "The size of the programs could presumably be increased too if market conditions deteriorated, albeit with the Treasury providing more equity." Despite Tuesday's losses, the Nasdaq remained up about 0.3% for the year as Wall Street has recently loaded up on shares of major tech companies. Shares of Amazon and Netflix both soared more than 30% this year, while Microsoft gained 18%. Chipmaker Nvidia hit a fresh all-time high on Tuesday, bringing its 2020 gains to 38%. "Growth has been bulletproof in 2020," Stephen Suttmeier, Bank of America's technical research strategist, said in a note on Monday. "No change in leadership as the 2020 parabolic rise for Growth vs Value achieves the Y2K Tech Bubble peaks." While bouncing swiftly from their March lows, the S&P 500 and the Dow are still well in the negative territory for the year, down 9.3% and 15.1%, respectively. Energy remains the worst-performing sector among the 11 S&P 500 groupings, with a 37% loss in 2020. When she was still able to volunteer at a nursing home in the Philadelphia area, 15-year-old Hita Gupta set up events for residents, from bingo to trivia. Now, she's still helping seniors stay active, thanks to her special goodie bags. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, visitors are no longer allowed at most nursing homes, and Gupta worried this would result in residents feeling "loneliness, boredom, and anxiety." She came up with the idea for goodie bags to help "stimulate their minds and keep them occupied," Gupta told CNN. Each bag has an adult coloring book, colored pencils, a large print puzzle book, and a note from Gupta's 9-year-old brother, Davit. At first, Gupta used her allowance to buy the items, but she has since started fundraising in order to distribute more bags. She calls nursing homes in advance to coordinate deliveries, and has so far dropped off goodie bags to 18 nursing homes. Gupta told CNN she won't stop until the pandemic is over. "We need to let nursing home residents know that they are not being forgotten and that they are not alone," she said. "As a community, we need to work together to make seniors feel loved and valued." More stories from theweek.com The dark decade ahead New Biden ad claims 'Trump doesn't understand' that his coronavirus missteps 'destroyed' the economy Trump aides are apparently aware of the bad optics of daily COVID-19 testing in an infected West Wing A 35-year-old Home Guard jawan in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur district has offered himself for human trial of COVID-19 vaccine. Akash Gupta, a resident of Juhi locality on Kanpur-Hamirpur road and a father of two, has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to allow him to fulfil the "noble desire. "I saw on TV how researchers are testing vaccines on animals because no human is willing to come forward and it was then that I decided to volunteer for the cause as there can be no greater service towards this country and humanity," Gupta said. Everyday millions of people in the world are getting infected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed thousands of lives, he said. "In this hour of crisis, if the country's scientists need specimens for human trial to develop a vaccine against coronavirus, I am ready to give my body for this experiment, said Gupta who has two sons aged 5 and 10. I would be grateful if the concerned authorities use my body to develop the vaccine Even if I lose my life in this testing, it won't matter," he added. I am ready to sacrifice my life so that the lives of crores of people around the world can be saved, he said further. The home guards are a volunteer paramilitary force functioning as an auxiliary to the state police. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tracing apps will rely on smart devices to log movement and contact as a way of containing the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Shutterstock We are all wondering how COVID-19 will end. We will not likely return to normal without a broadly distributed vaccine, which is a bracing proposition. It is also becoming increasingly clear that we will have to find a way to trace transmission and maybe even enforce individual quarantines in the interim. I want to say that I am not an epidemiologist, nor am I a public health official. As a faculty member within the Centre for Digital Humanities at Brock University, my role is to communicate the social and cultural consequences of digital media, including potential privacy and security risks of software used to limit the effects of COVID-19. In the coming weeks and months, I expect that we will hear a lot about "contact tracing." Contact tracing involves interviewing patients to collect information on all the people they have had sustained contact with and all the places they have been. It is laborious and error-prone because it is dependent on memory, interviews and detective work. Because of the scale of contact tracing needed for COVID-19, using cellphones to detect and record proximity appears to be an ideal solution. The Canadian government is exploring contact tracing and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed that "all options are on the table." Civil liberties in crisis Before the Canadian government makes decisions that infringe on civil liberties through widespread digital surveillance, we need to think about the concessions we make during a time of crisis. Crises have long been used as an opportunity by governments and corporations to infringe on civil liberties in the name of public safety. We need only think of the legislative overreach in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the United States, the extraordinary powers granted by the Patriot Act were revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden when he disclosed NSA and CIA surveillance. Those disclosures shook the country to the core. In Canada, the omnibus Bill C-36 was passed, which contained the Anti-Terrorism Act. During the post-9/11 period, Canadians learned a lot about phone tracking. In 2017, the Canadian government introduced Bill C-59, which amended the earlier Anti-terrorism Act and acknowledged past legislative overreach. Contact tracing using digital technology represents an opportunity to battle COVID-19 and reopen the economy, but its application will create unprecedented surveillance infrastructure beyond anything we have seen before. Digital contact tracing will use peoples mobile devices to track their movements and who they come into contact with. There is an app for that In recent days, the federal government has indicated that the provinces will be responsible for managing their plans to reopen their economies, which will result in a patchwork of contact tracing apps across the country. There are risks that such a network of policies, laws and collection techniques will muddy the data about COVID-19 nationally. By contrast, many countries have turned to nationally mandated mobile applications to automate contact tracing. South Korea, Singapore, Germany and China have all implemented their own digital tools to assist public health officials and trace the spread of COVID-19. There are several models that Canadians can think about with regard to contact tracing apps. China dealt with this problem first, and chose some rather extraordinary methods. Citizens were allowed to travel between checkpoints based on an app embedded in online payment systems like Alibaba's Alipay or Tencent's WeChat. Without a green QR code, citizens were not allowed to travel and could face detention for violations. Currently, the Canada COVID-19 appa partnership between private health-care software company Thrive Health and Health Canadaallows you to volunteer your location data and self-report symptoms. This volunteer approach was led by Singapore's TraceTogether app, which goes a step further by accessing the Bluetooth radio in smartphones to detect proximity. The limitations of the TraceTogether app include the difficulty of running an app 24 hours a day, which depletes battery life and results in less reliable data. The Alberta provincial government has recently released the ABTraceTogether app; it is unclear how effective this system will be in the province. Because the use of digital contact tracing was meant to correct for the errors of human interviews and memory, the partnership between Google and Apple has drawn a tremendous amount of attention. In this case, our phones would eventually detect proximity and duration using a low level operating system process that would allow for 24/7 tracking. The Alberta government has launched a contact tracing app. The security and privacy implications are profound. Regardless of the optimism of the technology news observers, these systems are too complex and lacking in the transparency necessary for legislators to make adequately informed decisions on their implementation. There is no reason the general public should trust these corporations to not monetize this system and maintain this surveillance infrastructure after the crisis has passed. While the need for digital contact tracing is clear, Canadians must take steps to protect their personal data. Non-technical recommendations It will be important for Canadians to discuss these systems before plans are put in place and laws are passed that may violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, particularly with regard to the security of the person. With any luck, the conversation held by Canadians with their provincial leaders and federal counterparts will include the following: A sunset clause to define when surveillance ends. A chain of custody agreement for data passed between government, industry and researchers, which includes a process to delete data. A plan to protect data sovereignty, which ensures that data are subject to Canadian laws and governance structures. A public use of judicial oversight of government, industry and researchers to ensure the laws we choose as Canadians are followed. A commitment to corporate accountability if our data are misused, stolen or sold. Digital contact tracing will likely become central to the government's approach to stifling the resurgence of the virus and reopening the economy. The complexity of these systems is a risk for the general public who may agree to something that is not well understood. It is critical to inform the public about these risks before governments take extraordinary powers and infringe on our civil liberties. Explore further European virus tracing apps highlight battle for privacy This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. In 2003, the Basel Messe was not yet called Baselworld and was in full expansion, seeking exhibition space for national pavilions as far away as Zurich. The jewellery industry then occupied three halls, suppliers occupied two, and watch brands had four: Hall of Dreams, Hall of Desires, Hall of Inspiration and Hall of Emotions. In specialised magazines such as GMT, advertisements featured watches by Charles Oudin, Japy, Jean-Mairet & Gilmann, Jean Perret, Le Marquand, Leonard, Magellan, Marina B, Rodolphe and Voltime. Ikepod sold tourbillons with transparent rubber straps, Gubelin still promoted Breguet and Jorg Hysek still owned his eponymous brand, as did Franck Muller, who designed his famous Crazy Hours. It was another era! Celebrations The watch fair called Time took place in Brussels at the same time as the Belux edition of GMT, both of which last only two years. Also new on the scene was DeWitt, started by Jerome and Viviane de Witt, who christened their first creations New Empire and New Age. Although the Alpina brand was registered in 1901, it was in 2003 that Aletta and Peter Stas acquired it in order to revive its myth. Founded even further back, Breguet inaugurated that year its new ultra-modern iconic manufacture at lAbbaye in the Vallee de Joux. Within the Swatch Group, Tissot celebrated its 150th anniversary (see Francois Thiebaut below). Among the major brands, Rolex went green to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Submariner, offering a Submarine Date with a green bezel. GMT Magazine, 2003 GMT The whole of Switzerland vibrated with patriotic pride at the achievement of Alinghi, which brought back the oldest sporting trophy in the world, the America's Cup, for the first time in Europe, enthroned for eight years at the Societe Nautique de Geneve. Its watchmaking sponsor Audemars Piguet rode the wave of this prowess and offered a limited series of 750 Royal Oak Commemorative Alinghi 2003. The rise in diameters and limited series Case, on the other hand, go through new materials and expand in sizes. Hublot had not yet designed the Big Bang, but claimed to have invented the double folding clasp for its rubber straps, smelling of vanilla at the time, and innovated with a 1910 Hublot tantalum with a meteorite dial. They do not yet belong to the same group and Zenith at the time was under the reign of Thierry Nataf, who set the diameter of the Grande Chronomaster Open at 45mm, and the size of the rectangular case of the Grand Port Royal Elite at 51x36mm. GMT Magazine, 2003 GMT At Jaquet Droz, the tonneau shape still prevailed with a GMT XXL in the Hommage Londres 1774 collection (Londres for London, where one of its three manufactures was located at the time). A watch with a strong personality, Panerai paid tribute to its origins with a 47mm Luminor Marina 1950. Along the marine theme, Corum added to its Admirals Cup epic with an eponymous Regatta Chronograph, limited to 999 pieces. And one more for Breitling, whose Le Mans chronograph indicated the hours over 24 hours for this 1,000-piece limted edition. Quantities are becoming more reasonable for Jaeger-LeCoultres Reverso Platinum Number Three equipped with a tourbillon, small seconds and power reserve indicator in 500 pieces, or its Master Antoine LeCoultre in platinum with 8-day power reserve, large date and day/night in 200 pieces. IWC is sailing in the same waters with its Portuguese Perpetual Calendar with 7-day power reserve in platinum (250 pieces), while the Bvlgari Bvlgari retrograde seconds in white gold comes in 99 and 149 pieces. A certain idea of ladies watches Its worth saying right away: in 2003, there was already something for every taste in the segment of ladies haute horlogerie. Vacheron Constantin was inspired by the rich Art Nouveau period, an era very much present in its museum, and launched the Egeria, with the Poincon de Geneve trademark. In a radically different style, the trademark is also featured on Roger Dubuis Follow-Me, shaped after a cambered cross and available in 3 sizes, 3 gold colours and 5 dial colours. Still in Geneva, Francois-Paul Journe set the Octa Divine in platinum with diamonds for his female clientele. At Breguet, ladies were offered a Classique Grande Complication with a Tourbillon adorned with fine engravings and an eccentric dial. To finish off this geographical and geometrical overview, they could also choose the tonneau-shaped Richeville Lady from Girard-Perregeaux. GMT Magazine, 2003 GMT The lucidity of leaders Interviewed in GMT in 2003, their words from the beginning of the millennium still ring true in 2020. As a member of the Swatch Group Management Board and President of CK Watch, Arlette Emch reacted to the crisis observed at the end of 2001 and 2002: Lets remain positive, we must learn to live with this new combination of unfavourable factors, she says. During the first half of this year, people were shocked. This has not been without consequences on consumption. Lets compensate with efforts elsewhere, offer alternatives and new products, and lets remain modest in the face of this new situation. For his colleague Francois Thiebaut: Watchmaking is a profession of humility and patience that also requires being in the field. We are neither prophetic nor alone, and nothing allows us to proclaim ourselves the best in the world. The competition is there, but it is stimulating. Thats why we love our job with passion. GMT Magazine, 2003 GMT In the Richemont group, all our customers have the same relationship with the pleasure that the brand and our products bring, estimates Michel Nieto, Baume & Merciers then-CEO. They are all equally in search of a product that is right for its time, creative and whose aesthetics are unique and innovative each time. Moreover, they are reassured by the notoriety and quality of this brand that is more than a century old... We are not moving up the range, Baume & Merciers positioning is very clear: we want to remain a brand that introduces customers to the world of luxury. GMT Magazine, 2003 GMT Finally, on the LVMH side, TAG Heuer was then managed by a certain Jean-Christophe Babin, who was then starting his career in watchmaking: Jack Heuer is the great-grandson of the founder of TAG Heuer, Edouard Heuer, he declares. You realize how lucky we are: we are one of the only brands in the world in this case! Indeed, Jack Heuer is not only Honorary President of TAG Heuer: he also participates in the development of new products and contributed in particular to the launch of the new Carrera in 2002, which he himself had launched in 1963. Jack coordinates the transmission and interpretation of the archives since he has personally lived through a third of these 143 years. GMT Magazine, 2003 GMT Will wisdom and serenity be needed for a long time to come? Find the answer next week with the year 2004. *To celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2020, GMT Magazine will summarise weekly, exclusively on WorldTempus, the essence of its content published year after year in the last 20 years. The information is by no means exhaustive and refers to excerpts. For a more in-depth view of the last two decades of watchmaking, order The Millennium Watch Book produced by GMT Magazine and WorldTempus with the contribution of over twenty experts, each of whom witnessed this incomparable period in our industry. WorldTempus now offers the GMT Spring 2020 issue, available for download below. Download GMT #66 for free Aussie Home Loans heiress Deborah Symond O'Neil has revealed how she is staying healthy during the coronavirus lockdown by going on long walks, doing spinning classes at home and taking a $30 supplement to boost her hair and energy levels. The 32-year-old daughter of Australian financier John Symond and founder of e-commerce fashion platform Mode Sportif has been isolating at home in Sydney with her baby son and husband, the property developer Ned O'Neil. Deborah is running her business from home, but also trying to look after her mind and body. She shared the five-minute makeup regime that means she is always ready to tackle any day. Aussie Home Loans heiress Deborah Symond O'Neil has revealed how she is staying healthy during the coronavirus lockdown (pictured working) Deborah (pictured) said she has been enjoying giving her skin a bit more of an opportunity to breathe during lockdown, opting for a 'five minute face' that means she can tackle the day SKINCARE AND MAKEUP Many have used the coronavirus lockdown as an opportunity to give their skin a bit of a break from daily heavy makeup, instead focusing on using plenty of skincare to keep their complexion looking its best naturally. What is Deborah's five-minute face regime? * Rationale Superfluid tint + SPF * Hourglass clear brow gel * Bare Minerals Bare Skin concealer * Rose-coloured cheek tint * Estee Lauder lipstick in 'Seduce' Advertisement Deborah is no exception, and told Harper's Bazaar that she hasn't been wearing much makeup, instead favouring a 'quick and easy' regime that helps to 'brighten' her face and 'hide the hours of sleep' she has been missing on account of her newborn. 'After my morning skin ritual, and having applied my Rationale Superfluid tint, I brush up my brows, and apply the Hourglass clear brow gel,' Deborah told the publication. She gets rid of her 'unwanted' eye brags with the Bare Minerals Bare Skin concealer, applies a rose-coloured cheek tint and finally a pink-tinged matte lipstick by Estee Lauder to finish off her look (the 'Seduce' colour). 'No mascara for me, I am letting my lashes take a break, and I have really noticed a difference. It takes me under five minutes, but it makes me feel motivated and ready to tackle the day,' Deborah said. Deborah (pictured) said she hasn't been wearing mascara, and her eyelashes are much healthier for it. Instead, she brushes her brows up with clear gel and uses pink cheek tint When it comes to skincare, Deborah said she is strict in both the morning and at night. After cleansing, she will use a hydrating serum and moisturiser from Estee Lauder's Re-Nutriv's Ultra Diamond collection. She also uses SPF 50 by Rationale in the tinted Superfluid, as it offers both a little coverage as well as high sun protection. Deborah (pictured walking) is a big fan of exercising and alongside at-home spinning classes and at-home Pilates, she is making sure she goes for plenty of long walks EXERCISE AND SELF-CARE Exercise has been something Deborah said she was keen to continue during the lockdown. And while she isn't able to get to her typical Cycology Club spin studio and BodyLOVE Pilates in Woollahra, she has rented both a reformer machine and a spin bike - which mean she can practice at home. 'Every week, I am spinning to my favourite tunes and working on strength and tone using my reformer bed,' she said. 'Being among nature and getting fresh air is my self-care cure,' Deborah (pictured) said Deborah has been coupling this with long walks around Centennial Park - which is close to her home in Sydney. 'Being among nature and getting fresh air is my self-care cure,' she added. She also enjoys burning candles, sipping Spritzes and baking Donna Hay recipes while she has the downtime. The 32-year-old (pictured) has not been using as many heated styling products on her hair, instead using Jessica Sepel's JS Health Vitamins for Hair and Energy and hair masks HAIR Finally, the 32-year-old outlined how her hair has been 'loving' having a break from all of the heat styling, while she hangs out at home. Instead of regular blow dries and straightening treatments, Deborah said she has been using Olaplex to help her hair and an O&M protein masque to 'nourish my hair and combat my post-partum hair loss'. Deborah has also recently started trying the nutritionist Jessica Sepel's JS Health Vitamins for Hair and Energy, which cost $29.99 and claim to help to boost both. She also loves Vida Glow's marine collagen ($59.95), which has a string of high-profile fans including Rachael Finch and celebrity facialist Melanie Grant. Deborah said it is helping hugely with her hydration levels while she's breastfeeding. Deborah and her partner Ned had their baby son, Beau in February at Sydney's leading private hospital, Mater (the family pictured) Deborah and her partner Ned had their baby son, Beau in February. Beau is the first child for the couple, who met over a decade ago through family friends before realising their father's were old associates - Ned's being super-yacht broker and owner of Rose Bay Marina, Denis O'Neil. 'Beau Symond O'Neil. Our darling boy, we dreamed of you and now you're here, our hearts have never been so full,' Deborah wrote on Instagram at the time. The owner of high-end leisurewear label Mode Sportif thanked her 'birth team' for their help before leaving Mater Hospital in North Sydney on February 17, with her bundle of joy wrapped up in French luxury brand Tartine et Chocolat. A Haldimand duo is facing charges for continuing to operate a non-essential business amid COVID-19 after police busted an online cannabis business last week. Ontario Provincial Police from the cannabis task force and officers from Haldimand and west region units executed a warrant in Caledonia, May 7, related to an illegal online marijuana distributor. Police searched a residence on Thompson Road and a motor vehicle. Officers confiscated a quantity of cannabis, cannabis products and Canadian and U.S. currency. A man and woman, both 35, were charged with possession of cannabis unlawfully for the purpose of selling under the Cannabis Act, and fail to comply with an order made during a declared emergency for operating a non-essential business under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. Both are scheduled to appear in court in Cayuga at a later date. OPP said in a press release that they are continuing a strategy to stop the illegal sale of cannabis and dismantle organized crime groups. Anyone with information regarding this or any other incident is asked to call the OPP at 1-888-310-1122. Should you wish to remain anonymous, you may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or leave an anonymous online message at helpsolvecrime.com where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $2,000. New Delhi: A 33-year-old man allegedly strangled his wife to death at their house in south Delhi's Dakshinpuri following a heated argument. After committing the act, he surrendered himself before the police. The incident took place on Sunday (May 10) night, said police. The accused, Vijay Kumar, an autorickshaw driver by profession, told police that he and his wife had a heated discussion last night which resulted in a scuffling, during which he strangulated her. He surrendered himself at the AMbedkar Nagar police station at around 12:30 am. "On visiting his house, the woman's body was found lying on a bed. A strangulation mark was found on her neck," police said. The body has been preserved at the AIIMS mortuary and the accused was taken into custody. "We are absolutely astounded by the generosity and kindness of the Tyler Perry Studios staff. To do something this special for our caregivers and support staff makes this year's hospital week celebration extraordinary," said Lindsay Caulfield, Grady's Chief Experience Officer. "These meals will help remind Team Grady that they are loved and appreciated, and that we're all in this together." As Atlanta's top Level 1 trauma center, burn, and stroke center, Grady, like every hospital across the city, has been in the trenches in the battle against COVID-19. The health system is grateful for all the support received during this unprecedented time in our community. About Grady Health System Grady Health System is one of the largest safety net health systems in the nation. Grady consists of the 953-bed Grady Memorial Hospital, six neighborhood health centers, Crestview Health & Rehabilitation Center, and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding, which is operated as a Children's affiliate. With its nationally acclaimed emergency services, Grady is Atlanta's premier Level 1 trauma center the metro area's only nationally verified Level 1 center. Grady EMS serves as the 911 ambulance provider for the city of Atlanta, South Fulton County communities, and numerous counties across Georgia. It also operates the state's first Mobile Stroke Unit, taking cutting-edge pre-hospital care directly to patients. Grady's American Burn Association/American College of Surgeons verified Burn Center is one of only two in the state. And the Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center is a Joint Commission designated Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center. Other key services/distinctions include Grady's Regional Perinatal Center with its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Georgia's first Cancer Center for Excellence, The Avon Comprehensive Breast Center, the Georgia Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center, and the Ponce de Leon Center - one of the top HIV/AIDS outpatient clinics in the country. Grady is one of an elite group of hospitals to earn the Baby-Friendly USA international recognition as a Baby-Friendly Designated birth facility. Grady has earned the prestigious Stage 7 on the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model - Georgia's first adult acute care hospital to earn the highest rating for improving patient care and safety through health information technology. SOURCE Grady Health System Related Links http://www.gradyhealth.org The formation of Dongfeng-41 nuclear missiles takes part in a military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 1, 2019. (Xinhuanet/Cheng Min) The US has recently been strengthening its military presence around China by constantly sending military vessels to waters off the Xisha islands, intensively dispatching bombers into the Taiwan Strait, and claiming to deploy land-based cruise missiles in the Asia-Pacific to counter "missile threats" from China. Against this backdrop, voices calling for China to enhance nuclear capabilities have begun to emerge. The military expert Song Zhongping said on May 8 that China should keep building "small and lean" strategic nuclear forces and appropriately increase the number of nuclear weapons to meet its actual need fornational security. Yang Chengjun, an expert on nuclear arms control, held that China is fully capable of safeguarding its nuclear security despite its much smaller nuclear arsenal than other nuclear powers. It is highly necessary for China to develop new strategic nuclear weapons for two reasons. First, the world is currently unsafe. The US is making new-generation nuclear weapons that pose grave threats to China; second, China's nuclear weapons have to be updated and upgraded constantly, said Song Zhongping in an interview with the Global Times, adding that "we are maintaining a small and lean nuclear force both in terms of strategy and quantity", which is critical for China to forge a strategic nuclear force with its characteristics. Nuclear weapons today tend to be downsized with low pollution and diverse launching pads, according to Yang Chengjun, a Chinese expert on nuclear strategy and arms control. He said nuclear weapons before the 1990s could usually have a yield equivalent to millions or tens of millions of TNT, causing massive damages on an extensive scale, so the use of themmay incurcondemnation from the international community for the potential immense collateral damages they caused. "If the capital city or a major city of a country is targeted by such nuclear weapons, the target would be razed to the ground, a cost no country could afford," said Yang, adding that as far as nuclear weapon development is concerned, major nuclear powers including the US and Russia have successfully developed tactical weapons such as neutron bomb and depleted uranium bomb. "Although they haven't been tested in a real war, the sense of hostility amongst those countries is getting stronger because they believe tactical nuclear weapons can be used anytime." When the US is using small-equivalent nuclear weapons as the main strike force to deter China, China should develop more advanced nuclear weapons in response, said Song, who pointed out that we should not only improve the quality, but also increase the quantity to effectively curb America's attempt to conduct nuclear strike and deterrence against China. "We have no intention of engaging in a nuclear arms race with the US, but increasing the scale of our nuclear arsenal to an appropriate level meets the actual need for China's national security as we are faced with ever more threats, especially from the US," he added. Regarding the number of nuclear weapons, Yang Chengjun held a more prudent view. He told the reporter that China's nuclear strategy is "being concise and effective". "Being concise means our nuclear arsenal and troops are small in scale, while being effective means on the premise of not being the first one to use such weapons, we are able to withstand the first wave of a nuclear strike from the enemy and launch effective counterattacks." If the US were to launch nuclear strikes against China, we didnt need more nuclear weapons than it because its enough as long as our existing ones can defeat it in the counter strikes. Yang especially emphasized the meaning of "effectiveness" of nuclear weapons. "What should we do to achieve 'effective'? How many nuclear weapons do we need? What kind of defense penetration capability, destructive effects, and strike precision do we need to be effective? This is a big topic that covers too many connotations." A core idea of China's nuclear policy is that we will never compete with nuclear powers in quantity and scale. "We have the third-largest number of nuclear warheads, but there is no problem with our production capacity and potential." Speaking of the quality of China's nuclear weapons, Song believed they are not as good as those in the US and Russia, as a result, it is necessary for China to enhance the quality and quantity of its nuclear arsenal and appropriately increase nuclear forces. But Yang said China's nuclear weapons have "no quality problem". "Our nuclear weapons have no problem regarding the capability of survival, nuclear strike resistance, and defense penetration. If any country dares to even think of using nuclear weapons against China, we have full confidence to launch nuclear retaliation that will wipe it off the ground." "China never hopes a nuclear war to happen in human history," said Yang, "we don't invite trouble, but we are not afraid of it when trouble comes our way." China has always attached great importance to nuclear capability development and organized rigorous research, demonstration, and calculation of our nuclear forces in terms of quantity and scale. A wide array of factors is taken into consideration in this process, including quantity, survival capability, probability of successful launch and detonation, defense penetration capability, service life, carrier, basic power unit, production capacity, and development potential. According to Yang, China's nuclear thoughts, policies, and strategy, as well as the purpose of nuclear weapon development and the principle of its use are clear and definite. We have much fewer nuclear weapons than nuclear powers, but they are very effective and China has the means and capability to safeguard its nuclear security. Disclaimer: This article is originally published on huanqiu.com and translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn. The South African State Theatre (SAST) has announced that it would be streaming some of its past productions, which were recorded live, to keep theatre enthusiasts entertained during the current Covid-19 lockdown. The theatre has also indicated that it would look into adding more productions to the schedule after the lockdown is lifted. This is one of the various plans and social-economic relief measures being rolled out by the theatre. SASTs artistic director Aubrey Sekhabi is excited to bring South African theatre online. Since 2014, we have been experimenting with bringing theatre online and on television. This led to my presentation at the African Union in Addis Ababa where I intended to invite artists in the continent to be part of this initiative. With the lockdown, we are presented with an opportunity to experiment on this format. We are ready to launch, whilst providing relief for our artists to earn income. We also intend to solidify the online platform as an alternative or secondary platform for our artistic offering, he says. Ladysmith Black Mambazo SAST will be launching Africa Month celebrations on 24 May 2020 with the streaming of never-seen-before performance by the multiple Grammy award-winning acapella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, alongside the Guinness Record-holder, Percy Maimela, Mamelodi-born Ncamisa Nqana and rounded off with Luthando Arts Academys soul-stirring Amawethu. Ladysmith Black Mambazo (KZN) is a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of isicathamiya and mbube. They became known internationally after singing with Paul Simon on his 1986 album called Graceland, and have won multiple awards, including five Grammy Awards, dedicating their fifth Grammy to the late former President Nelson Mandela. Formed by the late legendary Joseph Shabalala in 1960, Ladysmith Black Mambazo became one of South Africa's most prolific recording artists, with their releases receiving gold and platinum disc honours. The group became a mobile academy of South African cultural heritage through their African indigenous isicathamiya music. Percy Maimela (MP) who holds the Guinness World Record for producing the largest artwork using coffee granules is a 35-year-old self-taught visual artist and one of the stars to come out of the SASTs Incubator Programme. In 2018, he was selected to be part of the State Theatres Incubator Programme where he was given support and training for the mainstream arts space. After he claimed the record, Maimela was invited to exhibit again at SASTs annual Mzansi Fela Festival in 2019. After exiting the programme, Maimela continues exhibiting on some of the worlds big stages. Percy Maimela The launch bill proudly includes Pretorias own Ncamisa Nqana who is a jazz composer and vocalist from Mamelodi, east of Pretoria. In 2018, she was profiled in the State Theatres Incubator Programme where she launched her single called A Bird With Melodies, which is a jazz performance that includes spoken word, dance and poetry.Another production that will be featured during Africa Month is the dance piece known as Amawethu, which was conceived, choreographed, and directed by award-winning dancer and choreographer Luyanda Sidiya (2015 Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance), assisted by Phumlani Nyanga (Vaal, GP). The production is a presentation offered in collaboration with Luthando Arts Academy. It was recorded live at SAST in July last year after it returned from being featured in the Main Programme of the 2019 National Arts Festival in Makhanda. Amawethu tells a human story that seeks to reclaim who we are as a people from our cultures and customs and corrects the distortions that pre-date the African slave trade that led many to believe that African spirituality had a demonic, pagan, uncivilised, barbaric and godless origin. The work features dancers Tholakele Nkala, Steven Chauke, Phumlani Mndebele, Xolisile Bongwana, Julia Burnham, Kwazi Madlala, Thulisile Binda and Sibonele Mchunu. Amawethu - Sanmari Marais Sidiya comments on the motive behind the work: "Amawethu aims to create a system for the black child to appreciate and learn more about who they are. We seek to enact the wealth of character long lost in our customs and our way of life. I have a great fascination with the beauty of who and what we are. I am also inspired by people who came before me." Through its approach in dealing with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the industry, the theatre found this an opportune time to launch a digital platform. This is in addition to May being designated Africa Month, which is perfectly aligned to its vision of being The Theatre of Africa. As we navigate the possibilities and opportunities of live recording without audiences, we cannot wait to share with you our envisioned live concerts anchored by seasoned South African artists as well as offerings from Mmapula Setlhako and Hanna Van Tonder. In the same breath, we hope to be able to cover the set works so that we partner with the learners and the Department of Basic Education to bring these to them, to mitigate the interrupted learning process. As we launch our digital platform to continue bringing you the very best in South African performing arts, we are eager and look forward to seeing you in our theatres again very soon, concludes Sekhabi. A full schedule with broadcast dates and times will be released in the coming days on the theatres social media networks. All content will be loaded on the South African State Theatres YouTube channel. Advertisement Ahmaud Arbery's autopsy has revealed the 25-year-old was killed by two close-range gunshot wounds to the chest and that he was also shot in the hand when he was chased down and shot by a white father and son vigilante duo in Brunswick, Georgia, in February. TMZ obtained Ahmaud's autopsy on Monday. The 25-year-old had no drugs or alcohol in his system, and was carrying two tan bandannas which were soaked with blood. It has taken nearly three months and three different prosecutors for Travis and Gregory McMichael to be arrested and charged with his killing. Georgia's Attorney General is now investigating the handling of the case amid claims that prosecutors passed it off to protect 64-year-old Gregory, a former police detective who recently worked in the local district attorney's office. The case has sparked outrage around the world and some say it is proof of persistent racism in the South. Over the weekend, people ran to honor what would have been Ahmaud's 26th birthday and armed protesters took to the street. The McMichaels' defense has been that they were making a citizen's arrest after suspecting Ahmaud of breaking into and robbing homes in their neighborhood. They said Travis, 34, then exercised his stand your ground right by shooting Ahmaud, claiming the unarmed 25-year-old reached for his gun. On Monday, DoJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said: 'The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia have been supporting and will continue fully to support and participate in the state investigation. We are assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crimes charges are appropriate,' Kupec said in a statement.' The McMichaels have both been charged by the state of Georgia with murder and aggravated assault which carry maximum prison sentences of life. Georgia has no hate crimes as a state but the federal charge carries a maximum prison sentence of life when the hate crime results in death. A federal prosecution would supersede a state case and could negate it if the defendants were found guilty and the need for a state prosecution reduced. It comes as new surveillance video Arbery walking into a construction site on the day of his death, looking around the property and then leaving empty handed the day he was gunned down emerged. But the new video obtained by News4Jax appears to undermine their shaky burglary suspect claim. It shows Ahmaud walking into an under-construction house in Brunswick, looking around and then leaving without taking anything. In the two months before Ahmaud's killing, there were no reports of suspected burglaries in the area, and the owner of the under-construction property has spoken out to say they have no links to the McMichaels whatsoever. Scroll down for video Ahmaud Arbery inside the under-construction home on February 23, the day he was killed. He walked into the house then left empty handed and was later shot dead by Travis McMichael who had chased him with his father, Gregory, a former cop Ahmaud had been out jogging when he came across the home. His family says the footage shows he was not a burglar and that he would have been guilty of trespassing at most Another video shows Ahmaud entering the property. It was taken on a surveillance camera on a different home Gregory (left) and Travis McMichael (right) have both been charged with murder and aggravated assault over the February 23 shooting of Ahmaud Arbery Arbery's death has sparked nationwide outrage. A rally for the slain jogger was held Friday - the day he would have celebrated his 26th birthday The video was shared by the property owner who said they had never had any contact with the McMichaels let alone did they call for them to investigate any break-ins. The attorney representing Ahmaud's family says the video shows that at most, Ahmaud would have been guilty of trespassing. It's unclear what time the video on the construction site was taken. According to the police report into his death, Ahmaud was shot dead at 1.46pm. A time stamp on a different surveillance camera video says he entered the construction site at 2.13pm. It's possible that camera was inaccurately running an hour fast. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says it is now investigating the video along with the cellphone footage of Ahmaud's killing that went viral. The property is owned by Larry English. Over the weekend, he released a statement through an attorney to say he neither called for the McMichaels to go after Ahmaud, nor did he condone in any way how they killed him. Ahmaud was killed while out jogging on February 23. It is unclear if he had come from his mother's house, which is just under two miles from where the shooting unfolded. The McMichaels said they saw him 'hauling a**' down Satilla Drive and that he'd been seen on surveillance cameras inside homes near them but it's unclear which homes they were referring to. He was shot and killed at an intersection not far from the houses 'First, and most important, the English family -- the homeowners -- want Ahmaud Arbery's parents to know that they are very sorry for the loss of their son and they are praying for them. TIMELINE OF BOTCHED HANDLING OF THE CASE February 23: Ahmaud Arbery is shot dead in the street in Brunswick, Georgia. Gregory and Travis McMichael had gone out in their car with guns to chase him because they mistook him for a burglar. When they caught up to him, Travis got out of the car. Jackie Johnson recused herself because McMichael used to work in her office Greg says they told Arbery that they wanted to talk to him and that he attacked Travis. A struggle ensued and Travis fired his gun twice, killing Ahmaud, 25. Late February - First prosecutor recuses herself Jackie Johnson, the Brunswick District Attorney, stepped down from the case because Gregory used to work in her office as an investigator. Mid-April - Second prosecutor says he won't press charges, then recuses himself George Barnhill said Ahmaud initiated the fight George Barnhill was given the case. He at first said he did not think it merited charges because the McMichaels were acting lawfully by trying to carry out a citizen's arrest, which is legal in Georgia. He also said that the video 'shows' Arbery reaching for Travis' gun. Barnhill recused himself because his son, also called George Barnhill, works in the office where McMichael used to The first shot is fired however when the pair are out of frame. When the camera panned back to them, they were struggling again to the side of the vehicle. Barnhill said Travis was standing his ground by firing three shots which hit Arbery. He later had to recuse himself after it emerged that his son works in the Brunswick District Attorney's Office, where Gregory served. May 5 - Third prosecutor passes it on to grand jury Tom Durden is the third prosecutor to have the case come across his desk. He said that his office would approach it without prior prejudice. This week, he announced that he would not make a decision on whether or not to charge, and that he wants to convene a grand jury to take it on. May 7 - Georgia Bureau of Investigation files charges The GBI announced that it was bringing charges of murder and aggravated assault against the Gregory and Travis on May 7. Advertisement 'Second, it is crucial to understand that the English family -- the homeowners -- were not part of what the McMichaels did. 'The first accounts suggested a link between the McMichaels and the homeowners, but there is none. 'The English family had no relationship with the McMichaels and did not even know what had occurred until after Mr. Arbery's death was reported to them. 'After seeing Mr. Arbery's photo in news reports, Larry English did not even think Mr. Arbery was the person that appears in this video. 'Even if it had been, however, Mr. English would never have sought a vigilante response, much less one resulting in a tragic death,' his attorney, Elizabeth Graddy, told First Coast News. Ahmaud's parents' lawyer confirmed that it is him in the video. 'This video is consistent with the evidence already known to us. 'Ahmaud Arbery was out for a jog. He stopped by a property under construction where he engaged in no illegal activity and remained for only a brief period. 'Ahmaud did not take anything from the construction site. He did not cause any damage to the property,' Lee Merritt said. Last week, after growing global outrage, the case was taken out of local prosecutors' hands to be investigated by the state. Gregory and Travis were both charged with murder and aggravated assault. Greg McMichael had investigated Arbery before when he worked as an investigator in the Brunswick DA's office. In a letter to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr recusing himself from the case, Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill said that his own son and Gregory 'both helped with the previous prosecution of (Ahmaud) Arbery'. Arbery had previously been sentenced to five years probation as a first offender on charges of carrying a weapon on campus and several counts of obstructing a law enforcement officer. According to the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he was also convicted of probation violation in 2018 after he was charged with shoplifting. Arbery had previously been sentenced to five years probation as a first offender on charges of carrying a weapon on campus and several counts of obstructing a law enforcement officer. According to the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he was also convicted of probation violation in 2018 after he was charged with shoplifting. Gregory, who retired from the DA's office in 2019, had not mentioned his involvement in the case to police. George E. Barnhill was the second DA to recuse himself in mid-April following pressure from Arbery's family. He claims he only learned of his son's link to the victim 'three or four weeks' ago. In his letter, Barnhill added that criminal charges against the McMichaels was unwarranted, citing the criminal history of Arbery's brother and cousin. Exclusive photos show the moment Gregory McMichael (pictured) and his son Travis McMichael were arrested at their home in Brunswick, Georgia, on Thursday An officer with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is seen leading 34-year-old Travis McMichael out of the home in handcuffs PICTURED: Black Georgia man, 20, is arrested for setting up fake Facebook page in support of Ahmaud Arbery's two killers and threatening protesters who paid their respects at the spot where the 25-year-old jogger was 'lynched' Rashawn Smith, 20, was arrested in Midway, Georgia, on Sunday after authorities alleged he created a fake Facebook account and used it to make a hoax threat against protesters demanding justice for murdered jogger Ahmaud Arbery Georgia state investigators announced on Sunday that they have arrested a 20-year-old man suspected of creating a fake Facebook account and using it to post a 'hoax' threat against protesters angry over the killing of unarmed black man 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Sunday said state police arrested Rashawn Smith and charged him with dissemination of information relating to terroristic acts. Smith allegedly created a fake Facebook page and used it to make threats against the protesters. He was taken into custody in Midway, a town about 50 miles north of Brunswick. Earlier in the day, the GBI said it had 'been made aware of a Facebook post that contains a threat to future protests related to Ahmaud Arbery'. It was not immediately clear if Smith has an attorney who could comment on the charge. Hundreds of people gathered alongside some 300 bikers in Brunswick on Saturday to honor Arbery. The bikers were seen kneeling at the spot where Arbery was fatally shot on February 23 by two white men who claim they were making a citizen's arrest as they suspected him of a neighborhood burglary. On Saturday bikers were seen kneeling at the spot where Arbery was fatally shot. One of the balloons left at the site reads 'Happy birthday'. Arbery would have turned 26 on Friday Hundreds of people alongside some 300 bikers gathered in Brunswick to honor Arbery on Saturday Some of the protesters held up signs which read 'Our lives matter too!' and 'Dear white people, when you don't call out racism you are upholding white supremacy by default!' Several of those in attendance near the Sidney Lanier Bridge wore face masks and t-shirts with the phrase I run with Maud in tribute to Arbery. The memorial ceremony on Saturday was held just a day after protesters gathered at the same site demanding justice for Arbery on what would have been his 26th birthday. Georgia's attorney general on Sunday asked the Department of Justice to investigate the handling of Arbery's killing. 'We are committed to a complete and transparent review of how the Ahmaud Arbery case was handled from the outset,' Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement. 'The family, the community and the state of Georgia deserve answers, and we will work with others in law enforcement at the state and federal level to find those answers.' Under Georgia law, someone who isn't a sworn police officer can arrest and detain another person only if a felony is committed in the presence of the arresting citizen. Georgia AG asks the US Justice Department to investigate Ahmaud Arbery's shooting as it's revealed top prosecutor who recused himself said slaying by two armed white men was 'justifiable homicide' George Barnhill, Sr (left), the top prosecutor for the Waycross Judicial Circuit, told police in February that the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery (right), 25, by two white men was a 'justifiable homicide' Georgia's attorney general on Sunday asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the handling of the investigation into the killing of Arbery. Arbery was killed on February 23 but no arrests were made until Thursday after national outrage over the case swelled last week when video surfaced that showed the shooting which was blasted as a 'lynching'. 'We are committed to a complete and transparent review of how the Ahmaud Arbery case was handled from the outset,' Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement. 'The family, the community and the state of Georgia deserve answers, and we will work with others in law enforcement at the state and federal level to find those answers.' Attorneys for Arbery's mother and father applauded Carr for reaching out to federal officials. 'We have requested the involvement of the DOJ since we first took this case,' attorneys S. Lee Merritt, Benjamin Crump and L. Chris Stewart said in a statement. 'There are far too many questions about how this case was handled and why it took 74 days for two of the killers to be arrested and charged in Mr. Arbery's death.' Last week, a Justice Department spokesman said the FBI is assisting in the investigation and the DOJ would assist if a federal crime is uncovered. It comes after it emerged the Georgia district attorney who recused himself from the case told investigators that the fatal shooting was a 'justifiable homicide' and that the father and son duo who killed Arbery should not be charged. George Barnhill, Sr, the top prosecutor for the Waycross Judicial Circuit, told police in Glynn County on February 24 the day after the shooting that there was insufficient evidence to charge Travis McMichael, 34, and his 64-year-old father, former police officer Greg McMichael. The Glynn County Police Department released a statement to The Brunswick News on Saturday saying Travis and Greg McMichael were brought in for questioning at around 3.30pm on February 23. Earlier this week, two Glynn County commissioners said that the current Brunswick District Attorney, Jackie Johnson, also blocked police from arresting the McMichaels because she was friends with Gregory McMichael. Officers investigating the scene of the fatal shooting on February 23 told Johnson's office that they had cause to arrest the father and son at the time but the DA shut them down. Gregory McMichael had worked as an investigator in her office until his retirement in 2019 causing Johnson to recuse herself from the case a few days after the shooting. 'She shut them down to protect her friend McMichael,' Glynn County Commissioner Allen Booker told The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali on Monday summoned New Delhis envoy to Kathmandu, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, and handed over to him a diplomatic note, formally objecting to the new strategic road India built to its disputed boundary with China. With the 80-kilometer-road India built from Dharchula in its Uttarakhand State to Lipulekh Pass near its disputed boundary with China triggered protests across the political spectrum of Nepal, Prime Minister K P Sharma Olis Government in Kathmandu too raised its pitch and lodged a formal protest with New Delhi through the diplomatic channel. Kathmandu has been crying foul ever since Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday had a video-conference from New Delhi to inaugurate the road from Ghatiabgarh in Dharchula and ends in Lipulekh Pass an India-China-Nepal tri-junction boundary point. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nepalese Government issued a statement in Kathmandu on Saturday, alleging that the road built by India went through the territory of Nepal and its construction ran against the understanding reached between the two nations that they would resolve the boundary dispute through negotiation. New Delhi rejected the contention of Nepal, asserting that the new road lay completely within the territory of India. With pressure mounting from within the ruling Nepal Communist Party, Olis Government did not relent and summoned Indias ambassador to Nepal to its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Minister Hon. @PradeepgyawaliK conveyed Government of Nepal's position on boundary issues to Ambassador of India to Nepal H.E. Mr. Vinay Mohan Kwatra at a meeting held at MoFA today and handed over a diplomatic note in this regard, the MoFA of the Nepalese Government posted on Twitter. The NCP on Sunday issued a statement accusing India of undermining the sovereignty of Nepal by unilaterally building the road through its territory. The statement was signed by both Oli and former Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a.k.a. Prachanda. Oli and Prachanda jointly chair the ruling party of Nepal. New Delhi suspects that China is nudging Nepal to protest against the road built by India and trying to whip up anti-India sentiment in Nepal. India and China have been jockeying for influence in Nepal. A recent squabble within the ruling Nepal Communist Party opened a new opportunity for Beijing not only to expand but also to put on display its influence in the political circles in Kathmandu. Though the rift between the partys two chairpersons Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and legendary Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal came to the fore earlier this month, Chinas envoy to Nepal, Hou Yanqi, had a series of meetings with both the leaders as well as other key politicians in the ruling dispensation to avert a flashpoint. Kathmandu had earlier lodged a protest with both New Delhi and Beijing in 2015, when India and China had agreed to include Lipulekh Pass as a bilateral trade route without the consent of Nepal. Its hard being born Canadian if your ambition is to be a real-life version of movie tough guy Jean-Claude Van Damme (Blood Sport, Death Warrant, Universal Soldier, Last Action Hero). The same goes for being Belgian, of course, but Van Damme just wanted to be in the movies. Jordan Goudreau wanted the real thing, and joining the Canadian army reserves while studying computer science at the University of Calgary didnt quite do it for him. So he moved to the United States and joined the Green Berets, which provides a much better mix of derring-do, martial arts and exotic foreigners to kill. Goudreau was not a fake. He did several tours in Afghanistan and Iraq killing real people, and by all accounts was a brave and competent soldier. But action heroes have early expiry dates. At 60, Jean-Claude Van Damme is doing self-mocking tough-guy commercials for Coors Light. Goudreaus luck ran out in 2016, when he was injured in a parachute accident and had to retire from his beloved Special Forces at the age of 40. Nobody offered him any beer commercials, and his great idea to sell the services of military veterans to schools to stop mass shooters parents would pay a subscription of $8.99 a month didnt fly. So he ended up doing what washed-up American action heroes always do: he went to Latin America (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Magnificent Seven, etc.) Specifically, he went to Colombia. Having set up a security company called Silvercorp in Florida, he got in touch with the Venezuelan congressional leader who claims to be the legitimate president, Juan Guaido, offering to overthrow Nicolas Maduro (who actually lives in the presidential palace). This would be done in the time-honoured way, by recruiting and training exiles and mercenaries who would go in, attack the regime and trigger a mass uprising. (Think the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, only successful.) And for about two weeks last October, Guaido was tempted. He even signed a $213-million contract with Goudreaus Silvercorp for unspecified general services, but he cancelled the contract in early November. Maybe Guaido is not quite as gullible as he seems, or maybe he just remembered that hiring foreigners to overthrow your countrys government, even in the name of democracy, is a bad look. Anyway, that was the end of the grand plan, but Goudreau didnt quit. The U.S. government had recently declared Maduro a narcoterrorist (whatever that is), and put a $15-million price on the Venezuelan dictators head. So Goudreaus Plan B was to send in a crack team (theyre always called crack teams) to capture Maduro, airlift him out of the country and collect the reward. By now Venezuelas intelligence service and practically everybody else knew about Goudreaus plan. Associated Press even ran a story about it on May 1, quoting associates of Goudreau as saying he was in way over his head. But before we get to the end of the story, a brief pause to contemplate the equally spectacular incompetence of the other side. By late March the Venezuelan government was on hair-trigger alert for Goudreaus planned raid, and on the 30th the Venezuelan navy spotted a Canadian-owned cruise-ship, the RCGS Resolute, stopped off the Venezuelan island of Tortuga. So the navy patrol ship Naiguata ordered the ship to proceed to port for inspection. Resolute didnt move, because it couldnt. It had already suffered some mechanical failure and put out a warning that it was not under command. But the Venezuelans thought it was stalling, and after firing some shots at or near the cruise-ship it started ramming it repeatedly on the starboard bow, apparently trying to force it around in the right direction. Now, Naiguata was not some little speedboat; it was a 90-metre steel ship with a crew of 44 and a helicopter on the aft deck. But Resolute has four times the displacement and its hull is ice-strengthened for cruising in polar waters. Ramming it was like running at a brick wall again and again with your head, hoping to make an impression. Eventually, the Naiguata just sank. Another ship picked up its crew, and eventually Resolute got underway again. Its now parked in Curacao, and no, there werent any mercenaries aboard. No passengers of any kind, in fact. And finally, the tragicomic end. A few dozen volunteers and mercenaries tried to land on the Venezuelan coast near Caracas a week ago. Six were killed, all the rest were arrested. Goudreau would have been there too He would have 100 per cent gone out in a blaze of gunfire because thats who he is, said a friend but he couldnt leave Florida because of coronavirus travel restrictions. Donald Trump denies any official U.S. involvement, and for once I almost believe him. Flint company produces and donates much-needed antibacterial wipes for care homes and hospices in north east Wales This article is old - Published: Monday, May 11th, 2020 Charities and healthcare bodies across North East Wales are benefitting from antibacterial wet wipes thanks to key workers at a Flint manufacturer. Staff at Nice-Pak International have launched a new product in just two weeks and are donating packs along with their Sani Hands antibacterial hand wipes to hospices, NHS bodies, Flintshire housing and care homes to help them in the fight against COVID-19. Donations have been made to care homes including Rhiwlas Care Home, Bod Hyfryd Care Home (both Flint), Llys Medig Care Home (Denbigh), Hafod y Green (Trefnant) and Fern Lodge (Chester). Nice-Pak employees also delivered packs to Flintshire housing, Hope House Hospice, Nightingale House Hospice, Wrexham NHS Command Centre, Flintshire health and social care workers and residents at Flint tower blocks. The contribution comes after an increase in demand for hygiene products due to the coronavirus, in particular antibacterial wipes used both in and out of the home. Deborah Thatcher, HR director at Nice-Pak, said: We received numerous requests from colleagues and external healthcare organisations for donations to the community. As a result, our teams worked incredibly hard to produce a new antibacterial wipe in just two weeks and donated thousands of packs around the region. Developing and manufacturing a new product can take months, so to complete it in 14 days is a record for the business and reflects the passion of our people to help our communities. We are really pleased to be able to offer our help during this crisis and hope they play a role in keeping people safe. One of the beneficiaries, Tracy Livingstone, director of nursing and patient services at Nightingale House in Wrexham, said: In these unprecedented times it is humbling for the team at the hospice to have this fantastic support of our work. Knowing that the team at Nice-Pak are helping us in looking after the patients and families in our care as well as our staff members means a great deal to us. John Roberts owner of the Llys Meddig Care Home in Denbigh said: The much-needed wipes will be of significant use to our caring team of nurses, support workers, kitchen and housekeeping staff. They will enable them to feel safe on shift when wanting to apply a quick method of protection in-between hand washing procedures. Susie Lunt, senior manager of integrated services, lead adults at Flintshire County Council, said: Nice-Paks kind donation of PPE is being allocated in a co-ordinated approach to health and social care workers across Flintshire who continue to support our older and vulnerable residents. Nice-Pak International is the worlds largest wet wipe manufacturer It produces wet wipes on behalf of global brands and retailers, and its products include baby wipes, cosmetic wipes, moist toilet tissue and household cleaning wipes. In Europe, Nice-Pak has been established for more than 30 years and employs 900 people across three factories in Flint, Wigan and Germany. A sign notifies customers of no cash payments as a customer pays with a credit card at a shop in Schoeneberg district, in Berlin, Germany. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) The inhabitants of Europes biggest economy have long been attached to hard cash, preferring to use it for all but the largest purchases. Germanys aversion to card payments has often frustrated tourists, who can find themselves in a predicament when a restaurant doesnt accept cards, or thirsty because they dont have cash for a drink from a corner store. Germanys fondness for cash is to a large extent rooted in its traumatic past century and multiple currency collapses. For those who lived in East Germany (German Democratic Republic), from 1949-1990, the surveillance state stoked mistrust and created a deep attachment to the anonymity that cash affords. The country has slowly been catching up with its neighbours in terms of adopting cards to pay in supermarkets and other stores, and now the spread of the deadly coronavirus has hit fast-forward on what may prove to be a permanent shift away from cash. As the pandemic spread, handling euros suddenly felt grubby and potentially deadly, and many smaller businesses have put up signs asking to paid via card for the first time. In a survey of 1,475 people aged between 16 and 69, payment industry organisation Initiative Deutsche Zahlungssysteme found that 41% of them used their debit cards more often between the end of March and mid-April than before the crisis; 57% if you include credit card payments. The majority of the card users said they did so for hygiene reasons, and out of respect for shopkeepers safety. According to the German Banking Industry Committee, more than more than half of the card payments from the end of March have been contactless, compared to only 35% in December. A very sudden wake-up call A sign notifies customers of no cash payments at Jones ice cream shop in Berlin's Schoeneberg district during the coronavirus crisis. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) Alexander von Schirmeister, executive vice president for Europe at electronic payments company SumUp, told Yahoo Finance UK that he believes the WHOs recommendation to transact with cards rather than cash is just a very sudden wake-up call in a market such as Germany, for both consumers and merchants. Story continues London-headquartered SumUp sells card readers and connected services mainly to smaller businesses, and charges fees on card-reader transactions. Von Schirmeister says that the businesses that were able to adapt quickly to cashless payments, for example by setting up online card payments or readers at takeaway points, found themselves more resilient. Food and grocery clients proved particularly fast to adapt once the lockdown happened, SumUp found. In Germany, we saw up to a 20% lift in card transactions [in one week] and we dont think that people are suddenly buying 20% more food, it is because the share of cash in those transactions is going down and people are replacing what used to be a cash transaction with a card transaction. SumUp also saw a total increase of 40% more card transactions by newsstands during the four-week lockdown period, as well as a 17% increase at outdoor markets. Its a chicken and egg question, where it could be consumers are coming in and saying I dont carry cash any more, and I want to transact with a card, and merchants increasingly noticing that in order for them to be able to respect social distancing rules, theyre better off having card acceptance, von Schirmeister said. Card payments outstripped cash in Germany for the first time in 2018, according to a report from the EHI Retail Institute in Cologne, with 209bn (182bn, $226bn) spent via cards versus 208bn in cash. However, more than three quarters of the 20 billion actual transactions made that year in shops were made with physical money. Pandemic provokes change A sign on a parking meter in Hanover, Germany asks customers to pay with debit or credit card instead of cash. (Peter Steffen/picture alliance via Getty Images) Gisela Bock, a retired professor of Modern History at the Free University of Berlin and long-time Berlin resident, said she has definitely used her card a lot more often since the COVID-19 outbreak. In my opinion, the pandemic crisis is currently playing a very large role in the change: At least for me, the question of this type of hygiene is very important although I don't know exactly to what extent hygiene is really promoted by card payment, Bock told Yahoo Finance UK. I would also like to pay smaller amounts by card, and these days shops are increasingly accommodating me. Bock has long preferred card payments over cash, which she attributes to spending many years of her career abroad. She points to her husband, also a retired university professor, as an opposite example, as he much prefers cash, as he says it allows him a better overview of his spending. For me, the overview is not as important as the greater convenience of the payment mode, Bock says. But I think I have to admit that I actually spend more or more spontaneous money than he does and don't always know what it was for! A European Central Bank (ECB) survey found that in 2016 Germans were carrying more cash in their wallets than any of the other 19 eurozone countries: an average of 103. At the other end of the scale, the French had on average 32 in their pockets and Portuguese people just 29. Bock for one will continue paying with cards in shops when the coronavirus pandemic is over, and as a historian, she has observed how habits can change. For that change to happen in Germany, though, she said it is crucial that the option of card payment is offered or that the ability to choose cash or card payment is equal. Cash still essential Once you start embedding a certain behavioural change, unless that behaviour change was painful or clumsy there is no reason for that to go back, says von Schirmeister. Yes, health considerations may have been a trigger, but hopefully we move on from health considerations and go back to the sheer fact that it is a better and more convenient way to pay. Fear of infection has forced Germans to dig out their debit cards, but the change will not happen overnight. The countrys central bank said that in its survey just 25% of around 1,000 respondents had changed their payment behaviour during the pandemic. "From the current snapshot, we can only see that, even when things get serious, for example in a crisis, cash is still a very popular means of payment for everyday use," Bundesbank board member Johannes Beermann told Deutsche Presse Agentur. "We cannot see any direct effects on the medium-term payment behaviour from the current situation." Beermann added that demand for banknotes and coins had increased at the start of the pandemic, before settling back down to the same levels as last year. READ MORE Coronavirus marks the real beginning of the end of cash Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK [May 11, 2020] Alibaba Group Will Announce March Quarter 2020 and Full Fiscal Year 2020 Results on May 22, 2020 Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA and HKEX: 9988, "Alibaba" or "Alibaba Group") today announced that it will report its unaudited financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 before the U.S. market opens on Friday, May 22, 2020, and will hold a conference call to discuss the financial results at 7:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (7:30 p.m. Hong Kong Time) the same day. Details of the conference call are as follows: International: +65 6713 5330 U.S.: +1 347 549 4094 U.K.: +44 203 713 5084 Hong Kong: +852 3018 8307 China Landline: 800 8700 532 China Mobile (News - Alert): 400 624 0407 Conference ID: 5870545 (English) Conference ID: 1575158 (simultaneous interpretation in Chinese) A live webcast of the earnings conference call can be accessed at http://www.alibabagroup.com/en/ir/earnings. An archived webcast will be available through the same link following the call. A replay of the conference call will be available for one week (dial-in number: +61 2 8199 0299; same conference ID as shown above). Please visit Alibaba Group's Investor Relations website at http://www.alibabagroup.com/en/ir/home on May 22, 2020 to view the earnings release and accompanying slides prior to the conference call. About Alibaba Group Alibaba Group's mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company aims to build the future infrastructure of commerce. It envisions that its customers will meet, work and live at Alibaba, and that it will be a good company that lasts for 102 years. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005299/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Balloons and confetti greeted year 3 students as they entered their classroom at Emu Plains Public School on Monday, enthusiastic to return to school grounds after five weeks of learning from home. But it wasn't the usual set-up: desks were arranged to allow for 1.5 metres between students, and teacher Kylie Hamersma supervised rather than taught lessons while students completed independent learning activities. Balloons greeted year 3 students who went back to school at Emu Plains Public school on Monday, as students worked on individual tables. Credit:Louise Kennerley Most parents and students abided by the state government's guidelines on the first day of its phased return to school plan, where 25 per cent of students attend school each day and complete one mode of remote learning. Twenty-six per cent of secondary school students and 39 per cent of primary school students worked from inside school gates on Monday, which included students who were rostered to attend school as well as children of essential workers. Ecuador's Amazon is slowly being destroyed by an oil spill that took away the safe drinking water, food sources, and homes from the indigenous people living inside the rainforest. The tribe members of the Ecuadorian Amazon are living in a nightmare after a massive oil spill polluted two major rivers where they get their water and most of their food from. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, they have nowhere to go in search of food and water. "We used to fish and hunt," a tribe member said. "The oil companies invaded out territories and scared the animals away. Now we can't fish either." Oil Spill The destructive oil spill was the result of a dramatic landslide that struck and ruptured three pipelines in the Orellana province near the Peruvian border on April 7. The collapsed pipelines belonged to the Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline System The burst pipes spewed over 15,000 barrels of crude into the nearby rivers. The disaster is linked to the collapse of the San Rafael waterfall. The once famous waterfall has now been reduced to a trickle due to an erosion that happened upstream of the waterfall. Carlos Mazabanda of AmazonWatch claims the spill might be the biggest spill they have ever seen, with prior spills possibly amounting up to 30,000 barrels of diesel. The families living near the river banks now lacked food to eat and water to drink. The massive spill displaced more than 27,000 indigenous people living near the Coca and Napo rivers. The indigenous communities have filed a lawsuit against the local government and the oil companies for the disaster the spill caused. They also said the aid provided was "not enough" and is seeking more measures to guarantee a supply of clean water, food, and access to healthcare services. The disaster, although unintentional, caused heavy damage in its wake. The communities are holding the government responsible for omitting vital information about the situation. Coronavirus The oil spill put the indigenous tribes at risk of getting infected with the deadly virus as they now have to travel to villages to buy food. In one of Ecuador's Amazon communities, fears of ethnocide surfaced as the virus ravaged through the nation, killing more than 1,600 people. The Siekopai tribe, who are living along the border between Ecuador and Peru, have reported 15 confirmed coronavirus cases in its community of 744 members. Two elderly leaders also succumbed to the respiratory disease, though they were not confirmed as carriers. A large number of the tribe have experienced COVID-19 related symptoms. They sought medical attention from a nearby health center where they were told they had "nasty flu." After the death of the leaders, they asked the government for help in barricading their community and testing the inhabitants. The Ecuadorian government, however, did not respond. The members fled to the heart of the jungle in hopes of avoiding the infection. Those who stayed behind are turning to diluted medicines to combat respiratory problems. Other indigenous groups in the Amazon have also reported cases of the virus. They, like the Siekopai tribe, were also neglected by the government. They submitted a formal complaint to the United Nations, where they claimed their country left them to fend for themselves. Catch up on the latest news in Latin America: Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, the Madhya Pradesh Police on Monday launched a special initiative enabling people to file FIRs from their homes instead of visiting police stations. The "FIR Aapke Dwar" (FIR at your doorstep) is a pilot project under which a complainant is supposed to dial police emergency number 100 to lodge an FIR. "This scheme will prove to be a boon for people of the state as it will resolve their problems at their doorstep only and they need not have to come to police stations," said state Home Minister Narottam Mishra. Initially, the scheme will be implemented in a police station area under 11 divisions (both urban and rural) of the state and also under one police station in Datia. The scheme will cover a total of 23 police station areas, he said. Explaining the procedure, Mishra said once a complainant dials 100, police personnel will reach his/her residence to get the FIR registered. The home minister also launched "Dial-112" scheme under which facilities of ambulance, police and fire services will be made available to the caller immediately across the state. Director General of Police (DGP) Vivek Jouhri said on the occasion that trained head constables are deployed for the' FIR at the doorstep' scheme. "The scheme will continue as a pilot project till August 31, after which its results will be analysed for expanding its area of implementation," the DGP said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) representing India on Monday opened the five-day extradition trial of diamantaire Nirav Modi by setting out details of financial fraud perpetrated by him and his companies through a Mumbai branch of the Punjab National Bank. Modi, 49, allegedly indulged in lies, threats and bribery, the CPS lawyer, Helen Malcolm, told district judge Samuel Mark Goozee in the Westminster Magistrates Court. Lodged in the Wandsworth prison since arrest in March 2019, Modi appeared in the trial via videolink. India has submitted a cache of documents to substantiate its request for Modis extradition to face charges for fraud amounting to over Rs 11,300 crore. Malcolm mentioned names of PNB officials while setting out the charges. The court was told that loans and credit were obtained by Modi and his companies fraudulently and when the fraud was discovered, Modi allegedly began a campaign to intimidate witnesses. Mobile phones and a server were destroyed, she said. Modi is now the subject of two extradition requests; one processed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the other by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The CBI case relates to large-scale fraud upon PNB, through the fraudulent obtaining of Letters of Understanding (LOUs/loan agreements); the ED case relates to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. The second extradition request was made on the basis of two additional offences as part of the CBI case. It was certified by home secretary Priti Patel on February 20 as required under the 1993 India-UK extradition treaty. The additional offences relate to allegations that Modi interfered with the CBI investigation by causing disappearance of evidence and intimidating witnesses (criminal intimidation to cause death). They have not been joined to the CBI case, but will be dealt with at a separate later hearing likely in July, the CPS said. Despite offering to raise the bail security amount to 4 million pounds, UK courts have refused Modi bail on the ground that he posed a flight risk and had the means to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence. Under constant attack from the BJP for "mishandling" the COVID-19 crisis in West Bengal, the TMC said it has decided to launch a strong counter- attack against the saffron party by reeling out data and videos to highlight "dismal performance" of the BJP-ruled Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in tackling the pandemic. Attacking the BJP's strategy was planned during a series of online meetings of the TMC top leadership with a select group of MLAs and poll strategist Prashant Kishor since Sunday night, TMC sources said on Monday. It was decided to launch a social media campaign to counter the BJP's campaign of "lies" against the state government regarding the COVID-19 situation in West Bengal, they said. The TMC leadership and Kishor asked leaders to counter the BJP's lies by using data, videos and statistics of the saffron party's "dismal performance" in the BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, the sources said. On Sunday, the number of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh rose to 3,614 and in Gujarat the cases climbed to 8,195. After a close fight with the BJP in the general elections last year, the TMC hired Kishor to boost its chance in the 2021 state polls. The BJP had secured 18 out of a total of 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, only four less than the TMC, which won 22 in the 2019 general elections. The TMC leadership is all set to start the social media offensive to counter the BJP's "lies and fake news" from Wednesday, the sources said. "A mass campaign would be launched on social media, which will include use of video conferencing. Promotional videos, various schemes and short presentations bearing statistics will be circulated on social media platforms, including WhatsApp. "We would play recorded messages of local administration and MLAs, particularly in the non-containment zones of coronavirus on the steps taken by the state government to check spread of the contagion to nail the BJP's lies," a senior TMC leader told PTI on condition of anonymity. The development comes in the backdrop of the Bharatiya Janata Party recently launching a social media campaign with #BhoyPeyechheMamata, (Mamata is scared) to highlight the "state's dismal performance in handling the COVID-19 situation and absence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the last few days from the scene". The Trinamool Congress has responded by using #BhatBokcheBJP (the BJP is blabbering baseless allegations). "We have been told by the leadership to stay away from the state-run ration distribution system and just ensure that no one is deprived of the free ration given by the state government," the TMC MLA said. The TMC government in West Bengal and the BJP-led Union government have locked horns since the beginning of the pandemic, with the Centre accusing the state government over its COVID-19 response and enforcement of the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of the disease. The Trinamool Congress has dubbed the allegations as "baseless and politically motivated". The war of words between the two escalated after the Centre sent two teams from Delhi to assess the COVID-19 situation in the state. The TMC government had strongly protested their arrival without consulting them beforehand. More recently, a letter from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last Saturday, charging the state of not allowing the trains to ferry native migrants to their home, served as another strong flashpoint between the two political adversaries. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) SHELTON Social media exploded with anger over the weekend when word broke that Ruth Parkins, the former Planning and Zoning Commission chair ousted by voters in 2017, is returning to the commission. Parkins will be filling the vacancy left by the resignation of commission Vice Chair Anthony Pogoda, a Republican. The remaining Republican commissioners Chair Virginia Harger, Mark Widomski and Charles Kelly caucused Saturday and tapped Parkins by a 2-1 vote, with Widomski opposed. This selection is a slap in the face to every resident of Shelton and the democratic system, said Widomski. She could not win through the democratic process, so instead the will of the people is rejected, and she is brought in through a back door. Widomski was referring to Parkins losing in elections for state representative, Planning and Zoning and, this past November, for a seat on the Board of Education. I received a call from the P&Z chair asking if I would accept the appointment to the P&Z Commission to fill a vacant seat, and I accepted the position, said Parkins. It is a position for which I am well qualified, and I welcome the opportunity to serve. The most vocal opposition has come from organizers of the Save Our Shelton group, which formed when the Towne Center at Shelter Ridge proposal first appeared before the Planning and Zoning Commission, with Parkins as its chair. I guess if you can't win the last three elections, the mayor can still find a way to use you to screw the citizens and take back control of building in Shelton, states the Save Our Shelton Facebook post. Now the developers will come in droves with ridiculous proposals that will get passed. While I have been made aware of the social media postings, all I can say is that I find it sad that individuals can harbor such hatred for others, especially during such a difficult time, said Parkins. I believe my record speaks for itself for those who know, or care to know, how I voted during the 10 years I served on the commission - a record that goes well beyond the decision of one project. Harger called the appointment of Parkins a very practical action, which permits the commission to seamlessly continue operating. I feel we acted in the best interests of the citizens of Shelton, said Harger, adding that Mayor Mark Lauretti had no say in the commissioners decision to appoint Parkins, as was charged on social media Sunday. Ruth Parkins has 10 years of experience on the commission, eight as chair; extensive knowledge of our citys zoning, an exceptional educational and occupational background, and a great deal of community involvement with civic organizations, added Harger. Harger said, in Parkins, the commission has an individual with a background in planning and zoning who is knowledgeable of Sheltons zoning regulations, requirements and standards and who would be willing to serve the remainder of Pogodas term through November 2021. Seven potential candidates were considered, according to Harger, but two were not eligible one did not have the correct party affiliation as required by the charter; the second was thought to still be a city resident but was not. Harger said the trio discussed the remaining five candidates. After the discussion ended, one candidate was nominated but did not receive a majority vote. The nomination process resumed, and a second candidate, Parkins, was nominated and did receive the necessary votes. I was dead set against this selection when the remaining Republican commission members caucused, said Widomski of Parkins. A few token names were mentioned but more for show. It was a charade. I stand by my dissenting vote because I support the electorate of Shelton and respect their rejection of her being elected to office three times, added Widomski. Parkins was on the Charter Revision Commission but has resigned to take the P&Z seat. She was to be sworn in Tuesday. Kelly, during Tuesdays remote P&Z meeting, was unanimously elected P&Z vice chairman, replacing Pogoda in that role. Save Our Shelton remains focused on the Towne Center at Shelter Ridge plan, which calls for a development with 450 housing units in a nine-story apartment building, more than 300,000 square feet of retail space and more than 3,000 parking spaces along 121 acres at the intersection of Mill Street and Bridgeport Avenue. The plan was approved by the P&Z. The decision was appealed, but the court denied the appeal. The plan, however, remains in doubt as the Inland Wetlands Commission, at its meeting May 7, appeared to be leaning toward denying the application for having insufficient information. Save Our Shelton put the blame for its approval squarely on Parkins as commission chair and spent the 2017 election season campaigning against her. In the end, she lost her seat, with Widomski garnering Republican support. brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com Former foreign minister Julie Bishop is urging Australia to do more quiet diplomacy behind the scenes to convince China to sign up to an independent global inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus. Ms Bishop said Australia's push for a global review also needed to include other countries' handling of the global pandemic, including the United States and Europe, so it wasn't squarely aimed at the initial outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop said any inquiry needed to look at other countries' response to the pandemic. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Beijing has reacted angrily to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's push for a global review, threatening consumer boycotts and accusing Australia of being a "lapdog" for the United States. Speaking at a virtual Lowy Institute event alongside former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans, Ms Ms Bishop said Australia now needed to conduct "some very calm and considered diplomacy" behind the scenes, rather than in the media spotlight. Ms Bishop said she was "surprised" with China's reaction to Australia's push for virus probe, but the government needed to convince Beijing that the inquiry would also scrutinise other countries' response to the virus. Loading "China is a permanent member of the [United Nations] Security Council, China has a unique responsibility as a permanent member to maintain international peace and security, and without a doubt this pandemic is a threat to international security," she said. "China should in fact be leading an inquiry into how this pandemic began. "It is regrettable that [the call for an inquiry] has now descended into name calling and tensions and inflammatory rhetoric." Read the full story here. The United Kingdom has extended its coronavirus lockdown to June 1, says Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He says This is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week. Mr Johnson says some public places could re-open from July 1 but warned air passengers travelling to Britain faced quarantine measures. The government has come under pressure to outline its exit strategy from the lockdown. Britain has seen nearly 32,000 deaths in the outbreak the second-worst cumulative death toll behind the United States, and the worst in Europe. But despite passing the peak of the outbreak, Johnson said it would be madness to waste the sacrifices the public had made since the lockdown. Further details of what he stressed was a conditional plan would be outlined in parliament on Monday, he said. ---Daily Guide by Fady Noun The country sees it as an opportunity to demonstrate that it is truly the environment par excellence in which the cultural and ethical future of the Arab world and that of interreligious dialogue are elaborated. Beirut (AsiaNews) - After the Pope, the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew have accepted the invitation of the High Committee for Human Brotherhood to fast, pray and perform acts of mercy on Thursday 14 May for the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. These adhesions give this appeal an ecumenical, interreligious and global ethical dimension. Even non-believers, in fact, will be able to associate themselves with this moment of communion for all humanity. In Lebanon, 17 Christian and Muslim institutions have joined the appeal, like the Maronite Church. On Friday, the Maronite patriarch Bechara Rai sent a letter to the bishops and superiors general of his community, asking them to respond positively in their ceremonies to the approach already adopted by the grassroots organizations. If there are good universal reasons for accepting this appeal, Lebanon has a special one. Indeed, it responds to its historical vocation and the common appeal of the Pope and the great imam of al-Azhar challenges it to answer the call. Therefore, once again, Lebanon is offered the opportunity to demonstrate that it is truly the environment par excellence in which the cultural and ethical future of the Arab world and that of interreligious dialogue are elaborated. Of course, Abu Dhabi, where the High Committee was created (pictured) (February 2019), represented a decisive step in this significant Islamic-Christian process and Lebanon should be gladdened by this. Human fraternity should not be an empty word left to Spain's revolutionaries and lodges. It is also Christian and Muslim, and nowhere is this more clearly seen than in Lebanon. Some fear that the Church, in doing so, will be deceived by a conquering Islam in disguise, or that it will fall into a vague humanism in which the name of Jesus will be confused with those of other spiritual teachers, in a sort of "World Religion" where in the name of tolerance the truth of Christianity will be diluted. But it is enough to follow some morning homilies of Pope Francis to see with what intelligence of the Scriptures and with what constancy he proclaims the word and lordship of Jesus. This should reassure those who continue to believe that the prayers recited by Muslims and Christians, each according to his faith, but with a common intention, are only mutual deception or, at best, folklore. But, let us repeat it, there is yet another reason, political and cyclical, this time, to strongly adhere to the appeal of the High Committee. It is that it comes a week after May 7, a painful date in the memory of the Sunni community. However, civil unconsciousness is such in Lebanon that on Twitter that day some fueled the fire and sang the glory of this Hezbollah coup (2008), which militarily and politically humiliated the Sunni Way. In addition, the invitation came at a time when Saad Hariri, envious for leadership and filled with confessional sentiment, is relentless in his claim that the government of Hassane Diab, which has become his rival, is Hezbollah. In the face of the dynamic of division, hatred and latent violence that are emerging, it would have been irresponsible to let this rare opportunity pass to fight positively this national neglect close to disintegration and this closure in itself of a Sunni community that has been defensive and believed itself persecuted. It is an opportunity to strengthen Lebanon in its fraternal community, the same that made the masses tremble on October 17. It was necessary at all costs to preserve this result against the regressions towards sectarianism that sometimes manifests itself, either because of a retrograde religious utopia, of an ignorant "reconquista", as recently in the Chouf, or a coup d'etat, as in Lassa or in the Jbeil Jurd. We must therefore consider the prayer gathering of 14 May as an event, despite the sad political climate of the great Sunni institution Makassed, the educational and social backbone of Dar el-Fatwa, and of two main Shiite institutions, the Forum for the meeting of the religions of the Sheikh Ali Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah and the institutions of Imam Moussa Sadr. This is a ferment of fraternity that cannot be overlooked, even if as we know, the yeast activates first in the secret of hiding and in the silence of the dough. In the name of a "culture of encounter" which Lebanon ensures is its own, we must defend this "Thursday of unity in responsible prayer and spiritual solidarity" at all costs, in everyone's legitimate right to differentiate on the basis of their faith. After all, it is precisely at this level that all the Lebanese people find themselves. More countries could be exempted from the strict 14-day quarantine rules set to be imposed at the UK border from June - but the Government won't release the final list yet, its new exit plan document has revealed. France and Ireland are on the 'shortlist' but it is not known if other of the most popular destinations for millions of Britons each year such as the Spain, Germany and the United States will join them when the coronavirus lockdown eases. The exemptions will be handed out to provide 'continued security of supply into the UK' as well as not impeding work in national security or critical infrastructure, today's report said. French President Emmanuel Macron had threatened to enforce 'tit-for-tat' action against British travellers - but Mr Macron and Boris Johnson agreed a mutual exemption deal yesterday. All journeys within the common travel area - which covers the UK, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Ireland - will also be exempt from the quarantine rules. But critics have said excluding countries such as France and Ireland - who are both EU members - opens up travel to the rest of Europe for Britons, who would be able to travel onwards to the rest of the world from either. They would also be able to return by the same route. There is also growing confusion about whether the quarantine rules will apply to air travellers only - or also include those travelling by ferry or train via the Channel Tunnel. People travelling between Britain (left, Boris Johnson) and France (right of right, Emmanuel Macron) will not face the two-week quarantine - but the final list of exempted nations still remains a mystery Nearly all all arrivals into the UK from June - including returning Britons - would be quarantined for 14 days and face 1,000 fines or deportation if they do not. Pictured: Terminal 2 arrivals at London's Heathrow Airport What is the 14-day quarantine rule and who will it apply to? From June, all arrivals in the UK - including returning Britons - will be quarantined for 14 days and face 1,000 fines or deportation if they fail to do so. Which countries will it apply to? Boris Johnson yesterday phoned French President Emmanuel Macron and agreed a mutual exemption from the measures for holidaymakers from both countries. All journeys within the common travel area - which covers the UK, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Ireland - are be exempt from the measures. No other countries have been named. These exemptions will be in place to provide 'continued security of supply into the UK' as well as not impeding work in national security or critical infrastructure, today's report said. What will happen at the British border? People entering the UK must supply their contact details and details of their accommodation, and to self-isolate in their accommodation for 14 days, other than those on a short list of exemptions. Is this for foreign travellers only or British people returning home from holiday or living overseas? All arrivals including British nationals will be required to provide their contact information and self-isolate upon arrival, other than those on a short list of exemptions. Advertisement The regulations mean Britons hoping for a week in the sun at in a non-exempt country over the summer months will have to book three-weeks off work to ensure they can isolate on their return. From June, all arrivals in the UK - including returning Britons - will be quarantined for 14 days and face 1,000 fines or deportation if they fail to do so. All those arriving by plane will have to tell border guards the address they will be quarantining at - and if they don't have somewhere to they will be placed in taxpayer-funded accommodation for a fortnight. The deadly outbreak has ravaged both the global economy and especially the aviation sector, with airlines axing most flights in response to collapsing demand for air travel amid national lockdowns. 'Aviation is the lifeblood of this country's economy, and until we get Britain flying again, UK business will be stuck in third gear,' Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said today. Guidance released on Monday said all international arrivals not on a 'short list' of exemptions will be required to self-isolate for 14 days in their accommodation. They will be required to supply contact and accommodation information and will also be 'strongly advised' to download and use the NHS contact-tracing app on their phones. There will also be increased information about the UK's social distancing policies displayed at the border. The document also said that all journeys within the common travel area - which covers the UK, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Ireland - will be exempt from the measures. The UK Government yesterday confirmed it will force anyone flying into the country to remain in isolation for 14 days to stop new coronavirus infections. But the exception of France follows loopholes already included in the plan for the Republic of Ireland, travellers from which can enter the UK without restrictions despite UK travellers to Ireland being quarantined for 14 days. BA boss slams Boris Johnson's travel plans saying he's making things 'worse' for airlines The UK airline industry is up in arms over today's announcement. Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways' parent company, International Airlines Group, said there was 'nothing positive' in the Prime Minister's address and expressed his surprise. Giving evidence to the Commons Transport Select Committee about the demand for air travel, Mr Walsh said: 'The announcements yesterday of a 14-day period (for people) coming into the UK, it's definitely going to make it worse.' Unlike other measures announced on Monday, the self-isolation policy will not be put into place on Wednesday but will be introduced as soon as possible. More details and guidance will be set out in the near future, and both the measures and exemptions will be regularly reviewed, the document also said. Advertisement France had threatened at the weekend to enforce 'tit-for-tat' action against British travellers, meaning anyone from the UK would have been placed in quarantine on arrival in France. But Boris Johnson yesterday phoned French President Emmanuel Macron and agreed a mutual exemption from the measures for holidaymakers from both countries. The two leaders said in a joint statement: 'The Prime Minister and the President agreed to work together in taking forward appropriate border measures. 'This cooperation is particularly necessary for the management of our common border. 'No quarantine measures would apply to travellers coming from France at this stage. Any measures on either side would be taken in a concerted and reciprocal manner. 'A working group between the two Governments will be set up to ensure this consultation throughout the coming weeks.' UK airlines last night threatened to ground their fleets in response to the Government's quarantine scheme, which they said would effectively kill off any hopes of a resumption of international travel. The Airport Operators Association, representing Britain's airports, said it would have a 'devastating impact' on the industry. The travel industry reacted with horror at the news of the two-week quarantine, with one company boss warning it could 'kill it off completely'. Pictured: British Airways aircraft in Bournemouth Airport this week And when asked about the exemption, Metropolitan Police Federation Chairman Mr Marsh said: 'I really don't understand that decision because people will just start flying into France and then coming to us. 'If someone is coming in from America, they will just fly to France and then fly here. I just don't understand it.' Under the Government's plans, all people arriving at airports, ports and on Eurostar trains will be required to provide an address at which they will immediately self-isolate for 14 days to ensure they are coronavirus-free. The authorities will conduct spot checks, with punishments of up to 1,000 fines and deportation for those breaching quarantine. The plans mean that any UK traveller wanting to go on a fortnight's holiday to countries other than France will have be away from their place of work for four weeks as they will need to quarantine for two weeks on their return to Britain. Tim Alderslade, chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, whose members include British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Ryanair, easyJet and major tour operators TUI and Jet2, said: 'We all including Government need to adapt to the new normal but closing off air travel in this way is not the way to achieve this. 'Ministers are effectively telling people they can no longer travel for the foreseeable future and airlines will respond by grounding their operations.' Airlines are seeking an extension of the furloughing scheme to October plus 'holidays' on making Air Passenger Duty and other Government charges. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has appointed advisers in case it needs to go into administration after the Government turned it down for a 500million bailout. The airline is making 3,150 staff a third of its workforce redundant, and is still trying desperately to shore up its finances. Experts say this does not mean insolvency is inevitable but is something that they are legally obliged to line up. Virgin Atlantic's chief executive Shai Weiss yesterday told The Sunday Times he was '100 per cent certain' the airline can survive. Of the quarantine scheme proposed over the weekend, Karen Dee, from the Airport Operators Association, said: 'Quarantine would not only have a devastating impact on the UK aviation industry but also on the wider economy. 'If people have to quarantine for 14 days, they will be much less likely to want to travel, so there will be a dramatic impact on us at a time when we are already seeing passenger numbers decline by about 98 per cent.' Pilots' union Balpa questioned the 'scientific basis' for the proposed quarantine rules and warned the industry would be in a 'death spiral' without Government support. A Government spokesman said: 'The aviation sector is important to the UK economy and ministers are in regular communication with its senior representatives to discuss the challenges... and ways we can support.' All travel into France is currently heavily restricted, with only essential travel permitted and an international travel certificate required to cross the border. Limitations expected to stay in place until at least June 15th. Colombo, May 11 : Sri Lanka is on the right track to contain the COVID-19 pandemic through increased tracking, testing, isolation, and treatment strategy, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. The WHO said that enhanced testing of the contacts of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 has led to the increased identification of infections, reports Xinhua news agency. The organization added that the containment of COVID-19 is feasible and remains the top priority in the country. The Sri Lanka Preparedness and Response Plan are implemented with the overall goal to interrupt the transmission of the virus from one person to another using a comprehensive blended approach of containment and mitigation, it added. "Moreover, the safety of frontline workers, both health and non-health, should be prioritized, and the availability of personal protective equipment must be ensured. Local innovations have eased the stress for some of these, however, adequate stocks need to be ensured in the event of a spike of cases," the WHO said. On May 5, WHO handed over a donation of essential laboratory equipment, hospital equipment, personal protective equipment, and consumables to the Sri Lankan government to address the COVID-19 crisis. The country has so far recorded nine COVID-19 deaths and over 850 cases. Its capital Colombo opened up for economic activities on Monday after being shut for over a month since a curfew was imposed on March 20. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Egypt's leading Muslim cleric and sheikh, Dr. Ahmed al-Tayeb also known as Pope Francis's "wolf in sheep's clothing" recently asserted a demonstrable falsehood. On April 30, 2020, during his televised program that appears every year around Ramadan and is watched by millions in Egypt and the Arab world, the grand imam of the Islamic world's most prestigious university, Al Azhar, declared that "Islam doesn't seek war or bloodshed, and Muslims only fight back to defend themselves." This is a reaffirmation of the grand conclusion reached at and therefore making a mockery of a recent mega-conference dedicated to finding solutions to "extremism." Hosted in Egypt by Al Azhar, and attended by leading representatives from 46 Muslim nations, al-Tayeb capped off the two-day conference by declaring: Jihad in Islam is not synonymous with fighting; rather, the fighting practiced by Prophet Muhammad and his companions is one of its types; and it is to ward off the aggression of the aggressors against Muslims, as opposed to killing those who offend in [matters of] religion, as the extremists claim. The established sharia rule in Islam bans antagonism for those who oppose the religion. Fighting them is forbidden as long as they do not fight Muslims. Needless to say, such claims fly in the face of more than a millennium of well documented Islamic teachings and Islamic history. Beginning with Muhammad whose later wars were hardly defensive, but rather raids meant to empower and aggrandize himself and his followers over non-Muslims and under the first "righteous" caliphs and virtually all subsequent sultans and rulers, jihad consisted of raiding, slaughtering, enslaving, and ideally conquering non-Muslims who refused the invitation to embrace Islam. One need only look at a map of the Muslim world today and realize that the vast majority of itall of the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, Central Asia, as far east as Pakistan, and farther was taken by violent conquest in the name of jihad. However, rather than dismiss al-Tayeb as just another liar, trying to save face, it's worth noting that something else is going on at a deeper level when Muslims insist to one another in both instances, al-Tayeb was addressing not Westerners, but fellow Muslims that jihad is defensive. The fact is, the overwhelming majority of Muslims, even of the terrorist variety, are, like most people, committed to seeing themselves and their religion as the "good guys." As such, there is an implicit agreement between them always to present their religion as according with innate concepts of justice. This has caused them to go to extreme lengths, as the current case suggests. For example, the historic Islamic conquests are never referred to as "conquests" in Arabic and other Muslim languages; rather, they are futuhat literally, "openings" for the light of Islam to enter (or fatah in the singular, as the Palestinian group tellingly calls itself). In this context, every land ever invaded or seized by Muslims was done "altruistically" to bring Islam to wayward infidels, who are seen as the aggressors for unjustly resisting Islam. Thus, according to an article titled "The Wisdom of Jihad," published by Islam Question and Answer, jihad does not "only and simply mean to kill non-Muslims"; rather, "[t]he kuffaar [non-Muslims, or infidels] whom we fight will themselves benefit from jihad. We strive against them and fight them so that they will enter the religion of Allah which is acceptable to Him, which will lead to their salvation in this world and in the Hereafter." From here one understands why even sadistic mass murderers and pedophiles such as Ottoman Sultan Muhammad (or "Mehmet") II is known in Islamic historiography as "Muhammad the Opener" for it was he who brought Islam's light to the reluctant denizens of Constantinople in 1453. Mocking such Muslim logic, Dr. Ahmed 'Abdu Maher, an Egyptian researcher and political activist, once made a video where he asked a hypothetical. What if Donald Trump instead of banning immigration from a few terrorist nations (mostly Muslim) and being denounced as a "racist" for it followed Islam's "altruistic" outlook and offered American Muslims three choices: either convert to Christianity, pay jizya and live as second-class citizens, or die? Would he be a racist or not? Would he be a terrorist or not? How then [when one considers] that we have in our Islamic jurisprudence, which you teach us, and tell us that all the imams have agreed that the Islamic openings [i.e., conquests] are the way to disseminate Islam? This word "openings" [ futuhat] we must be sensitive to it! The Islamic openings mean swords and killing. The Islamic openings, through which homes, fortresses, and territories were devastated, ... [are part of] an Islam which you try to make us follow. So I wonder O sheikh, O leader of this or that Islamic center in New York, would you like to see this done to your wife and daughter? ... That your daughter goes to this fighter [as a slave], your son to this fighter, a fifth [of booty] goes to the caliph, and so forth? I mean, isn't this what you refer to as the Sharia of Allah? Maher this nominal Muslim who has embraced the ugly realities of Islam's historic conquests is, however and unfortunately, a rare commodity in the Muslim world. As one American historian of Islam writes: [T]he conquests were seen from the beginning as one of the incontrovertible proofs of Islam. To disavow them or to examine them critically which has yet to happen in the Muslim world will be very painful for Muslims especially Arabic-speaking Muslims. At every point ... when Muslims have tried to abandon militant jihad for the internal, spiritual jihad ... the memory of the conquests and the need to rationalize them have defeated this effort. The problem may lie in the unwillingness to confront the fact that the conquests were basically unjustified. They were not a "liberation" and they were not desired by the non-Muslim peoples; they were endured and finally accepted[.] [Understanding Jihad, p. 167] Islam's leaders such as Grand Imam al-Tayeb one can add the Western mainstream as well are committed to deluding Muslims about Islam's past (and therefore present). And little wonder the "average" Muslim who learns about the ugly reality of Islam's past often apostatizes in his heart lapses remaining Muslim only in name. In other words, the problem is not just that many in the West are being deceived about Islam and its past; hundreds of millions of "regular" Muslims are also being deceivedand for the very same reason. Raymond Ibrahim, author most recently of Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Shillman fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a Judith Rosen Friedman fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute. Image: David Stanley via Flickr (cropped). Watch the replay of the launch event 07/05/2020 Tax revenues in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) increased to 23.1% of GDP on average in 2018, according to the new edition of Revenue Statistics in Latin America in the Caribbean published today. However, these gains are now under threat as a result of the regions deteriorating fiscal outlook, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic crisis. The increase of 0.4 percentage points (p.p.) from their level in 2017 is the highest level of tax revenues ever recorded in the region. However, LAC tax revenues remain far below the OECD average (34.3% in 2018). Against this background, the capacity to finance public goods and services and to cushion economic shocks in the region remains limited. Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean 2020 is a joint publication by the Inter-American Centre of Tax Administrations (CIAT), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Centre for Tax Policy and Administration and the OECD Development Centre. This is the ninth edition in the series and the second produced through the European Unions Regional Facility for Development in Transition for Latin America and the Caribbean. This years edition covers 26 countries, including Saint Lucia for the first time. Tax-to-GDP ratios (measured as tax revenues, including social security contributions paid to general government, as a proportion of GDP) continued to vary widely across the region in 2018, from 12.1% in Guatemala and 13.2% in the Dominican Republic to 33.1% in Brazil and Barbados and 42.3% in Cuba. Fifteen countries reported an increase in their tax-to-GDP ratios between 2017 and 2018, while seven recorded a decrease and three remained at the same level. Three Caribbean countries (Trinidad and Tobago (up 3.3 p.p.) Belize (up 1.4 p.p) and Guyana (1.3 p.p.) recorded the largest increases while the largest decreases were in Argentina (down by 1.3 p.p.) and Nicaragua (0.8 p.p.). Although revenue performance improved across the LAC economies in 2018, the region has subsequently faced major headwinds, which have intensified as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While stronger domestic and external demand underpinned the increase in tax-to-GDP ratios in 2018, economic conditions across the region deteriorated in 2019, in large part due to a decline in commodity prices. According to a special feature in the new report, hydrocarbon revenues across the regions main producers increased from 2.0% in GDP in 2017 to 2.7% in 2018 but are estimated to have fallen to 2.5% in 2019. Hydrocarbon revenues are declining precipitously in 2020 as a result of collapsing oil prices. LACs relatively low levels of revenue-generation constrain spending on public services - including health - and raise questions about how countries will finance the emergency social protection measures they are introducing to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, weaker administrative systems for managing taxes and transfers relative to those in OECD countries reduce the range of tools available to the region in effectively responding to the crisis. Looking ahead, in the wake of COVID-19, it will be necessary for LAC economies to strengthen the role of tax systems to stimulate inclusive economic development and, in the longer term, to restore their public finances onto a more sustainable footing. Although the regions tax structure has moved closer to that of OECD countries as a result of higher revenues from direct taxes and lower trade taxes, persistently low revenues from key taxes, such as personal income taxes (PIT), remain a constraint on revenue generation and a source of vulnerability. At just 2.2% of GDP, the regions revenues from PIT in 2017 were far below the level in OECD countries (8.3%), while social security contributions amounted to 4.0% of GDP in 2017 compared to 9.1% in the OECD. At the same time, the region is far more reliant on taxes on consumption than OECD countries. Together, this reduces the potential for redistribution and tackling vulnerabilities in a context where persistent inequalities have been an important factor behind social unrest across the region in recent times. Other highlights from the new report include a special feature on equivalent fiscal pressure (EFP) in the LAC region. EFP tracks a broader range of fiscal revenues than taxes collected by governments, including non-tax revenues from natural resources and mandatory contributions to private social security schemes. In 2018, EFP averaged 25.0% of GDP across the region, up from 24.4% in 2017 and 17.4% in 1990. Key findings Tax-to-GDP ratios The highest tax-to-GDP ratios in the LAC region in 2018 were in Cuba (42.3%), Brazil and Barbados (both 33.1%). The countries with the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios were Guatemala (12.1%), the Dominican Republic (13.2%) and Paraguay (14.0%). The average tax-to-GDP ratio in the Caribbean sub-region was 25.7% in 2018, versus 23.1% in South America and 21.0% in Central America (including Mexico). Evolution of tax revenues at regional and sub-regional level since 1990 LACs average tax-to-GDP ratio rose from 15.9% in 1990 to 23.1% in 2018. Between 1990 and 2018, revenues from VAT as a percentage of GDP more than doubled for LAC countries on average, from 2.3% of GDP to 6.0%. Over this period, LACs average tax-to-GDP ratio has trended towards the OECD average, which increased from 31.9% in 1990 to 34.3% in 2018. The Caribbeans tax-to-GDP ratio has remained consistently above the LAC average and increased by 1.5 percentage points between 2016 and 2018, the best performance amongst the three sub-regions covered in the report. Tax structure On average, LACs share of revenues from taxes on incomes and profits grew by 8.0 percentage points (from 19.7% to 27.8% of total tax revenues) between 1990 and 2018. Since 2007, corporate income tax (CIT) revenues as a percentage of GDP have declined, whereas revenues from PIT have increased. In 2018, the LAC averages for CIT and PIT revenues as a percentage of GDP stood at 3.5% and 2.3% respectively. The share of VAT revenues in total tax revenues reached 27.8% in 2018, an increase of 11.6 percentage points since 1990. The share of social security contributions in total tax revenues has increased by 4.2 percentage points since 1990, reaching 17.1% in 2018. Resource revenues and environmentally related taxes Hydrocarbon revenues across the regions main producers rose from 2.0% of GDP in 2017 to 2.7% in 2018. Revenues from mining increased from 0.3% of GDP to 0.4% of GDP in 2018. Revenues from hydrocarbons and mining are estimated to have declined to 2.5% of GDP and 0.3% of GDP, respectively, in 2019. Environmentally related tax revenues (ERTR) in 23 LAC countries for which data is available were equivalent to 1.1% of GDP on average in 2018 versus 2.3% of GDP in the OECD. ERTR ranged from 0.02% of GDP in Belize to 2.3% of GDP in Honduras in 2018. Revenues from energy products amounted to 0.6% of GDP on average in 2018, representing around 60% of environmentally related tax revenue. Revenues from motor vehicle and transport services taxes amounted to 0.4% of GDP. Press contacts CIAT: Publication and Communication Coordination, Neila Jaen (njaen@ciat.org; T: +507 307 2428) ECLAC: Public Information Unit (prensa@cepal.org; T:+56 2 2210 2040) IDB: Knowledge, Innovation and Communication Sector, Mildred Rivera (mildredr@iadb.org; T: +1 202 623 2319) OECD: Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (Natalie.Lagorce@oecd.org, Tel: +33 1 45 24 99 61); OECD Development Centre (Bochra.Kriout@oecd.org; Tel.: +33 1 45 24 82 96) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 19:11:04|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close VIENNA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Austrian government announced Monday a "pub package" of 500 million euros (541 million U.S. dollars) to boost consumption and ease the tax burden on bar and restaurant owners. As planned, the catering business can reopen on Friday with the low number of new infections as a good basis, said Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at a press conference on Monday, announcing a "pub package" as part of the existing aid fund of 38 billion euros (41 billion U.S. dollars). "Gastronomy is part of the Austrian soul and part of the Austrian identity," said Kurz, calling on the public to "consume" and "support the regional economy". The package is all about relief, said Tourism Minister Elisabeth Koestinger who presented the details of the plan at the press conference. Among other things, starting from July 1, the sales tax (VAT) for non-alcoholic drinks will be reduced to the minimum rate of 10 percent, the sparkling wine tax will be abolished, the tax flat rate will be increased from 255,000 euros (276,000 U.S. dollars) to 400,000 euros (433,000 U.S. dollars) for bars and restaurants, according to the minister. This package will benefit about 41,000 companies and 145,000 employees all over the country, she said. Chamber of Commerce chief Harald Mahrer said that tourism and inn culture are at the heart of the local economy, and it is a matter of turning the mood so that shopping and consumption are possible again. "The economy has a lot to do with psychology," said Mahrer. As part of the federal government's phased plan, bars and restaurants will be allowed to open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. from May 15, with restrictions such as wearing face masks by employees and a maximum of four adult guests per table. Hotels may then reopen from the end of May, according to the plan. Enditem The weekend of celebrations will kick-off at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 15, with a discussion between Spelman Student Government President Nia Page, C'2020, and two-time Grammy-nominated recording artists Chloe x Halle on @Spelman_College, the institution's official Instagram channel. At 7 p.m., the event will segue from a conversation to a live performance by the duo in tribute to Spelman students on the @ChloexHalle Instagram platform, where they will perform a set, including new music from their upcoming album. The virtual celebration will continue on at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 16, with the Spelman Senior Salute live streamed on Spelman.edu and the College's official Facebook page. Filled with tributes and surprises, the live stream is an opportunity for the entire Spelman community to commend the graduates via #SpelmanGrad20 and #SpelmanSeniorSalute. "We are extremely proud of our graduating seniors, who have been undeterred in their pursuit of a Spelman degree," said Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., president of Spelman. "They step into a world, changing by the month, by the week by the day, armed with skills, experiences and relationships that will serve them well in the days ahead. Already we see them entering top graduate programs, accepting prestigious fellowships, and filling critical roles in corporate and nonprofit organizations. They bring a spirit of innovation and creativity, finely honed critical thinking skills and a grasp of technological skills, all developed during their years at Spelman. The entire Spelman community applauds our outstanding graduates. Class of 2020 you are truly a class of vision." After receiving their degrees, members of the graduating class have shared their plans, which span the gamut of opportunities. They'll be working in software engineering and policy at Facebook and Google, in nursing at Kaiser Permanente and in video production at ESPN. Some will teach elementary school through Teach for America, enter management consulting programs at Accenture and Deloitte, and analyze data at JPMorgan Chase & Co, the National Women's Law Center, PBS and Dell Technologies. Spelman's newest alumnae will engage in research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, acting and screenwriting, and teaching language at the Council on International Educational Exchange, Inc. More than 100 graduates plan to enter graduate programs in a variety of disciplines. They will study marriage and family therapy at Mercer University, journalism at Columbia, veterinary medicine at Ohio State and computer engineering at North Carolina A&T. They'll pursue graduate degrees in environmental science and law at Emory, linguistics at Georgetown, neuroscience at Morehouse School of Medicine and social work at New York University. As well, Spelman graduates are enrolling in programs in pastoral counseling at Harvard, business analytics at Wake Forest, and creative writing, political science and entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of California. Spelman will celebrate the success of the Class of 2020 at a formal in-person Commencement ceremony, which will be held at a later date. More information about graduate tributes can be found via Spelman Senior Salute. About Spelman College Founded in 1881, Spelman College is a leading liberal arts college widely recognized as the global leader in the education of women of African descent. Located in Atlanta, the College's picturesque campus is home to 2,100 students. Spelman is the country's leading producer of Black women who complete Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The College's status is confirmed by U.S. News and World Report, which ranked Spelman No. 57 among all liberal arts colleges, No. 22 for undergraduate teaching and No. 6 for both innovation and social mobility among liberal arts colleges, and No. 1 for the 13th year among historically Black colleges and universities. The Wall Street Journal ranked the College No. 3, nationally, in terms of student satisfaction. Recent initiatives include a designation by the Department of Defense as a Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM, a Gender and Sexuality Studies Institute, the first endowed queer studies chair at an HBCU, and a program to increase the number of Black women Ph.D.s in economics. New majors have been added, including documentary filmmaking and photography, and partnerships have been established with MIT's Media Lab, the Broad Institute and the Army Research Lab for artificial intelligence and machine learning. Outstanding alumnae include Children's Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, Starbucks Group President and COO Rosalind Brewer, political leader Stacey Abrams, former Acting Surgeon General and Spelman's first alumna president Audrey Forbes Manley, actress and producer Latanya Richardson Jackson, global bioinformatics geneticist Janina Jeff and authors Pearl Cleage and Tayari Jones. For more information, visit www.spelman.edu. SOURCE Spelman College Related Links http://www.spelman.edu The Egyptian embassy in the UAE will operate exceptional flights to bring home nationals stranded there as of May 13, the Ministry of Manpower said on Monday. This came in a report which Manpower Minister Mohammed Safaan received on Monday from the Egyptian embassy, according to Spokesman for the Manpower Ministry Haitham Saad el Din. The flights will bring back the nationals who registered their data at the embassy, including visa holders as well as those with expired visas. All the returnees will spend a quarantine period of 14 days at students hostel at state expense. Meanwhile another flight will be operated by Air Cairo on May 19 to bring a number of stranded Egyptian nationals in Sudan back home, Egyptian Ambassador in Khartoum Hossam Eissa said Monday. In statements to MENA, Eissa urged Egyptian expats wishing to return home to promptly complete their booking arrangements through the airline's address declared by the embassy. The decision to run the fourth flight has been taken due to the overwhelming demand on the first two flights, which departed from Khartoum airport to Egypt on May 5 and 8, and the third one which is scheduled for Wednesday. The flight coming from London will land at Marsa Alam International Airport on Tuesday, while the Red Sea resort will receive the Washington flight on Wednesday. Search Keywords: Short link: China may have largely tamed the coronavirus within its borders, but it seems the bigger battle of reshaping the narrative around its handling of the pandemic is well underway. China may have largely tamed the coronavirus within its borders, but it seems the bigger battle of reshaping the narrative around its handling of the pandemic is well underway. Over the past few weeks, even as China has seen fewer and fewer cases of the coronavirus, its State media, particularly Xinhua, has been batting cleanup for the Xi Jinping regime and verbally assailing the United States. In a pair of breathlessly-worded pieces entitled Reality Check of US Allegations Against China on COVID-19 and Truth in China's pandemic battle smashes absurd US allegations published on Sunday and today, the news agency accused politicians and media outlets in the states of "fabricating preposterous allegations and lies of one kind or another in order to shift the blame to China for their inadequate response to COVID-19". Interestingly, both pieces opened with the saying 'you cannot fool all the people all the time' a statement often attributed to US president Abraham Lincoln and "lies evaporate in the light of truth. It is time to let facts speak for themselves" (Beijing will never be accused of having a light touch) before going on the attack against Washington. Sunday's mammoth near 10,000-word piece, which rather pointedly vowed to "continue to reveal the truth to the world whenever new lies appear", offered a point-by-point rebuttal of Washington's critiques of Beijing by pointing to reports from Western media outlets such as Vox, Sky, CNN, NPR and USA Today and prestigious journals such as The Lancet and Nature. Don't call it Wuhan virus Sunday's piece began by addressing those who call COVID-19 the "Chinese virus" or the "Wuhan virus" (a particularly sore point for the Xi regime), saying that the WHO had "made it clear that a disease should not be associated with a particular country or place." Citing lessons learned in previous battles against pandemics, particularly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012, the article stated that as per the guidelines issued by the WHO in 2015 "the naming of a disease should avoid geographic locations, peoples names, class of animal or food, cultural, population, industry or occupational references (for example legionnaires) and terms that incite undue fear." "The New York Times, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and other mainstream media in the West all reported that the wrongful connection of Asian communities with COVID-19 stoked serious xenophobia, and frequent occurrences of racist discrimination and harassment against these communities in the US," the article further stated. Disputing that the virus originated in Wuhan, saying that "source tracing is a serious scientific matter, which should be based on science and should be studied by scientists and medical experts", the article pointed to previous infections such as HIV and the Spanish Flu, which are thought to have originated in countries other than where the first cases were reported. 'No evidence virus is man made' It also rebuffed the notion that the virus was "constructed by the Wuhan Institute of Virology", saying all available evidence including an article published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet pointed to the disease being natural in origin and that bats might be the original hosts of this virus. Addressing the theory that the virus leaked from the Wuhan institute, the op-ed stated, "The Institute does not have the capability to design or synthesize a new coronavirus, and there is no evidence of pathogen leaks or staff infections in the Institute." The article also provided a timeline of how China had provided information to the international community in a timely, open and transparent manner to rebuke US suggestions that it had been slow to sound the alarm. The article further rejected Western criticism of Beijings handling of the case of Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old doctor who had tried to raise the alarm over the outbreak of the new virus in Wuhan. His death from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, prompted an outpouring of rage and grief across China. Its article said Li was not a whistle-blower and he was never arrested, contrary to many Western reports, but it did mention that he was reprimanded by the local police for "spreading unconfirmed information". Though Li was later named among martyrs mourned by China, an investigation into his case also drew criticism online after it merely suggested the reprimand against him be withdrawn. And on Monday... Monday's follow-up article by Wang Zhuolun, a regurgitation of Sunday's greatest hits, clocked in at a far shorter, but still respectable 2,400 words. "Instead of concentrating on fighting against the pandemic domestically, some US politicians recently have been fabricating preposterous allegations and pinning the blame on China, to hide their irresponsibility at home," Zhuolun wrote, rather admirably arriving at the point straight away. The op-ed dismissed allegations of a cover-up: "China's transparency in data releasing has been consistent. On 17 April, Wuhan issued a notification revising up confirmed cases by 325 to a total of 50,333, and fatal cases by 1,290 to a total of 3,869. Revision is by no means equal to covering-up. On the contrary, it was out of a high sense of responsibility to the people and to the lives lost to the coronavirus that Wuhan took the initiative to revise the numbers. When the city was first hit by the virus, hospitals were running overloaded and some patients passed away at home, and there were missed, delayed, inadequate or inaccurate reporting of cases." The piece also offered a stirring defence of China and the World Health Organisation, dismissed any allegations of Beijing manipulating the agency and took aim at Washington cutting its funding. "Amid increasing severe pandemic situations around the globe, the US decision to halt its funding to the WHO has drawn sharp criticism. Saying the WHO "failed to adequately obtain, vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion," some US politicians alleged China is "manipulating" and "bribing" the organization. This accusation is absurd. As a firm supporter to multilateralism, China has all along been in good communication and cooperation with the WHO, a specialised UN agency responsible for public health security composed of 194 member states," the piece stated. The op-ed ended with a cliche and a whiff of self-pity, "A friend in need is a friend indeed. China has been doing its utmost to help countries in need. However, China's sincere efforts were distorted by some US politicians as to serve "political and propaganda purposes." "China's assistance to other countries is a return of their kindness in helping China with the COVID-19 response. The actions of support and assistance have been widely recognized by the international community. It is also a concrete step to put into action the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity," the article concluded. Beijing and Washington at odds Of course, this is merely a small part of a larger game between China and the United States that began as early as February, even as the US president was warned in briefings of the possible scale of the pandemic and its seriousness. With the US presidential election bearing down on Donald Trump, and with seniors in swing states starting to reevaluate their support for him, the president is eager to change the subject from his 'chaotic handling' of the crisis, as his predecessor Barack Obama called it. China, too, is eager to distract from allegations it downplayed the outbreak and moved too slowly. It seems that this back and forth between Beijing and Washington will continue for the foreseeable future. With inputs from agencies Friends and loved ones of those buried in eight cemeteries run by the Archdiocese of Newark were allowed to visit their graves Sunday. The reopenings is part of an archdiocese plan announced Tuesday to resume some services. The cemeteries will be open for visitation every Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will expand to 3.p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday beginning May 18.. The archdiocese is asking people to maintain social distancing practices and to continue to wear face masks on cemetery property. The Archdiocese of Newark owns and operates eight Archdiocesan Catholic cemeteries in the state that are located in North Arlington, East Hanover, Colonia, Mahwah, Jersey City, Franklin Lakes, East Orange and Newark. They have been closed since March 23 due the coronavirus pandemic. Visitors to Fairmount Cemetery walk down Central Avenue in Newark's West Ward on Sunday, May 10, 2020.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media Visitors at Fairmount Cemetery as seen from Central Avenue in Newark's West Ward on Sunday, May 10, 2020.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media Mikey Tillery and Aniya Manley of East Orange spend time at the grave of their mother & grandmother Marie Tillery at Fairmount Cemetery in Newark's West Ward on Sunday, May 10, 2020.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media Rasheemah Dawsey of Elizabeth carries flowers to place on her grandmother's grave at Fairmount Cemetery in Newark on Sunday, May 10, 2020.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media Visitors outside Fairmount Cemetery purchase flower arrangements on Central Avenue in Newark's West Ward on Sunday, May 10, 2020. Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media Tillery and Manley visit their mother & grandmother Marie Tillery at Fairmount Cemetery in Newark's West Ward on Sunday, May 10, 2020.Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Non-performance of an obligation due to an unforeseen event did not fully develop until trade began to flourish in the medieval Mediterranean world as a legally acceptable excuse. The chasm or disjunction posed by the conflict between the sanctity of the contract or discharging of obligations by events beyond the control of parties to the contract has, over time, received varying treatment by judicial systems. While civil law and common law both acknowledged the doctrines of pacta sunt servanda1and rebus sic stantibus, there is substantial emphasis on certain aspects of each doctrine, and they did so at various historical periods. Holt J.C. put it in the following terms in 1706, "when a man will for valuable consideration undertake to do an impossible thing, although it cannot be performed, yet he shall answer in damages". In later common law jurisprudence, common law came closer to acknowledging the non-performance due to unforeseen circumstances. 'The court does not compel a person to do what is impossible". The truest enshrinement of the non-performance due to supervening events was with Lord Blackburn's recital of the judgment in Taylor V/s Caldwel. The Queen's Bench led by Lord Blackburn authorship: "There seems no doubt that where there is a positive contract to do a thing, not in itself unlawful, the contractor must perform it or pay damages for not doing it, although in consequence of unforeseen accidents, the performance of his contract has become unexpectedly burthensome or even impossible". However, Lord Blackburn dismissed Taylor's claim for damages for the music hall's destruction. Yet it is significant that Blackburn J. noted that the destruction of the music hall was the fault of neither party, and that this fact rendered the performance of the contract by either party impossible. Also Read: Coronavirus impact: Can't fulfill your contractual obligations? May the Force Majeure be with you Such a ruling went beyond what was necessary to decide the case. The most relevant observation of this principle and also as the leading authority on force majeure in English law is the judgment of McCardie J. in Lebeaupin v Crispin which postulates that the precise ambit of the term will depend on the context in which it is used: 'A force majeure clause should be construed in each case with close attention to the words which precede or follow it, and with due regard to the nature and general terms of the contract. The e?ect of the clause may vary with each instrument. A force majeure clause may provide relief from liability when a party is prevented from carrying out its obligations or is unable to do so. However, a party seeking to rely on a clause which states that it is relieved of its obligations if it is prevented from carrying them out, must show that performance has become physically or legally impossible, and not merely more difficult or unprofitable. He must prove the occurrence of the event he is relying on and that he has been prevented, hindered or delayed (as the case may be) from performing the contract by reason of the very occurrence of that event. In the common law, Law of Contract can be elaborated as that a party to a contract is bound and must perform the covenants which he has undertaken and cannot seek to be excused by a mere fact that performance has subsequently become impossible. Also Read: 4 things that may shape deal-making in post-COVID-19 world However, history tells us there are exceptions and English Courts have come about to circumvent the strictness of the aforesaid rule for example Lord Loreburn proposed the Theory of Implied Term by stating that: "It is, in my opinion, the true principle, for no court has an absolving power, but it can infer from the nature of the contract and the surrounding circumstances that a condition which was not expressed was a foundation on which the parties contracted. Were the altered conditions such that, had they thought of them, they would have taken their chance of them, or such that as sensible men they would have said, "If that happens, of course, it is all over between us." On the other hand, Lord Justice Denning put forth the Theory of Power of Court, "Even if the contract is absolute in its terms, nevertheless, if it is not absolute in intent, it will not be held absolute in effect. The day is done when we can excuse an unforeseen injustice by saying to the sufferer, 'It is your own folly. You ought not to have passed that form of words. You ought to have put in a clause to protect yourself.' We no longer credit a party with the foresight of a prophet or his lawyers with the draftsmanship of Chalmers." This theory concludes that the court has inherent jurisdiction to go behind the express words of the contract and attribute to the court the absolving power. However, the House of Lords in appeal discarded this theory entirely. In an instructive English judgment which disposed a claim of force majeure discharge on the pretext that the contract of shipment of groundnut had become non-performable because of the closure of the Suez Canal, it was held that the contract of sale of groundnuts, in that case, was not frustrated, even though it would have to be performed by an alternative mode which was much more expensive, namely, rounding the Cape of Good Hope. Despite this, the House of Lords held that even though the contract had become more onerous to perform, it was not fundamentally altered. In the Indian jurisprudence, one of the primeval decisions to deal with the concept of force majeure is the Madras High Court decision in Edmund Bendit And Anr. vs Edgar Raphael Prudhomme, where the court cited the passage from Matsoukis v. Priestman and Co, wherein the definition given by an eminent Belgianlawyer of force Majeure meaning "causes you cannot prevent and for which you are not responsible," was held to be true. Force majeure does not simply mean anything outside the control of the parties to a contract. Its meaning, and applicability, depends on the particular contract, and the particular wording used. It is a contractual language intended to anticipate unforeseen events and provide for what happens to their occurrence. However, Force Majeure sees assimilation and codification in Indian Laws under Section 32 and 56 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. The seminal judgment of Satyabrata Ghose v. Mugneeram Bangur & Co passed by the apex court basically surmising that the event or change of circumstance totally upsets the very foundation upon which the parties rested their bargain. It held that "the word "impossible" has not been used in the section in the sense of physical or literal impossibility. The performance of an act may not be literally impossible but it may be impracticable and useless from the point of view of the object and purpose of the parties. If an untoward event or change of circumstance totally upsets the very foundation upon which the parties entered their agreement, it can be said that the promisor finds it impossible to do the act which he had promised to do." This stands as one of the most exhaustive understandings of Force Majeure in the context of Indian laws. Further down the legal parlances' corridor the Supreme Court in Alopi Parshad & Sons Ltd. v. Union of India, the Supreme Court, premising on section 56, held, it is only when a consideration of the terms of the contract, in light of the circumstances existing when it was made, showed that they never agreed to be bound in a fundamentally different situation which had unexpectedly emerged, that the contract ceases to bind. It was further held that the performance of a contract is never discharged merely because it may become onerous to one of the parties. More recently, Justice Nariman in Energy Watchdog v. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and Others, held that if a contract has an express or implied force majeure clause, it will apply over the principles under Section 56 and the force majeure clause will not apply if alternative modes of performance are available. Force majeure clause does not exhaust the possibility of unforeseen events occurring outside natural and/or non-natural events. But the thrust of their argument was really that so long as their performance is hindered by an unforeseen event, the clause applies. "Hindered" must be construed with regard to words which precede and follow it, and also with regard to the nature and general terms of the contract. Justice Nariman also placed reliance on the English judgment of Tenants (Lancashire) Ltd. v. G.S. Wilson and Co. Ltd., for the proposition that a mere rise in price rendering the contract more expensive to perform will not constitute "hindrance". It is established that the expression "hinders the delivery" in a contract would only be attracted if there was not merely a question of rise in price, but a serious hindrance in the performance of contract as a whole. Frustration will apply when an unforeseen event makes it impossible, through no fault of either party, to perform the contract but the contract has not catered for that. The unforeseen event is so fundamental that it strikes at the root of the contract and far beyond what was contemplated by the parties when they entered the contract. It renders further performance impossible, illegal, or makes it radically different from that contemplated by the parties at the time of signing the contract. The doctrine of frustration is only a special case of the discharge of contract by an impossibility of performance arising after the contract was made. In modern judicial parlance, the term 'frustration' covers cases of both classes. The Supreme Court of India in Satyabrata Ghose case also observes that in fact impossibility and frustration are often used as interchangeable expressions. Generally, the doctrine of frustration is considered to apply to a situation that is pursuant to the parties entering into a contract. Frustration at the performance of the contract also arises either through delay, attributable to the fault of neither party, or of such a nature that the fulfilment of the contract, in the way envisaged, is so baroquely delayed that the fulfilment, when and if, ultimately, achieved is rendered futile to the objective of contracting parties. The defense of frustration can, therefore, be defeated by the proof of fault. Intriguingly, there also exists a condition called 'pre-contractual frustration' where the impossibility of performance or completion of obligation is already existing however unknown to the parties, at the time of the agreement itself the result would generally be that the agreement is void ab initio. Let's take for instance the applicability of Section 20 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, an agreement entered into by parties under a mistake of fact would be void and if the mistake of fact existed at the time of entering into the agreement it would constitute pre-contractual frustration. A classic illustration is encompassed in the privy council judgement in Sheikh Brothers, Ltd. v. Ochsner, where the appellants contracted with the respondent to grant him a license to cut, process, and manufacture sisal grown on a particular estate in Kenya of which appellants were the lessees. In return, the respondent deposited a certain sum of money and undertook to deliver to the appellants 50 tons of sisal fiber, manufactured by him, each month. The true position was that the estate, itself, was, in fact, not capable of producing such a quantity of sisal at all in the first place. The privy council without hesitation held the agreement to be void on the ground that both parties were entertaining the same mistake of fact essential to the agreement. The impossibility of growing the sisal in that estate was that of a pre-contractual frustration and not that of a force majeure. This brings us to the discussion that frustration of contract is an important defense; it not only discharges a part from complying with contractual obligations when they become impossible or impracticable but also absolve them from exposure of damages due to the frustrating nature owing to which the discharge was granted in the first place. It is important to understand that frustration has to be proved by establishing the aspect that the fulfilment of the obligation is beyond possibility and, had it not been so, even fulfilment at any stage beyond the instant would make it redundant and futile. Frustration can be cited when unforeseen events occur or also when unforeseen obstacles stall performance like statutory provision or statutory prohibition enforced pursuant to entering into the contract. With the World Health Organisation (WHO) notifying the world that the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) as a notified pandemic, several countries began enacting spontaneous guidelines, notified certain statutory norms in force in pursuance to contain the spread of the contagion. This has put the commerce industry into a frenzy about what could be achieved and what would eventually hit a dead end. The world economy, including the economies of several trading nations, was in a precarious situation. Consequently, due to the lockdowns and sealed borders in many countries, business houses spontaneously have started citing the force majeure clauses and cited frustration of contract trying to wriggle themselves out of performing their obligations in contracts. The mistake that these business houses are making is that people are trying to use invocation of force majeure or frustration as a grouse/excuse to renege from their contractual obligations to cut their losses and limit their exposure either domestically or internationally to compose and brace themselves for a period of government-imposed embargo on anything apart from medical attention. An example for discussion is the sudden institution of suits by Indian importers to stall/stay invocation of letters of credit or encashment of Bank Guarantees. The Supreme Court in two landmark judgments of Himadri Chemicals Industries Ltd. vs. Coal Tar Refining Company and Hindustan Construction vs State of Bihar established a position of law that staying the operation of Bank Guarantees or letters of credit, even on the count of attempting to invoke frustration, is impermissible because to grant such stays is contrary in law. Such invocations can only be injuncted in cases of fraud established of egregious nature can else this will break the established practices of international trade where letters of credit and bank guarantees are considered backbones of transactions. A bank guarantee is a separate contract, which is absolute in nature and is not concerned with the underlying agreement between the parties. The bank giving such a guarantee is bound to honour it as per its terms irrespective of any dispute raised by its customers. Hence, the Indian Courts will not ordinarily grant injunctions to restrain the realisation of a bank guarantee, however, exceptions have been carved out, firstly, an established fraud and secondly, where special circumstances or special equities exist which are likely to result in irretrievable harm or injustice to the party concerned. As to what is tantamount to frustrations in a given scenario of contractual stipulations will differ from case to case, there cannot be a straitjacketed formula for the same. Another aspect where I have noticed this argument of frustration is attempted to bring relevance, especially in land lord and tenant relations and disputes. The fundamental commercial bargain in this relation ought to be examined, which is that the landlord provides vacant possession of tenantable premises to a tenant on a monthly contractual rent. Per contra the tenant's obligation is to pay the rent and use the premises in a proper manner. Examples of frustrating events in tenancy could include an unavailability of a thing (e.g. if the premises which were leased have been burnt), unavailability of a person (e.g., if the person who was supposed to provide services has become unwell or passed away), or supervening illegality (e.g. performing the contract have become illegal through legislation or government's intervention, either permanently or for a prolonged period). It is beyond obvious that the circumstances of the pandemic do not change this fundamental commercial understanding in a tenancy contract unless the aforesaid is established. The current position, however, is that tenants are experiencing heightened difficulty in payment of rent because their incomes may have dried up or are facing severe deductions in incomes so as not to make up the rental amount itself. This may, at best, entitle the tenants to a breather or moratorium which can be mutually worked out with the landlords. The tenants certainly cannot claim frustration of contract because the consequence of such a defence is from discharge from the obligation of rent. In the United Kingdom the government has passed The Coronavirus Act, 2020 which introduces a moratorium on forfeiture for non-payment of rent by commercial tenants and further issued advisory/directives that during these painful times landlords will not file suits for eviction and courts will not entertain the same. Needless to say, in a country like India where there does not exist statutory standard minimum wages across all fields, it would be prudent if the government would also come to the rescue of tenants by issuing similar directives. It is not beyond the law to accept that a party to a commercial contract must act reasonably. Invoking the doctrine of frustration where it is evident that fundamental understanding of doing a certain activity for a pre-determined consideration is not altered or affected is not acceptable. Justice Nariman's view in energy watchdog has emphasised that change in circumstances can never entail a change in commercials or change in statutory fees or charges. This reasonableness of commerciality changing and affecting business as such ought to be induced in the contract and be provided for. Similarly, in recent times of COVID-19 as well, Delhi High Court in the Indiabulls Housing Finance vs SEBI case where Indiabulls prayed for temporary restrainment on any coercive action with respect to the repayment to be made by it to its non-convertible debenture holders citing RBI Circular dated March 27, 2020. Indiabulls contended that it was impossible for it to effect recoveries of debts owed to it by various institutions. Given the peculiar facts of this case and the present lockdown, the Delhi High Court directed that there shall be an ad-interim order and no coercive steps ought to be taken for redemption of the debenture amount. Similarly, in a matter before the Bombay High Court where I had the opportunity to appear for Future Group's Rural Fairprice Wholesale Limited (RFWL) which was faced with IDBI Trusteeship attempting to collect the debenture from the equity shares pledged as securities as the Indian markets continued to plummet in light of the coronavirus lockdown. It was submitted that while the steep drop in share prices was a genuine commercial obstacle due to the COVID-19 pandemic, not being able to sustain such price was beyond the control of RFWL and that must not be overlooked. Although the prices of shares fell beyond the acceptable limits, it was not on account of any action by RFWL but on events absolutely beyond the control of anyone. The lockdown had impacted an already perilous economy with a mighty blow. It contended the role the COVID-19 lockdown is playing is vital and that such a lockdown was unprecedented, unpredictable, and constituted a force majeure. The Bombay High Court accepted this proposition prima facie and granted an ad-interim relief. The frustration where RFWL was not able to contain its share prices because the market itself was uncontainable was a reasonable ground for the court to interfere because had it not, irreparable harm and irreversible loss would have accrued. The COVID-19 pandemic has already had a significant economic impact. It is inevitable that stakeholders in businesses would seek exoneration of contractual obligations they would have otherwise performed. What shall be a court's inclination is everyone's guess but one cannot turn a Nelson'seye to the fact that a pandemic of this nature has not been cast over the world in history, trade and commerce has not suffered so grotesquely before and, that, while it may be so, the law is not going to forget its history to concoct new positions discarding the precedents. It will always be important for a party seeking exoneration to establish that the failure of performance of the contract was not because of a lack of commercial viability, but an actual impossibility. What eventually is going to pin an argument in invocation of force majeure or doctrine of frustration is whether the impossibility latched to the performance is true and undeniable or is simply being feigned by the party because the performance in comparison to a vanilla time has become onerous. The journey that the court will have to embark upon in each of these cases will have to be a distinct and unique and the tales of these journeys will bring judicial gems which shall be crystalised as precedents of a time when the "Earth stood still". (The author is Senior Advocate, Bombay High Court) Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Rwandan and Burundian soldiers have been involved in a shooting incident along their common border when a group of fishermen from Burundi allegedly illegally crossed into Rwandan waters in Lake Rweru in the southeast of the country, a Rwandan military statement said on Sunday B oris Johnson needs to give the British people "clarity and reassurance," Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said, as the Government eases the coronavirus lockdown, In a Monday evening response to the Prime Minister's address to the nation on Sunday, Sir Keir said Labour would keep working "constructively" with the Government on its coronavirus response, while "demanding answers" to unclear issues. He added: What we needed from the Prime Minister last night was clarity and reassurance. The Prime Minister said he was setting out a road map, but if were to complete the journey safely a road map needs clear directions. So many of us have questions that need answering," he went on. Sir Keir said that he will "keep demanding answers to these questions" in order to provide "better outcomes" for the British people from the coronavirus pandemic. He went on: I remain committed to working constructively with the Government in the national interest, adding that "whether we voted for this Government or not, in this moment of national crisis we all rely on the Government to get this right." But he said that the Government had left many issues unclear. "We needed to know that nobody would be asked to go to work or send their children to school without it being safe to do so. We needed to know that the huge problems we've seen with protective equipment are over," Sir Keir added. A road in Camden, north London / AFP via Getty Images The leader of the opposition said that it was important for the UK to create "a better society" after the turmoil of the coronavirus lockdown. "After all this, all the sacrifice and the loss, we cant go back to business as usual, he added. The Labour leader said that "the hard work and the bravery of every key worker" was vital to keeping the UK going during the pandemic. In their courage and their sacrifice and their bravery, we can see a better future. This crisis has brought out the resilience and the human spirit in all of us," he went on. We must go forward with a vision of a better society built on that resilience and built on that human spirit. A Belfast mural paying tribute to NHS workers / PA Sir Keir's comments came after the Government announced a range of new measures to ease the lockdown on Sunday and Monday. Mr Johnson encouraged Brits who can't work from home to get back to work if possible from Wednesday. Among other new guidelines, people will also be allowed to exercise more and sit outside for an unlimited amount of time, while meeting up with one person from a different household is now also allowed. But there was widespread confusion on Monday about who some guidelines referred to, and how people should get back to work given the current low capacity of much public transport. Sir Keir called the situation "a shambles". : Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday suggested to Prime Minister Narendra Modi thatstates should have the "flexiblity" in changing lockdown guidelines and allowing public and Metro rail services by following social distancing norms, except in red zones. Vijayan, who spoke during the video conference held by Modi with state Chief Ministers, also suggested that anti body test be conductedon expatriates before they arrive here from various countries. "Kerala has a substantial population of Non Residents staying abroad. Some of them are coming back in special flights and many more are likely to come back. Wheneverthey are transported by special flights, they should be subjected to antibody test prior to boarding", he said adding there was a possibility of many travellers getting infected if this was not done. "We are already facing a situation wherein five positive cases were reportedfrom passengers who came to the state in chartered flights last week", he said. As states werefacing challenges of COVID-19in different degrees,each one should have the "flexiblity"in making reasonable changes in lockdownrelated guidelines within theirrespective jurisidiction, he said. After assessing the situation prevailing in a state, the respective states should have the flexiblity to allow public transport, subject to social distancing norms and restrictions within districts, he said. The Chief Minister suggested that Metro rail transport be allowed in cities other than inRed zones, subject to similar restrictions Three wheeler transport can also be allowed subject to capacity restrictions after considering the situation in a district by the state governments, he said. Vijayan also wanted states to be allowed to operate Industrial and Trade establishments, taking into consideration the ground situation, but with restrictions like social distancing in areas, except containment zones. On the lines of Shramikspecial trains to take migrant workers back to their states, Vijayan also wanted special trains to bring back Keralites stranded in various states. Pointing out that the state has already demanded a special train from Delhi to Kerala, mainly for students, he said tickets for these trains should be issued according to the registrations made with the state government. This is because the state had given priority to students, those with medical emergencies, aged people and likewise. However, railways have started online bookings regardless of the state's registration,he said, adding this would only help undermine Kerala's efforts to curb spread of COVID-19. Kerala also wanted non-stop trains from Mumbai, Ahemedabad, Kolkatta, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru to bring back its people stranded due to the lockdown. The Chief Minister said those arriving in Kerala from other states or abroad are effectively monitored in home quarantine by government departments and Local Self Government institutions,he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gold prices slipped Rs 507 to Rs 45,785 per 10 gram in the Mumbai bullion market on a stronger dollar. However, the precious metal was getting support on the downside from the reemergence of a new wave of coronavirus infection being reported in some countries. The US dollar index, measured against a basket of six currencies gained 0.37 percent to 100.14. After remaining closed to nearly two months, jewellers in part of the country opened their shops in the green and orange zones. Among the big brands Senco Gold & Diamonds, Kalyan Jewellers and Tanishq reopened some of their stores. Suvankar Sen, Executive Director, Senco Gold and Diamonds said, We have started operating at selected stores in 4 states -West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Karnataka after getting approvals from concerned Government authorities. To ensure safe hygienic shopping experience for our customers and for the wellbeing our employees we will be following all suggested safety measures. We are ensuring contact-less shopping experience by using new age technology and emphasizing on digital payments. The rate of 10 gram 22-carat gold in Mumbai was Rs 41,939 plus 3 percent GST, while 24-carat 10 gram was Rs 45,785 plus GST. The 18-carat gold quoted at Rs 34,339 plus GST in the retail market. COMEX Gold slipped below $1,700/oz as US Dollar index gained. The US dollar index trades higher above 100 amid safe haven buying, rise in bond yields and slightly better than expected non-farm payrolls data last week. But reports of a potential second wave of coronavirus in couple of countries might turn investors to gold as a safe haven, said Ravindra Rao, VP-Head Commodity Research at Kotak Securities. According to Navneet Damani, Vice President, Motilal Oswal, Gold held above the key $1,700 level as a new wave of coronavirus infections in some countries kept the safe-haven metal underpinned, despite firmer equities and a stronger dollar. Amidst continuous comments from both US-China regarding the trade war, IMF has signaled a possible downward revision of global economic forecasts, and warned the United States and China against rekindling a trade war that could weaken recovery from the pandemic. The broader trend on COMEX could be in the range of $1690-1730 and on domestic front prices could hover in the range of Rs 45,450-46,180. Gold prices traded positive on Monday as second wave of coronavirus infections in China, Japan and South Korea raised concerns over economic recovery. The rise in cases in China, Japan and South Korea have also alarmed the situation in nations where government has removed some lockdown restrictions, said Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities. Patel further said that with recent rise in equity markets and stable situation in China has drawn some liquidation in gold long positions. The CFTC data showed that speculative long positions in gold have declined by 12251 in the previous week. The gold/silver ratio currently stands at 105.98 to 1, which means the amount of silver required to buy one ounce of gold. Silver prices rose Rs 600 to Rs 43,200 per kg from its closing on May 8. In the futures market, gold rate touched an intraday high of Rs 45,850 and an intraday low of Rs 45,590 on MCX. For the June series, the yellow metal touched a low of Rs 36,572 and a high of Rs 47,327. Gold futures for delivery in June was marginally higher by Rs 18, or 0.04 percent on the MCX trading at Rs 45,830 per 10 gram in evening trade in a business turnover of 13,329 lots. Gold contracts for August delivery lowered by Rs 32, or 0.07 percent, at Rs 46,025 per 10 gram in a business turnover of 7,481 lots. The value of the June contract traded so far is Rs 2,387.09 crore and August contract saw the value of Rs 334.13 crore. Similarly, Gold Mini contract for June eased Rs 22, or 0.05 percent at Rs 45,798 in a business turnover of 10,298 lots. Patel expects prices to trade sideways for the day with MCX Gold June support at Rs 45,500 and resistance at Rs 46,000. MCX Gold is expected to trade in a range bound market having support at Rs 45,400 level and resistance at Rs 45,800 level, according to Motilal Oswal. The broking said spot gold to trade in a range of $1,675-1,710 range. At 12:31 pm (GMT), spot gold was up by $2.68 at $1,706.12 an ounce in London trading. Iranian authorities have said that 30 people were arrested in connection with the protests. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Iran to halt prosecutions of those who peacefully protested the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) deadly attack on a civilian airliner and the initial denial of responsibility. The rights group said that since late April, Iranian courts had sentenced 13 people, including several students, to prison terms apparently just for taking part in peaceful protest over the January 8 downing of a Ukrainian civilian airliner, which the IRGC said it "mistakenly" shot down, killing 176 passengers and crew, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) said. Read alsoUkraine not to let Iran shun responsibility for downing of UIA flight PS752 FM Kuleba The incident, which led to outrage in the country, came hours after Iran had launched a missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq in response to the January 3 assassination of the IRGC's Quds Force commander, Major General Qasem Soleimani, by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad. Tehran initially claimed the plane had crashed, but the IRGC admitted three days after the tragedy that Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) Flight 752 had been shot down "unintentionally" by the country's air defenses. Iranian authorities have said that 30 people were arrested in connection with the protests and that an unspecified number of people had been arrested in connection with the downing of the plane. "Iranian authorities are following their usual playbook of dodging accountability," Michael Page, HRW's deputy Middle East director, said in a May 8 statement. "While refusing to provide details about any investigation of culpability for the deadly mistake, judicial officials are wasting no time in sentencing people who protested the loss of 176 lives." Iran has said that the deadly incident will be investigated, but the authorities have not shared any details of their investigation. Families of some of the victims have expressed concern that the coronavirus pandemic is slowing down any momentum toward justice for their loved ones, HRW said. The right group said Iran should conduct a transparent investigation and cooperate with international bodies. A Canadian student from Montreal has been named valedictorian for Princeton Universitys class of 2020. Nicholas Johnson, an operations research and financial engineering concentrator, is the first black valedictorian in Princetons 274-year history, the university announced in a news release. According to the news release, Johnson said he appreciates the universitys encouragement to develop his academic interests. He said that especially significant was the universitys support "through opportunities including international internships and cultural immersion trips to Peru, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. However, what the graduating senior treasures most is his relationships with his classmates, the news release said. My favorite memories of my time at Princeton are memories of time spent with close friends and classmates engaging in stimulating discussions often late at night about our beliefs, the cultures and environments in which we were raised, the state of the world, and how we plan on contributing positively to it in our own unique way, Johnson said. In a statement to CNN, Johnson said, It feels empowering. Being Princetons first Black Valedictorian holds special significance to me particularly given Princetons historical ties to the institution of slavery, he said. I hope that this achievement motivates and inspires younger black students, particularly those interested in STEM fields, CNN quotes. Johnsons senior thesis, Sequential Stochastic Network Structure Optimization with Applications to Addressing Canadas Obesity Epidemic, focused on developing algorithms to design a community-based preventative health intervention to decrease obesity in Canada, CNN reports. According to the universitys news release, in addition to serving as a writing fellow at Princetons Writing Center, Johnson is editor of Tortoise: A Journal of Writing Pedagogy; is a member of Whitman College, where he has served as a residential college adviser; and is also a member of the Princeton chapter of Engineers Without Borders and served as its co-president in 2018. As a rising senior, the news release said Johnson worked at Googles California headquarters, as a software engineer in machine learning. Johnson is a graduate of Selwyn House School and attended Marianopolis College, both in Westmount, Quebec. What lies ahead for Johnson after graduation? Before beginning Ph.D. studies in operations research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in fall 2020, Johnson plans a summer internship as a hybrid quantitative researcher and software developer at the D. E. Shaw Group, a global investment and technology development firm, the news release said. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Princeton will hold a virtual commencement for the Class of 2020 on Sunday, May 31, 2020, in which Johnson will participate. An in-person ceremony will be held in May 2021, according to the news release. READ MORE: Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. By Fabian Cambero SANTIAGO, May 11 (Reuters) - The copper market will see a supply glut of 200,000 tonnes this year as the economic impact of coronavirus hits global demand for the metal, a Chilean industry group told Reuters. Diego Hernandez, president of Sonami, an association of mining companies with operations in top producer Chile, said both supply and demand would drop as the global economy falters. "With the information we have today, we expect a 3.5 to 4% decrease in demand," Hernandez told Reuters by email. The association anticipates supply to fall by 3%, which, combined with a decline in scrap metal recovery, would leave a balance of 200,000 tonnes, Hernandez said. Sonami predicted in early April that copper miners in Chile were considering slashing production amid increasingly strict measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. But Hernandez said he was optimistic the South American mining powerhouse would be spared the worst of the pandemic. "We know that this second quarter is going to be the most difficult and we hope to be able to overcome this challenge successfully," said the former top mining executive, who has held senior positions in with Codelco, BHP and Antofagasta. Chiles state copper agency has estimated a total reduction in output of just 1% of the countrys annual production due to the outbreak. Mining officials in Chile credit public and private measures aimed at protecting workers for the industrys resilience even as the virus has hit other parts of Chiles economy. Chile surpassed 30,000 cases of the new coronavirus on Monday, amid a spike in infections that has put hospitals under stress and raised fears of complications with the arrival of the southern hemisphere winter. (Reporting by Fabian Cambero, writing by Dave Sherwood Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) Prince Harry has praised young Brits for not just 'surviving but also thriving' during the coronavirus pandemic in a video message recorded at his LA home for a charity award. The Duke of Sussex, 35, appeared overjoyed to be recording the message for the OnSide Awards, with the video clip playing before the 2019 ceremony streamed in full for the first time online last night. In the clip posted to YouTube, he said: 'Hats off to every single one of you for surviving but also for thriving.' The words echo those spoken by Meghan Markle, 38, during the ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, in which the Duchess of Sussex spoke of her desire to 'thrive' in life. When discussing the challenges of royal life, Meghan told Tom Bradby: 'I've said for a long time to Hthat's what I call himit's not enough to just survive something, right? That's not the point of life. You've got to thrive, you've got to feel happy.' Prince Harry, 35, praised British youngsters for not just surviving 'but also thriving' during the coronavirus pandemic in a video clip for the Onside Awards In the video clip, which was shared online yesterday, Prince Harry said: 'Just a few months ago we were all together in London at the OnSide youth centre awards and wow what a night that was. 'I remember meeting so many incredible people and hearing your stories, stories of strength, of determination, of resilience.' 'But ultimately of courage.' He continued: 'These stories and these challenges, these daily challenges that you guys are coming up against are unbelievable. Prince Harry's message about thriving was almost identical to words spoken by his wife Meghan, 38, in the ITV documentary of the couple's time in South Africa 'So many people will never understand. You guys have the strength to pull through.' He went on: 'I can only imagine in the last six weeks have made it even more challenging but this too shall pass. 'Before you know it, you will be back together again, probably in a youth zone running around having the best time ever.' The message was almost identical to words spoken by the Duchess in South Africa when she discussed the challenges of royal life. Prince Harry has supported the OnSide charity for several years (pictured, playing rugby with children as he opens 'Future', the new Youth Zone in East London's Barking and Dagenham in April 2019) In the documentary, she revealed how she had long told Prince Harry and that it wasn't 'enough to just survive something' but that the point of life was to 'thrive' and 'feel happy.' OnSide is one of the UK charities, in addition to his private patronages, that Prince Harry has publicly committed to in his new independent role. The charity, which has built 12 youth clubs in England, appears to be close to Prince Harry's heart, with the royal having visited the various facilities at least three times. He most recently visited the OnSide Youth Zone in East London's Barking and Dagenham in April 2019, having previously visited Wigan Youth Zone in July 2016 and the Hive Wirral Youth Zone in January 2019 with the Duchess of Sussex. As DailyMail.com exclusively revealed on Thursday, Harry and Meghan are living in Perry's $18 million mansion in ultra-tony Beverly Ridge Estates just outside Beverly Hills (pictured) Prince Harry shared the message from his home in Los Angeles where he lives with Meghan and their son Archie, one OnSide Youth Zones pride themselves in providing a safe environment where young people can come and enjoy themselves, build key skills and raise their aspirations and confidence to create a happier and healthier generation. Harry's own personal life has changed immensely in the months since he and wife Meghan gave up their royal duties to move to America. The family's move to the couple's new home in Los Angeles has surrounded Harry on all sides by Team Meghan, the Daily Mail revealed yesterday. Prince Harry and Meghan have been living in an ultra-luxury Beverly Hills hideout that belongs to Hollywood tycoon Tyler Perry since March, with several of Meghan's closest friends live near the vast 14.5million villa. During the documentary, Meghan spoke about the challenges of royal life and said she wanted to 'thrive', not just survive They include key figures in the Duchess's life such as long-term friends Benita Litt, Heather Dorak and Abigail Spencer. Fifty-year-old Perry's eight-bedroom, 12-bathroom Tuscan-style villa sits on 22 acres on the top of a hill in the ultra-exclusive Beverly Ridge Estates guard-gated community, offering sweeping views of the city from the backyard. Meghan, 38, has told pals she is delighted to be back in her hometown and near friends and her mother, Doria Ragland. But friends of Harry, 35, have voiced fears that he has few contacts or friends in LA, and will be reliant on his wifes close circle of confidantes. KENT COUNTY, MI A man who had an art studio at The Potters House schools property is accused of sexually abusing two young girls, including one at school, court records say. James Wallace Treadwell, 62, is accused of having sexual contact with two children under the age of 13 in 2016. An artist, he rented workspace at Roosevelt Park Community Church from the Potters House during the 2015-16 school year. The schools bought the church in summer 2015. The Potters House said in a statement it has fully cooperated with police. The statement did not disclose Treadwells relationship to the schools but he has been described as an artist in residency. One of the incidents allegedly occurred in January 2016 at a Potters House school in Wyoming. The other allegedly occurred in September 2016 at a home in East Grand Rapids. Threadwell is held on $1 million bond. James Wallace Treadwell at his arraignment Monday May 11, in 63rd District Court before Judge Sara Smolenski. (John Agar|MLive.com) In a probable-cause affidavit filed in Wyoming District Court, Wyoming police said that a girl, who was under 13 at the time of the alleged incident, did not disclose at the time what happened but exhibited trauma. During treatment, she eventually told a counselor about the alleged assault. She said that Treadwell, who went by Jamie and had an art studio, molested her while they were at school, court records said. Wyoming police said in court records that Treadwell is a suspect in multiple jurisdictions of inappropriate contact with underage girls. He is charged with two counts of second-degree criminal-sexual conduct, a 15-year felony. He was arraigned Monday morning, May 11, in Wyoming District Court. He was arraigned later that day before 63rd District Judge Sara Smolenski set bond at $100,000. Defense attorney Larry Willey said he would file a motion to lower his clients $1 million bond in Wyoming. He said that his client has never been in trouble before and turned himself in - while living in Florida - when told that warrants had been issued for his arrest. Willey said that Treadwell is not a flight risk. Smolenski ordered that Treadwell, if he posts bond, wear a GPS tether. He can have no contact with either alleged victim or families. Because the allegations involve different victims, there is always the possibility of others out there who have not come forward to make a report, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said. He said it is not unusual for young victims to withhold information about sexual assaults. Delayed disclosure is a common phenomenon regarding children who have been sexually abused. It sometimes takes years for kids to come forward and tell others abuse has occurred," Becker said in a statement. Read more: 3 Michigan inmates with coronavirus sent to virus-free prison after lab mix-up, corrections official says Remembering the Kalamazoo tornado 40 years after it struck May 13, 1980 Commission can ban guns at Michigan Capitol, AG says in formal opinion Thank you for subscribing! By signing up to this free newsletter you agree to receive occasional emails from us informing you about our products and services. You can opt out of these emails at any time. Christina Segundo-Hernandez and Jose Segundo have worked for years, building a life for their four children in Fort Worth, Texas. She handles packages for the United Parcel Service, while he works construction. But like millions of others, the coronavirus pandemic has been devastating to their finances. Once drawing an annual household income of about $56,000, the family's earnings dwindled as Jose's hours were cut in half and Christina now works about eight hours a week. That's why the relief payments Congress overwhelmingly approved in the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (Cares) Act would mean so much to them - if only they were eligible. The law provides $1,200 to citizens with adjusted gross incomes below $75,000 and $500 per child. Despite paying taxes, the entire family is prohibited from receiving the payments because one member, Jose, does not have a Social Security number. Christina and their children are U.S. citizens, Jose is not. But Jose does feed government coffers using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), which is available to noncitizens regardless of their legal status. It's not clear how many families are in the same situation as the Segundo-Hernandez household, but about 4.35 million people with an ITIN paid $13.7 billion in taxes in 2015, according to an American Immigration Council report citing IRS data. They are not eligible for the same benefits as other taxpayers. "This is a monumental injustice," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters. That led the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund to file a federal lawsuit against the Treasury Department on behalf of Segundo-Hernandez and others whose families cannot get coronavirus payments despite being taxpaying citizens. There is an exception in cases where one spouse is in the military. She and others are deprived of the stimulus "just because they happen to be a mixed-status marriage where one has a Social Security number and the other has an ITIN," said Thomas A. Saenz, the organization's president and general counsel said in a phone interview. When Segundo-Hernandez learned her family is not eligible for the payments, "I was upset at first and then I was angry," she said. "I mean, what else can you feel but being upset, you can't pay your bills. . . . You're treated like a second-class American. You feel discriminated against just based on who you're married to." The group makes that point in its brief, arguing that in denying people like Segundo-Hernandez and her children relief payments, the government "singles out one class of married individuals with social security numbers and subjects them to different treatment based on whom they marry." When federal officials "intentionally discriminate" in this way, they violate the Constitution's First Amendment and due process and equal protection provisions, the lawsuit adds. For Robert P. Newman, the Washington lawyer who filed the lawsuit with the defense fund, this is a fundamental question of fairness and due process. Denying American citizens and their children the stimulus payment, just because they filed a joint tax return with an ITIN spouse, he said, is "a clear constitutional violation." The lawsuit is among others related to the fairness of the coronavirus stimulus package. A Georgetown University Law Center lawsuit says it is unconstitutional to deny relief payments to children who are U.S. citizens because one or both parents are undocumented. Another action, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, says officials "have intentionally and/or recklessly punished certain United States citizens and their children from receiving the Stimulus Check for the sole reason of who they chose to marry." Treasury did not respond to requests for comment, but the office of Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a Cares Act co-author, did. "The bipartisan Social Security Number requirement, which was also included in the 2008 rebates, prevents illegal immigrants from qualifying for a U.S. taxpayer-funded program and helps reduce fraud and abuse," Michael Zona, a Grassley spokesman, said in an email. "It's based on the standards used for the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit. The importance of the Social Security Number requirement to prevent fraud is made all the more important given there is no 'earned income' requirement to qualify." Going forward, if mixed-status couples file taxes separately, which might not be their financial interest, the one with a Social Security number could get coronavirus relief payments for that spouse and the children. Unlike Democratic leaders, Grassley does not support changing the law so families with an ITIN holder can receive the relief payments. Rep. J. Luis Correa, Calif., and other House Democrats have introduced the Leave No Taxpayer Behind Act to allow taxpayers, regardless of citizenship status, to receive the coronavirus checks. "It's hard to believe that people would be so cruel to say that American citizens, just because of who their parent was or who they marry shouldn't get the same rights as every other American citizen," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said during a conference call organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. "Senate Democrats are going to fight like hell to help ensure that all American citizens in need, regardless of the immigration status of their spouses or parents, are provided the support they need to be healthy and economically stable now and in the future." SPRINGFIELD MGM Springfield told state labor officials this month that it will lay off as many as 1,887 employees at the end of August after their temporary furloughs necessitated by the coronavirus emergency come to an end. MGM Springfield filed a notice May 5 with the state under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act. The state made the notice public Monday. The two-year-old resort in the South End had just more than 2,000 employees this winter, short of the 3,000 employees MGM Resorts International promised state regulators it would hire when campaigning for the licence. The WARN notice mirrors a dire letter Bill Hornbuckle , CEO of MGM Resorts International, sent to employees nationwide last week alerting them of thousands of layoffs. He said at first MGM expected a quick turnaround from state-ordered shutdowns here in Massachusetts and around the country. But its become apparent that travel and casino business will be severely impacted even after formal stay-at-home orders are over. Massachusetts authorities shut down the the three resort casinos here MGM Springfield, Encore Boston Harbor and Plainridge Park in March. That shutdowns been extended several times and will now run until at least May 18. In his letter to employees, Hornbuckle told employees that they will remain furloughed through the end of August.Their employment will be end if they are not rehired by Aug. 31, a date that matches with the WARN notice sent to the state. The letter didnt give a number of layoffs and the WARN notice number is possible the maximum number MGM expects to let go. There could be fewer. At he end of April, Hornbuckle told investors that MGM would reopen its operations all over the United States in phases, with new precautions in place and in cooperation with state governments. While we have always put health and safety at the forefront of all that we do, there are new imperatives, Hornbuckle told investors in a Thursday evening conference call. Consumer confidence is key to economic recovery and thoughtful reopening strategies are vital to building public trust. He told investors that he expects regional casinos, like Springfield, where folks drive rather than fly would open earlier and build back their business more quickly than Vegas for example. In a separate filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, MGM already said that its revenue for the first three months of 2020 was down $2.3 billion or 29% compared with the first three months of 2019. Related content 10.05.2020 LISTEN The unrestrained and somewhat syndicated massacre being carried out by the Fulani Herdsmen across the country is gradually becoming a brand; a brand in the sense that, satanical agents now wish to deal with their enemies with doses of such brutal deaths. Even though one is not a staunch supporter of the Buhari government, it will not be proper to tow the line of political fanatics, who by virtue of being in the opposition, cast aspersions on the person and office of the president. I am not trained to dance to sponsored tunes and will never attempt to strangulate journalistic objectivity on the altar of partisan politics. Truth be told, the arrogant mien of the Fulani herdsmen and the alleged inaction of the president, placed side by side, according to some observers, signal an ethnic camaraderie aimed at rubbishing the save-our-soul cries of those at the receiving end of the herdsmens reign of terror. Though Mr President has always directed the security agencies to crush all forms of terror and insurgencies in the country, many see his directive as a deceptive gimmick to assuage frayed nerves, considering the recent utterances of some northern hypocrites who have warned state governors not to ask herdsmen to leave their states. They have even threatened the unity of Nigeria should any governor do otherwise. Going by the scale of evidence against the herdsmen whose atrocious ways of killing are attracting global outrage, these northern hypocrites ought to realise that this is not the best of times to sound authoritarian. They should know that giving commands and conditions to those communities in which host herdsmen is tantamount to adding insult upon injury. Unless they are deliberately daring those communities or trying to trigger another civil war, they should call for a peaceful resolution to the matter. They must not be seen as acting out a script. Shortly after the ignobly famous Nimbo massacre, a Fulani caller, during a radio programme, had said that his people will continue to kill as a reaction to the death of their cows. According to that caller, whenever one cow is killed, twenty lives must replace it. That statement smacks of the highest level of arrogance and disrespect for human life. And with the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association always coming out to say that herdsmen kill in self-defence, it appears the matter would require the intervention of the United Nations before lasting peace can be found. Recently, some communities in Delta and Plateau States have come under serious attacks by Fulani herdsmen. The audacious manners in which these merchants of death dispense crude terror typifies the veneration of bestial tendencies in a world that is trying to elevate the thinking of humanity to innovative and problem-solving heights. Recent development across the country have shown that some of these marauders have transmuted into kidnappers. One cannot safely travel from one state to the other in Nigeria of today without embarking on some life-saving intelligence gathering. Buses are being hijacked, driven into the grassy covers of thick bushes where passengers are profiled and calls for ransom payment made accordingly. Some of the victims of such kidnapping sagas hardly come out alive. We have been inundated with unfortunate cases in which their victims were killed after ransoms were collected. Of course, not all Fulani herdsmen engage in such despicable acts. The problem is that the number of bad eggs has dampened the perception of an average Fulani herdsman in the eyes of any right-thinking Nigerian. Whatever the case may be, the federal government must demonstrate its commitment to the protection of Nigerian lives, irrespective of status, religion, tribe or age. The country belongs to all of us. No one was born to rule over the other. We all have equal chances of survival and self-actualisation. Hard work and the creative application of the intellect should form the basic fulcrum of our progression to positions of authority and power. Let us restructure our mind-sets and begin to think of what we can do individually and collectively to move our country ahead. Intellectual militancy, rather than the destruction of innocent lives and property, should be the driving force whenever there is dissent. Through this, the quality of our thoughts is enriched to compete with world standards. Iwelunmor Patrick, a Public Relations and Media Practitioner, writes from Lagos. Head chef Geraud Fabre (L) of French restaurant France-Soir waits for take-away orders in Melbourne on May 8, 2020. (WILLIAM WEST/ Getty Images) Victoria State Premier Announces Lockdown Changes WHAT HAS CHANGED IN VICTORIAS REVISED LOCKDOWN RULES? * Changes take effect from midnight on May 12 and will apply until the state of emergency ends on May 31 at 11:59pm * Up to five visitors now allowed to a home. * Outdoor gatherings of up to 10. * Still work from home if possible, but workplaces should develop a COVID-19 plan. * While several public gathering rules are relaxed, records must be kept of who attends to help with contact tracing. * Outdoor sport and exercise is allowed and the 10-person limit applies. Every activity must be conducted with people 1.5m apart. * Professional sport can resume, giving the green light to the AFL and NRL. But permit use only for restricted facilities such as gyms and pools no public access at indoor facilities for now. * Weddings allowed up to 10 guests in addition to the couple and celebrant. * Funerals allowed up to 20 mourners indoors and up to 30 outdoors, plus those required to conduct the service. * Religious private worship of up to 10 people, plus those required to conduct the ceremony. * Hairdressers and barbers open unless they cant enforce person density rules. * No specific restrictions on retail stores. * Auction houses and real estate auctions can go ahead with up to 10 people. * Restaurants and cafes still only open for takeaway, baseline restrictions also remain for bars and casinos. * Community facilities can host essential public support services or support groups, with the 10-person limit applying (plus anyone needed to host the meeting or operate the facility). * No camping yet. * Public parks, playgrounds, outdoor gyms and skate parks are closed, unless for exercise, sport or recreation of up to 10 people. * Caravan parks remain closed to tourists. * School students are expected to return to their classrooms by the end of term two. Melbourne UWyo Magazine Releases Guide to College More than 30 University of Wyoming students, plus alumni and faculty, share their tips for success in the spring issue of UWyo Magazine. Created as a guide to college, the issue features advice from current students on 30 fun things to do in and around Laramie; how to decorate a dorm room or college apartment; where and how to study; how new students can get involved; paying for college; and more. In addition, professors advise new students on succeeding in the classroom and beyond; an infographic highlights dining on campus and in town; admissions representatives answer frequently asked questions; advisers highlight how to choose a major or add a minor; alumni offer career advice; and Education Abroad staff members share the many study-abroad options at UW. In these unprecedented times, we wanted to give high school and transfer students the chance to get excited about their upcoming university careers, as well as give them a roadmap for success, says Micaela Myers, magazine editor. We spoke to UW student brand ambassadors, transfer student mentors, alumni, faculty and staff to address incoming-student questions. New students will enjoy the interactive format, complete with videos throughout. The spring issue of UWyo Magazine can be accessed online at www.uwyo.edu/uwyo or via a digital magazine flipbook. UWyo Magazine, the universitys flagship publication, is published two times a year in print and digital formats, and once a year in a digital-only format. The group Hamilton Flourishing has released "the most comprehensive, third party, review of teacher compensation of teachers in Hamilton County Schools (HCDE) in recent memory." It said the results show that the average teacher salary for Hamilton County Public School Teachers is $52,649 - higher than any surrounding Tennessee county. Comparable counties such as Knox average $50,504.00. Williamson County teachers average $51,225.00. The study says veteran salaries are at an average of $64,399.00. Tennessees average salary is $50,998.00. Hamilton County teachers with a doctorate top out at $71,209.00 after 25 years of teaching. The study said county teachers "also receive a generous health and dental insurance package worth about $10,000." The 15-page report, available on the Hamilton Flourishing website www.hamiltonflourishing.org , under the heading Education was put together by Batiwalla Consulting of Nashville. The group said, "Mary Batiwalla has over a decade in education, including her recent role as Assistant Commissioner at the Tennessee Department of Education. She has also been a practitioner, researcher, and executive leader. Her other roles at the state were: Executive Director of Accountability, Research and Policy Analyst and Research Project Manager. She holds a Master in Public Policy from Vanderbilts Peabody College and a BA in Sociology from Loyola University. She is a graduate of Tennessee public schools." Doug Daugherty, president of Hamilton Flourishing, an organization in Chattanooga whose mission is to seek the well-being of Hamilton County and Chattanooga through effective Public Policy, wrote in a letter to community leaders that, The current administration should get a pat on the back for creating compensation packages that are above average, significantly in some comparisons. He added, The issue of teacher compensation has been thrown around like a political hot potato year after year. Our aim is to publish factual, researched documents, easily read, that make it plain to every taxpayer, citizen and voter in Hamilton County as to what the facts are on issues within our mission, so that when opinions are expressed, they are backed up by reliable third party data. This will allow politicians, voters, taxpayers and citizens of Hamilton County to be more knowledgeable and less open to arm-twisting from one side or the other. "Good teachers and a good support network make the best educators. Good pay is an incentive for recruiting and retention." The report says Hamilton County Schools "retained only 86 percent of their 2017-18 teachers to their 2018-2019 school year; this rate was lower than all surrounding Tennessee districts." Mr. Daughterty said, "Citizens are invited to read the entire report themselves and follow the many references to cited available data." Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Monday said 9,000 guest workers have been sent to their native states by special trains and assured facilitation for the rest of migrant labourers to return home in a week. The government has been taking all steps for staggered departure of guest workers if they choose to go home and also based on the concurrence of their home States, Palaniswami said. "So far 9,000 guest workers have been sent to their respective states on eight trains and following the concurrence of concerned State governments," the Chief Minister said in an official release. Efforts were afoot to send the remaining workers to their homes in a week after getting the nod of their respective state governments, he said. "Till such time, I appeal to guest workers to stay put in their respective camps," he said following recent reports of some workers trying to reach railway stations out of anxiety. Chennai Police Commissioner A K Viswanathan on Sunday visited guest workers from northern States housed at Pallavaram here and inspected the amenities there and assured them that they will soon be sent home. Meanwhile, a special train departed from Katpadi (Vellore) to Howrah in West Bengal at noon carrying 1,126 passengers registered and nominated by the government of Tamil Nadu. "Thermal screening of passengers done and social distancing ensured while boarding and on board," Southern Railway General Manager said on his twitter handle. On Sunday, nearly 1,000 workers from Tamil Nadu, stranded in Maharashtra reached Tiruchirappalli by a special train. Also, Southern Railway operated similar services to ferry over 3,000 workers to destinations in Manipur and Andhra Pradesh among others from Tamil Nadu. On May 9 too special trains were operated from a couple of cities in Tamil Nadu to various destinations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) FILE PHOTO: The logo of LafargeHolcim, the world's largest cement maker, is seen in Zurich ZURICH (Reuters) - LafargeHolcim has decided to keep its $2.15 billion Philippines business after a deal to sell the operation collapsed, the world's biggest cement maker said on Monday. The agreement to sell four cement plants and one grinding plant to San Miguel Corporation fell apart after the Philippines Competition Authority (PCC) did not give approval in time. "With today's unprecedented global health crisis, the world has changed dramatically," LafargeHolcim said of its strategy switch. "Given today's new reality, we have decided to no longer sell our business in the Philippines. The Philippines is one of the most high-growth countries in the Asia-Pacific region and we intend to maintain our leadership position there." The Swiss company, which last month said it expects a speedy recovery for the construction sector when coronavirus restrictions are lifted, said it was well positioned to grow in the Philippines, where it had sales of around 650 million Swiss francs ($668 million) in 2019. It also had ample liquidity to cover its obligations with 8 billion francs in cash and unused committed credit lines, it added. Analysts were not surprised by the failure of the deal after the PCC had raised concerns it could lead to increased market power and a possible monopoly for San Miguel. "Holcim Philippines operates in a high-growth market and is profitable, but the divestment would have helped LafargeHolcim to reduce its net debt by 1.8 billion Swiss francs," said Bank Vontobel analyst Bernd Pomrehn. "However, even without this transaction we expect the company's deleveraging to proceed," he added. LafargeHolcim's stock fell 1.6% by midday. LafargeHolcim announced the sale of its entire 85.7% stake to industrial group San Miguel in May 2019 and was expected to complete the transaction by the end of 2019. "The PCC did not issue an approval of the transaction within the required time period and consequently the agreement lapsed," LafargeHolcim said. Story continues LafargeHolcim has been offloading assets to pay down debt and wanted to exit what it has previously called the "hyper-competitive" South-East Asia market. The Swiss company has also quit Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, where its businesses together with the Philippines operation were worth $4.9 billion. LafargeHolcim said three of its four plants in the Philippines that had been shut down due to the coronavirus crisis had now resumed operations. (Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Michael Shields) " " Wikimedia Commons A portrait of Catherine the Great by Fedor Rokotov , 1763. Born in 1729, and known as Catherine the Great because she served as Russia's longest-reigning female ruler, she was empress from 1762 until her death in 1796. If persistent tabloid covers and made-for-television miniseries have taught us anything, it's that us commoners simply love a royal scandal. So it's no surprise then that a legendary monarch like Catherine the Great, the longest reigning female leader of Russia, has in many cases been reduced to tales of sordid affairs and unsavory sexual trysts. But those well versed in Russian history will tell you that Catherine, who ruled from 1762 to 1796, was so much more than the gossip and intrigue that surrounded her during her reign and has shrouded her since her death. Here are seven facts you need to know about the controversial, charismatic and game-changing Catherine the Great. Advertisement 1. She Wasn't Born as a Catherine or as a Russian Born in 1729 in Prussia (modern day Poland) as Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst, the woman who would later be known as Catherine the Great was the oldest daughter of a German prince named Christian August von Anhalt-Zerbst. Thanks to her mother's prestigious lineage (which was distantly connected to Empress Elizabeth of Russia), Sophie pretty much had her pick of the litter in terms of marital prospects. At the age of 14, she was paired up with her second cousin, Elizabeth's son, Peter III. The grandson of Peter the Great, Peter III was heir to the Russian throne. In 1744, Catherine relocated to Russia and took on the title Grand Duchess Ekaterina (Catherine) Alekseevna, and a year later, she and Peter were married. But the union wasn't quite a storybook romance. We'll get to that in a bit. 2. Her Progressive Legacy Gets Lost Among Lurid Tales "More attention should be paid to Catherine II as legislatrix, someone with a very strong work ethic who issued numerous laws to restructure the state (to achieve administrative uniformity across a vast empire), society (by more clearly delineating different societal categories), and the very configuration of Russian towns (she had blueprints made for uniform buildings in town centers)," Victoria Frede, associate professor in the department of history at UC Berkeley, says via email. "It is well known that she aggressively expanded the size of the Russian empire (including Crimea), though few appreciate that she was more successful in increasing the empire's size than Peter the Great. We may disapprove, and her legacy was mixed, especially because of the deepening of social inequality (the oppression of serfs) in her reign. She was a hard-nosed ruler, but that is why she made such a big imprint on the country." 3. Her Reign Was the "Golden Age of the Russian Empire" Catherine called herself a "glutton for art" and she was obsessed with European paintings and European-inspired architecture. In fact, St. Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum, which now occupies the whole Winter Palace, started out as Catherine's personal collection. She is considered the monarch responsible for changing the face of Russia through the construction of classical mansions, her endorsement of Enlightenment ideals, and the establishment of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, the first state-financed higher education institution for women in Europe, among other achievements. " " The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great, has around 3 million objects in its collections, including an extensive collection of paintings. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, shown here, a former residence of Russian emperors. Sean Gallup/Getty Images "She was a true 'intellectual on the throne' who was very much involved in Russia's cultural life (and among other things, brought Russia much more into European consciousness)," Marcus C. Levitt, professor emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Southern California, says via email. "Hers was a 'golden age' of Russian culture. She both laid the basis for a public sphere in Russia and in reacting against the French Revolution at the end of her reign, also laid the basis for later attempts to shut down the public sphere. Hers was arguably the longest and most successful reign in Russian history." 4. Her Love Life Was Complicated To Say the Least It's no secret Catherine and Peter had a troubled marriage from the start. The fact that she didn't produce an heir after eight years of marriage led many to believe Peter either was unable to consummate the marriage or was infertile. Regardless of the reason, both Catherine and Peter engaged in extramarital affairs, and by 1752, she was regularly hooking up with Sergei Saltykov, a Russian military officer who many people believe is the actual father of Catherine's first child, Paul, who was born in 1754. Catherine didn't do much to deny these rumors she even said Empress Elizabeth permitted the affair. Historians can't be sure who the baby daddy really was, but most agree that Peter didn't father a single one of Catherine's three additional children. She had a daughter with Stanislaus Poniatowski, who she later helped to become king of Poland, and in the ultimate crushing blow to their marriage, Catherine overthrew Peter in a coup d'etat in July 1762, garnering her the title of Empress of Russia. She never married again, but she did build a reputation for taking lovers and then promoting them to key government positions. "She was a serial monogamist who constantly desired the physical and spiritual closeness of a lover; furthermore, she exploited her lovers' abilities for the good of the country," says Levitt. "There's a lot more I could say here; the later tradition often saw her as a consummate hypocrite, but this I think takes things out of historical context. I believe that her heart was in the right place, but that she understood the nature and limitations of political power in Russia." Advertisement 5. Politically and Socially, She Was Both Liberal and Conservative While Catherine had a major hand in modernizing Russia in the image of Western Europe, she didn't do much to change the system of serfdom. In the 18th century, Russian serfs weren't bound to land, but to their owners, and while they weren't exactly slaves, the system of forced labor is, through a modern lens, a clearly problematic and punishing practice. Catherine made some moves to change this system, signing legislation to prohibit the practice, and even penning a 1775 manifesto that prohibited former serfs who had been freed from becoming serfs again. But on the other hand, Catherine also limited the freedoms of many peasants and gave away many state-owned peasants to become private serfs. Between 1773 and 1775, rebellion leader Yemelyan Pugachev rallied peasants and Cossacks and promised the serfs land of their own and freedom from their lords in what was known as Pugachev's Rebellion. By late 1774, somewhere between 9,000 to 10,000 rebels were dead, and by September of that year, the rebellion was finished. 6. That Story About Her Cause of Death? Totally False Perhaps one of the most notorious rumors to follow Catherine have been the ones regarding her cause of death. Let's put this story to rest: Catherine did not die while having sex with a horse. And yes, that's an age-old theory that's an unflattering piece of gossip that's trailed her since her death on Nov. 17, 1796. Apparently, according to History.com, "the use of horse-riding as a sexual metaphor had a long history in libelous attacks on courtly women. Horse-riding was integrally linked with notions of nobility, and this story was also a perfect subversion of Catherine's noted equestrian skills." In reality, Catherine died of a stroke at the age of 67. 7. Her Reputation May Be On the Mend "I think one could say as a general matter that Catherine's image has greatly improved over the past hundred years or so," Alexander M. Martin, professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, says via email. "In Russia before the 1917 revolution, she mostly had a dubious reputation: politically, as someone who talked a lot about 'enlightened' values but refused to free the serfs; and personally, as a woman who was immoral because of her succession of lovers. There has been a lot of scholarship about her since the mid-20th century, and mostly, it has tended to rehabilitate her. While clearly she did nothing to help the serfs, we have gained a greater appreciation of her efforts to modernize Russia in other ways; and our own changing attitudes about gender and sexuality have led us to stop seeing her private life as scandalous the way earlier generations did." Now That's Interesting Vaccines may still be a touchy topic to some, but Catherine had no qualms endorsing the practice of inoculations. She chose to be inoculated against smallpox even though it was a controversial practice at the time. She said, "my objective was, through my example, to save from death the multitude of my subjects who, not knowing the value of this technique, and frightened of it, were left in danger.' By 1800, about 2 million vaccines were administered throughout the Russian Empire. President Donald Trump during a news briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 11, 2020. Read more WASHINGTON President Donald Trump pushed Monday for Pennsylvania to reopen its economy faster, escalating a fight already roiling the state, as Republican lawmakers and some local officials pressure Gov. Tom Wolf to lift the coronavirus restrictions that have slowed the pandemics spread but left about a quarter of the states workforce without a job. The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now, and they are fully aware of what that entails, Trump said in a morning Twitter post. The Democrats are moving slowly, all over the USA, for political purposes. They would wait until November 3rd if it were up to them. Dont play politics. Be safe, move quickly! At a Monday afternoon news conference, Trump again called on states such as Pennsylvania to move faster in lifting lockdown orders. While at least 80,000 people have died in the United States after contracting the virus, including more than 3,700 in Pennsylvania, Trump said isolation and economic desperation could also lead to deaths from drug addiction or suicide. If you look at Pennsylvania as an example, if you look at various other states, I wont get into them, the people want to go back, Trump said in the Rose Garden. The numbers are getting to a point where they can, and there just seems to be no effort on certain blue states to get back into gear, and the people arent going to stand for it. They want our country open, I want our country open, too, I want it open safely, but I want it open. And on Tuesday morning, Trump confirmed he will visit the state Thursday. He is scheduled to stop just outside Allentown at Owens and Minor, a medical equipment company. Wolf rejected reopening too quickly Monday, accusing those who would rush to restart the economy of having decided to surrender to this enemy. He said local government officials authorizing businesses to resume activity in defiance of his administration and medical experts are being selfish and unsafe. These folks are choosing to desert in the face of the enemy, in the middle of a war that we Pennsylvanians are winning and that we must win, Wolf said during an online news conference that he opened by removing a mask and spritzing sanitizer on his hands. Asked about Trumps tweet, Wolf said he would continue a measured, staged reopening. I dont know how you stay safe and move quickly, he said. Were trying to move deliberately. The back and forth between Harrisburg and Washington on Monday came amid reports that Trump eager to get back to his travel schedule after months mostly spent in the White House would visit Pennsylvania later this week. The Washington Post reported that a proposed visit to a Delaware County factory where workers lived for weeks to manufacture personal protective equipment was called off because of health risks. In his remarks Monday, the president did not single out Wolf, who has generally avoided the criticism Trump has leveled at other Democratic governors. But the Twitter blast came as Pennsylvania Republicans and some county leaders and businesses ratcheted up pressure to ease the restrictions Wolf has imposed. Commissioners in at least six counties have threatened to defy Wolfs orders, and top Pennsylvania Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Turzai, have railed against the economic harm of the shutdown. In York County on Saturday, State Rep. Mike Jones (R., York) gathered more than 150 people, many without masks, for a meeting in which he was critical of Wolf and urged resistance. We got Wolf on the ropes, Jones said, according to the York Daily Record. Its time to knock him out. ASK US: Do you have a question about the coronavirus and how it affects your health, work, and life? Ask our reporters. That resistance isnt limited to conservative areas of the state, even as polling shows Americans are generally more worried about lifting lockdown orders too early than too late. Bucks and Delaware Counties are pushing state officials to allow them to move out of the restrictive red reopening phase Wolf has laid out and into the next step. Wolf said 24 counties have moved into the yellow zone of his three-phase reopening plan, and 13 more will soon follow. He and many medical experts argue that moving too quickly will bring a deadly resurgence of the virus. Republicans say Wolf is moving too slowly and argue that the worst health risks have passed while the economic devastation continues mounting. In weekend Twitter posts, Turzai drew attention to the proportion of people who have died of coronavirus complications while also suffering from other conditions, or comorbidities. Citing increased mobility by residents, the respected model by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projected Sunday that Pennsylvania would see 2,136 more deaths by the end of August than had been predicted one week earlier. The states growth in cases is slowing, however, data show. The White House, meanwhile, faced fears of its own coronavirus outbreak, despite a more robust screening and testing program than any other workplace can offer. Trump is counting on a rapid economic recovery as the central argument for his reelection campaign and has urged states to move faster even though many states easing restrictions dont meet the guidelines his own administration had set out. Responding to Trumps tweet, U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, a Philadelphia Democrat, wrote that what people want is freedom FROM THE VIRUS. This story has been updated to include details of Trumps planned visit to Pennsylvania. Staff writer Julia Terruso contributed to this article. Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Monday urged Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to announce a special package for teachers working in private unaided educational institutions, who are in financial distress due to COVID-19-induced lockdown. In a letter to the Chief Minister, the JD(S) patriarch, appreciating the state government's functioning in addressing the situation arising out of COVID-19 pandemic, complimented it for announcing a special package for the unorganised sector workers, whose daily life was affected by the lockdown. "In the same way, teachers working in private sector are in financial distress due to the lockdown," Gowda said. Pointing out that the contributions of teachers working in unaided private educational institutions is huge in improving the quality of education, he said, "Due to the lockdown for the last two months, these educational institutions have faced financial stress and are facing problem in paying teachers. The main reason for this is non- payment of RTE dues by the department." Gowda, in his letter, said the RTE dues of Rs 1,300 crore that were pending should be released immediately to address the financial distress faced by teachers. He also sought financial assistance to bail out private unaided school and college managements. The Chief Minister should call a meeting of minister and department officials and protect the interest of teachers, Gowda added. The Yediyurappa government on Wednesday had announced announced Rs 1,610-crore relief package for the benefit of those in distress due to the lockdown. The measures, announced as part of the package, included compensation of Rs 5,000 each to thousands of washermen, barbers, autorickshaw and taxi drivers, whose daily life has been affected. The government had also announced one-time financial relief of Rs 5,000 each to over 11,000 cobbler-families in the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WHO rebuts German reports of China-WHO withholding COVID-19 info Global Times By Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times Published: 2020/5/10 15:51:07 The World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday refuted a report from media outlet Der Spiegel regarding the details of information-sharing on COVID-19 between China and the organization, slashing false reports that distract global efforts in fighting the pandemic as the report also contradicted the official timeline of the epidemic response that the Chinese government had earlier released. The WHO comments came after the German newspaper published an article on Friday, citing the country's intelligence service, claiming that China urged the organization to delay global warnings following the outbreak and that Chinese President Xi Jinping requested via a phone call with WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on January 21 to ask him to withhold information on human-to-human transmission, claiming this caused the world a delay of four to six weeks in fighting COVID-19, the newspaper said. The WHO refuted media claims by saying that reports of a January 21 phone call between the WHO chief and President Xi were unfounded and untrue. They didn't speak on January 21 and have never spoken via phone. Such inaccurate reports distract & detract from the WHO's and global efforts to end COVID-19, said an official tweet from the WHO. China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the virus on January 20, the WHO added in a follow-up tweet. Some Twitter users also raised suspicions regarding the report as they believe the alleged cover-up makes no sense particularly when the Chinese government had already publicly revealed human-to-human transmission the day before. Also, there was no information relevant to such a call on the official timeline of China's COVID-19 response that the Chinese government released on April 6. "Groundless and false reports are also part of a disinformation campaign being waged against China by some Western media and politicians," Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for US Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Sunday. Such a campaign has been fueled by US-led anti-China sentiment and rhetoric which has been escalating in recent weeks as the pandemic continued worsening. On January 20, the National Health Commission held a press conference for the high-level expert team headed by Zhong Nanshan, who on the team's behalf confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus and advised people not to go to Wuhan except for extremely important reasons, according to the official timeline. On January 21, Zhong said at another press briefing that "since it is known that the virus can be transmitted from people to people, one thing to do is to strictly quarantine patients and track close contacts, which is probably the most important thing." In addition, China has been sharing information with the WHO publicly from January 3. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Proposal to change rules for central deputation of IAS officers affects states' administration: Mamata to PM Young India is showing the way: PM Modi on Covid vaccination Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav: PM to flag off seven initiatives of Brahma Kumaris On National Technology Day, Modi hails those at forefront of research to defeat COVID-19 India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, May 11: On the National Technology Day on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed all those at the forefront of research and innovation to defeat coronavirus and remembered the "exceptional achievement" of the country's scientists in carrying out the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests. The National Technology Day marks the anniversary of the underground nuclear tests conducted in Rajasthan's Pokhran. Pokhran nuclear tests: A success story under Atal Bihari Vajpayee's leadership On this day in 1998, India successfully conducted first of its five nuclear tests under the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. "On National Technology Day, our nation salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. We remember the exceptional achievement of our scientists on this day in 1998. It was a landmark moment in India's history," Modi said in a series of tweets. The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make, he said. Nag ATGM test fired successfully in Pokhran, production likely to begin by year-end The prime minister said, "Today, technology is helping many in the efforts to make the world free from COVID-19. I salute all those at the forefront of research and innovation on ways to defeat coronavirus." Modi said he hoped that the humankind will keep harnessing technology to create a healthier and better planet. Global carbon dioxide levels have hit a record high despite reports of localised improvements in air quality due to the coronavirus lockdown, according to reports. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) released data last week showing that CO2 levels have risen steeply. According to the US agency the monthly average CO2 concentrations, recorded at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, were 416.21 parts per million (ppm) this year compared to 413.33ppm in April 2019. It's the highest concentration since records began in 1958. CO2 concentrations a decade ago were 393.18ppm, NOAA reported. Not only are CO2 concentrations increasing but they are also accelerating, according to the data. During the 1960s, the increase over one year was an average of 0.9ppm which has risen to an average 2.4ppm a year in the past decade. NOAA says it is "confident" that the CO2 measurements "reflect the truth about our global atmosphere". The observatory is located at an altitude of 3400m, near the summit of the Mauna Loa volcano, which allows air masses to be measured that represent large areas. During the pandemic, satellite data had shown reductions in nitrogen dioxide levels over urban areas in China, Europe and the US but overall, global emissions are climbing. Monthly mean carbon dioxide measured at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii (NOAA) Climate scientists indicated that the coronavirus pandemic could lead to a drop in emissions but that without structural change, they would be short-lived and have little impact on the build-up of CO2 in the atmosphere that has taken place over decades. Rob Jackson, head of the Global Carbon Project, told Reuters that although greenhouse gas emissions dipped in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, they rebounded during economic recovery and increased 5.1%. A United Nations report last year said that emissions would have to start falling by an average of 7.6% per year to achieve the 1.5C temperature goal set out by the Paris Climate Accords. Going beyond this target will lead to increasingly severe climate impacts, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) reported that while the pandemic had led to a reduction in air and road travel along with industrial activity since the beginning of the year, electricity use has not dropped. Nearly two-thirds of global electricity energy is made up from fossil fuels with coal being the main source. UNEP also noted that additional CO2 was being added to the atmosphere from large forest fires which are expected to increase in severity due to climate change. Last week, some 2,500 acres in the Florida panhandle were ablaze due to high winds and dry conditions. NASA's Earth Observatory also showed forest fires raging in large regions of countries including Brazil, Honduras, Venezuela, Thailand and Myanmar. On May 10, on the occasion of Victory Day, the anniversary of the liberation of Shushi and the formation of the Defense Army of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the deputy commander of the Defense Army for capital construction and troops settlement granted certificates for new apartments to the servicemen of one of the military units in the northern direction, as reported the news service of the Ministry of Defense of Artsakh. Before receiving the keys to their apartments, the attendees of the event paid tribute to the freedom fighters from Getavan village who had died during the Karabakh war. The home construction project in this sector will continue and will serve as a major impetus for improvement of qualitative indicators of military service. Parents usually request nannies or daycare helpers to keep them updated on how their young children are doing in their care. However, a Kentucky couple found a perfect babysitter for their little sonhis grandpa. The low-tech ex-cop kept the parents posted with hilarious memes. When Stephanie Waterhouse and her husband planned their first trip eight months after their son, Ty, was born, she knew her dad, David, would make the best babysitter for his grandson. PawPaw David with his grandson, Ty. (Courtesy of Stephanie Waterhouse) However, unbeknownst to the young couple, PawPaw, as David is affectionately addressed, had a surprise up his sleeves when he flew from Dallas, Texas, to Fort Knox, where the military family was stationed. Shortly after the couple was out vacationing, they started receiving hilarious photo updates from PawPaw. In each Meme by Pawpaw, little Ty was lying next to a message printed on a piece of paper. Adorable Ty was having a great time with his beloved PawPaw, and his grandpa didnt miss a chance to update his parents holidaying out of town about their adventures back home. Needless to say, the parents loved these updates. Dad and Mom, We partied with veggies and binged watched Sesame Street, one of the messages read. No worries. Love, Ty. Dad and Mom, We looked at Jeeps today. Can I get a license early? I liked the red one. Love, Ty, read another message, which was accompanied by a photo of Ty and a red Jeep. Speaking to GMA, Stephanie said that while PawPaw had created a series of hilarious memes, neither does he know what memes are nor does he have any social media account. My dad is low tech, Stephanie said. He refuses to get a smart phone and is very proud of his flip phone without internet. However, PawPaw knew he would run into difficulties if he were to use the couples computers at their home, so he prepared his messages in advance before flying to babysit his grandson. Memes by Pawpaw surprised us in that my dad had thought this out before he even flew up to Kentucky, Stephanie said. He printed the notes at home because he knew he wouldnt be able to figure out how to print them at our house. But once he started sending them, it doesnt surprise us because hes very funny like that. Though Stephanie said his dad was not that tech savvy, she said that her father had made some impressive achievements in the past when he was working as a police officer in Dallas. He was actually the person who created the database that tracked homicide information for the Dallas Police Department, Stephanie said. The FBI took his idea and modeled one of their national databases after the one he created, she said. With a dad like David, who absolutely loves being a grandfather, it is no surprise that Stephanie and her husband could have peace of mind on their first vacation, and the boys back home had their share of fun time, together. The memories of all this bonding time, for sure, will last for a lifetime! Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. C-Bond Premier Distributor, A1 Glass Coating, Currently Installing C-Bond BRS at Initial Four Schools at 70 School Campus HOUSTON, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- C-Bond Systems (the Company or C-Bond) (CBNT), a nanotechnology solutions company, announced today that one of the largest school districts in San Antonio, Texas, has selected C-Bond BRS (ballistic-resistant system) as a safety solution to improve student safety and peace of mind. C-Bond premier distributor, A1 Glass Coating, is currently installing C-Bond BRS at an initial four schools within the districts 70 campuses. C-Bond BRS is a ballistic-resistant film system that consists of the patented C-Bond glass strengthening technology and security film. The C-Bond technology chemically bonds to the defects randomly distributed on the glass surface thereby increasing impact resistance and preventing breakage. C-Bond BRS is validated by an independent third-party laboratory to provide National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Level I, Level IIA, Level II, and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 752 ballistic-resistant protection. Although no one likes to think about the possibility of school shootings or other school safety emergencies, it is critical that schools plan for them, and with students currently taking classes online, forward-thinking schools are taking action to improve their safety profile for when students and staff return, said Scott R. Silverman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of C-Bond Systems. We are proud that this school district chose to install C-Bond BRS, with the help of A1 Glass Coating, to help protect their students, teachers and other school personnel. C-Bond BRS has been installed in numerous schools, government buildings, and other high-security facilities around the country. C-Bonds glass strengthening technology is protected by 22 patents and patent pending applications. About A1 Glass Coating A1 Glass Coating in San Antonio, Texas, provides quality window tint solutions for auto, home, and business owners across Texas and has been doing so for over 30 years. We specialize in automotive window tinting, residential window film, and commercial window film that stops harmful UV rays from passing through our films, resulting in reduced glare, comfortable temperatures, and lower energy bills. We also carry products that offer forced-entry protection and films that protect glass from scratches, graffiti, other types of vandalism, and even bullets. Story continues About C-Bond C-Bond Systems, Inc. (CBNT) is a Houston-based advanced nanotechnology company and marketer of the patented C-Bond technology, developed in conjunction with Rice University and independently proven to significantly strengthen glass in key automotive and structural applications. The Companys Transportation Solutions Group sells C-Bond NanoShield, a liquid solution applied directly to automotive windshields, sold through distributors. The Companys Safety Solutions Group sells ballistic-resistant glass solutions and FN NANO Coating directly to private enterprises, schools, hospitals and government agencies. For more information, please visit our website: www.cbondsystems.com , Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cbondsys/ and Twitter: https://twitter.com/CBond_Systems . Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this press release about our future expectations constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, and our actual results could differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, C-Bonds ability to raise capital; the Companys ability to successfully commercialize its products; as well as other risks. Additional information about these and other factors may be described in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) including its Form 10-K filed on March 25, 2020, its Forms 10-Q filed on November 14, 2019, August 12, 2019, and May 10, 2019, and in future filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this statement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. Contact: Luke Zimmerman Senior Vice President MZ Group - MZ North America 949-259-4987 CBNT@mzgroup.us www.mzgroup.us Allison Tomek C-Bond Systems 6035 South Loop East Houston, TX 77033 atomek@cbondsystems.com : The Southern Naval Command (SNC) of the Navy on Monday felicitated a Keralite who delivered a baby boy shortly after her getting off INS Jalashwa which brought 698 Indians back from Maldives where they were stranded due to COVID-19 pandemic. Navy officials said the SNC representative Lieutenant Commander Remya Savy greeted the parents of the young mother as well her relative, as the COVID-19 protocol prevented physical contact with the passengers. "Lt Cdr Remya conveyed greetings and best wishes to the extended family on behalf of the Flag Officer Commanding-in- Chief, SNC, on the new arrival into the family while expressing happiness over the Navy being instrumental in bringing Sonia Jacob to her motherland on 'Mothers Day' and into long cherished motherhood," a defence spokesman said here. The officer later also connected with Sonia and her spouse Shijo, both under institutional quarantine, via video call and congratulated them by wishing the baby health, happiness and long life, he said. The family members conveyed the gratitude and appreciation of Sonia to the Navy for the care and comfort accorded to her on board the ship. Sonia, working in a hospital in Maldives, delivered the baby at a private hospital. The woman hails from Eraviperoor village in Pathanamthitta district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Panaji, May 11 : Opposition Congress on Monday opposed the Goa government's decision to allow SSC and HSSC examinations later this month, saying holding exams amid the coronavirus scare would put students, parents and school staff at risk. The main opposition party said that high temperatures would also be detrimental to the health of students appearing for these exams. "This announcement has sent shock waves among parents, students and faculty members, considering the current coronavirus situation and the scorching summer heat... with regards to the sanitization of exam centres, how will exam organisers ensure coronavirus-free centres when studies show that the virus can remain on multiple surfaces for four to five days?" Congress spokesperson Trajano D'Mello told reporters. "It is also known that 80 per cent of positive cases in India are asymptomatic. How is the education board going to ensure that students and staff are not carrying the highly infectious virus? What happens if an asymptomatic student comes in contact with another student who could be having compromised health issues?" he asked. Last week, Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education announced that SSC and HSSC exams would be held from May 20 onwards, which is peak summer time in the coastal state. According to the norms for the exams, the Board's guidelines state that the headmaster of the school is responsible for pick-up and drop-off of students from all examination centres by following social distancing protocol, which according to the Congress was a "next to impossible" task. "How can the headmaster ensure that every student is picked up on time, when they can hail from various locations. In case social distancing is observed, each bus would be carrying only approximately 15 students," D'Mello said. The guidelines also stipulate that a medical officer would be attached to all examination centres, who would provide glucose, masks and sanitizers to students and those involved in the process of conducting exams. More than 20,000 students are scheduled to sit in the SSC exams and several thousand more in the HSSC exams (part of which was completed before the March 25 lockdown was announced). A 60-year-old women from the United States has died of suspected coronavirus infection in Delta State, Nigeria. The unidentified woman was said to have been invited to Nigeria on March 3, 2020, by a young man she met on the Internet. She lodged into a hotel in Warri for sometime before relocating to another hotel around Orerokpe. The 60-year-old woman died on Sunday morning, May 10, 2020, after manifesting some COVID-19 symptoms, and was subsequently rushed to a private hospital at Osubi, Orerokpe under Okpe Local Government Area of the state. Speaking with SaharaReporters, a security official attached to a police station in the local government, disclosed that the young man and the white lady had been lodged at a hotel in Osubi town since her arrival in Nigeria on March 3, 2020. The young man and the American white lady lodged in a hotel in Osubi where they spent some weeks. The white lady fell sick and she began to manifest some symptoms of COVID-19, especially severe coughing. At this stage, her lover rushed her to a private clinic in Osubi but she gave up the ghost this morning. Immediately she died at the hospital, her Nigerian lover carried her corpse in a Venza car to the Orerokpe Police Division and he was arrested by the police. While still at the station, a doctor was brought and took samples from the corpse for test. When contacted over the issue, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Onome Onowakpoyeya, confirmed the incident. He explained that the white ladys corpse was brought to Orerokpe Police Station by her lover, who revealed to the police that the deceased had severe cough for about a week until she died on Sunday morning. While they were together for about a week, the woman was coughing and having difficulty in breathing and stooling. So, she was taken to a hospital on Saturday when her condition became worse and eventually died, he said. Onowakpoyeya said that the blood sample of the woman, that of her lover and others, who may have had contact with her, have been taken for test. Meanwhile, KanyiDaily had reported how a cheating married man landed in serious trouble after catching coronavirus while on a secret holiday trip to Italy with his mistress. Between 1,200-1,800 Ganges river dolphin found in river systems of Nepal, Bangladesh and India. The gutted carcass of a freshwater dolphin has been found in a river sanctuary in Bangladesh, officials said on Sunday, sparking fears fishermen are taking advantage of the virus lockdown to poach the endangered creatures. Locals in the southeastern town of Raojan found the remains of the 62-inch (157-centimetre) long Ganges river dolphin on the banks of the Halda River, fishery department official Abdullah al Mamun told AFP news agency. It had suffered a sharp and deep incision from its neck to its tail and layers of its body fat from which oil is extracted for use in traditional medicines were missing, he said. This dolphin is the second to be found dead in the same sanctuary since Bangladesh imposed its lockdown to try and tackle the spead of the coronavirus, said Manzoorul Kibria, coordinator of the Halda River Research Laboratory (HRRL). Bangladesh prohibits the killing of Ganges dolphins, which are categorised as endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Natures Red List of threatened species. A local official, who asked to remain anonymous, said locals were starting to trawl the Halda River, as understaffed police who usually patrol the region were busy enforcing the lockdown in Raojan. They are trying to make a living by catching fish illegally, local forestry department head Yasin Nawaz said, adding that the same nets also often caught dolphins. Once the creatures are trapped, they prove to be easy pickings for poachers who sell their fat and oil, Kibria said. Many local villagers believe dolphin fat can cure diseases. It fetches a good price. Kibria added that he feared the latest death could be the start of a killing spree of the rare creature. The Ganges river dolphin is found in the river systems of Nepal, Bangladesh and India and has a population of between 1,200 to 1,800, according to the World Wildlife Fund. They can weigh up to 100 kilogrammes (220 pounds) and grow to up to 2.6 metres (eight feet) long. They are known for their long beaks which have 28 sharp teeth on both sides of their jaws. The Halda River is home to approximately 170 dolphins, according to HRRL. Phoenix, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2020) - The Stock Day Podcast welcomed Sugarmade, Inc. (OTCQB: SGMD) ("the Company"), a product and branding marketing company investing in operations and technologies with disruptive potential. CEO of the Company, Jimmy Chan, as well as the CEO of Budcars, Clinton Walker, joined Stock Day host Everett Jolly. Jolly began the interview by noting that Indigo Dye Group is currently doing business as Budcars. "Why did Sugarmade and Indigo Dye Group decide to go into the on demand delivery market, and why California?" asked Jolly. "California still represents the biggest piece of the entire cannabis market in the United States," said Walker. "As far as 2020, there hasn't been a better time to enter into the on demand cannabis market," he added. "The main reason for the opportunity is due to the drift in state compliance that has been implemented," said Walker, noting that operating costs for licensed delivery would have been much more expensive in previous years. The conversation then turned to the Company's partnership with Budcars, which began just a few months ago. "Our teams hit the ground running; they began working very well together, both Sugarmade and the Budcars teams. Right off the bat, we implemented a new point of sales software system," said Chan, adding that the teams were also able to expand their fleet of vehicles rapidly. "We were able to ramp up sales from half a million in annualized revenue to over three and half million in revenue today," he shared. "We anticipate the Sacramento location breaking ten million dollars in revenue by year end." Jolly asked whether or not the Company provides the vehicles for their employees. "We have eight compliant vehicles that have been approved by the bureau of cannabis control to ensure that all products that are being delivered are not only compliant but are being delivered safely and effectively to all of our customers," said Walker. Story continues "Where do you see Budcars one to two years from now?" asked Jolly. "We're in the process of opening three more locations throughout 2020," shared Walker. "We anticipate we'll grow to ten locations within twenty-four months," he added, noting that Budcars has the potential to cover 65% of the California market upon reaching ten locations. "Why did Sugarmade and Indigo Dye decide to do a partnership within the cannabis on demand delivery market, and are you going to expand from California?" asked Jolly. "We're really focused on California initially," explained Walker, adding that Budcars may eventually decide to expand strategically as the opportunities arise. "Did COVID-19 diminish or help your business?" asked Jolly. Walker shared that the pandemic has affected Budcars in both a positive and negative way. "It did boost sales, but we were forced to purchase vehicles at a rate 2x faster than we had anticipated," said Walker. "As COVID-19 has remained, our ability to serve thousands of clients has increased." Jolly then inquired about the ownership structure between Sugarmade and Budcars. "Budcars is currently owned by Indigo Dye Group Corporation at 60%. Sugarmade has 40%, but it has the option to purchase a controlling stake for an additional 30% to make them the controlling owner," explained Walker. Chan added that Sugarmade and Budcars signed their agreement on February 15th of this year and began working together immediately. To close the interview, Chan shared that the projects between Sugarmade and Budcars will be one of the Company's primary focuses over the next two years. Chan also discussed the Company's current valuation, which is experiencing the current lows of the cannabis market. "The only thing we can do is just focus on the core business itself. So, focus on the fundamentals, and as we build the company the market cap and the stock value will reflect eventually," said Chan. Meanwhile, the Company's sanitary supplies and non-medical protective supplies are experiencing a surge in revenue over the past couple of weeks. "We might be able to capture an additional ten million dollars in revenue on the supply side," closed Chan. To hear Jimmy Chan's entire interview, follow the link to the podcast here: https://audioboom.com/posts/7578935-sugarmade-inc-and-its-partner-budcars-discuss-the-potential-of-on-demand-cannabis-delivery-on Investors Hangout is a proud sponsor of "Stock Day," and Stock Day Media encourages listeners to visit the company's message board at https://investorshangout.com/ About Sugarmade, Inc. Sugarmade, Inc. (OTCQB: SGMD) is a product and branding marketing company investing in operations and technologies with disruptive potential. Our Brand portfolio includes CarryOutsupplies.com, SugarRush and Budcars.com. For more information please reference www.Sugarmade.com. CarryOutSupplies.com specialized in Sanitary supplies and disposable take out supplies for the food service industry, we are all about having the assurance of quality products, competitive pricing and reliable customer service. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements also may be included in other publicly available documents issued by the Company and in oral statements made by our officers and representatives from time to time. These forward-looking statements are intended to provide management's current expectations or plans for our future operating and financial performance, based on assumptions currently believed to be valid. They can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "would," "could," "will" and other words of similar meaning in connection with a discussion of future operating or financial performance. Examples of forward looking statements include, among others, statements relating to future sales, earnings, cash flows, results of operations, uses of cash and other measures of financial performance. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others. such as, but not limited to economic conditions, changes in the laws or regulations, demand for products and services of the company, the effects of competition and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or represented in the forward looking statements. Any forward-looking information provided in this release should be considered with these factors in mind. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this report. Corporate Contact: Jimmy Chan +1-(888)-982-1628 info@Sugarmade.com InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN) Los Angeles, California www.InvestorBrandNetwork.com 310.299.1717 Office Editor@InvestorBrandNetwork.com EHC Branding Agency 2037 Lemoine ave Fort Lee, NJ 07024 About The "Stock Day" Podcast Founded in 2013, Stock Day is the fastest growing media outlet for Nano-Cap and Micro-Cap companies. It educates investors while simultaneously working with penny stock and OTC companies, providing transparency and clarification of under-valued, under-sold Micro-Cap stocks of the market. Stock Day provides companies with customized solutions to their news distribution in both national and international media outlets. The Stock Day Podcast is the number one radio show of its kind in America. Stock Day recently launched its Video Interview Studio located in Phoenix, Arizona. SOURCE: Stock Day Media (602) 821-1102 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/55658 The citys health unit reported having 488 total cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday and 492 on Saturday. The correct numbers in the data should have reflected 478 on Friday and 482 on Saturday. According to spokesperson Jasmine Graham, the inconsistency in the data stems from false positives being included in the total case count and a refresh error in public healths tracking system. The Spectator reported Friday that 10 false positive COVID-19 test results out of Ontarios regional public health laboratory in Hamilton prompted the city to wrongly believe the Macassa Lodge long-term care centre was in outbreak. Public health had already begun informing the 10 people from the east Mountain facility that they had COVID-19 on Thursday when the laboratory on Fennell Avenue West started to suspect something was amiss. The city-run home on Upper Sherman Avenue was part of provincially mandated mass testing being done at all Hamilton long-term care centres. We got a call alerting us they were having some concerns about whether in fact those samples may have been compromised, said Dr. Bart Harvey, Hamiltons associate medical officer of health. (T)en positives in one batch for them was a number, not unheard of, but it was unusual. It got their attention. The 10 samples were sent by public health to the central lab in Toronto for re-testing using two different processes Thursday night and Friday morning. All of the samples came back negative. The false positives were included in the citys total COVID-19 case count of 488 when they were published online Friday afternoon. Graham said the correct figure of 478 total cases was not reflected in public healths data because the numbers posted to its website are accurate only as of 9 a.m. At the outset of a press briefing on Friday afternoon, Harvey repeated the incorrect number of total cases without mentioning the false positives at Macassa. The false positives came to light at the briefing when the Spectator asked Harvey about them after being contacted by worried families regarding the purported outbreak. Harvey told the Spectator on Sunday that he was made aware of the false positive tests just minutes before the question, thus explaining initially stating the citys incorrect case count of 488. We try to reflect the numbers as accurately as we know them as of 9 a.m. that day. Friday we did that, Harvey said. Saturday, unfortunately, the concept of, Wait a minute. We had 10 false positives the previous day, we need to take 10 out of this number. Were working on a weekend, and its the first time this occurred where weve had what we thought were accurate cases but werent. Its unclear why the case figures werent corrected on the citys website Friday. Graham said the false positives were again included in the citys numbers Saturday as a result of a refresh error in the database. The misreporting of COVID-19 data, however small, can put a strain between the public and its health unit, said Colin Furness, an infectious control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto. The public needs to trust that public health knows what its doing; that it is collecting accurate data, not missing cases, and not terrifying people half-to-death with false positives, he said, noting that inconsistent data is not exclusive to Hamilton. But when a public health unit makes a mistake and takes a long time to rectify it, and cant explain clearly why that happened, it makes us doubt all the numbers. How many mistakes didnt get caught? The total number of COVID-19 cases in Hamilton now sits at 488, an increase of 10 over the weekend from the correct figure of 478 Friday. There are also five presumptive cases and 348 cases resolved, approximately 71 per cent. Two outbreaks were declared over at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, where an inmate tested positive on April 24, and at St. Josephs Healthcare in the 6 Mary Grace unit, where six staff tested positive on April 24. Night Curfew in Maharashtra: Check guidelines, rules; what is allowed, what is not allowed Mumbai cop probing Arnab Goswami tests positive for coronavirus India oi-Madhuri Adnal Mumbai, May 11: At least one of the two senior Mumbai Police officials who were a part of the team that questioned Republic TV founder and editor Arnab Goswami has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, according to Goswami's lawyer Harish Salve . Salve made this claim during a hearing held in the Supreme Court. Goswami was questioned by the police for over 12 hours on 28 April over an FIR filed against him for his comments in the Palghar mob lynching case and his comments on Congress President Sonia Gandhi. COVID-19 crisis: Maharashtra govt allows migrant workers walk home on humanitarian grounds Goswami's questioning took place at the NM Joshi Marg police station, central Mumbai, where the case against him has been filed by a local Congress member. After coming out of the police station, Goswami claimed he was questioned for over 12 hours over his remarks against the Congress president, whose party is a constituent in the Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra. The TV journalist said he told the police his side of the story and they were "completely satisfied". Goswami he was served a notice by the police asking him to appear for questioning. Maharashtra government had moved the Supreme Court alleging that Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, facing probe in criminal cases for his alleged comments in news shows on the Palghar lynching, has been "browbeating" the police which needs to be insulated from his "pressure" and "threat". The top court had on April 24 granted protection against any coercive steps for three weeks to Goswami in connection with some FIRs lodged against him in various states for alleged defamatory statement on the Palghar mob-lynching of three persons including two saints in Maharashtra. The bench had transferred a case lodged against Goswami from Nagpur to Mumbai and stayed the investigation in other similar criminal cases. It had asked the Mumbai police to probe the FIR of Goswami against some youth Congress workers together. Coronavirus positive case tally rises to 67,152; biggest one-day jump The fresh plea filed by a Deputy Commissioner of Mumbai police has sought a direction to Goswami "to insulate the investigating agency from any pressure, threat and coercion" and to enable the investigating agency to carry out its lawful obligations in a "fair and transparent manner". The plea, filed through Maharashtra's lawyer Sachin Patil, has also sought a direction to restrain him from "abusing the interim protection". The police has narrated the sequence of FIRs and investigation carried out so far and referred to a news show on the Hindi channel of the media house and said, "The statement on his debate on his Republic Bharat channel are aimed browbeating, terrorizing and intimidating the investigating officer". The plea referred to certain tweets and the contents of the news show and said, "The petitioner had gone on air narrating his story and also carried his entourage of reporters, cameraman etc inside police station where he virtually commanded the police to do certain things and act in a certain way....". Earlier, the senior journalist had moved the apex court seeking quashing of the Complaints/FIRs filed against him by Congress leaders in different states across the country. In his plea, Goswami had also sought direction that no cognizance of any complaint would be taken by any court nor any fresh FIR registered by the police. He also sought security for family members and colleagues of his channels. Goswami has invited sharp criticism from Congress leaders for his remarks aimed at Gandhi during a TV discussion on the Palghar incident in which three persons, including two sadhus, were lynched. Pagodas reopen, but no foreign admissions Vesak celebrations were solemnly held across Vietnam last week to mark 2564th birthday of Lord Buddha The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) has permitted pagodas and other places of worship to resume normal operation, but only accept local Buddhist followers in the first instance. The Sangha recommended that Buddhist followers strictly implement coronavirus preventive measures, including wearing face masks and washing hands with soap or disinfectant solution. Religious sites were advised to disinfect their facilities when events with large gatherings are held. The Sangha asked pagodas and other places of Buddhist worship to temporarily suspend receiving foreign visitors and overseas Vietnamese, especially those who are returning from epidemic-hit countries. Though the coronavirus epidemic has been brought under control in Vietnam, pagodas located along the borders were required to make health declarations with local health authorities. In addition to normal religious practices, the Sangha encouraged pagodas to actively engage in charity to support those vulnerable to the epidemic. Eight more patients recover from coronavirus A further eight COVID-19 patients, including four in Hanois Me Linh district a coronavirus hotspot in the capital, were released from hospital on May 11 after making a full recovery. All the discharged patients had been treated at Hanois National Hospital for Tropical Diseases before they were allowed to return to their places of residence. They had all shown no coronavirus symptoms such as a high temperature, a cough or shortness of breath, and several times tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. Four of the patients live in Me Linh district, a coronavirus hotspot in the capital city of Hanoi that had seen a total of 13 local residents contract the deadly virus. According to regulations, all the discharged patients are required to self-quarantine for 14 days for medical observation to ensure they are coronavirus free. As of May 11, Vietnam has recorded 288 coronavirus infections, with 249 patients having recovered and been discharged from hospital. 161 Vietnamese nationals repatriated from US negative for COVID-19 CDC staff is taking the returnees' samples for COVID-19 testing (Photo: baothanhhoa.vn) As many as 161 Vietnamese citizens who had flown to the homeland from the coronavirus hit US have tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. The information was confirmed by Luong Ngoc Truong, director of the Centre of Diseases Control (CDC) of Thanh Hoa province which is monitoring the health of the returnees. The returnees, who are residing, working and studying in the US, landed at Van Don International Airport in Quang Ninh province on May 9. They are among more than 340 Vietnamese citizens who were repatriated from the US on request. The 161 returnees were quarantined at a military camp in Thanh Hoas Bim Son district as soon as they had completed the immigration procedures according to regulations. They are provided necessities and have their body temperature checked twice every day. The returnees will be tested for the second time before they complete the compulsory 14-day quarantine period. No new COVID-19 case reported on May 11 morning Doctors at Kim Son district's General Hospital in northern Ninh Binh province bid farewell to a recovered patient. No new COVID-19 case was reported in Vietnam on May 11 morning, marking 25 straight days without community transmission in the country, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. The countrys tally remains at 288, including 148 imported cases who had been quarantined upon arrival, and 140 infected within the community. Of the patients, 241 have recovered while the remainder are being treated or under health monitoring at six medical facilities. Among them, six patients have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 that cases the acute respiratory disease once and 14 negative twice or more. Only 27 patients still test positive for the novel coronavirus. The British pilot, known as Patient No. 91 who is being treated at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, is still in critical condition. Doctors from top hospitals in Vietnam held a telemedicine conference on May 10 to discuss a lung transplant for the patient. They proposed moving him to Cho Ray Hospital for intensive care and lung transplant consideration. As many as 25,361 people are under health monitoring or quarantine, of whom 373 stay at hospitals, 11,181 at other quarantine establishments and 13,807 at home and accommodations./. Vietnam brings home over 270 citizens from Malaysia Vietnamese citizens on Vietnam Airlines' flight A flight carrying more than 270 Vietnamese citizens home from Malaysia landed at the Da Nang International Airport on May 10. The flight was jointly organised by Vietnams competent agencies, the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia and the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines. The passengers included those under 18 years old, elderly and sick people, students who did not have accommodations due to dormitory closures, guest workers with visa and work permit expiration, and stranded tourists. The Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia sent officials to the airport to help the citizens with necessary procedures. Upon their arrival at the Da Nang airport, the passengers and crew members were kept under quarantine and had medical checks-up in line with regulations. Following the direction of the Prime Minister, over the past few days, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, domestic competent agencies and Vietnamese representative offices abroad have jointly conducted many flights to repatriate Vietnamese citizens. In the coming days, more flights will be arranged to bring back Vietnamese citizens home from other countries depending on the pandemic's developments, quarantine capacity of Vietnamese localities, and demand of Vietnamese citizens living overseas./. Vietnam joins hands with Italy in combating COVID-19 Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Nguyen Thi Bich Hue (R) hands over medical face masks to a representative of the Italian side (Photo: VNA) Many organisations, businesses and individuals in Vietnam have donated medical supplies to help Italy in the fight against COVID-19, showing the Southeast Asian nations solidarity, sharing and responsible international cooperation, said Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Nguyen Thi Bich Hue. According to the diplomat, the embassy has actively participated in mobilising medical supplies to support the host country in its efforts to contain the disease. On April 17, more than 100,000 face masks gifted by the Vietnamese Government, along with 23,000 face masks, 500 protective suits and other medical supplies donated by businesses and individuals in Vietnam, were handed over to Italy, one of the European countries hardest hit by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Previously, the Uni-Italia Association in Vietnam and the Vietnam - Italy Friendship Association also presented 8,500 face masks to the Italian side. Hue said these valuable medical supplies have been delivered directly to overseas Vietnamese people and students living, studying and working across the European nation; local civil protection agencies in the epidemic-hit centres; and hospitals, nursing homes, police departments in Rome, and other regions. According to the diplomat, Government and State leaders of Italy, local governments, the Vietnamese community and international friends in the host country all expressed their appreciation of Vietnam's valuable assistance to Italy in the most difficult days in the countrys history since the World War II. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio expressed their thanks to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Government and people of Vietnam for joining hands with Italy in the fight against Covid-19. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasised that this support affirmed the practical significance of the Vietnam - Italy strategic partnership, adding that Vietnams assistance will help Italy come to recovery soon. Italy currently records the third highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world, after the US and Spain, with 218,268 infections and 30,395 deaths as of May 9./. Lao Cai takes precautions against COVID-19 for tourists browser not support iframe. To ensure safety for tourists in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak, Lao Cai province has instructed localities to strictly implement measures to prevent the pandemic from spreading. At the Sun World Fansipan Legend, visitors are required to keep a minimum distance of 2 metres. The number of people allowed on cable cars has also been reduced. To attract tourists, a promotion is being launched, with discounts of 30-60 percent available at a range of hotels, homestays, tour destinations and travel companies in Sa Pa./. Workplace initiatives introduced to prevent pandemic browser not support iframe. As soon as it became clear that COVID-19 was a serious matter, the business researched and manufactured a portable full-body disinfecting chamber. Designed and implemented by its employees, it is helpful, user-friendly, and cost-effective. To ensure production while preventing the spread of COVID-19, workers proposed other solutions such as installing mica table partitions, staggering lunch breaks and changing seating arrangements. Indeed, such initiatives are contributing to stabilizing producton and helping workers feel secure in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic./. COVID-19: No new cases for 24 days A quarantine room is set up in a Hanoi school Vietnam recorded no new COVID-19 cases for 24 consecutive days as of 6pm on May 10, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. Among the patients, 148 are imported ones. Up to 11,130 who had close contacts with confirmed patients and entered from epidemic-hit areas are being quarantined, including 180 at hospitals, 6,146 at other establishments and 4,804 at homes. The same day, doctors from Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital, Hue Central Hospital, Cho Ray Hospital, the Ho Chi Minh Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Vietnam National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation discussed the possibility of lung transplantation for patient No.91. Another serious case No.19, who is being treated at the Dong Anh-based National Hospital of Tropical Diseases, is recovering. So far, 241 patients have been discharged from hospitals. The other 47 are being treated at six central and provincial-level medical establishments. Most of them are in stable conditions. According to the committee, six tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 once and 14 others negative above twice. Malaysia: COVID-19 restrictions extended to June 9 The Malaysian government has decided to extend the travel and business restrictions for four more weeks until June 9 in the context that the Southeast Asian country gradually reopens its economic activities. In a televised address on May 10, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the decision was made to allow economic activities while keeping the COVID-19 pandemic in the country under control. The current lockdown was scheduled to May 12. However, Muhyiddin has announced that the movement restrictions need to continue to contain the spread of the disease. Earlier, on May 4, Malaysia began to ease part of the restrictions imposed from mid-March to prevent the disease. Malaysia recorded 67 new COVID-19 cases on May 10, lifting the total to 6,656, including 108 deaths. Meanwhile, the Singaporean Health Ministry confirmed 876 new COVID-19 patients on the same day, raising the total to 23,336. The disease claimed 20 lives in the country. In the Philippines, the number of COVID-19 infections totaled 10,794 after 184 more cases reported on the same day. In the past 24 hours, the country had 15 more fatalities, bringing its death toll to 719. Meanwhile, the Indonesian government confirmed 387 new patients and 14 deaths on May 10, bringing the total of infections and deaths to 14,032 and 973, respectively./. Thailand at risk of increasing COVID-19 infections after loosening lockdowns A boy wears a protective face shield during his visit to Suan Rod Fai, Thailand (Photo: https://www.bangkokpost.com/) The Thai Government's COVID-19 pandemic advisory committee has warned that the country must be ready to cope with a possible resurgence in COVID-19 cases if lockdown measures are further eased, as slated for May 17. Thailand began the first phase of the lockdown easing on May 3, although the ordinance on emergencies and the night curfew order are still valid until late May. The second phase of the four-phase process is expected to start on May 17 if the number of new COVID-19 cases does not increase. Local media quoted Dr. Charas Suwanwela, chairman of the special committee, saying that the government, businesses and ordinary citizens must be prepared for an uptick in cases that might come after the relaxation of the lockdown, particularly the risk that it might overwhelm the health care system. The doctor said Thailand has fared relatively well in dealing with the disease, with the death rate standing at 1.8 percent against much higher figures in Europe. Despite this, he warned that the committee is concerned about reports of a second wave of infections in countries which have eased some of their restrictions. The Southeast Asian nation has so far reported 3,004 COVID-19 cases, including 56 deaths. The number of cured patients totaled 2,787./. Indonesia reports highest daily COVID-19 infections In Jakarta, Indonesia (Photo: Xinhua) The Indonesian Health Ministry on May 9 confirmed 533 new COVID-19 cases, the biggest daily rise so far, raising the tally to 13,645. Meanwhile, the total deaths rose to 959 while 2,607 others recovered. The authorities called on the public to follow regulations to prevent the virus spread. In Malaysia, 54 new infections were reported, bringing the total to 6,589. One death raised the total fatalities to 108./. Myanmar military declares ceasefire for COVID-19 fight Myanmar's military on May 9 declared a nearly 4-month ceasefire period in order to concentrate forces on curbing the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The ceasefire will be applied to the areas except for those where armed organisations named as terrorists by the government are based, said a statement from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services. The military's ceasefire period is set from May 10 to August 31 this year. In the statement, the ethnic armed organisations are urged to take accountability and exercise restraint in order to avoid fighting with each other and not to oppress local ethnic people. According to the statement, the military will take action if there is any violation to the mentioned instructions. The military pledged to continue taking part in the nationwide prevention, control and treatment of the disease./. AIIB to offer 1 bln USD loan to Indonesia's COVID-19 response The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will allocate a total of 1 billion USD in loans to help Indonesia in its COVID-19 response. The first disbursement of the loan will amount to 250 million USD, as part of the co-financing programme with the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank to provide a total of 750 million USD in loans. The AIIB is also planning to offer another 750 million USD in loans for Indonesia to fund its economic relief and social safety net programmes, as part of the co-financing programme with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is committed to providing 1.5 billion USD for the country. Indonesia, which saw confirmed cases of COVID-19 surge to over 13,000 on May 8, requested the loans to finance its efforts to strengthen hospital readiness, pandemic response and testing capacity. The AIIB forecast that the Indonesian economy to grow by less than 1 percent this year before recovering in 2021, compared with its initial projection of 6 percent annual growth for Southeast Asias largest economy. Meanwhile, credit rating agency Fitch also downgraded Indonesia's GDP growth to 1.3 percent from 2.8 percent this year due to slow economic recovery and prolonging lockdown order./. Primary schools prepare for students return after pandemic Teachers at Chu Van An Primary School in Ha Nois Hoang Mai District clean up before students go back after the long school closure. Kindergartens and primary schools in Ha Noi have been preparing for students to return to school on Monday after a three-month absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have been instructed that following the Ministry of Education and Trainings Document 1583 which said the COVID-19 pandemic had been basically controlled with no new cases in the community, they would not need to conduct student distancing and could use their air conditioners. ai Kim Kindergarten in Hoang Mai District, Ha Noi, has been sterilised 12 times and the teachers have been eager to help out. Trinh Thi Thu Huong, the kindergartens principal, said that the school had been planning for the childrens return. Teachers will check the childrens temperatures at the classroom doors and record them every day. If any student has a high temperature, their parents will be contacted, she said. After checking the preparations, Pham am Thuc Hanh, head of the Hoang Mai District Department of Education and Training, asked schools to organise training at weekends so that teachers and workers are clear about COVID-19 preventive measures and ready for any scenario. With nearly 2,000 students, the school has assigned 20 teachers and workers to check their temperatures at the school gates, and work with local police to control traffic to avoid congestion around the school. Tran Thi Kim Dung, the schools principal, said students would be allowed to leave school at different times based on where they lived to avoid crowding. Schools have also been instructed to ensure food quality. Uy No Kindergarten in ong Anh District has invested in equipment and staff to provide lunches for 600 students. o Thi Thu Huong, the schools principal, said all of the equipment were sterilised based on the health sectors regulations. Chu Van An Primary School in Hoang Mai District, with more than 3,000 students, has also been busy preparing for their return. It has installed nearly 90 water taps and dozens of notice boards instructing students to wash their hands properly. Schools in remote areas are also doing their best to welcome students back. In the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, teachers have been visiting ethnic Mong students at home to encourage them to go back to school. Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh, a teacher at Sin Cheng Boarding School for Ethnic Minority Students, said it was common for teachers to visit students because many of them lived in areas with no mobile network coverage. LG provides 10,000 sets of COVID-19 test kits for Ministry of Health LG Electronics Vietnam Company presented 10,000 sets of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) test kits to the Ministry of Health in Hanoi on May 8 as a means of assisting the country in the fight against the global pandemic by helping detect the virus at an early stage. The kit, which has been named Real - Q 2019_nCoV Detection, utilises the WHO-approved PCR lab technique and is manufactured by Biosewoom of the Republic of Korea (RoK). The benefits of it are that it can be used immediately without assistance and is extremely accurate. The move to get hold of the kit comes after it received approval from the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention along with the RoKs Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Vietnamese nationals in Cambodia receive gifts amidst COVID-19 Some 430 gift packages were handed over on May 9 to households of Vietnamese nationals in Cambodia and Khmer people in the Cambodian capital city of Phnom Penh. The activity formed part of a programme jointly launched by the Vietnamese Embassy and the Khmer-Vietnamese Association (KVA) in Cambodia that aims to help Vietnamese nationals in the country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The KVA, the Vietnamese Embassy and Consulates General in Battambang and Preah Sihanouk presented gifts to about 3,000 families of Vietnamese nationals across Cambodia. KVA President Sim Chy said no COVID-19 cases have been reported among Vietnamese nationals in Cambodia so far. As of May 9, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country had stood still at 122, of whom 120 have recovered, according to the Cambodian Ministry of Health. During an operation in Lima's peripheral San Juan de Lurigancho district to request documentation from businesses that have reopened, he said they were on their way to Ciudad de Dios market so as to carry out rapid tests to vendors. "So far, more than 15 markets have been closed nationwide. This month we will intervene 36 markets and, if we have the capacity to do so, we will intervene 386 markets in a second stage," he affirmed. "If a market does not comply with the protocols established by Minagri, it will be closed. Itinerant markets have been implemented so that they can operate in parallel and the food supply is not interrupted," he added. Mercado de Condevilla sera cerrado temporalmente luego que el 50% de los comerciantes, que pasaron la prueba rapida, resultaron positivos al #COVID19 . El @minagriperu abrira mercado itinerante en el Parque Ecologico Municipal Mayta Capac. #TeCuidoPeru https://t.co/ePIbfY1WFe En el mercado Ciudad de Dios, en San Juan de Miraflores, el @Minsa_Peru realiza toma de 200 pruebas rapidas a una muestra de 1500 comerciantes, como parte del programa #TeCuidoPeru, coordinado por el Ministerio de Defensa, @minagriperu y el municipio local. pic.twitter.com/wfK9Qs9b7q The Karnataka Government on Monday constituted a Special Investment Promotion Task Force to woo disenchanted multinational companies looking to shift their manufacturing bases from China. Commerce and Industries Department's Principal Secretary Gaurav Gupta said following the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a pushback against China by several countries. "Rising labour costs, shortages of workforce, a trade war with the United States, the rise of manufacturing hubs in South-East Asia and now a pandemic that originated on its mainland...China may not be able to retain its position as the world's largest factory in the post Covid global economic order," he said. This is an opportunity for India to attract them here, bringing with their investments both jobs as well as a transfer of technologies. India stands a good chance to emerge as a reliable substitute, given its congenial landscape for manufacturing as well as its vast consumer market, a Karnataka Government Order said. For attracting investments and looking to woo disenchanted multinational companies considering shifting manufacturing bases away from China in the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak, there is a need to constitute a Special Investment Promotion Task Force under the Chief Secretary's chairmanship to attract investments into the state, it said. The panel would also have nominees or representatives from trade promotion organisations of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, as also US, French, Singapore and German companies, among others. The task force would identify sectors in which Karnataka can attract investment due to relocation from other countries post COVID, formulate special incentive package and "facilitations" which need to be provided to attract these investments. It would also identify key infrastructure projects, including dedicated industrial township that needs to be undertaken or expedited to attract investments, measures to fast-track clearances to promote these investments, and recommend outreach activities and brand building to position Karnataka as an attractive investment destination. In recent days,Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar held consultations with industrialists such as co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys Ltd, Executive Chairperson of Biocon Ltd, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Chairman of early-stage startup accelerator and venture fund Axilor Ventures Senapathy (Kris) Gopalakrishnan to fine-tune the State s outreach push. Shettar also held interactions with industry bodies, including Confederation of Indian Industry, the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce and Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association. The Minister told PTI that industrialists who took part in the deliberations suggested to the Government to focus on ease of doing business and improving the single window clearance system for approvals. To boost the industry sentiment in the state, they also stressed the need on easing land acquisition regulations, and leveraging the knowledge base of Bengaluru to promote technology-based manufacturing, according to an Industry Department official. "Given the interest shown by some companies in moving their manufacturing bases out of China, the industry leaders recommended that State Government identify a target list of 100 firms to reach out to for attracting to the State, and work out a strategy to bring them to Karnataka", the official said. The industry leaders assured cooperation from the private sector in reaching out to and facilitating interactions with CEOs of these companies. Shettar said restrictions on acquisition of agriculture land for starting industries have now been relaxed with the passage of an amendment to the land reforms act in the recent Legislature session. This would facilitate immediate land allotment to industries, he added. Secretary General of industry body ASSOCHAM, Deepak Sood, told PTI recently that there is a broader consensus that the global manufacturing supply chain would be more spread than concentrated in major economies like China. "If India comes out of the present crisis with minimum of impact, we can be the destination of choice for the global manufacturing giants in different sectors like electronics, computer hardware, pharmaceuticals, including medical devices, automobile, including components and other engineering products," Sood had said. Gopalakrishnan, also co-founder of Infosys and former CII President, said India has to target companies which have operations in China, reach out to them, understand what their needs are and hold discussions with them. "We have to make sure that their requirements are addressed, be it with regard to land, office space, faster approvals, and some concessions on local taxes. It depends on the businesses that the companies are in, and if we are able to respond to those requests, I think we will be able to attract them", he told PTI. All states will compete for this business (foreign investment), Gopalakrishnan added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The rapid global economic slowdown, Indias coronavirus lockdown of 1.3 billion people and an exodus of venture capital are testing a start-up community that has quickly become one of the worlds biggest, raising a record $14.9 billion last year Bengaluru: Samik Sarkar was managing to eke a profit out of his online apparel store before the coronavirus crisis hit India, forcing the 36-year old to reinvent his business overnight. I started selling masks because thats all I could sell, Sarkar said. I have salaries to pay. The rapid global economic slowdown, coronavirus lockdown of 1.3 billion people and an exodus of venture capital are testing a startup community that has quickly become one of the worlds biggest, raising a record $14.9 billion last year. The success of e-tailer Flipkart, sold for $16 billion to Walmart in 2018, helped draw in billions of dollars in funding from global venture capital firms, while US and Chinese tech giants stalked promising prospects. But in just a few months much of that cash has vanished, with venture capital and private equity investment in India expected to fall by 45-60 percent this year, EY estimates. A group of the top venture firms, including US groups Sequoia and Accel, warned startups this month that it will be very difficult to raise financing anytime soon. Five venture capitalists told Reuters that only a few of the best companies from their existing portfolios would be able to get further funding, while most new ventures will likely be locked out for the foreseeable future. This rapid turnaround has left scores of start-ups which had been plotting expansion and fundraising considering anything and everything to keep themselves from going under. Data from Tracxn, which monitors start-up investments and financials, shows there were 1,406 funded startups in India in 2019, compared with 351 in 2008. When you look at pre-COVID business models, half of them will not survive post-COVID, Sudhir Sethi, founder and chairman of Bengaluru-based venture capital firm Chiratae Ventures, said. The funding freeze has been compounded by government's move in April to step up scrutiny of investments from overseas, a move seen by some analysts as a thinly disguised deterrent to takeovers by Chinese companies, which have been big investors in tech industry. And with SoftBank, another major funder of startups, facing setbacks elsewhere there is little relief expected from the Japanese technology backer. This leaves investors and startups with few alternatives but to focus on pursuing profitability and reducing cash burn, Sid Talwar, partner at Mumbai-based Lightbox Ventures, said. For Indian companies, if SoftBank does not write big checks and Chinese pools of capital slow down, it will further accelerate that thinking, Talwar told Reuters. Startup founders contacted by Reuters said they had enough cash for a couple of months at the most. We had big expansion plans just before this hit, said Sujata Biswas, who co-founded Mumbai-based online clothing brand Suta with her sister Taniya. All of that has stopped ... It was a big shock, she added. Suta, which saw sales triple for three years before lockdown stopped all business, would be unable to stay afloat beyond a month and a half without a cash infusion, Biswas said. Cure.fit, a Bengaluru-based fitness firm which had to shut its gyms and health clinics around India, slashed salaries and laid off about 800 people in recent weeks. It is now trying to get by by offering virtual yoga classes and home-delivering groceries as Indians stay indoors during the lockdown. BookMyShow, an online ticket seller, is promoting free-to-watch Instagram Live performances in an effort to keep its users engaged, while restaurant aggregator and food delivery firm Zomato is targeting a push into alcohol delivery. Others such as meal delivery firm Swiggy and hotel operators Oyo and Treebo have shed employees, cut salaries, and put workers on furlough, sources at the companies told Reuters. Apparel retailer Sarkar said he expected his online store, Rustorange, to see a 50 percent slump in demand from pre-virus levels even after the lockdown is lifted. With 35-40 full-time staff and about 70 part-time workers, he only has enough cash for a month or two. To survive, Sarkar is drawing on his experience of a 2016 funding crunch, which brought down his previous firm. We are now trying to think of ways that can be appealing in the new normal, Sarkar said. We are thinking of developing masks as a fashion accessory. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 16:40:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WELLINGTON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand will move to COVID-19 Alert Level 2 on Thursday and reopen most businesses in 10 days, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Monday. Ardern told a press conference that the country was ready to move into Level 2, "to open up the economy, but to do it as safely as possible." On Thursday this week retail, malls, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and other public spaces including playgrounds and gyms, can reopen. All will be required to have physical distancing and strict hygiene measures in place, Ardern said, adding health services will restart. "You can begin to move around New Zealand, but space yourself out especially if you're using public transport," she said. On May 18, all children and young people will be able to return to school and early learning. On May 21, bars will be able to open with all the requirements set out last week, including that seating must be provided, there must be space between tables. "We have left bars till last because they do pose the most risk" said Ardern, referring to South Korea that recently opened up their bars, only to close them again after one person created an outbreak of at least 86 people and 2,456 tests so far. Parties, big social events or anything designed to be for mixing and mingling will not be allowed to happen for groups larger than 10 people, she said, adding gatherings at home, need to be capped at 10. Church and religious events, weddings, funerals, stag dos - all must be limited to 10 for now. New Zealand moved from Alert Level 4 to 3 on April 28 and had planned to stay for two weeks at Level 3 before a further review and Alert Level decision on Monday. Enditem This month usually is fully booked as seniors prepare to finish the school year, walk across the stage to get their diplomas and be recognized by their peers and community. This year, those annual traditions are taking on new twists as gatherings larger than 10 are prohibited under Gov. J.B. Pritzkers executive order to stay at home. In Jacksonville, School District 117 held individual ceremonies in which students dressed in cap and gown walked the stage, collected their diplomas and had their pictures taken. The videos of each student, and recorded speeches by class leaders and top students, will be compiled into one ceremony and shown later this month. For Routt Catholic High School, a traditional ceremony still is on the table. Routt Principal Nick Roscetti said the school has pushed its ceremony back to the end of June, when they hope to be able to provide the seniors with a traditional ceremony. We felt the ceremony was important for our students, Roscetti said. We have discussed options for a virtual ceremony but do not want to do that at this time. If the June date does not work out because of an extension in the stay-at-home order, the school will push it another month before discussing a virtual option ahead of students possibly leaving the area for school or military service, Roscetti said. The Illinois State Board of Education has established guidelines that allow for different versions of ceremonies that can happen this month, including virtual or drive-through-style ceremonies in which one student attends with a small group of family members. For seniors, its not the way many expected to end the year. Zachary Large, a senior from Jacksonville High School, said graduation is an important rite of passage. A lot of people were looking forward to it, Large said. It gives the feeling of completion of high school its something every student deserves, showing off their hard work and completing their 12 years. Virginia High School has postponed its ceremony to June 26. Superintendent Gary DePatis said the district still wants to honor its seniors in any way possible and to provide them with the special memory. While they plan to have an in-person ceremony on June 26 a date that could change, depending on the states orders the district also is putting together a virtual ceremony in which students will be taped receiving their diplomas individually before the full video is posted online. Many want to still see their student walk across the stage and we want them to be able to do that, DePatis said. Meredosia-Chambersburg schools will have a drive-through ceremony during which each student will wait in his or her vehicle, they and their parents will get out vehicles to collect their diploma at the appropriate time, and then the eight graduates take part in a parade through town at 7 p.m. May 22. North Greene seniors also will receive their diplomas while walking across the stage. Each senior will sign up for a time when he or she will pick up their diploma and have pictures taken. The video will be compiled and aired at 7 p.m. May 22, the same time and date the original ceremony had been scheduled. Even colleges are moving to virtual graduations. MacMurray College had its graduation at noon Saturday. Illinois College honored its graduates with a virtual ceremony at 1 p.m. Sunday. Lincoln Land Community College will have its virtual ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The school is asking students to submit photos, which will be displayed along with their names, degrees and certifications during the video. Other districts still are adapting to the situation and finalizing plans for graduation. Westfair Christian Academy is looking at its options for graduation but hopes to have a plan in place soon, and Franklin High School is waiting for approval of its plans by the Morgan County Health Department before announcing how graduation will be handled this year. Beardstown High School seniors are set to vote today on their ceremony. Principal Bill Myers said students are deciding between a May 24 virtual graduation or a more traditional ceremony at the end of June. Theyll decide if they want to just do it now or hold out to June 28 for a more traditional ceremony, if possible, Myers said. This is their graduation, so we want them to have a say. After the students vote, the district will work with Cass County Health Department to develop the plans, Myers said. Triopia High School also still is working with local health organizations and its staff to develop plans for graduation. The Skywalk over the Grand Canyon was closed by the Hualapai tribe to increase social distancing measures during the pandemic. Credit: Stan Lawrimore/Unsplash When the Hualapai tribe imposed a stay-at-home order and closed its Skywalk, the horseshoe-shaped, glass-bottomed walkway that extends over the south rim of the Grand Canyon, last month, it gave its members an added layer of protection against the raging coronavirus. But it also deprived them of their primary source of revenue. In a Catch-22, by following the government's health recommendations, the Hualapai denied themselves the ability to fund government-mandated services on its lands. For Native Americans, who, like other minority groups and those in lower-income communities, have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, it's a double whammy, said adjunct lecturer Eric Henson, who teaches the field research class, "Native Americans in the 21st Century: Nation Building II." "Native American tribes are having a disproportionate health effect that is highly problematic, and they're having a disproportionate impact to the revenues that can be used to take on the health crisis," said Henson. "A lot of tribes are having the worst of both worlds at the same time." Native Americans are bound by treaties signed many years ago that make them responsible for providing on their lands the services that state and local governments offer their citizens. Unlike state and local governments, however, the tribes cannot collect taxes to pay for these operations, making them dependent on income from casinos and other enterprises to pay for law enforcement, public safety, and social services. With tribal businesses halted and their services in peril, the economic impact of COVID-19 on Native American communities could be devastating, said Joseph Kalt, the Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy Emeritus at Harvard Kennedy School. "There is not a single Indian casino in the United States open today, and all tribal businesses are closed," Kalt, co-director of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at the Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, said during a Zoom meeting from Tucson, Ariz. "Native American tribes' tax base have been cut literally to zero, and tribal governments don't have money to run the health clinic or child protection services," Kalt said. "While state and local governments are also in trouble, at least they have a tax base, but tribes are really struggling because their tax base has been wiped out." The economic impact does not stop with the tribes, as many states and regions benefit from the jobs and tax revenues brought in by their casinos and other operations. In 2019, tribal gaming enterprises alone generated $17.7 billion in taxes to federal, state, and local governments. Of the 574 federally recognized tribes, a little more than 40 percent, or 245, operate casinos. And before COVID-19, tribal businesses and governments supported 1.1 million jobs, 915,000 of them held by non-Native Americans. In some regions, tribal enterprises have been the economic anchors and dominant employers. On April 10, Kalt and three research colleagues wrote a memo to Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin explaining the economic effects the pandemic was having on Native American communities, and urging him to extend federal help quickly. Under the $2 trillion Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, tribal governments are set to receive $8 billion to respond to the public health crisis. Tribes have imposed stay-at-home orders, curfews, and checkpoints to prevent the virus from spreading, and have distributed posters and materials about COVID-19 produced by the John Hopkins Center for American Indian Health. According to Indian Health Services, there are more than 3,607 confirmed cases of the coronavirus among Native American tribes, with more than 2,000 of them on the Navajo reservation, which stretches across parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah and is home to 250,000 people. As of April 30, the Navajo nation had the third-highest per capita rate of COVID-19 in the country, after New Jersey and New York. Worsening the situation, Native Americans appear to have a higher risk of serious complications because they are likelier to suffer from diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions. At the Kennedy School, students in a field research class focusing on projects to improve the lives of Native Americans are getting a close look at the impact the pandemic is having on Native communities. Students who normally spend spring break working with tribal organizations on the ground are now meeting with tribal leaders via Zoom. Often those leaders must step out of the sessions to talk to Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, or join sessions while delivering food or guarding checkpoints. "If I weren't taking this class, perhaps because these issues are being under-covered by the media, I wouldn't be aware of how much Native American populations are suffering because of the virus," said Sietse Goffard '15, who is pursuing a master's in public policy at the Kennedy School. "Now I reflect about these issues a lot more, and I think how the federal government, state governments, and tribal governments can work together to address the crisis." After a long period of economic stagnation, Native American tribes have seen their fortunes rise over the past four decades thanks to casinos, resort tourism, and consulting enterprises. But widespread poverty persists. The median income for a Native household in the U.S. is about $39,700, nearly a third less than the $57,600 for American households overall. "For Native Americans' economies, the glass is only half-full, but it has been filling," said Kalt, who worries that the current public health crisis will reverse all the progress made in recent years. Henson, who co-wrote the memo to Mnuchin with Kalt and Professor Randall K.Q. Akee of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Miriam R. Jorgensen, research director of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, shares the concern over the havoc the virus is wreaking on Native economies. But he finds reasons for hope in the past. "Throughout their history, tribes have faced numerous and dark challenges, and they have always managed to overcome," said Henson, a member of the Chickasaw Nation. "Tribes are wrapping their arms about every single aspect of what makes a community a community, and they are trying to make it better for their children, their elders, and their unborn children to come. It's been a story of resilience and perseverance." Explore further Native American tribes converge to discuss pot legalization This story is published courtesy of the Harvard Gazette, Harvard University's official newspaper. For additional university news, visit Harvard.edu. Nepal has reported 11 new coronavirus cases, including eight who returned from India, taking the total number of infections in the country to 121, authorities said on Monday. Nepal is among the nations that has the least number of cases of the deadly coronavirus with no deaths. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the new cases involve 10 men from Kapilvastu district in Western Nepal and one from Dakneshwari Municipality-3 of Saptari district who tested positive for the novel coronavirus, taking the total tally to 121. The 10 new cases are from Yashodhara Rural Municipality and Buddha Bhumi Municipality. Eight of the 10 cases confirmed on Monday were those who returned to Nepal from India (Mumbai) last month, according to local authorities. As we have reported new cases, we will expedite contact tracing now, Yogendra Bhagat, chief of the health office, told Republica Online. Kapilvastu district is on high alert after a number of COVID-19 patients were reported from there, according to Chief District Officer Dirgha Narayan Poudel. He also added that the newly-confirmed cases and all others who returned from India have been kept in quarantine centres, the report said. Ten new patients from the district will be sent to the Butwal-based COVID-19 hospital," Poudel was quoted as saying by the report. The total number of active coronavirus patients in the Himalayan nation has reached 88 as 33 patients have been successfully treated. So far, Nepal has conducted PCR tests on 17,809 people for detecting the novel coronavirus. Earlier, confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported in Nepal from persons returning from the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in New Delhi's Nizamuddin area in March. On May 4, sixteen people, including 15 who were already on quarantine after they came in contact with a religious leader who returned after attending the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Delhi tested positive. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At a time when gig workers are among the hardest hit economically by the coronavirus pandemic, consumer internet firms in the country are coming up with various initiatives to provide support to them who are employed with these firms in large numbers. Companies such as Ola, Flipkart and Amazon are going all out to help their delivery and driver partners, service providers and other freelance workers manage the impact of the pandemic on their livelihood and make them return to work. Despite the mobility industry being at a standstill until recently, ride-hailing giant Olas approach ... People have died from overdoses of unproven cures in past pandemics. In an editorial published today in Australian Prescriber, Associate Professor Darren Roberts from St Vincents Hospital in Sydney and Dr Alexandra Bennett from the NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group advise we should not make the current COVID-19 crisis worse by using medicines based on inadequate evidence. Overdoses of aspirin may have contributed to deaths during the 1918 flu pandemic, and high doses of the antiviral medicine ribavirin may have caused complications in SARS in 2003. We shouldnt rush to use medicines before we know if they are safe and if they work. Darren Roberts, Associate Professor, St Vincents Hospital in Sydney Currently all medicines for COVID-19 are experimental, warns Associate Professor Roberts. Suggested treatments for COVID-19 have been based mostly on laboratory studies. Some studies publicized in the media have been rushed to be promoted before thorough review by other scientists. A medicine may be found to be unsafe if not used properly, as in a recent Brazilian study using the medicine chloroquine. The study was stopped early because of heart problems and even death with high doses. There may be similar concerns about the medicine hydroxychloroquine. Another risk of increased prescribing of some unproven medicines is it can cause supply shortages for people who rely on these medicines to treat conditions for which they are known to help. Darren Roberts Fear in the community has also led to people trying unproven remedies. For example, gargling salty water or vinegar is unlikely to help, and consuming chloroquine from aquarium products or drinking methanol has been deadly, says Associate Professor Roberts. People should talk to a health professional for the best advice for COVID-19 based on the latest evidence. The vast majority of San Francisco residential tenants continued to pay their rent in May, despite steep layoffs and soaring unemployment, according to a survey of San Francisco Apartment Association members. The survey of 352 property owners or managers, which encompassed 13,961 San Francisco apartment units, found that 96.8% of tenants paid their rent in May. The percentage of tenants unable to afford rent amid the coronavirus epidemic declined to 3.2% in May compared to April, when a similar survey found 5.7% of tenants couldnt pay. The surprising ability of tenants to come up with May rent could be in part due to the $1,200 stimulus checks many received, as well as unemployment checks, which in California can range from $640 to $1,050 a week, according to Charley Goss, policy director for the Apartment Association. The survey is the largest of its kind, but represents only around 6% of the citys rental stock. San Francisco has nearly 400,000 housing units, and around 57% of residents are renters, according to the citys Planning Department and the Federal Reserve. Landlord and property manager J.J. Panzer, who owns or manages 519 units, said that he had 35 tenants unable to pay all or a portion of their rent in May because of lost income due to the coronavirus. Thats about 6.5% of his portfolio and about twice what it was last month. It was better than expected, but doubling from one month to the next is shocking, even if the numbers are small, he said. It makes me wonder how many more people there are in rental housing who havent asked for help yet but are going to need it. I will be greatly concerned if it jumps from 35 to 70 in June. In addition to laid-off workers unable to make rent, landlords are also seeing an increase in the number of tenants looking to break leases. Of the landlords surveyed, 17% said they had a tenant give notice that they intend to move out. The April Apartment Association survey found that 21% of landlords had tenants who broke leases. Panzer said that the first wave of tenants who were unable to pay all worked in high-touch jobs such as tourism, hotels, restaurants, dog-walking, retail and construction. While some of them may be able to return to work, a new wave of tech workers have swelled the ranks of the unemployed. The Chronicle found over 93,000 jobs lost in the Bay Area since March, including about 9,000 tech workers. Suddenly, a whole bunch of renters who had been able to work from home are out of work, too, said Goss. Those renters have not been impacted by coronavirus in April or May, but they very well might be in June. Similar to last month, commercial tenants were much less likely to be able to pay than residential tenants. The landlords in the apartment association survey found 57% percent of commercial tenants didnt pay May rent, as shops and restaurants were shuttered or reduced to take out orders. Some landlords will increasingly face a combination of vacant units, shuttered storefronts, and laid-off residential renters, Goss said. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes When you combine those three things, its a triple-whammy, he said. The number of San Francisco tenants still writing monthly checks is much lower than national figures. A survey of 4,000 Americans by Apartment List found that 22% of respondents have not yet made a housing payment for May rent or mortgage and an additional 9% have made only a partial payment. Missed payments remain common for renters and homeowners alike. Igor Popov, chief economist at Apartment List, said that the San Francisco tenants, who live in the nations most expensive housing market, may be better able to weather the coronavirus storm than folks in lower-income cities. But the impact may be delayed for tech workers who were able to work from home early in the health crisis but now find themselves with astronomical rents and no income. What we are realizing now is there is more structural change happening in the economy as a result of COVID-19 the costs are distributed more evenly across the economy, he said. This is not just a service industry-, restaurants- and retail-driven crisis. Its pretty broad. J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jkdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen By Ekaterina Kravtsova LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - Liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes are piling up off the shores of Europe as the coronavirus pandemic severely disrupts gas demand, leading to delays in tanker discharges and a rise in the number of vessels used as floating storage, analysts said. Lockdowns due to the virus have led to a slump in industrial gas consumption worldwide, reducing demand for LNG and causing cargo deferrals, delays and cancellations, initially reflected by a build up of floating cargoes in the Far East and India. Despite some vessels managing to unload as lockdowns ease, LNG demand in Asia remains subdued with prices at a record low , leaving cargoes unwanted elsewhere heading for Europe and creating a new bottleneck. A total of 11 LNG tankers are floating near Europe waiting to deliver their cargoes, out of 15 floating LNG vessels globally, Nathalie Leconte, market analyst at data intelligence firm Kpler told Reuters. "Because of oversupply and low prices in Asia, Europe has been a destination of last resort," Leconte said. "But with LNG inventory levels and gas storages high and demand low in Europe, it's harder to accommodate vessel arrivals, which creates delays." She said that four of the vessels are expected to deliver cargoes to France's Montoir port, three each to Spain and Britain, while one had a unknown destination. Kpler also noted three tankers floating off India and one in the Far East. Most of the floating cargoes were loaded in Nigeria, four in Qatar and three vessels are on a long-term charter to Royal-Dutch Shell, Leconte said. Companies use different metrics to identify a cargo as floating storage, taking into account loading dates and the speed of the vessel, among other factors. ClipperData counts at least eight LNG tankers floating close to Europe and the Mediterranean - four near the Spanish Atlantic Coast, two near Britain and two more near Malta. Story continues "There are a higher number of arrivals (to Europe) than last year as more export projects started production," said Kaleem Asghar, director of LNG analytics at ClipperData, adding that that, coupled with lower demand and higher inventory levels, was leading to the increase in floating cargoes. He counted 20 tankers floating globally at the moment, with three off west coast of India, two near Japan and in the Middle East, as well individual cargoes offshore Australia and Singapore, among others. Natural gas prices in Europe have dropped to an all-time low for some contracts this year. The front-month gas contract in Britain fell below the U.S. Henry Hub front-month future last week, with the Dutch front-month also trading below the Henry Hub at some point on Thursday, according to price data on Refinitiv Eikon. Aggregate gas storage in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany is equivalent to around 330 terawatt hours, or around 66% of storage capacity, data on Refinitiv Eikon showed, 20% fuller than a year ago. In Britain, gas storage is 64% full, compared to 54% a year ago. Trevor Sikorski, head of natural gas and carbon research at consultancy Energy Aspects said LNG prices were likely to stay low in Europe over the summer as buyers tried to shut out U.S. shipments. Around 20 U.S. cargoes have already been cancelled by buyers in Europe and Asia for June loading. Energy Aspects has reduced its forecast for the amount of LNG arriving in Europe this summer by 5 million tonnes as buyers are expected to cancel more U.S. loading cargoes this summer, as well as cargoes from other suppliers. (Reporting by Ekaterina Kravtsova; editing by Nina Chestney and Kirsten Donovan) President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday praised scientists and technologists working on the frontlines in the global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, saying they are making the nation proud and self-reliant. The president also greeted fellow citizens on National Technology Day, marking the anniversary of the nuclear tests of 1998 in Rajasthan's Pokhran, on Monday. "We recognise science and technology as the key instruments for inclusive progress. Our scientists and technologists are also on the frontlines of the global battle against COVID-19, making the nation proud," Kovind tweeted. "On this occasion, we celebrate the incomparable contribution of the scientific community in making the nation self-reliant," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Australian doctor has answered the three most common questions she is asked by patients - including why a cough gets worse at night and why you always need to finish a course of antibiotics. Dr Preeya Alexander, a GP from Melbourne who goes by The Wholesome Doctor on Instagram, said there are three things she is asked time and again by people - and they have very simple answers. 'You guys have asked for this, so here we go,' Dr Alexander posted on Instagram. An Australian doctor has answered the three most common questions she is asked by patients - including why a cough gets worse at night (Dr Preeya Alexander pictured) Dr Alexander (pictured) said one of the reasons why you feel as though you need to poo after eating is due to the 'gastro-colic reflect', which causes the colon to start contracting 1. Why do you feel like you need to poo after eating? The first question Dr Alexander said she is asked on a surprisingly regular basis is why people feel as though they need to poo straight after eating. 'The reason why you may need to run to go to the toilet after a meal or a coffee is called the gastro-colic reflex,' she said. 'When food enters the stomach, it stretches and an involuntary reflex occurs - a hormone signals the colon to start contracting.' Once your colon begins to contract, Dr Alexander said it causes your previously digested food to move through the colon, and this can in turn make you feel as though you need to poo. 'The food you have just eaten is not "going through you", despite what it might feel like,' she added. Instead, it's the old food that is being 'pushed along'. While there is research for and against shorter courses of antibiotics, Dr Alexander (pictured) said the most important thing is that you finish the course, whatever the length 2. Why should you finish the entire antibiotic course? The seconds question Dr Alexander said she's asked frequently is why we are always told by medical professionals that we need to finish a course of antibiotics. 'This is a big one lots of you requested,' the GP said. 'We will always try to give you the shortest course of antibiotics possible to eliminate a bacterial infection - but even if you feel tip top, you should take an antibiotic as prescribed to a) completely eradicate the bacteria and b) prevent antibiotic resistance (the bugs can adapt and mutate so that an antibiotic that once killed them will not),' she said. Dr Alexander acknowledged that there is some debate about this question in the medical world insofar as often shorter courses of antibiotics have been shown to be equally effective as longer ones. 'But my main tip is stick to what you are prescribed!' she said. You should always finish the course, whatever length it is. 'Coughs are commonly worse at night as the air is colder and drier - and that tends to irritate the airways,' Dr Alexander (pictured) explained Dr Alexander's five other reasons to see a doctor during COVID-19 1. You have bowel cancer, type 2 diabetes, measles or high blood pressure 2. You have a chronic medical condition such as asthma 3. You notice a breast lump, rectal blood loss or unexplained weight loss 4. You require a cervical cancer screening test, formally known as a Pap smear 5. You have a scheduled vaccine or any additional ones such as measles, whooping cough or meningococcal B Advertisement 3. Why does a cough get worse at night? It's the time of year where we're moving into cold and flu season, but Dr Alexander said that this winter, if you have even a tickle of a cough, you should make sure you've been tested for COVID-19. 'Coughs are commonly worse at night as the air is colder and drier - and that tends to irritate the airways,' she explained. 'You also lie flat to sleep and mucous can drip down the back of the throat which can trigger coughing.' Dr Alexander said coughs are worse at night for these reasons, but you can aid your cough by 'sleeping on a few pillows' and using heat to warm the air and make sure you're not too cold. Of course, cough medication before you go back to sleep is also a good idea. To find out more about Dr Preeya Alexander, you can follow her on Instagram here. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold his fifth video-conference meeting with Chief Ministers on Monday afternoon to assess the Covid-19 situation in the country. Increasing economic activities, easing lockdown restrictions and issues faced by migrant workers are likely to be discussed in the meeting. The focus of the deliberations will be economy and Covid-19 containment efforts, sources said. Many states have already raised objection to the marking parameters of areas into green, orange and red zones and deciding relaxations based on that. States also fear a spurt in cases due to the return of migrant workers to their native villages. Such issues could be raised in the meeting on Monday, sources said. More relaxations are likely but Covid-19 hotspots and containment zones will continue to face tight restrictions. The Centre has already made it clear that lifting of the lockdown will be carried out in a phased manner. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who chose to skip the previous video-conference, will attend Mondays meet. This time it will be a pretty long session, where some crucial issues on the economy will be discussed. The chief minister will attend the meeting an share his opinion, sources said. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee will also attend. She had attended the previous session but did not get time to express the states stance. According to the sources, Banerjee will try to raise Amit Shahs letter accusing her government of doing injustice to Bengal-bound migrants. Meanwhile, the Centre decided to deploy teams to 10 states with heavy caseloads. The Central teams will assist the health departments of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to manage the pandemic. Halting economic activities for over five weeks has hit businesses and state revenues. Over the past couple of weeks, most states have eased restrictions in agriculture, construction and MNREGA works. Last week, many states resumed the sale of liquor, a huge source of revenue for the government. Despite the hefty fines and possible jail time which people could face for breaking their qu A woman has pleaded guilty to murdering her boyfriend by stabbing him through the heart in their Minnesota apartment. Zara Jo Case, 36, admitted to second-degree murder in the death of Joseph 'Moochie' McRunnel, 39, on February 15 at their home in the Como area of Minneapolis. Case allegedly plunged a knife into her boyfriend's heart at the apartment they shared near the University of Minnesota. Zara Jo Case, 36, pled guilty to one count of second-degree murder over the death of her boyfriend 39-year-old Joseph Abraham McRunnel Case admitted that she has recently come out of rehab and had been addicted to meth and alcohol for 15 years. She has been jailed until her sentencing on June 9 Police were called to their home at around 5.25am by a man in a nearby apartment who barricaded his door out of fear to stop Case from breaking in. Officers found Case 'extremely intoxicated' and sent her back to her apartment. But the incident was far from over. Police were called out a further two times. Police spoke with a witness who said Case had already broken her boyfriend's window and she was trying to force her way into his home. When they attended the home for the third time, Case was standing outside screaming McRunnel had stabbed himself. Officers found him on the floor of his apartment. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office determined the knife that killed him had traveled more than four inches into his chest and piercing his right ventricle. Police were called to the Minnesota home the couple shared three times in hours on February 15. On the final call out, they found McRunnel, pictured, had been stabbed through the heart During an interview with police, case said: 'I stabbed him. That's all there is to it. We were f****** s***faced, angry. He accidentally got stabbed and now he's dead. I am going to prison forever.' Case has been jailed until her sentencing on June 9. McRunnel's parents, friends and neighbors have described him as a 'calm, passive person', but say Case was 'volatile and confrontational when high or drunk,' according to a police report seen by the Star Tribune. Case explained to police that she had recently left a substance abuse rehabilitation program after becoming addicted to methamphetamines and alcohol. Her criminal history includes convictions for drunken driving and obstructing police and multiple counts of drinking in public. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 16:08:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JAKARTA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A fire broke out on a crude oil tanker docked at Waruna Shipyard at the Port of Belawan in Indonesia's province of North Sumatra Monday morning, and several workers have been reportedly rushed to hospitals after suffering burns in the accident. The number of workers is still missing, and they were reportedly trapped inside the ship which is under repair. At least six fire engines and three tugboats with water cannons were deployed to put out the fire. The boat was built in 1999 and owned by Indonesian shipbuilding company PT Waruna Nusa Sentana. Enditem ISLAMABAD -- Taliban leaders searched their ranks, including in the much-feared Haqqani network, and on May 10 told The Associated Press they are not holding Mark R. Frerichs, a Navy veteran turned contractor who disappeared in Afghanistan in late January. We don't have any information about the missing American, Sohail Shaheen, the Taliban's political spokesman, told the AP. A second Taliban official familiar with the talks with the United States said formally and informally the Taliban have notified U.S. officials they are not holding Frerichs. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Washington's peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who negotiated a peace deal with the Taliban signed in February to allow America and NATO countries to withdraw their troops and end decades of war, asked for Frerichs' release during his meetings this week in Qatar, where the Taliban maintain a political office. In a statement on May 9 by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Khalilzad also sought Pakistans help in locating Frerichs. He arrived in Islamabad on May 8 from Doha before heading to neighboring India in his pursuit of a lasting peace in Afghanistan. He met with Pakistan's Army Chief of Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa to also press Pakistan's assistance getting the Taliban to agree to reduce violence in Afghanistan, where they have stepped up attacks on Afghan Security Forces but not U.S. or NATO forces, in line with the peace deal. Pakistan, where Taliban leaders have found a safe haven since their overthrow in 2001 by the U.S.-led coalition, has worked with the United States to finalize a peace deal with the Taliban. While it still holds influence with the insurgents, a deep mistrust between the militant movement and Pakistan exists. Pakistan kept the Taliban's chief negotiator, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in jail for eight years after his arrest in a joint Pakistan-CIA operation in 2010, apparently because he had opened peace talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai without Pakistan or Washington's involvement. Since his release in late 2018 to push the U.S.-Taliban peace process forward, he has returned only once to Pakistan and has quietly been relocating his family to the Middle East. Earlier this week, the FBI took the unusual step of putting out a poster with Frerichs' picture on it seeking information into his disappearance and whereabouts, something they have not done in previous incidents where the Taliban have taken hostages. In previous talks, negotiations have been held quietly, intelligence has been gathered and only many months later the hostages' fate became known having either found their freedom or died. Khalilzad's latest trip to the region, according to a U.S. State Department announcement, includes Doha, Islamabad, and New Delhi but not Kabul, where political turmoil has stymied progress on the deal's next and critical phase of intra-Afghan talks. Afghanistan's political leaders are still disputing last year's presidential polls. A frustrated U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in March cut $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan after a surprise visit to the Afghan capital failed to bring about an agreement between the two leaders -- President Ashraf Ghani and his rival, Abdullah Abdullah. Khalilzad, however, has been pressing forward, pushing the Taliban to agree to a reduction in violence in an effort to move Afghanistan toward a lasting peace. The United States and NATO, however, have started their troop withdrawal, which will be completed by next year if the Taliban keeps to their promise in the deal to fight terrorist groups, particularly the Islamic State militants, and guarantee Afghan territory is not used again to attack the United States or its allies. The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) says it welcomes any drug that has the potency to fight COVID-19. However, the group said, that particular medication must be adequately tested and approved by the necessary regulatory bodies for the treatment of infected patients. Speaking on Okay FMs Ade Akye Abia, President of the GMA, Dr. Frank Ankobea, explained that there are a lot of drugs that are being touted as having the ability to cure COVID-19, but he can not ascertain or approve their efficacies. "All that we are praying for is we get an antidote to end this menace, so as practitioners if we are given a recommended drug to administer to patients of COVID-19, we will not hesitate to do that. "But, the Ghana Medical Association can not as an institution approve or disapprove any drug; be it herbal or orthodox for the treatment of COVID-19," he pointed out. Ghana's COVID-19 cases have increased from 4,263 to 4,700 in just a matter of days and many Ghanaians are already worried because the country keeps recording higher figures of the pandemic. In his ninth update on COVID-19 on Sunday, May 10, 2020, the President HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo explained that doing a lot of tests to discover infected persons is the surest way to fight the pandemic and ensure the safety of the entire nation. "Indeed, had we not been proactive in undertaking enhanced contact tracing of infected persons, and had relied solely on testing persons who reported to the hospital, which is the practice followed by some other countries, i.e. routine testing, our total case count who have stood at 1,413," Nana Akufo-Addo said in his televised address. Regardless of the recent case count, the President says there is no cause for alarm. "We must understand that the more people we test for the virus, the more persons we will discover as positive, and, thus, have the opportunity to isolate and treat them. If you do not test people for the virus, you will not find the persons who are positive, let alone isolate them from the population and treat them, and prevent them from spreading the virus," he said. Watch Video Below Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video By PTI BHOPAL: Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday appealed to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to take necessary steps for repatriation of about 1,800 students and migrants from that state who are stuck in Madhya Pradesh due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. In a letter to Kumar, Singh requested him to coordinate with the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on the issue. "I am enclosing a list of 1,800 students and labourers of Bihar who are stranded in Madhya Pradesh and wanted to return to their parent state. "I request you to coordinate with the Madhya Pradesh government and take necessary steps for calling these stranded students and labourers to Bihar soon," Singh stated. He has also sent the copies of the letter to Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state chief secretary I S Bains. Earlier, Singh had raised the issue of the students from Jammu and Kashmir who were stranded in Madhya Pradesh, following which the state government arranged special buses for them for their home state. On Monday, Gujarat reported 347 positive cases of Covid-19, taking the toll of affected people to 8542. Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health), said that these cases were reported from Ahmedabad (268), Vadodra (29), Surat (19 )and the rest from other districts. Twenty deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. A total of 2780 have been discharged. Conditions of 5218 people are stable and 31 are on ventilator. The graph of discharged people is improving and deaths are also reducing day by day. 1616471 tests have been done so far, Ravi said. The Gujarat government on Monday also launched Indias first hot air seam sealing machine, which makes the personal protective equipment (PPE ) kit used for the protection of such doctors-paramedical staff completely secure with specialised tape. Chief minister Vijay Rupani lauded a Rajkot based company for preparing this machine. The initiative of protecting the PPE kits with hot air seam sealing tape, which provides 100% protection against the transmission of the virus to the doctors and health workers, who are currently engaged in the treatment of Covid-19, is really appreciable, the CM said in an official statement issued by the state government. He added that the PPE kit is prepared by a sewing needle which is about 2mm thick and thread that is 0.5mm thick. As a result, if the infected patients blood or fluid enters the kit through tiny apertures left on the kit, the doctor-paramedical staff treating the infected patients may also be infected. By using this machine, the holes left in the sewing process in the PPE kit are sealed using specialised tape to make the PPE kit water and air proof to resist the virus. There is not enough availability of such hot air seam sealing machine in the country so it has to be imported from abroad. The cost of such a machine imported from China or Korea is Rs 7 to Rs 8 lakh and delivery time is 12-13 weeks. In just a short span of 20 days, a team of 100 workers have given Rajkot the pride of manufacturing the first hot air seam sealing machine in India with 80% in-house parts, Rupani said. Dr Parthiv Mehta, pulmonologist-intensivist said that this machine would be very useful for the corona warriors. Through this machines kits are sealed using specialised tape making it air proof and reducing chances of leakage, he said. The Gujarat government also launched the third phase of Sujalam Sufalam Jal Abhiyan (SSJA) in order to provide employment opportunities to the workers and labourers amid the national lockdown. Providing details of the work under SSJA, Ashwani Kumar, secretary to the chief minister, said that 3463 gram panchayats have started 18,824 works under MNREGA, thereby providing employment to 3, 04,756 labourers and workers. This includes 37, 519 workers from Bhavnagar, 33,800 from Narmada, 20,821 from Chhota Udepur, 20,168 from Dahod, 20,041 from Panchmahal in addition to workers from the 3463 gram panchayats. The administration is ensuring welfare of the workers in addition to following safety protocols, he said. Kumar said the Gujarat Government has successfully sent more than 5.5 lakh migrant labourers to their respective states through 209 labour trains. The district administration of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara all contributed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Jampa Sonam, now restricted by Chinese authorities from traveling outside his home, is shown in Lhasa in an undated photo. A walnut-seller visiting Tibets regional capital Lhasa eight years ago has been kept by Chinese authorities ever since under travel restrictions after being found with a photo of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on his mobile phone, Tibetan sources say. Jampa Sonam, now 59 and a resident of Lhachu village in Chamdo (in Chinese, Changdu) prefectures Dzogang (Zuogong) county, was found in possession of the photo during a random street inspection by police, Lobsang Tashia Tibetan living in Canadatold RFAs Tibetan Service. A Lhasa Public Security Bureau officer took him into custody on Nov. 20, 2012 and held him in detention for five days, Tashi said, citing contacts in the Chamdo region. He was accused of associating with separatists and accomplices of the Dalai Lama, and since then he has remained under Chinese surveillance, with his freedom of movement severely restricted, Tashi said. Now, whenever Jampa Sonam needs to go outside his place of residence, he needs to ask permission from the Chinese authorities first at the village and then at the township level, Tashi said, adding, Thus, he has remained in a virtual prison for the last eight years. Displays by Tibetans of the Dalai Lamas photo or public celebrations of his birthday and calls for his return from exile have been harshly punished in the past, and authorities frequently search mobile phones belonging to Tibetans for images of the exiled spiritual leader or other politically sensitive content. At the end of 2019, an elderly Tibetan man and his son were detained in Tibet for listening to teachings by exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, sources told RFA in earlier reports. Jampa Dorje, 75, and his son were taken into custody by Chinese police on or around Dec. 30, 2019, in Dzogang (Zuogong) county, Geshe Jampaa Tibetan monk living in south India said, also citing source in Dzogang. Meanwhile, a Tibetan resident of western Chinas Sichuan province was taken into custody in July 2019 for sharing a photo of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on the popular social media platform WeChat, Tibetan sources said. Rinso, a resident of Thangkor townships Village No. 3 in Dzoege county, a part of Tibets historical eastern region of Amdo, was held for just over a week and then released, a local source told RFAs Tibetan Service. Regarded by Chinese leaders as a dangerous separatist, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet into exile in India in the midst of a failed 1959 national uprising against rule by China, which marched into the formerly independent Himalayan country in 1950. Reported by Lobe Soktsang for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. Ryan Stewart, an employee of SEPTA wipes down a bus at the Olney Transportation Center at N. Broad and Olney Ave. SEPTA has employees wiping down bus to control spread of Covid-19. Read more Happy belated Mothers Day. Did you know that a Philly woman is a big part of why we celebrate it? I didnt until I read this story from my colleague Patricia Madej. As far as stay-at-home orders are concerned, Phillys will continue until at least early next month, while New Jersey hopes to reopen beaches by Memorial Day. Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com) Throughout Philadelphia, the workers deemed essential are the ones hustling to keep the city going. From ringing up and bagging groceries to guarding prisons and driving buses, these essential workers have continued to work for weeks as the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic grows. Though they are told theyre essential, many of the workers are women and people of color earning low and working-class wages, raising questions about whether the people keeping our society afloat right now are being paid enough. Predicting how long and how strong someones immune systems response is to either an infection or vaccine is anything but straightforward. Thats another complication that goes along with the accelerated timetable for making a coronavirus vaccine. There are also questions about coronavirus antibody tests, which might not be ideal for determining who can go back to living as they were before the pandemic. Those tests are now easy to get, but its hard to be sure what, exactly, youre getting. For example, they dont indicate the level of antibodies or, in many cases, the type. Egg farmer Josh Zimmerman was facing disaster. About a month ago, his Pennsylvania bulk-egg processer ran out of storage for liquefied eggs, which had filled food-storage tankers to the point that processers shut off the supply. He faced a choice: euthanize part of his 80,000-hen flock or find a new market for his eggs. Then, Zimmerman connected with Timi Bauscher, who runs Nesting Box Farm Market and Creamery about 20 minutes from Zimmermans farm in Berks County. And after Facebook and Instagram posts went viral, they were off. What you need to know today Through your eyes | #OurPhilly Enjoy those walks safely. Thanks for sharing, @insta__pang. Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and well pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out! Thats interesting Opinions And for the first time in a long time, it was easier to believe that as much and as quickly as the world around us is changing, some things that count have not. Brotherly love continues. writes columnist Helen Ubinas about attending a social-distancing awards ceremony that reminded her how much she misses Philly. Mothers Day should be both a reminder of the strength of women and the inequality that still exists, writes Lynn H. Yeakel, the president of Vision 2020 and director of the Institute for Womens Health and Leadership at Drexel Universitys College of Medicine Just when Natalie Jesionka, the founder of learning platform Global Elective, was starting to get used to motherhood, the coronavirus pandemic hit. She writes about what thats been like. What were reading The Philadelphia Tribune highlights a first-generation Haitian American entrepreneur who is balancing running her businesses with leading volunteer efforts to make face masks for high-risk populations. New York magazines Grub Street wonders what will happen if the only restaurants left are chains. The Economists 1843 magazine has a story about whether we can ever truly escape from the overload of information we have at our fingertips. Your Daily Dose of | Ice sculptures Typically, Peter Slavin makes 30 to 40 ice sculptures a week for public and private events. He owns Ice Sculpture Philly, but with everything shut down, Slavin is doing guerrilla ice sculpture street art to brighten Phillys streets. Chuck Schumer has demanded an explanation from the Department of Veterans Affairs over its use of the 'risky' and unproven hydroxychloroquine drug on veterans infected with coronavirus. The Senate's top Democrat on Sunday said the VA needs to furnish Congress with details of its recent $208,000 bulk order of the anti-malaria drug and whether the White House has pressured the department to use it. 'If vets are being given this risky drug, New York families - and all families - have a right to know what is going on and whats intended for the future.' Schumer said. President Donald Trump and VA Secretary Robert Wilkie have talked up the drug's abilities to combat COVID-19 without citing published evidence. Chuck Schumer said the VA needs to provide Congress more information about a recent bulk order for $208,000 worth of hydroxychloroquine The VA recently said most of its recent bulk order for hydroxychloroquine was being used for approved uses, such as treating lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, but it didn't provide breakdowns Schumer's request comes after a whistleblower complaint filed this past week by former Health and Human Services official Rick Bright alleged that the Trump administration, eager for a quick fix to the onslaught of the coronavirus, wanted to 'flood' hot spots in New York and New Jersey with the drug. Major veterans organizations have urged VA to explain under what circumstances VA doctors initiate discussion of hydroxychloroquine with veterans as a treatment option. 'There are concerns that they are using this drug when the medical evidence says it doesn't help and could hurt,' Schumer said in an interview with The Associated Press. He said given the fact the malaria drug, despite being untested, had been repeatedly pushed publicly by Trump, VA Sec. Wilkie must address whether anyone at the department was pressured by the White House or the administration to use hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. Schumer said Wilkie also should answer questions about a recent analysis of VA hospital data that showed there were more deaths among patients given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care, including how much patients knew about the drug's risks before taking it. In a statement Sunday, VA spokeswoman Christina Noel called it 'preposterous' for anyone to suggest that VA would make treatment decisions based on anything other than 'the best medical interests of patients.' 'VA only permits use of the drug after ensuring veterans and caretakers are aware of potential risks associated with it, as we do with any other drug or treatment,' she said. Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, or the Bedford VA Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts which has been treating COVID-19 patients President Donald Trump has heavily promoted the malaria drug, without evidence, as a treatment for COVID-19 Wilkie in recent weeks has denied that veterans were used as test subjects for the drug and that it was instead administered at government-run VA hospitals only when medically appropriate, with mutual consent between doctor and patient. Still, Wilkie and the department have repeatedly declined to say how widely the drug was being used for COVID-19, including how many veterans were given the drug, and whether VA doctors were given guidance by VA headquarters on specific scenarios when it should be used. In a weekly call with veterans' groups this past week, Wilkie continued to defend VA's use of hydroxychloroquine. He dismissed the recent analysis of VA hospital data showing no benefits to patients, suggesting the poor outcomes were because the cases involved older, very sick veterans. 'Use of this medication for treatment of COVID-19 is considered "off label" - perfectly legal and not rare,' he wrote in an April 29 letter to veterans' groups. The analysis of hospital data, done by independent researchers at two universities with VA approval, was not a rigorous experiment. Researchers analyzed medical records of 368 older male veterans hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infection at VA medical centers who died or were discharged by April 11. About 28% of veterans who were given hydroxychloroquine plus usual care died, versus 11% of those getting routine care alone. The VA recently said most of its recent bulk order for hydroxychloroquine was being used for approved uses, such as treating lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, but it didn't provide breakdowns. Wilkie in recent weeks took advocacy of the drug even further than Trump by claiming without evidence that it has been effective for young and middle-aged veterans in particular. In fact, there is no published evidence showing that. Senate Minority Leader Democrat Chuck Schumer takes off a face mask at the beginning of a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington last week Veterans are 'very concerned that we still do not have clarity on the VA's past and present use of hydroxychloroquine in treating veterans with COVID-19,' Jeremy Butler, chief executive officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told the AP. 'Now that the federal government issued an emergency use authorization for remdesivir to treat COVID-19, we need answers to these questions as well as the VA's plans for administering, or not administering, remdesivir,' he said. That action by the Food and Drug Administration came after preliminary results from a government-sponsored study showed that remdesivir shortened the time to recovery by 31%, or about four days on average, for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. In a tweet Sunday, former VA Secretary David Shulkin urged the department to immediately curtail use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. 'With studies showing no benefit, VA should restrict use exclusively to clinical trials,' he wrote. Shulkin was fired by Trump in March 2018, and Wilkie replaced him. Schumer said his main concern is determining whether the VA had conducted any 'clandestine studies to determine whether hydroxychloroquine was effective without their permission.' He said there's also concern that the department won't address specifically where the drug was sent. 'These are people who risked their lives for us,' Schumer said. 'They should be treated only with the utmost dignity, respect and high standards of care.' The drug has long been used to treat malaria and other ailments. A few, very small preliminary studies suggested it might help prevent the coronavirus from entering cells and possibly help patients clear the virus sooner. But the FDA last month warned doctors against prescribing the drug for COVID-19 outside hospitals because of the risks of serious side effects and death. Jerusalem, May 11 : The Israeli Finance Ministry has agreed to guarantee 80 per cent of a $400 million loan to save the country's flag carrier, El Al amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, to receive the guarantee, El Al will have to cut expenses by at least $50 million, while the owners have to immediately inject additional $28.5 million to the company, Xinhua news agency quoted local media as saying on Sunday. Since 1948 when it was founded, El Al had been a government company until 2004 when it moved into private hands. Following the pandemic, the company had to stop most flights, put about 6,000 employees on unpaid leaves and announced its risk of going bankrupt. A Vineland man charged with stabbing an off-duty correctional officer to death was supposed to learn Monday if he will remain jailed pending trial, but his detention hearing was postponed. Zachary T. Latham, 18, is charged with first-degree aggravated manslaughter in the May 4 death of his neighbor, William T. Durham Sr., 51. The killing followed an apparent dispute between Latham and Durhams family. Public defender Alexander Varghese indicated during a brief virtual court appearance on Monday that he was having issues with Cumberland County Jail when it comes to communicating with his client via video, prompting the need for a postponement to Thursday. Funeral services for Durham, who served as a senior correctional officer at South Woods State Prison, were held Saturday in Vineland. State Department of Corrections personnel, along with police officers, firefighters and EMTs turned out in the hundreds to pay their respects. Since large gatherings are prohibited under coronavirus social distancing guidelines, a New Jersey State Police helicopter led a procession of vehicles as the Durhams looked on and expressed their appreciation. The procession included more than 500 vehicles, according to participants. An argument began in front of the Durham home on the evening of May 4 involving Latham, his wife, and Durham and his wife, Catherine T. Durham, according to the Cumberland County Prosecutors Office. Latham told police he left that location and drove to his nearby house as the Durhams followed him. Back at his house, Latham said he retrieved a knife and stun gun and confronted the family as they arrived. Latham said he fought with Durham Sr. and his two sons, William T. Durham Jr., 21, and a 17-year-old, as two of Lathams friends joined the battle. Zachary T. Latham, 18, of Vineland, is charged with aggravated manslaughter. Latham used the stun gun on Durham Sr. and stabbed him in the back and left underarm, according to his criminal complaint. The father died of his injuries. The defendant was treated for injuries that included a concussion and jailed on the manslaughter charge, along with two counts of second-degree aggravated assault and multiple weapons offenses. Catherine Durham, 49, was charged with fourth-degree criminal trespass and simple assault for allegedly punching Lathams wife, according to her documents. The Durhams sons were each charged with third-degree aggravated assault and fourth-degree criminal trespass. Lathams wife recorded video of the entire incident on her phone, according to police, and that video was taken as evidence in the investigation. A procession of corrections officers and others honored slain officer William T. Durham in Vineland on Saturday. The killing followed a weeks-long dispute between the families that began when Catherine Durham told Latham to slow down after he sped down their street one day, according to Mike Gallagher, a correctional officer and friend of the Durhams who is also vice president of PBA Local 105. Latham allegedly cursed at the woman during that incident, then began harassing the family online. On the day of the killing, Latham was driving down the street when he swerved toward one of the Durhams sons, according to Gallagher. Catherine Durham yelled at Latham and he punched the woman, Gallagher said, touching off the events that ended in the killing. Latham hasnt been charged with assaulting the woman, according to court records. PBA Local 105, which represented Durham, has rallied to help his family. In addition to providing them with a check for $10,000, Local 105 has launched a GoFundMe drive. That effort had raised more than $27,000 as of Monday afternoon. A state police helicopter led a procession honoring slain corrections officer William T. Durham Sr. on Saturday. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. TDT | Manama Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) president Dr Abdulhussain bin Ali Mirza held a virtual meeting with the University of Bahrain (UoB). The remote video conference saw the participation of SEA officials Dr Waheeb Al Nasser, Dr Hanan Al Buflasa, Dr Mohammed Ridha, Dr Muammar Talib and Dr Nour Al Din Mansour along with others. They followed up on the developments of the joint SEA-UoB research cooperation agreement on the use of renewable energy in water desalination. Dr Mirza said that the meeting aimed to support the efforts and goals of the Water Resources Council, led by Deputy Premier Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, to ensure the sustainability of water resources in the Kingdom. Dr Mirza lauded the commitment of UoB and SEA to the continuous implementation of the agreement as well as their keenness to activate it, despite the on-going challenges resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The UoB team, led by Dr Waheeb Al Nasser, gave a presentation about the outcomes of research efforts on the innovative integration of renewable energy, specifically solar energy, and the latest technological solutions applied in water desalination. The presentation also highlighted the experiences of other countries in this regard. Ben185/iStockBy AARON KATERSKY and IVAN PEREIRA, ABC News (NEW YORK) -- A couple was arrested after they allegedly shouted anti-Semitic slurs at three Hasidic men in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and tried to rip off their face-coverings while blaming them for the spread of the coronavirus, the NYPD said. Paulo and Clelia Pinho, 35 and 46 respectively, of Queens, were charged with hate crimes for the incident that took place around 8:30 p.m. Sunday at the corner of Bedford Avenue and Ross Street, the police said. Paul Pinho allegedly called 911 to report a large crowd gathering, according to police. He and his wife allegedly got out of their car, accosted the men, shouting out slurs and attempted to take away their face coverings, according to the NYPD. "Youre the reason why were getting sick, one of the suspects allegedly said, according to police. A struggle allegedly ensued and the couple was detained by Shomrim patrol, a volunteer watch group, until officers arrived and took them away, according to the NYPD. The victims refused medical treatment while the suspects were treated for injuries they sustained as they were being subdued, police said. Attorney information for the suspects wasn't immediately available. They were not arraigned as of Monday morning, according to a spokesman from the Brooklyn district attorney's office. Mayor Bill de Blasio called the incident unacceptable and said the police would make sure there are consequences for the suspects. "We don't accept bias in New York City," he said during his morning briefing. "Any act of hate crime, we pursue it." Last week, the NYPD said there was a year-to-year drop in overall crime of approximately 29%. However, they noted there were 14 hate crimes related to COVID-19 which involved 15 Asian victims in April. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. 50 YEARS AGO TODAY US TROOPS MASSACRED ANTIWAR PROTESTERS AT KENT STATE. NOW, IMPERIALISTS DONT NEED GUNS THEY USE THE MEDIA My God, theyre killing us: On 4th May 1970, heavily armed National Guard soldiers used live ammunition to slaughter unarmed students on an American university campus who were protesting against the US invasion of Cambodia. Ohios Kent State University students Allison Beth Krause (from left), Sandra Lee Sandy Scheuer, Jeffrey Glenn Miller and William Knox Schroeder were killed when the National Guard troops opened fire. Just after noon that day, twenty-eight National Guard troops fired sixty-seven rounds from their M-1 rifles into a crowd of antiwar protesters at Ohios Kent State University. The volley lasted at least thirteen seconds. By one reporters eyewitness account, it lasted a minute or more. When it was over, four students lay dying: Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, William Schroeder, and Sandra Scheuer. Nine were wounded, with one suffering lifelong paralysis. Most of the victims had been marching against President Richard Nixons criminal invasion of Cambodia, announced on national television four nights before. Some had just been passing by or observing from a distance. In subsequent commissions and trials, the guardsmen testified they had to fire because they feared for their lives. The claim was absurd: the heavily-armed troops faced no threat remotely sufficient to justify their use of deadly force. Thirteen years ago, Alan Canfora, one of the injured students, released an enhanced audio recording of the incident. Right before the gunfire, he says, a commanders voice in the background can be heard ordering Right here! Get set! Point! Fire! Incredible as it seems nearly two generations later, the National Guard used live ammunition against unarmed teenagers and young adults on an American college campus. SLAUGHTER OF SOUTHEAST ASIA It was a watershed moment for a nation torn by the American Empires long crucifixion of Southeast Asia, which killed between three to five million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians between 1962 and 1975. The Kent State killings helped tilt US public opinion against the war. Much of Americas corporate media was briefly shaken out of its normal indifference to the nations antiwar protesters. A vivid photograph of a young woman screaming as she crouched over the body of Jeffrey Miller appeared on the front page of newspapers across the country. Life Magazine published a dramatic pictorial montage, including numerous large images showing the National Guard kneeling and firing into the students. Newsweek published articles titled My God, Theyre Killing Us and Who Guards the Guard? Time Magazines account, titled, Martyrdom That Shook the Country, included sympathetic profiles of the four murdered students. Missing in the predominant majority of the journalistic accounts of the time (and ever since) was any serious discussion of what the activism was about: moral revulsion against the Nixon administration and the US governments imperial, mass-murderous, and monumentally criminal assault on Southeast Asia (the so-called Vietnam War). WIDESPREAD KILLINGS OF INNOCENT PROTESTERS It was hardly the first or the last time that the US military and police state murdered participants in the great popular rebellions of the 1960s and 1970s. During the widely forgotten Orangeburg Massacre of 8th February 1968, South Carolina Highway Patrol Officers shot into a crowd of 200 civil rights protesters, killing three young black men. The Federal Bureau of Investigations and local police murdered militant black organizers like the 21-year old Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, felled in a fusillade of Chicago police bullets in his apartment in late 1969. Ten days after the Kent State massacre, police shot into a crowd of 100 unarmed black students, killing two and injuring twelve at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. A 1973 reign of terror conducted by the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs murdered dozens of Native Americans on the Pine Ridge reservation in Wounded Knee, South Dakota. But the Kent State Martyrs (murdered on the same day of the still mysterious bomb incident that led to the execution of Chicagos 4 Haymarket Martyrs in 1887) were not the usual suspects on the wrong end of the US military and police states gunsights. They were sons and daughters of white middle-class parents, some of whom were seeing their children drafted alongside lower- and working-class young adults into a disastrous and illicit war on the other side of the planet. In the incidents immediate aftermath, student strikes shut down at least four hundred colleges, and universities took part in the nations first general student strike. Antiwar activities exploded in various forms: flags lowered to half-mast, symbolic funerals, sit-ins, occupations, marches and blockades. Riot troops, including National Guard units, were stretched to their limits from coast to coast. It was an exhilarating time, wrote Tom Wells in his 2016 book The War Within: Americas Battle Over Vietnam: The antiwar movement was alive as never before. The political possibilities seemed stupendous. A truly general strike against the war was not inconceivable. BOMB THEM BACK TO STONE AGE No such general strike occurred and Nixons assault on Cambodia (sadly deleted from the Articles of Impeachment that would have led to his removal from office had Nixon not resigned) continued, as part of the Pentagons infamous strategy to bomb them back into the Stone Age. Between 1969 and 1973, John Pilger has noted, American bombers killed three-quarters of a million Cambodian peasants in an attempt to destroy North Vietnamese supply bases, many of which did not exist. During one six-month period in 1973, B-52 bombers dropped more bombs on Cambodians, living mostly in straw huts, than were dropped on all of Japan during all of the Second World War. Still, the Kent State incident is widely credited by historians with hastening the end of the US assault on Southeast Asia and the Nixon presidency. Half a century later, there is little real antiwar movement left to speak of in the United States. In a critical lesson from the Vietnam era, Washington resolved to end the military draft and never again to rely on a citizen army drawn from the full ranks of the population. The heavily recruited all-volunteer US Armed Forces draws its imperial boots on the ground from the working- and lower-classes, who often feel compelled to join the military for economic reasons. The ever-more militarised and high-tech American police state responds to mass protests not with live ammunition, but with non-lethal crowd control methods and technologies and legal penalties that disperse and punish marchers and resistors without creating martyrs like the Kent State victims. Meanwhile, the ever more concentrated US corporate media has continued to ignore the immoral, illegal, and imperialist nature of US foreign policy even as Washington has consistently wreaked mass murderous havoc around the world, from Africa, Latin America, and Asia to the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. On the rare occasions that domestic protest emerges against US foreign policy (as when Donald Trump assassinated Irans top military commander in Iraq last January), the consent-manufacturing US media tends to focus on the protesters themselves while paying little if any attention to what the activism is about. RT - Russia Today Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Maiduguri, Kano The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said it was reviewing funding requests by local researchers to support the development of vaccines and drugs for COVID-19. THISDAY had last week reported that paucity of funding had hampered efforts of the nation's major research institutions to develop vaccines and curative drugs for the disease. But the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, in a telephone chat with THISDAY yesterday said the bank was perusing applications for funding by world class Nigerian private and public research organisations interested in the development of vaccines and drugs to fight the pandemic. Meanwhile, the federal government, through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is scaling up testing capacities through the activation of three new COVID-19 testing laboratories in the country, bringing the total number to 23. It also reported last night that Nigeria had recorded 248 new cases, bringing the total to 4, 399 in the country. The centre said Lagos recorded 81 new cases, Jigawa 35, Borno and Kano 26 each, Bauchi 20, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) 13, Edo 12, Sokoto 10, Zamfara seven, Kwara and Kebbi four each, Gombe, Taraba, Ekiti and Ogun two each, while Osun and Bayelsa recorded one each. The number of those tested rose to 23, 835. The Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) has also promised to increase its patronage of locally manufactured Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the battle against the spread of the virus. However, the population of people being treated for the virus reduced at the weekend with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos, Borno and Kano States discharging 82 more patients. Emefiele, in the interview, said the apex bank had received proposals from both public and private research organisations, and was considering them preparatory to approval and disbursement of funds to research to speed up the discovery of vaccines for the virus. He added that out of the N100 billion healthcare intervention fund that the central bank unveiled in March, the first beneficiary, Fidson Healthcare Plc, one of the leading pharmaceutical manufacturing companies had received approval for N2.5 billion. Emefiele said: "We are assessing the various proposals that have been sent to us by researchers for the development and trial of vaccines and in due course we would make some announcements about those that met our requirement and those we would support for vaccine. "Also, from the N100 billion health sector facility, we have approved for Fidson Healthcare N2.5 billion to expand its plant into the production of ethical drugs and intravenous. So, we are also reviewing other requests for funding for the N100 billion facility and in due course we would make the announcement." The CBN had in March released guidelines for accessing its N100 billion credit support facility for its healthcare sector. The fund was announced as part of a raft of measures to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy. NCDC Increases Testing Laboratories to 23 Nationwide In the meantime, the NCDC has activated three new testing laboratories in the country, bringing the total number to 23 nationwide, to boost the nation's testing capacity. NCDC, which announced this yesterday through its verified Twitter handle @NCDCgov, said the newly activated laboratories were located at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) in Edo State, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) and the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, both in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. It said: "This brings the number of laboratories in Nigeria with the capacity to test for COVID-19 to 23." Private Sector Coalition Pledges Increased Support for Local Manufacturers Also at the weekend, CACOVID promised to increase its patronage of locally manufactured Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the battle against the spread of COVID-19. Responding to an enquiry from THISDAY during a telephone interview, one of the leaders of CACOVID and Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, stated that the coalition had been patronising manufacturers of locally made protective equipment since its formation. He said: "We buy PPE locally. CACOVID will continue to support local manufacturers, whether it is for face masks or PPE, etc. The only things that we import are medical equipment that cannot be manufactured here, but are absolutely necessary for the treatment of COVID-19. Even the medication like Erythromycin, it is produced locally in Enugu. "We have a technical committee and that committee is made up of people who are very strong in research and one of them is at Redeemers University." CACOVID said it had also donated fully equipped isolation centres and medical equipment to Ondo and Kwara States. The donation was in response to pleas by governors of the two states and to strengthen the partnership with governments at all levels to help contain the pandemic. The group, made up of leading private sector operators, had earlier donated similar items to Rivers and Enugu States, apart from the distribution of palliatives to the people, which the coalition commenced in Lagos last week. CACOVID, while handing over a 100-bed space isolation centre and medical items in Ilorin, Kwara State said its efforts were meant to complement the federal government's action against the spread of the virus and to end the pandemic in Nigeria. Speaking at the handover to the Kwara State government, the spokesperson of CACOVID, Mrs. Grace Olagunju, said the gesture was to support the government to successfully fight the virus. The representative of the state government, Chairman Medical Advisory Committee of COVID-19 Technical Committee in the state, Dr. Femi Oladiji, commended CACOVID for the gesture, stressing that it would help the state government in its efforts to successfully fight the pandemic. In Akure, the Ondo State capital, the coalition donated medical equipment and beddings to Ondo State Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), where 10 patients are currently undergoing treatment and three suspected persons are being isolated. The Head of Ondo State COVID-19 Task Force, Dr. Busari Ismail, said though the three suspected cases had tested negative, they would still need to run another test before they could be discharged if they tested negative again. Lagos, FCT, Borno, Kano Discharge 82 More Patients Lagos, Borno and Kano States, as well as the Federal Capital Administration (FCTA), have discharged 82 more patients. FCTA discharged 39 patients undergoing treatment at one of its isolation centres in Abuja. It was the largest number of patients to be discharged at any particular occasion in the FCT since the outbreak of the pandemic. The FCTA COVID-19 Situation Room said yesterday that the patients were discharged late on Saturday to bring the total number of those discharged to 85. The Lagos State Government discharged 21 more patients from its isolation centres, bringing to 469 the total number of successfully treated persons in the state. The Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said four of those discharged were females and 17 males, adding that they are all Nigerians. He said: "Three were discharged from the Onikan Isolation Centre, one from the Eti Osa (Landmark) Isolation Centre, one from First Cardiology Hospital (an accredited private isolation facility), six from Lekki Isolation Centre and 10 from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba. "They were discharged today having fully recovered and tested negative for COVID-19 in two consecutive test readings. With this, the total number of cases successfully managed and discharged from our isolation facilities has risen to 469." The Borno State Government also yesterday said 12 patients were discharged in the state. This brings to 14 numbers of patients discharged since the pandemic was first reported in the state as two parents were earlier discharged a few days ago. The Chairman of the state Committee on COVID-19 and Deputy Governor, Alhaji Umar Kadafur, in a statement, said of the 12, six were discharged by the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) Isolation Centre, while the remaining six were from state isolation centre at Bulabulin Ngaranam. The Kano State government on its part discharged 10 patients undergoing treatment in its isolation centres. With the new patients discharged, the total number of patients successfully managed and discharged in the state stands at 32. The state's Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, said in a statement made available to THISDAY in Kano, that the patients had fully recovered and tested negative for COVID-19 in two consecutive readings. PDP Blames Spike in Cases on Poor Leadership by APC The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has decried the increasing cases of the pandemic, blaming it on what it described as the poor leadership by the federal government, controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC). According to a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the increase in infection and mortality rates in Nigeria would have been curtailed if the federal government had articulated a quick national response to the pandemic. The party noted that the situation had been worsened by alleged diversion of resources meant for the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. The PDP said it was distressing that since the outbreak of the pandemic in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari had not been seen to be leading from the front. According to the party, the president addressed the country only thrice, after which he has remained out of public visibility, leading to the lack of effective coordination of the fight against the pandemic. It accused the president of failing to act on suggestions on the administration of palliatives and production of homegrown therapeutics. "President Buhari has woefully failed to spur and lead a strong teamwork of federal, state governments and the organised private sector for a proactive response that would have checked the spread of the pandemic in our country," the party said. Policeman Dies in Ogun A policeman has died of COVID-19 complications at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abeokuta in Ogun state. TheCable quoted the FMC's Head of Public Relations, Mr. Segun Orisajo, as saying in a statement issued yesterday that the officer had presented himself at the general outpatients department at the FMC on Friday, and died on the same day. "His body is being prepared for release to his family for burial in strict compliance with World Health Organisation (WHO)'s guidelines. "All staff that came in contact with the deceased are currently on self-isolation," the statement said. Rivers Demolishes Two Hotels for Flouting Order on Restrictions Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, yesterday monitored the demolition of two hotels accused of violating the State Government Executive Order 6, banning the operation of hotels across the 23 local government areas of the state. The hotels are Prudent Hotel, Alode, Eleme, and Etemeteh Hotel, Onne. Addressing journalists after the demolition, Wike said the law must be obeyed, hence the state government's decision to enforce it. He said: "Government has no alternative but to apply the Executive Order, which I signed before the lockdown of Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt. I called all the traditional rulers and council chairmen and told them to ensure that no hotel operates in the state. "We are not saying it will be forever. This is for now, so that we know where we are: to reduce the cases and check the spread. "Whether you are PDP or not, all we are saying is that nobody is above the law. If we can do this to a PDP person, then you know we are not discriminatory. Everyone must obey. Whether you are in PDP, SDP or no party, you must obey the law. If any other person does the same thing, the same rule will apply." He reiterated his declaration that no hotel should operate anywhere in the state. "We said no hotel should operate within this period. Unfortunately, the PDP Youth Leader in Eleme joined others to flout the Executive Order. Therefore, the executive order will be applied. "We said if any hotel operates, the government will bring down that hotel. We are doing what we have told people that we are going to do. Nobody wants to obey any rules. We are saying just for now, keep off, let us see how we can keep our people safe," he said. He explained that the focus on hotels is due to the fact that one of the cases in the state spread the virus from a hotel. He said: "Look at the rate of infections, most of these people are found in hotels. Look at the man that died, he was at Mingi Hotel in Rumumasi. Due to that contact, we have had other seven cases." He added that those involved in the crime would be prosecuted and that the managing director of the hotel at Onne had been arrested. The state government had on Saturday declared the Youth Leader of the PDP in Eleme Local Government Area and owner of Prudent Hotels, Mr. Princewill Osaroejiji, wanted for "various criminal activities." Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Coronavirus By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. The state also offered N5 million reward to anyone who will give law enforcement agencies information that will lead to his arrest. ANAP Seeks Curfew Relaxation, Extension of Business Hours In a related development, the ANAP Foundation COVID-19 Think Tank has called on the federal and state governments to lift or adjust the dusk to dawn curfew across the country and extend the hours for the opening of businesses in the country. The foundation said the suggestion was necessary to avoid physical contact and overcrowding resulting from the curfew and tight business opening hours, which it said was caused by people rushing to meet their engagements before the expiration of the deadlines, thereby increasing chances of COVID-19 contact. ANAP in a statement yesterday jointly signed by its Chairman, Mr. Atedo Peterside, and the Vice-Chairman, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed, recommended that the federal and state governments should intensify behaviour change communication campaigns on physical distancing, hand washing and wearing cloth face coverings in public in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It urged the government to lift the curfew or limit it to 11 p.m.- 5 a.m. (no more than six hours) to help ease overcrowding, and lengthen business hours and reserve one or two hours for the exclusive service of the elderly, especially in banks and supermarkets, in consideration of their extra vulnerability to COVID-19. ANAP further recommended that the government should prevail on businesses to enforce the physical distancing of two metres between customers; compulsory wearing of cloth face coverings in public places and public transportation; continued ban of physical congregational religious activities and other social events and/or ceremonies. It said it strongly believed that implementing some or all of the above measures would help in achieving the government's objective of easing hardship on the citizens whilst curbing the spread of COVID-19. While commending the efforts of the federal and state governments and their agencies in dealing with multifaceted problems posed to the nation by the COVID-19 pandemic, the foundation noted the increasing awareness and responsibility of state actors and the renewed emphasis on educating the public on all that was important regarding COVID-19. ANAP added: "After reviewing situation reports from various towns and villages across the nation, our conclusion is that governments must continue to monitor and define the extent to which they will modify partial lockdowns to allow for some economic activities thereby ensuring that the right balance between public health and economic sustainability is maintained. "Whilst the easing and modification of lockdown measures have met with varying degrees of success, we underscore the need to increase the intensity of a sound and effective communication strategy which ensures that the public is alive to the dangers of COVID-19 and its potential for exponential growth if we let our guard down. "Unchecked behaviour and violations of public health advice regarding minimising physical and social contact, observing personal hygiene e.g. failure to wash hands frequently and/or use of sanitizers and/or wearing cloth face coverings in the public will lead to the rapid spread of COVID-19." Obinna Chima, Goddy Egene, Martins Ifijeh, Peter Uzoho, Chuks Okocha, Olawale Ajimotokan, Ernest Chinwo, Michael Olugbode, and Ibrahim Shuaibu President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus during a press briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House. Read more WASHINGTON President Donald Trump was pushing to get out in the public eye in recent weeks and tout his leadership during the pandemic, and White House staff thought they had hit on the ideal event: a presidential visit to thank the Pennsylvania factory workers who had recently taken herculean steps to ramp up U.S. supplies of protective equipment. Workers had received national attention after dozens of them lived for 28 days inside their factory so they could ensure they were virus-free and their production was not contaminated or disrupted by illness. White House officials pressed to hold an event at the Braskem factory, initially scheduled for last Friday. But after extensive back and forth, factory officials ultimately asked to postpone, worried that a visit from Trump could jeopardize both the safety of the workers and the plant's ability to produce special material for masks and other medical gear, according to two people familiar with the decision and documents reviewed by The Post. The White House's efforts to set up an event at the Pennsylvania factory came as Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have made a number of public appearances in recent weeks to showcase the administration's work combating the health crisis gatherings that health experts say have created heightened health risks for both them and those around them. Trump has refused to wear a mask in public, and Pence has only occasionally done so. On Thursday, the vice president's face was uncovered as he delivered boxes of gloves and masks to a rehabilitation center and nursing home in Alexandria, Virginia and spoke within a few feet of the center's staff. Pence was accompanied by his press secretary, Katie Miller, who also did not have a mask. The following day, the news broke that she had tested positive for the coronavirus. Despite that, Pence continued with a trip to Iowa, where he made appearances Friday with Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who said she is now following a modified self-quarantine. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Trump has made safety the top concern as he and top administration officials have returned to doing public events. "President Trump's top priority is the safety and security of the American people, and the idea that during this pandemic he wants an event of any kind that would violate our own guidelines to opening up America again is categorically false," Gidley said. Pence spokesman Devin O'Malley declined to comment, referring to past remarks by the vice president in which he said he believed he was taking proper safety measures by getting regularly tested for the coronavirus, and noting that he had tested negative before attending public events. An administration official said the Virginia nursing home did not expressly ask the vice president to wear a mask. Nursing home officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. READ MORE: Trump says Pennsylvanians want their freedom now as potential Pa. visit looms this week A new White House directive expected to be issued Monday will require officials to wear face coverings in public spaces on the complex grounds, but Trump is unlikely to begin wearing a mask, The Washington Post reported. Trump and Pence have repeatedly resisted guidance to wear masks as the virus has spread. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to begin wearing cloth face coverings in public in early April, the president made it clear he did not plan to follow that advice. "I don't think I'm going to be doing it," Trump said. "Wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens I just don't see it." The president has told others he dislikes masks and thinks they suggest weakness, said two people familiar with internal discussions. The tone set at the top has led many White House officials and senior advisers to similarly avoid using masks. Pence said he didn't wear a mask when he visited the Mayo Clinic because he wanted to look the doctors and staff "in the eye." Trump had no face covering on May 5 when he visited a Honeywell plant in Arizona that produces N95 respirators, which the White House featured in a campaign-style video. Nor did aides joining him, including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, or top executives at Honeywell, despite the plant's general mask policy. The White House was aiming for a similar event last Friday at the Braskem plant in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, a factory that made a special fabric used in making protective masks, gloves and other gear. Factory officials were initially excited about the idea of hosting a president but also had reservations, according to the two people familiar with the planning talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. The plant officials told the White House advance team that they doubted their workers could attend the event. It was too risky for them and would run counter to the effort they had taken by self-quaratining. The White House then suggested that a few corporate officials could join the president, the people said. Factory officials said they didn't feel comfortable bringing the president and his entourage, which included a detail of several Secret Service agents, inside the plant, in part because social distancing would be hard to maintain. In response, the White House proposed holding the event in the adjoining open-air parking lot. Ultimately, company officials suggested rescheduling after the pandemic was over, saying that a visit from the president was just too risky at this time. Company officials declined to elaborate on their discussions with the White House. "We were deeply honored by the White House's acknowledgment of our production resiliency teams," Braskem CEO Mark Nikolich said in a statement. "However, after many discussions, the parties agreed due to the nature of petrochemical operations and the safety of our team members and visitors a visit wasn't feasible." A senior administration official said the White House planned the Braskem tour to resemble the visit to Honeywell, with as few as 20 people at the event, but mutually agreed with the company that safety concerns should be foremost. The White House has looked, and continues to look at many locations for potential visits and with each one safety is the top priority, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. However, White House practices on masks and social distancing have repeatedly shifted during the last few months. In late April, Pence visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and was excoriated by medical professionals for being the only person who was not wearing a mask when meeting in close quarters with patients and staff. A reporter later revealed that instructions from the White House provided to reporters before the trip made clear that the Mayo Clinic would require everyone on the visit to wear masks. The medical institution wrote in a now-deleted tweet that Pence and his team were aware of the masking policy ahead of the tour. Pence defended his decision to go mask-less, telling reporters he and everyone around him are regularly tested for the virus. But he later acknowledged that he should have worn one at the medical clinic. Two days after he visited the Mayo Clinic, Pence wore a mask while on a tour of a GM plant in Kokomo, Indiana, that was making ventilators. Joining him on the trip and also wearing masks were Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, GM CEO Mary Barra and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro. But on his May 7 visit to the Virginia nursing home, Pence was again without a mask. The vice president did not go inside the facility, where several patients were reported to have coronavirus infections. But he spoke to administrators outside from a distance that appeared closer than six feet, photos from the event show. Pence said his visit was one of more than 15,000 deliveries the Federal Emergency Management Agency was making to nursing homes across the country. "Early in the coronavirus epidemic, we recognized that the risk to seniors, particularly those with serious underlying health conditions, is very real," Pence said. The following day, after the news broke that his press secretary was positive for coronavirus, Pence flew to Des Moines, where he and the Iowa governor met with food industry executives. None wore masks during the roundtable meeting. A video of portions of the event, first reported by the Intercept, shows a woman approaching the executives before Pence's arrival and asking them to take off their masks. The staffer, the employee of another federal agency, was working as a member of the White House advance team, according to an administration official. The vice president's office declined to comment on the instruction or identify the staffer. But the administration official said she was noting that masks were not necessary for the roundtable, which had been arranged so the participants would be at least six feet apart. Reynolds, the Iowa governor, announced Monday she is following a modified version of self-quarantining, similar to one adopted by Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease official, after Pence's press secretary tested positive. Reynolds said she was doing so "out of an abundance of caution" to protect others around her after being invited to a White House meeting Wednesday where Miller was present and then hosting Pence on Friday. She said she tested negative for coronavirus and will continue to get tested daily. While I didnt have direct contact with the vice presidents staff member, its important that I do my part to protect those around me while continuing to serve as your governor during this critical time, she said. Zomato Food delivery platform Zomato has announced an extension of four months in Gold memberships across countries. The extended offer will cover customers in India, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Philippines, Indonesia, Turkey, and Lebanon. "India and all our other Gold countries are still a few months away from being able to use and enjoy their Zomato Gold benefits," Deepinder Goyal, founder, Zomato, said earlier today as he made the announcement. Also Read | Indian start-ups get creative as coronavirus crisis fuels funding crunch He also pointed out that Gold members in India were also able to avail membership privileges on delivery orders. The food delivery platform had already extended the membership for its customers by two months in March in light of the COVID-19 pandemic which was followed by a nationwide lockdown. Most of its restaurant partners remained shuttered amid the lockdown, while the food delivery operations continued in a limited way. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Track this blog for LIVE updates on the COVID-19 pandemic "We will continue to monitor the situation very closely, and make every effort to ensure customer and staff safety when restaurants open up again and are ready to welcome Gold members," Goyal added. Recent reports suggested that Zomato has also been looking to branch out into the alcohol delivery segment. With this, the company hopes to cash in on the high demand for booze amid the lockdown. The move would also add another diversification to the company's range of services as it has already moved into the grocery delivery segment. Any user whose demographic data is stored with the government through the Aarogya Setu app can now request for its deletion, the Centre said on Monday as it issued a set of protocols to regulate the definition, collection, processing and storage of data by the contact-tracing app. Data about the users name, mobile number, age, gender, profession and travel history come under this ambit. The Aarogya Setu Emergency Data Access and Knowledge Sharing Protocol, 2020, which will be applicable for the next six months, also increases the period of retention of such data from the earlier 60 days as specified in the apps privacy policy to 180 days. The move comes as the government has faced criticism of the violation of privacy by digital rights activists as the app has evolved from a contract-tracing app when it was launched in April to take on a larger role of providing e-passes, telemedicine, as well as e-pharma facilities; critics have raised concerns over the government making it mandatory for a host of activities, especially in the movement of individuals. ALSO READ | Aarogya Setu app rule for private offices, not for domestic helps: Official Last week, a French hacker pointed at vulnerabilities on the app by showing that details of millions of Indians using it could be accessed within a 100-km radius. The app only provides data for a radius of 10 kilometres only for phones in India. IT ministry officials said that the protocol was necessitated by the increased criticism. The rationale for the protocol, the government said, was to ensure the effective implementation of the governments health response to Covid-19. There is a need to ensure efficient data and information sharing among the different Departments and Ministries of the Government of India as well as those in the State/Union Territory Governments, the protocol said. Entrusting the National Informatics Centre for the collection, processing and managing of the data collected by the Aarogya Setu, the Centre also specified that only the data of those who are infected, are at high risk of being infected or who have come in contact with infected people are most likely to be collected. This includes demographic, contact, self assessment and location data. ALSO READ | MIT researchers examine Aarogya Setu app, heres what they have to say While contact and location data will by default remain on the device, the government may upload it to its server to formulate or implement appropriate health responses, it said. It added that the data of those infected will not be shared with any third party in usual circumstances, the government may do so if it is strictly necessary to formulate or implement health responses. The rules are applicable for six months, and while the app does not yet have a sunset clause, the government said that a review of the protocol will be taken up after six months. Contact, location and self-assessment data of individuals will be permanently deleted in 180 days in most cases, but demographic data will remain for as long as the protocol remains in force. If an individual requests that it be deleted, it will do so within 30 days of the request. The protocol also allows for data to be shared with different agencies and wings of the Central government as well as state governments in de-identified form to assist in the formulation or implementation of a critical health response. These entities, responsible for processing the data in a fair manner, will not store it for more than 180 days. However, the protocol said that the NIC will have to maintain a list of such agencies with details of when such sharing was started, people who have access, as well as the categories of the data. Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov, said that the protocol will allay concerns of privacy violation. User data on the app is safe, and of the 98 million downloads, the data of only 12,000 people have been stored on the servers, he said. Violations of the data security protocols by any entity will be punishable under Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, which invites jail term for up to two years. The protocols also allow research institutes to study the data collected by the app which has undergone hard anonymisation. Divij Joshi, a lawyer and tech policy expert, said that while the protocol specifies the security guidelines better than the apps privacy policy, it might not have enough legal teeth as it is not a legislative action. The protocol attempts to give a legal basis to Aarogya Setu, as required by the Supreme Court but it is not a clear legislative basis. It introduces some accountability by limiting data collection and sharing to that which is strictly necessary and by allowing individuals to complain to Disaster Management Authorities under the law as well. However, the protocol does not address issues of efficacy of contact tracing, and the issues of discrimination and exclusion by making it mandatory, Joshi said. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 12) In one of the rooms at East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City, a doctor prepares for another day of battle against an unseen and deadly enemy. Like a warrior, he dons layers of protective gear an N-95 mask, a head cap, coveralls, gloves, booties and a face shield. They are uncomfortable, but a necessary protection against the coronavirus. Healthcare workers have to change suits every time they do their rounds at COVID-19 wards. For some, that means changing twice or even more during their shift. The government hospital is already at capacity with COVID-19 patients, and has limited beds for non-COVID patients. Internal medicine resident Dr. Paolo Maddela tells CNN Philippines in a video call interview that his colleagues are also getting sick. Just the other day, three of our residents tested positive for COVID, he said. Some of the nurses at (Emergency Room) have been infected due to improper donning and doffing, especially when we doff the (personal protective equipment). We usually have instructions on what to take out first. What we lack is proper instructions. Some of the nurses and residentsiba nagmamadali, iba hindi nagcheck instructions properly, sa instructions may priority na tanggalin muna like booties then gloves and overalls. (Some of the nurses and residents are rushing. Others are not checking instructions properly. In the instructions, there is a priority to remove booties then gloves and overalls.) As of May 11, the Department of Health reported that 1,991 healthcare workers have been infected. Thats one of every six COVID-19 patients nationwide since January. Dr. Madella says that when one doctor, nurse or medical technologist is placed under quarantine or hospitalized their whole operations would be affected. Its very difficult when a colleague of mine is positive because we have to adjust the schedule of the whole department. Its possible I would be taking care of 20 patients today, the next day I would be taking care of 40 patients, Dr. Maddela said. RELATED: WHO works with PH on worrisome COVID-19 infection rate of frontliners RELATED: DOH: Community exposure, long shifts led to high infection rate of healthcare workers Healing needs Humanity Like most healthcare workers, Dr. Madella hardly sees his family. Both of his parents are hypertensive, at high-risk of contracting the virus, which he says he might accidentally take home from the hospital. I have these fear of transmitting these days, he said. We know what this disease is capable of, so Im willing to make the necessary sacrifice. He takes on a 36-hour shift for seven days straight before going on a break. He gets a week off, and then its back to work again. And every time he steps inside the hospital, Dr. Maddela finds himself walking the extra mile for his patientsthey are alone and away from their loved ones, too. Although the hospital allows relatives to visit, subject to protocols, the young doctor said many are still afraid to step foot at the hospital. In the absence of family and friends, he gives his patients food and comfort, taking the time to talk with them. Sometimes, their answers to a simple question on how they are doing would break his heart. Some of the responses nakakalungkot, hinahanap nila ang anak nila, or apo nila and that saddens me. Its hard for relatives to go inside kasi baka mahawa din sila but at the same time, naakaawa rin ang patients, no one would take care of them, no one would give them a drink pa kailangan nila. So umaasa lang sila sa food pag may nurse na pumapasok o doctor na pumapasok, he said. [Translation: Some of the responses are disheartening, like they are longing for their children or their grandchildren and that saddens me. Its hard for relatives to go inside because they can be infected but at the same time, the patients feel sorry because no one would take care of them, no one would give them a drink they need. So they are depending on their food if a nurse or a doctor go inside.] He remembers a conversation with an old lady last week. She is 80 years old who suffered from a stroke, and is a probable COVID patient. Neither her husband nor her son is at her side. When I went inside sabi nya di siya nakakain buong araw, gutom na gutom sya and she was looking for her son. As a doctor, usually I would console her lang, kausapin mabuti. I would tell pupunta rin anak nyo, he recalled. [Translation: When I went inside, she said that she did not eat the whole day. She was so hungry and she was looking for her son. As a doctor, usually I would console her, talk to her, and I would tell that her children will visit her.] "But, I remembered my lola. Pinakain ko siya, pinainom ko ng (medicines), just like what a normal person or apo would to to a lola. [Translation: But, I remembered my grandmother. I fed her, gave here medicines, just like what a normal person or grandson would do to a grandmother.] Dr. Maddela eventually convinced her son to visit her. For him, the healing process for COVID-19 or any other diseases extends beyond prescribing medicine. It is about offering kindness and care, too. But with all the attendant risks, sacrifices and fatigue, the most difficult is still delivering the bad news. He couldn't but remember that day in April. One of his coronavirus patients was dying. He was 54 years old with a chronic kidney disease. Hell leave behind a 19-year-old daughter alone in this world. At that time it was very hard for me to explain to the daughter that her father was dying, the doctor said. Wala sya nanay and the father was dying, wala syang relatives so it was hard to explain. [Translation: She doesnt have a mother anymore and the father was dying, she didnt have any relatives so it was hard to explain.] While the hospital recorded a number of deaths in the past two months, it is now seeing more recoveries. Patients who survive give satisfaction to doctors and nurses. Dr. Maddela says this is the best of times to be a doctor or to be any other type of healthcare worker. No amount of joy this time when a patient was admitted with a bad prognosis, was then later intubated, now is awake, oriented and discharged stable, he said. There are also other things that motivate them to keep on pushing in a seemingly thankless job smiles from co-workers, donations, prayers, and any show of support in their continuing effort to save lives amid the pandemic. With the biggest one-day spike of 4,213 cases, and the daily increase of at least 2,000 cases since the beginning of May, it appears that the surge in new Covid-19 cases has clouded the recovery rate, which has jumped past 31 per cent, doctors said. Speaking to IANS, Arvind Kumar, Chairman at the Centre for Chest Surgery and Director at the Institute of Robotic Surgery at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said the current spike in cases daily suggests that the situation would become worse in June, which is contrary to the expectations from the lockdown. After two phases of the lockdown, it appeared that the country may get an upper hand on the spread of the virus within 6 to 8 weeks. "Suddenly, half-way through the lockdown, we changed our priorities (relaxations were introduced). The gains made in the initial phase of the lockdown seem to have been lost. Higher recovery rate does not mean anything, as the number of people infected by the virus has increased, so has the death toll," said Kumar. The total number of Covid-19 cases in India has mounted to 67,152, including 44,029 active cases. According to the Union Health Ministry, 20,917 Covid-19 patients have been cured till now, taking the recovery rate to 31.15 per cent, with 1,559 patients recovering in the last 24 hours. As many as 4,213 new cases and 97 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours till 8 a.m. on Monday, as per the ministry data. Kumar insisted that the recovery rate is a relative term, as 90 per cent patients recover from the viral infection. "The lockdown played a crucial role in resisting the initial onslaught of the virus. But after relaxations were provided on the movement of migrants and also the movement of lakhs of people across the country, they may lead to significant increase in the number of cases. It seems a steep rise would come, may be by June end," said Kumar. Vikas Maurya, Director and Head of Pulmonology at the Fortis Hospital, said that it has been seen all over the world that when relaxations are introduced, there is a sharp rise in the number of positive cases. "The sudden increase in numbers could be due to a large outbreak in a particular location, as initially the outbreak of the virus begins in clusters and then it increases. I do not see severe community transmission," said Maurya. He added that through social distancing and behavioural changes, there could be a possibility of achieving herd immunity against the virus. Detailing the sudden surge in the number of cases, the Health Ministry said on Monday that relatively large outbreaks have been noticed in particular locations. The ministry insisted that it is crucial to focus on containment efforts to ensure the country does not reach the community transmission stage. The Delhi High Court Monday declined to entertain a PIL seeking direction to the Centre and the AAP government to take steps to protect and provide welfare measures such as food, accommodation and medicines, to sex workers and the LGBT community during the Covid-19 lockdown. A bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal dismissed the plea, by a lawyer, who had sought financial aid, food, shelter and medicines to sex workers and LGBT community members in Delhi to ensure their survival during the lockdown. A detailed order from the court giving reasons for dismissal is awaited. Advocate Anurag Chauhan, in his petition, had also asked for constituting a committee for rehabilitation of sex workers. The petition had also sought setting up of a separate helpline to counsel them and address their problems during the period of the pandemic. The petitioner said he had given a representation to the Delhi Chief Minister and the Lieutenant Governor on May 2, highlighting the grievances of the sex workers and the members of the LGBT community but no steps were taken, hence he moved the court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A US official's wife who is alleged to have killed British teenager Harry Dunn is "wanted internationally" by police. Anne Sacoolas was charged in the UK with death by dangerous driving in December, but in January the US rejected a Home Office request to fly her to the UK for trial. International police agency Interpol has now issued a Red Notice for her arrest meaning she will be arrested if she leaves the US according to an email sent by Northamptonshire Police to Mr Dunn's family and seen by the Standard. Mr Dunn was killed last year after a car crashed into his motorbike in Northamptonshire. The family of Harry Dunn (left to right) mother Charlotte Charles, stepfather Bruce Charles, family spokesman Radd Seiger, father Tim Dunn, stepmother Tracey Dunn / PA Ms Sacoolas, the wife of a US official, claimed diplomatic immunity and returned to her home country, sparking an outcry from Mr Dunn's family and supporters. The Standard understands that from an official British perspective she had diplomatic immunity until she left the UK. The US said again in April that at the time of the death of Mr Dunn Ms Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity. Mr Dunn's mother Charlotte Charles said: "Its been a terrible time for us. We are utterly bereft and heartbroken and miss our Harry every minute of every single day... "I just want to urge Mrs Sacoolas to come back to the UK and do the right thing. Face justice and maybe then our two families can come together after the tragedy and build a bridge." Northamptonshire Police said: Northamptonshire Police's involvement in this case has concluded and the file of evidence was presented to the Crown Prosecution Service. "This matter now rests with the extradition unit and as this is a live case, it would be inappropriate for Northamptonshire Police to comment any further. Interpol declined to comment. The states are pleading with the central government allow some breathing space for the economy New Delhi: With the economy in the dog house and the Covid-19 pandemic poised to peak in the next four to six weeks, prime mininster Narendra Modi will interact again with chief ministers via video-conferencing Monday to seek their views on how to go ahead with the easing of restrictions. Modis interaction with the CMs, scheduled for 3 pm Monday, will be his fifth since the lockdown was imposed nationwide at midnight March 24, and which is due to last till May 17. The number of Covid-19 infections has more than doubled since the PM last interacted with the CMs on April 27 from just over 28,000 cases to more than 65,000 cases now. Sources said while the lockdown is likely to be further extended, restrictions could be lifted in some key sectors, with the focus on reviving economic activity. Several states have recently relaxed labour laws to restart activities by allowing limited staff to work in shifts. The meeting will also focus on pushing measures to convert red zones with high Covid-19 case loads into orange or green zones. The Union Health ministry on May 1 classified 733 districts as 130 in the red zone, 284 in the orange zone and 319 in the green zone. The states are likely to raise issues related to special trains to take migrant workers to their home states, seek permission to allow more economic activities in non-hotspots, financial resources to back small businesses and the vulnerable, and additional supply of testing kits, ventilators and personal protective equipment. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman too will hold a video conference with chief executives of public sector banks and the State Bank of India chairman to review the flow of credit into the economy. The meeting will review credit sanctions and disbursements since March 1. It is expected to look at Covid-related sanctioned/pre-approved emergency credit and reassessment based additional working capital. There has been a steep rise in coronavirus cases during Lockdown 3.0. The number of coronavirus cases has risen from 40,000 to 65,000 in the past week. If the spread of the infection is not contained, the number of cases will soon cross that of China, which stands at 82,901. The virus death toll in China is 4,633. India's third Covid wave likely to peak on Jan 23, daily cases to stay below 4 lakh: IIT Kanpur scientist Govt starts district-level testing to study coronavirus trends India pti-PTI New Delhi, May 11: Two government research bodies at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus are in the process of initiating a population-based serosurvey to monitor the trend in prevalence of the infection at the district level, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. The Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Centre for Disease Control will collaborate with key stakeholders for the survey at 10 health facilities (6 public and 4 private). A serosurvey involves testing of blood serum of a group of individuals to determine the presence of antibodies against that infection. The ministry said in a document uploaded on its website that there is a need to establish systematic surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 infection in all districts of the country. "This surveillance will be in addition to the routine testing as per current testing guidelines," it stated. The survey will include 200 samples a week and 800 samples per month, it said. It would test outpatient attendees (non-ILI patients) and pregnant women among the low-risk group, and health care workers among the high-risk population. At least 100 samples per week and 400 per month of healthcare workers from selected districts would be tested. The document stated that throat/nasal swabs will be collected for RT-PCR tests and samples would be tested in a one-time pool of 25. "Results of this sample pooling is only for surveillance purposes. It should not be used for diagnosis of individual patients. In addition to throat/nasal swabs, blood samples should be collected for detecting IgG antibodies for ELISA testing. In subsequent rounds, IgG ELISA based testing of serum samples will replace RTPCR based testing for surveillance purpose," it said. Data on demographic characteristics will be collected on a specifically designed standard data collection form. The data will be analyzed locally for action using standard indicator formats. Indicators for person, place, time and trend analysis will be made. Data collation and dissemination will take place as decided jointly by ICMR and department of health and family welfare, it said. A Massachusetts pastor said he will continue to hold services inside his church even though he faces threats of a fine or imprisonment for doing so. Pastor Kris Casey said that more than 10 people gathered inside the Adams Square Baptist Church in Worcester on Sunday, marking the fourth time he has violated Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker's statewide order that bans gatherings of 10 or more people. Casey said he is growing frustrated that other businesses are able to stay open with a less stringent requirement on maximum occupancy, such as liquor stores, while he is expected to stay closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. You know what, its hypocrisy at its finest. In fact, lets call it what it really is, its tyranny, he said. So thats why Im standing up: to fight the cause and say its not going to happen on my watch. Casey said everyone at the service had their temperature taken beforehand and that they were required to wear masks, gloves and be at least 6 feet apart unless it was a family attending the service together. Anyone who violated those rules would be escorted out of the church. He said he is also taking more stringent precautions than most to prevent the spread of coronavirus during his church services. That includes a professional deep cleaning before every service, as well as a strict bathroom use policy. Our bathrooms are usable, but the moment you go to the bathroom, for sanitary reasons, were going to escort you right out and were going to block the bathrooms so nobody can go in," Casey said. "We want there to be no opportunity for anybody to get anything. Casey has already been hit with a $300 fine, but he said has yet to receive a $500 fine as of Sunday afternoon, despite Worcester city officials said he received one for violating Baker's order for a third time on Wednesday. The pastor said he has been open about holding church services when he first held one with more than 10 people on April 26. He referenced the letter he sent to Baker, Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty and Worcester Police Chief Steve Sargent, stating that he would hold services in defiance of Baker's ban on gatherings. Im not trying to hide anything. This church has been here 130 years. We have the right to do what were doing and no one is going to tread on it. No one is going to infringe on it," he said. Casey said he conducted a baptism at the church on Sunday, which is part of the reason why he continues to hold gatherings at the church instead of virtual services. I cant baptize somebody on a Zoom meeting, he said. As of Sunday, there were 2,924 confirmed COVID-19 cases among Worcester residents. All combined medical facilities of Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass Memorial Health Care have reported 170 coronavirus-related deaths. The CM of Andhra kept his word in giving ex gratia to the victims of Vizag tragedy. He moved all the state administrative machinery to Vizag. Those who are in hospital for serious ailment would get Rs 10 lakh each and others, who are hospitalized, would receive Rs 1 lakh each as compensation. The CM of Andhra kept his word in giving ex gratia to the victims of Vizag tragedy. He moved all the state administrative machinery to Vizag. Andhra Pradesh government has given Rs 1 crore exgratia to the kin of the deceased family members in the Vizaga gas leak incident and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has instructed the officials to keep the State clean of such hazardous units while the surrounding area of the incident has been sanitized and the remaining stock of the Styrene gas is been sent back to South Korea and normalcy is returning to the five most affected villages. The Group of Ministers (GoM), today visited the houses of the deceased to hand over the cheques of Rs 1 crore and monitored the clean-up operation of the areas surrounding the plant. The compensation for others who had taken ill will be paid in the coming three days, the Ministers said, after a video conference with the Chief Minister. Meanwhile, 13,000 tonnes of Styrene gas is being sent back to South Korea while the civic staff has been sanitizing the entire area and has been creating awareness among the locals about the safety measures after the gas leak and how to dust away from the residuals. Speaking to the media during the distribution of compensation cheques, district in-charge Minister, K Kannababu said, The incident occurred on May 7 and within four days of the mishap, we are providing compensation to the affected families. This is the true indication of the commitment of our Chief Minister, who has been constantly reviewing the situation with officials. Like never before by any State government, the Chief Minister announced Rs 1 crore ex gratia to the kin of those who have lost their lives in the tragedy. Those who are in hospital for serious ailment would get Rs 10 lakh each and others, who are hospitalized, would receive Rs 1 lakh each as compensation. Also, all the families residing in the affected villages are to be compensated with Rs 10,000 each. The entire cost of hospitalization will be borne by the Government. Meanwhile, Minister Botsa Satyanarayana said that the State government is taking up all the required measures to normalize the situation in the affected five villages, where the sanitization works are in place. All the public spaces including the open drains, sewage canals are being cleaned and sanitized. We are also going to provide sanitation liquids to the households for indoor cleaning purposes. Currently, the emission levels have been nullified and by Monday evening and people are returning homes. In 2017, during TDP term, Chandrababu gave permission for the expansion of LG Polymers, despite knowing that it is surrounded by the residential colony. In 2018, he again gave permission for the same company for expansion and development activities for the next five years. The gas leak occurred post lockdown relaxations, where the industry remained closed for about 40 days, during which the chemical reactions took place in the storage tank. In regard to this incident, the State government has appointed a high-powered committee to probe the accident and take stringent action against the company. In addition to this, the Chief Minister instructed the officials to shift the styrene tanks to the city outskirts and also conduct inspections in all such industries. A statewide drive would be taken up to identify such hazardous units across the state. Ministers K Kanna Babu, Botsa Satyanarayana, Avanti Srinivas, Dharmana Krishna Das, Chief Secretary Neelam Sawhney, DGP Goutham Sawang, Vizag District Collector, Vinaychand participated in the video conference. For all the latest National News, download NewsX App Almost 2,000 former Justice Department officials have signed onto a statement condemning the DOJ's decision to drop charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn and calling on Attorney General Bill Barr to resign for "repeated assaults on the rule of law." Why it matters: There has been intense backlash by Democrats and many career prosecutors over Barr's interventions in criminal cases against President Trump's allies. Barr denied doing "the president's bidding" in an interview with CBS News last week, arguing that "partisan feelings are so strong that people have lost any sense of justice." The big picture: The group reiterated its previous call on Barr to resign after he intervened in the case of Roger Stone, claiming that he has again used the DOJ as "a tool to further President Trump's personal and political interests." But the officials conceded there is little chance Barr will do so, and they asked Congress to censure him. Details: The group said it supports the decision of the career prosecutors who withdrew from the Stone and Flynn cases after Barr intervened, commending them for "upholding the oath that we all took." It also asked the judge overseeing the Flynn case to reject the government's motion to throw out the charges. The group said the DOJ's reasoning "does not hold up to scrutiny, given the ample evidence that the investigation was well-founded and more importantly the fact that Flynn admitted under oath and in open court that he told material lies to the FBI in violation of longstanding federal law." What they're saying: "The Departments action is extraordinarily rare, if not unprecedented. If any of us, or anyone reading this statement who is not a friend of the President, were to lie to federal investigators in the course of a properly predicated counterintelligence investigation, and admit we did so under oath, we would be prosecuted for it." "Attorney General Barr's repeated actions to use the Department as a tool to further President Trumps personal and political interests have undermined any claim to the deference that courts usually apply to the Departments decisions about whether or not to prosecute a case." Go deeper: Ex-DOJ official claims Barr "twisted" her words in motion to dismiss Flynn case Alessandra Ambrosio enjoyed a Mother's Day walk in Los Angeles this Sunday with her beau Nicolo Oddi and her children. The 39-year-old former Victoria's Secret Angel took the precaution of wearing a face mask as did her Italian dreamboat. She shares her two children, 11-year-old Anja and eight-year-old Noah, with her ex-fiance Jamie Mazur who co-founded RE/DONE. Out and about: Alessandra Ambrosio enjoyed a Mother's Day walk in Los Angeles this Sunday with her beau Nicolo Oddi and her children Letting her luxurious hair down, the Brazilian bombshell stuck to a casually stylish ensemble of a cream top and matching sweats for her Sunday walk. That day she posted an Instagram album of full of family photos as a tribute to her own mother Lucilda on the special day. 'Happy Mothers Day to my goddess and to all the goddess moms in the world !!!' Alessandra gushed in the caption of her post. The album included a couple of throwback shots of Lucilda as a young woman, as well as a couple with Alessandra, Anja and Noah. Taking precautions: The 39-year-old former Victoria's Secret Angel took the precaution of wearing a face mask as did her Italian dreamboat, who also wore an Iconic Apparel hat Alessandra also posted a couple of pictures of herself and her sister Aline posing with Lucilda, who brought Ale into the world in Erechim. In 2018, Alessandra broke her decade-long engagement to Jamie, and she has since taken up with Nicolo, who founded the fashion brand Alanui with his sister Carlotta. Anja, Noah and Nicolo were all with Alessandra when she rang in her 39th birthday during home lockdown last month. So sweet: That day she posted an Instagram album of full of family photos as a tribute to her own mother Lucilda on the special day So sweet: 'Happy Mothers Day to my goddess and to all the goddess moms in the world !!!' Alessandra gushed in the caption of her post So sweet: The album included a couple of throwback shots of Lucilda as a young woman, as well as a couple with Alessandra, Anja and Noah Family matters: She shares her two children, 11-year-old Anja and eight-year-old Noah, with her ex-fiance Jamie Mazur who co-founded RE/DONE Trio: Alessandra also posted a couple of pictures of herself and her sister Aline posing with Lucilda, who brought Ale into the world in Erechim Alessandra rose to international fame as a Victoria's Secret Angel, announcing that she was giving up the title at the end of 2017. She has collaborated with Aline and a pal called Gisele Coria to launch a new swimwear line called Gal Floripa, which debuted last March. The brand takes its title from a nickname for Florianopolis, the Brazilian city where Alessandra gave birth to both of her children. History: Alessandra rose to international fame as a Victoria's Secret Angel, announcing that she was giving up the title at the end of 2017 In some ways, it's unfair to compare California and Georgia, for they are remarkably different. California's population is 39,512,223 with an average population density of 253.6 per square mile; Georgia's population is 10,617,423 with an average population density of 165 per square mile. California's largest city, Los Angeles, has 3,990,456 people; Georgia's largest city, Atlanta, has 523,738 people. Nevertheless, because I haven't forgotten April 21, when Dana Milbank, of the Washington Post, promised us that "Georgia leads the race to become America's No. 1 Death Destination," the two states deserve to be compared. The occasion for Milbank's article was Governor Brian Kemp's decision to re-open his state in the last third of April. For that sin, Milbank essentially consigned Kemp to the lowest circle of Hell: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is proposing to offer a new nonstop service to the Great Beyond: He has a bold plan to turn his state into the place to die. Kemp, a Republican and an ally of President Trump, just called for the reopening within days of his state's gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body-art studios, barbers, nail salons, cosmetologists, aestheticians, beauty schools, massage therapists, theaters, private social clubs and dine-in restaurants. He's doing this even though the state ranks near last in testing, even though it's not clear that covid-19 cases are declining there, and even knowing "we're probably going to have to see our cases continue to go up," as Kemp himself said. Public health experts fear coronavirus will burn through Georgia like nothing has since William Tecumseh Sherman. But Kemp is making a big gamble that his constituents wouldn't want to swab places with anyone, and that tourists will be dying to get to Georgia in any class of travel economy, economy plus or intensive care as the Peachtree State remakes itself as the Petri State. It's obvious to even the meanest intelligence that Milbank is arguing that Trump is ordering his minions to kill Americans. Milbank also seems to relish the thought. That was 20 days ago, which is long enough time for a new cohort of people to have sickened with the Wuhan virus and for some of those sick people to die. However, the opposite happened: Encouraging data as we battle COVID-19 in GA: Lowest # of COVID-19 patients hospitalized (1,203) Lowest # of ventilators in use (897) 110k tested in the last 11 days w/ testing available for all Georgians Declining percentage of Georgians testing positive (14%) Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) May 10, 2020 Moreover, balanced against those declining Wuhan virus numbers, one has to imagine the businesses that weren't destroyed, the people who didn't commit suicide, the children who didn't die from diseases that vaccinations could have prevented, and all the other bad stuff that didn't happen because of a continued lockdown and economic collapse. Put another way, Georgia is currently experiencing a win-win situation. Things aren't so wonderful in California. There, Governor Gavin Newsom is reluctant to end the complete lockdown he imposed upon the entire state. Even as increasingly restive citizens are staging impromptu protests throughout the state, Newsom is loath to let go. The man who initially promised that the lockdown was going to last only as long as it took to "flatten the curve," so the medical system wouldn't be inundated by a rash of coronavirus cases, now has new goals: "We're not going back to normal," said Newsom, who gave Tuesday's press briefing from the site of a Sacramento business called Display California. "It's a new normal with adaptations and modifications, until we get to immunity and a vaccine." Notwithstanding the protests, most people in California seem willing to go along with the project. Unfortunately for them, their lamb-like acquiescence is not paying off. Instead, unlike the fancy-free Georgians and their declining infection rates, sequestered Californians are being promised even more Wuhan Virus infections and deaths: California is one of a handful of states where coronavirus cases and deaths are going up more than researchers expected, according to the latest projections in a widely relied-upon model of the COVID-19 outbreak. Christopher Murray, director of the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" that the institute's latest projections suggested the nationwide fatality count would reach 137,000 by Aug. 4. It stands now at nearly 80,000. [snip] California added 2,244 coronavirus cases and 64 related deaths on Saturday for a total of 66,825 cases and 2,695 deaths. About 40% of the new cases 907 were reported by Los Angeles County, as were 45 of the new deaths, or about 70% of the statewide death toll. I wouldn't dare to try to explain why Georgia, having mostly ended its lockdown, is thriving, while California, having hung on to its lockdown, is not. Certainly, the difference in population density between the two states might be having an effect. That can't be the only reason, though. Perhaps Georgians are relying more on hydroxychloroquine than Californians. As this video suggests, that could make a difference: As much as I'm loath to accept anything from Al jazeera, the video segment about Senegal provides a lot of food for thought. Le Quang Hao, a deputy general director of Vietnam Expressway Corporation at the police station. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Public Security. A deputy general director of state-run Vietnam Expressway Corporation was arrested Monday over violations in managing the Da Nang Quang Ngai Expressway project. Le Quang Hao was arrested by the Ministry of Public Security's investigative police department for construction law violations that led to "serious consequences." Hao is said to be responsible for not following procedures, standards and design requirements in overseeing inspection of a 65-kilometer section of the expressway, which resulted in poor project quality. Fourteen other people including employees of the corporation, the country's biggest expressway builder, members of the project management board and staff of other companies have also been arrested in the case. Reports about poor construction quality of the expressway, the first expressway in the country's central region that connects Da Nang City and Quang Ngai Province, first surfaced in 2018 after it developed cracks and potholes. Construction of the expressway had begun in 2013. A part of it was opened to traffic in 2017 and it became fully operational in September the following year. However, just a month after the opening, cracks and potholes were seen in the aftermath of a heavy downpour in the area. These were hundreds of square centimeters wide and 5-10 centimeters deep. Workers mend a hole on the Da Nang - Quang Ngai Expressway. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh. The expressway cost over VND34.5 trillion ($1.4 billion) to build. VEC recorded VND7.57 billion ($324,000) in consolidated profit after tax in 2019, up 32 percent against 2018. Health officials announce start of decline phase for state of Quintana Roo Cancun, Q.R. After more than six weeks into the countrys Sana Distancia for coronavirus in Mexico, the undersecretary of health says the state of Quintana Roo is in the stabilization phase. Hugo Lopez Gatell-Ramirez, subsecretary of Prevencion y Promocion of Salud for the Gobierno of Mexico says that the state has finally reached its decline phase. The announcement was made during a press conference at the National Palace where he confirmed the new figure of 35,022 cases for the country. During his conference, he pointed out that Quintana Roo is the only state showing stability, adding that when observing information of the Incidence Rate of Active Cases by Federal Entity, Quintana Roo, which was more active 10 days ago, is now being displaced in transmission intensity by Mexico City, Tabasco, Morelos and Yucatan. He noted that Mexico City, the State of Mexico and Baja California continue with the highest number of cases of people sick with COVID-19. A couple was arrested for a hate crime after allegedly attacking three Hasidic men, trying to rip their face masks off and accusing them of causing the spread of coronavirus in New York City. Paulo Pinho, 35, and his wife, Clelia Pinho, 46, were reportedly driving through Brooklyn on Sunday when they spotted a group of Hasidic Jewish men gathered outside. This prompted the couple to exit their vehicle and confront the group in an assault that Mayor Bill de Blasio called 'unacceptable.' The coupled reportedly lambasted the group with racial slurs and accused them of not following mandated social distancing guidelines. Authorities dispatched to Brooklyn on Sunday after Paulo Pinho, 35, and his wife, Clelia Pinho, 46, harassed a three Hasidic Jewish men (pictured) 'You Jews are getting us all sick,' the couple yelled at the group, according to the New York Daily News. 'The mayor says you Jews are the reason we're getting sick.' A struggle allegedly ensued with three men after the couple tried to rip their face masks off. The victims included a 29-year-old man, a 33-year-old man and a 34-year-old man, PIX II reports. Clelia fell during the scuffle and broke her arm. Shomrim, a local Jewish neighborhood patrol group, detained the suspects until authorities arrived. Pictured: Jewish Hasidic community members gather for a funeral procession, during lockdown amid the coronavirus disease in Brooklyn The victims refused medical treatment while the Pinho's were treated for injuries they sustained while being detained. Paulo and Clelia were charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime. Paulo has been arrested three times for driving while intoxicated. In a fourth arrest, Paulo allegedly punched a 61-year-old man in the face and threatened him with a screwdriver in a fight over a parking space in 2019. He is accused of breaking the victim's sideview mirror as well. On Monday, de Blasio blasted the anti-Semitic attack on Twitter. 'This anti-Semitic attack is unacceptable in EVERY way. I commend the NYPD for ensuring the perpetrators were arrested quickly,' he wrote. 'We have ZERO tolerance for this kind of reckless hatred in New York City.' de Blasio: 'This anti-Semitic attack is unacceptable in EVERY way. I commend the NYPD for ensuring the perpetrators were arrested quickly' Mayor Bill de Blasio (pictured) condemned the anti-Semitic attack during a press conference Pictured: A man moves his scarf to cover his face as he passes NYPD officials stationed in the Orthodox Jewish community of the Williamsburg neighborhood During a morning press conference, de Blasio mentioned the 'horrible incident' and said New York City will not accept targeted hate crimes. 'It's something that expresses hate, but also creates danger, and that's unacceptable and we're not gonna allow it in this city,' de Blasio said. 'We are treating this incident as a hate crime, so there are serious consequences when someone commits one of these acts. 'Whether it is this horrible anti-Semitic act that we saw, or the horrible anti-Asian acts we saw in previous weeks, none of these acts of bias and discrimination are acceptable in New York City.' De Blasio's comments come after he was accused of targeting the Orthodox Jewish community when a large funeral was held in April. Photos showed dozens of Orthodox Jewish community members crowded at an intersection in Williamsburg, with many donning face masks in accordance with social distancing guidelines. De Blasio slammed the mourners on Twitter calling their actions 'absolutely unacceptable'. De Blasio, pictured Tuesday had traveled to personally shut down a Orthodox Jewish funeral in Williamsburg after images surfaced on social media of massive crowds gathered for a rabbi who died from coronavirus Pictured: Jewish Hasidic community members gather for a funeral procession, during lockdown amid the coronavirus disease in April 'Something absolutely unacceptable happened in Williamsburg tonite: a large funeral gathering in the middle of this pandemic,' he wrote. 'When I heard, I went there myself to ensure the crowd was dispersed. And what I saw WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus.' The mayor went on to send a stark warning to the community that the police will issue summons and even arrest people flouting social distancing guidelines. 'My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed,' he wrote on Twitter. De Blasio slammed the Jewish community in a Twitter rant Tuesday night after he had broken up the gathering with the NYPD 'I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.' De Blasio's response faced a backlash from some members of the Jewish community who said he was 'singling out' the group. 'This has to be a joke.Did the Mayor of NYC really just single out one specific ethnic community (a community that has been the target of increasing hate crimes in HIS city) as being noncompliant??' wrote Chaim Deutsch, a City Council member who represents a large Orthodox Jewish population, in a Twitter post. 'Has he been to a park lately? (What am I saying - of course he has!)' 'But singling out one community is ridiculous,' he added in another post. 'Every neighborhood has people who are being non-compliant. To speak to an entire ethnic group as though we are all flagrantly violating precautions is offensive, it's stereotyping, and it's inviting antisemitism. I'm truly stunned.' The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council also Tweeted anger at the mayor's response. 'People failed to social distance at a funeral the same day that thousands of New Yorkers failed to distance for 45 minutes to watch a flyover,' the council Tweeted, in reference to the thousands of people who flocked to the banks of the Hudson Tuesday to watch the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels fly across the city's skies in honor of health care workers battling the pandemic. De Blasio later apologized for his comments, but maintained that residents needed to follow stay-at-home orders. He said: 'I spoke last night out of passion. I could not believe my eyes, it was deeply, deeply, distressing. 'People lives were in danger right before my eyes. It was tough love. It has not happened other places, lets be honest. No it is not like people gathering in the park.' But he added: 'I won't tolerate antisemitism.' A major search is underway for a British diplomat from Hampshire who's been missing from home for more than five days after going for a run. Richard Morris, 52, who has held a number of high profile positions in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), left his 800,000 home in Bentley, Hampshire at 10.30am last Wednesday. A FCO spokesperson told MailOnline that they are extremely worried and hope he will be found safe and well soon. Mr Morris is between roles and due to take on a new position as British High Commissioner to the Republic of Fiji in July 2020. Before that, the married father-of-three was the UK Ambassador to Nepal between 2015 and 2019. He has worked in the FCO over a near 30-year period carving out an illustrious career. During his time in Nepal, Mr Morris was pictured alongside Prince Harry in March 2016. Richard Morris, 52, (pictured) who has held a number of high profile positions in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), left his home for a run in the Bentley area at around 10.30am last Wednesday The father-of-three was formerly the UK Ambassador to Nepal between 2015 and 2019 (pictured with Prince Harry in 2016) Mr Morris has been deemed 'high risk' by the police because of how he went missing. The police have reportedly been assisted in their search by Hampshire Search and Rescue, dog search and rescue teams, air support, the UK Missing Persons Unit and other agencies, as reported by the Hampshire and iow news. On Monday, Hampshire police said: 'We are now asking residents in the surrounding areas if they could assist by checking sheds, outbuildings and gardens. We would also love to hear from any residents or businesses with CCTV that could help our enquiries.' Mr Morris entered the Foreign and Commonwealth Office via an open competition in 1990. He announced on Twitter on November 6, that he'd left his position in Nepal. 'My successor will be Nicola Pollitt. I look forward to taking up my next role as British High Commissioner to Fiji and Head of the Pacific Network in July 2020.' Richard Morris took up his post in Nepal six months after the devastating earthquake that decimated many parts of the country and claimed some 9,000 lives. Richard Morris and family. He is married to Alison and has a daughter and two sons (pictured) A missing person appeal was launched on Thursday, a spokesman for Hampshire Constabulary said: 'We've been making enquiries but are now turning to you for your help According to his biography on the Government's website, he was born on November 1, 1967 in Droitwich, Worcestershire to a family of teachers and with a younger sister. He married his wife Alison in 1992 and they have one daughter and two sons. In his spare time, Mr Morris enjoys long-distance running, reading, travel, music and spending time with his family. Alison was his girlfriend at school. The couple went off to different universities but resumed their relationship in their early 20s. Mr Morris (pictured) has been deemed 'high risk' because of the circumstances of how he went missing A missing person appeal was launched on Thursday, a spokesman for Hampshire Constabulary said: 'We've been making enquiries but are now turning to you for your help. 'His family are understandably concerned for his welfare,' said a spokesman for Hampshire Constabulary. 'Richard is described as being white, around 6ft tall, with greying hair and a beard. He is also described as having port birth mark on his face. 'He was last seen wearing a blue long sleeved top with a half zip, black shorts, and blue trainers. 'If you see him, or think you may have seen him since 10.30 on Wednesday please call us on 101.' Before his posting to Nepal, he was Head of Pacific Department at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office from 2013 to 2015. Between 2008 and 2012, Mr Morris was Consul General in Sydney and Director General Trade and Investment (Australasia). Prior to his posting Sydney, he was Deputy Head of Mission and HM Consul General at the British Embassy in Mexico City (January 2005 to June 2008). Mr Morris went for a run in the Bentley area at around 10.30am last Wednesday and hasn't been seen since He has also worked in New York, Ottawa and Bridgetown across a decorated career beginning work in the FCO in 1990. He has spoken publicly about being born with a port-wine birth mark. 'I have a memorable face,' he told The Telegraph during his posting in Nepal. 'When I'm among lots of ambassadors, the Brit is the one people remember because of the way I look.' Mr Morris is also a high profile supporter of Changing Faces, a charity that campaigns to break down stigma surrounding visible differences. A FCO spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Richard is a much valued and well liked colleague. We are extremely worried that he is missing and we all hope he will be found safe and well soon.' Virtual quiz gets locals and holidaymakers together at their favourite pub while raising money for charity This article is old - Published: Monday, May 11th, 2020 A charity pub quiz organiser is attracting on-line visitors from across the UK and parts of Europe to the picturesque town of Llangollen and they are raising vital funds for those with life-limiting illnesses. Maggie Smith of Llangollen is the Quiz Master for the weekly showdown at The Sun Trevor pub. Every Wednesday evening the pub hosts a quiz with the entry fees being donated to Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham. And the pub participants have raised a whopping 1800 in the past few months. Following the Covid-19 restrictions when pubs and restaurants closed their doors Maggie took the decision to keep the quiz going and set up The Sun Trevor virtual quiz. As people have struggled to find a sense of routine during the pandemic the quiz has been attracting new entrants many of them have previously visited the pub during holidays, day trips and weekend breaks, including a gentleman from Catalonia. Nightingale House is the quiz groups chosen charity following the death of Maggies sister-in-law, Sandra Cragg in 2015. Sandra spent her final days at the hospice receiving what Maggie described as the most unbelievable care and attention. To date the quiz has raised 15,000 in Sandras memory. She said: When Sandra passed away I realised how important the hospice had been to her and our family during such a difficult and sad time. I know how much Sandra appreciated the care and attention the clinical team gave to her and the sensitive and thoughtful way they supported my brother. The family had already set up an In Memory fund so it seemed the right thing to make Nightingale House our chosen charity through our fun quiz nights. The hospice is such an invaluable facility but one that you probably never know you need until it is necessary. We are just happy to help them out. We would normally wait to give the donation and donate a few times a year but we felt that more than ever the hospice needs the cash in the bank now. It is our privilege to be able to enjoy a fun night and help the charity as well. Paul Jones, owner of the Sun Trevor Pub, Llangollen said: The pub quiz has been an amazing success, not only as a chance for locals and visitors to get together but also to raise money for such a good cause like Nightingale House. We were all so sad when we had to close the pub but we hope that once lockdown is over we will all reunite either in person and perhaps with even more people on line so we can continue to help those with life-limiting illnesses. If you want to join The Sun Trevor quiz for Nightingale House Hospice the questions are posted on their Facebook page (@TheSunTrevorLlangollen) at 8pm every Wednesday night and answers given at 9pm? Remember no cheating! France reopens but law still being discussed The government calls for 'sense of responsibility' (ANSAmed) - PARIS, MAY 11 - France begun reopening on Monday morning after seven weeks of lockdown it had brought in as part of a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19. However, the law containing the regulations to be followed during phase two had not been passed in time. The French president's office and the government have called on the population to show a ''sense of responsibility'' and comply with the regulations, especially concerning social distancing and mandatory masks on public transport. The law on France's phase two was being discussed Monday morning at the Constitutional Council, to which it was sent in line with what President Emmanuel Macron had asked. The judicial opinion of the high court will be announced in the afternoon. The law, which will thus not come into force before the evening, include a limit of 100 km for movement without self-certification and a mandatory attestation from employers to take the metro during rush hour. (ANSAmed). Joanna Lumley has called for an end to foreign stag and hen parties to help save the planet and said revellers should use their local pub instead. The Absolutely Fabulous star, 74, said warnings from Sir David Attenborough about the environment must be taken seriously. Miss Lumley, who has fronted travel documentaries, said Britons should try not to fly abroad for celebrations. Miss Lumley, pictured, said the coronavirus pandemic was teaching people how to 'do without' things we usually have and that it was 'quite a good lesson for us all' Giving an online talk to the Oxford Union, she said: 'We have got not to be doing the things which may seem great, like flying to Iceland for two days for a stag party. 'Don't do it, you know what I mean? Go down to the Old Bull and Bush and have few pints there if you want to, but don't keep flying around to do useless things.' Miss Lumley said the coronavirus pandemic was teaching people how to 'do without' things we usually have and that it was 'quite a good lesson for us all'. She added: 'If we get through this, we as people, must learn to take responsibility for ourselves and for our families. And to do better'. Most businesses have been closed in Pennsylvania since March. Read more By Friday, more than half of Pennsylvanias counties will have lifted restrictions that kept businesses shuttered and residents stuck at home since the coronavirus swept through the state in early March. People in those 37 counties, including Allegheny, Indiana, and Westmoreland, will once again be allowed to gather in small groups and patronize some businesses, although gyms, nail salons, and dine-in restaurants are still off-limits. The newfound freedoms raise important questions, given that the virus hasnt been vanquished. Do Pennsylvanians venturing out of their homes for the first time in weeks know enough about where the invisible virus may still be lurking to keep themselves and their families safe? And is the government making the right call on which places to reopen first? PolitiFact Pennsylvania looked at different types of data released by the state Health Department to find out. Every day, the department updates the states official tally of coronavirus cases and the number of deaths caused by the virus. But in Philadelphia, the states most populous county, the true number of deaths is uncertain. Figures reported locally and by the state have been out of sync for weeks. As Spotlight PA reported, over a one-week period, Philadelphias Public Health Department recorded a high and rising number of deaths caused by the virus, while the state Health Departments count for the city remained stuck at a much lower number. READ MORE: Pa.s death toll for Philadelphia lags behind citys count, part of states ongoing struggle to compile timely data Whether an areas number of deaths per day is still rising and how fast is central to many individuals thinking about being in public, and imprecise data on deaths could lead to overconfidence about an areas safety. Philadelphia and the suburban counties that surround it must continue following Gov. Tom Wolfs stay-at-home order until June, at the earliest, so theres still time to sort out the discrepancy. But it remains unclear when or how state and local officials will reconcile the differences in their data. Another data point residents might review to determine how comfortable they feel returning to public life is whether there are any coronavirus hot spots in their area. Unlike other states, Pennsylvania has so far refused to release the names of nursing homes and food-processing plants with clusters of coronavirus cases, two settings where the virus can spread easily among workers and be brought back to the surrounding community. But city records obtained exclusively by The Inquirer show just how much damage the virus has done in Philadelphias long-term care facilities. READ MORE: Secret data reveal how COVID-19 swept through Philadelphia nursing homes The disease tore through almost all of them, infecting 1,800 seniors. As of late last month, 374 nursing-home residents had died of the virus, accounting for more than half of the citys COVID-19 deaths. Had officials not inadvertently made the data available online, people who live near these facilities, which are in neighborhoods across the city, would never have known about the remote but potential danger posed by the workers who enter and exit daily. A report released May 1 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shed new light on how the virus has affected the states meat processors. Across Pennsylvania, 22 meat- and poultry-processing plants employed workers sickened by the coronavirus, the report says. The state with the next-highest number of affected plants, Georgia, has almost half as many affected facilities. Still, the state Health Department wont tell the public where those facilities are. FAQ: Your coronavirus questions, answered. Public health officials in other states have been more transparent. Knowing how easily the virus can spread along a production line where workers stand shoulder-to-shoulder, officials in Georgia, Iowa, and South Dakota have released not only the names of food-processing plants affected by the virus but also the number of sickened workers. Pennsylvanians who live near the plants or call workers from this industry their neighbors are still in the dark. Recent polling shows that large majorities of Americans remain resistant to reopening the economy, fearing the impact the move may have on human life. The more information people have about deaths caused by the virus and the locations of hot spots to avoid, the more confident theyll feel leaving their homes. Pennsylvanias data on coronavirus deaths have been unreliable or incomplete and the Health Departments decision to keep secret the details of outbreaks at nursing homes and food-processing facilities is stirring public outrage. The state has more to do to arm citizens with the information they need to navigate life after the worst of the pandemic has subsided. Our sources Spotlight PA, Pa. officials will allow Pittsburgh region to relax coronavirus-related restrictions, May 8, 2020 Spotlight PA, Pa.s death toll for Philadelphia lags behind citys count, part of states ongoing struggle to compile timely data, May 2, 2020 The Philadelphia Inquirer, Tinder boxes: Secret data reveal how COVID-19 swept through Philadelphia nursing homes, May 3, 2020 The Philadelphia Inquirer, Pa. has more coronavirus cases among meat plant workers than any other state, CDC says, May 1, 2020 Email interview with Pennsylvania Department of Health Spokesman Nate Wardle, May 4, 2020 ABC News, Reopening the country seen as greater risk among most Americans: POLL, May 8, 2020 PolitiFact is a nonpartisan, fact-checking website operated by the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies. The Pinhos were detained on Sunday by the neighborhood Shomrim patrol until officers arrived. In addition to the hate crime charge, the couple were charged with aggravated assault. Across the city, overall reports of hate crimes declined in the first months of the year, paralleling a general decrease in crime as New Yorkers stayed home because of the virus. Anti-Semitic incidents decreased 40 percent compared with the same period last year, police data showed. Still, the police noted last week that they were investigating an increase in reported hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans related to the virus outbreak. Early N.Y. virus patient is just focused on getting better. On March 3, Lawrence Garbuz of New Rochelle was the second person in New York to be found to have the coronavirus, helping to prompt local restrictions on large gatherings that would be soon enacted across the state. In what would later be recognized as a harbinger of things to come, part of New Rochelle was sealed off as a containment zone and more than 100 families with whom Mr. Garbuz had come into contact, mostly at his synagogue, were required to quarantine at home. About three weeks later, with the virus spreading and more people becoming infected, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ordered all nonessential businesses in the state closed and anyone who could stay home to do so. By then, Mr. Garbuz, 50, was out of the medically induced coma he had been placed in. Still, as he said on Monday in an interview with NBCs Today show, he was not paying close attention to all that was going on in the world around him. Rid's book Active Measures was released in April. Credit: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux The ongoing worldwide coronavirus pandemic hasn't been immune to the problem of rampant disinformationintentionally misleading information or propaganda. In fact, the European External Action Service of the European Union recently stated in a report on disinformation and the COVID-19 pandemic that "despite their potentially grave impact on public health, official and state-backed sources from various governments, including Russia andto a lesser extentChina, have continued to widely target conspiracy narratives and disinformation both at public audiences in the EU and the wider neighborhood." Thomas Rid, a professor of strategic studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and author of "Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare," joined Johns Hopkins MPH/MBA candidate Samuel Volkin to share his expertise in international security and intelligence and discuss how disinformation has impacted the COVID-19 pandemic. What is disinformation? There's no one clear definition of disinformation that is not controversial. I approach disinformation through the lens of covert intelligence operations often done by foreign government intelligence agencies in order to influence specific targets. A common feature of disinformation is that it is not necessarily factually wrong. Disinformation is not misinformation; it is not lying or spreading false information. Disinformation can actually be completely accurate information that has not been made public and is spun in a way that has an intended harmful effect on a target. Disinformation, historically, is almost always a mix of fact and forgery. The mix is, say, 80% fact to give enough credibility so that recipients cannot dismiss the information as something false, and 20% forgery and false information in order to deceive the intended audience and undermine their trust. What is the goal of disinformation? It depends on the operation. The goal may be to drive a wedge between allies, something that happened frequently in the Cold War. Soviet-bloc intelligence agencies would try to drive a wedge between the U.S., the UK, and Germany, or between citizens and their own governments. In today's context of COVID-19, the purpose can simply be to airbrush a narrative. For example, China is trying to influence how foreign media and foreign governments react to its management of the COVID-19 pandemic. And China is getting better at influence operations. What forms has disinformation taken during the COVID-19 pandemic? Especially in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, the word disinformation is fraught. First of all, there is genuinely wrong information circulating that was once believed to be true. It has been difficult to adjust our knowledge and response to an evolving situation. Knowledge that has been discredited by better evidence is not disinformation or even misinformation. However, there has been disinformation spread in the form of foreign government influence campaigns. Other governments are trying either to exploit fear and uncertainty in order to make their adversaries look bad or to deflect blame and pressure away from themselves. Recently, China pressured the EU not to publish certain comments in a report on disinformation that contained statements about the Chinese Communist Party's influence operations on COVID-19. China warned the EU not to call them out, and the EU actually relented and censored their reports because of the threats that China was making. China is using its economic leverage in order to pressure governments to change their behavior. Is the spread of disinformation often tied to infectious disease outbreaks? There is a long history of governments taking advantage of infectious diseases for disinformation purposes. For example, in 1983 and 1985 the former Soviet Union's KGB ran a campaign to portray HIV/AIDS as an American bioweapon in order to distract from its own use of chemical weapons in Afghanistan and South Asia. There are other examples of infectious diseases being weaponized for disinformation purposesdengue fever outbreak in Cuba, malaria in Pakistan. So we have precedent here. We should expect governments to take advantage of the current pandemic for disinformation purposes. It is clearly happening. But we also have to appreciate that major health crises will give rise to organic, homegrown conspiracy theories, conspiracy theories that now spread faster than in the past, and that are easier to look up and find onlinehistorically some of the best disinformation campaigns were inspired by such organic conspiracy theories, and interacted with them. The AIDS-as-bioweapon myth is a case in point. How can leaders combat disinformation? A political leader is responsible for explaining this very complex and scary situation to the general public in a way that demonstrates their control in handling the crisis and communicates the best available scientific and public health guidance to the public. Professionalism, deep attention to detail, and a calm approach are exactly what you need in a crisis like this. Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany who is a scientist by training, is able to explain to the German population what they're up againsthow the virus is spreading and the reasoning behind her policiesin a very sober and easy-to-understand way. I think it is much harder for Americans to trust their political leaders than it is for citizens of other developed countries during this pandemic. That's both because the nature of the statements that we see from some elected officials and representatives may actually be adding to the public's level of uncertainty and fear, and because we are already so deeply polarized as a nation. This in turn makes it easier for outside forces to take advantage of fear and further polarize divisions within the United States. How can the general public avoid being exposed to disinformation? Social media companies must balance the First Amendment and freedom of speech with the risk of spreading false information about a disease that can kill people as a result of not taking proper precautions. That is a hard dilemma for social media companiesthey are tending to err on the side of caution right now because we are dealing with a disease that can actually kill people. In recent weeks we have seen many media companies rightly becoming more restrictive in what they tolerate on their platforms. The media also has an important role to play. The main task of journalists is to sift through large amounts of information and present accurate content using clear language. The best newspapers will provide the public with information that's as accurate as possible at that moment on the evolving crisis. There are also scientists at Johns Hopkins and other institutions who go even deeper to provide publicly available accurate information and data to back it up. Saudi Arabia announced a surprise move to slash oil output to the lowest in 18 years as it tries to spur the recovery from an energy crisis that has devastated the kingdom's finances. Just hours after unveiling a slew of dramatic austerity measures, Saudi Arabia said it would cut oil output by another 1 million barrels a day on top of what it already agreed with OPEC allies. Oil futures rose, and Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates followed up with extra cuts of their own. "We have to be ahead of the curve," Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told Bloomberg News in a phone interview on Monday. "The voluntary cuts will further expedite the re-balancing process." It's a sign of the urgency in Riyadh to stabilize the oil market as rock-bottom prices force the kingdom to impose deep spending cuts and to triple value-added tax. And it marks the latest step in Saudi Arabia's retreat from the price war it started in March when it moved to flood the market with cheap crude after talks with OPEC+ allies broke down. The cuts come days after President Donald Trump spoke on the phone with King Salman. The White House said that both leaders had agreed "on the importance of stability in global energy markets." Trump has repeatedly put pressure on Saudi Arabia, Russia and other OPEC+ countries to cut output in an effort to save the American oil industry. For some the cuts come too late: a large number of oil tankers dispatched weeks ago with Saudi crude are about to hit America's shores, exacerbating the glut. Riyadh aims to pump just under 7.5 million barrels a day in June, compared with an official target under the most recent OPEC+ agreement of just under 8.5 million a day. If Saudi Arabia makes good on its pledge, its production will drop to the lowest since mid-2002, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The cut is particularly symbolic as it brings Saudi production below 8 million barrels a day, long seen by many consultants and traders as a line that wouldn't be crossed because of the impact it has on oil revenue. But as the oil crash forces austerity measures worth about $27 billion, the kingdom's options are running out. From the highs of the price-war output levels, when Riyadh was producing 12.3 million barrels a day, Saudi Arabia has now reduced production by about 4.8 million barrels. Prince Abdulaziz said that he was observing some signs of increased oil demand, particularly for gasoline, as citizens emerging from lockdowns opted to drive alone in their cars, rather than ride the subway or trains. "People feel better to use their cars than public transportation," he said. On top of targeting much lower output in June, Riyadh also asked state-owned oil producer Saudi Aramco to reduce production in May "in consent with its customers." Under the most recent OPEC+ deal, Saudi Arabia was targeting production of 8.5 million barrels a day for both May and June. While Aramco may be able to reduce production, any cuts are likely to be relatively small, as the state-owned oil company agrees on shipment levels with refineries weeks in advance. Prince Abdulaziz, who said that the worst-case demand scenarios hadn't materialized, encouraged other producers to join with their own voluntary cuts. "We are acting as an example to other producers without imposing," he said. "We should be proactive; taking the lead." Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates followed up announcing cuts of 80,000 barrels a day and 100,000 respectively. As China eases some coronavirus-related restrictions, new clusters of COVID-19 infections raise fears of a second wave. The city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus pandemic in China, has reported its first cluster of infections since a lockdown there was lifted a month ago, stoking concerns of a wider resurgence of the disease. The new infections sounded a note of caution amid efforts to ease coronavirus-related restrictions across China as businesses restart and individuals return to work. Wuhan reported five new confirmed cases on Monday, all from the same residential compound. One was the wife of an 89-year-old patient reported a day earlier in the first confirmed case in the central city in more than a month. At present, the task of epidemic prevention and control in the city is still very heavy, the Wuhan health authority said in a statement. We must resolutely contain the risk of a rebound. All of the latest cases were previously classified as asymptomatic, people who test positive for the virus and are capable of infecting others but do not show clinical signs such as a fever. 200508094216354 The number of asymptomatic cases in China is not known, as they only appear on the radar of health officials when they show up positive during tests conducted as part of contact tracing and health checks. China does not include asymptomatic cases in its overall tally of confirmed cases, now at 82,918, until they exhibit signs of infection. Mainland China has reported 4,633 deaths. Hundreds of asymptomatic cases in Wuhan, where a months-long lockdown ended on April 8, are being monitored. The numbers of new cases reported in China since April have been small compared with the thousands confirmed every day in February, thanks to a nationwide regime of screening, testing and quarantine. War-time mode Mi Feng, a spokesman at the National Health Commission, said new infections in seven provinces were being traced. In the past 14 days, seven provinces have reported new locally transmitted cases, with cases involving clusters continuing to increase, Mi told a media briefing. We need to investigate and determine the origin of the infections and transmission routes. The northeastern province of Jilin, which on Saturday reported a cluster of infections in one of its cities, Shulan, reported three additional cases. Shulan has been marked a high-risk area, the only place in China currently with that designation. Were now in a war-time mode, said Jin Hua, the mayor of Shulan, which until the weekend had reported no local cases for more than 70 days. Shulan has imposed a lockdown on its 600,000 residents since the weekend, with just one member of a household being allowed out each day to buy necessities. Reopening in China The confirmation of new infections in Wuhan comes after the government announced on Friday that cinemas, museums and other venues would gradually be reopened though restrictions including mandatory reservations and a limit on numbers of visitors would be in place. The financial hub of Shanghai has reopened some nightspots and Walt Disney Co reopened its Shanghai Disneyland park on Monday to a reduced number of visitors. The number of visitors to Shanghai Disneyland theme park was capped at around 24,000 on Monday [Aly Song/Reuters] Right now here in China and the COVID epidemic conditions are such that we feel with the right measures in place, as far as health and safety goes, that we are able to open successfully here, Andrew Bolstein, of Shanghai Disney, told Al Jazeera. Temperature checks and social distancing are also in place that means no selfies with Mickey or Minnie Mouse for now, said Al Jazeeras Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing. The total number of people at the theme park on Monday was capped at about 24,000, roughly 30 percent of the parks capacity, with tickets selling out in minutes, Yu said. I feel happy I finally have a place to take my child, one visitor told Al Jazeera. However, Yu said analysts have cautioned that despite pent-up consumer demand, one should not expect Chinas economy to bounce back anytime soon. I think the overall outlook is going to remain very uncertain, and subdues, as long we do not have a treatment or vaccine for the coronavirus, Imogen Paige-Jarret of The Economist Intelligence Unit told Al Jazeera. A commission charged with managing Michigan Capitol grounds and facilities is creating a committee to study whether firearms should continue being allowed on-premises. The Michigan Capitol Commission was prompted to look into the question further after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel issued a formal opinion saying the commission not only has the authority to ban guns, but should to keep visitors, lawmakers and staff safe on Capitol grounds. The issue was brought to the spotlight by recent armed protests of the states stay-at-home order, although guns have long been allowed in and around the Michigan Capitol building. Advocates frequently host open carry days at the Capitol, encouraging supporters to bring their firearms to Lansing in support of gun rights. House and Senate Democrats called on the commission to ban guns on the grounds shortly after Nessels announcement, citing safety concerns at the last major protest of the stay-at-home order. At that protest, a group of protesters gathered outside of the main entrance to the House floor, demanding to be let into House chambers. Many in the group were armed with guns, and a lawmakers photo of armed observers in the Senate gallery went viral on social media. The Michigan State Capitol Commission is an appointed body made up of six members: the Secretary of the Senate, the Clerk of the House, two members appointed by the governor and two members jointly appointed by the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House. Several commissioners were hesitant to make a decision on guns outright and sought additional clarification on whether they were legally allowed to do so. We were not appointed to get involved in politics or to make political decisions, but thats where we find ourselves," said John Truscott, the commissions vice-chair. Amy Shaw, the commissions legal counsel, disagreed with Nessels conclusion about the extent of the commissions authority, arguing the legislature has the clear responsibility of determining whether guns should be allowed. The commission opted to create a committee to look into it after Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clark Lake, asked the commission to include legislative leaders, House and Senate sergeants and Michigan State Police in discussions on allowing open carry in the Capitol. A simple vote of the Commission will not be an adequate solution to this problem, he wrote in a letter to the commission ahead of the meeting. We must work together to evaluate our options and develop a thoughtful policy for our workplace and our citizens. Joan Bauer, a former Democratic lawmaker, said the legislature could have easily put parameters around firearms in the capitol already, but they havent. She said she believes its the commissions job to make sure the Capitol is a safe place, adding the issue is time-sensitive. No one should have to come to work intimidated and worried, she said. The virtual meeting was plagued by technical difficulties and adjourned without formal public comment. When motioning to end the meeting, OBrien cited public safety concerns due to racial and threatening remarks posted in the commissions Zoom comments. House Democratic Leader Christine Greig, D-Farmington Hills, said she was appalled that the commission didnt make a decision, citing concerns that the lives of legislators, staff and the public are being put at risk. With very real threats of the continued presence of assault style weapons at future meetings of the legislature, and numerous and many specific threats of violence against legislators and statewide officials, this matter is not resolved," she said in a statement. "We must ensure the safety and security of everyone who enters our State Capitol. Firearms are banned in the U.S. Capitol and many other state capitols around the country. Commission Chair Gary Randall said the panel will meet again as soon as next week to continue discussions on the matter. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Guns can be banned at Michigan Capitol, says AG Dana Nessel Commission can ban guns at Michigan Capitol, AG Nessel says she will claim in formal opinion Michigan is in Phase 3 of 6 in coronavirus response and recovery, governor says From closing restaurants to requiring masks, Gov. Whitmer has issued 69 executive orders in 56 days 5 things to know about Michigan Gov. Whitmers extended stay-at-home order Tata Steel Europe, which is in discussion with the UK government for a relief package, plans to unbundle its business as separate entities for the UK and the Netherlands. The British government wants to ensure that the financial relief offered to the company's operations in their country should not be supporting its operations in Netherlands. The debt-ridden company is facing severe crisis in the region after coronavirus pandemic forced it to shut operations. The spokesperson of Tata Steel's European operations said, "Through our transformation programme, we must continue to look for improvements and efficiencies in our business so we can meet the needs of society and all our stakeholders, both now and in the future." "We recognise the uncertainties caused by this unprecedented pandemic. But we are one company and we believe in the value created for our customers by the combination of our businesses," the spokesperson said. Also read: S&P lowers Tata Steel outlook to B+ The British media reported that the size of the relief package could be 500 million Euro. Earlier, Tata Steel Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director T V Narendran confirmed that discussions with the government are going on. The spokesperson told Business Today, "Our first priority is to ensure everyone remains healthy and safe in every country we operate in. We believe we should be focused on making our company strong again, and to achieve that, we must do it together." The European steel demand has sharply reduced and many of Tata Steel's customers have paused production, including European car manufacturers. Tata Steel Europe has therefore reduced production at some of the European mills. The business is focused on preserving cash and liquidity to tide over the challenging period, the company said earlier. Tata Steel Europe is currently operating all four blast furnaces at a reduced level across the two steelmaking hubs - in Ijmuiden in the Netherlands, and Port Talbot, Wales. In 2007, Tata Steel acquired Corus plc for $12 billion. But the European business' financial health deteriorated after the global recession in 2008-09. The cumulative losses (excluding exceptional income) of the company went up to Rs 48,245 crore in 10 years. Former chairman of Tata Sons Cyrus Mistry proposed a plan to shut the steel business in Europe to stop losses but he was later removed by the board. Also read: Tata Steel's UK arm seeks Rs 4,718 crore govt bailout package Even a last-ditch effort for a merger with German steel giant Thyssenkrupp AG - which had been two years in the making - came undone in May-June 2019 after the European Union anti-trust authority denied permission. Around 38 per cent of Tata Steel's annual production of 27 MT came from overseas in FY19. But its current strategy is aimed at dispensing overseas acquisitions and focussing on the domestic market. Its investments in South-East Asia, which belied expectations, are waiting for a buyer too. Tata Steel has 8,000 employees in the UK. The survival of the steelmaker is important for employment in Wales, where about 5,000 people work for Tata. Usually, the holding company Tata Sons bails out ailing businesses in the group. But it will be difficult this time as lockdowns have affected businesses across the group. Click here to read the full article. Josh Tranks Capone does for Scarface what Gus Van Sants Last Days did for Kurt Cobain: Not a lot, and in excruciating detail. But while both films offer a bleak look at the final chapter of a fabled rock stars life, this one has the chutzpah to be so much bleaker; if Van Sants movie was strung out, Tranks is utterly zombified. Hardy once again combines the fearless commitment of early Marlon Brando with the utter unintelligibility of much older Marlon Brando, embodying the legendary crime boss like a rotting corpse. Alphonse Gabriel Capone (aka Fonzo or Fonz) has been suffering from neurosyphilis for more than 25 years when the film begins, and the skin is starting to peel off his face; the opening title card tells us that this is the final year of his life, but one minute with the guy is enough to suggest that were already too late. Between his Swamp Thing skin, Voldemort eyes, and a gurgling voice that makes it sound like everyone the mobster ever killed somehow managed to die in his throat, this Capone is a far cry from the fearsome kingpin who ran Chicago in a pinstripe suit. Hes paranoid, feverish, and shits himself in spectacular fashion. Twice. More from IndieWire Needless to say, Trank and Hardy dont shy away from the premature senility of a once-indomitable American figure. On the contrary, Capone is the cloistered story of a great man reckoning with the distant memory of his own self-image as he mutters around his Florida mansion and tries to find some measure of truth between his legend and the lies he told in order to maintain it. These days, Capone can hardly recognize himself in the mirror, let alone remember the notorious icon he used to be. Story continues One scene a poignant grace note in a film that spends most of its time gawking at its namesake like a laboratory experiment gone wrong shows Fonzo listening to a radio drama about his old gangland exploits as if the program were about someone else. Did he really hide $10 million where the police cant find it? And if so, is it possible that he forgot the exact location? Did he have a child out of wedlock (as his estranged son Junior begins to suspect), or is the little boy he keeps drawing supposed to be someone else? Trank who wrote, directed, and edited this film on the cheap understands the dislocation of getting lost in your own shadow in visceral terms. If you know his name, you know his story: Chronicle turned the twentysomething filmmaker into an overnight mega-success, and then Fantastic Four reduced him to a pariah just as fast. Theres a fine line between flame on! and flame out, and the narrative that emerged from the set of that disastrous superhero movie painted Trank as a self-obsessed megalomaniac who lorded over a Marvel property like some kind of millennial John Milius. Trank has said that he relates to Capones vertiginous fall from grace, the rage of being subsumed by your own myth until you can no longer tell which parts of it are real. Capone makes that parallel all too palpable through its aversion to a clear narrative and its fetishistic attention to decay, and it does so without an ounce of self-pity. Hardys grotesque performance doesnt invite any sympathy for the devil, but it hobbles him in a way that renders Scarface human. Capone was a prisoner in his own rotting body who spent the final year of his life trapped in the gilded cage he confused for a palace, but Trank insists that he was sentenced to the unparalleled indignity of suffering from himself. Yet Trank falls short of conveying what that actually feels like. The clever opening scene, in which a paranoid Capone is revealed to be playing a game of hide-and-seek with the brood of little kids who live on his property, shows us everything there is to see about this fading giant, a lion with nothing left but his roar. It illustrates how he moves through the halls of his gaudy house like a Scooby-Doo villain whos trying to maintain his disguise; relatives, employees, and various hangers-on pack into the backgrounds as they sustain the Capone legacy by sheer inertia. But while other, similarly constricted biopics have fought to restore a measure of selfhood to their mythical subjects (Sofia Coppolas Marie Antoinette endures as the best recent example of its kind), Capone is a slipstream in the other direction. The further that Fonzo spirals into his own dementia, the harder it is to care where hes gone. Long, repetitive shots of Hardy chomping on a cigar and staring off into the middle distance give way to unmotivated flashbacks, hostile delusions, and even a Being John Malkovich-esque trip through Capones heyday that reveals more about Tranks budget than it does the gangsters shriveling id (its telling that Capones only real moment of self-recognition comes in a scene where he watches a movie in his screening room, and sees himself reflected in another famous characters search for courage). It often feels like Trank is too seduced by the go-for-broke commitment of his leading man, as the film regularly confuses rubber-necking for nuance in a way that conflates torture with catharsis (e.g. Matt Dillon, playing Capones best friend, gouging both of his eyeballs out in a fantasy sequence that amounts to nothing but a very literal sight gag). A handful of supporting characters try to charm their way closer to the heart of the movie most notably Capones long-suffering wife, played by a stoic Linda Cardellini in a thankless role that drips with unwrung schadenfreude. Unfortunately, Trank fails to reconcile the rest of the cast with the subjectivity of Fonzos story. Capones underwritten son (Noel Fisher) jokes that his dad is like a zoo animal, but the film cant decide if the gangsters extended family is part of the exhibition. The only thing that matters is how a man treats his family, someone offers, but Capone pays them as little mind as Capone does himself. The ever-watchable Kyle MacLachlan shows up as Capones doctor, but cant find any of the same electricity that he brings to this summers forthcoming Tesla. This hollow if perversely watchable exercise in self-annihilation builds to a violent finale that finally makes good on the biopics sordid potential, as Trank shoots his way out of oblivion with a sequence in which Capone does the same. Its a climax that manages to blur the line between truth and legend, and to clarify Tranks ambition of making a movie about how one tends to infect the other. Nevertheless, the director and his subject are ultimately buried together in the same boat: Were made to understand their suffering, but given no reason to root for their salvation. Grade: C- Vertical Entertainment will release Capone on VOD on Tuesday, May 12. The logo of Avianca Airlines is pictured at a counter at the Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, on March 16, 2020. (Gustavo Graf/Reuters/File Photo) Worlds Second-Oldest Airline Files for Bankruptcy Due to Pandemic Avianca Holdings, the worlds second-oldest airline, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, after its fleet was grounded due to air travel restrictions imposed by governments worldwide in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the disease caused by the CCP virus. The Colombian carrier, which serves over 50 percent of the countrys domestic market, said in statement on Sunday that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a court in New York. The company said the filing was part of a reorganization process as it seeks to protect and preserve operations until the pandemic eases and travel restrictions are lifted. We believe that a reorganization under Chapter 11 is the best path forward to protect the essential air travel and air transport services that we provide across Colombia and other markets throughout Latin America, Anko van der Werff, Chief Executive Officer of Avianca, said in the statement. Avianca has operated for more than 100 yearsonly the second airline in the world to achieve this milestone. The pandemic has grounded Aviancas flight operations since mid-March, decimating the companys income by over 80 percent. Most of its 20,000 employees have gone without pay through the crisis. Avianca is facing the most challenging crisis in our 100-year history as we navigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, van der Werff said. Avianca, Latin Americas third-largest airline, said in the statement it expects the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection process to enable it to restructure its balance sheet and obligations in a way that will let the company comprehensively address liabilities, leases, aircraft and other commitments. The airline, which has a fleet of 158 aircraft across 27 countries, said it has called on Colombian authorities to provide a bailout. Avianca continues to be engaged in discussions with the government of Colombia, as well as those of its other key markets, regarding financing structures that would provide additional liquidity through the Chapter 11 process, the statement said. If the company does not come out of bankruptcy, Avianca will be one of the first major carriers worldwide to go under as a result of the pandemic. The companys loyalty program, which is administered by a separate firm, is not part of the Chapter 11 filing, the statement said. Reuters contributed to this report. Despite efforts to diversify the economy, the kingdom continues to rely heavily on oil for revenue. Brent crude now hovers around $30 a barrel, far below the range Saudi Arabia needs to balance its budget. The kingdom has also lost revenue from the suspension of Muslim pilgrimages to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, which were closed to visitors due to the virus. Despite the Covid-19 crisis impacting national economies the world over, leading Cypriot developer Leptos Estates is still receiving daily enquiries from the Middle East, as investors look to take advantage of residency and citizenship schemes. Enquiries are largely focused on luxury new-build apartments with strong rental yield potential - a market that continues to rise in the rapidly emerging city of Limassol. High net worth families from the Middle East contributed to a 76% increase in demand for European passports last year, said the Cypriot developer. Adapting to the travel restrictions put in place by numerous nations since the outbreak of the Covid-19 crisis, Leptos Estates is offering a number of opportunities for interested purchasers to view properties. These include video tours and virtual appointments with the sales team to showcase new homes and villas, it stated. Commenting on interest from UK-based purchasers, Pantelis Leptos, Group Deputy President said: "The Middle East is one of our strongest markets, with new-build units in growth areas such as Limassol one of our most popular products." "Whilst activity has been impacted due to the current global health crisis, we are still receiving serious enquiries on a daily basis from those looking for a serious investment prospect with the benefits of the Cyprus EU Residency programme," stated Leptos. The citizenship and residency schemes on offer in Cyprus and Greece remain a huge draw for international holiday home purchasers and investors, through the Cyprus Investment Programme (CIP). In return for a property purchase of 2 million ($2.2 million), investors will qualify for a Cypriot Citizenship with the right to live, work, travel, stay and study in Cyprus a well as anywhere in the EU, and free travel to over 155+ countries including Canada, Switzerland, and Iceland, stated the developer. The Cypriot passport only takes 6 months to come into effect and once acquired, is valid for life, and covers their spouse and any dependent children up to the age of 28 years, explained Leptos. There is also the option of permanent residency, which can be reached through a property purchase of 300,000 in Cyprus and 250,000 in Greece. This option takes typically up to 60 days. Like the citizenship scheme, this covers the entire family including the parents of both spouses. he added. Leptos has also put in place a temporary offer for those looking to progress with the purchase of a new home in Cyprus but are unable to visit the country and finalise the agreement. "If a purchaser identifies a property, he/she can put down a deposit to reserve the property. Also, before finalising the agreement, the purchaser will have the opportunity to tour the property, as well as any others they were interested in," he explained. "At this point if they wish to change their mind and purchase a different property, they have the option to switch their deposit onto their new choice," he added. According to him, Leptos Estates properties are available with payment plans for a range of budgets, with some properties VAT-free. All purchasers will receive a Leptos Gold Club Membership that provides residents with exclusive benefits and VIP access at the Leptos Groups range of hotels, Hospital and University, he added. The Cypriot developer is also offering a number of purchaser incentives for those buying up until end of next month. This includes free furniture pack, free travel to Cyprus, arranged tickets for clients up 2000 on travel, free domestic travel covered for all property purchasers, free lawyers fees, free accommodation in 5-Star Leptos accommodation for the duration of visit on completion and free Leptos Gold Card membership for all completed purchases.-TradeArabia News Service Acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob has been given notice by leader of The First Wave Movement, Umar Abdullah, that there will be two more peaceful marches this month. It comes on the heels of Abdullah being charged on Monday for leading a march around the Queens Park Savannah without permission from the acting police commissioner. Some of the corporate responses to COVID-19 make me incredibly happy I dont work for a large company anymore. Some of the troubling reports from other companies include forced work in unsafe areas, not enough or any protection gear, massive layoffs and furloughs, and the sense that a critical mass of well-paid CEOs and politicians dont get that many people live paycheck to paycheck. If I were to focus on that, however, it would just get you and me depressed, and none of us need help getting depressed now. There are exceptions though. One company I follow stepped up, thanks to HR VP Tracy Keogh and CEO Enrique Lores. Of the responses Ive reviewed so far, they stand out for moving aggressively to protect not only its employees lives but also their quality of life. Ill explore their approach and close with my product of the week: iProov, a facial recognition product that overcomes the problem of deepfakes without needing a special camera. It is being used to help with social distancing at scale for government and banking, and would be useful for healthcare. What Makes HP Different HP is a vastly different company. It was split off from the old Hewlett Packard, and then-CEO Meg Whitman saddled it with the declining businesses and most all the combined firms massive debt. Those decisions almost immediately put the firm on deathwatch. I recall talking to one of the competing CEOs who thought then-CEO Dion Weisler got so excited about becoming CEO he didnt realize it was a death sentence. However, he did know the risk. Starting in crisis forced the firm to rethink its operating policies and procedures, governance, employee measurement systems and corporate rules. In effect, HP came close to tossing out everything and starting over, making the firm into one mammoth startup. The result was a firm that was more focused on customer and employee care, and less focused on making Wall Street happy than its parent was, and HP was far more agile as well. Internal communications were stronger, the focus on creating and maintaining trust was stronger, and employees had a far higher priority in terms of their care and feeding than previously had been the case. One other difference was that Tracy Keogh took over as HPs head of HR. Keogh has an MBA from Harvard and has seen 35 of her employees advance to lead other HR departments. This is important, because it is rare to get this level of talent in HR. In many companies, HR is just a compliance organization led by executives who failed in some other part of the business. The practice of placing underperforming executives in HR never has made sense to me, given that employees, not executives, are the ones responsible for a firms success. HP is now a showcase of what a firm can do when it has the right talent in HR and at the top of the company. One of the other exciting things addressed at the split something other firms are struggling with is board diversity. HP is diverse at the top, not just at the bottom. HPs Execution HP is a multinational with a substantial presence in China. Internally it generally knew what was going on when the virus outbreak was just starting, and didnt have to depend on the unreliable messages the rest of us were seeing. HP took the threat seriously early and moved to acquire personal protective equipment (PPE) and protect employees in a timely way. It has been able to shift its PPE reserves from country to country, ensuring that employees who do have to come to work are protected. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Employees working in hot spot areas were housed close to their factories to help protect their families. Anticipating the outbreak, HP brought an epidemiologist on board and set up several HP medical clinics to help ensure that executives were getting accurate information and that COVID-related decisions were well informed. The companys geographic spread gave it real-time information both on how to manage the shift to working from home and how to prepare to bring some people back to the office. For instance, HP already is working on employee testing plans so it can quarantine aggressively during the next virus wave. They also recognizes that this COVID event isnt a one-time thing, and it already has prepared for a new world in which many employees, if not most, will continue to work from home. This already has changed its hiring priorities. People who cant relocate now are attractive candidates since they wont be coming into the office anyway. HP understood that people working from home would have unique problems. The company is elping employees with programs to keep kids engaged and learning. It is working on virtual summer camps focused on STEM education. Recognizing the critical nature of interns as seed corn for future hires, HP didnt cancel the program it virtualized it. It has rolled out new training, toolsets, and frameworks for managers because it recognized that managers are the critical link to ensuring operations, but many are untrained to manage highly remote staff. It is fascinating and brilliant, because even those of us who had formal training in management werent trained to deal with a staff working at home and fearing for their lives and the lives of their families. Some of the management meetings even included the managers kids. HP went beyond that with its nightly events. For instance, with the help of its partner DreamWorks, it implemented DreamWorks Fridays, so employees and their families could enjoy movies together. Another session featured David Rock, who has a professional doctorate in the Neuroscience of Leadership, and serves as director of the NeuroLeadership Institute. His focus was on mitigating stress by helping people put words to their feelings. There have been cooking classes, as well as financial planning classes (for those who still had finances left to manage). I wonder if having a homework club was wise? Kids have long memories. Tracy and Enrique alternate updates to employees regionally. Employees can ask questions, which helps them feel connected to the leadership. It also informs them about what is going on, enabling employees to contribute to solving problems the executive staff is confronting. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Wrapping Up: Out of a Crucible of Fire a Sparkling Example of Excellence HP was formed out of conflict. Surviving a near-death experience forged a unique family of employees who were backed by strong management. Together they stepped up to ensure that HP would emerge from this latest crisis successfully. That level of employee care, engagement and execution is unique in the U.S. market, and it is to Enrique Lores and Tracy Keoghs credit that I know of no other company that has pivoted so well during this crisis. It also is a credit to HP employees that they stepped up and together have functioned as a family. I think it is a shame that HP is the exception and not the rule, and my reason for writing about the firm this week is that I hope others will emulate its approach. This kind of incredible employee care will replace layoffs and furloughs as the preferred way of meeting troubled times. Ill close with this: Like you, Ive heard the saying when given lemons make lemonade, and I too thought it was BS. No longer, because that is precisely what HP did nicely done! One of the big problems with so many employees, managers, and executives working from home is that their corporate security systems are not designed to prevent remote workers from phishing attacks. They can be contacted and fooled into thinking an attacker is a member of their company, even a top executive, and tricked into providing confidential information. We already know passwords and IDs arent secure. Hell, at IBM we were alerting about passwords and IDs in the 1980s. Facial recognition is compelling, but systems like Microsoft Hello require unique cameras that most folks dont have, and regular facial recognition can be fooled with video files. More recently, these systems can be fooled with Deep Fakes that allow remote attackers to convince you they are someone they are not. What makes iProov different is that it is a cloud-based facial recognition service that analyzes the light on the face to ensure the person you are seeing is a real person. I expect this technology eventually will migrate into some of the widely used video conferencing platforms like Skype, which are being used widely during the COVID pandemic, to make sure these tools arent exploited to rip off companies and individuals. One of the implementations is for border control, so that a live person wouldnt be required to validate someone coming into a country. (Border control agents are incredibly susceptible to becoming infected by a spreading virus.) When it can be relied on, facial recognition is compelling as a second factor, but at this time my main interest is in using it to automate people-facing jobs that place employees at high risk of infection, to create a far safer world. Because iProov solves a critical problem for healthcare, immigration, banking, people working from home, and security in general, it is my product of the week. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network. A Chinese teenage girl who wrote a love message on the Great Wall of China has been under probe after the graffiti was reported to police. The minor, known by her surname Li, reportedly uploaded a picture of the writings online on Saturday before outraged social media users quickly shared her post. The graffiti didn't cause substantial damage to the bricks and has been removed, staff from the historical site said. Police are currently investigating the incident, according to an official statement from the Great Wall's management office today. Screenshots of Li's love message were shared by Chinese social media users who were angered by the teenage girl vandalising the ancient monument. The picture of Li on the Great Wall was saved by web users before she deleted the original post Li's post included a selfie picture of the teenage girl on the scenic spot while another photo showed two names written on the bricks with a love heart in the middle. The names were believed to be Li's and her lover's The underage girl uploaded the controversial post on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, on May 9, according to the press. Li wrote: 'I want the Great Wall to know that I still love you, very, very much' The post also included a selfie picture of the teenage girl on the scenic spot while another photo showed two names written on the bricks with a love heart in the middle. They are believed to be the names of Li and her love interest. Screenshots of Li's love message were shared by Chinese social media users who were angered by the teenage girl vandalising the ancient monument. The original post has been deleted after it became viral, Chinese media report. The teenager has also changed the name of her Weibo account. The incident was confirmed by the staff at the Great Wall of Mutianyu after they found the writing on a brick of one of the watchtowers yesterday. The graffiti did not cause any substantial damage to the wall as it was written in limestone powder, the management office said today in an official statement. The picture released by the office showed the brick after the graffiti was removed The authorities said that the historical site had been marred by graffiti and carvings made by tourists for years. FILE: The picture shows a part of the Great Wall covered with carvings A site manager told the press that they traced down the tourist after looking through their booking system. The minor was thought to come from Hebei province of northern China. The graffiti did not cause any substantial damage to the wall because it was written in limestone powder, the management office said today in an official statement. 'We believe that it was written with a limestone block. 'After consulting with the department of heritage protection, [we] have removed the writing mainly using a cloth and some water,' the statement continued. The authorities said that the historical site had been marred by graffiti and carvings made by tourists for years. Tourists are pictured at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China on the first day of the five-day Labour Day on May 1 The Great Wall of China has reopened to the public since late March after being closed for nearly three months due to the coronavirus epidemic. Tourists walk inside a watchtower while visiting the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China on May 1 'As the guardian of the Chinese people for more than a thousand years, the Great Wall is the cultural treasure of the Chinese nation.' The statement urged: 'We once again appeal to the vast number of tourists to visit civilly, care for the Great Wall, and protect our precious cultural heritage together.' The office also said that police is investigating the incident after being notified yesterday. Media reports suggested that the police summoned Li for further investigation. It remains unclear if the underage visitor would receive any punishment. The news comes after another teenage girl was caught defacing the Badaling section of the Great Wall on March 24, the first day of the site reopening after the coronavirus lockdown. Social media footage showed a young girl writing on the ancient wall with her keys discreetly while saying 'write quickly, otherwise the guard would shout at us'. A manager from the site later told the Beijing News that the minor had been scolded by the staff for her behaviour. The district government of Yanqing, where the Badaling Great Wall is located, also planned to introduce a credit system which would blacklist unruly tourists and ban them from booking tickets to local scenic spots for a whole year. Earlier, the politician declared UAH 148 million as "compensation for the damage caused by the political repression of 2011-2014." The New York-based law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has paid US$11 million or more to avoid a lawsuit by a former Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, who blamed the firm for aiding in her political persecution. "The settlement, which has not been previously reported, is related to the firm's representation starting in 2012 of the Russia-aligned government of Viktor F. Yanukovych, then the president of Ukraine," The New York Times reported on May 10. According to the publication, Skadden's Ukraine work, which has already led to federal investigations and steep fines, centered around a report produced by the firm that Mr. Yanukovych's allies used to try to justify his government's treatment of Ms. Tymoshenko, a leading rival of Mr. Yanukovych. Read alsoMost Ukrainians do not trust in parliament, government, police, Health Ministry, NBU poll In a December 2018 interview with The New York Times in Washington, she recalled "it was very painful" learning of Skadden's work "when I was in prison and was observing this in solitary confinement." Speaking through an interpreter, she accused Skadden's lawyers and other prominent Westerners of "whitewashing Yanukovych and his government" in exchange for money, adding: "It's a pity that such a well-known company like Skadden even considered to take this case to deliver. This is a dirty, dirty, dirty contract." After the interview, she and her lawyer, Sergei Vlasenko, who has also claimed he was treated unfairly by the Yanukovych government, retained the law firm Reid Collins & Tsai to explore the possibility of suing Skadden over its work, according to two people familiar with the arrangement. Skadden paid US$11 million or more to settle the case before a lawsuit was filed, according to people familiar with the settlement. Funds from the settlement appear to have been passed through Reid Collins to Ms. Tymoshenko and Mr. Vlasenko. As was earlier reported, leader of the Batkivshchyna Party Yulia Tymoshenko declared the receipt of UAH 148 million (about US$5.5 million) as "compensation for the damage caused by the political repression of 2011-2014, which was received in the United States at the stage of precourt settlement." The source of her income is the American law firm Reid, Collins, Tsai LLP. During Yanukovych's presidency, Tymoshenko in 2011 was found guilty of abuse of power during the conclusion of gas agreements with Russia in 2009. She was sentenced to seven years in prison and was to pay UAH 1.5 billion (US$56 million at the current forex rate) to NJSC Naftogaz. The United States and EU countries said the decision was politically motivated. In 2013, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found violations in the Tymoshenko case. She was able to get out of prison only late in 2014 after Euromaidan events in Ukraine. As the future queen consort, Katherine, Duchess of Cambridge has been in the spotlight since before she was married to Prince William. Just about everything that she says and does is analyzed and critiqued, from the jewelry that she chooses to wear to how she parents her three young children. Kate talks in front of a crowd on a regular basis, and part of her role as the Duchess of Cambridge is to constantly be leading by example, something that she is absolutely excellent at doing. Over the years, Kate has been involved in charity work and causes that are important to her, Prince William, and the rest of the royal family, all the while knowing that millions of people around the world are intently watching. More often than not, Kate is under pressure to be perfect. And, so far, she hasnt disappointed anyone. Now that she is the mother of a little girl, it is only natural the duchess wants her to be the best that she can, which is why a body language expert is now saying that Kate is raising Princess Charlotte to be a strong female leader. Lets take a closer look. Kate Middleton as a royal mom Kate Middleton | Facundo Arrizabalaga Pool /Getty Images It seems like it wasnt too long ago that Kate was what is known as a commoner, living a typical life with her family in Berkshire, England. She became well known when she became involved in a serious relationship with Prince William and rose to unimaginable levels of fame when the couple got married in 2011. Before long, the duke and duchess announced that they were expecting their first child, and suddenly, Kate was one of the most-watched moms in the entire world. It was as if Kate was destined to be a mother on top of everything else. According to Popsugar, after the birth of Prince George came Princess Charlotte, and finally the youngest Cambridge family member, Prince Louis. Whenever royal fans see Kate interacting with her kids, everyone is always smiling and appearing as happy as can be. In fact, she is known to be an excellent, hands-on mom who loves to spend time with her children as much as possible. Princess Charlotte is extremely strong-willed Little Princess Charlotte may only be five years old, but that hasnt stopped her from having a huge personality. Express reports that the young royal is confident and not afraid to let her feelings show, and it would appear that no one knows that as well as her parents. Prince William has said in the past that his daughter is just lovely, and her parents have even shared how being bossy is one of her most dominant personality traits. From what we have seen of Princess Charlotte over the years, she is comfortable with her position in the public eye. Although she is likely too young to understand just how famous she really is, we are sure that the princess will one day carry out royal duties with the same grace that Kate does now. Kate Middleton is raising Princess Charlotte to be a strong female leader Princess Charlotte is one of the youngest royals in the entire family, so how can fans already tell that she is all set to be a strong leader? It all has to do with Kate and the example that she is setting for her daughter. According to Express, the Cambridge family recently participated in the weekly U.K. Clap for our Carers. When they appeared on their doorstep, Charlotte was the first one out, and immediately began clapping before anyone else. Body language expert Alison Ward said that the princess couldnt wait to do her job and start off the clapping and that she was eager to do her part and stand out in front of everyone. The royal couple are clearly teaching her the importance of following a job through and doing it well to be of service to the nation, said Alison Ward. At one point, notes Ward, Princess Charlotte looks back to see if her family is following her. Ward says: Princess Charlotte looks behind her to check her at one point to check her family are all doing a good job of clapping and following her lead. Ward says Princess Charlottes calm demeanor highlights that she is being raised to be a strong female leader. 'We are going to have a recession this year, maybe next year too...' IMAGE: Migrants wait to board buses in Bengaluru, May, 4, 2020. Photograph: PTI Photo "Hopefully, the recovery will start next year, maybe a year after... It will only be gradual recovery; it is not going to come back suddenly," economist Professor Sudipto Mundle, Distinguished Fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, and a former member of the 14th Finance Commission, tells Shobha Warrier/ in the concluding segment of a two-part interview: Part 1: What Modi must do to revive the economy Do you think restarting transport should be a priority for the government? No. You should be careful in restarting something that can increase the spread of the infection. That should not be the first priority. Anything that will spread the disease should not be done. So, if transport cannot be revived soon, it cannot be. Yes, lack of transport will affect other things like domestic trade. But you can't help it. The situation is such that in some areas, we have to suffer to win this battle against the pandemic. Many lakh migrant labourers have returned to their hometowns. If they don't come back, there will be a huge shortage of labour in the southern states and other business centres. The UP chief minister says his government will create 5 lakh jobs for migrant labourers from UP. Do you think they will be confident enough to come back to where they were working once the lockdown is over? I doubt it. In the green zones some manufacturing has restarted and labour is available there locally because a lot of migrant workers are stuck there. Other than migrant workers, there will be local daily wage workers who are without work now. I don't think there will be a shortage of labour. IMAGE: Migrant workers in Dhanbad queue to board buses to reach their villages after arriving from Kerala on a train, May 4, 2020. Photograph: PTI Photo In countries like the US and Russia, people have come to the streets protesting against the lockdown. Do you think that kind of eruption will start in India also because so many daily wage workers and their families are going hungry? To some extent, it has already happened. In many cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala, etc, it has already been happening. Things can only get worse the longer the lockdown lasts. I also want to say that lifting the lockdown does not mean that the war against the virus is won. I am afraid once the lockdown is lifted, people may rush out and it will start another spike. So, it is very important to gradually resume economic activities in the green zone areas with the locally available labour. Don't expect the migrant labour to come immediately. When I spoke to those in the small-scale sector in Coimbatore, they were worried that several small-scale industries might shut shop once the lockdown was over... I don't think the small-scale sector in India has fully recovered from the demonetisation shock even though it happened a few years ago. Many of them died then. Even those that were limping around, had a second shock now. More will die now. They are in a very difficult situation especially the medium and small enterprises. Now they cannot get credit, they cannot sell their goods easily. They are in a dire situation, there is no question about it. Let them start functioning in the green zones. The main help they need is credit. They are starved of credit because banks do not want to lend them money. Here, the RBI should come in and help with some kind of credit guarantee arrangement so that banks can be encouraged to lend to medium and small enterprises. How huge will be the unemployment situation in the country? We had very high-level joblessness even before the pandemic happened. It will only increase. But it may not always show up in the statistics. What we have noticed is that people do not report as they are unemployed. They are just treated as not in the workforce. Only the participation rate goes down. You don't count them as unemployed, but they are unemployed. It was reported that India was facing the worst unemployment crisis in 45 years... Yes, we were already in a very difficult situation; the economy was slowing down and unemployment going up. It is going to be much worse. The growth rate was slowing down from 5% to 6% and this year it will be negative, according to me. You mean, a recession? Yes. Actual recession, which means a reduction in output. Globally also, many expect the economic scenario to be the worst after the Second World War... It is the worst economic scenario after the Great Depression of 1929. We have not seen anything like that but now, we are seeing it. And this is happening not because of any economic reasons, but due to a pandemic! IMAGE: Stranded migrants arrive in Patna, May 4, 2020. Photograph: PTI Photo So, the future of the entire world is going to be quite grim.... Certainly this year, it is going to be very grim. Then, there will be a slow, gradual recovery, but we do not know when that will happen. We also don't know what's going to be the bottom. But one can say we are going to have a recession this year, maybe next year too. I don't know. And hopefully, the recovery will start next year, maybe a year after... It will only be gradual recovery; it is not going to come back suddenly. In India, we have not yet recovered from the demonetisation shock. Gradually the effect was waning off and then this happened. So, it is going to take us a few years before we get completely away from all these shocks. In economics we call it hysteresis when effects get spread out over years, that is, even after the initial causes giving rise to the effects are removed. We were suffering from the hysteresis of demonetisation and before that was over, we are hit by a bigger shock. Would you include the bad implementation of GST? Yes, quite right. Demonetisation and then a bad implementation of GST. A good idea introduced in a very poor way, without any preparation. Like we needed GST, now we needed a lockdown, but it was introduced without any preparation, again. That's why we have the humanitarian crisis of the migrant workers. So, it has been shock after shock after shock... We are in a recession, and it will take us a few years to get fully out of the effect. What is going to be our new normal? All I would speculate is that at least for a few years, we will be in the territory of pretty low growth. The services sector will continue to perform more or less normally. Agriculture will be normal, but again, it will depend on the monsoon. It will be like, good monsoon, good year and bad monsoon, bad year. The manufacturing industry will take the longest to recover. Airline shares took another battering this morning after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced plans to quarantine most people for 14 days upon their arrival into the UK from abroad. Aimed at preventing a second wave of coronavirus, the new rules - which are likely to discourage people from travelling - were met with criticism from airlines, which are desperate for travel demand to recover. 'Quarantine requirements for passengers should only be in place for a short period, while the UK remains in lockdown,' a spokeswoman for Easyjet said in an statement. Budget airline easyJet said the new quarantine rules should be in place only for 'short period' However, it is not clear when these new rules will be implemented and whether they will be reviewed regularly. Meanwhile, Heathrow Airport, which saw passenger numbers fall 97 per cent in April, said the new rules 'effectively close borders temporarily', with very few people travelling. The London airport called on the Government to reopen borders and to agree to common international standards so that passengers could travel freely between low risk counties. Shares in EasyJet closed down 6 per cent at 500p on Monday, while BA owner IAG was down 2.9 per cent at 184.95p at the close. Wizz Air shares ended the day 0.4 per cent lower at 26.80 and Ryanair shares fell 4.2 per cent to 8.86. Airlines and airports have been struggling in recent months, having grounded most of their planes since March in the wake of the pandemic. Heathrow, which during normal times is Europe's busiest airport, saw passenger numbers plunged 97 per cent in April. The UK and French governments said the new quarantine rules won't be applied to travellers coming from France for now,. Meanwhile, airlines said yesterday that the new rules wouldn't be applied to arrivals from Ireland. On Sunday's Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd included a very short clip of a statement Attorney General Bill Barr made during an interview with Catherine Herridge. In its abbreviated form, the quotation made it sound as if Barr intended to use the Big Brother technique of controlling history by consigning to the waste bin anything countering the official narrative. In reality, Barr said quite the opposite, standing up for justice and the rule of law. Here's the portion of the interview that Todd mangled: Herridge: When history looks back on this decision, how do you think it will be written? Barr: Well, history is written by the winner, so it largely depends on who's writing the history. But I think a fair history would say it was a good decision because it uphold the rule of law. It helped, it upheld the standards of the Department of Justice, and it undid what was an injustice. That is a short and unambiguous statement: Barr acknowledges that he has no control over the future as it looks back upon the past, but he is comfortable that his actions were entirely within the spirit and letter of the law, and that he is advancing justice by undoing injustice. Indeed, the statement is so clear that it's difficult to imagine anyone misinterpreting it, but that's nevertheless what Chuck Todd did on Sunday when he had Peggy Noonan on his show: Today on Meet The Press, @chucktodd wildly took context out of an answer AG Bill Barr gave about his decision to drop the case into Gen. Michael Flynn. I cut Todd's segment along with Barr's full answer together. Look at how blatantly dishonest this is. pic.twitter.com/tODOEwL48V Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 10, 2020 For Chuck Todd to have cut out the meat of Barr's statement is tantamount to a fraud of omission. He lied to Noonan, and he lied to America by omitting material information in the hope that people would rely upon his truncated version of the facts. No wonder Trump was livid: Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd should be FIRED by Concast (NBC) for this fraud. He knew exactly what he was doing. Public Airwaves = Fake News! @AjitPaiFCC @FCC https://t.co/fLTDhjMXo4 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2020 Meet the Press apologized sort of. It contended that it "inadvertently and inaccurately cut short a video clip" and that it regretted the error: Very disappointed by the deceptive editing/commentary by @ChuckTodd on @MeetThePress on AG Barrs CBS interview. Compare the two transcripts below. Not only did the AG make the case in the VERY answer Chuck says he didnt, he also did so multiple times throughout the interview. pic.twitter.com/PR1ciceMmE KerriKupecDOJ (@KerriKupecDOJ) May 10, 2020 But how dumb do you have to be, and how limited your attention span, to miss the second part of a statement that took no more than a minute? Or maybe you're not dumb at all. Maybe you're malicious and are deliberately trying to destroy Bill Barr to defuse the effect of damaging information and possible criminal indictments coming down the line. Or perhaps you're so blinded by hatred that you are incapable of recognizing the truth. As it happens, Todd wasn't the first to promote this interpretation of Barr's deeply humanist statement. Mediaite assembled a collection of blue checks on Twitter who were as incapable as Todd himself of understanding what Barr said: This is a softball interview, but refreshingly, William Barr lets the mask slip at the end and reveals this is just a partisan game. History is written by the winners, he laughs. https://t.co/YtpgYpGFmL Cristian Farias (@cristianafarias) May 7, 2020 I've never heard "history is written by the winners" in a context other than an academic saying "here's why you didn't learn about this historic genocide" but oh cool conservatives think it's a smug comeback now, this seems like no problem whatsoever PS that was sarcasm we fucked https://t.co/3lfuH6Lvsv Dan Telfer (@dantelfer) May 7, 2020 This is what FASCISM sounds like CBS Reporter: How will history look back on your decision to drop charges against Flynn? BILL BARR: Well, history is written by the winners. So it largely depends on whos writing the history. Its gonna get worse.pic.twitter.com/jRWkOuK3dz Fernand R. Amandi (@AmandiOnAir) May 8, 2020 "When history looks back on this decision, how do you think it will be written?" Barr: "Well, history is written by the winners [smug laughter] so it largely depends on who's writing the history." These people are comic book villains. Cartoonishly evil. pic.twitter.com/9yHF31xW3m Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) May 8, 2020 These people need help. What would help them most is for Trump to win spectacularly in November and for Congress to have a Republican majority. With that outcome, maybe they'd finally get the reality check they need. Education Minister Joe McHugh will face Dail questions on the cancellation of the Leaving Cert on Wednesday. Mr McHugh announced that the exams would be cancelled and replaced with a predicted grades system last Friday. However, Labour Party whip Duncan Smith wrote to the Dail Business Committee requesting that the session be brought forward to Tuesday. That proved impossible as the newly-formed Dail Covid Committee has the chamber booked, so Mr McHugh will instead address the chamber on Wednesday. Mr Smith said he was glad to see the issue take precedence on Wednesday. "I'm glad that it will be the first issue heard this week and that it won't take place after Leaders' Questions, when some of the energy of the chamber has been used up. "I think if you look at the way this has been handled, with the date of the Leaving Cert being announced on an Instagram stream, then it's important that parties are given the chance to ask questions." Fianna Fail education spokesperson Thomas Byrne said that he was happy to have the chance to ask questions on the issue and was currently seeking clarity on whether the government's plan would have any unforeseen consequences. "It's been clear for weeks that this couldn't go ahead. They never had any idea how they were going to do it. Added to that, you have the mental health pressure that it put on students. But there was a feeling that they felt that it was the same as cancelling Christmas. "Now it's a question of making this system as fair as possible and ensuring there are as many third-level places as possible." Mr Byrne added that parents of students should be "realistic" and urged them not to lobby schools on teachers for better grades. Time on Wednesday has also been allocated for questions to Transport Minister Shane Ross and Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan. On March 18, four persons who had just returned from Germany were de-boarded from Mumbai-Delhi Garibrath Express at Palghar station after fellow passengers spotted home quarantine stamps on their hands. The reaction elicited by fellow citizens was understandable as it showed an evolutionary response: We are hardwired to physically distance ourselves from those who could infect us. We have an entire suite of evolved reaction called parasitic avoidance, to prevent us from maintaining contact with others who may carry a communicable disease. These reactions are what make us feel disgusted by signs of sickness, such as vomiting or skin lesions, whether or not these signs represent an actual threat to our health. In this case, the stamp on the forearm stigmatised and evoked a certain response from the co-passengers. These are early signs the Covid-19 outbreak may engender a new-normal in nearly all walks of life. The new equilibrium will take some more months to set in and the global pandemic would create a new order in stereotype. As the coronavirus has disrupted every human activity, there is a perceptible change in the manner in which humans are interacting with each other. It is expected that a huge impact would be felt through disruption in supply and travel chains which would lead to economic slowdown throughout the world. Socially, individuals would avoid crowded places, recreational activities and leisure travel. It would also lead to a lot of intrusion in our privacy due to the need of contact tracing and pandemic control. The changes in socio-economic variables have disturbed the equilibrium and, like thermodynamic equilibrium, the society is moving towards a new equilibrium state, being referred to as the new-normal. This new-normal would obviously lead to the creation of a new-normal individual, with different set of fears and prejudices. The definition of what is rude and uncouth in social behaviour would change, and distrust and suspicion would no longer be treated as immoral or unethical. In his book, Stigma: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity, Erving Goffmann defines a stigmatised person as an individual who might have been received easily in ordinary social intercourse possesses a trait that can obtrude itself upon attention and turns those of us whom he meets away from him, breaking the claim that his other attributes has on us, he possesses a stigma, an undesirable differentness from what we had anticipated. Those who do not depart negatively from the above expectations at issue are termed as normals. Similarly, some religious beliefs may be stigmatised where they are practiced by a minority group while they would be considered normal in places where such religious groups are in majority. This relation has both spatial as well as temporal dimension. For example, Jews who were stigmatised and discriminated against during the early part of the 20th century in Germany are no longer stigmatised or discriminated. It is also true that a socio-religious group which faces stigma in one part of the world might themselves be discrediting other socio-religious groups in other part of the world. The disruptions set in by the Covid-19 pandemic shall disturb the relationship between the normals and the stigmatised. Most illnesses such as tuberculosis, leprosy, diabetes, heart ailments, cancers, and dengue discredit the individual before the normals and are often treated differently by them. The reactions can be shown by them in the form of sympathy, fear, hatred, pity, etc. The intensity of the response of the normals primarily depends on two variables, the infectious behaviour of the disease and the mortality associated with it. It is, therefore, understandable that the response of the Covid-19 suspects would be to either not to go for the test or not reveal the symptoms in order to hide their failings. One way of stigmatising the victims is by using a fallacious argument of a Just World, which assumes that the failings or a blemish in a persons ability is the result of an immoral act conducted by the individual in the past. The impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak shall depend not only on the nature of the virus but also in the manner in which society reacts to disruptions caused by it. The underlying tensions in the social structure, the role of media and social media, along with the survival instincts would set up new-normals and alter the relationship between the new normals and the stigmatised individual, thus opening new pathways of stigmatising and discriminating individuals and groups in the society. Employers may need up to two weeks to prepare for people to return to work safely during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a senior trade union official has warned. Dan Shears, national health, safety and environment director at the GMB union, said advice that employees who cannot work from home should return to the workplace this week was reckless as Boris Johnson was accused of sowing confusion over the relaxation of lockdown rules. In a televised address on Sunday, the prime minister said people in sectors such as manufacturing and construction should be actively encouraged to go back to work on Wednesday before official guidance had been published on keeping staff safe. Advice was finally published by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy on Monday evening, leaving firms less than two days to get ready. The row came after Britains largest unions Unison, Unite, the GMB and Usdaw, as well as the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said they would not advise their 3 million members to return to work until health and safety measures were in place. Mr Shears, whose union represents some 600,000 workers including ambulance drivers and manufacturing staff, said that many workplaces will need screens, barriers and floor markings for social distancing, as well as hand sanitiser and face masks for staff, which could take up to a fortnight to organise. He told The Independent: Theres no legislation around this, but employers have to assess the risk of workers being exposed to Covid-19, and implement ways of reducing that risk to the lowest level that they can achieve. In practice, that will require screens, barriers, floor marking, signage, hand sanitiser, face masks and potentially a whole range of other interventions. All of this will take time to procure and set up, so I would suggest at least a week and more likely two weeks, unless the employer had this equipment already in the workplace. Mr Shears criticised the prime ministers vague suggestion on Sunday that people could go back to work, saying: Employers whose workplaces are closed will need to implement these measures before anyone returns to work, so they need the maximum possible lead in time. Twelve hours notice was reckless in the extreme. Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union, also criticised the government for offering mixed messages, saying millions of people would be completely dumbfounded. Any worker unsure of whether they were working in a safe environment should not be pressured in going back to work, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the prime minister to provide clarity and reassurance to the public on plans for easing the lockdown as the new 60-page blueprint left questions over workplace safety and diverging messages from Scotland, Wales and England. He said: The prime minister said he was setting out a road map, but if were to complete the journey safely, a road map needs clear directions. So many of us have questions that need answering. Under the new advice, firms will need to carry out an inspection to show they are safe and place the certificate on display. Bosses at workplaces such as construction sites, factories and takeaways have been told to maintain two-metre social distancing where possible, to clean more frequently and to erect barriers in shared spaces. Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Show all 30 1 /30 Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff react outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff inside Camberwell bus depot in London, during a minute's silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus NHS staff at the Mater hospital in Belfast, during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak. PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Shoppers observe a minute's silence in Tescos in Shoreham Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Firefighters outside Godstone fire station PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Salford Royal Hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Salford Royal Hospital PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Hospital workers take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE across Britain for all workers in care, the NHS and other vital public services after a nationwide minute's silence at University College Hospital in London AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A school children's poster hanging outside Glenfield Hospital during a minute's silence Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A man holds a placard that reads "People's health before profit" outside St Thomas hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff members applaud outside the Royal Derby Hospital, following a minute's silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, Prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, stand inside 10 Downing Street, London, to observe a minutes silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus University College Hospital, London Hospital workers hold placards with the names of their colleagues who have died from coronavirus as they take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff at Waterloo Station in London, stand to observe a minute's silence, to pay tribute to NHS and key workers who have died with coronavirus AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Medical staff at the Louisa Jordan hospital stand during a UK wide minutes silence to commemorate the key workers who have died with coronavirus in Glasgow Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus London An NHS worker observes a minute's silence at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London AFP via Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Belfast, Northern Ireland NHS staff observe a minutes silence at Mater Infirmorum Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Plymouth NHS workers hold a minute's silence outside the main entrance of Derriford Hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus NHS Frimley Park Hospital staff at the A&E department observe a minute's silence Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Mater Infirmorum Hospital People applaud after a minutes silence in honour of key workers Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Waterloo Station, London AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Wreaths laid outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A group of trade unionists and supporters standing outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stands outside St Andrew's House in Edinburgh to observe a minute's silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff stand outside the Royal Derby Hospital, during a minutes silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus London Police officers observe a minutes silence at Guy's Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A woman standing outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Royal Derby Hospital PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Leicester, NHS workers during a minute's silence outside Glenfield Hospital Getty Alok Sharma, the business secretary, said: This guidance provides a framework to get the UK back to work in a way that is safe for everyone. These are practical steps to enable employers to identify risks that Covid-19 creates and to take pragmatic measures to mitigate them. Mr Johnsons official spokesman told a Westminster briefing that many firms had been taken steps to protect staff already, such a supermarkets which have erected perspex screens to protect cashiers. The PMs spokesman said: If staff are concerned, they can register those concerns with the health and safety executive, who have existing powers. We want people to feel like they can go back to work safely. Its for employers who I do think have been hugely responsible so far and employees to have a conversation and make sure that staff feel safe to go back to work. Meanwhile, chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to use a statement to the Commons on Tuesday to announce an extension to the Treasurys Job Retention Scheme, with speculation that he may scale back support for furloughed workers from the current 80 per cent of salary. Employers need assurance this week that the scheme will continue beyond the end of June to avoid the need to issue mass redundancy notices for that date. Hyderabad: On Sunday Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao found time for matters other than Covid-19 and so decided to have a direct interaction with field officers of the agriculture department and representatives of the Rythu Bandhu Samiti. The meeting, the second in two days, was held by videolink from his office-cum-residence Pragati Bhavan and the topic on the agenda was the proposed comprehensive agriculture policy, which is aimed at making farming profitable. The chief minister instructed officials to prepare a policy under which farmers will grow crops in sync with the food habits of the people and as per market demand. He said, The state government must decide on the crops to be cultivated by farmers. The food requirements of the people must be met as well as market demand. We must identify alternative crops and guide farmers to cultivate them accordingly. Thereafter, the government will ensure a minimum support price for every crop. Agriculture experts and officials who took part in the meetings supported this approach, with some of them going to the extent of suggesting that farmers who do not cultivate crops as prescribed by the government should not be given Rythu Bandhu benefits nor paid a minimum support price. The chief minister said that in view of the completion of new irrigation projects, paddy would be cultivated in about 90 lakh acres in the ensuing vanakalam (the new name for kharif) crop season. Estimates are that annual production would be of the order of 2.70 lakh tonnes of paddy, which would require a huge milling capacity. This would mean that new rice mills would have to be set up and the capacity of those in operation would have to be increased. Chandrashekar Rao emphasised the need to take an inventory of the Agriculture Department to record comprehensive information on assets, loans, buildings and other details. He wanted the officials to prepare a report on the availability of farm equipment like tractors, harvesters and other machinery in each village. An action plan should be prepared accordingly. We must have complete information pertaining to each farmer, Chandrashekar Rao said. IRVING, Texas, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Caris Life Sciences, a leading innovator in molecular science focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine, today announced that the company will present 14 studies as part of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program. These presentations will showcase Caris' industry-leading portfolio of precision medicine technologies and demonstrate how a tailored approach can impact the course of disease for people living with a cancer diagnosis, from treatment selection to outcomes. The meeting will be held virtually from May 29 to 31. "As part of Caris' mission to ensure oncologists are providing the right treatments to the right patients at the right time, we continue to work closely with our partners in the Precision Oncology Alliance to enhance understanding of the nature of cancer by studying the molecular underpinnings of various malignancies," said Chadi Nabhan, MD, MBA, FACP, Chairman of Precision Oncology Alliance. "Across these presentations, our data demonstrate consistent advancement in our understanding of how some cancers evolve; it is our hope that this knowledge will lead to the design of precise targeted therapies that can improve the outcomes of patients with cancer. We feel we are only beginning to scratch the surface of what advanced technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence can accomplish in the treatment and prognostication of different cancers." Caris Life Sciences is focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine for all cancer patients, regardless of tumor type. The Caris Molecular Intelligence Comprehensive Profiling approach allows oncologists to assess all 22,000 DNA and RNA genes utilizing MI Exome whole exome sequencing and MI Transcriptome whole transcriptome sequencing in addition to protein analysis run on every patient, providing the most comprehensive and clinically relevant profiling available on the market. At ASCO, Caris will present results from studies across multiple cancer types, including novel molecular findings in patients with colorectal, pancreatic, lung and breast cancer which are among the most prevalent and deadly cancers in the United States and around the world. "Caris believes broad application of precision medicine will further accelerate advances in cancer treatment that will lead to improved patient outcomes across all cancer types worldwide," said W. Michael Korn, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Caris. "Our research presented at ASCO set the stage for further personalization of cancer treatment, and we are excited to see patients increasingly benefit from this powerful approach." "Our data at ASCO reinforce the positive impact of multiomic testing across a broad range of tumor types, as well as the significant need to further explore its role in guiding treatment decisions," said David Spetzler, M.S., PhD., MBA, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Caris Life Sciences. "These data also add to the existing body of knowledge around the use of precision medicine and its transformative role in cancer, and we believe that Caris' artificial intelligence-powered technologies, as part of the Caris Molecular Intelligence suite, will have broad implications for the future management of this disease." The Precision Oncology Alliance continues to grow and currently includes 38 academic, hospital and community-based cancer institutions, including 12 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Since 2016, the Alliance has presented over 115 studies and publications. "Cancer manifests differently in every patient, and one of the biggest challenges oncologists face is tailoring a treatment approach that is individualized to the patient's disease and gives them the greatest survival benefit," said Philip A. Philip, M.D., Ph.D., FRCP., an oncologist with Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University, a member of the Precision Oncology Alliance. "I look forward to discussing our data in KRAS wild-type (WT) pancreatic cancer with my colleagues in the oncology community and hope to see these results shape clinical trials and patient care in the future." Key posters from Caris are listed below: Molecular features of gliomas with high tumor mutational burden. Presenter: Joanne Xiu (The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University Hospital) Abstract: 2549; Poster: 40 Poster Session: Central Nervous System Tumors Presenter: (The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Hospital) Abstract: 2549; Poster: 40 Poster Session: Central Nervous System Tumors Somatic alterations of NF1 in colorectal cancer. Presenter: Hiroyuki Arai ( USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center) Abstract: 4066; Poster: 58 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerColorectal and Anal Presenter: ( Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center) Abstract: 4066; Poster: 58 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerColorectal and Anal The landscape of DNA damage response (DDR) pathway in colorectal cancer (CRC). Presenter: Hiroyuki Arai ( USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center) Abstract: 4064; Poster: 56 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerColorectal and Anal Presenter: ( Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center) Abstract: 4064; Poster: 56 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerColorectal and Anal The landscape of MAP3K1 / MAP2K4 alterations in gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies. Presenter: Matthew K. Stein (West Cancer Center) Abstract: 4113; Poster: 105 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerColorectal and Anal Presenter: (West Cancer Center) Abstract: 4113; Poster: 105 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerColorectal and Anal Comprehensive molecular analysis of microsatellite-stable (MSS) tumors with high mutational burden in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. Presenter: Jingyuan Wang ( USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center) Abstract: 3631; Poster: 361 Poster Session: Developmental TherapeuticsMolecularly Targeted Agents and Tumor Biology Presenter: ( Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center) Abstract: 3631; Poster: 361 Poster Session: Developmental TherapeuticsMolecularly Targeted Agents and Tumor Biology Molecular correlates of PD-L1 expression in patients (pts) with gastroesophageal (GE) cancers. Presenter: Jingyuan Wang ( USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center) Abstract: 4558; Poster: 166 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerGastroesophageal, Pancreatic, and Hepatobiliary Presenter: ( Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center) Abstract: 4558; Poster: 166 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerGastroesophageal, Pancreatic, and Hepatobiliary Comprehensive gene expression analysis of IDH1/2 mutant biliary cancers (BC) Presenter: Francesca Battaglin ( USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center) Abstract: 4598; Poster: 206 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerGastroesophageal, Pancreatic, and Hepatobiliary Presenter: ( Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center) Abstract: 4598; Poster: 206 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerGastroesophageal, Pancreatic, and Hepatobiliary Enrichment of alterations in targetable molecular pathways in KRAS wild-type (WT) pancreatic cancer (PC). Presenter: Philip Agop Philip (Karmanos Cancer Institute) Abstract: 4629; Poster: 237 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerGastroesophageal, Pancreatic, and Hepatobiliary Presenter: (Karmanos Cancer Institute) Abstract: 4629; Poster: 237 Poster Session: Gastrointestinal CancerGastroesophageal, Pancreatic, and Hepatobiliary Correlation of tumor mutational burden (TMB) with CDKN2A and TP53 mutation in HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Presenter: Barbara Burtness ( Yale University ) Abstract: 6552; Poster: 213 Poster Session: Head and Neck Cancer Presenter: ( ) Abstract: 6552; Poster: 213 Poster Session: Head and Neck Cancer Genomic landscape and immune phenotype of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Presenter: Meera Patel (Karmanos Cancer Institute) Abstract: 9056; Poster: 249 Poster Session: Lung Cancer Presenter: (Karmanos Cancer Institute) Abstract: 9056; Poster: 249 Poster Session: Lung Cancer Characterization of NRG1 gene fusion events in solid tumors. Presenter: Sushma Jonna (MedStar Health) Abstract: 3113; Poster: 177 Poster Session: Developmental TherapeuticsImmunotherapy Presenter: (MedStar Health) Abstract: 3113; Poster: 177 Poster Session: Developmental TherapeuticsImmunotherapy Is there a genomic fingerprint of Radon (Rn)-induced lung cancer (LC)? Comparison of genomic alterations in LC specimens from high and low Rn zones. Presenter: Hina Khan ( Brown University ) Abstract: 1572; Poster: 64 Poster Session: Cancer Prevention, Risk Reduction, and Genetics Presenter: ( ) Abstract: 1572; Poster: 64 Poster Session: Cancer Prevention, Risk Reduction, and Genetics Characterization of KRAS mutations (mt) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Presenter: Stephen V. Liu (MedStar Health) Abstract: 9544; Poster: 310 Poster Session: Lung Cancer Presenter: (MedStar Health) Abstract: 9544; Poster: 310 Poster Session: Lung Cancer Genomic landscape of angiosarcoma: A targeted and immunotherapy biomarker analysis of 143 patients. Presenter: Andrea P. Espejo Freire (Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Miami ) Abstract: 11545; Poster: 433 Poster Session: Sarcoma About Caris Life Sciences Caris Life Sciences is a leading innovator in molecular science focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine through quality and innovation. The company's suite of market-leading molecular profiling offerings assesses DNA, RNA and proteins to reveal a molecular blueprint that helps physicians and cancer patients make more precise and personalized treatment decisions. MI Exome whole exome sequencing with 22,000 DNA genes, and MI Transcriptome whole transcriptome sequencing with 22,000 RNA genes along with cancer-related pathogens, bacteria, viruses and fungi analysis run on every patient provides the most comprehensive and clinically relevant DNA and RNA profiling available on the market. Caris is also advancing precision medicine with Caris MAI (Molecular Artificial Intelligence) that combines its innovative service offerings, Caris Molecular Intelligence with its proprietary artificial intelligence analytics engine, DEAN, to analyze the whole exome, whole transcriptome and complete cancer proteome. This information, coupled with mature clinical outcomes on thousands of patients, provides unmatched molecular solutions for patients, physicians, payers and biopharmaceutical organizations. Caris Pharmatech is changing the paradigm and streamlines the clinical trial process by assisting biopharma companies with accessing research-ready oncology sites for clinical trials. With over 200 research sites within the Caris Pharmatech JIT Oncology Network, biopharma companies can identify and enroll more patients, faster. Caris Pharmatech Just-In-Time Clinical Trial Solutions focus on rapid site activation and patient enrollment to streamline the drug development process. By implementing a Just-In-Time (JIT) Research System, site activation and patient enrollment is achievable within 14 days for pre-registered locations with pre-qualified patients. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris Life Sciences offers services throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and other international markets. To learn more, please visit www.CarisLifeSciences.com or follow us on Twitter (@CarisLS). Caris Life Sciences Media & Company Contact: Lindsey Bailys GCI Health [email protected] +1-212-798-9884 SOURCE Caris Life Sciences Related Links http://www.carislifesciences.com From amphitheaters to aqueducts remnants of Ancient Rome can be found throughout modern day Europe. Even more important and impressive than its monuments, however, are the men and women who brought about the greatest Empire in human history and it's remarkable innovations. From poetry to politics, tactical brilliance to one of the most tragic of love stories of all time, read on to learn more about 10 influential people in Ancient Rome. 10. The Founders Sculpture of the mythical she-wolf suckling the infant twins Romulus and Remus. Rome, Italy. Image credit: Davide Zanin/Shutterstock.com Its doubtful Romes founders ever really existed. Legendary twins Romulus and Remus were set adrift on the Tiber River as infants by a rival king. A she-wolf, sent on behalf of their god-of-war father, Mars, rescued the boys who grew up to found the legendary city before a falling out led Romulus to kill Remus. The twins werent just divine on their fathers side, however. Their mother, Rhea Silvia, was the daughter of a king descended from the mythical Trojan hero Aeneas. The demigod son of Venus, Aenas rescued Trojans and led them to Italy after the Trojan War. Many wealthy Romans claimed they descended from this divine family tree which gave them the right to rule, including Julius Caesar and the Julian family. 9. Octavia (69 BC - 11 BC) Virgil reading Aeneid, Book VI, to Augustus and Octavia, by Taillasson. Image credit: National Gallery/Public domain List the great names of Roman history - Caesar, Augustus, Antony, even Cleopatra - and Octavia is between them all. Niece of Julius Caesar, she married his foe, Marcellus, to unite the rivals. Her brother, Octavian, became Emperor Augustus after Caesars death and following a civil war wherein she again married - this time to Marc Antony - to keep the peace. Antony famously left her for Queen Cleopatra, but even after his disastrous war against Augustus and subsequent suicide, Octavia took in his and Cleopatras children and raised them as her own, proving herself a model of compassion for generations. Octavias line runs throughout history. She is the grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother of the Roman rulers Claudius, Caligula, Agrippina, and Nero. 8. Trajan (53 - 117 AD) Statue of Trajan, posing in military garb, in front of the Amphitheater of Colonia Ulpia Traiana in the Xanten Archaeological Park. Image credit: Hartmann Linge/Wikimedia.org While Caesar and Augustus are known for their victories, Trajan was the most successful military leader by any measure. He expanded the Empires borders like no other, conquering parts of Hungary, Ukraine, and Romania. He marched his army to the Persian Gulf, constructing architectural wonders of still existat bridges, canals and roads as he went. Considered one of the five good emperors, Trajan brought wealth in the form of taxes from his expanded empire, relative peace, and, up to that point, unmatched prosperity through trade. 7. Hadrian (76 - 138 AD) Sculpture of Hadrianus in Venice. Image credit: Livioandronico2013/Wikimedia.org Visitors to northern Britain today can still touch a part of Romes vast reaching empire. Hadrians Wall stretched coast to coast across Romes westernmost border, running 73 miles across the width of Britain. It was not the only mighty fortification built by the emperor. Hadrian travelled to nearly every province under his rule, constructing monuments, infrastructure, and great works of architecture including fortifications along the Rhine and Danube rivers and rebuilding the magnificent domed roof of the Pantheon. 6. Livy (54 BC - 12 AD) Sculpture of Titus Livius Patavinus (Livy) outside the Austrian Parliament in Vienna, Austria. Image credit: Kizel Cotiw-an/Shutterstock.com Much of what we know about daily Roman life comes to us from one of its historians, Livy. One of historys earliest best-sellers, Livy has influenced future writers for two thousand years. Despite having no formal connections to Romes politics or politicians, Livy wrote 142 books detailing the lives, losses, and loves of the Romans. It is this everyman perspective that has made Livy such a noted source throughout the ages, recording everyday occurrences along with great battles and the reactions of the citizens, not just the major political players of the day. 5. Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC) Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus, Octavia, and Livia by Jean-Baptiste Wicar, Art Institute of Chicago. Image credit: Jean-Baptiste Wicar/Public domain Like Livy, the writer Virgil has inspired two millennia of poets and novelists including Dante, who reimagined the Roman as the narrators guide in his own classic work, The Divine Comedy. Virgil was Romes favorite and most famous poet, penning the Latin epic the Aeneid about the heroism of Prince Aeneas as he traveled from Troy to Carthage - now modern day Tunisia - and finally to Italy where his descendents would go on to found and rule the Roman Empire. 4. Marc Antony (83 BC - 30 BC) Giant statue of Marc Antony and his horse up the steps leading to the Palatino in Rome. Image credit: Todd Taulman Photography/Shutterstock.com History can offer few men more dynamic than Marc Antony. His military career began in Egypt, and soon he became Julius Caesar's right hand man in many successful campaigns. When his mentor was murdered, Antony was the de facto Roman ruler, forming an uneasy alliance with Caesars nephew, Octavian, and marrying his sister in the bargain. When he returned to Egypt, however, he quickly rekindled his romance with the Pharaoh Queen Cleopatra, fathered two children, fought, and lost, the Battle of Actium against Octavian, and ultimately took his own life when he mistakenly learned of his lovers death. 3. Marcus Aurelius (121 180 AD) Statue of the emperor Marco Aurelio at the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. Image credit: Anticiclo/Shutterstock.com Considered the last of the five 'good emperors', Aurelius was a philosopher and statesman. A capable ruler in a crisis, he oversaw Rome through flooding of the Tiber, reformed currency to avoid economic crisis, conquered the Parthian Empire and Germanic tribes, and ardently believed in law, fairness, and freedom of speech even when it criticised the empire. His greatest talent was his writing - in fact in 2002 Aurelius 12-volume book Meditations once again hit the bestseller list, nearly two thousand years after it was written. 2. Augustus (63 BC 14 AD) Bronze statue of Emperor Augustus. Image credit: Fabiomax/Shutterstock.com Rome as we know it truly began with Augustus, its first emperor, whose influence and Pax Romana would stretch on for another 200 years. The adopted son and great-nephew of Julius Caesar, Augustus, once called Octavian, was everything a great emperor needed to be - brilliant, cunning, and either compassionate or cruel as the situation demanded. He conquered Egypt, the Dalmatian coast, as well as parts of Spain, Germany, and Africa on roads he built and still exist today. His citizens enjoyed a police force, firefighters, local government, and well-cared for military veterans. Ensuring time would not forget him, Augustus gave the world a new calendar and a month named in his honor, August. 1. Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) The Senators and "Brutes" attacking Julius Caesar in the "Temple" {Temple of Caesar} in 44 BC. Image credit: Karl von Piloty/Public domain Neither its richest citizen, nor its most successful politician, Julius Caesar is still clearly the most famous of all Romans. His name is synonymous with emperor - both tsar/csar in Russia and Kaiser in Germany are derived from his name- and his life, conquests, words, and even murder were immortalized by William Shakespeare. Under Caesar, Romes reach extended to the Rhine River and English Channel. His military might, wealth, and popularity made him a threat to the oligarchy of the Senate who ordered him to disband his army and return to Rome. His refusal led first to civil war, then his victory, followed quickly by his dictatorship of the Roman Republic. Despite making several positive advances including an economic reform that resulted in his image printed on new coins, Caesars jealous enemies conspired against him and he was murdered on the senate floor by several of his former allies. A leading police union chief said officers will be unable to enforce the Government's strict self-isolation rules for those travelling into the country. Under the Government's plans, all people arriving at airports, ports and on Eurostar trains will be required to provide an address at which they will immediately self-isolate for 14 days to ensure they are coronavirus-free. It is believed police will conduct spot checks, with punishments of up to 1,000 fines and deportation for those breaching quarantine. But Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh said: 'We're not going to be able to do it. That's the end of it.' Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh said it will be 'nigh-on impossible' to enforce the Government's 14-day quarantine rules for travellers 'If we're talking tens of thousands of people coming into the UK, who are then expected to self-isolate for a fortnight, that is nigh-on impossible to police,' he said to Stephen Nolan on BBC Radio 5 Live. Speaking to the MailOnline, Mr Marsh said: 'We haven't had the plan laid out in front of us yet, but if we are going to be expected to see if people are adhering to a 14-day restriction I don't know how we can enforce that. 'We need to see what the government are going to say today, when they release more facts and figures and then we will be able to figure it out. 'Until we understand what they are asking us to do it is hard for us to know - we are the ones, who most of the time, have to enforce these things.' Britain on Friday said from June all arrivals in the UK - including returning Britons - would be quarantined for 14 days and face 1,000 fines or deportation if they do not. Pictured: Terminal 2 arrivals at London's Heathrow Airport on Saturday France will be exempt from the strict quarantine rules after they threatened to enforce a 'tit-for-tat' action against Britain, meaning anyone from the UK would have been placed in quarantine on arrival in France. When asked about the exemption, Mr Marsh said: 'I really don't understand that decision because people will just start flying into France and then coming to us. If someone is coming in from America, they will just fly to France and then fly here. I just don't understand it.' Boris Johnson phoned French President Emmanuel Macron at the weekend and agreed a mutual exemption from the measures for holidaymakers from both countries. The two leaders said in a joint statement: 'The Prime Minister and the President agreed to work together in taking forward appropriate border measures. 'This cooperation is particularly necessary for the management of our common border. 'No quarantine measures would apply to travellers coming from France at this stage. Any measures on either side would be taken in a concerted and reciprocal manner. People travelling between Britain (left, Boris Johnson) and France (right of right, Emmanuel Macron) will not face the two-week quarantine announced by the UK government last week 'A working group between the two Governments will be set up to ensure this consultation throughout the coming weeks.' UK airlines last night threatened to ground their fleets in response to the Government's quarantine scheme, which they said would effectively kill off any hopes of a resumption of international travel. The Airport Operators Association, representing Britain's airports, said it would have a 'devastating impact' on the industry. The plans mean that any UK traveller wanting to go on a fortnight's holiday to countries other than France will have be away from their place of work for four weeks as they will need to quarantine for two weeks on their return to Britain. Tim Alderslade, chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, whose members include British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Ryanair, easyJet and major tour operators TUI and Jet2, said: 'We all including Government need to adapt to the new normal but closing off air travel in this way is not the way to achieve this. Airlines and airports, including Airlines UK and The Airport Operators Association, reacted with horror at the quarantine rules saying it will deter people from travelling. Pictured: Passengers wearing PPE arrive at Heathrow Airport's terminal 2 on Saturday 'Ministers are effectively telling people they can no longer travel for the foreseeable future and airlines will respond by grounding their operations.' Airlines are seeking an extension of the furloughing scheme to October plus 'holidays' on making Air Passenger Duty and other Government charges. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has appointed advisers in case it needs to go into administration after the Government turned it down for a 500million bailout. The airline is making 3,150 staff a third of its workforce redundant, and is still trying desperately to shore up its finances. Experts say this does not mean insolvency is inevitable but is something that they are legally obliged to line up. Virgin Atlantic's chief executive Shai Weiss yesterday told The Sunday Times he was '100 per cent certain' the airline can survive. One company boss warned the Government's plans could 'kill it off completely'. Pictured: British Airways aircraft in Bournemouth Airport this week The Airport Operators Association's Karen Dee said: 'Quarantine would not only have a devastating impact on the UK aviation industry but also on the wider economy. 'If people have to quarantine for 14 days, they will be much less likely to want to travel, so there will be a dramatic impact on us at a time when we are already seeing passenger numbers decline by about 98 per cent.' Pilots' union Balpa questioned the 'scientific basis' for the proposed quarantine rules and warned the industry would be in a 'death spiral' without Government support. A Government spokesman said: 'The aviation sector is important to the UK economy and ministers are in regular communication with its senior representatives to discuss the challenges... and ways we can support.' All travel into France is currently heavily restricted, with only essential travel permitted and an international travel certificate required to cross the border. Limitations expected to stay in place until at least June 15th. The headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is seen in Washington on Aug. 22, 2018. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) CrowdStrike Had No Evidence of Russians Stealing Emails From DNC, Declassified Transcript Shows The cybersecurity firm that investigated and remediated the alleged hack of the Democratic National Committees servers in 2016 found no direct evidence that hackers stole any data or emails, according to a newly declassified interview transcript. Shawn Henry, the president of CrowdStrike Services, told the House Intelligence Committee in late 2017 that his firm had no evidence that the alleged Russian hackers stole any data from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) servers. Theres not evidence that they were actually exfiltrated, Henry said. Theres circumstantial evidence, but no evidence that they were actually exfiltrated. The publication by WikiLeaks of more than 44,000 emails from senior DNC officials became one of the biggest stories of the turbulent 2016 presidential race and served as the predicate for the FBIs investigation of the Trump campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller, who took over the probe in May 2017, eventually charged a group of Russians with hacking the DNC. The indictment alleges that the Russians hacked into the DNC and stole thousands of emails. Prior to Muellers indictment, the public knowledge of the alleged DNC hack consisted of CrowdStrikes brief report on the matter released on June 14, 2016, days after the firm claims to have ousted the hackers from the committees systems. The report makes no mention of stolen data, although Henry told The Washington Post in an article published the same day that the Russians allegedly stole two files. Of the more than 44,000 emails published by WikiLeaks, more than 98 percent were sent and received by senior DNC officials between April 18 and May 25 of 2016. During more than half of that time frame, CrowdStrike had already installed its software on the DNCs servers and was monitoring the network. In its response for an explanation for how the hackers pilfered the emails on its watch without leaving a trace, CrowdStrike pointed to a portion from Henrys testimony which does not address the alleged breach. So the analysis started the first day or two in May, and then that was about 4 to 6 weeks, I think, on June 10th, we started what we call the remediation event. So we collected enough intelligence. We identified where the adversaries were in the environment. We came up with a remediation plan to say we see them in multiple locations. These are the actions that we need to execute in order to put a new infrastructure in place and to ensure that the adversaries dont have access to the new infrastructure. So that would have been June 10th when we started. And we did the remediation event over a couple of days, Henry said. A CrowdStrike spokesperson, referencing the period after the alleged hack, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times that, to be clear, there is no indication of any subsequent breaches taking place on the DNCs corporate network or any machines protected by CrowdStrike Falcon. The company did not respond to a request to explain how the emails were allegedly pilfered under its watch and why it failed to find evidence despite closely monitoring the servers with full awareness that hackers were present. Muellers indictment alleges that Russian hackers broke into a DNC server and stole emails on or about May 25 and June 1 of 2016, roughly three weeks after CrowdStrike installed its software on the DNC servers and assessed that Russian hackers had gained access. CrowdStrikes involvement in the events surrounding the alleged DNC hack has long been the subject of controversy. Some facts about the firms involvement remain disputed by key players, including Henry, who told the House Intelligence Committee that he was not aware of the DNC or CrowdStrike ever denying any FBI requests related to the server hack. Henrys testimony contradicted what then-FBI Director James Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee in January 2017. Comey told senators that the FBI sought and was repeatedly denied access to the physical DNC servers. Henry was not the only one to contradict Comey. The DNCs director of technology, Andrew Brown, told the House Intelligence Committee the DNC fully cooperated with every FBI request. The DNCs IT director, Yared Tamene, told the committee the FBI never requested access to the physical servers. And Michael Sussman, the DNCs outside counsel, told the committee that the FBI declined a DNC offer for full access to its servers. According to Tamene, the DNC handed over images of its servers to CrowdStrike, which then handed them over to the FBI in May and June of 2016. Muellers final report on the Russia investigation cites these images, alongside redacted grand jury material, as the source for the allegation that Russian hackers stole the DNC emails. The FBI never examined the physical DNC servers. According to a CrowdStrike report cited by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) the hackers allegedly staged a trove of DNC files for exfiltration on April 22. According to the Netyshko indictment, the hackers allegedly compressed gigabytes of data from DNC computers, including opposition research and later moved the compressed DNC data to a computer leased in Illinois. The indictment does not allege that the hackers moved the files from the Illinois system. The charges in the Netyshko indictment remain alleged as the case is unlikely to be heard before a court since the defendants are in Russia. The government recently moved to drop the charges against an alleged Russian social media influence operation after the defendants mounted a defense in court. The special counsel concluded his 22-month investigation last year finding insufficient evidence that anyone on the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. The DNC did not respond to a request for comment. The girlfriend of a man who was arrested over a fatal shooting in Melbourne's south-east has claimed the incident was an "accident". Locals reported hearing a gunshot in Endeavour Hills on Monday night and police were called to Calrossie Crescent just before 8pm on Monday. Police officers search a property near the crime scene in Endeavour Hills on Tuesday. Credit:James Ross/AAP They treated an injured man but he was unresponsive. He died at the scene and was yet to be formally identified on Tuesday evening. Blake Wynne, 22, was arrested on Monday night and was taken to hospital under police guard after suffering a medical episode. As of Tuesday night, no charges had been laid. A Harrisburg woman whose home was the scene of the fatal shooting of a deputy U.S. marshal didnt receive an excessive punishment when she was sent to prison on drug possession and child endangerment charges, a state Superior Court panel has decided. The judges rejected Shayla Pierces arguments that she should have gotten a break because she has mental health issues and is a mother of four. Pierce, 33, received her 1- to 3-year prison sentence from Dauphin County Judge William T. Tully in November, nearly two years after Deputy Marshal Christopher Hill was killed by friendly fire during the January 2018 shoot-out with Pierces boyfriend Kevin Sturgis in Pierces Mulberry Street home. Sturgis also died in the battle. Pierce wasnt charged in connection with Hills death. However, she did plead no contest to the drug possession charge filed over the 1 pounds of marijuana and two ounces of PCP that investigators said were found in her home. She entered the same plea to a child endangerment charge filed because police said two of children were in the house along with the drugs, Judge Mary Murray noted in the Superior Courts opinion. In her failed appeal, Pierce claimed the punishment Tully imposed is unreasonable because he didnt fully consider her need for rehabilitation and her role as a mother. Murray backed Pierces sentence after citing Tullys reasons for imposing it. This is not about punishment. Its trying to find something that changes your behavior. Im just not seeing anything taking you off the track that youve been on, Tully said as he sent Pierce to jail. If we dont do something, youre going to be spending the rest of your life as a career criminal and your children are going to be in and out of foster care until they turn 18. And is that how you want your children to be raised? What I want to do is give you what itll take to turn your life around, give you a chance to focus on what you have to do so that you can be a better mom so when you come home, you get your children, you keep your children, and raise them as a good mom, Tully said. Contrary to Pierce claims, Tully specifically addressed (her) rehabilitative needs, the seriousness of her crimes, and the impact of (her)actions on her children, Murray concluded. While scientists insist the world is in the initial stages of the coronavirus pandemic, governments internationally are ending confinement policies and reopening their economies, pushing millions of workers back to their workplaces even as the virus spreads so the flow of corporate profits can resume. A central element of the back-to-work policy is reopening schools and pushing children and teachers back into classrooms. Governments see reopening schools as essential not only as a symbol of a return to pre-pandemic conditions, but more importantly so that workers who could not otherwise mind their children may be herded back into their workplaces. In France, the president of the rich Emmanuel Macron is opening schools today, beginning with the youngest school-age childrenthat is, those least able to obey social-distancing instructions, but most in need of child-minding if their parents are to go back to work. He is doing so in direct defiance of the recommendation of Frances Scientific Council, which recommended postponing school openings until September. Schools will shortly reopen or have already reopened in Germany, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and elsewhere. Empty classroom This policy is accompanied by a propaganda campaign claiming that (1) the coronavirus poses no significant danger to children, and (2) that children do not catch or transmit the virus, even as asymptomatic carriers. This propaganda aims to deny that school re-openings constitute a major additional transmission mechanism of the virus. There is no scientific validity to these claims. Governments are selectively citing isolated or incomplete studies as justification for their economic policy, often contradicting their own scientific advisors, and ignoring considerable evidence of the danger the virus poses to children and the role children play to transmit the virus to more vulnerable layers of the population. One study, entitled, Changes in contact patterns shape the dynamics of Covid-19 outbreak in China, was published last week in the prestigious magazine Science on the outbreak in Wuhan. The study used contact behavior surveys of citizens in Wuhan and Shanghai, conducted both before and after the pandemic, to estimate the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly school closures, on the spread of the virus. They sought in particular to determine how many people any given patient from various age brackets would infect. They concluded that a child under 14 was less likely to catch or transmit the disease from any single interaction than someone aged over 65. However, this is counterbalanced by the fact that children at school have interactions with far larger numbers of people. As a result, researchers found that where school contacts are removed, we estimate a reduction of 42 percent in the overall spread of the virus. School closings, they conclude, can achieve a noticeable decrease in infection attack rate and peak incidence, and a delay in the epidemic. A second study came from researchers in Germany led by virologist Christian Drosten, whose team at the Charite Hospital in Berlin had by then conducted almost 60,000 coronavirus tests. Drosten published the studys results on his labs own website before it has been peer reviewed because of his belief in the urgency of the results, which contradict the German governments school reopening policy. The team analyzed the 3,712 samples from patients carrying the coronavirus, measuring the viral load of each sample, that is, the total amount of virus each patients sample contained. A higher viral load is thought to generally correspond to greater contagiousness of the patient. Their results showed that younger patients did not have smaller viral loads than older patients. Analysis of variance of viral loads in patients of different age categories found no significant difference between any pair of age categories including children, they conclude. In particular, these data indicate that viral loads in the very young do not differ significantly from those of adults. Based on these results, we have to caution against an unlimited re-opening of schools and kindergartens in the present situation. Children may be as infectious as adults. In addition, the team analyzed a group of samples from asymptomatic children. There too, there was no sign of a decreased viral load. In this cloud of children, there are these few children that have a virus concentration that is sky-high, Drosten told the New York Times . Researchers at the Pasteur Institute in France also published the results of a study at a high school in the Oise region, a coronavirus cluster, at the end of April. Researchers tested 326 students, parents and teachers at the school, of whom 40.9 percent tested positive for the virus. These included 25.9 percent of all students. Claims that children who catch the disease are not adversely affected have also been undermined by the discovery of a suspected link between coronavirus and an uptick in cases of a rare syndrome, Kawasaki Disease, among children and infants. At least three children, a five-year-old and seven-year-old in the US, and a 14-year-old in the UK, have died from the syndrome, which can cause severe heart complications including enlarged arteries. While the syndrome appears to be rare, its emergence only highlights the fact that the impact of the coronavirus on children is still not fully understood. As governments push to re-open schools, they are doing so in defiance of these scientific warnings. Instead, while ignoring scientific results that conflict with their policy, governments pick and choose scientific evidence according to a predetermined political agenda, pointing only to studies that show less conclusive results or suggest a lower danger for children. In Australia, the government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison has heavily promoted the incomplete results of a study that has yet to be finished, let alone peer-reviewed, into the transmission of the coronavirus in the state of New South Wales. The study, however, covered a period during which schools in the state had partially or fully closed, and when between a third and a quarter of students were not at school. (See: Australian schools reopening as spearhead of back to work campaign). The results of the study have also been cited internationally, including in Canada. While scientists are still struggling to come to grips with the nature of this new disease, reopening the schools at this point flies in the face of powerful scientific warnings that this policy will increase the spread of the disease. What is driving capitalist governments around the world is not a rational and scientific struggle against the pandemic, but the drive of the corporate and financial elite to force a return to work. They are acting with contempt for the lives of hundreds of millions of people who will be affected by a school reopening policy. As French health minister Olivier Veran admitted in an interview last week arguing for reopening schools across France: There is the question of whether children are contagious or not. He admitted that there were arguments both for and against, but then simply asserted that schools must reopen. This week the French Senate and National Assembly voted to provide enhance legal immunity to employers and government officials whose actions in enforcing the reopening of schools and businesses leads to deaths from the virus. If the ruling elite feels the need to preemptively vote itself legal immunity as it ends lock-downs, this underscores that it is well aware that its policy is criminal. Invasive techniques should not be adopted for forensic autopsy in COVID-19 death cases as doctorsand other mortuary staff are exposed to potentially dangerous health risks due to organ fluids and secretions, the ICMR has said in a draft document. According to the final draft 'Standard Guidelines for Medico-legal autopsy in COVID-19 deaths in India' released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), deaths in hospital and under medical care due to coronavirus infection is a non-MLC case and doesn't require postmortem and the required certification of death is being done by treating doctors. Some of the cases of suspected COVID-19 death which are brought dead to hospitals are labelled by emergency doctors as MLC and the body is sent to the mortuary and police are informed which may need postmortem examination for clarity in the cause of death. "The forensic autopsy of these cases may be waived off," the draft guidelines said. Some of the cases are suicide, homicide or accident and may be positive or suspected case of coronavirus infection. After the inquest procedure, if any crime is not suspected, police have the authorityto waive off conduction of medico-legal autopsy, even though labelled as medico-legal case. "The investigating police officer must proactively take steps to waive off unnecessary autopsies during such pandemic situation," the draftdocument said. As per the procedure of conducting forensic autopsy, the "dissection of bones and tissues will generate aerosol which may lead to spread of infection. On the basis of same along with external examination, multiple photographs and verbal autopsy (as depicted by WHO)...the post mortem should be conducted strictly avoiding any invasive surgical procedures and avoiding splashing of body fluids contact for staffs, body handlers and doctors conducting post mortem." According to the draft guidelines by the ICMR, if the COVID-19 test report is awaited, the body must not be released from the mortuary until the final report is received and after the formalities, itmust be handed over to the district administration. "At no time, more than two relatives must be present near the body and they must maintain a distance of at leastone meter from the body. "The body must be identified by relatives through the plastic bag, without opening the bag, and it must be done in the presence of law enforcing agencies," it said. "The body must be taken to the burial/cremation ground in presence of law enforcing agencies, where not more than five relatives of the deceased should be allowed. Large gathering at the crematorium/ burial ground should be avoided as a social distancing measure as it is possible that close family contacts may be symptomatic and shedding the virus," it said. These guidelines are based on the current understanding about modes of transmission of COVID-19 sensitivity of diagnostic tests, international autopsy guidelines and knowledge about infrastructure and logistic strength of common mortuaries in India, the document stated. Complete PPE has to be used while shifting the body in the mortuary if it involves direct handling of the body by the staff. The body should be packed in a double packing in a leak-proof zipped transparent plastic body bag which is locked properly to avoid spillage of any fluids. The existing mortuary facility for body storage should be strictly divided into COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 bodies. In case of burial upper surface should be cemented and earmarked. The body must be cremated in electric crematorium, wherever possible, so that the movement and handling of the body is minimized, the draft guidelines stated. Religious rituals which requires touching the bodies should be avoided like bathing, kissing and hugging etc., the document said, adding that ash does not pose any risk and can be collected to perform last rites. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) Former Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Rodolfo Salalima said ABS-CBN should be able to continue broadcasting despite the government's order for the media giant to cease operations. Salalima said the cease and desist order (CDO) issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) was "illegal and void" from the beginning because it was issued without a prior discussion with ABS-CBN. "The CDO is illegal and void because it was issued without ABS-CBN being heard on the legal issue thereon related to its Congressional franchise in violation of that company's constitutional right to procedural due process of law," he said in a Facebook post on Monday. Salalima noted a show cause order should have been issued first to ABS-CBN before it decided to order the closure. He cited the violation of NTC's 2006 Rules of Practice and Procedure which states that a show cause order and a hearing must be conducted before the issuance of a cease and desist order. He also questioned if a complaint was even filed before the agency. NTC Deputy Commissioner Edgardo Cabarios was earlier quoted as saying that his office ordered the shutdown of ABS-CBN following "questions" on its franchise validity. "Obviously, the answers to all the above searching questions are all NO given that the whole world, ABS-CBN included, was caught by surprise by the sudden appearance of the CDO," he said. NTC is under the DICT. The Congress failed to act on several bills seeking to give the Kapamilya network a fresh 25-year franchise to operate. With time running out, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano opted to file a resolution asking NTC to issue ABS-CBN a temporary license to operate while giving Congress more time to deliberate. Instead of a provisional authority, NTC issued the cease and desist order on May 5, a day after the legislative franchise of ABS-CBN expired. The network immediately complied and went off air on the same night. Salalima said with NTC order being void, ABS-CBN should be allowed to go back on air while its application for franchise awaits deliberation in the lower chamber. "Yes, as a matter of legal right and in the interest of justice and due process... The franchise (or its application for extension seasonably filed) becomes a vested constitutional property right which cannot simply be taken away, revoked or set aside without due process of law," he said. He noted that other broadcast outfits have been allowed to operate even if their franchises have already expired because their applications are pending in Congress. Salalima said that although NTC placed ABS-CBN in a "serious quagmire" and should be held accountable, the House leaders are ultimately responsible why the network is not allowed to broadcast on free TV and radio. "Non-action is the worst form of delay," he said. "Because it leaves the aggrieved without clear and speedy recourse." The former head of DICT, who resigned from his post in 2017 and stayed out of public office since, said he opted to give his legal opinion on the issue based on truth and "with malice towards no one." "So unfortunate and sad, particularly in these dark hellish nights of COVID AND HERE I RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT!" he wrote on Facebook. A ll children should be back at school in the first week of September for the start of the new academic year meaning some pupils will have been away from the classroom for up to six months. Schools were closed as a result of the coronavirus outbreak - and A Level and GCSE exams cancelled - on March 23, with pupils told to stay at home unless their parents or carers were key workers. Under the Prime Minister's "road map" out of lockdown , the Government expected children to be able to return to nurseries, and for Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils to be back in school, from June 1. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he it would be "morally indefensible" to keep children out of schools, with risk from coronavirus low compared to the damage caused by missing out on in-person education, England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty said in August. Here, the Standard takes a look at school reopenings: Pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 were among the first group expected to return to school / PA How long have schools been closed for? Schools closed to most pupils on March 20. Children of key workers and the most vulnerable children were able to carry on attending. On June 1, children in Reception, years one and years six were allowed to return. On June 15 some year 10 and year 12 pupils were allowed back, but only one quarter of the cohort was allowed in school at any one time. If primary schools were able to they were allowed to invite other year groups back before the summer holidays. But many schools were unable to do this, and some experienced a lack of demand from parents worried about safety. What are the benefits of returning to school? Fears were raised that the most vulnerable children have become invisible during lockdown, and teachers believe the safest place for them to be is in the classroom. Most children have missed almost six months of work. Most educators agree that even the best online learning systems do not compare to being in the classroom with a teacher. Schools minister Nick Gibb said in early September: It is always harder, even for the most hard-working student at home, to learn as effectively in that environment as opposed to being at school with your teacher. While children are at home the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children is growing wider. Some parents are also struggling to work while their children are at home. Lots of children have been learning at home since Covid-19 restrictions were implemented / PA What happens if children do not attend school? Attendance will be compulsory and penalty fines will be reintroduced to parents who do not send their children back to school. Ofsted will start visiting schools again at the new school year to discuss how plans are going, and routine inspections will restart in January 2021. How will children be kept safe at school? Pupils will be grouped into bubbles to reduce the transmission of the virus. In primary schools an entire class will form a bubble, and in secondary schools entire year groups will form bubbles. Social distancing rules will not be applied at all times, but older children will be encouraged to keep their distance from their peers where they can. Masks are not expected to be worn by pupils or teachers. But there will be regular routines of hand washing and desks will be arranged to children face forward, rather than facing each other on circular tables, with teachers staying at the front of the class. Schools will be given "a small number" of home testing kits, Mr Gibb said. But children or staff members who have symptoms will be sent home and will do a test there. School children and staff members will be given priority among people being tested for the virus, he added. If there are two or more confirmed coronavirus cases at a school within 14 days, or an overall rise in sickness absence, schools must work with their local health protection team. In some cases the whole school could be sent home to self-isolate as a precautionary measure. But whole school closures based on cases within the school will not generally be necessary, and should not be considered except on the advice of health protection teams. Teachers are being advised to stay two metres away from each other and from children where possible. Children dance on a painted socially distanced circle in the playground as they wait to be picked up by their parents at Llanishen Fach Primary School in Cardiff / PA How will children catch up on missed work? Schools are likely to need to modify timetables for the first term, with an emphasis on the core subjects of maths and English. A regular curriculum might not return until later in the year. Pupils taking A-levels and GCSEs are expected to take the full range of subjects. These exams will take place in summer 2021, but could be delayed until June rather than May. It comes after GCSE and A-Level exams were cancelled for summer 2020. Pupils who should have sat their exams this summer will get grades based on teacher assessment, mock data and prior attainment. But schools are also expected to put on a full series of GCSE and A-Level exams this autumn for pupils who wish to appeal against the grades they are given this summer. Other tests including the phonics screening check, year four times tables tests and year six SATs will take place next academic year as normal. What other changes will there be to school life? Because year groups are to be kept apart, assemblies and other large gatherings such as communal prayer will not take place. Start and finish times will be staggered, with pupils arriving and leaving at different times. Lunchtimes will also be staggered and outdoor play equipment cleaned more often. How will children get to school? Pupils are being told to avoid public transport where possible and walk or cycle. Schools could set up "walking buses", where a teacher accompanies a group of children walking to or from school. Where pupils do need to use public transport to get to school, local councils will be asked to prioritise taking them on buses. Will remote learning finish in September when all children return to school? No. Teachers have been told to make sure that remote learning is fully integrated into their lesson plans since it may need to be an "essential component" of children's learning if there is a local lockdown and a school is closed down. Schools must have contingency plans in place for remote learning by the end of September. Pupils who are self isolating or shielding will need to continue with remote learning. This was something genuinely new, and raw. Even jaded viewers tuning in to the network news on May 8, 1970, must have been shocked to see helmeted construction workers waving enormous American flags and chanting All the way, U.S.A. as they tore through an antiwar demonstration in Manhattans financial district all of it just days after four students had been shot dead by National Guardsmen during a peaceful protest at Kent State University in Ohio. Pummeling anyone in their way, the workers kicked and beat demonstrators, battering them with their hard hats. News cameras shakily recorded the workers as they stormed the steps of Federal Hall on Wall Street. One of the workers, upon reaching the top, delivered a vicious right hook to a demonstrator, dropping him to his knees, just below the statue of George Washington. As they jubilantly raised their flags over the crowd and burst into a chorus of God Bless America, the mass of workers seemed, from a distance, to have restaged the raising of the flag over Iwo Jima. It damn near put a lump in your throat, said Joe Kelly, an elevator builder who was working on the World Trade Center. Cliff Sloane, a student interviewed later that month by The New York Times, felt differently. If this is what the class struggle is all about, he said, theres something wrong somewhere. Today, the chaotic scene looks like a harbinger of current divisions, which have only become deeper with the recent public health crisis and economic tailspin. Authorities advise targets never to pay the extortionists because one payment invariably trigger demands for more cash, as was the experience for one lawyer interviewed by AARP. (See sidebar.) The payment of extortion money will facilitate continued criminal activity, including potential organized crime activity and associated violent crimes, the FBI's April alert says. Sextortion is an old scam surging now because of stay-at-home orders, says Amy Nofziger, who oversees AARP's Fraud Watch Network helpline, as more people than usual are tethered to their computers. The toll-free helpline number is 877-908-3360. Hiding behind digital currencies Many of the crooks demand payment in Bitcoin, an unregulated cryptocurrency favored by fraudsters, Nofziger says. The virtual currency provides a high degree of anonymity to the transactions, the FBI notes. The Fraud Watch Network helpline sometimes receives dozens of reports a day about online sextortion demands, says Nofziger, AARP's director of fraud victim support. Complaints from across U.S. The vicious nature of sextortion targeting older Americans is underscored by recent helpline calls: An 85-year-old man in Illinois said he'd been contacted by email five times with threats that the crooks would release video of him watching porn if he did not cough up $2,000 in Bitcoin. A 75-year-old woman in Delaware received an email threatening to send out compromising photos of her watching adult material until she paid in Bitcoin. An 80-year-old man in Massachusetts was told the crooks would expose compromising pictures of him unless he forked over $2,000 in Bitcoin. An 89-year-old woman in New Jersey received four emails, threatening to reveal her secrets, unless she paid with Bitcoin. The FBI's Internet Complaint Center's annual report for 2019 does not break down how many sextortion complaints were made but says 43,101 people reported being victimized by extortion in general, with overall losses of $107.5 million. According to the FBI, the bad actors add a higher degree of intimidation to sextortion scams by noting in the emails some personal information about the recipient, such as a user name or password. Usually, that's information obtained from a big corporate data breach, says Rosenblum, Oregon's attorney general. Don't panic Rosenblum urges people who receive sextortion emails not to panic, saying it is highly unlikely the cyber-blackmailer has actually invaded your computer." While scared, most targets are savvy enough to spot a scam and do not pay sextortionists, both she and Nofziger say. Still, victims are upset because the bad actors have one of their passwords, a partial password or an old password, Nofziger adds. Drupal is a free and open-source web content management framework used to create millions of websites. I'm in awe of how quickly the Drupal community rallied to raise funds for the Drupal Association. With this fundraising campaign behind us, the Drupal Association can refocus on key initiatives such as the Drupal 9 launch next month. The CDC, NIH and Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Bordersamong many othersdepend on the power of Drupal, the largest independent open source content management system, to keep their websites dynamic and secure. But the cancellation of the Drupal Associations annual keystone fundraising eventoriginally scheduled for May 2020put the nonprofits finances in jeopardy. COVID-19 has delivered a particularly hard economic hit to non-profits, and the Drupal Association (DA) is no exception, says Heather Rocker, executive director of the DA. When we made the decision to cancel DrupalCon North America 2020 for the safety of our attendees, the next question was how to recover those funds so we could continue operations for our community of millions around the world. Enter #DrupalCares, a global fundraiser conceived with the hopes of bridging the significant funding gap left as a result of the pandemic. While the campaign had a strong start, what really put the fundraising into overdrive was the #DrupalCares match challenge, a $100,000 matching grant for individual contributions funded by Drupal creator Dries Buytaert and his wife Vanessa. Then a coalition of Drupal businesses came together to match those contributions againbringing the potential impact up to $300,000. These contributions, together with the contributions from Drupal service providers and end-users, accelerated the campaign dramatically. As of today, May 11, 2020, #DrupalCares has raised $500,000, meeting its 60-day goal in just over 30 days. Nearly 150 businesses and organizations, along with over 2,000 individual donors and members, donated to reach the goal in record time. "I'm in awe of how quickly the Drupal community rallied to raise funds for the Drupal Association, said Dries Buytaert, founder of Drupal. With this fundraising campaign behind us, the Drupal Association can refocus on key initiatives such as the Drupal 9 launch next month. DrupalCon has been an important reason for Drupal's success, said Buytaert. Even though we'll be gathering virtually this summer, I'm very excited that DrupalCon will live on. I'd like to thank everyone who helped us reach our goalsthe Drupal community is stronger than ever." While the nonprofit Drupal Association was impacted by COVID-19, the Drupal ecosystem remains strong. As Buytaert wrote in March, open source software seems to be recession-proof. Open Source has grown to be more secure, more flexible, and more stable than ever before, said Buytaert. Today, the benefits of Open Source are even more compelling than during past recessions. Open source contribution also provides an excellent opportunity for individuals to expand their skillsor even re-skillduring this time of record unemployment. Drupal has demonstrated once again that the power of community and the open source model make projects like Drupal the best possible investment in uncertain times. In addition to the #DrupalCares campaign, the majority of original DrupalCon 2020 sponsors allowed the Association to retain their sponsorship dollars as the event prepares to shift to its first-ever virtual DrupalCon Global 2020. Like so many organizations, we had to pivot quickly on a major keystone event, but we also had to pivot quickly on a product launch, as we were planning to introduce Drupal 9, our first major software upgrade in almost five years, at DrupalCon, says Rocker. DrupalCon was originally scheduled to host approximately 3,000 attendees in May 2020 in Minneapolis, so we didnt have time for a wait and see approach. Im grateful to a solid, creative Association staff and the extended leadership of our Drupal community who are willing to do whatever it takes to make this event a success. Additionally, Drupal 9 is scheduled to launch on schedule in early June, which is a testament to how dedicated this community is to continuing to be trailblazerseven now, when a delay caused by these world events would have been no surprise, said Rocker. The #DrupalCares fundraising campaign remains active through May 31, 2020. To learn more about Drupal or make a donation, visit http://www.Drupal.org. About Drupal and the Drupal Association Drupal is the open source content management software behind millions of websites and applications, boasting a community of 46,000-plus developers and more than 1.3 million users on Drupal.org. The Drupal Association is the non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the Drupal software project, fostering the community, and supporting its growth. For more information contact Heather Rocker, heather@association.drupal.org Marriott CEO Arne Sorensen Says Most of the World Has Seen the Bottom Economies around the world are on life support, but Marriott executives see initial signs the worst from coronavirus may be in the rearview mirror. A quarter of Marriotts hotels around the world are temporarily closed due to depleted occupancy and limited revenue per room in the coronavirus era not justifying continued operations. The hotel giants worldwide revenue per room was down 90 percent in April. But the recovery already underway in China is expected to continue in other parts of the world, most likely arriving in Europe last. China does appear to be recovering and holding. I know there is lots of debate on if theres a resurgence of the virus in China, Marriott President and CEO Arne Sorenson said Monday on a first quarter earnings call. By and large, what we hear there is reassuring. Get the Latest on Coronavirus and the Travel Industry on Skifts Liveblog Coronavirus first impacted Marriotts China portfolio in January before ramping up elsewhere in March. Occupancy rates in China have gone from single-digit lows in February to just over 30 percent currently, Sorenson said. Marriott properties in Chinese resort markets saw close to 70 percent occupancy rates over the recent Labor Day holiday, the first major holiday in China since coronavirus-related travel restrictions have been lifted. A strong domestic traveler base should continue to fuel the recovery at Chinese properties, Sorenson said. About 16 percent of Marriotts North American portfolio is temporarily closed while more than 75 percent of the companys European hotels have suspended operations. But there are signs of the early stages of a rebound. The glimmer of good news is negative trends appear to have bottomed in most regions in the world, Sorenson said. Some properties in U.S. beach markets like Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Santa Barbara, California, were on track to hit 50 percent occupancy rates last weekend, as certain states relax restrictions and reopen beaches. U.S. occupancy rates have increased by about a percentage point a week in recent weeks, Sorenson said. While that is not enough to say there is a full recovery underway, he added it does show pent-up travel demand is out there. Story continues Sorenson, like most hotel executives and analysts, expects drive-to and leisure travel will bounce back first. That means recovery could come to some segments of Marriotts global portfolio before others. Europe, unlike China and the U.S., is more meaningfully dependent on long-haul travel, Sorenson said. Because of its dependence on air and long-haul travel, it will probably be the slowest to return to levels we enjoyed before Covid-19. Weathering a Historic Storm Marriott reported revenue per room, or RevPAR, was down nearly 23 percent in the first quarter. Outside North America, RevPAR dropped 30 percent while the metric was down nearly 20 percent in the companys North American portfolio. Marriotts first quarter profit was $31 million, down from $375 million reported in the first quarter of 2019. Given Aprils 90 percent global RevPAR decline, Marriott is almost certainly in store for an even more turbulent second quarter. The word of choice to describe what is happening around the world today is unprecedented, and the pandemic that has the world in its grip is certainly that, Sorenson said Friday at Marriotts annual shareholders meeting. For a company that is 92-years-old and has borne witness to the Great Depression, World War II, and many other economic and global crises, that is saying something. Marriott leadership stressed the company is still in strong financial shape to withstand a long-term downturn. Marriott has $4.3 billion in net liquidity, recently boosted through such moves as raising $920 million in amendments to co-branded credit card agreements with American Express and JPMorgan Chase & Co. We know the recovery could take a while, but we know we have the liquidity to get through this situation, Marriott Chief Financial Officer Leeny Oberg said. Coronavirus uncertainty makes it impossible for Marriott to issue a 2020 forecast, but the company still announced several long-term development initiatives and executive changes during Mondays call. Marriotts development pipeline is now 515,000 rooms, the first time in company history where the pipeline has eclipsed the half-million mark. Hotels slated to open in 2020 are likely to still open, but Sorenson noted there could be delays in the pipeline beyond projects currently under construction. Marriott is also continuing to make moves to its executive team. Bill Marriott, executive chairman and chairman of the board of Marriott International, will transition to chairman emeritus of the company in 2022, Sorenson announced. Marriott Group President of the Americas David Grissen is also expected to retire at the end of the first quarter in 2021. David Marriott, Bills son, is expected to join the board of directors in 2021. Feeding a Recovery Drive-to and leisure travel is likely to lead the recovery in travel demand, and Marriott is already underway developing region-specific strategies to capture market share. New cleaning standards will be front and center for guests checking into a Marriott property and leveraged as a competitive advantage. The company plans to encourage more technology to keep guests and staff members safe. Digital check-in will reduce interactions at a front desk, and housekeeping will likely occur more between stays rather than during, Sorenson said. The recovery is not going to happen uniformly across all regions, Sorenson said. We will operate a bit differently going forward. The company is also running a 20 percent discount on Marriott Bonvoy gift cards for the next week. Homes and Villas by Marriott International, the companys luxury short-term rental brand, will offer 10 percent discounts on bookings made on May 18 and 19. Industry analysts have questioned how helpful discounted gift cards can be for operators already struggling with revenue, but Sorenson acknowledged competition will be fierce in the early days of travel recovery. Were not going to push rates down by any means, he said. But there will be price competition as we try to get demand energized and coming back in the system. Investors and executives at bigger brands like Hyatt and Wyndham have all noted in the last week that growth opportunities will come from the downturn. While it is too early to pinpoint specific opportunities for Marriott, both Sorenson and Oberg said brand conversions will play a key role in growth in the next few years while new construction is likely delayed. If you look through cycles, in a weaker environment, conversions go up for us and go up for the stronger brands because not every hotel can perform as well in the weaker environment, Sorenson said. At the same time, its fair to say, while conversions step up in a weaker environment, new builds step down and probably at least as much as conversions step up. Subscribe to Skift newsletters for essential news about the business of travel. Four bombs, one placed under a garbage bin and the other three by the roadside, went off in northern Kabul on Monday, wounding four civilians, including a child, Afghan officials said. The roadside bombs were spaced within 10-20 meters (yards) of one another, said Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz. The wounded child is a 12-year-old girl, he said and added that the police are searching the area where the bombs struck. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings and their targets remained unknown. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in Kabul and its surroundings and both frequently target the military and civilians. Kabul has witnessed several low-scale attacks over the past seven days, including explosions from two hand grenades on Sunday night in the western part of Kabul. There were no casualties in that attack, according to Tariq Arian, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Last Thursday, a rocket targeted a power station and two roadside bombs went off in different areas of Kabul, also causing no casualties. No one has claimed responsibility for those attacks. Meanwhile, an exchange of prisoners between the Afghan government and the Taliban has continued under a deal signed in February between the US and the Taliban. The deal stipulates that the government free 5,000 Taliban prisoners while the insurgents are to release 1,000 captives, an exchange that is expected to lead to intra-Afghan negotiations. The exchange has come in stages and so far, and the government in Kabul says it has freed 1,000 Taliban prisoners. The insurgents have confirmed the release of 300 Taliban members. For their part, the Taliban say they have freed 225 of their captives, including Afghan defense and security personnel members a release not confirmed by the government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Melinda Gates openly condemned the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying that a lack of leadership at the national level has led to 'chaos' across the board. The billionaire philanthropist, who co-chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation along with her Microsoft co-founder husband, did not mince words when asked to weigh in on America's handling of the global health crisis in an interview with Today Show's Savannah Guthrie on Friday. 'I'm both surprised we werent better prepared, but quite honestly Im surprised weve wasted so much time. That we havent had leadership at the national level to get out tests in the right way, protective gear in the right way, contact tracing in the right way,' Gates said. 'With lack of leadership, there are 50 homegrown state solutions, and that just shouldn't be.' Melinda Gates was interviewed via Skype by Savannah Guthrie on NBC's Today on Thursday about the government's response to the coronavirus Gates, 55, cited Germany with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the helm as an example of a country that has been able to keep certain sectors of its economy 'safely' open thanks to its national leadership, which has been guided by science. 'That's the kind of leadership we should expect as citizens in this country, and we're not getting it,' Gates added. 'And so youre seeing whats happening. And its chaos.' When asked by Guthrie if she blames President Donald Trump, Gates replied: 'Im disappointed in what Ive been seeing, yes.' In a separate interview with Politico on Thursday, Gates awarded the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic a lackluster grade of 'D-minus,' citing its failure to coordinate efforts at the top. She argued that the government needs to invest more money in COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, as well as in vaccine development, in order to safely reopen the country. White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said in a statement to Politico that Trump had taken an 'unprecedented approach' to working with governors to deliver the states the critical supplies they need. Gates slammed President Donald Trump for lack of leadership, claiming that his government has been behind the ball on everything from testing to contract tracing 'The White House has been working with Governors and their teams since January on this whole-of-government response,' the spokesman told the news outlet. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which was launched 20 years ago to eradicate diseases like polio and malaria around the world, in February committed $300million to help find treatments and vaccines targeting COVID-19. Bill Gates, 64, formerly the richest man in the world, in a 2015 TED Talk warned about the need to prepare for global health crises. During the speaking engagement, Gates reflected on the 2014 Ebola outbreak and said global societies were not ready for a future epidemic, urging countries to prepare supplies and expertise. He said: 'In the movies its quite different. Theres a group of handsome epidemiologists ready to go, they move in, they save the day, but thats just pure Hollywood.' In her interview on NBC's Today last week, Melinda Gates said she believes the US is still in the beginning stages of the pandemic and urged caution. Bill Gates, 64, formerly the richest man in the world, in a 2015 TED Talk warned about the need to prepare for global health crises The Bill ansd Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $300million to develop treatments and vaccines targeting COVID-19 'To reopen, we need to do far more testing and tracing, and we need to be very careful and go very slowly as we reopen,' she explained. 'You should never be reopening in places where you go accelerating disease.' When asked about the ongoing search for a vaccine, Gates said the timeline she's been hearing from scientists is 12-18 months, but she added there are 'a few good candidates.' As of Monday afternoon, there have been more than 1.3million confirmed cases of COVID-19 nationwide and more than 80,000 deaths. As of Monday afternoon, there have been more than 1.3million confirmed cases of COVID-19 nationwide and more than 80,000 deaths In April, the Trump administration, which has been eager to jump-start the hobbled economy plagued by soaring unemployment numbers, announced the launch of Operation Warp Speed, which seeks to rapidly develop, produce and distribute 300 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by January 2021. Guthrie told Gates during the interview that she was recently told by Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has been leading the national response to the pandemic, that the timetable of the operation laid out by the government was feasible. When asked for her take on the plan, Gates sounded highly skeptical. 'Boy, that would be lucky to have hundreds of millions of doses by January,' she said. 'I'm not sure how likely that is. These things take time because we have to know that there are safe. So, I'm hopeful...would I say it's likely? I'd hesitate a bit on that one.' FREMONT, Calif. Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed on Twitter Monday that the company has restarted its California factory in violation of local government orders. In the afternoon tweet, Musk wrote that he would be on the assembly line and asked that he be arrested if authorities take anyone into custody. State law allows a fine of up to $1,000 a day or up to 90 days in jail for operating in violation of health orders. The plant in Fremont, which is south of San Francisco, had been closed since March 23 under orders to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Early Monday, the parking lot was nearly full at the massive plant, which employs 10,000 workers, and semis were driving off loaded with vehicles that may have been produced before the shutdown. The restart violates orders from the Alameda County Health Department, which has deemed the factory a nonessential business that cant open under restrictions intended to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2020 Alameda County Sheriff Sgt. Ray Kelly said Monday that any enforcement of the order would come from Fremont police. Geneva Bosques, Fremont police spokeswoman, said officers would take action at the direction of the county health officer. She referred further comment to the Health Department, where the AP left messages seeking comment. The Health Department said Saturday it was in talks with Tesla to reopen the plant safely. The restart came two days after Tesla sued the county health department seeking to overturn its order, and Musk threatened to move Teslas manufacturing operations and headquarters from the state. Tesla contends in the lawsuit that Alameda County cant be more restrictive than orders from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The lawsuit says the governors coronavirus restrictions refer to federal guidelines classifying vehicle manufacturing as essential businesses that are allowed to continue operating. Story continues Frankly, this is the final straw, Musk wrote in a now-deleted tweet. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. He wrote that whether the company keeps any manufacturing in Fremont depends on how Tesla is treated in the future. On Monday, Newsom professed not to know if Tesla had reopened. Not aware (of) the details of that," he said. I have great expectations that we can work through at the county levels, the governor said about conflicts involving the Fremont plant. He said county health directors are in charge of restrictions and the timing of any resumption of manufacturing. The Bay Area order currently calls for limited return of business and manufacturing, with health restrictions, starting May 18, the same day as Detroit automakers plan to restart assembly plants. We look forward to many, many decades of that relationship with Tesla, Newsom said. The governor has repeatedly said that counties can impose restrictions that are more stringent than state orders. Alameda County was among six San Francisco Bay Area counties that were the first in the nation to impose stay-at-home orders in mid-March. Early in the coronavirus crisis, Newsom praised Musk as the perfect example of the private sector assisting the state in the pandemic. His comments came after Musk pledged to provide more than 1,000 ventilators to California hospitals, a fact Newsom repeated often and called a heroic effort." But whether Musk made good on the promise remains in dispute. Several weeks after Newsom was touting the ventilators, the state said it hadnt heard of any being delivered. Musk responded, demanding on Twitter that Newsom correct the record and sharing tweets and screenshots from hospitals and Los Angeles County thanking him for sending supplies. Musk has been ranting about the stay-home order since the companys April 29 first-quarter earnings were released. He called the restrictions fascist and urged governments to stop taking peoples freedom. Public health experts say stay-home orders have reduced the number of new coronavirus cases nationwide. The coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. But it has killed nearly 80,000 people in the U.S., with the death toll rising. The Health Department said Saturday it looks forward to reaching agreement on a plan to reopen very soon," but noted that given the sacrifices made to protect public health, it is our collective responsibility to move through the phases of reopening and loosening the restrictions" in the safest way possible. Tesla says it has safety procedures to protect workers including increased cleaning, enforcement of social distancing, providing face coverings and gloves where needed, installing barriers between workers when necessary and worker temperature checks at some locations. Despite Musks threat, it would be costly and difficult to quickly shift production from Fremont to Texas or Nevada. The Fremont facility is Teslas only U.S. vehicle assembly plant, and the company would lose critical production if it shut down the plant to move equipment. Musk plans another U.S. factory to increase output, possibly in Texas, and could move production once that plant is up and running. The lack of production in Fremont is a big financial strain on the company. On a conference call last month, Musk called the closure of Fremont a serious risk. He's known for his sharp suits and even sharper mind as he grills students on hit TV quiz show University Challenge. But Jeremy Paxman celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday by opting for a more casual look during lockdown. The ex-Newsnight host, who terrified politicians with his probing questioning, sported a beard, shorts and trainers while walking his dog Derek in Notting Hill, west London. Jeremy Paxman celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday and sported a beard, shorts and trainers while walking his dog Derek in Notting Hill, west London Father-of-three Paxman, who split from his partner of 35 years in 2016, blamed the ageing process after suffering cracked ribs while walking Derek in a park last month. He said they came across an enormous puddle blocking the path. As I attempted to tiptoe around the edge I slipped and fell. I cracked a couple of ribs and very painful it was, too. It would not have happened 40 years ago or, if it had, I should have picked myself up in no time. But thats how it is...I found myself thinking **** happens. The U.S. Department of Justice building is seen in Washington, on July 22, 2019. (Alastair Pike/AFP/Getty Images) DOJ Considering Possible Hate Crime Charges in Arbery Slaying The Justice Department (DOJ) says its reviewing the evidence in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery to determine if federal hate crime charges are warranted in the Georgia case. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia have been supporting and will continue fully to support and participate in the state investigation, Kerri Kupec, the departments spokesperson, said in a statement. We are assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crimes charges are appropriate, she added. The department added that its considering Georgia Attorney General Chris Carrs request for a DOJ probe of the handling of Arberys case, and has asked the state to forward any relevant information. Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested on May 7 and charged with murder and aggravated assault in the fatal shooting of the 25-year-old Arbery as he jogged through his neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia, in February. Gregory McMichael (L) and his son Travis McMichael on May 7, 2020. (Glynn County Detention Center via AP) Ahmaud Arbery (L) poses with his mother, Wanda Cooper. (Courtesy of S. Lee Merritt) The arrests were made after video footage of the incident, captured by an unnamed witness in a vehicle near the scene, showed the father, a former county police officer, confronting Arbery. The video was circulated widely and sparked significant outrage on social media and public demands for investigations. The elder McMichael told officers previously that he and his son thought Arbery resembled a person they suspected was linked to recent burglary cases, and so chased after him. According to a police report filed Feb. 23, the pair were in possession of a shotgun and a .357 Magnum revolver, and tailed him in a white pickup truck as he ran. The 64-year-old also claimed his son was attacked violently by Arbery, which isnt evident in the footage. The video footage shows that at least three gunshots were fired. The DOJ statement comes after Carr called on the department to conduct an investigation into how the Arbery case was handled. The case had gone through the appointment of three prosecutors over the span of about two and a half months, without any arrests. Two of the prosecutors recused themselves from the case due to potential conflicts of interest. One of the prosectors had a previous work connection with Gregory McMichael, who worked as an investigator for that prosecutor. Meanwhile, another prosecutor recused himself after learning that his son had handled a prior prosecution of Arbery, Carr said. Carr said on May 11 that he had appointed Joyette Holmes, the Cobb County district attorney, to take over the case. Tom Durden, the district attorney for the Atlantic Judicial Circuit, was previously on the case. I appreciate District Attorney Tom Durdens involvement in the Ahmaud Arbery case, Carr said in a statement. This case has grown in size and magnitude since he accepted the appointment on April 13, 2020, and as an experienced District Attorney, Tom has recognized that another office is better suited from a resource perspective to now handle the case. As a result, he has requested our office to appoint another District Attorney. S. Lee Merritt, Benjamin Crump, and L. Chris Stewart, attorneys who are representing the Arbery family, welcomed Carrs request to the DOJ on May 10, saying that there are far too many questions about how this case was handled and why it took 74 days for two killers to be arrested and charged in Arberys death. Isabel Van Brugen and the Associated Press contributed to this report. This week, the major affirmative action case of the Trump era, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, is moving through the appeal process. In September 2019, a federal judge upheld Harvard Colleges admissions program against a challenge from Edward Blum, who also brought Abigail Fishers unsuccessful case against the University of Texas at Austin. Blum is the president of Students for Fair Admission, an organization with the mission to eliminate the use of race and ethnicity in college admissions. Advertisement In court filings, lawyers for SFFA argue that Harvards admissions program, which aims to treat race as one of several factors in a holistic review of applicants, is flawed and must be stopped permanentlyno matter that this may result in far fewer black, Latinx, and Native American students. Even if Harvards admissions process has flaws, though, that doesnt justify ending affirmative action altogether. Affirmative action doesnt need to be perfect in order to be valuable and worth preserving. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This insight is grounded in the field of transitional justice, which helps societies deal with traumatic histories. This field teaches us that measures implemented to address massive human rights abuses are often less than ideal; perfect solutions are not achievable when transitioning from a deeply flawed world of oppression. Such measures are still needed, however, because doing nothing about the legacies of past wrongs is often worse than doing something imperfect. Advertisement Advertisement As I show in my research, lessons from transitional justice have particular relevance for the United States, which is still reckoning with the legacies of slavery and segregation. In fact, some of these lessons are reflected in legal decisions about racial equality. The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that transitional practices aimed at integration may be imperfect. In its 1971 decision in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, the court openly acknowledged: The remedy for such segregation may be administratively awkward, inconvenient, and even bizarre in some situations and may impose burdens on some. However, all awkwardness and inconvenience cannot be avoided in the interim period when remedial adjustments are being made to eliminate the dual school systems, the court went on to say. In other words, any shortcomings of current affirmative action policies point to ways that we can improve future iterations to become more inclusive, not less. These shortcomings are better understood as the challenges of overcoming past segregative practices, not as grounds for rejecting present integrative measures. Advertisement Advertisement The decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard echoes this integrative reasoning. In last years ruling, District Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts concluded that Harvard does not discriminate against Asian Americans in its admissions process. She noted that Harvards admissions process would benefit from implicit bias trainings for admissions officers, further guidelines on the use of race in admissions decisions, and attention to significant race-related disparities in ratings. Advertisement Advertisement But an admissions process doesnt have to be perfect in order to be constitutional, and Harvards process had met the relevant legal standards. There is always the specter of perfection, but strict scrutiny does not require it, Burroughs wrote, adding that a few identified imperfections do not render Harvards admissions program illegal. Advertisement Advertisement Ultimately, retaining affirmative action, despite its imperfections, is necessary because it will help the United States transition to a society in which affirmative action is no longer needed. The rich diversity at Harvard and other colleges and universities and the benefits that flow from that diversity will foster the tolerance, acceptance and understanding, Burroughs wrote, that will ultimately make race conscious admissions obsolete. Harvard is due to file its appellate brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit on Thursday, with a response from SFFA to follow in early June. When that courtand ultimately the Supreme Courtconsiders this issue, the focus should not be on whether affirmative action measures are as perfect as possible, which neither law nor justice requires. Instead, judges should recognize that some imperfections are the unavoidable consequence of transitioning from the entirely corrupt world of segregation. Since affirmative action has proved successful in diversifying American universities, courts should be wary of limiting affirmative action in ways that diminish its positive contributions. Instead of expecting affirmative action to be perfect, we should recalibrate our expectations about integrative solutions and make improvements where we can, not abandon the effective and legally sound solutions that are available to us. Affirmative action may place burdens on or breed resentments among nonbeneficiaries and still be worth pursuing. Ultimately, backsliding into greater inequality and segregation leaves us in a far more imperfect world. Governor Wike has given due consideration to the people of Rivers state and he has announced a two-day temporary lifting of the total lockdown on Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt Local Government Areas from Tuesday May 12 2020 to Wednesday May 13, 2020. The governor announced this in a statewide broadcast on Sunday night. According to Wike, the temporary lifting of the lockdown is for residents to restock foodstuffs and medicines to their homes. He said the lockdown will be reinstated on Thursday May 14. Consequently, we have given due consideration to the propositions on the way forward by well-meaning citizens of the State, and after a cautious review of the situation, decided to implement a partial relaxation of the lockdown measures, to enable residents to have some fresh air and replenish their foodstuffs and medicines. To this end, I hereby announce the temporary lifting of the total lockdown on Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt Local Governments Areas for two days only, with effect from Tuesday 12th May 2020. All shops, supermarkets, and malls can open to the public for Tuesday and Wednesday, 12 and 13 May 2020. Similarly, all hospitals and banks can also open and provide full services to the public. While oil and gas companies are required to submit the list of their staff on essential duties to Government, note that there is no ban on the lifting of petroleum products from depots and other receptacles. The total lockdown on Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt Local Government Areas will be reinstated on Thursday 14th May 2020 and remain until further notice. Compulsory wearing of face mask or scarfs in vehicles and public places; Closure of all land, sea and air borders and entry routes into the State; and Closure of all open markets, including slaughters, hotels, guest houses, cinemas, bars and restaurants; and Ban on gathering, including public burials, weddings, and religious gathering of more than 50 persons. Once again, thank you for your cooperation and understanding. Please note that our enemy is invisible. Stay at home, maintain social distancing, wash your hands regularly and stay safe he said The post Governor Nyesom Wike lifts lockdown in Rivers state temporarily appeared first on . Share this post with your Friends on Three top US public health officials at the forefront of the Trump administrations response to the Covid-19 outbreak went into self-quarantine Saturday for the next two weeks after low-risk exposure to the deadly virus through contacts with someone who has tested positive. Heads of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield and the Food and Drug Administration will be teleworking from home as a result, their spokespersons have told news publications. And Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infections Diseases told CNN he will be going in modified quarantine. All three are members of the White task force on the coronavirus outbreak. Fauci has said he will be working from home, will wear a mask and will go to office only when he will be sure to be the only one around at the time. Fauci, Hahn and Redfield are scheduled to testify before a committee of the US senate on Tuesday, but they will now not appear in person but through a video link. The source of their exposure was not identified. But Katie Miller, press secretary of Vice-President Mike Pence, tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, used to frequently attend the meeting of the task-force, which is headed by her boss. She is the second White House staffer to test positive, after a US navy personnel serving as a personal valet to the president. The White House has stepped up screening since and both the president and the vice-president are now tested every day. At least 11 members of the US Secret Service, which protects present and past presidents, have also tested positive and 60 are in self-quarantine for possible exposure, according to news reports. It was not clear if any of them had been posted at the White House at the time of their exposure. US fatalities went up by 1,615 over the past 24 hours to 78,794 Sunday morning and the number of confirmed and reported infections increased by 25,621 over the same period to 1.3 million. President Donald Trump has personally faced criticism for not following his administrations Covid-19 protocols to wear a mask in situations were social-distancing may be difficult. He met US military leaders at the White House on Saturday and did not wear a face covering, neither did any of the others. Questions have continued to be raised about President Trumps handling of the coronavirus outbreak, which has ranged from being dismissive initially to finger-pointing when the situation spiraled out of control to self-congratulatory even while fatalities and infections mounted. President Barack Obama joined in in a recent conference call with about 3,000 erstwhile members of his administration. It would have been bad even with the best of governments, he said, in a recording first reported by Yahoo News. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset of whats in it for me and to heck with everybody else when that mindset is operationalized in our government. Trump had not responded to the attack yet, but he has frequently sought to blame his administrations failures in the handling of the epidemic on Obama, saying he had left empty shelves of essential medical supplies such as masks, testing kits (despite the fact that this is a new virus), protective gear for healthcare workers and ventilators. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Manila (CNN Philippines Life) Our lives are all changing in ways that were unimaginable just a week ago, read the beginning of New York City mayor Bill de Blasios statement to the public, released on the evening of March 15. With the city marked as the epicenter for COVID-19 in the United States, de Blasio announced that he would be signing an Executive Order the next day, which would limit the operations of dining establishments to takeout and delivery services exclusively, effective March 17. To say that this declaration sent the citys food and beverage industry into a state of unrest is an understatement. Restaurants make up New York Citys DNA, and a change as big, and as drastic, as this meant immediately dismantling well-fueled supply chains. With a little more than a day to come up with a plan of action, establishments had to make the difficult decision of either remaining open and operating with no dine-in options, or shuttering their shops indefinitely (in some cases, permanently). One of the restaurants quick to react to this sudden change was Junzi Kitchen, a vegetable-forward fast casual Chinese restaurant (with four shops around the city, and one in Connecticut), whose kitchen is headed by Hong Kong-raised Lucas Sin. Their Instagram post, which came up on the eve of the city-wide closure, listed what could be expected from Junzi in the days to follow: family-sized meals, and a condensed menu to assure freshness and minimize food waste in the process. LJ Almendras, Junzis Filipino food designer whose work involves scaling the restaurants recipes to be top quality and cost-efficient across all shops shares that one of the things they wanted to address was how to stay connected, all while apart from each other. Making sure diners are nourished is top priority, of course, says Almendras, which is why they offered family- and solo-sized meals to begin with. But our support team also wanted to create something that could allow the Junzi experience to go beyond the store, and right into the homes of our diners. The second volume of Junzi Kitchen's Distance Dining featured Filipino-Chinese cuisine. In photo, chicken confit arroz caldo. Photo by JENN CHENG/JUNZI KITCHEN The Filipino-Chinese menu consisted of pancit palabok, chicken confit arroz caldo, and bilo-blio. Photo by JENN CHENG/JUNZI KITCHEN A little more than a week after implementing takeout-only orders, Junzi introduced the Distance Dining series: a once-a-week tasting menu whose themes changes on a weekly basis, designed to be assembled and eaten safely at home. Almendras shares a thought imparted by Sin to his team about this dining experience, "Just because theres a crisis, doesnt mean we cant be creative." Junzi refers to this as their crisis pop-up. When news of the COVID-19 virus broke, and the world got wind of its origins being at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, Chinese restaurants became the major target as far as the viruss initial impact on the food and beverage industry was concerned. An Eater article details that in the month of February in New York, Chinese restaurants share of daily restaurant connections things like phone calls, website clicks, delivery orders, and reviews dropped about 20 percent. There was, and still remains to be, a sinophobic paranoia that has surged over many individuals. Chinese restaurants have been suffering because of fears over the outbreak, from New York, to Manila, Australia, Canada, and beyond. This is something that Junzi isnt exempt from, having experienced this even before the start of New Yorks lockdown, albeit quietly, seen through the sudden change in their number of daily diners. In the creation of the Distance Dining series, Almendras shares that, as a restaurant, their assumed responsibility is to feed and provide a semblance of comfort. Diners can book a ticket on the Junzi website, meals arrive that Friday along with a printed menu, note from the team, and reheating instructions. To further the experience, Sin and his team take to Instagram Live in order to show plating instructions and talk a little bit more about the menu. The Filipino-Chinese menu was developed by chef Lucas Sin and Junzi Kitchen's food designer LJ Almendras, who is Filipino. Photo by JENN CHENG/JUNZI KITCHEN As a restaurant built on a cuisine with such rich heritage, which is now being threatened, there was also a sense of duty to educate their diners. The inaugural Distance Dining menu was entitled, Chinese Food Is Good For You. On Junzis Instagram post about it, Sin wrote that the meal is something that his dad would probably have put together: Healing Chicken Broth to soothe the lungs, a traditional Shanghainese meatball called the Red-Cooked Lions Head Meatball to tonify the stomach, and a Yam and Osmanthus dessert to calm the spirit. This would set the tone for the menus in the weeks to follow. We always go back to figuring out how we want Chinese food to be seen, says Almendras, of the three-person team that assembles these weekly tastings. At its most basic, cuisines can be classified based on their countries of origin. The Philippines has Filipino food, Italy has Italian food, China has Chinese food, and so on. But bigger curiosities allow for deeper extensions: though French in origin, haute cuisine refers to luxurious dishes with extravagant presentations; molecular gastronomy is a cuisine of science, with a technical backbone to understand the build and varied ways ingredients can be manipulated. Then there is crossroads cooking, which involves identifying particular aspects of general cuisines, and finding the traits they share with the cookery of other countries. Arguably, the impact that Chinese food innovations have had on other countries is second to none. This is what Junzis Distance Dining series reflects on: how Chinese cuisine has an undeniable influence over major culinary identities. The second volume a collaboration between Almendras and Sin puts Filipino-Chinese food in the spotlight, with their own versions of pancit, arroz caldo, and bilo-bilo. Chinese-Puerto Rican formed the third volume, Chinese-Japanese the next, and Chinese-Thai in the week after. As of writing this, a New American-Chinese menu is scheduled for the week. To commemorate Asian American Heritage month in the U.S. this May, a Chinese-Malaysian tasting menu is in the works. Think of each collaboration as a cross-cultural discussion, made edible. The third volume of Distance Dining featured Chinese-Puerto Rican cuisine: red braised empanadas, barb-b-q ribs and salchicha fried rice, and coconut budin. Photo by BYRON J. WU/JUNZI KITCHEN The Chinese-Puerto Rican menu was by chef Lucas Sin and culinary director Anthony Nichols ("the Puerto Rican guy") and was inspired by the Chinese restaurants in Puerto Rico, which began when Chinese people immigrated in the U.S. territory. Photo by YUCHEN YE/JUNZI KITCHEN On top of this, Junzi gives diners the chance to buy a meal for those at the frontline of their partner hospitals. Almost 4,000 rice bowls have been shared with healthcare workers, first responders, and hospital staff that are themselves getting through COVID-19. Restaurants remaining open during this turmoil, and finding solutions through city closures, is already commendable. It takes a certain kind of courage and creativity, however, to think up a way to not only stay open and create meals, but also to challenge misconceptions brought about by this pandemic. Its difficult to see what restaurant culture will be like beyond this time, especially since no one can say for sure how long this will go on. Even in this time of COVID-19, food has a role to play. It is there for sustenance but it can also dispel fears, create normalcy, and bring people together. It still can very much be a social endeavor, in a time where social distancing is becoming the standard. The "days since an armed protest at a state capitol" sign has been reset to "zero" again. On Thursday morning, House Republicans launched a 15-person China Task Force to develop legislative responses to the "China challenge." A few hours later, the Trump campaign released an ad accusing Joe Biden of "protecting China's feelings" by opposing elements of a January travel restriction on Chinese nationals. By Friday, Texas Republicans were condemning the city of San Antonio after its city council unanimously voted to condemn the terms "Chinese virus" and "Kung Fu virus." "They want to send the authorities after you if you utter the phrase 'Chinese virus,'" freshman Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said in a video appeal to donors. "This, after last year they kicked Chick-fil-A out of the San Antonio airport." In short: The on-again, off-again Republican focus on China is on again, after a false start earlier in the spring. Over the past few weeks, conservatives have begun to blame China for the coronavirus pandemic. "We should be focused on . . . holding China accountable for what they did to hide the facts from us in the rest of the world, and also to address the problems with supply chain," House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican and China Task force member, told The Washington Post's Josh Rogin. "China's in control of so many things that are vital to us, like PPE, and even our generic drugs." To that end, Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican freshman from Missouri, has introduced resolutions in favor of pulling America out of the World Trade Organization, allowing Americans to seek "justice" from China through lawsuits and launching an international investigation that could force China to pay reparations "to all affected nations for the harm caused by its decision to hide the emergence and spread of covid-19." Only the last resolution has any co-sponsors. All four are Republicans. Democrats, while not disputing any of the criticism of China, generally view Republican messaging as an attempt to replace an invisible enemy with a visible one - and then, in turn, link it to Biden. In response, Democrats have talked about China as a Trumpian distraction, arguing both that President Donald Trump has not been tough on the country, and that he is deflecting responsibility. Wisconsin Democrats, for example, said this week that Trump had not "taken the coronavirus seriously from the outset," instead "playing it down and kowtowing to China." Biden's first tangle with Trump over China set the tone. In mid-April, the campaign responded to the first Trump ad on China with its own digital spot, mining a trove of positive comments Trump had made about China's president Xi Jinping to suggest that Trump had been hoodwinked by "the Chinese." The campaign took heat from Asian American groups that had been tracking racist sentiment and attacks; Biden's campaign brushed off the criticism, though took note of it, and is expected to make any future anti-China messaging more specific. Since then, the issue has gained new strength, with conservative media and local activists often taking the lead. The Job Creators Network, a pro-Republican group that had spent the Democratic primary attacking "socialism," bought digital ads that capitalized on anti-China sentiment. "China, NOT small businesses, MUST pay for their dishonesty amid the covid-19 crisis," the ad reads, while images of shuttered storefronts flashed across the screen. That was relatively mild. Rush Limbaugh, who was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the president in February, said weeks later that the virus was a "ChiCom laboratory experiment" being used to hurt Trump politically. Glenn Beck endorsed the White House's threat to cut off America's payments to the World Health Organization, and described the organization "as nothing more than a Chinese Communist front." The One America News Network, which is frequently promoted by the president, has told viewers that a "globalist conspiracy" could well be underway to enact the goals of left-wing philanthropists and enact population controls. Republican candidates have generally not gone quite so far, sticking to two main points: that Biden did nothing to stop China's rise, and that Democrats are too stymied by political correctness to do anything about China. In a debate ahead of the May 12 special election in Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District, Republican nominee Tom Tiffany argued that Trump "took the most important action almost immediately, back on Jan. 31," referring to the travel restrictions, and "he was criticized for that." Lauren Witzke, a long-shot Republican challenger to Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, has accused Biden and his party of failing to respond effectively to China. "Biden and Coons are the perfect examples of Democrat politicians who pretend to care about the American worker, but are totally owned and bought and paid for by China, and you can count on that," Witzke told Breitbart News. "Joe Biden, as far back as 2001, was outsourcing American manufacturing jobs to China." On the trade issue alone, Biden offers Trump some of the openings he used against Hillary Clinton four years ago. Like Clinton, and like the presidents who preceded Trump, Biden has mixed the occasional attack on China's currency manipulation or abuse of trade rules with praise for the country's economic growth. On the primary trail, Biden would often talk about the hours he spent with Xi, mingling his confidence that America could coexist with a growing China with confidence that the Communist country would never catch up. The first part of that sentiment has appeared in campaign ads; the second has not. The story in San Antonio, which had no connection to Biden, pointed to another angle that Republicans could use against Democrats. Roy, of San Antonio, was joined by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in condemning the council's decision, and linking it to a 2019 decision not to include Chick-fil-A in new airport restaurant negotiations. (The city council had cited a "legacy of anti-LGBT behavior.") "They want to send in the authorities if you dare utter the phrase 'Chinese virus,' " Roy said in a video to supporters. The resolution did not empower law enforcement to go after anyone who used that phrase. Embassy of Ukraine in Mexico takes measures to search for relatives of the deceased citizen Panamax Alexander Open source In Mexico, Ukrainian sailor was found dead at the Panamax Alexander cargo ship, an investigation is underway. The Director of the Consular Services Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Serhiy Pohoreltsev said this, as Ukrinform reports. "Mexico. 05/10/2020, the Ukrainian Embassy in Mexico received a message about the disappearance of a citizen of Ukraine, a crew member of the vessel Panamax Alexander (Cyprus's flag, IMO 9233492). The captain initiated a search for a crew member at the place of a possible fall into the sea and the incident was reported to the port administration of Masatlan. The funds of the Mexican Navy were attracted to the search work, and the body of Ukrainian sailor was found by local fishermen," Pohoreltsev stated. He said that a criminal case was opened on this fact, and the Mexican law enforcement authorities are conducting an investigation. The Embassy of Ukraine in Mexico is taking measures to search for relatives of the deceased citizen of Ukraine. The case is under the control of the Department of Consular Services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Ukraine in Mexico. As we reported before, pirates attacked the ship Rio Mitong and reportedly abducted a Ukrainian sailor off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. The Asia-Pacific shares are trading higher early Monday as investors choose to focus on the future instead of the past. In this case, the positive outlook for the future is being fueled by optimism as more countries restart their economies. Additionally, like Wall Street on Friday, Asian investors are ignoring the worst U.S. employment data since World War II. At 02:56 GMT, Japans Nikkei 225 Index is trading 20466.58, up 287.49 or +1.42%. Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index is at 24685.11, up 454.94 or +1.88% and South Koreas KOSPI Index is trading 1948.95, up 3.13 or +0.16%. Chinas Shanghai Index is trading 2904.23, up 8.88 or +0.31% and Australias S&P/ASX 200 Index is at 5455.60, up 64.50 or +1.20%. Hong Kong Bounces Back A week after posting its worst day in 6-weeks, Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index is bouncing back on Monday. Last weeks selling was fueled by the release of the citys economic growth data report that showed its biggest-ever quarterly economic contraction. First-quarter GDP dropped 8.9% compared with the same period a year earlier. Mondays surge is being fueled by carryover buying from Friday that was fueled by Beijing further opening its financial markets to foreign investors and as talks between U.S. and Chinese trade officials lifted sentiment. Global Easing of Coronavirus Lockdowns and Restrictions Main Driver of Strength Asian Traders are not only focusing on the region, but also on the global response to the virus. Investors continue to watch for developments on the coronavirus front amid hopes of global economies reopening as social distancing measures are eased. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined over the weekend a conditional plan to slowly reopen society and the economy. Disney is also set to reopen its Disneyland theme park in Shanghai on Monday. Gains May Be Limited by New Virus Infection Headwinds Despite the early strength on Monday, the markets still face headwinds which may limit gains. South Korea warned on Sunday of a potential second wave of cases, according to Reuters. That came days after the country, praised for its rapid response to stem the spread of an initial outbreak, eased restrictions. Infections rebounded to a one-month high. Story continues Meanwhile in China, the National Health Commission (NHC) reported 17 new cases, of which 10 were locally transmitted infections and seven were imported, or attributed to travelers from overseas. New Infections also accelerated in Germany. Japan Plans Second Package to Combat Economic Impact Japans Nikkei 225 Index jumped early Monday after Reuters reported, citing the Nikkei newspaper, the country is set to launch a second budget to help the country tide over the economic fallout from the pandemic New measures will include aid for companies struggling to pay rent, and more subsidies for those hit by slowing sales, according to the report. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: These are the first pictures to emerge of a church warden, 88, who was stabbed to death by a rampaging knifewoman while shopping in a Co-op. John Rees, 88, left his wife Eunice, 87, in their Honda car while he queued up at a convenience store in Pen-y-Graig, south Wales on May 5 for their weekly shop. But he died after a woman 'went mad' and stabbed him in the throat - also injuring three others during her rampage including NHS nurse Lisa Way, 53, who was on a shopping trip between shifts. John Rees, 88, left his wife Eunice, 87, (both pictured) in their Honda car while he queued up at a convenience store in Pen-y-Graig, south Wales on May 5 for their weekly shop. 88-year-old church warden John Rees (right) was stabbed to death on shopping trip to a supermarket. His family say grandfather John Rees 'would do anything for anyone' - and was going to help the other victims of the stabbing attack when he died Zara Radcliffe, 29, from Penygraig, South Wales who has been charged with the murder of John Rees, 88 at the Co-op store in the village of Penygraig Zara Radcliffe, 29, was charged with the murder of John Rees. She is also accused of attempted murder of nurse Lisa Way, shopper Andrew Price, 58, and fellow nurse Gaynor Saurin, 65, at the store. Ms Radcliffe faced court on Thursday, when Cardiff magistrates heard she was unable to make a bail application so she was remanded in custody and the case was adjourned. Today she appeared via videolink at Cardiff Crown Court, which was told the preliminary cause of death for Mr Rees was severe blunt force trauma. People were socially-distancing in the queue outside when the incident happened today Eunice Reese, 87, pictured left, was waiting in the car as husband John was stabbed to death, while Andrew Price, pictured right. was rushed to hospital after suffering injuries Nurse Lisa Way, 53, was stabbed as she was shopping in the village after completing her shift at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in nearby Llantrisant Michael Jones QC, for the prosecution, said a trial date had been set for October 19 at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court. Ms Radcliffe, who appeared via video link from HM Eastwood Park Prison in Gloucestershire, was represented by Alexander Greenwood. Judge Paul Thomas QC said she will remain in custody until then. Ms Radcliffe is mother to a young son and had recently been released from treatment at a psychiatric unit. A romantic relationship with a man had ended last weekend - and family say Radcliffe had made a complaint to police about it. She complained that police 'weren't taking her seriously' about an alleged assault against her. Church warden Mr Rees was described as 'the very definition of a good man, extremely respected and liked in the community' by his family. His wife Eunice, 87, was left in their car for 15 minutes until police found her. She has dementia and keeps asking: 'Where's John?' Flowers were left at the scene today, pictured, as tributes continued to flood in for Mr Rees His family say Mr Rees 'would do anything for anyone' - and was going to help the other victims of the stabbing attack when he died. Nephew Michael Smith paid tribute to his uncle, saying he reacted with 'absolute disbelief' when he heard how he was killed on the shopping trip. He said: 'It's incredibly upsetting. You feel sorry for the person impacted, but you have no comprehension about the knock on for the family.' A family friend said: 'He was known to everyone around here as Uncle John - he was that sort of man. He was very smart and always wore a shirt even though he was long retired. 'He was a church warden and never had a bad word to say about anyone. He was the perfect gentleman.' One note, pictured, read: 'RIP. Heartbreaking losing your life in such a horrific way. Can't stop thinking of your poor wife. Thoughts are with you and your family.' A note left with flowers left at the scene of the horrific attack said: 'Our hearts go out to John and his beloved wife Unis (sic). We are all heartbroken. 'He was such a lovely gentleman, kind and caring.' Another read: 'RIP. Heartbreaking losing your life in such a horrific way. Can't stop thinking of your poor wife. Thoughts are with you and your family.' Fruit seller George Price, 69, said how Mr Rees called at the stall on his regular daily walk to All Saints. He said: 'You wouldn't wish for a nicer man. He would go to the chapel every day. 'I met him when I was 12. He was a lovely man. It's a sin that this has happened to him. 'He would pass this stall and he would go to the shop for his newspaper. Everybody knew him. I have never known a nicer chap.' The couple had an actress daughter who died about two years ago and a son living in London. They have two grandchildren. Mr Rees retired decades ago from his senior job with the South Wales Electricity Board. The couple were enjoying retirement even though Eunice was severely affected by dementia. Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama has paid a glowing tribute to his mother and former Second Lady of Ghana, Her Excellency Hajia Ramatu Aliu Mahama, eulogizing her for nurturing and guiding him to become the kind of person he is today. The Son of late former Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama and aspiring parliamentary candidate for Yendi shared stunning pictures with his mother and wife, Nana Aisha Mahama on the occasion of Mothers Day celebration. According to him, the discipline instilled in him by his mother (Hajia Ramatu) has made him stronger and a better person coupled with the love and prayers. For a single mention on this auspicious day, I eulogize my MUM, Her Excellency, Hajia Ramatu Mahama for the nurturing, the guidance and counsel you have given me that makes me appreciate a good life, for the discipline you instilled in me which made me stronger and made me a better person and most of all for the love and prayers. Because of you, I am me. Happy Mothers Day, Mom! Read Full Tribute Below As today marks Mothers Day, a day set aside to honor mothers, motherhood and the influence of mothers, I celebrate all women across the world. For a single mention on this auspicious day, I eulogize my MUM, Her Excellency, Hajia Ramatu Mahama for the nurturing, the guidance and counsel you have given me that makes me appreciate a good life, for the discipline you instilled in me which made me stronger and made me a better person and most of all for the love and prayers. Because of you, I am me. Happy Mothers Day, Mom! To my lovely beautiful wife and mother of my kids, you have been amazingly phenomenal with your love, care and patience with my kids and me. And for my sisters, Hajia Salma Mahama and all my sisters, sisters like you are priceless. You have been a wonderful influence on me since I was born, and I know your own children feel the same way. All mothers are of honour today and everyday. We celebrate and extol you today. Thank you for making our houses homes to be. Wishing all mothers, my mother and all ladies who have played a motherly role in my life a healthy, prosperous and long life. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The following speech was delivered by Keith Jones, National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in Canada, to the 2020 International May Day Online Rally, held by the World Socialist Web Site and the International Committee of the Fourth International on May 2. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the brutal reality of capitalism and the irreconcilable antagonism between the capitalist drive for profit and the lives and livelihoods of working people. This is as true for Canada as for every other country. The manner and bearing of the Canadian ruling class current political leader and front-man, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, may be less brutish than that of the fascist-minded billionaire in the White House. But Canadian capitalisms response to the pandemic has been no less callous and calamitous. Outside of East Asia, Canada was the country hardest hit by the 20022003 SARs outbreak. Yet Canada was entirely unprepared for COVID-19that is, for a pandemic that was both foreseeable and foreseen, including in Canadian government documents dating back to at least 2006. The speech by Keith Jones begins at 2:21:34 in the video. For decades, Canadas health care system, like other essential public services, has been dying the death of a thousand cuts. Moreover, Canadas governments, fixated as they were on the health of the financial markets and pushing through new oil and gas pipelines over popular opposition, did nothing for some two months to mobilize resources to fight the pandemic. Only on March 10, just three days before large swathes of the country were ordered into lockdown, did the federal government even write to the provinces to enquire about their inventories of essential medical equipment and potential shortages. Yet virtually overnight, in mid-March, the Trudeau Liberal government and the Bank of Canada funneled $650 billion to the banks and big business to prop up the financial markets and guarantee the profits and investments of the rich and super-rich. Meanwhile, the 7 million workers who have now lost their jobsrepresenting more than a third of the countrys labour forceare being offered rations, through makeshift, temporary, emergency relief programs. These include programs such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, that are already running out of funds, and that the ruling elite is now moving to take away through a precipitous, premature return to work. With Trudeaus support, Quebecs rightwing populist Coalition Avenir Quebec government has announced a reopening of schools, daycares, shops, factories and building sites over the next three weeks, under conditions where even frontline medical workers are not being provided Personal Protective Equipment and there are no provisions for systematic mass-testing and contract-tracing. A risky betthat is how Quebecs Director of Public Health officer describes this criminal policy, even as he urges the population to embrace it and to embrace death, blithely declaring, I hope not too many people will die. Blurting out what government and business leaders across Canada are saying in private, Quebec Premier Francois Legault has proclaimed the need for herd immunity, and repeatedly touted the lie that those under sixty are not at serious risk from COVID-19all so that big business can quickly relaunch the extraction of profit from the working class. Quebec and its metropolis, Montreal, it need be emphasized, are the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, with more than half of the 55,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and just under 60 percent of the 3,200 deaths. There is massive and mounting working class opposition in Quebec and across Canada to the capitalist elites criminal back-to-work policy. We are being sent out to babysit, one Montreal teacher told the World Socialist Web Site, so that business can make profits on the backs of working people.... And we know that these big bosses, they wont catch anything in their ivory towers. This opposition finds expression only outside the pro-capitalist trade union apparatuses and the social-democratic NDP, and can only develop through a political and organizational break with them. The unions and NDP have responded to the pandemic and the ensuing economic collapse by strengthening their longstanding partnership with the federal Liberal government. As the pandemic erupted in early March, the Canadian Labour Congress formed what its president has dubbed a collaborative front with big business. Now the unions are working hand-in-glove with the employers to force a return-to-work, with the Quebec Federation of Labour lauding what it calls Legaults economic recovery plan. At the same time, Unifor, which was rattled by the work-stoppages of Canadian and US autoworkers protesting unsafe working conditions in early March, is now conspiring with the Detroit Three automakers to corral workers back into the plants. The unions and NDP and, for that matter, Quebec Solidiare, the sister pseudo-left party of Greeces Syriza, are entirely silent on the Canadian states looting of the Treasury on behalf of the financial and corporate elitesilent because they are an integral part of Canadian capitalism and feed on its crumbs. Similarly, these organizations seek to pull wool over the eyes of working people about Canadian imperialisms ever deeper integration into Washingtons military-strategic offensives against nuclear-armed China and Russia, in the oil-rich Middle East, and in Latin America and the Caribbean, where Canadian banks and mining companies have tens of billions in investments. The struggle to mobilize the working class as an independent political force, advancing its own solution to the manifest failure of capitalism, requires an unrelenting political struggle against the twin reactionary ideologies of Canadas ruling elite, Canadian and Quebec nationalism. For decades the unions and NDP, and their pseudo-left hangers-on, have promoted the lie that Canadian capitalism and its state are kinder and gentler than the rapacious dollar republic to the south. This has gone hand in hand with a systematic campaign to denigrate and deny the traditions of joint struggle between Canadian and US workers, from the Knights of Labour and IWW, to the sit-down strikes of the 1930s and the mass social struggles of the late 1960s and early 1970s. These traditions must be revived and leavened with a socialist internationalist perspective. To defeat Canadian imperialism, workers in Canada must coordinate their struggles with workers in the US, Mexico and around the world in a global offensive against capitalism. Working people cannot and will not accept the nightmare of 21st century capitalismmass immiseration, imperialist war, authoritarian rule, pandemics, and environmental destruction. The challenge is to imbue the growing rebellion of the international working class with an understanding that its logic lies in world socialist revolutionthe reorganization of society by and for the working class. This requires the building of a vanguard party of the working classthe International Committee of the Fourth Internationalto direct and prosecute this struggle. Illinois businesses can expect new guidance from the state laying out what to expect from Gov. J.B. Pritzkers five-phase plan to reopen the state, but there could be changes. With the governors plan to reopen Illinois, some businesses raised concerns because they dont have definitive timelines on when they can reopen and that breeds what businesses fear the most: Uncertainty. Kevin Lust of the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Lincoln Land Community College said he talks to a lot of businesses and one of the biggest challenges he hears in reaction to the governors five-phase plan has been uncertainty. Even though theres a plan that is in place for how the businesses, how the state can reopen, there are not specific timelines tied to that, Lust said. The plans various phases depend on a variety of metrics to be in place over the span of two weeks and other metrics over the span of 28 days. Lust said the broad outlines wont cut it in the business world. It doesnt work like that in the business world, Lust said. Suppliers have to be contacted with an actual date for delivery. They cant say we need this. Molly Jo Lamb, the deputy director of the Office of Health Protection at the Illinois Department of Public Health, said to expect more information soon from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. I think it was 30 guidance documents that are coming our way, she said. That is one challenge that weve had is keeping up with the guidance documents with the ever-changing and new release of information. She said the plan could evolve over time. Thats really important and thats noted in this plan that it can change, Lamb said. The metrics can change and what were doing by principles may change as we learn more. Critics of the plan have said its time for the state Legislature to convene to provide oversight and guidance to the governors plan. [May 11, 2020] CyberCube Launches First Cyber Analytics Product for Broker Market Cyber risk analytics specialist CyberCube has launched "Broking Manager" - a new software-as-a-service application designed specifically for insurance brokers. "Broking Manager" facilitates quick and efficient client insight for both generalist and cyber specialist brokers. The product is built to help brokers quantify, understand, and explain to their clients, the sources and financial impact of cyber risk exposure. This development recognizes that insurance advisors need to be able to educate prospects and clients while demonstrating an understanding of their needs and exposures. Brokers are expected to align clients' goals, budgets, and exposure to the appropriate limits and best-fit carrier policies. With cyber risk, this means understanding the types of scenarios that may cause financial loss and the costs that would drive losses. Knowing where a client can increase or cut back on premium dollars while still hitting their coverage goals is imperative to helping them optimize their budget. Broking Manager empowers brokers to instantly produce a cyber financial loss report on millions of companies, while providing rich information to help brokers articulate their clients' cyber exposure. It does so by leveraging advanced models that draw on data from a large number of sources including behind the firewall and perimeter scan data, historical incidents and losses, and firmographic data. The product offers a stream-lined approach to generating the financial exposure impact of client-specific security and business practices. Brokers can also leverage the product to educate clients on potential loss classes, recent cyber events, and benchmarking of cyber risks against peers. Oren Schetrit, CyberCube's Director of Product, said: "With Broking Managr we set out to tackle the most fundamental question facing brokers today; what coverages and limits do companies need? We've had considerable interest from the broking community internationally, so we felt the time was right to build and launch this product. "Brokers play a vital role in helping clients identify and manage risk. Our goal is to empower them to quantify and explain cyber risk exposure to a broad audience without becoming experts in information security. Broking Manager will promote informed conversations that will ultimately lead to better buying decisions." Ashwin Kashyap, Co-founder of CyberCube and Head of Product and Analytics, said: "Cyber insurance as a line of business is still in its early stages of growth and there is a clear need for a solution to help companies make informed decisions on what they need to buy. As trusted advisors to companies on their cyber insurance purchase, insurance brokers play a very important role in the ecosystem by connecting insurance buyers with carriers. CyberCube has built a solution to enable the growth of the cyber insurance market and support this important segment in the insurance value chain." Broking Manager is the third product in CyberCube's suite of applications, alongside Portfolio Manager and Account Manager. Portfolio Manager is used by insurers to stress tests portfolios of cyber risks against dozens of cyber-based scenarios. Account Manager is used during the underwriting process itself to provide underwriting teams with a detailed analysis of cyber risk. ENDS About CyberCube CyberCube delivers the world's leading cyber risk analytics for the insurance industry. With best-in-class data access and advanced multi-disciplinary analytics, the company's Software-as-a-Service platform helps insurance companies make better decisions when underwriting or advising on cyber risk and managing cyber risk aggregation. CyberCube's enterprise intelligence layer provides insights on millions of companies globally and includes modeling on thousands of points of technology failure. The CyberCube platform was established in 2015 within Symantec (News - Alert) and now operates as a standalone company exclusively focused on the insurance industry, with access to an unparalleled ecosystem of data partners and backing from ForgePoint Capital, HSCM Bermuda, MTech Capital and individuals from Stone Point Capital. For more information, please visit www.cybcube.com or email [email protected] View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005173/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] NORTHAMPTON After a national search, Valley Community Development has selected Jane Loechler as its new executive director. Loechler brings over 25 years of experience working within the community development and affordable housing field with both small and large nonprofits. We are thrilled to welcome Jane to Valley Community Development. She has a strong reputation in New England that grows from her remarkable record of helping community development organizations grow and thrive, said Peter Jessop, president of the organizations Board of Directors. She will begin the position on June 1. Previously Lechler served as the director of asset management at The Community Builders, a multi-regional affordable housing nonprofit based in Boston. She led a team from five regions and 15 states managing 11,000 units of affordable, multi-family housing. Valley Community Development is a nonprofit based in Northampton that helps undeserved communities with affordable housing, providing home ownership education, improving economic opportunities through small business technical assistance, and fostering community leadership. The organization has developed over 270 units of affordable rental or ownership housing, assisted over 8,400 homeowners, and over 2,100 small businesses in Western Massachusetts. Loechler will take over for Joanne Campbell who is retiring from her position at the end of June after over 20 years with the organization. Although we will greatly miss Joannes invaluable leadership and dedication to Valleys mission for so many years, were confident that Jane will help Valley move into its next level of growth and strengthen our work in community development," Jessop said. There is support, with this pandemic people are appreciating their closest surroundings and the people around them a lot more, Ms Tang said. Loading We live in the area, we are part of the community as a business and in our family life. They love us, and we really love them. The support goes both ways. But now, as Premier Mark McGowan outlined the new rules hospitality businesses have to abide by in order to allow customers to dine in once again from May 18, Linna and Fabio face another week of number crunching, stress and change. Theyll need to combine their new takeaway model with allowing dining for up to 19 people at a time about one third of their usual capacity - to satisfy physical distancing requirements. Logistically, it's a nightmare. I want to make it work, because its a close-knit community, we know a lot of the customers and theyre dying to come in, Ms Tang said. Our numbers would be just shy of 20 given our space. Staff is a big issue. We might need more staff for the same amount of business that we were doing prior to closure so we can juggle takeaways and dining in at the same time." While Linna and Fabio debated the merits of opening at such a reduced rate, owners of bigger venues warned the new rules would prove unworkable for most businesses, particularly the larger venues. West Australian restaurants, pubs and cafes can open with a 20 person limit. Credit:Leigh Henningham Crown Perth's restaurants would not be reopening in this phase, a Crown spokeswoman said. But she believed the Premier's announcement was a step in the right direction for the many smaller restaurants and cafes across the state. Three Pound Group general manager Tim McLernon, who runs The Camfield, Stables and The Reveley said the risk was that by opening with such heavy restrictions, venues might lose more money than they were now by staying closed. Opening large venues like The Camfield with 20 people only allowed doesn't make much business sense . It costs time and money to charge a business back up and those costs have to be worth the effort, he said. ARK Group general manager Adam Kapinkoff oversees Market Grounds, The Peach Pit, Scarborough Beach Bar, The Galway Hooker, Durty Nellys and Generous Squire. Small husband and wife operations in the suburbs, that are already doing takeaway, might benefit from this early stage openings. For almost everyone it will not be about making a profit by opening it will be a way of reducing the loss you are making every week. Monitoring the new 20-person limit would be like operating a completely new business to the ones that we are used to, he said. It would be a huge challenge. We will sit down over the next few days and go through the pros and cons of opening each of our different venues, he said. We will probably choose one venue to re-open and see how it goes for a few weeks before committing to opening the others. ARK Group general manager Adam Kapinkoff said small operations might turn a profit with JobKeeper support, but it would be difficult. Managing social distancing whilst still trying to create a warm, welcoming environment for guests with atmosphere is a balancing act, he said. The one per 4sqm rule is a difficult rule to manage and enforce for patrons, who are naturally sometimes closer than that. Ensuring all sanitation and hygiene measures are in place and adhered to by customers and staff will be important also. It would make more sense for larger venues to wait and open once rules were further relaxed. ARK would be opening the two venues where they were currently offering takeaway food - The Peach Pit and The Galway Hooker. Luckily, with multiple venues, we can place JobKeeper staff in operating venues to keep the relationship between employer and employee alive and progressively re-mobilise our group operations, he said. Like all hospitality operators and any business or employee affected by COVID-19, we are looking forward to the other side of this pandemic. Australian Venue Co chief executive Paul Waterson, whose venues include The Guildford Hotel, The Globe, The Aviary, Sweetwater and Wolf Lane said he was aiming to get as many venues open as possible so he could get his teams back to work. Thankfully JobKeeper supports us being able to do this, he said. Paul Waterson is chief executive of the Australian Venue Co, which runs several Perth venues. The 20-person restriction will make it difficult to make this a profitable exercise, but we think its important to get the doors open and as many team members as possible back to work as soon as we can. It was not financially viable to be opening most venues with a 20-person capacity, he said. By the time you factor in all of the fixed overheads including staff, the reality is you cant make any money, he said. Tripoli: A withering bombardment has shaken the Libyan capital Tripoli as the eastern-based forces of Khalifa Haftar fought overnight for new territory in the southern suburbs after losing ground recently around the city. Fighters of Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord fire at the forces of the led by Khalifa Haftar in southern Tripoli. Credit:Getty Images Adding to the misery of Tripoli residents, the main water supplier to north-west Libya said armed men in the south had stormed one of its facilities, reducing supply. Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) has been trying to capture Tripoli for 13 months, but Turkish military aid this year for the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) has helped it regain some ground. The LNA, backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia, last week announced a new air campaign, but most bombardment since then has been through artillery. By Express News Service BENGALURU: At a time when the number of Covid-19 cases is rising rapidly in the state, an event at Vidyaranyapura where Urban Development Minister Byrati Basavaraj distributed food packets to the needy came as a shocker on Monday. Social distancing was thrown to the winds at NTI Grounds where around 10,000 people, mainly migrant labourers, gathered to get food packets and many were seen pushing and shoving one another, despite the fear of the coronavirus spread. Needy people thronged the venue soon after the word reached them that food packets were being distributed by the minister and his team. Residents of nearby localities were shocked by the huge gathering despite lockdown being in force although with a degree of relaxation. Many took to Twitter to express their concern. Jagadish Raj, a resident of Vidyaranyapura, said, Thousands of people gathered there for the kits. There was no social distancing and no safety measures were taken. When I was passing by, I saw the crowds and was shocked. People were not even wearing masks. They were so close to each other... Ranjan, another local resident, said, It was a total mockery of guidelines at NTI Grounds. If one wants to help, one can go to the places where people stay and distribute (food kits) and not in this way by putting everyones life at risk. People gathered there for hours. By Tim Reid and Jarrett Renshaw May 7 (Reuters) - George Engelmann, a perennial swing voter in swing-state Wisconsin, says President Donald Trump has won his vote for November's election thanks to his response to the coronavirus pandemic. Engelmann, who voted twice for Democrat Barack Obama but switched his support to Republican Trump in 2016, believes the president is best suited to revive the virus-ravaged economy, not his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. He also trusts Trump to hold Beijing accountable for the novel coronavirus pandemic that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan. "I definitely want Trump fighting against China rather than Biden, by far," said Engelmann, 50, who works for a food distribution company in Racine County, Wisconsin. He was highlighting two major pillars of Trumps re-election messaging after the worst U.S. health and economic crises in generations forced his campaign to retool a message that had been built on economic prosperity under his presidency. Several Trump aides say their 2020 campaign will now be chiefly defined by two themes: Trump is the only candidate who can resurrect the economy and that Biden will not be as tough on China, a country Trump is blaming for the pandemic. It is a message resonating with Trump's base, according to interviews with more than 50 voters in three swing counties in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin - states Trump won in 2016 by less than a percentage point and that will decide whether he can win a second term. Trump officials say the new messaging, being sent to Republican state leaders across the country and pushed in new anti-Biden ads across swing states, reflects internal and external polling data that shows voters trust Trump more on the economy, and that Americans across party lines distrust China. "Voters know China was a bad actor on the virus. The president made clear to pinpoint China as the origin of the virus," said Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign's spokesman. "We're going to push this." Story continues TJ Ducklo, Bidens campaign spokesman, described Trumps response to the crisis as a disaster. He accused Trump of being duped by China earlier this year and pointed to the fact that Trump heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinpings handling of the outbreak during January and February. This election will be a referendum on Donald Trumps historic failures as president, Ducklo said. TOUGH CLIMATE FOR INCUMBENT The recalibrated strategy comes as Trump faces a more difficult re-election campaign amid an outbreak that has now infected more than 1.2 million in the United States and killed over 70,000 - the world's highest number of cases and deaths - and led to over 30 million filing for unemployment in the past six weeks. Such is the scale of the crisis that it makes re-election for an incumbent president tough, whatever his messaging, said Stu Rothenberg, a non-partisan political analyst. "Those themes could resonate with his base, but he needs to expand beyond that to win. He's got to change the opinion of swing voters," Rothenberg said. "In a few months, we are still going to be in a deep hole. And a lot of them don't like his style ... his divisiveness." Interviews with voters in Racine, Wisconsin; Northampton, Pennsylvania; and Macomb, Michigan, illustrate the challenge. Every Democratic voter, and even a few who reluctantly voted for Trump in 2016, said they had been further alienated by what they viewed as his botched handling of the pandemic, and his divisive rhetoric at a time of crisis. Some also see political risks from a Republican-led and Trump-endorsed push to reopen the economy despite warnings of a new spike in cases and deaths. Projections of U.S. coronavirus deaths jumped after several states such as Georgia and Florida opened up their economies. Lee Snover, head of the Republican Party in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, recently lost her father to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and could not be at his deathbed. She said Republicans needed to be careful about going too far in criticizing the economic shutdown and dismissing the health risks. "Yes, we need to reopen the economy, but we also need to recognize that the virus is real and poses a threat. SILVER LINING Historically, difficult economic conditions have often torpedoed the re-election hopes of sitting U.S. presidents, including Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H. W. Bush in 1992. But the Trump campaign sees a silver lining, as more states allow businesses to reopen and an increasing number of Americans want to get back to work. In the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Monday and Tuesday, 45% of Americans said Trump would be better at creating jobs, compared with 32% who thought Biden would be better at it. Trump's campaign aides also see rising anger with China over the coronavirus as an opening. Trump in recent weeks has ramped up his criticism of Beijing and threatened new tariffs on China, and officials said they were considering retaliatory measures against China over the outbreak. A Pew Research Center survey in late April showed two-thirds of Americans viewed China unfavorably now, up 20 points since the start of the Trump administration in January 2017. Starting next week, messaging on China will be sent to Republican state party officials, accusing China of costing American lives and that "Joe Biden is good for China but bad for America," one campaign aide said. Duane Miller, 82, a Northampton County resident who voted for Trump in 2016, said he was sickened by how both parties had politicized the coronavirus crisis. If I had to vote today and Ive been voting for decades I probably would not even vote. (Reporting by Tim Reid in Los Angeles and Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia; Additional reporting by Chris Kahn in New York; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Peter Cooney) Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian mining sector has been exempted from any lockdown measures, risking the health and lives of workers to ensure that multi-billion dollar profits continued to flow to the major companies. As early as March 25 this year, before measures to contain the virus had been implemented, the federal Liberal-National Coalition government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison met with the representatives of the major mining firms, including BHP and Rio Tinto, to ensure that the industry was declared essential, thereby avoiding any restrictions. The mining unions have played the central role in enforcing continued production. On April 1, the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and the mining and energy division of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union (CFMMEU) published a joint statement with mining employers group, the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA). The statement insisted that mining needs to keep operating because Australia needs the income and economic activity generated by our sector to fund initiatives for the benefit of all Australians. In reality, the mining companies have for years slashed working conditions to cut costs and increase profits and shareholder values. Safety across the sector has been continually undermined as part of a bid to ramp-up production levels resulting in fatalities and serious injuries in what is rated one of the countrys most dangerous industries. Last year, 24 miners were killed at work. Many of the incidents were described by safety agencies and experts as avoidable. The fatalities have continued into 2020 with four deaths to date. Four mine workers are fighting for their lives and a fifth is in a serious condition after a gas explosion last week at Anglo Americans Grosvenor Mine in Queenslands Isaac Region. Among the changes imposed by the mining companies that have had a direct impact on safety is the ever greater casualisation of the sector. This has resulted in the dismantling of experienced permanent workforces and their replacement by under-trained workers more vulnerable to accident and injury. As for the so-called funding initiatives for the benefit of all Australians claimed in the MCA-union statement, the mining companies have reacted violently to any suggestion that taxes on their massive profits be increased. Mining giants have also used a number of mechanisms, such as complicated swap-financing schemes, to either massively reduce their tax bill or avoid paying tax altogether. At the same time, the royalties paid by the mining giants to state governments, held up by the employers as testimony to their community spirit, are miniscule compared to the multi-billion dollar profits exacted from the exploitation of the resources that are handed over to them. Once these deposits are exhausted or their extraction is deemed no longer profitable, the sites are abandoned leaving environmental damage and devastated communities. This same callous indifference is revealed in the exposure of mining communities to potential infections because mining companies have been given exemptions from travel restrictions imposed by most states. Intrastate travel for mine workers to reach remote sites has been permitted. Mining companies have been able to organise special charter flights for their hundreds-strong fly-in fly-out workforces while other out of region workers have been allowed to travel by road. Local authorities in Central Queensland towns that are hosts to major coal mining operations, for example, became increasingly alarmed over the large numbers of remote workers that continued to cycle through camps and mine sites after a worker at the BHP-Mitsubishi Alliance Blackwater coal mine, about 200 kilometres west of Rockhampton, tested positive for Covid-19 in late March. In April, the local council in the Queensland region of Isaac, the site of 26 active coal mines employing 10,000 out-of-region workers, called on the state government to halt the movement of transient workers warning that the regional healthcare system was not equipped to deal with even a limited outbreak of the coronavirus. Isaac Regional Council Deputy Mayor Kelly Vea Vea told the media that while the state government had generally directed everybody to stay in your suburb, stay close to home and only move for essential needs its really been business as usual in terms of the mining industry. The unions have joined employers in playing down the potential dangers by claiming in the joint statement that strict measures to minimise the risk of workers being exposed to COVID-19 are in place. These assertions have been contradicted by the statements of mine workers themselves. One local GP in the mining town of Moranbah told reporters she had spoken to mine workers anxious that workplaces were not following social distancing recommendations. One had revealed that workers were put on crowded buses or packed into cars to reach the mine site. Its all fine them (the company) saying on paper, yes, were doing this, were putting on more buses; it doesnt matter if thats not following through to the mine, he said. The exemptions also apply to Ports Australia. They have been permitted to continue the free movement of export commodities and the import of key consumables for the mining sector. Rail and trucking industries that deliver commodities to ports and consumables to mine sites have also continued operations. At the same time, the mining companies, with the assistance of the unions, are utilising the COVID-19 crisis to restructure their operations and undermine working conditions. Many are seeking to impose onerous shift arrangements long rejected by mine workers that will see them spend even more time away from their homes and families. Major employers in the gold mining sector are introducing shift changes designed to increase production so they can cash in on the near record gold price that stands at $A1,600 an ounce. In late March, under the guise of limiting exposure during the pandemic, the countrys second-largest gold miner Northern Star Resources introduced a new work schedule of two weeks on and two weeks off even as the company admitted the changes would increase the danger of fatigue, a development that would clearly impact on safety, and produce mental health issues for workers. Following suit, gold miner Saracen Mineral Holdings, which has a 50 percent stake in the Fimiston Open Pit in Kalgoorlie alongside Northern Star Resources, implemented even longer rosters of three weeks on, three weeks off. Similar changes have been introduced by giant mining companies across the multi-billion dollar iron sector. Fortescue, the worlds fourth biggest iron ore miner, has changed rosters from two-weeks-on, one-week-off to four-weeks-on, two-weeks-off. While the mining companies claim that the roster arrangements are a temporary response to the pandemic, these and other changes long demanded by the mining companies will likely become a permanent feature across the sector. Thought international travel was kaput? Us too. But the land of plunge pools, whitewashed buildings and selfie sticks (among other things), is banking on us being wrong: Greece is set to re-open to tourists on July the 1st. This comes after the rare coronavirus success story (9 News) discussed introducing a health passport for tourists, along with a number of other tourism-dependant Mediterranean islands. Now the announcement has come, via Greek officials, that you could be sipping Ouzo and re-enacting your Zorba The Greek fantasies sooner than you thought. View this post on Instagram A post shared by tay (@taylorvkist) on May 9, 2020 at 12:57pm PDT By enforcing a strict and early lockdown, the country has managed to keep deaths incredibly low, around 150 to date, 9 News reports. Last week, Greek businesses like hairdressers and bookstores were allowed to re-open for the first time. Now, the countrys prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, thinks Greece may, cautiously, be able to welcome back some travellers back. When? Just in time for summer, of course. According to CNN Travel, the exact date is July the 1st, if all goes to plan. That said: The tourism experience may be slightly different, prime minister Mitsotakis told CNN Travel. Maybe no bars or no tight crowds, but you can still get a fantastic experience in Greece provided that the global epidemic is on a downward path. Of course, much like that late-night souvlaki could go straight to your thighs, opening Greeces borders is not without consequence: unshuttering the country could lead to further outbreaks. Mitsotakis, however, is optimistic testing regimes can be improved to reduce the risk of this occurring. Right now, every international traveller is screened for The Virus upon arrival. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Alia (@pupina) on May 9, 2020 at 12:09pm PDT According to CNN Travel, further precautions include travellers being asked to fill out forms with personal information and seat numbers, which would allow authorities to trace any inflection networks that might develop, should someone test positive. The test, when you get off the plane, at the moment, involves a throat swab, of which you get the results 12 hours later. Mitsotakis hopes, ultimately, for something much more thorough, though. Not just that: he wants Greece and Europe to lead the way in post-pandemic tourist-testing. Ideally, that would involve passengers being tested before they got on a plane: They can only get on the plane with a negative test, or with a positive antibody test, Mitsotakis told CNN Travel. If all goes to plan, he hopes the country can start welcoming tourists by July 1, (CNN Travel). Another interesting sprig of information is that Greece is banking on high end (Mitsotakis) tourists to get them through these Euro-starved times. This is both due to the current plight of low-cost airlines, and the type of holidaymakers that will be attracted to an island without dirty dancefloors and 10-bed-a-room backpackers. Mitsotakis flagged yachting and agrotourism (tourism in smaller hotels) as two activities that could work. After playing host to 33 million tourists in 2019 (three times its population) as well as becoming the number one spot for every up and coming influencer to be seen, Greece has more than doubled its number of visitors in 10 years. Now, at least one in four Greeks works in tourism or related industries, and before the pandemic hit 2020 forecasts had been booming. Naturally, Greece wants to get back on track as soon as possible. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Visit Magazine (@visit) on May 9, 2020 at 11:38am PDT To all you Responsible International Citizens; it would be rude not to help, right (once international travel is encouraged again)? Santorini awaits. Read Next By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Doha-Thiruvananthapuram flight, earlier scheduled to arrive on May 10 and which was subsequently cancelled, will now arrive by 12.40 am on Wednesday morning. The flight will carry 181 passenger, including 15 pregnant women. It was earlier scheduled to arrive by 10.45 pm on Sunday but was cancelled due to landing permission being declined according to the District administration. The Thiruvananthapuram airport is fully equipped to receive the passengers on Wednesday, with helpdesks set up along with thermal face detection camera. Quarantine centres are also ready. ALSO SEE | PPEs, masks, social distancing: How Kochi welcomed first batch of Vande Bharat expats More than one lakh NRIs from the state registered on the NORKA website to come back from different countries. In a related development, the Kerala High Court has recommended that if any expatriate expresses difficulty in paying flight charges, and their reasons are found to be genuine, the embassy and missions of the Government of India may take steps to transport them to India. Justice Shaji P Chaly and Justice MR Anitha issued the order on the batch of petitions seeking to evacuate the Keralites stranded abroad. The petitioners requested that a medical team should be sent to the Gulf countries to ensure adequate medical attention. ALSO SEE: This photo taken on Mar 26, 2020 by Columbia University researcher Manuela Buonanno shows an experiment being conducted on the use of a special kind of ultraviolet rays against the coronavirus. (Photo: AFP/Manuela Buonanno) Researchers at Columbia University have been working on such uses for years, and the current pandemic could confirm the value of their efforts. UVC lamps have long been used to kill bacteria, viruses and molds, notably in hospitals and in the food-processing industry. As the coronavirus pandemic knocks world economies on their heels, this technology is experiencing a boom. But UVC (for Ultraviolet-C) rays are dangerous, causing skin cancer and eye problems, and can be used only when no one is present. The New York subway system, following the example of Chinese subways, plans to use ultraviolet lamps to disinfect its trains, but only during nighttime closures. A team at Columbia's Center for Radiological Research is experimenting with so-called far-UVC, rays whose wavelength of 222 nanometres makes them safe for humans but still lethal to viruses, the center's director, David Brenner, told AFP. At those frequencies, he explained, the rays cannot penetrate the surface of the skin nor of the eye. That means they could be used in closed and crowded spaces where contamination risks run high, with potentially huge promise for use during the current pandemic. In late April, President Donald Trump offered confusing remarks about somehow projecting ultraviolet rays into people's bodies to kill the coronavirus. He appeared to be inspired by federal research on the effects of natural light on the virus - but natural light has no UVC rays. In 2013, the Columbia team began studying the effectiveness of far-UVC against drug-resistant bacteria. It next examined the rays' use against viruses, including the flu virus. Only recently did it turn its attention to the coronavirus. "We were thinking, how can we apply what we are doing to the current situation," Brenner said. But to test the impact of UVC on the extremely contagious coronavirus, the team had to move its equipment into a highly bio-secure laboratory at Columbia. Experiments carried out starting "three-four weeks ago," Brenner said, have already made clear that UVC rays destroy the virus on surfaces within minutes. The team next plans to test the lamps on viruses suspended in the air, as when an infected person coughs or sneezes. In parallel, tests are being conducted to confirm that these rays are harmless to humans. For 40 weeks now, the lab has exposed mice to far-UVC rays for "eight hours a day, five days a week, at intensities 20 times higher than we might think of using with humans." The results? After testing the rodents' eyes and skin, "we have found absolutely nothing; The mice are very happy - and very cute as well," Brenner said. The experiment is set to continue for 20 more weeks. The findings cannot be fully validated by the scientific community until all remaining steps have been taken, even if the team has already submitted its preliminary results to the journal Nature. "THE WORLD HAS CHANGED" But the pressure to reopen the world's economies has become so enormous that factories are accelerating their production of ultraviolet lamps without waiting. "We really need something in situations like offices, restaurants, airplanes, hospitals," Brenner said. If UVC lamps have already been in commercial use for two or three years - notably in the diamond industry, where they can be used to distinguish artificial from real gems - potential clients are now legion, say companies producing them. "We felt for a long time this is a great application for this technology," said John Yerger, the CEO of Eden Park Illumination, a small producer based in Champaign, Illinois. But with the pandemic, "the world has changed a lot in the last three months," he added. And the US Food and Drug Administration has relaxed its regulation of tools or agents that can be used for disinfection, encouraging manufacturers to find a solution. "There will be thousands and thousands of these things (UVC lamps) for sure," Yerger said. "The question is, will it be millions?" "What we are seeing is a tremendous amount of customer interest" to produce lamps for airlines, cruise ships, restaurants, movie theaters and schools, said Shinji Kameda, chief operations officer in the US for Ushio, a Japanese manufacturer. Production of its 222-nanometre lamps, sold for US$500 to US$800 and already used in some Japanese hospitals, will be stepped up in October, he said. In the meantime, Brenner said he has been losing sleep. "I spend nights thinking - if this far-UVC project had started one or two years earlier, maybe we could have prevented the COVID-19 crisis," he said. "Not completely, but maybe we could have prevented it being a pandemic." Northern Ireland's plan to emerge out of the lockdown will be a five-stage process, Executive Junior Minister Declan Kearney has revealed. Speaking at Monday's daily Covid-19 briefing, Sinn Fein's Mr Kearney said pathway to recovery will be unveiled on Tuesday. He said the five stages will be followed by a set of guiding principles: the "latest medical and scientific principles", the ability of our health service to cope and the wider societal impact. Fellow DUP Junior Minister, Gordon Lyons said the stakes remain too high for complacency to set in. "It will be a grave mistake to believe we have beaten Covid-19," he said. "We just don't owe to the NHS, we owe it too ourselves." He added: "Social distancing will be with us for a very long time." Mr Lyons revealed the lifting of the lockdown will be "gradual and phased". "After eight weeks of lockdown, I know many of us are desperate to get back to the life you had before the lockdown," he explained. Mr Kearney stressed in light of the Prime Minister Boris Johnson's change of message from "stay home" to "stay alert", the message coming from the Executive remains unchanged: "stay at home, save lives". "That's the message we want to see adhered to in our society," he said. He also pointed out that the other devolved regions: Scotland and Wales - along with Northern Ireland - had rejected the Prime Minster's new messaging. Mr Kearney also offered his condolences to the loved ones of a further three people who have died from Covid-19. Syracuse, N.Y. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon today said he is confident that Central New York will be among the regions to reopen May 15 after state officials review local coronavirus testing data. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at his news conference today that CNY fell short on testing numbers, the final remaining condition out of seven the region must meet before a restart. Cuomo said the region was nearly ready. But McMahon said he believes the state has old numbers on testing, because the states electronic databse lags behind the countys records by about three days. After state officials look at newer data this week, McMahon said, he is confident they will approve a restart Friday. "Were not concerned about meeting that threshhold whatsoever,'' McMahon said. "I can show that weve been doing the testing to merit the restart.'' Cuomo said three regions surrounding CNY the Mohawk Valley, the Finger Lakes and the Southern Tier had met the threshold to reopen May 15. Each region is required to test an average of 30 people per 1,000 per month. In the five counties of CNY, that comes to 775 people a day. Cuomos chart showed the region had 647 a day. McMahon said Onondaga County alone has conducted roughly 700 tests a day during the past week. Onondaga County, which has the bulk of the regions population, does most of the testing. McMahon said he also gave 1,000 test kits to Cayuga County and 500 to Cortland County to use during the coming week. He said he is confident that state officials will agree this week that CNY has met the threshold. "Collectively well be there, if were not there now,'' he said. McMahon advised business owners who are likely to qualify for reopening May 15 to watch for additional instructions on how to prepare in the coming days from state and local officials. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Another way coronavirus kills: blood clots. Central NY dad, 57, dies at home Cuomo says parts of NY are ready to reopen as May 15 coronavirus shutdown end nears Syracuse company develops coronavirus-killing drone for arenas and stadiums Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com The second Russian Graney class SSGN (nuclear-powered cruise missile sub), the Kazan, is undergoing sea trials and expected to enter service in late 2020. Russia plans to build nine Yasens and five of these are under construction. Once the Kazen was visible for fitting out and sea trials it was noted that it appeared quite different from the first Graney, the Severodvinsk. Kazen is nine meters (27 feet) shorter than the 139.2 meter (457 foot) Severodvinsk. The bow is a different shape (sharper) and there are eight torpedo tubes instead of ten. The size and shape of the propeller/rudder system have increased. About half the length reduction at the expense of crew quarters. That is not a major problem because the crew is smaller, at 64 men, than the Severodvinsk. The length and crew reduction was accomplished with the use of more automation and improved electronics that take up less space and require less maintenance. The revisions were not expensive to implement and were apparently planned before the Severodvinsk was completed. While the Severodvinsk cost $1.6 billion the Kazan cost half that and subsequent boats are expected to cost closer to $700 million each. The navy is confident that the changes in the Graney design will solve a lot more problems than they cause. Russia knew it had some serious problems with the Graneys as the lead boat ran into a seemingly endless series of problems. In mid-2014, after two decades of construction effort and nearly six months of acceptance trials, the Russian Navy finally put the Severodvinsk into service. This boat set some of the wrong kind of records on its way to the fleet. For one thing, the construction of the Severodvinsk began in 1993, based on a Cold War design and a lot of Cold War technology. Then there were the sea trials, which took two years during which the Severodvinsk was at sea 30 percent of the time (222 days) and submerged over a hundred times. There were at least five live firings of its cruise missiles. Sea trials are not supposed to go on for that long, but these SSGNs were special in so many ways. Putting the Severodvinsk into service was delayed twice in 2013. Early on the sea trials revealed that the nuclear reactor did not produce the required power and that the ability of the boat to remain quiet while underwater was not what it should be. An underpowered and noisy sub was not combat ready and the navy demanded that the builder make it all better before 2014. This proved hard to do because in the 1990s lack of work and money meant that most of the best people left the companies that produced the nuclear subs and their complex components. Those left behind have produced a growing list of embarrassing failures. Earlier, undisclosed problems with the first Graney postponed it from entering service for at least a year. These problems are not restricted to the Graney, as other new subs are also encountering numerous construction and design problems. In early 2011, the crew of the Severodvinsk took their boat to sea, or at least around the harbor, for the first time. Sea trials were to begin three months later but first, the sub took baby steps to ensure that everything worked. These harbor trials were seen as major progress. Things went downhill again after that, with a growing number of delays as more and more problems were encountered. The Kazan was different. Construction of the Kazan began in 2009 and was not completed until 2017. This was two years longer than expected and apparently the result of implementing the design changes. The third Graney did not begin construction until 2013 and it was launched in 2019. That was two years less than Kazan and the fourth Graney is expected to take the same amount of time and be launched in 2021. The fifth Graney began construction a year after the fourth boat and is expected to be launched at about the same time. The Russians appear pretty confident about the redesigned Graney, in part because once the Severodvinsk was in service it proved as quiet and capable as expected. The Americans admitted as much when they revealed that, during the first long range cruise of the Severodvinsk in 2018 the U.S. Navy had a very difficult time locating and tracking it. That was unusual for Russian subs, which had previously been noisy enough for U.S. submarine detection systems to keep track of. The Kazan will have its chance to prove it is as quiet and hard to track as the Severodvinsk in a year or so when it takes a long range cruise in waters patrolled by American ASW (Anti-submarine warfare) aircraft, surface ships, subs and other submarine detection systems. In the end, the Graney class boats were a major advance in Russian submarine technology. That was remarkable because Russian submarine building has been on life support since the Cold War ended in 1991. Many subs under construction at the end of the Cold War were canceled, and the few that avoided that spent a decade or more waiting for enough money to resume construction. The first Graney crew was put together in 2007 and then spent years training, and waiting. The crew got their new boat in 2013, but only after record delays and time spent in the shipyard getting tweaked. The 8,600 ton Graneys all have eight VLS (vertical launch system) tubes that can carry 32 Oniks anti-ship missiles or forty slower Kalibr (similar to the U.S. Tomahawk) missiles or the more capable Kn-101 cruise missile, as well as the torpedo tubes. The Onils missiles are designed as "carrier killers" because their final approach is at high speed and difficult to intercept. The torpedo tubes were originally supposed to be larger so they could use some new torpedo designs. Those designs did not work out as planned so the standard 533mm torpedo tubes were used with older but proven torpedo designs. The Graneys are highly automated, which is why there is a crew of 64 that is less than half the 134 needed to run the new U.S. Virginia class boats. The Graney design is based on the earlier Akula and Alfa class SSNs. Russia had originally planned to build 30 Graneys, but now nine seems the most optimistic goal. In an effort to deal with this Russia has gone ahead with a program for refurbishing Cold War era boats just to obtain a respectable number of subs in the future. Russia considers the Graney their answer to the American Virginia class. But the Virginias are a more recent design while the Graney is a late Cold War effort that had some tech upgrades in the two decades it took to build the first one. The first Virginia began construction in 1999 and entered service in 2004. So far 19 are in service, 11 are under construction and a total of 66 are to eventually enter service. [May 11, 2020] Internet of Things (IoT) in Energy Market Worth $35.2 Billion by 2025 - Exclusive Report by MarketsandMarkets CHICAGO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Internet of Things (IoT) in Energy Market by Solution (Asset Management, Data Management and Analytics, SCADA, Energy Management), Service, Platform, Application (Oil and Gas, Smart Grid, Coal Mining), and Region - Global Forecast to 2025", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Internet of Things (IoT) in Energy Market size is expected to grow from USD 20.2 billion in 2020 to USD 35.2 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.8% during the forecast period. Major factors expected to drive the growth of the IoT in Energy Market include IoT in energy boost business productivity, advantage of IoT-based agile systems, rising instances of cyberattacks, and enhancing the health and safety of employees Browse in-depth TOC on "Internet of Things (IoT) in Energy Market" 166 Tables 38 Figures 205 Pages Request for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=251659593 Based on solution, the asset management segment to account for the largest market size during the forecast period IoT-enabled asset management solutions are a combination of all processes, assets, workflows, and analytics into a single solution, which offer centrally consolidated tracking, monitoring, and analytics system for asset-intensive energy sector. Asset management solutions include the management of energy meters, predictive asset maintenance, and control operations of assets. In order to achieve the organizational strategic plan, the associated performance, risks, and expenditures over the lifecycle of assets are taken care of by asset management solutions. Asset management solution offers many advantages such as improved capacity and utilization, operational visibility and analysis, proactive solutions for asset failure situations, safety assurance, and management of all assets from a single platform, extension of asset's life, and improved return on assets. Based on application, the oil and gas segment to account for the largest market size in 2020 The oil and gas application segment is leading the IoT in Energy Market in 2020; the segment is the most capital-intensive industry. Companies operating in the areas of oil and gas exploration and refining require large capital to meet their day-to-day operational costs. Energy companies are continuously carrying out tehnological developments and process improvements to sustain in the market. The adoption of IoT solutions is expected to improve the operational efficiency of the oil and gas segment, thus helping companies operating in this industry to sustain the drop in oil prices. IoT solutions can be deployed for remote monitoring of oil rigs and maintaining pipeline integrity. Thus, the IoT solutions help detect potential accidents, thus averting them. IoT-enabled sensors and devices allow remote monitoring of operations and improved end-to-end processes in oil and gas facilities. Speak to Analyst: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalystNew.asp?id=251659593 Among regions, APAC to account for the highest market share during the forecast period The increasing adoption of smart grid architecture, technology upgrades, energy management, and regulatory mandates are major contributing factors for the growth of the IoT in energy market in this region. China, the region's largest economy is also its biggest importer. China is the region's largest producer, accounting for half of its oil. Its output of 3.8 million barrels per day was 6% lower than average for nearly a decade. APAC consumes 36% of the world's oil, a total of 36 million barrels per day. Increasing adoption of smart meter in countries, such as China, Japan, Australia, and South Korea has bolstered the growth of the IoT in Energy Market in the APAC region. The major IoT in Energy Market vendors IBM (US), Actility (France), ABB (Switzerland), SAP (Germany), Cisco Systems (US), Siemens (Germany), Intel (US), AGT International (Switzerland), Altair Engineering (US), Flutura (US), Davra Networks (US), Wind River (US), Schneider Electric (France), HCL Technologies (India), Aclara (US), Rockwell Automation (US), Bosch (Germany), smartGAS (Germany), Trimble (US), and Infosys (India). Browse Adjacent Markets: Digitalization and Internet of Things (IoT) Market Research Reports & Consulting Browse Related Reports: IoT in Utilities Market by Component (Platform, Solutions (Asset Monitoring and Management and CIS and Billing), Services), Application (Electricity Grid Management Water and Wastewater Management), Region - Global Forecast to 2024 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/iot-utility-market-116054824.html Smart Grid Market by Software (AMI, Grid Distribution, Grid Network, Grid Asset, Grid Security, Substation Automation, and Billing & CIS), Hardware (Smart Meter), Service (Consulting, Integration, and Support), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/smart-grid-market-208777577.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. 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Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/iot-energy-market.asp Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/iot-energy.asp Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 24 times, Trend reports referring to Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. The Armenian armed forces were using large-caliber machine guns. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts. The National Media Commission (NMC) has said it is not clothed with the law to ban any group of professionals or individuals from using the media in reaching out to the public. However, such professionals or individuals must follow the guidelines developed by the NMC on various subject areas, including religious broadcast. The Chairman of the NMC, Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said self-regulation and ethical values should guide media owners in the production of media content. Expatiating on the appearance of mallams and money doublers on the electronic media, he said the NMC could only engage media owners and not the mallams and money doublers. He explained that in Ghanas democratic dispensation and Constitution, the word ban was not in the language of the media. Information Ministers admonition Recently, the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, petitioned two state institutions, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the NMC, on the activities of money doublers on television and urged the institutions to take appropriate action. The minister, in a tweet, said: I have written to the BoG and the NMC to take note of the activities of money doublers on TV and act appropriately to tackle it. The Ghana cedi, which is produced under the authority of the BoG, cannot and ought not to be duplicated, he noted, adding: The BoG and the NMC have a responsibility to take a view on such acts on our television and act accordingly. Constitutional provision Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh, in the interview with the Daily Graphic, said Article 173 of the 1992 Constitution provided that the NMC shall not exercise any control or direction over the professional functions of a person engaged in the production of newspapers or other means of communication. In that context, he argued, until Parliament passed a specific law for the NMC to enforce, the commission would continue to engage media owners to abide by the various guidelines set by it to ensure decency on the media landscape. He further indicated that any attempt to stop such acts would not be successful, as the courts could overturn any directive or action geared towards that. GIBA Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh said the NMC could only appeal to members of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) to deny access to mallams, fetish priests and money doublers, so that they did not pollute the airwaves. According to him, in such a situation, the commission would also include some religious broadcasts, since some of the pastors or religious leaders indulged in worse acts than the money doublers. Unfortunately, he said, when the NMC attempted to transform its guidelines into regulations, GIBA took the commission to court. He said the Supreme Court ruled in favour of GIBA, thereby halting the NMCs efforts to instill discipline on electronic media platforms. Broadcasting Bill He appealed to Ghanaians to take keen interest in the Broadcasting Bill when it was laid before Parliament. He said it was only when the NMC was empowered by law to act on such matters as media content that it would be able to deal with abuses or ensure decency. So far, no law exists that empowers the NMC to enforce or regulate media content, he stressed. The commission doesnt have any legal backing to ban or regulate media content. What we do is mediate and call on the guilty party to render an apology, he said. Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh said the NMC could not take the law into its hands without any law backing it. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A T-Series spokesperson said that one employee, a caretaker of the building, had contracted the coronavirus. The office building of music label T-Series has been sealed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after one caretaker tested positive for COVID-19. According to T-Series spokesperson, there were caretakers who would work and stay at the office premises in Andheri, which is now sealed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. (Click here to Follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak) "Some of them are migrants who couldn't go back. There are rooms, kitchen and all facilities for them at the office building. But one of them got tested positive for COVID-19. "There are two-three people who are also getting tested, but their reports are pending. For safety reasons, the BMC has sealed the office. It was anyway shut for employees since 15 March," spokesperson told Press Trust of India. On Sunday, death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,109 in India, with cases climbing to 62,939. (Newser) Anne Sacoolas, wife of an American diplomat, will face arrest if she tries to leave the US again. Interpol has issued a wanted notice for the 42-year-old, who is charged with killing 19-year-old Harry Dunn in a car crash outside an American military base in England last year, reports Reuters. Sacoolas, who was allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road when she hit Dunn's motorcycle, fled the UK after claiming diplomatic immunity. Earlier this year, the US angered British authorities by refusing to extradite Sacoolas to face a charge of causing death by dangerous driving. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the move a "denial of justice." Dunn family spokesman Radd Seiger says police in Northamptonshire told him the Interpol Red Notice has been issued. story continues below Seiger says the Red Notice "renders her a fugitive on the run and it means that she would be arrested and returned to the UK the minute she attempts to set foot out of the USA." He says it also means that British authorities have concluded that Sacoolas, whose husband is an intelligence officer, did not have diplomatic immunity at the time of the crash. "I just want to urge Mrs. Sacoolas to come back to the UK and do the right thing," Harry's mother, Charlotte Charles, tells ITV. "Face justice and maybe then our two families can come together after the tragedy and build a bridge." (Harry's parents say President Trump made an inappropriate offer when they visited the White House in October.) Turkey reports 47 daily coronavirus deaths, 1,542 new cases Lets continue our struggle seriously, without loosening up. Our number of recovered patients will soon reach 100,000 people. Our number of deaths, our number of cases will gradually decrease. Isnt it worth a little bit more devotion? Fahrettin Koca. Turkey reported 47 daily deaths from COVID-19 and 1,542 new cases, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Sunday. The total number of active coronavirus cases in Turkey has dropped to 42,180, Koca said on Twitter. The number of recovered coronavirus patients in Turkey reached 92,691 on Sunday with 3,211 additions in the past 24 hours, Koca said. Over the past 24 hours, 36,187 tests for COVID-19 were performed across the country, he added. The total COVID-19 death toll in Turkey is now 3,786, while 138,657 cases have been confirmed. Sources: https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/turkey-reports-47-daily-coronavirus-deaths-1542-new-cases/news https://covid19.saglik.gov.tr/ Shopping Malls, hairdressers, barbers and beauty salons open for business Erasta AVM, barbers and hairdressers opened for business again this morning. Strict social distancing measures are in place to continue to curb the spread of the virus. The opening hours are 11:00 to 19:00. There is a queueing system at the entrance and thermal scans are carried out on everyone entering. Zen Kuafor is also open for business, with staff and customers wearing masks and hair stations meeting social distancing guidelines. Turkey Plans Half a Million Antibody Tests to Fight Outbreak Turkey plans to conduct over half a million coronavirus antibody tests to help monitor and contain the spread of the outbreak, according to an official familiar with the matter. The nations state-run statistics agency has randomly selected 150,000 households or about one in every 165 for the tests, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The one-month program begins in two weeks and will improve data on who has already been exposed, said Ates Kara, a member of Turkeys Science Board, which advises the government on coronavirus measures. Figuring out what percentage of the population may have been infected by the virus is critical in determining how soon governments can reopen their economies without causing a spike in cases. READ: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-08/turkey-plans-half-a-million-antibody-tests-to-fight-outbreak Ankara initiates phone diplomacy for tourism Whilst a normalization plan for tourism is being implemented in Turkey which includes virus-free certification for hotels and transfer companies, the country will carry out a phone diplomacy with around 70 countries to relaunch air traffic in a bid to bring tourists to Turkey starting from June. The Turkish Health Ministry is planning to establish COVID-19 test centers at tourist destination airports Istanbul, Sabiha Gokcen, Izmir, Dalaman, Bodrum, Antalya and Gazipasa, as well as at the border gates, said Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. All the people will be tested on arrival to the country starting from June. Read more here: https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ankara-initiates-phone-diplomacy-for-tourism-154640 Social distance is new normal The coronavirus outbreak is not over yet and preventive measures will continue to be taken in the second phase of the emergency response, said a top doctor in Turkey. Speaking about Turkeys steps to ease lockdown measures starting Monday, Dr. Selma Metintas, who is a a member of the countrys Coronavirus Science Council, said one has to maintain social distance. Everywhere we go, we have to continue observing social distance. Social distance is the new normal. Even though malls will reopen, we shouldnt allow dense crowds, and be in them. We need to wash hands frequently, that is also our new normal, Metintas said. Reiterating the importance of using face masks, the doctor said we can use cloth masks in our daily lives, but if we are going to a hospital, or will be in contact with someone with COVID-19, we should use medical masks. Carrying disinfectants, colognes, and refraining from touching our face should also be our daily routine from now on, she added. Read more here: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/health/social-distance-is-new-normal-turkish-doctor/1836876 Global statistics more than four million confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported around the world There are now 4,218,049 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, of which 1,506,663 have recovered. The number of fatalities stands at 284,748. Source: Worldometer. Follow Fethiye Times on social media for regular updates. Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Twitter Todays featured image: Erasta AVM open for business by Lyn Ward The shooting happened within the jurisdiction of the first prosecutor, Jackie Johnson, a district attorney who recused herself because the elder Mr. McMichael had worked for her as an investigator. The next prosecutor, George E. Barnhill, stepped aside because his son worked for Ms. Johnson, but not before he advised that the McMichaels were protected by the states citizens arrest and self-defense statutes and should not be held responsible for the killing. In his letter to the state attorney general asking to be recused, Mr. Barnhill said that his son had handled a previous felony probation revocation case involving Mr. Arbery, and that Gregory McMichael had also helped with a previous prosecution of Mr. Arbery. The third prosecutor, Tom Durden, received the case in mid-April and called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation last week. About two days later, the father and son were charged with murder and aggravated assault. Mr. Carr said the decision to name Ms. Holmes was rooted in her being the leader of one of Georgias largest prosecutors offices, enabling her to bring to bear a level of resources that Mr. Durden could not. Ms. Holmess office has 45 lawyers and an annual budget of $8.5 million, and it prosecuted more than 6,000 new felony cases in 2018. Mr. Durdens much smaller agency handles criminal cases for a cluster of rural and coastal counties. The case had grown in size and magnitude, Mr. Carr said on Monday, adding, as an experienced district attorney, Tom has recognized that another office is better suited from a resource perspective to now handle the case. S. Lee Merritt, a lawyer for Mr. Arberys family, said on Monday that he had explicitly asked Mr. Carrs office to appoint a different prosecutor preferably a black one, he said, given the strong racial overtones in this case. All three previous prosecutors are white. Mr. Merritt said he was concerned about Mr. Durdens ability to conduct an impartial investigation, and feared that he had been influenced by Mr. Barnhills legal analysis. The New York lawyer who is considered coronavirus 'patient zero' in the now hard-hit epicenter state says COVID-19 didn't even enter his mind when his health deterioated rapidly after developing a cough. Lawrence Garbuz, 50, spent three weeks in a coma in a New York City hospital after testing positive for coronavirus two months ago. He is the first known COVID-19 case in the state and sparked a cluster of infections in his New Rochelle neighborhood in Westchester County. Garbuz, who had been commuting between his home to his Manhattan law firm offices, told NBC's Today that he was healthy and had no pre-existing conditions when he fell ill. He still does not know how he contracted the deadly virus that has now resulted in In 335,000 infections and 21,400 deaths in New York state - the epicenter of the US outbreak. Garbuz said he thought he just had a cough and that coronavirus did not enter his mind at the time because he hadn't traveled overseas. 'I'm a lawyer. I sit at a desk all day,' Garbuz said. 'I think at the time we were sort of focusing on individuals who had maybe traveled internationally - something that I had not done.' He said 'there was no mention' of the virus 'at all' during an initial visit to the doctor. 'I just thought it was a cough. A winter cough and quite frankly, I'm not certain that any of the sort of medical staff had been thinking about that initially when they examined me,' Lawrence Garbuz (pictured with his wife, Adina), 50, said in a clip on NBC's Today show Did coronavirus even come up when you went to that first visit to the doctor? Not at all." Tomorrow on TODAY: @SavannahGuthries exclusive interview with COVID-19 survivor Lawrence Garbuz, the New Rochelle attorney who became known as Patient Zero. pic.twitter.com/lPteoiwqIU TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 10, 2020 'I just thought it was a cough. A winter cough and quite frankly, I'm not certain that any of the sort of medical staff had been thinking about that initially when they examined me,' he said. The Manhattan lawyer, who had not traveled to any country linked with the virus but had recently returned from Miami, first fell ill on February 28. His condition deteriorated rapidly and his neighbor in New Rochelle drove him to the New York Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville, New York, after he started having trouble breathing. Doctors initially assumed he had pneumonia and he was put in a regular room before being moved to intensive care as he condition continued to deteriorate. It took four days for him to be diagnosed with coronavirus on March 2 when he became the first case of community spread of the virus in New York. His wife Adina Garbuz made the decision to transfer Garbuz to the bigger New York Presbyterian Columbia Hospital in Manhattan for treatment. She insisted on him being intubated for the ambulance ride because she feared he wouldn't survive because of his breathing troubles. He slipped into a coma when he arrived at the hospital - a condition he remained in for the next three weeks. 'After we entered the emergency room, I have absolutely no recollection of anything that transpired... until I woke up from the coma,' Garbuz said. His wife also recalled their first conversation after Garbuz woke up from the coma, saying: 'He was just himself. The first words he said to me were, 'I love you'.' Garbuz is pictured with his wife and children. His wife, 20-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter all tested positive for coronavirus after he was hospitalized Garbuz (left) appeared in the interview with his wife, Adina (together, right), as he revealed that during his first visit to the doctor 'there was no mention' of the virus 'at all' Adina said they initially thought he had pneumonia but he kept getting 'worse and worse'. 'A healthy, vibrant person, all of a sudden overnight gets so sick so quickly. I know that at this point, we're not so surprised by that, but at that time it was shocking,' she said. Adina said that as soon as the diagnosis was confirmed, she spent the entire night on the phone to health department officials providing them with information on where they had been and who they had been in contact with. 'I didn't want anybody else to get sick,' she said. In New York state there are now 335,000 infections and 21,400 deaths. New York City accounts for 178,00 infections and 14,700 deaths. Before his diagnosis was confirmed, Garbuz had already come into contact with dozens of doctors and other patients. Health officials immediately started to retrace his steps and started testing those he had come into contact with. In addition to hospital staff, it emerged he had come into contact with members of his Temple Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue, employees and his law firm and friends. His immediate family, including his wife, 20-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter all tested positive. The neighbor who drove him to the hospital also contracted the disease. It then emerged that his friend's family-of-five, including three children, tested positive. Medical staff at the hospital, members of his law firm and attendees at the Temple Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue, of which Garbuz is a member, also became confirmed as cases. The outbreak prompted New York Gov Andrew Cuomo to set up a one-mile containment zone in the New Rochelle community where he lived. The National Guard was also brought in to assist with cleaning public spaces and to deliver food to homes where people are self-quarantined. At the end of March, Gov Cuomo revealed that Garbuz had been discharged from the hospital and was recovering at home. 'The 'patient zero' - what we call patient zero in Westchester, New Rochelle - who was very sick for a very long time, he has actually gone home,' Cuomo said at the time. A large electronic panel instructs motorist to keep vehicle windows closed as they cross into the COVID-19 testing facility located in the containment center of Glen Island Park in the Westchester County city of New Rochelle on March 13 I havent lived a bad life. I mean not bad bad. Never stole from anybody, beaten anyone up, raped anyone! Love my wife and kids. Have mostly paid my taxes. Had a few girls but thats just part of growing upright? God will let me into heavenwont He? He knows Ive lived a pretty good life. Around we go With another volunteer I was doing my rounds at a public hospital pushing a hospital auxiliary trolley from the gift shop selling newspapers and magazines, chocolates, chips and other confectionary to patients and visitors alike in all wards, raising money for the auxiliary to purchase medical equipment. In various ways it raises hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. The money is fully spent purchasing equipment for the different wards. Each year a hospital staff representative attends the auxiliarys annual general meeting with her wish list. On our trolley run John and I often joke lightheartedly with the patients selling them soft drinks and iced coffee, sometimes saying that if they dont finish their good healthy Coke before discharge and they have a blocked drain at home, just pour it down the sink andproblem solved. Such banter lightens their day which we could get away with amidst laughter without stepping over the line. The terrific nursing staff dont seem to mind that we sometimes lighten someones load for them. A recent purchase of a state-of-the-art humidy-crib cost tens of thousands of dollars. A very grateful specialist doctor stopped us in one of the wide corridors and warmly thanked us for what the auxiliary had done for his specialty, making it all worthwhile and about which we felt good. Danny I entered a two-bed ward with dividing curtains drawn asking if anyone wanted to purchase something from the shop-trolley - no, so I quickly left only to be called back by an old client I had not recognised. He was puffy probably because of his medication. We chatted briefly and his lady told me quietly that his PSA was around 250 when an acceptable reading was about 4-6 depending on ones personal doctor. Before departing his room Danny (not his real name - nhrn) cheerily said:- Im leaving for heaven soon. Ive lived a pretty good life. Tragically, such commonplace debits-and-credits thinking is irrelevant. Solely what matters to God is our response to Jesus brutal substitutionary death for us and His spectacular resurrection. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life. (John chapter 3 verse 16). Months later we were enjoying coffee at their small riverside village cafe. Quietly I enquired about Danny. He had died some months before. A memorial dinner Later, Jan and I attended a memorial dinner for Brian (nhrn). For many years with him and others we had learnt dancing. During that time I had never detected in him the slightest hint of Bible-believing spirituality. A very friendly 74 year old but Brians lengthy lifestyle with male friends had apparently had its way with him. Alex (nhrn) and his gracious elderly wife had also learnt dancing and she too was at the dinner. We had recently attended Alexs funeral he having died within days of Brian. In stark contrast to Brian however, Alex was undoubtedly one of Gods own. His widow was heard to say that Alex and Brian were now happily enjoying heaven together, a statement we had grave doubts about but it was not for us to speculate. What God says Sodom and Gomorrah gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversionthese dreamers pollute their own bodies and reject Gods authority, [being like] autumn trees without fruitGod will convict all the ungodly who follow their own evil desires. (Jude verses 4-16). He says that: by their actions they deny Him. (Titus chapter 1 verse 16). As actions speak louder than words its said that if we characterise people by their actions we will never be fooled by their words. John the Baptist witheringly rebuked the hypocritical religious leaders of his day for failing to: produce fruit [by speech and action] in keeping with repentance. (Matthew chapter 3 verse 8). Universal salvation? Tragically widespread is the abysmal ignorance displayed by Alexs widow. Does virtually everyone go to heaven except people like Hitler, Stalin and drug dealers like El Chapo from Columbia? Doesnt it matter that most people ignore God throughout life knowing zero about Him and most significantly, not knowing Him? Universal salvation is emphatically unbiblical. Even Satan knows God but only as an enemy and is not in heaven with Alex. Sadly Danny, Brian and Alexs widow did not know God. Shockingly, through self-imposed ignorance they did not know what they did not know, and did not know Who they did not know. Seek and find Jesus tells us we should: seek and you will find [Himself], knock and the door will be opened to you. (Matthew chapter 7 verse 7). About 2,800 years ago the same message was told by the prophet Jeremiah when he wrote that God says: You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you. (Jeremiah chapter 29 verses 13/14). Just as wilful ignorance of the law is no excuse in the courtroom so wilful ignorance of God is no excuse before Him either, and so it will be a: dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God in a state of complete unpreparedness (Hebrews chapter 10 verse 31). That only ushers in everlasting devastation. Avoid it at all cost. By Trend The European Investment Bank Group (EIB), the bank of the European Union, has prepared a comprehensive response to the coronavirus pandemic outside the EU that will provide up to 5.2 billion in the coming months, EIB told Trend. "This financing is part of the Team Europe response and supported by guarantees from the EU budget. It will both strengthen urgent health investment and accelerate long-standing support for private sector investment that reflects financing needs in more than 100 countries around the world, including the Central Asian and South Caucasus countries," the Bank said. EIB noted that the immediate fast-tracked support targets sustaining of jobs and livelihoods in sectors most threatened by the economic and social impact of the coronavirus, and will be followed by additional long-term health and business financing as needed. "This rapid response is being adapted to reflect the specific sector needs and new local challenges as the impact of the coronavirus continues to develop. The EIB will also provide technical assistance and share sector expertise to strengthen and enhance the impact of new investment." The EIB said it stands ready to accelerate about 1 billion of disbursements on existing approved loans to help the health sector in countries outside of the EU face the coronavirus pandemic, as well as to ensure that business activity can access immediate financing to counter cash flow and liquidity challenges. "In addition, reinforced support for the health sector will benefit from the EIBs unique technical experience and financial expertise gained from more than 30 billion of hospital, healthcare and health innovation investment across Europe and around the world in recent years." The EIB works with public sector partners to increase concessional financing available for both health and business investment. This includes support for public services including health, regional trade and highly vulnerable sectors such as tourism and hospitality. Fast-track financing is being available for countries where the EIB already operates, as is the case in the Central Asian and South Caucasus countries. The initiative has been designed so that EIB financing can be supported by additional backing from international and European development finance partners. India reportedly cancelled all international flights on March 22 and then three days later, a national lockdown was imposed which, until further reports are received, is scheduled to end on May 17. This left some people stranded at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and one of them is a German man by the name of Edgard Ziebat. According to a Hindustan Times report, the 40-year-old German national was on his way to Istanbul from Hanoi on March 18 when his flight was cancelled due to the Covid-19 crisis. What makes his case different than the other stranded passengers at the airport is that Ziebat has a criminal record in his home country and the government has refused to take custody of him since he is in foreign land. The report further adds that India did not give him a visa due to the same reason. IGI In conversation with a couple of officers, the report suggests that Ziebat landed in New Delhi from Vietnam in a VietJet flight as a transit passenger only to find out that his destination flight has been cancelled. One of the officers said, After spending around a week in the transit area, with four other stranded passengers who arrived in Delhi on different dates two from Sri Lanka and one each from the Maldives and the Philippines airport authorities alerted their respective embassies." He added, While others were facilitated by their embassies concerned and were taken for quarantine, officials from the German embassy informed the Indian bureau of immigration that Ziebat is a wanted criminal in their country with several cases of assault and other crimes registered against him. Since he was on a foreign land, they did not take his custody. The Delhi Police and airport operator DIAL (Delhi International Airport Limited) were also apprised of the situation." IGI Since India did not give Ziebat a visa due to this criminal record, he is unable to leave the airport's transit area. However, Ziebat has also not applied for an Indian visa. With just his luggage, Ziebat has reportedly spent the last 54 days reading magazines and newspapers, making conversation with housekeeping and security staff, talking to his friends and family over the phone and eating at the airport's fast food outlets. Airport authorities have helped him by providing him with a recliner, mosquito net, food and other basic essential items. The officer also said, He told officials that he can manage his expenses. He sleeps on the beds, benches, on the floors, wherever he feels like. He is alone in the transit area as it is not being used because the airport is closed for passengers." Sleeping in Airports (Image for representative purposes only) A spokesperson for Delhi International Airport Limited added, "We confirm that a foreign national is currently in the transit area of the international terminal of Delhi airport due to non-availability of regular flight to transit onwards. Appropriate authorities were informed about this in good time. They are in dialogue with the foreign national." A regular visit is made by authorities to keep Ziebat's health in check and it has been found that the German national has visas of multiple countries and is ready to buy a ticket to leave the airport. However, that is only possible once the international flights resume. However, it is uncertain when that will be. Apparently, the Indian authorities attempted to send Ziebat to Turkey a few days ago on a relief flight but the Turkish authorities refused and said that the flight was operating for only Turkish nationals or permanent residents of Turkey. TravelTurkish Facebook image for representation only. New Delhi, May 12 : Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary was on Monday threatened by a caller from Pakistan to "stop exposing the nefarious design of Islamic jihadists", the channel said in a statement. According to the statement, the Pakistani man made a WhatsApp call from 92-3338831245 to Chaudhary and threatened him to stop his shows against Jihadi elements in India or else face dire consequences. The calls were accompanied by threatening WhatsApp messages and images from other Pakistani numbers - 92-3057625175, 92-3479589959 and 92-3338831245, it said. The statement said that the man who called refused to identify himself despite Chaudhary asking him several times if he was from the ISI. The caller also revealed that he knew about the FIR filed in Kerala against Chaudhry's show and threatened that similar FIRs will be filed in many other places. Chaudhary has filed complaints against the numbers from which the calls and messages were sent with Delhi Police Commissioner S.N. Shrivastava and Gautam Budh Nagar Commissioner of Police Alok Singh. HOLYOKE Mercy Medical Center plans to lay off 202 employees at its Providence Behavioral Health Hospital in Holyoke when it permanently closes all 74 of its inpatient psychiatry beds there at the end of June. Mercy, itself owned by Trinity Health Of New England, filed a WARN notice under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act with the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development May 1. The state Labor Department made the notice public Monday. Providence Behavioral Health has a total work force of 466 employees. Meanwhile, another state agency the Department of Public Healths Division of Health Care Facility Licensure and Certification - has yet to rule on Mercys plan to close the beds following a public hearing April 30 when state regulators heard form advocates, families, employees and state lawmakers opposed to the proposed closure. The state Department of Public Health says it will issue a ruling within 15 days of the hearing, meaning word will come sometime this week. But even if the DPH says the Providence Behavioral Healths inpatient beds are a necessary service, Mercy would have a chance to write a more detailed plan for state regulators outline how it will provide those services and submit that plan before closing the facility. As it stands, Mercy wants to shift patients to hospitals in Connecticut that are part of Trinity Health: Mount Sinai Hospital in Hartford and Johnson Memorial in Stafford Springs. Mercy said that its closing the facility because of its inability to recruit and retain psychiatrists to run it, because of two reimbursements paid by insurers for mental health care and because of the age of the faciltiy and the expense of maintaining it . Advocates say those beds are needed now more than ever with people feeling stress from the coronavirus, those in crisis unable to stay safely in an emergency room and the lack of any other pediatric beds for children and teens in the region. 12 Protest against Trinity Health in Springfield Mercy first announced the closure in February. During the hearing on April 30, advocates called for the shutdown to be put on hold during the coronavirus emergency. That included state Rep. Aaron Vega, D-Holyoke, who said even having the hearing on the telephone, necessitated by statewide shutdown orders is an inadequate representation. Vega also said the first any local lawmakers were told about the inability to recruit psychiatrists was when Mercy announced plans to close the beds at Providence. We could have been collaborating on a solution to this, Vega said at the hearing. Mercys national parent company Trinity Health, based in Michigan, has annual operating revenues of $19.3 billion and assets of $27 billion. It had more than $650 million in offshore accounts as of fiscal 2017, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Both Baystate Health and Holyoke Medical Center plan their own inpatient behavioral health hospitals, each with separate for-profit partners. But those facilities wont be open for at two years. Trintiy said substance use disorder services will continue at Providence Hospital, including its acute treatment service, clinical stabilization service (otherwise known as post-detoxification) and outpatient substance use disorder services such as the methadone clinic there. Mercy also wants to close a separate methadone clinic in Springfield that serves approximately 600 patients. Related Content: The clarification by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will generate further political debate about the economy. The data published by the IMF shows the true state of the economy. The whole issue about misreporting is not about misreporting of economic data to the IMF but to the people of Ghana through the budget. We believe the data published by the IMF to be true. So what is the IMF explaining to us? The people of Ghana know the deficit in 2019 to be 4.5% but the IMF knows the true state of the deficit in 2019 was 7.5%. We believe the correct data was presented to IMF and what is now known as misreporting is to Parliament via the budget. The explanation by IMF is strange and maybe tagged as involved in domestic politics. We are guided by our Constitution and financial management principles, objectives and strategy enshrined in the public financial management act 2016 (Act 921) in which the finance minister is the main executive member with financial management responsibility. It is, therefore, the finance minister who should face the country to explain the data agreed upon with the IMF. It is unnecessary for the IMF to attempt to do what the finance minister should be doing. Now to the substantive issues. Take for example that Ghana raised $2bn in a year but spent $3bn and decided to divide the extra $1bn into $600M and $400M and stated in its financial statement that over expenditure was $600M but disclosed in the notes to the financial statements that the country overspent another $400M which was also approved by Parliament. Now how much is the over-expenditure that parliament approved on behalf of the people? The answer is $1bn. Now why did the IMF accept the figures presented by government in its dataset? The answer is that it is the true picture about the Ghanaian economy, therefore, the true picture of the deficit, reserves, debt to GDP ratio and primary balance as well as GDP growth presented by IMF from the data supplied by government remains the true state of the Ghanaian economy. Ask any of the IMF team, a member of the minority or member of government that if they are taken as consultants to look at the macro- fiscal data in the budget and that of IMF data for a client to provide macro-fiscal situation of Ghana to take/make critical and informed decisions will they look at the true state as presented by IMF or not?. Accountants will tell you the purpose of the notes to an account gives extra critical information that you must use without which your assessment of the account is meaningless and incomplete. The separation or no separation of financial sector and energy costs does not take away the fact that the true state of the economy is what the IMF data presented and the granting of the $1bn Rapid Credit Facility was based on the true state of the macro-fiscal situation that is why the IMF attached it to the disbursement letter to Ghana. They disagree to agree or agree to disagree clarification by the IMF doesn't change the premium Ghanaians, international institutions and investors place on the true state report by the IMF. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Kyodo News) Tokyo Mon, May 11, 2020 10:03 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd722a38 2 News All-Nippon-Airways,Airlines,dress-code,travel,#MeToo,flight-attendants,high-heels,Women Free All Nippon Airways Co. has eased its company dress code that mandated female cabin attendants and ground staff wear high heels, the company said Friday. The change, which comes amid a movement against requiring women to wear such shoes in the workplace, took effect May 1 and includes its group companies. It follows a similar move by Japan Airlines Co., which revised its regulations and allowed the wearing of shoes with no heels from April. But, ANA said female staff must still wear pumps that are made of plain, black leather and do not cover the instep, as the style goes well with the uniform. Walking and ballet shoes remain banned. Read also: JAL, ANA cut flights as passengers stay home ANA eases dress code for female workers allowing shoes without heels https://t.co/2VHJsQEiR6 The Mainichi (Japan) (@themainichi) May 9, 2020 ANA is now asking that heels have a height of around 5 centimeters or below and a width of 3 cm or more. It had previously required heels to have a height and width of between 3 and 5 cm. "We've thought about creating a healthy and better working environment," the company said, adding, the new rules take into consideration how workers can walk stably and reduce strain on their toes and waist. JAL's new regulations, meanwhile, stipulate that the height of heels be between zero and 4 cm. Walking shoes, among others, are also allowed to be worn. Since last year, more women have been speaking out against company dress codes, most notably expressed by the #KuToo movement -- an amalgam of "#MeToo," and the Japanese words for shoes, "kutsu," and pain, "kutsuu." Economic activities in India are set to "gather steam", Prime Minister Narendra Modi told chief ministers on Monday, while asserting that the country will have to devise a "balanced strategy" to revive the economy and deal with COVID-19 with a sharp focus on ensuring that rural areas remain free from the pandemic. The thrust of the video conference with all state chief ministers was to chalk out a comprehensive roadmap, with a focus on strengthening the COVID-19 containment strategy and stepping up of economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day nationwide lockdown nears an end. India is under a lockdown since March 25 which is scheduled to end on May 17. During the meeting, which lasted for nearly six hours, Modi and the chief ministers held extensive discussions on various aspects of the situation arising out of the pandemic and the nationwide lockdown, with the prime minister telling them that the future path for the country will be determined on the basis of the suggestions by the states. Accordingto official sources, Modi told the chief ministers that the biggest challenge for the country will be to ensure that the infection does not spread to rural India following relaxation in lockdown norms which included allowing movement of migrant workers. At the same time, he emphasised that India will have to devise and implement a "balanced strategy" to deal with the pandemic and step up the economic activities in a gradual manner. Noting that slowly but surely, economic activities have started in several parts of the country,the prime minister said in the coming days, the process will gather steam. The interaction comes in the midst of growing demands by states, industries, workers and several political leaders to withdraw the lockdown from non-COVID areas as it has adversely impacted the economy and livelihoods of a large section of people. According to a Delhi government official, during the interaction, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said barring containment zones, economic activities should be allowed to resume in the national capital. "During the interaction, the chief minister said economic activities should be allowed to resume in Delhi, except in COVID-19 containment zones," a source told PTI. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh pitched for the extension of the coronavirus lockdown, but demanded a carefully crafted exit strategy, including fiscal support to states. In view of the increasing number of coronavirus cases, continuation of the lockdown was needed, Singh said, adding the decision on designating red, orange/yellow and green zones should be left to the states, which are more cognizant of the ground realities. The exit strategy should consider and focus on fiscal and economic empowerment of the states, the Punjab chief minister said. In the conference, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami came out against the resumption of flight and passenger train servicestill May 31, citing increase in the number of coronavirus cases. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urged Modi to show "specific and concrete direction" on the lockdown, a state government official said. During the interaction, Modi also appreciated the role played by the states in the fight against the pandemic, and said the entire world is of the view that India has been able to successfully protect itself from the pandemic, according to official sources. The "problems" have increased wherever the social distancing norms were not followed or there has been laxity in implementation of the lockdown guidelines, Modi told the chief ministers. Reacting to the Centre's decision to resume a limited number of passenger services from Tuesday after an almost a 50-day hiatus, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on one hand, it wants strict enforcement of the lockdown, on the other, it is resuming train services. According to officials, Modi said it was essential to make best efforts to ensure that people stay where they were during the lockdown, however, in times like these people wish to go home and therefore, a change in decision had to be made. Going forward, the prime minister said, the road ahead should focus on reducing the spread of the infection and ensuring that all precautions are taken by people including social distancing norms by following the mantra of "do gaz doori (six feet apart)'. He said the Centre now has a reasonably clear indication about the geographical spread of the pandemic including the worst affected areas which is helpful in containing the pandemic. The interaction was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan among others. The last interaction the prime minister had with the chief ministers was on April 27. And days after the meeting, the central government had extended the lockdown by two more weeks till May 17 to arrest the spread of the virus, but gave several relaxations in economic activities and movement of people. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Akbar Mammadov Azerbaijan has started the process of repatriating its citizens from Lithuania due to novel coronavirus pandemic, Azertag news agency reported on 11 May. The citizens have been sent from Lithuanias capital Vilnius to Riga, Latvia from where they will be airlifted to Azerbaijan. Thus, some 43 citizens from Kaunas, Akmene, Klaipeda, Utena and other Lithuanian cities left Vilnius for Latvia by special buses under the supervision of relevant agencies. These citizens, along with other compatriots remaining in Riga, will leave for Baku on a special charter flight of "AirBaltik". The agency reported that thanks to the efforts of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Lithuania, the Lithuanian government has opened a special humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of Azerbaijani citizens remaining in the country, and a special permit has been obtained for unimpeded crossing of the Lithuanian-Latvian border. The Azerbaijani Embassy in Lithuania has been in constant contact with the citizens living there since the first days of quarantine, and relevant steps have been taken to eliminate the difficulties they face. The embassy has also provided aid to the students facing financial difficulties as well as legal assistance to Azerbaijani citizens involved in the construction sector as hired workers and who have lost their jobs amid COVID-19, ensured that they receive their salaries and provided them with accommodation. It also provided disinfectants, masks, gloves and food to people with need. So far, 79 Azerbaijanis have been evacuated from Lithuania. Earlier, Azerbaijan repatriated 15,000 citizens from a number of countries due to coronavirus outbreak. The countrys diplomatic missions abroad have launched a hotline through which Azerbaijani citizens can request their repatriation. --- Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz (@ChaudhryMAli88) Togo has opened an inquiry into the mysterious death of a high-ranking army officer the day after President Faure Gnassingbe's inauguration, a police source said Monday Lome, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th May, 2020 ) :Togo has opened an inquiry into the mysterious death of a high-ranking army officer the day after President Faure Gnassingbe's inauguration, a police source said Monday. Lieutenant-Colonel Bitala Madjoulba, who commanded the country's Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), was found dead in his office on May 4. Gnassingbe took office in 2005 on the death of his father, who had ruled the West African state since 1967. He was sworn in for a fourth term on May 3. He was reelected on February 22 with more than 70 percent of the vote according to official returns -- a result the opposition contests. A bullet was extracted from Madjoulba's body during an autopsy, public prosecutor Essolissam Poyodi told local media. "A commission of inquiry headed by Security Minister General Yark Damehane has been put in place to shed light on this affair," an informed police source told AFP. He added that police directors would be aiding the minister in his investigation. There has been no official reaction to Madjoulba's death. His replacement, Lieutenant-Colonel Tchangani Atafai, was named within hours. Madjoulba's battalion was at the forefront of the brutal suppression of opposition demonstrations which attracted huge crowds in 2017 and 2018. On Thursday, residents Madjoulba's home village of Siou some 500 kilometres (300 miles) north of the capital Lome held a rally to demand answers. Madjoulba had commanded the battalion since 2014 and had widespread experience at home and abroad, including leading several UN peacekeeping contingents. Local media have suggested his killing was an internal settling of scores. Opposition figures have criticised the silence authorities have thus far maintained while also demanding an independent inquiry. Some observers say the army, largely made up of ethnic Kabye from the president's Kara region, is riven by internal tensions they say were ratcheted up by the 2009 jailing of Kpatcha Gnassingbe, the president's half brother and former defence minister. Kpatcha Gnassingbe is being held in a Lome prison on suspicion of orchestrating a failed coup in 2009. Some opposition groups say his jailing was a means of eliminating a potential rival to the president. April 27 At 12:14 a.m., Officer Schwausch observed a vehicle traveling southbound in the 8100 block of IH 610 speeding (93 mph in a 60 mph zone) and swerving through heavy traffic around it. Officer Schwausch initiated a traffic stop and the driver failed to stop for officers while leading them on a pursuit that ended in Pasadena. Further investigation found the driver to be driving while intoxicated. The driver was charged with driving while intoxicated and evading in a motor vehicle and transported to the Bellaire Jail without incident. Officer Younger, Officer Clisham, Officer Vorhees, and Houston Police Department Helicopter 75 FOX assisted with this incident. At 11:44 a.m., Officer C. Barber, was dispatched to the 4400 block of Verone Street regarding a theft. The suspect jumped over an iron fence on the east side of the property and stole a bike by lifting it over the fence. At 4:50 p.m., Officer Marcotte was dispatched to the Bellaire Police Station to call a complainant regarding a forgery case in the 5200 block of Spruce Street. The complainant advised his business account information had been used to make a counterfeit check and had been deposited. An investigation revealed a suspect and a warrant for forgery will be filed in this case. April 29 At 10:32 a.m., Officer Ortega was dispatched to the 4900 block of Chestnut Street in reference to an in-progress theft. The suspects were observed taking packages from front porches. Officer Ortega was able to locate the suspect vehicle and the suspects. After further investigation the suspects were placed into custody for mail theft. Detective Andrade assisted in this case. At 2:29 p.m., Officer Marcotte initiated a traffic stop in the 6500 block of Ferris on a 2005 Ford Explorer for expired registration. The driver was found to have a suspended drivers license and will be filed on for driving while license invalid (DWLI). At 7:27 p.m., Officer D. Norman was dispatched to a burglary of a motor vehicle believed to have just occurred in the 4900 block of Welford Drive. The victim stated he caught a black male wearing white pants and a white top in the drivers seat of his vehicle. The victim confronted the suspect and the suspect assaulted him and left the scene. May 3 At 12:42 a.m., Officer Clisham initiated a traffic stop in the4700 block of Bissonnet Street after observing a vehicle commit multiple moving violations. After making contact with the driver and further investigation, said driver was placed into custody and charged with driving while intoxicated. At 12:05 a.m., Officer Younger attempted to initiate a traffic stop in the 5200 block of IH 610 on a vehicle for speeding and having an unreadable paper license plate. The vehicle refused to stop and proceeded to flee, starting a low speed chase that lasted approximately eight minutes and approximately four miles. The vehicle eventually stopped and one of the occupants fled on foot. In total, three suspects were captured, including the suspect who fled on foot. The driver was charged with evading with vehicle, and one of the passengers was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, felon in possession of a firearm, and evading on foot. The third passenger was released. Corporal OSullivan and Officer Guerra assisted with this investigation. India's third Covid wave likely to peak on Jan 23, daily cases to stay below 4 lakh: IIT Kanpur scientist PM Modi's virtual meeting with CMs: Uddhav Thackeray to request for extension of lockdown India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P Mumbai, May 11: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is expected to request an extension of the ongoing lockdown restrictions till the end of May during the Chief Ministers' video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that is slated to be held on Monday at 3 pm. The Chief Minister is also expected to push for enforcement of stricter norms for Red Zones and implementation of a few more relaxations in Orange and Green Zones. German living at Delhi airport since March 18 due to coronavirus-induced flight restrictions According to reports, the Maharashtra Chief Minister is expected to draw PM Modi's attention on the difficulties that stranded migrant workers and facing and demand for their evacuation at the earliest by special trains. Also, it can be seen that Maharashtra has recorded over 10,000 coronavirus positive cases in the last ten days, as the overall tally rose to above 22,000 and more than 800 deaths till Sunday evening. Indian doctor in Kuwait dies from COVID-19 With the number of COVID-19 cases on a rise, the state authorities are facing severe challenge to ensure restrictions in the containment zones such Dharavi slums and parts of Pune. The state government is also expected to request for the deployment of central forces in the containment zones to relieve the stressed state police force. COVID-19 crisis: Maharashtra govt allows migrant workers walk home on humanitarian grounds On Saturday, Thackeray had said that he might ask for the deployment of additional force from the Centre as many state police personnel are facing ill due to COVID-19-related stress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to discuss the extension of lockdown and also an alternative exit plan by opening economic activities across the country. The economic activites came to a stand still in the wake of complete nationwide lockdown that was commenced on March 25 to contain the spread of coronavirus. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 08, 2020 | ULLIN By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 08, 2020 | 07:46 PM | ULLIN Administrative officials at Shawnee Community College have announced that they are actively working to assist students who may be eligible for CARES Act funding through the US Department of Education guidelines. Officials say they want to ensure students can obtain quick access to relief funds through the recently passed legislation. The CARES Act Higher Education Relief Fund, provides funding to institutions to make emergency financial aid grants available for students whose lives have been disrupted during Spring semester 2020, many of whom are facing economic challenges and struggling to make ends meet. Students cannot apply for assistance directly from the US Department of Education but will be able to work with their institutions as information and guidance for distribution becomes available. Additional requirements for receiving assistance include the following: Students must be a US citizen who has obtained a high school diploma or equivalency and males over 18 must be registered with Selective Service. Shawnee College will have the responsibility of determining how grants will be distributed, the amount of each student grant, and the development of any instructions or directions that are provided to students about the grant. Speaking on behalf of the institution Interim Vice-President of Student Success, Dr. Lisa Price said: In addition to reviewing guidance provided by the US Department of Education, we are working with other institutions throughout the state to ensure we are providing prompt and accurate distribution of funds to our students. Officials were recently notified of further legislative guidance, which is set to be released early next week to help institutions determine how funds are distributed. The College will be updating its website shawneecc.edu to ensure students receive information as it becomes available. For more information, visit our website at shawneecc.edu or call 618-634-3280 Want to do more? As an animal protection and advocacy organisation, our core work is underpinned by investigations, public-awareness campaigns and political and legal advocacy. If you sign up to our email-list well be sure to keep you up-to-date with the latest opportunities to take action for animals! If youre keen to get more hands-on, there are plenty more ways you can make a difference: 1. Volunteer with your local animal shelter Volunteering with your local animal shelter is a truly life-changing experience. Shelter dogs, cats and pocket pets, such as rabbits, guinea pigs, lizards and more, crave love, affection and fun just like us! We guarantee that the sight of a dogs face lighting up as you open their pen and take them for a walk will warm the cockles of your heart. And not only are you giving shelter animals much-needed exercise and attention, youll be helping to improve their sociability and chances of being adopted. Life-changing indeed! 2. Discover the joys of caring for wildlife While youll need to gain the appropriate training and permits to care for wildlife, the results are well worth the effort. Caring for injured, abandoned or lost wildlife, until theyre healed, healthy and ready for release into the wild, is one of the most rewarding experiences an animal lover can have. If youre keen to jump in, a good starting point would be to contact your local wildlife group for all the details. 3. Visit an animal sanctuary Sanctuaries for farmed animals are often run entirely by volunteers compassionate people who have chosen to devote their lives to the rescue, rehabilitation and life-long happiness of the animals in their care. Any help you can offer in the form of volunteering or donations will always be most welcome! You could also consider making an appointment for a group of your friends and family to visit, and help spread the world that all animals whether they have paws, hooves, fins, scales or feathers are deserving of kindness and a long and happy life. There are animal sanctuaries all around Australia, including some of our favourites such Edgars Mission (VIC), Brightside (TAS), Freedom Hill (SA), Greener Pastures (WA) and Sugarshine (NSW). 4. Travel kindly When youre passionate about animals it can be tempting to want to interact with them while on holiday. But, sadly, this means you could unwittingly be contributing to animal cruelty the last thing an animal lover would want to do! To help you avoid the common tourist traps weve put together a list of handy travel hints to ensure you can enjoy amazing experiences without hurting animals. Weve also created a list of ten incredible places you can see animals in the wild and their natural habitats, living the life of freedom all animals deserve. 5. Eat more veg for the animals Factory farming is the number one cause of animal cruelty today, and it exists for one reason: to meet consumer demand for meat, eggs and dairy. In fact, the vast majority of pigs, egg-laying hens and chickens bred for their meat and eggs in Australia are raised in factory farms where they endure intense confinement and agonising surgical procedures without pain relief. By exploring the delicious world of plant-based food you can take a powerful stance against factory farm and slaughterhouse cruelty, and help spare animals from suffering. And every plant-based meal makes a difference! Our Veg Starter Kit makes it easier than ever to be kind to animals, yourself and the planet. Its completely free and full of recipes, nutritional advice, tips on eating out and more. Order your FREE kit today! Or, if youre keen to get cooking right away, you can browse 100+ delicious, plant-based recipes at VegKit.com from hearty breakfasts and quick dinners to scrumptious snacks and desserts, weve got you covered. A Supreme Court judge nominee, Justice Clemence Jackson Honyenuga, has apologised for openly endorsing President Akufo-Addo during a durbar in the Volta region early this year while sitting as the trial judge for former COCOBOD CEO Stephen Opuni's case. Justice Honyenuga in his welcome address to President Akufo-Addo at a durbar of chiefs and people of the Afajato South District had commended the President for various developmental policies introduced under his leadership. He said with the vision of the President and the gains made in his first term, Ghanaians may consider giving him another four years to the loud cheers of people at the durbar grounds. Many, including legal luminaries, who felt the judge probably erred in this open declaration took to social media to criticize his conduct. Some media reports suggested the comments were meant to endear him further to the current government for his nomination to the Supreme Court. Answering questions during his vetting on Monday, the Supreme Court Judge nominee apologised for endorsing the President saying he was only reading a statement handed him on behalf of the paramount chiefs. In reading that statement, we didnt intend in endorsing the president, our understanding was that we were wishing him wellthis is what has been happening in this country for a very long timeon my part if out of political dissatisfaction some people are unhappy with whatever I am supposed to have said then I am sorry, Justice Honyenuga said. ---starrfmonline California Gov. Gavin Newsom was surprised on Monday when a reporter informed him that Tesla has already reopened its Fremont factory to resume production. "As it was just mentioned, I need the details of that. My understanding is when I walked up to the podium today that wasn't the case. I'm trying to monitor hundreds of thousands of businesses all throughout the state of California," the governor said at a Monday news conference. As CNBC previously reported, production employees were booked for shifts this week starting Sunday at Tesla. On Monday, local TV broadcasters showed employees' cars streaming into the company's parking lots. Tesla reached out to employees on Friday to schedule shifts. Over the weekend, Elon Musk took to Twitter to announce that Tesla was filing a lawsuit against Alameda County, where Fremont is located, and would take Tesla's headquarters and possibly all of its operations out of the state in response to the Covid-19 health orders. Musk had previously called shelter-in-place orders and other health orders affecting Tesla "fascist." After Newsom's press conference, Musk tweeted that "Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me." Three Fremont employees told CNBC that they were scheduled to return to work this week, but only wanted to if the factory is deemed safe amid the pandemic. The employees requested their names not be disclosed, as they were not authorized by the company to conduct press interviews. One said they had begun to look for another job, fearing that they would not be able to adhere to the safety protocols, including social distancing and other measures, recommended to protect against Covid-19 while assembling cars in Fremont. Failure to adhere to the protocols could result in their getting sick, or fired, and then ineligible for unemployment, they said. Huawei has officially launched the (not so) new Huawei P30 Pro New Edition in Europe. It is the same old P30 Pro launched in March 2019 but comes with a couple of minor changes. Following the US trade ban against Huawei, Google can no longer certify the new Huawei smartphones. However, Huawei will continue to sell its already-certified models with Google apps. The Mate 30 series and P40 series were launched with Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), Huaweis alternative to Google Mobile Services (GMS). Without Google apps, its hard for the company to sell smartphones outside of China. Huawei P30 Pro New Edition comes with EMUI 10.1 While the original P30 Pro came with Android 9.0 Pie based EMUI 9.1, the P30 Pro New Edition runs on the latest Android 10 based EMUI 10.1. Unlike the Huawei P40 series, the EMUI 10.1 on the Huawei P30 Pro New Edition comes pre-installed with Google apps. Along with the Black and Aurora color options, the New Edition will also be available in Silver Frost. Advertisement The Huawei P30 Pro New Edition comes packed with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. It is currently available for pre-order in Germany for EUR 749. Huawei is also offering FreeBuds 3 TWS earphones and a mini speaker for free with the device. All pre-order customers can also purchase the Huawei Watch GT2 for just EUR 99. Prior to the P30 Pro New Edition launch, Huawei also relaunched the P30 Lite as P30 Lite New Edition. Apart from the latest EMUI update and a new color option, there are no other changes made to the device. It comes with a 6.47-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) resolution and HDR support. Whats new with the P30 Pro New Edition? Since using the latest Kirin 990 chipset requires Googles certification, Huawei sticks with the same old Kirin 980 SoC coupled with a 10-core Mali-G76 GPU. The Huawei P30 Pro New Edition also offers expandable storage option but only using its proprietary NM card. It is also IP68 certified for water and dust resistance. Advertisement The rear camera setup includes a 40MP primary sensor with f/1.6 aperture and OIS. There is also a 20MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, an 8MP telephoto sensor with OIS, and a ToF Depth sensor. On the front is a 32MP selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture. It is backed by a 4200mAh battery and supports 40W Huawei SuperCharge fast charging technology. It also includes 15W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging support. Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C port. There is no 5G support even on this New Edition. Considering the Huawei P30 Pro packs a powerful camera setup and decent display, it can still win over the value flagships from other Chinese brands. However, the older chipset and lack of 5G might be an issue. In order to monitor and track the coronavirus, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota set up checkpoints, and the tribe's chairman, Harold Frazier, told CNN on Sunday the tribe must keep them up as they are the "best tool we have right now" to prevent the spread of COVID-19. "We want to ensure that people coming from hot spots or highly infected areas, we ask them to go around our land," Frazier said. The reservation is home to 12,000 people, and there is only one eight-bed medical facility with no intensive care unit. Frazier said the nearest critical care facility is three hours away, and the checkpoints are due to "the lack of resources we have medically." Last week, Gov. Kristi Noem (R) said the checkpoints need to come down, and her policy director sent a letter to the tribe on Friday saying they are illegal and "interfere with regulating traffic on U.S. and state highways." Noem dismissed quarantine measures in the earlier days of the coronavirus pandemic, and the state was soon home to a huge coronavirus cluster, with hundreds of workers at one pork processing plant becoming infected. More stories from theweek.com The dark decade ahead Trump visit to Pennsylvania factory put off after company decides it's too risky The making of a coronavirus conspiracy theory The Northern Ireland Executive has confirmed there have been another three Covid-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland. Stormont Junior Minister Declan Kearney confirmed the death toll for NI now stood at at 438. In the past 24 hours 806 individuals were tested with 30 receiving positive results. Mr Kearney offered his condolences, saying those who had died of the disease was a "stark daily reminder" of the "critical situation". He said Prime Minister Boris Johnson's change in message should not be confused with that of the Executive. "Our message remains, stay at home, save lives," he said The Executive has been discussing its plan on its "pathway to recovery". Mr Keareny said it had been a positive discussion and more work was needed before it could be presented to the Assembly on Tuesday. He said it would not have "arbitrary" time frames but would need flexibility to change to developments in the virus activity. He said it was a gradual plan, framed in five guided principles and would be reviewed every three weeks. "These principles will be applied in considering whether or not to ease specific restrictions in any given point in the future," he said. Mr Kearney said the Executive will still ask a "great deal" from citizens. "We need a partnership approached between government and community, the better we all stick to the measures and public health advice, the sooner we will be able to come through this together." Read More DUP Junior Minister Gordon Lyons said there could be no dramatic lifting of restrictions. He said that the economy minister was working on a plan to restart the economy. "The reality is that devolved administrations are going to diverge slightly and at particularly points in time, mindful of the different circumstances in each region," he said. He added: "We all need to be realistic about what life will be like in the months ahead. There will be no dramatic lifting of restrictions." He said it would be "reckless" to believe the virus had been beaten. Follow our live coverage for all today's main developments Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Alfalfa is considered a nutrient-rich feed for cattle, horses, goats, sheep, and other animals. It contains 15%22% crude protein and is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. It provides energy and boosts the immunity of livestock. The increasing demand for meat and dairy products worldwide has created the need for high-quality feed to enhance the quality and production of animal products. Alfalfa is a proteinaceous and fiber-rich feed for animals that helps in improving the quality of milk and meat. Thus, dairy and livestock farmers are the main buyers of alfalfa. It is also used as horse feed and is in high demand in the equestrian industry. Pellets, cubes, and hay bales are the common alfalfa product types available in the market. Alfalfa Market is projected to be valued at USD 39.71 Billion by 2025, registering a CAGR of 5.06% during the forecast period. However, the high cost of production as compared to other forage crops and the need for large amounts of water for irrigation may hinder the alfalfa market growth. Nonetheless, the growing demand in the Middle East in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where the production of forage crops is banned due to water scarcity, provides lucrative opportunities for the alfalfa market players. Market USP Availability of a wide range of alfalfa products Growth Opportunities in the Market Increasing demand for alfalfa in the form of pellets: Alfalfa pellets are highly nutritious as they a good source of digestible fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Pellets are also convenient and cost-effective as compared to hay bales and cubes, resulting in high demand by dairy and livestock farmers. The pellets segment is, therefore, expected to be the fastest-growing during the review period. High consumption by ruminant rearers: The ruminant segment dominated the global alfalfa market in 2018 and it is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The demand for meat, milk, and other dairy products is increasing rapidly across the globe. Thus, dairy and livestock farmers are focused on high yield from ruminants by increasing the use of high-quality fodder. Moreover, the introduction of advanced products such as dehydrated and organic alfalfa fodder for cattle is likely to augment the alfalfa market demand in the coming years. Browse Full Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/alfalfa-market-8508 Key Players A cafe in Colorado went viral on Mothers Day for bucking the states safer-at-home order and opening its doors to packed crowds. What Delivery Food America Is Ordering During the Coronavirus Pandemic Video footage captured in C&C Breakfast & Korean Kitchen on May 10 shows full tables and long lines inside the establishment, which is located in Castle Rock, Colorado. Many of the customers are seen without face masks or coverings. In a May 9 tweet posted to the locations Twitter, the account tagged President Donald Trump before writing, We are standing for America, small businesses, the Constitution and against the overreach of our governor in Colorado! A state-wide stay-at-home order went into effect in Colorado on March 26 and expired on April 27. After the stay-at-home order ended, a safer-at-home order was implemented allowing for curbside retail. On May ,1 retail and personal services opened under new best practices. Under the safer-at-home order, face masks are still strongly advised, gatherings of 10 or more are prohibited, and restaurants and other food establishments are limited to delivery and drive-up. In a statement provided to various media outlets in response to the C&C Breakfast & Korean Kitchen incident, a spokesperson for Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said, These restaurants are not only breaking the law, they are endangering the lives of their staff, customers, and community. Under Safer at Home, restaurants, food courts, cafes, coffeehouses, and other similar places of public accommodation offering food or beverage for on-premises consumption are still closed. Delivery and drive-up service is available. Coloradans can contact their local public health department if they believe someone is violating Safer at Home. While states are at varying points in returning to normal life, many Americans still find themselves stuck at home. Luckily, there are ways to make dinner at home feel like a restaurant. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the Centre of playing politics over the coronavirus response and discriminating between states during the virtual meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Claiming that the Centre was working according to a script, she said, "This is not the time to play politics. Nobody ever asks our opinion Don't bulldoze the federal structure," sources quoted her as saying at the meeting. The BJP-ruled central government and the TMC government in Bengal have been at loggerheads over the handling of the crisis, first over the counting of deaths in the state and now over bringing back migrant workers stranded in other regions. The Centre had sent two Inter-Ministerial Central Teams to the state to check on its Covid-19 efforts, and on Saturday union home minister Amit Shah wrote Banerjee and said not allowing trains to bring back migrant workers was injustice. "When we are cooperating with you, why are you attacking us? Why is it always Bengal, Bengal, Bengal ? Why criticise?" she asked, and appealed to everyone to come forward and work together in fighting the crisis. Underscoring the federal structure, Banerjee asked the Centre to talk to states before ending the lockdown and allowing resumption of other services. Banerjee on Monday also asked for a special economic package from the Centre during the videoconference session. The meeting was held between the PM and Chief Ministers of different states to review the ground situation across India in the third phase of the nationwide lockdown. According to the sources, apart from the special economic package for Bengal, Banerjee sought central assistance to bring back all migrant labourers from Bengal stranded in various parts of the country. A CRPF jawan was killed in an encounter with Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Monday, officials said. They said the encounter took place in the Uripal forest area of the district at about 2 PM when a team of the Central Reserve Police Force and district reserve guard of the state police was out for a search operation. Constable Manna Kumar, 32, of the 170th battalion of the CRPF has been killed in action, they said. The deceased hailed from the Sahibganj district of Jharkhand. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress will not be able to appropriate more money to help everyone affected by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a top Republican senator said on Sunday. Speaking on NBCs Meet the Press, Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander said: Theres not enough money to help everybody hurt when you shut down the government. Mr Alexander, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions Committee emphasised the need to reopen the economy via a system of test, trace, isolate, treatments and vaccines. We have to reopen the economy, we have to do it carefully, we have to let people go back to work and earn a living, he said. He added: And I dont see us being able to appropriate much more money to help provide a counter to that. Mr Alexanders remarks, made in a segment of the show, focused on testing capacity, come as Congress continues to debate the next stage of coronavirus stimulus relief. With unemployment levels not seen since the Great Depression, prior measures have fallen short of matching the economic impact of the pandemic. The comments sparked outrage, both in light of the Trump administrations tax cuts, which Mr Alexander supported, and because Congress can appropriate any funds it sees as necessary. Progressive group The Working Families Party accused Republicans of taking care of their billionaire buddies and Wall Street bankers, but now saying there is not enough left to help you and your family. Its a lie, the group added on Twitter. Stephanie Kelton, professor of economics at Stony Brook University, said: The appropriations pen is out of ink? I cant believe were hearing, Were out of money in the early stages of a crisis. AGAIN. The truth is, Congress can appropriate whatever it chooses. It literally cannot run out of money. Mr Alexander said that a focus on testing remains vital until a vaccine or other effective treatment can be developed. He said: If you take a test and you know that you dont have Covid-19, and you know that everybody around you took a test that same day, youre going to have enough confidence to go back to work and back to school. The US has 1.37 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and has recorded 80,653 deaths as of Monday. Today David Frost, the UK's chief negotiator, is expected to tell Michel Barnier, his EU counterpart, that the deadlocked Brexit trade talks must be made to work over the remainder of this month because the London government will not extend them. Both negotiation leaders have been knocked out from these talks because they each suffered a bout of coronavirus. It had long been expected, in both Brussels and Dublin, that the global virus crisis would give UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson a perfect alibi to abandon his petulant insistence about not seeking an extension to the free-trade interim arrangements beyond the deadline of December 31. The UK formally left the EU on January 31 but nothing changes in the EU-UK trade relationship until at least December 31. The EU favours extending that no-change transition period by anything up to two more years. But the UK must seek any extension before June 30. Now speculation is growing that the coronavirus risks having quite the opposite effect. In London, there is now talk of an extension being ruled out because Covid-19 would tie the UK into new EU regulations designed to co-ordinate the battle against the virus. While we focused on coronavirus, Brexit never went away, you know. All that happened was that coronavirus made Brexit invisible for a time - but the virus also rendered Brexit far more lethal, especially from Ireland's point of view. Reports coming from Downing Street yesterday suggested the message to Brussels was there will be no extension to the post-Brexit transition period because of fears the UK will end up being bound by a raft of European Union anti-coronavirus legislation. Mr Johnson spoke with Ursula von der Leyen, the new EU Commission president, late last week about the international response to coronavirus. The UK media was last night reporting Mr Johnson's fears that EU coronavirus moves meant Britain must leave the EU's single market and customs union on December 31. Without a replacement EU-UK trade deal there would be huge widespread disruption to imports and exports, with Ireland the most economically exposed EU member state. "Clearly as the EU looks to deal with the impacts of coronavirus on the 27 member states, they will need to propose all kinds of new legislation which will obviously be designed for the 27, rather than being tailored in a way to suit the interests of the UK," a British government spokesman told reporters. "An extension to the transition period would bind us into future EU legislation, without us having any say in designing it," the British spokesman added, alluding to a point very often made over five years of Brexit debate. EU states are beginning to emerge from the pandemic lockdown. In Brussels, the EU Commission will start one of the biggest law-making programmes in the EU's history, much of it aimed at supporting the single market which has been in existence since January 1993. Britain would not be at the table for any of those decisions, creating a risk that the economy is damaged by EU laws drawn up principally to defend EU economies. Fisheries is a big issue. The UK wants it treated separately, but the EU wants it strictly linked to future trade arrangements. Ireland is one of eight EU member states keenly interested in continued access to lucrative UK waters accounting for some 500m worth of fish per year. London wants a post-Brexit fisheries deal modelled upon the EU-Norway fishery deal. Brussels has repeatedly rejected this idea and several countries with considerable political clout - led by France - are determined there can be no give. Things are compounded by EU accusations that Britain was trying to run down the clock on this issue. Hopes of talks to "soften things" up in this sector are made even more difficult. Brussels diplomats familiar with the Brexit process say video-linked talks have maintained contacts - but were never hoped to offer real breakthroughs. Ireland is among the member states which have suggested that the negotiations are pointless because there is not enough time to complete them. The coronavirus pandemic has also consumed all the governments' attention for the foreseeable future. Tanaiste Simon Coveney has said the EU needed to focus on persuading Britain to extend the transition in a way that would allow Downing Street to make an honourable retreat. "Covid-19 has made what is already a very, very difficult timeline to get agreement virtually impossible," the Foreign Affairs Minister said. "If we're going to have any chance of persuading them to take more time then we need to be careful about how we do that because demanding it from them...almost as a concession to the EU, is certainly not the way to do it." That view has been strongly held by senior officials in Brussels since shortly after the UK voters narrowly opted to leave the European Union in June 2016. But this week will bring back talk about another Brexit cliff edge. There will be strong voices within UK business and politics arguing that the UK simply must opt for an extension to single market and customs union membership. UK Labour, revitalised under its new leader Keir Starmer, will argue that the depths of the post-pandemic global recession would be the worst time to impose more barriers to trade with its main economic partners. As one of the largest U.S. midstream oil and gas companies, Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) continues to plant the seeds that will grow its business of transporting and storing natural gas, oil, and other valuable products. Its current business is focused in North America, but Kinder Morgan has plenty of projects in the works to expand its international reach. Let's determine the health of Kinder Morgan in the short term to better gauge the feasibility of its 10-year goals. Short-term health Kinder Morgan currently yields 7% and comes backed by one of its healthiest balance sheets in years. Kinder Morgan entered 2020 with its lowest total long-term debt, debt to equity ratio, and debt to capital in five years. Granted, 2020 will probably end this streak. 2020 is expected to be a difficult year for Kinder Morgan, but it's not too bad given the circumstances. Adjusted earnings for the first quarter were down just 5%, distributable cash flow (DCF) was down 8%, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) were down 5%. DCF is an important figure for a high-yielding dividend stock like Kinder Morgan because it's the amount of cash that is eligible to give to shareholders. Kinder Morgan expects full-year 2020 "DCF to be below plan by approximately 10 percent and Adjusted EBITDA to be below plan by approximately 8 percent." At $0.55 per common share, Kinder Morgan's first quarter DCF was about double its dividend of $0.2625, a good sign for the health of the company's dividend. Unlike most energy companies, Kinder Morgan is able to counteract volatile commodity prices by generating most of its revenue from predictable fee-based or regulated customers. More than 90% of Kinder Morgan's cash flow comes from "take-or-pay and fee-based" sources. Kinder Morgan can remain largely insulated from the cyclical nature of gas prices due to its contracts. For example, natural gas volumes were actually up 8% quarter over quarter, and financial performance would have actually been better than Q1 2019 if you exclude the company's Cochin pipeline sale, part of a larger deal with Pembina Pipeline. That being said, lower commodity prices make it difficult to renew or rewrite new contracts, meaning Kinder Morgan is far from immune to commodity price fluctuations over the long term. The next 10 years For the short term, Kinder Morgan's fee-based business model has protected the company from the widespread volatility currently disrupting oil and gas stocks. For the long term, Kinder Morgan is relying on the U.S. to provide around 30% of the "increase in global natural gas production by 2030." This production growth is expected to be exported, mostly in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG), to developing economies that will make up the bulk of natural gas consumption growth between now and 2030. For example, Kinder Morgan estimates that "Over 80% of global population lives in developing economies, where more than 90% of expected population growth to 2030 occurs." To get there, Kinder Morgan has built and plans on adding to a network of pipelines that connect to key U.S. shale basins that are mainly centered in and around Texas. These Texas sources will funnel gas to LNG export terminals along the Gulf Coast that cool and condense the gas to 1/600th of its natural volume for transportation to developing countries. Bold but calculated Kinder Morgan's bet on the Gulf Coast is no accident. The company knows that domestic supply is extremely competitive as residential and industrial customers benefit from low commodity prices. However, it expects 83% of the forecasted 28 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in growth until 2030 to be from the Gulf Coast, 15.2 bcfd of which it thinks will come from LNG exports. This LNG bet, paired with Kinder Morgan's high cash flow core business, makes the company an interesting long-term play. Unlike pure-play LNG stocks that are responsible for the construction of the LNG terminals themselves and the compliance headache that comes with negotiating contracts with buyers overseas, Kinder Morgan is mostly concerned with connecting the source of the gas to the coastline. However, the company does have its Elba Liquefaction terminal in Georgia, but even that is supported by long-term contracts with Shell. With an annual output of 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per year, the Elba project is expected to have all 10 units completed by summer 2020. Kinder Morgan's position as a contract-supported infrastructure player in the LNG space makes the company a safer way to play a bet on the rise of energy consumption and transition from coal to natural gas in developing countries. Understanding the risks However, Kinder Morgan's bold plan is not without a fair share of risks. The LNG game is a competitive playing field full of companies operating or holding shares in U.S. and Australian plays as well as the dominate state-owned Qatargas, the world's largest LNG company. A big disadvantage for U.S. LNG ventures is that Qatargas already constructed all of its existing LNG infrastructure between 1997 and 2010, positioning it as a more reliable source of LNG than U.S. projects that are largely planned and proposed. Aside from Qatargas, there are several other megaprojects in Mozambique, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, and other countries, as well as several floating LNG (FLNG) production platforms which are relevant for smaller-scale developments. Kinder Morgan continues to operate a solid core business that provides the foundation for it to grow over the next 10 years. However, Kinder Morgan's long-term growth is dependent on the rise of U.S. LNG export volumes and the increasing use of natural gas in the energy mix of developing countries. BEIJING - A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbours in multiple territorial disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons. The waters are a major shipping route for global commerce and are rich in fish and possible oil and gas reserves. ___ INDONESIA CONDEMNS TREATMENT OF NATIONALS BY CHINESE FISHING COMPANY Indonesias government has condemned what it calls the inhuman treatment of its nationals by a Chinese fishing company that allegedly kept Indonesian fishermen as virtual slaves, leading to the deaths of at least three of them. The issue threatens to further inflame tensions between China and Indonesia, which accuses Chinese boats of poaching in its exclusive economic zone. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in a video conference Sunday from the capital, Jakarta, that 49 Indonesian fishermen, ranging from 19 to 24 years old, were forced to work an average of over 18 hours a day on at least four Chinese fishing boats. Marsudi said some of the fishermen were either not paid at all or did not receive the amount they had agreed to. The ceaseless work and poor conditions on the ship caused illnesses among the crew members, killing at least three Indonesians, whose bodies were cast overboard into the Pacific Ocean, she said. At a Monday briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China was investigating the incident, but that preliminary results had shown that parts of the report are false. China and Indonesia have maintained close communication on this matter and will properly handle relevant issues on the basis of respecting facts and laws, Zhao told reporters. ____ U.S. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT BEEF UP INDO-PACIFIC DefenceS The U.S. military says it has substantially beefed up its presence in the Indo-Pacific region, which includes the South China Sea, with the deployment of a pair of MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The aircraft can operate at more than 15,000 metres (50,000 feet) and have a range of more than 3,700 kilometres (2,000 nautical miles), providing unmatched high-altitude persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability, the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Bringing Triton forward creates a complex problem set for our adversaries, said Cmdr. Michael Minervini, commanding officer of the unit operating the aircraft. ___ U.S. NAVY SENDS SHIPS TO SCENE OF CHINA-MALAYSIA MINERAL RIGHTS DISPUTE A pair of U.S. Navy ships sailed to the scene of a mineral rights dispute between China and Malaysia in the South China Sea, according to the news service of the U.S. Naval Institute. USNI News said the littoral combat ship USS Montgomery and replenishment ship USNS Cesar Chavez conducted a patrol on Thursday near the Panamanian-flagged drill ship West Capella, which has been contracted by Malaysian state oil company Petronas to conduct surveys within Malaysias exclusive economic zone. Chinese navy and coast guard vessels have been shadowing the drilling ship. In late April, U.S. and Australian ships conducted drills near where a Chinese government survey ship, Haiyang Dizhi 8, was reportedly operating under the protection of Chinese coast guard ships. On Friday, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, Adm. John Aquilino, said China must cease bullying Southeast Asians out of offshore oil, gas, and fisheries. ___ Associated Press writers Edna Tarigan and Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report. Livestock rustlers have stolen dozens of sheep from a farm in Argyll, with the theft thought to have taken place between October 2019 and early 2020. Police Scotland are investigating the incident, which took place at Goat Field Farm, Furnace. Fifty-seven black faced wether sheep with a red paint mark on lower back of neck were stolen from the remote farm. A Police Scotland statement read: "Did you witness or see anything untoward or note any suspicious vehicles near to the incident location? "If you have any information contact 101 and quote incident ref 1720 11/04/2020. #RuralCrime". It comes a few days after similar incidents in Cornwall and North Wales, where 23 cattle and 120 sheep were stolen respectively. Elsewhere, an Ayrshire farmer made an urgent appeal to the public after a lamb was shot and killed by a group of men with an air rifle on Sunday 3 May. The problem is widely recognised by government and the police, and insurers have reported that its the third most costly crime for the farming industry. UPDATE: Drive-by wave parades dont violate coronavirus rules if you stay in cars, dont congregate, N.J. State Police clarifies The New Jersey State Polices superintendent issued a directive to schools over the weekend saying graduation wave parades and other in-person celebrations would violate the states coronavirus lockdown rules and instructed districts to find virtual ways to celebrate. In a letter sent to educators Saturday that is making the rounds on social media, Col. Patrick Callahan wrote that all parades, including wave parades, that invite people to gather at a certain location, run afoul of Gov. Phil Murphys directive that took effect on March 21 and prohibits public gatherings. That led some to raise concerns the letter also prohibited the suddenly popular birthday drive-by celebrations, sometimes led by police and first responders for kids. Similar parades of vehicles have been held outside medical centers to honor frontline workers battling the pandemic. A spokesperson for the state Attorney Generals Office told NJ Advance Media on Sunday that Callahan was not referring to driving past a home and cheering for someone at a residence. Thats not what the letter was talking about, the spokesperson said on Sunday night, explaining that Callahan was cautioning against assembling groups of spectators. Drive-by celebrations for birthdays and other milestones, including somber processions to honor someone who died, have been taking place across the state. For example, in White Township, Warren County on Sunday, dozens of emergency vehicles, fire trucks, and neighbors in private drove past the home of U.S. Navy veteran John Palys on his 100th birthday. Callahan addressed his letter to the state education department Saturday and all public and non-public schools." Callahan listed wave parades among the in-person ceremonies, including proms and graduations, that are prohibited under Murphys order sparking a social media backlash fueled by some Republicans, including Assemblyman Kevin J. Rooney, R-40th District. Governor - folks are in their cars taking responsible safety precautions. Why ban events in the open air that are making New Jersey residents happy in this time of uncertainty. @Testa4Senate @njdotcom @NJGOP https://t.co/vGoAOx47kT Kevin J. Rooney (@KevinJRooney) May 10, 2020 Callahan stressed public health in his letter. While it is recognized that milestones such as graduations deserve the acknowledgement of the school and parent communities, it is critical to understand the need to acknowledge academic achievements in ways that do not compromise or endanger public health during the COVID-19 emergency," Callahan wrote. Murphy has ordered all schools closed through the end of June. Callahans message was attached by the state Department of Education to a letter expressing similar sentiments and sent to local school districts by Assistant Education Commissioner AbdulSaleem Hasan. Since the Executive Orders will remain in effect until further notice, only virtual graduation ceremonies can be planned at this time, Hasan wrote. He provided guidance on virtual graduation ceremonies," with suggestions ranging from streaming a ceremony on the districts website and requesting recorded speeches or messages from celebrities and public figures, to a virtual reality graduation featuring student avatars. We recognize that this sudden disruption to the normal operating procedures could be jarring for school communities at all levels. The resilience and adaptivity required to thrive in the face of unprecedented situations are characteristics embodied by the Class of 2020, Hasan wrote. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobJenningsNJ Kevin Hart shared a post on his Instagram account and revealed that he and Eniko Parrish are expecting a baby girl! Kevin Hart and Eniko Parrish reveal the gender of their baby Hart captioned the series of photos with a Mother's Day greeting to his wife and said that they are thrilled for the arrival of their baby girl. He happily announced that they would soon become a family of six. Hart said that God is unbelievable because he feels blessed for his family. The baby girl is the second child of Kevin and Eniko Hart, and together they share a two-year-old son named Kenzo Kash. Hart also has two older children Heaven, 15, and Hendrix, 12, from his previous relationships. The 40-year-old comedian shared with his 90 million followers photos of his big happy family where Eniko is seen wearing a pink sash to signify the gender of the baby. Parrish also shared an emotional post on her Instagram, saying that God has blessed them with another baby girl even though she felt that they would be having another baby boy. She said she screamed, laughed, and cried when they found out about the baby because the little one in her belly and Kenzo are what she and Kevin have been praying for always. She added that dreams do come true, and she and her husband are filled with so much joy because their little family is growing and is starting to feel complete. Adding to that, she said that soon there would be little ones running around and bossing them. Finally, Eniko Parrish said that she is so anxious to meet her baby girl. Many of the couple's friends commented on their posts. Actress Gabrielle Union congratulated Parrish and greeted her with a happy mother's day. Kevin Hart's co-star in "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" Dwayne Johnson commented jokingly to Kevin, saying that he should not act like Johnson is not Kevin's daddy, then he greeted Parrish a happy Mother's Day. Kevin Hart and Eniko Parrish announced pregnancy On March 24, Kevin Hart and Eniko Parrish announced that they are expecting their second child. Parrish shared a photo of her showing her baby bump with a caption that says she and her husband are counting their blessings during these hard and trying times. She added the hashtag #glowingandgrowing. Hart also shared the same photo adding the hashtags #Harts, #Blessed, #FamilyofSix, and #LiveLoveLaugh. Kevin Hart's changed perspective in life The highest-paid stand-up comedian in 2019, making $59 million, Kevin Hart has been called the "hardest working person in show business." However, he got into a serious car accident in September. Consequently, he suffered from major back injuries. It also changed his perspective on life. He was inspired to spend more time with his family. Now, he sits with the kids before and after dinner, and they are doing taco on Tuesdays, Mexican-food on Thursdays, and Chinese-food on Sundays. Twice a week, they would have movie nights, and now, he is also walking his dog. Kevin Hart shared with Men's Health that the best advice he got about work and life balance is that a person could not be married to career and date his family, so one should make sure to implement the same amount of time and energy to be present for what truly matters. A woman has revealed that the tissue in her breasts started to rot and smell like dying flesh after a disastrous breast reduction. In a preview clip for Monday night's episode of the E! reality series Botched, Esmeralda describes how she was left with a 'hole' in each of her breasts after her doctor spent six months cutting out the necrotizing flesh. 'I've seen a lot of breast reductions, and I've seen a lot of complications from them, but this is the worst complication from a breast reduction I have ever seen,' Dr. Terry Dubrow admits. Scroll down for video Hard to handle: Esmeralda reveals her breasts started to rot and smell like dying flesh after a disastrous breast reduction in a preview clip for Monday night's Botched Necrosis: Esmeralda says that shortly after her surgery she started to smell something rotting through her shirt, and the tissue on her breasts looked like it was dying Yikes: Instead of sending her to a wound care center, Esmeralda explains her doctor spent six months removing the decaying tissue from her breasts During her consultation with Dr. Dubrow and his partner Dr. Paul Nassif, she explains that she decided to have a breast reduction at the age of 18 because her DDD breasts were causing her back pain. Esmeralda, who was joined by her mother and sister, says she started to get alarmed shortly after her surgery when she started to smell something rotting. 'The smell was coming through my shirt. That's when I started to panic,' she recalls. 'I feel like we know what a dead body smells like now.' 'The tissue looked like it was dying,' her mom adds. Esmeralda says her doctor assured her that they 'can fix this,' and each time she saw him, he would cut 'deeper and deeper' into her flesh to remove the dead skin. 'For six months, I would go up to see him up to three times a week just so he could cut off the dead skin until it turned [into] like flesh, open flesh, but it was deep,' she explains. Deformed: The patient says she 'ended up getting one hole in each breast' Expert opinion: Dr. Terry Dubrow admits that this this 'is the worst complication from a breast reduction' he has ever seen 'He never sent you to a wound care center?' Dr. Dubrow asks Esmeralda, who confirmed that her original doctor had only treated her himself. Dr. Dubrow was appalled by her first doctor's lackadaisical approach to removing the dying tissue, saying he had wasted precious time. 'If you have tissue necrosis and tissue loss, and you need to treat it by surgical removal, you have to do it very aggressively and very quickly,' he says in his testimonial. 'Otherwise, if you're behind the 8-ball, the last thing that breast is going to be shaped like, is a billiard ball.' The latest Botched boob job patient comes after another woman appeared on the show to fix her chest, having undergone implant surgery that left her with 'three breasts'. Sandra, a mother-of-three from California, called herself 'the three boobed lady' after botched surgery left her with misshapen breasts, which doctors Dubrow and Nassif were thankfully able to repair during surgery. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said migrant workers coming to the state in huge numbers was a challenge for the government, but it was dealing with the issue effectively by launching a scheme of initiatives for them. The matter was raised by Adityanath when Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a fresh round of consultation with chief ministers on ways to strengthen the COVID-19 containment strategy and stepping up of economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day nationwide lockdown nears an end. "So far, Uttar Pradesh has sent more than 9 lakh workers to home quarantine. Out of this, 7 lakh workers have completed their home quarantine. We are preparing to give them jobs," an official spokesman quoted Adityanath as saying. "In the last four days, more than 3 lakh people have come to Uttar Pradesh through buses and trains. More than 10 lakh people will arrive in the near future. We have brought in labour reforms to employ 20 lakh people in the future," he said. The chief minister informed the prime minister that under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, 2.34 crore farmers have so far received two installments of Rs 2,000 each. "Under the Jan Dhan Yojana, Rs 500 has been deposited twice in the accounts of women. Under the Ujjwala scheme, 1.47 crore people have received LPG cylinders twice," he said. Commenting on the labour reforms adopted by the northern state, Adityanath said, "It was necessary to implement labour reforms. These will be implemented only where new units will be set up. Besides, it will also be applicable in those old units where new labourers are being employed. "The industries located in Green Zone and Orange Zone will be run according to the central government's guidelines, he said. In Uttar Pradesh, the CM said, more than 15 lakh labourers are currently employed. "We have started emergency services in hospitals. Instructions have been given to start emergency services with Ayushman Bharat Scheme in 660 private hospitals all over the state. We have also started telemedicine services, he added. The priest-turned-politician also informed the PM that foodgrains were distributed to 3.32 crore card holders under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana in April. On May 1, foodgrains were distributed to 13.28 crore people on 3.19 crore ration cards. This includes distribution of free foodgrains on 95 lakh ration cards, Adityanath said, citing the works done by the state. He added that two months pension amounting to Rs 871.46 crore was released to a total of 86,71,781 beneficiaries under various pension schemes. In view of COVID-19, complete security arrangements have been ensured to farmers, labourers and employees of mandis, he said. Starting the process of purchasing wheat from April 15, the chief minister said 120.52 lakh quintals of wheat have been procured from 2,26,461 farmers through 5,858 government purchasing centers, adding 41.87 lakh quintal wheat has been procured from the market. Adityanath added that 4.89 lakh stray cattle was protected by operating 5,029 cow protection centers and shelter homes, and supply of fodder for them was ensured in all districts. A total of 2,461 fodder banks have also been established, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Ellen Francis BEIRUT (Reuters) - Ahmad al-Mostafa can't afford milk for his baby daughter. A Syrian refugee, he has barely been able to feed his family since Lebanon sank into economic crisis last year By Ellen Francis BEIRUT (Reuters) - Ahmad al-Mostafa can't afford milk for his baby daughter. A Syrian refugee, he has barely been able to feed his family since Lebanon sank into economic crisis last year. But now, a coronavirus lockdown has made things even worse. "Nobody will hire us anymore," said the 28-year-old, who lost his restaurant job a few months ago. He racked up hundreds of dollars in debt at the local minimarket getting food before the owner said he could borrow no more. "We're afraid of tomorrow," he said. "We don't know what will happen to us." His plight echoes that facing many of the 5.6 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, who had scraped by on meagre daily wages but now find even that is denied them as the coronavirus pandemic forces their host countries into shutdown. Many Lebanese have themselves been hit by a financial crisis that has evaporated jobs and sent prices soaring, and have become less tolerant of the Syrians who have boosted the population by around 1.5 million to some 6 million. 'THEY DON'T HIRE SYRIANS' "Every time I go looking for work, they tell me they don't hire Syrians," said Mostafa, who fled into north Lebanon in 2014. "I'm sitting indoors - and everything is expensive." He can no longer afford diapers, which have doubled in price, and he relies on a charitable neighbour who gets milk for his one-year-old daughter. More refugees say they are worried about starving than about the virus, said Mireille Girard, representative of the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR in Lebanon. In a survey last month, UNHCR found 70% were going hungry, while many could not buy soap. Since Syria's war erupted nine years ago, many have languished in crowded camps where aid workers fear any COVID-19 outbreak would be rapid and lethal. 'NOT A SINGLE PENNY' In Jordan, the Zaatari camp, home to 80,000 Syrian refugees, has been closed off by the authorities during a two-month lockdown, meaning those who used to go out to work on farms every day can no longer do so. Jordan hosts some 900,000 refugees in all, most of whom live outside the camps. Abdullah Aba Zaid, who used to get work picking tomatoes, has had no income for two months. "For the last 10 days, I haven't had a single penny in the house even to pay for bread. I am borrowing from here and there," he said. "Everyone is waiting for God's mercy ... hoping things will improve." But even as businesses return to work after the government eased curbs this week, job losses are on the rise, making more Syrians dependent on already strained aid efforts. UNHCR is getting more calls for help from refugee families who had been largely self-reliant, said Dominik Bartsch, its Jordan representative. Some Syrians said their accumulating debts had forced them to sell U.N. food coupons to pay for rent and basic goods. 'EVERYONE IS HUNGRY' Since Turkey's economy tipped into a brief recession two years ago, the public mood towards Syrians has soured, with some saying they have driven down wages and taken jobs from locals. Many of the three and a half million Syrian refugees work as day labourers in construction and manufacturing, especially textile factories - sectors that have been hard hit by the pandemic curbs. Unlike millions of Turkish workers who lost their wages, Syrians do not benefit from government aid packages but can apply for food aid from local municipalities. Still, many have no basic protection against the virus. One in five does not have access to clean water, said Omar Kadkoy of the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV). "This brings the issue to an alarming level and the government should be acting to contain (it)." In a camp in Lebanon's Bekaa valley, which authorities have sealed off during the lockdown, Younes Hamdou cannot find bread. Clean water is also scarce, illness rife and social distancing nearly impossible. "We are prisoners ... We have no immunity because of the lack of food," he said. "Lebanese people have gone hungry, Syrians have gone hungry. Everyone is hungry." (Writing by Ellen Francis; additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Imad Creidi in Lebanon and Dominic Evans in Istanbul; Editing by Tom Perry and Kevin Liffey) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The pancreas is an abdominal organ that produces digestive enzymes as well as hormones that regulate blood sugar levels. This hormone-producing function is localized to the islets of Langerhans, which constitute clusters of different endocrine cell types. Among those are beta cells, which produce the hormone insulin needed to lower glucose (a type of sugar) levels in our blood, as well as alpha cells, which generate the hormone glucagon in charge of raising glucose levels in the blood. Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the pancreas' insulin-producing beta cells. Regenerative medicine aims to replenish beta cell mass, and thus support and ultimately substitute the current insulin replacement therapies. Alterations to islet composition, including insufficient beta cell function and beta cell dedifferention, also contribute to type II diabetes. Therefore, a deeper understanding of the identity and crosstalk of the different islet cell types leads to a better characterization of both forms of diabetes and may contribute to the development of novel therapeutic concepts. Single-cell transcriptomics is a powerful technique to characterize cellular identity. Previously, CeMM researchers from Christoph Bock's and Stefan Kubicek's groups at CeMM published the first single cell transcriptomes from primary human pancreatic islet cells (EMBO Rep. 2016 Feb 17;(2):178-87. DOI: 10.15252/embr.201540946). Advances in the technology have since enabled its application to the generation of global human and mouse single cell transcriptome atlases. Despite these advances, single cell approaches remain technologically challenging given that the miniscule RNA amount present is entirely used up in the experiment. Therefore, it is essential to ensure the quality and purity of the resulting single cell transcriptomes. CeMM researchers in the two contributing laboratories identified unexpectedly high hormone expression in non-endocrine cell types, both in their own dataset as well as other published single cell studies. They set out to elucidate whether this would be the result of contamination by RNA molecules, for example from dying cells, and how it could be removed to obtain a more reliable dataset. Such contamination seems present in single cell RNA-seq data from most tissues but was most visible in pancreatic islets. Islet endocrine cells are exclusively devoted to the production of single hormones, and insulin in beta cells and glucagon in alpha cells are expressed to higher levels than typical "housekeeping" genes. Thus, redistribution of these transcripts to other cell types was highly pronounced. Based on this observation, their goal was to develop, validate and apply a method to experimentally determine and computationally remove such contamination. In their investigation, CeMM researchers used spiked-in cells from different cell types, both mouse and human samples, that they added to their pancreatic islet samples. Importantly, the transcriptomes of these spike-in cell were fully characterized. This allowed them to control internally and accurately the level of RNA contamination in single cell RNA-seq, giving that the human transcripts detected in the mouse spike-in cells constitute contaminating RNA. In this way, they found that the samples had a contamination level of up to 20%, and were able to define the contamination in each samples. They then developed a novel bioinformatics approach to computationally remove contaminating reads from single cell transcriptomes. Having now obtained a "decontaminated" transcriptome, from which the spurious signal has been removed, they proceeded to characterize how the cellular identity in the different cell types responded to the treatment with three different drugs. They found that a small molecule inhibitor of the transcription factor FOXO1 induces dedifferentiation of both alpha and beta cells. Furthermore, they studied artemether, which had been found to diminish the function of alpha cells and could induce insulin production in both in vivo and in vitro studies (Cell. 2017 Jan 12;168(1-2):86-100.e15. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.11.010). The effects of the drug artemether were species-specific and cell-type-specific. In alpha cells, a fraction of cells increases insulin expression and gain aspects of beta cell identity, both in mouse and human samples. Importantly, researchers found that in human beta cells, there is no significant change in insulin expression, whereas in mouse islets, beta cells reduce their insulin expression and overall beta cell identity. This study is the result of a cross-disciplinary collaboration of the laboratories of Stefan Kubicek and Christoph Bock at CeMM with Patrick Collombat at the Institute of Biology Valrose (France). This is the first study to apply single cell sequencing to analyze dynamic drug response in intact isolated tissue, which benefitted from the high quantitative accuracy of the decontamination method. It provides thus not only a novel method for single-cell decontamination and highly quantitative single-cell analysis of drug responses in intact tissues, but also addresses an important current question in islet cell biology and diabetes research. These findings could open up potential therapeutic avenues to treat Type 1 diabetes in the future. ### The study "Single-cell RNA-seq with spike-in cells enables accurate quantification of cell-specific drug effects in pancreatic islets" was published in Genome Biology on 6 May 2020. DOI: 10.1186/s13059-020-02006-2 Authors: Brenda Marquina-Sanchez*, Nikolaus Fortelny*, Matthias Farlik*, Andhira Vieira, Patrick Collombat, Christoph Bock, Stefan Kubicek * shared first authorships Funding: The study was funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF SRA 201304452). Research in the Kubicek lab is also supported by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs and the National Foundation for Research, Technology, and Development, the Austrian Science Fund (FWF Special Research Program F4701-614 B20) and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon research and innovation programme (ERC-CoG-772437). Brenda Marquina-Sanchez is supported by a Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds PhD fellowship. Christoph Bock and his lab are supported by a New Frontiers Group award of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and by an ERC Starting Grant under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC-StG-679146). Nikolas Fortelny is supported by an Innovation Fund of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IF_2015_36) and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF Special Research Program SFB-F61.02). Stefan Kubicek joined CeMM in August 2010. He obtained an MSc in synthetic organic chemistry from the Vienna University of Technology after writing a diploma thesis at ETH Zurich. For his PhD in Thomas Jenuwein's lab at the IMP in Vienna, he changed fields to molecular biology. He then performed postdoctoral research working on chemical biology with Stuart Schreiber at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Stefan Kubicek heads the chemical screening platform and PLACEBO (Platform Austria for Chemical Biology), a task he is well equipped for based on previous screening experience with Boehringer Ingelheim and at the Broad Institute. Stefan Kubicek has also headed the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Chemical Epigenetics and Antiinfectives, a public-private partnership between CeMM, Boehringer Ingelheim and Haplogen. The Kubicek lab is working on the role of chromatin in the definition of cell types and cell states, particularly chromatin modifying enzymes as synthetic lethal targets in cancer and chemical transdifferentiation to insulin-producing beta cells. In an ERC-funded project, the laboratory is working on metabolic enzymes in the cell's nucleus and testing the hypothesis that small molecule metabolites shape chromatin structure and thus control gene expression and cell identity. Christoph Bock joined CeMM as Principal Investigator in 2012. He pursues interdisciplinary research aimed at understanding the epigenetic and gene-regulatory basis of cancer, and advancing precision medicine with genomics technology. His research group combines experimental biology (high-throughput sequencing, epigenetics, CRISPR screening, synthetic biology) with computer science (bioinformatics, machine learning, artificial intelligence). He is also a guest professor at the Medical University of Vienna, scientific coordinator of the Biomedical Sequencing Facility (BSF) at CeMM, and key researcher at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases. He coordinates an EU Horizon 2020 project on the single-cell analysis of human organoids as a contribution to the Human Cell Atlas. Christoph Bock is an elected member of the Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and has received major research awards, including the Max Planck Society's Otto Hahn Medal (2009), an ERC Starting Grant (2016-2021), and the Overton Prize of the International Society of Computational Biology (2017). The mission of CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences is to achieve maximum scientific innovation in molecular medicine to improve healthcare. At CeMM, an international and creative team of scientists and medical doctors pursues free-minded basic life science research in a large and vibrant hospital environment of outstanding medical tradition and practice. CeMM's research is based on post-genomic technologies and focuses on societally important diseases, such as immune disorders and infections, cancer and metabolic disorders. CeMM operates in a unique mode of super-cooperation, connecting biology with medicine, experiments with computation, discovery with translation, and science with society and the arts. The goal of CeMM is to pioneer the science that nurtures the precise, personalized, predictive and preventive medicine of the future. CeMM trains a modern blend of biomedical scientists and is located at the campus of the General Hospital and the Medical University of Vienna. http://www.cemm.oeaw.ac.at William Donald Brock, 93, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was born on September 24, 1926, and answered the call of Jesus and said, Im ready, on May 7, 2020, while under the care of Hearth Hospice at home. Preceding him in death were his parents, A.W. and Arizona Brock, as well as two brothers, two sisters and his first wife, Genell. He is survived by his wife, Judy Brock, son, William (Donny) Brock, Jr. and his wife Terry; granddaughter, Heather (Eric) McDaniel, two great-grandsons, Evan and Will, two stepsons, Phillip Woodall, Gary (Susan) Woodall, four step-granddaughters, and seven step-great-grandchildren, two brothers, Tom Brock and Charles (Gerry) Brock along with several nieces, nephews, and cousins. For over 50 years he was a member of Edgewood Baptist Church, where he served as a deacon, Boy Scout leader, sang in the choir and formed a male quartet, which he dearly loved and enjoyed, he also held various other positions while there. He left to attend Terra Vista Baptist Church, where he became a member. Don volunteered for the U.S. Navy in 1944 during World War II through 1946, and extended his time in the Navy long enough to go to the Bikini Atoll for the 1st and 2nd atomic bomb tests in peacetime. He worked for National Funeral Home from 1943-1953, now Chattanooga Funeral Home. He retired from Chattanooga Fire Department as Captain in 1983 after 27 years of service, then went to the Red Bank Fire Dept. as Chaplain and left in 2010 after 27 years, due to the onset of Alzheimers disease. Don was also involved with several local lodges, including 32 Degree Mason and lifetime Shriners member. The family would like to extend heartfelt thanks to the Hospice workers, Nurse Amanda, CNA Jessica for their wonderful care and assistance during Dons illness. A special thanks also to a very special family friend, Ernie and Todd Warrick, Darrell Petty, Miss Renea, Lester Lewis and lastly to Dr. Mark E. Heinsohn for the great years of care for his patient he nicknamed, his nuclear patient. Funeral services will be held at 11:30 am, Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at Chattanooga Funeral Home, East Chapel, with Rev. Jeff Howell officiating. Burial will follow after the service at National Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 4-8 pm, Tuesday, May 12, 2020. The funeral home strongly recommends social distancing during this time because of the national health crisis. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the following in Mr. Brocks memory: Hearth Hospice, Local Alzheimers Association, and Chattanooga Heart Institute. Jihadists attacked three villages in western Niger, near its border with Mali, killing at least 20 people, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The gunmen staged the attacks Saturday in the Anzourou area, shooting at residents, robbing shops and taking food and cattle, the ministry said. They were on motorcycles and after the attacks withdrew toward Mali, it said. The attacks come as COVID-19 spreads in the West African nation. Niger on Monday has recorded 821 cases, including 46 deaths and 624 recoveries. Extremism has grown in West Africa's Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert, with attacks increasing near the borders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, where many jihadists linked to al-Qaida or the Islamic State groups operate. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In 1911, the U.S. government broke up Standard Oil, because it recognized that one company controlling 90 percent of the market was not a free market. Eight years later, the Texas Legislature recognized the potential for oil being produced in excess of market demand, leaders realized how harmful that could be to the industry and economy, and they outlawed it. Texas law defines that as waste and it charges the Railroad Commission of Texas with preventing that waste. Those laws are still on the books today. They knew the free market works, but they also recognized that government must take steps to protect that market from extraordinary circumstances. In the wake of the largest oil market disruption in human history, there have been strong opinions regarding how best to respond. As the world went from producing and consuming around 100 million barrels per day (mbpd) to still producing 100 mbpd but only consuming 70 mbpd, it sent shockwaves through the markets the likes of which have never been seen (e.g. oil trading at a negative value). Oil storage facilities are filling up everywhere. Tankers full of oil are being parked off the coasts. The RRC has received requests from multiple midstream companies to store oil in pipelines. Soon, there may be nowhere for US produced crudes to go. In response to the demand destruction and the global oversupply, operators asked the RRC to restrain production to prolong the filling of storage. The hope was that demand would return before the entire Texas energy industry was wiped out from unprecedented low pricing and lack of infrastructure. As one of three statewide elected officials charged with leading the RRC, I believed it was important to take the request seriously and to determine the magnitude of waste occurring and what, if anything, the RRC might do to prevent it. My mission has been to exercise the duties delegated under state law and ensure that the energy industry survives to keep Texas and the U.S. energy-strong. I believed that Texas acting alone couldnt do that, which is why I have only advocated for Texas reductions if other states and nations participated. No one acting alone can solve a 30mbpd global oversupply. OPEC+ cant do it alone, the G-20 cant do it alone, the free market cant do it alone. But if someone had led an international effort six weeks ago to slow down production, storage could have remained available and mass shut-ins in oil fields across Texas could have been avoided. Now, its too late. Has there been waste that the RRC is charged with preventing? Absolutely. One could start with the differential between Brent and WTI, net to producer. That number has ranged between $5 and $15 in the past few weeks. If we use an average of $10 per barrel, at 5 million barrels per day, there will have been $1.3 billion in waste over a 30-day span. When you add in the non-COVID-19 value of that crude oil (say $50 per barrel), and the long-term destruction of oil production in the U.S., the jobs, and the future purchase of more barrels from overseas, the waste could easily exceed $100 billion. We should have analyzed that. Instead, the discussion at the RRC devolved into a philosophical free market discussion versus a fact-based, data-driven discussion. I worked to focus on the data, follow the law, and quantify the reality of hundreds of thousands of Texas energy workers losing their jobs and businesses. Political groups, representing oil interests from all over the world worked to keep the debate from even happening. The same free market politicians arguing against proration want the federal government to turn Saudi oil tankers around. And they want special loans for the oil industry. And certain oil companies want the government to provide storage and waive rules and help keeping leases, and to stop paying royalties and on and on and on. These are all requests for the government to intervene in the free market. If everyone were intellectually honest they would admit government needs to act to save domestic energy production; the only question is which government and how should they act to best accomplish that goal. Everyone says that businesses respond faster than government. People are pointing to the wells around the country that are already being shut-in and saying, See, we didnt need you to tell us to restrict production. Its true that this distorted market is working, and oil is shutting down. In Mid-May or early June when storage is full and some companies are forced to shut in all of their wells while larger ones continue to operate, it will be a sad time in Texas history. Most economists are now projecting that after our economy begins to run again, there will be an initial jump up in oil demand, before the market settles between 90 and 95mbpd of demand, five to 10 mbpd less than pre COVID-19. Supply will match that demand, and the world will cut production. But where will the supply reduction come from? It looks like most of those losses will come from the United States. Between the rapid decline of shale wells, the massive number of bankruptcies and layoffs, and lack of government support, our energy industry will struggle to compete with overseas national oil companies who are larger and have the backing of their governments. Are we OK with the U.S. oil industry being decimated while the rest of the world survives? When oil prices go back up to $80 per barrel in three or four years, but much more of that money is going overseas, will we accept that it was just the free market? If not, the question is, Why didnt we do something? Because we didnt do the work, we wont have an answer. In short, I am not disappointed that we did not prorate. I am disappointed that we didnt do our job. Mumbai, May 11 : Presenting a grim overview of the future of academics in the post-lockdown era, Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh on Monday called upon parents to be prepared for "blended learning" as a future form of education. "Eduation will be online and offline - a mix of both. Its now going to be 'blended' and will stay that way," said Ghosh, in an online lecture organised by Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai to mark the National Technology Day. The country will have to live with Covid-19 for the next few months, maybe one or two years and people will have to brace for the change, she said, discussing 'IT: In service of Indians for Rebooting Life & Livelihood during and after Covid times'. Ghosh pointed at how - during the Covid pandemic - it is the 'Digital Warriors' or those working the information technology and telecom sectors who are keeping "the world going" during the lockdown. "The emerging fields are cyber security, data analytics, artificial intelligence, robotics, coding, etc and online learning will be a major thing," she said. According to her, the travel and tourism sector that was fully dependent on the IT sector has taken a severe blow, but health, telemedicine and online education would be the new priority sectors. Ghosh urged the people to look at positives amid the negatives and don't allow the present crisis to go waste by adapting to change and adopting a new normal in which humans and machines will combine to bring in the change and the new normal. Citing Grace Hopper, one of the pioneers of computer programming, she said: "She was a woman of many firsts, due in large part to her belief that 'because we have always done it that way is not a valid excuse'." An eight-year-old boy fatally shot his brother during a struggle over their fathers gun. According to the police, the suspect pulled the trigger of the single barrel gun he didnt know was loaded. The incident happened Saturday, at a rural home at Manso/Datano in the Amansie South District of the Ashanti Region. Emmanuel Akpah and his deceased brother, Sylvester Akpah, 7, were both caring for their three-year-old sister at home, after their parents left for the farm at about 07:30am, the police told Dailymailgh.com. Sylvester, who together with his siblings were playing in their parents room, suddenly removed his fathers locally manufactured single barrel gun which was hidden behind a settee and placed it in a compartment of a bed. The two male children then started to struggle over the gun. In the process Emmanuel Akpah accidentally pressed the trigger and the gun fired and landed at the chin of Sylvester Akpah killing him instantly, the police indicated. Police said the three children lived at the home. The father, James Amedzi who is a cocoa farmer is currently being held for interrogation. The police has since taken statement from Emmanuel Akpah. At the time of filing this report, the lifeless body of the deceased had been deposited at the St. Martins Hospital at Manso/Agroyesum for preservation. There is a high incidence of fatal gunshot wounds in children, especially in rural Ghana. Experts believe gun ownership rules in Ghana must be strengthened and safe storage laws must be enacted and enforced, especially in the rural areas. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The mother of a two-year-old boy who lost an eye to a rare form of cancer is urging parents to monitor their children by taking photos with a flash, which provides the first and often only warning sign that a tumour is growing at the back of the eye. Kara Sefo's son Rocky was a 'dream baby' who slept peacefully, played energetically and breastfed without any trouble. So when the events manager from Newcastle, two hours north of Sydney, noticed her four-month-old was developing an occasionally lazy eye in late February 2018, she wasn't overly alarmed. Neither was the doctor she brought him to. But one evening while washing dishes, Ms Sefo, 43, turned and caught a glimpse of a reflective spot that looked like a marble in her son's left eye, and intuition told her that something more sinister was wrong. Two-year-old Rocky Sefo in a photo taken by his mother Kara in March 2020, without flash (left) and with flash (right) - the gleaming reflection in his left eye is a sign of retinoblastoma, a rare childhood cancer that grows at the back of the eye Four months later on Wednesday, 21 June, 2018, Ms Sefo received the devastating news that an early childhood cancer called retinoblastoma was growing behind not one, but both of Rocky's eyes. He was seven-and-a-half months old. The diagnosis was the beginning of an ordeal that started with months of chemo, laser and cryotherapy to rid his tiny body of the disease, and culminated in the removal of Rocky's left eye when he was just two years old in March, 2020. 'He was doing tummy time while I washed the dishes one night, and I remember seeing this spot like a cat's eye or a marble. Looking back, I know now it was the light hitting it [the retinoblastoma],' Ms Sefo told Daily Mail Australia. A chiropractor performing a routine examination on Rocky when he was six-and-a-half months old noticed his lazy eye and suggested Ms Sefo take him to their GP for a check-up. The doctor found nothing untoward but referred Rocky to an ophthalmologist to rule out any underlying issues. Brave Rocky, Ms Sefo calls her 'little champion', in early 2020 after enduring months of chemotherapy injected directly into his eye An ultrasound revealed he had 90 percent vision in his right eye, but only 10 percent in his left where a tumour was growing out of control in the retina, the light-sensing area at the back of the eye. Doctors immediately started Rocky on a six-month treatment plan of chemotherapy to eliminate the disease before it spread to his brain and central nervous system. 'They told us, matter of fact, if that happened, we were going to lose him,' Ms Sefo said. 'I just burst into tears because I think I had known in my gut there was something wrong all along. I remember walking into the oncology ward, seeing all these kids hooked up to tubes and feeling as if I was dreaming.' Rocky and mum Kara in hospital in March 2020 after his eye removal surgery Retinoblastoma is a rare form of cancer that grows at the back of the eye and most commonly affects children under the age of three. The exact causes are still unclear, but doctors know that the cancer is linked to a faulty RB1 gene which can be inherited from one or both parents, or develop independently in the child after birth. Symptoms of retinoblastoma * A pupil that appears white or yellow instead of red when a light is shone into it, like the flash of a camera * A red or painful eye * A swollen eyeball * Cloudiness in the iris (the coloured part of the eye) * Eyes that look 'lazy' or appear to be looking in different directions Source: Children's Cancer Australia Advertisement Rocky is one of roughly 750 Australian children under the age of 14 diagnosed with cancer each year. Symptoms of retinoblastoma wax and wane appearing and then suddenly vanishing - and are easily confused with those of common childhood infections, which makes diagnosis difficult and often leads to long delays in detecting the disease. Long-term survival rates are high for children with retinoblastoma, provided the cancer has not yet spread to the optic nerve and into the brain and spinal cord, which means early detection can make the difference between life and death. A pupil that appears white or yellowish rather than red when a light is shone into it is the most obvious warning sign, which is why Ms Sefo is urging parents to take regular photos of their kids with the flash turned on. A red, painful or swollen eyeball, cloudiness in the iris the coloured part of the eye and eyes that appear to droop or look in different directions are other symptoms of the disease. Rocky in March 2020, shortly before having his left eye removed to eliminate the disease On the day of Rocky's diagnosis, Ms Sefo was overwhelmed with intense stomach pain which she assumed was caused by the stress and anxiety of receiving such earth-shattering news. Feeling so sick she could barely walk, she was taken to the emergency room where doctors discovered her appendix was close to bursting and swiftly removed it. 'It made everything even more difficult because Rocky was starting chemo, and I couldn't even pick him up,' she said. Following six months of chemo, Rocky started less invasive treatment with monthly sessions of laser and cryotherapy to kill stubborn tumours persisting behind his left eye. But by September 2019, the cancer was growing out of control and Rocky was forced to endure another three months of chemotherapy, this time injected directly into his eye. Retinoblastoma explained Retinoblastoma is a rare form of childhood cancer that occurs when abnormal cells in the retina the light-sensing area at the back of the eye grow in an uncontrolled way. It usually occurs in children under the age of three, and can affect one or both eyes. The exact causes are still unclear, but doctors know that the cancer is linked to a faulty RB1 gene which can be inherited from one or both parents, or develop independently in the child after birth. Roughly 750 Australian children between the ages of zero and 14 are diagnosed with cancer each year. Australia has the fifth highest rate of childhood cancer among G20 countries, behind Germany, the US, South Korea and Canada, but survival rates are among the best in the world with an average five-year survival rate of 84 percent. Tumours of the central nervous system primarily brain tumours - account for 39 percent of cancer deaths in children in Australia, followed by leukaemia at 22 percent and neuroblastomas - including retinoblastoma - at 13 percent. Long-term survival rates are high provided the cancer has not yet spread to the optic nerve and into the brain and spinal cord, which means early detection can make the difference between life and death. Source: Children's Cancer Australia Advertisement Ms Sefo and Rocky in hospital in June 2018, just after Rocky's diagnosis and Ms Sefo's appendix removal While the treatment initially appeared to be working, Rocky suddenly stopped responding in February 2020 and doctors were left with no choice but to arrange a surgery to remove the eye in late March. 'We all had a cry, but we tried to think of it as the end of something and a new chapter for Rocky's life,' Ms Sefo said. 'This experience has made me realise that a mother's intuition is so powerful - on some level you just know that something isn't right.' The surgery was 'really stressful' for Ms Sefo and her family, but Rocky, who she calls her 'little champion', simply got on with it. 'The thing that bothered him most about getting his eye removed was the patch he had to wear - then when that was taken off, he was running around like nothing was wrong,' she said. Rocky's cancer journey has taken Ms Sefo on a journey of her own. Rocky immediately after surgery in March 2020. Ms Sefo said his biggest concern was having the bandage removed Rocky with sister Giselle, five, in April 2020 Now a vocal advocate for children's cancer, she took a photo of Rocky with the flash turned on one hour before his eye was removed to raise awareness about retinoblastoma for other Australian families. 'There's a law in California where it's mandatory for every child to have their eyes dilated at six weeks - that's the only way to diagnose this other than the camera flash,' she said. Ms Sefo plans to campaign to enact similar legislation in Australia. 'The test they do in the GPs clinic is just not good enough, something has to change,' she said. 'In the meantime, take a photo with a flash once a month. It's as good a test as any we have right now.' For more information on retinoblastoma and other early childhood cancers, visit Children's Cancer Australia here. The Supreme Court on Monday tasked a high-level committee of civil servants with deciding on the restoration of 4G mobile internet in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), responding to a petition that argued the absence of high-speed connectivity had hindered access to the latest information and advisories about the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. The committee, which will comprise the secretary of the ministry of home affairs, secretary of the ministry of communications and the chief secretary of J&K, was directed to examine the arguments made by the petitioner, Foundation for Media Professionals, which had cited the detrimental effect of restrictions on mobile internet during the pandemic. The Special Committee is directed to examine the contentions of, and the material placed by the petitioners as well as the respondents. The aforesaid Committee must also examine the appropriateness of the alternatives suggested by the petitioners, regarding limiting the restrictions to those areas where it is necessary and the allowing of faster internet (3G or 4G) on a trial basis over certain geographical areas, the bench headed by justice NV Ramana said. The petitioner had approached the top court challenging an order issued by the J&K administration on March 26 restricting the internet data to 2G and called for 4G services to be restored. It claimed that patients, doctors, and the general public of J&K were unable to access the latest information, guidelines, advisories and restrictions related to Covid- 19 because of the restrictions. Severe restrictions on the speed of mobile internet services directly limits the right of the public to know the latest information about the spread of Covid-19, the measures being taken to address it, and the restrictions imposed on the general public, the petition said. The apex court bench, which also comprised justices R Subhash Reddy and BR Gavai, observed that while the court was aware of the difficulties faced by the citizens because of the restrictions, the court will have to balance the rights of citizens with considerations of national security cited by the government. We have already laid down that the fundamental rights of citizens need to be balanced with national security concerns, when the situation so demands. The court thus acknowledged that the restrictive orders do not provide any reasons warranting such restrictions in all the districts while making it clear that the militancy in J&K cannot be disregarded. These competing considerations needs to calibrated in terms of our judgment in the Anuradha Bhasin case, the court said. It was a reference to a judgment passed on January 10 in the Anuradha Bhasin case which held that access to information and the freedom of trade and commerce via the internet were fundamental rights under the Constitution of India. It had, therefore, ordered the central government and J&K administration to periodically review the orders passed to restrict internet services. Towards this end, the court had ordered that orders restricting the internet should be placed before a review committee that provides for adequate procedural and substantive safeguards to ensure that the restrictions are not sweeping in nature. Pursuant to the judgment, the J&K administration had passed various orders gradually lifting the restrictions on internet access in J&K. Orders were passed by the J&K authorities on March 4, 17 and 26 restricting internet speed for mobile data services to 2G. It was the petitioners case that 2G services only permit the sending and receiving of messages (SMSs and MMSs) on the mobile phone and the web browsing speed using 2G was limited. The restriction of mobile internet speed is unreasonable and unconstitutional during the time of a pandemic and consequent lockdown, the petitioner argued. Various public health practitioners, medical professionals, and doctors have repeatedly expressed their concern about wasting precious time trying to download the latest studies, protocols, manuals and advisories on treatment and management of Covid-19. In some cases, doctors are not able to access these resources at all due to the internet speed being too slow to download heavy files, the petition said. The Union territory, in its response, had stated that the right to access internet was not a fundamental right and mobile internet speed had been restricted to 2G in the interests of national security. Protection of the sovereignty and integrity of India and ensuring security of the country are good grounds to reduce the speed of the internet, it said, adding that the restrictions had been placed to ensure that the rights and interests of the citizens were not adversely affected, an affidavit by the J&K administration said. The affidavit was also pointed out that mobile phone services had been restored and restrictions on internet access also progressively lifted. Initial access was restricted to whitelisted sites (approved websites) which had been widened progressively to lifting of all restrictions on social media. Fixed-line Internet connectivity with Mac-binding (can we explain), is available without any speed related restrictions, the affidavit said. Mac-binding may be explained as binding together hardware identification number and IP address so that change in any of the address will block access to the Internet. Advicate Vrinda Grover said: In todays judgment, the Supreme Court has foregrounded the issue of balancing human rights against the interest of national security. This, to my mind, is a departure from the judicial approach in the Anuradha Bhasin judgment, where the Court had foregrounded rights as fundamental and located the power of the State to restrict rights in very limited and restricted situations, and subject to the tests of reasonableness, necessity and proportionality. A Special Committee comprising exclusively of persons from the Executive may tilt the balance further away from rights. Interestingly figures presented by the State show that terrorism and militancy continue even without 4G internet services. The question that confronts us then is for what kind of balancing are inalienable rights like right to healthcare, education and the right to access legal remedies being put in peril. This shift towards rights being subservient to national security and executive determination is worrisome. Criticizing United States President Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in the country, former US President Barack Obama said that the administration's actions as "an absolute chaotic disorder." The former president reportedly said relayed those comments through a private call with people who worked for him in the White House during his presidency. CNN was then able to confirm the searing comments from three former officials in the Obama administration. Obama's comment was the starkest he has ever given about the way Trump and his team handled the deadly pandemic which has already infected millions of Americans and has killed almost 80,000. Obama also noted that the administration's shortcomings regarding the Covid-19 response are the reason why he believes that Joe Biden should defeat Trump in November's election and that Democrats must rally behind him to do so. In addition, during a 30-minute conversation with members of the Obama Alumni Association, Obama said that what is happening in the country is a reminder that in order to fight a global health crisis, strong government leadership is essential. The said call was intended to persuade the former staff of Obama to be more engaged in the presidential campaign of Biden. Obama's comments were first reported by Yahoo News after they were able to obtain an audio recording of the call. Meanwhile, Kayleigh McEnany, the press secretary dismissed Obama's criticism and said that Trump's response, however, unprecedented has saved the lives of Americans. Read also: Trump Reveals Strategy to Ramp Up COVID-19 Testing On the Dropping of Charges Against Michael Flynn On the other hand, the White House refused to respond on Obama's comments on the decision of the Department of Justice to drop charges against Michael Flynn. According to Obama, the decision of Attorney General William Barr to drop Flynn's criminal case puts the US justice system at the edge. He further added that the rule of law in the US is now at risk. It can be recalled that before Trump took office, Obama warned him about Flynn and even raised questions about his relationship with Russia. Obama's harshest criticism on Trump However, Obama's strongest words were reserved on the way the administration handled the current health crisis. In his statement, Obama said that failure in leadership is part of the reason why the response to the crisis has been, in his words, "anemic and spotty." He also said that even with the best governments, the response would have been bad, yet in the US it has become chaotic due to the administration's, " 'what's in it for me' and 'to heck with everybody else" mindset. After officially endorsing Biden and being engaged in his campaign last month, Obama said that he would deeply involve himself in Biden's bid to the presidency. His latest criticisms on the Trump administration also show that he has lost trust in the current administration. Related article: Pres. Donald Trump is Confident Vaccine Will be Developed by End of the Year @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A s Apples WWDC developer conference rolls around each June, students across the world put their heads down and get coding in order to nab one of the companys coveted scholarship spots. Every year, hundreds of students gain a free ticket to WWDC and a place to stay in California during the week-long event as part of the WWDC scholarship programme. The students get a chance to learn more about the famed tech company and how to create apps and services that could one day end up on the App Store. Though things are a little different this year, WWDC 2020 is taking place virtually as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the scholarship programme is still going ahead, with 350 spots up for grabs. Scholars will receive an exclusive WWDC20 jacket and pin set, as well as access to events during the week-long conference. Our student program at WWDC isnt something we check off the list because its something good to do. We do this because we honestly believe in our students and we want to support, encourage and uplift them, explains Esther Hare, who manages the WWDC scholarship programme as part of her role as head of developer marketing at Apple. Hare says its great to get to know the kids who win a spot on the programme, from reading through the submissions to meeting them at the event. Its really meaningful to realise that the next generation is really focused on solving issues with technology. We see so many apps for accessibility; mental health is huge for the student community; [and] peer-to-peer education, kids teaching each other how to code. Its really a motivating, humbling time thats super uplifting. The company also ensures that it keeps in touch with its scholars, such as Londoner Joseph Mambwe, who attended WWDC as a student scholar back in 2015. He was studying manufacturing engineering at Cambridge University at the time and was creating iOS apps in his free time after teaching himself how to code in 2013. After a while, I realised there was a limit to learning on my own and wanted to experience WWDC to enhance my capabilities as an iOS developer through the sessions and workshops, he says. GymStreak founder Joseph Mambwe attended WWDC as a scholar in 2015 (Gymstreak ) / Gymstreak Mambwe created a concept of an indoor navigation app that used hyperlapse imagery to visualise a path through indoor spaces which impressed the Apple team and won him a spot. He says it was amazing to attend the conference. The talks and workshops were incredibly insightful. There were tons of interesting developers from all parts of the planet with inspiring stories. Everybody was so friendly and welcoming, I dont think Ive ever high-fived so much in my life! But the emphasis on attending something like WWDC isnt just about seeing Apple Park up close, its about being able to liaise with developers and learn more about creating apps and services for Apple products, which are used by over one billion people around the world. Understandably, for Mambwe, meeting all these developers was one of the best things about his scholarship. I realised I was limiting myself and that I could be a lot more ambitious both in the technical scope of my projects as well as the sheer scale of my ambition. I realised there is a lot more you can do with just a MacBook and some big ideas, and seeing what other developers have been able to do, by virtue of simply being there with them, I knew I could do it too. Since attending WWDC, Mambwe has since gone on to launch his own app, GymStreak, a fitness app that automatically creates workout plans for you at home or the gym. With nearly 800,000 downloads around the world, GymStreak uses motion capture technology to create and animate 3D models carrying out the exercise which you can view in augmented reality. Create your workout and then the app shows you how to do the moves in AR (GymStreak) / Gymstreak Given that many gyms around the world are closed at the moment, GymStreak is particularly handy for those working out at home. Mambwe wants to build on the motion capture tech the app uses as well as expand its AR capabilities. AR is another tech that Apple is exploring, with the company reportedly working on a pair of AR glasses. I hold the belief that AR tech will change the way we interact with technology and so my ambition is to build into that future [with GymStreak] while still being valuable for users of todays tech, he says. Platforms such as the smartphone were defined by the utility of the applications created for them and I would love to create an app that helps accelerate the adoption of future AR devices." For this years WWDC scholars, students are encouraged to create an interactive scene using Swift Playground, Apples coding language and app, that can be experienced within three minutes. Mambwes advice for those looking to apply? Dont be afraid of expressing big ideas in your submissions. And if you end up going, take full advantage of the opportunity to make connections with the people around you. While kids are at home, I think its more important than ever that they have something to work towards, adds Hare. This challenge gives kids an opportunity to have a focus on things they can contribute to, they can try something new if theyve never applied before. To apply for WWDC20, visit the Swift Student Challenge page on Apples website. Students can apply from the age of 13, as long as they are enrolled at an accredited academic institution or have graduated within the past six months. You have until 7.59am on May 18 to submit a challenge. WWDC 2020 runs from Monday June 22 - to Friday June 26. Catch up on all the headline news at standard.co.uk/WWDC Error. Page cannot be displayed. Please contact your service provider for more details. (25) LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Charles and his wife Camilla have written to Britain's postal workers to thank them for their role in helping families and friends keep in touch during the coronavirus lockdown. Britons have been unable to meet their loved ones for nearly seven weeks as part of government measures to try to control the spread of the virus, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson set to announce only a very limited easing of the lockdown in a televised address later on Sunday LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Charles and his wife Camilla have written to Britain's postal workers to thank them for their role in helping families and friends keep in touch during the coronavirus lockdown. Britons have been unable to meet their loved ones for nearly seven weeks as part of government measures to try to control the spread of the virus, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson set to announce only a very limited easing of the lockdown in a televised address later on Sunday. In a letter addressed to "everyone at Royal Mail" and dated May 5, the heir to the throne and his wife said many people had taken to writing to those from whom they were separated. Royal Mail is a former monopoly that provides letter and parcel deliveries to more than 30 million businesses and households. "The incredible value of what you do has never been more important," the couple said in the letter, which was posted on Twitter by their office on Sunday. "Today, as many people - ourselves included - are obliged to stay at home, Royal Mail plays an absolutely vital role in keeping family and friends in touch with one another. For that we can only say how deeply grateful we are." Signed off with "a big 'thumbs up' from us both", the letter was collected by their local postman Neil from the doorstep of their Scottish residence Birkhall, where Charles recovered after testing positive for coronavirus. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Pravin Char) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Disney World is now only accepting reservations beginning in July 2020. Reservations are currently available for travel dates on July 1 and later, according to Disneys website. Previously, Disney World had stopped accepting reservations before June 1 during the coronavirus closure of the Central Florida theme park. Disney has been closed since mid-March and has not announced any plans for reopening theme parks in Central Florida. Shanghai Disneyland reopened on Monday. Disney is limiting visitor numbers, requiring masks and checking temperatures at the gate. Disney said last week that it will begin a phased reopening of Disney Springs. Disney Springs Vice President Matt Simon posted Thursday on the official Disney Parks Blog that the area will reopen May 20 with enhanced safety measures to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Those measures include increased cleaning procedures, the use of appropriate face coverings by both cast members and guests, limited-contact guest services and additional safety training for cast members. The post didnt say which businesses would open first. Disney's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pamela Hymel gave an update on what people can expect once its other parks, resorts and stores reopen. The company is looking into phased reopening at all locations, whether it be a gradual reopening or partial for certain areas. Hymel said Disney is working to manage guest density and social distancing with not just restaurants and hotels, but queues and ride vehicles. The measure will likely include guest capacity that matches state and federal guidelines to keep visitors and employees safe. Disney is also looking into virtual queues for Disney World and Disneyland with the help of their app. There are calls for all the asylum seekers in a Kerry direct provision centre to be moved to a self-isolating facility in Dublin. It's after a number of organisations, including Amnesty International, called for the closure of the Skellig Star Hotel in Cahersiveen. 24 of the residents have tested positive for Covid-19. Nick Henderson, from the Irish Refugee Council, says there are several reasons it should be closed. "There has been issues with food, issues with people not being able to leave," said Mr Henderson. "Moreover and more worryingly at the moment is that residents received a letter on Thursday or Friday last week extending the so-called quarantine until May 25 and that letter seemed to place responsibility for this extension on the residents themselves." Mr Henderson said all the asylum-seekers should leave immediately. "In the short term, it is possible that they will be moved back to Dublin. Many have already come from there back to Dublin. "They could possibly move to the Citywest complex where they would stay for a period of time. "At Friday's press conference, a representative of the HSE said that that would be possible." WERE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER BUT ARE WE?: A GUAM CASE STUDY Were all in this together is a mantra we hear constantly in this pandemic but it is only partially true. In Australia, Aborigines, the poor, and the homeless that is, those who are less able to self-isolate and survive, are coming off worst. Around the world, the poor, the marginalised, and refugees have higher rates of infection and death. The divisions within capitalism are reproduced in the medical crisis. The same is true in our region where Pacific Islands with the highest rates of infection are all under colonial administration, lacking full control of borders, health budgets, and political governance. The latest developments in Guam illustrate this. One of the US Seventh Fleets largest nuclear-powered aircraft carriers the USS Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Guam in March after visiting Vietnam. By late March, more than 100 sailors had been diagnosed with COVID-19. The warships commanding officer, Captain Brett Crozier, wanted to put nearly 3,000 sailors onshore in order to limit the rate of infection among the 5,000 crew members in the cramped below-deck quarters. The story hit the media and Crozier was sacked. Despite controlling a third of Guams landmass, the US Department of Defense moved the sailors to luxury hotels, angering many residents who wanted them to stay at US military bases. Protests came from indigenous Chamoru people, who make up forty per cent of the population. They pointed out that there are only two civilian hospitals on the atoll. One has fourteen ICU beds, the other even less, while in March there were already 112 COVID-19 cases on this island. This crisis has caused debate and division in the community. Local businesses derive income from sailors and marines on rest and recreation, most Chamoru families have members serving in the US military, and Micronesian culture prides itself on hospitality to visitors. On 1 st April, community organisations wrote to Governor Leon Guerrero saying he must keep in mind that the average sailor aboard the USS Roosevelt is in their early twenties and are not considered an at-risk age group, while our large manamko [elderly] community are the most vulnerable to serious illness or death. A decision to house infected military personnel off-base is one that will impact the health and safety of us all, especially the immuno-compromised and our manamko. Much information in this article came from Coronavirus Carrier by Nic MacLellan in Inside Story, 8 April 2020. For readers interested in developments in the Pacific region, follow articles written by Nic MacLellan. Music over the years has changed and for an artist to be relevant for a long time it doesnt come on a silver platter. While some artistes rely on hits to relevant others also thrive on yearly albums. Some also use features with others also using beefs to be relevant. Relying on hits to be relevant in the industry doesnt come on a silver platter, it takes a lot of hard work analysis to use this method to be relevant. Using Albums is somewhat easy since as a musician your job is to be recording songs and compiling them to make an EP or Album as some call it. The use of beefs is gradually becoming a method used by the artiste to be relevant in the industry. While some use it to be relevant others also use it to revive their dead career. A typical example of an artist who used beef to revive his dead career is Shatta wale and ever since he has remained relevant in the industry. The Ghanaian music industry is male dominant making the females to be somewhat dormant. Although Ghana is blessed with female musicians, they fail to achieve their potential since the spotlight is not thrown on the most at times. As the saying goes, what a man can do, a woman can do better. Female artists are gradually learning from the male artiste over the years. From the composition, collaboration, promotion, and beefs. An artiste worth commending is Sista Afia. Though not old in the industry she has proved to be a versatile and fast learner. Some female artists have been sleeping for a very long time and it took the courage of Sista Afia She took the Ghanaian music industry by surprise with her famous WMT song which brought a lot of attention to her. Not only did it bring attention to her but on the females in the industry. Sista Afia managed to bring the monster out from Ghanas renowned female rappers, Eno Barony and Freda Rhymz. Ghana and the world have witnessed the prowess of Eno Barony with her two hot songs rap goddess and Argument done. With the above analysis can we conclude that Sista Afia resurrected Eno baronys dead career. Watch video below If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Gov. Tom Wolf called out the Pennsylvania counties who declared they are moving to the yellow phase on their own, saying that funding will be withheld from these counties that dont comply. They need to understand the consequences of their cowardly act, Wolf said of the county commissioners who had declared they will reopen. They are engaging in behavior that is both selfish and unsafe, he added. You can watch the livestream here or via a Facebook embed below. May 11 COVID-19 Update Join me for an important update on phased reopenings in Pennsylvania. Posted by Governor Tom Wolf on Monday, May 11, 2020 Wolf said that Pennsylvanians are in the fight for their lives against the virus, saying that those counties planning to move to yellow on their own have surrendered to the enemy. These folks are choosing to desert in the face of the enemy in the middle of a war that we Pennsylvanians are winning and that we must win, Wolf said. Wolf said that he does have the legal authority to stop these counties from moving themselves to the yellow phase. The judiciary has ruled that I do have the ability to do this, he said. He emphasized that discretionary funding from the CARES Act funds will support the counties that adhere to his plan. He added that businesses in those counties would also be at risk at losing their certification from the health department. The reward for desertion cannot be that youre just like everybody else and get get the discretionary funding, Wolf said. Businesses that do follow the whims of local politicians and ignore the law and the welfare of their customers who probably find themselves uninsured, Wolf added. Rep. Flynns remarks Wolf was asked about remarks by Rep. Marty Flynn, who lashed out at anti-Democrat businesses after seeing memes posted by business owners on Saturday. Flynn has since apologized. Wolf said he understood Flynns frustrations. He has worked really hard as so many representatives and senators have worked hard to keep their constituents safe ... and I think he deserves real credit for that, he said. Trump tweets Shortly before Wolfs news conference began, President Donald Trump tweeted his support for the counties that wanted to reopen. I dont know how you stay safe and move quickly, Wolf said when asked about the tweet. He said the state closed down in a staged manner and will reopen in that same staged manner. The irresponsible thing to do, Wolf said, is to just willy nilly go off and pretend that we can wave a magic wand and go back into business and suspend the reality of this virus the surroundings. Conflicting language regarding masking When asked about conflicting language social media cards and the Department of Health website regarding masks being encouraged and not mandatory, Wolf said he wasnt sure what the issue was here. Wolf had previously issued an order saying that masking was mandatory, but social cards issued by the administration and guidance on the Department of Healths website prominently use the word encouraged rather than saying masking was mandatory. If you want to stay safe, you have to wear a mask, pure and simple," Wolf said. "Thats, again, you can take that as something that maybe has force of law. But the real force is that virus thats out there lurking, waiting for an opportunity to move from one person to another. To the extent that you want to keep that from happening, wear a mask. Calls for Levine to resign When asked about calls to force Health Secretary Rachel Levine to resign, Wolf said he had not yet seen a letter sent by Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) this morning. Weve got to be careful about blaming the messenger, he said. Dr. Levine has done a phenomenal job. BACKGROUND: A number of Pennsylvania counties, including Dauphin, Lebanon and Lancaster, have declared they will decide when theyll reopen and not Wolf. Cumberland County has said it is exploring its options. Many of the counties declaring that they plan to move themselves to the yellow phase still showed having more than 50 cases per 100,000 people over a two-week period as of Sunday, one of the metrics being used determine which counties are reopening. (Click here if you cannot see the map embed below) Other counties stating they are planning to move to yellow include Berks, Franklin and Schuylkill. MORE: Making a go of it: Area restaurant owners staying open (carefully) during coronavirus In-person Catholic Mass may resume Sunday at Harrisburg Diocese churches in yellow counties What does the future of restaurants look like as Pa. eases guidelines? Williams Grove Flea Market reopens despite coronavirus restrictions: 'Its my only source of income Workers in Pennsylvania with preexisting health conditions fear a call to return to work Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India on charges over the nearly USD 2 billion PNB fraud and money laundering case, appeared via videolink before a UK court on the first day of his five-day extradition trial on Monday, taking place in a part-remote setting due to the coronavirus lockdown. The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, joined the proceedings via the court's common viewing platform (CVP) at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London dressed formally in a white shirt and black blazer. The hearing got off to a delayed start as officials sorted out technical difficulties of connecting the court room to the prison. Given the social distancing measures being followed by prisons and courts, District Judge Samuel Goozee had conceded that Modi can follow the proceedings via videolink rather than the norm of being produced in person. "It is important that if you have any difficulty with the audio or visual of the proceedings at any time, to let us know immediately, Judge Goozee told Modi, so that he can follow the court proceedings in an open way as per the law. A handful of legal representatives were present in the court room, as previously agreed, with witnesses set to give their evidence via videolink. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), appearing on behalf of the Indian authorities, began by laying out the basis of the Indian government's case. CPS barrister Helen Malcolm appeared via videolink to tell the court that Modi acquired eye watering amounts of money fraudulently from Punjab National Bank (PNB). There is really nothing very complicated about this case. It covers three aspects - the fraud, then laundering of that fraud money and the rotation of goods around the Modi empire, she said. The five-day hearing which started on Monday relates to the Indian government's extradition request certified by the UK government last year. The case has been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and relates to a large-scale fraud upon an Indian PSU through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of understanding (LoUs) and the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. Two additional charges of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death were added on by the CBI and certified earlier this year. CPS barrister Nick Hearn, the co-counsel in the case, told the court at the last hearing in April, held via tele-conference, that the government of India's representatives would be following the proceedings and giving instructions via the court's online common viewing platform, given the COVID-19 related travel restrictions. We have received comprehensive responses in writing from the government of India, which would reduce the likely length of cross-examinations, said Hearn. It was also confirmed that the diamond merchant would not be giving evidence in the case, but his legal team plans to produce around six witnesses, including a jewellery expert as well as judicial and prisons experts. Most of the legal cases in the UK have incorporated videolink and telephonic options where possible amid the social distancing rules in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Modi, whose Wandsworth Prison is considered one of the most over-crowded in England, had made a fifth attempt at bail in the High Court last month, which was rejected as the judge ruled that he continued to pose a flight risk. The jeweller was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard on charges of fraud and money laundering brought by the Indian government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With thousands of migrant workers desperate to return home even by marching on foot, the Maharashtra government has decided not to be harsh with them and let them go on humanitarian ground despite violation of lockdown norms, state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has said. Talking to PTI, Deshmukh said had the train services commenced earlier, as the state government was demanding, the sufferings of labourers would have been much less. "It is true that migrant labourers who are walking back to their home towns hundreds of kilometres away are in a way violating lockdown norms, but we are letting them go on humanitarian ground, Deshmukh said. Last month, hundreds of migrant labourers gathered near Bandra station here, demanding that transportation arrangements be made for them to go back to their native places. Police then baton-charged the workers to disperse them. Deshmukh said the state government earlier tried to be strict, but extension of the lockdown "pushed the migrant labourers to the edge". "They are so desperate to go home that they are ready to even face the wrath of law enforcement agencies. Hence, we decided not to be harsh with them. It is not alone my ministry but the government as a whole is trying to help them, the minister said. "Had the train services commenced earlier, as the Uddhav Thackeray government has been demanding, the sufferings of labourers would have been much less," he said. Deshmukh said there was some communication gap (between the state government and labourers) which could have been corrected earlier. "We never thought the lockdown would get extended for such a long time. We tried to speak to migrant labourers. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also made several appeals, but the migrant workers decided to return home, he said. Deshmukh said the government tried to convince migrant labourers not to leave the state by telling them that some industries have resumed and there would be more relaxations in days to come. "During my visit to temporary shelter homes, a group of workers told me they might come back after Diwali, but now they want to go home, the minister said. They are taking a huge risk by setting off on foot to their native places as they do not have money and resources to complete the journey, he noted. The minister also said the Maharashtra government has borne the cost of transporting 10,000 workers belonging Madhya Pradesh who were in Telangana. "The Telangana government dropped them at the Maharashtra border. Our government provided them shelter and food and later dropped them at the Madhya Pradesh border. The Maharashtra government did not charge anything for it, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said his ministry is committed to destroying all the enemies of the nation including those visible on the borders or invisible ones like the coronavirus. Speaking at an online conference organised to mark National Technology Day, Singh also said India must become self-reliant in military manufacturing and that the government was supporting the domestic defence industry by coming out with a policy framework. "I want to assure my countrymen that the Ministry of Defence is committed to destroying all the enemies of the nation -- whether they are visible enemies on the borders or invisible enemies like the coronavirus," he said. The National Technology Day is observed on May 11 to commemorate the nuclear tests India conducted in Pokhran on this day in 1998 that symbolised achievement of home-grown technologies in critical areas. The Defence Research and Development Organisation has developed more than 50 products in the last three-four months like bio-suit, sanitiser dispenser, PPE kits, etc through its continuous efforts to contribute to the fight against COVID-19," he said. "The indomitable spirit of our defence industry has increased the opportunity for mass production of these high-quality products in record time," Singh added. The defence minister said the government has set new targets and formulated the "right" policy framework to achieve indigenisation in defence production. We always have to keep in mind that there is no alternative to indigenous technology and indigenous manufacture. We will be truly self-reliant only when India succeeds in becoming a net exporter instead of a net importer of technology, he said. At present, India is one of the top importers of military hardware globally. According to a latest report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a leading think-tank on military spending, India's defence expenditure stood at USD 71.1 billion in 2019, which is third highest after the US and China. In 2017, the government came up with an ambitious policy under which select private firms were to be roped in to build key military platforms like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with global defence majors. "Our journey is long, but the important thing is that we have worked on it. We will work continuously to establish India as a defence manufacturing nation," Singh said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A bipartisan group of two dozen U.S. Senators sent a letter to President Trump, urging him to reject the demands of the oil refining industry, which has called for exemptions to biofuel blending requirements. Its the latest chapter in a perennial war between ethanol producers, corn growers, and politicians from the Midwest on the one hand, and oil refiners and their allies from the Gulf Coast and Pennsylvania on the other. The global pandemic and the collapse of oil prices has devastated both sides. Demand for ethanol tracks gasoline consumption, so the steep drop in fuel consumption has hit ethanol producers very hard. But refiners are also curtailing processing and shutting down some facilities temporarily as demand has fallen off of a cliff. In mid-April, a group of five governors from oil-producing states sent a letter to the EPA, asking for waivers from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which requires oil refiners to buy a certain amount of ethanol each year and blend it into the nations fuel mix. The macroeconomic impacts of COVID-19 have resulted in suppressed international demand for refined products, like motor fuels and diesel, wrote Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R), Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon (R) and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D). Requirements to purchase ethanol present[s] a clear threat to the industry under such circumstances, they wrote. Refining runs declined from 15.8 million barrels per day (mb/d) for the week ending on March 20 to 12.45 mb/d in mid-April. [W]e are at a point now where costs must be minimized to keep these vital national security assets operating, Geoff Moody, vice president of government relations at the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, a lobby group for refiners, wrote on the groups website in April. He said there is a need for a waiver from the RFS. Story continues Related: Does Nuclear Power Have A Future? In this zero-sum war between ethanol and refiners, Corn States are pushing back. Support for ethanol has bipartisan support in the Midwest, and writing to President Trump, a group of 24 Senators warned against a waiver. Waiving the RFS would cause further harm to the U.S. economy, especially our most vulnerable rural communities, the letter said. More than 70 corn ethanol facilities, representing 6.1 billion gallons of ethanol, have been idled. Another 70 have curtailed processing rates, according to the Senators. (Click to enlarge) Roughly half of U.S. ethanol production has been idled, taking output down to a record low since the EIA began tracking data back in 2010. Both sides are only months removed from the last fight over waivers, an open wound that was instantly reopened at the onset of the pandemic. The resiliency of Americas renewable fuel industry has already suffered as a result of the EPAs drastic expansion of the small refinery waiver program in recent years, the letter said. In the first few years of the Trump administration, the EPA increased waivers to small refineries, allowing them to get out of blending requirements. The moves are widely seen as causing havoc in ethanol markets, crashing prices for ethanol credits. The waivers incensed farmers and ethanol producers. Related: Shale's Decline Will Make Way For The Next Big Thing in Oil The Trump administration has seesawed back and forth between corn and oil, trying to minimize the outrage from each camp. He threw some bones to Big Corn, such as allowing year-round sales of E15. But he has been unable to find a middle ground, and its not entirely clear if there is a way to please both sides. The issue doesnt receive much mainstream press but could be vitally important to his reelection. Many corn states just so happen to be important Midwest swing states Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, for example. At the same time, the global pandemic and a sudden economic recession (or worse) has scrambled the electoral map. The energy industry is in crisis, and even Texas no longer appears to be a shoo-in for Trump. By Nick Cunningham, Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Read this article on OilPrice.com Mithun Mansinghani, Oklahomas solicitor general, took the opposite view. Oklahoma has jurisdiction over the eastern half of the state because it was never reservation land, he said, and its certainly not reservation land today. Several justices said they were concerned about a decision that would require federal authorities to investigate and prosecute crimes in eastern Oklahoma. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for instance, said she was worried that hundreds of state convictions, many for heinous crimes, would be undone and could require retrials in federal court. Mr. Mansinghani said a ruling for Mr. McGirt could result in the release of more than 3,000 state prisoners and require federal authorities to prosecute about 8,000 felonies annually that would otherwise have been handled by the state. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., noting that 90 percent of the areas residents are not members of the tribe, asked whether business disputes would have to be brought in tribal courts. Justice Elena Kagan asked about adoptions and foster care. This was the courts second attempt to resolve the status of eastern Oklahoma. In November 2018, the justices heard arguments in Sharp v. Murphy, No. 17-1107, which presented the same issue in an appeal from a ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver. That case arose from the prosecution in state court of Patrick Murphy, a Creek Indian, for murdering George Jacobs in rural McIntosh County, in east-central Oklahoma. (Newser) The day before Mother's Day, a Colorado eatery declared on Twitter, "We are standing for America, small businesses, the Constitution and against the overreach of our governor in Colorado!!" On Sunday, it became clear what C&C Coffee and Kitchen in Castle Rock meant: It reopened for dine-in service, in violation of the state's public health order that has kept restaurants limited to delivery and takeout service during the coronavirus pandemic, until at least May 26, per the Denver Post. Video taken by a local reporter shows a packed establishment, with the owner noting that the crowd was "almost double a normal Mother's Day." CBS Denver reports that it doesn't appear anyone in the crowd was wearing masks; the Washington Post says it spotted one. story continues below "It was unbelievable," curbside pickup customer Nick Whitehill tells the Denver Post on how close the customers were to each other, adding that even employees weren't wearing face coverings. He says he's filed a complaint with the local health department. Owner April Arellano had posted on Facebook she'd "go out of business if I don't do something." That since-deleted post also noted for customers: "No mask no problem btw," per the Castle Rock News-Press. A rep for Gov. Jared Polis' office said that restaurants like Arellano's that violate the health order "are not only breaking the law, they are endangering the lives of their staff, customers, and community." A rep for Colorado's health department noted that flouting the order is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $1,000 or up to a year in jail. (In Texas, a salon owner was briefly jailed.) FOSHAN, China, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited ("Bright Scholar," the "Company," "we" or "our") (NYSE: BEDU), a global premier education service company, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 51% equity interests in Linstitute (the "Institute"). Linstitute offers high-quality and outcomes-focused online training services including Academic Olympiad and other world-wide recognized international courses. Since its opening in March 2017, the Institute has helped over 2,000 students with more than 120 Academic Olympiad and international courses through its online platform. The Institute offers a comprehensive selection of academic courses covering Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computing Science and Modeling as well as other services such as summer school application and overseas study counselling. "The adoption of emerging technology has profound impact on education industry and creates huge new opportunities globally for Bright Scholar. This strategic investment expands the offerings of Bright Scholar to online training", said Jerry He, Executive Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bright Scholar. "Accelerating our investment in education technology and broadening of our online offerings will foster continued educator growth and improved student outcomes." About Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited Bright Scholar is a global premier education service company, dedicated to providing quality international education to global students and equipping them with the critical academic foundation and skillsets necessary to succeed in the pursuit of higher education. Bright Scholar also complements its international offerings with Chinese government-mandated curriculum for students who wish to maintain the option of pursuing higher education in China. As of February 29, 2020, Bright Scholar operated 80 schools across ten provinces in China and eight schools overseas, covering the breadth of K-12 academic needs of its students. In the six months ended February 29, 2020, Bright Scholar had an average of 51,879 students enrolled at its schools. Safe Harbor Statement This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company's business plans and development, which can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "aim," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "potential," "continue," "is/are likely to" or other similar expressions. Such statements are based upon management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under law. IR Contact: GCM Strategic Communications Email: [email protected] Media Contact: Email: [email protected] Phone: +86-757-6683-2507 SOURCE Bright Scholar Education Holdings Ltd. Related Links www.brightscholar.com South Africa: Government receives sanitary products donation Government has received menstrual and hygiene products donated as part of COVID-19 social relief measures. Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, together with representatives from Water Aid Southern Africa, United Nations in South Africa, Footprints Foundation, and Langelihle Youth Foundation handed over the menstrual and hygiene products to Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu. The menstrual and hygiene products, including 30 000 sanitary pads, will benefit women and girls in child and youth care centres (CYCC). It will also benefit shelters for victims of crime and gender-based violence (GBV), facilities for persons with disabilities, shelters for the homeless and Thuthuzela Care Centres, as well as girls in communities who are part of some of the programmes implemented by non- government organisations (NGOs). The initiative is also utilised to encourage all sectors of society to play their part in ensuring that menstrual and hygiene products are made available for vulnerable women and girls in indigent households, shelters, informal settlements and quarantine spots during the lockdown period and beyond. Handing over the products to Zulu and Nkoana-Mashabane, on behalf of all the partners during a ceremony held in Pretoria on Monday, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations (UN) in South Africa, Nardos Bekele-Thomas said the UN is pleased with the level of government leadership. Bekele-Thomas was also pleased with the robust and comprehensive health and socio-economic response programmes undertaken. Bekele-Thomas said the UN launched a $136 million South Africa Emergency Flash Appeal on 30 April 2020, which aims to meet the need of nine million South Africans in collaboration with 21 partners. The handover said Bekele-Thomas shows the UNs commitment to ensure that gains made towards the achievement of accessible development goals are not reversed. As a result, the Emergency Appeal supports the existing coordination efforts of government, stakeholders and other partners with the aim to ensure efficient and effective prevention, and response, Bekele-Thomas said. She added that the UN will continue to mobilise resources to significantly contribute to the identified needs. Meanwhile, Nkoana-Mashabane thanked the partners for the donation noting that when events like the COVID-19 pandemic happen, the most affected people are women. We will raise healthy children even post COVID -19. During COVID-19, we will embrace you as our partner; we will grow good partnerships and the whole continent will celebrate, and we will grow together, with the boys and girls, Nkoana-Mashabane said. Zulu said the partnership is a fruitful one. Zulu also reiterated Nkoana-Mashabanes sentiments that women need to benefit from local production of health products. We need to give more respect to people on the ground dealing with these issues on a day to day basis. She further stressed a need for advocacy and education on what it means to go through period cycles, especially as more young girls are starting their periods as early as the age of 11. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-05-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Workers at General Motors in Mexico have been ordered to prepare to return to work on May 18, the same day as in the US and Canada. As the pandemic continues to spread out of control across the three countries, with Mexican hospitals overwhelmed and recording an accelerated increase in deaths, the premature reopening constitutes a death sentence for many at the plants, their families and communities. Workers at the Silao Complex, one of GMs four plants in Mexico, are appealing urgently to organize an international struggle to keep the plants closed. A rank-and-file group called Generating Movement released a statement on Saturday titled, An international call for solidarity and action in support for the workers struggle at General Motors. The statement is directed to government authorities, workers organizations and rights groups, and the media. During the US national strike by GM workers last year, the Generating Movement group, which was organized by workers to oppose the pro-company union affiliated with the gangster-ridden Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), voted to oppose managements demands for speedup and forced overtime to undermine the effects of the US strike. After firing about a dozen outspoken workers at Silao, GM was compelled to shut down the plant during the strike to contain the rebellion. General Motors Medical instructions on sneezing The document warns of the crime that the owners and managers of General Motors are about to commit by forcing our co-workers to return to work on May 18, during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic and May 30 for those co-workers that are most vulnerable. It rejects the safety measures as ineffective, adding, they do little more than take us to the slaughterhouse, as it has occurred at other maquiladora plants in northern Mexico, like Tijuana, Mexicali, Ciudad Juarez and others. In Tijuana, where 68 percent of manufacturing plants remained open at the end of April, the number of official COVID-19 deaths is twice as high as any other municipality in the country, with 255 fatalities as of this writing. The outbreak overwhelmed hospitals, with doctors denouncing to the media that many infected are arriving dead or dying at home, which means that the real death toll is much higher. At two plants operated by Michigan-based auto supplier Lear in Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, as many as 20 workers have died. Lear employs 20,000 workers in Ciudad Juarez where there have been 112 deaths and 474 confirmed cases. The list of demands by the Silao workers includes: no re-opening until it is totally free of danger, the full payment of salaries, an end to ongoing mass firings at the plant, and the re-installation of the victimized workers fired last year. They have also called for free elections to oust the CTM-based union, an end to repressive measures, an hour-long break for lunch and full food allowances to incapacitated workers. We demand that life is prioritized for all of us as employees, workers with full labor rights and as citizens with non-negotiable human rights, the document concludes. Markings outside the 8-speed transmissions assembly line The call is an important development toward organizing an international resistance of the working class against the premature return to work being imposed worldwide. It must be stressed, however, that rank-and-file workers must continue to take their own independent initiative and appeal for common actions among the broadest sections of the working class throughout Mexico and the US and Canada. While they must demand that the corporations and the government take immediate measures to protect their health and safety it would be fatal to rely on the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and his Morena Party. Nor should they look to any section of the trade unions, including those aligned with Morena and the American AFL-CIO unions. All of these institutions are beholden to the giant transnational corporations and the capitalist system, which subordinates every aspect of life, including life itself, to the relentless drive for profit and competition between rival groups of nationally based capitalists for the domination of markets. Rank-and-file safety committees need to be organized independently of the trade unions to ensure that the lives and health of workers and their families take precedence over profit and that this struggle is coordinated across borders to fight transnational corporations, which are backed by the agencies of US imperialism. This fight must be guided by an international socialist perspective, which includes the transformation of the corporations and banks into public enterprises controlled by workers and used to meet human need, not private profit. GM is particularly anxious to restart operations in Silao where workers build its top-selling and highly profitable Silverado and Sierra pickup trucks. With sales plummeting and GM selling $4 billion in bonds to meet expenses, the company and its Wall Street investors want to ramp up production in hopes that the government will subsidize new vehicle sales, if not organize another corporate bailout. On Friday, GM officials told Reuters, There is no confirmed date yet and we will not start until the Economy Ministry confirms the date when we can return to work. Cafeteria at the Silao GM complex An assembly worker, however, shared with the WSWS a text message sent by a supervisor, which says, Let me transmit the information available so far, the re-opening was moved ahead to May 18. This was accompanied by several images by General Motors Medical on how to sneeze properly, not to touch their faces, wear masks and keep social distancing, while pictures were distributed of markings on the floor in the lines at the cafeteria and when entering the plant. According to Reuters, the government is asking automakers to fill out a self-assessment to decide whether the plants can reopen safely. Besides omitting any input by those most affected by the reopening, the government is effectively giving the final say to corporations like GM that have long sacrificed lives for profit, even covering up safety defects in cars that led to several deaths. Days after pressures began from Washington to re-open suppliers to US plants, the AMLO government declared it was preparing a gradual re-opening from May 16 or May 18. The official announcement is expected today. As shown by its orders sent to workers, GM management is confident that it will be able to open officially or through some loophole. AMLOs decree on March 30 ordered all nonessential activities to close with the full payment of salaries until May 30. With no serious enforcement of these measures, hundreds of manufacturing plants remained open across the country, although General Motors closed its Mexican plants on March 23. Along with the other US-based automakers, it was compelled to close earlier fearing that the wave of wildcat strikes across Europe and the US would spread to Mexico and find an internationally united expression. On March 21, the World Socialist Web Site published an earlier appeal by Silao workers to co-workers in the US and Canada for a joint struggle to close the plants in Mexico and protect lives against the pandemic. However, the AMLO government has made clear it will allow companies to impose their will. GM has already used a loophole deliberately provided by AMLO, and sanctioned by the unions, not to pay full salaries during the shutdown. The CTM trade union doesnt support workers, informing us since the shutdown began that they would only pay 55 percent of the salary, explained a GM worker at Silao to the WSWS. We needed full pay so we would not be economically pressured to return to work, which is a risk for us all. Another worker added, The union never intervenes on our behalf but it keeps charging union dues. In fact, the 55 percent is not real, much less arrives. Now and always, we are victims of labor exploitation. Its really urgent [to fight], but people in Mexico are economically strangled to face the consequences of a rebellion to demand what is right. Even more for those who are subject to deductions and their paycheck comes practically at zero. That is why the company offers vacation time so that they receive some cash. Asked about how workers should respond across North America, the first worker said: Through a strike protest to demand no reopening until its safe and the virus has been eradicated. GM stocks have jumped 15 percent since May 1, largely after their announcement of the reopening of plants across the US and Canada on May 18. GM also recorded a $294 million profit during the first quarter of 2020 despite the pandemic. This follows a report in late March that GM had built up about $32 billion in cash. We are aggressively pursuing austerity measures to preserve cash, boasted CEO Mary Barra in a brief at the time in an indication of the job and wage cuts to come. Such cash could provide $195,122 to GMs 164,000 employees worldwide to more than weather the pandemic. The $21.63 million handed to Barra last year as compensation would alone cover the full average salary for all 6,000 workers at the Silao Complex for an entire year. However, GM is not hoarding cash to safeguard its workforce but the profits of the handful of top investors, waiting for the right time to boost its stock prices through handouts like buybacks and dividends. This is only partly why stocks have risen, however. Investors clearly expect that the pandemic crisis and related economic desperation will be used to intensify its ongoing cost-cutting restructuring. In Mexico, this has included layoffs of higher-seniority and injured workers, speed-ups and forced extra time. Last month, GM began a program of mass layoffs and wage cuts as high as 25 percent in Brazil, in collusion with the unions. That is money we deserve since we have given our lives on the assembly lines, with excessive work-days, for those profits, commented a Silao worker. Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan has laid in to Boris Johnsons amended lockdown plans, saying he can see thousands of strangers in the park but not my own sons. The 55-year-old returned to the show on Monday in fiery form after spending last week at home with coronavirus symptoms. Morgan eventually tested negative, and rejoined GMB the day after the prime minister addressed the country with plans to relax lockdown measures. Read more: 'Families face impossible choice': Boris Johnson's new back-to-work rules condemned At the start of the show Morgan said: "I feel extremely frustrated by what I watched last night. itain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson records a televised message to the nation released on May 10, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by No 10 Downing Street via Getty Images) "I don't know where it leaves us and I don't understand the sequence of events here. "Boris Johnson clears 15 minutes of primetime Sunday night television to address the nation. "And you expect when you get that amount of time on a Sunday night at 7 o'clock you would get loads of great detail that clears everything up. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area Explained: Symptoms, latest advice and how it compares to the flu Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain. (ITV) "Instead we got a load of his usual flim-flam, his bluster, his bellicose, fist-pumping rhetoric. But when it gets to the detail, I don't know where it leaves us." Johnsons changes to lockdown were also subject to Morgans criticism on Twitter, where he claimed the new rules make "no sense". So, the Prime Minister is urging millions of non-essential workers to go out to work - but also telling people we still cant see family or friends even if we maintain the same social distancing rules as non-essential workers at work? Makes no sense. Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 10, 2020 He tweeted: "So, the Prime Minister is urging millions of non-essential workers to go out to work - but also telling people we still can't see family or friends even if we maintain the same social distancing rules as non-essential workers at work? Story continues Read more: Piers Morgan in change of heart over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle "Makes no sense. I can drive 100s of miles to sunbathe alongside complete strangers on a beach, maintaining 2m distance but not see my parents? This is ridiculous. "I haven't seen two of my sons for 10 weeks. They live 10 minutes away, next to a large common. Am I allowed to go and see them, if I stay 2 metres away? The answer appears to be no, yet I can see 1000s of strangers a day in my local park if I stay 2m away. "Do I have to get my sons & myself temporary jobs on a building site so I can see them?" Good Morning Britain is on ITV weekdays from 6am. By Trend Nineteen servicemen were killed and 15 others were injured in an accident on the Konarak light support ship during a naval exercise in Oman sea in the southern part of Sistan and Baluchestan province (southeastern Iran), Trend reports citing Islamic Republic of Iran Armys official website. According to report, an accident took place on the Konarak ship during a naval exercise yesterday afternoon. Immediately after the accident, rescue forces arrived at the scene. The Konarak ship was transported to the port for technical research, report said. The exact causes of the accident are being investigated. The ship was reportedly accidentally shot at during a naval exercise, report noted. Diamantaire Nirav Modi would be lodged in barrack number 12 of the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai after being extradited to India to face charges of financial fraud running into thousands of crores, the Westminster Magistrates Court was told on Monday. Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyer Helen Malcolm, who is representing India in the court, informed district judge Samuel Mark Goozee that Modi would be placed in the same jail that was earmarked for businessman Vijay Mallya, who is also facing extradition. Malcolm, who opened the five-day extradition trial with a forensic account of Modis alleged lies and attempts to threaten and bribe witnesses, set out details of the financial fraud that included some officials of a Mumbai branch of the Punjab National Bank (PNB). Modi, 49, listened to the proceedings from the Wandsworth jail via video-link. His lawyer, Claire Montgomery, will open the defence from Tuesday morning, besides presenting witnesses, including expert Alan Mitchell, who deposed in the Mallya case on conditions in Indian prisons. Malcolm cited from named bank officials and cited documents to recount Modis alleged laundering of money and transfer of funds through accounts of members of his family, entities and properties in various countries, including in the United States. According to the CBI, Modi, brother Nehal Modi and two business associates tried to threaten witnesses and destroy evidence, which came to light after nine employees submitted details of how Modi and others took them to Cairo against their will, offered bribes and threatened them. India has submitted a cache of documents to substantiate its request for Modis extradition. The court was told that loans and credit were obtained by Modi and his companies fraudulently and when the fraud was discovered, Modi allegedly began a campaign to intimidate witnesses. Mobile phones and a server were destroyed, Malcolm said. Modi is now the subject of two extradition requests; one processed by the CBI and the other by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The CBI case relates to large-scale fraud upon PNB, through the fraudulent obtaining of Letters of Understanding (LOUs/loan agreements); the ED case relates to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. The second extradition request was made on the basis of two additional offences as part of the CBI case. It was certified by home secretary Priti Patel on February 20 as required under the 1993 India-UK extradition treaty. The additional offences relate to allegations that Modi interfered with the CBI investigation by causing disappearance of evidence and intimidating witnesses (criminal intimidation to cause death). They have not been joined to the CBI case, but will be dealt with at a separate later hearing likely in July, the CPS said. Despite offering to raise the bail security amount to 4 million pounds, UK courts have refused Modi bail on the ground that he posed a flight risk and had the means to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. Businesses worldwide have adjusted their methods of transacting and reaching customers, as lockdowns to contain the coronavirus cause disruptions. VOA's Paul Ndiho spoke with Zimbabwe entrepreneur Ivy Chimbwanda about how she's coping, given the country's difficult environment. We are pleased to recognize Dr. John Christensen as a UroLift Center of Excellence for his commitment to providing consistent care to BPH patients using the UroLift System treatment, said Dave Amerson NeoTract, a wholly owned subsidiary of Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE:TFX) focused on addressing unmet needs in the field of urology, today announced that John Christensen M.D., Illinois Urological Institute in Geneva, IL, has been designated as a UroLift Center of Excellence. The designation recognizes that Dr. Christensen has achieved a high level of training and experience with the UroLift System and demonstrated a commitment to exemplary care for men suffering from symptoms associated with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), also known as enlarged prostate. Recommended for the treatment of BPH in both the American Urological Association and European Association of Urology clinical guidelines, the FDA-cleared Prostatic Urethral Lift procedure using the UroLift System is a proven, minimally invasive technology for treating lower urinary tract symptoms due to BPH. The UroLift permanent implants, delivered during a transurethral outpatient procedure, relieve prostate obstruction and open the urethra directly without cutting, heating, or removing prostate tissue. The UroLift Center of Excellence program is designed to highlight urologists who are committed to educating their patients on BPH and the UroLift System as a treatment option and consistently seek to deliver excellent patient outcomes and experiences. We are pleased to recognize Dr. John Christensen as a UroLift Center of Excellence for his commitment to providing consistent care to BPH patients using the UroLift System treatment, said Dave Amerson, president of the Teleflex Interventional Urology business unit. This achievement has helped many patients experience durable, long-term relief from the burdensome symptoms of BPH while preserving sexual function*1,2. Over 40 million men in the United States are affected by BPH, a condition that occurs when the prostate gland that surrounds the male urethra becomes enlarged with advancing age and begins to obstruct the urinary system. Symptoms of BPH often include interrupted sleep and urinary problems and can cause loss of productivity, depression and decreased quality of life. Medication is often the first-line therapy for enlarged prostate, but relief can be inadequate and temporary. Side effects of medication treatment can include sexual dysfunction, dizziness and headaches, prompting many patients to quit using the drugs. For these patients, the classic alternative is surgery that cuts, heats or removes prostate tissue to open the blocked urethra. While current surgical options can be very effective in relieving symptoms, they can also leave patients with permanent side effects such as urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and retrograde ejaculation. About the UroLift System The FDA-cleared UroLift System is a proven, minimally invasive technology for treating lower urinary tract symptoms due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The UroLift permanent implants, delivered during a minimally invasive transurethral outpatient procedure, relieve prostate obstruction and open the urethra directly without cutting, heating, or removing prostate tissue. Clinical data from a pivotal 206-patient randomized controlled study showed that patients with enlarged prostate receiving UroLift implants reported rapid and durable symptomatic and urinary flow rate improvement without compromising sexual function*1,2. Patients also experienced a significant improvement in quality of life. Over 100,000 men have been treated with the UroLift System in the U.S. Most common adverse events reported include hematuria, dysuria, micturition urgency, pelvic pain, and urge incontinence. Most symptoms were mild to moderate in severity and resolved within two to four weeks after the procedure. The Prostatic Urethral Lift procedure using the UroLift System is recommended for the treatment of BPH in both the American Urological Association and European Association of Urology clinical guidelines. The UroLift System is available in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Canada, Mexico and South Korea. Learn more at http://www.UroLift.com. About NeoTract | Teleflex Interventional Urology A wholly owned subsidiary of Teleflex Incorporated, the Interventional Urology Business Unit is dedicated to developing innovative, minimally invasive and clinically effective devices that address unmet needs in the field of urology. Our initial focus is on improving the standard of care for patients with BPH using the UroLift System, a minimally invasive permanent implant system that treats symptoms while preserving normal sexual function*1,2. Learn more at http://www.NeoTract.com. About Teleflex Incorporated Teleflex is a global provider of medical technologies designed to improve the health and quality of peoples lives. We apply purpose driven innovation a relentless pursuit of identifying unmet clinical needs to benefit patients and healthcare providers. Our portfolio is diverse, with solutions in the fields of vascular and interventional access, surgical, anesthesia, cardiac care, urology, emergency medicine and respiratory care. Teleflex employees worldwide are united in the understanding that what we do every day makes a difference. For more information, please visit http://www.teleflex.com. Teleflex is the home of Arrow, Deknatel, Hudson RCI, LMA, Pilling, Rusch, UroLift and Weck trusted brands united by a common sense of purpose # # # For Teleflex Incorporated: Jake Elguicze, 610.948.2836 Treasurer and Vice President, Investor Relations Media: Nicole Osmer, 650.454.0504 nicole@healthandcommerce.com *No instances of new, sustained erectile or ejaculatory dysfunction 1. Roehrborn, J Urology 2013 LIFT Study 2.McVary, J Sex Med 2016 MAC00968-01 Rev A British Airways planes parked at Heathrow airport. (Frank Augstein/AP) There was nothing positive for airlines in prime minister Boris Johnsons speech on easing the UKs coronavirus restrictions, according to Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways owner IAG (IAG.L). The announcement of a 14-day quarantine period for air travellers is definitely going to make it worse, Walsh said on Monday. Theres nothing positive in anything that I heard the prime minister say yesterday, the airline boss told the Transport Select Committee of the House of Commons. Walsh noted that the group, which also owns Iberia and Aer Lingus, had been hoping to resume flying on a pretty significant basis from July. I think wed have to review that based on what the prime minister said yesterday, Walsh warned. Johnson on Sunday (10 May) confirmed that visitors to the UK will face the quarantine period in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus. READ MORE: Minister says return to work only applies from Wednesday Though he gave no details of when the restrictions are due to take effect, they are expected to come into force at the end of this month. The quarantine period will mean that travellers arriving in the UK by air from anywhere besides France or Ireland will have to self-isolate at a private residence. Despite the fact that there had been some rumours about this quarantine period, I dont think anybody believed that the UK government would actually implement it if they were serious about getting the economy moving again, Walsh told the committee. Industry body Airlines UK warned on Monday that the policy needed a credible exit plan and should be reviewed on a weekly basis. Walsh complained that he did not understand why the UK was not implementing a ban for those who come to the UK by means of transport other than air travel. I dont understand that but maybe the prime minister will be able to clarify the science behind that. It seems strange to me, he said. Walsh said that the groups flight capacity would likely be pretty minimal while the quarantine period is in effect. Story continues Airlines are confronting an unprecedented crisis in coronavirus, and analysts have warned that many more may collapse under the weight of the collapse in demand from travellers. READ MORE: Airline stocks slide on UK quarantine chaos IAG warned last week that it would be 2023 before things returned to normal. Shares in the group fell by almost 5% on Monday. It wont be before 2023 that we get back to the levels of flying that we saw last year in 2019, Walsh said on Monday. Whether that is possible, Walsh said, depended not just on the duration of the coronavirus crisis, but the global recession that is expected to follow. There are some people predicting that it wont be until 2026, so this will be something that we will continue to assess as we monitor the global demand, he said. This article is part of Privacy in the Pandemic, a Future Tense series. In India, the COVID-19 crisis is turning out to be the perfect excuse for the government to consolidate its pre-pandemic surveillance ambitions. Since May 4, as restrictions began to ease, the government has mandated the installation of its contact-tracing smartphone app for anyone who workswhether for the government, a private company, or in the gig economyor uses public transport. Failing to do so is criminal, says the home affairs ministry. (People without smartphones are supposed to report into a toll-free interactive voice response system.) Unsurprisingly, digital rights and civil society organizations are pushing back on the new directive. Advertisement Known as Aarogya Setu, the application came under criticism right from the start for its lack of data protection for users. Aarogya Setu, which is available in 11 languages, has self-assessment tools to check if users may be at risk. It also informs users if they have crossed paths with a COVID-19-positive patient and provides information on self-isolation. The app assures that user information is secure and all data is anonymized, but questions remain about information collection, purpose limitation, and data storage. On May 5, a white-hat hacker named Robert Baptiste even called out the app maker, the National Informatics Centre, over some disturbing privacy violations that could lead to disclosing COVID-19 patient locations. Despite the evidence, the NIC denied that user data was at risk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the point of installation, the app requires users to submit six data points (including name, age, gender, and travel history), which are then exported to an external server. This, says Sidharth Deb of the Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital liberties organization in India, is worrisome.* There is no clarity of who can access the server, no sunset clause (that is, no point at which the data will definitely be deleted), and no transparency about how the data is anonymized. Deb calls it a classic case of technological solutionism, technology deployed without adequate dialogue of whether its, first, efficacious, and second, what the safeguards [are] to ensure that these systems wont be abused. There are already alarming indications of mission creep with Aarogya Setu, which was, at first, voluntary. There are talks of a new fitness-band-like monitoring device that will integrate with the app. Already the app is being used as an e-pass, allowing you to travel (it will reportedly be mandatory for anyone who wishes to fly) and may be linked to telehealth providers. It is likely that new smartphones may come with the app preinstalled. Advertisement There is real danger that Aarogya Setu could be a gateway to nationwide surveillance. National security, personal safety, dispersal of essential services, and now disease surveillancein the past few years, the Indian government has used all of these as pretexts to infringe more and more on privacy. The country has already seen an unbridled drive toward digitalization, automation, and surveillance, and the COVID-19 crisis has added a new layer to this, one that could have far-reaching humanitarian, social, and economic consequences. Advertisement For years, activists have been tussling with the government about a biometric ID project called Aadhaar. This is a unique 12-digit number that the authorities want to assign to every Indian citizen, tied to their fingerprints and retinal scans. Introduced as a tool to weed out illegal subsidy transfers and cut down on corruption, Aadhaar has seen an alarming scope creep. Its now linked, often without consent, to mobile phone connections, bank accounts, income tax identity numbers, pension schemes, passports, electoral IDs, and more. The Aadhaar database is believed to be compromised, resulting in millions of fake accounts, instances of Aadhaar-enabled fraud, misdirection of welfare schemes, and surveillance of specific demographic groups. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party government has also been trying to create a National Register of Citizens, ostensibly to weed out illegal immigrants. But its more alarming when viewed in conjunction with the Citizenship Amendment Act, which passed in late 2019 and was largely seen as anti-Muslim. The act lead to widespread protests around the country, the most famous one being the women-led Shaheen Bagh sit-in in Delhi. The protest and other peaceful demonstrations across the country were cut short by the pandemic. Since then, the government has been using the cover of the lockdown to (illegally) detain several key protesters under allegations of rioting. It is this legacy that makes many worry that COVID-19 tracking measures may morph into surveillance tools of a very different kind. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vidya Subramanian, who works on the sociology of technology at the Centre for Policy Studies at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay says that most people buy the myth that a little bit of data is a small price to pay for safety, however one defines that. These small inroads, then, become forever normal. The public health care crisis is being used to push technological developments that we dont yet know will even work. Thats how you establish an authoritarian regime, [and] really bad practices for exploitative data extraction, she says.* Marginalized populationswomen, LGBTQ people, the poor, sex workers, religious minoritiesfind themselves disproportionately exploited in these systems. There are already signs that Indias race, caste, and religious prejudicesinflamed by the right-wing government and its goal of creating a Hindu nationwill be exacerbated post-COVID-19, creating a perfect playing field for trying out restrictive technologies. Some degree of surveillance may be necessary to contain the pandemic, says Radhika Radhakrishnan of the Internet Democracy Project. But currently, the state is less focused upon surveilling the virus, and more focused upon surveilling the bodies of people. She and others have emphasized that measures like contact tracing cannot be entirely technology driven. It is nonnegotiably critical to have humans in the loop, and to have meaningful alternatives for those who do not have access to technology. Correction, May 11, 2020: This piece originally misspelled Sidharth Debs first name and misgendered Vidya Subramanian. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. Study, which does not include COVD-19 patients, suggests key receptor on surface of cells more diffused in men. The level of a key enzyme used by the new coronavirus to infect cells is higher in mens blood than womens, a new study has found. In most countries, the number of deaths from the new coronavirus among men is higher than women. The discrepancy was first noted in China where the death rates showed that 2.8 percent of men who caught the virus had died, compared with 1.7 percent of women. Italian women died at a death rate of 4.1 percent compared with 7.2 percent for men. In South Korea, about 54 percent of the reported deaths were among men. The study, published on Monday by the European Heart Journal, suggests that the Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a key receptor on the surface of cells which binds to the coronavirus and allows it to enter and infect cells, is more diffused in men than women. Scientists measured ACE2 concentrations in blood samples taken from more than 3,500 heart failure patients, both men and women, from 11 European countries. The study started before the coronavirus outbreak and did not include patients with COVID-19, explained Adriaan Voors, a professor of cardiology at the University Medical Center (UMC) Groningen in The Netherlands, which co-led the study. But when other research began to point to ACE2 as key to the way the new coronavirus gets into cells, Voors and his team saw important overlaps with their study. The journals findings come on top of numerous researches and studies that are trying to explain why men so far seemed more vulnerable to COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, compared with women. While so far there has not been an exhaustive response, doctors suggest that the answer lies in the combination of behavioural, immunological, hormonal and genetic factors. Data collected so far has shown that people consuming more alcohol and tobacco are likely going to suffer to a greater extent the effect of the coronavirus disease. Data gathered in 2015 by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that men drink about five times more alcohol than women. Men are also nearly five times as likely to smoke as women. Another reason that womens immune systems may function differently is because of the extra X chromosome that women have. Women have two X chromosomes (XX) while men only have one (XY), and this is considered relevant to the immune response because a significant number of genes that regulate our immune response are coded on the X chromosome. A high-level digital conference on Rebooting the Economy through Science, Technology and Research Translations (RESTART) will be organised by Technology Development Board (TDB), a statutory body of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Monday to celebrate the National Technology Day. Union Minister for Science & Technology, Health and Family Welfare and Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan would be the Chief Guest for the occasion and will deliver the National Technology Day address. The programme will also include special addresses by Member, Science, NITI Aayog Dr V K Saraswat, Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India, Prof K Vijay Raghavan, Chief Scientist, WHO, Dr Saumya Swaminathan, DST, Secretary Prof Ashutosh Sharma, and a few others. In the Covid-19 crisis, technology has been at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic. As the world adjusts to its new normal, business leaders world over are rethinking and devising new strategies to harness technologies that would help drive resilience and make them emerge from the crisis stronger, the TDB said in a release. Keeping in mind the need of the hour to formulate a comprehensive action plan to reboot the economy, TDB is celebrating National Technology Day, focusing on technological solutions towards that end. These technologies would include, medical technologies, advanced technologies and manufacturing that would prepare India for the post-Covid-19 time, it added. The conference will have technical sessions on Medicines & Medical Technologies; Advanced Materials - New Technology Horizons; Advanced Manufacturing Technologies for Sustainable Future and Global Innovation & Technology Alliance for Global Economic Leadership. TDB, on behalf of the Ministry of Science & Technology, celebrates May 11 every year as National Technology Day to commemorate achievements of innovations and technological excellence in the country. The day has a historical perspective as it was on May 11, 1998, that India achieved a major technological breakthrough by successfully carrying out nuclear tests at Pokhran. Further, the first indigenous aircraft Hansa-3 was test flown at Bangalore on this day; and India also performed successful test firing of the Trishul missile on the same day. Since 1999, the day is being celebrated as National Technology Day. The State Council, China's cabinet, has dispatched a high-level steering group to Sichuan province to guide a campaign that aims to curb the high incidence of deadly forest fires there. Headed by Huang Ming, Party chief of the Ministry of Emergency Management, the group is the first of its kind established for forest and prairie fire control work in a provincial-level region, the ministry said in a news release. Fu Jianhua, deputy director of the office of the State Council's Work Safety Committee, is executive deputy head of the group, which also includes three other senior officials as deputy heads, including Li Shuming, deputy head of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. "The campaign is being launched in response to the urgent demand to address loopholes in forest and prairie fire prevention and control work in Sichuan province," Huang told a conference in Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital, on Thursday. The southwestern province has hit the headlines twice for major deadly forest fires in the past 14 months. In March last year, a forest blaze claimed 31 lives in the province's Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, including 27 firefighters. About a year later, on March 31, another raging forest fire in the prefecture killed 19 people who were fighting it and seriously injured three others. On Thursday, the prefecture's emergency management authority dispatched firefighters to battle another forest fire that started at around 5 pm that day. All of the estimated 800 firefighters dispatched to the site had to leave the front line around lunchtime on Friday because of gusts that made the fire extremely difficult to control. There have been no reports that it has been brought under control. Huang demanded the province "think over the reasons after these bitter lessons" and treat the campaign as an opportunity to effectively enhance its fire prevention and control capabilities to "resolutely eradicate major deadly accidents". "We should always give priority to the safety of people's lives and property and also the safety of firefighters," he said. The three-phase campaign will last for one year. Aside from publicity and education on fire prevention and control from May to July, the province will have to make lists of major safety hazards and outstanding problems found by the authorities and draft rectification plans accordingly, the ministry said. The public can report problems in local forest and prairie fire control work to the steering group by phone, mail or email, it added. Authorities in the province will have to stamp out all the safety hazards and address the problems from September to December. In the following three months, examination and evaluation will be organized to check the rectification results, the ministry said. Peng Qinghua, Party secretary of Sichuan province, said the arrival of the steering group was of "great significance" to the province in promoting its fire prevention and control capabilities and comprehensive rectification of problems. "In strict accordance with the requirements of the steering group", the province will make resolute efforts to address the problems, he said. The United States Supreme Court has transformed the First Amendment which guarantees freedom of speech, religion, press, petition, and assembly into a weapon of the rich and powerful. The new interpretation has thwarted legislative efforts to address the increasing political and economic inequality that afflicts our society. The long-term consequence is a weakening of American democracy. Free speech is a cause traditionally advanced by outsiders, people espousing dissident ideas or supporting social or economic changes. In the 19th century, the principal proponents of free speech were abolitionists who sought to criticise the southern slaveholders attempt to build a pro-slavery antidemocratic state. In his Plea for Free Speech, Frederick Douglass proclaimed that slavery cannot tolerate free speech, and when the anti-lynching advocate Ida Wells founded a newspaper in Memphis, she named it Free Speech, thus maintaining the tradition of making free speech a central part of the struggle for racial justice. This pattern continued into the 20th century. During those years, the principal litigants in First Amendment cases in the US Supreme Court were outsiders such as civil-rights organisations representing minority groups. People and organisations who had very little economic, political, or social power typified free-speech litigants, and their challenges sought to alter the status quo. Free-speech champion Thurgood Marshall and civil-rights activist Daisy Bates visit students at Central High School (Bettmann Archive) As a lawyer, I handled several free-speech cases, and all of them fell into this category. One involved a Wisconsin statute prohibiting state employees from seeking appropriations exceeding the amount of their agencies official budget requests. The statute, known as the gag law, was designed to insulate legislators from requests for appropriations. Lawrence Barnett, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin and the president of his union, challenged the law. Barnett was an outsider, a union activist whose objections leaders in state government had little interest in hearing, but he prevailed in court. A federal judge struck the law down, stating that it prohibited protected speech without an adequate justification. The court has turned the First Amendment into a battering ram against governmental efforts. It has used the amendment to strike down virtually any governmental initiative aimed at assisting people other than the rich and powerful Another instance involved a young African American named Todd Mitchell, whose case wound up in the Supreme Court of the United States. Mitchell argued that the two-year penalty enhancer that he received under the Wisconsin hate crimes law for participating in an assault because of anti-white bias punished his thought in violation of the First Amendment. The enhancer was on top of the two-year sentence Mitchell received for the assault. The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the enhancer, but the US Supreme Court rejected Mitchells First Amendment argument and reinstated it. Mitchell, a black male challenging a criminal statute that was strongly supported by the civil rights establishment as well as by law enforcement, was even more of an outsider than Barnett. First Amendment guarantees equality of status in the field of ideas: Thurgood Marshall (Getty Images) The outsider status of these free-speech litigants is important because it tells us something about the development of the First Amendment. Many claimants not only sought vindication of their right to free speech but also a form of equality, the right to speak on equal terms as other speakers speakers who had greater power and status than they did. They sought what might be called the right to expressive equality, urging courts interpreting the First Amendment to pay attention not only to what they said, but also to the economic, political, and social factors that affected their capacity and that of others to engage in expressive activity. And to some extent they succeeded. In the mid-20th century, in some cases, the Supreme Court recognised that an equality guarantee was implicit in the First Amendment. As Justice Thurgood Marshall put it, the First Amendment guarantees not just freedom of speech but equality of status in the field of ideas. Thurgood Marshall, one of the great champions of free speech, and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court (1967-1991), consistently emphasised that the main purpose of the First Amendment was to ensure that all speakers have roughly equal opportunity to participate in the public sphere. For Marshall, the key to the First Amendment was not formal equality but expressive equality. Marshall came from a less privileged background than most Supreme Court justices and understood that formal guarantees of liberty and equality do not produce anything approaching actual liberty and equality Thus, in the area of campaign finance, for example, Marshall supported limitations on the political spending of the wealthy, both because of the public interest in protecting democracy against the corrupting effect of big money and because allowing unrestricted freedom to the wealthy would drown out other voices and result in a less diverse public debate. Marshall came from a less privileged background than most Supreme Court justices and was personally familiar with the economic disparities in American life. He understood that, in the First Amendment context as well as others, formal guarantees of liberty and equality in conditions of substantive economic inequality do not produce anything approaching actual liberty and equality. Unfortunately, Marshalls influence on the court was never great, and, beginning in the 1970s, the court began to move further and further away from the concept of expressive equality. The court became increasingly conservative and less interested in promoting open public debate that included the voices of outsiders. To some extent, the problem began in 1976, when the court (then led by Warren Burger) decided Buckley v Valeo, the seminal campaign-finance case. Buckley recognised only one government interest important enough to justify imposing limits on the First Amendment right to spend money on elections: the interest in preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption. It stated expressly that the government lacked authority to equalise the relative ability of individuals and groups to influence elections. Decades later, the Roberts Court built on Buckley to interpret the First Amendment so as to make it extremely difficult to prevent the rich and powerful from entirely dominating the public sphere. Recommended UN human rights head in unprecedented action against Indian government In the 1970s and 1980s, the Burger Court and its successor led by William Rehnquist made several other decisions that the Roberts Court relied on to redefine the First Amendment. These included decisions extending First Amendment protection to corporate expenditures on state referenda and to commercial speech such as advertising. Decisions like these laid the groundwork for a new approach to interpreting the First Amendment, an approach that did little for the marginalised and disenfranchised, but provided enormous benefits to corporations and other powerful actors. All that was necessary were Supreme Court justices who wanted to make such a change. And it wasnt very long before such justices came along. George W Bush, whose election as president in 2000 was itself brought about by the court in the infamous Bush v Gore case, was able to nominate both John Roberts, who replaced Rehnquist, and Samuel Alito, who replaced Justice OConnor. Although Rehnquist and OConnor were very conservative, Roberts and Alito are even more so. Al Gore lost the presidency to George W Bush after a court battle (Getty) This brings us to the disturbing story of what the Roberts Court is actually doing to the First Amendment. Probably the best thumbnail description of the courts jurisprudence is Justice Kagans statement that the conservative majority on the court is weaponising the First Amendment. The court has turned the First Amendment into a battering ram against governmental efforts aimed at establishing a less hierarchical and more equal society. Not only has the court totally repudiated Thurgood Marshalls ideal of expressive equality, but it has used the amendment to strike down virtually any governmental initiative aimed at assisting people other than the rich and powerful. Let me provide a few examples. A good place to start is the courts 5-4 decision in Janus v American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. In Janus, the conservative majority reversed a 40-year-old decision that public sector unions could collect fair-share or agency fees from non-members to fund collective bargaining. After all, non-members benefited as much as members from the contracts that the unions negotiated. To justify the reversal, Justice Alito declared that fair-share fees imposed an excessive burden on non-members First Amendment rights. This was so, according to Alito, because all union speech, even collectively bargaining with employers, is fundamentally political. The courts analysis flouted precedent, providing government with considerable power over public-employee speech, and indicated a strong hostility to unions. In a powerful dissent, Justice Kagan wrote that the court had unleashed judges, now and in the future, to intervene in economic and regulatory policy. Janus also reflects the courts powerful animus towards governmental assistance to entities that could challenge political authority. For example, when legislatures enact campaign finance regulations or authorise labour unions to collect a fee from non-members for whom they bargain, they provide more power to those who, as the result of existing economic arrangements, have little. Samuel Alito was nominated as Supreme Court justice by Geroge W Bush, replacing Justice OConnor (Getty) As the legal scholar Jedediah Purdy sees it, the Roberts Court has enlisted the First Amendment in a crusade to prevent government from making these kinds of decisions, with the effect of transferring the allocation of political power from democratic institutions to markets. And while rules made by a democratically elected government are likely to seek to achieve some sort of rough equality, markets have no interest in equality, and market distributions are, in fact, highly unequal. Further, by using the First Amendment to prohibit the exercise of power by democratic institutions and leaving the matter to the private sector, the court enhances the already formidable power of a class consisting of the wealthy. The court tries to convey the impression that its approach is neutral and seeks only to prohibit government from favouring or disfavouring a person or group. The court has made American citizens far less equal in terms of their ability to influence elected officials. Unlike the traditional beneficiaries of the First Amendment, the beneficiaries of the court are the wealthiest people in the country Its opinions striking down campaign finance regulations, for example, liberally use the language of nondiscrimination, as if by treating corporations and the poor the same, it is striking a blow for equality. But a jurisprudence that totally ties the hands of government does no more than assure the persistence of the inequality produced by the market. A segment of the oral argument in Janus illustrates starkly how the Roberts Court has enlisted the First Amendment as a weapon against governmental distribution of political power. Justice Kennedy pressed the unions lawyer to acknowledge that the law requiring payment of fair-share fees increased the ability of the union to engage in expressive activity. When the lawyer conceded the obvious, that the fees increased the unions assets, Kennedy replied, Isnt that the end of the case? making clear that, as he saw it, a law that provided resources that the union could use for advocacy constituted an automatic violation of the First Amendment. The courts weaponisation of the First Amendment has been particularly intense in the area of campaign finance. In 2015 in McCutcheon v FEC, the court rejected, for the seventh consecutive time, a limit on electoral spending on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment. The six cases preceding McCutcheon included the notorious Citizens United decision, which authorised corporations to make unlimited independent election expenditures. In McCutcheon, the court struck down the aggregate contribution limit, which capped the amount that a single donor could give to federal candidates and parties at $123,200 in a single election cycle. In doing so, the court reinforced its view that the First Amendment is an insurmountable constraint on the power of government to limit the campaign spending of the wealthy. Contribution and expenditure limits are not seen as reasonable efforts to equalise the political influence of different classes of people, but illegitimate attempts to suppress the voices of the affluent. The courts campaign finance jurisprudence has led to an enormous increase in spending on elections, most of it coming from the extremely wealthy. The courts judgments have also made American citizens far less equal in terms of their ability to influence the decisions of elected officials. And unlike the traditional beneficiaries of the First Amendment, the beneficiaries of the courts judgments are the wealthiest people in the country. But as Justice Breyer pointed out, the First Amendment does not have to be construed in this extraordinarily individualistic way. Another approach would be to pay attention to the effect of a regulation on the body politic. For example, the reason that we are concerned about corruption, Breyer explains, is not because it is a terrible crime per se but because it undermines our belief in representative government. And when elected officials are selected by and dependent on a small number of affluent people, the same loss of faith occurs. Statutes that impose reasonable limitations on the influence of wealthy people do not violate the First Amendment, they build confidence in the integrity of our electoral institutions and ensure that citizens are an active and important part of the self-governance project that American democracy represents. The court has not only weaponised the First Amendment against the power of government to attempt to equalise political influence but also against its power to regulate the conduct of private-sector actors. This is particularly true when the court sees the regulation as conflicting with an important conservative value, such as corporate power or Christian belief. Consider Sorrell v IMS Health, Inc, which involved a Vermont statute prohibiting pharmacies from selling data regarding prescriptions without the consent of the prescribing physicians. The purposes of the legislation were to protect the privacy of physicians and patients, to protect doctors from being harassed by pharmaceutical company salespersons urging them to make purchases, and to reduce the cost of health care by curbing the disproportionate sale of expensive drugs. The Court once again chose markets over majorities. Further, the speech that the Court presumably protected was not actually speech but the sale of data As the legal scholar Amy Kapczynski explains, the courts conservative majority saw this different treatment not as a rational response to a marketplace structured by forces that give profit-seeking actors particular incentives but as legislative interference with the marketplace. In the Roberts Courts view, the marketplace by definition is a neutral, even benign, space that Vermont was essentially contaminating by discriminating against pharmaceutical marketers. Once again, the court treated government not as an embodiment of the public will but as a coercive force interfering with corporate rights. Put simply, the court once again chose markets over majorities. Further, the speech that the court presumably protected was not actually speech but the sale of data. To the Roberts Court, the First Amendment provides a means of preventing the public from interfering with economic markets. In Burwell v Hobby Lobby, the Roberts Court provided corporations with yet another gift, this one involving their right to be free from a regulation that the corporations owners regard as interfering with their Christian beliefs. While in the hate-crime case, Todd Mitchells objectionable beliefs about Caucasians subjected him to a two-year prison sentence, in Hobby Lobby the companys owners beliefs were held to outweigh the requirement in the Affordable Care Act that health-insurance plans offer their female employees insurance coverage of contraceptives. The courts conservative majority held that a large secular corporation with over 500 stores and 13,000 employees was a person engaged in the exercise of religion within the meaning of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law designed to protect religious liberty and therefore closely related to the First Amendment. The court then went on to say that providing coverage for health benefits to which Hobby Lobbys owners objected constituted an excessive burden on the corporations religious freedom. The United States Supreme Court (AP) Hobby Lobby received a virtually unprecedented religious exemption from a duly enacted statute, an exemption that resulted in significant harm to third parties, the companys female employees, who lost an important benefit. Further, although the Hobby Lobby case involved contraception, the religious rights that the decision protects are arguably much broader. Under the reasoning of Hobby Lobby, corporations could bring religious free exercise challenges to numerous laws protecting workers. Forces on the political and religious right, for example, could argue that minimum-wage laws and collective bargaining violate the teachings of Jesus and the Bible. Thus the Roberts Court has weaponised the First Amendment against a variety of types of laws that it dislikes: laws that attempt to equalise political influence, laws that interfere with the freedom of businesses to operate as they wish, and laws that arguably impinge on a corporation owners Christian beliefs. In the latter connection, I should also mention National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v Becerra, in which the courts conservative majority in essence provided more free-speech rights to opponents of abortion than are available to abortion providers. In a relatively short time, then, the Roberts Court has transformed the First Amendment. The landmark cases that made the First Amendment prominent involved outsiders such as civil-rights activists, public employees, students, and dissidents. Now things have changed dramatically: the Harvard law professor John C Coates IV has shown that First Amendment cases in which businesses are the primary beneficiary have increasingly displaced cases involving individuals. Prior to the 1970s, only expressive businesses challenging laws that directly impeded their core business were able to convince the court to strike down laws on their behalf, whereas other businesses seeking to achieve deregulatory goals generally were not successful. Today, however, the cases in which businesses invoke the First Amendment generally involve plaintiffs who are primarily interested in influencing government or increasing their profits or both. In Sorrell, for example, the plaintiff was not interested in vindicating any expressive interest but simply in making it easier to make money. This is a new phenomenon. Not until relatively recently has the court used the First Amendment to strike down a statute of any type, and not until 1965 did the court rely on the amendment to strike down a federal law. In addition, in cases like Janus, Sorrel, Hobby Lobby, Becerra and others, the Roberts Court has shown how the First Amendment can be used to impede legislation designed to advance social welfare. Freedom of speech, association, and religion were once regarded as effective nonviolent means by which the downtrodden could contest their subordination. But under the current court, First Amendment freedoms have become additional resources available to the wealthy to preserve their advantages. The unhappy performance of the Roberts Court in the First Amendment area is doubly sad because there is so little that can be done about it. Supreme Court justices have life tenure, and, although the justices now on the court have already done much harm, it is only a fraction of what they might do in the future. A longer version of this essay appears in Raritan https://raritanquarterly.rutgers.edu WASHINGTON--Levels of two major air pollutants have been drastically reduced since lockdowns began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a secondary pollutant - ground-level ozone - has increased in China, according to new research. Two new studies in AGU's journal Geophysical Research Letters find nitrogen dioxide pollution over northern China, Western Europe and the U.S. decreased by as much as 60 percent in early 2020 as compared to the same time last year. Nitrogen dioxide is a highly reactive gas produced during combustion that has many harmful effects on the lungs. The gas typically enters the atmosphere through emissions from vehicles, power plants and industrial activities. In addition to nitrogen dioxide, one of the new studies finds particulate matter pollution (particles smaller than 2.5 microns) has decreased by 35 percent in northern China. Particulate matter is composed of solid particles and liquid droplets that are small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and cause damage. The two new papers are part of an ongoing special collection of research in AGU journals related to the current pandemic. Such a significant drop in emissions is unprecedented since air quality monitoring from satellites began in the 1990s, said Jenny Stavrakou, an atmospheric scientist at the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy in Brussels and co-author of one of the papers. The only other comparable events are short-term reductions in China's emissions due to strict regulations during events like the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The improvements in air quality will likely be temporary, but the findings give scientists a glimpse into what air quality could be like in the future as emissions regulations become more stringent, according to the researchers. "Maybe this unintended experiment could be used to understand better the emission regulations," Stavrakou said. "It is some positive news among a very tragic situation." However, the drop in nitrogen dioxide pollution has caused an increase in surface ozone levels in China, according to one of the new studies. Ozone is a secondary pollutant formed when sunlight and high temperature catalyze chemical reactions in the lower atmosphere. Ozone is harmful to humans at ground-level, causing pulmonary and heart disease. In highly polluted areas, particularly in winter, surface ozone can be destroyed by nitrogen oxides, so ozone levels can increase when nitrogen dioxide pollution goes down. As a result, although air quality has largely improved in many regions, surface ozone can still be a problem, according to Guy Brasseur, an atmospheric scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, and lead author of one of the new studies. "It means that by just reducing the [nitrogen dioxide] and the particles, you won't solve the ozone problem," Brasseur said. Worldwide emissions Stavrakou and her colleagues used satellite measurements of air quality to estimate the changes in nitrogen dioxide pollution over the major epicenters of the outbreak: China, South Korea, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Iran and the United States. They found that nitrogen dioxide pollution decreased by an average of 40 percent over Chinese cities and by 20 to 38 percent over Western Europe and the United States during the 2020 lockdown, as compared to the same time in 2019. However, the study found nitrogen dioxide pollution did not decrease over Iran, one of the earliest and hardest-hit countries. The authors suspect this is because complete lockdowns weren't in place until late March and before that, stay-at-home orders were largely ignored. The authors did see a dip in emissions during the Iranian New Year holiday after March 20, but this dip is observed during the celebration every year. Air quality in China The second study looked at air quality changes in northern China where the virus was first reported and where lockdowns have been most strict. Brasseur analyzed levels of nitrogen dioxide and several other types of air pollution measured by 800 ground-level air quality monitoring stations in northern China. Brasseur and his colleague found particulate matter pollution decreased by an average of 35 percent and nitrogen dioxide decreased by an average of 60 percent after the lockdowns began on January 23. However, they found the average surface ozone concentration increased by a factor of 1.5-2 over the same time period. At ground level, ozone forms from complex reactions involving nitrogen dioxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), gases emitted by a variety of household and industrial products, but ozone levels can also be affected by weather conditions and other factors. ### AGU is an international association of more than 60,000 advocates and experts in Earth and space science. Through our initiatives, such as mentoring, professional development and awards, AGU members uphold and foster an inclusive and diverse scientific community. AGU also hosts numerous conferences, including the largest international Earth and space science meeting as well as serving as the leading publisher of the highest quality journals. Fundamental to our mission since our founding in 1919 is to live our values, which we do through our net zero energy building in Washington, D.C. and making the scientific discoveries and research accessible and engaging to all to help protect society and prepare global citizens for the challenges and opportunities ahead. Notes for journalists These two papers are freely available through June 15. Journalists and public information officers (PIOs) can download a PDF copy of the Stavrakou article here and the Brasseur article here. Journalists and PIOs may also request a copy of the final paper by emailing news@agu.org. Please provide your name, the name of your publication and your phone number. Neither the papers nor this press release are under embargo. Stavrakou paper title: "Impact of coronavirus outbreak on NO2 pollution assessed using TROPOMI and OMI observations" Authors: M. Bauwens, S. Compernolle, T. Stavrakou, J.-F. Muller, J. van Gent, J. Vlietinck, Huan Yu: Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Brussels, Belgium; H. Eskes, R. van der A, J. P. Veefkind: Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, Netherlands; P.F. Levelt: Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, Netherlands; Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands; C. Zehner: European Space Agency Centre for Earth Observation, Frascati, Italy. Brasseur paper title: "The Response in Air Quality to the Reduction of Chinese Economic Activities during the COVID-19 Outbreak" Authors: Xiaoqin Shi: Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany; Guy P. Brasseur: Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany; National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, United States; Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China. The following press release and accompanying image are available online at: http://news.agu.org/press-release/covid-19-lockdowns-significantly-impacting-global-air-quality/ AGU contact: Lauren Lipuma, +1 (202) 777-7396, news@agu.org Contact information for the researchers: Jenny Stavrakou, Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Brussels, Belgium: +32 477 067 415 (GMT+2), jenny@aeronomy.be Guy Brasseur, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany: +49 171 287 6106 (GMT+2), brasseur@ucar.edu Jawaharlal Nehru, independence activist and Indias first Prime Minister, once said Every little thing counts in a crisis." Today, as COVID-19 continues to reshape the lives of us all, tools to better support a rapid and ongoing response are being leveraged to provide relief, while delivering on the desire that people have around the globe to donate to organizations that are helping those most in need. Just a short time ago, UNDPs digital giving infrastructure provided for highly-targeted crowdfunding campaigns to help fill funding gaps for specific project-based work, such as the Green Aral Sea campaign in Uzbekistan. Today, as a result of the growing pandemic, UNDPs fundraising platform has been opened wider to support a surge in demand for crowdfunding initiatives that will benefit vulnerable people across the world. In its framework for the immediate response to COVID-19, the United Nations details five key streams, which place communities at the centre of response and recovery. As part of this UNDP has been entrusted as the technical lead of the socio-economic aspect response. Mobilizing fundraising resources to support sustainable human development both globally and locally is an important way to take on this leadership role. Through a range of COVID-19 campaigns, up to 25 initially, UNDP will help mitigate the impacts of economic reversals and widespread loss of income. Similar to our work with Samsung Global Goals, or the web-based game Mission 1.5, todays UNDP toolsets drive collective advocacy via central platforms, while empowering at the community level. By enabling our powerful global network to tap into an equally powerful set of tools, we can best benefit women, vulnerable people, frontline responders, youth, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. This is best achieved when our network is tied together in solidarity in pursuit of a common goal. Initially efforts are focused across the Arab States region with projects carried out by UNDP Offices in Djibouti, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Somalia, State of Palestine, and Syria. The project profiles underscore both the depth of needs across the region and the agility of UNDPs response with local partners. To learn more, follow #TogetherAgainstCOVID19 in social media, visit UNDPs central donation page, read more about the first wave of crowdfunding projects to be carried out by UNDP Offices, or take action to support one of them today. Rajesh Abraham By Express News Service KOCHI: In A quiet move, India has opened commercial operations of national carrier Air India Express, allowing overseas passengers to travel to some of the Gulf countries and Singapore, provided they get the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) clearance and requisite permissions from the destination countries. An Air India Express flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Bahrain scheduled for departure on Monday at 1.00 pm has allowed Bahrain nationals and residents to book tickets. Only Bahraini nationals/citizens and valid resident permit (RP) holders are permitted to enter Bahrain. Passengers travelling from Thiruvananthapuram should cross-check with their respective sponsors to make sure their RP is valid, said an official. We have not made it official and want to check the response in a quiet manner, said the official. When contacted, an Air India Express spokesperson confirmed the development, but added that the travellers will have to get clearance from the MHA and also permission from the destination country before boarding the flights. Its not an easy process. There is a lot of documentation involved, he said, adding that about 20-25 passengers have booked tickets. The airfare for the Gulf sector is priced at `30,000 per ticket. Some travellers have called us to say the ticket prices are on the higher side. But this is not a full-fledged operation and hence the higher price, said the official, who did not wish to be named. Another flight is scheduled for Tuesday to Singapore from Kochi airport. The passengers eligible to travel to Singapore are citizens of that country, permanent residents and long-term pass holders, according to an Air India Express message. Kochi-Singapore bookings are open, the spokesperson confirmed. Official expects restrained resumption of flights An Air India Express flight to Oman from Kochi, which airlifted 13 Omanis on Saturday was perhaps the first official international commercial flight from India after the country shut international air travel for passenger flights on March 22. The flight also had three medical professionals from Kerala. They had to resume duty in the Gulf country and we allowed them to book tickets, an official said. Kapil Kaul, CEO and director of aviation consultancy firm CAPA Advisory, said he expects a very restrained resumption of commercial flights by the Indian government by next week. He said the ongoing flights could be considered only as repatriation flights and not scheduled international flights as the government has not formally approved the resumption of flight operation. Jacksonville Police ARRESTS, CITATIONS Terry L. Fernandes, 44, of 643 S. Fayette St. was arrested at 12:06 p.m. Saturday on a charge of criminal trespassing after police said he went into a business despite being told he was not allowed to be there. THEFTS, BURGLARIES A red bicycle was stolen from a residence in the first block of Fernwood Boulevard about 9:40 p.m. Saturday. OTHER REPORTS Police were called to the area of Doolin Avenue and West Walnut Street at 4:41 p.m. Saturday after a report of a disturbance involving about 20 juveniles fighting. No arrests were made. Compiled by David C.L. Bauer Manushi Chhillar was invited by her alma mater, St. Thomas Girls School, New Delhi, to speak to the current batch of class 11 and 12 science students and address the need to never give up on ones dreams. Given the coronavirus pandemic, this discussion was all the more relevant and important to students who are going to uncertain times due to the lockdown and no visibility of when schools/colleges will commence or for that matter when examinations will be slotted. Manushi has overcome many pressures and challenges to win several milestones including winning back Miss World for India after 17 years. She has accumulated important life experiences and lessons by traveling to and interacting with affected/under-threat communities across the world during her Miss World reign in 2017. The school faculty felt that given her journey, she speaking to the students to speak on this will be apt. Manushi says, It was lovely to see my teachers from school today and interact with my juniors. It was really nostalgic for me and if we werent battling coronavirus, I would have done this in person today! I love my school and my teachers. They have shaped me and Im indebted to them for making my formative years so enjoyable and so enriching. She adds, It was amazing interacting with my juniors. They made me miss school so much today! We discussed how to never give up on our dreams no matter what life poses in front of us. This subject is relevant to all of us, especially today, because life as we have known it is in lockdown but we all need to look forward to it not give up on our dreams and aspirations. Manushi is set to debut in the big-ticket extravaganza Prithviraj, opposite Akshay Kumar. She says, I shared with my juniors how I have handled pressures in my life. I heard them out on what they want to achieve and it was amazing to see how passionate they are about their lives. It was a heart-felt interaction. Orthodox star Amit Rahav wished on-screen wife Shira Haas a happy birthday with a gushing Instagram post on Monday. The Israeli actor, 24, shared two photos of the pair during a break between scenes on the set of the hit show as she turned 25. Captioning the posts, he wrote: 'Happy birthday Shira Haas! Marrying you was the easiest thing Ive ever done.' Cosy costars: Amit Rahav wished his costar Shira Haas, 25, a happy birthday with a gushing post to his Instagram on Monday The first image was a photo-booth snap of the pair, with Shira sporting the buzz cut she was given on the first day of shooting. The second was taken on set with Shira and Amit ssipping iced coffees as they posed for a selfie. Amit wore payo ringlets on the sides of his short cropped hair, a style commonly worn by many Orthodox Jewish men and boys. Payos - Hebrew for sidelocks or sideburns - are worn in accordance with Leviticus 19:27 that states: 'You shall not round off the corners on your head, or destroy the corners of your beard.' Larking around: The first pic was a photo-booth snap of the pair with Shira sporting the buzz cut she was given on the first day of shooting the show He penned: 'Happy birthday Shira Haas! Marrying you was the easiest thing Ive ever done' Amit has won a whole new army of fans for his portrayal of Yanky Shapiro. Last month, he shared a behind-the-scenes glimpse of his transformation into Esty's husband. The actor shared the sped-up clip to Instagram of the makeup artist giving him the hair sported by many Ultra-Orthodox Jews. In the video, Amit can be seen in the makeup chair as the artist clips the glossy payos to each side of his head before blending in where they are attached. New look: Lat month, he shared a behind-the-scenes glimpse of his transformation into Esty's husband The actor went onto praise the artist's work in the caption by explaining the payos were even soaked in oil overnight to give them the perfect glossy effect. After the payos were applied Amit was given a small application of makeup before he looked towards the camera to display the finished style. The post was captioned: 'Shout out to Jens Bartram, the most phenomenal hair and make up artist and my bff on set, who used to soak these beautiful payos each night in a special oil so Ill have the shiniest curlers on screen.' Beloved: The Israeli actor has won a whole new army of fans for his portrayal of the Ultra-Orthodox Jew searching of his fleeing wife Proud: In the caption Amit praised Unorthodox's makeup artists for their work to create Yanky's look, including soaking the payos in oil overnight Transformed: In the video, Amit can be seen in the makeup chair as the artist clips the glossy payos to each side of his head Changing: He then blended in where they had been applied in the clip which was sped up for Amit's fans to watch The four-part series tells the story of a young woman named Esther 'Esty' Shapiro, [Shira Haas] who decides to flee the Hasidic Jewish community in Williamsberg. She flees to start a new life in Berlin, Germany away from her arranged marriage to Yanky, who tries to track her down and win her back. He enlists the help of his rule-breaking and sinister cousin, Moishe Lefkovitch, played by Jeff Wilbusch. The series is loosely based on a true-story memoir Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection Of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman. Traditional: Payos - which is Hebrew for sidelocks or sideburns - are worn by most men and boys in the Orthodox Jewish community Finishing up: After the payos were applied Amit was given a small application of makeup All done: He then looked closer at the camera to display the finished style before heading to set to film another scene MIAMISBURG, Ohio, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Verso Corporation (NYSE: VRS) today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2020. First Quarter 2020 Highlights : Net sales of $471 million , down $168 million compared to first quarter 2019 , down compared to first quarter 2019 Net income of $54 million or $1.52 per diluted share, including $88 million gain on sale of our Androscoggin and Stevens Point mills, compared to net income of $36 million or $1.03 per diluted share in first quarter 2019 or per diluted share, including $88 million gain on sale of our Androscoggin and Stevens Point mills, compared to net income of or per diluted share in first quarter 2019 Adjusted EBITDA of $35 million , versus $69 million in first quarter 2019 Overview "Our top concern during the COVID-19 pandemic is taking necessary precautions to protect the health and safety of our employees, their families, and our communities, while continuing to meet the needs and expectations of our customers, suppliers, business partners and stockholders," said Verso President and Chief Executive Officer Adam St. John. "While the pandemic-related economic slowdown has had minimal impact on our first quarter results, it is starting to put further demand pressure on our graphic papers business. We have not seen similar pressure within our specialty, packaging and pulp business. With Verso's liquidity and healthy balance sheet, we are well positioned to face the market challenges that are ahead of us. Verso has responded quickly by using our manufacturing expertise and flexibility to accelerate product development efforts and make new grades, while trimming and managing capital allocation and reducing operational and corporate costs across the company. We believe these actions, combined with our strong financial position and healthy balance sheet, will help us successfully manage through this crisis and beyond." Results of Operations Comparison of Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 to Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 Three Months Ended March 31, Three Month (Dollars in millions) 2019 2020 $ Change Net sales $ 639 $ 471 $ (168) Costs and expenses: Cost of products sold (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) 549 427 (122) Depreciation and amortization 28 23 (5) Selling, general and administrative expenses 24 27 3 Restructuring charges - 6 6 Other operating (income) expense 1 (88) (89) Operating income 37 76 39 Interest expense 1 - (1) Other (income) expense (1) (4) (3) Income before income taxes 37 80 43 Income tax expense 1 26 25 Net income $ 36 $ 54 $ 18 Comments to Results of Operations - Comparison of Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 to Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 Net sales Net sales in the first quarter of 2020 decreased $168 million, or 26%, compared to the prior year as price/mix was unfavorable and sales volume declined. Total company sales volume was down from 665 thousand tons during the first quarter of 2019, to 554 thousand tons during the first quarter of 2020. Of the 111 thousand ton volume decline, 66 thousand tons were attributable to the closure of the Luke Mill. The remaining volume reduction was due to the continued decline of graphic paper demand and the sale of our Androscoggin and Stevens Point mills during the first quarter of 2020, partially offset by an increase in sales volume of packaging papers and market pulp. Operating income Operating income was $76 million in the first quarter of 2020, an increase of $39 million when compared to operating income of $37 million in the first quarter of 2019. Operating results for the first quarter of 2020 were positively impacted by: Lower input costs of $10 million , driven by lower chemical, energy and purchased pulp costs, partially offset by higher wood costs , driven by lower chemical, energy and purchased pulp costs, partially offset by higher wood costs Lower freight costs of $6 million Lower depreciation expense of $5 million Reduced planned major maintenance costs of $2 million Operating results for the first quarter of 2020 were negatively impacted by: Unfavorable price/mix of $47 million Unfavorable impact of $13 million as a result of lower sales volume driven by a decline in graphic paper sales and the sale of our Androscoggin and Stevens Point mills during the first quarter of 2020, partially offset by an increase in the sales volume of packaging paper and market pulp as a result of lower sales volume driven by a decline in graphic paper sales and the sale of our Androscoggin and Stevens Point mills during the first quarter of 2020, partially offset by an increase in the sales volume of packaging paper and market pulp Higher operating expenses of $3 million driven primarily by market downtime and sell through of higher cost inventory produced in 2019, partially offset by reduced corporate overhead and union ratification expense for signing bonuses and for the settlement of various work arrangement issues in the first quarter of 2019 that did not recur in 2020 driven primarily by market downtime and sell through of higher cost inventory produced in 2019, partially offset by reduced corporate overhead and union ratification expense for signing bonuses and for the settlement of various work arrangement issues in the first quarter of 2019 that did not recur in 2020 Higher Selling, general and administrative costs of $3 million primarily driven by severance costs due to our headcount reduction initiatives and costs associated with the proxy solicitation contest, partially offset by reduced strategic initiative costs and Selling, general and administrative cost reduction initiatives in connection with the sale of our Androscoggin and Stevens Point mills Other impacts to operating results included: Restructuring charges for the first quarter of 2020 increased $6 million compared to the first quarter of 2019 associated with the closure of our Luke Mill in June 2019 compared to the first quarter of 2019 associated with the closure of our Luke Mill in Other operating income for the first quarter of 2020 was favorable $89 million , primarily as a result of the $88 million gain on the sale of our Androscoggin and Stevens Point mills Other income Other income in the first quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2019 included $5 million and $1 million, respectively, associated with the non-operating components of net periodic pension income. Income tax expense Income tax expense of $26 million for the first quarter of 2020 primarily reflects the estimated taxes for the period and $6 million of additional valuation allowance recognized against state tax credits. Income tax expense for the first quarter of 2019 was primarily offset by a reversal of valuation allowance. Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA EBITDA consists of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA reflects adjustments to EBITDA to eliminate the impact of certain items that we do not consider to be indicative of our ongoing performance. We use EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as a way of evaluating our performance relative to that of our peers and to assess compliance with our credit facilities. We believe that EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP operating performance measures commonly used in our industry that provide investors and analysts with measures of ongoing operating results, unaffected by differences in capital structures, capital investment cycles and ages of related assets among otherwise comparable companies. We believe that the supplemental adjustments applied in calculating Adjusted EBITDA are reasonable and appropriate to provide additional information to investors. Because EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not measurements determined in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and are susceptible to varying calculations, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, as presented, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. You should consider our EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, our operating or net income (loss), which are determined in accordance with GAAP. The following table reconciles Net income (loss) to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented: Three Months Ended March 31, (Dollars in millions) 2019 2020 Net income $ 36 $ 54 Income tax expense 1 26 Interest expense 1 - Depreciation and amortization 28 23 EBITDA $ 66 $ 103 Adjustments to EBITDA: Restructuring charges (1) - 6 Luke Mill post-closure costs (2) - 3 Non-cash equity award compensation (3) 2 2 Gain on Sale of the Androscoggin/Stevens Point Mills (4) - (88) (Gain) loss on sale or disposal of assets (5) 1 - Shareholders proxy solicitation costs (6) - 4 Other severance costs (7) - 4 Other items, net (8) - 1 Adjusted EBITDA $ 69 $ 35 (1) Charges are primarily associated with the closure of the Luke Mill. (2) Costs recorded after production ceased at the Luke Mill that are not associated with product sales or restructuring activities. (3) Amortization of non-cash incentive compensation. (4) Gain on the sale of the outstanding membership interests in Verso Androscoggin LLC in February 2020, which included the Androscoggin Mill and Stevens Point Mill. (5) Realized (gain) loss on the sale or disposal of assets. (6) Costs incurred in connection with the shareholders proxy solicitation contest. (7) Severance and related benefit costs not associated with restructuring activities. (8) Other miscellaneous adjustments. About Verso Verso Corporation is the turn-to company for those looking to successfully navigate the complexities of paper sourcing and performance. A leading North American producer of graphic and specialty papers, packaging papers and pulp, Verso provides insightful solutions that help drive improved customer efficiency, productivity, brand awareness and business results. Verso's long-standing reputation for quality and reliability is directly tied to our vision to be a company with passion that is respected and trusted by all. Verso's passion is rooted in ethical business practices that demand safe workplaces for our employees and sustainable wood sourcing for our products. This passion, combined with our flexible manufacturing capabilities and an unmatched commitment to product performance, delivery and service, make Verso a preferred choice among commercial printers, paper merchants and brokers, converters, publishers and other end users. For more information, visit us online at versoco.com. Forward-Looking Statements In this press release, all statements that are not purely historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "plan," "estimate," "intend," "potential" and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on currently available business, economic, financial, and other information and reflect management's current beliefs, expectations, and views with respect to future developments and their potential effects on Verso. Actual results could vary materially depending on risks and uncertainties that may affect Verso and its business. Verso's actual actions and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by these statements due to a variety of factors, including: uncertainties regarding the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures intended to reduce its spread; the long-term structural decline and general softening of demand facing the paper industry; adverse developments in general business and economic conditions; developments in alternative media, which are expected to adversely affect the demand for some of Verso's key products, and the effectiveness of Verso's responses to these developments; intense competition in the paper manufacturing industry; Verso's ability to compete with respect to certain specialty paper products for a period of two years after the closing of the Pixelle Sale; Verso's business being less diversified following the sale of two mills after the closing of the Pixelle Sale; Verso's dependence on a small number of customers for a significant portion of its business; Verso's limited ability to control the pricing of its products or pass through increases in its costs to its customers; changes in the costs of raw materials and purchased energy; negative publicity, even if unjustified; any failure to comply with environmental or other laws or regulations, even if inadvertent; legal proceedings or disputes; any labor disputes; and the potential risks and uncertainties described under the caption "Risk Factors" in Verso's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, Verso's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2020, and from time to time in Verso's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Verso assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement made in this press release to reflect subsequent events or circumstances or actual outcomes. Conference Call Verso will host a conference call and webcast for analysts and investors on Monday, May 11, 2020 at 9 a.m. (EDT) to discuss first quarter 2020 financial results. Analysts and investors may access the live conference call only by dialing 888-317-6003 (U.S. toll-free), 866-284-3684 (Canada toll-free) or 412-317-6061 (international) and referencing elite entry number 0930434 and Verso Corporation. To register, please dial in 10 minutes before the conference call begins. The news release and first quarter 2020 results will be available on Verso's website at http://investor.versoco.com by navigating to the Financial Information page. Analysts and investors may also access the live conference call and webcast by clicking on the event link https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/1524/34541 or by visiting Verso's website at http://investor.versoco.com and navigating to the Events page. Please go to this link at least one hour before the call and follow the instructions to register, download and install any necessary audio/video software. A telephonic replay of the call can be accessed at 877-344-7529 (U.S. toll-free), 855-669-9658 (Canada toll-free) or 412-317-0088 (international), access code 10143497. The replay will be available starting at 11 a.m. (EDT) Monday, May 11, 2020, and will remain available until June 11, 2020. An archive of the conference call and webcast will be available at http://investor.versoco.com starting at 11 a.m. (EDT) Monday, May 11, 2020, and will remain available for 120 days. SOURCE Verso Corporation Related Links http://versoco.com WATERLOO REGION Wearing a mask is an option for people as COVID-19 restrictions begin to be eased in the province, but Waterloo Regions top medical officer warns proper use is essential, otherwise masks can spread the virus. You have to be careful with masks, acting medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said during Mondays regional briefing. You have to be careful it does not lead you to increase the number of times you touch your face, such as to adjust or fiddle with your mask. You need to practise diligent handwashing, before and after manipulating the mask. Wang warned that if people dont follow those rules, then the masks can actually be a source of spread. Wearing a non-medical mask helps contain droplets that spread the virus, similar to coughing into a sleeve or tissue. It can help protect others. But it cannot be relied upon to protect you from COVID-19, Wang said. She stressed masks cannot replace measures put in place to contain the virus, and urges people to continue following those recommendations: avoid gatherings, maintain physical distancing, wash hands diligently, stay at home when feeling sick even if mildly, and limit times going out. People can consider wearing a mask, especially now that there are more people out in the community and it may be difficult to maintain physical distancing. If they find that they could be in those situations, then I recommend that they consider the use of non-medical masks, said Wang, adding that medical-grade masks must be reserved for health-care providers. The advice about wearing fabric masks or face coverings is not new, but Wang said on Monday that she wanted to mention the option because of the easing restrictions in Ontario. I do think it will be important for people to really continue to take the measures that were recommending as were slowly lifting. About two months have passed since public-health measures were put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19, and Wang emphasized that lifting those restrictions must be gradual to avoid suffering greater health and economic impacts, as well as the need to backtrack. Snapshot of COVID-19 in Waterloo Region Updated May 11 940 People who tested positive 103 People who died 57% Cases connected to elderly care 493 People who recovered Source: Region of Waterloo public health Our gains are still precarious. COVID-19 is still a significant threat and if we are not careful cases and outbreaks could rapidly escalate again, she said. That is why as Ontario is very slowly starting to lift restrictions, we need to be very careful and proceed very cautiously. The local public health department is now working to increase contract tracing, which is following up with people who were already infected or exposed. As well, the province is looking into an app. Weve always been doing case and contact management, but we are working to be able to do even more of that as the restrictions start to lift, Wang said. The Monday morning update by public health added eight confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sundays 932 for a total of 940. One more person died to reach 103. Of the current local cases, 493 are resolved and 45 are hospitalized. Eleven per cent of people who tested positive have died. Outbreaks are declared at 12 long-term care and retirement homes across the region up from 10 on Sunday. Public transit Regional council will consider at Wednesdays meeting a staff recommendation to reinstate transit fares on June 1. Free fares on all Grand River Transit services were instituted on April 1 until the end of May. Our plan is to try and get back to fare service, said chief administrative officer Mike Murray. The main reason for free service was the move to rear-door boarding to ensure a safe environment for both passengers and operators, but other measures are being put in place to allow safe front-door boarding again. Were now able to collect fares on the buses, Murray said. The other reason was in recognition of a challenging fiscal time for many, but now there is a gradual reopening of the economy and some retail. Murray said the two months of free service was a helpful gesture appropriate in the circumstances. Its appropriate to find an exit strategy from that, Murray said. Mumbai, May 11 : Popular Marathi actress Sayali Sanjeev is eagerly waiting for her next release, "Goshta Eka Paithanichi". For Sayali, it is more than a film. "Every time someone goes to act, they always envision a certain role they would want to be a part of. With 'Paithanichi' it will always be one of my dream roles as it has so many shades of a woman in it, be it emotional, bold, adventurous, or simplicity all essences of a woman one gets to play in a lifetime. It is not a film for me, it's the way of life any actor would want to be a part of," Sayali said. On Monday, the makers unveiled the film's teaser that shows Sayali as a simple but strong and confident woman who works hard to fulfill her dreams. According to co-producer Akshay Bardapurkar, the movie will "prove that a woman with strong will and ability can never lose her endeavour to achieve what she desires". "The simple yet beautiful film is currently in post-production and we will announce the release dates once we get a clear picture," he added. The film also features actors Suvrat Joshi, Shashank Ketkar and Milind Gunaji, and is written and directed by Shantanu Ganesh Rode. Abhayanand Singh, Akshay Bardapurkar and Chintamani have produced it under the banner of Golden Ratio Films, Planet Marathi and Lakeside Productions 5 1 of 5 Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 5 H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 5 of 5 SHERMAN Lower taxes can be expected for the coming fiscal year following the approval of a $14.25 million 2020-21 town budget and reduced mill rate over the weekend. During a virtual budget meeting Saturday morning, the Board of Selectmen adopted a $4,866,283 town budget and $9,380,589 school budget, and approved a 19.11 mill rate for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The Federal Ministry of Education has ordered vice-chancellors to maintain the closure of federal, state and private universities in order to keep students and university communities safe from coronavirus. The National Universities Commission issued this order through a circular by the Director, Directorate of the Executive Secretarys Office, Chris Maiyaki. Also Read: Coronavirus: NUC Directs All Universities To Suspend Academic Activities Recall that NUC had, on March 19, ordered the closure of tertiary institutions for one month as part of the measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Advertisement In this new circular, Vice-Chancellors were advised to ignore fake news being circulated in the social media over the resumption of academic activities. For effective management of Ghaziabad's Khoda area, which was sealed and declared a COVID-19 hotspot, the authorities have divided it into two zones and five sectors, officials said on Monday. The district administration would use the same scheme for Loni municipality area and Loni SDM has been directed to draft a proposal in this regard, they said. People commuting between Delhi and Khoda and Loni in Ghaziabad may spread the novel coronavirus, the officials said. Ghaziabad DM Ajay Shankar Pandey told PTI that two zonal magistrates, five sector magistrates, area rationing officer of food and civil supplies department, medical officer and paramedical staff have been deputed in Khoda. The team would work round-the-clock in two shifts, the district magistrate added. Till Khoda remains sealed, people working in Delhi and Noida should come to the area only in unavoidable circumstances after taking permission from incharge of the containment zone, Pandey said. He said the supply of essential commodities like milk, vegetables and groceries will be ensured by the incident commander/additional city magistrate. Vendors will be allowed to enter the municipality area with valid passes issued by authorities, the DM said. Ghaziabad SSP Kalanidhi Naithani said four inspectors have been deployed in the two zones and 10 sub-inspectors in the five sectors. No loitering is allowed in the area and action will be taken against any person found roaming without any valid reason, the senior superintendent of police added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A truck driver who had slipped away from Punjab after testing positive for Covid-19 last week was detained by the Uttarakhand Police on Monday at Bazpur border area in Udham Singh Nagar district, officials said. Authorities are trying to find out how he got out of Punjab. A health bulletin issued by the Uttarakhand government on Monday afternoon states, District Commissioner of Fatehgarh, Punjab informed that a 47-year old male patient was tested positive on May 7, at Fatehgarh, Punjab. He traveled from Punjab to Bazpur (US Nagar). The district administration Udham Singh Nagar has immediately isolated the patient in Susheela Tiwari Hospital in Haldwani and started treatment as per protocol. Dr Shailaja Bhatt, chief medical officer of Udham Singh Nagar district said that the patient has been isolated at the hospital and is being treated. Click here for full Covid-19 coverage. We are trying to find out how the patient escaped from Punjab and reached here. Till then, we have isolated him at the hospital and he is being treated. Another person, who is a resident of Nanakmatta from the district, accompanied him; he has also been quarantined at a health facility and his samples have been sent for testing again. He had tested negative on May 7, said Dr Bhatt. According to officials, the truck driver was caught by police officials who traced his truck after the Punjab administration alerted the Uttarakhand government. The Uttarakhand health department said it will not count the driver among its Covid-19 cases. JC Pandey, public relations officer of the state health department said that because the patient tested positive in Punjab and not Uttarakhand, he is not being included in the states tally. But he is being treated according to the protocol. As of Monday, Udham Singh Nagar had the maximum number of active cases in the state at nine and has reported a total 13 cases so far. The doubling rate of cases in the district (based on average of the past seven days) is 9.9 days, whereas the doubling rate in the state is 45 days. Uttarakhand has so far reported 68 positive cases with 46 recoveries and 21 active cases. Editors note: According to recent press reports, two Asian giant hornets a species not known to occur in North America were found in northwest Washington state in late 2019, and a hornet colony was found and eliminated in British Columbia. Now scientists are trying to determine whether more of these large predatory insects are present in the region. Entomologist Akito Kawahara explains why headlines referring to murder hornets are misleading. 1. How common are these hornets in Asia, and how much alarm do they cause? The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) is fairly common in many parts of Asia, where it is called the Giant hornet. Growing up in Japan, I saw them relatively frequently in the mountains outside of Tokyo. These insects are large and distinctive, with a characteristic orange head and black-banded orange body. Like any other social wasp, they will defend their nest if the colony is disrupted. But in most cases they will not do anything if people arent aggressive toward them. Giant hornets have longer stingers than a honeybees, and hornets do not break off their stingers when they sting. Because hornet stingers can puncture thick clothing, people should avoid hornets and their nests whenever possible. Giant hornets frequently are attracted to tree sap: I was stung by one when I was looking for butterflies on trees. The sting is painful, but the swelling and pain in most cases subside in a few days. Just as with honey bee stings, an allergic reaction, or anaphylaxis, can occasionally put people in the hospital. In rare cases, severe reactions can become fatal. But wasp and hornet stings killed less than 13 people a year in 2017 and 2018 in Japan less than 0.00001% of the national population in a country where many people spend time in the woods. If you are allergic to bee and wasp stings, it is best to avoid getting close to these insects and their nests, wear white clothing outdoors (they are attracted to dark colors), and avoid carrying open-top sweet drinks such as sodas in the woods. Story continues 2. Are you surprised that the hornets have appeared in North America? To some degree, yes. Most likely, a single, fertile queen hornet entered Canada via shipping packaging and created the colony that was discovered in 2019. Its easy for invasive species to travel this way. More than 19,000 cargo containers arrive daily at U.S. ports, and inspectors can only do random searches of shipping containers. One estimate suggests that just 2% of shipments are searched for evidence of harmful organisms such as plant pests. Many invasive species are intercepted, but some do get through. Its very unlikely that an entire colony of hornets was transferred to North America. Colonies of this hornet are often large, and the hornets would be visible and potentially aggressive if their nest were disturbed. A genetic test indicated that one of the hornets found in Washington was not related to the Canadian colony, but those results have not been published or peer reviewed. The Giant hornet has not been found in 2020 in either the U.S. or Canada. 3. What kind of conditions do these insects need to live? Giant hornets are fairly common in mountainous regions of Asia, but theyre not often seen in large cities or highly urbanized areas. They usually nest at the base of large trees and inside dead logs. The fact that they cant tolerate extremely hot or cold temperatures makes it unlikely that they would spread to very hot or cold areas of North America. If active colonies are discovered in 2020 in the Pacific Northwest, which has a more temperate climate, its possible that they could spread there. However, it is unlikely that this would happen quickly, as foraging ranges of Vespa are only about 2,300 feet (700 meters) from their nest. The key to prevent spread is surveillance. Anyone in the Pacific Northwest should be alert for Giant hornets while they are outdoors this summer and fall. 4. If more hornets are found, could they threaten honeybees and other pollinators? Possibly. Some media posts have described destruction of honeybee nests by what could have been Giant hornets, but honeybees are not these insects only prey. The hornets feed on different kinds of insects, and bring captured dead prey back to their hive to feed to their young. In Japan, beekeepers surround their hives with wire screen nets to protect them from hornets. North American beekeepers can replicate these with wire netting from local hardware stores. Many honeybees in Asia have the ability to protect their hive from intruding Giant hornets by scorching them. They wait for a hornet to enter their nest, then mob it by surrounding it completely with their bodies. Each honeybee vibrates its wings, and the combined warming of honey bee bodies raises the temperature in the center of the cluster to 122 degrees F (50 degrees C), killing the hornet. Carbon dioxide levels in the nest also increase during this process, which contributes to the hornets death. 5. Are news stories about murder hornets overreacting? Yes, very much so. In parts of Japan, people consider these hornets beneficial because they remove pests, such as harmful caterpillars, from crops. They are also thought to contain nutrients, and have been used as ingredients in Japanese food and some strong liquors. Some people believe the hornets essence has medicinal benefits. People who live in Vancouver, Seattle or nearby should certainly take note of what these insects look like. They are 2 inches long or more, with a 3-inch wingspan, and have distinctly orange heads and broad striped orange and black-banded abdomens. Thats different from typical North American hornets, which have yellow or white bodies with black marks. In the unlikely case that you see a Giant hornet in Washington state, do not try to remove nests yourself or spray hornets with pesticides. Cutting down trees to prevent nesting sites is also unnecessary, and can affect many other kinds of native wildlife, including beneficial insects that are needed for pollination and decomposition. Many native insects are declining globally, and its important to make sure these insects are not affected. Instead, take a photo from a distance and report it to the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Photos are essential to verify that identifications are accurate. Consider also uploading your images to iNaturalist, which is one of the primary sources for information on tracking wildlife. The images are archived and carry data, such as location, time of observance and the insects morphological features, that scientists can use for research. [Get our best science, health and technology stories. Sign up for The Conversations science newsletter.]

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Akito Y Kawahara does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Elon Musk confirmed Monday that Tesla has resumed operations at its main California plant in defiance of the state's coronavirus lockdown restrictions - daring authorities to arrest him for the violation. The plant in Fremont, south of San Francisco, had been closed since March 23 in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus. But early Monday evening, Musk confirmed in a tweet that Tesla is restarting production at the facility 'against Alameda County rules.' 'I will be on the line with everyone else,' he continued. 'If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.' The controversial move comes as the latest salvo in an ongoing war between Musk and Alameda County, after Tesla filed a lawsuit against local officials on Saturday for ordering the the Fremont facility to shutter until June. Musk called the order 'super messed up' in a separate tweet Monday, claiming that 'all other auto companies in US are approved to resume. Only Tesla has been singled out.' Elon Musk confirmed Monday that Tesla has resumed production at its California plant in defiance of the state's coronavirus lockdown restrictions A worker descends from the top deck of a car carrier trailer carrying Tesla electric vehicles at Tesla's primary vehicle factory on Monday The company has since completed work on around 200 Model Y and Model 3 vehicles since the unauthorized reopening this morning According to Business Insider, three employees said Tesla asked workers to return to the facility with phone calls and text messages. If they refused, they risked losing their jobs, the sources claimed. Employees were seen reporting to the plant before sunrise on Monday in footage from local media outlet KPIX. Within hours, the parking lot was nearly full at the plant - which employs 10,000 workers - and semis were seen driving off loaded with vehicles that may have been produced before the shutdown. The Verge reports the company has since completed work on around 200 Model Y and Model 3 vehicles. It wasn't immediately clear how local authorities planned to respond. Alameda County Sheriff Sgt. Ray Kelly said Monday that any enforcement of the order would come from Fremont police. Geneva Bosques, Fremont police spokeswoman, said officers would take action at the direction of the county Health Officer. She referred further comment to the Health Department, where a DailyMail.com request for comment has not yet been returned. Under the state's shelter-in-place orders, only essential business are permitted to operate in California. State law allows a fine of up to $1,000 a day or up to 90 days in jail for operating in violation of health orders. Musk has consistently pushed for Tesla to be considered essential, routinely voicing his frustration over the continued shutdown of the company's biggest plant over the last few weeks. The CEO said the shutdown should be viewed as a 'serious risk' to Tesla's business during an April 29 conference call, and then went on profanity-laden rant about how the shutdowns were antithetical to America's founding principles. Earlier Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he expected Tesla to be able to reopen the plant sometime next week. 'My understanding is they have had some very constructive conversations,' Newsom said during a video press conference. 'My belief and hope and expectation is as early as next week, they will be able to resume.' Employees said Tesla asked workers to return to the facility with phone calls and text messages. If they refused, they risked losing their jobs, the sources claimed (pictured: An unmasked employee heads towards the Fremont Tesla plant) Semis were seen driving off loaded with vehicles that may have been produced before the shutdown Under the state's shelter-in-place orders, only essential business are permitted to operate in California. State law allows a fine of up to $1,000 a day or up to 90 days in jail for operating in violation of health orders The parking lot outside the Tesla plant is seen nearly full on Monday even though local officials told the company to keep the facility closed through the end of the month Elon Musk appears to have reopened a Tesla plant in Fremont, California, in defiance of local coronavirus lockdown restrictions. Employees are seen outside the plant on Monday Workers were seen arriving at the facility before sunrise on Monday in footage from KPIX Tesla filed a lawsuit against Alameda County on Saturday after the Fremont plant was shuttered amid the statewide lockdown on March 23. The suit claims that county officials ignored Gov Gavin Newsom's allowances for '16 crucial infrastructure industries,' including transportation, to continue operating. Musk announced the legal action on Twitter, threatening to move the automaker's headquarters to another state. 'Frankly, this is the final straw,' the billionaire tweeted. 'Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. 'If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen [sic] on how Tesla is treated in the future.' In response, officials in Alameda County said they were interacting with the company in good faith and working to balance business needs with the safety of the local area. 'The team at Tesla has been responsive to our guidance and recommendations, and we look forward to coming to an agreement on an appropriate safety plan very soon,' a statement from the county said. 'We need to continue to work together so those sacrifices don't go to waste and that we maintain our gains. It is our collective responsibility to move through the phases of reopening and loosening the restrictions of the Shelter-in-Place Order in the safest way possible, guided by data and science.' In a blog post on Saturday, Tesla said the county's position left it no choice but to take legal action to ensure the company and its employees can go back to work. The company said it had worked out a thorough return-to-work plan that includes online video training for personnel, work zone partition areas, temperature screening, requirements to wear protective equipment and rigorous cleaning and disinfecting protocols. The company said it had informed health authorities in Alameda County about its restart plans, but claimed the acting official did not return calls or emails. Tesla said it implemented strict safety measures prior to reopening the plant The Fremont plant (above in a file photo) was shuttered by local health officials on March 30 A truck hauling new Tesla vehicles is seen leaving the Fremont facility on Monday Tesla's lawsuit called the continued restrictions a 'power-grab' by the county since California's governor had said on Thursday that manufacturers in the state would be allowed to reopen. The company said Alameda was going against the federal and California constitutions, as well as defying the governor's order, the lawsuit said. Alameda County is scheduled to remain shut until the end of May, with only essential businesses allowed to reopen. The county said it does not consider Tesla an essential business. County officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. Alameda County said on Saturday that it has been working with Tesla to develop a safety plan that 'allows for reopening while protecting the health and well-being of the thousands of employees' that work at the factory and that it looks forward to coming to an agreement on a safety plan very soon. Fremont Mayor Lily Mei expressed concern about the potential economic implications of continuing the shelter-in-place order without provisions for manufacturers such as Tesla to resume. Mei on Saturday urged the county to work with businesses on 'acceptable guidelines for re-opening'. On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin told CNBC the state should do 'whatever [is] needed' too allow Tesla to reopen. Musk had told employees on Thursday that limited production would restart at Fremont on Friday afternoon. In a blog post on Saturday, Tesla said Alameda County's position left it no choice but to take legal action to ensure the company and its employees can go back to work (file photo) Tesla last year built nearly half a million vehicles at the Fremont plant and moving the entire production facility would be a massive undertaking. Dan Ives, a Wedbush analyst, on Saturday estimated it could take the company 12 to 18 months to relocate production. The threat to relocate the facility comes as Tesla aims to ramp up production at Fremont of its Model Y sport utility vehicle, which it expects to generate record demand and profit margins. Musk, who sparred with California officials in March over whether Tesla had to halt production at Fremont, had criticized the lockdown and stay-at-home orders, calling them a 'serious risk' to US business and 'unconstitutional'. One Democratic lawmaker in the state had some choice words for Musk after he announced his plans to move Tesla's headquarters. 'F**k Elon Musk,' San Diego assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez tweeted Saturday. Gonzalez's statement drew both praise and condemnation, particularly from people who pointed out the number of job losses if the Tesla factory moves. Meanwhile, Texas and Nevada Republicans were quick to embrace Musk's plans. 'Texas gets better every day. Good conservative principles make good governance, and attract the best and the brightest. The future is happening in Texas,' Texas congressman Dan Crenshaw tweeted Saturday. Nevada congressional hopeful Dan Rodimer tweeted: 'Nevada NEEDS these jobs most of all right now, @elonmusk. We would love to have you and Tesla HQ right here in the Battleborn State!' San Diego assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez did not hold back her feelings about Elon Musk's tweet stating that he would move Tesla's headquarters out of California to Texas or Nevada Meanwhile, Texas and Nevada Republicans were eager to embrace his decision to move President Donald Trump said Monday that he would "certainly consider" mandating governors to test all nursing home residents for the coronavirus. "I will mandate it if you like," Trump told a reporter who asked why the White House had not issued such an order. Nursing homes have in some states become hotbeds for the spread of the disease. In New York, the state hardest hit by the pandemic, more than 5,300 people living in nursing homes have died from the virus, according to the Associated Press. In nursing homes and long-term care facilities nationwide, more than 26,000 people have died of the virus, the AP reported. Those deaths count for more than one-quarter of all coronavirus deaths in the U.S. so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. A federal mandate to test nursing home residents would mark the Trump administration's first national coronavirus order. Experts have noted that trying to impose coronavirus-related restrictions at a national level may be legally murky. The White House declined to provide additional comment on the president's remarks. "I think it's important" to have all nursing home residents tested, Trump said at a White House press conference meant to highlight nationwide Covid-19 testing efforts. "I think, frankly, some of the governors were very lax with respect to nursing homes," Trump said. "It was obvious right from the beginning." Wuhan, a city in Chinas Hubei Province, where the coronavirus outbreak began, has reported new clusters of the virus after easing its lockd... Wuhan, a city in Chinas Hubei Province, where the coronavirus outbreak began, has reported new clusters of the virus after easing its lockdown. The outbreak was first reported in the city in December 2019 and has spread across 212 countries and territories around the world. In March 2020, the Chinese authorities announced that the city and its surrounding province reported zero case in 24 hours. Wuhan, which has been under a strict lockdown since January, relaxed the restriction of movement on April 8, and allowed people to leave the Chinese city, while economic activities were also restored. Health experts had warned that a rise in infections is likely to happen with the relaxation of the lockdown. On Monday, new clusters of the virus were reported in Wuhan and Jilin, a northeastern province of the Asian country. Health authorities said the five new patients in the Wuhan were a small cluster of cases from the same residential compound; they were previously confirmed to be asymptomatic. One of the patients was the wife of an 89-year-old man who was previously diagnosed of the virus. The cluster was the first confirmed cases to be reported after easing the lockdown in the city. At a press briefing on Monday, the Chinese health authorities confirmed that a total of 17 new COVID-19 infections have been recorded in the country. A statement on the new cases noted that: 10 were local cases (5 cases in Hubei, 3 cases in Jilin, 1 case in Liaoning, Heilongjiang, 1 case), 7 cases were imported from abroad (both in Inner Mongolia); no new deaths; no new suspected cases. As of 12:06pm on Monday, according to Worldometer, China had recorded 82,918 COVID-19 cases, out of which 4,633 deaths have occurred, while 78,144 patients have recovered. Asked about the warning, which was first reported by the New York Times, Zhao Lijian, the spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said, We firmly oppose and fight all kinds of cyber attacks conducted by hackers. We are leading the world in covid-19 treatment and vaccine research. It is immoral to target China with rumors and slanders in the absence of any evidence. Venezuelan military seizes Colombian combat vessels, weapons Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 1:44 AM The Venezuelan Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the boats were equipped with machine guns and ammunition, but had no crew. It said the Colombian vessels were discovered as part of a nationwide operation to guarantee the country's "freedom and sovereignty". Before dawn on Sunday, a group of US-backed mercenaries tried to intrude into the northern state of La Guaira on boats, but Venezuelan authorities foiled the attack which was launched from Colombia killing eight of the armed men and arresting several others. In a state television address on Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolas said authorities had detained terrorists involved in the Sunday attack, including two Americans, identified as Airan Berry and Luke Denman. On Wednesday, the Venezuelan state television broadcast the video of the two US nationals confessing to training dissident Venezuelan troops in Colombia to oust Maduro. The Venezuelan government later accused Colombian President Ivan Duque of enabling the operation. Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the mercenaries were " a group of terrorist mercenaries from Colombia" who tried to carry out an invasion by sea "in order to commit terrorist acts in the country, murdering leaders of the revolutionary government." Colombia, however, has described the government's assertion as unfounded. Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia last year. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Thousands Forced to Flee Violent Interethnic Attacks in Eastern DRC By Lisa Schlein May 10, 2020 In the last two months, the U.N. Refugee Agency reports more than 200,000 people have been forced to flee surging violence between the Lendu and Hema groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri Province. The U.N. Refugee Agency says 5 million people have been uprooted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including 1.2 million in Ituri province. It reports the number of interethnic attacks and counterattacks between Lendu farmers and Hema herders continues to multiply, adding to the already intolerable misery of what is Africa's largest displacement crisis. U.N. monitors have recorded more than 3,000 serious human rights violations in Djugu territory, mainly occupied by the Hema, in the last 60 days. UNHCR spokesman, Charlie Yaxley says nearly 50 attacks are taking place on average every day against the local community. "Displaced people have reported acts of extreme violence with at least 274 civilians killed with weapons such as machetes. More than 140 women were raped and almost 8,000 houses set on fire. The vast majority of those displaced are women and children, many of whom are now living under crowded circumstances with host families from the community," he said. Yaxley told VOA many others are forced to sleep in the open or in public buildings under very insecure conditions. "That, in turn, is also making the social distancing required to prevent the spread of COVID-19 extremely difficult as we see many people living inside shelters and, this again places them vulnerable to possible further attacks, vulnerable to the elements and with little protection in terms of preventing the spread of COVID-19," he said. The Lendu and Hema have been fighting sporadically for decades over valuable resources in their gold- and oil-rich province. Tensions in the region have been rising since December, following a government-led military operation against various armed groups. U.N. and private agencies report access to Djugu and Mahagi territories is heavily restricted, making it difficult to reach those in dire need of assistance. The UNHCR reports it is working with other agencies to provide relief and to build more shelters for the displaced. The agency reports only 18% of its $154 million appeal for the DRC has been received to date. It says this lack of funding, as well as the prevailing insecurity, is affecting its ability to provide essential relief to the thousands of displaced. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 19:59:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Fire fighters extinguish fire which broke out on a crude oil tanker at Waruna Shipyard at the Port of Belawan in Indonesia's province of North Sumatra, May 11, 2020. A fire broke out on a crude oil tanker docked at Waruna Shipyard at the Port of Belawan in Indonesia's province of North Sumatra Monday morning, and several workers have been reportedly rushed to hospitals after suffering burns in the accident. (Photo by Alberth Damanik/Xinhua) Brisbane City Council will survey thousands of businesses and look at what red tape can be cut to underpin business recovery efforts under eased COVID-19 restrictions. Lord mayor Adrian Schrinner says the project will be steered by the councils economic recovery taskforce which will send the survey, to also be made available on the council website, directly to 15,000 businesses across the city. Lord mayor Adrian Schrinner says he wants to cut red tape. Credit:AAP/Albert Perez The responses we receive will help the taskforce understand the impact of the coronavirus on local businesses and inform how we can best support business right now and through the challenges ahead, Cr Schrinner said. The knock-on effects from business closures have been devastating and we need them to provide much-needed jobs, keep money circulating locally and support our neighbourhoods and communities. Northgate councillor and taskforce chairman Adam Allan says the group is meeting weekly on how to shift the citys economy from recovery mode. The next course of action for the taskforce will see [the] council work with other peak consulting bodies to forensically go through all of our operations to identify what red tape we can cut to help make life easier for small business, Cr Allan said. LNP councillors Krista Adams (Holland Park) and Andrew Wines (Enoggera) also sit on the body, along with senior department heads. An external consultative group made up of six peak business, retail, property and hospitality sector groups also acts as a sounding board for the council. How to rescue civil discourse on Israel By Dan Diker and Amb. Alan Baker Israelophobia is a phenomenon that is shaped by, converges with, and generates anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. As Professor Alan Dershowitz has noted, The current debatecenters around the demonization of Israel not because of what it does, but because of what it is, and that is, a sovereign state of the Jews. Al-Quds Day demonstration in Toronto on June 9, 2018. (Canada-Israel Friendship Association) There are, however, other prominent voices in this debate over Israel. They claim that criticism of Israel, and condemnation of its policies, do not constitute anti-Semitism, discrimination, or hate speech, but rather legitimate political critique. These critics have also charged that some scholars of anti-Semitism and supporters of Israel have weaponized charges of anti-Semitism in order to deter critics of Israeli policies, particularly regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Ironically, some of the most outspoken opponents of Israeli policy, including Professors Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, J Street Founder Jeremy Ben Ami, Marc Lamont Hill, Noura Erekat, and Saree Makdisi, regularly level criticism on Israel that falls under the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, the 2010 State Department working definition, and the 3D acid test of anti-Semitism against both individual Jews and the Jewish state as detailed by Natan Sharansky in Israelophobia and the West: The Hijacking of Civil Discourse and How to Rescue It. Critics of Israeli policy have fallen short in their failure to provide a set of substantive principles defining the character of what they insist is legitimate criticism and not Israelophobia or anti-Semitism. This challenge appears fairly straightforward to well-intentioned critics with intellectual integrity. Legitimate political critique would include the presentation of raw facts, stripped of political hyperbole, and couched in principles of evenhanded assessment and well-reasoned legal, historical, security, and diplomatic context. These qualifiers would more equitably ground civil discourse and legitimate, important policy criticism of any nation state, Israel among them. In short, this brief proposes a set of principles that can help guide deliberation and frame criticism of policy in general. These guidelines include depoliticized factual analysis, context, and acknowledgment of Israels legal, historical, security and diplomatic claims that anchor political discourse and critique on four sensitive topics: settlements, occupation, the West Bank security barrier and borders. These topics have been among the most politicized, distorted, and mischaracterized in the decades-long history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Discourse on Settlements The issue of Israeli settlements has been discussed and debated both without context and without acknowledgment or appreciation of Israels rights and claims. Indeed, it is significant and even reasonable to acknowledge that Israel has historic, security and legal claims over land in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) that serve as the basis for its rights to establish Jewish settlements. Israels historical and modern legal claims deserve to be considered equitably and not rejected out of hand simply because the word settlements has been subjected to a mistaken and misguided connotation as illegal or devoid of legitimacy. Critics may not agree with Israels substantive claims, and they are entitled and encouraged to argue against them. In the case of settlements, critics and supporters would need to understand both sides of the argument. Specifically their critique would require an understanding of legal arguments against settlements, as they appear in a memorandum prepared by former U.S. State Department legal advisor Herbert Hansell of the Carter Administration. At the same time, both critics and supporters of Israels legal claims to establishing Jewish communities must familiarize themselves with Israels legal refutation of the Hansell memo. Moreover, in 2020, the United States concurred with Israels legal reasoning and principled position on the legality of Jewish settlements. U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeos counter-claim and legal refutation of the Hansell opinion of 1978 must also be equitably and objectively considered as part of civil discourse on the issue of settlements. Context and comparisons of other settlements in other disputed areas must also be considered. The Turks have established settlements in occupied Northern Cyprus, the Moroccans in occupied Western Sahara, and the Russians in occupied Crimea. Neither governments, international media nor international human rights organizations have referred to those situations of settlement by branding Turkey, Morocco or Russia as apartheid states, war criminals or genocidal countries. Their rights, and the question of whether or not such settlement activity is justified, if ever referred to, have not been rejected out of hand. In short, fair assessment requires one to avoid rejecting a priori Israels legal, security and historic claims to settlements merely because of the negative international connotation that is applied to the word settlement. The issue must be considered substantively and objectively as meriting criticism or not, or as acceptable or not. One may legitimately agree with the 1978 Hansell interpretation that settlement building contravenes the requirements of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention and that it does not satisfy the humanitarian criteria set out by international humanitarian law. However, any such viewpoint would need to note that Israel and the State Department legal advisors in the Trump Administration argue that the Hansell opinion is mistaken and that it inaccurately interprets the Fourth Geneva Convention, which was aimed at preventing the Nazi-style mass forced expulsions and the moving of populations into occupied territories under their control, as occurred in occupied Europe during the WWII era. This is clearly not what Israel is doing. Therefore, that legal criticism is irrelevant if it is based on the misapplication of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. The Discourse on Occupation This issue continues to suffer from the most politicized and distorted mischaracterization of the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts core disputes. The original text of the 1964 Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Charter denotes Israels existence within the 1949 armistice lines as illegal. This representation was made a full three years before Israel was forced to enter the West Bank in order to defend its citizens from Jordans artillery and sniper attacks against Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Since then, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his successor, Mahmoud Abbas, have weaponized the term occupation to take aim at Israels legitimacy as a nation-state. They have also transformed the international legal term occupation into a non-existent legal concept of illegal occupation, which some governments, international organizations, diplomats, media and human rights activists have blindly adopted, thereby recasting Israel as an illegal, apartheid entity and war criminal. This distortion has even evolved into the term occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), despite the fact that no sovereign Palestinian entity has ever existed. Apart from numerous politically generated and non-binding UN resolutions, there has never been any binding legal international instrument that determines that the territories are Palestinian. However, the erroneous term OPT has nevertheless become lingua franca within the international community. Understanding the term occupation requires a depoliticized understanding of facts and their international legal context. International law considers occupation to be a legal situation falling under the international laws of armed conflict. It is a legal term of art. It refers to a provisional situation of belligerency in which one sovereign power occupies, during an armed conflict, the territory of another sovereign power, pending an agreed resolution between the parties in conflict. Occupying powers have both obligations and privileges under international humanitarian law. Occupation does not reflect the case with respect to Israel. Critics cannot ignore Israels oft-repeated claim that its status in the West Bank areas of Judea and Samaria is unique (sui generis), inasmuch as these areas had never been considered sovereign Jordanian territory. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordans annexation of the West Bank in 1950 was never internationally recognized. Critics accusing Israel of being an illegal occupier have ignored the fact that Israel legitimately took control over non-sovereign territories in the midst of the 1967 war. As such, it has been Israels consistent position that the Fourth Geneva Conventions reference to belligerent occupation cannot be applicable to Israels unique status. The correct denomination of the status of the territory should therefore be termed disputed and not occupied. One may indeed criticize an occupying powers behavior in the light of norms of humanitarian law. But occupation, in and of itself, is not an illegal situation. It must be considered objectively, without the negative, political connotation that it has been cynically given by opponents and critics within the international community, as a means to defame, condemn and delegitimize Israels legal, historic and security claims that serve as the basis for its presence in the territories east of the 1949 Armistice Lines. Critics with intellectual and moral integrity would be advised to research any situation of occupation with objectivity, on its merits. Serious, fair-minded discourse must consider any territorial reality denoted as occupation substantively, devoid of any politicized context. Discourse on the West Bank Security Barrier Civil discourse and fair consideration of the West Bank security barrier must take into account the extensive deception campaign that has mislead and mischaracterized the erection of this defensive anti-terror measure. The security barrier was established in 2003 following a tidal wave of infiltrations by Palestinian terrorists and suicide bombings in Israeli towns and villages, which had claimed hundreds of Israeli lives from 2000 to 2003. The barrier was, from the start, intended to be an interim security measure, not a political border. That is why it was erected virtually on the indefensible 1949 Armistice Line. Its construction was accompanied by constant legal supervision by Israels Supreme Court, in order to ensure that this security requirement did not unduly prejudice the basic humanitarian rights of the Palestinian landowners and residents on the eastern (Palestinian) side of the barrier. To the contrary, the land used was temporarily placed under Israels security jurisdiction, and market rates of compensation and rent are offered to the owners of private land used. This anti-bombing barrier has reduced incidents of Palestinian suicide bombings by more than 90 percent. However, the Palestinian Authority, PLO-affiliated NGOs in Ramallah, as well as the global BDS campaign rebranded Israels West Bank security barrier as the Apartheid Wall. The life-saving success of the security barrier has not prevented the international usage of the phrase Apartheid Wall, advancing the false claim that the security barrier is nothing more than a land grab aimed at racial segregation, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, as the global BDS campaign has charged. Clearly, and despite the political distortion and propaganda regarding the barrier, an objective overview of the historic and security context is critically important in understanding Israels decision to erect the barrier to block infiltration by suicide bombers into Israels towns and villages and to guard against sniper fire on some of Israels main highways. In 2019 alone, the Israel Security Agency thwarted 560 significant terrorist attacks, including more than 300 shootings. It is no less important to note that the denomination wall is factually incorrect in that approximately 90 percent of the barrier is a fence, and some 10 percent a concrete wall in proximity to Israels central north-south highway and residential areas. The rational discourse on the security barrier would take into consideration the genuine and substantive reasons for its existence, as well as Israels Supreme Courts requirement that it remain a temporary measure as long as the terror threat continues, after which it would need to be removed. The court permitted the fence as a defensive, life-saving measure to block terrorist infiltration, yet ordered it rerouted following petitions of some Palestinian landowners in the West Bank. It is worth noting that that the erection of the fence was opposed by many Israelis, among them nearly two million Israeli Arabs who had regularly shopped and dined in Bethlehem and other Palestinian-controlled cities in the West Bank, until Palestinian terror became too deadly to countenance. In contrast to Israels Supreme Courts substantive factual and legal determinations regarding the necessity for the erection of the barrier, the UN General Assemblys knee-jerk condemnation of the security barrier as a violation of international law was rubber-stamped in a 2004 advisory opinion by the UNs International Court of Justice, that categorically disregarded the life-saving purpose of the barrier, and relied only on submissions by the Palestinians and Arab states. The Discourse on Borders A well-reasoned civil discourse on the topic of Israels borders must take into account historical facts and contextual legal components regarding Israels international legal rights in the area. Many observers and critics alike neglect or ignore these historical and legal rights that were recognized in 1917 in the Balfour Declarations promise of a national home for the Jews in British Mandate Palestine, and subsequently affirmed by the League of Nations, the legal predecessor to the United Nations. Israels legal rights have been incorporated into international law through a series of legal instruments and resolutions such as the 1920 San Remo Declaration and the 1922 League of Nations Mandate Instrument for Palestine. These resolutions have been carried forward and protected by Article 80 of the UN Charter itself. Thus, the false and simplistic Palestinian call to return to the 1967 borders is totally incompatible with the historic and legal background. However, the widely accepted yet legally flawed and false term 1967 borders has nevertheless become a staple component of the Palestinian narrative, despite the fact that no such borders have ever existed. The lines from which Israeli forces entered the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967 were nothing more than temporary 1949 Armistice Demarcation lines, which the Arab parties to the agreements demanded remain temporary lines and not final political borders. This fact and all rudimentary historic context has been missing in international discourse and deliberation on the issue of borders, and has been replaced by highly politicized assertions that favor the Palestinian misleading and viral narrative, that has established factually and legally false political terminology. Alan Baker, former Legal Advisor to Israels Foreign Ministry, has referenced these broadly accepted buzzwords and catchphrases in the study, Israelophobia and the West. Such buzzwords prevent truth-based, depoliticized civil discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Facts and historical context are critical on the core issue of borders. UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) called for negotiation on secure and recognized boundaries, thereby indicating formally the international consensus that the 1949 armistice demarcation lines were never secure and recognized boundaries. Any serious and well-reasoned deliberation over Israels borders must take into account UNSC 242, whose British drafters and U.S. diplomats at the time stated clearly that it would not require a return to the indefensible and unrecognized 1949 armistice lines. The international community, in buying into the blatant lie generated by the Palestinian leadership, calling for Israeli withdrawal to the non-existent 1967 borders, has transformed an international legal and diplomatic context into a form of lawfare. Critics and neutral observers alike would be advised to seek a fact-based discourse on the issue of borders, taking into consideration the genuine and substantive security, historical, demographic and religious factors necessary in order to determine any freely negotiated bilateral border, as directed by the Oslo accords, and more recently the U.S. peace plan. It takes two parties to determine a border. It cannot be imposed by false and misleading cliches. Conclusion Since the establishment of modern nation-states with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, Israel has been the only democratic nation-state whose existence has been rejected and attacked since the day of its establishment in 1948, 36 months following the revelation of the Nazi regimes mass murder of European Jewry. It would appear reasonable that any well-reasoned civil discourse on Israel would include an appreciation of its security concerns, historical and legal rights, and its diplomatic claims. The principles of fact and context-based discussion on Israel would result in far more productive international dialogue than the current one. Finally, Israel should be judged by the same values as other nation-states, values that overcome the current tendency to defamation, delegitimization, dehumanization, demonization and denial of equal treatment under the law. Instead, the well-reasoned principles outlined here should underlie civil discourse on Israel and should be embraced as a moral standard by the international diplomatic, media, and public dialogue. Dan Diker is a foreign policy fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and a research fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at IDC Herzliya. He can be reached at diker@jcpa.org. Amb. Alan Baker is Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center and the head of the Global Law Forum. He participated in the negotiation and drafting of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, as well as agreements and peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. He served as legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israels Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Israels ambassador to Canada. Home NEW HAVEN Medical treatment of opioid abuse is lacking in hospital emergency departments, despite scientific evidence that it is the most effective treatment, a Yale University study has found. Buprenorphine, used to relieve withdrawal symptoms and prevent overdose, was offered to 21 percent of patients in need, according to the study of 400 medical personnel at four urban university-related hospitals. The study, published Monday in JAMA Network Open, included Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Clinicians need support and training in order to feel comfortable prescribing the opioid medication, the study found. The willingness of emergency department providers to take on a new treatment is changing drastically, said Dr. Kathryn Hawk, assistant professor in emergency medicine and attending physician in the Yale New Haven Hospital Emergency Department, in a press release. Hawk was lead author in the study. The report is the first published by Project ED Health, an implementation study financed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network. Such a study looks at barriers to adopting new research in the clinical setting. The project, which seeks to increase the use of buprenorphine in emergency departments, is led by Dr. Gail DOnofrio, chairwoman of the Yale School of Medicines Department of Emergency Medicine, and Dr. David Fiellin, director of the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine. DOnofrio is also physician in chief of emergency services at Yale New Haven Hospital. Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist, which activates opioid receptors in the brain but to a lesser degree than other opioids, such as oxycodone and morphine. An implementation study reveals barriers to adopting research findings. This study provides a baseline evaluation of what care emergency departments are providing to patients with opioid use disorder, Hawk said in the release. In the study, conducted between April 2018 and January 2019, a team of addiction medicine physicians met with doctors, advance practice providers and emergency medicine residents at the hospitals, who also filled out an anonymous survey. Providers then rated their work culture, clinical experience and perceived patient needs, the release said. Focus groups also were held with the providers. The researchers found barriers to prescribing buprenorphine included lack of formal training, time limitations, limited knowledge of local treatment resources, a lack of protocols and referral networks and perceptions that beginning buprenorphine therapy is beyond the scope of emergency medicine. Trying to suss out which of those patients might be appropriate for initiating some therapy and which arent is a skill that I dont have. I dont think that its a skill that were necessarily being trained for right now, said one doctor quoted in the study. Confusion about waivers was also noted. Only 3 percent of providers had gone through the required training to be able to write a buprenorphine prescription to be filled at a pharmacy. However, emergency medical personnel can give the drug in the emergency department without the waiver. Hawk said they needed clarification around what they can and cant do, according to the release. The opioid epidemic has made emergency departments much more common as places where patients are treated for opioid abuse, in addition to outpatient clinics, Hawk said. A 2015 Yale study found that patients given buprenorphine in the emergency department and then managed by their primary care physician were twice as likely to remain in treatment one month later as those who were not given the drug, according to the release. The big message of that study was that initiating treatment in the ED setting was very effective, but true adoption lagged, said DOnofrio. So now were trying to understand why that is, and how we can improve implementation of this best practice. We believe these findings will be valuable for other EDs working to enhance delivery of buprenorphine, a life-saving medication that should be available as a treatment option for all patients with untreated opioid use disorder walking into an ED, said Dr. Jennifer Edelman, associate professor of internal medicine and senior author on the study. Highlights Xiaomi is rumoured to bring the Mi 10 Lite Zoom Edition to Europe. The Zoom Edition will have a 5X optical zoom camera as a special feature. Xiaomi uses a Snapdragon 765G chipset in the Zoom Edition. Even though markets are yet to recover from the scar of COVID-19, Xiaomi is going full throttle in launching new phones. In the last two months, Xiaomi has announced the new Redmi Note 9 series, Mi 10 series, Mi 10 Lite series and Mi Note 10 Lite. The company isn't stopping though as a latest leak suggests that a Mi 10 Lite Zoom Edition is coming to Europe. This is the same phone that launched in China as the Xiaomi Mi 10 Youth Edition. Xiaomi initially launched the Mi 10 Lite in Europe as a more affordable alternative to the Mi 10 flagship. The Lite moniker saw the phone ditch the fancy items and retain only the essential ones to keep the costs down. The Mi 10 Lite relied on a Snapdragon 765G chip, used a 48-megapixel main camera instead of the mighty 108-megapixel camera from the Mi 10, a flat AMOLED display with standard 60Hz refresh rate and a 4160mAh battery. Later, Xiaomi launched the same phone in China under a different name and a tweaked camera setup. It was launched as the Mi 10 Youth Edition and in order to justify the pricing, Xiaomi added a periscope camera to the back, replacing the depth camera from the European model. The periscope camera can optically zoom up to 5X, go up to 10X in hybrid mode and all the way up to 50X digital zoom. Xiaomi is now planning to bring the Chinese version of the phone to the global markets as the Mi 10 Lite Zoom Edition. Popular tipster Xiaomishka suggests that this phone is coming to Europe in May 2020. The zoom variant may end up sitting above the Mi 10 Lite but still cost much less than the Mi 10. Hence, those looking for a premium yet affordable camera phone will have one with a more versatile camera setup. Xiaomi Mi 10 Youth Edition A couple of days ago, Xiaomi announced a new Mi Note 10 Lite for the European market. This Lite model ditched the regular model's penta camera setup in a bid to reduce the price. However, the Mi Note 10 Lite retained the same Snapdragon 730G chipset, the same curved AMOLED display and the same big battery. The main camera used a 64-megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor instead of the 108-megapixel sensor from the regular model. What remains to be seen is whether Xiaomi brings these two Mi series phones to India. Xiaomi has plans to bring more phones under the Mi portfolio to India this year, with the Mi 10 flagship already announced for the market. Both the Mi 10 Lite and Mi Note 10 Lite could fill in the premium segments between the Redmi series and the Mi 10. The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has suggested to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that state governments should be entitled to decide which areas should be kept under three zones- Red, Orange and Green which, at present, have been classified by the central government. The suggestion came at the meeting on Monday that the prime minister held via video conferencing with chief ministers of states and union territories to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the country. This was the fifth such meeting that PM Modi has held with the CMs on this matter. . Baghel further urged the PM that the state governments should have the right to decide on the conduct of economic activities within the state. Chhattisgarh CM suggested to the PM that the state governments should be entitled to categorize the areas as red, green and orange zones in view of the status of spread of the infection, which has been done by Centre on the base of Covid-19 risk profiling, said the press release issued by the state government after the video conference. The release added that the chief minister also requested the PM to provide financial assistance to the state. Baghel requested the PM for financial assistance of Rs 30,000 crore to the state. He also urged that the credit limit for his state this year should be relaxed to 6 per cent and its fiscal deficit should be kept at 5 percent of the GSDP, the release said. The Chief Minister said that large amount money has been donated to the Prime Ministers Care Fund by the industrial institutions of the state of Chhattisgarh. In order to provide relief to the needy people of Chhattisgarh in the hour of this crisis, the funds should be transferred to the state, the release stated. Like the health workers, the Chief Minister requested the PM to include employees and officials of police department, municipal corporations, district administration and other departments under the PM Garib Kalyan Package. He also urged to increase 100 days of employment fixed under MGNREGA to 200 days, the release stated. The Chief Minister also said that the state government had sought permission for a total of 28 trains to bring back labourers of Chhattisgarh, out of which only 15 trains have been approved. The state government is bearing the entire cost of bringing back the migrant workers, students, sick persons from other states. He said that about 1.2 lakh labourers of Chhattisgarh state are in other states, the press release stated. CM Baghel also said that regular train and air services and inter-state bus transport should be started in consultation with the state governments. The nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 will continue till May 17. EOM Accusing the Union government of "doublespeak" over lockdown enforcement, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday came down heavily on the BJP-led Centre for its decision to resume passenger train services. The state unit of the saffron party, however, was quick to retort, saying that the TMC had no right to criticise the Centre's decision as its government had "failed to tackle the COVID-19 situation" in West Bengal. Indian Railways had on Sunday announced that it will gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, initially with 15 pairs of trains. All passenger train services were suspended since the imposition of the lockdown in March. Denouncing the decision, TMC MP Santanu Sen said the Centre, on one hand, delivers sermons on stricter enforcement of the lockdown in states, and, on the other, it takes steps to dilute the restrictions. "The Union government should explain the reason behind its doublespeak. The move to allow resumption of passenger train services reflects its indecisiveness," the senior TMC leader said. Echoing him, state minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim claimed that the decision would enhance the risk of virus transmission. "At this critical phase, resumption of train services would increase the risk of virus transmission. The Centre is taking absurd decisions. It is clueless about what to do and what not to..." Hakim said. Slamming the TMC government over alleged mishandling of the COVID-19 situation in Bengal, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said the leaders of the ruling dispensation should refrain from making such remarks, having failed to address the woes of migrant labourers stuck outside. "The state government has done little to address the problems of the migrants workers stuck outside. It has also not done enough to properly implement the lockdown norms in Bengal," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 20:56:10|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HONG KONG, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh and India recorded thousands of new COVID-19 cases among other Asia-Pacific countries on Monday, with the former's daily cases top 1,000 for the first time, while countries like New Zealand will relax restrictions to reopen the country's economy after successfully flattening the curve. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh rose by more than 1,000 in one day for the first time since March 8, signaling the country's alarmingly-moving curve. Nasima Sultana, a senior Health Ministry official, told an online media briefing in Dhaka that 1,034 new COVID-19 positive cases and 11 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh. India's federal health ministry reported 97 new deaths and 4,213 fresh cases since Sunday, taking the number of deaths to 2,206 and total cases to 67,152. While on the other side of the region, New Zealand has decided to move to COVID-19 Alert Level 2 on Thursday and reopen most businesses in 10 days. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a press conference that the country was ready to move into Level 2 "to open up the economy, but to do it as safely as possible." Australia's opposition leader has called for an overhaul of the nation's economy in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Anthony Albanese, the leader of the Labor Party, on Monday delivered a wide-ranging economic "vision statement" ahead of Parliament resuming on Tuesday. The Indonesian government announced 233 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the archipelagic country to 14,265. The Philippines' daily tally of new COVID-19 infections rose by 292, increasing the total number of COVID-19 cases to 11,086, said the Philippine Department of Health (DOH). Malaysia's Health Ministry reported 70 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national total to 6,726. Afghanistan's Public Health Ministry has registered 285 new COVID-19 positive cases over the past 24 hours, raising the number of patients infected with the virus to 4,687 in the country, deputy to the spokesman for the ministry Tawhid Shakohmand said. Sri Lanka's capital Colombo resumed economic activities after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said public and private sector employees could re-start work after over a month since a curfew was declared on March 20 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement that Sri Lanka is on the right track to contain the COVID-19 epidemic through increased tracking, testing, isolation, and treatment strategy. The Japanese government will decide on Thursday whether it will partially lift the nationwide state of emergency over the COVID-19 for some prefectures where the virus has been less prevalent, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday. South Korea reported 35 more cases of the COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 10,909. After hitting the bottom at two on May 6, the daily caseload continued to grow from 12 on Friday to 18 on Saturday and 34 on Sunday each. South Korea decided to delay offline school classes for one more week on rising worry about a cluster infection from clubs at a multicultural neighborhood of Itaewon in the capital Seoul. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases linked to the cluster infection from clubs and bars at a multicultural neighborhood of Itaewon in the South Korean capital Seoul rose to 86 as of midday Monday local time. Enditem [May 11, 2020] Tamil Nadu Becomes the First State to Implement Australian e-learning Platform Matific Across Government Schools Tamil Nadu becomes the first state in India to announce a large-scale state-wide partnership with the learning platform. Over 1.5 million students in Tamil Nadu from various state government schools will now have access to Matific, the mathematics e-learning platform. MUMBAI, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Tamil Nadu Government took an important lead in digital education in the country by partnering with Australian e-learning platform Matific to encourage an innovative way of learning mathematics for Kindergarten to Class 6 students. The deal marks the company's first-ever pilot run in the Indian market. Over 1.5 million students across Tamil Nadu will now have access to the Matific platform, featuring thousands of gamified activities and worksheets covering skills aligned to the curriculum. Tamil Nadu is a pioneer in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) and rightfully, maths is at the core of all these functions. With the growing number of careers in STEM fields, the importance of mathematics education needs to be the centre of focus. To build upon these skills among students, the state implemented Matific across government schools with the aim of increasing engagement in mathematics and in turn increasing academic achievement. Talking about the results, the honourable Minister for School Education, Thiru K A Sengottaiyan said, "The pilot project conducted in over 150 schools across the State using Matific increased students' results by 25.3%. I am excited to be introducing Matific to students across Tamil Nadu and leading the charge in digital learning across India. We want to make education fun and skill-oriented and believe that Matific can help our students hone their skills and simultaneously add an element of fun into the learning process." "The Tamil Nadu Government under the able leadership of the Honourable Chief Minister, Thiru E Palaniswami has been a front-runner in educational reforms in the country. Under the aegis of the Education Minister, Honourable Thiru K A Sengottaian, progressive efforts have been made in the educational landscape in Tamil Nadu, which has been inspiring to other states as well. Being one of the frontiers in the tech landscape, Tamil Nadu has proved to be a promising hub for new-age education as well. Pushing the use of digital technologies in schools will put Tamil Nadu at the forefront of the STEM Revolution in India. We are delighted to partner with the Tamil Nadu Government and encourage the Matific platform across public schools in Tamil Nadu. As the results proved to be extremely promising, Matific is excited to be part of Tamil Nadu's future success as well," said Rajeev Krishnan, VP, Matific India. With students and teachers looking for new and improved ways to learn and teach mathematics, Matific was able to see substantial improvements in both academic and engagement results. Throughout the course of the pilot, over 150 schools used the Matific platform to teach maths lessons aligned with their local curriculums. The results identified over 21,000 students had been taught using the platform, with an average improvement across Class 1-6 being 25%. Piloting Matific has given Tamil Nadu a solid base to ensure the state is the leader in mathematics education in India. By ensuring technology is part of primary education, students will be set to go through secondary and higher education, and into STEM careers, confident and with absolute ease. Continuing to build upon the success of the Matific for Schools Pilot, Matific is committed to working with Minister for School Education, Thiru K A Sengottaiyan and is looking to offer the platform in Tamil, ensuring that all students can use Matific in their mother tongue. Matific is excited to become the premier Tamil Nadu primary digital maths resource, available for all schools, students, and teachers into the future and hopes other states across India take up the opportunity to pilot Matific and see similar results in students. Matific uses game-based principles to encourage students to learn through discovery while at the same time being aligned with the local curriculum (ICSE/CBSE). Designed by professors, educational experts and curriculum specialists, Matific uses logical sequencing and staging to report on topics for each student, group and class. Used by thousands of teachers worldwide, Matific provides relief to parents and enjoyable experience to students. The company has also recently launched Matific Galaxy in India to address the home market. About Matific: Matific is an award-winning math e-learning platform trusted by millions of teachers and students in 60+ countries and localised to 40+languages. Matific has been academically proven to help raise students and also substantially increased engagement within mathematics. Matific combines engaging activities with a rigorous pedagogy ensuring students are kept engaged, whether at school or at home. For more information about Matific: Phone: +91-93-2118-3256 Email: [email protected] Visit Matific website: Matific for Schools: https://www.matific.com/in/en-in/home/?utm_source=pr&utm_medium=release&utm_campaign=in-en-0520&utm_content=tamil-nadu Matific for Home: https://www.matific.com/in/en-in/galaxy/?utm_source=pr&utm_medium=release&utm_campaign=in-en-0520&utm_content=tamil-nadu Media Contact : Tanya Changllani [email protected] +91-9833292633 Adfactors PR [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 14:13:14|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KABUL, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Four persons were injured as four blasts shocked Police District 17 of Afghan capital Kabul city on Monday, a police spokesman Ferdous Faramarz said. According to the official, the explosive devices were roadside bombs exploded in a span of 90 minutes starting from 07:45 to around 09:00 a.m. local time, injuring four civilians including a child. Faramarz, however, didn't provide more details, saying investigation has been initiated. Police District 17 in the northern edge of Kabul city has been the scene of at least three insurgent attacks over the past couple of weeks but no group has claimed responsibility. Enditem The ex-FBI agent doing prison time for helping infamous Boston gangster James Whitey Bulger murder a Miami informant wont be freed over fears of catching the coronavirus. A Miami-Dade judge on Monday declined to order the release of John Connolly, 79, who is serving a 40-year prison sentence at South Bay Correctional Facility. After a hearing, Circuit Judge Nushin Sayfie said she did not have the legal authority to change the sentence for Connolly, who suffers from diabetes but does not have any other pressing medical issues that might make him more at risk to catch the virus. The judge, during the video court hearing, said that even if she had the power, she did not see any reason given Mr. Connollys current situation that would warrant mitigating his sentence at his time. Connolly was a lauded FBI agent in the 1970s. One of his informants was Bulger, the head of violent mob called the Winter Hill Gang. Their twisted relationship became a huge scandal in Boston, and served as the loose basis for the 2006 movie The Departed. Later, Johnny Depp played Bulger in Black Mass, a 2015 film about the gangster. Prosecutors said Connolly regularly tipped off Bulger about ongoing investigations. In the Florida case, Connolly told Bulger that an executive with a Miami jai-alai operation might cooperate in the probe of an earlier mob murder. The mobsters dispatched a hit man to fatally shoot the executive, John Callahan, whose corpse was found stuffed into a car trunk at Miami International Airport. A Miami jury, in 2008, convicted Connolly of second-degree murder with a firearm, and he was sentenced to 40 years. Hes already finished a separate 10-year federal sentence after a Massachusetts jury convicted him of working to protect Bulgers gang. Ex-FBI agent John Connolly, pictured here at his murder trial in Miami, asked to be released from prison over fears of catching the coronavirus. A Miami-Dade judge declined to order his release. Florida prisons have become hot spots for COVID-19, the illness caused by the highly contagious virus. The Florida Department of Corrections have stepped up inmate testing in the past week 623 have tested positive, including 50 at South Bay, which is run by the private company GEO Group. Story continues Across Florida, state prison inmates have been trying to secure their releases as fears mount over the spread of the virus behind bars. Unlike in the federal corrections system, Floridas prison system does not have a compassionate release program and wardens have limited authority to free inmates. Instead, many state inmates have been trying to get medical release through the Florida Commission on Offender Review, which has only released a couple since the pandemic began. Connollys lawyers turned to the state court system. Among other legal authorities, they cited a 102-year-old state law that allows a sentence to be changed because of an emergency. The former FBI agent suffers from diabetes and also a hernia that needs to be operated on, they said. Under 1982 Florida law, and with time for good behavior, Connolly only has about two-and-a-half years left before his release, lawyers James McDonald and Craig Trocino told the judge. Mr. Connolly is not in good condition, at all, McDonald said during Mondays hearing. Hes in a front line of being an at-risk person. But Connolly has not been classified a medically at-risk inmate and remains in normal prison housing, said William James Hamilton, the head administrator of South Bay Correctional. He testified that Connolly was tested for COVID-19 at the end of last week. Although he could not divulge the results of the test, Hamilton said Connolly remains in his same prison cell suggesting hes tested negative. Virus-stricken inmates are being housed separately, and those who are too sick are being sent to a local hospital. Is it fair to say that you don t have any concerns about Mr. Connollys current status and your ability to house him appropriately? Sayfie asked. At this time we do not, Hamilton said. Miami prosecutors Michael Von Zamft and Joel Rosenblatt opposed Connollys release. May 11, 2020 LIKE OUR JOURNEY from the womb, or through millennia of evolutionary changes, the Silk Road is a trip that feels elemental to the human condition. We cannot remember, often, how we learned of it, only that knowledge of it seems to be a birthright: It may not be the first story of human movement, recorded or otherwise, but it is the most abiding. At its most prosaic, the Silk Road was a series of trade routes that began thousands of years before the Common Era and lasted until (depending on who you ask) the 15th or 16th century (though many scholars argue that it continued for much longer). Over the decades, as kingdoms rose and faltered and conquerors redrew broad swaths of what is now Central Asia, the Middle East and Southern Europe, the route swerved and shimmied, calving tributaries that crossed mountains and deserts and eventually even the sea. A map, for much of civilization, was a mere suggestion, a diary of conquest written in pencil, and one of the victors privileges was the right to remake the world to his liking. Heading west from the ancient city of Changan (now Xian) in China trundled caravans of silk, tea, paper and spices, inching toward their terminus in Rome or Constantinople; heading east came glass, gold, silver and horses. The route was some 4,000 miles, and dangerous; the people who plied it did so knowing that they could be felled by perils both human and climatic, that at any moment, the lands they traversed could become hostile territory. Typically around now, Loretta McEllhiney feels a certain excitement, a certain sense of wonder that only Colorados highest altitudes can stir. But the feeling is different this year. I dont think the fourteeners are where you should be going, McEllhiney, the U.S. Forest Services fourteener program manager, said from her Leadville home. I mean, I dont want to go, but I have to. COVID-19 or no COVID-19, McEllhiney is internally called to the 14,000-foot peaks, where for nearly two decades she has spent summers camping and plotting more sustainable summiting routes. This year shes due on mounts Shavano, Princeton and Lindsey, among others. And yes, there are nerves this time around. But Im pretty aware when Im out there, McEllhiney said. I will probably hear people coming long before they get to me. And I know how to safely move away from the trail and not do damage. She worries that others arent so knowledgeable. That they should find a rock to step on when socially distancing in the high-alpine tundra, where feet can kill fragile vegetation. That they should not ascend off trail, thus forming a new, potentially destructive footpath. And also, McEllhiney wonders about potential harm to human beings themselves in a fourteener season such as this one approaching. What could the mountains unrelenting crowds of recent years mean in the face of an unprecedented pandemic? McEllhiney said she was crunching numbers like crazy to come to some sort of answer. A bunch of my data is being sent to leadership to say, What should we be doing here? The data is from stewarding nonprofit Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, which deploys infrared trail counters near timberlines of several mountains. The latest estimates suggest Quandary Peak and Mount Bierstadt are the busiest of the states 54 fourteeners, the two seeing close to 1,000 people on their busiest days. On those, counters have recorded almost 250 hikers in any given hour, McEllhiney said. Gov. Jared Polis limits on group sizes (10 as of last week) could very well change, she said. But there are definitely some mountains where, if were looking at eight more weeks of 10-person group sizes, yeah, thats gonna be tough. It could be tougher to enforce. In the most restrictive scenarios you could have the Forest Service or counties or other jurisdictions closing roads, preventing people from parking, said Lloyd Athearn, executive director of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative. But if all the trailheads are open, is it likely theyre gonna have rangers or various folks out on trails enforcing things? I would think that would be pretty challenging to do. Steve Wilson and his Front Range comrades are not expecting any such scenarios. Hes a mission coordinator for the Alpine Rescue Team, one of the states busiest groups of voluntary heroes, covering an area about the size of Rhode Island. That includes four of the most popular fourteeners: mounts Bierstadt and Evans and Grays and Torreys peaks. From the looks of it already, it seems to Wilson that people have not been obeying the governors guidelines to recreate within 10 miles of homes. Still, the Alpine Teams mission numbers for this time of year have been average, Wilson said. He fears that changing with state orders lifting, cabin fever mounting and snow melting in the high country. What we assume is therell be an explosion of people going into the mountains, he said. And for his and other search and rescue teams across the state, that explosion could cause a unique strain. Were definitely concerned about maintaining the health of our first responders, said Jeff Sparhawk, president of the Colorado Search and Rescue Association. If a team gets infected, we have to start thinking about how we can still help counties out if that team cant respond. It could be a chess match in how we can manage resources. During spring, at the start of the outbreak in Colorado, authorities cautioned against travel in the backcountry, saying fewer members of their ranks would be available, if at all, in an emergency. If this was to play out in the summer, wed apply the same logic to it: Lets not put first responders where its unnecessary exposure and risk, said Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons, whos noticed usual crowds emerging at Quandary Peaks parking lot. For a highly technical rescue on fourteeners, the Alpine Team might lean on 20 people, Wilson said. Now, considering team members at risk, he said that could be half the number. Half the number, and maybe double the burden on volunteers with work and family to worry about. Those factors always come into play, Wilson said. But its a lot more in your face now than in the past. His advice to fourteener dreamers? This is a time to dial it back. But he gets it. People want to get out. And McEllhiney gets it the ever-present risks and rewards of the mountains. Shes always somewhat nervous to return to the wild, but theres always more excitement, she said. I want to get out into the woods really bad. Note: This article was updated Tuesday to include a comment from Texas prison officials. Prison food is notoriously bad, even in the best of times. This isnt the best of times, especially in the 40-plus Texas prisons where people are locked in their cells all the time because of the coronavirus pandemic. Their food now arrives at odd hours in paper bags, cold, mushy and without a hint of green (except perhaps for some iffy-looking hot dogs). Mostly its stale white bread and mystery meat, with the occasional helping of raisins or prunes. This is what people inside have been telling The Marshall Project since the first of the COVID-19-related lockdowns began in early April. To prove their point, the prisoners started sending out photos. An official manual outlines the recommended calories for wholesome and nutritious meals, and includes a narrow assortment of suggested items that sound palatable. But in the prisoners pictures, the sloppy joes look like peanut butter sandwiches, except for the corn kernels. The hot dogs are wrapped in smushed white bread, the milk comes in powdered form and there is no semblance of a fresh fruit or vegetable. But even though it doesnt look like food most people would want to eat, prisoners and their families say theyre not getting enough of it. They say they are going to bed hungry. The conditions are so bad in here, it seems third world, one man wrote to his fiancee. The nutrition is far from adequate especially for COVID-positive inmates. You would think we would at least be given vegetables and hearty protein, something with a vitamin content. A prison spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The quality of prison food in Texas took a nosedive in 2011 when officials tried to make up a budget shortage by cutting $2.8 million from the allotment for meals. One document described the planned changes: replacing hot dog and hamburger buns with white bread, substituting milk powder for fresh milk, and feeding inmates only twice a day on weekends at certain facilities. Prisoners noticed and sent a petition to the American Civil Liberties Union. It didnt do any good. Not only did the regular food get markedly worse, so did the lockdown meals. Every time a Texas prison locks downwhether its for a weeks-long contraband search, an unexpected disturbance or a mass quarantinethe mess halls close. Bagged lunches known as johnny sacks replace cafeteria meals. Now, every time someone inside tests positive for the novel coronavirus, the entire prison it placed on lockdown for at least two weeks and everyone gets johnnies. The upshot is that by early May, thousands of incarcerated people had not seen sunlight or eaten a warm meal in weeks. Many said theyd had only sporadic access to phones, mail and showers. In theory, the johnnies include a breakfast typically boiled eggs, dry cereal and raisins. Lunch and dinner consist of two sandwiches per meal a chicken or beef patty, mystery meat or peanut butter, which prisoners say is sometimes diluted with cooking oil. The johnny sacks are very bad, Theodore Cigo Crews, 73, an inmate at the Estelle unit in Huntsville, wrote in a letter to his daughter. Once, he said, We only got a foam cup of BBQ chopped beef. Thats all. Crews is serving a 20-year sentence for aggravated assault. We will not die by COVID19 but we die by hunger!! TRUTH! he wrote. After looking at the pictures (which did not come from Crews or anyone at his unit), a former prison official confirmed they appeared to be Texas prison johnny sacks. Theyve always been subpar, the ex-official said. Although each prison is required to set aside a sample of each meal for three days in case there are later questions about the quality of the food, the former official said those samples arent always representative of what is actually served to inmates. Prisoners in locked-down units say their food has been arriving at weird times. One told his mother hed received breakfasttwo boiled eggs and a peanut butter sandwichat 3 a.m. His next packet of sandwiches didnt arrive until 4 p.m. Weeks after the lockdowns began, prison officials told family advocacy organizations that they would begin offering occasional treats from the commissary. One prisoner reported his treat had arrived: a single peppermint stick. Update: A day after this article was published, a Texas prison spokesman -- responding to an earlier request for comment -- said the sack meals meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards. Wardens, kitchen supervisors and others are overseeing the process and spot-checking the meals in all locations consistently, said spokesman Jeremy Desel, adding that the prison system has been taking extra steps to ensure the quality of food during the prolonged lockdowns. We have received compliments from family groups on the improved quality of those meals. This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for its newsletter, or follow The Marshall Project on Facebook or Twitter. Elon Musk has been frustrated that Teslas Fremont factory has remained shut down due to Alameda Countys lockdown order, and that anger has apparently reached the boiling point. Musk has claimed that hell move Teslas headquarters to Nevada or Texas immediately as a result of Alameda Countys decision to keep the Fremont factory shut through May. He also threatened to pull all manufacturing from Fremont depending on how Tesla is treated in the future. On top of this, Musk said Tesla would sue the county for allegedly defying the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense. The entrepreneur has made his displeasure with the Fremont shutdown clear on more than one occasion, including on Twitter and in a profanity-laced outburst in an earning call where he called lockdown safety measures an attack on freedom. Weve asked the company if it can elaborate on Musks statements. If he follows through, however, it could significantly affect the automotive and technology industries. Itd leave California without a major car maker, as Musk suggested, while boosting Teslas presence in Nevada. It could hurt Teslas ability to hire new staff in the process, mind you. The company has poached staff from tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area that might not have needed to relocate at all. While a move to another state would reduce the chances of companies stealing Tesla employees, the EV maker could have a harder time recruiting workers without immediate access to Silicon Valley talent. Update 5/10 9:30AM ET: Tesla followed up Musks declarations with a blog post making its case for restarting production in Fremont, including safety measures and the Governors reopening strategy. While the company didnt touch on Musks threat to move the headquarters, it confirmed that a lawsuit had been filed to invalidate Alameda Countys restrictions and hinted that 20,000 Tesla jobs (including over 10,000 at the factory) were at stake. This transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 - also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19 - isolated from a patient in the U.S. Virus particles are shown emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. The spikes on the outer edge of the virus particles give coronaviruses their name, crown-like. The police command in Delta has confirmed the death of a 60-year-old U.S. citizen in the state, due to suspected complications arising from COVID-19. The state Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Inuwa, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Warri on Sunday. NAN gathered that the 60-year-old woman was in Nigeria to visit her male friend. She was kept in a hotel in Warri for sometime before relocating to another hotel around Orerokpe. "While they were together for about a week, the woman was coughing and having difficulty in breathing and stooling. "So, she was taken to a hospital on Saturday when her condition became worse and eventually died," Mr Inuwa said. He said the male friend is with the police in Orerokpe. The police commissioner said that he had drawn the attention of the Commissioner for Health in Delta to the development, in order to contact the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), in view of the symptoms developed by the deceased. Mr Inuwa, however, warned policemen to be very careful with the manner they deal with the said male friend, so as not to get infected with the dreaded COVID-19. (NAN) A second wave of Covid-19 infections will hit the global commodities markets even harder than the initial outbreak, market sources told Fastmarkets on Monday May 11. Five new infections have surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak first came to light, while 11 new cases have been recorded in Shulan city in Jilin province. And in the South Korean capital of Seoul, authorities are scrambling to trace thousands of people linked to a cluster of new cases, while Germany's virus reproduction rate - the average number of people infected by a person confirmed to have the disease - has increased to more than one following a resurgence in cases after lockdown measures were eased in its 16 federal states on April 20. The fear of a big resurgence in Covid-19 infections has soured sentiment among market participants, who mostly hold dour views about the impact of the outbreak on key ferrous commodities markets in Asia. Another round of price falls Most market participants said they expect prices to fall further because demand will be hit hard again. Hot-rolled coil price falls of up to $50 per tonne may even happen, judging by how prices moved in the first half of this year, a source at a major east Asian HRC producer told Fastmarkets. Major downstream end users in the automotive and construction sectors drastically reduced demand during the first wave of Covid-19 infections, including stoppages at automotive lines operated by major producers Toyota, Hyundai, Tesla, Nissan, Seat, Ford, Daimler and Volvo in Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. A source at a second major east Asian HRC producer, however, was much more optimistic about price trends if a second wave was to occur. Prices are already very low in the current environment and have already eaten into mill margins, the producer source said. In fact, prices have reached the bottom and are now rebounding. That is why prices will not suffer anymore - even if there is a second wave. A Vietnamese trader said the measures implemented by governments should prove useful for national economies in the future. There should be more confidence among market participants about how businesses handle the coronavirus crisis if it was to surface again, the trader told Fastmarkets. Vietnam has seen only 288 cases of Covid-19 and no deaths, and has largely relaxed social distancing and lockdown measures - although gatherings of large groups are still prohibited. But the first HRC producer source questioned whether such a positive outlook was justifiable. Prices are indeed at a bottom right now, he said, but only if there is no second wave of infections hitting the global economies hard. Changes in trade flow... again Trade flows will certainly be disrupted again if the second wave spreads, sources said. Typical trade flows have already been heavily disrupted by the first wave of Covid-19. For example, China has turned out to be one of the few bright sparks in the spot market, a steel trader in Southeast Asia said. China has been purchasing large quantities of HRC in recent weeks, soaking up almost half a million tonnes of HRC from Russia, India, Japan and South Korea amid plunging domestic demand in those countries, according to Fastmarkets' statistics. This is due to the high local prices caused by a rebound in demand, along with traders hedging against short selling of futures cargoes on exchanges, such as the Shanghai Futures Exchange. China is typically an exporter of HRC to regional buyers because of short shipping times, and especially to countries where it has free-trade agreements in Southeast Asia. China's production purchasing managers index (PMI) dipped slightly to 50.8 points in April from 52 points in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The PMI had been 35.7 points in February, the month the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. China's domestic markets remain bullish, with decreasing inventory levels in many areas. Many market participants feel that China's domestic prices will remain higher, which is why Chinese traders are buying imported HRC to hedge against the high domestic prices, a Chinese steel market observer said. China is also expected to implement a more-aggressive monetary stimulus program in the coming months, ING China chief economist Iris Pang said in an analyst note on May 11. We expected there will be more focused credit injections to small and medium enterprizes, which should help employment, she said. Pang expects China to cut the reserve requirement ratio for big banks to 9.5% from 12.5% by the end of 2020. She also expects the seven-day reverse repo rate - a kind of short-term loan that the central bank uses to increase liquidity in the national banking system - to be cut to 1.5% from 2.2%. Market sources in China said they expect things to look up in the domestic market for the rest of May, especially with the downstream construction industry increasing its activities and with a rebound in automobile sales widely expected. Higher costs for manufacturers Steel mills and distributors expect to see higher costs in the implementation of the Covid-19 measures mandated by national governments at their production plants. This includes fewer workers in attendance at meltshops and fabrication facilities due to social distancing measures at steel mills, tracking worker movements and health screenings and temperature testing, which could all reduce production rates. The cost of worker accommodation and transportation are also likely to increase due to staggered working arrangements and shift systems, a steel buyer in Singapore said. Singapore has seen a huge jump in Covid-19 infections among its construction workforce residing at purpose-built dormitories, causing almost all construction sites to shut down. The gradual restart of construction projects will also slow demand and the quantities sold to construction companies, dampening margins further, the buyer said. Key factors to watch There are a number of factors to watch out for, market participants said. A big part of how commodity markets will [react] depends on the major international ferrous markets in Europe, the United States, Russia and Turkey," a steel trader in Singapore said. We need to watch out carefully for any resurgence in Covid-19 infections in these countries and how [their] governments react to the new cases. If these markets recover and domestic demand improves, then buyers in these countries will start sourcing imported cargoes again. If not, it is likely the economic slump will persist, the trader said. The new rounds of safeguard measures being implemented by many countries will also disrupt trade flows in the medium term. "With the European Union looking to start anti-dumping investigations against Turkish hot-rolled coil and Turkey increasing its steel import duties, it doesn't look too good for Asia," the trader added. Similarly, weak domestic demand in Russia and India would be equally bad for the Asian HRC markets, a second steel trader in Southeast Asia said. "Look at how Russian and Indian HRC have been flowing to Asia [recently], he said. The situation will worsen once more supply from Hoa Phat's new integrated steel mill comes on stream. Vietnam will become an even smaller market," he said. Advertisement Britons may just see their country in a new light after gazing upon these incredible images, which show it at its most enchanting and ethereal. They were taken by Romanian Aurel Paduraru just after he moved from Bucharest to Clevedon in North Somerset last year with his wife and young son. He wanted to explore his new home so set about travelling to some of the UK's most enticing areas. And we can be thankful he took his camera with him. He told MailOnline Travel: 'I knew that I would be able to take good pictures here as the places are amazing. Every part of the UK is fascinating and I have some great memories of the places we have visited so far.' Scroll down to see Britain at its most beautiful... Aurel's amazing aerial image of the tiny island of Cribinau on the south-west coast of the Isle of Anglesey, on which is perched a simple white-washed Medieval church. Erosion cut the islet off from the mainland A mesmerisingly moody scene featuring the Grade II-listed Portland Bill Lighthouse on the Isle of Portland in Dorset Aurel said he knew he would be able to take good pictures in the UK, adding: 'The places here are amazing.' Pictured is the 19th-century 36ft-high Twr Mawr Lighthouse on Anglesey A colossal wave breaks over Porthcawl Pier in Wales and frames the lighthouse in dramatic fashion. The lighthouse was built in 1860 and is 30ft tall Aurel said that he likes to take his son with him on his travels to 'keep him away from the TV and computer and to grow his desire to discover the beauty of the natural world'. He captured this scene on Anglesey, with his wife and son gazing upon the 91ft-tall South Stack Lighthouse, which was built in 1809 to warn ships of the treacherous rocks nearby A seductive shot of the eye-catching Clevedon Pier, which opened in 1869 and is now a designated Grade I-listed building. Poet John Betjeman described it as 'the most beautiful pier in England' The coastline of Clevedon, which grew in popularity as a seaside resort during the Victorian era. Aurel says it also has a lovely forest Wand-erful: Aurel's young son wanders through Gloucester Cathedral, which was built in 678. It has been used as a filming location for the Harry Potter films This ethereal shot shows Portland Bill, the southernmost point of Dorset. Aurel said: 'Every part of the UK is fascinating and I have some great memories of the places we have visited so far' A spellbinding shot of the Burnham-on-Sea Low Lighthouse - aka the 'lighthouse on legs'. It's a Grade II listed building dating back to 1832 - and it's still guiding Somerset mariners Beak condition: A stunning shot of a kingfisher in the Newcastle area A stunning drone shot of the road to Skomer island in Pembrokeshire, home to a cornucopia of wildlife including voles, rabbits, buzzards, peregrine falcons, owls and puffins A handful of puffins on Skomer. The birds - which have a lifespan of up to 40 years - are resident on the island between April and August Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset - a beautiful chocolate box cobbled street that was made famous by an advert for Hovis bread This charming shot shows Aurel's wife and young son enjoying a stroll around the picturesque village of Castle Combe in the Cotswolds A breathtaking shot of a field of poppies in Burlish Top Nature Reserve, just outside Stourport-on-Severn, North Worcestershire The set of Lord of the Rings? No, this is Aurel's son relaxing in a huge tree in Clevedon A soothing autumnal scene in the Clifton area of Bristol. Aurel said: 'We are doing our best to split our time between visiting new places, our jobs and our son's school' Aurel found this magical tree-lined road near Stourhead, a 1,072-hectare National Trust estate in Wiltshire. Aurel said: 'I would love to have the opportunity to visit Scotland and the eastern part of England. So far we haven't had enough time. These are such lovely places, with so many beautiful sights. I want to find time for trips there' It's not even 10 days into the month of April, and I am sure that each of us would be struggling to balance our monthly expenses. While our struggles of roti, kapda aur makaan continue, we wonder if we'll ever get to live life like Bollywood celebs. There's no denying that we, Indians, are obsessed with Bollywood celebs and their lifestyles. We look up to them in many ways and the handsome paychecks they take home is just one aspect. But if you're under the impression that these Bollywood celebs have got the moolah the easy way, you are probably wrong as they had to grind their way to the top and even had to do some odd jobs. We have found out how much some of the biggest Indian stars, who were outsiders, earned before their big break. 1. Shah Rukh Khan: Rs 50 Yes, you read it right! It was just Rs 50. We all know that SRK has struggled way too much for acquiring this much fame and it didnt come easy. In an interview with PTI, he said, I have travelled some long distances when I was younger. I did one, when I got my first earning from Pankaj Udhas concert, I was an usher. We got Rs 50, so we went to Taj Mahal, saved money. SRK revealed that all the money was spent on his train ticket, leaving him with just enough for a glass of pink lassi. A bee fell into it, but I still drank it and puked all through my return journey, shared SRK. Surely, times would have been hard for SRK back then. 2. Akshay Kumar: Rs 1500 He might be one of the bankable stars now but the actor started as a chef and waiter in Bangkok. His first salary was just Rs 1500 and also he had to sleep in the kitchen. Akshay Kumars journey has surely been a roller-coaster ride and struggling actor can take lessons on how to keep working hard in adverse situations. 3. Irrfan Khan: Rs 25 Irrfan is no more amongst us but he is alive in our memories. We did lose a gem but his journey to fame can never be forgotten and should always be celebrated. Irrfan worked as a tuition teacher and earned Rs 25 per student. In an interview with Mumbai Mirror, he told, I used to give tuitions to school kids in Jaipur, my home town, and while in high school. I would get paid Rs 25 per student. It was exciting to make that kind of money at the time. 4. Manoj Bajpayee: Rs 1200 He is one of the names that come to our minds if we talk about actors who have made it big after they started as theatre artists. Manoj never fails to impress the viewers with his realistic method of acting. According to ScoopWhoop, the actor earned income of just Rs 1200 as an assistant director. 5. Nawazzudin Siddiqui: Rs 2000 One more name that pops up is of Nawazzudin Siddiqui who also had to struggle way too hard to achieve the position he is at now. In an interview with Mumbai Mirror, he revealed, My first job was as a chief chemist at a petrochemical factory. My mother had mortgaged her jewellery to sponsor my education. I got paid Rs 4,000, saved the first two months salary, went back to my village and got my moms jewellery back. Well, they all have worked hard to be wherever they are. Its time for us to take some lessons from them and start working towards our success. Attentive Oilprice readers must have read at least a dozen articles describing how hard Iraq has been hit by the drop in oil prices. Iraqs political travails are by no means over, Baghdad is now the tactical battlefield to have Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the head of the countrys National intelligence service, elected as the new prime minister after the previous two candidates failed to garner sufficient approval in the Parliament. Fighting coronavirus and low oil prices at the same time, the management of Iraqs slew of problems has befallen to Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban who has become the de facto head of government after nominal Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi went into self-imposed absence. Against this background, the federal Iraqi government has stopped all payments towards the Kurdistani Regional Government (KRG) last week. To put these numbers in context, the KRG needs around 900 million every month to ensure essential government functioning, of this, some 380 million came from the federal government in Baghdad which has pledged to take regional government officials and Peshmerga on its payroll. Even before COVID-19 struck the world and before oil prices plummeted by 60% compared to February 2020, Erbil had persistent issues with paying the salaries of people on its payroll for instance, the money that public sector workers received this April were in fact arrears for December 2019. The announcement of the caretaking federal government has triggered a new flurry of political activity for the first time since January, a delegation of Kurdish officials (headed by the Kurdish Finance Minister Sheikh Janab) has travelled to Baghdad with the aim of strengthening Erbil-Baghdad ties. KRG has had a lot of political capital invested into not falling into the pitfall of a leaking budget. Bleeding from its heroic fight against the Islamic State, the KRG has maintained a policy of mandated austerity measures (among others the so-called salary-saving scheme) for 3 consecutive years since 2016 and it was only in March 2019 that the regional government could finally announce a new era, when salaries are paid in full and (supposedly) on time. Story continues Related: The Death Of U.S. Oil Yet what does all this mean for the oil production of Iraqi Kurdistan? First and foremost, KRG officials have explicitly stated that Erbil would join the OPEC+ agreement and that Iraqs 23% production cut would be proportionately mirrored in Kurdish crude output. Given that October 2018 production figures are taken as the baseline for OPEC+ production curtailments, Iraq in total would need to cut 1.1mbpd in May-June 2020. This would presuppose a 0.2-0.3mbpd output cut in the next 2 months, a painful commitment for a regional government that has tacitly suggested to oil companies to postpone overdue crude marketing payments by at least 9 months, i.e. already into early 2021. Interestingly, the crude volume to be cut by KRG is roughly equivalent with the 250kbpd that Kurdistan ought to be transferring to the federal government in exchange for Baghdad paying the regional governments payroll. The Kurdish crude transfers are concurrently becoming an increasingly hot topic in the Iraqi federal Parliament as a group of representatives has filed an official complaint to Finance Minister Fuad Hussein, who happens to be an ethnic Kurd and has been generally seen as a dovish figure who could usher in a new era of more harmonious coexistence between Baghdad and Erbil, accusing the federal ministry of misspending $5 billion in 2019 of public money on subsidizing KRG which did not even transfer the promised 250kbpd. Graph 1. Kirkuk Crude Export Volumes in 2017-2020 (mbpd) (Click to enlarge) Source: Thomson Reuters. Against the background of low oil prices and major discrepancies with the federal governments in Baghdad, Iraqi Kurdistan has suffered another blow with the US Treasury sanctioning the Switzerland-based Rosneft Trading (RTSA), one of the prime shippers of Kurdish crude. Thanks to a 2017 pre-financing deal with the Kurdish Regional Government, RTSA has managed to add Kirkuk into its portfolio of crude exports, however has become tangibly less visible on the market after the US sanctions. Rosneft has sold all its Venezuelan assets the alleged reason why it found itself on the OFAC list and is now expecting the US authorities to keep their promise of lifting the sanctions once RTSA quits Venezuela. Rosneft might have served as a way out in this case, another pre-financing deal is by no means impossible, yet this could happen only after the US sanctions issue is settled. Were the Kurdish Regional Government to find interested partners, a pre-financing deal with a world-class trading houses might be the solution to its growing woes. Until then, Erbil has to rely on the political instruments it has available, like calling for the UN to mediate between the Kurds and the Baghdad government, so far to no avail. With health workers starting a strike on April 27 and political protests remaining an enticing prospect for the incensed populace, the KRG leadership ought to safeguard the oil and gas infrastructure from any potential damage to the breakaway regions infrastructure, as any attacks would only exacerbate the financial agony. By Viktor Katona for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Read this article on OilPrice.com A second special train from Goa carrying 728 passengers for Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir departed on Monday from Margao railway station, officials said. On Sunday, a Shramik Special train with more than 1,050 people had left for Udhampur from Thivim railway station in the coastal state. A senior government official said so far three Shramik Specials, including the one on Monday, have departed from Goa for Madhya Pradesh and Udhampur. Earlier in the day, the passengers were ferried from various locations to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Complex in Fatorda in special buses and screened for COVID-19 symptoms, before being allowed to board the train. Of the total 728 passengers, eight were students who came from Belgaum in Karnataka by road to board the train. The official said the Jammu and Kashmir Association in Goa had approached the state government requesting making arrangements for the stranded people. The passengers who left for Udhampur hailed from different districts in Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chennai, May 11 : In a gruesome incident, a 14-year old schoolgirl was set on fire in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district by two men connected to the ruling AIADMK party. The girl, who had suffered 95 per cent burns, died on Monday, police said. According to police, Jayashree, daughter of small shop-owner Jayapal, had given a statement to the magistrate naming two persons - G. Murugan and K.Kaliaperumal - as the persons who had set her on fire. The crime occurred on Sunday at Sirumadurai locality near Thiruvennainallur when the girl was alone at her house. On hearing the girl's cries and the smoke coming out of her house, neighbours rushed in and were shocked. They took the girl to the government hospital where she breathed her last. Police told IANS that Murugan and Kaliaperumal have been taken into custody and are being questioned. According to a police official, there had been a previous enmity between the girl's father and the alleged killers. Meanwhile, major opposition parties have demanded severe punishment to the killers. Demanding quick and severe punishment to the two accused, including a former municipal councillor, opposition DMK's President M.K. Stalin on Monday claimed that the duo tied the hands and legs of Jayashree, stuffed her mouth with a cloth, and set her afire. The girl was admitted in a government hospital with 95 per cent burn injuries, and in her dying declaration to a magistrate, named the two AIADMK members as the culprits, he added. According to Stalin, it is the second such crime of burning alive a student by AIADMK members. A bus was set ablaze in Dharmapuri, in which three girl students of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University were burnt alive in 2000. Stalin urged the police to act impartially and ensure the strictest punishment to the culprits. Similarly, PMK Founder S.Ramadoss said whatever be the previous enmity, the gruesome act of burning alive a school girl cannot be permitted. Ramadoss, in a tweet, said the killers should be speedily punished in such a way that it remains as a lesson for such killers. MDMK General Secretary Vaiko too demanded a speedy and severe punishment for the killers. Meanwhile the ruling AIADMK is silent on the issue. Davidos cousin and Senator Ademola Adelekes daughter, Adenike, have graduated from a US university, despite lockdown. Senator Adeleke took to his Instagram page to celebrate her on her graduation. In his post on social media to celebrate her, he revealed that she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Nursing and Health Professions. READ ALSO Chioma Congratulate Davidos Cousin, B-Red Over Newborn Baby Advertisement The senator shared a photo of her on social media with caption: Glory be to God! Im so proud my beautiful daughter Adenike Marlyn Adeleke graduated today from Oakwood University in Alabama class of 2020. See Post Here: Christianity Today is calling for submissions for the 2021 Christianity Today Book Awards NEWS PROVIDED BY Christianity Today May 11, 2020 CAROL STREAM, Ill. May 11, 2020 / Christian Newswire / -- Christianity Today is calling for submissions for the 2021 Christianity Today Book Awards. The CT Book Awards, along with our "Beautiful Orthodoxy" Book of the Year, will be announced in December at ChristianityToday.com . Winners will be featured prominently in the January/February 2021 issue of CT and widely promoted in CT newsletters and on the site. Publishers of the winning books will also have the opportunity to participate in a promotion organized by CT's marketing team. Awards Categories: 1. Apologetics/Evangelism 2. Biblical Studies 3. Children and Youth 4. Christian Living/Discipleship 5. The Church/Pastoral Leadership 6. Culture and the Arts 7. Fiction 8. History/Biography 9. Missions/The Global Church 10. Politics and Public Life 11. Spiritual Formation 12. Theology/Ethics 13. CT Women* 14. The "Beautiful Orthodoxy" Book of the Year* To be eligible for nomination, a book must be published between November 1, 2019 and October 31, 2020. CT is looking for scholarly and popular-level works, and everything in between. A diverse panel of scholars, pastors, and other informed readers will evaluate the books. Detailed instructions for how to submit your nomination can be found online at MoreCT.com/2021Nomination *CT Women and Beautiful Orthodoxy are special add-on categories. Books nominated in these categories must have first been nominated in one of the other main categories. (They will be eligible to win more than once.) Deadline: The deadline for submitting nominations is Wednesday, August 5, 2020. Please read complete submission instructions at MoreCT.com/2021Nomination Christianity Today is a nonprofit, global media ministry centered on Beautiful Orthodoxy--strengthening the church by richly communicating the breadth of the true, good, and beautiful gospel. Reaching over five million people monthly with various digital and print resources, the ministry equips Christians to renew their minds, serve the church, and create culture to the glory of God. SOURCE CONTACT: Leanne Snavely, 630-260-6200 ext. 7214, lsnavely@christianitytoday.com Related Links MoreCT.com/2021Nomination ChristianityToday.com Share Tweet SONSIEL Every minute we spend on collectively built and purposed solutions ensures we are contributing to greater recovery and improved outcomes. As COVID-19 raises new health and healthcare challenges for an already taxed workforce and system, nurses and other frontline healthcare workersgiven their proximity and time spent in direct patient carehave a unique, invaluable perspective that enables them to see care challenges, and solution options. Technology is an essential tool in bridging the challenge-care gap. To that end, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, the Society of Nurse Scientists Innovators Entrepreneurs and Leaders (SONSIEL), and DevUP announce the first Nurse Hack for Health: COVID-19 Virtual Hackathon, occurring online May 15-17, 2020. The virtual hackathon is a timely opportunity for those on the frontline to apply their experience, resourcefulness and innovative thinking and employ technology to help improve response to the pandemic, and save lives. The Nurse Hack for Health: COVID-19 Virtual Hackathon will convene nurses, other frontline health workers, software developers, engineers, and other IT staff to help solve COVID-19 healthcare challenges with technological solutions. Over the weekend of May 15-17th, individuals will work in interdisciplinary teams, using the Microsoft Teams platform, to develop solutions to problems clinicians see in daily practice within one of five challenge areas: Technology/Remote Patient Monitoring Acute Care Technology/Remote Patient Monitoring Home Setting Patient Transfer, Hand-off, and Huddle Data and Reporting Resiliency and Self-care. Teams will be mentored over the duration of the event by nursing leaders, entrepreneurs, and developers. By the end of the weekend, teams will have developed minimally viable products (MVPs) to be rapidly applied in healthcare settings. Teams will pitch their solutions to a panel of judges, including those with expertise in innovation, technology and business, and evaluated for impact on human health, innovativeness, completeness, speed to market and ability to scale. All final MVP solutions will be open-source intellectual property and the code will be uploaded to the GitHub software development platform so that hospitals, health systems, and community-based organizations will be able to easily access and deploy the solutions. Remarked Marion Leary, RN, MSN, MPH, SONSIEL Board of Directors, The Nurse Hack for Health: COVID-19 virtual hackathon is meant to provide nurses with the support, resources, and tools needed to help create solutions to the problems they are seeing on the frontlines during this pandemic. Nurses are true leaders in health and healthcare innovation, and hackathons are an amazing way to connect nurses with other interdisciplinary colleagues, such as engineers and computer programmers, who can help bring their innovative ideas from conception to realitysomething that is extremely important right now. Said Hiyam Nadel, MBA, CCG, RN, SONSIEL Board of Directors, Frontline nurses and caregivers newly acquired experience with COVID-19 patients makes them acutely aware of gaps in care. They are the best equipped to come to the virtual hackathon weekend identifying these needs. Im excited to see what they will come up with for solutions with the mentorship and support from J&J, Microsoft, and SONSIEL. Stated Rebecca C. Love, MSN, RN, SONSIEL President & Co-Founder, Stated Rebecca C. Love, MSN, RN, SONSIEL President & Co-Founder, Never before has our mission been so clear and, in my lifetime, so needed. Every minute we spend on collectively built and purposed solutions ensures we are contributing to greater recovery and improved outcomes. We all are driven to create solutions to save patients lives in the face of COVID-19. This event specifically is designed to meet real and far-reaching impacts with knowledge, experience, and expertise. We hope you will join us. My thanks to our partners, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, and DevUP, to the SONSIEL Board of Directors and members, and to all of our healthcare workers, daily committed to this work. The Nurse Hack for Health: COVID-19 Virtual Hackathon is free of charge and open to nurses, nursing students, retired nurses, healthcare professionals, engineers, developers, designers, entrepreneurs, and anyone else with an interest in helping to solve a problem related to COVID-19 utilizing technology. Participants must commit for the entire weekend in order to ensure team results. Interested participants must register at https://nursehack4health.org/. Follow the event and efforts on social media with #NurseHack4Health. ABOUT SONSIEL SONSIEL is a national and international platform of nurse scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs, directly impacting health and the healthcare ecosystem through innovation and entrepreneurship; SONSIEL is a purpose-built society of nurses designed to create new opportunities and solutions across healthcare. Nurses are on the front lines, working with all healthcare team members to keep patients and the community safe. For more information about SONSIEL, please visit https://www.sonsiel.org/. Follow SONSIEL on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SONSIEL2 (@SONSIEL2); Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Sonsielnurse/ (@SONSIELnurse); YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpeapLA1QkY45l9NdOkxtQA/ (SONSIEL SONSIEL); and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sonsielnurse/ (@SONSIELNURSE). ### It is a season of slashing and burning the many provisions of Nigeria's 2020 budget. Built on very optimistic assumptions of secure oil and gas production in the Niger Delta and a positive 'weather' of gliding mid-level oil price stability, the COVID-19 and its resultant assault on the oil industry has seen the Nigerian government scrambling to rework and further rework its budget. Nigeria is broke and the economy is mired down on quicksand. Since coming into office in 2015, the Buhari administration has spent trillions of naira on projects after programmes with no thought to enlarging the savings pool. Rather, the government has continuously and uninterruptedly dipped its fingers into the nation's meagre savings and depleted the excess crude account from the nearly $3 billion it met in 2015 to just a little over $70 million. In early April, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered that the sum of $150 million be withdrawn from the stabilization fund of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) to help address emerging fiscal risks which the COVID-19 pandemic had caused and to support the June 2020 Federation Accounts and Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursement. The morbidly ill-designed and poorly implemented Keynesian expenditure strategy by the Nigerian government that emphasised tokenism, including giveaways over substance has failed after all to save the economy. It was a prophecy foretold. Growth has been anaemic over the last five years, averaging less than 1 per cent since 2015; well below levels needed to drive meaningful development. In 2018, Nigeria overtook India as having the most people globally living in extreme poverty. The latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), about poverty and inequality from September 2018 to October 2019 is even more depressing. It shows 40 per cent of people in the country live below its poverty line of N137,430 ($381.75), a year, which represents 82.9 million people and highlighting the low levels of wealth in Africa's biggest economy. Low confidence in the economic policies of President Muhammadu Buhari has seen foreign and local investments, including portfolio investments in the country fall drastically by more than 65 per cent since early 2015. It has been projected by the government that the country's GDP will further contract by 3.4 per cent, as against the earlier optimistic projection of a 2.9 per cent growth, as dwindling oil revenues and the pandemic forced the country to cut the budget plans for a second time to assume a lower petroleum price of $20 per barrel. In the middle of last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday projected that Nigeria was headed for a recession, its worst in three decades as it expected the economy to contract by 3.4 per cent in 2020, implying a recessionary slide on the modest 2.27 per cent real growth recorded by the country in 2019. Supporting the projections of the World Bank, which predicted an imminent recession in sub-Saharan Africa in its latest Africa's Pulse report, the IMF, in the World Economic Outlook, projected that economies in the region would contract by 1.6 per cent in 2020. Hit by crashing oil prices and lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus, the Nigeria government has been forced to rethink the underlying assumptions around its budget. The COVID-19 outbreak has magnified existing vulnerabilities, leading to a historic contraction in real GDP growth and to large external and fiscal financing needs. As the IMF noted in April, "The near-term economic impact of COVID-19 is expected to be severe, while already high downside risks have increased. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, Nigeria's economy was facing headwinds from rising external vulnerabilities and falling per capita GDP levels. The pandemic, along with the sharp fall in oil prices has magnified the vulnerabilities, leading to a historic decline in growth and large financing needs". So, the centre has been forced to tighten expenditure as it seeks to cope with the strain of the economy coming to a near-standstill as a result of the persistent volatility in the oil market that has seen global Brent crude price futures to as low as $11 last month. Nigeria has been grappling with a significant drop in oil prices and a collapse in global fuel demand caused by lockdown measures aimed at containing COVID-19. The Director of the Budget Office, Mr. Ben Akabueze projected that oil and gas revenues would drop by over 80 per cent this year. Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed announced last week that the federal government was considering lowering the oil price benchmark in the 2020 Budget from $57 to $20 to reflect obvious income realities. "We are in the process of an amendment that is bringing down the revenue indicator to $20 per barrel," the Minister proclaimed at a web conference on Citizens' Dialogue Session on Government Fiscal Policy Decisions on the fall in Oil Prices and the COVID-19 pandemic. She added that Nigeria was having trouble selling some of its oil cargoes and would have to cut production to below what it originally expected in the budget. N312.820 billion, representing 15 per cent of its N10.59 trillion budget passed in December 2019, is being sheared off the budget as the federal government further reviewed its proposed production volumes from 2.18 million barrels per day to 1.70 million barrels. The country, as part of an agreement with OPEC and other producing nations, agreed to trim output to help balance the global market. In addition, the federal government has also decided not to hold bidding rounds for major oilfields until crude prices recover while some upstream projects will be completed much later than originally planned as a result of the crash in the price of crude oil. A significant modification in the overall numbers of the budget was virtually unavoidable as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic. Among the many casualties of COVID-19, was the oil and gas industry that has taken a massive beating as prices spiralled uncontrollably down the hill. This has negatively affected the country's current account deficit which stood at $9.17 billion in September 2019 when the average crude oil price was $65 per barrel of crude. It is projected that when the latest figures are released by the central bank, the deficit would widen to as much as $15 billion. What this all means is that the Nigerian economy is critically in need of cash inflow to meet infrastructure and recurrent needs and it has turned principally to global financial institutions to fund its budget. At the end of April, IMF approved $3.4 billion in emergency funding to Nigeria, the single biggest disbursement for any country yet with the coronavirus pandemic. The Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), was approved by the IMF on April 28, 2020, is to help Nigeria mitigate the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic and also to sort out balance of payment issues. The Fund's Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, said, "We have already disbursed the money to Nigeria. In emergency assistance, once the board approves, we disburse within days to the country and it goes to the Central Bank in dollars before it's converted to naira for the Federal Government's use. "The conditions are quite favourable. The repayment period is five years, up to two and a half years is a grace period and the interest on the loan is 1 percent". Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Business Governance By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. In a statement, IMF Deputy Managing Director, Mitsuhiro Furusawa, added that the pandemic and the plunge in oil prices were severely impacting Nigeria, and that the funds will provide much-needed liquidity to respond to urgent balance of payments needs. He also called for the country to expedite the unification of its exchange rate, a major source of corrupt patronage for those close to the levers of power in the country. While the IMF financial support to Nigeria will help limit the decline in international reserves and provide financing to the budget for targeted and temporary spending increases aimed at containing and mitigating the economic impact of the pandemic and of the sharp fall in international oil prices, it is pertinent that the Nigerian government understands that when the impact of the COVID-19 shock withers, the government' commitment to medium-term macroeconomic stability remains crucial to support the recovery and ensure debt remains sustainable. The options open to the government to access critical funds are limited. It cannot afford to increase the already arduous tax burden neither can it afford to expand the rectilinear tax base that depends heavily on corporate income tax by the oil majors. This suggests that the federal government will likely prioritise its attempt to raiseN3.45 trillion at in additional concessionary funding from the World Bank, AfDB. Extremely weak foreign direct and foreign portfolio investment inflows make this highly inevitable in such a subdued economic environment. Thus, faced with an odorously unventilated coffer, Nigeria will have to rely on financial assistance and loans in the short term to meet its budgetary obligations. The Buhari administration's refusal to save for the rainy day but spend and spend and spend, is finally catching up with the economy. NEW HAVEN Three pediatric patients at Yale New Haven Hospital have been diagnosed with the states first cases of a rare inflammatory syndrome associated with the coronavirus that has been linked to at least three childrens deaths in New York. Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday he was alerted to the cases by Dr. Albert Ko, department chairman and professor of epidemiology at the Yale University School of Medicine. Lamont said he believes the children are doing OK. It seems to impact young people anywhere from 3 months to 13 or 15 years, Lamont said during his daily media briefing. It results in a severe inflammation of some of the glands, and so its something were really concerned about. I think right now its a very, very tiny risk of infection. Ko and the Yale New Haven Childrens Hospital confirmed the three cases on Monday evening. According to a statement issued by Yale, the three cases have been reported to the state Department of Public Health. Unfortunately, this disease carries features of toxic shock syndrome and elements of Kawasaki disease and strikes school-aged children. While these cases are exceptionally rare, given our proximity to New York where there have been a significant number reported, we have been watching their experience closely, Clifford Bogue, physician-in-chief of YNHCH, said in a news release. We are working diligently with local and state health officials to address this issue and strongly recommend that children who may be suffering from symptoms seek early referrals to pediatric infectious disease specialists, rheumatologists or cardiologists. Symptoms include a persistent fever, rash as well as gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea. Patients can also suffer from cardiac inflammation. READ MORE: Doctors: Toxic shock could be linked to coronavirus in kids Lamont said these cases in Connecticut and elsewhere mean any plans to reopen should proceed with caution. Ill tell you one thing, to me as I thought about it, you know a lot of people say, lets open the door, let young people get a little infected, well get up to the herd immunity and well get through this, Lamont said. And we realize every week that we dont know everything about this virus. We may have six months of experience with it, but we dont know what some of the medium-term and longer term effects can be, and thats why we have to be so careful. The inflammatory syndrome has popped up throughout the country, most notably in New York, where at least three children have died from the illness. During his Monday news conference, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state is monitoring 93 cases of the inflammatory illness in young children. Cuomo said the condition contradicts the early reports that COVID-19 didnt affect children. He said this developing situation further emphasized that leaders need to be smart when reopening parts of the state. No ones going to protect your childrens health but you, Cuomo said. This is about keeping yourself smart, keeping yourself healthy and keeping your family healthy. According to Cuomo, doctors in New York said most of the children are having symptoms of the syndrome four to six weeks after being exposed to COVID-19. During his afternoon media briefing, President Donald Trump said, its been on the radar for weeks and officials are studying that very closely. Weve seen this for quite a while, Trump said. Its been very rare, but were looking at it very closely. Even before the illness appeared in Connecticut, doctors and families were on the lookout for possible incidents in the state, said Dr. Beth Emerson, medical director of the Yale New Haven Childrens Hospital emergency department. I think its helpful for families to know this syndrome different than COVID itself, Emerson said Monday. While COVID-19 in adults typically presents with a fever, dry cough, trouble breathing and other symptoms, the version affecting children includes a rash, redness in the eyes and swelling in the hands and feet. We dont really have a sense yet of what the prevalence of this is, Emerson said. Once we have a sense of how common this might be, well have a better idea of how to look for it. Other hospitals and health systems in the area are also monitoring the syndrome, including one with a foot in New York. Nuvance Health includes Danbury, New Milford, Norwalk and Sharon hospitals in Connecticut, but also Northern Dutchess Hospital, Putnam Hospital Center and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in New York. All the hospitals are treating pediatric patients in their emergency departments, said Nuvance spokeswoman Amy Forni. At this time, we dont have information available about confirmed cases of this syndrome presenting to the (emergency departments), she said. However, the hospitals are not admitting pediatric cases, and are working with regional childrens hospitals for any young patients requiring hospitalization. Men's blood contains greater concentrations of enzyme that helps COVID-19 infect cells Evidence from a large study of several thousand patients shows that men have higher concentrations of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in their blood than women. Since ACE2 enables the coronavirus to infect healthy cells, this may help to explain why men are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than women. The study, published in the European Heart Journal [1] today (Monday), also found that heart failure patients taking drugs targeting the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), did not have higher concentrations of ACE2 in their blood. Dr Adriaan Voors (MD-PhD), Professor of Cardiology at the University Medical Center Groningen (The Netherlands), who led the study, said: "Our findings do not support the discontinuation of these drugs in COVID-19 patients as has been suggested by earlier reports." Some recent research suggested that RAAS inhibitors might increase concentrations of ACE2 in plasma - the liquid part of blood - thereby increasing the risk of COVID-19 for cardiovascular patients taking these drugs. The current study indicates that this is not the case, although it looked only at ACE2 concentrations in plasma, not in tissues such as lung tissue. In addition, the study cannot provide definitive evidence on the effects of RAAS inhibitors in patients with COVID-19. Its conclusions are mainly restricted to heart failure patients, and the patients did not have COVID-19, so the researchers cannot provide a direct link between the course of the disease and ACE2 plasma concentrations. Prof Voors said: "ACE2 is a receptor on the surface of cells. It binds to the coronavirus and allows it to enter and infect healthy cells after it is has been modified by another protein on the surface of the cell, called TMPRSS2. High levels of ACE2 are present in the lungs and, therefore, it is thought to play a crucial role in the progression of lung disorders related to COVID-19." Prof Voors and his colleagues were already studying differences in markers of disease in the blood between men and women before the coronavirus outbreak. The results became available soon after the pandemic began. The first author of the study, Dr Iziah Sama from UMC Groningen, said: "When we found that one of the strongest biomarkers, ACE2, was much higher in men than in women, I realised that this had the potential to explain why men were more likely to die from COVID-19 than women." The researchers measured ACE2 concentrations in blood samples taken from two groups of heart failure patients from 11 European countries [2]. There were 1485 men and 537 women in the first group, the index cohort, which was designed to test the researchers' hypotheses and research questions. Then the researchers validated their findings in a second group of 1123 men and 575 women, the validation cohort. The median (average) age of the participants in the index cohort was 69 years for men and 75 years for women, and in the validation cohort it was 74 and 76 years, respectively. When the researchers looked at a number of clinical factors that could play a role in ACE2 concentrations, including the use of ACE inhibitors, ARBs and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs), as well as a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery by-pass graft and atrial fibrillation, they found that male sex was the strongest predictor of elevated ACE2 concentrations. In the index cohort, ACE inhibitors, ARBS and MRAs were not associated with greater ACE2 plasma concentrations, and in the validation cohort, ACE inhibitors and ARBs were associated with lower ACE2 concentrations, while MRAs were only weakly associated with higher concentrations. "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first substantial study to examine the association between plasma ACE2 concentrations and the use of blockers of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in patients with cardiovascular disease. We found no evidence that ACE inhibitors and ARBs were linked to increased ACE2 concentrations in plasma. In fact, they predicted lower concentrations of ACE2 in the validation cohort, although we did not see this in the index cohort," said Prof Voors. "The effect of MRAs on ACE2 concentrations is not clear, as the weak increase in concentrations in the validation cohort was not seen in the index cohort. Our findings do not suggest that MRAs should be discontinued in heart failure patients who develop COVID-19. They are a very effective treatment for heart failure and the hypothetical effects on viral infection should be weighed carefully against their proven benefits," he said. ACE2 is found not only in the lungs, but also the heart, kidneys and the tissues lining blood vessels, and there are particularly high levels in the testes. The researchers speculate that its regulation in the testes might partially explain higher ACE2 concentrations in men, and why men are more vulnerable to COVID-19. Other limitations of the study include the fact that the researchers only measured concentrations of ACE2 in plasma, not in tissues, so they cannot be sure that concentrations in the blood are similar to those seen in tissues; it is the ACE2 in the lung tissues that are thought to be important for viral infection of the lungs, not ACE2 concentrations in the blood. In an accompanying editorial [3], Professor Gavin Oudit, from the University of Alberta, Canada, and Professor Marc Pfeffer, from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA, write: "When faced with the rapidly expanding COVID-19 pandemic and in the absence of definitive data, the results of Sama et al obtained in heart failure patients in the pre-COVID-19 period offer supporting evidence to continue ACE inhibitors or ARBs in patients at risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, this field is moving so rapidly that we now have two observational studies of ARB/ACE inhibitor use in hospitalized COVID-19 patients showing no augmented risk to COVID-19 patients and even suggesting possible benefit." The study is one of several research papers, clinical reviews, editorials and discussion papers on COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease to be published in a special issue of the European Heart Journal on Thursday 14 May. [4] ### Notes: [1] "Circulating plasma concentrations of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in men and women with heart failure and effects of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone inhibitors", by Iziah E. Sama et al. European Heart Journal. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa373 [2] The 11 European countries are: The Netherlands, UK, Germany, France, Greece, Slovenia, Serbia, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden. [3] Plasma angiotensin-converting enzyme 2: novel biomarker in heart failure with implications for COVID-19", by Gavin Y. Oudit and Marc A. Pfeffer. European Heart Journal. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa414 [4] ""Focus issue on COVID-19 and CVD," European Heart Journal, Issue 19. https:/ / academic. oup. com/ eurheartj/ issue/ 41/ 19 This story has been published on: 2020-05-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Oil prices rallied on Monday after Saudi Arabia said it would cut oil production by an additional one million barrels per day. As of 8:43 on Monday, WTI Crude was up 2.02 per cent at $25.18, while Brent Crude traded at $31.28, up 0.97 per cent. Saudi Arabias new plan is coming against the background of Riyadhs promised cuts made earlier as part of the OPEC+ production cut deal. Oil prices began Mondays trading session in the red as the market began to fear that the eased lockdowns could lead to a second wave of COVID-19 cases. There had been reports in the media suggesting that data in China, South Korea, and Germany point towards a second wave of the deadly virus. But on Monday morning, however, prices reversed their earlier losses and jumped after Saudi Arabia put out a statement saying that it would be complying, yet again, with its share of the cuts in June. According to the official Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Arabias energy ministry ordered the Kingdoms oil giant, Aramco, to reduce its crude oil production in June by an extra voluntary amount of one million barrels per day, in addition to the reduction committed by the Kingdom in the latest OPEC+ agreement. Under the OPEC+ deal in effect from May 1, Saudi Arabia has pledged to cut its oil production to 8.5 million bpd. Backtracking In April, Saudi intentionally flooded the market with oil in the midst of an epic price war with Russia, sending prices tumbling. But with the voluntary additional reduction in June, the Saudis would produce 7.492 million bpd next month, according to a Saudi energy ministry official, cited by the Saudi Press Agency. READ ALSO: The energy ministry is also ordering Aramco to seek further cuts to its targeted production of 8.492 million bpd for May, after consultations with its customers. The ministry official emphasised that the Kingdom aims through this additional cut to encourage OPEC+ participants, as well as other producing countries, to comply with the production cuts they have committed to, and to provide additional voluntary cuts, in an effort to support the stability of global oil markets, Saudi Arabia said. The new decision would leave Saudi Arabias daily output at just 7.5 million barrels, down 39 per cent from what the output figures were in April. Analysts say that the latest production cuts underscore the intense pressure the oil crash has put on the Middle East nations budget. Saudi Arabia needs oil prices to more than double to balance its vast budget, which includes heavy social and military spending. On Monday, hours before detailing the production cuts, the kingdom announced new steps aimed at plugging gaping holes in its budget, including tripling its value added tax. They need to get prices higher and stabilize the oil market because thats their ATM, Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said. Other oil producers, including Nigeria, remain optimistic that the new cut deal could affect oil prices positively in the international market. Raging pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in reduced demand for crude oil across the world, amid supply glut occasioned by lockdown orders in strategic cities of the world. Earlier in March, Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said that Nigeria had about 50 cargoes of its crude oil stranded in the international oil market with no buyers snapping up the cargoes. Last month, a report by Wall Street Journal said that an estimated 84 million barrels of Nigerian crude oil were stranded at sea. In an April 27 report, the newspaper said cargo ships filled with Nigerian crude had nowhere to go and Nigerian oil companies were competing to fill the last few empty tankers still left at sea. Nigeria has had to adjust its budgetary projections and revenue expectations as part of its policy response against the coronavirus pandemic and its effect on the global economy. Advertisements A group of the top venture firms warned startups this month that it will be very difficult to raise financing anytime soon Bengaluru: Samik Sarkar was managing to eke a profit out of his online apparel store before the coronavirus crisis hit India, forcing the 36-year old to reinvent his business overnight. I started selling masks because thats all I could sell, Sarkar said. I have salaries to pay. The rapid global economic slowdown, coronavirus lockdown of 1.3 billion people and an exodus of venture capital are testing a startup community that has quickly become one of the worlds biggest, raising a record $14.9 billion last year. The success of e-tailer Flipkart, sold for $16 billion to Walmart in 2018, helped draw in billions of dollars in funding from global venture capital firms, while US and Chinese tech giants stalked promising prospects. But in just a few months much of that cash has vanished, with venture capital and private equity investment in India expected to fall by 45-60 percent this year, EY estimates. A group of the top venture firms, including US groups Sequoia and Accel, warned startups this month that it will be very difficult to raise financing anytime soon. Five venture capitalists told Reuters that only a few of the best companies from their existing portfolios would be able to get further funding, while most new ventures will likely be locked out for the foreseeable future. This rapid turnaround has left scores of start-ups which had been plotting expansion and fundraising considering anything and everything to keep themselves from going under. Data from Tracxn, which monitors start-up investments and financials, shows there were 1,406 funded startups in India in 2019, compared with 351 in 2008. When you look at pre-COVID business models, half of them will not survive post-COVID, Sudhir Sethi, founder and chairman of Bengaluru-based venture capital firm Chiratae Ventures, said. The funding freeze has been compounded by government's move in April to step up scrutiny of investments from overseas, a move seen by some analysts as a thinly disguised deterrent to takeovers by Chinese companies, which have been big investors in tech industry. And with SoftBank, another major funder of startups, facing setbacks elsewhere there is little relief expected from the Japanese technology backer. This leaves investors and startups with few alternatives but to focus on pursuing profitability and reducing cash burn, Sid Talwar, partner at Mumbai-based Lightbox Ventures, said. For Indian companies, if SoftBank does not write big checks and Chinese pools of capital slow down, it will further accelerate that thinking, Talwar told Reuters. Startup founders contacted by Reuters said they had enough cash for a couple of months at the most. We had big expansion plans just before this hit, said Sujata Biswas, who co-founded Mumbai-based online clothing brand Suta with her sister Taniya. All of that has stopped ... It was a big shock, she added. Suta, which saw sales triple for three years before lockdown stopped all business, would be unable to stay afloat beyond a month and a half without a cash infusion, Biswas said. Cure.fit, a Bengaluru-based fitness firm which had to shut its gyms and health clinics around India, slashed salaries and laid off about 800 people in recent weeks. It is now trying to get by by offering virtual yoga classes and home-delivering groceries as Indians stay indoors during the lockdown. BookMyShow, an online ticket seller, is promoting free-to-watch Instagram Live performances in an effort to keep its users engaged, while restaurant aggregator and food delivery firm Zomato is targeting a push into alcohol delivery. Others such as meal delivery firm Swiggy and hotel operators Oyo and Treebo have shed employees, cut salaries, and put workers on furlough, sources at the companies told Reuters. Apparel retailer Sarkar said he expected his online store, Rustorange, to see a 50 percent slump in demand from pre-virus levels even after the lockdown is lifted. With 35-40 full-time staff and about 70 part-time workers, he only has enough cash for a month or two. To survive, Sarkar is drawing on his experience of a 2016 funding crunch, which brought down his previous firm. We are now trying to think of ways that can be appealing in the new normal, Sarkar said. We are thinking of developing masks as a fashion accessory. ORLANDO, Fla. Its not meant to be a trick question, but many filling out their 2020 U.S. census form struggle to answer: How many people were staying at your home on April 1? The pandemic has fostered sudden, unexpected dislocation, making a typically easy question confusing for the newly displaced. Some people living in coronavirus hot spots fled their homes or were hospitalized. Students living off-campus moved in with their parents once universities closed. Travelers got stuck far from home because of health concerns. Fran Kunitz left St. Louis to visit her sister and brother-in-law in Fort Myers, Florida, in mid-March. She was supposed to fly back on April 1 but nixed those plans. She has a weak immune system and asthma and didnt want to risk catching the virus on a flight. Census Bureau guidance puts her in St. Louis, so when she fills out her form, shell have to ignore the part about where she was on April 1 the date that determines where people are counted once a decade. Im anxious to go home, but everyone tells me not to, Kunitz said recently from Florida. The displacement is especially worrisome in New York City, which has been the epicenter of the nations coronavirus outbreak. Its leading to low response rates in wealthy enclaves of the Upper East Side and midtown Manhattan where many residents have left for the Hamptons, Florida or elsewhere. Some believe they need the census ID number that was mailed to them to fill out the form online, but thats not necessary, said Julie Menin, director of NYC Census 2020. Its a problem that were having. People are under the misimpression that if for any reason they have left New York City during COVID, they still believe they need the paper form with a computer code, Menin said. People who answer the questionnaire without an ID number are identified and counted by their address. The response rates are lowest in some of the New York City neighborhoods where the virus hit hardest, such as Elmhurst in Queens, which had more than 7,000 confirmed cases in the first few weeks of the outbreak. That coincided with the period in March when most people could begin answering the questionnaire Census Bureau guidelines say a person should be counted where they usually live if they expect to go back there. If they are not sure whether they will return to their usual residence after the crisis ends, then they should be counted where they are staying on April 1, 2020, the agency said. For college students living away from home, that means at school. Students living in college housing before the pandemic mostly are being counted by their schools, but its confusing for those living off campus who have moved back in with their parents. For graduating seniors, the uncertainty is compounded because theyre not returning to campus. The bureau says they should still be counted at school. Jake Mershon, who just finished his sophomore year at Florida State University in Tallahassee, moved back in with his mother, her fiance and his sister in Atlanta after on-campus classes shut down in mid-March. His mother included him on the census form for her household, and neither Mershon nor his three roommates filled out a questionnaire for their Tallahassee apartment. She was like, Of course, Ill count you here,' Mershon said. Theres no way I will be counted in Tallahassee because of everything going on. The pandemic has forced the Census Bureau to push back its deadline for finishing the 2020 count from the end of July to the end of October. The bureau also is asking Congress for permission to delay deadlines next year for giving census data to the states so they can draw new voting maps. The 2020 census will determine how many congressional seats each state gets as well as how some $1.5 trillion in federal spending is doled out. Its hard to think of another census when theres been this disruption nationwide, said DVera Cohn, a census expert at the Pew Research Center. Certainly, there have been hurricanes or other national disasters that have displaced people, but this particular set of circumstances seems to be unique, being nationwide. As lockdowns started in mid-March, Shana Roen left her apartment in Atlanta for her parents home in Orlando, Florida, remembering to bring her census notice. She filled out the form online at the end of April before heading back to Georgia, where stay-at-home restrictions were loosening before the rest of the U.S. I came down to Florida to be around family and do stuff for my parents and be with somebody rather than by myself in my apartment, Roen said. But I put myself down as a Georgia resident. ___ Follow Mike Schneider at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP. India's third Covid wave likely to peak on Jan 23, daily cases to stay below 4 lakh: IIT Kanpur scientist COVID-19: Govt denies plans of community-wise mapping India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, May 11: Amid rising coronavirus cases, the government on Monday denied reports claiming that the centre is mulling a religion-based mapping to identify hotspots across the country. "This is a very irresponsible piece of news. COVID-19 does not see people's caste, creed or religion," says health ministry official on reports of govt mulling community-wise mapping of coronavirus spread. COVID-19 crisis should not reach villages of India: PM Modi tells CMs According to the reports, the government was mulling for "communal mapping" to help understand the pattern of the spread of the virus. The move was aimed at identifying hotspots across the country and also to understand the origin and pattern of the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, India has recorded 4,213 cases of the virus, taking the total number of the infections to 67,152 on Monday. About 20,197 people have recovered so far, he said, adding that the recovery rate stood at 31.15 per cent. The health ministry further said that some clusters were identified in the country where a relatively large outbreak of COVID-19 was noticed. "It is important for us to focus on containment efforts in order to ensure we don't reach community transmission stage," it said. A poster depicts Chinese president Xi Jinping with two pointed ears underlined by the words "BAT MAN" on a street in Stockholm. (AP) St.Petersburg: Before the coronavirus outbreak, Saundra Andringa-Meuer was a healthy 61-year-old mother of six who never smoked or drank alcohol. Then she became seriously ill with the disease after travelling from her Wisconsin home to help her son move from college in Connecticut. She was hospitalized in March, ending up in a coma and on a ventilator for 14 days. Doctors told her family she had a slim chance to live. When she emerged, she was told she was the sickest COVID-19 patient they had seen survive. Now Andringa-Meuer has joined with dozens of other American virus patients and some U.S. businesses in taking a new legal step: They are attempting to sue China over the spread of the virus, which has killed at least 75,000 people in the United States. I do feel that they hid it from the world and from Americans, she said. I dont feel we had to have the loss of life. I dont think we had to have the economy shut down. It disrupted all of American lives. I do believe we need to right some of these wrongs. So far, at least nine lawsuits have been filed in the U.S. against China claiming authorities there did not do enough to corral the virus initially, tried to hide what was happening in the outbreak center of Wuhan and sought to conceal their actions and what they knew. Eight of the lawsuits are potential class actions that would represent thousands of people and businesses. One was filed by the attorney general of Missouri, which is so far the only state to take legal action against China. The cases face several hurdles under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which states that foreign governments cannot be sued in the U.S. unless certain exceptions are met. And those are not easy to prove, experts say. We think its going to be an uphill battle for them to ultimately take advantage of those exceptions, said Robert Boone, an attorney in Los Angeles who specializes in class action cases. One exception involves commercial activity that directly affects the U.S. Another is misconduct inside the U.S. under certain circumstances that is traceable to a foreign government. A third exception is whether the foreign entity explicitly waived its immunity, such as through language in a contract. Attorneys who have filed the lawsuits say they can prove those claims, and, if they win, find some method of collecting damages, perhaps by seizing Chinese bank accounts or other assets in the U.S. if the Chinese refuse to pay. In one case filed in Miami federal court on behalf of Andringa-Meurer and many others, attorneys Matthew Moore and Jeremy Alters are suing the Chinese Communist Party as an entity separate from the Chinese government. They have their own assets. They are recognized as an independent organization. We are going to argue they are not a part of the government, Moore said. There has been personal injury that happened in the United States. Added Alters: Theyre going to have to pay ... We can say, Were not going to do business with you anymore. When you hit them in the (gross domestic product), it hurts. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang defended his countrys record of fighting the virus. He said the lawsuit filed by the Missouri attorney general is very absurd and has no factual and legal basis. Since the outbreak began, China has proceeded in an open, transparent, and responsible manner, and the U.S. government should dismiss such vexatious litigation, he said. Efforts are underway in Congress and in some state legislatures to make it easier to sue China and other countries. One bill was introduced by Republican U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Martha McSally of Arizona, and GOP U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas in the House. The Chinese government must be held accountable for the pain its inflicted across the United States, McSally said in a statement. The proposed legislation will give the U.S. a piece of justice. In New Jersey, three Republican state lawmakers introduced a resolution urging President Donald Trump and Congress to pass a bill letting citizens sue China for mishandling the pandemic. State Sen. Jim Holzapfel and Assemblymen Greg McGuckin and John Catalano said in a statement that they believe Chinese leaders did little to stop the spread of the virus and that residents and local governments should be legally allowed to recover some of what they lost financially. Its not clear if any of the legislation will pass. If the bills were enacted, legal experts say they could open the floodgates for hundreds more lawsuits against China. If that immunity were stripped, its going to produce a gigantic burden on the court system, said Boone, the class action lawyer. Thats a factor that will need to be weighed in deciding whether to pass it. As for Andringa-Meurer, she said shes still somewhat frail but getting better all the time. Im weak, but Im fabulous. Im alive, she said. I want to give back, not only to the doctors and nurses who gave me the opportunity to live. They are the heroes. But also to all of the Americans who were affected by this. A Syrian girl washes her hands at Za'atari refugee camp, in line with WHO guidelines on preventing the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. UNHCR/Mohamad al-Taher UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is seeking US$745 million as it races to prepare for and prevent outbreaks of COVID-19 among refugees and other displaced populations around the globe. This is UNHCRs portion of the revised UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan appealing for US$6.7 billion, launched last Thursday. Based on the latest assessments of global needs to curb the impact of the pandemic among forcibly displaced, it is an upward revision of the initial US$255 million sought in the earlier appeal for UNHCR on 25 March. With coronavirus now present in every country, including those that host large refugee and displaced populations, the worlds 71 million refugees and forcibly displaced people are among the most exposed and vulnerable to the threat of the virus. While no outbreaks have so far been reported in large refugee and IDP settlements, UNHCR is rapidly responding in 134 refugee-hosting countries that are reporting local transmission. The pandemic is inflicting deep wounds across the world, particularly for women and the elderly. For people who fled wars and persecution, the impact on their mostly hand-to-mouth existence and on their hosts has been devastating, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. Together with our NGO partners, the UN is determined to stay the course and deliver for people forced to flee and their hosts, to ensure their inclusion in public health responses and access to social safety nets. As of today, the coronavirus has infected more than four million people globally, and claimed nearly 280,000 lives. As the disease is not expected to peak in the worlds poorest countries for another three to six months, UNHCR teams around the world are preparing fast and bracing for the worst. The evidence of deep and hard-hitting economic impact of the crisis on refugees is overwhelming. Across the Middle East and Africa, hundreds of thousands of refugees have asked for urgent financial assistance to cover their daily essential needs since lockdowns and other public health measures came into force in many countries in March. In Lebanon, which was facing an economic downturn even before the pandemic, over half of the refugees surveyed by UNHCR in late April reported having lost livelihoods such as daily labour. Among the refugees consulted, 70 per cent reported that they had to skip meals. The impact on refugee women is profound, with almost all who were working saying they had seen their income source disrupted. UNHCR is worried that the loss of daily wages and livelihoods can result in psycho-social hardship. In Jordan, partners report a significant rise in mental health and psycho-social consultations since March. Groups at a particular risk of poverty and exploitation include female heads of households, unaccompanied and separated children, older people and LGBTI people. Their situation can be improved through emergency assistance, notably through emergency cash grants. Thanks to prompt and generous contributions from government and private supporters, UNHCR quickly ramped up its coronavirus response. In a matter of weeks, UNHCR procured and delivered to field operations more than 6.4 million face masks, 850,000 gowns, 3,600 oxygen concentrators, 640 ventilators, over 1,600 housing units and 50 hospital tents. In addition, six tonnes of personal protection equipment (PPE) and medical supplies have been airlifted and US$30 million COVID-19 related cash assistance has been distributed in 65 countries. The funds will help UNHCR further strengthen national health and sanitation systems through increased provision of personal protective equipment, medicine, soap and other hygiene supplies. UNHCR is also working to: ramp up cash assistance for the most vulnerable refugee families experiencing economic shocks; improve shelters in crowded settlements to prevent human-to-human transmission; and provide multiple months supplies of aid and sanitation items during distributions that maintain physical distancing recommendations. Funds will also ensure UNHCR can scale up its protection and assistance, including child protection and sexual and gender-based violence services. UNHCR is urgently adapting life-saving protection programmes for survivors of violence and advocating to ensure that health, psycho-social support and safety services are designated as essential and remain accessible to refugees and the forcibly displaced. Over eighty per cent of the worlds refugees and nearly all of the worlds internally displaced people are hosted in low- to middle-income countries, some of them hit hard by conflict, hunger, poverty and disease. Many of the forcibly displaced are in camps or densely populated urban areas, often living in inadequate conditions with limited, fragile public health, sanitation facilities and social protection systems. Consequently, UNHCR is prioritizing preparedness and prevention measures to curb the threat of the pandemic. These are critical measures for avoiding a higher fatality rate among refugees and displaced populations due to often overcrowded living conditions and limited health and water and sanitation infrastructure. The funds requested within UNHCRs revised COVID-19 appeal are to cover UNHCRs budgetary needs to respond to coronavirus until the end of the year. UNHCR is grateful to those donors who have already contributed vital funding. Early support from the United States of America, Germany, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Denmark, Canada, Ireland, Sony Corporation, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Australia, as well as from individual private donors from across the world, allowed us to scale up activities globally. For more information on this topic, please contact: An Iranian missile fired during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman struck a support vessel near its target, killing 19 Iranian sailors and wounding 15 Tehran: An Iranian missile fired during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman struck a support vessel near its target, killing 19 Iranian sailors and wounding 15, Irans state media reported on Monday, amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington. The statement significantly raised the death toll in Sundays incident from what was reported just hours earlier, when Irans state media said at least one sailor was killed. The Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, which was taking part in the exercise, was too close to a target during an exercise on Sunday when the incident happened, the reports said. The vessel had been putting targets out for other ships to target. The media said the missile struck the vessel accidentally. The friendly fire incident took place near the port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran, in the Gulf of Oman, state TV said. A local hospital admitted 12 sailors and treated another three with slight wounds, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Iranian media said the Konarak had been overhauled in 2018 and was able to launch sea and anti-ship missiles. The Dutch-made, 47-meter (155-foot) vessel was in service since 1988 and had capacity of 40 tons. It usually carries a crew of 20 sailors. Iran towed the Konarak into a nearby naval base after the strike. A photograph released by the Iranian army showed burn marks and some damage to the vessel, though the military did not immediately offer detailed photographs of the site of the missiles impact. Iran regularly holds exercises in the region, which is close to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the worlds oil passes. The US Navys 5th Fleet, which monitors the region, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iranian media rarely report on mishaps during exercises by the countrys armed forces, signaling the severity of the incident. It also comes amid months of heightened tensions between Iran and the US since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 and imposed crushing sanctions on the country. It marks the second serious incident involving a misfired missile by Irans armed forces this year. In January, after attacking US forces in Iraq with ballistic missiles, Irans paramilitary Revolutionary Guard accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 people on board. When the pandemic broke, the government was suddenly left to solve the collective misery of roughly 40 million such 'useful invisibles', internal migrant workers who leave home to work in another state, city, or district The guard sits hunched in his bony chair for hours, face aglow in the light from his cheap cellphone. Even before COVID-19 sank its teeth into his life, he had enough worries. His employers would not release a part of his pitiable salary to prevent him from suddenly leaving. His landlord would not pass on the benefits of electricity and water subsidies. Most residents or policemen would not treat him with respect. He is, along with millions, an orphan of the financial system with no provident fund, gratuity or medical insurance. When the pandemic broke, the government was suddenly left to solve the collective misery of roughly 40 million such 'useful invisibles', internal migrant workers who leave home to work in another state, city, or district. Much has been said and written lately about the plight of migrant workers. A handful of detractors of Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched in dismay as India managed to keep cases and casualties low despite its 1.3 billion population and crumbling healthcare system. But then the migrant crisis broke out and thousands were seen walking back home for miles. The media saw a flood of opinion on how Modi has failed the poor, works only for the rich, and how the Vande Bharat Mission of rescuing stranded Indians from abroad is an upper-class, hypernationalistic hoax. None of them have a solution. Neither Rahul Gandhi nor any other Opposition leader has spelt out what they would have done differently. Which makes it important to examine what the Centre has done on the migrant workers issue. When containment comes first Hit by a pandemic that paralysed the world in just two months, the government had to deal with three immediate concerns regarding India's massive migrant workforce: Containment, livelihood/financial help, and safe return home. What makes this situation far more complex is that these priorities clash. It would have been impossible to contain the disease without immediately stopping all mass transport. So, safe return got elusive. It was impossible to not affect livelihoods after bringing severe containment measures. One couldn't save lives and livelihoods. In spite of a largely stringent lockdown, each breach whether the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Delhi or Sikh pilgrims who returned to Punjab from Nanded's Hazur Sahib has cost lives by the hundreds. So, here are some questions. Could the Centre have decided to run trains and buses early on? Would social distancing have been possible with overflowing bus terminuses and train stations? Have states done enough to ensure that migrants stay? When money matters most The Modi government was among the quickest to announce and start disbursing a COVID-19 package for the poor and migrants. Former National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) chief AP Hota has said that India's direct benefit transfer system has been more efficient than the US' system. In April, 40 crore Aadhaar-enabled payments had been made, he said, double the figure in normal times. Around 39 crore poor people have received Rs 34,800 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP). As of May, Rs 10,025 crore has been disbursed to 20.05 crore women Jan Dhan account holders as first instalment and Rs 2,785 crore transferred to 5.57 crore women Jan Dhan account holders in second instalment, show finance ministry figures. Rs 16,394 crore has been transferred to 8.19 crore people under PM-KISAN scheme. Around 2.20 crore construction workers have got Rs 3,492.57 crore. More than 2.82 crore old age persons, widows and disabled persons have got pension, and 44.97 lakh employees got 24 percent Employee Provident Fund contribution. In just April, 30.16 lakh metric tonnes think 1.83 lakh fully loaded trucks of food grains have been distributed to 60.33 crore people in 36 states. Around 4.82 crore households received free cylinders under Ujjwala Yojana, and 5.97 crore man-days of work generated this financial year. Train stops here again On the government's part, there have been gaps and some knee-jerk responses. A decisive policy on waiving fares for migrants would have made lives easier and created less controversy. The Karnataka government calling off trains after a meeting with builders to stop labourers from travelling was egregious. Trains resumed after nationwide outrage, but the damage was done. But states like Maharashtra must share blame in the lack of coordination on bearing a small fraction of the ticket cost, with the Centre offering 85 percent. The railways has been running 283 Shramik Special trains for migrants. Passengers are given free meals and water, social distancing is observed, officials claim. Around 1,200 passengers travel in these special trains, and they are scanned before boarding. On Sunday, the Ministry of Railways tweeted that the passenger trains will slowly start rolling again from Tuesday. The workers' trains will continue running. Vande Bharat nationalism of rich? A narrative is being set about flights bringing in stranded upper- and middle-class Indians from abroad amid nationalistic fanfare while poor workers suffer. First, rescuing stranded Indians abroad and helping internal migrants are not mutually exclusive. Second, a large number of poor Indians go to West Asia and other countries to work. They are not exactly privileged flyers. Third, there is considerable pressure on India from foreign nations to take home our own. And fourth, a show of national pride in getting our citizens back from far-flung parts in not bad. A nation functions on shared symbols, myths, stories. From the US to Europe and Japan to China, fiery and committed nationalism has inspired their leap into the league of developed countries. Those who mock India's new nationalism do not wish to see this nation in that league. Willie Walsh, chief executive of BAs parent company, IAG, has poured scorn on the prime ministers plan to quarantine airline passengers flying into the UK. Boris Johnson confirmed that people coming into this country by air would be subject to quarantine, expected to involve 14 days of self-isolation in a private dwelling. Downing Street later confirmed that a special agreement between the prime minister and President Macron was likely to mean no quarantine would prevail from France to the UK. Appearing before the Transport Select Committee, Mr Walsh said: We had been expecting governments around the world to start easing restrictions. The introduction of a 14-day quarantine for air travel is a surprise, because it appears the government is not going to apply a quarantine period for people who coming to the UK on other means of transport. I dont understand that, and perhaps the prime minister will be able to clarify the science behind that. It seems strange to me." He said that British Airways had planned to expand services from the start of July, but that would be reversed if quarantine comes into effect. At this stage I imagine our capacity in and out of the UK will be pretty minimal in that event. Airport bosses have demanded clarification on the quarantine scheme. Charlie Cornish, chief executive of Manchester Airports Group said: Any quarantine is going to affect the whole aviation sector significantly. To protect the UK travel industry, we need to know how the quarantine will work, how long it will last and how businesses will be supported during this further period of near-zero demand. We do expect any quarantine to be time-limited and to take a smart approach that recognises the varying risk levels between different countries. We cant let the UK fall behind its competitors in Europe. Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Show all 11 1 /11 Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Ben Gurion International airport, Israel Reuters Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Daxing International Airport, Beijing AFP via Getty Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan EPA Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Noi Bai International Airport, Vietnam AFP via Getty Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Haneda Airport, Tokyo Reuters Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Changsha Huanghua International Airport, China Reuters Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Shanghai Pudong Airport in Shanghai, China EPA Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Daxing International Airport, Beijing AFP via Getty Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Haneda Airport, Tokyo Reuters Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Shanghai Pudong Airport in Shanghai, China EPA Airports empty as Coronavirus affects aviation industry Noi Bai International Airport, Vietnam AFP via Getty John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow airport, said: Aviation is the lifeblood of this countrys economy, and until we get Britain flying again, UK business will be stuck in third gear. The government needs to urgently lay out a roadmap for how they will reopen borders once the disease has been beaten, and to take an immediate lead in agreeing a common international standard for health in aviation that will allow passengers who dont have the infection to travel freely. More clarity is expected when the government publishes its 50-page report on the latest lockdown changes. Another Powder River Basin coal mine has reduced its workforce in response to weak market conditions for coal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Decker Coal Company furloughed 98 miners Friday, sending them home until May 26, according to a company statement. The Decker coal mine is located in Big Horn County in southern Montana just north of Wyomings border. Many of the employees live in Sheridan and commute the 16 miles to the coal field. We are sorry for our dedicated workers, their families and the community who are directly affected, Leonard Wolff, the general manager at Decker Coal Company, said in a statement. We look forward to resuming contracted deliveries as soon as possible. Decker coal mines domestic customers stopped accepting coal shipments recently because of the downturn in demand for the commodity, the company told the Star-Tribune. The owners reported no health-related issues at the mine and plan to bring back the 98 furloughed workers in about two weeks. The mine produced over 1 million tons of coal and employed 164 workers during the first quarter of this year, according to U.S. Mining Safety and Health Administration data. The Energy Information Administration, the countrys leading energy data agency, forecasts the U.S. will produce 22 percent less coal in 2020 than it did last year. Fridays workforce cuts came on the heels of mass layoffs throughout the Powder River Basin this year. Nearly 400 miners have been laid off in the basin since the coronavirus reached Wyoming and Montana. Navajo Transitional Energy Company laid off 73 miners at the neighboring Spring Creek Mine in April. Follow the latest on Wyomings energy industry at @camillereports Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Across Ontario, nursing homes are the provinces deadliest epicentres for the COVID-19 pandemic. But in Chatham-Kent, the countys largest outbreak of the virus is on a farm where 49 migrant workers have fallen ill. Labour advocates warn that living conditions are hastening the viruss spread on farms across the country, where bunkhouses often make it impossible for temporary foreign workers to social distance. Those workers are essential to the countrys food supply, leading agricultural groups to push for their exclusion from Canadas COVID-19 travel ban. But prior to the pandemic, many of these groups also lobbied against the creation of a national housing standard that a government study recommended to reduce the risk of negligence and possibly of harm to migrant workers, documents obtained by the Star show. The national standard for migrant worker housing has not been implemented despite a study commissioned by the federal government that found gaps in the housing inspection process and an extremely wide variation of what is deemed an acceptable housing standard. Substandard, overcrowded housing for migrant farm workers is an issue that workers have raised literally literally for decades, said Fay Faraday, a Toronto-based lawyer and York University professor who has written numerous studies of migrant workers conditions. From the very beginning of the outbreak the first concern that workers were raising was whether they would have housing facilities that would be safe. In consultations initiated by the federal government in 2018 on updating migrant worker programs, agricultural groups including Canadian Federation of Agriculture and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture pushed back against stricter auditing of living and working conditions, according to submissions obtained by the Star. The groups argued that the process treats employers like they are guilty of an infraction before proven innocent and represented an excessive administrative burden. The approach from government has caused a great deal of concern, stress, and anxiety, says one submission. Employers eligibility to hire workers through Canadas temporary foreign worker schemes is contingent on submitting housing inspection reports to the federal government. But the 2018 study conducted by the National Home Inspector Certification Council found no uniformity in housing standards and confusion over who enforces them: complex jurisdictional roles and responsibilities can make it unclear what housing standards applies, and whether housing makes the grade. The study recommended updating and standardizing guidelines across the country, and letting inspections include a broader scope of issues including bunkhouses electrical systems, and the age of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. In response to questions from the Star, a spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada said the governments review of its temporary foreign worker program identified some opportunities to improve housing for foreign workers that would be addressed with the provinces. Because of the urgencies related to the COVID-19 pandemic, this work has been delayed. Workers say the delay comes with a price tag that is now more costly than ever. As the tomato capital of Canada, Leamington runs on farm labour, provided mostly by migrant workers who plant, pick, and pack the fruit and vegetables the country relies on. Some come for eight months a year; others have work permits for up to two years. None can gain permanent residence through the countrys temporary foreign worker streams. Leamington has always been a town of immigrants, its evolution tied to successive waves of workers who powered its economy. This year, as the COVID-19 crisis deepened, the town transformed once more. Local hotels became self-isolation quarters for workers just in from Mexico and the Caribbean. The community health centre launched an education campaign, urging migrant workers to practice social distancing. Police circulated videos in Spanish, warning of the penalties for failing to do so. For some workers, the rules seemed impossible to heed. One Mexican worker here on a two-year permit said he shares a house with 10 other workers; he is picked up by a bus full of other workers to get to his job at a mushroom farms packing plant, where there are some 200 other employees. We cannot social distance because we have to work very close, he told the Star. In April, several workers across his employers facilities were diagnosed with COVID-19. In Ontario, housing inspections for migrant workers are usually done by local public health units. In Leamington, the Windsor-Essex County unit conducted 121 bunkhouse inspections between the beginning of March and mid-April, a spokesperson told the Star. Around 100 were for housing permits or licensing; the rest were reinspections or responses to complaints. In many regions, Faraday says, the inspection process has long been flawed. In Ontario, for example, health units cant fine employers for shoddy or unsafe housing because there are no legislated standards for worker accommodation. Inspections have typically been done before any workers arrive, said Faraday. So they are seen in a pristine condition without the workers there and without necessarily a realistic assessment of how many workers will be in that space. According to the 2018 housing study, where provincial standards exist, enforcement is only done on an ad hoc, complaints based basis. For some migrant workers, the pandemic now prompts other concerns. One worker, originally from Guatemala, said he has not been allowed to leave his bunkhouse since the pandemic started, other than to go to work. Even shopping for groceries is off limits instead, he said, the farms secretary brings a weekly supply. His bed is in a large open space shared by 12 workers, he said. He usually works nine-hour days, Mondays to Saturday. Sunday is a half day, leaving hours, pre-pandemic, that were the only time that felt like his own. Often he would go for walks, or visit Leamingtons scenic lakefront. Its really nice for us to go out, to do other things, and stop thinking about work, he said. Thats how we were able to relax. Now leaving the bunkhouse could be grounds for suspension, he said. He understands the need to social distance, he said. But Canadians, he noted, can still go out occasionally We feel like prisoners. One county over at Greenhill Produce, site of 51 of the regions 89 COVID-19 cases, one migrant worker said he shared a room with six others before the outbreak. In total, 24 workers lived in his bunkhouse. I feel like I want to cry, the worker said. Chatham-Kents public health unit said the workers are believed to have been exposed to the virus by a local farmhand. The units spokesperson Caress Lee Carpenter said the bunkhouses received routine inspections prior to the outbreak, and said living arrangements make it easy to transmit this kind of infection. That risk, she added, was similar to if someone in your own household had the virus but did not yet know. The chances of other household members contracting the virus is likely. But few Canadians live in conditions like migrant workers, said Faraday, where it is completely normal to have eight people living in a two-bedroom space. Its so common to have workers in storage sheds or tool sheds that have been repurposed into dormlike housing with dozens of workers separated only by hanging sheets. The worker at Greenhill said the quality of his bunkhouse was good, other than the number of people who shared it. By the end of April, Greenhill workers were rehoused to separate those who tested positive and negative, he said. I think they could have moved us much much earlier. The public health unit said it has provided support to workers on a daily basis and the company has followed all public health measures directed at them. In a statement posted to its website, Greenhill said it cared deeply for our employees and takes all steps to protect their health and safety we are proud to provide some of the best quality living quarters for our workers, meeting and greatly exceeding federal government regulations. Examples of amenities we provide in all residences is free Wi-Fi, telephone, satellite TV in each bedroom, extremely high quality furnishings, kitchen and sanitary amenities, fire alarm system, in floor heating and air conditioning. After authorities in British Columbia began investigating a COVID-19 outbreak amongst migrant workers in Kelowna in March, advocates warned that more would follow. Since then, agricultural employers such as Greenhill have been hit; so too have food processing facilities that rely heavily on temporary foreign workers, such as a Cargill meat-packing plant in Alberta. Responses have varied from employer to employer. But to Faraday, the structural issues remain. Migrant workers precarious immigration status and fear of reprisal makes it difficult to voice concern about conditions, Faraday said: There is also the undeniable racism behind employers providing conditions for migrant workers that locals wouldnt accept. And while employers responses to COVID-19 have varied, their submissions to the consultations that addressed housing concerns two years ago were consistent: stronger enforcement is not necessary. We urge the government to not only consider the rights of the workers but also the right of the employer to due process as they deliver these inspections, said one submission from the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers. Noting the importance of ensuring that our (temporary foreign worker) workforce is treated fairly, the submission added that fairness is only one aspect of what individuals need to feel included and secure and suggests that the federal government reallocate funds from compliance activities to initiatives that support the inclusion and acceptance of our TFW workforce in rural communities across Canada. Last year, a Star investigation exposed thousands of complaints that migrant workers made to Mexican authorities. Housing was the biggest concern, with allegations of overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and pest infestations. Only a small number of the complaints are ever shared with Canadas government. Now, the pandemic has brought the enforcement issue into sharper focus. Canada announced a $50-million program last month to help farms modify accommodation and subsidize migrants wages when they are in self-isolation. Accessing the money, said Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, is dependent on employers following public health guidelines and will be accompanied by targeted inspections from federal ministries and local health units. In a statement to the Star, Employment and Social Development Canada said it had ceased conducting proactive inspections in mid-March so it could abide by local travel restrictions and protect the health of communities and departmental staff. . The ministry said it expected to resume proactive inspections in the coming days by video and other means. In Ontario, advocacy group Justice for Migrant Workers wants the provincial Ministry of Labour to include housing in health and safety inspections. Farm employers get subsidies, grants and regulatory exemptions, and It is time that the workers receive the benefits that are due to them, the group said in a recent letter to Premier Doug Ford. Faraday said the pandemic has also brought migrant workers value into sharper relief. These are essential workers, she said. We would not eat without them. Read more about: INDEFENSIBLE The Justice Department under Trumps pal William Barr has dropped all the charges against Michael Flynn, a man who twice has pleaded guilty. It just once again shows the unbelievable corruption in the Trump administration. I would like to hear back from a Trump supporter trying to defend this action because this action is indefensible. ENOUGH WITH HILLARY Why are people like Riddlewood Ken and the rest of the Trump flunkies still grinding on Hillary Clinton? Maybe you should get some therapy to help you get over her. Shes out of the loop and has been for almost four years. HELP WANTED I cant with a clear conscience go back to work. I have a 10-year history with this company and in April we had a cornavirus outbreak. We actually produced bottles at this production site. So theres possibly hundreds if not thousands of bottles stored in our building infected with this virus. It just tortures me to know that Im a part of this so I am not going back to my company after 10 years and I think it should be investigated. It is demoralizing and incomprehensible. JIM YOUR VOTE COUNTS Hi, Daily Times. About primary election day. As I understand it is June 2, but my neighbor tells me they are moving it to July. So, what is the correct date for our primary? Would you please print it in Sound Off? Thank you, bye-bye. The Pennsylvania primary is scheduled for June 2 Ed. COUGH IT UP, JOE Joe Biden is afraid to come out of his basement. I guess his mommy Jill Biden wont let him. Yes, there is a virus, but Biden could be talking to reporters from home answering questions. Lets hear some of his ideas. Does he have any? He he flip flops on everything, says one thing and days later changes it. Do Democrats really think hes presidential? No they dont but theyre stuck with him. I would never, ever vote for him. USE THOSE MASKS Im just wondering about the COVID-19. You know, they had that parade with Gritty. And you know, how long did you see all the people standing there? I cant understand it. Why would you have a parade and nobody has a mask on with your children? I cant believe it. For for your own safety, please, everybody wear the masks protect everybody else. If you dont care about yourself, stay home. Dont come out. JACK FROM ASTON LETS TRY THIS AGAIN I was talking to a friend of mine over the fence the other day and we said the best thing to do might be to start 2020 all over with a reset. You know, we had a winter with no snow, very mild. Then the coronavirus, now killer hornets are coming and theyre talking about snow flurries in a few days in May. Can we just restart this year? SERIOUS ON SAXER TRUTH VS. LIES Wake Up America said that they told their son not to listen to the media whose job it is, with the exception of Fox News, to inform people and give them news. So when you dont want to listen to the media, you want to be uninformed. Apparently. Wake Up America would rather believe the more than 18,000 lies that Donald Trump has told than believe the facts that are coming out of the media. Thats why he told his son not to listen to the media, so he can make his son as uninformed as he is. SO SUE ME I would like to know why it is this Michigan governor and this Chicago mayor are not having charges brought against them. One wants to fine people and now the other one wants to put people behind bars. That is a violation of their human rights. They are not trying to protect people. All they are doing is kissing up to Democrats who are trying to ruin this country. Nobody is telling the people in these states that they have the right to bring lawsuits against this governor and this mayor and I think it should be done. GOOD QUESTION To Chinas to Blame, what were 400 Americans doing in the area where the viral was supposed to have come from? Regarding the vaccine developed by collaborating scientists at VABIOTECH Co Ltd, a State-owned vaccine manufacturer under the management of the Ministry of Health and the U.K.s Bristol University, VABIOTECH President Ph.D Do Tuan Dat said that right after gene order of virus SARS-CoV-2 was announced, VABIOTECH scientists cooperated with their British peers to make vector-based vaccine. Vaccine with SARS-CoV-2 antigen will insert into another pathogenic virus that has been weakened to be introduced into the immunised subjects, which hopefully would help the body to generate antibodies that are capable of defending itself against the onslaught of the actual full-fledged virus As revealed by President Dat, in trial period, the vaccine has been administered into mice to examine its immunization ability. After ten days, these mice are still in good health. This result marked an initial success in the testing process. It is scheduled that these mice will continue to be further monitored and evaluated in two phases to see if they develop an immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, the mices blood samples will also be sent to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for further evaluation on its effectiveness. If the test is successful on mice, the research team will make every effort to take further work in the production process so that it can be safely tested on animals to examine its adaptability for the disease. Finally, the vaccine will also be tested on small or large group of people. By Minh Khang - Translated by Anh Quan A truck driver who came from Punjab to Uttarakhand has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and has been admitted to a hospital for treatment. The truck driver reached Bajpur in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district from Fatehgarh in Punjab through Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh, a police official said on Monday. After his swab test reports came positive, the Punjab Police traced his location to Bajpur and informed authorities. He has been admitted at Haldwani's Sushila Tiwari Hospital and people who may have come in contact with him are being traced, Bajpur Deputy Superintendent of Police Deepshikha Agrawal said. The man was tested after he showed symptoms of the coronavirus disease at a community health centre at Sumro in Punjab but he fled before his test reports could arrive, she said. He came to Bajpur from Punjab's Fatehgarh driving a truck loaded with iron angles through Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh and Kashipur in Uttarakhand. The cleaner of the truck who accompanied him is also being examined for coronavirus symptoms, the official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tom Cruise is eager to get back to Venice to finish filming Mission: Impossible 7 as soon as coronavirus restrictions ease, according to reports. The 57-year-old is said to be champing at the bit to return to the set in Italy after the pandemic put an abrupt stop to production. A source told The Sun: 'Tom is refusing to film anywhere else as he wants to pump his millions back into one of the worst-hit areas of Covid-19 to help it recover. Raring to go: Tom Cruise, 57, is eager to get back to Venice to finish filming Mission: Impossible 7 as soon as coronavirus restrictions ease, according to reports 'Film bosses had attempted to find an alternative location but he was having none of it. It's a really thoughtful gesture and no doubt it will be welcomed by the people of Venice... 'Parks, factories and building sites are reopening so the chiefs at Mission: Impossible and Tom reckon it won't be long for them to restart filming.' Tom's representatives have been contacted for comment. Daredevil: The 57-year-old (pictured in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol in 2011) is said to be champing at the bit to return to the set in Italy after the pandemic put an abrupt stop to production In February, Tom was forced to hole up in a luxury hotel in Venice after production was put in limbo when authorities put a total lockdown in place in order to stop further spread of the deadly disease, according to Dailymail.com. It was thought, at the time, that Cruise would relocate to Buckinghamshire's Pinewood Studios following the disruption. Speaking about the seventh instalment, co-star Simon Pegg told BBC Radio 6: '[We're] not in Venice, that's where I'm supposed to be. 'Paramount were very cautious and sensible I think and pulled the production out of Venice. The latest: Mission: Impossible 7, which is being directed by Christopher McQuarrie, was due to be released in cinemas on July 23, 2021 but this has since been delayed by four months. Pictured: Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) 'It's a big group of people, we were shooting carnival sequences and it was just unwise to remain so we bugged out. 'I think it would be indelicate to complain about anything other than the fact that there was a lot of disruption for everyone.' Mission: Impossible 7, which is being directed by Christopher McQuarrie, was due to be released in cinemas on July 23, 2021. But this has now been postponed by four months to a revised date of November 19, 2021. The release date for Mission: Impossible 8 has also been impacted. Latinos are hardest hit in the poor neighborhoods of East San Jose in Santa Clara County compared to wealthier areas, according to a recently published article. Latinos are Hardest Hit Compared to Other Races The Latino community is the largest minority group in the country. There are more than 32 million Latinos in the United States, and that does not include undocumented immigrants. Most of them are highly exposed to the virus due to their nature of work. Most Latinos who work in the U.S. are farmers, household workers, as well as other jobs that require them to go out and interact with people. Another factor is their low average wage, and that forces them to go to the supermarket frequently because they only have a limited budget. The risk is even higher because Latino families often live in a multigenerational household, making the spread of the virus easier. Death Rate of Latinos in the Santa Clara County The death rates in Latino neighborhoods in East San Jose are higher compared to the wealthier areas in San Clara County. It was found that one-third of the first 100 deaths in ZIP Codes 95116, 95127, 95122, and 95148 were Latinos. In those areas, Latinos were hardest hit by the virus compared to other races. Thirty-five percent of those who died in Santa Clara County were Latinos, 26 percent were white Americans, and 32 percent were Asian-Americans. In terms of age, Latinos are also dying younger compared to other races. In a record revealed by a medical examiner, it was found that the first 100 Latinos who died due to COVID-19 were an average of 65 years old. They are 15 years younger than Asian-Americans. Matthew Warren, an attorney with the Western Center for Law and Poverty, said: "This data is pretty devastating, but it's not completely shocking given the racial disparities in our country. It's no secret that the neighborhoods on the east side of San Jose have not benefited from the same resources as the rest of Silicon Valley." He added: They've suffered from systemic disinvestment for a long time. They probably aren't poised to weather the current pandemic as easily as other parts of the valley, from an economic or health standpoint." It is not only in Santa Clara County where Latinos were hit hard by the virus but also in other states like Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Experts believed that in a state where there is a disparity between the rich and the poor, the Latino community is hard hit because they cannot easily access the healthcare system due to financial constraints and immigration status. It would be difficult for those who have problems in their immigration status to avail of healthcare services because they do not have SSN. It could also be the reason that they will be deported back to their country of origin. This means that instead of being diagnosed and treated in a hospital, they would rather have their medication without proper treatments in their homes. OTTAWA, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC) released the following statement today in response to the federal government's announcement of a new Industry Strategy Council, chaired by Monique Leroux: "Innovative Medicines Canada welcomes the federal government's creation of an Industry Strategy Council focused on the impact of COVID-19 on industry. "As we turn our attention to economic recovery, it is important that the country's job creators, investors and innovators have the opportunity to inform the federal government's planning and decision-making at this critical time. "Not only does the innovative medicines industry have an important economic impact in Canada, our members are also vital to the country's healthcare system, as the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated. "Given this, IMC is eager for an opportunity to participate in the Industry Strategy Council's work and to playing our part in Canada's economic recovery. We look forward to more details on the Council's next steps." Learn more about how our member companies are contributing to the fight against COVID-19. About Innovative Medicines Canada Innovative Medicines Canada is the national voice of Canada's innovative pharmaceutical industry. We advocate for policies that enable the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative medicines and vaccines that improve the lives of all Canadians. We support our members' commitment to being valued partners in the Canadian healthcare system. For further information: Sarah Dion-Marquis Media Relations Telephone: 613-769-6510 E-mail: sdmarquis@imc-mnc.ca SOURCE: Innovative Medicines Canada View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/589374/Innovative-Medicines-Canada-Welcomes-Federal-Industry-Strategy-Council-and-Looks-Forward-to-Helping-Promote-Innovation-Economic-Inclusion-and-Growth Interestingly it was the Congress almost 38 days back that demanded that migrant labourers who wanted to go home should be allowed New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday demanded an immediate setting up of a multimodal agency under a senior cabinet minister to ensure that the migrant labor crisis is sorted. Taking to twitter senior Congress leader and Treasurer Mr. Ahmed Patel lashed out at the Railways Ministry and added, I request the government to constitute a multimodal agency under a senior Cabinet Minister to oversee relief and rescue of migrants. If need be even support of Armed Forces must be sought to solve this humanitarian crisis. Clearly the Railway Ministry is unable to handle the problem. The Congress leader's comments come a day after the Aurangabad train accident which claimed the lives of 16 migrant workers. Earlier Mr. Patel on the instructions of Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi had instructed state units of the party to ensure that train fares of migrant laborers who were travelling back to their native places was paid by the party. Meanwhile senior Mr. P Chidambaram blamed the central government for the incident on the railway tracks he said, Now, governments are shedding crocodile tears for the migrant workers who were killed by a train. The tragedy on our highways and railway tracks is visible every day to all, except the governments. He further added, Congress was the first to draw attention to the fact that, despite trains and buses, thousands of migrant workers are trekking back home. No one paid heed to our warning. Interestingly it was the Congress almost 38 days back that demanded that migrant labourers who wanted to go home should be allowed. The Congress charged that the transport policy of providing buses and trains to transport migrant workers was poorly designed, planned, coordinated and implemented. The party also asserted that once the policy was announced, the government should have gone to the rescue of the trekkers and provided buses or trains to them to continue their journey. As the economic activity came to halt due to the lockdown the Congress has been demanding that the center announces a financial assistance package. Also, an immediate cash transfer to people who are beneficiaries Media reports say a private Kenyan plane recently downed in Somalia was shot by troops deployed from Ethiopia. So far, the African Union's Somalia mission AMISOM has only called for a joint investigation. Kenya media, including the Daily Nation newspaper, claim that troops from Ethiopia operating inside Somalia -- but not assigned to the African Union (AU) mission AMISON -- mistakenly shot down the Kenyan cargo plane last Monday. The aircraft, an Embraer EMB 120 carrying humanitarian and medical supplies to handle potential coronavirus cases, crashed on approach to Bardale in central Somalia, reportedly killing its six occupants. AMISON on Tuesday said it welcomed the decision by leaders of "Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia to investigate the incident" that reportedly involved a rocket firing. Daily Nation, and other outlets, on Saturday cited what it called a "preliminary report" filed by AMISOM disclosing that "non-AMISOM" Ethiopian troops guarding the Bardale airstrip were surprised by the plane's "unusual" flight approach. Flight approach 'unusual' The troops had suspected the aircraft was a "suicide attacker," said the Daily Nation, adding the plane's crew had approached Bardale unusually from the west. It was flying closer to the ground and its arrival had not been communicated beforehand, the newspaper claimed, citing AMISOM in Mogadishu. On Tuesday, the AU mission said the aircraft -- operated by Kenyan-registered African Express Airways -- had made its flight from Mogadishu via Baidoa. 'Clarifying the circumstances' AMISOM's head of mission Francisco Madeira said the joint inquiry would be aimed at "clarifying the circumstances surrounding this incident." Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Ethiopia Kenya Coronavirus By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. AMISOM's formation in 2007 under UN resolution, but run by the AU, was preceded by a large Ethiopian incursion aimed at disbanding the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist network. AMISOM currently comprises some 20,000 personnel from eight AU countries allocated control over various regions shaken for years by terrorist attacks. Bardale has long been a base used by the Ethiopian military. Italian aid worker rescued In a separate development Saturday, Italy announced that Italian aid worker Silvia Romano, who had been kidnapped by gunmen in northern Kenya 18 months ago, has been rescued inside Somalia, 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Somali capital. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Romano had arrived at the Italian embassy in Mogadishu and would arrive in Rome on Sunday on a special flight. "Thanks to the men and women of the foreign intelligence services," tweeted Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. (dpa, AP, Reuters) Were pleased to be working with Artifact and contributing our years of experience and clinical knowledge to this innovative effort. HCPro, an acknowledged industry authority in healthcare compliance, education, training and consulting for over 30 years, and Artifact Health, who provides the first and only mobile platform that streamlines the physician query process, announced today that Baystate Health in Springfield, Mass. selected the ACDIS comprehensive library of compliant clinical documentation improvement (CDI) physician query templates from HCPro to use within Artifact Healths mobile platform. Baystate Health implemented Artifact Healths mobile platform and integrated the ACDIS physician query templates from HCPro prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which have both proven crucial to maintaining CDI productivity and engagement with providers, explained Walter Houlihan, FAHIMA, Senior Director of Health Information Management and Clinical Documentation for Baystate Health. Our CDI and coding teams have continued querying providers from home, and our providers are responding, even during this challenging time, because the mobile technology is fast and easy. Built by a team of renowned CDI educators who applied their substantial clinical and coding experience to the design of the ACDIS physician query template library, HCPro provides the compliance and process guidance so that healthcare facilities can better capture the true complexity of their patient population. It also serves as a key resource continuously addressing critical areas of query practice including: COVID-19 ICD-10-CM/PCS coding classifications DRG groupings MCC/CC diagnoses Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCCs) Severity of illness/risk of mortality And more ACDIS is well-known in the CDI industry as an expert source for knowledge as part of HCPro, said Marisa MacClary, Co-founder and CEO of Artifact Health. The compliant templates, in combination with Artifacts platform, help ensure high-quality, comprehensive clinical documentation, especially during a time when life-saving public health decisions depend on accurate hospital data. Artifact has taken a unique approach to helping hospitals address administrative burden on physicians, said HCPros Chief Product Officer, David Cella. Physicians have raved about their newfound ability to address open queries in seconds on their mobile devices. Were pleased to be working with Artifact and contributing our years of experience and clinical knowledge to this innovative effort. About Baystate Health Baystate Health is a not-for-profit integrated healthcare system serving over 800,000 people throughout western Massachusetts. Nationally recognized as a leader in healthcare quality and safety, Baystate Health has more than 12,000 employees and serves a diverse population of patients at its teaching hospital, Baystate Medical Center in Springfield as well as, its three community hospitals, several urban health centers, home care and hospice services, and a network of over 80 medical practices. A leader in medical education for more than a century, Baystate Health recently established a new regional campus of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the first medical school campus in western Massachusetts. Baystate Health is also owner of Health New England, a non-profit health plan serving members in Massachusetts and Connecticut. For more information on Baystate Health, visit http://www.baystatehealth.org. About Artifact Health Artifact Health provides the first and only mobile platform that streamlines the physician query process so hospitals can improve the quality of patient records and ensure full reimbursement for services. Already in use by thousands of physicians, Artifact simplifies a traditionally time-consuming, multi-step process allowing physicians to respond to queries anytime, anywhere in seconds. By shortening average physician response time to queries by 20x, Artifact helps CDI specialists and coders receive more accurate responses faster, which can translate into millions of dollars in revenue for hospitals. Visit http://www.artifacthealth.com to learn more. About HCPro HCPro, a Simplify Compliance Brand, is an acknowledged industry authority in healthcare regulation and compliance for over 30 years. HCPro specializes in providing knowledge and information in a variety of products, including magazines, newsletters, books, videos, audio conferences, training handbooks, e-mail newsletters, and online courses. ACDIS was founded to specifically serve the clinical documentation specialist community and provide additional education, professional growth, program recognition, and networking opportunities. Visit http://www.hcpro.com and http://www.acdis.org for more information. During his killing spree 20 years ago, Richard Baumhammers also killed Anil Thakur, 31, and left Sandeep Patel paralyzed from the neck down. Patel died in 2007 at the age of 32. (representational image/pixabay.com) Matt Harvey isnt calling it quits. The former Mets ace tells Dan Martin of the New York Post that hes throwing bullpen sessions once or twice per week in hopes of landing a contract once the leaguewide transaction freeze has been lifted. Harvey reportedly tried out for the Blue Jays in February and didnt receive an offer, but the 31-year-old feels hes used the additional downtime to correct some bad habit from last year that he mightve otherwise rushed through. I hope somebody gives me a shot, Harvey tells Martin. I feel like I have many more years in me. Ive grown up and matured on and off the field. Harveys swift fall from grace has been well documented. Injuries decimated what looked to be an extraordinarily promising career for the former No. 7 overall pick, who pitched to a 2.53 ERA/2.65 FIP with 9.5 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 through his first 427 MLB innings. In a span of less than three years, though, the touted righty underwent Tommy John surgery and thoracic outlet surgery. The injuries were followed by a sharp downturn in his results on the field, which combined with a reputation for partying off the field and a questionable clubhouse presence to sully the general opinion of the former Dark Knight in Queens. [Related: When the Dark Knight Left Gotham] However, Harvey had a rebirth of sorts following a trade to Cincinnati. The right-hander didnt completely return to form, but his velocity improved as he worked to a respectable 4.50 ERA in 128 frames out of the Reds rotation in 2018. Harvey was clobbered in two of his 24 starts with the Reds (15 runs in a combined nine innings), but outside of those poor showings was quite solid (3.70 ERA). He held opponents to three or fewer runs in 17 of his 24 starts with the Reds. By all accounts, he appeared to be a good clubhouse fit there. The improved velocity and relative stability he showed with the Reds prompted the Angels to bring Harvey in on a one-year, $11MM deal. It was a somewhat steep price to pay for a pitcher who many still viewed as a reclamation project, but the upside with a pitcher of Harveys pedigree was alluring enough to pique the Halos interest. Instead, Harvey delivered a disastrous 7.09 ERA and 6.35 FIP that were worse than even his lowest points with the Mets. He latched on with the As on a minor league deal but was never called to the Majors. Harvey made a couple of relief appearances with the As in Triple-A and was said to be open to trying out a reliever role, so perhaps hed be open to that this time around. At this point, a beggars cant be choosers mentality seems like a necessity, so a short relief role doesnt seem to be out of the question. The leagues proposal to the Players Association reportedly will expand rosters to as many as 30 players and could have a taxi squad of 15 to 20 additional players available to every club. That type of roster expansion could seemingly help Harveys chances, as clubs will likely aim to stockpile as much pitching depth as possible. Its been nearly five years since weve seen Harvey at his best, but hes still just 31 years old. A return to prominence may be a long shot, but weve seen longer shots make successful comebacks in recent years (Rich Hill, Scott Kazmir among them). Hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside the Iranian consulate in Afghanistan's western city of Herat on May 11 over the deaths of migrants who drowned after allegedly being forced into a river by Iranian border guards. Afghan officials have said the migrants died while illegally trying to cross into neighboring Iran from Herat Province earlier in May. Abdul Ghani Noori, the governor of the province's Gulran district, says 18 bodies have been recovered from the river so far and that some of the bodies show signs of torture and beatings. According to Noori, a total of 55 migrants were forced into the river. He says six of them are still missing. Iranian authorities have dismissed the claims that its security forces were involved in their deaths, saying the incident occurred within Afghan territory. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has ordered a probe into the drownings, forming a 10-member team to carry out the investigation. A decree issued by Ghani orders the team to carry out a thorough investigation into reports about the deaths of several countrymen along the Iranian border." Human Rights Watch (HRW) on May 4 described the alleged actions of the Iranian border guards as shocking. Decades of conflict, extreme poverty, and high rates of unemployment force thousands of Afghans to illegally cross the border to Iran every year. There are currently up to 1 million registered Afghan refugees in Iran. According to the United Nations, there also are as many as 2 million undocumented Afghans in Iran. Based on reporting by AFP and AP Attorneys for President Donald Trump this week will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to grant him sweeping immunity from investigation by Congress and local prosecutors into his conduct as a private citizen, as long as he's still in office. During oral arguments in three cases Tuesday, the justices will explore Trump's claim that he cannot be subjected to subpoenas or any criminal investigative process, by virtue of the demands of the presidency. The assertion of expansive presidential power comes as Trump faces an array of mounting requests for his personal and business financial records. His efforts to challenge the subpoenas in federal courts have, so far, been unsuccessful at every level. MORE: Supreme Court to livestream arguments in Trump financial records cases "These are critical cases that are going to decide whether or not a president, in office, has presidential immunity for the duration of the time that he is sitting in office," said Claire Finkelstein, a criminal law expert at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and director of its Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law. "It would literally put the president above the law if the Supreme Court sides with the president's lawyers in this case," Finkelstein said. The outcome will also determine whether Trump -- the only modern American president to have not publicly released tax returns or divest from major business interests while in office -- has to share more personal financial information with voters before the November election. PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks during an event to sign a proclamation in honor of World Nurses Day, in the Oval Office of the White House, May 6, 2020, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP, FILE) Three Democratic-led House committees and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance are seeking multiple years of documents as part of their respective investigations into potential wrongdoing by Trump prior to his presidency. The subpoenas are addressed to Trump's personal accounting firm, Mazars USA, and three financial institutions used by him and his business. Trump intervened to block the third parties from complying. Story continues "These subpoenas are all expansive, burdensome, and unfocused fishing expeditions. They are inappropriate and should be invalidated," Trump's personal attorneys argued in court briefs. MORE: Supreme Court puts Trump taxes subpoena on hold during appeal The Trump legal team further claimed the requests are politically-motivated, illegitimate and a distraction from the important duties of presidential office. The Justice Department has filed an amicus brief siding with the president. "The president cannot effectively discharge those duties if any and every prosecutor in this country may target him with criminal process," the Trump lawyers added. Vance, a Democrat, has said he's seeking the records for an ongoing criminal probe into possible violations of state financial laws by Trump and the Trump Organization. The lawmakers say the information they seek is critical to drafting of federal ethics and anti-corruption legislation involving presidents. "The mere risk of interference with official functions does not afford a president categorical immunity against subpoenas for documents concerning private conduct," Vance wrote in his brief. "Presidents throughout history have been subject to judicial process in appropriate circumstances." PHOTO: Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. speaks at the press conference after the hearing of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in New York, Feb. 24, 2020. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images, FILE) In 1974, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that President Richard Nixon had to obey a subpoena from the Watergate special prosecutor and turn over tapes and documents, limiting "executive privilege" protections for certain presidential communications. Twenty-three years later, the court rejected President Bill Clinton's claims of broad immunity from litigation while in office, requiring him to participate in a videotaped deposition in a civil case involving Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee who accused Clinton of sexual harassment. "Under its own precedent, it is hard to see how the Supreme Court can allow Trump to block congressional or prosecutorial subpoenas to third parties, like banks and accounting firms," said Harry Sandick, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "Trump literally would have to do nothing (to comply), since the subpoenas were served on banks and accounting firms, not on him personally," added Sandick. "These subpoenas have nothing to do with the president acting as president, but instead concern the president acting as a private citizen." PHOTO: The Supreme Court building stands in Washington, Jan. 27, 2020. (Mark Tenally/AP, FILE) The Supreme Court arguments will take place via teleconference and will be livestreamed to the public in a groundbreaking new arrangement prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. Trump will be the first sitting president who is party to a case before the court and is able to potentially respond in real-time on Twitter. "I can only imagine the president's lawyers are going to make every effort to steal his telephone," said Tom Goldstein, a veteran Supreme Court litigator and founder of SCOTUSblog. "The president is a very busy guy, obviously, but the oral argument is going to be extremely tempting." The White House could not say whether Trump planned to tune in to the audio-only session. If lower court decisions are upheld in any of the cases, Trump likely would have to turn over at least some of his financial records just a few months before voters cast ballots in the November presidential election. "What it would say is that this president is not different from any other president, that all presidents have to comply with the rule of law and with court proceedings," said Finkelstein. There is also the chance the court offers a split decision in the cases, or sides with Trump across the board. "They're probably pretty happy with the lower court reasoning in the cases," Neal Katyal, former solicitor general during the Obama administration, speculated of the justices in public remarks late last year. Lower court rulings at both the district and appellate levels have upheld the subpoenas as serving legitimate purposes and not imposing undue burdens on the executive branch, since they do not involve official communications or presidential involvement. Paul Clement, former solicitor general during the George W. Bush administration, suggested he shares Katyal's view that the court is likely to agree. "I think if you look at the court's precedents, you know, the president's argument is a tough one," Clement said. "Maybe 'an uphill one' would be the right way to describe it." The justices are expected to release their opinion by the end of June. This report was featured in the Tuesday, May 12, 2020, episode of Start Here, ABC News daily news podcast. "Start Here" offers a straightforward look at the day's top stories in 20 minutes. Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, the ABC News app or wherever you get your podcasts. President Trump to claim 'absolute immunity' from subpoenas in Supreme Court appeal originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Business leaders last night demanded answers on how the PM's lockdown easing will work so they can plan to restart the economy. Adam Marshall of the British Chambers of Commerce led calls for more details on Boris Johnson's plans for companies. He was backed by other industry heavyweights including Jonathan Geldart of the Institute of Directors and Dame Carolyn Fairbairn of the CBI. Firms also want to know if the Government programme to pay the wages of workers under the furlough scheme will be extended beyond the end of June. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is today expected to tell employers the scheme will stay in place until September, but at a rate from 80 per cent to 60 per cent. Firms want to know if the Government (pictured, the PM during his speech last night) programme to pay the wages of workers under the furlough scheme will be extended Pictured: The three-step plan announced by the PM for the phased reopening of the country Mr Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: 'Businesses share the Prime Minister's ambition to see more people return safely to work over the coming weeks. 'Companies will do everything they can to protect employees and customers, maintain social distancing and operate successfully as more sections of the economy are permitted to re-open. 'Businesses will need to see detailed plans for the phased easing of restrictions, coordinated with all nations across the UK and supported by clear guidance. Government 'to top up wages of furloughed staff if they can only return part-time' Furloughed workers who can only go back to their jobs part time may get their wages topped up by the government as the Treasury looks for ways to wind down the system. Businesses are to be given an incentive to gradually bring staff back to work so social distancing rules can be observed. Ministers have begun telling bosses the plan will continue through the summer until September, with taxpayers footing the bill at a reduced rate of 60 per cent of wages. The current version of the scheme is due to expire at the end of June, with firms able to claim 80 per cent of a furloughed worker's wages up to a monthly cap of 2,500. The changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme could be announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak as soon as today. A Treasury source told the Telegraph talks were ongoing with final decisions yet to be taken. A Treasury spokesman said: 'Future decisions around the scheme will take into account the wider context of any lockdown extension, as well as the public health response, so that people and businesses can get back to work when it is safe to do so.' Advertisement 'It is imperative that companies have detailed advice on what will need to change in the workplace, including clarity on the use of PPE. 'Firms will also need to know that Government support schemes, which have helped save millions of jobs in recent weeks, will continue for as long as they are needed so that they can plan ahead with confidence. 'The timing of further easing of restrictions must be guided by the public health evidence, but businesses need their practical questions answered so they can plan to restart, rebuild and renew.' Businesses are to be given an incentive to gradually bring staff back to work so social distancing rules can be observed and operations can be slowly built back up. Ministers have begun telling bosses the plan will continue through the summer until September, with taxpayers footing the bill at a reduced rate of 60 per cent of wages. The current version of the scheme is due to expire at the end of June, with firms able to claim 80 per cent of a furloughed worker's wages up to a monthly cap of 2,500. Mr Geldart, director general of the Institute of Directors, said: 'Directors know that the battle with this virus is far from over, and they want to play their part in preventing a second spike, which would extend the economic pain. 'As the Government begins to ask more people to return to work, it's vital that the guidance is clear so that companies can plan how to return safely. 'As people with ultimate legal responsibility, directors need to have confidence that it's safe, and that if they act responsibly they won't be at undue risk. 'Businesses should consult with their people to put in place robust policies, which in many cases might not be an overnight process. 'For a large number of firms, operating under social distancing rules will mean significantly reduced activity, so the Government's support measures must match continuing restrictions. 'A more flexible furlough system would help businesses get back on their feet, bringing people back to workplaces gradually. 'Meanwhile, countless small company directors continue to find themselves left out in the cold, unable to access the Government's aid, and this need to be changed quickly.' There have been growing fears in Whitehall the nation was becoming 'addicted' to state help. Government statistics showed 800,000 firms have made applications for furlough, covering more than six million workers. It means the Treasury is facing a monthly bill of 8billion, with experts suggesting the final amount could be as much as 40billion. Downing Street last week revealed the monthly cost of furlough was 8billion. The NHS has a monthly budget of approximately 11billion Business have warned the reduction in help from the government must be gradual to avoid a 'cliff-edge' which could result in a wave of redundancies. Richard Jones, of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health said: 'Health and safety must come first. 'People shouldn't re-enter workplaces until employers are certain that they're properly managing the risk of infection and providing the support that workers need. 'Prevention has to be the focus because, if organisations don't get this right, workplaces can become places of transmission.' Government sources sparked controversy when they said the UK was becoming 'addicted' to cash handouts. Businesses fear if the support is withdrawn too quickly and weakened companies are forced to reopen it could result in millions of jobs being put at risk. Ministers are thought to be planning a flexible version of the scheme in the coming months which would allow some workers to return part-time while still getting some of their wages paid by the state. One way forward, which is believed to have been considered, could see the level of wage support reduced from 80 per cent to 60 per cent while the monthly cap of 2,500 could also be lowered. Dame Fairbairn, CBI director general, said after Mr Johnson's speech: 'Today marks the first glimmer of light for our faltering economy. Dame Carolyn Fairbairn (pictured in November), CBI director general, said after Mr Johnson's speech: 'Today marks the first glimmer of light for our faltering economy' 'A phased and careful return to work is the only way to protect jobs and pay for future public services. The Prime Minister has set out the first steps for how this can happen. 'Businesses are keen to open and get our economy back on its feet. But they also know putting health first is the only sustainable route to economic recovery. The message of continued vigilance is right. 'This announcement marks the start of a long process. While stopping work was necessarily fast and immediate, restarting will be slower and more complex. 'It must go hand-in-hand with plans for schools, transport, testing and access to PPE. Firms will want to see a road map, with dates they can plan for.' Stephen Phipson, chief executive of Make UK - the manufacturers' organisation, also cautiously welcomed the Government encouraging those manufacturers who have not continued to operate to return to business. He added: 'It is critical that there is clear advice on how to do that, and an understanding that firms will be helped to comply as we navigate uncharted waters, and not punished for inadvertent errors. 'In many parts of manufacturing people will need to work much more closely than two metres apart. It is vital that the guidance is explicit about how this may be achieved safely.' Premier Doug Fords crusade against coronavirus price gouging by retailers has led to about 200 law enforcement investigations across Ontario, newly available data shows. At the same time, some 500 businesses have received warnings against selling necessary goods for prices that grossly exceed the usual cost of such items. That news comes as MPPs return to Queens Park on Tuesday to officially extend Ontarios state of emergency in place since March 17 until June 2. MPPs last sat on April 14. Ford told reporters on Monday that he does not expect a rancorous partisan debate because we have bigger fish to fry than (to) argue in the legislature against the backdrop of a pandemic. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath appeared to agree, emphasizing she would be seeking answers from the Progressive Conservative government on Tuesday in a thoughtful, respectful way on the response to COVID-19. Hopefully, the premier will respond in the same thoughtful, respectful way and answer those questions. Ontarians deserve no less than that, said Horwath. Earlier Monday, the Star disclosed that more than 22,500 price gouging complaints and queries had been lodged with the government since March 28. Of those, 8,500 have so far been reviewed by Consumer Protection Ontario. Approximately 200 of the most egregious cases have been referred to law enforcement across the province, Government and Consumer Services Minister Lisa Thompsons office said. That means local police and municipal bylaw enforcement officers are looking into them to determine whether charges will be laid. In addition, more than 500 businesses across the province have been sent a notification that they have been reported as selling necessary goods for prices that grossly exceed the price for similar goods available to consumers and directing them to take appropriate action, the ministers office added. Further action may be taken by the ministry with respect to these businesses as appropriate. The government has not publicly identified which companies are being investigated or have received written warnings. Under Ontarios Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, it is illegal for businesses and individuals to be fixing prices (or) charging unconscionable prices for necessary goods, services and resources. Such goods include masks and gloves used as personal protective equipment (PPE), non-prescription medications for the treatment of coronavirus symptoms, disinfecting agents intended for cleaning, and personal hygiene products such as soap and toilet paper. Scofflaws face stiff fines that range from $750 to $100,000 plus a year in jail for individuals, $500,000 and incarceration for company directors or officers, and $10 million for corporations. Although some complainants have cited soaring prices on some food items, those are not classified as necessary under the provincial law. Ontario stepped up its efforts to combat the problem after a furious Ford expressed outrage at a posh Toronto supermarket selling Lysol disinfectant wipes for $29.99. They usually retail for a fraction of that. On Tuesday, meanwhile, only 42 of the 124 MPPs will be in the legislative chamber in order to maintain safe physical distancing. Liberals Stephan Blais (Orleans) and Lucille Collard (Ottawa-Vanier) will be there for the first time since winning Feb. 27 byelections. After the morning question period limited to opposition queries, as the Conservatives have ceded their daily friendly questions the house will rise until May 19. It will sit that day and May 20, then again on May 26-27 and June 2-3. There will be lots to debate: the independent financial accountability office warned Monday that Ontarios $20.5-billion deficit could balloon to $41 billion due to COVID-19. The fiscal watchdog forecasts a net debt-to-GDP ratio of a record 49.7 per cent an increase of some 10 percentage points since last year. Ford pointedly would not rule out having to raise taxes at some point before the 2022 election. Theres no such thing as absolute when it comes to politics, the premier said, adding: Im going to make sure we take care of the people of Ontario no matter what. But the discussions over the deficit may be trumped by more pressing health-care concerns. Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca indicated his party will be urging Ford to give more help to front-line health-care workers and calling on him to immediately reverse all cuts to Ontarios regional public health units brought in as a result of the 2019 budget. That spending plan a cornerstone of which was the new double-blue licence plates the Tories finally cancelled last week because they are defective was so poorly received that Ford demoted his treasurer just 10 weeks later. Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie Read more about: New Delhi, May 11 : The Congress on Monday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hostile to the requirement and decisions to be taken during the Covid-19 pandemic for the welfare of the people. "History will remember PM Modi as the Prime Minister who didn't care about people's lives," the Congress tweeted. The Congress also said that the Prime Minister is least concerned about PPE kits for health workers. The party lashed out at the Prime Minister for the delay in providing a financial assistance package. The government hasn't planned anything before the announcement of the lockdown, the party alleged. The Congress further alleged that there are discrepancies in the PM-CARE fund as there is no transparency and "secrecy has always been the way of the wicked!" The party also alleged that due to the bad economic policies of the government, the country's GDP has nosedived. "Will the BJP use a 'Care fund' to strengthen the economy," the Congress asked. Kygo, is one of the hottest up and coming DJs around. Even though he is still very young, and has only been in the music industry for a short period of time, he has made waves with his super-popular remixes and dance beats. With a slew of awards and nominations to his name, Kygo is climbing the ladder of success at a rapid pace, and it is possible that within the next several years, everyone will know his name. The young artist is also surprisingly rich and could soon be one of the worlds wealthiest DJs. How did Kygo get started in music? Kygo | Michael Campanella/Redferns Kygo was born Kyrre Grvell-Dahll in Singapore in 1991. Although he was born in Singapore, he spent the majority of his early years in Norway, the country from which both of his parents originally hailed. Along with his parents and siblings, Kygo traveled extensively as a child, visiting Japan, Brazil, Kenya, and a slew of other countries. As a young child, Kygo found himself drawn to the world of music and began taking piano lessons when he was only six years old. By the time he was a teenager, Kygo began experimenting with different types of sounds on music production software programs. As Kygo later revealed, one of his big influences was the Swedish DJ Avicii, and he looked to him for inspiration as he continued to refine his own sound and performance style. It was around this time that he adopted his stage name, a combination of his first and last names. After he decided to pursue music full-time, he didnt slow down, and released his first single, Epsilon, in early 2013. What is Kygo best known for? Although Kygos first single was slow to take off, his next song, Firestone, released in December 2014, became very popular on YouTube. The young artist began attracting the attention of big-name stars such as Chris Martin, who expressed interest in having him remix their songs. Over the next several years, Kygo was signed to a record label and began selling out festivals and concerts all over the world. In May 2016, Kygo released his debut studio album, Cloud Nine. The album featured collaborations with many other talented music stars, and it paved the way for his work with artists like Selena Gomez, Imagine Dragons, and Tyga. Kygos work has been studied by critics as well as fans, and he has built a fan base all around the world. Not too bad for an artist who still considers himself to primarily be a pianist rather than a rock star. What is Kygos net worth? Although Kygo has been described by music journalists as calm and sensible, it is clear that hes made it to the top of his industry. He has also accrued a very impressive net worth for an artist who is relatively new to the fame game. Reportedly, Kygos net worth is around $25 million. Although that puts him in a different category from superstar DJs such as Calvin Harris, at the rate that his career is growing, it could only be another couple of years before he reaches that same level. In his free time, Kygo likes to spend time with his siblings and parents. He doesnt live up to many of the stereotypes of a music superstar, although, according to his Instagram, he does enjoy a good tropical vacation from time to time. For Kygo, the sky is the limit, and theres really no telling where this Norwegian superstar could end up. In this photo provided Monday, May 11, 2020, by the Iranian Army, the Konarak support vessel which was struck during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman, is docked in an unidentified naval base in Iran. An Iranian missile fired during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman struck a support vessel near its target, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15, Iran's state media reported on Monday, amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S. AP An Iranian missile fired during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman struck a support vessel near its target, killing 19 Iranian sailors and wounding 15, Iran's military and state media said Monday, amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington. The statement significantly raised the death toll in Sunday's incident from what was reported just hours earlier, when Iran's state media said at least one sailor was killed. The Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, which was taking part in the exercise, was too close to a target during an exercise on Sunday when the incident happened, the reports said. The vessel had been putting targets out for other ships to target. The media said the missile struck the vessel accidentally. The friendly fire incident took place near the port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran, in the Gulf of Oman, state TV said. A local hospital admitted 12 sailors and treated another three with slight wounds, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. PHILIPSBURG:--- The Nature Foundation St. Maarten is eligible to receive votes for the Summer Sea Turtle Sustainability Grant of $5,000 USD, which has been made possible by the Turtle Island Restoration Network and SEE Turtles support sea turtle research and conservation projects. The Nature Foundation has actively managed and monitored the sea turtle nesting activities on St. Maarten since 1997 collecting data of Leatherback, Hawksbill, Green, and loggerhead sea turtles both on land and in the waters surrounding St. Maarten. The Foundation conducts various activities with regard to nesting including; beach surveys, nest excavations, tagging activities, and nest success research as well as capture and release programs for data collection via scuba diving. By monitoring sea turtles the Nature Foundation is better able to protect these creatures by enforcing existing rules and regulations and educating the public. On St Maarten, all sea turtle species are protected by international laws and treaties as well as local laws. However, they still face great threats, namely plastic pollution, poor water quality, loss of nesting grounds, and boat strikes. Some turtles mistake plastic bags or debris for their food source. When eaten plastic can cause blockages and even make turtles unnaturally buoyant, meaning that the turtle may starve to death and becomes more prone to boat strikes. Poor water quality can lead to tumor growth or skin disease on turtles. Nesting grounds are often lost to beachside construction and development. Driving on beaches, strong artificial lighting and umbrellas piercing the sand disturb those areas that can be nested. Boats driving through the bay and lagoon areas at high speeds have caused several turtle strikes where the shell is cracked and the turtle dies due to impact. In 2019 there were five fatal strikes reported to the Nature Foundation, while so far in 2020 there have been three. In addition to local threats sea turtles are declining worldwide. Currently only 1% of sea turtles survive long enough to reach sexual maturity. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists Hawksbill Sea Turtles as critically endangered, Greens are endangered and Loggerheads and Leatherbacks are both vulnerable. By voting for The Nature Foundation to receive this grant you will be supporting the effort to protect these animals locally. The Summer Sea Turtle Sustainability Grant winner will be chosen exclusively by public vote; the organization that receives the most votes will win the full $5,000 to support their efforts to protect these creatures. Public voting for the grant selection is open from May 4th until June 1st, 2020. To vote please visit the following website www.seaturtles.org/vote and submit your vote for the Nature Foundation St. Maarten today. The Nature Foundation is the designated focal point for Sea Turtle Conservation according to the Inter American Sea Turtle Convention, the SPAW Protocol on Endangered Species and Country Representative for the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Network and has received specialized training in Sea Turtle conservation, including in relocating turtle nests that are in danger due to human activities or natural events such as storm surge. Suspicion of sea turtles nesting and tracks can be reported via Facebook; Nature Foundation St Maarten or by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and phone numbers of the turtle patrol can be requested. The man shot and killed Friday by a Houston police officer has been identified as Adrian Medearis, a well-known local gospel artist who directed the gospel choir at Evangelist Temple Church of God In Christ in the South Acres neighborhood, friends say. Medearis, 48, was a former director for the Prairie View A&M Baptist Student Movement gospel choir and founder of Gods Anointed People, a contemporary gospel group. He also performed with choirs at other churches Medearis was pulled over around 1:30 a.m. by a Houston police officer, identified only as J. Ramos, in the 11700 block of the North Freeway. Ramos was conducting DWI enforcement on the highway when he clocked Medearis driving more than 90 mph, Houston Police Executive Asst. Chief Matt Slinkard said at the time. During the stop, Ramos performed field sobriety tests and placed him under arrest for suspected DWI. A struggle ensued while the officer tried to handcuff him, Slinkard said. He said Medearis at one point grabbed Ramos Taser, and the officer fired his gun multiple times, fatally striking Medearis at least twice. MORE FROM JULIAN GILL: Spree killings suspect captured in southeast Houston, police say More for you HPD chief details shooting that killed Houston gospel artist The officer suffered minor injuries, and no other officers or witnesses were on the scene. Police have not released footage of the incident. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told the Houston Chronicle late Sunday that he planned to reach out to Medearis family to discuss the chain of events that led to the shooting. Acevedo said Ramos body camera was knocked off, but he reviewed videos from other vantage points that clearly capture the struggle. The characterizations of what happened that night by Chief Slinkard, from what Ive watched, is accurate, Acevedo said. Two of Medearis longtime friends say the police account doesnt jibe with his character. Michael Stevenson, the music director at Blueridge United Methodist Church, for more than 25 years had known Medearis as a happy-go-lucky person who enjoyed giving back to his community. He was a devout Christian, and his music consumed his life, he said. Even if you thought he had something to drink, I dont see where a life should have been taken, he told the Houston Chronicle on Sunday. Houston resident Dav Lewis said he met Medearis about 10 years ago through mutual friends. Lewis also got to know him through his nonprofit, 2ndchances.life, which supports people who have been incarcerated. Every year, he said Medearis donated things like toys, clothes and money for their Christmas fundraiser. He was always giving, Lewis said. He didnt talk about it a lot. He always gave, always participated. A lot of his friends are entrepreneurs and they have businesses, and he was always participating and supporting their local business. Medearis was playing cards with friends before the shooting a regular activity for those in the Houston church community, Stevenson said. He said regular churchgoers gather once or twice a month for dinner and card games. Stevenson hasnt been attending because of the pandemic, so he didnt see Medearis there that night. However, he said he never knew Medearis to drink heavily. DEADLY HELICOPTER CRASH: Father recounts fallen officers drive to become a pilot When Medearis was pulled over, he was on the phone with a friend from the gathering who was trying to make sure he got home safely, Stevenson said. The struggle with the officer took place in a parking lot just off the North Freeway, police said. Ramos, a sworn officer since 2013, had asked Medearis to pull off the highway for safety reasons. Slinkard said Medearis resisted being placed in handcuffs, and really what turns out to be a quite a violent struggle happened between the officer and the suspect, he said. The officer discharged his Taser at least once during the altercation, he said. The officers body camera was knocked to the ground during the fight but continued recording, he said. More dashcam footage was available from the officers cruiser and possibly from nearby businesses, he said. Acevedo said he didnt know whether he could release the full video to family without making it public, thus jeopardizing the investigation. The family will have an opportunity at the appropriate time to be able to assess and be able to understand everything that happened to their loved one, he said. Acevedo said hes also heard from community members who say Medearis actions, as described by police, were out of the ordinary I think the skepticism derives from the behavior that was described that was not consistent with his history, so I thank God that everything was captured on video so eventually the family and everyone who loved him and ultimately the community can make its own assessment Acevedo said. But this one night does not define this individual. julian.gill@chron.com Normally used to treat malaria, hydroxychloroquine is being given to patients in nursing homes throughout Pennsylvania, including some in the Philadelphia region, according to families with loved ones in those facilities. Read more At first, Derrick Cain didnt recognize the name of the medicine that doctors gave his great-aunt when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 last month at her Delaware County nursing home. The staff at the Broomall Rehabilitation and Nursing Center said the drug seemed to be helping the 85-year-old womans symptoms. Only later, doctors told the Cains that it was hydroxychloroquine. For weeks, President Donald Trump had touted the antimalaria medication as a game-changer treatment for the coronavirus, despite a lack of clinical evidence that it is effective. Observational studies including one released Thursday from researchers at Columbia University in New York have concluded that it is at best ineffective and in some cases may worsen patients conditions. And as Cain and his family learned about its potential side effects vision changes, muscle weakness, and irregular heart rhythms that can result in death they grew more concerned. No one at the nursing home had contacted them before putting his great-aunt on the drug. And no one informed them about its risks. They never called us to say that were going to do anything," Cain said. "They just did it. Broomall Rehabilitation where at least 37 residents have died of COVID-19 isnt the only long-term care facility that has relied on hydroxychloroquine in a Hail Mary bid to stem a tide of nursing home coronavirus deaths that has already claimed more than 2,000 lives in Pennsylvania. More disturbing, say health-care advocates, is the growing number of accounts from families such as the Cains who say long-term care facilities across the commonwealth are administering the experimental treatment without legally required consent. State law requires nursing homes in Pennsylvania to obtain permission from a patient or family members with medical power of attorney before starting experimental treatments, including off-label use of drugs. Such decisions also must be approved by an independent review board set up by the Department of Health. READ MORE: We have no idea what is going on there: Pa. and local officials call for probe of veterans nursing home In Chester County, the state-run Southeastern Veterans Center widely gave hydroxychloroquine to some of its sick residents as recently as April 22 the same week the Food and Drug Administration warned that it should not be administered outside of a hospital setting according to staff members and relatives of patients there. Members of two families said SEVC employees did not first seek their permission. I didnt have a say. I didnt know the dosage. I was just caught off guard, the wife of one veteran put on the drug told The Inquirer. Her husband later died. Allegations emerged in Beaver County, outside of Pittsburgh, last month that one nursing home, Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, had dosed most of its roughly 590 residents sick or not with the antimalaria drug amid a coronavirus outbreak so severe that staff had begun to presume every patient was infected. Those claims were outlined in a lawsuit seeking class-action status in Philadelphia that contends lax oversight by the state Department of Health has enabled what amounts to unsanctioned and unsupervised biomedical research on nursing-home residents a situation the lawyers likened to the horrors of Nazi experimentation on human subjects. A lack of information Its unclear how widely hydroxychloroquine has been used in Pennsylvania nursing homes over the last two months. A spokesperson for Health Secretary Rachel Levine did not respond to questions on how many facilities had sought and gained state approval to use the experimental treatment. With facilities closed to visitors and routine state inspections suspended, obtaining accurate, complete information about what treatments are being administered during the pandemic to Pennsylvanias 134,000 long-term care residents has proved next to impossible. These places have been in lock down for seven or eight weeks now, said Martin Kardon, one of the lead lawyers in the lawsuit. "Who knows whats going on in there? Annaliese Impink, the chief experience officer for SavaSeniorCare Consulting LLC, which operates the Broomall Rehabilitation and Nursing Center where Cains great-aunt lives, confirmed that staff there are using the drug to treat COVID-19 patients. She declined to comment on specific cases, citing privacy laws, and would not say whether the staff seeks permission before administering hydroxychloroquine. Treatment including the use of hydroxychloroquine in select cases is directed by attending physicians at their discretion based on their thorough assessment of each individual in their care and under guidance from the state medical board and other federal governing agencies, Impink said in a statement. It is our practice to discuss all changes to the care plan, including medication changes, with our residents and or their responsible parties. Cain said he is grateful that the drug appears to have either helped or, at least, not hindered his great-aunts recovery. But, his mother, Janie, still worries about the potential long-term consequences. I mean, if thats the drug that helped her to get better, thats fine," she said. "But there might be other issues we dont know about. Other facilities contacted by The Inquirer either did not respond or declined to discuss their use of the drug, including Brighton Rehabilitation in Beaver County and St. Monicas Center for Rehabilitation & Healthcare, a South Philadelphia nursing home. Family members of two patients there said they had been asked to approve its use in treating their loved ones. But anecdotal evidence is mounting even as lobbyists continue to push Gov. Tom Wolf to grant nursing homes immunity from lawsuits over their response to coronavirus outbreaks within their walls. They should not be giving drugs that families didnt consent to, bottom line, said Toby Edelman, a senior policy attorney for the nonprofit Center for Medicare Advocacy. If theres an emergency and they know some totally approved, recognized solution, youd say, Yes, I want them to use their medical training. But thats not what this is. These decisions are not made based on known medical science. Thats not this drug. 'Standing next to a burning building The question of how many Pennsylvania nursing homes are using hydroxychloroquine is underscored by the fact that routine inspections have ground to a halt during the pandemic even as residents of long-term care facilities account for nearly 70% of the states COVID-19 deaths. Normally, the Department of Health would periodically monitor them on criteria such as the types of treatments, the conditions under which they are administered, and whether proper consent has been obtained from patients. But now, said Kardon, very little is known about treatment regimens and conditions in each home. READ MORE: Over 9 days, Bucks County saw 100 coronavirus deaths most in nursing homes If your house is on fire, you want the firefighters directing their stream of water where its burning. They need to go where the fire is, the lawyer said. These nursing homes are ground zero [and] were standing next to a burning building waiting for the fire department to show up. The suit he filed with lawyers from across Pennsylvania asks a federal judge to ensure that nursing homes are not using hydroxychloroquine without first obtaining consent and seeks a court order that would compel the Health Department to resume its routine monitoring. Nate Wardle, a department spokesperson, declined to address the lawsuits claims but said the decision to suspend regular inspections was made under guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Still, he added, the department has conducted limited on-site inspections of facilities accused of having conditions that are putting patients in immediate jeopardy. Seeking an investigation Wardle declined to say how many emergency inspections the department has conducted since Wolfs emergency declaration March 6. One facility in the Philadelphia region that has drawn state scrutiny is the 238-bed Southeastern Veterans Center in Spring City, which has been overrun by the coronavirus. At least 29 residents believed to have the virus were given hydroxychloroquine over the last month, according to a staff member who was not authorized to speak to the media. Of them, 22 did not recover and have since died, the staff member said. In all, 34 residents who tested positive or were presumed to be infected had died there through May 4, according to the Chester County coroner. Two relatives of residents who received the drug said that although they are usually kept abreast of any new medications or dosage changes, they were not informed before their loved ones were given the unproven treatment. This time, for some reason, I didnt get a call, said the wife of one SEVC veteran, who asked that her name not be used to maintain her familys privacy. She said she learned hed been taking hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin only when she called for an update on her husbands condition. He is cognitively impaired and does not have the ability to consent. READ MORE: Suburban Philadelphia nursing homes are loaded with COVID cases and paralyzing the economy | Maria Panaritis Joan Zlogar Nissley, spokesperson for the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, which runs SEVC, declined to comment on its use of hydroxychloroquine. In a memo sent Tuesday to its nursing staff and obtained by The Inquirer, managers said last months state inspection found no deficient practices related to our handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. State Sen. Katie Muth, a Democrat whose district includes the veterans center, still has questions. She has filed a complaint about the facility with the state Attorney Generals Office citing, among other concerns, the use of hydroxychloroquine without permission from families. I hope that there is an immediate investigation to ensure the safety and health of both the patients and the workers," Muth said. "And to bring truth to those whove already lost loved ones. Its hard to grieve without all the answers. Staff writer Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this article. Letters to the Editor View(s): Curfew: More questions than answers The general public needs to know who is making the decisions, as well as the underlying rationale, regarding the curfew regulations now in force. It is clear that the curfew is not being implemented properly and fairly. All sorts of people have been roaming around freely since the curfew was first imposed- politicians and their families, ruling party workers, armed forces personnel, food distributors, as well as sundry individuals with curfew passes. Have all these people been tested for the virus before they were given permission to be out on the streets? I read that all lawyers are also being given curfew passes. Why? I was unaware that lawyers counted as essential service workers. Have they been tested for the coronavirus? Shouldnt all lawyers with a social conscience protest the unfairness of this ruling? I also understand that next week only those with specific IDs will be permitted to enter shops on a specific day. Are those who check our IDs going to be staying three feet away from us? If not, what purpose does such a regulation serve? And how will it prevent congestion inside? Surely a more reasonable way to prevent congestion would be to keep all food shops and pharmacies open every day and allow anybody to enter, provided they are wearing masks and keeping to social distancing guidelines. Such regulations can be posted in all three languages outside all shops and pharmacies. Dr. Vinoth Ramachandra Via email The human spirit will not be kept down in these days of lockdown With the coronavirus affecting people worldwide, the news is pretty bleak each day. Everyone is facing hard and difficult times. Here in California as it is everywhere else, streets are almost desolate, as residents remain in quarantine. We miss the sound of busy streets. Malls and shops remain closed. We miss the folks and the faces we see every day. Only the hospitals remain open, staffed with doctors and nurses, on their repeated shifts. We see hospital staff spend hours taking care of patients, fighting this dreaded COVID-19, despite the fears of getting the disease themselves. They have a job to do, ministering to human beings who have been struck down by this dreaded illness. Many retired professionals have volunteered to work in harms way helping in this crisis. New York city is the hardest hit by the pandemic. We watch the news daily and see the many casualties of COVID-19. Families and friends have endured losing loved ones. The coronavirus has caused much uncertainty, and fear. Yet at this time we see human spirit at its best. We witness the love and empathy of friends and families and even strangers, and the impact it has on us. We see people across New York share a moment of camaraderie during these challenging times. Neighbours open their windows to collectively celebrate the hard work and selfless dedication of first responders at the front lines. They use pots, pans, bells, whistles, trombones and violins, to show their gratitude, some of them singing, heartfelt songs, even arias with pure emotion to hospital staff and volunteers. They wave hello to each other from one side of the street to the other. A single wave, a friendly gesture from a distance seems to ever so slightly restore that sense of normalcy. A sixth grader in North Carolina, asked a math question from her teacher on the phone. The teacher went that extra mile to explain in person while practising social distancing from outside this students front door. Some teachers read books on facetime to their little students, and have a nightly chat with them. These are the stories we see each day that uplift the human spirit. Teachers, friends and neighbours come up with a whole lot of innovative ideas at times like this. Each of us now will be who we choose to be. We can be someone who calls on neighbours and friends, to makes sure they are okay and are not in need. We will gravitate towards the best of who we are capable of being, or we can stumble into the dark corners of who we should never be. We cannot go around shaking hands as we usually do, nevertheless we can go around being kind and thoughtful. We believe in the goodness of human beings, and the elixir of compassion that is extended by people we hear and see in the news. In a town in Iowa, a distillery is making hand sanitizers and giving it away free to those who need it. Acts of such generosity abound in many places. We are in uncharted waters, yet there are many acts of love and kindness that take place on a daily basis. Kindness to the elderly, the sick and the lonely, to fill their empty days, to assuage their loneliness and fears. The goodness of mankind will always conquer evil even in the most dire of circumstances. Charmaine Candappa Via email For our soldier Dedicated to all veterans and their families Todays the day Weve all been waiting Theres so much to say So many hearts racing Welcome home son Were so proud of you brother Ive waited so long love We have you to ourselves now father The Almighty has brought you home Bruised and scarred but pure and whole Its been a long hard road Weve seen the years take their toll Youve bravely served our country From East to West and North to South And been declared the victor Having looked inside wars ugly mouth. Youve inspired your men Leading from the front Of bullets, shrapnel and mines Youve often taken the brunt For your fallen boys Weve seen you mourn For the tragedy of lost lives Youve felt you must atone Weve watched you rise And seen you fall We still remember the times We waited anxiously for your call But now youre home with us We dont plan to let you go As always we will love and support you By your side we will face any foe A grateful nation salutes you To them youre a soldier no more But our brave warrior you will always be The depth of our pride and joy youll never know Stephanie Nugara TRENTON, N.J., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- While much attention has been paid to the devastating impact of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities and corrections facilities across the state of New Jersey, NASW-NJ reports that many of the most vulnerable individuals continue to be exposed. In state-run psychiatric hospitals and developmental centers, infection and death rates are significantly higher than the rates amongst the state's total population. Our four state-operated psychiatric hospitalsTrenton, Greystone, Ancora and the Ann Klein Forensic Centerhave a combined population of 1,239 residents. NASW-NJ reports that as of May 8, twelve residents of these facilities have died due to COVID-19 infection and 177 (9%) have confirmed positive diagnoses. This COVID-19 related death rate (1% of the total residential psychiatric population) is 100 times greater than the statewide death rate. Our state-operated residential developmental centers for men and women with developmental disabilities are similarly impacted. The Green Brook, Woodbine, New Lisbon, Hunterdon, and Vineland residential centers have a combined population of 1,238 residents. As of April 20, seven residents had died of COVID-19, and 113 (9%) had confirmed positive diagnoses. The death rate of 0.5% of the residential developmental disabilities population is 50 times greater than the statewide death rate. "Individuals in residential programs, both psychiatric and developmental, are among our most vulnerable and at-risk," said Jennifer Thompson, MSW, Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers - New Jersey Chapter. "We aren't talking about this and we need to. The infection and death rates in these setting are 50-100 times higher than that of our general population," Thompson continued. "Moreover, individuals in these settings often cannot be advocates for themselves, they rely on social workers, advocates and case managers to sound the alarms. That's what we're doing." As of May 7, 2020, the NJ Department of Corrections reported the COVID-19 related deaths of 29 inmates among its population of 18,000. Another 8 deaths were reported among an estimated 450 involuntarily committed residents of the state's Special Treatment Unit (STU). One hundred eighty-eight (1.1%) of the DOC inmate population and 14 (3.1%) of its resident population have confirmed positive diagnoses. The death rate among inmates with confirmed diagnosis is 15.4% and among residents of the STU is 57%. Comparing this to the total population of inmates, the COVID-19 infection fatality rate of inmates is already at 0.16%, and 1.8% for the residents of the STU, or more than 10 times the rate in the State prisons. The NJ Department of Corrections' death rate from COVID-19, based upon total population, is 16 times greater than the statewide rate; NJ Special Treatment Unit's death rate due to COVID-19 is 180 times greater. Recognizing the actual infection rate is likely much higher, the New Jersey Department of Corrections is in the process of testing all inmates and residents of the STU for the disease. "To protect inmates and residents and effectively control the spread of this disease in institutional population, we need to immediately cease all admissions into and movement within prisons and institutions, except to hospitals due to a 911 emergency," said Jeff Dickert, Ph.D., LCSW, former COO of Rutgers University Correctional Health Care. "As I understand it, the prisons and Juvenile Justice Commission are planning on testing every inmate and resident in the next week or two. Psychiatric hospitals and developmental disabilities centers need to be doing the same if they are not." Added Thompson, "NASW-NJ supports the recent steps taken by the NJ Department of Corrections and is calling for all residents in institutional settings in our State to be tested immediately and again whenever they exhibit symptoms of COVID-19. All inmates, residents and staff within these settings need to be provided with face masks and social distancing measures must continue to be strongly reinforced. Sadly, visitation cannot be permitted." "Anyone coming in close contact with residents must be provided full personal protective equipment (PPE) to limit exposure to the virus," furthered Dickert. "Institutional settings must implement the same stringent infectious disease controls as in our hospitals. In addition, any resident who can safely be placed in a non-institutional setting should be moved." Now, more than ever, social workers in various settings throughout the state are vigilantly monitoring, supporting, and advocating for the most vulnerable. "Social workers are trained to identify emerging issues, research and compare critical data for trends, and advocate and affect change on behalf of their clients," said Dawn Apgar, Ph.D., LSW, ACSW, Assistant Professor and Assistant Chairperson of Seton Hall University's Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work and former Deputy Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Human Services. "Our education uniquely prepares our profession to respond to this crisis across the board." "NASW-NJ represents not only our members as professionals, but the hundreds of thousands of individuals they serve daily. Social workers across the state have shared with us harrowing stories of lack of PPE in these settings, stress on clients, and loss. The data we see only reaffirms their accounts," said Thompson. While many are advocating for relaxing the social distancing measures and other controls put in place to slow the spread of this disease, we must continue to be vigilant among our institutionalized populations lest these settings explode into the next virus hotbed. Anything less is not only short-sighted, but inhumane. Contact: Jennifer Thompson, Executive Director 917-968-0181 [email protected] Related Links Stats Stats 2 SOURCE National Association of Social Workers UPDATED U.S. Department of Education guidance telling school districts to direct much more coronavirus aid than they expected to private school students has triggered intense opposition. And a potential legal fight over the guidance could take much longer to sort out than the pandemic itselfthough its a fight school administrators feel they could win in a few ways. The Education Departments basic position is that districts must use money under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide equitable sevices for all local private school students. Yet groups representing public schools say CARES money should follow what the Every Student Succeeds Act says and be set aside to provide services only for certain disadvantaged and at-risk students, like technology licenses and parent engagement. The difference is worth tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars to public school districts. On Thursday, Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera told Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education Frank Brogan that his agency estimated the guidance would double the funding districts normally set aside for at-risk students under federal law. The state also calculated that the guidance, if adhered to, would lead to a 53 percent increase in benefits for more advantaged students at the expense of the most disadvantaged students in the Philadelphia school district. In a different suburban district, Rivera said this increase would be 4,634 percent. These outcomes, observed in districts and communities of every type, are clearly inequitable, Rivera said in his letter to Brogan. He urged the department to clarify the guidance by letting districts set aside a much smaller share of the money. That plea followed a Wednesday declaration from the American Federation of Teachers and AASA, the School Administrators Association, that districts should ignore the guidance . On Tuesday, those two and five other groups urged DeVos to revise it . And separately, the national group that represents chief state school officers also told DeVos on Tuesday that she should rethink her guidance . This new guidance for equitable services isnt the law, and its not a set of regulations. Its the Education Departments interpretation of the CARES Act, and it was issued just over a month after the CARES Act became law without inviting public comment first. That means although it was issued under emergency circumstances, the guidance doesnt appear to follow the set of best practices laid out by the Trump administration last year. So what happens if districts ignore it? Bet on the District Every Time Theres an established complaint process private schools could use involving a state-level ombudsman, if they feel districts are shorting them on coronavirus aid. Districts or private schools could appeal an ombudsmans decision to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who youd expect to uphold the guidance. However, the dispute could then wind up in front of an administrative law judge for the Education Department, and then the federal courts. Thats the path taken by the case Zuni Public School District No. 89 v. U.S. Department of Education that was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007. The Zuni case, a dispute involving federal aid but not guidance, got an initial ruling in a federal court in 2004, after an appeal of decisions by an administrative law judge and the education secretary. It took another three years to get a Supreme Cout ruling. Its easy to imagine any similar dispute over this guidance also taking many years to resolve, perhaps after the Trump administration has left the stage. On the merits, attorneys for school administrators feel this is nonbinding guidance and does not carry the weight of law, and that districts are within their rights to dig in, refuse to follow it, and see what the Education Department does. Districts could also drag out the process of allocating money for the services, although that could also lead to a different kind of contentious legal argument. Id bet on the district every time if a dispute over the guidance reached the courts, said Cheryl Sattler, a partner at the Ethica education services firm in Florida that works with 15 districts on federal programs. Unless they hear otherwise from their state education departments, districts should act as if this guidance does not exist, Sattler said, in part because of what Congress did and didnt say when it passed the law: Nobody is on the Senate floor saying: Weve got to save the private schools. Its pretty unusual, she added, for districts to be found in violation of equitable services requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act and ultimately be forced to allocate more money for those services. Private schools could also sue over the issue in federal court, although since theres an administrative avenue available, its not clear how far that would get. Separately, auditors could look at districts books and make administrators sweat over not following the guidance (and sweat in general). However, in that case, state education departments could end up deciding whether to act on any audit report. So the consequences could vary by state. And DeVos could theoretically direct the inspector general to look at districts with respect to the guidance, although again, thats a process that could take a very long time. Last year, a judge rejected a challenge to 2017 Education Department guidance about sexual harassment and assault; however, in that case the judge explained that the guidance at that time wasnt final and therefore not subject to judicial review. We reached out to the department about what actions it would take if districts ignored the guidance; well update this post if we hear back. We asked the Council of Chief State School Officers, which asked DeVos to clarify (by essentially revising) the guidance very after it was issued, if it was advising districts to ignore it. In a statement, CCSSO Executive Director Carissa Moffat Miller responded that the organization was continuing to discuss the guidance with the department, and added, We are working closely with states as they coordinate with district leaders to ensure that CARES funds are allocated equitably. Michael Schuttloffel, the executive director of the Council for American Private Education, said his group would encourage private schools to seek relief from state ombudsmen if districts blew off the guidance; he added that believed the feds would have ways of responding to a refusal to comply. He did not raise the idea of private schools filing lawsuits outside this administrative process. Schuttloffel added that hypocrisy is at work here. Some of the same people pushing for districts not to comply with the guidance would issue howls of protest if schools didnt follow guidance on another topic, he said, adding, Guidance is different than law, but it is also not just a friendly suggestion that parties can take or leave. Congress and Cost Benefits Could DeVos try to penalize districts in some way by seeking to reclaim CARES aid or withhold future education aid like Title I money? Aside from triggering another possible legal fight, that would mean public school students are ultimately bearing the punishment being meted out by the Education Department. To David DeSchryver, a senior vice president of Whiteboard Advisors, that doesnt make a lot of sense. The ability of the federal government to create a repayment or a liability, outside of some paperwork, is very difficult here, DeSchryver said. They dont have the leverage. Like Sattler, DeSchryver said he thinks districts would ultimately have the edge in any legal dispute. Its quite possible that members of Congress, after observing the intense opposition from state and local education leaders to the guidance, will step in and clarify how the CARES Act aid is supposed to work, said Jamie Fasteau, a one-time staffer for former House education committee Chairman George Miller and now a principal at EducationCounsel, a legal firm. In the meantime, she said, theres a potential game of chicken where all parties involved will have to think about how much they want a courtroom and administrative brawl over something Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden could revoke next year if he wins the presidency. Anyone who wants to take that path has to decide whether its worth it, Fasteau said. This post has been updated to clarify comments about how often districts are forced to set aside more money for equitable services after being found not in compliance with ESSA. Photo: U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on Capitol Hill earlier this year. -- Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images Follow us on Twitter @PoliticsK12 . And follow the Politics K-12 reporters @EvieBlad @Daarel and @AndrewUjifusa . Dont be lulled into thinking life is back to normal. In Houston, in Texas and across the country, COVID-19 cases and deaths are still on the rise. A draft report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention forecast that the numbers could spike to 200,000 cases and 3,000 deaths a day. Still, many people regular citizens and elected leaders alike are acting as if the COVID-19 outbreak is over. Reservations at newly reopened restaurants in Houston are sold out and Galveston beaches were so packed that local authorities asked the state for help with crowd control. In Texas, an executive order from Gov. Greg Abbott gave retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters and malls the green light to reopen. Across the country, more than 45 states have eased stay-at-home orders and are allowing gyms, barbershops, hair salons and other businesses to begin operating again. The Missouri governor is allowing concerts and other live events to resume, making his the first state to do so. The pressure to reopen is understandable. The latest jobs report, issued Friday, showed that an alarming 20.5 million jobs were lost in April, pushing the unemployment rate to 14.7 percent levels not seen since the Great Depression. People are hurting. Businesses large and small are hanging on by a thread. After two months of sheltering in place and social isolation, many people are hungry to get back to life as it was. But in the push to restart the economy, we must guard against jettisoning the very mitigation measures that have so far helped keep the coronavirus pandemic from claiming even more victims. We still have no vaccine, no effective treatment and not enough testing. The virus is still highly infectious and poses serious risk for the elderly and many others. Most of the states relaxing shelter-in-place restrictions have not met the recommendations put out by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, which urged governors to wait for COVID-19 cases to go down over two weeks and have testing in place for front-line workers before reopening. In Texas, an Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model predicted it will be June 1 before its safe to fully reopen here. Were definitely not out of the woods, Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, told the editorial board. Lifting restrictions too soon means we will likely see a second spike, Hotez said, a rise in the number of cases probably later this summer and early fall. The IHME model is now projecting that 134,000 Americans will die from COVID-19 by August, doubling its previous estimate of deaths to account for relaxing stay-home orders. Exactly how big of a surge in cases depends largely on what actions are taken next by officials and by the public at large. Officials must put in place an epidemiological model specific to Houston, Hotez said. They also must set up more robust contact-tracing and surveillance, hold daily briefings to communicate with the public and increase testing, especially in the workplace, he said. Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at the University of California, Irvine, stressed that any reopening plan should be a step-by-step process. Each step is like potentially lighting a fuse. That fuse can take up to 10 days to burn before it explodes. We are hoping it wont explode, Noymer told the editorial board. But if you light a fuse on Monday and light another fuse on Tuesday, you potentially have two back-to-back explosions because you havent waited long enough to see if Monday fuse will be a dud. If we rush headlong into reopening, we could see a jump in COVID-19 cases that would lead to more deaths and hospitalizations and necessitate renewed lockdown orders. That, in turn, would mean more job losses and more economic pain. Those of us who can stay at home should do so. Those who cant must be ensured adequate testing and safety measures at their workplace. We all must remain vigilant, wash our hands, keep our distance and wear masks. You have to act as if everyone you see has asymptomatic COVID, Hotez said. We must not act as if COVID-19 is a thing of the past. If we do, we will only delay the day when it really is. EDWARDSVILLE Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Chancellor Randy Pembrook conferred degrees upon more than 2,400 graduates during the spring 2020 commencement exercises held virtually Saturday, May 9. Commencement is available at siue.edu/virtual-commencement. You represent a wide array of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, and youve made SIUE a stronger institution, Pembrook said. Because of your excellent preparation, we are confident that you will make an incredible difference and inspire those you meet. Through you, we achieve our mission of shaping a changing world. Pembrook quoted South African human rights activist Desmond Tutu: Do your little bit of good where you are. Its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. SIU System President Dan Mahony, PhD, also congratulated the Class of 2020. Everyone I know who has gotten to this point has overcome challenges, whether academic, financial, personal or all of the above, he said. Youve gotten here by overcoming those challenges, and you should be proud of that. You deserve this moment; enjoy this moment. Part of college is adapting to change along the way. Clearly, no class in SIUE history has adapted to more change than you have, he said. While this has forever changed your college experiences, we do hope this experience has helped you learn to adapt to change quickly and better prepared you for the challenges you will face ahead. Krista Russell, of Jerseyville, earned a masters in environmental science and served as the Graduate School student speaker. She described overcoming many challenges during their academic careers, but then added another. Continue to strive to be your best, using your unique talents and abilities, she said. My uniqueness has given me many opportunities at SIUE, such as presenting my thesis research at a conference in Puerto Rico. As college graduates, we can accomplish amazing things. Accept my challenge to shape this changing world by standing out, chasing your dreams, and striving to be the best person and professional that you can be. Ashley Monier, of Troy, earned a bachelors in psychology, and was the student speaker for the School of Education, Health and Human Behavior. She noted that gathering virtually was one more example of their ingenuity in the face of adversity. As we persevere through our challenges, we are showing the world that SIUE graduates have what it takes to succeed, she said. We can always look back fondly at our undergraduate experiences, and remember it as a period of growth and opportunity. A commonalty among us all is that we are prepared to go into this changing world and present ourselves as professionals. The School of Engineering student speaker was Thomas Giacobbe, of Glen Carbon, who earned a bachelors in mechanical engineering. He quoted retired U.S. Navy Admiral William McRaven, who said, If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. It will give you a small sense of pride and encourage you to do another task, and another, he said. Making your bed will also reinforce that its the little things in life that matter. And if you cant do the little things right, youll never be able to do the big things right. Kathryn Gratza earned a doctor of nursing, nurse anesthesia specialization, was the School of Nursings student speaker and addressed the COVID-19 pandemic. There is not much more that we can do as nursing professionals to prove our value to the world than what we are experiencing right now, she said. Our future is full of hope and endless opportunity to use our knowledge and skills to provide hope to others. Two annual awards were announced, although presentations will be made at a future traditional commencement ceremony. Larry Heitz received the Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. In 1969, Heitz became the first person to graduate from SIUE with an MBA. In addition to his impressive business career and significant community commitments, he established an award to recognize a School of Business faculty member for excellence in research and scholarship. He is a member of the SIUE Alumni Hall of Fame. Shirley Portwood, PhD, received the Distinguished Service Award, bestowed in appreciation for dedication and service to the University. An alumna, professor emerita and former SIU Board of Trustees member, she is an accomplished and prolific writer, researcher and storyteller, and positively impacted countless students during her long career as an educator. She is also a member of the SIUE Alumni Hall of Fame. Iran is ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said, adding that Washington has yet to respond to Irans call on a prisoner swap. "We are ready to exchange Iranian and American prisoners and we are prepared to discuss this issue but Americans have not responded yet," Rabiei said, according to Khabaronline news website. "We are worried about the safety and health of Iranians in jail We hold America responsible for Iranians safety amid the new coronavirus outbreak," Reuters cited the spokesman as saying. "There is no need for a third country to mediate between Iran and America for the prisoner exchange, Rabiei added. In a rare act of cooperation between two longtime foes, the U.S. and Iran swapped prisoners in 2019 American graduate student Xiyue Wang, detained for three years on spying charges, and imprisoned Iranian stem-cell researcher Massoud Soleimani, accused of sanction violations. The U.S. is set to deport Iranian professor Sirous Asgari, who was acquitted of stealing trade secrets, once he receives medical clearance to leave, U.S. and Iranian officials said. As India enters the last week of the 54-day lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to interact with chief ministers via video conference today at 3 pm. This will be Modi's fifth virtual meeting with state CMs. They are likely to discuss the lockdown exit plan ending on May 17. The PM has held four such conferences with CMs over the coronavirus situation in the country. "PM Narendra Modi to hold the 5th meeting via video-conference with state Chief Ministers tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a tweet. Also read: Coronavirus India Live Updates: PM Modi likely to discuss exit plan with CMs today; COVID-19 cases 62,939 Today's discussion is expected to revolve on steps for reviving the battered economy and scaling up efforts to bring more 'red' zones- areas with a high number of COVID-19 cases- into 'orange' or 'green' zones'. Yesterday, the Indian Railways announced that it will gradually resume passenger train services from May 12. In the second phase of the lockdown, the Centre had allowed manufacturing and industrial activities across all the zones. PM Modi might also talk about how to curb the spread in Maharashtra and Gujarat, the worst-hit states. Return of migrant workers to their home states and what impact it could have on the economic activities is also likely to be discussed. On Sunday, Union cabinet Secretary, Rajiv Gauba, held a video conference with various states' chief secretaries. In the meeting, states told Gauba that although protection against COVID-19 was necessary, attention to the revival of economic activities was also needed in a calibrated manner. The chief secretary sought the cooperation of state governments in running special trains for transportation of stranded migrant workers across different parts of the country. Three-hundred and fifty such trains carrying 3.5 lakh labourers have been operated so far, the cabinet secretary said. Also read: SBI's net banking tip for customers is inspired by Elon Musk's baby name Also read: India can expect V-shaped recovery post coronavirus crisis, says former RBI governor Subbarao National Technology Day is celebrated on 11 May to commemorate the achievements, innovations and technological advancements in India. On this day in 1998, India successfully carried out nuclear tests in Rajasthan's Pokhran National Technology Day is celebrated on 11 May to commemorate the achievements, innovations and technological advancements in India. On this day in 1998, India successfully carried out nuclear tests in Rajasthan's Pokhran. It also marks the test flight of the first indigenous aircraft 'Hansa-3' and the successful test firing of the Trishul missile. National Technology Day symbolises Indias quest for scientific inquiry and technological creativity and their integration for national socio-economic benefits and a global presence. President Ram Nath Kovind greeted citizens saying that National Technology Day celebrates the incomparable contribution of the scientific community in making the nation self-reliant. Greetings to the fellow citizens on the National Technology Day, marking the anniversary of the nuclear tests of 1998. On this occasion, we celebrate the incomparable contribution of the scientific community in making the nation self-reliant. President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) May 11, 2020 Prime Minister Narendra Modi saluted all those who are leveraging technology to bring about a positive change in the lives of others. The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make, PM Modi tweeted, highlighting a segment from the Mann Ki Baat programme where he spoke about the same. On National Technology Day, our nation salutes all those who are leveraging technology to bring a positive difference in the lives of others. We remember the exceptional achievement of our scientists on this day in 1998. It was a landmark moment in Indias history. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 11, 2020 The tests in Pokhran in 1998 also showed the difference a strong political leadership can make. Here is what I had said about Pokhran, Indias scientists and Atal Jis remarkable leadership during one of the #MannKiBaat programmes. pic.twitter.com/UuJR1tLtrL Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 11, 2020 Vice President Venkaiah Naidu extended his greetings, celebrating the remarkable strides made by India in science and technology, while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh conveyed his best wishes to the scientific fraternity. Greetings On #NationalTechnologyDay. While celebrating the remarkable strides made by India in Science & Technology, I urge scientists to come up with innovative low-cost solutions to overcome challenges like COVID-19 pandemic & improve the lives of common people. Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) May 11, 2020 I convey my best wishes to scientific fraternity of the country on the ocassion of National Technology Day. I appeal to DRDO, OFBs, DPSUs, Industry and Defence Startups to synergize their efforts to provide state of the art indigenous Defence technologies to the Nation. Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) May 11, 2020 Here's how others greeted the scientific community on the occasion of National Technology Day: On #NationalTechnologyDay, offer my gratitude to scientists, engineers & IT professionals across the globe who are helping the humankind battle the #COVID19 crisis through technology. pic.twitter.com/ZaFJmmZshE Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) May 11, 2020 Salute to the tech innovators, entrepreneurs and scientists for putting India at the forefront of Science and Technology. #NationalTechnologyDay pic.twitter.com/31S2ZbZXHj Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) May 11, 2020 On #NationalTechnologyDay, we remember and value the vision and commitment of those who contributed to the development of science & technology in our country. pic.twitter.com/NnKWksI0V2 Congress (@INCIndia) May 11, 2020 Greetings to fellow countrymen on #NationalTechnologyDay On this day in 1998, India established itself as a nuclear power. Let us honour the services of our scientific community & continue to leverage technology for our nations progress. pic.twitter.com/bZEPxio2Y5 Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) May 11, 2020 With the coronavirus crisis highlighting how technology has been at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic, the Technology Development Board (TBD), which organises National Technology Day, is focusing on technological solutions to reboot the economy. Iran Waiting to Hear from US About Prisoner Exchange By VOA News May 10, 2020 Iranian officials said Sunday they are ready for a prisoner exchange with the U.S. but that they have yet to hear from U.S. officials. "Iran has already stated our readiness to discuss the release of all prisoners without preconditions . . . but Americans have not responded," Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiel said, according to the Iranian government website Dolat.ir. Both countries have called for the swap because of concerns about COVID-19. Iran has been hard hit by the virus, while the U.S. leads the world in the number of infections. The exact number of prisoners held by either side is not immediately clear. The last, rare prisoner exchange between the two longtime foes happened December 7, when Iran freed Chinese American academic Xiyue Wang in return for the U.S. releasing Iranian scientist Masoud Soleimani. The swap happened in Zurich through Swiss mediation. Iran Silent on 12 Iranians Detained by US Despite Pledge to Swap Prisoners Again Iran has said nothing publicly about 12 Iranian citizens under prosecution or convicted of crimes in US since December prisoner swap and appears to have done little to help them In the four months since then, the U.S. has said it's worked continuously for the release of four Americans whom Washington has accused Tehran of unjustly jailing on trumped up charges, including Navy veteran Michael R. White. As Iran's coronavirus pandemic worsened and spread to its prison system in March, U.S. officials added urgency to their calls for the Americans to be released to safeguard their health. Iranian authorities granted White a prison furlough on March 19 after he exhibited coronavirus symptoms, but they have refused to let him leave the country or free the other Americans. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Kyodo News) Tokyo, Japan Mon, May 11, 2020 10:15 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd726fcb 2 World China,COVID-19,exercise-classes,gym,mask Free At least two junior high school students in China collapsed and died last month during physical exercise examinations while wearing face masks, local media reported by Sunday. The deaths of the teens have prompted experts to point out the dangers of wearing high-grade masks during intense exercise, with a movement promoting the non-necessity of wearing protective masks in gym class now gaining traction. The two students in Hunan and Henan provinces aged 14 and 15 were participating in events such as 1,500-meter runs when they died days apart in mid- to late April, according to the reports. Both were reportedly wearing N95 masks worn by health professionals treating coronavirus patients. A third student in Zhejiang Province also died last month while running on a playground, but it remains unclear if he was wearing a mask. As no autopsies were performed, it is impossible to know whether the students had preexisting conditions that could have contributed to death, the reports said. Even so, some experts pointed out that performing intense exercise while wearing an N95 mask could lead to oxygen deficiency. Although the resumption of classes is continuing around the country with students by and large wearing masks, several regional governments have notified schools that masks are not required for P.E. classes. In Beijing, where third-year junior high schoolers will be heading back to class on Monday, the municipal education commission has called for students not to exercise vigorously in gym class, adding that the wearing of masks is not required. In some areas, there are moves to altogether cancel the physical education component of high school entrance exams this summer. Mumbai, May 11 : Maharashtra on Monday recorded 36 new Covid-19 deaths, lower than Sunday's high of 53, with the number of positive cases zooming past 23,000, health officials said here. With 36 fatalities, the death toll shot up to 868 and the total number of coronavirus patients increased to 23,401, with a jump of 1,230 cases. Of the total deaths, 20 were recorded in Mumbai, as well as one of a person hailing from Uttar Pradesh - taking the city's toll to 528 and the number of Covid-19 positive patients in the city shot up by 782 to 14,521. Dharavi slum alone continued to be a major hotspot in Mumbai, notching 57 new cases, taking the total number of patients to 916, and 29 deaths till now. Besides Mumbai, 5 deaths were notched in Solapur, 3 in Pune, two in Thane, and one each in Aurangabad, Amravati, Nanded, Wardha and Ratnagiri. They comprised 23 men and 13 women, and nearly 75 percent of them suffered from other serious ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems and asthma. Meanwhile, with policemen also facing the disease's brunt, Star India and Project Mumbai on Monday donated 10,000 khaki coloured personal protective equipment to Mumbai Police. Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh this morning took to the streets and paid a visit to personnel on duty in the Mumbai North Region, comprising a vast area from Dahisar to Malad. He met and interacted with the force, enquired after their well-being and their requirements even as the city police have been getting infected in large numbers besides at least six deaths so far. In another morale-booster, a policeman from Sahar Police Station who was under treatment for Covid-19 at the Seven Hills Hospital, recovered fully and was given a warm welcome by his colleagues. Maharashtra Minister Jitendra Awhad, who was in quarantine and later hospitalised after he was found positive, also returned home on Sunday. He tweeted that though he has recovered, he was still feeling weak and would remain at home for a few more days before resuming his duties. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (Thane Division) continued to cause huge concerns with 566 Covid-19 deaths and 17,661 patients. Pune Division trails a distant second with 176 fatalities and 3,206 patients. The next area of concern is Nashik Division with 64 deaths and 1,015 positive cases, followed by Aurangabad with 15 fatalities and 660 patients, Akola Division with 25 deaths and 368 patients, Kolhapur Division with 4 deaths and 104 patients, Latur Division with 5 fatalities and 80 cases, and finally Nagpur Division with 3 deaths and 266 patients. On the positive side, 587 more fully cured patients returned home, taking the number of those discharged to 4,786 till date, which is a very encouraging sign, said Health Minister Rajesh Tope. Meanwhile, the number of people shunted in home quarantine increased to 248,301 and those in institutional quarantine up to 15,192, while the state's containment zones increased from 1,237 to 1,256 on Monday. As many as 12,027 teams have carried out a survey of a population of around 53.7 lakhs in the state till date. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter Saturday morning to announce his company will file a lawsuit against Alameda County, California, over its shelter-in-place order that does not allow for the return of manufacturing along with the rest of the state. "Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately," he tweeted. "The unelected & ignorant 'Interim Health Officer' of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense!" Musk is referring to county health officer Dr. Erica Pan, who signed on to the order spearheaded by Santa Clara County's Dr. Sara Cody that is in effect in six Bay Area counties. The local order is stricter than Governor Gavin Newsom's state order, which allowed for the return of retail and manufacturing on Friday. Local officials have declined to soften the order to be in line with the rest of the state. "Frankly, this is the final straw," Musk tweeted. "Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen (sic) on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA." Musk then responded to a Twitter follower from San Joaquin County, a locality following the state order. "San Joaquin County, right next door to Alameda, has been sensible & reasonable, whereas Alameda has been irrational & detached from reality," Musk tweeted. "Our castings foundry and other faculties in San Joaquin have been working 24/7 this entire time with no ill effects." On Thursday night, Musk sent an email to employees announcing he intended to follow the state's move to Stage 2 of its reopening plan and defy the local order. "In light of Gov. Gavin Newsoms statement earlier today approving manufacturing in California, we will aim to restart production in Fremont tomorrow afternoon," he wrote. He added that if employees did not feel comfortable coming to work, they could stay at home. A number of Bay Area businesses have expressed frustration in recent days that Bay Area counties are continuing to enforce a stricter order when the rest of the state including Los Angeles County, the part of the state hardest hit by the virus is moving into Stage 2. Eric Ting is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting COMMACK, N.Y. A Long Island strip club operator on Saturday filed a Civil Rights Act claim against the governor of New York over his executive orders to close down non-essential businesses during the pandemic. Sean McCarthy, who has run the Blush Gentleman's Club in Commack, N.Y. since 1997, said in his federal lawsuit that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's orders constituted a breach of constitutional duty and have caused him immediate and irreparable harm and actual and undue hardship. McCarthy, in his suit, said Blush can run safely with social distancing in place and strict hygiene by its dancers, but that Cuomos orders do not even permit the attempt to do so. According to the federal lawsuit, McCarthy was denied "the most effective way to continue [his] business and exercise [his] right to free speech," since some adult businesses have been screened for loans and grants from the Paycheck Protection Program. In times of crises such as these, it is particularly discriminatory in that certain businesses will continue and others who deal with subjects the government does not favor will be dealt the hand of business death, aces and eights." Blush, wedged between an Applebees and Burger King in Commack, has been closed since mid-March and, according to its website, will continue to be shuttered until Cuomo lifts his orders. Cuomo today said several regions of upstate New York are ready to restart economic activity by the end of the week. Other parts of the state, however, are not ready for the first of four reopening phases. Adult nightclubs, under his reopening plan, could open under the fourth phase. Joe Murray, an attorney for McCarthy, said that Gov. Cuomo is engaged in a huge overstep of executive power. He is infringing on peoples fundamental civil rights far beyond the least restrictive means allowable under the Constitution. Someone should remind him he is the governor and not the king, Murray told CBS. McCarthy is seeking at least $150,000 in damages along with attorney fees. Film producer Bhushan Kumar on Monday said his production house is taking necessary medical precautions after a caretaker of T-Series office tested positive for COVID-19, following which the building was sealed. Bhushan said some of the security personnel and helpers, who have been residing within the office premises since years, did not get a chance to go back to their hometowns due to the nationwide lockdown. "All employees of T-Series are like family and we have taken utmost care to respect this situation. While the person who has been positively infected is receiving the proper care, we have taken the government recommended medical steps to make sure that the office building is completely sanitized," Bhushan said in a statement. The producer said all at T-Series are following the rules of lockdown and are currently working from home as directed. "We have always taken care of each other and in these trying times, we will strive hard to make sure that each and every person of the T-Series family comes out a winner at the end of this fight against the global pandemic," he added. Till Monday morning, death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,206 in India, with cases climbing to 67,152. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Cookie Preferences Cookie List Cookie List A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website when visited by a user asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes: Strictly Necessary Cookies We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a sale of your data under the CCPA. 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Targeting Cookies We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated sale of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website. A few months before Philaelphias Mutter Museum, exercising now familiar COVID-19 precautions, closed its doors to the public, it co-sponsored a parade to honor the victims to the previous centurys Spanish Flu pandemic, as well as those who keep us safe today. The event was part of a temporary exhibition, Spit Spreads Death: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 in Philadelphia. Another temporary exhibition, Going Viral: Infection Through the Ages, opened in November, and now seems even stronger proof that the museum, whose 19th-century display cabinets are housed in the historic College of Physicians, is as concerned with the future as it is with the past. For now, all tours must be undertaken virtually. Above, curator Anna Dhody, a physical and forensic anthropologist and Director of the Mutter Research Institute, gives a brief introduction to some of the best known artifacts in the permanent collection. The museums many antique skulls and medical oddities may invite comparisons to a ghoulish sideshow attraction, an impression Dhody corrects with her warm, matter-of-fact delivery and respectful acknowledgment of the humans whose stories have been preserved along with their remains: Mary Ashberry, an achondroplastic dwarf, died from complications of a Cesarean section, as doctors who had yet to learn the importance of sterilizing instruments and washing hands, attempted to help her deliver a baby who proved too big for her pelvis. (The babys head was crushed as well. Its skull is displayed next to its mothers skeleton.) Madame Dimanche is represented by a wax model of her face, instantly recognizable due to the 10-inch cutaneous horn that began growing from her forehead when she was in her 70s. (It was eventually removed in an early example of successful plastic surgery.) Albert Einstein and the conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker are among the household names gracing the museums collection. One of the most recent additions is the skeleton of artist and disability awareness advocate Carol Orzel, who educated the public and incoming University of Pennsylvania medical students about fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), a rare disorder that turned her muscle and connective tissue to bone. She told her physician, Frederick Kaplan, below, that she wanted her skeleton to go to the Mutter, to join that of fellow FOP sufferer, Harry Eastlack provided some of her prized costume jewelry could be displayed alongside. It is. Get better acquainted with the Mutter Museums collection through this playlist. The exhibit Spit Spreads Death is currently slated to stay up through 2024. While waiting to visit in person, you can watch an animation of the Spanish flus spread, and explore an interactive map showing the demographics of the infection. h/t Tanya Elder Related Content: Take a Virtual Tour of 30 World-Class Museums & Safely Visit 2 Million Works of Fine Art Take a Long Virtual Tour of the Louvre in Three High-Definition Videos Take a Virtual Tour of The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the World-Famous Collection of Renaissance Art Ayun Halliday is an author, illustrator, theater maker and Chief Primatologist of the East Village Inky zine. Here latest project is a series of free downloadable posters, encouraging citizens to wear masks in public and wear them properly. Follow her @AyunHalliday. Trump administration officials spoke optimistically about a relatively quick rebound from the coronavirus Sunday as life within the White House reflected the stark challenges still posed by the pandemic, with Vice President Mike Pence self-isolating after one of his aides tested positive. A balancing act was playing out the world over, with leaders starting to loosen lockdowns that have left millions unemployed while also warning of the threat of a second wave of infections. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin predicted the American economy would rebound in the second half of this year from unemployment rates that rival the Great Depression. Another 3.2 million U.S. workers applied for jobless benefits last week, bringing the total over the last seven weeks to 33.5 million. I think you're going to see a bounce-back from a low standpoint, said Mnuchin, speaking on Fox Sunday. But the director of the University of Washington institute that created a White House-endorsed coronavirus model said the moves by states to re-open businesses will translate into more cases and deaths in 10 days from now. Dr. Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said states where cases and deaths are going up more than expected include Illinois, Arizona, Florida and California. A reminder of the continued threat, Pence's move came after three members of the White House's coronavirus task force placed themselves in quarantine after coming into contact with the aide. An administration official said Pence was voluntarily keeping his distance from other people and has repeatedly tested negative for COVID-19 since his exposure. He plans to be at the White House Monday. Families, meanwhile, marked Mother's Day in a time of social distancing. For many, it was their first without loved ones lost in the pandemic. Others sent good wishes from a safe distance or through phone and video calls. The virus has caused particular suffering for the elderly, with more than 26,000 deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities in the United States, according to an Associated Press tally. At a senior center in Smyrna, Georgia, 73-year-old Mary Washington spoke to her daughter Courtney Crosby and grandchild Sydney Crosby through a window. In Germany, children who live outside the country were allowed to enter for a Mother's Day visit. Germany's restrictions currently forbid entry except for compelling reasons, such as work. In Grafton, West Virginia, where the tradition of Mother's Day began 112 years ago, the brick building now known as the International Mother's Day Shrine held its first online-only audience. Anna Jarvis first held a memorial service for her mother and all mothers on the second Sunday of May in 1908. Sheltered safely at home with the family together would be viewed by Anna Jarvis as exactly the way she wanted Mother's Day to be observed, said Marvin Gelhausen, chairman of the shrine's board of trustees, in an address on YouTube. Matilda Cuomo, the mother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, called into her son's daily briefing so he and his three daughters could wish her a happy Mother's Day. I am so blessed as many mothers today are, she said. The governor announced two policy reversals a day after an Associated Press report in which residents' relatives, watchdog groups and politicians alleged he was not doing enough to counter the surge of deaths in nursing homes, where about 5,300 residents have died. Nursing home staff in New York will now have to undergo COVID-19 tests twice a week, and facilities will no longer be required to take in hospital patients who were infected. The U.S. has seen 1.3 million infections and nearly 80,000 deaths, the most in the world by far, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, 4 million people have been reported infected and more than 280,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins. In the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a modest easing of the country's coronavirus lockdown but urged citizens not to surrender the progress already made. Those in jobs that can't be done at home should be actively encouraged to go to work this week, he said. Johnson, who has taken a tougher line after falling ill himself with what he called this devilish illness, set a goal of June 1 to begin reopening schools and shops if the U.K. can control new infections and the transmission rate of each infected person. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The idea that we are going to open school in the fall when you havent even figured out how to get internet access to the students that youre dealing with now ... those are the necessary components for returning to school that we know are going to be part of any plan thats going to work, he said. ... If someones positive at a school, youve got to close it because it means everyone who was exposed to them could potentially be positive and youre not gonna know for two weeks. Counting On alum Derick Dillard cant stop stirring the pot when it comes to the Duggar family. The husband of Jill Duggar has been spilling secrets about his familys time on the show and promising fans a tell-all book that will supposedly reveal even more juicy details. But his wife might not be fully on board with her husbands loose-lipped ways, according to a new report. Derick Dillard has been speaking out about his in-laws and Counting On Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard | D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Extra Derick has not hesitated to share his unvarnished opinions about his father-in-law Jim Bob Duggar and his experience on Counting On. He has claimed Jim Bob controlled the Duggar familys relationship with TLC and decided which kids received money from the Counting On. Derick has also said he and Jill werent given a say in how they announced important personal events such as their engagement or her pregnancies. The conditions we were filming under took us to the brink of sanity and could have easily destroyed our lives if we had continued that trajectory, Derick tweeted in December 2019. We are now trying to pick up the pieces. The law student has also referred to Jill as a victim of abuse and said she was pressured to continue filming the show even when she wanted to quit. Jill and several of her siblings were sexually abused by their older brother Josh as children. Jill Duggar would like Derick Dillard to stay quiet As Derick has become more vocal in his criticisms of Jim Bob, some Counting On followers have praised him for sticking up for his wife. But it sounds like Jill might wish that her husband would keep his month shut. A source close to Jill told In Touch Weekly that the mom of two would rather her husband stayed quiet. When it comes to the feud between Derick and her dad, shes trying to stay out it. The source added that despite rumors that shes been cut out of her large familys life, Jill still gets along with her parents. Its no secret that Jim Bob doesnt approve of his son-in-law, but he does love his daughter Jill, and he will stand by her choices, the source said. Jill and her parents are on good terms. She chats with them all the time. Jill appears to snub her mom on Mothers Day Exactly how close Jill is with her parents these days isnt clear. In recent months, she has been spotted dining out with her mom, sisters, and nieces and nephews. Her mom and a couple of her siblings also stopped by her house to wish son Israel a happy fifth birthday (from a distance). But her father has been conspicuously absent from her social media. And on Mothers Day, Jill publicly snubbed her mom Michelle. Jills big sister Jana called their mom selfless and truly a picture of Jesus in her Instagram post, while younger sister Jessa said she was in awe of how you parented so patiently and gently. But as her siblings gushed on social media about their mom, Jill stayed quiet. Last Mothers Day, Jill was effusive in praise of her mom, calling her a role model and amazing. She demonstrates what a selfless, joyful, patient mother should look like as she raised and continues to raise all 19 of us! Jill wrote. She is the most loving person youll ever meet! By PTI LONDON: Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India on charges over the nearly USD 2 billion PNB fraud and money laundering case, appeared via video link before a UK court on the first day of his five-day extradition trial on Monday, taking place in a part-remote setting due to the coronavirus lockdown. The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, joined the proceedings via the court's common viewing platform (CVP) at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London dressed formally in a white shirt and black blazer. The hearing got off to a delayed start as officials sorted out technical difficulties of connecting the court room to the prison. Given the social distancing measures being followed by prisons and courts, District Judge Samuel Goozee had conceded that Modi can follow the proceedings via videolink rather than the norm of being produced in person. It is important that if you have any difficulty with the audio or visual of the proceedings at any time, to let us know immediately, Judge Goozee told Modi, so that he can follow the court proceedings in an open way as per the law. A handful of legal representatives were present in the court room, as previously agreed, with witnesses set to give their evidence via videolink. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), appearing on behalf of the Indian authorities, began by laying out the basis of the Indian government's case. CPS barrister Helen Malcolm appeared via videolink to tell the court that Modi acquired eye watering amounts of money fraudulently from Punjab National Bank (PNB). There is really nothing very complicated about this case. It covers three aspects the fraud, then laundering of that fraud money and the rotation of goods around the Modi empire, she said. The first day of the case focussed on the CPS setting out the arguments to establish a prima facie case of fraud and money laundering against Modi, who is alleged to have co-conspired with bankers at PNB to misuse at least 150 bank guarantees in 2017. The court heard how he was the man behind three dummy companies, which accessed credit fraudulently on the pretext of importing pearls from overseas. These dummy companies were used for siphoning off the money received from the fraud, said Malcolm, in reference to the case of money laundering against the jeweller. She also laid out a case of cover up against Modi, who along with his brother forced the dummy directors of these front companies away from India, moving them from the UAE to Cairo where their passports were taken from them. The judge was asked to cast an eye on a video recorded by them of their treatment. The five-day hearing, which started on Monday and resumes on Tuesday morning with the defence arguments, relates to the Indian government's extradition request certified by the UK government last year. The case has been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and relates to a large-scale fraud upon an Indian PSU through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of understanding (LoUs) and the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. Two additional charges of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death were added on by the CBI and certified earlier this year. CPS barrister Nick Hearn, the co-counsel in the case, told the court at the last hearing in April, held via tele-conference, that the government of India's representatives would be following the proceedings and giving instructions via the court's online common viewing platform, given the COVID-19 related travel restrictions. We have received comprehensive responses in writing from the government of India, which would reduce the likely length of cross-examinations, said Hearn. It was also confirmed that the diamond merchant would not be giving evidence in the case, but his legal team plans to produce around six witnesses, including a jewellery expert as well as judicial and prisons experts. Most of the legal cases in the UK have incorporated videolink and telephonic options where possible amid the social distancing rules in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Modi, whose Wandsworth Prison is considered one of the most over-crowded in England, had made a fifth attempt at bail in the High Court last month, which was rejected as the judge ruled that he continued to pose a flight risk. The jeweller was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard on charges of fraud and money laundering brought by the Indian government. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Champignon Brands Inc. (Champignon or the Company) (CSE: SHRM) (FWB: 496) (OTCQB: SHRMF), a human optimization sciences Company with an emphasis on ketamine and psychedelic medicine, is pleased to announce that it has appointed Dr. Roger McIntyre as Chief Executive Officer. Dr. McIntyre is a Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the University of Toronto and Head of the Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit at the University Health Network, Toronto, Canada. Dr. McIntyre is also Executive Director of the Brain and Cognition Discovery Foundation in Toronto; Director and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) in Chicago, Illinois.; Professor and Nanshan scholar at Guangzhou Medical University; and Adjunct Professor at the College of Medicine at Korea University. Furthermore, Dr. McIntyre is a Clinical Professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, and a Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, at the University of California Riverside School of Medicine. Dr. McIntyre had the vision to implement and develop Canada's first ever treatment center, the Canadian Rapid Treatment Centre of Excellence (the CRTCE), providing rapid-onset treatments for persons with mood disorders. The CRTCE is involved in knowledge application (using existing scientific research to improve outcomes in depression, PTSD and substance and alcohol use disorders [DPS]); knowledge generation (new research and development); and knowledge application (educating health care providers throughout North America and the world on new rapid-onset treatments for DPS). The CRTCE is the only center in North America and globally to demonstrate that rapid-onset treatments improve health outcomes in one to two weeks and get people back to work, which is of enormous importance to individuals, as well as payers in the private space. My overarching aim as Chief Executive Officer is to establish Champignon as the apotheosis of integrated ketamine treatment delivery and the commercialization of our own IP psychedelic-based treatments. The clinical infrastructure, complementary asset base and human capital that Champignon has acquired leaves me very confident we will provide life changing treatments for persons with depression, all the while contemporaneously rewarding our investor base, stated Dr. McIntyre. I have been honored as a Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the University of Toronto, as well as a Professor at Universities across the United States and Asia and currently head the worlds largest clinical R&D network in Depression. The Canadian Rapid Treatment Centre of Excellence, that I envisaged and successfully implemented, is the worlds first integrated clinical and R&D centre in ketamine and psychedelic-based treatments and is identified as the most influential scientific centre for depression research. Clarivate Analytics has named Dr. McIntyre one of the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds each year from 2014 to 2019. Dr. McIntyre is widely regarded as the world's most recognized psychiatrist in relation to mood disorders. He has extensive experience collaborating with private sector partners, including, but not limited to, entities within the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance industry and the health care industry in Canada, the United States and globally. According to expertscape.com, a professional research database and repository of medical journal/scientific publications which objectively ranks people and institutions by their expertise in more than 29,000 biomedical topics, Dr. McIntyre is the top ranked expert worldwide as it pertains to depression. Dr. McIntyre has published over 600 articles on the topic of mood disorders, along with an extensive number of books and chapters, and he has delivered thousands of lectures nationally and internationally on the topic of mood disorders. We are extremely pleased and fortunate to be able to bring Dr. McIntyre aboard as CEO, commented Gareth Birdsall director of Champignon. Dr. McIntyres is the worlds leading authority on depression and associated mood disorders, which is further crystalized by his foresight in founding Canadas first integrated mood disorder treatment and integrated research center in the CRTCE. Dr. McIntyres clear ability to execute and his entrepreneurial nature, along with a demonstrated capacity to lead and delegate in dynamic and growing organizations, represent the skill sets that Champignon needs as it moves towards our North American clinic expansion and maturing novel drug discovery initiatives. The Company also announces that Gareth Birdsall has relinquished the role of CEO to Dr. McIntyre and will maintain his directorship of Champignon. The Company wishes to thank Mr. Birdsall for his services throughout his tenure as CEO. Furthermore, the Company announces it is contemplating a name change to better reflect its diverse business lines and operating subsidiaries. About Champignon Brands Inc. Champignon Brands (CSE: SHRM) is focused on the formulation and manufacturing of novel ketamine, anaesthetics and adaptogenic delivery platforms for the nutraceutical and psychedelic medicine while being supported by a leading psychedelics medicines clinic platform. The Company is pursuing the development and commercialization of rapid onset treatments capable of improving health outcomes, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as substance and alcohol use disorders. Under a collaborative research agreement with the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, the Company is conducting preclinical studies and eventual human clinical trials, with the objective of demonstrating safety and efficacy of the combination of psilocybin and cannabidiol in treating mTBI with PTSD or stand-alone PTSD. Champignon continues to be inspired by sustainability, as its medicinal mushroom-infused SKUs are organic, non-GMO and vegan certified. For more information, visit the Companys website at: https://champignonbrands.com/ . ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dr. Roger McIntyre Chief Executive Officer T: +1 (613) 967-9655 E: info@champignonbrands.com FOR INVESTOR INQUIRIES: Tyler Troup Circadian Group E: SHRM@champignonbrands.com FOR CHAMPIGNON BRANDS FRENCH INQUIRIES: Remy Scalabrini Maricom Inc. E: rs@maricom.ca T: (888) 585-MARI The CSE and Information Service Provider have not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release. Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz had something to say after the San Antonio City Council passed a resolution condemning racism during the pandemic. The city council voted Thursday night to reject the use of terms like "Kung Fu virus" and "Chinese virus" to refer to COVID-19, saying it encourages hate crimes against Asians. READ MORE: The latest news and features about coronavirus in San Antonio "This is NUTS. SA City Council behaving like a lefty college faculty lounge, triggered by Chick-fil-A & the words 'Wuhan virus.'" the senator wrote in a tweet Thursday night. He continued to say that publications like the New York Times and CNN have referred to COVID-19 as the "Chinese coronavirus." Many of Cruz's followers echoed the senator's sentiments, claiming the nicknames fall under free speech and condemning the resolution as being too politically correct. San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, however, said the resolution came after an increase in racial hate crimes throughout the city since the pandemic started aimed mainly at Asian Americans. We have a diverse mosaic of people here in San Antonio, Nirenberg said at the meeting. We want them to know, we want all of us to know that we stand side-by-side with everyone in this community and that we will call out racism and bigotry and hate speech when we see it, especially if it's taking advantage of a pandemic. Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for MySA.com | taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway One army jawan was killed when lightning struck a forward area in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Monday, officials said. The lightning struck Dobi-Sujiwan area in Mendhar border belt in which the jawan, Sepoy Mohmmad Iqbal, was critically injured, the officials said. He succumbed to injuries later, they said. One other person was injured in the strike, they said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) George Alagiah has spoken of his resentment at 'the nasty little speck' coronavirus from keeping him apart from his loved ones. The BBC Newsreader, 64, who is undergoing treatments for bowel cancer gave an emotional reflection on Radio 4's Today programme this morning recalling how the pandemic reminds him of the time 'he was told to sort his affairs' out six years ago. He also discussed missing his granddaughter's first steps and a relative's wedding in LA due to social distancing measures. The journalist, who was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Ghana and Portsmouth, tested positive for coronavirus in March, and while he has recovered he revealed he's lost a close family friend and his wife's aunt to the deadly virus. George Alagiah has spoken of his resentment at 'the nasty little speck' coronavirus from keeping him apart from his loved ones. He is pictured returning to work last month after beating coronavirus Mr Aligiah recovered from Covid-19 and returned to the newsroom last month, delighting fans across the country. In a candid reflection read this morning, the presenter said: 'This coronavirus has turned things upside down, we feel threatened and we want to come together, but know we've had to stay apart. 'It reminds me of the day, some six years ago now, when I found out I was sick, very sick. By the time the cancer diagnosis came through I was in "sort your affairs out" territory. 'I told my wife and family first and then our friends and we came together. In my vulnerability we found an intensity of love we'd never expressed before. Being closer to the last day has brought a richness to each and everyday. 'God knows I wish I never had cancer, but I'm not sure I would give these past six years back. The BBC Newsreader, 64, who is undergoing treatments for bowel cancer gave an emotional reflection on Radio 4's Today programme this morning recalling how the pandemic reminds him of the time 'he was told to sort his affairs' out six years ago. He is pictured with his wife Frances at their north London home George revealed how his battle with cancer brought 'an intensity of love we'd never expressed before' with his family (pictured, wife his wife Frances and their sons Adam, then 21, and Matt, then 17, in 2008 after collecting his OBE from the Queen) 'So cancer brought us together, but this nasty little speck of a disease has kept us apart I resent that and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Appearing on BBC News on March 31 to update on his condition, Mr Alagiah said his cancer diagnoses gave him 'an edge' in overcoming his 'mild dose' of the bug, which has killed more than 31,000 people in the UK. Mr Alagiah's wife Frances also experienced coronavirus symptoms. He said: 'She's been through it a little bit and it's kind of lasted a bit longer. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for how this plays out in individuals. He has decided to self-isolate because of the risk the coronavirus poses to people with underlying health issues 'I don't want to make light of it, because right now [...] you and I both know there are people out there who are really finding this tricky, families going through a very anxious time.' In a tweet earlier this month, he said: 'Absolutely gutted. After talking to colleagues and doctors I've decided to stay away from the newsroom. 'I'm on a few weeks cancer treatment break at the moment but, on a balance of risks, we all decided I must heed the advice for those with underlying health issues.' Mr Alagiah underwent 17 rounds of chemotherapy to treat advanced bowel cancer in 2014 before returning to presenting duties in 2015. In January 2018, he revealed that the cancer had returned. OKLAHOMA CITY, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 360,841 Boepd Average Daily 1Q20 Production; up 9% YoY (56% Oil) Lowest Cost Producer amongst Oil-Weighted Peers $3.61 Production Expense per Boe and $1.31 Total G&A per Boe in 1Q20 Approx. $55 MM Reduction to 2020 G&A through Ongoing Cost Savings Evaluation $650.7 MM Capex in 1Q20; 2020 Capex Tracking 3% to 5% below Previously Revised $1.2 B Budget Zero Stim Crews in the Bakken and Averaging 1 Stim Crew in OK through Remainder of 2020 Rigs Reduced to 4 by YE20 (80% Reduction from Jan 2020) $139 MM of Bonds Retired in March/April at a 53% Weighted Average Discount to Par Strong Portfolio Optionality and Liquidity: Positions Company for Market Recovery 70% of Operated Oil Production Voluntarily Curtailed in May (60% Boepd Curtailed) Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CLR) (the "Company") today announced first quarter 2020 operating and financial results. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/95419/continental_resources_logo.jpg The Company reported a net loss of $185.7 million, or $0.51 per diluted share, for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. In first quarter 2020, typically excluded items in aggregate represented $158.1 million, or $0.43 per diluted share, of Continental's reported net loss. Adjusted net loss for first quarter 2020 was $27.6 million, or $0.08 per diluted share (non-GAAP). Net cash provided by operating activities for first quarter 2020 was $663.8 million and EBITDAX was $594.2 million (non-GAAP). Adjusted net loss, adjusted net loss per share, EBITDAX, net debt, net sales prices and cash general and administrative (G&A) expenses per barrel of oil equivalent (Boe) presented herein are non-GAAP financial measures. Definitions and explanations for how these measures relate to the most directly comparable U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) financial measures are provided at the conclusion of this press release. "This has been an unprecedented global market environment, which has seen crude oil demand fall by approximately 30% due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Continental is committed to preserving value over volumes. Our assets are secure and we are confident that this deferred production will bring more value to our shareholders in the months to come," said Bill Berry, Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Berry continued, "Our first quarter results underscore the capital efficient and low cost nature of our assets. Continental is financially strong with ample liquidity and no imminent debt maturities. We remain keenly focused on preserving both our assets and shareholder value for better commodity prices in the future. I want to thank our teams for their safe, efficient and best-in-class operations during this time. We look towards a bright future for both Continental and the U.S. oil and natural gas industry." Production Update First quarter 2020 total production increased 9% over first quarter 2019, averaging 360,841 Boepd. First quarter 2020 oil production increased 3% over first quarter 2019, averaging 200,671 Bopd. First quarter 2020 natural gas production increased 16% over first quarter 2019, averaging 961.0 MMcfpd. The following table provides the Company's average daily production by region for the periods presented. 1Q 1Q Boe per day 2020 2019 Bakken 201,502 199,423 South 152,010 124,335 All other 7,329 8,478 Total 360,841 332,236 Operations Update "Our assets continued to deliver consistent and repeatable results in the first quarter. Ongoing operating improvements also drove further capital efficiencies, that continued to increase the barrels produced per dollar spent in both the Bakken and Oklahoma. Importantly, Continental remains a low cost leader amongst our oil-weighted peers. First quarter 2020 production expense per Boe and DD&A per Boe fell within our previous guidance and cash G&A per Boe was materially better. This is a testament to the commitment to excellence by our teams and the unmatched shareholder alignment that are fundamental parts of the culture here at Continental," said Jack Stark, President and Chief Operating Officer. The Company is currently tracking 3% to 5% below its previously revised $1.2 billion Capex budget. The Company also expects to reduce 2020 G&A by approximately $55 million through its ongoing cost savings evaluation. The Company has 70% of operated oil production voluntarily curtailed in May, or 60% of total operated production on a Boe basis. With the added optionality of having over 75% of its world class assets held by production, the Company is well-positioned for a recovery in market conditions. The Company is currently operating 5 rigs and expects to reduce to 4 rigs by year end 2020. This is an 80% reduction from the beginning of 2020. The Company currently has zero stim crews running in the Bakken and expects to average 1 stim crew in the South for the remainder of 2020. Efficiencies continue to build across all aspects of the Company's operations that are positively impacting performance and reducing costs on a sustainable ongoing basis. Bakken In first quarter 2020, Bakken total production averaged 201,502 Boepd and oil production averaged 145,481 Bopd. During the quarter, the Company completed 47 gross (33 net) operated wells with first production. Early results from the Company's 2020 Bakken program continue to perform in line with Bakken program wells completed over the past three years. The Company is operating 2 rigs in the Bakken through year end 2020. South In first quarter 2020, South total production averaged 152,010 Boepd and oil production averaged 47,838 Bopd. During the quarter, the Company completed 31 gross (21 net) operated wells with first production. The Company is currently operating 3 rigs in the South, targeting 2 rigs by year end 2020. Property Impairments Property impairments increased to $222.5 million for first quarter 2020, compared to $25.3 million for first quarter 2019. Impairments of proved oil and gas properties totaled $181.0 million for first quarter 2020, which resulted from the significant decrease in commodity prices during the quarter. The impairments were recognized on legacy properties in the Red River Units ($166.5 million) and other various non-core properties in the North and South regions. Additionally, in response to decreased crude oil prices, the Company recognized a $24.5 million impairment in first quarter 2020 to reduce the value of its crude oil inventory to estimated net realizable value at March 31, 2020. Financial Update Given the uncertainty and volatility of rapidly evolving market conditions, as well as the execution of production curtailments across its operations, the Company is withdrawing all previously issued guidance for 2020 and suspending further guidance. The Company intends to monitor market conditions and issue new guidance at the appropriate time. 1Q20 Financial Update Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 Cash and Cash Equivalents $517.6 million Total Debt $5.97 billion Net Debt (non-GAAP)(1) $5.45 billion Average Net Sales Price (non-GAAP)(1) Per Barrel of Oil $39.64 Per Mcf of Gas $0.90 Per Boe $24.44 Production Expense per Boe $3.61 Total G&A Expenses per Boe $1.31 Crude Oil Differential per Barrel ($6.26) Natural Gas Differential per Mcf ($1.05) Non-Acquisition Capital Expenditures $650.7 million Exploration & Development Drilling & Completion $544.0 million Leasehold $19.3 million Minerals, of which 80% was Recouped from FNV $20.6 million Workovers, Recompletions and Other $66.8 million (1) Net debt and net sales prices represent non-GAAP financial measures. Further information about these non-GAAP financial measures as well as reconciliations to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures are provided subsequently under the header Non-GAAP Financial Measures. The following table provides the Company's production results, per-unit operating costs, results of operations and certain non-GAAP financial measures for the periods presented. Average net sales prices exclude any effect of derivative transactions. Per-unit expenses have been calculated using sales volumes. Three months ended March 31, 2020 2019 Average daily production: Crude oil (Bbl per day) 200,671 193,921 Natural gas (Mcf per day) 961,022 829,891 Crude oil equivalents (Boe per day) 360,841 332,236 Average net sales prices (non-GAAP), excluding effect from derivatives: (1) Crude oil ($/Bbl) $ 39.64 $ 50.05 Natural gas ($/Mcf) $ 0.90 $ 2.56 Crude oil equivalents ($/Boe) $ 24.44 $ 35.56 Production expenses ($/Boe) $ 3.61 $ 3.59 Production taxes (% of net crude oil and gas sales) 8.9% 8.2% DD&A ($/Boe) $ 16.35 $ 16.60 Total general and administrative expenses ($/Boe) (2) $ 1.31 $ 1.60 Net income (loss) attributable to Continental Resources (in thousands) $ (185,664) $ 186,976 Diluted net income (loss) per share attributable to Continental Resources $ (0.51) $ 0.50 Adjusted net income (loss) (non-GAAP) (in thousands) (1) $ (27,567) $ 216,610 Adjusted diluted net income (loss) per share (non-GAAP) (1) $ (0.08) $ 0.58 Net cash provided by operating activities (in thousands) $ 663,818 $ 721,508 EBITDAX (non-GAAP) (in thousands) (1) $ 594,247 $ 854,785 (1) Net sales prices, adjusted net income (loss), adjusted diluted net income (loss) per share, and EBITDAX represent non-GAAP financial measures. Further information about these non-GAAP financial measures as well as reconciliations to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures are provided subsequently under the header Non-GAAP Financial Measures. (2) Total general and administrative expense is comprised of cash general and administrative expense and non-cash equity compensation expense. Cash general and administrative expense per Boe was $0.81 and $1.19 for 1Q 2020 and 1Q 2019, respectively. Non-cash equity compensation expense per Boe was $0.50 and $0.41 for 1Q 2020 and 1Q 2019, respectively. First Quarter Earnings Conference Call The Company plans to host a conference call to discuss first quarter 2020 results on Monday, May 11, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. CT). Those wishing to listen to the conference call may do so via the Company's website at www.CLR.com or by phone: Time and date: 12 p.m. ET, Monday, May 11, 2020 Dial-in: 1-888-317-6003 Intl. dial-in: 1-412-317-6061 Conference ID: 7881245 A replay of the call will be available for 14 days on the Company's website or by dialing: Replay number: 1-877-344-7529 Intl. replay: 1-412-317-0088 Conference ID: 10141773 The Company plans to publish a first quarter 2020 summary presentation to its website at www.CLR.com prior to the start of its conference call on Monday, May 11, 2020. About Continental Resources Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) is a top 10 independent oil producer in the U.S. Lower 48 and a leader in America's energy renaissance. Based in Oklahoma City, Continental is the largest leaseholder and the largest producer in the nation's premier oil field, the Bakken play of North Dakota and Montana. The Company also has significant positions in Oklahoma, including its SCOOP Woodford and SCOOP Springer discoveries and the STACK plays. With a focus on the exploration and production of oil, Continental has unlocked the technology and resources vital to American energy independence and our nation's leadership in the new world oil market. In 2020, the Company will celebrate 53 years of operations. For more information, please visit www.CLR.com. Cautionary Statement for the Purpose of the "Safe Harbor" Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements included in this press release other than statements of historical fact, including, but not limited to, forecasts or expectations regarding the Company's business and statements or information concerning the Company's future operations, performance, financial condition, production and reserves, schedules, plans, timing of development, rates of return, budgets, costs, business strategy, objectives, and cash flows are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "could," "may," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "project," "budget," "target," "plan," "continue," "potential," "guidance," "strategy," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and assumptions about future events and currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. Although the Company believes these assumptions and expectations are reasonable, they are inherently subject to numerous business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control. No assurance can be given that such expectations will be correct or achieved or that the assumptions are accurate. The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, commodity price volatility; the geographic concentration of our operations; financial market and economic volatility; the effects of any national or international health crisis; the inability to access needed capital; the risks and potential liabilities inherent in crude oil and natural gas drilling and production and the availability of insurance to cover any losses resulting therefrom; difficulties in estimating proved reserves and other reserves-based measures; declines in the values of our crude oil and natural gas properties resulting in impairment charges; our ability to replace proved reserves and sustain production; our ability to pay future dividends or complete share repurchases; the availability or cost of equipment and oilfield services; leasehold terms expiring on undeveloped acreage before production can be established; our ability to project future production, achieve targeted results in drilling and well operations and predict the amount and timing of development expenditures; the availability and cost of transportation, processing and refining facilities; legislative and regulatory changes adversely affecting our industry and our business, including initiatives related to hydraulic fracturing; increased market and industry competition, including from alternative fuels and other energy sources; and the other risks described under Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors and elsewhere in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, registration statements and other reports filed from time to time with the SEC, and other announcements the Company makes from time to time. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which such statement is made. Should one or more of the risks or uncertainties described in this press release occur, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, the Company's actual results and plans could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly correct or update any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances after the date of this report, or otherwise. Readers are cautioned that initial production rates are subject to decline over time and should not be regarded as reflective of sustained production levels. In particular, production from horizontal drilling in shale oil and natural gas resource plays and tight natural gas plays that are stimulated with extensive pressure fracturing are typically characterized by significant early declines in production rates. We use the term "EUR" or "estimated ultimate recovery" to describe potentially recoverable oil and natural gas hydrocarbon quantities. We include these estimates to demonstrate what we believe to be the potential for future drilling and production on our properties. These estimates are by their nature much more speculative than estimates of proved reserves and require substantial capital spending to implement recovery. Actual locations drilled and quantities that may be ultimately recovered from our properties will differ substantially. EUR data included herein, if any, remain subject to change as more well data is analyzed. Investor Contact: Media Contact: Rory Sabino Kristin Thomas Vice President, Investor Relations Senior Vice President, Public Relations 405-234-9620 405-234-9480 [email protected] [email protected] Lucy Guttenberger Investor Relations Analyst 405-774-5878 [email protected] Continental Resources, Inc. and Subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income Three months ended March 31, 2020 2019 Revenues: In thousands, except per share data Crude oil and natural gas sales $ 862,743 $1,109,584 Loss on natural gas derivatives, net - (1,124) Crude oil and natural gas service operations 18,058 15,774 Total revenues 880,801 1,124,234 Operating costs and expenses: Production expenses 118,478 106,966 Production taxes 71,224 86,441 Transportation expenses 60,502 49,139 Exploration expenses 11,637 1,837 Crude oil and natural gas service operations 5,910 7,186 Depreciation, depletion, amortization and accretion 536,696 495,019 Property impairments 222,529 25,316 General and administrative expenses 42,911 47,617 Net (gain) loss on sale of assets and other 4,502 (252) Total operating costs and expenses 1,074,389 819,269 Income (loss) from operations (193,588) 304,965 Other income (expense): Interest expense (63,594) (67,837) Gain on extinguishment of debt 17,631 - Other 532 1,355 (45,431) (66,482) Income (loss) before income taxes (239,019) 238,483 (Provision) benefit for income taxes 52,235 (51,990) Net income (loss) (186,784) 186,493 Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests (1,120) (483) Net income (loss) attributable to Continental Resources $(185,664) $ 186,976 Net income (loss) per share attributable to Continental Resources: Basic $ (0.51) $ 0.50 Diluted $ (0.51) $ 0.50 Continental Resources, Inc. and Subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets In thousands March 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 Assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 517,571 $ 39,400 Other current assets 777,601 1,167,615 Net property and equipment (1) 14,436,112 14,497,726 Other noncurrent assets 25,427 23,166 Total assets $ 15,756,711 $ 15,727,907 Liabilities and equity Current liabilities $ 1,082,208 $ 1,336,026 Long-term debt, net of current portion 5,964,589 5,324,079 Other noncurrent liabilities 1,912,656 1,959,451 Equity attributable to Continental Resources 6,420,362 6,741,667 Equity attributable to noncontrolling interests 376,896 366,684 Total liabilities and equity $ 15,756,711 $ 15,727,907 (1) Balance is net of accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization of $13.47 billion and $12.77 billion as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. Continental Resources, Inc. and Subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows Three months ended March 31, In thousands 2020 2019 Net income (loss) $ (186,784) $ 186,493 Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by operating activities: Non-cash expenses 721,785 603,591 Changes in assets and liabilities 128,817 (68,576) Net cash provided by operating activities 663,818 721,508 Net cash used in investing activities (706,739) (753,071) Net cash provided by financing activities 521,092 13,170 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash - 15 Net change in cash and cash equivalents 478,171 (18,378) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 39,400 282,749 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 517,571 $ 264,371 Non-GAAP Financial Measures Non-GAAP adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted net income (loss) per share attributable to Continental Our presentation of adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted net income (loss) per share that exclude the effect of certain items are non-GAAP financial measures. Adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted net income (loss) per share represent net income (loss) and diluted net income (loss) per share determined under U.S. GAAP without regard to non-cash gains and losses on derivative instruments, property impairments, gains and losses on asset sales, and gains and losses on extinguishment of debt as applicable. Management believes these measures provide useful information to analysts and investors for analysis of our operating results. In addition, management believes these measures are used by analysts and others in valuation, comparison and investment recommendations of companies in the oil and gas industry to allow for analysis without regard to an entity's specific derivative portfolio, impairment methodologies, and property dispositions. Adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted net income (loss) per share should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, net income (loss) or diluted net income (loss) per share as determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP and may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The following tables reconcile net income (loss) and diluted net income (loss) per share as determined under U.S. GAAP to adjusted net income (loss) and adjusted diluted net income (loss) per share for the periods presented. Three months ended March 31, 2020 2019 In thousands, except per share data $ Diluted EPS $ Diluted EPS Net income (loss) attributable to Continental Resources (GAAP) $ (185,664) $ (0.51) $ 186,976 $ 0.50 Adjustments: Non-cash loss on derivatives - 14,186 Property impairments 222,529 25,316 Net (gain) loss on sale of assets and other 4,502 (252) Gain on extinguishment of debt (17,631) - Total tax effect of adjustments (1) (51,303) (9,616) Total adjustments, net of tax 158,097 0.43 29,634 0.08 Adjusted net income (loss) (non-GAAP) $ (27,567) ($0.08) $ 216,610 $0.58 Weighted average diluted shares outstanding 365,403 374,474 Adjusted diluted net income (loss) per share (non-GAAP) $ (0.08) $ 0.58 (1) Computed by applying a combined federal and state statutory tax rate of 24.5% in effect for 2020 and 2019 to the pre-tax amount of adjustments associated with our operations in the United States. Non-GAAP Net Debt Net debt is a non-GAAP measure. We define net debt as total debt less cash and cash equivalents as determined under U.S. GAAP. Net debt should not be considered an alternative to, or more meaningful than, total debt, the most directly comparable GAAP measure. Management uses net debt to determine the Company's outstanding debt obligations that would not be readily satisfied by its cash and cash equivalents on hand. We believe this metric is useful to analysts and investors in determining the Company's leverage position since the Company has the ability to, and may decide to, use a portion of its cash and cash equivalents to reduce debt. This metric is sometimes presented as a ratio with EBITDAX in order to provide investors with another means of evaluating the Company's ability to service its existing debt obligations as well as any future increase in the amount of such obligations. At March 31, 2020, the Company's total debt was $5.97 billion and its net debt amounted to $5.45 billion, representing total debt of $5.97 billion less cash and cash equivalents of $517.6 million. From time to time the Company provides forward-looking net debt forecasts; however, the Company is unable to provide a quantitative reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP measure to the most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP measure of total debt because management cannot reliably quantify certain of the necessary components of such forward-looking GAAP measure. The reconciling items in future periods could be significant. Non-GAAP EBITDAX We use a variety of financial and operational measures to assess our performance. Among these measures is EBITDAX, a non-GAAP measure. We define EBITDAX as earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation, depletion, amortization and accretion, property impairments, exploration expenses, non-cash gains and losses resulting from the requirements of accounting for derivatives, non-cash equity compensation expense, and gains and losses on extinguishment of debt as applicable. EBITDAX is not a measure of net income/loss or net cash provided by operating activities as determined by U.S. GAAP. Management believes EBITDAX is useful because it allows us to more effectively evaluate our operating performance and compare the results of our operations from period to period without regard to our financing methods or capital structure. Further, we believe EBITDAX is a widely followed measure of operating performance and may also be used by investors to measure our ability to meet future debt service requirements, if any. We exclude the items listed above from net income/loss and net cash provided by operating activities in arriving at EBITDAX because these amounts can vary substantially from company to company within our industry depending upon accounting methods and book values of assets, capital structures and the method by which the assets were acquired. EBITDAX should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, net income/loss or net cash provided by operating activities as determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP or as an indicator of a company's operating performance or liquidity. Certain items excluded from EBITDAX are significant components in understanding and assessing a company's financial performance, such as a company's cost of capital and tax structure, as well as the historic costs of depreciable assets, none of which are components of EBITDAX. Our computations of EBITDAX may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The following table provides a reconciliation of our net income/loss to EBITDAX for the periods presented. Three months ended March 31, In thousands 2020 2019 Net income (loss) $ (186,784) $ 186,493 Interest expense 63,594 67,837 Provision (benefit) for income taxes (52,235) 51,990 Depreciation, depletion, amortization and accretion 536,696 495,019 Property impairments 222,529 25,316 Exploration expenses 11,637 1,837 Impact from derivative instruments: Total loss on derivatives, net - 1,124 Total cash received on derivatives, net - 13,062 Non-cash loss on derivatives, net - 14,186 Non-cash equity compensation 16,441 12,107 Gain on extinguishment of debt (17,631) - EBITDAX (non-GAAP) $ 594,247 $ 854,785 The following table provides a reconciliation of our net cash provided by operating activities to EBITDAX for the periods presented. Three months ended March 31, In thousands 2020 2019 Net cash provided by operating activities $ 663,818 $ 721,508 Current income tax provision (benefit) (2,223) - Interest expense 63,594 67,837 Exploration expenses, excluding dry hole costs 5,378 1,837 Gain (loss) on sale of assets and other, net (4,502) 252 Other, net (3,001) (5,225) Changes in assets and liabilities (128,817) 68,576 EBITDAX (non-GAAP) $ 594,247 $ 854,785 Non-GAAP Net Sales Prices Revenues and transportation expenses associated with production from our operated properties are reported separately. For non-operated properties, we receive a net payment from the operator for our share of sales proceeds which is net of costs incurred by the operator, if any. Such non-operated revenues are recognized at the net amount of proceeds received. As a result, the separate presentation of revenues and transportation expenses from our operated properties differs from the net presentation from non-operated properties. This impacts the comparability of certain operating metrics, such as per-unit sales prices, when such metrics are prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP using gross presentation for some revenues and net presentation for others. In order to provide metrics prepared in a manner consistent with how management assesses the Company's operating results and to achieve comparability between operated and non-operated revenues, we may present crude oil and natural gas sales net of transportation expenses, which we refer to as "net crude oil and natural gas sales," a non-GAAP measure. Average sales prices calculated using net crude oil and natural gas sales are referred to as "net sales prices," a non-GAAP measure, and are calculated by taking revenues less transportation expenses divided by sales volumes, whether for crude oil or natural gas, as applicable. Management believes presenting our revenues and sales prices net of transportation expenses is useful because it normalizes the presentation differences between operated and non-operated revenues and allows for a useful comparison of net realized prices to NYMEX benchmark prices on a Company-wide basis. The following tables present a reconciliation of crude oil and natural gas sales (GAAP) to net crude oil and natural gas sales and related net sales prices (non-GAAP) for the periods presented. Three months ended March 31, 2020 Three months ended March 31, 2019 In thousands Crude oil Natural gas Total Crude oil Natural gas Total Crude oil and natural gas sales (GAAP) $773,770 $88,973 $862,743 $911,118 $198,466 $1,109,584 Less: Transportation expenses (50,372) (10,130) (60,502) (41,648) (7,491) (49,139) Net crude oil and natural gas sales (non-GAAP) $723,398 $78,843 $802,241 $869,470 $190,975 $1,060,445 Sales volumes (MBbl/MMcf/MBoe) 18,251 87,453 32,826 17,373 74,690 29,821 Net sales price (non-GAAP) $39.64 $0.90 $24.44 $50.05 $2.56 $35.56 Non-GAAP Cash General and Administrative Expenses per Boe Our presentation of cash general and administrative ("G&A") expenses per Boe is a non-GAAP measure. We define cash G&A per Boe as total G&A determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP less non-cash equity compensation expenses, expressed on a per-Boe basis. We report and provide guidance on cash G&A per Boe because we believe this measure is commonly used by management, analysts and investors as an indicator of cost management and operating efficiency on a comparable basis from period to period. In addition, management believes cash G&A per Boe is used by analysts and others in valuation, comparison and investment recommendations of companies in the oil and gas industry to allow for analysis of G&A spend without regard to stock-based compensation programs which can vary substantially from company to company. Cash G&A per Boe should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, total G&A per Boe as determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP and may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The following table reconciles total G&A per Boe as determined under U.S. GAAP to cash G&A per Boe for the periods presented. Three months ended March 31, 2020 2019 Total G&A per Boe (GAAP) $1.31 $1.60 Less: Non-cash equity compensation per Boe (0.50) (0.41) Cash G&A per Boe (non-GAAP) $0.81 $1.19 SOURCE Continental Resources Related Links http://www.clr.com MONROE There will be changes to the Farmers Market this year from a new location to a pre-order/pickup model. As scheduled, the market will open June 19, but it will not be at the Town Green. Instead, to control parking and lines, the market will set up at Firemans Field. About 20 vendors have signed up for the market fewer than the 25 or 30 normal for the event and shoppers will be able to order online from multiple vendors. On market day, volunteers will aggregate customers' purchases from multiple vendors into a single order for each customer. Customers will arrive at the field based on a time slot of their choosing, pull up, give their name and phone number, and their complete order will be placed in their trunk. Customers will be required to stay in their vehicles, and no on-site shopping will be allowed. We felt that switching to an online order/customer pickup model would give us the best option for not only opening on time, but for remaining open for the entire season, said Market Manager Keith Ciociola. While the market is not offering a delivery option, several of our vendors offer delivery services independent of the (farmers) market. The plan is to keep the same process for the entire 2020 season since it would be too difficult to change once the market opens, organizers said. Even as social distancing guidelines change, so long as it is safe to do so, we will continue this mode of operation, said Ciociola. We wont have the time, budget or numbers of volunteer staff members to switch mid-season. This option should allow us to continue even as conditions worsen or improve. For more information, click here. First Selectman Ken Kellogg described the Monroe Farmers Market plans while updating residents on the coronavirus pandemics impact on the town and the states plans for reopening in the coming weeks. As of Saturday, Kellogg said, the state Department of Public Health reported total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Monroe at 88, with the total number of deaths remaining at six. The state has released guidelines and requirements for phase one of its reopening plans, which remains on track for May 20. State guidelines state that hair salons, barbershops, retailers and offices that were previously required to close can reopen. Restaurants will be permitted to submit plans to open outdoor seating areas. Kellogg said social gatherings will remain restricted to a maximum of five people, and individuals older than the age of 65, and those at high-risk due to underlying health conditions, are urged to continue to be encouraged to limit their exposure and stay home whenever possible. The current rules regarding the use of cloth face coverings or masks will continue. The first question that springs to mind is, How could this happen? Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (618 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Editorial The first question that springs to mind is, "How could this happen?" But after only a bit of reflection on the reality of the situation, it doesnt take long for the feeling of surprise to be replaced by a resigned sense of chagrined inevitability. As was the case when the first reports surfaced of deadly COVID-19 outbreaks in personal-care homes, one after another after another, the public has been outraged by news that a series of meat-packing plants has been forced to close by widespread coronavirus infection within their workforces. How could this happen? Given the circumstances, it might be more appropriate to ask how it hasnt yet happened in all slaughterhouse facilities across North America. Simply put, meat-packing facilities are, by dint of their assembly-line operational model, marginalized workforces and intense focus on productivity and profitability, just about as perfect an environment as a spread-seeking virus could ever hope to encounter. The Cargill packing house in High River, Alta., has become the focal point of discussions related to slaughterhouse safety during the pandemic, after half of its 2,000-strong workforce fell victim to COVID-19 infection and two COVID-19 deaths were linked to the plant. Contact tracing has found more than 1,500 cases connected to the plant and its workers. The facility closed temporarily last month and reopened despite strong objections from some employees and the union that represents them on May 4. Another Alberta plant the JBS operation in Brooks also closed temporarily after a COVID-19 outbreak involving nearly 500 cases and one death. Meat-packing plants in Ontario and Quebec have also closed their doors as a result of coronavirus-related illnesses among employees. On Sunday, a Cargill plant in Chambly, Que., said it would temporarily close after at least 64 workers tested positive for COVID-19. The industry in the U.S. has also been hit hard, with plants in several states reporting high numbers of COVID-19 cases. Clusters of coronavirus infection have also been reported in slaughterhouses in Australia, Brazil, Spain and Ireland. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. A recent Globe and Mail investigation of operations at the High River facility laid bare the grim realities that make this sector an ideal environment for virus proliferation. The slaughter and processing of livestock requires large groups to work in very close proximity, toiling shoulder to shoulder as conveyer belts move the variously butchered portions of the animals from the killing floor through to the packaging area. The workers, whose pay ranges from about $25,000 to $50,000 a year, are mostly immigrants, often encumbered by language barriers and generally reluctant to dispute management orders for fear of losing their jobs. When COVID-19 arrives in such a facility, as it did in the Cargill plant and others, questionable management decisions and workers reluctance or inability to speak out can create a situation in which protective measures are slow to be enacted and a viral infection can quickly spread among close-quarters co-workers. What emerges is a recipe for disaster when disease enters an equation that already includes the push for maximized profits, a frightened workforce and years of cuts to government inspection agencies. COVID-19s effect on North Americas food chain has yet to be determined, but what the pandemic has demonstrated is that the meat-packing industry is in need of rigorous oversight. The bottom line, when food security is at stake, cant just be the bottom line. And Canadians should be willing to accept slightly higher prices at the meat counter in exchange for a reliable food supply and safe working conditions for those who provide it. GREENWICH Three alleged car thieves were caught in the act early Sunday and apprehended while driving a stolen car in the Glenville section of town, according to police. The three men from Norwalk also had knives and drugs in their possession, police said. The three arrests followed a wave of car thefts and thefts from vehicles in the Glenville neighborhood, as well as other parts of town. Officers were called to Buena Vista Drive after a homeowner saw three young men looking into vehicles in the area around 3 a.m., according to the arrest report. An officer dispatched to the scene spotted a silver Audi station wagon with three young men inside matching the description given to authorities, according to the arrest report. After the Audi was pulled over on Brookside Drive and Grove Lane, officers determined that it had recently been stolen out of a driveway on Riversville Road. The trio of alleged car thieves had stolen a Volvo in Norwalk, then drove to Greenwich, and left the stolen Volvo in the middle of Porchuk Road, police said. Authorities said the trio had also taken items from a car on Linden Place. Police said they also seized a narcotic substance from the suspects, in pill form. Arrested and charged with a felony count of larceny, a misdemeanor count of larceny, burglary, conspiracy, possession of burglary tools, illegal possession of a weapon in a vehicle, trespass and possession of a controlled substance were: Erickson Chojoj-Oklaj, 19, of Bouton St.; Fernando Arce, 18, of Main St.; and Angel Buceta, 18, of Meadow St. Bail was set at $50,000 for each. Greenwich has seen a spike in car thefts in recent weeks, involving teens and young adults from around the region. A number of suspects have been detained over the past month, most of them juveniles. In one case, the car stolen from Greenwich was involved on a high-speed pursuit on I-95. Lt. Mark Zuccerella said the overnight squad was doing its utmost to stop the car thefts, while urging residents not to leave their keys and starting devices inside their vehicles. Officers on the midnight shift have been diligent in their efforts to help disrupt prevent and apprehend the subjects responsible for car thefts in Greenwich, Zuccerella said in a statement on the recent arrests. A Dodge Caravan was also stolen and later recovered on Memory Lane in the Glenville section over the weekend, police said. Officers were investigating that incident and its possible connection to the three latest arrests, the lieutenant said. rmarchant@greenwichtime.com As per the guidelines, new academic session for freshers may commence from September and for existing students from August. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued an email and helpline line number for addressing grievances of students related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students can also raise their queries related to examinations and other academic activities on the existing online grievance redressal portal of the commission. Universities have been asked to establish a cell for addressing concerns of students related to academic activities. The commission has constituted a task force to monitor concerns of students, teachers and institutions and address them accordingly. Those who have questions can call at 011-23236374 or email at covid19help.ugc@gmail.com. The UGC has requested all universities to upload the information on their official website. It issued guidelines on examinations and academic calendar in view of the prevailing situation on 29 April. However, the guidelines are advisory in nature and universities may formulate their own plan. As per the guidelines, new academic session for freshers may commence from September and for existing students from August. The exams for final semester students could be conducted in July, while the intermediate students would be graded based on internal assessment of the present and previous semester. However, in states where normalcy returns, exams should be held in July. Extension of six months will be granted to MPhil, PhD students and viva-voice be conducted through video conference, the UGC said. Coronavirus has led to the closure of educational institutes and postponement of exams across the country. The deadly virus has infected over 67,000 people in India and claimed the lives of more than 2,200, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. TMC Financing Logo We NEEDED help, TMC Financing is the only place that gave it to us. Kevin McKee has been a proud San Francisco business owner since 1986. He followed all the rules, paid all the taxes, reported every dime of income, survived a couple recessions and has always been upfront and honest with his employees and customers. McKee is the owner of Okells Fireplace, a full-service fireplace shop that has been keeping California homes warm for 70 years. Up until covid reared its ugly head, McKee had never laid off a single employee. I'm proud of my small business. I'm proud to be an American small business owner who hasnt ever laid a single person off in 34 years. The coronavirus hit us hard. We NEEDED help, TMC Financing is the only place that gave it to us. TMC Financing, a provider of SBA 504 Commercial Real Estate Loans, was allocated funds to disperse under the Paycheck Protection Program. However, their funds were limited so they restricted their PPP loans to their clients/past borrowers. Luckily this included McKee, who worked with TMC in 2012 to obtain financing to purchase a warehouse for the business. The initial email we received from Kevin wasnt pleasant, admits Barbara Morrison, President of TMC Financing. But I dont blame him at all! He came to us after a very frustrating experience with his bank and at a very stressful time. Tensions were high. Once he realized TMC was different and that we would actually respond to him, he did a 180. I applied through Bank of America, who I've banked with for twenty-five years, within the first hour of the start of the program, explains McKee. To this day, I have not heard one thing from them other than my application was complete. The CARES funding was intended to help small businesses so when I read the news that organizations like Shake Shack, the Lakers, and other larger companies received the first round of funding, I was ready to throw in the towel. Thankfully, TMC was able to process, approve, and fund a PPP loan to McKee during the second wave of PPP funding. McKee will use the funds to help cover payroll and occupancy costs. I'm not embarrassed to say that the PPP approval email I received from TMC had me sobbing. To be told I can't work and to sit and watch my business die has been emotionally exhausting and super frustrating. This loan will help save my business and I am so thankful. This experience has been eye opening for McKee and has motivated him to be more of an advocate for small businesses. We are hardworking people with very little voice since we're often too busy working, says McKee. But we deserve to be heard. About TMC Financing TMC Financing is the number one SBA 504 Lender in the nation. TMC has nearly 40 years of experience and has helped nearly 6,000 businesses throughout California and Nevada obtain financing to grow their business. Contact a TMC loan expert to find out more about the SBA 504 Program loans and how to get started with a prequalification Delhi government on Monday announced that the national capital has not seen any new cases of Covid-19 fatalities in the last 24 hours, news agency ANI reported. Three hundred and ten people tested positive for coronavirus in the national capital on Monday. No death due to #COVID19 reported in Delhi in the last 24 hours. 310 persons tested positive in the national capital today; taking the total number of positive cases to 7233. The death toll stands at 73: Delhi Govt pic.twitter.com/nswRDRc22Q ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 According to Delhi government, the total number of positive cases of coronavirus in the national capital stands at 7,233 while the death toll is at 73. This comes when the national Covid-19 tally breached the 67,000-mark on Monday. India witnessed the biggest Covid-19 spike till date reporting over 4,200 cases of coronavirus and 97 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union health ministry said on Monday. According to the latest figures updated by the Ministry of Health, the Covid-19 national tally stands at 67,152. There are 44,029 active coronavirus cases in the country, 20,916 patients have been cured or discharged while 2,206 people have died from the deadly contagion. Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra have breached the 22,000-mark, highest in the country. A Maharashtra health official told HT that there is some evidence of community transmission of Covid-19 in parts of Mumbai and Maharashtra but the overall picture in the state is that of cluster cases. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold the fifth video-conference on tackling the Covid-19 outbreak with the chief ministers at 3 pm today, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) announced on Sunday. Officials have told HT that Mondays meet is likely to focus on increasing the economic activity in the country while tackling the Covid-19 infections in the containment zones. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 08:18:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Photo taken on March 10, 2020, shows U.S. Vice President Mike Pence gesturing as he attends a press conference on the COVID-19 at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) The vice president "will be a low key for the next couple of days." WASHINGTON, May 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has been distancing himself from others after his press secretary tested positive for the coronavirus, U.S. media reported Sunday. "Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine," Devin O'Malley, a spokesman for Pence, was cited by The Associated Press as saying. "Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow." The Associated Press and Bloomberg News both used the term "self-isolating" to describe Pence's preventative measure, but NBC News cited a senior official as saying that "Pence's precautions did not amount to self-isolation because there are no restrictions on his schedule." The official added that the vice president "will be a low key for the next couple of days," according to the NBC News report. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller posts a tweet on May 8, 2020, saying that "I'm doing well and look forward to getting back to work for the American people." (Xinhua) Pence, who leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is the latest and highest-ranking member of the administration to take restrictive measures to avoid social contact. His press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday. Cyber risk analytics specialist CyberCube has launched a new software-as-a-service application designed specifically for insurance brokers called Broking Manager. Broking Manager facilitates client insight for both generalist and cyber specialist brokers, designed to help brokers quantify, understand, and explain to their clients the sources and financial impact of cyber risk exposure, said the company in a statement. This development recognizes that insurance advisers need to be able to educate prospects and clients while demonstrating an understanding of their needs and exposures, said CyberCube, explaining that brokers are expected to align clients goals, budgets, and exposure to the appropriate limits and carrier policies that fit the best. With cyber risk, it is important to understand the types of scenarios that may cause financial loss and the costs that would drive losses, explained the San Francisco-based company. Knowing where a client can increase or cut back on premium dollars while still hitting their coverage goals is imperative to helping them optimize their budget. Broking Manager empowers brokers to instantly produce a cyber financial loss report on millions of companies, while providing rich information to help brokers articulate their clients cyber exposure. It does so by leveraging advanced models that draw on data from a large number of sources including behind the firewall and perimeter scan data, historical incidents and losses, and firmographic data. The product offers a streamlined approach to generating the financial exposure impact of client-specific security and business practices. Brokers can also leverage the product to educate clients on potential loss classes, recent cyber events, and benchmarking of cyber risks against peers. With Broking Manager we set out to tackle the most fundamental question facing brokers today; what coverages and limits do companies need? Weve had considerable interest from the broking community internationally, so we felt the time was right to build and launch this product, said Oren Schetrit, CyberCubes director of Product. Brokers play a vital role in helping clients identify and manage risk. Our goal is to empower them to quantify and explain cyber risk exposure to a broad audience without becoming experts in information security, added Schetrit. Broking Manager will promote informed conversations that will ultimately lead to better buying decisions. Ashwin Kashyap, co-founder of CyberCube and head of Product and Analytics, said: Cyber insurance as a line of business is still in its early stages of growth and there is a clear need for a solution to help companies make informed decisions on what they need to buy. As trusted advisors to companies on their cyber insurance purchase, insurance brokers play a very important role in the ecosystem by connecting insurance buyers with carriers. CyberCube has built a solution to enable the growth of the cyber insurance market and support this important segment in the insurance value chain. Broking Manager is the third product in CyberCubes suite of applications, alongside Portfolio Manager and Account Manager. Portfolio Manager is used by insurers to stress tests portfolios of cyber risks against dozens of cyber-based scenarios. Account Manager is used during the underwriting process itself to provide underwriting teams with a detailed analysis of cyber risk. Source: CyberCube Related: Topics Cyber Agencies New Markets OAK BROOK, Ill. (May 11, 2020) - Patients with COVID-19 can have bowel abnormalities, including ischemia, according to a new study published today in the journal Radiology. Several studies have evaluated the chest imaging findings in COVID-19, which helped improve understanding of how the disease affects the lungs. More recently, reports have documented that gastrointestinal symptoms, liver injury, and vascular findings are common in these patients. However, abdominal imaging findings have not yet been widely reported. Imaging findings may help physicians understand abdominal manifestations in patients with the infection. Therefore, the authors of this study set out to explore abdominal imaging findings in patients with COVID-19. The retrospective study included 412 patients consecutively admitted to a single quaternary care center from March 27 to April 10, 2020, who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The cohort included 241 men (58.5%) and 171 women (41.5%), with an average age of 57 years. Records showed that 17% of patients had cross-sectional abdominal imaging, including 44 ultrasounds, 42 CT scans, and 1 MRI. Bowel abnormalities were seen on 31% of CT scans (3.2% of all patients) and were more frequent in intensive care unit (ICU) patients than other inpatients. Bowel findings included thickening and findings of ischemia such as pneumatosis (gas in the bowel wall) and portal venous gas. Surgical correlation in four patients revealed unusual yellow discoloration of bowel in three of the patients, and bowel infarction (dead bowel) in two patients. "We found bowel abnormalities on imaging in patients with COVID-19, more commonly in sicker patients who went to the ICU," said Rajesh Bhayana, M.D., FRCPC, abdominal imaging fellow in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In two patients who had bowel resection, pathology demonstrated ischemia with patchy necrosis (injury due to reduced arterial flow with patchy areas of cell death). Both had fibrin thrombi (blood clots) in submucosal arterioles (small arteries in the bowel wall), suggesting bowel ischemia in these patients might be caused by these small blood clots. Lung base findings led to a diagnosis of COVID-19 in one patient who presented with abdominal symptoms only. Of right upper quadrant ultrasounds, 87% were performed for liver laboratory findings, and 54% demonstrated a dilated sludge-filled gallbladder suggestive of cholestasis, or a decrease in bile flow. "Some findings were typical of bowel ischemia, or dying bowel, and in those who had surgery we saw small vessel clots beside areas of dead bowel," Dr. Bhayana said. "Patients in the ICU can have bowel ischemia for other reasons, but we know COVID-19 can lead to clotting and small vessel injury, so bowel might also be affected by this." According to the researchers, possible explanations for the spectrum of bowel findings in patients with COVID-19 include direct viral infection, small vessel thrombosis, or nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia. "ACE2 expression is most abundant in lung alveolar epithelial cells, enterocytes of the small intestine, and vascular endothelium suggesting that small bowel and vasculature may be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection," they wrote. The authors added that further studies are required to clarify the cause of bowel findings in patients with COVID-19 and to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 plays a direct role in bowel or vascular injury. "Our study is preliminary, and more work is needed to understand the cause of bowel findings in these patients," Dr. Bhayana said. ### "Abdominal Imaging Findings in COVID-19: Preliminary Observations." Collaborating with Dr. Bhayana were Avik Som, M.D., Ph.D., Matthew D. Li, M.D., Denston E. Carey, B.Sc., Mark A. Anderson, M.D., Michael A. Blake, M.D., Onofrio Catalano, M.D., Michael S. Gee, M.D., Ph.D., Peter F. Hahn, M.D., Ph.D., Mukesh Harisinghani, M.D., Ph.D., Aoife Kilcoyne M.B.B.Ch., B.A.O., Susanna I. Lee, M.D., Ph.D., Amirkasra Mojtahed, M.D., Pari V. Pandharipande, M.D., M.P.H., Theodore T. Pierce, M.D., David A. Rosman, M.D., M.B.A., Sanjay Saini, M.D., Anthony E. Samir, M.D., M.P.H., Joseph F. Simeone, M.D., Debra A. Gervais, M.D., George Velmahos, M.D., Ph.D., Joseph Misdraji, M.D., and Avinash Kambadakone, M.D., FRCR. Radiology is edited by David A. Bluemke, M.D., Ph.D., University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, and owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc. (https://pubs.rsna.org/journal/radiology) RSNA is an association of radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Illinois. (RSNA.org) For patient-friendly information on abdominal imaging, visit RadiologyInfo.org. President Akufo Addo on Sunday May 10, 2020 visited the Noguchi Medical Research Centre at the University of Ghana to familiarise himself with the operations of the centre. Noguchi is the heartbeat of Covid-19 testing centres in the country. President Akufo-Addo was received by the managers of the medical facility who took him round the operational areas and explained the processes that samples go through before results are declared. He assured them of adequate support to make their operations more effective. Ahead of the visit, the president had presided over a three-day cabinet retreat at Peduase where the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy had been discussed. He is said to have driven straight from Peduase to Noguchi for the inspection. President Akufo-Addo later in the evening addressed the nation spelling out further steps to contain the pandemic. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video There is ongoing debate among policymakers and the general public about where SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, came from. While researchers consider bats the most likely natural hosts for SARS-CoV-2, the origins of the virus are still unclear. On May 10 in the journal Current Biology, researchers describe a recently identified bat coronavirus that is SARS-CoV-2's closest relative in some regions of the genome and which contains insertions of amino acids at the junction of the S1 and S2 subunits of the virus's spike protein in a manner similar to SAR-CoV-2. While it's not a direct evolutionary precursor of SARS-CoV-2, this new virus, RmYN02, suggests that these types of seemingly unusual insertion events can occur naturally in coronavirus evolution, the researchers say. "Since the discovery of SARS-CoV-2 there have been a number of unfounded suggestions that the virus has a laboratory origin," says senior author Weifeng Shi, director and professor at the Institute of Pathogen Biology at Shandong First Medical University in China. "In particular, it has been proposed the S1/S2 insertion is highly unusual and perhaps indicative of laboratory manipulation. Our paper shows very clearly that these events occur naturally in wildlife. This provides strong evidence against SARS-CoV-2 being a laboratory escape." The researchers identified RmYN02 from an analysis of 227 bat samples collected in Yunnan province, China, between May and October of 2019. "Since the discovery that bats were the reservoir of SARS coronavirus in 2005, there has been great interest in bats as reservoir species for infectious diseases, particularly as they carry a very high diversity of RNA viruses, including coronaviruses," Shi says. RNA from the samples was sent for metagenomic next-generation sequencing in early January 2020, soon after the discovery of SARS-CoV-2. Across the whole genome, the closest relative to SARS-CoV-2 is another virus, called RaTG13, which was previously identified from bats in Yunnan province. But RmYN02, the virus newly discovered here, is even more closely related to SARS-CoV-2 in some parts of the genome, including in the longest encoding section of the genome called 1ab, where they share 97.2% of their RNA. The researchers note that RmYN02 does not closely resemble SAR-CoV-2 in the region of the genome that encodes the key receptor binding domain that binds to the human ACE2 receptor that SARS-CoV-2 uses to infect host cells. This means it's not likely to infect human cells. The key similarity between SARS-CoV-2 and RmYN02, is the finding that RmYN02 also contains amino acid insertions at the point where the two subunits of its spike protein meet. SARS-CoV-2 is characterized by a four-amino-acid insertion at the junction of S1 and S2; this insertion is unique to the virus and has been present in all SARS-CoV-2 sequenced so far. The insertions in RmYN02 are not the same as those in SARS-CoV-2, which indicates that they occurred through independent insertion events. But a similar insertion event happening in a virus identified in bats strongly suggests that these kinds of insertions are of natural origin. "Our findings suggest that these insertion events that initially appeared to be very unusual can, in fact, occur naturally in animal betacoronaviruses," Shi says. "Our work sheds more light on the evolutionary ancestry of SARS-CoV-2," he adds. "Neither RaTG13 nor RmYN02 is the direct ancestor of SARS-CoV-2, because there is still an evolutionary gap between these viruses. But our study strongly suggests that sampling of more wildlife species will reveal viruses that are even more closely related to SARS-CoV-2 and perhaps even its direct ancestors, which will tell us a great deal about how this virus emerged in humans." This work was supported by the Academic Promotion Programme of Shandong First Medical University, the Strategic Priority Research Programme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation, the National Major Project for Control and Prevention of Infectious Disease in China, the High-End Foreign Experts Program of Yunnan Province, the Taishan Scholars Programme of Shandong Province, the NSFC Outstanding Young Scholars, Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS, and an ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship. We usually keep about 20 days of milk powder inventory on hand, said Keith Murfield, CEO of United Dairymen of Arizona, on the May 6 episode of Hoards Dairyman DairyLivestream. Now, the cooperative is sitting on 70 days of stock. Thats a 250% jump in inventories. Jay Bryant, CEO of Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, echoed very similar numbers with his organization. Murfield and Bryant lead the 11th and 13th largest dairy cooperatives in the country, respectively, based on the October 10, 2019, Hoards Dairyman article The top 50 dairy co-ops retain market share. With typical dairy demand destructed by coronavirus-induced buying patterns, cooperatives are having to get more flexible with their capabilities. Bryant and Murfield provided insight to that flexibility on the latest DairyLivestream episode, Co-ops, customers, and COVID-19. They were joined by regular guests Chris Wolf of Cornell University and Mark Stephenson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison to discuss just how tight farm finances might get. The recording of the entire discussion can be viewed here. This weeks broadcast was sponsored by Protekta. Drying up milk Both United Dairymen of Arizona (UDA) and Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers have stepped up powder production. This is a logical transition to a shelf-stable choice for milk since fluid milk sales to food service customers have slumped. When it comes to UDA, the co-op runs one plant with a capacity of 8.5 million pounds, Murfield said. That includes driers that were running at capacity even before the market changes induced by COVID-19 hit in full force. Thats because the spring flush and the extra milk it brings arrived sooner this year. March 11 in my estimation, said Murfield. For nearly two weeks, the cooperative did have to dump milk and buttermilk into manure digesters. We even had to dump cream for the first time in my 46-year career, Murfield expanded. UDA has since stopped dumping by reimplementing their over-quota system and asking producers to reduce production by 10%. Maryland & Virginia members have not been asked to dump milk or reduce production at this point, although the co-ops two ingredient plants are operating at their capacities of 4 million pounds to make a lot of butter and milk powder Our plants are running wide open 24 hours, seven days a week, said Bryant. But there are few outlets to move inventory right now. Itll take time to work down. Drive down prices As inventory is worked through slowly, both men acknowledged that larger powder inventories will hold down Class IV prices for the foreseeable future. Stockpiling is happening in other countries, as well not painting a much better picture for the global market. Stephenson pointed out that nearing cold storage limits for products such as cheese will put further pressure on the market. However, Class III is expected to be a bit of better news. Dairy producers may see a larger spread between Class III and Class IV than normal, Murfield said. Exports are also showing some light, as the southeastern Asian market picks up some of the slack lost in sales headed to Mexico. Certainly, there is a long road ahead for some recovering of dairy markets. But Murfield reminded that, Theres not as much doom and gloom as two weeks ago. An ongoing series of events DairyLivestream will continue to dissect various aspects of the dairy markets over the coming weeks. Join us each Wednesday at 11 a.m. (CDT) to hear from dairy leaders and experts. Registering for one event will register you for every week. To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com. (c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2020 May 7, 2020 (Bloomberg Opinion) -- As the coronavirus pandemic continues, Bloomberg Opinion will be running a series of features by our columnists that consider the long-term consequences of the crisis. This column is part of a package on transformations in the way in which education is structured and delivered. For more, see Michael Petrilli on how older students can benefit from reduced school schedules. When we were told over the Lunar New Year holiday that schools in Hong Kong would be closed to prevent the spread of a then still-distant illness, I went through all the stages of grief. Shock, denial, anger, bargaining. I settled on depression for a good while. With three primary-age children, my vision of juggling a new job, school, chores and a bad-tempered dog was one of Brueghelian pandemonium. I had little faith in the quality of education my kids would receive online. Four months in, my skepticism has in large part faded. Whats allowed me to accept, and then embrace, the educational havoc wrought by the virus has been its unexpected impact on my middle son, a 9-year-old on the autism spectrum. With a more flexible approach, hes been able to cover the curriculum with a combination of live and recorded assignments provided by school, and find space for niche interests in a more creative, student-led set-up. Weve recruited outside support that has helped to reinforce corners of math which eluded him first time around. Our new, fuzzier world allowed him to catch up, and thrive. My sons experience with remote learning is in many ways exceptional but it may also provide clues to how school systems around the world can harness the potential of technology to improve outcomes for all students. The quality of education students have received during this crisis has been uneven. The digital divide, and the related homework gap, are painfully real. Wealthier parents can afford to stay home; they are more educated and better able to support their children; they have enough laptops, steady Wi-Fi and live in homes where theres a modicum of personal space. In Hong Kong, nearly 97% of less-well-off children in a March survey by the The Society for Community Organization reported problems with distance learning, much of it related to poor internet connections. Even those who overcome that obstacle cannot always unlock online opportunities without extra help. Story continues That doesnt mean that the greatest learning experiment in history is doomed to fail. Theres a very real possibility we will see more disruptions, whether driven by extreme weather or pandemics, and we cant afford to have hundreds of millions of children falling behind. With the right infrastructure, its possible to rethink academic structures that have in many ways been unchanged since the Victorian period, and come out with options that are more inclusive and flexible. It wont be cheap, but in the age of multi-trillion fiscal stimulus, it may be the best investment we make. *** Almost everyone Ive spoken to, from head teachers to students and parents, has expressed frustration over the abrupt switch to virtual schooling during the current health crisis. Most institutions were ill-prepared to move to online instruction. In part, this comes from our overoptimistic views of how easy it is to teach and learn online. Thats not new: Radio, then television, and later mass open online courses, were also supposed to provide high-quality free education for all, yet havent quite lived up to expectations. Distance learning comes with inherent limitations. In China, online tuition is a 500 billion yuan, or nearly $71 billion industry, but even at that size, virtual lessons dont make the bricks-and-mortar alternative irrelevant. Schools help children turn into self-sufficient beings that can thrive in society. They teach and model good study habits. They also allow parents to work, and in many places, they mean shelter and nutritious food that is otherwise unavailable. Physical schools played these critical roles before the pandemic, and these functions will be even more essential after it passes. And yet the traditional schoolroom is far from perfect, as students with learning challenges know. Its also unclear if the current model is the one best suited to produce the workers of the future. Sugata Mitra, a computer programmer-turned-educational researcher famous for his Hole in the Wall experiments in India, argues that the current set-up is the product of an imperial era, geared toward training human computers with neat, legible handwriting and quick arithmetic. Our modern economy, on the other hand, requires innovative, collaborative, problem-solving workers. So what kind of system should we aspire to build, when the pandemic ebbs? First, we need to adapt schools to work better online, even when classrooms are open. Early-childhood instruction has to be grounded in core numeracy and literacy, and it's true plenty of motor skills are best taught in person, but online options can encourage more independent, problem-based learning, where children solve challenges themselves.Some of this happens already, but the virtual tools we are now all familiar with open up more choices as they get older, plus the possibility of collaboration across schools and ages. Better yet, by leaning into this sort of activity when stuck at home, we overcome the pedagogical limitations of wall-to-wall Zoom lessons. As we figure out how to get there, its encouraging that one consequence of this outbreak has been increased collaboration among teachers, schools, students and parents, to identify best practices. In Hong Kong, thats been fostered by the Centre for Information Technology Education, but also through countless informal Facebook groups. Second, we need to recognize that successful online teaching requires helping hands. We know from past studies and current experience that hybrid or blended teaching a combination of online classes and more engaged, in-person and group work produces the best outcomes, so the role of human assistance should not be a surprise. It becomes crucial, though, when designing a set-up able to include children who are vulnerable, or have special needs of any kind. For me, it was a semi-retired teacher who lives nearby and has the patience to handle both my childs intense interest in Medieval history, and his struggle with more abstract mathematical concepts. A willing grandmother supported too, via FaceTime. Online platforms, with support from local authorities and schools, can make this kind of supplemental instruction accessible to many more, ensuring we dont leave kids lagging in times of disruption. A policy proposal from Reform Scotland, a think tank, suggests connecting sheltered-in-place retired teachers with children who have educational gaps, special needs or are otherwise at risk. Countless retired or trainee nurses around the world have answered the call to serve during this pandemic; its reasonable to assume that many former teachers would do the same. Finally, getting good outcomes online, as in the classroom, requires planning. Hong Kong schools, stung by closures during anti-government protests last year, were better equipped to deal with the transition to online learning than counterparts elsewhere. Substantial, sustained public investment will be necessary to get educators, families and students ready for next time. What to spend on? We need to start by getting a better understanding of the technological disparities students face schools very often have no idea how kids are set up at home and then provide equipment, and access to the right software, much of which already exists. Then comes the support. For teachers, thats extra tech (and tech teaching) skills. For children, thats investing in those willing helpers, virtual or otherwise. Absent trained educators, governments can provide guidance so even relatives and community members play a similar role. Once released from shelter-in-place orders, we might find our children have shorter classroom schedules, but more learning hours. They may have more agency, and move more easily between online and offline options. Having witnessed the social divisions laid bare by the pandemic, we may finally widen access to assistance that closes the attainment gap. Not a revolution, but a welcome evolution. For us in Hong Kong, in our fourth month of home-working and e-learning, there has been no miracle, and plenty of difficult days. None of this has miraculously fixed my sons attention span or his ability to do messier word problems. He is, though, more relaxed, in charge of his own time (now a necessity), thrilled with his projects and the obstacles hes overcome. Hes almost cracked fractions, too. Just dont ask him about the best thing about homeschooling. Hell just say its the food. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Clara Ferreira Marques is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering commodities and environmental, social and governance issues. Previously, she was an associate editor for Reuters Breakingviews, and editor and correspondent for Reuters in Singapore, India, the U.K., Italy and Russia. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Coronavirus: What you need to read Coronavirus maps: Cases and deaths in the U.S. | Cases and deaths worldwide Vaccines: Tracker by state | Booster shots | For kids 5 to 11 | Guidance for vaccinated people | How long does immunity last? | County-level vaccine data What you need to know: Omicron variant | Breakthrough infections | Symptoms guide | Masks FAQ | Delta variant | Other variants | Follow all of our coverage and sign up for our free newsletter Impact of the pandemic: Supply chain | Education | Housing Got a pandemic question? We answer one every day in our coronavirus newsletter Local News, Community, Charity & Cause By Long Island Published: May 11 2020 BETHPAGE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION AND NEW YORK STATE PARKS ANNOUNCE THE FIRST VIRTUAL BETHPAGE AIR SHOW Bethpage Federal Credit Union and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, are pleased to announce the launch of the Bethpage Virtual Air Show. Taking place throughout the months of May and June, the virtual experience is being organized to offer Bethpage Air Show fans entertaining and exciting activities to participate in online, following this years show cancellation. We can never replace the Bethpage Air Show and of course, are still saddened to know that our hundreds of thousands of fans wont be with us on-site at Jones Beach this year, said Linda Armyn, Senior Vice President, Bethpage. However, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to now connect our fans with show performers and organizers in a special way. Many of the pilots have been asking how their New York area fans are doing and this effort now gives them a chance to share their well wishes, and share videos from some of their favorite previous performances. We want to thank Bethpage Federal Credit Union for organizing the Bethpage Virtual Air Show Experience including the new online events and activities associated with this years show. We would also like to thank the air show community for coming together to bring a new type of show this year to our fans, said George Gorman, Regional Director of The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. We are all experiencing some changes in our lives right now, but virtual events like this allow us to remain connected in a meaningful way. I know our fans will enjoy this special show. We also ask our fans to continue to support all of the healthcare workers and essential employees who are on the front lines, helping to fight COVID-19. The Bethpage Virtual Air Show Experience schedule includes: May 8 The Bethpage Air Show Fan Photo Album Fans can submit photos of themselves attending previous Bethpage Air Shows, which will then be uploaded to an online photo album for all to enjoy. To submit your photo, go to www.bethpageairshow.com for details. Submissions will be accepted from May 8 through May 22. Bethpage will update the Fan Photo Album every Friday. May 19 Bethpage Air Show Activity Book Download this fun activity and coloring book for children. Activities include word searches, complete the pictures, make your own paper airplane, and coloring pages with all content relating to the Bethpage Air Show, performers, jets, and planes. To download, go to www.bethpageairshow.com. The Bethpage Air Show Activity Book will be available for fans beginning May 19. May 23 Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach Volunteer Video Montage Come and meet the many behind the scenes volunteers who donate their time yearly to produce what has grown to become one of the largest public events in New York State! These volunteers will share some of their personal, behind-the-scenes photos and offer personalized video messages to fans as well. Go to www.bethpageairshow.com for details on what time the montage will go live on May 23. May 24 The Bethpage Virtual Air Show Fans this year can view the Bethpage Virtual Air Show right from the comfort of their own homes! Sit back, grab a bowl of popcorn, and watch your favorite pilots do what they do best perform exciting maneuvers, climb through the sky, tumble and turn, and demonstrate why they are the best at what do they! The Air Show Director will welcome fans to the show and introduce the shows Air Show Boss, Wayne Boggs, and Air Show Announcer, Rob Reider. Performers and pilots will also share specially-recorded messages with fans and footage from some of their favorite air show performances. The Bethpage Virtual Air Show will take place Memorial Day Weekend, on May 24. Please visit www.bethpageairshow.com for the time of day and details. June 1 Search for the Biggest Blue Angels Fan Sweepstakes Are you a big fan of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels? We are searching for the Bethpage Air Shows biggest Blue Angels fan. Enter our sweepstakes by sharing details on why you are the biggest fan of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and your name will be entered into a drawing to win a personalized video message from a Blue Angel Pilot! Fans will be able to enter from June 1 through June 12. A winner will be announced on June 19. If you would like to participate, visit our website at www.bethpageairshow.com for details. May 11 - May 29 Other Activities Win tickets to view the 2021 Bethpage Air Show from Bethpage Federal Credit Unions VIP tent by visiting us on Facebook, where you can participate in trivia and photo hunt contests for a chance to win. Follow us at Facebook.com/BethpageAirShow. Previously scheduled to take place Memorial Day weekend, Saturday, May 23, 2020 and Sunday, May 24, 2020, the United States Navy Blue Angels were set to headline the 17th annual Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach. This would have been the coveted jet teams 9th appearance as show headliners. During the squadrons most recent headlining appearance in 2018, over 367,000 attended the show at Jones Beach State Park. Additional performers who were scheduled to participate this year included the United States Army Golden Knights Parachute Team, the GEICO Skytypers, Sean Tucker and Jessy Panzer, David Windmiller, the U.S. Coast Guard Search & Rescue Demonstration, 106th Air National Guard Rescue Wing, the United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II, B-17 Yankee Lady, the American Air Power Museum Warbirds, and the Farmingdale State College Aviation Team. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11 By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend: Uzbekistan and Bangladesh discussed prospects for expanding multifaceted bilateral cooperation, Trend reports citing the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan. Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Sardor Umurzakov held talks with Advisor to the Prime Minister for Investment, Industry and the Private Sector of Bangladesh Salman Rahman and Minister of Commerce Tipu Munshi and Minister of Textiles Golam Gazi via a videoconference. The parties identified significant prospects for cooperation in the investment sphere, mainly in the textile and pharmaceutical industries. They discussed opportunities for creating joint textile clusters, as well as attracting leading experts from Bangladesh as consultants on the development of the textile industry in Uzbekistan. "There is also great potential for industrial cooperation in the pharmaceutical industry; in this area, cooperation between the Agency for the Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry and the Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry of Bangladesh will be strengthened," the ministry said. The importance of further expanding the range of delivered commodity items demanded in the markets of the two countries in the agricultural, chemical and electrical industries was noted. Taking measures to increase their supplies will significantly increase the volume of mutual trade to a new level. The parties agreed to intensify the joint elaboration of a number of bilateral documents, including the Agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and the Agreement on cooperation in the field of plant quarantine. "Special attention was paid to cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian sphere - an agreement was reached on establishing close ties between the Silk Road International University of Tourism in Samarkand and the Jahangir Nagar University in Dhaka," the message said. The possibilities of cooperation in the field of tourism, in particular in the framework of the pilgrimage Umrah + program, as well as the organization of festivals of national culture and art in both countries were also considered. "Following the talks, it was agreed to create a joint Working Group at the level of deputy heads of foreign economic departments of the two countries to coordinate issues of development of cooperation in the fields of trade, investment and transport in the framework of the indicated areas," the message said. --- Follow author on Twitter: @seyfaddini Listen. I get it. As one who has many times previously decried the rising damp of Coca-Colonisation on Australian life, that pernicious influence of America on our language and culture that sees us sometimes look and sound like the 53rd state of the union, it takes a bit to shock me in that field. But now focus on the 100 Australians with placards gathered on the steps of Victorias Parliament House on Sunday afternoon, protesting the lockdown, 5-G phone towers spreading the virus, and chanting away ... Can you hear it now? "Lock up Bill Gates! Lock up Bill Gates!" Yup, arrest Bill Gates, because, while to you and me he just looks like a mild-mannered multi-billionaire living in Seattle, who now puts most of his energy into philanthropic endeavours to help rid the world of hunger and disease, in fact ... those Australian protesters believe he is truly one of the inventors of coronavirus, and is intent on spreading it around the world so he can establish a world government led by him. One of the signs at the anti-lockdown rally at Parliament House in Melbourne. Credit:Paul Jeffers Well, think again, Mr Gates. You thought youd get away with your evil plans, but our friends in Melbourne are on to you! One of the key organisers, Fanos Panayides, was arrested for his trouble, even while trying to look up a Bible verse on his mobile phone. "Yeah," he told the media. "It was pretty interesting. When I was trying to say that part out of Revelations about the microchip is when they came and grabbed me." He will also drive change and innovation, operationalize our growth strategies, and support an Aon United approach by collaborating with business leaders across all solution lines to deliver distinctive value to clients, the chief executive added. Wolfe joined Aon in 2015 as senior vice-president; in that role, he focused on North American P&C reinsurance. He has more than 20 years of experience, having started his insurance career as directors and officers liability insurance underwriter for Liberty International Underwriters. He later served reinsurance brokerage Beach & Associates, where he spent 14 years of his career and rose to the position of managing director. Matt is a highly regarded industry contributor on the future of reinsurance in Canada and the role of capital markets in the sector. He will be a considerable leader as we drive toward our business targets in 2020 and beyond, commented Sloan. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Three days after the general manager of a Chennai-based herbal products company died after consuming a drug he developed as a cure for COVID-19, the 47-year-old was found to be positive for the virus. A senior police officer said the test results came on Sunday and the body was cremated subsequently by corporation staff as per the protocol for COVID-19 victims. The police personnel who took his body to the hospital are also being subjected to COVID-19 tests. Sivanesan was the general manager of Sujatha Bio-Tech, which makes popular herbal products like Nivaran 90, Velvette shampoo and Memory Plus. He died on Thursday minutes after consuming a chemical combination he was making in the hope of creating a drug to cure COVID-19, police said. Sivanesan was staying in the house of the company owner Dr Raj Kumar at Teynampet. The duo were keen on finding a cure for COVID-19 and began preparing a drug, an official of the company had earlier told The New Indian Express. Police said that Dr Raj Kumar had also consumed the chemical which supposedly contains sodium nitrate. But he is said to have regained consciousness while Sivanesan succumbed on the way to a hospital. The body was preserved in a mortuary and cremated only after the test results came on Sunday, police said. Further investigations are on and a sample from Dr Raj Kumar has also been taken for a COVID-19 test. Hugh Jackman has been in self-quarantine with his wife, Deborra-lee Furness, and their two children in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic. And the Wolverine star, 51, was joined by his 14-year-old daughter, Ava, as they stopped by artisanal grocery store Brooklyn Fare on Monday afternoon. Hugh and Ava both wore reusable face masks for protection as they stepped out in the chilly spring weather. Family outing: Hugh Jackman was joined by his 14-year-old daughter, Ava, as they stopped by artisanal grocery store Brooklyn Fare in New York City on Monday afternoon The Australian actor kept warm in a grey sweater and black trackpants, and covered up with a dark blue puffer vest. He paired the simple ensemble with dark grey sneakers and a pink, purple and blue face mask. Ava wore a red hoodie with black Nike leggings and grey Converse sneakers. She covered her face with a black mask as she carried a brown paper bag filled with groceries. Shopping trip: The Australian actor kept warm in a grey sweater and black trackpants, and covered up with a dark blue puffer vest Staying safe: Hugh and Ava both wore reusable face masks for protection as they stepped out in the chilly spring weather Hugh, Deborra-lee and their two children, Ava and Oscar, 19, have been based in the Big Apple for years. But the Greatest Showman star is said to be contemplating a move back home to Sydney's Bondi Beach, where he owns a $6million property. 'Hugh has privately considered a move back for years, but he never followed through with it because he has such a good life in the States,' a source told New Idea. Isolation: Hugh has been in self-quarantine with his wife, Deborra-lee Furness, and their two children in NYC during the coronavirus pandemic Wintry: Hugh paired his ensemble with dark grey sneakers and a multi-coloured face mast 'Besides his career, there's a solid support network and he and Deb are now die-hard New Yorkers. They love the spirit of the Big Apple, plus the pace and excitement of being in a city that never sleeps.' But Hugh is reportedly missing having the beach at his backdoor and feels attached to the laid-back lifestyle in Australia. He also wants to be closer to his extended family, and believes that moving back to Australia would give him the opportunity to boost the local film industry. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 19:36:32|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Marwa Yahya CAIRO, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Many beauty salons across Egypt are struggling to survive, as the number of COVID-19 cases has been continuously climbing in the country. When customers enter LeBeauteSalon in Cairo's upscale Maadi district, they are provided with face masks. "I offered 25 percent discount on haircut, pedicure, manicure, and microblading services to attract more customers," said Samira Aly, the 43-year-old owner of the salon. "My business is almost dead since the middle of March. There are some days that no customer enters my salon at all," Aly told Xinhua. Aly has sent the offers to her loyal clients via WhatsApp to encourage them to come nack and plans to receive only four appointments in each section per day to avoid crowds. To ease the worries of the client, Aly asks all the staff to wear masks and gloves while washing the customers' hair. Currently many prefer not to visit any beauty center to avoid even a slight possibility of infection, said Nermeen Ismael, a manicurist at Sham beauty center in Nasr City. Although she assured that she would be using disinfection and sterilization, there are few customers showing up. "It would be a happy day if I could work for two clients," she said. Ismael said her salon is offering discounts which has further reduced her daily income, but she bets on the last ten days of Ramadan hoping to receive more clients and get good tips. In the past, while the Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday that follows the fasting month of Ramadan, is approaching, beauty salons in Egypt are turned into a beehive. However, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed 525 lives in Egypt as of Sunday, hair salons and beauty centers are struggling to keep their business alive. To curb the spread of the coronavirus, the authorities have taken measures including the closure of schools, restaurants, mosques and churches, as well as introducing a night curfew. The hair salons are required to close by 5 p.m. local time. (1500 GMT) As the total number of confirmed cases in Egypt hit 9,400 on Sunday, Mohamed Desouqy, a member of the parliament, demanded the closure of the hair salons nationwide to curb the spread of the virus. He said that beauty centers are "hotbeds for transfer of the infection" because social distancing is very difficult to be applied. Opposing shutting down the salons, Mahmoud al-Degwi, chairman of the Hairdressers Branch with the Trade Chamber of Egypt said "the beauty industry is changing rapidly in response to the coronavirus pandemic." For the time being, many beauty workers are shifting their businesses to focus on online classes rather than in-person makeovers, he added. "Both cosmetic retailers and beauty service workers are facing unprecedented challenges to keep their businesses running as usual. Salons are closing in many areas, leaving makeup artists and hairstylists without work," said al-Degwi. The small business owners and the freelancers face the biggest challenge as most of them literally cannot do their craft at this moment, he said. Enditem China on Monday reacted guardedly to the recent clashes between the Chinese and Indian soldiers, saying its troops remained committed to uphold peace and tranquillity at the border areas. Both the countries should properly handle and manage their differences, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here when asked about the recent clashes. "Chinese border troops have always been upholding peace and tranquillity along our border areas. China and India stay in close communication and coordination concerning our border affairs within existing channels," he said. Asked whether the clashes which took place on May 5-6 anyway reflects an aggressive approach by China post COVID-19 outbreak, Zhao said, relevant assumption is groundless. "This year marks the 70th year of establishment of the diplomatic relations between India and China, and the two countries have joined hands to fight against COVID-19, he said. "Under such circumstances both sides should work together with each other and properly manage and handle the differences and earnestly uphold peace and stability in the border region so as to create enabling conditions for our bilateral relations as well as joint fight against COVID-19, he said. Dismissing reports of any change in China's stand post-coronavirus pandemic, Zhao said, "since the outbreak of COVID-19, China and India have been staying in close communication and cooperation on prevention and control to jointly meet the challenges. "Now the most pressing issue for the international community is solidarity and cooperation against COVID-19. We shouldn't allow any politicisation or stigmatisation in a bid to create more differences or confrontation, he said. "As to the China-India border issue, our position is clear and consistent. Our troops there are committed to uphold peace and stability. This serves the common interests of our two countries and two peoples. We hope India will work with China to uphold peace and tranquillity in the border regions with concrete actions, he said. Troops of India and China were engaged in two fierce face-offs in Eastern Ladakh and near Naku La Pass in Northern Sikkim recently, leaving several soldiers on both sides injured. In the first incident, scores of Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed along the northern bank of the Pangong Lake in Eastern Ladakh on the late evening of May 5 and the face-off ended next morning following a dialogue between the two sides. A number of soldiers on both sides sustained minor injuries as they exchanged punches and resorted to stone-pelting, the sources said, adding around 200 personnel were involved in the face-off. Both sides brought in additional troops following the fracas. It was the first case of troops from both sides exchanging blows after a similar incident had taken place around the Pangong Lake in August 2017. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector of the Sino-India border in which at least 10 soldiers sustained injuries. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017, which triggered fears of a war between the two neighbours. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff. In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding. Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening the bilateral ties. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Heavy rocket attack by Libya rebels damages airport in Tripoli, kills 6 Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 5:59 AM Libyan rebels have heavily attacked an airport in the capital Tripoli, killing six civilians and inflicting damage in and around the facility. Several civilians were also injured in the attack on Mitiga International Airport on Saturday, the country's internationally-recognized government said. The Libyan Interior Ministry said at least 80 rockets were fired in the attack, damaging two Airbus planes, setting fuel depots on fire, and destroying fire trucks. The country's Transport Ministry said one of the targeted planes was about to take off on a flight to Spain to return the Libyan nationals stranded there amid the coronavirus pandemic. Video shared by an airport worker showed black smoke billowing over the apron. Images shared on social media showed shrapnel damage sprayed across the nose of a passenger plane. Mitiga is the last functioning airport in the Libyan capital, although civilian flights stopped in March because of repeated shelling even before the country imposed a lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic. The Saturday attack came amid intensified fighting between the Libyan government and the rebels, who are under the command of a renegade general named Khalifa Haftar. It also came hours after the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) condemned the indiscriminate rebel attacks on civilians in Tripoli, saying the attacks "may amount to war crimes." Rebels 'down Turkish drone' Meanwhile, the rebels claimed on Sunday that they had shot down an unmanned Turkish aircraft near Tripoli. Rebel spokesperson Ahmed al-Mismari said Haftar's loyalists had shot down the Turkish aircraft identified as a TB-2 drone as it was flying toward rebel positions in the Ayn Zara area near the capital. An information division of the rebel army claimed the drone was the third Turkish aircraft to have been downed in the last 24 hours. Turkey is a prominent supporter of Libya's internationally-recognized government. It has formerly dispatched troops to the country to shore up the Libyan army. Late on Thursday, Turkey and Italy said the area around their embassies in Tripoli had been shelled, leading the European Union (EU) to condemn the incident, which it said was "attributal to Haftar's forces." The rebels launched an offensive to seize the capital in April 2019. But they have not been able to advance past the city's outskirts. Haftar is supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Jordan. Libya plunged into chaos in 2011, when a popular uprising and a NATO intervention led to the ouster, and later killing, of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Temple University Hospital received a $50 million grant to help it cope with the costs of care for COVID-19 patients. It was the large among the grants announced last week to Philadelphia-area hospitals. Read more Temple University Hospital received $50 million in the latest round of relief funds under the federal coronavirus economic rescue package, twice as much as it received in last months first round of aid to hospitals and other medical providers nationwide. The difference? The $12 billion distributed last week is for 395 hospitals that treated 100 or more coronavirus inpatients through April 10 70% of the U.S. total through that date, the federal Department of Health and Human Services said. Last month, when the department distributed $30 billion, the money was divided among thousands of providers based on traditional Medicare billings, a methodology that was widely criticized because it did not take into account how hard hospitals were hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The $50 million grant to Temple, which has said it is losing $40 million a month because of lost revenue from nonurgent care and pandemic costs, was the largest of the 18 awarded to hospitals in the Philadelphia region. Cooper University Hospitals $39.2 million grant was the second-largest in the region. U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.) said Monday that he was glad to see more money going to such places as Temple and Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia in the new awards. We do not have a public system, so these hospitals that are highly impacted, we have to protect them, said Evans, who is a member of the House Ways and Means Committees Subcommittee on Health. Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia which expects to lose $70 million from March through June received $25 million in the new round, compared with $10.21 million based on its Medicare fee-for-service billings. Among Philadelphia-area hospitals, the biggest discrepancy in the two rounds of funding was at Holy Redeemer Hospital & Medical Center in Meadowbrook. When federal regulators took its COVID-19 patient load into account, it received $19.38 million, four times more than it received last month. HELP US REPORT: Are you a health care worker, medical provider, government worker, patient, frontline worker or other expert? We want to hear from you. Comparisons were not possible for all of the 18 Philadelphia-area hospitals that received a slice of the $12 billion. Five Jefferson Health hospitals led by Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Center City with $30 million received a combined total of $101 million last week. The amounts of the earlier aid to those hospital were included in the lasted data available on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Jefferson did not respond Monday to a request for the amounts of the grants announced last month. Main Line Healths Lankenau Medical Center and two Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic hospitals were also among those hardest hit with COVID-19 patients, but comparable data for last months grants were not available. Even hospitals without large numbers of COVID-19 patients have contended with financial fallout from the pandemic because theyve had to suspend many of their normal services. But the distribution differences between the two rounds of funding are dramatic on a state level. New Jersey received 3% of last months distribution, or $919.4 million, but 14%, or $1.7 billion, of the money awarded last week. It was even more extreme in New York, where the distribution went from 6%, or $1.9 billion, of the total to 42%, or $5 billion. Pennsylvanias share went down on a percentage basis, falling from 4%, or $1.2 billion, to 2.7%, or $323.6 million, as large areas of the state have relatively few confirmed cases. Under last weeks grants, hospitals received $76,975 per admission plus more money if they treat a large number of uninsured and Medicaid patients. The 395 hospitals treated 129,911 of the 184,037 COVID-19 inpatients reported to Health and Human Services as part of the grant program. There are nearly 6,000 hospitals nationwide. The Ghana Medical Association(GMA) has welcomed the extension of the ban on social gathering by the President. President of the GMA, Dr. Frank Ankobea maintained that the extension should enable the country capture the extent of the impact of the virus among the population. We thank the President for prolonging the restrictions further till the end of May. Within this time, we would be able to assess the progression of the curve and advise better on the easing of the restrictions as the ban expires by the end of the month the GMA President, Dr. Frank Ankobea told host Kweku Owusu Adjei on Anopa Kasapa morning show. President Akufo-Addo has extended the ban on public gatherings to May,31, 2020. Some pressure groups, and Civil Society Organisations including the Bureau of Public Safety and the Ghana Medical Association in the lead up to the Presidents address ramped up pressure for the President to extend the restrictions. The ban on social gatherings was first imposed on March, 15, 2020 by the President and reviewed on April 27 by two weeks. President Akufo-Addo in announcing the latest extension in a Televised broadcast on Sunday, May,10,2020 said: its noteworthy that the police are arresting and prosecuting persons irrespective of their status in society who flout this regulation The ban affects all public gatherings including conferences, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies, church activities and other related events. Ghanas case count As at Sunday, May, 10,2020, total infections of the virus stood at 4,700 with 494 recoveries and 22 deaths. Source: kasapa fm Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video EDWARDSVILLE Madison County officials appear ready to go against Gov. J.B. Pritzkers coronavirus reopening plan. At a special meeting Friday of the Madison County Board of Health, committee members backed a resolution that would allow local businesses and churches to reopen after submitting a plan to the county board of health, contrary to Pritzkers executive order and recently announced five-phase Restore Illinois COVID-19 plan. The county, however, delayed final action on the resolution until at least Tuesday so it may be reviewed and fine-tuned by the Madison County States Attorneys Office. The resolution is titled Resolution Stating a Phased-In Approach of Core Principles, Recommendations, and Guidelines for How Individuals and Small Businesses can Return To Normal in a Safe and Responsible Manner with Respect to the COVID-19 Virus. The resolution came at the end of the second meeting in as many days by the board, which includes all Madison County Board members. The group usually meets quarterly at the end of a county board meeting. There was a unanimous consensus Friday that county board members want local businesses to reopen quickly, but in a safe manner. There was, however, disagreement on how to do that. Announced May 5, Pritzkers Restore Illinois Plan has been criticized by members of both parties as taking too long and not recognizing unique local conditions. Pritzker has said the plan is an attempt to use a regional attempt to reopen Illinois economy using science and data. Board of health members on Friday also discussed filing a lawsuit against the governor over the pandemic executive orders and business reopening plan. Multiple county board said Madison County is not like Chicago or the rest of the state and is, instead, more tied to the St. Louis region than Chicago. Local business owners and potential customers are capable of acting responsibly, they said. People are ready to take this on in a responsible fashion, said Don Moore, R-Troy. Madison County Health Department Director Toni Corona expressed concerns about the action sought by the resolution. Ive never not followed the guidance of the Illinois Department of Public Health, she said. I dont know how to reopen the county outside of the guidelines of the state. Similar concerns were expressed by Madison County Board Member Mike Parkinson, D-Granite City, who initially sought to amend the resolution and have Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons file a lawsuit against the state on behalf of local businesses. Parkinson, a police officer, said he could not vote for the resolution because it encouraged civil disobedience. Dr. Loren Hughes, a Collinsville physician, opened Fridays meeting with a brief discussion about health-related issues. Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler then said each county board member would get a chance to speak, but first asked for a motion to consider the resolution to allow further discussion. Once those resolutions were made, Parkinson motioned to amend the resolution and allow the lawsuit. Prenzler, however, delayed action on that until all the board members had a chance to speak. All were supportive of having local businesses reopen, but there were differences of opinion on how to do it. Many questioned or criticized Pritzkers order and plan. David Michael, R-Highland, said he was very disappointed in the Restore Illinois plan. He said the county health department could oversee local businesses in a reasonable way, terming the proposed arrangement a win-win. We know our businesses, Michael said. We need to give them that freedom. Michael Doc Holliday, D-Alton, said he was in favor of businesses opening up, but under the auspices of what the governor and the Illinois Department of Public Health have put forth. He said he didnt want businesses to be hurt if the state took action against them. Pritzker has said businesses requiring state licenses could be penalized if they opened in defiance of the executive order. Gibbons said he wanted a chance to look over the resolution which he had received a few hours earlier. At that point, all of the motions were withdrawn and it was decided to reconvene the board at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Several board members from both parties were appointed to a committee to fine-tune the resolution. Prenzler said that committee might be adjusted. Alex Karaffa was jailed for 17 months for a list of offences A young man who snatched 70 in cash from an elderly woman's hand after asking her for spare change has been jailed for 17 months. Alex Karaffa (20) also told a garda he "had a bullet for him" when separately questioned about a stolen mobile phone. Judge Colin Daly said Karaffa had built up an "extraordinary number" of criminal charges - 35 - and all except one were committed while he was on bail. Karaffa, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to a series of public order and theft offences. The court heard that a 70-year-old woman was in Fleet Street car park on March 10 last year when the accused approached her and asked for spare change. He then snatched 70 from her hand and fled. He was identified on CCTV. On December 2, 2018, a member of the public alerted gardai after Karaffa was seen acting in a threatening manner on Grafton Street. Gardai found the accused trying to open the packaging on a mobile phone and he told them he had bought it but could not say from where. Cigarette Karaffa then threatened the investigating garda, saying he "had a bullet for him, and he would get him and he would not forget his face". The accused tried to kick and lash out at the gardai as he was restrained. Last September 19, Karaffa asked a man on D'Olier Street for a cigarette, and when he gave him one he reached into the man's pocket and took 180 in cash. Karaffa fled, but the man chased him and 170 was recovered. A motorist in Temple Bar on January 18 last year said Karaffa opened his vehicle and stole a 1,000 iPad. Karaffa put his hand into a tourist's handbag at Stephen Street Lower on March 10 last year, but she pulled away and gardai caught him. On March 9 last year, he was seen using drugs in view of children at Meeting House Square, Temple Bar. Judge Daly said the theft victim from the D'Olier Street incident had been a "victim of his own generosity". He backdated the sentence to January. Here's the most recent top news you may have missed in Sacramento. Gov. Newsom formally endorses Biden for president California Gov. Gavin Newsom formally endorsed Joe Biden for president on Friday, praising the former vice president for his "deep compassion and empathy" during a virtual high-dollar fundraiser in partnership with the Democratic National Committee. Read the full story on CBS47 Fresno. Emotional farewell for retiring Sacramento preschool teacher stopping cancer treatment Nearly 200 cars rolled down a Sacramento street on Saturday, all for retiring preschool teacher Anita Womack, who's better known to students as "Miss Anita." Womack is not only retiring, but is also making a big life decision after a lengthy battle with cancer. Read the full story on CBS13 CBS Sacramento. Two men shot to death on Meadowview Road in south Sacramento, police say Police are investigating a double homicide after two men were shot and killed in south Sacramento on Saturday night, authorities said. Read the full story on The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento organization donates ramen noodles to those in need All My Friends Get Fed organization partners with Kodaiko Ramen to provide resources for people in need. Read the full story on ABC Sacramento, KXTV. Sac State professor apologizes for argument with racial slur caught on video Hours after California State University, Sacramento's president condemned the behavior of a professor and his wife caught on camera in an "ugly" confrontation with neighbors, the educator apologized for his wife's use of a racial slur and said she was seeking help for alcohol and drug abuse. Read the full story on SFGATE. This story was created automatically using data about news stories on social media from CrowdTangle, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. CHICAGO Twitter announced Monday it will start alerting users when a tweet makes disputed or misleading claims about the coronavirus. The new rule is the latest in a wave of stricter policies that tech companies are rolling out to confront an outbreak of virus-related misinformation on their sites. Facebook and Google, which owns YouTube, have already put similar systems in place. The announcement signals that Twitter is taking its role in amplifying misinformation more seriously. But how the platform enforces its new policy will be the real test, with company leaders already tamping down expectations. Yoel Roth, Twitters head of site integrity, acknowledged as much: We will not be able to take enforcement action on every tweet with incomplete or disputed information about COVID-19. Roth said Monday the platform has historically applied a lighter touch when enforcing similar policies on misleading tweets but said the company is working to improve the technology around the labels. In February, Twitter said it would add warning labels to doctored or manipulated photos and videos after a recording of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was slowed down to make it appear as though she slurred her words. But even with obviously fake videos, such as one showing Joe Biden lolling his tongue and grinning that was shared by President Donald Trump, the company has since used the label only twice, in part because of technical glitches. And Twitter has not added any warning labels to politicians tweets that violate its policies but are deemed in the public interest under a policy the company announced in June 2019. Under the newest COVID-19 rules, Twitter will decide which tweets are labeled only taking down posts if they are harmful. Politicians tweets will be subject to the notices, which will be available in roughly 40 languages. Some of the questionable tweets will run with a label underneath that directs users to a link with additional information about COVID-19. Other tweets might be covered entirely by a warning label alerting users that some or all of the content shared in this tweet conflict with guidance from public health experts regarding COVID-19. Twitter wont directly fact check or call tweets false on the site, said Nick Pickles, the companys global senior strategist for public policy. The warning labels might send users to curated tweets, public health websites or news articles. People dont want us to play the role of deciding for them whats true and whats not true but they do want people to play a much stronger role providing context, Pickles said. The notices, which could start appearing as soon as today, could also apply retroactively to past tweets. The fine line is similar to one taken by tech rival Facebook, which has said it doesnt want to be an arbiter of the truth but has arranged for third-party fact checkers to review falsehoods on its site. The Associated Press is part of Facebooks fact-checking program. One example of a disputed tweet that might be labeled on its site includes claims about the origin of COVID-19, which remains unknown. Conspiracy theories about how the virus started and if it is man-made have swirled around social media for months. Twitter will continue to take down COVID-19 tweets that pose a threat to the safety of a person or group, along with attempts to incite mass violence or widespread civil unrest. The company has been removing bogus coronavirus cures and claims that social distancing or face masks do not curb the virus spread for several weeks. __ AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay contributed to this story from Oakland, Calif. Syria and Russia have deliberately targeted civilians in northwest Syria, according to a new report by Amnesty International, which documented more than a dozen attacks it said amounted to war crimes. The UK-based rights group recorded 18 air and ground attacks on hospitals and schools between May 5, 2019, and Feb. 25, 2020. Most of the attacks centered in Idlib, Hama and western Aleppo took place during the first two months of this year during a government-led offensive to retake the rebel-held province. Amnesty interviewed 74 people, including internally displaced Syrians, teachers, doctors and aid workers. Their witness accounts were corroborated by videos, photographs, satellite imagery, flight spotters on the ground and intercepted Russian and Syrian air force flight communications. After nearly a decade of war, Idlib is the last major swath of territory still in the hands of the opposition. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces now control roughly two-thirds of the country, is intent on recapturing it. A renewed Russian-backed air and ground campaign in December displaced roughly 1 million from the northwest enclave, most of them women and children, according to the United Nations. Many headed north toward the sealed Turkish border and found refuge in overcrowded camps and abandoned buildings. Even by the standards of Syrias calamitous nine-year crisis, the displacement and humanitarian emergency sparked by the latest onslaught on Idlib has been unprecedented, Heba Morayef, Amnesty Internationals Middle East and North Africa director, said in a statement. A United Nations Security Council resolution extending cross-border aid deliveries to Idlib and other parts of Syria is set to expire on July 10. Russia and China, which hold veto power, have already blocked UN aid agencies from accessing two border crossings, and Amnesty warned of dire consequences should they block the remaining two this summer. UN officials have already called Idlib a humanitarian horror story this will only worsen unless the Security Council sees beyond political ploys and sustains the precious lifeline of cross-border humanitarian aid, Morayef said. Rights groups and other governments have also accused Damascus and Moscow of systematic attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Physicians for Human Rights, a New York-based group has documented 595 attacks on health facilities since the start of the civil war in 2011. It blames the Syrian government and its allies for 90% of them. The Assad regime has also been accused of using chemical weapons against its own people. In April, a US-backed global chemical weapons watchdog concluded the government was behind three separate aerial attacks that dropped chlorine and the nerve agent sarin on the opposition-held village of Ltamenah in March 2017. A March cease-fire brokered by Russia, which supports the regime, and Turkey, which backs some of the opposition groups fighting the government, is largely holding. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday that sporadic clashes and ground strikes are continuing in the countrysides of western Aleppo and southern Idlib. Leftists pretending to be prolife By Michael R. Shannon The WuFlu has been a godsend for the left. And Im not talking about the startling discovery that 95 percent of the USA is willing to be confined to quarters solely on the basis of a computer model whose numbers are undergoing constant revision to repair past mistakes. Instead the China Flu gives the left an unparalleled opportunity to attack conservatives, who would like to borrow their lives back, on the basis of defending the lives of the vulnerable. Its quite a change from Shout My Abortion! Atlantic writer Amanda Mull is todays case in point. Her entry in the ProLife sweepstakes is Georgias Experiment in Human Sacrifice. Summary: Reopening the state will be grannies on a gurney as far as the eye can see. Gov. Brian Kemp decided enough is enough. His state will no longer be held prisoner by what amounts to hightech witch doctory. Mull writes, Kemp abruptly reversed course on the shutdown, ending many of his own restrictions on businesses and overruling those put in place by mayors throughout the state. Thats misleading. The restrictions Kemp ended were closures. There are plenty of Flu Manchu Security Theatre measures that reopened businesses will be required to follow. All thats missing is random TSA agents pawing through your drawers while you wait to enter the barbershop. Social distancing, masks, limits on occupancy, temperature checks and the death penalty for sneezing are all in the mix. Its important to note, in contrast to the mandatory lockdowns so beloved by the left, reopening is optional. Mulls antidote for opening is to administer another dose of the Great Pandemic Panic: Kemps order shocked people across the country. For weeks, Americans have watched the coronavirus sweep from city to city, overwhelming hospitals, traumatizing health-care workers, and leaving tens of thousands of bodies in makeshift morgues. Thats the medical reporting equivalent of invoking the Boogie Man. Even in New York City no hospitals were overwhelmed. And I think the makeshift morgues were in China. Mull really amps up the sacrifice theme with In the grips of a pandemic, the approach is a morbid experiment in just how far states can push their people. Georgians are now the largely unwilling canaries in an invisible coal mine, sent to find out just how many individuals need to lose their job or their life for a state to work through a plague. Im forced to guess indignation got the best of Mull here, since the jobs are already lost, thats why Kemp decided to reopen Georgia. No one is going to be going through assistedliving facilities forcing MeMaw and PePaw to get jobs at Walmart. Kemps reopening is designed to protect the Kung Flu vulnerable mostly the elderly and let the rest of us stop cowering and start living. When counting WuFlu deaths in Georgia we learn pretty quickly that Mulls worries about human sacrifice depend solely on which humans may or may not be sacrificed. Johns Hopkins reports 1,043 residents have died from the WuFluenza, a death rate of 10 per 100K population. That puts Georgia in 11th place in the death derby. The largest proportion of those deaths during a lockdown! were in nursing homes and longterm care facilities. Those deaths were unintentional. Now lets compare unintentional with intentional deaths. Intentional deaths that are part of a regime Mull enthusiastically supports. The Guttmacher Institute reports the shocking numbers of abortion deaths in Georgia: 30,330 unborn children were sacrificed on the altar of convenience and Choice in 2017. Thats 286 per 100K population. Besides being almost 30 times the number of WuFlu deaths, every last one of those unborn were killed intentionally. Evidently those numbers are the bare minimum acceptable for Mulls grim calculus. When the legislature passed HB481 the Georgia Heartbeat Bill which banned most abortions after eight weeks, when a heartbeat is detectable Mull called it the socalled heartbeat abortion bill and worried about the women whose reproductive rights would be affected. Zero concern for the wholly vulnerable population of the unborn. Zealots like Mull hide their obscenity behind talking points. The unborn arent viable. When in truth, a child really isnt viable until about age six and even then, its touchandgo. What they are after birth is visible and that makes all the difference. Mulls crocodile tears for the elderly are contemptible as is her hysterical concern for human sacrifice. The lefts insincere concern for people they would normally ignore is just another avenue to attack Trump and his supporters. My suggestion for Mull is if she really wants to see humans sacrificed and dumped in a makeshift morgue all she has to do is take a stroll by the dumpster hidden behind an abortion mill. Michael R. Shannon is a public relations and advertising consultant with corporate, government and political experience around the globe. He is a dynamic and entertaining keynote speaker. He can be reached at mandate.mmpr (at) gmail.com. He is also the author of Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!). Home A lawyer for Indonesians who alleged they had worked in slave-like conditions aboard Chinese fishing boats called Monday for companies that recruited and employed them to be prosecuted for human trafficking and bondage. Last week, the foreign ministry summoned Chinas ambassador to Jakarta over the deaths of four Indonesians and the treatment of others who allegedly worked in harsh conditions on Chinese boats since December 2019. What was experienced by the ship crew members constitutes human trafficking, starting from recruitment, their dispatch, abuse and bondage, said Pahrur Dalimunthe, the attorney for the fishermen. Those involved, including the companies that sent them and ship owners must be held to account for their actions, he told BenarNews. On Sunday, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi condemned what she called the inhumane treatment of the sailors. She said these constituted violations of human rights. Some of them have not received their salaries, while some of them have received their salaries but the amounts were not in accordance with those stated in their contracts, Retno said. She said she was told that the crew members had been forced to work more than 18 hours a day. The government has a strong commitment to resolve this case thoroughly, she said, adding that Indonesia and China would set up a joint investigation into the allegations of abuse. Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Indonesian and Chinese authorities were investigating allegations of mistreatment against the crew members. This matter is being followed earnestly through legal processes by both Indonesian and Chinese authorities, Faizasyah told BenarNews on Monday. Chinese officials at the embassy in Jakarta could not be immediately reached for comment. Last week, South Korean media interviewed a crew member who said the bodies of three who died at sea between December and March were thrown overboard despite details in their contract calling for cremation. The crew member said he and others were sometimes forced to work 30 straight hours while standing and given only six hours to eat and sleep before resuming their duties. Sea burials During the meeting when she summoned Chinese Ambassador Xiao Xian on May 7, Retno said she had asked if the burials complied with International Labor Organization standards. Retno said she was assured that the Chinese had followed proper protocol to protect the health of crew members. Pahrur, the attorney, said the government should not just accept Chinas explanation that the sea burials were justified because of COVID-19 concerns. The government should not be fooled. There must be evidence that they really died of an infectious disease, Pahrur told BenarNews. The lawyer said the four deaths were suspected to be a result of harsh conditions on the boat, including being forced to eat bad food and drink treated sea water. Crew members were paid U.S. $120 for the first three months of work even, although they were promised $300 to $450 per month. The Foreign Ministry has said that all four of the Indonesian crew members who died had been registered to the Chinese fishing boat Long Xin 629. Two of the crewmen died on the boat in December, while one died in a South Korean hospital on April 27 and the fourth was transferred to another boat and died in March before it could reach port, it said. On Friday, the Indonesian government repatriated 14 surviving crew members who ended up in the South Korean port city of Busan after their contracts expired. They are undergoing a 14-day quarantine in East Jakarta before being sent to their hometowns. According to Ferdy Sambo, director of general crimes of at the national police, investigators are to question those involved in the recruitment of the crew members. If we find that their departure did not follow proper procedures, we will prosecute the recruitment companies under migrant labor and human trafficking laws, Sambo told BenarNews. 25 years ago: Ebola outbreak deaths rise to 170 On May 12, 1995, the Associated Press reported that the death toll from the Ebola virus outbreak in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) increased to 170. The outbreak was centered in the city of Kikwit, capital of Kivu Province, about 500 km east of the capital, Kinshasa. Ebola virus The virus, first identified in 1976 during an outbreak in a Zairean village, is a hemorrhagic fever virus that attacks the lining of blood vessels, inducing a high body temperature followed by uncontrollable hemorrhaging. Death comes from a heart attack or shock due to loss of blood. Its most lethal strain killed between 80 and 90 percent of those who became infected. At the time there was no vaccine to protect against the virus and no cure. The first Ebola vaccine was not approved in the United States until December 2019. Health care workers were concerned that the virus would spread to Kinshasa, a city of 5 million, despite the quarantine of Kikwit by the military. Clinics and schools were closed, and a stay-at-home order put in place. The local airport was also shut down and roadblocks established to stop and inspect all trucks and cars coming from the area. The main reason for the diseases emergence was the lack of water and sewerage systems in Zaire and the impoverished and primitive state of the countrys public hospital system. During the outbreak, 14 percent of the population of Zaires 43 million resided in cities and towns, but only 14 percent of these had access to clean water. It was suspected that the initial outbreak could have begun as early as December 1994. It was not identified correctly until mid-April because it was difficult to distinguish between deaths from the virus and those which occurred normally in Kikwit due to dysentery, malaria and other infectious diseases. The Center for Disease Control in the US was not notified until May 6, 1995. An investigation identified and confirmed 93 further suspected cases by May 17, of which 92 percent were fatal. The Ebola virus cannot be transmitted through cough or sneeze, but requires contact with bodily fluids to spread. The ability of the virus to infect large percentages of people is somewhat limited by its relatively short incubation period, from seven to 21 days. Victims died quickly, limiting the chance of further infections. 50 years ago: Police kill two students during protest at Jackson State College in Mississippi Just after midnight on May 15, 1970, a group of 75 city and state police officers opened a barrage of gunfire into a womens dormitory at the historically black Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi. Two students, Philip Lafayette Gibbs, a junior at Jackson State, and James Earl Green, a senior at a nearby high school, were killed and twelve others wounded. Ayers Hall, on the campus of Jackson State in Mississippi The police were attempting to disperse a group of about 100 students who had been protesting the US invasion of Cambodia and the killing of four students at Kent State University 11 days before. As at most campuses throughout the US, Jackson State students had been participating in antiwar demonstrations since President Nixons announcement of the Cambodian invasion on April 30. Several demonstrations had been organized in the weeks leading to the shooting. In a display of cross-racial unity, students from Jackson State had been invited to join demonstrations led by students at the predominantly white Millsaps College on May 9. A student from Kent State and witness to the killings there, Tom DFloure, addressed these demonstrations, recalling the horrors of seeing his classmates gunned down. Henry Thompson, a Jackson State antiwar activist also gave a speech at the rally asking the crowd, Why talk about a war eight thousand miles away, when weve got one right here? In an interview in Tim Spoffords book Lynch Street: The May 1970 Slayings at Jackson State College, Thompson later recalled, We were trying to bring out some of the injustices of the war that day. They were sending black soldiers over there to fight people we didnt know a damned thing about. Jackson State students began organizing protests on their own campus over the next few days, with hundreds of students participating in marches and demonstrations on May 13 and May 14. In the later hours of May 14 there were reports of violent confrontations between black student protestors and white Jackson residents driving on the main road through Jackson State campus. Initially, the police sent in black officers in an attempt to break up the demonstrations. When this failed to intimidate the protesters, a much larger group of officers armed with shotguns were deployed. The officers approached the crowd of demonstrators gathered outside the Alexander Hall dormitory and opened fire continuously for about 30 seconds, unleashing about 500 shots. Most of the shots were fired into the building itself, shattering dorm windows and leaving bullet marks in the walls. Other shots went into the crowd, killing Gibbs and Green and wounding others. The police would later make the absurd claim that they opened fire after seeing a sniper in the window of the womens dorm. No evidence of this claim was ever found at the scene of the shooting or in later investigations. No officers were prosecuted for the killings. 75 years ago: Fourth International warns of Allied plans to impose a harsh peace on ruined Europe Less than a week after the formal surrender of Nazi Germany on May 7, the world Trotskyist movement, the Fourth International, warned of the determination of the Allied powers, including the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union, to impose a harsh peace upon Europe directed against the revolutionary strivings of the masses. A lead article in The Militant, the newspaper of the American Socialist Workers Party, noted that the war had come to an end after claiming more than double the number of casualties as the First World War in Europe. Over the European continent hangs a ghastly pall of death and devastation, the peace of the charnel house and the grave. This is the price the peoples are paying for the imperialist struggle to decide which coterie of capitalist gangsters shall dominate and exploit mankind, it stated. Raising the Red Flag over the Reichstag. Photo taken May 2, 1945 by Yevgeny Khaldei Against those who asserted that the end of the war would result in an era of peace and prosperity, the article warned: Ruined Europe cannot even feed the multitudes of its hungry inhabitants, let alone house and clothe them. To the toll of millions of lives which the imperialist war has already exacted, must be added those now doomed to death by disease and starvation. They include the children, unnumbered millions of them, who are suffering from acute hunger and afflicted with rickets and other maladies of malnutrition. It noted that the primary concern of the Allied powers was to prevent a threat to capitalist rule in Germany, where the bourgeoisie had fled and capitalist state structures lay in ruin, and throughout Europe. The article warned that the Allies intend to keep large forces in Europe. For all the fine talk about democracy and the right of every nation to choose its own government, the Allies have no intention of allowing the European peoples to determine their own future. As they have already done in Greece, Italy and Belgium, they intend to saddle the rest of Europe with reactionary dictatorships, propped up by Allied arms, so that the masses may be held in permanent subjection to the decayed capitalist system. The mention of Greece referred to the role of British troops in violently suppressing anti-fascist partisans at the beginning of the year, after they had overthrown the countrys German-aligned dictatorship. In Italy, Britain and the US had demonstrated their willingness to work with those sections of the fascist ruling elite, who, late in the war, had recognized that Benito Mussolini was no longer able to serve the interests of the capitalist class. The Fourth International also pointed to the perfidious role of the Soviet bureaucracy and the Stalinist communist parties internationally. While the Soviet Red Army had played the decisive role in the military defeat of Nazi Germany, the bureaucracy was allied with the western imperialist powers and had already concluded agreements with them for the carve-up of Europe and the world into a series of spheres of influence. This was directed above all against the emerging revolutionary movement of the working class that the Stalinists feared would trigger social upheavals against their own police-state forms of rule. 100 years ago: American novelist William Dean Howells dies On May 11, 1920, the novelist, critic and editor William Dean Howells at the age of 83 at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Howells was a member of the generation of writers that developed in the aftermath of the Civil War and made significant contributions to the realistic description of American life. Howells wrote over two dozen novels, as well as plays, poetry, and literary criticism. He was instrumental in developing an American literary culture that reflected the contradictions of the rise of the US as a world economic power. William Dean Howells He was born in Ohio in 1837, the son of a newspaper editor and printer. In 1856 he began his own career in journalism and wrote Abraham Lincolns official campaign biography in 1860. He then served as American ambassador in Venice from 1862 to 1865. Howells settled in Cambridge after his return to the US and began writing for Harpers Magazine and the Atlantic Monthly. He became the editor of the latter in 1871 and first published Mark Twain, who became a lifelong friend. As a literary critic he wrote about Emile Zola and Henrik Ibsen and helped to secure the place of Leo Tolstoy among readers in the United States. He introduced writers such as Stephen Crane, Frank Norris and Sarah Orne Jewett to the public. He became established as a fiction writer with his second novel, A Modern Instance (1882), one of the first works of American fiction that dealt frankly with divorce. His masterpiece is widely regarded to be the Rise of Silas Lapham (1885), about the rise and fall of an American capitalist. The post-Civil War period not only saw the rise of the American bourgeoisie, but also the entrance of the working class into open struggle. The great railway strikes of 1877 undoubtedly had an impact on Howells, who became sympathetic to the working-class and to the socialist movement. On November 6, 1886, he wrote a famous op-ed in the New York Tribune demanding freedom for the eight framed-up anarchists on trial in Chicago known as the Haymarket Martyrs. The piece elicited a letter of praise from Eleanor Marx, the daughter of Karl Marx. This civic murder, as he called it, apparently had a lasting impact on the writer. Shortly after the anarchists were hanged, he wrote to his sister, Its all been an atrocious piece of frenzy and cruelty, for which we must stand ashamed forever before history. Some of his fiction had a deeply felt critique of capitalism. A Traveler from Altruria (1894) is a utopian novel that excoriates American society from the point of view of a visitor from a newly discovered socialist continent. The novels sequel, Through the Eye of a Needle (1907) is a scathing report on social inequality in New York City. Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2020) - Winston Capital Group Inc. (TSXV: WNST.P) (the "Corporation") is pleased to announce details concerning its proposed arm's length qualifying transaction (the "Transaction") involving a proposed business combination with Merida Minerals Inc. ("Merida"), a private company incorporated under the laws of the province of Ontario. Merida is a mineral exploration company focused on developing the long-term mining potential of the Zn-Cu-Pb enriched Puebla de la Reina ("PBR") property in the low-risk and historic mining district in Southwest Spain. The property, in Extremadura, Spain, has been acquired by Merida (through La Joya Minerales, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merida Minerals) and it covers an area of 90km2. The management of Merida contains industry veterans who have more than 80 years of mineral exploration and production experience in multiple jurisdictions and have successfully managed multiple international mining companies. With support from the local government and sophisticated mining infrastructures, Merida will initiate a series of development and exploration work on the historical sites. The Corporation has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with Merida dated May 5, 2020 (the "LOI") pursuant to which the Corporation and Merida intend to complete a share purchase, plan of arrangement, amalgamation, three-cornered amalgamation or alternate structure to be determined, having regard to relevant tax, securities and other factors and potentially including a pre-closing reorganization of Merida, to form a new company ("Newco") called "Merida Minerals Inc." It is intended that the Transaction, when completed, will constitute the Corporation's "Qualifying Transaction" in accordance with Policy 2.4 of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). A more comprehensive news release will be issued by the Corporation disclosing details of the Transaction, including financial information respecting Merida, the names and backgrounds of all persons who will constitute insiders of Newco, and information respecting sponsorship, once an agreement has been finalized and certain conditions have been met, including: approval of the Transaction by the board of directors of the Corporation; satisfactory completion of due diligence; and execution of the definitive agreement. Shareholder approval is not required with respect to the Transaction under the rules of the Exchange. However, the structure of the Transaction has not yet been finalized so shareholder approval under corporate law may be required. In the event a final agreement is not reached, the Corporation will notify shareholders. Trading in the common shares of the Corporation will remain halted and is not expected to resume trading until the Transaction is completed or until the Exchange receives the requisite documentation to resume trading. ABOUT THE CORPORATION The Corporation is a capital pool company (a "CPC") that has not commenced commercial operations and has no assets other than cash. Except as specifically contemplated in the TSX Venture Exchange Inc.'s CPC policy, until the completion of its qualifying transaction, the Corporation will not carry on business, other than the identification and evaluation of businesses or assets with a view to completing a proposed qualifying transaction. For further information, please contact: Bruce Bent Chief Financial Officer Winston Capital Group Inc. Telephone: + 1 (905) 567-3431 Email: bbent@msw.on.ca Norman Brewster Chief Executive Officer Merida Minerals Inc. Telephone: + 1 (416) 970 - 3223 Email: Norm@MeridaMinerals.com Forward-Looking Information Cautionary Statement Statements in this press release regarding the Corporation's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, such as terms and completion of the proposed transaction. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. The forward-looking statements and circumstances discussed in this press release, including the completion of the Transaction, may not occur or could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the Corporation, including (without limitation) risks regarding market conditions, economic factors, and the equity markets generally. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and, except as required by applicable securities laws, the Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, execution of a binding definitive agreement relating to the Transaction, completion of satisfactory due diligence, Exchange acceptance, completion of a private placement, receipt of requisite regulatory approvals, and if applicable pursuant to Exchange requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approvals, and any ancillary matters thereto, are obtained. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative. The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO THE U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/55709 A 31-year-old man from Menengai West in Rongai Sub-County, Nakuru County, Kenya on Saturday afternoon surrendered himself to police after allegedly killing his male neighbour, whom he suspected was dating his wife. Rongai deputy OCPD, Shadrack Magoha, told K24 Digital that the suspect, Julius Kipkemboi Kiplagat, confessed to killing Kipkemboi Tomno, after establishing that Tomno was sleeping with his (suspects) wife. He said he had conducted thorough investigations into his wifes alleged relationship with the deceased, and that he had ascertained beyond any form of doubt that the neighbour was in a sexual relationship with his spouse, said Magoha. At around noon, Kiplagat left his home and went to Kipkembois place in the neighbourhood, where hacked him several times in the head and chest using a panga, said the deputy OCPD. He, thereafter, walked to Menengai West Police Station and confessed to murdering his love rival, said Magoha. The deputy OCPD did not reveal the age and marital status of the deceased. Magoha also shied away from revealing how the suspect went about investigations into his wifes alleged infidelity. The body of Kipkemboi was moved to Nakuru County Mortuary as investigations continue. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates AURORA, IL Aurora Patch wants to share the achievements of local high school graduates by putting them in the spotlight over the next few weeks. Due to the coronavirus, in-person instruction has canceled the rest of the 2019-2020 school year in Illinois. We know these wonderful seniors are missing out on some of the last moments of the school year. We hope that this will give the community a way to share their pride in our Class of 2020 high school graduates. You can find the form here if you'd like to add your graduate. Patch will be updating this form until May 31. Here are few more of the Aurora Class of 2020 high school graduates: Micah Hett, West Aurora High School Micah plans to follow in his fathers footsteps and start a career in HVAC. Message from Micahs family: Micah, we are so proud of all that you accomplished so far. God has big plans for you, and we are excited to see where this next road leads! We love you so much: Mom, Dad, Clay and Eliie Marshawn Roberts, West Aurora High School Will be serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. Message from Marshawns family: Me and Your Father, are so proud of you. Geovanni Leana, West Aurora High School Message from Geovannis family: I want you to know that I'll always be supporting you and that heaven knows I'm proud of you. Grenda Machuca, Hope D. Wall School Message from Grendas family: Mi nina hermosa, no tengo palabras para decirte lo orgullosa que estoy de ti! Has llegado a la meta de la graduacion! Te ama mucho Glory Fernando Reyes, Marmion Academy Will be attending Loyla University Message from Fernandos family: I am so proud of my son for all his hard work and dedication and for graduating with honors from his high school. Nick Danos, Metea Valley Will be attending the University of Illinois at Chicago. Message from Nicks family: Congratulations Nick!! We are so excited and can't wait to see all that you accomplish over the next 4 years at UIC! We love you and are very proud of you!! Love Mom, Joel and Alex Story continues Lela Reid, Aurora Central Catholic High School Will be attending San Diego State University to pursue a business administration degree. Message from Lelas family: Congrats Lela, Mom and Dad are so proud of you. Your hard work has paid off. We love you and may God continue to bless you. Ivan Vazquez, West Aurora High School Will be serving in the U.S. Air Force. Message from Ivans family: Im so proud of the young man you are becoming. Congratulations my son! Tatiana Ocasio, East Aurora High School Will be attending Georgia State University to study criminal law. Message from Tatianas family: Tatiana, I am beyond proud of you. You have succeeded and now the future is all yours. Blessed to have you as my daughter and cant wait to see what your future brings. Love You More, Mommy Jasani Davenport, East Aurora High School Will be pursuing a career in criminal justice. Message from Jasanis family: We are so proud of you and everything you have achieved! You have always been a step a head of everything you do and have reached all your goals!! We love you!! This article originally appeared on the Aurora Patch Business leaders worldwide encouraged to attend a free bni online meeting CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With millions sheltering in place, businesses everywhere have been impacted. Now, more than ever, businesses need to network effectively to generate revenue. In response to these needs, BNI (Business Network International) the world's largest referral networking organization launched bni online, an innovative, online networking and referral platform to help business leaders connect and grow. Using the online platform, Members can easily meet every week to collaborate with others in their community without leaving the comforts of home. During these challenging times, BNI is inviting business leaders across the globe to attend a weekly online meeting free of charge for an inside look at the valuable resources bni online provides. "Having a trusted referral network is more critical than ever, and with the launch of bni online, we've provided the essential tools our Members need in order to successfully grow their business," said Graham Weihmiller, Chairman and CEO of BNI. "We have enhanced BNI's platform so businesses can thrive in any environment." During the month of April, Members generated nearly $1 billion in referred business through bni online. With over 9,500 chapters in 70 countries worldwide, BNI helps its 270,000 Members keep their businesses strong through weekly meetings and exclusive resources. BNI connects like-minded professionals to sharpen their networking skills and grow their businesses. In the last year, BNI helped Members generate over $16 billion in referred business. "BNI has quickly and successfully transitioned Members to the online platform, helping to lay the groundwork for their continued success," said Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of BNI. "Members can virtually share referrals, counsel on best practices and provide support. It's inspirational to see how the BNI community is coming together in a virtual world to support one another." For more information on bni online and how to attend an online meeting for free, visit https://bni.com/bnionline. About BNI BNI is the world's largest and most successful business networking organization in the world. BNI has over 270,000 Members who attend one of over 9,500 weekly chapter meetings in more than 70 countries around the globe. BNI's proven business networking platform provides its Members the ideal environment, technology, training and support to help them build strong businesses. Visit https://bni.com/bnionline for more information. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1062991/BNI_Logo.jpg Related Links https://bni.com/bnionline SOURCE BNI The Prime Minister suggested the phased reopening of schools could start on June 1, beginning with some of the youngest pupils in reception classes, year one and year six. But even this staggered approach sparked alarm, with the leader of the largest teaching union calling it reckless. Mr Johnson said that by June 1 we believe we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools, in stages, beginning with reception, Year One and Year Six. Officials made clear that nurseries would also be covered in the initial phase, and the hope was that all primary school children would return to class by the summer. For secondary school pupils, Mr Johnson said our ambition is that secondary pupils facing exams next year will get at least some time with their teachers before the holidays. That would allow pupils in years 10 and 12 to sit down with their teacher and assess their progress or discuss their concerns. But a senior official said that realistically there was no prospect of other secondary pupils returning to class before September. Teaching unions have criticised the plans with one raising concerns about how social distancing can be managed with younger children. Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said: We think that the announcement by the Government that schools may reopen from June 1 with reception and years one and six is nothing short of reckless. Coronavirus continues to ravage communities in the UK and the rate of Covid-19 infection is still far too great for the wider opening of our schools. Dr Bousted urged the Government to meet five tests set out by teaching unions, which includes extra money for deep cleaning and personal protective equipment (PPE) and local powers to close schools if clusters of Covid-19 infections break out in a particular area. If schools are re-opened to blatant breaches of health and safety, we will strongly support our members taking steps to protect their pupils, their colleagues and their families, she added. The worst outcome of any wider re-opening of schools is a second spike of Covid-19 infection. Taking a similar stance, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that social distancing is extremely difficult with children in reception and year one. We are not trying to impede the reopening of schools, he said. Throughout the crisis we have highlighted the importance of bringing in more pupils when the time is right to do so and there is a clear plan in place to manage it safely. Unfortunately, we are not persuaded that either of these two simple tests has yet been met. Schools and colleges closed their doors to the majority of pupils, apart from the children of key workers and vulnerable youngsters, from March 23. Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Layla Moran said: The Prime Ministers announcement today raises more questions than it answers on reopening schools, like how will social distancing be maintained with the youngest pupils? Its nonsensical. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 17:07:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua)-- China is mulling over supporting foreign banks to gain access to fund custody service in the Chinese market, in a move to further open up the financial sector, according to a draft revision of fund custody rules issued by the country's top securities regulator. Eligible domestic branches of foreign banks would be able to apply for the permit for fund custody business, said the draft rules disclosed to solicit public opinions by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Besides general entry requirements, applicant branches for the permit should have been in operation for at least three years with good performance and asset quality, as well as enough working capital to match with the scale of the planned fund custody business, according to the draft revision. As for financial performance requirements such as net assets, which were revised down to 20 billion yuan (about 2.82 billion U.S. dollars) in the new version, the draft suggested using performance indicators of the applicants' headquarters overseas. The draft also improved regulatory measures over fund custodian banks to stem risks through ways including having headquarters of foreign banks bear civil liability for their Chinese branches, as well as specifying requirements on cross-border information system deployment and cross-border flow of data. The revision marks a further step in China's financial opening-up to further boost foreign banks' participation in the Chinese securities and fund market, Shanghai Securities News reported, citing remarks from HSBC Bank (China), which is looking forward to gaining access to the fund custody business in the domestic market. Liao Zhiming, an analyst with Tianfeng Securities, said the move is unlikely to impact on the domestic banking sector but to encourage benign competition and bring in more funds to the capital market. Enditem Rob Fullmer has been on leave since January from his job as an IT specialist at Portland State University to run in a three-person race for an open seat in the Oregon House. He expected to spend months going door-to-door for votes and did for a while. Those were all good conversations, and Im glad I had them, Fullmer said of his early months of door knocking before the coronavirus halted in-person interactions and turned campaign norms inside out. Now I find myself cold calling people, which is just not the same. In the weeks since the coronavirus outbreak began, candidates say theyve had to ditch plans to canvas neighborhoods, host in-person fundraisers and pass out pamphlets, stickers and buttons to elevate their campaigns. Many Portland-area candidates on the 2020 primary ballot for city, state and county races are running for the first time. They worry the lack of in-person voter outreach could particularly affect the outcomes of races where some candidates have name recognition. Some candidates say the coronavirus has also cut into the ability to raise money for mailers or ads. Potential donors whove seen their jobs disappear, their businesses threatened and the economy implode arent inclined to open their wallets, especially for large donations, candidates say. But some candidates say theyve found an unexpected silver lining in the new socially distanced form of campaigning: People stuck at home and largely isolated from friends and co-workers are picking up the phone and agreeing to talk to politicians. Laurie Wimmer, a longtime lobbyist for the statewide teachers union running as a Democrat for the same House seat that Fullmer is seeking entered the race knowing your field program is the most important element. To Wimmers surprise, however, telephoning voters has achieved a level of engagement that pretty closely mirrors the level of door knocking. One older man Wimmer called turned out to be at the Portland Veterans Administration Hospital, where he could not receive visitors. My call in to him ended up being a conversation about a lot of things that were not about my campaign, Wimmer said. Dr. Lisa Reynolds, a pediatrician and another Democrat running in House District, said she has found that connecting with voters over the phone is easier under the states stay-home order because more people are at home. Reynolds said the topics voters want to discuss have shifted. Its all COVID-19, all the time, as it should be, said Reynolds, for whom discussing the disease comes naturally due to her experience as a physician. It almost feels disingenuous to talk about anything else, even though I have lots of thoughts and plans on other things. For many candidates, free digital platforms such as Zoom and Facebook have become key gateways to voters through virtual debates, phone banks and social media. But Margot Black, a first-time candidate in an 18-candidate race for a Portland City Council seat said she has found it difficult to engage voters not already in her own network on social media. Margot Black, Portland City Council candidate and co-chair of nonprofit Portland Tenants United, speaks during a news conference in downtown Portland on March 13, 2020 where the group and others called for a moratorium on rental evictions during the coronavirus pandemic. When social media is really the main way that you can get feedback, you can kind of create these bubbles where you really think everyone already knows about you, she said. Knocking on doors is a really excellent way to remember that they definitely dont know you, but when you cant knock on doors, its a little harder to gauge if youre really reaching people. Jack Miller, a Portland State University political science professor, said that lack of in-person connection can hamper first-time candidates ability to connect with voters. So much of politics is face-to-face interaction to get people you dont know to trust you with their support, and much of that is gone for now, he said. Theres an energy and enthusiasm to campaigning that cant be matched over a Zoom chat or campaign literature. Times of crisis amplify the spotlight on incumbents in both good and bad ways, Miller said. Failure to act effectively and use the power of their office could put a larger target on the incumbents back, but as an elected leader, they have more opportunities to reach voters, he said. The incumbent has a platform not available to those who dont already hold office, Miller said. If youre the mayor of Portland, youre going to get invited to go on TV and talk about what the city is doing to face this crisis. If youre one of the dozen or so challengers, no ones calling you and asking you what youre doing for the city. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler speaks at a press conference about the city's coronavirus response. Dave Killen/staffDave Killen/The Oregonian Incumbent Mayor Ted Wheeler has appeared often during widely covered news conferences about how the city is addressing the coronavirus outbreak, sometimes appearing beside the governor and once appearing with a backdrop of first-responders at a firehouse. Ozzie Gonzalez, one of 18 candidates challenging Wheeler as he seeks a second term, said he has focused on his campaign website and social media to inform voters about his vision for the city in the absence of door-to-door campaigning and in-person debates. Portland mayoral candidate and ecologist Ozzie Gonzalez participated in a Portland mayoral candidate debate, hosted by Columbia Corridor Association, on Feb. 26, 2020. Dave Killen / staffDave Killen Hes also had to shift his strategy regarding fundraising to ask for much smaller amounts than he would have in a booming economy. He said the coronavirus pandemic has evaporated the business of his own consulting firm, so he understands the challenges voters and potential donors face. Im not out trying to ask people to give $500, even though some of these individuals I might have asked for that level months ago, Gonzalez said. Now, Im saying, Hey, if youve got fifty bucks that you might be able to push my way right now, itd be much appreciated. Everyone is struggling right now. Black said she planned to rely heavily on small donations matched by the citys public campaign finance system. But many would-be donors have lost their jobs and have no other source of income, she said Some candidates and campaign managers say the shift to digital campaigning may, however, have brought them unexpected returns. Gregory McKelvey, campaign manager for Portland mayoral candidate Sarah Iannarone, said donations were higher in April than in March. He said he suspects people are spending more time on their phones, which he said is where many of the donations came from. Portland mayoral candidate and urban policy maker Sarah Iannarone participated in a Portland mayoral candidate debate, hosted by Columbia Corridor Association, the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. Dave Killen / staff - Portland mayoral debate Dave KillenDave Killen The emphasis on digital campaigning has allowed Iannarone to contact more people than she could physically, McKelvey said. As of April, he said, the campaign had sent around 60,000 texts to supporters and made around 15,000 calls through virtual phone banking sessions. Its been more efficient in how many people we can reach, but its less efficient in identifying our actual supporters or persuading people who may be on the fence, McKelvey said. Keith Wilson, a candidate for a Portland City Council seat, saw the effects of the pandemic two months after he entered the race. As revenue and production fell at his trucking company, he shifted his focus more heavily to the business. He estimated that he spent 80% of his time on that through March but increased his work on his campaign in April as the election drew nearer. He said he has relied on questionnaires and virtual town halls during which candidates debate specific topics, such as homelessness and climate change. Wilson is one of seven candidates trying to unseat incumbent Chloe Eudaly, who was elected in 2016. There is nothing traditional in a crisis, Wilson said. I wish I could do more so the city could have a more discernible choice between the key candidates, but you have to take it one day at a time. Its still too early to know how the coronavirus pandemic might reshape campaigning in the long term, said Miller, the Portland State political scientist. In April 2021, are people going to want to see people with campaign literature walking up to their porch and knocking on their door? he asked. Tera Hurst, a candidate in the same large-field race for a Portland City Council seat as Black, the uncertainty of the coronavirus outbreak has left few people willing to commit to some forms of volunteering. But the pandemic has also created new ways for people to volunteer. Hurst said a friend recently hosted a virtual house party that 14 people attended. Meet-and-greets are held over online video platforms, and hosts invite people to chat with candidates. You cant think about it as, There are 600,000 plus people in Portland, and Im never going to get through them all, Hurst said. Its about having as many good conversations as you can and hoping for the best. Mark Hass, a Democratic state senator and advertising account manager from Beaverton, said he also has replaced house parties with videoconference parties as he runs for secretary of state. Its a little bit more novel and a little bit more fun, Hass said. You go through that thing Cant hear you, unmute yourself. State Sen. Shemia Fagan, from left, former congressional candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner and state Sen. Mark Hass are competing for their party's nomination in the May primary. Hass is one of three Democrats vying to be on their partys ticket in November. Theres just one serious contender for the Republican nomination, state Sen. Kim Thatcher of Keizer. The two other Democrats in the race, Sen. Shemia Fagan and natural resources consultant Jamie McLeod-Skinner, have made the impact of coronavirus a central feature of their campaigns by recording interviews with people about how the virus is impacting Oregonians. McLeod-Skinner, who lives outside Terrebonne in central Oregon, said online campaigning has some benefits for rural voters. It really opens things up to folks who live in really remote parts of the state to get better access to candidates, she said. Fagan said she had always planned to run a digital-focused campaign. She has used Facebook Live to update constituents during her commutes to the Capitol, started a podcast in 2019 and has made podcasting part of her campaign. Thats just adjusting as we go and being flexible to make sure voters get the information they need to make an informed choice, Fagan said. Black, the Portland City Council candidate, said she is also learning to be flexible with her own expectations. Months ago, she envisioned she would be surrounded by family and friends on primary election night. If I get through to the general or not, I want to be with my friends when that happens because its going to be emotional and important, she said. How do I have that kind of party over Zoom? Everton Bailey Jr; ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 | @EvertonBailey Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Just seven weeks have passed since some 27 million of us tuned in to watch Boris Johnsons announcement that Britain was entering lockdown. Yet today the mood could hardly be more different. When the Prime Minister addressed the nation on March 23, there was, amid the shock and anxiety, a palpable sense of national unity. As he told us at the time, we were all enlisted in a national campaign against coronavirus. And for a few weeks, at least, old enmities were put aside, as the British people rallied to meet the challenge. Were often told that we are a uniquely greedy and selfish lot. But the behaviour of millions of ordinary Britons in the past few weeks says otherwise. The Prime Minister is pictured above delivering a TV address to the nation on Sunday night But nobody could say the same about the reaction to his latest national address on Sunday night. Mr Johnson had barely finished before the whingeing and backbiting started. Yesterdays airwaves, from the BBCs news output to the glossier breakfast shows, were full of little else. Threat The basic message was, apparently, too complicated for our puny minds. The Scots didnt like it. Neither did the Welsh, or the Northern Irish. The exit strategy was too fast; the exit strategy was too slow. In other words, nothing was right. Some of this, I suppose, was inevitable, and the Government only has itself to blame. In recent days its communications strategy has strayed off course, with mixed messages and a lamentable vagueness. Having spent the past few weeks moaning that the Government was not treating people like adults, Mr Starmer toured TV stations yesterday complaining that the new advice was too complicated Yesterday, there was confusion about some of the fundamentals, such as when the new measures will come into force and how they will be implemented (later clarified in a 50-page document). Theres a wider point we must acknowledge, too. At the start of the crisis, ministers were keen to stress that we were all in it together, confronting the same threat and shouldering the same burden. But as the data now being accumulated shows, that was at best only half true. By its very nature, the virus has divided us by age, race, gender and even class. It leaves the young virtually untouched, but scythes through the elderly with pitiless cruelty. If you have an underlying health condition, or are fat and unfit, then you have extra reason to worry. If you are black or of Asian origin, you are more likely to succumb than if you are white. If youre a man, you are far more likely to need treatment than if youre a woman. And as its easier for middle-class professionals to work from home than, say, frontline care workers, transport workers or those in the building trade, its hard to deny that theres a class division, too. The basic message was, apparently, too complicated for our puny minds. The Scots didnt like it. Neither did the Welsh, or the Northern Irish. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is pictured above All of that said, it has been heartening to see how society has come together to transcend these differences. Were often told that we are a uniquely greedy and selfish lot. But the behaviour of millions of ordinary Britons in the past few weeks says otherwise. That is not the case for everybody, though. For while the crisis has illuminated the generosity of countless quiet, unsung people, it has also shone an unsparing light on the fault lines running through our political culture. To take merely the most obvious example, it seems barely believable that while the British government has moved on to the Stay alert message, the Scottish government vociferously refuses to do so. Its true that for a few weeks Nicola Sturgeon put on a show of national unity, but all the time she was clearly itching to revert to type. She is like the scorpion in the Russian fable, which stings the frog carrying it across a river, even though it means they will both drown. Its in her nature to foster division and rancour, and she cant help it. Much the same is true of the new Labour leader, Keir Starmer. Having spent the past few weeks moaning that the Government was not treating people like adults, Mr Starmer toured TV stations yesterday complaining that the new advice was too complicated. Like Ms Sturgeon, he seems determined to oppose merely for the sake of it. What neither of them has the honesty to admit, though, is the intractable difficulty of the Governments position. If we come out of lockdown too soon, there is a terrible risk of provoking a second spike in the virus. For example, in Germany the European nation judged to have best-handled the virus a recent relaxation of the lockdown has seen the infections reproduction rate surge back above 1, the level at which cases rise exponentially. We cant afford a similar scenario here, hence the slow progression out of lockdown, rather than a soaring leap. Yet at the same time, life has to go on. We didnt go into lockdown during the Spanish flu pandemic a century ago. This decision came at a human cost, but it was right all the same. Now, as then, we cant stay in hibernation for ever. The longer the economy remains becalmed, the more damage we suffer in the long run, with severe repercussions for NHS funding and public health further down the line. Crisis Is there an easy answer to this? No, of course not. No government since 1945 has faced such a colossal challenge. Indeed, in some ways the virus is a much more daunting adversary than the Nazis, because of the sheer complexity of tackling it on so many fronts. Yes, of course the Government has made mistakes, most notably on testing, the provision of PPE and management of the care homes crisis. But Spain, Italy, Belgium and even the U.S. havent got it right either. For example, in Germany the European nation judged to have best-handled the virus a recent relaxation of the lockdown has seen the infections reproduction rate surge back above 1, the level at which cases rise exponentially. The town of Luneburg in Lower Saxony, Germany is pictured above Yet those self-appointed critics pounce on every fresh set of casualty figures as proof of Mr Johnsons supposed criminal callousness. Constructive criticism? Hardly. Morbid glee, more like. At first, I wondered how people could be so tastelessly cynical. But then I noticed that many of these great experts on tackling pandemics are precisely the same people who, a year ago, were loudly predicting that Mr Johnson would never get a new deal from the EU, and that Jeremy Corbyn was poised to lead us into a socialist utopia. In the past few days, it has become blindingly obvious that they have never got over their humiliation in the General Election, and see the current emergency as an opportunity to sow division and promote their infantile brand of Left-wing extremism. Whining If you doubt it, catch up with the BBCs shamelessly partisan Panorama programme from a few weeks ago, where the producers lined up a series of Left-wing medics and nurses every one a Labour activist or supporter to bash the Government. I believe that the vast majority of us recognise that the Government is muddling along in the most challenging of circumstances. Most of us also recognise that, even when were out of lockdown, the road to recovery will be long and arduous. But if we are fractious and divided even before we set off, then the journey will be a thousand times more difficult. So with VE Day so fresh in the mind, perhaps ministers should revive one of the most famous poster campaigns from the wartime struggle. There were various pictures, but the slogan was always the same: Careless Talk Costs Lives. And perhaps the critics and conspiracy theorists should take a moment to reflect on those words then have the decency to stop whining. As for the controversial Stay alert message well, after weeks of complaining that ministers werent treating us like grown-ups, its a bit rich to start moaning when they do! The coronavirus lockdown is turning many people against Instagram influencers. Some of Australia's biggest celebrities are losing thousands of followers a day as they continue to spruik endless products during the COVID-19 pandemic. WAG Rebecca Judd has lost 1,512 fans in the past seven days after sharing multiple branded posts, according to stats collected by analytics website Social Blade. Unfollowed: The coronavirus lockdown is turning many people against Instagram influencers. Some of Australia's biggest celebrities are losing thousands of followers a day as they continue to spruik endless products during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pictured: Bec Judd 'Soz but I'll be spamming you until midnight this Sunday when my 25% off code expires,' Bec told fans last week, as she promoted a deal with a fashion brand. Bec also plugs her own activewear brand JAGGAD daily to her 865,461 fans. Meanwhile, former WAG Nadia Bartel has lost 1,243 followers in the last seven days. In recent weeks, the mother-of-two has partnered with brands such as Pandora and La Roche-Posay, endorsing each of them to her remaining 600,666 followers. In the red: WAG Rebecca Judd has lost 1,512 fans in the past seven days after sharing multiple branded posts, according to stats collected by analytics website Social Blade Too much? Former WAG Nadia Bartel has lost 1,243 followers in the last seven days alone. In recent weeks, Nadia has partnered with brands such as Pandora and La Roche-Posay Elsewhere, Phoebe Burgess gained three followers last Monday, but then lost 122 over the four days that followed, according to her Social Blade stats. Last week, Phoebe endorsed two different high-end fashion brands to her followers. It's a similar trajectory for the Married At First Sight stars. Up and down: Phoebe Burgess (pictured) gained three followers last Monday, but then lost 122 over the four days that followed, leaving her with 80,425, according to her Social Blade stats Fickle: Elizabeth Sobinoff (pictured) gained 479 followers last weekend, but then lost 603 across the four days that followed, leaving her with 304,729 fans at present Elizabeth Sobinoff gained 479 followers last weekend, but then lost 603 across the four days that followed, leaving her with 304,729 fans at present. Interestingly, Bindi Irwin is losing followers at a rapid rate. The Wildlife Warrior lost 2,923 followers from May 1-9, leaving her with 3,552,875 in total at present. She uses her page to plug Australia Zoo's merchandise, including a commemorate wedding candle for $49.95. Decline: Interestingly, Bindi Irwin (pictured) is losing followers at a rapid rate lately. The Wildlife Warrior lost 2,923 followers from May 1-9, leaving her with 3,552,875 in total at present Controversial: Bindi uses her page to plug Australia Zoo's merchandise, including a commemorate wedding candle for $49.95, which recently raised eyebrows among some According to Forbes, sharing too many sponsored posts or endorsements is 'a thin line to walk' for influencers who risk 'saturating' their profile and losing fans. 'Basically, as the saturation rate increases, there is a decrease in engagement from followers,' Forbes Councils Member Vivien Garnes explained. Tammy Hembrow appears to be proving this theory. She is still gaining thousands of fans a day, amassing 45,000 new followers in May so far, taking her total to 11,267,481. This is possibly down to the fact she keeps sponsored content to the bare minimum, mostly sharing family pictures and posing in raunchy bikinis instead. When Tammy does endorse a product, it is usually from one of her own businesses. She is the founder of brand Saski Collection and app Tammy Hembrow Fitness. Balance: According to Forbes, sharing too many sponsored posts or endorsements is 'a thin line to walk' for influencers, who risk 'saturating' their profile and losing fans and engagement THE WOODLANDS, Texas, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) was honored recently by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) with six Responsible Care Facility Safety Awards in recognition of the company's significant achievements in employee health and safety performance during 2019. Certificates of Honor recognize facilities that experienced zero fatalities, zero cases resulting in days away from work, and zero job transfer or restriction cases among employees, according to current Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines. Huntsman's manufacturing sites in McIntosh, Alabama, and Freeport, Texas, earned Certificates of Honor. Certificates of Excellence recognize the same among both employees and contractors. Huntsman's R&D locations in The Woodlands, Texas (Huntsman Advanced Technology Center) and Auburn Hills, Michigan, as well as production sites in East Lansing, Michigan, and Charlotte, North Carolina, received Certificates of Excellence. Ron Gerrard, Huntsman's Senior Vice President of Environmental, Health and Safety and Manufacturing Excellence, said: "Huntsman is, of course, pleased to receive such high honors from the ACC and beyond proud of our associates and contractors who dedicate themselves to working safely every day. It is their commitment to safety that contributed to this recognition and the excellent progress we have made over many years reducing our injury rate, in line with other ACC Responsible Care companies, to nearly four times lower than the latest U.S. chemical industry average." About Huntsman: Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2019 revenues of approximately $7 billion. Our chemical products number in the thousands and are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets. We operate more than 70 manufacturing, R&D and operations facilities in approximately 30 countries and employ approximately 9,000 associates within our four distinct business divisions. For more information about Huntsman, please visit the company's website at www.huntsman.com . Social Media: Twitter: www.twitter.com/Huntsman_Corp Facebook: www.facebook.com/huntsmancorp LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/huntsman Forward-Looking Statements: Certain information in this release constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations. The forward-looking statements in this release are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances and involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the company's operations, markets, products, services, prices and other factors as discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Huntsman companies' filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Significant risks and uncertainties may relate to, but are not limited to, volatile global economic conditions, cyclical and volatile product markets, disruptions in production at manufacturing facilities, reorganization or restructuring of Huntsman's operations, including any delay of, or other negative developments affecting the ability to implement cost reductions, timing of proposed transactions, and manufacturing optimization improvements in Huntsman businesses and realize anticipated cost savings, and other financial, economic, competitive, environmental, political, legal, regulatory and technological factors. The company assumes no obligation to provide revisions to any forward-looking statements should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by applicable laws. SOURCE Huntsman Corporation Related Links http://www.huntsman.com Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld has blamed Marvel for delaying a third film. The 52-year-old comic book creator suggested that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has neglected the franchise - which stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular superhero - since they acquired the rights to the character after Disney's purchase of 21st Century Fox. 'I blame Marvel... blame Marvel that it hasn't happened yet,' Rob told ComicBook.com. No love for this film? Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld has blamed Marvel for delaying a third film. The 52-year-old comic book creator suggested that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has neglected the franchise His big franchise: The film stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular superhero; seen in October 'They are the reason it isn't happening. Whatever conundrum or it didn't fit into your master plan, just commission it. Okay, commission it.' He also lacks 'faith' in Marvel and feels that the foul-mouthed superhero will not fit into the MCU, which focuses on family-friendly movies. Rob said: 'If Ryan isn't making Deadpool 3 right now, that's because Marvel hasn't allowed it to be yet and that's all I'm saying. 'So, do I have a lot of faith in that system? Dude, I have no idea. So this is where I'm not that, I'm not giving you the answers you want. I'm like yeah, yeah. Look if it happens, terrific.' The man behind the movie: Liefeld attends the Marvel Studios Captain Marvel premiere in 2019 in Hollywood Close pals: Rob with star Ryan on the set in Vancouver in 2015 Rob also expressed a desire to see Ryan star alongside Mark Ruffalo's Hulk in a film but is concerned about the effect that the Covid-19 pandemic will have on the MCU release schedule. He joked: 'How old am I gonna be when that happens? And literally I used to be like, yeah, Mark Ruffalo, Hulk and Deadpool would make for a funny movie right? 'But none of these guys are getting younger, right okay?' Ryan recently addressed the prospect of a third movie, suggesting there was 'infinite possibility' for the franchise. The 43-year-old actor explained: 'Deadpool was Fox and now it's in the hands of Marvel over at Disney. 'I see infinite possibility in either version. I think if Deadpool was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I think it would be explosive and amazing and what a sandbox to play in. If Deadpool continued just to be do his own thing and be his own thing, also just like infinite possibilities.' Patatas Panaderas (Spanish Potatoes with Olive Oil and Wine) How to Make Patatas Panaderas. Patatas Panaderas (Spanish Potatoes with Olive Oil and Wine) Patatas Panaderas (Spanish Potatoes with Olive Oil and Wine) Print With Image Without Image Yield: 6 servings Author: Karen Kerr These Spanish potatoes with olive oil and wine are such a simple dish to make, but the resulting flavor and creaminess will surely have you make this dish again and again. Ingredients: 2 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch slices 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 3 1/2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or 2 5/8 teaspoons Morton's kosher salt. 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 brown or sweet onion, halved, and thinly sliced 2 large cloves garlic, minced 1/2 cup dry white wine Instructions: Heat your oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, stir the potatoes and olive oil until the potatoes are totally coated. Add the salt and pepper and stir. Stir in the onion slices and the garlic. Pour the ingredients into a 13 inch by 9 inch baking dish and spread evenly. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake the potatoes for 40 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and remove the dish from the oven. Pour the wine over the potatoes. Lightly place the foil over the baking dish so that there is enough room on the sides for evaporation. Return the dish to the oven. Bake for an additional 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Calories 238.23 Fat (grams) 3.29 Sat. Fat (grams) 0.49 Carbs (grams) 45.26 Fiber (grams) 4.84 Net carbs 40.42 Sugar (grams) 5.20 Protein (grams) 5.28 Sodium (milligrams) 2181.77 Cholesterol (grams) 0.00 https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2020/05/patatas-panaderas-spanish-potatoes-with.html Karen's Kitchen Stories potatoes, patatas panaderas Side dish Spanish Did you make this recipe? Tag @KarensKitchenStories on instagram and hashtag it #KarensKitchenStories Created using The Recipes Generator These Spanish potatoes with olive oil and wine are such a simple dish to make, but the resulting flavor and creaminess will surely have you make this dish again and again.These patatas panaderas, or "bakers' potatoes," are super creamy tasting, and, even though they are baked in olive oil, they are not either crispy or oily. They are just tender and delicious.The ingredient list is simple, just potatoes, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, a thinly sliced onion, garlic, and dry white wine. Yet, the results are so delicious.In Spain, they use Monalisa and Alava potatoes to make patatas panaderas (source: Cook's Illustrated, September, 2019). Since these are not readily available in the U.S., I used Yukon Gold potatoes. they are so buttery, and they are neither too waxy or too starchy.It always amazes me how the potato, a native of the western hemisphere, traveled to Europe (Spain and the British Isles) in the 16th century. It quickly became a staple, replacing the turnip and rutabaga, as it was cheap, filling, and easy to store.One of my favorite Spanish takes on the potato is Patatas Bravas , a dish often served at tapas bars. Plus, don't forget the Spanish tortilla, an egg and potato dish, also served as a tapa.These potatoes are a Spanish side dish (at least if I can still read Spanish... it may be an appetizer...). While they may look similar to scalloped potatoes, they are not quite the same. First, there is no milk, butter, or flour. Second, they are not at all crispy on top.P.S.Scalloped potatoes don't include cheese. Those are au gratin potatoes.The secret to the unique flavor of these potatoes is the wine. Once you have baked these potatoes in the olive oil, you add a half cup of dry white wine and continue to bake the potatoes until the wine has evaporated.The wine flavor remains and is concentrated in the potatoes.It's really good.First, peel and thinly slice the potatoes. Toss in some thinly sliced onions, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and pepper, and minced garlic.Next, place the potato mixture into a 13 inch by 9 inch baking pan, cover it with foil, and bake at 400 degrees F for about 40 minutes.After that, add the wine and loosely cover the pan with the foil.Finally, reduce the heat of the oven and continue to bake the potatoes for an additional 20 minutes.If you entertain, I highly recommend that you try these potatoes. I'm pretty sure you will be adding these potatoes to your entertaining and dinner party regular rotation.Everyone will adore them. Plus, they are so reliable.This month the Baking Bloggers are baking recipes from Spain! Check out everyone's links!These baked Spanish potatoes are so soft and tender, and totally delicious.This recipe was adapted from Cook's Illustrated, November/October, 2019. Qantas has warned that tickets on its domestic flights will be very expensive unless it gets a waiver on social distancing regulations and is allowed to sell all seats on its planes when flights resume. Last month the airline restricted passengers from sitting in the middle seat in domestic travel so as to provide some space between travellers, to reduce the chances of a spread of COVID-19. But Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said there has been little evidence of passenger to passenger transmission on the limited flights during the lockdown and keeping seats empty would only increase the price for patrons. Mr Joyce pointed out that the federal government approved full planes on repatriation flights returning Australians from India. 'We just need to get those practices that are on those charter flights into the domestic operation, which is our intent,' Mr Joyce told the ABC's 7.30. Qantas banned passengers from sitting in the middle seat after a photo of a packed flight from Townsville to Brisbane went viral last month 'Even if you take the middle seat as being empty, that's 60 centimetres. The social distancing rules are supposed to be 1.5 metres. If you did that, you'd have very few people on an aircraft and the airfares would have to be very high.' Qantas was lobbying government for social distancing rules to be exempt on domestic aircraft once restrictions are relaxed. Mr Joyce said measures such as thorough cleaning of the aircraft would help passengers feel 'confident' to travel. 'There's been no known transmission of COVID-19 passenger to passenger or passenger to crew, and there's huge tracking been done on that in this country,' he said. Last week the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said leaving the middle seat vacant would have heavy financial impacts and should not be recommended. Planes need to have 77 per cent of seats filled in order for the airline to break even, says the IATA. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said there is little evidence to show passenger to passenger transmission of COVID-19 on board planes Social distancing would mean airfares would need to rise by 54 per cent in the Asia Pacific region just to keep an airline afloat, the association claims. Qantas' ban on middle seats followed the surfacing of a photo in mid-April showing a packed flight from Townsville in far north Queensland to Brisbane. No one was wearing a face mask on the one hour and 45 minute flight. 'This is a on a flight from North Queensland to Brisbane today for work. What kind of social distancing is this?' the passenger captioned the photo that was shared to Twitter. Virgin Australia also blocked off seats to allow distance between passengers on domestic flights. Air New Zealand said only around half the seats would be filled after resuming domestic flights to ensure social distancing. Elon Musk just said he was planning to break the law. Musk just tweeted that he and Tesla intend to disobey public health orders and restart work at the electric car company's Fremont, California factory today. Earlier today, California governor Gavin Newsom said it was too soon and that Tesla would likely be given the go-ahead sometime next week. Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2020 Musk: Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me. Previously at Boing Boing: Elon Musk to CA factory employees: Back to work. Gov. Newsom: This may violate public health order Tesla sues California over coronavirus factory closure Tesla to reopen Fremont factory Friday, despite ongoing coronavirus lockdown Elon Musk has learned that public freakouts are more profitable to his brand than good faith behaviorshttps://t.co/ReEwcFGCgr tc (@chillmage) May 11, 2020 Elon Musk says Tesla is resuming production of cars at its factory outside San Francisco in defiance of local orders that the plant remain shut down https://t.co/NWaXImcNkx The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 11, 2020 JUST IN: Elon Musk says Tesla has restarted production at one of its Calif. factories "against Alameda County rules" https://t.co/zmtMZCCe1e CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) May 11, 2020 Rosa Parks, but with a Tesla, everybody! https://t.co/qt8adu9LWU Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) May 11, 2020 Australian PM Hopes Chinas Barley Probe Isnt Retaliation for Virus Investigation Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refuted claims that Chinas proposed barley levy is a response from the communist regime for Australias efforts to gather international support for an investigation into the origins and handling of the CCP virus. For the past 18 months, China has been investigating, through its version of an anti-dumping commission, whether Australia was dumping barley into its market in order to gain a larger market share in China. Australian farmers have accused China of intentionally dragging out the investigation for political reasons. Because barley trade has been an ongoing issue between Australia and China, Morrison thinks we have to be careful not to draw lines between the levy and the virus inquiry, he said at a press conference in Canberra on May 11. We would expect and hope that this issue is determined on its merits, said Morrison. They havent raised it connected to any other issues, Id be disappointed if it was. Morrison said the level of trade in barley dropped by over a billion dollars since China began its investigation. Australias Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham, Indonesia, March 4, 2019. (Willy Kurniawan/Reuters) The Chinese regimes investigation is scheduled to conclude next week, around the same time as the highly-anticipated World Health Assembly (starting May 18), where the European Union is expected to propose an investigation into the CCP virus origins. The trade minister Simon Birmingham has maintained that the Australian government is confident that there is no clear evidence that Australia has been propping up the barley industry in order to distort trade with China. Australia sent about $165 million worth of barley to China in 2018, so its big business, Birmingham told 5AA radio on May 11. Considering the trade value with China and the current diplomatic tensions, Birmingham clarified that we want to make sure that this is concluded based on the evidence rather than clouded by any other issues. Unlike the prime minister and trade minister, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce is convinced the barley levy is politically motivated. This is a case of payback, he told Seven Networks Sunrise on May 11, adding that the investigation of the CCP virus, commonly known as coronavirus is justified. Senator Sarah Henderson commented on Twitter saying, Chinas threats of economic coercion are extremely regrettable. Our reputation as an agricultural producer is 2nd to none. There is no anti-dumping issue & its not in anyones interests to impose a tariff on barley. We stand with our farmers. Chinas threats of economic coercion are extremely regrettable. Our reputation as an agricultural producer is 2nd to none. There is no anti-dumping issue & its not in anyones interests to impose a tariff on barley. We stand with our farmers. @australian https://t.co/h3xIGE4Gsp Senator Sarah Henderson (@SenSHenderson) May 10, 2020 The Australian government has been calling for an inquiry into the origins and handling of the CCP virus outbreak for some weeks in an effort to better understand how it was able to spread from Wuhan, China, and therefore to better counter such pandemics in the future. As such, health minister Greg Hunt said the government will back a European Union motion for an independent investigation that will be tabled on May 18. We support the EU motion which includes an independent investigation, regulatory work on wet markets and also the potential for independent inspection powers, Hunt told Sky News on May 10. But such an examination sparked a harsh response from the Chinese regime. We need to make sure that we hold firm in terms of our positions around Australias national interests, our national security, protect our sovereignty, ensure that we stand firm for Australian values and principles, said Birmingham. As the Indian Railways resumes its passenger services on Tuesday, the first train chugging out of New Delhi at 4pm for Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh will mark the end of the national transporter's longest absence from its regular services in its 167-year-old history. The New Delhi railway station, in the heart of the city, will see the departure of three special trains for Dibrugarh, Bengaluru and Bilaspur on Tuesday, around 50 days after a nationwide lockdown caused suspension of all passenger train services. The same day, five other trains bound for Delhi will leave from Patna, Bengaluru, Howrah, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the railways said. While its regular passenger services were stopped, several Shramik Special trains have run over the last week to transport thousands of migrant workers to their home states. Northern Railways said in a statement that entry to New Delhi station will be allowed only from Paharganj side for all confirmed ticket holders and no entry for passengers will be permitted from the Ajmeri Gate side. For now, the railways has issued a timetable for trains to be run between May 12 and May 20. These trains will have only AC classes i.e. first, second and third AC. The fare structure will be as applicable for the Rajdhani trains (excluding catering charges). On May 13, eight trains will depart from the national capital for Howrah, Rajendra Nagar, Jammu Tawi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Ranchi, Mumbai Central and Ahmedabad. Another train will leave Bhubaneswar for New Delhi. On May 14, the only train leaving New Delhi will head for Bhubaneswar, while one train each will leave Dibrugarh, Jammu Tawi, Bilaspur and Ranchi for the national capital. On May 15, a train each will leave Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai Central for New Delhi while one bound for Madgaon will depart from Delhi. As per the timetable, no train is scheduled on May 16 and May 19. May 17 will see two services - Madgaon to New Delhi and New Delhi to Secunderabad. The only train scheduled on May 18 is from Agartala to New Delhi, while two trains scheduled on May 20 are from New Delhi to Agartala and Secunderabad to New Delhi. Officials said, as per the guidelines, the e-ticket issued by IRCTC will work as an e-pass for the movement of drivers to and from the station to pick or drop passengers. Bookings will be available only on the IRCTC website (www.irctc.co.in) for general quota passengers, while bare minimum reservation counters will be open on the routes of these special train for parliamentarians, freedom fighters and others who can book their tickets there. Concessions can only be availed by patients, students and people with disabilities while no concessions for senior citizens are applicable. Railways has also earmarked reservation quota of two berths in 3AC for Divyangjans and two berths in 1AC and four berths in 2AC for sitting and former parliamentarians. Initially, the railways announced booking of tickets on the IRCTC website on Monday from 4 pm, but the website crashed due to huge traffic. The services of the portal resumed around 6 pm and in 20 minutes, the Howrah-New Delhi train was booked. By 9.15 pm Monday, approximately 30,000 PNRs had been generated and tickets were issued to more than 54,000 passengers for the next seven days. Officials said all passengers arriving at the Delhi railway station would have to abide by the health protocols as prescribed by the state government. On arrival at the destination, the passengers will have to adhere to health protocols prescribed by the destination state/UT, they said. Under normal circumstances, the New Delhi railway station is one of the busiest stations in the country. A total of 351 trains arrive/depart from this station daily with a footfall of more than 5.20 lakh passengers each day. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A plea was filed in the Delhi High Court on Monday seeking direction for forthwith transfer from Delhi Police to NIA the investigation of a case lodged against Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad for holding a congregation of the organisation's followers in alleged violation of the orders against large gatherings to contain the spread of coronavirus. The petition, which was mentioned in the high court for urgent hearing and has been listed on May 13, said Delhi Police has failed to arrest the leader despite the lapse of considerable time. Filed by Mumbai-based lawyer Ghanshyam Upadhyay, the plea sought direction to the Centre, Delhi government and Delhi Police Commissioner to hand over the probe from the Crime Branch to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which should investigate the matter in a time bound manner and the probe be monitored by the high court. The plea, filed through advocate Yash Chaturvedi, alleged that from media reports and evidence so far collected by Delhi Police Crime Branch, it is now axiomatic that Maulana Saad and his henchmen conspired to spread and transmit coronavirus in different parts of the country, with oblique and ulterior motive of causing massive deaths all over the country and thereby to derail the Government of India in preventing the deadly disease. Delhi Police's crime branch had on March 31 lodged an FIR against seven persons, including the cleric, on a complaint by Station House Officer of Nizamuddin police station here for holding a congregation of Tablighi Jamaat followers in alleged violation of the orders against large gatherings to contain the spread of coronavirus. The Enforcement Directorate has also filed a money laundering case against Saad, trusts links to the Jamaat and others. The plea alleged that the acts of omission and commission of Saad and his associates/ Tabligi Jamaat constitute terrorist acts/activities as defined under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and claimed that the Delhi Police has failed to arrest the leader despite lapse of considerable time. It is a matter of record that local police, that is, Crime Branch is found to have miserably failed in tracing out/apprehending/arresting Maulana Saad, despite lapse of considerable time and his photograph being published in electronic media. It is virtually impossible for Maulana Saad to hide himself for such a long time and that too in the capital of the country. Performance of Delhi Police has been pathetic from the very inception and outset. Failure of the Delhi police is explicit from the fact that despite there being lockdown and curfew like situation, Maulana Saad was able to arrange gathering of thousands of people belonging to Tabiligi Jamaat in the capital of India, it claimed. It said people of Tablighi Jamaat have been spreading the deadly virus all over the country not only by defying the national lockdown, also by assaulting corona warriors who have been treating the patients. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) [May 11, 2020] Prysmian Wins Again - Securing Over 500M Contract for A-Nord Power Cable Link in Germany MILAN, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Prysmian Group (MI: PRY), world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, has been awarded a contract by Amprion GmbH, the German grid operator, for the A-Nord underground cable connection, part of the 2GW German Corridor "A" electricity transmission project. Worth over 500 million, Prysmian are to design, manufacture, supply, lay, joint, test and commission a 1GW underground cable system along the entire Northern route of this German Corridor. "This award, almost coinciding with the recent SuedOstLink project award, also in Germany, recognises yet again our commitment in the development and upgrading of power grids to support the energy transition. It is a source of great satisfaction to see that our undeniable know-how, project execution and innovation capabilities are gaining full acknowledgment," said Valerio Battista, CEO of Prysmian Group. Prysmian will deliver a fully qualified 525 kV high voltage DC (Direct Current) cable system consisting of copper cables, insulated with their own proprietary P-Laser technology, complete with a separate insulated metallic return cable. The Group will provide all related accessories and integrated PRY-CAM monitoring system, carrying out the design and installation works with a dedicated local project engineering and management team. The route, with a total length of around 300 km, runs from Emden in ower Saxony to Osterath in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Construction of the HVDC system is scheduled to commence within 2023. "We are delighted to be working with Amprion on this project: the A-Nord project will be one of the main arteries of the German transmission grid, connecting the key generation sites in Northern regions, characterised by many onshore and offshore wind energy sources, to southern regions, especially in west Germany, where more conventional power plant capacities are located," stated Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects BU, Prysmian Group. P-Laser, Prysmian's fully recyclable, eco-friendly high-performance cable technology based on HPTE (High Performance Thermoplastic Elastomer), is suited for the highest voltage levels, being able to deliver enhanced thermal performance, high intrinsic reliability and higher environmental credentials compared to more conventional technologies. Prysmian Group Prysmian Group is a world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry. With almost 140 years of experience, sales exceeding 11 billion, about 29,000 employees in over 50 countries and 106 plants, the Group is strongly positioned in high-tech markets and offers the widest possible range of products, services, technologies and know-how. It operates in the businesses of underground and submarine cables and systems for power transmission and distribution, of special cables for applications in many different industries and of medium and low voltage cables for the construction and infrastructure sectors. For the telecommunications industry, the Group manufactures cables and accessories for voice, video and data transmission, offering a comprehensive range of optical fibres, optical and copper cables and connectivity systems. Prysmian is a public company, listed on the Italian Stock Exchange in the FTSE MIB index. Media Relations Lorenzo Caruso Corporate and Business Communications Director [email protected] +39 02 6449.1 Investor Relations Cristina Bifulco Investor Relations Director [email protected] +39 02 6449.1 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/prysmian-wins-again---securing-over-500m-contract-for-a-nord-power-cable-link-in-germany-301056675.html SOURCE Prysmian S.p.A [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] We hold this truth to be self-evident: The murder of Ahmaud Arbery was a lynching to use Bryan Stevensons definition, as a racially-motivated act of violence committed by two or more people where there was no accountability and it only takes one careful viewing of the Feb. 23 shooting on video to label it as such. But what makes it more terrifying is that an elected law enforcement official in 21st century Georgia a state that has had 594 documented lynchings between 1877 and 1950 gave it his official endorsement after watching footage of this murder with impunity more than two months ago. Clearly, without the videotape that went viral Tuesday, there would have been no attempt at justice, and it was only Thursday night that charges were finally brought. If not for this gargantuan mess of a truth bomb being posted on a radio station website incandescent evidence that even Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp called absolutely horrific this case would still be nailed shut. Because the proof is laid out in just 36 gut-wrenching seconds: A black man out for a casual jog was chased and then cut off by a pickup truck, and two white men with big guns one of them a former DA investigator then shot Arbery three times as Arbery tried to protect himself. The justification, their defense goes, is that the 25-year-old jogger resembled a burglary suspect. That was enough for George Barnhill, the local District Attorney, whose handling of this case is textbook Southern racial justice. NEWS: Graphic video appears to show Ahmaud Arbery, 25 of GA., whose family says he was out for a run, confronted by 2 men who shot him dead saying they thought he was a burglar. A prosecutor wants a grand jury to decide whether the men should be charged. pic.twitter.com/kEYYJW7UlM David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) May 5, 2020 Though he had seen the video that has since outraged the nation, Barnhill sent an April 2 letter to the head of the Glynn County Investigation Division that teeters on parody, as he explains why there was insufficient probable cause to arrest Greg McMichael and Travis McMichael, the father and son in the pickup truck. Barnhill wrote that the McMichaels had solid firsthand probable cause to hold this criminal suspect until law enforcement arrived because under Georgia Law this is perfectly legal. Actually, its not. The statute authorizing citizens arrests in Georgia states that a private person may arrest an offender if the offense is committed in his presence or within his immediate knowledge. The McMichaels admit they saw neither. Note that after watching the video and having no evidence of a crime other than a joggers skin color, Barnhill still called Arbery a criminal suspect. This letter from DA George Barnhill claiming insufficient probable cause for the Arbery shooting must be read to be believed.https://t.co/yV8XtN6cTC pic.twitter.com/kdM0xr2Zf8 Andrew Fleischman (@ASFleischman) May 7, 2020 Then he slathered on two more coats of fiction, both disproven by the video. He said that given the fact Arbery initiated the fight. . . .(Travis) McMichael was allowed to use deadly force to protect himself. He added that Arberys mental health records & prior convictions help explain his apparent aggressive nature and his possible thought pattern to attack an armed man. Its bad enough that some states allow vigilantes to dress up as toy cops with real guns, which is asking for trouble. The assessments they make require training, and the consequences are often tragic. This nation still feels the pain inflicted by village idiots like George Zimmerman. But its worse when someone like George Barnhill is given a position of trust. It took him six weeks to recuse himself from the case because of his own conflict his son worked with Greg McMichael and though the case is now under state authority and heading to a grand jury, he is the worst of us. He witnessed a lynching, and he looked the other way. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. As we observe World Press Freedom Day this month, it is important to realize that there is one main reason why despots the world over strive to stifle freedom of the press. The more authoritarian a countrys government is, the harder it works to suppress the free flow of information. That is because a free and unfettered press can expose corruption, make citizens aware of their rights by publicizing national laws and policies, and facilitate the exchange of ideas and public discussion. A free press reinforces freedom of expression, which includes the right to seek, receive and impart information, and allows individual citizens to make informed decisions. Yet in recent years, according to Reporters Without Borders, The number of countries regarded as safe, where journalists can work in complete security, continues to decline, while authoritarian regimes continue to tighten their grip on the media. This certainly is true of a number of countries in Central Asia, where media environments are dominated by government-run media and where the influence of Russia and China is increasing. For more than two decades, the U.S. Agency for International Development has played a critical role in supporting the development of independent media in Central Asia. Two years ago, USAID began funding a five-year, $15 million Central Asia Media Program implemented by Internews. The goal is to develop a more balanced information environment in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, thus increasing openness among youth and adults toward differing ideas, opinions and perspectives, and in turn increasing civic participation. To achieve this objective, the program aims to improve the medias capacity to provide balanced, informed and unbiased reporting, and to increase media and information literacy among citizens so they can recognize disinformation and become more critical consumers and producers of information. The program also offers training to improve journalists skills and strengthen their professional development. It promotes USAID-developed media literacy curricula for primary and secondary schools, and provides legal support to independent journalists and media outlets along with advocacy for improving the regulatory environment. The United States values freedom of the press as a key component of democratic governance, said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. By fostering a free press, citizens are more informed, active and engaged in political decision-making, and can better hold their governments accountable. The GMR Hyderabad International Airport on Monday handled the arrival of the second evacuation flight under Vande Bharat Mission from the United States of America on May 11. The national carrier - Air India flight - AI 1617 - from San Francisco (USA) arrived via Mumbai at the Hyderabad International Airport today at 09.22 am with 118 Indian citizens stranded in the USA. Later in the day, GMR Hyderabad International Airport is all set to receive another batch of Indian citizens from Abu Dhabi (UAE). The Air India Flight - AI 1920 - is expected to arrive at around 9.30 pm today. To facilitate the arriving passengers and aircraft crew, the airport has kept the international arrivals and the entire stretch right from the aerobridge to the arrivals ramp fully sanitised and fumigated, sources informed. The airport also enforced social distancing among passengers right from the aerobridge to across the terminal. All arriving passengers and aircraft crew from the US were brought out from the aircraft in batches of 20-25 persons each. Each passenger/crew was screened by the Thermal Cameras positioned at the aerobridge exit under the supervision of the Airport Health officials (APHO) as per the directives of MoHFW (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) prior to immigration formalities. After the health screening of passengers, CISF personnel in their protective gear escorted the group of passengers to immigration clearance. Glass shields were provided at each manned immigration counter to avoid any personal contact between the passengers and immigration officers. Each counter had specified social distancing norms in place. All baggage was sanitised by the disinfection tunnel integrated to the baggage belt as arranged by the airport. The baggage trolleys were kept fully sanitised for passengers' use. The passengers were also provided seating arrangement with complimentary boxes of food. As per the government's norms, the passengers were taken for mandatory 14-day quarantine to the designated locations in the city. To meet this emergency requirement, apart from the State/Central government representatives, State Police, CISF (Central Industrial Security Force), immigration, customs, a select group of personnel from GHIAL terminal operations, airside operations, AOCC (Airport Operations & Control Centre), ATC (Air Traffic Control), IT team, landside security, airline ground handlers, ARFF (Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting) services, RAXA security, trolley operators, housekeeping staff, among others were available to ensure safe and seamless arrivals of the passengers. According to sources, till May 11, 2020, GMR Hyderabad International Airport has handled 12 departures evacuation flights serving over 900 foreign nationals who were repatriated by various special relief flights from Hyderabad to countries like the UK, the UAE, the US, Kenya and Germany. -ANI Also Read: Coronavirus: Delhi's Shram Shakti Bhawan sealed after employee tests positive for COVID-19 We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Binero Group AB (publ) (STO:BINERO). Do Insider Transactions Matter? It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market. We don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise. See our latest analysis for Binero Group Binero Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year In fact, the recent purchase by Carl-Magnus Hallberg was the biggest purchase of Binero Group shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being kr4.82). Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. Carl-Magnus Hallberg was the only individual insider to buy shares in the last twelve months. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! Story continues OM:BINERO Recent Insider Trading May 11th 2020 There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying. Insider Ownership of Binero Group Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that Binero Group insiders own 24% of the company, worth about kr23m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment. So What Do The Binero Group Insider Transactions Indicate? The recent insider purchase is heartening. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But we don't feel the same about the fact the company is making losses. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of Binero Group we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright future. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Our analysis shows 5 warning signs for Binero Group (1 can't be ignored!) and we strongly recommend you look at them before investing. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. According to videos that have surfaced on social media, UP police allegedly had a disagreement with Rajasthan cops over a border-crossing dispute involving migrants. Two Mathura cops were reportedly injured. Based on the videos, a scuffle broke out between the two state police forces over the matter of migrants crossing the border from Rajasthan into Uttar Pradesh. The videos suggest that the Rajasthan police forcibly tried to remove the barricades in order to let over 300 migrants cross the border. During this, two cops from Mathura got their fingers injured. After that, a heated argument took place between the state cops and eventually the matter turned into a physical brawl. Things came to a standstill only when senior officials from Mathura and Rajasthan's Bharatpur reached the border. Two Points 1. This shouldn't be happen in Independent India (UP & Rajasthan border) 2. Failed to follow both social and physical distancing #COVIDWarriors or #COVIDIOTS?#LockdownExtension #ManmohanSingh pic.twitter.com/HwTw1K1AqZ Syed Azharuddin (@SyedAzhars) May 10, 2020 Mathura SSP Gaurav Grover said, "Despite the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, the workers tried to enter UP through Jajampatti border under Magorra police station limits allegedly with the support of Rajasthan police personnel and two UP sub-inspectors got injured while trying to control the situation." Twitter/@sangpran The videos highlight how social-distancing norms are perhaps not being followed as diligently. Indiatimes could not verify the veracity of the video. Nick Sandmann from Covington Catholic High School stands in front of Native American activist Nathan Phillips while the latter bangs a drum in his face in Washington on Jan. 18, 2019. (Kaya Taitano via Reuters) Covington Kid Nick Sandmann Graduates High School, Celebrates College Scholarship The Kentucky high School student who was falsely accused of taunting a Native American activist on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 2019 said he has been awarded a scholarship and is preparing for college in the fall. Very excited to say I will be graduating! 17-year-old Nick Sandmann wrote on Twitter. After being told I would never get into college and my life was done, Ill be going to an amazing school on a scholarship! Dont back down and keep winning! he added. Very excited to say I will be graduating! After being told I would never get into college and my life was done, Ill be going to an amazing school on a scholarship! Dont back down and keep winning! pic.twitter.com/nYHVmJ1uEP Nicholas Sandmann (@N1ckSandmann) May 8, 2020 A short video showing the January 2019 encounter between Sandmann and Native American activist Nathan Phillips gained attention after it was widely circulated on social media and the news. The edited clip that circulated widely in the media showed Sandman smirking at Philips, while his MAGA-hat-wearing friends from Covington Catholic High chanted and cheered in mockery, many reports claimed at the time. The incident was extensively covered, alleging that the Covington boys who attended the March for Life that day surrounded and harassed 64-year-old Philips. However, it turned out that the edited video lacked important context about the confrontation after a longer video that emerged later told a different story: that the students were on the receiving end of racist verbal attacks from a group of Black Hebrew Israelites, and that it was Philips who approached Sandmann and beat a drum within inches of his face. Sandmann sued CNN, The Washington Post, and NBC Universal in March 2019 for $800 million in damages, alleging that the media outlets falsely attacked and bullied him. CNN settled the defamation lawsuit with Sandmann in January 2020 for an undisclosed amount. Sandmann said in April during an interview that his life has been under constant threat ever since the nationally publicized incident. It happens everywhere I go, the Kentucky teenager told Fox News host Lara Logan, who asked him if it was common that people stared at him. From in my community to different parts of the country. Everywhere I go, there is someone that will point me out. Probably forever, he added. Its a constant threat, and its a terrible threat. But you cant choose to live your life in fear, or theyve won and they robbed you of your life. All challenges are opportunities for us to unite and support our communities in San Diego. Our goal is to continually tie the community into everything we do as helping others is what gives the Smilyn team purpose California CBD brand, Smilyn Wellness, is donating 10 percent of all proceeds until May 31st directly to Intellihelp participants in need families in great distress during this coronavirus pandemic. In addition to its partnership with Intellihelp, Smilyn Wellness is offering a 30 percent discount sitewide with code GIVE30. Consumers can shop CBD tinctures, gummies, softgels, roll-ons, face masks, salve, sprays, and CBD for pet health. "Smilyn Wellness is focused on giving back to the community during this horrendous pandemic. Our goal is to be a trusted lifeline for so many Southern Californians, and we are excited that this new collaboration with Intellihelp will bring vital, lifesaving help directly to those in need," stated Brett Weiss, CEO of Smilyn Wellness. Through this unique partnership with Intellihelp, ultimately driven by empathy, equity, generosity, and care during a crisis, Smilyn Wellness can promptly respond to community members (and their pets) who need essentials as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic while respecting privacy and social distancing. Who is Intellihelp? Intellihelp is a globally networked community providing 100 percent direct donor-to-recipient giving. The grassroots movement removes fear, worry, and isolation and replaces it with the power of humanity. Created on the first day of the COVID-19 crisis in North America, Intellihelp now has more than 67,000 members who have joined in the mission of supporting one another. The platform has facilitated over 5,000 donated deliveries of essentials to neighbors in need, including 4,000 weeks of groceries to families in need equivalent to feeding one family for an entire lifetime. Intellihelp delivers love compassion, a fearless commitment to help those in need. Shop Smilyn CBD and Make a Difference Smilyn Wellness is among the many brands giving back and contributing proceeds to coronavirus relief efforts. In April, the CBD wellness brand donated $1,000 to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund launched by the World Health Organization (WHO). Smilyn has pledged to continue its mission of helping families struggling during this pandemic by donating 10 percent of all proceeds through May 31st to help families found through the Intellihelp platform. "All challenges are opportunities for us to unite and support our communities in San Diego. Our goal is to continually tie the community into everything we do as helping others is what gives the Smilyn team purpose," stated Smilyn Wellness executives. CBD is more than just dosing, it's a lifestyle. A lifestyle that promotes longevity for every person (and every pet). Shop now 30 percent sitewide discount with code GIVE30. About Intellihelp Intellihelp is a global exchange providing empathy, equity, generosity, and care in times of crisis. In response to the global COVID pandemic, Intellihelp sprouted wings as a grassroots, peer-to-peer community of neighbors helping neighbors. This community provides essential food and OTC medications to those most in need across 8 countries. About Smilyn Wellness Smilyn Wellness in California is a CBD-wellness brand simplifying the benefits of premium hemp extract. We exist to revolutionize. We exist not only to help individuals look and feel amazing but also smile throughout the adventures of life. Combining scientific data with health-based knowledge, Smilyn offers a portfolio of CBD products that are trustworthy, tasty, and geared toward an active new-age lifestyle. Facebook | Instagram The nations most powerful anti-LGBTQ law firm took the extraordinary step on Friday of demanding the recusal of a federal judgebecause he insisted that its attorneys respect transgender peoples gender identity in court proceedings. That firm, Alliance Defending Freedom, is devoted to attacking the rights of LGBTQ people in court. In February, it filed a lawsuit challenging Connecticuts policy of allowing trans athletes to compete with cisgender students. On behalf of three cisgender student athletes, ADF alleged a violation of Title IX, which bars sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs. Per ADF policy, its attorneys called transgender girls male athletes and referred to them with male pronouns. In April, U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny, the Bill Clinton appointee overseeing the case, ordered ADF lawyers to say transgender females instead in an effort to preserve respectful, humane, intelligent, civil discourse. In response, ADF accused Chatigny of displaying an appearance of bias, asserted a violation of its First Amendment rights, and asked the judge to disqualify himself. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To see how ridiculous ADFs request is, take a look at Chatignys actual comments and the context in which they were made. Chatigny was holding a teleconference with ADF and the ACLU, which intervened on behalf of transgender student athletes. ADF attorney Roger Greenwood Brooks kept calling these students males even though they identify as female. Chatigny told Brooks: I dont think we should be referring to the proposed intervenors as male athletes. I understand that you prefer to use those words, but theyre very provocative, and I think needlessly so. I dont think that you surrender any legitimate interest or position if you refer to them as transgender females. That is what the case is about. This isnt a case involving males who have decided that they want to run in girls events. This is a case about girls who say that transgender girls should not be allowed to run in girls events. Advertisement Advertisement Brooks disagreed, claiming that he could not comply with that direction consistent with vigorous representation of the position that my clients are putting forward here. Chatigny further explained: Im not asking you to refer to these individuals as females. I know that you dont want to do so. What Im saying is you must refer to them as transgender females rather than as males. Again, thats the more accurate terminology, and I think that it fully protects your clients legitimate interests. Referring to these individuals as transgender females is consistent with science, common practice and perhaps human decency. To refer to them as males, period, is not accurate, certainly not as accurate, and I think its needlessly provocative; and, for me, civility is a very important value, especially in litigation. I dont want to bully you, but at the same time, I dont want you to be bullying anybody else. I certainly dont want to put civility at risk in this case. Quite the opposite. My goals for this case include, very importantly, the goal of maintaining civil discourse, respectful, humane, intelligent, civil discourse in the course of the case. Nothing more, nothing less. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Friday, ADF responded to Chatignys plea with a motion for disqualification, declaring that the judges comments had destroyed the appearance of impartiality in this proceeding. (The judge himself can decide whether to recuse, but if he declines, ADF can appeal.) Chatignys words, ADF wrote, would leave an impartial observer gravely concerned that the Court has prejudged the matter, rejected core aspects of Plaintiffs case before hearing the evidence and legal arguments, and assumed the role of advocate for the defendants. It is not biased or unconstitutional for a judge to demand that all parties treat transgender litigants politely. ADF is not alone in fighting for the right to misgender people in court. Its a dehumanizing tactic that conservative judges have latched onto in recent years. Donald Trump appointee Stuart Kyle Duncan, for instance, wrote in January that he would not refer to a transgender woman with female pronouns because doing so could indicate bias toward transgender people. ADF cited Duncans refusal to respect pronouns as support for its recusal motion. Duncans Trump-appointed colleagues on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are also eager to demean transgender people who appear before them. Anti-LGBTQ groups consistently misgender transgender people in court filings and defend teachers who intentionally misgender trans students. In 2017, the clerk of the Supreme Court chastised several right-wing groups for misgendering a transgender student in their briefs. Despite this rebuke, other judges still refuse to respect transgender litigants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To ADF, this isnt just a matter of judicial ethics. Chatignys order also violated its attorneys constitutional right to free speech, the group claimed, by limiting their ability to present certain vital theories and ideas to the court. Moreover, according to ADF, Chatigny violated the plaintiffs due process by restricting zealous advocacy by counsel. ADF attorneys even invoked Powell v. Alabama, in which the Supreme Court held that due process required Alabama to appoint defense attorneys for nine black men falsely accused of raping two white women. Advertisement If ADFs theory is correct, then Chatigny is far from the only federal judge to commit this transgression. Many judges have used transgender litigants preferred pronouns without incident, and some have invited parties to follow suit. For instance, in 2019, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman wrote that the Court would be derelict if it failed to note the defendants careless disrespect for the plaintiffs transgender identity, as reflected through implications that the plaintiff might not actually be transgender and the consistent use of male pronouns to identify the plaintiff. The Court cautions counsel against maintaining a similar tone in future filings. Advertisement It is not biased or unconstitutional for a judge to demand that all parties treat transgender litigants politely. Nor, for that matter, is it a violation of Title IX for Connecticut to treat trans and cisgender athletes equally. Several courts have found that Title IX requires schools to honor transgender students gender identities because anti-trans discrimination is a form of sex discrimination. ADF now asserts that Title IX prohibits schools from doing just that. Its positionthat schools must engage in sex discrimination to end sex discriminationis incredibly weak. The feeble nature of ADFs argument may help explain why the organization launched this extreme assault on Chatignys integrity. Because it lacks a plausible legal claim, it has resorted to impugning the judge, presumably in the hopes of drawing a new one who is more favorable to its case. Neither Chatigny nor his colleagues should reward this cynical stunt. Last updated on: May 11, 2020 11:07 IST India registered a record jump of 4,213 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, pushing the country's tally to 67,152 on Monday and the death toll due to the disease rose to 2,206 with 97 fresh fatalities, according to the Union health ministry. IMAGE: A migrant worker rests on a road side as she and others return to their villages, during an extended nationwide lockdown to limit the spreading of the coronavirus disease in New Delhi. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 44,029 in the country. While 20,916 people have recovered, one patient has migrated, it said. "Thus, around 31.15 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said. A total of 97 deaths have been reported since Sunday morning. Of these 53 were in Maharashtra, 21 in Gujarat, 14 in West Bengal, three in Tamil Nadu, and one each in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Haryana and Rajasthan. Of the 2,206 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 832 fatalities, Gujarat comes second with 493 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 215, West Bengal at 185, Rajasthan at 107, Uttar Pradesh at 74, Delhi at 73, Tamil Nadu at 47 and Andhra Pradesh at 45. Karnataka and Punjab have recorded 31 deaths each. IMAGE: Corona patients flash the victory signs after they are discharged from NMCH in Patna. Photograph: ANI Photo Telangana has reported 30 fatalities due to the respiratory disease, Haryana has registered 10, Jammu and Kashmir nine, Bihar six and Kerala four. Jharkhand and Odisha have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities each while Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Chandigarh have reported two deaths each. Meghalaya and Uttarakhand have reported one death each, according to the ministry data. According to the ministry's website, more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to co-morbidities. According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country is from Maharashtra at 22,171 followed by Gujarat at 8,194, Tamil Nadu at 7,204, Delhi at 6,923, Rajasthan at 3,814, Madhya Pradesh at 3,614, and Uttar Pradesh at 3,467. Andhra Pradesh has 1,980 COVID-19 cases, West Bengal 1,939 and Punjab 1,823. Telangana has 1,196 cases, Jammu and Kashmir 861, Karnataka 848, Haryana 703 and Bihar 696. IMAGE: A couple performs marriage rituals wearing a protective mask on their wedding after the government eased a nationwide lockdown imposed as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, in New Delhi. Photograph: ANI Photo Kerala has reported 512 coronavirus cases so far, while Odisha has recorded 377 cases. A total of 169 people have been infected with the virus in Chandigarh and 157 in Jharkhand. Tripura has reported 150 cases, Uttarakhand 68, Assam 63, Chhattisgarh 59, Himachal Pradesh 55 and Ladakh 42. Thirty-three COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Meghalaya has registered 13 cases, Puducherry has nine and Goa has seven. IMAGE: Mothers with their newborn babies on International Mother's Day at a government hospital, during a nationwide lockdown, in Jabalpur on Sunday. Photograph: PTI Photo Manipur has two cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported one case each. "Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website. State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said. Some of President Donald Trumps top economic advisers emphasised on Sunday the importance of states getting more businesses and offices open even as the pandemic makes its way to the White House complex, forcing three members of the administrations coronavirus task force into self-quarantine Washington: Some of President Donald Trumps top economic advisers emphasised on Sunday the importance of states getting more businesses and offices open even as the pandemic makes its way to the White House complex, forcing three members of the administrations coronavirus task force into self-quarantine. The president and governors who will decide when to reopen their states are facing competing pressures. More economic activity and travel will likely lead to more people contracting COVID-19. But tight restrictions on which businesses can operate are causing millions of people to join the ranks of the unemployed. Decisions about how fast to reopen come with a general election less than six months away, and Trump and other incumbents facing the prospects of seeking another term in the midst of a public health and economic crisis. If we do this carefully, working with the governors, I dont think theres a considerable risk, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday. Matter of fact, I think theres a considerable risk of not reopening. Youre talking about what would be permanent economic damage to the American public. Another 3.2 million US workers applied for jobless benefits last week, bringing the total over the last seven weeks to 33.5 million as states restrict activities to slow the spread of the virus. Mnuchin said the jobless numbers are probably going to get worse before they get better, but he expected the economic numbers to improve in the second half of 2020 and that next year would be a great year. Governor Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, announced this past week that his states bars and restaurants can fully reopen in two weeks, on 21 May, with outside dining allowed a few days earlier. Barbershops, hair salons, nail salons and day spas will also reopen this coming Friday. He said he wished the number of coronavirus cases were going down, but the state needs to come back very carefully". Weve got to try to do two things at once and its, you know, no one is underestimating how difficult this is, but its something that we have to do, DeWine said on Fox. The White House dispatched several of its top economic advisers to hit the Sunday talk shows. The appearances came on the heels of three key advisers, including Dr Anthony Fauci, taking new precautionary steps after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has become nationally known for his simple and direct explanations to the public about the coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it causes. Also quarantining are Dr Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Hahn. Faucis institute said that he has tested negative for COVID-19 and will continue to be tested regularly. It added that he is considered at relatively low risk based on the degree of his exposure, and that he would be taking appropriate precautions to mitigate the risk to personal contacts while still carrying out his duties. While he will stay at home and telework, Fauci will go to the White House if called and take every precaution, the institute said. Redfield will be teleworking for the next two weeks after it was determined he had a low-risk exposure to a person at the White House, the CDC said in a statement Saturday evening. The statement said he felt fine and has no symptoms. Just a few hours earlier, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed that Hahn had come in contact with someone who tested positive and was in self-quarantine for the next two weeks. He also tested negative for the virus. All three were scheduled to testify before a Senate panel during a Tuesday hearing focused on how to safely return people to work and school. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the panel's Republican chairman, announced Sunday that Fauci will be joining all of the administration's witnesses in testifying by video conference in an abundance of caution for our witnesses, senators, and the staff." Alexander also will attend by video conference from his home state after a member of his staff tested positive, an aide said Sunday. Statements from the agencies the officials oversee took care not to identify the person they had contact with earlier last week. Vice President Mike Pences press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus in the past week. White House officials had confirmed Thursday that a member of the military serving as one of Trumps valets had tested positive for COVID-19 a day earlier. White House adviser Kevin Hassett noted that the vice president's press secretary tested negative one day and positive the next. He appeared on CBS's Face the Nation. And so this is a very, very scary virus. You know, that people are going to go back to work and theyre gonna be worried about things," Hassett said. And its going to take awhile for things to get back to normal, absolutely." At the same time, he said some $9 trillion has been injected into the economy through actions taken by Congress, the White House and the Federal Reserve. I think that right now we have bought some time with all the money that weve thrown at the economy and weve been using the time to do things like develop treatments, improve our treatments, learn more about social distancing and so on," Hassett said. A Carnival port operations manager has denied saying the Ruby Princess was "not a COVID ship" to a Port Authority executive in the hours before the ship arrived in Sydney. Carnival senior director of port operations Paul Mifsud told the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess that he never used those words to describe the ship because the onboard doctor was unable to definitively diagnose passengers. Paul Mifsud giving evidence at the inquiry on Monday "What I might have said is that there's no confirmed COVID cases on board at the time," he said, denying he used the terms 'suspect' or 'potential' in relation to passengers or crew. "I recall saying NSW Health had given the ship clearance to berth and disembark passengers." A parliament spokesman said Monday the joint administration of incumbent premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his former rival Benny Gantz would be inaugurated on Thursday instead of Wednesday. A spokesman for Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party told AFP the delay was "because of the visit" of the US top diplomat on Wednesday. Pompeo's trip comes as US President Donald Trump's administration gives its blessing to Netanyahu's plans to annex much of the occupied West Bank, despite warnings from the Palestinians that the move will kill the prospects of a long-term peace agreement. Israel's new government is the result of a deal allowing Netanyahu to continue on as prime minister for another 18 months, before the former military chief Gantz takes over the post for the same period. The proposed government had been challenged in the high court, with opponents arguing Netanyahu is ineligible due to corruption indictments he faces. But the judges ruled there was no legal reason to prevent him from serving as prime minister. Netanyahu has secured the participation of Gantz and his centre-left allies in his coalition along with the ultra-Orthodox parties. But the six-member right-wing Yemina has so far refused to join over what it criticises as the emerging "left-wing" nature of the incoming government. Pompeo's visit will give Netanyahu another day to attempt to bring Yemina into the coalition. The Supreme Court Monday ordered setting up of a high-powered committee headed by MHA Secretary to consider pleas seeking restoration of 4G internet services in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. A bench comprising Justices N V Ramana, Justices R Subhash Reddy and B R Gavai said the committee would also include the Chief Secretary of the UT and the secretary of ministry of communications to look into the demands by petitioners seeking restoration of 4G internet speed there. Pronouncing the verdict on a batch of pleas filed by Foundation for Media Professionals, Soayib Qureshi and Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir, the bench said it needed to ensure balance of national security and human rights. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal on Monday handed over a diplomatic note to the Indian envoy in Kathmandu to protest against the construction of a key road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand. The 80-km new road inaugurated by defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday is expected to help pilgrims visiting Kailash-Mansarovar in Tibet in China as it is around 90 kms from the Lipulekh pass. The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani, a disputed border area between Nepal and India. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory -- India as part of Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district and Nepal as part of Dharchula district. Indian ambassador to Nepal Vinaya Mohan Kwatra met foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali at his office, according to a foreign ministry statement. During the meeting, Gyawali conveyed to the Indian Ambassador the Nepal government's position on boundary issues. "The ministry has handed over a diplomatic note to ambassador Kwatra," it said. The ministry of external affairs in New Delhi on Saturday said the road lies well within the Indian territory. "The recently inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in the state of Uttarakhand lies completely within the territory of India. The road follows the pre-existing route used by the pilgrims of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. Under the present project, the same road has been made pliable for the ease and convenience of pilgrims, locals and traders," the MEA said in a statement. The Nepal government raised objection to the construction of the road at the Lipulekh area by the government of India to connect to the Mansarovar of Tibet "unilaterally". Nepal has claimed that the territory on which the road was constructed lies within its territory. In a statement issued on May 9, the Nepalese Foreign Ministry said that "it has learnt with regret about the inauguration by India of the Link Road connecting Lipulekh that passes through Nepalese territory." Addressing the Parliament on Sunday, foreign minister Gyawali said that the Kalapani border issue will be resolved with India through diplomatic initiatives. (@FahadShabbir) Damascus condemns a botched maritime invasion of Venezuela, which Caracas claimed was orchestrated by the United States, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Monday BEIRUT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th May, 2020) Damascus condemns a botched maritime invasion of Venezuela, which Caracas claimed was orchestrated by the United States, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Monday. A week ago, Venezuelan authorities announced that they scuttled attempt of militants to infiltrate the country from Colombo on speed boats to capture President Nicolas Maduro. Eight suspects were killed and several captured in the counter-operation, among them two US nationals. Maduro identified them as US President Donald Trump's security guards. Washington and Bogota have denied allegations of involvement in these events. "Syria strongly condemns the failed terrorist maritime invasion of Venezuela. These hostile attacks against Venezuela's sovereignty are led by the US administration, and they are using mercenaries inside Venezuela," the Foreign Ministry said, as quoted by the state-run SANA news agency. Damascus also called on Washington to refrain from interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs. Washington, May 11 : US Vice President Mike Pence has been distancing himself from others after his press secretary tested positive for the coronavirus, the media reported. "Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine," Devin O'Malley, a spokesman for Pence, was cited as saying by a leading media outlet, Xinhua reported. "Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow." The media has used the term "self-isolating" to describe Pence's preventative measure. However, a local news channel cited a senior official as saying that "Pence's precautions did not amount to self-isolation because there are no restrictions on his schedule." The official added that the vice president "will be a low key for the next couple of days," according to the channel's report. Pence, who leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is the latest and highest-ranking member of the administration to take restrictive measures to avoid social contact. His press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday. (Photo : CHINA DAILY/REUTERS) After just a week of orbit, the Long March 5B, a Chinese rocket, has failed and is now falling back to Earth. After orbiting the Earth for a week, a Chinese rocket has started to fail and is expected to plunge back to Earth in a matter of hours and will be one of the largest space junks to fall back down to Earth's surface. Massive Space Junk According to Forbes, the Chinese rocket, Long March 5B, was launched on May 5, carrying a prototype of a crew capsule that is similar to SpaceX's Crew Dragon to orbit the Earth. However, just days after the launch, the core stage of the rocket is now in a collision case with the upper atmosphere and will burn away some of its parts, leaving behind space junk that will plummet down to Earth and impact the planet. "It is the most massive object to make an uncontrolled re-entry since the 39-tonne Salyut-7 in 1991," Jonathan McDowell wrote on his official Twitter account. McDowell is a prominent Harvard astrophysicist that is one of the experts who are thousands of objects orbiting our planet, including tons and tons of space junk from various spacecraft launches over the years. The latest projection is that a 37,000-pound rocket will enter the atmosphere at any moment and burn on its way down, with the majority of its massive body burning as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere. Whatever that doesn't burn up will be left to fall to the Earth. Read Also: Mysterious X-37B Preparing to Go Back to Space for 'On-Orbit Experiments' Tracking the Rocket's Re-Entry Several groups are tracking the rocket as of now, including the US military as well as the private group Aerospace Corporation. In 2018, another Chinese spacecraft, the Chinese Tiangong-1 space station, fell back down to Earth, allegedly falling somewhere in the ocean, but the Long March 5B is much larger than that--around fifth the mass of Skylab, which also plummeted back to the surface on 1979 near Perth, Australia. According to the news outlet, the spacecraft's uncontrolled re-entry into our planet's atmosphere might be visible to the naked eye. Larger spacecraft are often equipped with a steer that allows their makers to steer the rockets into the atmosphere to a safer location, usually the south Pacific. Still, the Long March 5B doesn't seem to have one or is perhaps damaged, making it uncontrollable. Hard to Predict McDowell also gave a heads up for everyone who is new to this sort of situation and are following the news online on their social media. The Harvard astrophysicist said that it is possible they could miss the exact moment the space junk enters our atmosphere. They could be late in noticing that it has re-entered, especially when the pieces of the rocket fall into the ocean without some eyewitness reports. In addition, it is hard to even for these experts to predict when the rocket would re-entry--even with the past situations like this--since the object is moving at a thousand miles per hour, which is extremely fast. If the rocket breaks apart, the debris is also scattered in different places over a hundred or thousands of miles away from each other. The Chinese rocket, which has been labeled CZ-5B by those tracking it, is said to be flying approximately 41 degrees north and south attitude, which means it will land in New York in the north and Australia in the south and anywhere in between. Read Also: Intel and Penn Medicine Partnering to Develop an A.I. That Can Discover Brain Tumors 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A GROUP which has long campaigned for better emergency department conditions at University Hospital Limerick has used its reach to appeal for PPE. The Mid-West Hospital Campaign group has issued an appeal to the public for personal protective equipment (PPE) for nursing home facilities in Limerick. It comes with reports emerging that these homes where vulnerable older people live are struggling for the supplies to kit out its staff. Group spokesperson and former Solidarity councillor Mary Cahillane said: Members of our campaign came together to see if we can assist in accessing equipment. We spoke to groups in other areas who are helping us to source materials and designs to start making PPE. She said she will be using Facebook and Twitter to source the vital gear. "It was felt that our group having had a good profile and thousands of followers may be able to help. All types of PPE are needed but it has become apparent that hand sanitiser and disposable gowns are in very short supply. It is our intention to compile a comprehensive list and to approach companies, individuals, organisations etc who may be able to supply equipment, use their skills to make products such as gowns or help in any way, she added. The group is asking anyone in Limerick City and county who can assist to get in contact. "We have already received pledges of support from volunteers willing to sew masks scrubs etc. There is a lot of good will out there and we just need to direct that into actions which will help support our healthcare workers, she said. If you can help, please email hospitalcampaignmidwest@gmail.com. Alternatively, please telephone Mary at 089-6074556. PM to hold virtual meeting with CMs today at 3 pm India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting with the Chief Ministers to discuss the future strategy with regard to the lockdown. PM Modi will hold a virtual meeting with the CMs at 3 pm today. The PM said that he would hold the 5th meeting via video conferencing with the CMs at 3 pm today. The meeting is important as the opinion on the extension of the lockdown is divided. India stands strongly with those in need in these difficult times, says PM Modi on COVID fight There is a general view that the lockdown is affecting livelihood and hence it should be exited. However, others believe that the lockdown should remain in force until the COVID-19 curve is flattened. The lockdown which was extended for the third time will end on May 17. Some Chief Ministers have already indicated that they would want to continue with the lockdown. States such as Telangana have extended the lockdown until May 29, while Maharastra too has indicated the same. There are some states that are in favour of a zone wise lockdown. The meeting today would discuss various issues relating to the lockdown, but top on the agenda would be the migrant issue. During the meeting of the Chief Secretaries with the Union Home Secretary, the latter said that over 350 special trains had been arranged to ferry the migrants. The Home Secretary, Rajiv Gauba said that the movement of medical staff should not be disturbed at any cost. Germany has relaxed more coronavirus lockdown measures despite the country's rate of infection rising to potentially dangerous levels. Pubs, gyms and cafes were allowed to open in the most populous state of North-Rhine Westphalia starting today, while other states are allowing people to socialise with those outside of their household and for large shops to reopen. The moves come despite the country's 'R' figure - or rate of infection - rising for the second day in a row to 1.13, the Robert Koch Institute said. Anything over 1 means the number of new daily infections will increase. The increase was revealed as outbreaks of coronavirus were uncovered at three slaughterhouses across the country. Germany continued relaxing its coronavirus lockdown on Monday with gyms allowed to open at night in the most-populated state of North-Rhine Westphalia Gyms in the city of Cologne filled up overnight as they were allowed to reopen for the first time in weeks as Germany walks back its lockdown measures Germany has pressed ahead with relaxing the lockdown despite its R figure - the rate of infection - climbing above 1 meaning the number of cases is in danger of spiralling Germany's 'R' figure - the rate at which people are being infected - has risen for the second straight day, hitting 1.13 on Sunday - up from 1.1 on Saturday and 0.83 on Friday Tests on meat workers at the three plants uncovered at least 336 cases of the virus with hundreds more results still due, DW reported. Union representatives said most meat workers in Germany are migrants who are housed together in cheap accommodation, making social distancing impossible. Some 205 cases were found at a single plant in Coesfeld, North-Rhine Westphalia, prompting officials to delay easing lockdown restrictions in that area. Elsewhere, more schools will be allowed to reopen across the country with increased virus testing for children. Testing firm Centogene said it will be giving pupils at one school in Neustrelitz, in the coutnry's north, a virus test twice per week. Results will be provided the same afternoon, allowing them to quickly detect if a child is infected. Three outbreaks of coronavirus have been uncovered at slaughterhouses in Germany, with 205 cases reported at a single location (pictured, workers are tested for the virus) They claim this will allow children to be taught in normal-sized classes, and hope the scheme could be used country-wide. Despite fears over the R rate, Germany reported just 357 new cases on Monday along with 22 new deaths - its lowest figures in two months. However, data usually shows a steep drop on Monday due to a backlog from the weekend that does not clear until later in the week. Residents of Berlin - where the Robert Koch Institute is located - were also given a day off on Friday for VE-Day, which may have exacerbated the problem. Germany is not alone in easing lockdown restrictions this week. Spain, France Belgium and the UK - Europe's worst-hit country - all announced that restrictions would be eased starting Monday morning. Shops and schools were allowed to reopen across much of France, though there were fears of a rise in infections after crowds were pictured at train stations and on underground metro platforms. Germany reported just 357 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, though there are fears it will start climbing again after the R number increased Germany also reported just 22 new deaths from the virus on Monday, though totals are usually lowest at the start of the week due to a reporting backlog from the weekend Belgium reopened small retail businesses on Monday though required bars, restaurants and cafes to remain closed. In Spain, around half of the country's 47million people were allowed out of strict confinement measures on Monday. Those lucky enough to live in areas deemed low risk were allowed to leave their homes, socialise in small groups, and use outdoor seating areas in restaurants and cafes starting on Monday morning. However, for those living in the hard-hit capital Madrid and economic powerhouse of Barcelona, strict confinement measures remain in place. Meanwhile in the UK, a once-per-day limit on exercise was lifted with people allowed to linger in parks and other public spaces from Monday. More measures on socialising were due to be dropped Wednesday, though confusion reigned over what exactly would be allowed. All five countries, including Germany, have made it clear that restrictions will be reimposed if the 'R' figure creeps too high and cases begin mounting again. Underlining the difficulty that European nations are facing, South Korea - which has been widely praised for its world-beating response to the virus - suffered a spike in new infections at the weekend. Thirty five new cases were reported on Sunday after 34 were reported on Saturday - more than four times the average daily case rise for the rest of May. France was among European countries relaxing its lockdown on Monday with non-essential businesses allowed to reopen, prompting crowded train platforms in Paris People move through a crowded metro station in Paris on Monday after France began loosening its lockdown restrictions Of the 35 cases reported Sunday, 29 of them were linked to nightclubs in the capital Seoul, raising fears that thousands of people could have been exposed. Officials are now scrambling to trace everyone who may have come into contact with the infected so they can be tested and quarantined if necessary. The sudden spike has convinced authorities to push back a reopening of schools that was planned for Wednesday. Meanwhile China also reported reported 17 new cases on Sunday, it's highest figure since April, ten of which were not linked to overseas travel. It comes after 14 cases were reported Saturday, at least one of which was not linked to overseas travel, raising fears the infection is spreading locally once more. Several cases have also been reported in the old epicentre of Wuhan. Belgium also allowed non-essential businesses to reopen on Monday, though strict social distancing measures remained in place A woman wears a protective face mask in a store as Belgium began easing lockdown restrictions on Monday Germany has the sixth-largest COVID-19 caseload in Europe but has managed to contain fatalities from the highly infectious respiratory disease thanks to widespread and early testing and a healthcare system that is well-run and well-funded. The latest phase of its pandemic management has, say critics, placed too much burden on local authorities to detect and respond to new outbreaks. A threshold set at 50 cases per 100,000 people for reimposing distancing measures is also seen by some epidemiologists as too high. This level has already been triggered in two districts in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig Holstein, where COVID-19 has broken out among workers at meat processing plants. The plant in North Rhine-Westphalia was closed on Friday after more than 150 of its 1,200 workers tested positive. Many are migrants from eastern Europe hired by subcontractors and housed in shared quarters that are a potential infection hotbed. Riot police clashed with hundreds of protesters in Berlin yesterday during a demonstration against coronavirus lockdown in Germany. As Covid-19 hampers pharmacist ability to staff stores, Benasource was looking for a digital healthcare tool that easily and quickly transfers prescriptions between divergent pharmacy systems operating from different locations. Vinesh Darji, President for Benasource stated, We measured Fast Rx Transfer for its safety, stability and platform speed against the existing, traditional process that our members use, which is typical of most pharmacies. We found that, not only did Fast Rx Transfer save each member significant time per transfer, the process was error-free, and efficient when transferring, or receiving prescriptions into and out of our pharmacy prescription dispensing queue; this of course was extraordinary. Darji further explained, Prior to Covid-19 it was taking our members an average of twenty- minutes for processing a prescription into and out of their pharmacy software. However, Fast Rxs automated Fast Rx Transfer solution helped staff complete transfers in less than one-minute per transfer, you can imagine our excitement to roll it out across our member base. https://youtu.be/_J2e4v6yj90 Fast Rx Transfer, Inc. was founded by two pharmacist formerly Walgreens and Krogers regional pharmacy leaders who left their prestigious jobs, and ventured into pharmacy ownership where they discovered, and then patented Fast Rx Transfers unique one-way and two-way cloud-based, digital prescription transfer solution. The entrepreneurs recently partnered with Rochester, NY. based AshHEALTH LLC. naming the company founder, Ashton Maaraba, an industry power broker as the companys managing partner, board member and lead advisor. The partnership with Benasource is a testament to the hard work and commitment Fast Rx has delivered to pharmacist and the profession, we are excited to work with Benasource and to serve their members Adds, William Parker, CEO. About Benasource Pharmacy Buying Group Founded in 2020, Benasource is an independent retail pharmacy buying group specializing in retail, compounding and specialty medication dispensing and value- based care services. Currently, there are 60 franchise locations situated throughout 29 states, including Florida, Michigan, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Louisiana, New York, Missouri, Mississippi, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, and Idaho. Projections call for continued rapid growth as the organization seeks to substantially increase its customer base, while ensuring experiences match expectations at every touchpoint. To learn more about Benasource please visit http://www.benasource.com About Fast Rx Transfer, Inc. Founded by pharmacists, Fast Rx Transfer, Inc. was created to improve pharmacy workflow, increase efficiencies and simplify transfers through electronic transactions. Today, each of us is proud to contribute to making American healthcare safer, better, and connected like never before. To learn more about Fast Rx Transfer please visit http://www.fastrxtransfer.com Program Video Links (To view video Copy and Paste to your web browser) Traditional Prescription Transfer - the problem Video #1: https://youtu.be/ktff1FAMnnA Fast Rx Advertisement Video #2: https://youtu.be/N9YAkmqxXuk Portal Demo Video #3: https://youtu.be/_J2e4v6yj90 AshHEALTH LLC. AshHEALTH LLC. aims to grow your Health & Wellness driven business, brand, product, service, identity and government affairs. AshHEALTH brokers opportunities for companies unable to gain market penetration, or faced with a struggling business in a competitive pharmacy and health & wellness retail environment. To learn more about AshHEALTH LLC, please visit https://ashhealth.fit/ For additional information please contact Swati Patel, Benasource Communications (813) 331-6825 or via email swati@benasource.com. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota is refusing to take down its coronavirus checkpoints, ignoring a 48 hour ultimatum issued by Gov. Kristi Noem. Gov. Noem sent leaders of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Oglala Sioux Tribe letters on Friday demanding for the removal of checkpoints they'd set up along the US and state highways last month to keep out unnecessary visitors. The Republican governor said she would take legal action if the tribes didn't remove the checkpoints in 48 hours. But on Sunday, Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Harold Frazier said the checkpoints are the best tool the tribe has to track and stop the coronavirus if it should ever spread to tribal lands. 'We want to ensure that people coming from "hot spots" or highly infected areas, we ask them to go around our land,' Frazier said. When quizzed about Noem's request on the belief the checkpoints 'interfere with regulating traffic', Frazier insisted the structures are going nowhere. 'With the lack of resources we have medically, this is our best tool we have right now to try to prevent [the spread of Covid-19],' he said. The governor of South Dakota is demanding that Native American tribes remove checkpoints on US and state highways leading to their reservations. The image above shows a checkpoint manned by members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement The tribes said they are worried that a coronavirus outbreak on their reservations would overwhelm their fragile health care systems South Dakota is home to nine federally recognized tribal nations with sovereign rights over their land Tribe Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Harold Frazier said the checkpoints are the best tool they have to track and stop the coronavirus if it should ever spread to tribal lands In response, Maggie Seidel, senior adviser to Gov. Kristi Noem reiterated that the checkpoints are 'not legal, and if they dont come down, the state will take the matter to federal court,' she said in a Sunday email. The tribe's resistance sets up a potential legal showdown between a governor who has avoided sweeping stay-at-home orders and tribes that assert their sovereign rights allow them to control who comes on reservations. The tribes have taken stronger action than the state because they are concerned the virus could overwhelm fragile health care systems that serve many people with underlying health problems. Frazier said the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation lacks sufficient resources to deal with a coronavirus outbreak, noting that 'the nearest health care, critical care is three hours away from where we live.' The chairman said the tribe only has an eight-bed hospital on the reservation, which has no intensive care unit for its 12,000 inhabitants. Much like the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Frazier's tribe are still allowing essential businesses on to the reservations and said the checkpoints were set up to keep out tourists or other visitors who could be carrying coronavirus infections. 'I request that the tribes immediately cease interfering with or regulating traffic on US and State Highways and remove all travel checkpoints,' Noem said in a statement. In her letter, Noem points to a memorandum pertaining to road closures on tribal lands, which states that tribes 'may restrict road use or close' tribally-owned roads temporarily without first consulting with the Secretary of the Interior or private landowners under conditions involving 'immediate safety or life-threatening situations,' like the pandemic. However, tribes can only restrict access to roads owned by state governments only 'after the tribe has consulted and reached an agreement addressing the parameters of the temporary road closure or restrictions.' A statement from the governor's office said the tribes have not consulted or gotten an agreement from the state. 'We are strongest when we work together; this includes our battle against Covid-19,' Noem signed off. But the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe said that it had met with local, state and federal officials to discuss the checkpoints and will not take them down. Governor Kristi Noem, a Republican, has so far resisted imposing lockdown orders statewide as the number of COVID-19 cases continue to climb in South Dakota The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe released a statement accusing Noem of 'interfering in our efforts to do what science and facts dictate' and making 'ignorant statements' Tribal chairman Harold Frazier issued a statement Friday addressing Noem, saying, 'You continuing to interfere in our efforts to do what science and facts dictate seriously undermine our ability to protect everyone on the reservation.' 'Ignorant statements and fiery rhetoric encourage individuals already under stress from this situation to carry out irrational actions," he said. "We invite you to join us in protecting the lives of our people and those that live on this reservation. I regretfully decline your request.' Frazier said the purpose of the checkpoints was to 'save lives rather than save face'. Chase Iron Eyes, a spokesman for Oglala Sioux president Julian Bear Runner, said he expected the tribe to defend its rights as a sovereign nation to keep out threats to their health. 'We'd be interested in talking face to face with Governor Noem and the attorney general and whoever else is involved,' he said. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe posted its checkpoint policies on social media. According to the conditions, residents may travel within areas within the state that have not been deemed a COVID-19 hotspot, for essential activity, such as a medical appointment. Any South Dakota residents who do not live on the reservation are only allowed there if they're not visiting from a hotspot, if the visit is for an essential activity and if they complete a health questionnaire before doing so. Both the Cheyenne River Sioux and Oglala Sioux tribes have implemented strict stay-at-home orders for their respective communities. Noem, meanwhile, has resisted issuing such instructions for the state. The above image shows a Smithfield Foods pork plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on April 16. The plant, which was shuttered for three weeks after hundreds of employees became infected with COVID-19, reopened this week, though more COVID-19 cases have been reported Gov. Noem also held calls with Smithfield employees on Thursday and Friday as the pork plant where hundreds of employees were infected reopens after being shuttered for more than three weeks. Noem's spokesman Ian Fury said she spent about two hours speaking with employees in total and that the governor's office had reached out to every employee at the plant. But an organization advocating for Smithfield employees disagreed. South Dakota Voices for Justice said in a statement that employees who were invited to the call were 'handpicked by corporate HR.' The organization said it was still asking Noem to meet with advocates, along with employees, 'so we can work together to ensure worker safety and Smithfields return to producing products essential to our nations food supply.' After the Department of Health held a mass testing for Smithfield employees and their family members this week in Sioux Falls, officials reported a spike in confirmed cases of coronavirus on Friday with 239 new infections. Nearly 250 new cases were reported on Saturday after a mass testing event in the Sioux Falls area. State Epidemiologist Josh Clayton said health officials have not been able to sort out which test results came from the mass event, but said it was likely the spike in confirmed cases came from those results. A total of 203 of the confirmed cases from Friday were reported in Minnehaha County, which contains most of Sioux Falls. State health officials said that 232 of the 249 new cases reported on Saturday were in Minnehaha County. A total of 435 people have tested positive in Minnehaha County in the last two days, for a total of 2,767 cases in the county. The total number of cases statewide now stands at 3,517, with the death toll up to 35. Three new deaths were confirmed on Saturday, all of them Minnehaha County residents over the age of 70. Officials said 79 people are hospitalized with the virus. While 3,517 have tested positive, the actual number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested and people can be infected without feeling sick. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11 By Leman Zeynalova - Trend: The US policy on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict hasnt changed, the US State Department told Trend. The remarks came in response to Trends question about adoption of a resolution on the recognition of the fictitious regime created in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan by the Senate of the Minnesota state. US policy has not changed. The United States does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent and sovereign state. As a co-chair country of the OSCE Minsk Group, the United States remains strongly committed to helping the sides achieve a lasting peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that is based on Helsinki Final Act principles of non-use or threat of force, territorial integrity, and equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and will remain fully engaged in the efforts of the Minsk Group to achieve this goal, said the State Department. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts. President Rajoelina said World Health Organisation (WHO) has shut eyes because a drug to combat COVID-19 has been discovered by a poor African country. Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina has slammed the World Health Organization for not endorsing its COVID-19 herbal cure. Last month, the Malagasy president officially launched COVID-Organics (CVO), an organic herbal concoction, claiming that it can prevent and cure patients suffering from the novel coronavirus. If it were a European country which had discovered this remedy, would there be so many doubts, he said in an exclusive interview with France 24, Paris-based international television news network and Radio France International. The problem is that it comes from Africa. And they cannot accept that a country like Madagascar, which is one of the poorest countries in the world, has discovered this formula to save the world, he added. The World Health Organization (WHO) had warned against the use of CVO without any medical supervision and cautioned against self-medication. The WHO further said that they have not approved the concoction for the patients suffering from COVID-19. On Thursday, the WHO, however, has called for clinical trials of CVO. COVID-Organics is a preventive and curative remedy against COVID-19, which works very well, said President Rajoelina. He attributed recovery of 105 COVID-19 patients in Madagascar to the herbal potion. A marked improvement was observed in the health of the patients who received this remedy just 24 hours after they took the first dose. The cure was noted after seven days, even ten days. This remedy is natural and non-toxic, he said. Madagascar has donated CVO, which is claimed to cure the COVID-19 to several African countries. Last week, the African Union in a statement said it is talking with Madagascar to obtain technical data regarding the safety and efficiency of the herbal remedy. New Delhi: Ahead of the official music release, actor Salman Khan on Sunday dropped the teaser of the recently announced music video `Tere Bina`. The 32-second clip gives a brief glimpse of the full music video that will be released on Tuesday (May 12). The 54-year-old star took to Twitter to announce the launch of the teaser with the caption, "Tere bina... wishing all mothers a v happy Mother`s Day." The music video which also stars Jacqueline Fernandez was shot at Khan`s farmhouse. The teaser shows snippets of the duo sharing some lovey-dovey moments. The song sung by Salman himself was set to tune by Ajay Bhatia while the lyrics have been penned by Shabbir Ahmed. On Saturday, the actor had shared a video of him and Jacqueline having a chat with Waluscha de Sousa about nature and trying out new things amid the lockdown. Universities in China have begun canceling entrance examinations for overseas students, citing coronavirus concerns, as the central city of Wuhan reported a new cluster of cases for the first time since its lockdown was lifted. China's prestigious Peking University (Beida), Renmin University, and Shanghai Jiaotong University have all canceled exam requirements for overseas students in recent days, according to announcements on their official websites. "To protect the health of the majority of candidates during the coronavirus pandemic ... the University has taken the decision to cancel the written examinations for international students applying to being in an undergraduate program in 2020," Beida said in an announcement on its website. The cancellations will effectively make it far easier for international students to win places at top Chinese universities, and is likely linked to the ruling Chinese Communist Party's ongoing overseas propaganda effort, analysts said. They said the move is likely part of the ruling Chinese Communist Party's response to the recent closure of Confucius Institutes run by the Hanban under China's cabinet, the State Council, amid concerns over growing Chinese influence affecting freedom of speech on campuses far beyond China's borders. Calls to the Beida international student office rang unanswered during office hours on Monday. The announcement came as the central Chinese city of Wuhan announced its first cluster of coronavirus infections since its lockdown was lifted last month. Wuhan reported five new confirmed cases, all from the same residential compound, all of which had previously been classified as asymptomatic. China's total tally of confirmed cases stood at 82,918, with 4,633 deaths, on Monday. Propaganda factories Education experts said there could be a less obvious reason for the cancellation of the entrance exam for foreign students. Chinese education specialist Shi Dajun, who is also a Beida alumnus, said Chinese universities have largely become propaganda factories, rather than genuine centers of learning. "It is not just Tsinghua or Beida; many other schools make exceptions for foreign students, which is in fact a part of China's overseas propaganda policy," Shi said. "Now that the Confucius Institutes are running into obstacles, we are seeing them take a new direction." The idea, according to Shi, is that international students studying in China can absorb the ruling party's message and return to spread Beijing's narrative in their own countries. "Chinese universities .. regardless of whether they are in the arts or the sciences ... are moving more and more in the direction of functioning as propaganda units," he said. Long-running strategy A retired professor at Lanzhou University who gave only his surname Cai said that enticing overseas students to China is part of a long-running strategy by Beijing. "We know that the government uses education as a form of soft power," Cai said. "It's an opportunity for citizens of other countries who admire Chinese culture to come into contact with it." "They want it to take root in the hearts and minds of young people in Western and African nations," he said. "This is all about China moving out into the wider world; they are laying the groundwork by training up some human resources." Students who study in China under its Belt and Road infrastructure and lending plan are handed generous living expenses with no tuition fees, as well as pleasant accommodation, Cai said. "They are training up the next generation of pro-China people, and developing friendly ties with these countries," he said. "This is a very good foundation, and the government has spared no expense." According to Shi Dajun, Beijing had hoped to spread its propaganda via the Confucius Institutes embedded on overseas campuses, and via the Belt and Road initiative. "They had managed to brainwash some foreigners with their party-loving and patriotic education via the Confucius Institutes," Shi said. "The brains of the Chinese people have pretty much already been washed away." "Now they are keen to brainwash young people from overseas, and imbue them with an experience of China, its culture, and the great achievements of the Communist Party," he said. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translate and edited by Luisetta Mudie. WASHINGTON (AP) As he encourages Pennsylvania and the country to reopen, President Donald Trump is confronting cases of the coronavirus in his own home, spotlighting the challenge the White House faces in instilling confidence in a nation reeling from the pandemic. Two known cases of COVID-19 among staffers in one of the most-protected complexes in America have sent three of the nation's top medical experts into quarantine and Vice President Mike Pence into self-isolation. The scare comes as the White House this week is emphasizing to the American people the steps being taken to assure their safety in hopes that will coax them to resume normal activities. This week - youll hear the @WhiteHouse talk about preparedness & confidence, tweeted Alyssa Farah, the White House director of strategic communications. The Trump Admin is working around the clock to build our testing capacity, grow our PPE stockpiles, distribute therapeutics, & get $ to states to SAFELY reopen in a way Americans can have CONFIDENCE in. Yet, that message was undercut by the exposure of senior government officials to positive cases at the White House itself. Pence on Monday led the White House's weekly call with governors from an isolated room, after his press secretary tested positive Friday. Dr. Deborah Birx and other staffers participated as usual from a conference room in the Situation Room, Pence said, explaining the slightly different circumstance. In this April 29, 2020, file photo Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks during a meeting between President Donald Trump and Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-La., about the coronavirus response, in the Oval Office . (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)AP We are taking the appropriate countermeasures to protect the presidents health," Pence added, according to a recording obtained by the AP. The White House was moving to daily testing of some staff members to detect the disease. The stepped-up protective measures comes as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn, were all quarantining after exposure to the White House staffer. The three experts are scheduled to testify before a Senate panel Tuesday on Safely Getting Back to Work and Back to School." However, they, along with committee chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., will all participate remotely. Alexander is quarantining after a staff member of his own tested positive for COVID-19. The images of top administration officials taking such precautions come as states seek to loosen economic restrictions put in place to mitigate the virus spread. Trump on Monday was complaining that Democratic governors were too slow in lifting restrictions in their states. The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now, and they are fully aware of what that entails, he tweeted. The Democrats are moving slowly, all over the USA, for political purposes. They would wait until November 3rd if it were up to them. Dont play politics. Be safe, move quickly! Trump was scheduled to travel to the state on Thursday, according to advisories from the Federal Aviation Administration. Decisions about how fast to reopen are being made with the general election less than six months away, and Trump and other incumbents facing it in the midst of a public health and economic crisis. If we do this carefully, working with the governors, I dont think theres a considerable risk, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday. Matter of fact, I think theres a considerable risk of not reopening. Youre talking about what would be permanent economic damage to the American public. Mnuchin was one of several economic advisers the White House dispatched on Sunday to place the focus on the merits of loosening restrictions on the economy. Yet attention to possible risks of infection also turned to how the virus even found its way into the White House. Faucis institute said he was taking appropriate precautions to mitigate the risk to others while still carrying out his duties, teleworking from home but willing to go to the White House if called. Officials said both Redfield and Hahn will be self-quarantining for two weeks. Pences press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus in the past week. A military service member who acts as a valet to the president tested positive on Thursday, the first known instance for a person in close proximity to Trump at the White House. The announced precautions contrast with a president who has declined to wear a face covering in meetings at the White House or at his public events. Kevin Hassett, an adviser to Trump and the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, acknowledged Sunday its scary to go to work in the White House, calling the West Wing a small, crowded place. Its, you know, a little bit risky. Hassett said he wears a mask when necessary and practices aggressive social distancing. Appearing on CBS Face the Nation," he said any fears are tempered by frequent testing, access to an excellent medical team and his belief that this is a time when people have to step up and serve their country. More from PennLive: Cumberland County plans to remain red as neighbors move towards yellow phase Pennsylvania state senator calls for resignation of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine The World Health Organization has suspended its staff activity in certain areas throughout Houthi-controlled territory, Reuters reported on Sunday. Specifically, the WHO has suspended all movements, meetings or any other activity for staff in the key Red Sea port city of Hodeidah as well as the provinces of Saada and Ibb. Despite the staff restrictions, WHO operations throughout the country remain ongoing. Why it matters: The WHO told Reuters that the new restrictions come in response to credible threats and perceived risks, which could have an impact on staff security. The nature of those threats is unclear. However, the Saudi-led coalition has accused the rebels of underreporting the number of novel coronavirus cases throughout the northern territory it controls, where most of the Yemeni population lives. To date, the Houthis have only recorded two infections and one death. Further complicating matters is the fact that the US administration has cut all its funding to the WHO and refuses to work with the international body anywhere, including Yemen. The funding cuts forced the WHO to scale down a sizeable portion of its operations in Yemen last month. Whats next: The United States also announced in March that it would withhold the vast majority of its aid from Houthi-held territory due to the rebels restrictions on international assistance. However, the State Department announced an additional $225 million in emergency food aid for Yemen last week. Know more: Bryant Harris and Joe Snell walk through the latest twists and turns in US aid for Yemen as COVID-19 spreads largely unchecked throughout the country. Gov. Ned Lamonts efforts to track the coronavirus impact on the thousands of seniors in assisted living centers continues to have significant gaps after two weeks. State health officials acknowledged Friday that not all medical agencies that staff the centers have been reporting numbers in a timely fashion, and it remains unclear whether fatalities which were excluded from the first two reports would be disclosed next week either. By comparison, the Lamont administration has been reporting COVID-19-related data among nursing home residents since April 7. But both health officials and an industry representative also said communication between all parties is strong and remained optimistic the new system would improve. I think the assisted living facilities are getting there, but theyre used to being independent communities, said Barbara Cass, who heads the facility licensing and investigations for the state Department of Public Health. Its a new process for them. I think that has been the challenge. The Connecticut Assisted Living Association, which represents most of the medical service agencies staffing assisted living centers, has a longstanding history of working collaboratively with DPH, said Christopher Carter, the association president. Were pleased to have worked with the department regarding the reporting requirements, he added, and to the extent enhancements are required relative to the data the state is receiving, CALA stands ready to support the department in that process. Assisted living residences serve residents age 55 and older who need some health, nursing, or other assistance with daily living activities, but not necessarily the skilled care provided by a nursing home. After a COVID-19 outbreak forced state and local health officials to dispatch additional medical personnel to a Stratford assisted living community on April 18-19, Lamont ordered these centers to disclose pandemic-related health statistics weekly to the state. But the two assisted living reports Lamont has provided were significantly narrower in detail than administration presentations involving infections among nursing home residents. Firstly, the reports offer no data on residents who died from the coronavirus. Secondly, the assisted living reports at least partially were statistical snapshots in time, rather than based on cumulative data as nursing home presentations have been. For example, the first assisted living report, tallied on April 29, found that 662 residents either had tested or were presumed positive for COVID-19. The second report, which was tallied on May 6, found 506 assisted living residents fell into these categories. But it offered no explanation for the net decline of 156. It remains unclear whether the first tally, the second, or both were wrong or incomplete. Cass said some medical agencies serving assisted living centers were late in filing data. State officials also havent said whether residents counted in the first report who later died or recovered were removed from the second report. Can the public safely draw any conclusions from the decline in reported infections at assisted living centers after two reports? I would not, said Dr. Lynn Sosa, the deputy State Epidemiologist, who added that the potential variables behind those numbers are significant. I know in the reports weve done the past two weeks, Im missing [data] in places. Sosa said the medical agencies serving assisted living centers have only been asked to report their present and confirmed cases in the building, at least for initial reports. But DPH is working to create a better data collection program. When asked whether coronavirus-related deaths among assisted living facility residents would be included in next weeks report, Cass said it was uncertain. The work is ongoing Part of the problem, state officials said, involves the very different nature of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Technically the state doesnt even license assisted living facilities - that job belongs to the Assisted Living Service Agencies [ALSA] that provide medical services for residents. State regulations already require an ALSA to regularly assess residents health conditions and refer them to appropriate medical providers when necessary. A registered nurse must be on call 24 hours a day. And Cass noted that ALSAs generally have much a smaller staff than do nursing homes, particularly if an assisted living complex has few residents with complicated medical conditions, such as dementia. An ALSA might be as small as a supervising nurse and two or three more caregivers. Another complication, Cass said, is the mechanism used to collect data so far. The state is asking medical service agencies to report using a mutual aid system created to share concerns about medical supplies and other issues. The Connecticut Hospital and Long Term Care Mutual Aid Plan involves most nursing homes and 11 hospitals, but fewer than half of the 111 assisted living medical service agencies licensed in Connecticut. ALSAs that arent part of the collaborative also have been asked to report into the system, but its a new process for many of them. Sosa said it became apparent early on that some agencies filed timely reports but still missed certain fields in the program. That obviously makes it challenging, Sosa added. The work is ongoing. The states two largest nursing home associations, which also represent some of the assisted living facilities in Connecticut, also predicted reporting would improve. The mutual aid program was developed by the nursing home sector in partnership with the state, and so it follows that the nursing homes were able to effectively utilize these advanced reporting systems in the current crisis, Matthew V. Barrett, president of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, and Mag Morelli, president of LeadingAge Connecticut, wrote in a joint statement. The assisted living sector agrees with the public health reporting strategy and is rapidly increasing capacity to meet these new reporting obligations in a short time-frame, Barrett and Morelli added. Much progress has been achieved since the reporting initiative was launched less than two weeks ago and we expect that capacity for timely and accurate reports will be in place in the near future. The National Highway Number 3, also called Mumbai-Agra Road that touches Indore in Madhya Pradesh through a bypass road, is seeing a steady stream of autorickshaws from the country's commercial capital as people move back to their native towns and villages amid the coronavirus-enforced lockdown that has rendered them jobless. Officials and eye-witnesses put the number of these three-wheelers from Mumbai crossing the Indore Bypass Road at 50. Mumbai has the highest number of COVID-19 cases for any city in the country and a strict lockdown since late March has taken almost all autorickshaws and black-and-yellow taxis off the roads there, leaving thousands of drivers and their kin jobless and without adequate cash in hand. Among them is Baleshwar Yadav (54), who is returning from the country's commercial capital to his native village in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh, with eight people, including two women and three children, cramming into his three-wheeler. "I have been driving an autorickshaw in Mumbai for the past 12 years. But everything is closed there now. I spent two months digging into my savings but that, too, has run out. I have no choice but to return to my village," he told PTI on Monday. Asked about the possibility of returning to Mumbai in the near future, he replied, "Whether it is six months or a year, I have to return because I still have to pay installments on the bank loan with which I bought this vehicle. Till the situation normalises in Mumbai, I will engage myself in agriculture and cattle rearing." Ajay Yadav (36), hailing from Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh, said he had been driving an autorickshaw in Mumbai's Goregaon area for the last four years, and had left for his native village two days ago with a couple of friends. "There was no food in Mumbai due to lack of work. We will think of returning to the city later," he said. "Around 50 autorickshaws are passing through this road every hour. Most of them are from Mumbai," claimed Rajkumar Patel, a volunteer at a dining stall set up by a social organisation on the Indore bypass road. Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Umakant Chaudhary said autorickshaws were being allowed to pass only after those inside are subjected to medical screening when they enter the border of Madhya Pradesh. "We have been seeing a sizeable number of autorickshaws from Mumbai on the Indore Bypass Road over the last one week. We have also received information that some drivers are charging people to transport them to their native places in other states," the DySP said. Chaudhary said CNG-fitted autorickshaws were seen in long queues at fuel pumps on the Indore Bypass road since the number of pumps selling CNG on this route is less. "On this route, CNG pumps open between 6 am and 10 pm. In view of the problems faced by autorickshaws, locals are demanding these pumps be kept open 24 hours," Chaudhary added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Are the authorities of the already overcrowded Arthur Road prison, which has 184 cases of Covid-19, working according to the guidelines laid down by the World Health Organization (WHO) for prisons? The WHO guidelines state, People in prisons and other places of detention should enjoy the same standards of health care that are available in the outside community, without discrimination on the grounds of their legal status. The guidelines direct prison and other detention authorities to ensure that the human rights of those in their custody are respected, that inmates are not cut off from the outside world, and most importantly that they have access to information and adequate healthcare provision. The patients who had contracted the virus were reported in three of the 16-20 barracks, each expanding in an area of 20ftx60ft. Circle numbers 3 and 10 have been made quarantine centres to house positive patients, said a jail official, adding that the situation looks grim. It is not possible to maintain social distancing inside a barrack which was built to accommodate 50 inmates but now houses 200-250 inmates, the official added. The Arthur Road prison authorities, however, said that they have been taking measures to contain the spread of the virus within the prison premises. Sanjay Chahande, principle secretary for water supply and sanitation, who is also holding the additional charge of home department (prisons and appeals), said, We have kept the infected inmates in separate isolation circles and have been sending the symptomatic Covid-positive inmates to hospital for treatment, as per the instructions from a team of doctors from JJ Hospital, who are looking after the cases inside the jail. However, when the city began seeing the first set of cases in March, the jail authorities had written to the courts, asking them to release the inmates involved in minor and moderate offences or grant temporary bail to those accused of heinous crimes. After the coronavirus outbreak, the authorities released 435 prisoners from 43 prisons across the state on emergency parole. The Arthur Road prison authorities had stated that the prison did not have the wherewithal to handle a situation in case of an outbreak, and that social distancing would be impossible among the inmates, as the prison was built to house only 800 people. Later, after some inmates were tested positive for coronavirus, the local arms department of Mumbai Police was asked to conduct a survey and help transfer the coronavirus-positive inmates to a vacant building build by the slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) at Mahul near Chembur. The local arms department however, refused to comply with the jail authorities, and wrote a letter (a copy of which is with HT), citing lack of proper healthcare infrastructure, electricity, food and beds, and stated that the locals in Mahul had opposed the use of the building as a treatment centre. Inspection conducted of the empty Mhada [Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority] buildings at Mahul village, as suggested by you for treatment of the 77 corona-positive prisoners, reveals that provision for electricity and fans has been made only on the fourth and fifth floors of these buildings. But, no provision has been made for food, beds, grills on doors and windows for security purpose and doctors and other staff for treatment has not been made. Also, no appointment of the head of the centre, in whose custody these 77 inmates will be placed for treatment, has not been made, stated the letter written by deputy commissioner of police (local arms), Nandkumar Thakur. The letter also goes on to state that there is no provision for potable water, and that doctors, paramedics and other staff have not been appointed to treat the prisoners at Mahul, nor is there any provision for medication and medical equipment. It is extremely necessary that treatment is provided to these 77 prisoners, since they are corona-positive, immediately after they are shifted at the said place, reads the letter. But, as no basic facilities, as mentioned above, have been provided at the said place, it will result in disturbing the mental condition of the corona positive prisoners and eventually may lead to a law and order situation, read the letter from Thakur. The letter also points out at the lack of security if the prisoners were to be lodged at Mahul. Since the complete responsibility of providing security cover for the treatment centre is of Mumbai Police and the force is facing severe shortage of police officers and staff, with many of them being affected by the virus, there will be limited manpower available for security of the treatment centre, and is therefore necessary to have iron grills fixed on windows and the door on the fourth floor and flood lights around the entire building, the letter stated. Sanjay Kumar, who holds the additional charge of additional chief secretary (home), said that the more cases are detected owing to mass testing. We moved a file for mass testing, and the chief secretary too responded [in favour] for the testing. The cases are coming in large numbers because we insisted on mass testing. We have decided to shift the new Covid-19 patients cases to make-shift jails and safer places [quarantine centres]. However, until the time of going to press, the prison authorities were unaware of any such development. The first case of Covid-19 was reported on May 5 after a 45-year-old patient, who suffered a paralytic attack, was admitted to JJ Hospital for treatment. Subsequently, 350 prisoners were also tested for Covid-19 but no new swabs have been taken for testing after that, the authorities said. HT asked Chahande if contact tracing is being conducted within jail premises, to which he replied, Thats not our priority today. The governments priority is to provide medication to the infected inmates in the jail and also we are also taking more efforts to release maximum possible inmates on parole to de-congest the prison. Director general (prisons) SN Pandey did not respond to repeated phone calls and text messages. Our student loan debacle may, rare compliments of our collective COVID-19 nightmare, be ready for comprehensive national solutions. Its time for open source college curriculum which could issue proctored degrees at far lower cost across many subject categories. Our society can wildly expand access to quality education: Syndicating classes of excellent professors, keeping content modernized while broadly sharing famous lecturers from across generations. Additionally, the general public could see what qualifies as curriculum and share commentary on its validity and fitness? for practical application. Universities would viscerally hate crowdsourced oversight, precisely the reason we need it. While Private U can still be an enclave of preferential ideology, our nation demands klieg lights shined upon publicly funded curriculum. Labs, apprenticeships, job shadowing and residencies can certainly be organized through vastly improved logistics amid smaller campus footprints. Major universities already offer external degrees and reputable certificate programs, so many cats have already been released from many bags. The worlds Lori Loughlins can still send their kids to swim in globalist theory and mangled civics at a premium all they want. Access to core curriculum and actual skillsets can be made open source to improve our national academic fitness and international competitiveness. Market forecasting and career tracking logistics exist. Together, they must assist prospective students with raw data regarding estimated value of academic track selection and actual market performance of an institutions graduates. As of now, colleges suppress the former and fudge the latter. The notion of campus physical plants needs to be turned on its ear, releasing future middle and lower income generations from perhaps half or more of their burgeoning student debt. We do not need more government money to solve our academic crisis. We possess all the tools now and can rearrange them quite handily. Nothing improves a citizens prospects more than competitive skills and critical thinking. Nationally our supply chain of both is sorely wanting. Showing empirical value of technical and scientific skills, then deploying them to millions, would improve our lot. As it stands, we enjoy vast surplus of indebted activists with too few operational coffee shops to fully employ them. If one wishes to challenge this bit of snark, Id politely engage. We must better spend what we already invest among the citizenry, a notion universities would detest so energetically it appears the best route forward. Jason M. Kibby * * * First of all, I won't argue against the idea that everybody needs and deserves a college education. It's a ridiculous notion, and it's not the topic here. I'll also disregard for the moment the unlimited opportunity for fraud in online, offsite, in-your-jammies/skivvies remote education; Craigslist ads offer anyone a guaranteed high grade in any course required -- for a price, of course. And I'll not comment on the daily fraud committed by various universities and their so-called professors -- including graduate teaching assistants whose foreign version of 'English' cannot be understood by real American students. Here's my point -- an interesting twist to education apparently offered by some old European universities. I've read that students could attend whatever lectures they chose whenever they chose, and were required to pay for those lectures at the door. How about that? College a la carte! And there were no examinations ... not right then, anyway. That pay-as-you-go practice surely weeded out the incompetent lecturers, the inept, boring, incomprehensible, and otherwise unsatisfactory 'teachers' of any and every subject. If no one attended his lectures, an undesirable educator simply didn't get paid. If he had any sense at all, he'd find another line of work. Pretty radical, huh? Of course, the old European method also required that ultimate day of reckoning, wherein each student who wanted a degree was required to face a panel of real educators, real lecturers, real experts on every conceivable subject, and answer their questions, solve their word problems, 'show your work,' etc., to prove that he had, by one means or another, become widely and satisfactorily 'educated' according to the university's standards. No, I'm not against online education or any other sort of honest, genuine teaching and learning. Personally, I've learned more through simple self-study, in libraries, bookstores, and online, than I ever did in college. And way back in 1962 I was, along with dozens of other young students at Purdue University, routinely treated to televised remote lectures at 7:30 a.m. We had all driven into Indianapolis from our homes in the far suburbs, then we sat and watched small black-and-white televisions for 45 minutes or so. Each taped closed-circuit broadcast was transmitted from an airplane circling high above northern Indiana, whereby one of the university's top teachers reached out and touched us all with his honest and precise wisdom. Plenty of folks consider 60 years ago as the Dark Ages, but that was way ahead of other schools at the time. Oh, yeah -- our regular professors were right there in the room with us every minute, and they were the ones we had to satisfy with homework papers and when exam time came! So, as long as there is genuine accountability, honest teaching and strict examinations, as long as there is real learning and real proof of learning accomplished, then I'll agree that various newfangled and non-traditional methods can be made to work. But that shouldn't cost anyone an arm and a leg, and it shouldn't involve a lifetime of indebtedness for either students or teachers. One possibility I haven't seen addressed is that some (perhaps much) of today's supposed 'college' debt is really a matter of the students' lifestyles, which is not at all the fault of the educational institution. But that's another thought for another day, huh? Larry Cloud A report alleged that President Xi Jinping directly requested Tedros Adhanom, World Health Organization Director-General, to delay the global warning regarding the threat of the new coronavirus during a conversation in January. The allegations were published by Germany's Der Spiegel this weekend, which cites intelligence from the Federal Intelligence Service of the country, known as the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND). According to the New York Post , BND said that Chinese leader Xi Jinping requested WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to suppress information regarding the human-to-human transmission and to hold off a pandemic warning. The BND estimates that China's information policy lost four to six weeks to battle the virus worldwide. WHO published a statement shortly after the issue of the claims, naming them unfounded and untrue. The organization stated that Dr. Tedros and President Xi did not converse on the 21st of January and they have never contacted by phone. And added that inaccurate reports distract and detract from the world's and WHO's efforts in ending the new coronavirus pandemic. According to WHO, China confirmed the human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus on January 20, which was prior to the alleged phone dialogue. On January 22, WHO publicly declared that the data collected suggests that human-to-human transmission is taking place in Wuhan. Read also: Scientist Say Coronavirus Was Not Turbocharged by Any Mutation If the allegations were true, they would support President Trump's assertion that the WHO is China-centric. In April, Trump Administration protested that the WHO was becoming a tool of the Chinese propaganda, and Trump moved to stop funding of the organization. President Trump launched an attack on the organization during a virtual town hall meeting last week. On Monday, Trump said the World Health Organization has been a disaster, everything the organization said was wrong and they are China-centric. President Trump uttered that all the organization does is agree with the Chinese government. He added that the US perhaps foolishly in retrospect has been paying $450million in a year to the WHO and that China has been paying $38million a year but they were more political than all of the previous leaders. Moreover, President Trump articulated that all the WHO do was to miss every single call and the US is not going to put up with it. Mike Pompeo, US State Secretary, warned that Washington may never restore the funding of WHO and could even establish an alternative body to the WHO that will deliver on the intended purposes. On April 23, in a radio interview, the US diplomat hinted at reform while doubting the ability of WHO in performing its primary duty. The Washington-WHO relation has soured throughout the crisis after President Trump consistently accused the organization of siding with China, stating it has been hand-in-glove with President Xi Jinping in covering up the outbreak of the new coronavirus. Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised China as a model of how to handle an emergency despite widespread skepticism of the country's new coronavirus death toll. President Trump earlier this week also claimed there was enough evidence to prove President Xi Jinping's regime misinformed the global community. Related article: Pres. Donald Trump is Confident Vaccine Will be Developed by End of the Year @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days' Sunday episode featured David finally getting to meet his girlfriend Lana. The 60-year-old computer programmer who resides in Las Vegas traveled to the 27-year-old's native country Ukraine four times - and got stood up four times by her - has spent over $100K talking to her. Three weeks after his disastrous four visit and no Lana, she finally agreed to meet him after the duo chatted for seven years online. Amazing: 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days' Sunday episode featured David finally getting to meet his girlfriend Lana David waited for his lady love in Sunday's episode for the fifth time, and this time she showed up. He says: 'Is that her? Oh my God! That's her.' Lana greets him with a smile and the duo share a hug, with David spinning her in a circle. He later says: 'Nothing in the past even matters' during a confessional interview. Latest: The 60-year-old computer programmer who resides in Las Vegas traveled to the 27-year-old's native country Ukraine four times - and got stood up four times by her His meet up with Lana comes seven years after the duo began chatting online. The last time David tried to meet up with Lana, she stood him up; he had plans to meet at a train station. She unfortunately stood him up again but David decided to travel to the city of Pavlograd to see her. Good news: David waited for his lady love in Sunday's episode for the fifth time, and this time she showed up He made plans with her to meet at a local restaurant but she once again stood him up, with David waiting for her with a bottle of champagne. After the disastrous fourth try, David hired a private investigator while he was back in the states. The PI discovered that she had several different dating profiles but David didn't believe him. He ignored the PI and made the plans for the fifth visit, which had him finally get to meet Lana. Mumbai, May 11 : Bollywood celebrities continue to express concern about the trying conditions of migrant workers stranded in different amid the COVID-19 lockdown. Taking to Twitter on Monday, Shraddha Kapoor urged: "A request to whoever comes across the migrants who have been allowed to walk home on humanitarian grounds in Maharashtra, please give them food and water along the way." Criticising Indian Railways' decision to avail online booking for select train services that have started, Pooja Bhatt posted a sarcastic message. "So migrant workers log onto their smartphones and book tickets online? Great move #IndianRailways," she tweeted. Actor Chandan Roy Sanyal wrote: "This migrant issue is getting out of hand. its been so long they are all helter skelter - people are just walking on the highway everywhere. Few trains, most of them dont have money and now online booking. Crazy." Shekhar Kapur tweeted: "Which one of us did not know that the Indian economy is built on migrant workers? That household help was migrant workers? That 5000 kids everyday die of malnutrition in India? And all this since Independence? Or is it just convenient ignorance?" The decision by state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat to suspend labour laws, in a bid to restart economic activity, was also criticised by many. "Not only migrants workers are left to fend for themselves, now the govt is disempowering them of their rights to minimum wage / safety / living conditions . The govt cares only for the Rich," wrote filmmaker Onir. Bollywood actor Sonu Sood, who has organised buses to transport stranded migrant labourers, tweeted: "Time to help the migrants." Parents and students who seek to influence a Leaving Cert grade awarded by teachers are to be reported to the Department of Education. The move comes amid evidence of pupils quick off the mark to send messages of appreciation to teachers - which could be interpreted as seeking favourable treatment - after it was announced that grades calculated by teachers would replace traditional exams. Contact Many schools have already sought to head off the problem by advising teachers that tuition finished last Friday and not to have any more than necessary contact with their Leaving Cert pupils or parents. The Department of Education, teachers, principals and school managers are determined to deter any attempts to compromise the integrity of teachers in the face of the unprecedented approach to assessment this year. The exams have effectively been cancelled because of the logistical difficulties of trying to run them - even through August - because of social distancing and other public health requirements imposed by Covid-19. Instead, subject teachers will award an estimated mark of what they believe their pupils would have achieved if they had sat the exams, under normal conditions, in June. It will be signed off by the principal and sent to the department, which will use statistical methods to standardise results across the country, linked to traditional performance patterns. There is unanimity within schools about the need for safeguards to protect teachers. "We have to have arrangements in place whereby people can't be actively canvassing," said John Curtis, general secretary of the Joint Managerial Body, which represents management in more than half the second-level schools in Ireland. National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals director Clive Byrne said necessary safeguards would need to be put in place. He believes that under the protocol being worked on, if a teacher felt they were subject to inappropriate contact, they would make a note of it and report it to the principal, who in turn could report it to the department. Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) president Seamus Lahart said teachers "should not be subject to any undue pressure whatsoever in relation to their role. The TUI's call for a protocol also envisages protection for students, as to favour one would be to put others at a disadvantage". Tricky Association of Secondary Teachers' Ireland (ASTI) president Deirdre MacDonald also called for protections. Work is continuing on agreeing a protocol around the nature of what may be permissible in terms of any engagement between teachers and pupils/parents and the consequence of any serious attempt to influence a teacher. Finalising the detail of what would constitute serious lobbying will be tricky, with distinctions to be drawn between what may have been intended purely as a jokey comment and a serious attempt to influence. Schools must also be mindful of the normal rites of passage associated with the end of school and the need for staff and sixth years to be able to connect and say goodbye to each other. Meanwhile, details of the scale of the logistics involved in running exams have emerged and outline the "military precision" that would have been involved in marshalling students to and from exam halls. Piers Morgan is one of the most notorious critics of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from the British media. He would often lambast the couple's decision, and it got even worse when the Sussexes decided to step down as senior members of the royal family. But now that it has been a more than a month since Harry and Meghan officially quit as senior royals, it looks like the veteran broadcaster is taking a 360-degree turn in his attitude towards the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The 55-year-old Good Morning Britain host admitted that he had gone too far with his fierce criticism against the royal couple. In the past, Pierce has hit out on Harry and Meghan's privacy obsession, as well as their sour relationship with the rest of the senior royals. He even called Meghan a "social climber" after marrying into the royal family. Piers also criticized Meghan and Harry for "profiting off" Princess Diana's death. Eventually, Piers' relentless commentary about Harry and Meghan annoyed some viewers of the morning show and voiced out their opinion on social media. Because of this, the fiery TV host confessed that he has now decided to change his behavior towards the couple moving forward. "Have I taken things a bit too far? Probably," Piers said during an interview with The Sunday Times. "Do I think that will govern and temper how I talk about them going forward?" he added before surprisingly responding to his own question with "Absolutely!" In his own words, Piers said that he realized it is also not wise for a columnist to make personal opinions with his commentaries. "I'm So Done With Them!" It is not the first time that the veteran host signaled a change of treatment towards the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Right after Harry and Meghan's official exit to the royal family, Piers publicly announced that he no longer wants to talk about anything that has to do with the couple and emphasized his desire to focus his attention on the current health crisis in the United Kingdom and around the world. The host specifically lost his cool over the Sussexes during an episode of Good Morning Britain when showbiz correspondent Ross King diverted the conversation about the Sussexes' security bill issues while in the United States. The U.S. correspondent was supposed to talk about how the global pandemic is impacting America, but he changed his focus and started talking about U.S. President Donald Trump's security issues with Meghan and Harry. Piers was not pleased with the shift of direction of the conversation and said that he was done talking about the royal couple. "You lost me at Meghan and Harry," the irate host said. "I'm so done with them right now. I don't want to hear a peep out of them until this is over," Piers added, talking about the global pandemic brought by COVID-19. Piers continued with his rant, saying he doesn't care about the couple's Hollywood life. "I care about what the Royal Family here, who are actually in this country doing their duty and helping us here," Piers said. "I don't really care about the renegades living in Hollywood issuing statements, do you?" Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 08:36:32|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close YINCHUAN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Lu Bingquan, a one-legged village doctor, spent the Labor Day holiday in his clinic seeing patients and prescribing medicine. "I have been used to working in the clinic every day. I feel like I need my patients more than they need me," the 43-year-old said earnestly. Lu has been practicing medicine for six years in Panhe Village under the city of Wuzhong, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The village is about 360 km from Lu's hometown. Lu graduated from a vocational school studying community medicine when he was 19, the same year he lost his left leg in a car accident. "I was expecting a bright future as a doctor. The accident was like a thunderstrike for me," Lu recalled, peacefully. For over 10 years, he stayed at home to accompany his aged parents. He spent most of his time reading medical books. To dispel his sorrow, he learned how to cook, wash clothes and even drive a motor tricycle. "Driving a motor tricycle was never easy for me, but I guess that was the wisest thing I have ever done," Lu said. Learning medicine helped him realize the value of life, while a motor tricycle expanded the circle of life for him. Lu wanted a change, which came in 2014 when he heard that a remote village needed a doctor. Without hesitation, Lu packed up some bedclothes, pots and pans, and his medical books, and headed for Panhe on his motor tricycle. Apart from the low salary, living conditions in Panhe were also very poor. Before him, the village had seen off several doctors who couldn't hold on any longer. "Nothing could be more miserable than losing a leg," Lu interned for half a year before becoming a regular village doctor. Being disabled, Lu cherished health more than anyone. One of a village doctor's jobs is to monitor the health conditions of at least 90 percent of pregnant women, kids and special groups in the village. Lu made it to 100 percent. He has set up an electronic health record for each villager. "Anyone who has lived in the village for over half a year is under my health management," Lu said. Lu seldom went home due to the long distance and his disability. He felt sorry for the passing of his parents in recent years, and thus invests more money and energy in his fellow villagers, especially the elderly. He has spent over 10,000 yuan (about 1,413 U.S. dollars) of his own savings on a portable hematomanometer for the elderly, and face masks for free distribution among villagers during the COVID-19 epidemic. "Villagers now treat me like family, and that's enough," Lu said. Some villagers offered Lu eggs, vegetables or fruits in return, but they never succeeded. Wang Sufeng, 70, always failed to persuade him to accept the eggs she boiled every time Lu dropped by to measure her blood pressure. "He is a good man," said Wang. "He gives a lot but never takes." In the meantime, as China has put much effort into establishing standard clinics and allocating qualified doctors in vast rural areas across the country, the clinic has received a renovation using public funds and its medicines enriched to 130 varieties. Lu's salary was also bumped to about 60,000 yuan a year. He bought a new electric tricycle so that he could move around more conveniently. "A village doctor should have enough patience and perseverance, and I'm working on it," said Lu. Enditem Net income (loss) of $55.9 million compared to $(63.9) million in the prior year first quarter; Adjusted net income (1) of $52.3 million compared to $49.7 million in the prior year first quarter. compared to in the prior year first quarter; Adjusted net income of compared to in the prior year first quarter. Earnings (loss) per diluted share of $0.33 compared to $(0.43) per diluted share in the prior year first quarter. Adjusted earnings per diluted share (1) of $0.31 in the quarter decreased from $0.33 in the prior year first quarter. compared to per diluted share in the prior year first quarter. Adjusted earnings per diluted share of in the quarter decreased from in the prior year first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA (1) increased 0.9 percent to $161.6 million with Adjusted EBITDA margin (1) of 7.3 percent. increased 0.9 percent to with Adjusted EBITDA margin of 7.3 percent. Net cash used in operating activities decreased to $78.2 million from $123.5 million in the first quarter last year. from in the first quarter last year. Liquidity as of March 31, 2020 was $834.8 million inclusive of $379.7 million in cash-on-hand and additional availability under committed, asset-based credit facilities. "Our number one priority is always safety and the health and well-being of our employees. I'm extremely proud of how our organisation has been rapidly able to adapt to new ways of working. The strength of our supplier and customer relationships, operating infrastructure, and the ability of the sales force to react quickly and decisively, enabled us to execute well in a challenging market, supporting an increasing number of customers," said David Jukes, president and chief executive officer. "I'm pleased with our performance this quarter and our strong liquidity position. We remain positive about the path we are on but will remain agile to adjust to changing demand patterns as the impact of COVID-19 continues to develop." (1) Non-GAAP financial measure. See "Use of non-GAAP Financial Measures" for further discussion and related schedules attached hereto for reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and related explanations of ratios or percentages, as applicable. Company Performance Univar Solutions operating performance results are described below and, unless otherwise indicated, are a comparison of first quarter 2020 results with first quarter 2019 results. (Unaudited) Three months ended March 31, % change (in millions) 2020 2019 $ change % change excl. currency (1) Segment External Sales (2) USA $ 1,357.5 $ 1,307.2 $ 50.3 3.8 % 3.8 % EMEA 460.3 483.7 (23.4) (4.8) % (1.7) % Canada 285.8 273.8 12.0 4.4 % 5.5 % LATAM 107.6 95.3 12.3 12.9 % 21.8 % Total Consolidated Net Sales $ 2,211.2 $ 2,160.0 $ 51.2 2.4 % 3.6 % Gross Profit (exclusive of depreciation) (3)(4) USA $ 331.4 $ 307.3 $ 24.1 7.8 % 7.8 % EMEA 116.0 116.2 (0.2) (0.2) % 3.0 % Canada 61.6 53.5 8.1 15.1 % 16.4 % LATAM 23.6 19.4 4.2 21.6 % 33.5 % Total Consolidated Gross Profit (exclusive of depreciation) (3) $ 532.6 $ 496.4 $ 36.2 7.3 % 8.6 % Total Consolidated Net Income (Loss) $ 55.9 $ (63.9) $ 119.8 N/M N/M Adjusted EBITDA (3) USA $ 96.6 $ 97.1 $ (0.5) (0.5) % (0.5) % EMEA 40.3 42.1 (1.8) (4.3) % (1.0) % Canada 27.3 21.7 5.6 25.8 % 27.2 % LATAM 8.3 5.7 2.6 45.6 % 59.6 % Other (5) (10.9) (6.5) (4.4) (67.7) % (67.7) % Total Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA(3) $ 161.6 $ 160.1 $ 1.5 0.9 % 2.6 % (1) Represents percentage change for the comparative periods using a constant currency. See "Use of non-GAAP Financial Measures". (2) Segment external sales represent sales to third party customers. Inter-segment sales are excluded from segment external sales. (3) Non-GAAP financial measures. See "Use of non-GAAP Financial Measures" and related schedules attached hereto for reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP financial measure. (4) Gross profit (exclusive of depreciation) is defined as segment net sales inclusive of inter-segment sales less cost of goods sold (exclusive of depreciation). (5) Other represents unallocated corporate costs that do not directly benefit segments. Consolidated Results Univar Solutions reported net sales of $2.2 billion, up 3.6 percent compared to the prior year first quarter on a constant currency basis(1). Sales growth was driven by contribution from the Nexeo acquisition and higher demand for products in essential end markets(2). This was partially offset by lower demand in the global industrial end markets, a reduction in sales due to the Environmental Sciences divestiture and price deflation affecting certain products. (1) Non-GAAP financial measure. See "Use of non-GAAP Financial Measures" for further discussion and related schedules attached hereto for reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and related explanations of ratios or percentages, as applicable. (2) Essential end markets includes providing products and services that are essential for maintaining clean drinking water, waste water treatment, home, industrial and health care facility sanitization, and that are used in the manufacturing of food and pharmaceuticals. Gross profit (exclusive of depreciation) of $532.6 million was up 8.6 percent on a constant currency basis and gross margin expanded by 110 basis points to 24.1 percent compared to the prior year first quarter, driven primarily by contribution from the Nexeo acquisition, improving sales force execution and favorable product and end market mix. Univar Solutions reported net income of $55.9 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $63.9 million, or $0.43 per diluted share, in the prior year first quarter. The increase was primarily due to lower acquisition and integration related expenses, the absence of the saccharin legal settlement, lower employee severance costs and the fair value adjustment on warrants assumed in connection with the February 2019 Nexeo acquisition, partially offset by lower tax benefits. Adjusted earnings per diluted share(1) of $0.31 in the quarter decreased from $0.33 in the prior year first quarter. Lower interest expense was more than offset by higher depreciation and amortization and higher fully diluted share count resulting from the Nexeo acquisition. Adjusted EBITDA of $161.6 million increased $1.5 million, or 0.9 percent, compared to the prior year first quarter, or an increase of 2.6 percent on a constant currency basis. The performance was primarily due to contribution from the Nexeo acquisition, including the realization of net synergies and product mix, in addition to prudent cost management. The increase was partially offset by price deflation affecting certain product margins, higher environmental remediation and higher expenses in the services businesses. Net cash used in operating activities decreased to $78.2 million from $123.5 million in the first quarter last year, driven by higher net income, partially offset by changes in prepaid expenses and other current assets. The leverage ratio(1) at March 31, 2020 was 3.7x compared to 3.9x in the prior year first quarter. The leverage ratio(1) increased from 3.3x at December 31, 2019, primarily due to seasonal reinvestment in net working capital, partially offset by improved working capital efficiency. Segment Results USA: USA external sales grew 3.8 percent during the quarter, primarily due to contribution from the Nexeo acquisition and higher demand for products in essential end markets, partially offset by a reduction in sales due to the Environmental Sciences divestiture, lower energy and industrial end market demand and price deflation affecting certain products. external sales grew 3.8 percent during the quarter, primarily due to contribution from the Nexeo acquisition and higher demand for products in essential end markets, partially offset by a reduction in sales due to the Environmental Sciences divestiture, lower energy and industrial end market demand and price deflation affecting certain products. Gross profit (exclusive of depreciation) grew 7.8 percent and gross margin expanded 90 basis points of 24.4 percent, reflecting favorable changes in product mix and margin management efforts, partially offset by lower sales volumes due to weaker demand across most end markets. Adjusted EBITDA decreased 0.5 percent to $96.6 million . . Adjusted EBITDA margin declined 30 basis points to 7.1 percent as higher gross margin was more than offset by higher warehousing, selling and administrative costs and outbound freight and handling expenses as a percentage of sales. EMEA: EMEA external sales declined 4.8 percent, or 1.7 percent excluding the impact of currency, as higher demand for products in essential end markets was more than offset by lower demand in certain end markets. (1) Non-GAAP financial measure. See "Use of non-GAAP Financial Measures" for further discussion and related schedules attached hereto for reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and related explanations of ratios or percentages, as applicable. Gross profit (exclusive of depreciation) increased 3.0 percent on a constant currency basis and gross margin increased 120 basis points to 25.2 percent driven by favorable product mix and margin management initiatives. Adjusted EBITDA declined 1.0 percent on a constant currency basis and declined 4.3 percent to $40.3 million on a reported basis compared to the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased 10 basis points to 8.8 percent. on a reported basis compared to the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased 10 basis points to 8.8 percent. Adjusted EBITDA performance was lower as the positive impact of higher demand from products in essential end markets was more than offset by anticipated declines in pharmaceutical finished goods as well as higher warehousing, selling and administrative costs as a percentage of sales. CANADA: Canada external sales increased 4.4 percent, or 5.5 percent excluding the impact of currency, primarily due to contribution from the Nexeo acquisition, higher demand for products in essential end markets and a more normal start to the agriculture season as compared to last year, partially offset by a reduction in sales due to lower demand in energy, the Environmental Sciences divestiture, and price deflation affecting certain products. external sales increased 4.4 percent, or 5.5 percent excluding the impact of currency, primarily due to contribution from the Nexeo acquisition, higher demand for products in essential end markets and a more normal start to the agriculture season as compared to last year, partially offset by a reduction in sales due to lower demand in energy, the Environmental Sciences divestiture, and price deflation affecting certain products. Gross profit (exclusive of depreciation) grew 16.4 percent on a constant currency basis, while gross margin increased 210 basis points to 21.6 percent. Adjusted EBITDA grew 27.2 percent on a constant currency basis, and increased 25.8 percent to $27.3 million on a reported basis compared to prior year. on a reported basis compared to prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased 170 basis points to 9.6 percent. Adjusted EBITDA increased primarily due to solid performance in industrial chemicals and favorable product mix in agriculture along with growth in certain commodity chemicals. LATAM: LATAM external sales of $107.6 million grew 21.8 percent, excluding the impact of currency, largely due to contribution from the Nexeo acquisition, higher demand for products in essential end markets and in the agriculture sector in Brazil . grew 21.8 percent, excluding the impact of currency, largely due to contribution from the Nexeo acquisition, higher demand for products in essential end markets and in the agriculture sector in . Gross profit (exclusive of depreciation) grew 33.5 percent on a constant currency basis and gross margin increased 150 basis points to 21.9 percent due to favorable change in product and end market mix. Adjusted EBITDA grew 59.6 percent on a constant currency basis, and increased 45.6 percent to $8.3 million on a reported basis. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased 170 basis points to 7.7 percent. Adjusted EBITDA increased primarily due to higher demand for products in essential end markets and the Brazilian agriculture sector. 2020 Actions & Outlook As previously disclosed, the Company withdrew its full year Adjusted EBITDA guidance and plans to provide an update as appropriate once it has greater clarity regarding the implications of COVID-19 and the impacts on its business. In anticipation of a continued challenging and uncertain economic environment, the Company has been actively managing its expense base and realizing cost reductions to maintain Univar Solutions' financial health while continuing to serve its suppliers and customers' needs. These include, but are not limited to the following: Salaried position eliminations; Elimination of merit-based salary increases for salaried employees for 2020; Suspension of all hiring for exempt and nonexempt positions, except for critical positions; Temporary furloughs to match changes in demand in certain locations; and Reduction in travel and other discretionary spending. These savings represent in aggregate over $40 million in anticipated cost reductions for 2020, which are incremental to the net synergies expected from the Nexeo acquisition. The company is reducing its expected Nexeo net synergies in 2020 from $40 million to $35 million due to timing delays. However, Univar Solutions' target of achieving $120 million in annual net synergies by early 2022 remains unchanged. In addition, the Company is lowering its anticipated capital expenditures to $95-$115 million from $120-130 million, while the Company continues to invest in key operating and digital growth projects. The Company will continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 and may take additional cost reduction measures as needed. Liquidity The Company estimates its liquidity at the end of the second quarter will be approximately $750-$800 million in cash and available lines of credit and expects its total liquidity to increase by year-end. The Company has no significant debt maturities until 2024 and is in full compliance with its credit agreements. The Company will continue to optimize its working capital efficiency, maintain financial flexibility and consider further reductions in capital expenditures to preserve cash flow to the extent required. Univar Solutions to Host Webcast on May 11, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. ET The Company will host a webcast with investors to discuss 2020 first quarter results at 9:00 a.m. ET on May 11, 2020, which can be accessed on the Investor Relations section of its website at http://investors.univarsolutions.com . After the live webcast, a replay of the webcast will be available on the same website. Use of Non-GAAP Measures In this press release, the Company's financial results are provided both in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) and using certain non-GAAP financial measures. In particular, the Company presents the non-GAAP financial measures gross profit (exclusive of depreciation), gross margin defined as gross profit (exclusive of depreciation) divided by net sales on a consolidated level and by external sales on a segment level, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin defined as Adjusted EBITDA divided by net sales on a consolidated level and by external sales on a segment level, Adjusted net income, Adjusted earnings per diluted share, Free cash flow, leverage ratio and constant currency. The non-GAAP financial measures are included as a complement to results provided in accordance with GAAP because management believes these non-GAAP financial measures help investors' ability to analyze underlying trends in the Company's business, evaluate its performance relative to other companies in its industry and provide useful information to both management and investors by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of the Company's core operating results. Additionally, the Company uses Adjusted EBITDA in setting performance incentive targets to align management compensation with operational performance. The Company evaluates its results of operations on both an as reported and a constant currency basis. The constant currency presentation is a non-GAAP financial measure, which excludes the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. The Company believes providing information on a constant currency basis provides valuable supplemental information regarding its results of operations, consistent with how it evaluates its performance. The Company calculates constant currency percentages by converting its financial results in local currency for a period using the average exchange rate for the prior period to which it is comparing. This calculation may differ from similarly-titled measures used by other companies. The non-GAAP measures should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results and may vary from others in the industry. For further information related to the Company's use of non-GAAP financial measures, and the reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, see the schedules attached hereto. About Univar Solutions Univar Solutions (NYSE: UNVR) is a leading global specialty chemical and ingredient distributor representing a premier portfolio from the world's leading producers. With the industry's largest private transportation fleet and North American sales force, unparalleled logistics know-how, deep market and regulatory knowledge, world-class formulation and recipe development, and leading digital tools the company is well-positioned to offer tailored solutions and value-added services to a wide range of markets, industries, and applications. Univar Solutions is committed to helping customers and suppliers innovate and grow together. Learn more at www.univarsolutions.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes certain statements relating to future events and our intentions, beliefs, expectations, and outlook for the future, which are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, without limitation, statements regarding the impacts of the effects of COVID-19 on the Company, the Company's liquidity position, actions regarding expense control and cost reductions, expected net synergies from the Nexeo acquisition, capital expenditures and other statements regarding the Company's initiatives and expected future performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations and assumptions. A detailed discussion of these factors and uncertainties is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Potential factors that could affect such forward-looking statements include, among others: the ultimate geographic spread of the COVID-19 pandemic; the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic; actions that may be taken by governmental authorities to address or otherwise mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the potential negative impacts of COVID-19 on the global economy and our customers and suppliers; the overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, results of operations and financial condition; other fluctuations in general economic conditions, particularly in industrial production and the demands of our customers; significant changes in the business strategies of producers or in the operations of our customers; increased competitive pressures, including as a result of competitor consolidation; significant changes in the pricing, demand and availability of chemicals; our levels of indebtedness, the restrictions imposed by our debt instruments, and our ability to obtain additional financing when needed; the broad spectrum of laws and regulations that we are subject to, including extensive environmental, health and safety laws and regulations; an inability to integrate the business and systems of companies we acquire, including of Nexeo Solutions, Inc., or to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions; potential business disruptions and security breaches, including cybersecurity incidents; an inability to generate sufficient working capital; increases in transportation and fuel costs and changes in our relationship with third party providers; accidents, safety failures, environmental damage, product quality and liability issues and recalls; major or systemic delivery failures involving our distribution network or the products we carry; operational risks for which we may not be adequately insured; ongoing litigation and other legal and regulatory risks; challenges associated with international operations; exposure to interest rate and currency fluctuations; potential impairment of goodwill; liabilities associated with acquisitions, ventures and strategic investments; negative developments affecting our pension plans and multi-employer pensions; labor disruptions associated with the unionized portion of our workforce; and the other factors described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We caution you that the forward-looking information presented in this press release is not a guarantee of future events or results, and that actual events or results may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking information contained in this press release. In addition, forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "plan," "seek, "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe" or "continue" or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Any forward-looking information presented herein is made only as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise, except as required by law. Univar Solutions Inc. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) Three months ended March 31, (in millions, except per share data) 2020 2019 Net sales $ 2,211.2 $ 2,160.0 Cost of goods sold (exclusive of depreciation) 1,678.6 1,663.6 Operating expenses: Outbound freight and handling 91.5 82.9 Warehousing, selling and administrative 279.5 253.4 Other operating expenses, net 4.1 164.8 Depreciation 41.7 33.2 Amortization 15.8 14.4 Total operating expenses $ 432.6 $ 548.7 Operating income (loss) $ 100.0 $ (52.3) Other (expense) income: Interest income 1.0 0.6 Interest expense (29.1) (34.8) Loss on sale of business (8.6) Loss on extinguishment of debt (1.8) (0.7) Other expense, net (5.9) (6.1) Total other expense $ (44.4) $ (41.0) Income (loss) before income taxes 55.6 (93.3) Income tax benefit from continuing operations (0.3) (23.3) Net income (loss) from continuing operations $ 55.9 $ (70.0) Net income from discontinued operations $ $ 6.1 Net income (loss) $ 55.9 $ (63.9) Income (loss) per common share: Basic from continuing operations $ 0.33 $ (0.47) Basic from discontinued operations 0.04 Basic income (loss) per common share $ 0.33 $ (0.43) Diluted from continuing operations $ 0.33 $ (0.47) Diluted from discontinued operations 0.04 Diluted income (loss) per common share $ 0.33 $ (0.43) Weighted average common shares outstanding: Basic 168.8 149.2 Diluted 169.7 149.2 Univar Solutions Inc. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) (in millions, except per share data) March 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 Assets Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 379.7 $ 330.3 Trade accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $17.4 and $12.9 at March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. 1,383.8 1,160.1 Inventories 817.2 796.0 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 206.6 167.2 Total current assets $ 2,787.3 $ 2,453.6 Property, plant and equipment, net 1,120.7 1,152.4 Goodwill 2,249.0 2,280.8 Intangible assets, net 301.7 320.2 Deferred tax assets 19.2 21.3 Other assets 261.1 266.5 Total assets $ 6,739.0 $ 6,494.8 Liabilities and stockholders' equity Current liabilities: Short-term financing $ 1.1 $ 0.7 Trade accounts payable 1,027.2 895.0 Current portion of long-term debt 26.9 25.0 Accrued compensation 95.9 103.6 Other accrued expenses 439.8 425.1 Total current liabilities $ 1,590.9 $ 1,449.4 Long-term debt 2,860.8 2,688.8 Pension and other postretirement benefit liabilities 286.6 295.6 Deferred tax liabilities 53.4 56.3 Other long-term liabilities 263.7 271.9 Total liabilities $ 5,055.4 $ 4,762.0 Stockholders' equity: Preferred stock, 200.0 million shares authorized at $0.01 par value with no shares issued or outstanding as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 $ $ Common stock, 2.0 billion shares authorized at $0.01 par value with 168.9 million and 168.7 million shares issued and outstanding at March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively 1.7 1.7 Additional paid-in capital 2,974.0 2,968.9 Accumulated deficit (802.6) (858.5) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (489.5) (379.3) Total stockholders' equity $ 1,683.6 $ 1,732.8 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 6,739.0 $ 6,494.8 Univar Solutions Inc. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited) Three months ended March 31, (in millions) 2020 2019 Operating activities: Net income (loss) $ 55.9 $ (63.9) Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 57.5 47.6 Amortization of deferred financing fees and debt discount 1.6 1.8 Loss on sale of business 8.6 (Gain) loss on sale of property, plant and equipment (5.3) 0.1 Loss on extinguishment of debt 1.8 0.7 Deferred income taxes (3.5) (28.2) Stock-based compensation expense 5.7 6.0 Other 0.4 Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Trade accounts receivable, net (259.4) (86.6) Inventories (50.5) (42.9) Prepaid expenses and other current assets (58.3) (4.2) Trade accounts payable 165.3 37.3 Pensions and other postretirement benefit liabilities (5.3) (3.3) Other, net 7.7 11.7 Net cash used by operating activities $ (78.2) $ (123.5) Investing activities: Purchases of property, plant and equipment $ (24.1) $ (16.5) Purchases of businesses, net of cash acquired (1,165.5) Proceeds from sale of property, plant, and equipment 7.6 0.7 (Payments)/proceeds from sale of business (8.2) 650.0 Other (6.2) (1.3) Net cash used by investing activities $ (30.9) $ (532.6) Financing activities: Proceeds from issuance of long-term debt $ $ 947.0 Payments on long-term debt and finance lease obligations (180.6) (4.6) Net proceeds under revolving credit facilities 345.9 394.4 Short-term financing, net 6.3 (4.3) Taxes paid related to net share settlements of stock-based compensation awards (1.3) (2.0) Stock option exercises 0.7 Net cash provided by financing activities $ 171.0 $ 1,330.5 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents $ (12.5) $ (8.0) Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 49.4 666.4 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 330.3 121.6 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 379.7 $ 788.0 Schedule A Univar Solutions Inc. Reconciliation of GAAP Net Income (Loss) to Adjusted Net Income and Diluted Earnings per Share to Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share (Unaudited) Three months ended March 31, 2020 2019 (in millions, except per share data) Amount per share (1) Amount per share (1) Net income (loss) and diluted EPS $ 55.9 $ 0.33 $ (63.9) $ (0.43) Net income from discontinued operations (6.1) (0.04) Exchange loss (gain) (2) 0.6 (4.5) (0.03) Derivative loss (2) 6.8 0.04 9.7 0.06 Loss on sale of business, property, plant and equipment (2) 3.3 0.02 0.1 Restructuring, employee severance and other facility closure costs (2) 9.9 0.06 13.0 0.09 Loss on extinguishment of debt and debt refinancing costs (2) 1.9 0.01 0.7 Acquisition and integration related costs (2) 17.5 0.10 77.1 0.51 Saccharin legal settlement (2) 62.5 0.42 Fair value adjustment for warrants (2) (26.3) (0.15) (4.4) (0.03) Other (2)(3) 3.2 0.02 12.0 0.09 Income tax benefit related to reconciling items (4) (11.5) (0.07) (36.3) (0.24) Other discrete tax items (5) (9.0) (0.05) (10.2) (0.07) Adjusted net income and diluted EPS $ 52.3 $ 0.31 $ 49.7 $ 0.33 GAAP diluted common shares outstanding (1) 169.7 149.2 Effect of dilutive securities: stock compensation plans 0.8 Adjusted diluted common shares outstanding (1) 169.7 150.0 (1) Diluted and adjusted diluted earnings per share is calculated using net income (loss) or adjusted net income available to common shareholders divided by diluted and adjusted diluted weighted average shares outstanding during each period, respectively, which includes unvested restricted shares. Diluted earnings per share considers the impact of potential dilutive securities except in periods in which there is a loss because the inclusion of the potential common shares would have an anti-dilutive effect. Adjusted earnings per diluted share is based on the GAAP dilutive share count, except where adjustments to GAAP net loss result in an adjusted net income position. (2) Reconciling items represent items disclosed on Schedule D included in this document, excluding stock-based compensation and non-operating retirement benefits. (3) Immaterial differences may exist in the calculation of per share amounts due to rounding. (4) Tax on reconciling items is calculated as the difference between the tax provisions on US GAAP pre-tax earnings and Adjusted pre-tax earnings utilizing the appropriate tax rates and laws of each jurisdiction. (5) Discrete tax items primarily relate to tax law changes recognized in the current quarter and the Nexeo Plastics sale in the prior year. Schedule B Univar Solutions Inc. Reconciliation of GAAP Net Income (Loss) to Adjusted EBITDA (Unaudited) (in millions) Q2'18 Q3'18 Q4'18 Q1'19 Q2'19 Q3'19 Q4'19 Q1'20 LTM(2) Q1'19 LTM(2) Q4'19 LTM(2) Q1'20 Net income (loss) $ 56.1 $ 49.6 $ 1.2 $ (63.9) $ 16.3 $ 2.5 $ (55.1) $ 55.9 $ 43.0 $ (100.2) $ 19.6 Net (income) loss from discontinued operations (6.1) 0.7 (6.1) (5.4) 0.7 Depreciation 30.9 31.5 31.4 33.2 39.7 41.6 40.5 41.7 127.0 155.0 163.5 Amortization 13.8 13.5 13.6 14.4 18.6 12.1 14.6 15.8 55.3 59.7 61.1 Interest expense, net 32.0 32.2 33.3 34.2 37.9 36.8 30.6 28.1 131.7 139.5 133.4 Income tax expense (benefit) 27.2 20.3 (7.8) (23.3) 18.5 43.2 66.1 (0.3) 16.4 104.5 127.5 EBITDA 160.0 147.1 71.7 (11.5) 131.7 136.2 96.7 141.2 367.3 353.1 505.8 Other operating expenses, net (1) 11.0 12.4 36.5 164.8 63.8 30.2 39.4 4.1 224.7 298.2 137.5 Other expense (income), net (1) 2.1 (2.5) 35.7 6.1 5.6 5.5 53.3 5.9 41.4 70.5 70.3 Impairment charges 7.0 7.0 7.0 (Gain)/loss on sale of business (41.4) 8.6 (41.4) (32.8) Loss on extinguishment of debt 0.1 0.7 19.1 1.8 0.8 19.8 20.9 Brazil VAT recovery (8.3) (8.3) (8.3) Inventory step-up adjustment 5.3 5.3 5.3 Adjusted EBITDA $ 173.1 $ 157.0 $ 144.0 $ 160.1 $ 201.1 $ 184.2 $ 158.8 $ 161.6 $ 634.2 $ 704.2 $ 705.7 (1) Refer to Schedule D for more information for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019. (2) Last Twelve Month (LTM) Adjusted EBITDA is used in the calculation of the Company's leverage ratio. LTM Adjusted EBITDA in the leverage ratio calculation as shown in Schedule E differs from this Schedule as the leverage ratio calculation includes adjustments for acquisitions and divestitures and excludes the impact of synergies not yet realized. Refer to Schedule E for more information. Schedule C Univar Solutions Inc. Gross Profit (exclusive of depreciation) (Unaudited) (in millions) USA EMEA Canada LATAM Other/ Eliminations (1) Consolidated Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 External customers $ 1,357.5 $ 460.3 $ 285.8 $ 107.6 $ $ 2,211.2 Inter-segment 25.7 0.8 0.8 (27.3) Total net sales $ 1,383.2 $ 461.1 $ 286.6 $ 107.6 $ (27.3) $ 2,211.2 Cost of goods sold (exclusive of depreciation) $ 1,051.8 $ 345.1 $ 225.0 $ 84.0 $ (27.3) $ 1,678.6 Outbound freight and handling 63.1 15.5 10.5 2.4 91.5 Warehousing, selling and administrative 171.7 60.2 23.8 12.9 10.9 279.5 Adjusted EBITDA $ 96.6 $ 40.3 $ 27.3 $ 8.3 $ (10.9) $ 161.6 (in millions) USA EMEA Canada LATAM Other/ Eliminations (1) Consolidated Three months ended March 31, 2020 Net sales $ 1,383.2 $ 461.1 $ 286.6 $ 107.6 $ (27.3) $ 2,211.2 Cost of goods sold (exclusive of depreciation) 1,051.8 345.1 225.0 84.0 (27.3) 1,678.6 Gross profit (exclusive of depreciation) $ 331.4 $ 116.0 $ 61.6 $ 23.6 $ $ 532.6 (in millions) USA EMEA Canada LATAM Other/ Eliminations (1) Consolidated Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 External customers $ 1,307.2 $ 483.7 $ 273.8 $ 95.3 $ $ 2,160.0 Inter-segment 24.9 1.0 1.1 (27.0) Total net sales $ 1,332.1 $ 484.7 $ 274.9 $ 95.3 $ (27.0) $ 2,160.0 Cost of goods sold (exclusive of depreciation) $ 1,024.8 $ 368.5 $ 221.4 $ 75.9 $ (27.0) $ 1,663.6 Outbound freight and handling 55.6 15.6 9.7 2.0 82.9 Warehousing, selling and administrative 154.6 58.5 22.1 11.7 6.5 253.4 Adjusted EBITDA $ 97.1 $ 42.1 $ 21.7 $ 5.7 $ (6.5) $ 160.1 (in millions) USA EMEA Canada LATAM Other/ Eliminations (1) Consolidated Three months ended March 31, 2019 Net sales $ 1,332.1 $ 484.7 $ 274.9 $ 95.3 $ (27.0) $ 2,160.0 Cost of goods sold (exclusive of depreciation) 1,024.8 368.5 221.4 75.9 (27.0) 1,663.6 Gross profit (exclusive of depreciation) $ 307.3 $ 116.2 $ 53.5 $ 19.4 $ $ 496.4 (1) Other/Eliminations represents the elimination of intersegment transactions as well as unallocated corporate costs consisting of costs specifically related to parent company operations that do not directly benefit segments, either individually or collectively. Schedule D Univar Solutions Inc. Detail of Other operating expenses, net and Other expense, net (Unaudited) Other operating expenses, net Three months ended March 31, (in millions) 2020 2019 Acquisition and integration related expenses $ 17.5 $ 77.1 Stock-based compensation expense 5.7 6.0 Restructuring charges 2.5 0.1 Other employee severance costs 5.5 12.9 Other facility closure costs 1.9 Saccharin legal settlement 62.5 Fair value adjustment for warrants (26.3) (4.4) (Gain) loss on sale of property, plant and equipment (5.3) 0.1 Other 2.6 10.5 Total other operating expenses, net $ 4.1 $ 164.8 Other expense, net Three months ended March 31, (in millions) 2020 2019 Foreign currency transactions $ (0.8) $ (0.7) Foreign currency denominated loans revaluation 0.2 5.2 Undesignated foreign currency derivative instruments (2.0) (9.9) Undesignated swap contracts (4.8) 0.2 Non-operating retirement benefits 2.2 0.6 Debt refinancing costs (0.1) Other (0.6) (1.5) Total other expense, net $ (5.9) $ (6.1) Schedule E Univar Solutions Inc. Reconciliation of GAAP Debt to Net Debt (Unaudited) March 31, December 31, (in millions) 2020 2019 2019 Total short-term and long-term debt $ 2,887.7 $ 3,721.2 $ 2,713.8 Add: Short-term financing 1.1 4.3 0.7 Less: Cash and cash equivalents (379.7) (788.0) (330.3) Total net debt $ 2,509.1 $ 2,937.5 $ 2,384.2 LTM Adjusted EBITDA (1)(2) $ 685.7 $ 750.6 $ 725.4 Leverage ratio (Total net debt/LTM Adjusted EBITDA) 3.7 x 3.9 x 3.3 x (1) LTM Adjusted EBITDA, as defined by the Company's credit agreements, includes adjustments for acquisitions and divestitures and excludes the impact of synergies not yet realized. The March 31, 2020 LTM Adjusted EBITDA excludes nine months of Adjusted EBITDA of $20 million related to the Environmental Sciences business divestiture on December 31, 2019. For March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2019, LTM Adjusted EBITDA includes eleven and two months of Nexeo Chemicals Adjusted EBITDA, respectively, based on the 2018 full year estimate of $127 million for the periods prior to the acquisition on February 28, 2019. (2) Refer to Schedule B for more information on LTM Adjusted EBITDA before the adjustments discussed in the note above. SOURCE Univar Solutions Inc. The Railways ministry has modified guidelines for Shramik special trains, which ferry migrant labourers from various states during the Covid-19 lockdown. The ministry has also decided to increase the capacity of these special trains from existing 1,200 to more than 1,700. The revised guidelines state that the capacity of these trains should be equal to the number of sleeper berths. The railway zones have also been asked to provide three stoppages in the destination state other than the final stop, at the request of the state governments. Also Watch | Shramik Special trains arranged for migrants, students amid lockdown The ministry has also appealed to all states, especially whose which have allowed very few trains, to give approvals liberally. The issue was discussed in Home Secretarys meeting with states on Sunday and he has written a letter to them. Home Minister Amit Shah has appealed to West Bengal in particular which has very low number. In his letter, Home Ministry Ajay Bhalla said that all the states and union territories should cooperate with railways in running more Shramik special trains for migrant workers. He also asked states and union territories to ensure that migrant workers do not resort to walking on roads, rail tracks and use available special trains The Indian Railways has operated 428 Shramik special trains since May 1 and ferried home more over five lakh migrants stranded in various parts of the country amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Till May 9, out of the 287 trains which had terminated, 127 terminated in Uttar Pradesh, 87 in Bihar, 24 in Madhya Pradesh, 20 in Odisha, 16 in Jharkhand, four in Rajasthan, three in Maharashtra, two each in Telangana and West Bengal, and one each in Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, the officials further said. Here are todays top news, analysis and opinion. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times. State govts on alert as new superspreaders make tracing tough Ten vegetable and fruit vendors in Jaipur, three in Ahmedabad, a biryani delivery boy in Bhubaneswar and a kirana shop owner in Tuglakabad in Delhi are among new potential superspreaders of the coronavirus disease identified by the authorities in various states. Read more Covid-19: Tripura lawmaker requests CM to blacklist companies selling substandard PPE kits Tripura BJP MLA and former health minister Sudip Roy Barman requested Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb to blacklist the companies or traders who allegedly provide substandard Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits to the state government. Read more Nirmala Sitharaman to meet PSU bank chiefs today; credit flow, rate transmission on agenda Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a review meeting with chief executives of state-run banks on Monday to discuss several issues as part of efforts to shore up the economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Read more 2.25 lakh people want to return to Uttarakhand, govt fears 25,000 could be Covid-19 positive With five people who returned to Uttarakhand from different parts of the country testing positive for Covid-19 in the past two days, the Uttarakhand government is apprehensive that 25,000 people could be infected. Read more Training dry, shooters keep bond with the gun Trap marksman Manavjit Singh crouches like a predator, his shotgun pointed at a blank wall. The former world champion sweeps his gun, following the arc of a target in his minds eye. He pulls the trigger with a dull click. Read more Hrithik Roshan calls mom Pinky Roshan his lullaby in special Mothers Day video. Watch here Actor Hrithik Roshan has shared a special video tribute for his mother, Pinky Roshan, on the occasion of Mother Day. Hrithik took to Instagram to post the video collage. He wrote in the caption, She is my lullaby. Happy Mothers Day mama. Read more Realme Narzo 10, Narzo 10A India launch: Launch live stream, expected specs and more Realme is all set to introduce its Narzo smartphone series in India today. The handset maker was earlier scheduled to launch the line-up on April 26 but it was cancelled due to the lockdown extension. Read more Should art be fact-checked? The answer isnt quite black-and-white In January, a photo of rainbow-hued mountains showed up on Instagram, was shared on travel pages, and prompted users to report it as fake. Instagrams India-based verification partner NewsMobile confirmed that candy-coloured canyons do not exist, and labelled the photo false. Read more Watch| Covid-19: India sends ship with medicines, food to 5 nations amid crisis Express News Service VISAKHAPATNAM: The gas leak at LG Polymers in RR Venkatapuram was a very rare and strange occurrence, and is a mystery even for experts in the styrene industry, according to Anantram Ganapati, a chemical engineer who worked at the plant for 12 years when it was owned by Mc Dowell & Co. Ltd. Speaking to TNIE here on Sunday, Anantram Ganapati Anantram, who is also a technical expert member of the internal committee headed by the director of factories and constituted by the government, said the gas leak will be a case study for the styrene industry worldwide. Anantram currently works as an education and administration consultant. Asked how auto polymerisation could have happened on the day production was resumed at the plant, he replied that even experts are clueless. When I was working, the plant was shut and later started functioning several times, but we never faced a problem, he recalled. There are clear-cut safety protocols, maintenance guidelines, start-up and shut-down procedures, and it is an ISO-certified company. Even when it was under the UB Group it had strict safety guidelines. Once the LG Group took over, the safety mechanism was made more stringent. I have never seen such accidents in a styrene plant, he said. However, the leak may have happened due to the release of excess heat following auto polymerisation, he added. The procedure followed to bring down the temperature was right. Once inhibitors are added to the liquid styrene, it slowly turns into a solid. If the temperature reduces, polymerisation stops. Then, there is no need to add an inhibitor, he explained. But what left many perplexed was how the temperature had gone up, Anantram said, adding that the decision to remove the insulation to quickly cool down the tank was right. As for the risk of styrene vapour in the atmosphere, he said it doesnt stay long as it is heavier than air. It immediately gets converted into a polymer due to heat. Referring to reports of the Meghadri Gedda reservoir being polluted, he pointed out that styrene is insoluble in water. It is a hydrocardon and there will not be any reaction. It can be safely removed from the water by skimming and other procedures such as chemical treatment, he said. Not fair to demand relocation of plant Anantram further said he himself had been exposed to high concentration of styrene and handled it safely. This is the case with hundreds of employees in the industry, and all of them are healthy, he pointed out. The former chemical engineer went on to oppose the demand to shift the plant. It was set up when there were hardly any habitations there. Only factory employees used to live in the region. Later, houses were built around the plant. It is not right to demand that it be shifted. Besides, shifting thousands of tonnes of equipment is a tough task, he pointed out. Further, he said contract workers are not deployed to operate the plant as the job is left for professional, trained personnel. Anantram, who executed several revamp projects in the styrene plant and was also the assistant manager of the plant, said styrene was a monomer with a boiling point of 145 degree Centigrade. It is a liquid aromatic hydrocarbon that is stored at lower-than-ambient temperatures so it does not polymerise and also has a polymerisation inhibitor added. Once it starts reaching higher temperatures, it gives off vapours and starts polymerising. Styrene vapours may have leaked because of this. The worst case scenario of exposure to styrene liquid or vapour is irritation of the skin, a mild burning sensation, irritation in the respiratory tract, and dizziness if the nervous system is affected. The best immediate remedy is to flush the affected parts with plenty of water. The reported deaths are probably due to asphyxiation due to limited oxygen in the air, which had excess styrene vapour. This can happen with any gas that replaces the oxygen in the air, he said. I handled styrene both as a product and a raw material, and can confidently say it is just like any other chemical that needs to be handled with due diligence, Anantram explained. Villagers to head back home Tonight, ministers will join Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has told officials to ensure residents of the affected villages return home by Monday evening. In a meeting on Sunday night, he directed them to sanitise the villages, both inside and outside houses, before shifting people back, and told ministers to stay in the village on Monday night. The ministers were told to meet the relatives of the deceased and hand over the ex-gratia cheques water supply from Meghadri Gedda was halted, say officials After a picture of the Meghadri Gedda reservoir with contamin-ated water surfaced on social media, GVMC officials on Sunday appealed to people not to believe rumours, and said water supply from the reservoir was stopped immediately after the gas leak. Samples are being sent for tests every day and the results are awaited, they said 10 discharged from KGH, all victims now stable: Hosp As many as 10 people who were hospitalised due to the gas leak were discharged from the King George Hospital (KGH) on Sunday. Besides them, a few others were discharged from private hospitals. All gas leak victims at the KGH are now in a stable condition and do not have any major health complications, the hospital authorities said editorial The government should use this golden opportunity to cut waste by trimming the country's parastatals and agencies With dwindling resources amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has made nonsense of all revenue projections, the federal government is falling back on the 2012 report of the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies. Established by President Goodluck Jonathan and chaired by then Head of Service of the Federation, Mr Steve Oronsaye (after whom the report was named), the committee proposed a drastic downsizing of the federal bureaucracy that would engender considerable reduction in the cost of governance. According to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, "this is a report that has been in place for a long time ... but the President has approved that it should be implemented." Major highlights of the 800-page report include a recommendation for the reduction in the number of parastatals from 263 to 161 while advocating that 38 of them should be scrapped. Presenting the report eight years ago, Oronsaye highlighted sundry duplication of functions by many of the agencies. For instance, while acknowledging that the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has been quite active, the committee observed that what the agency was established to do is indeed a replication of the mandates of two existing bodies, namely, the highway department of the federal ministry of works with respect to the maintenance of safety and orderliness on our highways and the role of the police in ensuring law and order on our roads. While COVID-19 may have forced the hands of the federal government on the Oronsaye report, it is important that they look beyond the immediate challenges. Over the years, successive governments (including the current one) have created a multiplicity of agencies and departments without any corresponding improvement in service delivery. Indeed, the only contribution many can be credited with is that they are cost centres through which some unscrupulous officials fleece government funds. Unfortunately, as we have argued over the years, many of the current parastatals and agencies are sheer duplication as they perform overlapping functions which often result in needless power tussle and conflict of interest. That accounts for why the cost of maintaining the nation's bloated bureaucracy is rising every year. This much came out clearly in the Oronsaye report. Aside identifying the waste and inefficiencies in many of the agencies, the report noted that "it is a fundamental breach of acceptable practice of good public sector governance to create a new agency or institution as a response to the seeming failure or poor performance of an existing agency in order to suit political or individual interests. Such a practice has proved eventually to precipitate systemic conflicts, crises and even collapse at a substantial but avoidably high financial cost to government." Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Coronavirus Governance Nigeria By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. We recognise the challenge that will come with implementing some of the recommendations by the Oronsaye committee but public interest would be better served in doing so. Even when some of the agencies recommended either for outright scrapping or merging with existing ones are creations of statutes, it is our view that there is indeed an urgent need to restructure them. But announcing mere intention is the easy part. The real work is in the implementation. Instructively, Oronsaye made this same observation to President Jonathan who ended up not implementing the report. He remarked that 12 years after the White Paper on the Ahmed Joda Panel Report on the Review, Harmonisation and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Institutions and Agencies (2000), "some parastatals and agencies, which government had decided should either be scrapped, commercialised, privatised or self-funding, are still receiving full government funding, which runs into billions of Naira." While we urge President Muhammadu Buhari to go ahead and administer the requisite shock therapy by implementing the recommendations that do not require legislations, we also hope that the exercise will be transparent and not become another instrument in the hands of some unscrupulous politicians. WASHINGTON - More than 1,900 former Justice Department employees on Monday repeated a call for William Barr to step down as attorney general, asserting in an open letter he had "once again assaulted the rule of law" by moving to drop the case against President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The letter, organized by the nonprofit Protect Democracy, was signed by Justice Department staffers serving in Republican and Democratic administrations dating to President Dwight Eisenhower. The vast majority were former career staffers - rather than political appointees - who worked as federal prosecutors or supervisors at U.S. Attorney Offices across the country or the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. Protect Democracy, which counts Justice Department alumni among its members, has organized several similar letters critical of Barr's decisions or other Trump administration actions. Most recently, in February, the group collected more than 2,600 signatures on a letter calling for Barr to resign after he intervened to reduce career prosecutors' sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, a longtime friend of Trump. Jonathan Kravis, one of the prosecutors involved in Stone's case who resigned after Barr's action, wrote in a Washington Post column published Monday that in both matters, "the department undercut the work of career employees to protect an ally of the president, an abdication of the commitment to equal justice under the law." The new letter asserted that its signers "continue to believe that it would be best for the integrity of the Justice Department and for our democracy for Attorney General Barr to step aside." The group also called on Congress to formally censure Barr and asked a federal judge in Washington to hold a hearing to scrutinize whether to dismiss the case against Flynn. "Our democracy depends on a Department of Justice that acts as an independent arbiter of equal justice, not as an arm of the president's political apparatus," the group wrote. Among the signers were several high-profile Republican appointees, including Donald Ayer, a deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush; Charles Fried, solicitor general under President Reagan; and Stuart Gerson, who led the Justice Department's civil division under Bush and served as acting attorney general briefly in the Clinton administration. Justin Vail, a policy advocate with Protect Democracy, said the group was "inundated with calls from former Department of Justice attorneys who wanted to speak out" after the action in the Flynn case. A spokeswoman for Barr declined to comment. Barr's decision Thursday to reverse course and ask a federal judge to throw out Flynn's case has roiled the Justice Department and renewed questions about whether the attorney general is bending federal law enforcement to the president's will. Flynn had pleaded in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his interactions during the presidential transition with Sergey Kislyak, at the time the Russian ambassador to the United States. Trump ousted Flynn for, the president said, misleading the vice president about the matter. But as he awaited sentencing, Flynn changed legal teams and sought to withdraw his plea and get the case thrown out, alleging Justice Department misconduct including entrapment by the FBI agents who interviewed him. Barr tapped Jeff Jensen, the U.S. attorney in St. Louis, to review how the case had been handled. Jensen said publicly last week that he recommended it be dropped. In a filing Thursday, the Justice Department formally asked a judge to do so, arguing that the FBI did not have a valid investigative basis to interview Flynn, and thus whatever lies he told were not relevant to an investigation - which would be necessary to substantiate the criminal charge against him. Soon before the filing, Brandon Van Grack, a career prosecutor on the case, moved to withdraw from it. Thursday's filing was signed only by Tim Shea, the D.C. U.S. Attorney handpicked by Barr to lead that office. The Justice Department alumni expressed support for Van Grack's decision and questioned the logic behind Shea's reversal. "The Department's purported justification for doing so does not hold up to scrutiny, given the ample evidence that the investigation was well-founded and - more importantly - the fact that Flynn admitted under oath and in open court that he told material lies to the FBI in violation of long-standing federal law," the group wrote. Many on the political right have hailed Barr's move, believing Flynn to be a victim of an overzealous FBI. Last week, Trump heaped praise on his attorney general for intervening. Barr, too, has publicly defended the move, telling CBS News it was an "easy" decision and one for which he was prepared to take criticism. As the group of Justice Department alumni acknowledged, their letter is unlikely to persuade him to step down. "I also think it's sad that nowadays these partisan feelings are so strong that people have lost any sense of justice," Barr told CBS News. "And the groups that usually worry about civil liberties and making sure that there's proper procedures followed and standards set seem to be ignoring it and willing to destroy people's lives and see great injustices done." U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan must still approve the department's request to drop the case, and so far has not indicated what he will do. The Justice Department alumni asked Sullivan to hold a hearing with witnesses to examine Barr's legal reasoning and "to deny the motion and proceed with sentencing if appropriate." "While it is rare for a court to deny the Department's request to dismiss an indictment, if ever there were a case where the public interest counseled the court to take a long, hard look at the government's explanation and the evidence, it is this one," the group wrote. "Attorney General Barr's repeated actions to use the Department as a tool to further President Trump's personal and political interests have undermined any claim to the deference that courts usually apply to the Department's decisions about whether or not to prosecute a case." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 10) The Department of Health confirmed 184 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the countrys total to 10,794. The DOH reported 77 of the new infections in the National Capital Region, 75 in Central Visayas, and 32 more in other regions nationwide. Meanwhile, recoveries have reached 1,924 after 82 more patients survived the viral disease. Fifteen more patients have also died, raising the death toll to 719. Earlier, the DOH explained that its reports, including the number of new cases, are not real-time data since all information have to be validated first before they are presented to the public. Hs of Friday, authorities said the country can conduct up to 12,000 COVID-19 tests per day. The government hopes to increase the daily testing capacity to 30,000 by the end of May amid calls for more testing. Despite the rise in the country's tally of confirmed cases, the DOH also noted that there has been an improvement in the doubling time, or the number of days it takes for cases to double. However, the department reminds the public not to be complacent. It said the public should continue to adhere to health protocols and exercise preventive measures, such as proper hygiene, physical distancing, and cough etiquette, as the world transitions into a new normal setting. Globally, over four million people have contracted the virus, with nearly 280,000 deaths and over 1.3 million recoveries. Flash The Asia-Pacific Translation and Interpreting Webinar on Combating COVID-19 was held on May 11, 2020. The forum was co-organized by the Joint Committee of the Asia-Pacific Translation and Interpreting Forum (APTIF) and the Translators Association of China (TAC), with the theme of "bringing together the Asia-Pacific translation and interpreting community to combat COVID-19". Gao Anming, chair of the APTIF Joint Committee & vice president and editor-in-chief of China International Publishing Group, and Kevin Quirk, president of International Federation of Translators (FIT), among other representatives of relevant translation and interpreting organisations in the Asia-Pacific region, addressed the forum. Gao Anming pointed out in his speech that, at a time of crisis, the Asia-Pacific translation and interpreting (T&I) community came out boldly and offered timely help, supporting the battle against the virus with their expertise in an all-round manner, including T&I and language technologies. The T&I community has been acting as the link in anti-epidemic information exchanges. Their unremitting efforts and hard work have been widely recognized and respected. He also noted that, as the impact of the epidemic lingers on, the Asia-Pacific T&I community remains a major force in supporting epidemic prevention and control in the region, avoiding misunderstanding, as well as promoting exchanges and mutual learning among nations. For these reasons, he put forward four proposals: 1) maintain close coordination and build consensus on fighting COVID-19 in the Asia-Pacific region so as to safeguard our common home and build a community of shared future; 2) seize the opportunity to improve the education and training of translators and interpreters, especially the training of language professionals for health care and emergency services; 3) be innovative and take the opportunity arising from the crisis to adjust and consolidate the T&I industry; and 4) strengthen the communication mechanism of the APTIF Joint Committee, with the aim to enhance mutual learning and experience sharing among the Asia-Pacific T&I community, and promote the prosperity of T&I industry in the Asia-Pacific region. Kevin Quirk said that, the coronavirus, as you are all aware, knows no boundaries, does not respect international borders and makes no distinction as regards who it may affect. In short, the rapid spread of COVID-19 worldwide means we are all in this together. And we do need to counter it by coming together and pooling our resources. What we are not always good at is working together with other associations at a regional or even global level to focus on key areas where we face similar challenges. I think there is no better opportunity for us to stand together than the situation we are facing now. Countering the spread of the COVID-19 virus is one prime example where we do need to pool our resources. Yang Ping, deputy secretary-general of TAC & FIT council member, read out the "Initiative to pool the strength of the Asia-Pacific translation and interpreting community to combat COVID-19" on behalf of the forum. The initiative calls upon translators and interpreters in the Asia-Pacific region to come together to accomplish their mission through providing both language and intellectual support in fighting COVID-19; bridge the language gap and promote mutual understanding; help promote people-to-people connectivity and contribute to peace, development, stability and prosperity of the world; and do their part to help create a brighter future for the T&I community in the Asia-Pacific region. Xing Yutang, executive director of the APTIF Joint Committee, moderated the forum. Translation experts, scholars and entrepreneurs from 10 countries and regions, including Australia, China, Hong Kong (China), Iraq, Macao (China), Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, South Korea and the United Kingdom participated in the video conference. They held extensive and in-depth discussions and experience-sharing on the role of translators and interpreters in the fight against the epidemic and on how to better unite the Asia-Pacific T&I community for this purpose. It is the first time for the APTIF Joint Committee to organise an online forum since its establishment in 2016. This event is of great significance for innovating the mechanism of exchanges among APTIF members, mobilising the Asia-Pacific T&I community to contribute to the fight against the epidemic, and promoting exchanges and cooperation among the Asia-Pacific countries and regions. Six Illinoisans have been inducted into the The Lincoln Academy of Illinois Hall of Fame in recognition of the impact they made on the history of the state and nation. Those inducted are Judge David Davis, Enrico Fermi, William Le Baron Jenney, Mary Mother Jones, Major General John A. Logan, and Emmet Till. These six people helped to shape the world as we know it today, Lincoln Academy Chancellor Frank Clark said. We proudly place their names beside other Illinoisans who have inspired and humbled us with their place in history. The Hall of Fame was created in 1992 to recognize early contributions to our states heritage prior to the establishment of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois in 1964. Davis was a long-time resident of Bloomingon who was a U.S. Supreme Court justice and ally of Abraham Lincoln. Davis was the presiding Eighth Illinois Judicial Circuit judge for 14 years, during which time he became a close friend of Lincoln, later serving as administrator of the presidents estate after the assassination. Davis followed his friend into the Republican Party and was instrumental in securing Lincolns presidential nomination at the 1860 Republican National Convention. Following the election, Davis relocated to Washington with Lincoln, who appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 10, 1862. Davis was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1876 and retired after a single term. Fermi was a Nobel-Prize-winning physicist who created the first sustained nuclear reaction. Born in Italy, Fermis Italian university work included the discovery of plutonium, for which he won the 1938 Nobel Prize for Physics. He used his trip to Stockholm to receive the prize as his opportunity to escape Italian fascism and moved to the United States. Fermi was increasingly drawn into the U.S. governments atomic research program and became one of the founders of the Manhattan Project. On Dec. 2, 1942, at the University of Chicago, a Fermi-led team produced the worlds first sustained nuclear reaction. The nuclear element Fermium is named for him. Jenney was an architect often credited with inventing the skyscraper. Following education and work in Europe, Jenney became a civil engineer and served on the staffs of generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman during the Civil War. Jenney opened an architectural practice in Chicago in 1866, laid out the West Chicago park system, and worked with Frederick Law Olmstead to design the community of Riverside. Jenney designed numerous houses throughout Illinois but is best known for his development of tall buildings in Chicago. Using a system of iron columns, especially on the outside of the structures, Jenneys concepts essentially created the skyscraper. Jones was one of the most prominent labor leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Jones was born in Ireland, immigrated to Canada with her family, and moved to the United States in 1860, where she eventually settled in Chicago. She co-owned a seamstress business until it was destroyed by the 1871 Chicago Fire and in the following years, Jones began to move into labor activist circles and participated in several major labor protests, including the 1877 Pittsburgh Railroad Strike and the 1886 Haymarket Riot. She became involved in various labor movements throughout the country, met Eugene V. Debs and helped found the Social Democratic Party with him, and started writing for workers rights newspapers, where she adopted the name Mother Jones. Jones was an organizer for the United Mine Workers for 30 years and organized the 1898 United Miners Strike in Virden that led to seven miners being killed and 30 being wounded. She is buried with the victims of Virden at the United Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive. Logan was one of the Unions best generals in the Civil War and a prominent state and national politician. Logan served in the Mexican War and was afterwards elected as a prosecuting attorney, then state representative, from southern Illinois. Logan was elected to Congress in 1858 and when the Civil War began, he organized the 31st Illinois regiment, served under Ulysses S. Grant, and earned a promotion to brigadier general after suffering severe wounds at Fort Donelson. Logan officially resigned from Congress to commit himself to military service, earning promotion again to major general and serving as one of Grants commanders during the Vicksburg campaign and then with equal effectiveness under William Tecumseh Sherman in Georgia, earning the new nickname, Blackjack Logan for his dark complexion and facial hair. After a brief 1864 stay in southern Illinois to campaign for Lincoln, Logan returned to command under Sherman in the Carolinas for the remainder of the war. Logan became an advocate of veteran Civil War soldiers, helped found the Grand Army of the Republic and announced the first formal Memorial Day in 1868. Logan would later serve again in Congress and the U.S. Senate and was James G. Blaines vice presidential running mate for the Republican Party in 1884. Till was one of the youngest and most widely covered victims of racial lynching. In 1955, after finishing seventh grade in Chicago, Till traveled to Money, Mississippi, to visit relatives. Till was there in a grocery with a group of other teenage African American boys to buy candy and was accused of whistling at a white woman. The womans husband and his half-brother later abducted Till from his uncles house, severely beat him, shot him to death, and dumped Tills his body in the Tallahatchie River. Tills body was recovered several days later and the ensuing funeral and trial received wide national attention. The brutality of the case and Tills age spurred massive outrage and helped inspire the Civil Rights Movement. Hit hard by the lockdown and desperate to return home, thousands of migrant workers are moving out of the COVID-19 hotbed of Mumbai in droves for their native places several miles away, many of them in taxis and autorickshaws, leaving behind tales of despair. Union sources in Mumbai pegged the number of 'kaali peeli' taxis (traditional black & while taxis) and autos leaving the metropolis at around 1,000 and 5,000, respectively. With possibility of further extension of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, several auto and taxi drivers are going to their native places in their vehicles. The National Highway Number 3, also called Mumbai-Agra Road that touches Indore in Madhya Pradesh through a bypass road, is seeing a steady stream of autorickshaws from the country's commercial capital as people move back to their native towns and villages amid the lockdown that has rendered them without any means of livelihood. Officials and eye-witnesses put the number of these three-wheelers from Mumbai crossing the Indore Bypass Road at 50 every hour. Among them is Baleshwar Yadav (54), who is going to his native village in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh, with eight people, including two women and three children, cramming into his three-wheeler. "I have been driving an autorickshaw in Mumbai for the past 12 years. But everything is closed there now. I spent two months digging into my savings but that, too, has run out. I have no choice but to return to my village," he told PTI on Monday. Asked about the possibility of returning to Mumbai in the near future, he replied, "Whether it is six months or a year, I have to return because I still have to pay installments on the bank loan with which I bought this vehicle. Till the situation normalises in Mumbai, I will engage myself in agriculture and cattle rearing." Ajay Yadav (36), hailing from Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh, said he had been driving an autorickshaw in Mumbai's Goregaon area for the last four years, and had left for his native village two days ago with a couple of friends. "There was no food in Mumbai due to lack of work. We will think of returning to the city later," he said. "Around 50 autorickshaws are passing through this road every hour. Most of them are from Mumbai," claimed Rajkumar Patel, a volunteer at a dining stall set up by a social organisation on the Indore bypass road. Indore Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Umakant Chaudhary said autorickshaws were being allowed to pass only after those inside are subjected to medical screening when they enter the border of Madhya Pradesh. "We have been seeing a sizeable number of autorickshaws from Mumbai on the Indore Bypass Road over the last one week. We have also received information that some drivers are charging people to transport them to their native places in other states," the DySP said. Chaudhary said CNG-fitted autorickshaws were seen in long queues at fuel pumps on the Indore Bypass road since the number of pumps selling CNG on this route is less. "On this route, CNG pumps open between 6 am and 10 pm. In view of the problems faced by autorickshaws, locals are demanding these pumps be kept open 24 hours," Chaudhary added. A cyclist on the Mumbai-Agra highway said he saw migrants travelling in trucks, auto rickshaws and bikes on way to their native places in central and north India. A L Quadros of the Mumbai Taximens Union said over 1,000 black and yellow taxis and 5,000 auto rickshaws from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have left the region. There are around 45,000 black and yellow cabs and around 5 lakh autorickshaws in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, he said. "Due to the lockdown for almost two months, the cabbies and auto drivers are left with no money and hence instead of dying without food here, they are preferring to go to their native place," said Quadros. According to union leaders, the cabbies and autorickshaw drivers are leaving Mumbai in groups of 20 to 50 or more and are headed to UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, while some cabbies are also going to Karnataka. "After another extension of the lockdown and the easing of restrictions on migrants, the auto drivers started to travel back to their native places in their auto rickshaws in groups since last week," said K K Tiwari, leader of the Swabhiman Taxi-Rickshaw Union. Shashank Rao, leader of Mumbai Auto Rickshawmens Union, said as bus and truck drivers were asking for exorbitant fare, drivers are preferring to take their own vehicles to travel back home as these are anyway going to remain parked in Mumbai if they travel by any other mode of transport. "Packing their luggage, a few drivers are travelling with families, while many drivers, who have their families at their native place, are going with other drivers and friends," said Rao. According to union leaders, taxi and auto drivers are going to native places sans any e-pass issued by the police, as they consider it a time and money consuming task. RTO officials said auto and taxi permit holders are allowed to travel to native places by getting online temporary permits, which are valid for a few months. Sujit Singh, an auto driver from Mumbai's Vakola area, said he left for Uttar Pradesh in a group of about 50 autorickshaws from their area on Saturday and on Monday morning reached Madhya Pradesh, travelling via Nashik. "There is no sign of lifting of lockdown and the condition due to coronavirus is worsening further. Hence I decided to return to my native place," said Singh. Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has said the state government has decided not to be harsh with migrant workers and is letting them go on humanitarian ground despite it involving violation of lockdown norms. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One of two brothers awaiting a new trial for the murder of ex-Hells Angels biker Lou Malone has been denied bail. Mato Josipovic, 54, was denied bail in a written decision released May 5 by Superior Court Justice Toni Skarica. Details of the hearing, include the judges reasons for denying bail, cannot be reported because of a publication ban. The decision follows a number of high-profile bail applications in recent weeks, including those in other homicide cases. The bail hearings are being heard amid concern about the spread of COVID-19 in detention centres. One inmate at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre has tested positive for the virus. However, there are currently no confirmed cases at the jail. In December 2015, Mato Josipovic and his brother John Josipovic were convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting death 49-year-old Malone, two years earlier. They were charged with first-degree murder but a jury found them guilty of second-degree murder. Both were sentenced to life in prison, without eligibility for parole for 13 years. On July 31, 2019, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned the murder convictions and ordered a new trial. The court quashed the convictions after finding errors in the trial judges instructions to the jury. During the five-week trial in 2015, the court heard about Malone being chased down in a truck and shot point-blank with a shotgun on a Kenilworth Avenue North sidewalk. Both brothers testified that John fired the shots. They had known Malone since childhood in east Hamilton. As young men both Josipovic brothers had been in and out of trouble, but had settled down in Grimsby and hadnt been in trouble for years. Malone was a Hells Angels member before being forced out and heading a gang called Ruthless. Court heard his victims often feared going to police. The conflict between the brothers and Malone began when John Josipovic loaned money to an acquaintance who turned out to be in Malones gang. The trial heard that John agreed to forget the debt after speaking with Malone, but Malone demanded a $9,200 tax and John was assaulted and threatened. Malone then called Mato who, unaware of the extortion attempts against his brother, agreed to meet with Malone. At this meeting Malone threatened Mato, imposed a tax on him and put a gun to his chest, court heard. Mato fled and called his brother John for help. Together they went to look for Malone and found him out walking his dogs. The trial heard that Malone threatened John and his family. The shotgun was fired and Malone fled. When they caught up with Malone he was shot in the head at close range. Only Mato, and not John, applied for bail. The decision to deny bail follows recent decisions in other, unrelated, high-profile cases where bail was granted. This includes bail being granted to Jabril Abdalla, who awaits trial on two counts of first degree murder in the mob-related slayings of Angelo Musitano and innocent bystander Mila Barberi; and former Hamilton police detective Craig Ruthowsky, who is appealing his conviction and 13-year sentence after being convicted of bribery, attempt to obstruct justice, criminal breach of trust and trafficking cocaine. We're starting off this week with a piece of big news. It looks like Apple is ready to explore the possibility of shifting a huge chunk of its production capacity from China to India. This means Apple is ready to scale up its local manufacturing revenues to as much as $40 billion over the next 5 years. According to a report, it looks like several senior executives from Apple have met some top rank government officials over the last few months. There's obviously no official confirmation on this just yet, but things are looking bright according to some officials who are familiar with the matter. Reuters If this happens, then Apple could become India's largest exporter, and that's really huge. It could potentially put Apple above India's most valuable export products like petroleum, products, diamonds, organic chemicals, and more. In addition to that, it'll introduce more employment opportunities in the country, something that'll greatly help especially after the on-going coronavirus pandemic. And of course, it also means the future iPhones and other products will be much more affordable here in India. And then there's a possibility Apple looking at other things like opening retail stores and more. Reuters With all that being said, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done before any of this happens. Any undertaking, especially at such a scale isn't going to happen overnight, so naturally, there are some concerns here. You can get a detailed breakdown of the government's PLI scheme and the issues surrounding it right here. But it's worth pointing out that the government is keen on solving all the concerns surrounding this to bring hitech manufacturing to India. We'll keep an eye on the process and revert with more details as and when they're available. Source: ET Chandigarh, May 11 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday pitched for extension of the lockdown, but with a carefully crafted strategy, backed by fiscal and economic empowerment of the states, to save lives and secure livehoods. Clearly favouring continuation of a strict lockdown, in view of the escalating cases of Covid nationwide, the Chief Minister said at the video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that states needed to be given greater flexibility in micro-planning as part of a carefully planned exit strategy, encompassing both Covid containment and a defined path of economic revival. The exit strategy should consider and focus on fiscal and economic empowerment of the states, which are responsible for the real action directly impinging upon the livelihood and social health of the common man, he said, suggesting that states should be allowed great flexibility in micro-planning, with MSMEs to be allowed to function in red zone districts with proper safeguards. The decision on designating the red, orange or yellow and green zones should be left to the states, which were more cognisant of the ground realities, he said. Amarinder Singh demanded urgent financial assistance to states to meet at least 33 per cent of their committed liabilities, along with revenue grants to the states for three months to meet shortfall in revenue and to fund expenditure on Covid-19. The Chief Minister also called for a national strategy on Covid testing for making the battle against Covid more effective, pointing out that he had also written to the Prime Minister to direct the Central government institutions in Chandigarh and Punjab to increase testing capacity. Punjab had so far done 40,962 tests done so far, with current testing rate at 2,500 per day, which the state government planned to scale up to 6,000 by end of the month. Pointing out that Punjab had procured 115 lakh metric tonnes of wheat, with proper social distancing and hygiene protocols in place, he also requested an early declaration of MSP on paddy and a bonus on non-burning of paddy stubble. Amarinder Singh also informed the Prime Minister that Punjab was losing Rs 3,000 crore per month in revenue (totally 88 per cent of the estimated revenue loss recorded in April), along with Rs 30 crore daily loss for Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (a decline of 30 per cent). He reiterated his demand for immediate release of the Punjab's GST arrears of Rs 4,365.37 crore. Further, the Chief Minister said in view of the complete change in the situation due to the pandemic, the 15th Finance Commission should review its report for the current year, and recommend devolution of funds for five years beginning from April 1, 2021, instead of 2020 onwards after factoring in the impact of Covid-19 for which the term of the Commission should be extended by another year. The state government has been fighting the Covid battle from the front, and had successfully brought down the mortality rate in the state to 1.8 per cent, while containing the doubling rate at around seven days against national average of 11 days, the Chief Minister said. The rate of increase was falling after having risen sharply in the last 10 days due to the large number of persons who tested positive after returning from other states, he said, expressing the confidence that the situation should improve further in the coming week. With four containment zones, Punjab currently has 1,823 positive cases (2.75 per cent of all-India cases), with 31 deaths (1.4 per cent of all-India deaths), translating into mortality rate of 1.7 per cent. In terms of inbound movement of stranded people, the Chief Minister said around 56,000 persons from Punjab stranded in other states had registered with his government, with around 20,000 Indian nationals returning from other countries. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 16:59:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SUVA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Fijian government is now working with Singapore and the University of South Pacific (USP) to test a contact tracing app for the COVID-19. According to a local news website Fijivillage on Monday, Fiji's Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said that a team at Fiji's Ministry of Communications is working with a team from Singapore and IT personnel from the Suva-based USP on the app. The COVID-19 contact tracing phone app was developed in Singapore and is called TraceTogether. It was launched in March to identify COVID-19 patients within two meters proximity using Bluetooth. Singapore has made available the source code for the contact tracing app for the deadly virus, he said, adding that the team aim to pilot the contact tracing app in Fiji soon to see the stability of the system before rolling it out nationwide. The minister said that the app would assist in building confidence not only among the Fijian population but also for potential visitors to the island nation. Currently, Fiji has screened 749,359 people, or 85 percent of its population for the COVID-19. Fiji has so far reported a total of 18 confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which, 14 have fully recovered and are in self isolation for 14 days at home. The four active patients are still in isolation and in stable condition. Enditem The Socialist Equality Party (PES, Parti de legalite socialiste), the French section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, calls on all nonessential workers to collectively exercise their right to strike against Macrons attempts to impose today the end of lockdown in France against the COVID-19 pandemic. The conditions for a safe return to work are not met, though governments across Europe are ending lockdowns. While the lockdowns imposed in several European countries have cut the influx of new cases, about 20,000 new cases are still confirmed every day, including hundreds and often thousands in France. In the United States, there are 30,000 new cases every day. While lifting lockdown policies in America, the Trump administration says in its internal documents that Americans must resign themselves to 3,000 deaths a day. The European Unions premature ending of the lockdown underscores its contempt for human life. Hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives are threatened on a European scale. Macron turns a blind eye to the epidemiological projections of his own scientific advisers: ending lockdown could increase the number of deaths in France from 25,000 to 60,000 or even 110,000 before the end of 2020. The PES rejects the lie that society does not have enough money to shelter at home and protect itself from COVID-19 while awaiting the development of vaccines and treatments. Central banks and states are flooding the financial markets and billionaires with trillions of dollars and euros of public funds. If small businesses are threatened with bankruptcy, if workers lose their wages, and if the poor and vulnerable are hungry, it is because the ultrarich loot and gorge themselves on public wealth. Workers do not have to die on the job to protect the banks profits. Through generations of revolutionary struggle in the 20th century, in France specifically after the May 1968 general strike, they have established their right to withdraw: capitalists cannot force them to work in nonessential jobs in life-threatening conditions. The exercise of this right does not lead to any loss of wages. The huge number of deaths of COVID-19 shows workers are fully justified in invoking their right to withdraw today. However, amid a global pandemic this struggle cannot be waged within Frances borders or within French labor law. The full industrial might of the international working class must be mobilized for a revolutionary political struggle, in order to expropriate the ruling class whose response to the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated its bankruptcy and illegitimacy. This struggle is necessarily international. Given the global transmission of the virus, a premature end to the lockdown and resurgence of the virus in one country threatens workers in all countries. Exercising the right of withdrawal in France will only have the necessary effect if the workers put at the centre of their struggle a fight to mobilise the international working class against the end of the lockdown in America and across Europe and the world. Workers will have to organise in order to exercise this right collectively, but they cannot use the trade unions for this purpose. In order to launch the struggle against Macron and other imperialist regimes, workers will have to form action committees, independent of the trade unions. Only such bodies can check workplace safety and coordinate the struggle against Macron and the financial aristocracy. The unions and their political allies are integrated into the campaign to end the lockdown. They negotiated with the Medef (The French Employers Association) as it called to slash paid holidays and overtime pay. The unions indicate that they will not oppose the end of lockdown, even to save lives. Asked to say whether he was calling for the exercise of the right of withdrawal, CGT leader Philippe Martinez said, No, no, I think Ive explained it clearly. We call workers to work as long as the conditions for protection are met. The same can be said of petty-bourgeois political parties such as Unsubmissive France (LFI, La France insoumise), the New Anti-Capitalist Party or Workers Fight (Lutte ouvriere). Its not a question of attacking those who govern us, said LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, whose party says, We dont favour a direct confrontation. Only a workers struggle independent of the unions and their pseudoleft political allies can avert disaster. The pandemic, which has now sickened at least four million people and killed more than a quarter-million worldwide, is exposing a historical crisis of capitalist society. Since 2018, an unprecedented wave of struggles against social inequality has shaken the world. The yellow vest movement and the longest transport strike since 1968 in France were part of this global resurgence of the class struggle. The first wave of mass teacher and auto strikes in the US since the 1970s; the Portuguese nurses strike organized on social media; the first national strike by Polish teachers since the Stalinist restoration of capitalism in 1989; and mass protests in Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq, India, Bolivia and Chile all heralded a new era. The epidemic has demonstrated the bankruptcy of the European Union (EU), created by the restoration of capitalism by the Stalinist regimes in Eastern Europe between 1989 and 1991, and the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. Health care systems bled dry by the austerity and bank bailouts adopted after the 2008 crash could not even provide enough masks for health care workers. Vast layers of the working class, nurses, agricultural workers, truck drivers, deliverymen, and cashiers, are both essential and paid at poverty wages. Opposition to the end of lockdown is only a first step towards a socialist revolution that alone can give workers the political power they need to defend their interests and defend humanity against COVID-19. The PES therefore advances the following demands: Access to health care and quality food for all without distinction, with special protection for the elderly, prisoners and refugees. For the regularization of all immigrants and refugees and the release of any prisoner held in unhealthy conditions. No jobs lost or small businesses liquidated. No wage cuts or social rights slashed during the pandemic. For rank-and-file committees of action, independent of the trade unions, in workplaces and working-class neighbourhoods. Nationalisation under workers control of all large companies and expropriation of the large fortunes saved by EU bailouts organised after the 2008 crash or this years pandemic. A social order that plays with the deaths of millions of people in the interests of the financial elites is condemned. There is nothing to negotiate with Macron, the Medef or the capitalist aristocracy. The PES will fight to link opposition to the end of lockdown in France and internationally to a socialist and internationalist political movement of workers to take power and reorganize economic life on the basis of social need, not profit. This requires the overthrow of the EU and its replacement by the United Socialist States of Europe. Defensive stocks are reliable bets during downturns. And as these stocks generally pay dividends, they remain attractive for value and income investors. Ive been following Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp (TSX:AQN)(NYSE:AQN) since September 2019. I had recommended investors to watch this stock on September 25, saying that a recession was around the bend, and Algonquin needs to be a part of your portfolio. Well, the slowdown is here and Algonquin is holding strong. It reached a high of just over $22 and then fell to $13.93 levels during the panic of March 2020 before closing at $19 last week. Algonquin operates electric, water, and gas utility systems across North America. It has over 70 power generation facilities (electricity and natural gas) and utilities (water) in Canada and the United States servicing over 800,000 customers. Pandemic or no, it is an essential service and has to function uninterrupted for 365 days a year. The company released its results for the first quarter of 2020 and I reiterate my recommendation. Algonquin is a must-have in your portfolio. It reported revenues of $464.9 million, a decrease of 3%. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $242.2 million, an increase of 5%, and net earnings were $103.3 million, an increase of 10%. Its renewable energy group delivered excellent results in this period, with $87.2 million of operating profit compared to $83.1 million in the prior-year quarter. How does the rest of 2020 look like? Algonquin had stated its plans to invest $9.2 billion from between 2019 and 2024 as part of its development pipeline. It allocated $6.7 billion for its regulated services group and $2.5 billion for its renewable energy group. While the company maintains this outlook, its likely going to defer between $100 million-$300 million from its capex expenditure for 2020. Aggregate capex spend is expected to be between $1.30 billion to $1.75 billion, which is lower than its earlier capex estimate between $1.60 billion to $1.85 billion. Story continues The company is shoring up its finances as well. At the start of 2020, it had $1.5 billion of available credit lines and liquidity of just over $1 billion. It has now secured an additional $1.6 billion in credit that will enable it to carry out its capex plan. Algonquin has also revised it adjusted net earnings per share guidance down to $0.65-$0.7 from $0.68 $0.70. Algonquins three wind projects for the customer savings plan in the Midwest are on schedule as is the construction for the Sugar Creek project. There are some delays expected in its Maverick Creek project in Texas due to delays in deliveries of components thanks to overseas manufacturing shutdowns and supply chain disruptions. This is expected to push delivery of 16 of the 127 total wind turbines into early 2021. The company also approved an increase of 10% for its second-quarter dividend payable on July 15 this year. This is the tenth consecutive year of dividend increase for Algonquin and just underlines the resiliency of the business, bringing Algonquins forward yield to a solid 4.63%. Not a bad investment during a pandemic. The post 1 Top TSX Defensive Stock to Own in a Recession appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada. More reading Fool contributor Aditya Raghunath has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fools purpose is to help the world invest, better. Click here now for your free subscription to Take Stock, The Motley Fool Canadas free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Motley Fool Canada 2020 Katie Miller, the aide to Vice President Mike Pence who tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, coughed during a nursing home visit the day before and joked to reporters she didn't have it. Miller, who serves as a spokesperson for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, was last seen with Pence on Thursday, when the vice president delivered personal protective equipment to a nursing home in Northern Virginia. Miller spoke to reporters while Pence carried boxes to the Woodbine Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center. She did not wear a mask while the journalists did. During the conversation, Miller 'coughed, then quipped that she didnt have the coronavirus,' according to Las Vegas Review Journal's Debra Saunders, who was at the event. Katie Miller speaks with reporters as Vice President Mike Pence delivered supplies to a nursing home in Northern Virginia on Thursday; she coughed but joked she didn't have coronavirus; Miller tested positive the next day Katie Miller with Vice President Mike Pence, Karen Pence and the vice president's staff after Pence visited Iraq in November 2019 Miller tested positive for the disease on Friday, a day after a valet to President Donald Trump was reported to have it. She is married to Stephen Miller, an adviser to President Trump who works in the West Wing near the Oval Office. Her diagnosis and close proximity to the nation's leaders have raised questions about the White House protocols in mitigating the coronavirus. Miller also had frequent contact with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Several administration and task force officials, including top immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, are quarantining after potential exposure to the disease. But Dr. Deborah Birx was spotted at the White House on Monday. Pence also is at the White House on Monday. The vice president 'has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow,' spokesman Devin OMalley said in a statement Sunday. Pence 'will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine,' according to O'Malley. Trump himself plans to hold a press conference Monday along with as-yet unnamed 'administration officials' after key coronavirus task force members were working from home amid their own exposure. Pence's schedule does not include the briefing. Katie Miller, seen in the briefing room in March with FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, Dr. Deborah Birx, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams, had frequent contact with the Coronavirus Task Force members Top White House Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett admitted Sunday that he's scared to go to work. 'It is scary to go to work,' he said. 'I think that I'd be a lot safer if I was sitting at home than I would be going to the West Wing' The Secret Service agents charged with safeguarding the president will finally begin wearing protective masks even as the president himself continues to shy from the practice. The agents are among many people who work in the White House complex who are preparing to undertake new precautions after two people who work there tested positive for the virus as a senior official admitted it was 'scary' to go and work at the building. White House aides almost all of whom have declined to wear masks even as the White House and the Centers for Disease Control encouraged Americans to start using them may now undertake new social distancing measures while at work, ABC News reported. And one of the president's top economic advisers admitted Sunday that it's 'scary' to think about going back to work, voicing his own concerns about working at the White House in the midst of the pandemic. 'It is scary to go to work,' Kevin Hassett told CBS News Sunday morning. 'I think that I'd be a lot safer if I was sitting at home than I would be going to the West Wing. But, you know, it's the time when people have to step up and serve their country.' Trump confirmed Katie Miller was the staffer who tested positive during an event with Republican lawmakers at the White House on Friday afternoon. 'She's wonderful young woman,' Trump said. 'Katie tested very good for a long period of time and then - all of a sudden - today she tested positive. She hasn't come into contact with me but spent some time with the vice president.' Trump, the vice president and most White House staff - which would include Miller's husband Stephen - are now tested on a daily basis, a change in policy made this week. Miller was a constant presence in the White House press room when President Trump, the vice president and members of the coronavirus task force - including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx - briefed the media on the administration's work combating the disease. Katie Miller is married to White House senior adviser Stephen Miller; the two are seen at the September 2019 state dinner for the Australian prime minister Katie Miller, then going by her maiden name of Katie Waldman, joined Pence's office in September of 2019 Katie Miller on Thursday listens as CMS Administrator Seema Verma speaks during an event at a Northern Virginia nursing home Trump said he wasn't worried about the risk of infection despite the virus moving closer to the Oval Office. 'I'm not worried,' he said. 'We're taking very strong precautions of the White House.' White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows called the White House the 'safest place that you can come to.' He said additional safety protocols have been put place over the last 48 hours but declined to detail them. 'I don't want to get into all the procedures that we've embarked on but I can tell you that this it's probably the safest place that you can come to,' he said. Staff are checked daily, give symptom histories and all work spaces get regular, deep cleanings, according to deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere. 'The President's physician and White House Operations continue to work closely to ensure every precaution is taken to keep the President, First Family and the entire White House Complex safe and healthy at all times. In addition to social distancing, daily temperature checks and symptom histories, hand sanitizer, and regular deep cleaning of all work spaces, every staff member in close proximity to the president and vice president is being tested daily for COVID-19 as well as any guests,' Deere said in a statement to DailyMail.com. Pence was not at the White House Friday as he spent the day in Iowa, talking to people about the food supply. His flight to Des Moines was delayed nearly an hour that morning. Reporters traveling with the vice president reported several staffers exited the plane before it ultimately took off. Miller tested positive on Friday after testing negative on Thursday, according to a senior administration official. Pence was tested Friday morning and was negative. She was not on the vice president's flight but had possibly been in contact with six people scheduled to fly. They were removed from the plane. A senior administration official said the six were tested later Friday and the results were negative. The official declined to say Miller's level of contact with Pence but said Trump had not been in contact with her recently. 'I'm not going to get into the level of contact the vice president had. The president has not had contact with this person recently,' the official said. Katie Miller with Vice President Mike Pence and his chief of staff Marc Short on Capitol Hill in December Miller worked closely with the coronavirus task force and helped prepare for this March briefing Stephen and Katie Miller at their February wedding at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. It was attended by President Trump and Vice President Pence Vice President Pence's plane was delayed from taking off Friday morning while staffers who may have had contact with the infected person exited the plane Vice President Pence practiced social distancing when he landed in Iowa and was greeted by Governor Kim Reynolds Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows called the White House one of the 'safest' places 'This morning we had someone on the vice president's staff test positive and so out of abundance of caution we went back and looked into all the person's contacts most recently,' a senior administration official said. 'That's why we asked some of our staff to deplane. Nobody else was exhibiting any symptoms or having any feeling of sickness. We asked them to go get tested and to go home out of an abundance of caution,' the official added. Only 10 members of Pence's staff are tested daily and not every single person out of the hundreds who work in the Old Executive Office building, across the street from the White House complex. Miller is the second person inside the White House complex to test positive this week. In March another Pence staffer tested positive but that person did not have regular contact with the vice president. After the first positive test this week, the White House shored up some of its protocols to protect the nation's top leadership from the virus. Trump, Pence, and most White House staff are now tested daily. But few staffers wear face masks and social distancing in the small, crowded West Wing office space is virtually impossible. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a face mask if socially distancing is not possible. 'We have put in place the guidelines that are experts have put forward to keep this building,' White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at Friday's briefing. 'As America reopen safely, the White House is continuing to operate safely.' 'I can just tell you taken every single precaution to protect the president,' she added, noting that they 'clean the facility. We social distance, we kept people six feet away from one another. We've done every single thing that Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci have asked us to do. I can assure the American people that their commander in chief is protected.' A few staff members were seen wearing masks Friday when President Trump and first lady Melania Trump went to the World War II Memorial but most were not wearing face covering. Neither Trump nor the first lady wore one and McEnany did not wear one during her briefing. All the members of the White House press corp at the briefing wore masks. 'This president is readily tested. He will make the decision as to whether he will wear a mask or not,' McEnany said. 'I can tell you, those veterans are protected. They made the choice to come here, because they have chosen to put their nation first and wanted to be with their commander in chief on this momentous day. It was their choice to come here, and I can tell you that the president always puts the safety of our veterans first and the American people first.' And Trump was asked during an interview on 'Fox & Friends' Friday morning whether those who serve him food would now cover their faces. 'They've already started,' he said. He noted later Friday that the official White House photographer at his event with Republican lawmakers was wearing a mask. 'The testing protocol is a strong regime and as it gets close to the president, they will wear a mask in those closer proximities,' Meadows said. Neither President Trump nor first lady Melania Trump wore masks Friday morning when they met with veterans at the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. President Trump and Melania Trump kept their distance when they spoke to the veterans White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien stands next to a staffer wearing a face mask during the visit to the World War II Memorial Members of the White House press corp wore masks during Friday's briefing The positive tests have raised questions about the White House's policy on trying to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus inside the complex, which includes the West Wing offices where the president works, the Old Executive Office building where many aides are located, the East Wing offices of the first lady, and the Executive Mansion where the first family lives. Temperatures are checked at the White House gate before anyone is let inside and any one meeting with the president is given a rapid-result coronavirus test. But social distancing doesn't always take place at White House events where the president has been seen seated at his desk in the Oval Office with officials and lawmakers crowded around him. Officials said this is permitted because everyone is tested before meeting with Trump. Additionally, the president has said he won't quarantine after close contact with his valet, who tested positive. Early guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines recommended a 14-day self-quarantine if a person came into contact with someone who tested positive for the virus, which has infected more than 1.2 million Americans and caused more than 74,000 deaths. But Trump said he would not be quarantined because he is 'essential.' 'Mike was just saying the word essential. Essential workers and as you know essential workers are immune,' the president said, referring to a conversation with the vice president, who heads the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Vice President Pence said 'essential' workers were exempt from quarantining. 'But with regard to essential workers the president referred to, we've always had an exception,' Pence noted. 'We've asked them to continue to go to work by every countermeasures including testing to make sure they're not contracting the disease. In an effort that they would come into contact with the president will be testing every day, and keeping the essential work moving forward in our national response is the priority going forward,' Pence noted on Thursday. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said proper protocols were in place to protect the president from infection Reporters in the press room wore masks during Kayleigh McEnany's Friday briefing President Trump said he would not self-quarantine after contact with a staffer who tested positive for the coronavirus The White House uses the Abbott Labs test, which provide results in about 15 minutes Questions were raised about the safety of the nation's leadership and the first family after a presidential valet tested positive. The valet was part of the White House Military Office, an elite group of officers and enlisted men who are assigned to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The valet is not being identified but his duties included serving the president his meals - Trump likes hamburgers and steak - and accompanying the president on trips. In other words the valet was believed to have regular contact with Trump. 'There is no one closer to the president physically, outside of his family, than the valets,' Kate Andersen Brower author of 'The Residence' - a book about the White House staff - told DailyMail.com. Pence came under fire for not wearing a mask last week when he traveled to the Mayo Clinic. He originally said he didn't need to wear one because he is regularly tested for the virus but later said he should have worn one. Pence later wore one during a visit to a factory in Ohio but did wear during his Iowa visit. First Lady Melania Trump has been much more strict with the areas of the White House she oversees, including the residence and the East Wing, and requires staff to wear masks. 'She has implemented very strong rules in both the residence and the East Wing,' Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's chief of staff, told DailyMail.com on Thursday. 'Staff was cut back in the residence, and East Wing staff are teleworking unless vital to come in for meetings or events. Masks are worn and social distancing has been strictly enforced,' she noted. Melania Trump has been much more strict with the areas of the White House she oversees, including the residence and the East Wing, and requires staff to wear masks Melania Trump, who is tested regularly for the coronavirus, has advocated for people to wear face masks, shooting a video urging people to don one and was pictured wearing one herself. The president has not been photographed wearing a mask although he said he wore backstage during a visit to the Honeywell factory in Arizona on Tuesday, which switched to making surgical masks to help battle the coronavirus pandemic. When it comes to coronavirus testing, the White House uses the Abbott Labs test to detect the coronavirus, which provides results in about 15 minutes. It involves swabbing a person's nostrils and waiting on the result. Orica Limited (ASX:ORI) shareholders are probably feeling a little disappointed, since its shares fell 3.7% to AU$16.26 in the week after its latest interim results. It looks like the results were a bit of a negative overall. While revenues of AU$2.9b were in line with analyst predictions, statutory earnings were less than expected, missing estimates by 2.3% to hit AU$0.43 per share. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year. Check out our latest analysis for Orica ASX:ORI Past and Future Earnings May 10th 2020 Taking into account the latest results, the ten analysts covering Orica provided consensus estimates of AU$5.71b revenue in 2020, which would reflect a small 4.0% decline on its sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are forecast to fall 14% to AU$0.85 in the same period. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of AU$6.17b and earnings per share (EPS) of AU$1.00 in 2020. From this we can that sentiment has definitely become more bearish after the latest results, leading to lower revenue forecasts and a substantial drop in earnings per share estimates. It'll come as no surprise then, to learn thatthe analysts have cut their price target 7.3% to AU$18.67. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. There are some variant perceptions on Orica, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at AU$24.50 and the most bearish at AU$15.55 per share. There are definitely some different views on the stock, but the range of estimates is not wide enough as to imply that the situation is unforecastable, in our view. Story continues Taking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. These estimates imply that sales are expected to slow, with a forecast revenue decline of 4.0%, a significant reduction from annual growth of 1.6% over the last five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the same industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 6.9% annually for the foreseeable future. So although its revenues are forecast to shrink, this cloud does not come with a silver lining - Orica is expected to lag the wider industry. The Bottom Line The biggest concern is that the analysts reduced their earnings per share estimates, suggesting business headwinds could lay ahead for Orica. Unfortunately, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates revenues are expected to perform worse than the wider industry. Even so, earnings per share are more important to the intrinsic value of the business. The consensus price target fell measurably, with the analysts seemingly not reassured by the latest results, leading to a lower estimate of Orica's future valuation. Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. We have forecasts for Orica going out to 2022, and you can see them free on our platform here. You still need to take note of risks, for example - Orica has 4 warning signs we think you should be aware of. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. A mother-of-two who caused "havoc" when she deliberately coughed and spat at gardai, threatening to give them the "f**king coronavirus", has been jailed for six months. Rachel Morgan (36) kicked one garda in the face and became so violent a spit hood had to be put on her. A court heard her outburst began after she walked "straight up to" gardai on patrol in Dublin city centre, and her only explanation for her behaviour was she had taken a mixture of "medication and substances". Judge Paula Murphy said while Morgan did not have coronavirus and the threats were "empty", they had been distressing for gardai. Morgan, who lives at a Dublin city centre hostel, admitted assaulting two gardai, threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour, resisting arrest and violent behaviour in a garda station. Dublin District Court heard the accused approached two gardai at Aston Quay at 3.15pm last April 13, told them she had coronavirus and threatened to give it to them. Kicked Two other officers who were on patrol approached at Eden Quay and it was alleged she "ran at them, shouting 'I'll give you the f**king coronavirus'". She was instructed not to come into their personal space a number of times but failed to comply, resisted arrest, tried to bite a garda and spat at him. He pointed her face to the ground and she kicked out, hitting him on the cheekbone. At Pearse Street Garda Station, she threw herself on the floor and pretended to be sick. She refused to go in an ambulance and when paramedics gave her a face mask, she pulled it off and "intentionally coughed" in a female garda's face. A spit hood was placed on her and, when searched, she said her jacket was "full of syringes" and "hoped the gardai would get injured". Morgan, who had 56 previous convictions, also admitted separate shoplifting charges. She had emphysema and was on medication and while this was no excuse for what happened, it might be a reason, her solicitor Eoin Lysaght said. Morgan could not understand her actions but put it down to a mixture of "whatever substances or medication" she had taken. Pronouncing the verdict on a batch of pleas filed by Foundation for Media Professionals, Soayib Qureshi and Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir, the bench said it needed to ensure balance of national security and human rights New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday ordered setting up of a high-powered committee headed by MHA Secretary to consider pleas seeking restoration of 4G internet services in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. A bench comprising Justices NV Ramana, Justices R Subhash Reddy and BR Gavai said the committee would also include the Chief Secretary of the UT and the secretary of ministry of communications to look into the demands by petitioners seeking restoration of 4G internet speed there. Pronouncing the verdict on a batch of pleas filed by Foundation for Media Professionals, Soayib Qureshi and Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir, the bench said it needed to ensure balance of national security and human rights. (Photo : Screenshot from: Unsplash Official Website) Doctors from Boston Children's Hospital have been reviewing CT scans of children with COVID-19 to try and identify some common features. Out of 20 children, their analysis revealed that almost two-thirds had shown signs of widespread inflammation, and half of them had "halo sign" which is the inflammation that surrounds consolidation. This makes it very difficult for them to breathe due to mass obstruction. Read Also: After Making a "Low Risk" Contact with COVID-19 Tests Positive White House Staffer, Dr. Anthony Fauci Will Begin Modified Quarantine A team has been comparing the virus to various lung diseases After publishing children's CT scans right when they contracted the coronavirus, doctors are now warning the public that hospitalized patients can suffer lung damage. The team at Boston Children's Hospital have evaluated and assessed CT scans from pediatric cases of COVID-19 to identify the most common features. In this study, children have appeared to be less affected by COVID-19 compared to adults, and are more vulnerable if ever they have underlying conditions. Led by radiologist Alexandra Foust, the doctors set out to compare the effects of COVID-19 with similar respiratory diseases. They inspected MERS and SARA, which both are related coronaviruses, a strain of flu, H1N1, and EVALI, which is a newly discovered condition that is associated with vaping. According to Daily Mail, "Because SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, is so new, evidence of its effects on health is limited, particularly for children. Data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention suggests just 1.7% of diagnosed COVID-19 cases are in under 18s." Read Also: COVID-19: 'We've Got the Vaccine Ready,' Says Chinese Drugmaker for Global Testing; Unapproved Vaccines Might be Released Studies were also made in Wuhan where the virus originated Meanwhile, a study in Wuhan, China has assessed at least 20 children at a pediatric hospital with COVID-19 between the ages of one day and 14 years old--thirteen of them were all male. "All patients had lesions - a portion tissue that has been damaged or abnormally changed - in the walls of the lungs. Half had bilateral lesions on the lungs, meaning to both sides, while 30%had lesions on just one lung. Six in ten patients had ground-glass opacity (GGO), which is a hazy cloud over the lungs indicating a variety of problems. It can mean the lungs are partially filled with inflamed material, there is a thickening of lung tissue or partial collapse of the alveoli - the tiny air sacs of the lungs, " The Daily Mail added. Half these patients also had consolidation, which is the air space in their lungs that are filled with a certain substance, usually water, pus, or blood, and are surrounded by ground-glass opacity. The team of doctors behind this study also said that consolidation with the surrounding halo signs was actually common in pediatric patients, and is different compared to adults. Consolidation is a symptom of pneumonia and can gravely cause breathing problems since air cannot enter through the mass. Medical Express has stated that "Dr. Foust agreed the halo sign appears to be unique to COVID-19 compared with the other diseases. But typically the imaging features overlapped with each other. " The team has then reassured the public that children appear to be less affected compared to adults, with a study of 2,143 children showing 94% of them were asymptomatic or had moderate and mild cases. Foust and her colleagues have gathered five studies and noted the most common and obvious changes in the lungs of children with COVID-19 and have published this in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Read Also: Rats Infect Humans With Hepatitis, And Nobody Knows How It's Happening Even After 2 Years Since It Was Discovered 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Chinese mainland reports 14 new confirmed COVID-19 cases People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 10:33, May 10, 2020 BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authority said Sunday that it received report of 14 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Saturday, of which two were imported cases reported in Shanghai. Twelve cases were domestically transmitted, with 11 reported in Jilin Province and the other one in Hubei Province, the National Health Commission said in a daily report. One new suspected case imported from abroad was reported in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. No deaths were reported Saturday on the mainland, according to the commission. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Open source MP from the Servant of the People faction, the head of the parliamentary committee on fuel and utilities Andriy Gerus is acting against the energy security of Ukraine, which created a crisis in the industry and confirms his cooperation with the Russian special services. The corresponding statement is posted on the official website of the ex-head of the Zakarpattya region, Gennady Moskal, writes Obozrevatel. It is reported that Moskal sent documents to the Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, which he called proof of Geruss work for the Russian and Belarusian special services. Moskal said that in the actions of Gerus there are signs of treason. And the published appeal says that a single center for frequency support in the energy systems of Russia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine is located in Russia. "In his address, Gennady Moskal cites specific facts that may testify to the work of Mr. Gerus as an agent of influence of the Russian Federation, provides information on methods of financing his subversive activities by the special services of the Russian Federation, and also discloses the connections of the MP in special bodies of Russia and Belarus," the message says. Related: Prosecutor hands Radical Party Leader Lyashko with suspicion after fight with Gerus It is also indicated that because of the desire of Ukraine and Moldova to disconnect from the Russian center, Russia is trying in every way to prevent Ukraines energy European integration and by any means contributes to the collapse of Ukraines energy system, as well as creating an energy shortage. "According to my information, as the former deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Gerus Andriy is the very agent of influence of the special services of the Russian Federation," Moskal said in a statement. In light of such statistics, the governor said other smaller semblances of normal life would be allowed to resume across the state, including drive-in movies, landscaping projects and low-risk recreational activities, such as tennis, a sport with built-in social distancing. The decision to restart the commercial and professional lives of some New Yorkers was welcomed by business leaders, who have watched as more than one million state residents have lost their jobs since early March. In Rochester, the largest city eligible to reopen some of its businesses, Ashley Mayberry-OConnell, an executive at QES Solutions, a business support company, said the firm had laid off about 85 percent of its 80-person work force, but hoped to hire all our employees back in light of the governors announcement. But Mr. Cuomos announcement also left state business leaders with numerous questions. Whats not clear yet is exactly what the state is going to expect from you, said Ken Pokalsky, the vice president at the Business Council of New York State. Do you just say, I have a plan and youre good to go? Or are there going to be some additional details you need to provide? Robert Duffy, the former lieutenant governor and member of the Finger Lakes control room, said it would be the companies responsibility to meet the safety criteria laid out by the governor. And while Mr. Duffy said many business want to reopen, having taken some huge economic hits, he acknowledged that there is also trepidation among employees and customers as reopening progresses. I dont believe people are going to rush back to a crowded restaurant, Mr. Duffy said. Theyre not going to jump in a plane. They may be afraid to go back to their gym or fitness center. ALBANY, N.Y. New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled that SUNY Empire State College President Jim Malatras will chair the states new Reimagine Education Advisory Council to assist schools and colleges in adopting technological innovations to reopen safely in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. SUNY Empire Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Meg Benke will also serve on the council as an expert in higher education, particularly online and distance learning. The 19 members of the task force will consider how to utilize technology to provide more opportunities to students, how schools can share educational resources, how technology can reduce inequities, and better meet the needs of students with disabilities. Im proud to work alongside SUNY Empire Provost Meg Benke, a highly regarded leader in distance learning and innovation in higher education, as well as all the members of the Reimagine Education Advisory Council to help chart a safe reopening for New York States students and teachers, SUNY Empire State College President Jim Malatras stated. Our educators have been doing incredible work under extraordinarily challenging circumstances, and we owe it to them to learn from this experience to chart a better future for our students, Malatras added. Thank you to Governor Cuomo, President Malatras, and everyone on this council for their vision and dedication to bringing innovation and creativity to pedagogy in these challenging times, SUNY Empire State College Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Meg Benke said. This work will have an incredible impact on students of all ages, and will create new and innovative ways for improving education, Benke explained. Malatras has served on the states COVID-19 Task Force for the past two months. Benke is a leader in adult learning and emerging technologies, and previously served as SUNY Empires dean of the Center for Distance Learning from 1995 through a period of high growth and experimentation in online learning programs. SUNY Empire State College led the country in the development of fully online degree programs, with the first online courses launched in 1995, and in the provision of comprehensive virtual student services. Benke was inducted into the International Distance Learning Hall of Fame for her contributions to adult and online learning, and was recognized as the Most Outstanding Achievement in Online Learning by an individual in the Online Learning Consortium (OCL) in 2007. She also served as president of OCLs board of directors for six years. She also serves as a member of New York States Regents Advisory Council. A Chinese paramilitary police officer gestures while standing guard at the entrance to the Forbidden City in Beijing, China on May 1, 2020. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Locals Describe Severe Virus Outbreak in Wuhan The Chinese regime announced a new cluster outbreak of the CCP virus in Wuhan on May 11, the first official indication of a severe outbreak in the epicenter since authorities ended lockdown measures in early April. Locals reported that the current outbreak in Wuhan is more severe than how authorities have portrayed it. A mother also began petitioning authorities, hoping to seek justice for the death of her daughter due to the virus. The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, first broke out in Wuhan city, the capital of Hubei Province in late 2019. As authorities have underreported virus data, it is difficult to know the true scale of the outbreak in Wuhan. But on May 11, Chinas National Health Commission announced 10 new domestic diagnostic cases in the country, with five of them in Wuhan, and the others in northeastern Chinese provinces. Residential Compound The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission published details about the five new cases. They were all diagnosed on May 10, and live at the Sanmin residential compound in Dongxihu district of Wuhan. Previously, an 89-year-old man surnamed Gao who lived in that compound was diagnosed on May 9. The new patients are Gaos 81-year-old wife, 46-year-old Li, 29-year-old Chen, and a couple, 76-year-old Zhang and 72-year-old Yuan. A woman walks along a street in Wuhan, China on May 11, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Chen began to develop symptoms on May 2 and tested positive on May 5. But she was only diagnosed on May 10 after her symptoms deteriorated. Zhang felt uncomfortable on May 5 and visited a local hospital. He tested positive on May 6, and was finally diagnosed on May 10. On May 10, the Dongxihu district was upgraded from low to medium risk region for virus spread. On May 11, Zhang Yuxin, the Party boss of Dongxihu district, was dismissed from his position, punished for failing to prevent the cluster outbreak. Meanwhile, the Sanmin residential compound was placed under lockdown. Chinese state-run media Hongxing News reported on May 11 that the Sanmin residential compound was located in an old neighborhood, with over 4,900 people in 1,943 households living there. About half of them are migrants from other cities. Since May 10, residents entering or leaving the compound must have their body temperatures screened and their cell phone-generated health codes scanned. Hongxing News reported that all residents were forced to take nucleic acid tests and that it was likely the compound would soon be fully locked downwith residents not allowed to enter or leave the area. Quarantine Center On May 10, Wuhan residents posted on several social media platforms footage of more than ten people dressed in protective suits, masks, and goggles, placing gurneys onto the back of a vehicle. The person taking the video said the staff in protective suits were transferring about 20 people from a quarantine center to three truck-modified ambulances. From the videos, most of the transferred patients appeared to be old people. Some sat on wheelchairs. The video also recorded peoples chatter. They said: Here is Lavande Hotel [modified into a quarantine center] at the Liuduqiao neighborhood Wed better wear our masks properly [to protect ourselves]. Liuduqiao is in Jianghan district, about 10 miles east of the Sanmin residential compound. Wuhan residents also posted on the WeChat app that there was a cluster outbreak inside a residential compound in Qiaokou district on May 6. But the related posts were soon removed. Daughters Death 50-year-old mother Yang Min is hoping to seek justice for her daughter, 24-year-old Tian Yuxi. Tian was infected with the CCP virus after she visited Wuhan Union Hospital on Jan. 16, and died of the virus on Feb. 6. If we had known the virus was capable human-to-human transmission [back then], we wouldnt have gone to the hospital, and my daughter wouldnt have died, Yang told the Chinese-language Epoch Times in a phone interview. Chinese authorities did not publicly confirm human-to-human transmission until Jan. 20. A woman walks across a street in Wuhan, China on May 11, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Yang said the death certificate issued by Jinyintan Hospital indicated that her daughter died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus. I want to ask the Wuhan city government why it didnt tell us the virus could be transmitted among humans when it knew, Yang said. The Epoch Times obtained internal government notices indicating that Chinese authorities knew of the viruss potential to spread weeks before admitting it in public. After her daughter passed away, Yang tried to appeal to authorities via official channels, but got no response. Yesterday was Mothers Day. My child died. Who am I a mother to now?, Yang cried. On the morning of May 11, Yang protested on the streets by holding two boards, on which she wrote the story of her daughters death and her appeal to authorities. As Yang was walking, two policemen appeared and grabbed away Yangs boards. Then she was taken away and detained by four men. They released her several hours later. Four men dressed in black pushed me into a room in an unknown place I asked for their identities, but they refused to show me, Yang said. Yang believed that these four men were hired by local authorities to intimidate her into stopping her protests. I wont stop. I will continue my protest until I get justice for my daughter, Yang said. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has expressed the need for taking cautious decisions over relaxation from the ongoing lockdown considering the possibility of a spike in Covid-19 cases in May and even in June and July. Thackeray has also demanded that the local train services in Mumbai be started only for essential services. The CM has also pointed out the risk of the spread of the virus through migrant workers who are travelling back to their respective states. Thackeray, along with chief ministers from other states participated in the video conference, convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. Thackeray said that the peak of the coronavirus is projected in May and the rise may continue for the next two months, and in such a scenario, the decision about the lockdown should be taken very cautiously. The infection relapsed in Wuhan in China. The World Health Organization too has warned us about the possibilities of the spread of the infection. The Prime Minister should lead the way as far as the firm decision over the relaxations with the lockdown is concerned. States will implement it strictly, he said. Thackeray demanded the resumption of the local railway services in Mumbai only for the people engaged in essential services. The CM said that the employees and people engaged in essential and emergency services should be given entry in local trains based on identity cards. He has also warned about the threat of the spread of coronavirus through the migrants travelling from various hotspots back to their home states. He said that the states needed to be extra vigilant while giving them entry, or else, the infection is likely to spread across the nation. Thackeray has also batted for additional central forces in support of the state police to relieve them from stress. The CM said that the Centre should make the central security forces available whenever there is need. The Maharashtra CM apprised the PM about the steps taken by the state government in augmenting the bed, quarantine facilities at Racecourse, Nehru Science Centre, BKC and Goregaon Exhibition Centre in Mumbai. He expressed the need to encourage the pharmaceutical companies that are into the production of drugs related to Covid-19. He demanded the waiver of GST on the equipment required in fight against the pandemic. Stating that Maharashtra witnessed a loss of Rs 35,000 crore in revenue receipts in the last two months, Thackeray demanded the release of the states share in central taxes and GST. He has also asked for directives to the Reserve Bank of India to facilitate farmers getting farm loans in the Kharif season. I am writing this letter to urge your support of the reelection of Representative David Bedey for House District 86. David is one of the best legislators I have met in several years. I first met Representative Bedey during the last session as we were on opposite sides of a veteran bill he was sponsoring. Many legislators would charge forward and push their bill without any regard to opposing views. Not Representative Bedey. He engaged anyone and everyone he could to hear their concerns and work to address them so his bill would ultimately help veterans throughout Montana. His unbiased efforts led to the passage of significant veteran legislation and set the stage for future legislative action to support our Montana veterans. In my four decades of advocating for our Montana military members, veterans, and their families - as well as having served in the legislature I recognize Representative Bedey as a gem. His experience in the military, his thirst for knowledge and quest for facts are the qualifications we all want candidates to possess. Davids expertise and genuine concern for his constituents is not limited to veteran issues. I watched him work tirelessly, researching the issues, asking questions of those around him and making decisions based upon the best information he could find. That is the kind of legislator that must be returned to Helena to support the constituents of House District 86. It is because of these examples that I am supporting the reelection of Representative David Bedey. Roger A. Hagan Chief Master Sergeant (Retired) USAF/ANG Former Montana Representative HD 19 Great Falls Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Oil price surged on fear of Iranian retaliation against US In last week's Iranian missile attack on Iraq bases, 11 US troops wounded 19 killed as Iranian warship hit by Friendly fire missile International oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, May 11: An Iranian warship was hit by a friendly fire missile during naval exercises, killing 19 sailors, amid tensions with the US, AFP reported on Monday, citing the state media and the army. "The vessel was hit after moving a practice target to its destination and not creating enough distance between itself and the target," the state television was quoted by AFP as saying. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, May 11, 2020, 15:08 [IST] Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has apologised after he appeared to refer to Belfast as being overseas, but continued his war of words with Sinn Fein saying those in the party should change their language when referring to the Irish Republic. He asked if the party "in the interests of good will" would "stop referring to the State as the South of Ireland, Free State or the Southern State". "Some find that offensive too and it is geographically incorrect, especially if you consider the location of Donegal." Sinn Fein MLA Emma Sheerin , said Mr Varadkar's comments were "clearly deflection politics from the Taoiseach" describing them as "bizarre". On Friday the Fine Gael leader caused outrage during a radio interview when asked about the possibility Green Party members in Northern Ireland would have a say on the party's talks on entering a coalition to form a government in Dublin. "We don't have a lot of overseas members. We do have some overseas members though. We have members in Belfast for example," he said on Pat Kenny's Newstalk radio show. He was accused of "insulting nationalists". In a statement to The Irish News the Taoiseach apologised. "My sincere apologies to anyone I offended," Mr Varadkar said. "I have crossed the land border dozens of times in my efforts to prevent a hard border and to bring both jurisdictions closer together. "To clarify, Fine Gael has a Belfast branch and we also have branches overseas like Brussels. The context, which some have neglected to mention, was me defending the right of Green Party and Fine Gael members living in Northern Ireland to have a say on whether we form a government together." Last week Mr Varadkar and Sinn Fein party president Mary Lou McDonald clashed in the Dail over the 350-per-week Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment. Mr Varadkar responded to Ms McDonald by highlighting that payments for the unemployed are far lower in Northern Ireland, where Sinn Fein is in power. He suggested the rates were so low that Sinn Fein ministers were forced to deliver food parcels. "Sinn Fein ministers on their Facebook site promote the fact that they hand out food parcels to the poor, reminiscent to me of Donald Trump handing out toilet roll after the hurricane hit the islands in the Caribbean," he said. "I would be ashamed to do something like that. Do not blame it on the Tories and do not blame it on London. If it was not for their money, it would be even worse," he added. Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill accused Mr Varadkar of engaging in party politics. "Leo Varadkar's policy and Fine Gael's policy will always be akin to a Tory policy," she said. "I believe that his comments were unbefitting of even a caretaker Taioseach. "I'll make no apology for any Sinn Fein minister, or any minister for that matter, looking after those people who need them right now, people who are shielding, people who can't get out to buy their own food. So Leo's comments are more about party politics and the fact that he wants to try and form a government at the exclusion of Sinn Fein." At least 20 migrant workers returning to Odisha on a Shramik Special train from Ahmedabad, a coronavirus disease (Covid-19) hot spot in Gujarat, allegedly jumped off the train in Angul district on Sunday evening to evade the Odisha governments 28-day mandatory quarantine enforced three days ago. On Sunday evening, the train slowed near a railway bridge at Majhika in Angul district, when around 20 migrant workers jumped off. Though at least 20 of them had tried to escape, we caught only seven and handed them over to the police, said Birabara Nayak, the sarpanch of Benagadia gram panchayat. Anguls superintendent of police (SP) Jagmohan Meena said the seven people belonged to neighbouring Deogarh district. Theyre apprehensive of staying in an institutional quarantine facility for 28 days. Theyve been lodged at a quarantine centre in Angul district, the SP said. In a separate incident, a bus carrying 30 migrants from Odisha, who were coming home from Tamil Nadus Kanchipuram district, dropped 15 of them in Cuttack town on Monday morning instead of taking them to a quarantine centre in Jagatsinghpur district. The authorities put up six of them at a Cuttack college, which has been converted into a quarantine centre, and the remaining nine travelled to Jagatsinghpur district in an auto-rickshaw. The state government had announced three days ago that it would be mandatory for returning migrant workers to be quarantined for 28 days after it took note of a longer incubation period for the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease. The return of migrant to Odisha from Gujarat, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka has been blamed for a spike in Covid-19 positive cases over the past fortnight including 300 of the total of 391 reported from the state so far. There have also been incidents of migrants fleeing quarantine centres in Odisha in the past week. For instance, 150 migrants in Ganjam districts Beguniapada block fled the quarantine centre because of the poor quality of food and lack of potable water in the facility.Some migrants from coastal Bhadrak district, who came back from Gujarats Surat, got off the bus several kilometres ahead of the quarantine centre and went directly to their homes. Flags of 10 ASEAN member countries hang on poles the ASEN Secretariat in Jakarta. / Courtesy of ASEAN The following is a statement from ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) on COVID-19 pandemic. ED. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has now sadly resulted in infections and caused deaths across the globe, including in the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). We express our serious concerns about the spread of COVID-19 and its negative effects on the lives and well-being of the people of ASEAN. We appreciate the efforts of ASEAN and its individual member states in responding to the spread of the disease, such as initiating the ASEAN Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Network for public health emergencies, the ASEAN Risk Assessment and Risk Communication Centre, the ASEAN BioDiaspora Virtual Centre (ABVC), the ASEAN Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Center), and the exchange of laboratory readiness and response actions to complement the goals stated in the ASEAN Post-2015 Health Development Agenda. We are heartened by the outcomes from the Special ASEAN Summit on COVID-19 and the Special ASEAN Plus Three Summit on COVID-19 on April 14, 2020, which emphasized enhancing a caring and sharing ASEAN Community and highlighting the importance of taking a coherent, multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder and whole-of-ASEAN Community approach in ensuring ASEAN's timely and effective response to the pandemic. In line with the above, we expect all ASEAN sectoral bodies and entities, as well as member states, to integrate human rights values and the principles of non-discrimination, participation and inclusion in their responses to the crisis. Article 29 of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) guarantees that every person has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, to basic and affordable health-care services, and to have access to medical facilities. We appreciate the measures taken so far by all member states to ensure that this right to health is protected as a top priority. In particular, we appreciate ASEAN's proposed establishment of the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund and the encouragement for development of regional reserves of medical supplies as well as utilizing relevant ASEAN reserve warehouses to support the needs of ASEAN member states in public health emergencies. We also appreciate the encouragement by ASEAN Plus Three to maintain necessary interconnectedness in the region by facilitating to the extent possible the essential movement of people, including business travel, while ensuring the safeguarding of public health in line with efforts to combat the pandemic as well as to minimize socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19. In the spirit of building a people-oriented and people-centered ASEAN Community, we would like to highlight that the right to health is guaranteed to all people. Measures taken to protect public health must ensure that all persons at risk or infected by COVID-19, including women, children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, migrant workers, and vulnerable and marginalised groups, can also access essential healthcare services. We look forward to appropriate assistance and support to the nationals of ASEAN Member States affected by the pandemic in each other's country or in third countries and stress the importance of ensuring food security and strengthening the resiliency and sustainability of regional supply chains, especially for food, commodities, medicine, medical and essential supplies. The outbreak of COVID-19 has also impacted upon a number of other rights guaranteed by the AHRD, including the rights to work, education, privacy, movement, religion, expression and peaceful assembly. While many human rights can be restricted in the pursuit of a legitimate aim, such as public health, this is always subject to the principles of necessity and proportionality. We highlight the importance of promoting and protecting human rights while combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, including economic, social, civil and political rights and rights of vulnerable groups. We underscore the right of people and community to access to information in this context and pledge to work within ASEAN and its Member States to continue to promote and protect the right to freedom of opinion and expression the right to seek, receive and impart information as guaranteed by Articles 8 and 23 of the AHRD. We look forward to working within ASEAN to counter misinformation and fake news by intensifying efforts to promote effective public communication, involving multiple forms of media, including timely updates of relevant government policies, public health and safety information, of clarifications on misinformation and fake news, and efforts to reduce stigmatisation and discrimination. This is a time for ASEAN solidarity and cooperation. We resolve to collectively mitigate the impact of COVID-19 to ensure the continued enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the people of ASEAN. We appreciate the efforts of ASEAN to tackle COVID-19 and call for further regional cooperation to ensure greater preparedness and resilience for any future public health emergencies. The honorable general was in contact with our Mujahideen, and we are happy to have him in our ranks, says a senior Taliban official in the video who is not identified by name. He is an influential personality, and it is great that he is back at his home. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has denied colluding with China to delay warning the world about the COVID-19 pandemic. A German n... The World Health Organisation (WHO) has denied colluding with China to delay warning the world about the COVID-19 pandemic. A German news outlet, Der Spiegel, claimed that their federal intelligence service, known as the Bundesnachrichtendienst or BND, discovered that China urged the WHO not to alert the world about the pandemic early enough. It also alleged that the WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus and Chinese President Xi Jinping, spoke over the phone on January 21st. However, in a tweet on Sunday, the health agency labelled the report as false. Statement on False Allegations in Der Spiegel: Reports of a 21 Jan phone call between Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and China President Xi Jinping are unfounded and untrue, the tweet read. They didnt speak on 21 Jan and they have never spoken by phone. Such inaccurate reports distract and detract from WHOs and the worlds efforts to end #COVID-19. China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus on 20th Jan. 2020. German laboratories are studying the effects of Ukrainian medicines , which are thought to be useful for treating Covid-19. This was stated by Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany Andriy Melnyk in an interview with Radio Liberty. According to Melnyk, Ukraine and Germany managed to agree on how to jointly fight the coronavirus pandemic.We really have very good experience. It is in German laboratories that some domestic medicines that can be used to treat coronavirus are being tested. We are very active in this process, and I hope that there will be joint initiatives in the development of the vaccine, so we try to bring together our scientific institutions with leading centers operating in Germany," he said.As previously reported, scientists have found that blood thinners can save patients with the severe form of Covid-19: doctors recorded a decrease in mortality among those patients who received anticoagulants. Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili has reacted to the demolition of two hotels for flouting government lockdown order in Rivers State. Recall that Governor Nyesom Wike, on Sunday, demolished Prodest Hotel and Etemeteh Hotel in Onne, in Eleme Local Government Area of the State for flouting an Executive Order on COVID 19. Reacting to this development, Ezekwesili condemned the action and expressed that power in the hands of people without self-discipline creates monsters. The former minister called on the owners of the hotel to sue the State government, stating that Wikes action breeds anarchy in society. Advertisement See her post below: I have seen enough flagrant abuse of power among our political class to know that both they and citizens are still enamored of the unaccountable governance style of the inglorious military era. Such arrogance of power against citizens because of delegated temporary title. Oby Ezekwesili (@obyezeks) May 10, 2020 It is self-discipline that makes one with enormous powers to be restrained in exercising it. Whatever else you do as a young person preparing for Public Leadership in this land, please get self-discipline before whatever title they start calling you to swell your head. Oby Ezekwesili (@obyezeks) May 10, 2020 https://twitter.com/obyezeks/status/1259586443804135429 Hospitals across the United States are facing financial ruin. As coronavirus spreads across rural America, many struggling hospitals are seeing a massive loss of revenue after they were forced to cancel profitable elective procedures. At the same time, many of those same facilities are in urgent need of pricey ventilators to keep their Covid-19 patients alive. "A lot of hospitals are holding off on ordering ventilators because of the financial implications of this. And again, I think this is an issue with smaller hospitals," said Dr. Chethan Sathya, a physician at New York-based Northwell Health. "This could bankrupt many of those smaller hospitals." Before the pandemic, about half of rural hospitals operated in the red. They tend to have lower patient volume than their big city counterparts and treat people who are generally older and sicker and rely heavily on Medicaid and Medicare. Hospitals in states that didn't expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act area also in a weaker financial position, according to studies. Texas is one of several states that refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, forgoing an estimated $100 billion of federal funding in the 10 years to 2029. The state has already seen 15 hospitals close since 2010. Covid-19 has only added to those problems. As the outbreak spreads, rural hospitals are forced to furlough workers like nurses and support staff at a time when health-care professionals are needed the most. The question is, will rural hospitals go bankrupt buying ventilators? Watch this video to find out more about how rural hospitals are struggling to survive. Watch more: Why US hospitals are closing What airlines are doing to clean their planes British-born Princess Claire of Belgium has been 'seriously ill with a lingering illness', her husband has revealed. Prince Laurent, 56, who is the younger brother of King Philippe, and is related to Queen Elizabeth, said the family were 'hit' six months ago when Princess Claire, 46, who was born in Bath as Claire Coombs, became 'seriously ill.' He explained that when Princess Claire, who was born in Bath as Claire Coombs, was diagnosed with the coronavirus in March, the family's main concern had been due to her already compromised immune system. As reported by Royal Central, the royal told Nieuwsblad: 'Her illness was discovered in an early stage. The treatment is now over. We can do nothing now but wait and hope she will be okay. I really hope it will be so.' Prince Laurent of Belgium, 56, has revealed how his wife Princess Claire, 46, contracted coronavirus in March, having already been 'seriously ill' with a 'lingering illness' six months ago It is unknown what the lingering illness British-born Princess Claire, who was born in Bath as Claire Coombs and who worked as a land surveyor, was diagnosed with. Prince Laurent had previously told media that someone in his family had started to feel tired, and tested positive to the virus, however he didn't confirm who it was. In an interview published last week, he told Le Soir Mag: 'We do not know how, but the coronavirus has entered our household.' Prince Laurent of Belgium and Princess Claire of Belgium married in 2003 and have since gone on to have three children together, Princess Louise, and twins Prince Nicolas and Prince Aymeric. Prince Laurent said he was hopeful his wife Princess Claire would recover, having become 'seriously unwell' six months ago Since March, the family have been sheltering in place in their home, the Villa Clementine in the leafy southern Brussels municipality of Tervuren. Prince Laurent also revealed that he is also considered as an at-risk person, after being hospitalised in 2014 with pneumonia. Prince Laurent's reputation for outspokenness that has earned him the nickname 'Belgium's Prince Phillip'. The couple, who married in 2003, have been isolating in their home in Brussels with their three children (pictured together during the official announcement of their marriage) Meanwhile Princess Claire rarely appears in public with her husband, but occasionally supports him at environmental causes or animal charities. The royal is the leading patron of Brussels Choral Society, which sang at the religious part of her marriage ceremony, and is a member of the Board of Trustees at the British School of Brussles. Meannwile she also often attends charitable and commemorative events hosted by the British Ambassador to Belgium. The Sakhi' centre in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, which provides support and assistance to women affected by violence or exploitation, has so far settled over 180 cases, an official said on Monday. The Sakhi' project was launched by the Union government to address the rising cases of domestic violence during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, he said. It also provides police, medical and legal help to such victims, the official said. As social distancing norms and restriction in mobility severely hampered the ability of victims to approach the Sakhi' centre for registration of their grievances, the Centre started registration of complaints on a helpline number 181, he said. The official said women can also approach the nearest Anganwadi Centre to register their complaint. He said every effort is being made to keep Sakhi' centre functional and spreading awareness about the helpline number. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Officials from the Chattanooga Housing Authority said COVID-19 testing that was slated to begin Monday at Emma Wheeler Homes and Mary Walker Towers has been cancelled. CHA officials said, "The Tennessee National Guard was slated to provide the testing. However, the Tennessee Black Caucus and pastors from the area expressed concerns about having professionals in uniform conducting the testing." Rep. Yusuf Hakeem said, "First, the tests have not been cancelled. They have been postponed." He said there was concern from the community, black ministers and legislators, including himself, about the testing being handled by Guard members in fatigues. He said it was a statewide concern by members of the Black Caucus. He said, "From their (CHA) statement, there is an inference that the Housing Authority officials are more concerned about the testing than those who are raising the concerns. They did not give the complete picture. I take great issue with that." The legislator also said the local community was not told about the Guard involvement until shortly before the testing was to take place. Rep. Hakeem said he has been in contact with the governor's office on the issue and believes the tests can be reset - possibly as soon as next week. He said all of those raising concerns want the tests to happen soon. He said one option would be to use the Guard, but to have them not dressed in fatigues. However, he said he believes there are and have been other options for carrying out the tests without bringing in the Guard, including the use of the local health department and private agencies that are doing their own testing in the community. Rep. Hakeem also said there are concerns about the release of information about individuals related to the test results. CHA board member and Mary Walker Towers resident Jeff McClendon said, Weve been told by the local, state and federal officials how important testing is, and yet now the message were given is that testing is important to everyone except residents in public housing. The decision to not test puts all of us at an even higher risk. Its not acceptable. CHA Board Vice Chair Edna Varner said the CHA staff has been working for the last two weeks on a plan that would allow individuals to obtain voluntary testing with the results being sent privately only to to those tested. Our focus was to provide testing opportunities to anyone living in our communities who wanted to participate. The National Guard was going to provide healthcare professionals to test up to 3,100 residents at no charge. I understand how important it is to hear many voices when decisions are made, but this one required a sense of urgency with the health of our residents as priority one. I hope we don't end up regretting postponing the testing so that we can discuss it. CHA Board Chairman Jim Levine said, We were just trying to do what we could to protect the health and safety of our residents. CHA Executive Director Betsy McCright said the CHA is open to having partners step up to provide testing to residents. While weve been offered the assistance of community volunteers, its important to have trained healthcare professionals providing the tests to residents. We were grateful and remain grateful for the National Guards willingness to provide this critical service and hope some reasonable resolution can be reached to do just that. As soon as the details of the testing plans are available they will be shared with the media as well as through the CHAs social media platform: @CHAHousingAuthority on Facebook, CHA officials said. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said nobody ever asked her opinion or things that West Bengal needs at time. Prime Minister Narendra Modis fifth video conference meeting with Chief Ministers is currently underway. The meeting is scheduled to discuss the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the country. During the meet, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee targeted the Centre accusing that the government has been politicising the COVID-19 crisis. She said the Centre has been playing favourites with the states and provind help to selected states. Nobody ever asks our opinion, Mamata Banerjee said. The interaction comes days ahead of the scheduled ending of the nationwide lockdown. The ongoing lockdown, which was imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus, is scheduled to end on May 17. At the fourth meeting with Chief Ministers on April 27, Prime Minister Modi discussed the emerging situation and plan ahead for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. The earlier ones were held on March 20, April 2 and April 11. The Prime Minister, in the last meeting, underlined that the lockdown had yielded positive results as the country managed to save thousands of lives. With an increase of 4,213 cases in the past 24 hours, Indias COVID-19 count reached 67,152 on Monday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The number of active cases in the country rose to 44,029, while 20,916 patients have been cured and discharged and one has migrated, according to the Ministry. For all the latest National News, download NewsX App Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, championing the cause of factory workers, on Monday spoke out against the alleged dilution of labour laws by some states and underlined that the battle against coronavirus cannot be an excuse to suppress the voices of millions of workers. Labour laws are being amended by many states. We are fighting together against Corona[virus], but this cannot be an excuse to trample human rights, allow unsafe workplaces, exploit workers and suppress their voices. We cannot compromise on the basic principles [protecting the rights of workers], tweeted the Congress leader in Hindi. Earlier, eight political parties wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind protesting the changes to labour laws, including extending the daily working hours from eight to twelve in six States, on the grounds of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Also Watch | Deposit 7,500 in poor peoples accounts immediately: Rahul Gandhi The BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, two states with substantial workforces, have frozen major labour laws, except basic ones, in the hope that businesses will recoup from the blow of the Covid-19 pandemic and create more jobs on a net basis. The changes give industries more flexibility in hiring and firing employees, determining their wages, and reduce their liabilities in terms of providing employee benefits. Some economists welcomed the move for clearing structural bottlenecks, possibly leading to greater investment, creating employment opportunities for migrant workers returning home, and positioning India to be able to take advantage of disruptions in global supply chains. The move, however, also sparked intense criticism from the Opposition, particularly left parties, trade unions including those affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and civil society activists for undermining worker rights, removing decades-old protective measures and slowly dismantle the welfare architecture. To be sure, 90% of Indias workforce, which is employed in the informal sector, wont be affected by these changes. These apply to those who are in the organised workforce and registered firms. UP suspended key labour laws for three years on May 6 through an ordinance, even as MP announced on May 7 it was taking a similar course to put all labour laws on hold, barring some provisions of the Factories Act, 1948, for the next 1,000 days. The move comes after the BJP held consultations with stakeholders back in April. Uttarakhand labour minister Harak Singh Rawat said his state too was contemplating similar moves to give exemptions to industry to help them deal with losses. State-owned Radyo Pilipinas (Philippine Radio) has become the object of public scorn on social media after a video of its program Wow China went viral over the weekend on Facebook. It appears the cultural program has been airing on the government-owned radio since September last year. Its most recent broadcast aired live on Facebook yesterday, which kicked off with its usual opening spiel. Other practices, to be studied and discussed in interesting ways. Wow China! a booming voice announced in English and Filipino, while the programs title, which makes use of Chinas flag (pretty crafty), is imposed onscreen. Light conversations, and information-packed knowledge! Well get to know our Chinese siblings for better communication and cooperation! the announcement said. Broadcast on Fridays on Radyo Pilipinas and on Mondays on China Radio International, the show is hosted by Nimfa Asuncion and Ernest Wang, who have both served as anchors on the show since inception. In yesterdays episode, Wang and Asuncion chatted about quarantine living in Metro Manila then talked about a mishmash of light to pressing current events including the recent Mothers Day celebrations. The two then jumped into a guided Mandarin lesson led by a teacher from the Confucius Institute of the University of the Philippines who was simply identified as Teacher Serenity. The recurring guest teacher in yesterdays segment, taught listeners how to tell the date, week, and time in Mandarin (pretty revolutionary stuff, guys). Over at the comments section however, Wow Chinas seeming unfocused content took the back seat, towell, politics. Were being invaded by China with the blessing[s] of the Duterte Government, wrote Facebook user Cynthia Arban Lucasan. Another netizen named Chris Linag said, Madam Host, can you ask your colleague what his reaction is about China stealing our islands in the West Philippine Sea. Thank you. Story continues Photo: Radyo Pilipinas / FB Over on Twitter, netizens like @hensetsuriii ranted, [T]he administration shut down ABS-CBN but is promoting the Wow China segment on its government-ran network? What a big f*ck you. the administration shut down ABS-CBN but is promoting the Wow China segment on its government-ran network? ISANG MALAKING PUTANG INA setsu | NOtoAbsCbnShutdown (@hensetsuriii) May 11, 2020 Users like @gabrant001 wrote, Head over to Radyo Pilipinas FB page and storm it with bad reviews, because we dont need a state-owned radio station spreading Chinese propaganda. Wow China my ass, he fumed. Punta ka'yo sa Radyo Pilipinas page sa FB at paulanan n'yo ng bad reviews because we don't need a state owned radio station spreading chinese propaganda. Wow China my ass. pic.twitter.com/K4PteRuo3o Ping Guerrero (@gabrant001) May 11, 2020 Read: Outraged Pinoys petition against airing of Chinese Embassy propaganda video Just a few weeks ago, Pinoys also took to social media to protest against the music video One Sea, which has been accused of being a propaganda video that aimed to portray China as the Philippines savior in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Never mind that China has built military structures on the West Philippine Sea over the years, and has long been intimidating Pinoy fishermen on the disputed territory, despite a 2016 decision by a Netherlands court that invalidated Beijings claims over the area. This article, Radyo Pilipinas Wow China program rubs Pinoy netizens the wrong way, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters! Ian Page has been the CEO of Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:DPH) since 2001. This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. Then we'll look at a snap shot of the business growth. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels. Check out our latest analysis for Dechra Pharmaceuticals How Does Ian Page's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? According to our data, Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC has a market capitalization of UK2.9b, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth UK3.0m over the year to June 2019. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at UK500k. Importantly, there may be performance hurdles relating to the non-salary component of the total compensation. As part of our analysis we looked at companies in the same jurisdiction, with market capitalizations of UK1.6b to UK5.1b. The median total CEO compensation was UK1.9m. Now let's take a look at the pay mix on an industry and company level to gain a better understanding of where Dechra Pharmaceuticals stands. On a sector level, around 72% of total compensation represents salary and 28% is other remuneration. Readers will want to know that Dechra Pharmaceuticals pays a modest slice of remuneration through salary, as compared to the wider sector. Thus we can conclude that Ian Page receives more in total compensation than the median of a group of companies in the same market, and of similar size to Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC. However, this doesn't necessarily mean the pay is too high. We can better assess whether the pay is overly generous by looking into the underlying business performance. You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Dechra Pharmaceuticals, below. Story continues LSE:DPH CEO Compensation May 11th 2020 Is Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC Growing? Over the last three years Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC has seen earnings per share (EPS) move in a positive direction by an average of 4.4% per year (using a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 12% over last year. I would argue that the modest growth in revenue is a notable positive. And the improvement in earnings per share is modest but respectable. So while performance isn't amazing, we think it really does seem quite respectable. You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings. Has Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC Been A Good Investment? I think that the total shareholder return of 62%, over three years, would leave most Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC shareholders smiling. So they may not be at all concerned if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for companies around the same size. In Summary... We compared the total CEO remuneration paid by Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC, and compared it to remuneration at a group of similar sized companies. As discussed above, we discovered that the company pays more than the median of that group. One might like to have seen stronger growth, but shareholder returns have been pleasing, over the last three years. So, considering these tasty returns, the CEO compensation may be quite appropriate. Looking into other areas, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Dechra Pharmaceuticals that investors should think about before committing capital to this stock. Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. The Marriott hotel in Times Square is barricaded as much of the city is void of cars and pedestrians over fears of spreading the coronavirus on March 22, 2020 in New York City. Check out the companies making headlines midday Monday: Marriott International Shares of the hotel operator fell more than 5% after reporting dismal quarterly earnings. Marriott reported adjusted earnings of adjusted 26 cents per share for the first quarter, well below the consensus estimate of 80 cents, according to Refinitiv. Marriott said business was improving in China, and stabilizing in the rest of the world, although at extremely low levels. AutoNation Shares of the car retailer jumped 5.5% after the company reported better-than-expected revenue for its latest quarter. AutoNation reported sales of $4.667 billion, compared to the $4.57 billion expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. AutoNation said sales did strengthen during the final 10 days of April. Lyft An analyst at Stifel downgraded the ride-hailing company to hold from buy, sending Lyft shares down 5%. "We are challenged to continue to recommend shares at this time given the likely slow and uncertain path to recovery for the domestic ridehailing market," the analyst wrote in a note to clients. Yelp Yelp shares dropped 5.6% after an analyst at BMO Capital Markets downgraded them to market perform from outperform, noting there were "no silver linings" from the company's disappointing quarterly results. AbbVie AbbVie's stock climbed 1.5% after Morgan Stanley resumed coverage of the biopharmaceutical company with an overweight rating. "We view Humira erosion fears as overly discounted and Abbvie's prospects as underappreciated. This is an earnings and multiple call, and we see a positive risk-reward skew given ABBV's 5.6% dividend yield," according to the analyst. Nvidia Needham hiked its 12-month price target on the chipmaker to $360 per share from $270 per share, implying an 18.4% upside from Friday's close of $312.50. The hike was driven by "higher Nintendo Switch estimates and discrete GPU sales due to strong adoption of gaming titles." Nvidia shares traded 3.1% higher. American Airlines, United, Delta Airline stocks fell on Monday as investors had doubts about the U.S. reopening the economy effectively. The shares also fell after the United Kingdom implemented new restrictions on people traveling to the country. United Airlines fell 7.1%, while United dropped 3.9% and American fell 3.6%. Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Cruise line stocks fell broadly as investors grew jittery about a potential second wave of coronavirus cases as global economies start to reopen. Royal Caribbean traded lower by 4.8% and 3.2%, respectively, while Norwegian Cruise Line dropped 6.2%. Cardinal Health Shares of the drug distributor rose more than 5% after reporting adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.62 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43, according to Refinitiv. Revenue also beat forecasts of $36.95 billion, coming in at $39.16 billion. Its businesses did see increased volume related to the coronavirus pandemic. Mosaic Mosaic shares dropped more than 8% after an analyst at Bank of America downgraded the stock to underperform from buy. The analyst said "potash and phosphate are unlikely to see significant price recovery given abundant global supply of both nutrients as well as weakening demand from Southeast Asia and the broader northern hemisphere." Under Armour Under Armour shares dropped 13% after the retailer said first quarter sales declined by 23% as stores closed during the global pandemic. For the quarter the company lost 34 cents per share on an adjusted basis, on revenue of $930.2 million. The company outlined plans to cut costs by $325 million in 2020 amid the ongoing sales slump. CNBC's Michael Bloom, Jesse Pound, Pippa Stevens and Jesse Pound contributed to this report. Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world. Incitec Pivot boss Jeanne Johns says the company's $675 million capital raise is a pre-emptive move to strengthen its balance sheet in uncertain economic times and is separate to the decision to keep its fertiliser business. The $3.5 billion ASX-listed fertiliser and explosives manufacturer went into a trading halt on Monday as it became the latest in a growing list of companies to announce a capital raise to ride out the coronavirus pandemic. Incitec Pivot chief executive Jeanne Johns says the company is "well placed" to benefit from any future improvement in global fertiliser prices. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer It will raise $600 million via a fully underwritten institutional placement and up to a further $75 million via a non-underwritten share purchase plan. The program will cut the company's net debt to $1.27 billion. New shares issued under the institutional placement will cost $2 each, an 8.7 per cent discount to the stock's last closing price of $2.19. "We really don't know what's ahead of us," Ms Johns said of the impact from the coronavirus pandemic. "We felt ... we should do this as a prudent measure, in the face of so many unknowables at this time." Allentown, PA (18103) Today Turning out mostly cloudy and not as cold. There might be a rain or snow shower late.. Tonight Mostly cloudy with some rain and snow showers. Any rain will be early in the night. The former Philadelphia mayor, who led the city three-and-a-half decades ago, is calling for a formal apology from the city for the tragedy where police dropped a bomb on a row house and caused an inferno that killed 11 people and destroyed more than 60 homes. W. Wilson Goode Sr. was the city's first black mayor when the city clashed with members of MOVE, a radical, black back-to-nature group and it culminated in the May 13, 1985 bombing of MOVE headquarters. In an op-ed Sunday in the British newspaper the Guardian, Goode said that 'after 35 years it would be helpful for the healing of all involved, especially the victims of this terrible event' that engulfed a city block in flames, killing five children among the 11 people who died. Before he served from 1984 to 1992, Goode's predecessor mayor Frank Rizzo had complained the black liberation group was a nuisance, citing violation of the health code and weapons violations. Aerial view of smoke rising from smoldering rubble where 61 homes were destroyed by fire after a shootout and bombing at the back-to-nature group MOVE's house in West Philadelphia while police were attempting to force the group's eviction Former mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr. said in an op-ed Sunday that after 35 years, an apology 'would be helpful for the healing of all involved, especially the victims' The MOVE Africa black liberation and back-to-nature group is pictured four decades ago In 1978, after 15 months of clashing, cops entered their commune with guns and a water cannon and a police shootout ended with Officer James Ramp being killed by a single bullet. Images showed the MOVE 9 - Chuck, Delbert, Eddie, Janet, Janine, Merle, Michael, Phil and Debbie Africa - being arrested with excessive force. The group claimed the officer was killed by a stray police bullet, however they were convicted for his death and each was sentenced to 30 years to life. Seven years later, there was a second siege on the group's living quarters. This time a city-authorized aerial incendiary bomb was dropped on Osage Avenue and authorities let fire spread through the mainly African-American neighborhood. Incarcerated Delbert Orr Africa's 13-year-old daughter was one of five children who died. Group founder John Africa also died. Former mayor Goode said the event will forever remain etched in his mind and on his conscience. 'The decision to drop explosives on a house filled with people was indefensible,' Goode said in the new article. The police used extreme force when they attacked the MOVE headquarters in the Powelton Village section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1978 before Goode was the first black mayor Goode's predecessor mayor Frank Rizzo had complained the group was a nuisance, citing violation of the health code and weapons violation as a reason for the siege that cost $1.2million. The 1978 police shootout ended with officer James Ramp (left) being killed by a single bullet Goode said he 'was not personally involved in all the decisions,' but took responsibility as chief executive of the city. 'I would not intentionally harm anyone, but it happened on my watch,' Goode wrote ahead of the anniversary on Wednesday. 'I accept that responsibility and I apologize for their reckless actions that brought about this horrific outcome, even though I knew nothing about their specific plan of action.' William Richmond, fire commissioner at the time, said in 2010 that the fire which spread down the block was not extinguished immediately after the bomb because officials were worried that firefighters could face gunfire, and thought it would destroy a bunker and help get people out of the house. Goode said he ordered the fire to be put out, but Richmond said he never received such an order. One of the survivors, Ramona Africa, alleged that police opened fire on MOVE members trying to flee the burning home. In the op-ed Goode issued what he called his fourth public apology. He said he initially apologized on behalf of the city the day after the incident during a televised address to the victims' families and neighbors. It culminated in the city-led bombing of MOVE headquarters on May 13, 1985, which engulfed a city block in flames. Then-fire commissioner said in 2010 that the fire was not extinguished immediately because officials were worried that firefighters could face gunfire Five children were among the 11 people who died. Incarcerated Delbert Orr Africa's 13-year-old daughter died and group founder John Africa perished. Right, a body is removed from ruins Workers sort through debris on Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia, May 15, 1985, several days after a blaze destroyed 61 houses in the area. The fire commission of the time said officials also thought the bomb would destroy a bunker and help get people out of the house Medical examiner truck and police workers at scene of devastation in the mainly African American neighborhood But on Sunday he extended his apology to police, firefighters, public servants and all Philadelphia residents. He then called for the city to do the same. 'Many in the city still feel the pain of that day,' he said. 'I know I will always feel the pain.' 'There can never be an excuse for dropping an explosive from a helicopter on to a house with men, women and children inside and then letting the fire burn,' wrote Goode. 'I will never accept one.' Goode went on to claim that some people want him to blame the MOVE family or their neighbors. He called it 'absolutely wrong thinking' and vowed never to do so. Instead he wants other officials to step up and take some of the responsibility too. 'I know I cant change the past by apologizing, but I can express my deep and sincere regrets and call upon other former and current elected officials to do so,' he finished. 'I believe this action can be a small step toward healing. I apologize and encourage others do the same. We will be a better city for it.' MOVE members rejected the apology idea Sunday, characterizing it as an insincere ploy. Then-Mayor of Philadelphia W. Wilson Goode is seen at a press conference accepting responsibility for the police bombing of the MOVE headquarters and neighborhood devastation In the op-ed Goode issued what he called his fourth public apology. He said he initially apologized on behalf of the city the day after the incident during a televised address to the victims' families and neighbors. He is pictured assessing the devastating bombing scene 'No apology is going to bring back my baby or any of the children in that house or our brothers, husbands, sisters' or other victims,' Sue Africa said. In September 2018, Goode defended his legacy against shouting protesters as the city named a west Philadelphia street in his honor, saying he accepted responsibility but adding, 'You will not define me by one day of my life. I am more than that.' 'Why shouldn't he be judged on one day, especially since 11 people were murdered?' Sue Africa said Sunday. Janine Africa, who was one of nine MOVE members sentenced to between 30 and 100 years in prison in the 1978 shooting death of Officer James Ramp, maintains her innocence but said she and other MOVE members were judged on alleged actions of one day. 'I did 41 years for one day, and they never proved I killed anyone,' she said. MOVE members have said they believe that Ramp was shot accidentally by another officer. 'They lied then, they're lying now, and we know the apology is a lie,' she said. All of the incarcerated group members were recently released on parole but two died in prison. Former Gov. Ed Rendell, who succeeded Goode as mayor and as district attorney prosecuted MOVE members, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he now regrets his handling of the prosecution of some members. He said if he had to do it over again, he would have offered those who weren't leaders plea deals that included less severe sentences. 'I followed the law, but the prosecutor always has the discretion to use their judgment,' Rendell said. 'For what they did compared to what some other people do in Philadelphia, they served far too much time.' 'If they had to do it over again,' Janine Africa said of the events on the day of the bombing, 'they would do the same thing if they thought they could get away with it.' Relatives and supporters of MOVE conduct an anniversary march through the Osage street neighborhood on May 13, 1986 Press Release May 11, 2020 Villar supports easing of quarantine measures in Metro Manila low risk areas Sen. Cynthia Villar has added her voice to the growing support for the proposal to place parts of Metro Manila under general community quarantine after May 15. Villar said the Metro Manila Council and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases should consider the lifting of enhanced community quarantine especially in localities identified as low and moderate risk in terms of number of COVID-19 cases. "I agree that we should start re-opening the economy and begin the implementation of new normal measures in Metro Manila areas that have been successful in keeping their COVID-19 cases under control," Villar said. The senator also added that the prolonged ECQ is already taking its toll on the economy and employment situation in the country and causing distress among workers and their families. "We all know that the government cannot provide assistance to everybody affected by this public health emergency. We should now start re-opening the economy with health protocols such as the use of face masks and the practice of social distancing strictly implemented," Villar said. Earlier, Villar recommended the return of workers in labor-intensive sectors such as construction, manufacturing and agriculture. As of May 8, 2020, Metro Manila areas which have the lowest number of cases per 100,000 population are: Caloocan (14.5), Navotas (14.9), Malabon (15), Valenzuela (17.1), Marikina (28.1), Las Pinas (32.6), Muntinlupa (32.9), Taguig (33.2), and Pateros (33.8) "By now, places where COVID-19 cases are concentrated are already identified by the local government. Strict quarantine measures will continue to be implemented here while quarantine measures can be eased in low-risk areas," Villar said. The Nacionalista Party senator also said that "the prospect for the reopening of the economy and easing of quarantine measures is bright now that we have big quarantine facilities and improved testing capacities." INDIGENOUS INCARCERATION THE CONTINUATION OF A RACIST LEGACY 29th April 2020 marked the 250th anniversary of the so-called discovery of Australia by Captain Cook and the Endeavor as they arrived in what was to be called Botany Bay, but was then and now country belonging to the Dharawal nation and the Eora nation. Captain Cooks arrival marked the beginning of white settlement which came ready-made and prepped for wealth extraction with European industry, capitalism, military, race ideologies, and lessons learnt from colonisation in the Americas. To mark this years 250th anniversary, the Australian government gave $6.7 million to the Australian National Maritime Museum (a small chunk of a $48.7 million package to celebrate the oh-so-admirable achievements of Cook) to create an Endeavor replica to circumnavigate Australia (something that the original Endeavor never actually did). Aboriginal activist groups geared up to protest the event and demand the funds be redirected to the community as reparations. The Endeavor replica project was scrapped, not out of respect and truth-telling, but because of COVID-19. On the anniversary, while various posts and articles popped up around social media acknowledging the significance of the date, the Deputy Chief Health Officer of Victoria saw it as an opportunity to make some deeply racist statements on her personal Twitter account comparing COVID-19 to white settlement. On one hand, we have a virus, that while it is dangerous and has interrupted our lives, it is a single event that we will eventually overcome. White settlement is not an event. It is a continuous ideology that requires the ongoing displacement and oppression of traditional owners. Although methods might have changed over the past 250 years, the outcome remains the same: genocide. Methods that we see today are ecological destruction, removing children from their families, juvenile detention, genetic testing, medical racism, poverty, incarceration, and Black deaths in custody. These acts, sanctioned by the state, correspond with the definition of genocide from the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Lets take a look at the current response to COVID-19 by the government in Aboriginal communities. Firstly, we have a video posted by @DRMGNOW on his Instagram on the 29th March. In this video, we have a member of the Molly Spring community in Western Australia, speaking about how her rural community is not prepared to handle the virus. Rather than receiving medical supplies from the government masks, sanitiser, soap, disinfectant, etc. the Molly Spring community got body bags. What message does this send to the Molly Spring community? The Molly Spring community isnt the only Indigenous community to be sent body bags. In the US the Seattle Indian Health Board asked in mid-March for tests and medical supplies, but instead, they received body bags three weeks later. Even in 2009, Health Canada sent First Nations people body bags during the swine flu outbreak. These governments are not preparing to protect Indigenous peoples health; they are preparing for Indigenous deaths. Now, lets take a look at homelessness. On 11th April, NITV reported on what rough sleepers in Perth are currently experiencing. NITV reporter, Rangi Hirini, watched a group of about ten Aboriginal rough sleepers have their camp site broken up by WA police, and told to pack up their things and move at least 500 metres from the site or face arrest. These people were moved on by the police, with nowhere to go, no safety nets, no stable housing, with the intent to essentially just break up their semi-permanent campsite in the city. The WA Police Commissioners excuse was that we cant have a big group congregate like that, yet the only solution was to move the group on, waiting for the situation to repeat itself again. Approximately a month ago, the WA government launched a trial project to house twenty-eight out of approximately 1,000 rough sleepers in Perth in the Pan Pacific hotel to flatten the curve of coronavirus spread. As of 7th May, the Hotels with Heart program was abandoned, rather than scaled up to also provide temporary accommodation for women escaping domestic violence. A few other cities had similar programs, such as the Victorian governments plan to provide temporary housing to 200 rough sleepers affected by COVID-19. To fully grasp the situation, lets look at some data from the 2016 census. The responses to COVID-19 and homelessness by state governments were to temporarily house only a few hundred out of 116,427 homeless people in Australia. This half-assed attempt is genocidal when Indigenous people, who only make up 2.8 per cent of the population, represent 22 per cent of rough sleepers. Finally, another hot-bed for a cluster breakout of COVID-19 infections are prisons. In America, we are already seeing this happen in which one prison in New York has an infection rate six times higher than the rest of the city. Leading factors to an outbreak in prisons are overcrowding, inadequate health services, and lack of social distancing between prison staff, and prisoners. Debbie Kilroy, the founder of the organisation Sisters Inside, has been tirelessly reminding us that all it takes is one carrier amongst the prison staff before the virus sweeps through the prison. She has also been reminding us of the difference between isolating at home versus isolating in prison, the latter being a deeply traumatic experience. It is well known that isolation cells are a form of torture. Debbie Kilroy mentions in an NITV article that some prisons in Queensland have a lack of hygiene products and that some people have even to buy their own soap while in jail. She mentions how overcrowding is a reality for Queensland prisons, where some prisons have fifty cells but seventy-five people imprisoned and cells that are so overcrowded that some men have to sleep on the floor. Overcrowding is a reality as well in Victoria. A report from March this year showed that fifty-two per cent of the incarcerated population of Ravenhall Correctional Centre is on remand. Of the 1,316 people released from Ravenhall in 2019, only eighteen of them spent more than a year in the prison. Ravenhall has become so crowded that the private operator of the facility, GEO Group, has been given the green light to install bunk beds in cells that were designed for a single person. This fifty-two per cent of prisoners in Ravenhall could easily be given bail and released from the prison to prevent a devastating COVID-19 outbreak that could, as Debbie Kilroy states, turn a minor crime into a death sentence. The campaign #CleanOutPrisons has been started by various abolitionist activists such as Debbie Kilroy, Indigenous legal services, and Indigenous activists. The campaign asks supporters to send soap to prisons and take a selfie using the hashtag. This campaign accompanies letters, statements and media releases from legal services. For example, one organisation Aborignal Legal Services NSW/ACT released a statement signed by various families who either have family members in prison or have experienced an Aboriginal death in custody within their family. The statement demands that all First Nations people are released from prison, for COVID-19 police powers not to target First Nations communities and proper medical care and support for First Nations people re-entering the community. The hesitation to release prisoners or to house rough sleepers during COVID-19 could be simply summed up with perhaps the governments concern about the economic ramifications post COVID-19. It seems like the government just wants to wait it out, hoping that the curve will be flat enough to justify never having to respond to these questions. We cannot accept the undervaluing of Indigenous lives by the government not providing adequate medical supplies or accommodation that demonstrates the genocidal nature of settler governments. Australian historian Patrick Wolfe points out that colonisers did not set out to create racial doctrine to divide white and black, but set out to create wealth. So, this question that our government keeps running into over the past 250 years what do we do with Indigenous people will always be marked by the most economically viable option as long as it exists: the bare minimum. It would be great if an Islamic government is put in place it can end the bloodshed, the retired general says in the video, speaking at a mosque and surrounded by Taliban flags. This is a very happy occasion, and God willing, others will also be encouraged. There was no clear indication of what pushed the former general to join ranks with his former enemies. His phones were switched off. Several officials in Farah described how the war has become deeply intertwined with local tribal rivalries, with each side drawing support and resources from the government or the Taliban to gain an upper hand. Samiullah Samim, a member of Parliament from Farah, said that the Taliban had cranked up the pressure on General Bakhtawars relatives and that the government had not come to his rescue. For years, the general was involved in local businesses and even ran militias in support of the government, often staffed with men from his tribe and relatives who faced attacks and suicide bombings. Then, in 2018, he ran for Parliament from Farah and was a winner in the preliminary results, only to be declared the loser in the final result of what was seen as a deeply fraudulent vote. For years, Commander Jalil fought for the government but the government never protected his family and his tribe, Mr. Samim said. He was betrayed by the government many, many times. The election wasnt fair and transparent; Commander Jalil believes the government interfered in the election. Despite what the general saw as betrayals by the government, his two sons were quickly rising within it. Xiaomis Redmi brand just announced the Redmi K30 5G Extreme Edition in China in partnership with jd.com, as it had promised. It is the worlds first smartphone to be powered by the latest Snapdragon 768G SoC, which brings 15% faster CPU and GPU performance compared to 765G and is also the first SoC in the 7 series to bring updateable GPU drivers. Other specifications are similar including a 6.67-inch Full HD+ 120Hz LCD screen with 4.38mm, dual-punch-hole screen with 91% screen-to-body ratio, thanks to 4.25mm ultra-narrow bottom frame, built-in 5G stand alone and non-stand alone (SA/NSA) sub-6GHz networks. It has 5mm copper tube liquid cooling to the temperature of the phone by up to 7 degrees, and runs Android 10 with MIUI 11 on top. It has a Sony IMX686 64-megapixel 1/1.7 sensor, 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, 5-megapixel 2cm super macro and a 2-megapixel camera for portrait shots. On the front there is a 20-megapixel camera along with a secondary 2-megapixel camera for portrait shots. The phone has a 3D curved frosted glass body with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, side-mounted fingerprint scanner and packs a 4500mAh battery with 30W Flash Charge fast charging. Redmi K30 5G Extreme Edition specifications 6.67-inch (1080 2400 pixels) Full HD+ 20:9 LCD screen with 120Hz refresh rate, HDR 10, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection Octa Core (1 x 2.8GHz + 1 x 2.2GHz + 6 x 1.8GHz Kryo 475 CPUs) Snapdragon 768G 7nm EUV Mobile Platform with Adreno 620 GPU 6GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128GB (UFS 2.1) storage, expandable memory up to 512GB Android 10 with MIUI 11 Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) 64MP rear camera with LED Flash, Sony IMX686 sensor, 0.8m, f/1.89 aperture, 8MP 120 ultra-wide sensor with 1.12m, f/2.2 aperture, 2MP depth and 5MP macro sensors with 1.75m, f/2.4 aperture, 4K 30fps, 960 fps at 720p 20MP front-facing camera, 2MP secondary camera with 1.75m for portrait Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, IR sensor 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio, 1217 Linear Speaker, Smart PA Dimensions: 165.376.68.79mm; Weight: 208g 5G SA/ NSA (Optional) / Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, Dual-frequency (L1+L5) (K30 5G), GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, NFC, USB Type-C 4500mAh (Typical) / 4400mAh (Minimum) battery with 30W fast charging The Redmi K30 5G Extreme Edition White, Blue Red, Purple and new Mint colours, is priced at 1999 yuan (US$ 282 / Rs. 21,360 approx.) and will be available from jd.com starting from May 14. Domenico di Massa and Mariantonia Gangemi embrace their granddaughter Cecilia for the first time in two months after Italy allowed families to see each other again as the country begins a staged end to a nationwide lockdown due to a spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Rome, Italy, May 4, 2020. (Yara Nardi/Reuters) Italians Report COVID-19 Recovery Can Take Months Recovery from the CCP virus can take months, Italian COVID-19 patients and doctors have said as the country is starting to ease limitations. Patients and doctors told the New York Times that shortness of breath, fevers, and fatigue can last for weeks or months even after they test negative for the virus. We have seen many cases in which people take a long, long time to recover, Alessandro Venturi, the director of the San Matteo hospital in hard-hit Lombardy, told the NY Times. Its not the sickness that lasts for 60 days, it is the convalescence, he added. Its a very long convalescence. People with not as severe symptoms have the discomfort for even longer, Venturi told the outlet. Dr. Annalisa Malara, a physician who diagnosed Italys first case of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus in February, said it is unclear why the symptoms last for so long. The doctor noted that a lack of energy and the sensation of broken bones are common. Symptoms of fatigue often lingered even after the more intense symptoms are gone, Malara remarked. An elderly woman receives assistance in a pre-triage medical tent in front of the Cremona hospital in Cremona, northern Italy, on March 4, 2020. (Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images) Patients also described their lingering symptoms to the newspaper. Morena Colombi, who lives in Truccazzano near Milan, said she tested negative for the CCP virus and was counted as someone who recovered from the virus. But she suffered shortness of breath and muscle pain five weeks after she recovered, and she added that it was only until April 21 that she was able to return to work. It takes a long time, she told the outlet. I cant get back into my natural rhythms. Martina Sorlini, a 29-year-old high school teacher, said she has experienced a low-level fever since the start of March. It never finishes, Sorlini said. Italy is one of the hardest-hit countries in the world, reporting more than 200,000 COVID-19 cases and over 30,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. On Monday, Italy started to gradually lift draconian restrictions that the government had imposed in early March to contain the virus and now allows people to leave their homes more freely and some companies to reopen. It came as deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 165 on Sunday, against 194 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said as the daily tally of new cases fell to 802 from 1,083 on Saturday. Reuters contributed to this report. News18 Daybreak | Railways to Resume Passenger Train Services on 15 Routes and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For May 11, 2020 07:20 AM IST Share Today's Top Stories Railways to resume passenger train services on 15 routes from Tuesday, online bookings start today The Indian Railways will restart passenger train operations from May 12, 51 days after the services were halted to control the spread of the coronavirus. The services will resume initially with 15 pair of trains, or a total of 30 journeys, the national transporter said on Sunday. Passenger trains will depart from New Delhi Railway Station and connect to Mumbai, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Howrah, Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, Jammu, Dibrugarh, Agartala, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar and Madgaon. Former PM Manmohan Singh Admitted in AIIMS After Complaining of Chest Pain Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was admitted to AIIMS after he complained of chest pain. According to sources, the senior Congress leader was admitted in the hospital at 8.40pm and has been kept under observation at the cardio-thoracic ward. The 87-year-old has been admitted to a hospital room and not to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). He was admitted under Dr Nitish Naik, a professor of cardiology at the AIIMS. In Other News Decision on lockdown: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with chief ministers today to discuss the next stage in the exit from the nationwide lockdown enforced to contain novel coronavirus outbreak and various issues comprising the economy, officials said on Sunday. Concerning: Around 150 Indian and Chinese soldiers on both sides engaged in an aggressive confrontation in North Sikkims Naku La that left four Indian soldiers and seven Chinese soldiers injured. The confrontation was disengaged after dialogue and interaction at local level. Unopposed: Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray is set to enter the Legislative Council unopposed as the Congress announced that it would withdraw one of its two nominees for the May 21 elections to nine seats. Super spreaders: As many as 334 coronavirus 'super-spreaders' have been found in Ahmedabad so far, and it is the main reason for the order to keep shops of groceries and vegetables closed till May 15, officials said on Sunday. On Our Specials Lockdown dilemma: They are finally living with their children. Normally, or for the lack of it, they reside in separate buildings where men come by the dozen throughout day and night. They are commercial sex workers in New Delhi's biggest red light area, Garstin Bastion Road, popularly known as GB Road. But they are mothers first. Due to social distancing rules and a strict curfew, COVID-19 lockdown has united them with their sons and daughters for the first time in years, Rounak Kumar Gunjan writes. Balanced approach: The overemphasis on individual events have complicated not only politics in Kashmir but also the crafting of a comprehensive strategy for conflict resolution. We, therefore, seem to lurch from reacting to one incident after another rather than following a well-thought-out path. It is often asked whether we are succeeding in Jammu and Kashmir. Lt Gen (Retd) DS Hooda writes that depending on whom you ask, you could get different replies. In my view, the more pertinent question is what are the objectives and parameters against which success is being measured? On Reel Three days after a gas leak at a chemical plant in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam killed 11 people and affected at least 1,000, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Sunday issued detailed guidelines for restarting industries after the lockdown and the precautions to be taken for the safety of the plants as well as the workers. Former director general of Punjab police Sumedh Singh Saini was granted anticipatory bail on Monday by the court of additional district and sessions judge, Mohali, Monika Goyal,in a case related to the disappearance of Balwant Singh Multani, a Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO) employee in 1991. Saini had moved the Mohali court on May 8, seeking anticipatory bail in the 29-year-old abduction case, claiming he had been falsely implicated because of vendetta. Being granted bail means he will not be arrested in this case. Multani, a junior engineer with CITCO, was allegedly picked up by two officers after a terrorist attack on Saini, then senior superintendent of police, Chandigarh, in which four policemen in his security posse were killed. The police later claimed that Multani had escaped from the custody of Qadian police. A case was registered under Sections 364 (kidnapping or abduction in order to murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 344 (wrongful confinement), 330 (voluntarily causing hurt to exhort confession) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) in Mohali on May 6 on the basis of a complaint filed by Multanis brother Palwinder Singh Multani. Former deputy superintendent of police Baldev Singh Saini, inspector Satvir Singh, sub-inspectors Har Sahai Sharma, Jagir Singh and Anoop Singh and ASI Kuldip Singh were also named in the case. Hours after he was booked Saini was stopped from entering Himachal Pradesh by the states police for not carrying a curfew pass. He was reportedly headed for his property in Karsog (Mandi district) in Himachal when he was stopped at the HP border at 4 am on May 7 and sent back. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chennai, May 11 : In a gruesome incident, a 14-year-old schoolgirl was set on fire in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu by two men alleged to be connected to the ruling AIADMK. The girl died of 95 per cent burns on Monday. Demanding quick and severe punishment to the two accused, including a former municipal councillor, opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President M.K. Stalin on Monday claimed that the duo tied the hands and legs of Jayashree, stuffed her mouth with a cloth, and set her afire. The crime occurred on Sunday at Sirumadurai colony near Thiruvennainallur when the girl was alone at her house. The accused were said to have a previous enmity with her father Jayapal. Stalin said the girl was admitted in a government hospital with 95 per cent burn injuries, and in her dying declaration to a magistrate named the two AIADMK members as the culprits. According to Stalin, it is the second such crime of burning alive a student by AIADMK members. A bus was set ablaze in Dharmapuri, in which three girl students of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University were burnt alive in 2000. Stalin urged the police to act impartially and ensure the strictest punishment to the culprits. Amaravati, May 11 : Andhra Pradesh on Monday pitched for the relaxation of lockdown while enforcing measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak in the country. Amid the national debate on continuation of the Covid-19 induced lockdown, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy stressed on the importance of ensuring hassle-free movement of raw materials and people, for boosting the manufacturing sector. During his video conference interaction with the Prime Minister on Monday, Jagan Reddy pointed out that despite relaxation on transport of goods, transporters are facing hurdles in many states across the country. He emphasised that continuation of the lockdown will result in economic hardships. In his fifth video interaction with Chief Ministers since the Covid-19 outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday connected with CMs of all the states to take stock of the national mood on the way forward after the extended lockdown ends on May 17. Describing how the closure of markets all over the country has adversely affected the agricultural revenues of Andhra Pradesh, Reddy called for removal of all kinds of hindrances to inter-state transportation of goods and raw materials. The Andhra Pradesh CM also called for lifting of sanctions on public transports. "Whether it's migrant labourer or people in offices, if they don't have access to public transport, the economic situation will not normalize," he told the Prime Minister. Observing that putting in place social distancing and medical infrastructure requires funding to the tune of Rs 16,000 crore, he requested the Central government's help for Andhra Pradesh, which is "as good as a new state". Stating that 87,000 MSMEs in the state are providing employment to 9.7 lakh persons, Reddy requested the PM to consider a 6-month waiver of interest on loans given to MSMEs. SAN FRANCISCO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global revenue cycle management market size is anticipated to reach USD 160.3 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 12.1% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Increasing government reforms favoring the adoption of revenue cycle management (RCM) solutions in healthcare settings, growing inclination toward cloud-based solutions, and increasing outsourcing of RCM services are the key factors driving the global market. Based on product type, the market is segmented into software and services. The software segment dominated the market in 2019 with a market size of around USD 39.0 billion. Increasing adoption of RCM solutions in healthcare settings for effectively managing the patient data and growing patient pool are the major factors driving the market growth. On the other hand, services is anticipated to be the fastest-growing segment over the forecast period. Growing outsourcing of revenue cycle management services owing to the shortage of resources and inexpensive labor costs are the major factors driving the growth of this segment. Key suggestions from the report: The market is anticipated to be expand significantly owing to increased adoption of RCM systems in healthcare settings The software segment accounted for a major share in 2019 with a market size of around USD 39.0 billion due to increasing demand for HIT systems Integrated RCM solutions held the largest market share of 69.0% in 2019, as they are cost-effective as compared to standalone solutions North America dominated the revenue cycle management market in 2019 owing to the availability of favorable reimbursement policies, presence of well-developed healthcare infrastructure, and growing adoption of RCM solutions and their long-term benefits Some of the key market participants are Allscripts Inc.; Cerner Corporation; Change Healthcare; Epic Systems Corporation; CareCloud Corporation; and McKesson Corporation. These companies are focusing on strategic collaborations and introduction of new products to survive the market competition Read 98 page research report with ToC on "Revenue Cycle Management Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Software, Service), By Type (Integrated, Standalone), By Delivery Mode, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2020 - 2027" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/revenue-cycle-management-rcm-market Integrated RCM solutions dominated the market in 2019, with a revenue share of 69.0%. Integrated solutions offer a streamlined and coordinated format on a wide variety of financial activities via single platform. Moreover, integrated solutions are quite cost-effective as compared to standalone solutions. Unlike standalone solutions, they are composed of various modules that cost-effectively manage parallel activities taking place in a healthcare setting. North America dominated the RCM market in 2019 with the highest revenue share. Availability of favorable reimbursements and government initiatives for the implementation of RCM systems are the major factors driving the market growth. On the other hand, Asia Pacific is anticipated to be the fastestgrowing region over the forecast period, owing to the availability of low cost labor and entry of major players in the region. Grand View Research has segmented the global revenue cycle management market based on product, type, delivery mode, end use, and region: Revenue Cycle Management Product Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2027) Software Services Revenue Cycle Management Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2027) Integrated Standalone Revenue Cycle Management Delivery Mode Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2027) On-premise Web-based Cloud based Revenue Cycle Management End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2027) Physician Offices Hospitals Diagnostic Laboratories Others Revenue Cycle Management Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2027) North America U.S. Canada Europe U.K. Germany France Italy Spain Russia Asia Pacific China Japan India Singapore South Korea Australia Latin America Mexico Brazil Argentina Middle East & Africa & South Africa Saudi Arabia UAE Find more research reports on Medical Devices Industry, by Grand View Research: Dermatology Devices Market Increasing prevalence of skin cancer and other skin diseases contribute significantly to the high demand for dermatology devices. Increasing prevalence of skin cancer and other skin diseases contribute significantly to the high demand for dermatology devices. Subdermal Contraceptive Implants Market Increase in use of modern contraceptive methods, rising awareness about sexual health and family planning, and increase in government initiatives are likely to drive the market during the forecast period. Increase in use of modern contraceptive methods, rising awareness about sexual health and family planning, and increase in government initiatives are likely to drive the market during the forecast period. Bone Grafts And Substitutes Market Increasing number spinal fusion surgeries, target population, and adoption of allografts are key growth drivers for this market. Gain access to Grand View Compass, our BI enabled intuitive market research database of 10,000+ reports About Grand View Research Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead. Contact: Sherry James Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Grand View Research, Inc. Phone: +1-415-349-0058 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 23:36:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A hairdresser wearing a face shield serves a client at a barbershop in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 11, 2020. Most of the shopping malls, barbershops and beauty salons across Turkey resumed operations on Monday as part of a gradual easing of the restrictions to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Yasin Akgul/Xinhua) ISTANBUL, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Most of the shopping malls, barbershops and beauty salons across Turkey resumed operations on Monday as part of a gradual easing of the restrictions to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. Huseyin Altas, chairman of Turkey's Shopping Centers and Investors Association, told reporters that 350 out of a total of 436 malls in the country opened their doors to clients. According to Altas, the remaining malls will be operational on June 1. Addressing people's concerns over visiting the shopping malls, he said they are safer than outside as fresh air has been continuously circulating inside, and all other preventive measures have been taken to create a virus-free shopping environment. Aqua Florya, a shopping center on the European side of Turkey's biggest city Istanbul, was ready for the big day on Monday. Several security officials were equipped at the entrances of the mall to take the temperatures of the clients, whose number was not that much in the morning. Some disinfectant boxes were available for the use of the costumers in particular zones inside, while most of the stores and the food court were seen closed. Press reports showed some photos of people waiting in long queues outside of several malls in Istanbul long before their opening time. Meanwhile, those who are opposed to the opening of the malls, thinking that it would be too soon as the pandemic has not yet ended, are raising their voices on social media. Several hashtags like "Shopping Malls" and "We do not go to shopping malls" became trending topics on Twitter. Istiklal Avenue, packed with stores that belong to world-known brands, was among the most crowded locations in the European part of the city. Nearly 35 percent of the stores were observed open. Local officials have installed several kiosks at the two ends of the avenue to provide hand sanitizers and facial masks for those who do not have one. Security forces were seen patrolling the avenue, warning people who do not follow the three-meters social distancing rule, which was particularly determined for the area by the authorities. Barbershops and beauty salons also became operational Monday with conditions of abiding by the rules such as following cleaning rules, working with an appointment system, and serving half of the number of seats. The Turkish government in mid-March ordered the closure of all the shopping malls, barbershops, and beauty salons in line with the measures to contain the pandemic. Turkey reported 1,542 new COVID-19 cases and 47 more deaths on Sunday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 138,657 and the death toll to 3,786. Subscriber content preview PORTLAND (AP) Some ski resorts in Oregon are preparing to reopen, but exactly when is still up in the air. Gov. Kate Brown announced earlier this week that some outdoor recreation activities can resume as the coronavirus pandemic continues. Brown is expected to issue an executive order to officially allow ski resorts to resume operations in the coming days, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. . . . Zablon Namwate pictured in October 2019 travelled from Rwanda to Kenya decades ago to work on a tea plantation. Without identity documents, he is among millions of people around the world who are stateless. UNHCR/Sebastian Rich UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is urging governments worldwide to pay urgent attention to the plight of millions of stateless people and to follow a set of recommendations the organization has issued today to ensure their coverage in the COVID-19 response. Millions of people around the world are denied a nationality and the legal rights endowed with it. They do not exist on paper and most often live on the fringes of society. Our worry is that at such a critical time, in the middle of a global pandemic, they now are at great risk of being left behind in the response, said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Without citizenship, stateless people often do not have access to essential services, including health care, and now may also be precluded from or face obstacles in accessing coronavirus testing and treatment. Others may refrain from accessing services for fear that their legal status can put them at risk of detention or deportation. We must repeat that exclusion does not benefit anyone, least of all the global effort to contain the virus. The pandemic can only be beaten if everyone, regardless of their legal status, is included in the response. Nobody can be protected unless everybody is included, and that means including often invisible, stateless populations, said Grandi. Some 3.9 million stateless people appear in the reporting of 78 countries but the true number is likely to be far greater. Without legal rights and access to services, statelessness leaves many politically and economically marginalized, discriminated against and vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. In many countries across the world, stateless people live in sub-standard and inadequate sanitary conditions which can compound the risk of outbreaks. Limited by their legal status, many work in informal sectors, which can also hamper adherence to public health protocols such as self-isolation and physical distancing. Considerable numbers of stateless people are also being held in prolonged pre-removal detention on the basis that they are not considered as legal residents and there is no country to deport them to. In addition to the violation of their right to liberty, they now face the prospect of increased risk of infection, as doctors and medical associations around the world have raised concerns about the potential of COVID-19 to spread within these centres. UNHCR is also concerned about the potential for mitigation and response measures to fuel xenophobia and discrimination for those perceived to be at risk of contagion, given that a majority of the worlds known stateless population belong to minority groups and are particularly vulnerable to discrimination. This virus is exposing both the devastating consequences of statelessness and the urgency of the need to resolve it. The right to a nationality is a fundamental human right and in this time of crisis it can mean the difference between life or death, said Grandi. To ensure the protection and inclusion of stateless people in the public health response, UNHCR has issued guidance on policy and good practices. Some of these recommendations include: Making health services, including COVID-19 testing and treatment, accessible for all regardless of citizenship status or legal resident status. Creating a firewall between health and immigration services during this period to enable stateless people to access services without fear and risk of arrest or detention. Ensuring stateless peoples inclusion in COVID-19 information campaigns, considering location, language and communication preferences. Designating civil registration activities, including birth registration, as essential services, allowing their continuation and minimizing the risk that people may end up stateless owing to a lack of legal proof of identity or entitlement to nationality. Refraining from placing stateless people in pre-removal detention and considering the release of those detained for reasons related to their stateless status. Ensuring that response measures do not fuel xenophobia and racial discrimination. Extending financial support packages to all who are resident on the territory who meet the vulnerability criteria, regardless of legal status. A full list of recommendations is available here. For more information on this topic, please contact: In June 2019, the National Chairman of National Democratic Congress, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, was arrested in connection with alleged arson and kidnappings in Ghana. Since his arrest, he has been facing trials in court. Mr. Ampofo has however stated that the police has not been fair to him in communicating the conclusion of the issue. In an interview on Happy FMs Epa Hoa Daben, he related that the police did not have substantial evidence to back the allegations of kidnapping and arson. People dont know the end of the story. So they sit and draw conclusion. I feel like the PR for the police need to tell the public that after questioning Ofosu Ampofo there was no basis for his arrest. They never told Ghanaians so now I need to be telling my own stories, he stated. He related: They showed me photos of two people who they claim had information about the kidnap and burning of market issue. What I know is that when you are arrested for a crime your accusers must be present. But the police came with pictures and when I denied knowing them, they continued that these people met with me between the 16th to 20th of April last year. Fortunately, those days coincided with Easter convention and you know I dont joke with Pentecost Easter Convention. That was about four days. After that I travelled to the UK. So I was not present the period in question. When I gave evidence of my movement that was the end of the case. According to him the police has not been fair to him and as such he expects the police to do the right thing by clearing his name. He promised that his lawyers will follow up with the police on this issue. He however disclosed that he still goes to court over the issue. However, his lawyers have filed for an appeal in the Supreme Court against a decision by the High Court. Source: Happyghana.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Senator Lamar Alexander will self-quarantine in Tennessee for two weeks after a member of his staff tested positive for coronavirus. His office said he was doing so though he has been tested recently and told he did not have the virus. David Cleary, chief of staff for Senator Alexander, said, Today, Sunday, May 10, a member of Senator Lamar Alexanders staff tested positive for COVID-19. The staff member is recovering at home and is doing well. Senator Alexander has no symptoms and tested negative for COVID-19 on Thursday afternoon, May 7. After discussing this with the Senates attending physician, Senator Alexander, out of an abundance of caution, has decided not to return to Washington, D.C., and will self-quarantine in Tennessee for 14 days. Almost all of the senators Washington, D.C., staff are working from home, and there is no need for any other staff member to self-quarantine. The senator will be working remotely and will chair the Senate health committee hearing on Tuesday morning by videoconference where the witnesses will be Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Robert Redfield, Dr. Brett Giroir, and Dr. Stephen Hahn. Senator Alexander, who was on Meet The Press on Sunday, is feeling well, his office said. Earlier, his daughter came down with the virus. A delegation of entrepreneurs from Thailand is likely to visit Uttar Pradesh in October to explore the "immense possibilities of investment" in the state, Uttar Pradesh Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said Monday. After a video-conference with former deputy prime minister of Thailand Mark Dabbarasi, the minister for MSME and export promotion told PTI that he evinced keen interest in setting up food processing clusters in the state. "In October, a delegation of entrepreneurs will come from Thailand to visit UP," Dabbarasi told Singh when he spoke of the immense possibilities of investment in the state. The interaction is part of the efforts of the Yogi Adityanath government to bring maximum investment in the state and to provide employment opportunities to migrant workers by constantly communicating with ambassadors and entrepreneurs of different countries. Dabbarasi showed special interest in the new industrial and investment policy of the state and said the possibilities of investment in Uttar Pradesh's MSME sector are "limitless". He also said that the "OTOP Program" of Thailand is same as the "ODOP scheme" in Uttar Pradesh. OTOP, he said, stood for one tambon (block), one product in Thailand. Thailand will be interested for an MoU for these two programs, Dabbarasi said. Singh said MSMEs from both the countries will be benefited if Uttar Pradesh gets technologies from Thailand. He informed Dabbarasi about the merits of Uttar Pradesh and said that the state is a big market for investors. A large number of MSME products are exported from here, the minister said. Singh also informed Dabbarasi that the construction of Asia's largest Jewar airport in Gautam Budh Nagar was in full swing and development of 11 smaller airports are being done to improve air connectivity in the state. To improve road connectivity, he said, construction of expressways in the state was in progress. He also said that under the leadership of Adityanath, the state government has relaxed labour laws to help various businesses and industries. Besides, many rules have been relaxed for setting up new industries. Dabbarasi said he has read the Bhagavad Gita twice and added that in the 15th century, the capital of Thailand was called Ayathaya which is Ayodhya in local language. Therefore, Uttar Pradesh and Thailand have cultural and religious connect, he said, and asserted that Adityanath is a popular leader in Thailand as both are building Ram Temple. Uttar Pradesh reported 53 new coronavirus cases on Monday, pushing the state's overall tally to 3,520. "In UP, 3,520 cases have been reported so far from 72 districts. Of the total 3,520, 1,655 have been treated and discharged. While 79 deaths have been reported so far from due to coronavirus. The total number of active cases are 1,786," Principal Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters. He said there are 53,459 isolation and 21,569 quarantine beds and number of ventilator beds are 1,260. Those who have tested positive include 8.1 per cent from 60 plus age group, 25.5 per cent between 40-60 years, 48.7 per cent between 20 and 40 years and 17.7 per cent are below the age of 20, he said. Among the total patients 21.5 per cent are women, he said, adding that the state government was effectively using Aarogya Setu app and also making calls to alert people. "Of the total 2,058 calls made to Aarogya Setu users, 9 have been found positive till now and are being treated," he said. Of the total deaths in the state, the maximum have been reported from Agra (24), followed by Meerut (13), Moradabad (7), Kanpur Nagar (6), Firozabad and Mathura (4 each), and Aligarh (3). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tickets are $10, and people can buy up to 15 entries apiece, according to the website. All proceeds will go to microloans for local businesses to help them get through the pandemic, according to the website. As of Monday afternoon, $8,750 had been raised. Regular columnist James Knight believes that understanding the reasons why many people choose not to believe will assist Christians in reaching out to them. Regular columnist James Knight believes that understanding the reasons why many people choose not to believe will assist Christians in reaching out to them. Truths about atheism that only Christians know Regular columnist James Knight explains the paradox that atheists cannot really understand the very thing they dont believe in. Read more Why dont we declare the certainty of our faith? Regular columnist James Knight explores why we sometimes hesitate to declare our faith, even when we are confident in our own belief. Read more Why following Christ is a win-win proposition Regular columnist James Knight explains why everyone stands to benefit by following Christs teachings. Read more Seven truths, and the greatest gift Regular contributor James Knight presents us with seven fundamental truths that he has discovered in the bible. Read more A growing realisation of our need for Gods grace James Knight offers an explanation as to why the apostle Paul is often so self-deprecating when describing his own sinfulness. Read more Be positive when reaching out As James Knight recalls his own journey to faith, he urges us to adopt a positive approach when sharing your beliefs with others. Read more Christians should rise above identity politics Regular contributor James Knight feels that people should be treated and valued as unique individuals, rather than allowing their membership of any ethnic (or any other) group to take precedence. Read more Why did God use so much space and time? Regular contributor James Knight has been reflecting on the vastness of creation, and shares his thoughts with us. Read more Gods too big to not exist James Knight demonstrates why it is logical and reasonable to believe that God exists. Read more The Truth and Knowledge of Christianity James Knight explains that we cannot really know what it is like to be a Christian until we experience God for ourselves. Read more Beware of restricting the truth James Knight is concerned about a conference in Scotland last week where permission to contribute to the debate was determined by skin colour. He shares his concerns with us here: Read more Climate change emergency or not? James Knight is challenging some of the assertions being made by the climate change lobby, and shares his thoughts about what our response should be. Read more The supernatural and the Truth James Knight has been pondering the existence of the supernatural, but concludes that the challenge is to determine what is true. Read more Marital submission means putting God first James Knight has been considering the call, in scripture, for wives to submit to their husbands, and shares with us his interpretation of that instruction. Read more Nothing more than nothing can be significant Regular columnist James Knight thinks back to the snow we had this winter and finds encouragement for those of us who consider our contribution to the Kingdom of God to be insignificant. Read more A Christian view of Donald Trump Regular columnist James Knight provides us with his personal analysis, as a Christian, of the US president. Read more Wheat and weeds building up resilience Regular columnist James Knight offers his reflections on one of Jesus harvest-related parables. Read more President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has responded to comments by critics regarding how his government is handling the pandemic outbreak of Coronavirus in the country. Ex-President John Dramani Mahama and members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have held strong views that the President is taking poor decisions in addressing the pandemic and also questioned his exit plan from the current situation confronting Ghanaians. Mr. Mahama believes the President has no clue how to stabilize the economy and even more compounding the plight of Ghanaians during this pandemic. "From 3,091 to 4,012 #COVID19 cases within 24 hours; Government is certainly failing the people of Ghana. Fear gripped many homes last night when the latest confirmed cases were released. And that is understandable. #COVID19 is real, my brothers and sisters. I want to encourage you, yet again, to protect yourself. Regular hand washing with soap and under running water is a must. Stay Home, but if you have to go out for any reason including work, wear your mask, take along a hand sanitizer, and always disinfect commonly used and touched surfaces. And, let us continue to remember the poor & needy. They need our support," he posted on his Facebook wall. Also during his regular digital conversations on the pandemic, Mr. Mahama held that the President's promise to construct 94 hospitals in one year won't come into fruition, adding that President Akufo-Addo has abandoned health facilities that he (Mahama) constructed before leaving office. But in a sharp riposte to his political opponents, President Akufo-Addo says his decisions and policies have rather proven fruitful as many Ghanaians have been spared from contracting the deadly disease. "The implementation of our strategy of aggressively tracing, testing and treating is our surest way of rooting out the virus. This early identification of persons with the virus ensures that they do not spread the virus to others; we are provided with the opportunity to treat them; and it helps us to understand better the dynamics of the virus. "The rapid implementation of all of our policies has resulted in our low infection, hospitalisation and death rates, some of the lowest in Africa and the world," he asserted. President Akufo-Addo further called on Ghanaians to ignore his critics because they have nothing better to offer them other than to seek their own "political survival". "I know some political actors will want you to believe that our current numbers represent a failure on the part of Government. Do not begrudge them. They need to make such comments for their political survival," he said. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Galih Gumelar (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 11, 2020 10:01 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd72284a 1 National Perppu,COVID-19,Presidential-Regulation,Jokowi,coronavirus,House-budget-committee Free As the House of Representatives prepares to pass an executive order that will expand the governments authority to allocate emergency coronavirus spending, legal experts warn that the new regulation would be a blow to the countrys fight against corruption. The regulation in lieu of law, Perppu No. 1/2020, is expected to be passed this week after the Houses budget committee grants approval amid mounting public pressure to drop it entirely. Read also: Lawmakers agree to endorse Perppu on COVID-19 in next plenary session The Perppu will allow the government to extend the state budget deficit beyond the legal cap of 3 percent of gross domestic product and allocate the spending to programs related to COVID-19, while officials are protected from any legal charges as long as they act in good will and according to the law. Gadjah Mada University Center for Anticorruption Studies (Pukat UGM) director Zainal Arifin Mochtar said emergency situations like the pandemic often required expansion of the Presidents authority to take over lengthy bureaucratic processes. But where the Perppu could become a big problem for the country, he said, was Article 27 of the regulation, which stipulates that any programs related to coronavirus aid are considered to be economic costs to save the economy from crisis instead of state losses. The article also shields government officials from any legal charges behind the argument that they have acted in good will. [The article] contradicts the definition of state losses in the 2004 State Treasury Law. The Perppu also does not define what constitutes good will, he told The Jakarta Post. He further cited as an example that the term good will was also used in Article 45 of the 2009 Bank Indonesia (BI) Law, which stipulates that the central banks governor and other bank officials are protected as long as they act in good will. But there are conditions that apply to define what acts or policies are carried out in good will. It was because of these limitations, he said, that former BI deputy governor Budi Mulya was sentenced to 10 years in the Bank Century bailout scandal. The government is seeking to disburse Rp 405.1 trillion (US$24.6 billion) for COVID-19 relief measures, most of which would be granted for economic recovery instead of healthcare spending. If the Perppu can be passed before mid-year, the government can allocate a larger fund for coronavirus aid in this years state budget through a presidential decree, instead of House approval. While the emergency measures are needed, the public has condemned the absence of government oversight in the regulation. The Constitutional Court is currently reviewing the controversial articles in the Perppu under a petition filed by a group of anticorruption activists. Read also: Angered by Perppu on pandemic response, civil groups turn to Constitutional Court Violla Reininda, a constitutional law expert of judicial and constitution watchdog Kode Inisiatif, said the impunity given to state officials would protect them from any graft charges stipulated in the 2001 Corruption Law, as well as overriding judicial authorities as stipulated in the Constitution. Yes, we are currently in a state of emergency, but should the government undermine the Constitution in times of crisis? I dont think so. Because Article 1 of the 1945 Constitution states that Indonesia is a nation governed by law, she said. Another legal expert, Refly Harun, said the impunity article gave the opportunity to free riders who wanted to take advantage of the emergency situation to rob the state coffers. Imagine that lawyers [of graft suspects] would say the court could not sue defendants since all spending ruled under the Perppu would not be considered state losses, he said. The experts have reasons to doubt the government officials since early disbursement of coronavirus aid in the capital and several provinces has been used by regional heads as an opportunity to increase their popularity among voters. Several incumbents are seeking reelection in a round of regional elections that will be held in December. Bivitri Susanti of the Jentera School of Law said the House could only accept or reject the Perppu entirely since the legal mechanism did not allow revision of the current Perppu document. If the House factions agree, it is likely the Perppu will pass. But it can still be revised through a judicial review at the Constitutional Court or if the House proposes an amendment after the Perppu is passed, she said. Bivitri suggested that the public file a new judicial review petition should the Perppu be passed into law. Constitutional Court spokesperson Fajar Laksono said the court could revoke the Perppu if justices can issue their rulings in favor of the plaintiffs before the House passes the Perppu. But if it passes, the public can still challenge the law. The public can still challenge the Perppu [after House deliberation] by registering new lawsuits, Fajar said. Boyamin Saiman, one of the plaintiffs challenging the Perppu, said he was more than ready to file another suit with the court if the House finally passes the regulation into law. We will be happy [if the Perppu becomes law] because we will not only be fighting against the government, but also the House, Boyamin said. The ongoing legislation process of the Perppu has also provided us more time to gather evidence and documents to be presented at hearings, he added. Opposition leader Juan Guaido has denied any involvement in the attempte raid aimed at toppling Nicolas Maduro. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has accepted the resignation of a United States-based adviser Juan Rendon, his press team said on Monday, after Rendon acknowledged discussions with a US security firm to topple President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido thanked Rendon and another exiled legislator, Sergio Vergara, who also resigned from the oppositions crisis strategy commission, for their dedication and commitment to Venezuela, without giving a reason for the decision. Rendon has said that while he negotiated an exploratory agreement with Floridas Silvercorp USA late last year, he cut ties with the firms chief executive, Jordan Goudreau, in November. Goudreau, Rendon said, then went ahead with an operation led by two former US soldiers to capture Maduro. The plot failed, and Venezuelan authorities said security forces killed eight members during one May 3 incursion attempt and arrested a dozen more, including the two US citizens, the following day. Guaido has denied any involvement in the bungled invasion. But it has raised doubts about his leadership some 16 months since he first declared a rival presidency and denounced Maduro as a usurper who had overseen a six-year economic collapse. Venezuelas chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab talking to journalists after a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela [Manaure Quintero/Reuters] In the statement, Guaidos press team said Rendon and Vergara ratified their support for the democratic cause and called for all national and international sectors to reinforce their support for the interim president. Rendon and Vergara confirmed their resignations in public letters. Rendon said the commission had never been interested in participating in violent activities, while Vergada said he had not been aware of the so-called Operation Gideon. Goudreau, in media interviews, has confirmed his role in organising the incursion. On Friday, Venezuela Chief Prosecutor Tarek Saab said his office had requested the extradition of Goudreau, Rendon and Vergara for their involvement in the design, financing, and execution of the plan. San Francisco, May 11 : Microsoft has started rolling out a tool designed to protect Office 365 users worldwide from reply-all email storms. When a reply all mail storm occurs in an organisation, it can disrupt business continuity and in some cases even throttle the rest of the organisation's email for a period of time. It happens when someone forgets to BCC everyone or misconfigures a distribution list and a large number of people start sending their replies to the email thread. Called "Reply All Storm Protection", the feature will initially mostly benefit large organisations who have large distribution lists. At the beginning, it will detect 10 reply-all emails to over 5,000 recipients within 60 minutes, The Verge reported on Sunday. But Microsoft said it is working to improve the tool so that a broader range of organisations benefit from the feature. "Over time, as we gather usage telemetry and customer feedback, we expect to tweak, fine-tune, and enhance the Reply All Storm Protection feature to make it even more valuable to a broader range of Office 365 customers," said Microsoft's Exchange transport team. "We are considering possible future enhancements to improve our reply all storm detection accuracy, add admin customizable thresholds and block duration, as well as producing reply all storm reports and notifications," it added. Revealing some first-hand experience with the tool, the software giant said it has already seen the first version of the feature successfully reducing the impact of reply all storms within Microsoft. Frank Scott Abbey learns from the lessons life gives him on his way to fashion degree from BGSU By Kandace York The end of the spring semester at Bowling Green State University was hard for Frank Scott Abbey, and not just because classes switched to an online format and the commencement ceremony was delayed. My residence advisor position ended sooner than expected because of COVID-19, and the job offer that had been waiting for me after commencement was rescinded, Abbey said. The apparel and merchandise product development major in the College of Education and Human Development said his journey to obtaining his degree, however, has been unusual since it started. His academic career started in 2015, a year after he joined the U.S. Army National Guard. Service to his country led to an Iraq deployment, where at age 20 he was appointed to team chief and earned the rank of corporal. AMPD might seem like an unusual major for a military corporal, but he said, The process truly intrigued me the sourcing of materials through the placement. Really, the whole story. During his service, Abbey maintained a GPA of 3.0 or higher. In the spring of 2018, he returned to Ohio with no lives lost under his unit's watch. Balancing work and learning taught him how to adapt to changes and accept compromises. It was a little tough, though, seeing all my classmates graduating a year before I would, he said. More life lessons came from adapting to the double disappointment of an internship ending and a job offer being rescinded. As a result, he said he plans to renew with the Army National Guard and possibly return to BGSU as a graduate student in the School of Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies, where he said he hopes to pursue a masters degree in kinesiology. In order to graduate this semester, Abbey took Winter Session and summer courses anything I could do so I didnt fall behind and he reached out to his professors for extra assistance. Im very thankful to those professors, he said. I worked hard with AMPD faculty to complete two of my classes. He was surprised, while serving overseas, that the faculty sent him a care package. "I truly love learning from professors who are passionate about their work, he said. Their passion drives my own when faced with difficult assignments or exams. A ute driver has died after crashing into an M1 barrier on Monday morning, forcing the closure of two southbound lanes and creating six kilometres of congestion at the peak of the delays. Emergency services were called to the M1 stretch in Shailer Park, just before exit 28, about 6am. The view on a north-facing traffic camera on the M1 at Daisy Hill, very close to the crash scene, just after 7am. Credit:Department of Transport & Main Roads Police said investigators believe a Mazda single-cab ute, travelling in the southbound lanes, crashed into the motorways barrier before coming to a stop. The male driver was rushed to Logan Hospital in a critical condition, but he was declared dead soon after arriving. Aasha the tiger suffered in misery during her first nine months as a circus attraction. However, when a wildlife rescue center learned of her living conditions, they decided to take action. Several years on, the once-wounded and underfed feline is thriving and was even introduced to an enclosure partner to share her life with. It was March 2011 when Vicky Keahey, the founder of In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Educational Center, from Texas, was noticed by the US Department of Agriculture about the Bengal tigers appalling conditions. I asked how could a 9-month-old tiger be that small, the woman told The Dodo. As it turned out, Aasha was part of a traveling circus, and the other tigers in the enclosure were bullying her. The poor animal also suffered from a bad case of ringworm, which explained her small size. Aasha and her mate Smuggler enjoying a bath (Courtesy of In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Educational Center) After meeting the tiger, Keahey agreed to take her into her care. By the time Aasha came to In-Sync, she was almost completely bald, In-Sync media director Angela Culver told The Epoch Times. We were told that she was believed to be about 7 months old and stunted in growth making her about the size of a bobcat. Weighing in at 37 pounds told us that she was around four months old. When she first arrived at the center, Aasha was severely underweight for a tiger her age. She was only about the size of a large bobcat, said Keahey, Inside Edition reported. According to Keahey, the tiger only weighed about 31 pounds (approx. 14 kg)the expected weight of a 3-month old. The poor animal was also covered in bald spots and had to receive daily medicated baths. Every day, twice a day, I would go in and give Aasha medications and spend time with her, Keahey shared. I knew I was going to have to handle her to get her well. Treating such a sickly tiger wasnt an easy task. Keahey recounted the dangers she faced while caring for Aasha. In the beginning, she didnt like it, she explained. She had claws and teeth that were telling me she didnt want a bath, but I didnt have a whole lot of choice as to whether or not I wanted to be in there with her. However, the treatment worked, and within a couple of months, Aasha began growing fur again. Within eight months, she looked like a real tiger, and it was time to see how she would react to other tigers, Keahey said. After she began feeling better, her rescuers decided to find her a mate. His name was Smuggler, and he was about double the size of Aasha, but Keahey said she believed there was an attraction between them. The woman explained that usually when tigers date, they spend about 20 minutes nose to nose. After several dates, Aasha and Smuggler were placed in the same enclosure together. Aasha is still about half Smugglers size, but he knows when to steer clear of her, Keahey explained. According to their rescuers, the tigers have now spent a few happy years living together. Aasha is now a gorgeous girl, who loves living with the slightly older and much-larger Smuggler! said Culver. We would love to hear your stories! You can share them with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.nyc Important law reform has been put on hold while the Queensland government responds to the coronavirus crisis. But as restrictions are eased across the state and we move towards recovery, many, including the Opposition, are keen to get back to debating other laws on the agenda. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with new or repurposed members of cabinet at Government House on Monday. Credit:Dan Peled/AAP Parliament is scheduled to return on May 19, and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has indicated it will sit for three days meaning debate could move past emergency COVID-19 legislation. Work has almost wrapped up on an entirely new chamber at Parliament House in Brisbane, to allow dozens of politicians to phone in for debate. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock Human rights groups in Mexico have expressed disquiet over a presidential decree expanding the role of the armed forces in public security a reflection of the countrys worsening violence and the failure to properly prepare and equip a police force able to take on powerful criminal organisations. The decree, published on Monday by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, demonstrates an ongoing dependency on the army and navy for public security work even though soldiers and marines have been frequently accused of human rights violations. In effect, the army and navy are going to be handling police duties until 2024, said Santiago Aguirre, director of the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Centre in Mexico City. [Both] have a long history of not being accountable, especially in cases of serious human rights violations. The decree perpetuates the practice of deploying Mexicos armed forces for policing duties as the countrys homicide rate races to new records. Mexico recorded its most murderous month on record in March a grim tally nearly matched in April, in spite of Covid-19 quarantines throughout the country. Related: Mexico murder rate reaches new high as violence rages amid Covid-19 spread Lopez Obrador swept to victory in the 2018 election, promising hugs, not bullets and pledging to shift the focus of his security strategy to tackle what he considers the root causes of crime: poverty and violence. But Amlo, as the president is known, effectively abandoned the federal police after taking power and created a new militarised police force, known as the national guard, comprising soldiers and some former federal police. The new force has sputtered since starting operations in mid-2019 with its first deployment to the southern and northern borders to stop migrants. Amlo, meanwhile, has increasingly depended on the armed forces, using soldiers for everything from delivering gasoline to building a new airport near Mexico City. Story continues [His] dependence on the armed forces is growing, and steps to get them off the streets by 2024 are not being taken, said Falko Ernst, senior Mexico analyst at the International Crisis Group. Related: Mexico's president under pressure over 'hugs not bullets' cartel policy Supporters of the president rejected talk of militarising the country and say the laws creating the national guard always left open the option that the armed forces could be called upon for up to five years. You cannot train people fast enough at the national guard academy and the (state) governors are still unwilling to develop their own state police forces, said Rodolfo Soriano Nunez, a sociologist in Mexico City. It is a response to a double issue: the national guard is not really achieving its goals and the crime numbers are again off the charts despite the pandemic. [May 11, 2020] SUEZ NWS Recognized Among China's Top 10 Most Influential Water Companies for 17th Consecutive Year HONG KONG, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On 8 May, SUEZ NWS came in fourth place in the 2019 Top Ten Most Influential Water Companies in China rankings. The league table is highly acclaimed within the water industry, and the accolade sees SUEZ NWS becoming the only foreign company to have achieved the prestigious ranking for 17 consecutive years since the list's inception. The award is a resounding testament to the broad recognition of the Company's core values. The Top 10 Most Influential Water Companies in China Award is organized by the E20 Environment Platform, which rates water companies by selection criteria that include the total and incremental capacity of projects they fund and operate. Other criteria are dynamic market influence, integrated service capabilities, market position, activeness, strategic core competitiveness, involvement in charitable causes, brand reputation and influence. The selection is made through a rigorous review process by a panel of jurors that includes representatives of E20, industry analysts, experts, journalists and online influencers. Steve Clark, CEO of SUEZ Asia, said: "Today, I am delighted to see SUEZ placing among the upper echelons of the Top 10 Most Influential Companies in China's Water Industry for the 17th consecutive year. China is now one of the most important international markets for SUEZ. When SUEZ arrived in China, we were considered a European pioneer. We are now one of the leading environmental companies in the country, bringing sustainable services to over 32 million Chinese people.Our desire to create mutually beneficial outcomes is a key reason why SUEZ is one of the most successful foreign enterprises in the Chinese environment business. We also place great importance on fostering Chinese talents. Currently we have over 8,000 employees in China. Of which 99% are Chinese. These staff are recognized within the SUEZ Group as strong managers and key experts." Strong commitment to China's long-term development Since establishing a foothold in China some 40 years ago, SUEZ has remained committed to preserving and restoring the fundamental elements of the environment -- water, soil and air -- through strong operational, managerial expertise and its consistent emphasis on corporate social responsibility. In its 10-year global strategic plan, "Shaping SUEZ 2030", SUEZ is looking to grow in key international markets where it has a strong presence. China is one of th strongest growth markets, especially after COVID-19, which has raised the awareness of the environment even higher and the expectations of the Chinese citizens will continue to force further improvements and business opportunities for companies such as SUEZ. Looking ahead, the Company will prioritize its business development in three areas: Waste sector: Hazardous waste management is a key area. Currently SUEZ have built and operated 9 hazardous plants in Mainland China. The goal is to have two new projects every year, and to recycle waste material for reuse, or to produce energy and soil remediation. Hazardous waste management is a key area. Currently SUEZ have built and operated 9 hazardous plants in Mainland China. The goal is to have two new projects every year, and to recycle waste material for reuse, or to produce energy and soil remediation. Industrial sector: The water sector in China still presents significant growth potential, especially considering strong demand from the industries. With the synergies from the GE Water acquisition, SUEZ will grow further in this important sector to meet China's strong demand from industry. The water sector in still presents significant growth potential, especially considering strong demand from the industries. With the synergies from the GE Water acquisition, SUEZ will grow further in this important sector to meet strong demand from industry. Smart solutions: For conventional municipal water services, smart water solutions will become the new growth engine. In this regard, SUEZ is different from technology vendors in that they not only offer technologies, but also have tremendous operational expertise which allows them to better adapt and optimize the smart solutions for operational efficiency. To deliver more smart solutions to customers, SUEZ will increase its investments in R&D, innovation and digitization by 50% by 2023. "Once again, a big thank you to the E20, our customers, and partners for your continued recognition of SUEZ. I believe environmental sustainability should not be a goal for a single person, organization or group. It's important that we all act now, in partnership, to shape a better and more sustainable future for future generations," Steve Clark, CEO of SUEZ Asia, added. About SUEZ With 90,000 people on the five continents, SUEZ is a world leader in smart and sustainable resource management. We provide water and waste management solutions that enable cities and industries optimize their resource management and strengthen their environmental and economic performances, in line with regulatory standards. With the full potential of digital technologies and innovative solutions, the Group treats over 45 million tons of waste a year, produces 4.4 million tons of secondary raw materials and 7.7 TWh of local renewable energy. It also secures water resources, delivering wastewater treatment services to 66 million people and reusing 1.1 billion cubic meters of wastewater. SUEZ generated total revenues of 18 billion euros in 2019. About NWS Holdings Limited NWS Holdings Limited (Hong Kong Stock Code: 659), as the diversified industries flagship of New World Development Company Limited (Hong Kong Stock Code: 17), invests and operates a wide range of businesses predominantly in Hong Kong and across Greater China. The Group's core businesses include toll roads, commercial aircraft leasing, construction and insurance, while it also manages a strategic portfolio spanning sectors from environment, logistics, facilities management to transport. Please visit http://www.nws.com.hk for details. About SUEZ NWS Limited SUEZ NWS Limited ("SUEZ NWS") is a joint venture between SUEZ and NWS Holdings Limited. With 8,000 employees and over 70 joint ventures with local partners in Greater China, SUEZ is a preferred partner in helping authorities and industrial clients develop water and waste management solutions to optimize their resource management and strengthen their environment and economic performances. Today, SUEZ NWS has built over 300 water and wastewater plants, with 32+ million people benefiting from its water and waste services in the country. It is recognized as one of the most influential companies and a service benchmark in leading the region's environmental industry. It operates China's first PPP water contract in Macau and one of Asia's largest hazardous waste treatment facilities in Shanghai. It is also a leader in Hong Kong's waste management industry, and delivers environmental services to 19 industrial parks. Find out more about the SUEZ NWS on our website & social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. SOURCE SUEZ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Justice BN Srikrishna said a strong personal data protection law is necessary to protect the public and that unless it is put in place 'there's no knowing for what purpose data will be used, for what purpose it will be subjected to analytics.' In the backdrop of the furore over the Centre's Aarogya Setu app during the coronavirus pandemic, Justice BN Srikrishna has called for a personal data protection law, describing the bill being circulated in in Parliament as 'very weak' and warning of an 'Orwellian 1984-like situation' if it is passed. Justice (Retd) BN Srikrishna made the comments while participating in a webinar Sunday with advocate Harish Salve and ex-RBI governor Dr Urjit Patel entitled HungerTalks: 50 Days that Turned India. The discussion was moderated by Captain Raghu Raman. HungerTalks is a web series organised by the NGO Yuva in order to raise funds for COVID-19 relief. The app, which uses cellphones' GPS and Bluetooth to ascertain if an individual has come into contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19, has been downloaded approximately 90 million times over the past two weeks. It has been at the centre of a firestorm ever since French ethical hacker Elliot Alderson flagged "security issues" with it on 6 May and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on 2 May called it a "sophisticated surveillance system" on Twitter. Privacy advocates have also raised alarms and called for legislation with a 'sunset clause' to curb misuse. "It is necessary to collect data during the coronavirus crisis because without analysing data you have no way of knowing where pandemic will strike next, the level of contamination, the way the curve will behave. The collection of data enriches and empowers the State to monitor the disease. If the data is collected during pandemic and then deleted after the pandemic, there can be no objection," the retired judge said, although he did not directly refer to the app. Some public and private organisations have made the app mandatory for their employees and the government is reportedly considering making it compulsory for those taking flights. However, without a strong personal data protection law in place to protect the public "there's no knowing for what purpose data will be used, for what purpose it will be subjected to analytics" Justice Srikrishna added. "Every time there's a situation like a war or an emergency, the State takes all the power into its hands. In the absence of such a mechanism, we are going to be in a conundrum," Justice Srikrishna said. 'Need to get real' The bill Justice Srikrishna is referring to, The Personal Data Protection Bill, was cleared by the Union Cabinet in December 2019 and tabled in Parliament that same month. It is currently being considered by a Joint Parliamentary Committee. Salve, speaking on the concept of privacy in India, said the country needed to 'get real and revisit it'. "We need a completely different mechanism in India because for the first time a lot of data is going into private hands. This may be an occasion to create a regulatory mechanism outside the courts, outside the government control system, to allow monetisation of data in a regulated fashion and to allow people to keep an oversight that data only to that extent and need is kept and the rest is gotten rid off. In India, you're always safer with data in private hands," Salve said. Justice Srikishna also said it is time to have virtual courts and that the pandemic "has given us a chance to reevaluate, reorient our thinking not towards just life in general but also our chosen professions." Indeed, in an 11 April suo motu order, the apex court set guidelines for courts to function through video-conferencing during the pandemic. 'What next?" India is well into the third phase of the lockdown, with curbs being eased except in containment zones. The Indian Railways started taking online bookings at 6 pm today (after a brief hiccup) and limited passenger trains are set to run from 12 May. Crowds have thronged liquor stores, vehicles have slowly returned to roads and ride-sharing platforms resumed services. And yet, the question remains: When will things go back to normal? Will there even be a normal to return to? Urjit Patel, speaking on the uncertainty that Indian society is facing due to the coronavirus crisis, said everyone is wondering what happens next but that prognostication, in this context, is difficult due to five factors: Behaviour of the virus, a timeline for effective treatment, a timeline for a safe and effective vaccine, government rules and regulations and their effectiveness and lastly, behaviour of citizens. "We have some idea how people will behave, but we are at the beginning of this crisis and journey," Patel said. "We have already seen people within and across countries are behaving differently with regard to the crisis. With inputs from PTI State Senator Troy Singleton, D-Burlington, is asking the state to invest $50 million of its $1.8 billion in federal CARES Act funds to the unemployment system, to resolve problems that have kept thousands of people without income for weeks. My office has heard from hundreds of people in our district, and beyond, who need help with unemployment claims. They come to us out of desperation, after weeks of waiting, days of calling, and hours spent emailing seeking answers," Singleton said. "Understandably, their patience has worn thin." Singleton wants the money used for both information technology upgrades and temporary hiring of extra personnel to process the backlog of more than 300,000 claims. Last week, Congressman Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, called for a surge in staffing and funding for the state's unemployment system. He has said he has about 15,000 open cases of unemployment problems from his constituents. Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, D-Atlantic, and State Sen. Chris Brown, R-Atlantic, have their offices are also swamped with calls for help from desperate people who cannot get their benefits or get through to anyone at state unemployment call centers. Photo: iStock Read on for the most recent top news you may have missed in Stockton. Man charged with shoving woman to ground, robbing her Read the full story on CBS13 CBS Sacramento. 2 people accused of shoplifting, threatening to shoot store employee Read the full story on CBS13 CBS Sacramento. Group rallies at mall to reopen San Joaquin County Read the full story on KCRA 3. Search on for 2 suspects accused of carjacking Read the full story on FOX40. This story was created automatically using data about news stories on social media from CrowdTangle, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. A man has been arrested after being accused of shoving a 62-year-old woman to the ground and robbing her on Friday in the area of Camanche Lane and Holiday Drive, authorities said. Two people have been arrested after being accused of threatening to shoot a store employee who confronted them for shoplifting, authorities said. The incident happened at a business in the 10300 block of Trinity Parkway in the Bear Creek District. Dozens rallied in the parking lot at the Sherwood Mall on Saturday. A new study by Yale researchers looking at nearly 400 clinicians at four urban academic emergency departments found that, despite scientific evidence supporting the benefits of buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, just 21% of emergency department clinicians indicated readiness to offer it to patients in need. The study, which appears in the May 11 issue of JAMA Network Open, involved emergency departments at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, and University of Cincinnati Medial Center. The study is the first installment in Project ED Health, an implementation study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network to support strategies for increasing buprenorphine prescriptions in emergency departments. Buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist -- a drug that activates opioid receptors in the brain to a lesser degree than oxycodone and morphine -- is safe to administer, relieves withdrawal symptoms, and can prevent overdose, according to years of established medical research. An implementation study reveals barriers to adopting research findings. Project ED Health is led by two Yale physician-researchers, Dr. Gail D'Onofrio, professor and chair of the department of emergency medicine and Dr. David Fiellin, professor of internal medicine and director of the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine. This study provides a baseline evaluation of what care emergency departments are providing to patients with opioid use disorder." Dr. Kathryn Hawk, lead author, assistant professor in emergency medicine and attending physician in the Yale New Haven Hospital Emergency Department Despite barriers, clinicians are willing to give buprenorphine to patients in the emergency department, provided that they receive sufficient support and training, the study found. "The willingness of emergency department providers to take on a new treatment is changing drastically," said Hawk. Researchers conducted the study between April 2018 and January 2019. A team of addiction medicine physicians met with providers at the hospitals, including doctors, advance practice providers (APPs), and emergency medicine residents. Providers participated in a web-based anonymous survey that collected data about their demographics, training, experiences with ED-initiated buprenorphine, and readiness to administer buprenorphine for opioid use disorder on a scale of one to 10. Providers then rated their work culture, clinical experience, and perceived patient needs. Later, the study team ran focus groups to better understand factors impacting buprenorphine prescribing in the ED. The researchers found that barriers to providing buprenorphine included lack of formal training, limitations on time, limited knowledge of local treatment resources, absence of local protocols and referral networks, and perceptions that initiating buprenorphine therapy falls outside the scope and practice of emergency medicine. One resident physician quoted in the study said: "Trying to suss out which of those patients might be appropriate for initiating some therapy and which aren't is a skill that I don't have. I don't think that it's a skill that we're necessarily being trained for right now." There was also confusion about required waivers. Just 3% of providers interviewed had DATA 2000 (x-waiver) training for buprenorphine. Providers need the waiver, which requires eight hours of approved training for physicians and 24 hours for APPs, to write a prescription for buprenorphine to be filed at a pharmacy. Emergency providers can give buprenorphine in the ED without the special waiver, said Hawk, but added that they "needed clarification around what they can and can't do." Historically, emergency departments have not been thought of as places where patients are treated for opioid use disorder, she said. Typically, those patients were referred to outpatient clinics for treatment. "The opioid epidemic has really changed that," Hawk said. In 2015, Yale researchers published a landmark study in JAMA that found that patients admitted to emergency departments for opioid use disorder who were treated with buprenorphine along with medical management in primary care were twice as likely than patients not given buprenorphine to remain in addiction treatment one month later. "The big message of that study was that initiating treatment in the ED setting was very effective," said D'Onofrio, "but true adoption lagged. So now we're trying to understand why that is, and how we can improve implementation of this best practice." This latest study found that in order to improve adoption of ED-initiated buprenorphine there needs to be more education and training, established protocols, and enhanced communication across different stakeholder groups. CBS daytime drama, The Young and the Restless, has had its fair share of cast changes through the years. Sasha Calle is one of the latest newcomers shaking things up in Genoa City as Lola Rosales. In real life, Calle has an intense fear of something many of us can relate to. Who is Sasha Calle? Rey Rosales (Jordi Vilasuso) is protective of his sister, Lola Rosales (Sasha Calle) on The Young and the Restless | Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty Images In the fall of 2018, Sasha Calle took on her seventh IMDb credit as Lola Rosales in The Young and the Resltess. Lola is the younger sister of Arturo (Jason Canela) and Rey Rosales (Jordi Vilasuso). Calle is a Boston, Massachusetts native who, at 10 years old, moved to Columbia for two years, according to CBS. After moving back to the states and graduating from a Hollywood, Florida high school, Calle attended the prestigious American Musical and Dramatic Academy where she graduated with a BFA in Performing Arts. Initially, Calle wanted to pursue a career in music. She soon accumulated credits in projects like Rogue Tiger, Young Blood, Final Stop, and Socially Awkward. She still performs music, with a newly released single, Ex-Factor, which is a cover of Lauren Hills version. Calle reveals her greatest phobia Even Hollywood stars have fears, as proven by Calles latest revelation. Y&Rs chef Lola cannot, and will not deal with one very specific kind of bug: cockroaches. I have a phobia of cockroaches, as reported by Daily Soap Dish. If one is near me and has to be taken away, I will call people! Were not sure which people Calle would call an agent or co-star, perhaps but the fear is a rational one many of Calles fans can likely relate. Was Calle let go of The Young and the Restless? To date, Calle has appeared in 187 episodes of Y&R with the most recent air date of April 15 just before production shut down. Recently rumors surfaced the actress had been let go from the show after her character suddenly left Genoa City for Miami. However, nothing has been confirmed. In a previous interview with Soaps in Depth, Calle said what she loves about playing Lola. I love how gentle and hardworking she is. Shes bound to make mistakes like any person. She gets frustrated because she likes to control her life, and that will make her break. But Im excited to see her ups and downs! she said. Every time I walk into that studio, Im excited, smiled the actress. I always find something new to learn. I love that Y&R picked me, and were a family now. Its really beautiful! The Young ad the Restless airs weekdays on CBS. TUCSON, Ariz., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- New Arizona requirements for auto insurance coverage take effect on July 1, as a result of Arizona Senate Bill 1087. This legislation increases the required auto insurance coverage limits to $25,000/$50,000/$15,000. Arizona limits are presently set at $15,000/$30,000/$10,000. A coverage increase was needed to help ensure that Arizona drivers have adequate protection, particularly considering the rising costs of medical care, automotive repairs and litigation. However, this increased protection comes at a price, and may result in sticker shock when policies come up for renewal. "In the past, drivers carried insurance with a combined limit of $55,000. Now, the combined limit is $90,000. That's 40 percent more coverage and in some cases, drivers could see a 40 percent premium increase from their carriers as a result," explains RightSure President, Jeffery Arnold. With those projections in mind, drivers who pay $100 per month now, could pay $140 per month when their policies renew after July 1. This change applies to all insurance companies that sell insurance in Arizona. RightSure is spreading the word, encouraging all Arizona drivers to plan ahead. "Don't stick your head in the sand and wait until the last minute to discover that you can no longer afford your auto insurance," Arnold says. "Investigate your options now, long before your rates skyrocket on July 1. It could save you a lot of money in the long run," he adds. Auto insurance rates vary by carrier and state, so shopping with multiple insurers is key to saving money. It doesn't have to be a time-consuming process. RightSure offers a free service that does all the work for drivers. Their automated quote engine will shop rates from more than 40 insurance carriers and let drivers know their top three auto insurance options. With that knowledge, drivers can make a smart decision to either keep their existing auto insurance or ask RightSure to move them to a new carrier. About RightSure Insurance Group Headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, RightSure Insurance Group is a full-service independent insurance agency providing insurance products to families and businesses in 42 states. By using a unique, client-centered approach combined with superior technology, RightSure presents clients with a wide range of insurance options and a seamless purchasing process. To learn more and see if you can save money, visit https://www.rightsure.com or call 520-777-1125. Media Contact: Megan Kossow [email protected] 520-901-7010 SOURCE RightSure When it comes to feeling valued at work, what matters most to employees? If you answered pay, think again. Research shows pay is low on the list. Energage has surveyed more than 20 million employees across 60,000 organizations over the past 14 years. Weve learned that one of the things that matters most to employees what truly motivates them is feeling appreciated. Across all U.S. sectors and populations, appreciation ranks among the most important workplace culture drivers. In our New Mexico survey to determine the 2020 Top Workplaces, appreciation rated second among the top factors when employees shared what was most important to them. It was behind only confidence in the direction of their organization. Its important to note there is no definition for appreciation in our survey. We dont tell employees how or in what ways they should gauge their feelings about it. They use their own definition, and even more, employees know it when they feel it. And they can also readily distinguish between whats authentic and whats simply lip service. Just as there is no single definition of how employees should feel appreciated, there is no single way for organizations to express it. Some use reward and recognition systems. This form of appreciation tends to focus on outcomes, and its often linked to financial awards. Other recognition systems are tied to organizational events, such as service anniversaries. The simplest and sometimes the most effective form of appreciation is giving positive feedback or praise. Thank you for your effort or Youre doing a really good job goes a long way, whether delivered in person, electronically, or in a handwritten note. Within an organization are different types of appreciation, because each has a unique message and meaning: Peer to peer: Coworkers thank others either within or outside their own team. This is especially important when teams are geographically dispersed or dont see each other regularly. Manager to employee: Managers are most familiar with their employees roles. Employees like to know their manager understands and values their contributions. Senior leadership: This level is typically more general, relating to group efforts. But senior leaders can also highlight extraordinary effort. Above all, it demonstrates they see and recognize individual and team contributions. Appreciation matters because it goes a long way with employees to improve motivation, job satisfaction, self-esteem, and retention. Cultivating a culture of appreciation helps employees feel good about the work they do, and its the glue that holds teams together. Doug Claffey is founder of Energage, a Philadelphia-based research and consulting firm that surveyed more than 2 million employees at more than 7,000 organizations in 2019. Energage is the Albuquerque Journals research partner for Top Workplaces. From left are KakaoBank CEO Yun Ho-young, Viva Republica CEO Lee Seung-gun and K bank CEO Lee Mun-hwan. / Korea Times file By Park Jae-hyuk KakaoBank, Toss Bank and K bank are preparing for a fierce three-way battle to take the top spot in the nation's online banking market, as most hurdles have been cleared for them to see their earnings growth, according to industry officials, Sunday. Amid the growing popularity of contactless transactions due to the coronavirus pandemic, the three internet-only banks are drawing attention from market observers who wonder whether they could lead the paradigm shift in the country's banking industry. The business bellwether KakaoBank showed a 181.3 percent year-on-year growth in its first-quarter net income, raking in 18.5 billion won ($15.1 million) in a single quarter. Its yearly net profit was 13.7 billion won in 2019. The online lender reported 84.4 billion won in its first-quarter net interest margin, up from 54.5 billion won in the previous year. It also posted a net commission loss of 3.1 billion won during the first quarter, showing an improvement from 14.8 billion won a year earlier. Given that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) allowed Kakao to become the internet bank's largest shareholder last year and the Supreme Court acquitted Kakao Chairman Kim Beom-su of his alleged violation of the Antitrust Law in February, KakaoBank will likely show further growth this year through its collaborations with other Kakao subsidiaries. "We are preparing to simplify the process of connecting the accounts of KakaoPay and KakaoBank," its CEO Yun Ho-young said. "This will become the starting point to lower the walls between Kakao units and boost connectivity." Toss Bank, which won the country's third internet-only bank license in December 2019, is expected to speed up efforts to launch its online banking service with a $200 million fund its operator Viva Republica is planning to raise from investors within this year. The fundraising plan seems to be on track, as Viva Republica said it made its first "monthly" profit in April, five years after it launched the Toss mobile financial platform. "Supporting our online banking, brokerage and payment gateway businesses with the profits made from our Toss platform, we will achieve our goal of setting up a new standard in finance," Viva Republica CEO Lee Seung-gun said in a press release. K bank, the nation's oldest internet-only bank, also began moves for its business normalization. According to industry officials, BC Card recently requested the FSC review its eligibility to become the largest shareholder of K bank. K bank initially planned to raise money, once KT became its largest shareholder. However, the plan hit a snag as the mobile carrier has been under investigation over its alleged violation of the Antitrust Law. In response, BC Card, which is controlled by KT, is angling to become the largest shareholder of the bank. Although the National Assembly passed a revised bill April 29 that allows KT to become K bank's largest shareholder, KT did not change its fundraising plan. K bank, which suffered a 79.7 billion won loss in 2018 and a 100.8 billion won loss in 2019, suspended its loan service in April 2019. If BC injects money into K bank, the internet-only bank will be able to resume its loan services and normalize its business. CORK residents expressed concern after more than 100 people attended the funeral of two brothers which included separate horse-drawn carriages and a cortege of mourners. John and Michael Cash had their Requiem Mass celebrated at the Church of the Resurrection at Farranree in Cork - with more than ten times the number of mourners in attendance than is recommended under the Government's Covid-19 control guidelines. Both brothers had died in tragic circumstances. Locals expressed concern as apparently scant regard was paid to social distancing regulations in the area around the church. One local resident said that he noted a number of people attending who were clearly not from the Cork area and had travelled further than 5km. "I counted license plates from at least nine counties on cars parked around the church," he said. "This is very upsetting for local people who are doing their best to stick to the Government guidelines and protect themselves and their families during this pandemic." Another eye-witness said vehicles were parked nearby which had UK license plates. The brothers, members of the Traveller community, were brought to St Catherine's Cemetery in Kilcully following 11am Requiem Mass. Their funeral cortege was comprised of two horse-drawn white carriages which were followed, on foot, by family members and mourners. The carriages were escorted by funeral personnel in traditional attire. It had travelled from a funeral home on Shandon Street to Farranree for the Requiem Mass. Locals had expressed concern at the gathering of such a large crowd around the church from after 10am. A number of uniformed gardai attended the scene and directed traffic but did not intervene with the proceedings. As mourners waited for the horse-drawn carriages carrying the coffins, they gathered in large groups by the roadside. The Philadelphia school board voted to nonrenew two charter schools run by Universal Companies Inc. at its April 30 meeting, held remotely because of the pandemic. It was the last board meeting for departing members Christopher McGinley and Wayne Walker. Pictured are (L-R, top to bottom): board members Angela McIver, President Joyce Wilkerson, Maria McColgan, Lee Huang; Julia Danzy, Mallory Fix Lopez, the sign-language interpreter translating the meeting, board general counsel Lynn Rauch; Leticia Egea-Hinton, McGinley, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., and Walker. Read more Did you get your ballot for the primary election? Be sure to send that in because its important that we vote for the people who will best represent us in Harrisburg and Washington. Our elected officials make crucial decisions about our future every day how tax dollars are spent, what services may have to be cut, and now whether public schools will thrive or face another round of devastating cuts. The state has taken the unprecedented move of postponing this primary election and encouraging mail-in voting so that social distancing guidelines do not result in disenfranchisement. But making sure that Philadelphians can select the best candidates for the Board of Education, which oversees a $3 billion budget and makes decisions about the conditions in which the citys children learn not so much. Unlike voters in every other district in Pennsylvania, those in Philadelphia continue to be disenfranchised when choosing their local school board. Philadelphias new handpicked Board of Education was sworn in recently, immediately after City Councils one mandated confirmation. The hearing, confirmation vote, and swearing in created nary a disturbance in the Force, without coverage from any major newspaper, radio, or television outlet, save the independent Public School Notebook. In fact, little notice was paid to the nomination process itself. Although many Philadelphians believe that local control was restored after the abolition of the School Reform Commission, the district actually operates under mayoral control. Months ago, the mayor selected his nominating panel which, at his direction, held deliberations in closed executive session, arguably violating the states Sunshine Act and shutting out those with a heavy stake in the district parents, educators, students, and community members. The Council hearing on the mayors choices offered one brief opportunity for the public to hear from the nominees. For some reason, though, all questions were directed to the incumbents, none to the one new candidate. Ameen Akbar was sworn in without having to explain his philosophy of education, his vision for the future of the district, or his work in the charter sector, in particular his affiliation with the Universal charter network, whose former CEO and chief financial operator were indicted in January on bribery charges, alongside one councilmember and his wife. The dearth of coverage is puzzling, as education issues have dominated headlines this year. In September, the district had to relocate students from two high schools because a major reconstruction project was not completed on time and revealed unsafe levels of toxins. Lead and asbestos were discovered in more schools, necessitating relocations and changes in transportation. Then the virus hit. The new board will be making decisions under conditions unimagined just a few months ago. They will have to withstand pressures from purveyors of online learning programs looking to make a killing during the coronavirus crisis. They will have to create new policies on social distancing in schools, backed by adequate funding for smaller class sizes. One district priority must be to hire more counselors and school psychologists to talk to returning students about the grief they feel about losing relatives to the virus, not to mention the existential crisis of worrying about catching it themselves. The board can only fund those positions by changing spending priorities, starting with eliminating unneeded and intrusive professional development services with unqualified vendors. The boards commitment to stricter oversight of charter spending and enforcement of standards could return millions to the district. When board members took their seats in 2018, each gave a brief statement about themselves and their views on education. In the free world outside the city limits, citizens get to hear that before they choose their public servants. Philadelphia needs an elected school board. Lisa Haver is a retired Philadelphia teacher and cofounder of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools. Dundo About 4.5 billion of Kwanza is the amount the eastern Lunda Norte Provincial government will invest in the implementation of 56 social projects, as part of the Integrated Plan of Intervention for Municipalities (PIIM). According to the director of the statistical and planning office, Edna Queximalunga, the amount will be invested in the construction of schools, health units, road rehabilitation, police stations and housing complexes for local authorities, basic sanitation, among others. The project, launched in June 2019, is an initiative of the President of the Republic, Joao Lourenco, and covers the country's 164 municipalities in the country. In Lunda Norte, the project is already underway in some municipalities where two schools are being built in the municipalities as well as homes for education and health technicians. Edna Queximalunga also said that later this month 15 projects are expected to begin in the municipalities of Lovua (seven) and Chitato (eight), linked to the education and health sectors. After falling 11.7 points last month, the Fannie Mae Home Purchasing Sentiment Index (HPSI) continued to drop an additional 17.8 points in April to 63 points the lowest reading since November 2011. Fannie Maes Chief Economist Doug Duncan attributed the drop to consumers deepening concerns about both their incomes and the housing market and went on to suggest that the much steeper decline in selling sentiment relative to buying sentiment will soften downward pressure on home prices. Sellers are understandably reluctant to list homes right now. The lack of supply should provide support for prices, said Curt Long, NAFCUs chief economist and vice president of research. But elevated concerns over job loss and income declines are suppressing demand, and that is likely to last even after states begin to reopen. The fall in consumer sentiment was driven by respondents pessimistic market perception. The net share of Americans who said now is a good time to buy a home decreased 18 percentage points in April, and the net share of Americans who said now is a good time to sell decreased 52 percentage points. However, low mortgage rates remain a driver of purchase optimism. OAKLAND (BCN) A 28-year-old woman was killed over the weekend when a vehicle drove off a cliff along Grizzly Peak Boulevard about a mile north of state Highway 24 in Oakland, police said Monday. Officers were dispatched to the 4300 block of Grizzly Peak Boulevard after the solo vehicle accident was reported around 6 p.m. Sunday. Officers discovered a 2005 Toyota Corolla that was traveling east before veering off the roadway, driving through a guardrail and falling down a ravine, police said. The Oakland Fire Department, Moraga-Orinda Fire District and a private ambulance company assisted Oakland police in rescuing and providing medical care to the vehicle's driver and passenger. The driver, a 23-year-old man, is in stable condition after being taken to a hospital for his injuries. The female passenger was pronounced dead at the scene and her name was not immediately released Monday morning by the Alameda County coroner's bureau. Investigators believe speeding as well as drugs or alcohol may have contributed to the crash. People with information about the crash can contact the Oakland Police Department's Traffic Investigation Unit at (510) 777-8570. Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Barcelona is still hoping to remain on the F1 calendar beyond 2020. On the face of it, the Spanish circuit is firmly established in the sport, having hosted its first F1 race in 1991 and now serving as the exclusive winter test venue. But the 2020 race contract was actually a one-off, agreed at the eleventh hour. The Circuit de Catalunya is now putting itself forward for a 2020 coronavirus-era 'ghost race'. "We have presented our credentials so that they can consider how appropriate it is to organise a race on our circuit," said circuit boss Joan Fontsere. "First, we have been an organiser of grands prix for 30 years. Second, logistically, with our connections with Europe, thirdly our climate and the city of Barcelona," he is quoted by Diario Sport. And if Barcelona does get the green light for a 'ghost race', Fontsere is hoping that leads onto successful negotiations for a new contract for 2021 and beyond. "We have a vision for the future," he said. "If we now have to stand shoulder to shoulder then we will, but always thinking towards 2021, '23, 23, 24 and a medium-term agreement with Liberty Media." (GMM)m The authorities in Nigerias oil-rich southern Rivers state have reportedly demolished two hotels over an alleged breach of lockdown rules intended to contain the spread of coronavirus. State Governor Nyesom Wike, who supervised the tearing down of Edemete Hotel and Prodest Home on Sunday, said the operators had flouted an order that hotels should be closed. He said that people who had tested positive for the virus had been found in hotels across the state. But he did not say if anyone who had Covid-19 had been staying in either of the demolished hotels. We refused to pay a bribe The managers of both businesses have been arrested, but the owner of Prodest Home has denied that his hotel was open. The hotel was not operating and 70% of the staff had been sent away, Gogorobari Promise Needam told the BBC. There were only three people on the ground. [Officials] came in and were asking for a bribe, they said they would let us operate if we gave them money but we said we were not operational so had no money to give, he said. The Rivers state government denies the accusation. The state currently has 15 active cases of the virus and has recorded two deaths. A lockdown was imposed on the state capital, Port Harcourt, last Thursday. Nigeria has more than 4,300 confirmed cases of coronavirus overall, with the commercial capital, Lagos, at the epicentre. But a lockdown that was imposed there, and in some other states, at the end of March has been partially eased. Legal experts have told the BBC that the actions of the Rivers state governor could be challenged in court. Strict lockdown But the state government says Mr Wike signed an executive order granting him the power to enforce the lockdown. The state has been criticised for its strict lockdown rules, which ordered markets and places selling food to shut down. Doctors, pharmacists, and other essential workers have also reported that they have been harassed and in some cases arrested for breaching the lockdown. The authorities have erected barriers on the main highway on its eastern border to enforce a ban on interstate travel, accusing security personnel of smuggling in people under the cover of darkness. Officials are also planning to auction vehicles seized from those who violated the lockdown. Only those who receive a special pass, personally issued by the governor, are allowed to move. But, it seems only those in government house have the document outlining the exact provisions of the executive order as residents of the state told the BBC they are not aware of it. State officials did not respond to the BBCs request for a copy of the order. Abuse of office Lawyer Ahmed Abass told the BBC that an executive order cannot give the governor powers to demolish a building. An executive order is made by the president or governor in furtherance of existing laws, he said adding that it cannot go beyond the constitution, which guarantees a fair trial. What [Mr Wike] should have done was to have arrested the [hotel owners], taken them to court and the court would have prosecuted them, he told the BBC. He described the governors actions as executive recklessness and abuse of office. Nigeria operates a federal system of government and states can make certain laws for their jurisdiction. Lucknow: Three more persons, including the main accused in the Bulandshahr gangrape case, have been arrested, taking the total number of those nabbed in connection with the incident to six, a top police official said tonight. Declining to give details, he said that all the three accused were picked up by the police during raids. Among them was the main accused Salim Bawariya, he said, but did not disclose the place from where the arrests were made. These arrests are in addition to three persons picked up earlier. Director General of UP Police Javeed Ahmed had earlier said, The names of other accused are almost clear and efforts are on to arrest them. A group of dacoits had brutally raped the woman and her 13-year-old daughter at gunpoint after dragging them out of a car in Bulandshahr on NH-91 when they were travelling with their family from Noida to Shahjahanpur on July 29. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. [May 11, 2020] FourKites to Host Largest-Ever Virtual Conference Focused on Carrier and Broker Operations CHICAGO, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FourKites , the leader in predictive supply chain visibility, will host the largest-ever virtual carrier summit focused on carrier and broker operations at the logistics industry. Presenters and panelists will include Nick Cook, VP and CIO at FFE Transportation Services; Tim Higham, President and CEO at AscendTMS; Keith Mowery, SVP of Logistics at United States Cold Storage; James Laveck, Senior Director, Transportation & Logistics?at?GE Appliances; George Henry, SVP of Logistics at USA Truck; Jeff Tucker, CEO of Tucker Company Worldwide; and Terry Finnegan, Senior Director at Sysco. The free summit, titled Carrier & Broker Operations: Efficienc, Growth, Collaboration, taking place on May 13, will feature a range of conversations with shippers, brokers and carriers about how carriers and brokers can drive business efficiency and growth even in the face of current economic challenges. Attendees will have an opportunity to hear from shippers about their carrier selection process and requirements; how leading carriers are differentiating their services; and how to leverage leading technologies to maximize operational efficiencies. The conference will also provide valuable advice on how to foster stronger carrier/customer partnerships. Were very enthusiastic about participating in this critical and timely event, said George Henry, SVP of Logistics at USA Truck. In a relatively short time on the platform, USA Truck has already achieved marked improvements in onboarding, on-time delivery, dwell, utilization and customer satisfaction. The value of real-time visibility data and predictive insights has never been more important for the entire logistics community, and we look forward to sharing our experiences and learning from others in the FourKites ecosystem. With COVID-19 emerging as an unexpected reality this year, its critical to recognize the major impact its having on the supply chain, and find collaborative solutions that can generate wins on all sides of the equation, said Kevin Taylor, Vice President, Carrier Operations at FourKites. We are thrilled to be hosting this event that celebrates our remarkable community, and that fosters relationships between brokers, carriers and their customers in a way that will help them thrive through this unique period in time. Register for the event here . Since launching six years ago, FourKites has pioneered the industry shift to real-time visibility, enabling shippers to improve on-time delivery and orchestrate their supply chains based on actionable data and predictive intelligence. With a network that now includes more than 380 of the worlds top shippers, including 18 of the top-20 food and beverage companies and nine of the top-10 CPG companies, FourKites tracks more than 600,000 shipments every day. About FourKites FourKites is the largest predictive supply chain visibility platform, delivering real-time visibility and predictive analytics for the broadest network of Global 1000 companies and third-party logistics firms. Using a proprietary algorithm to calculate shipment arrival times, FourKites enables customers to lower operating costs, improve on-time performance and strengthen end-customer relationships. With a network that spans millions of GPS/ELD devices, FourKites covers all modes, including truckload, LTL, ocean, rail, intermodal and parcel. The platform is optimized for mobile and equipped with market-leading end-to-end security. To learn more, visit https://www.fourkites.com, or email partnerhub@fourkites.com. Media Contact: Marianna Vyridi Big Valley Marketing for FourKites (650) 468-3263 mvyridi@bigvalley.co [ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\LTE's Homepage ] Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). By way of learning-by-doing, we'll look at ROE to gain a better understanding of Amcor plc (ASX:AMC). Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits. View our latest analysis for Amcor How Is ROE Calculated? The formula for return on equity is: Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) Shareholders' Equity So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Amcor is: 8.5% = US$458m US$5.4b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2019). The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every A$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated A$0.08 in profit. Does Amcor Have A Good ROE? Arguably the easiest way to assess company's ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. The image below shows that Amcor has an ROE that is roughly in line with the Packaging industry average (8.9%). ASX:AMC Past Revenue and Net Income May 10th 2020 That's neither particularly good, nor bad. While at least the ROE is not lower than the industry, its still worth checking what role the company's debt plays as high debt levels relative to equity may also make the ROE appear high. If a company takes on too much debt, it is at higher risk of defaulting on interest payments. Our risks dashboardshould have the 3 risks we have identified for Amcor. How Does Debt Impact ROE? Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their profits. The cash for investment can come from prior year profits (retained earnings), issuing new shares, or borrowing. In the case of the first and second options, the ROE will reflect this use of cash, for growth. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. Thus the use of debt can improve ROE, albeit along with extra risk in the case of stormy weather, metaphorically speaking. Story continues Amcor's Debt And Its 8.5% ROE It's worth noting the high use of debt by Amcor, leading to its debt to equity ratio of 1.15. Its ROE is quite low, even with the use of significant debt; that's not a good result, in our opinion. Debt increases risk and reduces options for the company in the future, so you generally want to see some good returns from using it. Conclusion Return on equity is a useful indicator of the ability of a business to generate profits and return them to shareholders. Companies that can achieve high returns on equity without too much debt are generally of good quality. If two companies have the same ROE, then I would generally prefer the one with less debt. But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. Profit growth rates, versus the expectations reflected in the price of the stock, are a particularly important to consider. So you might want to check this FREE visualization of analyst forecasts for the company. Of course Amcor may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have high ROE and low debt. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. A former police chief has defected to join the Taliban in Afghanistan's western Farah Province, the country's Interior Affairs Ministry said on May 10. Major-General Abdul Jalil Bakhtwar, who served as Farah Province police chief between 2002 and 2004, had joined Taliban militants, the ministry said, expressing regret that the "retired general has joined with the opponents of peace of the Afghan people." The ministry did not provide further details, though provincial council member Dadullah Qaneh told dpa that Bakhtwar had joined militants in the province's Bala Bulok district, which had been under Taliban control for years. The Taliban also confirmed to dpa that Bakhtwar had joined them, along with a number of companions, and had been "warmly welcomed." Bakhtwar's son, Masoud, is currently serving as the deputy governor of Farah Province. Speaking to dpa, he firmly denied his father had defected to the Taliban, explaining the former police chief was an influential figure in the district and had only been visiting people there. Bakhtwar's is thought to be the highest-ranking defection of an Afghan official during the country's 19-year conflict. Farah has been one of the most embattled provinces in Afghanistan in the past two years, where ongoing conflict has claimed the lives of countless Afghan security forces personnel. He was definitely the right guy at the right time. He took it upon himself to create a factory in his own basement, Maguire said, adding that Klopotowski is making the masks using the specs that were outlined in the article he read that meet federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. A few days after Fox News host Pete Hegseth called on healthy people to muster up the courage to go get infected with coronavirus in order to achieve herd immunity, Hegseth agreed with Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade on Monday that Americans need to take on a military mindset and enter public spaces. Promoting his latest military-themed special on Fox Nation, the networks online streaming service, Hegseth was asked by the Fox & Friends crew if there was a similarity between military combat and the current pandemic that has killed roughly 80,000 Americans. I was going to say, all of you guys in the special, youre used to fighting an enemy who you can see coming at you, but this is so different because its invisible, co-host Steve Doocy noted. After Hegseth said that his Modern Warriors special shows the need for people to have some courage to be out and get open and be responsible, Kilmeade explicitly asked if the American public could learn a lesson from soldiers in terms of confronting the disease as states rush to reopen businesses. About 78,000 are dead, we understand how many got the virus and will. I get it, Kilmeade stated. But at the same time, can you get the military mindset with the masses of, take on the enemy because we have no choicesitting on the sideline will destroy the country. How do you get the military mindset for the everyday American? Hegseth, an informal adviser of President Donald Trump who was once under consideration to run the VA administration, responded that the military mindset is a patriotic mindset. Its what forged and founded this country, he continued. It is courage. We can be responsible, we can follow guidelineswhile also reopening. We have to reopen, guys, right now, even in some of the more difficult places, or the livelihoods of people is going to crush more folks, or as manyIm not talking in a statistical senseas the actual virus itself. Hegseths remarks come on the heels of him calling for healthy Americans to embrace the American spirit and help open back up the economy by willingly going out in public and risking infection. Story continues Now that we are learning more, herd immunity is our friend, he declared last week. Healthy people getting out therethey are going to have to have some courage! The vast majority of the public, meanwhile, still believe it is too soon for the nation to be reopened, feeling it will result in a higher death toll. Current models now project a sharp upturn in deaths after taking into account the relaxation of social distancing guidelines and increased mobility. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. Ky. churches hold in-person worship services after federal judges' rulings Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Churches in Kentucky held in-person worship services over the weekend after two federal judges on Friday ruled in favor of churches wanting to gather physically. But state health guidelines require them to avoid choir singing during services. U.S. District Judges Gregory Van Tatenhove and David Hale granted two separate temporary restraining orders on Friday against Gov. Andy Beshears enforcement of the prohibition on mass gatherings with respect to any in-person religious service which adheres to applicable social distancing and hygiene guidelines. While one of the lawsuits was filed by Tabernacle Baptist Church in Nicholasville, Judge Van Tatenhoves ruling also applies to all congregations in the state as long as they follow the state guidelines. Tabernacle Baptist Church wants to gather for corporate worship. They want to freely exercise their deeply held religious belief about what it means to be a faithful Christian. For them, it is essential that they do so. And they want to invoke the Constitutions protection on this point, Van Tatenhove wrote. But the governor, by executive order, has put a stop to that. He can do that, but he must have a compelling reason for using his authority to limit a citizens right to freely exercise something we value greatlythe right of every American to follow their conscience on matters related to religion. ... Despite an honest motive, it does not appear at this preliminary stage that reason exists. The judge also noted that just as Home Depot and Kroger were operating while observing social distancing rules, in-person religious services could also do so. Governor Beshears orders unlawfully target religious worship and violate the First Amendment, Roger Byron, senior counsel for the conservative Christian legal nonprofit First Liberty Institute, said. In its lawsuit, Tabernacle argued, Defendants statewide ban on religious worship services is a substantial burden on the religious exercise of Tabernacle and its members if they cannot meet for in-person corporate worship. For six weeks, since March 22, 2020, Tabernacle and its congregants have been unable to gather for religious worship in person in their sanctuary for fear of criminal prosecution despite their willingness to abide by social distancing precautions. Tabernacle has a sincerely-held religious belief that online services and drive-in services do not meet the Lords requirement that the church meet together in person for corporate worship. Tabernacle also believes that online and drive-in church services are not substitutes for real in-person corporate worship. Similarly, Judge Hale allowed Maryville Baptist Church in Louisville to hold in-person worship services, but specified, so long as the church, its ministers, and its congregants adhere to public health requirements set by state officials. Last month on Easter Sunday, Kentucky State Police gave attendees of Maryville's drive-in service notices of criminal violation. The notices advised congregants, who had remained in their cars during the service, that they were subject to mandatory, household-wide quarantine because they attended a church service. Beshear also sent letters to the owners and occupants of the vehicles, demanding quarantine with more threats of sanctions for not complying with government supervision. Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit noted that Beshears ban on faith-based mass gatherings had several potential hallmarks of discrimination as it provided exceptions to certain secular activities such as laundromats and liquor stores but not faith groups. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said the rulings protect religious freedom. I encourage all houses of worship to prayerfully and carefully consider when it is the right time to resume in-person services consistent with health guidelines. Although these rulings protect the religious liberty of Kentuckians, we must continue to do our part to protect the health of our fellow citizens by reopening carefully, Cameron said. The state released on Friday its state health guidelines for houses of worship to reopen on May 20, requiring limited seating capacity no more than 33 percent of the building occupancy capacity and encouraging them to not have congregational or choir singing during services. Beshear encouraged the houses of worship that cannot meet the guidelines to not reopen. The Chinese Communist Party has been seizing on the rising toll in the United States as evidence of what it describes as the Trump administrations bungled response to the pandemic. Meanwhile, the administration has repeatedly pushed the theory that the virus leaked from a top-security lab in Wuhan, without offering any supporting evidence, rather than originating in a seafood market as Chinese authorities and the World Health Organization have said is most likely. As India enters the last week of the 54-day lockdown, several states, including Punjab, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Telangana, pitched for extension of lockdown by two more weeks, during a video interaction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers of different states on Monday. In view of 'escalating' virus cases, the national lockdown should be continued with a well-crafted exit strategy to save lives and secure livelihood, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh suggested during PM Modi's interaction with CMs. He also sought greater flexibility in micro-planning for states. Singh suggested the classification of red, green and orange zones should be left to the states and also called for a national testing strategy. The exit strategy should consider and focus on fiscal and economic empowerment of the states, which are responsible for real action directly impinging upon the livelihood and social health of the common man, said the chief minister. He also demanded urgent fiscal aid for states to meet at least 33 per cent of committed liabilities, revenue grants for 3 months. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Punjab rose to 1,877, with 54 more people testing positive today. The death due to the infection stands at 31, while number of active cases is 1,678. Also Read: PM Modi interacts with CMs: Meeting focusses on COVID-19 containment strategy, boosting economy Chief ministers of Bihar and Assam have also aired similar concerns. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said that his government is in agreement of extending the lockdown because once the lockdown is lifted, a large influx people will come into the state and increase the risk of transmission. Assam has also asked for the extension of lockdown by two more weeks and called for restriction on inter-state movement. Meanwhile, several states raised concerns over the government's move to resume limited operations of passenger trains from Tuesday. According to reports, at least four states, including Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, expressed their concerns during the meeting with PM Modi. Also Read: Coronavirus Live Updates: Extend lockdown with careful 'exit strategy', says Punjab; Maharashtra, Bengal, Telangana agree "We know from media that regular train service to Chennai (from Delhi) and from Chennai will commence from May 12. As the (COVID-19) positive cases in Chennai are showing an increasing trend, please don't permit train service up to May 31 in my state," Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami told Modi. Chattishgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel requested that states should be consulted before allowing regular railway and flights. He also said that state governments should get the right to make decisions on handling of economic activities within their states. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao also opposed the resumption of passenger train services. He said trains from Metro cities which are all red zones may further spread Covid-19. During their fifth video conference in 51 days, PM hinted that COVID-19 cases increased in those areas where ever there has been laxity in enforcing lockdown challenges. He mentioned that night curfew has proved to be an effective tool in containing the spread of the virus. He said that there is a global recognition for India's success in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and the Centre appreciates the efforts made by all state governments in this regard. Let us stay the course as we move forward together. Going forward, the road ahead should be focused on reducing the spread and ensuring that all precautions are taken by people including social distancing norms by observing 'Do Gaj Doori', he added. The nation-wide lockdown, imposed on March 25, was originally supposed to end on April 14. It was then extended to May 3, and then again to May 17. By Chitranjan Kumar MPs have ordered the government to publicly state whether it will publish a review of grooming gang characteristics and explain its decision. Almost 125,000 people have signed a petition for the release of the official research on grooming gangs undertaken by the government in full. It was sparked by an Independent article reporting that the Home Office had refused a Freedom of Information (FoI) request on the basis that publication was not in the public interest. The governments official response, published a month late, said the work announced by Sajid Javid in 2018 was internal and would inform an upcoming strategy on child sexual abuse. The Petitions Committee, which considers all petitions on the government website that pass 100,000 signatures for debate in parliament, said the government had not directly addressed the request. In a letter to the home secretary, committee chair Catherine McKinnel said a revised response must be provided by 20 May. This should clearly state whether the government will publish its research into the characteristics of group-based child sexual exploitation, she added. If the government does plan to publish this, your response should set out in what form and when. If the government does not plan to publish this, your response should explain the reasons for this. Ms McKinnel told Priti Patel that the Petitions Committee had received a significant volume of correspondence complaining about the governments response. Your departments response to this petition was also substantially late, the letter added. A response to this e-petition was requested on 6 March, but not received until 24 April. It has been agreed with the Leader of the House that the government will respond within 21 days, making your response four weeks late. The letter was addressed to home secretary Priti Patel (AP) I fully appreciate that the government is currently under significant pressure, but it is disappointing to receive a late response that also fails to adequately respond to the petition. The initial response said the government had completed a review of existing literature, spoken to investigators and safeguarding professionals to gather information on child sexual exploitation. Mr Javid first promised the review as home secretary in July 2018, pledging that there would be no no-go areas of inquiry. He said that abusers convicted in high-profile cases had been disproportionately from a Pakistani background, adding: I will not let cultural or political sensitivities get in the way of understanding the problem and doing something about it. Recommended How authorities failed to protect grooming victim who spoke out Mr Javid spoke about the ongoing work several times but the Home Office made no further announcements after he moved to the Treasury. Survivors of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham said they believed the research was going to be made public and accused the government of making empty promises. Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham, and the former chief prosecutor who initiated charges against a grooming gang in Rochdale are among those demanding its release. In response to The Independents original FoI request, Home Office officials said they had applied a public-interest test, but the information was exempt from the FoI act because it could be used for government policy and included operationally sensitive information from police. The information could be misleading if made public and used out of context, the letter added. We recognise that this topic in general and any insight and learning are matters of strong public interest, although it does not necessarily follow that it is in the public interest to disclose any specific information relating to it. A Home Office spokesperson said: Tackling child sexual abuse is this governments priority. Any insights gained from our internal work will inform our future action to end this devastating abuse, including the forthcoming strategy. Rep. Andy Harris is fed up with being locked down. They promised 2 million dead at the beginning of this, Harris fumed to constituents during a recent teletown hall, later adding, The media has a vested interest in making things sound worse so that you tune in the next day. The conservative Maryland Republican also joined a reopen America protest, where he delivered a fiery speech to a crowd of demonstrators without wearing a mask, and ripped into the restrictions at a congressional hearing last week, during which he lamented that we're safer from death if we're not born. And Harris an anesthesiologist who served as a medical officer in the Naval Reserve is not alone. A growing list of House hard-liners say they have reached their breaking point with the stay-at-home orders, which flipped a switch on the once-booming economy in a bid to limit the spread of coronavirus. In recent weeks, Republicans have been angrily lashing out at the media, local and state officials and House Democratic leadership over the continued shutdown and are now actively encouraging the fired-up protesters swarming state capitols across the country. Its ludicrous, its arbitrary and its absolutely unnecessary, said Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), whose state has been one of the earliest to lift coronavirus restrictions. In some cases, theres no evidence whatsoever that they eliminate the spread of Covid-19. Its just abusive, dictatorial, tyrannical-type leadership. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is also cheering on the protests. "It's organic, it's nonpartisan, and it's basically an effort to send a message to government, he said. It's clear people across all spectrums are feeling the pain of these government actions." The push among GOP lawmakers to end isolation orders comes as activist groups look to mobilize the conservative grassroots just as they fueled the tea party movement a decade ago. The move is intended not only to give the economy a boost but also potentially build momentum on the right ahead of the November elections. Story continues Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., gestures while speaking before the House Oversight Committee hearing on family separation and detention centers, Friday, July 12, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Time will tell if this will turn into a tea party-type movement, Hice said of the growing social unrest. Part of me is hopeful this will begin a movement of Americans taking a stand for constitutional liberties that have been eroding for quite some time, but rapidly eroding through this pandemic. Yet for all the heated protests taking place and as several states begin to wind down restrictions the desire to immediately end the lockdowns remains a minority opinion. According to new polling, most Americans do not feel comfortable with their states reopening salons, gyms, movie theaters and other businesses. That might explain why some Republicans have taken a more measured approach to the debate, acknowledging its difficult to strike a balance between public health concerns and the need to get the economy humming again. And even if the economy is technically reopened, its not clear there will be many customers if fear of the virus is widespread. "No matter what decision you make, there's going to be people second-guessing it, said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas.), who is up for reelection this fall. You need to do it gradually and you need to be careful. We all know how to manage risks in our own life that's if we have good information and know how to do that. But right now, people are being inundated. President Donald Trump who has also encouraged protesters with tweets to "liberate" Democratic-run states recently tapped a bipartisan congressional task force to explore ways to get the nation back to work. It's a sign the White House wants some bipartisan buy-in for reopening the economy, one of the most consequential decisions that will be made during the pandemic. Coronavirus casualties are still climbing, with over 80,000 Americans dead from the virus thus far. Republicans who have been clamoring to reopen the country have faced accusations from Democrats that they care more about the economy than peoples lives. Many GOP lawmakers, however, counter that continuing the lockdown carries its own set of health risks, pointing to the increase in suicides and routine health exams getting pushed to the back burner. We need to get back to our way of life, because there are serious mental health issues, said House GOP Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.). Youre seeing suicides on the rise. Others have given more blunt assessments. Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.) told a local radio station last month that the health risks are the "lesser of two evils compared with the economic damage from the virus. Republicans have also begun to decry the stay-at-home orders as a violation of constitutional rights a call to arms that plays directly to the rights fears about government overreach. Power has gone to their heads, and they believe government is the answer to everything, said GOP Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona, who accused Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot of going ballistic with her threats to jail people who violate social distancing orders. Meanwhile, Hice and Biggs wrote a letter to Trump over Easter weekend voicing concern that virus-related restrictions on public gatherings are infringing on Americans religious freedoms. They've complained that in some places, you can buy alcohol and a lottery ticket but can't attend your place of worship. Just because we have a pandemic does not mean our constitutional rights evaporate or disappear, Hice said. I believe theres a tremendous abuse of civil liberties in certain cases across the country, and Im hopeful some of these people will be held accountable. Attorney General William Barr has said the Department of Justice is monitoring the stay-at-home orders to ensure they dont violate civil liberties, and he didnt rule out stepping in if states go too far. Republicans have also slammed various reports of law enforcement aggressively going after people and businesses who violate the rules. I dont think [the police] should be going after them at all. Its overkill, Biggs said. Thats where you begin saying, 'Have we crossed the line? In some states, have we become martial law? The debate over reopening the country is also playing out in the Capitol. The Senate returned to D.C. last week, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has delayed the Houses return, citing recommendations from the Capitol physician. Republicans hammered Pelosi for keeping lawmakers away from Washington in the middle of a crisis that requires congressional action. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) is seeking signatures for a letter calling on the GOP to come back to D.C. no matter what this week and blaming the high infection and death rates in New York on "poor leadership at the state level." This is why we, as Republicans, must demonstrate leadership for the country by safely and responsibly coming back to work in Washington in order to minimize an impending economic calamity which could ultimately cost lives and dramatically increase misery across the United States, the letter states, according to a draft copy obtained by POLITICO. Some lawmakers have defiantly chosen not to wear masks in the Capitol. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), however, vigorously defended his decision not to wear a facial covering, maintaining that he is immune to the virus because he already contracted it in March while also denouncing the nanny state. Modern medicine shows us that immunity is based on having antibodies, Paul tweeted. Why are fake news media and [petty] tyrants denying medical science? They so want to have everyone submit to busybody rules and regulations that they cant stand it that someone might be immune and therefore immune to their people controls. Still, even Republicans who strongly oppose the stay-at-home restrictions said the public should keep in mind the dangers of the virus when resisting. We have to be careful as elected officials, said Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.). Its an American thing to protest, while at the same time, we should encourage responsibility and health precautions as part of the protests. Burgess Everett contributed to this report. After 43 days of fighting for her life in a San Antonio hospital, Dorothy Pearl Davis, a beloved mother, grandmother and employee at the Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, lost the battle with COVID-19. Davis, 60, is the citys first nursing home employee to die of the disease caused by the coronavirus, which has claimed the lives of 18 residents at the center. The deaths there account for more than one-third of all COVID-19 deaths in San Antonio. Similar death rates have afflicted cities and states across the country. To respond to the crisis, Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday directed state agencies to test all residents and staff in Texas nursing homes for COVID-19. Davis died in her hospital bed on Mothers Day as families across San Antonio showered their moms and grandmothers with flowers, gifts and brunches. Because of fears of the contagion, Davis only living son, six remaining siblings, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren werent able to be at her side to say goodbye. Instead, they spent Mothers Day in their respective homes, grieving the loss of their beloved sister, mother and grandmother in private. More Information Dorothy Davis' family has set up a GoFundMe page to cover funeral costs. To give, visit: www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-dorothy-pearl-davis. See More Collapse She was a loving, caring person she was a person that loved hard, said Tammy Steen, one of her younger sisters. She wouldnt hold back. Davis Pearl, as she was known by those closest to her is remembered by her friends and family as a nurturing caregiver to both her relatives and the people she tended to over decades as a certified nursing assistant. Born in San Antonio, she was the oldest daughter among eight children in a military family, her sister said. As an adult, she assumed the role of family matriarch, always taking the lead to organize gatherings and supplying the meals. Her warm smile, hugs and cooking will be missed the most, her family said. Whether it was a special occasion or just a day off from work, Davis often spent her free time in the kitchen. Among her best-known dishes: banana pudding, tuna salad and Dr Pepper ribs. She didnt just cook anything, she paid close attention to the ingredients, Steen said. She made sure that everybody ate thats just the way she was. She loved feeding people. Every Easter, Davis stockpiled plastic eggs and candy to assemble into baskets for all the grandchildren. This Easter marked the first time that Steen can remember that her family didnt get to celebrate with Davis usual holiday spread and goodies for the kids. Instead, Davis spent the entire month of April in the intensive care unit. The month before, she had contracted COVID-19 at her job caring for residents at the nursing home, one of 29 staff members and 74 residents who tested positive for the virus. Davis had always been a hard worker and never missed shifts, until the end of March, when she fell ill. Her fever spiked. Breathing became difficult. Davis could barely make it from her bedroom to the living room of her home. On March 28, she was rushed to the hospital. Within four days, she needed a ventilator to breathe. For the first couple weeks, it seemed like Davis might win the fight against COVID-19. Because visitors werent allowed, Steen talked with her sisters doctors and nurses each day by phone, relaying the updates to relatives and friends. On occasion, the hospitals chaplain would video call Steen so she could see her sister. Although Davis was sedated, the nurses said she could still hear. So Steen asked them to whisper messages of encouragement into her ear. We love you. Keep fighting. Its going to get better. But after more than a month in intensive care, just as Davis family began planning how to bring her home once she recovered, her kidneys began failing. It looked like her other organs were shutting down, too. On Wednesday, a doctor called Steen. She said he asked her, what did Davis faith look like? She has a very strong faith, Steen replied. She trusts in God. It was the conversation that Steen had been dreading since her sister was first diagnosed with COVID-19. Two days later, Steen and Davis son signed the paperwork to allow her into hospice care. They contacted her closest relatives and friends to tell them that this was their last chance to see her. Over Zoom late last week, more than 50 of them told her goodbye. She died a couple days later, at 9:41 a.m. Sunday. Her son and siblings are raising money to pay for her funeral. They dont know if she received any sort of insurance policy through her job that might help pay for the costs. In the meantime, Steen is planning a memorial service to celebrate her sisters life. It, too, will take place over Zoom. Have you worked at Southeast Nursing and Rehabilitation Center? We want to hear from you. Marina Starleaf Riker is an investigative reporter for the San Antonio Express-News with extensive experience covering affordable housing, inequality and disaster recovery. To read more from Marina, become a subscriber. marina.riker@express-news.net | Twitter: @MarinaStarleaf Lifesaving Data False Perception More Money, Bad Results (TNS) Margo Sommerville always fears for the community when her personal business takes off.The director of Sommerville Funeral Home in Akron, Ohio, where she presides over City Council, has been burying more members of her black community than usual.Most come from nursing homes overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic. She received her first customer this week from a state correctional facility near Columbus, where an Akron man became infected and died.Throughout her community, she's concerned about cramped living quarters where COVID-19 thrives in senior high-rises, low-income apartments and public housing where black residents with higher rates of underlying health issues live.These are the "perfect storm" places where the top county health official and the mayor of Akron are flying blind. There's no ample testing to identify and isolate the infected then trace their recent contacts before the disease spreads into the community, as it likely has already."We don't know how widespread it is. We just know that it's widespread," Summit County Health Commissioner Donna Skoda said of disease's prevalence in under-tested areas.Skoda said she's especially worried about low-income high-rises with lots of vulnerable seniors, like the hundreds of public housing units at Saferstein Towers I and II off Diagonal Road."I would love to be in there [testing]," said Skoda, whose agency is hampered by a testing supply shortage. "I can tell you exactly how many people live there, how many tests we need. Yeah, we would love to be doing that."Black Ohioans are hospitalized or infected by COVID-19 at more than twice their share of the overall population. That's true locally, where black residents are packed in ZIP codes with the lowest number of confirmed cases in Summit County."The numbers are low because we aren't testing people," said Councilwoman Tara Samples, whose city ward covers downtown, Cascade Valley and University Park, the only areas in Summit County with zero confirmed cases outside of the uninhabited Cuyahoga Valley National Park."It's almost like a false negative," said County Councilwoman Veronica Sims, whose district overlaps with majority black neighborhoods represented by Samples and Sommerville. "The lack of testing is the issue. That's just the reality."Sims doesn't want her community impaired by false hope. "I think that it plays a role in the real-life data that we can share with those communities to help keep them safe," she said.The trio of black woman question the decision with all that's know about the most vulnerable and marginalized people in Summit County and without consulting local officials to open the first community-based testing site a half-hour walk from the nearest public bus stop down in Portage Lakes, a community where black residents account for just 2 percent of the local population, compared to 14 percent countywide and 30 percent in Akron.In a couple weeks, the testing site one of 25 selected by Rite Aid with guidance from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, input from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's office and funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has unmasked COVID-19 in Portage Lakes at a level experts can only assume in the core of Akron.It's apparent to local black leaders that buried in the numbers of dead, sick and untested, there lies another example of long-standing, systemic and persistent racial inequity.The Rite Aid testing site opened April 20 on the same day DeWine publicly recognized racial disparities in the statewide COVID-19 data before launching a "Minority Health Strike Force."This first testing site for the general public ended up in southern Summit County, where a second testing site run by the Cleveland Clinic has since opened up in Green. Black leaders are wondering if the intention was to avoid the inner city."It almost looks like they did," said Samples."I've been a strong advocate to test in the African-American community first and right away, whether it be in senior housing or anywhere else," Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan told the public this week in his latest virtual town hall.Horrigan said work must be done to identify those most vulnerable to the virus "and get them the health care they need."Rite Aid approached Horrigan and Skoda after, not before, it settled with state and federal governments on the Portage Lakes location. A spokesman for the company said traffic and impact on neighbors was a "major factor" in picking this and other locations, including a pharmacy in Parma where 2 percent of the population is black compared to 29 percent in all of Cuyahoga County.DeWine's office did not answer calls seeking comment for this story.It's obvious that wherever officials test, they find the virus.County health commissioners have cautioned that mapping cases by ZIP codes can be misleading, showing hot and cold spots based not on the prevalence of the disease but access to testing.Along socioeconomic and racial lines, this is apparent in Summit County.After 3' weeks of testing at the Rite Aid in Portage Lakes, confirmed COVID-19 cases in that 44319 ZIP code went from single digits the lowest possible ranking on a countywide map to 69 this week. Only two other Summit County ZIP codes 44278 and 44224 now have more confirmed cases with 75 and 74, respectively.High case counts in these other two ZIP codes, which cover mostly Tallmadge, Stow and Silver Lake, are also tied to more rigorous testing, in this case to contain nursing home outbreaks."That's what's happening in these nursing homes. They're testing everybody and finding half the people either have it right now or have had this disease, but they don't even have symptoms," Skoda said.The reverse is also true: Where residents do not avail themselves of testing whether because symptoms are too mild to warrant testing or a trip to the emergency room, or residents lack primary care physicians needed to prescribe testing confirmed case counts are artificially low.This is likely why University Park, an Akron neighborhood with the city's lowest median age of 21, has zero recorded cases. The young are largely asymptomatic.No ZIP code touching downtown Akron has more than 10 confirmed cases, the lowest in the county. Yet local officials are well aware that these ZIP codes form a concentric ring of densely packed housing, senior apartments and the city's only majority black neighborhoods outside of West Akron.With recent congressional approval, HHS announced Thursday that 51 Ohio-based community health and social service agencies would share $17,478,444, including $138,304 for Asian Services In Action Inc. and $419,374 for AxessPointe Community Health Centers, to expand testing, "especially for underserved and minority populations."That hasn't been the case, at least in Ohio.Data reported to Health and Human Services' Health Resources & Services Administration by community participants shows that America's black population has been equally served tests through the program, but not so in Ohio.With 14 percent of the American population, blacks account for 15 percent of those tested nationally in the HHS-backed program administered by states. In Ohio, blacks account for 14.3 percent of the state population but only 5 percent of patients tested and a staggering 22 percent of positive tests. A man has a meal beside statues at an outdoor restaurant in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, April 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan) There is no scientific evidence to support Washington's repeated allegations that the novel coronavirus emanated from a research lab or a wet market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Officials and scholars around the world have recently stressed there is no scientific evidence to support Washington's repeated allegations that the novel coronavirus emanated from a research lab or a wet market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday agitated for "significant evidence" on the virus' origin from Wuhan. However, he did not specify what the evidence is nor deliver any concrete proof to validate his claims. The origin of the novel coronavirus behind the COVID-19 pandemic remains unclear, according to Army General Mark Milley, U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Did it come out of the virology lab in Wuhan, did it occur in the wet market there in Wuhan or did it occur somewhere else? And the answer to that is we don't know," Milley told a press conference earlier this week. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley testifies before the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Budget Request from the Department of Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., the United States, on Feb. 26, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua) Top U.S. infectious disease expert and health official Anthony Fauci clarified that the current scientific evidence shows it is highly unlikely that the virus was manmade. "If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what's out there now, (the scientific evidence) is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated," he noted in an interview published on Monday by National Geographic. The virus "evolved in nature and then jumped species" as "everything about the stepwise evolution over time" strongly indicated, said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Republican Representative John Ratcliffe failed to answer questions on the virus' origins purported by U.S. President Donald Trump, who had nominated him as director of national intelligence, the country's top spy agency. According to CNN, when Senator Angus King asked Ratcliffe whether he had seen evidence that the virus originated in a lab, he said he had not. When Senator Tom Cotton asked Ratcliffe if he had seen evidence that the virus originated in a Wuhan market, he said he had not. Medics work at al-Abassia Chest Hospital in Cairo, Egypt on April 29, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa) The U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) has agreed to the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified, according to a statement from the Office of Director of National Intelligence last week. "The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan," the office said. For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the Trump administration's claim on the virus' origin remains "speculative," as the organization had not received any data or specific evidence from the U.S. side. "If that data and evidence is available, then it will be for the United States government to decide whether and when it can be shared, but it is difficult for the WHO to operate in an information vacuum in that regard," Michael Ryan, director of the WHO's health emergencies program, told a virtual press briefing on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNBC on Tuesday that without proof, the U.S. accusations on China for the virus' origin were serious and wrong, because the U.S. government did not deliver any proof. Medical staff process a swab sample collected from a resident of an area under the enhanced movement control order in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, May 10, 2020. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua) "We consider it not a proper time, being somewhere in the middle of a severe crisis, an unprecedented crisis, to try to blame everything on the international health organization (the WHO) or, the next day, on China," Peskov said. Britain has also seen little evidence that the coronavirus is man-made, British Health Minister Matt Hancock was quoted by Reuters as saying. The novel coronavirus spread extensively around the world since late 2019 and the single "Patient Zeroes" is absent in most countries, the latest study by the University College London Genetics Institute has shown. "The results add to a growing body of evidence that SARS-CoV-2 (novel coronavirus) viruses share a common ancestor from late 2019, suggesting that this was when the virus jumped from a previous animal host, into people," the university said in a statement on Wednesday. "This means it is most unlikely the virus causing COVID-19 was in human circulation for long before it was first detected," it added. Stocks in the news today: Here is a list of top stocks that are likely to be in focus in Monday's trading session based on latest developments. Investors will also be taking cues from the latest released March quarter earnings. Companies set to announce their earnings today are Wockhardt, Godrej Properties, Godrej Agrovet, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Sonata Software among others. Share Market LIVE: Sensex up 480 points, Nifty at 9,391; Tata Motors, Maruti, Vedanta top gainers Key highlights on share market; check the latest stock market news - PM Narendra Modi will be holding a video conference call with all Chief Ministers on Monday, May 11, at 3 pm. - Finance Minister Sitharaman will be reviewing credit flows by Public Sector Banks on May 11 via video conference - Number of infected cases from coronavirus in India has risen by 3,277 in the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 62,939, including 19,357 cured and 2,109 deaths. - On a net basis, FIIs bought Rs 1,725 crore worth in equities, while DIIs sold Rs 1,503 crore equities on Friday's trade. - On Friday, Sensex ended with a gain of 199 points at 31,643 and Nifty closed 52 points higher at 9,252. On the currency front, Indian Rupee settled at 75.54 per dollar as against the earlier closing of 75.75 per dollar. Cipla: Company said it has received the Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), indicating closure of the inspection of its API manufacturing facility in Bommasandra, Bangalore. The inspection was conducted from January 20, 2020 to January 24, 2020. Reliance Industries: The company has fixed May 14, 2020 as the record date for rights issue. The filing said that the rights issue opening and closing dates will be announced later. Lupin: The company has announced the successful close out of the inspection carried out by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the regulatory agency of the United Kingdom (UK), at its three manufacturing units in Pithampur. SBI Life Insurance: Company board has appointed Mahesh Kumar Sharma as MD and CEO of the company. Indiabulls Housing Finance: Company said CARE Ratings has reaffirmed the long-term rating of the company "CARE AA-" from "CARE AA" revised its rating to negative. The short-term rating has been reaffirmed at "CARE A1+". PNB Housing Finance: The company has cut retail lending rates by 15 bps. JK Tyre: The company announced it has partially resumes operations in India Avantel Q4: The company's consolidated net profit rose 3.29% yearly to Rs 53.11 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020 as against Rs 51.42 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Total income was up 12.21% (YoY) to Rs 10.75 crore in the January- March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 9.58 crore in the same period last financial year. The company board has also recommended a dividend of Rs 2 per share. HDFC Asset Management Q4: Company's net profit stood at Rs 250 crore in Q4 FY20 as against Rs 276 crore in the same period last year. Company's revenue from operations during the quarter was down at Rs 476 crore from Rs 486 crore, on an annual basis. The company board has recommended a dividend of Rs 28 per share for FY 2019-20. Reliance Power Q4: The company reported consolidated net loss of Rs 4,271 crore for FY20. Its total income came in at Rs 8,202 crore, while EBITDA came in at Rs 3,663 crore. Reliance Capital Q4: The company's consolidated net loss rose 6.76% (YoY) to Rs 2124 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020 as against a loss of Rs 2278 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Total income fell 31% (YoY) to Rs 3792 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 5538 crore in the same period last financial year. Reliance Home Finance Q4: The company fell 116% (YoY) in consolidated net loss of Rs 238 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020 as against a loss of Rs 110 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Total income fell 54% (YoY) to Rs 281 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 611 crore in the same period last financial year. ICICI Bank Q4: The lender reported 26% rise in its standalone net profit at Rs 1,221 crores against Rs 969 crore in year-ago period. Lender's total deposits of the lender increased by 18% year-on-year to Rs 7.7 lakh crore, while net NPA fell to 1.41% as against 1.49% in December quarter and 2.06% in year-ago period. SBI Cards Q4: The company's consolidated net profit at Rs 85 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020 as against Rs 249 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Total income was up 21% (YoY) to Rs 2,510 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 2,076 crore in the same period last financial year. Company's Gross NPA stood at 2.01% compared to 2.44% (YoY). Company's board has approved a dividend of Re 1 for FY2020. Mahindra Holidays Q4: Company's consolidated profit after tax came in at Rs 38.2 crore for the quarter ended 31 st March, 2020 as compared to Rs 52.3 crore for the same period last year. Company's revenue stood at Rs 631.4 crore as against Rs 656.6 crore on a yearly basis. Shree Cement Q4: The company reported 83.2% rise (YoY) in consolidated net profit to Rs 588 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020 as against Rs 321 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Total income fell 2.1% (YoY) to Rs 3,217 crore in the January- March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 3,284 crore in the same period last financial year. Adani Transmission Q4: Company's consolidated net profit for FY19-20 rose to Rs 706.49 crore, from Rs 559.20 crore in 2018-19. Total income of the company rose to Rs 3,317.51 crore in Q4 FY20 as against Rs 2,569.16 crore in the year ago period. Q4 Earnings Today: Wockhardt, Godrej Properties, Godrej Agrovet, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Sonata Software, Dharamsi Morarji Chemical, Orient Abrasives, Piramal Enterprises, Saint-Gobain Sekurit, Subex, Welcure Drugs, ADF Foods, Artson Engineering among others will be reporting March quarterly results today. Q4 result date announcements: Piramal Enterprises: May 11, 2020 Sequent Scientific: May 12, 2020 Umang Dairies: May 13, 2020 Datamatics Global Services: May 14, 2020 AAVAS Financiers: May 14, 2020 Aarti Drugs: May 15, 2020 Swathes of Europe as well as New York began the long process of reopening from coronavirus lockdowns on Monday, but a resurgence of infections in China and South Korea offered a sobering reminder of the dangers of a second wave of cases. The mixed fortunes illustrate the high-wire act governments face across the globe as they try to resuscitate shattered economies while keeping in check a pandemic that has now killed some 284,000 people and infected more than 4.1 million. For the second straight day, the United States recorded fewer than 900 days over the past 24 hours although the toll shot past 80,000, by far the highest in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. New York, the worst-hit US state, gave the green light to return gradually this week to normal life -- but not yet in packed New York City, which will wait at least until June. "We start a new chapter today," Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters, adding, "It's an exciting new phase; we're all anxious to get back to work." As France and Spain embraced new freedoms and Britain also announced plans for a partial reopening, the Chinese city of Wuhan where the pandemic was born reported a second day of new cases after a month without a sign of the virus. And South Korea announced its highest number of infections for more than a month driven by a cluster in a Seoul nightlife district. With millions out of work and economies badly bruised, governments are desperate to hit the accelerator, but most are choosing a gradual approach as fears about a resurgence of the virus loom large. In parts of Europe, officials have been emboldened by promising trends, with Spain's daily fatalities falling to 123 and Italy -- once Europe's epicenter -- reporting fewer than 1,000 patients in intensive care, the lowest since March 10 before the peak of its outbreak. France has seen its daily fatalities decline for several days but reported an uptick on Monday with 263, as it began to dismantle a military field hospital set up when hospitals were being inundated. - 'Keep your distance' - The French were able to venture outdoors without filling in a permit for the first time in nearly eight weeks on Monday, and some shops reopened their doors. The wide boulevards of the Champs-Elysees in Paris were once again back to life with cars and shoppers waiting patiently to make purchases, but things were not as before. Police swarmed in to break up picnickers who defied guidelines to gather together without masks. Many Spaniards revelled in being able to visit outdoor terraces and cafes again after months under one of the world's toughest lockdowns, although virus hotspots such as Madrid and Barcelona remain under wraps. "I really missed this, now you value these little pleasures," said Jesus Vazquez, a 51-year-old builder, as he enjoyed a sandwich and beer in the sunshine outside a bar in the city of Tarragona. Shopping strips were once again populated in Greece, while in other parts of Europe from the Netherlands to Switzerland and Croatia youngsters headed back to the classroom after weeks at home. In the Czech Republic some teens revelled in being able to go to the cinema again -- a novel outing after months of lockdown. "We wanted to see what it's like just to go and see a film with my friends again," 16-year-old Tomas Fohler said from behind a mask, now compulsory in the country. Germany too has set in motion the reopening of shops, eateries, schools and gyms, but Chancellor Angela Merkel refreshed warnings to stay safe after official data showed the infection rate picking up speed again. "It is necessary that we can have confidence that people are actually sticking to the basic guidelines, so keeping distance, covering mouth and nose, being considerate of each other," she said Monday. In Britain, the government unveiled a "cautious roadmap" setting out new freedoms which included outdoor exercise and allowing construction, manufacturing and other manual workers back on the job. Almost seven weeks after a nationwide stay-at-home order was put in place, more than 31,800 people have died in Britain -- a figure second only to the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin also said that stay-at-home orders will be eased for most workers this week, despite a surge of 10,000 new coronavirus cases every day. US President Donald Trump, facing re-election in November, has been especially eager to end restrictions -- and insisted the White House was safe, even as he said he would limit contact with Vice President Mike Pence, whose press secretary tested positive. "Everybody coming into the president's office gets tested, and I've felt no vulnerability whatsoever," Trump said in a testy news conference that he abruptly ended. - Second wave fears - With governments across the world trying to avoid a second wave, Asian nations that were among the first engulfed by the virus but have since brought it to heel are being keenly watched. Much of China has begun to get back to a form of normality, and on Monday Shanghai Disneyland threw open its gates following a three-month shutdown. "We are very much looking forward to the first day of reopening," said one eager visitor named Kitty. "We have stayed at home for around two months and got bored enough." But enthusiasm in China was tempered by news on Sunday that one person had tested positive for the virus in Wuhan. There were five more cases on Monday. Local health officials said the new infections were all from the same residential compound and were mostly older people. South Korean officials ordered nightclubs and bars closed after a new cluster of at least 86 cases linked to an entertainment district in the capital -- many in gay clubs. Officials scrambled to trace thousands of people who visited the area, but efforts were hampered with many believed to be reluctant to come forward because of the stigma surrounding homosexuality. "If you hesitate a single day, our daily clock may stop for a month. Please contact the nearest clinic or health center right now," urged Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun. burs-jv-sct/bgs In France, people were allowed to leave the house without filling in a permit for the first time in eight weeks World toll of coronavirus infections and deaths as of May 11 at 1900 GMT NYPD officers hand out free face masks in Brooklyn Many Spaniards enjoyed new freedoms on outdoor terraces after weeks of stay-home orders Shoppers in Belgium eagerly waited to get back into shops Russia said it was allowing some workers back on the job this week, even as cases soared Shanghai Disnelyland opened its doors for the first time in three months Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov / Embassy of Azerbaijan The following is the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the 28th anniversary of the occupation of the city of Shusha by armed forces of Armenia. ED. As part of a systematic policy of aggression of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan, a historical Azerbaijani city of Shusha was occupied by armed forces of Armenia on May 8, 1992. As a result of the occupation, Shusha city and 30 villages of Shusha district were destroyed, 195 innocent civilians were killed, 165 were wounded, 58 persons went missing, and more than 24,000 inhabitants of Shusha were subjected to ethnic cleansing. The tangible cultural and spiritual heritage of the Azerbaijani people has been severely damaged as a result of the occupation of Shusha, a city of exceptional historical, cultural, spiritual and symbolic significance for the people of Azerbaijan and known as "Cradle of the Azerbaijani music" and the "Conservatory of the Orient." More than 170 buildings with the status of an architectural monument, 160 cultural and historical monuments, mosques and a number of rare manuscripts were destroyed and subjected to vandalism in Shusha. The "Imarat of Panah khan complex" and library, Khan Palace and Karvansaray, Ashaghy Govharagha and Saatly Mosques, Mausoleum of Vagif, Natavan's House and many others are among them. The aggressor state Armenia, following the ethnic cleansing conducted in course of Shusha's occupation, in contradiction to the requirements of international humanitarian law, destroyed the historical and cultural heritage of Azerbaijan and gradually changed the cultural image of the city. Thus, thousands of people have been illegally resettled in Shusha. The Yukhary Govheraga (Juma) Mosque, built by the order of Govharaga, the daughter of Karabakh ruler Ibrahim Khan, was "restored" by the Armenians and presented as a Persian one. All these clearly demonstrate the intentions of the occupiers to shadow the fact that Shusha is a prominent Azerbaijani city. But the Armenian side has to understand that all these attempts have no prospects, and the occupation is temporary. The Nagorno-Karabakh is an internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan; this region has always been and will remain an inalienable part of Azerbaijan. According to the position of all international organizations and states of the world, in particular the resolutions adopted by the U.N. Security Council, Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized as an integral part of Azerbaijan and immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of occupying forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is demanded. Azerbaijan is the most interested party in the soonest negotiated settlement of the conflict and ensuring lasting peace in the region. The objective of the ongoing negotiations process on the settlement of the conflict is to ensure the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent districts of Azerbaijan, the restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders and the return of IDPs to their homes. The achievement of that objective is a must, not a compromise. Azerbaijan considers no political solution to the conflict beyond this framework and participates in the settlement process on the basis of this understanding. If the negotiations fail to bring as an outcome the ending occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, Azerbaijan retains its inherent rights under the U.N. Charter to ensure the restoration of its sovereignty and territorial integrity within the internationally recognized borders. The coronavirus has revived a hairstyle in East Africa, one with braided spikes that echo the virus' distinctive shape. The style's growing popularity is in part due to economic hardships linked to virus restrictions and to the goal of spreading awareness that the coronavirus is real. In a makeshift salon beside a busy road in Kibera, a slum in the heart of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, 24-year-old hairdresser Sharon Refa has been braiding young girls' hair into the antennae-like spikes that people call the 'coronavirus hairstyle.' She revealed: 'Some grown-ups don't believe that the coronavirus is real, but then most young children appear keen to sanitize their hands and wear masks...So many adults do not do this, and that is why we came up with the corona hairstyle.' The 'coronavirus hairstyle' has boomed in popularity in East Africa as people braid their hair in antennae-like spikes Some are opting for the hairstyle because it is inexpensive, while others are trying to spread awareness with the style Hairdressers across East Africa are seeing a boom in popularity for the spiked braids (pictured, one seven-year-old arrives home in Kibera with the style) Mothers like Margaret Andeya, who is struggling to make ends meet, said the coronavirus hairstyle suits her daughters' styling needs and her pocket. Virus-related restrictions have stifled the daily work for millions of people with little or no savings. 'This hairstyle is much more affordable for people like me who cannot afford to pay for the more expensive hairstyles out there and yet we want our kids to look stylish,' Andeya said. Meanwhile Mariam Rashid, 26, said: 'COVID-19 has destroyed the economy, taken our jobs from us, and now money is scarce. The hairstyle has seen a rise in popularity as hairdressers use the style to promote awareness of the disease Stacy Ayuma, 8, is seen after plaiting with the 'coronavirus' hairstyle, designed to emulate the prickly appearance of the virus under a microscope 'I therefore decided to have my child's hair done up like this at an affordable 50 shillings, and she looks good. 'The hairstyle also helps in communicating with the public about the virus.' It costs 50 shillings, or about 50 U.S. cents, to get the braids while the average hairdo costs 300 to 500 shillings ($3 to $5). That's money most people in Kibera cannot afford at the moment. Gettrueth Ambio, 12, left, and her friend Jane Mbone, 7, arrive home after having their hair styled in the shape of the new coronavirus at the Mama Brayo Beauty Salon in the Kibera slum The technique used in braiding the coronavirus hairstyle is threading, which uses yarn instead of synthetic hair braids. This is the secret to making it affordable, residents said. The hairstyle had gone out of fashion in recent years as imported real and synthetic hair from India, China and Brazil began to flood the market and demand by local women increased. Pictures of the flowing or braided imported styles are tacked up in beauty salons across much of Africa. Gettrueth Ambio, 12, has her hair styled in the shape of the new coronavirus, at the Mama Brayo Beauty Salon in the Kibera slum Kenya's number of confirmed virus cases was nearing 700 as of Monday. With the widespread shortage of testing materials, however, the real number of cases could be higher. Health officials are especially worried about the possible spread of the virus in crowded slums. Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) announced a bill Friday to exempt credit union business loans related to the pandemic from the member business lending cap for one year. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also announced he will introduce a Senate companion bill next week. The House is expected to return to session as early as next week to continue work on the next phase of COVID-19 relief legislation, and CUNA and Leagues have called for such an MBL exemption to be included in the package. Businesses and communities around the country are facing economic hardships that havent been seen in generations, and this bill will help credit unions deploy much needed capital to those businesses, said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. Credit unions have served as financial first responders since the onset of the pandemic and will be vital to the nations recovery efforts. These bills will bolster those efforts going forward, and are a much needed solution that will leverage the strong relationships that credit unions have in their communities to help Main Street recover and rebuild from this crisis. Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), J. Luis Correa (D-Calif.), Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) and David Trone (D-Md.) co-sponsored the House bill. Kyrgyzstan asked Russia to reduce the natural gas prices, the press service of the government of the republic told RIA Novosti. On Monday, Kyrgyz deputy PM held an online meeting with his Russian counterpart and discussed the reduction in gas prices. This issue is very sensitive for us," he noted. According to the Kyrgyz deputy PM, Kyrgyzstan also proposed to consider the possibility of using the free funds of the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund in financing business as part of a package of anti-crisis measures. Advertisement To put record straight on the movement of Almajiri across states of the federation and how Kano embarks on the exercise, the Kano state governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje says We agreed at the Northern Governors Forum that all Almajiris moved to their states of origin. That is why we are sending, in good faith and procedures, all Almajiris that are not from Kano state to their respective states of origin. He made this known to journalists at the State Task Force on COVID-19 media briefing at Africa House, Government House, Kano, Sunday, pointing out that, the exercise was not political and should not be politicized. Governor Ganduje challenged that, The way we are sending back Almajiris to their states of origin, we are also receiving Almajiris from other states who are Kano indigines. But the fact that we are not making noise about it does not mean they are all healthy without COVID-19 infections. While making it categorically clear that, some of the Almajiris brought to Kano during the exercise, are also COVID-19 positive, he explained further that, But we are not making politics out of it. Because we all believe that what they need most now, is not noise making or publicity. What they need at this critical point in time is, care giving. People should also understand that, these children were not infected in the process of transporting them to their respective states. So noise making is not fit as a way forward. All we are doing is simply to comply with the Northern Governors Forum decision that all Almajiris in our states should be taken back to their respective states, simple, he reminded. According to reports, Germany is not planning on extending border checks beyond 15 May. Member of the Bundestag Patrick Schnieder took to Facebook to explain that there is hope that Germany will soon reopen its borders with France and Luxembourg. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer reportedly said in a phone call with CDU fraction leader Christian Baldauf that the borders with Luxembourg and our French neighbours could reopen soon. The reopening of borders is yet to be officially confirmed but, based on the phone call, there is hope that the border checks will not be extended beyond 15 May. According to Schnieder, this would come as a big relief to people in the border regions and represent an important signal for Europe. A cancer organoid. Credit: Eduard Batle @ IRB Barcelona Scientists have used 3-D models to break down the DNA behavior of cancer cells, in a breakthrough new study which could revolutionize treatment for the disease. In what is a first for science, a research team led by Dr. Manel Esteller, Director of the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC), demonstrated how 3-D models (known as organoids) can now be used to develop a characterization of the DNA make-upor the epigenetic fingerprintof human cancer. Pubished in Epigenetics, the research validates the use of these 3-D samples for cancer research that could deliver new oncology treatments. Dr. Esteller, who is also Chaiman of Genetics at the University of Barcelona, explains: "Frequently, promising cancer therapies fail when applied to patients in the real clinical setting. This occurs despite many of these new treatments demonstrating promising results at the preclinical stage in the lab. One explanation is that many of the tumor models used in early research phases are established cell lines that have been growing for many decades and in two dimension (2-D) culture flasks. These cancer cells might not completely resemble the features of real tumors from patients that expand into three dimensions (3-D). Very recently, it has been possible to grow cancers in the laboratories but respecting the 3-D structure: these models are called 'organoids'. We know very little about these cells and if they actually mimic the conformation of the tumor within the body, particularly the chemical behaviors (known as modifications) of DNA that are called epigenetics ("beyond the genetics"), such as DNA methylation. "What our article solves is this unmet biomedical need in the cancer research field: the characterization of the epigenetic fingerprint of human cancer organoids. The developed study shows that these tumor models can be very useful for the biomedical research community and the pharmaceutical companies developing anti-cancer drugs." Scientists have used 3D models to break down the DNA behavior of cancer cells, in a breakthrough new study which could revolutionize treatment for the disease. Credit: Dr Manel Esteller Specifically looking at 25 human cancer organoids, made available from the American Type Culture Collection (ATTC), Dr. Esteller, an ICREA Research Professor, states that during their research the team made some interesting findings around the properties of the cancer cells. "First, we found that every cancer organoid retains the properties of the tissue of origin, so this shows that if the samples were obtained from the surgery of a colon or pancreatic cancer, the organoid closely resembles the original primary tumor. "Second, we discovered that there is no contamination of normal cells, thus, the malignant pure transformed cells can be analyzed without interferences. And finally, the 3-D organoid cancers are closer to the patient tumors than the commonly used 2-D cell lines." The study will now be used to help form Big Data, as the team's samples will be shared in easily accessible public databases between researchers to promote more collaborative studies. "This will enable further data mining to produce new cancer discoveries using different biometric approaches or focusing on particular genes," explains Dr. Esteller. "And most importantly, the characterized cancer organoids can be readily obtainable from a reliable provider (the ATCC) researchers around the world can use the epigenetic information of these sharable samples to develop their own investigations." Explore further The first epigenetic test to diagnose tumors of unknown origin More information: The DNA Methylation Landscape of Human Cancer Organoids Available at the American Type Culture Collection, Epigenetics, www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.108 5592294.2020.1762398 The DNA Methylation Landscape of Human Cancer Organoids Available at the American Type Culture Collection, ASHLAND A Chandlerville man was arrested Sunday after police said his car hit a utility pole, causing it to fall across Illinois Route 125 and resulting in two other accidents. Jalen Leinberger, 25, of Chandlerville was arrested on charges of driving under the influence, improper lane use, driving too fast for conditions and leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, according to Illinois State Police. Obama: Trump's Handling of Pandemic Is 'Absolute Chaotic Disaster' By Ken Bredemeier May 10, 2020 Former U.S. President Barack Obama says current U.S. President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been "an absolute chaotic disaster." In a conference call with former staff members, Obama said, "It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset of 'what's in it for me' and 'to heck with everybody else' when that mindset is operationalized in our government." The U.S. leads the world in the number of cases and deaths from the virus. More than 1.3 million people in the U.S. have been infected and nearly 80,000 people have died. In New York, the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that three children have died and more than 70 other children have fallen ill from a syndrome associated with the virus. Children were initially thought not to be as susceptible to the virus, but reports are beginning to emerge challenging that. Like other countries, the U.S. does not have adequate supplies of test kits, meaning the sickest people get tested before those with mild symptoms, raising the possibility those with mild or no symptoms may not get tested at all and go uncounted. Pushing to reopen the U.S. from measures meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus, President Donald Trump has recently touted the U.S. testing system. But the system has been criticized for failures in the critical early weeks of the outbreak and its ongoing underperformance compared to some other countries. During a recent meeting with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Trump said Germany has a "very low mortality rate like we do." In fact, the U.S. has reported COVID-19 deaths at a rate of 234 per 1 million people, compared to Germany's reported rate of 90 fatalities per million. On Friday, Trump insisted "testing isn't necessary," an indication of his increasing tendency to reject the advice of health experts. The Trump administration continues to defend its decision not to release a detailed coronavirus reopening plan for the U.S., maintaining it would have been too narrowly focused for the country's 50 states. Germany is grappling with new outbreaks since it began easing restrictions. The Robert Koch Institute said Sunday the infection rate had gone up to 1.1. The infection rate, known as the reproduction rate, is growing when the rate exceeds 1.1. There have also been outbreaks at three slaughterhouses in Germany. South Korea has shut down more than 2,100 bars and other establishments in Seoul after new coronavirus outbreaks were linked to people who frequented nightclubs last weekend after the government relaxed social distancing guidelines. Many of the infections were traced to a 29-year-old man who went to three nightclubs before testing positive. Schools in South Korea were scheduled to begin reopening this week, but that may be delayed after the new outbreaks while officials say probes into the new cases would determine the next steps. Worldwide, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has surpassed 4 million. The global death tally is nearly 280,000, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. In central Afghanistan Saturday, clashes between aid-seeking protesters and police have claimed the lives of at least four civilians, including a journalist, and injured 14 others, officials said. The violence erupted as a coronavirus-induced shutdown and partial border closures with neighboring countries disrupted food deliveries into landlocked Afghanistan. Saturday's clashes broke out after dozens of people gathered outside the governor's office in impoverished Ghor province to protest what they said was a lack of official assistance for their poverty-stricken families. VOA's Ayaz Gul contributed to this story. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Police in suburban Atlanta say a five-year-old boy shot and killed his 12-year-old brother with a loaded gun he found in the woods over the weekend and mistook for a toy. Griffin police found the 12-year-old suffering from a single gunshot wound to the chest just after 7.40pm on Saturday evening in the 600 block of Hammock Street, the department said in a statement. First responders performed CPR and the boy was taken to Wellstar Spalding Regional Hospital where he later died. Scroll down for video Police in Griffin, Georgia, say a five-year-old boy shot and killed his 12-year-old brother at his home on Hammock Street after finding a loaded gun in the woods The five-year-old told investigators he thought the gun was a toy and fired at her older brother, striking him in the chest as the boys were playing The victim and his siblings, ages five and seven, were in the woods when the youngest of the three children found the gun, according to the statement. Special investigators spoke to the five-year-old and determined he thought it was a toy when he fired it, striking his brother. The victim was visiting with relatives from Sharpsburg when the incident occurred as the children were playing on a trampoline, reported 11Alive. Officers had searched an area near where the gun was found two hours earlier on Saturday after a group of suspects fled a traffic stop nearby, police said. The suspects fled on foot behind some houses and police lost track of them. A bag of suspected MDMA drugs, commonly known as Ecstasy or Molly, was discovered, but no gun was found at the time. In their statement Sunday, Griffin police said the shooting was likely a 'tragic accident' and officers would now investigate who dumped the loaded weapon in the woods. Police had responded to the same area two hours earlier when a group of suspects fled a traffic stop and dumped a bag of drugs in the woods, possibly along with the gun 'We will diligently pursue and charge any other parties responsible for the actions leading up to the apparent abandonment of this weapon allowing for access by these innocent children,' officials said. The gun was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab for touch DNA analysis, authorities added. 'We will leave no stone unturned as we search for the individuals responsible for the abandonment of this weapon,' Griffin Police Chief Mike Yates stated. The head of the "Academy of Islamic Sciences" in Iran Mohammad Mehdi Mirbaqeri, says there has been excessive exaggeration about the dangers of the novel coronavirus, and that is an "enemy plot". Speaking to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)-linked Fars News Agency on Saturday, May 9, he cited unidentified analysts as saying that the coronavirus was a "secular virus" that "attacks religious institutions". The senior Shiite cleric, who is also a member of the powerful Assembly of Experts, described the deadly outbreak as a war on "religious civilization" and accused Western countries of creating the virus. Earlier, the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had also accused the United States of producing coronavirus and quoted "some individuals" as saying that a version of the virus had also been made to infect Iranians. Meanwhile, Mirbaqeri maintained that the aim of Westerns by "creating coronavirus" was to push people of the world into quarantine, force them to live in a "virtual environment" and defeat the rival civilizations through dominance over the cyberspace. The Islamic Republic authorities have been criticized for their handling of the health crisis by not having clear preventive policies and are also accused of covering up the initial phase of the epidemic. Furthermore, they vehemently resisted to lock down the religious city of Qom, the epicenter of the outbreak in the country. The Academy of Islamic Sciences, presided by Ayatollah Mirbaqeri, is also located in the city of Qom, where Chinese Muslims studying at Shiite seminaries might have brought the novel coronavirus to Iran. Ten central trade unions on Monday said they are considering approaching the International Labour Organization (ILO) against suspension of major labour laws in some states. The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath last week gave nod to 'Uttar Pradesh Temporary Exemption from Certain Labour Laws Ordinance, 2020' to exempt factories, business establishments and industries from the purview of all, except three labour laws and one provision of another law, for three years. The Madhya Pradesh government has also suspended some labour laws and as per media reports, Gujarat too is following suit. In a joint statement issued on Monday, the central trade unions also threatened to give a call for nationwide agitation to protest against such moves by state governments. "The CTUs consider these moves as....gross violation of the Right to Freedom of Association (ILO Convention 87), Rights to Collective Bargaining( ILO Convention 98) and also the internationally accepted norm of eight hour working day espoused by Core Conventions of ILO)," the statement said. It also noted that the ILO Convention 144 with regard to tripartism has been undermined by thegovernments. "While seriously considering to lodge a complaint with ILO on these misdeeds of the Government for gross violation of Labour Standards, the CTUs call upon the working class to oppose these designs.... soon the CTUs would give a nationwide callfor action," it said. The Joint Platform of CTUs and Federations/Associations denounced the blanket exemptions given to all establishments from the employers' obligation under all substantive labour laws for a period of three years by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In UP, an ordinance in this regard has been promulgated and same is going to be done in Madhya Pradesh also as asserted by the state's Chief Minister, the statement said. Media reports say that similar move of liberating the employers from all labour laws is going to be initiated in Gujarat also for a period of 1,200 days, it added. The working people have been subjected to inhuman sufferings owing to loss of jobs and wages, eviction from residences etc reducing them to hungry non-entities in the process of 45-day lockdown, the CTUs said in the statement. The government of the day at the centre has pounced upon those working people only with fangs and claws to reduce them to the stature of virtual slaves, the statement added. "Now the Government at the centre has taken the strategy of letting loose their pliant state governments to take such anti-worker and anti-people autocratic measures, many other state governments are expected to follow suit," it said. "This retrograde ( labour laws suspension) anti-worker move came in the second stage after six state governments have enhanced the daily working hours from eight hours to 12 hours through executive order in violation of the Factories Act, taking advantage of the lockdown situation. It is also reported that BJPgovernment of Tripura is also making a similar move," the statement added. The 10 CTUs that issued the joint statement areINTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTU, TUCC,SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC. There are total 12 CTUs. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted economic activities, some states have decided to relax labour laws. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Faculty at two of Indianas leading business schools at Indiana and Purdue universities are collaborating on a project with IU Health to help the health care provider manage the COVID-19 demand surge in its 16 hospitals across five regions of the state. The interdisciplinary team of professors at Purdues Krannert School of Management and IUs Kelley School of Business has been working since March 23 to develop a predictive model of the resources required for an adequate response to the pandemic. This includes both disease prediction and patient flow workload. Pengyi Shi, assistant professor of supply chain and operations management at Krannert, led the patient-flow workload team. In my role, I led a team to develop a model of how COVID-19 patients move around the hospital and what resources they use during their stay, such as medical/surgical and ICU beds, ventilators and ECMOs, nurse staff, and PPE, Shi said. I developed a model based on a queueing network and programmed it in Excel with easily modifiable parameters for practitioners to evaluate different potential scenarios and operational interventions. Shis research focuses on building data-driven, analytical methods to support decision-making under uncertainty in various health care systems. Her most recent publication, Timing it Right: Balancing Inpatient Congestion versus Readmission Risk at Discharge, won the Pierskalla Best Paper Award at the 2018 meeting of the INFORMS Health Applications Society. It is forthcoming in the journal Operations Research. Another of the teams co-leaders, Jonathan Helm, associate professor of operations and decision technologies and Grant Thornton Scholar at Kelley, said many models for COVID-19 lack the details needed for hospitals to do operational planning. A lot of models out there that predict the number of ICUs and ventilators youre going to need really are back of the envelope calculations, Helm said. For example, patient resource requirements in Indianapolis look different from those for patients in Lafayette and Bloomington. These regions have different types of hospitals and different demographics of people they serve, and different population densities, all of which contribute to COVID-19 care resource requirements. We are creating a learning model of how the patients in each region of Indiana are being affected and how they differ from those in the national model, Helm said. Helm and four others in Kelleys Department of Operations and Decision Technologies developed a SEIR disease progression model, which aims to predict when surges of COVID-19 patients might take place around the state. Combining this with Shis workload model has allowed IU Health to predict the impact of operational measures potentially activated as part of a COVID-19 surge plan. Examples include canceling elective surgeries, transforming ambulatory surgery rooms into intensive care units, modifying staff plans and schedules, leveraging the flexible float nurse pool to move nurses to where staff is most needed, shipping ventilators between regions, preparing for pharmacy loads, and potentially setting up temporary hospitals. The team worked day and night due to the urgency of the situation and is now providing weekly updates to IU Health as the model is able to learn and improve from the evolving new data about COVID-19 patients. The team also is exploring the possibility of having the tool deployed statewide beyond IU Health. Im excited about the opportunity to use my research in patient flow modeling to help hospitals in their operational response to this highly disruptive pandemic, Shi said. The involvement of Purdue and Krannert in this project provides recognition for the school and the university as key players in the solution to this unprecedented outbreak. This effort shows the incredible talent and hardworking nature of our faculty, said Idalene Idie Kesner, dean of the Kelley School and the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management. It also shows how Hoosiers come together from across the state for the benefit of the Indiana community. David Hummels, the Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Krannert School, serves on the board for the IU Health West Central Region. He praised the effort and collaborative approach by Shi and those at Kelley. The rapid adjustments that have been made throughout the IU Health system in order to accommodate patient surge have been nothing short of astonishing, he said. This is one of the times where they have to try many new things, very quickly, and put an enormous amount of trust in expertise that new systems are going to work. Dr. Jose Azar, chief quality officer at IU Health, says the predictive models have helped the healthcare provider anticipate the time and magnitude of the surge and place strategies to meet the anticipated demand on space, staff and resources for the crisis. My primary concern has been to avoid getting to the point where we dont have enough equipment to keep our staff safe or dont have enough resources to care for our patients, he says. The predictive model has helped us prepare for both scenarios. Based upon IU Healths actual data during the pandemic, the predictive model also will assist in its financial planning. The great part about the tool is the ability to model when and at what level elective procedures will begin, says Scott Black, chief financial officer of system clinical services at IU Health. Those assumptions will allow us to make more informed financial results and cash flow projections. Having an analytical partner help us determine when and where we needed to align people, processes, medication, and supplies in a way that allowed us to minimize medication shortages and rework was valuable in focusing our energy on delivering clinical and operational outcomes, adds Buck Sanders, vice president and chief pharmacy officer at IU Heath. We truly appreciate the partnership in helping us fulfill our promise. About Purdue University Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 6 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu. Writer: Eric Nelson, nelsoner@purdue.edu Media contact: Joseph Paul, paul102@purdue.edu (working remotely but will provide immediate response) Source: Pengyi Shi, shi178@purdue.edu Theres probably 20 to 30 cases abroad that have been very well-described and now cases in New York City that have been described, he said. Someone called in from Kentucky just this past afternoon saying they have the exact same case that we have here. So I think its traveling around with the virus and were going to see more and more of it. The Crown: Part Eleven By Michael Moriarty web posted May 11, 2020 The nightmare of public office is particularly stressed in this portion of the episode entitled, Mystery Man. This Episode 10, so far, is the weakest of an impressively strong lot. It is also one of the ugliest in terms of human behavior. The Queen, in the midst of all this scandal, retreats to Scotland, the Prime Minister begs the Queen to be replaced, she asks he be kept on till after her pregnancy, the Profumo Scandal is an increasing embarrassment for more than the perpetrators; and the Prime Minister finally resigns in the midst of his own ill-health. Meanwhile, his Royal Highness returns from another shamelessly selfish vacation in St. Moritz. It is also here, in this episode, that the lives of the rich and privileged, all of them, look without real honor of any kind. And yet Christ, the Lord of the Church of England, and the image of my Christ, a very different one from that taught by Martin Luther or the Catholic Church?! Both declared, I come to bring Life and bring it to you more abundantly! My response to that? Surrender! Surrender to the realities of lust within the life of His one female disciple, Mary Magdalene, a passion which I believe never ended with the appearance of Jesus into her life, and surrender to Christs forgiveness for the frailties within all of his 12 disciples. And, indeed, within all of mankind. Place your entire existence into the hands of an Almighty, who, through Christs visitation to the Earth, brought the very essence of Himself into our lives. Into our very souls. His Royal Highness, in an effort to recover the affections of his wife, mentions the ghastly relentlessness of her life as Queen. Then demands that the Queen end her silent treatment of him and charge him with something! Stephen Ward, she says. The osteopath? he replies. The one who provided the Prince, His Royal Highness, with a few distractions from the life that has filled Phillip with such tensions. A rather lofty version, in short, of a pimp! A disgraceful fraud as an osteopath who committed suicide. However, Phillips return from St. Moritz to something he now realizes is his true vocation, that of serving the Queen as her chosen husband and, God willing, confidant! He kneels before her, in a supplicating posture that reminds us of the photographer, Antony Armstrong-Jones, and his refusal to do so when proposing marriage to the Queens sister, Margaret. Amen, comes the sound of a boys choir, as Queen Elizabeth experiences a painfully arduous birth in her own bed, as His Royal Highness looks on. Amidst a torrent of challenges, the Royal Couple strengthen and they both see, much more clearly, their unavoidable destinies as the central sanity of a profoundly threatened Commonwealth. Or, as I prefer, increasingly doomed Empire. Monarchy does not conjure up a Commonwealth. Such a word is almost antithetical to the all-powerful implications of King and Queen. The indelible memory of the Kings and Queens of England as, indeed, the Emperors and Empresses of the British Empire?! All that is needed in such a formula is a truly evil Emperor or Empress. A Hitler. Stalin. Or Mao Zedong. And the so-called Free World is ended. The American democratic republic and its governing documents The American Declaration of Independence, the American Constitution and the American Bill of Rights - appear to be the only possible path to a future for the entire human race. Anything else, such as the United Nations plans to rule a New World Order?! An unstoppable roller coaster to Hell. It will, of course, finally come to fruition but on another planet! Meanwhile?! The episode ends, most movingly, with a photograph of the royal family, while the photographer recites Shakespeares now immortal tribute to this demmi-paradise, this other Eden this England. Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and Order from 1990 to 1994. His recent film and TV credits include The Yellow Wallpaper, 12 Hours to Live, Santa Baby and Deadly Skies. Contact Michael at rainbowfamily2008@shaw.ca. He can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/@MGMoriarty. Home The U.S. will issue a warning that China is planning to steal research on possible coronavirus vaccines via cyber attacks, the New York Times reported on Sunday. China is actively seeking valuable intellectual property and public health data through illicit means related to vaccines, treatments and testing, a draft of the warning by the FBI and Homeland Security Department reads. The Trump administration will draw attention to the role of nontraditional actors, namely students and researchers employed by the Chinese government to steal data on vaccine development. The warning will come as part of a deterrent strategy from the administration, including the United States Cyber Command and the National Security Agency. The U.S. has increasingly raised the alarm over Chinese-funded research and propaganda at American universities. In November 2019 the Times reported that the FBI was looking into 180 possible cases of intellectual property theft by China-connected researchers. The phenomenon seems to be hitting every discipline in biomedical research, Dr. Michael Lauer, deputy director for extramural research at the National Institute of Health, said at the time. In addition, Republican representatives on the House Oversight Committee last week launched a probe into Chinese funding of American education programs. We cannot allow a dangerous communist regime to buy access to our institutions of higher education, plain and simple, Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) said in a statement. We owe it to the American people to hold China accountable and to prevent them from doing further harm to our country. More from National Review Royal protocols dictate that members of the royal family including Queen Elizabeth are not allowed to sign autographs, and even signatures on their personal letters are very rare. Among the royals, nobodys autograph is more valuable than Queen Elizabeths, which can fetch thousands of dollars to the right buyer. But even among Her Majestys signatures, there is one that stands above the rest and was recently named the most-valuable autograph in the world. Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth | Tim Graham/Getty Images A look at Queen Elizabeths 1954 Christmas card Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip sent a Christmas card to one of their family members in 1954. The royals send out holiday cards every year, but what makes this one special is that they both signed it. The card, sent a few years after Queen Elizabeths coronation, includes a black-and-white image of Her Majesty next to Prince Charles and his sister, Princess Anne. Charles was only 5 years old at the time of the photo while Anne was two. The photo is on the front of the card, something that the royals have continued through the years, while the signatures are right below it. Given how they are not allowed to sign autographs, the card is a rare look at Queen Elizabeths autograph. Her Majestys Christmas card contains the most valuable autographs in the world According to Daily Mail, the 1954 Christmas card featuring Queen Elizabeth and Philips autographs made it onto Paul Frasers list of the most valuable signatures of living people. The card, featured at the top of the list, is worth over $4,500, making it the highest-priced living autograph that has ever been listed. For comparison, other autographs that made the list include Prince William ($3,500), Paul McCartney ($2,950), JK Rowling ($2,750), and Prince Harry ($1,750). Queen Elizabeths autograph was estimated to be the most valuable because of its rarity. Not only is it extremely difficult to find a signature from Her Majesty, but they are also in high demand. Although the 1954 Christmas card fetches a lot of money, it is nothing compared to how much Queen Elizabeth Is signature is worth. How much is a signed letter from Queen Elizabeth I worth? Queen Elizabeths signature is worth a few thousands of dollars, but an autograph from Queen Elizabeth I is valued at tens of thousands of dollars. According to Nate D Sanders, one of Queen Elizabeth Is signatures sold for a whopping $27,500 back in 2016. The autograph was a part of a letter she sent in 1599 regarding the Nine Years War in Ireland. To be fair, the letter was a few hundreds of years older than Queen Elizabeths Christmas card. It was also in very good condition and has more historical value than just the signature. When it comes to other items related to the monarchy, a gown that Queen Elizabeth wore to a ball before her coronation sold for $17,500. Her Majesty wore the dress way back in 1949. How much is royal memorabilia worth? Aside from signatures and items that were once in possession of the royals, fans have collection royal memorabilia for decades. From anniversary mugs and tins to other mementos created to mark a special occasion, royal memorabilia has never been in short supply But just how much are these items worth? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is very little. According to The Telegraph, antique dealer Judith Miller claims that most memorabilia is not worth the investment because it is mass-produced and suffers from quality issues. For example, a cup that was manufactured to mark Williams birth is only valued at $6. Its mass-produced, its very poor quality and it doesnt have desirability, Miller shared. That said, there are some commemorative items that have risen in value. But most of these involve some kind of error in the manufacturing process, which renders the piece very rare. This includes a stamp that was made in honor of King George Vs Diamond Jubilee in 1937, which featured the wrong tone of blue. These stamps are worth upwards of $1,500. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are currently under quarantine at Windsor Castle. Photo: Dan DeLuca/Flickr Here's what you need to know about what's happening in Chicago. 22-year-old woman, youngest child of 2 city workers, dies from COVID-19 Read the full story on ABC World News Tonight with David Muir. Woman tests positive for COVID-19 after childbirth, dies days later Read the full story on KTVU Fox 2. Man charged with murder says he was acting in self-defense after his son was followed from gas station Read the full story on Chicago Tribune. 3 firefighters hurt in South Shore when chunk of ceiling crashes on their heads Read the full story on Chicago Tribune. 7 officers injured in altercation with man at South Loop storage center Read the full story on ABC Chicago, WLS. This story was created automatically using data about news stories on social media from CrowdTangle, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. Nyla Moore lost her battle to coronavirus after spending weeks on a ventilator. She dreamed of becoming a teacher and leaves behind a 2-year-old son. Unique Clay, 31, gave birth to a healthy baby on April 30, tested positive for coronavirus and was sent home with her baby. Clay, a mail carrier, died days later. A man fatally shot a 16-year-old who had "mean-mugged" his son at a gas station, mistaking him for a rival gang member, prosecutors said Sunday. All three were rushed to the hospital in serious condition. A US mining company has controversially been given permission to mine under a vital Australian drinking water reservoir. The Woronora reservoir south of Sydney helps supply water to more than three million residents of Greater Sydney. But the decision to allow Missouri-based Peabody Energy to access lucrative coal seams underneath the dam has prompted a wave of concern about the impact of mining on the water table. City of Sydney councillor and former federal member for Wentworth Dr Kerryn Phelps said the approved proposal by the New South Wales state government had the 'potential for catastrophe'. Critics of the mining operation fear water could leak out of the precious catchment if the rock underneath the dam fractures. Plans to mine under a vital dam supplying water to Sydney residents has come under fire - with fears walls built underneath the reservoir could cause leaking from the water reservoir The top-right corner of this map highlighted in red shows the approved plan to mine directly under the Woronora Dam The NSW Government's green light means Peabody, which is already excavating the catchment area, can mine directly under the dam. 'There's been evidence of damage to the water table and despite assurances from mining companies, there is a threat to a crucial resource water,' Sutherland Labor councillor Ray Plibersek told 9 News. Concerns have been raised that the rivulets and tributaries above the existing mining sites are already causing water to leak through the bedrock. Metal contaminants, critics claim, are therefore being released into the water flow and turning the water a sickly orange. Concerns have been raised about the potential cracking of the bedrock surface. Pictured is a tributary into the reservoir supplied by WaterNSW Sutherland Shire Environment Centre CEO Dr Catherine Reynolds has collected more than 10,000 signatures protesting the plan - requiring a debate in NSW state parliament. The council passed a motion on April 6 calling for the decision to be reversed, which Dr Phelps said was made 'under the cover of coronavirus'. A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment said the proposed plan - consisting of long narrow walls built beneath the reservoir - was granted more than a decade ago in 2009 after 'a comprehensive assessment'. Peabody Energy meanwhile has defended the expansion plans - saying the narrow three-metre tall by 138-metre wide walls are designed to prevent cracking. City of Sydney councillor Dr Kerryn Phelps (pictured as the member for Wentworth in January 2019) said the approved proposal by the New South Wales state government had the 'potential for catastrophe' They also said the coal being mined is metallurgical coal and not the brown coal used as fossil fuels. Such dimensions - the St. Louis-based company said - are much narrower than the industry standard. It comes as NSW battles through an extended period of drought. Pictured: The level of iron detected at the Cataract and Cordeaux reservoirs - where mining is permitted underneath - near the Woronora dam in the years from 1941. Concerns have been raised about the threat of metal substances leaking into the water supply The Murray-Darling Basin Authority, which governs the river basin stretching across south-eastern Australia, says the region has struggled through 'extreme drought' for the past two years. In January, drought-ravaged Stanthorpe in Queensland's Southern Downs ran out of water just weeks after a Chinese company was given the go-ahead to run a commercial water extraction facility in the region. The local dam for the town of 5,000 people dipped to just 11 per cent of capacity, with those living in Stanthorpe limited to 80 litres of water per person a day. Despite the easing of restrictions from Monday, chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has asked officials to keep promoting awareness of physical distancing. (DC Photo: Tejo Roy) Vijayawada: Coronavirus-positive cases passed the 2000 mark in Andhra Pradesh with 38 new cases reported Monday, adding to the 50 reported Sunday. Since the first case was detected in Nellore on March 12, the state has gone from 1 to 2000 in a matter of one month and 28 days. Recoveries stand at 998 on Monday afternoon, leaving 975 active cases in the state. As many as 8,666 samples were tested in the 24 hours prior to Sunday evening, which makes Andhra Pradesh one of the top states in the country in terms of the total number of tests (1,73,735). Its testing rate of 3327 per million is the highest of all Indian states, which must explain why Andhra Pradesh has nearly 1000 cases more than its neighbouring state of Telangana which has 1196 as of Monday afternoon. Telangana's testing rate as of April 29, when it suddenly changed its testing policy, is 518 tests per million. Chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, during a review meet Sunday, directed officials to take measures for opening of shops from 10 am to 7 pm from Monday in the permitted zones to help the public. He further directed officials to keep promoting awareness of the necessity of physical distance even during relaxation times. Most of the new positives on Sunday came from Chittoor district (16), followed by Kurnool (13), Guntur (6), Anantapur and Nellore districts (5 each), Prakasam (2) and Visakhapatnam, Kadapa and Krishna districts (1 each). No new positive cases were registered in East Godavari, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and West Godavari districts. There have been 45 deaths so far. Kurnool district has the highest number of Covid-19 positive cases (566) with 16 deaths followed by Guntur district in second place with 382 cases and eight deaths. Krishna district is in third place with 339 cases and 13 deaths. Chittoor district climbed to fourth place in coronavirus-positive cases due to 16 new cases on Sunday. New Delhi, May 11 : Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani on Monday took exception to only one company, JCT being hyped by a section of the media for manufacture of PPE kits and leading the corona effort. Responding to tweets featuring JCT as a major player in the effort to make India self reliant in PPE, Irani responded by saying the collective efforts have been "reduced to PR for one company is extremely unfortunate". "As usual half hearted understanding of all the efforts undertaken by industry across the Nation. Efforts of GOI and industry reduced to PR for one company is extremely unfortunate," the Minister said. The Textiles Minister also named JCT and said it is not the only company and it would be unfair to more than a hundred companies who are contributing. JCT is not the only company. Would be unfair to 100 plus companies who have stepped up to the challenge," she added. Portland, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global peer to peer (P2P) lending market generated $67.9 billion in 2019, and is estimated to reach $558.9 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 29.7% from 2020 to 2027. The report offers an extensive analysis of changing market dynamics, key winning strategies, business performance, major segments, and competitive scenario. Technological advancements in traditional banking system to improve transparency and low operating cost and risk drive the growth of the global peer to peer (P2P) lending market. However, low awareness about the P2P lending benefits and strict government regulations hinder the market growth. On the other hand, rise of small businesses and growth in the Chinese market create new opportunities in the coming years. Download Report Sample (Tables-40, Figures-40 with Insight Pages-250): https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/1948 Covid-19 scenario: Depositors transferring their deposits to traditional and major banks to ensure security during the economic turbulence, according to the Federal Reserve. Most of the investors have declared liquidity issues, therefore a number of P2P platforms were shut down in the last few months. Economic crisis occurring due to lockdown across the world increases the demand for online loans in developing countries, such as Indonesia. During coronavirus pandemic, the risk of non-performing loans has been increased. The report offers a detailed segmentation of the global peer to peer leading market based on service business model, type, end user, and region. Based on business model, the traditional lending segment contributed to the largest share in 2019, accounting for nearly four-fifths of the total share, and is estimated to maintain its dominant position during the forecast period. However, the alternate marketplace lending segment is expected to register the highest CAGR of 31.8% from 2020 to 2027. Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on P2P Lending Market: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/1948?reqfor=covid Based on type, the business lending segment accounted for the largest share in 2019, holding nearly two-thirds of the total share, and is expected to maintain the largest share throughout the forecast period. However, the consumer lending segment is estimated to portray the highest CAGR of 30.6% during the forecast period. Based on region, North America contributed the highest share, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total market share in 2019, and will maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 40.4% from 2020 to 2027. Interested to Procure the Data? Enquire Here: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/1948 Leading market players analyzed in the research include Avant, LLC., Kabbage Inc., LendingTree, LLC., Prosper Funding LLC., Social Finance, Inc., Funding Circle, Lending Club Corporation, OnDeck, RateSetter, and Zopa Bank Limited. Avenue, a user-based library of global market report database, provides comprehensive reports pertaining to the world's largest emerging markets. It further offers e-access to all the available industry reports just in a jiffy. By offering core business insights on the varied industries, economies, and end users worldwide, Avenue ensures that the registered members get an easy as well as single gateway to their all-inclusive requirements. Access Avenue (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model) @ https:/www.alliedmarketresearch.com/Avenue-Membership-details About Us: Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. Launch aborted. Adult life interrupted. Georgia Porteous celebrated her 19th birthday in March while living independently far from home with flatmates for the first time in her life. Within a month, the university student was back home in Dubbo, back in her childhood bedroom with its sports trophies, childhood photos and school hat, and back at her old job at the local supermarket. The pandemic has forced Georgia Porteous to return to her family home in Dubbo. Credit:Kim Goldsmith Like thousands of young students who were living on campuses, and young people whose work has dried up because of the pandemic, she had nowhere else to go but home. "It's not a good situation," said the University of Sydney's Professor Ian Hickie, co-director, health and policy, of the Brain and Mind Centre. The post-school period from 18 to 25 was a key development stage when young people needed to move into the world, he said. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan expressed readiness to meet with the new Human Rights Commissioner of Azerbaijan. There is a new commissioner [of human rights] in Azerbaijan. During the tenure of the previous commissioner, I had always expressed my readiness before our international partners to meet and discuss issues, but I have always mentioned that if there are issues concerning Artsakh then the Artsakhi Ombudsman must participate in those discussions, Tatoyan said in parliament. Tatoyan said they must understand the goal of these hypothetical meetings. Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan She shares her son Santiago with third husband Jose Antonio Baston. And on Sunday, Eva Longoria enjoyed a Mother's Day stroll with the two men in her life through the streets of Beverly Hills. The actress, 45, wore a face mask as the coronavirus lockdown in Los Angeles continues and kept an eye on her toddler while her husband held onto the family's pet French Bulldog. Special day: She shares her son Santiago with third husband Jose Antonio Baston. And on Sunday, Eva Longoria enjoyed a Mother's Day stroll in Beverly Hills with the two men in her life Longoria was dressed in a pale gray sweatshirt with wide yellow horizontal stripes and pale gray sweatpants. She stepped out in white trainers with Velcro straps. The former Desperate Housewives star wore a Panama hat over her long loose dark hair and sported large designer sunglasses. Stylish: Longoria, 45, was dressed in a pale gray sweatshirt with wide yellow horizontal stripes and pale gray sweatpants and sported a Panama hat and sunglasses along with a face mask On Friday, Longoria had posted several sweet snaps to her Instagram showing her with her son enjoying a splash in the pool in matching designer swimwear. She recently told People that she's glad Santiago, who will turn two next month, is too young to understand what's going on with the coronavirus pandemic. 'I'm lucky cause my son is so little, he's not in school yet and he's not quite a baby so he's just in the sweet spot of 'has no idea what's going on' and just loves that Mom and Dad are home all day long,' she explained. She's also determined to keep the tot occupied during the lockdown. 'I have like his whole day planned, like we're going to paint in the morning for an hour and then we're going to do flashcards and we're going to do the alphabet,' she said. 'Then he'll find a box and play with that for five hours, and I'm like, okay, all my planning goes out the door.' Relaxing: On Friday, Longoria had posted several sweet snaps to her Instagram showing her with her son enjoying a splash in the pool in matching designer swimwear Reliance Industries Ltd is quoting at Rs 1590.5, up 1.84% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The stock is up 29.09% in last one year as compared to a 16.24% drop in NIFTY and a 13.99% drop in the Nifty Energy. Reliance Industries Ltd gained for a fifth straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 1590.5, up 1.84% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.93% on the day, quoting at 9337.35. The Sensex is at 31931.02, up 0.91%. Reliance Industries Ltd has risen around 33.75% in last one month. Meanwhile, Nifty Energy index of which Reliance Industries Ltd is a constituent, has risen around 10.3% in last one month and is currently quoting at 12896.7, up 1.18% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 196.04 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 276.63 lakh shares in last one month. The benchmark May futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 1586.6, up 1.92% on the day. Reliance Industries Ltd is up 29.09% in last one year as compared to a 16.24% drop in NIFTY and a 13.99% drop in the Nifty Energy index. The PE of the stock is 28.99 based on TTM earnings ending March 20. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uber should be a wonderful business. At its core, it is a taxi-booking app that takes a hefty percentage of the cost of each ride, but shoulders none of the costs of a network of drivers or cars. So-called platforms - software that sits between two sides of a transaction, skimming off the top - are the proven business model of the internet era: Microsoft Windows was the glue between per cent makers and owners, Google connects advertisers and consumers, Apple's App Store is a bridge between software developers and phone users. These businesses are so profitable since they have the rare combination of dominance and high profit margins. Uber chief Dara Khosrowshahi announced last week the company was cutting 14 per cent of its workforce, and indicated more job losses are coming. Credit:Bloomberg In theory, Uber's app should do the same. Aside from the cost of developing and hosting the app, and handling payment fees, its costs should be negligible, allowing the company to print money from the hundreds of billions spent on private car journeys a year. Its second business, takeaway service UberEats, follows the same concept, connecting restaurants, delivery drivers and hungry customers through software and taking a cut for doing so. [May 11, 2020] USS Nevada Located by SEARCH and Ocean Infinity NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SEARCH, Inc. (SEARCH), the largest underwater and terrestrial archaeology firm in the United States, and Ocean Infinity, the marine robotics company, are pleased to announce the discovery of USS Nevada (BB-36), one of the U.S. Navy's longest serving battleships, and viewed as the epitome of American resilience and perseverance. USS Nevada was located 65 nautical miles southwest of Pearl Harbor at a depth of over 15,400 feet. The discovery is the result of a successful collaboration between SEARCH and Ocean Infinity and marks the combination of SEARCH's leading maritime archaeological expertise and Ocean Infinity's unrivalled robotic technology and deep-water search capability. The mission was jointly co-ordinated between SEARCH's operations centre and one of Ocean Infinity's vessels, Pacific Constructor. Pacific Constructor set sail for a range of commercial tasks in the Pacific in early 2020, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the global health crisis, the ship has remained at sea on a range of taskings. USS Nevada's History USS Nevada had an extraordinary service, spanning three and a half decades. She was launched in 1914, and performed escort duties for valuable convoys headed to the British Isles. At the end of WWI she escorted the ocean liner George Washington, carrying U.S. president Woodrow Wilson to attend The Paris Peace Conference. In WWII, on 7 July 1941 in the attack on Pearl Harbor, USS Nevada was the only battleship to get underway but, having been struck by five bombs, finally sank in nearby shallow waters. During this action 60 of her crew were killed and 109 wounded. Following salvage operations she soon re-joined the war effort, sailing to the United Kingdom to take part in the D-Day landings, amongst other European operations. She then sailed to the Pacific, arriving off Iwo Jima in February 1945 and played an important part in the invasion of Okinawa. After WWII, USS Nevada was assigned to be a target ship in the first Bikini atomic experiments in 1946, which she survived. Finally, in 1948 she was used as a gunnery practice target. Unable to be sunk by the ships using her as a target, she finally went down having been hit by an aerial torpedo on 31 July 1948. Dr. James Delgado, SEARCH's Senior Vice President and lead maritime archaeologist on the mission, said: "Nevada is an iconic ship that speaks to American resilience and stubbornness. Rising from its watery grave after being sunk at Pearl Harbor, it survived torpedoes, bombs, shells and two atomic blasts. The physical reality of the ship, resting in the darkness of the great museum of the sea, reminds us not only of past events, but of those who took up the challenge of defending the United States in two gobal wars. This is why we do ocean exploration to seek out these powerful connections to the past." James Pochurek, SEARCH's President, said: "We are proud to have participated in this historic mission, which provides a tangible example of how technology can magnify the potential for discovery. Working with Ocean Infinity, the possibilities are limitless. "The discovery of the USS Nevada is another reminder of the powerful human stories lying beneath the waves waiting to be re-told." Shawntel Johnson, Director of Search and Recovery at Ocean Infinity, said: "It has been a pleasure to work with the SEARCH team on this historically significant project. Our partnership has brought together a compliment of marine expertise through their extensive experience in marine archaeology and Ocean Infinity's leading, technology driven, search capabilities. We look forward to future collaborations between our companies. We would also like to recognize and say thank you to our crews offshore who have remained dedicated and committed through these uncertain times. We continue to value the work they do and the personal sacrifices they are making to keep us operational. "It is our hope that by sharing the USS Nevada's story that it not only honors those who served in the Navy and fulfils an important educational role, but that in these challenging times it also serves as a symbol of perseverance and courage." Retired Rear Admiral Samuel Cox, Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, said: "We are greatly appreciative to Ocean Infinity and Search Inc. in relocating and providing information on an extremely historic vestige of our nation's past. Nevada is an unambiguous reminder of our Navy's heritage of resilience. "Nevada has a proud place in Navy's history commissioned in 1916, she served in both World Wars, and was present at the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941; the only battleship to get underway after the attack. During the attack, the ship and crew sustained at least six, and possibly, as many as ten bomb hits and one torpedo hit, but remained in the fight. With our Sailors quick thinking, the crew grounded the ship, preventing her from sinking. The ship was repaired and immediately returned to the fight, proving the resiliency and toughness of our Sailors then, as are today. "She went on to participate in numerous campaigns, earning a total seven battle stars for her actions during WWII. USS Nevada serves a reminder that our Sailors have a long, terrific tradition; her fighting spirit proved the U.S. Navy remains tough in difficult times. When the circumstances appear to be at their worst, our Navy remains at their best." Photo and videos assets associated with the USS Nevada mission can be downloaded from the link below, which includes a caption and credit sheet: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s3fg27hzevmjblq/AADb-nYfFjEl6u7CL2ZpRpg4a?dl=0 Additional information is available at searchinc.com and oceaninfinity.com. Notes to editors: Ocean Infinity's permanently mobilised ocean search capability is the most technologically advanced in the world. Their AUV's are capable of operating in water depths from 5 meters to 6,000 meters and covering vast areas of the seabed at unparalleled speed. The AUVs are not tethered to their host vessel during operations, allowing them to go deeper and collect higher quality data for the search. They are equipped with a variety of tools including side scan sonar, a multi-beam echo-sounder HD camera, and synthetic aperture sonar. In addition, from the host vessel, Ocean Infinity is able to deploy two work class ROVs and heavy lifting equipment capable of retrieving objects weighing up to 45T from 6,000 meters. Contact Information [email protected] +1-(904)-327-6697 Follow SEARCH: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter [email protected] America's: +1-(346)-330-7000 Europe, Africa and Asia: +44-(0)203-884-0900 Follow Ocean Infinity: Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uss-nevada-located-by-search-and-ocean-infinity-301056455.html SOURCE SEARCH, Inc.; Ocean Infinity [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Once again there is a lack of transparency in informing the public, bringing back bitter memories of shooting down the Ukrainian plane, former Vice President Mohamad Ali Abtahi said Monday on Twitter. Of the 176 people killed in that accident, 146 were Iranian. Irans military has come under intense global scrutiny since the Ukrainian plane was shot down, and trust in the government was already at an all-time low because of missteps in handling a severe outbreak of the coronavirus. Iranians have criticized the government for not enforcing an early lockdown to battle the virus and not being transparent about the number of people infected. That led to an explosion of infections that made Iran a regional epicenter of the pandemic. Reports of the latest accident drew criticism of the government on social media. Firing at your own targets, whether military or civil, in such a short space of time is not human error, Maziar Khosravi, a journalist aligned with opposition politicians, wrote on Twitter. Its a catastrophic failure of management and command. Military experts said that Sundays episode was a significant setback for Irans navy and its ambitions to project itself as a power player in the Persian Gulf and beyond. Together with the downing of the Ukrainian airliner, it undermines the effort by Iran to present its military as a force capable of countering the United States and its regional allies. Iranian armed forces have a systemic problem with coordination and command and control, whether it's air defense or naval warfare, whether its the Revolutionary Guards or the army, said Farzin Nadimi, an expert on Iranian military and naval operations in the Persian Gulf with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. These mistakes, he said, raise the stakes for the United States and all fleets operating in the Persian Gulf and the adjoining Gulf of Oman, one of the busiest waterways in the world. A Colombian advertising company divulged hospital beds that can be transformed into coffins as a grim solution for shortages on both items amid the new coronavirus pandemic. According to NY Daily, ABC Displays, a Colombian company, developed a morbid product which is a cardboard bed with metal railings along the sides. While the Bogota-based business is generally dedicated to marketing, the advertising company has been at a near logjam over the last month as the state remains on lockdown. Rodolfo Gomez, manager of ABC Displays, said witnessing the health crisis wreak a chaos in nearby Ecuador was enough to motivate him to take action. He added we worked on the designs with a private clinic before he developed the design, which can bear around 330 pounds. Moreover, Gomez clarified that residents were forced to wait for days at a time with the body of their family or a loved one as the new coronavirus cases continued to rise last month at the coastal city of Guayaquil. He articulated that a lot of people could not afford or find a wood coffin and had to use donated cardboard instead. Gomez said the design costs around $85 per piece and uttered that poor families could not afford to buy a coffin. Gomez aimed to contribute 10 of the novel beds to Colombia's Amazonas department, where there are incredibly limited resources. It is not certain whether the beds will be out to use. As of Saturday, Colombia has reported nearly 9,500 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. Ecuador has recorded more than 28,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and a death toll of 1,700. While Colombia has 10,000 confirmed cases and 428 deaths. Both are incomparable to the confirmed cases of the United States which leads the world in new coronavirus infections with 1,321,563 reported cases and a death toll of 78,380. Experts question integrity of product. At least one expert was skeptical of the sturdiness of the product and advised that any remains should first be placed in a sealed bag to avoid the possibility of spreading the disease before being placed in the cardboard coffin. In New York City, funeral home workers and officials have also tried to solve the remains of dead Covid-19 patients. Read also: Possible COVID-19 Complications in Children: New York Warns of Illness with Toxic Shock-like Reaction In April, residents in New York were startled when the authority discovered 100 bodies stacked in unrefrigerated trucks outside a funeral home in Brooklyn. Authorities dispatched to the location after residents complained about the smell for weeks. On the scene, authorities discovered two unrefrigerated U-Haul box trucks used as storage of the bodies outside of Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home in Flatlands after residents filmed body bags being dragged into them. Reportedly, around 50 dead bodies were being stored in each truck as the facility struggled in keeping up with the devastating rise of bodies due to the new coronavirus outbreak. The owner told to city officials that its freezer malfunctioned and they were forced to utilize the trucks as storage while bodies hold on cremation or burial. Jay Fredo said in a report that there have been trucks constantly outside unloading bodies for weeks and added that some of the bodies have been dropped. He uttered that what they witnessed was crazy and sick. No criminal charges were filed against the funeral home but were cited for failing to contain the odors. Related article: Obama Comments on Trump's COVID-19 Response, Calls it 'An Absolute Chaotic Disorder' @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Miami property buying and selling company recently launched its sell homes fast for cash services to Cutler Bay homeowners. They offer to sell homes at any price, with no hassle or long waiting. MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / May 10, 2020 / A Miami-based company is offering to help homeowners in the Cutler Bay, Fl area with selling their homes fast for cash. The company offers to buy houses anywhere in Miami and other parts of Florida, at any price. Details can be found at https://www.needhelpsellinghome.com. The newly launched cash-only services are offered to those avoiding foreclosure, facing divorce, on the verge of moving, behind in their mortgage, or liens. A spokesperson for the company said they buy houses in any condition, whether or not they are lived in, being rented, are vacant, or are not even habitable. The company assures that there's no need for the owners to clean up or repair the property, no need for an agent to assist in selling the property, and there's no contract involved that binds the homeowner to a certain term. With this fast cash company, there will be no waiting or wondering, since there is no waiting period of 6-12 months, as is the case with other real estate companies. Basically, if a homeowner in Cutler Bay needs fast cash and is willing to sell, NeedHelpSellingHome.com will offer that individual fair cash proposal for their property and close on it when the time is right for the owner. It takes three steps for this to happen. First, interested parties are encouraged to contact the company who will then research the details of the home and start crafting the best deal for the owner. Next, the company will present the owner with its cash offer, which comes with no fees or obligations. Once the owner agrees with the offer presented, then the deal is sealed and he/she will receive the payment as promised. NeedHelpSellingHome.com is different from other property buying and selling companies. With this company, homeowners can make contact with them via the website and fill out and submit the property information form provided. Owners can expect a fair all-cash offer on their property within 24 hours. Further, if there's a need for cash quickly, NeedHelpSellingHome.com offers to close the deal in as little as 7 days, since the company doesn't rely on traditional banking financing. Story continues Interested parties can visit the website above for more detailed information and instructions. Contact Info: Name: Jose Corbera Email: Send Email Organization: Corbera Investments, LLC. Address: 9229 SW 170th Path, Miami, FL 33196, United States Phone: +1-786-730-8386 Website: https://www.needhelpsellinghome.com/ SOURCE: Corbera Investments, LLC. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/589289/Cutler-Bay-FL-Sell-Homes-Fast-For-Cash-In-Any-Condition-Service-Launched BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Estonia's trade deficit decreased in March amid a fall in exports and imports, figures from Statistics Estonia showed on Monday. The trade deficit fell to EUR 150 million in March from EUR 166 million in the same month last year. In February, the trade deficit was EUR 130 million. Exports fell 1.0 percent year-on-year in March, following a 6.0 percent decrease in February. Imports decreased 2.0 percent annually in March, the same rate of fall as seen in the previous month. In the first quarter, the trade deficit was EUR 300 million compared to EUR 374 million in the same period last year. Exports and imports fell 3.0 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively. The trade deficit decreased in the first quarter mostly due to declined exports and imports of electrical equipment and mineral products, the agency said. 'Imports dropped mainly because less electronic integrated circuits and passenger cars were imported,' Evelin Puura, a leading analyst at Statistics Estonia said. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Eleven alleged "terrorists" were arrested on Sunday in connection with the failed maritime "invasion" of Venezuela, authorities said, bringing the total captured to more than 40. "Captured today #10May 2020, another three terrorist mercenaries in Colonia Tovar," about an hour from Caracas, tweeted armed forces chief Admiral Remigio Ceballos. Hours later, state television reported that military personnel had captured an additional eight "terrorists" in the northern coastal state of Vargas. The arrests came after another three alleged "mercenaries" were arrested Saturday, according to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. "We have been meticulously looking for all those involved and we are going to capture them all," Maduro announced during a television address. The botched invasion attempt -- which Maduro has compared to the Bay of Pigs incident in 1961 -- saw men landing in early May at Macuto, less than an hour from Caracas. In total, 45 people have been arrested. Eight attackers were reportedly killed in the incident. Among the detainees are two former US soldiers, Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41, who have been imprisoned and charged with "terrorism, conspiracy, illicit trafficking of weapons of war and (criminal) association." They could face between 25 to 30 years in prison. The others implicated in the case are Venezuelans. The left-wing Maduro government claims the plan was to remove him from power and allow opposition leader Juan Guaido -- recognized as the interim president by the United States and 50 other nations -- to take control. Maduro has said he believes US President Donald Trump was involved in the operation, with Guaido as his accomplice. Trump has strongly denied the accusations. Despite Maduro's accusations against him, Guaido has not been charged with any alleged crimes. A handout picture released by the Venezuelan Presidency shows on May 4, 2020, passports of US citizens arrested by security forces in relation to a failed maritime 'invasion' As Uttarakhand continues to evacuate its residents stranded in different places, checking the spread of Covid-19 will prove to be a Herculean task for the government with three lakh migrants poised to return home, official said Monday. The state government has been bringing its migrants from various states of the country in buses and trains. It has brought back about 34,000 migrants till Monday morning by state transport buses with 2,400 more to reach after the first two special trains left Surat and Pune Monday. A senior government official privy to the developments in the evacuation of migrants said on the condition of anonymity, The state government is expecting the return of at least 3 lakh migrants back with every online registration comprising about two-three persons each on average. The official said, Though the government had shown its commitment to bring all of them, it will be a Herculean task for it considering the limited resources of the small Himalayan state. Estimating the number of buses and trains required to bring all of them, he said that At least 100 trains and 3,000 buses will be needed to bring all of them while maintaining precautions amid the pandemic. The government at present is working on a war footing with most of the available resources being pressed in the evacuation. We have been already running buses from Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh where most of our residents are stranded. In the far away states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana and Kerala, we had asked for special trains which are being run gradually, said the official. He also said that there is also another challenge of taking the migrants to their home within the state once they reach here from outside. Resources are needed not only to bring them back but also to send them home in the state. And this is to be done after all those mandatory screening and precautions in which thousands of our health workers are involved, he said. Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat also acknowledged that the state faces a big challenge because many of those returning to the state would be infected. The state is expecting at least 2-2.25 lakh migrants to return of which about 25,000 are expected to be infected. Minister and government spokesperson Madan Kaushik who has been monitoring the evacuation process and states response to the pandemic, refused to reveal the total number of migrants who have registered with the government to return. We cannot reveal the total number of migrants but the total number of registration which is about 1.87 lakhs. But yes, it is a big challenge for our government to bring all our residents safely while following the precautions, said Kaushik. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kalyan Das Kalyan Das covers crime, transport, human rights and central government offices from Bhopal and Indore. ...view detail IntelliBoard Inc., the premier reporting and analytics platform for learning management systems (LMS), such as Blackboard Learn, Brightspace | D2L, Canvas and Moodle-based systems, today announced it has closed on a $3.4 million Series A investment from a variety of investors including Connecticut Innovations, Flashpoint VC, Smarthub VC and the companys previous Series Seed investor, LETA Capital. The Connecticut-based company will use this investment to continue its growth momentum. As the landscape of and demand for eLearning changes daily, this investment will be used by the company to execute its aggressive growth strategy and better serve its global client base with new features and platform enhancements. In 2015, we saw the need for data to be available to those who want to learn, said Anatoliy Kochnev, co-founder and CEO of IntelliBoard. Using data to improve the learning process is so important for educators, administrators and learners. The true value of data visualization lies in its ability to help shownot just tellthe story of the learner. This is what we are doing today. This investment will push us farther, faster, and it will make our product more robust, allowing us to further the education process. We are impressed with how much IntelliBoard has accomplished in such a short time, said Douglas Roth, managing director of investments at Connecticut Innovations. There has been, and will continue to be, a growing conversion to online delivery of learning across the K-12, higher education and corporate markets. IntelliBoards robust platform enables critical insights necessary for the effective and successful distribution of educational programs. IntelliBoard is the best BI solution for the growing learning management systems market. The company is doing a great job of transforming the learning process and increasing its effectiveness, added Alexander Chachava, managing partner at Leta Capital. Anatoliy and his team have the long-term vision and willingness to build a world-class company; thats why we continue to support them. We are intrigued by the companys mission to enhance the efficiency of existing online education platforms with data, said Michael Szalontay, Flashpoint VC managing partner. Online education will proliferate in the near future, and only deep data will bring a real understanding about the issues that online education platforms face. The companys founders have impressed us with their progress to date and unique positioning in the market, and we are proud to support them during these testing times. IntelliBoard helps all parties create strategic value and increase efficiency, said Bogdan Iarovoj, managing partner at SmartHub. Education service providers can get detailed feedback about how learners follow courses; companies can use information on best performers to develop best practices; students can trace their progress and plan their educational activities in a more intelligent and strategic way. These solutions will play a crucial role in implementing distant learning tools. IntelliBoard provides insights and delivers educational decision makers the data intelligence to influence learning delivery and improve overall learner performance. Specific tools within IntelliBoard help to highlight high- and low-performing learners through tracking, compliance measurement, competencies and engagement. In 2020, IntelliBoard will be developing ongoing feature improvements based on client needs; launching several new products, including a focus on attendance; making recommendations for future coursework; and strengthening LMS integrations for the Blackboard Learn, Brightspace | D2L and Canvas LMS platforms. IntelliBoard will extend the capabilities of its AI tool and improve IntelliBoard and eCommerce integrations, adding to its comprehensive suite of reporting and analytics tools, including more than 120 reports, monitors and analytics. About IntelliBoard: IntelliBoard.net offers analytic and reporting services to education communities and institutions that use Blackboard Learn, Canvas, Brightspace | D2L and Moodle-based learning management systems. IntelliBoard extracts the statistical data collected and presents this rich data on a single dashboard in the form of easy-to-read, aesthetic and printable charts, graphs and formatted reports. It is the premier reporting and analytics dashboard. Feel the strength of empowered learning with purposefully built analytics for education and training: the best instantly available, most-simplified point-and-click access to your LMS data to inform your educational business decisions. About Connecticut Innovations: Connecticut Innovations (CI) is Connecticuts strategic venture capital arm and the leading source of financing and ongoing support for Connecticuts innovative, growing companies. CI provides venture capital and strategic support for early-stage technology companies, financial support for innovation and collaboration, and connections to its well-established network of partners and professionals. For more information, please visit http://www.ctinnovations.com. About Flashpoint VC: Flashpoint (https://flashpointvc.com/) is an international technology investment firm that manages equity and debt funds. Flashpoint VC invests in international software companies with proven business models, launched by founders originating from Central and Eastern Europe, Israel, Baltics, Finland and the CIS. It focuses on B2B/B2C SaaS solutions in the initial revenue stage (Series A). Flashpoints team includes 18 professionals working at local offices in Budapest, London, Riga, Tel Aviv and Warsaw. About LETA Capital: Venture capital firm LETA Capital (https://leta.vc) invests in breakthrough technologies using a data-driven approach to select the best startups. Focusing on the most promising markets, LETA Capital invests in B2B and B2C software developers. Priority sectors for the current active fund are corporate SaaS, machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies, robotics and VR/AR. The current portfolio includes more than 30 companies. The ideal investment targets for the LETA Capital ll Fund are companies created by Russian-speaking entrepreneurs that operate in global markets. These companies are innovative IT businesses that use the latest technologies to change traditional approaches in legacy industries at the late seed, Series A and early-growth stages. About Smarthub VC: SmartHub (smarthub.vc) provides investment services for high-tech startups with high growth potential. Founded in 2014, SmartHub is a steadily growing community of early-stage investors, supporting emerging leaders with global aspirations in various digital-age industries. Today, the portfolio includes over 40 companies from Europe, the US, Russia, Australia and Asia. BURST Oral Care, a Los Angeles, CA-based DTC oral-care company closed a Series C funding round. The round was led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity Platform, GS Growth. The investment, which follows a total of $20m of funding from Volition Capital and a small group of angel investors, will support BURSTs ongoing rapid growth, including the extension of the brands product line as well as exploring new distribution channels and go-to-market strategies. Co-founded in 2017 by Hamish Khayat and Brittany Stewart, Burst Oral Care is a subscription oral care company, which developed its premier sonic toothbrush in collaboration with a community of dental professionals. It recorded a nearly 100% and 2500% increase in sales in 2019 and 2018, respectively. FinSMEs 11/05/2020 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to arrive in Israel on May 13. Though there are many issues on his agenda, one specific topic is particularly sensitive, since it revolves around tiny Israels involvement in the worsening clash between Washington and Beijing. The Americans are worried that the Chinese firm Hutchison will win the tender to build the worlds largest desalination plant planned for the Palmahim Mediterranean coast in the south of Israel. The facility, known as Sorek 2, will produce 200 million cubic meters of drinking water per year, raising the total water processed in Israeli desalination plants to 786 million cubic meters per year. This amounts to some 85% of all domestic and municipal consumption per year. The tender is worth an estimated $1.5 billion. Whoever wins it will operate the facility for 25 years. According to Barak Ravid of Channel 13 News, the US administration has asked Israel to reassess Hutchisons participation in the bidding, even though it has already reached the final stage of the tender. According to various diplomatic sources, messages sent by Washington to Jerusalem were unequivocal about the matter. The Americans are very worried about Chinas efforts to expand its foothold around the world by investing in strategic infrastructures. They regard this as a threat to their national security, says Galia Lavi, a post-doctoral student in the East Asian Studies department of Tel Aviv University who also conducts research for the China-Israel program at Israels Institute for National Security Studies. She tells Al-Monitor, This is not one of [President Donald] Trumps whims. The current president may say it more sharply than his predecessors, but the Americans have been keeping a worried eye on what China has been doing for several years now. What concerns the US most is what they identify as a Chinese attempt to dominate the future technology market. Israel has the reputation of being a greenhouse for advanced technologies, so China shows interest in what is happening here. That is exactly what alarms the United States. As the former head of Israel's water authority, Alexander Kushner fully understands what is motivating China. The Chinese have been tracking Israels water market for over a decade now, he tells Al-Monitor. As far back as when I headed the water authority, Chinese delegations came to learn more about our desalination technologies. The Chinese are out there, hunting for knowledge. We knew that they were going all around the world, armed with unlimited sums of money, just looking for where to invest. They are attempting to acquire any technology that they believe they might need at some point in the future. They dont care if they [currently] lose money on it. Israel is one of the worlds leaders in all matters pertaining to energy efficiency in the desalination process, Kushner adds. This is a very important point, because it is now thought that the shortage of water will become a central issue for many countries around the world over the next few years. There are three reasons for this: a rise in living standards and the quality of life, a growing population and climate change. Certain models that we developed a while ago predict extended droughts in large parts of the world. The Chinese are farsighted. They want to control those methods with proven experience in dealing with this drinking water crisis. Kushner admits that Israel is a convenient target. Israeli has become increasingly friendly to the Chinese over the last few years. They are involved in constructing the new ports in Ashdod and Haifa, as well as the railroad, and they feel comfortable here. The government opened a door for them, he explains. That is exactly why last year, the United States demanded that Israel establish a special committee to investigate foreign investments in the country, hoping it would slow Chinese involvement in the Israeli economy at least somewhat. In the case of the desalination plant, the Americans see it as a test case for them to assess whether Israel really is investigating Chinese investments. They expect the committee to convene, says Galia Lavi. In 2015, the Americans lost the tender for Haifa port, and the Chinese ended up acquiring the concession to run it. What makes this deal different is that it has yet to be signed. This means that they still wield influence over it. Another issue that bothers the Americans not to mention Israeli security experts is the location of the planned desalination facility. It is right next to the Palmahim Airbase, where American troops are stationed, and not far from the Nahal Sorek Nuclear Research Center. A 2019 report by Amos Harel of Haaretz claims that the head of the Defense Ministry's Security Authority, Nir Ben-Moshe, sent a letter to the Finance and Energy Ministries in which he expressed sharp opposition to the decision to allow Hutchison to participate in the tender. The letter seems to have had little effect, as the authorities decided to allow Hutchison to proceed with the tender anyway. Lavi is convinced that Israel is caught between a rock and a hard place. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus close personal relationship with Trump wont really help here, she warns. When it comes to the Chinese acquisition of infrastructures in the West, the United States is very insistent on its position. Israel would be stabbing them in the back, as far as they are concerned, and the situation could soon deteriorate into a repeat of the Phalcon crisis. On the other side of the equation, however, the situation with China is also very complicated. It is in Israels interest to maintain good relations with China. Netanyahu has been pushing ahead with closer economic ties between Israel and China ever since 2013, with a focus on Chinese investments in Israel and the encouragement of tourism and trade. Obviously, he will try to avoid ruining that relationship, but at the same time, he will also try to avoid upsetting the Americans. The really important question is whether that is possible. Midland County for the third consecutive day added no new cases, according to the daily Monday state report. The county stands at 66 positive tested cases and eight deaths. Bay County and Saginaw County added to their totals. Bay County now has 204 cases, up 12 on Monday, and nine deaths. Saginaw County had 20 new cases and two deaths Monday, and stands at 809 cases and 85 deaths. Gladwin and Isabella counties recorded no new cases Monday and are at 17 cases and one death and 62 cases and seven deaths, respectively. MidMichigan Health which covers a 23-county region and has medical centers at seven sites, including Midland was listed as having 15 COVID-19 patients on the state page, defined by the state as confirmed positive patients, including those in ICU and patients who are currently pending and under investigation. The health system reported four COVID-19 patients in ICU and 34% bed occupancy, the percentage of staffed inpatient beds occupied by any patient regardless of COVID-19 status. This data, according to the website, reflects the status in health systems and hospitals 48 hours prior to the time that it was posted to the state page, which was May 11. The state also is reporting no COVID-19 positive residents at four of Midland Countys long-term care facilities, Brittany Manor, Medilodge of Midland, Midland Kings Daughters Home and Stratford Pines as of May 10. Gladwin Nursing & Rehab Community and Gladwin Pines Nursing Homes also are reporting no COVID-19 positive residents. The state added 414 new cases and 33 deaths. Overall, Michigan is at 47,552 cases and 4,584 deaths. The average death age is 75.1, according to the state website, mich.gov, with the deceased ranging in age from 5 to 107. The state lists 41% of the deceased as 80-plus and 27% age 70-79. State statistics show 53% of coronavirus deaths are male and 47% are female. The state lists the total recovered at 22,686 cases, as of May 8, which represents COVID-19 confirmed individuals with an onset date on or prior to April 8, 2020, according to the state website, mich.gov. The numbers will be updated every Saturday. The Midland County Health Department website reports 29 probable cases as of May 8, which includes individuals who have symptoms of COVID-19 but have not been tested, meet the COVID-19 case definition and have had close contact with a lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 case. These are often household members of positive cases. The numbers will be updated every Friday The health department also is reporting 45 recovered cases as of May 8, which includes individuals who have a lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 result and have completed their isolation and are symptom-free. This differs from the state definition of individuals who are 30 days from symptom onset. The numbers will be updated every Friday. The state lists the majority of races in positive cases as 32% Black/African American; 35% Caucasian and 18x% unknown, and the top three races in deaths as 41% Black/African American; 49% Caucasian and 5% unknown The total positive cases are 46% men, 53% women and 1% unknown. Midland County Department of Public Health continues to encourage residents to take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19: Continue to practice social distancing as recommended by federal, state and local officials Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash Disinfect commonly touched surfaces Stay home when you are sick Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. We cannot stress enough how important it is for our community to be diligent in their community mitigation efforts," said Fred Yanoski, Midland County Public Health director/health officer. "We know that COVID-19 is in our community, and our residents can make a huge impact on slowing the spread of disease by following the recommended precautions." If you think you've been exposed to COVID-19 and develop a fever and symptoms such as cough or difficulty breathing, call your health care provider for medical advice. If he/she isn't available call MidMichigan Urgent Care in Midland at 989- 633-1350 or MidMichigan Medical Center's Emergency Department in Midland at 989-839-3100. MidMichigan Health has a COVID-19 informational hotline with a reminder of CDC guidelines and recommendations. The hotline can be reached toll-free at 800-445-7356 or 989-794-7600. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services also has a hotline number for Michigan residents for questions about COVID-19. The number is 1-888-535-6136 and is available seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Residents can also send an e-mail to: COVID19@michigan.gov. E-mails will be answered seven days a week between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. If you are feeling anxious, stressed, depressed and feel you need to talk to someone, reach out to Community Mental Health for Central Michigan by calling 800-317-0708. At least 820 people have died with COVID-19 at University Hospitals Birmingham, which statistics show is the hardest hit NHS organisation in the UK. A total of 32,065 deaths have now been recorded in Britain's coronavirus crisis, the majority of those in NHS hospitals in England (23,359). Every major hospital trust has now recorded at least one victim of COVID-19 and some have been hit harder than others. The 10 worst-affected hospital trusts, in London, Birmingham, Derby and Manchester, account for 4,808 fatalities. This is 16 per cent of the total death toll concentrated into just 4.6 per cent of the country's hospitals. And there are stark geographical trends, too, showing COVID-19 as a disease of cities - 11 of the 20 worst affected hospitals have been in the capital, along with, two in Birmingham, two in Manchester and others in Liverpool, Leeds and Sunderland. All major NHS hospital trusts except children's hospitals have now recorded victims of the disease, which has spread to every corner of Britain. The 820 people who have died at the hospitals in Birmingham make up 3.5 per cent of the 23,359 confirmed to have succumbed to the virus in England's hospitals so far. The death toll there is 47 per cent higher than the next worst affected hospital, Barts Health Trust in central London, where 558 people have died. Six other hospital trusts in London fill out the majority of the 10 hospitals with the most victims, according to NHS England data. Those were London North West University Healthcare (550); King's College Hospital (461); Royal Free London (452); Imperial College Healthcare (400); Barking, Havering & Redbridge (379); and Lewisham and Greenwich (374). The others were University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (424) and Pennine Acute Hospitals in Manchester (390). Scientists have said since the virus started circulating that the way it spreads means people are more at risk if they live in cities and densely populated areas. The coronavirus is most likely to spread in cities because people live closer together than in the countryside, and are more likely to come close to large numbers of strangers and to touch surfaces such as handrails or door handles that have been contaminated. People in cities are also more likely to rely on public transport where they may be exposed to the virus. WHICH HOSPITAL TRUSTS HAVE HAD THE MOST COVID-19 DEATHS? University Hospitals Birmingham (820) Barts Health, London (558) London North West University Healthcare (550) King's College Hospital, London (461) Royal Free London (452) University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (424) Imperial College Healthcare, London (400) Pennine Acute Hospitals, Manchester (390) Barking, Havering & Redbridge University Hospitals, London (379) Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust, London (374) Source: NHS England Advertisement WHICH HOSPITALS & NHS TRUSTS HAVE HAD THE FEWEST COVID-19 DEATHS? Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (1) Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Trust (1) NHS Nightingale Hospital, London (1) South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust (1) Humber Teaching NHS Trust (1) Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (1) North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Trust (1) Kent & Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership (1) Chippenham Community Hospital, Wiltshire (1) Central London Community Healthcare (2) Note: Private facilities excluded Advertisement In the countryside, however, people may be protected because they are able to drive themselves around and are less likely to live in apartment buildings. Speaking earlier in the outbreak, Professor Paul Hunter, a medicine professor at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline: 'If you've got people crammed into a city, there will be more contact between people. 'London was always going to be the worst and first. Before the lockdown, there was still a lot of nightlife, people going to the theatre and jammed into bars. They are crammed in like sardines and won't be two metres apart. MEN IN LOW PAID JOBS AT HIGHEST RISK OF DYING AMONG UNDER-65s Men working in low paid jobs are significantly more likely to die of COVID-19 than anyone else between the ages of 20 and 64, a 'horrifying' report has revealed. Those who work as security guards have one of the highest death rates along with social care workers, drivers and chefs. And they are up to four times as likely to die as university graduates working in 'professional' jobs, such as accountants, lawyers, engineers and teachers. Men made up two thirds of the workforce killed by the virus in the first month after lockdown was introduced in Britain, showing they are far worse affected than women of the same age, the Office for National Statistics data showed. The ONS found that people working in what it calls 'elementary' jobs, such as cleaners and construction workers, had the highest risk of death. Those low-paid workers are also likely to have been working throughout the crisis or to be the first back to work as Britain gets back to its feet this week. Men working as security guards had one of the highest death rates, at 45.7 deaths per 100,000 - this was more than quadruple the average for all men of the same age (9.9). And while men in 'professional' occupations died at a rate of 5.6 per 100,000, this was four times higher at 21.4 for those in 'low skilled elementary occupations'. The reasons for this are not clear but people working in better paid jobs are likely to live in less deprived areas, to have better general health and to spend less time in public-facing work, which could put people at extra risk of catching the virus. The average death rate for working women was 5.2 per 100,000 - women were dying at highest rates if they were hairdressers (18.1 per 100,000), factory or warehouse workers (15.6) or carers (12.7). Both men and women working as carers had a 'significantly' higher than average risk of dying from the disease, even though doctors and nurses did not. Other jobs in which men were put at particularly high risk included taxi drivers, chaffeurs, bus and coach drivers, chefs, and shop assistants. And factory and warehouse staff of both sexes are dying in considerably higher than average numbers, showing that the worst paid are also the worst affected. Advertisement 'London undoubtedly was one of the busiest transport systems in Europe. So the spread would have partly been due to extra crowds. 'Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK. If population density is driving cases, then Birmingham might well be the second largest outbreak.' While 40 hospitals have recorded 200 or more deaths, and make up half of the entire victim count (12,495), there are only 20 which have recorded just one death each. Another 13 have counted two victims each and 115 have counted 100 or fewer fatalities. Smaller, more niche settings such as community health partnerships, minor hospitals, private hospitals and children's hospitals, have recorded fewer fatalities. The private Woodlands Hospital in Darlington, run by BMI, is the only hospital listed on NHS England's statistics not to have recorded a single death. Testing data also offers an insight into how the coronavirus is affecting different areas of England and the UK differently. While London was at the beginning considered to be at the heart of Britain's outbreak, it is being caught up by other regions. The rate of infection in the Nort East is now considerably higher than in the capital, at 340.3 people per 100,000, compared to 290.6 in London. People in the North West are also at more risk, with 308.7 of them testing positive per 100,000, according to the Department of Health. There are concerns that the north, which generally has higher levels of deprivation than the south of England, will be harder hit by the virus. Statistics published today showed that people working in lower paid jobs are more likely to die of COVID-19, with security guards, social care workers, drivers, chefs, and factory and warehouse workers at a significantly higher risk of dying than other people of the same age. Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labours Shadow Health Secretary, said: 'This is a devastating confirmation that Covid-19 thrives on inequality and that those in low paid, insecure work have been left exposed and vulnerable. 'We entered this public health emergency with health inequalities widening and life expectancy stalling. We now need a plan to tackle these widening health inequalities which see poorer people become ill quicker and die sooner.' MailOnline has approached University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust for comment. Little Traverse Bay Humane Society hires training and behavior specialist Sarah Schertel will serve the training needs of Little Traverse Bay Humane Society, in addition to offering classes to the public. Milk Mantra, a new-age high growth dairy food startup that solves the problem of trust deficit between consumers and food with its purposeful business ethos has bolstered its leadership team with the appointment of FMCG veteran, Bibhu Nanda as the Chief Operating Officer(COO). In his new role, Bibhu will lead operations and drive innovation and growth. He brings with him over 25 years of cross-functional and geographical expertise (Indian subcontinent and Sub Saharan Africa) in the FMCG and food industry across key functions such as Sales & Distribution, Manufacturing Operations, Supply Chain & Logistics, and Marketing Operations. In his earlier stint, he served as the VP & Business Head for leading food and agri-business company, Olam International for six years in Mozambique. Prior to that, he was with marquee companies such as Danone, Marico, Coca-Cola, and Godrej. An engineer by training, he holds an MBA from XIMB and has completed executive leadership programmes from INSEAD and Columbia Business School. Commenting on his appointment, Srikumar Misra, Founder, MD& CEO, Milk Mantra said, We are excited to have Bibhu join us at Milk Mantra. He brings with him phenomenal experience with consumer product companies, along with a unique combination of strategic thinking & operational expertise. His deep understanding of us as a purposeful startup and his wide experience with growing consumer brands with speed & agility will mark this exciting phase for Milk Mantra 3.0 as we accelerate our growth into new categories, marketplaces, and geographies. Talking about his new role, Bibhu Nanda, COO, Milk Mantra, added, I am delighted to be associated with Milk Mantra at a time where it is poised to leapfrog into the phase 3 of growth. Armed with the equity that Milk Mantra has created within the dairy ecosystem, with technology footprint at each stage it is imperative that we reach all our stakeholders and create value for them, be it the consumers, our farmer fraternity, the teams and eventually our investors and thats our purpose. He further added, we are a relatively small dairy company with big and bold ideas that will fructify into innovative and differentiated products being delivered to our consumers in our ever-expanding reach.I must take this opportunity to appreciate each of the teams that have displayed immense grit in servicing our consumers during the current pandemic scenario. Milk Mantra is one of the fastest-growing mass premium dairy food companies in India which has pioneered an ethical sourcing program and has created wide-scale impact on millions of lives via its purposeful business model. Over the last 8 years, Milk Mantra has built a leading premium diary brand in Eastern India and its unique ethical milk sourcing network now encompasses over 60,000+ farmers whose income levels have gone up by 70%. Under flagship brand Milky Moo the company produces milk products including packaged milk, probiotic yoghurt, buttermilk, cottage cheese etc. Milk Mantra has received global appreciation and attention for its transformational business from leading media, universities & the PMO. Mary McCord, former acting assistant attorney general for national security, claimed in a New York Times op-ed Sunday that the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the case against Michael Flynn "twisted" her words to suggest that the FBI's 2017 interview of Flynn was illegitimate. Why it matters: The Justice Department's filing relies in part on McCord's July 2017 interview with the FBI to argue that the FBI had no valid counterintelligence reason to interview Flynn, and that the former national security adviser's apparent lies were therefore immaterial. The big picture: The Flynn filing signed by acting U.S. Attorney for D.C. Timothy Shea, a close confidante of Attorney General Barr notes that the FBI had intended to close its counterintelligence investigation of Flynn but extended it upon learning about his conversations with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The filing claims that the calls were "entirely appropriate on their face," and that nothing was said on the calls to indicate an "inappropriate relationship" between Flynn and Russia. Therefore, "there was no factual basis for the predication of a new counterintelligence investigation," the filing states. "Nor was there a justification or need to interview Mr. Flynn as to his own personal recollections of what had been said." The filing cites a summary of McCord's interview with the FBI more than 25 times to show that Justice Department leadership wanted to notify the incoming Trump administration of the Flynn-Kislyak communications, but that the FBI refused. Yes, but: McCord claims in her op-ed that her interview does not help support the conclusion that the interview shouldn't have taken place, and that "it is disingenuous for the department to twist my words to suggest that it does." What she's saying: "What the account of my interview describes is a difference of opinion about what to do with the information that Mr. Flynn apparently had lied to the incoming vice president, Mr. Pence, and others in the incoming administration about whether he had discussed the Obama administrations sanctions against Russia in his calls with Mr. Kislyak," McCord writes. The filing describes the FBI's reasons for not wanting to notify the incoming Trump administration about Flynn's lies as "vacillating from the potential compromise of a counterintelligence investigation to the protection of a purported criminal investigation." But McCord claims this "vacillation" has "no bearing" on whether the FBI interview was justified, whether Flynn's lies were material to the Russia investigation, or whether they were material to the "clear counterintelligence threat" that Flynn's lies posed due to the risk of blackmail. "The materiality is obvious," she writes. The bottom line: "In short, the report of my interview does not anywhere suggest that the FBIs interview of Mr. Flynn was unconstitutional, unlawful or not tethered to any legitimate counterintelligence purpose," McCord concludes. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. Go deeper: Read the full op-ed Malls, retail stores, restaurants and movie theaters sprawled across Texas were allowed to reopen on May 1, for the first time since March 31, when Gov. Greg Abbott told residents to stay home. That included Saks Fifth Avenue, whose Houston and San Antonio shops are the retailers only locations in the United States to resume normal business, as of Monday. When Delia Hickman (@mommalovesfashionblog) got an email about the Saks reopening in San Antonio, and detailing the stores new safety plan, she didnt think twice. I thought, Im in, she said. As retailers test the waters of reopening, gauging whether people are ready to shop again and shop in a more clinical, alien way than ever before this response is their best-case scenario. After driving to North Star Mall, Ms. Hickman was surprised, she said, to find many other stores still closed; shed wanted to pop into H & M and make returns at Zara while she was there. For now, the department store would have to do. The following was condensed and edited for clarity. Why did you decide to go shopping on Friday? Egypt reported on Monday 346 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of infections to 9746, the health ministry said in a statement. The ministry also reported 8 fatalities, bringing the total number of deaths from COVIED-19 to 533 . The health ministry added that 97 patients have fully recovered and were discharged from isolation hospitals and quarantine facilities. The total number of recoveries from the highly contagious virus now stands at 2172. The number of patients who retested negative, including complete recoveries, has now reached 2655, ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said. Megahed added that all the positive cases are currently being treated in isolation hospitals and in quarantine facilities. Egypt first hit its 1,000 benchmark on 4 April, with the infection tally continuing to rise despite extending the night-time nationwide curfew for three times since March to curtail the spread of the pandemic. Hala Zayed, Health minister, held on Monday a virtual meeting with the medical staffers of quarantine hospitals to follow up on the availability of all needs and to ensure the implementation of the updated treatment protocols and infection control standards. According to the statement, the minister ensured during the meeting the availability of strategic necessities for personal medical staff, such as single-use protective suits, gloves, and face masks. She also followed up on the automated system in isolation hospitals that links hospitals with central laboratories, ambulance organization, and hostels The minister also followed up on the strategy of transferring clinically-mild coronaviorus cases and other cases that responded to treatment protocols and exhibited no symptoms but whose PCR tests are still positive from isolation hospitals to some hotels and hostels, to complete their medical follow-up until their analyses turn negative. To free beds at the 17 operational isolation hospitals nationwide for the increasing number of Covid-19 patients, on 23 April the Health Ministry decided to transfer mild coronavirus cases from quarantine hospitals to university hostels. Search Keywords: Short link: Israel's annexation plan means end to peace illusions: Palestinian official Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 3:21 PM Israel's controversial plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank means an end to peace efforts and the so-called two-state solution, a senior Palestinian official says. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the Palestine National Initiative, gave an interview to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) on Sunday, where he argued, "The annexation plan also means the end of two illusions the first is the wagering on the US as a mediator of the so-called peace and the second is the possibility of reaching a compromise with the Zionist movement, which is sending an obvious message that it wants all Palestine and Jordan." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set July 1 for the start of cabinet discussions on extending Israeli appropriation to settlements in the West Bank and annexing the Jordan Valley. Barghouti further described Israel's annexation plan as "a message to everyone imagining that we are in the process of finding a solution with the Zionist movement and the occupation." The reality, he stressed, is that "Palestinians are in an ongoing struggle and confrontation." "The Palestinians must put aside their differences and join forces quickly because the Israelis will try to devour us one by one and one group after another," he added. Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds during the Six-Day War in 1967. It later annexed East Jerusalem al-Quds in a move not recognized by the international community. Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital. But Israel's aggressive settlement expansion and annexation plans have dealt a serious blow to any prospects of peace. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel's continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories. More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds. The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Friday lambasted recent pro-occupation statements by the US ambassador to Israel, who reaffirmed Washington's full support for the annexation of the West Bank and said the Tel Aviv regime had a "right" to do so. Hamas spokesman Hazen Qasem strongly slammed Freidman's remarks, describing them as a "violation of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights", stressing that they were in line with the White House's policy of falsifying facts to further serve Tel Aviv's agenda. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel's settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions. Netanyahu has repeatedly pledged to annex all the Palestinian territories on which Israeli settlements are built in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli prime minister has voiced confidence that the United States would give Tel Aviv the nod to move ahead with the annexation of the occupied West Bank. The European Union and the United Nations have already denounced the plan. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has condemned Israel's controversial plan to annex much of the occupied West Bank, saying the move will shut the door on possible "peace negotiations" with the Palestinians. Guterres made the remarks in a recent meeting with the Arab Group delegation, including Oman, the Arab League and Palestinian officials, denouncing Israeli settlements and the looming annexation plan as illegal. He noted that the annexation proposal will "effectively end the [so-called] two-state solution and close the door on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The lawsuit filed by Priscilla La Gordiloca Villarreal against several city and county officials has been dismissed with prejudice by a local federal judge. The lawsuit claimed city and county officials violated her constitutional rights, retaliated against her and wrongfully arrested her over a year ago. On Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge John A. Kazen wrote in a memorandum and order that Villarreal failed to establish several claims in her lawsuit. Although the court recognizes the profound importance of the rights guaranteed to citizens, such as (Villarreal) in this case, the court has ultimately determined that (Villarreal) has not been able to overcome the claims of qualified immunity and the other arguments raised by defendants motions, the memorandum states. Federal law states qualified immunity protects government officials who act within their official capacity from liability if those actions are reasonable to the law, unless their actions violated clearly established federal law or constitutional rights. In May 2019, Eric Magee, the attorney for Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz, Chief Assistant District Attorney Marisela Jacaman and Webb County, filed a motion to dismiss stating that Villarreals lawsuit doesnt contain sufficient facts to support her claims and request for compensation. Magee argues that the prosecutors functions include representing the government in filing and presenting criminal cases, as well as other acts that are closely associated with the judicial process. READ MORE: Laredo teen allegedly transported 300 pounds of marijuana A prosecutor has absolute immunity for acts initiating and pursuing a criminal prosecution, including presenting the states case at trial and for participating in a probable-cause hearing, the motion states. Soon after, San Antonio attorney William McKamie filed a motion to dismiss on behalf of the City of Laredo, Laredo Police Chief Claudio Trevino and Laredo Police Officers Juan Ruiz, Deyanira Villarreal, Enedina Martinez, Alfredo Guerrero, Laura Montemayor and two unknown defendants stating that Villarreals lawsuit did not state any factual claims of which she can request any kind of relief against his clients because she did not present any action that his clients committed that does not protect them under qualified immunity. According to Villarreals petition, the defendants retaliated against, punished and intimidated her in response to her citizen journalism. They arrested and detained her without probable cause and under a statute that no reasonable government official would apply or otherwise rely upon under the circumstances, the lawsuit states. Villarreal did not receive or solicit information with intent to obtain a benefit. Any reasonable official would have understood there was no economic gain or advantage tied to her gathering and publication of the information in the Targeted Publications on her Facebook page, the lawsuit says. Any reasonable official would have understood that publishing truthful information for wider distribution is protected First Amendment activity and not subject to criminal penalty. Kazens memorandum and order states that Villarreal has failed to support a plausible inference that no reasonable officer could have found that the information at issue was public and therefore subject to the statute. Moreover, plaintiff has failed to show that Defendants were under an obligation to interview plaintiff about how she obtained the information in the subject publications, the order states. READ MORE: Webb District Attorney will not prosecute women accused of violating order with beauty businesses It adds that a reasonable person could have believed the information Villarreal received from a Laredo police officer, to which the public did not generally have access, was prohibited from disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act at the time Villarreal received the information. As the Court has already discussed, (Villarreal) must allege more than a general violation of a right, the order states. Accordingly, the court finds that (Villarreal) has failed to show the alleged interference by the individual defendants violated any clearly established right existing at the time of each of the incidents. In her lawsuit, Villarreal claims defendants retaliated and interfered with her First Amendment rights, was unlawfully arrested and detained in violation of the 4th and 14th amendments, was deprived of equal protection under the 14th amendment, and alleges a civil conspiracy to deprive her of constitutionally-protected rights. The memorandum and order state that Villarreal failed to maintain a civil conspiracy claim. In order for Villarreal to assert a claim for conspiracy, she must have established the existence of a conspiracy involving a state action and a deprivation of civil rights in furtherance of the conspiracy by a party to the conspiracy. As for Trevino, Villarreal did not argue any actions that would establish he was personally involved or indifferent to personally deprive her of her constitutional rights, McKamies motion to dismiss states. Villarreal has no claims against the City of Laredo other than it employs the named police officers, the motion states. She doesnt state or refer to any formal policy of the city that caused her alleged complaints. Importantly, there is no pattern of violations alleged that preceded (Villarreals) arrest that would have put the city on notice of a need to implement more or different training or problems with police department policy that would have had any effect on (Villarreals) arrest, according to the motion to dismiss. READ MORE: Trailer found at Laredo checkpoint with 36 immigrants inside McKamie states that Villarreal has no ongoing harm or threat against her. In this case, (Villarreal) seeks to hold Trevino liable for his supervision of LPD officers with respect to the investigation and arrest of (Villarreal), the order states. However, (Villarreal) does not point to a single incident, aside from (hers), where an individual was investigated and arrested in violation of the First and Fourth Amendment, let alone an incident in which Trevino was the supervisor. In fact, Plaintiff repeatedly draws the Courts attention to the fact that she was the first individual arrested under (Texas Penal Code 39.06). Since dismissal of the criminal case, Villarreal does not allege any actions against her by anyone from Webb County or the City of Laredo, much less the named Defendants, the order states. The court found that the allegations in Villarreals petition did not establish a genuine case or controversy that justified receiving any type of relief. In order to meet the standing requirements under the Declaratory Judgment Act, (Villarreal) must establish actual present harm or a significant possibility of future harm, the order states. It adds that Villarreal has failed to allege plausibly that the City of Laredo or Webb County has a policy or custom of violating her constitutional rights. Additionally, for the same reasons (Villarreal) failed to establish an actual present harm or significant possibility of future harm, the court determines that (Villarreal) is also unable to establish a real or immediate threat that (she) will be wronged again, the order states. Kazen granted the City of Laredos motion to dismiss, Webb Countys motion to dismiss and Villarreals claims were dismissed with prejudice. Villarreal will not be able to bring back her case to the court. Petition According to her petition, the 10 defendants retaliated against, punished and intimidated Villarreal in response to her citizen journalism. The lawsuit added that LPD, the District Attorneys Office and the Webb County Sheriffs Office had never previously arrested, detained or prosecuted a person for misuse of information. Villarreal claims in the lawsuit that after she turned herself in to police, she was surrounded by numerous LPD officers and employees, who were laughing at Villarreal, taking pictures of her in handcuffs with their cellphones, and otherwise showing their animus toward Villarreal with an intent to humiliate and embarrass her. According to the lawsuit, the defendants have caused Villarreal to suffer damages to her reputation, wrongful incarceration, legal and other costs and fear of further retaliation. Defendants acts have caused Villarreal to suffer further injuries, including financial hardship, physical and mental anguish, emotional distress, humiliation and public embarrassment, the lawsuit states. Through the lawsuit, Villarreal is seeking an entry of judgment holding the defendants liable to their alleged unlawful conduct; actual, compensatory and punitive damages; injunctive relief; declaratory judgment; and attorney fees. Arrest In December 2017, Laredo police charged Villarreal with two counts of misuse of information, a felony, after she published on Facebook the names of victims in a suicide and vehicle crash. Police said in the arrest affidavit that Villarreal benefited by receiving more Facebook followers after she published the names online before they released them publicly. LPD said she received the information she published from one of their officers. In March 2018, 111th District Court Judge Monica Zapata Notzon ruled that the Texas law that was used to charge Villarreal was vague and unconstitutional since it denied her due process. New iPhone SE to further boost Apple's position in post-lockdown India. Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, May 11 : The new iPhone SE (64GB) will cost Rs 38,900 in India with a special offer from HDFC Bank that will be available for purchase on etailer Flipkart by the end of this week or early next week. The HDFC Bank offer is inclusive of cash back of Rs 3,600 on HDFC Bank Debit and Credit Cards, according to Apple. The affordable second-generation iPhone SE with 4.7-inch Retina HD display, paired with Touch ID for industry-leading security, starts at Rs 42,500. "Our partners will offer the powerful and affordable new iPhone SE," in India, according to the Cupertino-based company. Redington (India) Limited, global IT and mobility distributor, said it will offer new iPhone SE that will be available in over 3,500 retail locations across the country. The new iPhone SE will be available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB models in black, white and (PRODUCT)RED through Apple Authorised Resellers and select carriers. According to Navkendar Singh, Research Director, IDC India, this device will certainly appeal to a lot of Android mid-segment users who cannot afford a flagship iPhone. "I should certainly find volumes immediately when it is launched since this will be the most affordable new iPhone and cheapest way to enter Apple ecosystem," Singh told IANS. The new iPhone SE is powered by the Apple-designed A13 Bionic, the fastest chip in a smartphone and features the best single-camera system ever in an iPhone. iPhone SE features an aerospace-grade aluminum and durable glass design with an all-black front. The device also features the familiar Home button designed with sapphire crystal to be durable and to protect the sensor, and a steel ring to detect a user's fingerprint for Touch ID. iPhone SE is wireless-charging capable with Qi-certified chargers and also supports fast-charging, giving customers up to 50 per cent charge in just 30 minutes. It comes with Dual SIM with eSIM provides the flexibility for users to have two separate phone numbers on a single device while traveling abroad or for use as a business line. iPhone SE features the best single-camera system ever in an iPhone with a 12MP f/1.8 aperture Wide camera, and uses the image signal processor and Neural Engine of A13 Bionic to unlock computational photography, including Portrait mode, all six Portrait Lighting effects and Depth Control. Togo is one of the smallest countries in the West Africa borded by Ghana to the west, Benin to the East and Burkina to the south. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea where its capital LOME is located. It is a francophone country with an approximate of 7.9 million population. Their motto is "Travail, Liberte et Patrie" which means "work, liberty and homeland ". Togo is popular in Africa and the world at large for their multistoried Grand marche (Big market) bazaar. Aside this, it has the serene and the condusive environment for language learning and acquisition of linguistics conversational ability. Centre international de recherche et d'etude langue (CIREL), Village du Benin (VB), is a school under the Universite de Lome which has been internationally recognised as one of the best language schools in West Africa. Since its establishment in 1968, it has on usual basis taught and trained people from 36 countries and more of to master some foreign languages like French and English and other interesting programmes like tourism etc. Ghana and Nigeria are not exempted from the 36 and still counting countries.*The current condition of the Ghanaian students studying in Togo*- *EMMANUEL BARTELS ANKRAH* Togo is one of the smallest countries in the west Africa boarded by Ghana to the west, Benin to the East and Burkina to the south. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea where its capital LOME is located. It is a francophone country with an approximate of 7.9 million population. Their motto is "Travail, Liberte et Patrie" which means "work, liberty and homeland ". Togo is popular in Africa and the world at large for their multistoried Grand marche (Big market) bazaar. Aside this, it has the serene and the condusive environment for language learning and acquisition of linguistics conversational ability. Centre international de recherche et d'etude langue (CIREL), Village du Benin (VB), is a school under the Universite de Lome which has been internationally recognised as one of the best language schools in West Africa. Since its establishment in 1968, it has on usual basis taught and trained people from 36 countries and more of to master some foreign languages like French and English and other interesting programmes like tourism etc. Ghana and Nigeria are not exempted from the 36 and still counting countries. Annually, CIREL receive and train students from about 14 Universities in Nigeria. Some of these universities are,University of Nigeria(UNN),University of Benin(UNIBEN), University of Lagos state (UNILAG), Imo state University(IMSU),Nnamadi Azikwe University(UNIZIK), Kaduna state University(KASU),Delta state University, Ahmadu Bello University, Ekiti state University(EKSU), University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) etc and other teacher training colleges. In Ghana, University of Cape Coast(UCC) and University of Education(UEW) send their 3rd and 4th year French students respectively to go and ameliorate their proficiency in the French language. This offer is motivated by a fully funded scholarship programme from the Ghana scholarship secretariat. This academic year, CIREL received 210 students from the above Ghanaian universities, UCC and UEW. As part of the initiative of probing to know the condition of Ghanaian students studying abroad amidst this COVID-19 pandemic, I decided not to leave them out. Bertha Anne, a third year student of University of Cape Coast shares with us their current state and condition amidst this pandemic. "We are very safe here. Nothing bad has happened to anyone here. We have all been strictly confined in our hostel. No going out nor coming in! We're not even allowed to go and use the campus' Wi-Fi connection. The only place we're permitted to go is the forecourt of the hostel and later return back to the hostel. The security is very tight here yeah! Initially when it started where this COVID-19 had the media attention and also had our school being suspended on 20th March, 2020, some of us became very scared. We felt insecured and wanted to come back home, Ghana. I think it was the best decision our authorities made to keep us here. Togo has only recorded 126 coronavirus cases with 76 recoveries and 9 death. *E-LEARNING* Yes! I have heard of the E-learning brouhaha from some colleague students in Ghana. We have not been enrolled on any e-learning or whatsoever. Nonetheless, our lecturers have given us some assignments to occupy ourselves with. *SUPPORT FROM CIREL, VB TO FOREIGN STUDENTS* They provided soap and the Veronica buckets at vantage points and enjoined students especially those who did not take the virus seriously to wash their hands and observe the other precautionary measures to keep us safe from contracting the virus. They have also assigned to us some health workers who routinely check up on us to see whether anyone has been showing symptoms of the virus and as well educate us on how to keep ourselves safe. Also, they have provided us with a car which sends a selected few to the market to buy our food stuff and essential things we need per the list and money we give them. I think the authorities of CIREL, VB have done well. *CHALLENGES* This COVID-19 pandemic has retarded learning. As a confined people from one country, most of us have paused the conscious effort of practising the French language which is our prime motive of being here. We mostly open and end conversations with our local dialect which is not advisable. *ADVANTAGES* Most of us are using the time judiciously by upgrading our skills, learning new skills and new languages like German and Spanish. Others too busily watching their telenovelas and other TV series which the serious studies couldn't permit them to watch. Sure! It's necessary! Hehehe! University of Cape Coast was the only university which was able to celebrate her SOIREE before the Covid-19 Pandemic. Soiree is an annual celebration observed by all the universities under CIREL. They do this to showcase the rich culture of their country and also use that medium to practise their French through numerous performances". *ADVICE* Bertha Anne advised that Ghanaian students who are currently home should still make time for their books. "If nothing at all, just an hour with your books is enough for the day" she claimed. Annually, CIREL receive and train students from about 14 Universities in Nigeria. Some of these universities are,University of Nigeria(UNN),University of Benin(UNIBEN), University of Lagos state (UNILAG), Imo state University(IMSU),Nnamadi Azikwe University(UNIZIK), Kaduna state University(KASU),Delta state University, Ahmadu Bello University, Ekiti state University(EKSU), University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) etc and other teacher training colleges. In Ghana, University of Cape Coast(UCC) and University of Education(UEW) send their 3rd and 4th year French students respectively to go and ameliorate their proficiency in the French language. This offer is motivated by a fully funded scholarship programme from the Ghana scholarship secretariat. This academic year, CIREL received 210 students from the above Ghanaian universities, UCC and UEW. As part of the initiative of probing to know the condition of Ghanaian students studying abroad amidst this COVID-19 pandemic, I decided not to leave them out. Bertha Anne, a third year student of University of Cape Coast shares with us their current state and condition amidst this pandemic. "We are very safe here. Nothing bad has happened to anyone here. We have all been strictly confined in our hostel. No going out nor coming in! We're not even allowed to go and use the campus' Wi-Fi connection. The only place we're permitted to go is the forecourt of the hostel and later return back to the hostel. The security is very tight here yeah! Initially when it started where this COVID-19 had the media attention and also had our school being suspended on 20th March, 2020, some of us became very scared. We felt insecured and wanted to come back home, Ghana. I think it was the best decision our authorities made to keep us here. Togo has only recorded 126 coronavirus cases with 76 recoveries and 9 death. *E-LEARNING* Yes! I have heard of the E-learning brouhaha from some colleague students in Ghana. We have not been enrolled on any e-learning or whatsoever. Nonetheless, our lecturers have given us some assignments to occupy ourselves with. *SUPPORT FROM CIREL, VB TO FOREIGN STUDENTS* They provided soap and the Veronica buckets at vantage points and enjoined students especially those who did not take the virus seriously to wash their hands and observe the other precautionary measures to keep us safe from contracting the virus. They have also assigned to us some health workers who routinely check up on us to see whether anyone has been showing symptoms of the virus and as well educate us on how to keep ourselves safe. Also, they have provided us with a car which sends a selected few to the market to buy our food stuff and essential things we need per the list and money we give them. I think the authorities of CIREL, VB have done well. *CHALLENGES* This COVID-19 pandemic has retarded learning. As a confined people from one country, most of us have paused the conscious effort of practising the French language which is our prime motive of being here. We mostly open and end conversations with our local dialect which is not advisable. *ADVANTAGES* Most of us are using the time judiciously by upgrading our skills, learning new skills and new languages like German and Spanish. Others too busily watching their telenovelas and other TV series which the serious studies couldn't permit them to watch. Sure! It's necessary! Hehehe! University of Cape Coast was the only university which was able to celebrate her SOIREE before the Covid-19 Pandemic. Soiree is an annual celebration observed by all the universities under CIREL. They do this to showcase the rich culture of their country and also use that medium to practise their French through numerous performances". *ADVICE* Bertha Anne advised that Ghanaian students who are currently home should still make time for their books. "If nothing at all, just an hour with your books is enough for the day" she claimed. Reported by : EMMANUEL BARTELS ANKRAH HON. BARTELS UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST A BBC journalist has expressed her 'fury' after a planned live broadcast from Leicester city centre had to be pulled following an incident of racist abuse. BBC News reporter Sima Kotecha was moments away from going live with a reaction piece to Boris Johnson's address to the nation last night when a man began shouting 'terrible things' at her, her guests and her production team. The planned broadcast from Leicester was pulled from BBC News following the incident - which has left colleagues 'appalled'. A spokesperson for the BBC, who confirmed the incident would be reported to the police, said the team pulled the live broadcast fearing the man's racist language would make it on air. Ms Kotecha, 40, who has in the past reported from Helmand Province during the Afghanistan conflict and recently from Rome at the height of Italy's coronavirus crisis, took to the Twitter to vent her anger over the incident. The journalist, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, said: 'Apologies - but a man shouting terrible things at me has ruined it for everyone. I'm afraid not going to make it on the special programme.' BBC News reporter Sima Kotecha was moments away from going live with a reaction piece to Boris Johnson 's address to the nation last night when a man began shouting 'terrible things' at her, her guests and her production team In a follow-up Tweet, she said: 'Apologies to our guests who we had to send home without putting on air after myself and team were subjected to racist and abusive behaviour - sad obstruction of reporting of a national crisis.' She added: 'Yes Im furious.' Ms Kotecha received hundreds of messages of support, including from Channel 4 journalist Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Location, Location, Location star Kirstie Allsopp. The latter said: 'You have every right to be absolutely furious, Id be incandescent. What a vile experience.' Another supporter said: 'I cannot tell you how ashamed I am that it happened in Leicester. But then it only takes one idiot to spoil it for the majority. 'I hope Leicester Police investigate and find those who abused your guests and you.' The BBC Press Team has also tweeted in support of Ms Kotecha and promised to report the incident to the police. In a statement, on Twitter, they said: 'While preparing to broadcast, our reporter, her production team and guests were subjected to racist and abusive behaviour. 'We are appalled by what happened and will be reporting the incident to the police. We will not tolerate racism or abuse of our staff.' A spokesperson for Leicester Police said the force was aware of the incident but had no further details at this time. The force's Chief Constable, Simon Cole, responded to Ms Kotecha's tweet and encouraged her to report the incident to his team. Ms Kotecha was born and raised in Basingstoke, Hampshire, and later studied journalism at Goldsmiths University in London. She began her career in local BBC radio 2003 and has since worked on some of the BBC's biggest shows, including Panorama, Radio 4's Today Programme and BBC News. During her career, Ms Kotecha has reported from Helmand Province during the Afghanistan war, covered the devastating Haiti earthquake in 2010, as well as from Lebanon during the Syrian refugee crisis. Yesterday's incident of racist abuse took place in Leicester, which is one of the UK's most multicultural cities. A 2011 census showed less than half of the city's population identify as 'White British'. The city has one of the largest Asian populations in the UK and is also home to significant African, Caribbean and Eastern European communities. A care home at the centre of a deadly Covid-19 outbreak failed to isolate a resident when he returned from hospital, his devastated family have claimed. The family of Ivor McQuitty, who died from Covid-19 on May 2, have raised serious questions about infection control policies at Rose Court in Ballymena - including what they say was a lack of testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff. Runwood Homes, which owns Rose Court, has said that PPE has always been available at the home and that it has always adhered to official guidance throughout the pandemic, while a spokesman for the firm said Mr McQuitty "was cared for in a segregated area of a lounge with social distancing". Care homes have continued to admit residents from hospital throughout the pandemic but have been advised throughout to assume that any resident coming from a hospital has Covid-19 and should be isolated. Guidance from the Public Health Agency (PHA) states that when a resident is discharged from hospital "it is recommended that the individual still isolates for 14 days", even if they are not displaying symptoms of Covid-19. Optimum isolation measures include caring for the resident in their own room, with the door kept closed as much as possible. Mr McQuitty (84) was taken to the emergency department at Antrim Area Hospital on April 8 and 10 after falling at Rose Court. On both occasions, he was sent back to the home after a number of hours at the hospital but without being tested for the virus. A diagnostic test for Covid-19, which costs in the region of 350, was never carried out by Rose Court. His son, Greg, said he has been told his dad was allowed to spend time in a television room at the home after leaving hospital. He was admitted to Antrim Area Hospital on April 19, diagnosed with Covid-19 and never returned to Rose Court. Mr McQuitty has also said he was informed by a member of staff that emergency measures were put in place after his father was diagnosed. In a further blow, Runwood Homes has now contacted the grieving family to tell them they will have to pay for Mr McQuitty's room for the fortnight he was dying in hospital - despite the firm's boss, Gordon Sanders, receiving more than 30m in dividends since 2014. "The trust paid the home 650 a week for my dad and dad paid a top-up from his pension of about 1,000 a month," said Greg. "Runwood has been in touch to say they will be sending out a bill for us to settle - my father's bill was month-to-month and they're even including May 1. That's been the biggest kick after all of this. We have questions about what was happening in the home - my father was taken to hospital twice before he was admitted, and both times I spoke to the home afterwards and they told me he was in the television room. "He was only tested the third time he was taken to hospital. I rang the home straight away and they told me they were putting emergency planning into place and they were getting PPE. "The virus seems to have gone through the home like wildfire, I've been told 33 staff are off work isolating, they also said they have 15 residents in the home who are in hospital with Covid-19. "We have a relative who also lived in the home and they died from Covid on the same morning as my father. "We want to know why my father wasn't isolated properly when he was sent back from the hospital the first time - why wasn't he tested by the home or the hospital? I'm not medically minded, but it seems like there is some fault there." Health officials have come under heavy criticism for the policies put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19 among care home residents and staff, including allowing care homes to admit residents from hospital without testing for Covid-19. At the same time, there have also been concerns raised that some private care home providers did not put in place adequate measures to protect residents and their employees. A spokesman from Runwood Homes, which posted a profit of 14.9m in its most recent accounts, up from 3.9m the previous year, said: "We would like to on behalf of the management and staff at Rose Court Care Home express our sincere condolences to the family of this much loved former resident. "We can confirm, following his return from hospital, this gentleman was cared for in a segregated area of a lounge with social distancing adhered to fully given the increased risk of further falls and this gentleman's medical history. "We will not be going into detail on such matters but can confirm the means in which the gentleman was cared for was in line with his best interests at the time and in line with Public Health guidance. "The testing of residents is managed by HSC Trusts and not independent care homes as per Department of Health guidelines in Northern Ireland. "We can confirm that as of today all residents in Rose Court Care Home have been tested for Covid-19 by Northern Trust as will be the case across all care homes across Northern Ireland. "PPE was, and remains fully available at all times throughout this service. "This is further clarified by Northern HSC Trust Covid-19 support visits where PPE was in correct and appropriate use in line with the Public Health Agency guidelines. "A daily stock take of all PPE is also completed organisationally across all of our 75 services and we have never been without PPE. It is worth noting guidance has changed on a number of occasions since the commencement of the Covid-19 response. "Runwood Homes Senior Living was one of the first providers to lock down services to visitors and take additional measures to protect our staff and residents at a very early stage in the pandemic and continue to follow the multi-agency advice through daily briefings to all of our staff. "We would encourage the family to contact us directly to discuss any concerns which we will of course respond to. "We can also confirm we have worked in a very positive partnership with our colleagues at the Northern Health Trust which has included significant support and expertise to ensure the very best response to this pandemic." New York is poised to launch its training plan for the huge corps of disease detectives it plans to deploy to track people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus. The effort, seen as a key to keeping the outbreak from flaring again once it is under control, is likely to involve hiring several thousand people who have no background in public health. And since getting huge groups of people together in one place for a contact-tracing boot camp is impossible, the training will be done through a five- to six-hour online course launching Monday. The course has been developed with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable foundation of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. 'There's all this discussion about using technology in some way. But fundamentally, this is a pretty human activity,' said Josh Sharfstein of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. When someone becomes newly infected with the virus, the tracers will be tasked with figuring out everyone who might have had contact with that person, reaching out to them, and advising them how to quarantine themselves until they know for certain they aren't sick, too. The course has been developed with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable foundation of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, pictured in March The video training includes having actors portray how the tracing interviews, mostly conducted by phone or video chat, are supposed to go. Sharfstein said the training, to be offered on the Coursera website, will be available to anyone, not just those seeking to become contact tracers, the developers said. Bloomberg is putting up $10.5 million through his foundation to help the state roll out its tracing plan. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made hiring at least 30 contact tracers per 100,000 residents a requirement for any part of the state to reopen. As of Monday, New York has more than 337,000 confirmed cases; the death toll stands at 21, 638. Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks with former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg in his daily briefing on April 30. The two men have teamed up to create an 'army of COVID-19 tracers' Several regions of upstate New York that have shown progress in taming the coronavirus outbreak are ready to gradually restart economic activity by the end of the week, Gov. Cuomo said Monday. Cuomo shut down the entire state March 22 as the New York City area emerged as a global pandemic hot spot, but the outbreak has been less severe in the state's smaller cities and rural areas. He said three upstate regions have met all criteria for opening some business activity after May 15: the Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley and the Finger Lakes. Other upstate regions are making progress and could follow soon after. The reopening regions still need to work out logistics, such as creating regional 'control rooms' to monitor the effects of the reopening. 'This is the next big step in this historic journey,' the Democratic governor said at his daily briefing. New York's first tentative steps toward reopening follow other states that have already relaxed restrictions. Medical workers assist people standing in line at NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, Gouverneur waiting to be tested for the coronavirus A healthcare worker takes a nasal swab sample to test for the coronavirus at the Brightpoint Health and UJA Federation for NY free pop-up coronavirus (COVID-19) testing site on May 8 Billionaire former New York City mayor Bllomberg is spending tens of millions of dollars just two months after his presidential bid came to a sudden embarrassing end. He bowed out of the race after winning only one territory - American Samoa - on Super Tuesday. Beyond the New York contact tracing work, Bloomberg has also announced a $40 million pledge to support efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus in low- and middle-income nations. 'He is really good at a lot of things, but he's really, really good in crisis, in organizing, in bringing people together and making plans and executing,' said former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who served as a national co-chair for Bloomberg's presidential bid. Epidemiologists and health specialists have cautiously welcomed the state government's easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, but they warn vigilance was critical in preventing a new wave of infections. Victorians must learn to adapt to a new way of living, with infectious disease experts saying the elimination of coronavirus was unobtainable in the foreseeable future. The virus is still circulating, if we just open up fully at the moment, it will take off and we will have a second wave and it will be ugly," leading epidemiologist Tony Blakely, from the University of Melbourne, said. Premier Daniel Andrews announces the easing of restrictions. Credit:Eddie Jim "Slowly and cautiously opening up now is conceding we are moving towards not complete elimination of the virus, but a suppression world, where we just learn to adapt and live with the virus. [May 11, 2020] Resilience360 and Riskpulse Supply Chain Risk Analysts to Discuss 2020 Hurricane Season, COVID-19 in Upcoming Webinar TROISDORF, Germany, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Resilience360 risk monitoring Product Director Shehrina Kamal and Riskpulse Chief Meteorologist Jon Davis will reveal their research on the 2020 Hurricane Season in a webinar this Thursday, May 14 at 11 AM ET, titled Planning for the 2020 Hurricane Season during the COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery. Register Here for the 5/14 webinar The 2020 Hurricane Season comes at a time when supply chain infrastructures are exposed and vulnerable, following weeks of being shut down, delayed and disrupted due to COVID-19. It has never been more important for companies to have processes in place to monitor weather events in near real-time, identifying and diversifying key suppliers in areas vulnerable to storm paths and develop contingency plans when disruptions occur. On Thursday, May 14, Shehrina Kamal from Resilience360 and Henry Bonner from Riskpulse will reveal results and insights from their upcoming report, including: The Top 10 high risk ports and airports, methodology of assessing exposure The Supply Chain and financial impacts of storms from 2017-2019 Recommendations on how to prepare for and mitigate against the impact of hurricanes and tropical storms Resilience360 predicts, monitors, and mitigates disruptions both man-made and natural, including hurricanes, cyberattacks, labor strikes, protests, and a rapidly changing regulatory environment. Riskpulse helps shippers, carriers, distributors and their customers increase their on-time performance, reduce unnecessary freight spending and avoid waste caused by operational and natural, social or infrastructure-driven variability. To inquire about receiving an advance copy of Planning for the 2020 Hurricane Season during the COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery, or to speak directly to the Resilience360 and Riskpulse risk analysts that developed the report, contact us here. For more information on Resilience360, go to https://www.resilience360.dhl.com/ . For more information on Riskpulse, go to: http://www.riskpulse.com . Media Contact: Will Haraway Backbeat Marketing 404.593.8320 [email protected] www.linkedin.com/in/willharaway www.backbeatmarketing.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Premier Doug Fords office is not saying whether he breached Ontarios COVID-19 guidelines when he hosted two of his four daughters who live elsewhere on Mothers Day. The girls came over, there was six of us, direct family, none of the husbands, boyfriends, no one came, just themselves, Ford told reporters Monday in recounting his weekend. But the provincial governments COVID-19 website advises people to be more cautious in mixing with people from different homes as the province has recorded almost 22,000 cases and 1,800 deaths. Everyone in Ontario should practice physical distancing to reduce their exposure. This means staying at least two metres away from anyone outside your household, it recommends in a measure confirmed by chief medical officer Dr. David Williams on Monday. Thats been our recommendation, Williams told a news conference where he noted a declining number of new cases recently and other indicators are moving in the right directionso stay tuned. Fords office did not answer questions from the Star on whether the visit involved physical distancing or if the Ford family sat around a dinner table together, but downplayed any impropriety. We understand that people want to spend more time with their friends, family and loved ones. Thanks to our collective efforts, we are now in a position where we can start to plan to ease public health measures, spokeswoman Ivana Yelich said in a statement. As we do, we continue to rely on Ontarians to use their best judgment when interacting with individuals from outside their household, e.g., staying six feet apart, ensuring people are symptom free, and continuing to practice proper hygiene. Many health experts have warned COVID-19 can be spread by people who are not showing symptoms. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called Ford out, saying this is the type of behaviour that creates a mixed message as the province saw new cases of COVID-19 increase by 358 or 1.7 per cent in the previous 24 hours, according to a Star compilation from health units as of 5 p.m. Monday. I know people really want to get together with their loved onesbut it still isnt being recommended for the public and I think that we need to be cognizant of the dangers that come with opening up to closer personal contact with people outside of your home, she said on a teleconference. That just leads to confusion and creates uncertainty as to what people should and shouldnt be doing, added Horwath, who said she spent Mothers Day at home with her son. Ford had been asked about the concept of family bubbles in which, for example, one immediate family could have dinner with a grandmother. In general, the concept implies getting together with another family in small numbers as restrictions ease. From the chief medical officer right now he still wants to keep it immediate family. I have two girls living with me, two not living with me, so I had two more there, the premier said. I think if we could keep it to as small as possible gatherings that would be very helpful, he said. When it comes to seniors and your parents, use your best judgment. Ford faced criticism last week when it was revealed he drove to his Muskoka cottage and back on Easter Sunday to check the plumbing. Both Ford and his wife, Karla, are in their 50s, well below the age of 70 that doctors say is at much higher risk for complications from COVID-19. The illness had caused at least 1,773 deaths in Ontario, according to the Star survey, including an increase of 42 from Sunday at 5 p.m. To date, there have been 21,947 confirmed and probable cases in the province since late January. The cases of just over 15,000 people who caught the virus are considered resolved, while 1,027 remain in hospital, including 194 in intensive care with 147 of them on ventilators. Across Canada, there have been at least 4,906 deaths and 69,156 confirmed cases. Many more people with mild or moderate symptoms have not been tested. Ontario reached a new high in daily processing of tests in the 19,227 samples announced Saturday, although fewer than 14,000 were processed Sunday, according to Ministry of Health figures released Monday. The daily target is 16,000 to get a more accurate picture of the virus as restrictions on the economy are relaxed. Read more about: Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that his own future in Formula 1 is on his mind during the corona crisis. First team advisor Alain Prost, and now boss Cyril Abiteboul, have revealed in recent days that it is possible Australian Ricciardo will leave after 2020. Sebastian Vettel could be a candidate to replace him. "As far as I know, Vettel has offers from McLaren and Renault. But it's hard to say how interested he is in these offers," Italian F1 insider Leo Turrini told Sky Italia. Ricciardo, who in turn has been linked with Ferrari, admitted that the current forced break in the 2020 season is complicating the situation. "This situation makes everything more difficult," he told the same Italian broadcaster in an exclusive interview. "I would like to talk about the renewal with Renault but I think July is pretty late," he added, referring to F1's plan for the first races in Austria. (GMM) While over 98 per cent of Africans are aware of the existence of COVID-19, 20 per cent (1 in 5) of them believe they cannot contract COVID-19, a report shows. Although relatively low compared to other continents, Africa's cases of COVID-19 topped over 60,000 Saturday -- a third of whom have recovered -- with deaths hovering around 2,000. But as cases increase, a May report by the Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19 (PERC), a public-private partnership initiative on COVID-19 in AU countries, found that certain misconceptions about coronavirus infections exist among Africans. Aside 1 in 5 of respondents saying they are immune to the disease, about 54 per cent believe hot climate prevents spread of the disease with another 29 per cent holding that COVID-19 can be contracted from any Chinese person in their country. The survey, which was conducted between March 29 and April 17, 2020, pools its data from "social, economic, epidemiological, population movement, and security data" from 28 cities across 20 AU countries to measure the "acceptability, impact and effectiveness of public health and social measures for COVID-19." A total of 158,709 people were contacted, 16,442 of whom refused to participate, the report states. Final results are based on completed interviews conducted with 20,990 adults, it adds. Titled "Responding to COVID-19 in Africa: Using data to find a balance", the report finds that governments who fail to adapt their public health and social measures (PHSMs) to local needs risk unrest and violence among their population. "The proliferation of peaceful protests demanding government relief is evidence of the strain some people are already under and highlights gaps in current responses. "It is crucial that member states continue to monitor and act on a variety of data to inform the public health and social measures they implement. "There is still much to learn about COVID-19 and Member States need to continue to share what they've learned with the global community," the report states. Recommendations Countries like Ghana and Nigeria, who have recently relaxed weeks of lockdown to ease tensions and restart the economy, have seen an uptick in cases. Ghana on Saturday reported over 500 new cases. The Same day, Nigeria had about 300, a day after it recorded almost 400 new cases. The report urged African governments, before considering reopening society, to build public health capacity to test, trace, isolate and treat cases. With caseloads still relatively low, the survey argues that estimates based on the infection fatality rate suggest that cases have been undercounted. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Coronavirus Africa By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. As of April, the fatality rate was placed at 0.66%. "By that measure, the total number of cases expected to result in 1,591 death (as of April 30) deaths would be closer to 200,000 -- six times the number of recorded cases." The research work also calls for monitoring of data on how PHSMs meet local COVID-19 conditions and needs, and to determine when and how to lift them in a way that balances lives and livelihoods. "Engage communities to adapt PHSMs to the local context and effectively communicate about risk to sustain public support, achieve widespread adherence, and shield vulnerable populations," the report suggests. Locally made solutions have been set in motion by nations like Senegal. The West African country developed a $1 test kit to ramp up its testing capacity. Madagascar has also launched an indigenous herbal remedy named Covid-Organics, produced from artemisia, a plant said to have proven efficacy against malaria. Madagascar claims the drug cures COVID-19. PERC member organizations party to the report include: Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies; the World Health Organization; the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team; and the World Economic Forum. IPSOS and Novetta Mission Analytics bring market research expertise and years of data analytic support to the partnership. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump and congressional leaders have pitched a number of proposals they argue are essential to a new coronavirus relief plan to combat the effects of the coronavirus. The result: A grab bag of ideas without a deal. Trump wants a payroll tax cut that Democrats have flat-out opposed. Democrats are adamant about more funding for state and local governments. And some Republicans would rather wait and see how the nearly $3 trillion in already approved relief pans out before moving forward with more. Pressure to reconcile the competing plans could intensify as Trump and lawmakers regroup after the country's unemployment rate reached nearly 15% last week, a grim indicator underscoring the virus' toll on American businesses and workers. Officials now predict unemployment could pass 20% in the coming months, approaching the 25% rate reached during the Great Depression. Unemployment rate: Trump White House adviser says unemployment rate could pass 20% during coronavirus pandemic However, discussions between the two sides are happening, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Sunday. "We're collecting ideas for next steps," Kudlow said on ABCs "This Week With George Stephanopoulos." Kudlow, who described the talks as "informal," said he and another Trump economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, held a conference call on Friday with about 50 House Republicans and Democrats. Another conference call with senators is set for Monday. Despite the talks, House Democrats may march forward on a massive package that is expected to exceed $2 trillion, with a vote possible as early as this week. The legislation is not expected to be taken up in the Republican-controlled Senate. Republicans, Democrats and the president have all drawn lines on provisions they say must be included in the next bill mandates that will be major hurdles to getting more financial aid to workers, families, businesses and local governments. Story continues House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., listens to a reporter's question during a news conference on Capitol Hill on May 7. What could be in the next package? There are dozens of provisions that could make their way into the next package. Democrats have said they want to move quickly on what theyve called a second installment to the historic CARES Act, the $2 trillion package passed in March that sent relief checks to Americans, boosted unemployment benefits and created a loan program for small businesses. Republicans are touting liability protections for businesses and have also suggested a pause on additional legislation. White House and coronavirus: Pence aimed to project normalcy during his trip to Iowa, but coronavirus got in the way Here's what members of both parties have identified as key priorities in the next package: State, local and tribal funding : Democrats have highlighted additional funds for state, local and tribal governments as their No. 1 priority in the next package. They've proposed anywhere from $500 billion to $1 trillion to help address budget shortfalls. But Trump has said he has no interest in bailing out states that he thinks have been poorly managed. Payroll tax cut : Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of a payroll tax cut, saying "thats going to really put people to work." The size of the cut and other details have not been released. Cash payments: A number of Democrats are proposing additional relief payments to Americans, with one proposal including $2,000 monthly payments for at least six months. Trump has previously voiced support for additional payments but lately has shifted focus and emphasized the need for a payroll tax cut. Democrats have also highlighted the need to extend bolstered unemployment benefits as millions of Americans remain unemployed. Liability protections for businesses: Republicans are demanding that any new bill include protections for business from what conservatives have called frivolous and opportunistic lawsuits as states and companies begin to reopen, a proposition that Democrats say they oppose. Funds for hospitals, testing and hazard pay for workers : Democrats and Republicans have highlighted the needs for more testing, and liberals are pushing for billions more to rapidly expand testing as the country attempts to reopen. Bipartisan proposals have also been floated for increased funding for rural hospitals and hazard pay for front-line workers, something the president has embraced. More funds for small businesses : Congressional lawmakers in both parties have said they are watching the Small Business Association's Paycheck Protection Program, which Congress replenished with billions in April. Lawmakers have acknowledged more funding might be needed for the program. Infrastructure spending: Republicans and Democrats have repeatedly cited the need to repair the nations aging infrastructure and members of both parties have suggested a massive infrastructure could help in a recovery effort, while also creating new jobs for Americans. Will more aid even be taken up? While Democrats push for another round of relief, some Republicans are not in any rush to take up additional legislation addressing the pandemic. Instead, many conservatives say they want to see how the funds already allocated are being used. Before we take up any new bill, let's have hearings. Let's have the information and data come back to us and see if there's a need. As states open up, there will be a difference of what's needed today than is needed tomorrow, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told USA TODAY. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin echoed those thoughts in an interview on Fox News on Sunday. "We just want to make sure that before we jump back in and spend another few trillion of taxpayers money that we do it carefully," Mnuchin said. President Donald Trump speaks as Vice President Mike Pence listens at right during a meeting about the coronavirus response in the Oval Office. White House protocols: White House enacts new safety precautions as coronavirus moves closer to Trump's inner circle Democrats are stressing that help needs to come soon and are pointing to Fridays jobs report which showed the U.S. lost 20.5 million jobs in April to make their case. No one could look at todays jobs report, the highest unemployment since the Great Depression, and say we should hit the pause button on further government action, as (Majority) Leader (Mitch) McConnell, Leader McCarthy and the Trump White House have said, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement Friday. We need a big, bold approach now to support American workers and families. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., views the report as a call to action. The dire job losses show the urgent need for a bold CARES 2 package that is equal to the crisis gripping the American people," she said in a statement. Pelosi said last week the House would move forward with its version of the bill, even though Republicans won't support it. As of last week, Pelosi said she hadn't spoken with the administration about the package. The White House has sent mixed signals on what it wants in the next package. Eric Ueland, the White House legislative affairs director, who serves as the lead White House official on Capitol Hill implementing the presidents agenda, signaled there wasnt a huge rush to pass additional funds. PPP loan program: Hundreds of publicly traded companies got more than $1 billion from PPP small-business fund In terms of a timeline, much of that $3 trillion has yet to actually be expended, and its impact has barely begun to be evaluated, he said after a lunch with Senate Republicans. White House spokesman Judd Deere stressed last week that "we are going to ensure that we take care of all Americans so that we emerge from this challenge stronger and with a growing economy, which is why the White House is focused on pro-growth, middle class tax and regulatory relief." Mnuchin said Sunday that the administration is willing to spend "whatever it takes" to boost the economy, "but whatever it takes needs to be done carefully." Hurdles and disagreements While the administration, congressional Republicans and Democrats have yet to start formal negotiations on a next package, three main provisions have emerged as sticking points. The president has mandated that Congress consider a payroll tax cut, something he's been advocating for weeks. "We're not doing anything without a payroll tax cut," Trump said at a Fox News town hall last week. The idea, which Democrats consider a nonstarter, also lacks support from Senate Republicans. "Im not a particular fan of that," said Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D. the chamber's No. 2 Republican. (L-R) Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) leave a Senate Republican policy luncheon in the Hart Senate Office Building on May 5. Another hurdle: McConnell's request that further legislation must include protections for companies against lawsuits related to the coronavirus. If theres any red line, its on litigation, McConnell said Tuesday on these protections for businesses. How big are the relief packages?: 4 coronavirus relief packages. $2.4 trillion in funding. See what that means to the national debt. Democrats have knocked the idea, arguing Republicans are attempting to protect big businesses instead of families. "This idea of drawing red lines particularly when they're not really related to what the needs of people are, particularly when they side with big corporate interests as opposed to individual workers, as Leader McConnell's red line its not productive and its not going to work," Schumer said. Democrats have similarly highlighted funds for state, local and tribal governments as their priority, saying no bill will be taken up without additional funds for states who have seen their tax revenues devastated because of the pandemic. "There will not be a bill without state and local" aid, Pelosi said late last month. Many Republicans have expressed skepticism on this, with some airing concerns that states that have mismanaged finances will use the funds to fill budget holes. Instead, some have floated the option of offering more flexibility with how funds already approved can be used by states. "This is not the time for states and cities ... who have mismanaged their budgets over the course of many decades, for them to use this as an opportunity to see you, as a taxpayer in Arizona, as a cash cow," said Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., in a town hall event Thursday. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: Trump, Congress split on relief bill to address COVID-19 The biggest U.S. mall owner, Simon Property Group, said Monday that it plans to have roughly 50% of its properties reopened again within the next week, as states begin to loosen their lockdown restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. It made the announcement as it reported quarterly earnings, where Simon's quarterly profits fell 20.2% during the first quarter ended March 31. "We are now leading the effort for these local economies to get back to business," Chief Executive David Simon said during an earnings conference call with analysts. "We want to help these local communities ... because frankly they depend on our sales taxes." Simon owns roughly 200 malls and outlet centers in the U.S., including Copley Place in Boston and Northgate Mall in Seattle. Simon shares climbed as much as 3% in after-hours trading following the release. Simon started reopening some of its malls in states including South Carolina and Georgia on May 1, CNBC first reported. It closed all of its properties temporarily on March 18. Some of the measures it has put in place, as malls reopen during the coronavirus crisis, include limiting opening hours, reducing capacity at the mall, stripping some chairs from food courts and handing out masks to visitors who ask for them. As of Monday, the company said it has reopened 77 of its properties in the U.S., where local lockdown restrictions have been eased. It said a dozen of its premium outlets have reopened. CEO Simon said the company is "encouraged by the consumer response thus far." He added that department store chains including Dillard's and Neiman Marcus, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, are eager to get shoppers back to stores. "I do think for the retailers that are opening, they are gaining market share," the CEO said. "I think others that aren't ready are missing the opportunity." Still, just because Simon is reopening its malls does not mean retailers are yet jumping at the chance to turn their lights back on, nor does it mean consumers are racing to return. Some companies, such as Macy's, Gap and Nordstrom, have laid out their plans to reopen for business in phases. Gap says it plans to have 800 locations open again by the end of the month. Macy's on Monday reopened a second wave, of about 50 locations. But retailers now have to bring back furloughed workers, sell through stale merchandise and stock fresh inventory. These are not easy tasks. Some stores will likely stay shut permanently. Nordstrom last week said it will shut 16 stores, for good. Simon did not break out how much rent it collected from tenants during the first quarter. Net income dropped to $437.6 million, or $1.43 per share, from $548.5 million, or $1.78 per share, a year ago. Funds from operations a key metric used by analysts to gauge the health of real estate investment trusts fell to $980.6 million, or $2.78 per share, from $1.08 billion, or $3.04 per share, a year ago. Simon said it has either suspended or eliminated more than $1 billion of expenses related to new development and redevelopment projects in an effort to manage costs during the crisis. It will reevaluate all suspended projects in the future, it said. It has also temporarily furloughed some workers and slashed executive pay. As of March 31, the real estate owner had roughly $8.7 billion of liquidity, consisting of $4.1 billion of cash on hand and $4.6 billion of available capacity under its revolving credit facilities and term loan. Simon has withdrawn its 2020 financial outlook. Simon shares as of Monday's market close are down about 63% this year. The company has a market cap of $16.8 billion. Find the full earnings report from Simon here. One of six young children who lost their mothers in a car accident, Sincere Terry, 4, learned Sunday that his mother was gone forever. "I explained to him that she was gone in the clouds and she wasn't going to be coming back," said James Williams, the boy's step-grandfather. The boy's mother, Tyshyra Hines, 21, and three friends were killed in an automobile accident Saturday night, minutes before Mother's Day officially began. The four women died when the car they were in hit a support column for an elevated Green Line track on Lake Street just west of Cicero Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, authorities said. Family and authorities identified the other women as Ieshia Nelson, 21; Bernadette Harris, 25; and Alicia Goston, 22. All four were mothers to young children, family said. Three of the women died at the scene. Nelson was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital at 12:48 a.m. Sunday, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. The car, traveling at a "high rate of speed," ran into a light pole after hitting the CTA column and split in two about 11:55 p.m., according to a statement from Chicago police. No other information about the crash was available Sunday. The Chicago Police Department's major accident investigation unit is investigating the crash and will eventually do an accident reconstruction to determine the rate of speed and the cause of the accident. Relatives said the women had been out for the night. Goston's family said the women were on their way to Goston's grandmother's 61st birthday party. Relatives, including Harris' sister, Sheila Harris, said the young women didn't go out a lot. Instead, they focused their attention on their children, work and school. Bernadette Harris, mother to three children, wanted them to succeed, Sheila Harris said. "She'd go above and beyond for her kids," said Sheila Harris, 35. "She was an outstanding mother." She said the young children, Shundrea, 4; Shamyriah, 6; and Ramyiah, 8; had not yet been told about their mother's death but would be told Sunday --Mother's Day. The father of the two younger children is Hines' brother. Sheila Harris said her sister worked as a home caregiver for the elderly. "She was a very kindhearted person," Sheila Harris said of her sister, whom friends called "Bern." Hines, who had recently been laid off from a job at a pizzeria, was an easygoing person, said her father, Anthony. "She was a good person," he said of his daughter. "Easy to get along with." Goston's family said she was a "girlie-girl" who loved to dress up and always had a smile on her face. The single mother to 2-year-old Jadan worked at a book factory. "This was the worst Mother's Day in the world. I'm the mother of four kids. I don't have a celebration bone in my body," Goston's aunt Keke Goston said Sunday. Nelson was the mother of a 2-year-old boy, who squeals and calls out "Eesh" for his mother when he's happy, her mother, Yvette Harris, said. She said her daughter was going to school to be a nurse's assistant and was studying radiology. She was driven to make a better life for her and her son, Javarion. "She was a very special, hardworking, kindhearted, happy-go-lucky person," Yvette Harris said. She said the boy has been asking for his mother. "We told him we're going to talk to him about Momma," Yvette Harris said. Williams, the step-grandfather to Hines' 4-year-old son, said he's going to make sure the boy remembers his mother. "All I can do is show him pictures and explain the best I can," he said. Tribune reporters Peter Nickeas and Carlos Sadovi contributed. bschlikerman@tribune.com nnix@tribune.com Before coronavirus, policymakers were focused on eliminating another epidemic: opioid abuse. That's still a huge issue, and it's probably only going to get worse. Yet centers that treat Americans with opioid addiction are being denied some extra emergency funds allocated by Congress - all because of a technicality. These behavioral health centers - which serve nearly half a million people in the United States - are certified to provide medication-assisted treatment for opioid abuse that's approved by the Food and Drug Administration. This approach to addiction has been shown to be highly effective and has gained more acceptance across the country as states and localities sought over the past few years to lessen addiction's toll on their communities. Now these substance abuse health providers are concerned about their financial state in an environment primed for increased struggles with addiction: The centers are anticipating a crushing wave of new demand amid the public health and economic crisis, even as they grapple with how to provide remote care. Opioid treatment providers weren't eligible to share in the $50 billion for Medicare providers from the Cares Act that lawmakers approved in March. They are indeed Medicare providers: As of January, they were able to participate in the program. Congress made that change as part of the opioid response bill it passed in 2018. But the Cares Act payments are based on 2019 Medicare payments. And opioid treatment providers didn't get any Medicare payments that year, because they weren't yet eligible. To be fair, it's Medicaid - not Medicare - that is the country's biggest payer of addiction and mental- health services. Medicaid covers four in 10 people with opioid addiction. The coronavirus pandemic has killed nearly 80,000 people in the United States. Before the virus struck, politicians and policymakers were wringing their hands over how to stem an opioid abuse crisis that has killed more than 400,000 people in the United States since 2000. "Now is precisely the moment when we need to be supporting these kinds of programs that help folks who want to get into recovery," said Jason Kletter, president of BayMark Health Services, the country's second-largest provider of opioid treatments. Some of the factors include increased isolation, stress and fear stemming from the pandemic. In a report released Friday, Well Being Trust estimated 75,000 Americans could die of drug or alcohol misuse, or suicide, as a result of the pandemic. "Heightened anxiety is a near-universal trigger for drug use, and it is difficult to think of a more stressful event - for all of us - than this pandemic," wrote Peter Grinspoon, a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Kletter noted that "opioid use disorder is fundamentally a disease characterized by isolation and hopelessness." "There is evidence that epidemic is being exacerbated by this pandemic, so we need to make sure as a country we are continuing to provide recovery services to folks who need it to prevent a fourth wave of the opioid epidemic," he added. The Cares Act provided $425 million for states to address mental illness and substance abuse, to be awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration at the Department of Health and Human Services. "It was like a drop in the bucket," said Chuck Ingoglia, president of the National Council for Behavioral Health. Compare that to the $175 billion emergency fund Congress has set up for hospitals and other providers. Much of that funding has gone to hospitals directly caring for covid-19 patients. But other providers not on the front lines - such as orthopedic practices - also received dollars to help make up lost revenue when they were forced to suspend nonessential services for weeks on end. Six in 10 community behavioral health organizations believe they can survive financially no longer than three months amid the pandemic, according to a survey released last month by NCBH. The council and the American Society of Addiction Medicine have asked Congress for $38.5 billion in emergency funds for behavioral health organizations "to avert a large-scale public health calamity." They want much of the funding awarded through the Medicaid program, considering the outsize role it plays in paying for treatment for people who abuse opioids. "This pandemic has spread fear and anxiety across our nation, leaving no one unaffected," the letter said. "Our mental health disorder and addiction treatment providers are facing an influx of need." Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan has expressed concern at new data suggesting almost half of people think the worst of the coronavirus crisis is over. Dr Holohan said if the exit from lockdown restrictions went wrong the country could yet face a surge in cases worse than anything experienced to date. At the daily Covid-19 briefing, Dr Holohan also said he was hopeful that Irelands phased recovery plan could begin on schedule next Monday. The coronavirus death toll in Ireland rose to 1,467 today after a further 15 deaths were announced. Dr Tony Holohan said he was hopeful that the recovery plan could begin as scheduled on May 18 (Leon Farrell/PA) Dr Holohan said an official market survey of public attitudes saw 43% of respondents say they felt the worst of the emergency was behind Ireland. The other options presented to those answering were that the worst of the crisis was still ahead, or it was happening at the moment. Dr Holohan said the findings emphasised the challenge facing the Department of Health in conveying the message about the potential impact of a second wave of cases. Forty three percent is quite a high percentage of people who believe that this is over and the work is done here, he said. Thats just a little cause for concern that we have. The Electric Picnic festival in Stradbally, County Laois has been cancelled due to the crisis (Niall Carson/PA) The briefing also heard that the median turnaround time from referral for a Covid-19 test to the sample being tested, the result being issued and contact tracing being undertaken was five days, with progress being made to reduce it to four. Dr Holohan said he did not think the effectiveness of the testing regime would provide reason to hold up the start of the recovery plan. He said other factors would need to be considered before he and colleagues in the National Public Health Emergency Team would be in a position to recommend to Government that phase one could begin on May 18. Today isnt the day that were going to be making the assessment, well do that over the course of this week, towards the end of the week well arrive at an assessment and well make that advice available to Government, said Dr Holohan. But I would say at this stage we think and were hopeful that wed be in a position to make a positive recommendation in relation to those restrictions and all of the considerations that have to go into that for Monday. Earlier today, the Electric Picnic music festival in County Laois became the latest high profile event to be cancelled due to the emergency. Elsewhere, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar met with the five major high street banks to discuss the coronavirus crisis. He was joined by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and Business Minister Heather Humphreys for the talks with the chief executives of AIB, Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank, Permanent TSB and KBC. A Government statement said Mr Varadkar emphasised the important role of the banking sector in supporting the gradual reopening of the economy by ensuring a flow of credit to businesses. He welcomed payment-break supports offered to business customers and mortgage holders, including a move to extend these from three to six months. The ministers also praised the bank workers who had continued to serve customers throughout the lockdown. The Government and the banks jointly recognised the challenge facing many businesses as the economy reopens, the statement concluded. The Government welcomes the commitment by the banks to continue to play their part by working positively with their customers, in as supportive a manner as possible, to ensure that the recovery can take place as quickly as possible. COLUMBUS, Ohio - A random sample of 1,200 Ohioans will be tested to determine whether theyve developed antibodies to coronavirus, meaning they previously had it and fought it off, Dr. Amy Acton said Monday afternoon. Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said the 1,200 will be volunteers but they will represent urban and rural Ohio. They will be both swabbed and receive a blood test. Once the test results come back, public health officials will be able to estimate how prevalent coronavirus is in Ohio, she said. The testing will come in the next few weeks. Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said the tests will come from Cellex, the first company with antibody tests that the FDA approved. He said it was difficult to compete with other states to get antibody tests. Getting them back here seemed to be an insurmountable task -- they were coming from China -- that we were going to face, Husted said. But I had an offer from NetJets. They said if you need planes for anything, if there is anything we can go get for you during this period of pandemic, then let us know. Columbus-based NetJets, owned by Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway, is an aircraft company in which business executives and others can purchase time to travel on chartered flights. NetJet pilots flew to Anchorage, Alaska. The company worked with the Chinese government to get proper transportation permits and eventually sent its pilots to Shanghai, where they picked up the tests and flew back to Columbus, Husted said. Acton cautioned that even if people have developed antibodies against coronavirus, its unknown at this time how long they will last. Antibodies for different diseases vary. For instance, chickenpox antibodies last for life. But antibodies to some strands of the flu only last six months. As of Monday afternoon, at least 1,357 people have died of the novel coronavirus and at least 24,777 have been infected. More coverage: Coronavirus claims 1,357 Ohioans: Gov. Mike DeWines Monday briefing Gov. Mike DeWine gives Mondays Ohio coronavirus update: Watch live New court filing says Ohio State University paying $40.9 million to settle with Dr. Richard Strauss sexual abuse victims Footage shows a summer storm battering a village in Phayao, northern Thailand this week as residents sheltered inside their homes. In the video, heavy rain is seen pouring down on tin roofs while a strong wind blows on Monday (April 27). Some of the roofs were blown away while the other houses were damaged by fallen trees. Authorities who went to survey the area for damages and rescues, but it has been made difficult by the power outage. Local government officer Adul Phromwat said: "We went straight to the area after the storm had ceased to evaluate the damage. "However, there was a power outage in the area. It caused us some trouble so we had to stop along the way. We will visit there again after the electricity lines are fixed." Tropical storms in Thailand have increased over the last two weeks as the country moves into its unpredictable summer period, with soaring temperatures of more than 36C, thunderstorms, lightning and strong downpours. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Commerce Resources Corp. (TSXV:CCE)(FSE:D7H) (the "Company" or "Commerce") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement consisting of the issuance of up to 5,555,555 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.18 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $1,000,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (each, a "Share") and one common share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"), with each Warrant entitling the holder to purchase one Share at a price of $0.24 per Share for a period of five years from closing of the Offering (the "Closing"). Insiders may participate in the Offering. A portion or all of the Offering may be completed pursuant to Multilateral Notice 45-313 - Prospectus Exemption for Distributions to Existing Security Holders and the corresponding blanket orders and rules in the participating jurisdictions (the "Existing Security Holder Exemption"). The Company has set May 7, 2020 as the record date for the purpose of determining shareholders entitled to participate in the Offering in reliance on the Existing Shareholder Exemption. Qualifying shareholders who wish to participate in the Offering should contact the Company at the contact information set forth below. In the event that aggregate subscriptions for Units under the Offering exceed the maximum number of securities to be distributed, then Units will be sold to qualifying subscribers on a pro rata basis based on the number of Units subscribed for. In addition to conducting the Offering pursuant to the Existing Shareholder Exemption, the Offering will also be conducted pursuant to other available prospectus exemptions. Finders' fees may be payable in connection with the Offering in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a statutory hold period expiring four months and one day after closing of the Offering. Completion of the Offering is subject to the approval of the Exchange. Any participation by insiders in the Offering will constitute a related party transaction under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") but is expected to be exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101. The aggregate gross proceeds from the sale of the Offering will be used to advance the developments of the Company's Ashram REE Deposit in Quebec and for working capital. None of the securities sold in connection with the Offering will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and no such securities may be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. About Commerce Resources Corp. Commerce Resources Corp. is an exploration and development company with a particular focus on deposits of rare metals and rare earth elements. The Company is focused on the development of its Ashram Rare Earth Element Deposit in Quebec and the Upper Fir Tantalum-Niobium Deposit in British Columbia. For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.commerceresources.com or email info@commerceresources.com. On Behalf of the Board of Directors COMMERCE RESOURCES CORP. "Chris Grove" Chris Grove President and Director Tel: 604.484.2700 Email: cgrove@commerceresources.com Web: http://www.commerceresources.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the expectations of management regarding the proposed Offering, the expectations of management regarding the use of proceeds of the Offering, closing conditions for the Offering, the expiry of hold periods for securities distributed pursuant to the Offering, and Exchange approval of the proposed Offering. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements including that: the Company may not complete the Offering on terms favorable to the Company or at all; the Exchange may not approve the Offering; the proceeds of the Offering may not be used as stated in this news release; the Company may be unable to satisfy all of the conditions to the Closing; and those additional risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except where required by law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. SOURCE: Commerce Resources Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/589265/Commerce-Resources-Corp-Announces-1000000-Private-Placement In response to the ongoing pandemic, the life and pensions industry has introduced a number of changes to pension and protection benefits for policyholders. COVID-19 has also prompted a change to the application process for those seeking life cover, specified illness cover, and income protection. Ifac, the farming, food, and agribusiness professional services firm, is providing a summary of these new measures and helpful advice to support life assurance and pension policyholders in Ireland. Martin Glennon (QFA, CFP), Head of Financial Planning at ifac, answers some questions: Life Cover and Specified Illness Cover Will the payment of life cover claims be impacted by COVID-19? We can reassure you that all life companies have confirmed that your life cover will not be impacted by COVID-19. In the unfortunate circumstance that a person contracts COVID-19 and dies, life policies would payout in line with the life companies' usual claims philosophy. Do clients need to tell the life companies if they have been diagnosed with, or are awaiting testing for, COVID-19? Existing Policies Clients with policies already in place do not need to let their provider know. Your policies original terms and conditions continue to apply, and nothing changes due to this pandemic. Applications in process For applications currently in progress that are pending any requirements, for example, a special terms letter or direct debit mandate, customers need to let the life company know if there has been any change to their health. You must fully disclose anything which may have arisen between the date you applied for cover and the date your policy is issued. This includes any new medical issues, medical investigations, or new symptoms. New Business Applications All new applications include additional questions directly related to the virus. Examples of these new questions being asked are as follows: Have you tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) or are you waiting on a COVID-19 test or test result? Are you currently experiencing symptoms of a cough, a high temperature, a fever, breathing difficulties, or any other symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19)? Are you self-isolating due to the symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19)? Have you been advised to self-isolate for any other reasons, or had direct contact with someone who has been confirmed or suspected to have Coronavirus (COVID19)? If you answer yes to any of the above questions, a decision to provide cover will be postponed until the individual has made a full recovery or for a minimum of one month. Have there been any other changes? At this stage, one provider (Aviva) has temporarily reduced the maximum age of entry for new applications to age 70. What if I cannot afford to pay the premiums on my existing protection policy? Maintaining protection cover is particularly important during this crisis for obvious reasons. The life companies are aware that greater flexibility is required to help people during these challenging times. There has been a range of options introduced. Bear in mind that each provider has adopted its own approach, so you will need to check with your provider to see if any of these new options are available to you. Re-instating policies that lapse Generally, clients with life assurance policies have 30 days after their premiums become unpaid, during which they remain on cover. After this period, the policy lapses and you are no longer on cover. In order to reinstate the policy, you must complete a declaration of health (which is subject to full underwriting) and pay the outstanding premiums. Most companies have indicated that they will accept reinstatement of a policy that lapses during the crisis, without the declaration of health for a period of 90-100 days (rather than 30). Premium Waiver New Ireland Assurance is offering a three -month premium waiver to customers who have been granted a payment break on their mortgage. The three-months premiums will not be required to be repaid at a later date. Evidence of approval of the mortgage payment break will be required. This offer also extends to non-unit linked Term Assurance policies that are assigned to a mortgage. Premium Holiday or Deferral Some providers are providing a premium deferral facility for protection policies. Royal London will allow you to defer up to three-months premium and Aviva for four-months. During the deferral period, you remain on cover. At the end of the premium deferral period, the premium arrears due can be repaid at that point or spread out over the upcoming 12-month period. Pension & Savings Plans Premium Holiday or Deferral Maintaining pension premiums is an important part of saving for retirement. However, if you have been financially impacted by COVID-19 and are concerned about paying your monthly pension premiums, some providers can offer a premium holiday of up to six months. At the end of the premium holiday period, your premium will recommence at previous levels. If premiums do not recommence, the policy will be made Paid Up. Minimum Premium Reduction Some providers have reduced the minimum premium on their pension and savings plans to help clients who want to continue saving but at a lower level. Company Pensions The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a huge impact on businesses in Ireland. Many employers have laid-off staff, either on a permanent or temporary basis, while some have had to reduce hours and pay for staff. Can contributions (employer, employee, and AVC) be stopped under the existing pension plan? Where the employees have been permanently let go or are no longer being paid, contributions can be stopped. Where the employees continue to be paid (full or reduced income), only the employer contributions can be temporarily stopped for a period up to the later of, three-months or the next plan renewal date. Where the employees continue to be paid (full or reduced income), all contributions (employer, employee, and AVC) can be temporarily stopped up to the later of three-months or the next plan renewal date. In both 2 and 3, where contributions are currently based on a percentage of income, contributions can continue to be paid into the plan based on the reduced income that employees are receiving. Group Risk Death in Service Will employees continue to be covered for Death in Service benefits during this time? Where the employees have been permanently let go, redundancy cover may apply (if available), where employees current level of death in service benefit can continue for up to six months from the date of leaving. Some Group Risk schemes include a continuation option. This allows the leaving member to set up an individual policy with the current provider, without providing evidence of health (for the same level of benefits or less). Usually, this option must be exercised within 30 days of leaving and one provider has extended this to 60 days. Where the employees have been temporarily laid off and provided New Ireland will maintain the employees current level of death in service benefit for a period of three months from the date employees were laid off. This will apply where the employer has paid or will pay, the death in service premiums for these employees for the three-month period. There is no update from other providers on this option. Where the employees continue to be paid on a reduced income basis, New Ireland will not apply any corresponding reduction in cover. Provided they receive a request from the employer and agree to do so, they will maintain the employees current level of death in service benefits for a period of three months. If you need any further support, speak to your financial advisor or contact Ifacs team of specialist advisors who are on-hand to help you plan for your future. Visit www.ifac.ie or call 01-4277400. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 12:09:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has been distancing himself from others, but is not in self-quarantine, after his press secretary tested positive for the coronavirus, an administration official said Sunday. "Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine," Devin O'Malley, the vice president's spokesman, said in a statement. "Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow." The Associated Press and Bloomberg News both used the term "self-isolating" to describe Pence's preventative measure, but NBC News cited a senior official as saying that "Pence's precautions did not amount to self-isolation because there are no restrictions on his schedule." The official added that the vice president "will be a low key for the next couple of days," according to the NBC News report. Pence, who leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is the latest and highest-ranking member of the administration to take restrictive measures to avoid social contact, after President Donald Trump on Friday confirmed that Pence's press secretary, Katie Miller, had tested positive for the coronavirus. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany referred to Miller only as a member of Pence's staff when talking about her infection at Friday's news briefing. But Trump called the person in question "a press person" during a meeting with congressional Republicans on the same day, saying "Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time and then all of a sudden today she tested positive." The diagnosis of Miller, 25, delayed Pence's flight Friday morning to Des Moines city in Iowa state, as six staffers disembarked the plane due to close contact with her, according to U.S. media reports. Two journalists were also summoned to the White House for a rapid test. A senior administration official reportedly informed the media, before Miller's identity was revealed, that "the vice president and the president have not had contact with this person recently." In addition to Miller, a personal valet to Trump and an assistant to Ivanka Trump -- the first daughter and Trump's senior adviser -- also had positive tests in recent days, raising concerns about senior administration officials' possible exposure to the contagion. Trump, who is now undergoing rapid-testing daily for the coronavirus, told reporters Friday that he was "not worried" about the potential transmission of the disease among people close to him, adding that "strong precautions" had been taken in the White House. The staffers' infection has compelled several administration officials tasked with combating the virus to self-quarantine, among them Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn -- three members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. As for other members of the task force, neither Health and Human Services (HSS) Secretary Alex Azar nor U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams plans to self-quarantine as of now. "Secretary Azar will follow the advice of his physicians at the White House Medical Unit," said Caitlin Oakley, HHS spokeswoman. "He has been tested for COVID-19 and the results of the test were negative." A spokesperson for Adams said the surgeon general has not been in contact with "anyone who has tested positive and at this time, has had no known exposure to the virus." As far as precautions are concerned, the spokesperson said he "already participates in most meetings and events virtually, and will continue to do so." Enditem Ivanka Trump paid tribute to her mother Ivana with several throwback images shared in a heartfelt Instagram post. 'Happy Mother's Day to all the Superwomen out there, especially those who may not be able to receive a warm embrace from their children today,' Ivanka, who has three children of her own with her husband Jared Kushner, wrote in the caption. 'Thank you for giving us life and love! Mom, showering you with gratitude and virtual kisses, today and always! xoxo,' the 38-year-old first daughter wrote. Scroll down for video Ivanka Trump paid tribute to her mother Ivana with several throwback images shared in a heartfelt Instagram post 'Happy Mother's Day to all the Superwomen out there, especially those who may not be able to receive a warm embrace from their children today,' Ivanka, who has three children of her own with her husband Jared Kushner, wrote in the caption 'Mom, showering you with gratitude and virtual kisses, today and always! xoxo,' the 38-year-old first daughter wrote Ivanka shared her post around the same time, First Lady Melania Trump, addressed mothers across the country with her Mother's Day message. The 50-year-old shared a video to Instagram on Sunday morning at the White House, where she celebrated the holiday with her husband President Donald Trump and their 14-year-old son Barron. 'On this Mother's Day I want to take a moment to honor and thank all of the caring, selfless and devoted moms of America,' she said with a smile. 'A mother's love cannot be replaced or replicated. Mothers provide the comfort and nurture a child needs in order to grow, prosper and succeed. 'Mothers serve as role models for our children, motivating us to work hard and dream big. Mothers also play a vital role in society, shaping the morals and values of future generations of our leaders and innovators. 'Today, let's recognize and honor all of our mothers, grandmothers and motherly figures for their wisdom, love and commitment to their children and our families. Ivanka shared her post around the same time, First Lady Melania Trump (pictured), addressed mothers across the country with her Mother's Day message Melania is seen with her husband President Donald Trump and their 14-year-old son Barron 'I ask each of you to take time today to thank a mother and let her know how much you appreciate her. I wish all of our mothers a happy Mother's Day. May God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.' Melania appeared in the video wearing a pale pink frock designed by Gabriela Hearst. She complimented the $3,000 dress with a full face of makeup topped off with light pink highlighter on striking cheekbones framed by bronze tresses pinned in a half-up hairstyle. Trump praised Melania's parenting skills during his 'Fox & Friends' interview. 'Melania has been a great mother to Barron. I will tell you that Barron is growing up, really beautifully and she's been a great mother to Barron,' he said. TEHRAN, Iran - Iran says it is ready for unconditional prisoner swap talks with the United States because of fears that the coronavirus could put the lives of the prisoners at risk, Iranian media reported Sunday. An Iranian news website, Khabaronline.ir, quoted Cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei as saying there is a readiness for all prisoners to be discussed without condition. But the U.S. has refused to answer, so far, said Rabiei. We hope that as the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease threatens the lives of Iranian citizens in the U.S. prisons, the U.S. government eventually will prefer lives to politics. A senior U.S. official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said, There has been no offer and no offer of direct talks. Rabiei said Iran considers the U.S. government responsible for the health of the Iranian prisoners, adding that it seems that the U.S. has more readiness to bring the situation to an end. Rabiei did not elaborate, but Iranian media in recent months said there are several Iranians in U.S. custody, including Sirous Asgari, a 60-year-old university professor. Last week, U.S. officials said they were making progress in efforts to secure the release of a detained Navy veteran in Iran. But they were also pushing back on Iranian suggestions that a swap was in the works for the imprisoned Iranian professor. U.S. officials have been trying to deport Asgari since last year. Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy Homeland Security secretary, said Wednesday that the cases of American detainee Michael White in Iran and Asgari have never been connected. He expressed frustration with recent comments from Iranian officials that there may be a link between the two and complained that Iran had been slow to accept Asgaris return. White, of Imperial Beach, California, was detained in July 2018 while visiting a girlfriend in Iran. He was convicted of insulting Irans supreme leader and posting private information online. He was released from prison in March on a medical furlough that required him to remain in the country. White is among tens of thousands of prisoners granted medical furloughs by Iran, which was one of the first countries to be hit hard by the spreading coronavirus. Trump administration officials have repeatedly said they consider the release of American hostages and detainees to be a high priority. In December, Iran released a Princeton University scholar held for three years on widely disputed espionage charges in exchange for the release of a detained Iranian scientist. In March, the family of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran 13 years ago, said they had been informed by U.S. officials that they had determined that Levinson was probably dead. Officials have not said how they reached that conclusion. ___ Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report. SPRINGFIELD Illinois top health official on Monday said the state has received its first shipment of Remdesivir, an antiviral drug that has proven early success as a treatment for COVID-19 patients. Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said the federal government shipped 140 cases of Remdesivir vials to Illinois on Saturday. She said each case of the drug, which is injected intravenously, provides treatment to about five patients. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recently conducted a clinical trial and found that patients who received Remdesivir had a statistically significant shorter time to recovery, compared to those receiving a post placebo, Ezike said during state leaders daily briefing on COVID-19. Ezike said IDPH sent cases of Remdesivir to 14 hospitals around the state by considering hospitalization and intensive care data, as well as hospitals that are treating the most critically ill patients and patients of color. We do expect to receive more Remdesivir in the future, but our hope is that the allocation that we received on Saturday can already help to improve outcomes for some patients who need it most, she said. Mondays briefing was the first held via video conference after a senior staffer in the office of Gov. JB Pritzker tested positive for COVID-19. For that reason, in accordance with the best public health practices of protocol and recommendations of doctors, the rest of our team, myself included, is working from home for the time being, Pritzker said. The governor added that his office is very much still in full operation and all aspects of the executive branch will function as they have been. IDPH reported 1,266 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, as well as 54 addtional deaths. Illinois has now reported a total of 79,007 cases and 3,459 deaths. There were 12,441 tests performed in the past 24 hours, bringing the states total to 442,425. Ezike said that 30 residents and 10 staff members at the state-run veterans home in Manteno are confirmed to have COVID-19 after everyone was tested. Everyone at the LaSalle veterans home was also tested, with one resident testing positive. That resident, Ezike said, has since tested negative. Tests are ongoing at the veterans homes in Quincy and Anna. Neither location has yet to report a COVID-19 case. Ezike added that 4,319 people remain in Illinois hospitals with COVID-19. Of those, 1,248 are in intestine care units and 730 are on ventilators. Earlier story ... The governor's office released the following statement about reopening the state based on the regional model announced last week: Gov. Pritzker Releases Updated Statewide Model, Regional Metrics for Restore Illinois Health Regions As top researchers from Illinois higher education institutions continue to build out and improve the states coronavirus model with real-time data, Governor JB Pritzker released an updated statewide model and regional metrics tracking progress in the Restore Illinois reopening plan. STATEWIDE MODEL Compared to the previous model forecasts which predicted peaking between late April and early May, that timeframe of plateauing near a peak has been expanded from mid-May into mid-June in Illinois. Daily death and hospital capacity data over the course of the last two and a half weeks have informed the model and led to the updated predictions. A later and lower peak is a positive indicator of flattening the curve and a result of a slowdown of the states rate of transmission, which leads to a slower rate of increase over a longer period. Under current mitigations, hospital bed and ventilator capacity remains sufficient to treat COVID-19 patients. In other words, Illinois will reach the peak without overloading the states health care system as seen in other parts of the world. The states modeling efforts are led by top researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern School of Medicine, the University of Chicago, the Chicago and Illinois Departments of Public Health (IDPH), and managed by Civis Analytics, using IDPHs data of COVID-19 cases, deaths, hospitalizations, ventilator and ICU usage from hospitals in Illinois. REGIONAL METRICS All four of the regions are meeting many of the key metrics, with three of the four on pace to meet all of the Restore Illinois reopening metrics to move forward after the 28-day period: North-Central, Central and Southern. As of midnight, May 8, the Northeast regions positivity rate is at 22.3 percent, higher than the 20 percent cap on this metric to move into the next phase. The North-Central region is at 9.1 percent, the Central region at 6.0 percent, and the Southern region at 10.5 percent. All of the regions have seen a dip in hospitalizations since May 1st: 18.6 percent decrease in the Northeast region, 35.8 percent decrease in the North-Central region, 44.4 percent decrease in the Central region, and 54.3 percent decrease in the Southern region. A requirement to move forward to next phase is that a region sees no overall increase, rather stability or a decrease, in hospital admissions for COVID-like illness across a 28-day period. As of midnight May 8, all four regions met the third requirement of available surge capacity of at least 14 percent for ICU beds, medical/surgical beds, and ventilators. Region Med/Surge Bed Availability ICU Bed Availability Ventilator Availability Northeast 17.8% 18.8% 64.3% North-Central 41.1% 40.6% 64.9% Central 52.4% 44.2% 74.6% Southern 45.8% 28% 80.7% Earlier story ... Watch now: New coronavirus totals for Illinois released CHICAGO The Illinois Department of Public Health on Monday announced 1,266 new cases of coronavirus disease in the state, as well as the following 54 additional deaths: Boone County: 1 male 60s Coles County: 1 female 90s Cook County: 1 female 50s, 3 males 50s, 6 females 60s, 4 males 60s, 5 females 70s, 4 males 70s, 2 unknowns 70s, 8 females 80s, 7 males 80s, 1 unknown 80s, 5 females 90s, 1 female over 100 DuPage County: 1 female 90s Kane County: 1 female 90s McHenry County: 1 male 90s St. Clair County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 70s Illinois is reporting a total of 79,007 cases, including 3,459 deaths, in 98 counties in . Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other officials delivered the daily update from home, after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. This story will be updated. Earlier story ... Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago staff working from home after colleague tests positive for COVID-19 DAN PETRELLA Chicago Tribune Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his Chicago office staff will be working from home after a senior staff member in the governors office tested positive for the new coronavirus, Pritzkers office announced Monday. Pritzker was tested Sunday, and the results were negative, according to the governors office. The rest of the governors staff who have been reporting to the office also tested negative, the office said. The governors office says about 20 staff members have been working from the James R. Thompson Center, following Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines and social distancing measures. The rest of the office staff already was working from home. Among those who now will be working from home is Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike, who is leading the states response to COVID-19, Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said. The staff member who tested positive late last week, was not showing symptoms and had been in close contact with the governor and other staff. Pritzker will continue to hold weekdays news briefings from his home. The office at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago is undergoing a deep cleaning, and the governor and his staff will return once they are cleared to do so by the Department of Public Health. In April, another member of Pritzkers Chicago office staff tested positive for the coronavirus.The employee started to feel unwell on March 26 and immediately went home, Pritzker said at the time. Pritzker and Ezike said at an April 7 news briefing that they hadnt been tested for COVID-19 because they hadnt exhibited symptoms. Pritzker did not have regular, close contact with the staffer who became ill in late March. How Pritzker's plan to reopen Illinois would work Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has urged the federal government to direct, through the Presidential Task Force (PTF), an investigation into the coronavirus-free status of Kogi and Cross Rivers States. The doctors said an investigation into the status and management response to the coronavirus by the two state governments is in the interest of safeguarding Nigerias public health, and to recommend appropriate remedial intervention if necessary, to President Muhammadu Buhari. Both states are the only two yet to confirm any case of the virus, a record widely disputed by health authorities and federal officials who believe governments in Kogi and Cross Rivers are discouraging tests for people with symptoms of COVID-19. As of Monday morning, Nigeria recorded 4, 399 infections from over 20, 000 tests conducted in a country of nearly 200 million populace since the emergence of the pneumonia-like disease in late February. Health experts say the true spread and toll to the contagion is vastly understated due to under-testing as the country is besieged with multiple testing challenges, including delays in the collection of samples, and submission of results with many states not working in sync with the national response strategy. Despite being surrounded by states with confirmed cases of the virus, the government in Kogi has at least once scuttled efforts by Nigerias infectious disease agency, NCDC, to coordinate COVID-19 testing, alleging that there is a plot by unnamed persons to ensure Kogi records cases of the virus. On Thursday, a delegation comprising officials of NCDC and the Department of Hospital Services of the Federal Ministry of Health had to flee the state for fear of being quarantined by the Kogi State Government. The delegation, which set out on the mission to ascertain the claim by the state to be COVID-19 free and to boost its testing capacity, was reportedly not received with open arms, a development that further pitted state authorities against federal officials. The NMA, in a statement on Sunday, said the development has made it difficult for the NCDC to discharge its duties. The association said it vehemently decried the stance of the governments of Kogi and Cross River to NCDCs advisory. The NCDC (Establishment) Act 2018 empowers the NCDC to lead the national response in disease outbreaks and public health emergencies. It is also to coordinate diverse kinds of feedback thereof, the statement signed by NMAs president, Francis Faduyile said. However, the NCDC has been unable to discharge these functions in some states of the Federation. Apart from threats and in some instances, prevention from collecting and testing samples of suspected cases of COVID-19; the pronouncements of some political leaders constitute outright interference in NCDCs coordination of case treatment for effectiveness and learning lessons. Kogi and Cross Rivers maintained their COVID-19 free status despite being flagged by NCDC Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu, for turning in a very low number of samples for testing. The doctors association in Kogi had expressed fears that the consequences of not testing people for the COVID-19 may be too enormous to deal with. Mr Faduyile said while it would be a welcome news for a no-positive-case status in any state or FCT, every state must ensure that it is following the testing guideline so that no cases are missed, as that would seriously imperil the whole national response to controlling COVID-19 pandemic. Easing of lockdowns In the statement titled preparing for the worst case scenario, the NMA said it reviewed the policies, programs, and activities implemented so far in the management of the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria and came up with some solutions. On easing of lockdowns amid rising numbers of infections, the NMA maintained that the solution is not to loosen the lockdown prematurely, but for government to provide robust and widened palliatives policy and its practical and urgent implementation. The public education and awareness campaign about COVID-19 must go beyond the state capitals in the rural areas. The NMA also proffers that government uses the period of the lockdown to increase capacity and capability of doctors and health workers, and ramp up population testing which is the only reliable barometer to predict community transmission and prevalence, the release read. Inadequate PPE and healthcare workers abandoning their duty posts The NMA said it is dismayed that doctors and other health workers still do not have adequate PPEs. Therefore, she has unequivocally advised her members and other healthcare workers in the country to avoid attending to suspected or confirmed cases of COVD-19 if they do not wear the appropriate PPE in the interest of the personnel and their families, and the wider society. The PTF must direct the FMOH and NCDC and other employers of doctors and health workers, to make arrangements for the provision of an adequate supply of PPEs at the point and time of need in the campaign against COVID-19. Out of stocks is preventable. To this end, NMA opts for the local production of PPEs in a nation where textile materials are not in short supply. Advertisements The doctors association further demanded the implementation of special risk allowance and insurance for health workers. It appealed to the Federal Government to call on the State governments to make public the incentives in the form of Risk/Hazard/inducement allowances and life insurance policies they are offering their healthcare employees. On tax Exemption on Allowances during COVID-19, the association called for an exemption from PAYE Tax, explaining that any taxation at this time would contradict the governments laudable spirit of incentivizing healthcare workers to deliver service needed to defeat COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. On the Infectious Diseases Control Bill 2020, the NMA called for the withdrawal of the Bill entirely and redrafting it, to remove any existing and future doubts in the people and public outcry against specific provisions of the Bill. The coronavirus pandemic isnt only a public health emergency, but also a major threat to the worlds economy. From jobs to stocks, emerging markets, and thousands of businesses, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis had several impacts on the global economies in the first quarter of 2020. And, unfortunately, the next several months may not bring much relief as the virus is still spreading rapidly and keeping large parts of the global economy closed. Although so far, Africa has not suffered the death and disruptions the virus caused in countries like Italy or China, it is far from being immune when it comes to the economic impacts of it. The African Union predicts that the vulnerable African economies may be strangled by the coronavirus crisis, leading to nearly 20 million job losses. The report published by the African Union claims that African economies are incredibly vulnerable to external shocks, such as price increases as global supply chains break down. The AU gave two different scenarios, a realistic one and a pessimistic one, on how the economies across the continent will turn out post-pandemic. Advertisement Image source: https://unsplash.com/photos/ezY6rc65mUE The realistic scenario pictures a pandemic that lasts about four months, and that wont leave Africa very affected. On the flip note, the pessimistic scenario predicts that it will take Europe and the US about six months before getting the virus crisis under control and will take Africa about eight months to stop the pandemic. In this more pessimistic scenario, the AU predicts that the reduction to the African continents GDP might be more than 4.5%. That being said, although Africa has escaped the scale of infection and its implications, which have been seen in other parts of the world, it is doubtful for it to avoid the economic consequences of COVID-19. The effects on the import of goods One of the biggest threats to the African economies in the context of the coronavirus pandemic is precisely the African countries import habits. Across the entire continent, countries trade more with other parts of the world than they do with each other. Moreover, Africas biggest trading partner is precisely where the COVID-19 outbreak began: China. So, as Chinas economy was severely disrupted by the virus, from closed factories to workers placed in lockdown and suspended international flights, it isnt a surprise that African traders suffered as well. Without access to Chinese goods, African markets cant get hold of the stock they need. As a result, prices go up, and consumer spending could go down, causing economic growth to slow down over the next few months. Moreover, as the worlds factory, China, paused its production due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the countrys demand for African commodities also decreased significantly. For example, demand for oil, Africas most advantageous export, has fallen off a cliff. African countries such as Angola and Congo-Brazzaville sell this raw material to China more than any other country on the African continent. Also, in the context of Europe becoming the new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, other African countries see demand in oil as well. For example, Nigeria sells more than a third of its oil to European countries. Yet, the ongoing pandemic made the demand for oil there take a significant hit. Likewise, as key trading partners of the African countries are struggling with the coronavirus spread, demand for other commodities will decrease as well. For example, the African country Ethiopia may struggle to sell its coffee. Likewise, Ivory Coast may struggle to find buyers for its cocoa and Zambia for its copper. The impacts on the travel and tourism industries Before the coronavirus outbreak, tourism in Africa was growing at a 5% rate a year. However, in the context of the global pandemic, flights are suspended, and some governments across the African continent even banned travel of passengers from China, Europe, and the United States. Therefore, the AU report predicts that the tourism and travel sectors will be profoundly affected by the pandemic. For most African countries like South Africa, Rwanda, or Uganda, the millions of international tourists every year bring revenue that is vital to their economies. For example, in 2018, South Africa received around 10.29 million arrivals of foreign tourists. Yet, it is doubtful for the country to see somewhere near this many arrivals in 2020. Moreover, the tourism and travel sectors in Africa dont just generate billions of dollars, but they also support nearly one in ten of all jobs. Therefore, there will be many job losses in this industry across the continent. The COVID-19 pandemic hit the South African rand Investments in Africa may also be affected in the context of the ongoing global coronavirus crisis. In an interview at the CNBC Africa, Egie Akpata, Director at Union Capital Markets, explains that there has been noticed a lot of panic activity among investors. He explains that this is also the reason why the markets experience drops in valuations. Moreover, as of the 14th of April, several emerging markets currencies recorded lows against the US dollar, among which the South African rand. And, it is expected that these EM currencies will face unprecedented pressure until an end to the pandemic can be seen. As the African countries traditional markets are facing significant challenges due to the pandemic crisis, more and more investors will most likely embrace less dependent markets on the continents economies, such as the Forex market. For example, in South Africa, one of the largest FX market across the entire continent, there are many African Forex brokers with offices in Johannesburg. As more Africans will shift their attention to alternative investment methods that arent so exposed as the traditional markets, these brokers will surely grow in popularity after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. With the trading partnerships with China already affected, and with Europe and the United States at the epicenter of the coronavirus, African economies are expected to experience a major impact. However, it is still too early to predict precisely to what extent some economies across the continent will suffer economically. Film producer Bhushan Kumar on Monday said his production house is taking necessary medical precautions after a caretaker of T-Series office tested positive for Covid-19, following which the building was sealed. Bhushan said some of the security personnel and helpers, who have been residing within the office premises since years, did not get a chance to go back to their hometowns due to the nationwide lockdown. All employees of T-Series are like family and we have taken utmost care to respect this situation. While the person who has been positively infected is receiving the proper care, we have taken the government recommended medical steps to make sure that the office building is completely sanitized, Bhushan said in a statement. The producer said all at T-Series are following the rules of lockdown and are currently working from home as directed. We have always taken care of each other and in these trying times, we will strive hard to make sure that each and every person of the T-Series family comes out a winner at the end of this fight against the global pandemic, he added. According to T-Series spokesperson, there were caretakers who would work and stay at the office premises in Andheri, which is now sealed to contain the spread of coronavirus. Some of them are migrants who couldnt go back. There are rooms, kitchen and all facilities for them at the office building. But one of them got tested positive for Covid-19, he said. Also read: Deepika Padukone shares pic from her pre-wedding puja, organised by mother Ujjala: Love you amma There are two-three people who are also getting tested, but their reports are pending. For safety reasons, the BMC has sealed the office. It was anyway shut for employees since March 15, spokesperson told PTI. Till Monday morning, death toll due to Covid-19 rose to 2,206 in India, with cases climbing to 67,152. Follow @htshowbiz for more Iran's Ex-President Warns Of A Cycle of Violence Between People And Government Radio Farda May 10, 2020 Ex-president of the Islamic Republic, Mohammad Khatami, has warned that people in Iran might resort to violence as an answer to their state of hopelessness and despair. He has also warned that a "cycle of reciprocal violence between the people and the government" could occur in the clergy-dominated Iran. In an "online speech", the mid-ranking cleric reiterated that the community may "express its dissatisfaction through violence to get rid of frustration and despair. Khatami has argued that the government for its part may resort to reciprocal violence and create an unending cycle. "The cycle will cause more hatred and violence on both sides, creating numerous complications", Khatami insisted. Khatami has been largely banned from appearing in the tightly-controlled Iranian media and in public events since 2017, but it seems the hardliner-dominated regime occasionally allows him to speak out of political expediency. While the former President warns on "reciprocal violence" almost all anti-establishment protests in recent years have been heavy-handedly suppressed by the country's security forces and intelligence agents. In recent years, human rights organizations have repeatedly condemned harsh crackdowns on protests in Iran. One of the bloodiest episodes of unrest occurred last November, leaving thousands of casualties. Almost six months after the mid-November uprising that shook Iran for almost a week, the Islamic Republic government still refuses to officially announce the number of people killed. Reuters estimated that 1,500 protesters were killed by security forces. Numerous videos and photos showed the people were unarmed and security forces used military weapons against pockets of protesters. Islamic Republic officials have so far admitted that about ten of its security forces were killed in the protests. The country's ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also described the protesters as "thugs", supported by Iran's last royal family, including the former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi who lives in exile. Nonetheless, even several members of the so-called reformist camp within the Islamic Republic ruling circle expressed concern that the mid-November unrest was a protest to "lack of civil liberties" in the Islamic republic. Following the protests, a renowned Islamic theologian, Abdul Karim Soroush, warned in a speech that there would be an increase in violence by protesters and even a group of people might take up arms if the government did not address their tribulations and demands. With Iran's economy in deep crisis due to U.S. sanctions and recently under more pressure because of the COVID-19 pandemic, some fear renewed protests in the coming months. Referring to a barrage of conservative attacks on his old proposal for "national reconciliation", Khatami maintained that had the offer been accepted, the situation would have been better, today. Mohammad Khatami's plan for national reconciliation was categorically rejected in February 2017 by the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Some people talk about national reconciliation; however, that does not make sense to me," Khamenei said, sarcastically adding, "The people are already united. So why do you talk about reconciliation? Are the people against each other?" Almost a year after Khatami's proposal was insolently rejected, tens of thousands of protesters poured into more than 100 cities across Iran in December 2017-January 2018, chanting slogans against the twin camps dominating the country. "Reformists! Fundamentalists! Your days are over!" they roared. At the same time, Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs, Hossein Zolfaqari, acknowledged that the January protests were the reflection of the people's will to leave all political factions of the country behind. Although economic issues triggered the protests in late 2017 and early 2018, the main slogans of the protesters were directly against the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, the government, the clergy, corruption, and mismanagement. Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-s- ex-president-warns-of-a-cycle -of-violence-between-people- and-government/30603808.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address (Newser) The investigation into Canada's deadliest mass shooting will encompass more than an analysis of the 17 crime scenes involved. Investigators will be conducting a "psychological autopsy" on gunman Gabriel Wortman through interviews with friends, relatives, and co-workers, "with the intent of gathering insights into why he committed the acts of violence," said the Royal Canadian Mounted police in a Monday statement. "This includes an analysis of his personality, past behavior, and how he related to others." story continues below The Guardian reports the technique has been used since the 1950s to try to get at motive, though more commonly in cases of suicide. Some 500 witnesses have spoken to police in the wake of the 12-hour Nova Scotia rampage, which claimed the lives of 22 victims13 by gunshots and 9 in fires Wortman set. Meanwhile, the Toronto Sun reports that as of Friday, nine families of victims were trying to certify a class-action lawsuit against Wortman's estate, which includes real estate whose value is thought to exceed $1 million. (Read more mass shootings stories.) Ten new positive cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of infections in the state to 858, the Health department said on Monday. "Ten new positive cases have been reported from last evening to this noon... Till date 858 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 31 deaths and 422 discharges," the department said in its mid-day situation update. The ten new cases include- three from Davangere, two each from Bidar and Bagalkote, one each from Kalaburagi, Shiggavi in Haveri and Vijayapura. While most cases are contacts of patients already tested positive, one each are with travel history to Mumbai and Ahmedabad. One person's contact tracing is underway. Seven cases are men, three are women. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 11.05.2020 LISTEN A stalwart member of the Peoples National Convention in the Chereponi Constituency of the North East Region, Hon. Eugene Tamado Bashiru has lashed out at the ruling government for suddenly losing grounds to fight the deadly virus to political gimmicks. The government machinery seems to have spending much of it time battling the opposition party to demonstrate their constitutional obligations to see the negative impact of COVID-19 on the lives of Ghanaians and collectively defined intensity solutions to curb the wide spread of the novel coronavirus, they have resorted into performance appraisals. Hon. T.K Bashiru as he calls, stated emphatically that the world is economically crash by the unseen virus and does not warrant for any game playing as the NPP and NDC are trying to politicize the virus in their discretion to chock political gains. We are in difficult times and the ruling government owns Ghanaians a duty to commit itself into providing a flexible channels with enough resources to tackling the covid-19, they have engaged in political mischief. Mother Ghanaians is gradually losing confidence in the two political parties and its time for Ghanaians to decide decisively not to elect the Peoples National Convention to lead the country. Adding, they are using silence nature of the people as weakness to downplay their intelligence as they are the better political parties in the country. NDC and NPP, he noted, are political parties in the history of Ghana that have been identified as corruption promoters partys doing everything under the auspices to drain government coffers in turn biting each others of corruption allegations. The question is, if NPP and NDC are corrupt which party in Ghana is corrupt? They should face the reality and stop the ostrich game. ThepressRadio.com For nearly two months now, as the coronavirus ravaged many communities large and small throughout the country, most patients have been unable or unwilling to access in-person care from health professionals. Even if someone is able to get to a doctors office or clinic safely, who wants to sit in a waiting room where you or another patient might transmit the infection? But with an internet connection through a computer, tablet or even a smartphone, patients can safely show various body parts to an examiner who is then able to recommend treatment or order a test or prescription that can be delivered to the patients home by the nearest pharmacy. Telemedicine is not a substitute for seeing and physically examining a patient, said Dr. Baccash, who still makes house calls when needed. But there are some patients, especially elderly patients, who cant get out of the house. I can talk to them and look at their problem on my computer, take a snapshot, say, of a leg infection and enter it directly into their medical record. If a blood test is needed, I can have a lab technician come to their house. Even X-rays can be done at home with a portable machine that can manipulate the images digitally, he said. Were taught in medical school that taking a medical history gives you 90 percent of the information you need, with the remaining 10 percent coming from the physical exam, Dr. Baccash said. If you talk to patients long enough, theyll tell you whats wrong with them, which is why telemedicine can be so helpful we get most of the information we need from talking with and listening to patients. And patients are more relaxed and feel less rushed in their own homes. He added that with a telehealth visit, the doctor may be able to assess a patients living conditions and determine how they help or hinder the patients health problem. For example, for those who get up during the night, perhaps multiple times, is there an obstacle course between the bedroom and bathroom that is an accident waiting to happen? How safe is the bathroom for patients who are physically challenged? Telemedicine can also provide easy medical access to patients who live in rural communities many miles from good health care. For many common health problems or follow-up care, an in-office doctor visit may not be needed. Patients could be seen during a televisit by a registered nurse or physician assistant. Speaking at the meeting of the parliamentary commission on foreign relations a week ago, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan announced the possibility of a phased solution to the Karabakh conflict, stressing that it does not matter to the Armenian side whether the solution to the problem will be phased or package. The foreign minister noted that several conditions must be complied with that would help maintain the balance of the parties in the resolution of the conflict. What kind of balance he talked about remains unknown. Armenian diplomacy's position is conservative regarding a phased resolution of the conflict: the occupied regions are defined as territories that perform the defensive function as the so-called security belt. Armenias military participation in the conflict is argued as ensuring the security of the Armenian population of Karabakh. The determining condition for a settlement for Armenia remains the issue of the Karabakh status - its territorial affiliation. This approach has not changed for over the past quarter of a century. The humanitarian issues are considered secondary, and Yerevan has no interest in issues of Azerbaijani statehood. The goal of any phased settlement is pragmatic - gradually creating fundamentally new conditions that will subsequently help overcome the most complex contradictions by minimizing the contradictions. However, the Armenian position does not allow any progress, and therefore is destructive. This is indirectly confirmed by the Armenian Foreign Minister, when he says that Yerevan allows a phased solution to the conflict, but does not consider it necessary to discuss economic cooperation, the ethnic map of the region or the Armenian military presence. Conditions change solely under the influence of internal factors caused by the unresolved conflict. As a result of the Karabakh blockade, its own political and business "elite" was formed, which monopolizes almost all spheres in the region. This affects Yerevan's position and the entire negotiation process, as the Armenian authorities work closely with the self-proclaimed authorities. An important destructive component has long been present in the settlement issue - the business interests of the local "elite", which does not want to leave out the monopoly on power and resources. In terms of the Karabakh settlement, there are two realities in Armenia: everyday and diplomatic. In everyday reality, the Karabakh crisis is a conflict between peoples in which one of the parties is experimenting with the dangerous term of "historical justice." This could be observed in February during the Munich meeting between Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. By substituting concepts, mythologizing and aggravating the history of contradictions, Armenian propaganda models in the public mind the image of a constant threat in the person of Azerbaijan and the image of a 'defender,' which includes Armenian diplomacy among other things. Such a vision of the problem allows to present the diplomatic shortsightedness of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other politicians as 'successful' defense of existing positions indefinitely. This distracts the public's attention from everyday problems, especially since the republic has still not formed an acute public request for a settlement of the Karabakh problem. Another reality is diplomatic, in which the historical research of the Armenian side is unacceptable. Not a single international structure, not a single mediator will discuss the position of any of the parties to the conflict if it is based on 'historical predetermination'. In this reality, Armenian diplomacy cannot argue its point of view with the national propaganda, therefore, it prefers to ignore international resolutions and the results of longstanding work of mediators, since a diplomatic solution to the Karabakh problem remains disadvantageous in terms of maintaining a monopoly of power in Karabakh. That is why the annual meetings of representatives of foreign affairs agencies are often concluded without a suitable outcome. At best, the parties agree to reduce mutual criticism in the media. For many years, Armenian propaganda defines Azerbaijani politics exclusively as hostile. Any initiative of Baku is presented as a threat of ethnic deportation, which supposedly will happen if Azerbaijan somehow 'filters' in Karabakh, including through soft power. Yerevan fails to mention that the number of people which have left Armenia and Karabakh after the ceasefire is bigger than during periods of sharp escalation. Speaking about a phased resolution of the conflict, the Armenian side actually transforms the negotiation process into the territorial division. In other words, the Armenian side insists that Baku accepts the occupation, the geographical borders of which will be discussed by Yerevan. Given all this, the question arises of what rhetoric Yerevan expects to hear from Baku, if Armenia's ideology for many years has been based on the fact that the closest neighbor, whose position is not even considered, is demonized in almost all political areas. For comparison, Abkhazia and Georgia were also unable to achieve significant progress in resolving the ethno-political conflict. However, Tbilisi and Sukhumi managed to maintain an understanding of the inevitability and the need to find common ground, since the confrontation will end sooner or later, and the infrastructure will need to be restored by joint forces, especially the power industry (the Inguri Hydroelectric Power Station) and transportation (railway communication). Labour TD for Louth, Ged Nash has called on the IDA and the Minister for Business to intervene to rescue the 176 jobs at risk in National Pen in Dundalk. Deputy Nash said: The company callously emailed staff late Friday afternoon announcing that they plan to make 126 staff redundant and move 50 additional Japanese sector positions to Japan throughout this year. I understand from speaking to some staff that a further email issued to some staff later that evening that suggests to me that the company is unilaterally handpicking staff for redundancy before it even engages in a modicum of consultation as it is legally obliged to do. The entire approach of the company is high-handed and arrogant and is causing huge anxiety at the Dundalk facility. I understand that the firm plans to initiate the 30 day consultation from this week. The firm should enable SIPTU - which has a large number of members on-site - to professionally represent the staff whose jobs and livelihoods are at risk. This is a company which has received significant grant aid support from the Irish taxpayers (1.5 million from IDA since 2015) yet has repeatedly decided to ignore Labour Court recommendations time and time again. "It is high time they did right by their dedicated staff and that they engage meaningfully to save the at-risk jobs that appear to be in the process of being off-shored to lower cost labour markets by the company under the cover of the pandemic. A Haiti presidential panel charged with advising the government on how to manage the coronavirus pandemic is calling for the suspension of U.S. deportations of Haitian nationals until the deadly contagion is controlled. The group made up mostly of doctors and medical experts hand-picked by Haitian President Jovenel Moise to advise him on steps to control the virus spread in Haiti is also asking for a ban on any returnee who has not been tested for COVID-19. Transporting people potentially infected with SARS COV2 in an aircraft represents a high risk of contamination for all passengers including the crew, the letter said. Persons coming from these territories must be placed in quarantine and tested for COVID-19. This results in the use of human and material resources already limited in Haiti, especially in the health emergency context. The Haitian government, the group said in a list of recommendations sent to Haitian Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe on Sunday, should enter into talks with the Trump administration to reach an agreement. The recommendations, obtained by the Miami Herald, come hours before an Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flight is scheduled to depart Alexandria, La., with another group of deportees to Haiti early Monday and as the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 see double-digit increases almost daily in Haiti. An initial flight manifest, also obtained by the Herald, had 101 detainees listed including former death squad leader Emmanuel Toto Constant, 50 individuals with criminal backgrounds and at least five detainees who had tested positive for COVID-19. Haitian authorities said they had been told by ICE that all deportees would be tested 72 hours before being flown to Port-au-Prince. But when the Herald checked with the wife of at least one of the deportees, Stephan Etienne, who had twice tested positive, he still had not been tested as of Saturday, she said. On Sunday, Melissa Furtardo said it appeared that her husband, who is being held at the Pine Prairie Correctional Center in Pine Prairie, La., was not among some of the COVID-19-positive detainees who had been relocated to Alexandria, the staging ground for the deportation flights departure. As of Friday, 788 ICE detainees who have been administered a COVID-19 test had tested positive for the virus, data shows. Its unclear who among the Haitian detainees on Mondays flight was in that group. ICE does not provide that information. ICE previously said it would test foreign nationals before they departed, but also implied that not all might get the tests because of limited testing kits. In Guatemala, a deportee who came with paperwork saying he was negative for the infection turned up positive, according to The Associated Press. On Sunday, Haitis Ministry of Public Health and Population said it had registered 182 confirmed cases, an additional 31 cases from the previous day and three additional deaths for a tally of 15 people killed as a result of the COVID-19 infection. The 8.2 per cent death rate is one of the highest in the Caribbean region. The Haiti panel, known as the Scientific Unit, makes several arguments on why deportation flights to Haiti should be put on hold. The most prominent is that the deportation of people in detention in U.S. prisons poses a high risk for the introduction of strains of the SARS COV2 virus in the national territory, meaning Haiti. The deportation flights, which began last month, are also a financial strain on Haitis meagre resources. Facilities that should be used to quarantine Haitians, who live in confined spaces that are often just one room, are now having to be used for deportees every two weeks. Currently there are only 111 beds available in four facilities located in the capital of Port-au-Prince to quarantine COVID-19 cases or those suspected of it for 14 days, the incubation period. Haiti registered its first positive COVID-19 case on March 19. The Pan American Health Organization has warned that Haiti is in for a deeper crisis because of the outbreak of the virus, and the onslaught of an expected 55,000 Haitians from the Dominican Republic, where there are more than 9,000 cases, will further strain Haitis weak health systems ability to cope. This is the second time that the Scientific Unit is asking for a halt in flights. But this time it has put the recommendations in writing following similar calls by U.S. lawmakers, immigration advocates, Doctors Without Borders and award-winning author Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat. In an editorial published in the Herald on Sunday, Danticat said with these ongoing deportations, the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, are not just endangering the lives of the men, women and children on these flights, they are also potentially condemning entire communities to death. In the Scientific Units letter obtained by the Miami Herald they went on to list the reasons for their conclusion beginning with the fact the U.S is now the epicentre of COVID-19 cases with 1.63 million cases and 80,562 deaths and screening in detention facilities are not done systematically. Transporting people potentially infected with SARS COV2 in an aircraft represents a high risk of contamination for all passengers including the crew, the letter said. Persons coming from these territories must be placed in quarantine and tested for COVID-19. This will result in the use of human and material resources already limited in Haiti, especially in the health emergency context. Gov. Nyesom Wike has continued to be caught in the web of massive power drunkenness and executive recklessness in the discharge of his functions especially, in his purported fight against Covid-19 since the emergence and spread of the pandemic in the country. Worried over the safety of Rivers people, especially the less privileged whose sources of livelihood has been grossly affected by the governor's acts of horrendous rascality, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People's Democratic Party (nPDP), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said the governor now sees himself as a natural ruler administering over a police state. Describing the arbitrary excercise of power as anarchical, the party Chief said the deliberate sufferings meted out on Rivers people on daily basis is pointer and justifies the fact that Wike was forcefully imposed on Rivers people by evil forces who do not mean well for the state, stressing that no democratic leader installed through the instrumentality of the ballot can be so draconian, heartless and inconsiderate to plight of the electorates whom he claimed voted him into office. Frowning at the demolition of hotels and auctioning of cars belonging to alleged defaulters of the governor's executive orders, Chief Eze said Gov. Wike acted beyond his bounds; citing Section 36 (12) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), where it was settled that offences and penalty for any offence must be clearly stated in a written law. He reminded the governor that the Constitution is the *fons et origo;* the origin and source from whence every other laws derive their validity. For further guidance, Eze tasked the governor take a thorough perusal of the case of FAITH V GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE & ANOTHER (2016) LPELR-41066 (CA), where the governor of Lagos State issued a directive inhibiting movements of citizens during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise, and the Court of Appeal, in a unanimous judgement held that the Appellant could not be arrested or prosecuted for non compliance with an Executive Order of the Governor of Lagos State because the offence is not prescribed in a written law and is therefore unknown to law Drawing inference from the afore cited Constitutional provision and case law, Chief Eze queried the foundation upon which the governor's ultra vires actions are anchored. He further pointed to Section 1 (3) of the Constitution where it was expressly stated thus: "if any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail and that other law shall to the extent of its inconsistency be void". Eze referred the governor to Section 5 of the Quarantine Act which provides for a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months or a fine of N200 or both as punishment for defaulters of the Act. The obvious implication of that section is that defaulters of any regulation made by the President or Governor of a state to curtail infectious disease is liable to a fine of N200 or a term of imprisonment for six months or both and nothing more. It is therefore disturbing to learn that Gov. Wike has arrogated to himself more powers outside the limit prescribed in the Quarantine Act. There is therefore no law empowering the governor to confiscate or order the confiscation of goods or demolition of any house or houses belonging to defaulters under the Quarantine Act because Section 5 of the said Act already provides for punishment for offenders. It therefore amounts to executive rascality and sheer recklessness for Wike to confiscate and auction properties and demolish structures merely because their owners violated an order which punishment the law already provides. Eze pleaded that with a conquered State House of Assembly and a silenced Traditional Rulers, the Elites and Elders of Rivers State should assist the State by speaking up against the evil that has bedevilled the State to avoid the current state where Wike has turned the State into a laughing stock. Eze wonders where are the elders of Rivers State and cried asking where are the Abiye Sekibos, Chief Emeh Glory Emehs, Chief Sergeant Awuses, Hon Austin Oparas, Chief OCJ Okochas. Where are you Olaka Nwogu, Uche Secondus, Chief Anyawu. What about Tele Ikuru, Felix Obua, Celestine Omehia, Thompson Sekibo, Lee Maeba, K. K. Kobani and a host of others who conspired to foist Wike on Rivers people? Where are the Dr Peter Odilis, President Goodluck Jonathans, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba that imposed this man on Rivers State? You must all be feeling guilty, disappointed and disgraced by the governor's ill-bred and untutored actions against Rivers people. Eze queried the whereabout of the academics in the PDP and those serving in the government; Prof. Ebeku, Prof. Mmom, Prof. Adango, Prof. Didia, Prof. Ndimele, Prof. Onuchukwu and others. Gov. Wike has indeed made nonsense of their academic attainments and they must all have hidden their faces in shame. Chief Eze called on the few with conscience working with the governor not to die in silence, but speak up in defence of the people and or resign to save their conscience from imminent death, stressing that posterity will not forgive them if they continue to accept to be stocked like pieces of furniture and watch Rivers people continue to go through the dehumanizing and melancholic condition the governor has subjected them. Chief Eze Expressed disappointment over the indolence of the Attorney General of the state whose responsibility it is to tutor the governor on issues touching on law to reduce constant exhibition of ignorance and crass cluelessness in the public space particularly now that the Governor have lost and forgotten all that he was taught in the Law School. He tasked the Attorney General to return from slumber land and save the governor from further embarrassing blunder which has already painted the government as one lacking in men who are stocked with the requisite knowledge in law and practice. He said the state Attorney General must not see himself as the governor's puppet, always there to receive orders and prohibitions without making any meaningful impact as such does not speak well of a man of his status in the academia, but only makes mockery of his professorial attainment in law. He appealed to Rivers people to remain calm, assuring that the challenges will definitely fizzle out. Signed Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze APC Chieftain & former National Publicity Secretary, nPDP So far, Israel has come through the coronavirus scare in comparatively good shape. As of yesterday, May 9, only 252 deaths had been attributed to the virus. Thats 29 per 1 million people. The number of new reported cases has declined from a peak of around 750 per day at the beginning of April to around 50. The daily death count is down from a peak of around a dozen in mid-April to 1-5 last week. The number of active cases has fallen from nearly 10,000 in mid-April to about half that number. What has been the key to Israels comparative success? The early closure of its borders is probably a significant factor. Israel was among the first nations to close its borders completely to foreigners. One of my wifes Israeli cousins needed to travel to France in late February or early March to visit her son and his wife, who was recovering from serious surgery. She left knowing that, as a condition of her reentry, she would face mandatory quarantine for two weeks even if she had no symptoms of the coronavirus. Israel also benefited from the fact that its population is young. The median age in Israel is 30. In many of its European counterparts, the median age is around 45. According to this report, 97 percent of Israelis who died from the coronavirus were older than 60. 10 percent were older than 95. Analysts cite additional possible reasons for Israels low number of deaths from the virus. Israel is a disciplined nation whose people, for the most part, are used to taking precautions even if they entail hardship. Israel is a warm-weather nation. Such countries seem to have fewer infections. As one would expect, Israel is among the countries whose researchers are at the forefront of developing ways to combat the virus. Reportedly, the Israel Institute for Biological Research has identified an antibody that neutralizes it. And scientists at MIGAL Galilee Research Institute are developing a vaccine for humans against the coronavirus, having successfully developed one for poultry. The Institute predicts it will be able to test its oral vaccine in humans by around June 1. From what I gather, Prime Minister Netanyahu has benefited politically from Israels relative success in minimizing the coronavirus health impacts. I believe the publics satisfaction with the governments response was one reason why his rival, Benny Gantz agreed to form a coalition government, and on terms favorable to Netanyahu, after repeatedly saying he wouldnt do so. Gantz probably feared the outcome of a fourth national election. But what about the economic impact of Israels response to the coronavirus? It is likely to be severe, given the lengthy cessation of economic activity. Perhaps Israel will fare better than many other developed economies because it is used to economic disruptions due to war. However, Israel will pay a substantial economic price, and this may alter the relatively favorable view Israelis now have of how they have come through the pandemic. The other concern is a second wave. Scientists and medical professionals expect one in early winter, around the same time as the flu strikes. Israeli hospitals reportedly struggle during the flu season more than those of other developed countries due to a chronic shortage of equipment and staff. Israel has one of the lowest number of nurses per capita among all OECD countries. As things stand now, however, Israelis have reason to be proud of how their battle with the Wuhan coronavirus has gone. A lot is dependent upon whats happening, whether schools will be open, not open, for instance, Wiedefeld said. And then we get into what were calling a managed reentry . . . Thats where you would start to see more and more rail service capacity being put out in the system, as well as additional bus routes being added onto the system and then eventually the final recovery, which we anticipate right now, most likely [taking place] after the first of the year into the spring of next year. Coroner Reveals Cause of Death for Mother, Daughter Found in Indiana Home An Indiana coroner said a woman and her young daughter found dead in April in a home died of carbon monoxide poisoning after a car was left running in their garage. Vanderburgh County Coroner Steve Lockyear stated that autopsies and toxicology tests revealed that both the mother and daughter died from carbon monoxide inhalation, reported The Associated Press. Officials ruled 49-year-old Kimbra Shanafelts death a suicide and reckless homicide for her 5-year-old daughter, Dahni Shanafelt. We feel that [Kimbra Shanafelt] had the intent to kill herself, Vanderburgh County Sheriff David Wedding told People magazine. We ruled the childs death a reckless homicide because the manner in which she died, her mother put her in that position whether she did it with true intent or not. A relative found their bodies inside the garage of her duplex in Evansville. The girls body was found in an upstairs bedroom, AP reported. The puzzle remains: did she intend for her child to pass away as well, or did she think her child might be safe in the residence and found later? Those are questions we will always ask ourselves and it will be a big puzzle that remains, Wedding told the magazine. Officials said that Kimbra Shanafelt was found lying near her vehicle, which was left running. The door of the vehicle was open, there was no fuel, and the battery was dead. Wedding told the outlet that the garage door leading into the house was closed. This one-car garage had a furnace which would easily suck any vapors into the house through the ventilation system, but we dont know if the mother knew that, he said. The sheriff added that there were no signs of injury, weapons, or a break-in. According to an obituary, Shanafelt was an optical lab technician with Armada Optical while Dahni was a kindergarten student at Highland Elementary. Suicide Hotlines If you are in an emergency in the United States or Canada, please call 911. You can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255. Youth can call the Kids Help Phone on 1-800-668-6868. In the United Kingdom, call Samaritans at 116 123, Papyrus at 0800 068 41 41, or Childline at 0800 1111. Vitamin D appears to help reduce serious complications among coronavirus patients, according to a study. Researchers from Trinity College Dublin, the University of Liverpool and the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) examined the association between vitamin D levels and Covid-19 mortality rates. Dr Eamon Laird and Professor Rose Anne Kenny, who co-authored the paper, found vitamin D can help support the immune system through a number of pathways involved in fighting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. After analysing more than 20 years worth of European data on vitamin D, and comparing it with current statistics on Covid-19, the researchers showed that the highest infection and death rates had been recorded among those populations with low vitamin D concentrations. These includes the likes of Spain and Italy which, despite their lower latitude positions and heightened exposure to sunlight, both suffer from high rates of vitamin D deficiency. The northern latitude countries of Norway, Finland and Denmark, which have recorded comparatively lower Covid-19 infection and death rates, have higher vitamin D levels despite less sunlight exposure, because supplementation and fortification of foods is more common. The correlation between low vitamin D levels and death from Covid-19 is statistically significant, said the authors of the report, who also urged the Irish government to change recommendations for supplements. Whereas there are currently no results from randomised controlled trials to conclusively prove that vitamin D beneficially affects Covid-19 outcomes, there is strong circumstantial evidence of associations between vitamin D and the severity of Covid-19 responses, including death, said Professor Kenny of Trinity College. We call on the Irish government to update guidelines as a matter of urgency and encourage all adults to take supplements during the Covid-19 crisis. Deficiency is frequent in Ireland. Deficiency is most prevalent with age, obesity, in men, in ethnic minorities, in people with diabetes, hypertension and in nursing homes. Co-author Dr Laird added: Here we see observational evidence of a link of vitamin D with mortality. Optimising vitamin D intake to public health guidelines will certainly have benefits for overall health and support immune function. "Research like this is still exploratory and we need further trials to have concrete evidence on the level of vitamin D that is needed for optimal immune function. The Irish study reinforces evidence which suggests Covid-19 patients with high vitamin D levels are more likely to survive the disease. Last week, a study from Northwestern University in the US found that patients with severe deficiency are twice as likely to experience major complications. The researchers also found a strong correlation between low vitamin D levels and the cytokine storm response, a hyper-inflammatory condition caused by an overactive immune system, seen among some coronavirus patients. Cytokine storm can severely damage lungs and lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome and death in patients, Ali Daneshkhah, a postdoctoral research associate at Northwesterns McCormick School of Engineering, said last week. This is what seems to kill a majority of Covid-19 patients, not the destruction of the lungs by the virus itself. It is the complications from the misdirected fire from the immune system. Vitamin D is produced in the skin from UVB sunlight exposure and is transported to the liver and then the kidney where it is changed into an active hormone that increases calcium transport from food in the gut and ensures calcium is adequate to keep the skeleton strong. Additional reporting by PA Hyderabad: Covid-19 is cruel enough but what if it comes as a double blow to family already fighting another serious ailment? For 40-year-old father of two, Nayeem (name changed) life had already dealt him a cupful of woe when his five-year-old daughter was diagnosed with blood cancer a year ago. That required regular trips to the MNJ Cancer Hospital for treatment. But then came the devastating news a few weeks ago: he himself was positive for the novel coronavirus nCoV19. On one of our visits to the cancer hospital, the staff recommended that I undergo the test for Covid-19 as we had been making multiple trips to the hospital and travelling from home to hospital. Imagine my shock when the doctors told me the next day that I had tested positive for coronavirus, said Nayeem. He was shifted to Gandhi Hospital where he spent the next 14 days in an isolation ward. I had no symptoms. They did not do a second test. No one told me why I was being held at the hospital despite not being tested again. But I kept my spirits up by talking to my daughter every day at least three or four times on the phone, he told Deccan Chronicle. The rest of his family tested negative for the disease. The whole experience has left Nayeem a confused man. He does not know how or where he contracted the virus. And because he did not undergo a second confirmatory test and remained asymptomatic, his fears only increased while in the Gandhi Hospital isolation ward. He said, I had had no symptoms and was afraid I would actually catch the disease from the others in the ward. I was not told why I was not tested again for the disease. I am quite sure I didn't have the coronavirus. I never even felt weak. When I asked the doctors if I could observe roza during Ramzan, they gave the go ahead, he said. The only time I was tested in the hospital was after 14 days of quarantine. After that result came in negative, I was discharged and told to go home, Nayeem said. It was shameful that the family had to face social stigma because he was known to have been in hospital for the virus. It became difficult for my family to even buy essential items and groceries. Sometimes police used to help us. There was a three-day period when my family could not get fresh drinking water and resorted to boiling tap water to make it safe before drinking. Though the barricades around the area he lives in were removed after his discharge from Gandhi Hospital, his house is still barricaded. New Delhi, May 11 : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the national capital on Monday appraised the Delhi High Court that Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has issued a show cause notice to the Chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC), Zafarul Islam Khan, against whom an FIR has been lodged for making alleged "seditious" statements on social media. Delhi government counsel Anupam Srivastava made the submissions while a division bench of the high court presided over by Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal heard the plea seeking the removal of Khan from the post of DMC chief. Srivastava said that Baijal wrote a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on April 30 to direct the concerned administration to initiate action as per the provisions against Khan. He also submitted that Baijal had issued a show cause notice to Khan on May 8. Following the submissions, the court disposed of the petition saying, "The authorities shall decide the matter in reasonable time." The plea filed by one Subhash Chandra through Supreme Court advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava alleged that despite holding the responsible post of DMC Chairman, Khan had given a direct threat of inciting foreign attack on India. "A bare perusal of the aforesaid public statement made by Respondent No.4 categorically reveals that Respondent No. 4 has brought hatred and contempt and has excited disaffection towards the sovereignty of India by instigating foreign countries to wage war against India," said the plea. On April 28, Khan had posted controversial comments on his Facebook page. "Mind you, bigots, Indian Muslims have opted until now not to complain to the Arab and Muslim world about your hate campaigns and lynchings and riots. The day they are pushed to do that, bigots will face an avalanche," Khan had written on his Facebook page. On Friday, Khan had apologised for his controversial remarks, saying that he never intended to tarnish the image of India. He also removed the controversial post from social media. The plea said, "It is respectfully submitted that by making the aforesaid seditious and derogatory statement, the Respondent No.4 has abused the position of Chairperson in such a manner that his continuance in office is detrimental to the interests of the minorities as well as to the public interest." "A bare perusal of the aforesaid public statement made by the Respondent No. 4 (Zafarul Islam) further categorically reveals that he has deliberately and intentionally promoted enmity between different groups on the ground of religion and has done acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony," the plea added. The Special Cell of Delhi Police had registered the FIR on the complaint of a Vasant Kunj resident. The complaint was lodged with the Lodhi Colony office of the Special Cell after the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Safdarjung Enclave, forwarded it. The investigation has been handed over to Special Cell inspector Praveen Kumar. According to the FIR, the copy of which is with IANS, Khan was booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code -- 124 A (sedition) and 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.). Kerala which is maintaining a successful disease-management protocol has decided to strengthen its tracing and quarantine norms as immigrants from the Middle-East and people stranded in other parts of the country started flocking to the state in large numbers. Among the Gulf returnees, seven people had tested positive so far and more flights are expected in the coming days. On Monday, the state reported seven new Covid-19 cases, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayans office said. Out of 7, four are people who returned from Mumbai, one from Chennai and another returned from Kuwait (earlier six others who returned from the middle-eastern countries had tested positive). Out of 519 Covid-19 positive cases, 489 have recovered and 27 active cases are there, his office said. With train services expected to resume in a couple of days the state is expecting more cases. It has tweaked its policies and has given strict instructions to district administrations to enforce track, trace and treat protocol ruthlessly. People with minor symptoms or those who come from red zones will have to undergo strict protocols to contain a possible third bout of infection, said health officials. Kerala is the first state to have reported a coronavirus case in the country in January, when a Wuhan-returned medical student had tested positive. The second stage of infection occurred in the first week of March when some super spreaders returned from foreign countries and transmitted the disease to many others. The state pressed the emergency button as the exodus of expatriates from middle-eastern countries and people from other states began. People coming from red zones will have to undergo mandatory 14-day home quarantine and if they show slight symptoms they will be moved to hospitals and PCR tests will have to be done, said health ministry officials. In each area a nodal officer will be appointed for a section of people under quarantine and it is his/her duty to monitor them with the help of other health officials regularly. Local police officers will have to help him. Though the state was vociferous on stranded immigrants there is a complaint that it did not do much to students and others stranded in other parts of the country-- after it became a big issue it was forced to write to the Railways and north Indian states to help run special trains for them. The opposition and rights activists alleged that it was a deliberate ploy to keep the state records intact. Around 350 special trains were run in the country and not a single one came to the state. Sad that in building up a public relations exercise the CM conveniently has forgotten his own people stranded in many parts of the country, said Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala. He said hundreds of people were stranded along state borders after the government insisted on passes from the originating destination. But the ruling CPI(M) said the opposition was playing cheap politics during the pandemic. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Darwin Fontenot in police custody: (Port Barre Police Department) A police officer has been arrested, after he allegedly traded sex with a woman in return for getting her out of a speeding ticket. Darwin Fontenot, an officer in Port Barre, Louisiana, allegedly stopped a woman for speeding and then coerced her into having sex with him, according to the Lafayette Daily Advertiser. He is now facing a charge of third-degree rape, after the woman told police that he offered leniency on her multiple driving violations, in return for sex. The woman reported the incident to the police on 27 April, and Mr Fontenot, who is 21 years old, was put on administrative leave on Saturday and released on bond. Port Barre Police Chief Deon Boudreax said in a statement that the officers actions were unacceptable. The public holds law enforcement to a high standard, and so do I, he said. Whether the sexual interaction was consensual or not doesnt justify it. I will not tolerate such unprofessional behaviour from our police officers, he added. Mr Boudreax said that the officer admitted to having sex with the woman, but told his superiors that they met when he was off duty. Even if he was off duty, it doesnt make it right, he said. An officer, nor any public servant, should engage in that type of activity of exchanging sexual favours for leniency, Mr Boudreax added. He said that police officers never want to arrest one of their own colleagues, but added that unprofessional actions harm trust in the force. Its a sad day when we have to arrest one of our own, but wrong is wrong, he said. Police officers are trusted with great power and responsibility to do what is right and to be the wedge between right and wrong. That trust is tarnished when officers are unprofessional. Read more Prison coronavirus plan could lead to avoidable suffering and death Malta must rescue migrants at sea, Council of Europe Commissioner says to intervene even outside territorial waters (ANSAmed) - STRASBOURG, MAY 11 - Maltese authorities must respond rapidly and effectively to all distress calls that they receive regardless of whether or not the boats are found in their territorial waters, Council of Europe Human Rights Commisisoner Dunja Mijatovic wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Robert Abela on May 5. The letter was released to the public on Monday. Mijatovic asked in the letter for an investigation into all credible accusations of delays and lack of intervention and to act on the basis of what the investigations find. The commissioner also called on the Maltese government to ensure no action is taken by Malta that would result in the return to and disembarkation in Libya of persons rescued or intercepted at sea. ''This includes ensuring no one is returned to Libya by Maltese authorities, refraining from issuing instructions to private vessels to disembark rescued persons in Libya, and not handing over responsibility to the Libyan Coast Guard or related entities when the foreseeable consequence of this would be disembarkation in Libya," Mijatovic wrote. (ANSAmed). Throughout history, humans have worked hard to connect, establish trade, and explore new destinations. And thus were born the roads of the world. Today, expansive road networks bring people together across national and international boundaries. We simply cannot celebrate our modern human advances and achievements without crediting our road networks. However, in our excitement to drive forward, we have forgotten that these very roads that we take pride in might predict our future doom. By wrenching apart our vital forest habitats, and making our flora and fauna vulnerable to exploitation by opportunistic members of our species, these ever-growing road networks will deprive us of our natural capital - assets like clean air, water, and forest produce that make our life possible. In this article, we discuss how existing, planned, and proposed roads in Asia might be killing the tigers (a conservation umbrella species) of the continent. With inputs of experts from the United States, India, and Nepal, World Atlas attempts to elucidate the gravity of the situation and how it will impact our well-being in the coming decades. The Dire Impact Of Roads On Asia's Wild Tiger Population A road cutting through a dense forested habitat in India. Image credit: Abhijit Chabukswar A recent study published in Science Advances by researchers from the University of Michigan, Boise State University, and the University of British Columbia, revealed the existing and potential threats posed by Asia's ever-growing road networks on the continent's highly threatened tiger populations. World Atlas spoke to Dr. Neil Carter, Assistant Professor, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, and the lead researcher of the study about what first triggered him to explore the link between threats to tigers and growing road networks in Asia. "Where I do field research in Nepal, I witnessed that new road and rail construction was threatening to degrade tiger habitats there. I soon discovered that Asia was experiencing a road-building boom. So, I became interested in understanding how many roads there are in tiger habitats and to consider ways for making road development more sustainable in the future," he said. The study focussed on 76 zones (Tiger Conservation Landscapes or TCLs) spread across Asia's 13 tiger range countries, and measured factors like relative mean species abundance, road density, and distance to the nearest road in such landscapes using available global datasets. It also analyzed reports to forecast the length of new roads to be built in the continent's tiger habitats by 2050. The research exposed some intense facts. Here is a summary of the same: Over 134,000 km of roads already exist within Asia's Tiger Conservation Landscapes (TCLs) including protected areas. However, information about logging or local roads were absent in the global data set used by the researchers. Road density in protected and non-protected areas across the TCLs averaged 154 m of road per sq km and 115 m per sq km, respectively. Around 43% of the areas where tiger-breeding had been detected occur within the road-effect zone. Existing road networks in tiger habitats might be reducing tigers and their prey populations by around 20%. By 2050, nearly 24,000 km of new roads are to be built in Asia's TCL's. Tigers across much of their range in the 13 Asian countries face mounting threats from expanding road networks. Tiger source populations in protected areas are becoming increasingly isolated with road networks cutting off such populations from each other. However, tiger population recoveries demand the need to use forests outside the protected areas as well. Even protected areas are not completely immune to road development. A sloth bear crossing a road at night as the bikers wait for it to pass (Rajasthan, India). Image credit: Vickey Chauhan The above findings of the study are quite concerning as it becomes clear that the already endangered tigers face an uncertain future replete with various threats including the much-feared road-building boom. So, what mitigation measures need to be adopted to dampen the threats to these animals? We look to Dr. Carter for an answer: "Prohibiting road development from priority tiger populations and other 'no go' zones, such as tiger reserves or habitat corridors. Besides, zoning can be used around infrastructure to prevent settlement growth and forest loss. Environmental impact assessments for road projects can better evaluate how new roads might exacerbate hunting and poaching pressure on tigers and their prey. Screening proposed road developments by these tiger-friendly criteria should be done very early before it is too late to influence road planning. For existing roads, options include the closure of vehicular traffic at night, decommissioning existing roads from areas with important tiger populations, road signage indicating the presence of tigers, and construction of wildlife crossings to allow tigers and other wildlife to move freely in the landscape," he said. Dr. Carter also sends out a message to the authorities involved in or influencing Asia's road-building projects: "Once roads are built they have lasting impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity. Humanity relies on healthy ecosystems, and therefore maintaining their health also supports social welfare. I don't think we should underestimate what is lost when ecosystems and biodiversity are degraded by roads. A better accounting of these cumulative, long-term impacts from road development can facilitate more sustainable infrastructure planning," he mentioned. How Linear Infrastructure Jeopardizes The Lives Of India's Royal Bengal Tigers While Dr. Carter's study covers 13 Asian countries with tigers, it is very crucial to understand the impact of roads on India's tigers as the country is home to 2,967 tigers (as per the 2018 census) representing more than 70% of the global wild tiger population. Given the figures, it cannot be denied that India has performed exceptionally well in conserving the species. Conservationists attribute the success to India's age-old culture that integrates respect for animals as a core value, and the Project Tiger initiative (launched in 1973) that pioneered a wave of conservation actions like the establishment of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to save India's tigers. However, the country's rapidly-developing economy fosters a spiraling need for more robust linear infrastructural facilities. And that leads to more roads cutting through India's TCLs. The above-mentioned research study presents some disturbing facts related to the effect of roads on India's tigers. They are as follows: India, having over 16% of global TCL area, will add 14,500 km of roads in TCLs by 2050, the highest among the 13 tiger-range countries. It will be a 32% rise from current levels. India's protected areas have the highest road density than those in the TCLs of other tiger range countries. India has lost 10 tigers to vehicle collisions from 2015 to 2017. This number is possibly an underestimate and true figures are higher. A leopard killed due to vehicular collision in India is being taken for post-mortem investigations. Image credit: T. R. Shankar Raman To learn more about the impact of existing and future roads on India's tigers and other wildlife we turn to Dr. Anish Andheria, President and CEO of Wildlife Conservation Trust, and one of India's leading tiger conservationists. "India already has the second largest road network on Earth, the largest being that in the USA. India is building approximately 28 kilometers of four-lane or six-lane highways per day. This is likely to cross 40 kilometers per day in the near future. In light of this unprecedented growth in road networks, India will overtake the USA in about a decade. Many of these roads will sever existing wildlife corridors; eco-sensitive zones and some may even intrude into critical wildlife habitats. A similar trend is likely as far as railway lines; canal systems and power lines are concerned. Collectively, these four linear infrastructures impact not only tigers but also several other animals and plants in multiple ways they drastically reduce free movement or increase resistance to movement of wildlife across their ranges; they hugely enhance the probability of accidents (while large mammals are visibly impacted, un-mitigated roads and railway lines are a death knell for reptiles, low-flying birds, frogs, butterflies (pollinators) and small mammals such as monkeys, civets, small cats, jackals, wolves, squirrels, porcupine, wild pig etc.; they also allow humans with easy access to the forests, increasing the rate of poaching, illegal logging and incidence of fires; they assist in accidental introduction of alien species of plants (such as lantana, eupatorium, parthenium etc.) and animals, devastating native populations; they will play a big role in reducing the population of wildlife which is already reeling under stress from other demons such as forest degradation, poaching, forest fires and infectious disease; they will also act as aggregators for future urbanization; and much more," said Dr. Andheria. An Asiatic elephant crossing a railway track in India. Image credit: Sourav Dasgupta Given the precarious situation, what is India doing to mitigate the threats to its wildlife from linear infrastructure? Here is what Dr. Andheria had to say: "India has made giant strides in looking at the impact of linear infrastructure on wildlife. In fact, due to joint efforts of Forest Department, NGOs, Wildlife Institute of India, Highway Authority and State Governments, some of the first well-planned mitigation structures are already in place on a national highway that is cutting through a tiger corridor in one state and passing through the buffer zone of a tiger reserve in the other. There is a white paper titled A policy framework for connectivity conservation and smart green infrastructure development in the Central Indian and Eastern Ghats tiger landscape published by our organization that has mapped all roads, railway lines and canals that are either cutting or will cut existing tiger corridors in eight states constituting central India. We are soon coming up with similar documents for the Western Ghats and North-east India. We are doing this so that the government can commission studies along these project sites in advance, and thereby get a clear estimate of the cost and number of mitigation structures on a stretch of the road that is cutting a corridor, and is able to factor the same in the overall project budget right at the time of inception." he said. "Additionally, the Wildlife Institute of India, supported by MOEFCC, NTCA and National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) came up with a set of guidelines titled Eco-friendly measures to mitigate impacts of linear infrastructure on wildlife. This document is the first of its kind in South Asia. So, it is clear that India is at the forefront of initiating a serious dialogue to achieve a balance between rapid infrastructure development and wildlife conservation. Having said this, there is a long way to go as, while few states are following these guidelines, a majority of them are turning a blind eye. A stronger peoples voice will be needed in these states to translate guidelines into adequate on-ground action," continued Dr. Andheria. A jungle cat falls victim to vehicular collision in India. Image credit: Wphotopro Dr. Andheria also spoke of the challenges faced by conservationists in convincing authorities to build linear infrastructures in a more responsible manner keeping in mind the integrity of India's wild habitats: "The first and foremost argument of the authority is that 'there is no provision in the budget for mitigation structures.' Another argument is that 'there are culverts and bridges for passage of stream/rivers and that they will double up as underpasses for wildlife. Why should one provide for separate underpasses for animal movement?' The classical one is 'we cannot slow down development when there is so much unemployment, in the name of conservation' this is generally coupled with 'why save tigers (read wildlife) when so many people are dying of poverty.' I believe that with proper planning and scientific studies on existing and proposed infrastructures, the government will be able to set aside a conservation budget at the inception of each project so that no corners have to be cut because of lack of funding. Our estimate indicates that if planned in advance, mitigation structures will contribute significantly to the total cost of the project, than if carried out as an after-thought," he said. What are the mitigation measures that need to be adopted to overcome the stress imposed by a growing road network in India's TCLs? Dr. Andheria mentions them below: Wherever possible, linear infrastructure should be realigned so that it does not cut Protected Areas, buffer zones of tiger reserves or corridors. Exiting roads/railways/canals/power lines passing through Protected Areas should not be widened or expanded. As old roads and railways that are currently passing through corridors are expanded, they should be retrofitted with underpasses or overpasses to allow free movement of wildlife. This has the potential to actually improve existing connectivity. All new roads and railways passing through wildlife corridors should be fitted with underpasses or overpasses or other relevant mitigation structures, based on the existing guidelines. No pressure should be put on stakeholders to dilute these guidelines. Most importantly, mitigation structures should be planned keeping in mind the behavioral requirements of wild species found in that area. What is good for tigers is not good for blackbucks and what is good for gaur is not good for elephants. So, timely, scientific studies should be commissioned to collect data on movement patterns of wildlife across all seasons, along stretches of existing roads and railways that are going to be widened. What we at WCT have found out is that contrary to popular belief the cost on mitigation goes down with the increase in good quality data. Roads Also Endanger The Lives Of Tigers In Nepal A tiger entering the water in Nepal's Bardiya National Park. Image credit: Paco Como Like India, Nepal has also exhibited great progress in protecting its tiger populations. Today, the country boasts of 235 tigers, a jump from only 120 in 2009. Although 235 looks like a small number, it is still a very significant percentage of the total wild tiger population of the world which is just around 4,000. However, as the country's tigers increase in number, so does its roads. As per the research study: Nepal's protected areas within TCLs have a mean road density (168 m/km2) that is two times higher than that in neighboring Bhutan's nonprotected TCL regions (84 m/km2). Nepal plans to build 18,000 km of new roads by 2050, which is an increase of 43% from current levels. World Atlas speaks with the WWF-Nepal team members - Dr. Ghana S. Gurung (Country Representative), Pramod Neupane (Senior Program Officer-Infrastructure), and Dr. Kanchan Thapa (Conservation Biologist), to learn more about how roads in Nepal affect the tiger populations in the country. According to WWF-Nepal: "Tigers in Nepal are most abundant in the Terai Arc Landscape located in the country's southern territory bordering India. Various existing highways cut or buffer through this tiger hotspot of the country. More recently, the government has planned to construct over half a dozen roads that either pass through or touch by Chitwan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and home to a significant population of tigers. Infrastructure development, primarily roads, is given high priority by all the three tiers of Government in Nepal. The growing roads fragment and shrink tiger habitats, create barriers to their movement and invite an unintended increase in human activities including illegal logging, poaching, and human-wildlife conflicts. Tigers have also been recorded beyond protected areas where road density is harsh and that definitely has enormous impacts on tigers and their prey species. However, the Government of Nepals road development authority is now being more adaptive to learning the impacts of roads on wildlife and introduce mitigation measures to ease wildlife flow across such roads." According to WWF-Nepal, almost 130 road kills of wildlife are reported annually in the highways of the country that pass through protected areas. Most of these accident victims are prey species while around 10% represent carnivores. In recent times, the country has witnessed two cases involving tigers falling prey to vehicular collisions, both taking place in the Mahendra highway crossing through the Bardiya National Park. The first incident happened on December 21, 2016, where a male tiger was killed on spot by a passenger bus while the other took place on January 11, 2019, when another male tiger got seriously injured with broken limbs and jaws after being hit by a speeding jeep." So, what must be done to ensure the safety of Nepals tigers in the face of rapidly developing linear infrastructural facilities? Again, we look to WWF-Nepal for an answer. Given below are the points mentioned by WWF-Nepal: There is always a gap in coordination between the conservationists and development stakeholders in Nepal which needs to be filled in time. There is a requirement for an integrated planning approach at a landscape level to ensure environmental and wildlife concerns are well addressed in infrastructure planning to execution phases. Terai flatlands are favorable for infrastructure development in a geographically rugged country like Nepal. However, planners and developers must always take decisions ensuring that conservation gains can be sustained in the future. It is important to form and strengthen stakeholder coordination platforms that represent development planners, conservation practitioners, and private sectors (mainly contractors) and all tiers of government. Environment assessment which is a must for infrastructure development in a protected area system should be more strategic and monitoring of the interventions should be more scrutinized. To ensure producing quality EIA report and effective execution, the capacity of development planners should be enhanced. The higher economic value of environment-friendly linear infrastructures should be communicated to development planners through evidence-based advocacy. Tigers In Other Tiger-bearing Countries Also Suffer The Same Fate While the biodiversity in India and Nepal is certainly facing threats from the growing linear infrastructure facilities in these countries, other tiger-bearing countries are also not immune to this menace. In the Far East region of Russia, the Siberian tigers are also vulnerable to vehicular collisions. Bhutan, a small, mountainous country with around 100 tigers, is expected to add 40% more kilometers of roads by 2050. Another major threat comes from the Belt and Road Initiative of China. It is a global development strategy whereby the Chinese government aims to invest in developing infrastructural facilities in nearly 70 countries. Scientists and conservationists are worried that if implemented without necessary precautions, it might severely impact the biodiversity of several countries. The Way To The Future So, it becomes apparent from the above discussions that a great deal of research on the impact of linear infrastructure on wildlife survival and its consequent effects on human populations is the need of the day. What should future studies on the subject focus on? According to Dr. Carter: "Some future research might include investigating how roads alter tiger movements, hunting success, and mating. How do changes in those fitness-related behaviors translate to population-level effects? What are the cost-effective methods for designing wildlife crossings that are most likely to encourage tiger movement over transportation infrastructure and maintain connectivity?" At the same time, Dr. Carter also warns us that time is running out. "Road building is outpacing our efforts to understand its effects on biodiversity and that's a recipe for disaster," said Dr. Carter. Another important thing that needs to be understood is why tigers become important when learning about the ill-effects of the indiscriminate growth in linear infrastructure. Dr. Andheria provides an explanation but also mentions why just studying tigers might not be enough for achieving a holistic solution for this major conservation issue. A snake victim of a road accident in Thailand. Image credit: P. Noonin "Tigers are indicators of the health of several terrestrial ecosystems that constitute a large proportion of India. This is because a) they are at the top of the food chain; b) they are found in many different habitat types and elevations; c) they are large ranging (a male tiger can easily have a territory of 50 square kilometers and a home range of 250 square kilometers); d) they frequently encounter linear infrastructure as they move across their range and have a high probability of falling prey to road and rail accidents; e) their population density can be estimated relatively easily and accurately; f) the correlation between tigers, their prey and their habitat is well understood and can act as a proxy for several other coexisting species; g) India has invested considerably on tiger conservation and there is a well-oiled machinery in place at both the federal and the state levels which monitors their populations and habitats. Having said this, there are several habitats, such as the trans-Himalayas, deserts, dry scrubland, alpine meadows, etc., where tigers do not exist. In these areas, other representative species have to be used to understand the impact of linear infrastructure on wildlife. These species can even be reptiles or birds," said Dr. Andheria. 'Just as coronavirus has come to us from China, this disease is also coming from that country.' 'India is a strong democracy and you cannot compromise on labour laws in this manner.' 'These changes will be challenged in court.' Photograph: Prabhat Verma/ANI Photo Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (and subsequently Gujarat) have proposed exempting businesses from a set of labour laws to boost investment in the next two-three years. But trade unions are agitated. "UP and MP are creating a situation where there will be no rule of law and the two parties (employers and employees) will have to settle the course on the streets," Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh national President C K Saji Narayanan tells Somesh Jha. What do you think of the labour law reforms introduced by UP and MP? This will lead to a law of the jungle. UP and MP are creating a situation where there will be no rule of law and the two parties (employers and employees) will have to settle the course on the streets as the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 has been withdrawn. Safety will be compromised because the provisions of the Factories Act will no longer be there. A paltry amount of Rs 80, which goes into a welfare fund per worker every year in Madhya Pradesh, will no longer exist. What is your course of action? We will discuss the issue with our office-bearers in both states and also in other states that are planning to do similar labour law changes and decide. We will surely agitate and protest. Do you agree labour laws need to be reformed? What is the emergency? These could very well be discussed in a tripartite forum where industry, workers, and government can sit together. These are against the ILO (International Labour Organisation) conventions, ratified by Parliament. The conventions have become the law of the land and won't sustain legally. Once Parliament ratifies these, even state governments cannot do anything. It will surely become a big issue in the ILO which will issue a show cause notice to India. Already, India has been put on trial for doing away with the inspection system in the proposed labour codes some years back. The government had to take a step back and re-introduce the provisions, terming inspectors inspectors-cum-facilitators in the proposed law. Probably, the advisors who have drafted these aren't aware of these. What can the ILO do? The ILO can impose sanctions on India because it is a specialised agency of the United Nations. Are you more concerned about the changes made by UP than in MP, because most labour laws have been proposed to be written off? We are concerned equally (about both). Both states have exempted industry from labour laws for around three years. This is a new pandemic coming to India, which will spread to other states and is perhaps more dangerous than coronavirus. Just as coronavirus has come to us from China, this disease is also coming from that country. What is the need of the hour in terms of reforming labour laws? India requires bureaucratic reforms. Red tape is the biggest hurdle in the ease of doing business and not labour laws. Our bureaucrats continue to follow the practices of the British era. But industry and economists say labour laws are an impediment to investment. The World Bank was also of the same belief till 2009, when it dropped the idea. The 10th item in the Ease of Doing Business was related to labour, but this was subsequently dropped. How can human beings be a hurdle to investment? There is an argument that labour laws have led to informalisation in the labour market. Laws are meant to formalise and not informalise. We do agree that some inspectors are corrupt, but is it a problem only when it comes to labour laws? Why not withdraw inspection related to customs or excise? Or why not do away with police inspectors too? How do you suggest more workers can be brought into the formal sector? The biggest advantage that China had was not that you could start a business in 24 hours but the fact that within 24 hours, you would know that you could start a business. In India, you have to run from pillar to post first to get a bank loan, do registration, get licence, etc. Now, it is also true that due diligence has to be done. This holds more significance after what has happened in Visakhapatnam. Why do you think the labour reforms of this kind have been initiated by BJP-ruled states? Do you think it gives them comfort that the same party is also in power at the Centre? The Union labour and employment minister told us a couple of days back in a meeting with trade unions that no labour laws will be introduced through ordinance, but through the ordinary route. They had no intent to change these laws through this route. It is happening because of so-called competition between the states because they are living in the illusion that companies will quickly shift base from China. Companies will instead go to Vietnam and Taiwan because they operate on similar lines as China, where human rights have no value. India is a strong democracy and you cannot compromise on labour laws in this manner. These changes will be challenged in court. Do you feel that the governments have been taking advantage of the pandemic to introduce these changes? Employers were demanding these changes even before the pandemic. They are trying to fish in troubled waters. Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. are both considering building new factories in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The companies acknowledged the plans to the paper. The Journal said Intel and TSMC are acting at the behest of the Trump administration, which is seeking to reduce dependence on Asian chip manufacturers and blunt Chinas aggressive foray into semiconductors. Intel is in discussions with United States Department of Defense to explore how to ensure continued US technological leadership and strengthen domestic sources for state-of-the-art microelectronics and related technology, the company said in a statement Monday. As the largest U.S.-owned manufacturer of semiconductors, Intel is well positioned to work with the U.S. government to operate a US-owned commercial foundry and supply a broad range of secure microelectronics. The Journal posted an April 28 letter from Intel CEO Bob Swan to the U.S. Department of Defense indicating Intel is contemplating a factory for contract manufacturing, known in the chip industry as a foundry, to serve the defense industry and other domestic customers. TSMC operates as a foundry, building chips in Taiwan and China for Apple and many other large electronics companies. Intel is among the worlds most advanced chipmakers but primarily makes chips just for itself. Intel tried operating foundries in its existing factories several years ago but attracted only one large customer Altera, which Intel subsequently acquired. A dedicated foundry for contract manufacturing would represent a significant strategic shift for Intel. Intel is Oregons largest corporate employer, with 20,000 working at its advanced factories, research labs and administrative offices in Washington County. It is already spending billions of dollars to expand its existing research factories at its Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro. Intels long-range construction plans for Ronler Acres indicate that site will be full when the current expansion is complete. The company owns additional acreage north of U.S. 26 in Hillsboro but has previously said it doesnt envision making chips there. That could suggest any Intel foundry goes elsewhere. Intel also makes chips in Arizona and New Mexico. TSMC has one U.S. factory, the WaferTech facility in Camas. That 260-acre property was designed to hold several factories but after a series of construction and production problems didnt expand beyond the single factory that opened in 1998. U.S. economic development officials have sought for years to lure TSMC back to the U.S., without result. A concerted push from the U.S. government, coupled with financial support, might change the equation for both TSMC and Intel. But chip factories take several years, and billions of dollars, to build. So the companies would likely need assurances of enduring U.S. support for the projects that would extend beyond the Trump administrations contentious relationship with China. -- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699 Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. On Saturday 9th May 2020, a political group known as the Patriotic Achievers with members mostly loyal to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) visited the Odorkor and Ofankor markets in Accra to distribute protective nose masks to the Market Women and traders to help prevent further spread of the Coronavirus. In all, the Patriotic Achievers distributed about 2,000 nose masks at the two markets. The group has also made it a target to distribute close to 10,000 nose masks with various markets in Accra set to benefit. Due to the strict observance of social distancing, just a few members of the group in the company of their Acting Chairman Taofik Mohammed, gathered for the health activity. The gesture, according to the Acting Chairman of the Patriotic Achievers, Taofik Mohammed, was meant to support the markets in order to adhere to strict preventive measures outlined by the President His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Taofik said the group chose the markets for the distribution of the masks because that is where everybody goes to buy foodstuffs for the home. "There are still a lot of Ghanaians who don't believe that the disease is in Ghana and we want to use the distribution of nose masks to create the awareness that the disease is truly in Ghana. He continued "all that we can do in our own small way is to observe all the safety protocols by wearing our nose masks, washing our hands regularly and sanitising our hands regularly as well with Alcohol based Hand Sanitisers." The market women and traders on their part expressed their profound appreciation to Chairman Taofik and all executives and members of the Patriotic Achievers. As at Sunday, Ghana's case counts of the novel Coronavirus had jumped to 4,700 with the number of recoveries climbing to 494. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 19:06:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close The U.S. Capitol Building is seen in Washington D.C., the United States, May 4, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua) From March 1 to May 6, China -- exported anti-epidemic supplies to 194 countries and regions, according to China's Ministry of Commerce, despite a huge domestic demand for medical supplies to guard against a virus rebound -- provided more than 6.6 billion masks, 344 million pairs of surgical gloves, 44.09 million sets of protective gowns, 6.75 million pairs of goggles and nearly 7,500 ventilators to the U.S., according to customs data BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Washington has been mounting its smear campaign against China to combat the wave of criticism of incompetence it faces over the coronavirus fight, like a drowning man clutching at a straw. Following a flurry of false charges against China, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently set its targets on China's medical supply trade and transparency of anti-COVID-19 polices, a politically motivated frame-up aiming to pass the virus back to Beijing amid its own failure. A staff member handles nucleic acid testing samples at a novel coronavirus detection lab in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 22, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Min) China has never concealed its COVID-19 outbreak from the international community. Starting on Jan. 3, several days after China's local authorities detected cases of pneumonia of unknown cause, Beijing has been regularly informing the World Health Organization, and other countries and regions including the United States about the outbreak and sharing with them its scientific research findings and experience. The DHS's accusation that China intentionally stockpiled medical supplies "by both increasing imports and decreasing exports" is ridiculous, because the report's conclusion is based on the analysts' ill intentions instead of facts. Yahoo News quoted Daniel Hoffman, a retired senior intelligence officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, as saying that "it's trade data. That's not going to answer the question of China's strategic intent," while Nate Snyder, a former DHS counterterrorism official, said "I'm not sure what this product is trying to prove aside from finding convenient open sources to point the finger further at China." A worker makes face masks at a workshop in Xiangyang City, central China's Hubei Province, March 27, 2020. (Xinhua/Xie Jianfei) Production and export reduction in China is always expected in the first two months each year when the Lunar New Year holiday disrupts manufacturing to allow time for workers to travel home. This year, the dual pressure posed by the unexpected contagious disease outbreak and the extended holiday made China's manufacturing, including production of medical equipment, hit a record low. When China took unprecedented measures to lock down cities in order to prevent and control the outbreak at home, it experienced a brief under-supply of medical equipment. China's sacrifice bought precious time for other countries to fight the virus. As soon as its domestic production gradually resumed, China has been providing as much support to other countries in need within its capacity. Photo taken on April 23, 2020 shows the medical supplies donated by China in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Xinhua/Rahmatullah Alizadah) From March 1 to May 6, China exported anti-epidemic supplies to 194 countries and regions, according to China's Ministry of Commerce, despite a huge domestic demand for medical supplies to guard against a virus rebound. In the same period, customs data showed that China also provided more than 6.6 billion masks, 344 million pairs of surgical gloves, 44.09 million sets of protective gowns, 6.75 million pairs of goggles and nearly 7,500 ventilators to the United States. The buck-passing strategy by some U.S. politicians cannot hide reality: It is Washington that squandered the time bought by China and undermined international efforts against COVID-19 by imposing export bans on medical supplies. Photo taken on May 4, 2020 shows boxes of donated face masks before shipment at Wanxiang America's headquarters in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, the United States. (Xinhua) In April, 3M, a major U.S. mask manufacturer, said that the U.S. administration had required it to halt exporting U.S.-made N95 respirator masks to Latin America and Canada. Washington was also accused by Berlin of "modern piracy" after it diverted shipments of masks intended for the German police and outbid others for medical supplies. With the absurd mindset of "always blame China," some U.S. politicians have been recklessly shifting blame of their poor performance amid the COVID-19 outbreak and grabbing political gains. However, a lie remains a lie though told 1,000 times, and Washington's blame game will fool no sober minds. The annual Mother's Day Cottonwood Rodeo in Shasta County drew thousands of tightly packed spectators in spite of the statewide shelter-in-place order. The Shasta County Sheriff's Office announced prior to the Sunday event it would not be enforcing the shutdown order, with Sheriff Eric Magrini telling the Redding Record Searchlight that his team has been focusing on education, not enforcement. The stands were jam-packed and long queues formed outside toilets and food trucks, despite organizers stating food would not be sold at the event. Governor Gavin Newsom stated last week that California is now moving into stage two of a four-phase reopening plan. Stage four, which marks the return of mass gatherings, is still months away. A video from the event uploaded by Twitter user @isabeemagee in response to Republican U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa's tweet praising President Trump's efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 shows families closely packed together on the Cottonwood Rodeo grounds, enjoying the day. Many attendees were defiant about attending the historic event. This events been going on for 50 years, its a tradition for probably most of us, the rest of them that are here have been tired of being cooped up for months, rodeo-goer Don Johnson told KRCR News. We have constitutional rights, we have inalienable rights given to us by God, he added. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has topped 80,000, with 2,740 deaths in California as of Monday. Many residents were angered by the event's perceived irresponsibility, with one Twitter user writing, "Cottonwood held a rodeo today with over 2,000 people showing up ... People are so damn selfish." Whether the ill-advised and defiant gathering of cowboys and rodeo fans leads to an uptick in coronavirus infections and deaths in Shasta County in the coming weeks remains to be seen. Andrew Chamings is a digital editor at SFGATE. Email: Andrew.Chamings@sfgate.com | Twitter: @AndrewChamings MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here. Destroying Americas economy is the Democrat plan for stealing a presidency. They can live with the toll a closed economy will take on the lives and well-being of Americans -- its a small price to pay for the fundamental transformation of the United States of America they seek. To many peoples surprise, Trump throughout his first term has been expert at shepherding the economy, which until the advent of the WuFlu was outperforming all eight years of Barrys presidency. With low unemployment, tax reform, energy independence, etc., on his resume, it looked as if the president was going to coast to reelection this November over an addlepated Joe Biden. Andy Puzder , Attorney, author, businessman and former CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Hardee's and Carl's Jr writes in Fox News: While Trump promised that his administration would cut two government regulations for every new one, it actually cut 8.5, reducing the Federal Register to just under 73,000 pages, a 25 percent reduction from Obamas historic high. On December 22, 2017, Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reducing tax rates for individuals and businesses. It made Americas corporate tax rate competitive internationally, encouraged investment by allowing immediate expensing of certain capital investments, and increased individual deductions and credits. By March of 2018, the unemployment rate hit 4 percent for the first time in eighteen years and remained at or below 4 percent for 24 consecutive months. In 2019, unemployment hit lows not seen since the government began reporting the data for African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and people with only a high school education. For women, the unemployment rate hit a 65 year low, and for teenagers (aged 1619) it hit a fifty-year low. Also beginning in March of 2018 and continuing for 24 consecutive months, job openings exceeded people unemployed for the first time since the government began reporting the data. Within a little over a year, we went from an economy where, under Obama, the biggest problem was too many people unemployed and not enough jobs to one where, under Trump, the biggest problem was employers being unable to find enough employees to fill the existing job openings. Now that Xis gift to the world has severely damaged most of the globes economies and particularly savaged that of America, Trumps chance of a second term is something less than a sure thing. Craven and desperate, the Democrats, having spent their time and efforts since Trumps election trying various underhanded schemes to depose him, now see an opportunity to remove the biggest selling point for his continued presidency, a roaring economy. What better way to derail the Trump train than to keep the economy closed until November 3, 2020, while blaming the misery on his mishandling of the Wuhan plague? Originally, the rationale for closing the economy, sheltering in place, and social distancing was to prevent the overwhelming of nations medical system with COVID-19 patients. Having accomplished this goal with most hospitals laying off staff because they are operating below capacity (whether any of these actions are responsible for that success is debatable), they have moved the goalposts. They now maintain they are preventing the reemergence of the Chinese flu and saving lives. But we all know they care not one whit for how many live or die. This is about stealing a presidency, nothing more and nothing less. People, however, are rebelling. Already there have been growing protests over the dictatorial diktats of people such as Newsom, Whitmer, Cuomo, Pritzker, and Mills, et al. -- millenarians, every one of them -- pretty little tyrants all in a row. Just as Thomas L. Friedman wished America could be China for a day, our own despots have seized the pandemic opportunity to order citizens around. California is in the process of establishing a 20,000-man force specifically designed to track, trace, and isolate the infectious. They will go door to door checking people for the virus; those who show as infected are to be removed and placed in involuntary quarantine in government facilities -- maybe they will be forced to wear a big yellow I for infected when their involuntary quarantine is finished. Perhaps, the Hugo Boss Company can design something spiffy for the forces uniforms -- they have experience in that sort of thing. When the Michigan State Legislature tried to remove Gretchen Whitmers ability to order around Michiganders, she decided to ignore the law and do as she pleased. In Illinois, Pritzker issues capricious coronavirus edicts as if he is a Roman Emperor while insisting that the federal government give him $40 billion dollars so he can fill shortfalls in the state budget caused by years of Democratic Party mismanagement. He has shut down churches indefinitely -- gleefully threatening pastors with arrests and fines. There can be no god but the state. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered nursing homes to accept virus-infected patients. And since the virus is most deadly to the elderly and those with morbidities, this put New Yorks most at-risk population at the most risk possible. While Cuomo has very publicly professed his love for his 88-year-old mother, even using her safety as justification for his prolonged shutdown, he has no problem killing other peoples moms. Out of the 21K+ deaths from the virus in New York State, more than 5K have been from nursing homes. Heather Mac Donald the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, writing in the Hill: On Wednesday, Cuomo announced the shocking news that 84 percent of all hospital admissions were either people sheltering at home or nursing home residents. He shouldnt have been surprised. The risk of coronavirus infection occurs overwhelmingly indoors. Researchers in China identified only one outdoor outbreak of infection among over a thousand cases studied. Most transmissions occurred at home, rendering the close-down-all-businesses-and-shelter-in-place rule contraindicated. Katherine Kersten. former conservative columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes: The COVID-19 death rate for people ages 18-45 in New York City, the American epicenter of the pandemic, is only 0.01%. In Minnesota, the median age of coronavirus deaths is 83, with 99.24% of deaths involving nursing home residents or people with underlying medical conditions. Most people who contract the virus have relatively mild symptoms or none. In Minnesota, the median age of coronavirus deaths is 83, with 99.24% of deaths involving nursing home residents or people with underlying medical conditions. Most people who contract the virus have relatively mild symptoms or none. Keeping America closed for business, however, will not only hurt Trumps election prospects, it will take down the rest of the worlds economies as well. America is 16% of the world economy and China is 9%. With the American economy closed, China loses its biggest customer. The result will be a worldwide depression that will make the 1930s look like the stone age. People do not have to allow this to go on. Americans should be protesting the continued closure of the economy. People have a right to feed their families as Shelly Luther eloquently told the small man behind the big desk. When Trump was elected the Never-Trumpers and the Always-Hillarys called themselves the resistance. The millions of Americans who want to go back to work should follow their example by becoming an active Freesistance and freesist efforts to destroy America in order to steal a presidency. Please follow the author on Twitter @williamlgensert SAN DIEGO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2019-2020 State of Asia America Report, an annual publication of the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA), provides a snapshot of the state of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) homeownership pre-COVID-19. The report presents disaggregated regional, demographic, socioeconomic, and housing data for the most diverse and fastest-growing population in the United States, providing a comprehensive resource for industry professionals, leaders, and decision-makers as they map ways to better serve this community. AREAA will hold a virtual press conference to unveil the 2019-2020 State of Asia America Report virtually on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 at 8:30 a.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. EDT). Registration for the virtual event can be found here. According to the report: There is a huge variation in homeownership rate within the top 20 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) by AAPI population. While the AAPI homeownership rate at Riverside metro area is more than 70%, homeownership in the New York metropolitan area is only 50%. metro area is more than 70%, homeownership in the metropolitan area is only 50%. There is a huge variation in homeownership rate by AAPI subpopulation as well. The Japanese homeownership rate is around 65%, while Nepalese homeownership rate is less than 30%. Many AAPI are buying houses and moving to large MSAs in California , Texas and the Northeast. , and the Northeast. Both AAPI homeownership rate and loan count (conventional purchase only) have been rising post financial crisis. AAPI loans are more likely to have 3 or more borrowers compared to Non-Hispanic whites, possibly due to multigenerational households. In aggregate, AAPI borrowers tend to be younger, have higher credit scores and income than overall population. In 2018, there were roughly 0.8 million "Mortgage Weak" AAPI applicants that were considered "credit thin" files with clean credit records. They didn't have a bad credit but insufficient credit histories to generate a credit score. This is a huge opportunity for lending and credit education. Some of the least affordable areas for AAPIs are: San Jose - Sunnyvale - Santa Clara, CA - - Kahului - Wailuku - Lahaina, HI - - San Francisco - Oakland - Berkeley, CA - - Urban Honolulu, HI Flagstaff, AZ Los Angeles-Long Beach - Anaheim, CA - San Diego - Chula Vista - Carlsbad, CA - - Seattle - Tacoma - Bellevue, WA - - Boston - Cambridge - Newton, MA -NH - - -NH New York - Newark - Jersey City , NY-NJ-PA - - , NY-NJ-PA Washington - Arlington - Alexandria , DC-VA-MD-WV "The unique barriers to homeownership for our community loom largefrom language barriers, to antiquated credit scoring models and underwriting standards that do not account for the self-employed, entrepreneurial AAPI buyer as well as dire shortages in major housing marketsas we try to move the needle on the AAPI homeownership rate," remarks 2020 AREAA National President James Huang. "We are incredibly proud of this year's State of Asia America Report and we hope it will serve as a great educational tool in helping find solutions to open up access to housing for the next generation of homebuyers." "At RE/MAX, we heartily support the Asian Real Estate Association of America and are pleased to present its 2020 State of Asia America Report, far and away the most comprehensive compilation of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) real estate and economic data available today," comments RE/MAX Senior Vice President, Industry Relations and Global Growth & Development, Mike Reagan. "The data found in the report is invaluable in highlighting the growing power and influence of the fastest growing population in the United States." The 2019-2020 State of Asia America report is sponsored by RE/MAX. For more information on or to receive a copy of the State of Asia America Report, please visit: areaa.org/saa MEDIA CONTACT Sabrina Ruiz [email protected] 619-794-2016 SOURCE Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) Bengaluru, May 11 : All the returnees to Karnataka from London on an Air India flight early on Monday were free from coronavirus, a minister said. "All 326 passengers who arrived in Bengaluru from London in the morning are asymptomatic and have been shifted to 6 different quarantine facilities in 13 buses," state Education Minister K. Sudhakar said in a tweet. Sudhakar, a doctor by profession, is also in-charge of tackling the Covid-19 crisis in the southern state. "All of them (returnees) will be tested twice during the 14-day quarantine period and swab collection will be done at their place of stay," he said in another tweet. The passengers included 3 infants. The 17 cabin crew, including pilots and cabin crew of the national carrier's Boeing-777 also tested negative on arrival at the city airport via New Delhi. However, a 27-year-old woman passenger, who vomited on arrival in the airport terminal, was admitted in a state-run hospital in the city for non-Covid-19 treatment. As she was alone, the hospital allowed her husband to stay with her in the isolation ward for the 14-day quarantine period. "After the woman recovers, the couple will be shifted to a hotel for the remaining quarantine period," a health official said. As the returnees, including women, senior citizens, students, tourists and others were stranded over 47 days in the UK due to the Covid-19 induced extended lockdown since March 25 and suspension of overseas flights since AMarch 23, they looked relieved and happy to be back home. GOVERNMENT has distanced itself from statements purportedly made by the Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr Energy Mutodi on measures taken by Tanzania to contain Covid-19. The said statement, said the Government, does not reflect its position nor policy. In a statement, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Dr Sibusiso Moyo said the Government of Zimbabwe fully respects the sovereign measures that were adopted by President John Magufuli to contain the spread of Covid-19 in Tanzania. I make reference to the message of 4 May 2020 purported to have been posted on Twitter by the Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Honourable Dr E. Mutodi in which he compared the measures against Covid-19 adopted by the head of state of Tanzania and Zimbabwe. I wish to make it clear that this statement does not reflect the Governments position nor policy. The Government of Zimbabwe fully respects the sovereign measures that the President of United Republic of Tanzania His Excellency John Magufuli adopted to contain the spread of Covid-19 in his country. Taking into account the unique domestic environment and other factors prevailing on the ground, indeed, no two individual countries have the same set of environment and conditions to warrant the adopting of a uniform response to disease outbreaks and other crises, he said. Dr Moyo said Zimbabwe is not in competition with any member state. Each government is implementing policies that best suit their unique domestic environments in line with the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO). A case was registered on more than 100 people for offering namaz on a street in Dongri in Mumbai last week in violation of lockdown and prohibitory orders in place for the novel coronavirus outbreak, police said on Monday. The case under relevant sections of the IPC, Disaster Management Act was registered by police after suo motu (on its own) cognizance was taken of the act which took place on Thursday night on SVP Road in the area, a Dongri police station official said. "On Thursday, a 72-year-old local resident died of natural causes. Since he was part of an organisation called Raza Academy, its members organised a 'janaza namaz' on the road. We registered a case against 100-125 people," the official said. Confirming the development, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Dongri division) Avinash Dharmadhikari said, "We have registered a case against some 100 members of Raza Academy for violating lockdown norms. However, no arrest has been made so far." An official said the case has been registered under sections 188 (disobeying the order of public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of IPC and provisions of Disaster Management Act. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Deborah Rose /Hearst Connecticut / Courtesy of Hunt Hill Farm NEW MILFORD Residents, first responders and small businesses could get some extra help with a new fund set up to distribute donations during the coronavirus pandemic. The new Sustainability Fund will help provide financial assistance to first responders and small businesses, alleviate food insecurity and provide personal protective equipment. The bank has coordinated to conduct coronavirus tests for all employees at the branch, and is redirecting clients to the nearest branch in the area BLOM Bank Egypt said it is temporarily suspending operations at its New Cairo branch over a suspected coronavirus case among its staff, a statement by the bank said on Sunday. The bank said it has disinfected the branch over the weekend immediately after the suspected case was reported last Friday. It has also coordinated to conduct coronavirus tests for all employees at the branch, and is redirecting clients to the nearest branch in the area. The statement added the bank will continue to implement preventative measures and sterilise all of the banks departments and branches amid the pandemic crisis. Search Keywords: Short link: ZEE5, the largest creator of original content in India announces its next film Ghoomketu set to release on 22nd May. An aspiring writers 101 retreat into the life of the protagonist, Ghoomketu is played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The movie is a comedy- drama from the viewpoint of an inexperienced writer struggling to make it big in the film industry in Mumbai. On his quest to come up with a great story, he is inspired by day to day mundane life activities. Will his ambition and determination exceed his talents? Or will a corrupt cop, who is on a mission to find Ghoomketu, put a brake on his 30-day escapade? Directed by Pushpendra Nath Misra and produced by Phantom Films and Sony Pictures Networks (SPN), this film will be exclusively releasing on ZEE5. The quirk and humour in the movie is exaggerated with dramatic linguistic annotations. The film is set in a wickedly playful backdrop and will be great for the entire family to watch together. The film also has ace director Anurag Kashyap as a cop and the talented Ila Arun as Ghoomketus Aunt, in lead roles along with Raghubir Yadav, Swanand Kirkire, Ragini Khanna and others. The film will also see special cameos from Amitabh Bachchan, Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha, Chitrangada Singh, Lauren Gottlieb and filmmaker Nikhil Advani. Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui shares, Ghoomketu is a quirky, never-seen-before character and I thoroughly enjoyed playing him. Anurag, who is generally behind the camera, will be seen sharing screen space with us and it was a great experience to work with him as an actor. Ghoomketu has a phenomenal storyline which will definitely entertain the audience. During this time of the lockdown, I am glad that a humorous film that the entire family can watch is being streamed on ZEE5. Actor Anurag Kashyap shares, Every film is a labour of love and I saw the conviction in the director of Ghoomketu and hence decided to do something which is my least favourite thing to do, which is act. The film is funny and heartwarming. Film Director Pushpendra Nath Misra adds, Wherever we go, we are never far away from our roots. Ghoomketu, as the name suggests, is a story of the journey to the beginning. This a film where the protagonist - a writer- draws inspiration from the idiosyncrasies of his own family members. This was a dream project with a stellar cast (sublime actors, all of them), and the freedom to tell the story in a non-stereotypical way. For all the writers, their observation begins at home. This film is a celebration of our family members - our Buas and Chachas and Daddas - who we (Ghoomketu) always carry in our hearts, wherever we go. I am glad it will reach the huge family audiences of ZEE5. Aparna Acharekar, Programming Head, ZEE5 India expresses, Ghoomketu is a film made for every member of the family and for them to relate to someone or maybe just sit back and have a good laugh. From a star-studded cast to its quirky characters, the film is a perfect treat for the audience. At ZEE5, we are proud to present Ghoomketu on Eid, our third Original film after Bamfaad and Ateet, to entertain viewers during the lockdown." Vivek Agrawal, Producer, Phantom Films says, Ghoomketu is one of those rare gems that will put a smile on your face while taking you through the struggle of a man who is out there trying his luck in Bollywood films. Bringing this story to life has been a roller-coaster ride, just like the protagonists journey in the film! It has been a pleasure working on Ghoomketu a project that is relatable for many people, on so many levels and we are thrilled to have ZEE5 on board to release it. This quirky comedy is all set to confuse, entertain and make you laugh this Eid weekend. Outbreaks of the coronavirus in long-term residential settings, including nursing homes, are coming under control with the number in the 'red zone' down to 56. The 'red zone' signals that the centre is an ongoing source of concern and in need of substantial extra supports. Anne O'Connor, HSE chief operations officer, said that, of the 520 centres, around 417 are now deemed to be stable. There are confirmed cases of the virus in 371 homes, but many are coping well. "That gives a level of assurance that things have actually improved in relation to the residential care for older people," Ms O'Connor said. "There has been a significant increase in the number of home care staff who have now transferred to doing shifts in nursing homes and 146 of these workers have taken up duty." It comes as twelve more deaths from Covid-19 were confirmed yesterday, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus here to 1,458. There were 236 new cases announced yesterday, bringing to 22,996 the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. Asked what the HSE would do differently if there was a second wave of the virus, Dr Colm Henry, HSE chief clinical officer, said they would know much more about how the virus manifests itself in older people. "It's a new virus and so much has been learned about it, but there is still so much unknown," he said. He said it was now clear that many older people do not have the obvious classic symptoms of the virus and instead are atypical, making it difficult to spot the infection. Looking back, there is a lesson for Ireland and other European countries that congregated settings, where frail older people are accommodated together, is not conducive to managing the spread of the virus, he added. HSE chief Paul Reid said outbreaks in care homes have been a feature throughout Europe and not just in Ireland. Ms O'Connor said that there are 1,285 disability centres and 315 have had confirmed or suspected outbreaks. Testing Testing of residents and staff will also be completed in mental health facilities this week, she said. Meanwhile, the Education Minister has said it is too early to say how schools will reopen fully in September due to the need for social distancing. Schools and colleges have been shut since March in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus. Joe McHugh told RTE's The Week In Politics programme he has set up an advisory group to work towards opening schools. "NPHET advice is that schools will reopen in September, so the question is how can we do that in a safe way," he said. Asked if schools reopening would mean smaller classes or start times being staggered, he said: "The last thing I want to be doing in the month of May is to say exactly what this will look like. "That is why I want to have a proper consultation about it." Tata Power Strategic Engineering Division (Tata Power SED), an arm of Tata Power Company, on Monday announced signing a Rs 1,200 crore contract with Ministry of Defence for modernisation of infrastructure of 37 airfields of Indian Air force, Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard. "The contract needs to be executed over a period of next 4 years," Tata Power Company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The contract involves supply, installation and commissioning of modern airfield equipment like Cat II Instrument Landing System and Cat II Airfield Lightning System along with other navigational aids and air traffic management system besides creating the required civil and electrical infrastructure. In March 2011, Tata Power SED had obtained a contract worth Rs 1,220 crore from Ministry of Defence for modernisation of 30 airfields and successfully executed the same, the company said in the filing. The above contract is continuation of the previous order with additional 37 airfields undergoing modernisation which would provide excellent control of airfield systems to air traffic controllers enhancing aerospace safety and operational capability by facilitating operations in poor visibility and adverse weather conditions, it added. Tata Power is in the process of selling its defence business (Tata Power SED) to Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) through a scheme of arrangement. The transfer of the business to TASL is already approved by National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and is expected to be completed once regulatory and other routine approvals are received. Also Read: ICICI Bank cuts fixed deposit rates by up to 0.50% effective May 11 Also Read: General Atlantic, Saudi Arabian wealth fund to invest in Jio: Report Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-12 00:08:01|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, learns about poverty alleviation efforts at an organic daylily farm in Yunzhou District of Datong City, north China's Shanxi Province, May 11, 2020. Xi inspected north China's Shanxi Province on Monday. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) TAIYUAN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Monday afternoon visited an organic daylily farm in Yunzhou District of Datong City during his inspection tour in north China's Shanxi Province. He also visited a village in the city's Xiping Township to learn about poverty alleviation efforts. In Yunzhou District, part of the extremely poor area in the Yanshan and Taihang mountains, growing daylilies -- a kind of edible flower and traditional Chinese medicine for soothing nerves -- has become a pillar industry. The daylily growing has a history of 600 years in Yunzhou, but there was no large-scale plantation before 2010. Over the past 10 years, the area of daylily flowers in the district has grown tenfold to around 10,000 hectares. "My life now blossoms thanks to the daylily," said Tang Wan, a local farmer. By growing 2.67 hectares of daylilies, the once poor Tang was able to support his three children in going to college. "The flowers have changed the lives of many. And poverty no longer bothers us," said Tang, adding the village has many "daylily college students," "daylily cars" and "daylily houses" -- phenomena that were rare before the flower was found a cash cow. Impoverished counties in Shanxi have developed the planting of apples, potatoes and daylilies into industries to guarantee farmers stable jobs and incomes. More than 1 million people have been lifted out of poverty, said Wang Zhiqiang, a poverty alleviation official with the provincial government. China aims to eradicate absolute poverty this year. An increasing number of industries are hiring impoverished people, bringing them jobs as well as fortune. In a workshop of the biotech company Haifa in Yunzhou, home to 32,000 registered poor people, workers were busy sorting, drying, disinfecting and packing worms. The dried yellow mealworms, which are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, have been exported to the Republic of Korea, the United States and other countries. "All the process, including the worm raising and processing, is strictly monitored, with the nutrition, microorganism and other criteria meeting the edible standard," said company chairman Wang Xizhan. Haifa is a leading company engaged in poverty alleviation in the district by hiring 300 workers from local poor households. Li Dongxin, 44, is one of them. Suffering from partial paralysis after a traffic accident, Li is unable to toil in the field. He is assigned with easy work in Haifa, such as feeding the worms and cleaning the worm trays. "It is not tiring at all. My health condition has improved since I came to work," said Li, who earns 2,000 yuan (283 U.S. dollars) per month. China sees rural impoverished areas as the biggest challenge of completing the tasks of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020. During his inspection tour to the northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in July 2016, Xi said industries should be fostered according to local conditions, as a fundamental way to advancing poverty alleviation. From 2013 to 2019, the country lifted more than 93 million rural people out of poverty through precision measures, pairing-up aid, fostering industries such as produce processing and tourism, and relocating those in barren and remote mountainous areas to more habitable places. By the end of last year, there were still over 5.5 million people living under the poverty line across the country. Despite the COVID-19 impact, China is approaching its goal. A number of provinces, including eastern China's Anhui and Jiangxi, announced that all remaining listed impoverished counties have shaken off poverty this year. As China's traffic network and internet penetration expand, more farm produce becomes available both online and offline, bringing more cash to the growers. In Shibazi Village of Ningqiang County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Peng Huiling was livestreaming at her black fungus greenhouse. "I just want to show how the fungus is grown," said Peng, adding that she plans to sell fungus bags so that netizens may plant black fungus themselves. Peng and her husband, who used to be impoverished themselves, have more than 40 such greenhouses now, helping more than 30 households out of poverty. While inspecting Shaanxi Province last month, Xi applauded the fungus planting as "small fungus, big industry." Wen Yinxue, director of the Shaanxi provincial poverty alleviation office, said apart from its three pillar industries of apples, dairy goats and controlled-environment agriculture, the province has developed poverty-alleviation industries with local characteristics, such as tea leaves, walnuts, kiwis and edible fungi. Wei Baigang, head of the development planning department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said 90 percent of the registered impoverished population received industrial and employment support, more than two-thirds of whom successfully cast off poverty by working in cities or local industries. Every impoverished county across China has developed two to three major industries for poverty alleviation with local characteristics, bringing abundant jobs, Wei told a press conference on April 28. By February, the number of poor counties had been reduced from 832 in late 2012 to 52. Learning the worms he had raised were exported and made into different kinds of food, Li felt excited and proud. "I hope I can travel abroad someday in the future, buy some worm products and have a taste," he said. The Bar Council of India (BCI), the apex lawyers' body, on Monday stayed the May 8 decision of the Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to suspended its Secretary Ashok Arora with immediate effect by terming the suspension as illegal, cavalier, undemocratic and autocratic. The differences between the SCBA Secretary and SCBA President Dushyant Dave had come out in open recently leading to the committee suspending Arora. The suspension had come after Arora had called an emergent general meeting (EGM) of the lawyers' body on May 11 to deliberate on agenda for removing Dave from the post of SCBA President. The meeting was later cancelled. The BCI took note of Arora's representation and came out with the resolution staying the suspension with immediate effect. It is, therefore, unanimously resolved that the operation of the resolution dated May 08, passed by the Executive Committee of SCBA, inter-alia, suspending Ashok Arora from his position as Honorary Secretary, is hereby stayed with immediate effect. Ashok Arora shall continue to hold his elected position as Honorary Secretary of SCBA and discharge all functions and powers as such. We also direct Ashok Arora to convene a General Body Meeting of SCBA within two weeks after the lockdown is over and normal functioning of the Supreme Court starts. The agenda shall be circulated in advance as per rules of SCBA. All pending issues including the contentious issues among President, Honorary Secretary and Executive Committee Members shall be part of the agenda for General Body Meeting, the BCI said in its resolution. The top most lawyers' body said that under Section-7 of the Advocates Act, it is the duty of the BCI to lay down the standards of etiquette for the Advocates and to safeguard the rights, privileges and interests of Advocates. This matter is directly covered under the aforementioned functions of the Council. The BCI resolution, issued by its secretary Srimanto Sen, said that the resolution passed by the Executive Committee suspending Arora was beyond the powers of Executive Committee and is, therefore, illegal, cavalier, undemocratic and autocratic in nature. It is vindictive on the face of it. It is mind-boggling misuse and abuse of its position by the Executive Committee. The resolution said that ordinarily, even a body which is conferred with power to take such an action would issue a show cause notice to the person concerned and hence, the suspension was not only illegal and arbitrary but also against the principles of natural justice. The BCI Chairperson and senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra was not part of the meeting which stayed Arora's suspension as SCBA Secretary as he is a Member and voter of SCBA, the resolution said. Differences had appeared among the top office bearers in the SCBA over the stand taken by the lawyers' body on a 'resolution' concerning statements made by Justice Arun Mishra about Prime Minister Narendra Modi at International Judicial Conference-2020. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jaipur: The Rajasthan government has relaxed guidelines for the movement of people in the state during the lockdown period, allowing inter-district and intra-district travel for permissible activities from 7 am to 7 pm without pass. However, this exemption will not be available in curfew areas. Chief minister Ashok Gehlot cleared the new guidelines late on Sunday night, which came into force with immediate effect. Earlier, travel passes were required for all inter-district travel. For travel to other states through bus or train and for curfew areas, the district collector will issue passes and the pass issued by the respective state will be valid for those coming to Rajasthan from other states. If that state asks for NOC from Rajasthan, the district collector concerned will issue the NOC, according to a release. District collectors, Superintendents of Police, Sub-Divisional Officers, Deputy Superintendents of Police, Tehsildars, RTOs, DTOs and SHOs will be able to issue passes to people travelling to other states in their own vehicles. A 14-day quarantine will be mandatory for people coming to Rajasthan from other states. "It was surreal, says Anushree Fadnavis about her experience of covering the Hong Kong protests. Fadnavis is one of the three Reuters photographers from India who won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize last week for their coverage of the demonstrations that rocked the city last year. The challenge was to tell peoples story as sensitively as possible, she says. Fadnavis, along with another Indian photographer Adnan Abidi, was among the team of Reuters photographers which received the recognition in Breaking News category for the coverage of massive pro-democracy, anti-government protests that unfolded over many months in Hong Kong last year. Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand were other three Indian photographers to win Pulitzer Prize in Feature photography category this year. Fadnavis captured her winning image when she and her team were following the anti-government protestors running from the police after they held a protest at the Hong Kong International Airport. The day seemed unending. The protestors were trying to disrupt the flights. After being chased by the police, they decided to take an alternate route to reach a metro station to disrupt the movement of subway trains there. On way to the Tung Chung metro station, the protesters started blocking roads using bricks and barricades, Fadnavis recalls. It was at this moment that Fadnavis saw gloomy skies about to pour and people making their way through the blockades with their luggage to reach the airport. I saw people getting off from their cars, walking across and few of them also showed their support to the protestors and a few other who decided to walk towards the airport harmoniously with the protestors. The picture I took was to show the hardships faced by people amid protests, Fadnavis says. Passengers push their luggage past bricks and barriers after anti-government protesters blocked the roads leading to Hong Kong International Airport, in Hong Kong, China, September 1, 2019. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis Fadnavis was inspired by Homai Vyarawalla, Indias first woman photographer. Vyarwalla started her career in the 1930s with Mumbai-based The Illustrated Weekly of India magazine. Her initial images were published under her husbands name, but eventually, her photography received recognition. She has photographed several leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Indira Gandhi and the Nehru-Gandhi family. Other photographers who inspired Fadnavis are Arko Datta, Atul Loke, Ritesh Uttamchandani, David Alan Harvey and Fawzan Hussain. It was only over a course of time I came across works of other women photographers. Poulomi Basu and her work was a huge inspiration. But the book Myself Mona Ahmed by Dayanita Singh really helped me shape my understanding of a story. Ketaki Sheths sensitive work on The Sidis (a small community of Indians of African descent) also was a huge inspiration, she says. Fadnavis believes that telling stories through a woman perspective shows us a different world. For a long time, we have seen the world with a mans perspective. But things are finally changing, she says. We need to tell the stories of our times and ourselves and the challenge here is to tell it as sensitively as possible, the photographer says. There have been times when Fadnavis has been irked by the fact that women photographers are very few in numbers, but she says, things are changing now. It was her father who had a role in shaping her passion for clicking moments. He would always be clicking pictures of me and my sister. In fact, when she took up photography 10 years ago, she did not even have a camera of her own. I was working as a software engineer and photography was something I took up as a hobby. I always wanted to do journalism but I did not know how to begin. Then, I met Arko Datta one day and I saw the passion with which he was talking about pictures and it moved me. I think that day I realised that I wanted to tell stories through pictures, she adds. Her sudden shift in career options did make her parents anxious initially, but eventually, they understood her passion for photography. Getting into a profession that has been seen as a male-dominated field for long, despite women making their impact too, Fadnavis knew the challenges. My guru would always tell me that I don't need to show machismo to prove myself in this field. You are a woman and you have your own advantages, he always reminded me, she says. Despite all the determination to do the best and excelling in her career, Fadnavis says that there have been instances on the field where she or her women colleagues were 'reminded' that they will have to give up on their work to take care of their families. Sometimes such comments wear you down but I have just kept quiet and carried on with work. At Reuters I have had immense support from my peers and colleagues, Fadnavis says. She believes that the only difference between a male photographer and female photographer is in the way people see them. We definitely need a change in the way we perceive women. We worship women Gods, but when it comes to treating women in our lives we fail to respect them and their wishes. A shift in this outlook only will help us create safer spaces for women to come out and work and express their feelings, Fadnavis says. President Felix Tshisekedis chief of staff and two other defendants accused of embezzling more than $50m. A top aide to Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi is set to go on trial for corruption, in an important case that has rocked the countrys political establishment. Vital Kamerhe, Tshisekedis chief of staff, is accused of embezzling funds for a government infrastructure programme. He has been in custody since April 8 and will go on trial on Monday with two other defendants, a Lebanese businessman and another presidential official. The 61-year-old, who made a pact to back Tshisekedi in a 2018 election on the expectation of succeeding him in 2023, denies any wrongdoing. Once a pillar of the government of former President Joseph Kabila, Kamerhe is the leader of the influential Union for the Congolese Nation. He previously served as parliamentary speaker and has been at the very heart of the DRCs political life for some 20 years. His supporters charge that the case is politically motivated, a possible attempt to prevent him from running in the next presidential election. Kamerhes arrest last month was met with protests in his hometown of Bukavu in the eastern DRC, when some 300 supporters burned tyres and blocked the road outside his party headquarters. Never in Congos political history over the past two decades has such an important player on the political scene been put behind bars, New York Universitys Congo Research Group (CRG) said in an analysis. Kamerhe, said to have been in charge of authorising public expenditure, is accused of embezzling public funds intended to finance major works under a 100-day emergency action plan launched by Tshisekedi after he took office in January last year. The defendants have been accused of embezzling almost $49m from funds for building 4,500 prefabricated homes for poor people and allegedly siphoned off another $2m from a programme to build housing for police and the military in the capital, Kinshasa. Kamerhe, who has not stood down or been sacked since being charged, denies the allegations against him, saying all public sector contracts were inherited from previous governments. The trial was initially expected to be held in Kinshasas high court, but is now taking place in the Makala prison compound where Kamerhe has been held for more than a month. The proceedings will broadcast to the nation on television. The resource-rich DRC is one of the poorest countries in Africa. At least 63 percent of the countrys more than 80 million people live on less than $2 a day, according to the United Nations. The government wonat ask people to refrain from traveling between prefectures where the extended state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic will be lifted, sources said Monday. Deliberations on lifting the state of emergency declaration for 34 prefectures not designated for intensive measures to curb the novel coronavirus are in the final phase. The governmentas current policy calls for avoiding interprefectural travel, but its next move is expected to call for avoiding travel only between prefectures that remain under the state of emergency. The extension is scheduled to expire at end of the month. The government will formally decide whether to lift the designation for certain prefectures when its coronavirus response headquarters meets on Thursday after a meeting by an advisory panel of infectious-disease experts. The government and the experts are trying to draw up a numerical standard for determining whether to lift the emergency declaration. One proposal includes making use of the number of daily infections logged in the past one to two weeks, the number of beds available at intensive care units, and the rate of infections detected by polymerase chain reaction tests. While the epidemic is still feared to be raging in the 13 prefectures designated as arequiring special vigilance,a the other 34 have seen either single-digit or zero daily infections. But Ibaraki and Gifu, which are in the group of 13, have seen dramatic declines in infections, so the government is also considering placing them in the regions where the emergency declaration might be lifted. Editors note: longtime readers of the Winnipeg Free Press might remember a regular feature called Answers, where, in a time before Google, we answered readers questions. Since even Google does not have all the answers regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, reporter Alan Small will attempt to answer your novel coronavirus queries. Send your questions to coronavirusquestions@freepress.mb.ca. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (618 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Editors note: longtime readers of the Winnipeg Free Press might remember a regular feature called Answers, where, in a time before Google, we answered readers questions. Since even Google does not have all the answers regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, reporter Alan Small will attempt to answer your novel coronavirus queries. Send your questions to coronavirusquestions@freepress.mb.ca. COVID-19 symptoms Click to Expand The top five COVID-19 symptoms experienced by Manitobans include: 1. Cough (72 per cent) 2. Headache (48 per cent) 3. Fever (43 per cent) 4. Chills (42 per cent) 5. Muscle pain (42 per cent) Province of Manitoba QUESTION: Manitoba Health staff has followed closely people who have tested positive for COVID-19. Of the 200-plus people in Manitoba who have recovered, how many were asymptomatic? ANSWER: Provincial health officials say about three per cent of the total cases identified to date showed no symptoms of COVID-19. Doing the math, using statistics revealed May 8 by Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, three per cent of 284 cases works out to eight or nine Manitobans who have tested positive for COVID-19 yet were asymptomatic. QUESTION: As the pandemic restrictions are eased, and people resume library visits and frequent stores, is it possible to get the coronavirus by touching library books or merchandise other people have handled? ANSWER: The risk of COVID-19 transmission via food or food packaging, parcels or packages or paper products is low, provincial health officials say. Theres always a risk these items, or any surface, can be a pathway for the virus. To help prevent transmission, people should wash their hands often, especially after returning from the grocery store or other retailer, as well as before and after unpacking grocery bags, packages, envelopes and other parcels. If you have placed any grocery bags on a countertop or table once returning from the store, clean those surfaces with hot, soapy water or use a household disinfectant. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. QUESTION: A reader who is an employee for a Manitoba business is working from home to follow social-distancing recommendations. One day, the business may direct employees to resume working at the office. Are those employees entitled to work from home? What are the employees rights in terms of their safety? ANSWER: A six-page provincial report titled Workplace Guidance for Business Owners offers information how businesses not including health-care facilities can adapt to COVID-19. The report, for instance, encourages businesses to allow employees to work from home where feasible and practical, and assign employees who are at increased risk of serious illness from COVID-19 to job tasks that lower their risk of exposure to the coronavirus. The report also offers information to businesses to address the safety of employees who are required to report for work in-person. The Workplace Safety and Health Act says: "A worker has the right to refuse work that they reasonably believe constitutes a danger to their safety and health, or that of another person should they perform the task." Work refusals lead to a legal process, which is described in a five-page report from the province that can be found at manitoba.ca. alan.small@freepress.mb.ca ADAM17 (A) and ACE2 (B) gene and protein expression in human tissues. Credit: European Heart Journal Evidence from a large study of several thousand patients shows that men have higher concentrations of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in their blood than women. Since ACE2 enables the coronavirus to infect healthy cells, this may help to explain why men are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than women. The study, published in the European Heart Journal today, also found that heart failure patients taking drugs targeting the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), did not have higher concentrations of ACE2 in their blood. Dr. Adriaan Voors (MD-Ph.D.), Professor of Cardiology at the University Medical Center Groningen (The Netherlands), who led the study, said: "Our findings do not support the discontinuation of these drugs in COVID-19 patients as has been suggested by earlier reports." Some recent research suggested that RAAS inhibitors might increase concentrations of ACE2 in plasmathe liquid part of bloodthereby increasing the risk of COVID-19 for cardiovascular patients taking these drugs. The current study indicates that this is not the case, although it looked only at ACE2 concentrations in plasma, not in tissues such as lung tissue. In addition, the study cannot provide definitive evidence on the effects of RAAS inhibitors in patients with COVID-19. Its conclusions are mainly restricted to heart failure patients, and the patients did not have COVID-19, so the researchers cannot provide a direct link between the course of the disease and ACE2 plasma concentrations. Prof Voors said: "ACE2 is a receptor on the surface of cells. It binds to the coronavirus and allows it to enter and infect healthy cells after it is has been modified by another protein on the surface of the cell, called TMPRSS2. High levels of ACE2 are present in the lungs and, therefore, it is thought to play a crucial role in the progression of lung disorders related to COVID-19." Prof Voors and his colleagues were already studying differences in markers of disease in the blood between men and women before the coronavirus outbreak. The results became available soon after the pandemic began. The first author of the study, Dr. Iziah Sama from UMC Groningen, said: "When we found that one of the strongest biomarkers, ACE2, was much higher in men than in women, I realised that this had the potential to explain why men were more likely to die from COVID-19 than women." The researchers measured ACE2 concentrations in blood samples taken from two groups of heart failure patients from 11 European countries. There were 1485 men and 537 women in the first group, the index cohort, which was designed to test the researchers' hypotheses and research questions. Then the researchers validated their findings in a second group of 1123 men and 575 women, the validation cohort. The role of ACE2 in controlling the renin-angiotensin system and the proteolytic shedding of membrane-bound ACE2 by ADAM-17. Credit: European Heart Journal The median (average) age of the participants in the index cohort was 69 years for men and 75 years for women, and in the validation cohort it was 74 and 76 years, respectively. When the researchers looked at a number of clinical factors that could play a role in ACE2 concentrations, including the use of ACE inhibitors, ARBs and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs), as well as a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery by-pass graft and atrial fibrillation, they found that male sex was the strongest predictor of elevated ACE2 concentrations. In the index cohort, ACE inhibitors, ARBS and MRAs were not associated with greater ACE2 plasma concentrations, and in the validation cohort, ACE inhibitors and ARBs were associated with lower ACE2 concentrations, while MRAs were only weakly associated with higher concentrations. "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first substantial study to examine the association between plasma ACE2 concentrations and the use of blockers of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in patients with cardiovascular disease. We found no evidence that ACE inhibitors and ARBs were linked to increased ACE2 concentrations in plasma. In fact, they predicted lower concentrations of ACE2 in the validation cohort, although we did not see this in the index cohort," said Prof Voors. "The effect of MRAs on ACE2 concentrations is not clear, as the weak increase in concentrations in the validation cohort was not seen in the index cohort. Our findings do not suggest that MRAs should be discontinued in heart failure patients who develop COVID-19. They are a very effective treatment for heart failure and the hypothetical effects on viral infection should be weighed carefully against their proven benefits," he said. ACE2 is found not only in the lungs, but also the heart, kidneys and the tissues lining blood vessels, and there are particularly high levels in the testes. The researchers speculate that its regulation in the testes might partially explain higher ACE2 concentrations in men, and why men are more vulnerable to COVID-19. Other limitations of the study include the fact that the researchers only measured concentrations of ACE2 in plasma, not in tissues, so they cannot be sure that concentrations in the blood are similar to those seen in tissues; it is the ACE2 in the lung tissues that are thought to be important for viral infection of the lungs, not ACE2 concentrations in the blood. In an accompanying editorial, Professor Gavin Oudit, from the University of Alberta, Canada, and Professor Marc Pfeffer, from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA, write: "When faced with the rapidly expanding COVID-19 pandemic and in the absence of definitive data, the results of Sama et al obtained in heart failure patients in the pre-COVID-19 period offer supporting evidence to continue ACE inhibitors or ARBs in patients at risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, this field is moving so rapidly that we now have two observational studies of ARB/ACE inhibitor use in hospitalized COVID-19 patients showing no augmented risk to COVID-19 patients and even suggesting possible benefit." The study is one of several research papers, clinical reviews, editorials and discussion papers on COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease to be published in a special issue of the European Heart Journal on Thursday 14 May. More information: Iziah E Sama et al, Circulating plasma concentrations of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in men and women with heart failure and effects of reninangiotensinaldosterone inhibitors, European Heart Journal (2020). Journal information: European Heart Journal Iziah E Sama et al, Circulating plasma concentrations of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in men and women with heart failure and effects of reninangiotensinaldosterone inhibitors,(2020). DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa373 (CNN) - World Health Organization infectious disease epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said globally, there is an alarming number of health care worker infections. In some countries, upwards of 10% of the reported cases are among health care workers, she added. Speaking on Monday during a media briefing, Van Kerkhove said WHO is looking into where and why health care workers are getting infected, and working to reduce and stop the infections. What we understand from the studies that are being reported and from teleconferences that we are having with clinicians and with infection control specialists, is that many health care workers have had contact with a known case that is among a family member, Van Kerkhove said. Many of them have been infected outside of a health care facility," she added. Van Kerkhove said those who are getting infected inside the facility often come in contact with a patients in a ward that is not equipped to handle Covid-19 patients. Others are infected after spending extended periods of time in wards with active Covid-19 cases, inadequate personal protection equipment and sub-optimal hand hygiene, she said. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that most of the world's population is still susceptible to infection since many people have not developed antibodies against the virus. "Early serological studies reflect that a relatively low percentage of the population has antibodies to Covid-19, which means most of the population is still susceptible to the virus," he said, adding this is something for nations to consider if they plan to lift lockdown measures and other restrictions. There have now been more than four million cases of COVID-19 across the world. This story was first published on CNN.com, "'Alarming number' of health care workers infected with COVID-19, WHO says" Tekashi 69 has broken the record for Instagram Live viewers as he broadcast an epic rant on Friday following his release from jail last month. Two million people tuned into to listen to the 24-year-old rapper (real name Daniel Hernandez) as he defended his decision to cooperate with federal authorities in the racketeering case against him and the Nine Trey Bloods gang. Tekashi is now under house arrest and even showed off an ankle monitor in his new music video for GOOBA, which he also dropped Friday. In his livestream Tekashi danced to Bad Boys while toying with a pair of handcuffs, seemingly poking fun at his incarceration. He also admitted to being a snitch, questioned who he should be loyal to, and bragged about his money and music, claiming Im the biggest artist in the world. The rainbow-haired artist also dropped his first track since being imprisoned along with an appropriately colorful music video for song GOOBA. It features plenty of women twerking and Tekashi showing off a massive shark pendant around his neck. His ankle monitor is also seen on his right leg. His Instagram rant and music drop came after rapper Meek Mill hit out at the New York rapper, writing on Twitter: I hope that rat going live to apologize to the people he told on or the victim.. Yall forgot that fast a rat killed nipsey he wasnt suppose to be on the streets! Thats the only thing ima day [sic] because hes dead left his baby mom and child like a coward as targets! Meek was referring to Eric Holder, the man accused of murdering his friend Nipsey Hussle last year, who was allegedly also a rat. Tekashi responded tweeting: Imagine having a newborn baby come into the world & be pressed about a Mexican with rainbow hair. Tekashi 69 got released from prison early last month and is on supervised release. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Days after the gas leak in Andhra Pradeshs Visakhapatnam, a similar incident involving the chlorine gas was reported from a paper mill in Telangana. The Sirpur Papers Mill, where the incident took place on Monday, is located in Asifabad district. At least 20 people were present in the factory when the incident took place. One person is reportedly admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties. According to reports, the chlorine gas leak was reported from one of the three cylinders at the factory. Last week, styrene gas had leaked from the gas plant of LG Polymers in RR Venkatapuram village in Visakhapatnam district in which 11 people were killed. At least 400 people were rushed to the hospital after the incident early on Thursday morning. An investigation was launched into the incident by the Andhra Pradesh government. Sanitisation work is being carried out at the village and nearby areas where the incident happened. The district administration said that people should return only after the sanitisation process is completed and other safety measures are put in place. Experts from New Delhi and other places were closely monitoring the situation at the plant, including the styrene levels and temperature. Visakhapatnam district Collector V Vinay Chand said there was no safety threat at the plant now as the vapour leakage reached zero level. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who reviewed the incident at this camp residence in Amaravati, was informed that everything was safe in the villages around the LG plant. April 12 Encouragement for Today Hallelujah By Rachel Olsen, ETC Editor, Proverbs 31 Speaker Team Member Key Verse: Revelation 19:1, After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. (NIV) Devotion: When asked one night at the dinner table if he knew what hallelujah means, my four-year-old son replied with a smile, Yes, it means to go to bed. While I tried to think how he arrived at this conclusion perhaps Id sung him lullabies containing that word my husband teasingly quipped, That is because Mommy shouts hallelujah every night once you kids are in bed! We all laughed hysterically. According to Naves Topical Bible, hallelujah is an exclamatory expression of praise or adoration. Its kind of like shouting to God: All Right Yippee Way to Go Hoo Ha Youre the Best! Youll often hear it spoken in the midst of favorable circumstances, like when something desperately hoped for finally comes to pass. God is just as deserving of our hallelujahs, however, in our difficult circumstances while we are still hoping and waiting on the breakthrough. A certain musician discovered this during his despairing times. Struggling to afford a small, shabby apartment in London, he often went without food. One evening in 1741, he wandered the city streets all night long, depressed. When he returned to his room he found an envelope on the table from fellow composer Charles Jennens. Examining the pages, he found them covered with words from Scripture. He crawled into bed to sleep, but dreams would not come. The words on the pages kept returning to his mind: Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God ... The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light ... For unto us a Child is born ... Glory to God in the highest ... Hallelujah! He got up and went to his piano where music began to flow out of his fingers. For three weeks straight, he composed feverishly. On the day the work was finished, a friend came to visit. There sat the composer at the piano, sheets of music strewn around him, with tears streaking down his face. "I do believe I have seen all of Heaven before me, and the great God Himself," he exclaimed. The composer was George Frederic Handel and the composition was Messiah, featuring the now world-famous Hallelujah Chorus. No one is more deserving of a hallelujah chorus than our Messiah. The Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke his disciples for exclaiming, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven! Jesus replied, "I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out!" (Luke 19:38-40, NIV). Friends, I pray that the rocks around us never have cause to cry out because we are failing to praise the Lord. In good times and bad, join in with the heavenly hosts shouting Hallelujah! to the One to whom salvation, glory and power belong. My Prayer for Today: Lord, you are truly worthy of all my honor and praise. I praise you for who you are you are majestic, loving and true! I praise you for what youve done salvation, healing and blessing come from you alone! I praise you for what you will do in the future the enemy will be eternally destroyed and a New Jerusalem will be established for your people! Hallelujah!! Application Steps: Simply praise Him today! Reflection Points: Is praise missing from your life beyond Sunday mornings at church? Do you praise Him during the wait, or only during the breakthrough? Could praise during the wait be the key to your breakthrough? What attribute of God do you find the most praise-worthy? Power Verses: Psalm 106:1-2, Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord? Who can ever praise him half enough? (NLT) Psalm 135:1-3, Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord! Praise him, you who serve the Lord, you who serve in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God. Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; celebrate his wonderful name with music. (NLT) Psalm 146:1:2, Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, I tell myself. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God even with my dying breath. (NLT) Psalm 147:1-5, Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God! How delightful and how right! The LORD is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing the exiles back to Israel. He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds. He counts the stars and calls them all by name. How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension! (NLT) Additional Resources: P31 Woman Magazine http://www.gospelcom.net/p31/woman.htm Message of the Month http://www.gospelcom.net/p31/resources/messageclub.html CII also called for providing enterprises an immediate support to pay salaries to its workers and avoid any job losses New Delhi: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has called for an immediate economic stimulus package of Rs 15 lakh crore or 7.5 per cent of the GDP to tide over the impact of Covid-19 led countrywide lockdown. The lead industry body said the pandemic has severely crippled the national economy. The lockdown which was necessitated to arrest the spread of contagion has come at a huge economic cost. By the time third phase of lockdown ends, the industry would have lost almost two months of output, said CII. With economic activities being restricted for over 50 days now, the negative impact on economy is expected to be even more significant than what was anticipated earlier. This needs to be offset by a large fiscal stimulus so that jobs and livelihoods are protected. "CII recommends the government to announce an immediate stimulus package of at least Rs 15 lakh crore, which translates into 7.5 per cent of GDP," said President Vikram Kirloskar. The broad elements of the stimulus include cash transfers of Rs 2 lakh crore to JAM account holders in addition to the Rs 1.7 lakh stimulus already announced. A key fallout of this economic slowdown will be the human cost in terms of loss of jobs and livelihoods, which need urgent government intervention, said Director General Chandrajit Banerjee. "It should be ensured that migrant labourers are kept within the purview of proposed cash transfers." CII also called for providing enterprises an immediate support to pay salaries to its workers and avoid any job losses. It suggested a provision of Rs 2 lakh crore for additional working capital limits to be provided by banks, equivalent to April to June wage bill of the borrowers, backed by a government guarantee at 4 to 5 per cent interest. To support the estimated 6.3 crore micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) battered by the pandemic, CII suggested a credit protection scheme under which 60 to 70 per cent of the loan should be guaranteed by the government. That means if a borrower defaults, the government should repay the bank up to the amount it has guaranteed so the risk to lender is limited. In addition, CII suggested creation of a fund or special purpose vehicle with a corpus of Rs 1.4 crore to 1.6 lakh crore which will subscribe to non-convertible debentures or bonds of corporates rated A and above. The fund can be seeded by the government contributing a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to 20,000 crore with further investments from banks and financial institutions. This will provide adequate liquidity to industry, particularly the stressed sectors like aviation, tourism and hospitality. In order to create a significant multiplier impact on boosting demand in rest of the sectors and enhancing long-term productivity, funding public infrastructure has been found to be a potent option. CII suggested an allocation of Rs 4 lakh crore be made on a public works programme that will create job opportunities. The work should be initiated with the involvement of state governments so that implementation bottlenecks can be overcome. Specifically, the spending can begin with the completion of projects that have already begun, such as roads which are stalled after 80 per cent of the job is complete. CII has also suggested an allocation of Rs 2 lakh crore to be earmarked for bailing out state-run electricity distribution companies that have been accumulating losses and burdening the state exchequer. To protect the financial sector for meeting credit needs of real estate sector as well as absorb some shocks from potential insolvencies, an allocation of Rs 2 lakh crore for bank recapitalisation is required. This will help public sector banks manage any surge in their non-performing assets. Lee Na-young, president of The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. Yonhap A Seoul civic group advocating for Korean victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery said Monday it has spent more than 40 percent of public donations on the victims over the past three years, denying accusations of their opaque expenditures. The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan said in a news conference that it collected 2.22 billion won (US$1.82 million) in donations from 2017 to 2019 and spent 911 million won, or 41 percent, on supporting Korean sex slavery victims. The council said there has been no problem in its spending of public donations, insisting that a simple delivery of donated money to the sex slavery victims is only a part of its victim support projects. They include assistance in their medical treatment, support of their human rights and honor restoration activities, regular travel, support for their emotional stability and management of their shelter. The three-year expenditures included 800 million won paid to eight victims in female human rights prize money in 2017, the council said. Lee Yong-soo, one of the surviving victims of Japanese military sexual slavery. Yonhap The conference came four days after Lee Yong-soo, one of the surviving victims of Japanese military sexual slavery, told reporters last Thursday that the civic group has not used the public donations for the victims transparently and the victims have been exploited by the civic group and others for the past 30 years. We all know it can sometimes take as little as a strand of hair or a single fingerprint to catch a criminal. But blundering burglar Terry Williams proved very easy to trace after leaving paperwork with his own name on it at the scene of his crime. Police were led to the 41-year-old after he left a trail of evidence when breaking into three homes in the space of a few hours. Burglar Terry Williams, 41, who broke into three homes in the space of a few hours was caught easily by police after leaving paperwork with his name on at one of the crime scenes Officers rushed to a house in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, where stolen items had been found left in a wheelbarrow. Documents and medication in Williamss name were also found at the end of the driveway, a court heard. The thiefs gaffe was compounded when one of the victims recognised him walking nearby as they had just seen his image captured on their CCTV. Williams was traced quickly and one of the burgled victims, who had a CCTV camera, recognised him while he was walking near the crime scene. He has just been sentenced to 16 months in prison He was carrying a bag containing a laptop and other items which led to the identification of the third victim. Williams, of no fixed address, denied involvement despite further incriminating evidence, including blood samples retrieved from the crime scenes. However, at Maidstone Crown Court he admitted the three burglaries and was sentenced to 16 months in jail. New Jersey and other states around the country are staring down the barrel of a fiscal disaster in response to the coronavirus outbreak unless the federal government sends direct aid, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday. Murphy also took another round of shots at U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for saying state and local governments with cratered finances because of the pandemic should be allowed to file for bankruptcy rather than rely on federal aid. A fiscal disaster is not months away, Murphy said at his regular COVID-19 briefing in Trenton Monday. Hard and unpalatable decisions will be on our doorstep in just a few weeks. The governor said the strain on budgets will mean mass layoffs of public workers, including the ones who are on the front lines of the states response to the virus. Were talking about police, fire, and EMS services. Were talking about front-line public health workers, he said. Were talking about the men and women of the Department of Labor who are working through hundreds of thousands of unemployment applications to deliver every penny to the residents who need it most. New Jersey is not alone in facing budget problems, Murphy said. And its not just here in New Jersey. I promise you, these discussions are happening in red states and blue states across the nation, Murphy said. No one has asked for a bailout. What we are asking for is the ability to prevent the public health emergency we are trying desperately to climb out from into a second Great Depression. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage Murphy once again targeted McConnell over his remarks last month about states declaring bankruptcy. These are leaders from states that are all too happy to spend the tax dollars of New Jerseyans on pork projects back home, but seemingly have no interest in helping states like New Jersey at this moment to avert a national economic catastrophe, Murphy said, referring to McConnells home state. Kentucky gets back $2.41 for every dollar it gets from taxpayers including ours, he said. Sen. McConnell, good luck tapping New Jersey for your next project in Kentucky if New Jersey has nothing to give because you refused to help us restart and recover. Last month, Murphy called McConnells remarks completely and utterly irresponsible." With residents ordered to stay home and nonessential businesses forced to close, Murphy has said New Jerseys tax collections are crashing during the outbreak though he has not provided any hard numbers or projections. Murphy gave the dire warning the same day he announced New Jersey has now lost at least 9,310 lives to the outbreak as the total number of cases continued to climb to 139,945. The number of patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases at New Jersey hospitals has steadily dropped since a peak of more than 8,000 in mid-April. Murphy has said the hospital patient counts provide the best real-time indicator of the outbreak because testing for new cases can reflect a lag of up to seven days. He made both numbers key benchmarks he plans to use to determine when to start lifting additional restrictions from the near-lockdown orders. But tough restrictions still remain in place. The New Jersey State Polices superintendent issued a directive to schools over the weekend saying graduation wave parades and other in-person celebrations would violate the states lockdown rules and instructed districts to find virtual ways to celebrate. Murphy, however, said late last week his optimism is high" that beaches will be open again but with social-distancing rules by Memorial Day, which is two weeks away. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Some inmates in police cells in the Greater Region have tested positive for coronavirus, the head of the regional command has disclosed. DCOP Fred Adu-Anim told journalists Saturday that the undisclosed number of inmates have since been sent to an isolation centre also in Accra. "We have tested some of the (policemen) and we are waiting for the results," he told the media during the disinfection, fumigation and general clean up exercise at the Greater Accra Regional Police HQ. Police and waste management giants, Zoomlion Ghana Limited have partnered for a major project aimed at keeping police facilities clean. Dubbed Police-Zoomlion National Disinfection and Fumigation Exercise, it was launched at the National Police Training School, Tesano, Accra, on Wednesday, and would also ensure the cleaning of surroundings of all police training schools (depots), police stations, barracks and their markets, offices, cells among other facilities. Some 1,249 police stations across the 16 regions and Tema, and 6 training schools in Accra, Kumasi, Koforidua, Winneba, Ho and Bolga will be covered under the project. Commenting on the Saturday's exercise at the Greater Accra Police HQ, head of Corporate Communication for Jospong, owners of Zoomlion, Sophia Lissah, said the disinfection project for the police installations was critical because the service men are among the fontline workers in the fight against the coronavirus in Ghana. "Greater Accra Region has 14 divisions and this is one of them. Today all the divisions are undertaking this exercise but the disinfestation is happening at just this centre where we have the cells, the striking force etc...but then the other areas will be scheduled for next week , Sophia Lissah said. "The police project is quite unique because aside the officers themselves, you realise that they are all together - the police, the inmates at cells, the family (of the police) they all live together in one community so if one has it, it becomes a bit pricey; you can't tell what will happen so it is key for us that as we are doing this, we are looking at all the people here," she said. Zoomlion Ghana Limited and the police servuce have partnered for numerous clean-up exercises across the country with overwhelming outcomes. Source: Peacefmonline Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. The session of the Armenian Parliament has kicked off on May 11. The bills debated during the previous sessions will be put up to voting. The lawmakers will also discuss a number of legislative initiatives. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 22:02:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close RAMALLAH, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Palestine on Monday called on the international community to boycott Israel and to recognize the Palestinian state if the Israeli government goes ahead with its annexation plan. Prime Minister of Palestine Mohammad Ishtaye said at the cabinet meeting that a united position by all world powers against Israel would lead to halting its measures aimed to annex parts of the West Bank. "Condemnation statements do not work with Israel, the response to annexation must be actual boycott and the recognition of the Palestinian state over 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and honoring the right of return for Palestinian refugees," said Ishtaye. Ishtaye said that the territory in the Jordan Valley at risk of annexation by Israel is nearly 30 percent of the West Bank's area and is very rich with underground water and fertile agricultural soil. "The Palestinian state's geography stands on this area, together with East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip and all Palestinian territories," he said, adding "the Jordan Valley is our meeting point with Jordan, through which we go out to the world." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud party, signed an agreement with his competitor Benny Gantz, the leader of Blue and White Party, to form a unity government, including a mutually accepted point to impose Israeli sovereignty on territories "that are part of the historic lands of Israel" as of July 1. Moreover, the Palestinian prime minister stressed that Israel is taking several measures at the same time with the aim to weaken the Palestinian Authority and exhaust it financially. Enditem FP Trending Scientists have always tried to gather new information on planets, stars and other celestial bodies. Recently, astronomers obtained some of the highest resolution images of Jupiter ever captured from the ground. The photos were taken using a technique called lucky imaging with the Gemini North telescope on Hawaiis Maunakea. This technique helps remove the blurring effect while looking through Earths turbulent atmosphere. Basically, in this method, a large number of very short exposure images are obtained, and only the sharpest images are used. It is applied when the turbulence in the atmosphere is minimum. The researchers produced these images as a part of a multi-year joint observing program with the Hubble Space Telescope in support of NASAs Juno mission". During the observation, the scientists probed deep into Jupiters cloud tops. The images showed the warm, deep layers of Jupiters atmosphere glowing through gaps in thick cloud cover. The pictures, when seen in combination with the Hubble and Juno observations, disclosed that that lightning strikes and largest storm systems are created in and around large convective cells over clouds of ice and water. The astronomers also got to know that dark spots in the famous Great Red Spot, a giant storm vortex wider than Earth, are nothing but gaps in the cloud cover. They earlier believed that dark spots were due to cloud colour variations. The Gemini data were critical because they allowed us to probe deeply into Jupiters clouds on a regular schedule, said Michael Wong of UC Berkeley who led the research team. US President Donald Trump hopes this week to persuade a Supreme Court with two of his appointees to keep his tax and other financial records from being made public. The justices are hearing arguments by phone tomorrow in a pivotal legal fight that could affect the presidential campaign, even with the coronavirus outbreak and the resulting economic fallout. Rulings against the president could result in the quick release of personal financial information that Mr Trump has sought strenuously to keep private. The justices have been hearing cases by phone this month in an effort to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Six of the nine Supreme Court justices are over 65. Mr Trump has resisted calls to release his tax returns since before his election in 2016. Now, joined by the Justice Department, he is appealing lower court rulings that determined subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives and the Manhattan district attorney to his longtime accounting firm and two banks for years of tax returns, bank records and other financial documents are valid. The president is advancing broad arguments to try to stymie House Democrats. In the case involving the criminal investigation launched by District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr, Mr Trump is asserting that while he holds office he cannot even be investigated. His Supreme Court arguments draw on law review articles that will be very familiar to one member of the court. "At the end of the day, 'a president who is concerned about an ongoing criminal investigation is almost inevitably going to do a worse job as president,'" Mr Trump's lawyers told the court, quoting from a 2009 article by now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The Trump-appointed Kavanaugh previously worked on independent counsel Ken Starr's investigation of President Bill Clinton, which led to Mr Clinton's impeachment in 1998. He was acquitted by the Senate the following year. Mr Kavanaugh is quoted five times in Mr Trump's main Supreme Court brief in the Vance case. Justice Neil Gorsuch is Mr Trump's other high-court appointee. Mr Trump has so far lost at every step, but the records have not been turned over pending a final court ruling. The case about congressional subpoenas has significant implications regarding a president's power to refuse a formal request from Congress. In a separate fight at the federal appeals court in Washington, DC, over a congressional demand for the testimony of former White House counsel Don McGahn, the administration is making equally broad arguments that the president's close advisers are "absolutely immune" from having to appear. The House argues that Congress has very broad subpoena powers and that courts should be reluctant to interfere with them. "Many momentous separation-of-powers disputes have come before this Court," the House wrote in its primary Supreme Court brief. "This dispute... is not one of them." In two earlier cases, the justices acted unanimously in requiring president Richard Nixon to turn over White House tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor and in allowing a sexual harassment lawsuit against Mr Clinton to go forward. In those cases, three Nixon appointees and two Clinton appointees, respectively, voted against the president who chose them for the high court. A fourth Nixon appointee, William Rehnquist, sat out the tapes case because he had worked closely as a Justice Department official with some of the Watergate conspirators whose upcoming trial spurred the subpoena for the Oval Office recordings. The subpoenas are not directed at Mr Trump himself. Instead, House committees want records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One, as well as the Mazars USA accounting firm. Mazars also is the recipient of Mr Vance's subpoena. Two congressional committees subpoenaed the bank documents as part their investigations into Mr Trump and his businesses. Deutsche Bank has been one for the few banks willing to lend to Mr Trump after a series of corporate bankruptcies and defaults starting in the early 1990s. Mr Vance and the House Oversight and Reform Committee sought records from Mazars about Mr Trump based on payments that Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, arranged to keep two women from airing their claims of affairs with Trump during the 2016 presidential race. (Photo : Pixabay) Intel Labs and Penn Medicine are working together to create an AI model to help spot brain tumors. Researchers from Intel Labs and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Medicine) are cooperating to create a new Artificial Intelligence or AI model that can spot brain tumors after the success of AIs in spotting skin cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer. Penn Medicine and Intel Collaboration According to a report by Engadget, Penn Medicine will be leading 29 different international research and healthcare institutions in creating the AI model with the help of Intel's hardware and software. The AI model will be trained on the most massive brain tumor dataset, but patients don't have to worry as they will do it without sharing any sensitive patient data, including the patient's name and address, to guarantee patient confidentiality. Intel and Penn Medicine's project is based on a technique known as federated learning. How this works is that an AI model is trained across decentralized servers that allow hospitals and medical experts to work together without sharing patient data. This will then create a more massive data set than anything an institute can hold on its own, which would then be accessible in different places across the world from the United States to Canada to Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and India. Institutions expected to join in the first phase of the project include the Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania, King's College London, the University Pittsburgh Medical Center, Washington University in St. Louis, and more. Read Also: COVID-19 UPDATE: Scientists Finally Understand Why More Men are Infected with Coronavirus Federated Learning and Healthcare "AI shows great promise for the early detection of brain tumors, but it will require more data than any single medical center holds to reach its full potential," said Jason Martin in a press release, Intel's principal engineer. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) supports the project and is offering the group with a three-year $1.2 million grant. The grant is awarded to the principal researcher, Dr. Spyridon Bakas, from the Center for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics (CBICA) of the University of Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, it is unclear when the project will be completed and released, but it will build on the initial research that was first presented in 2018 during the International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention. It made sense to see Intel and Penn Medicine working together for this AI model as they were among the first to lead research on the benefit of using federated learning in healthcare. In their study, they demonstrated how federated learning could be used to acquire 99% accuracy. Apple and Google have been using federated learning before to help them improve the quality of words, phrases, emoji, and music predictions, but the technique is now being used in the medical domain to help experts in various fields. Brain Tumor Awareness Month This partnership is announced today to coincide with Brain Tumor Awareness Month, according to VentureBeat. According to the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA), over 700,000 Americans are living with brain tumors today, and there will be another 80,000 people who will be diagnosed this year. They have also predicted that 16,000 people with brain tumors will die this year due to their condition. Read Also: [BREAKING] COVID-19 PANDEMIC: Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci to Testify Remotely 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A Philadelphia voter receiving instruction on how to use new voting machines in the November 2019 municipal election. Read more Civil rights groups asked a federal court Monday to let them defend against a lawsuit over voter rolls in the Philadelphia suburbs. The lawsuit was brought two weeks ago by Judicial Watch, a conservative activist group known for its public-records requests and litigation. The group claims Bucks, Chester, and Delaware Counties have failed to properly remove voters who have become ineligible. It seeks the removal of an unspecified number of voters according to unspecified criteria. Lawsuits like these are designed to force counties to pull eligible voters off the rolls, and thats just not the way democracy is supposed to work, said Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director for Common Cause Pennsylvania. The group, along with the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, filed a motion Monday to intervene in Judicial Watch v. Pennsylvania. They are represented by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the state and national ACLUs, and New York-based Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Judicial Watch has gone after voter rolls across the country, accusing elections officials of violating the National Voter Registration Act by not removing voters who have become ineligible, such as those who have moved. This isnt our first rodeo, Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said last week. "And Pennsylvania has a big issue. This will be a statewide issue in theory if were able to get the results we want. Every county will be subject to having to follow the rules. In the Pennsylvania suit, the group sued the three counties and the state, raising the specter of fraud without providing any evidence. (In-person voter fraud is rare.) Judicial Watch said the three Pennsylvania counties removed only 17 voters in 2017 and 2018, citing a national election administration survey. In fact, officials said, they removed tens of thousands of inactive voters. We 100% dispute the claims, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar recently told state lawmakers. Almeida said the voting rights groups are hoping to have the suit dismissed. If the court does end up ordering counties to remove voters, she said, the groups want to play a role in making sure its done as fairly as possible. Voter roll maintenance is a normal part of election administration, and in Pennsylvania, voters who do not vote in multiple elections are mailed a postcard asking whether they want to stay active. Only after about eight years of not voting and no response are voters removed from the rolls. Large-scale purges of voter rolls can remove eligible voters who planned to vote in future elections, disenfranchising them, and can disproportionately affect low-income voters and people of color, experience and studies have shown. A top world health official Monday warned that countries are essentially driving blind in reopening their economies without setting up strong contact tracing to beat back flare-ups of the coronavirus. The warning came as France and Belgium emerged from lockdowns, the Netherlands sent children back to school, and a number of US states continued to lift their business restrictions. Fears of infection spikes in places that have loosened up have been borne out in recent days in Germany, where new clusters were linked to three slaughterhouses; in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the crisis started; and in South Korea, where one nightclub customer was linked to 85 new cases. Authorities have warned that the scourge could come back with a vengeance without widespread testing and tracing of infected people's contacts. Health officials in the US will be watching closely in the coming days for any resurgence of the virus two weeks after states began gradually reopening, and efforts to assemble contact-tracing teams are underway there and in Europe. The World Health Organization's emergencies chief, Dr Michael Ryan, said that robust contact tracing measures adopted by Germany and South Korea provide hope that those countries can detect and stop virus clusters before they get out of control. But he said the same is not true of other countries exiting their lockdowns, declining to name specific countries. Shutting your eyes and trying to drive through this blind is about as silly an equation as I've seen. And I'm really concerned that certain countries are setting themselves up for some seriously blind driving over the next few months, Ryan said. Other countries are far behind Germany. Britain abandoned an initial contact-tracing effort in mid-March when the virus's rapid spread made it impossible. Now it is recruiting 18,000 people to do the legwork of tracking contacts. Britain and other countries are also developing contact-tracing cellphone apps that can show whether someone has crossed paths with an infected person. In the hardest-hit corner of the US, contact tracers in New York began online training Monday, and Governor Andrew Cuomo said some upstate areas, including the Finger Lakes, could ease their restrictions after Friday. The governor set a requirement of 30 contact tracers per 100,000 residents for areas to reopen. That translates to about 6,000 workers statewide performing what he described as a daunting task. Cuomo said contact tracing is a logistical nightmare, never been done before. Contract tracing across the rest of the US is a patchwork of approaches and readiness levels. In loosening up the country's lockdown, German authorities have spelled out a specific level of infection that could lead to the reimposition of restrictions in local areas. Other countries and US states have been vague about what would be enough to trigger another clampdown. The US has seen 1.3 million confirmed infections and about 80,000 deaths, the most in the world by far, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, 4 million people have been reported infected and more than 280,000 have died, over 150,000 of them in Europe. Health experts believe all those numbers understate the true toll of the outbreak. With Monday's partial reopening in France, crowds formed at some Paris metro stations, but the city's notorious traffic jams were absent. In South Korea, the government clamped down again, halting school reopenings planned for this week and reimposing restrictions on nightclubs and bars. It is trying to track down 5,500 patrons of a Seoul nightlife district through credit-card transactions, cellphone records and security footage. Roughly half of Spain's 47 million people shifted into looser restrictions, beginning to socialize, shop in small stores and sit outdoors at restaurants. Its biggest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, remained under lockdown. Spanish hotels reopened with precautions but also financial bleak prospects because people aren't allowed to travel outside their provinces and few flights from overseas. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a modest easing of the country's lockdown but urged citizens not to squander the progress made. Some people, however, were confused as the government shifted its slogan from Stay at Home to Stay Alert". Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland stuck with the old motto. At the risk of more confusion, the British government did an about-face on masks Monday, telling people to cover their mouth and nose in stores and on buses and subways. People in jobs that cannot be done at home should be actively encouraged to go to work this week, Johnson said. He also set a goal of June 1 to begin reopening schools and shops if Britain can control new infections. Johnson himself is the only world leader to suffer a serious bout of COVID-19. India reported its biggest daily increase in cases Monday even as it prepared to resume train service. In South Africa, authorities in Cape Town and the surrounding province considered reimposing restrictions because the area has become a hotspot accounting for about half the country's 200 virus deaths. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-11 14:01:17 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 988 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 /Mawson Resources Limited ("Mawson" or the "Company")(TSX:MAW)(Frankfurt:MXR)(OTC PINK:MWSNF)announced today that further to its press release dated May 7, 2020, it has filed a prospectus supplement (the "Supplement") to its short form base shelf prospectus dated March 13, 2020 (the "Base Shelf Prospectus") relating to its previously announced public offering (the "Offering"). The Supplement was filed with the securities regulatory authorities in each of the Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. Copies of the Base Shelf Prospectus and the Supplement are available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com As set forth in the Supplement, the Company has entered into an agency agreement with Red Cloud Securities Inc. and Sprott Capital Partners LP, the co-lead agents, and Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Eight Capital (collectively, the "Agents") to sell on a best-effort agency basis 48,572,000 units (the "Units") of the Company, at a price of C$0.35 per Unit (the "Offering Price") for gross proceeds of C$17,000,200 (the "Offering"). Each Unit consists of one common share ("Common Share") of the Company and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole common share purchase warrant a "Warrant") of the Company. Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Common Shares at the price of C$0.45 for a period of 24 months following the closing of the Offering (the "Closing").The Company expects to close the Offering on or about May 20, 2020.The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering for exploration and development of the Company's exploration projects and for working capital purposes as set out in the Supplement.Concurrent with, or shortly following the closing of the Offering, the Company will undertake a non-brokered private placement of up to 2,860,000 Units on the same terms as the Offering, to raise up to C$1.0M (the "Private Placement"). The Private Placement may close after the Offering and in one or more tranches. The Units sold pursuant to the Private Placement will not be qualified under the Supplement. The Company may pay a finder's fee in respect of certain subscriptions in connection with the Private Placement.A copy of the Supplement and Base Shelf Prospectus relating to the Offering may be obtained by contacting Red Cloud Securities Inc. by telephone at (416) 613-1237 or by email at ecm@ redcloudsecurities.com or Sprott Capital Partners LP by email at ecmscp@ sprott.com The securities offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws.This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the Units, Common Shares or Warrants in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that jurisdiction.About Mawson Resources Limited (TSX:MAW, FRANKFURT:MXR, OTCPINK:MWSNF)Mawson Resources Limited is an exploration and development company. Mawson has distinguished itself as a leading Nordic Arctic exploration company with a focus on the flagship Rajapalot gold project in Finland. The Australian acquisition provides Mawson with a strategic and diversified portfolio of high-quality gold exploration assets in two safe jurisdictions.On behalf of the Board,"Michael Hudson"Michael Hudson, Chairman & CEOFurther Information1305 - 1090 West Georgia St., Vancouver, BC, V6E 3V7Mariana Bermudez (Canada), Corporate Secretary, +1 (604) 685 9316, info@ mawsonresources.com Forward-Looking StatementThis news release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements herein, other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Offering and the Private Placement, including the terms, timing, potential completion and the use of proceeds of the Offering and the Private Placement are forward-looking statements. Although Mawson believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate, and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Mawson cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the fact that the Company may be unsuccessful in satisfying the conditions to closing of the Offering and the Private Placement, including, but not limited to, obtaining Toronto Stock Exchange approvals; that the Offering and/or Private Placement may not be completed on the terms and timeline indicated, or at all; that the Company's use of proceeds of the Offering and the Private Placement may vary from the intended uses, the potential impact of epidemics, pandemics or other public health crises, including the current outbreak of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 on the Company's business, operations and financial condition, capital and other costs varying significantly from estimates, changes in world metal markets, changes in equity markets, planned drill programs and results varying from expectations, delays in obtaining results, equipment failure, unexpected geological conditions, local community relations, dealings with non-governmental organizations, delays in operations due to permit grants, environmental and safety risks, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Mawson's most recent Annual Information Form filed on www.sedar.com . Any forward-looking st Warriors Anonymous logo for W.A., a new A.A. specialty meeting created by Warriors Heart for the warrior community (Active Duty Military, Veterans, Law Enforcement, First Responders & EMTs/Paramedics) These new W.A. meetings will help warriors open up and heal by being with peers only. - Tom Spooner, Warriors Heart Co-Founder and Former Special Forces Warriors Heart launches Warriors Anonymous (W.A.), which is a new A.A. specialty meeting that their team created for the warrior community (Active Duty Military, Veterans, Law Enforcement, First Responders and EMTs/Paramedics) struggling with alcohol and drug addiction. As an extension of the Alcohol Anonymous (A.A.) twelve-step program founded by Bill Wilson and Bob Smith in 1935, W.A. is free, helps members stay sober and helps other alcoholics to achieve sobriety," and has been approved by the Alcoholics Anonymous Central Office. Based on building the first and ONLY private and accredited residential treatment program in the United States for warriors only and 20+ years as successful treatment providers, Warriors Heart Founders Josh and Lisa Lannon and Former Special Forces Tom Spooner developed the W.A. meeting practices with their team of licensed clinicians, industry professionals and warriors for our frontline protectors. Warriors Heart Co-Founder Tom Spooner explained their WHY: Often times, warriors feel uncomfortable joining an A.A. meeting in their hometown, especially law enforcement where there may be people who they arrested and/or don't understand what they have been through. Similarly, Military, Veterans, Firefighters and EMS may feel uncomfortable sharing how they really felt running into battle, a burning building or dealing with life and death in front of civilians. These new W.A. meetings will help warriors open up and heal by being with peers only. As a way to give back to the community, Warriors Heart created the W.A. guidelines, manual and logo. Anyone can start a W.A. meeting and find these materials on the Warriors Heart website. Once a meeting is scheduled, hosts are encouraged to send their meeting dates and times to Warriors Heart for the Global W.A. Event Calendar through the online form here: https://www.warriorsheart.com/warriors-anonymous/ Currently, Warriors Heart is holding two W.A. meetings a week online, one open meeting for warriors and another for alumni as part of their aftercare program. Warriors Heart hosts these W.A. meetings online from their residential treatment ranch in Bandera, Texas, which remains open as an essential healthcare facility. Similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, Warriors Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking/drug problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. The W.A. community-based program guidelines include: W.A. members share their experience with anyone seeking help with a drinking/drug problem; and may give person-to-person service or sponsorship to the alcoholic coming to W.A. from any source. The W.A. program, set forth in our Twelve Steps, offers the alcoholic a way to develop a satisfying life without alcohol/drug. W.A. meetings may include: Open Speaker Meetings - Open to alcoholics and non-alcoholics A speaker tells their story, describes experiences with alcohol, how they came to W.A., and how their lives have changed as a result. Open Discussion Meetings - Open to alcoholics and non-alcoholics - One member speaks briefly about his or her drinking/drug experience, and then leads a discussion on W.A. recovery or any drinking-related problem brought up in the course of the discussion. Closed Discussion Meetings - Uses the Open Discussion Meetings format, but for alcoholics or prospective W.A. members only. Step Meetings (usually closed) - Discussion of one of the Twelve Steps. On-Site Meetings - W.A. members also take meetings into correctional facilities and treatment settings. Informational Meetings - W.A. members may be asked to conduct informational meetings about W.A. as a part of A.S.A.P. (Alcohol Safety Action Project) and D.W.I. (Driving While Intoxicated) programs. These educational meetings about W.A. are not regular W.A. group meetings. For more information about what W.A. does and what W.A. does NOT do, the manual, logo and other guidelines, visit the Warriors Anonymous program page created by Warriors Heart and the W.A. social media accounts: Warriors Anonymous Facebook https://www.facebook.com/warriorsanonymous/ Warriors Anonymous Instagram https://www.instagram.com/warriorsanonymous/ Media Contact Liz H Kelly, 310-987-7207 ABOUT WARRIORS HEART (Bandera, Texas near San Antonio): Warriors Heart provides the first and only private and accredited treatment program in the U.S. for Warriors Only (military, veterans, first responders, and EMTs/paramedics) faced with the self-medicating struggles of alcohol addiction, prescription and drug addiction, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and mild TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) in a private, 60-bed facility on a 543-acre ranch outside San Antonio, Texas. While there are other treatment programs for warriors in the U.S., Warriors Heart is the only true peer-to-peer program because others are mixed with civilians. Along with a 42-day peer-to-peer residential treatment program, Warriors Heart gives warriors the option of Day Treatment, Outpatient, and Sober Living (60 Day Minimum). Warriors Hearts work has been featured on the TODAY Show, MSNBC, Newsmax, FOX 11 Los Angeles, KENS5 CBS News San Antonio, Dr. Drew Midday Live with Leeann Tweeden on Talk Radio 790 KABC, Forbes, The Chicago Tribune and Addiction Pro magazine. There is a 24-hour Warriors Heart hotline (844-448-2567) answered by warriors. https://www.warriorsheart.com/ BeachLife Festival returns to Redondo Beach in May with Sheryl Crow, 311, Black Pumas, Vance Joy, Cold War Kids, Lord Huron and more. Latest News New head of retail broker at Pepper Money Broker favourite promoted to head of retail mortgages Small businesses want the SME Recovery Scheme replaced The proposed scheme is patterned after the HECS terms on loan repayment Last week, the combined capital city preliminary auction clearance rate rose above 60% for the first time since March, with 64.5% of homes selling. However, the higher clearance rate was across a lower volume of auctions with 473 auctions as compared to 612 the week prior, according to CoreLogic data. Of the 333 results collected over the week, 22% returned a withdrawn result, which is a dynamic that has been muddying the figures since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as CoreLogic counts a withdrawn property as a non-sale. From the week ending 29 March to the week ending 3 May, the portion of scheduled auction events withdrawn averaged 45.8% across the combined capital cities market. This is about eight times the five-year average rate of withdrawn properties prior to COVID-19, which was 5.7%. Understanding auction numbers during COVID-19 is crucial, as theyre often used as a measure of the robustness of property prices. Ultimately, most of the decline in the clearance rate can be explained through an engineered slowing of auctions, explained CoreLogic head of research, Eliza Owen. This is important to note, because clearance rates and changes in home values have historically been closely correlated. At face value, the sharp fall in clearance rates implies housing values could follow a similar trend; however, there is a good chance the relationship has at least temporarily disconnected due to the high withdrawal rate dragging the clearance rate to artificial lows. With the news that the ban of on-site auctions and inspections will be lifted in New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland, along with the broader relaxation of social distancing policies, CoreLogic has predicted a lift in confidence and volumes over the coming weeks. Tehran, May 11 : Nineteen sailors were killed and 15 others injured in a "friendly fire" incident involving two Iranian naval vessels in the Gulf of Oman, the Navy said on Monday. Iranian state media reported that a new anti-ship missile being tested by the frigate Jamaran hit the light support ship Konarak on Sunday, the BBC reported. The "Konarak vessel was struck with a missile yesterday (Sunday) afternoon during a military exercise in the waters of Bandar-e Jask" off Iran's south coast, state TV said. "The vessel was hit after moving a practice target to its destination and not creating enough distance between itself and the target," it added. The incident happened near the port of Jask, some 1,270 km south-east of Tehran, in the Gulf of Oman, the BBC quoted the state TV report as saying. The Jamaran and Konarak are said to belong to naval forces of the Iranian military. Iran's armed forces regularly hold exercises in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican members of Congress in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 8, 2020. Tom Brenner | Reuters President Donald Trump is reportedly considering another way to get more money to struggling Americans by letting them take an advance on their Social Security benefits. Many Americans are eager for more financial help from the effects of the coronavirus as the government wraps up sending millions of $1,200 checks to individuals who qualify. However, some Republican lawmakers are digging in their heels at the thought of sending more money, due to the high price tag. The Trump administration is said to be considering prepaying Social Security retirement benefits to workers before they are eligible, according to The Washington Post. Generally, workers have to be at least 62 and have worked and paid into the system for at least 10 years in order to collect benefits. More from Personal Finance: Consumer advocate Richard Cordray fears rise of 'vehement' debt collectors 130 million stimulus checks have gone out. Here's which states got the most money It pays to stay unemployed. That might be a good thing One proposal the White House is reportedly considering calls for letting Americans take up to $5,000 from Social Security now in exchange for delaying their benefits in the future. The $5,000 would be structured as a loan with a government-set interest rate that would reimburse the Social Security trust fund with interest. Individuals who opt into the program would pay that money back when they start collecting Social Security benefits. Their first checks would go toward repaying the loan, for a period of up to three months. After that, they would receive normal benefits. The plan was developed by Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute and Joshua Rauh of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Two competitors selling smart city sensors are now working together, as Ubicquia has purchased CityIQ from GE Current According to a news release, the acquisition includes all technology, patents and contracts with major customers across the U.S. and Canada, with CityIQs team members from Montreal and Cleveland being folded into Ubicquias organization. Incorporated in 2014, Ubicquia is a company based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that makes both hardware and software, including sensors that plug into streetlights and back-end software-as-a-service to analyze data from them. CityIQ is a smart city platform focused on traffic efficiency and public safety.The deal closed earlier this month, according to Ubicquia CEO Ian Aaron, who toldthat it dovetails well with what his company already does. He said about 20 people from CityIQ will bring their institutional knowledge of audio/video processing, and what kinds of policies can help cities take advantage of their technology.Theyve been doing this for five years, so they have a lot of experience, he said. Its helping accelerate some of our products as well. We have a product coming out later in the year that does some of the same functions as CityIQ, but in addition, its an industrial Wi-Fi mixed-access point. Think of that as something that plugs into the streetlight, that provides the new Wi-Fi fixed coverage, while at the same time has an option for doing edge AI. Its very much a complement to what were doing, and the people are very much a complement to what were doing.CityIQs AI platform captures and analyzes street-level video and audio data to address traffic and sidewalk congestion, bicycle lane safety, crime and public health initiatives. It also has a set of APIs and tools to help cities integrate their data with internal business intelligence systems or third-party platforms such as ShotSpotter, Genetec and Xaqt. CityIQ has been deployed for projects in several major cities including San Diego, Atlanta, Portland, Ore., and Schenectady, N.Y., which Ubicquia will now manage.CityIQ has very rich applications and management software for being able to not only impact all the different sensors, whether its video, audio or environmental, but also be able to turn that into very rich APIs that third parties can actually take advantage of whether its the citys open data group or a third party that wants to access traffic data to improve signals and traffic flow, Aaron said. Most of this stuff has been focused on large cities. Were making this technology, software and operating expense affordable for cities at any size.In a blog post on Ubicquias website , GE Currents Jim Benson, director of strategic marketing and intelligent environments, said GE isnt getting out of the streetlight business; but CityIQs technology needs specialists to sell, install and manage it, and Ubicquia is better suited to doing that. Beijing: China on Monday sought to downplay the confrontation between Indian and Chinese soldiers in Sikkims Naku La over the weekend, saying the two countries should jointly uphold peace and handle differences. The Indian army on Sunday confirmed an HT report on the clash and said a heated confrontation took place between Indian and Chinese soldiers in north Sikkim on Saturday, resulting in injuries to troops on both sides. The troops disengaged after talks at the local army level. The Chinese foreign ministry did not share details about the clash but attempted to subtly shift the blame to the Indian side, saying Chinese soldiers were always upholding peace and tranquillity along the border. China and India stay in close communication and coordination concerning our border affairs within existing channels, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a regular briefing on Monday. He referred to the 70th anniversary of India-China diplomatic ties this year and added the two countries were joining hands in the fight against Covid-19. Under such circumstances, the two sides should work together with each other, properly manage and handle the differences, earnestly uphold peace and stability in border region so as to create enabling conditions for our bilateral relations as well as the joint fight against Covid-19. Zhao denied suggestions that Beijing was adopting an aggressive approach in its diplomacy as it is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, which originated from China. The relevant assumption is groundless, he said in response to a question on it. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19, China and India have been staying in close communication and cooperation on prevention and control, to jointly meet the challenges. He called solidarity and cooperation against Covid-19 the most pressing concern for the international community. We shouldnt allow any politicisation or stigmatisation in a bid to create more differences or confrontation. India and China have held a dozen rounds of talks to resolve the dispute over the 3,488 km border between the two countries stretching from Jammu & Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh. The longstanding border dispute led to the 1962 India-China war. In 2017, China accused India of trespass and preventing its troops from building a road in the Himalayan Doklam plateau, which is under the Chinese control but claimed by Bhutan. The standoff began in June 2017 and ended after 73 days with the withdrawal of troops from both sides. Qian Feng, a senior fellow at the Taihe Institute, a think tank, said the China-India border issue was a leftover from the past and both sides had a different perception about it. Despite this, the two countries leaderships and related authorities have established communication mechanisms. Their effectiveness was demonstrated by this incident as the problem was solved at the local level and did not escalate to a national level, Qian told Chinese state media. Debenhams employees in Bangladesh have shared an emotional video pleading with the company to pay their outstanding wages, claiming they were laid off 'unlawfully' during its liquidation process. The British retailer announced it will file for administration on April 6, after the coronavirus lockdown forced it to shut its outlets across the UK, and began the liquidation process of its Irish, Hong Kong and Bangladesh arms a week later. The Asian liquidations meant the contracts of all 48 Hong Kong and 69 Bangladesh employees were terminated. Last week workers from the Debenhams Bangladesh Liaison office shared a heartfelt video on YouTube claiming employees are 'not afraid' of the current pandemic, but are terrified about the impact losing their jobs will have on their families. Workers from the Debenhams Bangladesh Liaison office shared a heartfelt video on YouTube claiming employees are 'not afraid' of the current pandemic, but are terrified about the impact losing their jobs will have on their families Holding up placards, anonymous workers begged: 'Please pay our rightful outstandings, for the sake of humanity! We're not your liabilities, but your responsibilities... Hunger is stronger than any pandemic, don't let us starve.' Speaking to FEMAIL, one of the workers in the video, who did not wish to be named, claimed they have not been paid since March 24, despite the country declaring a 'national holiday' in response to the pandemic in which all government and private offices were ordered to shut down. According to the Bangladesh Labour Act (BLA) 2006, workers in the country are entitled to their respective wages during a period of 'stoppage of work' due to an epidemic if it lasts for more than a day. The Debenhams Hong Kong Bangladesh liaison office employee handbook states 'all terms of employment are formulated following the principles of the applicable provisions of the laws of Bangladesh'. The worker said: 'They have terminated us, and this is not particularly lawful. We're left high and dry over here, we didn't get our lawful financial payment since March 24, so we are struggling a lot to survive in this pandemic. Speaking to FEMAIL, one of the workers in the video, who did not wish to be named, claimed they have not been paid since March 24 'As per Bangladesh government rule, Debenhams or any other garment factory cannot terminate an employee when they are on leave. Our employee contract clearly mentions that our Bangladesh liaison office should be run by local law.' They added that they are living a 'very anxious help' with little support from the authorities, and some of their colleagues are currently unable to afford to buy food. 'Debenhams has furloughed many of its employees in the UK who are getting financial help from the government, but in Bangladesh you're not, there are no financial benefits from government,' they said. 'Yes, there are some rules that may protect us from this injustice they cannot terminate us when we are in leave. The worker said they are living a 'very anxious help' with little support from the authorities, and some of their colleagues are currently unable to afford to buy food 'We are living a very miserable life with so much uncertainty because of this pandemic. We won't be able to get a [new] job within two or three years. 'Be ethical, we're not begging, we're not asking for anything that is not mentioned in our law. At least provide us with those things.' The employee pointed out that most of the salaries in question are very low - with the highest paid on around 1,000 per month and many on significantly less. 'Debenhams has made hundreds of millions of pounds of business through our Bangladesh office, and it costs then just 2.5 per cent of their total turnover,' they said. 'Bangladesh is a cheap labour country. If Debenhams decides after five or six months they will withdraw our termination and give us full salary, our right, how will we survive? 'We have heard it might take a year to resolve this financial claim, and I don't know whether they will give me another opportunity to serve the company or not, but this is inhumane. 'We want Debenhams to be cordial to us and think about us and how much effort we have put in for them and how productive and profitable we were from a Bangladesh point of view, so they should pay us our dues and not treat us like waste paper. 'We are the poor people, why are they using our money? How much money can they save by not providing our salary, our settlement that we are entitled to get for termination. The amount is not big. That is why we say, you protect your business, let us protect our family.' A GoFundMe page has been set up to support the 69 families. To donate, click here. A spokesperson for Debenhams told FEMAIL: 'Like all fashion retailers, we have had to make some very tough decisions in relation to our supply chain. 'We are trying to deal with all those affected as fairly and openly as possible. Suppliers who continue to work with us during our administration period will be paid to terms.' Manitobas police watchdog has closed an investigation into an incident where an RCMP officer says he accidently shot himself in the foot while off-duty and hunting in September, 2019. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitobas police watchdog has closed an investigation into an incident where an RCMP officer says he accidently shot himself in the foot while off-duty and hunting in September, 2019. The shooting took place on Sept. 7, 2019 in the area of Grunthal, Man. The officer said he accidentally discharged his firearm into his foot while goose hunting. Despite the fact the Mounties were mandated by legislation to notify the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba of the matter as soon as practical, the police watchdog wasnt informed until Nov. 29 -- nearly three months after the shooting. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "A lack of information significantly affected the ability of IIU investigators to gather evidence," the IIU said in a press release Monday. Since notification to the IIU was significantly delayed, investigators were unable to examine or gather evidence at the scene. The responding RCMP officers did not make notes of their interactions with the subject officer, nor did they "identify, inspect or seize" their firearm, the IIU said. The Mounties who responded to the scene did little, if anything, to "further the investigation." In addition, a potential eyewitness to the shooting was never identified or contacted. The subject officer refused to be interviewed by IIU investigators and declined to release their medical information, which "prevented the IIU from substantiating the nature and extent of (the officer's) injuries." "These issues rendered the IIUs investigation null. Therefor, the IIU investigation is now complete and the matter is closed," the IIU said. The Bangladesh government revealed on Friday that its navy rescued about 280 Rohingyas from the Bay of Bengal and dispatched them to an island where they have been subjected to COVID-19 quarantining. The news was released after about 40 people, including starving women and children, came ashore in Bangladesh on May 2. The Washington Post reported on May 9 that there are still hundreds of refugees at sea on three or four boats somewhere between Bangladesh and Malaysia. The Malaysian and Bangladeshi governments are denying them entry, citing coronavirus concerns. The Rohingyas were attempting to reach Malaysia in a bid to escape the appalling conditions they face in Bangladesh and in the hope of finding work as undocumented labourers. The refugees had to pay $US700 per head to traffickers, a huge sum for these poverty-stricken people, for the dangerous journey. While it is not clear how many remain stranded on overcrowded boats in the Bay of Bengal, the media is reporting than somewhere between several dozen and 100 could have died in the sea. Reuters wrote on May 3, The survivors described hundreds of men, women, and children crammed on the boat, unable to move, squatting in rain and scorching sun until, as food and water ran out, they began to die of starvation, thirst and beatings, their bodies tossed overboard. Some wept as they spoke. Reminiscent of conditions on the old slave transport ships, the New York Times said that the Rohingya women and children are packed together so tightly in the darkened hold that they can barely stretch out. The Awami League-led government in Bangladesh is determined to block the refugees from re-entering the country. Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen, in response to Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls for Dhaka to provide the refugees with the necessary food, water, and health-care, told Al Jazeera late last month that the Rohingya people were not Bangladeshs responsibility. The plight of the Rohingyas stranded in the Bay of Bengal has become commonplace over the last few months. HRW reported that it has spoken to 10 families who said family members had disappeared after leaving refugee camps. A mother from the Kutupalong camp explained, One of my sons left the camp some two months ago. Around 20 days back, I got a phone call from my son to pay money to smugglers. We paid. But we have not heard anything since. The Rohingya are a persecuted Muslim community from north-western Burma (Myanmar) who have faced massacres, rape and the destruction of whole villages at the hands of the Burmese military and Buddhist supremacists. Currently there are more than one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, having fled Burma since August 2017 in the expectation that they would be sympathetically treated by the government of a Muslim majority country. These hopes were quickly dashed. Despite widespread sympathy for the refugees by the Bangladeshi masses, Dhaka tried to block the refugees by using the military. The government of Prime Minister Sheik Hasina treats the refugees as an unbearable burden and wants to send hundreds of thousands to Bhasan Char, a cyclone-prone island in the Meghna River. The government has built small concrete breeze-block rooms of 2m x 2.5m, with small barred windows on the remote silt island, which is only accessible by boat. Fearing they will be forced into the terrible conditions on this island, refugees have been trying to escape by boat to Malaysia since late last year. Totally abandoned by the Hasina government, the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are desperate. As Mohammad Yusuf, a chief imam, explained, I feel like crying, realising the situation of my brothers and sisters who are still floating in the deep sea. The already appalling situation facing the almost 900,000 Rohingyas refugees in Bangladeshs Coxs Bazarthe most densely overcrowded refugee camp in the world is worsening as the coronavirus spreads through Bangladesh. There are currently 14,657 officially confirmed virus cases in Bangladesh and 228 deaths. Although no one in the Coxs Bazar camp has as yet been infected, 13 cases have been reported in the district and one near the camp. A large-scale outbreak is highly likely in the overcrowded camp, researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have warned. Mother and child in Coxs Bazar refugee camp last January [Credit: John Hulme] Canadas Globe and Mail reported on May 4, that the camp is so densely packed that it is not uncommon for a family of seven or eight to live in a 110-square-foot room. Another report noted that Rohingyas are sleeping on muddy plastic sheets or paper in flimsy canvas and bamboo shelters. Water supply, sanitation, and sewage facilities are completely inadequate. Cholera, chickenpox and diphtheria infection have broken out in the camps since 2017. If anyone of us is infected by this virus, many refugees will die in a short time, one refugee, Ro Ro Yassin Abdumonab, told reporters. With 40,000 people living in each square kilometre, a disaster is inevitable. The UNHCR has established one isolation facility to treat 200 infected people and another to treat 50. It is also planning to have 10 beds with ventilators and intensive-care capacity. The Globe and Mail reported that it will take two weeks to complete but a UNHCR spokeswoman in Coxs Bazar admitted that its not much in the way of resources and very limited. Bangladeshs government used the pandemic to impose a complete lockdown in Coxs Bazar on April 9. The measure came on top of the already existing crackdown on the refugee camps, including tight curfews, the closure of shops run by refugees, the blocking of internet services and the confiscation of mobile phones. It had already banned refugees from leaving the camps and warned employers not to hire them. Under various bogus pretexts, the government had previously banned more than 40 non-government organizations providing relief work for the refugees. This means that the Rohingya refugees are now totally dependent on the World Food Program and other charity for basic necessities. The Rohingyas are neglected not just by the Bangladeshi ruling class but all major powers, who, despite their hypocritical promises to help these poverty-stricken stateless people, provide very little assistance and refuse to allow them to enter their countries, thus condemning hundreds to die at sea. PORTLAND, Oregon, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, "Ground Support Equipment Market by Type (Powered GSE and Non-powered GSE), Application (Aircraft Handling, Passenger Handling, and Cargo Handling), and Power Source (Electric, Non-Electric, and Hybrid): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202027". According to the report, the global support equipment industry was pegged at $13.01 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $22.00 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 6.7% from 2020 to 2027. Download Report Sample (215 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Figures) @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/2174 Major drivers for the market Rise in air traffic and cargo, increased focus of airports on enhancing operational efficiency, high service standards, and leasing of ground support equipment have boosted the growth of global ground support equipment market. However, high initial investment hampers market. On the contrary, increased focus toward procurement of greener GSE, outsourcing of maintenance, repair and overhaul to the third party, and emerging use of wireless technology are expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market players in the coming years. The powered GSE segment dominated the market By type, the powered GSE segment held the largest share in 2019, accounting for more than two-thirds of the global ground support equipment market, due to deployment of energy-efficient ground support equipment. However, the non-powered GSE segment is projected to register the highest CAGR of 7.7% during the forecast period, owing to ease of installation and requirement of much lesser maintenance. Get Detailed Pre & Post COVID-19 Impact Analysis on the Ground Support Equipment Market @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/2174?reqfor=covid The cargo handling segment to manifest the highest CAGR through 2027 The cargo handling segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 8.4% during the study period, due to growth in the shipping & logistics industry. However, the aircraft handling segment held the largest share in 2019, contributing to more than two-fifths of the global ground support equipment market, owing to increase in the number of aircrafts and frequency of flights worldwide, outsourcing of GSE among airlines and major advancements and investments in efficient GSEs. The non-electric power source segment held the largest share Based on power source, the non-electric segment accounted for the largest share in 2019, holding nearly three-fourths of the global ground support equipment market, owing to its wide adoption as they operate on conventional energy sources. However, the electric power source segment is projected to reach the highest CAGR of 11.0% during the forecast period, due to factors such as low-end torque and efficient frequent start/stops, idle time, and short required ranges. Interested to Procure The Data? Inquire here @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/2174 North America held the lion's share The market across North America held the largest revenue in 2019, accounting for more than two-fifths of the market, owing to focus on eco-friendly ground support equipment by converting GSE fleets to electric and reducing carbon footprints. However, the global ground support equipment market across LAMEA is projected to register the highest CAGR of 8.6% during the forecast period, due to ongoing developments and airport expansions in the region. Major market players AERO SPECIALTIES, INC. Textron GSE Cavotec SA Flightline Support Ltd. Imai Aero-Equipment Mfg. Co., Ltd. GATE GSE JBT Corporation TLD Mallaghan Guangtai Schedule a Call with Our Analysts/Industry Experts to Find Solution for Your Business @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/connect-to-analyst/2174 Avenue | the Market Research Library Access Avenue, a user-based library of global market report database, provides comprehensive reports pertaining to the world's largest emerging markets. It further offers e-access to all the available industry reports just in a jiffy. Avenue is a premium subscription-based model that serves as an informative solution on which the world-leading companies can rely on. Avenue is a premium subscription-based model that serves as an informative solution on which the world-leading companies can rely on. 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Contact us: David Correa 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States Toll Free (USA/Canada): 1-800-792-5285,1-503-894-6022, 1-503-446-1141 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1-855-550-5975 [email protected] Web: www.alliedmarketresearch.com Follow us on: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allied-market-research Allied Market Research Blog: blog.alliedmarketresearch.com SOURCE Allied Market Research WASHINGTON Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Monday widespread testing is the only path to reopen the nation's economy, arguing the "economy isn't a light switch" that can simply be turned on. Biden urged caution on reopening the country in a Washington Post op-ed that accused President Donald Trump of dividing Americans over the pandemic rather than preparing the nation to safely return to normal. The former vice president said the economy will not get back to full strength if the number of new cases is still rising or plateauing and people still don't feel safe to return to normal activities. He pointed to Georgia, which has experienced 92% fewer patrons at restaurants than normal in the two weeks since the state's dine-in restaurants were allowed to reopen April 27. Biden's position is in sharp contrast to Trump, who has pinned his reelection hopes on the nation's ability to quickly reopen even as coronavirus cases still rise. Trump offered support to activists who protested state stay-at-home orders, and on Monday, he tweeted, "The Democrats are moving slowly, all over the USA, for political purposes. They would wait until November 3rd if it were up to them. Dont play politics. Be safe, move quickly!" More: Biden in the basement: Can campaigning from home work as Trump starts to travel? A new Gallup poll released Monday found 73% of Americans believe it is "very important" that there be a significant reduction of new COVID-19 cases or deaths before returning to their normal activities. Ninety-two percent of Democrats said it's "very important," but only 55% of Republicans agreed. A smaller percentage of Americans, 61%, said it's "very important" to have widespread testing to monitor the coronavirus before resuming their normal activities. That includes 87% of Democrats and 60% of independents, but just 30% of Republicans. Story continues Biden said "people need confidence" to return to normal and that the solution "isn't a mystery." It's the production and distribution of adequate testing, he said, as well as protocols that are consistent with the guidance of public health experts. "Doing so would speed up the reopening process considerably and make it a whole lot more effective," Biden said. He added the White House is "fully aware this is the right path," noting that staff members who interact with Trump receive daily tests. The White House tightened its own coronavirus precautions after two aides tested positive for coronavirus a personal valet for Trump and Katie Miller, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence. "They knew exactly how to make the Oval Office safe and operational, and they put in the work to do it," Biden said. "They just havent put in that same work for the rest of us. "If Trump and his team understand how critical testing is to their safety and they seem to, given their own behavior why are they insisting that its unnecessary for the American people?" Former US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at a press event in Wilmington, Delaware, on March 12, 2020. Trump campaign fires back Researchers at Harvards Global Health Institute estimate the U.S. needs to conduct more than 900,000 tests daily to effectively trace new outbreaks. More than 9 million coronavirus tests have so far been conducted in the U.S., according to The Covid Tracking Project, but the daily is average is only around 300,000 Nearly one-third of governors said in April their states lacked sufficient supplies to conduct enough testing in their states to reopen their economies, though Trump has touted the number of overall tests the U.S. has conducted. More: Pence aimed to project normalcy during his trip to Iowa, but coronavirus got in the way In a statement to USA TODAY, Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign, accused Biden of continuing to "lob political duds from his basement in a desperate search for relevance." He defended Trump's leadership during the coronavirus crisis and said the U.S. is "leading the world in testing." "The President also knows that we cannot allow our economy to lie dormant indefinitely, as that would lead to its own massive set of problems," Murtaugh said. "We must reopen the economy as soon as it is safely possible in order to get the country moving again. If anyone is dividing America, it is Joe Biden, who sits on the sidelines and offers nothing but criticism as he attempts to undermine Americans confidence in the response to the virus. In his op-ed, Biden said that instead of unifying the country to accelerate its public health response to the coronavirus outbreak, Trump has reverted to a "familiar strategy" of deflecting blame and sowing division. He accused Trump of hoping to divide Americans into two campus: Democrats hoping to "keep America grounded" and Republicans trying to "liberate the economy." Biden called it a "childish" tactic. He said the truth is everyone wants to reopen as soon as possible but that governors haven't gotten the tools to do so. Marc Short, chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence, talks with Katie Miller, Pence's press secretary, as President Donald Trump and Pence as participate in a Fox News Virtual Town Hall at the White House on March 24, 2020. Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: Joe Biden urges caution on reopenings, slams Trump A new generation of wearable devices powered by human sweat instead of electrolytes in batteries could help reduce harmful electronic waste. Researchers in Scotland have developed a flexible supercapacitor made from an absorbent polyester cloth, which wraps around the arm during exercise. Positive and negative ions in the wearer's sweat interact with the cloth's surface, creating a reaction that generates energy. The researchers claim the device can be fully charged with as little as 20 microlitres (less than half a drop) of perspiration. Meanwhile, working up a sweat could be enough to generate power for exercise monitors and other future electronic devices, including electric vehicles. Sweat-powered technology could replace conventional batteries, which have restricted portability and wearability due to issues such as overheating. Toxic electrolytes in conventional batteries can also release harmful chemicals into the atmosphere once discarded and seep into groundwater, affecting animals and plants. Scroll down for video Illustration of how the cloth, which straps around the wearer's arm. The device is made from absorbent polyester cloth and a thin layer of polymer known as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate or more simply PEDOT:PSS. Bottom: SEM images of the cloth after PEDOT:PSS coating with an enlarged view of a single thread 'Conventional batteries are cheaper and more plentiful than ever before, but they are often built using unsustainable materials which are harmful to the environment,' said study author Professor Ravinder Dahiya, head of the University of Glasgow's Bendable Electronics and Sensing Technologies group. 'That makes them challenging to dispose of safely, and potentially harmful in wearable devices, where a broken battery could spill toxic fluids onto skin. 'What we've been able to do for the first time is show that human sweat provides a real opportunity to do away with those toxic materials entirely, with excellent charging and discharging performance. SEM images of the cloth after PEDOT:PSS coating with an enlarged view of a single thread (right) 'As wearable devices like health monitors continue to increase in popularity, it opens up the possibility of a safer, more environmentally-friendly method of generating sustainable power not just for wearables but possibly also for emerging areas such as e-bikes and electric vehicles, where sweat equivalent solution could replace the human sweat.' Professor Dahiya told MailOnline that his team have filed an IP application for the product and some companies have registered an interest in helping to bring it to market. To make the sweat-powered supercapacitor, researchers used absorbent polyester cloth and a thin layer of polymer known as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate or more simply PEDOT:PSS. PEDOT:PSS, which offers a combination of flexibility, high conductivity and 'environmental friendliness', acts as the device's electrode the crucial conductor of electricity through non-metal objects. The Glasgow team recruited volunteers to run outdoors and on a treadmill while wearing a 0.7 inch by 0.7 inch version of the smart fabric. Photographs showing the textile supercapacitor and its soft polymer adapting s to the shape ofthe wearer's arm Runners sweated enough to allow the device to generate about 10 milliwatts of power about enough to power a small bank of LEDs. The device also has great flexibility it is robust enough to survive 4,000 bend and flex cycles of a typical work-out or run. Professor Dahiya and his team are now planning future research in how to integrate sweat power into devices such as prosthetics and robotics, which could provide assisted mobility for people with injuries and implants. 'Coupled with advances in the Internet of Things, virtual/augmented reality and robotics, the smart textile could also lead to a new level of human connectedness,' they write in Advanced Materials. 'Smart wearables should have high density of seamlessly integrated and selfpowered active/passive devices (e.g., sensors, actuators, displays, and circuits for read out and communication.' Pregnant women are at no greater risk of developing severe COVID-19 than other women, according to research. Some 427 mothers-to-be were admitted to NHS hospitals with the life-threatening coronavirus between March 1 and April 14. Only one in ten needed treatment in ICU, which is no higher than the figure for non-pregnant women of the same age, the researchers said. But their study revealed that five pregnant women are known to have died with COVID-19 - believed to be the first time this statistic has been recorded. The data suggests, however, that expectant mothers are no more prone to becoming severely ill, despite them being included on the list of vulnerable people. Generally women are more likely to catch an infection when they are pregnant due to them having a weaker immune system. The Oxford University study found pregnant women from BAME backgrounds were more than four times likely to be admitted to hospital with the infection, in-keeping with figures from the general population. Obesity, having pre-existing health conditions, as well as being over the age of 35 also raised the odds, according to the results of the study. The research also looked at the babies of the mothers with COVID-19, finding one in four babies were born early. Five of the babies in the study died, but three of those were 'definitely unrelated' to the coronavirus, the scientists said, while it remained unclear whether the virus contributed to the other two deaths. Pregnant women are at no greater risk of severe COVID-19 than other women, a British study has found. Pictured, a pregnant women in Bogota, Colombia There is no evidence to suggest pregnant women are more likely to catch to the coronavirus than the general population. However, due to changes to the immune system, it's been speculated pregnant women may be more vulnerable to severe infection. The Government has, therefore, told all pregnant women to be extra stringent in practicing social distancing. The study is believed to be the first large-scale study looking at pregnancy and its links with COVID-19. Oxford researchers conducted it alongside the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. ARE PREGNANT WOMEN MORE VULNERABLE TO COVID-19 AND WHAT IS THE RISK TO BABIES? Generally, there is no evidence that pregnant women become more severely unwell if they develop coronavirus than the general population. It is expected the large majority of pregnant women will experience only mild or moderate symptoms because more severe symptoms such as pneumonia appear to be more common in older people, those with weakened immune systems or long-term conditions. If you are pregnant you are more vulnerable to getting infections than a woman who is not pregnant, according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. If you have an underlying condition, such as asthma or diabetes, you may be more unwell if you have coronavirus because is poses a higher risk to those with underlying health conditions. In terms of risk to the baby, the RCOG says: 'Emerging evidence suggests that transmission from mother to baby during pregnancy or birth (vertical transmission) is probable.' There has been a report of two cases in which this seems likely, but reassuringly the babies were both discharged from hospital and are well. The college emphasised that in all reported cases of newborn babies developing coronavirus very soon after birth, the baby was fine. There is no evidence right now to suggest an increased risk of miscarriage. RCOG says: 'Given current evidence, it is considered unlikely that if you have the virus it would cause problems with the babys development, and none have been observed currently.' Some babies born to women with symptoms of coronavirus in China have been born prematurely. It is unclear whether coronavirus caused this or the doctors made the decision for the baby to be born early because the woman was unwell. Advertisement Patient data for the study was collected from all 194 hospitals in the UK with a consultant-led maternity unit. Almost 430 pregnant women were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 over six weeks, which the scientists estimated to be around 4.9 per 1,000 pregnant women. More than half (55 per cent) of pregnant women admitted to hospital with coronavirus were from a BAME background - but only 13 per cent of the UK population identify themselves as BAME. Around one in ten hospitalised women needed ICU care, which is not significantly different to women who are not pregnant, according to ISARIC data from 7,000 Britons in hospital with COVID-19. Women were 34 weeks pregnant on average when they were hospitalised, which suggests women in the late stages of pregnancy are more prone to serious COVID-19. The researchers suggested shielding was more important for women in their third or second trimester compared to the first. The researchers used a comparison group of 694 women who gave birth two years ago in order to spot any trends. They found the proportion of women of BAME backgrounds was 4.49 times higher among pregnant COVID-19 hospital patients. This inequality persisted even when women from London, the West Midlands and the North West were excluded from the analysis, meaning the difference cannot be explained by higher rates of COVID-19 infection in those areas. It also remained when accounting for age, health conditions and BMI, according to the findings in a pre-print paper today. Pregnant women over the age of 35 years were 35 per cent more likely to be diagnosed in hospital. Those who were overweight or obese were twice as likely to be hospitalised with COVID-19 than those who had a BMI under 25. Pregnant women with pre-existing conditions were also 52 per cent more likely to be admitted to hospital, with high blood pressure the most high-risk. Smoking rates were lower in pregnant women admitted to hospital for COVID-19 than in the comparison group. Scientists have started suspecting smokers have some form of protection from the killer infection based on international research. Overall, five women who were admitted and had a positive test for SARS-CoV-2 died, a case fatality of 1.2 per cent. Thirty women are still in hospital. Around one in ten hospitalised women needed ICU care, which is not significantly different to women who are not pregnant, according to ISARIC data from 7,000 Britons in hospital with COVID-19 (pictured) Symptoms of the pregnant women with COVID-19 Commenting on the findings, the research team said it was a 'concern' that pregnant women of BAME backgrounds were more vulnerable to the disease. Generally data has shown that black, Asian and other minority ethnicity people are at higher risk of the disease. Lead author of the study Professor Marian Knight said: 'It is concerning that more pregnant women from black and minority ethnic groups are admitted with COVID-19 in pregnancy and this needs urgent investigation. A very small number of pregnant women do become severely ill with COVID-19 and sadly some women have died. Our thoughts must remain with their families. Most pregnant women who were admitted to hospital were more than six months pregnant, which emphasises the importance of continued social distancing measures in the later stages of pregnancy.' Gill Walton, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, added that it was 'absolutely vital' women continue to attend antenatal appointments despite the pandemic. She said: During this current crisis, pregnancies have continued, babies have been born, and, throughout it all, midwives have been at their side, supporting and caring for them.' For the most part, babies born to mothers with COVID-19 were born after 37 weeks and were healthy. At the time of analysis, 58 per cent of the mothers either gave birth or lost their baby. The rest are still pregnant. A quarter of babies were born premature, of which around half were delivered early solely because the mother was struggling to breathe - a symptom of the killer disease. Across the world emerging reports suggest some babies have been born prematurely to women who were very unwell with coronavirus. But it is unclear whether coronavirus caused these premature births, or whether it was recommended that the baby was born early for the benefit of the womens health and to enable her to recover. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says emerging evidence suggests the mother can transmit the virus to her baby during pregnancy or birth. Five per cent of the babies born to COVID-19 mothers also had the virus, half of whom tested positive immediately after birth. The rest may have picked it up from hospital or relatives - but this was not discussed in the paper. Five babies died, of which three were 'definitely unrelated' to the coronavirus. The research team were left unsure whether SARS-CoV-2 contributed to the death of the other two babies. Dancers of the National Ballet of China are rehearsing for the annual ballet creative workshop, which will be livestreamed on Tuesday. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily] Every spring, the National Ballet of China holds its annual ballet creative workshop, which brings together young choreographers with their original works. This year, despite the coronavirus outbreak, which forced the National Ballet of China to cancel all of its shows in theaters, the company has decided to continue with the launch of the creative workshop. With six worksfour choreographic ballet pieces and two video performancesthe workshop will be livestreamed on Tuesday. The six works are a reflection on the influence of the outbreak. One of the works, titled A Lesson, is created by dancer-choreographer Wang Sizheng, who is also the director of this year's workshop. As this year marks the 10th anniversary of the National Ballet of China's workshop, Wang wants it to be unique. As a teacher of the ballet school of the National Ballet of China, Wang, who loves recording his life with his camera, shot a documentary, which focuses on his students and his own life. "Like many schools in China, we launched online classes amid the coronavirus pandemic. I felt closer to my students through the camera since we could see each other's facial expressions," says the 30-year-old. Wang was born in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, and joined the National Ballet of China in 2007 after graduating from the high school affiliated to Beijing Dance Academy the same year. He played roles in the classics performed by the National Ballet of China, including The Red Detachment of Women, Raise the Red Lantern and Swan Lake. Due to the viral outbreak, Wang enjoyed more time with his parents at his home in Jiangxi. On March 17, he had his 30th birthday at home, which was memorable. "I left home at a young age to study dancing in Beijing, so every year I had my birthday with my friends. This year's birthday is quite different," he says. 11.05.2020 LISTEN Ghana's premier distillery company GIHIOC and its Managing Director, Maxwell Kofi Jumah have reached out to The Rebecca Foundation, by donating about 480 bottles of GIHOC-branded hand sanitizers to the First Lady's foundation. The gesture by GIHOC according to the Managing Director, Mr. Maxwell Kofi Jumah, was to support the First Lady, Her Excellency Rebecca Akufo-Addo, and her foundation as they work to complement the government's continuous efforts at fighting the coronavirus pandemic. He revealed that before the COVID-19, GIHOC was producing Alcohol-based drinks only but the company was compelled to switch to the production of Alcohol-based hand sanitizers to support the preventive measures and protocols as directed by the president. "Our sanitizers come in two types which include Liquid which is the basic and Gel which is deluxe. These GIHOC sanitizers come with 70% Volume Alcohol made according to strict WHO and Food And Drugs Authority (FDA) standards. We presented 480 bottles of the GIHOC sanitizers to The Rebecca Foundation since Ghana continues to observe critical protocols required to combat the spread of the COVID-19," Maxwell Kofi Jumah said. GIHOC has also supported the Ghana Health Service as well as contact tracers at the Noguchi Institute of Medical Research with other items to help tackle the disease. The First Lady, Her Excellency, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, in a remark expressed her deepest gratitude to GIHOC and its MD. "The kindness shown by GIHOC and its MD is an exemplary one, especially in these trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic." About GIHOC GIHOC Distilleries Company Limited was the first modern distillery to be established in West Africa. It was established by the pre-independence Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in 1958 as the State Distilleries Corporation for the manufacture of alcoholic beverages. GIHOC Distilleries has over the years perfected the art of Distillation, refinery, blending and manufacture of various types of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for the local market and beyond. It has strived to satisfy the varying needs and demands of consumers of these products by ensuring the highest quality of products. By NLCD 207, it, however, became a division of the then Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC) in 1968. Also read: Help your children develop and improve reading skills with the Read Along app by Google Google has more exciting things in store for both kids and adults. We are not only discussing the updated Android operating system version, which Google is testing currently, and making it perfect, but also the new app updates and services the tech giant is introducing to make our daily life more comfortable and exciting.If you have started to feel bored during the lockdowns which the governments have imposed for over a month now due to the coronavirus, you must have a look at what Google is offering you to make learning more fun during the lockdowns. Google also introduced new Google Lens features recently, and Google updated the app to improve productivity while staying at home.The company has added extra upgrades to Google Search and Lens, and the new features involve augmented reality (AR). AR might not be that popular around the globe, but there are a lot of users who take advantage of this tech. It has also been reported that the company is also adding more content in augmented reality and 3D, along with new features that will help users to explore and enjoy during the lockdown periods.The new features will allow both kids and adults to learn more about topics such as astronomy, physiology, and biology. You will be able to get extra information from detailed views to adequate glossaries, and a carousel. Google has covered special topics and key search terms in the feature, such as the skeletal system, circulatory system, mitochondria, plant cell, animal cell, muscular system, and much more. The company has made the AR feature in Google Search more informational and fun for users. According to Google, the company wants to ensure that both children and adults spend their time learning new information deeply. The AR feature will give you a virtual trip through a human body, which is the result of the combined efforts of Google and Biodigital. After you have performed a search on Google mobile app e.g: "circulatory system", click the View in 3D option to display visuals up close.The feature will also display a magnified view of our microscopic world to users. You can view photos developed by Visual Body, which will help you learn more about various cells. And if you extra time, you may want to take a virtual trip to museums."Search for Apollo 11 on your phone to see its command module in 3D, look up Neil Armstrong to get a life-size view of his spacesuit, or step inside the Chauvet Cave to get an up-close look at some of the world's oldest known cave paintings, which are usually closed off to the public.", explained Archana Kannan, Group Product Manager, AR Experiences, in a blog post.Googles 3D and AR features are rolled out for public use, and it is the perfect time for us to learn as most of us are at homes getting bored. Make sure you use this time learning new skills and enhancing your abilities.Read next: Googles Rising Retail Trends data helps consumers make their shopping lists more effectively amid the coronavirus pandemic Murel Wayne Dodson, 72, of Crossville, Tennessee, much loved father, brother, grandfather, uncle, and friend, died May 7, 2020, after an extended illness. Mr. Dodson was preceded in death by his mother, Essie Dell Wilson Dodson and father, Willie Tillman Bill Dodson. Survivors include his daughters, Charlotte Gaston and Contessia Woods; five granddaughters, Alycia Gaston, Michala Woods, Ashlann Woods, Contessia Woods and Raygan Woods; brother, Willie G (Thelma) Dodson; sister, Charlene Dodson Nowell; mother of his children, Reta Norris Becton; nieces and nephews, Gena (Tim) Jackson, Susan (John) Whittenburg, Christopher (Kathy) Dodson, Val Nowell, Scott Nowell and Todd Nowell; many great nieces and nephews, and a great number of extended family members and close friends. Murel excelled in helicopter school in Fort Rucker, Al., prior to his deployment to Vietnam in 1967 with the 269th Combat Aviation Battalion. He served with distinction and attained the rank of Sergeant E5 before he was honorably discharged in 1968. After completing his service, Mr. Dodson moved from his hometown to Chattanooga, where he would raise his family and live the rest of his life. He worked briefly with Atlas Chemical before beginning his career with Signal Plating in 1971 where he became an owner/partner and worked until his retirement in 2003. Murel was a country boy at heart. He grew up on his family farm where he developed a love for hunting, fishing, and the outdoors. He was a very hard worker, but equally enjoyed relaxing by working in his yard and on his motorcycles. He loved his four wheelers, drag racing, and was an avid NASCAR fan. Murel loved music and reading; his favorite book was his Bible. He was a self-taught student of history and philosophy and never shied away from a spirited conversation or debate on any topic. He is dearly loved and his humor and charm will be long remembered and terribly missed. Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 16, in the Valley View Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home. Graveside services, with military rites, will be held at a later date at the Chattanooga National Cemetery. Please share your thoughts and memories online at www.ChattanoogaValleyViewChapel.com. Arrangements are by Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist, 7414 Old Lee Highway, Chattanooga, Tn. 37421. Pakistan's national radio broadcaster 'Radio Pakistan' was subjected to social media trolling after it goofed up while reporting the maximum and minimum temperatures in Ladakh. "In Ladakh, maximum temperature is -4 degree centigrade and minimum temperature is -1 degree centigrade," Radio Pakistan tweeted out on Sunday. The only problem? -4 degree centigrade is lower than -1 degree centigrade. Notably, Radio Pakistan tweeted out the weather report of Indian Union Territory only a few days after IMD's Regional Meteorological Centre started including cities under Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir in its forecasts, a departure from its earlier format, officials said on Thursday. The IMD has started including Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad, which are parts of PoK, under the Jammu and Kashmir meteorological sub-division since May 5, said Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of the Regional Meteorological Department that gives the forecast for the northwest meteorological division of the IMD. While the war on weather reporting was amusing enough, Radio Pakistan's gaffe kept Indians busy on microblogging site on a Sunday. Wow Radio Pakistan.. Didnt study in School ?? pic.twitter.com/blqBxFpaui Rosy (@rose_k01) May 10, 2020 Radio Pakistan was broadcasting how the victorious Pakistani Army had destroyed the Indian Army and was rapidly marching towards Delhi to capture Red Fort well after #Pakistan had surrendered to #India in 1971 and nearly 100000 Pakistani PoWs were eating Indian rotis. So. pic.twitter.com/lXv8YHar9t Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) May 10, 2020 Well done #RadioPakistan. You have great teachers like Naikoo...no wonder..!! pic.twitter.com/YygU3MQEa3 Capt Archit Gupta (@rockingarchit) May 10, 2020 All Maths Teacher after seeing the calculation of Radio Pakistan#RadioPakistan pic.twitter.com/60ALhU1mSv Aman Pandey (@theamanpandey29) May 10, 2020 According to radio Pakistan -4 deg C is maximum temperature. -1 is minimum temperature. #maths #RadioPakistan pic.twitter.com/yV76ShCmnw Masti Gram (@masti_gram) May 10, 2020 Me to Radio Pakistan after seeing their Awesome Calculation#RadioPakistan pic.twitter.com/zVoHDUACQc Aman Pandey (@theamanpandey29) May 10, 2020 RadioPakistan is managed n run by PakArmy generals presumably - explains this EPIC Math n Physics fundas https://t.co/HNn280GxXR Rajeev Chandrasekhar (@rajeev_mp) May 10, 2020 As one would expect, the tweet was later taken down by Radio Pakistan. Two north Alabama men have been arrested in connection with a break-in of an evacuated home damaged in last months Easter tornadoes in Boaz, police said. Guy Jake Tarvin, 28, and Kevin Dewayne Allison Jr., 29, both of Albertville, were charged May 1 with burglary and theft stemming from the break-in of a house on Roden Avenue, Boaz Police Chief Josh Gaskin told AL.com. Tarvin and Allison were booked last Monday into the Marshall County Jail on burglary and theft charges. Tarvin remains in jail on $10,000 bond while Allison bonded out, according to jail records. An off-duty Etowah County sheriffs deputy, who is a neighbor of the victim, alerted authorities to the burglary after they noticed a screen was cut and household items were outside the home, according to WHNT. The victim had been forced to evacuate the home after it was damaged in the Easter tornadoes that hit Boaz. People wear protective face masks on St. Peter's Square after the Vatican reports its first case of coronavirus, at the Vatican, on March 6, 2020. (Remo Casilli/Reuters) The Pandemic Highlights the Vaticans Ties With the Chinese Regime Commentary Since the Vatican City (the Holy See) confirmed its first case of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus on March 5, a total of 12 people have been infected. Why did the small city fall prey to the pandemic? The viruss spread has highlighted countries ties to the Chinese regime. Lets examine the Vaticans developing relations with Beijing in recent years. The Vatican has a population of approximately 800 people. On May 6, the Holy See press office announced that a 12th person tested positive for the CCP virus. The first cardinal to test positive was Angelo De Donatis, the Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, on March 30. On the evening of March 27, Pope Francis stood alone in St. Peters Square and during the prayer service he said, We find ourselves afraid and lost. The service was livestreamed around the world. Why has the Vatican, the highest authority of the Catholic Church, been affected by the CCP virus? The Vatican and Beijing severed ties in 1951 after the communist takeover. The Vatican does not recognize the so-called Catholic bishops appointed by the CCP through its self-selection and self-consecration procedures. However, in the past few years, the situation has begun to change. In September 2018, the Vatican signed an agreement with Beijing, allowing Chinese authorities to appoint Chinas bishops. The Holy See endorsed the legitimacy of these Beijing-appointed bishops. Cardinal Joseph Zen, a former bishop of Hong Kong, criticized the Holy See for surrendering completely to the CCP and keeping silent about the CCPs record of human rights violations. The BBC published an article stating that the Vatican signed the agreement with Beijing in order to promote good relations and to attract more mainland Chinese to join the Christian faith in the future. In an exclusive interview with Hong Kong-based newspaper Asia Times in February 2016, Pope Francis urged the world not to fear Chinas growing power and he conveyed a message of friendship to Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the Lunar New Year. Francis avoided talking about human rights and the CCPs persecution of Catholics in China. During the Hong Kong protests over a since-shelved extradition bill last year, the Vatican chose to remain silent on the issue. In a blogpost, Cardinal Zen wrote that he flew to Rome to meet the Pope in June last year to plead with him in person to take a stance against Beijings erosion of Hong Kongs autonomy. But five months later, the Vatican did not make any statement about the protests. The Vaticans compromise with the CCP is not limited to the above. In February 2017, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) wrote a letter to the Pope, urging him to prevent two Chinese officials from attending the Vaticans Pontifical Academy Summit on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism. Dr. Huang Jiefu and Dr. Wang Haibo have been heavily involved in organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China, according to research by the WOIPFG. Huang was a former vice minister in charge of organ transplantation in the CCPs Ministry of National Health and Family Planning Commission. Wang was responsible for creating Chinas organ transplant database. Huang himself later revealed in an interview with Phoenix TV that his invitation to the Vaticans Pontifical Academy of Sciences was condemned by 12 medical ethics experts from various countries who raised concerns about Chinas forced organ harvesting. Huang also bragged to the reporter about the support he received from Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the Pope, for his participation in the conference. Bishop Sorondo not only welcomed Huang to the Vatican, but also looked forward to being invited to visit China. His wish was quickly fulfilled, and in subsequent interviews with the media, he praised the CCP and downplayed the CCPs organ transplant abuses. In the past few years, Pope Francis has repeatedly extended an olive branch to Beijing, expressing his willingness to visit China. This may also be the next goal of the Holy See after signing the appointment agreement for bishops between China and the Vatican in 2018. The South China Morning Post reported in August 2014 that Francis told a group of reporters who traveled with him to South Korea and were flying back with him to Europe: Do I want to go to China? Of course, even tomorrow. The CCPs coverup and delayed response to the CCP virus outbreak caused the pandemic and now the world is suffering from the consequences. However, Pope Francis publicly praised the CCP for its efforts in containing the CCP virus within its borders. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Canadas tech sector employs thousands of skilled foreign workers each year and it may be the key to economic recovery 6 Canadian tech companies hiring amid coronavirus Canadas tech sector employs thousands of skilled foreign workers each year and it may be the key to economic recovery 6 Canadian tech companies hiring amid coronavirus Canadas tech sector employs thousands of skilled foreign workers each year and it may be the key to economic recovery 6 Canadian tech companies hiring amid coronavirus Canadas tech sector employs thousands of skilled foreign workers each year and it may be the key to economic recovery Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Industry leaders in Canadas tech sector are pointing to tech companies to drive Canadas economic recovery post-coronavirus. All sectors of the Canadian economy depend on technology companies to meet their needs in areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, e-commerce, clean technology and advanced manufacturing. This is just one of the findings in a new white paper report titled: The Post-Viral Pivot: How Canadas Tech Startups Can Drive the Recovery from COVID-19. The report examines how Canadian tech start-ups are being affected by coronavirus, how they may lead Canadas economic recovery, and what may result if they do not receive adequate support. It was published by a newly-established coalition of tech industry leaders called the Innovation Economy Council (IEC), who have been advocating for startup ventures since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs The report found that tech companies are actually growing during the coronavirus pandemic. Just like the companies that thrived during the 2008 economic collapse, these companies were either already well-positioned to meet new market demands or they were able to pivot their operations in time to adapt to the changes triggered by COVID-19. As a result, positions for highly-skilled talent are open and forthcoming in Canada. Here are some of the companies that are expected to grow during the coronavirus pandemic, and who are currently hiring. Shopify Shopify headquarters are in Ottawa, Ontario, but they have locations all over Canada and the world. On May 8, their careers page had 77 open jobs in specialties such as engineering and development, trust and security, UX design, data science and engineering, among others. The Canadian e-commerce company saw an increase of 47 per cent, or $470 million, in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter last year. The number of new stores created on the Shopify platform grew 62 per cent between March 13 and April 24, compared to the prior six weeks. The company website attributes this gain to offering an extended 90-day free trial for all new standard plan sign-ups at a time when commerce was shifting to online. They also offered a number of other initiatives to support their merchants, and protect stakeholders. Cyclica This biotechnology company based out of Toronto, Ontario, has three open positions on its careers page, two computational scientist positions, and an intermediate software developer role. Cyclica uses artificial intelligence and computational biophysics to speed up the development of new drugs. To sum up what they do in a nutshell, they are able to test existing drugs with proteins in the body to predict possible outcomes using AI. As the companys CEO, Naheed Kurji, said in the IEC report, the process is comparable to finding the right key for the right lock. Recently they partnered with Mannin Research, also in Toronto, to help develop COVID-19 treatments. Tealbook Tealbook offers a massive database of suppliers for procurement teams to find the goods and services they need to do business. There are currently job openings on their webpage for senior developers and a product manager position at their Toronto headquarters, as well as a marketing manager position in the U.S. When the coronavirus pandemic started disrupting supply chains, businesses needed to find new suppliers to meet their needs. Tealbook swooped in offering free vendor reports for the month of April. During a crisis like this, acting quickly is the only way to maintain a healthy supply chain, Stephany Lapierre, Tealbook CEO and founder, said in a media release. We enable buyers to immediately access trusted supplier data at a time when speed is of the essence. Tealbook is one of the companies expected to grow this year, according to the IEC report. Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs Dialogue Technologies This Montreal-based company offers virtual healthcare that can be paid for by health insurance or an employer. They are currently hiring in a number of fields in addition to tech such as finance, legal, HR, sales, and medical. Dialogue Technologies was already gaining recognition in the telehealth market before COVID-19. Once the crisis hit, they offered special COVID-19 resources including a free virtual tool, called Chloe, which addresses corona-virus related questions. The IEC report says Dialogue Technologies expects to triple in the coming months to 600 employees. Mind Beacon Toronto-based Mind Beacon, which offers digital mental-health services, is hiring in health-related fields across Canada. Demand for mental health services has been one of the consequences of COVID-19. Since physical distancing measures were first implemented Mind Beacon has seen a 15-fold increase in traffic to its services, a media release says. They offer a free COVID-19 program, called Stronger Minds, that is available to all Canadians. Opentext Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Opentext develops and sells enterprise information management software. They have a number of opportunities currently open on their careers page. Since the crisis began Opentext has been working to help businesses adapt to the ways coronavirus has changed work. Our latest software and services provide cyber resilience, secure information platforms and allow customers to digitize business processes and work from anywhere, CEO Mark J. Barrenechea said in a media release. Immigration options for tech workers Labour shortages in Canadas tech sector have been a longstanding issue, and as such many companies look abroad to get the skilled talent they need. Some Canadian immigration initiatives have been created in response to the labour shortages in order to facilitate the process for companies hiring foreign workers in tech, and for foreign nationals who want to settle in Canada permanently. The Global Talent Stream connects Canadian companies with skilled foreign workers, by offering a work permit processing standard of two weeks. Companies have reported hiring their candidates from abroad and bringing them to Canada within the same month. Since the program started in 2017, a total of 7,359 people have been brought to Canada through the GTS; the majority, 3,968, were brought in last year. As biometric centres are currently closed, only U.S. citizens are able to come to Canada through the GTS at this time. The Ontario Tech Pilot is for immigration candidates with work experience in six tech-related occupations. They must first have a profile in Canadas Express Entry system. In January this year, Ontario invited 954 people to apply for a provincial nomination for Canadian permanent residence. B.C.s Tech Pilot invites immigration candidates to apply for a provincial nomination practically every week. Eligible candidates have a job offer in one of 29 tech occupations. They may be invited under the Skills Immigration stream or the Express Entry BC stream. People who receive provincial nominations through Express Entry-linked Provincial Nominee Programs are effectively guaranteed to be invited to apply for permanent residence in a federal Express Entry draw. This is because a provincial nomination automatically gives them an additional 600 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points in addition to their original score. Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs Need assistance with the Temporary Work Permit application process? Contact wp@canadavisa.com. 2020 CIC News All Rights Reserved From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle Report. For millions of people around the world, the coronavirus pandemic has changed many daytime activities. For some, it also has affected their sleep. Fears of loss, isolation and sadness come out during sleep. Many say they awake feeling even more pressured and fearful. Experts say some pandemic dreams are about the fear of the unknown: Who is a threat? When will the pandemic end? Some dreams are about fearing for the safety of loved ones. And other dreams are about the loss of normal life. Mary Alice Mathison is a clergyperson in Florida. She dreamed 500 people showed up for a funeral at her church and would not go home. Ashley Trevino is out of work in Texas because of the pandemic. After the first COVID death in her area, she dreamed that she and her girlfriend were injected with the coronavirus by government workers. In Pakistan, Roha Rafiq dreamed that she was one of only 100 people left on the planet not infected with COVID-19. The college professor said that in her dream infected people were chasing her and the other uninfected people. They wanted to make the world the same for everyone. I think, Rafiq later wrote on Twitter, this anxiety has given me this dream. She is not alone. So many people are sharing their dreams that there is an online collection under the name I Dream of COVID on the social media website Twitter. Experts observe that in recorded history, humanity has rarely experienced collective dreaming on such a large scale in real time. Harvard University professor Deirdre Barrett is studying COVID dreams worldwide. She has collected 6,000 dreams from about 2,400 people. Barrett says the flu pandemic of 1918 is probably the most comparable thing. But, as far as she knows no one has examples of dreams from that pandemic. Cathy Caruth is a professor at Cornell University. COVID-19 dreams, she says, are similar to the dreams of Hiroshima survivors who worried about nuclear radiation. They are also similar to nightmares described by soldiers from the Vietnam War. Healthcare workers more at risk Some dreams are about everyday activities we can no longer do seeing friends, attending a party, or going to the movies. However, that changes greatly for health workers on the front lines of the pandemic. Professor Barrett says she has found a common theme in their dreams. They are responsible for saving a persons life. But they are failing, and the person is about to die. When healthcare workers dream about their child or parent getting the virus, Barrett explains, it often does not stop there. The next step is finding out they gave the virus to their loved one. Barrett says they are having nightmares that reenact the things they are experiencing. Tips for getting better sleep Dr. Lisa Medalie is a sleep expert at the University of Chicago. She advises that it is important for people to get good sleep during the pandemic. On the universitys website, she gives these suggestions. Structure your daytime schedule. Commit to daily activities. Exercise, eat and talk to family and friends at regular times. This will build structure to your days. Get alone time each day. Medalie suggests at least one hour of alone time each day. This may be hard. But she reminds us that spending time alone and doing something we enjoy is important. Create a peaceful sleep environment Make sure your bedroom environment is peaceful. Keep the room cool, dark, and quiet. Limit the amount of clutter and noise in your bedroom. Create a sleep schedule and limit daytime sleep Get the same amount of sleep each night. Most adults need seven to eight hours a night. And once you decide on your bedtime, stick to it. Also, daytime sleep should be less than 30 minutes and before 2 p.m. Limit screen time at night Turn off your electronic devices one hour before bedtime. Do not bring your devices into your bedroom. This way you will not look at COVID-19 updates during the night. Try breathing exercises. Use slow deep breaths to fall asleep or to return to sleep. Breathe in slowly through your nose for three seconds. Then breathe out slowly through your mouth for three seconds. And thats the Health & Lifestyle report. Im Anna Matteo. Anna Matteo adapted this story for Learning English based on Associated Press news reports and the University of Chicago Medicine. Hai Do was the editor. Quiz - Is COVID Affecting Your Dreams? Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story isolation n. the state of being in a place or situation that is separate from others anxiety n. fear or nervousness about what might happen scale n. a distinctive relative size, extent, or degree nightmare n. a frightening dream that usually awakens the sleeper theme n. a particular subject or issue that is discussed often or repeatedly clutter n. a large amount of things that are not arranged in a neat or orderly way or a crowded or disordered collection of things stick to it phrasal verb to continue doing or using (something) especially when it is difficult to do so Chinese companies are making every effort to help foreign countries in their fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) through a variety of measures, such as alleviating capital pressure on local enterprises and offering epidemic prevention supplies. Medical supplies donated by China Three Gorges Corporation arrived in Pakistan. (Photo/CRIonline The Paris branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has taken various steps to support local enterprises affected by the epidemic. For instance, it has helped alleviate the financial pressure on local enterprises by extending customers repayment periods and allowing some customers to defer payment of interest and principal. Since the lockdown was put in place in France, working from home has become an important measure used to control the epidemic while keeping local businesses going. China Telecom (Europe) Co., Ltd. has been actively providing remote or home office services for local enterprises affected by the epidemic, with a free trial period of two months. The company has also installed telecom temperature monitoring systems for French companies, so that they can take body temperatures more quickly and accurately. In Pakistan, the epidemic has continued to spread since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported in late February. A cargo charter plane carrying medical supplies donated to Pakistan by China Three Gorges Corporation arrived in the country on the evening of April 26. "Pakistan tried to support us when China was going through its most difficult time. Today, Pakistan is facing a severe challenge from the epidemic. This is the time for us to return the favor. This is a practice of the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, and it also demonstrates Chinese companies sense of responsibility," said Zhang Jun, deputy general manager of China Three Gorges International Corporation in South Asia. Into The Night (Netflix series in French language with option of English audio and subtitles) Cast: Pauline Etienne, Stefano Cassetti, Alba Gaia Bellugi, Mehmet Kurtulus, Babetida Sadjo, Ksawery Szlenkier, Jan Bijvoet, Regina Bikkinina, Laurent Capelluto Created by: Jason George Rating: * * * (three stars) By Vinayak Chakravorty A fatal wave that strikes with sun rays is rapidly spreading across the world, and the infected die almost immediately. Staying away from daylight is the only way to survive. Netflix's first Belgian original series would hardly seem like what the doctor ordered in the time of COVID-19 lockdown, but if you choose to sit through the show -- and assuming you are a fan of sci-fi apocalyptic stuff -- you could be in for six episodes of non-stop fun. The thriller series is based on Jacek Dukaj's Polish sci-fi novel "The Old Axolotl" and primarily in French language, but you have the option of English audio and/or subtitles. This, though, is, the sort of story where language becomes immaterial after a point (which is early on), as the action and suspense drama take over almost right away. An ex-military helicopter pilot Sylvie (Pauline Etienne) is on her way to Moscow from Brussels. We get to know her co-passengers on the late-night flight. There is the social media celebrity Ines (Alba Gaia Bellugi), a Turk named Ayaz (Mehmet Kurtulus), the nurse Laura (Babetida Sadjo), Jakub the mechanic (Ksawery Szlenkier), a security guard named Rik (Jan Bijvoet), and Zara (Regina Bikkinina), a Russian travelling to Moscow with her seriously ailing little boy. Presently we meet co-pilot Mathieu (Laurent Capelluto) and flight attendant Gabrielle (Astrid Whettnall). Even as the group boards, a NATO officer Terenzio (Stefano Cassetti) snatches a security personnel's rifle and storms into the plane at gunpoint. Like many others in the airport he has seen the live footage on news TV, of people instantly dropping dead in various parts of the world even as the sun rises. While no one is quite sure, Terenzio insists to the passengers on board that he is actually saving their lives. He wants the pilots to fly West, away from the rising sun. Terenzio draws the passengers into a race against time, his destination being an underground military facility that is safe from the killer rays of the sun. Don't get into the science of it, don't look for logic. "Into The Night" works for the sheer speed with which it unfolds. There isn't a dull moment, and you don't really have to make an effort to understand how it's going to end long before it actually does. Creator Jason George keeps the tension coming evenly as vested interests are revealed, trust issues pop up among the band of strangers, and there's the danger that the plane is running out of fuel. You do spot an effort to define the human race as a whole through the mixed profiling of the passengers, and also some sort of an effort to leave a message about humanity and survival, but that really becomes unimportant as the action thriller overshadows all. It's loaded with jumpy moments and corny dialogues and it wholly unfolds as cheesy fun. It's stuff you would hardly take seriously despite its sombre undercurrent theme -- which inadvertently works as an advantage if you are up to bingewatching to bust some stress. (Vinayak Chakravorty can be reached at vinayak.c@ians.in) -- Syndicated from IANS We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC). What Is Insider Buying? It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required. We don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year. View our latest analysis for Charter Hall Group Charter Hall Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Independent Non Executive Director Gregory Paramor for AU$159k worth of shares, at about AU$11.12 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being AU$7.43). It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. While Charter Hall Group insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below! ASX:CHC Recent Insider Trading May 10th 2020 There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). Story continues Insider Ownership of Charter Hall Group Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Our data indicates that Charter Hall Group insiders own about AU$12m worth of shares (which is 0.3% of the company). We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership. So What Does This Data Suggest About Charter Hall Group Insiders? The fact that there have been no Charter Hall Group insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Overall we don't see anything to make us think Charter Hall Group insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. At Simply Wall St, we've found that Charter Hall Group has 3 warning signs (1 is concerning!) that deserve your attention before going any further with your analysis. But note: Charter Hall Group may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. MIDDLETOWN Due to safety concerns of everyone during these times and because of the amount of volunteers that assist in placing approximately 10,000 flags on the final resting place of veterans at the Connecticut State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown, it has been decided that this honor to our veterans will be postponed till a later date. This also includes the ceremonies that are also held at the cemetery in the afternoon on Memorial Day. The State VA Commissioner, Thomas J. Saadi, his staff, and the State of Connecticut regrets having to make a decision like this, however, it does not reflect any disrespect to the veterans who serve or have served our country or their families, its to keep everyone safe so our veterans can be honored for their service at future dates and times. MIddletown has also canceled its Memorial Day Parade. According to the organizing committee, they are working to reschedule the event on a date to be announced. Flag sponsors sought Downtown Middletown is once again planning its annual display of patriotism and support for military families. American flags are available to downtown businesses for a minimum donation of $25 per flag. For many years and again this year, Middletown Fire Department will attach new flags and the Alarm Division of the City of Middletown will install the flagpoles on Main Street, creating a show of patriotism with cooperation between the City, Central Business Bureau / Middlesex Chamber and the Downtown business community. For information, contact Daniellelee Smith in the Chamber office at 860-347-6924 or email dsmith@middlesexchamber.com. Durham reval team to mail data DURHAM The Town of Durham reminds homeowners that the state-mandated revaluation project for the Oct. 1, 2020 Grand List is under way and will continue. The town has contracted with Tyler Technologies to perform the work. The first phase of the revaluation process is collecting information on all properties within the town. Durham had contracted to conduct a full inspection effort, including on-site visits to all properties within the town. That process had been scheduled to begin in March. Due to COVID-19, an executive order issued by the governor allows for the substitution of physical inspections with written verification of the accuracy of existing town records. In June, data mailers containing specific physical descriptions of each property will be mailed to each property owner. Property owners will be asked to review the information and make any necessary adjustments before returning the form. Detailed instructions will be included in the mailing. Community members launch CT UndocuFund On Wednesday, April 15th, a grassroots group of undocumented and immigrant community members launched on April 15 the CT UndocuFund. With an ambitious goal of $75K, the group has raised almost $50K in just under two weeks. The small, but mighty group is composed of mainly undocumented individuals and people of color individuals with long ties to the community as organizers, teachers, actvists, social workers, and more. Undocumented immigrants are at the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many undocumented people work in jobs that are most exposed to the virus and the shutdown. Everyone in our state and in our country is suffering from the effects of this pandemic. They are often the health care workers, grocery store workers, janitors, and restaurant and delivery workers who are working tirelessly to keep our communities safe and running. But while many in CT can turn to existing safety net programs, including unemployment insurance, public benefits, and new federal relief efforts - undocumented workers are largely excluded from those programs. The goal of the fund is to address this gap through fundraising in an effort to provide direct assistance to the most vulnerable members of our community who are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.. We came together because we saw a need and we saw our community being left behind. Our motto is The People Help Each Other. We are centering the voices and experiences of CT undocumented folks and working to provide relief to our populations that has been excluded from all government relief efforts during, and prior to, the Covid 19 pandemic, members said in a statement. Lets remember that it is the work of our immigrant community that has helped to build our state but we rarely get to profit from its prosperity. We are most likely to earn hourly wages and many have lost out on hours or lost their jobs entirely, undocumented people also are less likely to have health insurance. We hope to support undocumented families and individuals so they can focus on taking care of themselves and their families and not be put at financial risk. The funds goal is to provide financial relief for 75 - 150 undocumented people living in Connecticut. Members are asking allies and individuals who have or will soon receive a stimulus check but who are lucky enough to not need it to cover immediate expenses to share part of their check with those who will not receive it and are in dire need. A donation will put funds directly in the hands of those most suffering the financial impacts of this pandemic, providing food, healthcare, or relief with mounting bills. Organizations are encouraged to match donations and those interested in this effort can reach out for more logistical information, and to share the fundraiser and social media links (with the #CTundocufund hashtag). The group is seeking other community organizations and others to partner with them to build the effort. To learn more, contact the following individuals: Fairfield County: Anghy Idrovo, anghy@ct4adream.org - New Haven County: Hazel Mencos, hazel@ctbailfund.org; Central CT: Varun Khattar, varunkhattar01@gmail.com; Eastern CT: Vania Galicia, vania.e.galicia@gmail.com To make a donation, go to GoFundMe: bit.ly/CTundocufund, www.facebook.com/CTUndocuFund, www.instagram.com/ctundocufund/ and twitter.com/CTUndocuFund ATLANTA - Researchers from the Emory Consortium for Innovative AIDS Research in Nonhuman Primates and their colleagues across North America have shown a new HIV vaccine is better at preventing infection and lasts longer, continuing to protect one year after vaccination. The findings, which are published online today in Nature Medicine, provide important insights for preventing HIV, and the timeliness of the results could also help shape the scientific community's approach to developing vaccines for COVID-19. According to the researchers, the key to the new vaccine's markedly improved protection from viral infection is an alliance between neutralizing antibodies and cellular immunity. "Most efforts to develop an HIV vaccine focus on activating the immune system to make antibodies that can inactivate the virus, so called neutralizing antibodies," says Eric Hunter, PhD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Emory, a researcher at the Emory Vaccine Center (EVC) and Yerkes National Primate Research Center, and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. "We designed our vaccine to also generate a strong cellular immune response that homed in on mucosal tissues so the two arms of the immune response could collaborate to give better protection," he continues. Hunter is one of five senior authors of this study. Two of his Emory colleagues are also senior authors: Rama Amara, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory and a researcher at Yerkes and the EVC; and Cynthia Derdeyn, PhD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Emory and also an EVC and Yerkes researcher. The other senior authors are Bali Pulendran, PhD, a former EVC and Yerkes researcher who is now a professor at Stanford, and David Masopust, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Minnesota. The lead authors are Emory postdoctoral scholars Tysheena Charles, PhD, and Satish Bollimpelli, PhD, as well as postdoctoral scholars Prabhu Arunachalam, PhD, at Stanford, and Vineet Joag, PhD, at University of Minnesota. The research team also included members from Cornell University, Duke University, Louisiana State University and 3M Corp. Some 38 million people worldwide live with AIDS. While antiviral medications limit the impact of the disease on daily life, HIV continues to infect 1.7 million people annually and cause some 770,000 deaths each year, which makes the Emory team's work a high priority. In the new study, the researchers stimulated both serum and cellular immunity, which proved critical for the encouraging results. Working with rhesus macaques at Yerkes, the researchers inoculated three groups of 15 monkeys during a 40-week period. "Nonhuman primates remain the very best model for testing the potential of novel vaccines," says Hunter. The first group received several sequential inoculations of Env, a protein on the virus' outer surface known for stimulating antibody production, plus an adjuvant, a chemical combination often used in vaccines to enhance immune response. The second group was similarly inoculated but received additional injections of three different attenuated viruses modified to contain the gene for a HIV viral protein, Gag, that's known to stimulate cellular immunity. A third, control group, received injections containing only the adjuvant. Following the 40-week regimen, all animals rested for 40 weeks, and then the researchers gave them booster shots of just the Env inoculation. After resting four more weeks, the researchers gave the animals 10 weekly exposures to SHIV, the simian version of HIV. "Our results showed animals in the two experimental groups experienced significant initial protection from viral infection that was linked with high neutralizing antibody titers, particularly in the Env-only group," says Derdeyn. Even more notable, say the researchers, was several of the Env-plus-Gag animals, but none of the Env animals, remained uninfected even though they lacked robust levels of neutralizing antibodies. "This is an intriguing result because increasing the potency of neutralizing antibodies has been thought to be crucial to a vaccine's effectiveness, but doing so is difficult" Derdeyn adds. Also difficult has been lengthening the duration of protection, but Amara says the current study shows promising results in addressing this. "When we rechallenged the study animals one year after giving the vaccines, the animals that received the Env-plus-Gag combination but not the Env-only vaccination showed a pronounced increase in the duration of protection." Amara adds, "With these study results, we are one step closer to preventing HIV via a vaccine." The team will use the results to refine the way they approach vaccine development, including further assessing strategies to elicit cellular and neutralizing antibody responses for greater protection, with a goal of moving the new antibody plus T cell vaccine approach into clinical trials. "We think the same approach could be feasible for other pathogens, including influenza, TB, malaria and, now, COVID-19," he continues. ### The current study was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants UM1 AI124436 (Consortia for AIDS Vaccine Research in Nonhuman Primates, Principal Investigators Hunter and Amara), NIAID UM1 AI100663 (Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology and Immunogen Discovery, Principal Investigator D. Burton), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Center for AIDS Vaccine Discovery (to Pulendran) and HIVRAD P01 AI 110657 (to J.P. Moore). This project was also funded in part by Emory's Center for AIDS Research (P30 AI050409) and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center base grant P51 OD011132, supported by the NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs. Grant amounts (direct + indirect): NIH UM1 AI124436 $7,450,948/yr NIH UM1 AI100663 $12,037,011/yr NIH HIVRAD P01 AI 110657 $4,100,000/yr NIH P30 AI050409 $4,129,580/yr NIH P51 OD011132 $10,540,602/yr Note: The amounts listed are for the full grants; only a portion of the grant funding was applied to the study reported in this news release. The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory University is an academic health science and service center focused on missions of teaching, research, health care and public service. Its components include the Emory University School of Medicine, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, and Rollins School of Public Health; Yerkes National Primate Research Center; Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University; and Emory Healthcare, the largest, most comprehensive health system in Georgia. Emory Healthcare includes: The Emory Clinic, Emory-Children's Center, Emory University Hospital, Emory University Hospital Midtown, Wesley Woods Center, and Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital. The Woodruff Health Sciences Center has a $2.5 billion budget, 17,600 employees, 2,500 full-time and 1,500 affiliated faculty, 4,700 students and trainees, and a $5.7 billion economic impact on metro Atlanta. The Emory Consortium for Innovative AIDS Research in Nonhuman Primates (CIAR-NHP) seeks to develop new strategies for preventing and curing HIV/AIDS. The research partnership brings together an interdisciplinary mix of highly collaborative investigators focused on a wide range of HIV vaccine and cure research, with the aim of developing a potent HIV vaccine that produces a broad and sustained immune response. Team leaders at Toyota Canada's manufacturing plants in Cambridge and Woodstock are expected to return to work Monday morning, the first step in a gradual process of reopening following an almost two month-long shutdown. Workers will spend the day learning the new safety procedures that have been brought in to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Manufacturing lines will restart Wednesday and "a handful" of cars will be built Thursday, company president Frank Voss told CBC News. "It'll take many weeks before we get into a rhythm for building cars," Voss said. Toyota Canada first shuttered plants March 19 after a worker at Toyota Cambridge tested positive for COVID-19. To date, three people who worked there have tested positive, the company has confirmed. The company's timelines and safety procedures will be the same at plants in both Cambridge and Woodstock. Surveys, masks, temperature checks Screening for COVID-19 will begin while workers are still at home, Voss said. Before arriving at work, employees will fill out a survey with questions about possible symptoms and past travel. After they arrive at the plant, workers must sanitize their hands, put on a mask and have their temperatures taken before beginning work, Voss said. Voss said the company is also following strict rules around physical distancing and sanitization. Barriers are in place in some areas and workers will be given cleaning products to wipe down high-touch surfaces. "When you're going to eat lunch we provide products so you can clean the area" where the workers will be sitting, he said. Employees are to wear masks at all times, he said. Cambridge MP Bryan May told CBC News the safety measures exceeded his expectations during a walk-through of the plant last week. "I've never been in a building with so many hand sanitizer stations," said May, who had been among those calling on the company to shut down production in March. Story continues "They're trying their best to make sure ... they don't have issues." Lingering concerns Lee Sperduti, a team leader at the Cambridge plant, said he commended Toyota for making changes but had lingering concerns about returning to work in a manufacturing plant. More than 8,000 people work for Toyota in Woodstock and Cambridge, according to a company fact sheet. "Am I fully at ease? No," said Sperduti. "If this is going to be the new norm, they've got to move forward and make sure we're adapting every single day and making the changes we need to change." Toyota Canada Sperduti said he wanted assurance that if a worker tested positive for COVID-19, their colleagues would be notified as soon as possible. He said he also wanted to know what kind of leave may be available to those who call in to work or are sent home due to COVID-related symptoms. According to Voss, if a worker tests positive at the plant, the company will follow public health protocols to identify close contacts of the positive case and to deep clean any affected areas before resuming production. The company said those who have tested positive for COVID-19 or who have been directed to self-quarantine will be placed on paid leave. Other automakers to resume production Although sales have dipped during COVID-19, Voss said it hasn't been as severe as predicted. "It's time for us to start to put cars back into the pipeline," he said. Another measure of optimism on the company's part is that it is still using summer students. Voss said between 400-500 summer students will begin work in the weeks to come. "They'll be joining us for production as we slowly begin to return to normal," he said. Other Ontario automakers are also set to resume production in the coming weeks. Fiat Chrysler Automotive is set to begin production at most North American facilities the week of May 18. The Ford Motor Company will also restart production in Windsor May 19 and in Oakville May 25. General Motors will resume production at its CAMI plant in Ingersoll May 19, although a spokesperson said in an email some production in St. Catharines is expected this week. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 06:58:59|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close QUITO, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador on Sunday reported 2,127 deaths from COVID-19 as the number of infections reached 29,559. The death toll saw a spike from the 1,717 fatalities reported in the previous 24 hours. The substantial one-day increase in deaths was due to "a reclassification of deceased persons," according to the Ministry of Public Health. "Once we concluded the clinical-epidemiological investigation of 410 deaths, we determined the deaths were caused by COVID-19, which is why they were reclassified as probable fatalities from the disease," the ministry said. In addition, another 1,515 deaths are suspected of having been caused by the virus, the ministry added. Ecuador's southwestern province of Guayas, the national epicenter of the outbreak, reported a total death toll of 1,059 and 11,705 cases of infections. The second hardest-hit province is the neighboring Manabi, where 252 people have died from the disease and 1,299 people have so far tested positive. In Ecuador, the bulk of those infected have been between 20 and 49 years old, followed by those aged 50 to 64. Ecuador plans to continue emergency lockdown measures through mid-June. Enditem By PTI LOS ANGELES: Actor Rob Lowe is celebrating three decades of abstinence from drugs and alcohol. "The Outsiders" star took to Instagram on Sunday to mark the anniversary, urging people struggling with addiction to reach out for help. "30 years ago today, I found a sober life of true happiness and fulfillment. I am filled with gratitude on this anniversary. From a treatment center in Arizona to a bomb shelter in Israel, I have come to know many extraordinary people, and the fellowship of recovery has changed my life and given me gifts beyond my selfish imaginings," Lowe, 56, wrote alongside his selfie. "If you, or someone you love is struggling with any kind of addiction, there is hope! Love to you all," he added. In January, the actor admitted he was worried about missing out on the "fun" by giving up alcohol. The Bar Council of Delhi approached the Delhi High Court Monday challenging the decision of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments restricting the movement of advocates in the NCR to attend courts and offices in the national capital. The matter, through BCD chairperson and advocate K C Mittal, was mentioned for urgent hearing and is likely to be listed later this week. The plea referred to a May 1 order of the central government permitting the use of private offices during the lockdown and contended that advocates in Noida and Gurugram are also entitled to travel to the national capital and use their offices. The petition, filed through advocate Amit Prakash Shahi, said that on May 8, the Delhi government has issued a statement according to which Chartered Accountants and advocates cannot be prevented from attending their private offices. The advocates residing in different towns of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are entitled to enter Delhi and open their offices and respective governments, their officials and agents cannot prevent the advocates from crossing the border for Ingress and egress from their place of Residence to attend their offices. The non-permitting of advocates to cross the border by the officials and authorities at the border of respondents no. 2 (UP government) and 3 (Haryana government) is in violation of fundamental rights under Article 19 (1)(d) (right to freedom of movement) and 301 (freedom of trade and commerce) of the Constitution and their action is highly arbitrary and illegal, the plea said. It sought direction to ensure the ingress and egress of the advocates from various towns in NCR to attend to their private offices at Delhi on the basis of their Bar identity cards. Recently, the Delhi High Court Bar Association had also written a letter to the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court to allow advocates from NCR region to cross Delhi border. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Marquese Dukes knows what its like to help others. The 15-year-old East Orange resident is deeply involved in anti-bullying efforts, leading a foundation born out of a severe bullying attack. Now, hes doing it again, by delivering hot meals to some of the frontline workers of the COVID-19 pandemic: funeral directors. We appreciate the nurses, but I do feel there are also others who are affected a great deal who are putting their lives on the line and who are all not recognized at all, Marquese said, naming funeral directors and teachers as examples. Marquese, 15, founded the Love Over Loathe Foundation shortly after he suffered a brain injury during a bullying attack at his school on Long Island in 2019. The Dukes family moved to East Orange not long after, Hope Dukes said. Marquese was inspired to give back to funeral homes after his grandfathers death, and experiencing several deaths in their church community, Dukes said. Seeing the process of going through arrangements, he saw funeral homes are going unnoticed, and he wanted to give back to them, Dukes said. Funeral homes across New Jersey have worked non-stop to accommodate the upticks in deaths during the pandemic. Some have reported having more bodies than they can house, while others have had to schedule viewings in 15-minute increments. The Dukes family, including brothers Jaylen Dukes and Donnell Dukes, handed out 150 hot meals to funeral homes in the Newark area and Harlem on May 2. The food deliveries were a surprise, and Marquese said he wasnt sure what to expect when they began their efforts. I was afraid of their reactions, but when we delivered them the first reaction gave me so much confidence, Marquese said, with many directors crying and giving him words of encouragement. They said no one had thought of them, even though they go unappreciated when theyre actually risking their lives, Dukes said. In addition to the meals, Marquese also handed out cards with encouraging notes from him and his friends so the homes could see support from lots of people. Raising the funds for the meals was a stroke of good fortune. Marquese was invited to sing on an Instagram Live talent show at the end of April, and was given time to speak about his charitable plan. After donations started pouring in, Marqueses godfather offered his catering companys services to prepare the meals. Marquese is hoping to give back to all types of communities affected by the pandemic. In addition to giving meals to funeral homes, Love Over Loathe has distributed care packages to senior citizens, sent masks and posters to hospitals and police stations, and hosted a Zoom call with a therapist and minister for struggling teens. In addition to hot meals, Marquese Dukes handed out cards with encouraging notes on them to local funeral home directors. Have you seen an inspiring story in your community during this troubling time? Tell us about it. And, see more uplifting stories in #TogetherNJ. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. MANILA, Philippines The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has opened for inbound international chartered and commercial flights on Monday (May 11). The resumption of operations, however, is only limited to overseas Filipinos who are returning home to the Philippines, clarified the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). CAAP added that foreign tourists and non-residents remain restricted from entering the country except for diplomats and heads or members of international missions. Itong in-issue ng Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines na Notice to Airmen is only starting today hanggang June 10 but it doesnt mean na hanggang June 10 ito (The CAAP-issued Notice to Airmen is only starting today until June 10, but it doesnt mean its only up to June 10), noted CAAP Spokesperson Eric Apolonio. Depende ito sa sitwasyon. Kung mag-i-improve naman, baka mag-relax iyong restrictions ng arrivals ng international flights sa airport (It will depend on the situation. If it improves, we may relax restrictions on international flight arrivals in the airport), he added. Inbound international chartered flights will only be allowed to land at NAIA on Mondays and Thursdays provided that they secure a clearance from CAAP and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). International commercial flights, meanwhile, are allowed during Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Such scheduling of flights is needed as NAIA, for now, can only accommodate 400 passengers a day so as to maintain strict physical distancing protocols and to comply with the rules imposed by the National Task Force Against COVID-19 in the conduct of COVID-19 testing and other procedures on all arriving passengers in NAIA. Commercial flights, however, must get the approval of CAAP within 48 hours prior to its take off from point of origin. If the flight is coming from countries with high incidence of COVID-19 infection, the permission to allow them to proceed will depend on the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) as the overall in charge of the national governments response on the global pandemic. CAAP reiterates that social distancing protocols will always be observed in every flight. MNP (with details from Asher Cadapan Jr.) The post NAIA reopens for intl chartered, commercial flights with homebound Filipinos appeared first on UNTV News. KALAMAZOO, MI A Kalamazoo-area urogynecologist and nurse practitioner, who is also the doctors wife, have agreed to plead guilty to federal health care fraud charges and charges of re-using single-use rectal pressure sensors on multiple patients. U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge announced today separate charges had been brought against Roger Beyer and Susan Wright. Beyer was the owner of Urological Solutions of Michigan and Womens Health Care Specialists, located at 7110 Stadium Drive in Oshtemo Township. The practice consisted of traveling nurse practitioners in West Michigan, according to court documents. Beyer agreed May 8 to plead guilty to conspiracy to committing health care fraud, a penalty that is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan. According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, he is alleged to have fraudulently billed Medicare for therapy services, known as pelvic muscle rehabilitation (PMR), using more lucrative and inappropriate diagnostic codes. The PMR therapy was provided purportedly to treat mostly elderly female patients with fecal or urinary incontinence, primarily in the greater Traverse City, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids areas. Beyer also has agreed to plead guilty to directing his staff to reuse single-use anorectal manometry catheters on multiple patients as part of an initial diagnostic study with patients with potential fecal incontinence. The act carries a potential penalty of up to three years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Wright agreed May 5 to plead guilty to misprision of health care fraud and the adulteration of a medical device. The U.S. Attorneys Office alleges Wright knew the practice was fraudulently billing Medicare for services but never informed authorities. The misprision charge could result in up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to court documents. The adulteration charge could result in up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services first received a complaint against Beyer on May 21, 2019. A nurse at Womens Health Care Specialists stated in the complaint she estimated that a single-use rectal pressure sensor was used more than 100 times before being replaced. Following the complaint, the MDHHS recommended that Beyers patients discuss HIV and hepatitis testing with their current healthcare provider. Blood-borne pathogens can cause disease with little or no symptoms, according to the department. Individuals who may have been affected by device adulteration, or fraudulently billed by Beyers office, can contact the U.S. Attorneys Office directly or reach out to victim witness coordinator Kathy Schuette at 616-808-2034. Beyer and Wright are scheduled to formally enter their pleas May 15, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Also on MLive: Kalamazoo-area doctor accused of reusing anorectal tools on patients Area doctors cautiously optimistic about plasma treatment for coronavirus patients Substantial layoffs still coming at Western Michigan University as budgets cut by 20% Kent County receives $115M in federal funding to cover coronavirus costs Stanley Johnsons novel about a deadly virus that breaks out in New York will be reissued this summer, amid accusations that the prime ministers father is attempting to cash in on the coronavirus pandemic. Published in 1982 but long-since out of print, The Virus originally titled The Marburg Virus will now be reissued by independent publisher Black Spring, an imprint of Eyewear Press. In a new afterword, Johnson writes: Will the fight against Covid-19 be as successful as my fictional hero was in fighting the Marburg virus? ... Thinking back to my own book, and its eventual happy ending, I cant help feeling that governments around the world, our own included, need to be ruthlessly focused on the search for an antidote or a vaccine. Without in any way diminishing the importance of precautionary measures of containment or mitigation, mass immunisation would surely prove a crucial factor in stopping the spread of Covid-19 or in preventing further outbreaks, eg the second wave we are hearing about. The Guardian quoted Johnsons agent Jonathan Lloyd as saying the novel did not get a positive response from publishers until Black Spring responded. You would think it was a no-brainer, that a publisher would jump up and down at a novel that is already edited and ready to go, he said. They are entitled to their opinion, I just found it rather disappointing. They may well live to regret it, but that is the fun of publishing you may not agree with Stanley and his politics, or his son, but it is a jolly good thriller and it is extraordinarily valid today. If anyone thought Im not going to buy it because I dont like Stanley Johnson, I think that is rather pathetic. When news that Johnson was seeking a new publisher emerged, QI writer and author Andrew Hunter Murray tweeted: Newsflash: the baton for Most opportunistic member of the Johnson family has been grabbed by Stanley in some style. Johnson responded to accusations of opportunism by asking The Guardian: Is it opportunistic for journalists and newspapers to be writing about the coronavirus? The reissue of The Virus will be published in print and ebook format. Johnsons son Boris is currently under scrutiny for what has been deemed a confusing new set of rules for the public during the UK-wide lockdown. Kaleigh Koeppen is the deputy state surgeon for the Montana Army National Guard. Koeppen's primary responsibility is ensuring the day-to-day medical readiness of soldiers in the Montana Army National Guard, both stateside and in preparation for and returning from deployments. However, Koeppen didn't start out with the National Guard. Her career started at St. Peter's Health on the women's and children's floor of the hospital as a labor and delivery nurse. "I really enjoyed working there," Koeppen said. "I had incredible mentors." Koeppen transitioned to working for the National Guard as a registered nurse in 2015. She said this came as her family was growing and the opportunity presented itself. Koeppen said the hospital and the guard are very different, but she has loved both positions for many different reasons. "I love my career as a nurse," Koeppen said. According to Koeppen, the biggest challenge facing nurses is the constant change in the medical field. She explained that new research drives a continuous need for education and development in order to maintain best practices. "I have worked with so many incredible nurses in both the civilian and military sector," Koeppen said. "And the commonalities between those whom I have admired is their constant drive for learning, mentoring and personal growth." Koeppen said being able to advocate for soldiers is a big part of what keeps her going every day. Whether they are getting an annual health assessment, preparing to deploy or getting follow-up care when returning home to Montana, Koeppen is there. Koeppen said being able to facilitate care for soldiers while giving them and their families peace of mind is a great reward. "I try every day to ensure that our solders are getting the care that I would want for my own family members," Koeppen said. "I truly love what I do, and feel lucky to be in this position." Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The prison watchdog has expressed serious concern about how an inmate at the Midlands Prison with a terminal illness died in his cell when a hospice setting had been recommended by medical staff. The Inspector of Prisons, Patricia Gilheaney, said the treatment of terminally ill prisoners in the custody of the Irish Prison Service (IPS) was a very important issue. A report by the inspector found Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan had approved hospice care for the prisoner, known as Mr P, but no bed was available. Following his discharge from Portlaoise General Hospital on November 8, 2018, the 47-year-old prisoner remained in the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise where he died six days later - around four months after he was first diagnosed with skin cancer and a year after he was committed to prison. The IPS informed Ms Gilheaney that there was no community hospice bed available at the time a hospital consultant said Mr P no longer required an acute hospital bed. A prison doctor had recommended Mr P should have been allowed to stay in Portlaoise General Hospital until a hospice bed was found due to his complex care needs and the inability of the prison medical staff to meet them. The IPS said the only dignified response it could afford the prisoner in such circumstances was to make the best possible arrangements for him to be nursed in the Midlands Prison. It said a community palliative care team, as well as extra nursing and healthcare assistant supports on nights, had been put in place. Continued efforts were made to secure a hospice bed but none became available. The inspector said a case conference to discuss Mr P's condition, held on October 10, 2018, following his return from a stay in hospital, was a positive planning event at a time when medical opinion considered he had between two and three weeks to live. Visit However, she noted healthcare staff were concerned that Mr P had not signed any document to confirm his wish not to be resuscitated given their role in the preservation of life. The inspector said the end-of-life treatment which the prisoner received in the Midlands Prison was commendable. She pointed out that the prisoner's family were only able to visit him in his cell when around 50 other prisoners had been locked in their cells. His brother, who was also a prisoner in the Midlands Prison, was allowed to pay him separate visits. People in Northern Ireland are being encouraged to shine a light from their windows in recognition of the role of nurses in the coronavirus fight. The symbolic gesture this week will be a nod to the lamp that Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, was known to carry. Tomorrow marks both International Nurses Day and the 200th anniversary of Nightingale's birth. Her image and a message of thanks will be projected from Parliament on to her place of work, St Thomas' Hospital, while similar projections will happen at the British Embassy in Rome and the Italian Federation of Nurses. Thousands of former nurses have come out of retirement to help the health service deal with the coronavirus outbreak and thousands of students are also helping by working in extended clinical placements. Health Minister Robin Swann said: "International Nurses Day is particularly important this year not only because it is the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth, but because of the exceptional work of nurses in our response to coronavirus. "I want to thank each and every one of our incredible nurses who are on the front line in the battle against the greatest public health crisis of our time. "I know how much the public's support and the clapping that has been ringing out from doorsteps every Thursday has buoyed our health and social care workers. "It would mean a great deal if people once again showed their gratitude by shining a light for nurses this Tuesday." First Minister Arlene Foster said: "How fitting it is that 2020 has been designated the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, because this is the year that we will remember the enormous contribution of our nurses and healthcare staff in the fight against Coronavirus. "Florence Nightingale's dedication, skill and transformative care of patients is synonymous with the values and expertise so evident in the modern day nursing profession in Northern Ireland. "This Tuesday, on International Nurses Day, let us recognise their incredible dedication, their professionalism, and their enormous personal sacrifice for the good of us all." Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said: "Our nurses are a shining light. "While this emergency situation has brought their contribution to the fore, we must recognise the importance of their role in caring for us, and our families, throughout our lives. "When we come out the other side of this crisis, one of the positives we can take from it is ensuring that our nurses and other health and social care staff get the recognition they deserve. A range of local landmarks, monuments and council buildings will be illuminated blue, the colour of the nurse, tomorrow evening. Professor Greta Westwood, CEO of the Florence Nightingale Foundation, said: "Florence Nightingale, herself a trailblazer during her career, would have been proud at the way nurses have followed in her footsteps as pioneers and leaders in the fight against the pandemic." by Nirmala Carvalho The archbishop of Bombay speaks about the tragedy of migrant workers killed by a train, as they slept exhausted on the tracks. Hundreds of millions of jobless day labourers are without wages, food or shelter. Better government planning and coordination are needed. The Archdiocesan Centre for Social Action is involved in relief work. Mumbai (AsiaNews) The situation of migrant workers in India since the country was locked down on 24 March putting more than 120 million people out of work, with no wages, food or shelter, is heart-breaking to watch, said Card Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay. For him, seeing my people walking home, some dying trying to reach home on foot, because the transportation system was also locked down, is a source of immense sorrow. Three days ago , a group of migrants was hit by a freight train as they rested on the tracks. They had walked nearly 40 km and had to travel 800 more to reach their villages in Madhya Pradesh. My heart wept at the train tragedy, which snuffed out the lives of 15 of our people who were exhausted, from trying to walk home, said the Archbishop, who heads the Catholic Bishops Conference of India. Taking a broader picture, Card Gracias looked at The unending sufferings of my people, the migrant workers stranded by lockdown. He noted that Migrant workers, my people are without jobs, without food, without livelihood and security, without a roof over their heads, without hope, and they do not know what the future holds for them. This lockdown has pushed them into further deprivation and exclusion and poverty. At the local level, the Government and Church and also NGOs and people are helping them, but I feel that authorities do not understand their helplessness. I appeal to the people to have sympathy with them. With better planning and coordination something can be done. The government is trying to organise special trains to allow migrants to go home, but there are too few compared to the need. The authorities have also promised food and money for the unemployed in the cities, but the distribution is haphazard and uneven. Im praying to God to touch the hearts of all concerned to understand their plight, to feel for them, said the cardinal. Meanwhile, in the Archdiocese of Bombay, the Centre for Social Action (CSA) is coordinating help for migrants. Almost all the parishes and different congregations are involved in relief support helping 75,000 families. In addition, cooked food is provided regularly to some 2,500 families. Thanks to the CSA and its connections, it has been possible to respond effectively and quickly to the situation. For example, a few days ago, the CSA received a report that a group of Rajasthani migrants was stranded in Jogeshwari East (Mumbai) days ago. These people worked in the marble industry, but now they have lost their jobs and were hungry. The CSA contacted the Verbite Fathers who run the Gyan Ashram, near Jogeshwari East, and thanks to their volunteers they were able to provide the migrants with rations. (Natural News) Sen. Tom Cotton, who said early on he believes that the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) escaped from a lab in China, now believes the Communist government made a conscious decision to let the virus spread beyond its borders. In an interview with Fox News Neil Cavuto, during a discussion about whether the ChiCom government is responsible for the pandemic, the Arkansas Republican said it is undeniable that Beijing let it escape and spread across the globe. Whatever the origins of this virus and, right now, I think the best circumstantial evidence points to those labs in Wuhan, Cotton said. But whatever the origins of it, its clear to me that, once China realized how deadly this virus could be to some people and how contagious this virus was, that they made the conscious decision to let it get outside of their borders. They didnt stop international air travel. They pressured countries not to impose travel restrictions, he continued. And it wasnt just Beijing pressuring countries not to restrict travel. ChiCom propagandists at the World Health Organization, especially Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, have consistently defended China in spite of the fact that Beijing has lied repeatedly about various aspects of the pandemic its true origin and the countrys genuine casualty rate. They pressured the WHO to oppose travel restrictions as well, even when they knew, as far back as early December, that this virus was highly contagious and very deadly, Cotton continued. So, whatever the origins of this virus may ultimately be, even if it was an accident or a mistake, the Chinese Communist Party is culpable for turning what could have been a local public health challenge in Wuhan into the worst global pandemic in a century, he added. Cotton has also blasted the propaganda media in the U.S., which has also worked to cover for the ChiComs. Interestingly, Fauci has downplayed Cottons lab theory The mainstream media are largely apologists for Chinese communists and they will accept Chinese communist propaganda, Cotton said last month. They immediately try to accuse anyone who raises these reasonable questions as conspiracy theorists that are accusing China of creating a biological weapon. Cotton never said he thought COVID-19 was a biological weapon, merely that it was likely created in a lab and escaped somehow. He notes that Chinas principle Level 4 bio research lab is located in Wuhan city, just 300 yards from the wet market where Beijings ChiCom leaders claim the virus originated. The Wuhan Center for Disease Control & Prevention, Cotton noted, has conducted studies involving horseshoe bats, which dovetails from a study conducted by a pair of Chinese researchers who published results in February about the virus possible origins. The killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, the researchers wrote before the ChiComs deep-sixed the research and the researchers. The reason I have raised these questions from the very beginning is because of Chinas statements and their actions, Cotton told the DCNF. After concealing the virus for many weeks in December and then minimizing its severity for most of January, they then peddle an origin story about the food market in Wuhan. Anytime the question returns to the forefront of the news, several of my peers say that they think that its very suspicious and that we ought to get to the bottom of it, he added. Now, of course, we know that the same lab has been funded by U.S. taxpayers, compliments of President Donald Trumps leading immunologist, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Interestingly, Fauci has downplayed Cottons lab theory but then again, he would, considering his alleged culpability. If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and whats out there now, [the scientific evidence] is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated, Fauci said in an interview published this month in National Geographic. Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species. Yeah, right. Sources include: NaturalNews.com BizPacReview.com When President Jimmy Carter appointed Barbara Allen Babcock to head the Justice Departments civil division in the late 1970s, he tasked her with increasing the number of women and members of minorities on the federal bench. Among those she lobbied for was Ruth Bader Ginsburg, then a law professor, to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. But Griffin Bell, the attorney general, was not keen on Ms. Ginsburg. He was tired of hearing Ruths name, Professor Babcock said in a 2018 speech at the New York City Bar Association. Besides, he had said, with so many more women becoming lawyers, it would be easy to find one to fill the vacancy. Women are not fungible, Professor Babcock wrote to him in a blunt memo, adding: For a very visible appointment that could lead to the Supreme Court, it has to be Ruth. Not naming someone so well qualified who had also paid her dues, she said, would be a slap in the face. Easter attacks: Your sin will find you out By Tassie Seneviratne Policing the Police View(s): View(s): Your sin will find you out. This universal saying is borrowed from the Holy Bible. Moses, admonishing two tribes for disobeying God, said, Your sin will find you out. This is quite true in conduct after crime, too. That is why Police mount surveillance on suspects with a view to collecting evidence of behaviour after the crime. It is also true even of pets. I remember in the early 1960s we had a big sized Doberman crossed dog named Pluto. It was normally obedient but not when it came to food. He just could not resist food within sight or smell. What was most embarrassing was his habit of toppling neighbours curry pots sometimes still on the fire. When the neighbours scream out complaining, my mother would go with a stick to confront Pluto. The dog would take a circuitous route, get to our verandah about 200 metres from the fence and lie down under my fathers reclining arm chair, as if he had been there the whole day. None would interfere with him under that chair. All his antics, however, pointed to his guilt. That of course is animal instinct. With regard to the 2019 Easter Sunday disaster, information was available to all concerned that the attacks would take place and the attackers were identified. There is ample evidence that this information was brought to the knowledge of then President Maithripala Sirisena. There is also speculation that the sustained campaign by the Special Task Force (STF) against the Narcotics Mafia was a red herring to divert attention from the impending Easter Sunday attacks. Whether intended or not, it did divert attention from the Easter Sunday attacks. The then STF chief, Senior Deputy Inspector General M.R. Latiff, testifying before the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), said he was fully engaged at that time in an onslaught against the Narcotics Mafia on orders from the President. He said if the STF had been informed of the impending Easter Sunday attacks, he could have prevented it. There are also other unexplained circumstances that give rise to speculation. The Prime Minister and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) have been kept out from Security Council meetings prior to the Easter Sunday attacks! On his part, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe should have asserted himself and questioned the propriety of his being kept out, without taking the path of least resistance to later say he was not informed. Police bashing, of course, is the usual game, be it the acting IGP, Chief of National Intelligence (CNI), or Chief of State Intelligence Services (CSI). The fact is that intelligence officers are helpless without honest commitment of the political leadership. It is preposterous on the part of President Sirisena to say that he was not aware, in the face of overwhelming evidence that he was informed. Was he apprehensive of a threat to his own life if he prevented the attacks? Did he sell his soul to save his own life? Is this not subculture instinct? These are questions that call for answers. The sudden departure from the country at the most crucial time, without delegating presidential powers, taken with the questionable circumstances, finds him out. These derelictions of duty on the part of the President however do not preclude investigating direct complicity on the part of any others. (The writer is a Retired Senior Superintendent of Police. He can be contacted at seneviratnetz@gmail.com) As India registered a record jump of 4,213 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the government on Monday said some relatively large outbreaks have been noticed in particular locations and it is important to focus on containment efforts to ensure that the country does not reach the community transmission stage. The government also said the coronavirus tracking app Aarogya Setu is secure as it has been designed keeping in mind the privacy of people and is playing a crucial role in India's fight against COVID-19. Asked if there has been a community transmission of the disease, joint secretary in the health ministry Lav Agarwal at a press briefing said, "Some clusters have been found here (in the country), and in some cases in some particular locations relatively large outbreaks has also been noticed." "And in this context if you remember even AIIMS Director (Dr Randeep Guleria) had said that if these are not contained properly, the transmission rate would become higher. So, it is important for us now to focus on containment efforts and ensure that we do not reach the stage of community transmission, he said. Agarwal said 4,213 COVID-19 cases and 97 deaths have been reported in last 24 hrs till Monday 8 am, taking the total cases to 67,152 and death toll to 2,206. As many as 20,917 COVID-19 patients have been cured till now, taking the recovery rate to 31.15 per cent. Also 1,559 patients have recovered in last 24 hours, the highest number of recoveries recorded in one day. Ajay Sawhney, Chairman of the Empowered Group 9, which deals with Technology and Data Management, said the mobile application has been developed in order to alert people before they come in contact with infected patients and to alert the health system to take adequate steps for their help. The Aarogya Setu mobile app has contributed significantly in India's fight against COVID-19, he said, adding that the app has been designed keeping in mind the privacy of people. Around 9.8 crore people have downloaded the Aarogya Setu app and it is available in 12 languages, Sawhney said. Information about 697 potential COVID-19 hotspots was generated through the Aarogya Setu app, he said, asserting that the application is secure, is used only for health interventions, and does not reveal the identity of people. Around 1.4 lakh Aarogya Setu app users have been alerted via bluetooth contact tracing about possible risk of infection due to proximity to infected patients, Sawhney said. The Aarogya Setu app will soon reach a user base of 10 crore and it has created a world record in being the fastest app to reach five crore users, he said. Asked about certain media reports claiming that government is mulling religion based mapping of hotspots, Agarwal said it is a very irresponsible, baseless and incorrect Spread of COVID-19 has nothing to do with race, religion, area and it spreads due to lack of precautions, he asserted. Agarwal said people having COVID-19 symptoms should not hide them and come forward to report so that they don't spread infection to others. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi: With the economy in the dog house and the Covid-19 pandemic poised to peak in the next four to six weeks, prime mininster Narendra Modi will interact again with chief ministers via video-conferencing Monday to seek their views on how to go ahead with the easing of restrictions. Modis interaction with the CMs, scheduled for 3 pm Monday, will be his fifth since the lockdown was imposed nationwide at midnight March 24, and which is due to last till May 17. The number of Covid-19 infections has more than doubled since the PM last interacted with the CMs on April 27 from just over 28,000 cases to more than 65,000 cases now. Sources said while the lockdown is likely to be further extended, restrictions could be lifted in some key sectors, with the focus on reviving economic activity. Several states have recently relaxed labour laws to restart activities by allowing limited staff to work in shifts. The meeting will also focus on pushing measures to convert red zones with high Covid-19 case loads into orange or green zones. The Union Health ministry on May 1 classified 733 districts as 130 in the red zone, 284 in the orange zone and 319 in the green zone. The states are likely to raise issues related to special trains to take migrant workers to their home states, seek permission to allow more economic activities in non-hotspots, financial resources to back small businesses and the vulnerable, and additional supply of testing kits, ventilators and personal protective equipment. The Prime Ministers Office (PMO) has sought a detailed report of how each chief minister has handled the ongoing health crisis from the all the key agencies involved in combating it. Highly placed sources informed this newspaper that PMO is planning to evaluate the performance of each state in terms of how successfully they have managed to enforce the lockdown, and how effective have been the containment strategies of all states. For this purpose, inputs of each state have been sought from various official agencies including ICMR on how the states have handled the situation arising out of the pandemic. This evaluation comes at a time when even the AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria has said that the pandemic will peak during the next couple of months in India. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman too will hold a video conference with chief executives of public sector banks and the State Bank of India chairman to review the flow of credit into the economy. The meeting will review credit sanctions and disbursements since March 1. It is expected to look at Covid-related sanctioned/pre-approved emergency credit and reassessment based additional working capital. According to the diplomat, the embassy has actively participated in mobilising medical supplies to support the host country in its efforts to contain the disease. Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Nguyen Thi Bich Hue (R) hands over medical face masks to a representative of the Italian side (Photo: VNA) On April 17th, more than 100,000 face masks gifted by the Vietnamese Government, along with 23,000 face masks, 500 protective suits and other medical supplies donated by businesses and individuals in Vietnam, were handed over to Italy, one of the European countries hardest hit by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Previously, the Uni-Italia Association in Vietnam and the Vietnam - Italy Friendship Association also presented 8,500 face masks to the Italian side. Hue said these valuable medical supplies have been delivered directly to overseas Vietnamese people and students living, studying and working across the European nation; local civil protection agencies in the epidemic-hit centres; and hospitals, nursing homes, police departments in Rome, and other regions. According to the diplomat, Government and State leaders of Italy, local governments, the Vietnamese community and international friends in the host country all expressed their appreciation of Vietnam's valuable assistance to Italy in the most difficult days in the countrys history since the World War II. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio expressed their thanks to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Government and people of Vietnam for joining hands with Italy in the fight against Covid-19. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasised that this support affirmed the practical significance of the Vietnam - Italy strategic partnership, adding that Vietnams assistance will help Italy come to recovery soon. Italy currently records the third highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world, after the US and Spain, with 218,268 infections and 30,395 deaths as of May 9th./. Ezra Cohen, a former intelligence aide to President Donald Trump who left the White House amid controversy in 2017, is returning to the administration as a top official at the Defense Department. Cohen, 34, has been named deputy assistant secretary for counter narcotics and global threats, according to three people with knowledge of the situation. The job doesn't require confirmation by the U.S. Senate. A Pentagon spokeswoman, Navy Commander Candice Tresch, said in an email that Cohen is "filling that position as of today." Cohen was senior director for intelligence in the early months of the administration under Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. He was pushed out of the White House after clashes with Trump's second national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, including over Afghanistan policy, according to two people familiar with the matter. He was also the subject of reports he had helped then-House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., obtain classified documents revealing that members of the Obama administration had sought the identities of Trump campaign officials and associates inadvertently caught on government intercepts in a process known as "unmasking." Cohen's attorney at the time, Mark Zaid, said that reports of his involvement in the Nunes incident were erroneous, and that he hadn't personally shown the documents to Nunes or met the congressman. Nunes also publicly denied it was Cohen. The next year, Trump ordered the Department of Justice to hire Cohen --who also goes by the last name Cohen-Watnick -- as a national security adviser to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He has most recently worked for Oracle Corp. as an adviser to Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz, a Trump ally. Cohen was asked to come back to the administration, a senior administration official said. Cohen had good ties with staff at the NSC during his time there, and was viewed as "very capable and very loyal," the official said. Cohen and McMaster didn't see eye to eye, but this is a fresh start for Cohen, and he will be viewed as someone who is very connected to the White House and has goodwill with the staff. A spokesperson for the Pentagon policy office, Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, didn't have an immediate comment on Cohen's appointment but referred a reporter to the White House. His return to the administration was cheered by some Republicans. "For too long, good people who actually understand this president have been prevented from implementing the America First agenda," said Sergio Gor, deputy chief of staff to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. "Having appointees like Ezra will change that." Cohen's connections to Flynn were regarded as something as a black mark against him, one person familiar with the White House National Security Council's inner workings said. And he found himself in skirmishes with career members of the intelligence bureaucracy, particularly at the CIA, two of the people said. But Tom Ferguson, who worked with the NSC regularly as a senior counterintelligence officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said that "the majority of the folks that he worked with who were apolitical had the utmost respect for him." "He's one of the good guys," Ferguson added. On Friday, the Justice Department dropped criminal charges against Flynn for lying to FBI agents about his conversations with the Russian ambassador ahead of Trump's inauguration. Cohen's new post at the Defense Department will include examining financial transactions to map out terrorism and drug traffic networks. Cohen will be in charge of the office within the Pentagon's overall policy shop that develops counterdrug and counter-transnational organized crime policy. It also issues guidance and establishes priorities for missions that focus on countering illicit drug trafficking, illicit financial flows and the illicit trafficking of people, wildlife and weapons. He was a Defense Department official for a decade before Trump took office, and was assigned to the U.S. Southern Command from 2010 to 2014 where he worked on countering drug trafficking, money laundering and human trafficking networks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) delivers a statement in the hallway of the Speaker's Balcony at the U.S. Capitol on March 23, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Pelosi Says Next Relief Bill Will Include Vote by Mail House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the next COVID-19 relief bill will contain provisions to fund widespread mail-in and absentee voting. Pelosi spoke to Greta Van Susteren of Gray TVs Full Court Press on May 10, touching on Democrats priorities for the upcoming pandemic relief package, referred to alternately as phase four or CARES 2. We will in our bill also have funding for vote by mail, which we think is essential, Pelosi said, citing voter safety. In the state of Wisconsin, they had a number of COVID cases that were immediately traced to people having to stand in line for a long time to vote, Pelosi said. So, this is not only the health of our democracy, its the health of our people. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hosts a signing ceremony after the House of Representatives approved a $2.2 trillion CCP virus aid package at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on March 27, 2020. (Tom Brenner/Reuters) Voter completes her ballot in Orange County, Calif., on Oct. 24, 2018. (Robyn Beck/AFP) A report released May 5 by Milwaukee County (pdf) said 26 people in that county may have been infected while at the polls on April 7. The report also noted that another 26 may have been infectious when voting or working at the election, though it is unclear how many of the 26 are included in the states count of 67. Department of Health Services spokeswoman Jennifer Miller said that at least 23 of Wisconsins COVID-19 positives among those who voted in person or worked as poll workers, also reported other potential exposures to the highly contagious virus, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Further, a new study by researchers at the World Health Organization and Stanford University found no evidence of increased COVID-19 transmission in Wisconsin following the primary. The study, published on medRxiv, an online medical research platform, concludes Wisconsins vote was a low-risk activity. We analyze confirmed cases and new hospitalizations in Wisconsin in the weeks surrounding the April 7, 2020 election, and find no evidence of a surge in SARS-CoV-2 transmission, the authors write, referring to the virus by its scientific name. In the interview, Pelosi cited Oregon as a success case of mail-in voting: There are states like Oregon that have had vote by mail for a number of years, and they claim success, and it certainly pleases the people there. Oregon, a pioneer in the field, started mailing ballots to all voters in 2000, with negligible verified instances of fraud, according to an op-ed in The Hill jointly penned by Amber McReynolds, CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute, and Charles Stewart III, professor of political science at MIT. The authors noted the following figures in regards to vote by mail in Oregon: With well over 50 million ballots cast, there have been only two fraud cases verifiable enough to result in convictions for mail-ballot fraud in 20 years. That is 0.000004 percentabout five times less likely than getting hit by lightning in the United States. While noting that absentee ballot fraud is the most common type, Arizona State University researchers found that, since the turn of the century, while fraud has occurred, the number of cases is infinitesimal. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has long raised the alarm about the dangers of mail-in ballot fraud. Absentee ballots are the tools of choice of election fraudsters because they are voted outside the supervision of election officials, making it easier to steal, forge, or alter them, as well as to intimidate voters, wrote Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Hans A. von Spakovsky in an op-ed. The Heritage Foundations own database of all reported instances of election fraud, dating back to 1979, lists only 1,277 proven instances of voter fraud, though the organizations communications manager told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the database is only intended to represent a small sampling of the types of voter fraud that can occurit is by no means a comprehensive report of all the voter fraud that happens around the country. Some argue that expanded absentee balloting increases the potential of fraud, pointing to tens of millions of unaccounted for mail-in ballots between 2012 and 2018. Putting the election in the hands of the United States Postal Service would be a catastrophe, said J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), which reviewed federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) reports from the past four general elections and compiled them into a single review (pdf). Over the recent decade, there were 28 million missing and misdirected ballots, Adams said. These represent 28 million opportunities for someone to cheat. Meanwhile, concerns about fraud in mail ballots were significant enough that a 2008 report by the CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project (pdf) recommended that states restrict or abolish on-demand absentee voting in favor of in-person early voting. Wuhan, the original epicentre of the new coronavirus outbreak in China, reported 17 new cases on Monday - its first cluster of infections since a lockdown on the central Chinese city was lifted a month ago, stoking concerns of a wider resurgence of the disease. This was the highest daily increase in new cases since April 28. Mi Feng, spokesperson for the National Health Commission, warned people to remain alert and step up personal protection against the virus. This is the second double-digit increase in 10 days. Mi also asked people to seek medical advice or testing in designated hospitals if they exhibit symptoms such as fever, cough or fatigue. Of the 17 new cases, seven were listed as imported, while five were in the city of Wuhan, where a strict lockdown was lifted last month. The five new confirmed cases in Whuahn live in the same residential compound. One of them was the wife of an 89-year-old male patient reported a day earlier in the first confirmed case in the city since April 3. All of the latest confirmed cases were previously classified as asymptomatic - people who test positive for the virus and are capable of infecting others but do not show clinical signs such as a fever. Hundreds of asymptomatic cases in Wuhan, which was released on April 8 from a months-long lockdown, are currently being monitored, according to the citys health authority. The number of new cases reported in China since April have been small compared with the thousands confirmed each day in February, thanks to a nationwide regime of screening, testing and quarantine. The National Health Commission, meanwhile, said that there had been no new Covid-19 death in China on Sunday. It has been a month since China reported any Covid-19-linked death. The country has reported 4,633 deaths from the virus among 82,918 total cases. This is the heartwarming moment a two-month-old baby who survived the coronavirus was applauded by nurses in the Philippines. The baby boy was held by his father being pushed on a wheelchair out of the hospital grounds, where health workers were waiting to hold a mini celebration. One medic gave the infant a large cake while two others held up a banner behind him proclaiming 'I am now covid free, to God be the glory'. Medical technologist Marigae Krista Monilla captured the touching moment showing the region's youngest coronavirus survivor being discharged from the Mariveles District Hospital in Bataan province last Friday (May 1). Marigae said: "Every patient healed is one way to be closer with our families. I see some hope every time we witness this kind of scene.'' The Philippines, one of the countries in SOutheast Asia worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, has recorded 9,485 cases and 623 deaths as of May 5. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, The Final Girls, Black Sheep. There are British noirs, Bechdel tested meta-movies, and spy thrills all on offer as TopFilmTip brings you the best films on TV today Monday, 11 May. Some films may require a Sky subscription. After 12 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit, one man must balance his desire for vengeful self-destruction against a new life in The Long Memory 11:00am Film4 Local thug murders rival, marries witness and descends into spiral of self destruction in chilling British noir Brighton Rock (1947) 7:10pm Talking Pictures TV Carol Marsh and Richard Attenborough in Brighton Rock, 1947. (Ullstein Bild via Getty Images) Fleeing memories of her dearly departed scream-queen mother, bereft woman must survive trope filled cult slasher flick in Bechdel-approved machete meta comedy The Final Girls 8:00pm Horror Channel Desk driving doctor/marine must ruin nurse-kicking Ruskie's plot for economic war in bath murdering reboot Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 9:00pm Film4 Monster-slayer brings relic's wrath upon his prey in bloody, gutty, limb-lopping supernatural action horror John Carpenter's Vampires 10:50pm Horror Channel Read more: Film released early to streaming Rough-hewn Scottish lad seeks cash to move prisoner mum to safe-haven caravan making enemies of cops and criminals alike in Ken Loachs Sweet Sixteen 11:05pm Film4 Ryan Gosling on the UK poster for Drive. (Icon Film) Stoic, sociopathic, scorpionesque stuntman lets his heels and wheels do the talking in romantic, skull-crushing, synthwave scored neon-noir Drive 11:20pm Sony Movies Tied to fate and besotted with ghost, soulful Anton Yelchin is pursued by killer-thief in listless meditation on pre-determinism The Driftless Area 1:25am Sony Movies Kiwi geneticist's mutant flock unleashes onslaught of carnivorous were-sheep in offal-pit diving irreverent gore-comedy Black Sheep 2:45am Horror Channel Follow TopFilmTip on Twitter for daily film recommendations. Everything new on streaming in May: Netflix UK: Mays new releases NOW TV: Mays new releases Amazon Prime Video UK: May's new releases Disney+ UK: May's new releases Hyderabad, May 11 : Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation has won a $340 million contract to supply 210 commuter and intracity cars for the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System, the company announced on Monday. The company received a Letter of Award from the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) to build and deliver regional commuter and intracity transit trains with comprehensive maintenance services for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut semi-high-speed rail corridor under phase 1 of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). The project scope involves supplying 30 regional commuter train sets of six cars each and 10 intracity mass transit train sets of three cars each, together with 15 years of rolling stock maintenance, Bombardier said in a statement here. The Letter of Award is valued at approximately Rs 2,577 crore ($340 million) and the customer has a provision to exercise an option of additional 90 cars and two years of maintenance. The rolling stock will be designed at the Bombardier's Global Engineering and Technology Centre in Hyderabad. "Our partnership with Bombardier Transportation to supply 100 per cent locally manufactured train sets for the entire Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS with over 83 per cent local content will be a shot in the arm for the Make in India initiative of the Government of India," said Vinay Kumar Singh, Managing Director, NCRTC. "Our new trains will be truly designed and manufactured in India, and they will enhance passenger comfort and safety. This project award for India's first and most advanced semi-high-speed regional trains, together with maintenance services, reaffirms Bombardier's pioneering position in India's rail industry," Rajeev Joisar, Country Leader for India at Bombardier Transportation. With an expected ridership of 800,000 a day, India's first semi-high-speed rail corridor will connect Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut with a new 82km line. Travel time to be reduced by 75 per cent enabling passengers from Delhi to reach Meerut in less than 60 minutes A crocodile owned by Australia's Monster Croc Wrangler Matt Wright has bitten an intoxicated man on the hand in the Northern Territory. The 24-year-old was bitten by a rescue crocodile at Mr Wright's property in Mandorah on May 3 after sticking his hand in an enclosure. Initial reports last week suggested the man was bitten while fishing, though Mr Wright confirmed the incident took place on his property in a statement. 'It has been brought to my attention that a young man under the influence of alcohol was on my property on the evening of Sunday the 3rd of May,' he told NT News. A man was bitten on the hand by a crocodile at a rescue enclosure at Matt Wright's (pictured) property on May 3 'The young man apparently put his hand into a crocodile pen and got bitten by a crocodile. 'The pen is properly built and secured with a padlock and chain and has appropriate crocodile signage.' The victim was not a staff member or guest on the property and is not known to Mr Wright, who was not at the property when the incident occurred. Paramedics met the man at Berry Springs and rushed him to Royal Darwin Hospital. Mr Wright (pictured with wife Kaia) was not at the property at the time of the incident and did not know the man who was attacked The man was reported to have lost at least one finger in the attack, which paramedics believe was from a saltwater crocodile due to the pattern of the bite. Mr Wright said the crocodile and enclosure are both registered with the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission. A Northern Territory police spokesperson said NT police had no involvement with the incident. Daily Mail Australia have contacted Royal Darwin Hospital and St Johns Ambulance for comment. As a growing cadre of county officials and business owners consider defying Gov. Tom Wolfs coronavirus closure order, the state insurance commissioner is issuing a warning. Reopen against orders and risk being sued and losing your insurance coverage, Commissioner Jessica Altman said Monday. Many insurance policies contain provisions that exclude coverage for businesses or individuals engaging in illegal acts or conduct. These exclusions may apply to property coverage, liability coverage, advertising injury coverage, and a host of other essential coverages, Altman said in a statement she characterized as a reminder. She insisted it is the duty of every business and resident in Pennsylvania to ensure that they and the public at large are provided with the maximum level of protection afforded by insurance. Any actions that could potentially create coverage gaps are the antitheses of the civil duty required of all residents during these times of emergency. Business owners should ask their insurers if a revolt against the governors phased-in reopening plan would void their coverage, Altman advised. Such a rebellion is spreading. Business owners have been calling for a lifting of the COVID-19 restrictions, citing the crippling economic impact. Within the last week, Republican county commissioners, including those in Dauphin, Lebanon, Cumberland, Lancaster, Berks, Franklin and Schuylkill counties have said they intend to allow businesses to reopen in their bailiwicks ahead of the schedule laid out by the Democratic governor. Altman isnt the only expert warning about the insurance and legal implications of defying Wolfs timeline. In an article, The National Law Review stated that if a business disregards federal or state COVID-19 regulations and a significant number of its customers become infected this could in theory give rise to a potential claim. This might also be true if a non-essential business prematurely opens while a stay-at-home order remains in effect. Therefore, businesses would be wise to adhere to and implement all applicable federal, state, and local guidelines, the article stated. - Mary Ngina said the parents of the special needs child would abandon him for even two days without food. - The good Samaritan adopted him and though she has never given birth to any kids of her own, she said it was her joy to offer the boy love and care - However, the tough economic times brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic had made life difficult for her to survive together with her adopted child Mary Ngina has never birthed a child of her own but interestingly, she is a fully-fledged mother owing to the care and love she has been showing to a child neglected by his biological parents. Mary Ngina said she had never birthed her own children. Photo: Screenshot from Daily Nation. Source: UGC Elvis Omondi, an 11-year-old disabled boy, was neglected by his parents. In his hour of need, Ngina decided to adopt him and give him the care that every child deserves from their parents. Speaking to Daily Nation, the mother said Omondi's parents could sometimes leave the boy by himself in the house without food, even for up to two days. "His mother was mentally challenged and she could leave the child even for two days and he could suffer so much. "I have never given birth to any child but I decided this child and treat him as my own," the kind woman narrated. READ ALSO: Infected and dangerous: Kenyan truck driver vanishes after testing positive for COVID-19 in Uganda She adopted him at the beginning of the year because she knew her daycare business would sustain them both. However, she was forced to shut her business after the COVID-19 pandemic made its way to Kenya and since then, she has been struggling to keep her family afloat. "For now I have rent arrears of KSh 36,000 and the landlord even threatened to lock my house," the distraught woman narrated. Ngina said taking care of a disabled child was not easy at all but the desire to offer him love and shelter overrode any other challenge she had met on the way. The woman urged all women to support each other especially while raising children. This came as the world celebrated Mothers' Day and many leaders and celebrities including Deputy President William Ruto sent heartwarming messages to their mothers. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Eastleigh residents' plea to Uhuru | Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke E ver since lockdown began on 23 March, hair salons have been closed and people have been forced to come up with alternative methods to keep their hair in check. While some have resorted to cutting, dying and shaving their own hair, hairdressers around the country have been flooded with calls from people asking for home visits which led the National Hairdressers Federation of Britain (NHBF) to issue a stern warning to salons that this is illegal. However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed today that hairdressing salons will be allowed to reopen from July 4. Here's what we know so far regarding when hairdressers will reopen, in line with Boris Johnson's "careful steps" to ease lockdown restrictions. A hair salon reopens in Europe after the coronavirus lockdown / AFP via Getty Images When will hairdressers reopen? The beauty and hairdressing industry employs over 600,000 people in over 50,000 businesses across the UK - and they'll be back at work in less than two weeks. Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that, along with pubs, bars and restaurants, hairdressers will be allowed to reopen on July 4. "Almost as eagerly awaited as a pint will be a hair cut, not least by myself," quipped the Prime Minister. However, there will be some changes - staff and customers will need to wear PPE. Lockdown plan emerges: masks at work, visitor quarantine and more cycle lanes What changes will be brought in to ensure staff and customer safety? Mr Johnson also confirmed in his speech that staff in hairdressers will need to wear protective visors. It's likely that most salons will also erect Perspex screens at washing basins, will have reduced capacities, longer opening hours and only take card payments. Hair salons in Germany have re-opened, but there are no longer waiting areas, dry cuts, or magazines, as these could all aid transmission of the virus. Both customers and hairdressers wear face masks to prevent Covid-19 infection, and customers wear disposable cloaks and wash their hands before entering the salon. There had been reports that conversations between hairdressers and customers while hair is being cut may be forbidden to keep people safe, however the Prime Minister did not address this. International tourism could decline by 60-80 per cent in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the revenue loss of USD 910 billion to USD 1.2 trillion and placing millions of livelihoods at risk, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has said. The global international agency said that the pandemic has caused a 22 per cent fall in international tourist arrivals during the first quarter of 2020. According to the United Nations specialized agency, the global health crisis could lead to an annual tourism decline between 60 per cent and 80 per cent when compared with the 2019 figures. This places millions of livelihoods at risk and threatens to roll back progress made in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it said. The world is facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis. Tourism has been hit hard, with millions of jobs at risk in one of the most labour-intensive sectors of the economy, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said. Available data reported by destinations point to a 22 per cent decline in arrivals in the first three months of the year, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Arrivals in March dropped sharply by 57 per cent following the start of a lockdown in many countries, as well as the widespread introduction of travel restrictions and the closure of airports and national borders. This translates into a loss of 67 million international arrivals and about USD 80 billion in receipts (exports from tourism). Although Asia and the Pacific shows the highest impact in relative and absolute terms (a decline of 33 million arrivals), the impact in Europe, though lower in percentage, is quite high in volume (-22 million), the agency said. Prospects for the year have been downgraded several times since the outbreak and uncertainty continues to dominate. Current scenarios point to possible declines in arrivals of 58 per cent to 78 per cent for the year. These depend on the speed of containment and the duration of travel restrictions and shutdown of borders. The agency has given three scenarios for 2020 based on possible dates for the gradual opening up of international borders. According to scenario 1, there could be a decline of 58 per cent in arrivals based on the gradual opening of international borders and easing of travel restrictions in early July. Scenario 2 could see a 70 per cent decline if international borders are gradually opened and travel restrictions are eased in early September. Scenario 3 states that there could be a 78 per cent decline in arrivals based on the gradual opening of international borders and easing of travel restrictions only in early December. Under these scenarios, the impact of the loss of demand in international travel could translate into loss of 850 million to 1.1 billion international tourists, loss of USD 910 billion to USD 1.2 trillion in export revenues from tourism and 100 to 120 million direct tourism jobs at risk. This is by far the worst crisis that international tourism has faced since records began (1950). The impact will be felt to varying degrees in the different global regions and at overlapping times, with Asia and the Pacific expected to rebound first, the agency said. The COVID-19 pandemic, spread across every country on the planet, has so far infected 4.1 million people and killed 282,719 people. The US has been the worst-affected country with 1.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 80,000 deaths. Domestic demand is expected to recover faster than international demand, according to the UNWTO Panel of Experts survey. The majority expects to see signs of recovery by the final quarter of 2020 but mostly in 2021. Based on previous crises, leisure travel is expected to recover quicker, particularly travel for visiting friends and relatives, than business travel. The estimates regarding the recovery of international travel is more positive in Africa and the Middle East with most experts foreseeing recovery still in 2020. Experts in the Americas are the least optimistic and least likely to believe in recovery in 2020, while in Europe and Asia, the outlook is mixed, with half of the experts expecting to see recovery within this year. (This story has been published from a wire agency without modifications to the text) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Former JNU student Sharjeel Imam, arrested in a case related to alleged inflammatory speeches during the protests against CAA and NRC, Monday approached the Delhi High Court challenging a trial court order granting more time to police to conclude investigation. The petition is likely to be listed for hearing on May 14. The accused has challenged trial court's April 25 order by which the Delhi Police was granted three more months, beyond statutory 90 days, to complete the investigation in the case under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Imam was arrested on January 28 in the case related to violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act near the Jamia Millia Islamia University in December last year. The statutory period of 90 days from the arrest was concluded on April 27. He was arrested from Bihar's Jehanabad District. He has also sought default bail in the matter on the ground that the investigation was not concluded within the statutory period of 90 days and when the police had filed an application for more time to complete the investigation, he was not given a notice as required under the law. The trial court had recently dismissed the bail plea. The trial court had said that the order extending period of investigation was passed before expiry of statutory time period of 90 days. Since the time period to conclude investigation has already been extended as per section 43 D (2) of UAPA, I am of the considered opinion that application for release of the accused on statutory bail is bereft of merits and the same is accordingly dismissed, the trial court judge had said in the order. Section 43-D (2) of UAPA provides that if it is not possible to complete the investigation within the 90 days period, then upon the report of the public prosecutor indicating the progress of the probe and the specific reasons for the detention of the accused beyond the 90 days period, after satisfaction, the court can extend the period of probe to 180 days. In the petition before the high court, Imam complained that he was not even produced before the court for subsequent remands, every 15 days as per the mandate of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The plea added that the investigating agency, in its April 25 application, only sought extension of time for investigation and it had not sought to extend his judicial custody and, therefore, he was eligible for statutory bail. The application (of police) was devoid of the genuine 'compelling reasons' that are required to be disclosed for extension of time beyond 90 days. The application stated that on a careful analysis of the speech of the accused section 13 of the UAPA Act was invoked. But it is unclear why the supposed 'careful' analysis took 88 days or what additional facts have been discovered subsequent to the eight days of police custody to merit invocation of UAPA on the 88th day of custody. On two separate occasions when the Investigating Agency sought police custody of the accused, that is, on January 29 and February 3, the investigation agency did not feel the need to invoke Section 13 of the UAPA Act, it said. Imam is currently lodged in Guwahati jail in a case related to UAPA registered by the Assam police. The trial court had passed the order on April 25 after the police had submitted that due to global COVID-19 pandemic in the country and the ongoing lockdown, the pace of investigation was seriously disrupted. The police had further informed the court that they are yet to interrogate the members of WhatsApp group Muslim students of JNU, persons who provided their accounts to arrange for money to get printed the pamphlets, Imam's friends and persons who initially recorded the video the speech at Jamia are yet to be identified. Initially, a case under section 124 A (sedition) and 153 A IPC (promoting enmity between classes) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Crime Branch, New Delhi, pursuant to the alleged speeches addressed by Imam, allegedly instigating a particular religious section of the society to disrupt/block the access to North East region of India from rest of India, police had claimed. The police had earlier charged Imam with sedition, alleging his speech promoted enmity between people that led to riots. The mob indulged in large-scale rioting, stone-pelting and arson, and in the process destroyed several public and private properties while a number of police personnel and people were injured in the riots, the police had told the court. Imam was allegedly involved in organising protests at Shaheen Bagh but came into limelight after a video showed him making controversial comments before a gathering at Aligarh Muslim University, following which he was booked under sedition charges. Another case was filed against Imam in Assam under the stringent anti-terror law for his remark that Assam could be "severed from India, even if for a few months" as a result of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Police in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh had also lodged FIRs against the JNU scholar over his speech in which he threatened to "cut off" Assam and the rest of the northeast from the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Over three thousand migrant workers belonging to Uttarakhand are being brought back in three trains from Maharashtra and Gujarat, officials said on Monday. At around 4 am on Monday, one train from Surat and one from Pune left for Kathgodam in Uttarakhand's Nainital district. While another train from Pune left for Haridwar in the afternoon, the officials said. There are 3,607 migrants travelling in these trains, said DG, Law and Order, Ashok Kumar. Another train carrying Uttarakhand migrant workers will leave Surat for Kathgodam tomorrow, Kumar said. He said medical examination of all passengers was conducted before they boarded the trains and only asymptomatic persons were allowed to travel. Social distancing and sanitisation protocol will be followed throughout the journey and only six passengers will travel in each compartment instead of eight, Kumar said. On reaching the destination station, the passengers will again be medically examined and mandatorily quarantined, he said. Whether they are advised home or institutional quarantine will depend on individual cases, Kumar added. Nearly 30,000 migrant workers have already been brought back to Uttarakhand by buses from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. The state government had deposited Rs 50,00,000 advance with the railways to run such trains for migrant workers, officials said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) MICHIGAN CITY A father and son are dead after a car crash Sunday on Michigan City's south side, police reported. The driver, Douglas Sparks, 47, and his son, Brandon Sparks, 22, a passenger at the time, died in the crash, according to the Michigan City Police Department. Both men were from Michigan City. Police were dispatched shortly after 11 a.m. Sunday to the 5800 block of Franklin Street for a report of a serious crash, according to the police department. Officers found a severely damaged 2005 Honda Civic and a 2016 Dodge Ram pickup truck in the northbound lanes of Franklin Street just south of McDonald's, police said. Despite efforts to quickly extricate the father and son from the Honda, Brandon Sparks was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. His father, Douglas Sparks, died a short time later at the hospital. The driver of the second vehicle involved, Anthony Banks, 27, was uninjured, police said. By Peter Schweyer We are staying with the group with Texas and the group might not sound like much, but this sentence could end up costing millions of Americans access to their doctors, even as the COVID-19 pandemic rages. On May 6, President Donald Trump made this declaration, one that essentially means he will continue to support a lawsuit that would completely dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Here is the backstory: Several years ago a group of conservative states led by Texas banded together to sue the federal government, arguing that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is unconstitutional. You should know that Pennsylvania is not part of this lawsuit. If these states succeed in this legal effort, the Affordable Care Act would be thrown out immediately. Since the early days of Trumps time as commander in chief, his Justice Department has refused to defend the ACA in court. Last weeks declaration that he is staying with the group reaffirms his commitment to this strategy of killing the ACA through the federal courts. And with that, the 20 million Americans who have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act would be left without coverage. We are suffering through the worst pandemic since the Spanish Flu of 1918. COVID-19 has cost 33 million Americans (and counting) their jobs. Along with lost employment, many have seen their employer-provided health insurance disappear. Without the ACA to turn to, where will they get health care? Please call your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning to you. This simple wisdom is listed on the Centers for Disease Controls coronavirus website. But what happens if you do not have medical insurance and therefore may not have a medical provider? For the millions of Americans who still do not have health insurance even with the Affordable Care Act in place, that will always be a barrier when seeking medical attention. Knowing this, who could possibly argue that kicking more than 20 million Americans off their health care plan makes any sense? Who could possibly say this is wise when we need people to visit their doctor when they are symptomatic if for no other reason, so the virus doesnt spread to more Americans? Any criticism (legitimate or otherwise) of the Affordable Care Act notwithstanding, the idea that we as a nation would dismantle this key safety net during this crisis is unfathomable. Lets be honest: The controversy surrounding the ACA is nothing more than a contrived sound bite used by some politicians to score cheap political points. Its certainly true that ACA doesnt cover enough people, as there are far too many Americans without health insurance. But that doesnt mean the ACA is a failure. It is a highly successful ealth care policy that has covered 20 million Americans without bankrupting our federal or state governments. And it is very popular. Recently, voters in two very conservative states, Louisiana and Kentucky, elected Democratic governors who promised to embrace Obamacare. And recently in Pennsylvania, we adopted even more aspects of the Affordable Care Act through legislation crafted by none other than the House Republican leader. Still, Trump continues his dangerous legal crusade. No one should be surprised that he opposes the ACA; it was a central tenet of his campaign. But even the most grizzled partisan should be shocked that hes willing to continue down this path during the middle of this crippling and deadly coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 has taken more American lives than the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined. It is not political-speak to say that despite this fact, Trump is telling millions of Americans they should lose their health care. One would like to think that as the circumstances in our nation have so drastically changed, our president would adapt. It appears this is too much to ask for. State Rep. Peter Schweyer, a Democrat, represents the 22nd District in the state House of Representatives. He lives in Allentown. Gogglebox has been hit with a slew of complaints after veteran star Mary Killen poked fun at Kim Jong'un's sister's accent. Mary - who appears on the show alongside her husband Giles - impersonated Kim Yo-jong, after her brother, the North Korean leader, made his first public appearance after he was rumoured to be dead. Referring to speculation that the video of Kim Jong'un was in fact fake, Mary remarked: 'I think what will happen is, if he is dead, and this is fake video, then the sister will just need to put things in place for her to take the reins... Gogglebox has been hit with a slew of complaints after veteran star Mary Killen poked fun at Kim Jong'un's sister's accent 'And then she'll say "oh our great leader, he died yesterday!"' Mary performed this quote waving her hands around, rolling back her eyes and mimicking a Korean accent. Giles found it funny, but even remarked that it wasn't particularly politically correct. 'That's a very good imitation, Mary. I'm not sure how PC it is, but that is an excellent imitation,' he said to his wife. Mary - who appears on the show alongside her husband Giles - impersonated Kim Yo-jong, after her brother, the North Korean leader, made his first public appearance after he was rumoured to be dead Mixed bag: Some viewers branded Mary 'racist', although others found it hilarious According to The Sun, there have been 33 complaints made to governing TV body Ofcom, jumping to the defense of Kim Yo-jong, who has been the First Deputy Director and de facto leader of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2014. MailOnline have approached Ofcom and Channel 4 for comment. Some viewers branded Mary 'racist', although others found it hilarious. Some criticised broadcaster Channel 4 for airing it alongside a tribute to former star June Bernicoff, who died last week, age 82. Appearance: There was speculation the appearance in Seoul was faked Not amused: Some also slammed the show for leaving the impression in the final edit Some also slammed the show for leaving the impression in the final edit. 'Oh Mary wow. Just caught the end of #gogglebox, not sure Mary's impression of Kim Yo-jong should have been left in!' one viewer posted. 'Mary with that un-PC Kim Jong'un sister impression wow!' exclaimed another. Poor taste? Some criticised broadcaster Channel 4 for airing it alongside a tribute to former star June Bernicoff, who died last week, age 82 Someone else penned: 'Anyone catch Marys shocking racist impression on #Gogglebox tonight???' Yet, in contrast, another posted: 'Giles and Mary are one of my faves on #Gogglebox People calling her racist need to give their heads a wobble! Does that mean we can't impersonate a scouse or Irish accent again?' 'Absolutely crying with Marys impression of Kim Jong-un's sister!' another wrote, as someone else posted: 'Mary's impersonations of Kim Jong-un sister was hilarious, if you're calling out racism I'm sure the mass murdering dictators are losing no sleep over it at all!' New research could help Vietnam-era veterans who served in Guam and who have diseases linked to Agent Orange file for disability with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Two veterans advocacy groups published a policy paper Monday saying that veterans who served on Guam between 1962 and 1975 likely were exposed to herbicides disposed of on the Pacific island or used for vegetation control. The groups -- the National Veterans Legal Services Program and the Jerome Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School -- say their link meets the VA's legal criteria for awarding affected veterans Agent Orange-related benefits. Related: VA Releases Updated List of Agent Orange Exposure Locations "We conclude that existing evidence establishes that it is, at the very least, 'as likely as not' that veterans who served in Guam from 1962 to 1975 were exposed to Agent Orange and other dioxin-containing herbicides," wrote NVLSP Executive Director Bart Stichman and several law students and attorneys. Tens of thousands of U.S. service members were assigned to Guam during the Vietnam War, where three quarters of all U.S. B-52 bombers used in the air campaign were based. Former service members reported spraying defoliants on vegetation to reduce fire hazards and burying hazardous waste, including Agent Orange, in landfills and low-lying areas near the ocean. A 2018 Government Accountability Office report concluded, however, that in the absence of records -- including those that were incomplete or have been lost -- and without credible soil samples, exposure could not be conclusively proven or disproven. For veterans who served outside Vietnam to receive VA disability compensation or health services for the 14 health conditions determined to be linked to herbicide exposure by the department, they must prove they have an Agent Orange-related illness, connect it to their military service and provide support for a causal link. Some veterans who served on Guam have been awarded disability claims for Agent Orange-related illnesses, but NVLSP and Yale believe all who served on Guam during the Vietnam era who have a presumptive condition should automatically qualify for VA benefits. "Individual veterans should not be penalized for an incomplete evidentiary record when [the Department of Defense] has failed to maintain this record, or to resolve and refute extensive claims of Agent Orange and other toxic herbicide exposure," they wrote. In January, the DoD released a list of locations outside Vietnam where herbicides were tested or stored, but the list omitted more than 40 previously listed exposure sites. Guam was not included on either list: In a report on Agent Orange in Guam, the GAO said challenges remain in proving its existence on the island. DoD spokesman Chuck Prichard said the new list was "the result of DoD's thorough review of the records for use, storage and testing of Agent Orange and other tactical herbicides outside of Vietnam." "Information within those records was assessed against stringent joint VA-DoD criteria for what constitutes a location where tactical herbicides were tested, used and stored," Prichard said. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the new list will be updated as more evidence becomes available. Whether the new paper will have any impact on the VA's Agent Orange-related claims processes for this population of veterans remains to be seen. The VA did not respond to a request for comment before press time. In 2017, Rep. Dennis Ross, a Florida Republican who left Congress last year, introduced a bill that would have given presumptive status to ill veterans who served on Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa. It never made it out of committee. Thousands of other veterans who served in Vietnam or on select ships off the countrys coastline and have one of several illnesses being considered as additions to the presumptive conditions list have been waiting up to four years for the VA to announce a decision on their cases. VA officials have said they are waiting for the results of two studies before announcing whether to add bladder cancer, Parkinson's-like tremors, hypothyroidism, hypertension and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, MGUS, to the list. -- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime. Read more: Army Wants Wearable Coronavirus Symptom Detector for Soldiers Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 01:46:15|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DAMASCUS, May 10 (Xinhua) -- An explosive device went off in the Turkish-held city of al-Bab in northern Syria on Sunday, a war monitor reported. The explosion rocked the Center Roundabout in al-Bab in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, killing one and wounding five civilians, including children, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Meanwhile, the state news agency SANA said an explosion rocked al-Bab, leaving a number of injuries. Al-Bab is controlled by Turkish forces and Turkey-backed rebels. The observatory has previously reported a state of lawlessness in areas controlled by Turkey and Turkey-backed rebels in northern Syria. Enditem The Jamia Millia Islamia on Sunday sent its students from Jammu and Kashmir back to their native places in a special bus arranged by it. Two university guards, who are former army men, are also accompanying students in the bus, the varsity said. These students were stranded in hostels due to the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the university said. The bus was properly sanitised before leaving for Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University for medical screening of students, guards and drivers for fever and other symptoms related to the coronavirus, it said. The university is making arrangements for hostellers to send them back to their homes in their respective states, it said. Meanwhile, boarders of the girls and boys hostels wrote to the vice-chancellor stating it is impossible to vacate the hostels at this time with their belongings. They urged the administration to reconsider its decision asking the students to vacate their hostel rooms. Royal Cornwall Show has become the latest agricultural event in the UK to be called off due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Council of the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association (RCAA) has announced the event's cancellation that had been planned to take place on 10 - 12 September. "We have left this difficult decision for as long as we feasibly could, having previously postponed the show from June to September, in the hope that it was possible to stage it then," the RCAA said in a statement. "With the current conditions on social distancing and possible government restrictions on large events for the foreseeable future, it is just not possible to host a safe event for all those involved." The council said its main priority is to protect the health and safety of visitors, members, traders, exhibitors, staff and all those involved in preparing the show. Chris Riddle, secretary of the RCAA said: We are hugely saddened by the decision to cancel this years Royal Cornwall Show, and know this will be of great disappointment to many. "We hope that our visitors, members, exhibitors, and traders, understand this difficult decision we have had to make, and we thank them for their patience at this time. We look forward to welcoming everyone back in 2021, where we can hopefully celebrate being together once more, and celebrating the support we have shown each other through this global pandemic. The RCAA said it would be in touch with ticket holders, exhibitors, and traders over the coming days to explain their options and the next steps. Numerous other farming shows have been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the Royal Yorkshire Show, Royal Highland Show, Three Counties Show, and Royal Welsh Show. Sowmya Mani By Express News Service TIRUCHY: Many videos of daily wage workers asking for help are doing the rounds on social media. But how many of them actually get help? If the video lands in the hands of people like Manoj Dharmar, of Shine Treechy and Jeevanandhan, a Headmaster in Tiruchy, chances are, help would be delivered, even if it means travelling 250 km (return distance) to deliver the goods. But what started as a journey to help the needy, became a humbling experience for these good samaritans, when the villagers paid them back with some locally grown produce. In Sirumalai, a forest area in Dindigul district, there are a group of daily wage workers who have been left penniless since the lockdown began. These people work as coolies and depend on their daily wages. Being a hilly region, access to groceries isn't easy. "Since the lockdown began, we have not been able to go to work. Both my husband and I do coolie work. Since the past 45 days or so, we have not been able to do any work. We haven't been able to buy rice or even tea leaves. The ration rice is just enough for a one-time meal. We aren't even able to feed our children," says Tamilselvi from Sirumalai. Manoj got the video and decided to act on it. He joined hands with like-minded people like Jeevanandhan, and arranged for groceries for 25 families. Each kit cost Rs 700 and has atta, oil, sugar, tea, toor dal, rice, salt, chilli powder etc. "We received a video and felt that we had to help them. We raised the funds through social media and received the amount required at lightning speed. We took the groceries in 2 cars and delivered it to them." said Manoj. They were pleasantly surprised when the villagers refused to take the kits for free. They felt that they must give something back. "They gave us 3 gunny bags of Bangalore Brinjal (Chow Chow) which is locally grown there. Five of us travelled in 2 cars to Sirumalai from Tiruchy," said Jeevanandhan, Headmaster of Subbaih Memorial School. What The Study Did: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection in North American pediatric intensive care units is described in this observational study, including how it presented, whether there were comorbidities, the severity of disease, therapeutic interventions, clinical trajectory and early outcomes. Authors: Lara S. Shekerdemian, M.D., M.H.A., of Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1948) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflicts of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. ### The full study is linked to this news release. Embed this link to provide your readers free access to the full-text article This link will be live at the embargo time https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.1948?guestAccessKey=e893e729-c708-4b6a-82f5-751c1d55179c&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=051120 LONG BEACH, Calif., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- agilon health, a company at the forefront of transforming health care delivery, today announced the appointment of Steven Sell, former Chief Executive and President of Health Net, to lead the company's next growth phase and efforts to build deeper collaboration and partnerships with the local physicians at the foundation of its success. Mr. Sell joins agilon June 1 after a successful 22-year career with Health Net and related companies. At Health Net, a subsidiary of Centene Corp., he served as CEO and president from 2016 to 2019 and was responsible for the strategy, execution and financial performance of a $14 billion business with 3 million members. Over the past three years, agilon has grown rapidly to establish a reputation for helping physicians nationwide to improve quality, total cost of health care and the patient experience. The company's purpose-built and practice-branded joint operating model has proven to be particularly effective in unlocking the Medicare Advantage opportunity embedded in physician practices. agilon Chairman Ron Williams said while the company is proud of what it has built so far, this is the right time to bring in Mr. Sell, whose experience will help agilon strengthen its collaborative network. "Steve wants to go fast as do we," Williams said. "This is a dynamic, thriving place, and we see a path to even deeper alignment with our current partners and more partnerships across the country." Mr. Sell will succeed Ron Kuerbitz, who oversaw the early success of agilon in developing physician partnerships and establishing the company's distinctive reputation for physician empowerment. Mr. Kuerbitz is leaving to pursue other career endeavours. During Mr. Kuerbitz's tenure, agilon grew Medicare Advantage members on its platform from 22,000 to 150,000 and increased its relationships with payor partners and overall impact on regulatory reform. "These impressive results are a testament to Ron's leadership and the work of the company's team and physician partners," said Ravi Sachdev, agilon's founder and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Partner. Sell said he was impressed with agilon's innovative spirit and ability to scale. "I look forward to working with a remarkable team to dramatically grow agilon's reach, build on its already substantial innovations and market contributions and ultimately reinvigorate the delivery of care across the country," Sell said. Before joining Health Net, Mr. Sell was a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton and held a variety of strategic and operational roles at The Prudential. He received his bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Swarthmore College and his master's degree in business administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. ABOUT AGILON agilon health is the only health-care company of its kind, empowering and partnering with doctors to lead the transformation of their practices toward a future that rewards bold action, market-leading growth and durable patient relationships. Through the power of a national community of like-minded physicians and an integrated operating platform, we are leading the reinvention of health care delivery. A unique and practice-branded joint operating model developed with its physician partners allows practices to boldly design and launch a financially aligned total care model for Medicare Advantage patients, unifying the physician and patient experience. The result: empowered physician leaders, thriving practices, healthier communities, and practicing physicians who are rewarded intrinsically and financially by spending the right amount of time with the right patients who get the right treatments. Since its founding in 2016, the agilon health community of physician partners has grown to 11 markets across 7 states. Leading physician groups such as Austin Regional Clinic, Buffalo Medical Group, Central Ohio Primary Care, Preferred Primary Care Physicians, and Wilmington Health are collaborating through the agilon health platform. Today there are more than 150,000 Medicare Advantage members on the agilon health platform with 1,200 primary-care physicians. Visit www.agilonhealth.com. SOURCE agilon health Related Links https://www.agilonhealth.com Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal exit is getting the Lifetime TV movie treatment as the network announces its third film about the couple's life together. Tentatively titled Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace, the film will chronicle the events surrounding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's infamous decision to step down as senior working royals. The official synopsis revealed the made-for-TV movie will present a fictional account of 'the couples controversial conscious uncoupling from the crown, after the birth of their son Archie,' according to TVLine. Made for TV: Lifetime has announced a new movie about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal exit, tentatively titled Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace Plot: The fictional account will detail 'the struggles of the new parents and unique challenges of being part of the royal family' that led them to step down as senior royals 'The movie details the struggles of the new parents and unique challenges of being part of the royal family, which ultimately led Harry and Meghan to give up their royal ties to forge a new life on their own terms.' No casting has been announced, nor is there any additional information about the films production or release date, likely due to the coronavirus pandemic. Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace will follow Lifetime's last two movies about the couple: Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance and Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal. The first film was announced in January 2018 just under two months after Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, announced their engagement and aired that May, five days before their royal wedding. Original: The film will follow Lifetime's last two movies about the couple. The first, Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance (pictured) covered their courtship leading up to their engagement Stars: Parisa Fitz-Henley and Murray Fraser played Meghan and Harry, respectively, in the film (pictured), which aired five days before the couple's royal wedding Parisa Fitz-Henley and Murray Fraser played Meghan and Harry, respectively, in the first biopic, which explored how the couples relationship blossomed from their first date in 2016 to their engagement in November 2017. The second movie offered a playful, fictional account of the events immediately leading up to Harry and Meghan's May 2018 wedding and their first few months as husband and wife. Actress Tiffany Smith played the Duchess of Sussex, while British star Charlie Field took on the role of the Duke of Sussex in the film, which aired in May 2019. While there aren't many details about the third movie in the installment, there was plenty of real-life drama surrounding Harry and Meghan's departure from royal life. Story: Lifetime's second movie, Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal (pictured), chronicled the events immediately leading up to their wedding and their first few months as newlyweds New faces: Actress Tiffany Smith played the Duchess of Sussex, while British star Charlie Field took on the role of the Duke of Sussex in the film (picture), which aired in May 2019 The couple shocked the world on January 8 when they revealed on Instagram that they were going to step back as senior royals, become financially independent, and split their time between North America and the United Kingdom. It was reported at the time that no other member of the royal family was consulted before Harry and Meghan issued their bombshell statement the day before Kate Middleton's birthday. A few days later, Meghan returned to Canada to reunited with their son Archie and their dogs, who had already been moved. After months of drama and reports of a rift between Harry and his older brother, Prince William, the couple gathered with the Queen, Charles, Camilla, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in March for their last official engagement as senior royals. Weeks later, they relocated from Vancouver Island in Canada to Los Angeles with their son, Archie. The family has been living at Tyler Perry's Beverly Hills mansion amid the coronavirus pandemic, though they are said to be remotely looking for their own home on the city's west side. New home: Harry and Meghan celebrated their son Archie's first birthday on May 6 in Los Angeles, where they have been living amid the coronavirus pandemic Special: The couple shared a video of Meghan reading Archie the children's book 'Duck! Rabbit!' on his birthday. Prince Harry had filmed the clip the weekend before Harry and Meghan celebrated Archie's first birthday on May 6 with a 'smash cake' and Zoom chats with friends and family, a source told People magazine. Earlier in the day, a video of Meghan reading their son the children's book 'Duck! Rabbit!' was shared on the Save the Children Instagram account. The sweet clip, which filmed by Prince Harry the weekend before, was met with great excitement from royal fans, who noted how much Archie looked like his father at the same age. The video was posted as part of the celebrity-backed Save With Stories campaign to help support kids affected by the coronavirus pandemic. A statement released by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed the mom chose to read Duck! Rabbit! because it is one of 'Archie's favorite stories.' Hong Kong, May 11 : Eighteen people were hospitalized and more than 250 arrested in Hong Kong following clashes between demonstrators and the police, according to media reports on Monday. Protesters gathered on Sunday in several shopping malls in the city, where they raised slogans, while some others later attempted to block the streets of Mong Kok's shopping district by creating improvised barricades, reports Efe news. Police responded by firing tear gas and making more than 250 arrests, some of them resulting in violence and many of those affected had to be transferred to hospitals. Among those admitted were Democratic Party legislator Roy Kwong who had reportedly visited the site to mediate between police and protesters. Officers brought him down with a blow to the abdomen and then a policeman held him to the ground by pressing his head against the sidewalk with his knee, according to state-owned RTHK broadcaster. A source cited by the South China Morning Post claimed that more than 200 arrested were charged with illegal assembly. In the case of Kwong, the Democratic Party issued a statement detailing that he had been arrested for alleged public disorder. According to the police, another arrested protester was in possession of materials that could have been used for making Molotov cocktails. Since last month, pro-democracy protests have resumed in Hong Kong following a period of long absence from the streets due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mass protests in Hong Kong began in June 2019 against a controversial extradition bill - already withdrawn by the government - and soon evolved into a movement seeking to expand democratic mechanisms in former British colony and oppose Beijing's alleged authoritarianism. In the following months, clashes between the most radical groups of protesters and the police were commonplace, which had a severe impact on the local economy as it fell into recession for the first time in a decade. [May 11, 2020] Groundbreaking Patent Issued to Ai-Blockchain for Cryptographic Digital Asset Ledger Solutions HOBOKEN, N.J., May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NetworkWire The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a patent on private blockchains to Ai-Blockchain ("AiB"). Ai-Blockchain is a leading provider of custom artificial intelligence driven and blockchain solutions to clients such as financial exchanges, hospitals, media content providers and supply chain platforms for nearly a decade. Experts consider AiBs patented platform to be the most efficient, secure, and scalable blockchain technology. U.S. Patent No. 10,579,974 , entitled "SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR A DISTRIBUTED DIGITAL ASSET NETWORK WITH RAPID TRANSACTION SETTLEMENTS," was issued on March 3, 2020. The patent is directed to AiBs core technology which enables private blockchains to transact digital assets quickly between parties such as digital rights management for media companies, financial exchanges and customers, healthcare institutions and physicians, and supply chains and retailers. AiBs combination of leading software technology with foundational computing elements is so unique that the US Patent and Trademark Office has now recognized its innovative components. Founders Stephen L. Reed and S. Drew Hingorani have created a game-changing approach to security and encryption, transactional speed and client service. For example, AiB developed a HIPAA-compliant data payment platform which can be used by health facilities and hospitals to compensate physicians. In some healthcare organizations, physicians are paid using relative value unit (RVU) based compensation agreements, which are complicated. In these situations, RVU-based formulas are the most critical part of a physician's compensation plan and it is a labor-intensive process which leads to an insurmountable loss of productivity thereby reducing the amount of time devoted to patient care. AiBs solution has solved this challenge. For more information on how to work with AiB, please visit http://aiblockchainalliance.org This new proprietary blockchain smart contract is built upon the recently open-sourced high-performance Kafka blockchain technology, which is available on GitHub today via the following link: https://github.com/ai-coin/KafkaBlockchain . Anyone interested in a free architecture diagram tutorial to enhance their existing infrastructure enterprise technology should contact AiB immediately. Stephen Reed, developer and AiBs Chief Scientist, says, "Our platform has significant application in the healthcare industry and financial institutions where all stakeholders demand continual improvement of security and efficiency. With this issued patent, Ai-Blockchain can deliver its source code across all industry standards in managing digital asset transfers between two parties or multiple parties. AiBs patented platform is the most efficient, secure and scalable blockchain technology in the world." Confluent's Kai Waehner, Technology Evangelist, Enterprise Architect, and Global Field Engineer said, "I am really excited about AiB's Kafka add-on, "KafkaBlockchain" to build tamper-evidence into scalable streaming applications using Kafka and its whole ecosystem, including Kafka Connect, Kafka Streams and KSQL. This allows customers to build mission-critical and secure applications on top of battle-tested Kafka infrastructure; without the complexity and immaturity of other blockchain products." The AiB platform operates seamlessly with Apache Kafka. KafkaBlockchain is a java library for tamper-evidence using Kafka. Messages can be encrypted and made tamper-evident at a rate exceeding 2 million messages per second per topic. AiBs smart contract blockchain product operates efficiently yet consumes a fraction of the energy required by competing blockchains. The architecture also features tamper-evident security, accountability, and transparency with the lowest costs and highest scalability. Potential use cases include: developing digital identity structures for use with vulnerable populations; enhancing cyber-security to better protect the privacy of all personally identifiable information; securing personal data across financial services; healthcare, real estate, supply chains and other important industries that are migrating to cloud-based solutions. Ai-Blockchains CEO, Drew Hingorani, states, "We truly appreciate the USPTO issuing our patent as we showcase our healthcare solutions enabling physicians to spend more time with patients and demonstrating our blockchain payment cloud platform for a variety of uses across multiple industries. We continue to develop and enhance our private and public blockchain technology and both the cloud and the on-premise solutions are available for companies to collaborate, deploy, evaluate, study and test. Stephen Reed is a respected technology professional with a strong track record of building and creating originative products while leading engineering teams for over four decades using all technologies. Working with him and the team has been educational and uplifting along with meeting interesting people worldwide. Joe Bacon, best known for his years of service to Rolls-Royce in the UK, recently stated, "Having researched and conducted proof of concept studies for the industrialization of blockchain technology over several years, a few areas of concern consistently arose: transaction speed, energy consumption, security, data tenancy, and lifecycle costs. I am pleased to say having worked with Ai-Blockchain since 2016, they have addressed all of these issues with their patented technology stack, which utilizes the robust and secure Amazon AWS cloud services for scalability to meet all of the demands of global businesses. I would highly recommend engaging and working with AiB to explore how they can help your business succeed in transforming the way you work, whilst reducing through-life costs compared to Ethereum or other blockchains. I am sure they wont mind me saying that from a return on investment point of view they significantly outperform larger organizations. The AiB team applied sound architectural designs and provided technology product demonstrations that no other Blockchain or software company did in the same way. I will be pleased to see more people working with AiB in 2020." About Ai-Blockchain: AiB technology and blockchain solutions bring a new class of products to the world. Ai-Blockchain is a privately held technology company that developed a patented blockchain platform on the cloud. Private and public blockchains are proposed for multiple business uses. AiB consultants and employees work remotely to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. For information on how to join an AiB online video session, please email [email protected] or call +1.201.349.4996. Media Contact: Ai-Blockchain 50 Harrison Street, Suite 212B Hoboken, NJ 07030 Email: [email protected] Phone: +1. 201.349.4996 Wire Service Contact: NetworkWire (NW) New York, New York www.NetworkWire.com 212.418.1217 Office [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Azamgarh : , May 11 (IANS) In a shocking incident, two students of class 10 posted lewd messages, porn clips and made obscene comments on the teacher during online classes. The students belong to a private English-medium school in Azamgarh and had joined the class 12 online classes by posing as girls who were absent. Superintendent of Police Azamgarh, Triveni Singh said, "A principal and teacher of a private school lodged a complaint at the Kotwali police station on Friday. The teacher said she was teaching English to class 12 students through WhatsApp on Friday morning when two girl students sent her a message requesting to be added in the group." "When they were added, one of them posted a lewd message. When I reprimanded then, the other one sent a porn clip. They kept passing inappropriate comments. I quit the group and reported the matter to the principal," the teacher said in complaint. The school authorities called the parents of both the girls but they said that the girls were not in town since the past 15 days and did not have access to phone. The police were then informed. The SP said, "We traced the locations of the two class 10 students through surveillance and found they were from same school. An FIR was lodged against both students and they were sent to juvenile home on Sunday. One of the boys said that they had got the names of two absent students from a senior and then joined the group. The Azamgarh police has now issued some guidelines asking the admin of a WhatsApp group to verify credentials of a student before allowing him/her to join. The online classes were started to circumvent the loss of academic sessions due to the lockdown. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 22:29:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HANGZHOU, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The badger, which disappeared in east China's Zhejiang Province more than two decades ago, was captured by cameras wandering in the forest last year, local authorities reported on Monday. The photos and video clips of this dog-like mammal with shorter legs were found recently by staff in a wildlife survey project in Anji County in the city of Huzhou. The animal had not shown up in the wild in Zhejiang ever since the province placed 3,000 infrared cameras for wildlife monitoring in 2009, according to the natural resources and planning bureau of Anji. "Badgers usually live in low-altitude areas with soft soil, where people intensively planted crops and cultivated fields in the early years, so their reemergence indicates the improvement of the ecological environment and an increase of diversity in the species," said Liu Baoquan, with the forest resources monitoring center of Zhejiang. The badger was listed as an NT (Near Threatened) species in the Biodiversity Red List of China: Vertebrates. Enditem Brisbane, Australia, May 11, 2020 - (ABN Newswire) - Emerging lithium miner Sayona Mining Limited (ASX:SYA.AX - News) (HAM:DML.HM - News) (OTCMKTS:DMNXF - News) announced today the bid deadline for North American Lithium (NAL) has been extended by the court-appointed monitor (administrator), Raymond Chabot Inc. to 15 June 2020. Based on court-approved procedures, the monitor has requested confirmation that Sayona's bid remains open for acceptance until this date. The Company has confirmed its acceptance. Sayona has assembled a world-class team to support its bid for NAL, with Sayona's team encompassing the necessary operational and technical expertise together with environmental, engineering and financial know-how to ensure a successful turnaround. Importantly, Sayona's bid has the unique advantage of being able to combine lithium produced from the Company's nearby Authier Lithium Project with the lithium at the NAL site, facilitating a significant improvement in plant performance and economics. Sayona's Managing Director, Brett Lynch commented: "The delay to the sale process is not unexpected given current conditions in Quebec and globally due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shutdown. "We look forward to engaging further with the monitor and other key stakeholders to advance our bid, which offers the best prospects for a successful turnaround at NAL that would support jobs, investment and Quebec's lithium strategy." About Sayona Mining Ltd: Sayona Mining Limited (ASX:SYA.AX - News) (OTCMKTS:DMNXF - News) is an Australian, ASX-listed (SYA) company focused on sourcing and developing the raw materials required to construct lithium-ion batteries for use in the rapidly growing new and green technology sectors. The Company has lithium projects in Quebec, Canada and in Western Australia. Please visit us as at www.sayonamining.com.au Contact: Brett Lynch Managing Director Phone: +61 (7) 3369 7058 Email: info@sayonamining.com.au Story continues Source: Sayona Mining Ltd Copyright (C) 2020 ABN Newswire. All rights reserved. It has become an annual routine for Rosa Maria Fuenzalida, to visit the grave of her mother on Mother's Day in Curico's central Chilean city. Besides Rosa Maria, millions of individuals in Latin America flock to take flowers as offering to the cemeteries where their beloved mothers and grandmothers are buried. As a known practice all over the world, this is a gesture expressing how much they love and remember their dead loved ones, especially on special days like Mother's Day. However, this year, with Chileans self-quarantining like the rest of the world, Rosa Maria depended on a stranger to bring flowers to her mom's grave. Cemeteries in the whole of Chile all announced to prevalent disappointment that they would not be opening on May 10, Mother's Day. However, the general cemetery of Curico, which would typically have 15,000 visitors on this special day for mothers, offered a settlement. The Cemetery Compromise for Mother's Day The general cemetery invited visitors to take flowers to the front gate for three consecutive dates on separate days, based on their surnames' alphabetical order for the flowers to be brought directly to their loved ones' grave. Those who left their flowers said that they received a message through WhatsApp shortly after leaving the bouquets at the front gate, with a picture of the flowers in place along with a note guaranteeing them "they had fresh water." Meanwhile, the director of the cemetery, Roberto Garcia, said that more than 1,000 individuals had taken flowers by Friday. He also added that currently in Chile, "the truth is, it has been hard." Additionally, Garcia explained that in Curico, they already had over 45 COVID-19 cases, including some deaths. According to the director, this Mother's Day initiative "acts as a ray of light." He added that they are doing this with so much love and care for each of the families, and mainly, the people who have lost their mothers and grandmothers. Touched by the Gesture An only child, Rosa Maria, was only 21 when her mom died. She said the gesture of the local authorities had moved her as they recognized the Mother's Day practice as "essential" amid the social distancing orders throughout Chile. Meanwhile, Santiago, the capital, where the biggest cemeteries typically attract thousands and thousands of visitors along with chaotic scenes and road closures this week, the national federation of cemetery workers encouraged people to stay away. The federation's president, Luis Yeneves, explained to a local radio station that this initiative was for the safety of everybody, adding that they need to stop the spread of COVID-19. In Latin America, where a lot of nations are only nearing the infections' peak from the fatal instruction, Mother's day was considered a "muted affair" last weekend. In Mexico, where Mother's Day is considered one of the most celebrated events of the year, local officials have increasingly promoted social distancing by temporarily shutting down the main flower market of the capital. Cemeteries where locals usually get together have not opened as well, and the officials even suggested transferring the said holiday to July. Check these out! A new modeling study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in May 2020 hypothesizes that the asymptomatic cases in the ongoing pandemic in Japan may far outnumber the symptomatic infections by several orders of magnitude. This has implications for future predictions and public health policies. How it all began The beginning of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was reported as a small, apparently local outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. This had shot up to about 50,000 cases by March 6, 2020. In Japan, meanwhile, the first case was reported on January 3, 2020, being a Wuhan returnee. By April 26, 2020, there were over 7,700 cases in Japan. The outbreak peaked on February 12 in Wuhan, but at the end of March in Japan. The COVID-19 outbreaks are characterized by a high reproduction number, R0, around 2, and low outbreak peaks, concerning the number of new cases and the total number of cases. The R0 should mean that the outbreak will peak when the virus infects half of the population. At Wuhans peak, the total number of patients was 48,000, and in Japan, 7,700 cases. The population of Wuhan is 11 million, and of Japan, 120 million. This does not agree with the earlier characteristic. To reconcile this, the current study offers a new model. The SIR model is applied The scientists used a SIR (susceptibleinfectedrecovery) model to study the Wuhan epidemic curve. The incubation period was taken from empirical data in Japan. Asymptomatic and symptomatic cases were assumed to be equally infectious. The number of symptomatic patients in Wuhan came from the published statistics from January 20 through March 5, and in Japan, from the figures published by the Ministry of Labour, Health and Welfare (MLHW) for January 14 April 24. Where the onset date was unknown, it was estimated based on available data. In Wuhan, in the absence of any onset date, the same data was applied to estimate it. The number of patients with unknown onset dates was estimated, accounting for underestimation due to reporting delays. The investigators then modeled the epidemic in Wuhan, assuming only one initial case in the absence of daily reporting until January 20. After the model prediction reached the number of patients on this day, they compared the two sets of data modeled predictions and observations. The epidemic curve in Japan is marked into three periods, during which voluntary event cancellation and school closure (VECSC) from February 27 to March 19. The curve had been increasing gradually, but became almost entirely flat in this period of VECSC, after which it showed an exponential rise. After it peaked on April 2, it began to decline monotonically. The scientists, therefore, concluded that each of these peaks had a different reproduction number, R0, Rv, and Ra. The results The total number of cases was over 68,000 in Wuhan from January 20 to March 5. In Japan, it was 13,000 from January 14 to April 26, considering only community-acquired cases and excluding asymptomatic cases. The duration of onset to report was 30 days at most. The model shows that the first outbreak peak occurred in Japan on April 3, with the infections having occurred on March 29. The incubation periods among 91 cases with reported exposure dates and onset dates published by the MHLW shows an average of 6.6 days. The estimated R0, Rv, and Ra were 3.19 with range of [3.08, 3.31], 147.7 [145.3, 157.0], and 2.048 [2.048, 2.024] in Wuhan. Also, q was estimated as 99.32 [99.31, 99.36]%. In Japan, R0, Rv, and Ra were estimated respectively as 2.16 [1.97, 2.20], 1.13 [1.00, 1.44], and 2.96 [2.81, 3.08]. Moreover, q in Japan was estimated as 99.9888% [99.9885, 99.9890]%. The peak in Wuhan was observed on February 7 and was part of an epidemic curve that did not show any response to lockdown measures, which began on January 23. This means that most of the patients infected at the peak of the epidemic acquired the virus after the lockdown, and the peak is probably not because of the lockdown. In Japan, the first peak occurred on April 3, and the data used to estimate this peak includes almost all cases reported within 30 days. This shows that the first peak is over in Japan. At the peak, no lockdown was in place, with the VECSC period already being over on March 21. Japan declared a state of emergency on April 7. Between these dates, therefore, the only countermeasure was a recommendation to avoid large mass gatherings, and therefore the peak is not due to strong countermeasures. However, the VECSC appeared to have been effective. Climate and weather conditions also may not have contributed to the infectious nature of the virus since these remained relatively stable throughout March. The scientists say, This is the first model which can show a peak and declining phase without a change in the reproduction number for COVID-19 outbreak. The current estimated R0 was similar but slightly lower than previous estimates of 2.243.58 in Wuhan, but much higher than the earlier estimate of 0.06 in Japan. This means that contact tracing may be essential to detect clusters of transmission if over 60 million people are likely to be infected. Huge numbers of asymptomatics in Japan The proportion of asymptomatic cases in the infected population is 99.32 and 99.98%, respectively, in Wuhan and Japan. In other words, there are 150 and 9,000 asymptomatic patients for each confirmed symptomatic individual in these places, respectively. This is a massive departure from an earlier estimate of 3 asymptomatic among 23 infected individuals. The reason might be the use of PCR testing, which necessitates active infection at the time of testing but does not detect past infection. Large-scale antibody testing in the community may be the only way to confirm the current results. A similar antibody testing trial in New York showed an antibody prevalence of 15% at a reported case prevalence of only 0.88% for an asymptomatic: infected ratio of 94%, comparable to the current study. The researchers hypothesize that the asymptomatic proportion is so different in Wuhan and China because of underlying health conditions and behaviors like diabetes, smoking, and air pollution, leading to a higher state of health in Japan compared to Wuhan. This could lead to a higher chance of symptomatic disease in Wuhan. Another reason might be differences in testing strategy since more asymptomatic cases might be diagnosed in Japan if PCR tests only severe cases. A third possibility is that of mutation of the virus to develop different characteristics in Japan. Limitations of the study Study limitations include the entirely hypothetical basis of the model, the need to assess the reasons for the success of VECSC, and the possible effects of under-ascertaining cases, in addition to differences in the testing and reporting systems. The scientists also caution that future waves might occur in Japan, even higher than the first, especially since April marks the beginning of the school year and the financial year. This means a significant change in many population-level movements and activities in Japan. Thus, the Japanese outbreak cannot be concluded to be over. The study concludes: By introducing a very high proportion of asymptomatic cases, two inconsistent phenomena might be resolved as a result of this study: the high reproduction number and low peak. Nevertheless, it is currently only a hypothesis. *Important Notice medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Sunday, May 10, 2020, updated the nation on the measures taken against the spread of Coronavirus in the country. Amongst the update given, the president listed about 10 different local Ghanaian foods that can boost the immune system of citizens in the fight against COVID-19. Addressing the country, Akufo-Addo stated that it is important for Ghanaians to improve their hygiene by exercising, eating well, and generally living a healthy lifestyle. He thus advised Ghanaians to take in key vitamins to fortify the immune system. For instance, we are told that the key vitamins that fortify our immune system are vitamins A, B6, C, and E. Akufo-Addo added that fortunately for Ghanaians, all of these can be found in many of our local foods. Below is a list of local foods that will help boost your immune system to fight the Coronavirus. Oranges, Kontomire, Millet, Cashew nuts, Crabs, Plantain, Okro, Dawadawa, Brown rice, Mushrooms Source: pulse.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Lt Commander Satya (retd. Indian Navy) trekked for 14 hours in the toughest terrains of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu in April to take essential commodities to 230 families of a tribal community. He is not a lone 'fighter' who is braving all odds to help the tribals, stranded truckers and the poor families struggling to get food during this COVID-19 lockdown. He is part of Armour of Care (AoC)- a group of volunteers comprising ex-army officers, doctors and young civilians who have teamed up to feed the hungry since the lockdown came into force on March 25. Satya, as he is known, helped reach about one ton ration goods to the tribal families to help them survive during these hard times. After the Coimbatore-based group learnt tribals were struggling to get food and their survival was at stake, their members swung into action and distributed rice and other essential commodities, a volunteer of AoC said. The volunteer added that the tribal settlements had received help during the lockdown for the first time from AoC. The AoC has covered about 11 villages having about 200 families around Pillur dam, Mettupalayam. On Monday, the AoC members delivered 40 kits of ration through its volunteers to a stranded trucker at Thandalam near Chennai and were pleasantly surprised after accomplishing the task. A stranded truck driver Ansari called them several times since the last two days pleading that he was in dire need for essential commodities. However, what happened later moved the AoC members. After receiving the goodies, Ansari called up to say he apportioned the ration for almost 100 people. "They are all like me... how can I eat alone? he asked. Recently, the AoC purchased three tonnes of cabbage from a farmer in Karnataka bordering Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu, and distributed the same to the community kitchens in Chennai that are involved in preparing food and also to the poor and stranded people in the metro. They reached out after the farmer raised an SOS that he was unable to sell the produce, harvested at a cost of around Rs four lakh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The helpline, Bharosa, aims at providing cognitive emotional rehabilitation services to all the students of universities in the state. A helpline has been launched to provide counseling to students of the Central University of Odisha who are in distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh PokhriyalNishank inaugurated the helpline through a virtual platform from New Delhi. The helpline, Bharosa, aims at providing cognitive emotional rehabilitation services to all the students of universities in the state. The Union minister asserted that the mental health of students is of great importance and the helpline, 08046801010, introduced by the university is a good initiative. He praised the move as it provides mental and psychological assistance to students. Pokhriyal also urged other central and state universities as well as institutions of higher education across the country to emulate the Bharosa. The Central University of Odisha has collaborated with Association of Health Psychologists for the counseling helpline. During the launch, Pokhriyal said that the nation is going through a difficult phase due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. He appreciated the efforts of the central government to contain the epidemic. Vice Chancellor of Central University of Odisha Prof I Ramabrahmam highlighted the major features and services of the helpline. Bharosa has received over 400 calls in the pilot phase of the project, he added. Last month, Calcutta University has started free online psychological counseling service for all its students to beat any stress during the COVID-19 lockdown. Former foreign minister Julie Bishop is urging Australia to do more quiet diplomacy behind the scenes to convince China to sign up to an independent global inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus. Ms Bishop said Australia's push for a global review also needed to include other countries' handling of the global pandemic, including the United States and Europe, so it wasn't squarely aimed at the initial outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop said any inquiry needed to look at other countries' response to the pandemic. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Beijing has reacted angrily to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's push for a global review, threatening consumer boycotts and accusing Australia of being a "lapdog" for the United States. Speaking at a virtual Lowy Institute event alongside former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans, Ms Ms Bishop said Australia now needed to conduct "some very calm and considered diplomacy" behind the scenes, rather than in the media spotlight. Ms Bishop said she was "surprised" with China's reaction to Australia's push for virus probe, but the government needed to convince Beijing that the inquiry would also scrutinise other countries' response to the virus. "China is a permanent member of the [United Nations] Security Council, China has a unique responsibility as a permanent member to maintain international peace and security, and without a doubt this pandemic is a threat to international security," she said. "China should in fact be leading an inquiry into how this pandemic began. "It is regrettable that [the call for an inquiry] has now descended into name calling and tensions and inflammatory rhetoric." Read the full story here. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 12:17:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SYDNEY, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Australians who broke the law to protest social distancing restrictions received harsh rebuke from medical community representatives on Monday, accused of jeopardizing an early relaxing of restrictions. Hundreds of demonstrators hit the streets in the state of Victoria on Sunday, calling for an end to the lockdown. However, head of the Australian Medical Association, Doctor Tony Bartone told the Today show that the protesters in fact risked prolonging social distancing laws by potentially spreading the disease, describing it as an "incredibly disappointing," and "bizarre" incident. "By that grouping of those protests over the weekend, we just need one person to be positive and spread the virus and then we're on the backward step already," Bartone said. "If we have to isolate again and (implement) those measures of social distancing right from the beginning, it's actually going to be even harder and much more prolonged the second time round." Ten people were arrested at Sunday's protest, most for failing to adhere to distancing regulations, however, four will be charged with offences related to assault of a police officer after one of the officers in attendance was hospitalized with an apparent rib injury. "Victoria Police made it very clear that if a planned protest was to proceed it would be in direct contravention of the chief health officer's current directives," police said in a statement. "While Victoria Police respects the public's right to protest, the health and safety of every Victorian needs to be our number one priority at this time." Australia's Chief Medical Officer Prof. Brendan Murphy asked Australians to take responsibility for stopping the spread of COVID-19 and said that those who break social distancing rules should be held accountable. Enditem Historical relic sites in Ho Chi Minh City are packed with tourists these days as the spirit of the great victory in 1975 that liberated the south and reunified Vietnam lingers on. The Independence Palace The most-visited attractions are Independence Palace, Nha Rong Wharf, and Cu Chi Tunnel, which are associated with national liberation and reunification. Independence Palace is a prominent historical site in Ho Chi Minh City, covering 18 hectares at 106 Nguyen Du street in District 1. In 1868, when Vietnam was under the French colonial rule, Governor General of southern Vietnam Pierre-Paul De La Grandiere laid the first stone for an imposing new colonial government headquarters in Sai Gon-Gia Dinh, the citys name at that time. The palace, originally named Norodom Palace, served as the home and command center of the Governor General. On March 9, 1945, Japan wrested control of French Indochina from the French, and Norodom Palace became the headquarters from which Japanese colonial officials in Vietnam administered six southern regions. After Frances withdrawal from Vietnam in 1954, President Ngo Dinh Diem of the proclaimed Republic of Vietnam in the southern region renamed Norodom Palace. After the new Independence Palace was severely damaged by an airstrike in 1962 during a failed attempt to assassinate President Diem, it was rebuilt with a totally new architectural design, but was not inaugurated until four years later because Diem was successfully assassinated in November, 1963. At 11:30 am on April 30, 1975, a North Vietnamese Army tank knocked down the Independence Palace gate, marking the final collapse of the Republic of Vietnam and the reunification of northern and southern Vietnam. The palace received a new name - Reunification Palace - the same year. It was officially recognized as a Historical-Cultural Relic in 1976 and a National Special Relic in 2009. Nguyen Hoang, a tourist from Hanoi, said, Documentaries recounting the moment a tank crashed through the Independence Palace gate persuaded me and my family to visit this landmark, which has really made an impression on me. I feel like Im reliving that glorious moment. Ive learned more about the April 30 victory and the sacrifices our predecessors made for Vietnams independence and freedom. The Nha Rong Wharf Not far from Independence Palace is the Nha Rong wharf, another iconic building in Ho Chi Minh City which was originally a commercial wharf on the Sai Gon River. It was built in 1864 in a Western architectural style with two dragons lying on top of it. The name Nha Rong means house of dragons. Nha Rong wharf was the first thing the French built after their capture of Sai Gon. The building has an association with Ho Chi Minh, who departed Vietnam on June 5, 1911, from this wharf aboard the French ship Admiral Latouche Treville to begin a 30-year journey around the world in search of national salvation. Nha Rong wharf became a memorial to Ho Chi Minh in 1975, and then in 1995 became the Ho Chi Minh Museum. Currently on display are 20,000 items, many of which evoke the warm feelings that existed between Ho Chi Minh and the people of southern Vietnam. The whole tunnel network is dug manually. 70 kilometers west of downtown Ho Chi Minh City is Cu Chi districts extensive labyrinth of underground tunnels, which were dug in 1946 during the struggle against the French. During the American War, the tunnels were extended over an area of 250 kilometers and came to resemble a vast spider web incorporating numerous bunkers, bomb shelters, kitchens, water wells, and an amazing air ventilation system. Soldiers cooked, ate, slept, worked, and attended classes in these tunnels as the war raged above them. The tunnels sheltered commanders, soldiers, and civilians fleeing the fighting. American troops raided the Cu Chi tunnels numerous times, attacking them with B52 bomber aircraft, tanks, and heavy artillery, but failed to destroy or close them. Tran Cong Hau of Kien Giang province said, Until I visited the Cu Chi tunnels, I never fully understood the hardship previous generations endured in the cause of national defense. I visited these underground tunnels, houses, and hospitals, to see firsthand how the people of Cu Chi lived during the war. My European friends were also deeply impressed by the creativity and effort that went into building this marvel. Other historical relic sites in Ho Chi Minh City include the War Remnants Museum, Rung Sac military base, and a secret underground room of the Sai Gon Special Force. Located at 113A Dang Dung street, the site currently showcases old photos, weapons, and vintage motorbikes used by the forces to attack the Independence Palace. VOV5 Chhattisgarhs chief minister, Bhupesh Baghel, on Monday said the state has received more than Rs 56 crore towards the relief fund to aid the government in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Bhupesh Baghel, in a series of tweets, gave an account of the donations received so far. I am presenting the account of the chief ministers relief fund among you all. I would like to mention that from March 24 to May 7, a total amount of Rs 56 crore 4 lakh 38 thousand 815 has been received from various donors in the chief ministers relief fund, the chief minister tweeted in Hindi. Out of which Rs 10 crore 25 lakh 30 thousand has been released to all districts of the state for the prevention of corona and assistance to the needy, he said. Chief minister Baghel also tweeted the reason behind his decision to reveal how much money has been spent from the fund. If you are expressing so much trust in the government in times of crisis, then it is also my duty to maintain transparency. I am sure I will keep receiving your cooperation in the future as well, Baghel added. Bagels tweets came hours ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis meeting with chief ministers at 3pm on tackling the Covid-19 outbreak in the country. At the previous meets, the Prime Minister had taken suggestions from the CMs on the contours and extension of the national lockdown, put in place to contain the infections. PM Modi, officials have told HT, is likely to discuss the further increase in economic activity in the country while also tackling the infections in containment zones. The chief ministers relief fund is similar to the Prime Ministers Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM-Cares) Fund set up by the Centre for receiving donations to aid in governments fight against the coronavirus pandemic and other crises of similar magnitude in the future. The PM-CARES fund was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March and it invites donations from individuals and institutions. The Prime Minister is the chairperson of the fund and its members include the defence minister, home minister and finance minister. A nurse who raised concerns over the safety of frontline NHS colleagues and a community campaigner against hospital ward closures are among the latest Londoners to die with coronavirus. Jennie Sablayan, 44, was a haematology nurse at University College Hospital for almost 20 years, and died in intensive care on May 5 after testing positive for Covid-19. She leaves two daughters, aged 10 and 14, and husband Joel, an intensive care nurse. Mrs Sablayan, who trained in the Phillippines before moving to Richmond, had warned in a Facebook post a month earlier that she was scared by the threat posed by the disease. Are we being let down by the NHS? As a nurse I fear for my life and the life of all my colleagues who are in the battlefield without the proper gear, she wrote. Something has to be done. Her warning was posted on April 5 alongside a news story about John Alagos, a nurse at Watford General Hospital, who had died with the virus. Mrs Sablayan was helping to treat Covid-19 patients until mid-April when she tested positive for the virus, friends said. She was self-isolating at home until her condition worsened and was taken to West Middlesex Hospital, where she was placed on a ventilator but could not be saved. Mrs Sablayan was also a clinical adviser for nursing agency Zentar UK. Company director Fahim Modak, who was also a friend, has set up an online fundraising campaign to help her family which has received more than 35,000 in donations. Jennie was outgoing, bubbly and so close to her family, especially her daughters. I know they are all in complete shock. Everyone who knew her is. She was dedicated to nursing. Marcel Levi, the chief executive of University College Hospital, said that Mrs Sablayan was an expert in her field. He added: Jennie looked after patients with leukaemia, lymphoma and other blood cancers with much kindness and great dedication. Meanwhile, campaigner Walter Harris, who ran an antiques stall in Portobello Road market for about 20 years, has died with coronavirus at Charing Cross Hospital, whose A&E department he fought to save from closure. Campaigner: Walter Harris who ran an antiques stall in Portobello Road market Mr Harris, 88, had tested positive and died with the disease and pneumonia. The father-of-two, who had worked as a medical copywriter, also had a heart condition. He had been a leading campaigner in the successful Save Charing Cross campaign which also battled to save Ealing Hospitals A&E unit. His wife Suzanna, 72, thanked the staff at Charing Cross Hospital for their care. She said: He was looked after very kindly and made comfortable. She added: He was gentle, he enjoyed reading and talking about books. He was a good companion always and had a quirky sense of humour. Loading.... Mr Harris had a Jewish burial on April 28 arranged by the family with the help of the rabbi at Charing Cross. Matala A 20-year-old pastor and six faithful members of the Pentecostal Church Temple of Love of the Living God in southern Huila province have been sentenced to two months in prison, converted into a fine, for illegally performing religious cults prohibited under the State of Emergency. The group was arrested on April 26 and must pay, within 15 days, 60,000 Kwanzas of fine each one. Speaking to Angop on Friday, the provincial director of the Home Affairs Press Office, Manuel Halaiwa, praised the collaboration of the population. "The police thank the population for the spirit of denunciation and count on everyone to continue to guarantee the preventive measures against the Covid-19", the police chief said. This is the third pastor, who has been tried and sentenced in the province for disobeying the regulations of the State of Emergency. Washington The Senate's top Democrat on Sunday called on the Department of Veterans Affairs to explain why it allowed the use of an unproven drug on veterans for the coronavirus, saying patients may have been put at unnecessary risk. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said the VA needs to provide Congress more information about a recent bulk order for $208,000 worth of hydroxychloroquine. President Donald Trump has heavily promoted the malaria drug, without evidence, as a treatment for COVID-19. Schumer's request comes after a whistleblower complaint filed this past week by former Health and Human Services official Rick Bright contended that the Trump administration, eager for a quick fix to the onslaught of the coronavirus, wanted to "flood" hot spots in New York and New Jersey with the drug. Major veterans organizations have urged VA to explain under what circumstances VA doctors initiate discussion of hydroxychloroquine with veterans as a treatment option. "There are concerns that they are using this drug when the medical evidence says it doesn't help and could hurt," Schumer said in an interview with The Associated Press. He said given the fact the malaria drug, despite being untested, had been repeatedly pushed publicly by Trump, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie must address whether anyone at the department was pressured by the White House or the administration to use hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. Schumer said Wilkie also should answer questions about a recent analysis of VA hospital data that showed there were more deaths among patients given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care, including how much patients knew about the drug's risks before taking it. Wilkie in recent weeks has denied that veterans were used as test subjects for the drug and that it was instead administered at government-run VA hospitals only when medically appropriate, with mutual consent between doctor and patient. Still, Wilkie has repeatedly declined to say how widely the drug was being used for COVID-19 and whether the department had issued broad guidance to doctors and patients on the use of the drug. In a weekly call with veterans' groups this past week, Wilkie continued to defend VA's use of hydroxychloroquine. He dismissed the recent analysis of VA hospital data showing no benefits to patients, suggesting the poor outcomes were because the cases involved older, very sick veterans. He has not said whether the department will continue to use the drug. "Use of this medication for treatment of COVID-19 is considered 'off label' perfectly legal and not rare," he wrote in an April 29 letter to veterans groups. The analysis of hospital data, done by independent researchers at two universities with VA approval, was not a rigorous experiment. Researchers analyzed medical records of 368 older male veterans hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infection at VA medical centers who died or were discharged by April 11. About 28% of veterans who were given hydroxychloroquine plus usual care died, versus 11% of those getting routine care alone. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. The VA recently said most of its recent bulk order for hydroxychloroquine was being used for approved uses, such as treating lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, but it didn't provide breakdowns. Wilkie in recent weeks took advocacy of the drug even further than Trump by claiming without evidence that it has been effective for young and middle-aged veterans in particular. In fact, there is no published evidence showing that. Veterans are "very concerned that we still do not have clarity on the VA's past and present use of hydroxychloroquine in treating veterans with COVID-19," Jeremy Butler, chief executive officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told the AP. "Now that the federal government issued an emergency use authorization for remdesivir to treat COVID-19, we need answers to these questions as well as the VA's plans for administering, or not administering, remdesivir," he said. In a tweet Sunday, former VA Secretary David Shulkin urged the department to immediately curtail use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. "With studies showing no benefit, VA should restrict use exclusively to clinical trials," he wrote. Shulkin was fired by Trump in March 2018, and Wilkie replaced him. Schumer said his main concern is determining whether the VA had conducted any "clandestine studies to determine whether hydroxychloroquine was effective without their permission." He said there's also concern that the department won't address specifically where the drug was sent or how it's being used. "These are people who risked their lives for us," Schumer said. "They should be treated only with the utmost dignity, respect and high standards of care." The drug has long been used to treat malaria and other ailments. A few, very small preliminary studies suggested it might help prevent the coronavirus from entering cells and possibly help patients clear the virus sooner. But the Food and Drug Administration last month warned doctors against prescribing the drug for COVID-19 outside hospitals because of the risks of serious side effects and death. Reiterating his earlier stand about reopening Delhi, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to allow economic activities in all areas except the containment zones. Economic activities should be allowed to resume in all parts of Delhi except containment zones, ANI quoted the CM as saying during the online meeting with the PM, along with other CMs, to discuss the restarting of trade activities and the lockdown situation. The nationwide lockdown, which is in its last week, is in place till May 17. Last week, Kejriwal, in a philosophical vein, said one will have to learn to live with coronavirus, adding it is time to reopen Delhi. The lockdown was earlier scheduled to be lifted on May 3. The chief minister said coronavirus is going nowhere and it is impossible that cases of coronavirus will be zero. Corona(virus) has come. It is impossible that there will be no cases of coronavirus because it has not happened across the country, the CM said then. Union health minister Harsh Vardhan shot down his proposal of reopening Delhi. It would not be right for me to comment as it will be seen as a political statement. On a personal level, I think a lot needs to be done to halt the spread of the coronavirus. In this lockdown 3, I think that minimum relaxations should be given by the Delhi government. But this decision has to be taken by the state. Guidelines have been issued by the home ministry but the states are free to decide, the minister told reporters last week. Highlighting the adverse impact of coronavirus on the exchequer, Kejriwal said in April 2019, the government earned Rs 3,500 crore while in April this year, it only received Rs 300 crore. He said the Centre has put the entire Delhi under red zone due to which markets, malls cannot open. We have suggested the Centre to seal those areas where cases of coronavirus have been reported and rest of areas can be allowed for the operation of all activities, he said. Most people definitely hate a cheating man, especially a lying, weak, and unfaithful husband. These men not only make their wives cringe and want to make them suffer in return when they found out the betrayal, but they forget the fact that kids are the ones who suffer the most when they do this horrible act. Actor Park Hae Joon who plays as Lee Tae Oh in the hit series "The World of The Married was initially in doubt to play as the cheating husband. According to the recent interview with GQ Korea, when the role was presented to him, he was undecided about whether he would take the role or not. He put a lot of thought into it for a long time. He further explained that he is not confident enough to take such a role, and he felt he could not fulfill the role it was meant to be since the role of a cheating husband puts so much intensity to the character. The role of a cheating husband made Park Hae Joon consider carefully not only because of the character but the manner how he could portray such a complex role. Lea Tae Oh has extreme emotions, from lying to his wife and kid, and to fulfill a promise to his mistress. He added that K-Drama schedule shootings are compacted, and he will have limited time to actually get connected with the role. "Would I be able to fulfill the role as it is meant to be fulfilled?" He asked. Despite having many doubts, Park Hae Joon eventually agreed to take on the role, and his good friend and director Byun Young Joo has a big factor in his decision. In the end, Park Hae Joon accepted the challenge. He added that Byun Young Joo, a dear friend and a film director, played a crucial role in this decision. Byun Young-joo is a female director who does documentary films. She was part of director Kim Dong-won's PURN Production. Also, she was a founding member of the feminist film collective, Bariteo. She was praised for her trilogy documentary about the current and past lives of "comfort women," or those who were abducted and were sexually abused by Japanese soldiers during World War II. During a phone call, Byun Young-joo said to Park Hae Joon, "What are you even talking about? Of course, you have to do it. Just do it and do it to the best of your ability." She also mentioned that Hae Joon would be foolish not to take the role since his costar is Kim Hee Ae. After the conversation with the female director, he said, "I gathered up the guts to say yes. So, I have her to thank for all of this." "The world of The Married" is a great success. It is currently the highest-rated Korean drama in cable television history. And continues to maintain its rating, and eventually, the last remaining episodes will spike up. As it turned out, Hae Joon has been actually played the role very well, and he would be pleased knowing that a lot of viewers, not only in Korea are looking forward to how this drama series will end. And without a doubt, he sure is proud of what the drama series has reached. You can still watch "The World of The Married" every Friday and Saturday at 10:50 PM KST. UAE nationals and residents yearning to travel again will soon be able to experience safer moments onboard Cebu Pacific, the Philippines largest national flag-carrier, as the airline assures those with an essential or immediate need to travel within the Philippines that they can reach their destination safely through the airline. As part of its preparation to fly again in the near future, Cebu Pacific has rolled out measures for contactless flights. Having everyones health and safety in mind, the airline will continue to promote social distancing and minimise face-to-face contact between passengers and staff with the following guidelines: Safety on ground All Cebu Pacific ground staff are required to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) whilst on duty. Self-check in kiosks, check-in and bag drop counters, as well as shuttle buses will be undergoing frequent cleaning and disinfection procedures to ensure a clean environment. Alcohol-based hand sanitisers will also be stationed at CEB passenger areas for guest and staff use. Self-check in and no-touch boarding Prior to their flights, passengers are strongly advised to check-in online for faster processing and lesser human contact. Travellers will also be expected to come to the airport at least two hours early as check-in counters will be closed 60 minutes before their flights. When carrying more than two pieces of luggage, assign only one representative to go to the baggage drop-off counter. Upon boarding, passengers will be required to hold out their boarding passes with the barcode facing the airline staff, for touchless scanning. Changes in inflight experience Wearing face masks will be mandatory for all passengers for the entire duration of the flight. Passengers will have to stow their own hand-carry bags in the overhead bins and will be expected to practice self-disposal of trash and waste at the end of the flight. Middle seats will be kept vacant as much as possible to give way for social distancing on board. Cabin crew members will also be strictly implementing a rule regarding no changing of seats during the flight. Orderly deplaning procedures must also be observed by everyone on board. Rapid crew testing before flights As part of CEBs commitment to ensure public health and safety, pilots and cabin crew members will undergo rapid antibody testing to ensure that they are healthy and in top condition before boarding their flights. They will be given their own PPEs and face masks to be worn on duty, gloves for servicing passengers, as well as disinfectants to be used to clean the aisles and seats in the cabin. Operating crew cleared for flights will also be given PPEs and will be trained to assist and isolate guests on board, as needed. Keeping cabin air clean and safe Those flying as soon as the quarantine is lifted will be assured that the cabin air is clean and safe. The airlines fleet of Airbus jets are equipped with High Efficiency Particulate Arrestor (HEPA) filters to block microscopic bacteria and virus clusters, including the novel coronavirus, with 99.9 per cent efficiency. By average, the air inside the cabin is also changed every three minutes to maintain freshness and cleanliness. Intensified aircraft cleaning measures Along with maintaining the air circulation in the cabin safe and clean, the airline will also put in effect thorough daily disinfection of all aircraft adhering to the procedures approved by the Bureau of Quarantine and World Health Organisation. These include misting of the cabin using a disinfectant approved for Airbus jets, as well as regular sanitation of all surfaces inside lavatoriesfrom walls, sink, mirror, knobs, toilet bowl, and floors in between flights. All lavatories will also be sanitised every 30 minutes during a flight. As the airline gets ready to fly again, Cebu Pacific is looking forward to safe and mindful travels under the new normal. - TradeArabia News Service South Africa: Labour centre closed after employee tests COVID-19 positive The Department of Employment and Labour has closed its labour centre in Bellville, Cape Town, after an employee tested positive for COVID-19. The Department in a statement issued on Monday said closing down the centre would allow for the testing of all workers who may have been in contact with the affected employee to be tested and monitored. The Bellville office will during closure also be deep-cleaned and disinfected. The said employee did not interact with members of the public. The departments Director-General, Thobile Lamati, said the employee, who works at the Compensation Fund in Pretoria, was caught up in the lockdown period while visiting family in Cape Town. As a result, she was placed to work at the Bellville Labour Centre to enable her to continue to do her duties. As we have indicated before, while labour centres have been closed for general public traffic, our officials have continued work in the background, capturing information and thus ensuring that there is no major disruption of services for our clients. It follows then that the said employee did not have any interaction with the members of the public, said Lamati. However, the employee interacted with 36 staff members who were working at the labour centre. The department has referred all staff who worked at the centre for testing at the states expense. The employee first reported sick on April 28. When limited travel was allowed as a result of the lowering of the Alert Level to 4, she travelled back to Gauteng on May 1. On 3 May she displayed symptoms of flu and took flu medication but her symptoms worsened. Two days later, she had shortness of breath and coughing and was taken to the doctor, where she was tested and diagnosed with pneumonia, and admitted at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg. COVID-19 tests were conducted. On 6 May she was transferred to the ICU for ventilation and her COVID-19 tests results came back positive on Friday 8 May, he said. The case has been reported to the Centre for Communicable Disease both in Gauteng and in Cape Town and the family has been kept informed of the developments. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-05-11. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Recent research suggests that men have a higher amount of ACE2 in their plasma, which is likely why they are more vulnerable to COVID-19. Recent research published in the European Heart Journal suggested that men have a higher amount of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in their plasma, which is likely why they are more vulnerable to COVID-19. The study was led by Dr Adriaan Voor, Professor of Cardiology at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in The Netherlands. ACE2 is also a receptor present on the surface of healthy cells. SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, uses this receptor to enter inside cells. ACE2 receptors are present in abundance in the lungs, heart, kidneys and testes. Early investigations have reported that even though COVID-19 affects all age groups and genders, older people and those with chronic diseases (especially men) are more likely to become severe cases once they contract the virus. Overall, about 58.1% of all COVID-19 patients have been men and 41.9% have been women and 70% of all patients that died in Italy were older men. The study For the study, Dr Voor and his team measured the amount of ACE2 in the blood of 1,485 men and 537 women with heart failure - ACE2 blood concentration increases in case of heart failure. The results of the study were validated in another 1,123 men and 575 women with heart failure. The study concluded that men have a higher concentration of ACE2 in their blood, which did not occur due to the use of ACE2 inhibitors or ACE2 receptor blockers. The latter indicated that ACE2 inhibitors or ACE2 receptor blockers do not increase ACE2 in COVID-19 patients as previously thought. It was further added that the high levels of the ACE2 were present in testes and the specific regulation of ACE2 protein formation in testes may explain why coronavirus flourishes in men and makes them more susceptible to the disease. Other possible causes This is not the first study that says that higher expression of ACE2 in testes may be the reason behind the susceptibility of men to COVID-19. A preprint, non-peer reviewed study done on 68 subjects, also suggested the same earlier in April. A study published in The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine indicated that the presence of only one X chromosome in men makes them more likely to get infections. Humans have two sex chromosomes, women have two X chromosomes while men have an X and a Y. A majority of immunity-determining genes are present on the X chromosome. This is also why women are more likely to get autoimmune diseases. Additionally, more men tend to smoke than women and some experts say that this may be the reason behind their susceptibility to COVID-19. More smokers are seen to have COVID-19 in China, Italy and the USA. High testosterone levels are also considered to be contributors to severe COVID-19 in men due to specific receptors that testosterone promotes the formation of. However, low testosterone in older age may weaken respiratory muscles and, in clinical studies, older men with chronic heart failure have shown increased oxygen consumption on getting testosterone therapy. For more information, read our article on Severe vs mild COVID-19. Health articles in Firstpost are written by myUpchar.com, Indias first and biggest resource for verified medical information. At myUpchar, researchers and journalists work with doctors to bring you information on all things health. >>> Deputy PM attends UNSC video meeting celebrating end of World War II Following is the full test of the speech. Thank you, Mr. President, for bringing us together, though only virtually, on this important occasion. Mr. President, Seventy-five years ago, the deadliest war in human history ended, but only after having caused untold suffering to hundreds of millions of people around the world. We are indebted to those who fought and sacrificed, in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Allied Powers, and lest we forget, the people of the former Soviet Union. The defeat of the fascists and aggressors in the Second World War, and indeed in all wars and conflicts, proved that actions driven by expansionism, militarism and the thirst for conquest and dominance can never bend the will of nations to fight for their independence and freedom. It also demonstrated that no force can triumph over the burning desire of nations for peace and the shared values of humanity. For Vietnam, the end of World War II helped bring a new beginning, as the nation emerged independent, after nearly a century under colonialism. Rising from the ashes of World War II, nations have come together to rebuild a more peaceful, stable and prosperous world. At the centre of these efforts emerged a collective security system anchored in the UN Charter and international law. Unfortunately, the end of the Second World War did not mean that peace was guaranteed. Colonialism and aggression continued to wreak havoc on nations. Vietnam, for one, suffered decades of devastating wars before our final victory in gaining independence, unification and peace. Therefore, given the lessons learnt from the World War II and from our own history, Vietnam believes strongly that upholding international law, strengthened solidarity, cooperation and mutual trust on a global scale must underline our efforts to preserve the hard-won peace and stability in all parts of the world. The principles of the Charter, particularly those of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, non-use of force and peaceful settlement of disputes, have proven to be pivotal in preventing another disastrous world war and maintaining sustainable peace. This was echoed at the Security Council earlier this year, as the Council itself reaffirmed its commitment to an international order based on international law as the indispensable foundation of a more peaceful, prosperous and just world. In Asia, the success of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in turning Southeast Asia from a war-torn and deeply divided region into a region of friendship and cooperation is a powerful example. It also highlights the crucial role of regional organizations in maintaining peace, security and stability in the region and beyond. Let me conclude, Mr. President, with the wise words of President Ho Chi Minh, a UNESCO Great Man of Culture, who led the nation of Vietnam to independence exactly seventy-five years ago. He wrote, and I quote The people everywhere love peace, and they hate wars. People everywhere wants to live in independence and freedom", end of quote. His words capture our collective desire to silence all guns, to end all wars, and achieve sustainable peace. We continue to believe that our common human aspiration for peace, freedom and justice, and our determination to defend our independence, sovereignty and territory, will prevail over confrontation, the use of force and attempts for domination and conquest. I thank you, Mr. President. Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan has hit out at Transurban and the builders of the $6.7 billion West Gate Tunnel as more than 200 workers on the troubled toll road project were stood down, with another 400 at risk of losing their jobs in coming months. Senior industry, union and government sources confirmed to The Age late on Monday that about 100 white-collar staff employed by the projects builders CPB Contractors and John Holland and possibly another 130 subcontractors were being stood down. PFAS soil stockpiles near Footscray rd in Footscray in March. Credit:Luis Enrique The companies had not announced the job losses by Tuesday afternoon, so no official reason has yet been provided. But sources with detailed knowledge of the project said the cuts were linked to claims by the builders that costs had increased due to the landfill levy associated with the dumping of contaminated soil already dug up and being stockpiled along the West Gate Freeway. People who are black or Asian are more than 1.5 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than white people, according to preliminary data from a huge new study in the UK. The study suggests being black or from southern Asia is more strongly associated with dying from the disease than having chronic heart problems or asthma. The study's authors say governments around the world now need to recognise ethnic minority groups are at particularly high risk from the virus, and should take urgent action to protect them. A subway rider wears a mask and a bandana for protection against COVID-19 in New York. The coronavirus has previously been found to be hitting black Americans particularly hard. A new study points to the same situation in the UK. Credit:AP The study, led by the University of Oxford, is enormous: more than 17 million patient records in Britain were analysed, including those of 5683 people who died from COVID-19. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation and cyber security experts believe Chinese hackers are trying to steal research on developing a vaccine against coronavirus, two newspapers reported Monday. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are planning to release a warning about the Chinese hacking as governments and private firms race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported. The hackers are also targeting information and intellectual property on treatments and testing for COVID-19. US officials alleged that the hackers are linked to the Chinese government, the reports say. The official warning could come within days. In Beijing Foreign Affairs ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian rejected the allegation, saying China firmly opposes all cyber attacks. "We are leading the world in COVID-19 treatment and vaccine research. It is immoral to target China with rumors and slanders in the absence of any evidence," Zhao said. The warning would add to a series of alerts and reports accusing government-backed hackers in Iran, North Korea, Russia and China of malicious activity related to the pandemic, from pumping out false news to targeting workers and scientists. The New York Times said it could be a prelude to officially-sanctioned counterattacks by US agencies involved in cyber warfare, including the Pentagon's Cyber Command and the National Security Agency. Last week in a joint message Britain and the United States warned of a rise in cyber attacks against health professionals involved in the coronavirus response by organised criminals "often linked with other state actors. PHILADELPHIA, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Aberdeen Australia Equity Fund, Inc. (NYSE American: IAF) (the "Fund"), a closed-end fund, today announced that it will pay on June 30, 2020, a stock distribution of US$0.12 per share to all shareholders of record as of May 21, 2020 (ex-dividend date May 20, 2020). Your Fund's distribution policy (the "Distribution Policy") is to provide investors with a stable quarterly distribution out of current income, supplemented by realized capital gains and, to the extent necessary, paid-in capital. In March 2020, the Board determined the rolling distribution rate to be 10% for the 12-month period commencing with the distribution payable in June 2020. This policy will be subject to regular review by the Board. This stock distribution will automatically be paid in newly issued shares of the Fund unless otherwise instructed by the shareholder. Shares of common stock will be issued at the lower of the net asset value ("NAV") per share or the market price per share with a floor for the NAV of not less than 95% of the market price. Fractional shares will generally be settled in cash, except for registered shareholders with book entry accounts at Computershare Investor Services who will have whole and fractional shares added to their account. Shareholders may request to be paid their quarterly distributions in cash instead of shares of common stock by providing advance notice to the bank, brokerage or nominee who holds their shares if the shares are in "street name" or by filling out in advance an election card received from Computershare Investor Services if the shares are in registered form. To receive the quarterly distribution payable in June 2020 in cash instead of shares of common stock, the bank, brokerage or nominee who holds the shares must advise the Depository Trust Company as to their full and fractional share requirements by June 19, 2020 and written notification for the election of cash by registered shareholders must be received by Computershare Investor Services prior to June 19, 2020. Under U.S. tax rules applicable to the Fund, the amount and character of distributable income for each fiscal year can be finally determined only as of the end of the Fund's fiscal year. However, under Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act") and related Rules, the Fund may be required to indicate to shareholders the source of certain distributions to shareholders. The following table sets forth the estimated amounts of the sources of the distribution for purposes of Section 19 of the 1940 Act and the Rules adopted thereunder. The table has been computed based on generally accepted accounting principles. The table includes estimated amounts and percentages for the distribution to be paid on June 30, 2020 as well as the estimated cumulative distributions declared fiscal year to date (11/01/2019 - 04/30/2020), from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short-term capital gains; net realized long-term capital gains; and return of capital. The estimated composition of the distributions may vary from quarter to quarter because the estimated composition may be impacted by future income, expenses and realized gains and losses on securities and currencies. Estimated Amounts of Current Quarterly Distribution per share ($) Estimated Amounts of Current Quarterly Distribution per share (%) Estimated Amounts of Fiscal Year to Date Cumulative Distributions per share ($) Estimated Amounts of Fiscal Year to Date Cumulative Distributions per share (%) Net Investment Income $0.0228 19% $0.0760 19% Net Realized Short-Term Capital Gains* - - - - Net Realized Long-Term Capital Gains $0.0108 9% $0.0360 9% Return of Capital $0.0864 72% $0.2880 72% Total (per common share) $0.1200 100% $0.4000 100% *includes currency gains As of April 30, 2020 after giving effect to this payment, the Fund estimates it has a net deficit of $4,837,000. A net deficit results when the Fund has net unrealized losses that are in excess of any net realized gains that have not yet been distributed. The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income." Shareholders should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of the Fund's current distributions or from the terms of the Distribution Policy. The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The final determination of the source of all distributions in 2020 will be made after year-end. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of the fiscal year and may be subject to change based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes. The following table provides the Fund's total return performance based on net asset value (NAV) over various time periods compared to the Fund's annualized and cumulative distribution rates. Average Annual Total Return on NAV for the 5 Year Period Ending 04/30/20201 0.75% Current Fiscal Period's Annualized Distribution Rate on NAV2 12.31% Fiscal Year to Date (11/01/2019 to 04/30/2020) Cumulative Total Return on NAV1 -16.24% Cumulative Distribution Rate on NAV2 6.15% 1 Return data is net of all fund expenses and fees and assumes the reinvestment of all distributions reinvested at prices obtained under the Fund's dividend reinvestment plan. 2 Based on the Fund's NAV as of April 30, 2020. While NAV performance may be indicative of the Fund's investment performance, it does not measure the value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund. The value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund is determined by the Fund's market price, which is based on the supply and demand for the Fund's shares in the open market. Pursuant to an exemptive order granted by the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 30, 2010, the Fund may distribute any long-term capital gains more frequently than the limits provided in Section 19(b) under the 1940 Act and Rule 19b-1 thereunder. Therefore, distributions paid by the Fund during the year may include net income, short-term capital gains, long-term capital gains and/or a return of capital. Net income dividends and short-term capital gain dividends, while generally taxable at ordinary income rates, may be eligible, to the extent of qualified dividend income earned by the Fund, to be taxed at a lower rate not to exceed the maximum rate applicable to your long-term capital gains. Distributions made in any calendar year in excess of investment company taxable income and net capital gain are treated as taxable ordinary dividends to the extent of undistributed earnings and profits, and then as a return of capital that reduces the adjusted basis in the shares held. To the extent return of capital distributions exceed the adjusted basis in the shares held, capital gain is recognized with a holding period based on the period the shares have been held at the date such amount is received. Shareholders should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the terms of the distribution policy. The final determination of the source of all distributions will be made after year-end. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the fiscal year and may be subject to change based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report distributions for federal income tax purposes. To the extent stockholders elect to receive cash under the Distribution Policy, there may be a resulting decrease in the Fund's net assets. A decrease in the Fund's net assets may cause an increase in the Fund's annual operating expense ratio and a decrease in the Fund's market price per share to the extent the market price correlates closely to the Fund's net asset value per share. Cash elections under the Distribution Policy may also negatively affect the Fund's investment activities to the extent that the Fund is required to hold larger cash positions than it typically would hold or to the extent that the Fund must liquidate securities that it would not have sold, for the purpose of paying the distribution. The Fund's Board of Directors has the right to amend, suspend or terminate the Distribution Policy at any time. The amendment, suspension or termination of the Distribution Policy may affect the Fund's market price per share. Investors should consult their tax advisor regarding federal, state and local tax considerations that may be applicable in their particular circumstances. Circular 230 disclosure : To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the U.S. Treasury, we inform you that any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. In the United States, Aberdeen Standard Investments is the marketing name for the following affiliated, registered investment advisers: Aberdeen Standard Investments Inc., Aberdeen Asset Managers Ltd., Aberdeen Standard Investments Australia Ltd., Aberdeen Standard Investments (Asia) Ltd., Aberdeen Capital Management, LLC, Aberdeen Standard Investments ETFs Advisors LLC and Standard Life Investments (Corporate Funds) Ltd. Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. The Fund's investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the net asset value (NAV) of the fund's portfolio. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Past performance does not guarantee future results. If you wish to receive this information electronically, please contact [email protected] aberdeeniaf.com SOURCE Aberdeen Australia Equity Fund, Inc. - Popular Nigerian musician, Davido, has written emotionally on his late mom on International Mother's Day - Davido said he wished she were alive to witness today - The If crooner also asked that she continue to "rest in perfect peace" PAY ATTENTION: Click See First under the Following tab to see Legit.ng News on your Facebook News Feed! Nigerian musician, Davido, has taken time out to celebrate his late mother on International Mothers Day. In an emotional Instagram post, the Blow My Mind crooner, asked his mother to keep resting in perfect peace as he added that he wished she were here today. People like Peruzzi, a musician on DMW label, and Father DMW replied to the post with love emojis. Davido attached a throwback picture of his mom holding him when he was still a little boy to the post. See his post below: Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that Davido took to social media to celebrate 9 years of being in the Nigerian music industry. Davido no doubt, has come a long way in the music industry from his early days in which Dami Duro was a hit song everyone danced to, all the way down to his A Good Time album currently rocking the airwaves. Taking to Twitter to celebrate, he tweeted: "Dropped my first song 9 years .. Thats crazy! Next year we celebrate 10 years! Trust it to be a carnival!!" In related news, the artiste also celebrated Princess Hailey, his beautiful second daughter with US baby mama Amanda. The father of three in a recent Instagram post, shared an adorable video of the little girl wearing a cute tiara as she celebrated her birthday with her mother in the US whose voice can be heard from behind the camera. Sharing the video, Davido wrote: "Omg MY BABY IS 3 Happy birthday to my darling Princess Hailey !!!! U know daddy would be there with u if possible !!! I pray for you everyday ... eat all the cake and stuff ur face today love Daddy birthday " Legit.ng also reported that the first lady of Anambra state and founder of the Caring Family Enhancement Initiative, Ebelechukwu Obiano (Osodieme) built two houses for widows at Akwaihedi, Nnewi South and Igboukwu in Aguata local government. At the presentation of the houses to the widows, her excellency also spoke about the need to stay at home and observe the guidelines on preventing the spread of Covid-19. PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news update Since this pandemic started, we have all been rooted to our homes. Unfortunately, there are some of our sisters who cannot stay comfortably because they have no roof over their heads. This is why I decided to come out today to ensure that our sisters stay at home and stay safe by handing the keys to two new two-bedroom bungalows built free by my NGO, CAFE, she said. The first lady said the donated houses will be furnished with necessary household items to ensure top comfort for the beneficiaries. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better I am not jealous of Davido B Red | Legit TV Source: Legit.ng The Sunrock Group is looking forward to building a strong Canadian company in the Greater Toronto Area that is poised to supply high quality aggregates to construction projects throughout that market. The Sunrock Group, a privately held construction materials supplier headquartered in Raleigh, NC has acquired an existing quarry with 1,400 acres of high quality aggregate reserves located in Burnt River, Ontario, Canada from Brazil-based Votorantim Cimentoss North American business unit Canada Building Materials/St. Marys Cement. The newly acquired reserves will allow The Sunrock Group to supply high quality construction materials to the Greater Toronto Area. The Sunrock Groups expansion into the Ontario, Canada construction materials market will expand the companys footprint in North America and further grow the companys position as a major producer of construction materials. According to Bryan Pfohl, the Sunrock Groups Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: The Sunrock Group is looking forward to building a strong Canadian company in the Greater Toronto Area that is poised to supply high quality aggregates to construction projects throughout that market. The Sunrock Group will do business in Canada through its entity; Sunrock Canada Construction Materials ULC. Founded in 1949 in Buffalo, New York and headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, The Sunrock Group is a privately held, family-owned vertically integrated company offering customers a one-stop-shopping experience by producing aggregates, recycled aggregates, hot mix asphalt, ready mixed concrete, and contracting services at our conveniently located quarries and production facilities throughout the greater Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina area. Our over 70-year legacy has positioned us as a leading privately held producer of construction materials and industrial minerals, providing contracting services in the Southeastern United States. Our mission is to be the preferred supplier, employer and neighbor in the communities we serve. More information is available at http://www.thesunrockgroup.com/. Stocks in Asia mostly rose on Monday as hopes rise on economies reopening, even as U.S. reported record job losses in April. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 jumped 1.05% to close at 20,390.66 while the Topix index gained 1.53% to finish its trading day at 1,480.62. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also saw robust gains as it rose 1.42%, as of its final hour of trading. The Straits Times index in Singapore advanced 0.37% in afternoon trade. Mainland Chinese shares, however, edged lower on the day. The Shanghai composite was fractionally lower at around 2,894.80 while the Shenzhen composite dipped 0.245% at approximately 1,804.74. South Korea's Kospi also dipped 0.54% to end its trading day at 1,935.40. Meanwhile the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia closed 1.3% higher at 5,461.20. Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan gained 0.79%. Investors continued to watch for developments on the coronavirus front amid hopes of global economies reopening as social distancing measures are eased. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined over the weekend a "conditional plan" to slowly reopen society and the economy. Disney also reopened its Disneyland theme park in Shanghai on Monday. Belfast City Airport said it would abide by whatever regulations the Government decides Boris Johnson's plan to exempt air passengers from the Irish Republic from quarantine is unlikely to be reciprocated, say sources. Passengers arriving in the UK by air will be presumed to be carrying coronavirus and will be required to self-isolate in a private dwelling for two weeks. There will be an exception for passengers from the Republic. But Dublin sources have stressed Irish health authorities cannot extend any such courtesy to air travellers arriving from Great Britain in the Republic. This means British people coming to the Republic, or Irish people returning from a visit there, will have to give their details and self-isolate for 14 days. "The way the UK is counting cases and deaths is very different than this jurisdiction and they are still not testing in the community. Yet, Britain still has the worst situation on coronavirus in the world right now," a well-placed source said. "We are just not in a position to reciprocate in all the circumstances," the source added. The same obligation will not apply to people coming to and from Northern Ireland. There is also uncertainty around what will happen in the case of people flying into Dublin and then crossing the border into Northern Ireland, thereby undermining the quarantine measures. Meanwhile, the body representing Northern Ireland's hospitality industry has said quarantine restrictions for air travellers will make a bad situation worse for the tourism sector. Colin Neill, chief executive of Hospitality Ulster, said: "It will have further implications for rebuilding tourism. We are already in a difficult place and that will make it worse. "That said, health has to drive everything at the minute and if scientists are saying it has to be done, well yes, but for how long? "The biggest challenge we have at the minute is planning. We aren't saying we want to open now, but we need a timeline so we can plan and so we can see what money we need to survive. "If we do it (the quarantine) other countries will reciprocate and then how long do they have that ban? If it needs to be done, it needs to be done within a timeframe." Belfast International Airport said it was not consulted on the Government's plans. A spokeswoman said it feared the proposal would have a "serious effect" on the airport and the region's economy. "We have received no official confirmation on the Government's plans so we are unable to make a specific comment," she said. "However, we can confirm that Belfast International Airport has not been consulted on this move. "We have written to government asking for clarification and outlining the serious effect this would have not only on our business but also, and more importantly, on the economy of Northern Ireland." Although Belfast City Airport does not operate any flights from outside the UK, a spokesperson said it would abide by whatever regulations the Government puts in place. A man has been found dead in Melbourne's south-east after locals reported hearing a gunshot. Police went to Calrossie Crescent in Endeavour Hills just before 8pm to treat an injured man but he was unresponsive and died at the scene. A man has been found dead in Endeavour Hills in Melbourne's south-east after locals reported hearing a gunshot. Credit:Paul Sakkal Police are investigating reports a gunshot was heard near the incident. A police helicopter was circling the local area earlier in the evening in search of a possible shooter. MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines' confirmed coronavirus infections have broken past the 11,000 mark, the health ministry said on Monday. In a bulletin, the health ministry reported 292 additional cases, bringing the total to 11,086. It recorded seven more deaths, increasing the total to 726 while 75 more patients have recovered, bringing total recoveries to 1,999. (Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Toby Chopra) [May 10, 2020] Total Life Changes (TLC) donates $182,714 during the month of April 2020 to its employees and independent representatives. Total Life Changes, a world-wide leader in the health and wellness industry, provides help to those in need. Random independent representatives and global TLC employees were selected every day and awarded a bonus of $1,200. TLC's founder and CEO Jack Fallon, alongside long-time friend and COO, John Licari, randomly selected winners on their daily live broadcast @TLCHQ on Facebook (News - Alert) at 2 pm EST. The phrase, "Hit it again" became synonymous with viewers celebrating the random winners. Jack sums it up: This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200510005031/en/ "Johnny (Licari), and I felt compelled to find a way to support our TLC family. Johnny came up with the term, Stimulus of Hope and I loved it. The rest just took off from there. The next thing you know, we're telling our A/V team to hit it again. And they would hit the go button on our random drawing software. It was fun. It was exciting, but most importantly, it was one way for us to give back to our TLC family. And after a few days, someone entioned to me that we should have a raffle for all of our employees around the world, so we started surprising employees from offices in Central and South America. Heck, we had warehouse employees winning that just started working for us. It was amazing. And what was even more incredible is their intentions for using the money toward their education, their wedding, and even giving to their parents to support the family during these trying times." About Total Life Changes Total Life Changes (TLC) is a global direct selling company headquartered in Michigan offering a diverse product portfolio of health and wellness products. Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jack Fallon created TLC 16 years ago with a single product: NutraBurst. Since that time, TLC has continued to develop weight loss and wellness products matched with an attractive hybrid binary compensation plan. This allows Life Changers of TLC to be rewarded quickly for introducing new customers to its products and business opportunity. Find out why so many are saying, 'It really is different over here.' For more information, please visit www.totallifechanges.com Get more information, facts, and figures about Total Life Changes. Click here for the Total Life Changes overview. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200510005031/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Hills star Whitney Port wore a CDC-recommended COVID-19 mask for a Mother's Day stroll in Los Angeles on Sunday with her mother Vicki, husband Tim Rosenman, and son Sonny Sanford. California Governor Gavin Newsom's stay-at home order was extended through Friday due to the 31,703 confirmed coronavirus cases in LA County, which has led to 1,531 deaths as of Sunday. The 35-year-old reality star received bouquets of fresh flowers from her 42-year-old bearded beau as well as her celebrity gal pal, Jessica Alba. Family reunion! The Hills star Whitney Port (2-R) wore a CDC-recommended COVID-19 mask for a Mother's Day stroll in Los Angeles on Sunday with her mother Vicki (L), husband Tim Rosenman, and son Sonny Sanford Not as bad as NYC! California Governor Gavin Newsom's stay-at home order was extended through Friday due to the 31,703 confirmed coronavirus cases in LA County, which has led to 1,531 deaths as of Sunday Whitney also received the 'cutest present' - a pair of custom Sonny Sanford nameplate earrings designed by Alex Mika. 'Thinking about those of you having a hard day today,' Port - who boasts 2.9M social media followers - wrote via Instastory. 'Mother's Day can be trying for many. I urge you to do something that gives you a little pep in your step. Go for a walk, take an extra couple minutes in the shower, watch s*** TV. Whatever it is that makes you feel happy and a little more warm inside.' The married couple of four years are still divided over whether or not to have a second child following their miscarriage at six weeks gestation last July. In bloom: The 35-year-old reality star received bouquets of fresh flowers from her 42-year-old bearded beau as well as her celebrity gal pal, Jessica Alba 'Cutest present!' Whitney also received a pair of custom Sonny Sanford nameplate earrings designed by Alex Mika Port wrote via Instastory: 'Mother's Day can be trying for many. I urge you to do something that gives you a little pep in your step. Go for a walk, take an extra couple minutes in the shower, watch s*** TV. Whatever it is that makes you feel happy and a little more warm inside' 'He, I know, really really wants a second kid, and I don't know. That's where little fractures start to happen,' Whitney recently told the Infertile AF podcast. '[But] I love the way my life is right now [so] why complicate anything further? ... You don't know if [miscarriage] is going to be a routine or not, and that's what's scary.' Port admitted in her With Whit podcast last month that she sometimes envies adults without kids 'because of all the free time they have' but then she 'locks eyes' with her curly-haired two-year-old. The LA-born socialite's newly-separated former castmate Kristin Cavallari is 'excited' to 'make an appearance' in the second season of The Hills: New Beginnings. 'He really, really wants a second kid': The married couple of four years are still divided over whether or not to have a second child following their miscarriage at six weeks gestation last July (pictured December 30) Whitney recently told the Infertile AF podcast: 'I love the way my life is right now [so] why complicate anything further? ... You don't know if [miscarriage] is going to be a routine or not, and that's what's scary' (pictured Sunday) 'I realized how grateful I am for his energy!' Port admitted in her With Whit podcast last month that she sometimes envies adults without kids 'because of all the free time they have' but then she 'locks eyes' with her curly-haired two-year-old 'It's a whole new production team, so hopefully it's not as manufactured, but we will see,' the 33-year-old mother-of-three told ET in March. Back in 2006-2010, the Laguna Beach spin-off was frequently criticized for fabricating storylines. Whitney's current co-star Spencer Pratt told ET last month that the cast is still filming the MTV reality series without camera crews during quarantine. Port originally met Rosenman while he was working as associate producer on her MTV spin-off, The City. Tim shoots and edit the USC grad's many YouTube vlogs, but his last real producing credit was on Fox music competition The X Factor way back in 2012. 'Hopefully it's not as manufactured!' The LA-born socialite's newly-separated former castmate Kristin Cavallari is 'excited' to 'make an appearance' in the second season of The Hills: New Beginnings (pictured March 19) KING GEORGE COUNTY, VA When times are tough, heroes emerge. We all know someone who's making a difference right now as we live through unprecedented times. Here at Patch, we've launched an initiative to help recognize these everyday heroes. This submission comes from Bridgett Alexander Brown of Fredericksburg who nominated her daughter Debora Brown, a resident of King George County who works on a COVID-19 Incident Management Team with the Fairfax County Health Department. Brown, who grew up in Vienna where she graduated from James Madison High School at the age of 16, earned a degree in biology from the University of Mary Washington in 2006. In her job with the Fairfax County Health Department, Brown, 34, is on the front lines of the coronavirus in Fairfax County, where thousands of people have tested positive for the virus. Brown is part of a team that goes out to inspect facilities where someone has tested positive for the coronavirus. Along with her full-time job with the Fairfax County Health Department, Brown works part-time as Children's Program Coordinator for SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now) of Northern Virginia in Alexandria. She develops programming and activities for at-risk children who are having problems at home or school. "Reaching people, serving families and touching lives is what keeps me grounded and gratifies me the most," Brown said in a 2018 interview for SCAN's in-house magazine. "I have learned that judgment has no place in true service and that compassion can overcome bias." Bridgett Alexander Brown is amazed that her daughter finds the time to work two jobs, especially positions that can be both fulfilling and stressful on a daily basis. During the coronavirus, Brown has been organizing activities with the children via video chat. One of the virtual projects is teaching the children how to cook. Since she can't meet with the children in person, Brown must make sure the food gets delivered to their homes so Brown and the children can cook at the same time. Story continues Brown has always wanted to give back to the community. When she was an early teen, Brown told her parents she didn't want gifts for Christmas. Instead, Brown started her own organization called Operation Angels where she would solicit donations of toys from the community and then dressed up as an angel and playing an old violin distribute them to children of families in need. After several years of distributing toys, the children started calling Brown "The Angel." Debora Brown works on a COVID-19 Incident Management Team with the Fairfax County Health Department. (Courtesy of Bridgett Alexander Brown) A local church in Vienna, impressed with Brown's generosity over the years, wanted to do something special for Brown. One day, Brown went to the church expecting to pick up toys to donate to children. Instead, the church presented her with a new violin, a special gift she would end up playing through college. Years later, many of these children who Brown had helped attended her graduation from the University of Mary Washington. Brown's mother recalled one particular set of twins who Brown had mentored when they were young and who graduated from Virginia Tech in 2019. "My daughter helped them when they were young. And they were able to see her graduate from college. And they knew they could do the same," Brown's mother said. Bridgett Alexander Brown, who also has two older sons, said she wasn't sure how she would do raising a daughter when Deborah was born. But Debora Brown's courage, generosity and dedication to helping others allows. "If I was an artist, she would be my masterpiece," said Brown's mother, gushing with pride. Name of the nominee: Debora Brown Where the nominee lives: King George County Name of the person who nominated the hero: Bridgett Alexander Brown Is the nominee considered an "essential worker"? Yes What does the nominee do for work? Environmental Health Specialist with the Fairfax County Health Department Why do you believe the nominee should be recognized or honored? My daughter, a University of Mary Washington graduate with a degree in Biology, works on the COVID-19 Incident Management Team with the Fairfax County Health Department. She was activated from being an Environmental Health Specialist in her normal job duties, to working 12-hour days protecting the public from COVID-19 as a first responder. She assists with the facility logistics of setting up call centers, maintaining designated quarantine spaces for those in need, to now transitioning to a high-risk task force in congregate facilities. She has been working with a smile and focusing on the positive, in spite of the inevitable feelings of exhaustion, anxiety and fear. She loves what she does and strives to be a team player in every role that she is placed in. Even though I worry about her safety, she reassures me with positivity and humor. We as a family want to acknowledge her and are proud of her fortitude. What's one thing you want everyone to know about your hero? I want people to know about the selfless sacrifices that she makes and the way that she steps up without complaint. This article originally appeared on the Fredericksburg Patch Oregons state park system has slowly started reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic, and this week will mark the opening of one of the most popular and beloved recreation sites in the state. Smith Rock State Park, a rock climbing destination in central Oregon, will reopen to the public May 14, state park officials confirmed Monday, though a few restrictions will be in place. The popular Misery Ridge Trail that winds its way up the rock formation will remain closed, along with the the visitors center, the bivouac campground and some parking areas. Visitors who show up to find a full parking lot are asked to turn around and go home. READ MORE: What outdoor spaces have reopened in Oregon? Whats still closed? The idea is to keep crowds small, Oregon state parks spokesman Chris Havel said, and to maintain Smith Rock as a place for locals not a destination for people from Portland or other nearby metropolitan areas. Dont hop in your car in Portland and rush out to the park, Havel said. This is for people who are already in the area. While Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has announced that some outdoor recreation spaces can begin reopening, those who live in urban areas are asked not to travel more than 50 miles from their home to recreate, and to not meet up with people from outside their immediate households. State park officials are also asking visitors to bring face coverings as well as water, hand sanitizer, soap and toilet paper, in case restrooms remain closed. People should remember to follow proper leave no trace ethics when relieving themselves outdoors, and should be prepared to pack out all trash, including toilet paper. To date, more than 45 Oregon state park sites have reopened or partially reopened to the public, with more expected to reopen this week. Parks in the Columbia River Gorge will remain closed, state officials said, and park sites on the Oregon coast will be only open as long as local communities are comfortable and park staff are well equipped. --Jamie Hale; jhale@oregonian.com; 503-294-4077; @HaleJamesB Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Pakistan's radio broadcaster, Radio Pakistan, put out a tweet on Sunday with maximum and minimum temperatures in Ladakh, albeit with a glaring error. The tweet from the Pakistani Twitter handle read: "In Ladakh, maximum temperature is -4 degree centigrade and minimum temperature is -1 degree centigrade." Twitter@rose_k01 The problem? -4 degree centigrade was lower than -1 degree centigrade, and therefore cannot be the maximum temperature. The tweet was later taken down by Radio Pakistan. Radio Pakistan's tweet had come in retaliation to the India Meteorological Department's move to refer to meteorological sub-division of Jammu and Kashmir as Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad. Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad are part of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. Radio Pakistan's tweet aimed at levelling scores with India led to brutal trolling on social media: #1 In other news Radio Pakistan has started covering weather reports of Ladakh. World may no longer be same again as the temperature has been reported like this MAXIMUM as -4 Degree MINIMUM as -1 Degree Jaswant Singh (@just_1_singh) May 10, 2020 #2 Radio Pakistan was broadcasting how the victorious Pakistani Army had destroyed the Indian Army and was rapidly marching towards Delhi to capture Red Fort well after #Pakistan had surrendered to #India in 1971 and nearly 100000 Pakistani PoWs were eating Indian rotis. So. pic.twitter.com/lXv8YHar9t Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) May 10, 2020 #3 #4 Well done #RadioPakistan. You have great teachers like Naikoo...no wonder..!! pic.twitter.com/YygU3MQEa3 Capt Archit Gupta (@rockingarchit) May 10, 2020 #5 #6 All Maths Teacher after seeing the calculation of Radio Pakistan#RadioPakistan pic.twitter.com/60ALhU1mSv Aman Pandey (@theamanpandey29) May 10, 2020 #7 According to radio Pakistan -4 deg C is maximum temperature. -1 is minimum temperature. #maths #RadioPakistan pic.twitter.com/yV76ShCmnw Masti Gram (@masti_gram) May 10, 2020 "RIP common sense!!! -4 max and - 1 min??? Kon se gole se science padhe ho (where have you studied science from)???" another user wrote. On Friday, Amit Khare, the Secretary of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, ordered national broadcaster DD News and All India Radio to broadcast weather reports of PoK towns of Mirpur, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan. Indias decision to begin weather forecasts of regions under PoK came after the India Meteorological Department placed Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad and Mirpur under the Jammu and Kashmir subdivision last week. IANS According to ANI, a seven-member larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Thursday (April 30) allowed accepted the plea of Prime Minister Imran Khan-led federal government to amend the Government of Gilgit Baltistan Order 2018 to conduct the general elections in September as well as setting up a caretaker government during the interregnum period. "It was clearly conveyed that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of India by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession," the Ministry of External Affairs said, Reports state that IMD has started including Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad, which are parts of PoK, under the Jammu and Kashmir meteorological sub-division since May 5. The UK on Monday reiterated its message that construction and manufacturing workers should return to work this week, as the country's coronavirus lockdown is eased. Others who can't work from home, such as those in the hospitality industry, must wait almost two months. The country's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told British broadcaster Sky News that from 1 June, "non-essential retail" might be able to reopen. He added that the government would look at how pubs, restaurants and hairdressers might be able to resume operations from 4 July. Raab also said they would work to introduce a 14-day quarantine for international travellers from the end of May. Discussions were underway to exempt arrivals from Ireland and France. According to Johns Hopkins University, the UK has recorded more than 219,000 COVID-19 cases and 31,855 deaths. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. A Louisiana police officer allegedly coerced a woman to have sex with him during a traffic stop in exchange for not giving her a speeding ticket. Officer Darwin Fontenot, 21, is facing charges of malfeasance and third-degree rape, defined as sexual activity between an authority figure and someone in custody, in connection with the March incident, Port Barre police said in a statement on Saturday. Fontenot admitted to having sex with the woman but claimed the pair met up after he was off duty, according to Chief Deon Boudreaux. 'The public holds law enforcement to a high standard, and so do I,' Boudreaux said. 'Whether the sexual interaction was consensual or not doesn't justify it. I will not tolerate such unprofessional behavior from our police officers.' Officer Darwin Fontenot, 21, was charged with third-degree rape after he allegedly coerced a woman to have sex with him in exchange for not giving her a speeding ticket during a traffic stop in Port Barre, Louisiana, on March 10 Authorities began investigating the incident after the woman from Chalmette filed a complaint with the St Bernard Sheriff's office on April 27. The woman, who had other unspecified violations on her record, claimed Fontenot stopped her for speeding on Interstate 90 on March 10 and offered her leniency in exchange for sex. St Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz told the Lafayette Daily Advertiser that Boudreaux asked his office to conduct the investigation - during which Fontenot confessed to 'engaging in sexual activity' with the woman. Boudreaux said Fontenot confessed again when the pair spoke on Saturday morning. 'Even if he was off duty, it doesn't make it right,' the chief said in an email to the Advertiser. 'An officer, nor any public servant, should engage in that type of activity of exchanging sexual favors for leniency.' Port Barre Police Chief Deon Boudreaux (left) said Fontenot (right) admitted to having sex with the woman but claimed the pair met up after he was off duty Fontenot was released on bond and will remain on administrative leave 'until termination', according to the department statement. 'It's a sad day when we have to arrest one of our own, but wrong is wrong,' Boudreaux said. 'Police officers are trusted with great power and responsibility to do what is right and to be the wedge between right and wrong. That trust is tarnished when officers are unprofessional.' Fontenot worked as a corrections officer for the St Landry Parish Sheriff's office prior to joining the Port Barre Police Department about a year and a half ago, Boudreaux said. The officer graduated from the police academy in November 2019. Prysmian Group, a leading player in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, has been awarded a contract by Amprion GmbH, the German grid operator, for the A-Nord underground cable connection, part of the 2GW German Corridor A electricity transmission project. Worth over 500 million ($541 million), Prysmian are to design, manufacture, supply, lay, joint, test and commission a 1GW underground cable system along the entire Northern route of this German Corridor, the company said in a statement. This award, almost coinciding with the recent SuedOstLink project award, also in Germany, recognises yet again our commitment in the development and upgrading of power grids to support the energy transition. It is a source of great satisfaction to see that our undeniable know-how, project execution and innovation capabilities are gaining fully acknowledgment, said Valerio Battista, CEO of Prysmian Group. Prysmian will deliver a fully qualified 525 kV high voltage DC (Direct Current) cable system consisting of copper cables, insulated with their own proprietary P-Laser technology, complete with a separate insulated metallic return cable. The Group will provide all related accessories and integrated PRY-CAM monitoring system, carrying out the design and installation works with a dedicated local project engineering and management team. The route, with a total length of around 300 km, runs from Emden in Lower Saxony to Osterath in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Construction of the HVDC system is scheduled to commence within 2023. We are delighted to be working with Amprion on this project: the A-Nord project will be one of the main arteries of the German transmission grid, connecting the key generation sites in Northern regions, characterised by many onshore and offshore wind energy sources, to southern regions, especially in west Germany, where more conventional power plant capacities are located stated Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects BU, Prysmian Group. P-Laser, Prysmians fully recyclable, eco-friendly high-performance cable technology based on HPTE (High Performance Thermoplastic Elastomer), is suited for the highest voltage levels, being able to deliver enhanced thermal performance, high intrinsic reliability and higher environmental credentials compared to more conventional technologies, the statement said.TradeArabia News Service An SwRI scientist modeled the climate of Mars to understand if hydrated salts or brines on the surface of the Red Planet could harbor life. The results suggest that hydrated salts and brines on Mars are not supportive of life. For example, if the dark streaks shown here are formed by the flow of briny water, then that briny water would be too cold to support life. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona A Southwest Research Institute scientist modeled the atmosphere of Mars to help determine that salty pockets of water present on the Red Planet are likely not habitable by life as we know it on Earth. A team that also included scientists from Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and the University of Arkansas helped allay planetary protection concerns about contaminating potential Martian ecosystems. These results were published this month in Nature Astronomy. Due to Mars' low temperatures and extremely dry conditions, a droplet of liquid water on its surface would instantly freeze, boil or evaporate, unless the droplet had dissolved salts in it. This brine would have a lower freezing temperature and would evaporate more slowly than pure liquid water. Salts are found across Mars, so brines could form there. "Our team looked at specific regions on Marsareas where liquid water temperature and accessibility limits could possibly allow known terrestrial organisms to replicateto understand if they could be habitable," said SwRI's Dr. Alejandro Soto, a senior research scientist and co-author of the study. "We used Martian climate information from both atmospheric models and spacecraft measurements. We developed a model to predict where, when and for how long brines are stable on the surface and shallow subsurface of Mars." Mars' hyper-arid conditions require lower temperatures to reach high relative humidities and tolerable water activities, which are measures of how easily the water content may be utilized for hydration. The maximum brine temperature expected is -55 Fat the boundary of the theoretical low temperature limit for life. Because saltwater is liquid at lower temperatures than pure water, an SwRI scientist modeled the climate of Mars to understand if pockets of brine on its surface could harbor life. NASA has found evidence of brine on the Red Planet, including these droplets on the strut of the Phoenix lander, which may have formed in the warmed spacecraft environment. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute "Even extreme life on Earth has its limits, and we found that brine formation from some salts can lead to liquid water over 40% of the Martian surface but only seasonally, during 2% of the Martian year," Soto continued. "This would preclude life as we know it." While pure liquid water is unstable on the Martian surface, models showed that stable brines can form and persist from the equator to high latitudes on the surface of Mars for a few percent of the year for up to six consecutive hours, a broader range than previously thought. However, the temperatures are well below the lowest temperatures to support life. "These new results reduce some of the risk of exploring the Red Planet while also contributing to future work on the potential for habitable conditions on Mars," Soto said. Explore further Mars could have enough molecular oxygen to support life, and scientists figured out where to find it More information: Edgard G. Rivera-Valentin et al, Distribution and habitability of (meta)stable brines on present-day Mars, Nature Astronomy (2020). Journal information: Nature Astronomy Edgard G. Rivera-Valentin et al, Distribution and habitability of (meta)stable brines on present-day Mars,(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-1080-9 A Connecticut man who refused to wear a mask inside a McDonalds restaurant has been arrested after he broke a window and stole some womens underwear. The Associated Press reports Jason Daddario, 37, was asked to leave a McDonalds in Brooklyn, Connecticut, on May 1 when he failed to comply with a statewide order to wear face coverings in businesses to slow the spread of coronavirus. Daddario agreed to leave, but threw a large rock into the restaurants window and fled to a nearby Walmart. According to a state police report Thursday, Daddario then tried to steal several pairs of panties from Walmart, where state troopers confronted him. He attempted to run but surrendered when police threatened to set a dog on him. The Hartford Courant reports Daddario was charged with criminal mischief and breach of peace. Hes next scheduled to appear in Putnam Superior Court on June 15. Connecticut restaurants are currently only open for drive-thru and takeout due to the COVID-19 pandemic; masks are required when inside stores and businesses where social distancing is not possible. Gov. Ned Lamont said this weekend that restaurants will be allowed to offer outdoor dining on May 20, but masks will be required at all times except when eating, along with contact-less payments and disposable menus. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Cuomo says parts of NY are ready to reopen as May 15 coronavirus shutdown end nears Cuomo proposes Americans First law refusing bailouts for companies that dont rehire employees NYSP investigates fake COVID-19 face mask sales Shanghai Disneyland reopens with new coronavirus safety rules US patients, businesses sue China over COVID-19 outbreak Covid-19: What Barack Obama said on Donald Trumps handling of crisis in US Former President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, reportedly criticised his successor, Donald Trump's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The country has turned into an epicentre of the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus outbreak with over 12.4 lakh cases and over 75,000 deaths so far. Obama reportedly described the Trump administration's response to the crisis as 'chaotic', 'spotty', and 'anemic'. He was reportedly speaking to 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association, people who had served in his administration. Obama also sought support for Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden, who had served as Vice President in his administration. Watch the full video for more. ...read more As part of our #LockdownLessons series, Bizcommunity is reaching out to South Africa's top industry players to share their experience of the current Covid-19 crisis, how their organisations are navigating these unusual times, where the challenges and opportunities lie, and their industry outlook for the near future. Heinrich Ehlers, MD of Devmark Property Management What was your initial response to the crisis/lockdown and has your experience of it been different to what you expected? Comment on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on your company or economy as a whole. How is your company responding to the crisis? Comment on the challenges and opportunities. How has the lockdown affected your staff? / What temporary HR policies have you put in place regarding remote working, health & safety, etc.? How are you navigating physical distancing while keeping your team close-knit and aligned and your clients happy? Have you had to change the way you work? Has this global crisis changed your view of the future of the industry in any way? Any trends youve seen emerge as a result of the crisis? Your key message to those in the property sector? What do you predict the next six months will be like? We chatted to Heinrich Ehlers, MD of Devmark Property Management, to get his take.My initial response was panic. But then I took a few days to think about how our daily lives will be during the lockdown and what well need as a company in order to continue with business. I planned in advance, wrote it all down and after everything was in place, I felt much more at ease.We deal with a big social housing project in Bellville South and rely on physical workshops in order to get the publics interest and to process applications. With the lockdown being in place, we had to change our entire approach. We had to offer the workshops and our applications on digital platforms. In fact, the lockdown has forced us to think outside the box and subsequently has helped improve our business. The lockdown has also made us realise that one doesnt always need a physical meeting, sometimes it can be as easy a quick video call.The biggest challenge is to stay motivated and keep our staff motivated. The initial 21-day lockdown was a shock. When they extended it for another two weeks it made it even more difficult to stay positive. Our company has adapted well to the new working conditions even though I realise some people have more difficult environments at home than others. I try to consider everyones home environment before I give them something to do.As mentioned above, the biggest challenge is staying motivated and the temptation is always there to rather sit on the couch and watch a series. I try to break my day into smaller sections and work to achieve small goals set daily.As they start easing the restrictions on lockdown, more and more sectors in the economy can start trading. Were investigating whether we can tap into those sectors to allow us to expand our business.As previously mentioned, our staff all have different situations at home. For some it may be easy to work from home and others find it exceedingly difficult with a full house and not much space to sit and work. We try and stay conscious of everyones personal living situations and make the best of it.Weve had to make small cuts to salaries, but have also applied to UIF for the shortfall. We have purchased a thermo temperature scanner for the office when we can go back. We have also installed hand sanitisers and well be sanitising the office daily.No-one is allowed to come to the office if they have any symptoms of any virus or even bacterial infection and everyone has to wear masks. Staff will be placed two metres apart from each other and no lunchtime gatherings will be allowed.The physical distancing is easy as we operate 100% remotely. The only time we need to go out for work is if there is an emergency. Then we make sure we use masks and carry hand sanitisers with us. We stay in constant contact with staff and clients via email, phone and video calls.Yes, I have. I try to break my day into smaller sections and set small goals. Once Ive achieved a specific goal, Id get up and walk around for 10 minutes and then go back to work. I spend a lot of my time on video calls and constantly try to find innovative ways to improve our business during lockdown.The property management industry I do believe wont change much. There will always be a need to manage a building and for personal client/tenant interaction. I cant see landlords starting to manage all their own properties as some own numerous buildings and have big property portfolios. They simply don't have the expertise or staff to manage these properties by themselves.I do see a decline in the demand for office space. There will always be a demand for office space, but youll start seeing companies opting for smaller spaces and work-from-home options. Were also looking at the shared office scenario. With staff on a rotation basis, the opportunity to rent out desks on a daily basis seems like a lucrative idea.It costs more money to get rid of a tenant and find a new one. Rather try and agree on a reduced rental term and a repayment plan. The property sector is going to get worse before it gets better. My dad, Hein, always told me when everyone is brave, its time to be scared and when everyones scared, its time to be brave. There will be opportunities in the next six to eight months that we wouldnt have had, had it not been for Covid-19.Its going to get worse before it gets better. Many businesses currently have no income and people are losing their jobs. Scrap the normal way of doing business. Its a time of finding innovative ways of generating income. Even if its outside our field of expertise. We all have to go beyond our comfort zone to ensure we generate income during these difficult times. There is going to be an oversupply of workforce in most sectors and business owners must start thinking of ways to expand their business and to help ringfence the spiralling unemployment. Wisconsins Department of Health Services previously issued guidance for Illinois residents and others who have a seasonal or second home in the state, urging them not to travel or face 14 days of self-quarantine. You should bring your own groceries and essentials as self-quarantine does not permit shopping at local stores for supplies, the agency said. By Tina Bellon (Reuters) - Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk on Monday said production was resuming at the automaker's sole U.S. vehicle factory, in California, defying an order to stay closed and saying if anyone had to be arrested it should be him. The move comes as states and cities around the United States experiment with ways to safely reopen their economies after the coronavirus outbreak shuttered businesses and forced tens of millions of Americans out of work. Musk over the weekend threatened to leave California for Texas or Nevada over his factory's closure. His move has highlighted the competition for jobs and ignited a rush to woo the billionaire executive by states that have reopened their economies more quickly in response to encouragement from U.S. President Donald Trump. In an email on Monday, Tesla referred to an order on Thursday by California's governor allowing manufacturers to resume operations and said that as of Sunday, previously furloughed employees were back to their regular employment status. "We're happy to get back to work and have implemented very detailed plans to help you keep safe as you return," according to the email seen by Reuters and titled "Furlough Has Ended And We Are Back To Work in Production!" Musk in a tweet said production was resuming on Monday, adding that he would join workers on the assembly line. "If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me," he wrote. Health officials in Alameda County, where the Fremont factory is based, late on Monday said they were aware that Tesla had opened beyond the so-called minimum basic operations allowed during lockdown, and had notified the company it could not operate without a county-approved plan. In a statement, officials said they expected a proposal from Tesla later on Monday and "hope Tesla will likewise comply without further enforcement measures." The statement did not specify consequences and said officials would not comment further. Story continues The county's lockdown order says violations are punishable by fine, imprisonment or both. A spokeswoman for the Fremont Police Department on Monday said her office was enforcing the lockdown order at the direction of the health department and had been advised that the county is working with Tesla directly. Separately on Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said California should do whatever is necessary to help the electric carmaker reopen its only U.S. vehicle factory if it wants to keep the company in its state. California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday said he spoke to Musk several days ago and that the Tesla founders concerns helped prompt the state to begin its phased reopening of manufacturing last week. I have not only known that company but I have known its founder for many, many years, Newsom said in his daily coronavirus press briefing. I have great reverence for their technology, for their innovative spirit, for their leadership. Tesla, which also has a vehicle plant in Shanghai and is building another in Berlin, on Saturday sued the county, alleging it had violated California's constitution by defying Newsom's orders allowing manufacturers to reopen. Musk has discussed opening a second U.S. factory outside California in the past. In a tweet in February, he solicited comments on potentially opening a factory in Texas. Since his threat to leave California on Saturday, officials from Texas, Georgia, Utah, Oklahoma and Nevada have reached out to Musk on Twitter, encouraging him to relocate to their state. A Texas official said his county was available immediately to accommodate Tesla and invited the billionaire CEO for a visit. "We have a motivated, pro-business governor," Richard Cortez, county judge of Texas' Hidalgo County, said on Monday. "What we no longer have is a shelter at home mandate." Musk in response tweeted: "Note is much appreciated." (Reporting by Tina Bellon in New York; Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Peter Henderson in Oakland and Brad Brooks in Austin; Editing by Richard Chang, Dan Grebler and Stephen Coates) Spending cuts come amid a plunge in oil prices that are hurting the governments finances. Saudi Arabia will triple its value added tax rate and suspend a cost-of-living allowance for state employees, the kingdoms finance minister said on Monday, seeking to shore up finances hit hard by low oil prices and a coronavirus-driven slowdown. The cost of living allowance will be suspended as of June 1, and the value added tax will be increased to 15 percent from 5 percent as of July 1, Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said in the statement reported by the state news agency. These measures are painful but necessary to maintain financial and economic stability over the medium to long term and to overcome the unprecedented coronavirus crisis with the least damage possible. In 2018, Saudi Arabias King Salman ordered a monthly payment of 1,000 riyals ($267) to every state employee to compensate them for the rising cost of living after the government hiked domestic gas prices and introduced value-added tax. About 1.5 million Saudis are employed in the government sector, according to official figures released in December. The worlds largest oil exporter is suffering from slumping prices, while at the same time measures to fight the new coronavirus are likely to curb the pace and scale of economic reforms launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). The austerity measures being introduced come after the kingdom posted a $9bn budget deficit in the first quarter. The finance minister said non-oil revenues were affected by the suspension and decline in economic activity, while spending had risen due to unplanned strains on the healthcare sector and the initiatives taken to support the economy. All these challenges have cut state revenues, pressured public finances to a level that is hard to deal with going forward without affecting the overall economy in the medium to long term, which requires more spending cuts and measures to support non-oil revenues stability, he added. The central banks foreign reserves fell in March at their fastest rate in at least 20 years and to their lowest since 2011. Oil revenues in the first three months of the year fell 24 percent from a year earlier to $34bn, pulling total revenues down 22 percent. The economy of Saudi Arabia has been under a lot of stress. Thats why the government withdrew $23bn from the reserve in March. This is the largest withdrawal from the reserve, ever, in the history of the country, Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi scholar and expert on Saudi political affairs at the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera. The government has canceled and put on hold some operating and capital expenditures for some government agencies, and cut allocations for a number of its Vision 2030 reform programmes initiatives and mega projects with a total value of 100bn riyals ($26.6bn), according to the statement. In March, sources told Reuters that the government had asked state agencies to submit proposals for cuts of at least 20 percent to their budgets. Difficult times A committee has been formed to study all financial benefits paid to public sector employees and contractors, and will submit recommendations within 30 days, the statement said. In late 2015, when oil prices collapsed from record highs, the kingdom took a number of strict austerity measures, including slashing lavish bonuses, overtime payments and other benefits that were once considered routine perks in the public sector. In a country that has no elections and where political legitimacy rests partly on distribution of oil revenue, the ability of citizens to adapt to reforms aimed at reducing oil dependence and improving self-reliance is crucial for stability. Earlier on Monday, Saudi Aramco said it was slashing domestic gasoline prices for May, effective immediately, with the price of 91 grade dropping to 0.67 riyals from 1.31 riyals and 95 grade to 0.82 riyals from 1.46 per litre. On Twitter, a social media platform favoured by government supporters, many Saudis appeared prepared to accept austerity measures, posting pictures of MBS and pledging their support. This crisis will pass soon, and we must stand with our leaders in these difficult days, we trust you, said a Saudi with a twitter handle Abdullah Althaqafi. Credit: Robin Worrall/Unsplash When a disease outbreak grabs the public's attention, formal recommendations from medical experts are often muffled by a barrage of half-baked advice, sketchy remedies, and misguided theories that circulate as anxious people rush to understand a new health risk. The current crisis is no exception. The sudden onset of a new, highly contagious coronavirus has unleashed what U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week called a "pandemic of misinformation," a phenomenon that has not gone unnoticed as nearly two-thirds of Americans said they have seen news and information about the disease that seemed completely made up, according to a recent Pew Research Center study. What distinguishes the proliferation of bad information surrounding the current crisis, though, is social media. Kasisomayajula "Vish" Viswanath, Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the popularity and ubiquity of the various platforms means the public is no longer merely passively consuming inaccuracies and falsehoods. It's disseminating and even creating them, which is a "very different" dynamic than what took place during prior pandemics MERS and H1N1. The sheer volume of COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation online is "crowding out" the accurate public health guidance, "making our work a bit more difficult," he said. "Misinformation could be an honest mistake or the intentions are not to blatantly mislead people," like advising others to eat garlic or gargle with salt water as protection against COVID-19, he said. Disinformation campaigns, usually propagated for political gain by state actors, party operatives, or activists, deliberately spread falsehoods or create fake content, like a video purporting to show the Chinese government executing residents in Wuhan with COVID-19 or "Plandemic," a film claiming the pandemic is a ruse to coerce mass vaccinations, which most major social media platforms recently banned. In order to be effective, especially during a crisis, public health communicators have to be seen as credible, transparent, and trustworthy. And there, officials are falling short, said Viswanath. "People are hungry for information, hungry for certitude, and when there is a lack of consensus-oriented information and when everything is being contested in public, that creates confusion among people," he said. "When the president says disinfectants or anti-malaria drugs are one way to treat COVID-19, and other people say, "No, that's not the case," the public is hard-pressed to start wondering, "If the authorities cannot agree, cannot make up their minds, why should I trust anybody?'" Mainstream media coverage has added to the problem, analysts say. At many major news outlets, reporters and editors with no medical or public health training were reassigned to cover the unfolding pandemic and are scrambling to get up to speed with complex scientific terminology, methodologies, and research, and then identify, as well as vet, a roster of credible sources. Because many are not yet knowledgeable enough to report critically and authoritatively on the science, they can sometimes lean too heavily on traditional journalism values like balance, novelty, and conflict. In doing so, they lift up outlier and inaccurate counterarguments and hypotheses, unnecessarily muddying the water. "That's a huge challenge," said Ashish Jha, K.T. Li Professor of Global Health and Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, during an April 24 talk about COVID-19 misinformation hosted by the Technology and Social Change Research Project at the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy. "What I have found is a remarkable degree of consensus among people who understand the science of this disease around what the fundamental issues are and then disagreements about trade-offs and policies," said Jha, who is a frequent commentator on news programs. "The idea of covering the science in a two-sided way on areas where there really isn't any disagreement has struck me as very, very odd, and it keeps coming up over and over again." Then there is the problem of political bias. This has been especially true at right-leaning media outlets, which have largely repeated news angles and viewpoints promoted by the White House and the president on the progress of the pandemic and the efficacy of the administration's response, boosting unproven COVID-19 treatments and exaggerating the availability of testing and safety equipment and prospects for speedy vaccine development,. Tara Setmayer, a spring 2020 Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics and former GOP communications director, said what's coming from Fox News and other pro-Trump media goes well beyond misinformation. Whether downplaying the views of government experts on COVID-19's lethality, blaming China or philanthropist Bill Gates for its spread, or cheering shutdown protests funded by Republican political groups, it's all part of "an active disinformation campaign," she said, aimed at deflecting the president's responsibility as he wages a reelection campaign. But turning around those who buy into false information is not as simple as piercing epistemic bubbles with facts, said Christopher Robichaud, senior lecturer in ethics and public policy at HKS who teaches the Gen Ed course "Ignorance, Lies, Hogwash and Humbug: The Value of Truth and Knowledge in Democracies." Over time, bubble dwellers can become cocooned in a media echo chamber that not only feeds faulty information to audiences, but anticipates criticisms in order to "prebut" potential counterarguments that audience members may encounter from outsiders, much the way cult leaders do. "It's not enough to introduce new pieces of evidence. You have to break through their strategies to diminish that counterevidence, and that's a much harder thing to do than merely exposing people to different perspectives," he said. While Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have all recently ramped up efforts to take down COVID-19 misinformation following public outcry, social media platforms "fall short" when it comes to curbing the flow, said Joan Donovan, who leads the Technology and Social Change Project at HKS. Since the national shift to remote work, many social media firms are relying more heavily on artificial intelligence to patrol misinformation on their platforms, instead of human moderators, who tend to be more effective, said Donovan. So many users suddenly searching and posting about one specific topic can "signal jam search algorithms, which cannot tell the difference usually between truth and lies." These firms are reluctant to spark a regulatory backlash by policing their platforms too tightly and angering one or both political parties. "So they are careful to take action on content that is deemed immediately harmful (like posts that say to drink chemicals), but are reticent to enforce moderation on calls for people to break the stay-at-home orders," said Donovan. Viswanath said public health officials cannot, and should not, chase down and debunk every bit of misinformation or conspiracy theory, lest the attention lends them some credence. The public needs to more closely scrutinize and be "much more skeptical" about what they're reading and hearing, particularly online, and not try to keep up with the very latest COVID-19 research. "You don't need to know everything," he said. Putting the onus entirely on the public, however, is "unfair and it won't work," said Viswanath. Institutions, like social media platforms, have to take more responsibility for what's out there. Public health organizations should be running effective communication surveillance of social media to monitor which rumors, ideas, and issues most worry the public, what is understood and misunderstood about various diseases and treatments, and what myths are circulating or being actively promoted in the community. And they need to have a strategy in place to counter what they're picking up. "You cannot control this, but you can at least manage some of this," Viswanath said. Though some COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories are outlandish or even dangerously inaccurate, Robichaud said it's a mistake to dismiss those who believe them as people who don't care about the truth. Many cognitive biases get in the way of even the best truth-seeking strategies, so perhaps we could all benefit from a little more intellectual humility in this time of such great uncertainty, he said. "Most of us are, at best, experts in a tiny, tiny area. But we don't navigate the world as if that were true. We navigate the world as if we're experts about a whole bunch of things that we're not," he said. "A little intellectual humility can go a long way. And I say that as a professor: It's true of us, and it's also true of the public at large." Explore further Crisis informatics expert offers three tips to avoid misinformation during COVID-19 This story is published courtesy of the Harvard Gazette, Harvard University's official newspaper. For additional university news, visit Harvard.edu. Sudhir Suryawanshi By Express News Service MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government could earn only Rs 15 crore through stamp duty and registration in the last 40 days - a steep fall in comparison to the Rs 4000 crore it usually generates in such a period. According to the stamp duty and registration department of state government, the income in April and the first 10 days of May when the lockdown has been in place, was at a historic low. The real estate and excise departments are the major backbones of the state economy and yield Rs 24,000 crore and Rs 15,000 crore in average revenue annually. But, in the last 40 days, only 3806 properties were sold and registered and this earned the government Rs 15 crore. "We got this revenue in the green zone only where the property registration and leave and license agreement has been allowed while in the red zone, no such activities have been taking place," said a revenue official. ALSO SEE | Maha train tragedy: Fear of COVID-19, emotional calls from mothers led migrants to walk home Rajesh Prajapati, spokesperson of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry, Mumbai-Navi Mumbai, said that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, which includes Thane, Kalyan, Navi Mumbai and Panvel, and Pune, the major contributor in stamp duty and registration revenue generation, were both badly hit. "Therefore, the government has earned the record low revenue in the last 40 days. The state government had earlier issued an order to restart property registration online, but the order was not followed by the stamp duty and registration departments in the MMR region. The government is proactive but the administration fails when it comes to implementation," Prajapati said. He said that unless and until the property registration resumes in MMR and Pune regions, the government will not earn the expected revenue "We had also demanded a cut in stamp duty and registration charges for a few months just to boost the economy and attract buyers. Once the economic activity engine is started, this decreased percentage of stamp duty and registration can be reversed," Prajapati added. Slamming Trump's coronavirus response, Obama stresses urgency for Democrats to retake White House People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 10:31, May 10, 2020 WASHINGTON, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Barack Obama in a recent private conversation blasted the response to the coronavirus pandemic by the current administration of President Donald Trump as "absolute chaotic disaster," vowing to tirelessly help unseat the incumbent president in the upcoming general election. A tape recording of Obama's remarks, rendered during a chat with members of the Obama Alumni Association on Friday and obtained and first reported by Yahoo News, showed that the former president said the current occupant of the White House has made selfishness, tribalism, division and animosity "a stronger impulse in American life," which has impeded the containment of the coronavirus pandemic globally. "What we're fighting against is these long-term trends in which being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy - that has become a stronger impulse in American life," Obama said. "And by the way, we're seeing that internationally as well. It's part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty." Obama continued: "It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset - of 'what's in it for me' and 'to heck with everybody else' - when that mindset is operationalized in our government." "That's why, I, by the way, am going to be spending as much time as necessary and campaigning as hard as I can for Joe Biden," he added, referring to the former Vice President serving during his presidency who now is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Obama has criticized his successor over the COVID-19 outbreak in the past, but seemed to have shown more restraint, saying the current administration lacked a "coherent national plan" to address the crisis. "While we continue to wait for a coherent national plan to navigate this pandemic, states like Massachusetts are beginning to adopt their own public health plans to combat this virus -- before it's too late," the former president tweeted last month. The much more combative criticism of the Trump administration's handling of the public health crisis came only during the latter part of the conversation, in which Obama first slammed the Justice Department's decision Thursday to drop the criminal charges against Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser who was fired after the revelation of his lies to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about his contacts with Russia during Trump's presidential transition period. "The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed - about the Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn," Obama said, adding that "the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free." The former president misstated Flynn's charge, though. The former national security adviser, whom Obama had warned Trump not to hire, was not charged with perjury, but with lying to the FBI. The charges against Flynn led to his ouster by Trump in February 2017 and became part of the U.S. investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Moscow's alleged meddling to help Trump win the presidency in 2016. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to his lying to the FBI about his conversations with then Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak, but the 61-year-old retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General withdrew his guilty plea earlier this year, alleging prosecutorial misconduct. "That's the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic - not just institutional norms - but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we've seen in other places," said Obama, who made the dismissal of the Flynn case the principal reason Democrats should make sure Biden will defeat Trump in the election. "So I am hoping that all of you feel the same sense of urgency that I do," Obama said. "Whenever I campaign, I've always said, 'Ah, this is the most important election.' Especially obviously when I was on the ballot, that always feels like it's the most important election. This one - I'm not on the ballot - but I am pretty darn invested. We got to make this happen." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 16:51:50|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday expressed strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the U.S. decision to shorten visas for Chinese journalists to a 90-day period. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing. He demanded the United States to correct its wrongdoing immediately, saying that otherwise China will have to take countermeasures. A pair of Houston-area youths have been honored for their volunteerism in the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards during a virtual awards ceremony held over the weekend of May 1-3. Counted among the 102 honorees were Matthew Yekell, 18, of Houston, and Charlize Lopez, 14, of Sugar Land. This years awards marked the 25th annual and first virtual national recognition celebration. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Texas nursing home deaths see largest five-day spike As part of the award announcement, Yekell and Lopez were given $2,500 to donate toward local COVID-19 response efforts. The awards will go to a nonprofit organization of their choosing. Yekell and Lopez were also awarded $1,000 scholarships and engraved silver medallions as Texas top youth volunteers of 2020. According to a news release, the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program, sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), named Matthew and Charlize Texas top high school and middle level youth volunteers in February. Over the past 25 years, this program has honored students spanning three generations, and the common thread between them has been the determination of young people to respond to the challenges of the moment, said Charles Lowrey, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. Who better than this group of young leaders from all over the country to help identify and direct resources to community needs arising from COVID-19? MORE FROM ROY KENT: Missouri Citys Quail Valley Golf Course and Bluebonnet Grille opens as of Friday, May 1 Also an annual award for being honored are all-expense-paid trips to Washington, D.C., for the recognition events. Due to COVID-19, the trips were canceled and instead changed into three-day online celebrations. Prudential reported that actress Kristen Bell provided remarks and congratulations. Yekel is a senior at St. John's School. He organized collection drives involving 19 schools last year to gather donations for a drop-in center serving LGBTQ+ youth, spruces up donated apparel that is worn or damaged, and cooks a meal once a week for homeless young people at the center, according to the news release. I grew up afraid of what could happen if my parents knew I was gay, Yekell said. But after years of being afraid to be himself, Yekell came out to his parents, who supported him. Unfortunately, not all LGBTQ youth are so lucky, he reportedly said. Many are kicked out of their homes by their families, he said Tonys Place provides rejected youths with food, hot showers, laundry facilities, clothing, hygiene kits, computer access and other services. Its work was in jeopardy after Hurricane Harvey destroyed the warehouse where the facilitys donations were kept. In October 2018, Prudential reports that Yekell reached out to gay rights activists in schools around Houston to host donation drives for Tonys Place. He was responsible for picking up all of the donations, cleaning and organizing them, and delivering them to Tonys. Since some of the donated clothing was worn, stained or torn, Yekell began revitalizing those pieces, using donated fabrics and supplies and working with interested students to redesign them into stylish pieces. He also cooks a weekly dinner for Tonys Place every Saturday. Using a $3,000 prize he won to purchase food, he and his mother feed 40-50 hungry young people every weekend; last year, they served more than 1,000 meals. Lopez is an eighth-grader at Quail Valley Middle School in Missouri City. She has collected nearly 1,000 coats and other cold-weather items over the past four years to donate to people in need in her community. My project began as a wish, she said, explaining that every year her church invites congregants to fulfill the wishes of children in need in its area. She chose to grant the wish of an 11-year-old girl, but her requested gift got Lopez thinking. All she wanted was a fleece jacket for Christmas, she said, according to Prudential. I was touched because her choice of a gift was an everyday need and not a toy. It made me think of all the children struggling through each day, battling it out in the cold. That was when she decided to launch her annual Warm Coats Warm Hearts drive. To begin, she wrote letters to her school principal, her mothers workplace and her karate center, asking for permission to set up collection boxes at their locations. Lopezn made fliers and explained her project to her classmates. To spread the word further, she reportedly persuaded members of a broadcast club at a local middle school to film her talking about her mission. Every week during her drive, she emptied the donation boxes, and at the end of the project she handed out coats, blankets, scarves and food at a homeless shelter, with the help of her father and 16 other families. Lopez donated the remaining items to a shelter for domestic violence victims and to a youth immigration detention center. There are people out there who need help, she said, and it is the job of those who are more fortunate to help them. For more information about The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards and this years honorees, visit http://spirit.prudential.com. For more information about the National Association of Secondary School Principals, visit www.nassp.org. For more information about Prudential Financial, visit www.news.prudential.com. rkent@hcnonline.com Global equities were mixed Monday as markets weigh hopes about economic restarts against worries over coronavirus cases, including signs of "second wave" outbreaks in Asia. France and Spain took new steps to ease lockdowns, along with more US states, some of which moved over the weekend to permit additional activity. But after more than a month without reporting any new cases, Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the outbreak first emerged, reports five new infections, on top of one announced on Sunday. And neighbouring South Korea announced its highest number of infections for more than a month driven by a cluster in a Seoul nightlife district. "Fears of a second wave are already emerging in South Korea, China and maybe even Germany which should be a lesson to those countries preparing for looser restrictions," said Craig Erlam, an analyst at OANDA. In the US, the trends have improved significantly in New York city and some other initial hotpots, but the record elsewhere is mixed. The country now leads the world in fatalities with 80,000. There is expected to be some increase in COVID-19 cases in Georgia, Texas and other US states that have moved more quickly to resume activity, but officials hope any increase will be manageable and will not require restrictions to be revived. "Investors continue to look past the current state of the economy and toward the prospects of activity resuming," said TD Ameritrade Institutional's trading specialist Mike Turvey. In other markets, oil prices fell after surging last week on hopes for a pick-up in demand. The move came despite an announcement that Saudi Arabia had asked oil giant Aramco to cut its output by an additional one million barrels per day from June, to support prices that have crashed during the coronavirus crisis. The latest Saudi move is "a reflection of the continued supply-overhang due to risk of a lackluster demand recovery," said Rystad Energy?s Senior Oil Markets analyst Paola Rodriguez Masiu. The extra Saudi "cut will not re-balance the market, but will surely remove strain from the storage infrastructure and buy time to wait for the demand rebound," Masiu said. - Key figures around 2040 GMT - New York - Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 24,221.99 (close) New York - S&P 500: FLAT at 2,930.19 (close) New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.8 percent at 9,192.34 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 5,939.73 (close) Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.7 percent at 10,824.99 (close) Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 1.3 percent at 4,490.22 (close) EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.8 percent at 2,883.75 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 20,390.66 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 1.5 percent at 24,602.06 (close) Shanghai - Composite: FLAT at 2,894.80 (close) West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.4 percent at $24.14 per barrel Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 3.5 percent at $29.60 Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0817 from $1.0839 at 2100 GMT on Friday Dollar/yen: UP at 107.65 yen from 106.65 yen Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2337 from $1.2410 Euro/pound: UP at 87.65 pence from 87.34 pence burs-jmb/bgs What if there's another coronavirus wave? CALGARY, Alberta, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadian Natural held its Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders on May 7, 2020. The result of the vote by shareholders for each resolution is reported below. 1. The election of the following nominees as directors of the Corporation for the ensuing year or until their successors are elected or appointed. Votes For Votes Withheld Catherine M. Best 788,532,428 87.73 % 110,261,360 12.27 % M. Elizabeth Cannon 893,379,817 99.40 % 5,413,971 0.60 % N. Murray Edwards 873,463,424 97.18 % 25,330,364 2.82 % Christopher L. Fong 890,020,896 99.02 % 8,772,892 0.98 % Ambassador Gordon D. Giffin 864,334,980 96.17 % 34,458,808 3.83 % Wilfred A. Gobert 874,765,526 97.33 % 24,028,262 2.67 % Steve W. Laut 869,842,440 96.78 % 28,951,348 3.22 % Tim S. McKay 889,314,228 98.95 % 9,479,560 1.05 % Honourable Frank J. McKenna 851,786,161 94.77 % 47,007,627 5.23 % David A. Tuer 865,774,577 96.33 % 33,019,211 3.67 % Annette M. Verschuren 883,290,837 98.28 % 15,502,951 1.72 % Votes For Votes Withheld 2. The appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors of the Corporation for the ensuing year and to authorize the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors to fix their remuneration. 893,573,190 98.10 % 17,334,579 1.90 % Votes For Votes Against 3. On an advisory basis, approval of the Corporation's approach to executive compensation. 852,170,927 94.81 % 46,658,121 5.19 % Canadian Natural is a senior oil and natural gas production company, with continuing operations in its core areas located in Western Canada, the U.K. portion of the North Sea and Offshore Africa. CANADIAN NATURAL RESOURCES LIMITED 2100, 855 - 2nd Street S.W. Calgary, Alberta, T2P4J8 Phone: 403-514-7777 Email: ir@cnrl.com (mailto:ir@cnrl.com) www.cnrl.com (http://www.cnrl.com) TIM S. MCKAY President MARK A. STAINTHORPE Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice-President, Finance JASON M. POPKO Manager, Investor Relations Trading Symbol - CNQ Toronto Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange Certain information regarding the Company contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Such statements are subject to known or unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Refer to our website for complete forward-looking statements www.cnrl.com Tesla CEO Elon Musk is looking to move the companys corporate headquarters out of California, possibly to Texas. And two Houston-area officials are rolling out the welcome mat. Musk took to Twitter on Saturday to announce his dissatisfaction with Californias shelter-in-place orders. His company will not only sue the county where Teslas main manufacturing plant is located but will also relocate. LOCAL BUSINESS: Title giant Stewart Information cuts staff and spending "Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately," Musk tweeted. "If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependent on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA." Fort Bend County Judge K.P. George and Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena both offered Musk a warm reception. George sent a letter to Musk extending an offer to connect the billionaire with his office and economic drivers in Fort Bend. We stand ready to work with you and your team to explore the many options that exist in our community, George wrote. Pena reached out to Musk via social media. Wed welcome you and Teslas operations in @HoustonTX, he tweeted. Tesla is the only major automaker with a factory in California. Musks tweets come as automakers including General Motors and Ford announced theyll restart their plants on May 18 and U.S. Toyota restarts production on Monday. Tesla reported a net profit in the first three months of 2020; however, analysts expect the coronavirus pandemic will adversely affect its earnings this year. Delhi Minority Commission chairman Zafarul Islam Khan on Sunday submitted his laptop to a police team probing a case against him for his "controversial" social media post, officials said. An FIR was registered against Khan on April 30 under sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth) of the IPC after police received a complaint from a resident of Vasant Kunj, they said. A notice was sent to Khan on Saturday under section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to hand over his device used for making the "controversial" social media post, a senior police officer said. "I received a Delhi Police notice on Saturday to submit my device used in making Twitter and Facebook posts. I submitted my laptop to the police today. But, I have said in writing that I am doing it under duress, because there is no record of tweet or social media posts in the device itself and it is online only. Also, I don't understand why they wanted my device because I have accepted that I wrote the tweet and still stand by it," Khan told PTI over phone. In the FIR, the complainant alleged that Khan's post was provocative and seditious and intended to cause disharmony and create a rift in the society, the police said, adding that the case was being investigated by the cyber cell of the Special Cell. However, Later, Khan also sought an apology while the BJP demanded his removal from the commission. "I realise that my tweet was ill-timed and insensitive in view of our county facing a medical emergency and fighting an unseen enemy. I apologise to all whose sentiments were hurt," Khan had said in a statement earlier, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic. He had said that his tweet on April 28, thanking Kuwait for taking note of the "persecution" of Indian Muslims, in the context of the northeast Delhi violence, has "pained" some people which was never his intention. (Image Credits: Facebook) New Delhi, May 11 : Even as police is busy enforcing the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, Delhi continues to witness crimes in which women too have a fair share. Many women arrested for criminal activities were working on the instructions of their male accomplices. Foreign nationals were among women held for various crimes. In Delhi, South District Police arrested three Iranians, including one woman and two men, on charge of robbing a person out to deliver cooking gas cylinder on May 8 afternoon. Police claimed that arrested woman had engaged the victim in a conversation, whereas her accompliances waylaid him and committed the crime. According to DCP Southern District Atul Kumar Thakur: "A case was registered on the complaint of victim Satish Pathak at the Hauz Khas police station. The crime took place near Chirag Delhi metro station. The police arrested all three snatchers -- including a couple." They had arrived in India on tourist visas. Police has recovered the robbed money and the car used in the crime. On May 8, Delhi Police arrested another woman on charge of selling drugs and other intoxicants online to minors belonging to rich families. The well-educated English- speaking woman was running the racked on a WhatsApp group, police said. She was arrested while out to deliver drugs to clients. Interestingly, her husband is a businessman. Police is now investigating her possible links with peddling gangs. In another incident, a newly married couple was arrested by Central District police. While the man is a known criminal of Paharganj area, his wife is a tattoo artist. Central District DCP Sanjay Bhatiya told IANS on Sunday that 31 cases have been lodged against Arjun aka Chhanga (25) and Vaishali Kaushal (30), including robbery, snatching, and theft. In Chhawla police station area of Dwarka on April 24-25 night, a retired Municipal Corporation worker and his wife were fatally stabbed with a knife multiple times. The son and daughter-in-law of the deceased couple were held, though the woman later allegedly hanged herself in jail. Similarly, a woman was arrested in Jahangirpuri on charge of killing her husband with the help of her paramour, who was also arrested. (Sanjeev Kumar Singh Chauhan can be contacted at sanjeev.c@ians.in) 11.05.2020 LISTEN Free Media Vanguard today, May 11,2020, is sounding another condemnation on the attack on the integrity of Mr Johnnie Hughes, host of Tv3s New Day programme by the Deputy Information Minister, Pius Enam Hadidze. His action both on the show and off air affirms our earlier position that media freedom is under attack in a country that once enjoyed the accolades as far as media freedom is concerned. It is very sad that a deputy minister of information will denigrate an astute journalist like Johnnie Hughes live on national TV, just because he sought to insist that he clarified issues the viewing public needed answers to. It is interesting that this happened a day after the President of Ghana touted free speech in the country, which triggered so many questions owing to numerous instances of molestation of media personnel and the arbitrary manner in which radio stations were shut down a year ago. The month of May also happens to be a month Press freedom is celebrated around the world, and yet a government official like Pius Enam Hadidze who is quick to point fingers T others, is the one leading this trend today. Free Media Vanguard demands that President Akuffo Addo fires the Deputy minister for this dishonorable conduct. This, when done by the President, may suggest he cares about the media freedom given to us by the constitution. Failure, however, to do so will mean otherwise. Let us rise and safeguard the media freedom in Ghana as the alternative which is the current is scary. God bless our homeland Ghana. Signed Prince Minkah Convener 0207924806 Henryson Okrah Director of Operations 0244242930 The governor urged parents to be vigilant and go to the hospital if children suffer from fever for more than five days Open source In New York, children with coronavirus are often diagnosed with an atypical COVID-19 disease with other symptoms. Three children have already died. A total of 85 cases of a possible new illness are being investigated. State Governor Andrew Cuomo stated this as quoted by Voice of America. "The symptoms are similar to toxic shock syndrome. This is not a normal case of COVID. Cases of COVID are usually respiratory in nature," he said. Toxic shock syndrome means inflammation of the blood vessels. Children aged 5 and 7 years old and a teenager died of it. "Sometimes this is an inflammation in the heart. Perhaps similar cases came to hospitals, but they were not compared with COVID, because they do not look like coronavirus," the governor added. The governor urged parents to be vigilant and go to the hospital if children over 5 days old have fever, digestion problem (among babies), severe abdominal pain, diarrhea or vomiting, discoloration of the skin, or breathing problems. As we reported before, the number of Covid-19 coronavirus infected worldwide exceeded four million, while 1,387,000 people recovered; more than 276,000 people died. LISBON, Portugal, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Spanish Product Information Management company Sales Layer has raised 3.5 million in a Series A financing round led by SONAE IM, the tech investment arm of Portuguese listed company SONAE (SON.LS), accompanied by venture capital investment firm Swanlaab Venture Factory and Valencia-based corporate investor Global Omnium. The investment was made public today with the publishing of SONAE's consolidated results for the first quarter of 2020. The Portuguese conglomerate has invested 2.5 million in Sales Layer, while Swanlaab Venture Factory and Global Omnium have joined with further million. The funding will enable Sales Layer to scale international operations and expand its operational infrastructure. Founded in 2013 by Alvaro Verdoy and Iban Borras, Sales Layer's 30-strong team has become one of the world's leading PIM solutions, helping brands and retailers to transform their catalogs into an enriched, digital and multichannel control centre. Noted for its unique approach to user experience (UX), the company's technology uses a cloud-based catalog management platform to connect the information to hundreds of channels throughout the supply chain, both for brands and retailers. "Digital catalog are key revenue drivers for modern business, but they are also the biggest digital transformation challenge for millions of manufacturers and retailers. The recent times with the impact of COVID on people's lives, has put digitalisation and e-commerce on the priority list," said Alvaro Verdoy, founding CEO of the company. "The role of Sonae IM, a retail tech specialist coming from a multinational group with retail in its DNA, shows the growing interest in Product Information Management solutions," he added. In recent years, Sales Layer has already shown over 300% revenue growth in the 2018-2020 period. It serves more than 200 new accounts in more than 25 countries, including global manufacturers and retailers such as Teka, Rexel, Bobux, Reebok and Fermax. PIM technology is replacing outdated Excel spreadsheets for the sharing of product information. With this disruptive technology, Sales Layer is now positioned as a challenger that can revolutionize how retailers approach their catalog management in online shopping and product experience for their customers. With the investment announced today, Sales Layer has raised 5 million in total venture funding. It expects to almost triple the size of its team to 80 in the next few months. According to Eduardo Piedade, CEO of leading investor Sonae IM: "Product content is a key element for sales and marketing and a clear differentiator for online retail and brands. In Sales Layer we've found a highly efficient, easy to use and consistent way to manage product information internally and across the rising number of channels. We are a firm believer of omnichannel retail and the current crisis has just come to highlight the need for retailers to diversify the ways they reach consumers. As an active investor specialized in retail, we are excited to support such a strong player in the PIM space through an ambitious international growth plan." Swanlaab Venture Factory is a Spanish-Israeli Venture Capital fund manager based in Madrid and Tel-Aviv. Since 1992 has invested over $600 million through 7 funds and is geographically focused in Israel, Poland and Spain. The group has made more than 130 investments and has achieved more than 40 successful exits. Global Omnium is one of the key companies worldwide managing the Integral Water Cycle. Global Omnium has worked towards the progress and growth of more than 300 municipalities worldwide. It has invested via its investment arm Go Hub, which helps deep tech startups set to become game changers and disruptors in water tech, industry 4.0 and smart cities. Sales Layer's offices are located in the Spanish city of Valencia, where Global Omnium was founded 130 years ago. SOURCE Sales Layer Related Links https://saleslayer.com/ Bay of Plenty You will be operating the Roller and also required to help out the team hands on. You will be working around Tauranga, for... View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz Julianne Hough gave her mom a house for Mother's Day. The Dancing with the Stars alum, 31, took to Instagram on Sunday with a clip in which she gave her mother Marriann the abode. 'My Mother has given given given..... its now her time to receive,' Hough wrote. 'Happy Mothers Day Momma!' Home sweet home: Julianne Hough gave her mom a house for Mother's Day. The Dancing with the Stars alum, 31, took to Instagram on Sunday with a clip in which she have her mother Marriann the abode In an adjacent clip, the Orem, Utah native told her mom, 'This is yours, Mom,' to which Marriann replied, 'Thank you,' and embraced her daughter with a hug. Marriann, in a clip on the social media site, was seen hugging trees and fences on the property, saying, 'Look at this, I love trees, I just love this tree - it's very big.' In an Instagram Stories clip, The Rock of Ages beauty embraced her mother by the pool area of the home. She added the caption: 'After my mom realized the house I bought her for wan't just for a year ... it was HERS forever.' Beaming: In an Instagram Stories clip, The Rock of Ages beauty embraced her mother by the pool area of the home It's time: The dance pro wrote, 'My Mother has given given given..... its now her time to receive' The one-time America's Got Talent judge, who's been wed to husband Brooks Laich since 2017, has been quarantining in Los Angeles while Laich is in Idaho. 'In a lot of ways, absolutely nothing has changed - which is weird because for most people, quarantine has either brought you closer together or driven you further apart,' an insider close to the couple told People about the arrangement amid the efforts to quell the spread of the coronavirus. 'They've largely been living separate lives for so long that it's just sort of more of the same: She's in her place doing her own thing, he's in his place doing his own thing. 'They're both staying fairly isolated on their own.' On the post, Laich also left a comment calling the gift-giving moment 'the best thing ever!!' Emotional: The mom and daughter embraced on the holiday amid the trying time Awww! Marriann, in a clip on the social media site, was seen hugging trees and fences Heartwarming: Marriann was thrilled as she took stock of her new abode The post also drew plaudits from TV personality Maria Menounos, who wrote, 'So sweet!!!!;' actress Kimberly Williams-Paisle, who wrote, 'Oh this is awesome!!' and dance pro Chloe Arnold, who wrote, 'Youre so so sweet! Love you and Im so happy for your mom!!' Hough opened up to the magazine earlier this met about how he's been using her time amid the lockdown in Southern California amid efforts to flatten the curve of viral infections. 'This time has really given me space to think about the things that are important in my life, my day-to-day interactions,' she told the outlet. 'I thrive off hustle and creation and energy, but this has given me the space to actually take an hour - which I never have done before - to make a meal for lunch, and go outside and breathe in the air. I just feel more grounded and at peace.' She added: 'Time and space is in its own weird place right now, but I feel like I can breathe.' Touching: The post drew plaudits from Maria Menounos, Kimberly Williams-Paisle and Chloe Arnold MUSKEGON, MI Muskegons annual police officers memorial service is too important to be canceled by a pandemic. The service usually is held in front of the The Protectors memorial statue outside of the Muskegon County courthouse. Social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines due to the coronavirus crisis have made a similar service risky and unwise this year. So instead, the Fraternal Order of Police has compiled a videotaped service that will be shown on Facebook beginning at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 13. The service, held annually during National Police Week, honors local police and other law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. The video produced by Benchmark Productions can be viewed on the Norton Shores Police Facebook page, the Muskegon County Sheriffs Office Facebook page, and the Charles Hammond Lodge Facebook page. Canceling this service was never considered, Norton Shores Police Chief Jon Gale said in an email. Here is a list of fallen officers who will be honored, and the date of their End of Watch: Martin Salmonson, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Nov. 15, 1908. Julius A. Salmonson, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Nov. 15, 1908. Josiah C. Hazeltine, Muskegon County Sheriffs Department, Nov. 15, 1908. Julius Salmonson and his brother Martin Salmonson, both deputy game wardens with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, along with Muskegon County Sheriff Deputy J.C. Hazeltine died on Nov. 15, 1908, under suspicious circumstances after illegal fishing nets were discovered at the mouth of the White Lake Channel. The brothers recruited help from Hazeltine and went to investigate in a flat-bottom boat around midnight. The three men never returned and a search party found their bodies 600 feet from shore. The coroner said they had drowned in an unknown and mysterious manner. A nearby colony of fishermen were considered dangerous and had threatened police officers in the past. Charles D. Hammond, Muskegon Police Department, Oct. 31, 1925. Hammond was a Muskegon Police detective who was shot on Oct. 31, 1925, by gangster George Dutch Anderson, who the mortally wounded officer shot and killed. Hammond was taking Anderson in for questioning about a counterfeit operation when Anderson fled and, chased by Hammond, fired two shots at the officer. Though Hammond was hit, he managed to fatally shoot Anderson with the suspects own gun. Hammond then walked into the police department where fellow officers rushed him to Hackley Hospital where he later died. Anderson also was a suspect in a nearly $33,000 Lakey Foundry payroll robbery. The name bar on the right pocket of the officer depicted in The Protector statue at the courthouse is "C.D. Hammond," in honor of Hammond. William F. Delmar, Roosevelt Park Police Department, Oct. 1, 1966. Delmar was a 43-year-old Roosevelt Park Police sergeant who died on Oct. 1, 1966, from head injuries suffered in a vehicle crash. The patrol car he was riding in was struck by a vehicle driven by a drunk driver that had run a red light, and a second officer in the patrol car was seriously hurt. An eagle emblem, symbol of Roosevelt Park, is above the right pocket of The Protector statue to represent Delmar. Charles B. Stark, Michigan State Police, Dec. 31, 1971. Stark was a Michigan State Police trooper, who died on Dec. 31, 1971, of a gunshot wound. Stark and Trooper Gary Rampy, both of whom worked at the New Buffalo Post, had pulled over a drunk driver who had hidden a handgun in his waist band. He fatally shot both troopers and then fled in his vehicle before crashing and attempting to run. Responding officers shot and killed the suspect when he reportedly opened fire on them. Johnny O. Harris, Muskegon Heights Police Department, June 25, 1975. An officer with the Muskegon Heights Police Department, Harris was 30 years old when he was shot and killed on June 25, 1975, after he and his partner responded to a call of a man with a gun at a residence. Harris partner, Muskegon Countys first female officer, was critically wounded but recovered. Harris died later at a local hospital and a third officer shot and wounded the suspect. The suspect, who ambushed the officers while armed with a hunting rifle, was convicted of murder, and died in prison in September 1976. The badge and hat on The Protector statue depict those worn by Harris. Craig A. Scott, Michigan State Police, Feb. 9, 1982. Scott, a 28-year-old Michigan State Police trooper, was shot and killed on Feb. 9, 1982, after stopping a vehicle for speeding in Ingham County. Scott didnt know the car was stolen, and the driver did not have registration for it. Scott placed the driver under arrest and was walking him to the police cruiser when the vehicles passenger shot Scott three times in the back. The driver and passenger fled and were arrested after stealing a car at gunpoint. Both were sentenced to life in prison. The tie clasp on The Protector statue depicts the ones worn by Michigan State Police in honor of Scott and Stark. Marion J. Calkins, Muskegon County Sheriffs Department, April 6, 1982. The sheriff of Muskegon County, Calkins, 65, died on April 6, 1982, of injuries he suffered in a single-vehicle crash in Dalton township four days earlier. Calkins lost control of the car which traveled down a ravine and struck a tree. He had been sheriff for 22 years and his survivors included 16 children and 51 grandchildren. Scott A. Flahive, Grand Haven Department of Public Safety, Dec. 13, 1994. Flahive, 28, was an officer with the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety when he was shot and killed on Beacon Boulevard on Dec. 31, 1994. He had stopped a vehicle for operating without headlights following an escape from the Ottawa County Jail. As Flahive approached the car, the escaped inmate, who was lying in the back seat, shot through the door and killed Flahive instantly. The shooter was sentenced to multiple life sentences. Ernest W. Heikkila, Muskegon Countys Sheriffs Department, Feb. 15, 1995. Heikkila, 50, was a deputy with the Muskegon County Sheriff's Office when he died on Feb. 15, 1995. He was responding to a vehicle accident when his cruiser was broadsided at M-120 and Riley-Thompson Road by a truck driven by a volunteer firefighter. The breast badge on The Protector statue is one worn by Muskegon County Sheriff's officers and honors Heikkila and Calkins. Jonathan W.R. Ginka, Norton Shores Police Department, May 10, 2017. Ginka, 34, was nearing the end of his night shift around 2:30 a.m. May 10, 2017, and was driving to the police department when his cruiser inexplicably left the roadway on Henry Street in Norton Shores, crossed the centerline and struck a tree. Ginka died of his injuries about two hours later. Timothy J. ONeill, Michigan State Police, Sept. 20, 2017. ONeill, 28, died while on duty when his motorcycle crashed into the back of a pickup struck that had stopped for a red light around 7:50 a.m. Sept. 20, 2017. The crash occurred on Wolverine Boulevard NE and Belding Road in Rockford. ONeill worked out the Michigan State Police Rockford Post. Also on MLive: Police get e-bikes to address increased crime during coronavirus Cop fired for KKK, Confederate flag memorabilia signs separation agreement Criminal activity suspected cause of house explosion, fire in Muskegon Express News Service By Express News Service CHENNAI: As Chennai continued to drive up the number of Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, recording 509 of the total 669 cases on Sunday, nodal officer for Chennai, Dr J Radhakrishnan, said there was no need to worry about the numbers as the clusters were getting stabilised gradually. He also hinted that containment measures could be partially relaxed on a case-by-case basis, especially in places with apartment complexes and gated communities. Addressing reporters here, Dr Radhakrishnan, who is spearheading the containment activities in the city, said the numbers in Chennai would continue to rise in the coming week due to increased and focused testing done by the city corporation. The aim is to test more people and treat them, so they will not transmit the virus to others, he said. Dr Radhakrishnan said, Many people in barricaded streets ask us why they are placed under quarantine for 28 days even when they have not contacted any patient. In these cases, we will see if only the apartment complex, where the infection has been found out, can be sealed, leaving the others on the street to resume daily life. He confirmed that this relaxation may not apply to densely populated areas and hot spots, but only to areas with big apartment complexes. More containment zones Meanwhile, number of containment zones in the city rose to 587 on Sunday from the previous days 513. They include 105 in Royapuram, 95 in Tiruvika Nagar and 71 in Teynampet. More than 170 wards in the city have just 30 or fewer cases while only two wards, one in Royapuram and Tiru-Vika-Nagar each have more than 200 cases. We have appointed 19 doctors for special testing of vulnerable sections with an aim to reduce mortality rate further, said Dr Radhakrishnan, adding that all the repatriates from Dubai have tested negative in the initial tests conducted. The mortality rate in the city has also reduced to 0.68 per cent from the earlier one per cent. 3 deaths, toll now 47 The death toll in the state went up to 47, with three more deaths reported. All of them had co-morbid conditions. According to the official health bulletin, a 74-year-old man from Chengalpattu, who was admitted in Chengalpattu Medical College Hospital on May 8 and died on the same day, had contracted the infection. This came to light when his test result turned positive on Sunday. Dental college has decided to test all girls in hostel However, a senior doctor at the hospital told Express, The result came as positive on Saturday afternoon. The patient had co-morbid conditions and came with breathing difficulty. As per protocol, we took a swab for testing. By the time the result came, the patient had died. We had kept the body in the mortuary until the test result came. The second victim was a 59-year-old man with diabetes and coronary artery disease from Chennai. Admitted to Government Stanley Medical College Hospital on May 7, he died on Sunday. The third victim was a 55-year-old man from Tiruvallur with chronic kidney disease. ALSO READ: Chennai may see more COVID-19 cases this week, says special officer J Radhakrishnan Dental student tests positive A trainee dental student at Government Dental College, Chennai, tested positive on Saturday. A student said, She was attending clinic duty at the dental college hospital. For the last three days, she had a cold and sore throat, and she tested positive. She has been shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital for treatment. The management has decided to test all girls in the hostel. But, we have requested the management to test the boys also as they were attending duty with her. The bulletin further said all cases reported on the day were contacts of already positive patients. The day also saw 13,367 samples being tested. Besides Chennai, Thiruvallur reported 47 cases, Chengalpattu (43), Krishnagiri and Tirunelveli (10) each, Perambalur (9), Kancheepuram (8), Ranipet and Villupuram (6) each, Ariyalur and Mardurai (4) each, Theni and Vellore (3) each, and Cuddalore, Karur, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram and Thirupathur reported (1) each. CM offers rice to 90 thousand families Chennai: On behalf of CM Edappadi K Palaniswami, AIADMK functionaries on Sunday distributed free rice bags to about 90,000 ration card holders of Edappadi Assembly constituency. In a statement on Sunday, Palniswami said, I had requested AIADMK functionaries to offer free rice to 90,000 economically weak ration card holders in Edappadi constituency, on my behalf. The CM further said three-party functionaries offered the rice by maintaining social distance. Planiswami further said dry rations and monetary relief would be provided to ration cardholders across the State in the months of May and June as well. EFE Latam Videos Ciudad Juarez (Mexico), 17 ene (EFE).- Un grupo de haitianos llegados hace meses a la mexicana Ciudad Juarez batalla por encontrar empleo sin hablar espanol ni tener los papeles en regla, mientras continuan con su sueno de cruzar a Estados Unidos y huir de la crisis de su pais natal. Al norte de esta urbe del estado de Chihuahua, unas de las mas industrializadas, y tambien peligrosas, de la frontera norte, un templo evangelico se ha reconvertido en un albergue que cobija ahora a migrantes haitianos, que han encontrado ahi un techo que los resguarda, un refugio. "Este lugar seria una iglesia evangelica pero se busco dar beneficio en apoyo para los migrantes. Hemos recibido por casi tres anos a extranjeros originarios de diferentes paises, principalmente de Centroamerica y Suramerica. Y hoy hay haitianos", dijo este lunes a Efe el director y encargado de este albergue, Francisco Espino. En este humilde lugar, con muebles desgastados, paredes sin pintar y varias sillas escolares a modo de mobiliario, habitan 22 adultos y seis pequenos haitianos. Entre sus principales carencias destacan la falta de camas, ya que algunos duermen en colchones o sobre unas simples cobijas. Pero aunque precaria, esta morada permite a los caribenos cobijarse del frio de esta fronteriza ciudad, que en estas fechas puede llegar por la noche a varios grados bajo cero. UN SINFIN DE OBSTACULOS La crisis haitiana, que detono hace mas de una decada por un devastador terremoto, ha llevado a centenares de miles de ellos a emigrar desde hace anos. Tras un largo periplo, muchos han terminado en Mexico, donde a menudo buscan regularizar su situacion mientras esperan la oportunidad para cruzar a Estados Unidos. Segun explico Espino, los principales problemas de este grupo de extranjeros para establecerse es que no tienen papeles en regla como el Registro Federal de Contribuyentes (RFC), que les permite trabajar formalmente, y no dominan el idioma espanol. "Por el problema de comunicacion que tienen solamente seis hombres de estos haitianos han conseguido trabajo y una mujer. Esto genera un conflicto para ellos. Ellos llegan sin nada, unicamente con una mochila y tratamos de apoyarles en lo que sea posible porque tienen suenos igual que nosotros", subrayo el activista. EN BUSQUEDA DE TRABAJO Sergo Gelin, uno de los haitianos acogidos en este lugar, explico a Efe su situacion: "Yo tengo un mes en Juarez y busco trabajo. Se me dificulta por ser extranjero. Soy operador de montacargas, soy maestro y vengo aqui para vivir, yo me quedo aqui si encuentro trabajo", aseguro el hombre, que apenas habla espanol. Refiere que diariamente emprende la busqueda de empleo en esta urbe conocida por sus maquilas y potente industria, pero al no tener documentacion mexicana se le dificulta mucho. "Somos extranjeros y por ello no nos dan empleo. Me falta el RFC y no hay ayuda", indico el hombre, de unos 40 anos, quien con tristeza explico que "a veces se come, y a veces no". Otro caso es el de Falone Saint Charles, una mujer que llego a esta ciudad con su hijo de un ano. "Quise dejar a mi hijo en una guarderia para irme a trabajar y me dijeron que tengo que tener seguro social. (Por lo que) no tengo donde dejar a mi nino", menciono a Efe. Mientras carga a su pequeno hijo, dijo que se quiere quedar a vivir en Juarez, pero necesita trabajo para poder tener una vida mejor. "La plata aqui no sirve, todo es caro", senalo. REFLEJO DE LA OLA MIGRATORIA La realidad de este grupo de haitianos en Ciudad Juarez es un reflejo mas de la crisis migratoria. La region vive un flujo record hacia Estados Unidos, cuya Oficina de Aduanas y Proteccion Fronteriza (CBP) detecto a mas de 1,7 millones de indocumentados en la frontera con Mexico en el ano fiscal 2021, que termino el 30 de septiembre. Mientras que Mexico intercepto a mas de 252.000 migrantes indocumentados de enero a noviembre y deporto a mas de 100.000 en el mismo periodo, de acuerdo con la Unidad de Politica Migratoria de la Secretaria de Gobernacion del pais. Ademas, la Comision Mexicana de Ayuda a Refugiados (Comar) recibio un record de 131.448 solicitudes de refugio en 2021. De estos, mas de 51.000 son haitianos. Para dificultar mas si cabe la situacion, en diciembre de 2021 se dio el restablecimiento del programa estadounidense "Quedate en Mexico", que obliga a los extranjeros a esperar en ese pais mientras una corte de Estados Unidos evalua su solicitud de asilo, lo que ha anadido todavia mas presion migratoria a la region. Aunque ahora, segun ambos Gobiernos, el tiempo maximo de espera sera de seis meses y se garantizara el bienestar de los extranjeros. Este programa, conocido formalmente como Protocolos de Proteccion a Migrantes (MPP, por su sigla en ingles) e impulsado por Donald Trump (2017-2021), dejo varadas a mas de 70.000 personas en la peligrosa frontera norte mexicana durante meses. (c) Agencia EFE The migrants returning home from other states constituted three-fourths of the 200 new coronavirus cases detected in Bihar last week, a top official told Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday. Principal Secretary, Health, Sanjay Kumar was briefing the chief minister at a high-level meeting chaired by the latter where he said the number of people, coming from outside, who have tested positive between May 4 and May 10 was 150. The states tally stood at 707 on Sunday, a jump of more than 200 since a week before. Over 100 people tested positive over the weekend. The principal secretary said the maximum number of 41 coronavirus-infected people have come from Delhi, followed by Maharashtra (36), Gujarat (33), Telangana (10) and Haryana (03). The remaining have come from other parts of the country. Migrant workers, students and pilgrims -- stuck in far-off places because of the nationwide lockdown -- have begun to come back in droves by special trains and also by road, on hired vehicles, following revised guidelines issued by the Union Home Ministry allowing the same. Over one lakh residents of Bihar stranded outside due to imposition of coronavirus-triggered lockdown since March 25 have returned to the state so far. The issue of return of migrant workers and students had for long been a bone of contention between the government and the opposition in Bihar. Initially wary of such mass travel out of fear that it could lead to a steep rise in cases, the state government had frowned upon students from Kota being brought back to Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh by buses. The opposition, however, accused the ruling dispensation of insensitivity towards its own people, recounting the strong disapproval from leaders of the ruling JD(U) to return of migrants from Delhi-NCR soon after the lockdown was clamped. Later, the government agreed to have trains reaching Bihar carrying people stranded elsewhere, bearing the cost of travel for students and promising full reimbursement with an additional assistance of Rs500 each to migrant workers once they completed the mandatory 21-day quarantine. The principal secretary also informed the chief minister that as of now the state could accommodate 3.75 lakh people at block-level quarantine centres while an additional 2.42 lakh could be lodged at those at the Panchayats. He also said in view of the influx that may continue for some time to come, efforts were being made to increase the number of quarantine centres and enhance the capacity of testing centres. Random testing of those coming to Bihar from areas classified as a red zone has begun and a move was afoot to ensure that testing centres were set up at the district level, he added. Taking a grim note of the situation, the chief minister said Bihar was not getting enough testing kits but efforts would be made to ensure adequate supply since it had become necessary in view of the continuing influx. He also issued instructions to officials to coordinate with Railways and governments of other states to ensure that arrangements could be in place within seven days for all those who desired a journey back home. He also ordered that to ramp up corona prevention measures at village panchayat levels, each family be provided with four masks each besides a soap by the government. Taking note of the fact that a sizeable portion of those coming back comprised migrant labourers, the chief minister reiterated the need for their skill survey on completion of the quarantine period so that they could be gainfully employed within the state once fit to resume work. The meeting was also attended, among others, by Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar and Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Metrics show all regions of state with the possible exception of the Chicago region - on pace to advance from phase 2 to phase 3 of the 5-phase Restore Illinois plan to reopen the state: Of the four regions of the state divvied up to take into consideration the population and other differences all but the Chicago region is below the 20% COVID-19 positivity rate cap over a 28-day stretch that began May 1. As of midnight May 8, the rate was 22.3%, so theres plenty of time for the Chicago or Northeast region to see that rate fall and remain below 20% for 14 days straight. WASHINGTON, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Steward Partners Holdings, LLC (Steward), the holding company for Steward Partners Global Advisory, announced today that Bob Mulholland has joined the firm's Board of Directors as its twelfth member. Mr. Mulholland is a long-time financial veteran with more than thirty-six years of experience in the industry. He spent twenty-five years at Merrill Lynch, starting as an advisor and then eventually becoming Head of Merrill Lynch's Client Relationship Group, encompassing 14,400 advisors in North and South America. Bob spent five years as President of Sound Securities, LLC, an execution-only broker/dealer. He would go on to transition to UBS in 2009, where he served as Head of The Wealth Management Advisor Group. In that role he oversaw nearly 7,000 advisors, including UBS' investment products and services platform, and was instrumental in the revival and turnaround at UBS. He retired from the firm in 2015. "Bob is a proven leader in the financial industry and we are excited to welcome someone with his level of expertise to Steward Partners' board of directors," said Jim Gold, Chief Executive Officer at Steward Partners. "His strong experience will be instrumental in helping us as we continue to grow, and we're looking forward to working together to further Steward Partners' vision." "We conducted an exhaustive search to find someone who would further strengthen our board's breadth of talent and experience, and we're thrilled to welcome Bob," said Hy Saporta, President of Steward Partners. "His unique perspective will make an important and positive impact on our firm going forward." "Steward remains focused on being the best in the business, and we are grateful to have leaders like Bob helping to guide our firm into the future," added Michael McMahon, Steward Partners' Board Chairman. "Bob has demonstrated remarkable leadership in the face of difficult challenges over the course of his impressive career, and we are pleased to add him to our growing board." "I was drawn to Steward because of its unique model offering, its commitment to putting clients first and the partnership that is created with advisors as equity owners" said Mulholland. "The firm continues to stand out in an increasingly competitive market, and I look forward to working with my fellow board members to help Steward achieve its full potential." Mr. Mulholland is a graduate of Lehigh University and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University. He is the twelfth member of Steward Partners' board, most recently following Rob Jackowitz, who joined the board in December of last year. For more information, visit Steward Partners at www.stewardpartners.com/. About Steward Partners Global Advisory With offices in Newtown, CT., Washington, D.C., Clearwater, FL., Andover and Boston, MA., Baltimore and Bethesda, MD., Portland, ME., Hendersonville, NC., Keene, Manchester and Portsmouth, NH., Paramus and Morristown, NJ., Albany and New York City, NY., Plymouth Meeting, PA., Austin, Dallas and Houston, TX., and Richmond, VA., Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC, is an employee-owned, full-service independent partnership catering to family, institutional and multigenerational wealth. For more information, visit us at www.stewardpartners.com. About Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. is a financial services firm supporting independent financial advisors nationwide. Since 1974, Raymond James Financial Services Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, has provided a wide range of investment and wealth planning related services through its affiliate, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. Both broker/dealers are wholly owned subsidiaries of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE-RJF) a leading diversified financial services company with approximately 8,100 financial advisors throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. Total client assets are $774 billion. Steward Partners Holdings, Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC maintain a separate professional business relationship with, and our registered professionals offer securities through, Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Steward Partners Investment Advisory, LLC, 1776 I Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20006. Toll Free: (844) 801-8268. Media Contact: Water & Wall [email protected] 212-343-2363 SOURCE Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC Related Links http://www.stewardpartners.com DENVER, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pax8 , the best place to buy cloud solutions, today announced that Jennifer Bodell, Vice President of Channel at Pax8, Nicole Faletra, Manager of Channel Marketing, and Amanda Lee, Vice President of Communications have been named to its esteemed 2020 Women of the Channel list. These Pax8 Wingwomen are paving the way with their strategy, vision, and leadership, said Nick Heddy, Chief Revenue Officer at Pax8. Each one of them are fiercely focused on putting our partners first and building programs and messaging that present sustainable opportunities for long-term growth and success. We are proud of their accomplishments and thank CRN for highlighting Amanda, Jennifer, and Nicole on the 2020 Women of the Channel list. Recognizing the unique strengths, vision, and achievements of a select group of women, this prestigious, annual list acknowledges channel leaders who are blazing a trail for future generations. These women are from all areas of the IT ecosystem, including technology vendors, distributors, solution providers, and other IT organizations. CRN editorial team selects the honorees to celebrate a list of exceptional women acclaimed for their contributions to channel advocacy, growth, thought leadership, and dedication to the IT channel. CRNs 2020 Women of the Channel list recognizes an accomplished group of influential women leaders whose strategic vision and unique achievements accelerate channel growth through cultivated partnerships, innovative thought leadership, and unwavering dedication to the IT channel, said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. We are proud to honor them for their accomplishments and contributions to driving channel success. Bodell is also being recognized on the 2020 Power 100 list for the fifth consecutive year. The Power 100 is an elite subgroup of standout individuals selected from the annual CRN Women of the Channel list. We are proud of Jennifers exceptional achievements, expertise, and commitment to supporting our partners, said Heddy. We are excited to see her on the Power 100 list for the fifth consecutive year, as she is recognized for her thought leadership and dedication to the advancement of Pax8 and the entire IT channel. The 2020 Women of the Channel and Power 100 lists will be featured in CRN Magazine on June 8 and online at www.CRN.com/WOTC . To learn more about Pax8, please contact the cloud solutions advisors at (855) 884-PAX8, email info@pax8.com , or visit www.pax8.com . About Pax8 Pax8 is modernizing how partners buy, sell and manage cloud. As a born-in-the-cloud company, Pax8 simplifies the buying journey, empowering its partners to achieve more with cloud technology. The companys technology displaces legacy distribution by connecting the channel ecosystem to its award-winning transactional cloud marketplace. Through billing, provisioning, automation, industry-leading PSA integrations, and pre and post-sales support, and education, Pax8 is a proven disruptor in the market. In 2018, Pax8 was ranked number 68 on the Inc. 5000 and in 2019, the company was ranked number 60. If you want to be successful with cloud, you want to work with Pax8. Get started today at www.pax8.com . Follow Pax8 on Facebook , LinkedIn , and Twitter . About The Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com Follow The Channel Company: Twitter , LinkedIn , and Facebook Two killed, 12 semis overturned when terrestrial waterspout hits Monterrey Monterrey, Nuevo Leon A terrestrial waterspout that hit an area of Monterrey left two dead and at least six injured after ripping through the area Friday. State Civil Protection reported the storm arrived around 5:00 p.m. with hail and wind gusts up to 115 kilometers per hour. The dark mass caused extensive damage to buildings as well as flipping vehicles, including a row of semi units, as the storm passed over an industrial area. Civil Protection say that one person was killed in the municipality of Apodaca, a 32-year-old female security guard, Rocio Dovanet Morales. The second death was that of a 40-year-old man in the municipality of Cadereyta, who died when a tree fell on him. He has not been identified. Commander Miguel Perales Hernandez clarified that the storm was not a tornado, which is what has been reported in media, but that of a terrestrial waterspout (tromba terrestre), which do not share the same characteristics as tornadoes. Perales Hernandez said that 12 semi units were overturned due to the strong winds. Hail from the storm was also reported in the municipalities of Escobedo, Monterrey, Zuazua, Apodaca and San Nicolas. Honda Vietnam is considering more car imports this year since local production has been hit by the supply chain disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Its production is set to fall by 30 percent from last year due to difficulties in sourcing parts from Malaysia and India, where suppliers had to shut down plants, the company said in a recent report to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. Motorbike production is set to fall by 43 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, it said. Since the impact of the pandemic could last years, the company is considering importing more cars to meet demand. Honda and other car manufacturers such as Toyota and Ford had to close their factories and dealerships for the first two weeks of April to comply with the governments social distancing orders. Car production fell 23.8 percent year-on-year in the first four months to 61,400 units, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Honda, which has the third highest auto sales in Vietnam, saw first quarter sales plummet by 39 percent year-on-year to 5,290 units, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA). Other top brands also saw double-digit drops as overall sales dropped to a five-year low of 52,500, VAMA said. Last year car production had risen by 9.6 percent to 363,800 units, according to the industry ministry. Chinas new large carrier rocket Long March-5B rocket made its maiden flight on May 5, sending a trial version of the countrys new-generation manned spaceship and a cargo return capsule into space for testing. The successful flight marked the start of construction of Chinas space station, which is expected to be completed in around 2022. The Tiangong space station, which will orbit 340 to 450 km above the Earths surface, is designed to operate for at least 10 years, which could be extended through in-orbit maintenance. Weighing 66 tons, the station will be T-shaped with the Tianhe core module at the center and a lab capsule on each side, according to Zhou Jianping, chief designer of Chinas manned space program. The core module will be 16.6 meters long with a diameter of 4.2 meters and a takeoff weight of 22.5 tons, and will serve as the management and control center. As Chinas largest current spacecraft, it will be able to support a long-term stay for three astronauts in space, as well as scientific experiments. The living space in the core module is about 50 cubic meters. With the two lab capsules, the living space will be up to 100 cubic meters. The space station program also includes a space transportation system between Earth and low-earth orbit and a cargo transport system, which will be undertaken by the Long March-2F carrier rockets and Shenzhou manned spaceships, as well as the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft and Long March-7 carrier rockets, respectively. To allow astronauts to stay longer in orbit, the station will be equipped with a renewable life support system. The hydrogen produced during electrolytic oxygen production and the carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts can generate oxygen through a chemical reaction, which can supplement the space stations oxygen supply. Science facilities on the station will support research projects in fields such as biology, material science, basic physics and microgravity. More than a dozen experiment racks will be installed, and an extra-vehicular experiment platform will be built. In addition, a capsule with a large optical telescope will be flying in the same orbit. The Chinese space station can also be expanded for future space exploration, Zhou added. A total of 12 missions have been planned to complete the construction of the space station, according to Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office. After the maiden flight of the Long March-5B, the core module of the space station and two experiment capsules will be sent into space. China also plans to launch four Shenzhou manned spaceships and four Tianzhou cargo spacecraft to carry astronauts and replenish supplies and propellant for the station. According to Chinas first astronaut, Yang Liwei, the country began selecting the third batch of astronauts for space station missions in 2018. The new astronauts will include not only pilots, but also flight engineers and scientists. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Reuters) Wellington, New Zealand Mon, May 11, 2020 13:01 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd731225 2 World New-Zealand,coronavirus,COVID-19,pandemic,virus-corona,COVID-19-lockdown,COVID-19-quarantine Free New Zealand businesses including malls, cinemas, cafes and gyms will be allowed to reopen from Thursday as tight restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus were further eased on Monday. The Pacific nation was locked down for more than month under "level 4" restrictions that were eased by a notch late last month. It has continued to enforce strict social measures on many of its citizens and businesses, helping prevent widespread community spread of the virus. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the move to "level 2" restrictions will mean retail, restaurants and other public spaces including playgrounds can reopen from Thursday. "I am announcing that Cabinet agrees we are ready to move into level 2, to open up the economy, but to do it as safely as possible," Ardern told a news conference. Businesses will be required to have physical distancing and strict hygiene measures in place. Schools can open from next Monday while bars can only reopen from May 21, Ardern said. Gatherings would be limited to 10 people. "The upshot is that in 10 days time we will have reopened most businesses in New Zealand, and sooner than many other countries around the world," Ardern said. The country's borders would remain closed except for returning New Zealanders. The measures would be reviewed again in two weeks, Ardern said. Three new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, were confirmed on Monday, the health ministry said in a statement. The cases - two hospital nurses and one related to overseas travel - bring New Zealands total confirmed COVID-19 infections to 1,147, the ministry said, adding that 93% of all confirmed and probable cases have recovered. The government will unveil its annual budget on Thursday, and has warned the country would run fiscal deficits for years while debt will increase to levels well beyond previous targets due to its economic support measures. Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel on Monday signed a Notice of Execution that sets June 22 as the date for the execution of Eric Frein. Frein was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2014 murder of a Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Bryon Dickson II during an ambush attack of the Blooming Grove barracks in northeastern Pennsylvania. The law provides that when the governor does not sign a warrant of execution within the specified time period, the secretary of corrections has 30 days within which to issue a notice of execution, according to a press release. Pa. State Troopers Association President David Kennedy issued the following statement after the news of the date was released: Eric Frein ambushed unsuspecting troopers in the dark at their barracks, murdering one and seriously injured another," he said. "His death sentence has been upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. There is no question in anyones mind that he committed these horrific crimes. One troopers children is growing up without their father, and another is living with serious injuries for the rest of his life. Gov. Tom Wolf should sign this cowards death warrant and end his life. The General Assembly has yet to address the inadequacies in the death penalty system as detailed in the Joint State Government Commission report issued in 2018. The state Supreme Court on April 26, 2019, upheld the death sentence against Frein. Gov. Tom Wolf issues temporary reprieves if a warrant reaches his desk without further appeals, the release said, adding that we are not yet at that point in this case. The release noted that any remaining appeals or stays an individual pursues would be part of the court case, and questions pertaining to those appeals or stays would be best directed to the individuals attorneys. Wolf imposed a moratorium on the death penalty shortly after taking office in 2015. Pennsylvania has a death penalty law on the books since 1978, but the most recent execution was in 1999 when Philadelphia torture killer Gary Heidnik was put to death. Over the years, Germany has emerged as a promoter of, rather than a danger to, the global order of human rights and international law, asserted German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in his commemoratory speech on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. According to the head of state, German democracy has matured through decades of wrestling with our past. These are trite phrases aimed at concealing the exact opposite. Three-quarters of a century after the end of the most brutal war in world history, a war of annihilation that included the Holocaust, the German ruling elite is returning to authoritarian and ultimately fascist policies to enforce its programme of militarism and glaring social inequality. To these ends, the Nazis crimes are being trivialised. These tendencies are accelerating due to the coronavirus crisis. The ruling elite, with its policy of reopening the economy, is accepting the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people as a price worth paying to protect the wealth of the super-rich and strengthen the position of German imperialism against its international rivals. While hundreds of billions of euros are flowing into the accounts of the major banks, there is supposedly not enough money for even the most basic safety measures. This ruthless ruling class policy stands in irreconcilable opposition to basic democratic rights and fundamental standards of humanity. Therefore, ever more explicitly right-wing extremist and fascist ideologies, which draw directly on the language of militarism and the Nazis, are being employed to justify it. In the United States, one of Trumps most important advisers, former Governor Chris Christie, has called on people to sacrifice their lives for the American way of life, like they did during the two world wars. Similar images are being conjured up in the German-speaking media to justify dying for the super-rich. Already on April 17, Swiss businessman Georges Bindschedler stated in the Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ) that in light of the arbitrary acceptance of the destruction of the economy, one must ask, as Frederick the Great said to his soldiers at the Battle of Kolin, So, do you want to live forever? This was Frederick the Greats exclamation as his soldiers retreated before the enemy in a hopeless situation. It became synonymous with the waging of ruthless and brutal warfare. The most well known adaptation is the book and film of the same name, "Dogs, do you want to live forever?, which tells the story of the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II. Today, the businessman uses the militarist slogan, which was pushed to the extreme by the Nazis, to justify his support for the back-to-work campaign that is being enforced in practice by governments all around the world. Like the driving of deserters back to the front, workers are to be sent back to work so they can risk their lives for the profits of Bindschedler and his ilk. The philosopher Bernhard Gill was even more direct in drawing a connection to the Nazis inhumane ideology. In an article for Der Spiegel, he expressed his opposition to a limiting of the spread of infections. He claimed that the victims of the pandemic died due to their frailty and old age. In his view, this dying is a natural process, which is painful for the individuals involved, but viewed from a distance creates space for new life. Gill himself is, of course, aware that his natural selection theory has social implications. For example, British researchers found that residents of poorer regions were twice as likely to die from coronavirus as people living in wealthy neighbourhoods. Another study revealed that COVID-19 reduced the average life expectancy of men who died by 13 years, and women by 11 years. Therefore, there can be no talk of the chief reason being frailty due to old age. In the final analysis, Gill is concerned with providing a pseudo-biological justification for mass death caused by social conditions. There is nothing to differentiate this position from Adolf Hitlers aristocratic principle of nature, which, according to the Fuhrer of the Nazis, was summed up by the strong prevailing against the weak. Gills justification of the death of people with pre-existing conditions or the elderly follows the same logic. The Social Democrat Konrad Heiden stated in his Hitler biography that with this statement, Hitler basically said everything that he had to say. In Mein Kampf, Hitler counterposed this aristocratic principle of nature to the mass of numbers and their dead weight, i.e., the principles of democracy and equality. This is now being raised again. The German-American professor Hans-Ulrich Gummbrecht railed in an article published in the NZZ on March 24 against the principle of equality, meaning the equal protection of all human life. This principle is, in any case, rather young, he claimed, adding, Until the mid-twentieth century, the conscious decision to sacrifice a large portion of the young male population for the purposes of power and honour was one of the consensus-generating principles during exceptional situations of national wars. Although the professor said that one can consider subsequent developments as representing human progress, he noted that one ought not to close ones eyes to the drawbacks. For example, it needs to be asked whether the protection of life is not calling into question the survival of humanity or at least the future of the young generation. Gummbrecht is here also following the militarist and fascist ideology summed up by Heinrich Lersch in 1916 in the midst of the World War I, when he wrote in the poem Soldiers Farewell, Germany must live, even if we have to die! The slogan was prominently embraced by the Kaisers authorities and by the Nazis, whom Lersch later joined. The revival of such positions is not a trivial matter. The second-highest figurehead in the German state, federal parliament President Wolfgang Schauble, adopted this inhumane line of argumentation and even attacked the principle of human dignity contained in Germany's Basic Law. This does not include the right to life, insisted Schauble. It is not true that everything must take second place to the protection of life. But if seriously ill people do not receive a life-saving ventilator, resulting in them horribly suffocating to death in order to protect corporate profits, then Article I of the Basic Law, which was adopted in the wake of the Nazis crimes against humanity, is not worth the paper it is written on. Schaubles fascist demand for lives to be sacrificed for the rich was taken up by representatives of all parties in parliament. Free Democrat Leader Christian Lindner, far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) head Alexander Gauland, and two leading members of the Green Party, Robert Habeck and Katrin Goring-Eckardt, all praised Schauble for his remarks. The revival of fascist ideology goes hand in hand with the comprehensive campaign to trivialise and apologise for the crimes of the Nazis. Already in February 2014, Professor of Eastern European History Jorg Baberowski defended the Nazi apologist Ernst Nolte. By way of justification, he added, Hitler was not vicious. He compared the Holocaust to shootings during the Russian Civil War, stating, Essentially it was the same thing: mass killing on an industrial scale. This repugnant falsification of history, which appeared in Der Spiegel, Germanys largest-circulation news magazine, went uncriticised by a single professor or historian for three years. The Socialist Equality Party (Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei--SGP) and its youth organisation, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, were bitterly attacked because they opposed Baberowskis falsifications. Representatives of all parties in parliament and the German government backed the professor. Humboldt University Professor Herfried Munkler also received applause from the political establishment when he denied that Germany had imperialist goals during World War I and urged Berlin to become the disciplinarian of Europe. The military historian Sunke Neitzel, who was the only studio guest invited by ZDF onto its official programme after Steinmeiers speech, had blamed the Soviet Union on the 75th anniversary of Nazi Germanys invasion for being jointly responsible for the war of annihilation. In its strategy of extermination, the Wehrmacht took the Red Army as a model, claimed Neitzel. When right-wing extremist terror cells were discovered in the army one year later, Neitzel openly called for the army to base itself more closely on the traditions of Hitlers Wehrmacht. Steinmeier has played a critical role in the revival of German militarism and fascism. At the Munich Security Conference in 2014, the foreign minister urged Germany to engage in foreign and security policy earlier, more decisively, and more substantially. He railed against a culture of restraint, and declared, Germany is too big just to comment on world politics from the sidelines. Ever since, he has repeatedly worked with right-wing extremist forces on domestic and foreign policy to pursue this goal. In February 2014, he welcomed to the German embassy in Kiev Oleg Tyagnibok, the leader of the fascist Svoboda Party, who had played an important role in the coup in Ukraine backed by Berlin. In November 2017, he invited the AfDs co-leaders, Alexander Gaulland and Alice Weidel, for a meeting at Bellevue Palace, the presidents official residence. As a result, the grand coalition government embraced the policies of the far right and politically integrated the AfD into decision-making processes. The policies of militarism and social inequality, which are now being intensified by the coronavirus pandemic, and the revival of fascist ideology confirm the warnings of the SGP that the trivialisation of the Nazis crimes is part of the ruling elites preparation for new crimes of historic dimensions. After Baberowski described Hitler as not vicious in February 2014, the IYSSE wrote, The efforts to justify an historically false narrative coincide with a critical turning point in German history. They are closely bound up with the declarations of President Joachim Gauck and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier that it is time to end the decades of Germanys military restraint. The revival of German militarism requires a new interpretation of history that downplays the crimes of the Nazi era. Pence Would Welcome Return of American Patriot Michael Flynn to Trump Administration Vice President Mike Pence said he would welcome the return of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to President Trumps administration after the Justice Department last week dropped criminal charges against the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). I think Gen. Michael Flynn is an American patriot, Pence said during an interview with Axios on HBO in Iowa on Friday. He served his country with great distinction in uniform, and now I believe the decision the Justice Department lays bare what was clearly prosecutorial abuse. And for my part, Id be happy to see Michael Flynn again. Flynn pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017, to one count of lying during a Jan. 24, 2017, interview with the FBI about his interactions with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Trump took office, which the Department of Justice (DOJ) has since said seems to have been undertaken only to elicit those very false statements and thereby criminalize Mr. Flynn. Flynns plea formed part of special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The DOJ on May 7 dropped its case against Flynn and condemned the FBIs work after the former national security adviser to President Trump, who in recent months moved to withdraw his plea of guilt, said that his former lawyers misled him on their conflict of interest and the FBI withheld a number of documents. The government has concluded that the interview of Mr. Flynn was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBIs counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynna no longer justifiably predicated investigation that the FBI had, in the Bureaus own words, prepared to close because it had yielded an absence of any derogatory information, said Timothy Shea, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, in his May 6 motion to dismiss. Pences comments come after President Trump last month said he would certainly consider rehiring Flynn, adding that he expected him to be fully exonerated and to be capable of coming back, but did not state in what capacity. I think hes a fine man. I think its terrible what [the FBI] did to him. I would certainly consider itThey did everything possible to destroy him but hes still breathing very strongly, he told reporters during a White house press briefing on April 30. On Sunday, Trump praised the Justice Departments decision to drop the criminal case against Flynn, calling his former national security adviser an innocent man and a warrior. He was an innocent man, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon. He is a great gentleman. He was targeted by the Obama administration and he was targeted in order to try and take down a president, and what theyve done is a disgrace, and I hope a big price is going to be paid. Pences interview on Axios on HBO airs in full on Monday night. Watch Next: Fred Fleitz: Bombshells in Unreleased House Intel Committee Report & New Flynn Docs | Spygate WASHINGTON - More than 1,900 former Justice Department employees on Monday repeated a call for William Barr to step down as attorney general, asserting in an open letter he had "once again assaulted the rule of law" by moving to drop the case against President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The letter, organized by the nonprofit Protect Democracy, was signed by Justice Department staffers serving in Republican and Democratic administrations dating to President Dwight Eisenhower. The vast majority were former career staffers - rather than political appointees - who worked as federal prosecutors or supervisors at U.S. Attorney Offices across the country or the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. Protect Democracy, which counts Justice Department alumni among its members, has organized several similar letters critical of Barr's decisions or other Trump administration actions. Most recently, in February, the group collected more than 2,600 signatures on a letter calling for Barr to resign after he intervened to reduce career prosecutors' sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, a longtime friend of Trump. Jonathan Kravis, one of the prosecutors involved in Stone's case who resigned after Barr's action, wrote in a Washington Post column published Monday that in both matters, "the department undercut the work of career employees to protect an ally of the president, an abdication of the commitment to equal justice under the law." The new letter asserted that its signers "continue to believe that it would be best for the integrity of the Justice Department and for our democracy for Attorney General Barr to step aside." The group also called on Congress to formally censure Barr and asked a federal judge in Washington to hold a hearing to scrutinize whether to dismiss the case against Flynn. "Our democracy depends on a Department of Justice that acts as an independent arbiter of equal justice, not as an arm of the president's political apparatus," the group wrote. Among the signers were several high-profile Republican appointees, including Donald Ayer, a deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush; Charles Fried, solicitor general under President Reagan; and Stuart Gerson, who led the Justice Department's civil division under Bush and served as acting attorney general briefly in the Clinton administration. Justin Vail, a policy advocate with Protect Democracy, said the group was "inundated with calls from former Department of Justice attorneys who wanted to speak out" after the action in the Flynn case. A spokeswoman for Barr declined to comment. Barr's decision Thursday to reverse course and ask a federal judge to throw out Flynn's case has roiled the Justice Department and renewed questions about whether the attorney general is bending federal law enforcement to the president's will. Flynn had pleaded in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his interactions during the presidential transition with Sergey Kislyak, at the time the Russian ambassador to the United States. Trump ousted Flynn for, the president said, misleading the vice president about the matter. But as he awaited sentencing, Flynn changed legal teams and sought to withdraw his plea and get the case thrown out, alleging Justice Department misconduct including entrapment by the FBI agents who interviewed him. Barr tapped Jeff Jensen, the U.S. attorney in St. Louis, to review how the case had been handled. Jensen said publicly last week that he recommended it be dropped. In a filing Thursday, the Justice Department formally asked a judge to do so, arguing that the FBI did not have a valid investigative basis to interview Flynn, and thus whatever lies he told were not relevant to an investigation - which would be necessary to substantiate the criminal charge against him. Soon before the filing, Brandon Van Grack, a career prosecutor on the case, moved to withdraw from it. Thursday's filing was signed only by Tim Shea, the D.C. U.S. Attorney handpicked by Barr to lead that office. The Justice Department alumni expressed support for Van Grack's decision and questioned the logic behind Shea's reversal. "The Department's purported justification for doing so does not hold up to scrutiny, given the ample evidence that the investigation was well-founded and - more importantly - the fact that Flynn admitted under oath and in open court that he told material lies to the FBI in violation of long-standing federal law," the group wrote. Many on the political right have hailed Barr's move, believing Flynn to be a victim of an overzealous FBI. Last week, Trump heaped praise on his attorney general for intervening. Barr, too, has publicly defended the move, telling CBS News it was an "easy" decision and one for which he was prepared to take criticism. As the group of Justice Department alumni acknowledged, their letter is unlikely to persuade him to step down. "I also think it's sad that nowadays these partisan feelings are so strong that people have lost any sense of justice," Barr told CBS News. "And the groups that usually worry about civil liberties and making sure that there's proper procedures followed and standards set seem to be ignoring it and willing to destroy people's lives and see great injustices done." U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan must still approve the department's request to drop the case, and so far has not indicated what he will do. The Justice Department alumni asked Sullivan to hold a hearing with witnesses to examine Barr's legal reasoning and "to deny the motion and proceed with sentencing if appropriate." While it is rare for a court to deny the Departments request to dismiss an indictment, if ever there were a case where the public interest counseled the court to take a long, hard look at the governments explanation and the evidence, it is this one, the group wrote. Attorney General Barrs repeated actions to use the Department as a tool to further President Trumps personal and political interests have undermined any claim to the deference that courts usually apply to the Departments decisions about whether or not to prosecute a case. (in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted) TORONTO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Alpala Royalty Acquisition The Corporation today entered into an agreement with SolGold PLC ("SolGold") to acquire a 1% net smelter royalty ("NSR") with reference to all minerals produced from the Alpala copper-gold project in northern Ecuador for $100 million. The Alpala project is owned by Exploraciones Novomining SA, which is held 85% by SolGold and 15% by Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. The NSR will cover the 4,979 hectare Cascabel concession and closing of the acquisition is subject to on-site confirmatory due diligence which will be completed once COVID-19 travel restrictions are lifted. In the interim, the Corporation has agreed to provide SolGold with a bridge loan of $15 million for a period of up to 8 months. SolGold has the option to increase the size of the transaction to $150 million for a 1.5% NSR until January 11, 2021 and also has the option to buy-back 50% of the NSR for a period of time. Franco-Nevada is entitled to receive certain minimum royalty payments from 2028 and also has the option to convert the NSR to a gold NSR for a period of time after Alpala is producing. As part of the royalty arrangements, the Corporation has agreed to contribute $150,000 per year for three years after closing to one or more of SolGold's local Ecuadorian environmental and social initiatives. SolGold has agreed to match or surpass such annual funding. At-the-Market Equity Program Franco-Nevada has established an at-the-market equity program (the "ATM Program") that allows the Corporation to issue up to $300 million worth of common shares from treasury ("Common Shares") to the public from time to time at the prevailing market price through the Toronto Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange or any other marketplace on which the Common Shares are listed, quoted or otherwise traded. The volume and timing of distributions under the ATM Program, if any, will be determined at the Corporation's sole discretion, subject to applicable regulatory limitations. The Corporation's previous at-the-market equity program established July 19, 2019 that allowed the Corporation to issue up to $200 million worth of Common Shares was terminated on April 28, 2020. The ATM Program will be effective until May 28, 2022 unless terminated prior to such date by the Corporation. Franco-Nevada intends to use the net proceeds from the ATM Program, if any, for funding royalty and stream acquisitions and/or other general corporate purposes including the repayment of indebtedness. Sales of Common Shares through the ATM Program will be made pursuant to the terms of an equity distribution agreement dated May 11, 2020 with CIBC Capital Markets, BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., TD Securities Inc., Canaccord Genuity Corp., Credit Suisse Securities (Canada), Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., Raymond James Ltd., and Industrial Alliance Securities Inc., as Canadian agents, and CIBC Capital Markets, BMO Capital Markets Corp., RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Scotia Capital (USA) Inc., TD Securities (USA) LLC, BofA Securities, Inc., Canaccord Genuity LLC, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, National Bank of Canada Financial Inc., Raymond James (USA) Ltd., Barclays Capital Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, as U.S. agents. The Corporation has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus) and a prospectus supplement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") for the ATM Program. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement, the prospectus supplement and other documents the issuer has filed with the SEC for more complete information about the issuer and the ATM Program. The Corporation has also filed prospectus supplement dated May 11, 2020 to the Corporation's Canadian base shelf prospectus dated April 28, 2020 with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Alternatively, any agent participating in the ATM Program will arrange to send you the prospectus if you request it by contacting, (i) in Canada: CIBC World Markets Inc., attn: Michelene Dougherty, by email at [email protected] or by phone at 416-956-3636 or BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., attn: Brampton Distribution Centre C/O The DATA Group of Companies, 9195 Torbram Road, Brampton, Ontario, L6S 6H2, by email at [email protected] or by phone at 905-791-3151 Ext. 4312; and (ii) in the U.S.: CIBC World Markets Corp., 425 Lexington Ave, 5th Floor, New York, NY, by email at [email protected] or by phone at (800) 282-0822 or BMO Capital Markets Corp., attn: Equity Syndicate Department, 3 Times Square, 25th Floor, New York, NY, 10036, by email at [email protected] or by phone at 1-800-414-3627. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the Common Shares, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Corporate Summary Franco-Nevada Corporation is the leading gold-focused royalty and streaming company with the largest and most diversified portfolio of cash-flow producing assets. Its business model provides investors with gold price and exploration optionality while limiting exposure to many of the risks of operating companies. Franco-Nevada is debt free and uses its free cash flow to expand its portfolio and pay dividends. It trades under the symbol FNV on both the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. Franco-Nevada is the gold investment that works. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, respectively, which may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future events or future performance, management's expectations regarding Franco-Nevada's growth, results of operations, estimated future revenues, carrying value of assets, future dividends and requirements for additional capital, mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, production estimates, production costs and revenue, future demand for and prices of commodities, expected mining sequences, business prospects and opportunities, audits being conducted by the Canada Revenue Agency (the "CRA"), the expected exposure for current and future assessments and available remedies, the remedies relating to and consequences of the ruling of the Supreme Court of Panama in relation to the Cobre Panama project, statements with respect to the aggregate value of Common Shares which may be issued pursuant to the ATM Program, the Corporation's expected use of the net proceeds of the ATM Program, if any, and the acquisition of the SolGold royalty interest. In addition, statements (including data in tables) relating to reserves and resources and gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") are forward-looking statements, as they involve implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions, and no assurance can be given that the estimates and assumptions are accurate and that such reserves and resources and GEOs will be realized. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "projects", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Franco-Nevada to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. A number of factors could cause actual events or results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement, including, without limitation: the price at which Common Shares are sold in the ATM Program and the aggregate net proceeds received by the Corporation as a result of the ATM Program; fluctuations in the prices of the primary commodities that drive royalty and stream revenue (gold, platinum group metals, copper, nickel, uranium, silver, iron-ore and oil and gas); fluctuations in the value of the Canadian and Australian dollar, Mexican peso, and any other currency in which revenue is generated, relative to the U.S. dollar; changes in national and local government legislation, including permitting and licensing regimes and taxation policies and the enforcement thereof; regulatory, political or economic developments in any of the countries where properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest are located or through which they are held; risks related to the operators of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest, including changes in the ownership and control of such operators; influence of macroeconomic developments; business opportunities that become available to, or are pursued by Franco-Nevada; reduced access to debt and equity capital; litigation; title, permit or license disputes related to interests on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; whether or not the Corporation is determined to have "passive foreign investment company" ("PFIC") status as defined in Section 1297 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; potential changes in Canadian tax treatment of offshore streams; excessive cost escalation as well as development, permitting, infrastructure, operating or technical difficulties on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; access to sufficient pipeline capacity; actual mineral content may differ from the reserves and resources contained in technical reports; rate and timing of production differences from resource estimates, other technical reports and mine plans; risks and hazards associated with the business of development and mining on any of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest, including, but not limited to unusual or unexpected geological and metallurgical conditions, slope failures or cave-ins, flooding and other natural disasters, terrorism, civil unrest or an outbreak of contagious diseases; the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic; and the integration of acquired assets. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including, without limitation: the ongoing operation of the properties in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest by the owners or operators of such properties in a manner consistent with past practice; the accuracy of public statements and disclosures made by the owners or operators of such underlying properties; no material adverse change in the market price of the commodities that underlie the asset portfolio; the Corporation's ongoing income and assets relating to determination of its PFIC status; no material changes to existing tax treatment; risks related to the completion of the acquisition of the SolGold royalty interest; the expected application of tax laws and regulations by taxation authorities; the expected assessment and outcome of any audit by any taxation authority; no adverse development in respect of any significant property in which Franco-Nevada holds a royalty, stream or other interest; the accuracy of publicly disclosed expectations for the development of underlying properties that are not yet in production; integration of acquired assets; and the absence of any other factors that could cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. However, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. In addition, there can be no assurance as to the outcome of the ongoing audit by the CRA or the Corporation's exposure as a result thereof. Franco-Nevada cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. For additional information with respect to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, please refer to Franco-Nevada's most recent Annual Information Form filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities on www.sedar.com and Franco-Nevada's most recent Annual Report filed on Form 40-F filed with the SEC on www.sec.gov. The forward-looking statements herein are made as of the date of this press release only and Franco-Nevada does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. SOURCE Franco-Nevada Corporation Related Links www.franco-nevada.com The second highest number of coronavirus cases in the country. The worst mortality rate among states. A none too impressive recovery rate. Surely this doesn't speak highly of the famed Gujarat model, so what went wrong? Kiran Kapure reports from Ahmedabad. IMAGE: Border Security Force personnel patrol a street during the week-long total lockdown imposed in Ahmedabad from May 7. Photograph: PTI Photo With 8,000-plus COVID-19 cases and a death count nearing 500, of which Ahmedabad accounts for the bulk of the cases, Gujarat has the second highest number of coronavirus cases in the country after Maharashtra. Which leads to the question: What went wrong with the famed Gujarat Model that powered a prime ministerial candidate to office in 2014? State officials credit the high numbers in Gujarat to the high testing rate and argue that COVID-19 infection is restricted to Ahmedabad and a few other cities like Surat and Vadodara. With Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra going into self-isolation after coming into contact with an individual who tested positive for the virus, charge of the city has been given to Mukesh Kumar. With Ahmedabad facing a strict lockdown, the government has deployed five companies of the Border Security Force in the city, particularly in the walled city. Ahmedavadis have been banned from leaving their homes and all shops are closed for a week, with the exception of medical stores and milk vendors. The ban was imposed with very short notice, making the situation unbearable for the poor and middle class. Ahmedabad reported its first case on March 19, and since then the graph has been steadily growing. State officials say they are doing more testing when compared to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Nehra was confident that by testing more Ahmedavadis, even if more patients came to the city hospitals medical teams would be able to handle the situation. Obviously, they could not. In retrospect, it is clear that the 'more testing = more cases' theory is behind the worrying situation Ahmedabad confronts today. Another reason behind the spike in cases in Ahmedabad is the dense population in the walled city area. One area, Jamalpur, has witnessed nearly 700 positive cases. This neighbourhood and Behrampura, Dariyapur, Danilimda in eastern Ahmedabad are densely populated where families live in tiny houses and share common bathrooms and toilets. With most state governments blaming the Tablighi Jamaat convention in Delhi for spreading the virus, Gujarat is no exception. More than 1,500 Muslims attended the Tablighi event from all over Gujarat and among them the majority were from Ahmedabad's walled city area, Surat and Vadodara. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani blamed the Tablighis for spreading coronavirus as did Principal Secretary (health) Jayanti Ravi at a press briefing. Though there is a grain of truth in what Rupani and Ravi say, the Gujarat government seems to have omitted those who came from abroad whose numbers are much higher than the Tablighi Jamaat attendees. Lately, Ahmedavadis have also started raising questions over US President Donald J Trump's visit to Ahmedabad on February 24 which saw a huge gathering of people. Congress leaders blame the Trump visit for the virus's spread, and many seem to have picked up the line. PTI reported on Sunday that about 334 coronavirus 'super-spreaders' have been found in Ahmedabad so far, people like vegetable vendors and grocery and milk shop owners who could get infected and in turn infected many. According to the PTI report, there could be more than 14,000 potential super-spreaders in the city, and the administration hopes to screen them all in the next three days. Among the states, Gujarat has the worst mortality rate, 6 per cent, and its recovery rate too is miserable, at 27 per cent. Health Secretary Jayanti Ravi has blamed comorbidity and advanced age for the high mortality rate in the state. While the Gujarat government was busy in its blame game, two centres of care -- Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital and SVP hospital -- reserved for the treatment of COVID-19 patients demonstrated poor leadership during the crisis. Local media reported on the lack of PPE kits, cleanliness, and senior doctors's visits plaguing these two hospitals. The Samras COVID-19 centre at the Gujarat university hostel -- where asymptomatic patients have been kept -- also faces lack of infrastructure and manpower issues. This situation has broken the trust in public healthcare, forcing people to seek expensive treatment in private hospitals. The Gujarat government has allowed some private hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients, but this care does not come cheap. Some of these hospitals are known to charge as much as Rs 5 lakhs to Rs 6 lakhs a patient. I think there has been a feeling in the legal community that we should use our skills to help people respond to those areas of disaster and crisis, Picciola said. This particular crisis and pandemic is unique because many of us feel fine, right? Many of us are not directly affected and we feel good, but we want to help people who arent in that same situation. Nations struggled to balance public and economic health Sunday, feeling pressure to reopen shuttered businesses and aspects of life amid worries that relaxing restrictions too much could ignite a second wave of coronavirus infections. South Korea, China and Germany, all seen as nations with success in clamping down on COVID-19, have seen small upticks. Yet Germany, like much of Europe, is continuing to loosen restrictions. Britain, which has the continents most deaths from the virus and a prime minister who came close to dying from it himself, announced a modest easing of its lockdown. In Washington, where three members of the Trump administrations coronavirus task force are in self-quarantine, some of the presidents top economic advisers emphasized the importance of getting more businesses and offices opened. Here are some of APs top stories Sunday on the coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities. WHATS HAPPENING TODAY: Vice President Mike Pence was self-isolating after an aide tested positive for the coronavirus last week, but he planned to return to the White House on Monday. As President Donald Trump turns to governors to handle much of the next phase of coronavirus response, some members of both parties in Congress are pushing their own proposals. The Senates top Democrat says the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to give Congress more information on veterans treated with a drug promoted by Trump that has not been proven to be safe and effective for the virus. The virus and the response to it is making the difference between European and American social safety nets ever more stark. Dozens of U.S. virus patients and some businesses are suing China over the spread of the coronavirus. The cases face an uphill climb. French schools will be welcoming some students back starting Monday, but many parents arent sure they want their children to go. A day after an AP report laying out the criticism New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has received over the states response to the virus in nursing homes, he announced major changes announced major changes in his approach, most notably ending a directive that forced nursing homes to take recovering COVID-19 patients. Saturday nights UFC 249 could serve as a blueprint for sports leagues around the country and the world as they start to resume during a global pandemic. The coronavirus has complicated a yearlong Arctic research mission aimed at improving the models used for forecasting climate change. The closure of hundreds of tribal casinos to slow the virus spread cost some Native American communities their main source of income. How many people were staying at your home on April 1? That standard census question is flummoxing some whose lives have been upended by COVID-19. Venezuelans living abroad and sending money home to their troubled nation have been hit especially hard by the virus economic impact. Every business has been affected by the virus even drug dealing. Among the winners: Albanian flamingos. ___ WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover. Here are the symptoms of the virus compared with the common flu. One of the best ways to prevent spread of the virus is washing your hands with soap and water. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends first washing with warm or cold water and then lathering soap for 20 seconds to get it on the backs of hands, between fingers and under fingernails before rinsing off. You should wash your phone, too. Heres how. TRACKING THE VIRUS: Drill down and zoom in at the individual county level, and you can access numbers that will show you the situation where you are, and where loved ones or people youre worried about live. ___ ONE NUMBER: 35: At least 35 people convicted in killings were granted parole by Virginia in March amid concerns over spreading the virus. Prosecutors and victims families say they werent notified as the law requires. IN OTHER NEWS: INFORMATION OVERLOAD: Most Americans are following virus news closely, but most of them say they also need to unplug. BIG FAMILIES, BIG PROBLEMS: For the millions of Americans who live in multigenerational homes, where one of the main strategies for avoiding infection following social distancing protocols can be almost impossible. OPENING ACT: Devastated that her graduate recital was canceled, Brooke Mead went to the Philadelphia Orchestra seeking advice. The viola student got a lot more than that. ___ Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak. In recent days, so-called murder hornets have been making headlines across North America and getting quite the rap to boot. "They're these really large hornets, they're fairly big. And the reason they're called murder hornets is because in the fall they go after honey bees," said Christine Noronha, an entomologist with Agriculture Canada in P.E.I. She also noted that while you may be hearing the species affectionately referred to as murder hornets, experts know them as Asian giant hornets or Vespa mandarinia. In an interview with Island Morning host Mitch Cormier on Monday, Noronha didn't try to assuage some of the current buzz surrounding the species' size. "A queen can be over two inches, so that's fairly big for a queen but a worker can also be 1.8 inches," she said. 'That could be a problem' "The species poses a high risk to insects, especially honey bees," Noronha said, "They're so much larger than the honey bees so that they can easily go and attack them and they have this huge source of protein because there are so many honey bees in a colony." The hornet is huge, about five centimetres in length, and known for how quickly and viciously it can decimate entire bee colonies. It's said this species can kill anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 bees in a matter of hours. "If they do get established, that could be a problem." They don't really go after humans or pets unless they're disturbed or threatened. Christine Noronha, entomologist However, Noronha said the species doesn't pose a huge threat in North America at the moment. A nest was found and destroyed in British Columbia last year, and more recently hornets were spotted in Washington state, sparking a flurry of panicked headlines about the invasive species. "They found a colony and they're trying to eradicate it. So right now, they're trying to make sure that they can get rid of it," she said, "It' hasn't established yet so it's not a big problem right now." Story continues The species, native to Asia, has been keeping experts across North America busy working to eradicate it. In the fall, Noronha said the queens leave the nest to mate, afterwards they burrow into the soil and spend the winter months there. In the spring, queens begin their search for a new nest. "What they're trying to do this year, is put out the traps to catch those females." They can sting many times. They pack a good amount of venom in their sting. Christine Noronha, entomologist For now, Noronha said unless you're a honey bee, you shouldn't be too concerned. "They don't really go after humans or pets unless they're disturbed or threatened but if they do sting you ... their sting can be quite painful," she said. "They can sting many times. They pack a good amount of venom in their sting. And they sting repeatedly." Experts who are working to get rid of the nasty species in British Columbia, she said will likely get a better sense of whether their efforts have paid off sometime this year. As there have been so few nests found, so far on Vancouver Island, Nanaimo and Washington state all efforts will be focused on those areas and making sure no more queens are produced, she said. More from CBC P.E.I. Kim Kardashian, despite being a powerful media personality, continues to get slammed over her insensitive social media posts. Last year, Kim successfully pushed the Armenian Genocide bill to congress. In just one day, the House approved the resolution that recognizes and remembers the fallen Armenian victims. The vote ended with the result of 405-11 in favor of the bill. The KKW beauty mogul has been an advocate of the Armenian genocide recognition since her late father, Robert Kardashian Sr., was a descendant of the Armenians who came to the United States in the 1900s. She continued to advocate for her ancestral home that on April 24 this year, she dedicated several Instagram posts for the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. She posted snaps from the genocide and narrated a short story of the tragic holocaust. "These are my ancestors," Kim wrote that time. "They were starved, raped, & slaughtered... Today we remember the Armenian genocide so that no race, religion, or group, is ever subjected to anything like this ever again." Part of the Armenian Genocide Bill is to allow Armenian compatriots to commemorate the killings of over 1.5 million Armenians by Turkey's Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s as a genocide. However, while most of her fans did not have a problem with the 39-year-old star's way of commemorating it, some of them called her insensitive for following it with promotional posts for her makeup company. "Does anyone else feel that her Instagram story currently seems a bit insensitive? It goes from posting about the Armenian Genocide (which I have no problem with, of course, I think it's good she posts this stuff) straight into makeup promotion," one fan wrote on Reddit. The follower pointed out that she could have waited for 24 hours until the Armenian Genocide posts disappear before promoting her brand again. "Stories go away after 24 hours, I think that's a perfectly reasonable amount of time to wait before posting makeup ads," another one wrote. Kim Always Posts At The Wrong Time? It was not the first time that the "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" star has been called out over her social media updates. In March 2020, she announced on her Instagram that she would be donating a million dollars to help fight COVID-19, but she segued that they would be restocking and selling her company's product to support the donation drive. "On Monday, we will restock the collection we first launched with, and in doing so, be able to help bring relief to those affected by this pandemic," Kim wrote in one update. In another post, she repeated the same pledge and said, "In restocking, SKIMS will be able to help bring relief to those affected by COVID-19 with our commitment to donate $1M to support mothers and children during this difficult time." Her way of extending her helping hand overshadowed the good deed. In return, she ended up getting slammed for being insensitive and "unnecessary," considering her worth is more than a million dollars. PRAGUE -- Czech media have identified the man they say is the undercover Russian diplomat who entered the country nearly two months ago with a suitcase containing ricin as part of an alleged plot to poison as many as three Prague officials who had taken actions that angered the Kremlin. In a report aired on May 10, the Czech public TV program 168 Hours quoted unnamed security sources as saying Andrei Konchakov flew to Prague's Vaclav Havel Airport two months ago with the toxin and was driven to the Russian Embassy compound in the Czech capital, long considered a nerve center of Russian espionage activities. Konchakov, 34, rejected the allegations in comments to the Czech news site Seznam Zpravy, saying the suitcase contained "disinfectant, and candies." "It must be some mistake," Konchakov told the news site, declining to answer further questions, saying he would need clearance from Moscow first. Moscow, which has been accused of targeting its critics abroad, including the novichok poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain in 2018, has also denied the allegations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it "looked like a canard," while other Russian officials have called the story part of an anti-Russian campaign. The Russian Embassy in Prague issued a Facebook statement on May 11 claiming that Konchakov had been the target of unspecified threats. The statement said the embassy was requesting Czech police protection for Konchakov. According to local media, Konchakov is suspected by Czech intelligence of working as a Russian spy. Several attempts to contact the Czech counterintelligence agency BIS to confirm those allegations were unsuccessful. Disputing History The allegations of the ricin plot were first broken by the Czech investigative weekly Respekt on April 26 and came amid reports of suspected Russia-backed hacker attacks on key Czech infrastructure. It said the targets of the alleged ricin attack were Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib as well as two of the city's district mayors, Ondrej Kolar and Pavel Novotny. Hrib backed a move to rename the square in front of the Russian Embassy in Prague after slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov. Kolar supported the removal of a statue in his Prague 6 district of a World War II Soviet general, a move Russia condemned and said it was investigating as a violation of a 1993 friendship treaty between Russia and the Czech Republic. The statue had been a source of irritation for Moscow since 2018, when a new explanatory text on the monument was unveiled. It described Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev's leading role in crushing the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising in Hungary, his contribution to the construction of the Berlin Wall ,and the preparation of the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia that crushed liberal reforms known as the Prague Spring. Afterward, Czechoslovakia was taken over by a hard-line communist regime loyal to Moscow that lasted until 1989, when it was ousted in the anti-communist Velvet Revolution. Novotny irritated Moscow when late last year he approved the construction of a monument in his Prague district to the Vlasov Army, Soviet Army defectors who fought with the Nazis but in the final days of World War II are credited with helping liberate Prague. All three officials are now reported to be under round-the-clock police protection and Prime Minister Andrej Babis has said the Czech Republic would not tolerate "any world power" trying to interfere in its internal affairs, although few officials have publicly addressed the charges. WATCH: Latest Historical Dispute In Prague Inflames Czechs And Russians Russian President Vladimir Putin has highlighted the Soviet role in the Allied effort to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II, ignoring or criticizing any facts that downplay or contradict that narrative. The Soviet Union suffered the most casualties in World War II, but its occupation or liberation of territory resulted in the ensuing decades of Moscow-backed communist regimes in Eastern Europe, including Czechoslovakia. According to the report on 168 Hours, Koncharov arrived at Prague's airport on March 14 -- much earlier than first reports said -- with the ricin in his baggage, which, as a diplomat, he would not be obligated under standard protocol to have checked by Czech customs officials. Seznam Zpravy said that Konchakov was picked up by a Russian Embassy driver -- identified in the report as Alexandr A. -- who is suspected by Czech intelligence of being an agent of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and is allegedly tasked with picking up Russian diplomats and taking care not only of their physical security but also any secret documents or other items they may be carrying. Shadowy Figure Konchakov is believed to have been born in Moscow in 1986, but other public details on him are few, unclear, and even apparently contradictory. According to The Insider, a Moscow-based investigative website, Konchakov graduated from the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute (MIFI). According to public records, it is unclear when he graduated. The Insider says Konchakov began working in Prague for Rossotrudnichestvo, a state-run agency tasked with overseeing the well-being of Russians living abroad. He is also listed as the director of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Prague since December 2017. The center's website lists MIFI as the institute where Konchakov studied, but identifies it as the National Research Nuclear University, whose acronym is MEPhI. Further confusing the issue, it lists Konchakov's area of study as international relations. According to Seznam Zpravy, Konchakov has lived in the Czech Republic for several years, but only gained diplomatic status last year. The head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Yelena Mitrofanova, called the reports an "unsubstantiated provocation." With additional reporting by Merhat Sharipzhan In-person home tours have been canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the venerable Restore Oregon preservation organization has come up with a new way to experience its 10th annual Mid-Century Modern Design Series: A virtual tour of architecturally significant, Portland area residences, with all the details, from art to interior design, visible as you navigate through the rooms. We are really excited to use world-class technology to give Oregonians and the world access to our Pacific Northwest modern masters work, says Jeannette Shupp of Restore Oregon. The fundraising tour, which can be enjoyed online anytime now through July 26, is possible because of three-dimensional, digital photography and Matterport work by 360 PDX Real Estate Photography. A ticket ($50, restoreoregon.tofinoauctions.com/mcm2020/register/ticket_sales) to the 360-Virtual Home Tour grants access to three of the Pacific Northwests most celebrated early modern homes, which showcase the use of native wood, stone and glass to achieve elegance. Also included with each ticket is a digital tour book, Admiring the Masters of Northwest Regional Modern Architecture, which profiles six stellar architects and displays interior and exterior photographs of one of their projects. Most photos have never before been shared with the public. The inventive modern dwellings designed decades ago continue to influence todays coveted open floor plans and desire for a strong connection to the outdoors. The home tour opens the doors to privately owned residences as well as John Yeons monumental Watzek House, which is managed by the University of Oregons John Yeon Center for Architecture and the Landscape. Yeons courtyard-centered 1937 Watzek House and Pietro Belluschis revolutionary 1938 Sutor House with curved zebrawood walls, both in Portlands Southwest Hills, are the earliest examples of these renowned architects resourcefulness, restraint and reliance on natural materials and light to harmonize with a picturesque setting. Walter Gordons 1953 Copenhagen House in Lake Oswego, which is also on the virtual tour, is another exemplar of simplicity and beauty. Three other homes do not have a 3D tour, but information and photos are part of the digital tour book. These include Frank Shells 1958 Blosser Whitehead House, with two-story transparent walls in Southeast Portland. The home once welcomed Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, fashion designer Emilio Pucci and the owners other Reed College guests. John Storrs 1962 handsome house for a doctor and Jantzen swim cap designer in Southwest Portland is also profiled. The home was recently restored to expose the natural Douglas fir, hemlock and other patinated and textured wood Storrs saw as an understandable, romantic material. Portland interior designer Vicki Simon reinstated the clean lines muddled by a 1980s remodel and executed upgrades that appear seamlessly alongside Storrs original vision. And a 1975 dwelling in Southwest Portland exhibits the pleasing proportions of architect Saul Zaik, an innovative modernist and preservation supporter who passed away on Jan. 4, 2020. An easy-to-ignore 1962 dwelling in Southwest Portlands Lynnridge neighborhood has been restored and updated by Vicki Simon Interior Design to reflect architect John Storrs original vision. Photography David Papazian PhotographyDavid Papazian Photography The 10th annual Mid-Century Modern Design Series also has 20-minute webinars ($25 for all) that are accessible on demand. Topics for the online lectures are the history of Pacific Northwest modernism by Katelyn Weber; buying and selling Pacific Northwest mid-century modern architecture by Marisa Swenson; and design and renovation of the 1962 John Storrs house by Vicki Simon. Restore Oregons design series is the nonprofits largest educational and fundraising events of the year. The series is sponsored by Portland remodeling company Arciform. --Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072 jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. AP Photo/Paul Sancya Amy Lappos, a former congressional aide who accused former Vice President Joe Biden of inappropriate physical contact, said in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media that he was still the "obvious choice" for president in 2020. "Did I want to end up with Joe Biden, two white males in the election? Not really," she told the outlet, adding: "However, Joe Biden is the obvious choice to beat Trump right now and therefore, I support him." Lappos, along with seven other women, have said Biden either touched them inappropriately or violated their personal space. None of the conduct being alleged was considered sexual in nature until March, when the former Senate staffer Tara Reade accused Biden of sexual assault. He has denied Reade's claim. Lappos said she received pushback for coming forward but hoped her story reiterated a message about "bodily autonomy and survivorship." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Related Video: Congress' Economists Predict 15M Unemployed in 2021 Amy Lappos, a former congressional aide who accused former Vice President Joe Biden of inappropriate physical contact, said in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media that he was still the "obvious choice" for president in 2020. Lappos, 44, accused Biden of touching her inappropriately at a political fundraiser in 2009. "It wasn't sexual, but he did grab me by the head," Lappos told the Hartford Courant last year of the interaction. "He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth." She did not file a complaint at the time. Lappos stressed that his actions crossed a line and should not be considered "grandfatherly," as some of his supporters have said in his defense. "There's absolutely a line of decency," Lappos told the Courant. "There's a line of respect. Crossing that line is not grandfatherly. It's not cultural. It's not affection. It's sexism or misogyny." Story continues Amy Lappos and her children with then-Sen. Hillary Clinton at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut, in 2008. Shana Sureck/Hartford Courant/Tribune News Service via Getty Images Speaking with Hearst Connecticut Media in an interview published Saturday, Lappos said that while the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee was not as "progressive" as she would have hoped, she would still support Biden in November against President Donald Trump. "Did I want to end up with Joe Biden, two white males in the election? Not really. I don't see it being so progressive," Lappos told the outlet. "However, Joe Biden is the obvious choice to beat Trump right now and therefore, I support him," she added. Lappos, along with seven other women, have alleged that Biden either touched them inappropriately or violated their personal space. None of the conduct being alleged was considered sexual in nature until March, when the former Senate staffer Tara Reade for the first time publicly accused Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993. Biden has denied that claim. Lappos told Hearst Connecticut Media that she "believes and supports" Reade and had received criticism for coming forward with allegations against Biden. "I wasn't expecting the amount of pushback that I got pushback, from primarily older male Democrats," Lappos told the outlet. She said she hoped her story reiterates a message about "bodily autonomy and survivorship." "I wanted to make sure that that story is preserved," Lappos said. "And I don't want to be weaponized. I support Joe Biden right now." Read the original article on Business Insider An Italian aid worker, who was abducted in Kenya in November 2018, has been flown back to her home country. Silvia Romano, 25, embraced her parents and sister, and was greeted by Italys prime minister and foreign minister after she landed in Rome. She was freed from suspected Islamist group al-Shabab near Somalias capital Mogadishu on Saturday, reports say. Italys secret service is said to have been assisted by Turkey and Somalia to secure her release. No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction 18 months ago. In January 2019, the Somalia-based al-Shabab said it was behind the attack on a hotel and office complex in Kenyas capital Nairobi, in which 21 people died. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates - Over 300 Kenyans have been evacuated from foreign nations amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic - The passengers who arrived in the country from India and China were immediately taken to quarantine centers - The government said over 191 Kenyans in diaspora had contracted coronavirus and 23 of them had succumbed to the disease as of May 11 At least 23 Kenyans living in foreign countries have succumbed to the dreaded COVID-19 and over 191 others infected with the disease. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kenya, 10 of those who had succumbed to the disease were in the US, four in the United Kingdom, two in Switzerland, one in Saudi Arabia and another in Sweden. READ ALSO: Kipchumba Murkomen turns to God amid looming changes on the Senate Majority seat Kenyans from India received at JKIA by Foreign Affairs CAS Ababu Namwamba. Photo: Foreign Affairs Ministry Source: UGC READ ALSO: Askofu akamatwa akiongoza ibada ya Jumapili huku kondoo wake wakihepa In a statement issued on Sunday, May 10, the ministry reported one of the passengers who were to travel to Kenya from India died at the airport as they were about to get on the aircraft. The passenger had reportedly been ailing and was among many other patients and caregivers who were stranded in the Asian country after it was put on lockdown to curb spread of coronavirus. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to distress calls of Kenyans in several parts of the world and in collaboration with various foreign governments and airlines has facilitated return of hundreds of Kenyans stranded in several countries, said the ministry. READ ALSO: Kenyan newspapers review for May 11: Jubilee deputy SG slams Uhuru for calling Parliamentary Group Meeting without circulating agenda Another flight from China arrived on Saturday night with 165 passengers, most of them jobless after they were laid off from their respective jobs in China. Majority of this group are Kenyans impacted by the coronavirus in terms of job losses, students who have completed their studies, business people caught in the lockdown and Kenyans caught on the wrong side of the law in China, said the ministry. However, many returnees complained over the exorbitant prices for ticket and high levels of negligence in the quarantine centers where some of them were being asked to pay quarantine fee despite having been assured it was for free. The ministry was also working on evacuating foreign nationals, and their statistics indicated that some 2,268 foreign nationals had been repatriated to their countries as of May 11. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Source: TUKO.co.ke Owner of Vietnamese fishing vessel BTh 89719 Vo Dinh Phuong in the south central coastal province of Binh Thuan said on May 10 that he received a 45,000 USD compensation from the owner of the Philippines-flagged freighter WHITE TO MONY. Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Phuongs ship was hit on May 1 and his vessel sank in the waters about 13 nautical miles east-northeast of La Gi towns seaport. Six crew members jumped overboard and were rescued by a nearby fishing vessel. According to the office of the provincial steering committee for disaster prevention and search and rescue, through working with Phuong and the automatic identification system (AIS) installed on his vessel, WHITE TO MONY was found to be on its trip through the area when the Vietnamese ship was sunk. The provincial Maritime Port Authority said the compensation was discussed and agreed by the two ship owners./.VNA A chunk of about 2.56 lakh migrant workers who have left Gujarat on Sharamik special trains amidst the coronavirus-induced lockdown till Monday travelled to Uttar Pradesh, a state government official said. While about 1.76 lakh or 70 per cent of the 2.56 lakh migrants travelled to Uttar Pradesh, others set out on their journey to Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Chhatisgarh, he said. Among various cities in Gujarat, the largest number of migrant workers have left for their home states on trains from the textile hub Surat, followed by Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and other districts, the official said. About 86,400 migrant workers have left Surat on 72 trains, followed by 60,000 from Ahmedabad on 50 trains, he said, adding that more trains are being lined up to take them to their home states. A total of 209 special trains have originated from Gujarat, which accounts for 45 per cent of the total 461 trains being operated from different states until Monday morning, said Ashwami Kumar, Secretary to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. "Out of 209 Shramik special trains that left from various stations in Gujarat till Monday morning, 147 went to Uttar Pradesh, 23 to Bihar, 21 to Odisha, 11 to Madhya Pradesh, 6 to Jharkhand, and one to Chhatisgarh," he said in a video message. Another train will leave for Uttarakhand, he said. While 72 trains have left from Surat, 50 trains departed from Ahmedabad, 16 from Vadodara, 10 from Rajkot, seven from Morbi, six from Palanpur (in Banaskantha district), five each from Nadiad and Jamnagar, four each from Anand and Godhra (in Panchmahal district), and three each from Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Navsari, and Vapi among other stations, he said. So far, 2.56 lakh migrant workers have left for their home states, and 36,000 more will leave by Monday on 30 more trains, Kumar added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A week after a temporary court order allowed a Houston strip club to resume operations, a federal judge has ruled that the clubs owner must operate as just a restaurant - no dancers allowed. Houston police raided Onyx Club just after midnight on May 1, insisting the business did not qualify to reopen under Gov. Greg Abbotts guidelines for phased reopenings. Officers threatened to arrest owner Eric Langan, who defied orders until 4 a.m., when he shut down the club. Langans business, Trumps Inc., filed a federal lawsuit calling the club a restaurant, and alleging that the police raid and closure violated his civil rights. U.S. District Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore granted Langan and Onyx Club a temporary injunction on May 1 that let the club resume operations, but said at a Friday hearing that the business may not offer any services that go beyond those specifically allowed in the new guidance. Sexually oriented businesses may only offer restaurant services and are prohibited from providing any other service, Gilmore wrote in the ruling. ENFORCEMENT MAYHEM: Gov. Abbotts latest order raises more enforcement questions as Texas businesses reopen Onyx Club is allowed to reopen as a restaurant so long as it only serves food, but its presently defined as a sexually oriented business, according to the ruling. Because (Trumps Inc.) operates a sexually oriented business, they are prohibited from offering both restaurant services and entertainers, even if the entertainers are fully clothed, Gilmore wrote. Langan said Sunday the club was staying open regardless, noting that it had permits as a restaurant in Houston. Hes waiting to see if Abbott reopens bars or rewrites guidelines this week before filing a suit against what he called an unconstitutional order. I think the governor is not trying to take away everyones rights, hes trying to protect people the best he can see how without infringing on everyones constitutional rights, Langan said. But people have got to eat. Court challenges have raised questions about the enforceability of Abbott's orders and the last-minute shift to eliminate all criminal penalties for violating the rules. Gilmore pointed out what she called constitutional problems, noting the fact that the governor has now apparently decided that jail time is too harsh a penalty for a violation of his orders is little comfort. Abbott stripped his order of jail as a possible punishment following an uproar among conservative politicians and activists over the jailing of a Dallas hair salon owner who reopened in defiance of Abbotts order. She was released last week. Just as Harris County residents have been quick to report violators, others seem ready to get out of their homes. In the days since Onyx Club first reopened, business has been booming by pandemic standards. On Saturday night, Langans staff turned away close to 300 possible patrons to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Under Abbotts order, businesses are allowed to seat up to 25 percent of their maximum occupancy. Patrons are tipping well, he said. I dont think well make enough to pay the rent, to be honest, Langan said. But if we get some employees to work, they can make some money. gwendolyn.wu@chron.com twitter.com/gwendolynawu Jammu: Gazi Haider aka Saifullah, who banned terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen appointed as its new operational commander chief in Kashmir, following the elimination of Riyaz Naikoo by Indian forces, has been instructed to carry out maximum destruction in the Valley. According to inputs received, Hizbul, who was rattled after its commander Riyaz Naikoo was killed by security forces in Handwara, is keen to revive terror operations in the Valley. And to overcome the growing pressure from Indian forces, Hizbul has come out with a new plan. Almost five days after the killing of Naikoo, the Hizbul announced his replacement and ordered the new commander to escalate terror activities and carry out a major attack in the Vallery as soon as possible. Gazi, who has a deputy Zaffar-ul-Islam and chief military advisory Abu Tariq, has been directed by the high command of the terror group from Pakistan to join hands with Lashkar-e-Toiba and its newly formed wing TRF, and Jaish-e-Mohammad. and security forces believe that they would plan a strike on them using a car or a suicide bomber. In 2016-17, when Burhan Wani took over as the Hizbul commander, Saifullah was entrusted with the task of treating injured terrorists. During this period, he trained a few other terrorists with his work. He was subsequently given the name of Dr Saifullah and is known with this name among security forces and intelligence agencies. In 2017, when Riyaz Naikoo became the operational commander, Saifullah was appointed his deputy. Agencies believe that he has direct contacts with terror outfit leadership across the border, which also includes Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin. However, it will not be an easy walk for the newly-appointed Hizbul commander Gazi Haider to carry out his terror plans in the Valley, and especially in the south Kashmir, where the roots of the terror outfit lies. The security forces in the last one month has killed many top terrorists including Riyaz Naikoo in the area. And this was admitted by Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin, who was seen addressing a thin gathering somewhere in Pakistan, in a clip that was widely shared on social media. Vietnam may not be meeting its development potential to exploit wind power to provide energy to the country. Some wind power projects have been built in the central province of Ninh Thuan. Viet Nam may not be meeting its development potential to exploit wind power to provide energy to the country. A report has been released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) outlining the current power produced nationwide through wind farms. It says the country is falling short, and could generate much more power to help fuel the nation in a safer, more environmentally friendly manner. The report revealed that as of March this year, an additional 78 wind power projects capable of producing 4,880 megawatts have been added to the Power Development Plan. Eleven are currently operational and a further 31 are waiting to be finished and should be up and running either this year or next. The report also stated another 250 wind power projects are currently at the proposal stage. But despite these projects having a capability of generating 45,000MW each year, they are not proving attractive for potential investors. Chairman of the Binh Thuan Wind Power Association Bui Van Thinh told Vietnam News Agency that even though these projects could help power the country, completing them is not so simple especially off-shore farms. He said: Handing over the surface of the sea to the investors faces many procedures as it relates to not only the normal land lease but also the national defence and security. There is a lack of policies to develop offshore wind power. Investors are concerned some of the projects may not meet the 18 month deadline set by the Government in order to attract a decent price per kWh. If that deadline is met, and wind farms are up and running in time, they could charge as much as VND1,770 (7.8 US cents) per kWh over the next 20 years. Thinh believes this is not enough time to get approval, build and begin producing energy in time for investors to take bait. He hopes the Government will consider extending the deadline and support businesses willing to take a chance with future investments. Thinh says because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the timeframe must be reconsidered, as many investment firms are reconsidering their positions due to the virus. Agreeing with Thinh, Le Anh Tung of Ecotech Company, said: Wind power firms facing with difficulties to meet the deadline because foreign manufacturers stopped production and delayed delivery of equipment. An extension of the deadline is necessary for businesses. Wind farm development is important not just for environmental reasons, but also because draughts nationwide have reduced reservoir capacities, putting strain on hydropower plants. The MoIT is concerned that there will be a shortage of electricity in the next five years, particularly in the south of the country, even if oil-powered sources run at maximum capacity. It has also backed calls to extend the deadline for completion of projects to 2023. VNS Ministry proposes extending feed-in tariffs for wind power until end-2023 The Ministry of Industry and Trade has written to the Government proposing extending feed-in tariffs (FITs) for wind power projects until the end of 2023. Six years ago, when President Barack Obama had to replace his departing attorney general, he offered the job to Kamala Harris, who led the California Justice Department the first woman to occupy that role in its history. Ms. Harris declined the promotion for several reasons, according to advisers from the time. She had not served a full term. She had her sights set on a higher profile in the Senate or as governor of California. Some envisioned a future presidential run. In that view, the job was a political dead end for a motivated and barrier-breaking figure. It also highlighted a personal trait: She would not be pressured into a position she did not want. Today, Ms. Harris now a senator from California who ran for president last year finds herself at another political crossroads, and is approaching it with similar caution. Though she is among the favorites to become Joseph R. Biden Jr.s vice-presidential nominee, joining him on the Democratic ticket to try to defeat President Trump, she has kept a noticeably lower profile than other possible contenders. In several interviews, Ms. Harris has said she would be honored to serve with Mr. Biden, but there is no public campaign similar to that carried out by Stacey Abrams, the former candidate for governor in Georgia. There is no surrogate lobbying effort like the one for Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, which includes direct polling presentations. Instead, even people close to Mr. Biden often bombarded with pleas from those vying to be his running mate have remarked about how little they have heard from Ms. Harris and her allies. GREENWICH Social distancing in Old Greenwich has not been so bad for Greenwich High sophomore Patrick Sullivan. He has time to finish his work and hang out with his brothers, and the fridge is full. But Sullivan knows not everyone is as lucky. Hearing how difficult the stay-at-home orders have been for those without enough food or who have lost their jobs or are sick, inspired him to do something. So Sullivan decided to start washing cars for people in his neighborhood who donate to his GoFundMe campaign. And 100 percent of the profits go to Neighbor to Neighbor, a local nonprofit food pantry. I wanted to benefit a local charity I know is doing good things and will help people struggling to get food and supplies during the coronavirus quarantine, he said. Sullivan and his brothers Cole, who just turned 14, and Luke, 10, finished up the first weekend with the hose when the weather turned nice last week. Through GoFundMe, patrons donate money to his cause. Then Sullivan sets up a time for him and his brothers to stop by the donors house. They bring the soap, buckets and rags, and the donor provides the hose and water. We probably will be doing this as long as people continue to support it, he said. As much money we can raise is best. Sullivan is hoping to motivate others to volunteer, which would extend the range of his services. If I can get more people to help out and volunteer, even better, he said. People donate what they want, but he suggests any amount over $10. Ive been raising in my neighborhood, and people so far have been generous, he said. Weve been able to get a good start. His GoFundMe site has raised $1,200 as of Saturday. Another benefit of the car wash and quarantine? More family time, he said. Its great to spend more time with my brothers, he said. To make a donation, visit charity.gofundme.com/car-wash4/fundraiser/patricksullivan104. jo.kroeker@hearstmediact.com So what has Alfa Romeo done to turn the tide? Oddly enough, nothing under the hood. It still uses the Ferrari-derived 2.9-liter, twin-turbo V6 engine. Power is still at 510 PS and 600 Nm of torque. Still, the performance of the engine is not what we'd call underpowered; it can, after all, pull off a 0 to 100 km/h time of 3.9 seconds in the Giulia. With just a limited range of vehicles on offer, Alfa Romeo isn't stopping work on the Giulia sedan and Stelvio crossover. This year, they have given the Quadrifoglio versions of these two models to keep it bang up to date against its key competitors. With rivals such as Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo is doing as much as they can to continue luring away performance car shoppers away from the Germans. Instead of adding power, the Italian automaker added safety and user interface enhancements to elevate the user experience. On top of that, the two were given more options inside and out for future customers to make their cars truly individual. In the aspect of safety, both the Giulia and Stelvio Quadrifoglio now feature something we wouldn't expect from performance cars: semi-autonomous driving. These cars now pack level two autonomous driving capabilities. The package includes Lane Keeping Assist, Active Blind Spot Assist, Active Cruise Control, Traffic Sign Recognition and Intelligent Speed Control, Traffic Jam Assist and Highway Assist, and Driver Attention Assist. As for exterior changes, there are no significant updates. The new Quadrifoglio versions do get new tail light elements with burnished lenses. There's also the 'new' badges finished in gloss black. New exterior colors have been introduced which Alfa Romeo says is a tribute to their past models. There's Rosso 6C Villa dEste (from the 6C), Ocra GT Junior (from the 1300 GT Junior), and Montreal Green (derived from the dramatic-looking Montreal). All in all, the updates aren't immediately visible, but Alfa Romeo does have big plans for the Giulia and Stelvio. There will be all-new versions of these aforementioned models within the decade. Also, the Italian automaker will be introducing two new crossovers which could go up against the likes of the Audi Q2 and Lexus UX in the B-crossover class, along with a BMW X1 and Lexus NX competitor. Alfa Romeo may be small to the German and Japanese luxury marques, but they are keen on expanding their product portfolio in the quest for more sales. The legacies of Jerry Stiller, the comic actor who died Monday, are many. But perhaps few will be as durable as the holiday tradition that began as a joke and spread after his signature character, Frank Costanza, began singing its many virtues. A Festivus for the rest of us, a quirky, secular ritual celebrated each Dec. 23, was the plotline of a Seinfeld episode that aired in 1997. But then it took off as fans continued to embrace the absurdity of its anti-familial ethos, inflamed Costanza anger and rejection of Christmas commercialism. In the sitcoms ninth and final season, Frank Costanza Georges father was given credit for hatching the holiday after coming to blows with another holiday shopper over a doll. The rules are simple: Family members meet to air grievances and to share all the ways theyve disappointed one another over the previous year. They also display feats of strength: Festivus isnt over, Frank declares, until George pins him to the ground. IIT demonstrates commitment to Sri Lankas higher education sector and economy by rapidly transitioning to an online platform for uninterrupted services View(s): Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT), the pioneer in British higher education in Sri Lanka and the countrys premier IT and Business campus, has taken progressive steps to fulfill its responsibilities to the country and thousands of its students by rapidly shifting its entire operations to an online platform in order to ensure the smooth functioning of all aspects of the institute and mitigate the threat of the COVID-19 disease. The ICT industry of Sri Lanka is optimistic of achieving USD 5 billion in exports by 2022, while creating 200,000 direct jobs and launching 1,000 start-ups in the process. This is an ambitious yet achievable target provided that the Government and the private sector work closely together to enable ICT companies to grow rapidly and ICT students are given all necessary resources to acquire the required knowledge, skills and experience in the shortest possible time. Leading education institutes such as IIT have a significant role in achieving this goal and it is imperative that students education is continued without interruptions, even during the uncertain of times such as what the country and the whole world is going through due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. A steady output of ICT professionals entering the job market will also give a much-needed boost to the economy which is expected to enter a period of negative growth owing to the current pandemic. Having realized the importance of responding in a firm and positive manner to the lockdown triggered by COVID-19, IIT immediately took the necessary steps to shut down the entire operations at the campus and transitioned to a robust online platform for all its functions. In keeping with the directives given by the authorities and in view of safeguarding students and staff from the threat of the disease, IIT has taken numerous progressive steps to ensure the safety of all students and IIT staff. Currently, all lectures are conducted online as per the original schedules so that students do not fall behind on their respective courses and are able to sit for their exams on time. Having effortlessly transferred to a Working From Home operations, all administrative functions of IIT are also carried out online in an efficient manner by the IIT staff. As a result, students can make enquiries, enroll for courses and make payments online without having to step out of their homes. Those who are seeking to enroll for the upcoming Masters programmes in May can do so easily using IITs online services where all aspects of the process, from interviews to submission of documents to payments, are conducted online. Additionally, IIT staff has continuously engaged with the students and ensured that all of them are kept up-to-date on the latest information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Sri Lanka. In keeping with its objective to support ICT education at all levels, IIT has also elevated its ongoing series of support seminars in ICT, to an online platform, which helps prepare Ordinary Level (O/L) and Advanced Level (A/L) students for their examinations later this year. IIT has been conducting these support seminars on a regular basis for several years with hundreds of schools and thousands of students across the island benefiting significantly. Given the current restrictions due to the lockdown, this timely arrangement provides an ideal platform for principals and teachers to educate their students in ICT thereby allowing them to continue with their studies without any disruptions and providing a much-needed boost to their attempts to cover their respective ICT subject syllabuses. The 2-hour seminars cover topics such as Internet of Things (IoT), Programming, Flowcharts and several others. They are conducted by a highly-experienced academic member of IIT and are of two types. The first type is specifically tailored to educate the audience on a topic put forward by a single school based on the requirements of their ICT syllabus. On average, around 100 students from a school participate in these types of seminars at any given time. The second type is a general seminar that covers a wide variety of ICT topics and is open to students from all schools across the island. Approximately 400 students took part in each of these seminars. Expressing his opinion about the current situation, Prof. Jayantha Wijeyaratne Director of IIT stated, Being the leading IT and Business Campus means that we have always been prepared to shift to an online operation should the need arise. As a result, when the COVID-19 disease hit Sri Lanka, we made arrangements to transition to the online platform so that we can ensure that all students and IIT staff are safe and sound as they can now attend to all functions from the comforts of their home. A rapid response is crucial to ensure that there are no delays or disruptions in any of the courses as such a scenario would have negative impact not only to the student but also to the economy as it strives to bounce back from the downturn suffered during the lockdown period. We are taking all precautions and are fully geared to meet any challenges that we may encounter as this situation unfolds. IIT was established in 1990 as the first private higher education institute that awards reputed British degrees in the field of ICT and Business. IIT is an award-winning campus offering internal postgraduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Westminster, UK and the Robert Gordon University, UK. IIT has played a pivotal role in strengthening the IT and Business sectors in Sri Lanka over the years by producing world-class graduates. Since its inception in 1990, IIT has produced over 3,000 graduates that are now based in 25 countries. These graduates have gone on to become successful entrepreneurs and IT/Business professionals in both local and international corporate and government entities. They have played a pivotal role in empowering over 250 multinational and local blue-chip companies by holding key strategic positions while contributing immensely towards the growth of their respective organizations. Governor Envisions Four-Phase Reopening to 'New Normal' Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, head of the state's reopening advisory board, explains some of the restrictions that will be placed on businesses. BOSTON The commonwealth is looking at a four-phase reopening of the economy based on public health data and mandatory safety measures. "The goal is to begin this process around May 18, but it will be gradual as the facts on the ground will obviously determine whether we actually hit that goal," Gov. Charlie Baker said at Monday's COVID-19 update. "But keep in mind, this is a disease, we're still learning about across the globe." All non-essential businesses were closed as of March 23 and gatherings limited to no more than 10 people as the novel coronavirus began spreading through the state. Groceries, pharmacies and certain other "essential" commercial, governmental and charitable organizations were allowed to continue within public health guidelines. The four phases of "start, cautious, vigilant and new normal" are expected to begin on May 18 as the governor's reopening advisory board releases its recommendations and guidelines for safety standards for employees and patrons. "We all know life will be different. But as the medical and life science communities make progress in developing treatments or vaccines, we can really begin to put this virus into the rearview mirror. But none of that is going to happen overnight," the governor said. "We'll continue to follow the data and the public health metrics to determine when phase one site reopening begins. And then when it's safe to move on to concurrent phases after that." Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito has been leading the advisory board that has heard from 44 industry associations and community coalitions representing more than 2 million workers. The board since its establishment two weeks ago has also received written testimony from more than 2,200 individuals and organizations. "COVID-19 is placing a double burden on our economy and created uncertainty in losses for every region of our commonwealth," Polito said. "Together we are developing the framework and phases that the governor described to put us back on track as quickly and as safely as possible. This is a true team effort." Baker noted that some businesses are already operating as essential business along public health guidelines. "There are going to be businesses that are able to operate based on their ability to abide by the global standards as well as by industry specific standards for their operations," he said. The first phase, Start, will allow the reopening of businesses that "are more naturally" set up with minimal personal interaction between employees and patrons. Phase 2, Cautious, will plan to have more industries with more face to face actions resume operations. Phase 3, Vigilant, will be a loosening of restrictions if the data continues to trend down. And Phase 4 will be what the governor is calling the "new normal," an awareness of the possibility of spread that will likely last well into the fall and be based on a vaccine or therapy for the novel coronavirus. Polito said the restrictions will concern the ability to social distance, access to hand sanitizer and hand washing facilities, use of face coverings, employee training and general sanitizing procedures and hygiene protocols. There will be more specific industry guidelines that will have to be implemented. "As we move toward a new normal, we all have a lot of work to do," she said. "We are thankful to everyone that has done their part, and has played a role in this fight against COVID-19, and I am confident that when we reopen, we will do so in a safe manner for all the people in this commonwealth." Baker said there was not a set period between the phases but rather they will be determined based on continued testing and key markers such as the rate of hospitalizations and positive cases. "Considering the highly contagious nature of COVID-19, our decisions and timing is influenced by the public health data," he said, adding that Massachusetts, like other states, needs the latitude to make revise phases if a spike should occur. But reopening will require the participation of all residents in containing the spread of COVID-19, the governor said. In response to a question about a popular Cape Cod ice cream shop that closed when customers who didn't abide by the ordering guidelines began to harass the teenage employees, Baker said reopening "is probably going to be somewhat uncomfortable" because the new normal will be so different. The purpose of the advisory board is to develop a standard operating procedure and that will require signage and social awareness for people to understand. "I do believe most people will get there," he said. "I do, because they did in an incredibly short period of time under incredibly difficult circumstances from the time this all started in March. ... "I honestly hope that for the most part, people do what I would describe as the right thing for their neighbor, for their friend, for their colleague and I think they will. And I hope that the socialization of that ultimately becomes sort of an important enforcement mechanism." The number of patients turning critical due to the coronavirus disease Covid-19 has halved, the Union health ministry has said. According to Hindustan Times Hindi language publication Hindustan, which is quoting data from the health ministry, only five per cent of Covid-19 patients turn critical. Till last week, 9.2 per cent Covid-19 patients admitted to a hospital were in a critical condition, according to health ministry. Out of these, 4.8 per cent were in the intensive care (ICU), 3.3 per cent required oxygen support and 1.1 per cent were on the ventilator. But the condition improved this week. The latest figures show that only 4.67 per cent patients are in a serious condition. Out of these, 2.41 per cent are in ICU, 1.88 per cent people need oxyge support and only 0.38 per cent are on ventilator. This shows that the number of critical patients has halved. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said on Sunday that no Covid-19 case has been reported in 10 states and union territories in the last 24 hours and the recovery rate has increased to over 30 per cent, asserting that India was moving fast on the path of success in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. According to health ministry data, 1,736 Covid-19 patients recovered in the last 24 hours - the highest number of recoveries recorded in one day. India had started from one laboratory and now there are 472 laboratories testing for Covid-19, he said. The number of people who have so far recovered after contracting Covid-19 in the country crossed 20,000 on Sunday, with a recuperating rate of 31.2 per cent, or about one in every three patients, even as the number of infections of Sars-CoV-2 crossed 67,000. Of the states that have reported more than 1,000 cases, the highest recovery rate is in Telangana, where 62.8% of the patients are now Covid-19-free. This is followed by Rajasthan, where over 58% of those who were infected have recovered, and Andhra Pradesh, where almost 46.7% have recovered. The following events are planned for the upcoming week throughout the region: Colin Mochrie, the star of the long-running Whose Line Is It, Anyway?, joins forces with master hypnotist Asad Mecci, for the return of their hit show HYPROV:... A German national, who has a criminal record in his home country, has been living in the transit area of the Delhi airport since March 18 due to the flight restrictions induced by the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. "A German man was heading from Hanoi to Istanbul via Delhi on March 18. Since India suspended flight operations to and from Turkey on March 18, he got stranded at the Delhi airport's Terminal 3," they said. Since he has got a criminal record in his home country, he does not want to go there, the officials said. "Food and other amenities are being provided by the airport officials to him since March 18. He is living in the transit area. The Ministry of Civil Aviation as well as the German Embassy has been informed about it," they noted. On this issue, the spokesperson for the Delhi airport operator DIAL, said, "We confirm that a foreign national is currently in the transit area of the international terminal of the Delhi airport due to non-availability of regular flight to transit onwards." The Delhi Airport International Limited (DIAL) spokesperson added, "Appropriate authorities were informed about this in good time. They are in dialogue with the foreign national." India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 67,100 people and killed around 2,200 people till now in the country till now. All commercial passenger flight operations have been suspended for the lockdown period. Flight operations to some virus-affected countries like Turkey and China were suspended even before March 25. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Staff at a care home in Griston helped a resident to break the power of an alcohol addiction which set him on a journey into the waters of baptism. Kyla Sorenson tells the story. Staff at a care home in Griston helped a resident to break the power of an alcohol addiction which set him on a journey into the waters of baptism. Kyla Sorenson tells the story. King's Lynn church relaunches the Welcome Inn A family atmosphere with free drinks and cakes once again awaits lonely people in Kings Lynn as the Welcome Inn reopens its doors. Read more King's Lynn church goes industrial to enlarge its site In a year when many churches remained closed, the Kings Glory Church in Kings Lynn opened a new centre on an industrial estate. Read more Norfolk leaders launch prayer for Armed Forces A group of Christian leaders in Norfolk is inviting churches to help launch a prayer group for the Armed Forces. Read more King's Lynn Pastor upcycles his mission to the homeless After serving for fourteen years as Pastor at Cornerstone King`s Lynn Baptist Church, Kevan Crane has taken on a new role serving the homeless. He explains his unusual journey of faith. Read more Heacham minister takes the Gospel to the airwaves A Methodist minister in Heacham became a radio DJ after coming across a leaflet in a shop window. Rev Steve Oliver tells his story and invites you to tune in. Read more Kings Lynn Centre of Mission faces closure amid cuts James Hawksworth, who has been leading the Church Army Centre of Mission in Kings Lynn, is among those recently made redundant by the Diocese of Norwich. Read more Norfolk church puts its Art and Soul into exhibition The Church in the Woottons will be holding week-long art exhibition to celebrate coming out of Covid restrictions. Read more Mothers Union brings a hygiene service to Kings Lynn hospital A patient at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn decided to start a Mothers Union project there. Eunice Norwood tells her story. Read more Tributes to well-loved Norfolk doctor and minister The Church Times has paid tribute to Dr Herbert Karrach, who for 25 years was a minister at Snettisham, and died recently in Nepal aged 96. Read more King's Lynn vicar raises funds for vaccines in poor countries Kings Lynn vicar Rev Becca Rogers has set up a fundraising campaign to help people in low-income countries access the Covid vaccine. Read more Kings Lynn Night Shelter provides 24/7 winter kindness This winter the Kings Lynn Night Shelter has turned into a 24-hour shelter with guests in individual rooms. Read more Gateway Church to hold a Bless our NHS service With the continuing challenges to health workers, the Gateway Church in Kings Lynn is organising a Bless Our NHS service. Pastor Andy Moyle explains. Read more Norfolk church offers bursaries for young missionaries The Way church in Hunstanton has created a bursary scheme to help Christian students in Norfolk get experience of foreign mission. Read more Downham Market team reaches out to families at Christmas A member of Eternity Church in Downham Market is at the centre of a campaign to ensure that no local children go hungry this Christmas. Read more Emily invites us to pack a hamper for a family at Christmas The CAP Debt Centre in Kings Lynn is encouraging people from local congregations to pack a hamper or sponsor a children's toy for Christmas this year. Read more Beautiful Kings Lynn Christmas cards for Christian Aid appeal The Christian Aid group in Kings Lynn has come up with some artistic ways of making Christmas cards. Rev Heather Berry tells the story. Read more Kings Lynn schools open arms to Church Army officer For young people in King's Lynn already facing challenges, the pandemic has been the last straw. Church Army officer James Hawksworth has found a way to respond where the need is most acute. Read more Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Friday released the name of 50 candidates, from the reserve list, to fill for the remaining post based on Central Armed Police Forces (ACs) Examination 2018. Candidates can check the list by visiting the official website of UPSC. Out of 50 names released by the UPSC, 24 candidates are from the OBC category, 22 from general, and 4 from SC category. Earlier, the commission had declared the result of the Central Armed Police Forces (ACs) Examination, 2018 on August 2, 2019, in which 416 candidates were shortlisted for the recruitment. The Candidature of 11 candidates bearing Roll Nos 0503397, 0504360, 0817194, 0821311, 0850878, 0860747, 1103908, 1200637, 1301890, 1302712, 1507629 is Provisional, reads the notice. Heres the direct link to check the list. The Alexandria Care Center has been locked down since March 12. It counts 19 current cases of Covid-19; two residents have died of the disease. Residents with Covid-19 are housed in a separate unit. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 64 percent of nursing home residents in the United States are women, and many are mothers. Why dont you come inside? Grace Brown asked, sitting in her wheelchair in the lobby. I am just going to stand out here and get some air, her daughter responded. A company that supplies plant machinery and equipment has launched a High Court challenge against a decision of Dublin City Council to rezone lands from commercial/industrial, to mixed use. The action has been brought by Pat O'Donnell and Company which claims the Councils decision to make a variation to its development plan and rezone lands at Chapelizod bypass/Kylemore Road in Dublin 20, is flawed and should be quashed. The lands in question, part of which contain the company's business premises while other parts are owned by other parties, had been zoned primarily for industrial uses. Last March Dublin City Council (DCC) made a decision to rezone those lands as mixed use development of which office, retail and residential would be the predominant uses. The variation was voted on and passed by the elected members. Represented in court by Jarlath Fitzsimons SC, appearing with David Dodd Bl, the company said DCC had originally proposed to change the zoning of the lands from industrial to residential. Counsel said his client was been based in Fairview in Dublin 3 had relocated to its current location in Chapelizod some years ago after the owners of adjoining residential properties that had built up around it over the years raised issues about the level of noise coming from its premises. Not a minor modification Counsel said the company was concerned that the same thing may happen again if residences are built in and around its property at California Heights, Chapelizod. Counsel said his client made submissions in regards to DCC's proposals to rezone the lands as residential. However DCC rezoned the lands for mixed use. Counsel contended the decision is flawed on grounds including that his client had no opportunity to be heard fully and fairly on a decision which affects the company's property and commercial rights. Changing the proposed zone from residential to mixed use was not a minor modification counsel said. Counsel added that the decision was irrational and that no adequate reasons were given by DCC as to why it had modified its original proposal. Counsel added that the challenge was also being brought on grounds that DCC failed to comply with its obligations under EU law and conduct either an appropriate assessment or a Strategic Environmental Assessment in relation to the variation of the development plan. Counsel said that Uniphar Group Plc, which owns some of the lands that have been rezoned by the council has indicated that it wants to develop residential properties on the lands. As well as seeking the order quashing the decision, the company also seeks various declarations including that the decision was made unlawfully and breached the 2000 Planning and Development Act, and was in breach of fair procedures. Uniphar was made a notice party to the proceedings. Permission to bring the challenge was granted, on an ex-parte basis, by Mr Justice Michael Twomey. The judge who also granted a stay on DCC's decision to rezone the lands at the subject of the challenge pending further order of the court. The matter will return before the court next month. South Koreas battle against the Wuhan coronavirus has been a huge and well-publicized success. From very early March on, the number of new reported cases has dropped dramatically. By late April, South Korea was reporting fewer than ten new cases, and fewer than five new deaths from the virus, per day. In all, only 256 deaths have been attributed to the virus in South Korea. Now, however, South Korea is experiencing a spike in reported new cases. The cause? A 29-year-old man infected by the virus visited five nightclubs and bars in the commercial district the weekend before last. Of the 34 new cases reported yesterday (May 10), 24 originated in the area in which the infected man did his bar hopping. Authorities believe that as many as 1,500 people were in attendance during the time the man says he visited the five clubs during the weekend of May 1. In total, at least 54 cases have been linked to this man. This includes 43 nightclub patrons and another 11 people acquainted with the clubgoers. South Korea should be able to contain this outbreak by tracing, testing, and isolating the contacts of the known newly infected individuals, and by closing bars and night clubs for a while, as it is doing. However, the new outbreak illustrates that the coronavirus cant be stamped out completely through best practices. It will take a vaccine to accomplish this. But that doesnt mean bars, night clubs, restaurants and the like should be shut down until we get a vaccine. They provide enjoyment for patrons and employment for many workers. The death rate among those who become infected at bars and night clubs is likely to be very low due to the age of patrons. Those in high risk categories have the option of staying away, and probably should. In almost every plan Ive seen for reopening economies, bars and night clubs among the last businesses permitted to resume. Similarly, restaurants arent allowed to seat at anywhere near capacity until late in the reopening process. This makes very good sense, in my view. But restricting the operations of these businesses until we get a vaccine, or until new reported cases are at zero, doesnt. A fire burning in northern New Mexico has caused two homes to be evacuated and is threatening two more. The human-caused Lumberton Fire, burning on private land near Lumberton in Rio Arriba County, started around noon Sunday and has burned about 100 acres. A press release from the State Forestry Division says the fire is moving toward Jicarilla Apache land. Firefighters from State Forestry, the Chama and Dulce volunteer fire departments and the Bureau of Indian Affairs are working to contain the blaze. Australias most populous state, home to Sydney, will allow restaurants, playgrounds and outdoor pools to reopen on Friday as extensive testing has shown the spread of the coronavirus has slowed sharply, New South Wales states premier said on Sunday, Reuters reported. Just because were easing restrictions doesnt mean the virus is less deadly or less of a threat. Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Sunday. All it means is we have done well to date. From May 15, New South Wales will allow cafes and restaurants to seat 10 patrons at a time, permit outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people, and visits of up to five people to a household. The state has been worst hit by the coronavirus in Australia, with about 45% of the countrys confirmed cases and deaths. However, it recorded just two new cases on Saturday out of nearly 10,000 people tested. Gardai have seized more than 100,000 worth of cannabis (pending analysis) in Co. Offaly. Officers from the Laois/Offaly Divisional Drugs Unit, the Portlaoise/Tullamore Detective Units and members from Birr Garda Station searched a house in the Birr Town area. Most of the novel coronavirus strains circulating in the Houston area are a type that a controversial report recently said had mutated to become more contagious, according to a Houston Methodist Hospital analysis of the genetic makeup of the first infections treated here. The Methodist analysis, which has not yet been peer reviewed, found the virus that causes COVID-19 was introduced into the Houston area beginning in early March from a multitude of geographic regions, including Asia, Europe and South America. We now have a snapshot of what the virus looked like after arriving in Houston, said Dr. James Musser, Methodists chairman of pathology and genomic medicine and a study author. That snapshot is crucial as we keep an eye out for more and less severe strains of the virus. Musser added that knowing where the virus originated and is mutating will help public health officials track new infection spikes and guide strategies and initiatives, particularly if more dangerous strains cluster in some areas more than others. It also provides clues about mutations that could impact antiviral resistance, vaccine development and other novel therapies. The Methodist study found no evidence yet of mutations making any particular strain of the virus more lethal than others. But 70 percent of the specimens examined, taken from COVID-19 patients treated at Methodist from early March to March 30, have a mutation to the spikes the virus uses to attach to and enter human respiratory cells. Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory reported last week the mutation doesnt make people sicker, but appears to facilitate the spread of the infection. That finding was met with skepticism by many scientists, including Musser. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told the Washington Post the paper draws rather sweeping conclusions about the mutant strain. Dr. S. Wesley Long, a first author on the Methodist paper, said, no one has done research to prove the strain spreads more easily from one person to another. He called the paper speculation. Still, the Los Alamos paper has caused concern. Musser said it has generated much attention in the scientific community as well as the popular media. The Los Alamos paper also hasnt been peer reviewed. Both it and the Methodist paper are examples of whats known as pre-prints, preliminary reports made public ahead of peer-reviewed publication because of the discoveries time-sensitive nature. The Methodist study of the eight-hospital systems first 320 COVID-19 patients represents just the third such genomic analysis of the virus spread in a U.S. community and the largest to date. The others were in New York City and Seattle. One expert called Methodists sequencing of so many patients a herculean effort that will be very relevant to the areas effort to control the virus spread as the economy reopens. This sort of genomic mapping provides greater specificity in trying to follow where disease clusters begin and may spread in the future, said Gerald Parker, director of the pandemic and biosecurity policy program at Texas A&Ms Bush School of Government Service. It will aid in diagnostics and contact tracing. The single-continent seedings of the virus in New York and Seattle contrasted with the multiple-continent seedings in Houston. Seattles came mostly from Asia and New Yorks mostly from Europe. The strain that Las Alamos scientists argue is more contagious, now the dominant one, is from Europe. Parker stressed that its important to know that Houston is seeing a diversity of strains, not just the one from Europe. Musser attributed the international origins of the outbreak in Houston to the city being an ethnically diverse, international city and transportation hub. He said the presence of a strain in Houston tied to South America wasnt a surprise because of the citys connection with Latin America. But he acknowledged it was a little bit different given that most of the cases seen early involved European and Asian strains. The existence of a South American strain was new to some scientists, but Long said it just means the variation was first observed there. The earliest cases in the Houston area the first was confirmed March 5 involved people infected during a Nile River cruise, an outbreak likely caused by an Asian or European strain, said Musser. He said there is no strain associated with Africa. During the study period, Methodists lab tested 3,080 specimens for COVID-19. The testing yielded 406 positive cases, which represented 40 percent of all confirmed cases in the area at the time, said Musser. He attributed that disproportionate amount to Methodist having its own molecular diagnostic test when testing around the city was in short supply. The test allows Methodist researchers to sequence all the genetic material in a virus its genome. Genomes from a number of virus samples allow researchers to compare mutations. So far, it added, the mutations have not changed the function of the coronavirus in a way that would affect vaccine development, the study authors wrote. But because the virus spikes are the target of many vaccine candidates, mutations to them particularly bear watching, they added. The study also said there was no resistance-related mutations to antiviral drugs such as remdesivir, recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration as an emergency COVID-19 treatment. The strains studied likely would respond well to remdesivir, the study added. The team tested the hypothesis that distinct viral types were associated with disease severity but found little evidence to support the idea. But Musser said the matter warrants further study with a larger sample size and that such analysis is currently under way at Methodist. Musser warned against reading too much into the study because 320 viral samples represents a small amount for a pandemic that has infected more than 1.3 million people globally. But he noted that Methodist continues to conduct genomic analyses of all its COVID-19 patients and now has more than 1,000 cases sequenced. He is currently working on an academic paper on those cases. There were clearly mutations in the virus, some of which need to be followed very carefully in future, said Musser. Some mutations may well represent beginnings of new virus families that could cause differences in severity or an ability to elude the immune system. The Methodist paper has been submitted for review to a prominent scientific journal. The preprint is not the final version of the article. todd.ackerman@chron.com Advertisement Floridians kicked off a weekend of partying at sea as the Sunshine State records its deadliest week on record after Gov Ron DeSantis gave the order to start phase one of the reopening process. Dozens of boats were spotted on a sandbar near John's Pass as thousands of people flocked to area beaches during the first weekend public beaches reopened after they were closed a few weeks ago in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19. Most beach goers observed social distancing under the watchful eye of Pinellas County Sheriff deputies who were patrolling Madeira Beach educating citizens of the rules. On Sunday, people were seen dancing, drinking and sharing a hookah on the deck of one yacht in Biscayne Bay in Miami. Dozens more were seen waiting in a massive line near a marina in Miami, which is one of three epicenters of the virus in the state. At least 40,596 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the state as of Sunday and at least 1,721 people have died. Since the state began to reopen on May 4, Florida has seen 336 deaths over the six days - an average of 56 new deaths every day. Scroll down for video Dozens of boats were spotted on a sandbar near John's Pass as thousands of people flocked to area beaches during the first weekend public beaches reopened after they were closed a few weeks ago in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19 People were seen swimming and kayaking at the sandbar near John's Pass on Saturday Most beach goers observed social distancing under the watchful eye of Pinellas County Sheriff deputies who were patrolling the beach educating citizens of the social distancing rules Thousands of people soaked up the sun during family visits to Madeira Beach on Saturday On Sunday, Florida reported that about 40,596 coronavirus cases have been confirmed since the beginning of March and at least 1,721 people have died. Families are seen walking along Madeira Beach on Saturday Families are seen hanging out at the beach on Saturday. In other parts of Florida, one beach was forced to close because officials said visitors were not practicing social distancing and could have contributed to the spread of the virus Since the state began to reopen on May 4, Florida has seen an average of 56 new deaths every day. Two couples are seen hanging out at Madeira Beach on Saturday Florida has recorded at least 1,721 deaths (depicted above) as of Sunday night In other parts of Florida, one beach was forced to close because officials said visitors were not practicing social distancing and could have contributed to the spread of the virus. Officials in Naples on Florida's southwest coast said that the crowds on Saturday were packed too tightly together, so they decided to close beaches until a city council meeting can be held Monday to discuss solutions. Councilman Gary Price went to the beach Saturday after learning about the crowds and took photos of people not obeying rules that require groups to remain apart. 'It's pretty sad,' he told the Naples Daily News. 'It's such a popular place. We'll figure it out. We are doing this to keep people safe. We are erring on the side of caution.' Several residents told the newspaper that the beach should remain open, but limited to local residents. 'Not fair that Collier County residents cannot enjoy their beaches,' Lauren Cibelli told the paper on Facebook. 'I was at the beach during the week, and everyone practiced social distancing. This is not right that residents suffer.' Beaches in most of the state reopened last week except in South Florida, but some beaches reopened back in April. According to officials in the city of Cocoa Beach, people have left more than 13,000 pounds of trash at Cocoa Beach, which reopened on April 21, within just one weekend. Officers from the Cocoa Beach Police Department said in a press statement that people who litter at the beach will pay a fine of $250. 'As restrictions are becoming more relaxed during this pandemic, the City of Cocoa Beach is beginning to see an influx of day-trippers to our beaches, along with piles of unlawfully discarded trash in their wake,' the department said on Facebook. 'This will not be tolerated.' On Sunday, Florida reported that at least 40,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed since the beginning of March Fearless sun seekers didn't waste any time adjusting to the 'new normal' just a week after Florida initiated phase one of its reopening process People were seen dancing, drinking and sharing a hookah on the deck of one yacht in Biscayne Bay in Miami amid the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday The group also appeared to be drinking as they enjoyed their boat ride on Saturday Miami-Dade County, where Biscayne Bay is located, will start reopening businesses during the week of Memorial Day Meanwhile, barbershops, hair salons and nail salons prepared to reopen in much of the state Monday with workers being required to wear masks. Gov Ron DeSantis announced Friday that they could reopen in every county except hard-hit Miami-Dade and Broward, which remain under tight restrictions. The governor said he hopes Miami-Dade and Broward counties can start reopening businesses during the week of Memorial Day. The shops will have to operate by appointment only and will have to spend 15 minutes after each customer disinfecting the station. They are being discouraged from allowing customers to wait inside. Palm Beach County the home of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort will also start reopening its businesses next week. Entrada de las marinas de botes en Miami... Que es mas importante que tu bienestar y el del projimo? Bueno los Boat Party, Sex Party, embriagarse en medio del oceano, orgias, noveleria, etc, etc. pic.twitter.com/aeQG4bmD0X Jorge Palacios (@MrJorgePalacios) May 9, 2020 Restaurants and shops in Palm Beach County can reopen provided they keep indoor capacity at 25 per cent starting May 18. 'In order for Florida to come back, we need Palm Beach County in a leadership role,' DeSantis said at a news conference in West Palm Beach. 'It won't happen overnight but this community is eager to move forward,' said Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner. With some of the nation's most expensive houses, Palm Beach County is home to Mar-a-Lago, which serves as Trump's refuge from Washington. The president often spends his time there mixing work, business and pleasure in the company of dues-paying members. It has laid off 153 workers during the pandemic. Gov Ron DeSantis announced Friday that certain businesses could reopen in every county except hard-hit Miami-Dade and Broward, which remain under tight restrictions While Broward and Miami-Dade counties remain under restrictions, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced Friday that some business in the county would be opening on May 18. He didn't specify which businesses but suggested the reopening could include restaurants. Broward Mayor Dale V.C. Holness is hosting a teleconference with city officials on Monday to discuss reopening. In a survey completed by city leaders, most supported the opening of restaurants and retail businesses under the state's guidelines, as well as allowing elective surgeries. DeSantis also gave the green light to reopen hair salons, barbershops and nail salons Monday under new safety guidelines for most of Florida. The order does not include Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The governor made the announcement on Twitter late Friday via a video message from J. Henry, who owns a barber shop in Orlando. 'We are ready to get back to work and make some money,' Henry said in the video, adding that salon employees would be wearings gloves and masks. 'Safety is always first.' No other details about the additional safety protocol were immediately released. Last week, most of Florida's Democratic congressional delegation urged DeSantis, a Republican, not to loosen restrictions meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus until he can put in place adequate testing, contact tracing and the ability to isolate sick residents. The US lawmakers said in a letter to the governor that Floridians would be at risk without those measures in place as businesses that have been closed because of the pandemic start to reopen. 'While we fully recognize the tremendous burden placed on the economy by stay-at-home orders and closed businesses, we urge you to prioritize the health and safety of Floridians above all else,' the letter said. 'A rushed reopening may very well serve only to increase the human loss caused by an already historic public health crisis, as states moving forward with reopening are seeing increases in new COVID-19 cases.' DeSantis defended his approach on Friday as 'safe, smart'. 'We are being deliberate,' DeSantis said. 'We are being methodical about this because we want to do this the right way.' At a news conference in northeast Florida, DeSantis also announced that infected patients from long-term facilities who do not require hospitalization could be cared for at a skilled nursing facility in Jacksonville. He said that will help prevent infected elders from spreading the disease to others in their facility. The governor also defended the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying state officials acted to stay ahead of infections by aggressively seeking to stem the spread of the virus across the state's elder care facilities. According to records released by state officials, there have been more than 1,400 infected long-term care residents across 424 long-term care facilities as of May 1. More than 400 have died, according to those records. 'We acted decisively early on to protect long-term care facilities,' the governor said. DeSantis said that included sending nearly 10 million masks, 1 million gloves and 500,000 face shields to long-term care facilities, as well as establishing what he called 'strike teams' to do surveillance testing at the facilities. But the data released by state officials have come under scrutiny because some of the data do not square with other available information. WENZHOU, China, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ZK International Group Co., Ltd. (ZKIN) ("ZK International" or the "Company"), a designer, engineer, manufacturer, and supplier of patented high-performance stainless steel and carbon steel pipe products primarily used for water and gas supplies, today announced that it has retained U.S. Sterling Securities, Inc. ("USSI"), a FINRA and SEC regulated firm, to help the Company with: (i) non-financing transactions, including without limitation, licensing agreement(s), Joint venture(s), merger(s) and acquisition(s), and (ii) financing transactions, including equity, debt, or any combination of both. Jiangcong Huang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ZK International, commented, "we have been looking for an investment bank that has aligned their goals with that of the Company and we are excited to be working with US Sterling in assisting us with our goals of expanding our Company through acquisitions. The Company has been looking at a major acquisition and together with U.S. Sterling's experience, we hope that together we can secure the long term of the Company by expanding our revenues and profits through acquiring assets that will lead to shareholder value." George T Goldman, Vice President of U.S. Sterling Securities, Inc. (USSI), also commented, "for over 25 years, USSI has been delivering integrated strategies and innovative product solutions for institutions. We are pleased to engage ZKIN to help the Company carry out their strategic plans through both non-financing and financing transactions. We look forward to working with the Chairman of the Company and his team in the coming months in achieving his goal of expanding the Company's growth through acquisition." About U.S. Sterling Securities, Inc. ("USSI") US Sterling Securities, Inc. provides Institutional Investment Banking and Corporate Financial Services to selected qualified companies seeking access to the Capital Markets at the Institutional level. Established in 1994, USSI is a member of MSRB, FINRA and SIPC serving the investment and funding needs of institutions. USSI offers a full line of fixed income products including certificate of deposits, U.S. Treasury securities, agency bonds, municipal bonds, corporate bonds, as well as mortgage-backed and asset-backed products for institutional and retail investors. USSI also provides large block Depository Trust Company (DTC) Brokered CD underwriting services to qualified banks. More information about USSI can be found at: www.ussterlingsecurities.com. About ZK International Group Co., Ltd. ZK International Group Co., Ltd. is a China-based designer, engineer, manufacturer, and supplier of patented high-performance stainless steel and carbon steel pipe products that require sophisticated water or gas pipeline systems. The Company owns 33 patents, 21 trademarks, 2 Technical Achievement Awards, and 10 National and Industry Standard Awards. ZK International is Quality Management System Certified (ISO9001), Environmental Management System Certified (ISO1401), and a National Industrial Stainless Steel Production Licensee that is focused on supplying steel piping for the multi-billion dollar industries of Gas and Water sectors. ZK has supplied stainless steel pipelines for over 2,000 projects, including the Beijing National Airport, the "Water Cube", and "Bird's Nest", which were venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Emphasizing superior properties and durability of its steel piping, ZK International is providing a solution for the delivery of high quality, highly sustainable, environmentally sound drinkable water not only to the China market but also to international markets such as Europe, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. For more information please visit www.ZKInternationalGroup.com. Additionally, please follow the Company on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Weibo. For further information on the Company's SEC filings please visit www.sec.gov. Safe Harbor Statement This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "estimate" or "continue" or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantee of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of ZK International. Actual results may differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties, as well as other risk factors that are included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Although ZK International believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove inaccurate and, therefore, there can be no assurance that the results contemplated in forward-looking statements will be realized. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking information included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by ZK International or any other person that their objectives or plans will be achieved. ZK International does not undertake any obligation to revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investor Contact: Tony Tian, CFA Weitian Group LLC Phone: +1 (732) 910-9692 Email: [email protected] SOURCE ZK International Group Co., Ltd. Related Links www.ZKInternationalGroup.com What lies beyond the pandemic? MassForward is MassLives series examining the journey of Massachusetts businesses through and beyond the coronavirus pandemic. ________________ Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. on Sunday said construction on projects like Polar Park would be allowed to continue work this week. A day later, the Worcester Red Sox werent ready to assess how the five-and-a-half-week hiatus affected the timeline of the project. Construction was halted at Polar Park, which was scheduled to open in April 2021 with the arrival of the WooSox, on April 1. While state officials said construction could continue, Worcester stopped work on the 10,000-seat stadium in an abundance of caution to slow the spread of the coronavirus. We are pleased at the City Managers news, not only for WooSox fans and those looking forward to Polar Park, but because it is a step forward in the communitys recovery from this striking scourge, the Chairman and Principal Owner of the Worcester Red Sox Larry Lucchino said in a statement on Monday. While we look forward to resuming the construction of Worcesters new ballpark, we recognize that precautions, health, and safety remain paramount. We will support our local construction workers, and we will abide by the conditions set forth by our leaders to ensure an environment that complies with their public policy and expert medical recommendations. We will save an assessment of the delay and the adverse impacts for another day. While the WooSox declined to comment on the status of the ballparks timeline, two weeks after work was halted, Augustus remained confident Polar Park could be completed on time. Augustus believed the project would be able to reach the April 2021 finish line on time as long as the delays didnt extend beyond May 31. A month, two months, I think we can make that schedule up, Augustus said in April. If you get into three, four, five months, I think it makes it really hard to make that schedule. On Sunday, Augustus said construction teams can start remobilizing equipment as soon as Monday, but it was unlikely to see full-fledged construction until the start of next week. Developers must sign an affidavit with the city confirming that construction and safety efforts conform to what they presented to city officials. City inspectors will ensure all protocols are being adhered to in a strict fashion, Augustus said. Its the right time to begin to bring essential construction projects back, Augustus said during Sundays news conference. He described Polar Park in particular as a critical economic development project." As construction restarts in the city, Augustus said each project will have to be approved for how safety is going to be conducted. Crews officially broke ground on the $100 million Polar Park project last July. By the end of March steel had been erected to outline the stadiums lower bowl. When Augustus made the announcement to postpone construction on Polar Park, the Worcester Red Sox agreed with the decision. All of us with the Worcester Red Sox recognize what a difficult and unusual time we are living in, and all of us should recognize that the health of our community, our country, and the world are whats most important," the Worcester Red Sox said in a statement when construction was stopped. "We want nothing more than for Polar Park to be a point of pride for the people of Worcester and the Commonwealth including the many local skilled construction workers who are putting their heart and soul into this ballpark. We concur with our partners that a temporary halt gives our community the best opportunity to permanently contain this destructive virus," the statement continued. If a 2021 opening day deadline cant be met, the team could explore an array of possibilities that includes a temporary lease extension in Pawtucket, playing at the College of the Holy Cross Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field or even Fenway Park. MassForward is MassLive's series examining the journey of Massachusetts' small businesses through and beyond the coronavirus pandemic. Related Content: Wisconsin banks stepped up last month to help 43,400 of the states small businesses obtain more than $8.3 billion in federal Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program funds. Quick action by banks pushed Wisconsin to near the top in processing loan requests, according to Rose Oswald Poels, president and chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Bankers Association. Were proud to say that Wisconsin was 14th in the country in terms of appropriations. The banks were proactive right away. There was only $349 billion available for the first round of the program, Poels said. Financial institutions throughout southeastern Wisconsin had to process applications that poured in quickly. They had two weeks to meet the April 16 deadline for the first phase of the program. The Paycheck Protection Program is one of several components of the multi-phased CARES Act that established stimulus payments for individuals and funds to help companies. Under PPP, recipients receive a loan that provides for their payroll cost and other financial obligations. At least 75% of the loan proceeds must be used for payroll costs, including sales, commissions and employee benefits. The remainder is forgivable if the recipient meets strict guidelines. It can be used for lease obligations, mortgage, utilities, and several other types of expenses. Working long hours, we were in a race with other banks across the country to get into the system. We were trying to process all we could before the money ran out, Poels said. Meanwhile, local banks and federally chartered credit unions are continuing to work for a new set of applicants who hope to obtain a loan from the $310 billion pool that has been allocated for the second round of SBA disbursements. Flood of applications The Johnson Financial Group is firmly entrenched in southeastern Wisconsin, with its headquarters in Downtown Racine. It helped 450 businesses to obtain more than $150 in million in PPP funding. A flood of applications poured into Johnson Bank, said Karla Krehbiel, president-Southeast Region. She estimated that bank employees processed some 2,100 applications within a short time. Electronic requests from customers required an expansive team to handle them before the April 16 deadline. We knew wed get a lot of applications, she said. Scott Kelly, our chief credit officer, put together a team. We had to go through each application. We worked day and night. We wanted to make sure our clients were doing OK. Dedicated teams The Brookfield-based North Shore Bank has three brick-and-mortar branches in Kenosha and a branded banking office in the Festival Foods supermarket, 3207 80th St., along with five branches in Racine. North Shore officials were unable to provide a breakdown of PPP disbursement, nor able to disclose how many small business customers it helped during the first phase of the program. We had a dedicated team of employees who worked late nights and early mornings to process the paperwork, said Susan Doyle, a senior vice president of retail banking. We had hundreds of customers. Were really excited about what we were able to do. ... We have been able to ensure some financial wellness. Favorable results While financial institutions that service the southeastern region do not have specific statistics for clients in the Kenosha and Racine counties, they report favorable results. We started on April 3 with 60 employees 20% of our workforce processing applications, said Mark Meloy, CEO of First Business Bank. As of April 22, the company had received over 600 applications from existing clients and had received conditional approval from the SBA in excess of $300 million and had disbursed approximately $280 million in funds, Meloy said. He attributes the fast processing to updated technology that allows business owners to apply online. A benefit like this goes far beyond the business, Meloy said. This helps them pay employees and that helps their families. Under the program, the SBA backs loans that financial institutions make to their clients. MISSAUKEE COUNTY, MI A Michigan man is in critical condition after he lost consciousness at a gun range in Missaukee County. But he might be dead if not for the efforts of two Michigan State Police troopers. The incident occurred when troopers Darren Morris and Joshua Stinson of the Michigan State Police Houghton Lake Post were dispatched to the location shortly after 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 7. When troopers arrived, they found the son of the unconscious 67-year-old Lake City man performing CPR on his father. The father had slumped over without warning, so the son called 911 and began CPR. Troopers took over and determined the victim was not breathing and had no pulse. Troopers connected the automated external defibrillator (AED) to the man and continued CPR. A shock was then delivered using the AED. When Missaukee EMS arrived, troopers relinquished treatment and continued to assist with the patient. The victim was transported to Cadillac Munson Hospital for further treatment. He was later transported to Munson Medical Center in Traverse City where he remains in critical condition. The Iranian army says a missile strike on a naval vessel taking part in an exercise in the Gulf of Oman has killed 19 sailors and wounded 15. The statement Monday drastically raised the death toll in the incident Sunday. Earlier Iranian state media reports said the Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, was too close to a target during an exercise on Sunday. The vessel had been putting targets out for other ships to target. It said the missile struck the vessel accidentally. An Iranian missile fired during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman struck a support vessel near its target, killing at least one sailor and wounding 15 others, Iranian media reported Monday, amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the US. The friendly fire incident happened on Sunday near the port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran, in the Gulf of Oman, state TV said. The missile struck the Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, taking part in the exercise. State television described the missile strike as an accident, saying the Konarak had remained too close to the target. The Konarak had been putting targets out in the water for other ships to fire upon, it said. A local hospital admitted 12 sailors and treated another three with slight wounds, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Iranian media said the Konarak had been overhauled in 2018 and was able to launch sea and anti-ship missiles. The Dutch-made, 47-meter (155-foot) vessel was in service since 1988 and had capacity of 40 tons. It usually carries a crew of 20 sailors. Iran regularly holds exercises in the region, which is closed to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world's oil passes. The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which monitors the region, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Local authorities, taking into account epidemic situation in each specific region, will be able to make autonomous decisions to prevent spread of Covid-19 Ukraine's Prime Minister Open source Prime Minister Denys Shmygal announced the relaxation of lockdown on May 11 and named the conditions under which the next stage of relaxation will come faster. He announced this on his Facebook page. The head of government recalled that from Monday in Ukraine some restrictions will be partially lifted and the concept of adaptive quarantine will begin to work. This means that local authorities, taking into account the epidemic situation in each specific region, will be able to make autonomous decisions to prevent the spread of Covid-1. I want to separately thank all Ukrainians who faithfully observe the lockdown rules for these 2 months. I know that it was not easy, but you really saved thousands of lives and made it possible to better prepare our medical system for the challenges of the pandemic. Now comes the crucial moment, because weakening Quarantine doesnt mean that the coronavirus is no more, or it has become less dangerous. We must learn to live and work in new conditions. This is a key condition under which the quarantine will not be strengthened, and the next stage of concessions for us come faster," he said. As we reported before, the mask regime can be extended until the end of the year if seasonality does not affect the spread of coronavirus infection Coronavirus creating short-term delivery delays from ARRL Headquarters ARRL is currently experiencing delays in the fulfillment of orders due to a record number of orders received in the past weeks. Combined with excessive demands on many shipping carriers, our members and customers should expect a 13 week delay in the delivery of their orders over the next few weeks. State of Connecticut safety requirements limit the number of employees allowed within the warehouse at one time to ensure their health and safety, further contributing to the fulfillment slowdown. Warehouse personnel are utilizing all available resources to get customers their products as quickly as possible and anticipate that the standard 3 7 day US delivery time will be restored sometime in June, once the state mandate has relaxed. ARRL remains committed to making sure that all customers get their orders as quickly as possible. We greatly appreciate everyones patience and understanding during this time and thank you for your continued support of amateur radio and ARRL http://www.arrl.org/news/coronavirus-creating-short-term-delivery-delays-from-arrl-headquarters As long as German Chancellor Angela Merkel personally coordinates the process of peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not dare to escalate. As Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany Andriy Melnyk said in an interview with the Radio Liberty, Merkel continues to play a crucial role in deterring Russian aggression. "We, Ukrainians, should understand one thing. As long as Merkel continues to take care of the Ukrainian file, as long as Merkel personally calls our president every week, every two weeks, and then calls Putin, and coordinates this whole peace process, which is very sensitive and fragile, but as long as Angela Merkel remains and retains this leading role, I think that Ukrainians can sleep a peaceful sleep and we may not afraid that another escalation will suddenly begin tomorrow. Because Putin is well aware that in this case, the price he will have to pay for this aggression will be disproportionately higher," the diplomat said. According to him, Germany, and personally the Chancellor, maintains a mediators role despite all the setbacks and the complexity of this process, being a very important fact for Ukrainians. Ukraine's ambassador to Germany also expressed confidence that Merkel would not give up this huge burden halfway and would definitely bring her mission to a successful completion, i.e. to the end of the war and achievement of peace. ol Oceans are likely to rise as much as 1.3 metres by 2100 if Earth's surface warms another 3.5 degrees Celsius, scientists warned Friday. By 2300, when ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland will have shed trillions of tonnes in mass, sea levels could go up by more than five metres under that temperature scenario, redrawing the planet's coastlines, they reported in a peer-reviewed survey of more than 100 leading experts. About ten percent of the world's population, or 770 million people, today live on land less than five metres above the high tide line. Even if the Paris climate treaty goal of capping global warming below 2C is met -- a very big "if" -- the ocean watermark could go up two metres by 2300, according to a study in the journal Climate Atmospheric Science. Earth's average surface temperature has risen just over one degree Celsius since the pre-industrial era, a widely used benchmark for measuring global warming. "It is clear now that previous sea-level rise estimates have been too low," co-author Stefan Rahmstorf, head of Earth system analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), told AFP. The new projections for both the 2100 and 2300 horizons are significantly higher than those from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including a special report on oceans it released in September. "The IPCC tends to be very cautious and conservative, which is why it had to correct itself upwards already several times," Rahmstorf said. Sea-level projections in the IPCC's landmark 2014 Assessment Report were 60 percent above those in the previous edition, he noted. A new Assessment will be finalised by the end of next year. While less visible than climate-enhanced hurricanes or persistent drought, sea level rise may ultimately prove the most devastating of global warming impacts. A global sea-level rise by several metres would be detrimental for many coastal cities such as Miami, New York, Alexandria, Venice, Bangkok, just to name a few well-known examples. Some may have to be abandoned altogether as they cannot be defended, Rahmstorf told The Guardian. Indeed, it is the extra centimetres of ocean water that make storm surges from ever-stronger tropical cyclones so much more deadly and destructive, experts say. Benjamin Horton, acting chair of the Nanyang Technical University's Asian School of the Environment in Singapore, led the survey to give "policymakers an overview of the state of the science", a statement said. Across the 20th century, sea level rise was caused mainly by melting glaciers and the expansion of ocean water as it warms. But over the last two decades the main driver has become the melting and disintegrating of Earth's two ice sheets. Greenland and West Antarctica are shedding at least six times more ice today than during the 1990s. From 1992 through 2017 they lost some 6.4 trillion tonnes in mass. Over the last decade, the sea level has gone up about four millimetres per year. Moving into the 22nd century, however, the waterline could rise ten times faster, even under an optimistic greenhouse gas emissions scenario, the IPCC has said. The Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets hold enough frozen water to lift oceans about 13 metres. East Antarctica, which is more stable, holds another 50 metres' worth. Like in the Covid pandemic, timing is critical to prevent devastation. If you wait until you already have a serious problem, then it is too late. Unlike with corona, sea-level rise cannot be stopped for many centuries or even millennia once ice sheets have been destabilised past their tipping points, Rahmstorf told The Guardian. (With inputs from AFP) By Larry Gordon EdSource Stay in the United States or go home? That was the painful dilemma facing the estimated 160,000 international students on California college and university campuses during the recent coronavirus lockdowns and shift to online education. Their decisions may have serious consequences for their own academic careers and for the financial health of the universities they attend. Some, like Yash Singhania, a third-year business finance student at UC Riverside, decided in March to return to his family home in Raipur, India, rather than remain in his off-campus apartment. Now, he is happy to be safely taking his UC classes online. But he worries that travel restrictions will keep him in India through December, possibly delaying his plans to graduate. "All this is very disheartening if I'm stuck," he told EdSource during a Zoom interview. In contrast, Gulnar Ilyasova, a student from Turkmenistan, the former Soviet republic in Central Asia, arrived midyear to start her master's in political science at Cal State Chico and stayed put. She feels lucky to have entered the United States before travel bans in both countries but is worried about finances, after losing her job in the university dining hall. She feels a tug that many international students are experiencing. "I obviously want to go see my family and be with them in this crisis," she said. "But I don't want to not be able to return and complete my studies." About 1 million international students are enrolled at American colleges, and at some campuses they comprise upward of 20 percent or more of the student body. They bring cultural and ethnic diversity along with coveted tuition dollars. At private colleges, many pay full sticker-priced tuition without state or federal aid. At the nine undergraduate campuses of the University of California, international students pay $42,324 a year, more than triple what in-state residents are charged for tuition. With the pandemic, both public and private colleges are worried that some international students, whether abroad now or on campus, may be unable to continue their studies because of financial, visa, travel or other issues. They may take a semester break until in-person courses resume or drop out altogether. Worried about health risks in the United States, parents may forbid new students from starting at American schools. And if those enrollments drop significantly, the revenue loss would be another blow to the already-fragile budgets of universities battered by the health emergency. Many American universities may lose up to 25 percent of their international enrollment, according to Brad Farnsworth, vice president for global engagement at the American Council on Education, which represents 1,700 higher education institutions. "There is a great deal of concern" about that expected decline, he said. "For some institutions, the loss of tuition income would be very substantial." And it is unlikely the schools can replace lost international students with enough Americans to avoid program cuts and staff reductions, Farnsworth added. For the upcoming school year, UC San Diego, for example, anticipates a drop in international enrollment, according to Dulce Dorado, director of the international students and programs office. "Like many campuses around the country, there is no way we would maintain the same level of enrollment given all the different factors, whether health concerns or travel restrictions," she said. UC San Diego enrolls about 8,100 international students, 21 percent of its student body. They are 14.4 percent across all 10 UC campuses; just 3 percent across all 23 California State University campuses but as high as 10 percent at San Jose State. While officials say they have no solid numbers on how many left the country in recent months, it appears that many stayed, fearful it would be impossible to return because of U.S. travel restrictions and limited flights even if their student visas remained valid for a long time. Some students worried that they could be infected during long airplane flights. A survey in April of international students at UC Berkeley found that 61 percent remained in the area, while 27 percent had left for their home country, 10 percent for other parts of the United States and 2 percent were in another country. About 3 percent said they already had decided either to take a semester off in the fall or not to return to Berkeley at all. To counter any losses, many colleges are planning to allow new and continuing international students to take courses online in the fall even if the campus returns to mainly regular instruction. At UC San Diego, many online courses will not require live attendance so that international students are not forced to take classes in the middle of the night, given global time differences. "If they physically can't be here, we want them to continue and make academic progress," Dorado said. For international students still in California and facing financial problems, UC San Diego and other campuses are providing emergency funds from donations and other sources since they do not qualify for state or federal aid. Plus, online counseling and chat groups are available to help emotionally. "They are far from home. They are isolated and don't have their normal support networks," Dorado said. In response to the Great Recession in 2008, many UC campuses sharply expanded the ranks of international students, gaining income but also garnering criticism that those students were taking spaces from Californians. UC later placed some caps on the numbers. Many other public and private schools nationwide recruited successfully too, with the biggest growth from China, India and South Korea. However, the numbers of newly enrolled international students across the nation started to decline somewhat in 2016-17. That change was attributed in part to restrictions the Trump administration placed on some visas and perceptions overseas that the United States was becoming less friendly to foreigners and more expensive. In fall 2019, about 1 million international students were enrolled at American campuses, according to the Institute of International Education, the organization that tracks and administers many exchange programs. (That survey includes students who stay on for a year or two after graduation for jobs or internships under special training visas.) California colleges had 161,693 international students in 2018-19, a drop of 250 from the previous year, but still the most in the nation by far, with New York next, the institute reported. The California numbers are particularly strong at research behemoths, such as the University of Southern California, UCLA, UC San Diego and UC Berkeley; yet some community colleges, such as De Anza in Silicon Valley and Orange Coast in Southern California, each took in more than 1,000. Some of UC Riverside's 2,050 international students have gone home, taking online classes that may require them to stay up very late or rise very early if instruction is not fully recorded. Still, Magid Shirzadegan, director of international student and scholars, said he "doesn't expect much of a drop" in the enrollment of current students even if some continue online in fall and don't come back to campus until the winter. He is more worried about a decline in new international students. "If our number of international students drops, it is going to have a very direct effect on our budget," he said. "We are hoping it's not going to drop." Uncertainty is often mentioned by university administrators and by international students such as Kaito Shibata, a social science major at Chico State. He flew home to Yokohama, Japan, in late March because his parents worried about virus infection rates in the United States, and he figured "it would be safer in Japan." After a home quarantine for two weeks, he is taking five courses online, none of them live. And while he is keeping up his school work, Shibata said it is "hard for me for to keep motivated" far from campus and that he may delay his pre-pandemic plan to graduate in December. In an online chat with EdSource, Shibata said he might skip fall semester and return to Chico in January. "We want to go but don't know when we can go back," he said. At Chico State, slightly more than half of its 300 international students stayed around campus and the rest went back to their homelands. Administrators say they are trying to help 40 or so who could not fly home and now face financial woes, unable to even get funds from families. The campus food pantry provides groceries, and officials are trying to land grants for those students from local and national sources, according to Sara A. Trechter, interim associate vice president for international education and global engagement. "It's a little difficult now for them. Some people are scared," she said. But none has indicated that they will drop out. Radhika Marwaha, a UC Davis third-year student, considered flying to her Dubai home until all routes were canceled. The global disease biology major stayed in her off-campus apartment, taking online classes, including some that discuss public health aspects of COVID-19. Luckily, her campus job continues with a program that helps international students. Now, she is steeling herself for the likelihood of remaining in Davis through December with online classes. "My parents are really concerned. They'd much rather have me at home during the pandemic, but they understand that there is not much we can do and that, even if we could travel, traveling is not very safe," she said. John A. Perez, the UC regents chairman and former state Assembly speaker, said he thinks there is "a high likelihood that there's a decline of international students because of issues that are outside of university's control and mainly outside of the students' control." UC could try to replace them with students from other U.S. states, who pay the same high tuition. But beyond finances, UC would have trouble "creating a dynamic environment that benefits from having people with different global views," he said. In India, UC Riverside student Singhania said he thinks some international students will avoid U.S. campuses altogether for coming years. But not him: "I love the U.S., and I miss the college life as well. I will take the risk if classes are in person, but I think a lot of people won't." This story was originally published by EdSource. Please use the following link when sharing: https://edsource.org/2020/fewer-international-students-expected-to-return-to-colleges-in-california-and-nation-hurting-finances/631148 Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. tech2 News Staff Aarogya Setu has become one of the most downloaded apps in the country in a span of two weeks of its launch with 90 million downloads. And one of the reasons of its popularity is because Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged 1.3 billion people of the country to use it. While the app was suggested to be voluntary at the time of launch, lately many private and public organisations made it mandatory for their employees to install the app. The app has faced a lot of flak for its potential privacy and security flaws. Recently, French hacker Elliot Alderson also raised concerns about the app's privacy. Now, MIT University has reviewed the Aarogya Setu app to understand how effective is the app, is it safe to use, and how it compares to other contact tracing apps that are being used in different parts of the world. As opposed to the ongoing practice of threats to arrest and fine in the country for people who don't have the Aarogya Setu app installed on their phone, the review suggests that the policy of the app says it is voluntary to use. The MIT also claims that India is the only democratic nation in the world that has made it mandatory for the citizens to use the app. (Also read: Aarogya Setu: Whether we like it or not, the app is here to stay, but it's still riddled with privacy issues that need strong answers) The app requires Bluetooth and GPS to function. For those who don't know it yet, Aarogya Setu not only makes the user aware if they have come in contact with a COVID-19 patient, but it also offers access to telemedicine, an e-pharmacy, and diagnostic services. Using the app also doesn't count in daily mobile data usage. All these all-in-one features gives it an upper hand over the "exposure settings" made by Google and Apple that only uses Bluetooth for contact tracing. Contact tracing explained in under 3-minutes Apple and Google are working on a contact tracing tool; the Indian government has a contact tracing app called Aarogya Setu. But what does contact tracing mean and how does it work? pic.twitter.com/Ia8tggdKnS Firstpost (@firstpost) April 24, 2020 The review suggests the most worrisome part of the app is we don't know who has access to the database, and they don't have any transparent policy. And on top of it, India does not have National data privacy law. (Also read: Workers sign petition urging govt to issue advisory clarifying that 'Aarogya Setu' app isn't mandatory) As per the head of this project, Arnab Kumar, the app was built to the standards of a draft data privacy bill that is currently in the countrys parliament, and says access to the data it collects is strictly controlled." The app is not open source and because of that many critics have raised their eyebrows. Kumar says that it will happen down the line but did not confirm any expected date. The review further reveals that since the app is not open source, its code and methods cant easily be reviewed by third parties, and there is no public sunset clause stating when the app will cease to be mandatory. Although, Kumar has confirmed that data of sick individuals are deleted in 60 days and for healthy people in 30 days. The majority of Britons want the Government to prioritise quality of life over economic growth throughout the coronavirus pandemic, a poll has found. GDP figures from January to the end of March, set to be published this week, are expected to drop significantly following warnings from the Bank of England that they could slump by nearly 30 per cent this year- causing the worst recession for three centuries. Millions of people in the UK are facing financial worries during the pandemic, with many being placed on the Government's furlough scheme as companies continue to struggle throughout the outbreak. But despite fear over the economy, eight out of ten people want ministers to focus on the health of the nation over the financial sector during and on the way out of the crisis, according to the survey by YouGov. A majority of people in the UK want the Government to prioritise health and welbeing of the nation over economic growth during the coronavirus crisis And six out of ten Britons say that health and welbeing should always be favoured regardless. Fran Boait, executive director of Positive Money, which commissioned the research, said: 'It's clear the vast majority of the public think we should worry more about people's health and wellbeing than economic growth. 'The government must not be tempted to pursue policies that would boost GDP at the expense of lives, wellbeing and the environment.' In a grim assesment last week the Bank of England warned that the GDP could fall by 14 per cent this year, in what would be the biggest recession for 300 years, since the Great Frost of 1709 - when temperatures plunged across Europe for months. The 14 per cent fall estimated for 2020 would be the biggest recession for 300 years 'The spread of Covid-19 and the measures to contain it are having a significant impact on the United Kingdom and many countries around the world,' it said in a statement. 'Activity has fallen sharply since the beginning of the year and unemployment has risen markedly.' In a statement, the Bank of England added: 'UK households entered this period of economic disruption in a stronger position than they were before the 2008 financial crisis. 'While the policy response will provide substantial support to households, the sharp fall in economic activity will put pressure on some households' finance. Governor Andrew Bailey unveiled grim forecasts from the Bank of England last week 'We are vigilant to risks that could emerge once payment holiday measures end, including borrowers seeking to refinance in the coming months.' Governor Andrew Bailey added: 'The Bank's three policy committees have taken complementary actions to lower the cost of borrowing, to put the banking system in a position to lend and to support the functioning of financial markets. 'However, the scale of the shock and the measures necessary to protect public health mean that a significant loss of economic output has been inevitable in the near term despite this very significant policy support.' 'As our scenario indicates, we expect the recovery of the economy to happen over time, although much more rapidly than the pull back from the global financial crisis. 'Nonetheless, we expect that the effects on demand in the economy will go on for around a year after the lockdown starts to lift. 'We expect that there will be some longer-term damage to the capacity of the economy, but in the scenario we judge these effects to be relatively small.' On Sunday Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled the Government's roadmap to unlock the economy within the next three months, encouraging those who cannot work from home to go back to work. The 'exit strategy' also hinted at the possibility of some shops re-opening in June, and aiming to restore the hospitality industry, including bars and restaurants, in July. Odisha BSE is planning to declare Class 10 result by the end of July. The Odisha Board of Secondary Education is deploying 6,000 more evaluators in addition to the 17,000 already engaged to get the matriculation answer sheets checked, reported the Hindustan Times. The Board aims to speed up the answer sheet evaluation process, which has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, by engaging more number of teachers. BSE is planning to declare Class 10 result by the end of July. The answer sheet evaluation will resume from 20 May, the report quoted BSE president Ramashis Hazra as saying. Hazra said that during the evaluation process, coronavirus guidelines like use of masks, hand sanitizers and physical distancing will be adhered to. The evaluation process is scheduled to finish in 20 days. The evaluation of each subject will be held in three phases and three sittings and the teachers assigned to evaluate the respective subject at the specific time allotted to them, he added. Follow Latest updates on coronavirus outbreak As per a report in Times of India, since there are teachers who might have left the headquarters and gone to their hometowns of villages, the board has taken steps to engage teachers at centres where they are currently residing. Other states are also working on completing the evaluation of Class 10 answer sheets. Earlier this month, the Bihar School Education Board (BSEB) said that it is discussing the issue of starting the evaluation of Class 10 papers. BSEB Chairman Anand Kishore had said that the Class 10 results in the state would be delayed further as the evaluation process would commence after 17 May. Last month, School Education Department, Madhya Pradesh, too had announced the evaluation of Class 10 and Class 12 answer sheets would begin from 22 April. Carnival Cruise Line bookings rose 600 per cent after the company said it will resume some of its cruises in August, says a member of the travel industry. The sharp rise in bookings is 200 per cent higher than this same time last year, reports an American Express travel agent. Customers were primarily focused on locking down reservations and getting premium deals, says the agent. Carnival Cruise Line bookings rose 600 per cent after the company said it will resume some of its cruises in August after being shut down by the coronavirus. Carnival ships are pictured in the Bahamas last month as they repatriated crew members during the pandemic The sharp rise in bookings for Carnival is 200 per cent higher than this same time last year, reports an American Express travel agent. Several of the cruise lines ships are pictured gathered in the Bahamas as they repatriated crew members during the shutdown Most of the travelers calling in at the moment were described as young, healthy and eager to travel after being forced to stay home during nationwide coronavirus quarantines, TMZ reports. The customers are 'not a bit concerned about traveling at this time,' the representative told the news outlet. So far, there have been 1,368,255 confirmed cases in the US of the coronavirus, which has been blamed for 80,726 deaths. An Instagram post from Carnival explains that 'enhanced protocols and social gathering guidelines will be put in place' once the company starts sailing again. While Carnival says it hopes to get back on the high seas by August, the company warns that plans could change and that there are no guarantees because of the potential for further delays due to the coronavirus pandemic. 'We continue to work with various government agencies, including the CDC, as we introduce new onboard protocols, but there is no assurance of a return on August 1,' Carnival wrote in its announcement. An Instagram post from Carnival (pictured) explains 'enhanced protocols and social gathering guidelines will be put in place' once the company starts sailing again Carnival had previously hoped to return in April or May after it first suspended its voyages in March. The date was later pushed to June 26 and now August 1. One-fifth of all global ocean cruise ships were infected with the coronavirus after the outbreak began, leaving at least 2,592 crew and passengers infected and killing at least 65, according to research compiled last month detailing the pandemic's impact on the cruise ship industry. The data revealed that cases of the deadly virus were directly linked to at least 54 cruise ships, as they continued to travel the waters while the pandemic ravaged communities on land. All four of the world's largest cruise lines - Carnival, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and MSC Cruises - were struck by outbreaks, as well as several smaller lines. At least 922 of those infected and 11 who died were crew members working on the ships. The stark findings, collated into a study by the Miami Herald using data from the CDC, cruise companies and passenger testimonies, show that the situation on board ships was far worse than official figures revealed. Fairbanks Alaska Skyline view over Chena River. It's been amazingly warm up that way. Read more It was a hard winter, and snow is still on the ground up that way, but the official temperature in Fairbanks reached 82 on Sunday, marking the first time that it had reached 80 before Philadelphia in the periods of record. It looks like we beat you to it, Chris Cox, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the Fairbanks office, said on a weekend that brought a record chill to Philadelphia. As warm as it was in Fairbanks, it fell shy of the daily record, 84, set during quite an incredibly toasty spell in 1995. It had hit 80 on the ninth that year, the earliest such reading in records that go back to 1909, and 88 on the 11th. Philadelphia, whose records date to the 1870s, has had 80 readings as early as March 8. It has never had to wait longer than May 20 for one, and it wont this year if the forecasts calling for highs in the low 80s on Friday hold up. Not coincidentally, as Philadelphia awaits a major warmup, Fairbanks is anticipating a major cool-down, said Cox, as a persistent pattern that has exported Arctic air to the Eastern United States relents. READ MORE: If you think its been windy lately, its not just you Unusual warmth in Fairbanks often means unusual chill here and vice versa. Philadelphias high of 49 on Saturday, which tied the record-low maximum for the date, was 23 degrees below normal. Fairbanks high of 82 Sunday was 23 degrees above normal. For most of the winter, the polar vortex swirled in the high latitudes, damming cold air and depriving the East of snow. Fairbanks had 84.6 inches of snow during the winter, 20 inches more than normal and 84.3 inches more than Philadelphia. READ MORE: When winter doesnt come: Here are the winners and losers of Phillys nearly snowless season With all that snow, the recent warmth set off both flood advisories for rapidly melting mountain snows and a red flag alert for fire danger. Meanwhile, Fairbanks residents have just experienced an annual Oz moment, the so-called green up, Cox said. This morning we got up and we had leaves on the trees. Unlike around here where the leaf-unfolding season can last for weeks, up there it can last a matter of hours, he said. Its been a long, protracted winter, Cox said. When it decided to go, it went. It was too late for the snow season, but it finally did come this way. Issues with testing and working remotely have complicated how Congress can operate during the coronavirus pandemic. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik The House will not return to the Capitol until Friday at the earliest, according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, announced Monday that additional stimulus funding and a rule change for working remotely are being discussed. Members will be given 72-hours' notice for when they should return. A new stimulus package is reportedly unlikely to be introduced before Tuesday. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Related Video: How to Invest Your Money During the Coronavirus Pandemic A new round of stimulus funding remains distant, with the House's return to the Capitol coming by Friday at the earliest, according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told members Monday morning that they will get a 72-hours heads up for when they should plan on returning to Washington. No votes in the House before FRIDAY, HOYERs office announces. Lawmakers will get a 72-hour heads up. pic.twitter.com/HktBXPcrf8 Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) May 11, 2020 A new stimulus package along with a potential rule change for remote voting are being discussed, Hoyer noted in the news release. Any of that funding coming to the House floor for a vote is unlikely to happen before next Tuesday, May 19, at the earliest, sources told Politico's congressional bureau chief. NEW - No House votes expected before Friday, @LeaderHoyer is going to announce soon. New House Dem coronavirus relief bill unlikely to be introduced before Tuesday, sources say. John Bresnahan (@BresPolitico) May 11, 2020 Issues with testing and remote voting have thrown a wrench into Congress' ability to conduct its normal work during the coronavirus pandemic. Story continues On top of that, clashes between the Democratic majority in the House and Republican-controlled Senate have stalled additional stimulus funding, particularly when it comes to bailing out state and local governments along with how much money those on unemployment insurance can receive. The Senate is in session this week, but has yet to take up any additional stimulus bills. Business Insider South Korea on Monday sent 2 million face masks in emergency assistance to the United States to help its fight against the new coronavirus, the foreign ministry said. The provision of the masks came after President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the two countries' cooperation in battling the COVID-19 pandemic during phone talks on March 24. A U.S. cargo flight carrying the masks was set to arrive in the United States on Monday, the ministry said. The supplies will be distributed to medical institutions at the vanguard of the anti-virus campaign. "The provision followed comprehensive considerations, such as our country's domestic COVID-19 situation and the local supply and demand for masks, and the need for support for our ally, the U.S.," the ministry said in a press release. "We hope that South Korea and the U.S. will quickly overcome the shared challenge of the COVID-19 disease through this support, and this can contribute to sharing Korea's quarantine experience with the international community," it added. It is not the first time that Korea has offered humanitarian aid to the U.S. Seoul sent US$5 million to the U.S. when the country was hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. After Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma struck the U.S. in 2017, Korea sent $2 million. (Yonhap) The Centre has said it has noted with great concern that migrant workers continue to walk on roads and railway tracks to return to their native places and asked states to ensure that they travel home on the special trains being run for them from various parts of the country. In a letter to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also sought their cooperation in running more Shramik Special trains for the migrant workers. Referring to a meeting held by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Sunday, Bhalla said, in the meeting, the situation of migrant workers walking on roads and railway tracks was noted with great concern. "Since their movement by buses and 'Shramik' special trains has already been allowed to enable their travel to native places, all State/UT governments should ensure that migrant workers do not resort to walking on road and on railway tracks," he said. In case they are found in such condition, the home secretary said, they should be appropriately counselled, taken to nearby shelters and provided with food, water etc. till such time they are facilitated to board the Shramik Special trains or buses to their native places. Further, Bhalla said, as requested by the cabinet secretary, all state/UT governments should cooperate with the railways in running more Shramik Special trains so that travel of stranded migrant workers is facilitated at a faster rate. "I urge upon you all to allow receiving of all Shramik special trains without any hindrance and facilitate faster movement of stranded migrant workers to their native places," he said. Sixteen migrant workers, who were walking back home to Madhya Pradesh were mowed down by a goods train in Maharashtra's Aurangabad last week after they fell asleep on railway tracks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian (R) and Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin (C) attend a handover ceremony in Manila, the Philippines, on May 10, 2020. China is donating more medical equipment and supplies to help the Philippines contain the spread of COVID-19 and speed up the country's recovery from the highly infectious disease. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali) MANILA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- China is donating more medical equipment and supplies to help the Philippines contain the spread of COVID-19 and speed up the country's recovery from the highly infectious disease. The new batches of emergency medical supplies to the Philippines include 100 ventilators, 150,000 testing kits, 70,000 medical protective suits, 70,000 N95 medical masks, 1.3 million surgical mask and 70,000 medical protective goggles. "Two chartered cargo planes have delivered 150,000 testing kits and 18,000 medical protective suits (over the weekend). Other supplies are expected to arrive in Manila soon," the Chinese Embassy in Manila said in a statement on Sunday. In a ceremony at the Department of Foreign Affairs headquarters, Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian handed over the donations to Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin and Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez, chief implementer of the Philippine government's action plan to combat COVID-19. "We are committed to forging a new type of partnership, which sets a very good example for the international anti-pandemic cooperation," Huang said in a speech at the ceremony. "We will, as always, stand together with the Philippine government and people to jointly overcome the pandemic till the day of a final victory," he added. The ambassador said China appreciates "the valuable support and assistance" of the Philippines during the difficult times when China was grappling with the COVID-19 outbreak itself. "To reciprocate the Philippines' help and demonstrate our unity and partnership, China has been providing support and assistance to the Philippines to the best of its ability ever since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Philippines in early March," Huang said. The embassy has also closely coordinated with relevant Chinese agencies to facilitate the Philippine military aircraft and Navy vessel's trip to China to bring back the purchased supplies. "China will continue to do its best to provide support and assistance to help the Philippines flatten and bring down the COVID-19 curve as soon as possible, so as to pave the way for the early resumption of work and production as well as the normalcy of the livelihood of the people," Huang added. The ambassador emphasized that the COVID-19 pandemic is a global challenge. "Virus respects no borders or races," Huang said, noting that the world is a community with a shared future in the face of the pandemic. "China firmly opposes politicizing public health issue by stigmatizing and sticking the virus label on a specific country or region. Such words and deeds will not only seriously undermine the efforts of international cooperation to fight the pandemic, but also sow the seeds of suspicion and even confrontation," he said. Locsin said all the countries affected by COVID-19 need to get together and stop pointing fingers. Instead, he added countries should continue to work hard together to find effective ways to defeat the virus and overcome the pandemic as soon as possible. The Philippines on Saturday launched a COVID-19 testing lab that China's biotech company BGI helped set up in San Fernando City, north of Manila, to ramp up the governments' testing capacity to 10,000 tests a day, up from the country's current daily capacity of around 7,000 tests. The Philippines has so far reported 10,794 coronavirus infections, including 719 deaths. Meanwhile, a small country located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe has become a role model for the steps taken in the fight against the pandemic. How did Georgia manage to prevent the spread of the virus so effectively? Two months after the first confirmed case in the country, there has only been 517 cases of infection, with 178 of those infected having already recovered. The six cases that resulted in deaths were among the elderly and those with chronic diseases. "Although Georgia was quite far from the epicenter of this disease geographically, we were well aware that it was only a matter of time before the virus would reach the country," said the Minister of Health Ekaterine Tikaradze. From the beginning of January, the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, took concrete steps to mitigate the threat that the epidemic posed. An information campaign was launched at airports and borders. Upon arrival, passengers received information on how to recognize the symptoms of the virus and where to seek help if they think they are infected. Soon after, thermal screening began at the border. In addition, passengers from high-risk countries were taken directly into quarantine zones for surveillance. Along with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), Georgia acted in accordance with its own protocol, which has become one of the most significant factors in preventing the spread of the virus in the country. Those entering the country with relatively low temperatures, such as 37.5 (99.5F), were taken to a local health facility and tested for the virus. In addition to these measures, in late January, Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze issued a recommendation to restrict travel to China. A few days later, direct flights to China were suspended. Georgia soon closed its borders to high-risk countries and then to all countries. A month before the virus was detected in the country, Georgia already had the capacity to identify and diagnose COVID-19. The first case of coronavirus in the country was reported on February 26. Today, there are only 333 active cases. The main strategy that prevented the spread of the virus in Georgia was the isolation of every confirmed or suspected case. In addition, campaigns to help raise public awareness about the importance of social distancing and staying at home have been helpful. In order to prevent the spread of the virus and to rapidly notify those who might have been in contact with someone who was infected, the Ministry of Health introduced the 'Stop COVID' mobile phone application. The role out of the app was in collaboration with the Austria-based NGO NOVID20 and Dolphin Technologies, a highly innovative software company. According to the Minister of Health, the ministry's efforts aimed to flatten the curve of the virus while leveraging all resources of the healthcare system to attain this goal. "Our goal is to avoid reaching a viral peak and to create a plateau, which will help the Georgian healthcare system withstand COVID-19's impact and allow us to treat all patients and ensure their recovery. The COVID-19 virus is not expected to disappear anytime soon. Therefore, to ensure that the health response is properly managed and safe, it is important that each country and its citizens learn to coexist with the virus, until a vaccine can be found and more effective treatments are introduced," noted the Minister of Health of Georgia. Georgia is already beginning to loosen the measures it took to contain the virus. However, as Tikaradze points out, lifting all restrictions and returning to normal life is dependent on the virus' reproduction rate (Rt). "We all know very well that the most effective way to fight the virus is to maintain social distancing and to follow standard hygiene norms. The Rt rate is directly proportional to the observance of these rules. This is the only way we can manage the process and not break the critical threshold of our healthcare system. If the Rt indicator falls to less than one, the restrictions will be lifted one-by-one. However, if the rate increases, we will have to tighten our response measures immediately," noted Tikaradze. Today's data is promising for the country, with an Rt indicator below one (R0 = 0.88 +/- 0.09). As a result, the first phase of lifting restrictions has already begun. Georgia's pandemic response has been cited as one of the best and most effective examples in terms of controlling the epidemic. The pandemic has clearly shown that not only are a country's resources important during times of crisis, but also the effective and timely management. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1164053/Georgia_Covid_19.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1165315/MoH_Georgia_Logo.jpg Contact: Ministry of IDPs from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia Tatia Tsereteli, PR Department T: +995 599 499 004 E: Press@moh.gov.ge SOURCE Ministry of IDPs from the Occupied Territories of Georgia "With the data compiled by the Center for Disease Control and Minsa , we have come to the conclusion that, as national average, we have certainly reached a plateau, a long plateau," he said in statements to Panamericana TV channel. According to the minister, this situation is explained by the outbreak of small- and medium-scale epidemics in various parts of the country, such as Loreto , Piura, Lambayeque, while in southern regions, the disease is still contained (with few cases). As for Lima, which leads the country in confirmed coronavirus cases, he said the same situation occurs there because there are districts that have reported no cases, while others have reported a large number of infected individuals. "That is the reason why Dr. Huerta is right, and the President (Martin Vizcarra) has also pointed out that the decline will certainly be slow," the Cabinet member expressed. (END) RRC/RMB/MVB (Newser) Russia has jumped past Italy and the United Kingdom in its struggle with the coronavirus, now making it the country with the third largest number of cases. Per Reuters, the number of confirmed cases there shot to 221,344 as of Monday. It lags only behind Spain, which has just upward of 224,000 cases, and the US, which is No. 1 with more than 1.3 million. The number of new cases in Russia jumped by 11,656 in a 24-hour perioda one-day record, per the Moscow Times. It now claims the second fastest rate of new infections in the world, behind only the United States. The country has registered just over 2,000 deaths from the virus as of Monday, though that death toll, which is much lower than in other countries, has raised some eyebrows. Hardest hit has been the capital city of Moscow, which has reported more than half of all COVID-19 cases and deaths. story continues below Russian officials say the spike in reported cases is due to the large-scale testing that's underway, which is picking up on asymptomatic cases that other countries may not be. Meanwhile, a World Health Organization official tells Bloomberg that, despite the dire-looking numbers, the country may have hit its plateau, with a "stabilizing" growth rate. Per NBC News, President Vladimir Putin led a "muted" celebration Saturday commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis, without the huge parade originally planned. He didn't mention anything about the pandemic. Due to the virus, the Russian leader was also forced to call off a late-April referendum that may have put him in power until 2036. Putin is set to hold a meeting Monday in which he'll examine the country's current lockdown protocol, which went into place in late March, and decide whether to alter it. (Read more Russia stories.) For weeks Talyna Smith watched as her fellow nurses in China, Europe and the United States grappled with a strange new virus far from Australias shores. Then an elderly man with a fever walked into her triage room. It was March 8 and the man would become the first confirmed COVID-19 patient to present at St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst. Nurse Talyna Smith prepares to enter an isolation room at St Vincent's Hospital. Credit:Kate Geraghty "We had all felt really safe before that day because COVID hadnt touched us, then all of a sudden it was here," Ms Smith said. The case was all the more concerning because the source of the man's infection was not known. To bolster the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday held a video conference with the MLAs and MPs of the state and sought their suggestions. At the video conference, that lasted for nearly 12 hours, Gehlot held discussions with the MLAs and MPs from Udaipur, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Bharatpur and Kota divisions over issues related to the pandemic. Barring the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, lawmakers of all parties and Independents from five divisions attended the video conference. The legislators, including leader of opposition Gulab Chand Kataria and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, appreciated the initiative and gave their suggestions for containing the spread of the virus, addressing the issues of migrants, providing them job opportunities and for the revival of economic activities. The chief minister said the suggestions given by the MLAs and MPs will be considered by the state government. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show In his opening remark, Gehlot said the government has managed the situation well and informed the leaders about the works being done to handle COVID-19 crisis. Rajasthan's mortality rate, recovery rate and doubling rate of COVID-19 patients are far better than the national average, he said. Assembly Speaker C P Joshi stressed that citizens and the government need to change their way of functioning in view of the pandemic. Political parties should try to allay people's fears over the spread of the infection, he said. Kataria raised the issue of migrant labours and claimed that the people with valid movement passes were being made to wait for hours before entering the state. "A number of labourers are still travelling on foot to reach their native places and there are no proper arrangements for food and water," he said, adding the Congress government needs to focus on tribal areas where hunger is likely to become a major issue in coming days. BJP MLA Kiran Maheshwari requested the chief minister to allow the opposition party MLAs carry out inspection of quarantine centres so that improved feedback could be provided to the government. Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) MLA Rajkumar Roat suggested Gehlot to make a programme for the revival of old wells in tribal areas through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which would help tribal people in irrigation and other purposes. Vasundhara Raje suggested that the state government should further focus on quarantine facilities and shelters on border areas in view of the movement of migrants. She said it was important that only hotspots be marked as red zones and not the entire district, and urged the chief minister to push for this during the meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. The chief minister said that the lawmakers gave their support in the fight against coronavirus. Several of the MLAs and ministers also raised the issue of two per cent tax imposed by the state government on sale and purchase of agriculture commodities recently and demanded that the decision be reviewed. Along with Congress and BJP MLAs, CPI (M), BTP, RLD and Independent MLAs attended the video conference. Barring Union Ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, MPs from these divisions were also present. Gehlot is scheduled to interact with the MLAs and MPs from Jaipur and Ajmer divisions on Monday. Credit: CC0 Public Domain How people vote in the Eurovision Song Contest may tell us more than just the musical tastes of a nationaccording to new research. Although this year's Eurovision Song Contest has been postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, academics from the University of Stirling and University of Glasgow have revealed interesting patterns from previous years' public votes. Dr. Isaac Tabner, from Stirling Management School, and Dr. Antonios Siganos, from the Adam Smith Business School, have looked at how each country's votes for its favourite song can give an indication of the likelihood and nature of business exchanges across borders. It has long been alleged that the Eurovision Song Contest is less a talent show and more a measure of countries' geopolitical standing with others. That theory has been supported by anecdotal evidence of favourable voting between countries such as Cyprus and Greece, or Ireland and the UK. The new researchpublished in the Journal of International Business Studies - looks in detail at voting patterns between 1999, when public voting began, and 2013 to establish that patterns of voting bias do exist. Dr. Tabner and Dr. Siganos estimated bias by subtracting the average number of points received by each country from all participants in the contest, from the number of points received from a counterpart within a particular pair. The authors say: "This research demonstrates that simple voting in the Eurovision Song Contest actually captures more complex elements of relationships which are driven by emotions, familiarity, psychological distance, and feelings of intimacy. "We found that countries which share above average voting in Eurovision are likely to share more cross-border mergers between businesses. The flipside of this, where countries deliver below average votes for each other and share fewer business transactions, is also true. "Voting patterns also correlate with levels of foreign direct investment and migration movements across borders. Of course, there are other factors which influence business exchanges between countries, including: sharing a border, the distance between capital cities, the degree to which languages are shared, and whether or not armed conflict has taken place between the countries in question. "The insight into social affinity between nations which this analysis of Eurovision voting patterns provides may be a better predictor of international business exchanges than traditional measures of cultural similarity, and distance, if you believe that sometimes opposites attract, or that too much similarity, or closeness can lead to friction, clashes or even hostile rivalry. "While much prior research focusses on similarity and distance measures, we argue that there are times when too much closeness and similarity can be counter-productive. For example, by creating destructive competitive rivalry, or just simply reminding counterparties of each-others' bad points. "This research provides a measure of affinity by which social scientists can explore nuanced relations between the populations of participating countries, and has the additional benefit of using a sample sizein the millionsmuch bigger than is typically achieved by surveys." Explore further Dutch repurpose Eurovision venue to host virus patients More information: Antonios Siganos et al, Capturing the role of societal affinity in cross-border mergers with the Eurovision Song Contest, Journal of International Business Studies (2019). Antonios Siganos et al, Capturing the role of societal affinity in cross-border mergers with the Eurovision Song Contest,(2019). DOI: 10.1057/s41267-019-00271-3 YEREVAN. The violence committed in the National Assembly on May 8 was not only unequivocally not condemned by the authorities, but was justified, legitimized, and encouraged at the level of the number one political person in charge of the Republic of Armenia. Opposition Bright Armenia Party noted this in a statement, which also reads as follows, in particular: "The violence was justified by trying to link it to some conspiratorial 'provocation.' A situation was deliberately created when the victim of the violence, not the perpetrator, is the culprit. What happened proves that it took only two years for the revolutionary prime minister to once and for all level to the ground and dismantle the ideas, values, and principles proclaimed by the same revolution. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's speech [at parliament after that incident] was completely manipulative and falsebased on no fact. Thus, the Prime Minister deliberately labels Bright Armenia as a representative of the "former [authorities]" in order to justify in the eyes of his supporters the hooliganistic behavior of his MPs. This incident and the comments that followed are clear evidence of the ruling team's intolerance and political immaturity. This is a manifestation of totalitarian thinking, the final destination of which is tough authoritarianism. The Bright Armenia Party () condemns what happened. We are ready to face all challenges (). To note, on May 8, a brawl took place in the National Assembly sessions hall between Edmon Marukyan, leader of the opposition Bright Armenia Party and its parliamentary faction, and Sasun Mikaelyan, an MP of the ruling My Step bloc. Subsequently, several other deputies, as well as NA Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan and Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan also were involved in this melee. The body of a farmer, who was buried under an avalanche in Himachal Pradesh's tribal district Lahaul-Spiti, was recovered after about a month, a district official said on Monday. The 42-year-old farmer Rajendra's body was recovered at 4 pm on Monday by a search and rescue team comprising the police, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and local people, he added. He had been buried under snow when the avalanche hit Bargul village in Lahaul's Mooling gram panchayat on April 13. He was removing fountain pipes in his field when the incident happened. Meanwhile, the body was taken to Keylong regional hospital for postmortem, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WASHINGTON, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Miami Air International, a charter airline founded in 1990 that today employs over 350 people in the Miami area including 56 pilots represented by the Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224 will liquidate as early as this Wednesday due to the impact of COVID-19, barring federal intervention. "The Teamsters are joining with our brothers and sisters at the Association of Flight Attendants CWA in urgently imploring the U.S. Department of the Treasury to save the jobs of these hard-working men and women by approving the company's application for payroll grants under the CARES Act," said Capt. David Bourne, Teamsters Airline Division Director. "Billions of dollars have already gone to the largest passenger carriers in the country under this legislation, but Miami Air is still waiting to find out if their application has been approved. The Treasury can address this issue immediately and save hundreds of workers from suffering hardship." Miami Air filed for bankruptcy on March 24 as a result of the pandemic, the same day the Senate finalized the CARES Act. On April 10, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin released a statement in support of payroll grants for small and medium passenger air carriers like Miami Air International. "Small and medium-sized passenger aviation businesses are particularly vulnerable to the disruption from COVID 19," said Mnuchin. "This determination will provide significant support to workers and businesses across the country." "You will not find a more dedicated professional group of airmen than the pilots of Miami Air," said Captain Tim Jewell, President of the Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224. "The wide range of qualifications and certifications make Miami Air unique among Boeing 737 operators. COVID-19 took away their business overnight, but the demand is already starting to come back. Congress did a fantastic job creating the CARES Act to save jobs and therefore stabilize the aviation industry. There is no clearer example of how the CARES Act grants can be used to save jobs than for the Treasury to provide those grants to the employees of Miami Air so they can weather this storm and be ready to provide the first-class multi-purpose service their customers have come to rely on." Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters. Contact: Kara Deniz, (202) 497-6610 [email protected] SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters Related Links http://www.teamster.org In this April 28, 2020 photo, a couple rides a motorcycle past a painted sign reading in Spanish "Coronavirus. Stay Home," in Iztapalapa, Mexico City. Mexico has had extremely limited testing compared with other countries, another factor that experts have said made it difficult for the country to contain the virus. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) MEXICO CITY (AP) On a day Mexico saw its worst daily increase yet in coronavirus cases, foreign-owned auto plants began setting dates for reopening. Volkswagen de Mexico said late Thursday it is planning to reopen its assembly plant in Puebla state and its engine factory in Guanajuato state on June 1. General Motors said it hadnt fixed an exact date for reopening its plant, also in the Guanajuato city of Silao, but some workers there reported getting notices to report for work on May 18. Ford de Mexico said, We are working very closely with the Mexican government, complying with the health and security protocols. We hope to receive their approval to operate in Mexico. Toyota and Nissan did not immediately respond to requests for comment on possible reopenings of their plants in Mexico. Pressure is growing both domestically and from the United States for Mexico to reopen manufacturing activities, something President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says could happen by May 17 in areas of the country that havent been hit hard by the virus. Mexico has lost about 500,000 jobs because of the pandemic lockdown, and small store owners wrote a public letter to Lopez Obrador on Wednesday complaining they can't get stocks of basic supplies because hundreds of towns in Mexico have closed themselves off for fear of contagion. In late March, the U.S. government launched a campaign to get Mexico to reopen assembly plants, suggesting the supply chain of the North American free trade zone could be permanently affected if they didnt resume production. Mexico has said it is working on a joint plan with the U.S. and Canada to reopen factories, especially auto plants. But the dangers of reopening are evident. On Thursday, Mexico reported its largest one-day increase so far in confirmed coronavirus cases, with almost 2,000 new infections nationwide a 7.2% increase compared from Wednesday's rise. Total deaths neared the 3,000 mark. Volkswagen said in a statement it was reopening with the aim of getting the needed elements together to ensure a stable supply chain. In a statement on its reopening plans, GM said: We are waiting for the plan that the Economy Department will present for a gradual resumption of activities in the automotive industry. As soon as authorities present that plan, we will be able to restart GM operations in Mexico. Story continues But workers at the GM plant in Silao reported receiving messages with a GMC logo telling them to report for temperature checks and health questionnaires at the plant. Mexico says it wants to be cautious, and indicates that hard-hit cities like Mexico City, Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Villahermosa probably won't allow widespread business reopening anytime soon. Assistant Health Secretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell said Thursday that reopening doesn't mean that every place is going to get back to the same level of normality. In the past, officials have mentioned re-opening business in the least-affected states, but limiting interstate travel through highway checkpoints. However, the usual measures practiced at such checkpoints taking travelers' temperatures and asking about symptoms are of limited use in stopping the spread of the coronavirus. In some places, like the border assembly plants in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, workers have demonstrated against being forced to work in close quarters and with inadequate protection measures. But in other parts of Mexico, many residents appear eager to get back to some semblance of normality. Mexican Twitter users are using the hastag #conlacervezno to bitterly complain about the scarcity of beer and the increase in price for what little remains. The National Alliance of Small Business Owners said it is getting tired of lockdown measures like roadblocks, curfews and checkpoints that are often imposed, quasi-legally, at the local level. More than 340 townships across the country have taken unreasonable, severe and illegal measures, preventing free movement of supplies into their towns, the group said in an open letter to federal authorities. Lopez Obrador feels the frustration. There are whole regions where there are no cases ... so there, with a lot of care, with health checkpoints, we can start activities, depending on what happens in the coming days," he has said. That way we can start to see economic activity, which one? the construction industry, export industries, the automotive industry, tourism and other activities." (Bloomberg) -- Mobile phone applications that trace the new coronavirus could help decide whether business travelers and vacation-goers get to meet clients or visit their favorite beaches this summer. But politics and disagreement over what system to use threatens to thwart that solution.Governments in Europe and elsewhere are turning to voluntary mobile apps to help trace possible infections of the coronavirus, a tool that will help track and contain what they expect to be resurgent outbreaks of the virus once lockdown measures lift and people start to fly internationally. But officials, airlines and experts say theyre worried that some countries -- such as the U.K. and France -- are working on systems that are fundamentally incompatible with others -- such as Germany and Austria. European Union tech czar Margrethe Vestager made the issue clear to members of the European Parliament this week: Without interoperability, we will not be able to travel, she said. In Europe, where travel has been curbed between the blocs 27 nations in recent weeks, officials at least agree that apps are an important way to facilitate the return of free movement. Without technology it will be very difficult to open to the degree that we want to, Vestager said in an online briefing with the MEPs on Monday. Contact Tracing At issue are diverging approaches over how to handle the apps, which trace who may have been exposed to Covid-19, despite a push by the European Union to make them interoperable. The way countries are rolling out the apps now, a persons exposure traced on an app in France wouldnt carry over into Germany if they traveled there, nor would authorities easily be able to exchange that information. While some countries like Belgium are considering eschewing mobile tracing apps altogether, most other European nations are designing voluntary systems based on Bluetooth technology. Authorities are hoping a majority of the population will download them, allowing them to more easily alert individuals of possible infections.With their apps, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other countries are opting for a decentralized system, which mostly stores information on a persons phone and will be supported by a tool jointly developed by Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.s Google. Story continues By contrast, the centralized method, pursued by France and the U.K., would allow information about someones contacts to be uploaded to government servers. Officials and experts say those two systems are incompatible.Youre fundamentally sharing different kinds of data, said Marcel Salathe, an associate professor at the Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne.France, meanwhile, is in a standoff with Apple because the company rebuffed the governments request to modify privacy and security settings for apps that use the iPhone makers Bluetooth technology. French authorities say they need a workaround for their centralized app.Because Frances app wont be interoperable with most other countries, it means any travel could be paired with orders to quarantine both upon arrival and return, said a senior French official with knowledge of the governments plans. Other officials say the government would seek to avoid such an extreme measure for travel within Europe. Restarting Airlines Representatives for the airline industry -- battered by grounded fleets and plummeting passenger numbers -- urged for a cohesive approach to the technology.Airlines for Europe, an association that represents Air France-KLM, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and EasyJet Plc, said contact-tracing apps could, among other measures, play an important role in reviving operations by potentially preventing travelers from coming into contact with coronavirus carriers on-board a plane and at airports.But coordination at the European level is key regarding the use of apps, said A4E spokeswoman Jennifer Janzen. We need to avoid any risk that passengers would have to download multiple apps for a single trip, for example. Montserrat Barriga, director general at the European Regions Airlines Association, which represents TAP Air Portugal, Croatia Airlines among others said there is a clear need for co-ordination and harmonization on contact tracing processes. This is a global industry that requires a global approach, avoiding the adoption of local variations where possible, she said. A representative for Frankfurt airport, one of Europes busiest, says they are in favor of any measure that will enable safe flying in times of the pandemic but that discussions about such apps must take place at a political level internationally. EU officials are pressuring governments to align on the issue, stressing that citizens need to be able to be alerted of possible contagion wherever they are in the EU. In the discussion with the MEPs, Vestager said: We all hope that this summer is not lost, that we will be able to have vacations and travel. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have paid tribute to the nurses who've lost their lives to coronavirus amid the global pandemic. . Prince William, 37 and Kate Middleton, 38, took to the Kensington Palace Twitter account and shared a sentimental message ahead of International Nurses Day. Leading social media tributes they shared an illustration of a candle, captioned: 'On Monday 11th May, the eve of International Nurses Day, we remember all those who have lost their lives to #COVID19 while in service. 'Their outstanding work and dedication to those in their care will never be forgotten. #RememberHealthHeroes @NursingNow2020 @WHO' The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have paid a tribute to nurses who've lost their lives to covid-19, ahead of International Nurses Day. Pictured: The royals clapping for the NHS and frontline workers Kensington Royal tweeted a message urging for the 'outstanding work and dedication' of nurses not to be forgotten The royals posted their homage to nurses using the viral hashtag #RememberHealthHeroes - and their post was quickly inundated comments praising them for showing recognition for those on the front-line. The Twitter account which has over 1 million followers on the platform has been sharing words of encouragement throughout the crisis. The touching post on social media comes as it was revealed that at least 150 NHS and healthcare workers have lost their lives to the virus. International Nurses Day takes place annually on the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth, 12 May, to highlight the vital work done by health staff each day. At least 150 NHS and care workers have died on the frontline during the coronavirus pandemic This year marks the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth and was set to see monumental celebrations take place, as the historic figure is noted as being key in shaping modern nursing. However, due to the pandemic the public has been asked to highlight the occasion by shining a light from their windows at 8.30pm on International Nurses Day. The tribute to nurses is especially symbolic as Florence Nightingale is famously known as The Lady with the Lamp. An image of Florence Nightingale is also set to be projected on St Thomass Hospital where she worked, to commemorate the anniversary. OTTAWA COUNTY, MI Hispanic and Latino residents of Ottawa County have been affected disproportionately by the coronavirus, countywide data shows. More than one-third of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ottawa County are Hispanic or Latino residents, according to the Ottawa County Department of Public Health. Health officials reported Sunday that 36 percent of the countys 388 total coronavirus cases are Hispanic and Latino residents. Hispanic residents make up 10 percent of the countys population, according to the latest census data. Health officials acknowledged the ethnic disparity in COVID-19 cases among Hispanic and Latino residents in a news release earlier this month. At this time, the data indicates that a higher proportion of Hispanic/Latino cases are working in critical infrastructure jobs than non-Hispanic/Latino cases and are therefore more at risk of being exposed to COVID-19 in symptomatic or asymptomatic people, officials wrote in the release May 1. This also increases the risk of exposure to their family members. Health officials have implemented several strategies to address the ethnic disparity among Ottawa County cases, including offering Spanish translations of all media briefings and Facebook live videos and working with the countys Office and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The rest of Michigan is not seeing the same ethnic disparity in cases as Ottawa County, according to statewide data. Hispanic and Latino residents make up only 5 percent of all confirmed coronavirus cases around the state, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reports. There have been a total of 47,138 confirmed coronavirus cases statewide as of Sunday, and 4,551 deaths with COVID-19. A breakdown of cases in Ottawa County by municipality shows the virus has most impacted the southwest quadrant of the county, where areas are densely populated by Hispanic and Latino residents, according to ZIP code data provided by the Ottawa County Health Department. RELATED: Southern half of Ottawa County hit hardest by coronavirus, data shows The hardest hit ZIP codes include 49424, which makes up 27 percent of the countys cases, and 49423 where the city of Holland is located making up about 17 percent of cases, data shows. Hispanic and Latino residents make up about 23 percent of Hollands population, according to the most recent census data. The Hispanic and Latino community is more dense in the southwest portion of the county," said Ottawa County Senior Epidemiologist Derel Glashower. So when youre seeing higher incidents of COVID-19 cases in the southwest part of the county, some of that is being driven by the Hispanic and Latino community being affected at a higher rate than non-Hispanic residents. Coronavirus cases have surged in Ottawa County over the last week as health officials ramped up testing. But despite rising case numbers, Glashower told MLive last week he is encouraged by lower overall hospitalization rates in the countys coronavirus cases. About 8 percent of all current coronavirus cases have resulted in hospitalization countywide, according to data posted Sunday. Thats around half the countys reported hospitalization rates in past weeks. See data of Ottawa Countys daily new COVID-19 cases and deaths below: Browser does not support frames. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. More on MLive: Ottawa County sees swell in coronavirus cases, but epidemiologist encouraged by lower hospitalization rates Southern half of Ottawa County hit hardest by coronavirus, data shows Michigan tops 47,000 coronavirus cases; 25 new deaths reported Even as it did not join the United States to blame the World Health Organization (WHO) for the COVID-19 pandemic, India on Monday said that the agency, like other intergovernmental institutions, is based on last centurys model and driven more to balance competing individual interests, rather than advance the collective interests of all human kind. New Delhi also stressed on an international conversation to enhance capabilities to respond to future threats to biosecurity. The current crisis demonstrates that in spite of this common understanding and coordination, major gaps exist, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said, adding: Catastrophic biological events could possibly occur again. There is a need for an international conversation that will be focused on improving the capacities to respond to such future mega-disasters. He made the remarks as he virtually addressed the teachers and students of the MIT World Peace University at Pune in Maharashtra on Indias perspective about the importance of multilateralism at the time of a global pandemic. The whole range of global health structures, and actors governments, non-state actors, international organisations, development finance institutions and foundations need to be mobilised in the same spirit towards a 21st century international biosecurity dialogue, said Shringla. The current playbook of responding to pandemic and bio threats needs to be updated. India last month had not joined the United States in launching a tirade against the WHO in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The US President Donald Trump had suspended funding to the agency accusing it of severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the Covid-19 virus from China. New Delhi, however, had refrained from criticizing the WHO, maintaining that the question on the role of the agency could be revisited once the world would have had addressed the crisis. India joined Germany, France and 22 other nations in endorsing the WHO as the backbone of the efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic signaling that it had no intention to rally behind the United States, which launched a tirade against the international agency. India also joined the four other nations of the BRICS Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa to support the WHO. Shringla on Monday quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for reforms in the WHO and other multilateral organisations during his participation in the G-20 virtual summit on the COVID-19 pandemic on March 26. He (Modi) also pointed out the need to strengthen and reform intergovernmental organisations like WHO, which continue to be based on the last Centurys models and which are driven more to balance competing individual interests, rather than advance the collective interests of all human kind, said the Foreign Secretary. By Express News Service VISAKHAPATNAM: A six-member team of Naval Dockyard has developed an equipment for remote monitoring of vital parameters of patients in ICU, and handed it over to the authorities at Vishakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), a state Covid-19 hospital that caters to the patients from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts. The VIMS director had requested the Navy, when the latter handed over Portable Multifeed Oxygen Manifold to the hospital earlier, to explore the feasibility of providing a solution that could reduce the risk of transmission of the virus to the health staff. Following his request, a core team comprising two officers and four workers of the Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam under Eastern Naval Command, expeditiously designed and came up with the solution. The audio-visual output of the patient monitoring system was converted to HDMI output and extended to all 48 beds in the ICU through a digital video recorder. The feed can be relayed on a display outside the ICU for the staff to monitor. The facility includes monitoring of all or selected patients simultaneously. If any patients vital parameter goes beyond the permissible limit, an alarm will be triggered. Further, the same parameters through HDMI ethernet converter have also been provided to the doctors on their mobile through the internet. The doctor can, at any time from any place, monitor 48 patients in the ICU. The conceptualisation of the solution to its final implementation was completed in six days, according to a press release issued here on Sunday. Maharashtra recorded 1230 new cases on Monday, a four-digit increase in Covid-19 cases for the sixth day in a row. With this, the state has also crossed the 23,000-mark within eleven days after it crossed 10,000 cases on April 30. The states case count has now jumped to 23,401. The death toll of the state also touched 868 as 36 deaths were recorded on Monday. Of them, 20 are in Mumbai, Solapur 5, Pune 3, Thane 2 and one each in Ratnagiri, Amravati, Nanded, Aurangabad and Wardha. In addition, one patient from Uttar Pradesh also died in Mumbai on Monday. Of the total number of deaths, 27 patients had co-morbidity conditions, health officials said. ALSO READ | Mumbais local trains should resume only for essential services: Uddhav Thackeray In Mumbai, the worst-hit city in the country, the Covid-19 case count crossed the 14,000 mark as 782 cases were registered in a day, the second highest so far. Mumbais case count is now at 14,521. On Sunday, 875 cases were recorded. The death toll in Mumbai also reached 528. The rise in the number of cases is higher this month as compared to the fresh cases that were reported last month. The new cases that were in three digits till April end have turned into four digits since the last five days. On May 6, the daily cases rose to 1233, May 7 - 1216 cases, May 8 - 1089, May 9 - 1165 and on May 10 -- 1278 cases were reported. Besides, on May 10, the state also declared 665 cases respectively saying that they were registered in the last few days and are being declared as per the central governments directive to bring the data at par with the national figures on the ICMR website. Between April 19 and 30, the state was reporting around 500 new cases on a daily basis but from May 1, the figures started showing a significant rise. In the last eleven days since May 1, the state has reported as many as 12,903 cases, whereas the total number of cases registered in April was 10,201. The officials indicated a further rise in cases and said that the curve will be flattened only after May 17 when the state would be completing the fourth incubation period. They are expecting a decline in cases from this month end. Dr Tatyarao Lahane, Director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) said, The containment areas have thick population and is likely to affect a large number of people for various reasons. So the number of new cases is likely to increase for a few more days till May 17. After this, the curve will flatten as by then we will be completing the fourth incubation period and the number of fresh cases will start coming down by this month end. By next month, we are expecting that things will be completely under control, he added. The first Covid-19 positive case was found on March 9 and it took 30 days for the state to cross the 1000 mark. So far, 15,192 people have been kept in institutional quarantine in the state and over 2,48,301 people have been put under home quarantine. On Monday, the state also completed 49 days of lockdown that was imposed on midnight of March 23, a day before the nationwide lockdown was imposed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was partially lifted on April 20 in the areas where there are no cases or minimal in number. On Monday, the health department also declared that it had conducted 2,18,914 tests at various public and private facilities across Maharashtra. Of them 1,93,457 people tested negative. This is 19,852 less than what was declared on Sunday when the state declared it had tested 2,38,766 samples. It has clarified that they have declared figures following ICMRs website. Today, the state government has quoted sample testing figures posted on the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) website and thats the reason there is disparity in figures compared to Sundays figures. It may have happened that many laboratories have not updated their figures on the ICMR website. We will ask them to do that and so the differences in the number of sample testing will be removed, Dr Archana Patil, Director, directorate of state health services said. Maharashtra currently has 1256 active containment zones. Around 12,027 survey teams comprising doctors and assisting staff have screened more than 53.71 lakh people for the coronavirus infection. With the rising number of cases, the number of patients who have recovered so far also jumped to 3301 as 207 positive patients recovered on Thursday. The doubling rate in the state now stands at 10 days. The state government has decided to take the rate to 20 days in the days to come, health minister Rajesh Tope said. The state government has also resolved to bring the entire state into the green zone by this month end. The state government has recently changed the top brass of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as the situation in Mumbai has gone from bad to worse. It has transferred civic body chief Praveen Pardeshi and appointed IS Chahal as the new BMC commissioner. The government has also appointed Sanjeev Jaiswal and Ashwini Bhide as additional municipal commissioners replacing AB Jarhad and Jayshree Bhoj. Nine month old Olivia (Livie) Mulhern who is in need of 2m life-saving treatment in the US. An Irish couple have launched a fundraising campaign for the world's most expensive drug, in the hope that the 2m treatment will save their daughter's life. Keith Mulhern and Karen Vickers made a plea to the Irish public for help in affording the cutting edge treatment for their daughter Olivia (Livie), who has been diagnosed with a rare genetic neuromuscular condition. The condition, called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1, causes nerves connecting the nervous system to the muscles to deteriorate and eventually cause the muscles to waste away. SMA was previously thought to be fatal in young children, but new once-off gene therapy called Zolgensma, which is currently only available in USA or around $2.1m can provide a lifeline to young suffers of SMA. Mr Mulhern said that Livie's was a very "standard textbook pregnancy". They started to worry about their daughter, however, after she began to miss some of her developmental motor milestones. The Donegal Town man described his pain in learning of his daughter's condition over the phone, while his partner Karen, who is originally from Dublin, had to receive the news alone in hospital. Expand Close Keith Mulhern and Karen Vickers with their daughter Olivia (Livie) who is in need of 2m life-saving treatment in the US. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Keith Mulhern and Karen Vickers with their daughter Olivia (Livie) who is in need of 2m life-saving treatment in the US. "She's a wonderful little girl with such a big personality for such a young age and that smile she has could melt the room," he said. "Little Livie was born on August 26. We have never felt a love like this. It was incredible for us to see our first child smile, laugh and babble for the first time and watch her develop her little bright, affectionate and loving personality. "We were all very happy and everything was just very normal and then after about four or five months Livie was missing some of her motor milestones so we started getting concerned. "We were absolutely devastated. For me and Karen it was without a doubt the worst moment of our lives. Because of the lockdown, only Karen could go into Crumlin on the day, so I got the diagnosis on the phone and Karen was alone when she got the news. It was so tough." SMA does not affect cognitive ability and Mr Mulhern said that Livie is now back in their home in Navan and is still "her bright and bubbly self." Because the condition deteriorates motor function, the sooner the treatment is undertaken, the better the results can be. Although it is available to children up to the age of two, Mr Mulhern said that he would hope for Livie to receive it as soon as possible to improve her potential standard of living. Expand Close Nine month old Olivia (Livie) Mulhern who is in need of 2m life-saving treatment in the US. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Nine month old Olivia (Livie) Mulhern who is in need of 2m life-saving treatment in the US. "She wants to be the centre of every conversation and she's so alert - that's one of the things about the condition, the nerves that connect her nervous system to her muscles are dying essentially and her muscle are wasting but her cognitive ability is fully there," he said. "You notice how weak she is. She wouldn't have great neck support and she wouldn't be great at fighting gravity and she wouldn't be able to lift her head when she's on her tummy. It's very unlikely that she'll ever walk or stand. "We're seeking this drug in the US and it's available to children up until the age of two but that's not the full picture because the condition isn't fully understood, and a lot of the treatments they are looking at to improve children's lives is that they are all very new. The one thing that keeps coming back in the clinical studies is that the earlier you get it the better the outcome is. "As the nerves die, she loses function and the muscles become gradually weaker, so we're talking about her arms, her legs, her upper body, back and neck and her breathing and swallowing, so that's why this condition is fatal for children because eventually the respiratory system just shuts down. "So the longer she deteriorates the less positive the outcome of the drug will be so the clock is ticking." Expand Close Keith Mulhern and Karen Vickers with their daughter Olivia (Livie) who is in need of 2m life-saving treatment in the US. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Keith Mulhern and Karen Vickers with their daughter Olivia (Livie) who is in need of 2m life-saving treatment in the US. Livie's condition affects around one in every 10,000 babies. Very recently, a similar fundraiser for the same drug saw Niall and Aisling Donoher reach their 2m target for their son Dan's treatment. Mr Mulhern said that since launching his own fundraising campaign he has received messages of support from parents across the world in a similar position. He said that seeing baby Dan reach his target has given him hope that it may be possible. "We've spoken to Aisling Donoher, Dan's mum and our experiences have been similar," he said. "It's incredible what they have done in terms of the fundraiser. "It's such a long road and I don't know if we'll ever get there but it's really encouraging to see that other people have done it." So far, the fundraiser, 'A Better Life for Livie', has raised over 44,000 of the 2m goal. To donate to Livie's life-saving treatment you can follow this link. You are the owner of this article. A former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has registered his intention to shift from active political activities to focus on humanitarian services. He made the revelation during the inauguration of the Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP) state executive council on Sunday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The former president said his decision to move away from the partys activities is to concentrate on his humanitarian foundation and be of more use to the country in other areas outside politics, Punch Newspaper reported Monday. Dont be discouraged if you do not see me in most party activities in the state. I decided to appear in this event so that I will not be misunderstood. Im shifting away from being an effective partisan politician because of my foundation. People who want to partner me felt that if you are a partisan leader in the country, they will eat with you with a long spoon. I felt that after serving as president of this country, I should go to some other areas where my services would be required. Through that process, I would be able to support the nation and the state in one way or the other, Punch quoted Mr Jonathan saying. He commended the leadership exhibited by Mr Douye since he emerged the governor of the state and admonished the newly inaugurated party executives to follow his lead. The governor, in his address, called for a united PDP void of vindictiveness so as to ensure development across the state. As a result of our divine emergence, we should not be vindictive. Let us forgive one another and bring everyone on board because we want to sustain our partys dominance in the state. It seems like a tall order but you have the capacity to do so. We are all brothers and sisters of Ijawland. So, let us not split ourselves. When we are united, we will be stronger and bring development closer to our people, he implored. Amongst the politicians at the event were the immediate past governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson and the National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, represented by the National Vice-Chairman of the South-South zone, Emmanuel Ogidi. Singapore's COVID-19 cases surpass 23,000 with 876 new cases on May 10 Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed an additional 876 cases of COVID-19 infection in the country as of 12pm on Sunday, May 10. This brings the national tally to 23,336. One imported case was reported, and the patient had been placed on Stay-Home Notice upon arrival in Singapore, MOH said. The majority of the new cases in Singapore are from foreign worker dormitories, where the government has stepped up testing. Photo courtesy: Facebook/Lawrence Wong Of the new cases, 98% are linked to known clusters. Majority of them are foreign workers residing in dormitories. MOH noted that the number of new cases from the testing of workers with acute respiratory infection (ARI) symptoms and their contacts remains stable. "But the number of daily cases continues to rise as we are also testing the workers who are well and asymptomatic, as part of our process to verify and test the status of every worker." Meanwhile, there are only four cases reported in the local community, two of which are Singaporeans/Permanent Residents. "The number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 11 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 9 per day in the past week," MOH said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram New York, May 11, 2020 Authorities in northeastern Syria should reverse their suspension of reporter Vivian Fatahs press credentials and allow all journalists to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria, the regional government, suspended Fatahs press credentials for two months, thereby banning her from working as a journalist during that time, according to a statement by Kurdish Iraqi broadcaster Rudaw, where Fatah works as a reporter, and a copy of the suspension order posted on Rudaws website. The suspension was prompted by Fatahs use of the word killed rather than martyred when referring to fallen members of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces during a May 7 news report, according to that statement. No reporter should be suspended from work over a word that is widely used around the world to describe fallen soldiers, said CPJs Middle East and North Africa Representative Ignacio Miguel Delgado. The authorities in northeastern Syria should reinstate Vivian Fatahs press credentials immediately, and stop interfering with the workings of the press. In a phone interview today, Fatah told CPJ that she has been staying home since the statement was issued because she had received multiple death threats via text message and on social media. The suspension order states that Fatah offended fallen soldiers and their families, and said that their families had filed complaints about the broadcast. It also alleges that Fatah refused to apologize for her language. The Rudaw statement condemned the suspension, saying that referring to the soldiers as killed was a journalistic phrase used in a media context far from any political motive, so it is not meant to be interpreted politically. Fatah told CPJ that she clarified her statements in a broadcast yesterday evening, saying, I didnt mean to offend anyone. I used the word killed as a neutral word. Its been seven years since we started using the word martyred interchangeably with they lost their lives or killed.' I didnt mean to be insulting or disrespectful with the use of the word killed. I didnt apologize because I have not disrespected anyone, she added. CPJ emailed the Media Office of the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria, but did not immediately receive any reply. [Editors Note: This article has been changed in its eighth paragraph to correct a mistranslation of Fatahs statement to CPJ.] The Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, said his administration cannot be accused of any wrongdoing for demolishing two hotels in the state. Mr Wike, in a state-wide broadcast on Sunday, said his action was backed by the law. We acted against the hotelier because, apart from using the facility to jeopardise the lives of our citizens in violation of the extant law, the owner audaciously unleashed thugs led by the Eleme Local Government youth leader of the Peoples Democratic Party and inflicted severe injuries on our task-force members who went to enforce the law against the continued operation of the hotel, Mr Wike said. And so, weve done no wrong as all our actions were taken in good faith and justified by, under and within the purview of the Executive Orders, which have neither been challenged nor set aside by any competent court of law. Mr Wike, after issuing an order recently banning hotels from opening their doors for business in the state to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus, had repeatedly warned that any hotel caught violating the order would be demolished. The demolition of the hotels by the Rivers government has attracted outrage from Nigerians. READ ALSO: A civic group, Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project (SERAP), has threatened to sue the Rivers government for it. Mr Wike said his administration welcomes genuine criticisms, but would not join issues with uninformed critics and social media legal practitioners who, blinded and prodded by sheer politics, bias, and hatred, have opted to demonise and paint our lawful and responsible actions in bad light. The governor also announced the easing of the lockdown on Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt local government areas for two days only, from May 12. There are 21 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Rivers as of May 10. Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - The Association of Chinese Traders in Congo (ACCC) has donated 1,000 protective medical masks and food to the Police Directorate General to fight the coronavirus pandemic, public radio announced on Monday White House advisor Jared Kushner (C) and others wear face masks while attending a press briefing about coronavirus testing in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 11, 2020 in Washington, DC. The White House is requiring all staffers to wear masks or facial coverings when entering the West Wing of the building, NBC News reported Monday, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The new precaution comes days after two staffers close to President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence tested positive for the coronavirus. The directive from the White House management office was laid out in a memo to staffers Monday afternoon, NBC reported. The White House said it will make masks available for employees who need them, according to NBC. The memo also asked staff members to avoid visiting the West Wing, where the Oval Office is located, unless it is necessary, the sources told NBC. Trump and Pence have both resisted wearing masks in public or at the White House. Trump did not wear a mask last week while touring a Honeywell factory in Phoenix, Arizona, that was producing N95 masks. A White House official said at the time that Honeywell had told the White House that Trump and other visitors did not need to wear masks. When asked Friday at a roundtable event with Republican members of Congress why White House staffers were not seen wearing masks by the reporters stationed at the building, Trump said, "They are ... the people that are serving me are." Pence was criticized for refusing to wear a mask during an April 28 visit to the Mayo Clinic. The vice president did wear a mask two days later, during a visit to a General Motors plant in Indiana. Christine S. on Yelp/ Pictured is the restaurant's specialty dish, Ahmohk, a curry flavored fish mouse served on a banana leaf. (Photo from (l) to (r)): duncan c on Flickr via CC/ Sylvia L. on Yelp From (l) to (r): Sydney G. and Brittney B. on Yelp From (l) to (r): Manda Bear B., Jennifer G, and Andrew D. on Yelp For more coverage, visit our complete coronavirus section here. Ristorante Franchino, a longstanding Italian restaurant set in the heart of North Beach, will permanently close after a 32-year run, adding another blow to mom-and-pop businesses amid the pandemic. The family-owned business is expected to permanently close by June 1, following the termination of its lease. The Chronicle first reported the closure. ALSO: It's 1950 again as SF classic Mel's Drive-In brings back carhop service On March 16, Ristorante Franchino announced that its doors were closing after shelter-in-place orders were first announced in San Francisco. An Instagram post shared that the restaurant would remain closed until April 7, at which point it would re-evaluate the recommendations of the CDC. The business never reopened, however, even as the city had allowed restaurants to operate for take-out service. According to The Chronicle, Maria Nozzolino, daughter of founders Francesco and Giuseppina, said that converting the 32-year-old restaurant into take-out service wasnt something the owners were considering. My mom had this thing with takeout, Maria told The Chronicle. She preferred people sit down and enjoy their meals. ALSO: Doing just 10% of its usual business, Hog Island Oyster Co. ponders uncertain future When it opened in 1989, Ristorante Franchino was best known for a no-fuss environment and a variety of Italian staples on its menu. During its decades-long run, one of the restaurant's most iconic characteristics was the robust tunes founder Franchino Nozzolino would sing to dining customers. Franchino passed away in 2017. As Ristorante Franchino prepares for closure, it thanked its guests for their patronage with one last vocal performance by its founder. Ristorante Franchino is located at 347 Columbus Ave. in San Francisco Susana Guerrero is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: Susana.Guerrero@sfgate.com | Twitter: @SusyGuerrero3 MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here. The following speech was delivered by Andrea Lobo, a supporter of the International Committee of the Fourth International who lives in Costa Rica and has written extensively on the struggles of the working class in Latin America, to the 2020 International May Day Online Rally, held by the World Socialist Web Site and the International Committee of the Fourth International on May 2. The return-to-work campaign has taken on a particularly urgent character for US imperialism in Mexican manufacturing plants, which are indispensable for restarting US production. Mexico is still reporting record numbers of confirmed COVID-19 deaths and infections almost every day. A Honduran doctor interviewed recently by the WSWS noted that news on the pandemic recalls Gabriel Garcia Marquezs crime novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold. One opportunity after another is wasted, by almost everyone in the story, to warn the victim of a known murder plot, until its too late. Governments today are responding through neglect and lies amid generalized warnings about the pandemic. It would be a mistake, however, to see the ruling class and their political representatives as neutral spectators, who simply prefer not to say anything. They are the protagonists with distinct interests in the execution and cover-up. In the case of the pandemic, the victims, facing mass casualties and economic deprivation, can see the crime unfolding in front of their eyes and can decipher the rest of the plot. This protagonist, the social force with the strength to face the oligarchies and their states and stop this ongoing crime, is the working class. The speech by Andrea Lobo begins at 1:56:44 in the video. After similar actions across Europe and the United States, thousands of workers at manufacturing plants across Mexico, called maquiladoras, struck to force the closing of nonessential plants and to demand protective equipment at essential plants. The strikes in Mexico began in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas. Workers there began to walk out one day after the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as AMLO) ordered the closing of nonessential production. But plants refused to close, with companies citing the deliberate vagueness of the official decree. At Matamoros, workers carried out the largest strike wave in decades in North America last year, to protest $8 wages for 12-hour shifts, and the efforts by the companies to steal their bonuses. From this experience, many concluded that the local and federal authorities and the trade unions had backed the corporations unconditionally, and that workers could rely only on their own initiative. As COVID-19 outbreaks and deaths spread, this also became clear for workers in cities like Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, Mexicali and Reynosa, who joined the strike wave. The international strike waves have only begun to show the vast revolutionary potential of the working class, and the need to unite its vast power across ethnic, gender and national linesbecause all workers share the same interests. The father of Russian Marxism, Georgi Plekhanov, wrote that, It is not enough for the doctor to sympathize with the condition of his patient: he has to reckon with the physical reality of the organism, to start from it in fighting it. If the doctor were to think of confining himself to moral indignation against the disease, he would deserve the most malicious ridicule. Workers need to understand the physical reality of the situation they face. In just three decades, Mexico has undergone a massive transformation in its class composition. According to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, agricultural, mineral and low-tech products accounted for 70 percent of exports in 1986. Since then, exports have grown 10.4 percent annually, and now high-and-medium-technology goods account for 75 percent of exports. Most go to the United States and Canada. The maquiladora workforce has grown to about 3 million workers, who operate in crucial and highly profitable links, up and down global supply chains and across industries with existential importance to the American ruling elite. The North American industrial platform was built up and further interconnected in an effort by US imperialism to respond to its declining economic position by competing against Europe and Japan, initially, and now China. In the more immediate term, as financial markets are rescued with trillions from the Federal Reserve, the oligarchy is desperate to extract real value through exploitation, and Mexicos maquiladoras are essential. On the other hand, the profitability of Mexicos low wages is a major incentive for war-related manufacturing to be pulled away from potential American rivals. Workers at an Amphenol plant in Ciudad Juarez, which produces wires and connectors for the auto and defense industries, struck on April 17, after several workers became sick. The company was compelled to close the plant, but reopened only one week later, knowing that it had the de facto permission of the Mexican government, and the backing of US imperialism, to endanger the workers. Amphenol stocks surged nearly 15 percent that week and 19 percent for the month. CEO Richard Norwitt received $10 million in 2018, mostly from stock options. Ray Scott, the CEO of automotive seating and electrical systems manufacturer Lear Corp., where at least 14 workers in Ciudad Juarez died of COVID-19 due to a late closure, also received nearly $10 millionmore than 3,500 times the listed annual salary for an operator there. A few days after Donald Trump published his plan for Opening up America again, he personally called Mexican President Lopez Obrador to push him to reopen suppliers for US companies. The Pentagon, the US ambassador to Mexico, a bipartisan group of senators and several business groups joined in the pressure campaign. AMLO has now announced a reopening, starting on May 16, and minister of Economy Arturo Herrera said to El Pais that the government was looking for some mechanism for companies on the Mexican side tied to US supply chains to open sooner. The government seeks to reach herd immunity, he explained, since what kills the pandemic is not avoiding infections. Assuming that there is a significant protection against second infections, which has no scientific basis for COVID-19, herd immunity would require that more than half of the 135 million Mexicans become infected. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, would die. It would be naive to think that a government willing to sacrifice so many to serve US imperialism will not make use of the troops and special forces, trained and armed with the support of the United States, to enforce the return to work. A recent internal memorandum of the National Guard, which was created by AMLO himself, indicates that it is preparing to deploy against social unrest. The corrupt and nationalist trade unions and their apologists in each country are lining up behind the return-to-work campaign of their governments. Workers must build new organizations, rank-and-file committees, to democratically decide when and under what conditions they should return to work, independently of the trade unions, and to coordinate their struggles across sectors and borders. Eighty years ago, shortly before his assassination by a Stalinist agent near Mexico City, Leon Trotsky wrote: Only under its own revolutionary direction is the proletariat of the colonies and the semi-colonies capable of achieving invincible collaboration with the proletariat of the metropolitan centers and with the world working class as a whole. Only this collaboration can lead the oppressed peoples to complete and final emancipation, through the overthrow of imperialism the world over. India may extend anti-dumping duties and safeguards on more than two dozen Chinese goods ranging from calculators and USB drives to steel, solar cells and Vitamin E amid concern that a flood of imports would kill domestic manufacturers who will lose duty protection soon against such products , two officials aware of the development said. Indias total imports from China was $70.32 billion in 2018-19 with substantial contributions of these 25 items. Anti-dumping duties on these products were imposed 5 years ago and are expiring this year. Safeguard duty on solar cells and modules was imposed on July 30, 2018, and it is expiring on July 29, 2020. The government is closely monitoring the imports of about 25 items from China on which anti-dumping duties and safeguard levies that have already been imposed would expire later in this calendar year, the officials at two different economic ministries said, requesting anonymity. Dumping, an unfair trade practice that entails the export of a product at a price lower than its normal value, is countered by a punitive anti-dumping duty. A safeguard duty is also imposed to check an unexpected import surge that poses a threat the domestic industry. Chinese imports under review include sodium citrate, USB flash drives, calculators, hot-rolled flat products of stainless steel,Vitamin C and E, nylon tyre cord, measuring tapes, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), flax fabrics,caustic soda, float glass, tableware, kitchenware, plastic processing machinery and solar cells, officials said. In the case of sodium citrate, the duty protection against Chinese was expiring on May 19. After a thorough investigation the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) recommended to extend anti-dumping duty on Chinese imports last Thursday, one of the officials said. Sodium citrate is a key chemical compound used by the pharmaceutical industry. The government had imposed an anti-dumping duty on its imports from China in May 2015. DGTR, previously known as the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties, is an arm of the ministry of commerce and industry and acts as a single-window agency providing a level playing field to the domestic industry against such unfair trade practices. The spokesperson for the commerce and industry ministry did not respond to an email query on the matter. The second official cited above said, The directorate [DGTR] has doubled its capacity to investigate import distortions that are causing injury to Indian industries. It can now probe at least 50 such cases in a year. India has taken a tough position against aggressive and unfair Chinese practices in the garb of trade which have undermined the Make in India policy aimed at encouraging domestic manufacturing and foreign investment. The threat of Chinese dumping is one of the key reasons for India opting out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in November last year, the official said. India-China bilateral trade is heavily tilted in favour of China. According to trade figures released by the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) in mid-January 2020, Indias trade deficit with China was $56.77 billion in 2019; bilateral trade amounted to about $92.68 billion last year, a 1.6% annual increase. Rahul Shukla, executive director of the indirect tax practice at consulting firm PwC India, said protection of domestic industry was a right the government could exercise. The same can be done through increasing the tariff barriers or non-tariff barriers. However, these could have potential challenges as these measures cannot be country specific (except for anti-dumping duty and safeguard duty) and there is a possibility of counter measure which could potentially affect our export market, he said. Indian firms with units in special economic zones (SEZ), particularly solar cell and modules manufacturers, said the government may not extend safeguard duties on solar cells and modules indefinitely. Saibaba Vutukuri, CEO of Vikram Solar Ltd, said there is a possibility that the government may levy a basic custom duty (BCD) after the safeguard duty expires on July 29. About 63% cell manufacturing capacity and 43% module manufacturing facility is situated in SEZs and imposition of BCD would be counterproductive. Currently, 15% safeguard duty (SGD) is applicable on import of cell and modules, but units located in SEZ are not liable to pay SGD if they import solar cells. However, the BCD will be levied on the value of solar cell whenever they clear the modules to domestic tariff area. Therefore, if government plans to levy BCD, it must take the necessary step to protect the investments already made by the manufacturing facilities located in SEZs by providing exemption to ensure that a unit in DTA [domestic tariff area] and SEZ are placed on a similar footing in terms of custom duties and taxation, he said. Saloni Roy, senior director, Deloitte India said, Anti dumping duties are imposed for a maximum period of 5 years. This period can be extended suo moto or based on a review petition filed by domestic industry. It is possible that the government may seek to extend anti dumping duties to protect the interests of domestic businesses facing stiff competition from overseas markets, in circumstances where they believe it is necessary or based on a review petition filed by domestic manufacturers. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON 3 1 of 3 Jennifer McDermott / Associated Press Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Show More Show Less 3 of 3 A Georgia doctor, who had her medical residency in Connecticut, was found dead in a ditch Thursday morning and police believe she may have been killed by a pack of wild dogs. Dr. Nancy Shaw was found by a Lyons, Ga., police officer around 3 a.m. Thursday, The Associated Press reported. Shaw practiced internal medicine at the Meadows Regional Medical Center in Vidalia. Charlize Theron and Jay Roach on the set of Bombshell. (Lionsgate) Bombshell director Jay Roach says Charlize Therons performance as former Fox News anchor was so convincing that it messed with his head. Roach is promoting the DVD release (its out on digital now) of his #MeToo era drama, which was nominated for three Oscars for telling the story of allegations of abuse made against Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. The director made his name as the man behind all three part of the Powers trilogy, but has since shifted gears into more serious material with Bombshell and Trumbo. He told Yahoo Movies UK he thinks Therons Oscar-nominated performance went beyond uncanny. When she was practising the voice and the mannerisms, she was not Charlize Theron looking and sounding like Megyn, she was Megyn, the 62-year-old said. He adds that the films Oscar-winning make-up and hairstyling from Kazuhiro Tsuji, Anne Morgan, and Vivian Baker was also unparalleled. Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie in Bombshell. (Lionsgate) I didnt see the whole thing come together until late because they saved showing me the whole look all at once. It was mind-blowing because, even though they are relatively subtle, the difference between vaguely evoking Megyn to oh my God, is that Megyn? creates a short circuit in your brain. I know thats Charlize Theron, but shes so converted that Im so confused, he adds. Read more: Most incredible actor transformations of 2019 Thats how audience reacted too. You can hear people begin to murmur a few minutes in because they think theyre watching archival footage. Ive done a lot of these films where we convert and transform people, but thats by far the most uncanny weve ever got to. Read our full interview with Jay Roach as he discusses the response to Bombshell, how hes coping with coronavirus lockdown and his reaction to first seeing Charlize Therons uncanny portrayal of Fox presenter Megyn Kelly... Yahoo Movies UK: It must be strange to be in the film industry right now because I guess everything has just stopped? Jay Roach: Yeah. I wasnt in production on anything and we had just wound down all of the publicity stuff on the release of our film, so it didnt affect us as seriously as some of my other friends. The people I worry about are the crews and the cast who work show-to-show because theres no steady work for them. Story continues Thats whats really concerning, how many people who depend on production to keep going are definitely stranded at the moment. Writers and development people can possibly keep going if they have shows, but its tough for crews and cast. When Bombshell came out, a lot was made of it being the first film of the #MeToo era. Was that something that was weighing on your mind while you were making it? To some extent, yes. Charles Randolph had started writing the script before the Harvey Weinstein news broke but, by the time Charlize Theron and I got involved in February 2018, that was definitely on everybodys minds. Read more: Theron says outlet failed to print famous harassers name One of the reasons I thought the story was interesting is that these women stood up and spoke out against Roger Ailes a full year before the Harvey [Weinstein] news broke. So when they did speak up, they didnt have much guarantee of any popular support whatsoever. It wasnt a trend towards the media or large numbers of women speaking up on social media to back people up until after the Harvey news broke. So when Gretchen Carlson [played by Nicole Kidman] chose to pursue Roger Ailes, it was a big deal and pre-dated the bigger wave by a solid year. That of course makes the suspense of whether Megyn Kelly and the other women at Fox will speak up all the more palpable because thats the only chance Gretchen has to get any support at all. In retrospect, after the Harvey news, its interested to be reminded that this all happened that way. Were you conscious, as a man directing a script from a male writer, that there was going to be some pushback? Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly in Bombshell. (Lionsgate) Absolutely. We definitely were aware of how that might sound. But that story kind of undervalues Charlize Therons role in the whole thing. Shes the one who put us all together. Charles had certainly started the script, but she was the one who sent the script to me and then was a very active producer and collaborator as an actor. She brought in some of the other women Margot Robbie and Nicole [Kidman] and then we all worked together to bring in the whole cast. It was a collaboration. Many of our producers, above the line people, crew and department heads were women. Charles and I were at least wise enough to know that we werent going to be doing this alone. I wasnt particularly, as a director, going to be any kind of an auteur or autocratic, stereotypical director. It was going to be about listening to our collaborators and acknowledging that we had so much to learn to figure out how to tell the story. Read more: Theron felt conflicted about playing Megyn Kelly Maybe even the most important thing that we recognised was that we had to talk to the women involved and listen very carefully. We talked to as many as we could get hold of. The main thing that occurred to us was that we dont know nearly enough to tell this story by ourselves. No film ever really is that but, in this particular case, it was even more of a collaboration than usual. Again, Charlize was a sort of fearless leader who held us together and kept us honest. Charlizes voice came through very strongly as the movie was being promoted and her performance is really something special. When you first saw her in full character as Megyn Kelly, with the Kazu Hiro make-up job, what was your first reaction? News anchor Megyn Kelly photographed at Fox News corporate headquarters in New York, 2016. (Chris Sorensen for the Washington Post) I was astonished. I had debated with her over whether we needed extensive prosthetics to convert her into a plausible Megyn Kelly. She already looked a fair amount like her and I thought the audience might just go along with it without any prosthetic make-up. She told me that it felt important to her because, although it would take extra time and extra money to pull it off, it would be worth it because she could look at herself in the mirror and feel like somebody else. So when she was practising the voice and the mannerisms, she was not Charlize Theron looking and sounding like Megyn, she was Megyn. Of course, I always try to give the actors everything they need to do what they do. She had access to Kazu Hiro, the make-up artist, and hes so brilliant. He helped me overcome some of my concerns right away by reassuring me that it wouldnt step on her performance and it wouldnt make her uncomfortable. It would definitely take a little time, but he could speed it up. He gave me a lot of reassuring thoughts. Anne Morgan, Kazu Hiro, and Vivian Baker, winners of the Academy Award for best make-up and hairstyling for Bombshell. (Invision/AP) So we went with it. Hes an actual sculptor on top of being a make-up person, so he just has this incredible ability to finesse the look and the technique. I didnt see the whole thing come together until late because they saved showing me the whole look all at once. It was mind-blowing because, even though they are relatively subtle, the difference between vaguely evoking Megyn to oh my God, is that Megyn? creates a short circuit in your brain. I know thats Charlize Theron, but shes so converted that Im so confused. Read more: Most incredible actor transformations of 2019 Thats how audience reacted too. You can hear people begin to murmur a few minutes in because they think theyre watching archival footage. Ive done a lot of these films where we convert and transform people, but thats by far the most uncanny weve ever got to. John Lithgow as Roger Ailes in Bombshell. (Lionsgate) The make-up is great, but its a credit to her. She is such a master. Her performance is so complete. It wouldnt work if it was just great make-up. Its how she interpreted the character that really made it work. I wanted to ask about the response to that performance. There was some criticism that the movie was too kind to Fox and Megyn, whereas she herself was broadly positive with some criticisms. What was your take on that response and to the response in general? I respected where she was coming from. I thought it was really interesting and compelling that she filmed the other women responding. She let them connect with the film. I had already spoken to Rudi Bakhtiar. Shes the woman in our film where you hear her thoughts as shes being hit on in that hotel bar and then gets fired. I knew that Rudi thought the movie was incredibly authentic and I knew that the women we were in contact with thought it was authentic. The one that made me think hard about how we had gone at it were her comments about whether it was fair to have her in the scene with Margot Robbie be accused of not necessarily being as supportive of the other women as she could have been, given she had waited 10 years to speak up about Rogers abuse. Megyn had said, even in her own book, that the dilemma had haunted her, so we thought that was fair. She definitely raised that issue of whether it was fair but I respected that, despite her husband saying she would take that out, she said in her video that she was glad they kept it in because she had always been haunted by that question. Charlize Theron as Fox News presenter Megyn Kelly in Bombshell. (Lionsgate) I admired the honesty of that. It would have been easy to just say: oh, I would have never thought like that. In these docudramas, we try to get to the essence of things. When we dont have access to all of what went on, we do the best we can based on educated guesses. We warn the audience up front that there are composite characters and licence is taken. We hope the audience remains skeptical. I wasnt discouraged by her reaction. I felt, in total, it was validating of what the movie was trying to say. You mentioned at the start that you dont have anything already in production, but do you know what youre working on next? No, not for sure. But were working on the scripts for a limited series about the 1970 shootings at Kent State University, where the National Guard opened fire on Vietnam War protesters. It was a turning point in our country and a very traumatic part of our history. There have been documentaries and a TV movie, but what we want to do is a limited series that explores what happened in depth. Protesters hold signs during a student strike and protest against the Vietnam War following the Kent State Massacre in 1970. (Gado/Getty Images) I was inspired by seeing the series about Chernobyl. That was obviously about a nuclear meltdown and this is about a social and political meltdown, right in the heart of America. That show made me think we could go deeper in exploring all of the factors that contributed to that tragedy. Thats the scripts were working on now. We dont have a commitment, but were very interested in trying to get it made. That sounds really interesting. I hope it goes well. Thank you so much. I didnt end on the comedic note! Its interesting. I do want to go back and do comedies, but I feel compelled to understand whats going on. I think the Kent State story, though its historical, is definitely relevant today because its all about how language kills. Read more: Chernobyl costume company donating PPE in coronavirus fight They demonised war protesters to the extent that they made other kids, who were also trying to avoid the war by being in the National Guard, feel okay about shooting kids who were against the war. The whole idea of how language and using demonisation and otherising can lead to violence is an example of something Im trying to figure out. I dont know when Ill get over that compulsion, to get back to comedy, but I do hope to some day. Bombshell is available now on digital and on 18 May on Blu-ray and DVD, from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. Out-of-district students will have more than three months to apply for openings in Wyandotte schools for the upcoming school year. The districts school board on Tuesday unanimously approved an application period officials call it a window from May 18 through Sept. 3 to accept enrollment sign-ups for students who do not live in Wyandotte. Last year, the district accepted applications for about one month. By expanding the window to apply, the board hopes to gain out-of-district students in the upcoming school year. Last year, limiting school of choice resulted in the loss of 117 students, and revenue of over $800,000 for Wyandotte Public Schools, according to school Supt. Catherine Cost. School officials say its all part of careful choreography to balance the number of students with the amount of state school funding, class sizes, programs offered, and expenses and salaries. Setting a defined period for applications is intended to calibrate out-of-district student admissions with district resources and goals. The process is increasingly familiar in districts that offer schools of choice as established by the state of Michigan in 1996. The choice program creates options for students and parents. For example, it can enable students in a district that doesnt offer a special educational or extracurricular activity to seek those programs in a nearby district. School of choice benefits Wyandotte students in that with the increased revenue, more programs and classes can be offered, Cost said. For out-of-district students, it provides them with opportunities they would not have had otherwise. The choice program has drawn a mix of public opinion. Some in-district taxpayers have questioned whether out-of-district students are a boon or a benefit. Some ask whether such students diminish the standards and community spirit of traditional school districts. Board Secretary Michael Swiecki emphasized that once a student is enrolled, all students are equal. Once they walk through the doors, they are our students, he said. Wyandotte was an early adopter of schools of choice. Each year, officials revisit the program, occasionally tweaking the window for applications to align it with plans for school offerings and the district budget. Presently, the state provides about $8,111 for each enrolled student. Cost described the process as a mechanism to help guide the quality of education for the districts 4,650 students. Out-of-district students enrolled through the choice program accounted for about 32 percent of the student population last year, and about 31 percent this year. In-district enrollment fluctuates, Cost said, contributing to ongoing reviews on the optimal number of out-of-district students. School choice is here to stay in Michigan, by all accounts, Swiecki said. And its a fact that more butts in seats means more revenue for districts. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on state tax revenues has left many school districts concerned about future state funding. Cost said the district is setting targets for slightly smaller class sizes as part of the plan for the upcoming year. Among those are 25 students for grades kindergarten-2, compared with 26 currently; and 27 for grades 3-5, compared with 28 at present. Im comfortable with the decisions the board has made collectively this year, board President Patrick Sutka said. Although the board has come to an agreement on this issue, it was a process to get there. There was a split within the board and the decision was again to go limited, Cost said. With that said, our current situation caused them to reconsider. There are so many unknowns for next year, hopefully regaining those lost students will help us to have a fund balance of 10% or greater. Cost said application forms will be available outside district offices and on the districts website, wyandotte.org. Jim Kasuba contributed to this report. Ghanas Covid-19 National Trust Fund has so far received GHS44,900,000 in donations since it was established. This was disclosed by the Chairperson of the Fund, retired Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo in Accra today, Monday, 11 May 2020 at a ceremony to release 12 vehicles donated to the Fund for treatment centres and testing laboratories for COVID-19. Were happy to announce that the Fund has so far, in addition to generous gifts in kind, the details of which were more than willing to share with any interested person, we have received an amount of Forty-Four Million, Nine Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 44,900,000.00). The Board of Trustees will ensure the judicious and transparent application of all monies and other resources received for their intended purposes, Ms Akuffo said. Ms Akuffo also called on other automobile companies to donate more four-wheeled vehicles to the Fund in order to support its planned agenda to furnish all regional hospitals with 4X4 cars. The fund was set up by government to receive donations from institutions and individuals to help in the governments fight against COVID-19. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-12 00:28:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Activities and events to be held in China for the upcoming International Museum Day have been released on Monday as the coronavirus epidemic wanes. Nanjing Museum in east China's Jiangsu Province will host the main event on International Museum Day, which falls on May 18, according to the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA). A special exhibition with a selection of over 200 cultural relics dating from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.) and the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.) to the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-220 A.D.) will be jointly launched by eight cultural institutions, including the Nanjing Museum and Henan Museum, to mark the day, Gong Liang, curator of the Nanjing Museum, said at a press conference. Themed "Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion," this year's campaign for the International Museum Day will also include special activities held around May 18 in other places across China. The aim is to build platforms of communication between museums and the public, the NCHA said. While paying tribute to medics, a batch of material demonstrating China's collective efforts in the combat against the epidemic will be donated to the Nanjing Museum at the opening ceremony of the main event. According to the NCHA, provincial museums in Hainan, Gansu, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang will also hold exhibitions to honor China's fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. Apart from controlling the scale of the offline main event on the spot and improving the emergency plan, online activities will also be intertwined with offline events for the first time due to the epidemic, Guan Qiang, deputy head of the NCHA, said at the press conference. Related activities will be livestreamed via the Internet, he added. A total of 11 Chinese cities including Chongqing, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Changsha have hosted the main event since 2009. In collaboration with Xinhua News Agency, the NCHA will launch a platform to show the best of the online exhibitions of China's museums as part of a series of events scheduled for the International Museum Day, Guan noted. The NCHA will also invite celebrities and experts to interpret the exhibitions and explore approaches to innovatively convert and develop fine traditional Chinese culture through a livestream on the platform, Guan added. Enditem More Senate Republicans will join a bipartisan effort to give New Jersey and other states the federal aid they need to pay police officers, teachers and other public employees, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez announced Monday. Menendez, D-N.J., said he expected two or three Republicans to sign on as co-sponsors of his legislation t o provide $500 billion in aid to the states to help replace their lost tax collections as they shut down their economies to stop the spread of the coronavirus. He earlier introduced the bill with Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. If we ever want to get back to normal, to see businesses thrive, we also need to ensure that our police officers, firefighters, paramedics have the resources they need, Menendez said during Gov. Phil Murphys daily coronavirus briefing. The only way to defeat COVID-19 and send our economy on a glide path to recovery is by sending federal re-enforcements to the front lines. The federal government cannot sit on its hands and watch our states go bankrupt and our people suffer. Menendez said the addition of the other GOP senators would emphasize that the need for federal aid was bipartisan and not just relegated to a handful of Democratic-run states like New Jersey. And he expected more GOP lawmakers to co-sponsor the bill later. Once you begin to create a movement where others feel comfortable in joining, the numbers grow, Menendez said. This is not about bailing out the blue states. This is not red or blue. Its red, white and blue. Im not making this a partisan piece of legislation, he said Both President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have pushed back against an immediate infusion of federal aid, suggesting it will go to bail out Democratic-run states. McConnell at one point suggested that states could go bankrupt, even as Kentucky received $2.41 back for every $1 in federal taxes paid while New Jersey got 90 cents. House Democrats, meanwhile, have said that they wont pass legislation without assistance to state and local governments. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage And the National Governors Association, led by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, has been asking for federal aid. Murphy has warned for weeks that New Jersey faces major layoffs without federal aid. A fiscal disaster is not months away hard and unpalatable decisions will be on our doorstep in just a few weeks, Murphy said Monday before introducing Menendez. Menendezs legislation also would overturn Trump administration regulations limiting how states can use the $150 billion in aid they received under the $2 trillion stimulus law known as the CARES Act. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. NYANG ' HWALE District Commissioner Hamim Gwiyama has died after a short illness. The ministry in the President's Office (Regional Admistration and Local Government) has sent condolences to the Geita Regional Commissioner Eng Robert Gabriel over the loss. The Minister, Mr Seleman Jafo, said Mr Gwiyama died at around 11 am at Bugando Referral Hospital in Mwanza City. Mr Jafo said Mr Gwiyama was appointed by President John Magufuli to the position in J une 2016. Before that, the late Gwiyama worked at different places in the country. "The government recognises and will continue recognising his work in building the nation," Mr Jafo stated. Information related to his burial would be issued by the Geita Regional Commissioner, Mr Gabriel. A swarm of locusts that travelled to the Indian border from Pakistan reached Rajasthans Ajmer district on Monday, and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) warned that more invasions by the insects . were likely from new areas. The Indian governments Locust Warning Organization (LWO) claimed that the locust invasion would be controlled soon. LWO deputy director KL Gurjar said a swarm of locusts had been reported on Sunday night near Beawar, a city in Ajmer, that had since reached the district. Meanwhile, the FAO, an arm of t he United Nations (FAO), released a status update, suggesting the conditions for invasions by locus, a migratory pest, had become more worrisome in May and June. According to the update, migration from the spring breeding areas in Baluchistan has commenced, and several immature adult groups and swarms of locusts have appeared since May 2 in Rajasthan. Increased monitoring and reporting are required in desert areas along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border, warned the FAO, which released a global forecast according to which, in addition to the current invasion, locust swarms from new areas can cross the Indian border from June 22. According to the FAO, locusts possess the ability to change their behaviour and habits and can migrate over large distances. They can form dense and highly mobile swarms that can then fly as long as 150 kilometres a day, given favourable winds. These swarms can devour large amounts of vegetation and crops. An adult desert locust can consume its own weight in fresh food per day. Just one small swarm can eat the same amount of crops in a day as 35 000 people. If the numbers of locusts is not contained, the impact on crops and vegetation will drive up hunger in regions already struggling with high levels of food insecurity. Armies of locusts swarming across continents pose a severe risk to Indias agriculture this year, the UN has warned, prompting the authorities to step up vigil, deploy drones to detect their movement and hold talks with Pakistan on ways to minimise the damage, Hindustan Times reported on March 1. Locust attacks are known to cause a considerable drop in agricultural output. Authorities at the national plant protection office said the country was prepared and deploying a wide range of measures. But large-scale invasions could still prove challenging given that India lacks equipment like large sprayer aircraft, experts said. A moderate infestation from across the border chomped through crops in an estimated 300,000 hectares in Rajasthan and Gujarat in January. An upsurge in locust attacks since last year is being attributed to favourable breeding weather caused by a large number of cyclones in East Africa. India, China and Pakistan face the most risk in Asia. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan signed on May 11 a decree on extending the term of the state of emergency, declared in the country on April 12, 2020, the Presidential Office told Armenpress. Considering the fact that emergency situation caused by the novel coronavirus continues to threaten the life and health of the population and may lead to the violation of people's normal living conditions, the term of the state of emergency declared in the Artsakh Republic on April 12, 2020 has been extended for 30 days from 22:00, May 12, 2020 till 22:00, June 11, 2020 inclusive. 11 May 2020, 12:16 PM National Technology Day: PM Modi pays tribute to coronavirus researchers, hails 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday took to social media to pay tribute to researchers and innovators on National Technology Day. He also hailed the Pokhran nuclear tests that were conducted on this day in 1998 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister. PM Modi paid tribute to the "exceptional achievement of our scientists" on this day in 1998. The Prime Minister called it a landmark moment in India's history. Indian Railways to start passenger services from May 12 The Ministry of Railways, on Sunday, announced that it will start operations of 15 passenger trains (30 return journeys) from May 12. All these trains will run from New Delhi railway station. The fares will be equivalent to the ticket fare that is charged for Rajdhani trains. Online booking will start on May 11 at 4 pm. India can expect V-shaped recovery post coronavirus crisis: Dr Duvvuri Subbarao Dr Duvvuri Subbarao, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and a veteran economist, says India can expect to see a V-shaped economic recovery post coronavirus crisis. This should allay concerns that the economic recovery post coronavirus would be an arduous task considering the economy was not in the best of health just before the pandemic hit. WHO rubbishes allegations of pressure from China to withhold information The World Health Organisation has dismissed as false, allegations of a media report that it withheld information about the new coronavirus following pressure from China. The UN agency said in a statement late Saturday that a German magazine's report about a telephone conversation between WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 21 was unfounded and untrue Former PM Manmohan Singh admitted to AIIMS after chest pain Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been reportedly admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi after he complained of chest pain. Singh is under observation at the cardio-thoracic ward. AIIMS sources say Singh was admitted at around 9 after complaining of some cardiac issue. In the past, Singh has had a few cardiac bypass surgeries. Coronavirus Live Blog: Shramik trains to now have up to 3 stoppages; to run with full capacity, says Railways India is in the middle of a 3rd lockdown, and it is safe to say that remote work culture has now become a norm for many. Reliance Jio has brought in a new annual work-from-home plan as the uncertainty of the nationwide lockdown still looms over. The telco already has an annual plan of Rs 2121 in place. The current plan it is offering comes at Rs 2399. Other than this long-term plan Reliance has also introduced some data-specific add-on packs for users only looking for data Wuhan reports first coronavirus cluster since lifting of lockdown Wuhan, the original epicentre of the new coronavirus outbreak in China, reported on Monday its first cluster of infections since a lockdown on the central Chinese city was lifted a month ago, stoking concerns of a wider resurgence of the disease. The new infections add a layer of caution to efforts to lower coronavirus-related restrictions across China as businesses restart and individuals go back to work. Wuhan reported five new confirmed cases, all of whom live in the same residential compound. Indian Railways to start passenger trains from tomorrow; where, how to book, check out new rules Cure.Fit to launch paid version of popular online fitness classes Employees who are in between projects have not been asked to take a pay cut, the IT company clarifies. The company wants to reiterate that there are no retrenchment plans. Wipro has well defined policies and people practices in place to take care of its employees, Wipro said. In this image, the Sarjapur office of Wipro is seen. (Photo | Wikimedia Commons) Bengaluru: Despite the union government warning companies against retrenching employees or cutting their salaries during the COVID-19 lockdown, some companies seem to have taken drastic measures anyway. This had led to rumours in Pune that the labour commissioner has asked IT services firm Wipro to respond to a complaint filed against it which alleges that 300 employees have been put on the bench with a cut in salary. Asked about the communication from the Labour Department, Wipro Limited said it hasnt. The company will present the facts before the department, as and when required. When asked whether it had any plans for pay cuts and retrenchment in Karnataka, the company denied the rumours. The speculation related to the workforce is unfounded and has no basis. Wipro categorically denies these rumours, a statement said. There have been no salary cuts for employees who are in between projects and are awaiting new assignments. The company also sought to reassure its staff. The company wants to reiterate that there are no retrenchment plans. Wipro has well defined policies and people practices in place to take care of its employees, it said. As far as the Maharashtra labour department is concerned, the department has forwarded a copy of the complaint against Wipro limited and asked them to respond. Speaking to DC, a private IT company employee without revealing his identity and the company he works for said that the company has warned layoffs and resorted to pay cuts already. Several companies are just waiting for the lockdown to end on May 17 and the real effect on employees losing jobs and salary cuts will be felt, the employee said. The companies are fearing action by the government and cutting of certain sops that they have been enjoying now. "To add to the misery already online classes have commenced for my kids. Already, the school has hinted at collecting the fee when the date of school reopening for the academic year 2020-21 is still uncertain. With pay cuts and pending EMIs how can we manage our life? he wonders aloud. Another techie said that paying credit card backlog is distressing as banks show no mercy to their customers. Credit card departments are levying late payment fee, GST and accrued interest too. If salary is not paid or if only a reduced amount is given, it would be difficult to manage. This is also psychologically affecting the employees, the techie said. The masthead of U.S. President Donald Trump's @realDonaldTrump Twitter account in July: Handout via REUTERS Donald Trump sent more than 100 tweets and retweets on Sunday, most of which promoted unsubstantiated claims about the investigation into collusion between his campaign and Russia. The president appeared to spend much of his day on Twitter, even as the death toll from the coronavirus neared 80,000 and White House officials issued dire warnings about the state of the US economy. At the time of writing, the toll stood at 79,384. Despite a handful of tweets about the pandemic, the vast majority were related to his former national security advisor Michael Flynn, who was fired by Mr Trump after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI. The president flooded his Twitter feed throughout the day with articles and commentary about Flynns case, much of which promoted the claim that the Obama administration was trying to frame then president-elect Trump. The biggest political crime in American history, by far, the president wrote in a tweet that shared a claim Barack Obama used his last weeks in office to target incoming officials and sabotage the new administration. The justice department announced on Thursday that it was dropping charges against Flynn, in a move that has prompted concerns about judicial independence. Mr Trump has spent much of his time since then pushing various claims of a conspiracy about the Obama administration. One tweet simply read: OBAMAGATE! Hillary Clinton, Congressman Adam Schiff, and former FBI Director James Comey also were stars in the presidents tweet storm, all of which attempted to connect the three to promoting anti-Trump hoaxes. The US justice department unexpectedly dropped its criminal case against Mr Flynn, whom prosecutors accused of lying to the FBI during an investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. The biggest political crime in American history, by far! https://t.co/m5nPdUHt4u Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2020 In court documents filed on Thursday, the justice department said it was dropping the case after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information. Story continues The decision represented a dramatic turnaround in the long-running case, which was one of the central prosecutions to be brought by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 election. Mr Trump on Friday accused Obama administration justice department officials of treason for their handling of Mr Flynns case. The Obama administration Justice Department was a disgrace, the president said in the Oval Office. Its treason. Its treason. When are the Fake Journalists, who received unwarranted Pulitzer Prizes for Russia, Russia, Russia, and the Impeachment Scam, going to turn in their tarnished awards so they can be given to the real journalists who got it right. Ill give you the names, there are plenty of them! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2020 The 100 tweets Mr Trump sent on Sunday did not quite reach his record since taking office of 142 which was set during impeachment proceedings in January. Earlier on Sunday, Mr Trump tweeted that he was getting great marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, despite the US having the highest death toll in the world. The president made the claim in a self-congratulatory tweet on Sunday morning that also criticised his predecessor Barack Obama for his administrations response to Swine Flu. We are getting great marks for the handling of the CoronaVirus pandemic, especially the very early BAN of people from China, the infectious source, entering the USA, Mr Trump wrote. Compare that to the Obama/Sleepy Joe disaster known as H1N1 Swine Flu. Poor marks, bad polls didnt have a clue! 11.05.2020 LISTEN CEGA has observed with great worry a development if not unchecked will further dent the image of the government so far as press freedom in the country is concerned. During the normal discussions on TV3 this morning 11th May 2020 hosted by one Mr Johnny Hughes, the Deputy Minister for Information Pius Enyonam Hadzideh was on that programme with Hon. Kwame Governs Agbodza the MP for Adaklu Constituency in the Volta region. The Hon. Deputy Minister made claims to the effect that the government had made substantial investments into bringing up more Covid-19 Testing Centers in Ghana, and thereby making it possible for Ghana to undertake massive testing of suspected Covid-19 infected people. On his part, the host of the program asked the Deputy Minister to give further and better particulars of the nature of the investment the government had specifically made in the sector. Not only did the Deputy Minister get infuriated about Host's line of question but he went on to accuse the Host of being biased and unprofessional. The CEGA wishes to place on record that, this is unbecoming of a Deputy Minister for Information in Ghana. As a Deputy Minister, Hon. Pius Hadzide must understand that he is expected to serve the people of this country and he must do so with utmost patience, humility and candour. He must understand that he communicates on behalf of the government and that the state pays him to give accurate and unbiased information. Furthermore, the CEGA has noted with apprehension that this Deputy Minister appears on television and radio programmes almost unprepared and not very much on top of issues. He mostly engages in unbridled and unmitigated politicization of all issues. We wish to register our utmost disgust about the conduct of the Deputy Minister's unwarranted attack on the Host of TV3 this morning. As the Deputy Minister of Information, he is supposed to protect journalist instead of attacking such professionals who are genuinely doing their job. In view of this, the CEGA calls on the President to immediately call Hon. Pius Hadzide to order and request him to apologise to Johnny Hughes and the viewers of the Morning Show hosted by him. In the midst of this pandemic, what Ghanaians need most among others are; 1. Better education of the public on current events concerning Covid-19 management 2. Timely and accurate information from Information Ministry. 3. Cool heads and reasonableness to prevail during discussions 4. Avoidance of obsession to political polarization, cacophony and nuisance especially from persons paid by the taxpayer. Signed: Prof Ohene Adjei Executive Director 0544445566 Dr. Justice M.K Aheto Executive Secretary 0242527292 Mr. George Yankah Communications Director 0242161111 Regulatory News: SuperSonic Imagine (Euronext: SSI, FR0010526814, PEA-PME eligible) (Paris:SSI), a Company specializing in ultrasound medical imaging, announces that the Combined (ordinary and extraordinary) Shareholders' Meeting will be held on Tuesday June 16, 2020 at the headquarters of the Company (510, rue Rene Descartes 13857 Aix-en-Provence). Considering the current Coronavirus (Covid-19) epidemic and in accordance with the provisions of Order 2020-321 of March 25, 2020, the Board of Directors has decided that the June 16, 2020 Combined Shareholders' Meeting will exceptionally be held without the presence of its shareholders or any other person entitled to attend (be it physically or via telephone or video conference). A meeting notice including the agenda, the draft resolutions as well as the main rules for participation relating to the closed-session June 16, 2020 Combined Shareholders' Meeting was published in the May 8, 2020 French Bulletin des Annonces Legales et Obligatoires (BALO). This meeting notice, along with the Board of Directors' report regarding the draft resolutions, can be accessed on the SuperSonic Imagine website (https://www.supersonicimagine.fr). The Combined Shareholders' Meeting will not be broadcasted via audio or video, either live or delayed. Given the context, the shareholders are invited to regularly consult the dedicated Combined Shareholders' Meeting space on the SuperSonic Imagine website (https://www.supersonicimagine.fr) and/or address any questions relating the organization of the Combined Shareholders' Meeting to the following address serviceproxy@cic.fr. About SuperSonic Imagine SuperSonic Imagine is a medical technology company (Medtech) specialized in ultrasound imaging. The company designs, develops and markets an ultrasound platform whose exclusive ultrafast technology (UltraFast) has given rise to new imaging methods, which have now become standards in the non-invasive care path for the characterization of breast, liver or prostate diseases. The first innovative mode UltraFast is ShearWave elastography (SWE), which allows doctors to instantly visualize and analyze tissue hardness, which is critical information for the diagnosis of many pathologies. To date, more than 600 publications have validated the benefits of its technologies. The latest addition to the Aixplorer range, Aixplorer MACH 30 introduces a new generation of imaging UltraFast allowing the optimization of all innovative imaging modes: ShearWave PLUS, UltraFast Doppler, Angio PL.U.S, TriVu. With more than 2,300 ultrasound platforms installed worldwide, SuperSonic Imagine is present in more than 80 countries and its main markets are China, the United States and France. The group's revenues for the 2019 financial year amounted to 26.8 million. SuperSonic Imagine is a company listed on Euronext (symbol: SSI). For more information, visit www.supersonicimagine.fr. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005745/en/ Contacts: Contacts Investor Relations NewCap Thomas Grojean supersonicimagine@newcap.eu +33 44 71 94 94 Former Irish Debenhams workers have come to the rescue of 69 Bangladeshi employees who were left struggling to feed their families after the British firm terminated their contract without paying their wages. The team in the Debenhams Liaison Office in Dhaka, Banghladesh were notified of the termination of their employment in mid April whilst they were on lockdown arising out of the Covid 19 pandemic. They were the point of contact for the UK office to the factories in Bangladesh in account manager and merchandiser roles. They are without State economic support. Irish workers first became aware of their plight when the Bangladeshi employees posted a video on social media. They also became concerned when ITV News last week reported that it had seen correspondence from Debenhams' administrator to Bangladeshi suppliers demanding a 90 percent discount on garment orders already at UK ports. ITV News reports claim that Debenhams has cancelled and is withholding around 53 million worth of payments on orders from Bangladeshi suppliers. Former Irish Debenhams staff, who were left reeling when their jobs were summarily cut and are themselves fighting to receive proper redundancy, said they couldn't just stand back and allow their peers in Bangladesh to suffer. They have set up a Go Fund me page for staff in Bangladesh. In a statement the workers said they were shocked at the callousness shown by the company to their employees in Bangladesh. "We are very saddened to hear our colleagues have been left with nothing considering there is no unemployment benefit in Bangladesh. They are proud people. They didn't ask us for help. We offered to help them. As a group of workers recently made redundant by Debenhams it angered us that this company could be responsible for ruining the livelihoods of so many people in such a cavalier manner. The Covid 19 pandemic has stopped any daily wages and there is no hope whatsoever of securing employment." Meanwhile, a spokesman for former Debenhams staff in Bangladesh said that he was heartened by the support shown to them by strangers thousands of miles away. "I'm overwhelmed while I see your initiatives and how humanity is still alive. You don't know us. None of us visited Ireland ever. But you feel our team members pain from thousands of miles away." A Go Fund me page set up to assist the staff in Bangladesh has raised nearly 5,000 since it went online on Saturday. It has done so without publicity meaning that the funds have been raised by staff who are themselves on State benefits since Debenhams notified them of their job losses by email. Their aim is to raise 10,000. A Go Fund me page for the Bangladeshi workers has also been set up in the UK by a former Debenhams staff worker who had liaised with the employees in Dhaka as part of her role with the firm. Former Debenhams Product Developer in the UK, Sally Deighton, worked with the Bangladeshi team. Ms Deighton said the team in Bangladesh worked extremely hard for the firm. "They were proud to work for Debenhams and prioritised their jobs. For all the product teams we could not have done our jobs without them. These people were more than colleagues. They dropped us at the airport for the 2am flight, collected us at 4am. They were always prepared ensuring we always were able to do our jobs properly." The UK Go Fund me page set up on Saturday has raised over a thousand pounds. A Debenhams spokeswoman in the UK issued a statement when contacted about the Irish Go Fund me page. "Like all fashion retailers, we have had to make some very tough decisions in relation to our supply chain. We are trying to deal with all those affected as fairly and openly as possible. Suppliers who continue to work with us during our administration period will be paid to terms." Debenhams has not openly commented on the ITV News report but the firm reportedly refutes claims that they are looking for a 90 percent discount on 53 million of stock from Bangladesh. It is understood the company are endeavouring to protect jobs and stores in the UK amid the pressures of the Covid 19 pandemic. Donations can be made to the Irish Go Fund me campaign for Bangladesh. DJ-music producer Diplo has confirmed that he and model Jevon King have welcomed their first child together. Diplo made the revelation on Sunday in a Mother's Day Instagram tribute. He shared three photos -- the first showing himself as a child with his mom, Barbara Jean Cox, the second showing his ex, Kathryn Lockhart, with their two sons, Lockett, 10 and Lazer, 6. The third photograph shows King holding her son, Pace, whom she welcomed on March 20. Thanks for giving me life and helping me create it the three strongest mothers in the world.. I'm still a work in progress but u have given three perfect beautiful boys. I love you all till the moon and back, he wrote in the caption. King, who represented Trinidad and Tobago at the Miss Universe pageant in 2014, announced on March 21 that she'd given birth to a baby boy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mark Hammond is the South Carolina Secretary of State. Contact him at SC Secretary of States Office, 1205 Pendleton Street, Suite 525, Columbia, SC 29201 or phone at 803-734-2170. Medical staff at a public health center in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District carry out coronavirus tests, Monday, after the country saw a sudden hike in the number of COVID-19 infections that were linked to nightclubs and bars in Itaewon. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye The central government and municipal administrations are going all out to locate people who went clubbing in Itaewon between April 24 and May 6, as the number of COVID-19 cases linked to five nightclubs and bars in Seoul's popular nightlife spot jumped to 86 Monday, six days after the first case was reported. According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), 14 more COVID-19 infections linked to the clubs were confirmed as of 12 p.m., bringing the total number of related cases to 86. Of the 86 patients, 63 visited the clubs, and 23 others were either their family members or acquaintances. "We are carrying out epidemiological investigations to find out how many people the patients have come in to contact with," KCDC Director Jung Eun-kyeong said during a briefing. The infections began when a 29-year-old man tested positive for COVID-19, May 6, after visiting five nightclubs and bars in Itaewon from the night of May 1 to the early hours of May 2, at a time when the situation nationwide here was showing clear signs of a slowdown, with most new infections over the previous week having been "imported" ones. Soon after Indian Railways reopened online train ticket booking services, the IRCTC website got crashed and people who wanted to book train tickets are facing problems. Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Coperation aka IRCTCs website crashed soon after the Indian Railways reopened the online train ticket booking. Reports said Indian Railways online train ticket booking services were resumed today at 4pm almost after 50 days. The government has decided to run 15 pair of trains for now which will run between New Delhi Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad, and Jammu Tawi. The Railways has only allowed passengers to book tickets online though its website irctc.co.in or the IRCTC mobile app and no counters will be opened. An IRCTC official said passengers have to wear masks and undergo screening while boarding and deboarfing the trains. He added that only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to travel. If you want to travel. Meanwhile, Congress attacked the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat governments over suspension of labour laws. The Opposition has asked the Central government not to accept these decisions as they strip workers of their basic rights. Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said told media that the Uttar Pradesh government has completely suspended all labour laws for three years that is well beyond the predicted range for the Covid-19 pandemic. Madhya Pradesh also did the same thing. Gujarat has gone a step further and said it will not follow any labour law for 1200 days. It means a permit is being given to allow exploitation of labour, he added. For all the latest National News, download NewsX App CLINTON Republican Brendan Saunders name will appear on the ballot as a candidate for Connecticuts 33rd District State seat. Despite his long history of civic involvement, November will be the first time Saunders is running for office, according to a press release. The seat is now held by state Sen. Norm Needleman, D-Essex, also first selectman of the town. He listens, Sheila Tortorigi, Colchesters registrar of voters, said in a prepared statement. His background in ministry is a huge asset. You can tell hes listening and actually cares about each persons view. He is the type of person I want representing me. Saunders, a self-described Reagan Republican, began his involvement in local politics shortly after he graduated from high school, he said. Ive noticed that Connecticut has become a very expensive state in which to live, Saunders told Republican leaders from across the district recently. It seems like many of our representatives in Hartford ignore us, burdening us with more taxes, fees and regulations. The result is that opportunity and freedom gets crushed. I believe government is at its best when it cultivates, not impedes, opportunity, he said in the news release. Im running to be your voice in Hartford. Im running to ensure that our children receive a vibrant future full of opportunity, Saunders explained. In 1992, he contacted former state senator Ed Munster, and offered to help with his congressional campaign against Sam Gejdenson. After that, he served on the committee to elect Tanya Lane Town Clerk of Westbrook, the statement added. Saunders also worked for state Rep. Jesse MacLachlan and former state Sen. Art Linares. Carolyn Field of Essex cited Saunders common-sense fiscal views: Connecticuts high taxes force up the cost of living and drive families and businesses out of the state. Its time for new leadership in the state Senate. Saunders is the director of sales and marketing for the Courtyard Marriott in Cromwell. He serves on the Hospitality Advisory Board of Manchester Community College. Saunders is also an ordained baptist minister, who served as the founding pastor of Lighthouse Community Church of Westbrook from 2008-2017. He stepped down to create The Fusion Podcast, an online forum providing lighthearted conversations about life and faith for young adults, the release said. Saunders lives in Clinton with his wife Mary (Costello) Saunders, a Deep River native and nurse at Middlesex Health. They have a 14-year-old daughter, Jorden. The 33rd District encompasses Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, parts of Old Saybrook, Portland and Westbrook Saunders hopes to earn the Republican nomination May 18 at a convention in East Haddam, the release said. A hero of the labour movement and a giant of international environmentalism is gone. John Bernard (Jack) Mundey died on Sunday aged 90. Mundey was the father of urban environmentalism in Australia. Under his inspired leadership, a humble pick-and-shovel union of builders' labourers changed the way we think about urban planning and saved the face of Sydney that we know today. Mundey came down from the Atherton Tablelands in the 1950s to play rugby league for Parramatta and, failing to make the cut, ended up on the tools. Confronted with a corrupt and complaisant union leadership, he fought hard to democratise and radicalise the union, joining the Communist Party along the way. He became secretary of the NSW Builders Labourers Federation, or BLF, in 1968. Jack Mundey being carried from a protest at The Rocks in the early seventies. Credit:Robert Pearce Having grown up amid the rainforests of North Queensland, Mundey was an environmentalist before that term was even used. But what he brought to the struggle was his view that workers should campaign around the social responsibility of labour. He believed that workers should think about the sort of work they do and the environment in which they live and work. Along with Joe Owens and Bob Pringle he led the union in the famous green bans period of the early 1970s. On 6 May, Belarusian Foreign Ministry cancelled press accreditations of Russian Channel One television journalist Aleksei Kruchinin and cameraman Sergei Panasyuk, following their reports on the growing coronavirus outbreak in the country. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliates the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) in condemning this open act of intimidation and urge the Foreign Ministry to review its decision and give the accreditation back to their holders. The two Russian media professionals are not obliged to leave the country, but they can no longer work freely as they are no longer officially recognised as journalists. The Foreign Ministry provided no explanation for its decision. However, several media reports and Channel One's representatives confirmed that the decision followed the Russian journalists's report on the coronavirus outbreak in Belarus. As of 6 May, Belarus had officially reported 19,255 confirmed coronavirus cases and 112 deaths. Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has repeatedly mocked concerns over COVID-19 and diseases caused by the coronavirus. IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: We always and consistently condemn any attempts by governments to bring pressure on media, restrict journalists' rights and to censor, including deprivation of accreditation and prohibition of work. Free speech and journalists' fundamental rights must remain untouched during the COVID pandemic. We urge the Belarus Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reintegrate the journalists accreditation as soon as possible. The RUJ said: We consider the measures taken by the Belarusian side as excessive and unacceptable. We call on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Republic of Belarus for detailed explanations on the deprivation of accreditation of our colleagues and demand to try to find ways to overcome this situation as soon as possible through an expanded dialogue of solidarity between the media and journalistic organizations of our countries. New Zealand has seen an increase in racist attacks against Asian and Chinese people. Stuff reported on May 4 that in just five weeks the Human Rights Commission had received 86 reports of race-related incidents linked to the coronavirus pandemic. Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon said the incidents primarily related to anti-Chinese racism and harassment, or to events affecting other people of Asian descent who believe they were mistaken for being Chinese. About 30 percent of cases were directed against Chinese people, 28 percent against Muslims, 14 percent Indians and 5 percent targeted Maori and Pacific Islanders. For every documented incident there are undoubtedly many that go unreported. In the most shocking attack, 60-year-old photographer Sammy Zhu, who works for the Chinese language newspaper the New Zealand Messenger, was punched in the face in Christchurch on April 28, leaving him badly bruised and covered in blood. A 34-year-old man was arrested a few days later and charged with assault. Another elderly East Asian man was assaulted on April 29 in a park in Lynfield, Auckland. Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that police have caught the attacker but the victim left the scene. In another example, parents removed their child from a Whangarei school after she was subjected to repeated racist abuse. Asian university students have also been targeted with taunts that they brought the Chinese virus to New Zealand. Netsafe, which monitors racism and hate speech online, told the media it had a 63 percent increase in reports between January 1 and April 12, compared to the previous six months. On May 5, employment lawyer Mai Chen told Radio NZ people were being sacked because of their ethnicity during the pandemic. I am seeing employers who seem to be taking this opportunity to make redundant those whose face doesnt fit or who may not be most like us, she said. A similar rise in anti-Asian xenophobia and racism has been reported in the US, Australia and internationally. One Radio NZ commentator noted that racists represent a small minority of the population that has been emboldened by US President Donald Trump, who repeatedly refers to COVID-19 as a Chinese virus. The Trump administration is spreading the lie that China deliberately unleashed the virus from a laboratory in Wuhan. On May 6, Trump escalated the propaganda war against China by describing the pandemic as the worst attack in US history, worse than Pearl Harbor and 9/11. The aim of such statements is to create a wartime atmosphere to justify threats and retaliation against China, while diverting anger from the US government, whose willful negligence has caused tens of thousands of deaths. The anti-China hysteria, however, is not confined to the White House; it has been echoed in the New Zealand media. On April 21, for example, Radio NZ aired a 20-minute interview with Jamie Metzl, a former US State Department official under President Bill Clinton, who declared it was pretty likely the virus was unintentionally leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan. Despite scientists overwhelmingly rejecting such claims, Metzl was not seriously challenged by the interviewer. The trade union-backed Daily Blog has peddled the same lies. On May 4, editor Martyn Bradbury referred to the growing suspicion that the Chinese may have accidentally released the virus themselves from their Wuhan Lab. Bradbury sneeringly dismissed claims that such US-sponsored conspiracy theories were stoking xenophobia. He concluded his article by stating that if China has had a hand in accidentally starting this pandemic, war might follow plague. The Labour Party-led government of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, falsely glorified as kind and compassionate by the media, is actively discriminating against immigrants, who are largely from Asia. Temporary migrant workers who have lost their jobs due to the impact of the pandemic have been denied unemployment benefits and forced to rely on emergency relief from charities and the Civil Defence agency. The government last year introduced class-based immigration restrictions, making it harder for migrants to bring family members to New Zealand. The right-wing nationalist NZ First Party, which has a major role in the coalition government, is demanding more attacks. Earlier this year, as the country prepared to mark the anniversary of the Christchurch fascist terrorist attack, NZ Firsts Shane Jones, a cabinet minister, made vile denunciations of Indian immigrants. The Ardern government is also continuing to strengthen NZs military and intelligence alliance with US imperialism at the same time as Washington threatens China, Iran, Venezuela and other countries. Wellington has joined a new US-led network aimed at reducing economic reliance on China. No details have been made public, but US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on April 29 that the so-called Economic Prosperity Network would include Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Vietnam. Speaking to Newshub on May 2, Foreign Minister Winston Peters, leader of NZ First, denounced previous governments for making a terrible mistake of putting all their eggs in one basket by turning China into New Zealands biggest trading partner. In April, 30 percent of NZs exports went to China. Peters comments were echoed by the pro-US, NATO-funded academic Anne-Marie Brady, who told Newshub that New Zealand should form a strategic alliance with Taiwan and other like-minded states, while reducing reliance on China. On May 7, in a move calculated to stoke tensions with Beijing, Peters announced that New Zealand will co-sign a letter by the United States calling for Taiwan to rejoin the World Health Organisation. The Chinese Embassy issued a statement objecting to the decision, saying New Zealands relationship with China was based on adherence to the one-China principle. Beijing regards Taiwan as a province of China and therefore ineligible for membership of the WHO. Some pro-business commentators are worried about the ever-more open alignment against China. Newstalk ZBs Heather du Plessis Allan declared that Peters was playing a dangerous game when we arguably need [China] now more than ever, given the rapidly worsening economic crisis. Every establishment party, howeverLabour, NZ First, the Greens and the opposition National Partysupports New Zealands alliance with US imperialism. As the country approaches an election in September, the political and media establishment will continue to stoke xenophobia in an attempt to divert anger over the worsening social disaster, including sharply increased unemployment, triggered by the pandemic. Governor of Cross River State, Professor Ben Ayade has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to lift the ban on domestic flights. He said lifting the ban is necessary as the economic loss being incurred is be too much for the country to bear. Also Read: Coronavirus: Ben Ayade Orders Complete Lockdown Of Cross River He made this known while inspecting the ongoing asphalting of the dualised Odukpani-Calabar highway in the state on Sunday. Advertisement Recall that on May 6, the federal government imposed an additional four-week ban on flight operations across the country as a measure to check the spread of COVID-19. Ayade opposed the continued closure of Nigerias domestic airspace, lamenting its negative impact on the aviation, hospitality and tourism sectors of the economy. Aarogya Setu, the mobile application to help track COVID-19 patients, has alerted around 1.4 lakh users in the country about a possible risk of infection due to proximity to infected persons, an official said on Monday, even as the government mulled making this app mandatory for air passengers. The official also said the government's official app helped generate information about 697 potential hotspots in the country. Ajay Sawhney, chairman of the Empowered Group 9 which deals with Technology and Data Management in the fight against COVID-19, said the app will soon reach a user base of 10 crore, as he gave an update on the use of the tool that enables better 'contact tracing-one of the key elements in fighting infectious diseases using a mobile phone's Bluetooth and GPS capabilities. Around 9.8 crore people have downloaded this app and it is available in 12 languages, Sawhney told a media briefing. The application has created a world record in being the fastest app to reach five crore users, he said. Around 1.4 lakh Aarogya Setu app users have been alerted via Bluetooth contact tracing about possible risk of infection due to proximity to infected patients, the official said. He reiterated that it is used only for health interventions, and does not reveal the identity of people. Officials said the Central government is looking at the option of making it mandatory for flyers to have this application installed on their phones while taking any flight during the post-lockdown days. "Preliminary discussions regarding making this app mandatory for air passengers have been done with airlines," the officials noted, adding the Civil Aviation Ministry is yet to take a final decision. The government app gives colour coded-designation to users as per their health status and travel history. It helps the user know if he or she is near anyone who has tested positive for the virus. "If the proposal is approved in the Aviation ministry, passengers who do not have the app on their phone would not be allowed to board their flight," the officials noted. The third phase of coronavirus-triggered lockdown is due to end on May 17. The government is yet to take a decision regarding resumption of commercial passenger flight services. All commercial passenger flight operations have been suspended for the 54-day lockdown period that began on March 25. However, cargo flights, medical evacuation flights and special flights approved by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation have been allowed to operate. As India registered a record jump of 4,213 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the government said some relatively large outbreaks have been noticed in particular locations and it is important to focus on containment efforts to ensure that the country does not reach the community transmission stage. Lav Agarwal, a joint secretary in the health ministry, said 4,213 coronavirus cases and 97 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours till Monday 8 am, taking the total infections to 67,152 and the death toll to 2,206. As many as 20,917 COVID-19 patients have recovered till now, taking the recovery rate to 31.15 per cent, the health minisry said. Also 1,559 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, the highest number of recoveries in one day, it added. The number of users of Aarogya Setu (health bridge) is expected to increase substantially with the Railways making use of this application mandatory for passengers taking the 15 special trains operating from Delhi to several cities. The railways said it will run eight trains from Tuesday as part of the gradual resumption of passenger train services suspended since March 25. On May 1, the Centre also made it mandatory for government and private sector employees to use the mobile application to bolster the efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, and said it will be the responsibility of the heads of the organisation to ensure its 100 per cent coverage. The Union home ministry also said the mobile app will be a must for people living in COVID-19 containment zones. "Use of Arogya Setu app shall be made mandatory for all employees, both private and public. It shall be the responsibility of the head of the respective organisations to ensure 100 per cent coverage of this app among the employees," the ministry said. The announcement had come on a day the government extended the nationwide lockdown by two weeks from May 4 with certain relaxations. The country's main contact tracing technology was launched on April 2 this year. It was developed by the National Informatics Centre under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology. At his briefing, Chawla said the app is secure as it has been designed keeping in mind the privacy of people and is playing a crucial role in India's fight against the pandemic. He said it was developed in order to alert people before they come in contact with infected patients and to alert the health system to take adequate steps for their help. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has also made it mandatory for personnel engaged in delivery of grocery and food item to download the app on their mobile phones. The revised guidelines issued by the Union Health ministry for home isolation of very mild/pre-symptomatic cases also call for downloading the app on the mobile and made it clear it should remain active at all times (through bluetooth and Wi-Fi). Govt issues data processing rules for Aarogya Setu; violators may face jail term The government on Monday issued a set of guidelines for processing of data collected through Aarogya Setu app that bar storage of data for more than six months and specify jail term for violators of certain rules. Amid concerns expressed in certain quarters about data privacy of people who use the app, the guidelines provide an option to individuals to seek deletion of their data from the record within 30 days of making such a request while a senior government official asserted that "privacy is an important aspect of Aarogya Setu". "Lot of work has been done over data privacy. A good privacy policy has been made to ensure that personal data of people are not misused," Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney told reporters. "We provide these information to check an area from becoming a hotspot. Privacy is an important aspect of Aarogya Setu," he said. The fresh guidelines allow collection of only demographic, contact, self assessment and location data of persons infected by the coronavirus or those who come in contact with the infected person. Sawhney also heads an empowered group to deal with the pandemic. Till date, 9.8 crore people have downloaded the Aarogya Setu app, which has been made mandatory in COVID-19 containment zones. The app alerts users if they come in close contact with a person infected with coronavirus. The latest guidelines lay down procedure on handling of data by various agencies involved in controlling spread of the pandemic. The data can also be shared with universities for research purposes only after delinking details that can identify individuals using the app, as per the government. "Any violation of these directions may lead to penalties as per section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and other legal provisions as may be applicable," it said. Penalty clauses under the Disaster Management Act also have provisions for jail term for officials. Sawhney said that the most important function is the flow of data from the app to various departments where huge emphasis has been laid on privacy of individuals. According to him, data of a non-infected person is deleted from Aarogya Setu app in 30 days, 45 days in case of tests and 60 days if a person has undergone treatment. "The app users are given device ID which is used for processing various information and functions. The individual's contact is used only to alert the user," he said. The government has also issued a toll free number '1921' for those who do not have smartphones. Advocacy groups have alleged that the government is using Aarogya Setu for mass surveillance especially in absence of any legislation around privacy. "The protocol has been issued to bridge the legal gap and to address privacy related concerns," a MeitY official said. Decrease Font Size Font Size Increase Font Size Article body Auburn Universitys Korea Corner and members of the local Korean community recently donated thousands of medical supplies to East Alabama Medical Center and other regional health care centers, addressing the critical shortage of personal protective equipment for health care workers fighting COVID-19. Korea Corner, part of the Office of Professional and Continuing Education in University Outreach, is a cultural resource center that promotes educational experiences and collaboration between Auburn faculty members, students and the local Korean community. In this time of unprecedented difficulty for so many of our friends and neighbors, Auburn University's Korea Corner is humbled to be able to do our part for the Auburn-Opelika community and the front line health care workers that are working tirelessly to keep our residents safe and healthy, said Suhyun Suh, associate professor emerita and coordinator at Korea Corner. The donation drive was a collaboration between Korea Corner, Auburn Korean School and Auburn Opelika Korean Church. With the support of the local Korean community and others, the group secured more than 13,020 medical KN95 and N95 protective masks, 50 gowns and 315 containers of hand sanitizer as well as 4,006 snack bars for medical workers at the forefront of COVID-19 patient care. The supplies were delivered to East Alabama Medical Center, or EAMC, on Friday. EAMCs Sam Price, executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Chuck Beams, director of the Pharmacy and Government Relations, received the donation from Suh, Auburn University Vice President for University Outreach Royrickers Cook, Auburn University Assistant Director of Global Leadership Training Initiative DongWoo Yu, Auburn Mayor Ron Anders and Auburn Opelika Korean Church Senior Pastor Jun Mo Jeong, who provided a prayer for the hospital and its health care workers. A share of the supplies will also be delivered to the Baptist Medical Center in Montgomery at a later date. During difficult times it takes all of us to pitch in to help face the trials we are facing, said Auburn Mayor Ron Anders. I was thankful again to the Korea Corner and their resolute commitment to the local community. Thank you to each person who made a contribution to assist our health care personnelthis is how a caring community overcomes its common obstacles. Korea Corner was established in 2017 with the support of the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Atlanta and the Office of the Vice President for University Outreach. Korea Corner houses a variety of materials on Korea for reference by Auburn students and members of the local community, and it provides educational resources for members of the Korean community designed to strengthen their connection to American culture and society. The ultimate goal of Korea Corner is to bridge the gaps between the Korean and non-Korean communities by promoting shared understanding and appreciation through collaborative efforts. Our Korea Corner staff and friends in the Korean community are great supporters of outreach programs and initiatives, especially now during the coronavirus crisis in our area, said Cook. This generous donation of critical medical protective supplies to our front line health care workers is a fine example of effective community engagement and the collective impact of Korea Corner and its constituents. Cancer cell during cell division. Credit: National Institutes of Health Questions about the genealogical imprint of tumors have hovered over cancer research since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. Is liver cancer different at a basic, molecular level in people of African descent than people of European descent? Does breast cancer have a different genetic profile in East Asians than Native Americans? A new paper by researchers from the NCI Cancer Genome Analysis Network, a collaborative group with investigators in the U.S., Canada and Europe, provides the most comprehensive look to date at the effect of ancestry on the molecular makeup of normal and cancerous tissues. Drawing on data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) involving 10,678 patients and 33 cancer types, the investigators found that ancestry was tied to variations in hundreds of genes, but that the most important of these differences were linked to specific tissue types. The study is being published online today by Cancer Cell. "We found that in patients of different ancestries, the molecular features corresponding to those differences were largely confined to specific organs and tissue types," said Rameen Beroukhim, MD, Ph.D., of Dana-Farber and the Broad Institute, the co-senior author of the study with Andrew Cherniack, Ph.D., group leader at Dana-Farber and the Broad Institute. "This suggests that tracking the molecular effects of ancestryboth in normal and cancer tissueneeds to take a tissue-by-tissue approach." Among the researchers' specific findings: From a molecular standpoint, people of African ancestry tend to have a different type of kidney cancer than people of European ancestry. The African variety is marked less often by mutations that disable the VHL gene, spurring the growth of new blood vessels for tumors. Bladder cancers in people of East Asian extraction show fewer signs of drawing an immune system response than bladder tumors in people of European background. In the study, investigators used a variety of molecular techniques to determine the ancestry of the patients whose tissue samples were analyzed. Patients were classified as being primarily of European, East Asian, African, Native/Latin American, or South Asian descent. Patients whose ancestry was at least 20% mixed were classified as being of admixed descent. (These patients were subcategorized by their primary ancestry, such as African-Admixed, European-Admixed, etc.) As a group, the patients had 33 cancer types, 13 of which were further divided into subtypes. TCGA had conducted a deep analysis of each patient's tissue, testing cancerous and normal cells for a range of molecular features. These included mutations (miscopied sections of DNA); patterns of DNA methylation (a process that influences whether genes are switched on or off); messenger RNA (a molecule that carries a transcribed version of DNA and is indicative of gene activity); and microRNA (a form of RNA that assists or hampers gene activity). The NCI Cancer Genome Analysis Network investigators used this data to see whether differences in any of these features reflected differences in ancestry. "We found that ancestry-associated differences spanned all of these features and were present in hundreds of different genes," Cherniack stated. "It turned out, though, that the most significant differencesthe ones that affect how cells function and interact with the rest of the bodywere profoundly tissue-specific." Although ancestry affected molecular features in most cancer types, these effects were not shared across cancer types. Molecular differences in lung cancers that were traceable to African ancestry, for example, were not found in breast, pancreatic, or other cancers. The data also enabled investigators to ask whether the ancestry-related features of normal cells carried over into the cancerous versions of those cellswhether the molecular particularities of lung cells in people of European extraction for example, are also found in the lung cancer cells of such individuals. They found that this was overwhelmingly the case. "Most of the differences in the normal tissues of people with specific ancestries are recapitulated in cancer," Beroukhim stated. Moreover, evidence suggests that some of these differences may contribute to the development of certain cancers in people with similar backgrounds. Having access to data from patients of mixed lineage proved to be an asset, the study authors say. Investigators conducted their initial analysis in patients whose ancestry was at least 80% within one of the five genealogical groups. They followed this with a similar analysis of data from the admixed populations. "When the results of the two analyses jibedwhen molecular differences specific to one ancestral group also appear in patients whose ancestry is a combination of that group and othersit was particularly strong evidence of the validity of the original finding." said one of the study's co-lead authors, Jian Carrot-Zhang, Ph.D., postdoctoral research fellow of the Meyerson group at Dana-Farber and the Broad. "The patients of mixed background were a particularly powerful group in which to study the molecular effects of ancestry in cancer," Beroukhim stated. "It helped us narrow down which regions of the genome contribute to these differences." The comprehensive nature of the study revealed some of the shortcomings of previous efforts to link ethnicity and ancestry to molecular elements of cells. For one, such studies tended to lump various subtypes of cancer together, Beroukhim said, despite the fact that certain subtypes are more common in certain ancestries than others. Some of the techniques used to dissect molecular features may also have skewed the results of previous studies. Researchers have yet to determine whether the molecular differences between ancestries result from environmental factors or genetic factors. However, they did identify genetic differences between ancestries that could explain many of their findings. "Our findings point to a need for more samples from diverse ancestries to conduct a truly comprehensive ancestry analysis, especially of normal tissues," Beroukhim remarks. "This study represents an important step in that direction." Explore further Indigenous American ancestry may be associated with HER2-positive breast cancer Preach one thing, practise another View(s): Rarely do political leaders miss an opportunity to issue statements when nations or religious and ethnic communities celebrate important occasions that are sacred to some and meaningful to others. This happens the world over, especially in countries in which democratic governance or a shade of it, still exists and public support is constantly sought to further ones political life. Such actions are common not only in this country like no other but elsewhere too. For without winning over the citizenry political shelf-life becomes incredibly short. So, come a widely celebrated traditional occasion, an internationally accepted religious ceremony or a long recognised world event, leaders and prominent politicians fall over each other to express their goodwill and good wishes and gain publicity. Last year on Sinhala and Tamil New Year day all hell broke loose here when the British Labour Party issued a statement which only wished the Tamil community and not the Sinhala people. This was not the first time the Labour Party has engaged in such hypocrisy raising the ire of others in the Sri Lankan community. It was abundantly clear that such blatant bias was politically motivated with the Labour Party pursuing the Tamil community for its votes to preserve the parliamentary life of some of its prominent members by scraping the bottom of the electoral barrel. This year the party was embroiled in internal electioneering as it searched for a new leader to succeed a labouring Jeremy Corbyn under whom the party lurched precariously to the left. Add to that the spread of the coronavirus in the UK mainly because the new Conservative Party leadership dismissed the advice of scientists and medical experts. The Boris Johnson administration singularly failed to take early steps to prepare the country for the impending calamity. Thus today the UK has the highest death toll in Europe resulting from Covid-19. In Sri Lanka the caretaker government is grappling with the spread of the virus and trying desperately to contain the pandemic as new cases of the infection are detected. At the time of writing the total infected has scaled the 800 mark. Of course, it is way below the statistics released daily in the UK which might not have happened had the media not intervened and demanded the right to know. That was the only way an anxious public would know what its government is doing and where it stands in the battle to contain the dreaded virus. If one is to believe what medical and other experts have been saying in the UK and in Sri Lanka, then it seems that both governments got off the starting blocks much later than they should have. The Boy Scout Movement, founded in the UK over a century ago has a brief and unforgettable motto Be prepared. Had the two governments taken that to heart they should and would have been prepared early enough with protective equipment for frontline staff and health workers and other vital medical supplies for testing and isolating those infected and others who were their contacts. But as is often customary, politicians and their inner circles think they know best. So the best of opinions and advice from persons more competent to assess the situation on the ground are discarded or ignored thus jeopardizing the health and lives of many. It is easy to say in hindsight that political leaders did not ready themselves for this eventuality because there were hardly any early signs that indicated the outbreak and spread of this virus. One would have expected the know-alls that sprout inside administrations like unwanted weeds, to have been alert enough to take a cue from the spread of the virus elsewhere in Asia and Europe. Then our Resplendent Isle might have been spared the health and economic woes that it has had to undergo in the last two months and would have to go through more suffering before Sri Lanka can come out of it. But our politicians seem to have been otherwise distracted by other events such as upcoming parliamentary elections and preparing their parties to meet the electoral challenges. Now with the economy in tatters, the jobless in their thousands and the wunder kinder scratching their bald pates for ways to restart their economies, they are appealing to those in the public and private sectors for donations to fill the fiscal holes. Presidential Secretary P.B. Jayasundera, who knows a thing or two about money matters, has come up with a brilliant idea that should win him a Nobel Prize. That is if the other economic whizz kid in government ranks, Bandula Gunawardena, does not steal a march on Jayasundera. After all was it not this economics teacher who once said a family of four could live on Rs 2,500 a month or some such nonsense which evoked derisive laughter. Let the economics experts fiddle with figures and resort to means fair and somewhat foul like urging donations from the monthly salary of public officers already struggling to survive- to plug the gaping monetary holes. Having read of Dr Jayasuneras futuristic idea of taxing the poor public servants, I received a telephone call from a resident here who asked a pertinent question. Why does the learned economist not ask Sri Lankas former ambassador to Putin-land, Udayanga Weeratunga for a few dollars more. After all he is back home now. I suggested that he approach Dr Jayasundera and pitch his suggestion. In this Vesak month of May, Sri Lankas Buddhist majority and perhaps others too have been exhorted by political leaders to follow the wise and compassionate teachings of the Buddha. There is nothing wrong with such exhortations. In fact, the people should be urged to follow the wise words of the Blessed One not only in this month of Vesak but every day of the year. And that should include our politicians who are quite liberal with their preaching. If the ordinary people of our Resplendent Isle forget those teachings as they struggle to survive. But it is unforgiveable when those who preside over us appear once a year or so to remind the populace of the Buddhas teachings. On reading the annual statements that spin forth from the political echo chambers one is reminded of these words of the Buddha: However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do if you do not act upon them. These are indeed wise words and should apply equally to some of those who have covered themselves with the saffron robe, undertaking to follow the precepts of the Buddha and preach the dhamma, but have sadly deviated from the task they have undertaken, to dabble in worldly and unsavoury affairs that violate the vinaya and still go unpunished. To those who search for the hidden and buried, who seek accountability on behalf of the citizenry, the Buddhas advice to the Kalamas stand in good stead. In this Sutta, which Soma Thera calls the Buddhas charter of free inquiry, the Thera states that the spirit of the sutta signifies a teaching that is exempt from fanaticism, bigotry, dogmatism, and intolerance. It would be a sad day if that spirit of free inquiry is killed and those who would wish to dig deep are stilled. (Neville de Silva is a veteran Sri Lankan journalist who was Assistant Editor, Diplomatic Editor and Political Columnist of the Hong Kong Standard before leaving for London where he worked for Gemini News Service. He was later Sri Lankas Deputy chief of mission in Bangkok and Deputy High Commissioner in London before returning to journalism) Mixed messages Regarding Am I crazy? Finding reality in a pandemic, (A13, May 7): What a joy to see words from Lisa Falkenberg! I lauded her promotion to the Houston Chronicles editor of opinion but have so missed her observations of life here in Texas. Her divergent comments on this pandemic actually brought me back to sanity. I am not alone. J. Flannery, Houston While I rarely agree with Lisa Falkenberg, this column resonated with me. I feel as though I am living in the apocalypse phase of a post-apocalyptic movie. With my tri-colored, Albert Einstein hairdo and fingernails that look awful, I remind myself that I have much for which to be grateful: Good health (as far as I know this minute), food, shelter, clothing, and wonderful friends and family. I wish more people were this lucky. Phyllis Kalman Grant, Sugar Land It was good to read Lisa Falkenberg in the paper again. Shes not alone in her confusion about the mixed messaging from our leaders during this pandemic. Our government reaction to the coronavirus has been a mishmash of double speak and misinformation from the beginning of this crisis. Our elected officials failed us, pure and simple. David Kelly, Spring Thank you for this article. I was just expressing this same sentiment yesterday to my husband, while holding back tears. I am one to err on the side of caution, but it is confusing and overwhelming to figure out what the right behavior is. At least Im not alone in this maelstrom of uncertainty. Wendy W Chopin, Missouri City Judge Hidalgo Regarding Hildalgo is right to make evidence-based decisions, (A15, May 6): Thank you, Liz Hanks, for your opinion piece. You wrote exactly the same thoughts I have about Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, her leadership and the sad disregard some in our community have for her recommendations. Because our governor overruled her mandate that everyone should wear masks in public, I now must continue to curtail my own activities. I am almost 77 years old and have an auto-immune disease which puts me at high risk for dying should I contract this virus. I will do what is necessary to avoid exposing myself to COVID-19, which now means I cannot go into stores, restaurants or other public places where I will have to mix with people who refuse to wear masks. I have read that the contagion probability decreases when all parties wear masks. Since many people who have the virus are asymptomatic, how does one know who is safe without a mask and who isnt? Good reasons for Hidalgos emphasis on wearing masks. I can only see our city and county successfully reopening if we follow her guidelines, based on advice from our health officials, of strict social distancing and the wearing of masks in all public areas. It is the only feasible way to do so while the contagion is still among us. Alice Lively, Kingwood New Delhi, May 11 : The most important aspect in the smartphone industry right now is shortage of manpower as most of the workers have gone home due to coronavirus pandemic and the delay in bringing them back to restart the entire production cycle will take some more time, Madhav Sheth, Vice President, realme and CEO, Realme India said on Monday. As per the government's guidelines, the company's Greater Noida facility has resumed operations with 25 per cent capacity. "Amid the lockdown, manpower disruption was also seen. The migrant workers truckers and helpers have gone back to their hometowns. It will take 2-4 week to revamp the entire production cycle even after we received the permit to reopen our factory last week," Sheth told IANS on the sidelines of Realme Narzo series launch. "We are aiming to open 25 per cent normal production so there might be some shortage of stocks in the upcoming month due to the surge in demand post lockdown relaxations and new product launches," informed Sheth. Realme on Monday launched its much-awaited Narzo 10 and Narzo 10A smartphones in India via an online event. Realme Narzo 10A (3GB+32GB storage) is priced at Rs 8,499 and will be available from May 22 on realme.com and Flipkart. The device will be available at retail stores in select states from May 18. Realme Narzo 10 will be available in 4GB+128GB variant for Rs 11,999. First online sale will start on May 18 via realme.com and Flipkart, and it will be available at the offline retail stores in select cities as well. "We are aiming to meet sales targets and recover faster than others due to our strong presence on e-commerce, faster offline expansion and product advantages across mid-range and budget segments," said Sheth. "We are expecting that there will be more demand for the budget to mid-range smartphones, as compared to those in the higher price segment, because people have lost income during the lockdown," Sheth told IANS. "I always believe that there are two aspect of the smartphone industry. One is lifestyle and another is utility and right now, utility will take centre-stage while lifestyle will be a secondary option," said Sheth. The company is also looking forward to expanding in smaller towns with more retail stores. "In 2020, we will reach our customers based in tier-4 and 5 towns along with other cities, through more than 400 distributors who will cover 35,000 mobile stores pan India. We are aiming at a 40 per cent offline contribution to overall sales by the end of year," Sheth noted. (Md Waquar Haider can be reached at waquar.h@ians.in) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Orji Kalu A former Governor of Abia State, Mr. Orji Uzor Kalu has remained in Kuje Prison even after a Supreme Court judgement ordered for his retrial. It was gathered that hes still in prison because the Apex Court did not issue any order for Kalus release because he did not file any application for such. The judgement only covers the Appellant, Mr. Ude Jones Udeogu, who challenged the propriety of a Court of Appeal Judge, Justice Mohammed Idris to try him and not the defendant. The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Correctional Service Mr. Jaafar Ahmed, has also refused to release Kalu because there was no any order from the Supreme Court. It was learnt Kalu may have to approach the Court of Appeal, where he has a pending matter, to ask for his release following the dismissal of the judgement of the Federal High Court, Lagos by the Supreme Court. According to a copy of the judgement exclusively obtained by THE NATION, the Supreme Court clearly stated that the judgement relates only to the Appellant. A doctor who fought through cancer and chemotherapy said being hospitalised after eating a toxic death cap mushroom was the worst pain she had ever felt. Dr Anna Whitehead, from Waikato on New Zealand's North Island, found the mushrooms near an oak tree over the Easter long weekend. She was walking through the coastal town of Raglan when she found the mushrooms and was going to check online to see if they were toxic, but forgot. Dr Whitehead decided to fry two mushroom caps and a stem and ate them with fish for lunch, Stuff reported. Dr Anna Whitehead (pictured) found the mushrooms near an oak tree over the Easter long weekend and ate them - hours later she woke up vomiting an unusual green liquid She went to bed feeling fine before waking up at 3am vomiting up an unusual green liquid before falling back to sleep. Hours later the doctor woke up again with a 'huge amount' of green vomit and this time diarrhoea as well. 'By eight in the morning I thought: I'm actually really unwell,' Dr Whitehead said. Dr Whitehead guessed the mushrooms were what made her sick and quickly called Healthline for a paramedic who questioned her on what she had eaten. She denied eating a 'magic mushroom' before her GP called the National Poisons Centre (NPC) and put the doctor on a drip at her doctor's clinic. Toxins from the mushrooms were attacking her liver and she found it impossible to keep fluids down so Dr Whitehead had to be rushed to hospital. Despite surviving cancer and chemotherapy Dr Whitehead said she had 'never ever felt so terrible'. Amanita Phalloides, commonly known as the death cap, is a deadly poisonous fungus. A few mouthfuls of the death cap mushroom can kill. Amanita Phalloides, commonly known as the death cap, is a deadly poisonous fungus. A few mouthfuls of the death cap mushroom can kill They often grow near established oak trees, and are found when there is warm, wet weather. The fungi can lead to death in only 48 hours after consumption as a result of serious liver damage. Dr Whitehead took activated charcoal which caused her lips and vomit to turn black but ultimately the toxins were still destroying her liver. The New Zealand Liver Transplant Unit in Auckland was contacted as a precaution but the doctor's liver functions were found to be slowly returning back to normal. Dr Whitehead has been recovering for more than three weeks with the help of staff at Waikato Hospital's high dependency unit. She refuses to eat any kind of mushroom following the trauma from the poison. India's third Covid wave likely to peak on Jan 23, daily cases to stay below 4 lakh: IIT Kanpur scientist Uddhav Thackeray tells PM to decide on lockdown 'with caution' India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, May 11: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray told Prime minister Narendra Modi in the virtual meeting on Monday to decide on the future plan of action on the coronavirus lockdown "with caution". "Cases are expected to peak in May, it may peak in June or July also. I have read Wuhan is witnessing a second wave of cases, even WHO has warned about this. So, I suggest that any action on lockdown must be taken cautiously," he said. "We seek loan for farmers to tide over the situation. Migrant workers are leaving our State, it is important that they do not carry this virus back to their homes," the Chief Minister said. Fake: Govt not mulling religion based mapping of coronavirus "We should not force migrants to leave the State, if possible, they should stay back and we should help them to support themselves. Lockdown should not be lifted, we should regulate it and allow relaxation," he added Trains should be allowed for essential services, he further said. The Maharashtra Chief Minister also urged centre for deployment of central police in the State, as the State police have been tirelessly working without any rest. We have to ensure that police are given the required time for rest. GST on medical equipment particularly PPEs, Ventilators, etc should be waived. In Green Zones, we have already allowed economic activities. Inter-district movement should happen with strict adherence to screening. Efforts to curb rumours spread through social media should be monitored, the Maharashtra CM has reportedly said at the meeting. Yves here. It seems oddly long ago when I happened to be near a TV and heard the governor announce the closure of the states schools, initially planned only for a few weeks. I recall wondering how working parents would cope, although the subsequent closures of non-essential businesses took care of a lot of the working part. Even so, most children arent disciplined enough to learn well remotely. Many parents dont have the patience to master the material their kids are studying to step in as substitute teachers, so the results are even more likely to skew by class (more affluent parents feeling less pressured and thus better able to home school and even bring in tutors). Belle Chesler, a visual arts teacher in Beaverton, Oregon now teaching from her home in Portland, Oregon. Originally published at TomDispatch Do you hear that silence? Thats the absence of footsteps echoing through our nations public school hallways. Its the silence of teaching in a virtual space populated with students on mute who lack a physical presence. Its the crushing silence of those who are now missing, who cant attend the classroom that Zoom and Google built. Maybe you heard the shouted pleas of teachers across the country last year as we walked out of our classrooms and into the streets, begging for affordable housing, health care, and access to equitable funding and resources for our students? Or maybe you heard the impassioned screams of frightened kids as they stormed into the streets and onto the news, demanding safety and an end to the threat of gun violence in our nations school buildings? Now, theres nothing left to hear. Today, all were left with is a deafening silence that muffles the sound of so much suffering. The unfolding public health, mental health, and economic crisis of Covid-19 has laid bare the fragility of what was. The institutions charged with caring for and guiding our most valuable assets our children were already gutted by half a century of chronic underfunding, misguided curricular policies that prioritized testing over real learning, and social policies that favored austerity over taking care of the most vulnerable members of our society. Now that so many teachers are sequestered and alone or locked away with family, our bonds of proximity broken, were forced to stare into that void, scrambling to find and care for our students across an abyss of silence. The system is broken. The empire has no clothes. Not so many weeks ago, I used to be a teacher in a sprawling public high school outside Portland, Oregon. Before the virus arrived, I taught painting, drawing, ceramics, and filmmaking in three different studio classrooms. There, groups of students ranging across the economic, ethnic, religious, racial, and linguistic spectrum sat shoulder to shoulder, chatting and creating, day after day, year after year. Music played and we talked. On some days, the classes were cacophonous and chaotic; on others, calm and productive. In those spaces, we did our best to connect, to forge thriving communities. What I now realize, though, is that the physical space we shared was the only thing truly tying us all together. Those classrooms were the duct tape securing the smashed bumper on the wreck of a car that was our public education system. Now, it couldnt be more obvious: no ones going to solve the problems of our present and near future with the usual solutions. When desperation leaves us without imagination, clinging to old answers, scrambling to prop up systems that perpetuated and solidified inequity, it means missing the real opportunity of this otherwise grim moment. The great pause that is the Covid-19 shutdown has allowed us all to stare into the void, to see far more clearly just how schools have long shouldered the burdens of a society that functions largely for the privileged, leaving the rest of our nations children and families to gather the crumbs of whatever remains. The Privilege of Homeschooling In the first weeks after schools closed across the country, as parents struggled to homeschool their children, memes, rants, tweets, and strongly worded emails to school administrators popped up across the Internet. They expressed the frustrations of the moment. Those shared tales of the laughably insane trials and tribulations of parents trying to provide a reasonable facsimile of an education to kids sequestered at home, while still trying to work full time under the specter of a pandemic, amazed and depressed me. Television producer and writer Shonda Rimes tweeted, Been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes. Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. Or a week. Rimess tweet seemed to encapsulate the absurd reality of life at home with kids in the time of the coronavirus. As I read her tweet, I laughed out loud and in utter solidarity with her. A teacher no less, I, too, was trying and failing spectacularly to oversee the education of an increasingly frustrated and resistant third grader from home. For those of us siloed in our privilege healthy, with plenty of food stocked away in cupboards, quiet rooms with doors that shut, ample Internet access, and enough Wi-Fi-enabled devices to share among the members of our households our quarantined home life is challenging, but not impossible. Our daily frustration continues to be a function of that privilege. For those without it, those who were already living in poverty or at its brink when the pandemic struck, homeschooling poses yet another crushing hurdle in life. How can you provide an education for your children when simply securing food, work, and shelter is your all-consuming reality? Meanwhile, as exhausted parents screamed at school districts, teachers, and administrators on the Internet about providing virtual learning resources and online curricula to engage students during the school day, public school officials (at least in my world) were scrambling to deal with a far more immediate threat: kids going hungry. What this pandemic promptly revealed was that the most fundamental and urgent service schools provide to many children is simply feeding them. The gravest and most immediate threat to our most vulnerable students was, and continues to be, hunger. If schools are closed, so is the critical infrastructure that helps keep our nations children fed. Aside from SNAP (the food stamp program), the National School Lunch Program is the largest anti-hunger initiative in the country. It feeds 29.7 million children on school days, with an additional 14.7 million children fed thanks to the School Breakfast Program and more than 6.1 million via the Child and Adult Care Food Program. And those numbers dont even include the informal system of food distribution that teachers often provide students in their classrooms. On average, teachers spend upwards of 300 of their own dollars yearly providing food to students. So, no wonder that, as soon as Covid-19 closed the doors of our schools, administrators, teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, and volunteers across the country mobilized on a large and downright heroic scale to attempt to keep those students fed. In the Beaverton school district where I teach, a Grab and Go curbside meal distribution program was quickly set up, making daily meals accessible to every student in the district. As economic conditions head for Great Depression-level misery, think of these as 2020 versions of the infamous breadlines of that era, only in this case theyre for children (and sometimes their families). The responsibility for feeding students was not the only immediate concern. The adults in our school typically also serve as first responders for those students. We monitor their moods and listen to their stories. We notice when kids are struggling emotionally and, as mandatory reporters, step in when we suspect a child is living in a perilous or unsafe situation. In the first weeks after we left our classrooms, calls to Oregons child abuse hotline dropped by more than half. Other states across the nation reported similar declines. The drop in calls has frightening implications. Coupled with increasing economic insecurity and social isolation, rising rates of child abuse are undoubtedly imminent. When teachers, counselors, and school social workers are no longer able to observe and communicate openly with students, signs of neglect or abuse are much more likely to go undetected and unreported. The closure of our buildings also poses a huge barrier to the normal support of students struggling with mental-health issues. Our children are already suffering from alarming rates of depression and anxiety. Isolating them from their friends, peers, mentors, caregivers, and teachers will only compound their mental-health challenges. Trying to Bridge the Digital Divide Add the surreal nature of an invisible foe to a lack of clear directives from both the federal and state government and you have a formula for problems. When we were finally instructed to leave our school, it was without advanced warning. In my classrooms, half-finished clay projects littered the countertops, while palettes loaded with acrylic paint and incomplete canvases were left to desiccate and gather dust on the shelves. Students departed without cleaning out their lockers or often even gathering their schoolwork and books, not to speak of the supplies theyll need to complete that work at home. And even though our students do have access to technology three years ago, our district adopted a policy of providing a Chromebook to each student it soon became apparent that there were huge obstacles to overcome in transforming our brick-and-mortar classrooms into virtual spaces. Many students had, for instance, broken or lost their Chromebooks. Some had missing chargers. And even many of those who had their Chromebooks with them at home had limited or no access to Wi-Fi connectivity. Trying to reach all my students across that digital divide became the central focus of my waking hours. I made calls; I texted; I emailed; I posted announcements in my digital classroom stating that wed be reconvening online. Still, none of these efforts mattered for the students stuck at home without Wi-Fi or lacking the necessary devices. Before our nations schools closed, the Federal Communications Commission estimated that around 21 million people in America did not have broadband Internet access. According to data collected by Microsoft, however, the number who cant access the Internet at broadband speeds is actually closer to 163 million. While districts across the country scrambled to provide mobile hotspots and working devices to students, teachers like me began the demoralizing and herculean task of scrapping years of thoughtfully crafted curriculums in order to provide an entirely new online learning experience. We stepped into our virtual classrooms with the knowledge that, no matter how many shiny new digital resources we have at our disposal, theres nothing we can do to provide equitable access to education remotely. And even if we were to solve such problems, we couldnt offer the space or the support students need to learn. Kids living in cramped situations will struggle just to find a quiet place to attend our online classes. Those whose working parents suddenly need childcare for younger siblings have sometimes found themselves taking on the roll of primary caregivers. Some students whose families were in ever more perilous economic situations increased their work hours and scrapped the idea of attending school altogether. And many of our English-as-a-second-language, or ESL, students, as well as the 14% of students nationally who require additional learning supports, are now in trouble. Theyve been left to navigate a complex web of digital platforms and new learning approaches without the individualized attention or frequent checks for understanding that they rely on from their teachers. What virtual learning can never stand in for is the moment when a student leans over and asks me or a peer for help. That simple act of vulnerability that builds a bridge to another human being may be the most important moment in any classroom and now its gone. In Covid-19 America, when school kids need help most, they cant simply lean over and ask for it. The Time to Pivot Today, I teach from my kitchen, my dining room, or the floor of my bedroom. I stare across the digital abyss into the pixelated faces of just a handful of students. Its impossible to read their emotions or body language. Even when I unmute them, most choose not to speak. Each day, fewer of them show up to class. Sometimes, students turn off their videos, and I speak only to a sea of black rectangles, the white text of the students name the sole indicator of his or her presence in my new classroom. Not surprisingly, our sessions together are stilted and awkward. I try to make jokes and connect, but its impossible to replicate online the intimacy of a face-to-face interaction. The magic of what was, of 25 to 40 students working cohesively in community, is lost. And in the darkest hours of the early morning, when I wake with a start, crushing anxiety pushing on my chest, I think about all the third graders unable to participate in my daughters distance-learning classroom. I wonder about the students Ive still been unable to reach the ones who havent responded to my emails or completed any assignments, and whose faces I never see online. Where are they? How are they? I have no way of knowing. Our world no longer looks the same. This pause, which has caused, and will continue to cause, so much suffering may also be a gift, offering a shift in perspective and a chance to pivot. Perhaps its a rare opportunity to acknowledge that our nations public schools should not be left so alone to provide food, mental health care, and digital connectivity for our nations children. That should be, in a fashion almost unimaginable in America today, the role of the larger society. Now is not the time to be silent but to raise our voices, using any privilege we may have, be it in time, money, or simply access, to demand major changes both in how all of us think about our American world and in the systems that perpetuate such inhumane and unconscionable disparities for so many. There is no way to continue putting yet more duct tape on that smashed bumper of a public education system that was already such a wreck before the coronavirus arrived on these shores. Nor is this the time to retreat into our silos, hoarding privilege along with toilet paper and hand sanitizer, too cowardly to demand more for all the children in this country. Its time instead to reach out across the six feet of social-distancing space that now divides us all and demand more for those who arent able to demand it for themselves. KALAMAZOO, MI -- The four new deaths attributed to the coronavirus in Kalamazoo County on Sunday marked more than half of this weeks total. In the last seven days, 139 cases and seven deaths have been reported in Kalamazoo County. On Sunday, May 10, the county reported only an additional 12 cases, plus the four deaths, bringing the totals to 606 cases and 29 deaths. The new deaths represented a relatively large increase for the county, while the amount of new COVID-19 cases is significantly less than the 20-per-day average for the last week. Michigan reported statewide totals of 382 new COVID-19 cases and 25 deaths on Sunday. The 25 new deaths represent the lowest mark since March 29 when 21 deaths were reflected in the daily numbers. Since March, 92 people have been hospitalized for coronavirus in Kalamazoo County, according to county data. The average age of the deceased has lowered to 76 after hovering in the 80s for weeks, according to county data. Although the virus is killing older individuals, 70% of Kalamazoo Countys positive cases are among residents younger than 60, according to county data. Of the 606 cases confirmed as of Sunday, 181 were black, making up 29.9% of the countys total confirmed cases. African Americans make up less than 12% of the countys total population, according to the latest census data. This weeks 20-case daily average follows a week with an average of 24 positive cases per day. Among the highest daily counts was 53 cases recorded on Wednesday, May 6. The increase in cases comes after two test sites were set up by the Family Health Center. Both sites tested more than 150 people, according to Family Health Center. The next site will take place 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Thursday, May 14 at Kalamazoo Central High School located at 2432 N. Drake Road. Individuals who are hoping to get tested must first call the Family Health Center at 269-488-0804 to undergo a pre-test evaluation and assessment to determine whether it is appropriate for them to be tested, said center President and CEO Denise Crawford. A visual representation of the increasing case counts and death toll in Kalamazoo County is shown below, based on data reported by the state. Apparent conflicts in data reported there result from slight differences in daily case counts provided by state and county health officials. Browser does not support frames. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. More coronavirus coverage on MLive: Sunday, May 10: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Eminem, Twitter CEO pledge $1M to Detroit on Lil Wayne radio show Rihanna, Big Sean among group donating $3.2 million to coronavirus relief efforts in Flint, Detroit Whitmer extends Michigan stay-at-home order until May 28, manufacturing reopens Monday Warsaw, May 11 : World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Witold Banka has warned that "after the coronavirus outbreak there are more opportunities to avoid anti-doping tests but soon WADA will have a full control again". In the interview for Sportowe Fakty on Sunday, Banka talked about WADA's problems due to the epidemic, reports Xinhua news agency. Doping control officers are not able to conduct tests on athletes as effectively as before. What is more, the number of controls has decreased significantly. The American Anti-Doping Organisation (USADA) proposed tests that athletes perform themselves under the watchful eye of a camera but according to Banka, this solution wouldn't be effective. "COVID-19 has affected global anti-doping. Controls in many countries have been suspended or are very much restricted. We have a biological passport, long-term analysis, investigations and innovations. In addition, some federations are already declaring a return to research. I believe that in the perspective of several weeks we will be coming back to take full control", said the Polish President of WADA. Banka noted that the great revolution in anti-doping system is possible. WADA is working on the so-called dry blood method. It is believed that the system will be implemented before the winter Olympic Games 2022 in Beijing, China. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to resume the passenger train services at this juncture, saying allowing them would lead to movement of pepole and pose problems in testing them for COVID-19 and quarantining. Rao, who spoke during the video conference held by Modi with state chief ministers, observed that the impact of COVID-19 has been more in major cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad, an official release said here. "Chief Minister Sri K Chandrashekhar Rao has urged Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi not to revive the passenger train services, which were stopped as part of preventive measures to contain spread of coronavirus in the country," it said. As many as 15 trains are to be operated by the Railways from Tuesday on the Rajdhani route from Delhi to all the major cities, including Secunderabad here, in the country. Rao told Modi that resumption of passenger train services at this juncture would lead to movement of people from one destination to another. Nobody knows who is going from where to where.It is not possible to conduct tests on everyone. It is also difficult to put all those who travelled by trains under quarantine. Hence, passengers trains should not be allowed to ply, he said. Rao strongly favoured allowing migrant workers to return to their native places, besides rescheduling the loans of states and raising Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In light of the pandemic, Google employees are working from home until 2021 to maintain social distancing guidelines. The search engine giant is mandating that many employees continue working remotely, though some essential workers will report to the office. Google employees working from home through years end Google CEO Sundar Pichai is extending the work-from-home mandate. Once set for June 1st, Google is now requiring most of its staff to remain at home through December 31st. There are workers who need to be in the office. These workers will come back to the office in June or July. The remainder of the workforce will continue their current work routine via mobile devices. Advertisement Why is Google extending the remote working situation until 2021? The reason behind Googles decision to keep its stay-at-home mandate in place for most of its workforce pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, US President Donald Trump mandated the shutdown of the economy and the lockdown of the American public. Stay-at-home orders were put in place. Citizens were given curfews in their respective counties. They were urged to stay at home as much as possible, going out only for necessities such as groceries. Citizens have been allowed to walk around in their yards but avoid large gatherings in public places. Advertisement Though gatherings of up to 50 people were allowed initially, the spread of the disease pushed President Trump to reduce gatherings from 50 to 10 or less. Google sent its employees home, encouraging them to stay there until further notice. The search engine giant also alerted customers that its services, such as YouTube, for example, would require longer review times for video content considering the circumstances. This occurred after an employee in Googles Zurich office, among others, contracted coronavirus. How did it all begin? The SARS-COV-2 virus originated in a live animal market in China and was kept secret for some weeks before being reported to the CDC. Chinese citizen Dr. Li Wenliang, an opthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, reported evidence of a possible outbreak to the national authorities. Advertisement He was told to recant his statement, but he took to forums to alert others about the disease. When China finally reported it to the CDC, the disease had begun to spread not only in China but also in other countries. This, of course, includes the United States, as doctors, medical personnel, and businessmen travel across the world for business matters. Since then, the disease has continued to spread. Currently, the United States has an infection count of over 1.28 million and a death toll of over 77,000. The global infection count stands at over 3.9 million and the global death count at over 270,000. A loud hiss and grunt come from a green bag pressing air through a tube, as Senegalese researchers work to develop a prototype ventilator that could cost a mere $160 each instead of tens of thousands of dollars. The team is using 3-D printed parts as it works to find a homegrown solution to a medical shortfall that has struck even the richest countries: how to have enough breathing machines to handle an avalanche of COVID-19 patients who need the devices to help increase their blood oxygen levels. Complicating the task in Africa is the fact that the peak in coronavirus cases for the continent' is expected to come later than in Europe and the United States, well after dozens of other countries have bought out available supplies. ``Africans must find their own solutions to their problems. We must show our independence. It's a big motivation for this,'' said Ibrahima Gueye, a professor at the Polytechnic School of Thies in Senegal, on the 12-member team developing the prototype ventilator. Their efforts are being mirrored elsewhere across the continent, where medical supplies are usually imported. Many hope that these efforts to develop ventilators, personal protective equipment, sanitizers and quick-result antibody tests will lead to more independent solutions for future health crises. Although the quality of some products won't meet as high a standard as in the U.S. or Europe, Gueye said there is excitement that level can be reached eventually, with enough time and investment. In Ethiopia, biomedical engineer Bilisumma Anbesse is among those volunteers repairing and upgrading old ventilators. While the country has tried to procure more than 1,000 ventilators abroad, progress has been thwarted by the high demand. ``U.S. and Chinese companies that produce mechanical ventilators are saying they can't accept new orders until July. The same is true with other medical items like PPE and gloves,'' Annbesse said, referring to the personal protective gear worn to minimize exposure to health hazards. Africans also are helping to develop tools for disease prevention and surveillance. Institut Pasteur in Dakar is working on a rapid test for COVID-19 in partnership with the British biotech company Mologic, which developed a rapid Ebola test. They hope the coronavirus test, which can give results in 10 minutes, could be distributed across Africa as early as June. Once a prototype is validated, the test kits will be made in the U.K. and at a new facility in Senegal for infectious disease testing, DiaTropix, that was founded by Institut Pasteur. Workers in Dakar are using laser cutters to make about 1,000 face shields per week for health care workers. They also are creating key chains with prevention messages such as ``Stay Home.'' Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are being produced in Zimbabwe on university and technical college campuses that have been transformed into ``COVID response factories.'' Higher Education Minister Amon Murwira said the teams are also producing face masks, gowns and aprons. It's not known whether these projects will be finished before the virus hits its peak in Africa, but observers say the longer-term impact of such ingenuity is substantial. ``Necessity is the mother of invention,'' Dr. Ahmed Ogwell, deputy director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press. ``What we're seeing in Africa is going to change the way medical supplies in particular are manufactured.'' He predicted there would be a ``new public health order'' after the pandemic, with changes in global supply chains. Countries already are taking steps toward not having to rely on help from abroad. Developing countries are scrambling for equipment as deliveries are hindered. But even India, where some engineers are also trying to build low-cost ventilators, has access to more than 19,000 of them in addition to domestic manufacturers who are expected to deliver tens of thousands more. African nations are understanding the importance of local production and ingenuity. Ghana is using drone technology to transport COVID-19 tests and protective gear in collaboration with a U.S.-based company called Zipline that already was distributing vaccines and other medical products to remote parts of the country. ``This is a global pandemic: 210 countries and territories across the globe are affected,'' Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari tweeted recently. ``We cannot expect others to come to our assistance. No one is coming to defeat this virus for us.'' Search Keywords: Short link: President Akufo-Addo has announced a special package for the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to aid in the countrys COVID-19 fight. According to the President, the government will on Monday, May 11, provide the Commission with 10,000 locally produced nose masks and cash to enable it effectively carry out its responsibilities as a state agency. Addressing the nation in his ninth COVID-19 updates on Sunday, he said this is to among other things improve the capacity and resource constraints of the NCCE. Further, we have extended this gesture to other frontline actors engaged in the fight, with the presentation of five thousand (5,000) PPEs to members of the media, and tomorrow, Monday, 11th May, 10, 000 domestically-produced face masks and more money will be delivered to the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), to enhance its capacity to undertake the important work it is already doing, he said. The challenges at the NCCE were brought to the fore during the initial stages of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Ghana. In a period where the state is expected to be increasing awareness about the virus and the measures it has put in place to contain it, the Chairperson of the NCCE, Josephine Nkrumah disclosed that her outfit had only two information vans nationwide. The Commission she said, only got a boost to its logistics when the coronavirus pandemic started. The Church of Pentecost has given us 12 vans in addition to the two vans we have. And then we had the two vans that we had also already deployed in inner Accra, she noted. ---citinewsroom On Sunday night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 'exit plan' for the COVID-19 lockdown left the nation divided on what the public's next steps are. And Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield shared their honest reaction to the UK leader's coronavirus update on Monday's edition of This Morning. The presenting duo admitted they're 'cross' at the current status of the fight against the global crisis, with host Holly, 39, admitting: 'It feels like we've been knocked back'. Confused: Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield shared their honest reaction to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's coronavirus update on Monday's edition of This Morning Following social distancing rules by sitting two metres apart, the TV veterans expressed their frustration at Boris 'lack of direction' amid the pandemic. 'We were doing so well, we're a sensible country... but now it feels like they've knocked us back', former Celebrity Juice judge Holly said. Phillip, 58, appeared visibly annoyed as he fumed: 'We now lack clarity, now I don't understand and lack clarity. 'No government would mess it up that much. What are we allowed to do? You couldn't make this up, or write this. Today you've made us cross, Boris Johnson.' What are the next steps? The duo admitted they're 'cross' at the current status of the fight against the global crisis, with host Holly, 39, admitting: 'It feels like we've been knocked back' 'Today, you've made us cross': Dancing On Ice's Phillip, 58, appeared visibly annoyed as he fumed: 'We now lack clarity, now I don't understand and lack clarity Dancing On Ice star Holly admitted she noticed a rise in the amount of people going to work following the news as she mentioned: 'What I do know is that the roads are definitely busier!' Elsewhere in the episode, the pair engaged in a debate with Matthew Wright and Janet Street-Porter. The blonde beauty - who shares Harry, 10, Belle, nine, and Chester, five, with her husband Dan Baldwin - admitted she's confused by how primary schools will enforce social distancing once children return in June by the earliest. Mixed reactions: Elsewhere in the episode, the pair engaged in a debate with Matthew Wright and Janet Street-Porter What will happen? The blonde said she's confused by how primary schools will enforce social distancing once children return (pictured with Harry, 10, Belle, nine, and Chester, five in 2018) Jokes on him: Later into the show, Phillip unintentionally brought some light relief to viewers as they realised his mic pack was hanging from his trousers 'There's no way my little Chester be able to socially-distance himself from his best friend Arthur', the media personality highlighted. Later into the show, Phillip unintentionally brought some light relief to viewers as they realised his mic pack was hanging from his trousers. Fans tweeted: 'Can someone please tell to stop dangling his mic pack like that?#ThisMorning... Phillips mic pack hanging off #ThisMorning. 'is phillip's mic hanging out his a**e?' [sic] In his pre-recorded speech from Downing Street, the Prime Minister urged those who can't work from home to go back to their jobs, allowed unlimited outdoor exercise and hinted at schools returning in June and some public venues reopening in July. Details about when people can see their families and friends were notably sparse, however. The PM paid tribute to the 'sacrifice' of Britons in reining in the killer disease, and insisted the government's top priority is to ensure those efforts are not 'thrown away'. But while he stressed the need for caution, Boris delivered a striking message about the 'colossal' impact on our 'way of life' and the importance of getting the economy up and running, amid fears that the draconian restrictions are causing the worst recession in 300 years. [May 11, 2020] MoneyShow Launches Groundbreaking Virtual Event Platform Attracting 13,000+ Attendees And 55+ of the Greatest Financial Minds in North America! SARASOTA, Fla., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- MoneyShow, widely known as the industry's leading producer of investment and trading conferences and go-to source for expert investment education and unbiased advice, today announced that over 13,000 investors and traders have registered to attend its first ever Virtual Event, May 11-13, 2020. In just six weeks, the MoneyShow team has built from scratch what many are calling the most innovative virtual event platform in the industry. Boasting an intuitive, smart, and modern user interface, the platform's unique differentiators include one-on-one Zoom meetings with speakers and company representatives, interactive message boards, live chats during each of the 55+ presentations, a digital briefcase where attendees can download investor kits, educational content, and research reports, and a prize vault loaded with dozens of opportunities to win gift cards, product giveaways, and even stocks! "The demand for financial advice is up more than 24% because of uncertainty in the market as a result of COVID-19. Our technology team has worked diligently to create an interactive, easy-to-use virtual platform that provides free access to financial experts and their opinions and advice," said Johnny Antolak, CTO of MoneyShow. At a critical time for investors and tradrs, this one-of-a-kind event features real-time analysis and specific strategies for everything from stocks, bonds, ETFs, and commodities to options, futures, and forex from the most sought-after financial experts in America. Featured Speakers: Stephen Moore, Co-Founder, Committee to Unleash Prosperity John Bollinger, President and Founder, Bollinger Capital Management Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist, CFRA Research Keith Fitz-Gerald, Founder, Fitz-Gerald Research Analytics Jon Najarian, Co-Founder, Market Rebellion Peter Schiff, Chief Economist & Global Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital, Inc. Linda Raschke, President, LBRGroup, Inc. Gary Shilling, Columnist, Forbes Alexander Elder, Trader and Author, The New Trading for a Living Jeffrey Saut, Chief Investment Strategist, Capital Wealth Planning MoneyShow's Virtual Event is happening right now, so please click here to register free and get instant access to 55+ sessions streaming LIVE starting today! (You can download the full schedule here) About MoneyShow MoneyShow is a privately held financial media company headquartered in Sarasota, Florida. Founded in 1981 and guided by the believe that "knowledge is power," MoneyShow gathers more than 50,000 qualified investors, traders, and financial advisors together with 1,500 top financial experts, and 350 businesses and media professionals to offer actionable advice, idea exchange, relationship building, and learning through 10 face-to-face conferences, 8 seminars-at-sea, and more than 500 livestream webcasts throughout the year. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/moneyshow-launches-groundbreaking-virtual-event-platform-attracting-13-000-attendees-and-55-of-the-greatest-financial-minds-in-north-america-301056693.html SOURCE MoneyShow [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Residents of Gage County may be able to get a haircut and have dinner inside a restaurant sooner than expected. A social media post from Public Health Solutions, the district health department that covers Gage, Saline, Fillmore, Jefferson and Thayer counties, issued Monday said that Gov. Pete Ricketts has approved a partial re-opening of services within the district. A new directed health measure (DHM) for the Public Health Solutions district would begin on May 18 and allow for the reopening of salons, barber shops, tattoo parlors, massage therapy services and dining room services at restaurants with some restrictions. The new DHM will also change guidelines for childcare centers, increasing the number of children allowed in a room to increase from 10 to 15. Also, Ricketts on Monday said the state will provide additional guidance for youth baseball and softball this summer with practices allowed to begin June 1 and games allowed to begin on June 18. Guidelines will include limiting fans to household members only using their own chairs and allowing players to spread out in the bleachers instead of being confined in dugouts. Teams will also be asked to limit cases of players sharing equipment. Ricketts said baseball and softball were selected over other sports because they involve limited contact. Gage County had an additional COVID-19 case reported as of Monday morning. According to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Gage County has now had 41 confirmed cases of COVID-19. No details about the latest case were provided. Lincoln officials reported 17 more COVID-19 cases Monday morning. Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department said in a news release that the new cases brought the county's total to 624 on Monday morning, up from 607 on Sunday. Officials did not release any information about the additional cases. The increase comes as local pandemic-related restrictions start to ease in many areas of the state including Lincoln. Beauty salons, massage providers and tattoo parlors were allowed to reopen on Monday in Lincoln, and restaurants can reopen their dining rooms with reduced capacity. Saline County, which also falls under Public Health Solutions coverage area, has 349 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Johnson County and Jefferson County have 5 and 4 cases, respectively. Statewide, Nebraska has had 8,315 positive cases from a total of 46,314 who have been tested. The state has had 98 Covid-19 related deaths as of Monday afternoon. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0 Lack of potable water has forced residents of Namemboku, a community in the East Mamprusi Municipality, to disregard the social distancing protocol by gathering in their numbers at a pit side dug along the path of a dried river in the community to fetch water. They expressed knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic and measures instituted to contain its spread but said they would be without water throughout the day if they did not go to the pit side to wait for their turn to fetch the unclean water. The Ghana News Agencys observations showed that depending on what time of the day, and the number of people at the pit side, it could take an individual up to three hours to fetch one bucket of water from the pit in the community, with a population of more than a 1000 people. Residents have testified that they, including pregnant and nursing mothers stayed late into the night at the pit side to fetch the water exposing them and their babies to mosquitoes. Mrs Linda Dabri, a resident, who was at the pit side to fetch water, lamented to the GNA that Because of no water, we are suffering, the whole of a day, you will not work, you will not do anything because of the water, and when you come here (pit side), you can spend more than three hours without getting even one bucket of water to go and bath or cook. Sometimes we see germs in the water but we just fetch it, cows also pass this place and drink the water, we need help. Mrs Elizabeth Manass, a nursing mother, who carried her baby whilst waiting for her turn to fetch the water at the pit side, said, We sleep at this place from morning to evening, and we will not get water. We sleep here with the babies and the mosquitoes, we are begging for help. The lack of potable water is not only negatively impacting the daily activities and livelihoods of residents of Namemboku but it has also become a major concern for them as they must wash their hands regularly with soap under running water to keep them safe from the COVID-19 pandemic. The countrys COVID-19 cases jumped from two on March 12 to 4,263 cases with 378 recoveries and 22 deaths on May 09. West Mamprusi Municipality, which shares boundaries with the East Mamprusi Municipality, has recorded two cases of the disease with one death, a situation, which calls for strict adherence to the safety precautions to prevent the spread of the disease in the area as well as to the neighbouring assemblies. The general consensus of the residents of Namemboku was a plea to government to urgently supply them with water as directed by President Nana Akufo-Addo in line with his COVID-19 three-month free water for all announcement. They said as a long term solution, there is the need for government to drill boreholes in the community to guarantee them potable water all-year-round. Mr Danladi Abdul-Nashir, East Mamprusi Municipal Chief Executive, acknowledged the challenges Namemboku residents encountered to access water assuring that as part of governments one million dollar per constituency initiative, a borehole would be drilled in the community within this week to supply residents with potable water. Mr Abdul-Nashir said during the week, additional 33 boreholes would also be drilled in a number of communities in the municipality to ensure that residents gain access to potable water to undertake their various activities as well as promote sanitation and hygiene practices. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike. We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve. European stocks closed in negative territory on Monday as the lifting of lockdowns continued throughout Europe despite fears of a second wave of coronavirus cases. The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended the day provisionally 0.7% lower, reversing earlier gains. Basic resources dropped 2.5% to lead losses, with most sectors and major bourses ending in the red. Spain's IBEX closed around 0.75% lower, while France's CAC 40 ended down 1.3%. Meanwhile, Italy's FTSE MIB fell around 0.3% and Germany's DAX ended the day down 0.7%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended flat. European investors continued to watch developments in the region with countries continuing to gradually lift lockdown restrictions. On Sunday, the U.K.'s Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced tentative steps to re-open the economy and public life and on Monday a 50-page document detailing the changes was published. From Monday, Brits who cannot work from home are being "actively encouraged" to go back to work, but avoid using public transport if possible. People will also be allowed to take unlimited amounts of exercise from Wednesday. Meanwhile in France, stores and hair salons are opening Monday and people no longer need permits to travel. Schools for younger children and nurseries are also reopening. However, Wuhan in China, where the outbreak which has now infected more than 4 million people worldwide began, on Monday reported its first cluster of new Covid-19 cases since lifting its lockdown measures. It sparked fears that easing restrictions could give way to a second wave of infections. The Delhi government on Monday initiated deliberations on how to re-open the national capital after the coronavirus-forced lockdown ends, an official said. Chief Secretary Vijay Dev held a meeting with top officers of the government to discuss a detailed plan for activities to be allowed post May 17, when the third phase of the curbs end. The official, however, said the Delhi government's relaxations will be in accordance with the Centre's decision. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, during a video conferencechaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with CMs of different states, said barring containment zones, economic activities should be allowed to resume in the city. The government has already demanded from the Centre that all 11 districts of Delhi be not treated as ''red zones'' so that more economic activities are allowed in the national capital, sources said. They said the government wants that in Delhi ''red zones'' be identified as per municipal wards instead of districts. Recently, the Union Health Ministry classified the entire national capital, which has 11 districts, as red zone. The city has 272 wards. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Siptu says between 1,500 and 2,000 health workers who signed up to be "On Call for Ireland" were handed agency contracts with inferior terms and conditions. The trade union says it has been contacted by a number of workers hired under the scheme. It says the contracts do not include death-in-service benefits which could amount to up to two years' salary for a worker with a direct state contract, or Covid-19 leave pay. Siptu divisional health organizer Paul Bell says agency staff are taking all the same risks and should get the same treatment. "These workers because they are not in that pension scheme have no access to any type of cover should they become a fatality and please god that doesn't happen," said Mr Bell. "We don't want to see a situation where a health worker on that type of contract succumbs to an illness of Covid-19 and then their family and loved ones then have to pursue the State or the employer for some type of compensation." Mr Bell said that these workers will not be covered for self-isolation should they have to do so. The Eddy Creator - Jack Thorne Cast - Andre Holland, Joanna Kulig, Leila Bekhti, Tahar Rahim, Amandla Stenberg The Eddy is une serie originale Netflix a crime drama masquerading as a musical that seemingly conjured a creator mere days ago. As many journalists have noted, Netflix refused to identify one person as being solely responsible for the show before its release none of the promotional material carried a created by credit. But then, in a plot twist to rival one that takes place in episode one of the show, it was discovered that the final version of the eight-part miniseries singles out Jack Thorne as the man behind the operation. Thorne, who has worked across several mediums he wrote Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for Broadway, and was hired by Disney to polish Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker goes back to his roots for The Eddy. The series is tonally and structurally similar to one of Thornes earliest gigs, the British teen drama Skins. Watch The Eddy trailer here Like that show, The Eddy switches protagonists with each episode while episode one is told through the eyes of a washed-up American jazz pianist named Elliot (Andre Holland), episode two focuses on his estranged teenage daughter Julie (a scene-stealing Amandla Stenberg), who arrives at his doorstep unannounced. And like Skins, The Eddy also dances between many genres, but rarely is it as graceful. What begins as a whimsical, behind-the-scenes look inside a Paris jazz club turns (rather abruptly) into a gritty urban crime story midway through episode one. And it never looks back. As one YouTube commentor hilariously wrote under the trailer, Half of this trailer is about music and the other half is like Jason Bourne. Its a jarring tonal shift, one that director Damien Chazelle only partially navigates. Fans of the filmmaker, whod probably have been excited about the notion of Chazelle revisiting his love for jazz (in Paris, no less), might be slightly taken aback by the boulevards down which The Eddy strolls. I certainly was. But I dont know what transpired behind-the-scenes; I can only make an informed guess. The lack of an official creator until a week ago is certainly a good clue. This time, however, by having a black protagonist, Chazelle cant be criticised for ignoring the socio-political history of jazz music. Considering what the world is currently going through, its sort of fitting that The Eddy resembles a nightmarish version of the future La La Lands Sebastian imagined for himself. Elliot is the quintessential Chazellian hero, just a little older. Theres a sense that he, like Sebastian, compromised on his personal relationships in his determination to realise his dreams. But owning a jazz club in Paris isnt easy, or particularly romantic. Elliot is drowning in debt, lonely, and struggling to keep his business afloat as the crowd dwindles with every passing evening. Like so many legendary African American jazz musicians before him Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong, to name just a couple Elliot perhaps sought refuge in Paris when the pressures of life in the US became too unbearable. Little did he know that hed soon be embroiled in a murder plot. Andre Holland and Joanna Kulig in a still from The Eddy. What hurts The Eddy is the disconnect between its first two episodes, directed by Chazelle, and the following six, directed by Houda Benyamina, Laila Marrakchi and Alan Poul. For one, the distinct visual style of the openers Chazelle and cinematographer Eric Gautier chose to shoot on grainy film stock is all but discarded as the story progresses. Perhaps this was a deliberate decision, since the tone and the plot are simultaneously and rapidly evolving as well. Or perhaps they couldnt afford more 16mm film. Who knows? The shows uneven pacing reminded my of a Bollywood musical, in which magical song sequences are known to disrupt perfectly fine drama. But The Eddys tonal creases are routinely smoothed down by the consistently well-written characters, and the performances of its cast. Andre Holland is excellent at communicating Elliots inner turmoil, erupting only on the rarest of occasions, despite near-constant pressure. The terrific French actor Tahar Rahim and his real-life wife, Leila Bekhti, play a married couple in the show, and certain scenes that explore the evolution of their relationship feel uncomfortably honest. Like Elliot and Julie, each central character is given their due, with Thornes story rewarding more patient viewers with deliberately paced revelations. He finds glimmers of old-fashioned Parisian romance even in this gritty, modern version of the city that the show portrays like the melting pot of races and cultures that it is. This isnt the City of Love as seen through Woody Allens rose-tinted glasses, where Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway would discuss their adventures over an aperitif. This Paris is a ghettoised, crime-ridden cesspool. But its inhabitants still have music in their souls. It is their only escape. And that, in itself, is a romantic idea. Follow @htshowbiz for more The author tweets @RohanNaahar The Police Command in Delta has confirmed the death of a 60-year-old U.S. citizen in the state, due to suspected complications arising from COVID-19. The state Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Inuwa confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Warri on Sunday. NAN gathered that the 60-year-old woman was in Nigeria to visit her male friend. She was kept in a hotel in Warri for sometime before relocating to another hotel around Orerokpe. While they were together for about a week, the woman was coughing and having difficulty in breathing and stooling. So, she was taken to a hospital on Saturday when her condition became worse and eventually died, Inuwa said. He said the male friend is with the Police in Orerokpe. The Police Commissioner said that he had drawn the attention of the Commissioner for Health in Delta to the development, in order to contact the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), in view of the symptoms developed by the deceased. Inuwa, however, warned Policemen to be very careful with the manner they deal with the said male friend, so as not to get infected with the dreaded COVID-19. Source: Pulse The post How 60-year-old American woman who visited lover died from Coronavirus symptoms in Delta appeared first on . Share this post with your Friends on The product they produce, the Safe Pack, functions mainly as a fanny pack, with extra safety features intended to prevent phone loss and theft, especially at large gatherings like concerts and sporting events. But since many of those events have been canceled due to ongoing social distancing guidelines, the students realized their prime months to sell the product might be lost for the year. COLOGNE, Germany NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has waded into Germanys fiery debate about the decades-old pledge to retain American atomic bombs in the European nation as a way of deterring Russia. Stoltenberg argued that only sticking to the doctrine of nuclear sharing would ensure Berlin's continued seat at the table of strategic decision-making within the alliance. NATOs nuclear sharing is a multilateral arrangement that ensures the benefits, responsibilities and risks of nuclear deterrence are shared among allies, he wrote in an op-ed first posted on the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung website. Politically, this is significant. It means that participating allies, like Germany, make joint decisions on nuclear policy and planning, and maintain appropriate equipment. The policy prescribes that a smattering of countries in Europe that dont possess atomic weapons will host such arms on their territory and maintain the means to deploy them. In the case of Germany, there are 20 B61 bombs reportedly stored at Buchel Air Base in western Germanys state of Rhineland-Palatinate. If called upon, German Tornado pilots would fly the weapons into enemy territory and toss them at the targets in a lofting maneuver, releasing them during a sharp upward and backward turn to maximize bomb airtime. Debate has flared up in recent weeks about Germanys nuclear role, following the German Defence Ministrys recommendation to purchase 30 F-18s for the job, as the Tornado fighter jets are expected to reach the end of their useful life by 2030. German government cites US ties in choice of F-18 planes for nuclear, jamming missions Led by Rolf Mutzenich, the chairman of the Social Democrats in parliament, a group within the governing coalitions junior party want to exit the NATO atomic arrangement, arguing that deal, too, has outlived its usefulness. Not so, argues Stoltenberg. While NATO views its own nuclear deterrent primarily as a political tool, Russia has firmly integrated its nuclear arsenal into its military strategy, Stoltenberg wrote. It has placed nuclear-capable missiles in Kaliningrad, just 500 km from Berlin. It has threatened allies such as Denmark, Poland and Romania with nuclear strikes. Russia also forcibly and illegally annexed part of Ukraine, a country whose borders it had previously committed to respect in return for Ukraine giving up its own nuclear protection. Story continues Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Germanys defense minister and chief of the Christian Democrats, also cited lingering geopolitical tensions as an argument for keeping U.S. nukes in the country. "As long as there are nuclear-weapons states who dont want to be part of our community of values, we need a strong negotiating position, she said last week, as reported by Die Zeit. "The deterrence capability of the nuclear-sharing arrangement serves that purpose. Those who want to give it up are weakening our security. To the uninitiated, the mere act of absorbing the nuclear debate here could seem like an acid trip through the various stages of Germanys coming of age since the Cold War. It is easy to get lost in the details. The intricacies to be considered touch on anything from certifying new jets for nuclear missions, the folly of attempting an atomic bomb run with a manned fighter jet in the first place, or the deterrence value of B61 bombs in Europe when other classes of weapons would breathe much more destructive fire over the continent. Perhaps that is why symbolic arguments aimed at preserving NATO cohesion appear to have the upper hand among Germanys decision-makers for now. Or as Stoltenberg put it: All allies have agreed that as long as nuclear weapons exist, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance. At PM Modi-CM meet, Mamata Banerjee attacks Centre | Covid-19 Prime Minister Narendra Modi held his fifth virtual meeting with all Chief Ministers to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown. The meeting was held around a week before the third phase of the nationwide lockdown ends. PM Modi said that state governments have played a major role in fighting the pandemic. However, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, slammed the Union government, accusing it of playing politics during a 'crucial time'. Watch the full video for more details. ...read more In Trial by Media, a true crime documentary series from Netflix out May 11, filmmakers revisit six court cases that captured national attention, becoming real-life legal dramas. Each installment in the series, whose executive producers include George Clooney and Jeffrey Toobin, examines flashpoints in broader social issues, from police brutality to sexual assault to political corruption, and how press coverage of each case influenced collective attitudes and the criminal justice system at large. The stories explored in Trial by Media span wild and tragic moments in American history throughout the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Each episode looks into the medias role in publicizing the caseand how they ultimately shaped general views of crime, often for the worse. Heres what to know about the cases at the center of Trial by Media. The murder of Scott Amedure brings closer scrutiny of talk shows Courtesy of Netflix Amid the heyday of daytime television talk shows in the 1990s was The Jenny Jones Show, which is the focus of Trial By Medias first episode. In 1995, a man named Scott Amedure appeared on the program to tape an episode about Same Sex Secret Crushes. During the episode, which never aired, he told another man, Jonathan Schmitz, that he liked him in a surprise confession. After the taping, Schmitz killed Amedure, claiming it was out of embarrassment over what happened on the show. The case that arose from Amedures murder called into question the ethical responsibilities of talk shows, with Amedures family arguing that The Jenny Jones Show bore some responsibility for his death. Schmitz was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison in 1996 and was released in 2017. The Jenny Jones Show remained on air until 2003. Although Amedures family successfully sued the show, with a ruling granting them $25 million from the program, that ruling was later overturned. The subway vigilante draws attention to racist violence Story continues Courtesy of Netflix The story of Bernhard Goetz, a white man who rose to notoriety in 1984 after he shot and wounded four black men in a New York City subway car, comes to foreshadow many other incidents of racist violence whose perpetrators claimed a vigilante-like self-defense. Goetz shot the men after they approached him on the train and asked him for money; he said he presumed they were going to mug him and that he acted out of a fear of being attacked. Goetz, as Trial by Media shows, immediately gained support throughout the country, and was dubbed the subway vigilante, while the motivations of his victims came under scrutiny. Eventually, Goetz was acquitted on charges of attempted murder and assault, and only found guilty for carrying an unlicensed firearm. The fatal shooting of Amadou Diallo inspires activism against police brutality Courtesy of Netflix Years before the Black Lives Matter movement called attention to police violence against people of color, the murder of Amadou Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, sparked outcry in New York City. Diallo was killed in 1999 while in a vestibule outside his apartment building when New York City police officers mistook his wallet for a gun. Officers said they thought Diallo matched the description of a rape suspect. He was shot 41 times, inciting outrage throughout the city over racial profiling and police brutality. Diallos mother, Kadijatou Diallo, emerges in Trial by Media as a central figure who pushed for justice in the wake of her sons death. The police officers, charged with second-degree murder, were later acquitted in a trial. A rape trial prompts debate on televising court cases Courtesy of Netflix In a rape case that became known as Big Dans trial, national attention turned to New Bedford, Mass., after a woman was gang-raped in a local bar by four men in front of onlookers in 1983. The ensuing trial, in which the woman was roughly cross-examined and victim-blamed, prompted discussion over how sexual assault victims should be treated and protected in the wake of crimes. Six men were arrested in connection with the case; of those, four men were charged with and convicted of aggravated rape. The woman, who was identified as Cheryl Araujo during the course of the trial, left New Bedford, where she had become an outcast, and moved to Florida, as the docuseries shows. The mother of two died in 1986, at age 25, in a car accident. Former CEO Richard Scrushy gets caught for money-laundering and fraud Courtesy of Netflix Another episode of Trial by Media looks into the life of former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, who, facing charges of fraud and money laundering, began hosting a Christian talk show with his wife as part of his defense tactic. The episode tracks the uber-wealthy Scrushy as he becomes a televangelist within a community of black churchgoers in Birmingham, Ala. While Scrushy was at first acquitted the charges of fraud brought against him, he was later indicted by a federal grand jury on counts of extortion, money laundering, bribery and more and sentenced to prison in 2006 along with former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. In 2012, Scrushy was released from prison. Rod Blagojevichs corruption scandal Courtesy of Netflix Trial by Media closes on the case surrounding former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who fell from grace in 2008 after being arrested for ties to a corruption scandal. Among many charges, including attempted extortion and lying to federal agents, Blagojevich notably tried to sell the vacant senate seat of then-President Barack Obama. The series final episode follows Blagojevich as he goes from a politician with a bright future to a national punchline, to an extent that began to overshadow his prior crimes. Blagojevich served eight years of a 14-year prison sentence before President Donald Trump granted him clemency in February 2020. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 05:11:31|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CAIRO, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's COVID-19 cases on Sunday hit 138,657 with 1,542 new infections, while Iran's tally reached 107,603. The death toll from the coronavirus in Turkey rose to 3,786 after 47 new fatalities were added in the past 24 hours, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has inspected the construction sites of two COVID-19 hospitals in the country's biggest city of Istanbul, which are expected to be completed soon. In Iran, COVID-19 infections rose by 1,383 on Sunday, while 51 new deaths from the virus were reported, raising the death toll to 6,640. Meanwhile, a total of 86,143 coronavirus patients have recovered in Iran, with 2,675 still in critical condition. It is worth noting that Iran has unveiled its first indigenous ventilator for the use of novel coronavirus patients, saying the ventilator was produced amid the restrictions Washington has imposed on the country for the imports of health equipment. Saudi Arabia announced 1,912 new cases and seven more deaths, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 39,048 and the death toll to 246. The kingdom also reported 1,313 more recovered patients, taking the total recoveries to 11,457. Qatar's health ministry on Sunday announced 1,189 new infections of COVID-19, increasing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 22,520, of which 19,753 patients are under treatment. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday announced 781 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 18,198. Israel reported 23 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the tally of coronavirus infections to 16,477. The deaths from the virus in Israel increased to 252 while the recoveries rose by 54 to 11,430. Egypt's coronavirus cases continued the surging trend to reach 9,400 after 436 new infections were added, while 11 more fatalities were reported, increasing the death toll to 525. Egypt received on Sunday the second batch of medical aid from the Chinese government for the North African country to fight the COVID-19 epidemic. The second batch consists of 440 boxes weighing 4.7 tons, including 10,000 N95 face masks, 10,000 protective suits and 70,000 nucleic acid detection reagents, said Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang in a ceremony held in Cairo. Kuwait reported 1,065 new cases, bringing the country's total number of infections to 8,688, of whom 58 have died and 2,729 recovered. In Morocco, the tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 6,063 after 153 new cases were added, which included 188 fatalities and 2,554 recoveries. The Omani health ministry announced on Sunday 175 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 3,399. The Iraqi health ministry confirmed two more deaths from COVID-19 and 88 new cases, as the total number of infections climbed to 2,767. The country has received three batches of medical aid from China and the support from a team of Chinese medical experts during their 50-day stay. Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections rose by 36 to 845 while the death toll remained at 26. Health Minister Hamad Hassan said he will impose a complete curfew in the country for two days if the number of infections keeps rising. Jordan registered 18 more infections, bringing the total coronavirus cases to 540, including nine deaths and 389 recoveries. The kingdom will start the second phase of evacuating Jordanian students and citizens from abroad on May 15, after the first batch of 3,000 Jordanians stranded abroad returned home. Sudan announced 53 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 1,164, while five new death cases were recorded, taking the death toll from the novel coronavirus to 64. Enditem COPENHAGEN - Two Swedish citizens, aged 22 and 23, have been charged with terrorism in connection with last years early morning explosion that damaged the headquarters of the Danish Tax Agency, slightly injuring a bystander. The two men, aged 22 and 23, were not identified. They were charged over the Aug. 6 blast at the tax agency blast in Copenhagen. In a statement, senior prosecutor Lise-Lotte Nilas said officials believe the case is so serious that it is a terror-like act. The two men were arrested on an international arrest warrant in Sweden in August and handed to Denmark for prosecution. If found guilty, they could face a life sentence, which equates to 16 years on average, No date for a trial was immediately announced. In a restaurant landscape constantly being reshaped by the coronavirus pandemic, San Franciscos dining scene could soon look very much as it did in the 2010s during the peak of the Bay Area food truck craze. The potential shift can be attributed to joint efforts involving the Golden Gate Restaurant Association; Tony Marcell, a business partner of celebrity chef Tyler Florence at San Franciscos Wayfare Tavern restaurant; and members of the citys Chamber of Commerce, as the group pushes for local legislation that would make it easier for restaurants to open food trucks during the pandemic. The permitting process for a restaurant to open a food truck now takes about six months, according to Marie Trimble Holvick, who is on the board of directors of the restaurant association. Holvick said the process should be much shorter for the growing number of small restaurants in desperate need of revenue to stay open. This could help the city, too. Right now restaurants want to bring people back to work, she said. I also think we need to prepare ourselves to a new way of life. The idea we are going to be packed into the cute 20-seat restaurant isnt going to be something that happens for a while. Holvick also said when it comes to health and safety practices required to open a food truck, restaurant owners are ahead of the curve because they are familiar with the rigorous permitting process and training related to food safety. Group members are also talking about how to ensure food truck workers have proper space to work together while adhering to social distancing protocols. The possible legislation is in its early stages but already has support from Rodney Fong, president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. If they cant come to the food, bring the food to them, seems like the current need, Fong said via email. John Storey 2017 Tony Marcell of Wayfare Tavern recently jump-started the conversation when his restaurant opened its first truck a few weeks ago. It gained a following in cities including San Francisco and Orinda, but Marcell said San Francisco quickly ordered him shut down over a variety of technicalities. Chief among them was the fact that Wayfare Taverns food truck was not under the companys DBA license, because the company leased it from a restaurant in San Jose. The truck, which was profitable for a short time, is no longer in use. It was magic and hope and all those beautiful things in the beginning, he said. We were following the threads of what people needed. Weve been pivoting every week, and its almost like opening a new restaurant each time we have to reinvent ourselves. For these communities where young families dont want to go out, we knew this could be a good thing. Opening a food truck in the city was a laborious process long before COVID-19. A food truck needs at least 11 permits to operate in the city, according to the San Francisco Business Portal, including a mobile food facility permit and a weighing and measuring device permit, among many others. San Francisco food trucks also arent allowed to park within 75 feet of a brick-and-mortar restaurant, a rule that Holvick and Marcell said should remain part of any new food truck legislation. In a recent report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, San Francisco was said to be one of the hardest cities in the country in which to open a food truck. The report surveyed 20 major cities based on the difficulty food truck operators face in obtaining permits and licenses. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Since the Bay Area shelter-in-place order, which was recently extended until the end of May, restaurants in San Francisco have been able to provide only takeout and delivery service. The industry has experienced a rash of mass layoffs and closures as profits have all but disappeared. Even when restaurants are finally allowed to reopen their dining rooms, they may have to do so while reducing their capacity by half, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom. The food truck idea comes on the heels of industry leaders recently asking the city to allow restaurants to use parking spaces, alleyways and public plaza as dining spaces. This move could increase business at restaurants in the coming months and thus increase profits. In a similar vein, Mayor London Breed announced in April a temporary cap of 15% on commissions charged by the makers of apps such as Uber Eats, Grubhub, DoorDash, Caviar and Postmates. These companies typically charge commissions that range from 10% to 30% of an order, and chefs said the costs were crushing the industry. The cap will remain in effect until restaurants are able to open again for dine-in service. All of the efforts highlight the dire financial straits many restaurants find themselves in during the pandemic. The food truck for us, even though it didnt last long, was a breath of fresh air, Marcell said. If the city means what it says about helping small restaurants, making it easier to open a food truck seems like a no-brainer. Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips Every time Abdul Mabood gets a call on his mobile, he rushes to a room upstairs at his south Delhi home and shuts the door from inside as his wife and daughter watch in consternation. And he remains in the room, sometimes for a couple of hours, calmly listening to the caller, often only speaking lines such as yes, you are right, I completely understand your feelings. Mabood is founder of Snehi, a Delhi-based suicide prevention helpline, and these days with his office closed due to lockdown, he is having to take many distress calls at home. The number of calls has gone up five times in past one-and-a-half-month, and some of them can be emotionally wrenching. Working from home is not so simple when your job is to counsel those on the brink, says Mabood. Uncertainty, isolation, and economic despair, caused by the Coronavirus crisis, have led to a spurt in distress calls to the countrys 30-odd suicide prevention helplines and those working for themmostly volunteers -- are faced with a new challenge: how to maintain the confidentially of the calls, give a patient and undisturbed hearing to the callers and ensure their own families are not sucked into the vortex of emotions while they work from home. The nature of the calls to the helplines has also changedunlike in the past when most were about relationship issues, exams, chronic illness and general financial woes, now they are about loneliness, isolation, fear of losing job, inability to pay EMI / rents, and issues related to domestic violence. One of the recent calls was from a young IT professional. While she tried to juggle demands of work and home, her in-laws continuously accused her of neglecting them. She was pained that her husband did not support her despite knowing her situation. She was sliding into depression but did not want to discuss her problem with her old parents, says Mabood.In our office we get time to recompose ourselves before we return home. I try hard to maintain my emotional equilibrium as I take these calls at home, but my daughter is already complaining that I am not in a good mood these days, and do not give her enough time. The volunteers working for these helplines come from different backgrounds, a lot of them from social sciences, and are trained to listen proactively, and not be carried away by the call. Home with its many distractions, they say, is not the best place to handle such calls. Working from home requires multitasking. But we have to remain emotionally invested in the calls we take. However distressing these calls, I cannot discuss them with anyone at home, not even with mu husband, says Vaishali Mahindra, who volunteers for Sumaitri, one of Delhis oldest suicide prevention helplines. Started in 1988, it is one of the 16 helplines that are affiliated to Befrienders India, the nodal body which coordinates the activities of its 16 member helplines across the country. In normal times, at Sumaitris office in central Delhi, two volunteers work in shiftsone answers a landline telephone, and the other befriends visitors. Our job is not to counsel people, but to befriend them, which means going into callers core feelings and making them feel we understand, thereby making a difficult situation more bearable, says Nalini Malhotra, director Sumaitri. Our volunteers work is more crucial during the ongoing Coronavirus crisis, given the countrys inadequate mental health infrastructure, she adds. Rajesh Pillai, president, Befrienders India, says, some of their helplines are unable to function under the lockdown because the volunteers cannot reach their centres and do not have private space at home. We have issued clear guidelines to our volunteers to create a set-up at home which is similar to the one at our centres where they take calls at landlines. They cannot be casual while taking a call diverted to their mobile phones. Our volunteers generally take call for four hours in a day, and we have told them to remain in one room during the assigned period, waiting for a call, and they should maintain the confidentially and should not discuss the calls with any family member, says Pillai adding the calls to his organisations helplines have increased by 30 per cent. But I think this increase does not cover all who need help during the current crisis. Many people experiencing emotional stress may be unable to call the helplines because of lack of privacy as everyone in the family is at home. Vishal Demla, an HR professional with a multinational recruitment company, who has studied Social Work, is one of Snehis volunteers. Managing calls at helplines centre, he says, has its own benefits. If I was unable to handle a call at the helplines centre, I could always seek the help of a fellow counsellor, but this is not possible at home, says Demla, who before the lockdown, would travel from Gurgaon, where he lives, to Snehis office in south Delhi to take call between 8 pm and 10 pm. Now during this time I remain shut in a bedroom at home while my wife sits in the next room trying to convince my relatives and friends to not call me during these two hours. Mumbai-based Aasra is one of the countrys first 24-hour suicide prevention helplines, and because of the lockdown, the number of its volunteers has come down from 26 to 6, crippling its ability to take 200 odd calls it gets these days. Many are have to be missed. We are left with a small number of volunteers because not everyone has a private space at homes to take calls, says Jonhson Thomas, director, Aasra. So, these days Thomas spends hours taking calls at homenot an easy proposition, considering he lives in a joint family. Taking distress calls at home is difficult as there are so many distractions the noise of children playing, of dogs barking, the doorbell ringing. You cannot talk to a person who is emotionally broken with such noises in the background. So, the backyard is the palace where I end up spending a lot of time these days, says Thomas. Talking of the nature of the calls his helpline receives, he says most are related to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis. The other day, there was a call from a woman whose husband has bipolar disorder. She was having trouble dealing with him as he was not taking medicines and getting aggressive, having remained at home for over a month because of the lockdown. She was worried he might physically harm her and children. The call lasted more than an hour, says Thomas. In many cases, people just need to ventilate to feel better. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Manoj Sharma Manoj Sharma is Metro Features Editor at Hindustan Times. He likes to pursue stories that otherwise fall through the cracks. ...view detail Boris Johnson, in his address to the nation, said primary schools may reopen on 1 June. (No 10 Downing Street via Getty Images) Boris Johnsons plan to reopen primary schools next month have been described by a teaching union as nothing short of reckless. As the prime minister announced a partial lifting of the coronavirus lockdown on Sunday night, he also laid out plans for a phased return of schools. Reception, year 1 and year 6 pupils may be able to return on 1 June at the earliest, Johnson said. The PM also expressed his desire for secondary school pupils with exams next year to get at least some time with their teachers before the holidays, though he didnt state a target date for this. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area 6 charts and maps that explain how COVID-19 is spreading He added: We will shortly be setting out detailed guidance on how to make it work in schools. However, the plans were criticised by teaching unions on Sunday night. Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) said: We think that the announcement by the government that schools may reopen from 1 June with reception and years 1 and 6 is nothing short of reckless. Coronavirus continues to ravage communities in the UK and the rate of COVID-19 infection is still far too great for the wider opening of our schools. She added: If schools are re-opened to blatant breaches of health and safety, we will strongly support our members who take steps to protect their pupils, their colleagues and their families. The worst outcome of any wider re-opening of schools is a second spike of COVID-19 infection. Patrick Roach, general secretary of the teachers union NASUWT, said the governments announcement risks thousands of schools rushing to make decisions about how best to safeguard the health and safety of children and staff in the absence of any clear national guidance. He added: It is baffling that following the governments decision to close all schools on public health grounds, that the government now expects individual schools to work out for themselves whether or not it will be safe to reopen on June 1 and potentially put at risk the health of children, staff and the public. Story continues It comes as a petition calling on parents to be given the option of not sending their children back to school gathered thousands of signatures in the wake of the PMs speech. The petition, on change.org, had gathered more than 166,000 signatures as of 9.45pm on Sunday. It read: So far there has been little assurance of what measures will be made to protect people and manage these risks. Even drop-off and collection could increase risk of transmission among parents. We need the government to be transparent with us and put things in place before we can consider placing our trust in this decision. Coronavirus: what happened today Coronavirus: Is working from home affecting our mental health? India's third Covid wave likely to peak on Jan 23, daily cases to stay below 4 lakh: IIT Kanpur scientist Coronavirus crisis: In Punjab, 14 health officials test positive for COVID-19 India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P Amritsar, May 11: On Sunday, the Punjab Health Department went into a tizzy after 14 state health officials, including doctors, posted in Ropar district tested positive for COVID-19. Ropar Deputy Commissioner Sonali Giri reportedly said that six health officials out of 14 posted in the district, including two doctors, belonged to Ropar district while the others hailed from outside. An official from the Health Department said of the eight positive health officials from outside Ropar district, seven are from Mohali and one is from Chandigarh. 14 more COVID-19 deaths in Bengal, toll rises to 100 It is reportedly said that an exercise was underway to ascertain where exactly the health officials were posted in the district. Ropar SMO was among the two doctors from the district who tested positive for COVID-19. Reacting to this, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said the officials who tested positive were "asymptomatic". He added that apart from doctors, the officials testing positive were paramedical staff. 75 per cent COVID-19 cases in Delhi are asymptomatic Of 1,823 testing positive, more than 1,200 are pilgrims who returned from Nanded, accounting for around 67 per cent of the total positive cases in the state. According to the Health Ministry, there are 1,626 active cases and 166 patients recovered in the state so far. The countys health officer has said he hopes to work out an agreement with Tesla to open the plant on May 18. The plant is Teslas main source of revenue and has been closed since early April. County officials have not yet authorized the resumption of indoor manufacturing over fears that the coronavirus could spread among large groups working in proximity. In email that was sent on Monday and was reviewed by The New York Times, the companys head of human resources in North America, Valerie Workman, told employees they would be contacted within 24 hours about when to report for work. The state has authorized a resumption of manufacturing, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that we recognize localism and that if a county doesnt want to go as far, local orders would prevail. But Mr. Musks brother, Kimbal, seemed unappeased, declaring Monday on Twitter, The governor has enormous power. He chose to put it into the hands of the county and he can take back that decision. This is on @GavinNewsom entirely. What just happened? Microsoft says it will be offering free repairs on Surface Laptop 3 devices that experience a strange phenomenon in which the screen cracks for no apparent reason. If your machine is affected, you shouldnt wait too long before sending it away: the free offer is only applicable while the laptop is under warranty. A few months ago, some Surface Laptop 3 owners found that cracks were appearing spontaneously in the displays. Microsoft said it was investigating the problem, and has now revealed that a hard, foreign particle was the cause. Whether this refers to something that made its way into the screen externally, or is part of the device itself, is unclear. "(We) have determined that, in a very small percentage of cases, a hard foreign particle may cause a hairline fracture in the glass that may seem to appear unexpectedly or without visible cause," wrote officials. Microsoft says it will only repair the affected Surface Laptops, both 13-inch and 15-inch versions, while theyre under warranty. They went on sale last October, so that shouldnt be a problem if you dont wait too long. And dont try to get a free repair for damages youve caused, Microsoft will know. Additionally, those that previously paid Microsoft to repair damage caused by this issue can apply for a reimbursement. ZDNet notes that Surface Laptop 3 devices with aluminum cases, as opposed to those with the Alcantara fabric, are more prone to the cracking. Some Redditors (via TechRadar) speculate that the issue may be a result of the laptops lack of rubber seal around the display. Whatever caused it, we should assume Microsoft has now addressed the problem in new models. This isnt the only incident of unexplained cracks appearing in devices. Some owners of Samsungs Galaxy S20 Ultra have found its rear camera is inexplicably shattering. Subscriber content preview YAKIMA (AP) There should be a healthy supply of water for farmers and fish in Washington state this season, despite a dry spring the last two months, a report said. The state Bureau of Reclamation said farmers with junior water rights are expected to receive a 91% supply, slightly down from predictions in March estimating 96%, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported Friday. . . . BERLIN, May 11 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel told senior officials from her party on Monday that a ruling by Germany's Constitutional Court taking aim at an ECB stimulus programme is "solvable" if the central bank explains the plan, two participants at the meeting said. The court last week gave the ECB three months to justify bond purchases under its flagship stimulus plan or risk losing the Bundesbank as a participant, and called on the German parliament and government to challenge the bank on the matter. Merkel told Monday's meeting of top officials from her Christian Democrats it was understandable that the European Commission had stressed that national courts cannot call the rulings of the European Court of Justice into question, the participants said. (Reporting by Andreas Rinke Writing by Paul Carrel Editing by Michelle Martin) The immediate past Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside has condemned in strong terms Sundays demolition of two hotels in Rivers State by Governor Nyesom Wike over alleged violation of an Executive Order. Peterside, who said he had long observed the dictatorial tendencies of Wike, declared that the latest action of the governor was wicked, insensitive, irresponsible and unlawful. According to him, Wike has left no one in doubt as to his lack of concrete pursuit of how to fight Coronavirus with solid policies and programmes but has rather resorted to brute force, a show of strength and muscle-flexing with imaginary enemies. Last week, Governor Wike made two broadcasts, where Rivers people expected him to lay out well-determined plans of how to ensure mass testing following the inauguration of molecular laboratories in UPTH and RSUTH with achievable timelines, while also strengthening other areas. However, no such thing was heard from the governor but threats upon threats as to how he would dethrone traditional rulers, how he will sack local government chairmen, how he will summarily arrest violators of the executive order and punish them, how he will auction their vehicles, amongst other threats. Governor Wike is not a law unto himself and cannot be the law. For good measure, the governor rounded up by saying he would demolish buildings or hotels found wanting in implementing his orders without recourse to the due process of law and natural justice that confers the right of fair hearing on the accused. Governor Wikes utterances do not suggest that he is fighting the coronavirus pandemic alone. His actions suggest that there is more than what he is telling Rivers people. He has become a dictator whose words must be obeyed or be damned, he said. Peterside explained that the fascist attitude of Wike was capable of leading to the breakdown of law and order, as those who bear the crude method of the governor and their families could resort to mass protest, capable of exposing the state further. This crude method of governance and law enforcement is obsolete, counterproductive and will put Rivers State and her people in bad light before the right-thinking members of society. While we all support the governor to ensure that the state is free from coronavirus, his transformation into a dictator and a god that must be worshipped will be challenged by all well-meaning Rivers people and Nigerians at the appropriate time. Governor Wike must change from this destructive path and follow that of responsible leadership that has a human face and not one that will turn him to a demi-god that must be offered sacrifices to assuage his anger, vengeance and greed, he summed up. Explaining his actions earlier, Wike said that Government has no alternative but to apply the Executive order which I signed before the lockdown of Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt. I called all the Traditional Rulers and Council Chairmen and told them to ensure that no hotel operates in the State. We are not saying it will be forever. This is for now, so that we know where we are. To reduce the cases and check the spread. Whether you are PDP or not, all we are saying is that nobody is above the law. If we can do this to a PDP person, then you know we are not discriminatory. Everyone must obey. Whether you are in PDP, SDP or no party, you must obey the law. If any other person does the same thing, the same rule will apply. I remember standing in my grandfather's bathroom at 12 years old and watching him put in his false teeth. He looked at me and said, "Take care of your teeth, Greg." The pain in his face conveyed much more than his words. Have you ever noticed that suffering brings a level of conviction and passion to the words of those who speak them? I have seen even deeper expressions of pain in the faces of those who have described to me what it was like living under communist regimes. One of my best friends in my Army infantry unit was a high-speed Cuban immigrant named George Gonzales. He told me a story of his father being arrested. What was his crime? He butchered their pig without notifying the state. He was turned in by a neighbor and subsequently arrested. No due process just a knock on the door and whisked away to jail, where he stayed for over a week. George said his family knew little about his arrest or his whereabouts. When he eventually returned home, he began to plan his family's escape from communist Cuba to America. I'm reading a book called Escape from Communism: A True Story and Commentary, written by a Romanian who defected to America from the ruthless communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu. He speaks of fear, intimidation, and the lack of trust not only in the government, but in neighbors and co-workers as well. Those who spoke against the communist regime were often reported by informants and made examples of to establish fear in the souls of the population. He said, "Fear works like magic, and the communists were masters of its use." I am married to a woman who lived under the same regime the author writes about, and she vouches for every word. I see the pain in her face when she speaks of life under communism. I told her recently about my son who lives in Kansas City. He was turned in by someone in his apartment complex for being outside by the pool, exercising. Pictures were sent to the office with a description of his activities and the times and days he exercised. She said, "It makes my stomach turn. That's exactly how I lived under communism. You couldn't trust anyone, not even your neighbors. We stood in lines just as we are doing now to get into a store only to find empty shelves." As she spoke, the pain in her face spoke louder than her words. What are some of the differences in our government and a communist form of government? To begin with, you will never see this in a communist manifesto: When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them[.] The rights that we hold come from God, not man. There is a superseding principle, an entity that transcends the rule of man, and it is the God of nature and nature's laws. Granted, not all the founding fathers were King Jamestoting fundamentalist Christians. Some were Orthodox, some were Anglican, and some were Deist, but they all had a point of reference that eclipsed man. Man wasn't the focal point of their worldview. When they looked out at the horizon, they saw something far greater and far wiser than themselves. In fact, their views on human nature were less than flattering, which influenced their concepts of government with checks and balances. For the communist, there is no God, period. Man is the sun in their solar system that all lesser ideas revolve around. What few rights they allow you to have come from man a man who usually comes in the form of a tyrant, but not all tyrants wear swastikas and Charlie Chaplin mustaches. Some come smooth and polished with a silver tongue and pleasant words. They may even sing a little for you. Others come in the form of nerdy computer geeks or disheveled geniuses, or smiling politicians. In the end, they're all just as deadly. And you most certainly will never see this in a communist manifesto: But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. There in plain script is a mandate to throw off oppressive governments, and it's not just a right, but a duty. You will never see such a mandate in the founding documents of the People's Republic of China or any other communist regime. That would be a self-defeating admonition, and a perpetual thorn in the side of state oppressors. Here is a modern-day description of communism articulated in a popular song from a few years back: "Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky, Imagine all the people Living for today ... Imagine there's no countries, It isn't hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too ... Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man, Imagine all the people, Sharing all the world, ooh" John Lennon There's your succinct description of the utopia that communism forever promises but never delivers. I wonder what John would say about the greed of hoarders in the current pandemic. The first thing a communist regime does is confiscate all property rights. I guess that's where Mr. Lennon's "no possessions" come in. By the way, this was the song that a group of Hollywood elites chose to sing to all of us average folks to soothe our anxieties during a worldwide pandemic, a pandemic that started in a communist country. Irony, anyone? It's not the founders, whom the liberals hate and are always maligning for their flaws, who at the same time curiously ignore their own. No, it's the document our founders created that they so despise a document that secures our freedoms from oppressive godless governments and gives a standing mandate to throw off any government that becomes so...a document that guarantees the right to bear arms for that exact purpose. Who are the closet communists among us? The ones who are forever demonizing the founders because of the document they produced, while perpetually undermining the document's influence in our government and lives the only document that stands between them and the power they so assiduously seek. Finally, despite the leaders who have worked relentlessly to sell us out to China for personal enrichment, the differences between our government and communism are vast and stark. When leaders arise who care more about power, profit, and prestige, and neglect the principles and precepts this country was built upon, it could be time for the people to harken back to our mandate and once again do our duty for ourselves and posterity. Connecticut health officials want to test residents and staff members for coronavirus at all 215 nursing homes by June, a spokesman for the office of Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday. We want to have every nursing home resident and staff member tested by June and continually tested, spokesman Max Reiss said. The governors office and the state Department of Public Health have not said how frequent the testing will be at the nursing homes. We are working our way through the nursing homes Josh Geballe, the governors chief operating officer, said Monday. He said the state has used 2,400 tests at 20 nursing homes. Exactly how long that takes to get through all the nursing homes, were looking at that based on the testing volumes and the availability of swabs and so forth, but were moving quickly now, Geballe said. Nursing homes throughout the tri-state area have seen large outbreaks of the disease. Data released by the governors office Thursday shows COVID-19-related deaths among nursing home residents make up nearly 60 percent of the total fatalities in the state reported. On Sunday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to require nursing home staff to be tested twice a week for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. He also said hospitals will be unable to discharge recuperating patients into nursing homes unless the patients have tested negative for the disease. Reiss said New Yorks plan to keep hospitals from discharging COVID-19 patients into nursing homes is a page out of Connecticuts playbook. They were mandatoraly discharging COVID patients back to their nursing homes, he said. Reiss believes discharging COVID-positive residents to nursing home recovery centers is wise and effective. We are proud of the program we put in place, Reiss said. Theyre getting the level of care necessary in the recovery centers. On Monday, the governors office released new data showing the deaths associated with coronavirus had climbed above 3,000. I know weve learned something about this, weve learned particular how it afflicts in older people, Lamont said. We know particularly how it afflicts people in congregant settings like nursing homes, and were not going to let this happen again. Log kaafi bura bhala kehte hain, par main koshish karti hoon ki bura na manoon (People say a lot of inappropriate things to me, but I try not to let those affect me), says Noorie Masih, a nurse at a private hospital in Gurugram. While the country practices social distancing, nurses are bound, by the need of their profession, to put their duty ahead of their safety and work amid the present coronavirus pandemic. They might or might not have PPE kits or masks, but nothing has been able to deter their determination to serve. On International Nurses Day, May 12, we speak to some of the nurses, in Delhi-NCR, who have been involved in the fight against Covid-19, and whats the cost of sacrifices they are making. I stay alone in a PG accommodation, not far away from the hospital where I work, adds Masih, who got married recently and her husband is in Dehradun, her hometown, miles away from her. What worries her, however, are the cases of assault on medical professionals, and she has herself been on the receiving end of remarks, from patients who she tries to tend to. Stay away from us, Stand a little far, Dont come to our shop are some of the things that I have heard multiple times over the last few weeks, she says with a heavy heart. What keeps her morale up are her telephonic conversations with her husband, at the end of a long day at work. He worries about my health and safety, but I have a job to do here, and I cant leave, says the determined nurse. This is a war zone; there are multiple issues for nurses and other healthcare professionals, but that wont stop us from serving our nation, says Vipin Krishnan, a nurse at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. Krishnan, along with some fellow nurses, has been feeding the poor and the migrants in Delhis temporary shelters since the lockdown began. He informs, We are providing them with dry rations, masks, sanitary napkins. Initially, in the 10 days of the lockdown being announced, we had sent over 5,000 packets of food to those in need. Many nurses working for some private hospitals are being sent home instead of a different accommodation, for quarantine. Many are being asked to foot their own bills in case they show symptoms of Covid-19. Vipin Krishnan, nurse at AIIMS Krishnan has previously held the post of general secretary of the AIIMS Nurses Union, and adds that Many nurses working for some private hospitals are being sent home instead of a different accommodation, for quarantine. Many are being asked to foot their own bills in case they show symptoms of Covid-19. Discrimination on ground is rampant, but we are endeavouring to still do our duty in the best possible way. We chose this profession because it is honourable and helps us serve those in need; so the question of cribbing does not arise. But, there is one thing I have continued to do as a human being, ever since the lockdown began, I have been feeding stray dogs in the locality. They need me just as much as my patient does. A Delhi-based home nurse Quite a few frontline workers are going beyond their line of duty to help those in need, during such times. A Delhi-based home nurse shares on condition of anonymity that she has been staying in Noida with an elderly patient, who is recuperating from paralysis. She shares that the patients family asked her to stay put since they didnt want to risk having an outsider come home everyday, and adds, It was a tough call since I have to stay away from my family and kids. But, I need the extra money since my husband wont be paid in full in this period. I know many others who have continued to see patients. We chose this profession because it is honourable and helps us serve those in need; so the question of cribbing does not arise. But, there is one thing I have continued to do as a human being, ever since the lockdown began, I have been feeding stray dogs in the locality. They need me just as much as my patient does (smiles). Follow @htlifeandstyle for more Marian University will offer an additional 50 full-tuition scholarships to students in the 21st Century Scholars program for the upcoming school year. The private Roman Catholic university usually offers 25 such scholarships to each class but is looking to expand that effort as families deal with the harsh economic consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic and a subsequent recession. Marian University President Daniel Elsener said the heaviest burden is being heaved onto middle- and lower-income folks. Those are the same families who stand to benefit from the states 21st Century Scholars program, which offers up to four years of undergraduate tuition at in-state public schools and a comparable amount for private schools. Marian is raising the extra money required to give students a full-tuition scholarship. Not all 21st Century Scholars students at Marian get their full tuition covered. Students need to apply to attend Marian and apply for the scholarship. Eligible students should contact the university at 317-955-6000 or admissions@marian.edu. Scholarships will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Elsener said scholarships could run out as early as the end of May. The plan is for the scholarships to be good for four years. Were out on a limb, but its a good limb, Elsener said. Thats where things get done in life. Students families already need to meet an income requirement in order to enroll in the 21st Century Scholars program, but Marian is opening up the additional 50 scholarships with the intention of finding those students whose families have been heavily impacted by the current economic downturn. Ken Britt, senior vice president and dean of the Klipsch Educators College, said the school will work with organizations such as Center for Leadership Development and Indianapolis Urban League, as well as individual high schools, to identify those students. They made a commitment, Britt said of scholars. They followed a pathway from middle school all the way through high school. These are leaders, and these are the ones that we really want to focus on. Students qualify for the 21st Century Scholars program based on household income in seventh or eighth grade. The deadline to enroll is June 30 of the students eighth grade year. Its difficult to get a clear picture of exactly how many Black students are eligible for the program because that data isnt broken down by race. According to a 2019 equity report from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, which included data up to the 2017 cohort, 69% of Black high schoolers in the state are considered low-income, the largest percentage among racial groups. Students and families self-report race on the application for the scholarship in middle school, so race is unknown for 40% of students in the 2022 cohort, according to data provided by the commission. In that cohort, 12% of scholars are Black. Excluding unknowns, Black students make up 21% of scholars. The reasons Black students dont appear to enroll in the program at the rate they could vary from parents who arent comfortable sharing personal information to a simple lack of awareness that the program exists. Indy Achieves, which helps get students signed up, usually goes into schools to encourage students to apply, but it has made its operation virtual since thats no longer possible. The organization will instead promote a digital application and is asking the community to help raise awareness about the program before the June 30 deadline. Families can visit Indy Achieves online or text college or universidad to 404-58 to begin filing the application in English or Spanish. Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick. 21ST CENTURY SCHOLARS OPPORTUNITIES Indy Achieves is still helping seventh and eighth graders apply for the states 21st Century Scholars program, which offers up to four years of undergraduate tuition at in-state public schools and a comparable amount for private schools. Visit online or text college or universidad to 404-58 to begin filing the application in English or Spanish. Marian University will award 50 additional full-tuition scholarships to 21st Century Scholar students. Eligible students should contact the university at 317-955-6000 or admissions@marian.edu. While much of the scientific and medical community rushes to develop therapeutic agents for COVID-19 based on clinical data, getting a better understanding of the brand-new virus remains crucial. That's why it's so important that South Africa obtained its very first known laboratory isolate of SARS-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on 1 April 2020, courtesy of the collaborative efforts of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Stellenbosch University (SU). Having a pure culture of the virus opens doors for research in South Africa. Currently, much of the data that exists on this novel virus is based on detecting the genetic material, which is still possible after the virus is 'dead', and does not confirm whether the virus is viable and able to cause infection. Now we can experiment on the live virus and observe how it actually behaves in the lab." Dr. Tasnim Suliman, post-doctoral research fellow, UWC Dr Suliman is a post-doctoral research fellow working under Professor Megan Shaw, an influenza expert who recently relocated from the USA to join UWC. Using the biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory at SU's Division of Medical Virology - with the support of Division Head, Professor Wolfgang Preiser - Suliman was able to inoculate cell cultures with samples from COVID-19 patients and succeeded in growing the virus. "We didn't create the virus, or modify it in any way," Dr Suliman notes. "All we have done is provided the virus with the right conditions to grow, in a space where we are able to harvest a large amount of virus to perform research. And strict safety protocols were followed." An immediate and indispensable blessing of having an isolate is being able to supply diagnostic labs with large amounts of virus genetic material that is identical in genetic makeup and concentration. This achievement offers numerous valuable opportunities for further research and provides an indispensable reference material for standardizing diagnostic tests across multiple platforms between laboratories. For example, the virus can be used in experiments to test new antiviral compounds in vitro (Latin, "in glass" - meaning in the laboratory) and if they show an effect against the virus without harming the cells, they could become candidates for clinical trials. "Although South Africa is the leading African country in science and technology, we remain a resource-limited setting by developed world standards," Suliman says. "Therefore, it is a tremendous advantage for us to make this virus available and guide others on how to safely handle the virus locally." Cultivating coronavirus: The art and science of virus culture Dr Suliman obtained clinical samples from COVID-19 positive patients at Tygerberg Hospital, in Cape Town, and inoculated these samples onto live cells that were cultured in the laboratory. If the virus is present in the clinical sample, the virus infects the cells and it grows. This provides a pure culture of the virus - an essential resource for all research laboratories, as well as clinical laboratories who can use it as a positive control in their diagnostic tests. "Virus culture was previously used routinely in diagnostic procedures, which has now been replaced with rapid, sophisticated and high-tech molecular techniques with greater capacity and accuracy, and faster turnaround times,' Prof Shaw says. "Inevitably, virus culture became a dying technique, and the skill is rapidly fading from the scientific community." Unlike bacteria that can be grown quite simply in nutrient-rich media, viruses require living cells for their proliferation. Viruses need to be able to attach to and enter cells, before redirecting the cells' machinery to produce the proteins and molecules required to assemble new virus particles. The cells themselves have their own growth requirements, and finding a combination of lab-adapted cells that are also compatible with virus growth, is a highly delicate process. "We have to literally synchronize two naturally-occurring biological systems to work together to yield a desired result," Dr Suliman explains. "Fortunately, the growth requirements of SARS-CoV-2 appear to be very similar to that of SARS-CoV-1, which gave us some sort of a roadmap." And fortunately also, she was well-equipped to follow that roadmap. There are seven known human coronaviruses, three of which cause severe disease. And as it happens, Dr Suliman has worked with all three to varying extents, as well as one milder disease-causing CoV. During her PhD (supervised by UWC coronavirus expert, Professor Burtram Fielding) she investigated viral proteins of SARS-CoV-1 from the 2002-2003 outbreak. Cloning and culturing of this potentially dangerous virus made up a large portion of her work, for which she spent four years at the University of Bonn, Germany, with Professor Christian Drosten, a world-renowned coronavirus expert. She subsequently joined SU's Division of Medical Virology for a post-doctoral research fellowship, hosted by Professor Wolfgang Preiser. There she researched coronaviruses found in bats, and their potential transmission to humans, while also managing the division's BSL-3 lab. As of this year, Dr Suliman had begun to expand her virology experience to the field of influenza viruses in the Shaw Lab, when COVID-19 took everyone by surprise. "Since I have worked extensively with SARS-CoV during the 2002/3 outbreak, and given the similarities between SARS-CoV-1 and -2, I was already familiar with what other non-virologists and virologists outside of coronavirology may need time to figure out," Suliman says. "And with a pandemic like this, time is of the essence." Lockdown in the lab: Working with a live killer On 11 March 2020 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), a week after the first infection with SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes COVID-19 - had been diagnosed in South Africa. Two weeks later, South Africa entered a national lockdown to attempt to flatten the curve, with stay-at-home orders for all non-essential personnel. That's when Dr Suliman emailed an inundated Prof Preiser, simply asking her former mentor: "Prof, you know what I can do. Do you need help?" One of the greatest limitations in growing SARS-CoV-2 is the absolute requirement of a BSL-3 lab, and the scarcity of these labs and trained personnel throughout the country. In South Africa, most BSL-3 labs lack the setup for dealing with respiratory viruses as they are often directed towards tuberculosis, which is caused by bacteria. Dr Suliman is the only known South African who has ever grown a BSL-3 coronavirus, and is arguably the best-trained person to undertake the isolation of the virus responsible for COVID-19, so it was an obvious decision for her to take on this task. She is now training other scientists from the University of Cape Town. "It was scary at first," Dr Suliman says. "I was acutely aware that all it would take is a suit malfunction and a badly-timed mishap to become infected. But with training and regularly working in the BSL-3 lab, an automatic sense of hyper-alertness develops. You get used to it." To gain access to the workspace of the BSL-3, one needs to enter through three doors in succession - each preparing you for the next phase. The multiple doors, together with the outward airflow called negative pressure, prevent any aerosols from escaping into general spaces. "After the first door closes behind you when entering the BSL3, the door to stage 2 is released - a room where protective gear is worn: two pairs of gloves, boots, a back-closing gown or overalls, sleeve covers, and my personal favourite, the powered respirator that filters the air you inhale," Dr Suliman comments. "The battery pack and filter are worn around the waist and a pipe connects it to the headpiece that fits snugly around the head and face. You are now ready to enter the third door to slay coronaviruses!" And slay them she did. "I worked day and night, and struggled with the lack of some essential materials, because by then South Africa had entered lockdown and there were airfreight bottlenecks," Suliman recalls. "Finally, two weeks after I began, I looked through the microscope and saw dead cells - a sign that my virus was growing. I sat smiling in that isolated high-security lab, with only the whirring of the respirator to punctuate the silence, as I considered the potential of what I held in my hands." The team has already begun sharing the isolate with multiple researchers and institutions for diagnostic and research purposes. They're also sharing their expertise with TB research groups, who have the infrastructure to study respiratory infections on a molecular and clinical scale, but are not skilled in handling a virus of this nature. "This disease is very new, and despite amazing progress on many fronts, so much is still unknown. So, new aspects emerge every single day, and that's why it's so important that we conduct as much research as we can," Prof Preiser notes. "Because of the urgency, much of what normally happens 'behind the scenes' is playing out in the open, and it may feel overwhelming. But this is a wonderful example of how we can work together to achieve what any one on their own would not have been able to - and in a time of great need. That's something to be proud of." Donald Trump falsely claimed the numbers surrounding coronavirus cases in the United States were going down almost everywhere in a tweet on Monday despite easily verifiable data showing an increase in new infections nationwide. The president wrote on Monday: Coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere. Big progress being made! His comments came as more than 1.3 million people living in the US have tested positive for Covid-19. At least 79,531 people in the country have died due to complications resulting from the novel virus, according to the Centre for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, the number of new cases are increasing in nine states as the growth rate remains about the same in 27 others, as well as Washington DC and Puerto Rico, the New York Times reported on its live-tracking map. His comments also came after an Associated Press analysis last week showed the known infection rate in the US increasing nationwide. That analysis separated the New York metropolitan area from the rest of the country, revealing the rate of new cases rising from 6.2 per 100,000 people to 7.5. New York which found itself at the epicentre of the pandemic in the US during the initial months of the outbreak has made more progress in testing and combatting the novel virus in comparison to many other states, thus skewing the data when pooled together with the rest of the country. The daily death rate in the US remains well over 1,000 people, as more than 20,000 cases have been confirmed each day in recent weeks. Health officials have warned those numbers are holding steady and in some cases, increasing as states across the country prepared to reopen businesses to the public. Make no mistake: This virus is still circulating in our community, perhaps even more now than in previous weeks, Linda Ochs, director of the Shawnee County Health Department in Kansas, told the Associated Press. The number of new cases were decreasing in New York and 13 other states by Monday, according to the New York Times, as well as in Guam, where 1,120 people have contracted Covid-19. Health officials have also said the number of true cases in many states could be far higher due to substantial hurdles the federal government has faced in distributing testing kits throughout the US. And yet Mr Trump continued to tout his administrations response to the pandemic on Monday, writing in a separate tweet: Great credit being given for our Coronavirus response, except in the Fake News. They are a disgrace to America! The number of new infections in the US has largely plateaued at high rates as lockdown orders and stay-at-home guidelines are set to expire in many states. Experts said a second wave of the virus could potentially be far more deadly and widespread if adequate testing and tracing capabilities are not in place before those orders are lifted. Listen, the fact of the matter is, pretty much every scientific and medical report shows that whenever you have a reopening, whether you want to call it a reopening of business or just a reopening of society in the aftermath of something like this, it actually will lead to an increase in spread, Governor Greg Abbott (RTX) said in a statement. Its almost ipso facto. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. A 20-day-old baby girl, one of the youngest COVID-19 patients in Madhya Pradesh, and 20 other children below the age of two years have defeated the deadly viral infection in the worst hit Indore district, officials said. Their mothers also made all efforts to shower their love and affection on the children to help them recover from the disease. Indore-based Choithram Hospital's senior pediatrician Dr Rashmi Shad told PTI that a 20-day-old girl, and two boys, aged two months and 18 months, have been discharged from the private medical facility's COVID-19 ward in last 15 days. After the treatment, these children tested negative twice for the disease. "The 20-day-old girl was admitted to the hospital on May 1 and discharged on May 9. She contracted the infection from a close relative. But, what is surprising is that her mother, who stood by her side round-the-clock, did not catch the infection," she said. Besides, 18 other children below the age of two also recovered from COVID-19 and were discharged from Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences here in last 45 days, the private hospital's chest disease department head Dr Ravi Dosi said. Out of these 18 children, eight were below the age of six months and completely dependent on mother's feed, he said. "It was an altogether different experience for me to see such small children admitted in the COVID-19 ward. They defeated the disease with the help of medicines and their strong immunity," Dr Dosi said. "I can't describe in words my happiness when I saw these children going home from the hospital with their delighted mothers," he said. Dr Shad and Dr Dosi informed that the mothers wore masks and took all other precautions against the virus while breast-feeding their children in the hospitals. Indore's Chief Medical and Health Officer Praveen Jadia said they have advised that these children along with their mothers stay in isolation at home for 14 days, like other patients. A regular follow-up of their health condition is being done, he said. Indore has so far reported 1,935 COVID-19 cases and 90 deaths. Till now, 898 people have been discharged after recovery, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Transport Workers Union Media Release QANTAS STAFF SURVEY & DOSSIER REVEALS HUGE FAILINGS ON VIRUS A survey of over 850 Qantas workers and sensitive workplace, health and safety documents reveal Qantas has shown a shocking disregard for the highly contagious and potentially deadly nature of COVID-19. At least sixty people nationally across the Qantas Group have been infected with the virus, with one of the worst workplace clusters in South Australia centring on the Qantas baggage room at Adelaide Airport, with thirty-four people infected and 750 Qantas staff quarantined. The Qantas survey and document evidence puts into doubt federal government plans to make workplaces safe in order to reopen the economy and highlights the difficulties Qantas will have in returning to a full flying schedule unless it addresses failings in dealing with the virus. The national survey of Qantas workers shows almost half of workers say they dont feel they can raise safety issues at work with the vast majority saying this was because they didnt believe it would make a difference. The survey also showed: Two per cent of staff say they got just one hour training on staying safe on the job; Eighty-one per cent said they were not consulted on health and safety procedures; Ninety-three per cent said they were concerned about safety and the safety of others. Qantas workers described a lax attitude to cleaning with one stating: If it wasnt for the rain, ramp equipment and machinery wouldnt get washed or cleaned at all. Another said: So many positive cases travelling on our Qantas aircrafts. Crew are notified eventually, meaning a week or more later. A dossier compiled by Transport Workers Union (TWU) safety experts on the Adelaide Airport cluster reveals Qantas delayed a deep-clean by almost three days of common areas of the baggage room after the first infection case was confirmed. It shows that workers who had been exposed to the first infected worker over several days involving close contact were directed to continue turning up for work. No soap or hand towels were available in the bathroom used by baggage handlers the morning after the first case was confirmed. Qantas repeatedly referred in communications to its workers that the risk of infection and spread was low, even comparing the virus to the seasonal flu. The airline stressed normal processes were adequate in dealing with the virus and relied on putting up notices about hand-washing rather than providing training or protective gear to workers. At least sixty people nationally across the Qantas Group have been infected with the virus, with one of the worst workplace clusters in South Australia centring on the Qantas baggage room at Adelaide Airport. SafeWork NSW is already investigating Qantas after it suspended an aircraft cleaner in February for raising concerns about the virus. A report by SafeWork NSW highlighted an inadequate system of work used to clean planes with aircraft cleaners forced to wipe tray tables with the same dirty cloths and handle blood, vomit, soiled nappies, used masks and tissues without protective gear. TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said both the dossier and the survey pointed to serious failings by Qantas which should be urgently investigated by both health and workplace safety regulators. It is unthinkable that an airline like Qantas has been operating a business-as-usual approach in the midst of a global pandemic which is being transmitted across international borders primarily by individuals via air travel. Qantas from the start has denied that the virus posed a risk so it wouldnt have to spend money on protective gear, training staff, giving them extra time to clean equipment, clean themselves and change into protective gear. It is no wonder that 93 per cent of Qantas workers are worried about their safety at work and it is no wonder that clusters like the one in Adelaide Airport were allowed to occur, Kaine said. Qantas workers and Qantas passengers will not have confidence about returning to work or resuming flying unless this issue is addressed urgently and the airline changes its ways. This will hurt the resumption of normal life in Australia and hurt our economy. It points to the further need for the government to assume a bigger role in aviation since it is clear that there are serious failings with the management style in Australias major airline, Kaine added. TWU SA/NT Branch Secretary Ian Smith said workers across Adelaide Airport were angry at the way Qantas handled the virus, ignoring their concerns and downplaying the risks. Qantas was responsible for the cluster by not ensuring better cleaning standards in common rooms, by delaying a deep-clean of the baggage room areas when the first case was confirmed and by telling workers who had been exposed it was safe for them to continue going to work. Workers are angry that instead of taking responsibility, Qantas has tried to blame them for how the cluster spread. They want answers and they want SA Health and SafeWork SA to do an immediate and thorough investigation, Smith said. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said many states were amending labour laws, but the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic cannot be an excuse to exploit workers, suppress their voice and crush their human rights. Gandhi said there cannot be any compromise on the basic principles by allowing unsafe workplaces. "Many states are amending labour laws. We are together fighting against corona, but this cannot be an excuse to crush human rights, allow unsafe workplaces, exploit workers and suppress their voice," he said. "There cannot be any compromise on these basic principles," he added. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also said it would be dangerous and disastrous to loosen labour, land and environment laws in the name of economic revival and stimulus. "In the name of economic revival and stimulus, it will be dangerous and disastrous to loosen labour, land and environmental laws and regulations as the Modi govt is planning. "The first steps have already been taken. This is a quack remedy like demonetisation," Ramesh tweeted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gov. Phil Murphy will return to the Trenton War Memorial at 1 p.m. Monday for his latest update on the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 9,200 New Jersey residents It will be streamed live on the governors YouTube channel. Joining the governor will be U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, state health commissioner Judith Persichilli, Dr. Edward Lifshitz, director of the states communicable disease service, and Colonel Patrick Callahan, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. While Murphy didnt hold a press briefing on Sunday, a common topic at these sessions in recent days has been how and when the state will reopen. He has stressed that these decisions will be guided by data and science. After todays press briefing, Murphy is scheduled to lead a virtual town hall at 4 p.m. to discuss police response to the pandemic. The session will also serve as an opportunity to honor those who have died of COVID-19 and talk about lessons in leadership during the health crisis. New Jersey has reported more that 138,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March 4, when states first case was announced. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Tech Mahindra has received a notice from the Pune labour commissioner after complaints of salary-cuts during the nationwide lockdown. The National Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) claimed that it had received complaints from Tech Mahindra staff, according to a report by Mint. The report said the shift allowance payment between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 per employee would be discontinued from May 1, a move affecting 13,000 Tech Mahindra employees. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story. The notice issued by Assistant Labour Commissioner Nikhil Walke asked Tech Mahindra not to violate the government's rules, Mint reported. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show "NITES demands strict action against Tech Mahindra Pune, as the organisation has failed to follow the basic policies of human rights and violates Maharashtra State government's regulations," said the organisation in a letter, as seen by the publication. The complaint alleged that the salary cuts were done to maintain profitability, the report said. The Maharashtra government has instructed employers not to cut salaries and lay off staff during the lockdown. "The shift allowance paid for hardship due to travel to work at odd hours and other out of pocket expenses, continues to be paid to all Tech Mahindra associates, who are coming to office or are at client locations as per policy," a Tech Mahindra spokesperson told Mint. Wipro also received a similar notice regarding pay cuts from the Pune Labour Commissioner. India is currently in a nationwide lockdown, which began on March 25, to contain the spread of COVID-19. Most private offices are closed and operations affected as people work from home to maintain social distancing. CALGARY - A federal financing relief package for large Canadian companies was applauded by the oil and gas sector and the Alberta government on Monday despite conditions that could link the aid to an individual company's climate change goals. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A pumpjack works at a well head on an oil and gas installation near Cremona, Alta., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. Federal financing relief for large Canadian companies announced Monday was welcomed by the oil and gas sector and the Alberta government despite conditions that linked the aid to climate change goals. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh CALGARY - A federal financing relief package for large Canadian companies was applauded by the oil and gas sector and the Alberta government on Monday despite conditions that could link the aid to an individual company's climate change goals. In Edmonton, Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews welcomed the announcement, saying that the province's large companies, particularly in oil and gas and aviation, need relief quickly. "We know that the (financial) need could be great. We've seen some recovery in energy prices, that's very welcome, but these prices that we're seeing today are by no means close to profitable for the industry," said Toews. While the province still needs to see the details of the federal plan, he said he is pleased there is no cap on the bridge financing offer. He added oil and gas companies shouldn't face problems with the requirement to help meet federal climate change commitments. Oilsands producer Cenovus Energy Inc. is pleased that Ottawa recognizes large corporations need help as well as the small and medium-sized ones, said spokeswoman Sonja Franklin. "Today's announcement is an important signal for the markets that the government will stand behind viable businesses in this country," she said in an email. "The federal government recognizes which sectors contribute most significantly to its revenues and needs to ensure these sectors like oil and gas will be there to help it pay off the massive debt it's accumulating as part of the COVID-19 relief." The company is in a strong financial position with access to more than $6 billion in liquidity, she added, but government support is important because there's no way to know when low oil prices will recover. Cenovus has set targets of 30 per cent greenhouse gas emissions intensity reduction and flat overall emissions by 2030, as well as achieving net zero GHG emissions by 2050, and therefore should have no problem meeting federal climate change requirements, she said. The federal program goes a long way to addressing the industry's request for short-term financial liquidity help and will likely be well used as long as there are no issues with accessing the funds, said Tim McMillan, CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. "I think this is essential. Not all companies are going to need to tap into this sort of liquidity ... but some that are normally high-quality, stable companies likely will be looking for this program to provide a certain amount of liquidity for them," he said. Environmental and climate change reporting by oil and gas companies is extensive, both voluntary and as required by regulators, he added, which means most companies should be able to meet Ottawa's requirements. "This is a non-sector-specific program and when we compare what we've been doing for the last several years compared to other industries in Canada, I think we're probably one or two steps ahead," he said. "This would be a requirement that may be a challenge for some industries I think for our larger oil and gas companies, this is the kind of stuff we've been reporting on for a period of time already." Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Companies that apply for public support should be willing to say how they will adapt to new rules with regard to climate change, said Greenpeace Canada senior energy strategist Keith Stewart. "There have to be some real teeth in how this is implemented, but it makes sense that companies seeking public support agree to limit dividends and executive pay, forgo tax havens and start aligning their business model with Canada's climate change targets," he said. "Companies funding campaigns to oppose action on climate change should be excluded from the program." With a file from Dean Bennett in Edmonton. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2020. Companies in this story: (TSX:CVE) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11 By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend: Some 300 medical workers have become infected with coronavirus in Azerbaijan to date, Trend reports on May 11, referring to the Healthcare Ministry. The infection cases have been mainly recorded in clinics where coronavirus patients were not treated. The main reason was the inadequate observance of hygiene standards by these health workers. Chairman of the Board of the State Mandatory Insurance Agency Zaur Aliyev noted that the issue of insurance for doctors involved in the treatment of coronavirus patients has already been discussed, and a positive decision was made in advance. These doctors risk their lives. If they get coronavirus, then their insurance can be implemented as insurance against accidents at the workplace. I think that insurance companies will soon come up with relevant proposals, he said. According to a source in the State Labor Inspection Service under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the issue of whether the deterioration of the employees condition at the workplace is related to professional activity is determined by Veli Akhundov Research Institute of Medical Prevention. After receiving the institutes medical report on the employees loss of ability to work due to his professional activity (this is ascertained by the medical and social expert commission), this person is provided with insurance benefits, the source noted. This process is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the law On compulsory insurance against loss of professional ability to work as a result of industrial accidents and occupational diseases. : Fresh COVID-19 cases continued to rise in Kerala with seven people, including a returnee from Kuwait, who had arrived in the state on May 9, testing positive for the coronavirus on Monday, taking the total number of infected people to 27. One region in Wayanad district has been categorised as a hot spot. A day after Kasaragod district was declared COVID-19-free by the health department, four people who had come from Maharashtra were found infected with the deadlyvirus,state Health minister K K Shailaja said. A 11-month old infantfrom Wayanad, the grandchild of a truck driver who had tested positive after returning from the Koyambedu market, a hot spot in Chennai, also tested positive for the virus. The man's wife, mother and the truck cleaner's son were also infectedthrough contact earlier. With the Kuwait returnee testing positive, so far six people repatriated to the state in flights from the Gulf as part of the centre's 'Vande Mataram' mission, have tested positive for COVID-19. This person has been admitted to the Manjeri Medical College Hospital. A man from Palakkad, who had come from Chennai, also tested positive for the virus, a government release said. Meanwhile, there were no negative results in Kerala on Monday and till now, 489 people have recovered. "As of now, 1,307 people have reached the state from abroad in the repatriation flights from the gulf sector operated by the Centre. Out of this, 650 are under home quarantine and 641 are in covid care centres. Sixteen are in isolation wards. 229 pregnant ladies have reached the state from abroad," Shailaja said. At least 27,986 people are under observation in Kerala and 441 are in isolation wards. "The state administration has included Nenmeni area of Wayanad district in the list of hot spots of the state taking the total number to 34. As of now, Wayanad has eight cases, the highest number in the state, followed by Kasaragod with four. Kannur, Ernakulam and Kollam districtshave three cases each, while Thrissur, Malappuram have two each and Palakkad and Kozhikode, one each. With fresh cases on the rise, there is growing concern as more people are expected from the gulf and other states in the coming days. Days after the state had declared that it had flattened the curve, seven cases were reported on May 10 and an equal number on Monday. Meanwhile, the state police has decided to monitor all those who had returned to Kerala from other states to ensure that they remain in home quarantine. The state borders on Monday continued to witness heavy rush of keralites stuck in other states due to the lockdown, even as the state government had directed that only those with e-passes would be allowed to enter the state. State Police chief Loknath Behera has written to all state DGPs and police commissioners to ensure thatthose applying for passes to Kerala have state's COVID-19 e Jagrata pass. A police press release also said those who have returned from other countries and states and are under home quarantine would be under the surveillance of 'Janamaitri' police who will ensure that they do not move around meeting friends and relatives during the quarantine period. Over four lakh people from various countries, mainly from the Gulf, had registered in the NORKA portal to return to Kerala while least one lakh people from other states have also registered with the state government website. The state border checkposts, especially Walayar in Palakkad, bordering Tamil Nadu, has been witnessing a heavy rush of Keralites wanting to return. The Kerala High Court had on Sunday directed the state government to take "urgent immediate steps" to facilitate the entry of those stranded at Walayar as several people, including small children, were stranded as they did not have the required pass to enter the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On Pine Ridge, Oglala Lakota Police and Lakota warriors are manning protective roadblocks at the tribal border entrances today on Mother's Day, as South Dakota State threatens Native Nations over their coronavirus roadblocks. Oglala Lakota enforce coronavirus border checkpoints after South Dakota Governor threatsby Brenda NorrellBreaking News from Censored NewsTop photo: Red Shirt Table, Pine RidgePINE RIDGE, South Dakota -- Oglala Lakota Police and Lakota warriors are manning protective roadblocks at the tribal border entrances today on Mother's Day, as South Dakota State threatens Native Nations over their coronavirus roadblocks.Oglala Lakota and Cheyenne River Lakota in South Dakota have border checkpoints to protect their members from outsiders bringing in coronavirus.South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on Friday told Native American Nations they have 48 hours to take down road checkpoints. The Republican governor said she would take legal action if the tribes didn't remove the checkpoints in 48 hours.Two tribes in South Dakota -- Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe -- set up the checkpoints in April in an attempt to lock down their lands amid fears infections could decimate members.Read more and follow live updates at Censored News#NomoresmallpoxblanketsnowCopyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News A woman was terrified after feeling a king cobra headbutting her bottom as she sat on the sofa. Fah Ying, 41, was resting on her sofa watching a program on her smartphone after returning home from work in Tak, northern Thailand when the incident happened. She suddenly felt something pressing against her buttocks and heard a hissing sound. The confused shop owner realised there was an animal inside her sofa and leapt up and ran outside. The shocked woman called the local rescue team to investigate. They flipped over the sofa and found a 6ft long king cobra hiding inside. They believe it had slithered in from the jungle in search of food and found the comfy position in the home furniture. The relieved owner believes she disturbed the snake after flopping down onto the sofa, causing it to retaliate by striking the underside of the chair where she was sitting. She said: "I came back and went straight to the sofa and threw myself onto it like I do every day. I think my bottom might have hit the snake and caused it to be angry so it bumped me back with its head.'' The cobra was driven five miles away and released into nearby woodland. OAAA president Anna Bager set to join WOO board Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) president and chief executive Anna Bager is set to join the World Out of Home Organization (WOO) board. Bager is the first national association representative to join the WOO board, which had consisted of media owner representatives and the WOO executive director. Bager spent her entire career working in the media and technology sector. Before joining OAAA last September, she held a number of senior positions at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and headed business intelligence at Ericsson Multimedia. Throughout her career, she has been recognised by industry bodies, including as one of the top women in media by Folio magazine and one of the top women in digital advertising by Cynopsis Media. "Over the last couple of years, WOO has been working much more closely with national associations around the world and especially lately in our regular video calls during the Covid-19 crisis. We are therefore thrilled to welcome Anna, a key player in the biggest Out of Home market worldwide, to the WOO board. This will make WOO an even stronger and more representative entity," Said WOO president Tom Goddard welcoming Bager. Sir Keir Starmer has attacked Boris Johnsons address to the nation on how to ease the coronavirus lockdown, saying it raised as many questions as it answered. The televised speech lacked clarity and consensus while effectively telling millions of people to go back to work tomorrow without clear guidelines, the Labour leader said. The prime minister told the public to stay alert to the threat of a second peak of the coronavirus, as he outlined several changes to the lifestyle rules limiting the spread of the virus. People will be allowed out to exercise for as long as and as often as they want, and workers in construction and manufacturing industries will be actively encouraged to return to their jobs. But Sir Keir said afterwards: What the country wanted tonight was clarity and consensus, and Im afraid weve got neither. This statement raises as many questions as it answers, and we see the prospect of England, Scotland and Wales pulling in different directions. Its big gap here for the government to make up. The leaders of Scotland and Northern Ireland are sticking with the stay at home message that the prime minister has now moved away from in England. Sir Keir, who has previously promised not to score party political points over coronavirus, said the governments latest strategy was not based on political consensus, telling Sky News: What I really wanted, I pushed them on this last week, I said build a consensus around the plan before you deliver the plan thats been delivered this evening. Because I think the public are very scared and anxious about what comes next. They want reassurance. And if they can see political parties, employers, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland all broadly on the same page that helps with reassurance and confidence. But Im afraid weve arrived tonight without that. Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Show all 30 1 /30 Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff react outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff inside Camberwell bus depot in London, during a minute's silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus NHS staff at the Mater hospital in Belfast, during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak. PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Shoppers observe a minute's silence in Tescos in Shoreham Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Firefighters outside Godstone fire station PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Salford Royal Hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Salford Royal Hospital PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Hospital workers take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE across Britain for all workers in care, the NHS and other vital public services after a nationwide minute's silence at University College Hospital in London AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A school children's poster hanging outside Glenfield Hospital during a minute's silence Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A man holds a placard that reads "People's health before profit" outside St Thomas hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff members applaud outside the Royal Derby Hospital, following a minute's silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, Prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, stand inside 10 Downing Street, London, to observe a minutes silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus University College Hospital, London Hospital workers hold placards with the names of their colleagues who have died from coronavirus as they take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff at Waterloo Station in London, stand to observe a minute's silence, to pay tribute to NHS and key workers who have died with coronavirus AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Medical staff at the Louisa Jordan hospital stand during a UK wide minutes silence to commemorate the key workers who have died with coronavirus in Glasgow Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus London An NHS worker observes a minute's silence at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London AFP via Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Belfast, Northern Ireland NHS staff observe a minutes silence at Mater Infirmorum Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Plymouth NHS workers hold a minute's silence outside the main entrance of Derriford Hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus NHS Frimley Park Hospital staff at the A&E department observe a minute's silence Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Mater Infirmorum Hospital People applaud after a minutes silence in honour of key workers Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Waterloo Station, London AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Wreaths laid outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A group of trade unionists and supporters standing outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stands outside St Andrew's House in Edinburgh to observe a minute's silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff stand outside the Royal Derby Hospital, during a minutes silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus London Police officers observe a minutes silence at Guy's Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A woman standing outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Royal Derby Hospital PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Leicester, NHS workers during a minute's silence outside Glenfield Hospital Getty Mr Johnson said he was providing the first sketch of a road map for reopening society, adding that he had consulted across the political spectrum, and across all four nations of the UK and would give more details in Parliament tomorrow. And though it is right to be flexible in our response, I believe that as prime minister of the United Kingdom Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland there is a strong resolve to defeat this together. And today a general consensus on what we could do, he said. However, business leaders called for further clarity, with the British Chambers of Commerce saying that advice on personal protective equipment (PPE), distancing and government support schemes was vital. Getting enough PPE to the people who need it was one of Mr Johnsons five tests that must be met for the lockdown to be eased. Unions quickly struck out at the plans. The GMB said workers needed strict rules on hygiene and social distancing and sufficient PPE. The National Education Union, representing teachers, said the idea of reopening schools with the rate of infection as it is was nothing short of reckless. The prime minister said by 1 June at the earliest the phased reopening of shops and getting primary pupils back into schools may begin in stages. Here are the latest developments in Asia related to the novel coronavirus pandemic: - Wuhan reports new cases - China reported a new cluster of coronavirus cases in the city of Wuhan. Five new infections were confirmed in one district of Wuhan, the city believed to be ground zero for the global pandemic. The city in central Hubei province only emerged from lockdown roughly four weeks ago, after weeks of dwindling cases. - No nightlife for Korea - South Korea announced its highest number of new infections in more than a month, driven by a cluster in a Seoul nightlife district. Over the weekend the capital -- as well as neighbouring Gyeonggi province and the nearby city of Incheon -- ordered all clubs and bars shut after a burst of new cases sparked fears of a second wave. Officials reported 35 new infections, taking the total to 10,909, after recording only single-digit increases for eight of the preceding 12 days. Authorities later linked 86 cases to the nightclub cluster. - India cases jump - India saw its biggest single-day jump in coronavirus cases, even as prime minister Narendra Modi was set to meet with state leaders to discuss how to gradually exit the lockdown. The health ministry reported 4,213 new infections. Nationwide, there have been almost 70,000 cases, with more than 2,000 deaths confirmed. Despite the increase, Modi is expected to discuss with state leaders later on Monday how to gradually exit the lockdown and boost the flagging economy. India was due to lift the shutdown on May 17. - Horses out, humans in - One of Singapore's horse-racing clubs will convert parts of its grounds to house mild cases of virus-infected migrant workers. Although such workers form the majority of the city-state's 23,000 cases, many do not require hospitalisation. Many are currently being housed in community care facilities, rather than their crowded dormitories. The Singapore Turf Club, which operates and manages the racecourse, said parts of the facility will be converted so workers can be temporarily housed and relieve pressure on hospitals. - New Zealand to end lockdown - New Zealand will phase out its coronavirus lockdown over the next 10 days after successfully containing the virus, although some restrictions will remain, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. From Thursday shopping malls, restaurants, cinemas and playgrounds will reopen -- with the country moving to Level Two on its four-tier system. New Zealand has only 90 active cases. - Sri Lanka stocks nosedive - Sri Lanka's stock exchange was shut 38 seconds after opening for the first time since a 52-day lockdown was imposed as a plunge in share prices triggered a circuit breaker. Soon after the restart, prices tumbled 10 percent, leading the Colombo Stock Exchange to stop trading. - Coronavirus cuts cartoon - Production of the world's longest-running cartoon and a mainstay of the Japanese weekend has been interrupted by the coronavirus, forcing the broadcast of re-runs for the first time in decades. "Sazae-san" first aired in 1969 and revolves around the life of Mrs Sazae, a cheerful but klutzy full-time housewife. The popular 30-minute episodes will stop from May 17, the network said, and re-runs will be aired each Sunday instead. - Record Bangladesh daily cases - Bangladesh recorded 1,034 new cases in the previous 24 hours -- eclipsing the previous record of 887 cases set a day earlier -- even as lock-down restrictions continued to be eased. Some 15,692 cases have now been recorded, with 239 deaths. burs-rbu/fox One more person tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli on Monday, pushing the district's tally to 23, a senior officer said. Shamli had become coronavirus-free and was declared an orange zone a week ago after all 18 patients in the district recovered. Later, fresh cases were reported in the district. A trader who used to go to Delhi everyday to buy vegetables tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, Shamli District Magistrate Jasjit Kaur said. There are five active cases in the district. All these patients are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Jhinjhana town, she told reporters here. Earlier, two vegetable market agents and three of their family members had tested positive for COVID-19 in the district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WASHINGTON - Metro's coronavirus recovery plan doesn't anticipate a return to pre-pandemic levels of service until next spring. Instead, the transit agency plans to slowly ramp up service and will ask the region's employers to limit daily commuters by staggering work schedules and encouraging telework. The plan, to be presented to the agency's board Thursday, outlines how public transit will look once state and local officials begin lifting stay-home orders and other restrictions. Service levels will gradually increase over the course of a year, and the plan relies heavily on elected leaders, federal officials, military brass and chief executives to keep passenger numbers low so rail cars and buses do not become dangerously crowded and aid the spread of infection. Customers should not expect major service improvements over what is available now until at least fall; Metro plans to keep the same reduced-service schedule until the start of the school year. "We would revisit that in the fall/winter, dependent upon what's happening on the ground and what we learned at that point," Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said. "Full recovery, we don't anticipate till the spring of next year." And for those looking forward to the extended late-night hours approved by the board and scheduled to start July 1: Those plans have been shelved until the system is back operating at pre-pandemic levels. For now, Metro is making the protection of its employees, including train operators, bus drivers and station managers its top priority. "What's driving our recovery plan first and foremost is the safety of our employees," Wiedefeld said. "And then the safety of our customers. And that will drive what we can do, when we can do it. Part of that is capacity driven and obviously making sure everyone is safe." To help accomplish those goals, Metrobus riders will continue to board through the rear doors and ride free since there is no way to safely collect fares without exposing bus operators to passengers. Front-door boarding and fare collection tentatively could resume next spring, when all-door fare-collection might also be available through SmarTrip card targets Metro is planning to install. Metro will try to limit passengers on buses and rail cars to levels that will allow for the recommended six feet of social distancing between riders. In a rail car that can hold more than 100 passengers, that would mean about 20 people. The agency plans to put markers on platforms and vehicles to help customers keep the proper distance. Monitoring passenger levels will be critical each day, as will other factors outside Metro's control including when infections and hospitalizations peak in the area. Metro's statistical models say that could run anywhere from next week to July. On rail, passengers can expect 15- to 20-minute waits to diminish to 7 1/2 to 10 minutes on all lines until spring, when the agency hopes to restore peak service. The 19 stations the transit authority closed last month because of the pandemic will be brought back on line gradually in the fall. The key, Metro officials said, will be to stay ahead of the demand for transit by providing enough vehicles and frequency to ensure safe social distancing onboard until the region reaches a level of herd immunity or until a vaccine becomes widely available. Once that occurs, the question becomes whether there will be a second wave of infections; whether communities within Metro's jurisdictions experience surges and recoveries at different times; and when a cure or vaccine will become widely distributed. "Restoration timing depends on all of the above," a draft of the plan says. "But we have to predict when it will happen in order to be ready with appropriate service." The agency will continue many of the practices it is using, including the sanitizing of driver compartments after every shift. As of Saturday, 81 Metro employees out of its workforce of more than 12,000 have tested positive for the coronavirus. Twenty-five of those who have fallen ill are bus operators; the workers who have contracted the coronavirus are mostly those who work among the public, including Transit Police, train operators and station managers. Dictating how the public uses Metro will not be easy. Over the past two months, aided by stay-home orders and the public's fear of the coronavirus, Metro has purposefully discouraged riding. The agency continues to stress that use be limited to essential trips. The system has cut back its hours, frequency of service and routes. As a result, ridership has plummeted by 94% on rail and 70% on Metrobus when compared with similar days before the pandemic. The transit agency said it wants the public to know that it cannot just "turn a switch on" and have the system return to the high levels of service it offered in February. Work schedules and employee availability, which are negotiated with Metro's unions, are among the reasons. Nearly 4,000 employees will need to select new assignments based on seniority, according to union contracts, Metro said. Metro, in partnership with the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland, plans to send messages to the region's employers - including the federal government, the area's largest - to come up with plans to limit the number of workers who need to use public transit, Wiedefeld said. Metro has been collaborating with the federal Office of Management and Budget on guidance for transporting federal workers. Ideas include splitting the workforce and alternating days when employees are called into the office. "Metro cannot do this alone," Wiedefeld said. "We need the support of the entire region, particularly from the workforce perspective, as we start to come out of this. Obviously, we cannot just start up immediately. It will take time to do that. And I'm sure many businesses will be in the same place. "So we just want to make sure that we work hand-in-hand with, obviously, the health professionals, but also the businesses in the region and the federal government workforce to meter or manage the workforce entry back into the system." Wiedefeld said he is working closely with elected leaders including Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, as a member of the city's recovery task force. Metro is also working with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and its own board members to communicate the transit system's need for cooperation with local governments. Wiedefeld also serves on a national panel of transportation chiefs organized by the American Public Transportation Association to develop and communicate national strategies. The task force and Metro have been closely watching European transit systems, including London's, that are further along in recovery than the United States. Much also depends on whether schools reopen in the fall. More than 30,000 students are part of a D.C. program that provides free unlimited SmarTrip cards, and that's the biggest reason Metro believes significant demand on the system will not start until at least fall. "A lot is dependent upon what's happening, whether schools will be open, not open, for instance," Wiedefeld said. "And then we get into what we're calling a 'managed reentry.' . . . That's where you would start to see more and more rail service capacity being put out in the system, as well as additional bus routes being added onto the system and then eventually the final recovery, which we anticipate right now, most likely [taking place] after the first of the year into the spring of next year." Until schools reopen, the transit agency plans to expand construction work to take advantage of low passenger levels. It has already announced a summer-long shutdown, starting Memorial Day, of all stations west of the Ballston stop in Arlington County, Virginia, for its platform rebuilding project. The Silver Line also will be shut down to begin work to incorporate its second phase into the system. The agency plans to add even more construction work over the next few months. It is proposing a rolling shutdown of D.C. stations from Fort Totten to Navy Yard to work on rail segments along the Green and Yellow lines. Stations would be shuttered on an alternating basis for one to two weeks between June 7 and July 3. Metro is moving aggressively on construction work, anticipating that it will take months for the region to begin getting back to normal once coronavirus infections slow. Surveys the agency has conducted have shown that 90% of respondents say their employers have given them no clear indication if or when telework might end. But Wiedefeld said the agency will remain flexible because the next year to 18 months are unpredictable. Metro's customer surveys show that riders view transit as riskier than going to grocery stores and that they expect everyone to be wearing masks, which the transit authority recommends but does not require. To address those concerns, Metro officials said they plan to both increase cleaning and make it more visible. Metro also is testing a touchless fare card system and new "flex" monthly or weekly fare plan that would benefit those who telework more. New plans will be rolled out gradually, while Metro's newest fare boxes are already touch-free and require just a quick wave at a target. "It will take some time," Wiedefeld said of the recovery efforts. "That's why we also have limited capacity that we're putting out there, because literally between the workforce and the demand, it isn't there right now, and we don't anticipate that in the near future as this gradually starts to open, like every aspect of our lives." BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.Due to the cornonavirus lockdown and orders from various governors to limit which businesses may open to the public during the pandemic, Hustler Hollywood has announced that it has carefully begun to open stores across the country in select locations that had been closed due to the COVID-19 virusmost recently in Las Vegas, Nevada, and West Palm Beach, Florida. Each Hustler Hollywood location will be regularly cleaned and sanitized per the guidelines of the CDC, as well as offering hand sanitizing stations upon entrance and throughout the boutiques. Social distancing guidelines will continue to be followed by limiting the number of customers in-store. The retailer asks all customers who wish to enter the store to wear a face mask and encourages those to pay with credit cards to minimize contact. However, the trying on of apparel and lingerie is prohibited as fitting rooms will remain closed to customers. "With restrictions easing in certain parts of the country and after ensuring that we can meet all recommended guidelines for operating safely, we felt that it was time that we opened our Sahara and West Palm Beach stores," said Philip Del Rio, vice president of retail. "We have new guidelines and protocols in place for our employees, along with customers, and we will do everything we can to continue to provide a safe and clean environment in which to shop." The retailer will continue to have curbside pick-up available daily from Noon to 8 p.m. at its Las Vegas store located at 620 E. Sahara Avenue and its West Palm Beach store at 2041 Zip Code Place for those customers who prefer this option. Customers can phone the Las Vegas store directly at 702-474-4469, or the West Palm Beach store directly at 561-684-3969, place an order, and have it delivered to them curbside without having to leave their car or enter the store. For those not sure as to what they might want to purchase, they can visit the companys website HustlerHollywood.com for product information. Hustler Hollywood will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and make updates as needed. For more information and a full list of stores and their re-opening dates, please visit Hustler Hollywood Updates. Islamabad: Now the havoc of Corona rising on one side has increased so much. That there is only a view of Tawahi everywhere. As of now, the number of people who have died from this virus has exceeded 2 lakh 83 thousand. At the same time, the fear of this virus is spread among people. Doctors are still searching for treatment to fight this disease. 1991 cases of coronavirus were reported in Pakistan on Saturday, which is the highest in a day. With this, the number of corona infected people in the country has exceeded 29 thousand. Despite the increase in the number of infected people, the first phase of loosening of lockdown started on Saturday. Here, the business has been allowed to operate till 5 pm. A record 887 cases were reported in Bangladesh in 24 hours from Saturday to Sunday. During this time 14 people also died. The number of infected people in the country has now reached 14,657. Corona Live: Death toll reached near 3 lakhs, more than 41 lakhs infected Lockdown may extend if corona die not ends Researchers claim, 'Cured people are not at risk from infected' Faith Bartley, a resident of Why Not Prosper?, carries donated food to be distributed to neighbors. On the right is Shakeyma Hunlay, who was released from jail after a year when the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund paid her bail. Read more Shakeyma Hunlay has never been convicted of a crime, but she spent a year in a Philadelphia jail because she didnt have $5,000 for bail. Then, in late April, as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the jails crept toward 200, the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund came up with the cash to release her. They even gave Hunlay a ride home. But when the petite 25-year-old knocked on the door of her grandfathers house, she realized shed been released to a whole new set of problems: My family moved. I dont know where they moved to. I dont have anybodys number. Hunlay was homeless, with no photo ID and no job, in the middle of a pandemic. At a time when prisoners are being released in unprecedented numbers including more than a thousand from Philadelphia jails theyre returning home to a straining network of reentry supports. Those include employers that have closed their doors, treatment providers that have moved online despite a gaping digital divide, and halfway houses wary that any new admission from the jails poses a risk of spreading the deadly virus. Those providers that remain are working double-time, equipping people with phones and laptops for virtual job training and therapy, laying out thousands of dollars to secure extra transitional housing, and haggling with prospective employers about whether, in lieu of a photo ID, a prison mugshot will do. And, where gaps remain, community members are stepping up. "We cant just sit out here while people are dying, said LaTonya Myers, a volunteer with the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, who has been meeting people at the prison to give them donated bags filled with toiletries and gift cards, masks and hand sanitizer. Since the sheriffs office is limiting its transport service, she enlisted Brian Watson a formerly incarcerated entrepreneur who in normal times runs a van service from the Frankford Transportation Center to the jail to drive those who are released to recovery houses or transitional housing. On the way, she tries to find out their needs, and fill them in on the current public-health guidelines. READ MORE: Lockdown diaries: During the pandemic, prisoners are stuck in cells 23 hours a day Myers and Watson were the ones who picked up Hunlay from jail in late April, then watched her trudge dejectedly back to the van from the house that had been her grandfathers. So, Myers called the Rev. Michelle Simmons, the energetic leader of the East Germantown reentry provider Why Not Prosper?, which has taken in nine women from Riverside Correctional Facility during the pandemic. Anybody coming from anywhere right now is risky, said Simmons, who has become a zealous distributor of gloves, masks and sanitizer, and has placed decals marking six-foot zones in front of her building. Im willing to take the chance and trust God, and take their temperatures, and trust the [social workers at the jail] to communicate transparently. Simmons is keeping three of her 25 beds open in case a partial quarantine is necessary. Shes also in negotiations for another building to add 10 more beds recognizing a growing need for transitional housing and dwindling options. Housing is the foremost challenge for reentry right now, said Jeffrey Abramowitz, executive director of JEVS Reentry Services. Some people coming out of the jails were unable to get into shelters because they had not been quarantined long enough, he said. And, even as some entry-level jobs are opening up, in fields such as warehousing and food distribution, getting to those jobs during the pandemic is not always possible. Last Monday "was the first day one halfway house reopened and allowed people to go out, he said. We had a few people that lost opportunities because they couldnt get out of the halfway house. Providers are getting creative. JEVS organized van pools for those who had no easy way of getting to work, given SEPTAs skeletal service schedule. READ MORE: SEPTAs lifeline service can mean a grueling commute for essential workers Treatment providers are offering telehealth, and in some cases delivering medication-assisted treatment to the recovery houses. And Why Not Prosper? set up a reentry hotline, fielding about 10 calls a day from women looking for diapers, for help getting an ID, for methadone. Luz Acevedo, 43, who was released from jail in April, said staying at Why Not Prosper? has helped her attain her longest stretch of sobriety in 28 years with help from suboxone and tele-treatment. She has a roommate, making social distancing mostly theoretical but it feels safer than jail. Acevedo is eager to work, but is still waiting for her birth certificate, the first step to getting a state identification card. I just got my mugshot from prison, she said. I look terrible. I was like, 'Oh my God, they will not hire me with that face! HELP US REPORT: Are you a health care worker, medical provider, government worker, patient, frontline worker or other expert? We want to hear from you. Organizers have been lobbying the city for help. Reuben Jones, a member of the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund and head of the group Frontline Dads, advocated for 14 people who were authorized for release into tele-treatment, pending housing, to be permitted to stay at one of the hotels the city is using as quarantine sites. People sitting in jail because they didnt have somewhere to go was unconscionable, he said. After the city turned him down, he came up with about $5,000 to rent apartments so they could be released. To Jones, its a question of public safety. If youre coming out of prison, youve obviously been exposed, so its in our best interest to provide some safe shelter for them, he said. None of the solutions is perfect, acknowledged Maurice Jones, whose job-readiness program, PAR Recycle Works, had to furlough its entire workforce of formerly incarcerated people. Hes still providing mentoring, referrals and resources, and helping his former employees sign up for Instacart gigs, Amazon warehouse work, or jobs at ShopRite. Its fast-tracked, faster than we ever would have pushed anyone out there into the workforce, he said. Yet, the Defender Association of Philadelphia noted that fewer than 1% of those released since April 7 have been rearrested. Keir Bradford-Grey, the citys chief public defender, attributes that to the work of the Pre-Entry Coalition, which the defender and partners launched last year with the goal of safely bringing more people home pretrial, with the supports they need to succeed. Now all of that planning has been put into action at a time when compliance-based supervision models, such as probation and electronic monitoring, have been largely offline. The community has responded to make our city safer at a time when were trying to release more people, she said. This is a big deal, in that this works. BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday urged that more famous brands be created to better meet the demands of China's consumption upgrade and national development. Boosting the growth of brands and constantly raising the quality and influence of Chinese products and services is an important aspect of implementing the strategy of expanding domestic demand and promoting high-quality development, Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said in a message to the online event 2020 China Brand Day. Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, opened the online event in Beijing. Li called for the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, continually promoting mass entrepreneurship and innovation, adhering to putting quality first, deepening brand awareness among the whole society, and guiding companies to uphold the spirit of professionalism and craftsmanship, so that more brands that are famous and of high quality will be created. Organized by the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, and ministries including commerce, agriculture and rural affairs, as well as the Shanghai municipal government, the event featured an online Chinese brands expo and an online international forum with more than 1,300 companies taking part. Congratulations, giftfancy.com got a very good Social Media Impact Score! Show it by adding this HTML code on your site: Giftfancy.com scored 96 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 5/5.0 Stars by Social Team This CoolSocial report was updated on 20 Dec 2012, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. giftfancy.com is very popular in Twitter and Facebook. It has 2445 twitter followers. Furthermore its facebook page has 974 likes. Add a widget like this on your site: click here This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the giftfancy homepage on Twitter + the total number of giftfancy followers (if giftfancy has a Twitter account). The total number of people who shared the giftfancy homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. The total number of people who shared the giftfancy homepage on StumbleUpon. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the giftfancy homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if giftfancy has a Facebook fan page). The total number of people who shared the giftfancy homepage on Delicious. Basic Information PAGE TITLE Paperfancy - Home DESCRIPTION Stylish stationery (stationary), party invitations and personalized (personalised) gifts for the modern paper lover! KEYWORDS bridal shower invitations wording, bridal shower card, bridal showers, wedding shower gift, party store, baby shower invitation wording, party ideas, 31 party, invitation wording, birthday party invitations, 925 silver, pendant, valentines gifts for him, OTHER KEYWORDS The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site. The title found in the head section of the homepage. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site. The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. Domain and Server DOCTYPE XHTML 1.0 Strict CHARSET AND LANGUAGE English ISO-8859-1English DETECTED LANGUAGE English English SERVER Apache OPERATIVE SYSTEM Linux Linux Operative System running on the server. The language of giftfancy.com as detected by CoolSocial algorithms. Character set and language of the site. Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0) Type of server and offered services. Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world. Referring domains for giftfancy.com by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines. Facebook link FACEBOOK PAGE LINK FOUND FACEBOOK PAGE www.facebook.com/pages/paperfancy/104488719588288?v=app_6261817190 DESCRIPTION Visit www.PaperFancy.com for all of your gift LIKES 974 PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT 37 PAGE TYPE Retail and consumer merchandise TIMELINE PAGE TIMELINE The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. The type of Facebook page. The URL of the found Facebook page. The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. The total number of people who like website Facebook page. Twitter account link TWITTER PAGE LINK FOUND TWITTER PAGE twitter.com/#!/PaperFancy DESCRIPTION Stationery + gifts for the modern paper lover! Southern mom ACCOUNT CREATED ON 03 Jul 2008 LOCATION Richmond TWEETS 1238 FOLLOWERS 2445 LISTED 50 Narendra Modi Today on Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that based on the suggestions by states, information about the extension of coronavirus lockdown will be given before 18 May. We will fight Corona and we will move forward, he added. Auto refresh feeds After reporting 1,230 fresh COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the total confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Maharashtra reached 23,401 on Monday. Along with that, the toll in the state increased to 868 after 36 more fatalities were registered, said a health official. In addition to this, 57 more confirmed cases in Dharavi, the largest slum area in the city, took the total number of COVID-19 patients in the area to 916. The toll stood at 29. Moreover, with 20 more deaths, the toll increased to 528, said Municipal Corporation Greater Mumbai. Of the total 23,401 COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, over 14,000 were reported in Mumbai alone. With 791 fresh cases as of Monday, the total number of infected patients in the city climbed to 14,355. He said the $8 billion will not be enough, and additional funds will be needed to speed up the development of a vaccine, but more importantly to produce enough "to make sure that this vaccine reaches everyone (and) theres no one be left behind." "We have good candidates now," Tedros said. "The top ones are around seven, eight. But we have more than a hundred candidates." WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told in a UN Economic and Social Council video briefing that as per initial presumption two months ago it might take 12 to 18 months for a vaccine. But he said an accelerated effort is under way, helped by 7.4 billion euros ($8 billion) pledged a week ago by leaders from 40 countries, organizations and banks for research, treatment and testing. The World Health Organization chief said Monday there are around seven or eight "top" candidates for a vaccine to combat the novel coronavirus and work on them is being accelerated. On Monday, the Centre released advance payments of over Rs 1,276 crore to Kerala, followed by over Rs 952 crore to Himachal Pradesh and over Rs 638 crore to Punjab. Assam received Rs 631 crore, Andhra Pradesh Rs 491 crore, Uttarakhand Rs 423 crore, and West Bengal got Rs 417 crore. The grant was recommended by the 15th Finance Commission, and an equal first installment of the grant was issued by the Centre to states on 14 March. "This would provide them additional resources during the coronavirus crisis," the finance ministry said in a statement Monday. The government released Rs 6,195.08 crore to 14 states as the second equated monthly installment of the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant on Monday. Majority of CMs were in favour of relaxation in lockdown restrictions but raised concerns over reopening of public transport. During his fifth meeting with the chief ministers of States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted at a possible extension of coronavirus lockdown. He had asked for suggestions on easing of economic activities before 15 May, CNN-News18 reported. Initially, the Railways announced booking of tickets on the IRCTC website on Monday from 4 pm, but the website did not respond due to huge traffic of prospective passengers. The services of the portal resumed around 6 pm. Within minutes after booking started, all tickets across the three AC classes were sold out for Mumbai Central-New Delhi special train till 18 May, The Times of India reported. With passenger train services set to begin from Tuesday, the Indian Railways on Monday said reservations were issued to more than 54,000 passengers within three hours. "By 9.15 pm, approximately 30,000 PNRs had been generated and reservations issued to more than 54,000 passengers," the railway ministry said. This marking the phased restart of interstate public transport after 49 days into lockdown. Indian Railways sold train tickets to 54,000 passengers worth about Rs 10 crore within hours of bookings for passenger trains that begin operating a limited schedule from Tuesday, reported The Economic Times . The Indian Railways will restart passenger train operations with special trains from New Delhi connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad,Bengaluru,Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi on Tuesday. All social distancing norms to be followed at the stations and on the trains. Only asymptomatic persons and those with confirmed tickets can travel. No wait listed tickets issued, said RD Bajpai, Railways Executive Director. As per the Ministry of Railways, these services shall be in addition to the Shramik specials for transporting stranded migrants which started from 1 May. The Indian Railways is resuming passenger train service from Tuesday, 12 May. The Railways had stopped the functioning of passenger trains on 22 March in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 15 pairs of special trains will be running from today. The recovery rate stood at 31.7 percent after 22,454 COVID-19 patients were cured of the infectious disease. The figure includes 46,008 active cases, according to the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The total number of coronavirus cases in India climbed to 70,756 after more 3,604 individuals tested COVID-19 positive in the past 24 hours, said the health ministry on Tuesday. The COVID-19 toll reached 2,293 across the nation. Two new COVID-19 deaths took the toll across the state to 151. With 47 more individuals testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Rajasthan, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in the state climbed to 4,305, said the health department. According to the sources, his COVID-19 report has come negative. The 87-year-old senior Congress leader was admitted to the institute at 8.45 pm Sunday. "He was admitted for observation and investigation after he developed a febrile reaction to a new medication," said a senior doctor from the institute. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after he complained of chest problems, is stable. He has been shifted out of the ICU and moved to a private ward of Cardio-Thoracic Sciences Centre (CTVS) unit of the institute Of the total 4,035 confirmed cases in Rajasthan, the maximum was reported in Jaipur with 1,255 COVID-19 positive cases being identified. More than half of the total 115 deaths were reported in the city with 59 COVID-19 patients succumbing to the infectious disease. The 22-coach train departed the Karnataka capital on 10 May and reached in Bankura after a two-day journey. A special train from Bengaluru, carrying around 1,200 passengers, arrived in Bankura on Tuesday morning, official sources said. The passengers included patients, labourers and students, he added. A special flight carrying more than 300 Indians will shortly depart from Chicago for Mumbai on Tuesday. The flight will land in Mumbai in the early hours of Wednesday and then head to Chennai. The ship, in its second ferry, was scheduled to bring people to Tuticorin but destination was changed since necessary approvals from Tamil Nadu government were not received. As part of Samudra Setu Mission, Indian navy ship INS Jalashwa will sail again from Maldives capital of Male on Friday bringing back residents of Kerala and Lakshadweep. The ship had earlier brought back 698 Indians to Kochi on Sunday. A total of 900 people have been already evacuated from Maldives with the second ship INS Magar expected to reach Kochi on Tuesday. The ship is carrying 202 Indian nationals including 24 women and a patient. "We are ascertaining the infection trail," Health Department's Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar said. Most of the patients are in the 20-40 age group, he said. While nine of the patients hail from Begusarai, two are from Darbhanga, one each from Nalanda, Samastipur, Sheikhpura and Supaul districts. Bihar reported 15 fresh cases of COVID-19, taking the state's virus tally to 761, a top health department official said on Tuesday. An Assistant Sub-inspector of CISF deployed in Kolkata lost his life last night due to COVID-19 infection, according to Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) official, reports ANI. The local unit opened at 75.89, then lost further ground and fell to 75.95 against the US dollar, down 22 paise over its previous close. It had settled at 75.73 against the US dollar on Monday. Forex traders said the local unit opened weak against the greenback tracking gains in the US dollar. Moreover, sell-off in domestic equities and rising coronavirus cases in the country weighed on investor sentiment. The rupee depreciated 22 paise to 75.95 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday amid strengthening American currency overseas and weak opening in domestic equities. The driver of the car fled the spot along with the vehicle after the incident, the police said, adding that they have got inputs about the vehicle and the driver would be nabbed soon. The deceased was identified as Ashok Kumar (25) while the injured labourer was admitted to the civil hospital at Ambala Cantonment, they said. A group of migrant labourers told the police that they were headed towards their native village in Bihar's Purnia district from Punjab's Ludhiana on foot when the incident occurred. A migrant labourer was killed while another seriously injured when a car hit them on the Ambala-Jagadhri highway near Ambala Cantonment on Tuesday morning, police said. The facility was opened to the public on Monday by Kundu, Haryanas Additional Chief secretary and CEO, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) along with Ashok Sangwan, IAS, Commissioner, Gurugram, Vinay Pratap Singh, IAS, MCG Commissioner, Gurugram and Amit Khatri, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Gurugram. In order to deal with rising COVID-19 cases in Gurugram, a new COVID-19 only facility has opened up in Manesar, Gurugram. This has happened as a coming together of Medanta The Medicity, Fortis, Artemis and Medeor. There are many variables involved." On restarting manufacturing activities at Gurugram facility, he said "it will start, but not yet". The facility has commenced operations on a single shift basis with up to 75 percent employees allowed currently, he added. When asked about the timeline of full-swing operations, Bhargava said that would depend on government regulations like when two shifts would be allowed, when manpower could be increased and when supply chain would become fitter. "Production has commenced at the Manesar plant and the first car would roll out today (Tuesday)," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chairman R C Bhargava told PTI. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Tuesday said it has resumed operations at its Manesar plant in Haryana after around 40 days of closure due to the coronavirus-led lockdown. Operations at both Manesar and Gurugram facilities were suspended since 22 March. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has initiated phase three of clinical trials in India on antiviral tablet Favipiravir for coronavirus treatment, becoming the first company in the country to do so, reports ANI. Narayan Swaroop Nigam, erstwhile Transport Secretary has been appointed as Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department vice Vivek Kumar, until further order, the state government said. So far, 45,533 bookings (PNRs) worth Rs 16.15 crore have been recorded for the special trains for the next seven days, the railways said, adding that around 82,317 passengers will travel against these bookings. Over 80,000 passengers have booked tickets worth over Rs 16 crore on the special trains so far, the Indian Railways said on Tuesday, hours before the first such train is scheduled to depart from the New Delhi station for Bilaspur in Madhya Pradesh. The bookings for these special trains began at 6 pm on Monday. With this, the number of active coronavirus cases stood at 349 in Odisha, while 85 people have recovered from the disease. Three persons have died of the infection in the state. Twenty-three people tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha on Tuesday, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 437, a health department official said. With this, the total confirmed cases climbed to 164 in the state, said Kulkarni. Two students from Jamshedpur, who recently travelled back from Kolkata, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, ANI quoted Jharkhand Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni as saying. Of the 23 fresh confirmed COVID-19 cases in Odisha, 15 were reported in Balasore, while three each from Ganjam and Jajpur districts and one each from Puri and Boudh, a state health department official said on Tuesday. Modi is likely to discuss about the possible extension of lockdown, imposed in view of coronavirus, for red zone districts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on the COVID-19 situation at 8 pm on Tuesday, tweeted the Office of the Prime Minister of India. The employee posted at the Gurudwara Rakabganj Road building tested positive on Monday evening, he said. "Airlines House has been sealed for Tuesday and Wednesday," an official said. Air India has sealed its headquarters in Delhi for two days to conduct a thorough sanitisation of the building after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said on Tuesday. Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the Delhi government will send its proposal on easing of lockdown restrictions in the National Capital to the Centre on Thursday, PTI reported. On Monday, PM Modi held a video conference meeting with Chief Ministers of all states to discuss the road ahead in India's fight against the novel coronavirus. He said the need was to reduce the transmission rate of COVID-19 and to increase public activity gradually while adhering to all the guidelines. The last time the prime minister had addressed the nation was on 14 April when he had announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown till 3 May. During his address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to talk about the easing of lockdown restrictions, imposed in view of the novel coronavirus. The COVID-19 toll in the Union Territory reached 86 after 13 more fatalities were reported since yesterday, said Jain. With 406 more people testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Delhi in the past 24 hours, the total number of confirmed cases in the National Capital climbed to 7,639, said health minister Satyendra Jain. "383 people have been cured/discharged taking the total number of recovered cases to 2512," he further said. The COVID-19 recovery rate in the National Capital is now at 33 percent after 2,512 patients were cured. The current doubling rate of COVID-19 cases in Delhi stands now at 11 days, said health minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday. "The doubling rate in Delhi is 11 days now. The doubling rate had once reached 3 or 4 days. If the doubling rate reaches 18, 20 or 25, then we will be more comfortable," said Jain. While these are encouraging signs, it will be of concern to the Indian government and people that while states like Kerala are managing a remarkable 94.22 percent, states like Tamil Nadu (25.63 percent), West Bengal (24.19 percent), Maharashtra (20.45 percent) and Punjab (8.95 percent) are lagging behind not just Kerala, but the national average. The rate of recovery from COVID-19 in India a month ago stood at a dismally low eight percent. In the 30-odd days since, the country's overall rate of curing and discharging patients has risen to over 30 percent. As noted in an earlier post, India's mortality rate is nearly the lowest among the top 20 countries (for total deaths) at 3.29 percent. The Bench of Justices L Nageshwara Rao, Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna hinted at the same while hearing a bail application. It was observed that the matter would be taken up urgently when hearings begin on larger scale. An observation to this effect was made by a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, while hearing a bail application. After nearly two months of hearing only "extremely urgent matters", the Supreme Court is likely to hear matters through video conferencing on a "large scale", reported Bar and Bench . However, keeping in view the requirements of physical distancing, hearings would be conducted through video links using VIDYO app, with lawyers presenting their cases from respective chambers. From next week onward, the Supreme Court judges will resume sitting in courtrooms to hear matters through video conferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bar and Bench reported. Solih also expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian citizens. "During the COVID-19 crisis, India has been a true friend to Maldives. Indias recent gift of essential food supplies is particularly helpful during these challenging times. Our sincere thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of India for their friendship and generosity," said Solih. The President of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Tuesday appreciated the contribution of essential food supplies made by India during the coronavirus pandemic. As many as 6,037 Indian nationals have been evacuated in 31 inbound flights operated by Air India and Air India Express under Vande Bharat Mission, said Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday. "The recovery rate is quite good, mortality rate is well below state and country average. In most cases we are able to trace the contact source. We should appreciate aggressive testing by local bodies," tweeted Kumar. Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Kumar on Tuesday said that there was a spurt in the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the area, but most of them were asymptotic. The COVID-19 toll in the district reached 92 after two more fatalities were registered in the past 24 hours. After 81 more individuals tested COVID-19 positive in Indore, the total number of confirmed cases in the Madhya Pradesh district climbed to 2,016, said a health official on Tuesday. So far there has been one recovery. Two more Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel have tested COVID-19 positive in the past 24 hours, taking the total confirmed cases to 159, the ITBP said in a statement. INS Kesari delivered 580 tonnes of essential food items as a gift from India to the people of Maldives during holy month of Ramadan, All India Radio News tweeted on Tuesday. Reports said that around 17,000 prisoners almost 50 percent are to be given parole in Maharashtra "in order to maintain social distancing by decongesting in prisons". "Suddenly, quarantine facility has become a huge challenge," he said in the press conference. Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in a press conference on Tuesday said that the state government didn't have the information that trains from New Delhi to Dibrugarh will be running daily for a week and were made aware of it last night. We had never seen or heard about such a crisis ever before. This is definitely unimaginable for mankind. This was unprecedented. But humanity will not accept defeat from this virus. We have to not only protect ourselves but also move forward: PM Narendra Modi #COVID19 "I announce a special economic package today. This will play an important role in the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan'. The announcements made by the govt over COVID, decisions of RBI and today's package totals to Rs 20 Lakh Crores. This is 10% of India's GDP," Modi said. We must not restrict our lives only around coronavirus, Modi said in his speech on Tuesday, and added that the fourth phase of the coronavirus lockdown in India will be completely different from the earlier three phases of the lockdown. 51 new coronavirus cases were reported in Telangana on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 1,326 including 472 active cases, 822 cured/discharged and 32 deaths till date. Karnataka: Air India's special flight to Mangaluru from Dubai, landed at Mangalore International airport today. The flight carried 176 Indian nationals, under #VandeBharatMission . pic.twitter.com/0DmGmhN5uq Air India's special flight to Mangaluru from Dubai, landed at Mangalore International airport on Tuesday. The flight carried 176 Indian nationals, under the Centre's repatriation exercise. Hubei province and its capital Wuhan on 8 April lifted a prolonged lockdown clamped on 23 January as the disease spread through the region like wildfire. The city has prepared a 10-day plan to test all its residents after six new coronavirus cases were reported in a residential community, official media reported on Tuesday. Wuhan, the Chinese city where the deadly novel coronavirus emerged in December last year, has decided to test the city's entire 11 million population after new cases were reported for the first time in weeks, sparking fears of the second wave of the virus attack. 112 new coronavirus cases were reported in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, taking the state's tally to 3,664. Over the past weeks, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees in collaboration with partners have carried out vulnerability assessments to identify the most needy refugee families, according to an official statement. About 36,000 Afghan refugee families in Pakistan will receive an emergency cash assistance of Rs 12,000 each to meet their urgent needs during the coronavirus pandemic. There is no doubt, even under the best of circumstances, when you pull back on mitigation you will see some cases appear, Fauci said. More COVID-19 infections are inevitable as people again start gathering, but how prepared communities are to stamp out those sparks will determine how bad the rebound is, Fauci told the Senate Health, Labor and Pensions Committee. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the governments top infectious disease expert, warned on Tuesday that the consequences could be really serious if cities and states reopen the US economy too quickly with the coronavirus still spreading. ASI Murlidhar Shankar Waghmare from Sewri Police Station, Mumbai lost his life to Coronavirus. May his soul rest in peace. DGP and all ranks of Maharashtra Police offer their condolences to the Waghmare family. The developments underscore the high stakes for communities nationwide as they gradually loosen restrictions on business. Recent figures show a surge of infections in meatpacking and poultry-processing plants. Theres been a spike of new cases among construction workers in Austin, Texas, where that sector recently returned to work. Even the White House has proven vulnerable, with positive coronavirus tests for one of Trumps valets and for Vice President Mike Pences press secretary. Even as US president Donald Trump urges getting people back to work and reopening the economy, an Associated Press analysis shows thousands of people are getting sick from COVID-19 on the job. Assam government said that 65 cancer patients and some attendants were brought back to the state from Mumbai. Narendra Modi Today on Coronavirus LATEST Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that based on the suggestions by states, information about the extension of coronavirus lockdown will be given before 18 May. We will fight Corona and we will move forward, he added. We must not restrict our lives only around coronavirus, Modi said in his speech on Tuesday, and added that the fourth phase of the coronavirus lockdown in India will be completely different from the earlier three phases of the lockdown. Saying that India has been an example for progress in the last century, Modi said that the country needs to become self-reliant in the world after the coronavirus pandemic. "When the crisis started then not even a single PPE kit was manufactured in India, only a few N95 masks were available. Today two lakh PPE kits and 2 lakh N95 masks are manufactured in India daily," he added. Prime minister Narendra Modi started speaking on COVID-19 situation, and said the world has been battling the pandemic for over four months now. Over 3 lakh people have succumbed to the infection, he says, condoling the deaths. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of 16 migrants who were run over by a goods train near Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Modi is set to address the nation at 8 pm. This will be the Modi's fifth address over the COVID-19 pandemic in the last two months. PM's address comes at a time when the country has over 70,000 cases. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that as relief from the COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely soon, there is a "need for a three-month plan to deal with the situation". Mamata was also quoted as saying that people were facing problems since the imposition of the lockdown on 25 March as the move was "poorly planned", News18 reported. The Maharashtra government on Tuesday allowed the home delivery of alcohol with guidelines. According to the order issued by the government, the delivery can be made "only into the area of license, and people doing the delivery must wear mask and use sanitisers." ANI quoted sources as saying that the second phase of the Centre's repatriation exercise, dubbed the 'Vande Bharat Mission', will be launched from 16-22 May. It will bring back Indians from 31 countries. 149 flights including feeder flights will be deployed, the report said. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that the mortality rate due to coronavirus is one of the lowest in India globally. "In the fight against COVID-19 our mortality rate is about the lowest in the world. Today the mortality rate is around 3.2 percent, in several states it is even less than this. Global fatality rate is around 7-7.5 percent," he said. Reports said that around 17,000 prisoners almost 50 percent are to be given parole in Maharashtra "in order to maintain social distancing by decongesting in prisons". After 81 more individuals tested COVID-19 positive in Indore, the total number of confirmed cases in the Madhya Pradesh district climbed to 2,016, said a health official on Tuesday. The COVID-19 toll in the district reached 92 after two more fatalities were registered in the past 24 hours. As many as 6,037 Indian nationals have been evacuated in 31 inbound flights operated by Air India and Air India Express under Vande Bharat Mission, said Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday. The operation began five days ago from 7 May. After nearly two months of hearing only "extremely urgent matters", the Supreme Court is likely to hear matters through video conferencing on a "large scale", reported Bar and Bench. An observation to this effect was made by a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, while hearing a bail application. The Bench of Justices L Nageshwara Rao, Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna hinted at the same while hearing a bail application. It was observed that the matter would be taken up urgently when hearings begin on larger scale. The current doubling rate of COVID-19 cases in Delhi stands now at 11 days, said health minister Satyendra Jain on Tuesday. "The doubling rate in Delhi is 11 days now. The doubling rate had once reached 3 or 4 days. If the doubling rate reaches 18, 20 or 25, then we will be more comfortable," said Jain. The COVID-19 recovery rate in the National Capital is now at 33 percent after 2,512 patients were cured. "383 people have been cured/discharged taking the total number of recovered cases to 2512," he further said. With 406 more people testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Delhi in the past 24 hours, the total number of confirmed cases in the National Capital climbed to 7,639, said health minister Satyendra Jain. The COVID-19 toll in the Union Territory reached 86 after 13 more fatalities were reported since yesterday, said Jain. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on the COVID-19 situation at 8 pm on Tuesday, tweeted the Office of the Prime Minister of India. Modi is likely to discuss about the possible extension of lockdown, imposed in view of coronavirus, for red zone districts. Twenty-three people tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha on Tuesday, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 437, a health department official said. With this, the number of active coronavirus cases stood at 349 in Odisha, while 85 people have recovered from the disease. Three persons have died of the infection in the state. The Railway Ministry in a tweet said it is compulsory for all passengers to download the Aarogya Setu app before commencing their journey. Meanwhile, an Assistant Sub-inspector of CISF deployed in Kolkata lost his life last night due to COVID-19 infection on Tuesday. As part of Samudra Setu Mission, Indian navy ship INS Jalashwa will sail again from Maldives capital of Male on Friday bringing back residents of Kerala and Lakshadweep. The ship had earlier brought back 698 Indians to Kochi on Sunday. The ship, in its second ferry, was scheduled to bring people to Tuticorin but destination was changed since necessary approvals from Tamil Nadu government were not received. With 47 more individuals testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Rajasthan, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in the state climbed to 4,305, said the health department. Two new COVID-19 deaths took the toll across the state to 151. The total number of coronavirus cases in India climbed to 70,756 after more 3,604 individuals tested COVID-19 positive in the past 24 hours, said the health ministry on Tuesday. The COVID-19 toll reached 2,293 across the nation. The figure includes 46,008 active cases, according to the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The recovery rate stood at 31.7 percent after 22,454 COVID-19 patients were cured of the infectious disease. With passenger train services set to begin from Tuesday, the Indian Railways on Monday said reservations were issued to more than 54,000 passengers within three hours. Within minutes after booking started, all tickets across the three AC classes were sold out for Mumbai Central-New Delhi special train till 18 May, The Times of India reported. The government released Rs 6,195.08 crore to 14 states as the second equated monthly installment of the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant on Monday. "This would provide them additional resources during the coronavirus crisis," the finance ministry said in a statement Monday. The grant was recommended by the 15th Finance Commission, and an equal first installment of the grant was issued by the Centre to states on 14 March. On Monday, the Centre released advance payments of over Rs 1,276 crore to Kerala, followed by over Rs 952 crore to Himachal Pradesh and over Rs 638 crore to Punjab. Assam received Rs 631 crore, Andhra Pradesh Rs 491 crore, Uttarakhand Rs 423 crore, and West Bengal got Rs 417 crore. As India registered a record jump of 4,213 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a virtual interaction with chief ministers said that the biggest challenge for the country will be to ensure that the infection does not spread to rural India and that the country will have to devise a "balanced strategy" to deal with the pandemic and step up the economic activities in a gradual manner. Separately, the Union health ministry observed that some relatively large outbreaks have been noticed in particular locations and it is important to focus on containment efforts to ensure that the country does not reach the community transmission stage. The government also said the coronavirus tracking app Aarogya Setu is secure as it was designed keeping in mind privacy of people and is playing a crucial role in India's fight against COVID-19. Record jump in number of cases takes total infections to 67,152 In a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country,the health ministry said that a record number of 4,213 COVID-19 cases and 97 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours ending 8 am, taking the total cases to 67,152 and death toll to 2,206. As many as 20,917 COVID-19 patients have been cured till now, taking the recovery rate to 31.15 percent. Also 1,559 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, the highest number of recoveries in one day, the ministry said. According to the health ministry data, Maharashtra has reported the highest number of infections (22,171) and fatalities (832) with Gujarat following with 8,194 cases and 493 deaths. However, a PTI tally of figures reported by different states and Union Territories, as of 9.10 pm, put the nationwide tally of confirmed cases much higher at 70,480, showing an increase of more than 6,000 cases since Sunday morning. It showed 2,217 deaths and more than 22,000 recoveries so far. Maharashtra reported 1,230 new cases, taking the state tally to 23,401, while its death toll rose to 868 after 36 more fatalities. Tamil Nadu reported 798 new cases and six more deaths on Monday. Mumbai's case count reached 14,355 with 791 new cases detected on Monday, while its death toll is 528 now with 20 more fatalities. At least 57 new cases were reported from the city's Dharavi slums. Gujarat saw 347 fresh cases and 20 more fatalities, including 268 cases and 19 deaths in Ahmedabad itself. In the National Capital also, more than 300 new cases were detected. Fresh cases were reported from various other states as well including Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Bihar and Odisha Health ministry advocates strong containment measures Asked if there has been community transmission of COVID-19 in India, joint secretary in the Union health ministry Lav Agarwal said "Some clusters have been found here (in the country), and in some cases in some particular locations relatively large outbreaks have also been noticed," adding that it was important to focus on containment measures so that the country does not reach the stage of community transmission. Agarwal said the government's focus is on identifying pockets which have been reporting a larger number of cases so that strong containment measures can be implemented. He also said that people who develop coronavirus symptoms should not go into hiding and come forward to report so that they get timely treatment and also do not spread the infection to their family members and others. Ajay Sawhney, Chairman, Empowered Group 9, which deals with technology and data management, said the Aarogya Setu app has been developed to alert people before they come in contact with infected patients and to alert the health system. Information about 697 potential COVID-19 hotspots was generated through the app and it is secure,used only for health interventions and does not reveal identity of people, he said. Around 1.4 lakh Aarogya Setu users have been alerted via Bluetooth contact tracing about possible risk of infection due to proximity to infected patients, Sawhney said. States demand greater freedom in deciding lockdown guidelines Prime Minister Narendra Modi held the fifth virtual meeting with chief ministers of states to discuss strengthening the containment strategy and gradual resumption of economic activities as the third phase of the nationwide lockdown draws to an end on 17 May. Economic activities in India are set to "gather steam", Modi told the chief ministers, while asserting that the country will have to devise a "balanced strategy" to revive the economy and deal with COVID-19 with a sharp focus on ensuring that rural areas remain free from the pandemic, sources told PTI. According to a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office, the prime minister also asserted that the world has fundamentally changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and said that the new way of life would be on the principle of Jan Se lekar Jag Tak, from an individual to the whole of humanity. "Even as we look at the gradual withdrawal of the lockdown, we should constantly remember that till we do not find a vaccine or a solution, the biggest weapon with us to the fight the virus is social distancing," he said. Modi also thanked the chief ministers for their proactive role in the countrys fight against the pandemic and asked chief ministers to share by 15 May a broad strategy on how they want to deal with lockdown regime in their states. "I am of the firm view that the measures needed in the first phase of lockdown were not needed during the 2nd phase and similarly the measures needed in the 3rd phase are not needed in the fourth," he said. Chief ministers of at least three states demanded that states be given greater freedom in deciding lockdown guidelines. Some chief ministers also sought measures to expand the testing infrastructure, while many of them also demanded fiscal support for the states due to the pandemic having hit hard various revenue-generating economic activities Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh pitched for the extension of the coronavirus lockdown, but with a carefully crafted exit strategy backed by economic empowerment of states to save lives and secure livelihood. The decision on designating red, orange/yellow and green zones should be left to the states, which are more cognizant of the ground realities, he said. Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel reiterated the demand that states be allowed to determine green, red and orange zones and the level of economic activity permissible in the state. He also demanded Rs. 30,000 crore for implementing relief and welfare schemes. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asked for the resumption of economic activities in all parts of the National Capital barring the containment zones. Economic activities should be allowed to resume in all parts of Delhi except containment zones: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during video conference meet with PM Modi today #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/AP0AJCvGTp ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 During the meeting, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said that a cautious approach must be taken while making any decision on the lockdown as the infection was expected to peak in May or June. He also demanded that central armed forces be deployed in the state as the police were under a lot of pressure and there were rising number of cases among police personnel. Thackeray also suggested that local trains be restarted for those providing essential services. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that states face different challenges and therefore should be given the freedom to make reasonable changes to the guidelines. He also demanded that states be allowed to resume metro ail services in cities, apart from those in the red zones. States face different challenges & therefore should be given the freedom to make reasonable changes to the guidelines relating to the lockdown: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during video conference with PM Narendra Modi today #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/Vto44faona ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 However, the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Telangana opposed the resumption of train services from Tuesday and asked the Centre to push it back. "We know from media that regular train service to Chennai (from Delhi) and from Chennai will commence from 12 May. As the positive cases in Chennai are showing an increasing trend, dont permit train service up to 31 May in my state," Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswami told Modi during the virtual meeting. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on one hand, the Centre wants strict enforcement of the lockdown, on the other, it is resuming train services. According to the statement, Modi said that the resumption of rail services was needed to rev up economic activity, but all routes will not be opened. The Home Ministry earlier said that only asymptomatic people with confirmed tickets will be allowed to travel in 15 trains to be operational from Tuesday. Online bookings began for these trains on Monday evening, after some delay due to a technical glitch, and some routes got fully booked within ten minutes. The Railways have been running 'migrant special' trains for ferrying migrant workers since May 1, but this will be the first time in nearly 50 days that the general public can also undertake train journeys even though flight and inter-state bus services remain suspended as of now till May 17, when the third phase of the lockdown is scheduled to end. The first phase of the nationwide lockdown began on 25 March, which was supposed to be of 21 days, but it got extended later till 3 May and then further till 17 May with some relaxation. With inputs from agencies The United Nations has publicly rebuked a multinational housing corporation for abusing the human rights of its tenants including thousands in Toronto and Montreal. The UN's special rapporteur on adequate housing, Leilani Farha, issued a public statement on April 29 accusing Sweden-based Akelius Residential of a practice known as renoviction. "I have been told that Akelius purchases apartment blocks, often with tenants already living in them, and then undertakes renovations to communal areas and vacant apartments within the block, regardless of need," Farha said in the statement. "These renovations are a vehicle for Akelius to charge substantially increased rents to both new and existing tenants, enabling it to circumvent vital rent-control regulations which commonly allow for above-control rent increases where modernization works are undertaken." Zoom Akelius owns more than 3,500 apartment units in Toronto, and about 3,900 in Montreal. Toronto-based Akelius executive Shelly Lee denied people are being mistreated or forced from their homes. "Our business idea is to provide a better living," Lee said. "That comes with renovations, and also improved services. "Our policy is to not force anybody out, and only to renovate vacant units." Shelly Lee Renovations have been non-stop, couple says Beverly Kreller and her husband Howard Druckman have lived in a low-rise apartment on St. Joseph Street, located in downtown Toronto, for decades. Kreller told CBC Toronto that Akelius took over the building about two years ago. The renovations and maintenance work have been almost non-stop since then, she said. "At one point there was renovation going on outside, so the drilling was at my head, there was renovation going on on the other side of our space because they were renovating a unit there, and then there was a renovation going on across the hall in the elevator, which was also a hardship," Kreller said. Story continues "Oftentimes they don't answer your email at all. I'd like to see the tenants respected more and listened to more." Druckman showed CBC Toronto 38 notices that he said he's received from Akelius since October, each one warning of an impending disruption. "Shutting down heat, shutting down water, coming into the suites, checking fire alarms," he said. "It's been very interruptive." Mike Smee/CBC 'They're often renovating when renovation isn't necessary' Farha maintained in an interview with CBC Toronto that the couple's experience was not an isolated case. "The problem is that they're often renovating when renovation isn't necessary," she said. "Tenants told me that renovations would get so unruly and so upsetting in terms of everyday-living that tenants felt they were being forced out. And once a unit is empty [it's] much easier to raise that rent right up there." She said in 2014, Akelius' applications for above-guideline rent increases made up about 10 per cent of all applications Canada-wide. Doug Husby/CBC Lee said she wasn't aware of the situation at 16 St. Joseph St., but she reiterated that the work the company does is necessary. "When we buy buildings, we buy older buildings that require a lot of work," she said. "But again, we don't force anyone out." Lee also said she was surprised at the UN's decision to publicly admonish Akelius without asking the company for its side of the story. "All those allegations were unfounded there were no facts, or evidence," she said. "We were very disappointed." Farha told CBC Toronto she sent Akelius a letter about two weeks ago, warning that she was about to release a statement accusing the company of abusing tenants' human rights. She said her full report won't be available for about another six weeks, once it has been reviewed by governments in Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany. Farha said Akelius has 44,000 units around the world, valued at about $13 billion. He's hosted Weekend Sunrise for less than a year. But Matt Doran has already experienced a very awkward encounter on live television. As reported by TV Blackbox, the 36-year-old was left very confused on Saturday when the breakfast show suffered technical issues and failed to switch to the next segment. Awkward: Channel Seven's Weekend Sunrise host Matt Doran (pictured) was left confused after a major technical fail almost ended the show on Saturday After Matt threw to reporter Sarah Greenhalgh in Italy, the screen suddenly switched to Sportsbet's Inside Trading show hosted by Simon Marshall. But the show failed to begin and showed Simon reading his scripts while dropping the F-word live on-air. While the footage continued playing, Sportbet analysts Julian Vallance and Ben Clifton could also be heard having a conversation. Technical glitch: After Matt threw to reporter Sarah Greenhalgh in Italy, the screen suddenly switched to Sportsbet's Inside Trading show hosted by Simon Marshall The television segment then switched back to Sarah reporting on coronavirus cases in Italy. 'Around the world will be watching Italy closely over the coming week to see how the easing of restrictions has an impact on the infection rate,' she said. The show immediately cut back to the newsroom and Matt said: 'Sarah Greenhalgh reporting there and let's get some more news now with Sally.' Disaster: The show failed to begin and instead showed Simon Marshall reading his scripts while dropping the F-word live on-air Many viewers flocked to Twitter and labelled the moment as 'weird'. 'What happened about 20 mins ago on the news, there was a cross to Italy then all of sudden a Sportsbet thing came up then went back to Italy? It was quite weird,' one person wrote. The Channel 7 team responded to the viewer, explaining: 'Must be a Sydney TX issue - it didn't come from the Sunrise control room.' The Diocese of Norwich St Benets Multi Academy Trust has been given the green light to amalgamate Harleston CE Primary Academy and Archbishop Sancroft High School into one All Through School. The Diocese of Norwich St Benets Multi Academy Trust has been given the green light to amalgamate Harleston CE Primary Academy and Archbishop Sancroft High School into one All Through School. Poringland Bible teachers look at a building project The Way of the Spirit is starting the New Year with a meeting in Poringland to explore the Book of Nehemiah. Read more Christian retreat centre has new Chair of Trustees Paul Dunning has recently been appointed as Chair of Trustees of the Quiet Waters Christian Retreat Centre. He explains how he got involved and how others can do the same. Read more Ed Sheeran and LadBaby boost Waveney foodbank Pop superstar Ed Sheeran and Christmas sausage roll song group LadBaby paid a surprise visit to Waveney Foodbank near Eye earlier today. Read more Music outreach boost for South Norfolk church St Marys Church in Attleborough has been awarded a grant from Youth Music to employ a music outreach worker for two years as part of the churchs music and building project. Read more Salvation Army in Diss gives out Christmas Toys and Tins As the countdown to Christmas begins, people in Diss are being asked to support The Salvation Armys annual Toys and Tins Appeal. Read more Mulbarton mum offers a guided approach to Advent Sarah Miller, a vicars wife from Mulbarton in south Norfolk, will be hosting a gentle evening to help you settle into Advent. Read more Harrison family rocks the boat on the Waveney Hilary Harrisons new book Rock the Boat records the adventures of her family on the sailing barge Golden Mean. Thomas Harrison adds a story from Norfolk to bring it up to date. Read more Wymondham supporters raise the roof for Raise Kids The Raise Kids Work charity got a boost when 90 people gathered in Wymondham for an evening of Comedy and Cake with Preston funny man, Tony Vino. Read more Norfolk's nonagenarian seamstress makes dresses for Jordan Anna Bayles, a 96-year-old dressmaker from Wymondham, has sent her latest consignment of clothing as gifts to Christian refugees in Jordan. Read more Tony to raise a laugh and funds for Norfolk kids charity Raise Kids Work has invited funny man Tony Vino to a cake and comedy event to raise funds for the charity. Read more Filling Station reopens on Norfolk-Suffolk border The Angles Way Filling Station has reopened this month after 18 months break, having changed its name from Ouse Valley Filling Station. Read more An African mission for South Norfolk churches An empowering mission for a struggling community in Zimbabwe struck an immediate chord with Carolyn Skittrall who supports several South Norfolk churches to bring change and growth through practical initiative and insight. Read more Walk honours volunteer at Wymondham Foodbank A fundraising walk for Wymondham Foodbank on Saturday raised 1,695 in memory of Siobhan OKeeffe, who passed away with Covid during lockdown. Read more Former sailor is new South Norfolk church pastor Former sailor and nurse, David Humphries, has been inducted as the new pastor at Carleton Rode Baptist Church in South Norfolk. Read more Three Norfolk writers explore theme of belonging Three Norfolk writers will be reading excerpts from their books on the theme of belonging at the Rockland St Mary church barn. Read more Evangelists to Norfolk put spiritual footsteps on Via Beata A team from Through Faith Missions are walking the Via Beata across Norfolk without money for the journey, sharing the Good News and praying for healing. Read more Norfolk church to celebrate the beauty of creation Always wanting to punch above its weight, the tiny church of All Saints, Hethel, in South Norfolk, has organised a Celebration of Creation weekend on June 26-27 with everyone welcome. Read more By PTI NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a fresh round of consultation with chief ministers on ways to strengthen the COVID-19 containment strategy and stepping up of economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day nationwide lockdown nears an end. Large-scale movement of migrant workers from urban to rural India and the problems their return to home states may cause in restarting the economy was also being discussed during the fifth virtual interaction between the prime minister and chief ministers since the outbreak of the deadly virus in the country. There will be an effort to ensure that all participating chief ministers get an opportunity to air their views during the interaction, as some of the CMs had complained that they were not allowed to put forth their views during the last interaction on April 27. The interaction is attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan among others. ALSO READ: Union Health Ministry issues revised guidelines for home isolation of patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms Chief ministers -- Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy (Andhra Pradesh), Amarinder Singh (Punjab), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh) and Pema Khandu (Arunachal Pradesh) -- were also among those who attended the virtual conference. At a meeting on Sunday with Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, state chief secretaries told him that "while protection is required from COVID-19, economic activities also need to be stepped up in a calibrated manner", according to an official statement. With thousands of migrant workers taking special trains to go back to their home states, the restarting of industrial activities will prove to be a challenge for states though several relaxations have been made in labour laws to increase factory output. The meet is also likely to discuss efforts to convert 'red' zones with high COVID-19 case load into 'orange' or 'green' zones. The prime minister interacted with the chief ministers last on April 27. Days after the meeting, the central government had extended the lockdown by two more weeks till May 17 to arrest the spread of the virus, but gave several relaxations in economic activities and movement of people. The nationwide lockdown has been in force since March 25 to contain the spread of the virus, which has killed more than 2200 people, and afflicted more than 67,000 in the country. LANSING, MI -- Attorney General Dana Nessel reiterated in a formal opinion on Monday that the Michigan State Capitol Commission has the authority to ban guns in the areas it controls. Nessel issued a formal opinion on the matter Monday morning, hours before the Michigan State Capitol Commission is set to convene to discuss guns on the property. The Commission is not a city, village, township, or county. It is a statutorily-created instrumentality of state government, vested with the exclusive, broad, authority to operate and manage the Capitol site, Nessel wrote in the opinion. "As the Commission has previously recognized in approving procedures for the use of the public areas of the Capitol, this grant of authority includes not only the obligation to care for and protect the Capitol ground and facilities, but also the obligation to care for and protect the safety of those working in and visiting the Capitol grounds and facilities. Nessel issued the opinion at the request of House Democratic Leader Christine Greig D-Farmington Hills. Greig praised the opinion from Nessel and called on the commission to take action. I am very appreciative of Attorney General Nessels thorough legal analysis and her timely response to my request. With there now being no doubt whatsoever regarding their legal authority, the Michigan State Capitol Commission must act immediately to prohibit firearms within the Capitol, to ensure the safety and security of everyone who enters our statehouse and to protect the integrity of the Peoples business that occurs there each day," Greig said in a press release. The debate regarding guns on the Capitol property picked up two weeks ago when a protest outside the building spilled inside. Once inside, some protesters who were armed with guns demanded to be let onto the floor while lawmakers were in session. The confrontation with Capitol police made national headlines and led to several state lawmakers speaking out on the issue. The formal opinion follows a letter Nessel wrote to the commission last week. In the letter, Nessel argued that both she and her predecessor, former Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, believe the decision is up to the commission. However, shortly following the letter being sent last week, commission Vice Chair John Truscott said he still wasnt sure. Truscott said lawyers for the commission believe the matter could end up in court. While Truscott did say a formal opinion can carry the weight of law, its unclear if that will sway the commission into formally voting on the issue. The commission is comprised of six members: the Secretary of the Senate, the Clerk of the House, two members appointed by the governor and two members jointly appointed by the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House. The commission is tasked with managing the Capitol grounds and building, which includes approving what is and isnt allowed on the property. The commission is set to meet at 11 a.m. Monday. The agenda for the meeting lists discussion of firearms in the Capitol and on Capitol Square as the first item. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Monday, May 11: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Michigan tops 47,000 coronavirus cases; 25 new deaths reported Michigan coronavirus crisis causes delays in other health care, sometimes with deadly consequences George Higgins, proprietor of the Sanford House at Sanford, was born Aug. 24, 1839, in Canada and is the son of John and Josette (Scheler) Higgins. His father died in Springfield, Canada. Mr. Higgins began his contest with the world when he was 11 years old. He was a natural aptitude for the use of tools and early in life learned the business of boilermaking and blacksmithing. He went from the Dominion to the State of New York and came thence to Saginaw, Mich., about the first of March, 1865. He first found employment in a brick yard, where he continued five months. His next move was to Tittabawassee where he operated between three and four years. He went thence to the City of Saginaw and engaged in keeping a boarding saloon. Eight months later he bought a hotel at Edenville, Midland County. He continued its management between two and three years, when the property was destroyed by fire. The entire loss was between four and five thousand dollars. He held an insurance policy of $2,500, on which he realized $2,000. He then came to Sanford and established himself in the business of hotelkeeping in a frame house on the back of the river. He was situated on the flat and was subject to the interesting vicissitudes common to high water in this section in Michigan. The lower floor was frequently flooded and business suffered accordingly. In 1875 he bought his present location of Charles Sanford, and moved his effects hither on a scow. On his return the following day, he found the water waist deep in the lower story of the house he had left. May 15, 1884 he was again visited by the destroying element, fire, and his hotel was burned to the ground together with a portion of the furniture. It was insured for $2,500,and the furniture was insured for $500. At the present time he is rebuilding. Mr. Higgins owns a farm of 187 acres of land on section 24 of Jerome Township, with 27 acres improved. He also owns six town lots in Sanford. He has officiated six terms as Highway Commissioner and as Deputy Sheriff eight years. He was married Aug. 16, 1861,to Elizabeth A., daughter of William Henry and Helen (Hilliard) O'Connell. Her father was born Aug. 15, 1781, in Limerick, Ireland, and died Feb. 5, 1873, in Hamilton, Canada. The mother was born June 8, 1796, in the City of Dublin, and died Oct. 20, 1873, in the same place where the demise of her husband occurred. Mrs. Higgins was born in Toronto, Canada, Oct. 28, 1838. Following is the record of the children born to Mr. and Mrs Higgins: Henry A., born Nov. 2,1863, in Springfield, Can., and was married March 14, 1883, at Edenville to Hattie J. Stratton. The marriage ceremony was performed by Daniel Grover, J.P.; George T., the child of this marriage was born April 7, 1884; Helen J. Higgins was born Aug. 10, 1864, at Georgetown, Can., and was married Aug. 8, 1883, to W.A. Ryan at Sanford, by J.A. Sprague, Presiding Elder at Big Rapids; Anna Beele Higgins was born Aug.13, 1871, at Edenville, Mich.; Albert Higgins was born Aug. 3.1873, at Sanford. EDITOR'S NOTE The Midland County Historical Society is partnering with the Midland Daily News for "A Window to Midland's Past," which will feature historical pieces in print and online at ourmidland.com. This particular piece was compiled by retired historical society director Gary Skory from the 1884 Biographical Album. It was originally published on February 19, 1997. Punjab cabinet ministers on Monday asked Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to sack chief secretary Karan Avtar Singh and declared that they would not attend cabinet meetings as long as he attends these meetings. Karan Avtar Singh had taken on the ministers at a pre-cabinet meeting on the excise policy on Saturday, insisting that the changes recommended by the ministers to the policy could not be taken on board. The face-off had led to ministers storming out of the meeting on Saturday; finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal was the first one to walk out. Saturdays cabinet meeting was deferred to Monday. At an informal meeting ahead of the cabinet meeting, the ministers decided to stand their ground and walk out of the meeting if the chief secretary is present. The chief secretary was advised to stay away from Mondays cabinet meeting and additional chief secretary (home) Satish Chandra was tasked to officiate in his absence. As soon as Mondays cabinet meeting started, the ministers told chief minister Amarinder Singh that they would not attend cabinet meetings in case the chief secretary is present. This could be a little problematic. According to the rulebook, the chief secretary of a state is also the secretary to the cabinet, coordinates all meetings of the cabinet and signs off on the official records. The chief minister has accepted our demand because he asked all of us to bring our grouse on record, said Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, the minister of cooperation and jails, told Hindustan Times. Manpreet (finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal) and I said that the behavior of the chief secretary is not acceptable. He is rude and doesnt understand that officers and elected representatives are two sides of a coin, technical education minister Charanjeet Singh Channi told HT. Channi said the chief secretary had been rude to him in the past too and had even questioned his integrity. Channi said the chief minister had promised to act. A senior Punjab minister said the chief secretary Karan Avtar Singh had signalled that he was ready to apologise to bury the hatchet. But Manpreet Singh Badal has insisted that he isnt game. Some ministers want to give the chief secretary a second chance but the finance minister is adamant, said a cabinet minister on conditions of anonymity. The row over the chief secretary has its origin in a pre-cabinet meeting held on Saturday when minister Charanjit Channi demanded that someone be held accountable for the loss of revenue due to the states flawed excise policy. Chief secretary Karan Avtar Singh, who found some of the suggestions made by ministers to be unacceptable, reminded the minister that policies are only implemented after the approval of the ministers. Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal promptly shot back at the officials reply that was perceived to be too curt. If the officers have already made up their mind on the policy, what was the fun of discussing the matter with the ministers? Badal said moments before storming out of the meeting. Other ministers also left soon after. On the agenda item that was before the cabinet, the ministers decided to authorise chief minister Amarinder Singh to take the decision. The liquor contractors in the state want the government to compensate them for the 45 days that liquor vends had to be closed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday regarding President Donald Trumps outrageous assertion that his business dealings are nobodys business but his. Trump claims neither Congress nor prosecutors have any right to access tax and financial records even tangentially related to his private companies. The court has an opportunity here to restore some of the presidential guardrails that Trumps Republican water-carriers in Congress have allowed him to kick down. From the start, Trump has consistently refused to place his presidential duty above his self-serving role as a businessman. He broke the decades-old presidential tradition of releasing his tax returns and has refused to put his businesses in a blind trust. His continued secrecy regarding those businesses means Americans have no way of knowing the extent of his obvious conflicts of interest. In three cases the Supreme Court justices will hear remotely (due to the pandemic), lawyers for both the administration and Trumps businesses will take that troubling violation of norms to the next level. They will argue, essentially, that even in his private business activities, the president is above the law. Religious Schools Immune to Employment Discrimination Suits, Supreme Court Told Religious schools should be shielded from employment discrimination lawsuits brought by former teachers, the Supreme Court heard May 11. That point of view was advanced in two cases, Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James School v. Biel, that were consolidated and heard together telephonically on May 11 and broadcast to the public. One hour was set aside for oral arguments, but the hearing ran an hour and 40 minutes. In the two cases, the two Catholic schools in Los Angeles argued that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ignored binding caselaw by allowing the teachers to move forward with their lawsuits. While one of the teachers claimed age discrimination, the other, who has since died and is now represented by her husband, alleged she was fired after informing the school she had breast cancer. Religious organizations argue the decisions in the two cases violate Supreme Court precedent by failing to recognize the ministerial exception that blocked a teacher at a Michigan Lutheran school from taking her employer to court. The legal thinking is that this exception advances the Free Exercise and Establishment clauses of the First Amendment by preventing legal claims from being made against church bodies by their employees who perform religious functions. The exception, which is said to protect churches from improper government influence, was recognized by the Supreme Court in a 2012 ruling known as Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Employment Opportunity Division. The question before the high court was whether this exception applies to teachers who are themselves not spiritual leaders. In other words, the justices and lawyers discussed who is considered a minister and where to draw the proverbial line. The two cases now before the court, as well as the case that led to the precedent, were brought by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit and public interest law firm. Attorney Eric Rassbach, representing Our Lady of Guadalupe School, said during oral arguments that it was important to keep the government out of church affairs. If separation of church and state means anything at all, it must mean the government cannot interfere with the churchs decisions about who is authorized to teach its religion. In this country, it is emphatically not the province of judges, juries, or government officials to decide who ought to teach Catholic fifth graders that Jesus is the son of God or who ought to teach Jewish preschoolers what it means to say: Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. And at bottom, that is what these cases are about: who controls who teaches the faith to schoolchildren. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked, Who among them are not ministers? adding that its not a requirement to be Catholic in order to teach at a Catholic school. How can a Jewish teacher be a Catholic minister? Rassbach said the religious school must have the final say. These teachers are the primary teachers of the faith. They are the stewards of the faith. They are the leaders of their classroom, he said. The function of teaching the next generation is central. These are the people who will teach the faith to the next generation. If they dont do it, no one else will. Justice Clarence Thomas told Morgan Ratner of the U.S. Solicitor Generals Office that he was perplexed as to what you do, for example, with the chemistry teacher who starts class with a Hail Mary or the lay teacher who teaches religion but does it in a very straightforward, objective way. How would you handle those? Ginsburg joined in, telling Ratner, who was arguing in support of the schools, that the breadth of the exemption is staggering; that is, these people are exempt from all anti-discrimination laws. So, to take a stark example, suppose a teacher who does everything the two teachers in these cases do, as a faith leader, also reports a students complaint of sexual harassment by a priest and is terminated. She has no remedy? Ratner replied that the HosannaTabor case was correctly decided and its principles should be applied in the hypothetical the justice posed. According to that ruling, employment discrimination claims that involve the hiring or firing of an employee necessarily go to a religious organizations ability to control who ministers to the faithful and that those claims are categorically precluded. Jeffrey Fisher, the lawyer for the teachers, said the other side was overreaching. The way the ministerial exemption has been interpreted by the lower courts, you basically have employment law-free zones in all religious schools, he said. Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday that the projected peak in the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois is continuing to be pushed back further, extending from mid-May into mid-June. Last month, Pritzker said models were predicting the state would peak between late April and early May, and earlier models showed the state would peak sometime in April. That timeframe of plateauing near a peak has been expanded from mid-May into mid-June, Pritzker said. In many ways, this news is disheartening.Pritzker said that pushing out the estimated peak is a natural consequence of flattening the curve. State officials on Monday reported 54 additional deaths, for a total of 3,459 deaths statewide since the pandemic began earlier this year. There were 1,266 new known cases of COVID-19 reported Monday, pushing the statewide known case total to 79,007. Pritzker was forced to work from home Monday, after his office announced an unidentified senior staff member has tested positive for COVID-19. Separately, the city of Chicago will open six new testing sites aimed at addressing disparities among black and brown residents and try to ramp up the citys capacity ahead of a potential reopening with help from a charity founded by actor Sean Penn, officials said Monday. Heres what happened May 11 with COVID-19 in the Chicago area and Illinois: 5:46 p.m.: Church leaders push back on Lightfoot and Pritzker stay-at-home orders: We have to stand up for ourselves at some point Two Chicago church leaders vowed to continue holding religious services despite anti-coronavirus social distancing requirements and criticized Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker for not consulting them about shutting down houses of worship. Lightfoot, meanwhile, criticized one of the churches for reopening its doors over the weekend but said she would continue education efforts about the importance of stay-at-home orders to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The dispute kicked off after Metro Praise International Church on the Northwest Side opened its doors for in-person services in an act church officials described as passive resistance to Pritzkers ongoing stay-at-home order. That defiance led Lightfoot to tweet Monday morning, It doesnt matter who you are or what youre doing. When you gather like this, you are putting yourself and your loved ones in serious danger. Another church, Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church, also hosted Sunday services in Albany Park despite the stay-at-home order. At a Monday afternoon news conference, Lightfoot said she spoke with the pastor of Elim Romanian and had a very pleasant talk with him. She said she hoped to do more outreach but expressed reluctance to take harsher action. Were not going to send in the police to arrest parishioners, Lightfoot said. Read more here. Gregory Pratt, Javonte Anders, Dan Petrella 4:02 p.m.: Chicago restaurants get a big gift on Mothers Day with strong takeout and delivery sales As weve written about many, many times, restaurants are struggling right now. And with the possible opening of dining rooms pushed back to at least June 26, its not clear when things will ever get back to normal. But there was a rare bright spot over the weekend, as a number of restaurants reported strong sales thanks to Mothers Day. Last weekend was the first time Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits (2051 N. California Ave.) had opened in about eight weeks. But owner Michael Ciapciak says that it was a great opening weekend. We were very fortunate to have extraordinary support from our guests for Mothers Day, wrote Ciapciak in an email. We took pre-orders only and were open for contactless pickup in our pie garden in Logan Square. He says the restaurant prepared over 500 orders. Read more here. Nick Kindelsperger 3:59 p.m.: Self-employed started applying for unemployment benefits Monday, but theres a catch Self-employed workers like piano teachers and web designers started applying for newly available unemployment benefits on Monday through a new state application portal, but theres a catch first they must apply, and get rejected, for regular unemployment benefits. The extra step provided a fresh source of frustration for self-employed workers, who had previously been told they needed to wait to apply for benefits under the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. The Illinois Department of Employment Security said on its web site last Wednesday that workers who believe they are eligible for the new federal benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Act must apply for regular unemployment insurance as a mandatory first step. If applicants get an eligibility finding of $0, they can then appeal that decision by providing proof of wages earned, or submit a claim through the new PUA portal, the state said. Read more here. Mary Wisniewski 3:36 p.m.: Illinois Supreme Court denies Pritzkers request to rule he was within his rights in extending disaster proclamation The Illinois Supreme Court dealt a setback to Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday, denying his request for a ruling that he acted within his authority when he extended his disaster proclamation for the coronavirus pandemic beyond the initial 30 days. The governor and the Illinois attorney generals office asked the states highest court to take up the matter after a southern Illinois judge ruled late last month that Pritzker had exceeded his legal authority under the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act. The ruling in Clay County Circuit Court came in a lawsuit brought by state Rep. Darren Bailey, a Republican from Xenia. The circuit judge issued a temporary restraining order exempting Bailey from the stay-at-home order, but the lawmaker later asked an appeals court to withdraw the order so he could refile his lawsuit with new information. The Supreme Court is not saying theyre not going to rule on this ever, Pritzker said at his daily news briefing. Theyre just saying that that dont want to skip over the appellate court, is my understanding. Dan Petrella 3:31 p.m.: Wisconsin GOP lawmakers urge Washington to reject any bailout money for Illinois: Our neighbors to the south have spent decades spending and borrowing recklessly Members of Wisconsins Republican legislative majority are asking the states congressional delegation to oppose using any federal coronavirus relief package money to help bail out Illinois and other states with a history of reckless budgeting. The letter, sent Friday by 43 GOP lawmakers to Wisconsins two U.S. senators and seven House members, acknowledged states and the nation are facing unprecedented challenges dealing with COVID-19. These responses to the disease have led to drastic changes in budget projections for states around the country: sales tax collections are down, income tax deadlines have been extended, unemployment rates are at historic levels and more businesses are permanently closing every day, the letter said. That being said, Wisconsin has spent eight years making the tough choices to get our fiscal house in order, the letter said. We do know that our neighbors to the south have spent decades spending and borrowing recklessly. Read more here. Rick Pearson 3:07 p.m.: Pritzkers phased reopening plan continues to face pushback Parts of Pritzkers phased reopening plan continued to face pushback Monday, as Republican legislative leaders and the Illinois Municipal League wrote the governor letters asking for adjustments, including a smaller window of time it takes each region of the state to move from one phase to another. Pritzker at his Monday briefing continued to defend his plan and the timelines and benchmarks included that the different regions must hit in order from advance from one phase to the next. Illinois Municipal League Executive Director Brad Cole wrote a letter to Pritzker Monday asking for more regions than the current four the state is divided into as part of the Restore Illinois reopening plan the governor laid out last week. Cole, who has appeared alongside Pritzker at previous daily briefings, in his letter also called for decreasing from 28 days to 14 days the necessary period of time a region needs to see stability or a decline in COVID-19 like hospitalizations in order to move to the next phase and loosen restrictions that are aimed at curtailing the spread of the virus. Republican legislative leaders Bill Brady and Jim Durkin also wrote a joint letter to Pritzker Monday echoing those suggestions made in the Municipal League letter and asking the governor to call a special session of the Illinois General Assembly so that we can further discuss and develop the necessary adjustments to your plan that protects the publics health while at the same time moves our economy forward more quickly. Jamie Munks 2:35 p.m.: Pritzker says predicted coronavirus peak is now expanded from mid-May into mid-June Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday that Illinois projected peak in the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to be pushed back further, extending from mid-May into mid-June. Last month, Pritzker said models were predicting the state would peak between late April and early May, and earlier models showed the state would peak sometime in April. That timeframe of plateauing near a peak has been expanded from mid-May into mid-June, Pritzker said. In many ways, this news is disheartening.Pritzker said that pushing out the estimated peak is a natural consequence of flattening the curve. State officials on Monday reported 54 additional deaths, for a total of 3,459 deaths statewide since the pandemic began earlier this year. There were 1,266 new known cases of COVID-19 reported Monday, pushing the statewide known case total to 79,007. Pritzker was forced to work from home Monday, after his office announced an unidentified senior staff member has tested positive for COVID-19. Jamie Munks 2:18 p.m.: 2.3 million more Illinois jobs at risk: The devastating economic toll of the virus in 6 charts Illinois is facing an unemployment crisis unlike any seen since the Great Depression, as the new coronavirus ravages the economy and puts people out of work. The situation may get worse. In Illinois, 37% of jobs are at risk of ending in furloughs, layoffs, or sharp reductions in hours or pay because of the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a recent analysis from McKinsey Global Institute. But some positions are more endangered than others. Vulnerable jobs are concentrated among low-income workers and people of color, who already have been hit harder by the pandemic than white people. The percentage of vulnerable jobs is slightly higher in Illinois than nationally, but overall, the trends in the state mirror what is going on around the country. Up to one-third or 57 million U.S. jobs are vulnerable to economic inactivity caused by the pandemic, according to the analysis. Read more here. Jonathon Berlin and Ally Marotti 2:17 p.m.: Lightfoot advances plan to delay part of worker scheduling protection rules due to virus outbreak Mayor Lori Lightfoot is moving to delay a key part of the citys landmark Fair Workweek ordinance until next year, stopping workers from suing their bosses for violating rules requiring large Chicago businesses to give at least two weeks advance notice of their schedules. City Business Affairs Commissioner Rosa Escareno said deferring that clause in the ordinance until Jan. 1 is important as companies struggle to navigate the coronavirus pandemic and attempts to re-open different sectors of Chicagos economy. We understand that all businesses are struggling due to the COVID outbreak, which is why we are coming forward with todays proposal to postpone implementation of the private cause of action section of the ordinance until Jan. 1st of 2021, Escareno said. This will allow businesses to implement Fair Workweek policies without fear of lawsuits during the first six months of the regulations. The ordinance passed the council in July after being painstakingly crafted over many months to try to appease influential business and labor groups on opposite sides of the issue. It entitles employees working for bigger companies in the areas of building services, health care, hotels, manufacturing, restaurants, retail and warehouse services to two weeks heads-up on their schedules. The rest of the rules will take effect July 1 as planned, and city inspectors will investigate complaints that businesses arent giving their employees proper notice about when they are scheduled to work. Employees simply wont be able to act on the results of those investigations by filing suits in Cook County Circuit Court till next year, Escareno said. Read more here. John Byrne 1:26 p.m.: MLB owners approve a plan to start the season without fans in July Major League Baseball owners gave the go-ahead Monday to making a proposal to the players union that could lead to the coronavirus-delayed season starting around the Fourth of July weekend in ballparks without fans, a plan that envisioned expanding the designated hitter to the National League for 2020. Spring training would start in early to mid-June, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the plan were not announced. Read more here. Associated Press 1:10 p.m. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers allows nearly all nonessential businesses to reopen with limits Gov. Tony Evers on Monday allowed nearly all nonessential businesses to reopen as long as they serve no more than five customers at a time, partially lifting the restriction that has kept them closed for weeks to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The latest order, which took effect immediately, addresses criticism from smaller businesses and Republican lawmakers that it was unfair to allow essential businesses such as grocery stores to remain open while nonessential businesses such as flower shops had to close under Evers' safer at home order, which runs until May 26. The latest order applies to all standalone stores and those in strip malls that have entrances to the outside, but not to stores in large indoor shopping malls. The order, issued by Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm at Evers direction, strongly encourages all shoppers and store workers to wear masks, but does not require it. Everyone in the store must maintain a 6-foot distance from one another. Evers also allowed drive-in movie theaters to reopen. Read more here. Associated Press 1 p.m.: Chicago to open six more testing sites in neighborhoods, will try to reach 10,000 tests per day goal The city of Chicago will open six new testing sites aimed at addressing disparities among black and brown residents and try to ramp up the citys capacity ahead of a potential reopening with help from a charity founded by actor Sean Penn, officials said Monday. Chicago officials will work with Community Organized Relief Effort and Curative-Korva to run the sites. They also will work with community groups to help with registration for tests. CORE is a charity founded by Penn, Lightfoot said. One of the sites will open in the parking lot at the White Soxs Guaranteed Rate Field in Bridgeport for asymptomatic first responders and healthcare and other essential workers, the city said. The others largely will be aimed at the citys black and Latino communities, including Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy in Little Village, Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academies in Hanson Park, Kennedy-King College in Englewood, Senka Park in Gage Park and Gately Park in Pullman. Locations have been chosen because theyre near public transportation, easily accessible by vehicle and have large spaces for proper social distancing, city officials said. Chicago officials will work with Community Organized Relief Effort and Curative-Korva to run the sites. They also will work with community groups to help with registration for tests. Ultimately, Lightfoots administration wants to be able to perform 10,000 tests per day, though the citys goal for potentially beginning to ease stay-at-home restrictions is 4,500. Read more here. Gregory Pratt 12:39 p.m.: Navys Blue Angels confirm times, route for Tuesday flyover of Chicago As part of its America Strong campaign to thank medical professionals, emergency responders, and essential workers, the Blue Angels will do a flyover of Chicago on Tuesday, according to the flight demonstration squad. The Blue Angels, an elite flight squad specializing in aerobatics, along with the Thunderbirds, the Air Force demonstration squad, have been conducting flyovers in cities across the country since the end of April, according to a Department of Defense news release that called the effort a show of "national solidarity. Chicago is on the list for Tuesday, along with Detroit and Indianapolis, according to social media posts from Blue Angels. The approximately 15-minute flyover will be conducted in the Chicago area starting around 11:45 a.m., ending along the lakefront around noon. Read more here. Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas 12:28 p.m.: Northwestern University furloughs staff, cuts leaders pay to address financial fallout of pandemic Northwestern University on Monday announced a series of new cost-saving steps spurred by the coronavirus pandemic that include furloughing about 250 workers, suspending contributions to employee retirement plans and spending more of its endowment. The schools president, interim provost and a senior vice president will also take pay cuts of at least 20%. The additional cost-saving measures come as the school expects a $90 million deficit this year, with a significant shortfall likely next year too, leaders said. Read more here. Elyssa Cherney 11:44 a.m.: Abbott Labs prepares to ship antibody tests after obtaining emergency use approval from FDA Abbott Labs announced Monday that it is getting ready to distribute tens of millions of antibody tests monthly to help determine what percentage of the population has contracted COVID-19. Abbott said it planned to ship 30 million of the tests, also known as serology tests, this month and 60 million by next month, for use in the United States, Europe and India. Having more options of highly reliable tests across our platforms will help health care workers and health officials as they conduct broad-scale testing for COVID-19, said Robert B. Ford, president and chief executive officer of the Libertville-based company. One of the tests the company will distribute has a less than half of 1 percent chance of producing a false positive result meaning a person is incorrectly found to have been infected and little to no chance of producing a false negative, the company stated in a news release. That would make it more reliable than some of the other tests on the market. It also is counting distribution of an earlier antibody test developed by Abbott. The antibody tests determine if someone has developed antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which may provide some level of immunity, but thats not certain. Medical experts say the tests are more useful for gauging the extent of the epidemic than determining whether some may be immune. And they could help determine whether people need a certain level of antibodies to be immune to the disease. Both tests have received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, but the federal government has not yet given either full approval. There has been some consternation in both the medical community and Congress about the way the FDA had been allowing allegedly unreliable antibody tests to go to market without obtaining emergency use authorization. The FDA a week ago tightened its policy on antibody tests. U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, chairman of the House Oversight Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee, launched an investigation of the old policy. Hal Dardick 10:17 a.m.: Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago staff working from home after colleague tests positive for COVID-19 Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his Chicago office staff will be working from home after a senior staff member in the governors office tested positive for the new coronavirus, Pritzkers office announced Monday. Pritzker was tested Sunday, and the results were negative, according to the governors office. The rest of the governors staff who have been reporting to the office also tested negative. The governors office says about 20 staff members have been working from the James R. Thompson Center, following Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines and social distancing measures. Pritzker will continue to hold weekdays news briefings. Dan Petrella 9:22 a.m.: Lightfoot criticizes Northwest Side church for holding in-person Sunday services Mayor Lori Lightfoot criticized a Chicago church for reopening its doors over the weekend, tweeting: It doesnt matter who you are or what youre doing. When you gather like this, you are putting yourself and your loved ones in serious danger. The church, Metro Praise International Church on the citys Northwest Side, opened its doors for in-person services in an act church officials described as passive resistance to Gov. J.B. Pritzkers stay-at-home order. Lightfoot expressed her concern in a tweet Monday morning, though it wasnt immediately clear if the city would take action in response. Read more here. Gregory Pratt 7:23 a.m.: A majority of Americans disapprove of protests against state coronavirus restrictions, though support for closures dips, poll shows A majority of Americans disapprove of protests against restrictions aimed at preventing the spread the coronavirus, according to a new poll that also finds the still-expansive support for such limits including restaurant closures and stay-at-home orders has dipped in recent weeks. 6:45 a.m.: Cook County correctional officer dies after being diagnosed with COVID-19 A Cook Cook correctional officer has died of apparent complications from COVID-19, according to the sheriffs office, the third worker in the office to die from the disease. Officer Antoine Jones, 51, died Sunday after he was diagnosed with COVID-19 in late March. The sheriffs office said the official cause was pending an autopsy. Jones joined the sheriffs office in July of 2002. He lived on Chicagos South Side with his wife and five adult children. Officer Jones was diagnosed with COVID-19 in late March. The office said it considers Jones death to be in the line of duty and will be strongly advocating that his family receive all the benefits that designation affords. Jones is the second correctional officer to die of complications from the coronavirus, the office said. A third worker in the sheriffs office also died from the disease. Seven detainees who tested positive for COVID-19 at the jail have died. There are at least 236 detainees who are positive for the virus, with six being treated at hospitals. Chicago Tribune staff 6 a.m.: How and when Chicago-area schools will reopen remains unclear, despite Restore Illinois phase-in plan School officials in Chicago and the suburbs are worried about the uncertainty of how Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzkers plan for reopening the state amid the coronavirus pandemic might affect millions of children in Illinois when school resumes in some form in the fall. Restore Illinois, a five-phase approach Pritzker unveiled last week, indicates the earliest the states schools could reopen is during phase four, at which point gatherings of 50 people or fewer will be allowed and schools may reopen with social distancing policies and safety guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health. When the Chicago region will reach phase four, and whether that will be by the traditional start of the school year, will depend on a continual decline in the positivity rate among those tested and in the number of patients admitted to the hospital. Even with loosened restrictions, face coverings and social distancing are still expected to remain the norm, officials said. The phased-in approach to reopening is tied to how COVID-19 has affected a particular region of the state, meaning areas hit hardest by the virus, including Chicago, suburban Cook County and the rest of the Chicago area, could see their school buildings reopen later than rural areas in Illinois that have seen fewer cases. For Chicago Public Schools, reaching phase four wont be the only bench mark needed to reopen. Chicago Teachers Union leaders said they intend to bargain over how schools reopen, prioritizing safety. Class sizes will have to be smaller, and more supports like hand-washing stations will be needed, they said. Read more here. Karen Ann Cullotta and Hannah Leone 6 a.m.: Swanky Gold Coast hotel has become a haven for people living on the street and others at risk. 'Housing is health care. In mid-April, Joeal Hamlin, who was staying in a West Side shelter, was offered a ninth-story room inside the pricey Hotel One Sixty-Six Magnificent Mile, where the Lawndale Christian Health Center oversees a makeshift isolation facility for people who are homeless. I actually was leading to a depression, anxiety, Hamlin said. I felt I could do better for myself, but I couldnt do it by myself. With the help of Lawndale Christian Health, Im not by myself anymore. Hamlins new living quarters are part of the citys effort to shelter those who have nowhere to go as the death toll from COVID-19 in Illinois tops 3,000. The city has rented nearly 400 rooms in two downtown hotels to isolate people considered to be at high-risk during the pandemic. To date, 251 people experiencing homelessness have stayed in the isolation and quarantine hotel rooms and given free meals, with 152 guests still in the hotel. Its an evolving experiment that Thomas Huggett lead doctor of the Lawndale Christian Health Centers medical team at Hotel One Sixty-Six hopes will transform how society cares for such people. There are stay-at-home orders, Huggett said. What does that actually mean for people who dont have a home? From our angle, housing is health care. If we can really learn through these liminal times, then perhaps we can make some long-lasting, positive changes. Read more here. Alice Yin and Cecilia Reyes 6 a.m.: Food, iPads, care packages part of groundswell of donations to Roseland hospital following Tribune story In the past few weeks, Tribune readers have donated staff meals, gift bags for nurses, care packages for patients, personal protective equipment and technology to Roseland Community Hospital, which serves underprivileged neighborhoods on the Far South Side, in response to a story about the hospitals plight in the battle against coronavirus. Roseland President Tim Egan said the outpouring has boosted morale among a hospital staff where one member previously described efforts to treat the virus as fighting with one arm tied behind our backs. Were still outgunned, outmanned and underfunded, but boy, have we gotten a lot of aid to our front lines," Egan said. "Its truly stunning. Read more here. Stacy St. Clair 6 a.m.: Legal aid organizations strained by increase in pandemic-related cases, including domestic violence, unemployment claims Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck Chicago, attorneys who offer legal work to the poor say they have seen a significant rise in people seeking assistance with domestic violence and unemployment benefits. With demand for free legal help expected to further rise after Cook County courts reopen, lawyers say the public health crisis will intensify preexisting legal inequities. While the pandemic has led to an increase in pro bono volunteers from the citys law firms, the surge in cases figures to exacerbate the strain on the already limited resources of Legal Aid Chicago, a roughly 150-person organization that provides legal services to city residents living in poverty, said Executive Director John Gallo. Read more here. Antonia Ayres-Brown May 9-10 Mark reached out to me first in February 2019, having read my scholarly book on Tsvetaeva, said Gillespie. He had a few questions about her, and we pretty quickly decided to collaborate together on the piece he was hoping to compose. Gillespie has been translating Tsvetaevas poetry for over twenty-five years, picking up several international translation prizes for her translations. For her sabbatical next year, she plans to work on a book-length collection of the poets verse in translation, alongside several scholarly book projects related to the poetry of Alexander Pushkin. The four poems in this particular song cycle were chosen because they provide a good introduction to a poet who still has a semi-obscure status in Americas world of letters, said Abel. Tsvetaevas poetic subjects span a vast amount of terrainfrom mythology to political upheaval to intense personal relationships to romantic and existential musings (and more). Im hoping that the cycle on which Professor Gillespie and I collaborated will spur listeners and readers alike to delve further into Tsvetaevas universe. I saw early on that Abel was an extraordinarily sensitive and perceptive reader of verse, and I enjoyed talking over with him some of the details of my versions and even made some revisions as a result of those conversations, said Gillespie, who met with Abel in California last fall (It felt like we were old friends, she said). Abels way of setting verse to music is completely different from the Russian practice, Gillespie observed. It emphasizes expressivity, emotion, and turns of phrase over melody and rhythm. Every psychological nuance, every tiny shift in mood and idea is reflected in his music. I find it refreshing, exciting, and extraordinarily revealing. "Four Poems," as the piece is called, is performed by the Israel-born soprano Hila Plitmann, with Delos label director Carol Rosenberger on piano, and Sarah Beck, English hornist for the LA Opera Orchestra and Santa Barbara Symphony. When the Bowdoin campus went into lockdown, Gillespie had been planning a concert in late March with Beckwith Artist in Residence George Lopez, to consist entirely of song cycles written on the verse of Tsvetaeva and her fellow female Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, in both English and Russian. Theyre hoping to reschedule the concert for sometime next year, she said. Enjoy an audio sample from the song cycle on Mark Abels latest album. This is Two Trees, based on the Marina Tsvetaeva poem of the same name, translated by Alyssa Gillespie. Two historic Norfolk churches are to share in a 473,700 funding package from the National Churches Trust, the UKs church building support charity. Two historic Norfolk churches are to share in a 473,700 funding package from the National Churches Trust, the UKs church building support charity. Hundreds fed at free Norfolk Christmas dinners Hundreds of people who would have spent Christmas Day alone were fed and entertained across Norfolk by church and charity groups. Read more Norfolk Toys + Tins Christmas Appeal launched People in Norfolk are being asked to share some joy with those who are finding life tough this Christmas by supporting The Salvation Armys Toys and Tins Appeal. Read more YMCA Norfolk celebrates double awards success Two teams from YMCA Norfolk were presented with national awards at the annual Youth Matters Awards in London on Friday evening, held at the Grand Sheraton Hotel hosted by YMCA England and Wales. Read more Matthew Project opens its recovery hub doors Drug and alcohol misuse charity The Matthew Project this week opened the doors of its Norwich recovery hub to its supporters and the wider community. Read more Bishop of Norwich welcomes refugees with picnic The Bishop of Norwich has held a picnic for refugees from Syria and Afghanistan in the garden of his home near Norwich Cathedral. Read more Norwich Bishop gives Norfolk honey to Pope Francis Pope Francis has been presented with a jar of honey and a bee facemask from Norfolk by the Anglican Bishop of Norwich, who met him at the Vatican in Rome during a private audience alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury. Read more New air ambulance HQ in Norwich is blessed Faith leaders from across East Anglia took part in an official blessing at the official opening of the extended and renovated East Anglian Air Ambulance operational base and HQ at Norwich Airport on September 10. Read more Norfolk gives generously to Afghan refugee fund Thanks to the generosity of people across Norfolk and Waveney, the Bishop of Norwichs Refugee Fund has received nearly 36,000 in the past fortnight, to help the arriving and expected new refugees from Afghanistan. The Diocese of Norwich is administering Read more Norwich volunteers plea for Afghan refugee clothes A Norwich church which is collecting clothes for Afghan refugees who will be resettled in Norfolk has been overwhelmed with donations and is now looking for volunteers to help sort them. Read more Christian homeless charity is expanding in Norfolk Hope into Action is a Christian charity whose unique purpose is to enable churches to house the homeless, and their work is expanding across Norfolk as well as other parts of the UK. Read more Norfolk churches join Afghan refugee welcome bid Norfolk churches are joining in efforts to help resettle Afghan refugees in the county following the current crisis and air evacuation with a refugee fund set up and a clothing donation hub established. Read more Norwich Mothers' Union to welcome Afghan refugee families The Mothers' Union Norwich Diocese has committed to extend the work it has done over the past five years welcoming Syrian refugee families to Norfolk to help those escaping the current turmoil in Afghanistan. Read more How a Norwich minister gained a Chinese brother Pastor Edmond Chi Wai Tsui has retired after serving the Chinese Methodist congregation in Norwich for 14 years. Rev Nigel Fox writes an appreciation. Read more Festival Pastors help over 800 people at Latitude event The Festival Pastors team at the Latitude music festival were able to assist over 800 people during the recent event in Suffolk and want to thank those who prayed for their work. Read more Pedal your way around Norfolks churches This years Bike Ride in aid of the Norfolk Churches Trust will take place next month, and we are all invited to pump up our tyres or dust off our walking boots to help preserve the countys wonderful church buildings. Read more YMCA Norfolk trio appeal for awards support Three YMCA Norfolk projects and staff members have been shortlisted as semi-finalists for the 2021 YMCA England and Wales Youth Matters Awards and are looking for your support. Read more Norwich charity teams up with NHS to support veterans The Matthew Project has formed a new partnership with the NHS to support armed forces veterans who are experiencing mental health problems. Read more Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal New Mexico hospitals that have struggled with hefty losses to prepare for a potential tsunami of COVID-19 patients are receiving an estimated $66 million financial lifeline from the Medicaid program. The temporary increase in Medicaid rates to hospitals up to 50% for eligible intensive care unit patients could help stem a reported 40 to 60% drop in revenue that has led to layoffs, staff cuts and hundreds of medical workers being placed on leave. The combined hit in April alone was estimated at $250 million. The state Human Services Department sought federal approval for the increased reimbursements even before the hospitals, particularly in rural areas, complained about losses due to state-imposed restrictions on elective surgeries and the cost of supplies to treat COVID-19 patients and keep medical staff safe. Even though its temporary, I dont think theres ever been a 50 percent rate increase for hospitals ever through the Medicaid program, said Human Services Secretary David Scrase, a physician. I did make this announcement to some of the hospital leaders that are on our (COVID-19 response) team and I was asked to repeat the numbers several times because people couldnt actually even believe it. Hospitals could receive additional help, depending on how long the crisis lasts. The new Medicaid reimbursement funding, of which the state pays a portion, will flow each quarter of the year as long as there is a designated federal emergency in place. Hospitals very much appreciate the latest increase of inpatient rates for ICU admissions and all other inpatients, said Jeff Dye, president of the New Mexico Hospital Association. Although temporary during the public health emergency, it will be a special boost for those hospitals that have a large volume of ICU cases. The general payment increases will also help those hospitals that have had low patient volumes across the board. Scrase said the reimbursements will be retroactive to April 1 and will be paid for Medicaid inpatients, even if they dont have diagnosed COVID-19 infections. More important, he said, is the emphasis on the more critical coronavirus cases that require ICU care. After we did all our modeling, and realized that particularly the inpatient, but even more particularly the ICU beds, were going to be our biggest issue, we decided we wanted to provide a substantial rate of increase so hospitals can make the investments they needed, Scrase told the Journal. With the spike in coronavirus cases from northwestern New Mexico, about 150 patients have been transferred from that area to Albuquerque hospitals, he said. For several days last week, Scrase said, the ICUs in Albuquerque hospitals were over capacity. ICU is such a scarce resource in our state; we wanted to really put a premium on that, he said, to get people to want to expand and give them the resources for PPE and other equipment. And to get the resources for staffing. The ratios are much higher in ICUs right now, because some of these COVID patients are really sick. Hospital leaders in Albuquerque have devised plans to double the number of ICU beds if needed. If you do get COVID and youre really sick, you want to have access to ICUs, Scrase said. He said New Mexicos ability to do a 50% increase is kind of both to incentivize and reward people who have done so much to expand capacity. The state received approval for the higher reimbursements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last week. The net impact will be hard to assess right now, as so many changes are happening at once in the health care system,said Dye, whose association represents 46 New Mexico hospitals. Still, this is likely the single largest rate increase hospitals have seen. Kudos to HSD for seeking approval early and making the increase effective back to April 1. In initially postponing nonemergency surgeries and procedures March 24, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams administration wanted to free up hospital bed space and ensure adequate personal protective equipment, ventilators and other equipment. In early April, as hospitals prepared for the worst, Dr. Paul Roth, chancellor for the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, said, We can see the tsunami that is fast approaching the state of New Mexico. But the ban on elective surgeries, steep prices for supplies and the loss of routine patients who feared getting treated for nonvirus illnesses, hit hospitals hard. For example,the CEO at Holy Cross hospital in Taos reported in mid-March losing $400,000 in just a week. On April 30, Lujan Grisham issued a new order loosening those restrictions to gradually resume nonessential procedures based on extensive guidelines from the state Department of Health. Scrase said even the smaller hospitals will receive a 12.4% increase for any person in a regular hospital bed during the state of emergency. About 40% of New Mexicans are enrolled in the Medicaid program, The temporary reimbursement increase is in addition to the $175 billion in emergency funding for hospitals and other health care organization around the country under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act. A restaurant diner in China has told of his horror after watching a chef spitting into his dish while cooking it for him on surveillance footage of a kitchen. The customer gained access to the video after finding a cigarette butt in a stew he had ordered and then complained about it to the restaurant, according to a report. He said he saw the chef 'spitting especially' into the stew. The restaurant worker claimed he was experiencing tightness in the throat and spat on the ground. Surveillance footage of the Sufuji Restaurant in Xi'an, China, appears to show a young chef spitting into a dish he was cooking in the kitchen. Mr Zheng, a customer who had ordered the stew, witnessed the revolting scene while viewing the security video in the store on Sunday The incident took place at around 2pm on Sunday at the Sufuji Restaurant in Xi'an, reported local newspaper Huashang Daily. The furious diner, Mr Zheng, said he had ordered the stew for his child and sent it back to the kitchen once due to its poor taste. After he spotted the cigarette butt in the second serving, a waiter told Mr Zheng that it had been left in the dish by accident, he told the newspaper. And when he requested to watch the security camera footage, he was shocked to discover that the chef had been cooking without a face mask and even spitting into his dish. A picture released by local media purports to show a cigarette butt in a stew Mr Zheng ordered 'You can see in the surveillance footage very clearly that the chef bent down to spit into the wok especially,' Mr Zheng said. The restaurant claimed that the 22-year-old chef, Mr Wang, had spat on the edge of the wok, not inside. Wang, however, insisted that he had spat on the floor, not towards the wok. He told the reporter that he had been suffering from throat inflammation. He said he was 'feeling uncomfortable in the throat' when he was making the dish. The incident took place at the Sufuji Restaurant in Xi'an. Pictured, a student wearing face mask has her body temperature checked as she arrives in the city on May 9 to resume her studies The shopping mall, where the restaurant is situated in, said it had ordered the store to shut and 'dealt with the chef seriously'. The local market watchdog has launched an investigation into the matter and ordered the restaurant to rectify its problems, reported Beijing News. Officials are expected to revoke the shop's business license and issue it a 100,000 yuan (11,460) fine, the report said. The restaurant has promised to cooperate with the investigation. It said it was 'very ashamed' of the matter and expressed its' most sincere apologies' to the public in a social media statement today. The results of 69,000 assistant teachers recruitment examination in Uttar Pradesh will be announced at around 2pm on Tuesday, and will be uploaded on atrexam.upsdc.gov.in on Wednesday, an official said on Monday. Secretary of Pariksha Niyamak Pradhikari, Anil Bhushan said, The result is almost ready. We will officially announce the result on Tuesday at 2pm. The CD containing the result will be sent to Lucknow from where it will be uploaded by NIC. Last week, Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court upheld revised cut-off of 60% for reserved category and 65% for general category candidates for the candidates. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath later directed basic education department officials to complete the process of declaring the results for recruitment of 69000 assistant teachers in the state. Now that high court upheld the state governments view on revised criteria, the department must initiate the process of recruiting teachers in a weeks time and issue appointment letters to all the successful candidates, the CM had said in a press statement. Of 4.30 lakh candidates who had registered for the exam, nearly 3.86 lakh appeared in the test. The government order for the said vacant posts was issued on December 1, 2018 while the post was advertised on December 6, 2018 and examination was held on January 6, 2019. Basic education minister Satish Chandra Dwivedi said a day after the examination on January 7, 2019 the passing criteria was revised making 65% (97 out of 150 marks) for general candidates and 60% (90 out of 150 marks) for reserved category candidates. Shiksha Mitras (para teachers) filed a petition in high court. Hearing the case, the court on March 29, 2019 gave its verdict in favour of the candidates and set criteria of 40 and 45 percent respectively for reserved and general category candidates. The state government filed another appeal explaining why the cut off was raised, the court upheld state governments point of view. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rajeev Mullick Rajeev Mullick is a Special Correspondent, he writes on education, telecom and heads city bureau at Lucknow. Love travelling ...view detail When will the Covid-19 pandemic end? And how? According to historians, pandemics typically have two types of endings: the medical, which occurs when the incidence and death rates plummet, and the social, when the epidemic of fear about the disease wanes. When people ask, When will this end?, they are asking about the social ending, said Dr. Jeremy Greene, a historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins. In other words, an end can occur not because a disease has been vanquished but because people grow tired of panic mode and learn to live with a disease. Allan Brandt, a Harvard historian, said something similar was happening with Covid-19: As we have seen in the debate about opening the economy, many questions about the so-called end are determined not by medical and public health data but by sociopolitical processes. Endings are very, very messy, said Dora Vargha, a historian at the University of Exeter. Looking back, we have a weak narrative. For whom does the epidemic end, and who gets to say? In the Path of Fear An epidemic of fear can occur even without an epidemic of illness. Dr. Susan Murray, of the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, saw that firsthand in 2014 when she was a fellow at a rural hospital in Ireland. In the preceding months, more than 11,000 people in West Africa had died from Ebola, a terrifying viral disease that was highly infectious and often fatal. The epidemic seemed to be waning, and no cases had occurred in Ireland, but the public fear was palpable. On the street and on the wards, people are anxious, Murray recalled recently in an article in The New England Journal of Medicine. Having the wrong color skin is enough to earn you the side-eye from your fellow passengers on the bus or train. Cough once, and you will find them shuffling away from you. The Dublin hospital workers were warned to prepare for the worst. They were terrified and worried that they lacked protective equipment. When a young man arrived in the emergency room from a country with Ebola patients, no one wanted to go near him; nurses hid, and doctors threatened to leave the hospital. Murray alone dared treat him, she wrote, but his cancer was so advanced that all she could offer was comfort care. A few days later, tests confirmed that the man did not have Ebola; he died an hour later. Three days afterward, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola epidemic over. Murray wrote, If we are not prepared to fight fear and ignorance as actively and as thoughtfully as we fight any other virus, it is possible that fear can do terrible harm to vulnerable people, even in places that never see a single case of infection during an outbreak. And a fear epidemic can have far worse consequences when complicated by issues of race, privilege and language. Black Death and Dark Memories Bubonic plague has struck several times in the past 2,000 years, killing millions of people and altering the course of history. Each epidemic amplified the fear that came with the next outbreak. The disease is caused by a strain of bacteria, Yersinia pestis, that lives on fleas that live on rats. But bubonic plague, which became known as the Black Death, also can be passed from infected person to infected person through respiratory droplets, so it cannot be eradicated simply by killing rats. Historians describe three great waves of plague, said Mary Fissell, a historian at Johns Hopkins: the Plague of Justinian, in the sixth century; the medieval epidemic, in the 14th century; and a pandemic that struck in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The medieval pandemic began in 1331 in China. The illness, along with a civil war that was raging at the time, killed half the population of China. From there, the plague moved along trade routes to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. In the years between 1347 and 1351, it killed at least one-third of the European population. Half the population of Siena, Italy, died. It is impossible for the human tongue to recount the awful truth, wrote 14th-century chronicler Agnolo di Tura. Indeed, one who did not see such horribleness can be called blessed. The infected, he wrote, swell beneath the armpits and in their groins and fall over while talking. The dead were buried in pits, in piles. In Florence, Italy, wrote Giovanni Boccaccio, No more respect was accorded to dead people than would nowadays be accorded to dead goats. Some hid in their homes. Others refused to accept the threat. Their way of coping, Boccaccio wrote, was to drink heavily, enjoy life to the full, go round singing and merrymaking, and gratify all of ones cravings when the opportunity emerged, and shrug the whole thing off as one enormous joke. That pandemic ended, but the plague recurred. One of the worst outbreaks began in China in 1855 and spread worldwide, killing more than 12 million in India alone. Health authorities in Mumbai, India, burned whole neighborhoods trying to rid them of the plague. Nobody knew if it made a difference, Yale historian Frank Snowden said. It is not clear what made the bubonic plague die down. Some scholars have argued that cold weather killed the disease-carrying fleas, but that would not have interrupted the spread by the respiratory route, Snowden noted. Or perhaps it was a change in the rats. By the 19th century, the plague was being carried not by black rats but by brown rats, which are stronger, more vicious and more likely to live apart from humans. You certainly wouldnt want one for a pet, Snowden said. Another hypothesis is that the bacterium evolved to be less deadly. Or maybe actions by humans, such as the burning of villages, helped quell the epidemic. The plague never really went away. In the United States, infections are endemic among prairie dogs in the Southwest and can be transmitted to people. Snowden said that one of his friends became infected after a stay at a hotel in New Mexico. The previous occupant of his room had a dog, which had fleas that carried the microbe. Such cases are rare and can now be successfully treated with antibiotics, but any report of a case of the plague stirs up fear. One Disease That Actually Ended Among the diseases to have achieved a medical end is smallpox. But it is exceptional for several reasons: There is an effective vaccine, which gives lifelong protection; the virus, Variola minor, has no animal host, so eliminating the disease in humans meant total elimination; and its symptoms are so unusual that infection is obvious, allowing for effective quarantines and contact tracing. But while it still raged, smallpox was horrific. Epidemic after epidemic swept the world for at least 3,000 years. Individuals infected with the virus developed a fever, then a rash that turned into pus-filled spots, which became encrusted and fell off, leaving scars. The disease killed 3 out of 10 of its victims, often after immense suffering. In 1633, an epidemic among Native Americans disrupted all the native communities in the northeast and certainly facilitated English settlement in Massachusetts, said Harvard historian David Jones. William Bradford, leader of the Plymouth colony, wrote an account of the disease in Native Americans, saying the broken pustules would effectively glue a patients skin to the mat he lay on, only to be torn off. Bradford wrote, When they turn them, a whole side will flay off at once as it were, and they will be all of a gore blood, most fearful to behold. The last person to contract smallpox naturally was Ali Maow Maalin, a hospital cook in Somalia, in 1977. He recovered, only to die of malaria in 2013. Forgotten Influenzas The 1918 flu is held up today as the example of the ravages of a pandemic and the value of quarantines and social distancing. Before it ended, the flu killed 50 million to 100 million people worldwide. It preyed on young to middle-aged adults orphaning children, depriving families of breadwinners, killing troops in the midst of World War I. In the autumn of 1918, William Vaughan, a prominent doctor, was dispatched to Camp Devens near Boston to report on a flu that was raging there. He saw hundreds of stalwart young men in the uniform of their country, coming into the wards of the hospital in groups of 10 or more, he wrote. They are placed on the cots until every bed is full, yet others crowd in. Their faces soon wear a bluish cast; a distressing cough brings up bloodstained sputum. In the morning the dead bodies are stacked up in the morgue like cord wood. The virus, he wrote, demonstrated the inferiority of human inventions in the destruction of human life. After sweeping through the world, that flu faded away, evolving into a variant of the more benign flu that comes around every year. Maybe it was like a fire that, having burned the available and easily accessible wood, burns down, Snowden said. It ended socially, too. World War I was over; people were ready for a fresh start, a new era, and eager to put the nightmare of disease and war behind them. Until recently, the 1918 flu was largely forgotten. Other flu pandemics followed none so bad, but all nonetheless sobering. In the Hong Kong flu of 1968, 1 million people died worldwide, including 100,000 in the United States, mostly people older than 65. That virus still circulates as a seasonal flu, and its initial path of destruction and the fear that went with it is rarely recalled. How Will Covid-19 End? Will that happen with Covid-19? One possibility, historians say, is that the coronavirus pandemic could end socially before it ends medically. People may grow so tired of the restrictions that they declare the pandemic over, even as the virus continues to smolder in the population and before a vaccine or effective treatment is found. I think there is this sort of social psychological issue of exhaustion and frustration, Yale historian Naomi Rogers said. We may be in a moment when people are just saying, Thats enough. I deserve to be able to return to my regular life. It is happening already; in some states, governors have lifted restrictions, allowing hair salons, nail salons and gyms to reopen, in defiance of warnings by public health officials that such steps are premature. As the economic catastrophe wreaked by the lockdowns grows, more and more people may be ready to say enough. There is this sort of conflict now, Rogers said. Public health officials have a medical end in sight, but some members of the public see a social end. Who gets to claim the end? Rogers said. If you push back against the notion of its ending, what are you pushing back against? What are you claiming when you say, No, it is not ending. The challenge, Brandt said, is that there will be no sudden victory. Trying to define the end of the pandemic will be a long and difficult process. Gina Kolata@c.2020 The New York Times Company In this handout photo provided by the US Navy, The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), left, the Royal Navy air defense destroyer HMS Defender (D 36) and the guided-missile destroyer USS Farragut (DDG 99) transit the Strait of Hormuz on Nov. 19, 2019. (Zachary Pearson- U.S. Navy via Getty Images) Navy Boasts of 6 Carriers At Sea, Despite One Sidelined by COVID-19 Six aircraft carriers are now at sea, according to the Navy, despite the USS Theodore Roosevelt being still benched by COVID-19 in Guam. The United States has 11 carriers in total, but typically fewer than half are deployed. The U.S. Navy has six carriers underway right now. Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan, Nimitz, Lincoln, and Ford all operating where ships belong at sea, wrote the Chief of Naval Operations on Twitter on May 10, describing the Navy as a force to be reckoned with. The U.S. Navy has been adapting to the challenges of the pandemic, taking lessons from the outbreak on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is now reembarking sailors after being sidelined for nearly two months in Guam. The Pentagon is prioritizing making sure crews are virus-free when they head out on deployment, which means concentrating testing and quarantine in the time window just before deployment. For example, the Navy said that the carrier USS Nimitz set sail for training on April 27, but only after a 27-day quarantine period and testing all of the crew. The latest carrier to head out to sea was the USS Lincoln, which left the dock in San Diego on May 7, according to the carriers Facebook page. Carrier deployments are no longer announced in advance, under a new strategy brought in under the Trump administration to keep adversaries guessing. One carrier, the USS Truman, has remained off the Atlantic coast despite coming to the end of its previous deployment, to keep the crew COVID-free. When the USS Theodore Roosevelt was first benched by the outbreak in March, there were only two other carriers at sea at the time. The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) is seen while entering into the port in Da Nang, Vietnam, on March 5, 2020. (Kham/Reuters) Around 20 percent of the crew on the Theodore Roosevelt was ultimately found to have been infected. The Navy is no longer providing detailed updates on the number of crew infected or recovering. The ship has been cleaned and the crew is being systematically reembarked and tested. A sailor assigned to the carrier was so far the only active-duty member of the armed services to die from the CCP virus. One of the 6 carriers, the USS Ford, is a new class of carrier and is still undergoing testing. U.S. military leaders, civilian and uniformed, have insisted that military readiness remains high despite the pandemic, warning adversaries not to test them. While a few analysts believe there has been an uptick in aggression from Beijing due to the pandemic, others say it is too early to tell, especially given the difficulty in assessing the potential impact on the Chinese military. U.S. military leaders have noted that Chinese military aggression in the South China Sea has continued during the pandemic, in line with previous trends. Russias usual probing for U.S. military weakness has also continued. However, so far, the Pentagon has dismissed suggestions that the pandemic has shifted strategic dynamics or sparked any uptick in military aggression. By PTI KATHMANDU: Nepal on Monday handed over a diplomatic note to the Indian envoy here to protest against the construction of a key road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand. The 80-Km new road inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday is expected to help pilgrims visiting Kailash-Mansarovar in Tibet in China as it is around 90 kms from the Lipulekh pass. The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani, a disputed border area between Nepal and India. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory - India as part of Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district and Nepal as part of Dharchula district. Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinaya Mohan Kwatra met Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali at his office, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. During the meeting, Gyawali conveyed to the Indian Ambassador the Nepal government's position on boundary issues. "The ministry has handed over a diplomatic note to ambassador Kwatra," it said. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi on Saturday said the road lies well within the Indian territory. "The recently inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in the state of Uttarakhand lies completely within the territory of India. The road follows the pre-existing route used by the pilgrims of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. Under the present project, the same road has been made pliable for the ease and convenience of pilgrims, locals and traders," the MEA said in a statement. The Nepal government raised objection to the construction of the road at the Lipulekh area by the government of India to connect to the Mansarovar of Tibet "unilaterally". Nepal has claimed that the territory on which the road was constructed lies within its territory. In a statement issued on May 9, the Nepalese Foreign Ministry said that "it has learnt with regret about the inauguration by India of the Link Road connecting Lipulekh that passes through Nepalese territory". Addressing the Parliament on Sunday, Foreign Minister Gyawali said that the Kalapani border issue will be resolved with India through diplomatic initiatives. "The coronavirus has really pushed both the health insurance industry and the government to look at a more remote-distributed models where seniors can get care through remote options, like telehealth services, Rich says. COVID-19 has transformed the way business is donewhether that be the increase in remote workforces, eCommerce, and everything in between. The present and future of how America operates will inevitably be shaped by societys ability to virtually adapt in response to the pandemic, especially when it comes to the healthcare industry. For instance, as recently determined by the Trump administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) broadened access to Medicare telehealth services so that beneficiaries are able to receive a wider range of services from their doctors (even without paying a physical visit to any healthcare facility).(1) While Dave RichCEO of Ensurem, a leading online multi-carrier insurance brokeragecommended this policy, he stressed the importance of such innovation being implemented into other areas of healthcare; particularly within the insurance industry for the elderly community. The insurance process is very complex, Rich says. And in the senior market, you have so many Baby Boomers who are retiring, so you have more people who need to learn about the landscape of insurance. Like with telehealth, the insurance process is in dire need of a digital makeover. On top of limitations seniors are facing when it comes to meeting with insurance agents due to strict social distancing guidelines set amidst the coronavirus crisis, the rising demand in the field only magnifies the issues. Insurance sales agent vacancies have increased by about 12% nationwide since 2004and in 2017, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that approximately 400,000 positions in the insurance field would be available by 2020.(2),(3) Even before this pandemic, you really didnt have enough agents to discuss insurance products, Rich says. So youve sort of always had this problemand its just getting worse and worse. Considering the standard process for Medicare has required insurance agents to take charge, this typically limits what consumers are able to do themselves. Even in researching health insurance information, its easy to become overwhelmed (with such uncertainty heightened in the midst of a pandemic). The options for seniors enrolled or about to enroll in Medicare can be challenging. There are many plans to select from, but each plan is differentwhether it is in-network doctor selections, hospitals, pharmacies, co-pays, etc., says Norman DePalantino, Ensurems director of sales. For many seniors, trying to lay all these options on the table and select the best one is daunting task. It certainly doesnt help that making these decisions is accompanied by financial pressure. Roughly 530,000 bankruptcies filed annually are due to debt accrued from medical illnesses, according to a study from February 2019.(4) One article cited that over 60% of Americans filing bankruptcy last year did so at least in part due to medical bills.(5) And in 2016, U.S. citizens shelled out a staggering $3.3 trillion on healthcare alone.(6) This is just one of many areas where remote-automated health insurance options could make a huge impact. And with claims suggesting the number of virtual care visits (like telehealth) will surpass one billion this year, health insurance may have no choice but to follow suit.(7) Virtually accessible insurance solutions could yield similar positive results to those of telehealth, such as:(8) Lowered costs due to increased accessibility, productivity, and delivery Slowed transmission of COVID-19 while still allowing for all patients to receive care Aid in alleviating stresses caused by healthcare resource shortagesparticularly among the growing elderly population Take robotic process automation (RPA), for example. As applied to the health insurance industry, RPA relies on automated software applications to modernize insurance processes and decrease the need for human labor required to handle health insurance paperwork. Whether it be the reduction in costs, increased claims processing speed, reduced errors, 24/7 availability to offer assistance, and more, RPA presents many advantages for both health insurance agencies and consumers.(9) With plenty of potential benefits, consumers seem more than ready for an automated health insurance transition. Margaret BrancoEnsurems director of digital marketingsays that based on what she is seeing in search activity for Medicare, seniors are self-educating themselves to find the best healthcare plans and benefits available. Seniors are taking control of the way they want to purchase their Medicare plan, Branco says. Its through our ad copy and messaging that we are able to capture this audience. The consumer drives the interaction, and I think some find that empowering. And nowarguably more than everthe country needs to be making innovative steps forward that aim to empower consumers while better enabling health insurance providers. The coronavirus has really pushed both the health insurance industry and the government to look at a more remote-distributed models where seniors can get care through remote options, like telehealth services, Rich says. I think its going to move things along for the health insurance industry, which needs to change the products to be more of a consumer structure where people can buy online without any human intervention. About Ensurem: Ensurem, headquartered in Clearwater, FL, is a leading technology and product distribution company serving carriers and consumers within the massive U.S. senior market. The company provides end-to-end solutions for carriers, including product development, digital marketing, and consumer-centric front ends and back end. For more information, visit http://www.ensurem.com. 1. Fact Sheet MEDICARE TELEMEDICINE HEALTH CARE PROVIDER FACT SHEET. CMS, 17 Mar. 2020, cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/medicare-telemedicine-health-care-provider-fact-sheet. 2. Recruiter.com. Career Outlook and Job Vacancies for Insurance Sales Agents. Recruiter, recruiter.com/careers/insurance-sales-agents/outlook/. 3. WEX Health. Insurers Archives. WEX Inc., 5 Sept. 2017, wexinc.com/insights/blogs/health/insurers/. 4. Medical Bankruptcy: Still Common Despite the Affordable Care Act. American Journal of Public Health, American Journal of Public Health, 6 Feb. 2019, ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304901?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=a5697b7e-8ffc-4373-b9d2-3eb745d9debb&=&. 5. Sainato, Michael. 'I Live on the Street Now': How Americans Fall into Medical Bankruptcy. The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 Nov. 2019, theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/14/health-insurance-medical-bankruptcy-debt. 6. Debt.org. Medical Debt Relief. Debt.org, Debt.org, debt.org/medical/. 7. Finnegan, Matthew. Telehealth Booms amid COVID-19 Crisis; Virtual Care Is Here to Stay. Computerworld, Computerworld, 27 Apr. 2020, computerworld.com/article/3540315/telehealth-booms-amid-covid-19-crisis-virtual-care-is-here-to-stay.html. 8. Sze-Yunn, Pang. Telehealth Could Be a Game-Changer in the Fight against COVID-19. Heres Why. World Economic Forum, 1 May 2020, weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/telehealth-could-be-a-game-changer-in-the-fight-against-covid-19-here-s-why/. 9. The Lab Consulting. RPA in Healthcare A Guide in Health Insurance Robotics (with Use Cases). The Lab Consulting, 6 June 2018, thelabconsulting.com/health-insurance-rpa-use-case/. ### Its a humble, brick-and-mortar storage facility, with a covering on top, but this simple device, designed by a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B), is helping farmers beat the effects of the nationwide lockdown. The cooling unit, which only needs water and does not run on electricity, keeps vegetables fresh for longer, which means farmers dont have to sell their produce at throwaway prices. Named the Subjee Cooler, the cooling unit has been designed by RuKart Technologies, founded by Vikas Jha. Subjee Cooler works on the principle of evaporative cooling and does not require any utilities. However, it requires watering, once daily. The cooling chamber temperature is lower than the ambient temperature by a margin of 5-15C (depending on ambient relative humidity) and maintains a high relative humidity of above 85-90% inside the cooling chamber. The low temperature and high humidity inside the chamber preserve the (non-tuber) vegetable crop for five to eight days, said Jha, a 2016 graduate of IIT-B. RuKart Technologies with the help of the trade union Self-Employed Womens Association has set up 66 such cooling units for farmers in Bihar, Odisha, and Maharashtra. Its working on an order for 200 more instalments, said Jha. During the lockdown, the agricultural sector has been among the worst hit. Farmers with no storage facilities have been compelled to undersell crops at throwaway prices. However, Praphula Kido, a tomato and cabbage cultivator from Sundargarh in northwest Odisha, is among those who got good prices for his tomatoes, thanks to the Subjee Cooler at his one-acre farm. He now earns Rs 25-30 per kilogram (kg) of tomatoes as opposed to the Rs 7-8/kg that many other farmers have to settle for since their produce is not as fresh. Jha said farmers with Subjee Coolers are able to charge prices that are 2030% higher than others. Earlier a farmer would harvest vegetables only once in a week, the day before the weekly market. Now an adopter [farmer with Subjee Cooler] harvests the vegetable thrice a week and stores their produce. While our adopters are selling their produce to middlemen as well as consumers at the weekly market directly, non-adopters are selling their produce only to middlemen, he said. The low turnout at schools has raised concern among social workers and teaching staff, who have struggled to contact children they believe to be at risk. Anne Longfield, the Childrens Commissioner for England, estimates that around 2 million children in England are locked down in high risk home environments. While the governments decision to keep schools open for the most vulnerable children is welcome, sadly most of them are just not showing up, she said. They are most likely at home, often exposed to a cocktail of secondary risks a lack of food in the house, sofa-surfing or cramped living conditions, neglect, or experiencing acute difficulties due to parental domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health problems. Many will be caring for parents or siblings themselves in these incredibly difficult circumstances. On a recent morning, Astrid Schon, the associate head teacher at the London East Alternative Provision School, waited all day for her students to show up. The school caters to vulnerable children who cannot attend mainstream schools, and Ms. Schon has been desperate for the children to return so she can offer them the stability and support that they require. That day, only one 14-year-old student came to school, and it was to use the gym and catch up with the staff. Many of our kids have lots and lots of issues. They are on child protection plans, child in need plans, neglect from home plans, living in conditions where they are exposed to domestic violence, parents who have drug addictions, who dont cook for them or care for them, Ms. Schon explained. But a vast majority of them are teenagers who do not see themselves as vulnerable, so when they hear that all schools are closed and they dont have to come in, they choose not to come in. Flip on the TV and youll find talk shows on every channel. Theres Live with Kelly and Ryan in the morning, Ellen in the afternoon. Theres late night shows featuring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert. And thats just the major networks. While its not in his long-term plans to become the next Oprah, Pat Polimeni started his own talk show to stay connected with students and colleagues from Pitman High School during the coronavirus outbreak. A media specialist, he created UNP With ... - You and Polimeni - on his YouTube channel and viewership has continued to grow with each broadcast. "It started off as a way to stay connected to the kids," he said. "Obviously it's a stressful time. I thought by reaching out to them and trying to have a little bit of humor at this time was a good way to let their guard down and open up a little bit. "A lot haven't had the chance to connect with their teachers and classmates. In a humorous way, I wanted to lighten the mood. I put myself out there, but I want the focus and spotlight to be on the kids. We all laugh with each other." You never know what hat "Mr. P will be wearing but every conversation begins with the same question - What did you have for dinner last night? He then spends between 20 and 30 minutes talking about a variety of topics. His focus is on Pitman's senior class, although he did interview staff members during Teacher Appreciation Week. "It's been a lot of fun. I've received a lot of good feedback and the kids seem to love it," Polimeni said. "I try to keep it light, but there have been some kids who are saying they're scared and sad. There's a connection taking place and it's kind of neat. "When we left school, I had some conversations with colleagues. Given the circumstances with coronavirus, it's put us in positions where as professionals we're forced to change and do things differently. You can look at it as growth." In addition to the reaction of students, Polimeni said he's had parents reach out to him as well. It's been a learning experience for all involved. Pat Polimeni, a media specialist at Pitman High School, has stayed in contact with students and staff with a talk show on his YouTube channel. "Here are 17-, 18-year-old kids at home who are probably in their rooms more than not," he said. "Parents are finding things out about their own kid. They're hearing their kid open up in ways they might not normally do. "It's a scary time and I feel for them. These are kids who would be going on their Senior Trip, prom, end-of-the-year activities and they don't really know what's going on. A lot of these kids are looking for the connection of being in school. They have realized in hindsight that it was the highlight of their day." A senior, Thomas Derenberger enjoyed his recent interview. "I hadn't talked to him in a very long time. We always had conversations like that during first period of school and it was really great to catch up with him," he said. Look for Polimeni to continue his daily conversations. "Every student in the history of school wished it would close and they didn't have to go. Now they're in that situation and I'm finding - to a man - that's the thing they miss the most," he said. The days bleed together. Some honestly dont know what day it is and they miss that structure. Its been an interesting social experiment to see where the lack of structure has led them. Have you seen an inspiring story in your community during this troubling time? Tell us about it. See more uplifting stories in #TogetherNJ. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Kevin Minnick may be reached at kminnick@njadvancemedia.com. Kano Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State on Sunday broke his silence and hit hard on his counterpart Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai to stop noise making and politicizing issue of almajirai evacuated to the state who have tested positive to novel coronavirus. This was as he said some of the almajirai also evacuated to Kano State during the exercise, were COVID-19 positive but the fact that it is, and I did not make noise about it doesn't mean that they were all healthy and without Covid-19 infection. Recall that Governor El-Rufai had said about 50 almajirai or more evacuated to the state from Kano state had tested positive for COVID-19 and also Jigawa and Gombe states 16 and 8 respectively. Governor Ganduje in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Abba Anwar and made available to newsmen in the state said what the children (almajirai) need at that critical point was caregiving instead of noise making and politicizing the issue. The statement titled, "We are not making politics out of it, no noise making. "To put record straight on the movement of Almajiri across states of the federation and how Kano embarks on the exercise. "We agreed at the Northern Governors Forum that all Almajiris moved to their states of origin. That is why we are sending, in good faith and procedures, all Almajiris that are not from Kano state to their respective states of origin. "The exercise was not political and should not be politicized. "The way we are sending back Almajiris to their states of origin, we are also receiving Almajiris from other states who are Kano indigenes. But the fact that we are not making noise about it does not mean they are all healthy without COVID-19 infections. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Governance Coronavirus By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. "Let's make it categorically clear that, some of the Almajiris brought to Kano during the exercise, are also COVID-19 positive, but we are not making politics out of it. Because we all believe that what they need most now, is not noise making or publicity. What they need at this critical point in time is, caregiving. "People should also understand that these children were not infected in the process of transporting them to their respective states. So noise making is not fit as a way forward. All we are doing is simply to comply with the Northern Governors' Forum decision that all Almajiris in our states should be taken back to their respective states, simple," the statement however reads. Meanwhile, the rivalry between the two could be traced back to when the former Kano Emir, Muhammad Sanusi II was dethroned and banished to Nassarawa State and El-Rufai visited him (Sanusi), appointed him Chancellor of Kaduna State University and also Vice Chairman of the board of Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency and a development which seems not to go down well with Ganduje. Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - Several families of prisoners who pleaded guilty to terrorist activities and were given stiff sentences Monday sent a letter to Mauritanian President Mohamed Cheikh Gazouani to demand their release WATERLOO REGIONWhile murder hornets are dominating the headlines these days, theyre merely a distraction from the lurking, bigger invasive threat that has been quietly and systematically taking down honeybee populations across North America. Meet the Varroa destructor mite. The name destructor says it all, for these mites have decimated bee populations everywhere. First documented in Asia in 1904, they were found in North America as early as the 1950s. These mites are in the same family as ticks and spiders. Theyre only about the size of a sesame seed but the fact that they can be seen without a microscope means theyre really big when compared to the size of their host, Apis mellifera, the common European honeybee. In human terms, a Varroa mite infestation would be like having a tick the size of a rat feeding on your back. The Varroa mites are found everywhere in Canada except Thunder Bay and Newfoundland and Labrador. The Ontario Ministry of Agricultures website warns that if bees are kept anywhere outside these areas, they will be infested with Varroa mites. The mites feed on the bees hemolymph (basically its blood) and fat tissue. The hemolymph transports a bees nutrients throughout its body, and the fat tissue contains its immune cells. In the process of removing bees natural immunity, Varroa mites also transmit deadly diseases. This includes deformed wing virus, which results in shrivelled wings, bloated abdomen, learning problems and shortened life. If left untreated, Varroa destructor mites destroy entire hives. Paul Kozak, the provincial apiarist for Ontario, says the Varroa destructor mite is the main killer for honeybee colonies in all of North America. This one mite is having devastating impacts throughout the world. Theyve changed beekeeping forever. An adult fertilized female mite enters a bee larvae cell just before its capped with wax. She then begins feeding on the larvae and lays eggs: first a male egg, then female eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the male mates with the females, and all the fertilized female mites emerge with the matured larvae. This bee is weakened and has a shorter lifespan. The mites move quickly from bee to bee. Once the queen stops laying larvae for the winter, the Varroa destructor mites then concentrate entirely on the adult bee population. Ernesto Guzman, a professor of apiculture and the director of the honeybee research centre at the University of Guelph, says the mites were most likely introduced by importation of infested honeybee queens, either legally or illegally. The mites continue to spread from colony to colony when infested worker bees share a flower with a noninfested worker bee from another hive, when an infested worker bee accidentally enters a foreign hive or when healthy bee populations attack infested hives for their honey, and in the process become infested. When a bee colony divides itself in to two colonies, a process called swarming, this also spreads the Varroa mites. Although Varroa destructor mites have become resistant to many synthetically made miticides, Guzman said that without treatment, colonies have only a 50 per cent chance of survival through the winter when the infestation rate is higher than six per cent. That means only six mites per 100 bees are needed to reduce survival rates by half. Healthy colonies that are treated correctly and at the right time have an 80 to 90 per cent chance of survival. The objective is not to eradicate the mites. They will be here long after humans are gone, said Guzman. The objective is to keep their populations low. Guzman said there is some hope as research is demonstrating naturally occurring compounds, specifically essential oils including oregano, clove and thyme, are effective in controlling mite populations. So far, there is no evidence of the mites developing resistance. Research is still ongoing for the best application method. Another area of research is in selective breeding for natural resistance. Bees have two different kinds of behaviours that are natural defences against the mites. The first is hygienic practices, meaning the worker bees can smell infected larvae under its wax cap. They uncap the larvae and remove it, and this way disrupt the mites life cycle. The other habit is grooming. Some bees can scratch off the mites and kill them. Not all bees are born with these behaviours. Guzmans lab is researching how to breed bees that have these traits. Its important to keep populations of bees alive because one-third of our food supply comes from the pollination work of bees, said Guzman. There are thousands of bee species in the world, and they all pollinate, but the most important pollinator in the world is the Western honeybee. Guzman cited a new generation of pesticides, other pests and diseases, the Varroa destructor mite, as well as the now common practice of transporting and renting bee colonies to pollinate crops, as new stressors that bee colonies and beekeepers werent dealing with 50 years ago. Weve been losing colonies at a rate of over 30 per cent, said Guzman. Standards of living would be lower without modern practices, but they come with a price. Losing bees is one of those prices. Consume local honey. You are supporting local beekeepers, and they are the ones who can keep bee populations alive. But they need to be able to make a business out of it. Developing a web-based platform to support domestic violence survivors Shai Dinnar Shai Dinnar 20 and her team were among the winners in the MIT COVID-19 Challenge hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in April. Her team developed a web-based platform called Distance Domestic Violence that connects individuals impacted by domestic violence with local community-based services.I wanted to do something to help during COVID-19 because the number of people who are vulnerable and needing assistance is overwhelming, Dinnar, a neuroscience major and business minor, says.About 1,500 contestants participated in the two-day virtual hackathon April 3-5. Dinnars was among the winning teams in the Beat the Pandemic event.During times when many feel helpless, this 48-hour virtual hackathon pushed 1,500 amazing minds to take action, Dinnar said.Our project, Distance Domestic Violence, tackles one of the greatest issues of staying in quarantine: Women who feel unsafe at home due to domestic violence must now stay with their abuser with no escape. Now more than ever, with an increase in numbers and cases, providing assistance is necessary. Working alongside an incredible team, we built a web-based platform to assess the domestic violence situation and offer connections to local resources.Distance Domestic Violence features a tool that screens users and connects them with healthcare providers and shelters. When existing reporting centers are overburdened by COVID-19, the platform gathers critical data about the scope of domestic violence cases.Dinnar has been a long-time participant in hackathons at Brandeis, Harvard, MIT and Boston University.There is this stigma that hackathons are purely for programmers and computer scientists, Dinnar says. But in actuality theyre more about makers and doers combining expertise from many different domains and disciplines. Working in a team, and contributing to a solution, gives me a huge sense of agency.She credits the Brandeis innovation ecosystem with significantly influencing her Brandeis experience. With its mission of technology and innovation for social good, she says, the Hassenfeld Family Innovation Center has been a vital supporter of her student entrepreneurship.I want to encourage students to utilize Brandeis competitions, funding and mentorship, and to act as proud representatives of Brandeis in collaborations with other universities in the Boston area and beyond.Distance Domestic Violence is expected to be available later this year, she says. Elon Musk could save billions of dollars in taxes over time if he moves his company and his home to Nevada or Texas, according to tax accountants. Musk, who is embroiled in a battle with the state of California and Alameda County over his efforts to reopen Tesla's factory, tweeted threats over the weekend to move the company to Nevada or Texas. "This is the final straw," Musk tweeted. "Tesla will move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately." If Musk moved his primary residence from California, which has the highest income tax rate in the country, he could save hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, in income taxes in the coming years. Texas and Nevada have no income tax. Tweet There are no signs that personal taxes factor in to Musk's decisions regarding the best future location for the electric car maker. Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Musk's plans. But accountants for California's rich say that Musk would join a growing list of wealthy residents moving to Nevada and Texas to avoid California's famously high income taxes. "If I were a betting man, I would say the odds are the taxes are a consideration," said Daniel Morris, a certified public accountant and senior partner at Morris + D'Angelo in San Jose, California, who works with a number of wealthy tech executives. "How could it not be?" Musk's tax rates have taken on new importance because of his latest compensation program. The package, awarded in 2018, gives him tranches of stock options based on the company hitting certain operating and market-value goals. According to Tesla's filings, the package could net him a total of more than $55 billion over time if the company meets a series of targets. The first tranche was triggered last week, but not yet officially awarded, and would be worth more than $780 million in profits for Musk. He would pay income taxes on the profits from stock options when he exercises the options. California imposes an income tax rate of 13.3% on its highest earners. So if Musk exercised the options while he was a California resident, he would pay $104 million in taxes. If he waits until he moves to Texas or Nevada, he would owe no state income taxes on the sale effectively saving $104 million. If Tesla meets all the targets set out in the compensation plan, and Musk moves to Nevada or Texas, he would save more than $7 billion in state taxes on the $55 billion in estimated compensation. Some of the targets Musk must meet in the plan are tied to the company's market capitalization. Tesla shares have soared nearly 240% over the past year, and 94% since the start of the year, to put the stock's market value above $150 billion. Other milestones are tied to revenue and profitability benchmarks. Morris said the beauty of stock option pay is that the wealthy can choose when to exercise those grants. So even though Musk received the options grant this year while he was a resident of California, he could wait until be establishes residency in Nevada or Texas before exercising them. "That's why you see all these wealthy tech guys moving to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe," Morris said. "You just have to make sure you don't go back to California frequently." [May 11, 2020] Verde Leaf partners with C-TRAX and launches Verde Leaf Capital ATLANTA, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In a move set to advance operations and support the company's aggressive growth, Verde Leaf , one of the nation's rising vertically integrated Industrial Hemp Companies, has partnered with C-TRAX Software, a leading ERP solution for industrial hemp business to provide agriculture loans, inventory management, payment processing, and customer management. Dr. Jackson Garth, CEO of Verde Leaf, chose C-TRAX only after a thorough evaluation. "We thoroughly researched C-TRAX and required a set of scenarios to test their POS, digital retail technology, support, and training capabilities," Garth said. "They delivered on every benchmark, which thoroughly impressed us with their responsive enterprise-level capabilities, we're confident it's the perfect fit for Verde Leaf ." Verde Leaf has established itself as a premier brand and now faces the logistical challenges of high-volume sales and high customer expectations. C-TRAX's sophisticated tech infrastructue, scalable feature set, and mature API are an essential upgrade for the vertically integrated organization. The company will leverage C-TRAX's enterprise capabilities to replace deficiencies in their previous system. Another feature that lends a competitive advantage is C-TRAX's wireless functionality. Verde Leaf can now leverage the benefits of C-TRAX's mobile-enabled iOS platform to utilize technology from the farm to the warehouse. "We were excited to partner with Verde Leaf and to help them reach new sales goals," said Sean Tolliver, CEO of C-TRAX. "We developed our platform to help retailers and distributors ranging from sprawling operations to individual stores. Verde Leaf is a rising superstar in this market, and their trust in C-TRAX validates our hard work and investment in scalable solutions to stay ahead of the curve." About Verde Leaf Verde Leaf is one of the hemp industry's first vertically integrated hemp companies that created solutions for the farmer, business owners, and consumers. We solve some of the critical challenges in the emerging hemp industry by assisting farmers with license acquisition, hemp cultivation and processing, and filling the knowledge gap with our network of seasoned hemp farmers and specialists across the Southeast. Moreover, by securing exclusive contracts with farmers, Verde Leaf ensures that hemp products sold to consumers have unprecedented clarity, consistency, and data available for products they are purchasing. By controlling our supply chain seed-to-sell, Verde Leaf gives customers assurance and confidence in the superior quality of our consumable and non-consumable product lines. About C-TRAX C-TRAX Technology and Compliance Solutions provide support for newly legalized states who have yet to identify a system for regulating both medical and adult-use cannabis. We're a compliance centric technology firm that exclusively provides a true seed-to-sale accountability platform powered by blockchain technology. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/verde-leaf-partners-with-c-trax-and-launches-verde-leaf-capital-301056866.html SOURCE Verde Leaf [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] With intelligence agencies warning of a possible fidayeen (suicide) attack by militants on the 17th of Ramazan, high alert was sounded across Kashmir on Monday. Sources said the choice of May 11 for an attack coincides with the 17th day of Ramazan when the Battle of Badr was fought and won by Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) along with 300 odd companions against a huge army of Arb tribes in 7th century AD. In Islamic history, it is seen as a huge victory in the early days of Islam and a turning point. In the past also, militants in Kashmir have attacked security forces and installations in the valley on 17th day of Ramazan. There are intelligence reports that Pakistan-backed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed may carry out attacks targeting security forces on Monday. Security forces expect the terrorists to carry out the attack using a car bomb or a suicide bomber, they said. A senior police officer said that there were input that militants may carry out a major attack to avenge the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief, Riyaz Naikoo, who was killed last Wednesday. The killing of Naikoo has demoralised the terrorists in the Valley and their Pakistani handlers want to carry out a major attack to boost their morale, he said. The threat of fidayeen attack cant be taken lightly. It is well known that the cadres of Lashker-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad have been able to carry such attacks in Kashmir in the past. If the militants cant strike on May 11, the threat still remains as they may wait for security agencies to lower the guard after that. So we have to remain on toes, the officer added. The recall of the Georgian ambassador to Ukraine, where the president appointed Mikheil Saakashvili, a former president of Georgia, as head of his executive committee for reforms, does not mean that the diplomatic relations or the existing strategic partnership between the two countries will be put in doubt, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said on May 9. "Of course, we will recall the ambassador but that does not mean we will put in doubt our diplomatic relations or strategic partnership. We are recalling our ambassador merely for consultations over how to protect this relationship from those adventurists, what to do in order to protect our strategic relations and fraternal relations with the Ukrainian people from these adventurist politicians," Gakharia told journalists on Saturday. He expressed confidence that his country's relations with Ukraine will not be thrown into limbo because of "isolated irresponsible politicians." He described the decision on Saakashvili's appointment as incomprehensible. "One cannot understand when a strategic partner appoints someone, who is already convicted by the judiciary and sentenced for grave crimes, to public office," Gakharia said. He recalled that when Saakashvili was once appointed as governor of Ukraine's Odesa region, a certain amount of effort was put in bringing the bilateral relations back to normal after "certain stories." "I was personally involved in this, visited Kyiv in person, held meetings in person. Now we are recalling the ambassador to prevent these political adventurists from standing in the way of our brotherly and strategic relations and undermining these relations. This is what matters to us most," Gakharia said. He also said he hoped that Saakashvili will not be allowed to meddle in Georgia's domestic affairs from Kyiv. "How will they be able to keep Mikheil Saakashvili in check, so that he would refrain from interfering in Georgia's internal affairs? I am very interested to know, and I'll be watching this," the prime minister said. The Lieutenant Governor has issued a show cause notice to Chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC), against whom an FIR has been lodged for alleged "seditious and hateful" statements, the AAP government informed the Delhi High Court on Monday. A bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, conducting the hearing through video conferencing, was informed by the Delhi government's counsel that the LG has also written a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for initiating action against DMC Chairman Zafarul-Islam Khan. Advocate Anupam Srivastava, representing the Delhi government, said the LG wrote a letter to the chief minister on April 30 to direct the concerned administrative department to initiate action as per the provisions of Section 4 of the DMC Act against Khan. The section provides for removal of a person from the post of chairperson or member. He told the court that the LG has also issued a show cause notice to Khan on May 8 as to why action be not initiated against him. The bench directed the authorities to decide the matter in a reasonable time and disposed of a petition seeking removal of Khan, whose tenure as the chairman of the commission is going to end in July. The court was hearing a PIL which said that on April 28, Khan published a post having seditious and hateful comments through his official page on social media. In the letter to the chief minister, the LG has stated that the content of the social media post prima facie appears to have the potential of disturbing communal harmony in the city and the matter is particularly serious considering that one of the functions of DMC is to make recommendations for ensuring, maintaining and promoting communal harmony in Delhi. The plea, filed by retired bank official Subhash Chandra, said that on May 2, based on a complaint, the Delhi Police Special Cell has lodged an FIR against Khan under Sections 124A and 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for the alleged offences of sedition and promoting feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence and language. Despite registration of FIR, the respondent no.4 (Khan) declared on May 3, that he still stands by his aforesaid incendiary comments. He said that it was 'erroneously' reported by sections of the media that he had deleted his tweet containing the crude remarks.... He said that he stands by his words and convictions, the plea, filed through advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, said. The petition alleged that it was evident from the public post on his Facebook account that it was provocative, deliberate and seditious, intended to cause disharmony and create a rift in the society. By making such a hateful statement, the respondent no.4, who is holding such a responsible post, has endangered the unity and integrity of the country, tried to tarnish the secular image of India and spread hatred among two communities. The statement of respondent no.4 is factually incorrect, derogatory and anti-national, it claimed. The plea sought direction to the Delhi Minorities Commission, Delhi government and Lieutenant Governor to forthwith remove Khan from the post of Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission for his alleged seditious and hateful acts. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Heres a recap of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic for Monday, May 11, 2020. More than 4.1 million people worldwide have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, and over 286,000 have died. In the U.S., there have been over 1.3 million confirmed cases and more than 80,000 deaths. CDC Director Robert Redfield, NIAID Director Anthony Fauci and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn are self-isolating after possible exposure to the virus. VP Mike Pence is not planning to self-isolate, though his press secretary tested positive on Friday. Meanwhile, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state would start to reopen on May 15. For the latest live updates, click here. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-12 06:30:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BRUSSELS, May 11 (Xinhua) -- France and Spain on Monday cautiously joined the ranks of European nations loosening coronavirus restrictions, while the fear of a second-wave outbreak is hanging over. The easing came a little shy of two months after the two governments imposed nationwide lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far claimed 26,643 lives in France and 26,744 in Spain, according to the latest official tallies. The relaxation also came as the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the global coronavirus caseload had passed the 4 million mark. "I FEEL I'M REBORN" People in France can now move more freely. More important for them, meetings with family and friends are allowed if the gathering draws no more than 10 people. Business can resume, factories can kickstart long-stalled assembly lines, and pupils can return to schools -- if safety precautions are in place. "I'm so excited. It's so good to go back to work after a long period of confinement. I feel that I'm reborn," said Josephine, a florist in Paris. In the French capital, one million stickers on the ground in train and metro stations and seats marked social distancing. Commuters had to wear masks and need to fill in a document to use public transport in rush hours. Any offender risks a fine of 135 euros (145.95 U.S. dollars). Under the new rules, citizens can only travel up to 100 km unless for professional and urgent reasons, while restaurants, cafes and cinemas are still banned from receiving customers. France's first-day post-lockdown "is going as it should," said Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, minister of state for transport, expressing "satisfaction to see that the wearing of the mask is well respected." In Spain, 51 percent of the population were allowed to progress to Phase One on Monday, while regions of Madrid, Catalonia, among others, remained at Phase Zero after failing to meet certain criteria. The regions that have moved into Phase One will see a gradual reopening of commerce, with bars, shops, libraries, and museums allowed to open under reduced capacity and strict hygiene rules. Meetings of up to 10 people are allowed. Members of the same family can travel in the same car or sit next to each other on public transport, although they have to respect social distancing, and everyone taking public transport has to wear a face mask. The Phase One will last at least two weeks before some regions are allowed to progress to Phase Two, which will see further easing of restrictions. "SAVE LIVES, STAY CAUTIOUS" Both governments have opted for a gradual approach to lifting the confinement measures, aiming to perk up their ravaged economies without prompting a second wave of outbreaks. In a Twitter message to citizens, French President Emmanuel Macron said: "Thanks to you, the virus has slowed. But it is still there. Save lives, stay cautious." Currently, a single positive case in France can infect less than one person, with the reproduction rate (commonly referred to as R0) slightly over 0.6, Health Minister Olivier Veran said. "We know that when we gradually lift the confinement, there will be the R0 rise. What we want is to maintain the rate below one, so that the epidemic declines," the minister said. "De-confinement is not a return to the life as before," he stressed, adding that a lockdown may be reimposed if the virus spreads rapidly. To Pascal Crepey, a French epidemiologist, the risk of the virus resurgence remains high and depends on the success of the first phase of the de-confinement. "The risk of an epidemic resurgence exists as long as there is no vaccine neither treatment," Crepey told Xinhua. "All measures that aim to slow the epidemic spread are good, including barrier gestures, mask. If they are respected, surely, they will help to make the virus situation under control." FURTHER STEPS ACROSS EUROPE In other parts of Europe, Monday saw governments take further steps to return to normalcy. Belgium entered phase 1B of the de-confinement, with businesses throughout the country allowed to reopen under strict conditions. The reopening came one day after the expansion of social contacts, which allows people to receive up to four guests, family members or close friends in each home visit. Cyprus made another big step back to normality by calling final year students back to classes to have a normal school year conclusion. Last week, Cyprus kick-started its economy by allowing 25,000 retail shops and the construction sector to resume operation. In Greece, students in the final year of high school also returned to their classrooms on Monday. They will be followed by other high school and middle school pupils on May 18. Greece started easing on May 4 the full lockdown, which was imposed on March 23. After hair salons, bookstores and other shops opened a week ago, now about a third of employees and businesses that were suspended have returned to work, government spokesperson Stelios Petsas noted on Monday during a regular press briefing. Enditem PBS documentary series Asian Americans reveals personal stories and significant history Asian Americans When: 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, May 11-12. Episodes one and two air Monday, the rest on Tuesday. Where: PBS The series moves chronologically through time. The opening episode focuses on the 19th-century immigrants who helped build the American empire yet were excluded from the rights of citizenship. That is followed by a chapter on the first American-born generation, which felt required to prove its loyalty to the country even as many Japanese Americans were imprisoned in camps such as Manzanar during World War II. Later chapters explore post-war stereotypes, the rise of political and workplace clout, and the rise of Asian Americans as an inclusive and powerful identity. https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/08/pbs-documentary-series-asian-americans-reveals-personal-stories-and-significant-history/ Peel police say they are seeking suspects responsible for a fire that caused $8 million in damage to St. Leonard Elementary School in Brampton on Saturday night. The damage will take 12 to 18 months to be repaired, police said in a news release. No injuries were reported. Police said the initial investigation determined the fire was intentionally set. The suspects caused significant damage to classrooms, electrical systems and other parts of the school before setting fire to the office area, police said. Our school is a source of much pride to St. Leonard students and staff, past and present. We are shocked to learn of the extent of the damage and that the fire may have been deliberately set, said Celiza Ribeiro, principal of the school on Conestoga Drive, near Kennedy Road and Sandalwood Parkway East. We appeal to the community to come forward with any information that they think may help police in their investigation, Ribeiro said. Police are asking the public for assistance, particularly those who travelled through the area between 4 and 5:30 p.m. Anyone with information is asked to contact the 22 Division criminal investigation bureau at 905-453-3311 (ext. 2233), or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Abhya Adlakha is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @AbhyaAdlakha Read more about: (Natural News) A devastating trap is being set for President Trump, and the trap is being baited by his own supporters who largely remain in a state of total denial about the severity and danger of the coronavirus pandemic. This article offers a DETAILED ANALYSIS of Trumps chances of winning the November elections, encompassing the coronavirus pandemic, stock market activity, deep state arrests and the possibility of war with China or Iran. Read to the end for a summary of the main points. The trap consists of encouraging the reopening of the US economy while complacency is widespread and the masses have been falsely led to believe the virus is now extinguished just because the exponential explosion has been interrupted. Under the complacency scenario that now seems likely, things will look fine for about two months, after which the exponential explosion of the spread will have resumed with a new level of ferocity, suddenly overwhelming the nation with a shocking number of new hospitalizations and deaths in the Fall. Further adding to the bizarre nature of this convergence of events, it is Democrats who are most likely to wear masks and exercise the social distancing measures that would speed the economic recovery and help Trump win re-election in November. Simultaneously, its conservatives and Trump supporters who are most likely to avoid wearing masks, thereby contributing to the spread of infections and the likelihood of a second wave of lockdowns that may destroy Trumps chances of victory. Although we already know that if 80% of the people simply wore masks in public, we could beat this pandemic and reopen the economy quite safely, we also know that the vast majority of Americans are brainwashed party line cultists who have zero ability to think for themselves. They go along with their preferred mob, regardless of how insanely stupid that mob might be. This is true among both Democrats and Republicans. This is why Democrats are screaming about carbon dioxide destroying the planet while Republicans are screaming that wearing masks spreads infectious disease. Those of us who are informed and rational are coming to realize we are living in a world full of dangerous zombie cultists whose brains appear to have been consumed by pathogens. This should make the 2020 elections incredibly entertaining as conservatives argue against the policies that would ensure a Trump victory while Democrats argue in favor of precautions that will end the pandemic earlier, allowing the economy an opportunity to surge back just in time for the elections. I call this the Trump trap, and whats truly bizarre about all this is how the trap is being baited by Trumps own supporters who refuse to take the steps necessary to end lockdowns and reopen the economy without leading to a second wave of infections and lockdowns: Complacency will be the dominant factor in determining what happens over the next six months America must now make a choice between caution and complacency. Largely thanks to the ignorance and deceptive reporting of conservative media, a significant number of Americans are now convinced the coronavirus is no big deal, even as the number of deaths in America is headed toward 100,000. (The IHME projections now put US deaths at around 134,000 by the end of July, assuming no new second wave gets ignited.) As daily deaths continue their steady slide downward thanks to the suppressing effects of the lockdowns, complacency has displaced concern, and most people are now concluding the pandemic is over and will fade away on its own. Thus, they figure, theres no need to take precautions any longer. Some are even arguing that all the covid-19 deaths were faked from the very beginning, even though they have no explanation for why hospitals would be steadily reporting declines in deaths since around April 10th, if those hospitals were supposedly just faking all the deaths to cash in on government money. Is their theory now that hospitals hate money? Across both conservative media and independent media, most sources have now concluded the virus never posed a threat and that the lockdowns were never even necessary from the start. Little do they realize that without the lockdowns that began roughly mid-March, we would right now be experiencing perhaps 20,000 deaths per day from the coronavirus, in the USA alone. Maybe even twice that. But most people are incapable of seeing things which did not take place (i.e. things that were averted). Thus, when 20,000 deaths per day are not happening, that doesnt factor into their own assessment. All they can see is the things that are right in front of their own eyes today, and what they see is the economic pain of the lockdowns, not the mass deaths that have been averted at least for a while. As a result, they have now convinced themselves the virus is harmless, and they are proceeding with the reopening of states like Texas with that same mindset of complacency and carelessness. Its easy to spot these people in public, by the way: Theyre the ones who refuse to wear a mask. They might as well be wearing a DUNCE hat. At least if they wore dunce hats, wed be able to more easily spot them and avoid them. The real question in all this is which group will win out over the next few months? Will it be the CAUTIOUS people, or the CARELESS ones? Heres an overview of my 10 Stages of Coronavirus which projects a second wave beginning in August if the population becomes careless: and Caution vs. carelessness which will win out? If cautious people become the dominant factor as people wear masks and use sensible nutrition to boost immune function, we might never see a second wave of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. But if careless people rule public places, theres no question at all that a second wave will emerge within 8-12 weeks, and it will put us right back into the same emergency we all witnessed in March, where an exponential explosion of infections was spiraling out of control. At Natural News, we have been desperately trying to teach caution and preparedness, yet we are outnumbered by the careless and ignorant who dominate media today. We dont reach the largest number of people among indy publishers, we just reach the most intelligent. But we can be easily outnumbered by ignorant masses who are being misinformed and taught by others to become complacent. If that complacency dominates the landscape, we expect to see a resurgence of new infections ramping up in August, although this effect may be regional, depending on how each state decides to handle the reopening. On a positive note, with 50 states we will be watching 50 experiments, and well have good data a few months later about which methods worked best to keep new infections low while allowing economic recovery to gain ground. The stock market Trump trap The real indicator in all this will be the stock market. After the roughly 30% correction we all experienced earlier this year, the Fed unleashed an unprecedented money pumping scheme to artificially prop up stock prices in order to create the illusion of economic prosperity. This is nothing but pure theater, and it contradicts the economic facts on the ground such as 33+ million Americans being unemployed and factories permanently closing all across the country. Trump and the Fed are trying to bamboozle the American people with fake money printing until Election Day, hoping that the average voter is too stupid to realize theyre about to be looted by an inevitable stock market crash and likely global debt collapse. When it comes to finances, most people really are simpletons, and they tell themselves that if the Dow is doing well, Trump must be good to keep in the White House. So if the market remains up, Trump likely wins. But the far more likely scenario is that even the Feds endless money pumping cant stave off the looming correction, and a second wave of lockdowns stemming from carelessness will lead to a panic selloff sometime around October. This selloff could be truly historic, plunging 50% or more from the highs of January. And if that scenario unfolds, the widespread sense of uncertainty and fear will very likely lead to Trumps defeat in the elections. How this leads to an armed uprising and civil war To summarize, we see this series of path-dependent events unfolding: COMPLACENCY among Trump supporters -> SECOND WAVE of infections and deaths -> SECOND WAVE of regional lockdowns -> STOCK MARKET collapse by October -> Trump defeat in November. This, of course, will likely be followed by armed civil war as Trump supporters take to the streets and accuse Democrats of stealing the elections with fraud-by-mail schemes, which truly are a system of mass organized ballot theft. Its also not out of the question to see President Trump refusing to concede, citing fraud-by-mail election schemes. We could very easily find the nation in a real constitutional crisis, where the US Supreme Court is called in to rule on the outcome of the election. While the court is hearing the arguments, its not difficult to imagine the more raucous indy media outlets whipping up calls for an armed revolution of sorts, warning that if this (fraudulent) election is not challenged, no conservative will ever win an election ever again (and America will descend into authoritarian tyranny). Participants in the uprising will, of course, be labeled domestic terrorists by the media, which will also be quick to name Trump as a terrorist leader or military dictator who is trying to overthrow democracy and rule as a dictator. In truth, its vote fraud and illegal immigration that has overthrown democracy as well as quite a lot of communist infiltration of Congress and the media but that issue is too complex for this article. The bottom line in all this is that we are all watching a series of events unfold which may very soon lead to the fracturing of America and possibly even kinetic warfare within the USA. This leads to the obvious question: On whose side is the Pentagon? Because if this scenario unfolds, its the military that really determines the winner. The best intelligence Ive been able to gather from multiple sources tells me that Trump has made great strides in reversing Obamas effort to eliminate all patriots from high-level command positions, and that most of the military stands with Trump. Notably, the US Marines are almost fully with Trump, and if the Marines are on your side, youve pretty much won the conflict. But to ensure the Pentagons support, Trump may have to allow them to start a war with China or some other enemy (Iran?) that would produce another wave of cash for weapons contractors and military departments. The Pentagon is itching for a war, and to keep the Pentagon on his side, its quite possible Trump may give them exactly what theyre asking for. North Korea is also a wild card in this equation. Two decisive things Trump can do to win the election in November Finally and I apologize for the length of this analysis it seems there are two decisive things that Trump could invoke to win the election. The first is to announce mass arrests of deep state traitors such as Comey, McCabe, Brennan and others. There is already evidence that Burham and Barr are working in this direction, but they probably arent moving fast enough to see anything substantial happen before the election. The second is to pursue a war with Iran, Russia or China. I am not advocating for this madness, just pointing out the strategic advantage to Trump for pursuing such paths. China has already launched World War III by leading off with a bioweapons attack against the USA, and the USA has every right to respond to that attack with a variety of weapons, including economic, cyber or kinetic. With China pushing an aggressive expansion in the Pacific and now openly threatening Taiwan, a strong US ally, I would not be surprised to see an escalation of potential conflict with China, especially involving ships at sea. Everybody in politics knows that the larger the war, the more popular the president. This is especially true if the enemy can be blamed for starting the war in the first place, which is why Pompeo is working hard to tie the coronavirus to the Wuhan lab that was funded by the NIH under Obama and Fauci. Thus, the really big factors determining Trumps chances in November are: Whether or not the stock market craters (if it crashes 50% or more, Trumps chances greatly diminish) Whether deep state traitors are arrested in sufficient numbers (if they are, Trumps chances greatly increase) Whether a large-scale war gets under way with China or another strategic enemy (in time of war, the president enjoys widespread support) The coronavirus infections have a lot to do with stock market performance, but very little to do with the arrest of deep state traitors. However, the origins of the coronavirus have everything to do with escalations of possible war with China. Well all need to watch unfolding events very carefully, because everything is at stake right now: The future of America, the United in United States, the financial infrastructure of the Western world and so on. Keep reading Pandemic.news to stay informed, and Ill keep bringing you independent analysis until the day comes that were all taken offline by the next wave of censorship and tyranny. Advertisement Victoria Police are vowing to fine hundreds of protesters who came face to face with officers while breaking social distancing laws during a rally about the state's coronavirus lockdown. Ten people were arrested as about 300 protested on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne on Sunday, but police promise there will be more penalties to come. Victorian residents frustrated by the state's relatively severe lockdown measures were joined by conspiracy theorists including anti-vaxxers and those who blame the global pandemic on 5G technology. The protest turned violent when police stepped in to disperse people refusing to move on while breaching social distancing laws. A police officer had to be taken to hospital with injuries to their rib while ten people were arrested on Sunday. One man locked in a standoff with police had blood dripping down his face as officers stood their ground during the violent protest Police escort a man away from the protest with face tattoos. He was handcuffed as he was moved into the police paddy wagon Three protesters were charged with assaulting an officer but Victoria Police say they will use footage from the protest to identify people and make further charges. In a statement Victoria Police said it respects the public's right to protest but the health and safety of everyone needs to be the 'number one priority'. 'Victoria Police made it very clear that if a planned protest was to proceed today, it would be in direct contravention of the Chief Health Officers current directives,' the statement said. 'At the protest on Spring Street today, police arrested 10 people, including two organisers of the event. OC spray was deployed during an arrest of one individual.' 'The majority of those arrested were for failing to comply with the Chief Health Officers directions.' 'Police are continuing to investigate the events of today in order to identify other people who were in attendance. Once individuals are identified, we will be issuing them with fines and will consider any other enforcement options.' Protestors held signs that read 'fight for your freedom and rights' and 'don't lock down the people, lock up the government'. Demonstrators, including families with small children, could be heard chanting for the police to release the people who had been arrested. Victoria Police are vowing to fine dozens of protesters who came face to face with officers while breaking social distancing laws during a rally about the state's coronavirus lockdown A man named Walter, from Orbost - fours hours east of Melbourne - was escorted into a paddy wagon and fined $1,600 for breaking social distancing restrictions (pictured) One man was tackled to the ground by police (left). Another was escorted away from the demonstration by officers in face masks (right) One man was tackled to the ground as the crowd shouted 'what is his crime?' Someone else with blood on his head could be seen surrounded by officers wearing bullet-proof vests. Another man named Walter, from Orbost - fours hours east of Melbourne - was escorted into a paddy wagon and fined $1,600 for breaking social distancing restrictions. He said it was a small price to pay to 'spread the message', The Age reported. 'The police just want to intimidate you and scare you,' Walter said. One woman bizarrely told reporters she had government documents proving the virus was manufactured intentionally over four decades ago. 'I have evidence of the virus being created in the '70s with documents to prove it,' she told the Herald Sun. She also claimed a 'universal coronavirus vaccine' was created in the early 2000s by US authorities who want to force 'a global microchip of humans and mandatory vaccination'. 'It's all written in the New Testament. We do not consent,' she said. A man dressed all in black is dragged away from the scene in Melbourne's CBD on Sunday. It's understood he was one of ten people to be arrested at the protest Protesters clashed with cops outside Parliament House in Melbourne CBD, Sunday, May 10 Crowds also chanted for Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to be arrested. Gates has been targeted by trolls who believe he will use the COVID-19 vaccine to inject tracking devices into the bodies of recipients and achieve world domination. Theories linking coronavirus to the rollout of the new 5G network have swept the globe during the health crisis, despite experts' desperate efforts to debunk the claims. Chief Health Officer Brendan Murphy said a number of conspiracy theorists had contacted him, describing their views as 'nonsense'. 'There is absolutely no evidence about 5G doing anything in the coronavirus space,' Prof Murphy told reporters in Canberra. 'I have unfortunately received a lot of communication from these conspiracy theorists myself. It is complete nonsense. 5G has got nothing at all to do with coronavirus. Police officers look on as protesters gather outside Parliament House in Melbourne, May 10 A police officer confronts a man as protesters gather outside Parliament House in Melbourne Footage of the demonstration showed a large police presence as Victorian residents and conspiracy theorists banded together with signs that read 'fight for your freedom and rights' 'Similarly, I understand people have the right to protest, but they should not be breaching those social distancing rules and if they are, they should be held to account.' Australian professor of medicine, and public health advocate John Dwyer described conspiracy claims that 5G causes the deadly virus as 'dangerous nonsense'. He also refuted claims 5G technology is harmful to our health. 'At this time in the fight against the epidemic, this is dangerous nonsense. Even to have a few people think differently that social distancing isn't for them is a silly idea and is putting all of us at risk,' he said. 'We have come so far and to blatantly breach these restrictions like that put Victoria Police in a difficult position, put our community in a difficult position and tie up police resources that we don't need tied up. 'If you are thinking about going to those protests, don't. If you do, Victoria Police will be there.' Commissioner Ashton urged protesters to have patience as lockdown restrictions could be lifted after the state of emergency ends on Monday. 'We get on top of this and we can start to enjoy more freedoms again,' he said on Friday. 'We are potentially not far off seeing some easing... so just be patient with us a bit longer.' Under the current restrictions, Victorians are only allowed to leave home for essential reasons and can be fined $1,652 if caught breaking the law, under some of the most restrictive conditions in the nation. Over GHs44 million has so far been donated to the National COVID-19 Trust Fund. This was disclosed by the Chairperson for the Fund, Sophia Akuffo when she handed over 12 vehicles to public hospitals and laboratories involved in the testing and treatment of COVID-19 cases today, Monday. We have received an amount of GHS44,900,000. The board of trustees will ensure the judicious and transparent application of all money and other resources received for their intended purposes. We deeply recognise and appreciate the individuals, corporate bodies and groups who have enthusiastically donated cash and in kind as well as donors who have made direct transfers into Ghana Commercial Bank and Consolidated Bank accounts. The COVID-19 National Trust Fund has in a short while received many donations and contributions from businesses and individuals to complement the efforts of government in the fight against the disease. The President, Nana Akufo-Addo donated his April, May and June salaries as seed money for the Fund. Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia also donated his three months salary to the Trust Fund. All Ministers of State and other top appointees at the presidency voluntarily decided to donate 50 percent of their salary for the next three months to the COVID-19 Fund. Parliament has also contributed GH200,000 with the Speaker of the House, Prof. Aaron Mike Ocquaye donating half of his three months' salary to the Fund. Other groups and associations have also made different donations in cash and kind to various hospitals and health services in the country. ---citinewsroom Jessica Marais reunited with her eight-year-old daughter Scout on Sunday, just a week after the troubled actress was rushed to hospital in a visibly distressed state. The Packed to the Rafters star, 35, wrapped her arms around her little girl, who had brought a colourful handmade card as a Mother's Day gift. The emotional moment took place outside Jessica's home in Coogee, Sydney. Getting better: Jessica Marais reunited with her eight-year-old daughter Scout on Sunday, just a week after the troubled actress was rushed to hospital in a visibly distressed state Jessica went makeup free for the occasion, and dressed casually in jeans, sneakers and a white and blue T-shirt. She smiled while looking at the card, which featured the message 'I you' with 'Happy Mother's Day' inside the heart. Jessica's ex-fiance and Scout's father, Home and Away actor James Stewart, kept his distance while watching the reunion. Sweet moment: The troubled actress, 35, wrapped her arms around her little girl, who had brought a colourful handmade card as a Mother's Day gift James, who dated Jessica from 2010 to 2015, wore a black sweater and shorts, and concealed his gaze behind dark sunglasses. His new wife, actress Sarah Roberts, was not present. Emergency crews had been called to Jessica's eastern suburbs home on a welfare check on the afternoon of Saturday, May 2. Mummy's girl: She smiled while looking at the card, which featured the message 'I you' with 'Happy Mother's Day' inside the heart Watching on: Jessica's ex-fiance and Scout's father, Home and Away actor James Stewart, kept his distance while overseeing the reunion Staying clear: James' new wife, actress Sarah Roberts (right), was not present Three officers were seen ringing Jessica's doorbell at about midday, before two male paramedics entered the building. Minutes later, Jessica emerged wearing black leggings and a grey cardigan as she slowly stepped down the stairs with the assistance of the paramedics. A witness told Daily Mail Australia she was not wearing any shoes, her hair was a 'dishevelled mess' and she was in a 'visibly distressed state'. Keeping it simple: The Packed to the Rafters star went makeup free, and dressed casually in jeans, sneakers and a white and blue T-shirt Jessica was walked to an ambulance where she was put on a gurney. It's understood she was then taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick. A NSW Police spokesperson later confirmed emergency crews had attended the Coogee property on Saturday. 'About midday today, police attached to Eastern Beaches Police Area Command attended a unit in Beach Street Coogee to assist NSW Ambulance Paramedics with a 35-year-old female patient,' the statement said. 'No further information is available.' Emergency: At about midday on Saturday, May 2, emergency crews were called to Jessica's home in Coogee, in Sydney's eastern suburbs. She was escorted to an ambulance in a 'visibly distressed state' and transported to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick 'Love says it gets confused and overwhelmed': Five days before she was hospitalised, Jessica had uploaded a worrying Instagram post about love and learning Five days before she was hospitalised, Jessica had uploaded a worrying Instagram post about love and learning. 'Love is learning that in an effort to challenge myths of perfection, it needs to honour its importance to others,' she wrote. 'Love says it gets confused and overwhelmed. Love is healing.' The mother-of-one had abruptly quit the Amazon Prime reboot of Packed to the Rafters in February 'for personal reasons'. She'd played Rachel Rafter in the original Channel Seven series from 2008 to 2013. Exes: James dated Jessica from 2010 to 2015 and they welcomed Scout in May 2012. Pictured together on December 15, 2010 in Sydney In 2014, Jessica spoke about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. 'I was diagnosed at one point with bipolar. I have developed ways to talk myself down from any ledges I find myself on,' she told The Australian Women's Weekly. 'There's probably one day a month when I am an absolute mess. In my case it's hard to separate what is due to trauma or stress and what is due to a simple chemical imbalance.' If you, or someone you know, needs support please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. When Kyle Dahlin started his masters degree at Purdue University in August 2013, he knew he would need a network to help support him far away from his home in Hawaii. Now, Dahlin, a first-generation college student in his family, is graduating this spring from Purdue with a doctorate in mathematical biology and going on to become a postdoctoral researcher at the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. Dahlin found the network he needed by becoming a Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership (SIGP) Scholar. The SIGP is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to increase the number of indigenous Americans obtaining advanced degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplines. Purdue has 20 current participating students and 42 program alumni from more than 60 tribal communities. Dahlin said the program, which included weekly gatherings among the students to network and share, helped him learn what it means to be part of a community, especially with other indigenous students who come from all across the United States. We are all different as much as we are alike, Dahlin said. Dahlins research on modeling avian malaria in Hawaiian forest birds was intensive, but he believes that his perseverance will encourage other Hawaiians to pursue higher education. Im motivated by what I see back home and how I can help address those issues, said Dahlin, whose goal is to return to Hawaii and work for ecological organizations in the public or private sectors. There are a lot of doors that could open for me. One of the campus groups that helped Dahlin and other scholars was the Native American Educational and Cultural Center. Dahlin credits the work of the center and its director, Felica Ahasteen-Bryant, for helping him during his time at Purdue. They have provided an environment for our community. I learned that I need to interact with people of all ages undergraduates to faculty and the center helped with that, he said. The Sloan Foundation recently announced a four-year, $4.5 million partnership with Purdue; the University of Alaska Anchorage; the University of Alaska Fairbanks; the University of Arizona; the University of Montana; Montana State University; Montana Technological University; and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The University of North Carolina Asheville has joined the SIGP network in an initiative to increase the recruitment of undergraduate students from southeastern tribes into SIGP institutions. More than 200 students have graduated through SIGP, many of whom provide service to their tribal communities and contribute to diversity and inclusion efforts in their institutions and professions. We feel very fortunate that, with the renewed funding from the Sloan Foundation, we will be able to continue to support indigenous graduate students at Purdue and the other SIGP institutions, said Kevin Gibson, director of the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership at Purdue, a professor of botany and plant pathology and deans fellow in the Purdue Graduate School. The Sloan Foundation is very pleased to renew support for the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership and to congratulate professor Kevin Gibson and his colleagues across the SIGP for the strong progress they have shown and the promising plans they developed for the next four years, said Elizabeth S. Boylan, Sloan program director. The American higher education system and the national STEM need these SIGP graduates holding masters and doctoral degrees. We are proud of their professional accomplishments as well as their records of providing many forms of support to their native communities. About Purdue University Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 6 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu. Writer: Matthew Oates, 765-586-7496 (cell), oatesw@purdue.edu, @mo_oates Sources: Kevin Gibson, kgibson@purdue.edu Kyle Dahlin, kdahlin@purdue.edu The Nigeria Customs Service has announced that one of its officers was badly injured when smugglers attacked officers of the agency in Ogun State. A customs spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada, in a statement Sunday said the attack occurred in Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State. In an effort to repell the attack and avoid blood shed, one officer of the Customs, Assistant Superintendent Chidi Johnson was brutally matcheted, sustaining deep cuts in various parts of his body, the spokesperson said. Read Mr Maiwadas statement below. Again, Diehard Smugglers Matchet Customs Officer in Ogun State At about 1930hours on Friday 8th May, 2020, Officers and Men of Nigeria Customs Service Ogun I Command went on information patrol to Ilashe village in Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun state. During operation, they Intercepted thirty-five (35) bags of smuggled parboiled rice of 50kg each ferried by a convoy of motorcyclists (popularly known as okada). On their way out of the area, the diehard smugglers mobilised themselves in an overwhelming number, launching a vicious attack with assorted weapons on Officers performing their lawful duties. In an effort to repell the attack and avoid blood shed, one officer of the Customs, Assistant Superintendent Chidi Johnson was brutally matcheted, sustaining deep cuts in various parts of his body. The seriously wounded Officer was immediately rushed to the hospital for medical attention, and luckily he is responding to treatment (pictures attached). To this end, five suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident and are currently undergoing interrogation. It is instructive to note that Friday (08/05/2020) was a date set aside for total lockdown in Ogun State due to the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find it unfortunate and strange, that the daredevil smugglers who have no regards for laws of the land or the disease ravaging the global community resorted to crossing the border through illegal routes to perpetrate such nefarious activities in total disregard of the health and economic well being of Nigerians. Principally, we seize this opportunity to enjoin the faceless unpatriotic smuggling cartels to stop using uninformed youth as cannon fodders in their nefarious trade. We challenge them to bring their own biological children to attack personnel of the Service and have a taste of the consequences of such act. ABDULLAHI .A. MAIWADA PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER WASHINGTON - Donald Trump's "hidden enemy" has made its way to the West Wing, where COVID-19 threatens not only the health of people working inside the White House, but the president's entire strategy for restoring the U.S. economy to say nothing of his re-election hopes. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/5/2020 (617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In this April 16, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus, accompanied by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. Trump's "invisible enemy" has made its way to the West Wing, where it threatens not only the health of people working inside the White House but the president's own post-pandemic re-election efforts.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Alex Brandon WASHINGTON - Donald Trump's "hidden enemy" has made its way to the West Wing, where COVID-19 threatens not only the health of people working inside the White House, but the president's entire strategy for restoring the U.S. economy to say nothing of his re-election hopes. Three top health officials including infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the Centers for Disease Control were keeping their distance from others Monday after an aide to Vice-President Mike Pence and a personal valet to the president both tested positive for the novel coronavirus. But it was full steam ahead Monday for Trump, who shrugged off the risk of infection inside the White House as he announced an $11-billion plan to finance a national network of testing for the virus a cornerstone of the administration's plan to meet what he called a growing push among Americans to get back to work. "I don't think the system broke down at all," he said, even as he acknowledged a new policy requiring everyone within the West Wing to wear a mask, a policy he said he himself instituted. Of the "hundreds and hundreds" of people who work in the building, finding a single positive case represents success, he said. President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus during a press briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, May 11, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) "It can happen. It's the hidden enemy remember that, it's the hidden enemy. Things happen," Trump said. "Because we're running a country, we want to keep our country running, so we have a lot of people coming in and out. ... I felt no vulnerability." White House staffers are tested regularly, he added but when pressed on the fact that ordinary Americans don't have the same access to testing, he insisted the U.S. is leading the world in testing capacity and suggested reporters would be up in arms if administration officials weren't getting regular tests. Both the president and the vice-president have been forgoing wearing face masks in public Pence during a visit last week to a COVID-19 research centre at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and Trump while visiting an actual face mask manufacturing facility in Arizona. But Canadian political leaders have hardly been modelling perfect behaviour themselves, said Peter Loewen, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did wear a face mask at the repatriation ceremony those killed in the Cyclone helicopter crash, but he also got in trouble for some interprovincial travel to his official country residence at Harrington Lake in Quebec, last month. Ontario Premier Doug Ford came under fire for a quick trip to his Muskoka cottage that same weekend to check on the plumbing. President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus during a press briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, May 11, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Green parliamentary leader Elizabeth May and Liberal cabinet minister Carla Qualtrough joined Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and his family last month for a trip back to Ottawa on board a government jet in order to take part in an important vote on emergency legislation. It's human nature to see one or two people flouting the rules and assume incorrectly that they represent a larger segment of the population than they actually do, Loewen said a form of innumeracy that he called a "normal deficiency of human psychology." But it's even more pronounced when the person is a prominent societal leader, given how many more people see such figures when they are playing a public role, he said. And recent research in the U.S. suggests that supporters tend to model behaviour they see in politicians who hail from their side of the political spectrum. "I suspect that not seeing Trump wearing a mask and seeing that he's defiant around it is increasing the defiance of Republicans," Loewen said. Officials in the Prime Minister's Office did not respond to media inquiries Monday about the measures the PMO is taking to mitigate the threat of infection and spread. But Trudeau himself has been working and speaking from home for nearly two months, while cabinet ministers keep their distance from one another at daily briefings. Committee meetings have been taking place via videoconference, and the House of Commons is having only one in-person sitting, with a reduced number of MPs, every week. In the White House, by comparison, both Trump and Pence, as well as their staff, have been cavalier about the very precautions they've been urging Americans to take against the virus, said Brett Bruen, a former U.S. diplomat and White House adviser under Barack Obama. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "The notion that somehow, the president and the vice-president can continue to publicly swagger about without even a modicum of precaution not only for themselves, but for their employees is just unfathomable," Bruen said. "It's the notion, for someone who knows how few people run our national security structure, that you would put any of them, let alone all of them, in danger because you don't want to follow some simple steps is a alarming and an astounding choice for the commander in chief and his deputy." Inside the West Wing, where people work in close, cramped quarters, taking protective measures can be seen as a sign of disloyalty, he added. "You would be seen as less than loyal to the president," Bruen said. "This issue has been so hyper-politicized, we're in a situation now that to be a true 'Trumper' you have to eschew certain health guidelines." This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2020. Follow James McCarten on Twitter @CdnPressStyle The Ohio Cyber Range Institute has selected the University of Dayton Center for Cybersecurity and Data Intelligence as a regional programming center for its demonstrated capacity, expertise, experience and commitment to develop and deliver programming in education, cybersecurity awareness, and workforce and economic development. The center earlier this year was awarded more than $277,000 in cybersecurity incentive funding from the Ohio Department of Education for deliverables it will provide as a regional programming center. These include simulated exercises in the Dayton Regional Cyber Range for hands-on training, instructional modules featuring UD's Cybermindfulness initiative focused on cybersecurity awareness, and sharing of expertise in the form of curriculum available to Ohio businesses, schools, governmental agencies and individuals. "We are pleased to be partnering with such an important statewide initiative," said David Salisbury, director of UD's Center for Cybersecurity and Data Intelligence. "Ohio can and should be a national leader in cybersecurity. The OCRI and related initiatives demonstrate the commitment by the State of Ohio, higher education and industry to provide leadership in this critical area." The Ohio Cyber Range Institute, hosted at the University of Cincinnati, is a statewide tool that advances an integrated approach to education, economic and workforce development in cyber-related fields throughout Ohio. It is an initiative developed by the Ohio Cyber Collaboration Committee and led by the state adjutant general's department at the request of the governor's office to improve cybersecurity infrastructure and provide innovative training and education to strengthen Ohio's cyber workforce. The Ohio Department of Higher Education, Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Department of Administrative Services and the Ohio Department of Public Safety also are partners in this collaboration of education, private industry, and state agencies. "Securing the vitality of cyberspace is a national necessity, and Ohio is responding to that need," said Richard Harknett, co-director of the Institute and professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati. For more information or interviews, contact University of Dayton News and Communications at mediarelations@udayton.edu. AMSTERDAM, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Forcyd, a continental European full-service e-discovery and managed review provider, today announced it is expanding the firm's global e-discovery offering with the addition of Relativity's cloud-based e-discovery solution, RelativityOne. With RelativityOne, Forcyd can better protect its data by storing it in a single, secure SaaS platform that spans the full breadth of e-discovery from legal hold all the way through to production. With the secure and powerful RelativityOne product, Forcyd will be able to further leverage its e-discovery expertise to provide more value and better results for its clients. Additionally, moving to the cloud gives Forcyd the added scalability needed in today's data-centric society and allows them to build expertise and IP on top of one connected, global solution. RelativityOne also gives Forcyd users the flexibility to pick and choose solutions from the Relativity App Hub that best suits their unique workflows across different stages of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model and solve data challenges outside of e-discovery. "The team that makes up Forcyd has worked with Relativity from the early start of the platform and has seen its tremendous development and improvements over time resulting in the best cloud-based e-discovery platform available in today's market," said Bas Sluijsmans, Partner at Forcyd. "As the first independent e-discovery provider based in the Netherlands to use RelativityOne, we are in a unique position that fits in perfectly with the way we offer clients our end-to-end set of services whilst continuing 'business as usual' in these challenging times of COVID-19." Mathieu van Ravenstein, partner at Forcyd, adds: "We are delighted to partner with Relativity as RelativityOne gives us all the flexibility we need to serve our clients in terms of geographical reach, scalability and rapid integration of specific applications such as the Forcyd privileged information filter. It allows us to set up and run our managed document review operations at short notice whether it is in one of our dedicated review centres, at our client's premises or remotely from any location, which is crucial in today's global remote work climate." "When we first began working with Forcyd, we understood how important it was for them to have the ability to expand their reach across Europe and beyond. RelativityOne gives Forcyd the opportunity to provide the latest technology to suit their customers' unique needs," said Steve Couling, Managing Director, EMEA, at Relativity. "That continues today as they work with a multitude of customers across Europe and solidify their position as a leading RelativityOne service provider." Forcyd is participating in Relativity Fest London, a virtual event taking place from 12-14 May, 2020. About Forcyd Forcyd offers high-end eDiscovery, Cyber Forensic and Managed Document Review, advisory and solutions. We help clients get ahead of their most complex business issues related to misconduct, litigation, and other legal matters and transactions. Our solutions range from full service end-to-end management of complex mass-volume litigation and information requests to applying the latest in analytics and AI for large scale transactions, deals and disputes. About Relativity At Relativity, we make software to help users organize data, discover the truth, and act on it. Our e-discovery platform is used by thousands of organizations around the world to manage large volumes of data and quickly identify key issues during litigation, internal investigations, and compliance projects. Relativity has over 180,000 users in 40+ countries from organizations including the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 70 Fortune 100 companies, and 198 of the Am Law 200. RelativityOne offers all the functionality of Relativity in a secure and comprehensive SaaS product. Relativity has been named one of Chicago's Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune for nine consecutive years. Please contact Relativity at [email protected] or visit http://www.relativity.com for more information. SOURCE Forcyd B.V. Weve been keeping up with the Duggar family for years, and its Jill Duggar whos causing the most commotion currently. She and her husband, Derick Dillard, used to be close with Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. But times have changed. Now, Derick has shared via Instagram and in interviews that he feels like Jill was pressured into taking part in 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On. And Dericks also publicly denounced Jim Bob Duggar. Now, Jill and Derick are making it known that theyre stepping away from some Duggar traditions. They enrolled their oldest son into public kindergarten, for one. And Derick spoke on a podcast about how he hopes his kids can learn academically going forward. Derick Dillard talked about allowing his kids to attend college in the past Will your boys ever get the chance to go to college? Yeah, I didn't think so. J_J_Tucker72 (@J_J_Tucker72) January 21, 2018 Jill and Derick never seemed that progressive when they first started dating. But now that theyve been together for years and have two children together, its clear theyre the real rebels of the family. Jill grew up homeschooled and assisted her younger siblings with learning at home as well. But now, she and Derick are willing to branch out with their own kids. We know Derick enrolled in the University of Arkansas to study law in 2018, and hes been quite vocal about how much he loves it. So, since Derick is attending a public college, is this an indicator that hell allow his kids to do the same? It seems the answer is yes. Will your boys ever get the chance to go to college? Yeah, I didnt think so, one Twitter user quipped at Derick back in January 2018. To that, Derick replied, Absolutely! As long as the school color isnt red with a wagon mascot lol jk. Jill Duggar and Derick enrolled their son into kindergarten It looks like Jill and Derick are already proving theyre serious about stepping away from Duggar traditions. Back in February 2020, Jill posted a photo of her son, Israel, and she told her followers that she and Derick decided to enroll Israel into kindergarten. Look whos registered for kindergarten! Jill captioned her post. Derick also posted a photo of his family on the day Israel was all set to go to school. Proud moment as Israel got registered for kindergarten this week! the happy dad captioned his post. Fans love that Derick and Jill went their own way in regards to their kids education, too. Best decision for him, education giving him the best opportunity to be exposed to life, people and a big future, a follower commented on Dericks post. Jill I think its such a wise and amazing decision to put your boys through public school! They deserve the opportunity to have a strong and proper education and make new friends!!! another commented on Jills post. Derick said he wants his kids to learn academically Derick Dillard visits Extra at their New York studios | D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Extra The podcast First Class Fatherhood featured Derick on April 17, and the subject of his kids education came up. The podcast host asked Derick about the values he hopes to instill in his children and its clear Derick wants his kids to be well-educated hard workers who can change the world. I think just respect for other people is a big one, and putting yourself in other peoples shoes, and having a perspective of the world that allows you to be open-minded, Derick told the podcast host. Respect other peoples views and opinions, even if theyre not the same as yours. Derick also noted that he wants his kids to develop a work ethic, and to, obviously, learn academically. To make sure youre prepared for whatever area, whatever profession, you want to pursue. He also wants to help his kids understand what their passions are, help them understand, because theyre their own person, and what theyre interested in might not be what Im interested in. Were glad Derick and Jill are so dedicated to giving their children the best education possible! Check out Showbiz Cheat Sheet on Facebook! EDWARDSVILLE The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Graduate School has presented the 2020-21 Paul Simon Outstanding Teacher-Scholar Award to Therese (Terri) Poirier, PharmD, MPH, FASHP, FCCP, Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Senior Scholar in the School of Pharmacy (SOP). The award annually recognizes an SIUE faculty member who has shown significant contributions to original research or creative activities, and has successfully integrated those contributions into their teaching practices. I am humbled to receive this recognition for my achievements in what I am passionate about and love, Poirier said. I am thankful for all the students and colleagues who have worked with me to contribute to advance teaching and learning. Poirier came to SIUE in 2004 as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Pharmacy Practice. Since 2014, Poirier has held the esteemed titles of Professor and Senior Scholar. Her research focuses on advancing interprofessional education, the development of students as educators via the SOPs education specialization, the development of health humanities pre-professional coursework, and other innovative teaching and learning. My scholarship work in advancing innovative teaching strategies to enhance student learning has increased knowledge and understanding in the area of Pharmacy Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL), noted Poirier. All of my SOTL research is integrated into my teaching and used to enhance student learning. Among Poiriers national recognitions are the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacys 2019 Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award and its 2017 Assessment Award for A Programmatic Model for Student and Faculty Assessment of Interprofessional Education Simulation Training. Additionally, shes been honored with the Association of Interprofessional Health Care Collaboratives 2017 Scholars Award. Poirier was recognized as a Fellow both by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy for demonstrating exceptional performance in clinical pharmacy practice, education and research, and by the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists for excelling in pharmacy practice and service. As the inaugural Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the SIUE School of Pharmacy for over a decade, Dr. Poirier spearheaded the development of a progressive curriculum and assessment plan to meet pharmacys accreditation standards, said SOP Dean Mark Luer, PharmD. With these in place, the School was recognized with the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) Award for Outstanding Institutional Practices in Student Learning Outcomes in 2011. The SIUE School of Pharmacy was the first and to date remains the only pharmacy program in the world to receive this award. This recognition resulted in large part from the plan conceptualized by Dr. Poirier. Her efforts are not just that of a forward-thinking educator but her contributions continue to address contemporary issues consistent with the changing profession, he added. During the nomination process, colleagues and students underscored their respect for Poirier. Dr. Poirier is a respected thought leader and maintains a stellar national reputation in pharmacy education, research and scholarship, specifically in the assessment of learning outcomes with creative instructional strategies, and has been a prolific contributor to the pharmacy education literature during her career, noted a colleague. Dr. Poiriers enthusiasm and focus on innovative ways to approach education fueled my own desire to teach, wrote a former student in a letter of support. I am just one example among the many students that Dr. Poirier mentored during pharmacy school who are now teaching or advising future healthcare professionals. I directly benefitted from Dr. Poiriers research by not only being taught by her as a student, but also being capable of successfully employing active learning techniques and undertaking high-level academic projects during my young career as a clinical faculty member at a college of pharmacy, added another former student. Interactions Ive had with Dr. Poirier in all settings have continually focused on enhancing others learning through her constant utilization of techniques she has research, critically analyzed and disseminated. Canadian Senator- the Pandemic Creates a Series of Calls on Chinas Accountability The CCP virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, first originated in Wuhan, China. Because of the Chinese Communist Partys cover-up and mishandling of the outbreak, the entire world is now suffering from this pandemic. Former Canadian Minister of Environment and Member of Parliament, Peter Kent, pointed out that this pandemic is pushing the international community to hold China accountable for the crisis, and called on the other world leaders to stop tolerating the evil deeds of the Chinese Communist regime. Peter Kent: The countries that have been dishonestly dealt with China in the past, but who now have had the terrible consequences of the virus. Presently, the international community demands compensation from China, and the former Canadian member of the Parliament, Peter Kent, believed that this is the result of the lies told by the CCP. Peter Kent: We still need to have the world, the international community, and the democracies come together and impose on the communist regime and accounting for what they have done finally. And again, the spark is the cruelty of this international tragedy of COVID-19 (CCP virus). Kent believes that the democratic countries need to unite together to fight against the CCP like they did when they fought against the Soviet Union in the Cold War. This is the way to dismantle an authoritarian regime. Peter Kent: In terms of international trade, if you do not respect a fair deal then we will not trade with you. The international community has to ask questions in international forums at the United Nations and at the World Health Organization. The democracies have to work together and bring to the consciousness of those in power in Beijing that the world will no longer tolerate this belligerent, imperial, brutal human rights abusing member of the international community. Being the Minister Shadow Cabinet of the opposition party, Kent criticizes the Liberal Party for being lenient in dealing with the CCP. He believes that Canada needs to review its relationship with China and to implement the Magnitsky Act to sanction those Chinese officials who commit human rights abuses. Kent: They say we have to maintain relations. They need to maintain relations by talking truth and talking honestly, and not pandering to a bully. Ten taxi and limousine drivers servicing Torontos Pearson International Airport have died from COVID-19. According to the Airport Taxi Association, which represents 700 Pearson Airport drivers, six of the dead had confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses, while the other four likely succumbed to the virus. The high death toll among the generally low-paid taxi drivers underscores the grave threat all workers face from the reckless, premature back-to-work drive being mounted by Ontarios Tory government, with the support of Canadas Justin Trudeau-led Liberal government. The hundreds of thousands of workers that are to be forced back to their jobs in coming weeks amid the COVID-19 pandemic will face the same high risk of infection as the taxi drivers, many of whom have been compelled to continue working throughout the lockdown in order to make ends meet. Karam Singh Punian, 59, worked as a driver for Aerofleet, an airport limo and taxi company, until he succumbed to the novel coronavirus last Monday. Punian first fell ill in late March and, after being diagnosed, self-quarantined. However, his symptoms worsened and he had to be hospitalized at Toronto General Hospital and put on a ventilator. He never recovered. Punian leaves behind his wife, two sons, a niece whom he cared for, and a granddaughter. On May 1, Akashdip Grewal, who also worked for Aerofleet, passed away at Toronto General Hospital. If precautionary measures had been taken on time, ATA President Rajinder Oujla told the Toronto Star, these deaths might not have happened. The Greater Toronto Airport Authority, which is responsible for licensing passenger pickup service at the airport, recently introduced new measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. These include signage to encourage social distancing, more frequent sanitizing and disinfection of vehicles between trips, and more regular cleaning of high traffic areas of the airport. Lacking confidence in the effectiveness of these measures, drivers who can afford to stay home are choosing to do so. An Aerofleet dispatcher told the Toronto Star last week that only two out of its 115 cars were currently servicing Pearson Airport. This low figure also reflects the impact of dramatically decreased air travel. While the airport authority claims that it has offered to help drivers get personal protective equipment (PPE), such as N-95 masks, and that it has encouraged drivers to make safety changes to their vehicles, it has refused to pay for these and other elementary safety precautions. Drivers are exposed to considerable risk, given that they transport passengers arriving from all over the world in the enclosed space of a vehicle. In addition to better PPE, drivers are pushing for a ban on passengers sitting in the front seat. Airport pickup and dropoff drivers are not the only Toronto-area taxi drivers to have been exposed to the virus. Beck Taxi has reportedly seen three of its drivers test positive, however none has required hospitalization. Taxi and driving service workers are typically low paid, and often employed under precarious, temporary arrangements. Competition between rideshare apps and taxi services is fierce and the margins by which workers cover their car payments, insurance, fuel and licensing fees are narrow. At the best of times, they often have little left over to cover rent, food or savings. In order to get enough work, drivers often work long hours and need to live close to urban centres, like Toronto, where the cost of living is extremely high. Drivers are receiving no support from their employers. A full-time Uber driver told blogTO that his income plunged from an average of $6,000 per month to just $147 per week due to the coronavirus pandemic. He was forced to stop driving after Uber failed to supply disinfectant that had been promised to clean vehicles. (Uber) is not doing anything to support their full-time drivers financially, added the worker. The pandemic has also taken a deadly toll on other groups of transport workers. As of April 20, 23 Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) employees had tested positive for COVID-19. In mid-April, dozens of TTC bus drivers stopped work for several hours to demand face masks and other personal protective equipment from the employer. In London, England, at least 30 transit workers have died, while New York has recorded over 80 deaths. The utter failure of politicians at all levels and of the corporatist trade unions to secure basic safety measures and financial support for transport workers is an expression of the capitalist elites policy of malign neglect toward the entire working class amid the coronavirus pandemic. It underscores the urgency of taxi drivers organizing independent action committees with their colleagues in other transport sectors to enforce measures to make workplaces safe and protect workers and their families from financial ruin. These measures must include the payment of full wages to everyone who cannot work due to the virus, a vast expansion of testing and contact-tracing to limit the spread of COVID-19, the shutting down of all non-essential business activity, and the provision of masks and other PPE to transport workers who are required to offer lifeline services to hospitals and other essential facilities. The resources to implement such a program are available in abundance. Toronto Pearson Airport, where the 10 drivers who lost their lives worked, recently boasted of commercial revenue growth of 11.3 percent, taking total revenue in 2018 to $1.4 billion. Toronto Pearsons fastest-growing source of income continues to be commercial revenues from non-aeronautical sources such as parking and ground transportation fees, retail and dining concessions, and rent paid by airlines for check-in counters and kiosks, enthused the airport in a press release directed to investors. Uber, meanwhile, reached a market capitalization of over $69 billion in February as banks and investors cashed in on a rise in the companys value of $6 billion in just one day. The Trudeau Liberal governments response to the coronavirus crisis has been to protect the vast fortunes of the capitalist elite by funnelling hundreds of billions of dollars to the banks and financial markets, while placing workers on ration-style, makeshift emergency relief. A Toronto taxi driver whose wages have disappeared as a result of the lockdown can at most receive $2,000 per month under the federal governments taxable Canada Emergency Response Benefit. This is not even enough to cover the average rent on a one-bedroom apartment in Canadas largest city, never mind food, utilities and car insurance. The struggle of transit workers and the entire working class, for basic measures to combat the health, social and financial impact of the pandemic is thus inseparable from the fight against the capitalist profit system. The vast wealth of the banks and major corporations must be expropriated and used to protect the health and wellbeing of working people and their families, through the bringing to power of a workers government committed to socialist policies. A decade-long television rumor revolved around the fact that Nickelodeons Zoey 101 got canceled because its star, Jamie Lynn Spears, was pregnant. However, Spears debunked the rumors in 2019, despite the fact that there. is evidence that points to her pregnancy being an area of contention for Nickelodeon, even if it wasnt the specific reason the show concluded. Jamie Lynn Spears promoting Zoey 101 at a TCA Press Tour in 2004 | Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Zoey 101 was a hit show for Nickelodeon The show aired during a time period of classic Nickelodeon television shows that linked kids that grew up during multiple years of the 1990s. Other shows that came on during this time period included Drake & Josh, Unfabulous, and several others. Zoey 101 was from Dan Schnieder, who has created and/or executive produced other Nickelodeon shows over the years, such as All That, The Amanda Show and Kenan & Kel. Toplined Jamie Lynn Spears, the show, revolved around students at a fictional boarding school in southern California, Pacific Coast Academy. The students dealt with school, first loves, growing up, and the typical ins and outs of being a teenager. The series also starred Paul Butcher, Sean Flynn, Kristin Herrera, Christopher Massey, Alexa Nikolas, Erin Sanders, Matthew Underwood, Victoria Justice, and Austin Butler. The show aired for four seasons from January 2005 to May 2008. In 2019, Spears officially debunked rumors that the show ended because of her pregnancy When the shows end was announced first in 2007, rumors ran rampant that the show was canceled because Spears, then 16, was pregnant. These rumors persisted over a decade after the show was off the air, with many thinking this was the reason why Zoey 101 didnt get more seasons. People thought either the show ended because Spears was pregnant or that Spears quit the show because of her pregnancy. In early 2019, Spears officially addressed the rumors and debunked them in an Instagram post. In a now-deleted Instagram to commemorate the shows 14th anniversary, she said, Are you ready? 14 years laterstill a jam. #itdidNOTendbecauseofpregnancy #contractwasfinished. When a fan asked, Oh wow you didnt quit because you were pregnant, you waited this long to tell us, she replied with, NopeI went home to finish high school and was going to pursue movies. When someone asked if the contract would have continued if she wasnt pregnant, Spears replied with no. This all checks out, as it is known that Spears did not find out she was pregnant until after the show concluded. Spears told Glamour in 2012, I just wanted to go home to Louisiana and finish high school, be a cheerleader, all that. Then I found out I was pregnant. I was 16. Id had one boyfriend. It doesnt make it perfect or all right. But I was judged for something that probably most everyone does. I was young. I was in love. I was like every other teenager, except I had this last name. And I made a decision that is forever my decision. Media outlets fueled the flames Media outlets made wild assumptions about Spears pregnancy and these assumptions likely had a hand in the rumors that fans insisted upon for years. On deciding to publicly announce her pregnancy in OK! magazine, Spears told Glamour, I knew I needed to give an explanation to my fans, and I wanted it to be in my words first. I had to make a decision that I could sleep with every night. I did feel responsible for the young girls and the mothers who I probably confused and let down. I apologize for that. But I wasnt trying to glamorize teen pregnancy. I hated when [the tabloids] said that. Everybody is dealt a hand of cards. It was my choice to play them the way I played them. But the hateful comments hurt. As reported by Glamour, Parent groups were outraged at the Nickelodeon star, and tabloids printed rumors that Spears had a miscarriage, that she was giving up her baby, and that Aldridge was cheating on her. Nickelodeon also released a statement and reportedly had discussions about a potential special There was also the fact that Nickelodeon itself issued statements at the time about Spears pregnancy. An Associated Press report from 2007 even said that the network was considering a special on teen pregnancy due to Spears situation. As the report states, Nickelodeon released a statement shortly after Spears announced her pregnancy. The network said, We respect Jamie Lynns decision to take responsibility in this sensitive and personal situation. We know this is a very difficult time for her and her family, and our primary concern right now is for Jamie Lynns well being. Journalist Linda Ellerbe, who anchored Nick News, spoke to the Associated Press about the potential special and said that it would not focus specifically on Spears. I think its important that something be done. But I think its important that it be done in a measured way and not just to feed the beast of news stories. This is a great opportunity for parents at this moment to talk to their kids about this more important, to listen to their kids about this. Right now what Nick is trying to do and what I am trying to do is figure out what is the best thing to do for kids, she said. A Nickelodeon spokesperson confirmed to the Associated Press that discussions about the special were happening but said a decision had not been made. And as history has shown us, no special ever aired on the network around sex and teen pregnancy. Zoey 101 was already done before Spears was pregnant Overall, despite the fact that Spears said that the show ended because the contract was finished and not her pregnancy, it is clear that her pregnancy was somewhat of a big deal for the network. The Associated Press report reads, The company has received a mixed response so far from its viewers, and the news has launched a public discussion about how parents should deal with it. Although Nick executives are still discussing the future of Zoey 101, its considered unlikely that it would shelve the final season. This confirms the fact that the show had already filmed its final season and that Spears pregnancy was not the reason that the show ended. Because the show still had new episodes to air after production had wrapped, fans mistakenly assumed that the show ending and the pregnancy were related. Even if the network would have shockingly pulled the final season, the show was already done by the time Spears announced her pregnancy. Gina Moffa, 22, a senior at Drexel University studying business administration, is stuck paying for an empty apartment. The entire remaining debt was put on my shoulders, Moffa said. Read more Big-box apartment complexes dot the edges of Philadelphias university campuses, vying for students business. The rental companies specifically market to collegians touting their study spaces and laundry rooms, labeling themselves official student housing and using their relationships with colleges to maintain steady streams of tenants willing to pay a premium. But the closure of universities because of the coronavirus has left the young tenants in an untenable financial situation with the private apartment corporations. Many students are obligated to pay rent under leases that run until August, even as many have lost their jobs and most arent eligible to receive the government stimulus aid. Some complexes have offered a month of rent forgiveness and payment plans, but students and their parents who are listed as co-signers are desperate to terminate their leases. Its so frustrating because its just me going against this giant corporation who just sees me as a number, said Gina Moffa, a Drexel University graduating senior. They dont really care what Im going through; they just want to get their money. Moffa rents from Chestnut Square, one of 166 student housing properties owned by American Campus Communities across the country. The company said it has forgiven $17 million in rent so far and is working on a case-by-case basis with students to meet their financial needs. Moffa wants to terminate her lease early, but the company said thats not allowed, and her legal options are limited. Its a response most student renters are facing, and now, some are organizing and enlisting support from university and elected officials. The real problem is there is not really one law regarding lease termination, said David Hoffman, professor at the University of Pennsylvanias Carey Law School. The answer is always What does your lease say? READ MORE: Charging full tuition for online classes? No, say some students, despite the coronavirus. Moffas situation is particularly complicated. The 22-year-old had moved out of her Chestnut Square apartment in March because her student loans, which she used to pay rent, were smaller than expected. She found another student to sublet her room in the two-bedroom apartment starting in April and moved home to Brick, N.J. Then the coronavirus moved all of Drexels classes online through the end of the summer, and her subletter backed out, leaving Moffa responsible for the $1,350-a-month rent through August. Because of the pandemic, Moffa has lost her two part-time jobs, her mother has been furloughed, and her fathers hours have been cut in half. She doesnt qualify for unemployment and isnt eligible for the $1,200 federal stimulus check because for tax purposes her parents claim her as a dependent. She cant afford to pay rent for April or May, let alone three more months, she said. Shes worried she may have to borrow money to pay for the empty room. We dont have that money and especially now that we arent working, we have no way to get that money, Moffa said. Every dollar my dad is making is going to pay our bills." In addition to Chestnut Square, American Campus Communities, the largest private dorm manager in the United States, also owns the Summit and University Crossing complexes in University City. Moffa said the complex, as part of its Resident Hardship Program, forgave Aprils rent and said she could take until the 15th of each month to pay, but the company said her lease will be upheld through August. The only way out without facing legal action, according to her lease, is to pay the remainder of the rent due, or find a tenant to take over the unit, but because school has closed through the summer, theres no interest in the apartment. We have made a pledge that every American Campus Communities resident will continue to have a home during this crisis regardless of their ability to pay rent on a timely basis," Bill Bayless, CEO of American Campus Communities, said in a statement. At this difficult time, there will be no late fees, no online payment fees, and no financial-related evictions. Also, there will be no negative impacts to the credit reports of those suffering financial hardships and participating in our Resident Hardship Program. HELP US REPORT: Are you a health care worker, medical provider, government worker, patient, frontline worker or other expert? We want to hear from you. The Nest at 1324 N. Broad St. near Temple University, owned by Philadelphia-based Bock Development Group, which has 300 other beds of student housing, says it wont charge students rent in the fall if the university cancels in-person classes. If students do return, the Nest will reduce next years rent by $200 a month to help alleviate financial stress. But a couple of blocks from Temple, the Oxford Village Apartments, owned by Georgia-based RISE Real Estate, which owns 52,206 beds in complexes across the country, is not allowing early lease terminations. An official from University Realty, which operates housing near Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of the Sciences, said the company is not commenting about the pandemic. Aside from what landlords offer, tenants legal options are limited. In Pennsylvania, a lease can be legally terminated only when a tenant joins the military, the unit is declared unsafe, or the landlord violates the tenants privacy. Generally, if a tenant breaks the lease, landlords will seize the security deposit and could request three months of rent, plus the cost of finding a new tenant, said Penns Hoffman, who specializes in contract law. The landlord could also take legal action. Theres been some talk about whether the universities should put pressure on these companies ... to let students out of their leases, Hoffman said. No university I have heard of is actually doing anything yet. I wonder whether the companies are being penny-wise and pound-foolish, he said. There are real reputational effects for forcing people who are no longer on campus to pay rent. The internet doesnt forget, and apartment rating sites should and may reflect the anger that students are going to feel toward their landlords moving forward. READ MORE: U.S. colleges brace for a devastating summer and fall Three West Chester University students, Katie Fox, Ally Drames, and Riley McGowan, created the group Advocates for WCU Renters, and its Facebook group has accumulated nearly 250 members. The students hosted a virtual meeting with more than 75 participants, including State Rep. Carolyn Comitta (D., Chester), West Chester Mayor Dianne Herrin, and university president Christopher Fiorentino. Everyone was in agreement that this is not a just situation, said Fox, 21. Fox, Drames, and McGowan are sending a letter to local landlords, signed by Comitta, Herrin, Fiorentino, and others, asking them to alleviate rent, forgo fines or late fees, and give students the ability to break pre-signed leases if classes remain online through the fall semester. The West Chester students are optimistic, but the struggle in Philadelphia persists. Grazia DiDonato, 52, a single mother of three from Manchester Township, N.J., says she cant afford to keep paying for her 20-year-old daughter Rosalias $1,400 rent at Carriage House apartments in University City. Carriage House owns multiple renovated historic buildings in West Philly. To have to pay a bill to an empty apartment? When I think about it, my stomach gets sick, said DiDonato, a teacher who has lost her summer job. That rent is the same amount of money as my mortgage. DiDonato said she has reached out to the apartment managers, who offered a payment plan, but said they could not break the lease. They thrive off of these college kids all year long, she said. Then this thing happens, and theyre like, Theres nothing we can do. Staff writer Michaelle Bond contributed to this article. The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of more than 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the citys push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at brokeinphilly.org. URBANA Headlines about dairy farms dumping milk and livestock being euthanized are a sharp contrast to empty meat cases. The novel coronavirus outbreak has disrupted the nations food supply chain, resulting in increased prices for panicked shoppers and major losses for Illinois farmers. The usual rules of supply and demand between farmers and consumers have been disrupted by a problem with the middleman: processing plants and slaughterhouses. Our system is so efficient and streamlined that everything moves at the same flow, says Travis Meteer, a University of Illinois Extension commercial agriculture educator. But when you have a kink, all of a sudden, that flow stops. Meat processing plants are considered critical infrastructure and have remained open. But with several commercial packing plants in Illinois closed or working at a reduced capacity, thousands of cattle and pigs are waiting to be processed. Small-scale regional processors are still operating, but most are booked well into fall. Cases of COVID-19 in the work force have forced plants to close to follow CDC recommendations for cleaning and inspections, and some staff are simply not reporting for shifts out of fear of getting sick, Meteer says. The price of meat is going up but the price [farmers] are receiving is going down, Meteer says. The beef cattle industry nationwide is projected to lose $13.6 billion due to COVID-19. Those who can find a buyer are taking losses of $216 to $146 per animal. Illinois Extension commercial agriculture educator Teresa Steckler has heard as high as $700. With packing plants closed, fat steers are sitting in the feedlot with nowhere to go, Steckler says. So, you have to keep feeding them. Holding and feeding market-ready animals incurs extra costs producers may not be prepared for. At Southern Illinois Dixon Springs Agricultural Center, where Steckler works, recent dry falls and cool, wet springs have reduced the quality of the local hay supply. Some of these guys are finding that their supply of feedstuff is dwindling, she says. As shoppers food budgets shrink, they are buying less expensive cuts, such as hamburger, over prime cuts, resulting in less profit for producers. Dale Hadden runs a grain and cattle farm with his family in Jacksonville and serves on the Cass-Morgan County Farm Bureau board. Theres not a place to market our calves, so we continue to hold them with grass and hay and get them to weights a little heavier than usual, Hadden says. Hes also looking ahead to September when hell be selling most of his 280-head herd. If this doesnt turn around, thats going to have a huge impact on how I generate any income. In the U.S., 60% of butter goes to restaurants. When schools and restaurants closed to slow the spread of the virus, the sales of food-service dairy products plummeted, and there were suddenly too many cows producing too much milk. Hadden says dairy manufacturing facilities are set up with lines to package milk into jugs for grocery stores, cartons for schools, or bags for food service. Dairy has a short window for processing and there are only so many gallons that can be held. Theyre dumping it because the processors dont have demand for those products, Hadden says. The Illinois pork industry contributes an estimated $13.8 billion to the states economy, according to the Illinois Pork Producers Association. Toni Dunker is a price risk manager with Advance Trading in Quincy. She works with hog farmers to sell pigs for the best price once they reach market weight, starting around 260 pounds. As of April 28, plants they ship hogs to were working at a 60% capacity. That hog continues to grow every day, and once it gets past a certain size, they can no longer process it, Dunker says. Its too big for the equipment. Hog producers have a tight timeline to maintain productivity and safety for their animals. They cannot be held like cattle, leaving some producers with no other option but to euthanize animals. Holding market-ready swine also means there are fewer places to raise piglets, reducing the future supply, Dunker says. University of Illinois animal sciences professor Ken Koelkebeck specializes in poultry production. With 6 million laying hens, Illinois is considered a small commercial egg producer. Wholesale egg prices jumped from 94 cents to $3.01 a dozen from March to April. The demand for consumer eggs has skyrocketed with people cooking and baking at home more, causing grocery stores to limit shoppers purchases. There has also been a disruption in the supply of cartons, Koelkebeck says. Demand was so high and theres only two or three companies that make these cartons. They couldnt keep up. Egg plants are highly automated and need fewer workers, so they havent had issues with shutdowns like pork and beef plants. With dozen-sized cartons in short supply, eggs are stockpiled at plants on 30-count flats, which usually go to restaurants. Now, some eggs may be sold in generic, unlabeled cartons. Euthanizing livestock is a worst-case scenario for farmers. These are hard decisions for producers to make, Meteer says. Thats a farmers nightmare; to euthanize an animal they put care and money and time into, and not see it turned into a food product that nourishes someone. Farmers are spending more money to feed and care for animals, with no guarantee they can sell, and at what price. If an animal continues to gain weight, it can also increase risk of lameness, Meteer says. Dunker says her daily conversations with swine producers have changed from how many pigs will be heading to processing plants to how many loads have been canceled. Its such a challenging time for farmers emotionally, because their focus is to make sure that pig, from the time its born to the time it leaves, is healthy and vibrant. Now, they must consider the unimaginable. Hadden says cattle farmers have options with calves, but for full-grown cattle already on feedlots, producers are calling processors as far away as Colorado. Beef and pork suppliers have a backlog of frozen product that is making its way onto shelves, but there may not be as much variety as in the past. Some stores are limiting meat and egg purchases to prevent stockpiling. Illinois has the third most farmers markets in the nation, most of which will open in May with new regulations in place. Shoppers can find locally produced meats there or even purchase a side of beef directly from a local butcher. It gives us a nice market to move some of our animals, says Hadden, whose direct sales have already doubled this year. Consumers have called wanting to buy freezer beef because they cant find it at the store and theyre willing to wait for it to be processed locally. Is that pragmatic for the entire U.S.? No, but for people in more rural areas, it is, Steckler says. BEIRUT - The number of recorded cases of COVID-19 has risen in the disputed Yemeni port city of Aden, where local authorities have announced a health emergency after 35 cases were found and four people who tested positive for the virus died. The new was reported in various Arab media. Aden and all of Yemen are suffering from a internal and regional struggle that has aggravated the already difficult humanitarian situation of a country afflicted by famine and endemic diseases. The southern Yemeni port is also the scene of a political and military battle between local separatist forces backed by the UAE and loyalist forces backed by Saudi Arabia. 2X stronger version to support immune, respiratory and sinus health.* Breaks down excess and thick mucus and offers enhanced support for clear airways.* Its clear that in order to support the bodys overall immunity, proteolytic enzymes play a significant role," said Michael T. Murray, N.D. Immune system health continues to be the daily focus for millions of people worldwide. Recommendations to improve immunity often include social distancing, enhanced hygiene, adequate hydration and sleep, and taking vitamins. However, a leading authority on Natural Medicine, Michael T. Murray, N.D., also stresses the importance of digestive enzymes in boosting immune defenses, especially for the respiratory mucosal barrier and gastrointestinal tract, namely enzymes that break down proteins or proteases.* There are two ways for any invader to enter the body, the respiratory tract and the gastrointestinal tract. The first line of defense, as natural barriers to infection that humans have, is the mucosal lining of the respiratory tract which includes the nasal cavity, sinuses, throat, trachea and bronchi. The second line of defense is the immune system which mostly lives within the gastrointestinal tract. Certain proteases, which are enzymes that breakdown proteins, help improve the structure of the mucosal lining by decreasing the thickness and increasing the production of mucus to help move microbes out of the body to protect the lungs,* said Dr. Murray. They also help support the immune system and the gastrointestinal tract as nearly all environmental threats contain proteins that protrude from their cell membranes that the immune system must identify and break down.* Proteases not only help digest good proteins but also help to break down unwanted proteins.* Protease or proteolytic enzymes support host defense mechanisms and immune function the following ways: Improve the composition and function of mucus.* Help promote processes that remove excess airway secretions, microbes, cellular debris and particulate matter from the airways.* Support digestive enzymes and pancreatic enzyme function. * Enzymes that digest protein, proteases, are able to digest proteins in food and also the proteins on the cell walls of environmental threats.* Its clear that in order to support the bodys overall immunity, proteolytic enzymes play a significant role. In addition to practicing self-care and following the right protocols, adding a digestive enzyme to your daily routine is important to support immune health.* I recommend looking for proteolytic enzymes which are therapeutically blended to cover the wide pH ranges within the human body, concluded Dr. Murray. Enzymedica, a Florida-based company that produces high quality natural digestive products, offers a complete line of protease-containing enzyme formulas including: Enzyme Defense offers daily immune, respiratory and sinus health support.* Also helps break down excess and thick mucus and helps clear airways.* Enzyme Defense Extra Strength is a 2X stronger version to support immune, respiratory and sinus health.* Breaks down excess and thick mucus and offers enhanced support for clear airways.* MucoStop contains enzymes beyond proteases and is designed to help promote easy breathing during seasonal or occasional congestion by breaking down and eliminating excess mucus in the sinus and nasal passages.* Allerase contains enzymes to support the bodys natural ability to identify and respond to common or seasonal irritants, promoting healthy respiratory function.* About Enzymedica Florida-based Enzymedica is a leading natural digestive health company since 1998 and sells to over 30,000 stores worldwide and online. Its top-selling enzyme brand is No. 1 in America. The company has received more than 50 industry awards including multiple Better Nutrition Magazines People's Choice Awards, many Best of Supplements Awards and numerous VITY and Nexty Awards. Visit https://enzymedica.com/ for more information. *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent and disease. Media Contact RPR Public Relations, Inc. Tel. 786-290-6413 Ghanaian actor and political aspirant, John Dumelo is celebrating one year of marital bliss with his beautiful wife Gifty Mawuenya Nkornu.The two tied the knot in a beautiful wedding ceremony this day, May 11th, 2019, at the Royal Senchi Resort. In an Instagram post to mark the day, Gifty shared a never before seen video from their exchange of vows. In the video, whilst reading her vows to her husband, Gifty revealed that her husbands love for his country Ghana is more than his love for her. I promise to be your best friend, I promise to love you always, I promise to love you rain or shine. I promise to be there all the way and Im gonna be there always and even though we both know you love Ghana more than me. Because you wake up everyday and talk about the plans youve got for Ghana and sometimes it bores me a little but Ill work together with you and well both achieve that together, she said in the video. John Dumelos political ambitions are no secret. Last year, he picked up forms to contest the parliamentary primaries for the Ayawaso West Wougon seat in the 2020 elections. With a resounding win at the primaries, John has since engaged in several campaign events and donations hoping to take his dream a step further to become the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area. Watch Video below: Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Rivers government on Sunday demolished two hotels in the state for allegedly flouting COVID-19 order in the state. Governor Nyesom Wike, after issuing an order recently banning hotels from opening their doors for business in the state to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus, had repeatedly warned that any hotel caught violating the order would be demolished. The two hotels that were demolished are Prudent Hotel, Alode, Eleme, and Etemeteh Hotel, Onne, according to a statement from Mr Wike's media aide, Simeon Nwakaudu. Mr Wike personally monitored the demolition, Mr Nwakaudu said. It appears one of the destroyed hotels is owned by a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is the ruling party in Rivers state. "If we can do this to a PDP person, then you know we are not discriminatory," Mr Wike told reporters. "Whether you are in PDP, SDP or no party, you must obey the law. If any other person does the same thing, the same rule will apply." The governor said, "Government has no alternative but to apply the Executive order which I signed before the lockdown of Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt. "I called all the Traditional Rulers and Council Chairmen and told them to ensure that no hotel operates in the State. We are not saying it will be forever. This is for now, so that we know where we are, to reduce the cases and check the spread. "We said no hotel should operate within this period. Unfortunately, the PDP youth leader in Eleme joined others to flout the Executive Order. Therefore, the executive order will be applied." He explained why the Rivers government is focusing on hotels in its fight against the coronavirus. "Look at the rate of infections, most of these people are found in hotels. Look at the man that died, he was at Mingi Hotel in Rumumasi. Due to that contact, we have had other seven cases. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Governance Coronavirus By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. "People should help us and support government for Rivers people to be safe. Security Council will meet to review the strategies and achievements or setbacks, moving forward. "All we are doing is to protect our people. Some people may not like our strategies, but our objective is to achieve results." Mr Wike's administration has taken some other controversial decisions in the past in its fight against the coronavirus, including the arrest of oil workers who were accused of entering Rivers State in violation of the lockdown. The governor has repeatedly said that the lives of the people in Rivers must be put above business and has vowed to take on businesses, including oil and gas companies, if they do not cooperate with his government as far as the coronavirus is concerned. There are 21 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Rivers State as of April 9. Written by Kanishka Singh (Reuters) - The Trump administration is in talks with semiconductor companies about building chip factories in the United States, representatives from two chipmakers said on Sunday. Intel Corp (INTC.O) is in discussions with the United States Department of Defense over improving domestic sources for microelectronics and related technology, Intel spokesman William Moss said in an emailed statement. Intel is well positioned to work with the U.S. government to operate a U.S.-owned commercial foundry and supply a broad range of secure microelectronics, the statement added. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (2330.TW), on the other hand, has been in talks with the U.S. Department of Commerce about building a U.S. factory but said it has not made a final decision yet. We are actively evaluating all the suitable locations, including in the U.S., but there is no concrete plan yet, TSMC spokeswoman Nina Kao said in a statement. Intel Chief Executive Bob Swan wrote a letter to the Department of Defense in late March in which he expressed the companys willingness to build a foundry - a term used in the industry to reference a chip factory - in partnership with the Pentagon. This is more important than ever, given the uncertainty created by the current geopolitical environment, Swan wrote in the letter dated March 30 and seen by Reuters on Sunday. It comes amid increasing diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and China during the coronavirus outbreak, with both sides trading barbs over who is to blame for the spread of the disease after already being involved in trade tensions for almost two years. We currently think it is in the best interest of the United States and of Intel to explore how Intel could operate a commercial U.S. foundry to supply a broad range of microelectronics, the letter from the Intel CEO added. The Trump administrations discussions with chipmakers were reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal, with the report adding that TSMC also has been talking with Apple Inc (AAPL.O), one of its largest customers, about building a chip factory in the United States. TSMC declined to comment on the talks with the iPhone maker. The Journal had also reported that U.S. officials are looking at helping South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS), which has a chip factory in Austin, Texas, to expand its contract-manufacturing operations in the United States. A Samsung spokeswoman in Seoul declined to comment on Monday. The U.S. Commerce Department and Apple did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday. : reuters.com Researchers have uncovered more evidence that smokers could be protected from the deadly coronavirus. Fewer than five per cent of 441 COVID-19 patients who needed to be admitted to an Italian hospital were smokers. The scientists described it as a 'very low' number, given that a quarter of the general population are known to be hooked on cigarettes. It suggests smokers are less likely to catch the disease - a theory that has emerged over the past few weeks from several global studies. But once smokers are in hospital, they may be more likely to see their disease rapidly progress and lead to death, according to some evidence. The new study found half of infected smokers died - compared to 35 per cent of the rest of the patients. Experts are struggling to knock down mounting evidence that suggests an apparent protective effect from cigarettes, which has been described as 'weird'. Two weeks ago a review of the literature by University College London also found a 'lower than expected' rate of smokers among COVID-19 patients. Of the 28 studies analysed, one from the UK revealed only five per cent of patients were smokers - a third of the national rate of 14.4 per cent. But health officials in both the UK and US urge people to stop smoking to protect themselves from the virus as a matter of precaution. Researchers have uncovered more evidence that smokers may be protected from the deadly coronavirus. Less than five per cent of 441 hospitalised COVID-19 patients in an Italian study were smokers - compared with 24 per cent in the population More smokers succumbed to the disease - almost half compared to 35 per cent of those who had never touched a cigarette The Italian study led by Dr Nicola Gaibazzi looked at patients admitted to hospital in Parma, Northern Italy. It means the findings can only be applied to those with symptoms severe enough to seek medical attention - thousands of patients escape suffering any symptoms. Information about smoking was taken from medical records, and efforts were made to directly contact the patients or their relatives for confirmation. Previous research on the topic has been full of holes because researchers admit data had been missing. But in this study, a total of 423 out of 441 patients or their relatives were spoken to on the phone, which strengthens the data. Overall, just 21 patients (4.8 per cent) were active smokers, which is disproportionate compared with the 24 per cent in the population, according to the team. Ten per cent (44 people) had been a former smoker, but there is a lack of clear data to say how many Italians have completely kicked the habit. Of the Italian cohort, which had an average age of 71, around 35 per cent died. Men and patients with heart disease were at most risk. Non-smokers made up 85 per cent of victims, smokers 6 per cent and ex-smokers 9 per cent - which was not significantly different to the total cohort. However, active smokers had a 50/50 chance of survival once hospitalised - 47 per cent of those admitted died. In comparison, just over a third of non-smokers died. Non-smokers made up 85 per cent of victims, smokers 6 per cent and ex-smokers 9 per cent - which was not significantly different to the total cohort. However, active smokers had a 50/50 chance of survival once hospitalised - 47 per cent of those admitted died. In comparison, just over a third of non-smokers died FRANCE WILL STUDY IF NICOTINE PATCHES PREVENT COVID-19 French researchers are planning to trial whether nicotine patches will help prevent - or lessen the effects of - the deadly coronavirus. Doctors at a major hospital in Paris - who also found low rates of smoking among the infected - are now planning to give nicotine patches to COVID-19 patients. They will also give them to frontline workers to see if the stimulant has any effect on preventing the spread of the virus, according to reports. The French study, performed at Pitie Salpetriere - part of the Hopitaux de Paris, used data from 480 patients who tested positive for the virus. Three hundred and fifty were hospitalized and the remainder recovered at home. Results showed that of the patients hospitalized, with a median age of 65, only 4.4 percent were regular smokers. But among those at home, with a median age of 44, 5.3 percent smoked. By comparison, among the general population, 40 percent of those between ages 44 and 53 smoke, and around 11 percent of those aged 65 to 75 smoke. The researchers determined that far fewer smokers appear to have contracted the virus or, if they have, their symptoms are less serious. Since the findings, France has had to limit the sale of nicotine substitutes to avoid stockpiling. The government said that until May 11, when the country's lockdown is planned to gradually begin lifting, pharmacies would only be able to sell a maximum of one month's worth of products treating nicotine dependence, such as patches, chewing gum or lozenges. The sale of such products online was suspended entirely. Advertisement The underlying mechanisms that potentially protect smokers is not clear yet. But a theory flouted by scientists is that nicotine reduces ACE-2 receptors, which are proteins in the body the virus binds to in order to infect cells. Dr Gaibazzi has his own theory - he speculated exposure to cigarette smoke and its chemicals reduces the body's immune system over time, measured by lower inflammatory markers. Therefore, when smokers are infected with a virus like SARS-CoV-2, their immune system is more 'tolerant' and does not overreact. On the other hand, non-smokers may be more prone to having a sudden and deadly release of inflammatory markers when they are infected with the virus, known as a 'cytokine storm'. Doctors have previously said that it's often the body's response to the virus, rather than the virus itself, that plays a major role in how sick a person gets. Dr Gaibazzi and authors wrote: 'Patients admitted with COVID-19 to an Italian hospital heavily involved in the recent outbreak showed a disproportionately low prevalence of active smokers compared with the general population. 'The current study is useful since it suggests that smokers may carry some type of protective mechanism from symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.' The study was published on the pre-print site MedRxiv and therefore hasn't been subject to scrutiny by other scientists. Typically, smokers are at a heightened risk of infection because the tiny hairs inside the airways and lungs, which help move pathogens and mucus away, are often damaged by the toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke. In theory, this would put smokers at a disadvantage if they catch coronavirus, considering the disease leaves patients unable to get enough oxygen into the bloodstream due to lung inflammation. But data from across the world is showing otherwise - that smokers are protected from infection in some way. The team are not the first to suggest smokers may be protected by their habit, after a slew of studies have spotted the unexpected link (stock image) University of College London reviewed 28 studies and found smoking rates were lower than expected among COVID-19 patients. The graph shows the smoking rate of each country against the percentage of smokers among COVID-19 patients. The lowest figure has been chosen for each country to show the stark comparison discovered by some studies WHAT DID THE FIRST FIVE STUDIES OF SMOKERS WITH COVID-19 SHOW? A team of scientists at Harvard University in Boston and the University of Crete in Greece reviewed five of the first studies on links between smoking and COVID-19 in March. They found smokers do face a greater risk of suffering complications but others suggested they were less likely to be infected in the first place. In all of the studies, fewer than 15 per cent of the patients were smokers - a figure that clashes with China's smoking rate, which is between 20 and 26 per cent and almost half of men. The review of the evidence, led by Harvard's Dr Constantine Vardavas, was published in the journal Tobacco Induced Diseases. Here's what it found: STUDY ONE: 78 patients at 3 hospitals in Wuhan How many of them were smokers? Unclear What did it find? The patients who progressed to severe illness had a 'significantly' higher number of smokers compared to the patients who got better 27 per cent compared three per cent STUDY TWO: 1,099 at 552 hospitals across China How many of them were smokers? A total of 12.6 per cent (137) were current smokers and 1.9 per cent (21) were former smokers. What did it find? Among the 173 patients with severe symptoms, 16.9 per cent (29) were current smokers and 5.2 per cent (nine) were former smokers. In comparison, 11.8 per cent (108) of the 926 with milder symptoms were current smokers, and 1.3 per cent (12) were former smokers. In the group of patients that either needed mechanical ventilation, admission to an ICU or died, 25.5 per cent were current smokers and 7.6 per cent were former smokers. That was more than twice as high as the proportion of patients who did not need intensive care, 11.8 per cent of whom were current smokers and 1.6 per cent were former smokers. STUDY THREE: 140 in one hospital in Wuhan How many of them were smokers? 6.4 per cent were either current smokers (two) or past smokers (seven). What did it find? Among the 58 patients who severely ill, 3.4 per cent (two people) were current smokers and 6.9 per cent (four) were former smokers. In comparison, of the 82 with milder symptoms, none were current smokers and 3.7 per cent (three) were former smokers. STUDY FOUR: 191 in two hospitals in Wuhan How many of them were smokers? Six per cent (11 people) were current smokers What did it find? Among those that died (54), nine per cent (five people) were current smokers. Of those who survived, four per cent (six people) were smokers. STUDY FIVE: 41 in one hospital in Wuhan How many of them were smokers? Seven per cent (three people) were current smokers. What did it find? None of the 13 patients who needed to be admitted to ICU were current smokers. In contrast, 11 per cent (three) of those who did not need intensive care were smokers. Advertisement A review of scientific studies by University College London academics also found the proportions of smokers among hospital patients were 'lower than expected'. Their paper was titled, 'The association of smoking status with SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalisation and mortality from COVID-19: A living rapid evidence review' and was published on the study-sharing website Qeios in April. David Simons and colleagues looked at 28 studies involving more than 23,000 people. Twenty-two of the studies were conducted in China, three in the US, one in South Korea, one in France and one was an international study using mostly UK data. The study from the US suggested that smokers appear to be less likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 compared with never smokers. Rather than this reflecting likelihood of catching the virus in the first place, it is more likely to point to someone's risk of becoming so ill they have to go to hospital. Most of the countries involved in the studies did almost all of their testing in hospitals. But the researchers noted that smokers were more likely to be tested, possibly because their symptoms, like a cough, are more obvious due to their habit. Two high quality studies provided zero evidence that the 657 current or former smokers with the virus were at a higher risk of ending up in hospital. But when smokers do get diagnosed with the virus, however, they appear to be more likely to get so sick that they need ventilation. That's according to two other studies, involving 1,370 people hospitalised people. Smokers were 43 per cent more likely to see their disease progress to become severe than those who had never smoked. Three studies reported death rates from COVID-19 but there 'did not appear to be a notable difference' between smokers and non-smokers. However, the studies 'did not explicitly state never smoking status', the authors said. They implied that patients who died may have smoked in the past, but this was not clearly recorded by a doctor. The authors concluded there is a lack of evidence that meets a high standard to definitely say whether or not smokers are at higher risk of catching the coronavirus, or having poor outcomes. Researchers admit that hospitals are probably not recording patients' smoking status properly, potentially because they are too busy, patients are too sick to answer, or because people lie in their answers. 'Notwithstanding these uncertainties, compared with national prevalence estimates, recorded current and former smoking rates in the included studies were generally lower than expected,' the study authors wrote. Linda Bauld, a professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, has admitted 'there's something weird going on with smoking and coronavirus'. She told Good Morning Britain on April 28: 'We know for decades that smoking is linked to a higher risk of developing respiratory conditions and also people who smoke have poorer outcomes. 'And we've still got around seven million smokers in the UK, [the] leading preventable cause of death. 'However, my colleagues at UCL... what theyve found is there are surprisingly few smokers in those studies whove developed coronavirus. 'In one French study, four times as many non-smokers got the virus and developed COVID-19 compared to smokers. 'There is a potential biological explanation for this.' Professor Bauld suggested that the way the virus enters the body may be blocked by effects of nicotine - the addictive compound found in tobacco - a popularised theory among scientists. Data from the US suggests that smokers appear to be less likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 compared with never smokers. But the researchers noted that smokers were more likely to be tested - possibly because their symptoms are more obvious Three studies looked at hospitalisation for COVID-19 by smoking status. An analysis of two of these studies provided zero evidence that the 657 current or former smokers with the virus were at a higher risk of ending up in hospital Among 1,370 people hospitalised across two other studies, smokers were 43 per cent more likely to see their disease progress than those who had never smoked Three studies reported death rates from COVID-19 but there 'did not appear to be a notable difference' between smokers and non-smokers The coronavirus enters cells inside the body via structures called ACE-2 receptors, which coat the surface of some cells, including in the airways and lungs. The numbers of ACE-2 receptors someone has are thought to vary depending on genetics. Some evidence suggests that they are higher in smokers. This could, in theory, put them at a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus. However, the virus is known to cause lung damage by depleting the numbers of ACE-2 receptors, so the fact that smoking increases them could reverse the effect and prevent harm to the lungs. Other studies show that nicotine reduces the action of the ACE-2 receptor, suggesting smokers are less likely to catch the virus in the first place. Professor Bauld said: 'It's plausible that smokers are less likely to develop the condition potentially because of nicotine. Importantly in that UCL review where smokers did develop COVID-19, their outcomes are far worse.' A leading infectious disease expert at University College London, Professor Francois Balloux, has also previously said there is 'bizarrely strong' evidence smoking may be protective. The first review of evidence on smoking was conducted in March, when there were very few studies. But still, the team led by Harvard's Dr Constantine Vardavas came to the conclusion that smokers do face a greater risk of suffering complications - but are less likely to be infected in the first place. They reviewed five studies, publishing their findings the journal Tobacco Induced Diseases, and said so far say the proof smoking raises the risk of coronavirus is limited, after finding as little as 1.4 per cent of hospitalised patients were smokers. The experts even admitted warnings made by health chiefs were based mainly on assumptions, given the known infection risks of smoking. The first review of evidence on smoking was conducted in March, when there were very few studies: Studies from China found that the average proportion of coronavirus patients who were classed as smokers - from a total of almost 6,000 people - was just 6.5 per cent Dr Constantine Vardavas came to the conclusion that smokers do face a greater risk of suffering complications - but are less likely to be infected in the first place: A large study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that of 173 patients who had severe symptoms, 16.9 per cent of them were current smokers and 5.2 per cent had previously smoked. In comparison, of the patients with less-severe symptoms, 11.8 per cent were current smokers and 1.3 per cent were former smokers Researchers at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University made the conclusion that only 1.4 per cent of 140 hospitalised patients were smokers A study of 41 patients found that none of the 13 patients who needed to be admitted to ICU were current smokers. In contrast, 11 per cent (three) of those who did not need intensive care were smokers One study of 140 coronavirus patients found that among the 58 patients who severely ill, 3.4 per cent (two people) were current smokers and 6.9 per cent (four) were former smokers. In comparison, of the 82 with milder symptoms, none were current smokers and 3.7 per cent (three) were former smokers WHAT IS AN ACE-2 RECEPTOR AND WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH COVID-19? ACE-2 receptors are structures found on the surface of cells in the lungs and airways which work with an enyzme called ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) to regulate blood pressure. Its exact function in the lungs is not well understood but studies suggest it is protective against lung damage and low levels of it can worsen the impact of viral infections. Scientists say that the coronavirus which causes COVID-19 enters the body through the ACE-2 receptor, which the shape of it allows it to latch on to. This means that someone with more ACE-2 receptors may be more susceptible to a large viral load - first infectious dose of a virus - entering their bloodstream. ACE-2 receptors have a shape which matches the outside of the coronavirus, effectively providing it with a doorway into the bloodstream, scientists say People who have higher than usual numbers of ACE-2 receptors may include those with diabetes or high blood pressure because they have genetic defects which make them produce more. Emerging evidence shows that smokers may also produce more. High levels of ACE-2 receptors may also be protective, however. They are thought to be able to protect the lungs during infection and a study on mice in 2008 found that mice which had ACE-2 blocked in their bodies suffered more damage when they were infected with SARS, which is almost identical to COVID-19. Smoking has in the past been repeatedly linked to lower than normal levels of ACE-2 receptors, potentially increasing the risk of lung damage from COVID-19. Advertisement What have studies from other countries shown? The UCL review included 22 studies conducted in hospitals in China, which showed that 3.8 to 17.6 per cent of COVID-19 patients were current smokers and fewer than five per cent were former smokers. However, 2018 data shows more than half the population of the country are current smokers (50.5 per cent of men and 2.1 per cent of women). And almost one in 10 of non-smokers in China are former smokers (8.4 per cent of men and 0.8 per of women). A separate study published in early April by scientists in New York and Athens looked at 13 Chinese studies that had registered smoking as a precondition and found that the number of smokers across the whole sample of 5,300 patients was 6.5 per cent. It's an astonishingly small number in country where half of all men still smoke. In US studies reviewed by UCL, 1.3 to 27.2 per cent were current smokers, in contrast to a smoking prevalence of 13.8 per cent in 2018. And 2.3 to 30.6 per cent were former smokers, compared with the 20.9 per cent of former smokers across the states. Similarly, data published in the The New England Journal of Medicine from New York City, the epicentre of the US epidemic, shows just 5.1 per cent of patients are smokers. In one South Korean study, 18.5 per cent were current smokers, which almost matches the smoking prevalence of 19.3 per cent in 2016. In a study conducted in France, 7.1 per cent were current smokers, 6.1 per cent of whom were hospitalised. But much higher smoking rates are recorded in the population - 32 per cent. However the results were different for former smokers, of which there are 31.4 per cent in France. A much higher 59.1 per cent of COVID-19 patients were former smokers. In the international study with participants predominantly from the UK in a hospital setting, five per cent were current or former smokers. This compares with a current and former smoking prevalence of 14.4 and 25.8 per cent in England in 2018, 'suggesting a lower than expected proportion of current and former smokers in the included study'. One study conducted by America's Centers for Disease Control of over 7,000 people who tested positive for coronavirus, found that just 1.3 per cent of them were smokers - against the 14 per cent of all Americans that the CDC says smoke. The study also found that the smokers stood no greater chance of ending up in hospital or an ICU. Recently, world-famous artist David Hockney wrote a letter to the Daily Mail saying: 'I used to joke that being a smoker in Malibu was the equivalent of being a non-smoker in Pasadena. They used to have very bad pollution there. 'Could it not be that smokers have developed an immune system to this virus? With all these figures coming out, its beginning to look like that to me.' The British artist, now 82 and living in France, adds 'I'm serious' and has in the past revealed he's smoked for more than 60 years but still considers himself healthy. DUBLIN, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Egg Global Market Report 2020-30: COVID-19 Impact and Recovery" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Egg Market Global Report 2020 provides strategists, marketers and senior management with the critical information they need to assess the global egg market as it emerges from the Covid 19 shut down. Where is the largest and fastest growing market for the egg? How does the market relate to the overall economy, demography and other similar markets? What forces will shape the market going forward? The Egg market global report answers all these questions and many more. Asia Pacific was the largest region in the global egg market, accounting for 64% of the market in 2019. North America was the second largest region accounting for 14% of the global egg market. Middle East was the smallest region in the global egg market. Entities in the egg farming industry are using innovative technologies such as HyperEye to optimize the production of eggs. HyperEye technology identifies the gender of eggs before incubation. This technology saves hatcheries the cost of incubating eggs that will never hatch or be used in the egg farming industry, reduces waste and improves animal welfare. Many companies in Canada are adopting this technology with the help of funds from the government and the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program. The eggs market consists of the sale of raw eggs by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) that produce raw eggs, including poultry farms and other entities which breed, and/or hatch and/or raise hens and other birds. Market size in this market is valued at farm gate prices. The egg market includes eggs from hens, ducks, geese, quails and other birds. This market excludes sales of bird meat and processed eggs. This market also excludes the proceeds from the captive (internal) consumption of the eggs for further processing. The global egg market is expected to decline from $200.8 billion in 2019 to $198.4 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -1.3%. The decline is mainly due to economic slowdown across countries owing to the COVID-19 outbreak and the measures to contain it. The market is then expected to recover and grow at a CAGR of 8% from 2021 and reach $244.6 billion in 2023. The report covers market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional and country breakdowns, competitive landscape, market shares, trends and strategies for this market. It traces the market's historic and forecast market growth by geography. It places the market within the context of the wider egg market, and compares it with other markets. The market characteristics section of the report defines and explains the market. The market size section gives the market size ($b) covering both the historic growth of the market, the impact of the Covid 19 virus and forecasting its recovery. Market segmentations break down market into sub markets. The regional and country breakdowns section gives an analysis of the market in each geography and the size of the market by geography and compares their historic and forecast growth. It covers the impact and recovery trajectory of Covid 19 for all regions, key developed countries and major emerging markets. Competitive landscape gives a description of the competitive nature of the market, market shares, and a description of the leading companies. Key financial deals which have shaped the market in recent years are identified. The trends and strategies section analyses the shape of the market as it emerges from the crisis and suggests how companies can grow as the market recovers. The egg market section of the report gives context. It compares the egg market with other segments of the animal produce market by size and growth, historic and forecast. It analyses GDP proportion, expenditure per capita, egg indicators comparison. Companies Mentioned Cal-Maine Foods Protena Animal S.A. DE C.V. Rose Acre Farms Charoen Pokphand Group ISE Foods Inc. Key Topics Covered: 1. Executive Summary 2. Report Structure 3. Egg Market Characteristics 4. Egg Market Product Analysis 5. Egg Market Supply Chain 6. Egg Market Customer Information 7. Egg Market Trends And Strategies 8. Egg Market Size And Growth 9. Egg Market Regional Analysis 10. Egg Market Segmentation 11. Egg Market Metrics 12. Asia-Pacific Egg Market 13. Western Europe Egg Market 14. Eastern Europe Egg Market 15. North America Egg Market 16. South America Egg Market 17. Middle East Egg Market 18. Africa Egg Market 19. Egg Market Competitive Landscape 20. Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The Egg Market 21. Market Background: Animal Produce Market 22. Recommendations 23. Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7570fu About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Chennai: A 14-year-old girl schoolgirl, who was set on fire in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district by two men connected to the ruling AIADMK party, on Monday (May 11) succumbed to severe burn injuries at the Villupuram Government Medical College. According the police, the victims's family and those of attackers were facing disputes for several years. Two persons have been arrested in connection with the case. According to the police, two men entered the teenager's house on May 10 and doused her in a flammable liquid before setting her ablaze. The girl was alone at her home at the time of the incident. When the neighbours heard her scream, they rushed to the site and rescued her. She was immediately rushed to the government hospital where she was admitted with severe burn injuries. Villupuram Superintendent of Police S Jayakumar said that based on the statement of the victim, they arrested Kaliyaperumal and Murugan in connection with the case. Speaking to WION, the police said, "The girl's family and her attackers are from the same community and know each other for a long time. There have been long-standing disputes between their families. About eight years ago, the victim's uncle's hand was chopped off in a dispute." He also confirmed that the two arrested persons are linked to the ruling AIADMK. In a video clip of the girls statement, she is heard saying that she was at her home when the two accused came and tied her hands and legs and set her ablaze. She was also seen making a mention of the rivalry between them and her father. An investigation has been launched into the incident. Puddles of brine on the Martian surface could cover more of the planet than previously thought - but are too cold to support life, a new study has revealed. Water is found in the form of ice and vapour on Mars but can't persist in liquid form because the atmosphere isn't thick enough to protect against evaporation. However, experts have long thought that a particular kind of salt detected in Martian soil could pull water vapour from the the planet's thin atmosphere into the soil at night and then keep it from freezing despite the extreme cold. Now scientists at the Universities Space Research Association have created a computer model to calculate what temperatures and climate conditions would allow pools of brine to form. Edgard Rivera-Valentin and colleagues found that up to 40 per cent of the Martian surface, at all latitudes down to the equator, could host stable brines. These brines could last for up to six consecutive hours and during up to 2 per cent of the entire Martian year. The authors also found that brines just below the surface, at a depth of three inches, could last up to 10 per cent of the Martian year. However, the model shows that these liquid salty puddles could only exist at temperatures below minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit - too cold for any known life. Researchers used pictures and data captured by the NASA Curiosity Rover to examine the 'brine patches' The paper, published in Nature Astronomy, investigated the risk of contamination of these brine puddles from Earth microbes, if a rover was sent to study them. The authors conclude that these brines cannot sustain life as we know it, and therefore should not be classified as 'Special Regions' according to Planetary Protection policies. This means the locations of the stable brines could be targets for future Martian exploration, since the risk of biological contamination from Earth is negligible. Researchers say that while these brine patches can't contain current life, they could help point towards evidence life once existed on the Red Planet. 'Liquid water is a requirement for life as we know it, and a target for Mars exploration missions,' said physicist Javier Martin-Torres, an expert in the Martian atmosphere. 'Conditions near the surface of present-day Mars are hardly favourable for microbial life as we know it,' he said, 'but the possibility for liquid brines on Mars has wider implications for habitability and geological water-related processes.' Multiple missions are being sent to the Red Planet over the next decade to search for signs of current or ancient life - researchers now know current life doesn't exist in brine patches NASA's Mars Curiosity rover found evidence of salty substances in the Gale Crater in 2015, which led scientists to predict the presence of brine puddles. 'Gale Crater is one of the least likely places on Mars to have conditions for brines to form, compared to sites at higher latitudes or with more shading,' Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona at Tucson told CNN at the time. 'So if brines can exist there, that strengthens the case they could form and persist even longer at many other locations.' There are multiple missions planned to head to the Red Planet over the next few years including ones from NASA and the Chinese space agency launching this year. The European Space Agency and Roscosmos will be launching before the end of the decade and all these missions - while not heading to the brine patches - will search for signs of ancient life on Mars. KING COUNTY, WA King County and the city of Seattle are urging the public to wear cloth face masks or face coverings while they are out in public. To that end, they are issuing a Health Officer Directive telling residents to use face masks which will go into effect Monday, May 18. Under the directive, all residents should wear face masks in indoor public spaces like the grocery or pharmacy. Local leaders say, it's absolutely necessary to keep slowing the spread of the coronavirus. "Doing this is one more step we can take to help keep those essential workers at those businesses safe," said King County Executive Dow Constantine at a press conference announcing the directive. The order applies to both shoppers and employees at all essential establishments. Restaurants and food delivery services are urged to wear masks as well, and masks will be required for bus drivers and passengers on King County Metro buses. The directive also urges the use of masks in outdoor spaces, especially confined spaces where social distancing is difficult. Proper social distancing requires a space of six feet between an individual and anyone who is not a part of their household. While Washington has significantly flattened the curve of new coronavirus transmissions, health experts say these requirements are necessary to keep the virus from rebounding, especially as the state moves to reopen. "As we begin to get back to work, the threat of increasing COVID-19 transmission is serious," said Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer with Seattle & King County Public Health. "We should do all we can to prevent spread to our friends, neighbors and all community members. By wearing a face mask, we protect others from COVID-19 infection and show that we care. Your mask protects me and my mask protects you. Be safe, maintain space and cover your face. Leaders say the directive is not about strict enforcement: they say they do not expect police to arrest those in violation of the directive, just that they want to strongly encourage mask use as the county recovers its footing. Story continues Don't miss the latest coronavirus updates from health and government officials in Washington. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters for what you need to know daily. Simple cloth masks or face coverings are enough to meet the standards of the directive. Doctors say a cloth covering will work to block infectious droplets from spreading via coughing or speaking, and that specialized masks, like N95 respirators, should be reserved for health care workers directly battling the virus. The directive does not include people with disabilities, deaf residents who need facial movements to communicate, or young children. Children under two should not wear masks at all, as they can become a serious choking hazard. The city and county are also working to make cloth face coverings more readily available. King County says it is distributing over 115,000 face coverings and masks through several community groups. The city of Seattle is also delivering 45,000 masks to vulnerable communities like the homeless population, food bank staffers and older residents. Leaders say the directive is just one reminder that Washington is not in the clear just yet. On top of the directive, they are still urging everyone to shelter-in-place and restrict travel as much as possible to avoid exposure to the coronavirus. "Right now the order is still 'stay home'," said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. [NORECIRC] This article originally appeared on the Seattle Patch According to the diplomat, the embassy has actively participated in mobilising medical supplies to support the host country in its efforts to contain the disease. On April 17, more than 100,000 face masks gifted by the Vietnamese Government, along with 23,000 face masks, 500 protective suits and other medical supplies donated by businesses and individuals in Vietnam, were handed over to Italy, one of the European countries hardest hit by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Previously, the Uni-Italia Association in Vietnam and the Vietnam - Italy Friendship Association also presented 8,500 face masks to the Italian side. Hue said these valuable medical supplies have been delivered directly to overseas Vietnamese people and students living, studying and working across the European nation; local civil protection agencies in the epidemic-hit centres; and hospitals, nursing homes, police departments in Rome, and other regions. According to the diplomat, Government and State leaders of Italy, local governments, the Vietnamese community and international friends in the host country all expressed their appreciation of Vietnam's valuable assistance to Italy in the most difficult days in the countrys history since the World War II. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio expressed their thanks to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Government and people of Vietnam for joining hands with Italy in the fight against Covid-19. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasised that this support affirmed the practical significance of the Vietnam - Italy strategic partnership, adding that Vietnams assistance will help Italy come to recovery soon. Moises Escamilla May, 45, a notorious Mexican gang leader, has died in prison after contracting coronavirus A Mexican cartel boss has died from coronavirus while serving time in jail. Moises Escamilla May was one of the leaders of the infamous Los Zetas gang. He had already spent more than a decade in jail after he was accused of carrying out a number of beheadings. He had been in charge distributing cocaine in the city of Cancun and had been accused of participating in the murder of 12 people who were found decapitated in Yucatan in August 2008. The 45-year-old died a week after he started to suffer breathing problems while at a maximum-security prison in the state of Jalisco. He developed respiratory problems on May 6 and died two days later, but authorities only made his death public on Sunday. May, whose nickname was 'El Gordo May' had been serving a 37-year jail sentence for organized crime, weapons and drugs offenses. When he was finally jailed he was identified as the regional leader of Old School Zetas. Moises Escamilla May died at the Puente Grande State prison in Zapotlanejo, Jalisco State. At Puente Grande prison alone, there have been 74 reported coronavirus cases Soldiers escort a man who authorities identified as Omar Trevino Morales, alias 'Z-42', leader of the criminal group 'Los Zetas', at the Attorney General Office's hangar in Mexico City. The capture of ex-leader Omar Trevino Morales split the Zetas in two Los Zetas had been regarded as a notoriously violent cartel and one of the most dangerous operating in Mexico. It was formed by army deserters who worked for the Gulf Cartel who then broke away to create their own cartel. As well as drug trafficking, the group would also participate in kidnapping, extortion, sex trafficking and gun running rackets. Recently, its influence has diminished somewhat and the cartel has become fragmented. A group of women of the Los Zetas drug cartel are presented to the press at the Mexican Navy headquarters in Mexico City in April 2011 (file photo) After the capture of former leader Omar Trevino Morales, alias Z-42, the cartel split into two factions which were at war until 2018. In terms of the coronavirus, Mexico is one of the worst hit countries in Latin America with 35,000 confirmed cases and 3,465 deaths. Brazil and Peru are the only two countries in the region that have fare worse. An amnesty law was passed in Mexico allowing some inmates to go free in order to ease overcrowding in prisons during the pandemic. At Puente Grande prison alone, there have been 74 reported coronavirus cases. BURLINGTON By 10:30 a.m. Monday, half an hour after Wisconsin National Guard members started testing community members for COVID-19, more than 100 vehicles were queuing in the Burlington High School parking lot. Its clear that people want to know if they have the potentially deadly coronavirus. Mark Schaaf, Racine Countys communications director, said that residents should expect to see more community testing events soon, including closer to the City of Racine where the countys outbreak has been most concentrated. Were planning on increasing testing all over the county ... we are definitely planning on having more, including in the city, Schaaf said, noting that the countys coronavirus response team has been partnering with the Central Racine County Health Department and City of Racine Public Health Department, as well as area hospitals, including Ascension Health. Testing Monday Those getting tested in the high school parking lot ranged in age, although most appeared to be middle-aged or elderly. Older people are more likely to suffer serious complications or die from COVID-19, which has already infected 10,200 Wisconsinites and killed at least 400. More than 80,000 people have died in the United States, and more than 285,000 worldwide, from COVID-19 as of Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Testing each vehicles occupants took 5 to 15 minutes, depending on a number of factors including how many people in the car were getting tested. Sam Weingart, a 22-year-old from nearby Waterford, was one of the youngest people tested. Fever, chills, aches, Weingart said of his symptoms over the past few days. He added that someone he has been in contact with is currently in quarantine after they were in contact with someone who is COVID-positive, which is why he wanted to get tested. Only 300 tests are to be available per day at Burlingtons testing center -- although Schaaf said early Monday evening that 353 tests were conducted on Monday -- which contributed to the number of early arrivals on Monday even though testing was expected to last all the way until 6 p.m. There were no appointments or doctors notes needed. Anyone experiencing coronavirus-like symptoms was encouraged to get tested. The test was simple, Weingart said. A National Guard member wearing a black protective mask and brown Kappler Z300 chemical protection suit (which looks similar to a HAZMAT suit) stuck swabs into each of his nostrils to pick up material from the airy cavity between the nose and mouth. Ive been trying to be positive (in spirit). Being positive is all you can really be, Weingart said. Now, he will just have to wait for a phone call with his test results, which are expected in under a week for most patients. Testing is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Friday at Burlington High, 400 McCanna Parkway, one of more than a dozen community testing sites around the state. Gov. Tony Evers and Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm, under advisement from Wisconsins public health leaders, have set a statewide goal of testing 82,000 people per week. Once that number of tests is reached, Evers and Palm have said more restrictions are likely to be relaxed, so long as the percentage of positive tests remains low. From May 4-10, an average of 4,203 tests have been completed per day in Wisconsin, and 7.66% of those tests (totaling 2,255) came back positive. Statewide testing ramps up The DHS and the Wisconsin National Guard will be supporting two new community-based testing sites in Milwaukee and in Madison, according to a release issued Monday by the governors office. Increased testing and contact tracing are core elements of our Badger Bounce Back plan and are critical to slowing the spread and boxing in COVID-19, Evers said. I urge anyone who needs a test to go get tested at one of these sites and help protect your community and family from this virus. This is part of a series of efforts by the DHS and the Wisconsin National Guard to work with local health departments to create community testing sites in places with a known lack of access to testing or known community spread. These test sites are open to all residents, including essential workers, and will provide free drive-through or walk-up testing. Milwaukee County, the hardest-hit county in Wisconsin during the COVID-19 pandemic, has opened drive-through community testing sites on its north and south sides similar to Burlingtons. For more information on the Milwaukee and Madison sites, go online to dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/testing. LGP granted Manufacture Permit by the Office of Drug Control LGP plans to commence in-house extraction operations, reducing manufacturing costs and improving manufacturing efficiencies MONTREAL, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Elixxer Ltd. (TSXV: ELXR) (OTC-QB: ELIXF) (FRA: 2LQA) ("ELIXXER" or (the "Company") is pleased to update that its pharmaceutical medical cannabis partner, Little Green Pharma (ASX:LGP) of Australia, has been granted a new Manufacture Permit over its manufacturing facility by Australia's Office of Drug Control ("ODC"). The Manufacture Permit will allow LGP to manufacture cannabis extracts for supply to holders of Therapeutic Goods Administration ("TGA") GMP manufacturing licences to produce finished medicinal cannabis products. The Company has an exclusive agreement with its TGA GMP-licenced Manufacturing Partner to produce such products. The Permit has been granted until 10 March 2021, which aligns it with the terms of LGP's ODC Medicinal Cannabis and Manufacture licences. This Permit will enable LGP to commence in-house extraction once the next crop is harvested, resulting in reduced manufacturing costs and improved manufacturing efficiencies. Commenting on the grant of the Manufacture Permit, LGP Managing Director Fleta Solomon said: "Receiving this Manufacture Permit gives us the internal capability to manufacture cannabis extracts at our manufacturing premises and is a significant event for Little Green Pharma. We are now only waiting for our expanded ODC Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation and Production Permit which, once granted, will allow us to begin first planting at our expanded cultivation facility and to significantly expand our production operations. This increased production capacity will give Little Green Pharma the ability to meet both Australian and offshore demand for medicinal cannabis products. I look forward to updating the market once our expanded ODC Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation and Production Permit is granted." About Elixxer Ltd.) ELXR Ltd. is a Canadian public company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV: ELXR), the US OTC-QB exchange (OTCQB: ELXIF) and the Frankfurt Exchange (FRA: 2LQA). Through its partners ELXR presently has significant interests in Australia, Jamaica, Switzerland, Italy and Canada. About Little Green Pharma) Little Green Pharma is a vertically integrated medicinal cannabis business with operations from cultivation and production through to manufacturing and distribution. The Company has an indoor cultivation facility in Western Australia and an exclusive partnership with a GMP-licensed pharmaceutical manufacturer for the production of its own-branded range of medicinal cannabis products. Little Green Pharma products comply with all required Therapeutic Goods Administration regulations and testing requirements. With a growing range of products containing differing ratios of active ingredients, Little Green Pharma supplies medical-grade cannabis products to Australian and overseas markets. The Company has a strong focus on patient access in the emerging global medicinal cannabis market and is actively engaged in promoting education and outreach programs, as well as participating in clinical investigations and research projects to develop innovative new delivery systems. For further information please contact: President, John McMullen, +1-416-803-0698, john@elixxer.com Caution Regarding Press Releases Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Notice Regarding Forward Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements with respect to Elixxer and its operations, strategy, investments, financial performance and condition. These statements can generally be identified by use of forward-looking words such as "may", "will", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intends", "believe" or "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. The actual results and performance of Elixxer, including completion of the Loan and any future investment or acquisition, could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Some important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market factors, competition, government regulation and the factors described under "Risk Factors and Risk Management" in Elixxer's most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis filed on SEDAR). The cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements attributable to Elixxer and persons acting on its behalf. Unless otherwise stated, all forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and Elixxer has no obligation to update such statements, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. Good morning, Bay Area. Its Monday, May 11, and we explore the technology surrounding coronavirus antibody testing. Heres what you need to know to start your day. Child care and preschool operators have found themselves in a particularly difficult spot during the pandemic. I dont know if Im ever going to reopen, Daly City child care center owner Celina Gomes wrote in a text to a friend. For those able to open in the second phase of Gov. Gavin Newsoms recovery plan, theyll have to be vigilant with sanitizing and keeping kids socially distant, which will probably be challenging for young children. Across the Bay Area, more than 800 of the 1,000 centers and schools have remained closed during the pandemic, and many might not make it. This is particularly stressful for the parents who need child care so they can work. Rachel Swan explains more about the complications these business owners face. A wait-and-see approach Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Theres a lot of hype but even more questions out there about coronavirus antibody tests. State health officials have begun distributing tens of thousands of FDA-cleared antibody tests from Abbott Laboratories, but they carry a disclaimer that they might yield inaccurate results. The FDA has been cracking down on unauthorized antibody tests, but that hasnt stopped people from seeking them out despite the warnings. Experts say that even if someone receives a positive antibody test, it is unclear whether this proves immunity. And even if it does, the immunity may be only temporary. So the best thing to do is wait. Read more about antibody tests from Cynthia Dizikes. More: Bay Area babys case may be first that links COVID-19 to Kawasaki disease. Questions raised about Gov. Newsoms claims that the first coronavirus community transmission came from nail salon. Bay Area cities face budget crises The economic standstill brought on by the pandemic has been financially painful for Bay Area cities of all sizes. Income from tourism and parking, sales tax revenue and hotel tax receipts have plunged, and experts estimate that California cities might lose $7 billion in revenue. This may force cities to institute hiring freezes and furloughs, put capital projects on hold, and cut public programs. Not all cities are created equal, though. Read more about where each Bay Area city stands financially, and what potential cuts might be made. More: Legislation to combat Californias housing shortage may take lower priority as lawmakers figure out how to prevent mass evictions and foreclosures. A big blow, especially for low-income patients Noah Berger / Special to The Chronicle Since the shelter-in-place orders took hold in mid-March, San Francisco General Hospital has lost $20 million, while Alameda Health System has bled $22 million. Stanford Health Care had expected to bring in $300 million this year but now expects to merely break even. The coronavirus outbreak is costing Bay Area hospital systems millions and dealing a huge financial blow, even as federal stimulus money flows in and lucrative surgeries slowly return. We have taken organizations, some of whom have had financial strength, and run them to the brink, said Carmela Coyle, president of the California Hospital Association. Were likely to see more bankruptcies and more financial challenges. Read more by Mallory Moench. Also: Californias method of reporting coronavirus cases at its skilled nursing facilities paints confusing picture. S.F. General Hospital sends more psych patients to troubled ER for coronavirus tests. Dems switch gears Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Arizona was supposed to become the new Nevada a nearby state California Democrats were hoping to flip from red to blue. Caravans from California had already started. Arizona Democrats were looking forward to the extra canvassers to help capture a battleground state that President Trump won in 2016 and where Republicans have a narrow hold on the state Legislature. But the pandemic dashed those plans, sidelining a political army that could provide Arizona Dems with a powerful way to persuade voters to support them: face-to-face campaigning. Joe Garofoli examines the political landscape in Arizona. Read more here. Also: California congressional election a sign of whats to come? Not so fast. All California voters will get mail ballots to protect against the coronavirus. Around the Bay The Chronicle 1919 Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Anti-mask sentiment a century ago: Spanish flu mask slackers in San Francisco were hauled to court, and one was even shot during the 1918 epidemic. Myths busted: A UCSF medical student organized 25 of her fellow classmates to build a COVID-19 fact-checking website that is translated into seven languages. Ians gone: Heather Knight writes about Ian Carrier, a homeless man who was suffering several ailments and released from the hospital to the Tenderloins streets, where he died. Too far in a time of need: Hospital chaplains adjust to providing remote spiritual and emotional care to ailing patients and health care workers. A different experience: Justin Phillips reflects on what the black barbershop experience may be when, and if, the businesses reopen. Shark attack victim: Man killed at Sand Dollar Beach was a fixture in Santa Cruz surfing community. Tesla founder gets testy: Elon Musk threatens to move electric car manufacturing out of California. The DMV and the coronavirus: How to renew your drivers license or vehicle registration. Speedy gig: Contractor finishes S.F. freeway project early, pockets $8 million. Chronicle Food Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Like many entrepreneurs, Juan and Miriam Puentes worked hard for many years to make their dreams come true. They were able to buy their own ranch and plant a vineyard after a decade of running their wine label, Honrama Cellars. But the pandemic has turned their success into worry and uncertainty. Whos going to give us a loan? Juan wondered. Are we going to lose this beautiful place? The many smaller wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties that produce 5,000 or fewer cases a year are expected to lose nearly 60% of revenue in 2020, much more than predicted for their larger counterparts. Esther Mobley tells the story of the family and what challenges are ahead for many others. More: A second wave of the food truck trend might help put restaurant employees back to work. Perfect takeout can be found in these juicy Nepalese momos and affordable chirashi bowls. Bay Briefing is edited by Taylor Kate Brown and sent to readers email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here, and contact Brown at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com. TimeNorfolk are running a training course in 2022 for people interested in volunteering as a practitioner supporting the charity's clients. TimeNorfolk are running a training course in 2022 for people interested in volunteering as a practitioner supporting the charity's clients. Monthly teaching mornings resume online The Way of The Spirit Norwich begins a new cycle of monthly teaching mornings, starting on zoom on Saturday October 9, packed with the Bible and life! Read more Norfolk churches partner with Acts 435 to restore faith Acts 435 offers a fresh way for churches to respond to practical needs and at the same time restore faith in people. Read more Suicide prevention training on offer in Norfolk Norfolk and Waveney Mind is providing free QPR gatekeeper training for Suicide Prevention which is well suited to anyone working or volunteering in churches in this region. Read more Free online training offer to reach East Asians OMF (UK) are offering a free online training course to churches and individuals who are interested in reaching East Asians with the gospel, across the street or across world. Read more Two fresh courses begin at The Way of the Spirit The Way of the Spirit is launching two new Zoom courses, on Revelation and teaching the Bible. Read more New podcast to cover whole of Gods great story A new free online podcast promises to cover 'The Adventure of God's Grand Story' over 18 weeks, starting on Monday April 27. Course leader Rev Matthew Hutton, from St Barnabas (part of St Thomas Norwich), explains. Read more WOTS team's life-changing five days in Congo In early March, Richard George, Director of Norfolk-based The Way of the Spirit, led a team of five to run the first The Way of the Spirit conference in the DR Congo, just as coronavirus was beginning to dominate the news bulletins. Read more Who Cares Mission offers evangelism training day Who Cares Mission will be organising a training event in March for anyone who wants to share the Gospel with their community. Read more YMCA Norfolk takes ownership of E-Learning Service YMCA Norfolk has taken ownership of the E-learning Service which provides online education to help pupils reintegrate back into school or continue with exams. Read more Free ministry tools available from Connect4Life Connect4Life is celebrating its ten year anniversary by launching two new free initiatives; a video series to help people dealing with major life challenges and resources to equip people to connect with God in everyday life Read more Norwich Christian project runs course for girls Norwich Christian youth project ENYP is offering a creative course for girls aged 11 - 18 to help build their self esteem. Read more Bible training college moves from Norfolk to Uganda Last week The Way of the Spirit Bible college moved out of its Norfolk base at Framingham Earl Hall, near Norwich, after seven blessed years and into a new permanent base in Uganda. Read more Norfolk Christian group launches online shop Call to Prayer has launched an online shop where booklets, CDs and DVDs of Bible teaching from the group are available to buy online for the first time. Read more South Norfolk Bible school has worldwide links The Way of the Spirit, runs a range of Bible teaching and training course from its base in South Norfolk, with links across the world. Read more Church sound engineers rock in Norwich 2015: The most complex job in church on a Sunday morning is sound engineer. And the most important part of the sound engineers job is not working the mixing desk. Ian Boughton reports. Read more Norwich told of keys to community engagement 2013: Spiritual passion combined with professional excellence is the key to successful management of community engagement projects for churches and Christian organisations, a Tearfund-led training day in Norwich heard last Friday Read more Norwich Christian learning centre offers courses 2011: Quilting, poetry, church history the diverse courses run by the Norwich Centre for Christian Learning are attracting people from across East Anglia. Read more Dr Gabriel Scally, President of the Public Health section of the Royal Society of Medicine and author of the Scally report into the CervicalCheck service, has said there is a real need for North/South dialogue about Covid-19 testing and the need for travel restrictions. Dr Scally told RTE radios Today programme that Ireland has an opportunity to get down to zero cases, but that cannot happen with new cases coming into the country through air ports and ferry ports. Ireland and the UK have one of the few borders where there is no restriction and he would be in favour of restrictions, he added. There needs to be serious dialogue between the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Minister for Health Simon Harris. There is already a memorandum of agreement in place, it now needs to be implemented. Now is the time for those discussions to take place. Dr Scally said that anyone coming onto the island of Ireland should be met by public health officials to be questioned, to have their temperature taken, for a risk assessment to be taken and then if there are concerns, to be taken into quarantine. He pointed out that there is no community testing in the UK so it is not known where there are high levels of the virus. As a result of this contact tracing was impossible and this was putting the population of both islands at risk. Dr Scally said he hoped that a programme could be agreed to protect the whole of the island of Ireland. He described comments by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the lifting of restrictions and returning to work as a confusing message and said that he had been shocked by them. As a public health official, he thought Mr Johnsons comments were pretty dangerous. When asked about the temporary suspension of mammograms and cervical cancer screening programmes, Dr Scally said he understood why they could not go ahead because of social distancing and the intimate nature of such examinations. However, he said he would be concerned about women who needed smears on clinical grounds and when the service resumed, they needed to be prioritised. Screening programmes needed to prepare to recommence and while he did not think they would be able to catch up they needed to start up where they left off. MORRISTOWN, N.J., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ProSight Global, Inc. (NYSE: PROS) (ProSight) today reported results for the first quarter of 2020. Highlights for the three months ended March 31, 2020 include: Strong underwriting income with limited impact from COVID-19 on underwriting results. Combined ratio of 97.8% compared to 98.2% for the first quarter of 2019. Gross written premiums ("GWP") for our customer segments (2) increased 7.7%, to $212.3 million compared to the first quarter of 2019, with growth across all customer segments except Transportation. Loss ratio of 62.0% compared to 60.5% for the first quarter of 2019 with no catastrophe losses in 2019 and COVID-19 as the only potential catastrophe thus far in 2020. Current accident year loss picks consider the uncertainty associated with newer niches as well as COVID-19. Expense ratio of 35.8% compared to 37.7% for the first quarter of 2019. The current quarter includes $1.0 million , or 0.5%, for current expected credit losses ("CECL") related to the potential impact of COVID-19 on premiums receivable. Net income and adjusted operating income were adversely impacted by the credit market reaction to COVID-19, which resulted in net investment income ("NII") of $8.8 million . This is a decrease of $8.4 million , or 48.6%, compared to the first quarter of 2019, and is due to unrealized losses in fixed income limited partnerships. Excluding these unrealized losses, NII was essentially flat with prior year. Investment results are not reported on a lag. The impact of COVID-19-related investment valuations in March is reflected in our first quarter results. Fully diluted book value per share ("BVPS") of $10.73 compared to $12.01 at December 31, 2019 , reflecting significant mark-to-market unrealized losses in the quarter. As of April 30, 2020 , we have seen an improvement in unrealized investment positions and a related estimated book value increase of $37.0 million , or $0.81 per fully diluted share. Annualized return on equity ("ROE") of 5.3% and adjusted operating ROE(3) of 6.2% compared to 13.4% and 13.3%, respectively, for the first quarter of 2019 with the decline primarily attributable to the unrealized losses in our fixed income limited partnerships. From CEO & President Larry Hannon: "Our thoughts are with all of those affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as healthcare professionals, first responders and those who sacrifice for others on a daily basis. I am proud of our team's leadership and initiative, having transitioned successfully to a 100% remote work environment that balanced the health and safety of our employees with our obligations to our customers and distribution partners. Our colleagues continue to work closely with our insureds and distribution partners as we navigate what will likely be one of the largest insured events in history. "I am pleased with our strong underwriting results in the quarter and the early outreach to our insureds which resulted in helpful solutions for those most impacted by COVID-19. We reacted quickly as the impact of COVID-19 became apparent and worked with our affected insureds, niche by niche, to right size their on-going premiums to reflect what was happening in real time to their exposure. "On the asset side of our balance sheet, our investment portfolio is high quality and liquid, with no exposure to public equity, private equity, CLO equity, or venture capital. Over the last two quarters we repositioned the portfolio to a higher average credit quality. While our first quarter results reflect the dislocation in the fixed income markets, they do not reflect the benefits of spread tightening that has taken place so far in the second quarter." Outlook: "Looking at the second quarter and balance of 2020, there is a great deal of uncertainty from an economic and legislative perspective and COVID-19 will likely be among the largest loss events in insurance history. While it is not our normal practice to give guidance, we believe the unprecedented nature of current events warrant sharing aspects of our latest expectations to enable our stakeholders to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on our business. These guideposts represent our best estimates as of today assuming a sluggish economic recovery that begins to take hold in Q3 and are likely to evolve as conditions change." Customer Segment (2) Gross Written Premium : 10-20% decline from 2019, with the most significant COVID-19 impact expected in Q2. This excludes the decline from the previously announced exit from excess workers compensation. : 10-20% decline from 2019, with the most significant COVID-19 impact expected in Q2. This excludes the decline from the previously announced exit from excess workers compensation. Net Loss Ratio: Potential for up to a 3-point increase from COVID-19 related claims and expenses in the current accident year loss ratio. Potential for up to a 3-point increase from COVID-19 related claims and expenses in the current accident year loss ratio. Expenses: Potentially higher costs from bad debt provisioning given state-mandated deferrals of collections and the impact of COVID-19 on some of our insureds. Potentially higher costs from bad debt provisioning given state-mandated deferrals of collections and the impact of COVID-19 on some of our insureds. Net Investment Income: We expect our fixed income portfolio, excluding limited partnerships, to yield approximately 3% for 2020. Net investment income volatility for the remainder of 2020 remains possible from our limited partnership investments. "Our longer-term objectives of a 62% loss ratio and two hundred basis-point expense ratio reduction over the next three years remains appropriate based on what we know about our business today. Our team continues to execute on all the activities that underpin these metrics and we will revisit them accordingly if we determine that COVID-19 is going to have a longer-term impact on our top line. "We remain close to our customers and expect to emerge from this crisis in a position of strength, able to continue delivering differentiated, valuable solutions for them. We have an active pipeline of potential new niches. We continue to manage expenses in a fashion that allows us to fund incremental investments in talent and technology at a pace more than offset by efficiency gains. In sum, our niche strategy, exclusive distribution arrangements, careful exposure management, and timely execution leave us well positioned today and set the stage for profitable growth as we exit 2020 and capitalize on opportunities to assume risk at rates and terms that reflect the value we provide." Results of Operations for the three months ended March 31, 2020: Net income from continuing operations was $6.8 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2020 compared to $13.7 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2019. Adjusted operating income (1) was $8.0 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2020 compared to $13.6 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2019. GWP including Other (2), decreased 16.4% for the first quarter of 2020 when compared to the first quarter of 2019. GWP (2) from customer segments was $212.3 million for the first quarter of 2020 compared to $197.1 million for the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 7.7%. The growth was largest within the Marine and Energy, Real Estate and Consumer Services customer segments. Other GWP (2) were $1.5 million for the first quarter of 2020 compared to $58.7 million for the first quarter of 2019, the decrease driven by the exit from excess workers' compensation. Underwriting income (1) was $4.5 million for the first quarter of 2020 compared to $3.5 million for the first quarter of 2019. The combined ratio for the first quarter of 2020 was 97.8% compared to 98.2% for the first quarter of 2019. The increase in underwriting income (1) was due to changes in: The expense ratio of 35.8% for the first quarter of 2020 compared to 37.7% in the first quarter of 2019. The policy acquisition expense ratio of 22.8% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 23.8% in the first quarter of 2019 and general & administrative expense ratio of 13.0% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 13.9% in the first quarter of 2019. General & administrative expenses in the first quarter of 2020 includes $1.0 million of additional expense for an increase to our credit allowance against premium receivables due to COVID-19. Offset by an increase in the loss ratio of 62.0% for the first quarter of 2020 compared to 60.5% for the first quarter of 2019. The loss ratio for the first quarter of 2020 included a current accident year loss ratio of 61.9% compared to a current accident year loss ratio of 60.7% in the first quarter of 2019. The loss ratio for the first quarter of 2020 included $0.2 million (0.1 percentage points) of unfavorable prior accident year loss development compared to $0.4 million (0.2 percentage points) of favorable prior accident year loss development in the first quarter of 2019. Net investment income decreased by 48.6% to $8.8 million for the first quarter of 2020, from $17.2 million for the first quarter of 2019. The decrease in net investment income was driven by the mark-to-market unrealized loss on our limited partnership investments of $8.2 million. The effects of the economic downturn in March are reflected in our first quarter financial results as we do not account for our limited partnership investments on a lag. In the month of April, our investment in limited partnerships valuation rebounded by $3.0 million due to improving market conditions during the month. Excluding the mark-to-market valuation adjustment on limited partnerships, the net annualized yield on average invested assets at book value was 3.0% for the first quarter of 2020. Realized investment gains, net, for the first quarter of 2020 were $0.2 million compared to $0.1 million for the first quarter of 2019 and include an increase to our credit loss allowance of $0.4 million. Total stockholders' equity was $488.1 million as of March 31, 2020, compared to $543.0 million as of December 31, 2019. Tangible stockholders' equity (4) was $458.9 million as of March 31, 2020, compared $513.8 million as of December 31, 2019. The decreases in total stockholders' equity and tangible stockholders' equity (4) were driven by a decrease in other comprehensive income of $61.4 million, driven by net unrealized losses on investment securities. As of April 30, 2020, our unrealized loss position, net of tax, improved by $37.0 million due to improved credit market conditions during the month. Fully diluted book value per share contracted by 10.7% to $10.73 at March 31, 2020, compared to $12.01 at December 31, 2019. Fully diluted tangible book value per share (4) decreased by 11.3% to $10.09 at March 31, 2020, compared to $11.37 at December 31, 2019. (1). Adjusted operating income and underwriting income are non-GAAP measures. See "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures". (2). Total GWP for the first quarter of 2020 including Other were $213.8 million. Other includes GWP from certain niches that are no longer part of our customer segments. "Other" includes GWP from (i) primary and excess workers' compensation coverage for exited Self-Insured Groups (ii) niches exited prior to 2019, many with a concentration in commercial auto, (iii) certain fronting arrangements in which all premium written is ceded to a third party, (iv) participation in industry pools, and (v) emerging new business. (3). Return on equity is net income from continuing operations expressed on an annualized basis as a percentage of average beginning and ending stockholders' equity during the period. Adjusted operating return on equity is a non-GAAP measure. Adjusted operating return on equity is adjusted operating income expressed on an annualized basis as a percentage of average beginning and ending stockholders' equity during the period. (4). Tangible stockholders' equity and fully diluted tangible book value per share are non-GAAP measures. Tangible stockholders' equity is total common stockholders' equity excluding the value of goodwill and other intangible assets. Fully diluted tangible book value per share is total common stockholders' equity excluding value of goodwill and other intangible assets divided by the number of common shares outstanding, unvested restricted shares and vested not issued shares. See "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures". Conference Call As previously announced, on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. EST, ProSight senior management will host a conference call to discuss first quarter 2020 financial results. The call will be available via webcast at https://investors.prosightspecialty.com/ or by dialing (833) 968-2180 (within the United States) or (825) 312-2110 (international), using the passcode 9993174. A replay of the call will be available at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12, 2020, until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, 2020, and can be accessed by dialing (800) 585-8367 or (416) 621-4642, using the passcode 9993174. The webcast will be available one hour after the call concludes and will be archived on our website for one year. About ProSight Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, ProSight Global, Inc. is an innovative property and casualty insurance company that designs unique insurance solutions to help customers improve their business and realize value from their insurance purchasing decision. The company focuses on select niche industries, deploying differentiated underwriting and claims expertise with the goal of enhancing each customer's operating performance. ProSight's products are sold through a limited and select group of retail and wholesale distribution partners. Each of ProSight's regulated insurance company subsidiaries are rated "A-" (Excellent) by A.M. Best. ProSight's shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") under the ticker symbol PROS. To learn more about ProSight visit www.prosightspecialty.com. Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements relating to future developments in ProSight's business or expectations for ProSight's future financial performance and any statement not involving a historical fact. Forward-looking statements use words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plan," "should," "seek," "continue," and other words and terms of similar meaning. ProSight's management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the time made. However, caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such statements speak only as of the date when made. Except as required by law, ProSight undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, the following: performance of, and our relationships with, third-party agents and vendors on which we rely to distribute certain business on our behalf, adequacy of our loss reserves including as a result of changes in the legal, regulatory, and economic environments in which the Company operates or the impacts of COVID-19, judicial, legislative, regulatory and other governmental developments, including in response to COVID-19, litigation tactics and developments, the effects of natural and man-made catastrophic events, the availability and affordability of reinsurance, changes in the business, financial condition or results of operations of the entities in which we invest, infection rates and severity and duration of pandemics, including COVID-19, and their direct and indirect effects on our investments, business operations, customers (including claims activity) and third parties, as well as management's response to these factors. ProSight cautions you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or outcomes and that actual performance and outcomes may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in this release. For a discussion of some of the risks and important factors that could affect ProSight's future results and financial condition, see our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including, but not limited to, the risks and uncertainties included under the captions "Risk Factors" in ProSight's Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the period ended December 31, 2019 filed on March 10, 2020, as updated by ProSight's periodic filings with the SEC. References to "we," "us," "our," the "Company" and "ProSight", refer to ProSight Global, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. Reorganization ProSight was incorporated in Delaware in 2010. Prior to July 25, 2019, ProSight was a wholly-owned subsidiary of ProSight Global Holdings Limited ("PGHL"), a Bermuda holding company. Effective July 25, 2019, PGHL merged with and into ProSight, with ProSight surviving the merger. As a result of the merger, all shares of PGHL then outstanding were converted into the right to receive, without interest, 6.46 shares of ProSight for each share of PGHL. The historical share and per share figures contained in this release relating to periods prior to and including June 30, 2019 have been restated to give effect to this conversion, including reclassifying an amount equal to the change in value of common stock to additional paid-in capital, as of the stated period or date. Further details regarding this merger and related reorganization transactions are included in ProSight's Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the period ended December 31, 2019 filed on March 10, 2020. Non-GAAP Financial Measures In presenting ProSight Global, Inc.'s results, management has included financial measures that are not calculated under standards or rules that comprise of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). Such measures, including underwriting income, adjusted operating income, adjusted operating return on equity, adjusted operating return on tangible equity, adjusted loss excluding WAQS, adjusted expense ratio excluding WAQS, adjusted combined ratio excluding WAQS, tangible stockholders' equity, tangible book value per share and fully diluted tangible book value per share are referred to as non-GAAP measures. These non-GAAP measures may be defined or calculated differently by other companies. These measures should not be viewed as a substitute for those measures determined in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP figures are included at the end of this press release. PROSIGHT GLOBAL, INC. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (UNAUDITED) ($ in thousands, except per share amounts) March 31 December 31 2020 2019 Assets Investments: Fixed maturity securities, available-for-sale at fair value (amortized cost $2,038,469 in 2020 and $1,999,403 in 2019, allowance for credit losses $(416) in 2020 and $0 in 2019) $ 2,002,420 $ 2,040,682 Commercial levered loans at amortized cost (fair value $12,246 in 2020 and $13,950 in 2019) 13,725 14,069 Non-redeemable preferred stock securities at fair value (amortized cost $11,669 in 2020 and $0 in 2019) 11,378 Limited partnerships and limited liability companies at fair value (cost $67,445 in 2020 and $62,226 in 2019) 65,011 66,660 Short-term investments 19,229 43,873 Total investments 2,111,763 2,165,284 Cash and cash equivalents 43,141 17,284 Restricted cash 8,786 10,213 Accrued investment income 13,812 13,610 Premiums and other receivables, net 156,241 190,004 Receivable from reinsurers on paid losses, net 4,876 3,481 Reinsurance receivables on unpaid losses, net 156,866 193,952 Deferred policy acquisition costs 99,842 98,812 Prepaid reinsurance premiums 40,383 42,861 Net deferred income taxes 20,598 4,803 Goodwill and net intangible assets 29,181 29,189 Fixed assets and capitalized software, net 36,313 37,167 Funds withheld related to sale of affiliate 19,529 19,453 Other assets 21,615 29,537 Assets of discontinued operations 23,342 21,584 Total assets $ 2,786,288 $ 2,877,234 Liabilities Reserve for unpaid losses and loss adjustment expenses $ 1,545,799 $ 1,521,648 Reserve for unearned premiums 468,486 483,223 Ceded reinsurance payable 13,148 17,768 Notes payable, net of debt issuance costs 164,778 164,693 Funds held under reinsurance agreements 23,374 58,855 Other liabilities 48,843 56,438 Liabilities of discontinued operations 33,758 31,578 Total liabilities 2,298,186 2,334,203 Stockholders' equity Preferred stock, $0.01 par value; 50,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding Common stock, $0.01 par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized; 43,355,319 and 43,071,186 shares issued, 43,342,399 and 43,058,266 shares outstanding in 2020 and 2019, respectively 433 431 Paid-in capital 661,203 661,761 Accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income (23,988) 37,453 Retained deficit (149,346) (156,414) Treasury shares - at cost (12,920 shares) (200) (200) Total stockholders' equity 488,102 543,031 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 2,786,288 $ 2,877,234 PROSIGHT GLOBAL, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (UNAUDITED) ($ in thousands) Three Months Ended March 31 2020 2019 Gross written premiums $ 213,784 $ 255,838 Revenues: Net earned premiums 205,662 195,608 Net investment income 8,815 17,158 Realized investment gains, net 232 113 Other income 112 93 Total revenues 214,821 212,972 Expenses: Net losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred 127,557 118,333 Policy acquisition expenses 46,986 46,573 General and administrative expenses 26,637 27,194 Interest expense 3,105 3,362 Other expense 1,737 Total expenses 206,022 195,462 Income from continuing operations before income taxes 8,799 17,510 Income tax provision: Current 1,631 141 Deferred 357 3,674 Total income tax expense 1,988 3,815 Net income from continuing operations 6,811 13,695 Discontinued operations: Net income (loss) from discontinued operations 257 (255) Net income $ 7,068 $ 13,440 Return on equity (1) 5.3 % 13.4 % Adjusted operating income (2) $ 7,976 $ 13,582 Adjusted operating return on equity (3) 6.2 % 13.3 % (1). Return on equity is net income from continuing operations expressed on an annualized basis as a percentage of average beginning and ending stockholders' equity during the period. (2). Adjusted operating income is a non-GAAP measure. See "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures". (3). Adjusted operating return on equity is a non-GAAP measure. Adjusted operating return on equity is adjusted operating income expressed on an annualized basis as a percentage of average beginning and ending stockholders' equity during the period. PROSIGHT GLOBAL, INC. FACTORS AFFECTING THE RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (WAQS) (UNAUDITED) ($ in thousands) Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 Including Effect of Excluding Including Effect of Excluding WAQS WAQS WAQS WAQS WAQS WAQS Gross written premiums $ 213,784 $ $ 213,784 $ 255,838 $ $ 255,838 Ceded written premiums (23,601) (23,601) (45,936) (45,936) Net written premiums $ 190,183 $ $ 190,183 $ 209,902 $ $ 209,902 Net retention(1) 89.0 % 89.0 % 82.0 % 82.0 % Net earned premiums $ 205,662 $ $ 205,662 $ 195,608 $ $ 195,608 Losses and LAE 127,557 127,557 118,333 118,333 Underwriting, acquisition and insurance expenses 73,623 73,623 73,767 73,767 Underwriting income (2) $ 4,482 $ $ 4,482 $ 3,508 $ $ 3,508 Loss and LAE ratio 62.0 % 60.5 % Expense ratio 35.8 % 37.7 % Combined ratio 97.8 % 98.2 % Adjusted loss and LAE ratio(3) 62.0 % 60.5 % Adjusted expense ratio(3) 35.8 % 37.7 % Adjusted combined ratio(3) 97.8 % 98.2 % Effect of prior year reserve development unfavorable/(favorable) (4) $ 198 $ $ 198 $ (395) $ $ (395) (1). Net retention is a non-GAAP measure. We define net retention as the ratio of net written premiums to gross written premiums. (2). Underwriting income is a non-GAAP measure. See "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures". (3). Adjusted loss ratio and adjusted expense ratio are non-GAAP financial measures. We define adjusted loss ratio and adjusted expense ratio as the corresponding ratio excluding the effects of the WAQS. We use these adjusted ratios as internal performance measures in the management of our operations because we believe they give our management and other users of our financial information useful insight into our results of operations and our underlying business performance. Our adjusted loss and LAE ratio, adjusted expense ratio and adjusted combined ratio should not be viewed as substitutes for our loss and LAE ratio, expense ratio and combined ratio, respectively (4) The effect of prior year reserve development is included within losses and LAE. PROSIGHT GLOBAL, INC. SUPPLEMENTARY UNDERWRITING INFORMATION (UNAUDITED) ($ in thousands) Three Months Ended March 31 2020 2019 Gross written premiums $ 213,784 $ 255,838 Net written premiums 190,183 209,902 Net earned premiums 205,662 195,608 Net losses and LAE 127,557 118,333 Catastrophe loss and LAE Unfavorable/(favorable) prior year reserve development 198 (395) Underwriting, acquisition, and insurance expenses 73,623 73,767 Policy acquisition expenses 46,986 46,573 General and administrative expenses 26,637 27,194 Underwriting income $ 4,482 $ 3,508 Underwriting ratios Ex-cat current accident year loss and LAE ratio 61.9 % 60.7 % Catastrophe loss and LAE ratio % % Unfavorable/(favorable) prior year reserve development ratio 0.1 % (0.2) % Loss and LAE ratio 62.0 % 60.5 % Policy acquisition expense ratio 22.8 % 23.8 % General and administrative expense ratio 13.0 % 13.9 % Expense ratio 35.8 % 37.7 % Combined ratio 97.8 % 98.2 % PROSIGHT GLOBAL, INC. SHARE AND PER SHARE INFORMATION (UNAUDITED) March 31 December 31 2020 2019 Shares outstanding 43,342,399 43,058,266 Fully diluted shares outstanding 45,500,600 45,196,716 Book value per share(1) $ 11.26 $ 12.61 Book value per share (fully diluted)(1) $ 10.73 $ 12.01 Tangible book value per share(1) $ 10.59 $ 11.93 Tangible book value per share (fully diluted)(1) $ 10.09 $ 11.37 Three Months Ended March 31 (share amounts in thousands) 2020 2019 Weighted average basic shares outstanding 43,910 38,851 Weighted average diluted shares outstanding 44,274 39,455 Earnings per share - basic: Net income from continuing operations $ 0.16 $ 0.35 Adjusted operating income(2) $ 0.18 $ 0.35 Earnings per share - diluted: Net income from continuing operations $ 0.15 $ 0.35 Adjusted operating income(2) $ 0.18 $ 0.34 Adjusted operating return on equity ("ROE") (3) 6.2 % 13.3 % Adjusted operating return on tangible equity ("ROTE")(3) 6.6 % 14.3 % (1). Book value per share is total common stockholders' equity divided by the number of common shares outstanding. Fully diluted book value per share is total common stockholders' equity divided by the number of common shares outstanding, unvested restricted shares and vested non issued shares. Tangible book value per share and fully diluted tangible book value per share are non-GAAP measures. Tangible book value per share is total common stockholders' equity excluding value of goodwill and other intangible assets divided by the number of common shares outstanding. Fully diluted tangible book value per share is total common stockholders' equity excluding the after-tax value of goodwill and other intangible assets divided by the number of common shares outstanding, unvested restricted shares, and vested not issued shares. See "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures". (2). Adjusted operating income is a non-GAAP measure. See "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures". (3). Adjusted operating return on equity and adjusted operating return on tangible equity are non-GAAP measures. Adjusted operating return on equity is adjusted operating income expressed on an annualized basis as a percentage of average beginning and ending stockholders' equity during the period. Adjusted operating return on tangible equity is adjusted operating income expressed on an annualized basis as a percentage of average beginning and ending stockholders' equity, excluding goodwill and other intangible assets, during the period. PROSIGHT GLOBAL, INC. GROSS WRITTEN PREMIUM BY CUSTOMER SEGMENT (UNAUDITED) ($ in millions) Three Months Ended March 31 2020 2019 % Change Construction $ 24.5 $ 23.3 5.2 % Consumer Services 30.6 27.5 11.3 Marine and Energy 32.8 19.8 65.7 Media and Entertainment 30.5 29.7 2.7 Professional Services 29.7 29.6 0.3 Real Estate 33.2 28.7 15.7 Sports 9.5 7.8 21.8 Transportation 21.5 30.7 (30.0) Customer segments subtotal 212.3 197.1 7.7 Other 1.5 58.7 (97.4) Total $ 213.8 $ 255.8 (16.4) % Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures Underwriting income is a non-GAAP financial measure that we believe is useful in evaluating our underwriting performance without regard to investment income. Underwriting income represents the pre-tax profitability of our insurance operations and is derived by subtracting losses and LAE, and underwriting, acquisition and insurance expenses from net earned premiums. We use underwriting income as an internal performance measure in the management of our operations because we believe it gives us and users of our financial information useful insight into our results of operations and our underlying business performance. Underwriting income should not be considered in isolation or viewed as a substitute for net income calculated in accordance with GAAP. Other companies may calculate underwriting income differently. Net income for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 reconciles to underwriting income as follows: Three Months Ended March 31 ($ in thousands) 2020 2019 Net income from continuing operations $ 6,811 $ 13,695 Income tax expense 1,988 3,815 Income from continuing operations before taxes 8,799 17,510 Net investment income 8,815 17,158 Realized investment gains, net 232 113 Interest and other expense, net 4,730 3,269 Underwriting income $ 4,482 $ 3,508 Adjusted operating income is a non-GAAP financial measure that we use as an internal performance measure in the management of our operations because we believe it gives our management and other users of our financial information useful insight into our results of operations and underlying business performance, by excluding items that are not part of our underlying profitability drivers or likely to re-occur in the foreseeable future. Adjusted operating income should not be considered in isolation or viewed as a substitute for net income calculated in accordance with GAAP. Other companies may calculate adjusted operating income differently. Net income for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 reconciles to adjusted operating income as follows: Three Months Ended March 31 ($ in thousands) 2020 2019 Net income from continuing operations $ 6,811 $ 13,695 Income tax expense 1,988 3,815 Income from continuing operations before taxes 8,799 17,510 Other expense (1) 1,737 Realized investment gains, net (232) (113) Adjusted operating income before taxes 10,304 17,397 Less: income tax expense on adjusted operating income 2,328 3,815 Adjusted operating income $ 7,976 $ 13,582 (1) Other expense within the adjusted operating income includes non-recurring grants of restricted stock units in connection with the initial public offering and costs associated with the transition of our former Chief Executive Officer. Tangible stockholders' equity is a non-GAAP financial measure that we use as an internal performance measure to evaluate the strength of our balance sheet and to compare returns relative to this measure. We define tangible stockholders' equity as stockholders' equity less goodwill and net intangible assets. Tangible stockholders' equity should not be considered in isolation or viewed as a substitute for stockholders' equity calculated in accordance with GAAP. Other companies may calculate tangible stockholders' equity differently. Stockholders' equity at March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 reconciles to tangible stockholders' equity as follows: March 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 ($ in thousands except per share amounts) Stockholders' equity $ 488,102 $ 543,031 Less: goodwill and net intangible assets 29,181 29,189 Tangible stockholders' equity $ 458,921 $ 513,842 Book value per share $ 11.26 $ 12.61 Book value per share (fully diluted) $ 10.73 $ 12.01 Tangible book value per share $ 10.59 $ 11.93 Tangible book value per share (fully diluted) $ 10.09 $ 11.37 SOURCE ProSight Global, Inc. Two government research bodies at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus are in the process of initiating a population-based serosurvey to monitor the trend in prevalence of the infection at the district level, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. The Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Centre for Disease Control will collaborate with key stakeholders for the survey at 10 health facilities (6 public and 4 private). A serosurvey involves testing of blood serum of a group of individuals to determine the presence of antibodies against that infection. The ministry said in a document uploaded on its website that there is a need to establish systematic surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 infection in all districts of the country. "This surveillance will be in addition to the routine testing as per current testing guidelines," it stated. The survey will include 200 samples a week and 800 samples per month, it said. It would test outpatient attendees (non-ILI patients) and pregnant women among the low-risk group, and health care workers among the high-risk population. At least 100 samples per week and 400 per month of healthcare workers from selected districts would be tested. The document stated that throat/nasal swabs will be collected for RT-PCR tests and samples would be tested in a one-time pool of 25. "Results of this sample pooling is only for surveillance purposes. It should not be used for diagnosis of individual patients. In addition to throat/nasal swabs, blood samples should be collected for detecting IgG antibodies for ELISA testing. In subsequent rounds, IgG ELISA based testing of serum samples will replace RTPCR based testing for surveillance purpose," it said. Data on demographic characteristics will be collected on a specifically designed standard data collection form. The data will be analyzed locally for action using standard indicator formats. Indicators for person, place, time and trend analysis will be made. Data collation and dissemination will take place as decided jointly by ICMR and department of health and family welfare, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Labor, land, capital and entrepreneurship underlie all economic activity, and all four are so profoundly intertwined that when one falters, the others stumble too. Economists refer to these as the factors of production. To understand how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact the economy, all four need examination. More than 30 million people have filed claims for unemployment insurance since our governments began ordering businesses shuttered in March. The world has never seen the labor force contract on such an enormous scale or at such a rapid pace. Unemployment rates will soon reach the mid-teens. The $600 a week federal supplement for workers who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 will help, but the bigger problem is those who do not qualify. They will weigh heavily on the economy. TOMLINSONS TAKE: Abbotts decision to resume business is reasonable given Texas tragic limitations Land value is typically a reflection of a propertys income potential, either from commercial activity or residential use. When companies close, they struggle to pay leases. When people lose jobs, they fall short when the rent or mortgage comes due. Land values of all kinds are in trouble. Americas pessimism shows up in the residential housing market, where new home sales are down 15 percent, and housing starts are down 22 percent, the Census Bureau reports. Construction workers are losing jobs, which contributes to the downward cycle. Fewer people shopping for homes means sellers cut prices. Personal wealth evaporates, and people spend less. Brick-and-mortar stores, already closing due to e-commerce, are creating even larger holes in the retail market. Nieman Marcus, JC Penney and J. Crew are among dozens of retailers considering or filing for bankruptcy. Smart mall owners have been recruiting new kinds of tenants, such as restaurants, movie theaters and gyms. But consumers now avoid those businesses for fear of COVID-19. More than a quarter of Houstons office space is already empty, with an astonishing 61 million square feet of available and another 3.4 million under construction, the Greater Houston Partnership reports. San Antonio has a 10 percent vacancy rate with 1.5 million square feet under construction, according to NAI Partners, a commercial real estate firm. But more companies are moving out than moving in, according to data from the first three months of the year. Office building tenants are also laying off workers or asking many to work from home. Companies desperate to save money will likely shrink their floor space as much as possible. Landlords and banks are doing what they can to help struggling families and businesses. Mortgage companies have given 7 percent of their clients permission to skip a payment. Commercial landlords are providing shuttered businesses breaks on rent. Yet such generosity has long-term effects on property values, according to MSCI, a global financial data analysis firm. When landlords see reduced income from their property, appraisers mark down its value. We often hear that were all in this together, but that goes beyond the risk of disease. We need to remember we also share the same economy, which depends on the flow of capital. The government and the Federal Reserve recognize that unemployment, lost rents and lower property values compound one another to worsen economic recessions. They have injected capital into the markets to prevent a death spiral. President Donald Trump and Congress have authorized $3.6 trillion in spending, while the Federal Reserve has announced $8.6 trillion in financial support. About 95 percent of the money is going to businesses. Stock markets rally on news of every new program because they hope the cash will spur companies to rehire workers, who will pay their rent and buy more stuff. But so far, the unemployment numbers keep climbing, lines at food banks get longer, and the economy keeps shrinking. TOMLINSONS TAKE: Oil collapse signals long-running economic crisis for Texas If the numbers do not turn, we may discover that governments cannot spend their way out of this recession. In some places, the problems are more fundamental. If people do not resume travel, Houstons energy economy will not recover, and San Antonios tourism industry cannot restart. The coronavirus experience is changing businesses and economies in unpredictable ways. Our fourth factor, entrepreneurship, will make the difference. Successful entrepreneurs identify a societal problem and create a business to solve it: the more problems, the more opportunities. As COVID-19 changes our lives and presents new challenges, entrepreneurs will profit from addressing them. The Great Recession led millions to give up wage slavery and open new businesses. Most new companies will need real estate as they grow, hire laborers and build capital. This is, of course, the business cycle. As long as humans survive, we will be in one, and therein lies endless hope and optimism. Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and policy. twitter.com/cltomlinson chris.tomlinson@chron.com Access to public toilets is on a long list of issues that existed before but have been amplified by the pandemic, as even more people are affected and the need is more critical. Public bathrooms are a solution to viral infection, says Lezlie Lowe, author of the recent book, No Place to Go: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs. Ive learned, talking to people during this crisis, and reading on social media, that a lot of people think that public bathrooms are a risk. A place where you catch disease, rather than quash it. Other than following the guidance of public health officials, one thing thats certainly keeping people closer to home is a lack of open and accessible washrooms. When out for a walk, all the usual places to pop into are closed so our roaming radius correlates to individual liquid carrying capacity. Lowe points out that a lack of clean and safe public washrooms, in normal times, profoundly affects homeless populations, but also transgender people, caregivers, Black citizens, people with Crohns, anyone who uses a mobility device, poor people, women a majority of people are negatively affected by poor access Maintenance is important though, and lack of regular cleaning would give anybody the impression theyre a place to avoid. An arborist friend has complained, pre-pandemic, how difficult it is to find a washroom as many home owners his crew is working for will not let them inside to use their precious washrooms. Essential service workers, like truckers, taxi drivers, couriers and other outdoor workers have reported increased difficulty since the pandemic. If you think this doesnt matter to you, think about how many people handle the goods that get to your house or store. You want those people to have access to proper handwashing facilities, right? Yet even in the best of times, finding somewhere to go has been difficult. True public washrooms are rare here: some parks have them, but hours are limited and most are only open for a handful of months a year, as if people dont have to go in the winter. Weve all got a mental map of where the good washrooms are in public buildings and businesses, but lets pray we wont see a return of the filthy washroom-key-on-stick some cafes used. Toronto historian and preservation activist Madeline McDowell has also noticed the problem. There were public washrooms in various parts of the city, she wrote to me in an email. The last ones, located on Keele Street near Dundas in the Junction, were closed around 2001. I objected strongly at that time. Indeed, there are intersections around town like Queen Street and Spadina Avenue where, buried beneath the pavement, there are old public washrooms. Its an odd omission today, as this is a basic human function, and the city relies on humans for its success. There was a big push in the U.K. in the late 19th century to provide washrooms for the public, says Lowe. And part of that was providing public toilets for those who had no or poor access at home, or for the burgeoning numbers of workers who were commuting, by public transit or on foot, and who didnt have the luxury of chamber pots in private carriages, or loos located inside posher businesses. In recent years the city has installed a handful of automated, self-cleaning toilets around town. Often broken, they only serve one at a time and are very slow between uses. Its a big crowded city: think stadium or arena washroom scale as a solution. Places like Union Station are ideal, with a multitude of stalls, bowls and urinals. Ontario Place, in a strange limbo awaiting its provincially dictated fate, was open until the pandemic and had big heated washrooms, an exception that should be the norm all over. Cities need a toilet renaissance. In the short term, the chair of Toronto Public Health, Coun. Joe Cressy, recently announced a series of Sanitation and Washroom Service locations across the city that will provide access to showers, washrooms and drinking water for Torontos vulnerable population, including the homeless. Long term, we need to fund, build and staff substantial all-season washroom facilities in busy parts of the city. Its critical to public health but something that was easy to cut in the past. Lowe suggest cities look to Portand, Oregon, for a relatively cheaper solution that can also help, a standout because of its Portland Loo, an on-street, 24-hour, public bathroom that the city commissioned. They are off-grid, easy to clean, and big enough to fit a bike inside. I love the idea that the Portland Loo incorporates potable water outside the toilet, says Lowe. It allows people to access drinking water easily and promotes hand hygiene. I think in terms of toilet access, I hope this makes municipalities across Canada take note of the dire need among those on the edges of social safety. We need more public bathrooms for everyone. Shawn Micallef is a Toronto-based writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @shawnmicallef Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 19:12:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Photo taken on March 10, 2020, shows U.S. Vice President Mike Pence gesturing as he attends a press conference on the COVID-19 at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) The vice president "will be a low key for the next couple of days." WASHINGTON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has been distancing himself from others, but is not in self-quarantine, after his press secretary tested positive for the coronavirus, an administration official said Sunday. "Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine," Devin O'Malley, the vice president's spokesman, said in a statement. "Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow." The Associated Press and Bloomberg News both used the term "self-isolating" to describe Pence's preventative measure, but NBC News cited a senior official as saying that "Pence's precautions did not amount to self-isolation because there are no restrictions on his schedule." The official added that the vice president "will be a low key for the next couple of days," according to the NBC News report. Pence, who leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is the latest and highest-ranking member of the administration to take restrictive measures to avoid social contact, after President Donald Trump on Friday confirmed that Pence's press secretary, Katie Miller, had tested positive for the coronavirus. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller posts a tweet on May 8, 2020, saying that "I'm doing well and look forward to getting back to work for the American people." (Xinhua) White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany referred to Miller only as a member of Pence's staff when talking about her infection at Friday's news briefing. But Trump called the person in question "a press person" during a meeting with congressional Republicans on the same day, saying "Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time and then all of a sudden today she tested positive." The diagnosis of Miller, 25, delayed Pence's flight Friday morning to Des Moines city in Iowa state, as six staffers disembarked the plane due to close contact with her, according to U.S. media reports. Two journalists were also summoned to the White House for a rapid test. A senior administration official reportedly informed the media, before Miller's identity was revealed, that "the vice president and the president have not had contact with this person recently." In addition to Miller, a personal valet to Trump and an assistant to Ivanka Trump -- the first daughter and Trump's senior adviser -- also had positive tests in recent days, raising concerns about senior administration officials' possible exposure to the contagion. Photo taken on Jan. 29, 2020, shows U.S. President Donald Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner (L) and Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump attending a signing ceremony of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) Trump, who is now undergoing rapid-testing daily for the coronavirus, told reporters Friday that he was "not worried" about the potential transmission of the disease among people close to him, adding that "strong precautions" had been taken in the White House. The staffers' infection has compelled several administration officials tasked with combating the virus to self-quarantine, among them Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn -- three members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. As for other members of the task force, neither Health and Human Services (HSS) Secretary Alex Azar nor U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams plans to self-quarantine as of now. "Secretary Azar will follow the advice of his physicians at the White House Medical Unit," said Caitlin Oakley, HHS spokeswoman. "He has been tested for COVID-19 and the results of the test were negative." A spokesperson for Adams said the surgeon general has not been in contact with "anyone who has tested positive and at this time, has had no known exposure to the virus." As far as precautions are concerned, the spokesperson said he "already participates in most meetings and events virtually, and will continue to do so." A young Italian woman held hostage in eastern Africa for 18 months returned home on Sunday. Silvia Romano, 24, was working as a volunteer for an Italian humanitarian group in Kenya when she was abducted in November 2018 during an attack by gunmen. Wearing a facemask as well as protective gloves and boots due to the coronavirus pandemic, she came back to Italy via a government plane landing at Rome Ciampino airport before being taken to her family home in Milan. Silvia Romano (pictured) smiled as she made her return to Italy after spending 18 months as a hostage in eastern Africa Ms Romano, 24, hugged her mother after coming off an Italian government plane at Rome Ciampino airport Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte (left) was there to greet Ms Romano, who was wearing an African dress, at the airport Ms Romano hugged her mother at the airport and was also greeted by key government officials, including Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who was also wearing a facemask, and the country's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio. Mr Conte thanked the Italian intelligence agents who worked on her release last week in Somalia. Reports in Italy say that the abductors handed her over to Islamic extremist group Al-Shabab, with the Somalian group being deemed responsible for a number of kidnappings in Kenya. On Friday, Ms Romano was taken to the Italian embassay in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, after being freed. She was volunteering with an Italian humanitarian group in Kenya before being abducted in November 2018 by gunmen Ms Romano, who is reported waved towards crowds, which contained friends and acquaintances, from her family's home near Milan Crowds consisting of friends and acquaintances crowded the streets of the Milan neighborhood where the 24-year-old's family lives as Ms Romano greeted them with a wave and blew a kiss from a window. Other reports in Italy say that Ms Romano, who was wearing a green loose-fitted garment over her hair, had converted to Islam while in captivity. The family or Italian officials are yet to comment on this but she is expected to be quizzed by Italy's prosecutors investigating crimes abroad. - Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina launched the herbal tea, named COVID-Organics (CVO), on Monday, April 20, claiming the concoction cured COVID-19 patients - The island country had registered 135 infections of the pandemic as of Saturday, May 2, with zero deaths and 97 recoveries - The World Health Organisation (WHO), however, said there was no proof of a cure for the disease, warning against the widespread use of untested remedies - Our manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in Madagascar has sent its locally made COVID-19 "herbal medicine" to 15 African countries in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). President Andry Rajoelina launched the herbal tea, named COVID-Organics (CVO), on Monday, April 20, claiming the concoction cured COVID-19 patients. READ ALSO: COVID-19 updates: Major highlights from Akufo-Addo's 9th address Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina drinking the herbal tea. Photo: Andry Rajoelina. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Inmates of police cells in Accra test positive for COVID-19 - DCOP Fred Adu-Anim On his Instagram page on Friday, May 1, Rajoelina said the "herbal medicine" would be availed to all coronavirus patients in all friendly countries across the African continent and around the world. "Madagascar and its African brothers are united in the response to the coronavirus. It is with honor that we send these CVO herbal teas to the 15 member countries of ECOWAS through Guinea Bissau," " Madagascar will make Tambavy CVO available to all coronavirus patients in all friendly countries in Africa, in the Indian Ocean and around the world. READ ALSO: Nana Addo lists Ghanaian foods to help fight against COVID-19 Madagascar had registered 135 infections of the pandemic as of Saturday, May 2, with zero deaths. Out of the total cases, 97 of them had recovered according to Worldometers, a real-time statistics website. The herbal medicine developed by Malagasy Institute of Applied Research contains Artemisia- a plant on the Island used in the fight against malaria. However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said there was no proof of a cure for the disease, warning against the widespread use of untested remedies. Madagascar's national medical academy (Anamem) also cast doubt on the efficacy of Rajoelina's touted coronavirus remedy. Countries across the world are coming up with their own vaccines, already some researchers at Oxford University in the UK are developing one and plan to test it in Africa. The United States (US) on the other hand, approved the use of Remdesivir drug saying a study showed it interfered with the replication of some viruses, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the current pandemic. President Akufo-Addo has extended the ban on public gatherings till the end of May | #Yencomgh(opens in new tab) READ ALSO: COVID-19: Govt announces recovery plan for the economy; set to boost productive sectors Want to be featured on YEN.com.gh? Send us a message on our Facebook page or on Instagram with your stories, photos or videos. Source: YEN.com.gh Its not going to be instant. Its not going to be overnight. Its going to take some time for people getting used to it. A lot of people dont feel safe, she said, adding the restaurant has been around for about 34 years. This is all unknown to all of us. Its a whole new way of doing business in the restaurant business. Press Release May 11, 2020 Bong Go urges government to reinforce tech-voc education and skills training programs to aid job-seekers after COVID-19 crisis; says skilled workforce is crucial in developing the countryside Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go emphasized that, in addition to many other government interventions designed to improve the quality of life of Filipinos after the COVID-19 crisis, reinforcing technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programs responsive to the needs of the local economy is also essential in accelerating development in the countryside by giving Filipinos more economic opportunities to bounce back from the current crisis. "Palakasin pa dapat ang mga technical-vocational education and skills training programs natin lalo na sa panahon ngayon. Having an educated and skilled workforce will accelerate development in the countryside and will provide more economic opportunities to Filipinos to help them recover from this crisis," Go stressed. Senator Go urged the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to reinforce their programs in the provinces and make them attuned and updated to the changing business requirements in the countryside. "Pagbalik ng mga tao sa probinsya pagkatapos ng krisis, siguraduhin dapat ng mga ahensya ng gobyerno na may mga programang nakahanda para sa kabuhayan nila. Lalo na ang mga 'tech-voc' o skills training para sa mga Pilipinong gustong matuto o makakuha ng sertipikasyon sa kanilang mga kakayahan para makakuha agad sila ng maayos na trabaho," the Senator said. The Senator also urged TESDA to coordinate its efforts and collaborate with various government agencies, such as the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Economic and Development Authority as well as the local government units, to match skills with the jobs that will be made available in the provinces. "This is to ensure that the technical and vocational education as well as the skills trainings offered in a particular province match with what is needed in that locality." "Naaayon rin ang klase ng kabuhayan sa katangian ng isang probinsya. Halimbawa, doon sa Mindanao, merong mga probinsya na malakas ang agri-industrial sector. Meron namang probinsya na mas akma sa kanila ang fisheries. Kaya mahalaga na ang binibigay na training ay tugma din sa kung ano ang negosyong maaaring lumago sa lugar na iyon," Go said. "Inaasahan din nating magkakaroon ng mga bagong special economic zones sa iba't ibang parte ng bansa kung kaya't dapat lang na ihanda na ang mga tao sa lugar na iyon para maging kwalipikado sila sa mga trabahong magiging available," Go added. As the country's main agency tasked to manage and supervise the technical education and skills development of Filipinos, one of the mandates of TESDA is to integrate, coordinate and monitor skills development programs in different parts of the country. In one of the meetings held for the Balik Probinsya Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) Program, TESDA Director General Isidro Lapena shared that they are aligning their programs and enhancing courses in agriculture, health and construction. Many economists believe that these are the sectors that are expected to bounce back much faster than other industries right after overcoming the COVID-19 outbreak. In another statement through a radio interview, TESDA-NCR regional director Florencio Sunico said that they will do a thorough profiling of workers and industries to help the government in properly assisting Filipinos going back to the provinces as the BP2 Program is set to be implemented. As the proponent of this initiative, Go sees the BP2 Program as a way to decongest Manila, strengthen the capability of government to respond better to crises, and boost the economy of the provinces. The Senator urged the Executive branch, particularly concerned agencies and LGUs, to execute their plans immediately in support of the objectives of the program as more Filipinos have expressed willingness to go home to their provinces after what they experienced during the COVID-19 crisis. "Hindi po ito sapilitan. Unahin dapat ang mga kababayan nating nais na bumalik sa kanilang mga probinsya at tulungan dapat sila ng gobyerno na makakuha ng trabaho o magkaroon ng mas maayos na kabuhayan," Go said adding that the program aims to give Filipinos hope for a better future after the COVID-19 crisis. Last May 6, President Rodrigo Duterte issued Executive Order 114 institutionalizing the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program and creating an inter-agency council to implement and oversee it. National Housing Authority General Manager Marcelino Escalada, Jr. stands as the Executive Director for the implementation of the program. Among others, EO 114 identified various existing government programs as part of the short-term phase, such as transportation and relocation, transitory support, livelihood and employment packages, agri-based support services, and fiscal incentives and transition assistance for small businesses. Indian, Chinese Troops Come to Blows in Ladakh, Injuries Reported Sputnik News 14:33 GMT 10.05.2020 New Delhi (Sputnik): On Saturday, as many as 11 soldiers four Indian and seven Chinese were injured after a tense face-off near the Naku La sector (ahead of Muguthang Valley), a pass at a height of over 5,000 metres in the Sikkim sector. As per officials, the two Asian giants share a 2,400-mile long demarcated border. Sources in the Indian Defence Ministry have confirmed the occurrence of another face-off with Chinese troops after the latter transgressed into Indian territory near Nallah in the Ladakh sector on Sunday morning. "[The] Chinese became physical with Indian personnel to which the Indian Army tried and stop. And, in that, there was a physical brawl. Several soldiers from both sides have sustained injuries", an Indian Defence Ministry official revealed. The issue, he said, has been resolved, but troops on both sides are currently present. "Short and temporary face-offs keep occurring as the boundaries between the two countries are not resolved. However, the troops resolve such issues or matters at a local level and as per the established protocols", the official said, adding that there has been a spike in such encounters over the last few years. Last year, there was massive stone pelting between the two forces near Ladakh, in which dozens of troops were injured. Soldiers from both countries were also involved in a skirmish on 11 September, when Chinese troops objected to the presence of an Indian Army patrol on the northern bank of Pangong Tso Lake. The recent tensions have been heightened along the India-China border since 27 April, after Chinese personnel entered inside the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with a vehicle, but the Indian Army confronted the personnel and the matter was resolved. In northern Sikkim, where two sides were involved in the scuffle, the Indian Armed Forces have lost two helicopters since 7 May, which indicates that there has been increased movement by the Indian side as well. As per official data from the Indian Defence Ministry, the Chinese troops have transgressed into Indian territory as many as 752 times in the last two years. Both nations have accused each other of entering their territories. Just three years ago, in 2017, Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a 2.5-month long standoff after Chinese troops started constructing a road in the Doklam region, which exists as a tri-junction at the border that separates India, Bhutan, and China. A stalemate in relations developed between the two countries over the standoff. The situation normalised only after both sides agreed to disengage in August 2018. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address APC Govs Umar Ganduje and Nasir el-Rufai have fallen out for a while, apparently during the demotion of Kano former Emir Sanusi Lamido whom el-Rufai sympathized with by offering him series of appointment in Kaduna. It was the beginning of a cold war then. Its been heated up a degree or two now. And Covid-19, which has gone wild up north, especially in Kano and among almanjiris all over the north, is the fuel. El-Rufai shipped out to Kano a truckload of the Islamic school kids mopped I Kaduna weeks ago, and a good number of them were already infeted by the time they got to their home state. Ganduje also followed suit. And el-Rufai , according to Kano government, complained as Ganduje also trucked out almanjiris in Kano whose home state is Kaduna. Yes, some of the Almajiri that were brought from other States to Kano State were confirmed positive of the virus, Ganduje said on Sunday. Some of them that were taken to other states were confirmed positive. Plateau, Bauchi, Jigawa, and others have been evacuating these kids to their home states despite the federal government regulation against inter-state travels. The only difference is that Kano State is not playing politics out of it and therefore did not come out to say that the children brought from Bauchi, brought from Plateau or brought from other States have tested positive, said Ganduje. Certainly, what they need is not publicity, what they need is attention because the infection had already taken place. So there is nothing we can do about that. Gov. el-Rufai has been updating his state on the virality of the infection, making a specific point of the almanjiris. French prosecutors have launched an investigation into claims that the former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing sexually assaulted a journalist after an interview in 2018. The investigation follows claims by reporter Ann-Kathrin Stracke, 37, that the former leader of France, 94, who served as president from 1974 until 1981, repeatedly touched her in his Paris office. The journalist for the German public television WDR revealed last week that she had filed charges against the former leader, claiming he had placed his hands on her while they posed for a photograph together in December 2018, when he was 92. She said: 'I decided to tell my story because I think that people should know that a French former president harassed me sexually after an interview.' An investigation has been launched into claims that the former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing sexually assaulted a female journalist Journalist Ann-Kathrin Stracke (pictured), 37, revealed that she had had filed charges against the former French President Ms Stracke, who waived her right to anonymity in the reporting of the sex assault complaint, took her case to Paris prosecutors on March 10 this year, backed by her employer which carried out an independent investigation into her claims. On Monday she said she was pleased to hear of the decision, adding: 'I am, of course, at the disposal of the French authorities in the context of this investigation.' Giscard d'Estaing's lawyer declined to comment. Recalling the interview on December 18, 2018, Stracke said last week that she had asked for a photograph to be taken with Giscard d'Estaing and her colleagues after the interview. 'I was standing to his left, and while taking the photo, he put his hand on my left waist before sliding it to my backside where it stayed,' said Stracke. The interview was on the 100th anniversary of the birth of former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who was a world leader at the same time as Mr Giscard d'Estaing. During the incident, Ms Stracke asked Mr Giscard d'Estaing to pose for a photo with her, and then 'the former president wrapped his arms around her, touched her waist, and placed his hand on her buttock,' the complaint reads. Ms Stracke said: 'Very surprised and disapproving of these attacks which made me extremely uncomfortable, I tried to push back the hand of Mr. Giscard d'Estaing, without however succeeding.' Valery Giscard d'Estaing (pictured in October 2014) served as president from 1974 until 1981 Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing (left) shares a joke with Princess Diana during dinner at the at the Chateau de Versailles in 1994 The first photo was of poor quality, so Ms Stracke posed for another one, and was again touched around the waist and buttocks. 'I felt like he insisted,' she said, claiming that there was a third assault when Mr Giscard d'Estaing touched her bottom again while showing her some photographs. Ms Stracke tried to free her attacker's hand, 'several times and with all my strength,' the complaint reads. As the 'degrading' assault continued, her cameraman then allegedly tried to create a diversion by overturning the lampshade of a lamp located on a sideboard and placing a chair between the ex-president and Ms. Stracke. When she left the offices, Mr. Giscard d'Estaing insisted on kissing Ms Stracke while whispering in German 'Sweet dreams'. When Ms Stracke got back to Cologne, her bosses told Ms Stracke to file a 13-page complaint to Mr Giscard d'Estaing. The interview between Ms Stracke and the former French leader was held on the 100th anniversary of the birth of former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt It read: 'Ms Stracke was extremely shocked by your actions*We cannot allow our employees to be confronted with such situations and therefore very much hope that such behaviour will not be repeated towards any of them in the future.' Then Ms Stracke decided to complain to prosecutors, saying: 'At first, I didn't think about filing a complaint, especially since I had no idea how French justice works.' But when the MeToo movement - one aimed at exposing high profile sex abusers across the world - became more influential, she decided to act. 'This movement has shown me how important it is to debate these issues in society,' said Ms Stracke. Her account about the alleged attack by Mr. Giscard d'Estaing is supported by her cameraman, but a sound recordist who was also in the room has refused to testify. Contacted by Le Monde, Olivier Revol, Mr. Giscard d'Estaing's office manager, said the former president had 'no memory of his meeting' with Mrs. Stracke. 'If what is alleged against him was true, he would of course be sorry, but he does not remember anything,' Mr. Revol added. It was in 2009 that Mr Giscard d'Estaing wrote a romance novel called 'The Princess and the President'. It was about an affair between a French president and a thinly veiled British royal - Patricia, Princess of Cardiff, or 'Lady Pat'. At the time, there was intense speculation in the French media that Mr Giscard d'Estaing was describing a tryst with Princess Diana in the 1980s. Mr Giscard d'Estaing was in office in 1981, when Diana married Prince Charles, and they regularly met at official and charity engagements. The novel's epigraph read 'Promise kept', and at the end Patricia says: 'You asked my permission to write your story. I grant it to you, but you must make me a promise*' Neither Mr Giscard d'Estaing nor Princess Diana, who died in Paris in 1997, ever commented on their alleged affair. Mr Giscard d'Estaing is married to his cousin, Anne-Aymone Sauvage de Brantes, and they had four children together. Outdoor dining, haircuts and trips to the zoo could all resume starting May 20, if businesses implement protocols announced by Gov. Ned Lamont this weekend. Heres what you can expect to see when reopening begins. Outdoor restaurants (but not bar areas), retail, outdoor recreation, hair services, outdoor museums, zoos and recreation, and university research can all begin reopening when the first phase begins. Offices can also begin opening, but are instructed to continue having employees work from home where possible. What needs to happen to start reopening? The state needs to have adequate testing and contact tracing in place, sufficient personal protective equipment, and a sustained 14-day decline in hospitalizations. The tentative timing for that reopen is May 20th, according to Lamonts plans. Hand sanitizer everywhere Among the requirements for businesses reopening is that they make hand sanitizer available at their entrances and common areas, and that cleaning products and disinfecting wipes be provided near high-touch surfaces, like ticket counters and cash registers. Employees will have daily health checks The guidelines call for asking employees to confirm daily whether theyve experienced COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, chills, shortness of breath or coughing. Businesses also need to keep track of when and where employees are working, in case someone is sick and contact tracing needs to be done. Restaurants will be rearranged Outdoor-only dining can start, but tables must be at least six feet apart, measured between the closest chair at one table to the closest chair at the next. Workstations in kitchens are supposed to be modified to limit workers facing each other in close proximity, and servers should work in separate zones to avoid overlap. There will be no buffets, no bars, and non-essential amenities like pool tables and playgrounds must be closed. Reusable menus and condiment containers wont be available, either; they must use disposable paper menus or display them on a wall, whiteboard or customers phones, and restaurants should use packaged silverware and single-use condiment packets. Offices will look different, too When reopening, offices should be rearranged to keep 6 feet between employees and prevent them from facing either other; where thats not possible, partitions should be used. Employees working alone, such as in private offices or walled cubicles, can remove their masks inside, but people in office floors or warehouses must keep their faces covered. No blow dryers at salons Barbershops and salons can reopen if they follow the rules outlined by the state, including cleaning and protective equipment, distance between chairs and not allowing people to wait for their appointment inside the salon. They also have to follow a specific protocol for cleaning shampoo bowls between customers. But blow drying is not permitted. Keep it quiet Missing the Saturday morning salon gossip, or swapping stories at the barbershop? Even when they open, youre not supposed to pick those conversations up where you left off. Salons are instructed to limit verbal communication between the client and employee when within 6 feet to the extent practical. Stores and attractions will have restrictions like grocery stores Retail stores and outdoor attractions, like museums and zoos, will have physical barriers at checkout and ticket counters, and markers to encourage people to stay six feet apart, like grocery stores have already implemented. They need to maintain one-way traffic flows and doorways, and enforce maximum occupancy restrictions. You can report violations to the state Employees and customers can call 211 to report businesses that they see violating the reopening regulations, and businesses must post signs telling customers about that hotline. Liz.teitz@hearstmediact.com BJP MP from Mathura Hema Malini met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Monday and discussed the movement of migrant labourers from that state to Uttar Pradesh. The Maharashtra Governor has assured that no migrant labourer of Uttar Pradesh, especially Mathura, would face any problem in their movement back to their homes, an official release issued here quoted Malini as having said. The Governor told the MP that adequate arrangements, including provision of food, would be made to send the labourers to their native places in Uttar Pradesh, it said. Malini expressed her gratitude to the Governor for the steps taken for migrant labourers, according to the release. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A LIMERICK women has spoken of her devastation after her dream of a new life down under was shattered by the demise of Usit. The woman, who did not wish to be identified, saved up for three years along with her partner for a life-changing trip to Western Australia. They paid Usit, which was based in OConnell Street, 3,000, but were left shocked when he firm was wound up with the liquidators telling her she was unlikely to receive any of her money back. It came as the firm, which specialised in trips abroad for students, became one of the highest profile casualties of this coronavirus. Im devastated and heartbroken. This is what I thought was going to be my fresh start after a terrible year. It was going to be our way of saving money. I had never really travelled before. Id everything packed, but nowhere to go, she said. The well-known Corbally-based activist, had even handed in her notice at her job working in clinical testing, and outlined how she and her boyfriend had planned to live down under for three years. She had hoped for a job in the emergency services in Australia, and said had Usit survived the Covid-19 outbreak, she would have gone later in the year. Instead, like many students, she is thousands of euro out of pocket. They sell you the dream, the new life, the visa, the one-way flight. They give you the fancy booklets with he pictures of the breach on it, and youre sold. We booked that, we paid a deposit down, and had just finished paying it off. Everything was going to plan, she added. Her departure date was meant to be last week, and she admitted she never expected a firm like Usit to go to the wall. My plans are gone basically. I gave my notice into my job. I was ready to go. I know the coronavirus stopped people in their tracks. But every other travel company seemed to be dealing with things amicably. Usit has disappeared off the face of the earth though. Fortunately, the young woman's company agreed to the withdrawal of her notice, so she still has a job here in Limerick. But its been a difficult time for her, as shes wrangled with different companies in a bid to get some kind of recompense. Ive been through all the emotions. I can only imagine how many other students have paid deposits. Id know people who were going to America who were only half way through their visa application with Usit and have no idea whats going on now. Its so unfair on them, she added. Just weeks before Usit collapsed into liquidation, the firm sent her an email urging her to pay 300 of insurance between her and her partner. It was something she was not planning to purchase until the eve of her trip, with the visas and the flights more of an immediate priority. Feeling pressured, she did pay. But when she called the insurer to try and at least claim this sum back, she received another shock. To be honest when I asked [the call operator], he just laughed and asked if I was a Usit customer. He told me they had not received money from them in a month, she said. She claims Qatar Airways, which was to operate the flights to Australia, via Doha, have indicated they may offer a voucher but if and when they are paid. The Limerick Leader contacted KMPGs Kieran Wallace, who has been appointed liquidator to Usit. He did not return a request for comment as the Leader went to press. PUNE, India, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global medical equipment financing market size is predicted to reach USD 210.46 billion by 2027 owing to the advent of technological innovations in medical equipment. With the continuous advancement in medical technology, it has become a necessity to opt for the best-in-class medical equipment for excellent healthcare services. However, advanced diagnostic systems are expensive and are difficult for medical practitioners and hospitals to afford through their funds. There arises the need for medical equipment funding with low monthly installments and flexible loan models. According to a recently published report by Fortune Business Insights titled, "Medical Equipment Financing Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Device Type (Diagnostic Equipment, Therapeutic Equipment, Patient Monitoring Equipment, and Others), By End User (Hospitals & Clinics, Laboratories and Diagnostic Centers, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027," the market value was USD 102.30 billion in 2019 and will rise at a CAGR of 9.5% between the forecast duration, 2020 to 2027. Medical Equipment Financing Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Request a Sample Copy of the Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/ enquiry/sample/medical-equipment-financing-market-102731 What are the Objectives of the Report? The report is based on an in-depth analysis of the market and focusses on major drivers, restraints, challenges, and upcoming opportunities. It also throws light on the competitive landscape of the market, list of players operating in the market, and the key strategies adopted by them to earn a competitive edge in the market. The report further discusses major industry development, current medical equipment financing market trends, and other interesting insights into the market. Furthermore, the report is available for sale on the company website. Market Drivers Advent of Artificial Intelligence into Medical Sector will Add Impetus to Market Various factors are responsible for the medical equipment financing market growth. These include the increasing number of diagnostic tests, patient monitoring, and increasing demand for diagnostic and therapeutic devices. Besides this, the rising prevalence of infectious diseases is also boosting the market. This, coupled with the rising need to provide advance medical care to patients and the need for therapeutic equipment such as ventilators, dialysis machines, ICU equipment, and others, is further expected to aid in the expansion of the market during the forecast period. An Overview of the Impact of COVID-19 on this Market: The emergence of COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill. We understand that this health crisis has brought an unprecedented impact on businesses across industries. However, this too shall pass. Rising support from governments and several companies can help in the fight against this highly contagious disease. There are some industries that are struggling and some are thriving. Overall, almost every sector is anticipated to be impacted by the pandemic. We are taking continuous efforts to help your business sustain and grow during COVID-19 pandemics. Based on our experience and expertise, we will offer you an impact analysis of coronavirus outbreak across industries to help you prepare for the future. To get the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this Market. Please visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/medical-equipment-financing-market-102731 On the contrary, factors such as high expenditure for maintaining hospital equipment may cause a decline in the medical equipment financing market as investors may be more inclined on maintaining the already bought equipment rather than investing in a new one. This may pose a major challenge to the overall market. Furthermore, the current pandemic of COVID-19 has had a major impact all over the world resulting in a lack of medical equipment and hospital staff altogether. Nevertheless, funds raised for ailing to the patients fighting the coronavirus may pose a major help to the world and add a boost to the market as well. This, coupled with the advent of artificial intelligence into the medical sector and the help provided by robot assistants in medical diagnostic procedures are likely to create lucrative growth opportunities for the market in the coming years. Regional Segmentation: North America will Dominate Market with Continuous Investment in Medical Equipment Geographically, North America held the dominant medical equipment financing market share with a revenue of USD 45.93 billion generated in 2019. This is owing to the highest finance rate for medical equipment in the region, coupled with continuous investments in medical equipment and infrastructures in the region. Europe ranks second in the market on account of the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence technology-based medical equipment financing and developing healthcare infrastructure investments. Asia Pacific is likely to register steady growth in the forecast period on account of emerging finance industries, developing healthcare infrastructure, and medical facilities in the region especially in the emerging nations. Furthermore, the market in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa will witness stable growth on account of lack of awareness and poor understanding of financing guidelines among the population. Quick Buy - Medical Equipment Financing Market Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/102731 Competitive Landscape: String Portfolio helped National Funding and Hero FinCorp Cover Dominant Shares The global medical equipment financing market witnesses the presence of multiple vendors which further intensifies the market competition. However, companies such as Hero FinCorp, and National Funding have established a leading position owing to their affordable financial solutions, acquisition policies, and excellent customer-provider relationships. Apart from this, these players have a well-established portfolio and offer low monthly installments and varied loan options to medical practitioners. Other players are engaging in collaborative efforts such as contracts and agreements, joint ventures, and others to attract high medical equipment financing market revenue in the coming years. List of the Key Companies Operating in the Medical Equipment Financing Market are: National Funding First American Equipment Finance HDFC Bank Ltd Hero FinCorp Blue Bridge Financial, LLC. TIAA Bank SMC Other Players Key Industry Developments of this Market include: October 2019 Health Credit Services LLC., a loan provider for medical practitioners in dental, vision, orthopedics, cosmetics, and others were acquired by Ally Financial for increasing the potential of the company to offer digital financial solutions. Have Any Query? Ask Our Experts: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/medical-equipment-financing-market-102731 Detailed Table of Content: 1. Introduction 1.1. Market Scope 1.2. Market Segmentation 1.3. Market Methodology 1.4. Definitions and Assumptions 2. Executive Summary 3. Market Dynamics 3.1. Market Drivers 3.2. Market Restraints 3.3. Market Opportunities 4. Key Insights 4.1. Overview: Trends in Medical Equipment Finance Market 4.2. Snapshot of Equipment Finance Industry 4.3. New Product Launch of Medical Equipments 4.4. Key Industry Developments - Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships 5. Global Medical Equipment Financing Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 5.1. Key Findings / Summary 5.2. Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Device Type 5.2.1. Diagnostic Equipment 5.2.2. Therapeutic Equipment 5.2.3. Patient-monitoring Equipment 5.2.4. Others 5.3. Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By End User 5.3.1. Hospitals & Clinics 5.3.2. Laboratories & Diagnostic Centers 5.3.3. Others 5.4. Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Geography 5.4.1. North America 5.4.2. Europe 5.4.3. Asia Pacific 5.4.4. Latin America 5.4.5. Middle East & Africa TOC Continued.! Request for Customization: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/customization/medical-equipment-financing-market-102731 Have a Look at Related Reports: Impact of COVID-19 on the Medical Devices Market Size, Share, Industry Analysis and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis by Product (Head Protection, Eye & Face Protection, Hearing Protection, Protective Clothing, Respiratory Protection, Fall Protection Protective Footwear, Hand Protection, and Others), By Application (Construction, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, Chemical, Food, Pharmaceutical, Transportation, and Others) and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 Medical Mask Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Surgical Mask, Respirators, and Others), By Distribution Channel (Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies, and Online Pharmacies), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027 Medical Clothing Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Product (Surgical Drapes, Scrubs and Gowns, Gloves, Facial Protection, Sterilization Wraps, Protective Apparels and Others), By Application (Hospitals & Physicians' Offices, Outpatient Facilities, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027 Smart Inhalers Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Product (Dry Powder Inhaler (DPI) Based Inhalers and Metered Dose Inhaler (MDI) Based Inhalers), By Disease Indication (Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)), By Distribution Channel (Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies, Online Channel) and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027 Hydroxychloroquine Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Disease Indication (Malaria, COVID-19, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Others), By Distribution Channel (Hospital Pharmacy Retail Pharmacy, and Online Stores), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027 Medical Adhesives Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Pressure sensitive adhesives, Dissolvable adhesives, Electrical conductive adhesives), By Resin (Natural adhesives, Synthetic adhesives), By Application (Needles & syringes, Catheters, Tubes & connectors, Reservoirs & enclosures, Blood filtration)Others and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026 Medical Aesthetics Market Size, Share and Global Trend By Product (Facial Aesthetic Products, Body Contouring Devices, Cosmetic Implants, Skin Aesthetic Devices, Physician-Dispensed Eyelash Products, Hair Removal Devices, Tattoo Removal Devices, Thread Lift Products, Nail Treatment Laser Devices), By End User (Hospitals, Specialty Clinics , Others), and Geography Forecast till 2026 About Us: Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. 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Ltd. 308, Supreme Headquarters, Survey No. 36, Baner, Pune-Bangalore Highway, Pune - 411045, Maharashtra, India. Phone: US :+1-424-253-0390 UK : +44-2071-939123 APAC : +91-744-740-1245 Email: [email protected] Fortune Business Insights LinkedIn | Twitter | Blogs Press Release: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/press-release/medical-equipment-financing-market-9879 SOURCE Fortune Business Insights Three persons have been arrested in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district after the police foiled a bid to smuggle 72 bovines to the Valley, officials said. Acting on inputs, three trucks were intercepted at a checkpoint in Ramsoo police station area and 72 cattle were found inside the vehicles, the police said. The truck was going to Kashmir from Ramban. Three persons -- Zakir Ahmad, Din Mohd and Mohd Farooq have been arrested and a case registered, the police added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack is hoping a dialogue Tuesday morning will help clear the air after several county court at law judges hoping for pay parity sought a Texas Attorney Generals opinion on conflicting state statutes regarding compensation. The commissioners will meet at 9:30 a.m. on the fourth floor of the Alan B. Sadler Commissioners County Building, 501 Thompson St. According to Noack, who recently was made aware of the issue, the Montgomery County Board of County Court at Law Judges requested County Auditor Reakesh Pandley seek an opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtons office on whether longevity pay, which is received by district court judges, should be a factor in calculating the pay of county court of law judges. Im inviting these judges to come before the court and explain to us the situation, Noack said. We are reading about it in the headlines instead of having a conversation. I certainly want to hear the judges out and have a better understanding what the issue is. County Court at Law Judge No. 2 Claudia Laird, who also serves as the administrative judge for the Montgomery County Board of County Court at Law Judges, said there are two statutes regarding pay for county court of law judges but they contradict. House Bill 2384, which passed through the 86th session of the Texas Legislature, allowed for a tiered pay increases for district judges related to years of service, or longevity, to bring them to the level of those across the nation. In the legislation, it states county court of law judges were to be paid not less than $1,000 less than a district court judge. However, another state statute says longevity pay for county court at law judges is at the discretion of county commissioners. That, Laird said, is what prompted the request for an opinion from Paxtons office, which could take more than six months to receive. Assistant County Attorney Amy Dunham agreed there was some confusion on HB 2384 and her office requested an opinion from the State Office of Court Administration which sent an opinion that the longevity pay was discretionary which is how the county proceeded through its 2020 budget process. Noack questioned why the opinion was requested, adding the county has a formal grievance process the judges could have used for pay concerns if elected officials feel they are not being compensated enough. He noted commissioners should have been made aware of the issue. I did confirm no grievance has been filed, he said. We need to know first whats going on. cdominguez@hcnonline.com Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting today to discuss the situation with the spread of coronavirus, and the possibility of extending non-working days, the Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said. "Tomorrow, the President has a scheduled meeting on the situation," said Peskov, when answering the question whether the extension of non-working days will be discussed. At a meeting with regional leaders on April 28, President Putin announced the decision to extend the period of non-working days in the country until May 11. Then he announced the need to begin preparations for a return to normalcy and instructed to prepare recommendations in order to gradually remove restrictive measures starting on May 12, TASS reported. The head of the consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said at a meeting with President Putin on May 6, that the department has prepared recommendations for lifting restrictive measures, which will take place in three stages. At the first stage, it is proposed to allow the operation of various trade and services of a limited area and with the observance of social distances, at the second - to open trade and services of a larger area, but with a limited number of simultaneous visitors, and at the third, it is proposed to allow all enterprises to go back to work. At that time, President Putin noted that depending on the epidemic situation in the regions, "somewhere tough, justified preventive measures need to be maintained or even supplemented, and somewhere it is possible to plan for their specific, justified mitigation", but this should be done "only relying on the opinion of scientists, specialists and taking into account all factors and possible risks." Bengaluru, May 11 : National carrier Air India's first evacuation flight to Karnataka from London landed in this tech city, with 326 passengers who are citizens of the southern state," an official said on early Monday. "The A-I 1803 Boeing-777-337 (ER) from London landed at the Kempegowda international airport at 4.41 a.m., with 326 passengers, including 3 infants," a state government official told IANS here. The flight was over 101 minutes behind schedule, as it flew via New Delhi where it took off at 2.23 a.m. All passengers were seen wearing masks and maintaining physical distance while coming out of the aircraft through the aero-bridge and till exiting the airport after thermal screening, testing and filling up the self-declaration form about their travel history, health status and other details for contact tracing. Nearly an hour after landing, the asymptomatic passengers were ferried in state-run special buses to star hotels and resorts in and around the city in batches of 20 for the mandatory 14-day quarantine amid the lockdown. "Welcome Indians coming back from London. AI Flt 1803 has just landed in Bengaluru," tweeted External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. He also thanked Air India, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Bureau of Immigration and the Karnataka government for their cooperation and support. "Appreciate the remarkable effort by Team @HCI_London (High Commission of India) under Acting High Commissioner Charanjeet Singh," the former ace diplomat-turned-minister said in another tweet. As the returnees, including women, senior citizens, students, tourists and others were stranded over 47 days in Britain due to the Covid-19 induced extended lockdown since March 25 and suspension of overseas flights since March 23, they looked relieved and happy to be back home. "We are ready for the 14-day quarantine as it is mandatory. What is important is that we are back home at last, as better late than never," a passenger told local news channels in Kannada outside the airport terminal. The passage from the arrival exit to the bus stop was barricaded and disinfected. On entering the arrival lounge from the aircraft, the returnees were given fresh mask to wear and to discard the one they came with from London. "As per the standard operating procedure, passengers who did not have Indian mobile connection, were given a new sim card by the local operators and got it activated to download the mandatory quarantine app, the Aroygya Sethu app and Apthamitra app before leaving the airport," said the official. As commercial passenger flights remained suspended since March 23, the airport lounge was near empty and baggage clearance of the returnees was fast. The passengers also opted for the star hotel of their choice suitable to their budget at the counters in the airport terminal for their 14-day quarantine. About 20 five-star hotels and resorts, 25 three-star and 40 budget hotels are offering their rooms to the foreign returnees, with boarding and facilities in compliance with the state health department's guidelines and protocols. As part of the Indian government's evacuation programme 'Vande Bharat Missiona', three more repatriation A-I flights are due to land in Bengaluru from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, San Francisco in the US and Singapore on May 13-15 with over 600 state citizens. Two A-I Express flights are slated to land at Mangaluru airport on the state's west coast on May 13-14, with about 350-400 returnees from Gulf region. Thousands attended a rodeo in California despite state orders against public gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic, it has been reported. Crowds could be seen packed tightly in the stands at Sundays annual Cottonwood Rodeo in rural Shasta County, after local police said they would not enforce the states lockdown orders. Video also showed people queueing outside toilets and food trucks, even though organisers promised food would not be sold at the event. Despite the crisis California has seen more than 66,000 cases of Covid-19 a number of spectators told local media they felt safe enough to attend due to Shasta Countys low rates of confirmed infections. This events been going on for 50 years, its a tradition for probably most of us, the rest of them that are here have been tired of being cooped up for months, one festival-goer told KRCR News, an ABC affiliate station. We have constitutional rights, we have inalienable rights given to us by God, another said. Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan Show all 11 1 /11 Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A demonstrator shouts next to two masked security guards at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan during a protest against stay-at-home orders AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan Armed members of a milita group at the state Capitol building in Lansing, Michiga, during a protest against coronavirus lockdown measures REUTERS Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester at the state Capitol in Lansing holds a sign comparing Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer to Adolf Hitler during a demonstration against coronavirus lockdown measures AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan An armed protester takes part in a demonstation against lockdown measures at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan AP Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester holds a sign saying 'Bill Gates is evil' at a demonstration against stay-at-home orders at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan. Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and a billionaire philanthropist, has warned of the dangers of viral pandemics AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan Protesters take part in a demonstration at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan against stay-at-home orders AFP/Getty Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester holds a pro-Trump sign at a demonstration against lockdown measures outside the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan Armed protesters take part in a demonstration at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan against lockdown measures during the coronavirus pandemic AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester holds a sign reading 'Every job is essential, get workers back to work safely now' during a demonstration at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan over lockdown measures AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester with a US flag painted on her face takes part in a demonstration at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan against lockdown measures during the coronavirus pandemic AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask holds up a sign reading 'Stay Free' during a demonstration against lockdown measures at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan AP But other Californians complained about the nightmare event in a state which is still imposing social distancing measures. Please review how Cottonwood held a Rodeo today; very crowded, NO masks anywhere! one Twitter user asked of California governor Gavin Newsom. She added: There were people everywhere, crowded all together this is a nightmare! Another wrote: Cottonwood held a rodeo today with over 2,000 people showing up ... People are so damn selfish. Coronavirus has killed more than 80,000 people in the US, with the death toll still rising. Haiti - News : Zapping... One of the seriously burned firefighters has died Sunday Sergot Joseph, one of the 3 firefighters seriously burned in the 3rd degree during the explosion of a fuel tank truck on April 30th https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30660-haiti-flash-a-tanker-truck-explodes-on-rn-3-at-least-4-victims-partial-assessment.html treated in intensive care at the Bernard Mervs hospital, died. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30716-haiti-news-zapping.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-30696-icihaiti-accident-the-ministry-of-the-interior-at-the-bedside-of-the-3-seriously-burned-firefighters.html Arrest of a Gang Leader On Sunday, a police patrol from the Gressier Police Station in the "Coline" locality proceeded to arrest the gang leader known as Makenson Jeudy and one of his lieutenants Boger Dieufaite. They had in their possession at the time of their arrest a homemade weapon. Note that Makenson Jeudy is a repeat offender well-known by the police force. He has already spent 8 years at the National Penitentiary for criminal association. Distribution of masks in Port-au-Prince On Sunday, a mask dispenser was distributed to more than a thousand people in public spaces in various neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. Government support for the prevention of the Covid-19 pandemic See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30743-haiti-covid-19-wearing-of-mask-mandatory-from-today.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-30736-icihaiti-social-distribution-of-hygienic-and-sanitary-kits-to-street-children.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30708-haiti-news-zapping.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30707-haiti-covid-19-daily-bulletin-may-6-2020.html The World Bank, partner agent Friday, the Ministry of National Education announced that The World Bank has been selected as Agent-partner to manage the funds (16.5 million dollars) for Haiti of the next financing of the Global Partnership for Education (SME) in support of Ministry's ten-year plan. Minister Henriquez greets the media Pradel Henriquez, the Minister of Communication salutes the media who work tirelessly to inform the population about the evolution of this health crisis both in Haiti and in the world and who help us to remain safe. UNDP-Haiti very active at the border The United Nations Development Program (UNDP-Haiti) supports awareness-raising activities linked to Covid-19 in border areas between the Nations of the island and will contribute to the continuous operation of the 17 municipal border administrations, in particular by providing mayors of personal protective equipment. HL/ HaitiLibre [May 11, 2020] MetroPlus Health Plan CEO Talya Scwartz, M.D., Among Top City Leaders to Discuss NYC's Populations Most Vulnerable to the Coronavirus Pandemic in Special City & State Webinar MetroPlus Health Plan today announced that President and CEO, Talya Schwartz, M.D., will be among top City leaders convening on Tuesday, May 12th, at 2:00pm to discuss the City's populations most vulnerable to the Coronavirus pandemic in a special webinar, featuring a panel of top government experts and industry leaders. The webinar will bring together NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot, NYC Department for the Aging Commissioner Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez, NYC Council Member Francisco Moya, R.A.I.N. Total Care, Inc. President and CEO Anderson Torres, PhD, LCSW-R., and MetroPlusHealth's Dr. Talya Schwartz. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005784/en/ MetroPlus Health Plan CEO Talya Scwartz, M.D. (Photo: Business Wire) New York City has been the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, in particular, in the minority communities, and New Yorkers are actively working to meet the needs of seniors, many of whom are unable to leave their homes; schoolchildren, who typically rely on free meals at school; and the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who have been left jobless as a result of the crisis. Panelists will address what New York City is doing to protect its most vulnerable populations, what services are being offered, and what more can be done. The free event will take place on Tuesday, May 12th from 2:00pm-3:00pm via Zoom, and is the fifth installment of the City & State Webinar Series amid the pandemic. The webinar is sponsored by MetroPlusHealth and R.A.I.N. Total Care, Inc. Free registration is available at www.cityandstateny.com/events. "At MetroPlusHealth, we have been working hard since this crisis began to care for our nearly 550,000 members, many of whom come from precisely the populations this webinar will be discussing," said President and CEO of MetroPlus Health Plan Talya Schwartz, MD. "We welcome the opportunity to share some of the challenges our members are facing - and some of the strategies we have put in place to support them during this difficult time - with other City leaders who are working hard on behalf of those who most need our help." View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200511005784/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] New York's Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his political allies were quick to declare that President Trump had "blood on his hands" based on the state's failure to prepare supplies for the coronavirus pandemic. It now comes to light that the bloody hands were Cuomo's. It's not just that the subways were continuously running packed, or New York City's schools took a long time to shut, or city officials were busy going to the gym, if not encouraging people to attend those Chinatown parades, the better to Get Trump. The worst of it was from the death toll coming out of New York City's nursing homes, where a disproportionate percent of New York's humongous death toll occurred. Not only were the nursing homes with the city's most vulnerable residents not so much as basically protected, but they were positively seeded with COVID-19 patients, rolling in from the hospitals, forced into the homes no matter how much the homes objected, because "discrimination." Nursing homes weren't even allowed to ask incoming patients if they were coming back "stabilized" from the coronavirus units. This, despite President Trump having sent a whole hospital ship to take care of such outbound COVID-19 patients, which stood largely empty. Instead of sending them there, the nursing homes were positively forced to take the COVID-19 patients while the hospitals, knowing what was going to happen, sent along extra body bags with the arriving COVID-19 patients to prepare for the inevitable. Cuomo, the one who spoke of Trump's hands being bloodied, sleazily denied any knowledge of this horrible, lethal decision and even argued that protecting nursing homes was "not our job." He mendaciously told critics elsewhere that his forcings were consistent with CDC guidelines. He threatened nursing homes with de-certification if they "couldn't protect" the resident patients being shoved in with newly arriving COVID-19 patients. His creepy spokesman called the outcry nothing but the nursing homes' bid to deflect blame from "their own failures." He continually dodged blame for the outrageous decision, which left more than 5,000 nursing home patients dead. And for good measure, he threw in that the whole problem was a matter of greedy capitalist nursing home seeking to get that extra paying patient, as if losing a whole lot of other paying patients to death had never figured in their calculations as if that were the case. It was complete garbage. Now the smoking-gun documents are out, showing that yes, it was Cuomo who ordered the COVID-19 patients into the nursing homes because political correctness. Here is the death sentence signed by the Lord High Executioner. Remember the death panels ridiculed by the clowns at CNN et al? This is a little preview of national health run by crooked Democrats... https://t.co/6doQUUa0v1 James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) May 11, 2020 Now he says the order was wrong and claims he has reversed it (the New York Post says there's enough weasel room to say it's not reversed), and instead of blaming himself, he claims that the problem was some underling, health commissioner Howard Zucker, who ought to be fired and out on his ear if not in the dock for murder. Somehow he's not. Instead of accept any blame, Cuomo continues to make sick excuses. He now says "some" nursing homes "simply misunderstood" the rules, as if they couldn't read that decertification threat embedded within the original order, or the words "must accept" from his goon Zucker. It was all "a failure to communicate," he now claims. Previous coverage from the New York Post says the nursing homes desperately tried to communicate and got cut off or ignored by state authorities. In short, whole thing is bee ess. Not only is Cuomo the worst of all coronavirus managers, and that is saying a lot, but he's also the weaseliest, most dishonest governor in the aftermath, making him the worst governor in America, blaming others when the blame entirely lies on him. He ought to be thrown out by voters. One can only hope... Image credit: Diane Robinson via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Jake Sanders works at the Tommy Bahamas store, as the state of Florida enters phase one of the plan to reopen the state on May 04, 2020 in Stuart, Florida. You might be thinking twice about venturing to the mall to try on clothes in a fitting room, because of the coronavirus pandemic. You're not alone. Sixty-five percent of women said they will not feel safe trying on clothes in dressing rooms, due to the Covid-19 crisis, according to a survey by retail predictive analytics company First Insight. The firm fielded 1,066 responses from consumers on April 30. Meantime, 54% of men will not feel safe using dressing rooms, the survey found. Sixty-six percent of women, and 54% of men, said they will not feel comfortable working with sales associates in retail stores. "The coronavirus has moved the industry away from high-touch to low-touch," First Insight Chief Executive Greg Petro said. "The 'new normal' for retailers will be to work with shoppers in a hands-free way to help them to find what they need while also giving them the space to feel comfortable, particularly with high-risk groups," he said. "Not feeling safe trying on clothing also begs many questions on how retailers and brands will need to adapt their return and exchange policy in the coming weeks." Retailers, especially those that sell apparel, are already scrambling to figure this out. Macy's has said, as it reopens stores in phases, it will only leave open a few fitting rooms and will hold all merchandise tried on or returned for 24 hours. Kohl's is closing all of its dressing rooms until further notice and is holding returned items for 48 hours. Gap is also closing its fitting rooms and holding returned merchandise for a day. "Our whole goal is to be the gold standard when it comes to safe retaining," Gap Chief Executive Sonia Syngal said in an interview. A woman who died after her car struck a horse in the Bay of Plenty was a nurse at a rest home. Police say the crash happened on Te Teko Rd, near Edgecumbe, about 11.20pm on Saturday. Police say 59-year-old Edgecumbe woman Elizabeth Edwards was the only person in the car when it crashed. "Police extend their sympathies to her family. "Enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are ongoing. "We would like to urge anyone who had witnessed the crash or has any information about the ownership of the horse to contact Police." Elizabeth had been driving home from work when the crash happened, says Edgecumbe volunteer firefighter, senior station officer Iain Powell. This is not the first time emergency services had been called to a crash on this road involving livestock. That part of the road is quite [known] for that sort of thing. Iain says he has been a volunteer firefighter for 25 years and in that time, there has been four crashes on that stretch of road, two fatal, that involved livestock. It's not just horses, there's been a pig get hit. It's always tough attending calls where someone died and Iain says he feels for the family. "Just imagine if that was your mother or sister, but it's a job we have to do. This was the first crash they had attended since the country went into lockdown. The Serious Crash Unit is investigating. If you have any information that can assist with investigation please call Police on 105 quoting file number 200510/2604. Information can also be provided anonymously via Crimestopper on 0800 555 111. -Additional reporting by Stuff/Kristy Lawrence. A 35-year-old man from Diva wanted to leave for his hometown at Varandali village in Yavatmal as his brother lost his wife on May 4, leaving behind a six-month-old baby. The infants health started deteriorating after the mothers death as he couldnt have any other milk. Shyam Rathod, an electrician, who lives in Diva with his wife and one-year-old boy, decided to go to the village so that his wife can breastfeed the infant. Shyams brother Mangal, 31, said, My wife died of a heart ailment. The baby could not drink any other milk. Doctors told me they would have to hospitalise the baby if this continues. Shyam and his wife decided to leave for the village so that the infant could be breastfed. On May 5, Shyam tried to fill the online form but could not because of an error. Desperate to get a pass, he tweeted to Thane police and Maharashtra government, seeking help for a pass to travel to Yavatmal. I immediately got a call from the office of Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde asking me for details. On May 6, I got pass to travel and travelled with my family to Varandali. My wife is breastfeeding the baby who is fine now, said Shyam. Member of Parliament Shrikant Shinde said, Through our social media team, we came to know about Rathods ordeal and we immediately contacted him. We called up the Thane police and asked them to issue a pass immediately. I am annoyed because of the demands which are thrust on me to write, arriving unannounced from here, there and everywhere. They interrupt and hold up all the other things we have so neatly lined up in order. They never seem to stop and cant be put aside. Augustine of Hippo, from a letter to Possidius About halfway through my second year of seminary, I found myself deep in the throes of a major research paper. I dont remember exactly what the paper was about, but I am sure it was a matter of some great exegetical and theological import. At the time, I was also meaningfully involved in the shepherding ministry of our local church, so it was no surprise when I received an urgent call asking for my help. A young husband (lets call him Jack) wanted me to intervene after a tense confrontation between him and his new wife (well call her Kate). This conflict had been simmering for some time. It included challenges related to mental health and suicidal tendencies, ... You have reached the end of this Article Preview You have reached the end of this Article Preview To continue reading, subscribe to Christianity Today magazine. Subscribers have full digital access to CT Pastors articles. 1 SEYMOUR Firefighters quickly extricated a Seymour man who was pinned after a crash on Bungay Road Wednesday night, according to officials. Police, medics and the Great Hill Hose fire company responded to a report of a car that crashed into a tree around 7:30 p.m. in the area of 170 Bungay Road, Deputy Police Chief Roberto Rinaldi said. Fire officials said firefighters were notified of possible entrapment. Rinaldi said responding officers found a 1998 Toyota Corolla that crashed head-on into a tree and the operator was trapped inside. He said the driver 35-year-old Roman Koffman, a Peach Drive resident was extricated from the vehicle by the fire department. Fire officials said units used hydraulic tools to cut the cars roof off, quickly freeing the driver. The Seymour man was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Rinaldi said. An investigation reveled that the 35-year-old was headed north on Bungay Road when he lost control of his vehicle, which went off the roadway and struck the tree, Rinaldi said. Koffman was charged with traveling too fast for conditions and a cellphone violation, according to the deputy chief. While units were on scene, Bungay Road between Old Town Road and Canfield Road was shut down for about an hour. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 20:27:19|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LONDON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A comprehensive Chinese culture and tourism promotion program "China Weeks: When Culture and Tourism Blend" has been launched online in Britain, offering Britons under the COVID-19 lockdown a closer look at the Chinese culture at home. To support the British government's social distancing measures, the two-month program showcases a selection of high-quality literature, music and photography specially designed for those who stay at home and work from home. Initiated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China in 2019, the program is hosted by the China National Tourist Office London (UK), which has uploaded the first patch of the selection last week to its social media accounts on WeChat, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, among others. "With our brand-new content this year, we hope to offer you a closer look at, and a deeper understanding of, Chinese culture, online and from home," said the Office in a press release. Highlights of the new content include "Together", a poignant joint production by Chinese and Italian musicians, which is "a touching moment with first-class music and artists" and "fully displaying that music is the common language for musicians to join hands in fighting the pandemic." Meanwhile, "A Sunny Day", a 21-minute delicate and inspiring mini-opera, produced during the pandemic by the China National Opera House, portrays the images of patients, doctors and the virus vividly in a Western opera musical style. For those pursuing a deeper knowledge of Chinese philosophy and values, the Office provides them with an ingenious guide to the realm of Beijing Opera -- "A Primer of Beijing Opera", which combines a trinity of user-friendly guides for readers, listeners and viewers. Must-see also includes the "Our Silk Road" exhibition. With over 60 pictures selected from over 8,000 works by 330 photographers at the fifth World Photography Conference in northeast China's Shandong province, the exhibition underscores the striking similarity among peoples and highlights the importance of enhancing understanding and appreciation across cultures. The "China Weeks" is part of a global effort. A total of 20 China National Tourist Offices and 40 China Cultural Centers overseas joined hands this year to host various events online globally during the following two months. Panaji, May 11 : Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in a video message, here on Monday, urged villagers staying along the border not to help those trying to sneak into the state during the lockdown. There entry was being facilitated by residents of border villages for as little Rs 500-1,000, he said. "It has come to my notice that people are trying to smuggle in their relatives or workers, using shortcuts along the border. This should not be allowed. People are coming to Goa in taxis, motorcycles or using short cuts. It's wrong," Sawant said. He urged people to not allow people to enter Goa without coronavirus tests. "If someone is caught, strict action will be taken under the National Disaster Management Act," Sawant said. Goa, which shares borders with Maharashtra and Karnataka, has green zone status, with not a single active Covid-19 case. The state had seven Covid-19 patients, who tested negative after treatment. One person smuggled into Goa had been quarantined, and two persons who might have facilitated his entry identified, he said. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Mota Ventures Corp. (MOTA.CN)(FSE:1WZ:GR)(OTC PINK:PEMTF) (the "Company") subsidiary, Nature's Exclusive, an ecommerce provider of CBD products to consumers in the United States and Europe, is pleased to announce record revenues for the month of April totaling Cdn$3,818,000, representing an increase of 39% compared to April 2019. Expenses totaled Cdn$3,609,000, representing a Gross Profit of Cdn$209,000 for the month. DOMINANT ONLINE CUSTOMER ACQUISITION STRATEGY The Company credits this success to its' online customer acquisition strategy, which is capitalizing on the strong consumer demand for natural health solutions, resulting in an interim record number of customer acquisitions for the Nature's Exclusive brand, as well as, new customers for the immune support category introduced in March 2020. The Company's strong ability to continue capturing customers, for both existing and new products, bodes well for the Company's CBD based hand sanitizer launch this month. Ryan Hoggan, CEO of the Company stated, "I am very pleased to report another successful month with increased sales over 2019. Our investment in customer acquisition in March 2020, which yielded additional subscribers, has been a significant driver to our increased profitability. Despite the worldwide pandemic, we continue to move forward towards our full year goals for 2020, including expansion into the European market. I look forward to reporting on new customer acquisitions in the coming weeks". NATURE'S EXCLUSIVE CBD BRAND LEADING THE WAY The Company's Nature's Exclusive brand offers a CBD hemp-oil formulation intended to provide users with the therapeutic benefits that hemp may offer. The hemp oil used in the products is derived from hemp grown and cultivated in the United States. The extraction process is designed to maintain all the beneficial qualities that hemp may offer. Nature's Exclusive offers a range of products, which include CBD oil drops, CBD gummies, CBD pain relief cream, CBD skin serum, CBD hand sanitizer and CBD coffee. Story continues We encourage readers to visit www.motaventuresco.com to view our brands and sign up to our newsletter. We encourage shareholders and prospective investors to visit the Company's AGORACOM Discussion Forum, a moderated social media platform that enables civilized discussion and Q&A between Management and Shareholders. The Company cautions that figures for revenue, expenses and margin generated from the sale of Nature's Exclusive products have not been audited, and are based on calculations prepared by management. Actual results may differ from those reported in this release once these figures have been audited. These figures were translated from US dollars into Canadian dollars using the Bank of Canada monthly average exchange rate of US$1.00:Cdn$1.4058 for April 2020 and US$1.00:Cdn$1.3378 for April 2019. About Mota Ventures Corp. Mota is an established ecommerce, direct to consumer provider of a wide range of CBD products in the United States and Europe. In the United States, the company sells a CBD hemp-oil formulation derived from hemp grown and formulated in the US through its Nature's Exclusive brand. Within Europe, its Sativida brand of award winning 100% organic CBD oils and cosmetics are sold throughout Spain, Portugal, Austria, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. Mota Ventures is also seeking to acquire additional revenue producing CBD brands and operations in both Europe and North America, with the goal of establishing an international distribution network for CBD products. Low cost production, coupled with international, direct to customer, sales channels will provide the foundation for the success of Mota Ventures. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MOTA VENTURES CORP. Ryan Hoggan Chief Executive Officer For further information, readers are encouraged to contact Joel Shacker, President at +604.423.4733 or by email at IR@motaventuresco.com or www.motaventuresco.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by management. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statement All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including with respect to anticipated product sales under its Nature's Exclusive and Sativida brands, its plans to offer a CBD infused hand sanitizer product, its plans to become a vertically integrated global CBD brand, its plans to cultivate and extract cannabis to produce CBD and high-quality value added CBD products in Latin America for distribution domestically and internationally and its plans to acquire revenue-producing CBD brands and operations in Europe and North America. The Company provides forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited those identified and reported in the Company's public filings under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law. SOURCE: Mota Ventures Corp. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/589179/Mota-Ventures-Reports-Record-Revenues-for-Month-of-April-of-CDN3818000-From-CBD-Products-an-Increase-of-39-From-April-2019 War, torture, human trafficking and extreme poverty are just some of the appalling experiences to which refugees are exposed, both before and during their flight. Experiences such as these put those affected at risk of mental illness, even years afterwards. If that were not enough, after arriving in Germany refugees are often forced to live in conditions which cause further mental stress. A team of researchers led by Hannelore Ehrenreich at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine has now demonstrated that each additional risk factor puts further strain on the mental health of young refugees. The consequences are functional deficits and behavioral problems, which may be expressed as aggressive and criminal behavior later in life. It is therefore even more vital to provide care and support for refugees, and to offer them the opportunity to break out of the spiral of negative experiences. Traumatic experiences, physical and sexual abuse, consumption of cannabis and alcohol, living in cities: these are all factors which increase the risk of a person developing mental disorders. If a person is subjected to several of these risk factors together before the age of 20, he or she is more likely to exhibit aggressive and criminal behavior later in life. This observation from previous studies led a group of Gottingen researchers to take a closer look at a specific risk group: young refugees, who often experience traumatic events not only in their home country and during their flight, but often also face mentally stressful conditions after their arrival in Germany. The effect of these risk factors is more pronounced amongst young people, because their brains are still developing, and react particularly sensitively to adverse influences. Interviews with migrants To better understand the impact of harmful environmental stress on young refugees, and the consequences for their mental health, the researchers carried out detailed interviews with 133 refugees. The average age of the participants was 22, and they were considered to be in good health. Many had traveled to Germany as unaccompanied minors. In addition to the history taking, the researchers also evaluated the physical health of the participants, and used structured interviews to assess any emerging indications of behavioral problems. "Many refugees are exposed to a shocking number of risk factors," reports Martin Begemann, first author on the publication. In addition to the actual migration experience, more than 95 percent of the refugees are affected by other stressful life events, habits or living conditions that make them more susceptible to mental illness. The researchers identified two, three or even more than four additional risk factors in the vast majority of cases. Around half the participants had undergone traumatic experiences before and during their journey; a quarter of participants had suffered physical and sexual abuse. Around 40 percent of participants had scars or wounds from stabbing or shooting injuries, explosions or the resultant burns. Four young men displayed clear psychotic symptoms, two of these also had suicidal thoughts. Number of risk factors is crucial Overall, the scientists' findings showed: the more risk factors that are present in a person, the greater the reduction in their ability to function, and the more likely they were to exhibit initial indications of mental health problems. Precisely which risk factors were present was less significant. Interestingly, close and stable personal relationships offered the refugees no protection from these negative effects: having fled accompanied by family or friends, or having a good social network at the time of the study, had no influence on a person's current mental state. The authors suspect that social support has only a weak protective effect. It will be a number of years before researchers will be able to determine the number of young people who actually go on to exhibit psychological problems or even criminal behavior. However, they expect that they will only be able to contact about half of the participants again. They are likely to lose track of the others due to numerous transfers between refugee centers and deportations to the country of origin. So what can be done right now to improve the poor prognosis for refugees under extreme stress? Given that each additional risk factor increases the probability of subsequent aggressive behavior, criminal activity and mental disorders, we have to prevent the accumulation of further stress factors." Hannelore Ehrenreich, Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine For example, we could consider providing refugees with close medical and psychological care, and giving them their first simple work activities and language courses even before a final decision on their residence status has been made. This could help them to escape from cramped housing conditions where they are confronted with boredom, violence and drugs. Zijin Mining, Chinas largest gold producer, may face a drop in production with the loss of operating rights at a gold mine in Papua New Guinea, further denting profits amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Papua New Guineas government said Friday it will take control of the Porgera gold mine after refusing to extend the lease of Zijins local joint venture, Barrick Niugini Ltd. Zijin owns 47.5% of the mine, which contributes about 8 tons of gold annually to Zijins total production and generated 12.3% of net profit last year. Without the Porgera mine and amid the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, Zijins 2020 gold production is expected to decline by 37 tons, or 9.3%, from 2019, Dongxing Securities Co. said in a report. The gold producer said it planned to accelerate the upgrade and construction of its Longnan Zijin project in China and boost production at other mines in its portfolio to offset the loss of Porgera. The companys Shanghai-listed shares were battered by the news Monday, almost hitting the 10% daily loss limit. The stock recouped part of the decline Tuesday, but its Hong Kong-listed H shares dropped further by 3.32%. Zijin invested $298 million in 2015 to acquire the stake in Barrick Niugini, which is jointly owned by Zijin and Canadian gold giant Barrick Gold. Zijin said it has recouped the entire investment cost of the project. Barrick Niuginis special mining lease for the Porgera gold mine was first approved in 1989 and expired last August. Barrick had attempted to renew the lease but faced backlash from landowners and residents over what they said were negative social, environmental and economic impacts from the mine. After refusing to extend the lease, Papua New Guineas government said its negotiation team would discuss follow-up matters with the current operator of the mine. But Barrick Gold said it had no interest in discussing transitional arrangements as proposed by the government. The governments decision was tantamount to nationalization without due process and in violation of the governments legal obligations to Barrick Niugini, Barrick Gold said Friday in a statement. The Canadian company said it will pursue all legal avenues to challenge the governments decision and to recover damages. Barrick Gold also disputed the governments allegations of environmental damage and resettlement issues as reasons for the nonextension. The company said environmental practices at the mine were regularly audited and approved by the government, and the company has compensated and relocated more than 1,400 households affected by the mine. Zijin cited Barrick Golds position in its statement Monday, adding that it will actively seek legal and reasonable solutions. Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com) WA has emerged as the front line in a new China trade dispute, with the state's billion-dollar barley industry at risk over Beijing's threat to tax Australian imports and experts warning the West needs to look elsewhere for its future prosperity. China has threatened an 80 per cent tariff on imports of the grain from Australia, accusing growers of dumping product on the international market. About 88 per cent of Australia's barley exports to China come from WA. Last month, the regime's ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye warned beef, wine, tourism and education exports could also be subject to a consumer boycott if Canberra persisted with a push for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Juili Kale was looking forward to receiving her masters degree at Arizona State University. She planned to invite her family living in India, to the United States for her graduation ceremony. But then, in March, the coronavirus pandemic ended those plans as schools nationwide closed to stop the spread. Kales dream of spending time with family members on her big day came crashing down. Yet the graduation ceremony is taking place -- just not as she expected. University officials have turned to robots so Arizona State graduates and their families can take part in the event online. Cameras recorded images of Kale and about 140 other graduates online this month. They were wearing robes and mortar board caps. They took turns moving a robot at the university that held an eye-level display showing their face. With the help of the robot, they stepped forward to receive their diplomas and take pictures. The robots are from Double Robotics, a company based in Burlingame, California. Before the health crisis, they had been used to help people attend funerals and even marriage ceremonies without traveling. Sanjeev Khagram is dean of Arizona States Thunderbird School of Global Management. He told the Reuters news agency the video a bittersweet experience was recorded and produced over two days. It may not have been ideal for the students, Khagram admitted. But, we want to show that we did everything that we could to celebrate them. Kale planned to throw a watch party with her husband at home and her family in India. Getting used to the online experience was easy for Nancy Sierras Morales. We have been able to adapt very quickly because we are used to being on a computer and on the phone almost like 24/7, the 22-year-old said. She said that, while it is not the best, it is coolto be like the first class ever to do this. When the crisis is over, the class of 2020 can do a real-life walk at any future graduation ceremony they choose. Im disappointed, said 41-year-old Douglas Northcott. He is graduating with a masters degree in applied leadership and management. He called the online event with robots creative. But he looked forward to the real thing. And if anything, that makes it better, in that [it] is spread over two times rather than one. Im Mario Ritter, Jr. Jane Ross reported this story for Reuters news agency. Mario Ritter Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story diploma n. a document showing that a person has finished their studies at a school pandemic n. a disease that has spread over a wide area and affects many people masters degree n. recognition given to a student usually after one or two years of study after a four-year college degree graduation n. a ceremony at which those completing study programs are recognized display n. a performance or show mortar board cap(s) n. a special kind of hat that is flat on the top and worn by people graduating from high school or college dean n. the head of a college or school adapt v. to change to meet the requirements of a new situation or condition 24/7 n. short for 24 hours day, seven days a week disappoint v. to fail to meet the hopes or expectations of someone Privacy advocates have raised new concerns about the federal government's coronavirus tracing app on the eve of a debate in Parliament on jail terms and fines for those who breach its safeguards. The civil liberties groups want the government to change the design to ensure personal data is not stored on a central database, arguing this increases the danger from a single cyber attack. The government reported 5.5 million downloads of the app by Monday afternoon but it is yet to reach its target for adoption, highlighting the need to overcome any community concerns. Attorney-General Christian Porter has discussed last-minute changes to the privacy bill with Labor legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus, clearing the ground for bipartisan support for the changes this week. A missile fired during an Iranian training exercise mistakenly struck a naval vessel instead of its intended target in waters near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15 others, Iranian authorities said on Monday. The bungled training exercises took place on Sunday and raised new questions about the readiness of the Islamic Republic's armed forces amid heightened tensions with US, just months after they accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran, killing 176 passengers. It also comes soon after a tense naval encounter between Iranian and US forces in the nearby Persian Gulf. President Donald Trump withdrew the US from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers two years ago, launching a maximum pressure campaign against Iran that has pushed the archrivals to the verge of conflict repeatedly. Analysts have warned regional tensions likely will increase again. This week also marks the one-year anniversary of attacks on oil tankers near the strait that the US blamed on Iran. Sunday's friendly fire incident struck the Iranian navy vessel Konarak near the port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran in the Gulf of Oman, the Iranian army said in a statement. Iran's regular navy typically patrols those waters, while vessels from the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard usually patrol the Persian Gulf. The Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship taking part in the exercise, came too close to a target and the missile struck it, state TV said. Authorities did not identify the ship that fired the missile, though semiofficial media in Iran identified it as the Iranian destroyer Jamaran. The Konarak had been putting targets out for other ships to target, state TV said. Initially, officials said only one sailor had been killed. That number quickly changed to 19. A local hospital admitted 12 sailors and treated another three with slight wounds, the state-run IRNA agency reported. Iranian vessels towed the Konarak into a nearby naval base after the strike. A photograph released by the Iranian army showed burn marks and some damage to the vessel, though the military did not immediately offer detailed photographs of the site of the missile's impact. Iranian king Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi had purchased the Dutch-made, 47-meter (155-foot) vessel just before being toppled by the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Konarak entered service in 1988 and crews later overhauled the vessel some 30 years later, making it able to launch sea and anti-ship missiles. Iran still relies on weaponry purchased under the shah due to international sanctions. The boat typically carried a crew of 20 and authorities did not explain why it had 34 people on board at the time of the missile strike. The army identified those slain as including officers and enlisted men, including a combat diver. It appeared the sailors may have been firing Noor anti-ship missiles during the exercise, said Reed Foster, a senior analyst at Jane's. He said a replacement for the vessel will likely take years to come into service" and represented a blow to the navy as Iran already saw a destroyer sink in the Caspian Sea in January 2018. Perhaps the greatest impact to the Iranian military and government is that this is the second high-profile incident in less than half a year where mistakes in missile targeting have resulted in significant loss of life, Reed said. Reed added that the friendly fire incident damages the credibility of the Iranian military and government's claim that they can develop a sophisticated defense weapons despite international sanctions. This likely will provide new fodder for the US, which has been actively campaigning to keep a United Nations arms embargo in place on Iran that is due to expire in November. Iran regularly holds exercises in the Gulf of Oman, which is close to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world's oil trade passes. The US Navy's 5th Fleet, which monitors the region, did not respond to a request for comment. Tensions had been expected to rise, however, after Iran's government overcame the initial chaos that engulfed its response to the coronavirus pandemic. In April, the US accused Iran of conducting dangerous and harassing maneuvers near American warships in the northern Persian Gulf. Iran also had been suspected of briefly seizing a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker just before that. Potential exists for a limited direct conflict, even though neither side wants one, the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By ANI HYDERABAD: The GMR Hyderabad International Airport on Monday handled the arrival of the second evacuation flight under Vande Bharat Mission from the United States of America on May 11. The national carrier - Air India flight - AI 1617 - from San Francisco (USA) arrived via Mumbai at the Hyderabad International Airport today at 09.22 am with 118 Indian citizens stranded in the USA. Later in the day, GMR Hyderabad International Airport is all set to receive another batch of Indian citizens from Abu Dhabi (UAE). The Air India Flight - AI 1920 - is expected to arrive at around 9.30 pm today. To facilitate the arriving passengers and aircraft crew, the airport has kept the international arrivals and the entire stretch right from the aerobridge to the arrivals ramp fully sanitized and fumigated, sources informed. #VandeBharatMission: Special evacuation flight Air India AI 1617 carrying 118 Indian citizens from US (San Francisco) landed at Hyderabad Airport today. pic.twitter.com/8HyJ9XYNRL ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020 The airport also enforced social distancing among passengers right from the aerobridge to across the terminal. All arriving passengers and aircraft crew from the US were brought out from the aircraft in batches of 20-25 persons each. Each passenger/crew was screened by the Thermal Cameras positioned at the aerobridge exit under the supervision of the Airport Health officials (APHO) as per the directives of MoHFW (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) prior to immigration formalities. After the health screening of passengers, CISF personnel in their protective gear escorted the group of passengers to immigration clearance. Glass shields were provided at each manned immigration counter to avoid any personal contact between the passengers and immigration officers. Each counter had specified social distancing norms in place. All baggage was sanitised by the disinfection tunnel integrated to the baggage belt as arranged by the airport. The baggage trolleys were kept fully sanitised for passengers' use. The passengers were also provided seating arrangement with complimentary boxes of food. As per the government's norms, the passengers were taken for mandatory 14-day quarantine to the designated locations in the city. To meet this emergency requirement, apart from the State/Central government representatives, State Police, CISF (Central Industrial Security Force), immigration, customs, a select group of personnel from GHIAL terminal operations, airside operations, AOCC (Airport Operations & Control Centre), ATC (Air Traffic Control), IT team, landside security, airline ground handlers, ARFF (Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting) services, RAXA security, trolley operators, housekeeping staff, among others were available to ensure safe and seamless arrivals of the passengers. According to sources, till May 11, 2020, GMR Hyderabad International Airport has handled 12 departures evacuation flights serving over 900 foreign nationals who were repatriated by various special relief flights from Hyderabad to countries like the UK, the UAE, the US, Kenya and Germany. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- They survived the initial scramble for personal protective equipment (PPE), but the struggle continues for many of Staten Islands forgotten essential workers, who say they fear their supplies will run out before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is under control. Staffers at group homes, volunteer ambulance workers and local merchants told the Advance that they are grateful to have secured masks, gloves and other PPE through their own funding, charitable donations and the efforts of Staten Island public officials during the initial phase of the coronavirus outbreak. Overlooked by city and state agencies the first time around, they expressed concern that their supplies will dwindle in the coming weeks, and said they hope not to be forgotten again. BECOMING 'ESSENTIAL OVERNIGHT At Eden II, which runs group homes for people with severe autism and other developmental disabilities, supplies were delivered by local political leaders and non-profits early on, but when staffers reached out to the state, they were told that state supplies were saved for those who were essential. The borough president, local assembly and City Council were terrific, said Joanne Gerenser, Eden IIs executive director. If it werent for them, wed be in trouble. Gerenser said she couldnt believe her workers werent considered essential by the state. These are direct-care workers, she said. Theyre not trained as health-care workers, but thats what they became overnight. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** Gerenser said she hopes to receive supplies from the city and state going forward, as the supplies they have wont last long. You can eat through that very quickly when youre helping them in the bathroom, helping them brush their teeth, she said of working with the clients at Eden II. These are people who dont understand social distancing. Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/South Brooklyn) said her office reached out to every nursing home and direct-care facility on the Island. She distributed 10,000 face shields to more than two dozen hospitals, nursing homes and group homes on Staten Island and in Southern Brooklyn. The face shields were purchased with funds raised in memory of Andreas Koutsoudakis, a well-known New York City restaurateur and Staten Island resident, whose extended family owns Andrews Diner in Great Kills. We need the state to do more, she said. At this point, I dont think theres any excuse. In the beginning, there was a supply issue, and so many of us were scrambling to try to get donations of supplies, of gloves, of N95 masks, of surgical masks and medical gowns to these organizations, particularly nursing homes and group homes. She encouraged those in need of PPE to contact her office. RUNNING OFF DONATIONS Volunteer Heart Ambulance, which has served Staten Island since 1971, has three ambulances and 30 to 40 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 65 many of whom are also EMS workers, working in their spare time to help supplement the FDNYs inundated backlog of EMS calls. The members have been burning through PPE with busier-than-usual schedules during the pandemic. Weve been basically running off donations, said Alyssa Franchi, a spokesman for the organization. We tried to buy masks when they were in stock, but that was (impossible). SUPPLIES GOING FAST Its the same story at Priority One Ambulance, in Graniteville, which handles non-emergency and emergency transfers of patients between hospitals, assisted living facilities, nursing homes and medical clinics. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation generously provided the group masks and gowns to both organizations, as did the Regional Emergency Medical Services Council of New York City Inc. (REMSCO), a not-for-profit group charged with supporting EMTs. Currently, Volunteer Heart has just over 200 masks in stock, Franchi said, noting that the group uses about 25 each day. Its 300 gowns wont last too long, either, as the members go through about 25 of those each day, too. The unit has 175 face shields and only 21 pairs of goggles, she said. 70 Coronavirus in NYC: Photos show the fight against the pandemic Franchi said she is concerned about the health of the volunteer staff, which answers between five and eight calls per tour, on each of three tours per day. Theyre working crazy hours at work, and we want to make sure they stay safe while volunteering, she said. At Priority One, Christopher Magnus, the operations manager, said he understands why hospital emergency departments are priority one when it comes to PPE, but that does not ease the challenge of protecting his staff and patients during a pandemic. Local merchants, such as pharmacists, find themselves in a pickle as well, said Anthony Rapacciuolo, whose South Shore Business Improvement District secured and distributed 5,000 masks to operational businesses in Eltingville, Great Kills and Annadale early in April, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo required employees of essential businesses to wear masks. I dont want to see a small business owner who is just working to pay bills have to close or get a fine, he said. Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.Vs FMX, alias FEMSA, reported net majority income per ADS of $1.09 per share (Ps. 2.55 per FEMSA unit) in first-quarter 2020, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 5 cents. The better-than-expected earnings can be attributed to the robust top line and operating income growth despite the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Net consolidated income of the largest franchise bottler for The Coca-Cola Company KO was Ps. 9,112 million (US$458.8 million), reflecting significant growth of 136.7% from the year-ago quarter. The increase resulted from higher operating income across most of its business units as well as the realization of a non-cash foreign exchange gain linked to FEMSAs U.S. dollar-denominated cash position, which benefited from the depreciation of the Mexican peso. This was, however, offset by higher interest expenses and a decline in the contribution from Heinekens HEINY results. Total revenues grew 5.5% year over year to Ps. 122,284 million (US$6,157.3 million), fueled by growth across almost all operations. Notably, the FEMSA Comercio Fuel Division reported flat revenues. On an organic basis, total revenues improved 2.7%. Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. Quote Despite the strong results, the company noted that the Coronavirus outbreak began to impact it in late March. While most of the companys operations are deemed as essential, with drugstores and fuel services being operational, the effects of the restrictions are showing on reduced traffic trends. While its Coca-Cola FEMSA S.A.B. de C.V. KOF business is leveraging its large off-premise customers and flexible commercial platforms, the effects of a negative mix and increasing complexities to connect with physical customers might hurt performance. Apart from making necessary adjustments to all business units to protect customers and employees, the company adopted aggressive cost-reduction and efficiency measures, citing the uncertain nature of the pandemic. Further, the company is prepared to adjust CAPEX when needed. Despite the strong first quarter, shares of FEMSA declined 3.1% yesterday mostly due to the uncertainty surrounding the timing of COVID-19 and related impacts. The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock slumped 31.9% year to date compared with the industrys decline of 12.3%. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Story continues FEMSAs gross profit grew 7.1% to Ps. 45,843 million (US$2,308.3 million). Consolidated gross margin expanded 60 basis points (bps) to 37.5%, owing to gross margin expansion of 50 bps at Coca-Cola FEMSA, 160 bps at FEMSA Comercios Proximity and 40 bps at Fuel Divisions, partially offset by a 60 bps contraction at FEMSA Comercios Health Division. The companys operating income (income from operations) grew 6% to Ps. 9,518 million (US$479.3 million). On an organic basis, operating income was up 4.4%. Consolidated operating margin contracted 10 bps to 7.8%, driven by operating margin expansion at Coca-Cola FEMSA and FEMSA Comercios Proximity Division, offset by a decline at FEMSA Comercios Fuel Division. Meanwhile, operating margin remained flat at FEMSA Comercios Health Division. Segmental Discussion FEMSA Comercio Proximity Division: Total revenues for the segment grew 10.6% year over year to Ps. 45,620 million (US$2,297.1 million). The rise can primarily be attributed to the opening of 268 net new OXXO stores in the reported quarter, which has taken net new store openings to 1,365 in the past 12 months. The Proximity Division benefited from steady growth of OXXO stores in Mexico. FEMSA Comercios Proximity division had 19,598 OXXO stores as of Mar 31, 2020. Same-store sales at OXXO grew 5.5%, backed by a 9.1% rise in average customer ticket, offset by a 3.3% decline in store traffic. Operating income rose 6.7% year over year, while operating margin expanded 30 bps to 6.7%. Revenue gains were partly offset by higher operating expenses. The increase in operating expenses mainly resulted from the ongoing initiatives to strengthen compensation structure for store personnel, higher investments in IT programs, and increase in secure cash handling costs due to higher volume and operational costs. This was partly compensated by lower electricity costs, as about 70% of the companys stores in Mexico operate on wind energy. FEMSA Comercio Health Division: The segment reported total revenues of Ps. 15,296 million (US$770.2 million), up 19.9% year over year. Organic revenues declined 0.9%, driven by negative currency translations related to the appreciation of the Mexican peso compared with the Chilean and Colombian pesos. This was offset by positive trends across operations. Further, same-store sales for drugstores declined 6.8%. On a currency-neutral basis, total revenues increased 35.9%, while same-store sales increased by 3.1%. The segment had 3,196 points of sales across all regions, of which about 35 net new stores were added in the first quarter. Operating income rose 21.8% year over year, while operating margin was flat. Organic operating income for the segment inched up 0.3%. The flat operating margin resulted from operating expense deleverage due to cost efficiencies and tight expense control across operations. FEMSA Comercio Fuel Division: Total revenues were flat with the year-ago quarter at Ps. 10,858 million (US$546.7 million). Same-station sales dipped 1.5% as a decline in average price per liter was more than offset by lower average volume. The company had 550 OXXO GAS service stations as of Mar 31, reflecting the addition of five stations in the first quarter. Operating income declined 24.3%, with 60-bps contraction in the operating margin to 2.2%. Coca-Cola FEMSA: Total revenues for the segment declined 1.9% year over year to Ps. 45,348 million (US$2,283.4 million). On a comparable basis, revenues improved 3.6%. Coca-Cola FEMSAs operating income was flat, while comparable operating income was up 6.3%. The segments operating margin rose 20 bps to 12.6% on operating expense efficiencies and tax reclaims in Brazil. Financial Position FEMSA had cash and cash equivalents of Ps. 133,470 million (US$5,677.2 million) as of Mar 31, 2020. Long-term debt was Ps. 163,054 million (US$6,934.5 million). Moreover, the company incurred capital expenditure of Ps. 5,309 million (US$297.3 million) in the first quarter, reflecting increased investments in most businesses. 5 Stocks Set to Double Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth. Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Coca-Cola Company (The) (KO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (FMX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Coca Cola Femsa S.A.B. de C.V. (KOF) : Free Stock Analysis Report Heineken NV (HEINY) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Appalling video shows the moment a woman drove her minivan over the gravestones of military veterans as she tried to avoid a traffic jam inside Houston National Cemetery. The woman was one of dozens of people who flocked to the cemetery on Sunday to watch a flyover from the Lone Star Flight Museum commemorating the 75th anniversary of VE Day - the end of World War II in Europe. As people began to leave after the flyover concluded, the woman got impatient and sought to bypass other cars by driving over the grass. 'I was shocked, and never would have expected that to happen,' Jeremiah Johnston, the man who filmed the video, told KTRK. 'This is Houston, and there are crazy drivers, and I never would have expected to see them going through a cemetery. Especially when everyone was there to pay their respects during a patriotic flyover.' A woman was filmed driving her minivan over the gravestones of military veterans as she tried to avoid a traffic jam inside Houston National Cemetery on Sunday Amanda Hill, another witness who went to the cemetery to visit her grandparents' graves, said the woman was in a hurry to leave as soon as the flyover ended. 'She tried to back up, and then went up on the curb of the section where my grandparents are buried,' Hill said. '[The woman] couldn't get around some cars, and then she started running over the graves.' Hill estimated that the woman drove over dozens of graves in her repeated attempts to bypass other cars. 'She heard us yelling at her to stop, and just kept doing it,' she said. 'My mother approached the van, and the driver told her she had to get out.' The woman was one of dozens of people who flocked to the cemetery to watch a flyover commemorating the 75th anniversary of VE Day. As people began to leave after the flyover concluded, the woman got impatient and sought to bypass other cars by driving over the grass In the video, recorded by Jeremiah Johnston, witnesses are seen shouting at the driver telling her to stop as she mowed over dozens of gravestones Hill said her family tried to block the woman as she approached the grave of her grandfather, Robert Eugene Marsh, a First Lieutenant in the Air Force known as the Bloody Hundred, which did bombing runs over Germany. 'My mom stood in front of the van, and finally had to jump out of the way, because she was going to hit her,' Hill said, adding that they did manage to keep her from going over Lt Marsh's grave. Hill said the woman appeared unfazed by the fact that she was being photographed by people as they shouted at her to stop. As of Monday the offending driver has not been identified, and the Harris County Constable's Office said it had not received any reports about the incident. Hill said she was initially hesitant about raising her concerns in the media, but ultimately determined it was the right thing to do. 'I was talking to my parents earlier and said: "I don't want this to be a huge deal and reflect negatively,"' Hill told KTRK. 'My mom said: "No. Your grandfather would be proud of you for making sure this woman gets justice, because they would be appalled."' Hill continued: 'I felt bad for the families whose loved ones' graves were run over. 'It's so disrespectful and especially on a day when we're honoring veterans of World War ll.' A Brisbane engineering and logistics company has built 10 portable hospital rooms that can isolate infections and be delivered anywhere in Australia. Canstruct International, which has developed engineering and logistics skills over 60 years working in Papua New Guinea and the Asia-Pacific region, wants to donate the units to Australias health authorities. A Brisbane-based asset engineering management company has made 10 portable hospital rooms. They can be used to help bushfire recovery victims and COVID-19 sufferers because they create an airlock that prevents infections from leaving the room. The company believes they could isolate infected people if a second wave of COVID-19 infections emerges as social restrictions are relaxed. By Express News Service CHENNAI/VIJAYAWADA/HYDERABAD/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tamil Nadu has reported 669 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths, taking the tally to 7,204 and toll to 47, of these 509 cases are from Chennai. Meanwhile, three patients who were undergoing treatment died on Sunday. Cases in Chennai will continue to rise in the coming week due to increased testing conducted by the city corporation, said Dr J Radhakrishnan, special officer coordinating the containment activities. Addressing the media on Sunday, he said there is nothing to worry about the numbers as the clusters were getting stabilised gradually. The aim is to test more people and treat them, so they do not transmit the virus. Fifty new cases were reported on Sunday morning in Andhra Pradesh, taking the states tally to 1,980. The toll increased to 45 with one more casualty reported in Kurnool district. Between 9 am on Saturday and 9 am on Sunday, a total of 8,666 samples were tested, while the total number of discharged increased to 925 with 38 more people were recovered and discharged. Later in the evening, the number of recovered people increased to 68 with 30 another getting discharged from hospitals. Andhra Pradesh continues to lead the country in the number of tests conducted per million population. On an average, 3,253 tests are being conducted per million as on Sunday. The state is closely followed by Tamil Nadu with 2,975 cases per million and Rajasthan with 2,033. The Covid-19 graph in Telangana continued to climb disconcertingly for the second day on the trot, with 33 fresh positive cases being reported from the state. Of the 33 positive patients, seven are migrant workers and the others are from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area. The total toll remained at 30 with no deaths being reported. With the 33 cases, the total number of positive cases has risen to 1,196 and that of the active cases to 415. As no patient was discharged on Sunday, the cumulative figure of those who have been cured remained unchanged at 751. Two fresh cases of COVID-19 were reported from Kerala on Saturday, both being foreign retur nees who reached the state from Dubai and Abu Dhabi on May 7 and were among the expatriates airlifted by the Centre as part of its mission to bring back stranded Indians abroad. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said with the two new patients, the total number of cases in the state has gone up to 505 and there are currently 17 under treatment. One patient from Idukki, who was under treatment, has been cured today. The two new cases are now under treatment in Kochi and Kozhikode. They reached the state on May 7 in the Abu Dhabi- Kochi and Dubai-Kozhikode flights, respectively, Vijayan told reporters. There are 23,930 people under observation in the state out of which 334 are in isolation wards of various hospitals, he said. The state has reported three deaths on Sunday Deforestation of the Amazon has soared in recent months as South America battles the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Last month, an area almost four times the size of Paris was destroyed as 156 square miles (405 square km) of rainforest wilderness was razed. According to Brazil's space research agency this is an increase of 64 per cent from April of 2019. From January to April, during which coronavirus rampaged around the world, a total of 464 square miles (1,202 square kilometres) of forest an area more than 20 times the size of Manhattan was wiped out. The level of deforestation so far this year marks a staggering 55 per cent compared to the first four months of 2019. Scroll down for video Deforestation of the Amazon has soared in recent months as South America battles the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Last month, an area almost four times the size of Paris was destroyed According to Brazil's space research agency, last month's 156 square miles (405 square km) of deforestation is an increase of 64 per cent from April of 2019. Pictured, an aerial photo showing a fire in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil, on August 23, 2019 The majority, around 60 per cent, of the Amazon rainforest is located in Brazil, the biggest county in South America. It is also the epicentre of the Latin American COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 10,000 deaths already recorded in the country. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly received criticism from environmentalists for implementing policies that encourage illegal activity at the detriment of nature. Last year, in Mr Bolsonaro's first year in office, deforestation spiked by 85 percent to an 11-year high, according to data from the Brazilian Space Research Institute (INPE). International outrage forced the Brazilian president, a noted climate change sceptic who advocates opening protected lands to mining and farming, to act. He deployed the military to restrict the damage caused by wildfires, illegal logging, mining and farming on protected lands. As of today, the army has once more been authorised to step in and try and prevent damage to the world's most important carbon sink. However, the armed forces have only been given authorisation to tackle fires and deforestation. This, according to Dr Erika Berenguer, an ecologist at Oxford and Lancaster Universities, does not tackle the cause of the problem. '[It] is like me taking paracetamol because I have a toothache: it's going to reduce the pain, but if it's a cavity, it's not going to cure it,' she said. The Amazon is the world's largest tropical rainforest, and scientists say its preservation is vital to curb global warming because of the vast amount of greenhouse gas that it absorbs. Environmentalists warn the first few months of 2020 may be a harbinger of doom for a devastating year of deforestation. 'The beginning of the year is not the time where deforestation normally happens, because it's raining, and it's raining a lot,' explains Dr Berenguer. 'In the past, when we see deforestation increase in the beginning of the year, it's an indicator that when deforestation season starts [at the end of May]... you're going to see an increase, as well.' An aerial view show a wildcat gold mine, also known as a garimpo, at a deforested area of the Amazon rainforest near Crepurizao, in the municipality of Itaituba, from 2017. Deforestation has been driven by lax laws encouraging mining and farming on protected lands Aerial view of deforestation in the Menkragnoti Indigenous Territory in Brazil on August 28, 2019. Conservationists warn the spread of COVID-19 has provided a perfect storm for illegal loggers and ranchers hoping to further exploit the Amazon An aerial view shows a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil, September 10, 2019. Last year, in Mr Bolsonaro's first year in office, deforestation spiked by 85 percent to an 11-year high, according to data from the Brazilian Space Research Institute (INPE) Conservationists also warn the spread of COVID-19 has provided a perfect storm for illegal loggers and ranchers hoping to further exploit the Amazon. Environmental enforcement agency Ibama has been forced to send fewer agents into the field due to health risks. The agency has said it will scale back field agents in other at-risk areas but not the Amazon. 'The pandemic has not helped because there are apparently less agents out there, and illegal loggers obviously don't care about the virus in remote areas of the Amazon,' said Paulo Barreto, senior researcher for non-profit Amazon institute Imazon. Mr Barreto and other environmentalists, including Greenpeace, said the surge in deforestation was already underway last year due to government steps that encouraged illegal logging, in particular a decree now before Congress that could give title to land grabbers who invaded public and indigenous lands. Environmentalists warn the first few months of 2020 may be a harbinger of doom for a devastating year of deforestation as deforestation doesn't reach full swing until late May normally As of today, the army has once more been authorised to step in and try and prevent damage to the world's most important carbon sink. However, the armed forces have only been given authorisation to tackle fires and deforestation All parameters are fine: Manmohan Singh stable; developed reaction to medication India pti-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, May 11: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh is stable and under observation at the AIIMS here after suffering reaction to a new medication and developing fever, hospital sources said on Monday. The 87-year-old Congress leader was admitted to the hospital on Sunday evening after he complained of uneasiness. The sources said that Singh had developed a reaction to a new medication and further investigation is being carried on him to rule out other causes of fever. Ex-Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi in coma "Dr Manmohan Singh was admitted for observation and investigation after he developed a febrile reaction to a new medication," the sources said to PTI. "He is being investigated to rule out other causes of fever and is being provided care as needed. He is stable and under care of a team of doctors at the Cardiothoracic Centre of AIIMS," they said. "All his parameters are fine. He is under observation at the AIIMS," a source close to him has said. Singh, a senior leader of the opposition Congress, is currently a Member of Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. He was the prime minister between 2004 and 2014. In 2009, Singh underwent a successful coronary bypass surgery at the AIIMS. A number of leaders expressed have expressed concern over his health and wished him a speedy recovery. Actor Rob Lowe is celebrating three decades of abstinence from drugs and alcohol. "The Outsiders" star took to Instagram on Sunday to mark the anniversary, urging people struggling with addiction to reach out for help. "30 years ago today, I found a sober life of true happiness and fulfillment. I am filled with gratitude on this anniversary. "From a treatment center in Arizona to a bomb shelter in Israel, I have come to know many extraordinary people, and the fellowship of recovery has changed my life and given me gifts beyond my selfish imaginings," Lowe, 56, wrote alongside his selfie. "If you, or someone you love is struggling with any kind of addiction, there is hope! Love to you all," he added. In January, the actor admitted he was worried about missing out on the "fun" by giving up alcohol. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court is holding its second week of arguments by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic, with audio available live to audiences around the world. The highest profile cases are up this week, including two on Tuesday involving the potential release of President Donald Trump's tax returns. There's a school employment discrimination case on Monday. You can listen live starting at 10 am. Last week, the justices heard cases about Trump administration rules that would allow more employers who cite a religious or moral objection to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women as required by the Affordable Care Act. The first case the Supreme Court will hear Monday is about whether an Indian tribe retains control over a vast swath of eastern Oklahoma. The court tried to resolve it in 2018 but ultimately didn't. The second case involves two ex-Catholic school teachers and their former employers. Kristen Biel and Agnes Morrissey-Berru both taught fifth grade at Catholic schools in California. Morrissey-Berru's teaching contract wasn't renewed in 2015, when she was in her 60s, after she'd taught more than 15 years at the school. And Biel's contract wasn't renewed after she disclosed she had breast cancer and would need time off. Both sued their former employers, with Morrissey-Berru alleging age discrimination and Biel alleging disability discrimination. A lower court said both lawsuits could go forward, but the schools have appealed and have the support of the Trump administration. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A young teacher whose rosacea got worse when her GP mistook it for acne has claimed a 19.95 cream made from capers was able to finally calm her skin down in just a matter of days. China Collins, 26, from Truro in Cornwall, who first started noticing redness and small pustules around six years ago when she was aged 20, says when her flare-ups became more severe they made her feel really self-conscious. 'I felt helpless because I didn't know what I could do to help myself,' explained the primary school teacher. 'I was left with such sore skin to start with from using the completely wrong ingredients, and my face used to feel like it was on fire.' After trying several natural solutions and treatment prescribed by the GP, China found an unlikely solution in the form of Kalme Day Defence and claimed she noticed a reduction in redness within a couple of days. Now, China has been using the range for 10 weeks and claims her rosacea has all but disappeared thanks to the caper cream, which helps to stop production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which cause redness. China Collins, 26, from Truro in Cornwall, whose rosacea got worse when her GP mistook it for acne has claimed a 19.95 cream made from capers was able to finally calm her skin down in a couple of days. Pictured, during a flare-up in June 2019 The primary school teacher first started noticing redness and small pustules around six years ago when she was 20-years-old. Pictured, after applying the cream in April 2020 China says that when she was 20-years-old her redness was only mild, so she didn't discover it was rosacea until 2017, when it started to become more severe and noticeable. 'Nobody in my family has rosacea,' she explained. 'One of my five sisters does have sensitive skin but nothing like I had.' 'I believe that my rosacea was triggered through a combination of genetically sensitive skin combined with the use of a harsh skincare routine through my teens and 20's.' China claimed that she noticed a reduction in redness within a couple of days of using 19.95 Kalme Day Defence (pictured) 'I used to use highly scented products and absolutely loved a face scrub; I would scrub my face with harsh exfoliator, sometimes twice a day, always focusing on my nose and cheek areas. China believes she severely damaged her skin barrier during this time, which may have had an impact on triggering her rosacea. 'I think it took me so long to realise it was rosacea because I had never heard of it before, I had never seen it before,' she explained. 'So I had no point of reference or any knowledge of symptoms and triggers to point me in the direction of rosacea. 'It's so unknown about in general skincare. Even now I still find myself having to explain what it is to people.' She continued: 'I have always been an avid make-up wearer as I have always struggled with spots even before my rosacea. 'My flare-ups used to make me not want to go out even with lots of make-up on as it would hide the redness but the rough bumpy texture from the pustules would really upset me.' China went on to say that she works with children, who often have no filter. 'They have asked me about bumps on my skin and will nearly always point out if I have a flushing flare-up,' she said. 'I have also been asked if I'm sunburnt a few a times.' China says that when she was aged 20, her redness was only mild, so she didn't discover it was rosacea until 2017 when it started to become more severe. Pictured, during a flare-up in January 2018 The primary school teacher says her flare-ups used to make her not want to go out even with lots of make-up on. Pictured, during a flare-up in February 2018 The teacher started using Kalme Day Defence after hearing about it online, and claimed she noticed a reduction in redness within a couple of days. Pictured, after applying the cream in April 2020 China went on to say that at a few points she got quite depressed about her skin. HOW DOES KALME SKINCARE WORK? The KALME skincare is a naturally active but hard-working skincare range containing a patented extract of capers that has been scientifically tested and shown to help combat the symptoms of rosacea and skin sensitivity by up to 70%. With its 4-way action the range helps to combat ruddiness and sensitivity, and offers protection from UV damage (which can be equally from cold blustery winds as it can from sun), 24-hour moisturisation and a strong antioxidant action. Anti-redness/sensitivity KALME products contain a patented caper extract called Derma Sensitive, which has been proven in clinical trials to reduce skin redness and sensitivity by up to 70%. UV protection KALME Day Defence SPF25 contains a patented form of micronised zinc oxide to give a transparent finish on the skin and a certified chemical-free SPF protection of 25 using a pure zinc sun filter. Advertisement 'When it was at its worst and I was really struggling to control it,' she said. 'I just felt like there was no way to get rid of it and I really withdrew myself from my family and friends.' 'I can see how people can become very depressed with an ongoing skin condition.' 'If you let it then it can start to affect many areas of you life. 'All it can take is a few mean words or people staring at your skin and it's enough to make you want to shut yourself away.' She continued: 'Luckily, I have been surrounded by kind friends and family, but even so I have still struggled to control my negative feelings about my skin. 'I can't imagine what it must be like for people who get badly treated or don't get the right support about their skin. China recalls the worst flare-up she has had was Christmas 2017, which prompted her first and only visit to her GP. 'I was prescribed a 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide gel (topical acne medication) as they thought it was acne due to my age,' she said. 'Initially the gel cleared my skin up. 'At the time my both cheeks were fully covered in small sore pustules. I remember not wanting to join in with any of the festivities and was set to bail on my New Year's Eve plans. 'I was so pleased that the gel had cleared up my pustules on this occasion.' China has been using the range for 10 weeks and claims her rosacea has all but disappeared. Pictured, after applying the cream in April 2020 China, who works with children, has been asked whether she is sunburnt a few a times due to her rosacea. Pictured, after applying the cream in April 2020 However, China claims that within a very short time the gel stopped working and severely dried out her skin. WHAT IS ROSACEA? Rosacea is a common but poorly understood long-term skin condition that mainly affects the face. Symptoms often begin with episodes of flushing, where the skin turns red for a short period, but other symptoms can develop as the condition progresses, like spots, papules and pustules. It can be controlled to some degree with long-term treatment, but sometimes the changes in physical appearance can have a significant psychological impact. Rosacea is a relapsing condition, which means there are periods when symptoms are particularly bad, but less severe at others. See your GP if you have persistent symptoms that could be caused by rosacea. Early diagnosis and treatment can help stop the condition getting worse. Source: NHS Advertisement 'When nothing that I was trying or that the doctor had given me was working I went to my sister for skincare advice as she is into more natural forms of skincare,' explained the teacher. 'On her advice I eliminated fragrance from my routine and started using gentler skincare ingredients. 'This did start to benefit my skin but I was still getting flare-ups, although they were not as aggressive.' Through her sister's influence, China started researching into more natural products specifically for rosacea, as normal skincare products, even the more natural ones, were still not tackling her skin as much as she needed them to. 'That is when I came across Kalme products with their special caper extract for reducing redness,' explained China. 'I read about them on social media and a lot of people with rosacea were posting really positive reports of their effects so I got hold of some and have been using them for about two months.' 'I noticed the redness reduce within the first couple of days of using the products and they felt really soothing on my skin.' China went on to explain how the Kalme cleanser took some getting used to as she usually applies a balm or gel cleanser with water to rinse. When nothing that she was trying or that the doctor had given her was working, China went to her sister for skincare advice. Pictured, China after applying the cream in April 2020 China now says she is the most confident she has ever been in herself and her skin in several years. Pictured, after applying the cream in April 2020 'The creamy wipe-off cleanser was a big change for me as you don't use water with it at all,' she said. 'It was unlike any wipe-off cleanser I have used before in that it was so thick and creamy. It felt super nourishing and moisturising on my skin. 'The daily SPF treatment cream was one of the nicest I have used and it worked under make-up too, which is important for me. Since starting to use the product, China claims her redness has almost completely disappeared - even after getting out of the shower when her face would almost always flush. She added: 'Currently I am the most confident I have been in myself and my skin in several years because now I have finally found a skincare regime that works; I know I have some control over it. I have lost that feeling of helplessness. It's very liberating.' T he former headquarters of MI5 is to be turned into a private members hotel with a spectacular rooftop restaurant under a glass dome. Leconfield House in Curzon Street, Mayfair served as Britains spycatcher base from 1945 to 1976, when MI5 moved to offices in Gower Street. Now property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz has submitted plans to Westminster council which reveal proposals to overhaul the 69,000 sq ft building and convert it into a 65-bed hotel. Mr Tchenguiz bought the building for his Rotch property business in 2004 for about 140 million. He told property website CoStar News that the new venue would be the highest-end hotel in the world. The plans include ground-floor shops and an additional three levels of basement containing spa, swimming pool and members club areas. They also propose a rooftop dining venue and lounge area, with the impression of being outdoors under a bright and airy glass domed enclosure. The guest rooms will be across the first to fifth floors, with 13 rooms on each level. Each will be about 500 sq ft and will include a dressing room. Leconfield House was built in 1939 and served as the headquarters of the London district of the British Army during the Second World War, when machine gun ports were built to defend it against possible attack from German paratroopers landing in Hyde Park. They were kept when MI5 arrived in case it was stormed by mobs from Speakers Corner. Dame Stella Rimington, the former director general of MI5, began working there in June 1969. She later described how on her first day the other women in her office opened their desk drawers at midday and produced exquisite cut glasses and bottles of some superior sherry, and partook of a rather elegant pre-lunch drink. CORRECTION: (Note: your license must have expired, and expired after .) SENIORS CAN GET A TEMP LICENSE ONLINE: Sondra emails, Now its time to renew. Great. Do it online in the shelter of my home? Ah, NO. Only if Im between the ages of 18 and 79. Well? Now Im 79 and 24 days and the site wont let me renew. What am I supposed to do now? As I understand, right now a cop wont give me a ticket with an expired license, but I probably wont be able to buy a bottle of wine, which if this is anything like last years hurdles (an expired license that required an appointment and $40 worth of fingerprints) I may need several. And Sondra is at least half-right. Tom Ponder, whos 84, called to report he was recently carded at a big-box store and because his license expired during this COVID-19 shutdown of MVD offices, his purchase of Bacardi rum and a few bottles of wine was denied. By the clerk and her manager. Tom, a veteran, says he was humiliated and angry and decried this age discrimination. Consider it more an insurance policy of sorts by those who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for one of the limited number of liquor licenses in New Mexico. They have said in this column before they dont want to put it at risk by perhaps selling to a minor, so they card everyone. And Tom acknowledges that with his personal protective equipment on, he might have passed for younger than his years. But last week MVD updated its temporary license system to include drivers over age 79, who are required by state law to renew annually in person and take a vision test. Now they, too, can go to mvdonline.com, click on online services, then on eservices, then drivers and placards and finally Print temporary license or ID. (Note: your license must have expired, and expired after .) Taxation and Revenue Department spokesman Charlie Moore, who handles information for MVD, says that will get drivers to the 90-day temporary license that we were able to create to help people get through this period. That is a valid, official New Mexico credential that they should be able to use for identification purposes. However, there are some exceptions people with interlock or DWI temporary licenses, commercial drivers licenses and limited licenses cant get the new temporary. THOSE EXPIRED PAPER TAGS ARE GOOD TO GO: Several readers, including Cindy, have asked what to do about those temporary tags that have since expired. While one reader says the dealer offered to keep issuing him temporary tags, that doesnt work with private sales, and with MVD offices closed, theres no way to get your permanent plate. Moore says, That is covered by the executive order the governor issued in March, which directed State Police not to cite people whose tags expire during the closures, and which asks local law enforcement to do the same. WATCH FOR FOLKS ON TWO WHEELS: This is Bicycle Awareness Month, and especially with the quarantine and nice weather more folks are out there. The New Mexico Department of Transportation is encouraging cyclists to share their experiences using #BikesUnite. And and NMDOT news release is also reminding drivers to look for bicyclists before turning, merging into bicycle lanes and opening doors next to traffic. To not make sudden right turns after passing a bicyclist on your right. To watch for sudden movements and lane changes by riders. And to keep your distance from bicyclists and stay alert and avoid distractions. As for cyclists, they are asked to always wear a helmet; ride with traffic, not against it; obey all traffic signs and signals; ride as far to the right as possible; signal intent to change lanes or turn; make themselves visible with a flashing orange or red light and reflective and light-colored clothing and to be aware of parked cars; watch for open doors. AND WATCH FOR CARS: A concerned resident emails that during this time of quarantine, more people are taking walks. In North ABQ Acres, we are not blessed with very many sidewalks, and sometimes people have to walk on the asphalt. When I attended Monte Vista Elementary School, we were taught to always walk on the left side of the street so that we would be facing oncoming traffic and be able to see each other. Twice now, I have reached the crest of a hill to find two people right in front of me in the middle of my lane walking side by side with their backs to me. In the first instance there were two ladies pushing baby carriages. In the second instance it was a couple walking their big dogs. Fortunately, I have good brakes. Otherwise, it could have been tragic. Editorial page editor DVal Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays. Reach her at 823-3858; dwestphal@abqjournal.com; or 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, N.M., 87109. Since landing the role of Veronica Lodge on Riverdale, Camila Mendes has been "ping-pong-ing from furnished rental to furnished rental," she tells AD. The cast of the hit CW show has spent a portion of each year since 2017 filming in Vancouver, so there's never been an opportunity for Mendes to settle into a space and make it her ownuntil now. After buying her mother a home in Florida, Mendes embarked on her first real decor project, working alongside her mom (and Pottery Barn) to furnish the space. "Obviously it was more about my mother, but in a way it was a family home that we were creating together," says Mendes. "My mom really wanted me to be involved in the process, because ultimately this was a home that I would come home to for the holidays to visit my mother and my sister. So for us to create that together was special." Photo: Nick Garcia First, Mendes's father renovated the home "in his signature style, which is a very all white modern Miami look," she says. Their goal with the furniture was to add warmth, and Mendes says the end result reflects her mother's elegant, colorful style perfectly. Below, she tells AD a bit more about creating the space, and she also reveals her big plans for her very own home in California, which she purchased recently. Architectural Digest: How does this house reflect your mom's personality? Camila Mendes: My mom is very chic and polished. Shes one of those women who always wears heels no matter where shes going. She goes to the grocery store in heels. We always say she is the definition of joie de vivre. Shes got a cheerful personality and is full of life. Theres something about the pops of color that we put in there that kind of bring out the colorful side of her personality. AD: When you were designing the space, were you and your mom on the same page? Were there any clashes? CM: At the end of the day this was my moms home, and for me the most important thing was making sure she got the home that makes her the happiest. If I were designing my home, Im sure we would have had more disagreements, but this home is for her, so I was really on her side. I gave my opinion and my two cents here and there but mostly I wanted her to feel like she really identified with every choice. Story continues AD: What were some of her must-have elements? CM: The big couch, that Big Sur Sectional that we have in the living room was a big thing for her because my mom loves having people over. Im kind of the same way. We have [a] big family in Brazil that love to come visit. Also I think theres something so elegant about the white couch. Photo: Nick Garcia AD: Do you have a favorite element of the house? CM: When you open the front door you see the living room right when you come in and I love that whole area. It's got this gorgeous painting that we have had in our family for years. Growing up, Ive seen it go from a house in Orlando to an apartment in Ft. Lauderdalethe painting has existed in so many different homes and aesthetics. For me to see this painting and this beautiful setup with the couch and the coffee tableit looks like two concrete slabsit is so cool. It makes the space so dynamic and so chic. AD: Does this house you created together look anything like a place youd live? CM: I think we share a bit of an aesthetic, but I gravitate to a bit more of a midcentury modern meets rustic look. For me, I don't know if it is because growing up in Miami there is so much modern architecture, but I like the idea of pairing something kind of modern with something that is a little more rustic and a little old. For me this house maybe looks a little more polished than anything I would ever live in. I like things to look more worn in. AD: During this time of being stuck at home, have you made any updates to your own decor? CM: No, because Im about to move out of the apartment Im in right now and into a home I bought in California. So I am sort of transitioning. Once I get to that new home I feel like it will be a clean slate and I can start fresh. AD: Do you have any ideas for your new place yet? CM: My friend and I are working on itwe want to find really special vintage pieces and go for the midcentury modern look. Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest China refutes 'two dozen lies' by US politicians over COVID-19 pandemic Iran Press TV Sunday, 10 May 2020 3:36 PM China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an article has strongly refuted two dozen "preposterous allegations" and "false claims" by some leading US politicians over its handling of the new coronavirus outbreak. The 30-page article posted on the ministry's website on Saturday night rebutted 24 untrue claims from the US, including calling the novel coronavirus "the Chinese virus" or "Wuhan virus" and claims that the Wuhan Institute of Virology created the virus. The article said that all evidence shows the virus is not man-made and that the institute is not capable of synthesizing a new coronavirus. Rejecting suggestions by US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the new coronavirus should be called the "Chinese virus", the article cited documents from the World Health Organization (WHO) to say the name of a virus should not be country-specific. It also roundly rejected accusations by US politicians, especially Pompeo, that China had withheld information about the new coronavirus. The piece of writing cited media reports that said Americans had been infected with the virus before the first case was confirmed in Wuhan. The article provided a timeline of how China had provided information to the international community in a "timely", "open and transparent" manner to rebuke US suggestions that it had been slow to sound the alarm. The article repeated and expanded on the refutations made during the press briefings, and began by invoking Abraham Lincoln, the 19th century US president. "As Lincoln said, you can fool some of the people all the time and fool all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time," it said in the prologue. It rejected Western criticism of Beijing's handling of the case of Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old doctor who had tried to raise the alarm over the outbreak of the new virus in Wuhan. His death from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, prompted an outpouring of grief and was later named among "martyrs" mourned by China. The ministry article said Li was not a "whistle-blower" and he was never arrested, contrary to many Western reports. Trump has described the coronavirus pandemic as the worst attack ever on his country while pointing the finger at China, saying the outbreak has hit the United States harder than the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor during WW ll or the 9/11 attacks two decades ago, which led the country to wage two deadly wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. China believes that the US president is trying to divert attention from his poor handling of the coronavirus outbreak in his country in order to back up his presidential bid. Trump claimed last week that he had seen evidence linking the virus to a lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan and threatened new trade tariffs on China. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said there is "enormous evidence" backing the coronavirus-leak scenario. The World Health Organization, senior US scientists and even the US intelligence community have rejected the claim despite pressure from the White House. Below are the 24 false claims and truths listed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. No.1 Lie: The novel coronavirus is the "Chinese virus" or "Wuhan virus." Fact: The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines have advised against giving infectious diseases names that associate them with specific countries and regions. No.2 Lie: Wuhan is the origin of the COVID-19 outbreak. Fact: Although the city first reported the outbreak, Wuhan is not necessarily the origin of the virus. The origin of COVID-19 is still unknown. Its source should remain a matter of science and should only be determined by scientists and medical experts based on scientific facts. No.3 Lie: COVID-19 was created by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fact: All of the evidence so far has shown that the virus evolved naturally. It is not man-made. No.4 Lie: COVID-19 was accidentally leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fact: The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology is a collaborative project with the French government. It is not capable of designing and producing COVID-19, and there is no evidence that any sort of virus leaked from the lab or that any staff got infected. No.5 Lie: China could have contained the outbreak from spreading outside Wuhan, but it let the virus spread to the world by not limiting international flights. Fact: China implemented the most restrictive prevention and control measures in the shortest possible time to prevent major outbreaks in places other than Wuhan. The statistics show that only a few imported cases are from China. No.6 Lie: Chinese people contracted the coronavirus from eating bats. Fact: Bats are never Chinese people's cooking ingredients. No.7 Lie: China reopened its wildlife market. It should close its "wet market" immediately. Fact: China does have "wet markets." China has completely banned the illegal hunting and trading of wild animals. No.8 Lie: China's initial cover-up of the outbreak has led to the virus spreading to the world. Fact: The outbreak was caused by a new type of virus, which required time to fully understand it. China has published the related information in an open, transparent and responsible manner. No.9 Lie: China arrested "whistleblower" Dr Li Wenliang. Fact: Dr Li Wenliang is not a "whistleblower," and he was not arrested. No.10 Lie: China's delayed report on human-to-human transmission mislead the United States and the world on how contagious and deadly the virus is, thus causing them to miss the opportunity to take early measures. Fact: China has been updating the WHO on the severity of the virus. The US should have been crystal clear about how lethal the virus is. No.11 Lie: China's data on COVID-19 is not transparent. The real number of confirmed and deceased COVID-19 cases is at least 50 times more than reported. Fact: China's released data is completely transparent and can stand the test of time. No.12 Lie: Wuhan's revision of the number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities proves that China covered up the actual number of infected patients during the initial stage of the outbreak. Fact: Data revision is a common international practice, which actually approves China is open, transparent and responsible in reporting the data. No.13 Lie: China spreads disinformation about the outbreak. Fact: China publishes COVID-19 data in an open and transparent way. But some US politicians and anti-China scholars have smeared China. China is a victim of disinformation. No.14 Lie: China's political system is the root of the problem. Fact: The virus doesn't distinguish ideology or social systems. The Communist Party of China and the Chinese government have played a decisive and crucial role in leading the Chinese people to prevail against the epidemic. China's political system has effectively organized and mobilized 1.4 billion people in China's vast territory of 9.6 million square kilometers to overcome the difficulties faced by developing countries. It unites all forces, pools all resources and provides a strong political guarantee to overcome the epidemic. It has been proven that the social system and development path chosen by the Chinese people fit China's domestic situation, and the Communist Party of China has won firm and broad support from Chinese people. China also has no intention of exporting its political system. No.15 Lie: China expelled US journalists to cover up the outbreak. Fact: China's expulsion of the US journalists is a reciprocal countermeasure against the US for its long-term suppression of Chinese media agencies in the US, especially the recent expulsion of 60 Chinese journalists. China releases information in a timely manner in an open, transparent and responsible manner. No.16 Lie: China controls the WHO and uses money to woo the organization. Fact: China firmly supports multilateralism. China has maintained good communication and cooperation with the WHO, but China has never manipulated the WHO. Notably, it is the US, the largest source of funding for the WHO, that has suspended funding of the international body, a move that was unanimously opposed by the international community. No.17 Lie: Taiwan issued a warning to the WHO about the human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus pneumonia from as early as December 31, 2019, but it was not taken seriously. Fact: China's Taiwan region was not issuing a warning to the WHO, but seeking additional information from the WHO after the Wuhan Health Commission filed a report on COVID-19. No.18 Lie: China prevented Taiwan from joining the WHO and endangered the health of Taiwanese. Fact: The truth is, Taiwan, as a part of China, has no right to participate in the WHO that only sovereign states can join. The channels of technical cooperation between China's Taiwan and the WHO are always open. No.19 Lie: China should be held responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. China should be investigated and sued for compensation. Fact: There is no legal basis for holding China responsible for the pandemic and asking for compensation. Such claims are just tricks some American politicians use to shift blame for their own political gain. No.20 Lie: China has hoarded protective medical resources, taking advantage of the pandemic to yield huge profits. It tightened the export of virus containment resources and equipment and limited exports, especially ventilators, which led to the US not having sufficient stocks. Fact: Although China's own virus containment is arduous, China is still doing its best to provide anti-COVID-19 medical supplies to other countries. No.21 Lie: China's assistance is "political generosity." Fact: China's foreign aid for fighting against the pandemic is sent to countries that supported China during the early phase of the outbreak. It is also based on the concept of a community of shared human destiny. No.22 Lie: China is interfering in the US election, trying to prevent US President Donald Trump from being re-elected. Fact: China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs. "Attacking China" is just a smear tactic that some US politicians are attempting to use as their campaign strategy. No.23 Lie: China recently required that enterprises that export masks, test kits, ventilators and other materials must provide customs with declaration forms, which can be seen as an attempt to ban the export of anti-COVID-19 medical supplies. Fact: The Chinese approach aims to strengthen quality control. No.24 Lie: China's Guangdong Province discriminated against African nationals. Fact: China's prevention and control measures never discriminate between Chinese and foreign nationals. It adopts a zero-tolerance attitude toward discriminatory words and deeds. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address BOCA RATON, Fla., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- TransMedia Group said it was retained by New Journey PAC to show that Republicans and conservatives in general are hardly the enemy of minorities as Democrats portray them. "Our media campaign will enlighten and engage minority voters nationwide as it responds to Democrats positioning Republicans as an enemy to minority populations when history clearly paints a totally opposite picture," said TransMedia CEO Tom Madden. "Our publicity will highlight Republican history that has benefitted Black Americans, including facts you'll never hear from Democrats," said Madden. Such facts to include: Richard M. Nixon , a Republican, first brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Washington, D.C. , a Republican, first brought Dr. to Republican votes defeated the Democrat Party's state-controlled Jim Crow laws in place! laws in place! From 2016 to February 2020 , the number of new Black businesses increased by 400%. , the number of new Black businesses increased by 400%. Black Americans who unfairly had their lives ruined by an unequal justice system were released or pardoned under President Trump. TransMedia said its campaign will kick off with an email blitz from https://secure.anedot.com/new-journey-pac/black-covid19-news-c871b8a4137ccbc5c78f6 to thousands of enlightened Black American influencers urging them to spread the true story about Republicans to fellow Black Americans. "Our messaging will urge influencers to participate and support the campaign to show how the Republican image has been so successfully demonized by a 50-year campaign to portray it as a party of 'white supremacists,' bigots, and compassionless agents of inequality," said Madden. "Our publicity will show dramatically how this egregious stereotyping flies in the face of progress black Americans have achieved under policies of Republican presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump," said TransMedia President Adrienne Mazzone. "We selected TransMedia Group for this campaign after assessing the PR firm's long and distinguished history in correcting misinformation about organizations they have represented, including some of the largest in the country," said Autry J. Pruitt, CEO of the New Journey PAC. "TransMedia has enthusiastically accepted this assignment as they firmly believe as we do in what President Ronald Reagan once said: "The party of Lincoln must come to grips with . . . it's failure to attract the majority of Black voters. "Hopefully this campaign will win one for the Gipper," said Pruitt. Media contact: Dilara Tuncer 941-549-3571; [email protected]. SOURCE TransMedia Group Related Links http://www.transmediagroup.com YEREVAN. The trial process of second president Robert Kocharyan and the others is quite agitated and politicized. Armenias former Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan told this to reporters Monday after his meeting with the National Assembly Inquiry Committee for Examining the Circumstances of the Military Activities of April 2016. When asked why he submitted a personal guarantee to commute Kocharyan's current precautionary measure of custody, Karapetyan answered: ""I have specified it in the mediation, and the logic is clear. Like many, I, too, am interested so that the maximum possible answer is given to the questions raised among the society in connection with March 1 [2008], so that there would not be an open side and does not leave a corresponding residue. I respect and appreciate Robert Kocharyan's input and contribution to the independence and stabilization process of the Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] Republic and the Republic of Armenia. This trial process has been going on for almost 2 years, and it is likely that it may continue for a very long time; that's why I have submitted a petition to commute the measure of restraint." And to the question whether political persecution was being carried out against Robert Kocharyan, Karen Karapetyan answered. "It seems to me that this process is quite agitated and politicized. I have now substantiated how I assess my step. I think everyone has the right to express their opinion. No one is saying, Acquit the guilty! We are saying, Do the process in a different way by commuting the precautionary measure. Former Prime Ministers of the Republic of Armenia Vazgen Manukyan, Khosrov Harutyunyan and Karen Karapetyan, and former Prime Minister of Artsakh Anushavan Danielyan appeared in court on May 8, as personal guarantors for commuting ex-president Robert Kocharyans current precautionary measure of custody. The court's respective decision will be announced on Wednesday. A caravan of protest vehicles surrounded Uber's San Francisco headquarters on Monday afternoon asking the ride-sharing company to drop support for a ballot initiative that would overturn California's AB5 law, intended to give gig workers more employee rights and benefits, and ensure safer working conditions for drivers. Between fifty to one hundred cars surrounded Uber's headquarters on Monday afternoon at the corner of Market and 11th Street, honking their horns in protest. On the sidewalk in front of Uber's entrance, around fifteen protesters unfurled a banner reading "Drivers United" and announced their demands via bullhorn. The protest, timed to take place during the Uber's annual shareholder meeting, was organized by Gig Workers Rising. They demand that ride-sharing companies allow gig working drivers to unionize, receive benefits, and be paid more for their work. "Uber, Lyft, and other gig companies are continuing in the same path of abusing and completely taking advantage of workers while putting them at risk," Edan Alya of Gig Workers Rising told TechCrunch. The protesters are also asking that Uber provide drivers with proper protective gear and create a safe working environment in driver's vehicles. ALSO: Elon Musk on reopening Tesla factory: 'If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me' At its shareholder meeting, held virtually, Uber announced they lost 2.9 billion dollars during the first quarter of this year. The company also laid off 3,500 employees by zoom call today. Lyft and Uber have actively fought enforcement of California's AB5 law, which requires that the company's drivers no longer be categorized as freelance gig workers but as employees. They joined several other gig economy businesses, including Instacart and Postmates, to place a measure on the ballot this fall to exempt them from the new law that came into effect on January 1st. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit last week to force Uber and Lyft to follow employee standards created by AB5. The state is also asking for millions of dollars in unpaid wages for drivers and civil penalties. MORE NEWS: Delta temporarily stops all flights to and from Oakland airport Uber responded to the lawsuit saying, "At a time when California's economy is in crisis with four million people out of work, we need to make it easier, not harder, for people to quickly start earning. We will contest this action in court, while at the same time pushing to raise the standard of independent work for drivers in California, including with guaranteed minimum earnings and new benefits." The company previously announced that they are shipping disinfectant sprays to some drivers as well as protective masks. They are prioritizing their deliveries based on locations hardest hit by the coronavirus. ________ Online Photo Editor Douglas Zimmerman oversees SFGATE's Instagram and covers the Bay Area soccer scene on SFGATE's Beautiful Blog. View his latest stories and send him news tips at dzimmerman@sfgate.com. W hile the citys galleries are closed, we're delving into the lives of London's favourite artworks. We want to bring you closer to these masterpieces, with the help of the experts and curators who know more about them than most. This week it's Artemisia Gentileschi's Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, which can be found at the National Gallery. What's the story behind the painting? Artemisia assumes the role of a fourth-century martyr saint who was tortured and ultimately died for her faith, says Letizia Treves, the National Gallerys James and Sarah Sassoon Curator of Later Italian, Spanish, and French 17th-century Paintings. Treves is also the curator of the gallerys major Artemisia exhibition, which had to be put on hold when museums closed. She shows herself with Saint Catherines attributes (the symbols by which she can be identified): a crown, halo, martyrs palm and a broken wheel studded with iron spikes. The last of these refers to the instrument of her torture Catherine was bound to revolving wheels but was freed through divine intervention. The painting dates from about 161517, when Artemisia was in her early twenties. She had recently arrived in Florence from Rome, where she had been born and been trained by her painter-father Orazio Gentileschi. It was in Florence that Artemisias career as a painter really took off, working for the powerful Medici family and becoming the first woman to join the artists academy in 1616 (around the time that this picture was painted). artemisia-gentileschi-self-portrait-as-saint-catherine-of-alexandria / National Gallery, London An interesting fact Recent studies have shown that this work started out as a self portrait and it was only at a later stage in the painting process that Artemisia transformed herself into Saint Catherine, possibly to satisfy a patrons demands, says Treves. The 17th century canvas on which this picture is painted is made up of two pieces of cloth, stitched together approximately 7cm from the bottom edge you can still see the stitches along the seam if you look really closely. The London story This is the only painting by Artemisia Gentileschi in a UK public collection. The painting was only discovered in 2017, when it came up for sale in France, adds Treves. The National Gallery was able to acquire it in July 2018 but it didnt immediately go on display. The picture underwent a months-long conservation treatment, which the public were able to follow in almost real time through a series of short films (still available via the Gallerys YouTube channel). In 2019 the painting went on a tour of unusual venues in the UK, including a library, GP surgery, girls school and womens prison. Artemisia Gentileschi at the National Gallery - in pictures 1 /14 Artemisia Gentileschi at the National Gallery - in pictures Judith beheading Holofernes Luciano Romano / Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte 2016 Susannah and the Elders, 1610 Kunstsammlungen Graf von Schonborn, Pommersfelden Susannah and the Elders, 1622 The Burghley House Collection, Bob Laughton Portrait of a Gonfaloniere photo courtesy the owner Collezioni Comunali dArte, Bologna Esther before Ahasuerus The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Birth of St John the Baptist Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria National Gallery, London Susanna and the Elders Pinacoteca Nazionale Bologna Solinas 2011, Letter 16, Artemisia to Francesco Maria Maringhi. Rome, 25 March 1620 1620 Archivio Storico Frescobaldi, Florence Solinas 2011, Letter 20, Artemisia to Francesco Maria Maringhi. Rome, 11 April 1620 1620 Archivio Storico Frescobaldi, Florence Judith and her maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, c. 1608 by Orazio Gentileschi Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design/The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design Why we love it Artemisia Gentileschi was as much a remarkable person as a remarkable artist. She used her paintbrush to create radical depictions of women, showing them in ways her male contemporaries rarely had. The women in her artworks are active participants, wielding their own power and creativity, rather than sitting passively. Gentileschi suffered greatly in her life, but turned this into her art. Saint Catherine of Alexandria was another woman who endured horrific trauma; the wheel in this portrait was the instrument of her torture, yet she grips it and shows she's in control of her own story. It isnt surprising that Gentileschi felt an affinity with her subject matter. Where you can see it The painting is in the National Gallerys permanent collection, so you can learn all about it in detail on their website here. There is also plenty of information on other aspects of Gentileschis life, including letters in her own hand that show just how passionate and determined she was as a woman as well as an artist. A series of films on the website chart the restoration of Gentileschis self-portrait after it was acquired by the gallery. Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria will be the centrepiece of the National Gallerys upcoming Artemisia exhibition, the first of its kind in the UK. It has been put on hold due to the temporary closure of the gallery, but will be rescheduled so keep an eye out. This is not an exhibition to miss! We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. Tests could be conducted on sewage systems to identify local outbreaks of coronavirus and allow the reimposition of lockdown measures in new hotspots, Downing Street has said. But prime minister Boris Johnson confused MPs in the House of Commons by suggesting that the tests would be carried out on water supplies. His comment appeared to raise the prospect of water contaminated with the Covid-19 virus coming through the taps, when in fact it is waste water which scientists believe may provide a clue to the location of clusters of infections. As he set out details of his recovery strategy for the gradual easing of lockdown measures, Mr Johnson told MPs the government would have no hesitation in putting on the brakes and delaying or reintroducing measures locally, regionally, or nationally if there were signs of a fresh spike of Covid cases which threatened to take the rate of reinfection - known as R - above one. The PM - who later compared the process of suppressing localised outbreaks to the game of Whack-a-Mole - added: The intention is the Covid alert system in time will be sufficiently sensitive and flexible as to detect local flare-ups, so that, for instance, if Covid is detected in the water supply of a certain town or in a school, in an area, then steps can be taken on the spot to deal with that flare-up. Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Show all 30 1 /30 Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff react outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff inside Camberwell bus depot in London, during a minute's silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus NHS staff at the Mater hospital in Belfast, during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak. PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Shoppers observe a minute's silence in Tescos in Shoreham Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Firefighters outside Godstone fire station PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Salford Royal Hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Salford Royal Hospital PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Hospital workers take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE across Britain for all workers in care, the NHS and other vital public services after a nationwide minute's silence at University College Hospital in London AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A school children's poster hanging outside Glenfield Hospital during a minute's silence Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A man holds a placard that reads "People's health before profit" outside St Thomas hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff members applaud outside the Royal Derby Hospital, following a minute's silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, Prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, stand inside 10 Downing Street, London, to observe a minutes silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus University College Hospital, London Hospital workers hold placards with the names of their colleagues who have died from coronavirus as they take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff at Waterloo Station in London, stand to observe a minute's silence, to pay tribute to NHS and key workers who have died with coronavirus AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Medical staff at the Louisa Jordan hospital stand during a UK wide minutes silence to commemorate the key workers who have died with coronavirus in Glasgow Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus London An NHS worker observes a minute's silence at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London AFP via Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Belfast, Northern Ireland NHS staff observe a minutes silence at Mater Infirmorum Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Plymouth NHS workers hold a minute's silence outside the main entrance of Derriford Hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus NHS Frimley Park Hospital staff at the A&E department observe a minute's silence Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Mater Infirmorum Hospital People applaud after a minutes silence in honour of key workers Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Waterloo Station, London AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Wreaths laid outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A group of trade unionists and supporters standing outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stands outside St Andrew's House in Edinburgh to observe a minute's silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff stand outside the Royal Derby Hospital, during a minutes silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus London Police officers observe a minutes silence at Guy's Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A woman standing outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Royal Derby Hospital PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Leicester, NHS workers during a minute's silence outside Glenfield Hospital Getty Measures can be taken to keep the R down locally as well as nationally." Mr Johnsons official spokesman later clarified that the PM had intended to refer to sewage systems. Some studies have been carried out overseas on this and I think it is something we are looking at as a possible way of seeing if you could track the rate of infections locally, said the spokesman. Officials were investigating whether sewage samples would allow them to track if the virus is more prevalent in some parts of the country than in others. He added: Obviously it is just one of a number of ways we could do that. To the best of my knowledge, it is something we are looking at doing rather than something we are doing already. Mr Johnson returned to the theme in the daily Downing Street press conference, saying: "Part of the solution is going to be, as we go forward, responding with local responses. So if there's a flare-up somewhere in the country in a particular town or village which we've detected with our Covid alert system, then we will be firefighting, playing Whack-a-Mole, to deal with that issue as it arises. "Having a local, regional, national approach makes sense." The long, lingering, and meandering touches described by the four women and others, the various reactions of those who experienced or observed those touches, and the numerous other accounts of (Hills) conduct at the bar, all offer ample support for the hearing officers ultimate finding on this point, the ruling said. Venezuelan Court Orders to Arrest US Citizens Accused of Involvement in Failed Invasion Sputnik News 03:31 GMT 10.05.2020 CARACAS (Sputnik) - A national court in Venezuela has ruled to take two US citizens into custody for being involved in the failed maritime invasion of Venezuela, the country's Supreme Tribunal of Justice has announced. "The 4th National Court on Terrorism and Related Crimes, issued a measure of preventive judicial deprivation of liberty of US citizens Luke Alexander Denman and Airan Berry, for the presumed commission of crimes of terrorism, illicit trafficking in arms of war," Venezuela's supreme court said in a statement on Saturday. Over a dozen other people are also being arrested, according to the statement. On Friday, the Venezuelan Prosecutor-General's Office issued arrest warrants for Jordan Goudreau, CEO of the Silvercorp USA private military company, and 21 other people over their role in the recent attempted invasion in the Latin American country. On 3 May, Venezuelan Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said an attempted maritime invasion by Colombian militants had been prevented as they tried to approach the northern state of La Guaira on speed boats. Eight militants were killed, and several others were detained in the counter-operation. One of the detained individuals, US national Luke Denman, who works for Silvercorp USA, said during an interrogation that the group's aim was to seize the Caracas airport and control it until Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would be flown to the United States. The Washington Post newspaper has published a document that showed the Venezuelan opposition had signed a $213 million contract with Silvercorp USA in October 2019 to topple Maduro. On Friday, the White House National Security Council denied Washington's involvement in the botched plot in Venezuela and said that any American-orchestrated operation would have been direct and effective. US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had nothing to do with the Venezuela plot and referred to the militants as "a rogue group." Colombia denied any involvement in the failed boat invasion, with the country's Foreign Ministry saying in a statement that the Venezuelan government was just trying to deflect attention from the "internal crisis" in the country. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A Florida man pleaded guilty Monday in Birmingham in a long-running investigation into a prescription drug-billing scheme involving a Haleyville pharmacy. John Jeremy Adams, 39, entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler, according to a press release. The investigation, which yielded indictments against multiple defendants in 2019, centered on Northside Pharmacy doing business as Global Compounding Pharmacy. Adams pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit health care and mail fraud, 16 counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiring to pay kickbacks to a prescriber, and seven counts of spending the proceeds of health care fraud. Adams is the former owner and chief executive officer of Northside Pharmacy. His guilty plea brings the total number of defendants who have pleaded guilty in the larger investigation to 23. Those who have previously pleaded include two nurse practitioners, the chief operating officer, a vice president of sales, an operations manager, a district manager, and multiple sales representatives. Trial against the four remaining defendants is set for June 29, 2020: James A. Mays, III, 44, of Winfield, a pharmacist, charged in 20 counts; Jessica Linton, 37, of Clearwater, Florida, the manager of the billing team at Global, charged in 24 counts; Lisa Holmes, 41, of Troy, a district manager supervising sales representatives at Global, charged in 12 counts; and John Gladden, 50, of Tallahassee, Florida, a district manager supervising sales representatives at Global, charged in nine counts. According to the plea agreement, Adams participated in a scheme to cause the pharmacy he co-owned to bill for medically unnecessary prescription drugs. He paid prescribers to issue prescriptions and directed employees to get medically unnecessary drugs for themselves, family members, and friends, to alter prescriptions to add non-prescribed drugs, to automatically refill prescriptions regardless of patient need, to routinely waive and discount co-pays to induce patients to obtain and retain medically unnecessary drugs, and to bill for drugs without patients knowledge. When prescription drug administrators attempted to police this conduct, authorities said, Adams evaded and obstructed those efforts, including by providing false information in response to audits and diverting their billing through affiliated pharmacies. The scheme targeted multiple health insurance plans, including the pharmacys Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama plan, as well as plans providing health insurance to the elderly, disabled, members of the military, and veteransMedicare, TRICARE, and CHAMPVA, among others. Adams also directed the scheme and also joked about it. Federal documents describe a text exchange between him and another defendant in which they discuss altering prescriptions. She tells him she will be getting him white out as a birthday gift, and he responds Yep. Made us money. The FBI, HHS-OIG, DCIS, USPIS and IRS-CI, investigated the cases, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chinelo Dike-Minor, Don Long, and Edward Canter are prosecuting. The Veteran Affairs Office of Inspector General Criminal Investigations Division assisted in the probe. Our office and partner agencies intend to investigate and prosecute all those who treat our health insurance plans as their personal piggy banks, Chinelo Dike-Minor said. It may take time, but we intend to see that justice is done. These defendants committed a reprehensible federal crime when they chose to steal funds designated to care for the sick, U.S. Attorney Jay Town said. Especially in this day and time where our health care system has the potential to be overwhelmed, we can ill afford to allow the wellness of many to be sacrificed by the greed of a few. I want to thank our partner agencies for their continued efforts to put a stop to health care fraud. We will continue to stand with them to not only uncover these frauds...but see them prosecuted in a federal courtroom. It is sad to think that there are those who are so greedy they would steal from the sick, FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr. said. Today, Adams has admitted to his greed and now, he along with his partners in crime, will be held accountable. Under the plea agreement, Adams stipulated to a 10-year sentence in federal prison. Town, Sharp, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson, Defense Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent in Charge Cynthia Bruce, United States Postal Inspector in Charge, Houston Division Adrian Gonzalez, and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge Andrew Thornton announced the guilty plea. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has thrown much of the world into disarray, with over 4 million people reported infected and well over 282,000 deaths. A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in May 2020 suggests that the long-term impact of the virus could include activation of dormant bacterial infections like tuberculosis (TB). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dormant TB already affects a quarter of the worlds population. If the novel coronavirus activates a sizable proportion of these dormant infections, it could severely upset the global health and economic situation. The current study aims at quantifying this association so as to shape policies that could help avert a global TB pandemic. Many viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, cause a temporary immunosuppressive effect, which causes dormant bacterial infections to come back to life. This was the case with the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-20, which caused an increase in the number of lung TB cases. The highest death rate was in the patient subgroup, which had influenza with TB. The 2009 HIN1 flu pandemic also showed the same trend, with poorer outcomes in patients coinfected with TB or multidrug-resistant strains of TB (MDR-TB). Patients with SARS or MERS infections were also found to develop lung TB. The researchers in the current study hypothesized that the CoV infections could be causing lung inflammation that leads to reactivation of dormant TB in the lung. Others say that both lung lesions and liver infection by the mycobacteria, which cause TB (Mycobacterium tuberculosis, MTB) are enhanced by the presence of influenza A in mouse models, which also show a type I interferon signaling pathway that increases mycobacterial growth. Study: Coronavirus activates a stem cell-mediated defense mechanism that accelerates activation of dormant tuberculosis: implications for the COVID-19 pandemic . Image Credit: Tatiana Shepeleva / Shutterstock The current study focuses on dormant TB in adult stem cells. These cells may live in the bone marrow as well as in inflamed areas. One subset, called CD271+BM-mesenchymal stem cells (CD271+BM-MSCs), could harbor the dormant mycobacteria in both mice and humans, allowing later reactivation. In prior studies, the investigators developed a mouse model that shows how the stem cells mediate this phenomenon. Mice are infected with the mycobacteria and show granuloma formation as well as antibodies to these organisms, after being treated with streptomycin for 3 weeks. When they are later deprived of streptomycin for six months, the bacteria become non-replicating. The MTB are found mostly within the CD271+MSCs of the bone marrow and the lung to a much lesser extent. Those in the bone marrow live under relatively hypoxic conditions. It is known that the ability to culture MTB from non-CD271+MSCs in the lungs of these mice signal tuberculous reactivation, which makes this model useful in the study of stem cell-mediated MTB reactivation. The researchers looked for proof of dormant MTB reactivation using a murine hepatitis virus strain-1 (MHV-1), which is a murine coronavirus capable of representing the clinical features of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. MHV-1 induces acute respiratory infection in 2-4 days of infection, which leads to acute lung inflammation, with high levels of inflammatory chemicals like TNF-alpha, within 2-14 days of infection, and then recover. An in vitro study showed the susceptibility of type II alveolar epithelial cells to MHV-1, which allows the use of these cells to identify an antiviral defense mechanism mediated by these altruistic stem cells (ASC). The study shows the activation of the ASC-associated innate defense mechanism on MHV-1 infection. This mechanism has previously been found in embryonic stem cells (ESCs). MHV-1 may activate these specialized defense mechanisms within MTB-positive stem cells, leading to increased MTB proliferation in the lung and thus reducing the viral load. The researchers also observed an unexpected finding: MTB reactivation is linked to an increase in the number of lung cells in the vicinity that survive, leading to an interest in the possible therapeutic application of this defense mechanism. Did the MHV-1 infection cause MTB reactivation? The researchers administered MHV-1 intranasally to mice with dormant MTB in these stem cells, along with streptomycin, which is required for this strain of MTB to replicate. They found that in both test and control groups, the viral titer increased rapidly over the first four weeks but then went down. However, the viral load after two weeks was 20 times less in the test than in control mice. In both groups, the TNF-alpha levels went up by 3-4 times. These results suggest that viral replication and immune activation occurred in both groups, but the viral load was less in the mice with dormant MTB infection. Secondly, the researchers infected one group of mice with dormant stem cell MTB with MHV-1. Another group with dormant MTB within stem cells was the control. Both were treated with streptomycin. By the 8th day post-infection, there was a 6 to 7-fold rise in the number of viable MTBs in both groups. After that, on days 8-20, the number went up by 110-fold in the test group, while it decreased to half in the control group. The MHV-1 infection reactivated and maintained MTB proliferation while on streptomycin, while the drug failed to do so in the control group. The overall increase in MTBs was 630-fold in the test group over three weeks. In the third step, the researchers treated mice with dormant MTBs with dexamethasone or aminoguanidine, two immunosuppressive drugs that can reactivate dormant MTB. Both groups were also given streptomycin. After a month, they found that there was a 3-4-fold rise in the number of viable MTBs in both groups. They compared this to the rise in viable MTBs following MHV-1 infection for one month and found the latter to be 400 times higher. This not only shows the superior reactivation potential of MHV-1 but the operation of other mechanisms than immunosuppression in this process. The researchers extracted the CD271+MSCs to examine the rate of replication and extracellular MTB release from three groups of mice: a) with dormant stem cell MTBs b) with dormant MTBs and MHV-1 infection c) without MTBs but with MHV-1 infection. They found that mice with dormant MTBs and MHV-1 coinfection had a 12-fold rise in the stem cell population from day 0-8. Mice with MHV-1 infection alone also showed expansion of this population, but six times less. There was no expansion in the MTB group alone. The MTB-MHV-1 mice had a 27-fold rise in the number of intracellular viable MTBs, but not in the extracellular number, until days 8-12, when there was a 40-fold rise. Lung cells in vivo showed the same trend, with a 15-fold rise in the extracellular MTB number. Thus MHV-1 infection induces a transient increase in the intracellular MTB population and its release into the extracellular space. The investigators also found that MHV-1 infection caused the stem cells to be reprogrammed as altruistic stem cells, a phenotype induced by some invading pathogens that threaten the integrity of the stem cells residing in their niches. This is characterized by the expression of specific genes that increase stemness, and a rapid increase in the number of reprogrammed cells. These show high stem cell marker expression for two weeks and then activate the apoptosis protein p53 to differentiate or die. This may explain the transient increase in the stem cell population as well as well-defined changes in cell markers that indicate increased stem cell characteristics. This was 2-3 times higher in the stem cells containing dormant MTBs and exposed to MHV-1 than in the group with MHV-1 infection alone. This ASC-mediated protection of the lung cell against MHV-1 was observed, with the type II alveolar epithelial cells being protected 2-3 times more efficiently by the conditioned media of the MSCs. The researchers comment on the link between the national policy of BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guerin) vaccination against tuberculosis and the lower mortality from COVID-19. They note the close similarity of BCG with MTB, which could indicate the former also enhanced the ASC-mediated antiviral defense mechanism. They say, Our results could provide a novel explanation of BCG mediated host defense or antiviral mechanism against SARS-CoV2. In short, MHV-1 infection induces inflammation that activates MTBs within the lung stem cells and mobilizes more MTB-containing stem cells from the bone marrow to the lung. This reactivation triggers ASC behavior, which boosts antiviral defenses. This phenomenon might also partially explain how the cytokine storm in COVID-19 patients treated with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is reduced because MSCs are known to be immunosuppressive. The observed MSC to ASC conversion could further boost this immunomodulatory activity. This model also offers an explanation for the mechanism of protection offered by BCG vaccination against florid COVID-19 symptoms, by triggering MSC to ASC conversion and enhancing immunomodulatory cytokine production. The study may help understand how MSCs inducing ASC defense mechanism will help in combating the viral load in the host, thereby helping in developing a possible cure for COVID-19. *Important Notice bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. Dondo The head of Public Health in the municipality of Cambambe, province of Kwanza Norte, Luzirio Jorge, encouraged citizens to wearing homemade masks, given the scarcity of disposables in pharmacies, to prevent covid-19. Speaking to Angop, Luzirio Jorge said the homemade masks are reusable, as long as hygiene measures, such as constant washing, are observed after four hours of use and ironed. This measure, he explained, will reduce the risk of contagion from the new coronavirus, given the notorious circulation of people in places and public streets without the use of masks, due to alleged shortages in pharmacies. He warned that despite the authorities' constant calls for confinement at home, there is intense movement of people on the streets, which could lead to the spread of the pandemic. Angop noted, during a tour of some local pharmacies, an intense demand from residents for masks and alcohol gel. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese direct investment in the United States dropped to the lowest level since 2009 last year amid bilateral tensions, and the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to weigh on investment flows between the world's two biggest economies, according to a report. By stymying dealmaking and hitting economic growth, the pandemic could dissolve the positive effects of the Phase 1 trade deal signed in January, said the report from research firm Rhodium Group and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Initial data indicates a "significant decline" in Chinese investment into the United States in the first months of 2020, said the report, with $200 million in newly announced direct investments compared with $2 billion on average per quarter last year. But U.S. companies announced $2.3 billion new direct investment projects in China in the first quarter, only slightly down from last year's quarterly average, said the report. U.S. companies do not seem to be considering significantly reducing their China footprint, said the report. By exposing fragile global supply chains, the pandemic could push U.S. companies to move manufacturing out of China but might also spur more investment as companies try to localize their operations, it said. U.S. investment into China grew slightly in 2019 to $14 billion, with overall two-way flows flattening after big declines in the previous two years. Chinese investment in the U.S. dropped to $5 billion that year from $5.4 billion the year before, according to the report. Venture capital flows saw a steeper drop in both directions amid more regulatory scrutiny from the United States and investor concerns that China's tech market was overheating, said the report. The pandemic could have been an opportunity for the U.S. and China to work together, said the report, but "intensifying economic competition and a systemic battle of political systems continue to weigh on the relationship as governments engage in blame games." Story continues China's investment in the U.S. peaked in 2016 amid a rush of ambitious overseas deals. Regulators have since tightened controls on what they described as "irrational" overseas investments. "Our two countries are still far from decoupled, but the trend lines are not pointing in the right direction," said Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, in a statement accompanying the report. The U.S. presidential campaign could also increase risks of a backlash against Chinese investment, said the report, even to acquisitions outside the scrutiny of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which has increasingly flexed its muscle against Chinese firms. (Reporting by Gabriel Crossley) It has always been a lie that Barack Obama was a distinguished constitutional law scholar, a professor of law at the University of Chicago. In fact, he was a lecturer brought in to teach a class on his theories of race and law, and he never published any scholarly work. That is not what a professor does. But in his telephone call to "Obama alumni" that was immediately leaked to Michael Issikoff, he demonstrated appalling sloppiness and ignorance that reveal what a lightweight legal thinker he is. The Wall Street Journal editorial board is slamming him this morning: Barack Obama is a lawyer, so it was stunning to read that he ventured into the Michael Flynn case in a way that misstated the supposed crime and ignored the history of his own Administration in targeting Mr. Flynn. Since the former President chose to offer his legal views when he didn't need to, we wonder what he's really worried about. "There is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free," Mr. Obama said in the Friday call to about 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association. (snip) [T]his gets the case willfully wrong. Mr. Flynn was never charged with perjury, which is lying under oath in a legal proceeding. Mr. Flynn pleaded guilty to a single count of lying to the FBI in a meeting at the White House on Jan. 24, 2017 that he was led to believe was a friendly chat among colleagues. The Journal points out that it was President Bill Clinton who got off "scot-free" for lying under oath. But even more egregiously, as Don Surber and retired FBI special agent Mark Wauck point out, Obama himself pardoned a different general from a perjury conviction, allowing him to get off scot-free. Surber cites this New York Times article published on the last day of Obama's presidency, Jan 17, 2017: "President Obama on Tuesday pardoned James E. Cartwright, a retired Marine Corps general and former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his discussions with reporters about Iran's nuclear program, saving him from a possible prison sentence. "General Cartwright, who was a key member of Mr. Obama's national security team in his first term and earned a reputation as the president's favorite general, pleaded guilty late last year to misleading investigators looking into the leaking of classified information about cyberattacks against Iran. "He was due to be sentenced this month. His defense team had asked for a year of probation and 600 hours of community service, but prosecutors had asked the judge overseeing his case to send him to prison for two years. "Now, the retired general will be spared such punishment." Don Surber points out: So once again, Obama lies. The media knows this and fails to inform the public. Surely, Charlie Savage, who wrote the Times story, remembers. Surely, Obama remembers as well, unless he is having a Biden moment. Obama verbally worried about "the rule of law" to his 3,000 closest friends on the call. This is utter projection, a nearly universal practice on the left of accusing opponents of the tactics they use. As the Journal editorialized: We doubt Mr. Obama has even read Thursday's Justice Department motion to drop the Flynn prosecution. If he does ever read it, he'll find disconcerting facts that certainly do raise doubts about whether "our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk," though not for the reasons he claims. Start with prosecutorial violation of the Brady rule, which Mr. Obama knows is a legal obligation that the prosecution must turn over potentially exculpatory evidence to the defense. Yet prosecutors led by special counsel Robert Mueller didn't disclose that the interviewing FBI agents at the time didn't think that Mr. Flynn had lied about a phone call with the Russian ambassador. Worst of all, as a legal matter, is that they never told Mr. Flynn that there was no investigative evidentiary basis to justify the interview. The FBI had already concluded there was no evidence that Mr. Flynn had colluded with Russia in the 2016 election and had moved to close the case. James Comey's FBI cronies used the news of Mr. Flynn's phone call with the Russian ambassador as an excuse to interview the then national security adviser and perhaps trap him into a lie. Monica Showalter called it right: Obama is panicking. Photo credit: YouTube screen grab. Four years ago, Brandon Gell was an architecture student who spent most of his time working on 3D printing modular housing. Now, hes the founder of Clyde, an extended warranty startup that wants to help small e-commerce businesses offer product protection. Today, the company announced it has raised a $14 million Series A led by Spark Capital with participation from Crosslink, RRE, Rea Sea Ventures and others. How do you go from being a product person to the founder of an insurance startup? According to Gell: a stint at a four-person 3D scanner startup in Columbus, Ohio. Because the team and resources were small, Gell was put in charge of finding an insurance company to work with to protect their expensive end product of scanners. I spent six months trying to find a company, he said. After seeing how seamless it was to work with fintech customer support tools from companies like Stripe, Shopify, Affirm and others, he said it was clear that insurance, and especially the extended warranty space, wasnt as mature. So he set up an office in his grandma's New York apartment. Clyde is a platform that connects small retailers to insurance companies to launch and manage product protection programs. Using Clyde, customers can access a dashboard and e-commerce apps to manage their protection programs. For example, a user can see how many contracts were sold, how much revenue total those bring and gross profit in real time. It also can see which products are most often purchased with an extended warranty contract. Its a similar type of offering as Affirm or Stripe, he said. We give you access to large insurance companies and we enable you to launch the program live on your website or physical point of sale and store wherever you sell. It has plugins with Shopify, BigCommerce, Salesforce, Magento, Woocommerce, and more so store owners on the site can add Clyde to their small businesses. Clydes most critical metric is that it has an 18% attachment rate on average, which means that 18% of people that go through a Clyde-powered purchasing path end up purchasing extended warranties or protection plans. Story continues The reason businesses care about extended warranty is two-fold. First, insurance benefits the customer experience. Second, insurance purchases are often the highest-margin product that companies sell to their customers. Product protection alone is a $50 billion market. Gell said that Best Buy drives about 2% of its annual revenue from the sale of extended warranties, but that generates more than half of its profit. Clyde helps small businesses, like a four-person startup in Columbus Ohio, get a bite of this profitable pie. Most e-commerce businesses have to work with Amazon, thus giving a lot of that cash to the big company versus putting it in their own pocket, per Gell. He says that when Amazon sells an extended warranty on a sellers product, it doesnt share any revenue with the seller on how the product performs, which prevents a seller from both a stream of revenue and data analytics. Our sort of mantra is that the retailers that we work with are basically everybody that's not Amazon and Walmart, he said. Clydes goal is different from Upsie, another venture-backed startup focusing on warranties. Upsie is looking to be a direct-to-consumer warranty replacement, while Clyde works on behalf of the retailer and insurance company to connect the two parties. Closer competitors to the startup include Mulberry and Extend, which were both founded after Clyde and have raised less in venture capital funding. Gell thinks his competitive advantage is partnerships with top insurance companies, and a strong product-focused platform. Clydes entire founding team is made up of product people. Startups right now need to prove that they are viable in both a pre-coronavirus and post-coronavirus world. And Clyde might be exactly in that sweet spot, as it focuses on e-commerce businesses. The Series A round closed a few weeks ago, before the COVID-19 craziness began, but he said that the pandemic has led to more inbounds and interest than ever before. Gell says its a mix of e-commerce being more important than ever, and customer behavior. Its a shift of customers that want to buy online more, but also protect their purchases more than ever, he said. Companies are realizing how important it is. New cash in hand, Clydes growing while its customer-base is looking for new ways to bring in revenue and take care of customers. If the startup can handle the influx of attention and importance right, sticky harmony will follow. Fury among the great, the good and everyone in between in the British music industry continues to foment over former Labour deputy leader Tom Watsons appointment as boss of UK Music. As the Mail revealed on Saturday, influential industry insiders are demanding an inquiry into how he got the job. Now, I can reveal the chorus of disapproval is set to grow louder. Self-righteous Watson, whose only known credentials for the 60,000-a-year role with the influential group representing record labels, songwriters and publishers, were his annual trips to Glastonbury, seems immune to criticisms over his links to jailed fantasist Carl Beech. Former deputy Labour leader Tom Watson has landed a 60,000 a year job as boss of UK Music, a campaigning and lobbying group Hardy best Churchill There has been no shortage of actors to have portrayed Winston Churchill among them Simon Ward, Brian Cox, Timothy Spall and Gary Oldman. But who nailed it? VE Day was dominated, quite rightly, by footage of the great man in action. And Churchills grandson, former Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Soames, was asked this by Nick Ferrari on LBC. The film The Gathering Storm with Albert Finney was very good. But Robert Hardys depiction of Grandpa (inset) was quite remarkable it actually felt like he was in the room with me. A tremendous job. Advertisement Beechs lies publicised by Watson besmirched the lives of many public figures. Now, critics, who include Sir Cliff Richard, will be even more incensed to learn that Watson once opposed the very policies designed to boost the industrys coffers. Last week, Watson said his priority was to make sure copyright protection is in place. Yet this is the very same Watson who, after quitting as Cabinet Office minister for digital engagement in 2009, opposed the Labour governments digital economy Bill aimed at supporting artists copyright. He also spoke approvingly of Swedens Pirate Party, which campaigned for a bonfire of copyright laws. It seems he has shed his principles even more swiftly than the 7 st in weight he lost. Shrek sequel for Diva of Riga? Baiba Braze, the outgoing Latvian ambassador to the UK, is taking up a new role at Nato. Her chief responsibility will be public diplomacy, which might prove very testing. After all, the so called Diva of Riga once referred to newly elected Prime Minister Boris Johnson as Shrek and said that Britain would be a Third World nation after it left the EU. She might change her tune at Nato HQ. Britain is one of only nine countries out of 30 member states that honour the Nato commitment to spend two per cent of GDP on defence. The MOVE bombing in 1985 killed 11 people, including five children, and destroyed a city block in Cobbs Creek. Read more As calls grow for the city to issue a formal apology for the MOVE bombing timed for Wednesdays 35th anniversary of the tragedy which left 11 people dead, including five children, and burned down 61 homes the citys top leaders have so far declined to weigh in. Nothing is planned, said Mike Dunn, a spokesperson for Mayor Jim Kenney. Dunn did not respond to a question about whether Kenney would be supportive of efforts to acknowledge the citys role in what is remembered as one of the darkest chapters in Philadelphia history. Council President Darrell L. Clarke declined to comment through a spokesperson on whether he would support legislation related to MOVE, described at the time of the 1985 bombing as a radical back-to-nature group. Former Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr., who authorized the bombing on Osage Avenue in Cobbs Creek and has publicly apologized for his role, called for an official atonement by the city in an op/ed published Sunday by a British newspaper, the Guardian. After 35 years, it would be helpful for the healing of all involved, especially the victims of this terrible event, if there was a formal apology made by the City of Philadelphia, Goode wrote. That way, we can begin to build a bridge that spans from the tragic events of the past into our future. Goodes comments are part of a nearly two-year effort by an ad hoc group of former city officials, MOVE members, and reconciliation experts, the Guardian reported. The group, which was formed after critics of Goodes handling of the tragedy protested a 2018 ceremony naming a street after him, has also produced a draft apology resolution that City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who represents West Philadelphia, plans to introduce. Kenney and Clarke were invited to participate in the process, but have not done so, said Pauline Thompson Guerin, a Penn State University psychologist working with the group. To not engage with an apology says a lot, Thompson Guerin said in an interview. Its the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection, but you wont apologize for an obvious harm, an event that nobody questions the devastation, nobody questions how horrible that was. Former Gov. Ed Rendell, who as district attorney prosecuted MOVE members, worked with the group for a time, but stopped participating, Thompson Guerin said. Rendell said Friday that he is skeptical that Council will approve a formal apology. It is unclear when Gauthiers resolution could be introduced. Council, which has been holding virtual meetings to practice social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, is acting only on legislation related to the public-health emergency or the city budget. Gauthier, however, said that, even without an official resolution, Council members could still recognize the anniversary at their meeting Thursday. Its long overdue. This was a tragic and atrocious human-rights tragedy committed by our government against its own people, Gauthier said in an interview Sunday. But offering an official apology to MOVE remains a politically contentious proposal. Police Officer James Ramp was killed in a 1978 standoff that set the stage for the infamous bombing, although MOVE members say he was killed accidentally by another officer. The group was despised by some of its neighbors, who, among other complaints to the city, alleged that the children in the home were being neglected. Thompson Guerin noted that the resolution offers an apology not just to MOVE members, but to everyone touched by the tragedy, such as police officers who have told the group they still struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder due to their involvement, and for a neighborhood that was turned upside down. This isnt just about MOVE. A lot of people were harmed through a lot of incidents related to MOVE: the police officers, firefighters, responders, she said. Weve talked to so many people who were impacted in a variety of ways. Ulysses Slaughter, a reconciliation strategist working with the group, said it was unfortunate that top city leaders couldnt agree that an official apology was warranted. If the people who we say are our leaders cannot see the value in that, it becomes more clear for me as to why people withdraw from political engagement because it doesnt seem to have any real value, Slaughter said. Nonetheless, Slaughter said, he is optimistic the city will one day make amends. If the apology doesnt come now, he said, its the beginning of a long road ahead. Lucknow, May 11 : A day after he was discharged, Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was admitted back into the Medanta hospital, late on Sunday night, after he complained of stomach pain. This is the second time in the past five days that Mulayam had to be hospitalized. Earlier, he was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday and discharged on Saturday. He was said to be suffering from chronic constipation and had undergone colonoscopy. "There is swelling in his intestines but he is stable and should recover soon. Gastro-surgeon are monitoring his health," said Dr Rakesh Kapoor, director of the Medanta hospital. Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia chief Shivpal Singh Yadav said Mulayam Singh Yadav's health was fine and urged the people to pray for his long life. Police stand at the gate of the LG Polymers plant following a gas leak at the plant in Visakhapatnam, India, last week. / Reuters-Yonhap By Baek Byung-yeul LG Chem's crisis management skills are being challenged following a deadly chemical incident at the company's Indian unit last week. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2020) - Mount Logan Capital Inc. (NEO: MLC) ("Mount Logan," "our," "we," or the "Company") announces its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2020. All amounts are stated in United States dollars, unless otherwise indicated. First quarter 2020 highlights: Achieved quarterly investment income of $1.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 As of March 31, 2020, the fair value of the Company's portfolio was $54.7 million 1 , consisting of 80.0% in first lien senior secured loans, 5.6% in promissory notes and 14.4% in the Great Lakes Unitranche Joint Venture Adjusted net investment income of $182,000 Primarily driven by unrealized losses, net loss and comprehensive loss for the quarter was $2.3 million, or $(0.22) per basic and diluted share Net assets of $31.8 million as of March 31, 2020 and net asset value per share as of March 31, 2020 of USD$3.00 Cash and cash equivalents (including restricted cash) of $8.9 million as of March 31, 2020 The board of directors of the Company (the "Board") declared a cash dividend in the amount of CAD$0.02 per common share to be paid on June 26, 2020 to shareholders of record on May 21, 2020 Ted Goldthorpe, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Mount Logan, noted, "We are pleased with our results for the quarter, especially amid the market volatility, and we remain vigilant on the portfolio in this unprecedented environment. We will continue to actively evaluate additional new investments that present an immense opportunity amid the recent market volatility. While we understand and appreciate that the long-term impacts of COVID-19 are uncertain, we believe that Mount Logan's investment portfolio and balance sheet are positioned defensively and that our management team will continue to take steps to protect stakeholder value and continue to drive value through opportunistically deploying capital in the current environment." Results of operations - three months ended March 31, 2020 Total investment income for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was $1.1 million as compared to $0.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019. The increase in investment income is attributable to the growth in the Company's investment portfolio related to the broadening of the Company's investment strategy following its plan of arrangement completed in October 2018, the greater capital resources available to the Company from equity financings, and from the Company's revolving senior loan facility which closed in February 2019. Total expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2020 were $1.2 million, including interest and financing expense under the revolving senior loan facility of $0.6 million, as compared to total expenses of $0.5 million in the same period last year. ___________________ 1Excludes the Company's legacy investment in Cline Mining Corporation ("Cline"), which is subject to the contingent value rights issued by the Company to the holders of the common shares of the Company prior to its plan of arrangement completed in October 2018. Portfolio and Investment Activity The fair value of our portfolio was $54.7 million as of March 31, 2020 (excluding Cline). The composition of our investment portfolio at March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 at fair value (in each case, excluding Cline) was as follows: March 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 Fair value % of total Fair value % of total First Lien Loan $ 43,721 80.0 % $ 48,013 79.2 % Promissory Notes and Unsecured Debt 3,068 5.6 % 3,068 5.0 % Great Lakes Unitranche Joint Venture 7,866 14.4 % 9,532 15.7 % $ 54,655 100.0 % $ 60,613 99.9 % For the three months ended March 31, 2020, the Company recognized $2.3 million in unrealized depreciation on its investment portfolio from decreases in the fair value of some of its portfolio company investments primarily due to the potential adverse economic effects and uncertainty presented by COVID-19 the related re-pricing of credit risk in the broadly syndicated credit market. On January 22, 2020, Marret Asset Management Inc., the former manager, announced that Cline had entered into a binding agreement for the sale by Cline to Allegiance Coal Limited of all the shares in New Elk Coal Company, LLC. The total acquisition consideration is $55.0 million and completion of the sale is anticipated to occur this year. The net proceeds received by the Company will be distributed to holders of the Company's contingent value rights. Liquidity and Capital Resources At March 31, 2020, we had cash and cash equivalents (including restricted cash) of $8.9 million, total assets of $70.7 million and shareholders' equity of $31.8 million. Our net asset value per common share was USD$3.00. As of March 31, 2020, we had $34.4 million of borrowings outstanding on our revolving senior loan facility. On January 31, 2020, the revolving senior loan facility was amended to, among other things, extend the maturity date from February 21, 2020 to February 19, 2021. Subject to prevailing market conditions, we intend to grow our portfolio of assets by raising additional capital, including through the prudent use of leverage available to us and potentially raising additional equity from time to time. Our interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and related management's discussion and analysis will be available on the Company's website at www.mountlogancapital.ca and on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Dividend Declaration The Board has declared a cash dividend in the amount of CAD$0.02 per common share to be paid on June 26, 2020 to shareholders of record on May 21, 2020. This dividend is designated by the Company as an eligible dividend for the purpose of the Income Tax Act (Canada) and any similar provincial or territorial legislation. An enhanced dividend tax credit applies to eligible dividends paid to Canadian residents. The declaration and payment by the Company of any future cash dividends, including the amount thereof, will be at the discretion of the Board and will depend on, among other things, the financial condition, capital requirements and earnings of the Company. Conference Call We will hold a conference call on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss our first quarter 2020 financial results. Shareholders, prospective shareholders, and analysts are welcome to listen to the call. To register for the call and access dial-in information please visit https://bit.ly/2yuPBrp. The recording of the conference call will be available on our Company's website www.mountlogancapital.ca in the Investor Relations section under Events. About Mount Logan Capital Inc. Mount Logan Capital Inc. is a Canada-based asset manager created to source and execute on credit investment opportunities in North America. The Company holds and actively manages and monitors a portfolio of loans and other investments with credit-oriented characteristics. The Company intends to actively source, evaluate, underwrite, monitor, and primarily invest in additional loans, debt securities, and other credit-oriented instruments that present attractive risk-adjusted returns and present low risk of principal impairment through the credit cycle. Non-IFRS Financial Measures This news release makes reference to certain non-IFRS financial measures. These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement IFRS financial measures by providing further understanding of the Company's results of operations from management's perspective. The Company's definitions of non-IFRS measures used in this news release may not be the same as the definitions for such measures used by other companies in their reporting. Non-IFRS measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of the Company's financial information reported under IFRS. The Company has included herein certain non-IFRS supplemental measures of key performance, including, but not limited to, adjusted net investment income, net asset value ("NAV") per share and comprehensive income. We utilize these measures in managing our business, including performance measurement. We believe that providing these performance measures on a supplemental basis is helpful to investors in assessing the overall performance of the Company's business. However, these measures are not recognized under IFRS. The definitions and calculations of the non-IFRS measures used in this news release are described in greater detail in the Company's management discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2020. The Company believes that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS financial measures in the evaluation of issuers. The Company's management also uses non- IFRS financial measures in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period. Change in Functional Currency Prior to January 1, 2020, the Company's functional currency was the Canadian dollar ("CAD"). In accordance with International Auditing Standards 21, The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates ("IAS 21"), an entity's functional currency should reflect the underlying transactions, events and conditions that are relevant to the entity. Management considered primary and secondary indicators in determining functional currency, including the currency that influences sales prices, labor, purchases and other costs. Other indicators included the currency in which funds from financing activities are generated and the currency in which receipts from operations are usually retained. Beginning in 2018, the Company began shifting its investment focus to the U.S. market and the Company's economic and currency exposure has shifted from Canada to the United States. At December 31, 2019, over 90.0% of the Company's investments were fully exposed to the United States dollar ("USD") and the Company earned a significant amount of its revenue in USD. Based on these factors, management concluded that effective January 1, 2020, the Company's functional currency should be USD. The Company has accounted for the change in functional currency prospectively, as provided for under IAS 21 with no impact of this change on prior year comparative information other than in conjunction with the change in presentation currency previously made effective January 1, 2019. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the expressions "seeks", "expects", "believes", "estimates", "will", "target" and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect the current expectations of the Company regarding future results or events and are based on information currently available to them. Certain material factors and assumptions were applied in providing these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements discussed in this release include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the Company's business strategy, model, approach and future activities, portfolio composition and size, asset management activities and related income, capital raising activities, future credit opportunities of the Company, portfolio realizations, the protection of stakeholder value and the expansion of the Company's loan portfolio. All forward-looking statements in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions; however, the Company can give no assurance that the actual results or developments will be realized by certain specified dates or at all. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including the matters discussed under "Risks Factors" in the most recently filed annual information form and management discussion and analysis for the Company. Readers, therefore, should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, a forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any such statement or to reflect new information or the occurrence of future events or circumstances except as required by securities laws. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release. This press release is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, a prospectus or an advertisement and the communication of this release is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, an offer to sell or an offer to purchase any securities in the Company or in any fund or other investment vehicle. For additional information, contact: Ted Gilpin Chief Financial Officer Ted.Gilpin@mountlogancapital.ca (212) 891-5007 Mount Logan Capital Inc. 365 Bay Street, Suite 800 Toronto, ON M5H 2V1 MOUNT LOGAN CAPITAL INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION (in thousands of United States dollars, except number of shares and per share amounts) March 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 (unaudited) Assets Investments, at fair value $ 58,242 $ 64,489 Cash 668 425 Restricted cash 8,261 6,733 Receivable for investments sold 303 - Due from affiliates, net 118 411 Accrued interest and dividend receivable 204 358 Deferred tax asset 2,863 2,863 Prepaid expenses 23 33 Total assets $ 70,682 $ 75,312 Liabilities Credit facility (net of deferred financing costs of $441 and $80, respectively) $ 33,959 $ 34,320 Payable for investments purchased - 1,880 Interest payable 490 383 Dividends payable to shareholders 151 - Contingent value rights 3,589 3,876 Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 728 644 Total liabilities 38,917 41,103 Shareholders' equity Share capital 80,988 80,988 Warrants 1,086 1,086 Contributed surplus 7,240 7,240 Deficit (35,691) (33,247) Cumulative translation adjustment (21,858) (21,858) Total shareholders' equity 31,765 34,209 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 70,682 $ 75,312 Common shares issued and outstanding 10,604,998 10,604,998 Net asset value per share $ 3.00 $ 3.23 MOUNT LOGAN CAPITAL INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) (in thousands of United States dollars, except number of shares and per share amounts) Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 2019 Investment income Interest income $ 865 $ 483 Dividend income 215 - Total investment income 1,080 483 Operating expenses Administration fees 148 - Arrangement costs - 138 Interest and other credit facility expenses 648 90 Professional fees 215 122 Compensation 56 81 Marketing 32 - Directors' fees 21 23 Regulatory and shareholder relations 24 26 Other general and administrative 37 19 Total operating expenses 1,181 499 Net investment income (loss) (101) (16) Realized and unrealized gain (loss) Net realized gain (loss) on investments 41 25 Net realized loss on foreign currency 1 - Net change in unrealized appreciation on investments (2,266) 10 Net change in unrealized (loss) gain on foreign currency 32 (469 Total net realized and unrealized (loss) gain (2,192) (434 Loss and comprehensive loss before income tax (2,293) (450 Deferred tax recovered - 698 Income (loss) and comprehensive income (loss) $ (2,293) $ 248 Weighted average shares outstanding - basic and diluted 10,604,998 10,233,905 Income (loss) per share - basic and diluted $ (0.22) $ 0.02 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/55693 Asking to get the coronavirus might sound crazy anywhere but in Kibera, Kenyas biggest slum, where a new hairstyle inspired by the spiky look of the SarsCov-2 virus has become a big hit. With client numbers dwindling and their income collapsing, hairstylists in Kibera had to come up with ways to stay relevant, including finding solutions relating to the problem. In the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, some stylists found inspiration for new hairstyles in the shape of the deadly virus seen under a microscope. But its not just about the design; the new hairstyle is also cheaper than other popular styles it costs less than $1, making it an attractive option for cash-strapped clientele. Photo: Kenya Citizen TV/YouTube This hairstyle is much more affordable for people like me who cannot afford to pay for the more expensive hairstyles out there and yet we want our kids to look stylish, one Kibera mother told Reuters. To create the spiky look, braiders first part their clients hair into about a dozen sections, then twist and wrap each one with thick black yarn instead of synthetic hair braids, which make is cheaper. The gravity-defying tresses end up looking like the protein spikes that the coronavirus uses to unlock our cells and start replicating. While other hairstyles popular in the Kibera slum cost 300 to 500 shillings ($3 to $5), the coronavirus hairdo is just 50 shillings ($0.5) and comes with the added bonus of spreading awareness about the actual virus. Some grown-ups dont believe that the coronavirus is real, but then most young children appear keen to sanitize their hands and wear masks. So many adults do not do this, and that is why we came up with the corona hairstyle, hairdresser Sharon Refa told Reuters. Truth be told, spiky hairstyles have been around for years, but with imports from Brazil and China through the roof in recent years, it had gone put of style. Now, the pandemic has brought it back. When Catherine Hankins first arrived in Montreal in 1986, she never expected she'd get into a spat with the provincial health minister. But eight months into a job in Montreal's public health department she made headlines for doing just that. The Alberta-born community medicine specialist had moved to Montreal just as a mysterious and little-understood new disease was terrorizing the gay community. With so little public awareness about HIV/AIDS, and how it was spread, Hankins was asked to prepare a $60,000 public health campaign on the importance of safe sex practices and condom use. Just days before that campaign was set to launch, however, the province's Liberal health minister, Therese Lavoie-Roux, pulled the plug, under pressure from a Catholic lobby group. Lavoie-Roux was concerned about the condoms that Hankins had included in information packages aimed at high school students. The minister said she would launch her own campaign one that reflected family values. Paul Chiasson/THE CANADIAN PRESS "It made me realize that in the Quebec public-health system, at that time, public-health professionals had very little sway," Hankins recalled in a recent interview with CBC Montreal. She decided to put her new job on the line and organized a clandestine news conference, where she handed out her campaign materials to reporters. "Everybody came, and I said, 'Here's the TV ad. Here's the radio ad. You don't know where you got them. I need them back in 24 hours,'" Hankins said. Taking the fight against AIDS from Montreal to the world That kind of forthright approach to controversial community health issues helped get local media on her side in the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Thanks in part to Hankins's initiatives, Montreal became an early leader in the fight against AIDS. Hankins, for instance, was among the first researchers to link intravenous drug use to the onset of HIV. In the late 1980s, she began exploring why female inmates at Montreal's Tanguay detention centre were developing the virus. Story continues A few months into her study, Hankins noticed a pattern: women who had injected drugs tested positive at much higher rates than those who had not. This realization led her to help create CACTUS Montreal, which in 1989 became North America's first needle-exchange program. Hankins went on to play a leading role in the international AIDS effort. For over a decade, she was the chief scientific adviser for the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2013, she was named to the Order of Canada. She returned to Quebec a few years ago and resumed teaching at McGill University. When another mysterious and deadly virus began sweeping the globe earlier this year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau created a task force and promised $1 billion for research into finding a cure and producing treatments. He asked Hankins to co-chair the COVID-19 task force, along with Dr. David Naylor, the former dean of medicine at the University of Toronto. She jumped at the opportunity. "I am a very curious person, I enjoy working with people across all different walks of life, and this work is going to be doing exactly that," Hankins said. "I enjoy a challenge. I'm curious about the science, and I'm passionate about trying to make a difference if it's possible to make a difference. If I can contribute to that in any way, then I feel compelled to do so." The immunity task force Since she was named to the COVID-19 immunity task force last month, Hankins has been meeting with the other members via video conference from her home near Sutton, Que. She explained that the first step for the task force is to get an antibody test approved and standardized across the country. That will allow scientists to determine whether a person has already been exposed to the virus. The second step will be figuring out what, exactly, that exposure means for people. It is not yet known whether a person can be reinfected with the virus or how long an immunity would last. Bonnie Allen/CBC "We are all wanting to get this going as fast as we can. It's so important and we want to make sure that we get results that we understand and that can be helpful in making decisions going forward," Hankins said. The study is expected to last two years and test one million Canadians. Just as she did with her work on HIV/AIDS, Hankins hopes to test a wide variety of people from all walks of life, in order to get a clearer picture of the virus and how it affects different communities. "I always thought research was an excuse not to act," she said. "But I realized that if you had rigorous research findings, you could actually get those findings to speak for themselves and then [allow] policy makers to draw the conclusions." Temperature-monitoring bracelets that send alerts to an app if a student has a fever were being tested at Beijing schools on Monday - Chinas latest use of high-tech to track its populations possible exposure to the deadly virus of COVID-19. Representative Image - Reuters China has deployed thermal cameras in public areas and most places require people to show an app with green, yellow and red ratings that determine a persons infection risk based on travel history. The bracelets were rolled out in five Beijing districts for the first classes for middle school students in months. The bands provide real-time temperature data that can be monitored by schools and parents via an app, the Beijing Daily reported. "The bracelet is similar to a normal fitness tracker... We recommend that students wear them 24 hours a day," one unnamed teacher told the Beijing Daily. If a student gets temperature and it rises above 37.2, the bracelet will prompt their teacher and alert the police, the state-run Beijing News said. Over the past few weeks, a wave of schools have gradually reopened across China with extra health and safety measures as the country begins the transitions back to basic normal life. Representative Image -Reuters Final-year high school students returned to class in Chinas capital at the end of April after closing for three months during the coronavirus lockdown. Trials of smart temperature-monitoring technology have already taken place in 18 senior high schools in the city's Fengtai District, according to reports. Everyday temperature monitoring, compulsory mask wearing and social distancing policies have become the normal routine at schools across China, as officials try to contain the epidemic. Some areas have taken extra vigilant back to school measures to protect the kids from this virus. Chinas southern province of Guangdong required all 167,000 of the first batch of returning high school students and almost 30,000 teachers to undergo testing at the end of April. China has got control over the virus which started in the center city of Wuhan and it remains on edge for a deadly second wave of infections. A new cluster outbreak reappeared over the weekend in Wuhan, while the northeastern city of Shulan was placed under lockdown Sunday after another local nest of infections emerged. The government might reopen airline operations soon as evinced by a high-level committee's review of Delhi airport. A high-level committee comprising DGCA, CISF as well as airport authority officials including AAI and DIAL officials inspected preparedness in Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday. After the announcement to restart passenger operations of Indian Railways gradually from Tuesday, resuming airline operations does not seem to be far away. Moreover, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had told Outlook in a recent interview that the government is aiming to restart flight operations even before May 15. "We are preparing to start domestic flight operations even before May 15. My effort will be to try and move in the direction of starting it very soon. I can't put a date on it because when you are planning evacuation operations, you need the co-operation of the state governments. In order to open up domestic civil aviation, I need the domestic infrastructure in place," he told the news site in an interview. Also read: Coronavirus Live Updates: Railways issues SOP for passenger movement; only those with e-tickets to be allowed When asked if operations between green zones would be restarted soon, Puri said that while that seems viable, the metropolitan cities, which are all in red zones, can't be left behind. Additionally, on Monday, Congress leader P Chidambaram also urged the government to allow road and air travel. "We welcome the decision of the government to cautiously start operation of inter state passenger trains. The same modest opening should be started with road transport and air transport. The only way economic and commercial activity can effectively begin, is to open road, rail and air services for passengers and goods," said Chidambaram. Also read: Coronavirus lockdown: AAI suspends overdraft facility of airports, puts vendor payments on hold Last month, Puri had asked airlines not to restart operations unless they are intimidated by the government. "The Ministry of Civil Aviation clarifies that so far no decision has been taken to open domestic or international operations. Airlines are advised to open their bookings only after a decision in this regard has been taken by the Government," he had said. Also read: Home Ministry issues guidelines for train travel to check coronavirus spread; all you need to know Also read: Coronavirus: Indigo implements pay-cuts again after rolling back decision INDIA CORONAVIRUS TRACKER: BusinessToday.In brings you a daily tracker as coronavirus cases continue to spread. Here is the state-wise data on total cases, fatalities and recoveries in one comprehensive graphic. ISTANBUL - A missile fired by an Iranian ship during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman mistakenly hit a support vessel, killing 19 sailors and injuring more than a dozen others, Iran's state media reported. The ship was hit near the southern port of Jask near the Strait of Hormuz late Sunday and rescue teams helped evacuate the wounded, according to reports. The incident comes amid severe tensions between Iran and the United States and its allies in the Persian Gulf region in recent months. The U.S. Navy has accused Iran of harassing its vessels in the area. China has issued a lengthy rebuttal of what it said were 24 preposterous allegations by some leading US politicians over its handling of the new coronavirus outbreak. A 30-page, 11,000-word article posted on the ministry website on Saturday night repeated and expanded on the refutations made during the press briefings. Secretary Pompeo, State Department Spokesperson and others seemed to be busy taking interviews lately, where they continued unwarranted attacks against China on COVID-19, accusing China of not acting fast enough or providing accurate data, and calling for investigations to hold it accountable. Weve repeatedly stated our position on these. However, since the US kept repeating these lies, we must strive to help the world see the truth through facts time and again, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press briefing. Talking about the allegations, she said, They claimed China didnt act fast enough. China is among the first countries hit by Covid-19. We have repeatedly shared the timeline of Chinas response... they questioned the factuality of Chinas numbers. People in their right mind will not assert blindly that other people are lying just because others numbers look better than their own. This is not children playing make-believe. The spokesperson further sharpened the attack on the US, saying it did not act fast enough. They questioned the factuality of Chinas numbers. People in their right mind will not assert blindly that other people are lying just because others numbers look better than their own. This is not children playing make-believe, said Hua. The Chinese foreign ministry has dedicated most of its press briefings over the past week to rejecting accusations by US politicians, especially Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, that China had withheld information about the new coronavirus and that it had originated in a laboratory in the city of Wuhan. They talked about accountability and compensations. As was mentioned just now, survey results from Singapore show the Chinese people giving their government the highest rating for its response to Covid-19, said Chinas foreign ministry spokesperson. The article on the website of Chinas foreign ministry also cited media reports that said Americans had been infected with the virus before the first case was confirmed in Wuhan. There is no evidence to suggest that is the case. Keen to quash US suggestions that the virus was deliberately created or somehow leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the article said that all evidence shows the virus is not man-made and that the institute is not capable of synthesising a new coronavirus. Xtalks Life Science Webinars In this webinar, attendees will learn about payer intelligence for patient programs through the following topics: Patient Access Strategies Very challenging for specialty drugs similar vs. equivalent therapy Terms and conditions of coverage Applying terms and conditions of coverage to benefits Advocating for access to prescribed drug therapies Using Payer Intelligence to Operate Patient Service Programs Published payer documents: Coverage policy, payment policy, notices, fee schedules and more Advocating for the prescribed therapy: faster, better, cheaper Discretionary payer processes: Applying intelligence to ensure utilization management and other discretionary processes are fair to patient interests Benefit of Payer Intelligence Benefits of using evidence-based processes to advocate for patient drug access; evidence contained in payer documents that supports member use of a prescribed drug Setting the stage for a successful appeals process; internal and external processes Revisiting prescribing decisions based upon processes supported in documents Giving providers the confidence to prescribe according to patient needs Join Rick Ford, Vice President, Market Access Solutions, TrialCard in for a live session on Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 1pm EDT. For more information or to register for this event, visit Leveraging Payer Intelligence in Patient Service Programs. ABOUT XTALKS Xtalks, powered by Honeycomb Worldwide Inc., is a leading provider of educational webinars to the global life science, food and medical device community. Every year thousands of industry practitioners (from life science, food and medical device companies, private & academic research institutions, healthcare centers, etc.) turn to Xtalks for access to quality content. Xtalks helps Life Science professionals stay current with industry developments, trends and regulations. Xtalks webinars also provide perspectives on key issues from top industry thought leaders and service providers. To learn more about Xtalks visit http://xtalks.com For information about hosting a webinar visit http://xtalks.com/why-host-a-webinar/ Quang is an overseas Vietnamese student who returned to Vietnam from the UK on March 17 and was quarantined at the Military School Zone 7, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City. He has since left quarantine. Im Home groups 16 drawings sketched by Quang during his spare time in the isolation area as a way to create his own diary of the memorable moments there. Earlier, the series of sketches was shared on social network and received enthusiastic welcome from Facebook users. The bilingual book also included articles penned by Vietnamese students who returned home from abroad after the outbreak of COVID-19 in their host countries. The Women Publishing House will donate part of the revenue from the sale of book to a fund for disadvantaged women whose lives are affected by the COVID-19. A selection of sketches featured in the book: A nine-year-old boy sent to deliver koose (bean cakes) to his auntie is feared drowned at Madina in Accra, after residents found the parcel and his slippers near an open drainage on Sunday. The incident which occurred around 6pm has left the boys relative including his auntie, who was supposed to receive the food parcel, in a state of shock. A team from the Ghana National Fire Service mounted a search and rescue operation amidst the heavy downpour, but have had to suspend the mission due to darkness in the area. Mother of the boy, Ayishetu Ibrahim, has appealed for help to rescue her son who she said is still alive. The fire team said its too early to conclude on the whereabouts of the boy, and urged residents to desist from alarming conclusions. Source: GNA/Sani Abdul-Rahman, Contributor Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Northern Ireland politicians have been threatened by loyalist paramilitaries. Police contacted UUP leader Steve Aiken, his party colleague the Mid Ulster MLA Doug Beattie, the SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone and Alliance MP Stephen Farry warning of a "credible threat" from loyalists. There was widespread disgust on Monday morning as news of the threats spread on social media. Amnesty international described them as an "attack on democracy". It comes after the politicians - along with many others - spoke out against threats made to Sunday Life and Sunday World journalists. "None of us will be deterred in anyway from defending freedom of press and standing up to paramilitaries," Mr Farry. UUP leader Steve Aiken added: "We must stand up for freedom of speech and we cannot allow our hard fought principles of democracy to ever be undermined by threats of violence or intimidation." Mr McGlone, Deputy Speaker at the NI Assembly, said he refused to be intimidated and neither he, nor those journalists to be threatened, will be silenced or censored. This is not the first time Ive been threatened by paramilitaries but I can assure those responsible, I will not be silenced, censored or intimidated by faceless thugs," he said. "In the week of VE commemorations, it is ironic and deeply sinister that they have chosen to mimic fascist attacks on journalists and elected representatives. This threat, and the threats made against journalists in the last week, are an attack on the democratic tradition on this island. It must be resisted and those responsible must understand that they will never win." SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MP added: "Those responsible for this threat obviously dont know Patsy McGlone. He will not be broken or silenced by those intent on intimidating him and others. These thugs need to understand that every threat against an elected representative or a journalist or anyone else is an attack on our peace and an attack on the democratic will of the people of this island. It is a fight they will never win. The threats made against Patsy and a number of journalists in the last week should be lifted immediately. Everyone on this island should be able to live and work free from the threat of violence. At the end of last week human rights organisations and politicians right across Northern Ireland called for the warnings issued by the South East Antrim UDA to the Sunday Life and Sunday World newspapers to be lifted. The Sunday Life and Sunday World journalists were targeted because of exposes in both titles about UDA involvement in criminality, drug dealing and involvement in the January murder of terminally ill Glen Quinn in Carrickfergus. Police visited the journalists' homes during the early hours of Friday morning, with one being told of a potential under-car booby-trap attack. Peter Vandermeersch, publisher at Independent News and Media which owns the titles, said "threats against journalists should not be tolerated in any free society". "It is depressing that thugs still believe they can silence the press through intimidation. We will continue to publish stories that shed light in dark corners," he added. The South East Antrim UDA controls turf stretching 20 miles from Larne to north Belfast, along with pockets of Newtownards. It is considered one of Northern Ireland's most dangerous organised crime gangs. Ulster Unionist leader Steve Aiken described the threats to journalists as "simply inexcusable". "Whatever your opinion of individuals are, a free and unfettered press is a mark of democracy. The PSNI must investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice," he added. His Upper Bann MLA party colleague Doug Beattie, a former Army captain who won the Military Cross medal for valour, condemned the threats as "fascism at its finest, with beer-bellied thugs directing spotty faced kids". Patsy McGlone added his voice to the condemnation, saying: "Solidarity with journalists at Sunday Life and Sunday World threatened by thuggish fascists. Threats to a free press are threats to democracy." Amnesty International described the threats against the journalists as "disgusting". There are many workers who we took for granted in our pre-Covid innocence - logistics hub operators, truckers, supermarket workers, filling station workers, delivery drivers. Many of them are still out there, risking their health and possibly their lives to make sure we all stay alive and supplied with brioche and seedless grapes. But of those who are no longer at work, the one worker I always took for granted was the hairdresser. Despite being magnificently vain, as the years passed, I have become fairly relaxed about my hair. Back in the glory days of the Celtic Tiger, I used to get it cut and straightened, a level of flamboyance acceptable in someone in their 20s, which would be fine except I was 35, and thus looked like someone who should be on the Sex Offenders Register. But you pass 40 and you focus less on looking like an inbred peacock, and soon you are at the stage where you feel no shame when the hairdresser asks if you want the ears and eyebrows done too. Sher why not, any chance you could take a few inches off the neck, shoulders and lower back while you're at it, for age is just a quicksand of humiliation, and the secret to surviving is to not struggle. I am now at the Edward Scissorhands stage of Covid hair - random spikes here and there, cowlicks not seen since my First Communion photos reappeared, as I revert to my primal form, half man, half ape. But I'm still vain enough not to cut my own hair. My eldest son, however, was not so lucky. He has my hair - thick, wiry, prone to jutting out in random peaks. It needs to be short and tight or he starts to go full Mowgli. As the weeks have dragged on, it got wilder and wilder, with a flattened band where his PS4 headset rests, and two random cowlicks at the front which look like an owl's ear tufts. This was great fodder for my casual dad insults, as we all started shouting 'too-wit too-woo' at him, or calling him Owlboy, or, when he sat down at the computer, telling him not to eat the mouse. But after a fortnight of that, we got sick of it and of his increasingly wild appearance. So I decided to cut his hair. Hey, what's the worst that could happen? Cutting hair seems easy enough - you just buzz buzz, snip snip, and make some idle chit-chat about holidays or how they should bring back hanging. The first snag in my grand plan was that there isn't a clippers left in Ireland. So I fished out one of those little nasal trimmers which has an eyebrow attachment, sat him down and set to work. Long story short, cutting hair is hard. Like, really hard, even with a child that is your own property and whose head you can shove in any direction without a lawsuit. The end result of all this is that Owlboy now looks like a medieval monk who is suffering from a bout of mange, or the lead character in the classic 1985 Belarusian war film Come And See. Obviously, Alex is glad he is no longer being called Owlboy and taunted with hate hoots, but he is less pleased about us calling him Brother Owlboy, asking him when he is returning to the monastery, or would he like some mead with his chicken nuggets. But he takes it all in good humour because it's not just his hair that is like mine, but also the inside of his head - he likes to make people laugh, and whether they laugh at him or with him matters not. As he gets older, he gets wittier, and he enjoyed getting Ireland's worst haircut as much as we did giving it to him because we had such a laugh doing it. And the most important lesson of all our bad haircuts and Covid comedy is that when we all barge back into the barbers, stylists and salons, we tip our hairdressers. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) The Department of Labor and Employment is asking 40 billion from Congress to fund its fresh round of cash aid to workers displaced by the coronavirus pandemic. Labor officials say some 3.3 million jobless Filipinos stand to benefit from the departments second cash relief program which will be distributed in three tranches. Meron po tayong iniisip na three months subsidy para po sa mga workers habang halimbawa ang DTI and other agencies of the government are also proposing to assist naman yung ating mga establishments, Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay told CNN Philippines. [Translation: We are thinking of a three-month subsidy for workers while the DTI and other agencies of the government are also proposing to assist our establishments.] If Congress approves the DOLE proposal, the displaced workers will each receive 5,000 per month for three months, or a total of 15,000 from June to August. Dahil sila rin naman ay nalugi, nawalan sila ng puhunan so kailangan din tulungan silang makabangon. (Because they went bankrupt, they lost their investments, so we need to help them recover.) Thats part of the DOLE plan. And we will engage with agencies such as Department of Trade and Industry, also TESDA, for retooling and reskilling of workers dahil marami sa mga kumpanya ang magre-repurpose ng kanilang mga gawain. The labor department expects more small and medium-scale businesses to either shut down or lay off workers even after the lockdown is lifted. The DOLE earlier handed out a one-time 5,000 wage subsidy to affected workers, but had to end the program on April 15 due to budget constraints. It had cost the government 3.27 billion, with almost half of the amount from the departments funds. (@FahadShabbir) VIENNA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 10th May, 2020) The OPEC Fund for International Development, OFID, has signed a US$10 million term loan in favour of the State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan, SBFEAT, to enable the bank to better support small- and medium-size enterprises, SMEs, in the country. The proposed transaction is the OPEC Funds first private sector transaction in Turkmenistan. Access to finance is very important to SME growth in Turkmenistan. The proposed OPEC Fund facility will support SME and economic growth, in line with Sustainable Development Goal, SDG, 8 on inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. Turkmenistans government launched The State Programme for Supporting Small and Medium Entrepreneurship in 2018 and its main goals include ensuring socio-economic development continues at pace, that private sector-led activity increases quickly, and that manufactured goods and services provided by SMEs increase in number and competitiveness in foreign markets. "The OPEC Fund is directly supporting the goals of the governments programme with this transaction," said OPEC Fund Director-General Dr. Abdulhamid Alkhalifa. "We are pleased to assist socio-economic development efforts via supporting Turkmenistan to diversify its economy and generate employment opportunities." Turkmenistans SBFEAT was established in 1992 and is a 100 percent state-owned entity. The Bank currently has 309 employees, three branches and some 375,000 customers. OFID was established in January 1976 by the then 13 member countries of OPEC; including the United Arab Emirates. It is the development finance institution established as a channel of aid to developing countries. Riot police detain a group of people during a demonstration in Mongkok district in Hong Kong - Anthony Kwan/Getty Images Hong Kong riot police chased demonstrators through shopping malls, fired pepper spray and arrested a pro-democracy politician on Sunday as protests calling for the resignation of the citys unpopular leader resumed after a pandemic-enforced lull. Hundreds of protesters responded to a call for flash mobs and gatherings in at least 10 shopping malls across the city, marking a modest return for the pro-democracy movement that convulsed the Asian financial hub for seven straight months last year through rallies that often turned violent. Anti-government protesters stage a rally at a shopping mall in Hong Kong - TYRONE SIU/ REUTERS Since January, coronavirus has put a brake on the mass gatherings that saw millions take to the streets to demand universal suffrage and more freedoms and autonomy from Beijings rule, but with the city successfully tackling Covid-19, small protests have begun to spring back to life. Permission for a march, coinciding with Mothers Day, was denied by the authorities on the grounds that large gatherings are still restricted to stop the spread of the virus. Instead, demonstrators gathered in malls to chant slogans and sing the unofficial protest-inspired Hong Kong anthem, prompting a heavy-handed response from riot officers who charged in to disperse heckling crowds of shoppers and activists. Riot police stand guard during a demonstration outside a shopping mall in Hong Kong - Anthony Kwan/Getty Images As protesters deployed cat and mouse tactics with the riot police, the force appeared in one incident to fire a pepper ball and three arrests were made. In the evening, clashes moved onto the streets of the busy commercial area of Mongkok, which has become a frequent flashpoint. Jessica Wong, reporter from local paper @appledaily_hk, tells me she was strangled by a policeman from behind for some 10 seconds as she filmed police capturing people in Mong Kok. Though fainted and was sent to the hospital, she has no life-threatening injury. #HongKongProtest pic.twitter.com/OJGcf6Ejfz Ezra Cheung (@ezracheungtoto) May 10, 2020 Police in riot gear used batons and pepper spray, and reports emerged of local journalists being corralled, forced to kneel and banned from reporting. Medics, on scene to help the injured, were reportedly detained. Story continues Riot police detain a group of people in Mongkok - Anthony Kwan/Getty Images At the height of the Sunday evening clashes, officers were filmed throwing Roy Kwong, a Democratic Party legislator, to the ground, with one pressing his knee onto the politicians head. this is the moment lawmaker Roy Kwong is subdued. He was pushed forcefully to the ground, and riot police rushed to press his head onto the floor with their knees. pic.twitter.com/sTJ1KaYxoP LO Kin-hei (@lokinhei) May 10, 2020 He is believed to have been trying to negotiate with the police. His party wrote on its Facebook page that Mr Kwong is to be charged with disorderly behaviour. His arrest follows angry scenes between pro-democracy and pro-Beijing legislators in the citys parliament on Friday, as they fought to take control of a committee with responsibility for controversial new bills, including one to criminalise disrespect of the national anthem. The confrontation resulted in democratic politicians being dragged to the ground and ejected from the room. As public anger spilled onto the streets on Sunday, the authorities accused protesters of seriously disturbing public order and posing threat to public safety and appealed to them to follow disease control laws. Resplendent Ceylon releases protocol on health and safety standards in hotels View(s): Resplendent Ceylon, which has upcountry tea bungalows and southern beach resorts under its wing, has released Sri Lankas first dedicated COVID-19 Health and Safety protocol for hotels, and said it would be shared with local and global hotels. The manual will serve as a guide to manage stringent health and safety measures aimed at minimising the risk of infection. In a media release, Resplendent Ceylon said it will make this protocol available to all hotels and tourism accommodation locally and globally, as the company sees the need to work together against a common enemy. Industries must take an in-depth look at their processes said Malik Fernando, Managing Director of Resplendent Ceylon, adding, hotels and other tourism accommodation have a huge responsibility, requiring specific attention to build confidence and protect guests and staff. Resplendent Ceylon, part of the family-owned Dilmah Tea Company, is the pioneer in luxury experiential travel in Sri Lanka and the sole Sri Lankan members of Relais & Chateaux, the global fellowship of individually owned and operated luxury hotels and restaurants. Tea Trails, Cape Weligama and Wild Coast Tented Lodge, form an enchanting circuit from tea fields to clifftop beach and safari lodge, the release said. Despite their resorts being small and isolated, spread out over large areas with private villa and bungalow experiences, Resplendent Ceylon believes that such a manual is essential to build confidence as tourism resumes. Our mission now includes helping others in the industry as responsible citizens in the fight against the pandemic, said Maheesha Ratnayake, Chief Operating Officer, Our expertise in paying attention to detail is now more critical than ever. The manual seeks to ensure the health and safety of guests, teams, their families, and communities. It covers logistics and transport, guest and staff contact areas, emergency response, safety equipment, chemicals, maintenance as well as communications. Contents will be updated with new recommendations as they develop. Mandatory training of staff on the standard will take place before reopening shortly. Resplendent Ceylon looks forward to welcoming guests back to Sri Lanka, maintaining their renowned standard of excellence, as well as enhanced levels of safety and hygiene, the release said. Tiny eyes peer out from enigmatic, otherworldly creatures. Their contorted bodies are shimmering in colorful metallic hues, endowed with appendages that defy description. Fascinated yet perplexed, I wonder what I am observing. Are these oddities types of oversized micro-organisms that dwell deep inside of me, or aliens from a distant galaxy? I first discovered the fantastic paper mache creations of contemporary Balinese artist Ida Bagus Punia Atmaja in Ubud in 2018. His eye-catching constellation of over 100 vibrant mysteries suspended from nylon lines resonated with a distinct charm and aura. In its raw simplicity and uniqueness, his display was one of the most captivating and authentic installations I had seen in Bali for quite some time. The experience was calming and nurturing. "Ida Bagus Punia Atmaja: A COVID-19 Solidarity Exhibition", an online presentation of 44 artworks, began on April 28 and continues through to May 28. An initiative of TiTian Art Space and the TiTian Bali Foundation in Nyuh Kuning, Ubud, the e-catalog of Punias work is available for download from the TiTian website titianartspace.com/id/. The COVID-19 pandemic presented us with a dire and extreme situation. With the lockdown, the postponement of art and cultural events and the halt of domestic and international tourism, the board of Yayasan TiTian Bali [TiTian Bali Foundation] were presented with an enormous challenge. How to remain relevant and make a contribution to the development of Balinese art during this unusual global crisis? said Rio Riawan, curator of TiTian Art Space and head of research and development of Yayasan TiTian Bali. Our response was to develop two new digital programs: art news and education for children away from school and staying home during the lockdown and online exhibitions available to the public through our social media platforms and website, he said. TiTians first solo online exhibition is a new format and a fundraiser to help reduce the impact of COVID-19. Fifty percent of the proceeds will be donated to the people of Bali affected by the islands economic downturn. In this period of great calamity and uncertainty it is important that artists continue to make valuable contributions to the development of society, Rio said, Art is a welcome respite from our anxieties and the madness of this world. Punia's works involve a ritualistic, spiritual approach. He has his own way to talk about Bali and his works bring positive messages to inspire humanity, he said. He creates artistic concepts and forms that are new. At the same time, sometimes, he is very critical, humorous and even magical. In my opinion, this is a significant development in the way of thinking of a Balinese artist. As a child, I loved the mysterious stories my grandmother told me before sleeping at night; I believed they were real. Later, some of these stories secretly came to life through my drawings, said Punia, who was born in Jembrana, Bali, in 1979 and studied fine art at the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI), Yogyakarta, in 1998. I thought what I liked, with regard to creative expressions, others liked also. I discovered, however, that my assumptions were wrong. My ancient satellites came to me like a vision in a dream while sleeping, Punia said. They were the response to my prayers I made in a temple to receive divine intervention to help assist my artistic journey and have led me in a new creative direction. They are a representation of taksu [sacred energy]. Paper was chosen as the material, despite having no relation to Balinese art traditions, because it was easily processed to form the exact texture I wanted. How to disguise the impression of paper on the surface of the works is a process that I learned myself, he said of working with paper mache. Punia was raised in an upper-caste Brahmin family, his father and grandfather are pendanda, Balinese high priests. Punias artwork is based upon his observations and understanding of the results of living in a traditional culture. He reinterprets this not by following traditions but by listening to his inner voice and creating distinct and innovative expressions that present a fresh direction in contemporary Balinese sculpture. Punias collaboration with TiTian Art Space is his second solo exhibition. His first, "Ekonom, Ekonomi, Ekonomis" was held at Gedung GM, Jembrana, in 2009. He was an invited artist in the most crucial Balinese exhibition of 2016, "Merayakan Murni" at Sudakara Art Space, Sanur, which celebrated the legacy of the iconic female Balinese artist I GAK Murniaishi (1966-2006). He was also a participant in the group show "MAHARDIKA" at TiTian Art Space, in October 2019. The e-catalog includes images and details of Punias creations: 14 "extra small" works ranging in sizes from about 10 by 10 by 4 centimeters with a price of Rp 280,000 (US$ 20), 14 "small" works around 16 by 15 by 5 cm and priced at Rp 700,000, five "medium" sculptures with dimensions of around 25 by 20 by 8 cm with a price tag of Rp 1.4 million, six "large" works sized 25 by 25 by 13 cm and priced at Rp 2.8 million and four "extra-large" pieces sized from 33 by 51 by 16 cm to 55 by 36 by 16 cm and priced at Rp 4.2 million. (wng) www.titianartspace.com instagram.com/titianartspace/ @titianartspace https://www.facebook.com/TiTianArtSpace/ Hotels are using a combination of platforms to reach out to the guests. These include online travel agents among others. hotels in India are offering guests an option to pay now and stay later. Cash-strapped and bruised by the prolonged lockdown, hotels in India are offering guests an option to pay now and stay later. The move, top hoteliers said will be a win-win for both. India's hotel industry may lose Rs 90,000 crore this calendar year, owing to the nationwide lockdown pressed to curb the spread of COVID-19, according to a recent report by HVS and Anarock. "Occupancies across hotels in key cities witnessed a sharp decline, as travel restrictions intensified and India went into lockdown towards the end of March," the report said. The new scheme allows guests to stay at a property of their choice on dates that suit them at a competitive price. For hotel owners in deep crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will offer some succour and help them meet fixed costs that include salaries, rentals, and other payment obligations. Hotels are using a combination of platforms to reach out to the guests. These include online travel agents (OTAs) such as Makemytrip.com, Booking.com, Goibibo.com, and Cleartrip.com, among others. Besides listing on the OTAs, several hotels have opted to get themselves enlisted on an open booking platform recently created by Noesis Capital Advisors, a hotel advisory. The platform called Paytodaystaylater.com allows guests to buy their preferred hotel's credit voucher worth Rs 15,000 at Rs 10,000, which can be used at a later date. "It's a non-profit initiative aimed at helping hotels generate some liquidity," said Nandivardhan Jain, founder and CEO, Noesis. Since the creation of the platform, some 150 hotels have come on board and another 300 are expected to join shortly, said Jain. These include mid-size, luxury to upscale boutique luxury properties. Owners who have stepped up their engagements with the OTAs and have listed with Paytodaystaylater.com, have moderate expectations. They, however, see this as a step to get things moving at a time when shuttered hotels have led to zero revenue. Manu Rishi Guptha, chief executive at Niraamaya Business group, said: "This initiative will help hotels to wade through the tough months from May to October. "It offers a good cash management technique." Niraamaya, a hospitality arm of Jupiter Capital, is an upscale boutique resort with properties in Kerala, Nagaland, and Goa. A three day holiday at Niraamaya that would typically cost Rs 120,000 is now available at half the price. "The world will go through a economic deflator. It will apply to every single economic activity on this planet. "So there is no reason to have high ground," said Guptha. Suhail Kannampilly, CEO, Fern Hotels & Resorts, is encouraged by the initial response of the scheme. Fern's Mumbai property recently got a four-day corporate booking. Besides being listed on Makemytrip, all of 4,000 rooms across the country are listed with Noesis. "It's the first time that we are doing open-ended bookings," said Kannampilly. He is not expecting a huge volume as people are unsure and non-committal to travel. But the move "puts the foot in the door", he said. Dehradun-based Leisure Hotels is also in the process of listing 65 per cent of its properties on Paytodaytstaylater.com and Makemytrip. It's also creating its own platform for a similar scheme, said Vibhas Prasad, director, Leisure Hotels. It is also in talks with other travel agents for bulk bookings in the business-to-business (B2B) segment. "The volumes may not be big enough, but it will at least set the idling inventory in motion," said Prasad. "We will work with everyone and anyone. At this point, it's all about how can I tailor the package to fit your bill," said Ajay Bakaya, managing director at Sarovar Hotels. Sarovar plans to list all its 6,400 rooms at its 84 properties across several platforms and offer pay now and stay later scheme. Out of total revenue loss likely to be faced by the industry, organised operators are estimated to face a revenue loss of over Rs 40,000 crore, according to HVS. Photograph: Jason Lee/Reuters (Newser) The US economy is in rough shape, and things are going to get worse. That was the dire prediction from not one but two of the White House's top economic advisers Sunday, per the Washington Post: "The reported numbers are probably going to get worse before they get better, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday. "I think youre going to have a very, very bad second quarter." Asked by host Chris Wallace whether the nation's unemployment rate was "close to 25% at this point, which is Great Depression neighborhood," Mnuchin replied, "Chris, we could be." story continues below "To get unemployment rates like the ones that were about to see ... which I think will climb up towards 20% by next month, you have to really go back to the Great Depression to see that," said White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on CBS' Face the Nation. He predicted the rate will be "north of 20%" by next month, and added that "nobody knows" when the jobless will be able to go back to work. But it wasn't all dire; Mnuchin predicted the job market could start to improve by September. The situation we're in, he noted, "is no fault of American business, it is no fault of American workers, it is the fault of a virus." And Vox notes that on ABC's This Week, Larry Kudlow, director of the Trump administrations National Economic Council, said that of the latest unemployment numbers, "80% of it was furloughs and temporary layoffs," which "suggests strongly that the cord between the worker and the business is still intact." (Read more coronavirus stories.) (Newser) When Bill Barr dropped the case against Michael Flynn, the attorney general suggested, in the Justice Department's motion to dismiss, that the FBI's 2017 interview of Flynn was "illegitimate" and that the bureau had "no valid counterintelligence reason" to carry it out, per Axios. To make that argument, the filing relies heavily on the words of ex-DoJ official Mary McCord, who, per Bloomberg, oversaw the early stages of the Russia investigation. McCord, a former acting assistant attorney general for national security, sat down with the FBI for an interview in 2017 two months after retiring from her decades-long career at the department, and Barr's filing cited that interview more than two dozen times as it argued Flynn should not be prosecuted for lying to the FBI, the Hill reports. In an extensive New York Times piece, McCord accuses Barr of twisting her words. story continues below "The account of my July 2017 interview describes my departments frustration with the FBIs conduct, sometimes using colorful adjectives like 'flabbergasted' to describe our reactions," McCord concedes, explaining that the FBI's interview of Flynn should have been coordinated with the DoJ and certain protocols should have been followed, rather than the interview happening with no notice. But her interview "does not anywhere suggest that the FBIs interview of Mr. Flynn was unconstitutional, unlawful or not 'tethered' to any legitimate counterintelligence purpose," she writes. It "is no support for Mr. Barrs dismissal of the Flynn case," does not suggest that there was no reason for the FBI to investigate Flynn, and does not suggest the bureau's interview of him was illegitimate. "The account of my interview in 2017 doesnt help the department support this conclusion, and it is disingenuous for the department to twist my words to suggest that it does." Her full piece has a lengthy explanation. (Read more Michael Flynn stories.) Nirupama Viswanathan By Express News Service CHENNAI: They have been on the frontline, spending weeks at a stretch in closed, high-risk wards, putting up a brave fight against coronavirus. It was only a week ago that the defence forces showered flowers from helicopters and beamed lights from naval ships to express gratitude towards such corona health workers, who are risking their lives to save patients from the clutches of COVID-19. There have been videos on social media on neighbours thanking these workers with songs and claps. However, these symbolic acts of gratitude do not seem to have had much impact on many people, who continue to stigmatise those on the war front. These health workers are now facing a battle of perception by their own neighbours. For Umashankari, a 46-year-old staff nurse at a government hospital in KK Nagar, life was normal till a few weeks back. Being a nurse for over 22 years, she has carried the occupational risk of contracting diseases from patients. But this time, it was different. She was in the ward of corona-infected patients. While on duty, she developed fever and tested positive. After spending weeks in the isolation ward of Kilpauk Medical College, Umashankari came out on May 8. However, the world outside was not the same anymore as neighbours had started ostracising her. Her troubles started after she reached home in Kamarajar Colony at Kodambakkam. There was no water. So, I called up the supplier on the neighbouring street. He told me that I could go there to fetch water. As I went out, people chased me back home, Umashankari said, adding that she had even worn two masks and gloves. They questioned me if I had come home only to spread the virus, said the nurse, who has a paralysed husband and two children to take care of. Umashankari approached police personnel on duty in the containment zone, only to be turned away. She said that her son, who had tested negative, was also being stopped from venturing out to buy essentials. We are running out of cash as we are not allowed to go to ATM. On TV, they show doctors and nurses being applauded for their service. The reality is different. I want other nurses to know what happened to me, rued Umashankari. A Corporation official said that her son would be allowed to make essential purchases. Officials from the Corporation and police department visited her on Sunday and promised to take care of the issues. They apologised on behalf of the public, Umashankari said. Officials apologise A group of officials from the Corporation and the police department visited the nurse on Sunday evening and apparently promised her to take care of the issues. They apologised to me on behalf of the public, she said. Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. CAMPBELL, Calif., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Groupware Technology, Inc., a leading IT solutions provider, announced today that CRN , a brand of The Channel Company, has named Dawn McCale, Samara Halterman and Stacy Thompson to its esteemed 2020 Women of the Channel list. Recognizing the unique strengths, vision and achievements of a select group of women, this prestigious annual list acknowledges channel leaders who are blazing a trail for future generations. These women are from all areas of the IT ecosystem, including technology vendors, distributors, solution providers and other IT organizations. Dawn, Samara and Stacy are multi-year recipients of the Women of the Channel honor and report directly to Groupware CEO Mike Thompson. The CRN editorial team selects the honorees to celebrate a list of exceptional women acclaimed for their contributions to channel advocacy, growth, thought leadership and dedication to the IT channel. As VP of Sales for Named Accounts, Dawn McCale leads a sales team responsible for some of Groupware's biggest strategic customers. In 2019, Dawn's team closed the largest single deal in the company's history. With a proven track record of sales success, Dawn has continuously exceeded sales targets throughout her 20-year career. Additionally, Dawn has been recognized on this year's CRN Power 40 Solution Providers list, an elite subgroup of the 2020 Women of the Channel. The annual Women of the Channel Power 40 list highlights extraordinary women who exhibit thought leadership, channel expertise and innovative vision for driving channel growth. This list is the highest honor and an authoritative guide to the most influential women in the channel. VP of Marketing Samara Halterman has led the way in driving Groupware's brand strategy initiatives that have elevated the company's position in the marketplace. In the past year, the expansion of strategic marketing initiatives to increase sales, partner engagements and thought leadership resulted in a net new logo increase of new customers by 20% over the previous year, a close of business rate of 75% and a pipeline increase of 30%. Senior Director of Finance Stacy Thompson's financial leadership has played a vital role in supporting Groupware's tremendous growth from $2 million of sales in IT solutions and services the year before she joined the company in 2005, to $310 million in its most recent fiscal year in 2019. Stacy is also a member of the Women of the Channel Board of Directors. "CRN's 2020 Women of the Channel list recognizes an accomplished group of influential women leaders whose strategic vision and unique achievements accelerate channel growth through cultivated partnerships, innovative thought leadership and unwavering dedication to the IT channel," said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. "We are proud to honor them for their accomplishments and contributions to driving channel success." "Congratulations to Dawn, Samara and Stacy for this prestigious Women of the Channel honor," noted Mike Thompson. "Their accomplishments in delivering value to our customers and partners, along with their leadership, have been significant factors in Groupware's consistent growth. They are well-deserved recipients of the Women of the Channel recognition." The 2020 Women of the Channel list will be featured in CRN Magazine on June 8 and online at www.CRN.com/WOTC. About Groupware Technology Groupware Technology, Inc. is a leading IT solutions provider specializing in data centers, cloud, data and AI, networking, security, applications, rack integration services and first call support. We deliver these innovative technology services to world-class companies to help them achieve mission-critical objectives, lower costs, improve agility and increase competitive advantages. We are committed to help our customers optimize, integrate and automate their IT assets, as well as evaluate and implement robust new technologies and cloud-centric infrastructure models. For more information, contact (408) 540-0090 or visit www.groupwaretech.com Follow Groupware Technology: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn PR Contact: Shirley Ng, [email protected] ; 408-915-2446 About The Channel Company The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook Copyright 2020. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved. The Channel Company Contact: Jennifer Hogan The Channel Company [email protected] SOURCE Groupware Technology, Inc. Related Links https://www.groupwaretech.com (Bloomberg) -- France is preparing to increase its 4 billion-euro ($4.3 billion) bailout package for tech startups by more than 50% to compensate for an investor retreat, people familiar with the matter said. The government plans to enlarge a series of financial measures set up in late March, to keep innovative companies afloat, by the end of the month, according to two French officials with knowledge of the plans who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The increase is still under discussion and the plans may still change, they said. Many venture capital firms are holding off on new investments in the country, focusing on their existing portfolio, the people said. The government expects U.S. investors to delay or cancel funding plans in Frances tech scene, the people said. The U.S. and Canada accounted for about 15% of French startup funding last year, according to a report from startup analytics firm Dealroom. The state is anticipating demand for loans backed by the state to double from original estimates to 4 billion euros by year end, the people said. Tax breaks outlined in the initial package may also increase, they said. A loan program for startups whose fundraising plans were put on hold by the pandemic lockdowns could be approximately doubled, the people said. The French Finance Ministry and state-backed lender Bpifrance Financement SA, are looking to increase the bridge funding measure to between 250 million euros and 300 million euros or more, from 160 million euros initially. A spokesman for the Finance Ministry said theyre studying the next phase of the program and declined to comment further. While France started easing lockdown measures on Monday, the outlook for business activity is still rocky. The economy is running 33% below normal levels, only a slight improvement from the 36% reported at the start of the lockdown, according to statistics agency Insee. The package for tech startups is part of a bigger 300 billion-euro package of state-guaranteed loans from the Finance Ministry, Bpifrance and the French Banking Federation. Story continues For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Two Swedish citizens, aged 22 and 23, have been charged with terrorism in connection with last year's early morning explosion that damaged the headquarters of the Danish Tax Agency, slightly injuring a bystander. The two men, aged 22 and 23, were not identified. They were charged over the Aug. 6 blast at the tax agency blast in Copenhagen. In a statement, senior prosecutor Lise-Lotte Nilas said officials believe "the case is so serious that it is a terror-like act. The two men were arrested on an international arrest warrant in Sweden in August and handed to Denmark for prosecution. If found guilty, they could face a life sentence, which equates to 16 years on average, No date for a trial was immediately announced. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Haiti - COVID-19 : Haiti installs a field hospital in Cachiman near the border The Haitian Government has installed a mobile hospital and tents in front of Haitian customs, in the border community of Cachiman (Belladere) in order to have greater control over the compatriots who return to Haiti. These facilities are located around 75m from the peripheral fence built by the Dominican Republic, in accordance with the protocols of the demarcation zone between the two countries. Dr. Watson Eustache, Director of the Cachiman mobile hospital, declared "These measures are taken by the Haitian authorities for the sole purpose of helping our brothers and sisters who have voluntarily decided in recent months to return to Haiti." Recall that in April only 23,000 Haitians https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30732-haiti-news-zapping.html returned to Haiti through the various border crossing points. Once the border separation door has been crossed, health and screening checks will be carried out. Dr. Eustache explained that each citizen, once entering Haitian territory by this passage from the Dominican Republic, will be subject to the rules of social distancing, and will receive masks, a health check file will be completed and a health assessment or a rapid test will be performed to detect suspected cases of Covid-19. All the people will then be transferred and quarantined in tents which have been installed in a fenced area and guarded by the Haitian authorities. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30732-haiti-news-zapping.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30628-haiti-dr-10-501-haitians-voluntary-return-to-haiti-in-1-month.html S/ HaitiLibre OVERLAND PARK, Kan., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- This program offers a comprehensive Professional Liability product for lawyers through Swiss Re with best-in-class program administration from Lockton Affinity. By combining Lockton Affinity's knowledge in creating tailored insurance programs and Swiss Re's experience in the LPL sector, attorneys in Tennessee have access to a leading Professional Liability Insurance program. Key benefits of the Swiss Re and Lockton Affinity Lawyer Insurance Program include: Experienced in-house claims team staffed with licensed attorneys Free CLE credits available for policyholders Automatic renewals available for firms that qualify Free, unlimited extended reporting periods available for retiring attorneys within a covered firm Tennessee attorneys will also have access to CyberLock Lawyer, a cyber risk insurance policy designed specifically to protect lawyers and firms from the growing threat of cyber risks, such as confidentiality and privacy breaches, computer system disruptions, hackers, fraudulent funds transfers, malware, extortion and ransomware. The CyberLock Lawyer policy has no sublimits of coverage, making it the most complete coverage available to lawyers. It also works in tandem with Lockton Affinity Lawyer's Professional Liability Insurance, matching the prior acts date to bridge any gaps in coverage. Interested Tennessee attorneys can request a price indication or contact Lockton Affinity Lawyer Program Manager, Nathan Borghardt, [email protected] for more information. About Lockton Affinity: Lockton Affinity, an affiliate of Lockton Companies, was formed in 1987 to meet the dynamic, specialized insurance needs of affinity groups, non-profits, associations and franchises. Today, Lockton Affinity is one of the nation's leading program administrators, serving a wide array of industries ranging from small business, financial institutions and franchise businesses to fraternal organizations and common-cause groups. About Swiss Re: Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, formerly Westport Insurance Corporation, underwrites Lockton Affinity Lawyer's Professional Liability products for California, Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. Swiss Re is the world's second-largest reinsurer, with offices in more than 25 countries. SOURCE Lockton Affinity Related Links https://locktonaffinity.com Billions The Chris Rock Test Season 5 Episode 2 Editors Rating 4 stars * * * * Previous Next Photo: Jeff Neumann/SHOWTIME Who is more abhorrent? The guy who imperiously proclaims to be a monster, the guy who hides his monstrous qualities behind a facade of bogus humility, or the guy claiming to keep his monster at bay with a code? This is a question that pops up on Billions regularly, making an episode like The Chris Rock Test a whole lot of fun because the answer is, as always, theyre all equally repugnant. In one corner, we have Chuck Rhoades, holding firm to his pledge to change himself for the better. On the surface, hes following through on his promise, starting off the episode in therapy. (The brutal reality of COVID-19 once again weaseling its way into our TV escape; Chucks therapist is played by the late Mark Blum.) During the session, Chuck is asked to name a wisdom avatar, and his choice speaks volumes. Hes been reading Dexter Morgan novels lately, so Chuck selects Harry Morgan, father and conscience of the literary serial killer, as his source of guidance. (A Showtime drama referencing the basis for another Showtime drama? Who wouldve thunk it?) But after Governor Bob Sweeney (Matt Servitto) unceremoniously relieves Chuck of his jurisdiction over Axes cryptomining case punishment for Chuck not throwing the book at the billionaire the New York State attorney general is even more fired up in his mission to put Axe behind bars. A move like this really awakens my dark passenger, Chuck scowls to Kate, referring to Dexter Morgans inner demon. And just as Dexter developed a code to control this dark passenger killing, but for what he deemed the right reasons Chuck intends to do the same, in the name of justice. He then nearly out-Chucks himself with his pledge to purge the world of villainy, including himself, tasking Kate with holding him to his own code. No one is getting murdered on Chucks watch at least not in this episode but this weeks self-serving scheme involves the AG engaging in some insanely underhanded play: helping his longtime ally, Judge Adam DeGiulio (Rob Morrow), do damage control on a recently unearthed torture memo he wrote years ago. Said damage control results in the destruction of DeGiulios Supreme Court aspirations and a new gig as solicitor general. Should it come as a surprise that the entire DeGiulio scandal was the brainchild of Chuck Rhoades? It certainly doesnt to Kate, who not only cracks her bosss ruse to the letter, but calls him on leaking the torture memo in the first place: As soon as Chuck was stripped of his New York criminal jurisdiction regarding the cryptomining case, he decided to bring Axe to justice via the Supreme Court instead. Since hell need a prosecutor in his pocket for that, who better than his old pal for the job? Over in another corner, at upstate New Yorks majestic Mohonk Mountain House, we have Bobby Axelrod, in attendance at Mike Princes financial conference and ready to plot with Wags and Taylor by his side. If you recall from last weeks episode, after Axe and Wags emerged from their ayahuasca-fueled vision quest, Axe bade their shaman farewell with this telltale line: Until we see each other and move your knowledge into the world. Turns out that shaman is the key to a big medical ayahuasca deal Axe has planned, making it the only reason for an Axe Cap presence at the Mike. Thats right, the Mike. How humble can someone like Mike Prince be if hes named a conference after himself? This question is explored during a public fireside chat. Axe and Mike engage in the predictable dick-swinging contest over who had the more hardscrabble rise to the top, with Axe astutely pointing out some uncomfortable truths: (1) Hes a carnivorous fucking monster, and (2) Mike may like to hide behind his nice-guy exterior, but hes just as much of a monster. While we wait patiently for Mike to inevitably unleash his evil side, there is a fascinating Wags subplot percolating. Normally, Wags can do his usual hard sell with his eyes closed, especially when its at a strip club. But if the clubs main attraction is his daughter, Mandi, then all bets are off. As a testament to David Costabiles brilliant acting, we dont need to see Mandi or even what happens next. All we need to see is Costabiles face crumble, and his rigid, numb body in need of a hug the morning after as he laments to Axe, I failed the Chris Rock test. He did, but he also passed the Billions test, which seems to be that you cant be a character on this show unless youre a neglectful parent. The only character who has ever demonstrated anything that resembles good parenting is Malin Akermans Lara Axelrod, and shes not around anymore. So, I rest my case. That night at the Mike conference farewell dinner, Axe and Wags have plenty to celebrate: Wags eventually closed the medical ayahuasca deal with an FDA employee, and Axe secured necessary clinical trials with a hospital CEO the selling point in both cases being their shaman, Bram Longriver (Henri Binje). Naturally, just as they get up to leave, Mike introduces his friend and key partner in a breakthrough health initiative. Yep, he stole Axes shaman. Oh, it is on between these two, but the next Axe vs. Mike bout will have to wait as Axe sketches out his next move with Wags. Its so unbelievably bonkers that it makes perfect sense for Billions: Axe wants to become his own bank. And hes doing it for the most sensible reason hes come up with yet, so he can die in his own bed rather than a prison cell. As for Taylor, theyre continuing to fight a losing battle to maintain their soul. While at the Mike, they endure numerous awkward run-ins with their ex, venture philanthropist Oscar Langstraat (Mike Birbiglia), whom they screwed over back in season three. Taylors vulnerability is then compounded by the news that Wendy has poached Mase Caps investor relations guru (and Taylors girlfriend), Lauren Turner (Jade Eshete). So when Chuck summons Taylor for a darkness-on-the-edge-of-the-East River meetup, theyre well-positioned to take his portentous advice. Chuck knows that Taylor sold him out to Axe, and warns them that someday, Axe will turn on them. When that day comes, they will need Chucks help. First, Chuck sells himself to Taylor as an ally, insisting that even though hes no different than Axe (good for you for acknowledging it, Chucky!), he is in control of his monster (eh, jurys out on that one). Second, he recommends that Taylor embrace their own monster, because its the only way to defeat Axe at his own game. In the words of Billy Joel, You may be right, Chuck. Loose Change Chuck and Wendys split-up takes a backseat this episode, but its going to get ugly real fast. In retaliation for Wendy going public with their divorce, Chuck has frozen her assets and shes prepared to go to war in response. I appreciated how Billions finally addressed something about Axes rags-to-riches success that Im sure has been nagging at a lot of people: Mike Prince observes that the roads were paved for [Axe], because he was born white and male. Could Dollar Bill be buckling under the financial weight of two families? If New Yorks foremost authority on BDSM is calling waterboarding torture than, yeah, its torture. Only Billions can make a line reading of the gnocchi was firm and tasty sound erotic. Phoenix, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2020) - The Stock Day Podcast welcomed Xalles Holdings Inc. (OTC Pink: XALL) ("the Company"), a holding company that focuses on acquisition and support of disruptive fintech companies. CEO of the Company, Thomas Nash, joined Stock Day host Everett Jolly. Jolly began the interview by asking Nash to describe the Company's recent acquisitions. "Just since the beginning of 2020, we've had three acquisitions that we've announced that have or will become wholly owned subsidiaries," shared Nash, adding that Gateway Innovations represents one of these acquisitions. "This is the company that owns the Ghana Cyber City project," he explained. "It's a very large project. It could lead to tens of millions in assets on our balance sheet," said Nash. "This is strategic to us since it gives us a real fintech anchor within Africa - a region that has enormous potential with payment systems and fintech growth." "In March, we acquired MinervaWorks," said Nash. "This Atlanta-based technology company provides consulting, is also a managed service provider, and has a unique product called The Brick," continued Nash. "The Brick is a sophisticated technology product," he explained, adding that it is easy to use and provides management information. "Essentially, customers plug this device, or a virtual instance of it, into the organization's network and they get a complete inventory of every device accessing the network," said Nash. "With more people working from home in the current environment, this type of appliance is really invaluable to organizations whether they be small, medium, or large." Nash then shared that the Company announced its third acquisition for 2020 on May 3rd with Intel365. "This is a corporate intelligence and background screening company," said Nash. "This strategic acquisition is expected to close on May 15th, and is particularly timely," he continued, referring to the challenges and resulting opportunities of the COVID-19 pandemic. "There will be many people being rehired, displaced, and hired by different businesses, and the strain on HR departments is going to be tremendous," said Nash. "Intel365 will make those processes easier, more efficient, and more intelligent to find the right person for the right job." Jolly then asked about the Company's process for sourcing and vetting acquisitions, especially in regards to the current conditions. Nash explained that the pandemic has made it difficult to operate their business as usual, but that they have been fortunate enough to have their staff work from home while maintaining productivity. "Our network of contacts was able to source and target companies with like-minded leaders, as well as products and services that would complement our vision and add value to the existing customers, and of course value to our company and shareholders." The conversation then turned to the Company's developments with blockchain and tokenization. "We continue to develop our X2X blockchain-based platform for financial transaction reconciliation," said Nash, before sharing the platform's numerous capabilities. "More recently, Xalles also has the opportunity to partner with companies providing security token offering services or 'STO'," he explained. "Tokenization is really the process of recognizing the securitization of real-world assets using tokens on a blockchain," said Nash. "Imagine having a fundraising mechanism for private or public companies that does not dilute the existing shareholders. This will be a nice complement to some of the other fundraising techniques already available." "Our ultimate vision is for us to create an Xalles or X2X related token that could be traded on multiple global exchanges and support eCommerce platforms, eProcurement platforms, and other types of consumer and business reward platforms," said Nash. To close the interview, Nash shared that despite 2020 being both challenging and unusual, the Company has remained on track for its key financial goals this year, which are to meet or exceed four million dollars in revenue and have profitability on a yearly basis. "We're going to achieve that through acquisitions that are accretive and value-added, and making sure that we keep all of the people associated with the company, whether they be employees, contractors, consultants, or partners, healthy at the same time," closed Nash. To hear Thomas Nash's entire interview, follow the link to the podcast here: https://audioboom.com/posts/7578943-ceo-of-xalles-holdings-inc-thomas-nash-is-featured-on-the-stock-day-podcast Investors Hangout is a proud sponsor of "Stock Day," and Stock Day Media encourages listeners to visit the company's message board at https://investorshangout.com/ About Xalles Holdings Inc. (OTC Pink: XALL) Xalles Holdings Inc. is a holding company that focuses on acquisition and support of disruptive fintech companies. The company actively seeks targets in which it can partner with or acquire to accelerate growth, targeting companies with solid management teams and business models, large total attainable markets (TAM), and lucrative exit opportunities. The company places an emphasis on leveraging blockchain technologies to provide industry-leading financial reconciliation and auditing solutions, which, over time, will allow for the capture of recurring revenue streams. For more information visit: http://Xalles.com Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "ongoing," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would," or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time the statements are made and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainty and other factors that may cause our results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this press release. This press release should be considered in light of all filings of the Company that are contained in the Edgar Archives of the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov and in OTC Markets at www.otcmarkets.com. Investor Relations Contact: Info@Xalles.com www.Xalles.com 202.595.1299 Office Corporate Communications: NetworkWire (NW) New York, New York www.NetworkNewsWire.com 212.418.1217 Office Editor@NetworkWire.com About The "Stock Day" Podcast Founded in 2013, Stock Day is the fastest growing media outlet for Nano-Cap and Micro-Cap companies. It educates investors while simultaneously working with penny stock and OTC companies, providing transparency and clarification of under-valued, under-sold Micro-Cap stocks of the market. Stock Day provides companies with customized solutions to their news distribution in both national and international media outlets. The Stock Day Podcast is the number one radio show of its kind in America. Stock Day recently launched its Video Interview Studio located in Phoenix, Arizona. SOURCE: Stock Day Media (602) 821-1102 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/55659 The commerce ministry on Monday said lease rent for units in the government-owned special economic zones (SEZs) will not be increased for 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a move which will provide relief to these facilities. It also said that payment of lease rent for the first quarter is deferred up to July 31 for all SEZ units and the deferment would not invite any interest. The ministry said that after consulting the proposal with Department of Expenditure, these relief measures were decided for SEZ units on account of COVID-19 outbreak. There will be "no increase in lease rent of the SEZ units for 2020-21," it said. Further, it asked development commissioners of other SEZs to advise SEZ developers of state governments and privately-owned zones to consider similar relief measures. "DCs are requested to advise developers of state government/private SEZs to consider similar relief measures in their zones," it added. There are seven government-owned SEZs which are located in Kandla, Chennai, Falta, Cochin, Noida, Santacruz and Visakhapatnam. All the zones are under the supervision of a development commissioner (DC). A DC said this is a welcome step by the government and it will help units at a time when they are struggling to deal with the lockdown imposed due to the outbreak of coronavirus. After the imposition of lockdown from March 25, all units are closed, barring food and pharma related facilities which have been allowed to operate during the period. An industry expert said that depending upon zone to zone, generally the rent is increased by 7-10 per cent annually. SEZs are major export hubs in the country as the government provides several incentives and single-window clearance system for them. Exports from SEZs rose 14.5 per cent to Rs 3.82 lakh crore in April-September 2019-20. It was Rs 7.02 lakh crore in entire 2018-19 financial year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) TBILSI, Georgia, May 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --A The COVID-19 virus presents a great challenge to countries around the world -A even those withA strong healthcare systems. The number of deaths has been dramatic and the economic damageA has been devastating.A To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:A https://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8724451-georgia-fight-against-covid-19/ Meanwhile, aA small country located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern EuropeA has become a role model for the steps taken in the fight against the pandemic. How did Georgia manage to prevent the spread of the virus so effectively? Two monthsA afterA the firstA confirmedA case in the country, there has onlyA beenA 517A cases of infection, with 178A of those infected having already recovered. The sixA cases that resulted inA deathsA were among the elderlyA and those with chronic diseases. "Although Georgia was quite farA from the epicenter of this diseaseA geographically, we were well aware that it was only a matter of time before the virus would reach the country," said the Minister of Health Ekaterine Tikaradze. From the beginning of January, the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, took concrete steps to mitigate the threat that the epidemicA posed. An information campaign wasA launched at airports and borders. UponA arrival, passengers received information on how to recognize the symptoms of the virusA and where to seek help if they think they are infected.A Soon after, thermal screening began at the border. In addition, passengers from high-risk countries were taken directly into quarantine zones for surveillance. Along with the recommendations of the World Health OrganizationA (WHO), Georgia acted in accordance with its own protocol, which has become one of the most significantA factors in preventing the spread of the virus in the country. Those entering the country withA relatively low temperatures, such as 37.5A (99.5AF), wereA taken to a local healthA facility and tested for the virus. In addition to these measures, in late January, Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze issued a recommendation to restrict travel to China. A few days later, direct flights to China were suspended. Georgia soon closed its borders to high-risk countries and then to all countries. A month before the virus was detected in the country, Georgia already had the capacity to identify and diagnose COVID-19. The first case of coronavirus in the country was reported on February 26.A Today, there are onlyA 333A active cases. The main strategy that prevented the spread of the virus in Georgia was the isolation of everyA confirmed or suspected case. In addition, campaigns to help raise public awareness about the importance of social distancing and staying at homeA have been helpful. InA order to prevent the spread of the virus andA to rapidly notify those who might have been in contactA with someone who was infected, the Ministry of Health introduced the 'Stop COVID' mobile phone application. The role out of the app was in collaboration with the Austria-basedA NGO NOVID20A and Dolphin Technologies, a highly innovative software company.A According to the Minister of Health, the ministry's effortsA aimedA to flatten the curve of the virus while leveraging allA resourcesA of the healthcare systemA to attain this goal. "Our goal is to avoid reaching a viral peak and to create a plateau, which will help the Georgian healthcare system withstand COVID-19's impact and allow us to treat all patients and ensure their recovery. The COVID-19 virus is not expectedA to disappearA anytime soon. Therefore, to ensure that the health response isA properly managed and safe,A it is important that each countryA and its citizensA learn to coexist with theA virus, untilA aA vaccine can be found and more effective treatments are introduced," noted the Minister of Health of Georgia. Georgia is already beginning to loosen the measures it took to contain the virus.A However, as TikaradzeA points out, lifting all restrictionsA and returning to normal life is dependent on the virus'A reproduction rate (Rt). "We all know very well that the most effective way to fight the virus is to maintain social distancingA and to follow standard hygieneA norms.A The Rt rateA is directly proportional to the observance of these rules. This is the only way we can manage the process and not break the critical thresholdA ofA our healthcare system. If the RtA indicator falls to less than one, the restrictions will be liftedA one-by-one. However, if the rateA increases, we will have to tighten our responseA measures immediately,"A notedA Tikaradze. Today's data is promising for the country, with an RtA indicatorA below oneA (R0 = 0.88 +/- 0.09). As a result, the first phase of liftingA restrictions has already begun. Georgia's pandemicA response has beenA citedA as one of the bestA and most effectiveA examples in terms of controlling the epidemic. The pandemic has clearly shownA thatA not only are a country's resources important during times of crisis, but also the effective and timely management. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1164053/Georgia_Covid_19.jpgA Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1165315/MoH_Georgia_Logo.jpg A Contact: Ministry of IDPs from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia Tatia Tsereteli, PR Department T: +995 599 499 004 E: Press@moh.gov.ge A Photo: Mark Peterson/Redux This article was featured in One Great Story, New Yorks reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly. When fourth-term senator Joe Biden built his Wilmington, Delaware, home in 1996, he had no plans to turn it into a backup office, let alone a presidential-campaign isolation bunker from which to plan a crisis presidency an order of magnitude more expansive than anything in the past half-century. Now, nearly every morning, Biden spins through an early Peloton ride in the upstairs weight room, dresses (formally, no sweatpants), drinks his breakfast shake, and sits at the phone in his study awaiting the latest updates on the worlds misery. Then, sometimes looking at the small lake abutting his backyard that bulges out from Little Mill Creek, the self-conscious man in the Democratic middle mocked by the activist left throughout the primary campaign as hopelessly retrograde considers the present calamity and plots a presidency that, by awful necessity, he believes must be more ambitious than FDRs. The former vice-president carried the Democratic primary by relying on perceptions that he was an older, whiter, less world-historical (and less inspiring) Barack Obama a steady hand who seemed more electable against a monstrous president than any of his competitors did. The heart of his pitch, when he delivered it clearly, was status quo ante, back to normal, restore the soul of the nation. But in the space of just a few months, COVID-19 and the disastrous White House response appeared to have dramatically widened Bidens pathway to the presidency, making the matter of moderation and electability seem, at least for the time being, almost moot. They also changed his perception of what the country would need from a president in January 2021 after not just four years of Trump but almost a full year of death and suffering. The pandemic is breaking the country much more deeply than the Great Recession did, Biden believes, and will require a much bigger response. No miraculous rebound is coming in the next six months. Biden will presumably spend that time developing a detailed map of what will be necessary come Inauguration Day. Long before the pandemic, he described a range of actions hed take on day one, from rejoining the Paris climate agreement to signing executive orders on ethics, and he cited other matters, like passing the Equality Act for LGBTQ protections, as top priorities. Already his recovery ambitions have grown to include plans that would flex the muscles of big government harder than any program in recent history. To date, the federal government has spent more than $2 trillion on the coronavirus stimulus nearly three times what it approved in 2009. Biden wants more spending. A hell of a lot bigger, hes said, whatever it takes. He has argued that, even if youre inclined to worry about the deficit, massive public investment is the only thing capable of growing the economy enough so the deficit doesnt eat you alive. He has talked about funding immense green enterprises and larger backstop proposals from cities and states and sending more relief checks to families. He has urged immediate increases in virus and serology testing, proposing the implementation of a Pandemic Testing Board in the style of FDRs War Production Board and has called for investments in an Apollo-like moonshot for a vaccine and treatment. And he floated both the creation of a 100,000-plus worker Public Health Jobs Corps and the doubling of the number of OSHA investigators to protect employees amid the pandemic. If he were president now, he said in March, he would demand paid emergency sick leave for anyone in need and mandate that no one would have to pay for coronavirus testing or treatment. As the crisis deepened, he said he would forgive federal student-loan debt $10,000 per person, minimum and add $200 a month to Social Security checks. This is all only what he believes should be done now before he even ascends to the presidency; by then, he thinks, the country could be in a much darker hole than it is today, presumably requiring even more federal investment and intervention. David Kessler, who led the Food and Drug Administration under both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and has been speaking with Biden regularly about the crisis, recently told me the former vice-president understands that until we have a vaccine or a therapeutic entity that can be used as a preventative, the virus is still going to be with us and that were going to constantly be putting out mini-epidemics. Biden, he said, has a very considerable grasp of what a realistic future holds. He paused. It is not rose colored. And while 2009 shows that spending unprecedented amounts of money alone doesnt necessarily make a presidency transformational, the pandemic and the economic collapse it has produced have expanded Bidens sense of not just how much relief will be required but what will be possible to accomplish as part of that recovery. Presidential campaigns typically produce many more policy proposals than they ever expect theyll have the political capital to execute thats why the more pressing question is often not what a candidate wishes but what he or she will prioritize in the window of opportunity that usually slams permanently shut in the first midterm elections. Trump accomplished one big-ticket priority: tax cuts. Obama managed two: the stimulus, with a filibusterproof 60-vote Senate majority, and, barely, Obama-care. While its impossible to tell where the country is headed, Bidens camp is in the disorienting position of scaling up its laundry list of proposals to match the ambition, and the political appetite, he thinks the American people desperate for relief will have in January. My Lord, look at what is possible. Bidens long platform has grown in recent months as the crisis has deepened. In early May, for example, his campaign detailed a long list of reforms specifically aimed at helping black Americans, like expanding tax credits used by African-American small-business owners and establishing a $100 billion affordable-housing fund, noting that the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 have shined a light on and cruelly exacerbated the disparities long faced by African-Americans. And in the weeks before the lockdowns set in, Biden was closing out the Democratic primary in part by shifting left. He embraced Elizabeth Warrens bankruptcy proposal, long a contentious subject between the two of them. And though he hasnt signed up for Bernie Sanderss Medicare for All or free-college plans, he moved toward Sanders on some student-loan-debt and health-care-funding policies and arranged six working groups of advisers to both camps to tackle issues like immigration. Once he began talking about a coronavirus recovery, he also started signaling more immediate ambitions on climate, including in his multiple conversations with Washington governor Jay Inslee. Hes totally understood the centrality of a clean-energy plan, said Inslee. Widely seen as a cautious, tradition-bound pol and intuitive centrist within the Democratic fold, Biden stopped his economic advisers in their tracks one morning in late April. On one end of the call, the economists discussed parallels between the landscape Biden might inherit in January and the devastated one of 2009. Eleven years ago, the newly elected vice-president oversaw the implementation of historic stimulus funding, and these days Biden is fond of bringing up his Great Recessionera work because of the similar effort required today and to remind voters of this experience. But now, he said into the phone, it was time they expanded their thinking. Sure, massive gobs of federal financial help have already been approved unlike in 2008, he pointed out but that still wont be enough. Not while the magnitude of this crisis dwarfs the last one. His advisers agreed: If they were going to talk about lessons from history, their future calls might as well dive into the Great Depression and World War II. I think its probably the biggest challenge in modern history, quite frankly. I think it may not dwarf but eclipse what FDR faced, Biden told CNNs Chris Cuomo last month. The blinders have been taken off because of this COVID crisis, he said to a group of 68 donors who gathered on Zoom for a fundraiser a few weeks later. I think people are realizing, My Lord, look at what is possible, looking at the institutional changes we can make, without us becoming a socialist country or any of that malarkey. Is this news to you? Or does the vice-president seem about as far from a transformational crusader of the left as could fit in todays Democratic Party? Even during lockdown, Biden has been doing quite a lot of interviews and making a wide range of appearances from his basement studio in many, signaling explicitly the new ambitions now demanded of an aspiring president. Its just that with all eyes on Trump, and Biden struggling to seize attention even as he leads in national polls, nobody has really noticed. The candidate is not blessed with historic rhetorical skills for decades, hes been prone to gaffes and for months has been dogged by concerns spread by his opponents that he has slipped even further. The present crisis would seem to be an enormous opportunity for a politician (like his former boss) endowed with more expansive communication chops. Instead, Biden is bunkered down, campaigning relatively quietly, and now, suddenly, answering an accusation from his past. Photo: MSNBC. Photo: MSNBC. Biden in recent television appearances from his Wilmington bunker. Photo: JoeBiden.com via Getty Images/Getty Images; Biden For President via Reuters/via Reuters. Biden in recent television appearances from his Wilmington bunker. Photo: JoeBiden.com via Getty Images/Getty Images; Biden For President via Reuters/... more Biden in recent television appearances from his Wilmington bunker. Photo: JoeBiden.com via Getty Images/Getty Images; Biden For President via Reuters/via Reuters. The campaign trail locked down in March, sending Biden back to Wilmington. Late that month, his former Senate staffer Tara Reade came forward. Reade had been one of a handful of women to accuse Biden of making them feel uncomfortable with unwanted touching before he launched his campaign; he promised to change his expressions of affection, support, and comfort at the time. But in late March, she told podcast host Katie Halper that Biden had digitally penetrated her against her will. Soon after, she filed a police report claiming a sexual assault had occurred in 1993. Bidens campaign flatly denied Reades allegation in a statement from his deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, that pointed out his authorship of the Violence Against Women Act. He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard and heard respectfully, she said. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: It is untrue. This absolutely did not happen. For a few weeks, Biden said nothing on the topic; no interviewer asked him about the accusation. News outlets investigating it found friends of Reades who recalled being told some details of the story in the 1990s, though no former Biden aides who recalled it. Some Democrats close to the Biden campaign grew frustrated that the former vice-president himself didnt address the charge at first. Multiple operatives said it was clear to them that he would have to provide a more fulsome answer, especially given his history as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Clarence Thomas hearings when he declined to call witnesses supportive of Anita Hills testimony and stood by as his Republican colleagues attacked her. He expressed regret about his role in those hearings in 2019, including by phoning Hill herself, who said afterward she didnt think he had really reckoned with what hed done. And when, early in the primary, a group of women accused him of inappropriate contact though not assault he addressed their claims without an outright apology, instead promising to be more mindful but saying that social norms are changing. A few days later, he had to apologize for making a joke about having permission to hug an introducer for one of his speeches. Im sorry I didnt understand more, he said then, insisting he never meant to disrespect anyone. Im not sorry for any of my intentions. This time, many in the Democratic Party said, he would have to do better. He doesnt have the luxury of time, said Jess McIntosh, a veteran party strategist and former Hillary Clinton campaign official. He has got to acknowledge that his behavior has made women uncomfortable, he understands it, he understands that he was never supposed to behave that way not that times have changed and that he understands what women have gone through and that he will be a champion going forward. In late April, Reade said she had filed an official Senate complaint that she said would prove she had approached senior Biden aides about his behavior. Then, finally, Biden got the question in an interview with Morning Joes Mika Brzezinski. It is not true. Im saying unequivocally it never, never happened, he said on May 1, calling on the secretary of the Senate to release the complaint Reade said she had filed (but which she also said wouldnt explicitly mention sexual harassment or address the alleged assault). Those around Biden have been naturally cautious in discussing the accusation, but they appear sure their candidate is innocent and have aimed their response at transparency, particularly around the complaint Reade says she filed. The morning Biden spoke with Brzezinski, he wrote in a statement that if there was ever any such complaint, the record will be in the National Archives, within the records of the Office of Fair Employment Practices. But this got complicated quickly: The archives advised that it wouldnt have it; then, after Biden asked the secretary of the Senate where it would be, that office replied that it could not legally release any such records. Could it even confirm the records existence, or could the complainant herself ask for its disclosure, a Biden counsel asked. The office replied, essentially, no. Reade responded nearly a week later, telling Megyn Kelly that she thought Biden shouldnt be running a campaign based on character and that he should drop out. That day, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported on the existence of court documents from Reades 1996 divorce revealing that she had told her husband she had been sexually harassed while working for Biden. (The papers didnt mention assault or accuse Biden.) Until that point, beyond calling for the release of the Senate document which Reade had suggested was actually an intake form rather than a detailed file the campaign had trod relatively lightly. It let surrogates address the matter directly, many by pointing out Bidens flat denial and his full vetting by Obama in 2008. Im not going to question her motive. Im not going to get into that at all, Biden told Brzezinski in their interview a week earlier. I dont know why shes saying this. I dont know why, after 27 years, all of a sudden this gets raised. I dont understand it. Bedingfield released another statement. An inescapable fact in the case of these false allegations is that more and more inconsistencies keep emerging, she wrote. She pointed to comments Reade had made in an Associated Press interview last year (but that was just published) saying she was not scared of Biden or that he was going to take me in a room or anything. And she highlighted another new Vox report that the anonymous friend who now corroborates Reades story last year said Biden never tried to kiss her directly. He never went for one of those touches. Women must receive the benefit of the doubt, Bedingfield said. They must be able to come forward and share their stories without fear of retribution or harm and we all have a responsibility to ensure that. At the same time, we can never sacrifice the truth. And the truth is that these allegations are false and that the material that has been presented to back them up, under scrutiny, keeps proving their falsity. Privately, even some Democratic operatives and activists who are inclined to trust that denial have expressed frustration that the party finds itself in this position. As progressives marvel that Biden, the relative moderate, may be the one to oversee a massive expansion of government spending, those thinking of womens issues and victims rights are worried about what it means that this is the candidate wholl be toppling the frequently credibly accused president they see as the harasser-in-chief. A more deft communicator might have an easier time navigating this territory and earning the trust of voters on it. Biden seems inclined to stay relatively quiet. Still, hes atop the ticket. There is this idea that Women are suddenly in this huge jam because Trump is awful, but now our guy is awful too, said McIntosh. But this isnt a Joe Biden problem. Its a patriarchy problem. Women are always choosing between two men who have somehow disrespected women. This is not new. Joe and Jill Biden at home. Photo: Courtesy of the Biden Campaign Because of the pandemic, none of Bidens top advisers have seen him in person since mid-March, when a handful visited to prep for his final debate against Sanders. Nowadays, only two staffers his traveling chief of staff and his wifes chief of staff ever occasionally drop by his house and only if they are properly masked and gloved. The same goes for his Secret Service detail. Biden hasnt been tested for the virus, and he spends his time in isolation on a just about never-ending procession of phone calls charting this course forward. He rings both Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to hear their updates on recovery legislation and to gently share his priorities when he finds it appropriate. He calls Democratic leaders in some of the hardest-hit spots, checking in with governors, including New Yorks Andrew Cuomo, Californias Gavin Newsom, Michigans Gretchen Whitmer, and Washingtons Inslee, and mayors like Los Angeless Eric Garcetti. At times he talks policy with Warren. And after a year of uncomfortable distance, Biden has been phoning Obama for guidance on unifying Democrats, on choosing a running mate, and on campaigning and communicating amid the pandemic. The pair now speaks with such frequency that some people close to the former president are starting to get amused. Still, the bulk of Bidens phone time is spent with senior staffers and advisers, starting with two morning briefings one on public health, one on the economy coordinated by his former national-security adviser Jake Sullivan and his policy director, Stef Feldman. In his economic briefings which have featured former White House advisers like Jared Bernstein and Benjamin Harris as well as Heather Boushey of the liberal Washington Center for Equitable Growth Biden has likened the necessity to spend massively and immediately, without the usual D.C. focus on deficits, to a wartime effort. Recently, on a private call with Colorado-based donors, a disenchanted Republican told Jill Biden, Joes wife and a prominent campaign presence, that he trusted her husband but feared hed tacked too far left and wasnt sufficiently concerned about the pain of the national deficit and debt. Jill, an English professor, replied, I agree, theres going to be so much pain that Joe has to address its going to be the physical pain, the emotional pain, the social pain, the economic pain that this country is going to go through. She ignored the part about the deficit. From the outside, the expansive ambition seems an uncomfortable match for Biden, a constitutionally nostalgic dealmaker who places a premium on Washington comity. And the 77-year-old now previewing structural shifts in society is, after all, the same one who, at a closed-door, financier-hosted fundraiser at the Upper East Side Carlyle just 11 months ago, chased his call for remedying runaway income inequality by reassuring the room, We can disagree in the margins, but the truth of the matter is its all within our wheelhouse and nobody has to be punished no ones standard of living will change, nothing would fundamentally change. But Biden is also a lifelong Democrat who likes the view from the center of the party, enough to move rapidly to accommodate when it shifts, as it is doing now very quickly. He may look like a milquetoast moderate to the activist left and maybe even to you, but the party and world has changed so fast that even his primary platform puts him well to the left of Obama in 2008 and, in many ways, left of Hillary Clinton in 2016. Those close to him say he sees in the crisis an obvious window for action. There is no denying that the challenges a President Biden would face in 2021 are different than anyone could have imagined six months ago given the economic and health consequences of the coronavirus, Feldman, who has worked with Biden for nearly a decade, told me. What Ive heard the vice-president say over and over again is this crisis is shining a bright, bright light on so many systemic problems in our country, and so many inequities. It is exacerbating and shining a light on environmental-justice issues, racial inequalities, so many other problems. Publicly, Biden has made no secret of his displeasure with Trumps handling of the disaster, from his personal conduct Biden has said the delay in distributing relief checks in order to print Trumps name on them bothered me the most to the administrations failure to ensure small businesses access to relief funds while state unemployment systems were overwhelmed. (Biden was incredibly pissed off furious about it when his advisers described the problem to him, one told me.) On his calls, he has been most focused on fighting the disease and righting the economy. In his conversations with public-health experts like Kessler and former surgeon general Vivek Murthy, Biden usually hears up to half an hour of straight-ahead updates on disease projections, equipment distribution, and treatment research before he gets to his policy questions. In one of their talks, Kessler and Biden spent an hour on the phone discussing topics including the intricacies of adenovirus vectors as vaccines, the detailed science. How do you make the virus? Hows it being tested, where its being tested, Kessler said last month. He wants me to engage in the scientific details because it helps him he can take what were saying, and it helps him formulate a policy. In another recent call, Bidens briefers ran through the viruss R value in each state and effective contact-tracing procedures. His campaign has enlisted a large group of experts to talk through research and solutions with him. The roster has included Columbias Irwin Redlener, the University of Pennsylvanias Zeke Emanuel and Nicole Lurie, Georgetowns Rebecca Katz, and longtime associates like former Obama homeland-security adviser Lisa Monaco and former Obama Ebola czar Ron Klain. He also checks in with his son-in-law, Howard Krein, a Philadelphia head-and-neck cancer surgeon, about frontline conditions. Two months in, Bidens daily questions are often oriented around understanding the landscape he would face next year. We dont know how things are going to be in January 2021, but in all likelihood there is still going to be enormous suffering in this country, said Sullivan, who speaks with Biden regularly. A lot of people will be knocked down and will have a hard time getting back up. When discussing his policy options with his advisers, Biden often mentions his experience with the Ebola and H1N1 outbreaks as well as his work overseeing the cancer moonshot in his final year as VP. But its the memory of 2009 that looms largest for him. His receptivity to a lot of this stems from direct experience with the last recession, said former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Richard Cordray, whom Biden has consulted about economic proposals. Cordray, a close ally of Warrens, and others agreed that Bidens particular fixation, after seeing that significantly more stimulus money is passed, has been to ensure that it is properly administered. And hes been bracing to face a stubborn Congress that may feel it has already done enough. Biden has long touted his ability to work with Republicans, frequently to the exasperation of younger Democrats who see the last decade-plus as a tale of nonstop GOP obstruction. Hes still talking with allies about how to win Republicans over on emergency economic and public-health legislation. He does have to be closely attentive to: How can we put together a bipartisan coalition to work toward recovery? said Delaware senator Chris Coons, a close Biden ally. But based on his experience in 2009, Coons said, he is concerned about the willingness of Republicans to work in a bipartisan way to power the public out of this. Recently, friends have noticed that Biden is talking less about this and more about policies that Mitch McConnells Senate GOP would be unlikely to go for no matter what like new environmental investments and oversight. The crisis, Biden believes, has expanded the state of what is possible, now that the American people have seen both the role of government and the role of frontline workers, said Sullivan. He believes he has a more compelling case to make that this is the agenda that needs to get passed. Biden hasnt suddenly abandoned his traditionalist view of the Senates role or the filibuster and doesnt yet seem to have an obviously persuasive answer about how to pass legislation on the scale he believes is necessary given the effective veto power McConnell is likely to hold because of it. But while conventional wisdom holds that spectacular achievements require a politics of spectacle, a different dynamic may well apply in a crisis. In 2009, far more green investment was included in the stimulus than Republicans would have found acceptable in a stand-alone climate bill, and Democrats have managed to so significantly expand unemployment insurance that, in most states, many workers on unemployment are eligible to receive more money than they made when working mostly because, in both cases, nobody was paying such close attention to details, focusing instead on the top-line spending numbers they hoped to deliver. This isnt the confrontational politics preferred by party activists, but it may not be as dead in the water as they assume, either. And when Biden has talked to senator friends recently, he has asked about the prospects of taking the chamber back. Sometimes he goes into detail: When he caught up with Alabamas Doug Jones late on a Saturday night in mid-April, Biden asked for an update on the senators race, which everyone thinks will be extremely difficult to win, suggesting that he thinks Jones could plausibly hold his seat. If that happens, Democrats would be a safe bet to take the Senate. Still, they wont get to 60 seats, which means anything close to a New Dealsize presidency would require some negotiation with (and concessions from) Republicans. Since wrapping up the nomination, Bidens signaling hasnt been exclusively to his left. In April, Bloomberg News reported that he was relying in part on former Treasury official Larry Summers, who was widely criticized as too close to high finance and detrimental to climate action in the prior recovery. He has also spoken with the former Chicago mayor and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a reigning don of centrism. Outwardly, at least, Biden appears sensitive to the concerns of progressives. He has said this is the second time in 12 years that the American taxpayers have bailed out American business, Sullivan told me. The implication is that Biden has run out of patience. Thats fine, we should do it and protect our economy but he believes we have to ask our private sector to take on greater responsibility and accountability. Still, Sanders and Warren have both been proposing their own ambitious relief measures that could be read as attempts to push Biden further, and its not as if hes embraced the kind of universal Medicare system that Sanders has long championed and that the Vermonters supporters argue is rendered even more obviously necessary by this crisis. And just hours after Sanders exited the race last month, Biden was scheduled for a pair of fund-raisers. The first was a Q&A with Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator who became Obamas secretary of Defense. Biden has mused about creating a bipartisan Cabinet like Obamas even as his proposed recovery agenda has grown more aggressive. Such comments have usually come in passing when hes asked, rather than as an active suggestion, but chatter was still ignited among some senior Democrats close to his campaign in early April when they saw a column in the New York Times by Tom Friedman, whose writing Biden follows. Friedman proposed a national unity cabinet that would include the likes of Mitt Romney and the Walmart CEO alongside Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The idea was far-fetched, but Biden has talked openly, and seriously, about the notion of rolling out certain Cabinet picks before he is elected as a way of giving voters a sense of what to expect and to hit the ground running when he takes office. And he has already begun early-stage thoughts about not just top appointments but sub-Cabinet posts and the broader shape of his government. Thats not him measuring the drapes, said Sullivan. Hes been there before, and part of the reason thats on his mind right now is he is highly attuned to the importance of speed, efficiency, effectiveness, ambition, execution. The premium on those things right out of the gate both to deal with the immediate emergency but also to drive a legislative agenda has gone way up as a result of this crisis. Much of the sketching has involved Ted Kaufman, Bidens longtime adviser and temporary successor in the Senate. Though Biden has yet to officially form a transition operation, he has talked about elevating a handful of White House offices to the Cabinet level, including the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and creating new posts focused on global-health security and climate change. He has been tight lipped about who he might appoint to what, but he has considered options. If the Lord Almighty said, Joe, I tell you what: You have to decide in three hours what your Cabinet is or youre going to be bounced out of the race, I could write down who could be in the Cabinet. There are at least two or three people qualified for every one of those positions, he confided to donors on a mid-April Zoom call. Democrats close to Biden point to his current cast of advisers, often Sullivan and Klain, as potential appointments, and two of his campaign co-chairs, Garcetti and Louisiana representative Cedric Richmond, get mentioned too. So does former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, as do some former 2020 rivals most frequently Amy Klobuchar, Warren, and Inslee. Biden has spoken of viewing himself as a bridge to a new generation of leaders, specifically mentioning Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Whitmer, and former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu. And hes spent plenty of his time out of the spotlight weighing his vice-presidential options, conscious that he may effectively be picking his replacement and therefore sending an important signal about his wishes for Democrats future. His list of top contenders has long been thought to include Harris, Klobuchar, Whitmer, and Warren, as well as Nevada senator Catherine Cortez Masto and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. As the lockdown has dragged on, Biden has insisted his pick be ideologically simpatico (once thought to be a point against Warren, though less so amid this crisis), and he has hardened his belief that she must be prepared to take over from their first day in office. That point which Obama has echoed in their conversations is read by some in Bidens circles as a potential knock against Abrams, who has never held statewide elected office, and some members of Congress whove been floated. One reason Bidens running-mate choice will be so closely watched is the excruciating likelihood that she will be asked to answer for Reades allegation and respond to the broader feminist criticism of Biden over the course of the general election against the often credibly accused Trump, accepting what Rebecca Traister of this magazine has called a poisoned chalice. One of our worst national pastimes is making women answer for the men who have behaved badly, and were going to go through it again, said McIntosh. Most of Bidens shortlist has already been asked and has stood by him. Democrats have mostly followed the lead of his unequivocal denial. But a broader conversation still looms, in part because Trumps defenders are desperate to cut down on Bidens huge lead among women voters a national Monmouth poll in early May showed him leading Trump by 20 points among women, even as nearly nine in ten Americans expressed familiarity with Reades accusation. And while the official response has relied on transparency around the Senate complaint, the campaign has effectively drawn at least one line in the sand: The same day Biden first addressed the allegation, the Times editorial board called for the Democratic National Committee to assemble an unbiased, apolitical panel to dive into old Senate papers Biden had donated to the University of Delaware (an archive primarily composed of old speech drafts and communications his staff had selected for commemoration but that could theoretically include internal memos, though not personnel files) in search of any mentions of Reade. This isnt the kind of archive politicians ever expect to be opened while theyre in or seeking office; the last thing they want is an unguided fishing expedition. Still, Biden himself rejected a search of the archive for Reades name when Brzezinski floated it; on ABC two days later, DNC chairman Tom Perez said, This is like the Hillary emails because there was nothing there. Bidens campaign has already weathered one such scandal with Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Ukraine, and some loyalists believe this will pass too. Most of those close to the campaign believe that to beat Trump Biden simply must keep going as he did all primary long, even after the impeachment affair and after his own campaign faltered when the primaries began with his party largely behind him. In the time since the accusation became widely known, Hillary Clinton endorsed Biden as part of a virtual womens town hall, and Kirsten Gillibrand held a national call with the campaigns Women for Biden group. The lockdown hasnt exactly been a reflective time for Biden. His days are dominated by his calls, which start mid-morning and can go until late into the night; Coons recalled to me how, on a recent Tuesday, the pair caught up at 10 p.m. for 45 minutes and Biden still had two more calls to make after they hung up. But the time off the trail has given him unexpected, and appreciated, time to catch his breath after a dramatic year. Usually he takes his calls in his study, but hes been eager to get fresh air when the weather allows. Aides can sometimes tell hes talking to them from his porch when they hear birds in the background. And when hes off the phone, he has tried settling into a comforting pattern. Hes reading Irish poetry in free pockets and having dinner with Jill each night for the first time in at least a year. Hes keeping his German shepherds, Major and Champ, close too they sometimes wander into the frame when hes video-chatting with advisers. On occasion, his grandchildren who live in town visit, sticking to the backyard while Pop and Nana sit on the porch and lob them ice-cream bars, and he goes out of his way every day to sneak ice cream for himself, too, preferably chocolate chip. And yet hes grappling with the sudden disappearance of an environment in which he thrived. He occasionally sighs to friends about the lost ritual of campaigning: the hugs-on-the-rope-line retail politicking for which hes best known and in which the most empathetic version of him is best understood as a human who has known great pain, a time when he can look voters in the eye and grieve with those wishing to share their burden with the man who lost his wife and 1-year-old daughter in a car crash at 29 and then his son to brain cancer in 2015. When he first went into lockdown, he asked aides to find ways to keep him interacting with the kinds of voters whod show up to his events, so they set up a virtual rope line and after he nearly gave out his cell number on CNN while discussing what it feels like to lose a loved one without being able to visit them regular private conversations for him with everyday people affected by the virus, especially frontline workers and grieving family members. More than once since then, he has interrupted aides on calls when theyve griped about the limitations of their confined environment, reminding them of medical workers stresses and dangers and of the Americans suddenly without a paycheck. Biden had just named a new campaign manager, Jen OMalley Dillon, when the staff was forced into lockdown, and hed been focused on raising the money necessary to compete with Trump. This was desperately needed after the roller-coaster primary that saw Bidens campaign outmaneuvered for months in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada before its South Carolina resurrection, but the endeavor slowed with the economy, and the last thing his campaign needed was a national conversation about his lackluster profile just as millions of voters potential small-dollar contributors settled in for a month or three in front of their TVs. I got a lot of people who are supporters getting very worried, Biden vented on an invitation-only donor call hosted by Microsoft president Brad Smith in early April. Wheres Joe? Wheres Joe? The presidents every day holding these long press conferences. For a while there, I kept getting calls people saying, Joe, the presidents numbers are going way up, and hes every day on the news. What are you going to do about it? You cant compete with the president. Thats the ultimate bully pulpit. By then, hed been spending hours a day in the basement cranking out TV interviews, livestreams, and podcasts. In private, Biden insisted to even his most nervous friends that Trump may be enjoying his blockbuster ratings but that he was shooting himself in the foot. Every day that Donald Trump goes on TV is a good day for Joe Biden. He believes it, said Orlando attorney John Morgan, a prominent Democratic fund-raiser, after a catch-up with Biden around that time. Still, when Trumps approval numbers deflated, then kept sinking, the relief was obvious. If you notice, Biden told the donors last month, those numbers arent going up anymore. Theyre going down. Because the things hes saying are turning out not to be accurate, and people are getting very upset by it. As April wore on, it became fashionable among some members of Bidens orbit to take their political optimism a step further. They may have no clear answer for how hes supposed to campaign effectively from his basement through the fall, they admit, and they worry that the Obama political advisers David Axelrod and David Plouffe were right when they warned, in an early-May Times op-ed, that he will have to up the tempo of his campaign. But a president simply does not get reelected after hundreds of thousands of Americans die and tens of millions lose work on his watch, this cadre believes, even if his challenger has to spend the campaign season, in part, reckoning with an accusation like Reades. I dont know what else people want, a Democratic operative close to the Biden team said last month after a spurt of new public polls showed Biden leading Trump in a handful of swing states. A few days later, Trump grew so upset with his plunging ratings that he threatened to sue his campaign manager. In early May, OMalley Dillon predicted to fellow Obamaworld alums that previously safe Republican states would be in play at this rate. Hes well on his way to an electoral landslide, the other operative told me. I hate to sound cocky, he continued. But, he said, unless something dramatic changes, Biden can stay in his basement. *An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Stacey Abrams has never held elected office. It has been updated to reflect that shes never held statewide office. *This article appears in the May 11, 2020, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now! One Great Story: A Nightly Newsletter for the Best of New York The one story you shouldn't miss today, selected by New York's editors. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. When Gov. Greg Abbott discussed his plan for reopening the state at his April 27 press conference, he postponed reopening gyms. Other than a vague mention of a potential mid-May reopening, health clubs and fitness centers had little information on when- or if- they would be allowed to reopen for business. On May 7, the governor abruptly announced that all gyms would be allowed to reopen on May 18, provided they adhered to health and social distancing guidelines. Now, after 60 days of closed doors, Katy gyms can once again welcome members to their business. PHASE 2: Gov. Greg Abbott's list of businesses that can reopen on May 18, under certain rules Many full-service gyms have chosen to reopen on May 18, but some have not. The governors May 7 protocol states, Gyms and exercise facilities and classes may operate up to 25 percent of the total listed occupancy of the gym or exercise facility. Locker rooms and shower facilities must remain closed, but restrooms may be open. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: No loans, cancelled memberships: how Houstons gym scene has fared during the pandemic The protocol also mandates that all exercise equipment be spaced six feet apart and all apparati be disinfected in between use. The following are a list of some full-service Katy gyms and the details on their plans to reopen. Monty Ballard YMCA and YMCA at Main Street Neither Katy YMCAs have an opening date set. Lisa Spence, associate director of public relations for the Houston are YMCAs said, For the safety of our members, staff and the community, we are being thoughtful about the return of these services and are committed to ensuring the proper steps have been taken before announcing a date. Once reopened, the centers will follow orders from the governor as well as CDC recommended guidelines, including capacity limits, closure of showers and locker rooms, six-feet social distancing, heightened cleaning practices and the use of personal protective equipment by staff and members, said Stephen Ives, president and CEO of Houston- area YMCAs. Anytime Fitness Anytime Fitness owner Tiran Lopez stated that his gym will reopen on schedule, but staff will be integrating even more safety protocols than required. In addition to the governors mandates, members will be required to wear gloves that cover their whole hands, wipe down equipment before and after use and bring a large towel to drape over equipment. CINCOfit Anna May, co-owner of CINCOfit, said that her gym will also require its members to wear gloves as an added safety measure. May praised her gym members for their support of her gym through the closure. CINCOfit, which is a family-owned business, cancelled all membership dues during the closure. However, to Mays surprise, many members asked to continue paying their dues. Several members reached out to us and asked that we charge their accounts the full April monthly fee regardless of the closure, in support of CINCOfit and our communitys small businesses, May said. That really warmed our hearts when many of our members volunteered to keep paying their dues while the gyms were closed. BONA Fitness BONA Fitness will reopen May 18, but with the added precaution that all members have their temperatures taken before entering the gym. VillaSport VillaSports Cinco Ranch location had only been open 12 days before Fort Bend County Judge KP George closed all area gyms. With a sprawling 130,000-square foot facility, however, the gym is spacious enough to accommodate social distancing guidelines while still welcoming its members. The gyms outdoor pool opened May 8, and according to the VillaSport website, the gym will be open to members on May 18. Fitness 19 A representative from Fitness 19 confirmed that the gym will be open May 18 but requests for specific details on safety protocols were not returned. Lifetime Fitness A representative from Lifetime Fitness who declined to be identified stated that the executives from the company have not yet announced whether or not they will be reopening. The representative also declined to comment further. 24 Hour Fitness While the gyms call centers remain closed, Karen Bakula, senior manager of public relations for the corporation, issued a statement on behalf of the company that said, With the health and safety of our team members and club members in mind, 24 Hour Fitness is pleased to announce the reopening of selected clubs in the Dallas area, in keeping with state and local government and public health agency guidelines. We intend to continue reopening clubs in a phased approach as it is safe for us to do so. Further information about the reopening of our clubs and the refreshed post-COVID-19 club environment can be found by visiting 24hourfitness.com and the club market reopening page: https://www.24hourfitness.com/health_clubs/gyms-open-near-me. She noted that while clubs are closed, members can get information about their accounts through 24 Hour Fitness app. While our clubs are temporarily closed, we encourage everyone to download and utilize 24GO, our personalized fitness app and visit 24GO Live, our new 24/7 workout experience broadcast on the 24 Hour Fitness YouTube Channel, among other virtual fitness solutions. We will continue to provide updates about our club reopening status, which can also be found at 24hourfitness.com, the corporate statement said. Planet Fitness The call center for Planet Fitness is closed, and the gym has not issued a statement regarding reopening. claire.goodman@chron.com Theres no greater joy for parents than to see their children achieve their dreams and this heartwarming picture holds proof. It shows a proud father checking the epaulettes on his cop daughters uniform. Twitter/@AmitHPanchal Rattana Ngaseppam, Deputy SP from Imphal, ManipurHer proud dad checking out the stars on her uniform. And #Rattana proudly watching the stars in her fathers eyes, a user commented while attaching a photo of her on Twitter. Here's how Twitter users reacted to the picture: #1 Rattana Ngaseppam, Deputy SP from Imphal, Manipur Her proud dad checking out the stars on her uniform. And #Rattana proudly watching the stars in her father's eyes. [Source: @_mohul] Cc: @manipur_police pic.twitter.com/8WOgGIFOPB Amit Panchal (@AmitHPanchal) May 7, 2020 #2 A proud father checking the stars on his daughter's uniform. https://t.co/J6NpdXv71O Amit Kumar (@AmitKr_97) May 9, 2020 #3 Legacy transformation must be like this..not with just sticking surnames of Indian leaders https://t.co/ZuiHylUkgy Sathish K Reddy (@dsatsreddy) May 9, 2020 #4 #5 #6 Great Honour https://t.co/1XiZrZ6VIB Sanjay Kumar IPS (@Sanjay97odisha) May 7, 2020 #7 WHEN A DAUGHTER MAKES HER FATHER PROUD...IT'S THE HIGHEST WORTH HER FATHER GETS IN HIS LIFETIME..... SALUTE TO OUR LADY IN UNIFORM... https://t.co/5LakKOsAvv Hemlata Singh (@Hemlata49751351) May 8, 2020 According to Indian Express, the picture is a few months old and Ms Ngaseppam is currently additional SP with the Manipur Police, Deputy SP Rattana Ngaseppam from Imphal is seen smiling as her father looks at the stars on her uniform. Actor Raveena Tandon was among those was touched by the photograph. "Proud daughter of a proud father, expressed a Twitter user. Lady making her father proud, tweeted another. This is the real face of women empowerment, its beautiful, commented a third. So much of emotion reflected in one image, wrote a fourth. Last month, an eight-year-old daughter of a Delhi cop had written a heartfelt letter thanking her father and his colleagues who are risking their lives for the safety of others during the coronavirus lockdown. Here is a heartwarming note written by the daughter of @delhipolice Head Constable who is a student of Class 4. She encourages her father to help others in #21DayLockdown#DelhiPoliceFightsCOVID @LtGovDelhi @CPDelhi pic.twitter.com/Vj8pYk7Id0 DCP South Delhi (@DCPSouthDelhi) April 3, 2020 The letter written by Vidhi Dhaka, the daughter of Head Constable Anil Kumar Dhaka, reads, You do not sleep at night. You come late to your house or sometimes you dont come to the house. So I, Vidhi Dhaka, daughter of Anil Kumar Dhaka, want to thank you and your staff for taking care of everyone without thinking of your own lives. A recent government note outlines a mechanism to ensure that the indigenous manufacturing sector's products are purchased locally. As the country gears up to resume manufacturing after the coronavirus lockdown, the Centre is ramping up new strategies to enable an uninterrupted supply chain and an organised procurement market. Firstpost has reviewed a government note which outlines a mechanism to ensure that the indigenous manufacturing sector's products are purchased locally and conditions are eased for export to countries devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the first step of this, every government department has been asked to create a purchase plan for the next three years. The purchase plan will include all the high-value goods required by government departments, public sector units and other wings of ministries. This list is to be shared with the domestic manufacturers. Secondly, domestic manufacturers will be provided with the purchase plans of at least 30 of the largest public sector units, so they can align the production accordingly. The Department of Expenditure has suggested that rules can be tweaked to allow single bids while controlling the tender pricing and benchmarking of the products purchase value. Stakeholder meetings may be held by the ministries and central departments to inform domestic manufacturers of 3 years' high value and a common goods procurement plan. Department of Revenue to proactively identify cases of inverted duty structures creating disadvantage to manufacturing in India and take steps to rectify them. Concerned ministries may identify cases of inverted duty structure which may be discouraging domestic manufacturing and ensure rectification with Department of Commerce and Department of Revenue, the note said. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology recently tweaked the rules allowing purchase entities to procure mobile phones only from local suppliers, irrespective of purchase value, provided that local suppliers meet the criteria of 50 percent local content in the finished product. Earlier, local suppliers were eligible for bidding if the value of procurement was less than Rs.50 lakh. Similarly, the Indian Railways, which purchases goods worth more than Rs.70,000 crore annually, is formulating a plan for the next three years to transact with Indian firms and foreign manufacturers planning to shift units from China to India. All the Railway Zones and production units have been advised to modify their purchase processes to encourage domestic manufacturing. The Ministry of Defence, on its part, has revised the procurement guidelines for 15 product categories to encourage domestic manufacturers. The Department of Defence Production is implementing these rules in coordination with stakeholders. Several states are already amending labour laws to restart production in factories that were shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak. A key challenge will now be to ensure the safety of labourers. To this end, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Saturday issued a set of guidelines to restart industrial production with adequate precautions to avoid incidents like the Vizag gas leak. Small-scale industries will also have to ensure proper testing and isolation facilities. Meanwhile, the Cabinet secretariat is likely to conduct a meeting next week to review the measures in consultation with NITI Aayog and top bureaucrats of the government departments. A review of foreign manufacturers planning to shift to India will also be taken up. According to sources, officials from the Department of Commerce, along with certain state governments, will soon have a series of video meetings focusing on electronics, medical devices and food processing with Japanese companies planning to relocate to India. After 20 May, such meetings will also be conducted with Australian, Canadian, Danish and French manufacturing companies. A UCSF cardiologist who spent several weeks treating COVID-19 patients in New York City said he was shocked to fly home Saturday on a packed United Airlines flight. Dr. Ethan Weiss, who traveled with 24 other UCSF health care workers, documented the experience on Twitter, posting a photo that appeared to show a full flight. I guess United is relaxing their social distancing policy these days? Every seat full on this (Boeing) 737, Weiss said. Passengers could be seen wearing face masks. Weiss declined to comment for the story but confirmed the incident with The Chronicle on Monday. People on the plane were scared and shocked, Weiss said on Twitter. On Monday, United announced a new policy for relatively full flights that will take effect next week: People who are on a flight thats likely to be full or nearly full will be allowed to rebook on another flight or get a travel credit. Well do our best to reach out about 24 hours before departure and well also provide options at the gate, the airline said on Twitter. Last month, United established several sanitation and safety procedures to promote social distancing, including changes to seat assignments and adjustments to its boarding and deplaning process. Most passengers and flight crews are required to wear masks, with the exception of children. Weiss is the latest traveler to ring the alarm about airlines that are operating some flights at near or full capacity amid the coronavirus pandemic. Its a scenario likely to repeat itself in the coming weeks as some U.S. cities begin to ease shelter-in-place policies. The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 200,815 passengers passing through security checkpoints across the country Sunday, up from a low of 87,534 on April 14. The agency said it may close security checkpoints at some airports amid reduced flight and passenger volumes, but its unclear how many total checkpoints remain open. TSA employees are required to wear masks. The UCSF health care workers were on voluntary assignment in New York City, treating patients in the NewYork-Presbyterian hospital system. They specialize in critical care, hospital medicine and emergency medicine and were selected from more than 150 nurses and 50 physicians who volunteered for the assignment, UCSF said in an announcement last month. A United spokesman on Monday confirmed flight 2264 out of Newark, N.J., to San Francisco had 25 UCSF medical volunteers on board who were flown to New York for free to treat patients. The flight was not at capacity but was more full than average and was an unlikely scenario for the average customer, said spokesman Charlie Hobart. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. United last month began limiting advance seat selection in all cabins, which restricts customers ability to choose middle seats or window and aisle seats, in some cases on most flights. With the historically low load factors typically the percentage of people who are on board the aircraft at any given time the likely outcome for the average customer is that there isnt going to be anyone seated next to you, Hobart said. Most of the flights are less than half full, Hobart said. However, we cannot guarantee an open seat, he continued. If there is a demand to sit someone in a seat and they need to get to their destination, whether that be home or a hospital or their jobs, whatever that may be, we want to ensure that we are providing customers with an opportunity to get to their destinations. UCSF did not respond to a request for comment Monday. This is the last time Ill be flying again for a very long time, Weiss tweeted. Tatiana Sanchez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TatianaYSanchez. New Delhi: Politicians and human rights activists from Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) have termed Pakistan's move to hold elections as illegal and unconstitutional while urging people to boycott it. A seven-member bench of Pakistan Supreme Court recently allowed the Imran Khan government's plea to amend the Gilgit Baltistan order 2018 to conduct the general elections this year. "Under the present circumstances, there can be no free and fair elections in Pakistani occupied Gilgit-Baltistan. Unless the colonial order Schedule 4 and Anti-Terrorism Act are abolished and our political prisoners are released, the people of Gilgit Baltistan should boycott any such activity that is sponsored by Pakistan," Amjad Ayub Mirza, a rights activist from Mirpur of PoJK and now settled based in the UK, toll Zee Media. The Indian government has already lodged a strong protest with Pakistan against the Pak SC order on "Gilgit-Baltistan. In a statement, India's MEA said, "It was clearly conveyed that the entire Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of India by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession. The Government of Pakistan or its judiciary has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it." "India completely rejects such actions and continued attempts to bring material changes in Pakistan occupied areas of the Indian territory of Jammu & Kashmir. Instead, Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation," it added. The Pak government has banned many groups who are vocal against its atrocities in PoJK and other parts of Pakistan. The groups like the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA), and Sindhudesh Liberation Army (SLA) have been banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997. These groups are fighting for historical, political, economic, and human rights of Sindhi people and have been victims of the state human rights violations, according to the World Sindhi Congress. On May 8, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) also predicted a thunderstorm accompanied by lightning and gusty winds (speed reaching 30-40 kmph) at isolated places over Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, and Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the next 24 hours. The IMD has now included this addition in the Jammu and Kashmir meteorological subdivisions. The move came after the Pakistan Supreme court's decision to allow Islamabad to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan. India: Tribal animists beat Christians for refusing to renounce faith, sacrifice animals Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A large mob of tribal animists in India brutally beat Christians who refused to comply with their demands to sacrifice their animals to tribal deities and renounce their faith. Morning Star News reports that in March, a mob of around 120 villagers led by tribal leaders in Metapal village in Dantewada District showed up at Santuram Markams home with their demands. Animists worship gods based on ancestors, spirits, and nature. The village council summoned us to a meeting demanding we bring a goat, pig, hen, coconut, incense sticks and cash of 5,000 rupees (US $66) as sacrificial offerings to the tribal deities, Markam told Morning Star News. When they refused to give in to their demands, the mob again barged into Markams home the next night (March 31) and started beating his aged parents, he said. I escaped from there and have run into the woods, he said. I will go back only after knowing about the situation there at home. I am very scared to back home now. They beat us yesterday, and they came again today. My Christian neighbor Raju Podiyami and his family also came under attack today. Superintendent of Police of Dantewada District Abhishek Pallava reportedly told the outlet that because police were exhausted from working extra hours due to the coronavirus, they were unable to address the situation in a timely manner. I will try to make peace between the groups over the phone, Pallava told Morning Star News at that time. Nobody can reach there now. All the police force has been working day and nights because of coronavirus. It is a Naxalite (Maoist rebel) area, we cannot take risks by sending forces without any preparation. That same month, animists kidnapped Markams neighbor, Podiyami, from his home and locked him in a hut as they drank liquor throughout the night, area pastor Sushil Sangam told Morning Star News. After cutting through the thatched roof and escaping, Podiyami took his family of eight, injured from the previous days attacks, and sought refuge at Pastor Sangams church site in Tokapal village, Bastar District, the pastor said. Speaking to Morning Star News, Son Singh Jhali, a lawyer allied with legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom India, said that currently, farmers in tribal villages are preparing the soil, which involves sacrificial offerings to tribal deities, with the village council collecting funds and animals to be offered. But Christians refuse to partake in this ritual, Jhali said. This has been the one main reason for the spike in violent attacks against Christians amid lockdown. Last week, it was reported that animists in Bastar District, Chhattisgarh, told five Christian families they would lose their harvest lands unless they returned to their tribal religion. When the Christians refused, they were beaten. That same day, residents of Naktoka village in Bastar District who follow a mix of tribal religion and Hinduism threatened to kill Christians if they tried to give a Christian burial for one of their dead in the community graveyard. In April, after demolishing a pastors house and driving his family into the jungle, tribal animists in central India severely beat the Christian leader and threatened to destroy his vocal cords so he could no longer preach. India is ranked 10th on Christian support organization Open Doors 2020 World Watch List of countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The outlet notes that converts to Christianity from Hindu backgrounds or tribal religions are often extremely persecuted by their family members and communities. In a report released in April, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that the State Department add India to its list of countries that engage in or tolerate egregious violations of religious freedom. India took a sharp downward turn in 2019, the USCIRF report reads. In addition to the CPC designation, USCIRF calls on the U.S. to impose targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for violations of religious freedom by freezing their assets and barring them entry into the U.S. The 12th plenum of the 12th Central Committee of Vietnam's Communist Party began in Hanoi on Monday to discuss constitution of the next committee. (Front) Party Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong (L) with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the 12th Plenum of the 12th Party Central Committee in Hanoi, May 11, 2020. Photo courtesy Vietnam Government Portal. The four-day meeting will decide who will be the members of the 13th Central Party Committee in 2021-26, with the announcements expected to be made at the National Party Congress next January. The Central Committee is the highest authority in the Communist Party of Vietnam, and currently has 176 full members and 26 alternate members. In his speech on the opening day of the meeting on Monday, Party chief and President, Nguyen Phu Trong, said the process of constituting the next committee needs "strong determination to fight individualism and group interests." The next committee "needs to have a reasonable ratio of members who are young, female, ethnic people, scientists, artists, and managers of major state-owned corporations," he said. At the quinquennial National Congress in January, new members of the Party Central Committee will be announced. 76-year-old General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong would have completed his two-term limit though he could remain president for another five years. The plenum will also discuss voting methods for the National Assembly for the 2021-26 term. The NA is expected to have less than 500 members, at least 35 percent of them women and 18 percent from other ethnic groups. In February Trong issued new criteria for appointing top officials. It sets the premise for evaluating, planning, assigning, transferring, and introducing candidates ahead of the 13th National Congress. One of the key changes has to do with the transfer of officials. A provision requiring key provincial leaders to have prior experience and fulfilled their duties well as key district leaders has been removed. A motorbiker has urged the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction for the murder of a member of a rival club in Co Limerick. Alan McNamaras appeal raises important issues about the scope of the provocation defence and the five-judge court reserved judgment to a later date. The court has said the law on provocation "is not settled and requires to be considered". McNamara (52), from Mountfune, Murroe, Co Limerick, was found guilty in 2017 of the murder of Andrew ODonoghue, who died after being shot by McNamara at the gates of the Road Tramps motorcycle club at Mountfune on June 20, 2015. McNamara denied murder and the core argument in his appeal is the trial judge erred in not permitting a defence of provocation go to the jury. Among the issues raised is whether the reasonableness of McNamaras alleged loss of self control in response to alleged provocation should be decided on the basis of a subjective or reasonable person objective test. The appeal hearing was conducted today via a virtual video conference which could be observed in the Supreme Court where the courts registrar John Mahon sat. McNamara observed it from the Midlands Prison and members of Mr ODonoghues family also observed via video conference. Andrew O'Donoghue who was shot and killed in Limerick in 2015. McNamara claims he was provoked arising from an attack on him and his wife outside a pub the previous evening by members of the Road Tramps who claimed he was in their territory. That was followed by a drive by incident at his home later that night where three members of the rival club made threats to kill him. Mr ODonoghue was not involved in either of those incidents. McNamara, a founding member of Road Tramps before joining the Caballeros club earlier in 2015, drove to the Road Tramps premises the next day, June 20th 2015, about a mile or two from his home. He said he did so after his stepson contacted him to say he and other members of the Caballeros were in a car pursuing a member of the Road Tramps in the direction of that clubs premises. McNamara, who was armed with a sawn-off shotgun, said he shot Mr ODonoghue because he believed a metal bar in the latters hand was a firearm. He told gardai he never intended to kill Mr ODonoghue and expressed remorse. After his appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a further appeal centred on whether provocation should have been let go to the jury. In submissions on Monday, Hugh Hartnett SC, for McNamara, said the existing law on the defence of provocation cannot be explained in a digestible way to a jury and requires reform. In this case, the trial judge was required to ask whether there was evidence which might lead a jury to decide there was a loss of control by McNamara, he said. The events of the previous evening and day of the shooting were evidence of cumulative and extreme and intended provocation. McNamara was in a state of fear and panic as a result and it was for the jury to decide whether the cumulative effect of the events amounted to provocation leading to McNamara losing control, counsel argued. The courts focus should be on the state of mind of the accused person and not whether or not the deceased person was blameworthy for the alleged provocation, he added. Opposing the appeal, Michael Delaney SC, for the DPP, said what was involved here was retaliation rather than provocation. There was plenty of evidence to show McNamara was in control of himself on June 20th2015, including he had been in phone contact with his insurance company, counsel argued. The provocation defence is aimed at striking a balance between reduced culpability and the protection of society and it is public policy to reduce incidents of fatal violence, he said. It is difficult to improve on remarks by the late Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman in another case that there is a minimum degree of self control which each member of society is entitled to expect of its fellow members as, otherwise, social life would be impossible, counsel submitted. 100 Years Ago 1920: A committee of citizens, headed by Mayor William T. Ramsey, today put themselves upon record as being drastically opposed to the recent attacks of a public character made upon the private life of Gov. William C. Sproul, and condemn all utterances of this sort against public men. These citizens deplore and condemn the attack on the Chief Executive of the Commonwealth at a time when his chances are bright to receive the nomination at the hands of his party for the high office of President of the United States. 75 Years Ago 1945: The creation of a distinctive Chester War Memorial at Ninth Street and Deshong Drive has been projected by a group of citizens led by a Veterans Committee. The memorial calls for the transfer of John Mortons body from Old St. Pauls Cemetery on Third Street to the Deshong drive site. Basic design of the memorial is a huge white start in a 30 foot landscaped circle. Surmounting the star is an eagle with a five-foot wingspread. 50 Years Ago 1970: More hot weather is in store for Delaware County through Wednesday after the mercury came within one degree Sunday of tying the record for the date. The temperature reached 92 degrees at 5 p.m. at the Weather Bureau at Philadelphia International Airport. The May 10 record of 93 degrees was set in 1896. The heat caused the concrete on the Industrial Highway, near Sellers Avenue in Tinicum, to buckle and rise about 18 inches. 25 Years Ago 1995: A proposal to reinstall the fire siren at the site of the former firehouse on Woodland Avenue was met with opposition at last nights Morton Borough Council meeting. We put up with that siren for 40 years because the firehouse was there, said Richard Neal, who lives on Walnut Street near the siren site. Council president Dorothy McCaffrey said last week that the siren is needed to signal the curfew and that fire company members, who carry beepers, do not depend on the siren. 10 Years Ago 2010: After more than 40 years, Jack Holefelder of Aston is preparing to return to Vietnam, where he served with the United States Air Force. But this time, the decorated Vietnam War veterans experience will be far different than when he was stationed in Pleiku and Cam Rahn Bay. This time his wife, Faith, will be with him. And this time hell be on a mission of mercy. He and his wife will be representing Rotary District 7450 as volunteer nonmedical team members with Rotaplast International. COLIN AINSWORTH Purrfect curfew companions Daleena Samara discovers the joys of feline friendship under lockdown with a cat family View(s): View(s): I have never been a cat person. Dogs, rabbits, even rats have featured in my life. Rarely cats. But as Sri Lanka went into lockdown, I became cat woman, owner of not one but six cats. It began months before in a Grama Niladharis office, where after a consultation, I found a small ginger and white fur ball in my bag. When I informed the Grama Niladhari her kitten was in my bag, she complained about people abandoning baby animals at her office. Others present nodded in sympathy but no one wanted the small flea-infested creature with green crusted-over eyes. Someone said the huge kabaragoya outside would take her. I took her home. Because she was quiet, I named her Mews. Mews grew up to be a sweet and gentle companion. I had always thought catsselfish, but she was not. When she wasnt sleeping or eating, she was my shadow. Exceptionally beautiful, she caught the eye of the neighbourhood tom, who tried to scale my twenty-foot fence to get to her. He had his way while I was on holiday. Although she was supposedly too young to be neutered,the raucoustom left Mews pregnant. As COVID-19 began to spread to Sri Lanka, Mews went into labour with me as midwife. She was small without much of a baby bulge, and I thought shed have two. But they kept coming, with Mews exhausted, panting, thirstily emptying saucer after saucer of milk. Sometimes, she would lay her head on my palm and rest. She had four little ones over about five hours, and just as I thought we were done, a fifth came along. Mews came of age during the curfew, transiting from playful kitten to responsible mum. I was impressed at how efficiently she handled the birth, tearing the sacs and eating the afterbirth. Only once did I help her with the birth of a kitten which had got entangled. She cleaned up after each birth leaving the newborns and their box clean and tidy. When it was over, we wrapped the kittens in soft cloth, and I had washed and settled down to a cup of tea when Mews, ever gracious, came over, flopped at my feet, and gave me a deep Thank you look. We had bonded well, but now there was a deeper shared experience between us. As Sri Lanka went into sudden curfew, I worried about stocks. I had enough fish for a few days and a few packets of milk Mews was small, and the kittens together seemed about a third her size. Nature had done a Marie Kondo in Mews womb for efficient space management. Mews was perpetually hungry and thirsty. She wouldnt drink water, only powdered milk although I had been told cats are lactose intolerant. A friend helped out with stocks of fish and milk until the local fisherman began turning up down our lane. Even as a mum, Mews made time to hang out with me, visit me at my workstation, and stretch out on the head rest of the sofa I was seated on. She took the loneliness out of the curfew and was the perfect companion, and a great conversationalist, responding with ear and tail twitches and deep knowing looks. Thats the way cats talk. But love me though she did, she wasnt taking chances with her kittens. She would look worried whenever I walked over to pick them up. Then one day, she moved them into the dark recesses of an empty kitchen cupboard, hiding them from dangers like me. It was a smart move because kittens eyes, all midnight blue at first, are sensitive soon after they open about a week after birth and light can blind them. They have no hearing at birth either and when these senses become active, they are ultra-sensitive. They needed a very safe quiet corner to acclimatise to the world. Mews kittens knew only their mum for about three weeks, during which she was a food processor, guzzling milk and fish before disappearing into her den.The food-in, food-out routine went on 24/7. Strangely there was no foul odour mother cats are incredibly fastidious. When Mews kittens began to venture out, wary and hissing at me, we moved them back into the box and she was happy to hand over some duties to me. Nowadays, a certain meow lets me know the kittens might like a saucer of fish pulp too. They have their baby teeth, so nursing cant be easy. I often see her leave her food when the kittens decide to dig in and come over and finish eating after they have nibbled on it. The fur babies are coming into their own. They have distinct personalities. Ive named them Pickles, Chutney, Mayonnaise, Gravy, and Sauce, since they were raised in a kitchen. Cats are hunters, and you can see it in the way they mock stalk, pounce on and wrestle each other, race around the yard, picking up speed in an instant. Mews is ever watchful. Ive seen her telling them off for playing too rough, showing them how to dig pits, and telling them the foods ready. Its important for kittens to stay with their mum for at least the first ten weeks to learn crucial social skills. For small kittens, they can climb very well and leap very high cats are said to be able to leap distances six times their body length. Over curfew, we have become family. Whoever says cats are selfish is missing out. These are incredible animals, undoubtedly wise and loving gifts from nature. The Cat Protection Trust gets an average of six calls a week asking them to adopt abandoned kittens. The Trust is currently operating at capacity with around 200 kittens on hand and can no longer take in any more kittens. To get yourself a feline friend or to make a donation, look up Cat Protection Trust on Facebook. You can also put neutered kittens up for adoption on Adopt a Cat in Sri Lanka on Facebook through which one of Mews kittens found a forever home. When adopting, remember that a cat is a lifelong friend. India's top oil and gas producer ONGC is likely to see its loss on natural gas sales widen by nearly 50 per cent to Rs 6,000 crore in the current fiscal after the government-mandated rates for the fuel dropped to a decade low. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) had posted Rs 4,272 crore loss on gas business in 2017-18, which is likely to widen to over Rs 6,000 crore in the current fiscal (April 2020 to March 2021), sources said citing a company communique to the government. The accounts for 2019-20 are yet to be finalised but the loss on gas business should be around Rs 4,500 crore. ONGC has seen incurring losses on the 65 million standard cubic meters per day of gas it produces from domestic fields shortly after the government in November 2014 introduced a new gas pricing formula that had "inherent limitations" as it was based on pricing hubs of gas surplus countries such as the US, Canada, and Russia. Rates according to this formula were revised every six months. Prices effective April 1 have been cut to USD 2.39 per million British thermal unit - the lowest in more than a decade. Sources said ONGC in the communique stated that the break-evenprice of major ongoing/planned projects to produce gas from newer discoveries was in the range of USD 5-9 per mmBtu. In previous years, loss from the gas segment was getting offset from the gain from the oil business. But with oil business itself coming under severe strain due to a sharp slump in benchmark prices to a low of USD 20 per barrel, it has become difficult for the company to meet even the operating expenses, they said. The company wants gas pricing to be completely freed with a floor rate of USD 4.2 per mmBtu (equivalent to rate given in the regulated regime), they added. The price applicable from April 1 is the lowest that ONGC will realise since 2010 when the government had moved towards deregulating gas pricing. In May 2010, the Cabinet had approved an Oil Ministry proposal to raise the rate of gas sold to power and fertilizer firms from USD 1.79 per mmBtu to USD 4.20. ONGC and Oil India Ltd (OIL) got USD 3.818 per mmBtu price for the gas they produced from fields given to them on nomination basis and after adding 10 per cent royalty, the fuel cost USD 4.20 per mmBtu for consumers. The Congress-led UPA had approved a new pricing formula for implementation in 2014 that would have raised the rates but the BJP-led government scrapped it and brought a new formula. The new formula takes into account the volume-weighted annual average of the prices prevailing in Henry Hub (US), National Balancing Point (the UK), Alberta (Canada), and Russia with a lag of one-quarter. Prices are set every six months -- on April 1 and October 1 each year. The rates at the first revision, using the new formula, came to USD 5.05 but in the subsequent six-monthly reviews kept falling till they touched USD 2.48 for April 2017 to September 2017 period. Subsequently, they rose to USD 3.69 in April 2019 to September 2019 before being cut by 12.5 per cent in October 2019 to USD 3.23. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on March 20, 2017, had stated that the cost of production of natural gas in the prolific Krishna Godavari basin is between USD 4.99 -7.30 per mmBtu. The same for other basins is in the range of USD 3.80 -6.59 per mmBtu, he had said. For ONGC, which produces most of its 64 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from western offshore, the breakeven is around USD 3.8. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The number of COVID-19 cases in Indore rose to 1,935 after 77 more people tested positive for the disease in the Madhya Pradesh district in last 24 hours, a health official said on Monday. Besides, one more person died of coronavirus, taking the toll in the district to 90, Chief Medical and Health Officer Praveen Jadia said. The latest victim was a 67-year-old woman who died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital on May 8, he said, adding that she had co-morbid conditions like obesity, hypertension, thyroid and other ailments. In the last 24 hours, 77 more people tested positive for the disease in the district, raising its tally from 1,858 to 1,935, the official said. Till now, 898 people have been discharged after recovery, he said. The virus fatality rate in the district, that falls under red zone and is the worst hit in the state, was 4.65 per cent as of Monday morning, as per data analysis. The death rate has been falling since April 9, when it was at a high of 10.33 per cent. Curfew is clamped in the city limits and strict lockdown is being enforced elsewhere in the district since March 25 to contain the spread of the disease. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) And Sandy? In the books histrionic, italicized prologue, he collapses on the defense table like a Spartan on his shield, stark and horrifying. At 85, he feels frail and ponders his failing capacities. (Dont you believe it. He may be more philosophical about life, but hes still sharp as a tack.) And he is a cancer patient, which is interesting, because his last case involves a close friend: the doctor who treated him. That doctor, Kiril Pafko, grew up in Argentina, as Sandy did. Hes also a Nobel laureate. And hes accused of both murder and insider trading over the development of the very drug to which he gave Sandy early access. Image Scott Turow Credit... Jeremy Lawson Photography You might say Sandy has no business defending Pafko, given such whopping conflicts of interest. But the book chalks this transgression up to long friendship, a debt of gratitude and what-the-hell thinking on Sandys part. As the title hammers home, this is his last shot, after all. A lot of plot and keen observation keep this book moving. Turows regular readers will find him in gratifyingly good form. He has given the married Pafko a complicated love life, a story full of holes and a bigger ego than Sandy could have imagined. That doesnt make him guilty, but it does make him more trouble than they expected. It also makes him the catalyst for some embarrassing friction between the two Sterns, father and daughter, who would be better off fighting without a judge watching. And when Stern makes an artfully described research trip to meet one of Pafkos ex-girlfriends, we see that the old boy still has a twinkle in his eye. All of these events have an invigorating effect on Sandy, and Turow captures them with obvious affection. We watch the old defeatist regain a figurative spring in his step, though in reality he limps. He delights in exploiting his age to sway the jury, enjoys playing the sly fox and generally gets his mojo back during the story. At the same time, Turow invests him with honest contemplation of how close the end is and what his life has added up to. The book proceeds just as a trial would, with chapters devoted to procedural stages and the different charges Pafko faces. No writer invests these gradual legal developments with the kind of micro-suspense that Turow does. The Last Trial becomes especially topical when it comes to the time-consuming F.D.A. requirements for approving g-Livia, the drug with which Pafko was involved: His failure to adhere to the guidelines is the basis for one of the charges against him. (By the standards of the moment, the agencys extreme scrupulousness seems almost quaint.) Elsewhere in southern Yemen, fighting breaks out between separatists and government forces. Yemeni authorities declared Aden, interim seat of the Saudi-backed government, an infested city on Monday after the number of coronavirus cases there jumped and clashes erupted elsewhere in the south between separatists and government forces. A five-year war has shattered Yemens health system, pushed millions to the brink of famine and divided the country between the internationally recognised government and the Houthi group that removed it from power in the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014. The World Health Organization (WHO) said there is a full-blown transmission of the virus in Yemen, with the disease spreading undetected among a population with some of the lowest levels of immunity to disease compared with other states. Testing capabilities are inadequate, but the WHO has also urged local authorities to transparently report confirmed cases. The Aden-based governments coronavirus committee on Monday reported five new cases, with one death, in Hadramut province, taking the total count in areas under the Saudi-backed governments control to 56 with nine deaths. It had late on Sunday announced 17 new COVID-19 cases, 10 of them in Aden, where the total count so far stands at 35 infections, with four deaths. The Houthi movement, which controls Sanaa and most large urban centres, has reported two cases, with one death. The Aden-based government has accused Houthi authorities of covering up an outbreak in Sanaa, an accusation which they have denied. Yemeni workers spray disinfectant in a neighbourhood of the capital Sanaa [Mohammed Huwais/AFP] The committee said Aden had been declared an infested city because of the spread of the coronavirus and other diseases already rife in Yemen after recent flooding. It said movement from Aden to other regions was barred, except for the transport of goods. {articleGUID} The administrative and political situation in Aden is also hampering efforts to combat the coronavirus and this should be remedied so relevant entities can carry out their duties, the committee said on its Twitter account. The separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) on April 25 declared self-rule in Aden and other southern regions, threatening to renew their conflict with the Saudi-backed government in Yemens multifaceted war. The STC and the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi are both part of the anti-Houthi coalition led by Saudi Arabia, but they clashed last year until Riyadh brokered a deal in November. New clashes Fighting broke out on Monday between pro-government troops and separatists in southern Yemen, leaving 10 dead, security and medical officials said, in the first significant clash since separatists declared self-rule in the south. The two sides fought for control of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, the STC said. Pro-government troops launched an offensive on the outskirts of Zinjibar, some 60 kilometres (35 miles) from the main southern city of Aden, security sources from both sides told the AFP news agency. STC fighters fire towards the positions of Saudi-backed government forces during clashes in southern Yemen [Nabil Hasan/AFP] An STC official, Nabil al-Hanachi, told AFP that his forces managed to stop the attack and kill many of them. He said the attack was carried out by the military wing of the Islamist party Al-Islah, which is allied with the government. Medical sources told AFP that two government soldiers were killed and 13 wounded, while the separatists had two dead and 11 wounded. The casualties were transported to local hospitals. Concern over refugees, migrants The Western-backed coalition intervened in March 2015 to restore Hadis government to power in Sanaa, but the conflict has been in deadlock for years. More than 100,000 have been killed since 2015 and some 80 percent of the population, or 24 million people, rely on aid while approximately 10 million face hunger. The coalition on April 24 extended by one month a nationwide ceasefire prompted by the coronavirus outbreak as the United Nations seeks to hold virtual talks to agree upon a permanent truce, coordinate coronavirus efforts and restart peace talks. The Houthis, who say they are fighting a corrupt system, have not formally accepted the truce although violence has abated. The WHO late on Saturday ordered a pause in staff activity in main Houthi-held areas, citing credible threats to staff, but reversed the directive on Sunday, according to a document seen by Reuters News Agency and confirmed by the organisation. The suspension was prompted by accusations from Houthi officials that the first coronavirus case announced in Sanaa, a Somali man found dead in a hotel, was brought to the capital by the WHO. A Houthi official on Sunday tweeted a retraction. The United Nations on Sunday voiced concern that migrants were being stigmatised as transmitters of disease, saying in a statement that some have been forced to move to frontlines and desert areas with no essential services. Yemen has long been a transit point for migrants and refugees from the Horn of Africa trying to reach Gulf states. San Antonio was distracted by its coronavirus emergency response when it achieved a milestone in a long quest to secure a major new supply of water to augment what it gets from the Edwards Aquifer and other sources. After six years of planning, negotiating, trenching, building, flushing and testing, water from wells around Burleson County, 140 miles away, began flowing to local taps last month, marking the completion of the $2.8 billion Vista Ridge pipeline project. Drawn from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in Central Texas, the water supply is the largest source outside of the Edwards in the history of Bexar County. While the Edwards remains the citys primary water source, limits on pumping from the aquifer during even mild droughts prompted the San Antonio Water System to diversify its supply over the years as population and economic growth raised the demand for water. During a teleconference meeting last week, SAWS trustees celebrated completion of the pipeline, believed to be the nations largest public-private water supply project and one that has generated controversy for its sheer scale and cost. I do believe that because of all that work and debate, its made it a stronger project, said Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who sits on the SAWS board and is the third mayor to support the project, which began under former Mayor Julian Castros administration in 2014. Im very proud of the fact that because of it, more of our children and grandchildren can be guaranteed that they will have that water coming out of the tap, he said. On ExpressNews.com: Report cites concerns on Vista Ridge The pipeline is carrying up to 45 million gallons daily to the new SAWS Agua Vista Station near U.S. 281 North and Loop 1604. The water is being chemically treated, disinfected, stored and distributed to a pump station, then delivered to homes and businesses in and around Stone Oak and Timberwood Park. A 54-inch-wide pipeline, scheduled for completion in July, will use gravity to carry most of the Vista Ridge water south along 281. Few people have noticed a change in their waters taste or hardness, officials said. Fights over water For years, SAWS searched for a new source of water apart from the Edwards Aquifer. The pipeline was a response to mounting pressure from local business leaders who saw the perpetual pumping constraints on the Edwards as a threat to economic growth. It is a karst limestone aquifer that feeds Comal and San Marcos springs, home to federally protected endangered species. The pipeline will deliver up to 16.3 billion gallons annually, or 20 percent of SAWS supply, providing enough water for the equivalent of 162,000 new families. Vista Ridge has been praised by some as innovative yet scorned by environmental and community groups as unnecessary and too costly for SAWS ratepayers. Michael Fisher/ San Antonio Express-News Meredith McGuire, a Trinity University sociology professor who is part of several groups opposed to the project and who has questioned the utilitys rate structure, is worried that experts have overstated San Antonio growth projections and the reliability of the aquifer formations in Burleson County, where the project has 18 water wells. Once businesses start pumping that water, they arent going to stop when you have a drought. Both our own aquifer and the Carrizo-Wilcox and Simsboro aquifers are very vulnerable because of climate change, McGuire said. SAWS officials had said the utility could initially sell some of the water that San Antonio doesnt need in the early years of the 30-year project term to communities along the pipeline route, which runs through portions of Burleson, Lee, Bastrop, Caldwell, Guadalupe and Comal counties before it ends in San Antonio. Although no such agreement is in place, wholesale agreements with other communities (are) an option available to us, and SAWS will consider the impacts of this option after some period of receiving water, the utility said in a statement. Annalisa Peace, executive director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, said shes concerned about water being sold to high-density subdivisions in Edwards recharge zone areas that are underregulated. But really that hasnt happened. They havent really contracted out because its such expensive water, Peace said. SAWS paid so much for that water, its pretty much the most expensive water out there. So really, the SAWS ratepayers are just kind of holding the bag here. Peace believes that SAWS is fiscally overextended. It is in the seventh year of a 10-year mandate to fix problems in the sewer system at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. It also is paying for a brackish water desalination plant built south of city that provides about one-fourth of the amount of water as Vista Ridge. And now we have this pipeline that were paying for when we clearly dont need that much water at this time, she said. In the past 10 years, average monthly residential bills for water have climbed from $40.38 to $78.46, largely because of those major projects. SAWS is paying $220,000 per day for the Vista Ridge water. At roughly $1,600 per acre-foot, it is the most expensive in the state, but the price is fixed. SAWS President and CEO Robert Puente predicts that by 2050, when SAWS will own the pipeline, Vista Ridge water will be the least expensive, especially as Texas and the Southwest continue to grow despite limited water sources. I dont even think itll take 30 years before this is the cheapest water, he said. Im talking probably in a 10-year horizon. The cost of developing that project will be more reflective of what were currently paying. Puente does not foresee a rate increase for SAWS customers in 2021. Private partners From the start, the pipeline project was an unusual deal for SAWS. Typically, it develops and finances its water supply infrastructure, whether it be wells in South Bexar County or the desalination plant nearby. But with Vista Ridge, the business sector assumed more of the risks. A private company initially leased the water rights from property owners in Burleson and Milam counties, a second private company built the pipeline, a third company operates it, and SAWS only contracts to buy the water for now but will become the owner of the pipeline in 2050. Shortly after the City Council approved Vista Ridge in 2014, Puente called SAWS vice presidents and other managers on the project into a conference room and told them they didnt belong there if they didnt support the massive undertaking. It was a two-minute meeting. I told them, If you dont believe in this project, if you dont think we can do it, on your way out, go to HR and tell them you cant work here anymore. And I walked out of the room, Puente said. None left SAWS, but many were shellshocked, a utility spokesman said. At first, the lead on the project was a subsidiary of Abengoa, a Spanish conglomerate that ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2016. Kansas City-based Garney Construction took over a majority stake in the project and built the pipeline. SAWS is now paying a Garney subsidiary, Vista Ridge LLC, for the water. Garney plans to sell its interest in the project to Ridgewood Infrastructure, which will own 80 percent of the project, with Abengoa holding the remaining 20 percent. EPCOR USA, a subsidiary of EPCOR Utilities of Canada, is the operator of the pipeline, which uses electric power from Blue Bonnet Electric Cooperative, Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative, New Braunfels Utilities and CPS Energy. The project also depends on the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District, which controls the amount of water pumped from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer. If it finds that the aquifer is overly depleted by projects such as Vista Ridge, it can reduce pumping permits. Puente said SAWS would have to assess ways to make up for a cutback, if there is one. McGuire, the Trinity professor, said business boosters have begun beckoning manufacturers to come to San Antonio, where there is cheap, abundant water. In an email to members last week, San Antonio Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Richard Perez called Vista Ridge the answer to one of the chambers oldest and most important long-term projects: a large non-Edwards water supply that negates a sometimes insurmountable perceived obstacle to the long-term health and continued growth of our city, county and region. But Puente, in response to critics afraid that the pipeline will feed irresponsible growth, insisted that water conservation remains a priority at SAWS. Updated growth projections for Bexar County which recently surpassed 2 million residents still show that were growing at a rapid pace. So we do need this water in our portfolio to make sure that we continue to grow, he said. We will not meet the demands of our community, even with Vista Ridge, without water conservation. Nirenberg, who initially had reservations about the project while serving as a council member, said it took a trusted, city-owned utility such as SAWS, whose leaders had the ingenuity to understand risk and make sure it wasnt borne on this community, to carry the project forward. Only in a state like ours, thats going to double in population to nearly 55 million by 2050, that is going to be an urban state very soon, but has such backward water laws that whoever has the longest straw can own the state of Texas, would a project like Vista Ridge have to be born, the mayor said. On ExpressNews.com: Machines boring massive tunnel for Vista Ridge water SAWS Trustee Amy Hardberger, a water law expert and a Nirenberg appointee to the utility board, had initially questioned the need for the project in 2014. She said shes hopeful that the pipeline will help protect the Edwards. I dont think that was ever a primary driver for the project, but anything that leaves water in the Edwards Aquifer is good as a side effect, she said. Hardberger said she wants monthly updates on how the new water is being used and how well its being integrated into the distribution system. Over the long run, SAWS must remain good water stewards while looking out for ratepayers and maintaining a strong business model, she said. The most difficult aspect of Vista Ridge may be determining its long-term benefits for San Antonio and Texas and any impact on the Carrizo-Wilcox formations, she said. Texas groundwater law is incredibly challenging in that way. It does not set us up for long-term predictability, Hardberger said. I think its critical for us to keep an eye on the legal aspect of it and the groundwater models, and get updates to make sure that source remains reliable. shuddleston@express-news.net | Twitter: @shuddlestonSA Government Technology is Governing's sister e.Republic publication, offering in-depth coverage of IT case studies, emerging technologies and the implications of digital technology on the policies and management of public sector organizations. Last updated on: May 14, 2020 12:08 IST 'Testing is a very good strategy if only symptomatic people are transmitting the disease.' 'Here asymptomatic people, with minimum, trivial symptoms, are transmitting too.' 'Testing, treating, tracing contacts and quarantining them -- yes, it will work up to a certain extent.' 'But more important is physical distancing, hand hygiene, cough etiquette and cocooning, protecting with reverse quarantining the most vulnerable people, senior citizens, people with other major medical problems.' 'To me, that makes much more sense.' IMAGE: Health workers screen residents in Dharavi, Mumbai, May 6, 2020. Photograph: PTI Photo Dr O C Abraham is a senior member of the clinical research group, a medical task force that counsels the Indian Council of Medical Research. An expert in infectious diseases, he is the professor and head of the department of one of the units of internal medicine at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu. Dr Abraham offers Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com a long-term, cautious view for India as it confronts the COVID-19 pandemic. The second of a three-part interview: IMAGE: Employees at a pharmaceutical unit in Jammu. Photograph: PTI Photo From your point of view, from the medical point of view, since we don't have a vaccine, what is the best standard line of treatment? Is it for some HIV drugs and others hydroxychloroquine, in case they works? Now there's a lot of talk about this drug, that was manufactured for Ebola, Remdesivir. There's, of course, ivermectin, but that's a very small study. What is it that you are advising? Unfortunately, there is no drug which has been shown to be effective. All the information we have is (from) experiments done in the laboratory in a test tube. It kills the virus in a test tube. None of the drugs tried till date, hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir, the HIV medicines, none of them have been actually conclusively shown to be of benefit. At the moment, for people who are sick enough to come into the hospital --it's mostly respiratory failure, they have trouble breathing, they have other complications also -- the best possible option is supportive care. That is the best treatment as of today. All these others are experimental therapies. It may be, that some of them may be tried as a last-ditch effort. None of them are a kind of standard of care, I would say. But what it is being administered generally in India? HIV drugs? Or what is it? HIV drugs are not part of the ICMR guidelines. They revised their guidelines. The ICMR guidelines now have only hydroxychloroquine, I think. All these are experimental therapies, if I may say so. IMAGE: Medics at an event in Bengaluru to salute frontline warriors in India's fight against COVID-19. Photograph: Shailendra Bhojak/PTI Photo There's nothing really that is standard as such? No, no. Till now none of the main drugs (suggested have worked). A big study from China, a randomised controlled trial, showed that Lopinavir, the HIV medicine, did not have any effect (an RCT study tests the effectiveness of a drug. In this clinical trial, patients are randomly allocated to receive a drug. Those that don't receive the drug and receive a placebo or 'sugar pill' and serve as the control or standard of comparison.) All the evidence about hydroxychloroquine it has not been shown to be (effective) -- maybe it reduces fever by one day. Not a miracle drug, no. But there is a small possibility that this Remdesivir might work? Or we don't know? We don't know. Unfortunately, even if you look at history, for none of the acute viral infections is there a good treatment. Even treatment for flu is kind of so-so -- like it reduces fever by one day. The chronic viral level infection, HIV, hepatitis C, fantastic -- it is almost as good as cured. Hepatitis is cured. HIV almost as good as cured. Active viral infections, whereas diarrhea or encephalitis maybe can be treated. Most of them do not have good treatment. Ebola, there is no good treatment. Remdesivir was tried in Ebola. They stopped the trial in between... Because there was no benefit from Remdesivir. History is not on our side. IMAGE: Medics examines police personnel at the Karnalganj police station in Gonda district, Uttar Pradesh, May 7, 2020. Photograph: PTI Photo What you are saying is that even a common cold, which is viral, doesn't yet have a remedy. So, it's like, unlikely that these ailments are going to get a remedy so soon. Correct. That's your line of thought? I am also hoping and praying that there will be a cure, some day. But, unfortunately, as of today, none of them, from my reading, has been shown to be even (slightly effective). Yes, they are there in trial. Studies going on... so... IMAGE: People wait to be tested in New Delhi. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters Testing, everyone says, is important. But given India's population, even if you keep pouring the tests in we will be lagging behind. How do you ramp up testing for so many millions of people in India? That statement 'Test, test, test', attributed to Dr Tedros (Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation) will go only to a certain extent in controlling this epidemic. Not saying you should not test. You should test. Like I said, this virus is a highly contagious virus and very easily transmitted from people to people. There are people with absolutely no symptoms or minimal symptoms who will not consider even taking a day off or going to the doctor. A little bit of cough. A little bit of body ache. A little bit of fever, feeling a little tired. You are still transmitting the virus. So then why are you testing? So you diagnose patients early, you isolate them (because you know there is no vaccine, no treatment) and you trace the contacts and quarantine them. That's a very good strategy, if only symptomatic people are transmitting the disease. Here asymptomatic people, with minimum, trivial symptoms, are transmitting too. Testing, treating, tracing contacts and quarantining them -- yes, it will work up to a certain extent. But more important is physical distancing, hand hygiene, cough etiquette and cocooning, protecting with reverse quarantining the most vulnerable people, senior citizens, people with other major medical problems. To me, that makes much more sense. What the UK is trying to do. IMAGE: A quarantine centre set up for arriving NRIs at the Hajj House near Calicut airport. Photograph: PTI Photo In Wuhan, one of the ways they used to stamp it out was to do a really lot of testing? Initially, they were caught completely off-guard. But in early or mid-January, they locked the whole town down, completely. You were not allowed to get out of your house. And they tested. They went house to house. They took out everybody who was ill. If you were very sick, you went into hospital. Otherwise you went into a care centre. They were isolated. So: Quarantining and isolation. And complete lockdown. Of course, they ramped up the hospital capacity. Doctors and nurses and technicians came from all over China. Temporary hospitals were built. They did a fantastic job. (They did it) I think, both ways. They took care of the sick. At the same time they had a complete clampdown -- cordon sanitaire (a fortified line preventing anyone from leaving a disease-infected locality/area), you couldn't get out of the front door. That was how they managed. Production: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com Home Just In Kapilvastu, newest Covid-19 hotspot in Nepal, sealed off for one week Kathmandu, May 11 Officials of the Kapilvastu district in southwestern Nepal have decided to seal off the district until May 18 after the number of coronavirus infection cases increased in the district. With 10 new confirmed cases in the district this morning, there are 15 active Covid-19 cases as of now. A meeting of the District Security Committee on Monday decided to bar the movement of people from all entry points for the next seven days. Likewise, peoples movement will be further restricted. The decision will come into effect from 5 pm today, according to Chief District Officer Dirgha Narayan Paudel. Of late, hundreds of Nepali citizens working in India have been found to be coming to the district despite the lockdown restrictions. Meanwhile, essential goods and service-providing vehicles such as ambulances and those carrying foodstuffs will not be barred. Two hours of every morning (7 to 9) have been allocated to let the locals buy vegetables and foodstuffs. Parents are getting nervous about the gradual reopening of schools amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections traced to nightclubs in Seoul's Itaewon. Some 75 new cases were reported as of Monday morning after a man who went clubbing in Itaewon on May 2 tested positive for coronavirus on May 6. A petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website to postpone the reopening of schools had garnered 153,000 signatures by Sunday. Schools are supposed to reopen this week -- first 12 graders on Wednesday followed by first and second graders of elementary school and kindergartners on May 20 and the rest in the following weeks. Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo told reporters on Sunday, "We will make a comprehensive decision after investigating for the next two or three days." The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has already postponed an announcement scheduled for Monday on its plans about how to conduct classes and help students as they return to school. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! HARTFORD State government officials are challenging students to come up with their own ideas to defeat the spread of the novel coronavirus. On Monday, Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz announced the launch of the Lt. Governors COVID-19 Computing Challenge: A statewide challenge to address a global concern. She was joined by Office of Policy and Management Secretary Melissa McCaw, Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona, Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Sibongile Magubane and Office of Higher Education Executive Director Tim Larson. Due to the novel coronavirus radically disrupting the 2019-20 academic year for the states students, this computing challenge provides a valuable resource for educators who are considering ways to keep their students academically engaged in rigorous problem-solving, Bysiewicz said. Students, from grades 3 through 12, can work individually or in teams. The ideas they come up with do not need to include functioning apps. The deadline to submit to this challenge is May 29. For more information, visit the Lt. Governors Covid-19 Coding Challenge. Connecticut students are invited to submit ideas that could be implemented with computer technology like apps, websites or computer programs, in order to defeat the spread of the disease, aid our communities and encourage and inform the general public, Bysiewicz said. Im looking forward to seeing what our students come up with. Cardona said the pandemic is presenting challenges unlike anything Connecticut has ever seen. The reliance on technology to address a variety of issues regarding the COVID-19 pandemic is astounding, the education commissioner said. This challenge allows students to continue learning while creating a solution to a real-world problem and making a positive difference in their communities and state. Students with a basic understanding of computing technology can imagine themselves creating and implementing technology that will make a difference in their lives, and those of their family members and community members. The goal is to have students use this period of social distancing to improve their communities. A complete submission will include demographic information of contributing team member(s), the problem the student or team addresses, the inspiration for the final idea, a description of how the app would work and an optional video. All submissions will be posted publicly, and all Connecticut students are encouraged to vote for their favorite submissions from June 1 to June 12. Selected participants will be invited to showcase their submission. Officials said the challenge will allow students to: gain exposure to the uses of computer technology; develop their interest in technology; be creative in using computer technology; learn how to collaborate virtually; and apply computational thinking skills. The idea for the coding challenge was inspired by the work of the Council on Women and Girls Education and STEAM subcommittee, in partnership with its steering committee community partners. When he took office, Gov. Ned Lamont formed the Governors Council on Women and Girls, a group that provides a state response to issues that impact the lives of women, girls, their families and the state. Bysiewicz chairs the council, and McCaw is the vice chair. The group meets every other month to plan legislation and review government policies and practices with a goal of ending gender discrimination and supporting the needs of women. Subcommittees include: education, economic opportunity and workforce equity, leadership and health and safety. The education and STEAM subcommittee, co-chaired by Magubane and Larson, encourages educational advancement for women and girls in science, technology, engineering, the arts and math. One effort the subcommittee was planning was a coding challenge for students. More Information How to participate Students can reference this flyer for details on how to participate. Teachers should read this flyer to learn how this challenge engages students' skills. Parents can check out out this flyer to understand the benefits of their child's participation. Email questions to computingchallenge@skills21.org. #CTHacksCOVID See More Collapse jo.kroeker@hearstmediact.com ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / May 11, 2020 / Findit, Inc. a Nevada Corporation (OTC PINK:FDIT) owner of Findit.com, a full service social networking management platform which provides online marketing services, is featuring Findit member Price Law Group who is a group of professional bankruptcy attorneys that are standing by and ready to assist California consumers and businesses with bankruptcy filings as a result of the financial crisis brought on by COVID-19. Price Law Group specializes in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings. Each bankruptcy has different requirements but both can help you get the immediate relief that you need from your financial hardships. Millions of Americans have been laid off of work due to COVID-19 and as a result are unable to meet their financial commitments. Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy can be the only solution to your financial situation if you are unable to meet your financial obligations and your debt continues to pile up. Findit was engaged by Price Law Group to assist with improving their online presence and exposure for Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings related to financial hardships caused by COVID-19. Findit is producing crafted content around Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings in California as a result of COVID-19 to reach the residents of California looking for bankruptcy attorneys. Price Law Group also assists consumers and businesses in Arizona, Nevada and Texas. Utilizing Findit's claim your name feature, Price Law Group added 10 Findit names related to COVID-19 related Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcies in the states they provide services in. Clark St. Amant of Findit stated, COVID-19 has left many Americans in an irreversible financial hole. Millions have lost their jobs, had their wages and pay cut, or lost their sources of income. We want to do what we can to help ensure those looking for assistance in the State of California can find the help they need when it comes to filing for bankruptcy. Through our marketing efforts, our goal is to help Price Law Group index highly in search engines for COVID-19 related bankruptcy filings so that people can find attorneys that can help." Story continues Price Law Group is prepared for the influx of consumers and businesses looking to file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. To get the assistance that you need you can reach Price Law Group at 866-210-1722. Findit is offering online marketing campaigns to other bankruptcy attorneys across the US that is offering bankruptcy services to individuals looking to file for bankruptcy. We only work with one bankruptcy firm per designated area and do not take on multiple bankruptcy attorneys offering the same filing services in the same geographic locations. About Findit, Inc. Findit.com which is a Social Media Content Management Platform that provides an interactive search engine for all content posted in Findit to appear in Findit search. The site is an open platform that provides access to Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines access to its content posted to Findit so it can be indexed in these search engines as well. Findit provides Members the ability to post, share and manage their content. Once they have posted in Findit, we ensure the content gets indexed in Findit Search results. Findit provides an option for anyone to submit URLs that they want indexed in Findit search result, along with posting status updates through Findit Right Now. Status Updates posted in Findit can be crawled by outside search engines which can result in additional organic indexing. All posts on Findit can be shared to other social and bookmarking sites by members and non-members. Findit provides Real Estate Agents the ability to create their own Findit Site where they can pull in their listing and others through their IDX account. Findit, Inc., is focused on the development of monetized Internet-based web products that can provide an increase in brand awareness of our members. Findit, Inc., trades under the stock symbol FDIT on the OTC Pinksheets. Safe Harbor: This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), including statements regarding potential sales, the success of the company's business, as well as statements that include the word believe or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Findit, Inc. to differ materially from those implied or expressed. CONTACT: Clark St. Amant 404-443-3224 SOURCE: Findit, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/589368/Findit-Featured-Member-Price-Law-Group-Assists-California-Residents-Who-Have-Been-Affected-By-COVID-19-File-For-Bankruptcy Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ted Hesson (Reuters) Washington, United States Mon, May 11, 2020 09:12 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd71e755 2 World COVID-19,Mike-Pence,White-House,Donald-Trump Free Vice President Mike Pence is not in quarantine and plans to be at the White House on Monday, a spokesman said on Sunday, despite media reports that Pence was self-isolating after a staffer tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine," spokesman Devin OMalley said in a statement. "Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow, the statement added. The Trump administration has no plans to keep President Donald Trump and Pence apart, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday, as concerns rise about the spread of the coronavirus within the White House. Trump told reporters on Friday that Pence's spokeswoman, Katie Miller, had tested positive for the virus, a day after news that Trumps personal valet also had tested positive. Trump said he himself had not been in contact with the spokeswoman, who is married to White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, but that she had spent time with the vice president. Pence press secretary Katie Miller is the only person in this photo without a mask. Today news broke that she has coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/5keMNtN6Fv Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 9, 2020 Both Trump, 73, and Pence, 60, have drawn criticism for not donning face coverings despite a recommendation from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to do so in certain public settings. Trump has said he would not wear a mask and has not publicly worn one to any of his events during the pandemic, but told reporters last week he tried some on behind the scenes during his visit to a Honeywell International Inc mask factory in Arizona. Because of the possible coronavirus exposure from his staffer, Pence chose not to attend Trump's meeting Saturday with military leaders at White House. One of joint chiefs who wasn't there, Michael Gilday, chief of Naval Operations, just tested negative for coronavirus, I'm told. https://t.co/eOSPAYdv2n Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) May 10, 2020 A Bloomberg reporter tweeted on Sunday that Pence was self-isolating away from the White House following his aide's diagnosis, prompting Pence's office to issue the statement. NBC News reported that Pence was putting "a little distance" between himself and others over the weekend. Three senior officials guiding the US response to the coronavirus pandemic also were in self-quarantine on Saturday after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for the disease, their agencies and spokesmen said. The officials were Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn. When department stores reopen their doors, a familiar whoosh will still greet customers at the entrance: the sudden gust of air-conditioning, the gleam of polished marble floors, the sensation of not really knowing where to start. But beyond the doors, new and unfamiliar sights await: hand-sanitizer dispensers scattered on every surface, employees smizing through their face masks, signs displaying checklists of what were doing to keep you safe. When Saks Fifth Avenue reopened in Houston, the store stamped a trail of warnings on its white tile floors, in blocky black text, asking shoppers to please maintain social distancing of at least six feet from others. This is department-store shopping during a pandemic. After months of lockdown, the world of retail is reawakening. Stay-at-home orders are beginning to lift, even as coronavirus-related deaths mount. And in those places, department stores when not preparing to file for bankruptcy have been among the first to come back, rolling out detailed safety plans. Saks Fifth Avenue began unlocking its doors in Texas last Friday and said it aims to open a few Ohio and Florida stores this week. Galeries Lafayette began to reopen its stores in France on Monday. Nordstrom said that by early this week, the company plans to have 32 stores open a combination of full-line stores and Nordstrom Rack locations in South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Selfridges and Harrods are also expected to reopen in the coming weeks, subject to British government directives. Hong Kong's central bar district returned to relative normalcy this weekend, with crowds of revelers taking advantage of eased social distancing rules even as fresh pro-democracy protests flared across the city. While police largely left the packed bars alone, when it came to activists, they aggressively enforced a coronavirus-related restriction on gatherings of more than eight people, arresting more than 200 people on Sunday alone. Pro-democracy lawmakers said it was increasingly clear that police have a double standard when it comes to enforcing the ban on large gatherings, and are using the remaining distancing restrictions to try and prevent the return of anti-government demonstrations, while largely allowing other groups to gather with impunity. "It's quite blatant that the police are selectively exercising their powers to use the ban of gatherings of eight people to suppress protests rather than to promote social distancing," said opposition politician Fernando Cheung. "Many large congregations in front of bars or in shopping areas were tolerated, while congregations related to protests are quickly being declared illegal and people are ticketed or arrested. Such selective practice of law enforcement will only further anger Hong Kongers." The government is attempting to get Hong Kong back to normal from the depths of a recession that began well before the pandemic. The violent unrest that started last year kept tourists away and hurt businesses - particularly retail, hotels, restaurants and bars - and many pro-establishment politicians worry renewed unrest will hamper the city's much-needed recovery. On Friday, officials eased a ban on gatherings - with groups of eight people now allowed, up from four previously - even as protesters began reemerging. The Hong Kong Police Force said Monday that protesters "ignored warnings" to disperse and said any group gathering could increase the risk of spreading the virus. On Sunday, they arrested 230 people for unlawful assembly and a range of other offenses, including assaulting a police officer. Officers also issued fixed penalty tickets to 19 people for violating the gathering ban. "Members of the public are advised not to participate in any prohibited group gathering," the force said in a statement. "Police adopt zero tolerance against any violation and will take strict enforcement action." Since the outbreak, Hong Kong has successfully contained the virus's spread -- allowing restaurants to remain open and only briefly closing bars -- even as cities around the world shut down almost completely. Yet despite leader Carrie Lam's successes in containing the virus, recent arrests of prominent pro-democracy figures have raised the ire of resurgent protesters. Beijing's two main agencies overseeing Hong Kong have also argued for a greater role overseeing the city, while Lam and other pro-establishment politicians push for a controversial national security legislation and a law that would make it illegal to disrespect China's national anthem - moves that would likely spark more unrest. "Beijing continues to blame Hong Kongers for the political instability and economic damage," prominent pro-democracy campaigner Joshua Wong tweeted Monday. "But China's unrelenting assault on Hong Kong's freedom and legal autonomy guarantees that the resistance will continue." The tumultuous weekend, which followed scuffles between lawmakers in the city's Legislative Council Friday, highlighted how deep divisions and political instability remain key concerns for Hong Kong going into a key election for the body in September. It could also fuel protesters' concerns that social distancing measures enacted to contain Covid-19 will be used to keep them from gathering over the summer, after rallies all but disappeared amid the pandemic. Over the weekend, hundreds of protesters gathered in malls across Hong Kong, chanting anti-government slogans and singing protest songs, with the largest on Sunday in the dense Mong Kok neighborhood on the Kowloon side of the city's harbor. Some tried to light garbage bins on fire, but were quickly dispersed by police. Some journalists covering the chaos were pepper sprayed, according to the South China Morning Post. The new round of demonstrations came after several other smaller rallies in recent weeks, leaving many in Hong Kong to wonder if this summer will see a repeat of last year's months of unrest, which began in June over a now-dropped bill allowing extraditions to China and grew to include calls for greater democracy. Hong Kong reported only three new coronavirus infections Sunday, all of them imported including from a recent repatriation flight from Pakistan, for a total of 1,047 confirmed cases. It hasn't recorded a locally transmitted case for more than 20 days, and last saw a Covid-19 related death in mid-March. Still, its economy doesn't have the scope to handle renewed protests that could interfere with the recovery, Financial Secretary Paul Chan wrote in a blog Sunday. "The epidemic can be prevented and controlled, but violence is hard to stop," Chan wrote. "In recent days, crowds and conflicts have reappeared in some areas, and even interfered with the operations of shops or malls. This is absolutely bad news for the already-weak Hong Kong economy, retail market, small shops and wage earners." Two Iranian warships dock in the Sudanese Red Sea city of Port Sudan on Dec. 8, 2012. (AFP via Getty Images) Iranian Warship Accidentally Fires Missile During Naval Exercise, Killing 19 An Iranian warship accidentally fired a missile at a nearby Iranian vessel during a naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman on May 10, killing at least 19 sailors and injuring 15 others, the Iranian navy said in a statement. Irans semi-official Fars news agency reported on May 11 that the Iranian frigate Jamaranwhich is operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)accidentally fired a new anti-ship missile that struck the Konarak, a logistical ship, during a live-fire exercise. The Konarak is a domestically made support ship that joined the naval fleet in 2018. The missile from Jamaran was fired before the Konarak had moved far enough out of range, according to the news agency. Videos published on social media appear to show wounded sailors being moved from the vessel and transferred to ambulances. The Epoch Times hasnt been able to verify the content of the videos. The incident took place in the perimeter of Irans southern Jask port on the Gulf of Oman during Iranian Navy drills on Sunday, Iranian state TV confirmed, quoting the Iranian navy. The 15 injured are hospitalized in good condition, according to the ISNA news agency. The Gulf of Oman is a particularly sensitive waterway, connecting to the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the worlds oil passes from the Persian Gulf. Irans armed forces regularly hold exercises in the region. US Warns Iran Not to Harass Ships In a separate incident last month, almost a dozen Iranian naval vessels made dangerous and harassing maneuvers near U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Persian Gulf, also known as the Arabian Gulf, the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said. The Navy said on April 15 that 11 vessels from Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy (IRGCN) came dangerously close to six U.S. vessels, repeatedly crossing their bows and sterns while they were conducting integration operations with U.S. Army Apache attack helicopters to support maritime security outside of Irans territorial waters. The U.S. Navy said the dangerous and provocative actions from the IRGCN increased the risk of miscalculation and collision and were not in accordance with the internationally recognized Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea. They were not in accordance with the obligation under international law to act with due regard for the safety of other vessels in the area, the statement said. While Iran is a signatory of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, it never ratified the treaty. In response, President Donald Trump said he instructed the Navy to destroy Iranian gunboats if they harass U.S. ships. Reuters contributed to this report. Afghanistan's Defense Ministry says six soldiers were killed and five wounded in a Taliban attack on an army checkpoint in the eastern province of Laghman as a wave of violence threatens an accord aimed at ending fighting in the war-torn country. The Defense Ministry said in a statement on May 11 that the troops repelled the attackers, adding that the Taliban also suffered casualties though it did not provide specific figures. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack that occurred late on May 10. In a separate incident four bombs, one placed under a garbage bin and the other three by the side of the road, went off in northern Kabul on May 11, wounding four civilians, including a child, police said. The roadside bombs were spaced within 10-20 meters of one another, said Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz. The wounded child is a 12-year-old girl, Faramarz added. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in Kabul and its surroundings. The explosions in the Tahia Maskan area of Kabul city, targeted vehicles belonging to the National Directorate of Security (NDS), according to security officials. In a meeting with Taliban representatives in Qatar last week, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad stressed the need for a cease-fire after an uptick in violence throughout the country. The Taliban has not carried out any large attacks in the capital since it signed a landmark deal with Washington in February meant to pave the way for peace in the country after more than 18 years of war. But the Afghan capital has been the scene of several smaller-scale attacks over the past week, including explosions from two hand grenades late on May 10 in the western part of Kabul. There were no casualties in that attack, according to Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Meanwhile, an exchange of prisoners between the Afghan government and the Taliban has continued under the February deal, which stipulates that Kabul should 5,000 Taliban prisoners, while the militants are to release 1,000 captives -- a move expected to lead to intra-Afghan negotiations. The government says it has freed 1,000 Taliban prisoners. The militants have confirmed the release of 300 Taliban members and said they have freed 225 Afghan soldiers -- a figure not confirmed by the government. With reporting by AP, dpa, AFP, and Tolonews.com Victorian students will make a "gradual, staged return" to face-to-face classes in term two, the Andrews government says, though no return dates have been announced. Parents, students and teachers were left hanging on Monday about when classes will resume as part of Victoria's progressive easing of COVID-19 restrictions. The youngest students could be among the first to return to classes this term. Credit:Quentin Jones Victoria is the only state or territory that is yet to set a date on a return to classes. Premier Daniel Andrews said the government was "close to finalising a plan to see face-to-face learning return before the end of term two". Face masks are being purchased by the New Canaan Public Schools and procurement is being investigated by the state, but no directive from the governor has been issued yet for school districts or colleges as to whether students will be required to wear them in the fall. The New Canaan Public School district has ordered masks for K-12 students to wear, to keep them safe from the coronavirus. The superintendent is ordering masks, that (students) are supposed to wear , First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Friday. Superintendent Bryan Luizzi, who is the president of the Southern Fairfield County Superintendents Association, said he has not heard of any other districts ordering masks. As for a statewide mandate? State Rep. Lucy Dathan, D-New Canaan, said it is too early to say. I know the Reopen Advisory Group and (State Department of Education) are working on what is the most efficient and cost-effective way to procure PPE and other materials that schools may need in the fall, Dathan said, referring to personal protective equipment, such as gloves and face masks that are worn to minimize exposure to hazards such as contagious diseases. Legislators have been providing the State Department of Education, with ideas, suggestions, and relaying questions that come in from parents, school districts, school staff, and students to help shape their policies during this time, Dathan said. While the governors authority is pretty broad with respect to handling the pandemic, the legislature is the policy-making body and we expect will be involved in these sorts of longer-term plans, Dathan said. And what about older students? The governors education task force has said they are hopeful that as of Sept.1, residential dorms will open up and what they are going to do is require the masks outside the dorm. They are going to treat dorm roommates as a family unit, said state Rep. Tom ODea, R-New Canaan. You dont have to wear masks in your dorm room, but outside theyre anticipated to wear the masks, he said. 11.05.2020 LISTEN A member of the National Democratic Congress COVID-19 Technical Team, Dr. Prosper Akanbong has accused President Akufo-Addo of diverting his focus from the management of the COVID-19 pandemic and delving into politics. Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, Dr. Akanbong said he did not understand why President Akufo-Addo will take on critics of his management of the COVID-19 fight when he himself called for everyone to come on board to help fight this COVID-19 pandemic. He called on political parties, he called on Ghanaians and everyone. Now when people are coming to make recommendations and suggestions and lending their supports in terms of PPE and food items, what political relevance are they trying to gain from this? I think that he [President Akufo-Addo] is trying to change his focus from the management of COVID-19 to be political because most of these political parties were already grouping and being relevant before this pandemic came, he argued. President, Nana Akufo-Addo on Sunday urged Ghanaians not to begrudge political actors criticising government's handling of the COVID-19 fight. According to him, most of the critics are political actors seeking to stay relevant. I know some political actors will want you to believe that our current numbers represent a failure on the part of Government. Do not begrudge them. They need to make such comments for their political survival. On the contrary, we must be emboldened in the knowledge that the four thousand, seven hundred (4,700) persons infected, so far, with the virus, have been identified, taken out of the population, isolated and are being treated, the President said. Akufo-Addos lecture on nutrition unnecessary Dr. Akanbong on the Citi Breakfast Show further said the Presidents admonishment of Ghanaians to indulge in activities that will improve personal hygiene and fitness was not necessary. I will say that he should have spared us the lecture on nutrition because that was not necessary. He should have left those to his technical people to do it. He shouldnt be telling us now, he urged. As of Sunday, May 10, 2020, Ghanas case count of the outbreak, stood at 4,700 with 494 recoveries and 22 deaths. Extension of ban public gathering President Akufo-Addo also extended the national ban on public gatherings including religious activities, festivals, and funerals till the end of May. The extension comes into full force today, Monday, May 11, 2020. He said while the ban has created a lot of inconvenience for many Ghanaians, we have no option but to stay focused. ---citinewsroom The Drugs Law Enforcement Unit of the Volta Regional Police Command has arrested a gang of three for processing Indian Hemp into slabs in a dawn swoop at Ve-Koloenu in the Afadzato South District of the Volta Region. They are George Agidi, 30, also known as 'Doctor Aggrey', Adam Razak, 31 and Isaac Nunekpeku, 17, all arrested on May 07, this year. According to Mr Prince Dogbatse, Volta Regional Police Public Relations Officer, the trio were arrested while packaging suspected cannabis into compressed and industrial slabs meant for commercial distribution. He said a total of eight sacks of the compressed Indian Hemp and tools including seven heavy-duty car jacks and a special purpose metal fabrications used in molding the slabs were also seized. Mr Dogbatse indicated similar exercises would be replicated in other parts of the region to reduce incidents of violent crimes considered products of narcotics use. He assured the public of the commitment of the Command to deliver on its mandate urging it to assist the Police with leads into criminal activities. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video People who arrive into Ireland from Britain will still have to self-isolate. The government says it has "no plans" to change those regulations, despite the UK relaxing rules on people who arrive from Ireland and France. A government spokesperson confirmed anyone who arrives into Ireland from abroad will have to complete a form and self-isolate, regardless of where they departed. That is despite the UK saying anyone flying in from Ireland won't have to self-isolate. Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness says the Irish approach has been consistent across the board. "I think this is an issue acoss Europe to try and get a co-ordinated approach to easing border restrictions but only with the recommendations around public health," said Ms McGuinness. At the moment, anyone who travels from Northern Ireland is exempt from the self-isolation guidelines. Security Correspondent with the Irish News, Allison Morris says the issue around travel has caused confusion in the North. "All the experts, the virologists, the doctors have all said there has to be more monitoring who is coming in and out of the country. "There is no point in us having a lockdown here and being very strict and trying to bring infection down but we're not monitoring who is coming in and out." It's expected the Stormont Executive will outline its own approach to easing lockdown restrictions tomorrow. French auto major Renault on Monday said it has reopened its corporate office, select dealerships and service centres in India after relaxation of guidelines for the COVID-19 induced lockdown by the government. Renault India has opened more than 194 showrooms and workshops in line with the new safety protocols and the remaining touchpoints will be opened in a phase-wise manner based on permissions from the local authorities, the company said in a statement. The company said it has introduced several safety and hygiene measures as it prepares to "welcome back customers" across all its touchpoints. Commenting on the reopening, Renault India Operations Country CEO & Managing Director Venkatram Mamillapalle said globally, Renault is gradually resuming business operations country by country. "In India, we have started the business operations in a phased manner. We have a long-term commitment here and India plays an important role in the strategic operations of Groupe Renault. Customer safety and satisfaction is our main objective and is one of the driving forces behind everything we do," he said. As the lockdown is gradually being lifted and business is slowly resuming, Mamillapalle said,"Our primary focus is on ensuring that we safeguard our customers, by introducing rigorous safety and hygiene practices across all touchpoints." At the same time, he said, "Health, safety and well-being of all Renault employees, dealers and other stakeholders, their families and the community at large is of utmost importance, and we have taken necessary actions on all these fronts as well." Renault India dealerships have ensured special care to sanitise their facilities and test drive cars. There are multiple training programmes, protocols and processes in place to monitor the execution of Renault's customer-first initiatives and efforts, as a part of the 'Welcome Back' initiative, the company added. There has also been a gradual recommencement of business operations across India Alliance entities in accordance with regulations of government and local authorities, it said. Phased-wise operations have commenced at Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd. (RNAIPL), Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India Private Ltd. (RNTBCI), Renault Finance and the Renault corporate office in Chennai. Renault has also started dispatches of cars from the plant to north India and Tamil Nadu. Export of critical 'Make in India' parts has begun from the facilities in Chennai and Pune to select global markets, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pastor Tunde Bakare, the Senior Pastor of Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC) formerly known as The Latter Rain Assembly, has called on Nigerian church leaders to offer their church halls as Isolation centers to the government as the nation continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic. Bakares advice comes days after Bishop David Oyedepo and Chris Oyakhilome kicked against the federal governments Continuous ban on religious gatherings. Speaking during an online service today, May 10 the former Vice-Presidential candidate, said he has already donated his churchs facilities to the Lagos state government and a private residence in Abeokuta to the government to use as Isolation centers. READ ALSO Stop Celebrating Nigerias Enemies: Tunde Bakare Warns Nigerians Advertisement Speaking, pastor Tunde said: I recommend that our church halls be made available to government as Isolation centers and those of us who could afford it should be there to support the government. Watch The Video Here: There is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free, former president Barack Obama reportedly told members of the Obama Alumni Association. Thats the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic not just institutional norms but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as weve seen in other places. This is, at best, shameless projection. We now know that the Obama administration engaged in unprecedented abuses of power, not merely in its persistent attempts to circumvent the other branches of the United States government, but in its weaponizing of government institutions for partisan ends, including our intelligence agencies. Flynn, notwithstanding Obamas contention, was never charged with perjury a crime which entails lying under oath. Flynn faced trumped-up charges related to a conversation in which he allegedly misled FBI agents. Flynn, who didnt even know he was under investigation, was entrapped by agents conducting an inquiry devoid of any credible evidence. The Obama administration already had recordings of Flynns calls with the Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and knew that the incoming national-security adviser, who spoke to numerous heads of state, did not undermine American interests which often change, and are a matter of interpretation nor had he agreed to drop Russian sanctions on Donald Trumps behalf. Not even the agents who conducted the interview believed that Flynn had willfully intended to deceive them. Flynn was only charged ten months after the conversation, and only to keep the bogus Russia collusion investigation going. Even then, the FBI hid exculpatory evidence from Flynn and his lawyers, as Obamas allies in the Trump administration and Muellers deputies continued to pretend that the former general was a linchpin. Story continues Flynn initially pleaded guilty because he was facing bankruptcy and threats that his son would be prosecuted for unrelated crimes. Of course, even if Flynn had lied about an innocuous and complete legal conversation with the Russian ambassador in the midst of hysterical partisan-fueled media firestorm over collusion, it would have been irrelevant. Considering these facts, its unsurprising that the Justice Department dropped its case against Flynn with prejudice. U.S. attorney Jeffrey Jensen found that investigation was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBIs counterintelligence investigation. Jensen could have added that the Flynn prosecution was a transparent attack on the rule of law. The Obama administration and its allies had attempted to smear a decorated former general as a seditious operative by ensnaring him in a preposterous violation of the Logan Act a 1799 law that criminalizes negotiation by unauthorized citizens with foreign governments, and has never been used successfully against any citizen. This effort seems especially outlandish when one considers that even as Flynn was being prosecuted, Obama administration officials such as John Kerry were meeting with geopolitical foes from Iran and brazenly negotiating American foreign policy. There is, regrettably, much precedent for law enforcement engaging in strong-arm tactics to intimidate Americans into accepting plea deals for various reasons. Most of those victims dont have the legal or financial wherewithal to fight back. There is no recent precedent, however, of an administration opening a criminal investigation into its political rivals during a presidential election. There is no precedent of basing that flimsy investigation on misleading and inaccurate information derived from a fabulist document like the Steele Dossier, paid for by the Democratic Party and itself larded with Russian disinformation. There is no precedent of an administration and later its allies spying on its political enemies in a presidential campaign, utilizing fraudulent proof, and purposely withholding contradicting evidence. And Obama claims hes worried about institutional norms? Last week, Representative Adam Schiff, who has been flagrantly lying about possessing Russia collusion evidence for years, has finally forced to release transcripts of House Intelligence Committeeled investigation into Russian interference. The transcripts show that Obama-era officials when under oath, rather than on TV possessed no evidence of any criminal conspiracy. This includes former director of national intelligence James Clapper, who, lets not forget, spied on the American people through a domestic-surveillance program and then lied about it under oath to Congress. Obama let him get off scot-free. Its no surprise that the Mueller investigation, despite its best efforts, couldnt come back with a single indictment against anyone in the Trump administration for criminal conspiracy with Russia during the 2016 campaign. Then again, Obama allies succeeded in overwhelming our news coverage with conspiracy theories, and persuaded millions of gullible voters that the Russians had stolen the election. Those who work to undermine the peaceful transition of government power are the ones attacking the rule of law. Obama, incidentally, is also wrong that Americans cant point to any precedent of someone perjuring themselves and getting away with it. Well always have Bill Clinton. The revisionist tale we hear these days is that Clinton lied about sex. Sex might have been the immediate topic of the question. Yet Clinton lied not only to avoid the embarrassment and political ramification of his actions, but also to obstruct a grand jury investigation into Paula Joness sexual harassment lawsuit. Clinton got off scot-free for his abuse of power. The question now is: Will those who conceived and executed the Russia-collusion swindle escape scot-free as well? More from National Review THE enhanced community quarantine in Cebu City is due to expire on Friday, May 15. Will Mayor Edgardo Labella extend it or allow it to lapse? Will he modify it or revert to general quarantine, which was what we had until its enhancement? Its a difficult decision especially in the light of the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the city. On the other hand, he has to consider the harm to the economy that the continued closure of all but essential businesses can cause. Public health and the economy are two competing interests these days. Labella will listen to both sides but at the end of the day, it is going to be his call. However he decides, he can expect to be criticized. The panicky will react strongly to any measure easing up restrictions on the movement of people. The displaced workers are impatient to return to their jobs. And there are those who just love to criticize. The undeniable fact is that we have an epidemic and we do not know when it is going to abate. That is something that should be foremost in everyones minds. Five placessitios Zapatera in Barangay Luz, Callejon in Labangon, Alaska in Mambaling and, just the other day, Bagumbayan in Carretaand the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center in Kalunasan had been found to have a fairly large number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, making them veritable hot spots of the disease in the city. As a result, Zapatera, Callejon, Alaska and Bagumbuhay were all placed under a lockdown. The BBRC was not included because there was no need for further restrictions since its residents are already locked up. All these places are densely populated, making social distancing very difficult to observe. But the inmates situation is worse; they cannot choose who to bunk with and the jail is more congested than the shanty of an informal settler with a wife and four children. They have not received as much attention as the afflicted people who are living in the outside. I seriously doubt if they have ever received toiletries or any relief assistance from either the public or the private sector. These are after all, in the minds of many, house guests of the government. Besides, they are in jail because they have done wrong and therefore do not deserve equal treatment as those out of it. Story continues But what if they really did not do wrong? What if they have been wrongly accused but have not been released because the process of determining his guilt (or innocence) is long and tedious? What if he has not been able to post bail because he could not afford it or his application to be granted temporary liberty has not or cannot be heard? I do not blame the judges. Their hands are tied by the rules. They cannot grant bail in non-bailable offenses if the evidence of guilt is strong. And they cannot make a determination on weakness or strength without giving the prosecution an opportunity to be heard. Many judges have been disciplined for not observing this procedure. The courts have a rule granting priority to cases involving detention prisoners in the schedule of hearings. There is no better time to strictly observe and even improve that rule than now. Obviously, they cannot free everyone from prison simply because it has been hit by an epidemic. But at the same time, it would be a tragedy if some of the prisoners who may have been eligible to post bail are unable to do so and as a result continue to be exposed to the disease simply because there was not enough time to hear their plea. I respectfully submit, Your Honors. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that the Centre should not play politics at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has gripped the country. We as a state doing our best to combat the virus. The Centre should not play politics in this crucial time. We are surrounded by international borders and other bigger states and have challenges to deal with, Banerjee said at the video-conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. All the states should be given equal importance and we should work together as Team India, she said, adding that the federal structure should be respected. The Centre had recently rapped the West Bengal government over its Covid-19 management which, it said, was characterised by a very low rate of testing in proportion to the population, and the highest mortality rate in the country - of 13.2 per cent. The state government, however, said less number of active cases was detected in the initial days due to lack of infrastructure, and this resulted in an apparently high rate of deaths in the state. The Centre had also come down heavily on the Mamata Banerjee government for not allowing movement of goods traffic through border crossings between India and Bangladesh that could jeopardise Indias international commitments to the neighbouring country. In a scathing letter to West Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla said that by doing so, West Bengal was not just violating the ministry of home affairs orders under Disaster Management Act including the guidelines but also Articles 253, 256 and 257 of the Constitution of India. Article 253 of the Constitution deals with the legislation for giving effect to international agreements while articles 256 and 257 give powers to the Centre for issuing directions to the state that are obligatory for latter. He reminded the state government of lockdown measures issued on May 1 according to which no state/union territory shall stop movement of cargo for cross-border land trade under treaties with neighbouring countries. After this, the West Bengal government suggested that trade between India and Bangladesh can continue through Gede in south Bengals Nadia district during the coronavirus lockdown. The pressure on troubled social network Facebook will in the future approach to strengthen the fight against hate messages and false reports before the us presidential election clear. Incorrect content, to prevent people in the three days directly prior to the vote in the November vote, would away, said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday (local time) in Palo Alto. Among other things, it is the wrong message, according to Federal officials at the polls for the status of residence of voters. In the 72 hours before the American presidential election, Facebook wants to remove also strengthened false claims about the conduct of the poll in polling stations. in addition, would increase the Standards for advertising, there-for derogatory and hateful messages about ethnicity, not to block Religion or sexual preferences fulfilled. Zuckerberg also announced some Facebook content that are actually in violation of the guidelines of the social network, but, for example, due to a prominent sender's message to be relevant to flank in the future with References. "I stand against hatred and incites what is violence," says Zuckerberg. Facebook was only a few weeks ago come in for considerable criticism because the network took the controversial Statements by the us President Donald Trump of the platform or as a problematic-marked. Zuckerberg had condemned the Remarks personally, but at the same time declares that it would have to be in the public interest more accessible. Updated Date: 26 June 2020, 20:19 ST. PAUL, Minn., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson // Becker, PLLC is a nationwide plaintiff's law firm with experience representing injured men and women in lawsuits against pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Johnson // Becker represents several individuals who allege they have suffered permanent vision loss after use of the drug Elmiron . The Complaint, alleges that Janssen failed to properly warn patients and their physicians about the substantial vision risks associated with use of their drug Elmiron. The complaint further states, "According to the [email protected] website, the label for Elmiron has been updated on approximately five occasions, at no time has it contained any information about vision loss, including pigmentary maculopathy, in any section of the label. The only mention in the label of any visual adverse events is a disclosure in the Adverse Reactions section that reveals clinical trial patients reported conjunctivitis, optic neuritis, amblyopia, and retinal hemorrhage. However, none of these adverse events are related to pigmentary maculopathy." The cases, English v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. et al. and Pisco v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. et al. , were filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 6, 2020. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, part of the Johnson & Johnson umbrella of companies, is a Pennsylvania corporation. These companies have marketed Elmiron since the 2000s. The Plaintiff alleges that the company has never provided any warning of maculopathy or retinopathy associated with use of the drug or warned patients to have regular eye exams to monitor vision while using the drug. Timothy J. Becker and Stacy K Hauer of Johnson // Becker are counsel of record. Mr. Becker and Ms. Hauer have a combined experience of more than 40 years of litigating mass tort cases involving pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Talk to Your Doctor About Elmiron Associated Retinal Maculopathy If you or a loved one has ever taken Elmiron, you should have your eyes examined by an Opthamologist. Download our free PDF guide that you can share with your primary care provider, urologist or ophthalmologist that provides valuable information on the latest research and discoveries pertaining to Elmiron associated retinal maculopathy. To learn more about Johnson // Becker and the Elmiron lawsuits, or to arrange a free, no-obligation case review, please visit Johnson // Becker at https://www.johnsonbecker.com/drug-injuries/elmiron-lawsuit/ or contact the lawyers at (800) 279-6386. SOURCE Johnson // Becker, PLLC Related Links https://www.johnsonbecker.com Hong Kong authorities said they arrested 230 people during pro-democracy protests over the weekend after a sing-along demonstration at a shopping centre spilled out on to the streets of the China-ruled city. Hundreds of riot police were deployed to disperse the protesters on Sunday, with some members of the media caught up in the chaos that evoked memories of the sometimes violent unrest that rocked the global financial hub throughout last year. Police said the arrested persons were aged between 12 and 65 and their offences included unlawful assembly, assaulting a police officer and failing to produce proof of identity. One man was found to have materials believed to be intended for making petrol bombs, police said. Images beamed live from the working class district of Mong Kok showed riot police pushing back some reporters and firing pepper spray amid chaotic scenes. Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets Show all 10 1 /10 Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets A pro-democracy protester is detained before being arrested by undercover police during a protest calling for the city's independence in Mong Kok district on 10 May AFP/Getty Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets Journalists gather round a pro-democracy protester in Hong Kong shopping centre on 10 May AFP/Getty Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets Pro-democracy protesters sing songs during a rally at a shopping centre in Hong Kong on 10 May Getty Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets Police officers clear a shopping centre of protesters on 10 May EPA Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets Riot police wearing protective masks stand guard during a demonstration outside a shopping centre in Hong Kong on 10 May Getty Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets Pro-democracy protesters stage a rally at a shopping centre in Hong Kong on 10 May Getty Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets Police officers patrol the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront where protests are scheduled to take place on 10 May AFP/Getty Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets Riot police stand guard in a shopping centre during a pro-democracy protest on 10 May Getty Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets Pro-democracy protesters stage a rally at a shopping centre in Hong Kong on 10 May Reuters Pro-democracy protesters return to Hong Kong streets A pro-democracy protester is detained by an undercover police officer during a protest calling for the city's independence in Mong Kok district on 10 May Getty Footage showed protesters being subdued on the ground, scuffles and people bleeding. The Hospital Authority said 18 people were taken to hospital. Police fired pepper spray at journalists and activists, and conducted stop and search operations on members of the public and media. The Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) said some members of the press were prevented from filming. Some journalists who were sprayed by pepper spray were not allowed to receive immediate treatment, and they were requested to stop filming, said Chris Yeung, chair of the HKJA. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The outbreak of coronavirus and strict rules to curb its spread had brought a relative lull in anti-government protests this year, but the recent arrest of democracy activists and renewed concern about Beijing's tightening grip on the city have revived the movement. Police in riot gear told protesters they were staging an illegal assembly and violating anti-virus measures that bar gatherings of more than eight people. Roy Kwong, a Democratic Party member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, was arrested for disorderly conduct in a public place, police said. Video footage showed Mr Kwong apparently being pushed to the ground and then surrounded by officers. He was later taken to hospital after he said he was feeling unwell. The financial hub is gearing up for protests over the next few months, with activists calling for two million people to gather for an annual march on 1 July that marks the anniversary of its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Reuters NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Genesco Inc. (NYSE: GCO) today provided details on store reopening plans as well as business updates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Friday, May 1, 2020, Genesco began reopening some stores where state and local officials have allowed malls to operate. The Company's Journeys business is currently operating in more than 300 locations and anticipates reopening over 400 stores by the end of May. The Company's Johnston & Murphy business plans to begin its initial phase of store reopenings with up to 30 locations reopening this week, up to an additional 40 locations next week, and a more aggressive schedule to follow. Based upon the current plans of state and local governments, we expect many more openings in June. All store locations are operating under enhanced measures to ensure the health and safety of our employees and customers, including requiring employees to wear masks, providing hand sanitizer in multiple locations throughout each store for customer and employee use, enhanced cleaning and sanitation protocols, reconfigured sales floors to promote physical distancing, and modified employee and customer interactions to limit contact. The Company's Schuh business is preparing to safely open stores and eagerly awaiting further direction from local governments before setting a timetable to re-start retail operations. Genesco will continue its phased approach to reopen stores when the following conditions are met: state and local governments have allowed stores to operate; we believe we can operate safely under our enhanced health and safety measures; and we believe that we can ensure the safety of our employees and customers Mimi E. Vaughn, Genesco's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "While we have been pleased with the sales we are experiencing through our e-commerce platforms, we are very excited to once again serve our customers through our stores. Our teams have spent countless hours meticulously preparing for the reopening of our stores in the right way with safety and health as our highest priority." Safe Harbor Statement This release contains forward-looking statements, including those regarding our ability to reopen our stores, operate the stores safely and ensure the safety of customers and employees, and all other statements not addressing solely historical facts or present conditions. Actual results could vary materially from the expectations reflected in these statements. A number of factors could cause differences. These include restrictions from government entities and landlords, changes in public safety and health requirements, our ability to adequately staff our stores, the sufficiency of consumer traffic, limitations on our ability to provide adequate personal protective equipment to our employees, and our ability to maintain social distancing requirements. Additional factors are cited in the "Risk Factors," "Legal Proceedings" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of, and elsewhere in, our SEC filings, copies of which may be obtained from the SEC website, www.sec.gov, or by contacting the investor relations department of Genesco via our website, www.genesco.com. Many of the factors that will determine the outcome of the subject matter of this release are beyond Genesco's ability to control or predict. Genesco undertakes no obligation to release publicly the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Forward-looking statements reflect the expectations of the Company at the time they are made. The Company disclaims any obligation to update such statements. About Genesco Inc. Genesco Inc., a Nashville-based specialty retailer, sells footwear and accessories in more than 1,475 retail stores throughout the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, principally under the names Journeys, Journeys Kidz, Little Burgundy, Schuh, Schuh Kids, Johnston & Murphy, and on internet websites www.journeys.com , www.journeyskidz.com , www.journeys.ca , www.littleburgundyshoes.com , www.schuh.co.uk , www.johnstonmurphy.com , www.johnstonmurphy.ca, www.trask.com , and www.dockersshoes.com . In addition, Genesco sells wholesale footwear under its Johnston & Murphy brand, the Trask brand, the licensed Dockers brand, the licensed Levi's brand, the licensed Bass brand, and other brands. For more information on Genesco and its operating divisions, please visit www.genesco.com . Genesco Inc. Financial Contacts Genesco Inc. Media Contact Mel Tucker Claire S. McCall Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Director, Corporate Relations (615) 367-7465 (615) 367-8283 [email protected] [email protected] Dave Slater Vice President, Financial Planning & Analysis and IR (615) 367-7604 [email protected] SOURCE Genesco Inc. Related Links http://www.genesco.com Two C-130 Hercules aircraft from the 908th Airlift Wing, Alabamas only U.S. Air Force Reserve Wing, will fly over 10 cities throughout the state on Tuesday to honor healthcare workers. Hercs Over Alabama, Salute to Healthcare Heroes, will include a two-ship formation flying over Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Muscle Shoals, Florence, Decatur, Huntsville, Birmingham, Auburn, Troy, and Selma. We wanted to show our support for all of the great Alabamians doing everything they can in this fight against COVID19, Col. Craig Drescher, commander of the 908th Airlift Wing, said. We continue to hear all these amazing stories of people stepping up and going above and beyond their civic duty and we wanted to find a way to say thank you. We have members from all over the state, so we wanted to find a way to say thank you to the state and not just our home base city of Montgomery, he added. Flyover schedule Montgomery: 11:10 a.m. - 11:30 p.m. Tuscaloosa: 11:40 a.m. 11:50 a.m. Muscle Shoals/Florence: 12:10 p.m. 12:20 p.m. Decatur: 12:20 p.m. 12:30 p.m. Huntsville: 12:30 p.m. 12:40 p.m. Birmingham: 1:00 p.m. 1:20 p.m. Auburn: 1:25 p.m. 1:35 p.m. Troy: 1:45 p.m. 1:55 p.m. Selma: 2:05 p.m. 2:15 p.m. The flyovers may be delayed or postponed due to weather, air traffic or maintenance. AT least 129 criminals and suspects who fled the country after committing various offences are among the returnees from Botswana, South Africa and other countries. The returnees are being sent to various isolation centres across the country where they will be quarantined for 21 days, as a measure to control the spread of the coronavirus. Police have already started profiling fugitives and suspects who fled the country. National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the fugitives and suspects would be taken to various courts once they are released. They have been taken to various isolation centres where they will be managed during the 21 days of quarantine. As you know there is a lot of information, which is filtering in relation to the nature of the crimes they could have committed either in this country or Botswana and South Africa where they are coming from. The profiling process will also give us direction on how to manage them during and after their quarantine period, he said. Assistant Commissioner Nyathi said 16 suspects were as of yesterday isolated in Matabeleland South while 20 were sent to Matabeleland North. Bulawayo province received 30, Manicaland seven, Midlands got 15 while two others were quarantined in Mashonaland Central. Masvingo and Midlands provinces received 15 each, while one was isolated in Mashonaland East. Two people had been sent to Mashonaland Central as of yesterday. These people are continuing to return into the country and the police will also continue to provide security at these isolation centres, said Assistant Commissioner Nyathi. As of yesterday 1 400 people returned into the country from Botswana, while 1 607 came from South Africa. About 36 people from various countries who returned into the country through the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport are isolated at Courtney Hotel, while 12 are at Prince Edward School in Harare. A cumulative number of 160 people who also came through the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport are also quarantined at ZIPAM. Dendera High School in Mashonaland East has 21 people who passed through Nyamapanda Border Post with 51 people who came through the Chirundu Border Post being kept at Vuti isolation centre. A cumulative number of 363 who came from various countries are being held at Belvedere Teachers College. There are 137 people who came into the country through Kazungula in Victoria Falls. Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Mr Clifford Motera said Government was ready to receive all people who are returning into the country. Mr Motera said Government is also prepared to assist with medication for returning people with medical conditions. We are ready to provide everything that is expected to sustain the lives of the people, that is, providing three meals a day. The Government is also prepared to provide assistance to people who might have medical problems. We will facilitate access to medication and any other things that they might require. There are enough facilities for these people, he said. Mr Motera said there were some development partners, business people and individuals who were coming forward to assist the Government. The Supreme Court on Friday voided the conviction of Orji Kalu, a former Abia State governor, who had earlier been convicted of stealing state funds. Mr Kalu was freed alongside Ude Udeogu, who was the director of finance and accounts at the Abia State Government House during Mr Kalus tenure. Justice Mohammed Idris had on December 5, 2019 sentenced the former governor to 12 years in prison for allegedly stealing public funds while in office. Mr Udeogu was sentenced to 10 years in prison. READ ALSO: The Supreme Court based its ruling on the fact that Mr Idris had already been promoted to the appeal court and was thus wrong to have given judgement on the matter. Download the full judgement of the apex court HERE. The Covid-19 lockdown has offered us an unexpected opportunity to reflect on our relationship with the planet, and the insurmountable evidence of climate change and its impact on our everyday life. Brett Chrystal, Bentel Associates International Re-assessing operational items Time saved on commuting Space planning Working in healthy environments As the lockdown in South Africa forces individuals and families to take stock of what matters most to them, companies similarly have to do a bit of introspection of their own with respect to the impact of the virus on the way they operate, as well as the management of their physical assets.It has become clear that the retail and hospitality sectors are two of the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic prior to the lockdown, with retailers unable or unwilling to pay rental on retail space where they are unable to trade, and hotel chains completely shut down until travel restrictions are lifted and tourism resumes. Following the Covid-19 lockdown, other sectors such as offices and industrial work places have been similarly impacted with no staff permitted at their place of employment.Property owners and developers across the board are, therefore, having to assess how best to make operational savings going forward to minimise the impact on their bottom line. The Covid-19 lockdown in particular has provided companies with the time to re-assess operational items such as waste management, lighting and water and energy efficiency. In addition, the noticeable improvement in the air quality in a number of cities usually impacted by smog and pollution has brought into sharp focus the necessity to curb emissions and reduce the carbon footprint of building stock.Antiquated service facilities, poorly conceived shutdown procedures, and the opportunity to undertake long overdue maintenance while buildings stand mostly vacant during the Covid-19 lockdown have highlighted operational inefficiencies in buildings. Energy efficient facilities which can be remotely operated and monitored will probably receive increased attention, together with designs that will enable optimal efficiency of services depending on the occupancy of the buildings at any given time.Specific technologies such as heat pumps (air source heat pumps for cool climates and ground source heat pumps for heating) solar arrays, battery banks, variable refrigerant flow HVAC systems, heat exchangers, building management systems (BMS) for gas, water and electrical services will become standard.From a building-user perspective, the time saved on commuting has been one of the unintentional benefits of Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdowns worldwide. Rather than merely being a supplementary service, video conferencing applications such as Skype, Zoom and Microsoft Teams have become ubiquitous, replacing the necessity to drive or fly to meetings, and saving valuable time for staff to enjoy a better work/home dynamic.Staff members have also for the large part been ensconced in their own homes with access to facilities, comforts and ease of access which are not always readily available at work. Building owners may have to invest in customising the user experience of their buildings to enhance comfort and promote productivity. Investments may include seamless connectivity between their personal phones, wearables and the equipment in their offices to replicate the connectivity experienced in fibre-linked homes.Space planning may, therefore, also be impacted with staff not permanently desk bound, and hot desks becoming the norm. Far more diverse and flexible spaces will need to be designed more in keeping with co-work spaces, which facilitate a multiplicity of uses and users. Smaller more efficiently serviced buildings occupied by multiple companies with shared facilities may become the norm, rather than entire office blocks devoted to single, large corporate entities which frequently have unused space for expansion purposes.Access to natural ventilation as well as sunlight by building users are elements which house-bound workers have also become accustomed to. This is in stark contrast to most offices which often operate as hermetically sealed environments using mechanical ventilation, and which often have deep floorplates allowing only those lucky enough to be allocated a seat on the periphery with direct access to sunlight.Requests for design changes to existing and new buildings by corporate clients and owners of buildings would not purely be a goodwill gesture towards their staff many studies have proven that staff working in healthy environments are more productive and efficient than those in uncomfortable or sick buildings. The evolution of buildings into sustainable engines for the optimised well-being of the users is, therefore, a win-win situation for all.Architects and designers will need to be cognisant of the clear impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the built environment as highlighted, and engage in a more critical and meaningful dialogue with property owners, developers and potential future users of the buildings to ensure that their designs are flexible, energy efficient, inter-connected and user friendly enough to adapt to the changes that have been wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic. Three people, who disregarded social distancing norms and met a Covid-19 patient over drinks, tested positive for the coronavirus disease in Chamba on Sunday. Chamba deputy commissioner Vivek Bhatia said the trio had attended a party with a truck-driver who had tested positive for Covid-19 on May 6. The driver had returned from Baddi on April 30 with another labourer from his village, who has also tested positive. The driver flouted home quarantine norms and met with friends and villagers, said Bhatia. Authorities are tracing the patients contacts. Bhatia said four people, including the drivers two-year-old daughter, had contracted the virus due to his negligence. The number may further increase, as the three newly diagnosed patients have met others in the area, he said. Bhatia said this incident is also a lesson for others who dont follow social distancing norms or jump quarantine. People coming from outside the state should religiously follow home quarantine norms. Even at home, they should stay away from immune-compromised, co-morbid and vulnerable family members, he said. To deter people from jumping home quarantine, the Chamba district administration has also launched a naming and shaming campaign. Photos and names of those who jump quarantine are published on social media every day. Himachal Pradesh has witness a jump in Covid-19 cases with a total of 18 cases reported in last week, including one fatality. The number of active cases has jumped from one to 17, in one week So far, state has recorded 58 cases. including two casualties. The first case in the state was reported on March 20. Una is the worst-hit district with a total of 17 cases followed by Chamba with 12 cases. Nine cases each have been recoreded in Kangra and Solan, four in Hamirpur; three in Mandi and two each in Sirmaur and Bilaspur. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Deciphering previously invisible dynamics in superconductors Higgs spectroscopy could make this possible: Using cuprates, a high-temperature superconductor, as an example, an international team of researchers has been able to demonstrate the potential of the new measurement method. By applying a strong terahertz pulse (frequency ), they stimulated and continuously maintained Higgs oscillations in the material (2). Driving the system resonant to the Eigenfrequency of the Higgs oscillations in turn leads to the generation of characteristic terahertz light with tripled frequency (3). From sustainable energy to quantum computers: high-temperature superconductors have the potential to revolutionize todays technologies. Despite intensive research, however, we still lack the necessary basic understanding to develop these complex materials for widespread application. "Higgs spectroscopy" could bring about a watershed as it reveals the dynamics of paired electrons in superconductors. An international research consortium centered around the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI-FKF) is now presenting the new measuring method in Nature Communications. Remarkably, the dynamics also reveal typical precursors of superconductivity even above the critical temperature at which the materials investigated attain superconductivity. Superconductors transport electric current without a loss of energy. Utilizing them could dramatically reduce our energy requirements if it werent for the fact that superconductivity requires temperatures of -140 degrees Celsius and below. Materials only turn on their superconductivity below this point. All known superconductors require elaborate cooling methods, which makes them impractical for everyday purposes. There is promise of progress in high temperature superconductors such as cuprates innovative materials based on copper oxide. The problem is that despite many years of research efforts, their exact mode of operation remains unclear. Higgs spectroscopy might change that. Higgs spectroscopy allows new insights into high-temperature superconductivity "Higgs spectroscopy offers us a whole new magnifying glass to examine the physical processes," Dr. Jan-Christoph Deinert reports. The researcher at the HZDR Institute of Radiation Physics is working on the new method alongside colleagues from the MPI-FKF, the Universities of Stuttgart and Tokyo, and other international research institutions. What the scientists are most keen to find out is how electrons form pairs in high-temperature superconductors. In superconductivity, electrons combine to create "Cooper pairs", which enables them to move through the material in pairs without any interaction with their environment. But what makes two electrons pair up when their charge actually makes them repel each other? For conventional superconductors, there is a physical explanation: "The electrons pair up because of crystal lattice vibrations," explains Prof. Stefan Kaiser, one of the main authors of the study, who is researching the dynamics in superconductors at MPI-FKF and the University of Stuttgart. One electron distorts the crystal lattice, which then attracts the second electron. For cuprates, however, it has so far been unclear which mechanism acts in the place of lattice vibrations. "One hypothesis is that the pairing is due to fluctuating spins, i.e. magnetic interaction," Kaiser explains. "But the key question is: Can their influence on superconductivity and in particular on the properties of the Cooper pairs be measured directly?" At this point "Higgs oscillations" enter the stage: In high-energy physics, they explain why elementary particles have mass. But they also occur in superconductors, where they can be excited by strong laser pulses. They represent the oscillations of the order parameter the measure of a materials superconductive state, in other words, the density of the Cooper pairs. So much for the theory. A first experimental proof succeeded a few years ago when researchers at the University of Tokyo used an ultrashort light pulse to excite Higgs oscillations in conventional superconductors like setting a pendulum in motion. For high-temperature superconductors, however, such a one-off pulse is not enough, as the system is damped too much by interactions between the superconducting and non-superconducting electrons and the complicated symmetry of the ordering parameter. Terahertz light source keeps the system oscillating Thanks to Higgs spectroscopy, the research consortium around MPI-FKF and HZDR has now achieved the experimental breakthrough for high-temperature superconductors. Their trick was to use a multi-cyclic, extremely strong terahertz pulse that is optimally tuned to Higgs oscillation and can maintain it despite the damping factors continuously prodding the metaphorical pendulum. With the high-performance terahertz light source TELBE at HZDR, the researchers are able to send 100,000 such pulses through the samples per second. "Our source is unique in the world due to its high intensity in the terahertz range combined with a very high repetition rate," Deinert explains. "We can now selectively drive Higgs oscillations and measure them very precisely." This success is owed to close cooperation between theoretical and experimental scientists. The idea was hatched at MPI-FKF; the experiment was conducted by the TELBE team, led by Dr. Jan-Christoph Deinert and Dr. Sergey Kovalev at HZDR under then group leader Prof. Michael Gensch, who is now researching at the German Aerospace Center and TU Berlin: "The experiments are of particular importance for the scientific application of large-scale research facilities in general. They demonstrate that a high-power terahertz source such as TELBE can handle a complex investigation using nonlinear terahertz spectroscopy on a complicated series of samples, such as cuprates." That is why the research team expects to see high demand in the future: "Higgs spectroscopy as a methodological approach opens up entirely new potentials," explains Dr. Hao Chu, primary author of the study and postdoc at the Max Planck-UBC-UTokyo Center for Quantum Materials. "It is the starting point for a series of experiments that will provide new insights into these complex materials. We can now take a very systematic approach." Just above the critical temperature: Where does superconductivity start? Conducting several series of measurements, the researchers first proved that their method works for typical cuprates. Below the critical temperature, the research team was not only able to excite Higgs oscillations, but also proved that a new, previously unobserved excitation interacts with the Cooper pairs Higgs oscillations. Further experiments will have to reveal whether these interactions are magnetic interactions, as is fiercely debated in expert circles. Furthermore, the researchers saw indications that Cooper pairs can also form above the critical temperature, albeit without oscillating together. Other measuring methods have previously suggested the possibility of such early pair formation. Higgs spectroscopy could support this hypothesis and clarify when and how the pairs form and what causes them to oscillate together in the superconductor. COPENHAGEN - A Danish Lutheran minister who attracted international attention by proclaiming that there is no God or afterlife, but retracted after being suspended, has died. He was 72. The Rev. Thorkild Grosboell died Sunday and had been suffering from cancer, his daughter Mette Kathrine Grosboell told The Associated Press. He was a great man. He should be remembered for that, she said Monday. Grosboell was suspended by his bishop after a May 2003 newspaper interview about a book he had written on faith, in which he told the interviewer: There is no heavenly God, there is no eternal life, there is no resurrection. Helsingoer bishop Lise-Lotte Rebel, whose diocese included Taarbaek, a small town north of Copenhagen where Grosboell was the pastor, handed his case to the government requesting that it take the necessary steps to dismiss him. In Denmark, Lutheran ministers are employed by the state and only the government can fire them after a recommendation from their supervising bishop. The pipe-smoking Grosboell, known for his provocative comments, eventually retracted his statement, apologized and his suspension was lifted. Grosboell was later suspended once more, for ignoring church orders not to repeat the beliefs about which he had made the retraction, from the pulpit. The second time, Rebel said he had made provocative remarks and had spoken in a strongly provocative, hurting, and confusing way. In 2005, he was finally allowed to return to his parish, and stayed there until he retired in 2008, the newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad said. In December 2018, he called himself a Christian atheist. More than 80% of Denmarks population belongs to the State Evangelical Lutheran Church, though only about 5% attend church services regularly. Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Asia Commercial Holdings Limited (HKG:104) as an investment opportunity by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. This is done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward. Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model. See our latest analysis for Asia Commercial Holdings What's the estimated valuation? As Asia Commercial Holdings operates in the specialty retail sector, we need to calculate the intrinsic value slightly differently. In this approach dividends per share (DPS) are used, as free cash flow is difficult to estimate and often not reported by analysts. Unless a company pays out the majority of its FCF as a dividend, this method will typically underestimate the value of the stock. We use the Gordon Growth Model, which assumes dividend will grow into perpetuity at a rate that can be sustained. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a company's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In this case we used the 10-year government bond rate (1.6%). The expected dividend per share is then discounted to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.8%. Compared to the current share price of HK$0.4, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate) = HK$0.03 / (8.8% 1.6%) = HK$0.4 SEHK:104 Intrinsic value May 11th 2020 Important assumptions The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Asia Commercial Holdings as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.8%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.196. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. Story continues Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldnt be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Asia Commercial Holdings, We've compiled three additional aspects you should further examine: Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Asia Commercial Holdings you should know about. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! Other Environmentally-Friendly Companies: Concerned about the environment and think consumers will buy eco-friendly products more and more? Browse through our interactive list of companies that are thinking about a greener future to discover some stocks you may not have thought of! PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the SEHK every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Lucknow, May 11 : Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) President Ajay Kumar Lallu has said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should have convened an all-party meeting to discuss the prevailing Covid-19 crisis. In an exclusive interview to IANS, Ajay Kumar Lallu said: "It is unfortunate that the chief minister has not even sought the involvement of the opposition in dealing with the crisis. The opposition would have given its suggestion and helped in dealing with the situation. "We are also people's representative and would have only helped the government. It is not right to ignore the opposition when Uttar Pradesh is facing a crisis situation." However, he said, that it would not be right to convene an Assembly session in this crisis but an all-party meeting should be held without delay. "As an opposition party, it is not proper for us to take to the streets at this time. We are following the protocols of an opposition party but the government should also learn to work in tandem with other parties. After all, there is nothing political about the pandemic," he said. The UPCC chief said that Congress leaders at the Centre had been giving constructive suggestions and also pointing out the failings of the government. "UP is the biggest state with a population of 23 crores. Almost every section of the society is affected by the Corona crisis. The chief minister is only giving out statistics everyday without realizing that the ground realities are different. "I have written three letters in this regard to the chief minister but have got no response," he said. Ajay Kumar Lallu said that districts like Lucknow, Noida, Agra, Kanpur, Firozabad and Rae Bareli were severely affected in the pandemic but the state government was not effectively dealing with the situation. "The Agra model was being promoted by the state government but look at what is happening to Agra. Doctors, journalists, police personnel -- everyone has been hit by Corona," he said. Replying to a question, he said that the Congress had been working at three levels in the prevailing crisis. "We set up highway task force to help migrant workers who began travelling to their homes on foot. Then we set up Corona fighters' groups and a control room with a helpline. We have set up 'Sanjhi Rasoi' in different districts and have given out food/food packets to over 47 lakh people so far," he said. He said that the party had been trying to reimburse the railway fare paid by migrant workers who have arrived after May 5. "We are asking the government to give us a list of those who have come by train but there has been no response," he said. Talking about the situation in the post-Corona scenario, the UPCC chief said that the situation would worsen because of unemployment and the middle class would be the worst hit. "The BJP should realize that all parties need to join hands and work out a strategy to save the people," he added. (Amita Verma can be contacted at amitaver@hotmail.com) Help India! By Mahesh Trivedi, TwoCircles.net GUJARAT: Amid the ongoing battle against the deadly COVID-19, Muslims in the state of Gujarat are not just fighting the disease but the rising hate and Islamophobia. Support TwoCircles The six-million-odd Muslims in Gujarat are taking on the hatemongers even as the number of Coronavirus positive cases in Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state shot up to 7,700 with the death toll mounting to 472 on May 9. Bruised and battered since the 2002 communal riots in this western Indian state, the minority community had been lying low till the right-wing media last month went to circulate Islamophobic slants of news targeting Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic reformist group, for the spread of coronavirus in India. While the Bharatiya Janata Partys flush-with-funds info-tech cell kick-started what activists said a systematic, synchronised and organized attempt to target Muslims through distortion and lies which were communal in nature and inciteful in tone, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani himself also twiceon April 25 and May 2publicly accused the Jamaat of deliberately spreading the deadly pathogen. But no longer. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of non-government organizations (NGOs), the Muslim community has fought the hate campaigns and stopped them in their tracks. By writing protest letters to Gujarati newspaper editors for sensitive headlines day in and day out, flooding police stations with strongly-worded complaints of harassment, and breathing down the neck of cybercrime officials with constant phone calls, hundreds of alert Muslim men and women throughout the state have been fighting out Islamophobia. Some 1,100 angry oral and verbal representations have been made to editors, television anchors, the police and bureaucrats in the past two months. The result is that countless mischievous social media users have been silenced and newspapers have softened their language, Mujahid Nafees, convener of the Minorities Coordination Committee, Gujarat, told TwoCircles.net. The committee, whose volunteers are spread throughout the length and breadth of Gujarat, has been fighting for the rights of the minorities and campaigning for the establishment of a separate minority welfare ministry in the state, and has launched a helpline (9409185104) for reporting cases of harassment or hatred and seeking guidance on any legal action. The Alpasankhyak Adhikar Manch (Minority Rights Forum) is yet another NGO which has mobilized the minority community for challenging the hatemongers in print, electronic or social media by filing police complaints. Manch convener Shamshad Pathan, a Gujarat High Court advocate, told TwoCircles.net that he held Facebook live sessions to explain the right procedure to approach the police without fear and his efforts paid off with hundreds of FIRs registered not only in big cities but also in small towns much to the chagrin of Hindu fanatics. Indeed, according to Gujarat director general of police, Shivanand Jha, at least 600 FIRs80 per cent of them related to hate campaignshave been lodged against the social media posts peddling fake news and 1,300 people have been arrested since the beginning of the lockdown what with 570 social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram having been suspended or deleted. The constant pressure from the Muslim complainants and watchdogs against hatemongers, who include doctors and lawyers, compelled the Gujarat Police in mid-April to recruit cyber volunteers in Ahmedabad and Surat to help in curbing the spread of hate content and rumours over coronavirus and lockdown on social media. With hate messages still doing the rounds, about 5,000 people, including nearly 800 experts in IT, computer and forensic science, have agreed to offer their services as cyber volunteers, warriors and gurus. On April 8, Ahmadabad executive Mukesh Patel was arrested for describing Tablighi Jamaat as terrorists and asking Hindus not to buy fruits from Muslim vendors, on his Facebook. In mid-April, at a 1,200-bed coronavirus care centre in Ahmedabad civil hospital, said to be the biggest in Asia, separate wards were created for Hindu and Muslim patients, annoying the minority community. A Surat-based accountant also was called out on April 16 for his anti-Muslim Facebook post saying 2,500 people of Tablighi Jamaat had been sent to different parts of India to deliberately spread the deadly coronavirus disease. A few days later, a disabled Muslim man who accidentally dropped currency notes at a petrol pump in Valsad was falsely accused of spreading coronavirus after a video went viral. On April 29, a March 23 video from Maharashtra was shared as Muslims gathering at a mosque in Ahmedabad amid lockdown. Again last month, the cybercrime cell arrested a 53-year-old man for morphing Ahmedabad Polices confidential letter and spreading hate speech on social media regarding Tablighi Jamaat members. He had edited the letter and changed it to read, Hindu brothers are requested not to buy vegetables from Muslim vendors. Worried, some 150 worried youths across Gujarat belonging to Youth Collaborative made note of such hate messages and filed as many as 540 complaints at various police stations in the state citing the mischief-mongers old videos and manipulated photos that had gone viral. Abdul Hafiz Lakhani, editor of popular Gujarati weekly Gujarat Siyasat told TwoCircles.net that Muslims were already maligned and painted as dangerous under systematic propaganda. Coronavirus has added a new dimension, turning Muslims into the new untouchables, he added. Though the Gujarat police have been warning hatemongers against posting communal posts and even filing cases against many, Hindu-Muslim unity, it seems, may remain a pipedream in the land of Mahatma Gandhi. However, human rights lawyers like Pathan are making all-out efforts for making sure Islamophobia is countered and hate messages against Muslims are fought back, even as Muslims account for 50 per cent of corona deaths. We will meet the higher officials after the lockdown and see that the FIRs are converted into convictions, the Manch convener said. A New Jersey grandmother, who survived the Spanish Flu, is back home resting after overcoming the coronavirus. Josefa De Los Santos, originally from the Dominican Republic, was released from a local hospital May 4 after she was hospitalized due to pneumonia in late April. Telemundo 47 reported that De Los Santos, who celebrated her 102nd birthday April 20, spent six days in the medical facility before she was finally discharged. 'I have beaten the virus with the care of my family,' De Los Santos said. Josefa De Los Santos was released from a New Jersey hospital May 4 after beating the coronavirus. The 102-year-old native of the Dominican Republic also overcame the Spanish Flu Josefa De Los Santos holds a rose while lying down on her bed inside her West New York, New Jersey, home last week after she was discharged from a hospital after contracting COVID-19. De Los Santos, who spent six days hospitalized after developing pneumonia, celebrated her 102nd birthday April 20 Family members hold a parade April 20 to mark the 102nd celebration of Josefa De Los Santos outside her home in West New York, New Jersey The Dominican Republic native returned to her West New York residence and was in great spirits as she was surrounded by her family, who expect her to be back to her self. 'It is a miracle to see her return home and defeat COVID-19', her granddaughter Madelyn Tejada said. The state of New Jersey has reported the second-highest of deaths, 9,310, linked to the coronavirus. The state's 21 counties have registered 139,945 confirmed cases. At least 3,340 victims of succumbed to the deadly virus were listed over the age of 80. The global pandemic has caused the death of 80,087 people and sickened 1,344,512 other in the United States. Josefa De Los Santos is cared for by her family inside her New Jersey home last week after she was discharged from a hospital, where she spent six days battling the coronavirus Boris Johnsons eyes momentarily fluttered, his nostrils flared. A surge of his famous boosterism coursed through his veins. The Prime Minister had been asked whether we should be prepared to live with coronavirus for the rest of our lives. I hope, hope, hope, the PM said summoning his most optimistic tones, that we can develop a virus I mean a vaccine! Oops. But then it had been that kind of day. Boris Johnson (pictured) faced a host of questions from both journalists and the public after his public address yesterday where he outlines his plan to ease the lockdown in Britain Boris was hosting the Downing Street Press conference, where he faced a barrage of questions from journalists and members of the public on his plans to ease the lockdown. First observation: he appears to have got some sun on his face over the Bank Holiday weekend. Amazing how much perkier he looked. Otherwise it was a bumbling hours worth of questions. No one can doubt the PM is in a fiendishly difficult position but his responses really were tatty around the edges. Someone called Scott from Devon asked whether he could now meet with other friends and family in the park. Boris replied that you can gather with one other member outside your household, so long as social distancing remains observed. Scott looked baffled. How will this be enforceable? The Prime Minister's address over the weekend was confusing, and both his speech in the House of Commons (pictured) on Monday and the Downing Street press conference later in the day did little to clarify the lockdown situation Simon from Essex asked how he would return to work without childcare available. Boris admitted it was an obvious barrier... that Im sure employers will agree with, so stay at home if you can. Pooja from Solihull claimed the PMs Sunday night statement had left the country with more questions than answers. It was rather hard to disagree. It had been a testing afternoon for the PM. Sir Keir Starmer QC was in the Commons earlier to pass judgment on the Governments new lockdown strategy. The Leader of the Opposition had weighed up the case and, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, had reached the studied conclusion that clarity and reassurance was in short supply. On Monday, Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) told the Prime Minister in the Commons that clarity was in short supply Rocking back and forth on his heels, he raised the still ink-wet Covid-19 Strategy Recovery document aloft with a rococo twirl of the wrists. It was his considered legal opinion, he announced, that said document contained more holes than a colander. Exhibit A in Sir Keirs prosecution concerned a lack of guidelines on people returning to work. He informed the House that details of this could be found on page 25 section B of the new document. Yes, he actually gave the paragraph. There were further gripes with the language in a section marked Guidelines for the workplace. This we were told could be found on page 22. We continued in this detailed, overtly nit-picking vein for several more minutes. The Leader of the Opposition interrogated Mr Johnson over the holes in the PM's coronavirus strategy document that was released on Monday Mr Speaker there are lots of questions, he declared reaching his conclusion. But precious few answers. The Prime Ministers response to his opponent would probably not have been considered altogether satisfactory by a courtroom. We were rather short-changed in the details department. He had spent most of Sir Keirs speech squiggling distractedly in the margins of his notes. Many of us predicted this sort of thing would happen when Starmer became leader. He would ask probing questions of Boris who would in turn largely ignore them. As Boris continued to flannel, the Labour benches groaned in frustration. Their mood soured further when the PM suggested what was going to be needed during this complicated period of readjustment was some old fashioned common sense. The Prime Minister spent the majority of Sir Keir's speech filtering through notes and failed to come up responses that pleased those sitting in the Labour benches Common sense! To Lefties, the mere mention of the word is like presenting Superman with a shard of gleaming kryptonite. It simply terrifies them. Stephen Doughty (Lab, Cardiff S & Penarth) grimaced so hard that he looked as though hed just bit down hard on a crab apple. People need to be told what to do, for Heavens sake! As the Prime Minister stood to leave, he engaged in some Wodehousian small talk with Sir Desmond Swayne (Con, New Forest W). How are you Dessie? he chuntered. Alive, came the response. Boris: Good to hear! I fear that may be about as jovial as his exchanges in the House go for a while. Commuters in protective masks practise social distancing on a train in Paris on Monday. Credit:Getty Images Other countries are far behind Germany. Britain abandoned an initial contact-tracing effort in mid-March when the virus' rapid spread made it impossible. Now it is recruiting 18,000 people to do the legwork of tracking contacts. Britain and other countries are also developing contact-tracing mobile phone apps that can show whether someone has crossed paths with an infected person. In the hardest-hit corner of the US, contact tracers in New York began online training on Monday, and Governor Andrew Cuomo said some upstate areas, including the Finger Lakes, could ease their restrictions after Friday. The Governor set a requirement of 30 contact tracers per 100,000 residents for areas to reopen. That translates to about 6000 workers state-wide performing what he described as a daunting task. Cuomo said contact tracing is "a logistical nightmare, never been done before". Loading Contract tracing across the rest of the US is a patchwork of approaches and readiness levels. In loosening up the country's lockdown, German authorities have spelled out a specific level of infection that could lead to the reimposition of restrictions in local areas. Other countries - and US states - have been vague about what would be enough to trigger another clampdown. The US has seen 1.3 million confirmed infections and about 80,000 deaths, the most in the world by far, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, 4 million people have been reported infected and more than 280,000 have died, more than 150,000 of them in Europe. Health experts believe all those numbers understate the true toll of the outbreak. With Monday's partial reopening in France, crowds formed at some Paris metro stations, but the city's notorious traffic jams were absent. Only half the stores on the Champs-Elysees were open. Parisian hairdressers planned to charge a fee for the disposable protective gear they will have to give customers. Walk-ins will be a thing of the past, said Brigitte L'Hoste, manager of the Hair de Beaute salon. "The face of beauty will change, meaning clients won't come here to relax. Clients will come because they need to," said Aurelie Bollini, a beautician at the salon. "They will come and aim at getting the maximum done in the shortest time possible." A man gets his hair cut at a salon in Sevres, outside Paris, on Monday. Credit:AP Across the Atlantic, hair salons in Florida contended with tight regulations and pent-up demand as they reopened across much of the state, save for some hard-hit areas. The Fringe Salon in Naples was already booked for the entire week, its capacity limited by the social-distancing rules. "It's just pure chaos. Everybody's excited about getting their hair cut," said owner Trish Boettcher. "People are just randomly calling who are not our regular clients." In South Korea, the government clamped down again, halting school reopenings planned for this week and reimposing restrictions on nightclubs and bars. It is trying to track down 5500 patrons of a Seoul nightlife district through credit card transactions, mobile phone records and security footage. Roughly half of Spain's 47 million people shifted into looser restrictions, beginning to socialise, shop in small stores and sit outdoors at restaurants. Its biggest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, remained under lockdown. Spanish hotels reopened with precautions - but also financial bleak prospects - because people aren't allowed to travel outside their provinces and there are few flights from overseas. "Unfortunately this year's business is lost already. It's going to be catastrophic," said Manuel Dominguez, manager at Seville's Dona Maria Hotel. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a modest easing of the country's lockdown but urged citizens not to squander the progress made. Some people, however, were confused as the government shifted its slogan from "Stay at Home" to "Stay Alert." Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland stuck with the old motto. At the risk of more confusion, the British government did an about-face on masks on Monday, telling people to cover their mouth and nose in stores and on buses and subways. People in jobs that cannot be done at home "should be actively encouraged to go to work" this week, Johnson said. He also set a goal of June 1 to begin reopening schools and shops if Britain can control new infections. Johnson himself is the only world leader to suffer a serious bout of COVID-19. At London's Waterloo train station, not everyone was convinced. Local teachers union representatives are pushing back against a call from Ontarios education minister for teachers to ramp-up live video conferencing. In a memo to school boards Friday, Education Minister Stephen Lecce and deputy education minister Nancy Naylor said, while the ministry had expected teachers would embrace the use of synchronous learning during the school closure period, there has been an inconsistent uptake of this mode of learning. The memo called on teachers to increase virtual instruction, which can include a whole-class, small group or one-on-one learning. Jeff Sorensen, president of the Hamilton-Wentworth Elementary Teachers local, worries a focus on real-time classes will make learning prohibitive to some students. If youre not able to log in at 9 a.m., therefore youre not doing math this week, Sorensen said. Every childs home situation is different and not all parents will be able to ensure their child is online at a set time, he said. Hes also concerned about safety. Teachers are being asked to do this and to trust that students wont record them, he said, noting some worry students will maliciously edit a recording. According to the public boards privacy guidelines, No one can take screenshots or use another device to record classroom activities without asking first. It remains unclear how local school boards will follow Lecces directive. Pat Daly, chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, said the board will consult with employee groups and principals to discuss the issue of synchronous (real-time) learning. But thats not to say real-time learning wasnt already happening. We have, previous to the current situation, supported both synchronous and asynchronous learning, Daly said. We left to the professional judgment of teachers what best meets their students needs. The public board says teachers will continue to plan and assign student work based on the guidelines provided in this memo, engage with students regularly, utilizing a range of ways (both asynchronous and synchronous where appropriate). Just as in a regular classroom, principals or vice-principals could have access to a teachers virtual learning environment to observe and offer support, said Shawn McKillop, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board spokesperson, in an email. McKillop said a letter was going out to families Monday evening, which sets out the boards guidelines for privacy and security in virtual classroom settings, among other things. Sergio Cacoilo, president of the Hamilton Secondary Unit of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, says Lecce is moving too fast and not consulting teachers. Stephen Lecce needs to step into a teachers shoes, listen to the noise from both sides, and slow down, Cacoilo said. On the surface, this is not a well-thought-out plan. He also has concerns about privacy issues related to online learning and said many students still dont have access to computers. Daly said all families who needed access to an electronic device, such as an iPad, were given one. Can we guarantee all of our students have it? No, but where the need has been identified, we have responded very, very promptly, he said. The Catholic board is also drafting guidelines on privacy in virtual classrooms for students and teachers. Guidelines may include using virtual backgrounds whenever possible and turn off video and microphones when theyre not needed. Annie Kidder, executive director of People for Education, an advocacy group, says the education ministers directive sounds an alarm bell for her. My alarm bell has to do with how problematic is it to think there is one way that can work for all families, Kidder said. Some families may have university-educated parents who are at home, along with a nanny, while others might be single-parent families who are off at their essential jobs. Thats a huge amount of pressure to put on families who are already under a lot of pressure, Kidder said. We have to remember what its really like to be in a family and that theyre all different and this is not business as usual. A pulmonary blood clot killed the brother of a woman whos facing charges over the disappearance of her children a case that has attracted worldwide attention due to her doomsday beliefs and connection to three mysterious deaths. Autopsy and toxicology reports have been released for Alex Cox who died in December, five months after he fatally shot his sisters estranged husband, Charles Vallow, in what he said was self-defence. Lori Vallow, 46, Cox's sister, is being detained in the US state of Idaho on charges related to the disappearance of her two children Joshua JJ Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17, who both were reported missing in September. Lori Vallow is being investigated over the disappearance of her two Idaho children. Source: Associated Press When Ms Vallow moved from suburban Phoenix to Rexburg, Idaho, she married a man named Chad Daybell just two weeks after his wife, Tammy Daybell, died in October. Though her obituary said the death was from natural causes, law enforcement became suspicious when Mr Daybell quickly remarried. Ms Daybells remains have been exhumed, but the autopsy report has not yet been released. Ms Vallow reportedly believes she is a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christs second coming in July 2020, according to divorce documents Charles Vallow filed before his death. She and Mr Daybell were involved in a group that promoted preparing for the biblical end times. Missing children Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, left, and Tylee Ryan, 17. Source: Associated Press An autopsy revealed Alex Cox, Lori Vallow's brother, died from natural causes. Source: idahonews Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell moved to Hawaii in December, shortly after police went to her apartment in Rexburg to check on the children at the grandparents request. Ms Vallow was arrested in Hawaii in February and is being held on $1 million bail. Detectives investigating Mr Cox's death are going to review the autopsy report, with police saying the case was yet to be closed. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play. FREMONT, Calif. Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed Monday that the company has restarted its California factory, a move that defied local government orders involving measures to contain the coronavirus. In a tweet, Musk practically dared authorities to arrest him, writing that he would be on the assembly line and if anyone is taken into custody, it should be him. State law allows a fine of up to $1,000 a day or up to 90 days in jail for operating in violation of health orders. The plant in Fremont, south of San Francisco, had been closed since March 23. Early Monday, the parking lot was nearly full at the massive factory, which employs 10,000 workers, and semis were driving off -loaded with vehicles that may have been produced before the shutdown. The restart defied orders from the Alameda County Health Department, which has deemed the factory a nonessential business that can't open under virus restrictions. However, no agency appeared ready to enforce the order against Tesla. County Sheriff Sgt. Ray Kelly said any enforcement would come from Fremont police. Geneva Bosques, Fremont police spokeswoman, said officers would take action at the direction of the county health officer. County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, who represents Fremont, said he's been working on the issue for weeks trying to find a way for Tesla to reopen in a way that satisfies the health officer. He said officials were moving toward allowing Tesla to restart May 18, but he suspects Musk wanted to restart stamping operations to make body parts needed to resume assembling electric vehicles. Tesla planned to maintain worker safety, including the wearing of gloves and masks and social distancing. But Haggerty said the company pushed back on checking employee temperatures before boarding a company bus to get to work. Tesla relented, he said, and agreed to check workers. The restart came two days after Tesla sued the county health department seeking to overturn its order, and Musk threatened to move Tesla's manufacturing operations and headquarters from the state. "I don't believe that what happened over the weekend is really something that will move the public health officer," Haggerty said. Tesla contends in the lawsuit that Alameda County can't be more restrictive than orders from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The lawsuit says the governor's coronavirus restrictions refer to federal guidelines classifying vehicle manufacturing as essential businesses that are allowed to continue operating. "Frankly, this is the final straw," Musk wrote in a now-deleted Saturday tweet. "Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately." He wrote that whether the company keeps any manufacturing in Fremont depends on how Tesla is treated in the future. Newsom professed not to know if Tesla had reopened. "Not aware (of) the details of that," he said. "I have great expectations that we can work through at the county levels," the governor said about conflicts involving the Fremont plant. He said county health directors are in charge of restrictions and the timing of any resumption of manufacturing. Alameda County was among six San Francisco Bay Area counties that were the first in the nation to impose stay-at-home orders in mid-March. The order in the Bay Area has been extended until the end of the month, but the counties plan to allow some limited business and manufacturing starting May 18, the same day Detroit automakers plan to reopen auto assembly plants. The governor has repeatedly said that counties can impose restrictions that are more stringent than state orders. Early in the coronavirus crisis, Newsom praised Musk as the "perfect example" of the private sector assisting the state in the pandemic. His comments came after Musk pledged to provide more than 1,000 ventilators to California hospitals, a fact Newsom repeated often and called a "heroic effort." But whether Musk made good on the promise remains in dispute. Several weeks after Newsom was touting the ventilators, the state said it hadn't heard of any being delivered. Musk responded, demanding on Twitter that Newsom correct the record and sharing tweets and screenshots from hospitals and Los Angeles County thanking him for sending supplies. Musk has been ranting about the stay-home order since the company's April 29 first-quarter earnings were released. He called the restrictions fascist and urged governments to stop taking people's freedom. The coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. But it has killed nearly 80,000 people in the U.S., with the death toll rising. Despite Musk's threat, it would be costly and difficult to quickly shift production from Fremont to Texas or Nevada. The Fremont facility is Tesla's only U.S. vehicle assembly plant, and the company would lose critical production if it shut down the plant to move equipment. Musk plans another U.S. factory to increase output, possibly in Texas, and could move production once that plant is up and running. Tom Krisher and Ben Margot of the Associated Press wrote this story. Krisher reported from Detroit. AP Reporters Janie Har and Juliet Williams in San Francisco and Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report. Doctor Flying With United Airlines Shares Photo of Packed Flight Amid Pandemic A doctor on board a United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco documented a full flight and pointed out the lack of social distancing amid the CCP virus pandemic. Dr. Ethan Weiss, a University in San Francisco cardiologist, was returning from volunteering in New York City to treat CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus patients, and he was one of 24 health care professionals on the flight, he told KGO-TV. Im scared of getting on the airplane on Saturday. Ive been taking care of COVID-19 patients for the last two weeks, and Im more scared of getting on the airplane on Saturday than Im walking into the hospital, Weiss said. He also wrote on Twitter that I guess that [United] is relaxing their social distancing policy these days? Every seat full on this 737. In another post, Weiss noted United Airlines sent out an email on April 30 saying the middle seat on every row would be blocked to allow for more space. Also I guess a lot has changed in 10 days pic.twitter.com/mIPdxL13KZ Ethan Weiss (@ethanjweiss) May 9, 2020 If I randomly happen to be seated in an aisle seat and the person in the window seat has COVID, Im probably more likely to get infected there than I would be in the ICU, Weiss told KGO. According to ABC7, about 24 health care workers flew home on the flight for free. In another comment on Twitter, Weiss said that people on the plane are scared and shocked. He also added that I have no idea why most of them are traveling. We are about to land & I just wanted to say a few things. 1) people on this plane are scared/ shocked. 2) I have no idea why most of them are traveling. 3)I am with a group of 25 nurses and doctors who have been working in NYC hospitals for the past 2-4 weeks. We are coming home Ethan Weiss (@ethanjweiss) May 9, 2020 United Airlines released a statement to news outlets about Weisss comments. Weve overhauled our cleaning and safety procedures and implemented a new boarding and deplaning process to promote social distancing. Our flight to San Francisco had an additional 25 medical professionals on board who were flying for free to volunteer their time in New Yorkweve provided complimentary flights for more than 1,000 doctors and nurses in the past few weeks aloneand all passengers and employees were asked to wear face coverings, consistent with our new policy, it said. A week after the leakage of toxic styrene gas from the LG Polymers chemical plant in Visakhapatnam claimed 12 lives; the Uttar Pradesh government has ordered inspection of all hazardous and chemical factories to ensure they have all the necessary safety mechanism in place. The government has asked the labour commissioner and the director, boiler, to get the inspection completed and submit the report in three days. The boiler department, on its part, has issued fresh guidelines to all such industrial units asking them to ensure their compliance for the safety of workers and others. As the state government is allowing industries graded exit from the Covid-19 lockdown, the gas leakage at the LG Polymers plant in Visakhapatnam has apparently caused concern because the tragedy happened during the course of efforts to restart it after lockdown relaxations, a senior labour department official said. Referring to the Vizag gas leak, principal secretary, Suresh Chandra on Saturday wrote a letter to the labour commissioner asking him to get safety measures checked in all the hazardous industrial units. I have been directed to ask you to ensure immediate inspection of safety measures in all the chemical factories and the factories that are using boilers and brief the government of action taken in three days, Chandra has said in his letter. Sources said the labour department had begun inspection after identifying hazardous industrial units, including thermal power plants. A day after the governments order, the UP boiler inspection department also issued detailed instructions for safe operation of boilers asking industries to avoid any structural alteration, addition or repair of the boiler without prior permission. They also said the boiler must not be used at a pressure greater than the pressure allotted in the certificate and safety valve of boilers must not be set to a pressure to such maximum allowable pressure. The boiler must be operated with utmost care. In case of any discrepancy observed during operation, boiler must be stopped immediately to avoid any mishap, said instructions issued by director, boiler, SK Gupta. There are also general instructions issued in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, like regular sanitization of boiler premises, ban on chewing paan/gutkha and spitting in the boiler premises and mandatory medical insurance of all the staff working on boilers. UP, according to sources, is extra cautious in view of a massive boiler explosion in the NTPCs Unchahar thermal plant in November, 2017. More than 30 employees working on the boiler were killed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Keisha Lance Bottoms speaking in 2019: (2020 The Associated Press) Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has said that the killing of Ahmaud Arbery was a lynching and that the White Houses rhetoric is emboldening racists in the US. Last week, two white American men were arrested and charged with murder for the fatal shooting of Mr Arbery, while he was jogging in Georgia. Mr Arbery, who was unarmed, was on a jog, when Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis, pursued the 25-year-old in the city of Brunswick, Georgia. They confronted Mr Arbery and fatally shot him. The shooting took place in February, but it took until last week for the two men to be charged, after the incident became national news and celebrities including Kim Kardashian West and LeBron James called for action. During an appearance on CNNs State of the Union, Ms Bottoms said that the two men were only arrested because a video was released of the killing. Host Jake Tapper asked the mayor if she thought the men were only charged because the story became public, and she replied: I think thats absolutely the reason they were charged. I think had we not seen that video, I dont believe that they would be charged. The mayor said that the killing was part of a bigger issue that were having in this country, and added that its heartbreaking. Its 2020 and this was a lynching of an African-American man. The mayor also claimed that rhetoric from the White House is giving some people in the US permission to engage in racist behaviour and actions. With the rhetoric that we hear coming out of the White House, in so many ways, I think that many who are prone to being racist are given permission to do it in an overt way that we otherwise would not see in 2020, she added. Gregory and Travis McMichael told police that they believed that Mr Arbery had been responsible for a string of burglaries in the area. Earlier today, video footage was released, that showed him walking into a construction site moments before his death, but leaving empty handed. Story continues The familys attorneys released a statement, and said that the footage confirms that Mr Arberys murder was not justified and the actions of the men who ambushed him were unjustified. The US Justice Department announced on Monday that it is assessing all of the evidence to determine whether to apply federal hate crime charges against them. In a statement, agency spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the department will continue to assess all information, and we will take any appropriate action that is warranted by the facts and the law. Read more Two men arrested over fatal shooting of black jogger in Georgia An MP appeared to turn the air blue after experiencing difficulties with her video link to the House of Commons. Conservative MP for South Derbyshire Heather Wheeler was speaking during a debate on Covid-19 when an apparent fault with her feed emerged. Expressing her frustration with the issue, Ms Wheeler appeared to utter, 'Oh f****** hell'. Conservative MP for South Derbyshire Heather Wheeler was speaking during a debate on Covid-19 when an apparent fault with her feed emerged Expressing her frustration with the issue, Ms Wheeler appeared to utter, 'Oh f****** hell' Deputy Speaker of the House, Nigel Evans, told Ms Wheeler to 'please carry on', as her comments were picked up during the feed being broadcast to the Commons Chamber. MPs have had to adapt to the hybrid-Commons system since returning from the Easter recess. Television screens were added to the House, with a number of MPs making their contributions virtually whilst a small number are present in the Chamber. Technology is being used to avoid the need for MPs to return to Westminster from their constituencies across the country. Although MPs are classed as key workers and are able to travel, such movement and the resulting close proximity of politicians in the Palace of Westminster would risk jarring the public mood while millions of people are stuck at home. Romanian care worker Cornelia Weisz arrived in Vienna on Monday after waiting more than two months to resume her work in Austria thanks to a special night train started up despite the border closures due to the new coronavirus pandemic. With a photo of her two children, who remain in Romania, in her bags, the 42-year-old left Timisoara in west Romania Sunday. Her motivation is "of course the salary, which is five times higher than what I could make in Romania," she told AFP. Weisz will spend four weeks to care for an elderly diabetic patient in Austria's western province of Tyrol. Some 65,000 caretakers -- 80 percent of them Romanian and Slovakian women -- normally work in Austria, where some 33,000 people need 24-hour home care. Many of those in need were left struggling when borders suddenly closed in mid-March as countries sought to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. After Vienna's urging, Romania approved the launch of the night train between Timisoara and the Austrian capital, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) apart. Romania, which has reported more than 15,000 COVID-19 cases and almost 1,000 deaths to date, will only start easing its lockdown from this Friday. After undergoing a temperature check before embarking, the 100-odd caretakers, almost all women, also have to take a coronavirus screening test once they reach Vienna. They can only meet the people they will work with after a negative result. After Sunday's debut, five more trains, operated by the Austrian railways OeBB and their Romanian counterparts CFR, are planned until the end of the month. - Eager to return to work - In addition to the salaries as a pull factor, some caretakers also have become close to those they help. "It's as if we are going to meet our family again," said Frusina Samuila, 62, adding during the past two months she had several phone calls with the elderly woman she has been taking care of for three years. Ion, 56, one of the few men among the group, said he was anxious to meet the sexagenarian, multiple sclerosis sufferer whose pain he tries to ease -- and earn money again. "They call me Johann there. All the locals know me," the former plumber said proudly, adding he nonetheless would prefer finding a job in Romania. "I was close to finishing all my savings. How is one able to support himself in this country? And here no one wants to hire someone my age." But working conditions are tough. Romanian media have also reported that families in Austria "exploited" several caregivers, who had difficulties leaving after the borders closed. Besides that, many workers, who normally spent a month in Austria and then one at home before returning again, miss their own families and feel guilty for leaving their own children or elderly parents alone. "I couldn't work for more than a month in a row," Weisz said. After Vienna's urging, Romania approved the night train between Timisoara and the Austrian capital Some 65,000 caretakers -- 80 percent of them Romanian and Slovakian women -- normally work in Austria After Sunday's debut, five more trains, operated by the Austrian railways OeBB and their Romanian counterparts CFR, are planned until the end of the month Over two lakh workers stuck in other states due to the coronavirus lockdown have been brought to Uttar Pradesh in special Sharmik trains till now, an official said on Monday. Besides, over one lakh workers have returned to the state through other modes of transportation in the past four days, he added. Till Monday morning, 184 trains have arrived in the state with 2,20,640 migrant workers. Sixteen trains arrived on Monday and 55 more will be coming later in the day with 70,000 workers, Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Awasthi said. Awasthi said details about them along with their skill set are being collected. In recent days, the UP government has said it is working on plans to generate about 20 lakh jobs for migrants returning home from other states due to the nationwide lockdown imposed after the coronavirus outbreak. Awasthi said strict instructions have been issued to provide conveyance to even those who arrive at state borders on foot. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has instructed that no worker should return home on foot, he said. Awasthi said Uttar Pradesh is receiving the maximum trains bringing migrants from other parts of the country. Trains are now being received at 42 railway stations, he said. Awasthi said the chief minister has directed to make proper arrangements for the return of around 2,000 Nepalese nationals stuck in the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Howard Marks put it nicely when he said that, rather than worrying about share price volatility, 'The possibility of permanent loss is the risk I worry about... and every practical investor I know worries about. When we think about how risky a company is, we always like to look at its use of debt, since debt overload can lead to ruin. We note that Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. (NYSE:TR) does have debt on its balance sheet. But the real question is whether this debt is making the company risky. What Risk Does Debt Bring? Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. While that is not too common, we often do see indebted companies permanently diluting shareholders because lenders force them to raise capital at a distressed price. Of course, the upside of debt is that it often represents cheap capital, especially when it replaces dilution in a company with the ability to reinvest at high rates of return. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together. View our latest analysis for Tootsie Roll Industries What Is Tootsie Roll Industries's Net Debt? As you can see below, Tootsie Roll Industries had US$8.28m of debt, at March 2020, which is about the same as the year before. You can click the chart for greater detail. However, its balance sheet shows it holds US$216.6m in cash, so it actually has US$208.3m net cash. NYSE:TR Historical Debt May 11th 2020 How Healthy Is Tootsie Roll Industries's Balance Sheet? Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Tootsie Roll Industries had liabilities of US$77.2m due within 12 months and liabilities of US$127.2m due beyond that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of US$216.6m as well as receivables valued at US$39.5m due within 12 months. So it actually has US$51.6m more liquid assets than total liabilities. Story continues This short term liquidity is a sign that Tootsie Roll Industries could probably pay off its debt with ease, as its balance sheet is far from stretched. Simply put, the fact that Tootsie Roll Industries has more cash than debt is arguably a good indication that it can manage its debt safely. On top of that, Tootsie Roll Industries grew its EBIT by 34% over the last twelve months, and that growth will make it easier to handle its debt. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since Tootsie Roll Industries will need earnings to service that debt. So if you're keen to discover more about its earnings, it might be worth checking out this graph of its long term earnings trend. Finally, while the tax-man may adore accounting profits, lenders only accept cold hard cash. Tootsie Roll Industries may have net cash on the balance sheet, but it is still interesting to look at how well the business converts its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, because that will influence both its need for, and its capacity to manage debt. During the last three years, Tootsie Roll Industries produced sturdy free cash flow equating to 74% of its EBIT, about what we'd expect. This free cash flow puts the company in a good position to pay down debt, when appropriate. Summing up While we empathize with investors who find debt concerning, you should keep in mind that Tootsie Roll Industries has net cash of US$208.3m, as well as more liquid assets than liabilities. And it impressed us with its EBIT growth of 34% over the last year. So is Tootsie Roll Industries's debt a risk? It doesn't seem so to us. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Tootsie Roll Industries you should know about. At the end of the day, it's often better to focus on companies that are free from net debt. You can access our special list of such companies (all with a track record of profit growth). It's free. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Seventy-two individuals who tested positive for Covid-19 in Wisconsin recently attended a large-gathering before their diagnosis, according to a report. According to The Progressive, the state's Department of Health Services (DHS) confirmed that they had gathered tracing data on a number of people who had contracted the virus. We were able to pull some limited dataout of 1,986 cases with onset/diagnosis on or after 4/26, there were seventy-two cases who reported attending a large gathering," DHS spokesperson Jennifer Miller was quoted as saying in an email to The Progressive. The information comes to light after last month hundreds of people in Wisconsin attended a mass protest at the governor's stay-at-home order. However, it is not possible to say if any of these cases trace back to the rally as the health department is not tracking attendance of specific events. Possible exposures during protests havent been specifically added to the database because we already ask about large gatherings, Ms Miller allegedly said. Contact tracers do ask if patients attended mass gatherings, but not specifically about protests, so theres really no data on who may have contracted Covid-19 at a protest," she added according to The Progressive The rally outside Wisconsins capitol building in Madison drew hundreds of protesters who demanded Democratic Governor Tony Evers reopen the state. Wisconsin Capitol Police said about 1,500 people attended the gathering and there were no arrests and no citations issued. Only one-third of protesters were said to be wearing masks at the event. No, it doesnt specifically state that the 72 were at a rally, but this is the data we have, Ms Miller purportedly said. The Independent has reached out to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for comment. Additional reporting by Reuters. Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander will self-quarantine for 14 days after a member of his staff tested positive for COVID-19. The 79-year-old Republican is doing well and has no symptoms of the respiratory illness, according to a Sunday night statement from his office. He also tested negative for COVID-19 last week. Because of his age, Alexander is among older adults who are considered at high risk for the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 80,000 Americans and more than 280,000 worldwide. "After discussing this with the Senates attending physician, Senator Alexander, out of an abundance of caution, has decided not to return to Washington, D.C., and will self-quarantine in Tennessee for 14 days," said David Clear, Alexander's chief of staff, in the statement. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, before the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Little information has been released about the staffer who tested positive, but the senator's office said that person is recovering and doing well. Alexander will continue to oversee the Senate health committee hearing during his self-quarantine. The news of the senator's self-quarantine comes days after Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary tested positive for COVID-19. The White House denied reports Sunday that Pence was self-isolating. Also Sunday, the White House announced a series of additional precautions to ensure the safety of the president and his staff after two administration aides tested positive for the coronavirus. President Donald Trump and Pence will be tested daily for the virus, as will every staff member in close proximity to them. White House guests will be tested, workspaces will undergo regular deep cleaning, and staff will follow social distancing guidelines, undergo daily temperature checks and have their symptom histories reviewed, White House spokesman Judd Deere said Sunday. A Navy valet who had been in the same room with Trump on Tuesday tested positive last week for the virus. Contributing: Michael Collins and Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Coronavirus: Lamar Alexander, Tennessee senator, to self-quarantine The Iranian army says a missile strike on a naval vessel taking part in an exercise in the Gulf of Oman has killed 19 sailors and wounded 15. The statement drastically raised the death toll in the incident, which happened on Sunday. Earlier Iranian state media reports said the Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, was too close to a target during an exercise. The vessel had been putting targets out for other ships to target. It said the missile struck the vessel accidentally. The friendly fire incident happened near the port of Jask, some 790 miles south-east of Tehran, in the Gulf of Oman, state TV said. A local hospital admitted 12 sailors and treated another three with slight wounds, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Iranian media said the Konarak had been overhauled in 2018 and was able to launch sea and anti-ship missiles. The Dutch-made vessel was in service since 1988 and had capacity of 40 tonnes. It usually carries a crew of 20 sailors. Iranian media rarely report on mishaps during its exercises, signalling the severity of the incident. This incident also comes amid months of heightened tensions between Iran and the US since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 and imposed crushing sanctions on the country. Washington, D.C., May 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Washington, D.C. John Phillips, Co-Founder of PredictIt and CEO of Aristotle, sat down with The Political Trade in April to discuss the growth of prediction markets and to announce new features on PredictIts political futures exchange that will allow traders to use cryptocurrency to fund their investments. We're completing the testing of Coinbase integration and that's going to allow traders to use USD coin and that is a dollar-denominated stable coin, announced Phillips. We've wanted to do that for a while, the testing has been underway but we're testing this with and allowing some of our team and traders to test it and we expect that to be more readily available beginning next month. It should add a new dimension. The Political Trade is a new podcast launched by the award-winning Luckbox magazine and the first show to focus solely on the art and skill of trading in the political prediction markets of PredictIt from an investment perspective. Host Jeff Joseph joins elite prediction market traders and political insiders offering actionable insights on the weeks best trading opportunities. Recently, Democratic strategist James Carville joined TPT to talk 2020 odds and outlined a tiered trading strategy for the competitive Senate races. Amongst his top-tier states were North Carolina, Maine, Arizona, and Colorado, with Montana, Iowa, and Kansas following in the second tier. While hes the Chairman of the Ditch Mitch SuperPAC, Carville hesitated to fully embrace purchasing shares against McConnell at the price quoted: $0.16 to $0.18. Thats going to be tough, but thats a pretty good price, said Carville. You know I'd take it because you might be able to trade it down the line. But I'd have to have good value in it. Believe me, Im Chairman of the thing, I'm raising money to beat Mitch McConnellbut I think theres some value there for a while. Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci also offered TPT his best bets for 2020. Speaking to The Political Trade in March, Scaramucci went over a variety of markets, including his forecast for Bidens vice-presidential pick. The biggest risk to the Democrats is the progressive wing of the party defecting from Joe Biden and he's not going to take Bernie Sanders. And so the person who can pick closest to gravitating that wing dam is Elizabeth Warren, said Scaramucci. He then broke down the election state-by-state, predicting Biden will take Pennsylvania, Michigan (but would buy Republican in Michigan for the price differential) and Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, he said, If Democrats are under 60 [cents], Im a buyer. While a specialized ecosystem of websites, blogs, chat rooms and podcasts has emerged recently to cover the growing prediction market community on the PredictIt exchange, The Political Trade is a must-listen for any political forecaster, and a prominent voice in the emerging specialized community of websites, blogs, chat rooms, and market commentary that has developed around the PredictIt exchange. About PredictIt is a real-money political prediction exchange, a stock market for politics. It was established to research the way markets can forecast future political events and the impact of cognitive biases and misinformation on civic affairs. PredictIt's headquarters is in Washington, D.C. PredictIt is a research project of the Victoria University of Wellington, with support provided by Aristotle, a U.S. provider of processing and verification services. PredictIt shares its market data with more than 200 university partners, including professors from West Point, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Oxford, Princeton, and Duke, among others. The data offers researchers a wealth of information that helps further our understanding of fields of study as diverse as microeconomics, political psychology, computer science, and game theory. The Political Trade podcast and the award-winning print and digital Luckbox magazine (life, money & probability) are platforms of the tastytrade financial network, which engages investors and traders across 165 countries with 8 hours of daily, live, cost-free and commercial-free online programming with over 100 million hours viewed. tastytrades data-driven research-based content teaches a logical, mechanical approach to investing and identifying opportunities based on probability and volatility. tastytrade and its companies focus on empowering the individual investor through content, technology, and know-how. thepoliticaltrade.com ### More than 100 academicians, teacher union representatives and social activists have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to take appropriate steps to safeguard children's right to survival, protection, and development during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The memorandum sent through the Right to (RTE) forum recommended immediate and necessary actions to ensure child rights are protected to effectively tackle issues like out of school children, child labour and child trafficking. "Extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary measures, and every measure should be in accordance with the values and provisions of the Constitution of India. These measures must have a humane approach and provide a level playing field for all," the memorandum said. "If there is too much focus on online modes of teaching, then majority of children especially from marginalised communities will be deprived of their right to Educational materials could be provided along with relief and dry food packages by the government. We also need to ensure that children are protected from risk of violence and abuse during the lockdown," it added. The memorandum has been signed by academicians from Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University among others, representatives from various child rights bodies and prominent social activists such as Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey. Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the central government announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Later, a nationwide lockdown was announced from March 25, which has now been extended till May 17. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) How do top teachers pivot to remote instruction during a pandemic? It's challenging, says Robert Rivera-Amezola, left, a digital literacy teacher at Francis Scott Key Elementary, and Clarice Brazas, a humanities teacher at the U School. Read more Kathryn Harris is a great teacher so remarkable, in fact, that she was just named to a list of Philadelphias best educators. But when the coronavirus turned the world upside down, forcing districts across the country to figure out remote instruction, fast, Harris found herself in an odd position: not quite sure how best to reach the seventh graders she teaches at Olney Elementary. In the classroom, she thrives on discussion and on inspiring students to think deeply, and teaching feels instinctive and joyous. In many ways, online education is the opposite of everything I like about my job; it feels alienating, Harris said. So when shes connecting with students in real time in Google Meet, Im as excited as they are. Im waving, Im saying: Dont hide your screen! Let me see your face, I want to see you! Harris said. Harris is among 60 top Philadelphia School District educators just awarded the 2020 Lindback Foundation Distinguished Teaching prize, a $3,500 award given annually to excellent district teachers selected by school officials and Lindback trustees. Seven principals also were cited for awards. As the Philadelphia School District ends its first week of remote instruction of new material, The Inquirer asked Harris and two other Lindback winners about how their jobs have changed because of the coronavirus, what complications their students face, and how education might be different going forward. On participation and families challenges At the U School, a North Philadelphia high school, the staff has managed to reach every single family, in person in some cases, said Lindback winner Clarice Brazas, who teaches 10th graders humanities there. Some students were tougher than others to reach; she tried for weeks to reach one young man, finally connecting with his grandfather, who said the teen was fine, just very busy, working many hours. Now, theres a big span of what kids are doing. There are some kids who are just scheduling office hours with me to talk about whats going on in their lives, what games theyre playing. Others are doing mandatory work and not surfacing much otherwise. Younger students tend to be engaging more, said Brazas, who is delivering live sessions every Monday then scheduling two live check-ins throughout the week with her students. In Harris advisory of 29 students, only three havent checked in. Its issues beyond their control, said Harris. The district has said it will not penalize children who cannot regularly complete work because of such circumstances. READ MORE: Coming soon: Philly School District families will have access to grief counseling, coronavirus support Robert Rivera-Amezola, a Lindback winner from Francis Scott Key Elementary in South Philadelphia, is a specialist, teaching digital literacy to every student in the K-6 school. Hes pushing out videos that he creates, holding office hours, and joining different classes live Google Meet sessions. (Its a really daunting task, he said of remote instruction. Its just you and the screen. Theres something about being in a classroom, even when youre exhausted, that gives you energy.) Participation varies but is often dependent on parents abilities to supervise their childrens learning, especially for the youngest learners. Some parents are essential workers, and others are suddenly without work. Others have multiple children to care for. Some have language barriers more than half of Keys students are English language learners and about 20%, Rivera-Amezola guesses, have no internet access. It takes a lot for the parent of a small child to sit with the child in front of a Chromebook, to be part of the live instruction. At the end of the day, I can imagine the psychological and emotional exhaustion of another day of wondering whats yet to come, said Rivera-Amezola. The coronavirus has heightened educational inequities, as Philadelphia school staff are keenly aware. Many affluent districts were able to move to remote instruction without missing a beat; Philadelphia students went more than a month without learning new material, in large part because so many lacked computers and internet access. What Philadelphia students lost is unknowable, Rivera-Amezola said. Parents have plenty of questions about Chromebooks and how to access material, but with a world in turmoil, theyre often reaching out to schools for different needs, too. The mother of a kindergartner messaged him recently, not about a lesson, but to ask whether he knew where she might be able to find diapers for her baby. HELP US REPORT: Are you a health care worker, medical provider, government worker, patient, frontline worker or other expert? We want to hear from you. On how to hook students Brazas knows she has to hook students. She asked her classes to write about songs that are helping them get through quarantine, and will then make a mix with their selections. Next, her students will work on explaining something theyre expert in, through writing or a YouTube video. We always try to do high-interest work, but right now, thats even more important, Brazas said. Educating through a pandemic Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. has made it clear that the aim of emergency remote learning is staving off regression as much as possible. Content is important, but relationships are more important, especially during a time of challenge and loss. The challenge is to buoy kids, to let them know were still here, said Harris. Bright sides to the shift? No one wanted a pandemic or remote learning thrust on them, but there are a few upsides, Brazas said. This might teach people to make learning more flexible, might teach people more empathy, even when we come out of this, she said. District administrators have gone out of their way to account for students often-challenging life circumstances, and although those circumstances have been exacerbated by the coronavirus, theyre not new. Teachers need to have the latitude to give our students space, Brazas said. Not having a standardized test this year certainly makes that a lot easier. On what school might look like in September Rivera-Amezola is part of a task force discussing a reentry plan at the district level. The group is mulling such things as spacing lunches out, having different shifts in the day. Theyre talking about hand-washing and masks. When youre dealing with first or second graders, masks get dirty or lost, Rivera-Amezola said. Well have to have a repository of them, like we have coats for kids in winter. 2020 Philadelphia School District Lindback Distinguished Teachers: Christopher Angelini, Crossroads Accelerated Academy Delilah Baines-Washington, Francis Scott Key Elementary Damali Best, Penrose Elementary Clarice Brazas, the U School Selena Carrera, Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center Karen Carrigan, Fox Chase Elementary Malvin Carrion, Fels High School Mary Connaghan, Science Leadership Academy @ Beeber Victoria Erickson, Kensington High School Jenifer Felix, Kensington Health Sciences Academy Catherine Fredericks, John Moffet Elementary Jessica Friedman, Pennypack House School Terese Gallen, Swenson Arts & Technology High School Danina Garcia, Vaux Big Picture High School Wendy Gartside, Conwell Middle School Steve Gilligan, J.R. Masterman School Erin Giorgio, Science Leadership Academy Maritza Gonzalez, Philadelphia Learning Academy North Robert Goral, Potter-Thomas Elementary Carol Graham, A.S. Jenks Elementary Tanya Guy, G.W. Childs Elementary Colleen Hanna, Furness High School Kathryn Harris, Olney Elementary Erin Hoeffel, Comly Elementary Marina Isakowitz, Workshop School Brittany Jakubowski, Nebinger Elementary Christine Jordan, Anne Frank Elementary Rosemaria Kalogerakis, Roxborough High School Rajitha Maley, Bartram High School Jennifer McKenzie, Houston Elementary Sharon McKnight, High School of the Future Peter Metcalfe, Eliza B. Kirkbride Gregory Mirakian, Jay Cooke Elementary Robin Mixon, Bodine High School Walter Myrick, AMY Northwest Middle School Kimberly Nolan, Solis-Cohen Elementary Tracy Parente, Baldi Middle School Leah Pearson, Overbrook High School Kristen Peeples, Kensington Creative and Performing Arts Cory Perewiznyk, Philadelphia Military Academy High School Lori Petrozino, Horatio B. Hackett Elementary Jennifer Pettinelli, South Philadelphia High School Qiana Pray, Academy at Palumbo High School Luke Prendergast, Mastbaum High School Sharon Renz, Girard Academic Music Program (GAMP) Keziah Ridgeway, Northeast High School Robert Rivera-Amezola, Francis Scott Key Elementary Michael Rocco, Longstreth Elementary Rachel Rodriguez, Central High School Katie Ryan, Andrew Jackson Elementary Thorayya Saber, Lankenau High School Meredith Schecter, C.W. Henry Elementary Lorna Schwartz, H.A. Brown Elementary Stacy Schwab, Hancock Elementary Robert Signs, Constitution High School Gregory C. Smith, Saul High School Judy Starr, Greenberg Elementary Laura Vu, Potter-Thomas Elementary Paul Wagenhoffer, Carver High School of Engineering and Science Sally Wojcik, Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush 2020 Lindback Principal awardees: A group of prominent citizens, including former judges and retired bureaucrats, has accused certain vested interests" of pushing a perception that a particular community was allegedly being harassed in the fight against coronavirus, and claimed such efforts are aimed at "defaming" India. In a letter to all chief ministers, they said state governments are absolutely right in taking action against anyone attacking frontline workers in tackling the coronavirus or endangering the public health irrespective of the community they may belong to, according to a statement. The group of 183 citizens include former Supreme Court judge Justice Anil Dave (retd) and former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing Sanjeev Tripathi, among others. The letter is seen as a response to allegations that Muslims have been targeted by certain right wing groups over the coronavirus outbreak. In their letter, they have backed the Central government's action in coordination with states, saying they have been managing the healthcare and food supply lines quite effectively and allowing "far less fatalities" than what it could have caused. The entire world is "showering praises" on India for fighting unitedly against the pandemic, they said. They then added, "Our Group is quite disturbed at the manner in which the mouth-pieces of certain vested interests are consistently trying to create a perception that there is wide spread harassment caused to a particular community in states." Hitting out at such efforts, they said, "Our group objects to divisive anti-India propaganda by certain elements, which is a plot in a larger design to shred the nation's strong social fiber, and to defame India and the Indians by unfairly tarnishing them globally by levelling false allegations." They urged chief ministers to take effective action to ensure that this "sinister anti-national agenda should never succeed in its motives of demoralising the heath-care personnel, sanitation workers, public service staff and law enforcement agencies in the fight against the pandemic. What is of extreme seriousness, the statement said, is that some "mouthpieces of these anti-India elements rake up fake anti-India news, including from the Twitter handles operated by Pakistan and its ISI from many countries for under-cover operations against India, without any verification". There is a need to take stringent action against them as per law, the group said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sen. Elizabeth Warren (R) (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, express their outrage to reporters that a huge, $1.1 trillion spending bill approved by the Republican-controlled House yesterday contains changes to the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that regulates complex financial instruments known as derivatives, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democratic support for the omnibus bill funding every corner of government faded Wednesday as liberal lawmakers erupted over a provision that weakens the regulation of risky financial instruments and another that allows more money to flood into political parties. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Democrats Want $100 Billion for Rental Assistance in Next Virus Relief Package Top Democrats in the House and Senate introduced legislation to appropriate $100 billion for a Rental Assistance Program so renters can retain their housing during and after pandemic. United States Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services; and Congressman Denny Heck (D-Wash.) announced the Emergency Rental Assistance and Rental Market Stabilization Act of 2020 on May 10. Congress must act now to keep families in their homes, said Brown. Thats why I am introducing the Emergency Rental Assistance and Rental Market Stabilization Act of 2020 to ensure that renters remain safely and affordably housed during and after this crisis. The $100 billion would fund the Emergency Rental Assistance program and enable families and individuals pay their rent and utility bills. The program would direct money to communities, states, and tribes through a pre-existing interim federal rental assistance program to allowing rapid distribution of funds. Stable housing is a basic need for Americans struggling under the weight of this public health emergency, said Warren. Im glad to partner with my colleagues on a bill to help families and individuals in Massachusetts and across the country pay their rent, utility bills, and remain stably housed during and after this devastating pandemic. Waters said she wants to avoid a national eviction crisis, saying that the legislation would create a $100 billion emergency rental assistance fund to help struggling renters across the nation as well as mom and pop landlords relying on rental payments for their retirement. The previous coronavirus relief package enabled the Federal Housing Administration (FDA) to implement forbearance programs for renters. In response to the pandemic national emergency, the FDA has permitted borrowers to enter into forbearance, in which they can stop or reduce their monthly payment for six months, with the ability to extend the forbearance an additional six months. According to the Housing and Urban Development website, FHA does not require lump sum repayment at the end of the forbearance, and has developed the COVID-19 Standalone Partial Claim to assist with repayment. In an effort to help the economy recover the lawmakers want to put money into stabilizing rental markets. According to the lawmakers, the bill was championed because millions of families are facing financial uncertainty through no fault of their own. This bill will help tenants pay their rent, without placing the burden on landlords, many of whom are relying on payments from renters to pay their mortgages, Congressman Heck said. It is vital to our recovery and to the wellbeing of Americans that we do everything we can to keep people in their homes. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate rose to 14.7 percent in April, 2020. The number of unemployed persons who reported being on temporary layoff increased about ten-fold to 18.1 million in April. The number of permanent job losers increased by 544,000 to 2.0 million. The legislation has been endorsed by a diverse array of womens, civil rights, disability rights, social welfare, housing, state and local government, faith, health care, and child advocacy organizations. The Supreme Court on Monday ordered setting up of a special committee headed by Union home secretary to consider pleas for restoration 4G internet services in Jammu and Kashmir, saying that the national security and human rights needed to be balanced in view of the fact the Union Territory has been plagued with militancy. The top court said it was desirable to have better internet services in the UT in view of the worldwide pandemic and a national lockdown. However, the fact that outside forces are trying to infiltrate the borders and destabilise the integrity of the nation, as well as cause incidents resulting in the death of innocent citizens and security forces every day cannot be ignored, said the bench comprising Justices N V Ramana, R Subhash Reddy and B R Gavai. The top court said it takes with utmost seriousness the sensitive task of balancing national security and human rights and referred to its earlier judgement in which it held that the degree of restriction and the scope of the same, both territorially and temporally, must stand in relation to what is actually necessary to combat an emergent situation. At the same time, we do recognise that the Union Territory has been plagued with militancy, which is required to be taken into consideration. These competing considerations needs to calibrated in terms of our judgment , Justice Ramana, who wrote the order for the bench, said. The bench said since the issues involved affected both the Union Territory and the nation, the review committee should comprise their senior officials to look into the entire issue. We, therefore, find it appropriate to constitute a special committee comprising the following secretaries at national, as well as state level, to look into the prevailing circumstances and immediately determine the necessity of the continuation of the restrictions in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the order said. The ministry of home affairs (MHA) secretary will head the special panel and the secretary of ministry of communications and the chief secretary of the Union Territory would be the members. The special committee is directed to examine the contentions of, and the material placed herein by, the petitioners as well as the respondents. The Committee must also examine the appropriateness of the alternatives suggested by the petitioners, regarding limiting the restrictions to those areas where it is necessary and the allowing of faster internet (3G or 4G) on a trial basis over certain geographical areas and advise the respondent no. 1 (Centre) regarding the same, in terms of our earlier directions, it said. The court took note of the submissions of the Centre that continuous infiltration, foreign influence, violent extremism and issues of national integrity are prevalent in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which are serious issues. The Centre had also pointed to certain material, which indicate that cyber terrorism, is on the rise within the valley and the Pakistani Military in its Green Book 2020 has called for an information warfare on Kashmir, after the revocation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir, the order noted. The apex court directions came on pleas filed by Foundation for Media Professionals, Soayib Qureshi and Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir seeking restoration of 4G in the UT on grounds such as right to access doctors is an inherent under article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution and its deprivation should be judged in view of the coronavirus or Covid-19 pandemic. They had also alleged that the right of children to access schools through the high speed internet service have been hampered. Earlier, the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration, had justified the restriction on 4G service in the Union Territory saying high speed internet might be used for sending information about troop movement, and referred to the recent tragic deaths of security personnel in an encounter with terrorists. Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London on early Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons she learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of others, waiting in Image Source: IANS News Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London on early Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons she learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of others, waiting in Image Source: IANS News Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London on early Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons she learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of others, waiting in Image Source: IANS News Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London on early Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons she learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of others, waiting in Image Source: IANS News Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London on early Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons she learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of others, waiting in Image Source: IANS News Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London on early Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons she learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of others, waiting in Image Source: IANS News Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London on early Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons she learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of others, waiting in Image Source: IANS News Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London on early Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons she learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of others, waiting in Image Source: IANS News Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London on early Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons she learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of others, waiting in Image Source: IANS News Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London on early Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons she learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of others, waiting in Image Source: IANS News Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London on early Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons she learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of others, waiting in Image Source: IANS News Bengaluru, May 12 : Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger, who flew back to Bengaluru on an Air India evacuation flight from London early on Monday, narrated her experiences, including lessons learnt, in a series of tweets for the benefit of other compatriots waiting to return home. "Live tweeting on my journey from London to Bangalore on the first set of Air-India flights. This will just be me sharing my personal experience. If it can help someone else plan their journey then #VandeBharatMission and #nammabengalooru," said Meghana in one of a long series of tweets. Though the Boeing-777 aircraft landed at 4.41 a.m., she said passengers were asked to exit an hour after landing, in 2 rows at a time to maintain social distancing. On entering the arrival terminal, she passed through health check and immigration, collected her baggage and booked a hotel. "My health check included body temperature, blood oxygen saturation and heart rate. Asymptomatic people were also stamped with quarantine facility," she said in a tweet. Passengers' cabin luggage was sprayed with a solution before it was handed over to them after the formalities. Meghana said that she found the Kempegowda international airport, third busiest in the country after Mumbai and New Delhi in normal times, swanky and well organised. "Passengers were provided sandwiches and water while waiting for quarantine facility booking. All formalities were completed in 2 hours. We were also provided with three boxes of snacks for breakfast till reaching the hotel for quarantining," she wrote. In the aircraft, Meghna said one major let-down was that one-third of the flight was not provided any protective gear. "Passengers in rows 41-52 had to rely on their own supply of masks and gloves," she said in another tweet. "In flight, no hot meals or service, packaged food and water provided (enough for 3-4 meals!). Washroom access was unrestricted, but queuing for washroom in aisles was not allowed." Though fellow passengers clapped on landing at the New Delhi airport, Meghana said there was no clapping after at the Bangalore airport. "Slightly anti-climatic as no one clapped this time. Bleary eyed and tired. I'm happy nonetheless," said Meghana. The flight took off from Heathrow airport in London on Sunday post-noon for the long journey via New Delhi where there was a crew change-over. Meghna, an architect student at the University of Sheffield, was planning to return to India when all international flights to India were suspended from March 23, stranding her like thousands of Indians the world over. Noting that the flight's departure was delayed by 100 minutes at the Heathrow airport due to problems of ticketing, Meghana said: "Two big boxes of packaged food and water were placed on each seat. An AI airport manager said a few seats would be left empty at the back of the flight to isolate anyone who starts showing symptoms on board." Among the guidelines for passengers in the evacuation flights are: "no empty middle seats; fly at your risk; food and water will be provided on flight." The passengers are allowed to carry 2 bags of 23kg, a 7kg cabin baggage and a laptop bag. Charge for each extra luggage is 144 British pounds. On exiting the airport terminal after screening and testing negative, Meghna boarded a state-run bus, with only 20 co-passengers in it to maintain physical distancing, to her quarantine facility (hotel), where check-in was smooth. No payment was collected upfront. "There is no choice of hotel provided. You get to choose which category and a hotel will be assigned to you. As of now it's Keys Whitefield for 3-star and Taj Yeshwanthpur for 5- star. Whitefield is in the city's southeast, while Yeshwanthpur is on way to the airport which is about 40km from the city centre. Maharashtra government has also been running buses for migrant workers up to the state border. According to a policeman at the Kharegaon checkpost, the source states are supposed to make further arrangements for their travel. Hundreds, if not thousands, kept pouring into the Kharegaon checkpost in the hope to catch the bus. When Vidyanand Gupta's auto rickshaw crossed the toll plaza, a policeman extended his arm and asked him to pull over. The auto was packed. Two kids aged 7 and 9 sat in the back with their mother. Two gunny bags and a sack were crammed with them. In the front seat, a pitcher was kept next to Vidyanand. "What is it?" asked the policeman. "Water," said a flustered Vidyanand, unconvincingly. "Take a sip," said the policeman. Vidyanand didnt know what to do. The pitcher contained petrol. Vidyanand's family decided to drive their own auto rickshaw back home to Chandauli in Uttar Pradesh 1500 kilometers from where they were stopped at a checkpost in Kharegaon, Thane. After 45 days of lockdown, 40-year-old Vidyanand only had Rs 2,000 left with him. "There is no clarity on how long the lockdown would go on, he said. We survived until now. But we thought we should use the last 2000 rupees to get back home, where we have a farmland. At least there is an assurance of two meals a day in the village." Rekha, his wife, said their landlord has been kind to them by not asking for rent since the lockdown. But there are electricity bills to pay, meals to arrange, she said. I am a housewife. Our only source of income is the money my husband makes by driving an auto in Mumbai. With the lockdown, he cant do that anymore. Lately, we, including our children, have not even managed to get two meals a day. At the Kharegaon checkpost, the police pulled up an auto almost every three minutes. All of them heading to various states in North India. We know several auto drivers who have driven to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh from Mumbai, said Vidyanand. After asking a few questions, the police lets you go. We have not committed any crime. We are going home. We will reach slowly over the next five-six days. On 29 April, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order allowing the movement of migrant labourers stuck away from home amidst the outbreak of coronavirus. To get back home, the migrant workers in Maharashtra are supposed to collect a form from the local police station, fill up their details and the destination state. Once they submit it, they wait for the call from the police station. But the workers have been running out of patience as they have no faith in the authorities. Maharashtra government has also been running buses for migrant workers up to the state border. According to a policeman at the Kharegaon checkpost, the source states are supposed to make further arrangements for their travel. Hundreds, if not thousands, kept pouring into the Kharegaon checkpost in the hope to catch the bus. Tanned and exhausted, the workers sat in a queue with their worn out bags, sparingly drinking from their last bottle of water. Men, women and children; all hoping to get in the bus. However, the buses were far and few considering the number of people waiting to return. There also was no method to this madness buses were taking passengers on first-come-first-serve basis. The buses weren't divided state-wise. Those who were lucky, got in. Others adopted different modes of transport to get back home. An auto rickshaw was just one of them. On Saturday, a group of workers at the Kharegaon checkpost were on bicycles heading back to a village in Odisha, over 1,100 kilometers away from Mumbai. "We had a little bit of money left, and we asked our people back home to send some, said one of them. "We bought bicycles for Rs 4,000. At least, we would be on the move, instead of being stuck." Several migrant workers heading back at this stage of the lockdown are slightly better off than the ones who left in the earlier stages. Some of them have been lucky to have had a kind landlord not pressing for rent. They have run out of steam after surviving 40 days of the lockdown without work. But the uncertainty of being able to get back home has made them restless. Some have exploited the condition that the workers are in to mint money. A few kilometres before Kharegaon toll plaze, scores of trucks, tempos and vans are seen parked along the highway, with people crammed inside the vehicle leaving for different states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. The truck drivers, who are also migrant workers stuck in Mumbai, are charging the labourers anywhere between Rs 3,000 to 4,000 to ferry them back to their villages. Many of the labourers have borrowed money from friends and family back home to pay for their travels. One truck carries, at least, 50 people if not more.Essentially, the truck driver has made Rs 1.5-2 lakh ferrying hapless workers, some of which he would use for fuel and bribes on the way. To circumvent the police en-route, the truck driver stops about 100 meters before the checkpost. The workers disembark and cross over on foot. Meanwhile, the empty truck crosses the checkpost and the workers get back in again. Unfortunately, several poor workers have been duped in these trying circumstances. Mistrilal, and 12 of his friends, all of them construction workers, left from Andheri at 4 am on Sunday and started walking towards Thane. At Powai, they met a tempo driver who offered to drop them to the Allahabad border. It worked beautifully for them, for they wanted to get to Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, which shares a border with Allahabad. "He first asked for Rs 3,000 per head," said Mistrilal. "I only had Rs 2,000. We settled at Rs 1,500. I was left with Rs 500 only for food and water." About 10 kilometers later at the next toll booth, the driver asked them to get off. But instead of picking them up at the other side of the toll, he took a U-turn and fled. Mistrilal could not hold back his tears. "We walked the rest of the way," he said. He had walked 16 hours with blisters on his feet. By the time he reached Kharegaon toll, the state buses had stopped running. "We will sleep here tonight," he said, sweating, pointing towards a corner in the street. We will try our luck with the bus tomorrow morning. Mistrilal was exhausted. But some of the workers decided to proceed on foot till wherever they could. With their belongings on their head and children on their shoulders, they walked with little assurance of reaching the destination they desired. Their desperation to head back home also underscores the importance of social security. The pandemic has reinstated that cities may provide economic opportunity but dont always provide social security for migrant workers. Savita, 32, who had been walking with her three-year old daughter on her shoulder for 14 hours, said the contractor that usually employs her, had switched off his phone since lockdown. I have been left to fend for myself, she said. How will I feel secure at a place where my employer abandoned me? She has to get back to Washim, about 580 kilometers from Mumbai, in Maharashtras agrarian region of Vidarbha. We come to Mumbai because we have no work back home, and our livelihoods in rural areas have been destroyed, said Savita. But it is still home. Villages are close-knit communities. We look after each other. I might come back to Mumbai when all of this is over. But I dont belong here. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 19:51:50|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close -- May 12 is International Nurses Day, an annual celebration of the crucial work of nurses around the world. -- In China's battle against the novel coronavirus, high-quality nursing service has made great contributions to reducing the death rate of the epidemic. -- Among the 42,600 medical workers dispatched to support virus-hit Hubei Province, about 28,600 are nurses, accounting for almost 70 percent of the total. by Xinhua writers Zhu Xiao, Ma Yujie NANJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Whenever there is a public health scare, people often think of doctors. But the coronavirus pandemic has put the spotlight on an overlooked group in the healthcare sector -- nurses. Tuesday, or May 12, is International Nurses Day, an annual celebration of the crucial work of nurses around the world. To Liu Hui, head nurse in the Department of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Center at Jiangsu Province Hospital, the novel coronavirus has left an indelible mark on her career. Newly recruited nurses take an oath during a capping ceremony at Peking University People's Hospital in Beijing, capital of China, April 26, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei) On May 10, after more than 70 days of work at a hospital in Wuhan -- hit hard by the novel coronavirus outbreak -- and a fortnight quarantine, Liu and six other colleagues -- the last batch of intensive care specialists that stayed in Wuhan to treat severely ill COVID-19 patients from Jiangsu Province Hospital, were finally freed. "I'm back, and you can rest easy," said the masked nurse to her mother. She gave the old lady a big hug and a kiss. Her colleague, Chu Minjuan, held back her tears while hearing her husband repeating the same sentence. "It's good to have you back. It's good to have you back." DEVOTION TO DUTY Liu and her team arrived in Wuhan on the night of Feb. 13 and they immediately threw themselves into their work. The next day, all the 61 beds at the hospital's intensive care unit they took over were full. "In the first week, I could only sleep a few hours a day," Liu said. "COVID-19 patients have to be isolated from their family members, so the nurses take complete charge. They perform a range of roles and have to know how to use ventilators, monitors, hemodialysis machines, ECMO, and other pieces of life-saving equipment," Chu said. Liu Hui, nurse-in-charge in the Department of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Center at Jiangsu Province Hospital, works at Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, April 4, 2020. According to Qiu Haibo, deputy Party secretary of Zhongda Hospital Southeast University, many COVID-19 patients had symptoms called "silent hypoxemia" -- their lips were not as purple as under hypoxia, and their heart and respiratory rates not as fast, but their condition can worsen in the twinkle of an eye. "They, therefore, require more close observation from us on the subtle changes of their conditions and we must timely communicate with doctors," said Chu. "We would work out a customized nursing plan for each patient after an early assessment. We tried our utmost to ease their pain and protect the physiological functions of severely-ill patients," Chu said. "Doctors and nurses are comrades in arms. Doctors prescribe the strategy of therapeutic solutions while nurses carry out the therapy, check patients' condition, and communicate directly with the patients," she said. The role of nurses is even more important for patients in ICUs. "Patients with basic diseases or those who are bedridden, in particular, need extra attention for issues such as skin injuries and post-disease rehabilitation. We also offer psychological counseling to patients who have lost their loved ones, or suffer mental stress," Liu said. In China's battle against the novel coronavirus, high-quality nursing service has made great contributions to reducing the death rate of the epidemic. According to the National Health Commission, among the 42,600 medical workers dispatched to support virus-hit Hubei Province, about 28,600 are nurses, accounting for almost 70 percent of the total. CHANGE NEEDED IN FEMALE-DOMINATED NURSING Nurses account for more than half of all the world's health workers, providing vital services throughout the health system. Historically, as well as today, nurses are at the forefront of fighting epidemics and pandemics that threaten health across the globe, according to the State of the World's Nursing Report 2020 released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with the International Council of Nurses and Nursing Now. Male nurse Fan Leilei displays an "honor board" made by colleagues for him and another nurse, who have just come back from the frontline of the fight against the epidemic in Hubei Province, at a hospital of Putuo District in east China's Shanghai, May 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Ying) The report also highlighted that about 90 percent of all nurses around the world are female and calls for continued efforts in optimizing the female-dominated domain. China, too, has worked hard to attract more men to join the nursing ranks. Fan Leilei, a 23-year-old male nurse, just graduated from a nursing school in 2018. In less than two years, he has built up experience in critical care and was dispatched to the frontline in Hubei to join the fight against COVID-19. Fan arrived in Hubei with the third batch of Shanghai medics on Jan. 28. "I was shocked at how deserted the airport was," he recalled. "It was then that I realized the epidemic was not just a topic on WeChat but was actually happening, and we had to take immediate action." Fan and his colleagues worked in pairs on four-hour shifts. Their work was extremely detailed from feeding the patients, helping them turn over, to changing sheets and diapers for them. "Both women and men have their advantages in nursing," said Fan. "In the face of a situation like this, we have our own merits in terms of physical strength, energy and operation of various medical devices." The hospital Fan works at has set up a team consisting purely of male nurses. The team, named after Nightingale, who is known as the fundamental philosopher of modern nursing, is a move to help attract more males to join nursing in China. The theme of this year's International Nurses Day is "A voice to lead -- Nursing the world to health," illustrating how nurses can overcome a wide range of health issues. And what makes this year's celebration extra special is that 2020 is also the 200th anniversary of Nightingale's birth. Chu Minjuan, nurse-in-charge in the Department of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Center at Jiangsu Province Hospital, displays a painting presented to her by a pupil, at Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, April 10, 2020. Chinese nurses are playing an indispensable role in the fight against the virus outbreak. Among the 42,600 medical staff across the country sent to aid Hubei, almost 90 percent were born after 1980 and 40 percent were born after 1990. "These young nurses showed their bravery and power of youth, and have set an example for all the young people," said Guo Yanhong, an official with the National Health Commission. According to Guo, the total number of nurses in China reached 4.45 million by the end of 2019, 350,000 more than the previous year. Guo added that China will continue to strengthen the protection of nurses' rights and upgrade their professionalism through training and education. Being a nurse has given Fan a great sense of accomplishment. "The life and death in the ICU made me better understand how sacred and glorious our job is," he said. (Qiu Bingqing, He Leijing, Chen Shengwei, Qin Huajiang, Xu Xiaoqing, Wang Chunyu, Yang Siqi contributed to the reporting; Video reporters: Qi Hongxin, Tang Tiefu, Sun Xiaoyu, Pan Xu, Li Yuze, Liu Yuxuan, Zhao Shitong, Wang Xiang and Li Ang ; Video editor: Wei Yin) Bengaluru, May 12 : Six special trains to West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand ferrying 7,841 passengers to their native places amid the extended Covid-19 lockdown left the city on Monday, an official said. "The sixth and last train departed from Malur to Bokaro, Jharkhand, at 9:46 p.m. with 1,540 passengers, including 25 children," said a South Western Railway (SWR) official. Monday's first train to Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, left from the Chikka Bannavara station in the city's eastern suburb at 4:55 p.m. with 1,519 passengers, including women and children. The second special train left Malur on the city's outskirts to New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal at 5:30 p.m. with 1,419 passengers. Later, the third special train from Chikka Bannavara to Lucknow departed at 6:35 p.m. with 1,200 passengers. The fourth special train to Barauni, Bihar, left at 7:52 p.m. with 1,520 passengers from Malur. Image Source: IANS News The fifth special train on Monday left Chikka Bannavara at 8 p.m. for Una in Himachal Pradesh with 643 passengers. All the passengers were moved in buses to the departing stations, and were medically screened as they maintained physical distancing. Image Source: IANS News The Union Home Ministry has permitted stranded people, including migrant workers, students, tourists and pilgrims, to return to their native places in other states by special trains since May 1. -- Syndicated from IANS P ubs giant Greene King on Monday said it does not want a false start to the Covid-19 lockdown exit, as the industry prepared for more uncertainty. The Prime Minister yesterday said that at least some of the hospitality industry could reopen in July. A number of pub firms had been hoping for more details. But Greene Kings chief executive Nick Mackenzie said: The impact on our 38,000 people and our commitment to customer safety are our primary concerns. He added: We are keen to avoid a false start and the support that the Government has provided in the lockdown will also be needed during the recovery phase. Many companies have said they would rather stay closed for longer than reopen and be forced to shut again if the virus recurs. The British Beer & Pub Association's chief executive Emma McClarkin said: With insufficient clarity when pubs will reopen, our sector remains in limbo and facing severe uncertainty and financial devastation." Elon Musk told employees at Tesla's California factory that they are back to normal in a company email. Governor Gavin Newsom says he's looking into the electric car company's reopening as a potential violation of a public health order. Tesla on Monday told employees at its one and only U.S.-based factory to return to work just a few days after local officials said the plant must remain closed as lockdown measures remain in effect to curb the spread of COVID-19. "We're happy to get back to work and have implemented very detailed plans to help you keep safe as you return," the email from Tesla to Fremont factory workers said. The governor said it's ultimately up to the Alameda County Health Department to assess or execute any enforcement actions at Tesla, if people are working there before officials have given Elon Musk's company approval to reopen. He says possibly as early as next week, Tesla would be permitted to resume work. Newsom said he's known Musk for "many, many years" and respects the company. He heaped praise on Musk and Tesla during the Monday afternoon press conference. Background: Musk said on Twitter recently he plans to move Tesla out of California and into Nevada and/or Texas, because Newsom wasn't loosening coronavirus restrictions quickly enough for Musk's liking. Tesla tells its California factory employees that they are back to normal in a company email. Governor Newsom says he will look into the current reopening as a potential violation of public health order https://t.co/xv802EAHyL pic.twitter.com/99jDbxQA61 Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) May 11, 2020 Governor Gavin Newsom, asked about Elon Musk's frustration with Alameda County's stay at home order: Newsom reiterates the state allows manufacturing in its current phase. He says possibly as early as next week, Tesla can resume work. Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) May 11, 2020 NEW: @GavinNewsom expects #COVID19 dispute w/ @Tesla to be settled in the next few days. He looks forward to "many decades" of Tesla remaining a California company. Newsom says he spoke with @elonmusk a few days ago. But, governor was unaware of new plant activity today. $TSLA pic.twitter.com/oDyKVgM4uJ Chris Chmura (@Chris_Chmura) May 11, 2020 Newsom said it's up to Alameda Health Department to assess / execute any enforcement actions at Tesla. $TSLA #COVID19 Chris Chmura (@Chris_Chmura) May 11, 2020 Newsom says it's up to #AlamedaCounty Public Health (@Dare2BWell) if anything should be done to @Tesla reopening against the county's #StayAtHome guidelines. https://t.co/GTqpAzdu4D KPIX 5 (@KPIXtv) May 11, 2020 BREAKING: Gov. Gavin Newsom says Tesla's California plant may reopen as soon as next week. #CheddarLive $TSLA pic.twitter.com/qZbaXauKS7 Cheddar (@cheddar) May 11, 2020 Russian President Vladimir Putin today told millions of Russians to return to work starting tomorrow despite logging a record number of infections and deaths from coronavirus in the last 24 hours. Putin spoke about the deadly pandemic in a televised addressed from the Kremlin this afternoon and announced measures to support the Russian economy. 'Starting from tomorrow, May 12, the national period of non-working days will be over for all sectors of the economy,' Putin said, adding that Russia's regions will be able to keep in place any necessary anti-virus measures. The Russian premier went on to criticise businesses for the doubling of unemployment rates since the start of the pandemic, adding they should have held on to their employees during the crisis. According to the official coronavirus data website set up by the Russian government, 11,656 people tested positive in the last 24 hours, with the total now at 221,344. In this photo taken on Monday, May 11, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech while congratulating graduates of Russian military academies and universities on the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in WWI Putin stressed that the rapidly increasing number of coronavirus cases was largely down to the high rates of testing in the country. He said that Russia began the pandemic with 2,500 tests per day, which has now risen to 170,000. Officials plan for this number to be double by next month. However, the low death toll and Russia's methods of logging fatalities have been questioned by the opposition, while doctors have said initial test kits often returned false negative results. With the majority of cases in and around Moscow, some regions have begun to relax restrictions which have seriously affected the economy. Sparcely-populated Yakutia, Magadan and Yamal lifted restrictions on being outside and allowed the reopening of some businesses, requiring people to self-distance. In Moscow, the mayor announced some industries and construction sites can begin work, but masks and gloves will be mandatory starting Tuesday. During the address today, Putin asked regional government heads to take responsibility for enforcing social distancing measures and for delivering the money promised by the government to those in need. Russia's neighbours Ukraine and Georgia began to relax restrictions Monday, while Kazakhstan lifted its state of emergency. A resident looks out of a window of her flat decorated with the national flag as she attends a minute of silence in memory of the Fallen of World War II, while in quarantine at home, in Moscow, Russia 9 May 2020 The number of new cases of the novel coronavirus rose by a record daily amount to 11,656 in the previous 24 hours, making the official tally 221,344. Only Spain and the United States have recorded more cases than the world's biggest country. More than half of all cases and deaths are in Moscow, the epicentre of Russia's outbreak. The Russian capital on Monday reported an overnight increase of 6,169 new cases, bringing its official total to 115,909. The country's coronavirus response centre also reported 94 new deaths, taking the overall death toll to 2,009. The official death toll remains far lower than in many countries, something Kremlin critics have queried. Official data published on Sunday showed Moscow reported 18 per cent more deaths in April this year than the same month in 2019, raising the possibility that the official death toll from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, seriously understates the spread of the virus. Government officials attribute the lower death toll and the rising and large number of cases to a vast testing programme, under which they say 5.6 million tests have been conducted. Government officials say the high testing numbers have allowed doctors to quickly identify people who need medical care and make sure they receive it in a timely fashion. Budapest residents who have demonstrated respectable acceptance of restriction measures so far deserve to know the citys novel coronavirus infection figures which the government has so far failed to make public, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony said over the weekend. Karacsony said in a post on Facebook that the figures were much needed for the planned reopening of the city and also because of an increasing number of contradictions that must be clarified. He cited the fact that during its Saturday press conference the operative board that coordinates Hungarys response to the epidemic did not reveal how many people were in hospital and how many on ventilators. The mayor said it would also be important to know why nearly four thousand data items had disappeared from the public health authority website and added that it would be important to know the number of hospital infections. He said screening data from private health-care institutions showed 0.3% positive test results which confirmed the suspicion that the epidemic was mostly spreading in hospitals and from hospitals. If this is true then it was shockingly irresponsible by the municipal government office to prohibit the screening of patients released from hospitals, he said. The state secretary for international communication and relations said Karacsony had been continually and desperately trying to distract attention from the fact that the epidemic was spreading mostly in elderly care homes in Budapest. Zoltan Kovacs said on his Facebook page that Karacsony had acted with a delay and failed to prepare elderly care homes for the epidemic despite having the powers and the responsibility for this. Kovacs posted a diagram showing that of 93 coronavirus deaths from elderly care homes 64 were in Budapest. MTI Photo On 14th March 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown till 3rd May, 2020 in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19. Immense hardship which has been caused and which will continue be caused due to the drastic measure has been justified as a necessary evil; something which must be put up with if lives are to be saved. Nevertheless, one is tempted to ask, would the lockdown withstand judicial scrutiny if challenged in a constitutional court, given that severe restrictions have been imposed on the rights of the citizens, no matter how laudable the motive and crisis-like the situation might be? The answer, as it turns out, is not easy. A crisis is not an excuse for a carte blanche At the outset, it must be stated that the fundamental rights, enshrined in Part III of the Constitution are not absolute. In certain circumstances, the State can temporarily curtail or even suspend the rights of the citizens. The outbreak of Covid-19 may be one such circumstance where some amount of personal freedom may have to be sacrificed at the altar of public welfare according to the maxim Salus populi suprema lex which means welfare of the people is the supreme law. But the extent to which the State can encroach upon rights of the citizens is debatable. However, in some rare cases, courts have attempted to admirably strike a balance between the rights of the citizens and the might of the state, even in times of exigencies and distress, such as war, natural disasters and other calamities. In such circumstances, prompt action and relief measures may be the need of the hour which might temporarily necessitate the concentration of an abnormally large amount of power in the hands of the authorities. But as the custodian of the peoples rights, the courts have rightly held that no crisis can serve as a licence for a carte blanche which is the very antithesis of a fair and rule of law society. One of the earliest and most controversial decisions which dealt with such a scenario is Ex parte Merryman [17 F. Cas. 144 (1861)] in which the Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court, Roger B. Taney held that President has no power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus even during a civil war. Only the U.S. Congress has such a power which cannot be usurped by the President. The judgment given by Justice Roger Taney is of doubtful precedential value, and most importantly was ignored by President Lincoln, but the essence of the decision is that the court can order a detenues release by issuing the writ of habeas corpus if it finds out that he has been unlawfully detained since such detention amounts to a violation of a persons right to personal liberty, a right which cannot be taken away even in times of tumult, turmoil or danger. In India, the position is somewhat similar. The 44th Amendment to the Constitution of India has affirmed that Article 21, i.e. the right to life and personal liberty as well as Article 22 which ensures protection against arrest and detention in certain cases cannot be suspended during an emergency. This amendment came just one year after Justice Khannas famous dissenting judgment in A.D.M. Jabalpur v. Shivkanth Shukla [AIR 1976 SC 1207], in which he held that the power to issue writs of habeas corpus cannot be taken away by any authority under the Constitution, even during an emergency. Even otherwise, it must be noted that as of now, there is no constitutional emergency in the country. According to Article 352 of the Constitution, the president has the power to proclaim such an emergency only if he is satisfied that there is a threat to the security of India or any part of it on account of war, external aggression, or armed rebellion. Article 359 states that in such cases the President may by order, suspend the right of the citizens to approach the courts for the enforcement of any fundamental right except Articles 21 and 22. However, since no such emergency has been proclaimed by the President, the right of the citizens to approach the constitutional courts for enforcement of their fundamental rights is unaffected. The most useful case in this regard is Henning Jacobson v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts [197 U.S. 11] which was delivered at a time when the United States was under the grip of the small pox disease in 1905. Though the United States Supreme Court upheld mandatory vaccination, the court warned that some restrictions could be so arbitrary and oppressive in particular cases as to justify the interference of the courts to prevent wrong and oppression. The court added that if a statute purporting to have been enacted to protect the public health, the public morals, or the public safety has no real or substantial relation to those objects, or is, beyond all question, a plain, palpable invasion of rights secured by the fundamental law, it is the duty of the courts to so adjudge, and thereby give effect to the Constitution. Thus, the rule of law must prevail even during a health emergency such as the Covid-19 pandemic. A tale of two tests So how is a court to determine whether governmental action is unlawfully invasive of civilian rights? According to American jurisprudence, statutes which allegedly infringe the Bill of Rights, the American counterpart of our fundamental rights, have to pass the strict scrutiny test which was borrowed by the Supreme Court of India in Subhash Chandra v. Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board [(2009) 15 SCC 458]. According to this test, the court will strike down the law unless the government can demonstrate in court that a law or regulation: 1. Is justified by a compelling state interest. Broadly, it can be said that something that is necessary or crucial rather than something which is merely preferred would qualify as a compelling state interest e.g. national security or saving the lives of a large number of individuals. 2. The law or policy has been narrowly tailored to achieve that goal or interest. This means that the means chosen to accomplish the government's asserted purpose must be specifically and narrowly framed to accomplish that purpose. Thus, if the government action encompasses too much or fails to address essential aspects of the compelling interest, then the rule is not considered narrowly tailored. 3. The law or policy must be the least restrictive means for achieving that interest i.e. there must not be a less restrictive way to effectively achieve the compelling government interest. However, nearly a decade later, the Strict Scrutiny Test was done away and the Supreme Court came up with a new test called to the proportionality test to determine the permissibility of restrictions imposed on fundamental rights. According to this test, the nature and extent of the States interference with the exercise of a right must be proportionate to the goal it seeks to achieve. In K. T. Puttuswamy v. Union of India [(2019) 1 SCC 1] the Supreme Court of India held that while determining whether the violation of fundamental rights is justified or not, it will consider the following aspects: A measure restricting a right must have a legitimate goal (legitimate goal stage). It must be a suitable means of furthering this goal (suitability or rationale connection stage). There must not be any less restrictive but equally effective alternative (necessity stage). The measure must not have a disproportionate impact on the right holder (balancing stage). Thus unlike the Strict Scrutiny Test which does not take explicitly take into account the impact of State action but focuses more on the means adopted in furtherance of the objective to be achieved, the Proportionality Test also makes it necessary for the assailed measure to not have a disproportionate impact on the holder of the rights. More recently, the Supreme Court in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India [Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1031 of 2019] aptly summarized the proportionality test by quoting the words of Lord Diplock You must not use a steam hammer to crack a nut, if a nutcracker would do. A defeat in victory So what does all this mean in the present context? The lockdown satisfies the first requirement of the proportionality test. It is the duty of the government to contain the spread of Covid-19 which is certainly a legitimate goal. As scientists have pointed out, breaking the chain of transmission of Covid-19 by enforcing social distancing is the most effective method to combat the spread of the pandemic. It is during the second and third prongs of the test that things become a little iffy. It is dubious whether a lockdown is a solution in itself when it comes to containing the spread of the disease. As has been stated by the director of the World Health Organisation, at best it is a temporary measure to buy time and reduce the pressure on the public health system. Moreover, countries such as South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong have deftly handled the crisis without enforcing a total lockdown by implementing sensible measures such as early adoption of masks, rationing of important supplies such as hand-sanitizers and mass testing, though it is undoubtedly true that the conditions are vastly different in India as compared to the above-mentioned countries. It is last point of the four-fold proportionality test which is the most worrisome. Not only lockdown has had disastrous effects on the economy, but it left thousands of on the streets without any food, shelter or means of livelihood, exposed to the deadly virus. Migrant workers were unable to return to their native places. A possibility of food shortage looms in the air as farmers were unable to sell their produce. The worst-hit were the poor and weaker sections of the society who, deprived of their wages, were unable to buy the most basic of commodities. Thus, it is beyond the pale of any doubt, that the governments move was grossly disproportionate. It is now settled law that the word life in Article 21 does not refer to mere animal existence. It includes the right to shelter, livelihood, wages, food and everything that is needed for a person to live with dignity. Yet, with one hasty, ill-thought and impetuous move, every one of these rights was thrown to the wind. And with the total number of Covid-19 positive cases increasing by the day, even the efficacy of the move is coming under doubt. However, when all is said and done, it is unlikely that the lockdown could have been successfully challenged in a constitutional court. As the saying goes, Necessity knows no law. It is no secret that the Indian judiciary has shown considerable restraint and a deferential attitude towards the legislature and the executive in recent times. And given that a health emergency is prevailing in the country, the courts would be all the more reluctant to interfere in matters which not only require technical expertise but can have enormous ramifications throughout the country. No judge would want to be called a meddlesome interloper who obstructs the working of the government when it is trying to save lives. As the U.S. Supreme Court explained in Boumediene v. Bush, neither the Members of this Court nor most federal judges begin the day with briefings that may describe new and serious threats to our Nation and its people. On March 23, just one day before the Prime Minister announced the nation-wide lockdown, the President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump had tweeted We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself. Notwithstanding his other misgivings, it would appear that Mr. Trump was right this time. Join LAWyersClubIndia's network for daily News Updates, Judgment Summaries, Articles, Forum Threads, Online Law Courses, and MUCH MORE!!" Join our Telegram group Join our Whatsapp group "Loved reading this piece by Shukr Usgaokar Join LAWyersClubIndia's network for daily News Updates, Judgment Summaries, Articles, Forum Threads, Online Law Courses, and MUCH MORE!!" Tags : others Bazaar Corporate Radar | Feb 22, 2021, 12:00 AM IST Bazaar Corporate Radar Bazaar Corporate Radar is your window into the minds of top CEOs, Boardrooms, global economists, fund managers and sector analysts. If it?s making news, you?ll find it on Bazaar Corporate Radar. TORONTO, May 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - The Board of Directors of TMX Group Limited today declared a dividend of $0.66 on each common share outstanding, payable on June 12, 2020 to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 29, 2020. TMX Group hereby advises that this dividend is designated as an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes. For the results of the quarter ended March 31, 2020 for TMX Group, please click on the following link: http://www.tmx.com/investor-relations/ . About TMX Group (TSX-X) TMX Group operates global markets, and builds digital communities and analytic solutions that facilitate the funding, growth and success of businesses, traders and investors. TMX Group's key operations include Toronto Stock Exchange , TSX Venture Exchange , TSX Alpha Exchange , The Canadian Depository for Securities , Montreal Exchange , Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation , and Trayport which provide listing markets, trading markets, clearing facilities, depository services, technology solutions, data products and other services to the global financial community. TMX Group is headquartered in Toronto and operates offices across North America (Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and New York), as well as in key international markets including London and Singapore. For more information about TMX Group, visit our website at www.tmx.com . Follow TMX Group on Twitter: @TMXGroup . SOURCE TMX Group Limited Bored. That was the most commonly used word by Canadian children responding to a survey asking them to describe how theyve been faring during the COVID-19 lockdown. Seventy-one per cent confessed to boredom, eight weeks after societys shutdown, while 41 per cent said they felt normal, the second most popular response. (Thirty-three per cent described themselves as lonely.) Older kids were more likely than younger ones to describe themselves as angry and hopeless. As the COVID-19 pandemic has spread, the lives of most Canadians have changed. Canadas kids have been isolated from friends and extended family and held home from school for nearly two months, the Angus Reid Institute wrote in a summary, released Monday, accompanying a breakdown of the surveys questions and answers. The Angus Reid Institute decided to go straight to these children to better understand what their hopes and worries are amid the unprecedented shutdown. Six hundred and fifty children aged ten to 17 were surveyed with the consent of their parents. Among the surveys key findings: Seventy-five per cent of those surveyed said they were keeping up with online classes, but six in ten said they dislike it and are unmotivated. Missing out on the next school year was the top worry for 29 per cent of the kids. Twelve per cent said they had experienced tension or arguments at home. Not seeing friends topped the list of the downside of being homebound, and one in four said their friendships have deteriorated. While adults count personal health, lost work and income among their greatest fears through these weeks, half of the kids surveyed said they are at least a little worried about getting COVID-19. The non-profit organization conducted the online survey May 1-4. It carries a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Guillaume Soros conviction is seen as an attempt to exclude him from the presidential elections scheduled for late October. - Source: Sia Kambou/AFP via Getty Images 11.05.2020 LISTEN A political earthquake is rumbling through Ivory Coast. On April 28, an Ivorian court found Guillaume Soro, a hopeful in the October presidential election, guilty of embezzlement and money laundering . The 48-year-old former rebel commander-in-chief was sentenced to 20 years in jail. The political dimension of Soro's conviction was not lost on Ivorian citizens. They have watched his rise to power over the past two decades. But his presidential ambitions largely explain his judicial downfall. Soro's conviction can be understood as the latest chapter of a power struggle that began to unravel since president Alassane Ouattara's re-election in October 2015. Several pointers appear to corroborate the suspicion that Soro's prosecution was politically motivated. His arrest warrant was made public when it was known to all that he was in Europe, providing a compelling reason for him not to return home. The charges filed against him include conspiracy to overthrow sitting president Ouattara. The decision to proceed against him in absentia, alongside other concerns about due process, suggests that the government's main intention was to keep him at bay, not in custody. Overall, many Ivorians see Soro's conviction as an attempt to exclude him from the presidential elections scheduled for late October. This would pave the way for the election of Ouattara's favourite candidate and current prime minister, Amadou Gon Coulibaly. There are much wider implications to these developments too what Soro's conviction means for international criminal justice. Two interrelated questions stand out. Why did Soro fall from grace in the first place? And does his demise provide the International Criminal Court with a second and arguably undeserved chance to deliver justice for atrocities perpetrated during almost a decade of civil conflict in the West African country? The falling out There is arguably nobody in Ivory Coast who contributed more to Ouattara's ascent to the presidency than Soro. Soro was the commander-in-chief of the rebel forces that brought former president Laurent Gbagbo's illiberal regime to an end. Soro's military and political struggle to topple Gbagbo began with the failed coup of September 2002. It lasted until Gbagbo's defeat and arrest in April 2011. Ouattara felt understandably indebted to Soro and rewarded him generously. For this reason, he also turned a blind eye on the atrocities perpetrated by Soro's rebels as they marched on Abidjan. But as time passed and the wartime loyalties faded away, Soro's past became a political liability for Ouattara and a looming threat for Ivory Coast's fragile democracy. Still, Ouattara twice came to the rescue of his former ally. His government refused to comply with two arrest warrants against Soro. One was issued by a French judge in December 2015. The other was requested by the government of neighbouring Burkina Faso in January 2016. Attitudes towards Soro began to change in late 2016, when Ouattara took institutional, political and judicial steps to distance himself from his former ally. Even the adoption of the new constitution , which established the position of vice president and added an upper chamber to the unicameral national assembly, provided an occasion to weaken Soro's grip on power. But it was Soro's suspected involvement in the mutinies of January and May 2017 that marked the point of no return. Now he was perceived as a threat to the Ivorian state, Soro's finances and ties with wealthy benefactors suddenly came under close scrutiny by the national judiciary. Unwilling to accept Ouattara's proverbial olive branch and endorse his handpicked successor, Soro cut all remaining ties with the president. He resigned from the national assembly speakership and from his party in February 2019. It was then that Soro, no longer under Ouattara's patronage, became a viable target for international prosecution. The International Criminal Court option Having Soro prosecuted in The Hague is certainly appealing to the Ouattara government. A domestic trial would be politically costly. And, given Soro's popularity and influence over the military, likely conducive to civil turmoil. At the same time, recourse to international justice is not fail-proof either. The gross mismanagement of the case brought against former president Gbagbo and Charles Ble Goude is still fresh in the memory of many Ivorians. It led to their acquittal in January 2019. It also served to undermine the credibility of the Hague-based tribunal. Soro's recent conviction offers an opportunity for improvement and redemption that the court cannot afford to pass. Apart from justice being done, bringing a case against Soro would also help address perceptions about the court's impartiality or lack thereof. It would be the first international prosecution targeting a high-ranking member from the winning side of the civil war. On this point, it is worth recalling that scholars and observers of Ivorian politics have lamented the 'Prosecutor's silence regarding alleged crimes committed by pro-Ouattara forces.' Assuming International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's office actually capitalises on this opportunity, how would Ivorian authorities react? Several cues suggest the Ivorian government wants the court to open a case against Soro, the sooner the better. Past interactions between Ivorian authorities and the Hague-based court may help make sense of why and how recent domestic decisions call for ICC scrutiny of Soro. Let us not forget that the Ouattara government surrendered both Gbagbo and Ble Goude to the international court, in 2011 and 2013 respectively. When it refused to surrender Gbagbo's wife Simone, the Ivorian judiciary charged her with war crimes, thus halting the ICC's complementarity jurisdiction. Read more: Why Gbagbo acquittal is a bigger blow for the ICC than the Bemba decision Soro too has been convicted for crimes that do not fall within the International Criminal Court's subject-matter jurisdiction. There is nevertheless no worse country to be in than France for those who seek to escape international justice. For the past 25 years, French authorities have proactively investigated, arrested, and surrendered to international criminal tribunals suspects from numerous countries. These range from the Western Balkans to Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Central African Republic, Libya and Syria. Lastly, an ICC prosecution has far-reaching political and personal consequences for defendants that may even outlast their acquittal. This was proven by the fact that Gbagbo and Ble Goude have been unable to return home and resume their political careers pending appeal . A case against Soro would be a win for both the Hague-based court, in dire need of a credibility boost, and the outgoing Ivorian administration, seeking to smoothly transfer powers to someone who will continue, rather than undo, Ouattara's legacy. What remains to be seen is whether Soro will accept his grim situation or fight to fulfil his dream of capturing the presidency of Ivory Coast by any means necessary. Marco Bocchese does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. By Marco Bocchese, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Illinois at Chicago Toronto family lawyer Rick Peticca was in the midst of working with a client on a separation agreement when COVID-19 began its run through North America. Suddenly, his client, who worked in the service industry, was out of a job. We were looking at doing the agreement and she was considering holding off on (asking for) spousal support, but with the layoff, shes reconsidering, said Peticca, who works for Shulman & Partners LLP. His client isnt alone in facing changed circumstances that may necessitate reduced support payments. Data from the Canada Revenue Agency show that, since March 15, the Canada Revenue Service (CRA) has received close to 11 million applications for its Canada Emergency Relief Benefit (CERB), a monthly payment targeted at workers who have been laid off or lost their source of income due to COVID-19. Weve had an increase in calls over the last couple of months from people who arent receiving the appropriate support or who arent able to make their full support payments, Peticca said. Support payments approved by court order require court approval to change them, something that may be too expensive to contemplate when temporary reduced financial circumstances are the issue. In addition, Ontarios court sessions are currently suspended, although judges are hearing urgent matters by teleconference. A request for a temporary change in support payments may not meet the courts definition of urgent, however, and could be delayed until regular court sessions resume. But children are a court priority and if you put someone in a dire situation, the court will have to respond, Peticca said. People who are making court-ordered support payments may have their wages automatically garnished. Ontarios Family Responsibility Office (FRO) overseescollection of these payments. The office is not allowed to garnish Canada Emergency Response Benefits, but unemployment insurance is fair game. We understand that these are unprecedented times and are working with both payors and recipients to determine the best possible outcome in each individual situation, within the parameters of the Family Responsibility Offices (FRO) statutory mandate, said a spokesperson via email. We encourage support payors to connect with FRO in cases where their circumstances have changed. While FRO will do their best to work with them to identify alternative payment arrangements, it is the courts who can change the terms of support orders. Not every support situation is the result of a court order; couples may have formal separation agreements arranged through lawyers, or they may simply have agreed upon support informally. With or without court input, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, says family lawyer Linda Bronicheski, the principal at Beaches Family Law & Mediation in Toronto. Every family is so different and their financial problems are different, said Bronicheski. Some people may choose to dip into their savings (to make support payments), but, for others, its not an option. Both recipients and payors may have financial resources that are stretched to the limit and no savings to fall back on. She suggests that prior to considering any change in payments, where the loss of income is genuine, you should be applying for all possible aid. The first step in adjusting any support agreement is opening the lines of communication with your ex-spouse, say both Peticca and Bronicheski. You have to make a general effort to comply with an agreement, but you should open up a discussion with your spouse to see if its possible to temporarily negotiate a lesser amount and revert back to the original payments when things go back to normal, Peticca said. Such communication should also include an exchange of current income information to ensure both parties understand the circumstances. You can pick up the phone or send an email, Bronicheski said. Exchanging income information is really a key to moving forward, because a lot of separated spouses are inherently distrustful of each other, so the paperwork goes a long way in explaining that the situation is genuine. Child support, for example, is generally based on income, and the province offers a calculator that can help both parties understand what an appropriate temporary change might be in dollar terms. People may try to negotiate a creative, temporary resolution, Peticca said. Child support is prioritized by legislation, so the payor might try to meet that and work out an accommodation on spousal support, for example. Each spouse should consider talking to a lawyer to help them review any temporary agreement they make or to assist them in negotiating a temporary agreement. It need not be an adversarial process. There are lawyers who practise collaborative law, which is a good fit for clients who are willing to consider the other partys perspective; their practices also include access to financial and mental health professionals . There are also mediators that serve as impartial professionals who sit down with both parties to work through the issues important in reaching a settlement. We recognize that everyone is going through a difficult time with uncertainty across the board, Peticca said. We are here to help parties bridge any communications gap and put together a resolution they both can live with. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-12 07:17:34|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A medical worker from Peking Union Medical College Hospital shares his experience of fighting against the COVID-19 in Hubei Province as a member of the medical assistance team, at the No.166 High School in Beijing, capital of China, May 11, 2020. More than 80,000 students in their final year of junior high school in Beijing returned to classrooms on Monday as the COVID-19 epidemic is under control. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang) For mental health providers supporting our community through lockdown, having access to a phone is vital. Having access to a smartphone, however, opens up a whole new way to connect. Community mental health provider Te Puna Hauora Ki Uta Ki Tai knows just how valuable a simple upgrade in phones is for not only its team, but its hundreds of clients seeking help. Recent funding received through the Rapid Response Fund has allowed the not-for-profit organisation to purchase 18 smartphones - one for each of its practitioners. Their dedicated team of experienced and qualified health professionals include registered mental health nurses, social workers, counsellors and whanau therapists. The community group provides a range of services within the Western Bay of Plenty, including clinical, cultural and social support for whanau. Although there is a specific focus on kaupapa Maori, and servicing Maori, their services are open to all. Te Puna Hauora Managing Director Cindy Mokomoko says the switch to smartphones has made a significant difference in how they support clients, many of whom had been missing not seeing their key support worker. All our staff have been working from home and are continuously checking in on their clients by phone. Our previous phones were nine years old and basic, with no access to video calling or any such digital access. Observing body language is a big part of assessing a client with mental illness. The smartphones allow our team to do this, and also alleviate some of the isolation clients are experiencinggiving a feeling of connectedness in these trying times. Te Puna Hauora has seen a significant increase in new referrals and calls since the lockdown; from those experiencing high anxiety and depression, to those struggling with loss of income, or difficulty coping with the isolation and lack of physical engagement with the community and social supports. While they have been open as usual during the week, from 8 am to 5 pm, Te Puna Hauora has been taking many calls outside of hours. Social Worker Zola Griffiths. New referrals are triaged through the Managing Director who has extensive years of experience and qualifications in mental health and then triaged to one of two senior mental health Registered Nurses who are on call over the lockdown period. The Registered Nurse then carries out a phone assessment and includes appropriate others as assessed, whether that be whanau, the Psychiatrist, Crises Team, NZ Police, and other internal and external organisations. Their team have been checking in on clients and whanau regularly, coordinating supports when needed, providing strategies for de-escalation or anxieties, or just being there as a sounding board. Social Worker Zola Griffiths says having access to more information at their fingertips has made their lives easier, and has allowed clients to be more engaged. Another staff member Joe Canton says being able to video call clients so they can see who they are talking with is a big help by creating a more face to face comfortable conversation. In one of the calls, when the client could see my children running around in the background because of having to work from home, they became more relaxed and talked a lot more about their issues than I have ever heard before. In my opinion, there seemed to be a breakdown in barriers because the client and I were able to see each other. Cindy says the group are appreciative of the $4,842 in funding they received through the Rapid Response Fund, established by local funders TECT, Acorn Foundation, BayTrust and Tauranga City Council. Its not always easy getting this kind of funding quickly, especially when so many community groups and service providers are in the same boat facing increased demand. We appreciate our local funders working together to help us adapt to support our community. For those in the community struggling with mental health issues, please reach out for support. You can contact Te Puna Hauora on 075718024 or the Crisis Team on 0800 800 508. To learn more about Te Puna Hauora, visit https://www.tepunahauorabop.co.nz/. LOS ANGELESAdult toy maker Zalo USA has partnered with former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Joe Giudice, who will serve as its European distributor. Giudice spoke about his new role for the company in an interview with Us Weekly recently. To read the article, click here. Guidice first announced his new role with the brand on April 30 with an Instagram Story that said, Proud to be working with the Zalo USA team and their award-winning products. Giudice appeared on the Bravo Network reality TV hit show franchise Real Housewives of New Jersey alongside his estranged wife Teresa Giudice. Currently living in Italy after being ordered to leave the U.S. following a highly publicized stint in prison, the reality star is known as a loving father and serial entrepreneur. Zalo, whose products boast innovative, premium features such as pre-heating and thrusting options, Bluetooth connectivity and powerful, whisper-quiet motors, as well as ornate design elements including gold plating, real Swarovski crystals and jewelry box-style packaging, was crowned AVN's 2020 Best Pleasure Product Manufacturer Small. For more information, visit ZaloUSA.com. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Mardika Parama (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, May 11, 2020 14:05 618 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd735776 1 Business KAI,Train,operation,Transportation,PSBB Free State-owned train operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) is scheduled to open three temporary routes to accommodate travel starting Tuesday after travel restrictions for certain individuals were relaxed. For the operation, which starts Tuesday and ends on May 31, the company will run three temporary routes connecting Gambir Station in Jakarta, Pasarturi Station in Surabaya, East Java, and Bandung Station, West Java. The routes include the Gambir Station-Pasarturi Station northern line, Gambir Station-Pasarturi Station southern line and Bandung Station-Pasarturi Station line. We will allow for extraordinary train travel for individuals who are exempt from the governments restriction as stipulated [by the COVID-19 task force] under strict health protocol, PT KAI spokesperson Joni Martinus said in a press release on Sunday. All trains would operate at a passenger load factor of no more than 50 percent to promote physical distancing, Joni added. Tickets are available for purchase at train stations starting Monday and passengers can purchase tickets seven days prior to departure. However, passengers must provide a permit from the COVID-19 task force in order to travel. They are also required to show negative COVID-19 test results, an official letter of duty, a personal ID and a letter explaining their purpose of travel, among other documents. To contain the virus, the government is currently restricting all types of passenger travel under Transportation Ministerial Regulation No. 25/2020 as part of its ban on the Idul Fitri mudik (exodus). However, the national COVID-19 task force issued a circular on May 6 exempting state officials, private sector workers and state-owned enterprise (SOE) employees from the governments ban on travel to and from virus red zones. Several Indonesian airlines have also resumed domestic passenger flights, which are scheduled to be reopened gradually this month in accordance with the task forces new regulation. Garuda Indonesia officially resumed domestic passenger flights on Thursday after previously suspending them in compliance with the governments large-scale social restrictions (PSBB). Members of the Lion Air Group Lion Air, Wings Air and Batik Air resumed domestic passenger flights on Sunday, with tickets available for purchase at the companys counters, call-centers and websites. All airlines will require passengers to provide ground staff with medical letters from hospitals stating that they do not have COVID-19. Topics : KAI Train operation Transportation PSBB New Delhi: After claiming large portions of the South China Sea and the Mount Everest, two Chinese media have been claiming that central Asian countries like Kyrgystan and Kazakhstan have been part of China and with Kazakhstan even "eager to return back to China". Tuotiao.com headquartered in Beijing in a recently published article titled "Why didn't Kyrgyzstan return to China after gaining Independence?". It elaborated that under the Khan dynasty, 510,000 square kilometre of Kyrgystan, which means the entire country was part of Chinese lands but the Russian empire took over the territory. The article explained that like Mongolia, Kyrgystan has been part of the Chinese territory. Toutiao.com has a readership of 750 million and is China's largest mobile platform of content creation. Meanwhile, Sohu.com, another major Chinese internet company headquartered in Beijing published an article which said: "Kazakhstan is located on territories that historically belong to China". This prompted an immediate summoning of the Chinese envoy to the country Zhang Xiao April 14 over the article. Central Asian countries have had huge investments from China, but that has made them also "financially vulnerable" to Beijing. Kyrgystan has borrowed $1.7 billion from Chinese Exim bank which is believed to be 43 per cent of the country's total external debt. When it comes to Kazakhstan, China has an outsized role in its energy sector. These developments come even as over the weekend China's CGTN tweeted a picture of Mount Everest saying "world's highest peak located in China's Tibet autonomous region". The tweet was later deleted and a new tweet was given saying "the world's highest peak located on the China Nepal border". Last month China had announced a new governance system for disputed islands in the South China Sea that irked the country's neighbours but has drawn sharp reactions from countries like US and Australia. China approved the establishment of two districts to administer disputed Paracel & Spratly island in the South China Sea. Each district will have a local government with the government for the Spratly island being located on Fiery Cross Reef, an area fortified by China by land reclamation. One of the new district created in Sansha city in Hainan province will administer Paracel island. Before that Bejing had issued new names for 25 islands/ reef & 55 undersea entities in the South China Sea in a bid to "reaffirm" its sovereignty in the region. This has led to angry responses from the country's neighbourhood. Vietnam strongly protests Chinese action saying it violates the country's sovereignty and are invalid. An angry Philippines filed a diplomatic protest at the Chinese embassy in Manila. Australian foreign minister Marise Payne while condemning China's action in the South China Sea said it is "vital all countries ease tensions so they can focus on combating COVID-19." Mumbai: Private equity major, The Carlyle Group, is acquiring animal healthcare company, SeQuent Scientific, and will make an open offer to the existing shareholders. The existing promoters of SeQuent Scientific Limited today announced that CA Harbor Investments, an affiliated entity of CAP V Mauritius Limited and The Carlyle Group has agreed to acquire an equity stake of up to 74% in the company for Rs 86 per share. This is among the first few deals in the private equity space during the ongoing lockdown. Pursuant to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)'s Takeover Regulations, the proposed transaction will trigger a mandatory open offer by CA Harbor Investments and CAP V Mauritius Limited for the purchase of up to 26% equity shares of SeQuent from public shareholders to be identified in the open offer documents. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2020, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Following the completion of this transaction, CA Harbor Investments will become the new promoter of SeQuent. Headquartered in Mumbai, SeQuent is the largest Indian pure-play animal healthcare company with global operations. SeQuent provides animal health Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), formulations, and analytical services in over 100 countries, with more than 1,700 employees and manufacturing operations in India, Spain, Turkey, Germany and Brazil. The Carlyle Group has a well-established history of investing in the healthcare sector, both in India and globally. Its investments in the Indian healthcare sector include Medanta Medicity Hospital, a leading hospital in the National Capital Region of Delhi, and Metropolis Healthcare, which operates a chain of diagnostic centers and laboratories. The Carlyle Group is a long-standing global investment firm in India, making investments in India since 2000. Carlyle has invested more than $2.5 billion in India as of March 31, 2020. Its other notable investments include SBI Life, SBI Card, HDFC, India Infoline, Delhivery and PNB Housing Finance. J.P. Morgan acted as exclusive financial advisor while Nishith Desai Associates acted as legal advisor to SeQuent and its promoters. Nomura acted as exclusive financial advisor while AZB & Partners and White & Case acted as legal counsels to CA Harbor Investments and Carlyle. Nomura will be acting as the manager to the public tender offer. Arun Kumar, on behalf of the current promoter group of SeQuent, said, "We are pleased to have achieved this strategic outcome for SeQuent and its investors through this divestment. We are confident that Carlyle's global network and resources will be a catalyst for SeQuent's next stage of growth and innovation". Neeraj Bharadwaj, Managing Director of the Carlyle Asia Partners team, said, "SeQuent is led by an experienced management team, and has built strong API and formulation businesses that are poised for continued growth in the evolving animal health industry. We will draw on our global network, industry knowledge and operating expertise in healthcare to advise SeQuent on its business expansion strategy, enhance its operations, and help the company drive sales and product innovation." Economists, investors and environmentalists are calling on the United States and the world to inject big clean energy and climate policy into recovery plans. Reality check: Such prospects face uphill battles almost everywhere, and especially in the United States, where proponents are on defense while the Trump administration and lawmakers are in crisis mode. The big picture: Its not just environmentalists clamoring for a green economic recovery. The United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and a broad swath of investors and corporate executives are calling for a range of clean-energy policies as well. They argue that these policies will not only help the economy better than alternatives, but will also help combat another existential threat: climate change. Where it stands: Congress is going to spend the next several months debating legislation to provide different levels of relief, rescue and recovery to the economy, which is still reeling from coronavirus-fueled shutdowns. In theory, this provides a lot of opportunities to incorporate clean energy and climate-change ideas, but the reality is that they could just get lost in a crowded and messy crisis. As long as the country is gripped by the fear of significant personal family trauma and grinding months of unemployment, that's what Congress is going to focus on. I think we are going to be in emergency policy subsistence for the rest of 2020. Jason Grumet, president, Bipartisan Policy Center What theyre saying: Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), one of Washingtons most progressive advocates for climate-change action and clean energy, is on defense. He introduced legislation recently that seeks to restrict the Trump administrations efforts to help the oil industry, which is struggling as demand for fuel craters. struggling as demand for fuel craters. While that bill wont pass the GOP-controlled Senate, Merkley is also not ready to pursue legislation helping clean energy in any recovery package, he told me late last week in a phone interview. Thatll be another chapter. Im not introducing a bill on it right now, but Im holding conversations with others to develop a strategy on it, Merkley said. Driving the news: The paralysis is not stopping a growing number of organizations from suggesting numerous policies to green the economy while also rebuilding it, including Grumets group. Here's just a sampling. On Wednesday, top executives of 250 companies are holding what backers are calling the largest virtual lawmaker education and advocacy day to lobby Congress. The coalition, organized by the sustainable investment nonprofit Ceres, is calling for a price on carbon emissions and better infrastructure. In a recent speech, the head of the IMF implored the world to recover with green policies, while the fund issued a paper with specific proposals, including tying any support for fossil-fuel to pledges for action on climate-change. An Oxford University report released last week, written by such notable authors as Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University and prominent British climate expert Lord Nicholas Stern, details green policies that could help revive the economy, like insulating buildings to make them more energy-efficient. The intrigue: One policy idea Washington insiders have talked about is a classic pairing of a Republican priority buying excess oil for the nations strategic reserves and a Democratic priority, reauthorizing renewable-energy tax credits. Five years ago, Congress legislated a similar pairing by lifting the 40-year-old oil-export ban while extending the same type of tax credits for renewable energy. Yes, but: Such a swap would do little to reduce heat-trapping emissions in the long run and at the deep levels scientists say is necessary, experts say. Most major policies that would have the biggest impact on climate change are not huge job creators in the short term, says Varun Sivaram, a senior visiting fellow at the Columbia Universitys Center on Global Energy policy. I think horse-trading of near-term emissions cuts and gains is an awful way to do climate policy, but its the most likely thing to happen, said Sivaram. If were not looking at deep decarbonization, we shouldnt be doing climate policy. How it works: Innovation into new technology, like long-term energy storage and carbon-capture equipment that are key to big emission reductions, will create jobs over a long period of time, but not immediately, according to both Sivaram and Grumet of the Bipartisan Policy Center. In the meantime, renewable-energy companies are likely to get at least some narrow and immediate economic relief. The Treasury Department signaled late last week it will allow more time for wind and solar projects that previously qualified for federal tax credits to be completed, given that the industry is facing supply-chain delays while much of the world is locked down. Whats next: Stay tuned for deeper dives into some of the discussed policies and the potential for other countries to green their economic recoveries. Go deeper: Tracking the carbon emissions from the worlds coronavirus stimulus Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday raised with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the issue of financial distress being faced by his state due to the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking payment of GST compensation dues and allowing of special power to impose a tax on mining. Soren also requested the prime minister to expedite the return of migrants to their native states, especially Jharkhand, in a safe and secure manner, in the wake of the recent Aurangabad train mishap in which 16 workers were killed, according to sources in the chief minister's office. He raised the state's concern during the fresh round of consultations between the prime minister and the CMs on ways to strengthen the COVID-19 containment strategy and stepping up of economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day nationwide lockdown nears an end. In the wake of the reverse migration happening in Jharkhand, Soren called for a 50 per cent increase in the existing MGNREGA labour wages for the next one year, the sources said. He also stressed on the need to relax the current wage payment norms and ensure payment of MGNREGA workers on a daily basis, they said. Soren also called for at least 50 per cent increase in the approved labour budget or person days by the Ministry of Rural Development for the fiscal year 2020-2021. State governments are liable to pay unemployment allowance under MGNREGA. In the present context, the chief minister requested the prime minister to allow payment of unemployment allowances to MGNREGA workers from the Centre's share of the MGNREGA project. In the wake of the depleting revenue and fiscal situation of the state government, the Jharkhand chief minister urged the central government to pay the GST compensation dues to the state at the earliest He called for allowing special powers to the state government to impose special tax on mining. Soren also called for providing a moratorium period of one year to the state government for the loan/debt repayment availed by it from the central government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Just as the threat of COVID-19 has collapsed the market for cruise ships, oil drilling and fitness gyms, it appears to be pushing the once-brash, Silicon Valley-bred electric scooter industry closer to a reckoning. Lime and Bird, the fledgling industrys two largest companies and both valued last year at around $2 billion, have each announced that they are suspending operations in numerous U.S. markets and dozens of other countries, mostly in Europe, because the coronavirus pandemic has moored tens of millions of customers at home. In San Antonio, downtown sidewalks that pedestrians once deemed dangerous because of discarded machines and speeding, oblivious riders are calm now, even as Texas businesses begin to slowly reopen. Bird still operates here, but on March 27 it laid off 406 people companywide, or about 30 percent of its staff. Last week, ride-hailing giant Uber, itself struggling to weather the recession, was reported to be in talks to inject emergency funding into Lime, now valued at only $510 million. Bird and Razor USA were the only scooter companies left standing in San Antonio this year after an often-chaotic duel for customers and city contracts by multiple startups. In March, Bird and Razor provided slightly more than 50,000 rides on some 1,373 vehicles, according to city records. That month, the pandemic was only beginning to register, and ridership already was in decline. A year earlier, there had been almost 240,000 rides on 4,158 scooters offered by six companies. Michael Fisher/ San Antonio Express-News After Bird and Razor won contracts last December through a request-for-proposal competition, they each were allowed to deploy up to 1,000 vehicles in San Antonio. Lime also won a contract, but abruptly withdrew in January, citing low ridership and high city fees. San Antonio may be in a better situation than most cities because it had already reduced the glut of companies, observed Joe Deshotel, a former government relations manager for Lime who got laid off in January. With the exception of San Antonio, most cities did not want to pick winners and losers. Now COVID-19 has done that for them. Deshotel said the pandemic repercussions that have claimed retail and service industry stalwarts such as Neiman Marcus, Golds Gym and J. Crew accelerated a contraction within the scooter industry that was already in motion last year. It could be a good thing, he said, and the companies left standing will have a technology that the cities actually want. When we come out of this, people will be leery of just loading into buses, trains and planes, and we will still want something other than cars. On ExpressNews.com: Lime sours on San Antonio weeks after winning scooter contract The pandemic has sharpened the challenge for scooter companies in the meantime Razor said that in April it had an average of only 173 scooters on San Antonio streets. But Razor government relations manager Brandon Cheung said the company, based in Cerritos, Calif., is already seeing a rebound in ridership demand in San Antonio (and is) committed to operating in San Antonio for the full term of our contract regardless of where demand is at. Bird officials would not discuss their fleet size or performance in San Antonio. In May 2018, it had claimed to be the fastest company in U.S. history to reach a $1 billion valuation, but in March it said it was pausing service in San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; and Miami and Coral Gables, Fla., and had pulled its scooters from 21 European cities, from Antwerp to Vienna. Cheung said Razor had one of its strongest Aprils and first quarters in its 20-year history because of its robust retail market and was headed into 2020 in an incredibly strong financial position. He reported that Razor had temporarily pulled out of only one city: Long Beach, Calif., because of its suspension of scooters during the COVID-19 crisis. Thats one of the more promising forecasts in an otherwise battered albeit very young industry. PitchBook, the authoritative source on private capital markets, reported that investment in micromobility had dropped 63 percent in 2019 over the previous year, suggesting that in a post-pandemic world only the strongest scooter companies would survive. And that was before most of the transportation world was brought to a halt by a heretofore unknown virus. In San Antonio, airport traffic dropped nearly 95 percent, while VIA Metropolitan Transit lost about half its weekly bus riders. Regular scooter riders, often restaurant and hotel workers, had no jobs to reach. Also among the nearly 2 million jobless claims in Texas are the legions of contractors known as chargers or juicers who travel in vans at night snatching up scooters to be recharged and serviced. The need to sanitize scooter handlebars has become a significant obstacle for riders returning to the market, just as the chargers are being told their services are no longer needed. Because of the pandemics economic fallout, cities like San Antonio may need to offer more regulation or protection to scooter companies to help them survive, argued David Zipper, a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy Schools Taubman Center for State and Local Government. It sort of goes against the libertarian ethos of Texas, said Zipper, who often writes about urban policy and new mobility technologies. But they may need some degree of protection against some competitor swooping into a market and taking advantage of all the marketing and education that (the existing companies) have already done. Not so much corporate subsidies, just the type of protection that a city might afford a utility or cable TV company that has invested heavily in hardware before reaping the profit in user fees, he said. That may amuse some scooter companies that accused San Antonio of charging excessive fees and engineering a regulatory climate that dictates almost everything about the scooter experience except the use of a helmet and the legal agreements by which riders forfeit their right to sue in case of injury. On ExpressNews.com: Did we actually sign that? Without offering specifics, District 1 City Councilman Roberto Trevino was sympathetic to the plight of scooter companies, saying, Cities need to reduce red tape and put a moratorium on punitive measures while we allow businesses to get back on their feet. The focus should be on providing support and reducing their expenses. Amid the gloom, there are some green shoots of promise for small transportation. Officials in Portland are offering incentives, announcing a partnership with Spin in which the city will temporarily waive scooter daily fees of up to 20 cents per scooter and 25 cents per trip in exchange for Spin cutting the cost of its rides by half. Gotcha Mobility, which is based in Charleston, S.C., and has scooters on 35 college campuses, told StreetsBlog that its ridership numbers are actually up for 2020 after it started a pilot program to make its sit-down scooters available to restaurants and groceries for takeout and light deliveries. Gotcha had a 25 percent bump in business in Baton Rouge, La. All we want is to help people use a small electric vehicle instead of a traditional car, Gotcha CEO Sean Flood said. I think this whole crisis will open up all the ways we can do that. I believe we can cut cars out of as much as 75 to 80 percent of small package delivery and it will save money. But city-funded incentives may be a tough sell in San Antonio, where sales tax revenue is down and budget headaches loom. I cant imagine a set of facts that would result in my supporting incentivizing more scooters in San Antonio, District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez said. I think taxpayers would hoist us up by our own petards if we were to render aid to scooter companies before we came to the rescue of local businesses. Bruce Selcraig is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Bruce, become a subscriber. BSelcraig@express-news.net 7 Shares Share I became interested in medicine in my second year of college at Baylor University. I lived in the old Brooks Hall, which was built with large suites and communal bathrooms, and formerly used as military housing. Six of my suite-mates were pre-med and had doctors for either fathers or mothers. They all spoke of the work their respective parents did, and how much enjoyment treating patients brought them, and that medicine provided a good living and security for the family, and in general prompted respect from the residents in their local communities. I was not doing particularly well in my pre-engineering plan and decided to change my major to pre-med. It turned out I was much better in chemistry and biology than math and physics, so it was a good fit for me. I applied to medical school in my senior year and was accepted. After graduation from college, I spent four years in medical school, one year as a surgical intern, three years in an orthopedic surgery residency, and a final year in a fellowship for foot and ankle surgery. I was asked to join a premier orthopedic group in Houston, and settled down to practice in Houston in 1979. I would say the first twelve years of practice were straightforward. People would come to see me with an orthopedic problem; I would diagnose the problem, and treat it accordingly. Sometimes the problem was operative, sometimes not. The staff would send the insurance company a bill, and it would be paid. Back in those days, sometimes the patient would pay the bill personally, and would then file a claim with the insurance for reimbursement, which would be honored and paid. Something changed for the worse in the late 1980s. Insurance companies decided to discount a doctors services. In plain talk, that was a decision to empirically reduce the fees. Then came the concept of pre-approval of services for patients. My group was in a situation where we were tied to a medical school and hospital and could not negotiate our declining payments. As a result, half of us left and built our own facility to provide convenient and less expensive one-stop shopping for the patient, such that we could offer clinic visits, radiological testing including MRI and CT scans, surgical treatments, and hospitalization all under one roof. This new situation also allowed the administrative folk to negotiate contracts with payors to maximize our reimbursement such that we could continue to treat our patients and pay our employees and ourselves. The late 1980s and 1990s also brought a new enemy: plaintiffs lawyers. A wave of lawsuits against doctors as had never been seen before or since rocked our world. Malpractice insurance policy costs rose to over $100,000 per year per man. It was chaos until the year 2002 when President George W. Bush initiated tort reform. It seemed a large number of the tort lawyers moved to Louisiana overnight. Over the next fifteen years, the negotiating process between insurance companies and doctors deteriorated. I can remember at group meetings being presented with the newest insurance company contract at another 5%, 10%, even a 15% reduction in reimbursement. And a discussion would ensue as to whether we would refuse to accept those terms and eliminate that particular insurance company from our provider base. What that would mean is that large numbers of patients who worked for companies we had done business with for years would be eliminated from our rolls and would have to find treatment elsewhere. I can remember patients I had treated in the past coming in to see me for the last time, crying, regretful that they would be unable to see me again because we didnt accept their insurance any longer, and all because the insurance company would not agree to a reimbursement rate that was even equal to the cost of treating the patient. The problem has continued to worsen over time. Ive been out of the business for fifteen years. When I left, some insurance companies had reduced the physician reimbursement down to 60 to 80% of normal fees. If one calculates the doctors overhead to be 30 to 40% of collections, you dont have to be very good at math to see that at some point in time, a doctor cant pay the overhead, or himself for that matter. My experience as a physician and surgeon was stellar. I was able to practice medicine for half of my career in a golden age when the doctors and insurance companies worked together to provide care for patients. Unfortunately, an adversarial situation exists now between the two groups, with insurance companies denying treatment for the patient/client and offering markedly reduced reimbursement for the physician. The situation will implode in time. Medical school applications are down, and its possible that our best and brightest will no longer find the challenge of todays medicine worth the sacrifice and expense of four years of high school, four years of college, four years of medical school, and six more years of specialty training. The trend now is for young graduates, whether they are family practitioners or neurosurgeons, or any medical specialty in between, to be hired by large hospital chains as employees. That situation provides a steady income stream, ample vacation time, continuing medical education, and job security, a valid choice for a young person who, in most situations, has accumulated massive debt in order to follow their dreams into the medical world. That position also has the advantage of having a large hospital chain negotiate contracts for their doctor-employees, a huge benefit in these modern times. Going to work for a hospital was something my surgeon colleagues nor I would have entertained in the old days. We were, for the most part, a fiercely independent group and could not stand to be told what to do by anyone, much fewer hospital administrators and insurance carriers. Kudos to the new breed of health care provider. We are glad you have survived the rigorous road you took to become what you wanted to be and have stepped up and joined the fray on behalf of patients the world over. Welcome to the changing of the guard. John Bishop is a retired orthopedic surgeon. He is the author of The Doc Brady Mystery Series. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Dr. Vito Imbasciani, secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs, tracked the Zika and Ebola viruses before dealing with the novel coronavirus. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Dr. Vito Imbasciani has been at war with viruses since he was 5. Growing up near the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York, he contracted polio in 1952 and couldnt walk for two months. In medical school in Vermont 30 years later, he saw AIDS steal the lives of otherwise healthy gay men. Now, Imbasciani, secretary of Californias Department of Veterans Affairs, and his staff are responsible for keeping the novel coronavirus away from the states eight veterans homes. Californias defenses are holding. The explanation, many say, lies in CalVets intense preparation, quick response, attention to hygiene and leadership, starting with Imbasciani, a physician and retired colonel who not too many years ago could have been discharged from the military because he is gay. We created our own fortune, Imbasciani said, looking to knock on wood. Deaths are part of life in the state-run veterans homes. The homes are populated largely by frail men and women, some of them veterans of World War II and Korea, and many from the Vietnam War era. A quarter of the vets admitted to Californias homes in recent years had been living homeless. COVID-19 has hastened the end for scores of retired soldiers in veterans homes in other states: More than 70 veterans have died of the disease at a soldiers home in Massachusetts; more than 125 have died in New Jerseys three homes; more than 60 residents of an Alabama veterans home tested positive, and eight have died. The Veterans Home of California in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) The California Department of Veteran Affairs, by contrast, is holding the beastly infection at bay. In its eight homes, where 2,100 veterans reside, three residents have contracted the disease, and two have died of it, one in his 90s and one in his late 80s. Its all hands on deck, state Sen. Bob Archuleta, a Los Angeles-area Democrat who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said of CalVets response. It goes back to the staff. We have people who care about their veterans, and they will go the extra mile. Story continues Like Archuleta, Imbasciani credits the work of the front-line staff of nurses, nursing assistants and doctors who provide direct care. But leadership matters, and Archuleta and others also point to Imbasciani. CalVets leader is a 73-year-old urologic surgeon who speaks six languages and has a masters degree in musicology and a doctorate in philosophy. The son of a World War II tail gunner and grandson of a World War I vet, Imbasciani served 27 years in the Army Medical Corps. He deployed to war zones four times before retiring as a colonel in 2014. For most of those years, Imbasciani had to hide his personal life because of President Clintons dont ask, dont tell policy that sought to keep LGBTQ service people serving in the closet. That changed when President Obama signed legislation repealing the policy in 2010. Two years later, Imbasciani introduced Obama at a fundraiser hosted by LGBTQ community leaders in Beverly Hills. The price of my service was to live a lie, Imbasciani told the crowd of 600 when introducing the president, as quoted by the Washington Post. But not anymore. Dr. Vito Imbasciani. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Imbasciani was director of government relations at the Southern California Permanente Medical Group in September 2015 when Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs. Gov. Gavin Newsom reappointed him in January, even as the novel coronavirus was starting its global spread. Over the years, Imbasciani has tracked severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, Ebola and Zika, among other viral threats. In January, when scientists in China sequenced the DNA of a mysterious new coronavirus that had emerged in Wuhan, Imbasciani thought, Here we go again. He assumed the virus would storm the West Coast, as did CalVets director of long-term care, Thomas Bucci. Based on the devastating events unfolding in Wuhan, they quickly recognized COVID-19 as a disease far worse than the flu. Bucci, an Air Force veteran, spent 38 years as a healthcare administrator before going to work for the state in 2015. Knowing that older and immunosuppressed people are particularly vulnerable, Bucci said: We had a big bulls-eye on ourselves. By mid-February, a month before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic, Bucci was regularly communicating with directors of the eight veterans homes about the threat, and, along with Imbasciani, implementing a 38-step plan. The protocol began with the basics. Directors of each home updated their emergency operations plans. They ensured they had enough surgical and N95 masks, gloves and gowns for the staff, and even disposable dinnerware, to minimize the chance of spread. As of Feb. 26, all visitors were directed to sanitize their hands before entry, and staff began disinfecting common surfaces every 30 minutes. On March 4, as the infection killed the first of dozens of residents at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., Imbasciani discussed the coming onslaught at an executive team meeting. And by March 15 four days before Newsom issued the statewide stay-at-home order all visitors were barred, with the exception of family members paying respects to veterans in hospice. Now, all staffers have their temperatures taken when they arrive for work and are sent home if they show symptoms. At four of the homes, all workers are encouraged to take tests for the virus, and all residents are tested. At the other four, employees who have been exposed to a known or suspected COVID-19 case are being tested, as are any residents who show symptoms. All staffers wear masks, as do residents when not in their rooms. Residents are required to social-distance, meaning no congregating closely for conversation or card games. Meals are delivered to residents rooms. The Veterans Home of California-Yountville opened in Napa Valley in 1884. How it withstood the 1918-19 influenza pandemic is for the most part lost to history. A century later, however, not a single COVID-19 case has been recorded among its nearly 1,000 residents. Muriel Zimmer, 85, a Korean War-era Air Force veteran, has been living at the Yountville home for nine years with her husband, Dick. He needs more care and lives in the skilled-nursing section of the facility, limiting her ability to see him. Theyre allowed only brief conversations, and from a safe distance. I miss him, she said. She also misses seeing friends in the dining hall. But she remembers rationing during World War II, and knows others have it much harder. She is able to walk across the Yountville grounds, with its sweeping views of the Napa vineyards below, and notices small things, like the monarch butterfly that flitted by the other day. I almost get teary-eyed when I think about the staff, she said. We are blessed. At the Redding Veterans Home in Shasta County, Michael Vancleemput, a Vietnam-era Army veteran, spoke by phone through a mask, as a worker walked past disinfecting surfaces. Theyre personally motivated to serve us. Its not like theyre doing a job, said Vancleemput, 79. He has to socially distance from his friends, not that its a problem. He lived alone for years in the small town of McCloud at the base of Mt. Shasta before moving to the veterans home five years ago. A ham radio operator, he said he keeps in touch with other members of the homes amateur radio operators club. I would invite you to visit our institution, Vancleemput said, then paused. Not now. No visitors allowed. The bulwark that CalVet has erected against COVID-19 builds on a series of improvements. When Imbasciani and Bucci arrived, the state-run homes used paper records. Now, medical records are tracked electronically. Each home once operated independently. Now, they are part of a system with standardized procedures. CalVets nurses, nursing assistants and physicians are state civil servants with union representation and paid sick leave. One nursing assistant might be responsible for six or eight residents. At a private nursing home, an aide more typically handles 10 or 12. CalVet also has staff physicians on-site every day. For many years, the federal government, which rates nursing homes, gave CalVets homes dismal marks. Now, among the homes that have been rated, four have the highest designation of five stars, and one has four stars. It does show that when there is strong and visionary leadership, it can make a big difference, said Charlene Harrington, an expert on nursing home care and professor emerita at UC San Francisco. In the military, superiors give what are known as challenge coins to soldiers as an attaboy. The coins have a hierarchy. One bestowed by a two-star general carries greater bragging rights than, say, one given by a one-star general. Imbascianis challenge coin is one of his most prized possessions. Its a little larger than a silver dollar and is stamped with the presidential seal and the name of the 44th president. Obama gave it to him, and no one outranks the commander in chief, Imbasciani noted. At Californias eight veterans homes, the walls are holding, so far. But Imbasciani knows an asymptomatic carrier could cause a breach any day. He is, after all, someone who has been battling viruses since he was a boy. He can even imagine the epitaph on his tombstone: Here lies Vito. He hated viruses. This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. The German government has strongly condemned violence at recent anti-lockdown protests as politicians warned the growing wave of demonstrations could lead to people being radicalised. Steffen Seibert, a government spokesperson, said on Monday that demonstrations were an important way for people to express their frustrations over the handling of coronavirus, but warned the high aggression towards both police officers and journalists needs to be strongly and sharply condemned. Protests against lockdown measures were held in major cities in Germany over the weekend, encouraged in part by conspiracy theorists who have blamed people such as vaccine manufacturers and billionaire Bill Gates for the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the protests held in Berlin, Munich and Stuttgart were relatively modest in size, several saw violent clashes with police as densely-packed crowds violated social distancing rules designed to slow the spread of the virus. Three TV camera crews have been attacked at protests in Berlin and the western city of Dortmund in the past two weeks, and police detained dozens of people in the capital on Saturday after bottles were thrown at officers. German officials have warned that some extremists and fringe groups have hijacked the demonstrations. Mr Seibert said some protesters had promoted absurd claims [and] hate-filled, stereotypical theories that either point towards a scapegoat or some kind of global villain thats holding all the strings in his hands. Whoever spreads such things wants to divide our country, he added. Saskia Esken, leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), said it was important for politicians to actively challenge conspiracy theorists and extremists groups seeking to capitalise on the lockdown. Looking away and silence do not help, Ms Esken told Funke Mediengruppe. We have to show ourselves to be pugnacious democrats. Meanwhile, Georg Maier, interior minister of the Thuringia region, told Der Spiegel magazine: The idea that the pandemic was deliberately introduced to control the people, and that Bill Gates or other dark forces are behind it, reaches deep into the middle of society. The warnings came as the Robert Koch Institute for disease control reported that Germanys reproduction rate - the number of people each ill person infects on average - had risen to 1.1, putting it just above the number required to keep the epidemic in decline. Germany announced a broad relaxation of lockdown restrictions last week, with all shops allowed to reopen and schools set to gradually reopen through the summer term. On Monday, Angela Merkel, the chancellor, stressed the need to continue following social distancing and covering their mouths and noses even as some restrictions are eased. It's very important to me to again draw attention to the fact that we're entering a new phase of the pandemic and that it will now be necessary, with all the easing of measures, to be sure that people stick to the basic rules. Keeping their distance, wearing mouth and nose protection and showing consideration for each other," Ms Merkel told reporters. Additional reporting by agencies Labour Party leader Alan Kelly said he has received a response from the leaders of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael (PA) Government formation talks between Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Greens resumed on Monday. The negotiating teams are set to discuss a range of policies around the economy, housing, health care and climate change over the coming days and weeks. It is expected that the talks will continue until the end of May or early next month as the parties try to hammer out an agreed programme for government. The discussions started last week after Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said he received a commitment from Fianna Fail and Fine Gael that they would work towards a target of reducing Irelands carbon emissions by 7% over the next decade. Meanwhile, Labour Party leader Alan Kelly said he has received a response from the leaders of the two bigger parties and will discuss it with his parliamentary party over the coming days. The update comes after Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fails Micheal Martin invited the Labour Party to join in discussions to form a new government. However, Mr Kelly indicated that his party will not participate in the formal talks. In a statement, Mr Kelly said: It is clear Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are now united on economic policy and have taken a position on taxation which is concerning to us, however I do welcome their commitment that the next government would honour the existing public service pay deal. We will respond in more detail to the policy issues in the letter later in the week. I welcome the acknowledgement by the leaders, of our view on government formation. There are four parties with more TDs in the Dail than the Labour Party, and any three of those can form a government with a majority. Detailed negotiations are now under way on government formation between Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party, and if successful would command a majority in the Dail. We respect the mandate of the participants, and for now they should be given the space and time to reach a conclusion. Efforts to form a government are intensifying three months on from Februarys inconclusive election. Fianna Fail won 38 seats (a tally reduced to 37 after one of its TD was reelected speaker), Sinn Fein 37, Fine Gael 35, with Labour and the Greens on six and 12 respectively. RICHMOND, VirginiaDuring a push to accelerate the review of parole-eligible inmates because of the CCP virus pandemic, Virginia released dozens of violent offenders, including killers, rapists and kidnappers, blindsiding prosecutors and victims families who say they were not properly notified as required by law, a review by The Associated Press has found. I mean, good grief. What, they were never going to tell us and here we are thinking this killer is still in jail? said Juanita Gillis, who was informed by an AP reporter that the man who fatally shot her brother in 1993 was paroled by the board in March. This undated photo provided by Juanita Gillis, shows her brother Thomas Runyon, of Suffolk, Va., who was fatally shot in 1993. The man convicted of killing Runyon, Dwayne Markee Reid, was recently released from prison during a push to accelerate the review of parole-eligible inmates because of the CCP virus pandemic. (Juanita Gillis via AP) Thomas Runyons killer, Dwayne Markee Reid, was among at least 35 people convicted in killings who were granted parole in March, according to an Associated Press review of parole board records, court records and interviews with prosecutors. Ninety-five inmates were paroled in March, the most recent month for which decisions are public, just over half the number approved in all of 2019. Many of those released had served decades in prison. The Parole Board, already inclined to grant parole prior to the pandemic, felt that expediting certain cases was appropriate due to age of the offender, underlying health conditions, and the Board was confident that the release was compatible with public safety, board chair Tonya Chapman, who took over that role in April, wrote in an email. She said that in normal circumstances theres usually time for prosecutor notification, however, these are unprecedented times. Brian Moran, Virginias secretary of public safety and homeland security, said Gov. Ralph Northams administration has full confidence in the board and its ability to decide which offenders have been reformed. Moran has repeatedly emphasized that only a small number of the approximately 30,000 inmates held in state prisons about 2,300are eligible for parole and that under Virginias parole system, the majority of those have been locked up for a long time after committing violent crimes. Virginia lawmakers abolished discretionary parole in 1995, so most inmates who are eligible either committed their crimes before then or are older than 60 and meet certain conditions making them eligible for geriatric release. These are tough cases, Moran said. Some prosecutors are outraged about releases in their jurisdictions and have criticized the board for what they say is a lack of transparency and communication. The board is largely exempt from Virginias public records law and does not explain its reasoning for granting releases. These are the most violent criminals you can get, said Phil Ferguson, the longtime commonwealths attorney in Suffolk, where Reid was charged. Reid was 16 when he shot Runyon during an attempted drug buy, according to Runyons sister and news accounts of his trial, where a prosecutor called the shooting a killing for fun. He had already served time in a juvenile correctional facility in connection with a previous killing, according to Ferguson. Attempts to reach him and the attorney who represented him at trial were not successful. Chapman said the board attempted to notify the Runyon family using a national, online victim notification system called VINE. Unfortunately, there was only one anonymous phone number registered in VINE and it was no longer in service, she wrote in an email. The board has one part-time employee assigned as the victim services coordinator, and Chapman said that since she took the role of chair April 16, she has used an investigator to help with locating potential victims. In Halifax County, along the North Carolina border, Commonwealths Attorney Tracy Quackenbush Martin has objected to the geriatric release of Debra Scribner, a 66-year-old convicted in 2011 of first-degree murder, conspiracy and a firearms charge in the death of her son-in-law, Eric Wynn. Martin said she was not notified of Scribners impending release as required by state law and questioned why the board would release someone convicted of such a serious crime who has spent less than 10 years in prison. Will people start to think, no matter what a jury says, that they can kill their enemies and be out in five so long as they wait until they are 60? Martin wrote in an email. Kevin Wynn, Eric Wynns brother, said he also was not notified of the boards decision. I think we were passed over like we were nothing, he said. After he learned of Scribners release, Wynn found out that the board had sent him a letter with the wrong address. Wynn said hes lived in the same home for more than 20 years, well before Scribners arrest. State code says the parole board must endeavor diligently to contact the victim before making any decision to release an inmate on discretionary parole, and the definition of a victim in a homicide includes relatives. Neither Scribner nor her attorney at trial could be reached. Criminal justice reform advocates have long said the state is too stingy with parole. Shannon Ellis, an attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center, said it isnt fair to criticize the release of a prisoner only because of their offense. I think you have to ask a lot more questions including how long that person had served, whether that person under any credible assessment would be considered a danger to the public, to what degree does keeping a person incarcerated during a crisis like this could that be giving them a death sentence? Ellis said. But Gillis, Runyons sister, said she doesnt think the now-43-year-old Reid deserves the freedom hes been granted. He killed a human being. Doesnt that mean anything anymore? she said. By Sarah Rankin and Denise Lavoie. Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. A violent shopper who grabbed a woman by the throat during a stoush over toilet paper at Big W has been told to get counselling. Wayne Ashley Philp, 50, assaulted a female customer and threw a box of tissues at a worker during a tantrum over loo roll at Tamworth Shopping Village on March 5. Police were called to the centre just after 10am and Philp was Tasered by officers during the melee that followed. Philp was refused bail and had already spent two months in custody when he was sentenced for the unprovoked attack by Magistrate Peter Thompson last week. Wayne Ashley Philp, 50 (above) spent two months behind bars over a toilet paper brawl. He was sentenced to a conditional release order by a Tamworth magistrate last week At the time, a gobsmacked eyewitness told Daily Mail Australia that she watched Philp 'walk out calmly (from Big W, above) like nothing happened' Magistrate Thompson sentenced Philp to a 15 month conditional release order after time already served, a NSW Court spokeswoman confirmed. Philp was ordered to accept support 'particularly directed to behaviour management and counselling'. At the time, a gobsmacked eyewitness told Daily Mail Australia that she watched Philp 'walk out calmly (from Big W) like nothing happened'. She later saw him again in the food court with two packs of toilet paper, after purchasing them from Woolworths instead. Police then tried to arrest Philp, and Tasered him when he allegedly attempted to resist. Philp was initially charged with two counts each of common assault, resisting police and assaulting police in execution of their duty. He pleaded guilty to all charges, except one charge of resisting police which was dismissed by the court. The court had previously heard Philp suffers a mild intellectual disability and conditions including autism. A bystander snapped photos of Philp at Tamworth Shopping World - with copious amounts of toilet paper - following the incident The assault came among a string of violent clashes at Woolworths and Coles during coronavirus-related panic buying in March. A mother and daughter who allegedly assaulted a woman who wanted 'just one pack' at Chullora Woolworths one day before Philp are awaiting their day in court. Authorities were forced to reassure Australians the nation wasn't at risk of running out of essential supplies. The crisis appears to have ended. Woolworths and Coles easing restrictions on toilet paper sales at the end of last month. A bench headed by Justice Dr DY Chandrachud and also comprising Justice MR Shah was hearing a plea seeking quashing of a fresh FIR registered against Goswami in Mumbai on May 2 over the shows telecast on April 14 and 15."There are already a slew of FIRs against the petitioner for his show. The nature of the investigation in the matter has clearly shown that this is a tactic against the petitioner," Salve told the apex court."The police is interrogating Goswami for over 12 hours. Does the FIRs in the matter need so much time for the interrogation of my client? It does not. He was asked about the detailed of his editorial team, content and company funds by the police," he added.Raising questions about the mindset of Mumbai Police, Salve said, the investigation is not going in a proper manner and asked the top court to look into the matter."Where has the money come from and other similar questions were asked to Goswami. There could be a chilling effect on the freedom of the press," Salve said.When it comes to freedom of the press, how is the law to work in a situation like this, Salve said."If a comment is made has a communal overtone. Can the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), without any checks and safeguards be applied to the telecast and opinions on TV and print? There is no riot. You are investigating a news telecast or an article. If you apply the mechanism of the CrPC. Can the police arrest a journalist?" he asked.Salve said that he can approach the Bombay High court seeking directions for the CBI to probe the matter and file its report in the court.On the other hand, senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Maharashtra government said that there are unique ways to deal with the investigation in different cases."The accused said his fundamental duties were violated. That he was not allowed to use his mobile phone and that he was not allowed to be involved in the journalistic process. He was asked a consolidated way of questions. Is this harassment? It is not," Sibal submitted."Stop this communal violence and communal mongering. Decency and morality and other things you need to follow. This is a clear violation of Article 19. You are stigmatising people by way of sensationalising things," he added.The top court had, last month, granted interim protection from arrest to Goswami for a period of three weeks in connection with the FIRs against him and said that no coercive actions should be taken against him during this time. (ANI) When President Donald Trump started touting hydroxychloroquine as one of the biggest game changers for treating COVID-19 , researchers hoped electronic health records could quickly tell them if he was on the right track. Yet pooling data from the digital records systems in thousands of hospitals has proved a technical nightmare thus far. Thats largely because software built by rival technology firms often cannot retrieve and share information to help doctors judge which coronavirus treatments are helping patients recover. Im stunned at EHR vendors inability to consistently pull data from their systems, said Dale Sanders, chief technology officer of Health Catalyst, a medical data analytics company. Its absolutely hampering our ability to understand and react to COVID. Over the past decade, federal officials have spent some $36 billion switching from paper to electronic health records, or EHRs, expecting, among other things, to harness volumes of medical data to reveal which treatments work best. EHRs document every step doctors or other health care workers take in treating a COVID-19 patient, from medicines prescribed, to signs of progress or setbacks. Data collected from large numbers of patients could quickly yield answers about which treatments are succeeding. But the pandemic is bringing into stark relief just how far the nation is from achieving the promised benefits, critics say. Dr. Richard Cook, a research scientist, and health care safety specialist, traces the data problems to missteps dating to the rollout of EHR, which began in earnest in 2009 and has been controversial ever since because commercial players producedand hospitals boughtsystems that have proved more suited to billing than public health. This was a boondoggle from the get-go, and the promoters knew it at the time, Cook said. Although some health systems are beginning to draw on EHR data to spot coronavirus trends and beneficial treatments, most health organizations around the country cannot readily do so. If we had a national database, wed get a readout quickly about responses to [COVID-19] treatments, said Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. Medical researchers favor studies that test the efficacy of a drug in a formal clinical trial, and trials are underway for a variety of possible COVID-fighting medicines, including hydroxychloroquine. The results could take months or more, however, and doctors treating critically ill patients have few options in the meantime. Topol said real-world evidence drawn from computerized records of COVID patients, while not as reliable as a clinical trial, is still very useful to help guide medical decisions. Medical data has been hard to tease out because much of it resides in electronic silos, which government officials have not required technology companies to open up and eliminate. Well see piecemeal readouts of small numbers from individual health systems, Topol said, but dont have the important data that we need. Sanders, whose firm is a member of the COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition, a business-sponsored group promoting coronavirus data-sharing and analysis, said federal health officials lost precious time by failing to address this need as early as mid-January. He said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, should have devised a COVID-19 data-collection plan using standardized terminology so hospitals with incompatible EHRs could compare notes on the fast-paced pandemic. The CDC didnt respond to written requests seeking comment. A spokesman for the Health and Human Services office that coordinates health information technology policy said: This is a novel disease so the health care system did not know what data we needed to collectwe are learning that the system needs to build out reporting information on multiple clinical features. Still, several of the top EHR manufacturers have joined the data-sharing coalition, which is pledging to at least partially fill the information void. The group has access to COVID-19 data from about two dozen health systems and expects to add more. This is the first attempt at this that Im aware of where inherently competitive EHR vendors have come together to work together with clinical researchers, said Dr. Brian Anderson, chief digital health physician with the MITRE Corp., a nonprofit technology group that formed the coalition in late March. Anderson said the coalition is getting close to being able to share some results from reports of treating people with convalescent plasma recovered from patients who have survived COVID-19. The group is also examining treatment data on the drug remdesivir as it irons out some of the technical difficulties that complicated its analysis of hydroxychloroquine. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration warned that hydroxychloroquine could cause heart problems and should be used only in a hospital or clinical trial. There are other signs the EHR industry is relaxing its grip on medical data in response to the emergency. Major EHR vendor Cerner Corp. has offered researchers access to some types of COVID-19 data, including clinical complications and outcomes that could help drive important medical decisions. And some health systems have begun publishing data drawn from EHRs. One study released this month, for instance, tracked the outcome of 5,700 coronavirus patients treated at 12 hospitals in a New York City health system and found that 88 percent of patients placed on ventilators had died. All the hospitals shared the same records vendor. In a crisis, people seek data, and authorities demand it, said Cook, the health care safety specialist. But, he said, it is not possible to build such a system on demand. Ross Koppel, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and longtime EHR safety expert, said that the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates both strengths and disappointments of the digital systems. While health systems using a single vendor have been able to pool data, Koppel said, the industry has battled regulators seeking to adopt common standards, a practice known as interoperability. That failure to mine these oceans of invaluable data reflects the power of the vendors to prevent government requirements for data standards and interoperability, he said. Officials said they are sometimes required to manually fill out and fax some forms, wasting valuable time. Some information must be printed out from EHRs and reentered by public health authorities because it cannot be sent electronically. Certain CDC forms, such as Person Under Investigation COVID case reports, can take up to 30 minutes to complete. Other forms exchanged between hospitals and laboratories often are missing critical information, leading to delays in contacting patients and identifying people they had close contact with. In some states, demographic information on race and ethnicity is missing 85 percent of the time, and patients addresses, half the time, according to Janet Hamilton, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. Were using yesterdays technology for the biggest public health emergency in our lifetimes, Hamilton said. COVID has demonstrated for people what weve known all along. You cant leave public health at the end of the line. The governments health IT chief says a new administrative rule to promote interoperability and bar EHR manufacturers from impeding the flow of information will take time to change behavior. If this were to have happened three or four years in the future when we have interoperability we would be in a much better spot here. But unfortunately, thats not quite the case, but were still keeping our work going, Donald Rucker, national coordinator for health information technology, said during an April 15 virtual meeting. The Australian sharemarket moved deep into "risk on" territory on Monday. It wasnt so much about the sharemarket index rising more than 1.4 per cent, it was the stocks that were being bid up - the most COVID-affected companies on the market. The list of the biggest share price winners on Monday reads like a who's who of the companies most battered by the pandemic. In tourism and travel, Flight Centre, Qantas and Sydney Airports were star performers with Webjet topping the charts with a gain of more than 20 per cent. Investors are pricing in an early recovery. Credit:Peter Braig In retail property, Vicinity and Scentre Group surged ahead, while in the beaten-up media space, Southern Cross Media, Nine Entertainment, News Corp, Seven West Media and oOh!Media wildly outperformed the broader market despite a slump in advertising - the beginnings of which predated COVID. Even the troubled department store group Myer saw its shares spike around 6 per cent. Buy now, pay later operator Flexigroup, which is something of a proxy for retail sales, leapt 5.6 per cent. By John Burton "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated," the 19th century American humorist Mark Twain once said after his obituary was mistakenly published in a newspaper. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un can now say the same thing. On April 20, Daily NK reported that Kim had undergone heart surgery due to "excessive smoking, obesity, and overwork." The Seoul-based website, which is published by a group of North Korean refugees, is used as a tip sheet by journalists and analysts for developments in the secretive country. But its content is often of variable accuracy. Nonetheless, the report set off a media firestorm when international news agencies picked up the story and distributed it around the world. Why the story was believed by many was that on April 15, Kim had missed an important ceremony honoring the anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung. His absence led to speculation about his health. Once the Daily NK report was released into the global media bloodstream, it took on a life of its own. CNN reported that the U.S. had received intelligence that Kim was "in grave danger." The reports escalated from there. It was said that Kim was in a vegetative state after a botched heart operation or that he was suffering from the coronavirus. The Washington Post reported that rumors about Kim's dire health were swirling in Pyongyang, leading to panic buying. It was just one short step then for TMZ, a popular Hollywood celebrity website, to declare that Kim was "reportedly dead," citing as its source "a Hong Kong-based news channel's vice director who's apparently the niece of the Chinese foreign minister." Although foreign policy may be normally outside TMZ's ken, others were ready to say the same thing. Ji Seong-ho, a North Korea refugee recently elected to the National Assembly in Seoul, claimed that he was "99 percent" sure that Kim had died. Rumors of Kim's demise also sent the cottage industry of North Korean watchers in Washington into overdrive. Respected U.S. think tanks, from the Brookings Institute to the Atlantic Council, issued briefs about who might succeed Kim. In contrast to the anonymous-sourced reports about Kim's deteriorating health, those who were skeptical, including top officials in Seoul, were willing to go on the record to refute them. Diplomats in Pyongyang also poured cold water on the speculation, reporting that street scenes in the North Korean capital appeared to be normal. The New York Post summed up the confusion in a headline that Kim was "rumored to be dead, brain-dead or just fine." Of course, it turned out to be the latter when North Korea released a video on May 2 of Kim at the opening of a fertilizer plant the previous day. The most important lesson about the recent media frenzy over Kim is that the international media must take more care in verifying reporting about North Korea. Yes, it is difficult to access accurate information about the opaque country. But this is not an excuse for the international media to pass on sometimes incomplete and questionable information. Unfortunately, the "black box" nature of North Korea appears to give carte blanche to many journalists to indulge in speculative reporting without fear of contradiction in most cases. One friend, a former foreign correspondent in Beijing, said that much of the reporting on North Korea reminds him of his early days covering the mafia in New Jersey. "Some journalists would make up details about mafia figures, such as inventing fake nicknames for them, knowing that they would never be publicly rebutted by them." It is unlikely that major international media outlets would publish reports about the ill health or death of almost any other leading world leader, besides Kim, that were largely based on rumors. Moreover, some of the reporting about Kim's health problems or death appeared to be motivated by wish fulfillment about the collapse of North Korea among interested parties. North Korean refugees would obviously like to see the downfall of the regime if Kim died. The same could be said for national security think tanks in the U.S. With the Kim story now apparently out of the way, the same type of caution should also be applied to rumors about the widespread presence of the coronavirus in North Korea. Pyongyang's claim that it has detected no virus cases might be dismissed as propaganda, but equal skepticism should be given to unconfirmed reports about big outbreaks of the illness in the country. Diplomats and aid workers on the ground have not yet offered any evidence that would confirm this. When it comes to reporting on North Korea, I remember one of the most valuable pieces of advice I was given when I started out as a journalist: "When in doubt, leave it out." But that of course contradicts another hoary journalistic adage: "Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story." John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Over 170 Indians were brought back to the country on a special Air India flight from Kuwait as part of the Vande Bharat Mission. This comes after the first two flights carrying passengers from the United Arab Emirates landed in the early hours of Monday. Of the 171 stranded passengers, 107 were men and 60 were women besides four infants. One of the passengers was wheelchair-bound. All passengers were provided a smooth Customs clearance, a Customs department official said. According to official sources, the passengers have been classified and rooms were allotted to them. Meanwhile, on Monday, stranded passengers from Malaysia will be evacuated and brought back to Chennai in the evening. Through the Vande Bharat Mission, India is sending 64 flights and three Navy ships to repatriate Indians stranded abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 10 flights carrying stranded Indians are expected to land in Chennai. 180 Medical, a leading nationwide supplier of chronic care medical supplies to the home, is announcing that it is returning the $10 million of unsolicited relief funding from the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) Provider Relief Fund. Because the CARES Act was intended to help businesses that require assistance as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, 180 Medical believes the funding could better serve others in need. With a previously well-tested disaster recovery and remote work program, 180 Medical acted quickly and early in the face of the oncoming pandemic and moved 90% of its workforce to a home-based program. The warehouse teams were outfitted with personal protective equipment (PPE) and implemented robust safety protocols to minimize risk and maximize on-time, secure delivery of the essential medical supplies on which our customers rely in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Seth R. Segel, President of 180 Medical, says, We are appreciative of HHS speed and generosity, but believe this vital funding may better serve others. I am proud of our entire team who has exhibited resilience, adaptability and resourcefulness to help our clinical partners and valued customers. Sustaining active communication and a continuous supply of chronic care products delivered to the home keeps our customers safe and out of the hospitals, where the front-line doctors and nurses are doing heroic work to treat COVID-19 patients. We have the privilege and responsibility to make part of our customers healthcare journey less stressful and take tremendous pride that our already world class service levels have strengthened during this crisis. The CARES Act national relief package, signed into law on March 27th, 2020, was created to provide economic assistance for hospitals and other healthcare providers on the front lines of the coronavirus response. The funding is to support healthcare-related expenses or lost revenue attributable to COVID-19 and to ensure uninsured Americans can get testing and treatment for COVID-19. 180 Medical remains fully dedicated to providing the best in medical supplies along with compassionate customer service, while living our core values of improving care and doing what is right and always operating with the highest standards of integrity. Company/Organization Info: 180 Medical is one of America's fastest-growing providers of sterile-use intermittent catheters, ostomy supplies, incontinence products, and other related disposable medical supplies. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the company is committed to meeting the supply needs of customers with chronic medical diagnoses such as urinary incontinence, spinal cord injuries, spina bifida, colon cancer, Crohns disease, and many other conditions. 180 Medical is a subsidiary of ConvaTec, a leading global medical products and technologies company. To learn more, visit http://www.180medical.com. During a discussion on vetting with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today, Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan said the Ministry of Justice will set up a Performance Evaluation Committee with the purpose of making reforms in the judiciary. The Committee will consist of five members to be elected by the General Assembly of Judges. There will be judges and civil society representatives in order to make sure the evaluation is transparent. The current Performance Evaluation Committee can institute disciplinary proceedings, but this is not its mission, the minister said. The Prime Minister asked what happens if it is recorded that a particular judge has committed violations in previous court judgments. In response, Minister Badasyan said the following: The violations and the statutes of limitation vary. The judge has the right to address the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee, which has the right to institute disciplinary liabilities and submit a petition to the Supreme Judicial Council. Currently, if a judge has to address the justice minister to consider institution of disciplinary proceedings against him or her and if he or she doesnt have an application, the justice minister isnt entitled to discuss any issue regarding disciplinary liability of a judge, but if the Performance Evaluation Committee detects violations committed intentionally or with gross negligence, it will have the right to transfer the case to the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee he said. Badasyan stated that this practice might not be successful. Armenia can undertake constitutional amendments and introduce a successful and widespread vetting system by taking into consideration all the practices, but it will inevitably be risky, he said. In response to this, the Prime Minister said the government isnt going to swing the sickle and reap everything and will give the judiciary a chance to solve the existing problems. In 2012, the Government of Kenya introduced a comprehensive medical insurance scheme for civil servants. That also included members of the disciplined services and their declared dependents. The NHIF civil servants scheme is an insurance policy that covers the principal member and six other dependents. They are eligible to receive medical insurance cover that includes inpatient, outpatient, and specialised services. Image: nhif.or.ke Source: Twitter The core mandate of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) is to provide medical insurance cover to Kenyan citizens. But to do that, a person must be a registered member of the fund. That will enable the individual and their declared dependents to enjoy medical insurance cover whenever they need it. NHIF membership is open to Kenyans who are 18 years and above and have a monthly income of more than KES 1,000. While the fund is available to all Kenyans, the NHIF civil servants scheme is somewhat different. As a civil servant, it is important to know your eligibility, benefits to expect, and even the hospitals you will be allocated. NHIF civil servants scheme eligibility To be eligible for the NHIF civil servants cover, one must meet the following conditions: Be a civil servant at the National Government or a staff working for a County Government. You must be a principal member registered with the NHIF You must be a spouse declared by the civil servant or principal member You must be a child of up to 21 years of age or 25 years if enrolled in full-time formal education and declared by the principal member READ ALSO: How to check your NHIF account status online The principal member can declare up to six other dependants. That includes the spouse and five children with their ages and conditions mentioned above. The NHIF medical scheme for civil servants also applies to those with disabilities. To qualify, you must have registered with the National Council for Persons with Disability. One is eligible regardless of their age. Image: nhif.or.ke Source: Twitter It is worth mentioning that a principal member can add more dependants to the civil servants scheme if they pay extra premiums. The amount varies from KES 3,500 to KES 9,000 per year for each additional dependent or between KES 6,000 and KES 20,000 for unlimited dependents annually. One can pay these amounts depending on their job group. NHIF civil servants scheme benefits The range of benefits for civil servants under the scheme is comprehensive. It includes inpatient and outpatient treatment. A principal member and their declared dependants can get the treatment both in Kenya and internationally. Furthermore, the cover offers Last Expense and Group Life cover, only for the principal member. Other benefits of the scheme include: 1. Outpatient cover The outpatient cover allows members to access to both preventative and curative medical services. These may include: Medical consultations, maternal-child health, laboratory visits, and optical care Dental services, minor surgeries, ambulance services, and family planning Medical check-up Pre-test costs for organ donations Vaccinations Generally, the fund covers an array of outpatient medical services provided in Kenya. READ ALSO: NHIF portal: login, registration, covers and card status 2. Inpatient cover The inpatient cover includes all surgical and medical conditions that force a healthcare facility to admit a patient. It also consists of any condition where its management will offer therapeutic value to the patient while in a hospital. Its scope of coverage includes: Nursing care and hospital admission or accommodation charges Rehabilitation services Laboratory, diagnostics, and necessary medical facility services Radiology, specialists visits or consultations, and operating theatre services Drug prescriptions Pre-hospitalisation procedures The inpatient cover also includes X-rays and other diagnostic tests. 3. Reproductive and maternity health cover Civil servants who are members of the fund can also get coverage for reproductive and maternity health. It includes family planning services, cost of childbirth both through midwifery and caesarean section deliveries, and treatment or consultations for both the mother and child. The only NHIF beneficiaries for reproductive and maternity health cover are the registered spouses and not other dependants. Image: nhif.or.ke Source: UGC NHIF list of hospitals allocated to civil servants The list of hospitals allocated to civil servants under the NHIF scheme is enormous. Generally, the NHIF selects or chooses the preferred outpatient facilities twice a year, June and December. Members of the fund have the option of choosing their preferred facility and even change it. If a civil servant wants to access an in-patient service, it will only be on a referral basis from a selected primary healthcare facility. But in general, the list of hospitals includes all government facilities and any private facility recognised or registered with the NHIF. In Nairobi, for example, some of the hospitals include: AAR Health Centres Africare Limited Baba Dogo Health Centre Buruburu Health Centre Chiromo Lane Medical Centre Gertrude's Hospitals Guru Nanak Ramgarhia Sikh Hospital Huruma Hospital Kenyatta National Hospital Kenya Airways Medical Centre You can find the comprehensive list from NHIF's official website. Also, NHIF informs all members of the civil service of any changes in the list of hospitals allocated to them. READ ALSO: NHIF rates 2020 for employees: Benefits and penalties NHIF forms for civil servants Civil servants that want to access the medical benefits offered by the fund must fill several forms. Apart from the NHIF application form for civil servants, other documents include: NHIF form 26: Its function is to allow the principal member to declare a spouse, child, change a spouse, and amend their details. Its function is to allow the principal member to declare a spouse, child, change a spouse, and amend their details. NHIF form 38: It is a form that allows a member to submit a request for change of an outpatient medical facility. It is a form that allows a member to submit a request for change of an outpatient medical facility. Claims forms: Members can also fill forms for a claim for Last Expense and Group Life. Most of these forms require members to have specific documentation. Some of the documents include their National ID cards, job group, passport-sized photos, birth certificates, and death certificates, among others. The NHIF civil servants scheme is an insurance policy that covers the principal member, their spouse, and five children. It is available for all individuals that work for the National Government and the staff working for the County Governments. Also, members of the Disciplined Forces and their dependents can benefit from the scheme. After registration, a member can enjoy both outpatient and inpatient cover. The fund also covers the Last Expense and Group Life for the principal member only. Annual premiums that members must pay vary depending on their job groups. READ ALSO: NHIF penalties for late payments in Kenya READ ALSO: All medical centres operated by the government in Nairobi Source: TUKO.co.ke Mine shut downs caused by current economic crisis may have started in Q1, but the real impact will show up in the financials in Q2, said Randy Smallwood, president and CEO of Wheaton Precious Metals (TSE:WPM). Smallwood spoke to Kitco on Thursday about his company's recent results. The company had revenue over $255 million in Q1. Since the pandemic only swept through industries in Q1, most of its effects will be absorbed in the second quarter, Smallwood noted. In terms of financial impact and impact on cash flows, Q2 is going to capture the bulk of it, he said. The suspensions that weve had all started in late March, early April, and so our current cash flows are probably down to about 32% from where they would be. The CEO added that the strength in gold prices of late should offset some of the financial impacts in Q2. Some of Wheatons assets should resume operations this quarter, Smallwood said. We have six mines that have been temporarily suspended: three of them in Peru, three of them in Mexico. The two biggest ones are Antamina in Peru and Penasquito in Mexico. Combined, they deliver a little over 20% of our cash flow. All indications are that those mines should be up and running by the end of May, he said. Los Angeles, May 11 : Hollywood star Tom Cruise is looking forward to getting back to Venice to finish shooting of "Mission: Impossible 7" as soon as the restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic eases. According to a source to The Sun, the 57-year-old will not change the location, and is determined to complete shoot in Venice, reports dailymail.co.uk. "Tom is refusing to film anywhere else as he wants to pump his millions back into one of the worst-hit areas of COVID-19 to help it recover," said the source. "Film bosses had attempted to find an alternative location but he was having none of it. It's a really thoughtful gesture and no doubt it will be welcomed by the people of Venice...Parks, factories and building sites are reopening so the chiefs at 'Mission: Impossible' and Tom reckon it won't be long for them to restart filming," added the source. Back in February, Cruise had to stay in a luxury hotel in Venice when the film shot got in a limbo with lockdown orders amid the spread of the contagious disease. After the disruption, people were assuming that Cruise would relocate the shoot to Buckinghamshire's Pinewood Studios. Earlier this year, in an interview to BBC Radio 6, his co-star Simon Pegg said: "(We're) not in Venice, that's where I'm supposed to be. Paramount were very cautious and sensible I think and pulled the production out of Venice. It's a big group of people, we were shooting carnival sequences and it was just unwise to remain so we bugged out. I think it would be indelicate to complain about anything other than the fact that there was a lot of disruption for everyone." "Mission: Impossible 7", which is being helmed by filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie, was slated to release on July 23, 2021. The release has been impacted due to the pandemic. Now, it will open on November 19, 2021. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text A retired Scotland Yard officer attacked his cancer-stricken wife in a drunken rage after she tried to speak to him about the outcome of a medical appointment. 'Controlling' Gary Roy, 59, who worked for the Metropolitan Police for 22 years, assaulted wife Hilary by grabbing her arm after he 'became angry' at her while drunk. The attack happened after Mrs Roy, 69, a former Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) worker who had been diagnosed with cancer, attended an appointment at Kingston Hospital on April 21. When she returned to their flat in Surbiton, Surrey, she tried to talk to her husband about the outcome. But he refused to engage and became angry and grabbed her arms as she tried to leave. 'Controlling' Gary Roy (pictured), 59, who worked for the Metropolitan Police for 22 years, assaulted wife Hilary by grabbing her arm after he 'became angry' at her Mrs Roy told Wimbledon Magistrates Court her husband often swears at her and tries to control her behaviour. She confided in her first husband after the attack and he phoned the police. Appearing at court, Roy, who retired from the Metropolitan Police four years ago, admitted assault. His lawyer told District Judge Timothy Godfrey that Roy was very ashamed to be with his former colleagues during his arrest. He also told the judge Roy was working on his alcohol problems and had not drunk a drop since his last hearing. Judge Godfrey replied that his last hearing was the previous day, in front of him, where Roy had admitted to drinking three-quarters of a bottle of wine the night before. The judge noted that a conviction is more of a punishment to you than it might be to others as he ordered Roy to pay a fine. Peter Hamill, defending, said: He held her by both arms. He was in the Met police for 22 years. He met his wife, who works for the CPS, during that time. He was very ashamed to be with his former colleagues during his arrest. He hasnt drunk since his last hearing. Judge Godfrey replied: His last hearing was yesterday in front of me. He told me then he had three-quarters of a bottle of wine. Appearing at Wimbledon Magistrates Court (pictured), Roy, who retired from the Metropolitan Police four years ago, admitted assault Turning to Roy he said: Domestic abuse is serious because youre violating the trust between you and your partner. Mr Roy, you pleaded guilty to an assault on your wife when you were drunk. You became angry and grabbed her arm. You grabbed it firmly to drag her away from the kitchen. Although there are no visible marks you caused pain in the arm and she was scared because you were drunk and unpredictable. I bear in mind her age, 69, and her poor health. I also bear in mind your service to the public over many years. A conviction is more of a punishment to you than it might be to others. Its encouraging to hear youre taking steps to address your alcohol problem. Roy, of Lovelace Road, Surbiton, was ordered to pay a 319 fine for one count of assault. NORWALK The city has created a new online system for residents to obtain passes used to access city beaches, parks and waste sites. The new system, which is available on the city website, allows residents to verify their vehicle status and print their new parks parking and disposal passes. Due to recent changes, residents will now need two passes - one for parks, the other for the Norwalk Transfer Station and Yard Waste Site. Both are free to residents with cars registered in Norwalk and are up-to-date on their taxes. Those who live in Norwalk but have vehicles registered elsewhere can purchase a seasonal Parks Parking Pass for $250 and a Disposal Pass for $100. Residents whose vehicles are not showing valid in the system, or need to purchase an annual Parks Parking Pass or Disposal Pass, can do so via the City Hall walk-up window, which is open Tuesday - Friday 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. The online system is a quick and easy way for residents to verify their vehicles are in the system. If the vehicle is not showing valid in the system, more information will be given to residents for next steps, said Norwalk Mayor Harry W. Rilling. We all know this will not be the normal summer season, but we will be monitoring and enforcing parking requirements at our parks and beaches. I ask residents to visit the website today to make sure their information is correct. The City receives information from the State Department of Motor Vehicles once per year, so those who have registered cars in Norwalk after October 2019 will likely not appear in the system. In those instances, or for residents who have company cars, the information will have to be brought to City Hall for staff to enter a vehicle into the system manually. License plate readers will be used at the beaches and parks, and residents do not need to print and display the Parks Parking Pass if parked in the main lots. If someone chooses to park at Marvin School, the pass must be displayed. Those using the Transfer Station or Yard Waste Site must display the Disposal Pass on the drivers side windshield. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Monday sought the Centre's permission to reopen residential schools and resumption of economic activities outside containment zones in the state. Participating in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video conference with chief ministers to discuss the corona situation, Rawat advocated steps to revive the tourism and hospitality industry, saying it had been hit hard by the pandemic. The chief minister suggested the resumption of economic activities outside containment zones and starting tourist activities in green zones of the state in a limited manner. Rawat apprised the Prime Minister with the steps taken by the state government to contain the spread of COVID-19. Nearly 500 doctors and as many paramedics were deployed to ramp up facilities to battle the pandemic, Rawat said at Modi's video conferencing with chief ministers. Corona testing facilities have also been increased in the state besides setting up ICUs in 11 out of 13 districts and installation of ventilators and BiPAP' machines, he said. These efforts have helped the state government contain the number of COVID-19 positive cases to 68 so far out of which 46 have been discharged after recovery, Rawat said. The rate of doubling of COVID-19 cases is 45 days while the recovery rate is 67.6 per cent, he said. Over 45,000 migrants have so far been brought back to the state at the state government's expenses. Migrants are also being brought in trains from Surat and Pune, the chief minister said. Rs 2,000 have been credited into accounts of two lakh labourers and production work has been resumed with 45 per cent staff deployment in 3,500 industries, Rawat said. The chief minister also thanked Prime Minister Modi for the timely imposition of the lockdown which had succeeded tremendously as a containment measure countrywide and the guidelines issued by the Centre from time to time for effective handling of the pandemic. Not a single person has been allowed to go hungry during the lockdown with large-scale arrangements made by the state government and the social organisations, he said. Labour laws have been amended and initiatives taken towards contract farming, Rawat said and also made a pitch for creation of a single window system for farmers on the lines of the one for the industries. Here are a few things to know about the days nonvirus news: - Fargo man dies of injuries in last week's motorcycle crash A Fargo man has died of injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash last week. The North Dakota Highway Patrol says 30-year-old Andrew Laborico lost control of his motorcycle in a roundabout in West Fargo May 3. Officials say he was cited for driving under the influence, last week. - Man charged in shooting death of 50-year-old Casselton man Authorities have arrested a 23-year-old man in connection with a homicide in Casselton. William Dittmer Jr., of Casselton, is charged with felony murder for the death of a 50-year-old man, also from Casselton. The Cass County Sheriffs Office responded to a report of a shooting at about 9:35 p.m. Friday. - Minnesota House OKs bill raising age to buy tobacco to 21 The Minnesota House has approved legislation that raises the age for residents to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21. Lawmakers voted 89-41 Saturday in favor of the measure known as Tobacco 21. It became federal law last December, but promoters of the state bill say it is needed for compliance and enforcement. National and Internation Stories : - The U.S. Department of Justice has been asked by the state's attorney general to investigate the handling of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man said to have died at the hands of two white men as he ran through a neighborhood. - Comedian Jerry Stiller has died at 92. His son Ben Stiller said the actor died of natural causes in a tweet posted early Monday. He's famous for his roles on Seinfeld and King of Queens. The Huawei P40 lite 5G will soon join the P40 family. Its actually a rebadged nova 7 SE, but the more important bit is that it will be available in Europe (while the nova phones usually arent). How does it stack up against the Huawei P40 lite (itself a renamed nova 6 SE)? The 5G model is powered by the Kirin 820 5G chipset, which has twice as many big Cortex-A76 cores and a beefier GPU (based on Mali-G57 instead of G52). Also, the main camera has a 64MP sensor (up from 48MP) and even better, it can shoot 4K video. The rest is fairly similar with small differences, e.g. a 6.5 screen instead of 6.4, in both cases its a 1080p+ IPS LCD. Theres no OLED like on the vanilla P40. The two phones are quite different, actually, with different screens, chipsets, cameras, batteries and so on. How much will the Huawei P40 lite 5G cost? That's yet to be confimred, but we can make an educated guess. The old P40 lite (with LTE) was 430 originally, now down to 270. Were not sure how reliable this is, but this French store lists the 5G model at just under 500, which sounds about right. The vanilla P40 goes for 650 these days, down from its launch price of 830. Anyway, Huawei will launch the new P40 lite 5G soon (and fill in the missing release date and price details). You will be able to choose from three colors: Crush Green, Space Silver and Midnight Black. Huawei P40 lite 5G (a rebadged nova 7 SE) It should be available in most of Europe, as besides French store, the official Huawei Mobile Services page for Italy mentions a promo that will give you a three-month premium subscription to Huawei Music. It goes without saying that this phone will not have Google apps on board. Source (in German) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is self-isolating away from the White House, Reuters reported, quoting a Bloomberg reporter. This came two days after his press secretary, Katie Miller was diagnosed with the coronavirus. Pence was absent at a meeting on Saturday between Trump and military leaders at White House, Bloomberg reporter, Jennifer Jacobs further reported. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Pences spokesman, Devin OMalley said the VP would report to the White House on Monday. Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow, OMalley, said. Pence was not the only one on self-isolation on Sunday. Anthony Fauci, a high-profile member of the coronavirus response team, Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, were also in self-quarantine on Saturday. If Republicans President Trump and VP Pence were both to become incapacitated, Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi would assume presidential duties under U.S. law. This article is from Thrillist Credit: National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation The restaurant and bar industry has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 outbreak, with brutal layoffs sweeping out much of the workforce in response to national closures. In an effort to soften some of that blow, famed chef and Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives star Guy Fieri has helped raise $21.5 million for the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund. "My entire career has been in the restaurant business. From bussing tables to flambe captain to dishwasher to chef I've done it all," Fieri said in a press release when the campaign first kicked off. "I've also spent the better part of the last 15 years traveling this great country meeting other folks who've dedicated their lives to this business and let me tell you something, they are the hardest working, most real deal workers you've ever met the heartbeats of their communities. But they need our help and with Restaurant Relief America, we can serve up some support when these restaurant employees need it most right now." In partnership with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, the Mayor of Flavortown has spearheaded a fundraising effort to provide more than 40,000 one-time $500 grants for those who have either lost jobs or experienced a drop in wages. "During these challenging times, the NRAEFs mission to support the industrys workforce is more important than ever," NRAEF president Rob Gifford said in a statement, CNN reports. "With Guy as our champion and the support of so many generous companies, we can help get our family of restaurant workers back on their feet." According to Variety, Fieri personally reached out to brands such as Pepsi, Coke, and Uber Eats to team up for the cause, telling the outlet, "I started sending personal video invitations to all the heavy-hitter CEOS that are involved in the restaurant business." In response to a high volume of applicants, the foundation is not currently taking submissions. However, Fieri promises "as long as the money comes in, we're going to continue to give these grants." h/t CNN Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email and subscribe here for our YouTube channel to get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun. Cerro Grande Fire, May 2000 7 p.m. May 4: A 32-person crew begins a prescribed burn at Cerro Grande peak. The National Park Services Bandelier National Monument office is overseeing the project. Midnight May 4: Bandelier supervisors notice members of one crew are tired and not following instructions. They are ordered off the mountain, leaving only 20 people. 1:30 a.m. May 5: The short-handed crew struggles to keep up with the fire amid wind gusts and dry conditions. Bandelier burn boss Mike Powell drives to a fire station to call for help. 3 a.m. May 5: Powell asks the Santa Fe National Forest for a fire crew and helicopter. The person on duty tells him to call back at 7 a.m. when the shift supervisor gets in. At that time, a dispatcher requests assistance from a U.S. Forest Service Hotshots crew. Noon May 5: The Hotshots arrive and take over. May 7: The Hotshots and air tankers have battled the blaze for two days, but it slips through a gap in the containment line. It goes over Cerro Grande ridge and into dense forests toward Los Alamos. The community is evacuated. May 8: Calming winds and cooling temperatures cause the fire to subside. May 10: Winds gusting at up to 70 mph revive the wildfire and drive it toward Los Alamos, and the entire community is evacuated. The wildfire begins to set houses ablaze. Crews also fight a growing spot fire that threatens Los Alamos National Laboratory. May 11: By morning, the Cerro Grande fire has moved away from the city, though it continues to threaten outlying communities such as the Santa Clara Pueblo. Los Alamos has house fires for several more days. May 18: Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt presents a report that criticizes mistakes investigators believe caused the fire and exacerbated it. Kolkata, May 11 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asked for special economic package from the Centre during a videoconference session with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources at the state Secretariat Nabanno said. The meeting was held between the PM and Chief Ministers of different states to review the ground situation across India in the third phase of the nationwide lockdown. According to the sources, apart from the special economic package for Bengal, Banerjee sought central assistance to bring back all bengal migrant labourers stranded in various parts of the country. She also appealed to the Prime Minister and all other political parties not to engage in any sort of politics during coronavirus crisis. She is also said to have appealed to everyone to come forward and work together in fighting the crisis. Meanwhile, West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Dilip Ghosh said that he would send a list of 3.29 lakh migrants from West Bengal now stranded across India. "Earlier, I had sent a list of 11,790 migrant workers to the state administration. I also forwarded the same list to 12 other states to facilitate return of these people. Some Trinamool Congress Ministers in Bengal have challenged my information and the list that I sent to the states' Shief Secretaries. Thus, I have prepared a list of 3.29 lakhs migrant labourers and would send it to the state's Chief Secretary today itself via email," Ghosh said, adding that almost 90 per cent of these people are involved in jewellery manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury accused the state government of "deliberately not allowing" the migrant workers to return home. "They are trying to portray that if these migrant labourers return the corona cases in West Bengal will further rise. The state government has to clarify its stand on the migrant workers issue," he said. Ms Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence official, claimed diplomatic immunity The motorbike rider died after a crash in Northamptonshire in August last year Anne Sacoolas, 42, is charged with causing the death of 19-year-old Harry Dunn The wife of a US intelligence official accused of killing British teenager Harry Dunn is now a fugitive on the run after Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for her. Nine months after the fatal crash, after which she fled Britain for the US, Anne Sacoolas is now the subject of an Interpol Red Notice. Mrs Sacoolas, 42, is charged in the UK with causing the death of the 19-year-old by dangerous driving following a crash in Northamptonshire in August last year. She claimed diplomatic immunity following the collision and was able to return to her home country, sparking a row between the UK and US. Anne Sacoolas, 42, is charged in the UK with causing the death the 19-year-old Harry Dunn by dangerous driving following a crash in Northamptonshire in August last year Ms Sacoolas, who is the wife of a US intelligence official, claimed diplomatic immunity following the crash and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy News broke of the Red Notice issued by Interpol this afternoon She was eventually charged with causing death by dangerous driving in absentia in December. But in January a Home Office extradition request for her was rejected by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Now Interpol, an international organisation that facilitates worldwide police cooperation, issued the warrant which means she would be arrested the minute she leaves US soil. In an e-mail sent by Northamptonshire Police, Harry's parents were told the suspect is 'Wanted Internationally' and 'should she leave the USA the wanted circulations should be enacted'. Harry Dunn's mother and father Tim Dunn and Charlotte Charles have campaigned tirelessly for justice over the crash Ms Sacoolas (left) was eventually charged with causing death by dangerous driving of Harry Dunn (right) in December The teenager died in hospital his motorbike crashed into a car outside the US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27 last year. The crash took place on the B4031, about 400 yards from the exit. The car was said to have been driven by Mrs Sacoolas, a US government employee working at the United States Air Force listening station at RAF Croughton. Initially, she cooperated with police at the scene of the crash and was breathalysed. She was interviewed the following day at home under caution by police, who were investigating claims her car was being driven on the wrong side of the road at the time of the crash. But shortly after the interview Mrs Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity as the wife of US intelligence personnel and fled back to the US. The US Government has maintained its position, that she had been granted diplomatic immunity during her time in the UK. It sparked a row between the two countries with the Prime Ministers official spokesman saying the US decision not to extradite her amounts to a 'denial of justice and she should return to the UK'. We have made this clear to the US including the Prime Minister to President Trump, they added. Dunn's parents, Charlotte Charles (L) and Tim Dunn, pictured together on the 'This Morning' TV show in October 2019, wrote to President Trump, pleading with him to reverse the decision to uphold the block on Anne Sacoolas' extradition The teenager's parents Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn wrote a letter urging the US to hand her over. Downing Street backed Harry's parents in their plea to Donald Trump to review the decision to block an extradition request for their son's alleged killer. The letter, addressed to Mr Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, sent earlier this month comes after it was reported that lawyers acting on behalf Mrs Sacoolas had opened up a dialogue with the Foreign Office to work towards a 'resolution'. Harry's mother said she remains hopeful for a personal response from Trump to the letter, and that she believes the 'door is slightly ajar' despite the U.S. state department maintaining its position on her having diplomatic immunity. Charlotte Charles, Harry Dunn's mother, wipes away tears after leaving the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, where she met Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on October 9 last year A spokeswoman for the State Department reiterated its position that at the time of the accident, and for the duration of her time in the UK, Mrs Sacoolas had immunity from criminal jurisdiction. She said the Foreign Secretary had made that clear in Parliament on October 21, 2019. Timeline of events following Harry Dunn's death 27 August 2019: Harry Dunn, 19, killed while riding his motorcycle near Croughton, Northamptonshire near the exit to RAF Croughton, when it collided with a car travelling in the opposite direction 28 August 2019: Suspect Anne Sacoolas is interviewed by police. Northamptonshire police request a diplomatic immunity waver 16 September 2019: Foreign office informs police that the waiver had been declined and that Sacoolas had left the UK on a US Air Force aircraft 15 October 2019: Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn take their campaign for justice to the US where they meet with President Trump at the White House. They refuse meet the suspect, who was waiting in a room next door 31 October 2019: Northamptonshire police interview Sacoolas in the US after requesting permission to do so 25 November 2019: Dunn's parents submit a judicial review of the Foreign Secretary's actions over the extension of diplomatic immunity to intelligence staff and families at RAF Croughton 20 December 2019: Crown Prosecution Service announces that Sacoolas to be charged with causing death by dangerous driving and that it was starting extradition proceedings against her 10 January: Home Office formally requests the extradition of Sacoolas to face charges in the United Kingdom 23 January: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally rejects request for extradition 28 April: Charlotte and Tim write a letter to the US Government, urging it to change its mind on the diplomatic immunity granted to Sacoolas 11 May: An Interpol Red Notice is issued for Sacoolas' arrest Advertisement She added that since the accident occurred, the US had been closely engaged with the UK government and have been transparent about their positions on legal and diplomatic matters. Harry's parents asked Trump and Pompeo to reconsider the decision to refuse the Home Office's request for extradition, saying that the UK justice system has 'fairness at its heart'. The couple met the president at the White House six months ago, where he had hoped they would meet the suspect, who was waiting in a room next door, but they declined to see her. They took their campaign for justice to the US in October, two months after Mr Dunn was killed when his motorbike collided with a car outside a US military base in Northamptonshire. Foreign Office officials failed to inform Northamptonshire police that Harry's alleged killer would be returning to the US after the crash in which he died, it was claimed last month. In the days after Harry's death, police say the Foreign Office told them Mrs Sacoolas had immunity and they would seek a waiver. But over the following fortnight, Northamptonshire Police say they were not told about discussions in the UK about the legality of that immunity, according to ITV News. The following day, a senior Foreign Office official purportedly sent a text message to their US embassy counterpart saying: 'I think that now the decision has been taken not to waive [immunity] there's not much mileage in us asking you to keep the family here. It's obviously not us approving of their departure but I think you should feel able to put them on the next flight out...' On Sunday, September 15 mrs Sacoolas and her family flew back to America. Northamptonshire Police allegedly only found out she had gone in a foreign office call the next day. Documents seen by ITV News say the senior investigating officer recalls being told Mrs Sacoolas had contacted Foreign Office officials days before leaving asking if there was anything stopping her and her family from going. Harry's mother said she was shocked by revelations. 'I'm really angry,' she said. 'It's just beyond belief that given the number of times we've with met them. We should have been properly grieving in those first few months 'We should have been given the chance and we deserved the truth. 'To send that in a text message. I mean seriously who the hell have we got running our country?' Harry Dunn's mother Charlotte Charles and stepfather Bruce Charles outside the Ministry Of Justice in London late last year A month after the text message - on October 21 last year - Dominic Rabb gave this account of the Foreign Office reaction to learning Mrs Sacoolas was leaving. 'We duly and immediately objected in clear and strong terms and we have done ever since.' ITV News has seen a Foreign Office email copied to Rabb's Private Secretary three days after the crash outlining what happened. It reveals concern over the potential for 'some very unpalatable headlines'. Harry's parents say they are unable to sue their son's alleged killer due to a delay in police handing over an accident investigation report. It has also been claimed that Mrs Sacoolas - whom the US has refused to extradite to the UK - is 'desperate' to return to Britain to meet Harry's parents but will not surrender to police custody. Labours new Shadow Foreign Secretary has accused Raab and the Foreign Office of unforgivable failings over their handling of the tragic death of Harry Dunn. Lisa Nandy said meeting Harry's parents was a heartbreaking reminder of the consequences of a system that protects itself first and puts a grieving family second. In an article for the MoS, she wrote: Like them, I am deeply troubled by leaked communications reported by The Mail on Sunday that cast serious doubt on the accuracy of the Governments timeline of events. I will be reaching out to leading MPs from other political parties to build support for a parliamentary inquiry. M ore than 1,000 people have lost their jobs at one of the UK's largest ferry companies due to plummeting passenger numbers sparked by the coronavirus crisis. P&O Ferries said the move was to make the company "viable and sustainable" during the Covid-19 pandemic. But the redundancies were greeted with fury by union RMT, who called the move "a kick in the teeth" for its members, some of whom work for P&O Ferries. RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: This is devastating news and an appalling betrayal of the P&O workforce." RMT General Secretary Mick Cash / PA Archive/PA Images This is a kick in the teeth for P&O seafarers who have maintained key supply lines to the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic. What is utterly shameful is P&O have been kept afloat by our members and the taxpayer whilst their owners have been paying out hundreds of millions in dividends in Dubai and cooking up plans to permanently replace UK seafarers with low-cost seafarers from thousands of miles away. This is an attack on British seafarers, crew and the biggest fear is that these jobs will never return to Dover or Hull. But you can guarantee that P&O ferries will still be running passenger ferry services from those ports to protect their owners profits at the countrys expense. We are seeking urgent talks with the company and will fight tooth and nail against these job losses and we are calling on the Government to step in now and nationalise these services to protect jobs and the UKs maritime interests. A P&O Ferries vessel (P&O Ferries) / P&O Ferries The news comes after it was revealed in April that P&O had tried unsuccessfully to get a 150 million Government bailout for its 21-ship fleet. The company is now running just 15 ships with less frequency and expects to receive some Government help to maintain its reduced operations. P&O Ferries' parent company DP World paid out a 270 million shareholder dividend in April. Stormy weather: a P&O Ferries ship arrives in Dover in 2018 / PA A spokesman for the company said: Since the beginning of the crisis, P&O Ferries has been working with its stakeholders to address the impact of the loss of the passenger business. It is now clear that right-sizing the business is necessary to create a viable and sustainable P&O Ferries to get through Covid-19. Regrettably, therefore, due to the reduced number of vessels we are operating and the ongoing downturn in business, we are beginning consultation proceedings with a proposal to make around 1,100 of our colleagues redundant. P&O began sailing in the 1960s. Before the coronavirus crisis its ships took around 8.4 million passengers on around 27,000 trips a year. The travel industry is taking a major hit from the coronavirus pandemic, after the British Government advised against all non-essential travel in March. Washington: A bipartisan group of US Congress members has blasted China for threatening economic retaliation against Australia, following the Morrison government's call for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to Australia's US Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos, the 27 senators and House of Representatives members said that China had made "deeply disturbing" threats to punish Australia for seeking an international inquiry into the origins of COVID-19. Senior politicians from both major parties wrote to Arthur Sinodinos to support Australia. Credit: Facebook "This incident is part of a broader and concerning pattern from the Chinese government," the politicians said in the letter. "As we continue to confront this deadly disease and its consequences, we will be faced with many tough decisions, including those that may arise from the Chinese governments continued lack of cooperation and transparency. Tara R. Devine Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard is pleased to announce Lake County Managing Partner Tara R. Devine has been recognized by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer Magazine as one of the 2020 Women in Law honorees. Ms. Devine was among 50 Illinois attorneys selected to the inaugural list from more than 500 nominations. The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin & Chicago Lawyer, products of Law Bulletin Media, announced all 50 honorees of their inaugural Salute! Women in Law Awards through a live webinar on Friday, May 8. The 2020 Women in Law honorees will be recognized at a celebration on September 2, 2020 at the Ivy Room (12 East Ohio Street Chicago, IL 60611). Were so excited to recognize all of the incredible women who are leading the way in Chicagos legal community, said Ginger Lamb, vice president and publisher of the publications. It was not easy to choose this years inaugural slate because of the caliber of all the honorees and the accomplishments they have made. Everyone who was nominated is truly a leader in our profession. Ms. Devine joined Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., in 2004 and became the firms first female partner in 2011. In 2018, Ms. Devine was promoted to Managing Partner of the firms Lake County office. She concentrates her practice in the areas of personal injury, nursing home negligence, wrongful death, medical malpractice and product liability cases. Ms. Devine has helped achieve numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements on behalf of her clients, including a record-setting $148 million jury verdict on behalf of a dancer paralyzed by a collapsed pedestrian shelter at OHare International Airport. The verdict is the largest personal injury verdict ever awarded to an individual plaintiff in Illinois history. Ms. Devine is a board member of the Lake County Bar Association and sits on the Board of Managers of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. For more information or to set up an interview with Ms. Devine, please contact Salvi, Schostok & Pritchards Director of Public Relations, Marcie Mangan, at (312) 372-1227 or mmangan@salvilaw.com In-person checks on COVID-19 patients are inherently risky, and that means using up valuable protective equipment (not to mention time) that might be necessary for urgent situations. Google and New York Citys Mount Sinai Hospital have developed a safer approach. Theyre rolling out a new system that uses two Nest Cams per room for monitoring one to check on and interact with patients, and one to monitor vitals. Special-built consoles at nurse stations let healthcare workers oversee their patients and respond to some requests without having to don safety gear. Mount Sinai starts receiving the monitoring system this week. Google ultimately plans to provide 10,000 Nest Cams and the appropriate consoles to hospitals across the US. This is coming right as COVID-19 hospitalizations appear to be on the decline, but it could still prove vital if it both reduces the risks for hospital staff and helps them properly care for as many patients as possible. The leader of the Nashville chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. walked out of his house on Saturday night to find that someone had propped up a bulls-eye target in his yard. So the chapter president, the Rev. Keith Caldwell, called the police. But according to an account that Mr. Caldwell posted on Facebook, the officer who came to his house did not take the threat seriously. The officer, he wrote, shrugged and said that he thought the target was pretty cool. I informed him that I am the local N.A.A.C.P. President and have deep concerns about what this could mean for the safety of my life and the lives of my family members, Mr. Caldwell wrote. He said he had told the officer that it concerned me that he was so flippant about the matter. The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said in a statement on Monday that it was seeking to determine who had placed the target in Mr. Caldwells yard, and that it was reviewing the interaction between its officer and Mr. Caldwell, which it referred to as an apparent disagreement. Fourth-year medical student Alexandra says she wants to become an infections specialist, but when her school said students must do their required training in a coronavirus ward, she balked. "This is not volunteering by choice. Coronavirus is dangerous, and they should give people a choice," said Alexandra, who studies at Moscow's top Sechenov medical university. Daunted by the prospects of contracting the virus and infecting family members, or face expulsion, aspiring medics have protested the decision to send students in their fourth, fifth and sixth year -- who can be as young as 21 -- to complete their medical training in coronavirus clinics. The ministry of health announced on April 27 that the measure would go into effect starting May 1, and only students with "medical contraindications" can refuse. Students of all medical fields, including dentistry and pediatrics, are affected, according to the decree. "Those who refuse to go will not get their qualification and can face expulsion," said Svetlana, a sixth-year student. Confronted with a relentless daily increase of confirmed cases, which on Sunday pushed its total number over 200,000, Russia is taking measures to staff its hospitals as it expands the number of beds by 100,000 across the country. But many students say they don't want to be put in such conditions without allocated housing and assurances that full protection will be issued. - 'We're not doctors yet' - Svetlana, Alexandra and other students spoke to AFP on conditions of anonymity due to fears of being expelled or other reprisals. "We're not doctors yet, our task is to get an education," said Alexandra. "There are fears that we will be of no use and spread the infection instead." She said students are offered training in regular hospitals, or coronavirus hospitals, including "red zones" where patients are treated for COVID-19. "There is no adequate protection, and it's difficult to believe that if the doctors don't have enough, they would find it for us," she said. In an anonymous appeal circulated on social networking sites, students at the Pirogov medical university in Moscow have asked rector Sergei Lukyanov to make the coronavirus mobilisation "voluntary." The Pirogov university and the department of health in the Moscow government did not respond to a request for comment. At the Sechenov university, vice-rector Tatyana Litvinova said that working with coronavirus patients would not be obligatory and the school would not punish anyone who declines. "If a student does not want to do it, they can do their practice in a different establishment, nobody is going to force them," she told AFP, contradicting the text of the health ministry decree. She further promised that students in Moscow would be paid a salary of 100,000 rubles ($1,360 - 1,240 euros) and given personal protection. Ivan Konovalov, spokesman for the Alliance of Doctors, a union associated with opposition politician Alexei Navalny, said that the authorities have turned to students because of medical staff shortages. "Healthcare reforms of the past years have led to the departure of many doctors" from the profession, he said. This problem was even flagged by some government institutions like the Audit Chamber, which stated that "optimisation" of the sector -- a euphemism for cuts -- has left Russian healthcare weakened during the epidemic. - Shortage of doctors - But Russia needs more doctors, not less: staff are required at various temporary facilities set up in the past weeks for light coronavirus cases, as the number of people testing positive has grown by over 10,000 daily for over a week. More than 100 doctors have died treating the infection, according to a list of names kept by people in the profession. Konovalov said that despite these difficulties, reaching out to students is not the solution. "Even those in their last year don't have experience to work in these conditions," he said. Students have also launched an online petition, demanding that the ministry decree is revoked. An Instagram campaign against "forced labour" is ongoing. Not all Russians are sympathetic. "Why did you choose this profession? To save lives!" one user of the VK network named Marina Goncharova commented in a group dedicated to the subject. "If war breaks out, are you also going to hide behind your mother's skirts?" Russia is taking measures to staff its hospitals as it expands the number of beds by 100,000 across the country The number of people testing positive in Russia has grown by over 10,000 daily for over a week Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi, fighting extradition to India on charges over the nearly USD 2 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case, is set to be produced before a UK court for his trial on Monday, to take place in a part-remote setting due to the coronavirus lockdown. The 49-year-old jeweller, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year, is expected to be produced physically at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. However, given the social distancing measures being followed by prisons and courts, District Judge Samuel Goozee had conceded that an alternative would be for him to be produced via videolink. "Some prisons are producing prisoners in person, so I will direct Wandsworth Prison to produce Modi in person for the trial from May 11. If that is not practicable, his participation by live link remains a backstop, Judge Goozee said at the last remand hearing in the case on April 28. It has been agreed that a limited number of legal representatives will be present physically in court for the trial, while witnesses give their evidence via videolink. Modi will be able to observe the proceedings either from the dock, if the prison authorities agree to a physical transfer, or via the judiciary's common viewing system (CVP) from Wandsworth Prison. The five-day hearing starting on Monday relates to the Indian government's extradition request certified by the UK government last year. The case has been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and relates to a large-scale fraud upon an Indian PSU through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of understanding (LoUs) and the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud. Two additional charges of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death were added on by the CBI and certified earlier this year. The May 11 extradition hearing is going ahead and the new request (two additional offences part of the CBI case) has not been joined but will be dealt with at a separate later hearing, probably in July, said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), appearing on behalf of the Indian authorities. CPS barrister Nick Hearn told the court at the last hearing in April, held via tele-conference, that the government of India's representatives would be following the proceedings and giving instructions via the court's online common viewing platform, given the COVID-19 related travel restrictions. We have received comprehensive responses in writing from the government of India, which would reduce the likely length of cross-examinations, said Hearn. It was also confirmed that the diamond merchant would not be giving evidence in the case, but his legal team plans to produce around six witnesses, including a jewellery expert as well as judicial and prisons experts. Most of the legal cases in the UK have incorporated videolink and telephonic options where possible amid the social distancing rules in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Modi, whose Wandsworth Prison is considered one of the most over-crowded in England, had made a fifth attempt at bail in the High Court last month, which was rejected as the judge ruled that he continued to pose a flight risk. The jeweller was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard on charges of fraud and money laundering brought by the Indian government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) LOS ANGELESAs California begins Stage 2 in its process of reopening businesses in the state, Governor Gavin Newsom announced last week that workers who believe they have contracted coronavirus infection as a result of being at work will now qualify for workers compensation benefits, according to statement issued by the governors office. We are removing a burden for workers on the front lines, who risk their own health and safety to deliver critical services to our fellow Californians, so that they can access benefits, and be able to focus on their recovery, Newsom said in the statement, after signing an executive order to extend the program. Workers compensation is a critical piece to reopening the state and it will help workers get the care they need to get healthy, and in turn, protect public health. Californias stay-at-home order went into effect on March 19. Employees who went to a workplace after that date and are diagnosed with COVID-19 the respiratory illness caused by coronavirus infection within 14 days of a day at work are now eligible for workers comp under Newsoms order, as long as the COVID diagnosis is confirmed by a positive test. Newsoms order places the burden on employers to prove that an employee became infected somewhere other than the workplace, which has led to pushback from some business owners, according to a Sacramento Bee report. Imposing a legal presumption that any employee who contracts the coronavirus is covered by workers compensation benefits shifts the cost of this pandemic to employers, the California Chamber of Commerce responded in a statement quoted by The Bee. The private sector did not cause this crisis and it should not be the safety net used to pay for this crisis that is the role of government. Newsom said that the purpose of the executive order was to allow workers who contract coronavirus to stay home without fearing for their income or their jobs. The worst thing we can do is have a worker that has tested positive, but doesn't want to tell anybody, and can spread the disease because he or she can't afford not to work," Newsom said, as quoted by KABC-TV News. Newsom also announced a new state COVID-19 informational website, which contains locations of testing sites for Californians, which may be reached at this link. Photo By Steve Jurvetson / Wikimedia Commons Legal experts and leading scientists have teamed up with Creative Commons to create the Open COVID Pledge to help speed up the battle against the coronavirus pandemic. The Pledge gives broad permission to anyone to use intellectual property not otherwise accessible to the public, and generally replaces the need for any other license or royalty agreement. A model license is available, but participants can use their own licensing language and terms so long as they commit to the Open COVID Pledge. The model license grants permission to use the IP and technology from Dec. 1, 2019, and is effective until one year after the World Health Organization declares the COVID-19 pandemic to have ended. The license permits the use of patent, copyright and other IP and industrial property rights (except trademarks and trade secrets) only for work focused on ending the COVID-19 pandemic as defined by WHO, and on minimizing the diseases impact through diagnosis, prevention, containment and treatment. Creative Commons dramatically reduces the overhead of licensing IP in the modern digital age by offering a pre-licensed model that requires no consultation with the IP owner, said Dion Hinchcliffe, principal analyst at Constellation Research. This can dramatically speed up the use of IP assets by one to two orders of magnitude, he told the E-Commerce Times, and in an exponential pandemic situation, speed is everything. Pledge Participants Organizations that have signed the pledge so far: Intel Fabricatorz Foundation Unified Patents Creative Commons Mozilla DLA Piper Center for Law and Biomedical Sciences at The University of Utahs S.J. Quinney College of Law The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology at Stanford Law School The Health and Law Policy Institute at the University of Houston Lipi, Laboratorio de Ideas Sobre Propiedad Intelectual at Universidad Javeriana in Colombia UAEM, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines Neuro, Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at American Universitys Washington College of Law NISO, National Information Standards Organization Kobenhavns Universitet (University of Copenhagen) Our goal is to encourage as many companies and people as possible to consider the time-limited, narrowly tailored Open COVID Pledge as the most reasonable private solution to the question of incentives and risk during the pandemic, said Jonathan Stroud, chief IP counsel at Unified Patents. We want to encourage as much research and development as quickly as possible during the pandemic, and the Pledge is designed to allow everyone to do that without the fear that a profiteer will later come to collect, he told the E-Commerce Times. The Pledge also avoids the need for any governmental action to compulsorily license or otherwise enter into the patent bargain, and represents a really thoughtful approach to how companies can help encourage innovation here, Stroud said. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Unified Patents, which has more than 3,000 members from diverse industries, including banking, automotive, manufacturing, retail and cybersecurity, cannot and will not bind its members to the Pledge, but we do encourage all of them to take it, and ask all companies practicing or otherwise to do so. Organizations that sign up by April 21 will be deemed Founding Adopters. To sign up, an organization must post a public statement on its website that it is making the pledge, issue an official press release, and then send the following to Open COVID Pledge: a link to the public statement; contact information; and a copy of the organizations logo to display on the Open COVID Pledge website (optional). Alternative Approaches to Accessing IP Several other efforts to open up access to IP have been launched independently by various large companies. Many companies with cloud resources, such as Google, IBM, Microsoft and HPE have joined forces with U.S. government research labs and academia to form the COVID-19 High-Performance Computing Consortium to pull together the latest in computing resources for use by the research community, noted Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research. Some pharmaceutical companies have joined the EUs Innovative Medicine Initiative. Medtronics and UK-based Smiths Group have released ventilator design files and manufacturing guidance under a permissive license. Global leaders in the plasma industry are collaborating to speed up development of hyperimmune therapy to fight coronavirus. The idea is to develop plasma from people who have fully recovered from coronavirus and whose blood contains antibodies that can fight it. Stumbling Blocks Many companies are signing up for some of these efforts for PR purposes without really committing to providing assistance, McGregor told the E-Commerce Times. For example, ViaSat was among the 650 companies that signed up for the U.S. Federal Communications Commissions Keep Americans Connected initiative to ensure Americans do not lose their broadband or telephone connectivity but its promising to work with customers only if they fall behind on payments, unlike other service providers that are raising or eliminating data caps, he pointed out. While the Open COVID Pledge does offer researchers access to a broader array of IP, it would mean more if the companies committing to the pledge are also committing resources to treating and/or assisting in finding a vaccine or cure, McGregor said. IP means nothing without the resources to leverage it in a meaningful way. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Dozens of contact-tracing tools are being deployed now, giving rise to various security and privacy issues, and I dont see where a COVID pledge or Creative Commons license would dramatically expedite any of that, said Steve Wilson, principal analyst at Constellation Research. Coronavirus is being tackled best in places like Singapore, Australia and New Zealand by largely non-technological measures while we wait for a vaccine, he told the E-Commerce Times. Im not convinced that an Open COVID pledge will make a huge difference. The pledge likely will not have much impact, because during an event like this, worrying about IP litigation is a very low priority, contended Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. Another issue to consider is whoat will happen to technology developed after the pandemic ends, he told the E-Commerce Times. Say someone sets up an AI that borrows a lot of companies IP. Does it get shut down, or does it get re-missioned and take sales from the IP providers? By KEVIN FREKING and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) Vice President Mike Pence is self-isolating after an aide tested positive for the coronavirus last week, joining three of the nation's top scientists in taking protective steps after possible exposure, in another stark reminder that not even one of the nations most secure buildings is immune from the virus. An administration official said Pence is voluntarily limiting his exposure to other people. He has repeatedly tested negative for COVID-19 since his exposure but is following the advice of medical officials. Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine," said spokesman Devin OMalley. "Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every single day and plans to be at the White House tomorrow. Pence was informed of the positive test Friday morning before he left Washington for a day-trip to Iowa. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading member of the task force, has become nationally known for his simple and direct explanations to the public about the coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it causes. He is now quarantining along with Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Hahn. Fauci's institute said that he has tested negative for COVID-19 and will continue to be tested regularly. It added that he is considered at "relatively low risk" based on the degree of his exposure, and that he would be "taking appropriate precautions" to mitigate the risk to personal contacts while still carrying out his duties. While he will stay at home and telework, Fauci will go to the White House if called and take every precaution, the institute said. Redfield will be "teleworking for the next two weeks" after it was determined he had a "low risk exposure" to a person at the White House, the CDC said in a statement Saturday evening. The statement said he felt fine and has no symptoms. Just a few hours earlier, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed that Hahn had come in contact with someone who tested positive and was in self-quarantine for the next two weeks. He tested negative for the virus. All three men are scheduled to testify before a Senate committee on Tuesday. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the panel, said the White House will allow Redfield and Hahn to testify by videoconference, a one-time exception to the administration's policies on hearing testimony. The statement was issued before Fauci's quarantine was announced. Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week. White House officials had confirmed Thursday that a member of the military serving as one of Trump's valets had tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. Read more on PennLive: NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio -- After a delayed start due to the coronavirus crisis, the North Olmsted Charter Review Commission held a three-hour meeting last week to discuss a dozen charter amendments that could end up on a fall ballot. Commission Chair Jeff Sturgeon said various city leaders and committee members have presented proposals for consideration. The topics range from an appointed finance director and partisan elections to legislation readings and remote meetings. Sturgeon said he expects the commission to vote this week. These potentially wont get pushed forward until the Charter Review Commissions final report, which we hope to have all wrapped up by June 1, Sturgeon said. Then council would also have to approve it before the charter amendments end up on a ballot for the voters to have the final say. City Councilman Chris Glassburn offered nine different proposals, including changing the finance director from an elected to an appointed position and reinstating partisan elections. Its exciting to see the commission looking to North Olmsted's future in considering how we can best manage the city moving forward, Glassburn said. I expect a vigorous conversation and to see our ideas improved by feedback from the residents. Regarding the notion of an appointed finance director, Glassburn said thats currently the case for 55 of the 59 Cuyahoga County communities. North Olmsted has seen the number of residents qualified to run (for finance director) drop over 35 percent in the last decade alone to less than 100 possible candidates, Glassburn said. Rather than lower our standards for the position, its time for North Olmsted to look beyond its borders to allow more competition for hiring the best-qualified talent at the most cost-effective rate. Mayor Kevin Kennedy feels the city benefits from North Olmsted Finance Director Carrie B. Copfers vast experience. My thoughts are to look at something like this would be a little premature, Kennedy said. You have an experienced finance director who has dedicated her life to the city. As far as the proposal for partisan elections, Glassburn said denying voters such information results in local candidates spending campaign dollars to identify their party affiliation. By putting party identification back on the ballot, we can move local campaign resources back to discussing candidate qualifications and talking about the issues, Glassburn said. Its counter-intuitive, but the best way to move past the party talk is to be transparent about our partisanship so we can move on to more important matters," he said. Kennedy called the partisan recommendation interesting. This is the time we discuss everything, Kennedy said. Its something the city does every five years. It doesnt mean its going on the ballot. It doesnt mean its a good idea. Its a topic of discussion and everything should be discussed. Read more news from the Sun Post Herald. Air India's first special flight, which took off from San Francisco with 225 Indians on board, landed in Mumbai on Monday. IMAGE: Indian nationals at the San Fransisco airport to board the repatriation flight under Vande Bharat Mission on Saturday. Photograph ANI Photo The passengers departed from San Francisco International Airport on Saturday (local time) under the Government of India's Vande Bharat mission on Sunday. "First AI spl flight from the US brings in 225 Indians from San Francisco to Mumbai. Thank @airindiain @MoCA_GoI and Maharashtra Govt for support and coordination. Great work by CG Sanjay Panda and Team @CGISFO," External Affair Minister S Jaishankar tweeted. Air India is operating the San Francisco sector after 50 days as India had imposed restrictions due to COVID-19 spread. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, India is conducting 'Vande Bharat' Mission -- its biggest ever repatriation exercise since independence -- to bring back stranded Indians from abroad, including from the US, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Nearly 15,000 Indians are expected to return on special Air India flights from 12 countries in the coming days. Newly Appointed Iraqi PM Meets with US and Iran Ambassadors By VOA News May 10, 2020 Iraq's new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, chaired his first cabinet meeting Saturday after being sworn in earlier in the week. Kadhimi had meetings with U.S. Ambassador Matthew H. Tueller and Iranian Ambassador Iraj Masjedi. His meeting with the Iranian envoy comes as tensions between the United States and Iran have escalated following the assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Qassim Soleimani in January. Welcoming Iraq's new government, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged to help Kadhimi and urged implementation of reforms. Kadhimi assumed office Thursday, following weeks of negotiations. He had served as the director of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service since 2016. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Not long ago I wrote about Mario, an exceptional handyman hired by attorney Danny to remove a concrete shuffleboard court in his back yard. Through the project, Danny got to know Mario, and they became friends. He learned that Mario owned a house and inherited a considerable amount of money, but he did not have an estate plan. Also, Mario was afraid that if he died without a will or trust, his property might go to the wrong family members. And thats where todays story begins. Danny tried for months to get Mario in to meet with an estate planning attorney. Yeah, Yeah, I know, I should, but I have so many jobs to finish, I do not have time, but I will, I promise, he would always say. And then Mario had a heart attack. The Lord Has Been Knocking on Your Door By chance, one afternoon Danny called Mario just to say hi and was saddened to hear, I am at the heart hospital, and they are going to put a stent in one of my coronary arteries as I have a blockage. Danny replied, God has been trying to get your attention, but that didnt work. So, he upped the ante. Now I am making an appointment for you with that lawyer! Yes, please do, Mario replied, a bit embarrassed. And I have a question for my readers: How many of you know someone just like Mario? Underlying Anxiety about Death I ran Marios situation by, Eureka, Calif., estate planning attorney Thomas Hjerpe and asked, Why are so many people reluctant to attend to these important things? How can family and friends help them? Dennis, usually the reason people put off seeing an estate planning attorney is because of an underlying anxiety about death, not wanting to face the issue. There are some cultures where it is simply taboo to talk of death, let alone preparing an estate plan, and all this leads to chaos when it occurs. Logistics also can be a factor, notes Bakersfield, Calif., estate attorney Patrick Jennison. Getting an estate in order can require preparing many different documents, including a Family (Living) Trust, Wills, Powers of Attorney, Advance Health Care Directives, Beneficiary Designations, Deeds and other asset and account transfer documents. For many, the thought and perceived effort is overwhelming, Jennison said. Often the cost is a factor, as a good estate planning attorney will generally charge over $3,500 to do the necessary work properly. But the stakes are high. If you dont set up your estate plan, no one will be able to help you if you become incapacitated. People do not realize how stressful this is on family, who cannot advocate for your health issues or manage your finances without that being established before incapacity, Hjerpe said. Practical Steps to Take to Get the Process Going What should you do if family members wont get their estate plans in order? One key way is to seek out the help of the financial professionals the person already relies upon and trusts. Ask them to provide referrals to capable and experienced lawyers who would be a good fit for the person in need of an estate plan. His or her suggestion and referral carries significant weight," Jennison says. Work with that professional to promote the older family member, often a parent, to nudge the process forward. Meet with the parent client and the estate planning attorney to help the wary client feel more comfortable. A good estate planning attorney can slowly put the new client at ease with a friendly conversation about family and values, setting the groundwork for a productive and enjoyable process for the client, and an estate plan which fits the specific needs and desires of that client. This can be a team effort with the professional adviser or advisers who the client knows and trusts, including involving the CPA or financial adviser in the initial meeting. And what if they dont have a trusted team already? You should be prepared to attend the initial meeting with the estate planning attorney to make the transition into the estate planning world smoother. A willingness to share your own estate planning experiences could help, too. Its all about treading lightly, Jennison says. "A heavy-handed approach is never wise, since it is akin to forcing a child to eat food, a process which is seldom positive, and among other results could make the child gag. We want the client to be a willing, actively engaged participant in the process, he says. The gentle, encouraging, calm approach to the reticent person in need of an estate plan can be pursued with a consistent, firm prompting from trusted family and professionals. Hjerpe recommends framing the issue in a practical way that brings it all home to your loved one. If you wait too long, you cant get it done. Just think of the hassle that you are heaping on the people who love you. Divorce + Old Estate Documents = Disaster One final note: Even if you have an estate plan in place, how up to date is it? Many problems arise out of divorce and remarriage. I cant tell you how often we face a situation like a second wife who comes to our office, sits down and falls apart, in tears explaining that she discovered that her terminally ill husband is in a coma, never changed insurance beneficiary forms and now the policy will be paid to the former wife. It is too late to do anything about it. Hjerpe has seen similar things where outdated documents are a ticking time bomb that can go off years after a divorce. It is so common to find that, years ago when everything was wonderful, a power of attorney or health care directive was given to the brother of an ex-spouse. Decades later, we find that the people who at one time loved Bill now hate him, and the new woman in his life is barred by HIPPA from receiving any information about his health. These issues are pure torture for family already often under extreme pressure. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- For the first time in the companys history, early childhood nutrition leader Gerber announced its first adopted spokesbaby in its annual Photo Search campaign. Meet the adorable Magnolia Earl from Ross, California, who captured the hearts of Gerbers judging panel for the 10th annual Photo Search with her joyful expression, playful smile, and warm gaze. Magnolia -- who celebrated her first birthday on Saturday -- was chosen as the 2020 Gerber Spokesbaby from more than 327,000 entries submitted through photosearch.gerber.com where families were able to upload photos, videos, and share stories, Gerber announced in a press release. Our Gerber family of farmers, factory workers, employees and customers are all united in our pursuit to do everything and anything for baby. We believe every baby is a Gerber baby and standing behind our babies has never mattered more than it does now, said Bill Partyka, President and CEO of Gerber, in a press release. At a time when we are yearning for connection and unity, Magnolia and her family remind us of the many things that bring us together: our desire to love and be loved, our need to find belonging, and our recognition that family goes way beyond biology. As the newest spokesbaby, Magnolia represents every Gerber baby and her familys story serves as a reminder of what unites all parents -- the promise to do anything for your baby. Courtney Earl, Magnolias mother, said the family received a call on May 9, 2019, from the adoption agency that there was an expectant mother in labor and wanted to speak with them. We pulled off the highway, got a chance to connect with her amazing birth parents, and a few hours later, this sweet baby girl was born. Adoption is incredibly special to our familys story, Earl said. Magnolia has two older sisters, Whitney (12) and Charlotte (8), who is also adopted. The sisters adore playing together, especially splashing in the kiddie pool and dancing to the Baby Shark song. Magnolia has brought so much joy to everyone she meets, Courtney Earl said. "Her personality is beyond happy and joyful. Winning Photo Search is an opportunity to tell Magnolias story and shed light on all the beautiful and different ways families are made. Photo Search launched in 2010 and was inspired by the countless photos received over the years from parents who see their little ones in Gerbers iconic baby logo -- which features the original Gerber baby, Ann Turner Cook. The campaign celebrates babies and families from all backgrounds, highlighting the belief that every baby is a Gerber baby. In addition to the opportunity to be featured on Gerbers social media channels and marketing campaigns throughout the year, Magnolia and her family were awarded a $25,000 cash prize, $1,000 in Gerber Childrenswear, $1,000 from Walmart, and phones with a year of free unlimited service from Verizon. FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. A U.S. Treasury check issued to help combat the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak is seen April 23, 2020, in San Antonio, Texas. President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and now the IRS are urging people who received coronavirus relief payments for a deceased taxpayer to return the money to the government. But legal experts say there is no law requiring people do that. (Eric Gay/AP) The Supreme Court Monday extended the protection to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami against any coercive action and reserved its verdict on his plea seeking quashing of the FIR lodged against him by Mumbai Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by making some remarks during his show. Besides this FIR lodged against Goswami on May 2, several complaints and multiple FIRs were earlier registered against him in various states over his alleged defamatory statements against Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi in a show on Palghar mob-lynching. Goswami claimed in the top court that he was interrogated by Mumbai Police for over 12 hours with regard to FIR on alleged defamatory statements and one of the two investigating officers probing the case against him has tested Covid-19 positive. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said it would pronounce the verdict later this week on Goswami's plea seeking quashing of fresh FIR as well as on the application of Maharashtra government alleging that the accused has been "browbeating" the police by "creating fear psychosis". During the hearing, senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Goswami, said that this case is all about a political party targeting a journalist as the complainants are members of one particular party. He said they (political party) have a problem with the government and they want to teach this journalist a lesson as the real purpose is to stifle an unpleasant voice. "This will have a chilling effect on freedom of press," he said, adding that press is not institutionalised but other institutions are protected and there are safeguards, wherein judges, MPs and bureaucrats are protected. "We must draw a balance between both," the bench said. Salve said that after the apex court's hearing on April 24, a notice was served on Goswami on April 25 requiring his presence before police the next day in connection with the case. The bench told Salve that points raised by him could be argued before the Bombay High Court either in an anticipatory bail plea or petition for quashing of the case. It said the court can give liberty to Goswami to approach the High Court after the expiry of interim protection already given to him by the apex court earlier in the cases related to Palghar incident. It said if Goswami want quashing of the FIRs lodged in Bombay, including the fresh one, he can move the high court. The bench said it had earlier intervened in the matter due to multiplicity of FIRs arising out of the same cause of action. "We must ensure somebody is not subject to harassment but we should not create an environment where anybody in particular is exempted from the normal course of proceedings," the bench observed. Salve argued that the probe in the Palghar incident remarks should be transferred to the CBI. He questioned the manner in which Goswami was asked questions during the investigation and said he was also asked details about the editorial team and content by the police. Goswami was repeatedly asked if he had defamed the Congress president and whose money was invested in the channel, Salve said. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Centre, told the bench that this is a peculiar case as the accused is saying that police is pressurising him and interrogating him for 12 hours whereas the police has also come to the court to insulate it from any pressure and threat. He said that since the accused has made allegations against the police, which too has made certain accusations, then the court must look at the possibility of having an independent investigation agency to probe it. Mehta said this is a case where the way in which the state police has acted in an undesirable manner and if an offence is prima facie made out then the case should be handled by an independent agency, which does not need any insulation and the accused cannot say that he is being harassed. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Maharashtra government, said this is a clear violation of Article 19 and he cannot stigmatise people by way of sensationalising things. The senior lawyer urged the court to ask the CBI for the report in the case and for giving him extension of interim protection. At the fag end of the hearing, the bench pointed out that the multiple FIRs are word-to-word same. Sibal said that if they are same, then court can quash them as it is quite possible that Congress workers may have placed copy of the first FIR, when they went ahead with lodging of complaints. On April 24, the top court had granted 3-week protection to Goswami against any coercive steps in connection with some FIRs lodged against him in various states for alleged defamatory statements made during shows on Palghar mob-lynching of three persons, including two saints in Maharashtra. The May 2 FIR was lodged in Mumbai against him and two others for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by making derogatory remark regarding a mosque located in suburban Bandra, a Mumbai Police officer had said. Hundreds of migrant workers had gathered in Bandra on April 14 demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced extension of the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 till May 3. The FIR was lodged in Pydhonie police station in south Mumbai on May 2 by Irfan Abubakar Sheikh, secretary of Raza Education Welfare Society. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 10 has been forced to call off its third Pilot Week due to the production shutdown caused by coronavirus impact. The third week of new originals was due in coming months, although no dates had been set. A Network 10 spokesperson said: At this stage we are unable to include Pilot Week 2020 in our program schedule due to the impacts that COVID-19 has had on production companies. We are extremely proud of the success Pilot Week has achieved and we hope to bring many more entertaining, innovative and groundbreaking pilots to viewers in 2021. Its a disappointing but understandable outcome given the widespread shutdown. Meanwhile hopes for The Amazing Race Australia to begin filming in June are also out. We continue to monitor domestic flight restrictions as well as social distancing regulations to ensure The Amazing Race Australia can go back into production at the right time, the spokesperson added. The series had originally set its sights on international but settled on local destinations. Thats still some way off given Step 1 of recovery is getting underway. TARA requires wide access and interaction by cast and crew. Fingers crossed it can resume in coming months. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Tesla has filed a lawsuit against Alameda County in California as the company has been unable to resume production at its Fremont factory due to a county order issued in March following the coronavirus pandemic. The luxury electric car-maker alleged that the county order directly contradicts California Governor Gavin Newsom's order. Tesla had received an explicit order from the Sheriff's Office in Alameda County, where Tesla is based, to shut down its Fremont plant amid the coronavirus pandemic, as it is not an essential business. Following many days of a stand-off with local authorities, Tesla announced plans on March 20 to temporarily suspend operations at its California and New York factories. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Tesla is seeking a permanent injunction that would render the county's shutdown order invalid and enable the automaker to resume production. Tesla alleges that the county's shutdown order ignored an earlier order from Newsom that permitted sixteen critical infrastructure industries, including transportation equipment manufacturing, electric motor manufacturing, and the energy sector, to continue to operate. Tesla also noted that its factory in neighboring San Joaquin County has been permitted and continues to operate. 'There is no rational basis for this disparate treatment of two neighboring Tesla facilities both operating in federal critical infrastructure sectors,' Tesla said in the lawsuit. Tesla CEO Elon Musk had earlier threatened to move the company's headquarters out of California as a result of the shutdown. In a blog post on Saturday, Tesla said it has started the process of resuming operations at its Fremont facility following the Governor's recent guidance. The company noted that its restart plan is modeled on the resumption of operations at its Shanghai Gigafactory, which has seen smooth and healthy operations for the last three months. The company also said that all employees must complete an online video training before returning to work at any Tesla facility and it has a thorough return-to-work plan for all its locations. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de The cashew industry had just overcome the crisis in late 2018 and early 2019 when it was dealt another blow from Covid-19. Analysts predict a bad year for cashew growers and exporters. China has initially succeeded in controlling Covid-19, but the epidemic has been escalating all over the world, including the US and Europe. Low demand from target markets and short supply of input materials from Africa, the major material supply sources, both have caused difficulties for Vietnamese enterprises. A bulletin released by units of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) showed that Vietnam exported 35,000 tons of cashew nuts in March, worth $252 million, and 86,000 tons in the first three months of the year, valued at $609 million. This represented an 8.2 percent increase in quantity but 4.7 percent decrease in value compared with Q1 2019. The US, Netherlands and China were still the three biggest import markets, which consumed 35.4 percent, 12 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively, of total exports. The sharpest increase in export value has been reported for Saudi Arabia (2.54 times) and the sharpest decrease for China (61 percent). The average export price in the first two months of the year was $7,046 per ton, down by 14 percent. Analysts predict a bad year for cashew growers and exporters. China has initially succeeded in controlling Covid-19, but the epidemic has been escalating all over the world, including the US and Europe. In the domestic market, farmers in Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai saw sharp price falls. A farmer in Dong Nai province said the raw cashew nut price was VND25,000-26,000 per kilogram earlier this crop, but it dropped VND21,000 in February and VND20,000 in March. The price continued to fall to VND14,000 in mid-April. The bulletin of the Import/Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) released on March 31 showed decreases in output, quality and price of this cashew crop in Ba Ria Vung Tau. As the weather conditions were bad, the yield and the quality were low. There are over 8,000 cashew growing area in the province, mostly located in the districts of Chau Duc and Xuyen Moc. However, the output is on the decrease because cashew plants are getting old and the profit is low. In Dong Nai province, the cashew growing area is decreasing considerably because the cashew nut price continues to decrease, thus bringing low profits to farmers compared with other crops. According to Pham Van Cong, chair of the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), the plan on exporting $4 billion worth of cashew nuts this year may fail. Cong personally things Vietnam can only earn $3 billion from cashew nut exports this year. The Import/Export Department has advised enterprises to keep a close watch over the epidemic situation to design reasonable production and business plans. Thanh Mai Cashew export tipped to recover strongly after pandemic Cashew exports are expected to surge in the latter half of the year once the COVID-19 pandemic dies down. While it may seem like you cant possibly find the time for it given youre managing your home as well as work itll be better for you in the long run. Self-care, often ignored, is essential for your physical and mental health. What it means is to pay attention to your body and mind, understand what they need and making time to give them that. In times like these, this becomes even more important - the COVID-19 pandemic has lead to a massive increase in stress and anxiety levels. And while it may seem like you cant possibly find the time for it given youre managing your home as well as work itll be better for you in the long run. We spoke to Dr Nishtha Nirula, Counselling Psychologist, Fortis Healthcare and here are a few self-care tips she shared with us to stay mentally and physically fit during the lockdown: 1. Maintain a routine You still need eight hours of good sleep, preferably at the same time as before the lockdown began, and you still need some daily exercise too. Your lifestyle can have a huge impact on your overall health - so dont make drastic changes in it if you can help it. 2. Express gratitude Its very simple - take out a few minutes to look around you and appreciate the things you are grateful for. Do this regularly and it could help you feel more positive and optimistic, express your emotions better and even sleep more soundly. 3. Organize your mind Its not surprising for one to feel extremely scattered during such times of stress. But this isnt healthy for your mind or your life - things will slip through the cracks and cause you even more stress. Manage a diary or a to-do list to jot down all your tasks and chores so you have everything in one place and plan your day more efficiently. 4. Stay connected Loneliness is one of the biggest concerns of the lockdown. It can lead to many mental and even physical problems. Call up a friend you havent spoken to in a while and stay in touch with your family members - we need to be able to lean on each other for emotional support. 5. Take a break Too much stress can make you feel easily irritated, which would bring you down and make you less productive eventually. A few regular breaks from your chores can help you hit refresh and come back to your tasks with a more positive approach. You can even try meditation or breathing exercises during these breaks to improve your mental health. Pennsylvanians cant get back to work without childcare, but like so many other things, daycare in the COVID-19 era is going to look very different as centers begin to reopen. When Gov. Tom Wolf issued his stay-at-home order in mid-March, he ordered all K-12 schools and childcare centers to shut down. The majority did, although 1,529 child care centers were granted waivers as of May 5. Now the states economy is gradually moving from a strict lockdown to a phased reopening of business where all daycares can start welcoming back families as Wolf regionally loosens restrictions. On May 8, 24 Pennsylvania counties moved to the so-called yellow phase and on Friday 13 more counties will. The Lehigh Valley remains in the red phase until June 4. This means families and daycare providers must hash out how to keep students and staff safe while allowing parents to return to their jobs. This means masks, new routines and lots of hand washing for Pennsylvania families. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller hosted a media call Monday morning to outline what early childhood education will look like in the age of COVID-19. This is not a return to a normal life, Miller said. This is just the beginning and the dangers of this pandemic are still very real. Centers in red phase counties that wish to reopen should apply for a waiver, rather than flouting Wolfs order, Miller emphasized. Miller is working closely with Wolf and the state Legislature to determine how to distribute $100 million of federal stimulus money targeted for childcare providers, which Pennsylvania received in early May . Pennsylvania will be relying heavily on the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions guidelines for childcare programs. Currently, there is no penalty for not following the federal guidelines, but Wolf could incorporate them into his executive order, said Tracey Campanini, the deputy secretary for the state Office of Child Development and Early Learning The CDC guidelines mean returning students may be dropped off and picked up curbside to reduce the number of people coming in and out of a building. Or have a scheduled time to arrive and leave. Students will be greeted by teachers and staff wearing masks, who may screen them for fevers or other symptoms, and help them wash their hands immediately. Children should also wear masks whenever possible as long as they are 2 and up. Centers may encourage kids to leave toys, blankets and other comfort items at home to reduce the introduction of new objects, Campanini said. She acknowledged how hard it can be to enforce social distancing with toddlers who want to hug each other, fight over toys and climb into their teachers lap. Thats why the CDC suggests that when possible the same group of children should stay together all day with the same teachers. This could mean creating sibling groups of classes to try to keep a familys potential circle of exposure as small as possible, Campanini said. The CDC suggests providers create a separate classroom for children of healthcare workers and first responders or only serve those families. Centers will have to stress frequent hand washing and cleaning of toys and high-touch areas, Campanini said. Miller emphasized parents are not required to send their children back and it remains to be seen how many employers will tighten teleworking policies as more counties reopen. Her department is doing everything it can to support childcare facilities, many of which already operated on slim profit margins, and ensure they reopen. The state is offering childcare providers a webinar to help familiarize operators with the steps they should take to keep children and staff safe. And its emphasizing how important it is that providers understand how the coronavirus is transmitted and the best steps to screen staff and children, Campanini said. Parents looking for help navigating childcare in the midst of the pandemic should reach out to their early learning resource center for assistance. For Lehigh and Northampton counties, email ELRC14@cscinc.org or elrcregion14@pa.gov. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. i WHAT SORT OF WORLD DO WE WANT WHEN THE PANDEMIC IS OVER? Comrades from the Port Jackson branch invited me to address a great question at their Tuesdays Talks initiative: What sort of world do we want after the pandemic is over? This is an extremely relevant question that has generated a lot of discussion among comrades and other people in Australia and around the world. Some believe that we are currently in a revolutionary situation, that well end up with socialism in twelve or twenty-four months after the pandemic. I think those are very nice and optimistic thoughts and we must continue to be positive that a better world is possible. However, when I look at what governments around the world are doing to save the capitalist system at the expense of workers and the people in general, I see that the struggle for socialism has to be invigorated. After the pandemic is over in twelve or twenty-four months, the new normal will be fewer rights for workers to organise. The Morrison government has already introduced regulations further undermining the right to organise, the participation of workers in their workplaces, wages, and conditions. Far from socialism, we, unfortunately, will return to a world of the old normal of homelessness, 200 million of them children also, millions of them dying of famine and curable diseases before they reach five years of age. Im reminded of the words of Cuban leader Fidel Castro when he said that none of those children are Cuban. Furthermore, the words of Fidel and the work that Cuba has done in building a socialist society gives hope that a better world is possible and necessary. It gives me hope, though, to see how socialist countries have been able to work cooperatively putting people first not just in their own countries but globally where the help is needed. This is happening despite the crushing economic pressures from criminal, inhumane blockades that imperialism has chosen to strengthen at this time. In the Capitalist countries, we will go back to the old normal of an asphyxiating foreign debt that has stolen the future of generations of people living in third world countries. In Australia, the Business Council of Australia and the Morrison government are already planning to return to normal. What they mean is that they need the creators of wealth to go back to work. What they are perhaps really saying is that they will return to a new normal but not one the people, especially workers, would want. They have chosen to use this time to form legislation and regulations that support their draconian agenda. The only way they can continue to make profits is by having workers returning to work under legislation that makes it easier for bosses to reduce wages and conditions. Even more workers will go into the precarious employment of casualisation, labour-hire, and the gig economy. Many workers who lost their employment will have difficulty finding jobs again. Many small and medium-sized businesses have gone under, and workers left at the mercy of the market. Unions have done a great job during the pandemic fighting for workers wages in the way of subsidies such as Jobkeeper, increases to Newstart (now called Jobseeker), free access to childcare including other measures to keep people at home and somehow employed by the billions invested in bailouts to save the system. The government estimates that every week of shut down has cost the economy $4 billion per week, adding up to $50 billion since the pandemic started. This could be easily recovered by targeted public sector investment, for example, in green energy and cuts to the bloated military war budget. The pandemic has really exposed the failures of capitalism. The Party has issued a number of statements of what was needed putting people first rather than profits. The CPA demanded no worker should be left behind and a guaranteed income for all workers, including the protection of those 2 million workers on temporary visa programs, and the wellbeing of the community as a whole. The Party leadership issued statements about Party activity during the time of the COVID-19 and urged every member to be active. A plan has been developed for campaigns over the next twelve months. Branches must ensure the collective discussion of the plan and its practical implementation. If we really want social change, we must build a strong Communist Party, and that starts with educating our existing members and giving them the tools to strengthen their political and ideological understanding of capitalism and the necessity for socialism. WHAT SORT OF WORLD SHOULD WE FIGHT FOR? There are two tasks that the Party leadership want us to develop during this time. One is the practical implementation of activating the party membership through the Health, Workers Rights, and Socialism campaign, the May Day selfie campaign, and other activities are for comrades to get involved in on the ground raising much-needed awareness of the problems and the solution with the people. The other is to use the conditions the pandemic has created to call for a strong public sector and the need to nationalise the health and education systems and other strategic sectors such as transport, banks and insurance, mines and energy. Public housing programs would provide affordable housing for the many homeless and jobs for the unemployed. Finally, the Party leadership calls on the membership and supporters now to also help register The Communists as an electoral expression to be able to stand Communists in Federal elections. I take this opportunity to ask readers to help us in this effort and add their names by registering online here: cpaforms.wufoo.com/forms/join-the-communists We need to find ways to build support for a new type of government with more left, progressive and democratic forces capable of implementing electoral and other reforms that could allow the working class to play a protagonist role in social change. The struggle for socialism and communism in our country must not only continue but must be ramped up. This needs to be accompanied by a strong mass movement with the demand that workers will not pay for the crisis. We envisage socialism as a real alternative against rapacious capitalism. Australia must nationalise key sectors of the economy such as the resource sector, energy, build infrastructure and bring back the manufacture and industrial sectors. Transport, including shipping and airlines, must be in public hands. The wealth to deliver nationalisation has always been there, and the billions in bailouts used to save the capitalist system have shown this. Billions more can be saved by cutting the military budget to one per cent of GDP or about fifty per cent of the current spending. Fighting for peace is also a fight for a new world free of exploitation and for socialism. I urge comrades to double their efforts in this challenge. We all must work harder to build a strong working-class Party capable of leading the struggle for social change and eventually socialism. Lets not get distracted with the government propaganda that we are all together in this. We are together in this only when we come together as a class: the class that has the historical task of destroying the capitalist state and the enormous challenge of building a better society for all. Finally, I recommend comrades to read and collectively discuss the recent articles that have been published in the Guardian. Those articles are food for thought and more ideas and initiatives can be developed with the wisdom of the collective assisting the Party leadership in the practical implementation of the recent plans for Party activity. Long live socialism! Workers wont pay for the crisis! Germany's Health Ministry on Monday said that an increased transmission rate was being taken seriously, but did not constitute "an uncontrolled outbreak". Hanno Kautz, a spokesperson for the ministry, confirmed that Germany's federal disease control agency would be "looking at the development in the next few days." The agency has put the country's R-value that's the number of people each infected person on average passes the virus on to at above 1,0 for two days in a row. Also on Monday, the German government condemned attacks on police officers and journalists at recent anti-lockdown protests. Spokesperson Steffen Seibert said that although peaceful demonstrations "are important (...) during this time," protesters still had "(responsibilities) towards their fellow citizens." "That's why one can demand that hygiene and distance regulations be observed in their demonstrations," he said. Three TV camera crews have been attacked at protests in Berlin and the western city of Dortmund over the past fortnight. Police also detained dozens of people in the capital on Saturday after bottles were thrown at officers. German officials have expressed concern that the demonstrations are being hijacked by extremists and fringe groups. The country of 83 million has reported over 171,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 7,569 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. MIAMI Vietnamese-French-American starlet Mi Ha Doan headlines DickDrainers.coms new IR fantasy release, in which a rude, spoiled daughter provokes the ire of her familys security guard. Working a security job, it's always hit or miss. It could be exciting and fun or the worst job in the world, company rep Richard D. Rainer explained. Working for the rappers? That's definitely fun. The worst jobs? Definitely the politicians. Always concerned about their image, no drinking, stay off your phone, wear a suit... Branden is working for a crazy-rich Asian politician whos here in the States for a lil bit. An asshole. Branden knows hes talkin shit about him to his lil crew. But since that dudes always in meetings and stuff, he's not even the worst part. That honor belongs to his daughter. She's spoiled and does not know the proper way to treat people. She looks at Branden like hes gum beneath her shoe. Every time she does open her rich little mouth, its to order Branden to do something like hes a damn slave. 'Get my laundry! Wash my car!' Branden Richards said, Pretty and slim with very few limits, Mi Ha is absolutely one of my favorite models to work with! This scene has just about everything, and the chemistry we have is immediately apparent. We're crossing our fingers that we can get her back on set soon! Rich Asian Teen Learns How To Treat People Who Have Big Black Dicks! has a runtime of 48 minutes and is available for streaming and download here Follow Mi Ha Doan on Twitter @TheMiHaDoan. Follow Branden Richards on Twitter @BRichXXX. Whats new: Dong Xin, 53, has been promoted to president of China Mobile Communications Group Co. Ltd., after the position was left vacant for more than seven months. As well as the position of president, Dong has been appointed a director of the China Mobile board and deputy chief of the firms Communist Party group. He will relinquish his role as chief accountant, the company announced Monday. Background: China Mobiles president post has been vacant since previous chief Li Yue retired in September, and rumors have swirled about who would take over as leader of the worlds largest mobile network operator. Dong graduated from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, before he went on to obtain degrees in management from the Australian National University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He began his career in telecom-related government departments and was transferred from the companys Beijing branch and promoted to its Hong Kong headquarters as vice president in 2013. Dong has worked on the companys finances and planning for several years. His experience leading provincial subsidiaries in Beijing, Henan and Hainan might be why he was chosen to head the company, a veteran company insider told Caixin. Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full Caixin article in Chinese, click here. Related: Profits Fall For Chinas Big Three Telecoms Contact reporter Isabelle Li (liyi@caixin.com) and editors Marcus Ryder (marcusryder@caixin.com) and Flynn Murphy (flynnmurphy@caixin.com) MCLA-128, zenocutuzumab, Phase 1/2 eNRGy trial remains on track MCLA-117 program update to be presented at upcoming medical meeting Anand Mehra, M.D. to succeed Russell Greig, Ph.D. as Chairman and Paolo Pucci Nominated for Appointment to Merus Board of Directors UTRECHT, The Netherlands and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Merus N.V. (MRUS) (Merus, the Company, we, or our), a clinical-stage oncology company developing innovative, full-length multispecific antibodies (Biclonics and TriclonicsTM), today announced financial results for the first quarter that ended March 31, 2020, and provided a business update. We have made progress on our clinical programs despite the effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic, and remain on track to provide a clinical update on zenocutuzumab (Zeno) for NRG1 fusion cancers later this year, said Bill Lundberg, M.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer of Merus. In the near term, more information on our clinical programs as well as preclinical work on our CD3 T-cell engager platform will be presented at upcoming medical meetings. Overall, 2020 continues to be a productive and important year for Merus as we remain focused on delivering innovative treatments for cancer patients in need. Clinical Programs Zenocutuzumab (MCLA-128: HER3 x HER2 Biclonics) NRG1+ Cancers: Phase 1/2 eNRGy trial on track for year-end update Merus continues to enroll patients in the Phase 1/2 eNRGy trial to assess the safety and anti-tumor activity of zenocutuzumab (Zeno) monotherapy in NRG1 gene fusion-positive (NRG1+) solid tumors. The initial clinical responses reported in late 2019 support the potential for Zeno to be particularly effective in patients with NRG1+ cancers, a patient population with significant unmet need. The NRG1 fusion is a rare, powerful driver of cancer. To better ascertain its occurrence, Merus engaged an independent organization to undertake a robust epidemiology assessment of the frequency of NRG1+ cancers, which will be reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in late May. Story continues The majority of global clinical trial sites for the eNRGy trial are now open and despite slower enrollment and cessation of new recruiting at several clinical trial sites due to COVID-19, Merus remains on track to present data from the Phase 1/2 eNRGy trial by the end of 2020. Merus has also entered into agreements with Caris Life Sciences, Foundation Medicine Inc. and Tempus Labs Inc., to enhance the ability to identify NRG1+ patients and determine suitability of enrollment of these patients in the eNRGy trial and Early Access Program. In April 2020, following the previously announced departure of former Chief Medical Officer Leonardes Andres Sirulnik, M.D., Dr. Victor Sandor, who has served on the Merus Board of Directors since June 2019 and is Chairman of Merus Research & Development Committee, agreed to provide strategic oversight of the eNRGy trial on an interim basis until a new Chief Medical Officer is identified. Dr. Sandor brings considerable early and late-stage clinical development expertise, to the eNRGy trial program. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Array BioPharma, which was acquired by Pfizer, where he was instrumental in obtaining the approval of BRAFTOVI (encorafenib) and MEKTOVI (binimetinib) for the treatment of BRAFV600E/K mutant melanoma. Details of the eNRGy trial, including current trial sites, can be found at www.ClinicalTrials.gov and Merus trial website at www.nrg1.com , or by calling 1-833-NRG-1234. MCLA-117 (CLEC12A x CD3 Biclonics): Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) MCLA-117 Interim Phase 1 data expected in 1H20 MCLA-117 is a bispecific antibody (Biclonics) T-cell engager that is designed to engage CD3 on T-cells and to bind to and kill AML blasts via the CLEC12A antigen. It is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 trial is a single-arm, open-label, global study to assess the safety, tolerability and anti-tumor activity of MCLA-117 in up to 90 patients with relapsed/refractory AML. In July 2019, Merus amended the MCLA-117 protocol to allow for the exploration of higher dose cohorts. Merus has submitted an abstract on interim data from the Phase 1 trial, as well as an abstract on its extensive novel panel of CD3 T-cell engaging common light chain antibodies, to the European Hematology Association Annual Meeting in June, 2020. MCLA-158 (Lgr5 x EGFR Biclonics): Solid Tumors Phase 1 trial continues with higher dose cohorts MCLA-158 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 open-label, multicenter dose escalation study, including a safety dose expansion phase, in patients with solid tumors. Dose escalation is ongoing and MCLA-158 has demonstrated a favorable safety profile with no observed dose limiting toxicities to date. Merus plans to provide an update on the Phase 1 trial by year end. MCLA-145 (CD137 x PD-L1 Biclonics): Solid Tumors Phase 1 trial advancing as planned The Phase 1, open-label, single-agent clinical trial of MCLA-145 is ongoing and consists of dose escalation followed by dose expansion. MCLA-145 is the first drug candidate co-developed under Merus global collaboration and license agreement with Incyte Corporation, which permits the development and commercialization of up to 11 bispecific and monospecific antibodies from the Biclonics platform. Merus has full rights to develop and commercialize MCLA-145 if approved in the United States and Incyte is responsible for its development and commercialization outside the United States. MCLA-129 (EGFR x c-MET Biclonics): Solid Tumors IND-enabling studies ongoing Merus is currently conducting IND-enabling studies of MCLA-129 for the treatment of various solid tumors in collaboration with Betta Pharmaceuticals. Merus presented preclinical data in late 2019 demonstrating that MCLA-129 inhibited the growth of tyrosine kinase resistant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) cell lines and NSCLC tumors in xenograft models. Betta holds exclusive rights to develop MCLA-129 in China, while Merus retains full ex-China rights. Corporate Activities COVID-19 Impact and Mitigation To date, Merus has observed a moderate impact on clinical trial enrollment and operations as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, including adjustments to allow remote visits for some patient follow-up, and reduced on-site monitoring by the sponsor or CRO. However, all ongoing clinical trials continue to enroll patients. Drug supply for clinical trials remains secure and patients continue to receive treatment. For Zeno in particular, Merus reaffirms its guidance to present interim data from the eNRGy trial by year end. Through various measures, including physician outreach and site and patient support, the Company has been working to bring patients into either the eNRGy trial or Expanded Access Program (EAP) and keep them on treatment during the pandemic. In addition, the EAP for Zeno remains open to facilitate treatment for eligible patients who are unable to enroll at a clinical trial site. On the research side, after having previously closed its research laboratories due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Merus has reopened the Utrecht- based labs in compliance with The Netherlands guidelines and is restarting laboratory research activities. Annual General Meeting and Board of Directors The Companys annual general meeting of shareholders (AGM) is planned to be held on June 30, 2020. In addition, on May 11, 2020, Merus announced planned changes to its Board of Directors. Dr. Anand Mehra will succeed Dr. Russell Greig as Chairman of the Board of Directors from the conclusion of the Companys AGM when Dr. Greig will be stepping down from the Board of Directors. Mr. Paolo Pucci has been nominated for appointment to the Companys Board of Directors at the upcoming AGM as Dr. John de Koning plans to step down at that time. Dr. Mehra has been a member of the Board of Directors since August 2015. He most recently served as General Partner at Sofinnova Investments, Inc., a biotech investment firm, which he joined in 2007. Previously, Dr. Mehra worked in J.P. Morgan's private equity and venture capital group, and was a consultant in McKinsey & Company's pharmaceutical practice. Dr. Mehra currently serves on the boards of directors of several private companies and previously served on the boards of directors of the publicly held pharmaceutical companies Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Spark Therapeutics, Inc. and Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Mehra received a Bachelor of Arts in political philosophy from the University of Virginia and a Doctor of Medicine from Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. Mr. Paolo Pucci most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of ArQule, Inc., a biopharmaceutical oncology and rare diseases company that was acquired by Merck in January 2020. Prior to joining ArQule in 2008, Mr. Pucci worked at Bayer AG, where he served in a number of leadership capacities including President of the Oncology & Global Specialty Medicines Business Units and was a member of the Bayer Pharmaceuticals Global Management Committee. Previously, Mr. Pucci held positions of increasing responsibility with Eli Lilly and Company. Mr. Pucci previously served on the Board of several successful biotech companies including Algeta ASA and Dyax Inc. He currently serves as a board member of West Pharmaceuticals Services, Inc and Replimune Group Inc. Mr. Pucci received an MS in economics and accounting from Universita degli Studi di Napoli Federico II and an MBA in marketing and finance from the University of Chicago. The Company is grateful for the leadership that both Dr. Greig and Dr. de Koning have provided on behalf of the Company, and we thank them for their years of service. We look forward to the valuable guidance of Dr. Mehra and Mr. Pucci in their new roles. First Quarter 2020 Financial Results In prior periods, Merus prepared its financial information in accordance with IFRS. As a consequence of becoming a domestic U.S. issuer as of January 1, 2020, the Company is required to present its financial information in accordance with U.S. GAAP and express such financial information in U.S. dollars from that date. The below unaudited financial information has been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The unaudited financial information should not be expected to correspond to figures previously presented under IFRS. Collaboration revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2020 ($6.3 million) decreased $2.5 million as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2019 ($8.8 million), primarily as a result of a decrease in Incyte reimbursement revenue of $1.3 million, and a decrease in Ono milestone revenue of $1.1 million. The change in exchange rates did not significantly impact collaboration revenue. Research and development expense for the three months ended March 31, 2020 ($17.0 million) increased $5.2 million as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2019 ($11.8 million), primarily as a result of an increase in headcount and higher pre-clinical research and development-related costs related to our programs, particularly increases in costs for zenocutuzumab offset by decreases in costs for MCLA-145. General and administrative expense for the three months ended March 31, 2020 ($8.9 million) increased $2.2 million as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2019 ($6.7 million), primarily as a result of an increase in headcount, stock-based compensation, facilities and professional fees, offset by decreases in consulting cost. Other income for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was $3.2 million as compared to $2.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019. Other income consists of interest earned on the Companys cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities held on account, accretion of investment earnings and net foreign exchange gains on our foreign denominated cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. The Company ended the first quarter with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $214.0 million compared to $241.8 million at December 31, 2019. The decrease was primarily the result of cash used in operations, and effects of exchange rate changes. Financial Outlook Based on the Companys current operating plan, Merus expects its existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will be sufficient to fund its operations into 2022. MERUS N.V. Unaudited Consolidated Balance Sheet (in U.S. dollar thousands, except share data) March 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 165,800 $ 197,612 Marketable securities 48,234 42,153 Accounts receivable 244 941 Accounts receivable (related party) 1,258 1,711 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 9,915 4,951 Total current assets 225,451 247,368 Marketable securities 2,009 Property and equipment, net 3,545 3,715 Operating lease right-of-use assets 4,841 5,215 Intangible assets, net 2,739 2,876 Deferred tax assets 111 288 Other assets 1,275 1,905 Total assets $ 237,962 $ 263,376 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 3,381 $ 3,029 Accrued expenses 12,159 13,536 Current portion of lease obligation 1,393 1,380 Current portion of deferred revenue 1,176 941 Current portion of deferred revenue (related party) 17,458 17,901 Total current liabilities 35,567 36,787 Lease obligation 3,484 3,872 Deferred revenue, net of current portion 270 780 Deferred revenue, net of current portion (related party) 84,055 90,637 Total liabilities 123,376 132,076 Stockholders equity: Common shares, 0.09 par value; 45,000,000 shares authorized; 29,009,422 and 28,882,217 shares issued and outstanding as at March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively $ 2,931 $ 2,918 Additional paid-in capital 444,275 441,395 Accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income (1,521 ) 1,586 Accumulated deficit (331,099 ) (314,599 ) Total stockholders equity 114,586 131,300 Total liabilities and stockholders equity $ 237,962 $ 263,376 MERUS N.V. Unaudited Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss (in U.S. dollar thousands, except share data) Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 2019 Collaboration revenue $ 328 $ 1,602 Collaboration revenue (related party) 5,973 7,227 Total revenue 6,301 8,829 Operating expenses: Research and development 16,987 11,799 General and administrative 8,882 6,741 Total operating expenses 25,869 18,540 Operating loss (19,568 ) (9,711 ) Other income, net: Interest income, net 280 630 Foreign exchange gains 2,885 2,220 Other income, net 3,165 2,850 Net loss before income taxes (16,403 ) (6,861 ) Tax expense 97 222 Net loss $ (16,500 ) $ (7,083 ) Other comprehensive loss: Currency translation adjustment (3,107 ) (1,900 ) Comprehensive loss $ (19,607 ) $ (8,983 ) Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders: Basic and diluted $ (0.68 ) $ (0.38 ) Weighted-average common shares outstanding: Basic and diluted 28,946 23,373 About Merus N.V. Merus is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing innovative full-length human bispecific antibody therapeutics, referred to as Biclonics. Biclonics are manufactured using industry standard processes and have been observed in preclinical and clinical studies to have several of the same features of conventional human monoclonal antibodies, such as long half-life and low immunogenicity. For additional information, please visit Merus website, www.merus.nl and https://twitter.com/MerusNV . Forward Looking Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation, statements regarding the sufficiency of our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, the productivity of the year ahead, the promise of and potential benefit of our clinical assets, compelling data in our first and most advanced clinical program concerning Zeno, the potential for Zeno to be particularly effective in patients with NRG1+ cancers, the robustness of our platform technology and strength of our balance sheet, our ability to achieve meaningful results for cancer patients in need, our enrollment in our clinical trials, including enrolling patients for the Phase 1/2 eNRGy trial, the ability of our agreements with Caris Life Sciences, Foundation Medicine Inc., and Tempus Labs Inc. to enhance the identification of NRG1+ patients and determine suitability of enrollment of these patients in our eNRGy trial and Early Access Program, the agreement by Dr. Victor Sandor to provide strategic oversight of the eNRGy trial on an interim basis until a new Chief Medical Officer is identified and his contribution to the eNRGy trial organization, the content and timing of potential milestones described in this press release, including the timing of and presentation of data from the Phase 1/2 eNRGy trial, the submission of a presentation of interim data from the Phase 1 trial of MCLA-117, as well as an abstract on our analysis of an extensive panel of CD3 T-cell engaging bispecific antibodies, to the European Hematology Association Annual Meeting in June, 2020, the planned presentation of the frequency of NRG1+ cancers at the ASCO Annual Meeting in May, the AGM and anticipated Board of Directors changes; the timing of updates, guidance, information, clinical trials and data readouts for our product candidates, the design and treatment potential of our bispecific antibody candidates, clinical study designs, the preclinical data for MCLA-129 showing that MCLA-129 inhibited the growth of tyrosine kinase resistant NSCLC cell lines and NSCLC tumors in xenograft models, our conducting IND-enabling studies of MCLA-129 for the treatment of various solid tumors in collaboration with Betta Pharmaceuticals, our global collaboration and license agreement with Incyte Corporation, potential development and commercialization of up to 11 bispecific and monospecific antibodies from our Biclonics platform, the impact of COVID-19 on patient enrollment, clinical trial site operations, patient visits, medical monitoring and our laboratories in Utrecht, and the contributions and valuable guidance anticipated from Dr. Anand Mehra and Mr. Paolo Pucci. These forward-looking statements are based on managements current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: our need for additional funding, which may not be available and which may require us to restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or Biclonics and bispecific antibody candidates; potential delays in regulatory approval, which would impact our ability to commercialize our product candidates and affect our ability to generate revenue; the lengthy and expensive process of clinical drug development, which has an uncertain outcome; the unpredictable nature of our early stage development efforts for marketable drugs; potential delays in enrollment of patients, which could affect the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals; our reliance on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and the potential for those third parties to not perform satisfactorily; impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; we may not identify suitable Biclonics or bispecific antibody candidates under our collaborations or our collaborators may fail to perform adequately under our collaborations; our reliance on third parties to manufacture our product candidates, which may delay, prevent or impair our development and commercialization efforts; protection of our proprietary technology; our patents may be found invalid, unenforceable, circumvented by competitors and our patent applications may be found not to comply with the rules and regulations of patentability; we may fail to prevail in potential lawsuits for infringement of third-party intellectual property; and our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. These and other important factors discussed under the caption Risk Factors in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2020 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on May 11, 2020, and our other reports filed with the SEC, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent managements estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change, except as required under applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Investor and Media Inquiries: Jillian Connell Merus N.V. Investor Relations and Corporate Communications 617-955-4716 j.connell@merus.nl British expats ditched their face masks and enjoyed their first pub pint for two months today as the Costa Blanca resort got back to business. Some even took their shirts off while sipping lagers in the midday sun and topped up their tans in temperatures in the mid-seventies. Bars and cafes in the famous Costa Blanca resort started getting back to business this morning as coronavirus restrictions in large swathes of Spain including Benidorm eased. The holiday resort has moved to phase one of a four-stage recovery plan which means bar terraces can reopen with a limited number of people. Some even took their shirts off while sipping lagers in the midday sun and topped up their tans in temperatures in the mid-seventies. Bars and cafes in the famous Costa Blanca resort started getting back to business this morning as coronavirus restrictions in large swathes of Spain including Benidorm eased A maximum of ten people can sit at each table, which have to be a minimum of 6.5 feet apart. The terraces can open to 11pm under an agreement reached between local trade associations and Benidorm Town Hall. The last time drink was served in pubs in the resort was the night of March 13, when closure orders affecting bars, restaurants and cafes were announced for the whole of the Valencian community including the province of Alicante, ahead of a national government-imposed state of emergency. Although restrictions have eased on the Costa Blanca, expats on the Costa del Sol further south have been told they must wait for their favourite bars to re-open. That is because the Spanish government said on Saturday the health situation in Malaga province was not good enough for the area to move onto phase one. They have to make do for the time being with a few perks like outdoors sport, limited to two time-slots in the morning and evening. Madrid and Barcelona were also told they had to stay on phase one. The famous holiday resort, the scene of a mass exodus by British tourists in March when the coronavirus crisis started, has moved to phase one of a four-stage recovery plan which means bar terraces can reopen with a limited number of people The last time drink was served in pubs in the resort was the night of March 13, when closure orders affecting bars, restaurants and cafes were announced for the whole of the Valencian community including the province of Alicante, ahead of a national government-imposed state of emergency The easing of restrictions in areas like Benidorm, which also apply to Brit-popular resorts like Magaluf in Majorca and Playa de Las Americas in Tenerife, came as Spain recorded its lowest rise in the number of coronavirus deaths for nearly two months. Health chiefs said 123 people had died in the past 24 hours, 20 less than on Sunday. It was the lowest number of single-day Covid-19 deaths since March 18, when 107 were recorded. The number of new cases also continues to go down, 373 today compared to the 621 announced yesterday. The official Covid-19 death toll in Spain now stands at 26,744. Although expats are helping to keep the economy afloat in the Costas, Boris Johnson's announcement of his two-week quarantine plans for people travelling to the UK this summer has caused more concern among Spanish tourist chiefs. Although restrictions have eased on the Costa Blanca, expats on the Costa del Sol further south have been told they must wait for their favourite bars to re-open Although expats are helping to keep the economy afloat in the Costas, Boris Johnson's announcement of his two-week quarantine plans for people travelling to the UK this summer has caused more concern among Spanish tourist chiefs ourists and locals returned to the bars and terraces in Benidorm today The quarantine measures, expected to be introduced in early June, will apply to British holidaymakers able to get on planes to Spain this summer when they return to the UK. Toni Mayor, president of the Benidorm and Costa Blanca hotel association Hosbec, has been among those who have voiced concern over the quarantine measures Boris Johnson announced last night/on Sunday night. He said: 'It's going to be a body blow for UK aviation and for tourism. I think we can wave goodbye to any hopes we had of British tourists returning to the Costa Blanca this summer if it's in place in July and August. 'No one would want to fly, I'm sure of it. No-one would want to holiday in Spain or Greece or anywhere else. A worker mops the pavement outside a sporting goods store which reopened in Benidorm today A shopkeeper and a shopper on the coast today as shops reopened for the first time in months 'For places like Benidorm that depends so heavily on UK tourists, it would be a disaster.' He added: 'For me the only way forward is a common protocol applied across Europe for things like flights based on the sanitary conditions of the countries and regions people are coming from and going to. 'Each country doing its own thing is not the solution in my mind.' LOS ANGELESSex educator Amberly Rothfield plans to build upon the success of her last online Master Class by offering a brand new class for online sex workers. The one-hour seminar will begin at 3 p.m. this Saturdayand tickets can be purchased here. Rothfield's classes consistently sell out. Due to increasing demand, 50 spots have been added to this class. Rothfield, a leading marketing expert, will focus this class on acquiring new customers. One of the biggest hurdles facing online sex workers, particularly indie models, producers, and artists, is how to find new customers in a saturated field. She lends her expertise and insights on where to find new customers, as well as maximizing profits from these customers. Attendees will also learn how to use analytics correctly to understand the best sources of customer acquisition. If you cannot attend the live seminar, a recording will be made available to all ticket holders. I still cant believe that over 160 performers are attending my upcoming class," Rothfield said. "I am extremely excited to show the data that I have collected and explain methods for finding new customers in the year 2020." Amberly also offers one-on-one consultations with models who are interested in growing their brand. For more information and rates, check out calendly.com/amberlypso. To learn about new classes, events, and more, follow Amberly on AVN Stars at @amberlypso; Twitter at @AmberlyPSO; and Instagram at @Amberlyownsyou. The best-selling author's books, including the top-selling "How I Made $10,000 A Month As A Phone Sex Operator," are available on Amazon, and helpful videos and more can be found on AmberlyRothfield.com. The grim milestone comes as France, Spain and Russia begin to lift restrictions. The number of people who have died from the coronavirus in the United States, hardest-hit country in the world, passed the 80,000 mark on Monday, according to a tally by Reuters news agency. Saudi Arabia will impose tough austerity measures, tripling its value-added tax and halting monthly handout payments to citizens to cope with record low oil prices and a coronavirus-led economic downturn. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said Russia will begin easing coronavirus restriction on Tuesday, even as the country reported a record 11,656 new cases in 24 hours. At least 221,344 people have been infected in Russia, with over 2,000 deaths confirmed from COVID-19. France and Spain, two of the hardest pandemic-hit countries in Europe are gradually easing the restrictions they imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Lebanese authorities warn of a new wave of coronavirus cases after the number jumped to its highest point in more than a month as the government eased some restrictions on public life. Globally, more than four million cases of the coronavirus have now been confirmed, and 1.4 million people have recovered, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. More than 282,500 people have died from COVID-19. Here are the latest updates. Monday, May 11 22:40 GMT Brazil records 5,632 new coronavirus cases, 396 deaths Brazil registered 5,632 new coronavirus cases and 396 deaths from the disease, according to the Health Ministry. The country has now registered a total of 168,331 confirmed cases of the virus and 11,519 deaths. Reporting of coronavirus cases from state health authorities to the ministry tends to slow over the weekend. 21:35 GMT Trump pushes back against critics after White House staff exposure During a news conference, US President Donald Trump pushed back against criticism when asked about the exposure of White House staffers to the virus. It can happen, he said. Its the hidden enemy, remember that. Its the hidden enemy, so remember that. Trump said that the vice presidents press secretary Katie Miller, who tested positive, will be fine. Arguing in favour of reopening US businesses, the president added that Americans are dying from drug addiction and suicides as a result of social distancing measures. Dont forget, people are dying the other route, he said. Everything closed up, youre in your house not allowed to move. People are dying with that too. You look at drug addiction. You look at suicides. Look at some of the things that are taking place. 21:25 GMT Senegal to reopen mosques and churches despite surge in cases Senegalese President Macky Sall announced that mosques and churches can reopen and eased the other restrictions imposed to contain the disease even as the country recorded the largest one-day jump in cases. Sall ordered places of worship closed back in March and imposed a dawn-to-dusk curfew. Since then, the daily pace of new cases continued to rise. Senegal has a total of 1,886 confirmed of coronavirus cases and 19 deaths. 20:45 GMT Twitter launches labels for misleading coronavirus posts Social media giant Twitter on Monday said it is introducing labels and warnings on some posts containing disputed or misleading information on the coronavirus pandemic. The labels and warning messages are to provide additional explanations or clarifications in cases where the risks of harm associated with a tweet are not severe enough for it to be removed, but where people may still be confused or misled by the content, the company said in a blog post. This will make it easier to find facts and make informed decisions about what people see, Twitter said. The labels will link to a page curated by the company or an external trusted source containing information on the claims made within the tweet. Warnings may also be added to inform users that a tweet conflicts with public health experts guidance before they view it. 20:15 GMT California governor to probe Tesla reopening in defiance of health order California Governor Gavin Newsom has said both he and local health officials would speak to officials at Tesla Inc, after the company ordered workers back on the job despite continuing coronavirus restrictions in Alameda County, where its auto plant is located. Newsom said he expected the plant to open as soon as next week, and that he did not know about the order to return to work or photographs circulating on San Francisco Bay Area news sites showing that its parking lot was full. 19:50 GMT UN: Sub-Saharan Africa AIDS deaths could double due to COVID-19 The number of deaths from AIDS-related illnesses in sub-Saharan Africa could double if the provision of healthcare to HIV sufferers is disrupted during the coronavirus crisis, the United Nations has said. A six-month disruption of antiretroviral therapy due to the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to more than 500,000 extra deaths in the region in 2020-21, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UNAIDS said in a joint statement on Monday. In 2018, the latest figures given, an estimated 470,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses in sub-Saharan Africa. Read more here. Since the first cases were reported more than 35 years ago, 78 million people have become infected with HIV [Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters] 19:30 GMT White House directs West Wing staff to wear masks at all times The White House has directed staff working in the West Wing, where the daily operations of President Donald Trumps administration are carried out, to wear masks at all times in the building, except when they are at their own desks, a senior administration official confirmed to the Associated Press news agency. TV network ABC News first reported that a new memo directing everyone who enters the wing to cover their faces. With Trumps valet and Vice President Mike Pences press secretary both testing positive for the deadly coronavirus last week, the pressure is growing for the White House to take further steps in protecting the health of countrys 73-year-old president. 19:15 GMT US passes 80,000 deaths: Reuters tally Over 80,000 people in the US have died from the coronavirus, according to a tally by Reuters news agency. The US has been by far the hardest hit by the pandemic than any country in the world, with over 1.33 million reported infections. 19:00 GMT Qatar continues reopening of Industrial Area Authorities in Qatar have continued the reopening of its Industrial Area, which was placed under complete lockdown in early March following a cluster of infections. Last week, vehicles and individuals, including employers, employees and residents, were permitted to enter the area from Street One to Street 32 as long as they adhered to the governments safety guidelines. Entry for vehicles and individuals will now be permitted from Street 34 to Street 54, the remaining portion of the area, according to the Ministry of Public Healths website. Those who enter will have to adhere social- distancing measures, wear masks, operate 50 percent capacity on worker transportation and continually sanitise, as well as download and use a tracing app. 18:45 GMT Majority in US disapprove of lockdown protests: Poll A majority of Americans disapprove of protests against restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus, according to a new poll that also finds the still-expansive support for such limits including restaurant closures and stay-at-home orders has dipped in recent weeks. The new survey by the University of Chicago Divinity School and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 55 percent of Americans disapprove of the protests that have popped up in some states as some Americans begin chafing at public health measures that have decimated the global economy. Thirty-one percent approve of the demonstrations. Read more here. Demonstrators calling for California Governor Gavin Newsom to end the stay-at-home orders during a protest at the Capitol in Sacramento, California [Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo] 18:30 GMT IMF approves $2.77 bn in emergency pandemic aid for Egypt The International Monetary Fund or IMFs executive board have approved Egypts request for $2.77bn in emergency financing to help the Egyptian government meet urgent budget needs related to the new coronavirus pandemic, the Fund said. The IMF said it remained closely engaged with the Egyptian government and the Central Bank of Egypt, and stood ready to provide further support as needed. IMF First Deputy Managing Director Geoffrey Okamoto said Egypt would need additional expeditious support from multilateral and bilateral creditors to close its remaining balance-of-payments gap, ease the adjustment burden, and preserve Egypts hard-won macroeconomic stability. 18:15 GMT Germanys reproduction rate remains above critical threshold The reproduction rate for the coronavirus pandemic in Germany remained above the critical threshold of one with an estimated value of 1.07 on Monday after 1.13 on Sunday, the Robert Koch Institute for public health and disease control said. The number indicates that 100 infected people on average infect 107 others, meaning the number of new infections is accelerating again which could signal the beginning of a second wave of the pandemic in Europes largest economy. The increase in the reproduction number R makes it necessary to observe the development very closely over the coming days, RKI said in its daily report. 18:00 GMT Ghana president says one person infected 533 at fish factory A worker at a fish-processing factory in Ghanas Atlantic seafront city of Tema infected 533 other workers at the facility with the coronavirus, Ghanas President Nana Akufo-Addo said in a broadcast late on Sunday. Health authorities reported the outbreak late on Friday, but did not provide details. All 533 persons were infected by one person, Akufo-Addo said. He did not say how the disease spread in the facility or if safety measures had been in place. He said that the 533 positive cases, which represent around 11.3 percent of Ghanas total infections, were part of a backlog of about 921 cases going back as far as April 26 that are only recently being reported. 17:45 GMT France reports spike in deaths, raising total to 26,643 Deaths from the coronavirus epidemic in France have risen by 263, against 70 the day before, the Health Ministry has said, as the country started unwinding an almost two-month national lockdown put in place to contain the spread of the disease. In percentage points, the one percent rise is the highest in five days. But figures often tend to register a spike after the weekend lull. The total death toll since the outbreak now stands at 26,643 the ministry said, the fifth highest in the world after those of the United States, Britain, Italy and Spain. There were 2,712 people in intensive care on Monday, edging down from 2,776 on Sunday, maintaining a long-running decline. 17:30 GMT Study: Virus death toll in NYC may be worse than official tally New York Citys death toll from the coronavirus may be thousands of fatalities worse than the official tally kept by the city and state, according to an analysis released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between mid-March and early May, about 24,000 more people died in the city than researchers would ordinarily expect, based on the season, the report said. Thats about 5,300 more deaths that had been previously attributed to the coronavirus during that time period. These so-called excess deaths could have been caused by byproducts of pandemic, the report found, including the demand on hospitals and health care providers and public fear related to COVID-19 prompting delays in people seeking or receiving lifesaving care. Tracking excess mortality is important to understanding the contribution to the death rate from both COVID-19 disease and the lack of availability of care for non-COVID conditions, the report says, adding the further investigation is required. A report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests the coronavirus death toll in the NYC may be higher than official tally. [Eduardo Munoz/Reuters] 17:15 GMT Turkeys Erdogan imposes four-day lockdown from Saturday Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said that a lockdown would be imposed starting on Saturday and ending after Tuesday, May 19, which is a national holiday. Ankara has imposed lockdowns in major cities over the past four weekends, as well as on national holidays to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said intercity travel restrictions on nine more cities had been lifted, as Turkey gradually eases measures taken against the coronavirus. The restrictions on the three largest cities, Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, remain in place. 17:00 GMT Chinas Wuhan plans city-wide testing over period of 10 days: Report The Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of Chinas coronavirus outbreak, plans to conduct city-wide nucleic acid testing over a period of 10 days, according to an internal document seen by Reuters news agency and two sources familiar with the situation. Every district in the city has been told to submit a detailed testing plan by Tuesday for their respective area, the document showed. The city of 11 million people reported its first cluster of new infections over the weekend, after a months-long lockdown was lifted on April 8. A woman wearing a mask walks along a street in Wuhan, China [Aly Song/Reuters] 16:40 GMT WHO says extreme vigilance needed in exit from lockdowns The WHO has said that extreme vigilance is needed as countries begin to exit from lockdowns imposed to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, amid global concerns about a second wave of infections. Germany earlier reported an acceleration in new coronavirus infections after it took early steps to ease its lockdown. South Korea, another country that had succeeded in limiting virus infections, has seen a new outbreak in nightclubs. Now we are seeing some hope as many countries exit these lockdowns, Dr Mike Ryan, head of the WHOs emergencies programme, told an online news briefing, but he added that extreme vigilance is required. If the disease persists at a low level without the possibility to investigate clusters theres always the possibility that the virus takes off again, he said. 16:25 GMT WHO says it has no mandate to invite Taiwan to assembly meeting The WHOs director-general has no mandate to invite Taiwan to take part in its assembly next week, the bodys lawyer has said, adding member states had divergent views on the self-ruled islands participation. WHO principal legal officer Steven Solomon told an online news briefing that only member states could decide who attends the World Health Assembly (WHA). Taiwan, with the strong support of the US, has stepped up its lobbying to be allowed to take part as an observer at next weeks meeting of the WHOs decision-making body, to Chinas anger. China berated New Zealand on Monday for its support for Taiwans participation at the WHO, saying the country should stop making wrong statements on the issue to avoid damaging bilateral ties. People wear face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus as they visit a night market in Taipei, Taiwan [Chiang Ying-ying/The Associated Press] 16:10 GMT Italy daily new cases fall, death toll edges up Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy have risen by 179, against 165 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, as the daily tally of new cases fell to 744 from 802 on Sunday. It was the lowest number of new cases announced on any given day since March 4. The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on February 21 now stands at 30,739 the agency said, the third-highest in the world after those of the US and Britain. The total number of confirmed cases amounted to 219,814, the fifth-highest global tally behind those of the US, Spain, Britain and Russia. 16:00 GMT Jordanian civil servants to return to work on May 26: Govt Jordans cabinet has decided to allow civil servants to return to work on May 26 following a break of around two months imposed as part of measures to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, a government spokesman said. Amjad al Adailah said that the civil servants, who comprise the bulk of Jordans public sector, would return after a three-day Muslim Eid holiday that will mark the end of Ramadan. The government will also maintain a night curfew until further notice despite the easing of a tight lockdown over the last two weeks that has allowed most businesses to resume work, he added. 15:50 GMT All mosques in Iran to reopen on Tuesday All mosques in Iran will reopen on Tuesday, a further step in the governments plans to ease restrictions which aimed to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, the official IRIB news agency has reported. The move comes even though some parts of the country have seen a rise in infections. At least 6,685 have died from the coronavirus in Iran amid 109,286 cases, Last Friday, prayer gatherings resumed in up to 180 Iranian cities and towns seen as being at low risk of coronavirus contagion after a two-month suspension, state media reported. The resumption of Friday prayers, which are still banned in the capital Tehran and some other major cities, followed the reopening last Monday of 132 mosques in areas consistently free of the virus. Schools will reopen next week, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday, according to the official presidency website. Read more here. A couple wearing protective face masks, following the outbreak of coronavirus walk on the street in Qom, Iran in March [Reuters] 15:40 GMT Denmarks Superliga to resume on May 28 says Danish League Association Denmarks top-flight Superliga will resume on May 28 following a gap of more than two months due to the new coronavirus pandemic, the Danish League Association has said in a statement. On Monday, Denmark entered its second phase of reopening society after a two-month lockdown, allowing the countrys top football teams to resume playing. The League Association said the season would restart without fans in the stadiums, and that it expected the campaign to conclude with the Europe playoff games on July 29. Elsewhere in Europe, some leagues are also set to resume, with the German Bundesliga due to start on May 16. 15:25 GMT Philippines: Dutertes war on drugs continuing despite the lockdown The Philippines war on drugs presses on despite the coronavirus lockdown. President Rodrigo Dutertes radical policy has led to more than 20,000 deaths since 2016 most of which were extrajudicial killings. Al Jazeeras The Take podcast speaks to filmmaker Leah Borromeo to understand how classism has upended society in the Philippines. 15:15 GMT UK Johnson: Country at most perilous moment as curbs ease Britain faces the most delicate point in its battle against the coronavirus as it passes a peak in infections and starts gradually to ease guidance on social distancing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said. Our journey has reached the most perilous moment where a wrong move could be disastrous, he told parliament on Monday. So at this stage, we can go no further than to announce the first careful modification of our measures. On Sunday, Johnson encouraged employees who cannot work from home to return to their workplaces this week where businesses remained open and it was safe to do so. The government is set to announce guidelines for some businesses to return to work later on Monday. Britains Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered an address on lifting the countrys lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday [The Associated Press] 15:00 GMT Elite sport in England cannot return until June 1: Document Elite sport in England cannot return until at least June 1 and will have to take place without spectators present, a government document containing guidelines on easing lockdown restrictions says, according to Reuters news agency. Most professional sport in England has been suspended since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The government guidance concerning the easing of restrictions on elite sport is laid out in step two of the document, and will be made no earlier than June 1. Step two includes permitting cultural and sporting events to take place behind closed doors for broadcast while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact, the guidelines say. 14:40 GMT Journalists on front line of Pakistan outbreak At least 30 journalists have tested positive for the coronavirus in southwest Pakistan, taking the total number of journalists infected across the country to more than 50, data from an independent media watchdog shows, as the South Asian nation continues to ease its lockdown amid a spike in cases and deaths. At least 54 journalists and media workers have tested positive for the coronavirus across Pakistan, according to data released by the Freedom Network rights group on Monday, indicating that news organisations guidelines for journalists were either being ignored or needed better enforcement. I was in the office and my body felt like I had a fever, and I felt really dizzy, said Salman Ashraf, a reporter for local television station Geo News in the southwest city of Quetta. Ashraf was one of the first journalists to test positive for the virus in the country. Read more here. A healthcare worker takes a testing sample from a journalist during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown in Quetta [Banaras Khan/AFP] 14:25 GMT Putin announces easing of lockdown measures in Russia President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia would start gradually easing coronavirus-related lockdown measures from Tuesday, but that individual regions would need to tailor their approach to varying local conditions. In a televised address on Monday, Putin also announced new welfare payments for families with children and new support measures for the Russian economy. 14:10 GMT Abu Dhabis Etihad lays off staff, warns of further cuts: Report Abu Dhabis Etihad Airways has laid off a large number of employees due to the coronavirus pandemic that has shattered global travel demand, and warned staff to brace for further cuts, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters news agency. The state-owned airline declined to comment. But during a previously unreported US-UAE Business Council webinar on April 29, Etihad Chief Executive Tony Douglas said the airline had made quite sizeable redundancies. It was not immediately clear how many employees had been affected or from which departments. Etihad has grounded scheduled passenger flights and temporarily cut wages by as much as 50 percent. It has said it plans to restart flights from mid-June. 13:45 GMT UK death toll rises 210 to 32,065 Britains COVID-19 death toll has risen by 210 to 32,065, according to figures announced by the Department of Health. The figures, collated by government agency Public Health England and equivalents in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, comprise deaths in all settings following positive coronavirus tests and cover the period up to 1600 GMT on Sunday. 13:30 GMT Germanys Merkel: We must stick to basic rules even as lockdown eases German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stressed that people needed to continue keeping their distance from one another and covering their mouths and noses even as Germany eases some of the restrictions it had imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Its very important to me to again draw attention to the fact that were entering a new phase of the pandemic and that it will now be necessary, with all the easing of measures, to be sure that people stick to the basic rules i.e. keeping their distance, wearing mouth and nose protection and showing consideration for each other, Merkel told reporters __________________________________________________________ This is Joseph Stepansky in Doha taking over the live updates from my colleague Umut Uras. ___________________________________________________________ 13:05 GMT Qatar Airways CEO says air travel demand unlikely to recover until 2024 Global travel demand will take years to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and many business travellers may never return to the skies, the head of Qatar Airways said. The state-owned airline is one of only a few to have maintained some scheduled passenger flights through the pandemic. Earlier this month, it said it would start rebuilding its network in anticipation of governments easing travel restrictions. Qatar Airways expects to fill between 50 percent and 60 percent of seats on flights over the coming weeks as it reopens more routes and increases the frequency of flights. There are still a lot of people stranded around the world, [and] people who want to go and visit their loved ones, Akbar al-Baker told Reuters news agency by phone. But Baker said he would be very surprised if travel demand recovered to pre-pandemic levels before 2023-2024. 13:02 GMT Saudi Arabia to cut oil output by another 1 million barrels a day Saudi Arabias energy ministry said it asked oil giant Aramco to make an additional voluntary output cut of one million barrels per day starting from June to support prices. The move will reduce the production of the worlds biggest crude exporter to 7.5 million barrels per day, the energy ministry said in a statement cited by the official Saudi Press Agency. 13:00 GMT Anti-lockdown protests threaten Germanys coronavirus battle German politicians expressed alarm over anti-lockdown protests held in major cities at the weekend, warning conspiracy theorists and others with an agenda were exploiting frustration with measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic. While protests held in Berlin, Munich and Stuttgart were relatively modest in size, several resulted in violent clashes with police as densely packed crowds violated social-distancing requirements designed to prevent the virus from spreading. The protests mounted in part by proponents of conspiracy theories blaming everyone from vaccine makers to billionaire software tycoon and philanthropist Bill Gates for the disease came as the viruss reproduction rate in Germany ticked back above the critical threshold of 1. Germany has a free media landscape that informs about all aspects of the pandemic, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said. Abstruse claims and hate-filled assertions, theories about evils machinating globally, are something quite different. 12:55 GMT Thirsty Czechs toast return to beer gardens as lockdown eases Thirsty Czechs were allowed to return to beer gardens in one of the governments most eagerly anticipated measures to relax coronavirus restrictions. Authorities also permitted some schools, hairdressers, malls, cinemas and other businesses to reopen. Museums and galleries opened their doors and the government gave the green light for weddings, cultural and religious events of fewer than 100 people. Professional sports teams resumed full training. But for many Czechs who rank as the worlds biggest beer drinkers per capita the reopening of restaurant terraces and beer gardens was a highlight of the governments plan to re-start the economy in stages. Considering the beer is finally in a glass rather than a plastic cup from a take-away window, it is absolutely great, said Ivan Verner, a retiree sipping a Pilsner Urquell at the historic U Pinkasu pub in central Prague. 12:50 GMT Easing restrictions to boost Australian economy by $6bn a month Once Australia removes most social distancing restrictions by July, its economy will be boosted by $6.15bn each month, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will say on Tuesday in a speech updating lawmakers on his budget planning. Australias Prime Minister Scott Morrison said last week social distancing restrictions imposed since March will be eased in a three-step process, as Canberra aims to remove most curbs by July and get nearly one million people back to work amid a decline in coronavirus cases. Frydenberg will lay out some of the economic benefits of the relaxations in restrictions in his speech, extracts of which were provided in advance to media. 12:45 GMT Thailand tourist arrivals may fall by as much as 65 percent in 2020 The number of foreign tourists in Thailand may plunge as much as 25.8 million to 14 million this year, the lowest level in 14 years, as the coronavirus pandemic hits global travel, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said on Monday. The TAT now predicts only 14 million to 16 million foreign visitors this year, sharply down from 33.8 million projected in March. Last years foreign arrivals were a record 39.8 million. 12:35 GMT Lebanon fears second coronavirus wave as new infections surge Lebanese authorities warned of a new wave of coronavirus cases after the number jumped to its highest point in more than a month as the government eased some restrictions on public life. The country has been under lockdown since mid-March to rein in an outbreak that has infected 859 people and killed 26. Lebanon started lifting restrictions last week as part of a longer-term plan, letting restaurants, hair salons, construction sites and other businesses open so far at lower capacity. COVID-19 has infected 859 people and killed 26 in Lebanon [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters] 12:20 GMT Georgia eases anti-virus restrictions Georgia lifted most of the restrictions on economic activity that were imposed as part of measures to contain the coronavirus spread. Industrial production and trade were allowed to resume, with the exception of large shopping malls and clothing retailers. The government has said the country will reopen to foreign tourists as of July 1, while domestic tourism is set to resume in mid-June. 12:00 GMT Sri Lanka: Muslims face extra threat as coronavirus stirs hate Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka had originally agreed on burials of the coronavirus victims, but amended the guidelines on April 11 making their cremations mandatory. Prominent Muslim activists and personalities have expressed their concerns against the ban on burials which they see as part of anti-Muslim rhetoric amid the pandemic. Read more here. The island nations top Ulama body urged the government to allow burial of coronavirus victims [EPA] 11:40 GMT China will step up macro-economic policy adjustments: PM China will step up macro-economic policy adjustments as the countrys development faces unprecedented difficulties and challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic, Premier Li Keqiang said, according to state-owned TV. China will also strive to achieve economic and social development targets and tasks this year, the China Central Television quoted Li as saying in a meeting with top officials from other political parties to discuss the governments work report, which is soon to be revealed at the annual parliament meeting later this month. 11:10 GMT Marriott quarterly profit dives 92 percent on decline in bookings Marriott International Inc reported a 92 percent slump in profit for the first quarter, as bookings plunged due to coronavirus-led travel restrictions. Net income fell to $31m, or nine cents per share, in the quarter ended March 31, from $375m, or $1.09 per share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Marriott earned 26 cents per share in the quarter. Revenue slumped seven percent to $4.68bn. 11:10 GMT Russia sets new daily record of coronavirus cases Russian President Vladimir Putin will address the nation about the coronavirus, as a new record of daily confirmed infections was set and number of deaths surpassed 2,000. Putin will speak about the deadly pandemic and measures to support the Russian economy, the Kremlin said in a statement. According to the official coronavirus data website set up by the Russian government, 11,656 people tested positive in the last 24 hours, with the total now at 221,344. According to the official coronavirus data, 11,656 people tested positive in the last 24 hours [EPA] 13:55 GMT Germany takes uptick in coronavirus reproduction seriously: ministry The German health ministry is taking the most recent rise in the coronavirus reproduction rate in the country seriously but the higher number does not mean there is an uncontrolled outbreak, a ministry spokesman said. The Robert Koch Institute for disease control had said the number of people each sick person now infects known as the reproduction rate, or R had risen to 1.1. When it goes above 1, it means the number of infections is growing. 10:35 GMT Low-skilled men suffer highest COVID-19 fatalities in England and Wales Men in the lowest-skilled jobs had the highest rate of death involving COVID-19 among working-age people in England and Wales, according to data, which also showed deaths among nurses and doctors was no higher than the average. The data was published after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that manufacturing and construction workers should be encouraged to go back to their jobs, drawing concern from trade union groups. Men in the lowest-skilled jobs suffered 21.4 COVID-related deaths per 100,000 males in the period up to April 20, more than double the average for working-age males of just under 10 deaths per 100,000, the Office for National Statistics said. The average death rate for working age women was 5.2 per 100,000. 10:10 GMT Spains daily coronavirus death toll falls to 123 Spains daily coronavirus death toll fell to 123, the health ministry said, its lowest level in seven weeks. The overall death toll from the epidemic rose to 26,744 on Monday from 26,621 on the previous day. The number of confirmed cases rose to 227,436 from 224,390 on Sunday. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Mediterranean country are 227,436 [Reuters] 09:40 GMT Abu Dhabi offers partial refund for restaurant and tourism property leases Abu Dhabi has announced a 20 percent refund on annual commercial property leases for restaurants and for tourism and entertainment facilities, state news agency WAM reported. Eligible businesses will have to apply online for the refund, which is calculated against fixed rental costs, WAM reported, citing the emirates department of economic development. The refund scheme is aimed at easing pressure on businesses affected by government measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, WAM said. 09:10 GMT Philippines coronavirus infections breach 11,000 mark Confirmed coronavirus infections in the Philippines have broken past the 11,000 mark, the health ministry said. In a bulletin, the health ministry reported 292 additional cases, bringing the total to 11,086. It recorded seven more deaths, increasing the total to 726 while 75 more patients have recovered, bringing total recoveries to 1,999. 08:55 GMT Coronavirus clips the wings of the worlds second-oldest airline Avianca Holdings, Latin Americas second-largest airline, has filed for bankruptcy after failing to meet a bond payment deadline, while its pleas for coronavirus aid from Colombias government have so far been unsuccessful. If it fails to come out of bankruptcy, Bogota-based Avianca would be one of the first large carriers worldwide to go under as a result of the pandemic, which has crippled world travel. Read more here. Avianca might be one of the first large carriers worldwide to go under as a result of the pandemic [Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters] 08:40 GMT How much surveillance is too much during a pandemic? In the fight against the novel coronavirus, governments around the globe are using police drones, security cameras and mobile apps to track peoples health and location. In such an environment, how much surveillance is too much? Al Jazeeras Start Here explains. 08:20 GMT Migrants stranded in Greece by COVID-19 fly to UK A group of 50 refugees and asylum seekers flew from Greece to Britain to reunite with relatives in a transfer that had been held up by the coronavirus lockdown. The group includes 16 unaccompanied minors, Greek migration ministry officials said. Some 130 Greek nationals stranded in the UK because of the COVID-19 lockdown will be repatriated on the return flight, the ministry said. Greece hopes to gradually relocate around 1,600 vulnerable persons from its refugee camps to other countries in the coming months. 08:00 GMT French minister warns lockdown easing could be reversed France could reverse the relaxation of its nationwide lockdown if there is a resurgence of the coronavirus outbreak, Health Minister Olivier Veran warned. If the virus were to resume its wild race, we would again take lockdown measures, Veran told BFM television. France, with the worlds fifth-highest death toll, has enforced an eight-week lockdown since March 17 to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. It is gradually lifting those restrictions. 07:45 GMT Malls, salons reopen as Turkey eases coronavirus lockdown Shopping malls, barbershops and hair salons have been allowed to reopen across Turkey after a nearly two-month closure, with stepped-up safety and hygiene measures in place for containing the new coronavirus. The easing of restrictions is the start of a nationwide post-coronavirus normalisation as the death toll and the number of infections eases in the country. On Sunday, Turkeys senior citizens also got their first chance to venture outside in seven weeks, after being subjected to a stay-at-home curfew since March 21. Read more here. Turkeys senior citizens on Sunday got their first chance to venture outside in seven weeks [Ozan Kose/AFP] 07:20 GMT Colombian womans 100th birthday celebrated despite lockdown A Colombian neighbourhood found a way to celebrate a residents 100th birthday despite the coronavirus lockdown. Here is the moment Sara Verons neighbours came together to throw her a big surprise party from their terraces and balconies. This is the moment a Colombian neighbourhood came together to celebrate their neighbour's 100th birthday in lockdown. pic.twitter.com/Yt2AeKoDZ7 Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 10, 2020 07:05 GMT Raab: UK economy will not be back to work until July at very earliest Non-essential retailers would not go back to work until June at the earliest while other sectors will not go back to work until July at the earliest, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said. Theres the other changes for things like non-essential retail and people going back to school, particularly primary school, which wont start until the earliest on the first of June, subject to conditions, Raab said. Starting from the 4th of July at the very earliest, those other sectors where they are inherently more difficult because people are mixing together and its difficult to maintain the social distancing, we wouldnt be able to say that we would start them at least until the 4th of July. 06:40 GMT Men have high levels of enzyme key to COVID-19 infection: Study Mens blood has higher levels of a key enzyme used by the new coronavirus to infect cells than womens, the results of a big European study showed a finding which may help explain why men are more vulnerable to infection with COVID-19. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is found in the heart, kidneys and other organs. In COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, it is thought to play a role in how the infection progresses into the lungs. The study, published in the European Heart Journal, also found that widely prescribed drugs called ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) did not lead to higher ACE2 concentrations and should therefore not increase the COVID-19 risk for people taking them. The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the novel coronavirus [Dan Higgins/Reuters] 06:10 GMT India to gradually restart rail operations in lockdown easing One of the worlds largest train networks will gradually restart operations from Tuesday as India eases its six-week coronavirus lockdown. The move comes after the government faced widespread criticism for its treatment of migrant workers, who were forced to walk hundreds of kilometres from cities to reach their home villages as factories and businesses where they earned their livings shut down due to the lockdown. Read more here. The total number of cases in India has passed 67,000 with more than 2,200 deaths. [Amit Dave/Reuters] 05:55 GMT Coronavirus interrupts worlds longest-running cartoon Production of the worlds longest-running cartoon and a mainstay of the Japanese weekend has been interrupted by the coronavirus, forcing the broadcast of re-runs for the first time in decades. Sazae-san, which first aired in 1969, revolves around the life of Mrs Sazae, a cheerful but klutzy full-time housewife who lives with her parents, husband, son, brother and sister. The cartoon, recognised as the longest-running animated TV series by Guinness World Records, has been hamstrung by the outbreak of the virus, with animation dubbing halted to keep staff safe, broadcaster Fuji Television Network said. It is the first time the network has been forced to air re-runs since 1975. 05:37 GMT Saudi announces tough austerity measures Saudi Arabia will triple its value added tax (VAT) and halt monthly handout payments to citizens in tough new austerity measures amid record low oil prices and a coronavirus-led economic slump. The measures, which could stir public resentment with the cost of living rising, come as the country steps up emergency plans to slash government spending to deal with the twin economic blow. It has been decided the cost of living allowance will be halted from June 2020 and VAT will be raised from 5 percent to 15 percent from July 1, Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency. Read more here. 04:55 GMT Markets reopen in Pakistan as lockdown eased Pakistan will allow markets and shops to open for several days a week from Monday, as it loosens its coronavirus lockdown, Al Jazeeras Asad Hashim reports. Confirmed cases have exceeded 30,000 with 667 deaths, but planning minister Asad Umar reiterated on Sunday the governments approach to containing the outbreak would be to focus on targeted lockdowns in areas where a large number of cases were reported. Markets can open for between three and four days a week depending on the province. 04:30 GMT New Zealand to ease nearly all restrictions New Zealand will allow restaurants, cafes, cinemas, and shopping centres to reopen, as well as travel within the country to resume from Thursday as it eases most of the restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said schools can open from May 18 and bars by May 21. Gatherings would be limited to 10 people, she added. 03:20 GMT South Korea scrambles to contain Seoul-centred outbreak South Korean officials are scrambling to contain a spike in coronavirus cases linked to Seouls nightlife after 35 new cases were reported on Monday. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a total of 69 cases in the past 48 hours, most of them connected with an outbreak at several bars and nightclubs in the capital. Some 4,000 people have been tested, but authorities are still trying to track down 3,000 more who were at the venues. Our top priority is to minimise the spread of the infections in the greater Seoul area, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Monday. We should quickly find and test them. 02:40 GMT Tunisia reports zero new cases for first time since March Tunisia reported no new cases of coronavirus on Monday for the first time since March. The North African country reported its first case on March 2, and has confirmed 1,032 cases and 45 deaths. It began loosening its coronavirus lockdown last week, and shopping centres, clothing stores and hairdressers are due to open on Monday. Tunisia recorded zero new cases of coronavirus on Monday for the first time since March [Zoubeir Souissi/Reuters] 02:35 GMT Pence not in quarantine, will be at White House on Monday US Vice President Mike Pence is not in quarantine and will be at the White House on Monday, spokesman Devin OMalley said in a statement on Sunday. OMalley said Pence had tested negative every single day amid reports he was in self-quarantine after a member of his staff tested positive for coronavirus. Vice President Pence will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine, the statement said. 02:30 GMT China reports new cases, five in Wuhan China reported 17 new cases of coronavirus, including five in Wuhan, the city where the virus first emerged late last year. The five Wuhan cases all involve people living in the same residential compound. Seven other cases were among travellers returning from overseas travel, and the remainder in the northeast where there concerns about the resurgence of the virus have prompted some cities to step up their response. #JUSTIN: Another Chinese city district has raised its virus-response and risk level from low to medium. Following Zhongxihu District in #Wuhan, Fengman District in NE Jilin on Monday adjusted the virus-response level after two new #COVID19 cases were reported. pic.twitter.com/579ngMJFsk Global Times (@globaltimesnews) May 11, 2020 01:45 GMT Australias Victoria state announces cautious next steps Australians living in the southeastern state of Victoria will be able to visit more friends and family under a slight relaxation to the lockdown in the state. Larger gatherings of up to ten people outdoors and five visitors inside a home will be allowed. Residents will also be able to do more outdoor sports provided physical distancing rules are followed and more people will be able to attend funerals. The changes come into effect at 11:59pm (13:59 GMT) on Tuesday. Statement from the premier has just landed: pic.twitter.com/zo07VYOjU0 Benita Kolovos (@benitakolovos) May 11, 2020 01:10 GMT Saudi Arabia to distribute $493m in Ramadan aid Saudi Arabias King Salman on Monday ordered the distribution of Ramadan Aid worth 1.85 billion riyals ($492.6m) to social security beneficiaries, according to the state news agency. Individuals supporting families will get 1,000 riyals each, while family members will each get 500 riyals. 00:15 GMT Shanghai Disneyland to welcome first guests Shanghai Disneyland will welcome its first guests in more than three months on Monday. The park, the first of Disneys theme parks to reopen since the coronavirus pandemic began, will operate at 30 percent capacity (24,000 people) and visitors will have to wear masks and follow strict rules on physical distancing. One of the first visitors to Shanghai Disneyland after the theme park reopened on Monday [Aly Song/Reuters] 00:00 GMT Some Australian children return to school Some children in the Australian states of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland began returning to school on Monday after weeks off school because of the coronavirus. NSW has equipped schools with sanitiser, soap, personal protective equipment and temperature monitors, while class sizes will be smaller and personal contact reduced. I know this is a huge relief for families, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. It is a huge relief for the state government because we know how important it is for students to receive that face-to-face teaching. - Hello and welcome to Al Jazeeras continuing coverage fo the coronavirus pandemic. Im Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur.& Read all the updates from yesterday (May 10) here. Crimewatch presenter Rav Wilding will join his 'brothers and sisters in the trenches' by making his return to the Metropolitan Police amid the coronavirus pandemic. The TV presenter, 42, who has hosted the real-life crime show since 2004, will 'dust off the cuffs' to join his fellow officers as the country continues to control the spread of Covid-19 which has now claimed the lives of 31,855 people across in the UK. The announcement comes as the Prime Minister Boris Johnson today set out a tentative three-stage 'exit plan' and urged the country to return to work in a TV address to the nation from Downing Street. In a heartfelt message on Instagram today Wilding, who will return to the police force exactly 20 years after first joining up, wrote: 'This is a time when we must come together collectively, and have all hands on deck. TV presenter Rav Wilding will return to the Metropolitan Police amid the coronavirus pandemic The TV presenter, 42, said he will return to the police force exactly 20 years after first joining up In a message on Instagram the presenter said this was a time when 'we must come together collectively' 'Each and everyone of us has a part to play in this war against an enemy we can't see. 'That's why when a call to arms came out, I stepped forward and answered that call. I'm therefore proud to announce that exactly 20 years after first joining up, I am returning to the @metpolice_uk to help in this effort. 'I won't completely disappear and will be back to host my shows Crimewatch Roadshow and ILL gotten gains later this year, two series that both highlight the great work the police do, but right now my focus is stepping up to this challenge and rejoining the emergency services. 'I have the full support of my wife Jill, who despite being heavily pregnant and self-isolating due to this horrendous virus, has encouraged me to step forward join my brothers and sisters 'in the trenches', and face this head on. 'Please keep in touch, I'll keep snooping on your posts to see what you are up to and I'll pop back in to remind you when the new shows are coming on. 'Now though it's time to dust off the cuffs and get to work.' The officer, who also served in the army for four years, said it was time to 'dust off the cuffs' The announcement comes months after Wilding revealed that he and his wife Jull Morgan were expecting their first child together The BBC presenter, who has also served four years in the army, joined the Metropolitan Police force in 2000 before moving into the TV industry. His last position in the force was working as a Detective Constable for the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in south London. In 2010, the presenter also joined frontline British troops in Afghanistan for the BBC's Remembrance Weeks series. Last year, in November 2019, Wilding announced that he and his wife Jill Morgan were expecting their first child together in a post on social media which read: 'We have some exciting news! 'Our family is expanding and baby Wilding is due to make an appearance next year! Its been a long hard journey... but we got there in the end.' White House officials pressed to hold an event at the Braskem factory, initially scheduled for last Friday. But after extensive back and forth, factory officials ultimately asked to postpone, worried that a visit from Trump could jeopardize both the safety of the workers and the plants ability to produce special material for masks and other medical gear, according to two people familiar with the decision and documents reviewed by The Post. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 16:46:05|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close ZHENGZHOU, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. has delivered the country's largest hard rock tunnel boring machine, which will be commissioned in the construction of a water diversion project in Yunnan Province. The Zhengzhou-headquartered equipment manufacturer said its independently developed machine named "Yunling" has a tunneling diameter of 9.83 meters. The machine is 235 meters long and weighs about 2,050 tonnes. It is equipped with geological prediction and harmful gas detection devices and an emergency shelter in case of accidents such as rock bursts, geological deformations and fault fractures. The company has secured the largest market share in China since 2012, and topped the world in 2017 and 2018 in terms of shield tunneling machine production and sales volume. The company has exported its products to 20 countries and regions including Italy, Denmark, Singapore, Australia and Algeria. Enditem Eleanor Castro stands with her husband, Sal Castro, after a drive-by parade for his 95th birthday celebration in Levittown, Pa., on Sunday, May 10, 2020. The Guardians of the National Cemetery, of which Castro is a member, put on the celebration. Read more A drive-by parade of well-wishers surprised Sal Castro for his 95th birthday on Sunday, but it was the World War II veteran who offered words of hope and encouragement to everyone struggling in the pandemic. Hang in there," he advised in a phone interview. "Good days are coming ahead. Most of us will survive this. About 35 cars carrying 75 people cruised past Castros Levittown home, the celebration organized by his fellow honor guardsmen from the Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Upper Makefield Township, Bucks County. All wanted to recognize the Army veteran, who served in the South Pacific. It was fantastic. Big surprise, Castro said. "But its a terrible thing, this coronavirus. Bob Craven, president of the Guardians of the National Cemetery, an all-volunteer support committee of which Castro is a member, called him the guy we all wish our grandfather was. The idea to celebrate Castros birthday came to him a few days ago. If not for the pandemic, he said, Castro may not have allowed it, never being one to seek attention. [Sals] a humble man, Craven said. Hes very bright, very well-spoken family man. READ MORE: Amid the pandemic, Asian communities resist racism with love On Sunday, the Philadelphia region passed a quiet Mothers Day, with so many people unable to visit their families because of the pandemic. Stay-at-home orders kept people apart and many have been forever separated by the ever-rising death count. Pennsylvania and New Jersey reported more cases and more fatalities on Sunday, and the United States continued to lead the world in both categories with more than 1.3 million people diagnosed and more than 79,000 dead, according to Johns Hopkins University. The Keystone State reported an additional 1,295 cases, raising the total to 56,611, and 19 more deaths, increasing that toll to 3,707. Nearly 540 long-term care facilities have had outbreaks. Their residents account for 23% of all cases and 68% of all deaths. The updated figures came as 24 Pennsylvania counties reopened and 13 others prepare to do so. The Philadelphia region will remain under a stay-at-home order until June 4. City officials reported that 330 more people had tested positive, for a total of 18,211, and three had died, raising the city toll to 894. The story was the same across the river on Sunday. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy reported 1,503 more cases, for a total of 138,532, and 140 fatalities, increasing the coronavirus-related death toll to 9,255. More than 4,300 New Jersey residents are hospitalized, with 1,338 in critical care. New Jersey is among seven states scheduled to receive a federal shipment of the drug remdesivir, which may help patients recover faster, according to the U.S. Health Department. There was no immediate word on whether the medicine also would be sent to Pennsylvania. A U.S. government study of the drugs effectiveness showed promising results, but an analysis published in a reputable British medical journal showed contradictory findings. At the Jersey Shore on a sunny, windswept Sunday, the mayors of Ocean City, Sea Isle City, and Upper Township said they had opened beaches for exercise, surfing and fishing, but were keeping bans on sunbathing, congregating in groups, and playing group sports. We will continue to take a measured approach and work with the governors office on a plan to safely reopen different parts of the city, Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian wrote on the city website. Please continue to take personal responsibility for following social-distancing guidelines and other safe practices. Staff writer Andrew Seidman contributed to this article. Delta Air Lines announced that they would be suspending flights to and from Oakland Airport starting May 13 through at least the end of September in response to the unprecedented drop in air passenger traffic due to the coronavirus pandemic. The move, part of the Delta's effort to cut expenses, will reduce the number of flights to metropolitan regions the airline serves at multiple airports. In the Bay Area, Delta is still flying in and out of San Francisco International and San Jose International. Since cutting their flight schedule in March, Delta limited flight service from Oakland to once-daily afternoon flights to Salt Lake City, connecting on to Atlanta. The airline reduced its flight capacity by eighty-five percent since the start of the pandemic and is considering additional cutbacks in service in other markets. By the last week of April, passenger volume in the USA had dropped ninety-two percent compared to a year ago. MORE NEWS: Uber drivers stage caravan protest around San Francisco headquarters From San Francisco, Delta currently has direct domestic flights to its "hub cities" of Seattle/Tacoma, LAX, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, New York, and Boston. From San Jose, Delta has direct flights to Seattle/Tacoma, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Detroit, and New York. The airline offers connecting service through its hubs to additional airports. Delta will also suspend service to Burbank and Long Beach in Southern California (with LAX as the local alternative) as well as Chicago Midway (with O'Hare airport still handling Delta flights). "The safety of our employees and customers remains our primary focus as we navigate these challenges together," said Sandy Gordon, Senior Vice President of Delta's Domestic Airport Operations. "By consolidating operations while customer traffic is low, we can allow more of our people to stay home." ALSO: SF doctor, returning from helping in NY, shocked by full United flight Delta started the year with 90,000 global employees and recorded a record-setting $1.6 billion in profits in 2019. To earn more income, the airline has also moved into transforming some of its passenger aircraft into cargo flights. They are now flying daily from Shanghai and Incheon to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Detroit using Boeing 777-200 and Airbus A350-900 planes. For passengers affected by canceled flights, Delta will waive change fees and allow them to rebook without a penalty until September 30, 2022. Online Photo Editor Douglas Zimmerman oversees SFGATE's Instagram and covers the Bay Area soccer scene on SFGATE's Beautiful Blog. View his latest stories and send him news tips at dzimmerman@sfgate.com. By Tim Reid May 7 (Reuters) - President Donald Trumps re-election campaign launched a massive, multi-million dollar ad blitz against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Thursday, its biggest onslaught against Biden since the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States. With Bidens campaign beginning its own offensive against Trump insisting Novembers election must be a referendum on the Republican presidents handling of the coronavirus crisis the Trump team has decided to turn its sights on Bidens own record. The president's campaign will spend at least $10 million on nationwide ads that will air on TV networks, broadcast outlets and online, according to an aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Trump campaign has decided https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-election/blame-china-remake-economy-trump-pivots-to-new-election-message-amid-pandemic-idUSKBN22J1GT that blaming China for the pandemic is one message that resonates with many voters, and it is using Bidens own record on China as a way to attack him. The coronavirus outbreak began in the Chinese city of Wuhan. In one ad, the Trump campaign accuses former Vice President Biden of opposing travel restrictions on foreign nationals coming from China that Trump announced in January, saying that Biden will not stand up to the country. The Biden campaign denounced the message. Andrew Bates, a Biden spokesman, pointed out that Trump had earlier praised China for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak in January and February and accused him of having horrifically mismanaged the worst public health crisis in over 100 years. Biden's campaign spent millions on ads during the Democratic Party primary and is expected to spend more in the coming months, along with aligned political groups. Some $1.7 billion is expected to be spent on ads in the 2020 Trump-Biden race, according to Advertising Analytics and Cross Screen Media, two advertising companies. Story continues Since the pandemic struck the United States, over 70,000 Americans have died and over 30 million have filed for unemployment, the biggest and most rapid loss of jobs in U.S. history. Recent polls have shown a tight race between the two, despite the health and economic wreckage wrought by the pandemic. In the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Monday and Tuesday, 45% of Americans said Trump would be better at creating jobs, compared with 32% who thought Biden would be better at it. Overall, Bidens recent lead over Trump had essentially vanished, according to the poll. Before the first ads began airing, Trumps campaign manager, Brad Parscale, sent a tweet likening their re-election campaign to the Death Star, a "Star Wars" reference to a space station that could destroy a planet. The Biden campaign pointed out that the Death Star gets blown up at the end of the 1977 film, the original movie in the "Star Wars" franchise. (Reporting by Tim Reid in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Aurora Ellis) Photo: Getty Images Were committed to keeping our readers informed. Weve removed our paywall from essential coronavirus news stories. Become a subscriber to support our journalists. Subscribe now. On Sunday, Axios reported that the presidents aides intend to hold multiple events this week broadcasting the administrations preparedness for the second wave of the coronavirus when it is expected to hit this year. According to one official, they will emphasize their ability to ramp up testing capacity going into the fall, as well as increased access to personal protective equipment, so that the American people can have confidence as they begin to go back out into the public square. Though the message is intended to assure Americans that federal and state governments can safely navigate the current reopenings occurring in many areas of the country, it has one glaring problem: The current outbreak is still roaring, with over 1,000 Americans dying every day since April 2. As the administrations estimate for COVID-19 deaths continues to crawl upward, a leaked draft report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week showed that the rate could reach as high as 3,000 deaths per day by June 1. And as New Yorks David Wallace-Wells notes, media depictions of the draft largely did not communicate all that well just how dire the near future depicted by the model really was: The median projection 3,000 deaths a day, as soon as the end of this month is quite horrific, a 50 percent increase above our current peak. But for the lifetime of the models projections, no single day of data came anywhere close to as low as the median prediction. For the last two weeks, with the countrys infection and death rates shaped profoundly by social distancing and shelter-at-home orders, the results have fallen at or above the models 75th-percentile projection. That percentile, on June 1, yields a projection of more than 7,500 deaths every day. For most of the lifetime of the model, when the data reflected fewer lockdowns and less social distancing that is, when it reflected conditions more like the ones we are going to see more of going forward daily deaths fell at or above the 97th-percentile projection. For June 1, that projection is for 15,000 deaths every day. If that rate held for a month, it would produce 750,000 deaths just in June. And though the leaked projections end June 1, the model shows no sign of flattening then, which means, as far as the CDC is concerned, not only could the totals grow as the summer goes on but they could accelerate. While the administration reportedly intends to emphasize its ability to test Americans for the coronavirus, the governments report card on testing so far suggests that it could be another example of the president mistaking the announcement of a project for its execution. Despite the son-in-law-led task forces and the comically botched mobilization of the private sector, as of two weeks ago, the federal government only had enough tests to diagnose 2 percent of the U.S. population. Meanwhile, a low-end projection from Harvard identifies that the appropriate number of tests needed every day for a safe reopening is in the range of 500,000 to 700,000 tests daily, which is as high as three times the current capacity. The most poetic example of the White Houses failure to handle the first wave of COVID-19 is the outbreak currently inundating the White House: Last week, Vice-President Mike Pences press secretary and an aide who handles Trumps meals both tested positive, while a Department of Homeland Security document showed that there are 11 active cases of COVID-19 in the Secret Service in addition to 23 members who have recovered from the virus since the shutdown began. And as the president provides comments in which its clear that he still doesnt understand how testing works, CNN reports that over the weekend, he worried that White House aides contracting the coronavirus would undermine his current message that the outbreak is easing. About 3,190 years ago, a merchant in Emar, a trading outpost in what is now northern Syria, sent a desperate letter to his boss, Urtenu, who lived in the rich metropolis of Ugarit, a city-state on the coast of Syria. There is famine, he wrote. If you do not quickly arrive here, we ourselves will die of hunger. A long drought had left the hinterlands around Ugarit in a state of famine, wars were brewing, and there were likely plagues as well. Urtenu may not have realized it, but he was living through the last years of two wealthy cities, Ugarit and Mycenae, that dominated the eastern Mediterranean Sea during what historians call the Bronze Age, from roughly 3000 to 1200 B.C.E. More than a thousand years before the Greeks invented democracy and the Romans undermined it with imperialism, these city-states of the Bronze Age laid the foundations for what is often called Western civilization. Homer recorded the myths of the Bronze Age in The Iliad and The Odyssey, and carved stone inscriptions of the pharaohs Hatshepsut and Thutmose III record the machinations of the Bronze Age elites. Although the rulers of the Bronze Age sometimes went to war, the true source of their power, like that of todays biggest cities, was economic power secured through trade. The final decades of Ugarit and Mycenae tell us a lot about why cities fail and who survives amid the ashes. Ugarit and the Greek city-state of Mycenae were two of the most prosperous kingdoms in a thriving international economy that grew along coastal trade routes linking todays Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. Their markets sold everything from imported olive oil to local grain, while artisans crafted sculptures and weapons from the metal alloy that gave this period its name. Made with tin from Afghanistan and copper from Cyprus, bronze was the ultimate achievement of long-distance trade as well as technical know-how. Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan touched the lives of many, not only in India but outside the country as well. The demise of Irrfan was felt like personal loss to his fans and well wishers. Everyone is paying tribute to their favorite 'Maqbool' in every possible way. Bollywood is still mourning about their huge loss. But one small village near Igatpuri in Nashik district have decided to name a neighborhood after him. They have renamed that locality as Hero chi vadhi (neighborhood of a hero). Irrfan Khan's life is beautiful memory for those villagers. Maharashtra Times reported that, villagers have decided to name a neighborhood after him because it was the area where his farmhouse stands. His farmhouse is near Trilangwadi fort in Igatpuri tehsil. There is one small neighborhood called 'Patryacha Wada', Irrfan was closely attached with the villagers and had even visited on many occasions. Villagers have shared to many memories of their favorite human being. They said, he had helped them in various situation. As well as had donated for numerous time to the Jilha Parishad school in Patryacha Wada. When Irrfan bought a plot of land in the village, he started interacting with the villagers who lived nearby. That was the time when he decided that those people need help to develop their village. According to reports, Irrfan used to donate books, raincoats, sweaters to the school children. Even after he was recovering in America, he sent one of his relative to help those kids, says report. Everyone is trying to cherish such memories of Irfan. Even though there are no direct memories with him, many are remembering him by his movies and artworks. In such situation this village near Igatpuri is getting special appreciation. Sindhuja Microcredit, which provides credit to rural women entrepreneurs, has raised USD 8.7 million series B funding from the Norway-based Nordic Microfinance Initiative and Carpediem Capital. The Noida-based microlender had raided USD 4 million from Carpediem Capital in March 2019 in the series A round, the company said in a statement on Monday. The two-year-old Sindhuja has provided loans to over 84,000 self-employed rural women across five northern states. It has a loan-book of over Rs 170 crore as of March. "This funding will be used to scale up operations and provide the much-needed credit to our customers, who are rural women entrepreneurs, whose lives have been badly hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic," the company said. Launched 11 years ago, the NMI is a reputed international impact investor investing in across African and Asian MFIs. It's a public-private partnership owned by the Norwegian and Danish governmental funds targeted at developing countries and large private institutions. Arthur Sletteberg, the managing director of NMI, said, Sindhuja can go a long way in supporting the rural women who are hit by global pandemic. While Vidura Capital acted as the financial advisor for the transaction, Vertices Partners was the legal counsel for Sindhuja and Antares Legal was for the investors. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Archistar, a Sydney, Australia-based property intelligence platform, closed a $6m Series A funding. The round was led by AirTree. As part of the investment, Craig Blair, Co-founder and Partner at AirTree, will join the board. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its international growth and expand its product and engineering team. Founded by Dr. Ben Coorey, Archistar combines architectural design with artificial intelligence to inform decision-making in property. Used by architects, planners, developers and agents, the software gives instant information on the type of residential projects allowable on any development site in Australia based on local planning and zoning rules. It allows professionals to create and assess hundreds of compliant 3D generative designs, exploring features like height restrictions, exposure to sunlight and ventilation. Since launching in 2018, the company has signed real estate groups including LJ Hooker, Ray White and Harcourts, along with developers, engineering and architectural firms like Mirvac, GPT Group, Stockland, CBRE, Hassell and Aurecon. Archistars early stage investors include former Chairman of REA and CEO of NewsCorp Australia Peter Tonagh, former CoreLogic Managing Director Graham Mirabito, former CBRE Australasia President Tom Southern and former Managing Director Murdoch Media Prabhat Sethi (who is also Chairman). FinSMEs 11/05/2020 France on Monday began its slow return to normal life after lockdown mode to prevent the spread of coronavirus. President Emmanuel Macron urged citizens to act reponsibly as they gradually resume their daily actitivies. Shops, businesses and schools now face the challenge of enforcing social distancing to avoid a second wave of the virus. France woke up to its first day of 'deconfinement', or the easing of lockdown measures on Monday, but new rules will apply. A permission slip for every outing is no longer necessary for distances up to 100 kilometres away from their residence, but people will need a certificate from their employer to travel on public transport at peak hour (6h30-9h30, 16h-19h). Authorities are urging people to respect hygiene measures such as social distancing, and wearing a mask on public transport. On Monday morning, commuters on some central Paris metro lines faced difficulties to stay one metre apart as they made their way to work during peak hour. According to a journalist for BFM television, there were delays on Line 13, which meant passengers were crowded on the platform, unable to keep a metre apart from one another. However, she said that all people were wearing masks. Observers at the Chatelet-Les-Halles interchange, one of the capital's busiest, said it was like an ordinary day before lockdown came into effect. The public transport authorities have warned they will cut or modify some services if measures are not respected. In the meantime, the authorities are urging members of the public to behave responsibly to avoid a sudden spike in coronavirus cases. "Thanks to you, the virus has slowed down. But it's still there. Save lives. Be Careful," wrote President Macron on Twitter on Sunday night. Health minister Olivier Veran told BFM television on Monday morning that confinement measures could come back into force if the virus takes off again. He said that the contamination factor of the virus must stay below 1. It is currently a little over 0.6, which means the virus is losing ground, but this could change at any moment. YEREVAN, 11 MAY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 11 may, USD exchange rate up by 1.91 drams to 486.02 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.48 drams to 526.21 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 6.59 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.39 drams to 601.01 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price up by 104.64 drams to 26627.32 drams. Silver price up by 0.92 drams to 234.08 drams. Platinum price up by 46.55 drams to 11844.44 drams. As the COVID-19 pandemic remains a serious public threat, National Capital Region (NCR) mayors fear that ending the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) on May 15 will be too abrupt, and could possibly lead to a second wave of infections. With this in mind, Metro Manilas mayors are recommending three modified quarantine options once the ECQ lifts. The first involves extending the ECQ for another two weeks. Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) general manager Jose Arturo Jojo Garcia Jr. confirmed the suggestion after a virtual meeting of the Metro Manila Council (MMC). pia.gov.ph Garcia also revealed that the council also recommended a second optiontransitioning from ECQ to general community quarantine (GCQ) and a third, implementing a modified community quarantine (MCQ), a combination of the ECQ and GCQ, in certain areas. Garcia said that the mayors expressed support for the MCQ, keeping in mind the interconnectivity of the cities and varying Covid-19 situations in Metro Manila. Once finalized, Garcia said the MMC will present the quarantine options to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for approval, keeping in mind the need to balance economic and health issues in the metro. pna.gov.ph "We will let the national government decide what is the appropriate option for Metro Manila. We will respect the wisdom of the IATF to decide, Garcia said. We and the Metro Manila mayors shall follow and be ready," he added. The MMC is the governing and policy-making body of the MMDA, comprising the mayors of cities and municipalities and other related agencies. As of May 10, 4 p.m., the Philippines has now seen 10,794 total number of cases, with 1,924 recoveries and 719 deaths, the Department of Health (DOH) reported. Photos from the Philippine News Agency, Philippine Information Agency Also read: How Shared Cars, Scooters, Managing Transport Woes During Covid-19 The Future of Travel and Transport in a Post-Covid-19 World Member of Parliament (MP) for Suhum Constituency in the Eastern Region, Frederick Opare-Ansah, has donated over 20,000 masks to some institutions in his constituency to be distributed to staff. The beneficiary institutions were the Ghana Police Service, hospitals, market centres and other public and private organizations. The donation formed part of his project dubbed, Suhum MPs Support Projects aimed at complementing governments effort towards fight against the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The latest donation followed a similar one made by the MP in which he presented poly tanks, Veronica buckets, sanitizers, spraying machine, tissues and PPEs to households. The MP has also trained 10 volunteers who have been equipped with tools and megaphones to carry out awareness campaigns in the constituency. The volunteers, who are young people, were trained by the Suhum Health Directorate and have visited about 100 communities and shops and salons. Source: daily guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video If the first week of the month is anything to go by, the sell-in-May mantra looks set to continue in emerging markets. Despite optimism that the U.S.-China trade-war truce will broadly hold, it was a losing week for both stocks and currencies, while local bonds were little changed. And the list of uncertainties in the week ahead is likely to ensure caution remains in the driving seat. Chinas central bank said on the weekend it will resort to more powerful policies to counter the hit that the developing worlds biggest economy has suffered from the COVID-19 outbreak. As distressed-debt levels rise across emerging markets, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for African countries to be allowed a two-year moratorium to provide them with the fiscal space to fight the fallout from the pandemic. After an initial bounce in activity after the opening of lockdowns, several factors are likely to restrain the recovery: high debt, corporate defaults, inefficient labor markets, de-globalization and China-U.S. tensions, David Hauner, a London-based strategist at Bank of America Corp., wrote in a report. The experience with the opening up in China implies caution for risk appetite in the rest of emerging markets. While a number of countries are moving toward easing restrictions, the impact of lockdowns is likely to weigh on markets for some time yet. China, Mexico and the Philippines reported economic contractions last quarter. The state of national lockdowns, securing new sovereign finance, disbursing announced stimulus and the full horror of disruption as seen through corporate results will continue to drive markets, said Hasnain Malik, head of equity strategy at Tellimer in Dubai. State to adopt community management of coronavirus Lagos State may be in for another round of interminable lockdown of movement and business activities should the residents fail to adhere to the public health guidelines issued by the State Government in response to the fight against the ravaging Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. According to a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Gboyega Akosile, Governor Sanwo-Olu said the State Government would be forced to review terms of easing the lockdown if there was no improvement in the adherence to the guidelines initiated to break the cycle of transmission of the dreaded virus. The governor spoke on Saturday during a maiden briefing after the ease of a five-week lockdown imposed by the Federal Government. Besides, Sanwo-Olu said there will be a change in the State's isolation strategy in the coming weeks, pointing out that Lagos was transiting towards decentralisation of management of COVID-19 cases, which would lead to the accreditation and incorporation of primary healthcare facilities and private hospitals for the treatment of mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19 patients. The government, he said, was taken aback, watching residents going about their businesses in the last five days after the ease of lockdown without complying with the public health guidelines despite massive advocacy. Sanwo-Olu said the crowd observed at various banks and markets across the State flouted the public gathering directive, noting that the Government would not watch while people violate the State's guidelines towards combating the pandemic. He said: "As a Government elected to uphold security of its citizens, which include health security, we will not hesitate to review the terms of the easing of lockdown if we do not see an improvement in adherence to our public health guidelines in the next couple of days. "We will be forced to take a painful decision of bringing the entire system under lockdown if we continue to see evidence that Lagosians are determined to flout the rules. "As we eased restrictions on movement, we have increased our testing capacity and we are also actively increasing our isolation capacity. Members of the public will also see a change in our isolation strategy in the weeks ahead, as we transition towards decentralisation. "What this means is that, we will be introducing community management of cases, by accrediting and incorporating primary healthcare facilities and private healthcare facilities for the management of mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19 patients. However, we will guide this initiative carefully to ensure that it is not done at the expense of the capacity required to handle other medical cases." Sanwo-Olu said the State government's order restricting the operation of commercial motorcycles, popularly known as Okada, had been defied, directing the police to confiscate any commercial motorcycle seen flouting his directive. The governor also instructed security personnel to strictly enforce the ban on inter-state movement, directing the police to turn back all pedestrians trekking to Lagos from boundary highways. The governor said the task of ridding the State of the ravaging virus must be a collective responsibility and not a task for the Government alone. He advised residents to adhere strictly to the health measures initiated by the Government, stressing that the use of face mask was made compulsory to protect unaffected population from the virus. Sanwo-Olu said: "We are at a critical point in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic where every citizen of the State needs to take responsibility for their health and wellbeing. "As citizens, we have a great burden upon us, to behave responsibly. These times demand a lot from us, in terms of actions and behaviours that may not be comfortable. To stay alive and well, we have to abandon old habits and customs, and adopt new ones." Sanwo-Olu said the controlled and gradual easing of the five-week lockdown was to strike a balance between the protection of lives and the sustenance of livelihoods. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Governance Coronavirus By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. He praised manufacturing and construction companies for complying with terms of Government's framework, noting that their activities, in the last five days, had made beneficial impacts on the State economy. The governor, however, frowned at a "very low" compliance with guidelines by operators of commercial buses, observing that yellow buses failed to comply with the capacity restrictions outlined in our framework. He said the government 's monitoring teams at State and Local Government levels had been working hard to raise compliance levels to 100 per cent. Sanwo-Olu reiterated his commitment towards strengthening the State's capacity in combating the pandemic, thanking frontline medical and emergency workers for their sacrifice to the citizens. The governor also hailed waste disposal teams for not relenting in their effort to keep the State health despite being vulnerable to being infected with COVID-19. A team of health practitioners is visiting them at their respective homes every day to monitor them for symptoms. The Mirror understands that none has developed any Covid -19 symptoms so far and they will go for final tests before they are allowed to go back to work. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-11 19:37:03|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SOFIA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian Health Minister Kiril Ananiev on Monday issued an order allowing the reopening of cultural institutions and holding outdoor cultural events, the minister's press office said in a statement. According to the order, visits to outdoor and indoor museums, galleries and libraries would be allowed while observing "social distance and all anti-epidemic measures," the ministry said. The order also allowed holding concerts and other cultural events on outdoor stages, but occupancy should be up to 30 percent of the maximum capacity and anti-epidemic measures should be taken, the ministry said. Visits to cinemas were also allowed as permissible occupancy should also be up to 30 percent of their maximum capacity. Bulgaria's cultural life has been locked down since March 13 when the country implemented a nationwide state of emergency in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19. A total of 1,981 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the country so far, of which 91 people have died. Enditem The past weeks havent been short on details about the upcoming Honor X10. The phone is scheduled to go official on May 20 and thanks to a lengthy Weibo post from the brands VP, we know the device will indeed be powered by the Kirin 820 chipset which brings support for dual-mode 5G over 9 frequency bands. Honor is also touting the X10 as a 5G device for the masses implying an affordable price point and having support for all the major 5G bands means it will be usable outside of China as well. Honor X10 TENAA images The Honor X10 is expected to feature a 6.63" IPS display with FHD+ resolution, 4,200 mAh battery with 22.5W wired fast charging and a four-camera array with a 40MP Sony IMX 600y main shooter. We even got some sample shots which showed out the sensors performance. As usual, we'll make sure to keep an eye out for all the latest details on the Honor X10 and will update you accordingly. Source (in Chinese) | Via The authorities in Nigeria's southern Rivers state have demolished two hotels for allegedly violating lockdown rules introduced to curb the spread of coronavirus. Governor Nyesom Wike looked on as the Prodest Home and Etemeteh were demolished on Sunday. Both hotel managers have been arrested, but the brother of the manager of Prodest Home has told the BBC that the hotel was following the lockdown rules. Despite criticism on social media, Governor Wike defended the decision, saying they had found positive cases in hotels across the state. "Look at the rate of infections, most of these people are found in hotels," he said. He, however, did not say if the two demolished hotels were hosting people with coronavirus. Nigerias Centre for Disease Control has confirmed 21 cases and two deaths in Rivers state. Meanwhile, in Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has warned that lockdown measures could be reintroduced if residents of the country's largest state ignored social distancing rules. Nigeria has recorded 4,399 cases of Covid-19 and reported 143 deaths. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video (This is part of an ongoing series that showcases some of the best food and drinks in Central New York that you probably dont know about. Do you have a hidden gem? Share your favorite by emailing me at cmiller@syracuse.com or texting me at 315-382-1984. I might even buy you lunch. If you want to know my next hidden gem before its published, join my text group for subscribers where Ill announce it a day in advance. Thatll allow you to get there before everyone else.) **** Syracuse, N.Y. Believe it or not, you can find a new place serving great food during a pandemic. I happened by one last week. And this gem is more disguised than it is hidden. Its an old 18-foot camper parked in a vacant lot on the citys Near West Side. At the corner of Seymour and Niagara streets youll find El Trailer del Sabor, Spanish for The Flavor Trailer. Inside Lucy Diaz will be preparing authentic Dominican food, and her boyfriend Manuel Lopez will be at the window taking orders from customers. I love the look on peoples faces when they take their first bite of my food, Lucy said. People will try it, and theyll come back, and theyre willing to wait for it if theres a line. I like to test Americans with something new. She grew up in the Dominican Republic, where she cooked three meals a day at home. She emigrated to the United States 10 years ago. Lucy and Manuel met a few years ago. He was driving a taxi, taking her to work at Dominicks Neighborhood Market on the North Side. She talked about her passion for cooking, and he commiserated about how ride-sharing apps like Uber were killing his business. Theyve been together since. They bought this camper for $300 in LaFayette and gutted it, replacing the insides with kitchen equipment bought from a restaurant that had closed. After painting it blue with a red stripe and tacking on some white lights, they got their restaurant permit from the city in September and opened for business. El Trailer del Sabor originally parked in front of the old Nojaim supermarket on Gifford Street, but the couple wanted a more permanent spot. I asked the guy at that house if I could park here and sell food, Manuel said, pointing at 230 Seymour St. He said yes, and weve been here since. Lucy Diaz grinds garlic and plantains in El Trailer Del Sabor, at the corner of Niagara and Seymour streets on Syracuse's Near West Side.Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com The Flavor Trailers specials change daily, depending on what the couple comes up with at the dinner table after work. Manuel visits restaurants and food trucks throughout the week for ideas. And then we will make what the others dont have, he said. Our food, our flavors are different from anything else youre going to find around here. They replenish their inventory once a week at Lorenzos Wholesale Foods, 3 miles west on Fay Road. The staples include plantains, steak, chicken, fish, lobster tails, shrimp, rice and vegetables. Lucy starts cooking at the trailer each morning at about 9. Shell begin with mangu, a Dominican breakfast made of fried eggs, fried salami, fried cheese and sometimes avocado. She usually sells about five breakfasts before turning her attention to lunch and supper. Manuel posts each days menu on their Facebook page. By 3 p.m., business picks up. They average about 50 meals a day, even during the winter. Its best to call (315-965-6616) an hour before you pick up your order because the wait can get long in the afternoon. If you dont want to drive to them, Manuel will drive your food to you in his minivan. Since weve been under quarantine, hes been delivering food all over the city, including to all the local hospitals. Manuel Lopez shows off a serving of mofungo with shrimp at El Trailer Del Sabor, at the corner of Niagara and Seymour streets on Syracuse's Near West Side.Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com Lucy makes a beef stew, a chicken stew, roast pork and different kinds of rice each day. That gives her something to serve when people drive up and want something right away. Everything else is custom made, right down to hand-mashing the plantains with a pestle in a steel mortar. Most dishes take 15 minutes to prepare. T.J. Walker of Syracuse stops by at least twice a week for fried fish and fried rice, and he has no problem waiting for his food. Once you try this food, youll come back, and you wont mind waiting for it, he said Thursday after picking up his to-go lunch. Its affordable, and its better than a lot of restaurants. In addition to traditional Dominican food, Lucy makes fried chicken, burgers, fries and chicken wings. You must try ... Mofongo ($10-$15): They sell more of this classic Dominican/Puerto Rican dish than anything else on the menu. Its fairly basic: fried green plantains mashed with garlic, olive oil and pork. From there, Lucy customizes it to your taste. She offers three homemade sauces: garlic, spicy diablo or red creole. Lucy will top your mofongo with your choice of shrimp, chicken, steak, fish or lobster tail. Your meal will come with a side of fried plantains drizzled with any of her sauces and a mound of rice and beans. I opted for shrimp and the garlic sauce, simply because she peeled and crushed the garlic herself. It wasnt from a jar. She sauteed the 10 medium-sized shrimp in butter with red and yellow peppers and garlic. Delicious. It was deep with Caribbean flavor (garlic, green onions, peppers, celery and herbs). Next time, though, Ill order the diablo (devil) sauce. It was 52 degrees out when I stopped by the trailer for my to-go meal. I needed some heat. A serving of mofungo with shrimp at El Trailer Del Sabor, at the corner of Niagara and Seymour streets on Syracuse's Near West Side.Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com New York steak combo ($15): This is more of a dinner than a lunch, unless you dont plan on returning to work. This Styrofoam platter weighs about 2 pounds. If you eat all of this during your lunch hour, youll be going to your bed rather than your desk. Lucy slices up the fresh short loin and sautes it with peppers and onions with the creole sauce. Shell cook it to your desired doneness. (I recommend nothing more than medium rare.) You also get five shrimp in your of sauce, rice and beans and a salad. This is a true bargain. Its what draws Wilauer Mateo here. Amazing food they have, Mateo said. Its a great place for a Dominican flavor. It shows that when you love doing something, it can grow to something greater." Pepper steak, shrimp and fried rice at El Trailer Del Sabor, at the corner of Niagara and Seymour streets on Syracuse's Near West Side.Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com Once the pandemic ends and restaurants can reopen, Lucy and Manuel hope to open a restaurant. Theyre eyeing a storefront on South Avenue. The food that comes out of this trailer is like the food youd get in a restaurant, he said. Our taste is different than any other Spanish restaurant around here. Once you try it, I think youll agree. Right you are, Manuel. The Details The restaurant: El Trailer Del Sabor, the corner of Niagara and Seymour streets, Syracuse, (315) 965-6616 Hours: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Closed Monday. Credit cards? Yes Access to disabled? Yes Inside seating: No. Parking: Plenty. Read More Other Hidden Gems of CNY CNY Fish Fry Tour Secret Chicken Wings of CNY: 12 great spots you didnt know about Secret Chicken Wings of CNY, Part 2: A dozen great spots you shared Charlie Miller finds the best in food, drink and fun across Central New York. Contact him at (315) 382-1984, or by email at cmiller@syracuse.com. SPRINGFIELD Six Illinoisans who made a significant impact on the history of the state and nation have been inducted into the The Lincoln Academy of Illinois Hall of Fame. Those inducted are Judge David Davis, Enrico Fermi, William Le Baron Jenney, Mary Mother Jones, Major General John A. Logan, and Emmet Till. These six people helped to shape the world as we know it today, said Lincoln Academy Chancellor Frank Clark. We proudly place their names beside other Illinoisans who have inspired and humbled us with their place in history. The Hall of Fame was created in 1992 to recognize early contributions to the states heritage prior to the establishment of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois in 1964. Since that year The Lincoln Academy has awarded theOrder of Lincoln to present or former Illinois citizens who have made outstanding contributions toward the progress and betterment of humanity. The Lincoln Academy also annually recognizes an outstanding senior from each of the states four-year degree-granting colleges and universities, and one student from the community colleges in Illinois, by naming them Student Laureates of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Davis was a long-time resident of Bloomingon who was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice and close ally of Abraham Lincoln. Davis followed his friend into the Republican Party and was instrumental in securing Lincolns presidential nomination at the 1860 Republican National Convention. Following the election, Davis moved to Washington with Lincoln, who appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1862 where he served for 14 years. He won election to the U.S. Senate in 1876 and retired after a single term. Fermi was a Nobel-Prize-winning physicist who created the first sustained nuclear reaction. Born in Italy, his Italian university work included the discovery of plutonium, for which he won the 1938 Nobel Prize for Physics. Fermi became one of the founders of the Manhattan Project and, on Dec. 1942 at the University of Chicago, his team produced the worlds first sustained nuclear reaction. The nuclear element Fermium is named for him. Jenney was an architect often credited with inventing the skyscraper. Following education and work in Europe, he became a civil engineer and served on the staffs of Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman during the Civil War. He opened an architectural practice in Chicago in 1866 and laid out the West Chicago park system. He designed numerous homes but is best known for his development of tall buildings in Chicago. Jones was a prominent labor leader of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Ireland, she immigrated to Canada with her family, and moved to the United States in 1860, eventually settling in Chicago. She co-owned a seamstress business until it was destroyed by the 1871 Chicago Fire. In the following years, Jones began to move into labor activist circles and participated in several major labor protests. She helped Eugene V. Debs found the Social Democratic Party and was an organizer for the United Mine Workers for 30 years. In 1898 she organized the United Miners Strike in Virden which led to seven killed and 30 wounded miners. She is buried with the victims of Virden at the United Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan was a Union general and a prominent state and national politician. He served in the Mexican War and was elected as a prosecuting attorney, then state representative, from southern Illinois. He was elected to Congress in 1858 and organized the 31st Illinois regiment, served under Ulysses S. Grant. After a brief 1864 stay in southern Illinois to campaign for Lincoln, Logan returned to command under Sherman in the Carolinas for the remainder of the war. He helped found the Grand Army of the Republic and announced the first formal Memorial Day in 1868. He later served again in Congress and the U.S. Senate and was James G. Blaines vice presidential running mate for the Republican Party in 1884. Till was one of the youngest victims of racial lynching. In 1955, after finishing seventh grade in Chicago, Till traveled to Money, Mississippi to visit relatives. He was in a grocery with other teenage African American boys to buy candy and was accused of whistling at a white woman. The womans husband and his half-brother later abducted Till from his uncles house, severely beat him, shot him to death, and dumped his body into the Tallahatchie River. The brutality of the case and Tills age spurred massive outrage and helped inspire the Civil Rights Movement. For more information about The Lincoln Academy of Illinois visit www.TheLincolnAcademyofIllinois.org.